《Demon Lord's Reincarnation》


 Chapter 1 - Demon Lord

    <h4>Chapter 1 - Demon Lord</h4>


    I sat on my throne bored, extremely bored. There was nothing else to do, I have done it all. I the Demon Lord Kretos, have done what all the other Demon Lords before me failed to do, I have united the demon race, I also defeated the almost never ending flow of human heroes. I was even able to conquer the whole continent and with that there was nothing more. I who adored battle was unbeatable, not even my sons and daughters that I have made with my numerous concubines could match me.


    There was no more battle to be had. I sighed once more as I drank the wine my first born son gave me. It was a gift for my thousand year reign. The moment I drank the wine, my body felt groggy, what is this? I''m getting drunk after one drink? The moment I thought of this, someone entered the throne room. The one who entered was a handsome young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, this was my son and with him he brought a bunch of magicians. He was smirking at me, this crazy son of mine what has he done?


    "Good afternoon father, it seem like you''re not feeling well."


    "Galdo what have you done?"


    "Nothing much father I just gave you a mana suppressing drug."


    When I heard what my son said, I couldn''t help but smile.


    "Hahahaha, so it''s finally happening my defeat is about toe. It seems like this old bones of mine have forgotten the tension of battle that''s why I let my guard down."


    "That is indeed true father, so why don''t you rest now and hand me the throne."


    The moment he finished speaking I dashed forward, ready to strike. Even with my mana suppressed my physical abilities were still excellent. With sword at hand I shed down, at my own son using my full strength, in which he responded by blocking my attack with his own de.


    "Do you think it would be that easy? Do you think I would simply hand you the throne? How about a little bit of excitement before I give it?"


    "I would love to y with you father, but... I''m in a hurry to solidify my rule."


    The magicians that came with my son started attacking me with a barrage of spells. Without being able to circte mana into my body I had zero resistance to magic. After a few minutes of attacking I couldn''t move anymore, so this is what it feels like to be defeated...


    "As expected of you father, even without mana you couldst this long. No wonder you are considered the strongest demon lord... I know you can''t hear me anymore but seeing that stupid smile on your face I knew I did the right thing as your son."


    The strongest Demon Lord conqueror of the world died at the hands of his eldest son, and even in the face of defeat he died standing with a big grin on his face.

 Chapter 2 - I’m a human

    <h4>Chapter 2 - I''m a human</h4>


    Kretos the strongest demon lord, couldn''t feel anything as his consciousness seem to be adrift in the abyss. He couldn''t feel his body, nor could he feel the mana surrounding him. The only thing that he could do at this very moment was think.


    ''So this is what happens when you die... It''s nothing by darkness. I always thought the afterlife had even more glorious battles, but it seems I was wrong... Still in the end I did get my final wish. I finally knew defeat, and I was able to die the same way I lived, in glorious soul shaking battle. Who knew that my eldest son, who was so much weaker than me, could pull that off. Well that life has ended, I guess all that''s left to do is sleep, the eternal sleep.''


    At the very moment Kretos decided to rest for eternity, it was as if somebody heard his thoughts, since at that exact moment a shining light shed inside the abyss. The next moment, Kretos was somewhere with a wooden roof. He then noticed that he could once again feel his arms and legs.


    He couldn''t understand what had happened to him. One moment he was dead with nothing but his thoughts to keep himpany, now he was in some ce with a roof, and he could feel his body functioning again.


    Kretos tried to stand up, but was unable to. He couldn''t find the strength to stand. His sense of smell was also not functioning well. He then proceeded to feel the mana in his surroundings, a demon such as him was finely tuned to mana, but the mana he was suppose to be feeling was only the element of darkness.


    Yet at this very moment Kretos could feel all six elements, fire, water, earth, wind, darkness, and even light. This was something new for Kretos, which shocked him. The only being he knew that could harness all the elements of mana were humans.


    Even the elves could only harness the elements of earth, wind, and water. Demons could only handle darkness, Celestians were only capable of harnessing light, and swordians well they''re basically unable to harness mana in the first ce.


    It was at this point in time, Kretos lifted his arms he finally noticed that his arms were small and dainty.


    This was not the arm of the supreme overlord, this was the arms of a baby.


    Kretos tried to speak, but was unable to. It would seem that his body wasn''t developed enough to do such a thing.


    ''What the hell is happening? Damn it!... Wait what is this? Why does it feel like I can''t control my emotions?... Okay I need to calm down... I am Kretos the strongest demon lord, I died by the hands of my eldest son, for a few years now I was adrift in an abyss like ce. While contemting about the end of things, and thinking of the eternal sleep a white light sh inside the abyss, and now I''m in the body of a feeble human baby.''


    Kretos was in a state of confusion, he couldn''tprehend what had happened to him. Howe he was a baby? Not only that, howe he was a feeble human baby?


    Was this some kind of punishment from those foolish Gods? Are they punishing him for ying millions of humans? Even though they were the ones who attacked first, now he was being punished for defending himself?


    Well at first he did defend himself from the attacks of the humans, but after a few dozen years, the humans would attack him again. They did this because they im him and his race are evil. But that wasn''t how it always was, at first they attacked because the greedy humans wanted more territory,ter on they kept on attacking the demon realm, iming that he the demon lord kept on killing them for no apparent reason.


    So after a few hundred years of repeatedly attacking him. Kretos finally snapped, and initiated his own attack, wiping out most of humanity.


    ''Well they did strike first.'' Kretos thought once again irritated with the Gods, for making him into a greedy human baby. At least he could still tolerate the cowardly elves, even the Celestians were better than humans, since their only problem was they think they were the holiest of all creatures. Actually if he was going to be reincarnated and couldn''t be a demon, he wanted to be a Swordian. That race, was a race literally made for battle, he and them even in his past life got along quite well.


    While he was thinking of such things, Kretos suddenly felt hungry. It was an abnormal feeling, since the hunger was actually hurting him. He who had survived years of war without eating not even a single grain of rice, was now in extreme pain for not being able to eat for a few seconds? This was another reason why he hated those humans, they were so greedy yet they were so weak as well.


    He without his own consent started crying. He couldn''t stop, even though he wanted to, he just kept on crying. After a few seconds, a woman with long ck hair appeared, and picked him up. Since demons and humans looked alike aside from having horns, Kretos thought that this woman who was most probably his mother in this life, was actually quite pretty looking.


    His supposed mother, then slid down a part of her dress around the chest area, revealing the thing that would feed the newborn Kretos.


    ...


    After a satisfying meal, in what seem like a few minutester Kretos started to defecate. Which resulted to him crying unconditionally again. While his human mother was cleaning him, Kretos started to think that not only was living as a human irritating, living as a human baby was a nightmare for him.


    Also he couldn''t control the feeling of drowsiness, as he kept on sleeping. The woman who is suppose to be his mother kept on saying something, but her words were incoherent to him. The only thing he could somehow understand was the word, Ren. That must be his new name, his name as a human.


    His sense of time was gradually being distorted. At this point Ren felt a big strong hand had carried him. The person who was carrying him, was smiling sillily as he held Ren in his arms. The man was equipped with weapons, a bow and a knife. This man who had suddenly kissed him and his mother was most probably his father.


    So just based on his own assumptions, Ren concluded that his father was either an adventurer or a hunter. Once his father held him in his arms, Ren felt something warm growing inside of him. This was a feeling he had already long forgotten. This was the warmth of having a family. Unlike his demon family who only respected him because of his power. This was a family that felt like it truly cherished him, simply because they were family.


    ''Hmph, maybe being a human whelp, is going to be okay after all.'' As he was thinking such things, Ren was slowly feeling sleepy, and like his pooping and crying he had no control whatsoever, as he fell asleep.


    This was how the strongest demon lord, started his first day as a human.

 Chapter 3 - Six years

    <h4>Chapter 3 - Six years</h4>


    It has been six years since Ren formerly known as Kretos reincarnated and turned into a human. As he grew up, he now understood a lot of things, about his family, this vige, and the world around him.


    The first thing he figured out was about his family. His father was the best hunter of the vige, while his mother was a seamstress. The next bit of information was about the vige he was in. It was called Carto Vige, supposedly it was named after a hero who was born from this vige. How ironic, he the yer of heroes was reborn in the vige named after a hero.


    Another piece of information about the vige was it was a part of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. Being part of the kingdom of Reschbeauch the vigers pay taxes, to a marquis of the kingdom. The marquis is rumored to be a bastard of a man, who keeps on stealing married women.


    It is a blessing in disguise that the marquis has never been to Carto Vige, since the vige was located at the edge of his territory.


    Ren also learned that he was living in a prettyrge continent. Based on the limited information he gathered, this world seems to be bigger than his previous one. Also their seem to be demons in this world as well, but they aren''t treated as evil beings. They even have quite friendly interactions with the other races, based solely on the stories told by the vige elder.


    A war between races hasn''t happen for a few hundred years now. The only war that''s happening at the moment was between the same race. The Reschbeauch Kingdom he was living in is at war with another human kingdom called the Serbek Kingdom. They have been at war for a few years now, but they only do some small skirmishes every now and then.


    This was all the information Ren could gather in this tiny little vige that he calls home.


    ...


    A ck haired youth was sitting in a lotus position in the middle of the forest. This boy who had an average looking face, that wasn''t ugly but wasn''t handsome either was Ren, and this was his secret spot where he would practice circting mana throughout his body. At the moment he was trying to upgrade his understanding of the mana element of fire.


    He could already use intermediate level dark magic, but because his current human body couldn''t handle so much power, he wasn''t able to use advance level magic. So the only solution he could think of was to simply wait until his body naturally gets older.


    It was a good thing that the way to use magic here in this world was the same as his previous one. As long as you be in tune with the elements, they will tell you how to use magic. Here as well as the previous world, Ren kept on wondering if the mana elementals are actually a different race. Though they don''t talk to you directly you could feel their teachings, and they canmunicate using the mana of the world itself. Well Ren didn''t dwell too much on this topic, since it wouldn''t really make him stronger even if he learned the truth.


    After a few more minutes, Ren decided today was still not the day he could advance from beginner fire magic to Intermediate fire magic. He then took arge branch from the nearby trees, and started to swing it. He continued swinging the branch as if it were a sword, he did this for a few hundred times. This was Ren''s usual routine, ever since he got permission to y outside.


    While he was swinging the branch, he heard footsteps. Someone was approaching him, and the only person aside from him that goes here, is his neighbor and friend Valdel. This boy is one of the few children in the vige that was near his age. Valdel was a year older than Ren, which made their interactions weird because to anyone who looks at them it felt like Ren was the older one.


    As the vige was small, and most of the young men and women of the vige left to seek their fortune elsewhere, there were only a few kids in the vige, including Ren there were five of them. One of which is still a little baby, thest two were a pair of twin sisters who were a year younger than Ren.


    When Valdel saw Ren doing his practice swings, the little boy with blond hair, and blue eyes like sapphires smiled. He then picked up a random twig he found on the ground and joined Ren as he was doing his practice swings.


    The way he swung the twig was exactly the same way as how Ren does it. His stance was firm, which makes you wonder if he too was a reincarnated person like Ren.


    "Hey Ren why do you do this everyday? Are you trying to be like the heroes in the old man''s stories? Oh that sounds like fun, I bet we be awesome heroes when we grow up!" Valdel was happily imagining himself as a hero, while he swung his twig.


    Ren on the other hand almost choked, at what Valdel said. He a former demon lord be a hero?


    ''What the hell is this kid saying?! Me the strongest Demon lord, yer of a thousand heroes, wants to be one of those weak justice seeking crazed people? Even though I''m getting used to being human, I will never be one of those feeble heroes.''


    Seeing Ren not answering him, Valdel remembered the other time he spoke about being a hero. Ren suddenly spoke real loud shouting something in weird gibberish. After he calmed down, he exined that he didn''t want to be a hero, he wants to be something stronger. After saying his piece he left, now that Valdel remembered this, he could finally ask the question he wanted to ask on that day.


    "Hey Ren, remember the time you said you wanted to be stronger than the hero?"


    When Ren heard Valdel''s question he tried to remember if he did say such a thing. After a short pause, he indeed remember saying such a thing, when Valdel first told him of his dream to be a hero.


    "Yeah, I remember... Why?" The two were still swinging the wooden branch and twig as they had this conversation.


    "Well isn''t the hero already the strongest? How can you be stronger than the strongest?"


    "Hmph, the hero is not the strongest, there are many more things stronger than the hero."


    "But the old man said, the hero is the strongest. He can beat anyone, and is the champion of the people. Even the king needs to bow down before the hero." Valdel passionately spoke, as to why the hero is the strongest. Ever since he had heard the stories from the old man, he kept on dreaming when he too would be able to have wondrous adventures like the heroes of old.


    "The old man doesn''t know anything. There are stronger things than a hero, and I''m going to be one of them."


    "Hey Ren, howe you know a bunch of stuff not even the old man knows off?"


    "Um... it''s... It''s nothing I was wrong, I just dreamt that there is something stronger than a hero."


    "Heh, sometimes you say some weird things Ren. Of course there can''t be anything stronger than a hero. That dream of yours must''ve been weird" Valdel happily replied to Ren, now fully sure of himself that there could be nothing stronger than a hero.


    It was a good thing, Valdel was a kid who was so innocent. He almost always believes everything he hears.


    ...


    After his usual training, the two boys returned to the vige as the sun was going down. When he entered his little house his mother was there to greet him.


    "Wee home Ren. Did you have fun ying with Valdel today?" Ren saw that her mother was setting up the table so he answered while approaching her.


    "Yes we yed heroes! Um mother you don''t have to do that I will set the table."


    "Oh how considerate, such a wonderful boy you are. Still I always wonder why you always call me mother nowadays. Back when you were smaller, you kept calling me mom."


    When he was smaller, Ren had difficulty speaking long words, so he opted to shorten most of everything he said. Now that he was able to properly speak, of course he decided to address the woman who was his mother in this life, with proper respect.


    "Still you two keep on ying hero everyday. Do you guys really like the vige chief''s stories about heroes?"


    His mother smiled gently at him as she asked. When Ren heard this question he wanted to throw up, but he couldn''t. He needed to say that he liked ying hero, even though mentioning like and hero in the same sentence was extremely difficult for him. He still needed to do it, so that he won''t breed suspicion.


    "Yup, me and Valdel dream to be heroes when we grow up." Ren smiled a fake smile at his gentle mother. While on the inside he felt like he was about to have a stomach ache.


    While Ren was trying to suppress his disgust he suddenly heard a heartyugh. "HAHA, you two want to be heroes? I thought you wanted to help me in hunting? Why don''t you be a hunter like your old man?" The person who suddenly entered with a big portion of meat was Ren''s father the best hunter in the vige.


    "That could be good as well." Ren responded with a genuine smile.


    The family then started to discuss about why being a hunter was better than being a hero. It was a very normal scene in their everyday lives, yet to Ren who has memories of a past life, as a demon overlord, this family this warmth was the best. It made him feel happy, this normal everyday human life made him happy.


    In the table while eating a meal, a family of three was joyfully discussing the random things they did in the day.

 Chapter 4 - Light of a hero

    <h4>Chapter 4 - Light of a hero</h4>


    It was Ren''s twelfth birthday and today was the day Ren''s father Matias was going to teach him how to hunt. Matias had gifted his son a bow and some arrows, as well as a hunting knife. Valdel was also with them, since he begged Matias to take him as well.


    At first Matias didn''t want to bring him, but Valdel kept on praising as to what a cool profession being a hunter was. After a bit of ass kissing Matias agreed to bring Valdel only if he got the okay from his parents.


    Valdel''s parents agreed rather quickly since they were relieved that Valdel had taken interest in another job other than being a hero. But since Matias didn''t have an extra bow to give Valdel he told him he should simply observe for now.


    When the group was about ready to leave, two cute girls ran towards them. The two girls looked identical except for their facial expressions and the way they tied their hair. One had a bright cheery smile and had ponytail tied to the right. The other had a more stoic expression, with her ponytail tied to the left.


    These two were the twins Lisa the cheerful one, and Lara the expressionless one. Lisa had approached Valdel, while Lara approached Ren.


    "Hey where are you two going? Can wee as well?" Lisa asked looking at Valdel with puppy dog eyes. This move of Lisa would almost always work on the thirteen year old Valdel. Being in a tight spot, Valdel looked at his best buddy Ren for some back up. Unfortunately for him Ren was having some problems of his own.


    Confronting Ren with her ever stoic expression was Lara, even though she wasn''t saying anything and simply looking at Ren, the reincarnated demon lord understood what the little girl wanted. Obviously like her slightly older twin sister she wanted toe as well.


    ''As usual what the hell is wrong with this little girl? She keeps on clinging onto me, ever since I taught her how to feel the mana elementals. Well it''s obvious I have somehow became her first love, but she''s too young for now. Can''t really get into it, also it seems like I''m still not at the age were I actually feel sex.u.a.lly aroused... Human bodies really are inconvenient, I don''t really understand them much. How can they look exactly like demons and be so different.''


    While Ren was having this internal monologue of his, he was staring directly at Lara. Matias, Valdel, and even Lisa were now looking at the two.


    "How are theymunicating like that? Can they read each others mind?" Lisa asked.


    "I really don''t know, even without Lara speaking, Ren could somehow always understand her... So you might be onto something." Valdel answered.


    "My boy really is a greatdies man like his dad." Matias said with a silly smile on his face.


    Of course they didn''t know, that Ren was thinking of something else, while Lara was actually distracted by a little pimple she noticed on Ren''s cheeks.


    "Lara stop staring at Ren and convince him!" Lisa spoke to her little sister who was looking at Ren with her expressionless eyes.


    When Lara heard her sister''s voice, she snapped out of her trance of looking at the pimple on Ren''s cheeks.


    "I want to go." That was it, that was all Lara said. She didn''t need to say anything anymore, cause she felt that she said enough.


    "Father, let''s bring them as well." Ren suggested to his father.


    "You do know we''re not going out there to y right? Sorry but they can''te." Matias looked at the girls and tly refused.


    "They might follow us, without telling anyone." Having been around the twins for five years now, Ren knew exactly what the twins will do.


    "It''s still a no, I will inform their parents. Their mother will deal with these two." Upon the mention of their mother the twins shivered in fear.


    "Uncle Matias, please don''t tell our mother." Lisa used her move upturn puppy dog eyes.


    "Please don''t." Lara tried to back her up.


    "Sorry can''t have you following us, it''s too dangerous."


    "Uncle Matias I thought you were cool, but now I see that you''re a meanie." Lisa stuck out her tongue.


    "Meanie." Lara copied her twin and stuck out her own tongue. Matias wasn''t bothered by this and called the mother of the twins.


    When the mother of the twins came, she took her daughters apologized to Matias, and left. Now that the twins were gone, Matias''s group could finally leave, right after they double checked their things.


    Ren wasn''t really that motivated to learn how to hunt, since he already knew how to. Not only could he hunt everything in this forest, he could probably do it within a day. Still he was kind of interested in what kind of animals and monsters live in the forest.


    Ren has never been too deep into the forest, since Valdel always follows him. If he was able to shake the boy off, he would tattle on him and tell his parents. Which will result in a lot ofplications Ren didn''t want to deal with.


    "Today we will be hunting stone rabbits." When Ren heard his father say stone rabbits, he was greatly intrigued. in his previous world there were rabbits, but none of them were called stone rabbits.


    ''I wonder what are the differences between rabbits and stone rabbits.'' Ren was really intrigued in learning about new things. Ever since he came to this world his lust for battle seem to dwindle, and his curiosity had rose. He decided that this change was also caused by being human.


    ''Even knowledge doesn''t escape human greed.'' Is what he thought when he noticed this change within him.


    ...


    It took a few minutes before the trio finally found a monster trail. Matias started to inspect the area, after a few looks around the area, Matias began to frown. Ren also noticed that this trail they found wasn''t from some little rabbit, it was from somethingrge.


    "It would seem like today is not a good day to hunt stone rabbits. Let''s return to the vige." Matias spoke in his usual carefree tone. He could fool Valdel but he couldn''t fool Ren, it was obvious that Matias was worried about something.


    This greatly interested Ren, he wondered what kind of monster, could solicit such a reaction from the vige''s best hunter.


    "Why? I really wanted to try hunting something. Are we going to try tomorrow instead?" Matias was about to answer Valdel, when the ground started shaking.


    "ROAR!" A sudden roar echoed throughout the forest, the birds in the surrounding area started to flee to the skies. Matias got his bow out, and readied an arrow.


    "The two of you, run back to the vige and call for help. Tell them it''s a Red Bear, and it''s an a.d.u.l.t. Go now while I distract it!" Matias shouted at the two children.


    "Uncle Matias, I wont leave you here! Ren say something!" Valdel shouted at both Matias and Ren, who was looking forward to the monster that is about to arrive.


    "Damn it Kids! Leave now or we''ll all die!" Matias had no more time to convince the kids since he could feel the red bear closing in.


    "Damn it! Here Valdel catch!" Matias threw his dagger at Valdel who then caught it. It was at the moment it appeared, there right in of them was a huge four meter tall bear. The color of its fur as its name implied was the color red. Its huge frame and thick hide looked fearsome as it roared once again at the trio.


    Valdel stood there sillily frightened by the huge monster in front of him. All the courage he had awhile ago was now gone. Ren on the other hand was supremely interested at the bear and wondered if it would taste nice.


    Matias quickly attacked with his bow and arrow. He aimed for the eye, but the red bear reacted fast, and swatted the arrow down. After which it was about to attack Matias. Seeing the iing attack Matias wanted to dodge, but remembered that Behind him was Valdel who hasn''t moved an inch due to fear.


    The red bear''s ws were closing in, Matias gritted his teeth and was prepared for death. His only wish was that his son, and Valdel could escape. Everything at this moment seem to be moving slowly.


    ''Sorry Milly it seems like I will be going first. Take care of our son... I''ll see you guys in the next life.'' This was thest thoughts Matias had before losing consciousness.


    Ren had used a sleeping spell on his father, and was able to pull him away in thest moment. ''With this he will think he got hit and lost consciousness.''


    The red bear who loss sight of it''s prey roared angrily as it looked at Ren.


    "Heh, what the hell are you looking at teddy bear?" Once again the red bear lost sight of Ren, and then suddenly it felt a heavy impact had hit it''s stomach blowing it a few meters away.


    Ren boosted his legs with wind magic, and used the non attributed magic [boost], expanding his strength that would be equal to his mana. Which is at the moment around Intermediate ss mage level.


    Intermediate ss mage back in Ren''s previous world, were beings that could easily annihte a squadron of trained knights that had no mana.


    "Damn it! This body is still so weak!..." The opponent didn''t die in a single hit, Ren sighed before showing a vicious grin. "Well that just means bad news for you! Now you wont die with one strike, I would have to pummel you until death! Though I could use magic to finish you off, but magic that could kill you in one strike is too shy, I might attract unwanted attention."


    After speaking to the red bear who was trying to get up from Ren devastating kick, Ren looked at Valdel, and sighed.


    "Hey Val I thought you wanted to be one of those heroes? If so why are you just standing there in fear? Didn''t I already teach you a way for you to fight? Did you learn all that for nothing?" After saying his piece, Ren happily charged at the red bear.


    Valdel who was watching his best friend one sidedly pummeling the huge monster, felt angry at himself. He kept on saying to Ren that he wanted to be a hero, but when the moment of danger arrived he simply froze.


    He looked at Matias whoy at the ground unconscious. It was all his fault, if he had listened to Matias and left with Ren, Matias could''ve done something by himself then flee safely. Yet here he was being a fool, thinking he was already a hero.


    His best friend even taught him how to fight, yet he still couldn''t react after seeing that kind of monster in front of him.


    While wallowing in self pity, Valdel heard another roar that didn''te from the red bear Ren was fighting. There was another red bear that suddenly appeared, but this one was smaller it was around two meters tall. It might be a child of the red bear Ren was fighting.


    The red bear child was charging towards the unconscious Matias. Valdel who saw this was done hesitating, as he used two non-attributed magic, [boost] and [enhance]. Valdel used [boost] on himself, as he run to block the charging red bear, and he used [enhance] on the knife Matias gave him.


    The charging red bear saw Valdel blocking its path so it tried to swipe him away using its ws. Valdel took a firm stance like how Ren had taught him, and redirected the iing w swipe. Yet that didn''t stop the charging red bear, which hit Valdel full on with a headbutt.


    Valdel who was using [boost] was able to halve the damage by jumping backwards at the right moment, but he was still badly hurt by the attack. The red bear who had removed the obstruction started to charge once again towards the nearest and easier target Matias.


    Ren who was getting excited since this was the first real battle he had in ages, was aware of what was happening in his surroundings. When he noticed the dire situation his father was in, he stopped ying around and killed the almost dead red bear. After which he was about to move to save his father, but before he could do so Valdel had moved before him.


    The speed Valdel was using, was something Ren saw for the first time. Still even with that increase in speed, with Valdel''s current strength, he wouldn''t be able to beat the red bear even though the one he''s fighting seems to be a child.


    So when Ren boosted his speed, and ran full strength, something suddenly happened. Valdel''s body started to glow brightly, and with it a sudden surge of mana burst forth from within him. When Ren saw this, he stopped running towards Valdel.


    Valdel who was surging forth with mana, felt all powerful. He felt that there was nothing in this world he cannot beat, and with this newfound power Valdel swung the knife he held. The moment Valdel swung the knife and hit the red bear a torrent of mana gushed out annihting the red bear and some of the trees within the strike area, what was left was a huge crater.


    Seeing the red bear was beaten, all the tension Valdel had disappeared and afterwards he fainted. Ren who was watching the scene frowned at what he saw. He would never forget that glow, and that sudden surge of mana. That was the awakening ability of heroes.


    Ren formerly known as Kretos the strongest demon lord has fought numerous heroes. Though all of them had different set of skills, there was one ability they all had inmon. The ability was called the awakening, this was an ability that all heroes had, it was an ability that boosted ones mana tenfold and then releases all the mana for a final ultimate attack.


    Most heroes he fought would use this ability as a final trump card, but in the end they still lost. Ren has seen this ability numerous times that he was sick of it.


    He then slowly approached Valdel, he looked at him with mixed feelings. "So you became a hero like you always wanted... But this is simply the start. Heroes are beings that have almost no control over their fate, since they are shackled by destiny designed by those irritating Gods and Goddesses. So it would be better if I just killed you now, and save you from such a boring and cruel destiny. After all I am your best friend."


    Ren raised his right arm, ready to end Valdel''s life, but before he could do anything he stopped himself.


    "Hmph, it would seem like my heart has also turned into a human''s. Weak, soft, and full of irritatingpassion." It was at this moment Ren who was scowling started to smile viciously again.


    "Fine then, as your friend I will help you break free from the shackles that bind you. We will fulfill your destiny, but at the same time we will go against the script. I don''t know what those irritating Gods and Goddesses have in mind, but I will make sure that they don''t have their way with you. This I promise you."


    Ren spoke to the unconscious Valdel, making a promise that only he would remember.

 Chapter 5 - The aftermath of the battle

    <h4>Chapter 5 - The aftermath of the battle</h4>


    After the intense battle with the red bear, Ren waited for Matias and Valdel to wake up. While waiting Ren started to think up a story for what had happened. After awhile the first to wake up was of course Matias, when he saw the dead red bear, and the huge crater he started to panic. Ren went near him and immediately calmed him down. He then proceeded to exin what had happened.


    Of course Ren told his father the made up story he thought off. A story in which Valdel awakened to a strange power trying to protect him, and with that power he had killed the red bear.


    Matias of course couldn''t believe what he had heard, but he had to believe what he was seeing. He then carried the unconscious Valdel and returned to the vige with Ren. Once they got back the whole vige was in an uproar, since they heard a loud explosioning from the forest.


    All the vigers started to surround Ren''s group. When Valdel''s parents saw their unconscious and wounded son, the two rushed forward and took him from the also wounded Matias. Milly, Matias wife and Ren''s mother hugged her wounded husband while crying.


    Lisa who saw the unconscious Valdel gasped and ran towards him while crying. Lara was running towards Ren and hugged him, no one could see her face since she was burying it on Ren''s chest. But she was most probably crying.


    The vige elder asked what had happened to the trio. Matias started to exin the first part of the story and thest part was exined by Ren.


    Of course Ren told a bunch of lies to cover up what he did. Basically after Matias had fainted, Ren tried to hit the red bear with arrows, but it was to no avail. Valdel who was standing on the side suddenly charged at the red bear, while glowing he then struck the red bear killing it. After the kill he immediately fainted.


    There was another uproar when the vigers heard Ren''s side of the story. The vige elder looked at the Valdel and held a town meeting with the men of the vige.


    ...


    When Valdel woke up he saw the familiar roof of his own house. The moment he tried to stand up somebody suddenly hugged him from the side. It was his mother who had suddenly pounced on him crying.


    "Thank goodness you''re okay!" Valdel waited for his mother to calm down, before asking what had happened. Valdel listened to his mother exining that his father and the other men of the vige had a meeting, but when he heard his mother exin the story Ren told the vigers, Valdel immediately stood up.


    "VAL What are you doing?! You must rest!" Valdel''s mother tried to stop him, but he didn''t listen and simply left the house in a rush. He was heading towards the neighboring house where his best friend lives.


    He bursted into the house, his mother following behind him.


    "Oh my Val what are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be resting?" Milly was surprised by Valdel''s sudden entrance. Valdel didn''t bother with her and went immediately towards the guy who was eating bread like nothing had happened.


    "Val what''s happening to you? Why are you being so rude?!" Valdel''s mother spoke to her son, who was still ignoring her.


    Right now Valdel was looking at the carefree Ren who was eating bread. Ren looked at the serious eyes of Valdel and sighed.


    "Mother can you and auntie leave for a minute. I just need to talk with my buddy Val over here. Since we did go through something horrible today, Val must still be in shock. So don''t worry I''ll talk to him to calm him down." Ren assured his mother that everything was alright.


    Hearing her son''s calm voice made Milly calm down too. She told Valdel''s mother that they should leave the boys for now, and she could talk to Valdel once he calms down. Valdel''s mom was hesitating to leave her son in such a state, but she knew that Ren was the only one who could calm him down, given the situation.


    Once the two mother''s were out of the way, Ren looked at the ring Valdel eye to eye. "So what do you want Val?"


    Valdel held Ren''s shirt and gripped it tightly. "WHY DID YOU SAY THAT! WHY DID YOU LIE!"


    "First off Vall you need to lower your voice, the whole vige will hear you."


    "Who cares about that! Why did you lie!" Valdel angrily shouted at Ren.


    "Lie about what? Also can you stop griping my shirt you might tear it." Ren took hold of Valdel''s hand that was gripping his shirt, and forcefully removed it from him. Valdel couldn''t even resist, which made him even angrier.


    "YOU already know what you lied about! Why did you tell them I killed the red bear?! While you weren''t able to do anything! Why did you make me into the hero! You were the one who was calm at the time, while I shivered in fear! It was you who fought gantly with the a.d.u.l.t red bear, while I had difficulty with a child! So then why did you pass all the credit to me! Why Ren? Why?"


    Valdel looked at Ren with confusion and heartbreak. His best friend in the whole world, was now nothing more than a person he had saved, while he became the hero of the story. Even thought it was suppose to be the other way around. This thought made Valdel even more irritated.


    Ren who was looking at his human friend, scratched his cheek and sighed. "I didn''t lie about you killing a red bear, you did kill one you know."


    When Valdel heard Ren say that, he started to remember what had happened. "But still you were the one who killed the a.d.u.l.t one. Why didn''t you tell the truth? We could''ve been both heroes? Just like we dream back then."


    Valdel was still confused about that power he suddenly acquired, but he was still more worried about his best friend''s own situation.


    "I decided not to be a hero, I decided to let you have that role. I on the other hand will be the hero''spanion, the one who will support him no matter the dangers." Ren smiled gently at his friend. He hadn''t smiled like this for anyone aside from his human mother.


    "But... Shouldn''t you be the hero?... I know that even with the new power I acquired I still can''t match up to you. So you should be the hero, since the hero is supposed to be the most powerful."


    "I guess I''ll tell you now, the power you used is the power of a hero. It means destiny had picked you and not me. But don''t worry... Do you remember what I told you before about what I truly think about heroes?"


    Valdel was shocked by the sudden information his best friend gave him. He had the power of a hero? How does Ren even know anything about the power of a hero? Ever since he could remember, this friend of his has always had knowledge beyond anyone in the vige.


    At first he thought it was because he keeps on talking to the vige chief, but over the years as he grew older Valdel noticed the abnormality of his best friend... Still it was alright no matter what, since Ren can only be Ren.


    "Yah, I always remember what you told me that day. A hero isn''t the strongest existence there are a lot of things stronger than the hero. But then you immediately denied the im saying you just dreamt it."


    "Today I decided to be the one who would be stronger than the hero. Well seeing the hero is you, didn''t I already fulfill the requirements?" Ren smiled mischievously at Valdel.


    Valdel had finally calmed down, after hearing his best friend dering such a thing. "Fine you can be stronger than the hero, but I will be the strongest hero that ever lived!" Valdel extended his fist forward.


    Ren seeing this motion of Valdel, replied by bumping Valdel''s fist with his own. "If you are going to be the strongest hero, then I will be the strongest thing in existence!"


    ...


    After talking for a bit longer with Ren, Valdel had fully calmed down and left Ren''s house. He wanted to apologize to his mother and auntie immediately.


    Once Valdel left the house, Ren looked at the corner of the room. "I know you''re there Lara. You''ve gotten good in using darkness magic."


    In the corner of the room, a little girl with a stoic expression suddenly appeared. "Can I be strong with you guys?" As usual she went direct to the point.


    "Hmph, with your talent and me teaching you. I would be ashamed if you didn''t be strong." Ren answered with a condescending tone simr to what he once had when he was still the strongest demon lord.


    Hearing Ren''s answer Lara''s stoic expression broke and she revealed a very natural beautiful smile.

 Chapter 6 - Leaving the village

    <h4>Chapter 6 - Leaving the vige</h4>


    The vige elder was convinced that Valdel had the blood of the hero coursing through his veins. So during the vige meeting, the vige elder exined his hypothesis that Valdel had the possibility of being the next hero. After a lengthy exnation, the vige elder proposed that everyone should help pitch in to pay for Valdel''s entrance to the knight academy.


    Of course, he still couldn''t attend this year since he was too young. The youngest one should be to be able to attend was at the age of sixteen years. Not only that they needed to pay two gold coins for the entrance fee. When the men of the vige heard this, they were shocked. Some of them didn''t even want to pitch in but now hearing the price the others who wanted to help now wanted to back out as well.


    The vige elder then said another thing that shocked the vigers once more. He said that he would shoulder half the cost. He by himself will pay one gold coin, and the other gold coin could be given by all the other men of the vige.


    "I''m sorry to ask this, but why should we pay for Valdel''s schooling? It''s already pretty hard to simply get by. I don''t have enough, so how could I give any?" One of the men protested.


    "Yes, that''s right!" Another followed then another. Valdel''s father couldn''t say anything since he couldn''t force them to help. If he could he wanted to pay for everything, but one gold coin was already impossible for him, let alone two.


    "You fools! Have you forgotten who saved your pitiful lives?! If Valdel hadn''t killed the red bear, we would''ve sent every man avable to fight it, and even with that, there was no guarantee of victory. Many of you... No all of us would''ve died without Valdel! So is money more important than your lives?" The vige elder shouted this was the first time they had heard the old man shout at anyone.


    Even though what the vige elder said made them feel ashamed, they still needed to say what had to be said.


    "Even so! if we help Valdel pay for knight academy, we will still die. Not by the red bear, but because of poverty." Some of the men nodded at this statement.


    The vige elder snorted at this statement.


    "Die of poverty? Really? You must be kidding me, Brenton. The meat you eat is delivered by the hunters of the vige which share a portion of the meat they hunt. They keep some for themselves and sell the rest. So you won''t die of hunger, so do you mean you will die because of the taxes? The taxes are indeed a bit heavy, but not too unreasonable that you wouldn''t have any left. Or don''t you want to share a bit of money since you need it for the p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.es you hire every time you go to town." The vige elder looked at Brenton disgusted, he also looked at the others who had supported the fool.


    "I know all of these things, I might be old but I''m not a fool like you. Do you want me to tell your wife... Actually do you want me to tell all your wives?" The vige elder threatened the other men of the vige who didn''t want to cooperate.


    "But I have never even touched another woman, let alone go to a p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.e." One of the men who protested earlier spoke.


    "Hmph, I know all of your dirty little secrets. I have a good informant, so if you don''t want me to tell your wives you might as well help. Instead of using the money to buy useless things, using it to cheat, and other such nonsense. Why don''t you people just use it for your savior, for our savior. Also if Valdel bes a knight, the status of this vige will rise, and the taxes will lessen. He could even help us with that horrible marquis." When the vigers heard the vige elder''s threat they felt helpless. They knew what kind of misdeeds they''ve done.


    Yet when they heard thetter part of the vige elder''s speech, they felt a bit more motivated to help. Now they were wondering why he simply didn''t start with that.


    "You youngsters are so easy to read. If I started with that some of you might simply agree because the others did so, thenter I will find out you don''t want to help at all. So I simply stated what I want to happen, and you fools obviously objected, next I threatened you all forcing you to help, finally, I gave you a better reason to help, making you feel a bit more motivated."


    When the vigers heard what the vige elder said, they all thought the same thing. What a sly old fox the vige elder was. The next topic the vigers talked about was the entrance exam, they needed to teach Valdel how to read and write. Well even if he does fail the written exam as long as he does well in the practical exam he would still be able to enter.


    "Dave you be the one to teach him how to read and write. If I remember correctly back in the day you used to be a merchant. So you must know many more things about the kingdom than me. Are you willing to do it." The vige elder smiled at the merchant mischievously.


    ''For the eldest person here the old man sure acts like a child.'' This was the thought everyone present had about the vige elder when they saw his smile.


    Dave shrugged his shoulders as he answered. "Sure I can, it''s not like I can refuse." After this, the subsequent topics were easier to talk about.


    Later Dave didn''t know he would not only teach Valdel but Ren, Lisa, and Lara as well.


    ...


    It has been three years since the attack from the red bear, as well as that peculiar vige meeting. At this moment the people of the vige were gathered at the entrance of the vige. At the exit, three youths were saying their goodbyes.


    One was a handsome blond-haired youth wearing some cheap armor and a short sword on his waist. Another was an average looking ck haired kid with multiple hunting knives on his waist. Thest was a beautiful girl who has her hair tied in a ponytail, she was equipped with a bow and arrow.


    These three youths were Valdel, Ren, and Lara. Today was the day they leave the vige. Valdel was going to attend the knight academy. Ren has decided to be an adventurer, while Lara wanted to follow Ren.


    Lisa who was looking at her childhood friends, and her sister ready to leave, couldn''t help but tear up a bit. She too wanted to join them, but she had not the capability to do so. On the day Ren proimed he wanted to be an adventurer, many tried to persuade him to stop. Yet he was persistent, the vige elder decided to let Ren go if he was able to beat every man in the vige.


    So it was supposed to be a one on one each time until he beat them all. But Ren thought differently, he told all of the men toe at him at the same time. Some of them were furious because of his arrogance so they attacked together, but Ren easily subdued them. When the vigers saw how powerful Ren was, they had no choice but to agree to his decision. Even though they still thought Valdel could beat him since they saw that power of his awakening skill.


    All of them thought nothing in this world could resist that power. After Ren''s test was done, Lara and even Lisa said they wanted to be adventurers as well. Of course, they were given the same test, Lara won without a problem, but Lisa wasn''t as good. So, in the end, she was forced to stay.


    Matias and Milly hugged their son for a long while. Milly was crying so much not wanting to let go.


    "Ren, if things get difficult you can alwayse back. No matter what, this is your home. Mommy will always be waiting for you." After crying for a bit more, Milly reluctantly let go of her son.


    Matias then handed Ren a bag of silver coins.


    "I know it isn''t much, but I heard you need to pay to register in the adventurers guild. You can also use this to rent a room in an inn. I know you will be a great adventurer. I hope next time youe home, you''ll bring home a wife."


    Matias then slyly looks at Lara, while giving a wink at his son. Ren had a torrent of emotions flooding him at this moment. He wasn''t used to these kinds of parting, one with emotion. When he was a demon, parting was a natural thing, so one didn''t even need to invest any emotion.


    Ren who had the sudden urge unconsciously hugged his mother and father.


    "Don''t worry I will be the best. I will always send money your way, and when I return not to mention one, I will bring back a bunch of wives."


    The moment he said that he will bring a bunch of wives, an arrow flew past his head. When he looked where it came from, Lara with her expressionless face had fired the arrow.


    "What the hell are you doing?!" Shouted Ren.


    "Nothing... My hand slipped." With her ever stoic face, many couldn''t understand what Lara was feeling or thinking. Except for Ren who knew she was being jealous.


    Matias and even Milly who was crying started tough.


    Valdel was also saying his goodbyes to his parents after he was done Lisa approached him. "So you guys are finally leaving."


    "Yeah." Valdel didn''t know what to say since he always thought the four of them would always stay together.


    "I will always be waiting here for you guys." Lisa wanted to tell more. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, she wanted to kiss him, and tell him not to forget her, but in the end, she stopped herself. She didn''t want to be a shackle of the one she loves. She knew that Valdel will be doing great things, he will surely be the hero he wishes to be.


    So the only thing she can say right now was that she will be waiting. She couldn''t be like her sister, able to follow and support the one she loves. So this was alright, she needed to endure for him and herself.


    Valdel knew that Lisa wanted to say something more, but he hesitated to hear what it was. Cause if he hears what Lisa wants to say, his resolve to leave and be a great hero might waver. So, in the end, he decided to simply say.


    "Don''t worry I''ll be back, no we''ll be back, and I''m sure we''ll have a ton of stories to tell you." While saying this, Lara and even Ren came closer to the two.


    Ren who had a thousand years more experience, felt like he was simply being influenced by his human self. Yet he decided to embrace it, this warm feeling wasn''t really repulsive it was actually quitefortable.


    The four childhood friends did a group huddle. "So this is it, the start of our very own adventures," Valdel spoke emotionally.


    "I''ll miss you, sis, I will try to write to you every week." Lara who was usually so stoic was actually showing an abundance of emotion at this moment.


    "Just be safe, also keep these two idiots safe as well." Lisa was smiling but also crying at the same time as she said this.


    "Who is taking care of who? Shouldn''t you be asking me to take care of these two babies?" Ren was thest to speak, Hearing hiseback made the other threeugh. Ren joined in as well theyughed andughed until finally, they needed to say goodbye for real.


    The three walked away from the vige, as their silhouettes slowly disappeared from sight. Lisa knelt and broke down crying.


    "Why?! Why couldn''t I do it?! Why was I the only one left behind?! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!" It took a while for Lisa to finally calm down.


    This marked the day three legends started their grand, epic adventure.

 Chapter 7 - Bandit attack

    <h4>Chapter 7 - Bandit attack</h4>


    The three who left their vige were heading towards the city called Grenton, it was a three-day walk towards that city. So the trio continued their journey without entering any other town and camped out during the night. It was on the second day when Ren and Valdel were doing their usual morning spar.


    "Damn it! Howe I can never hit you?!" Valdel was attacking with all his strength, but no matter what move he made, no matter what skill he used. He could never even touch a hair of Ren''s.


    Ren had even allowed him to use magic, while Ren himself was under the effects of his original spell a non-attributed magic, gravitational magic. Ever since he had perfected this spell when he was fourteen years old, Ren kept on using it on his body on a daily basis except when he''s sleeping.


    The gravitational pull around Ren was thrice that of the world''s normal gravitational pull. This helps him in weight training as well as mana control training. He had noticed that the human body had a slightly harder start in acquiring mana, but once it gets going it just keeps on going.


    This made Ren wonder, if humans had this much potential why didn''t they give off a better fight, when he was still the strongest demon lord? Heck even now in this human form when he was simply fifteen years old, his current strength was about five percent of what it was at his peak.


    You might think that five percent isn''t much, but Ren''s five percent back when he was demon lord Kretos, could destroy several small viges with a single spell. To give you a better understanding of how strong Kretos was back in his peak, before he got sons and daughters, back when he was called the overlord of death.


    One attack from him back then could decimate an entire kingdom with the use of a single spell, cities, towns, viges everything in that kingdom would be reduced to nothing. It wasn''t even an exaggeration to say back then even ancient beings would flee from him.


    So that Kretos now called Ren, was giving himself a handicap as he spars with the current hero, his best friend Valdel. He was truly amazed at the potential of the human body, and kept on wondering why were they so weak back in the day? Lara, on the other hand, was trying out her new spell, using the mana elementals of wind called [wind burst].


    While all of them were doing their own thing, Ren had sensed that there was a battle going on further ahead of the path. It took both Lara and Valdel a few more seconds to notice this as well.


    "Ren I know you noticed that. We should check it out." Without waiting for a response Valdel charged onward.


    When Ren saw his hero friend charging onward without thinking, he could only sigh. He didn''t know if it was the natural disposition of a hero, or if he acquires it after awakening his power, but almost all of the heroes share a simr trait of being a busybody.


    Ren and Lara followed Valdel and caught up to him rather quickly. It would seem that he slowed down so that they could catch up. When the three arrived in the scene of the battle, they saw a bunch of dead bodies littered on the ground.


    Some unsavory looking men had surrounded a carriage. On the side of the people protecting the carriage, there were two knights left, one of them was even a beautifuldy with a gorgeous silver hair that was tied in a knot. Even though she was wearing a knight''s armor, you could still somehow see her wonderful figure. She with her ruby red eyes red at the men surrounding them.


    The other knight who was alive was a handsome young man, who had a firm stance. On the other side were sixteen bandit looking, men. That''s what they looked like at first nce, but seeing their weapons and the way they carried themselves indicated that they had trained in some way as a unit. Bandits didn''t have that kind of training, which led Ren to believe that these people were just disguised as bandits.


    It was at this dire moment, the one who was in the carriage went out. The person inside was an extremely beautifuldy with long pinkish blond hair, her blue eyes had the same beautiful color as the sky. She looked at the two knights protecting her and smiled gently.


    "If I''m to die today can you please tell me who it is that wants to kill me?" Thedy spoke with a gentle and kind tone. Yet the bandit like men didn''t respond.


    "Thedy is asking you something! Answer her now!" The young handsome knight shouted angrily. In which thedy stopped him.


    "It''s alright Rnd. It would seem like this is the end. I''m sorry to have led you to your deaths." Hearing their kinddy say such a thing made the two knights grip their sword even tighter.


    "Mydy please run, while I and Rnd handle these scoundrels." Thedy knight pleaded to her liege, but her liege simply shook her head.


    "I shall not run... Since even if I do run I won''t be able to get far."


    "But mydy!" Hearing Rnd''s shout, thedy simply shook her head once more. The bandit like men couldn''t wait anymore for their prey to say their farewells, so they attacked. Thedy knight and the man called Rnd tried to defend theirdy, but because they were outnumbered some of the bandit like men, got passed them.


    It was at this moment when a sword of a bandit was about to strike thedy. She who was ready to die was saved, by a man wearing some cheap armor with golden hair. This man had blocked the iing attack and pushed the bandit like man away with a kick.


    "Are you okay?" Valdel asked thedy, who looked at him in amazement.


    "Who are you!" Rnd shouted at Valdel who suddenly appeared. Even the bandit like men stopped attacking at the appearance of Valdel. They were in a state of shock since all of them couldn''t see his movements, they couldn''t see how Valdel arrived.


    Yet even with this addition, the bandit like men still looked so sure of their victory since they held the advantage in numbers. When they were about to resume their attacks, they heard a voice from behind them.


    "Always going on ahead. Do you even think before charging in? Wait, don''t answer that, since it''s obvious the answer is a no." An irritated voice of man was heard. When everyone present looked at where the voice came from, they saw half of the bandit like men have died, all the heads of the dead were cleanly cut off.


    It was amazing, in that one second, eight of the bandit like men had died, and with such a precise attack as well. The female knight who had witnessed everything was stunned.


    She saw the average looking boy walking from the distance, and every step he took made him seem like he teleported a few meters. Until finally he passed all the men and got to the area he was standing on. Yet that wasn''t the most shocking part, the most shocking part was the moment he passed them by. The heads of the bandit like men that he passed by suddenly detached from their bodies.


    The remaining men who saw what happened to theirpanions had gotten scared. they all started to run away yet the moment the others started to flee, an arrow flew and pierced the heart of those who fled.


    Now there were only five men left. The five of them were confused as to what was happening, but it was not only them who were confused. Even the people who Ren and hispanions were protecting were confused as well.


    The five men had no choice but to bet it all on an all out attack on thedy. Seeing the five men seem to be ready to attack, Valdel who was in front of thedy readied himself. Yet the moment the five men showed their backs to Ren, was the moment they died. Ren with a speed that couldn''t be discerned by a normal person was able to behead all of the enemies. These men weren''t even enough for a warm up for Ren, he was even restricting his movement to head slices but they still couldn''t react. This greatly disappointed Ren as he sighed in the middle of the dead bodies of his enemies.


    "Ren you didn''t even leave one for me." Valdel who wanted to gain a bit more experience fighting othersined at Ren.


    "Hmph, who told you to act so slow? Why were you even waiting for your opponent to attack? Haven''t I taught you when to attack? You already determined them to be enemies, so you should''ve attacked without hesitation."


    When Ren was lecturing Valdel Lara who was hiding on a nearby tree branch jumped down. "You''re too slow Val." Lara chimed in and told Valdel off as well.


    Valdel was about to retort but was interrupted by an angry voice.


    "Who are you, people?!" Rnd and thedy knight were already positioned in front of their liege, wary of Ren''s group. After encountering the bandit like men, the next thing that showed up were these amazingly skilled people.


    Since they don''t know who these people were affiliated with, they were very wary of them. Even though they had saved their lives. It could all simply be a scheme of sorts.


    "Stand down!" Thedy ordered her men to stand down. Yet the two knights wouldn''t do so and kept their guard up. Thedy could only sigh, and their stubbornness.


    "I''m sorry that these two, are being rude. I hope you forgive them." Thedy bowed her head which shocked the two knights.


    "So to start with, how about we introduce ourselves." Thedy continued talking with her gentle voice and smile. She was specifically looking at Valdel really curious about him.

 Chapter 8 - A noble

    <h4>Chapter 8 - A noble</h4>


    Ren''s group introduced themselves to the wary knights that they saved. They exined that they were going to Grenton so that Valdel could attend the knight academy, while Ren and Lara would register as adventurers.


    When the nobledy heard what they had said, she was about to respond, but before she could say anything Rnd responded first.


    "How dare you talk to mydy in such an informal tone!" When thedy knight heard what Rnd said, she looked at him with a re.


    "Enough Rnd! Apologize to our saviors!" The nobledy had a stern tone as she reprimanded Rnd.


    "But mydy!" Rnd wanted to say something more but was stopped by the nobledy raising her finger.


    "I said enough! Now apologize!" Hearing the nobledy''s angry voice, made Rnd bite his lower lip.


    "I''m sorry that I acted rudely." Rnd apologized after which he started gnashing his teeth while clenching his fist.


    "Hmph, whatever we''re done here. Let''s go." Ren had enough of this farce and wanted to leave since they had already been dyed for a few minutes.


    "Wait, Sir Ren, don''t you want to learn who I am?" The nobledy tried to stop Ren from leaving. While the female knight was trying to discern something as she looked at Ren.


    Ren who was about to leave looked at the nobledy and sneered. "Heh, that''s funny. You won''t even show your true self, and you want me to believe that you''ll tell me who you are? Whatever we have no time for this."


    "If you don''t want to learn who I am. Surely you could ride with us, it would be much faster to get to Grenton on a horse." The nobledy was really trying to make Ren''s group stay.


    "No need we''re faster than those things." Ren left without waiting for the nobledy''s response. Lara of course immediately followed, Valdel bowed to the other party and apologized as he followed as well.


    Seeing the speed in which they ran, shocked the three who watched their fading silhouettes. They weren''t kidding when they said that they were faster than horses.


    ...


    When the nobledy''s group was quite a distance away from the ce the fake bandits attacked. Rnd started to curse at Ren''s group.


    "Who the hell does he think he is?! Talking to ourdy like that! Hmph, I remembered his name, Valdel was it? I''ll make sure he has a hard time in the knight academy."


    "You shall do no such thing!" The nobledy from inside the carriage spoke.


    "But mydy!" Rnd tried to protest but he was cut off by the nobledy.


    "No buts! Also, stop the carriage, I would like to rest a bit."


    "Certainly mydy." The female knight was the one to respond. Once the carriage was stopped, the nobledy spoke to Rnd.


    "Rnd, I am hungry, I heard from one of the knights that you are great hunter, and your stone rabbit soup is sublime. I would wish to have a taste of that."


    "Certainly mydy. I will go and hunt some stone rabbits, and prepare the best soup I can make." Without any dy, Rnd set off to hunt some stone rabbits.


    Once his presence was gone, the nobledy started to loosen up. "Man, that was exhausting... How long should I y as your doubledy Ashley? We already know that guy Rnd is the traitor, why don''t we just kill him and get it done with."


    "We still can''t do that, since we haven''t figure out who sent him. So for the time being you need to y as me for a bit more Rika."


    It turns out that the nobledy was the knight, and the knight was the nobledy.


    "It would''ve been over, and we could''ve ckmailed Rnd into telling us who he was working for. That is if Ren''s group hadn''t shown up. I already saw Rnd was about to stab me once his aplice was done with you." Ashley the real noble spoke a bit disappointed at the oue of their charade.


    Even though they could force him to talk, without any evidence that he was a traitor. Rika and even Ashley might be punished because of falsely using someone. Though Ashley was a princess, she couldn''t just do whatever she wanted.


    If they were to catch him red handed in betraying them, they could use this as a sort of leverage to force him to tell who was ordering him. It would be much easier to persuade him to give up on his boss if they had proof that he was a real traitor.


    "Yeah, who would''ve thought someone like that would appear. Still wasn''t he really handsome, the moment he supposedly saved me was the coolest." Rika felt ted when she remembered Valdel''s gant figure.


    "Are you talking about that boy Valdel? I wasn''t really looking at him, I was looking at that guy who seems to be the leader of the group." Ashley started to remember Ren''s piercing eyes that seem to be able to see through everything.


    "Oh that guy, he was amazing too. Actually thest line he said when I asked if he wasn''t interested in my identity. He said that I wasn''t even showing my true self. It seems like he actually saw through my act." Rika also remembered the look he gave her, and shoved it out of her mind and remembered the smiling face of the hunk called Valdel instead.


    "He did see through us, not only that his skills were monstrous! Not to mention the mana that was surrounding him, it was intense and so strong like it wanted to devour everything in sight." Ashley shivered remembering that gushing mana Ren was trying to suppress.


    It was not just Ren who was suppressing his mana, the two people with him were doing so as well. Yet their mana wasn''t leaking out as threateningly as his. This could only mean two things, one Ren wasn''t really good at controlling manapared to hispanions. Two and the more likely scenario, Ren has such an enormous pool of mana stored in his body, even he couldn''t suppress it.


    "You saw his mana flow? How was he, was he stronger than the Captain of the Royal knights?" Rika was really curious since herdy Ashley was one of the few people that could actually see the flow of mana.


    "You can''t evenpare the two. The knight captain''s mana flow is like a candle light, while Ren''s mana flow is like the raging sun." Hearing her liege praise Ren so much, and actually looked a tad excited remembering Ren, Rika snickered.


    "Oh my, oh my, what''s this? Is our princess, the one hailed as the steel princess, actually interested in a guy? The princess who uses her sword instead of her words to speak to her suitors. The princess who doesn''t like showing her face to the public, since she rather practice her swordsmanship. That princess is actually enamored by a random viger?" Rika teased Ashley.


    "First off, I am not enamored by him, second he is not just a random viger, also stop making it sound like I''m so violent." Ashley retorted while pouting.


    "So you don''t deny being interested?" Hearing Rika''s question, Ashley smiled.


    "Yeah, I guess I am interested in him. He didn''t care that you were a noble, he didn''t care that you looked beautiful, he wasn''t like those scum that only looks at me with lust. He was actually quite pure."


    "What''s this I hear, did you actually call me beautiful? Also, that guy was pure? Didn''t you see how he ughtered those men without blinking. My man Valdel is the pure one." Rika retorted.


    "Since when did that guy be your man? Also, I wasn''t talking about the purity of his soul or anything like that. What I was talking about was something else... But never mind that, Rnd might being back so get back to your role and pretend to be me. I''m sure he contacted whoever hired him, and told him about his failure to assassinate me. So he might be thinking of a different way to do it. When he does whatever he is nning, we''ll catch him red handed and afterward will get him to tell who hired him." Ashley who had a rxed expression a minute ago changed back to a more serious expression.


    "Fine then... I really hope we can get this over soon. Acting like this is hard, you don''t even act like this." Rikained to Ashley with an exasperated tone.


    "Well, of course, I don''t act in such a way. But that is what Rnd and the others believe how I act. He might find it even more suspicious if you don''t act like what the rumors portray me as."


    "Fine, fine, I''ll continue to act alldylike." Rika sighed as she gave in to her fate.

 Chapter 9 - At the gates of Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 9 - At the gates of Grenton</h4>


    Ren and his group had finally made it to Grenton. It was a bigger town than they thought. From the distance they could already spot the town. Also instead of a town, the ce look more like a fortress, with tall walls surrounding it. Valdel and even Lara were looking at the ce in amazement. Who could me them, the only ce they knew of, was the surrounding area near their small vige.


    When Ren and his group were about to enter through the front gate, they were stopped by two guards. The two guards were wearing better armor than Valdel who was wearing an almost rusted piece of armor. The two guards proceeded to look at Valdel''s crappy armor in disdain, while sneering.


    Afterwards the two noticed Lara. Who Even though she was young, her body was already shaped like an a.d.u.l.t woman''s, with all the right curves. So the two guards checked out her body, in which they didn''t hide the lust in their eyes. Since no one passes through the gates at this hour, the two guards thought that they could have a little fun with the youngdy. When Ren saw the looks they were giving Lara, his killing intent was bursting out and had encroached the two guards.


    The two guards who felt Ren''s massive killing intent started to shiver in fear, and had peed their pants. The two while shaking uncontrobly started to kneel, they even started crying in front of Ren''s group.


    Valdel knew immediately who had done this to them. He then held Ren''s shoulder, while looking a bit worried at his best friend.


    "Ren what are you doing?"


    "These two, looked down on you. Even worse they looked at Lara with lust. No one, and I mean no one, not even the Gods are allowed to look at Lara with lust. Only I am allowed to do that! Lara is my woman, she''s mine! Only death awaits for those foolish enough to touch or even think of touching what is mine."


    Even though Lara knew of this. She with her stoic expression would still blush, hearing Ren call her his woman. Yet every time she remembered that she couldn''t just be the one and only, and that she needed to share him with others at some point... The thought made her feel a bit bad. Yet she knew someone like Ren would always take what he wants and never back down.


    Valdel was getting worried as Ren was really seriously thinking of killing the guards. He needed to stop this before it esctes.


    "Ren, they just looked at her. They weren''t going to take anything from you. If they did do something like whatever you''re thinking right now, then I would be the first one to finish them off. So please calm down Ren... If you do something even more excessive, you wont be able to join the adventurers guild. If you won''t be able to join, what would Uncle Matias, and Auntie Milly think? So please Ren, calm down."


    Ren was seething in anger. Even though he should''ve killed these guys the moment they looked at Lara like dogs in heat. Yet he... Hesitated, he actually stopped to consider wether to kill them or not. He the former strongest demon lord, the killer of heroes, the conquerer of nations, had actually hesitated!


    If this was before he had reincarnated, he wouldn''t even think. He would''ve killed them both on the spot, alongside the man who stopped him. Which in this case was Valdel, if it was before, even if Valdel was his biological son he would''ve died for trying to stop him.


    Ren clenched his fist and sighed, looking at the resolution in Valdel''s eyes he knew what his foolish best friend would do. If he attacked the two fools, this idiotic friend of his would try to stop him even if the cost is his life. This was another annoying trait of a hero, self sacrifice.


    Though what he said is indeed true, if he kills these bastards then he might not be able to join the adventurers guild. That would make things difficult not just for him, but for Lara as well. It would also trouble his human parents.


    "Fine then, I wont kill them." Hearing Ren had calm down and wasn''t emitting any killing intent, Valdel felt relieved.


    The two guards who were looking down on them awhile ago, now looked at Ren in fear and horror. The moment Ren released them from the grip of his killing intent, the two guards wanted to run away but couldn''t. Their legs weren''t working properly they felt like rubber.


    "I wont kill them, but these two need to be punished. That''s the bestpromise I can give you Val. If you stop me from doing even that, then I might need to be a bit rough on you." This was Ren''s final warning to Valdel.


    This time there really was no stopping Ren, Valdel had no choice but to simply nod his head. Seeing Valdel''s reply, Ren smiled.


    He slowly approached the two guards, who were shaking violently as they saw him approach. Ren then knelt down to look at two guards, eye to eye before speaking.


    "You have done something you shouldn''t have. Normally you would be dead by now, but because of my friend over there, you get to survive this ordeal." Ren pointed at Valdel, indicating him as the friend that saved the two guards.


    "Still you need to be punished... So because you looked lewdly at my woman I will be taking an eye from of each of you."


    Hearing what Ren said the two guards were panicking, and they wanted to say something, but no matter how hard they try, they couldn''t make a sound.


    "Don''t worry this will be quick... And excruciatingly painful." Without further ado, Ren''s fingers plucked out the eyeballs of the two guards. One eyeball per guard, like he promised.


    The moment their eyeballs were plucked out, an intense pain came over the two guards they screamed in agony for a bit before fainting on the spot.


    Ren looked at the two eyeballs he was holding and burned them using a fire spell.


    "Hmph, weaklings, fainting from only this much... You better not anger me again, cause the next time... Heh, the next time will not be as pleasant." After he was done talking to the unconscious guards Ren walked pass the gates into the town of Grenton. Lara as usual followed Ren, without even looking at the unconscious guards.


    Valdel on the other hand used a minor healing spell to stop the bleeding from their eye sockets. Once he was done using the spell he went into the town of Grenton, sighing at the misfortune of the two guards.

 Chapter 10 - Knight academy

    <h4>Chapter 10 - Knight academy</h4>


    Ren alongside Valdel and Lara headed towards the knight Academy. While walking towards the knight academy Ren''s twopanions kept on being amazed at everything they saw. It took a few minutes to reach the knight academy since the three got lost for a bit in the confusing streets of Grenton.


    When the three finally got to the front gates of the academy, they saw there was a man who looked bored while waiting at a table that wasbeled registry.


    Valdel nervously approached the man. When the man who was at the table saw Valdel approaching, he started to asses the kid before him. The armor the boy was wearing is old and cheap. It barely functions as armor it would''ve been better if he simply didn''t wear it. Next was the way he carries himself, even though he was obviously nervous his walk was still firm, and his bodynguage indicated he was ready for an attack at any given moment.


    The kid had finally got in front of the table. "Good day sir. I''m here to register as a student." Valdel spoke nervously because for some reason being in front of the gates of the knight academy made it feel so real. At first, he was just saying he wanted to be a hero, now the first step to bing one was really about to start he felt very nervous.


    "Wait a minute kid, I need to look into something first. So Just stand there." Even though Valdel was confused by the man''s instructions, he still did as he was told, and simply stood there with a straight back.


    The man took out some sses given to him by the academy''s principal. These sses were special as they gave the wearer the ability to gauge another''s mana capacity. When the man looked at Valdel with the sses, he saw an enormous amount of mana within him.


    This level of mana was the same as a veteran knight who has been in real battle for ten to fifteen years. Yet this kid who was clearly sixteen years of age had the same amount of mana as a full-fledged knight with experience.


    While the man was being amazed by Valdel''s capacity, at the corner of his eyes he saw another glow of mana, but there wasn''t anyone there. So he turned his head to look to his right, what he saw almost made him stumble backward.


    Right in front of him a few meters away stood an average looking boy who was standing beside a beautiful girl. The girl beside the boy was also exuding a mana capacity that was above average, it was lesser than Valdel''s but it was still more than enough to be a student in the knight academy. Yet that wasn''t what surprised him, the thing that surprised him the most, was the average looking boy.


    If the sses the principal gave him weren''t malfunctioning, then that average looking boy was a monster disguised in human flesh. The mana he was exuding covered the whole area he was in. This mana capacity of his outsses even the principal of the knight academy, it was at the level of those captain ss knights.


    Ren who saw that the man was peaking at his mana capacity decided to scare him. He then stopped suppressing his mana for a bit. The moment he did so, the man''s sses lens cracked and shattered. The man surprised by the shattering of the lens stumbled backward.


    Valdel who was told to simply stand there, hesitated a bit before deciding to help the man, even though it went against his instructions.


    "Are you alright sir?" Valdel extended a helping hand to the man that fell backward. The man who was shocked a moment ago stood up with enthusiasm.


    "Yeah, I''m alright, here write your name on this paper." The man gave Valdel a registration form.


    "How about the two gold coins? Should I pay now?"


    "Huh?... Oh that, no need to pay the entrance fee, also there is no need for you to take the entrance exam. I the sword instructor of the third years, Julius Verton acknowledge you as a student of Reschbeauch''s knight academy. School will start in the morning two days from now, you cane back by then. Here is the badge that signifies that you are a student. Also-" After handing the badge to Valdel who was still shocked by his sudden eptance. Julius started to walk towards Ren and Lara.


    "Do you want to be a student of Reschbeauch''s knight academy? If you join, you won''t need to pay for anything, simr to your friend over there. Of course, thedy can be a student as well."


    "Not interested," Ren answered without dy. This shocked Julius since he wasn''t expecting to be rejected. Usually, it was he who rejects people from entering the academy.


    Valdel who had heard Julius''s offer to Ren, quickly run towards him.


    "Ren, why didn''t you agree? You could be a knight like me! It''s going to be free as well, so no need to worry about the gold coins."


    Hearing Valdel back him up Julius nodded at everything he said.


    "Val I already made up my mind. Didn''t I tell you once before that what I seek is something different than what you dream to be. You have your path to follow and I have mine. Don''t worry even if I don''t join the academy I can still help you in my own way."


    When Valdel remembered that conversation they had long ago, he could only sigh and reluctantly agree to his best friend''s decision. Julius, on the other hand, didn''t want to give up.


    "Wait, how about justing to school once a week. No need to attend sses all the time, you just need to attend any ss you want one time for the whole week." Seeing Ren wasn''t moved by this statement, Julius up the ante.


    "If you don''t like to attend once a week, we can make it once a month. Also, all the meals will be free. Not only that if you graduate you will be a knight, and then you will gain a noble title."


    "As I said, I''m not interested." Even with all the perks, Ren still didn''t change his answer.


    "Wait here, I will call the principal. You just need to talk to the principal." Julius was getting really desperate. It was so different from the indifference he disyed in the beginning.


    "Can you even understand what I''m saying? I''m not interested... Let me make this clear to you, even if you give me all the treasures in this kingdom, no matter if I talk to the king himself, I won''t be changing my mind."


    Hearing what Ren said, Julius was going to say something more, but before he could do so the trio run away. The speed that they used to flee the scene, made them look like they disappeared; but Julius saw through their movements, as they jump upwards onto the roofs.


    ''Fine even if you escape me now, I''ll slowly convince your friend to make you join the academy.''


    ...


    Ren who alongside Valdel and Lara were jumping from roof to roof was slightly irritated. Ever since he left the vige all the other humans he met were irritating. First, there was the noble liar, next were the lustful guards, now it was a pushy knight.


    At this point, he was sure he was going to be irritated at the people in the adventurers guild.

 Chapter 11 - The Knight Academy Principal

    <h4>Chapter 11 - The Knight Academy Principal</h4>


    Ren and his group who were jumping from roof to roofnded on an empty street They were now near the adventurers guild. But before they entered, Valdel couldn''t help but ask.


    "Ren I thought you didn''t like people to know how strong you are? If so then why did you stop suppressing your mana and showed that knight a part of your real strength?"


    "Huh? When did I ever say that?" Ren was bewildered by Valdel''s sudden question. The question itself was confusing since he can''t remember ever saying such a thing.


    "Back in the vige, when we were training. I asked you, why you never show Uncle and Auntie what you are truly capable of. You answered because it''s troublesome. So why now? That knight will most probably tell the principal about you, and things might get even more troublesome. Are you alright with that?"


    Hearing Valdel''s question made Ren finally realize what Valdel thought of what he said back then.


    "Val it''s not like I want to avoid troublesome things, it''s just that I don''t want to trouble my parents. If they knew about my strength, it would trouble them about what to do with me. They might even think about trying to help me get into the knight academy as well. Once they realize that no matter how hard they try they simply can''t afford it, my parents will think that they are horrible parents unable to support their son."


    Hearing Ren''s answer made Valdel think about what his own parents thought when they heard he had the strength to beat a red bear. When he was about to sympathize with Ren, that best friend of his then said something that changes the meaning of whatever he said awhile ago.


    "Well, truthfully I didn''t really feel like exining things to my parents. But with the principal or the knights, I don''t really care about what they think of me. I only wanted to scare that peeping tom for a bit. Also if they did do something to me, then they should expect me to crush them into nothingness. I don''t care whatever reason they have to attack I only hope they will be able to satisfy me." Ren who thought of all the knight academy students and teachers attacking him excited him to no end. He showed a vicious smile as he imagined that scenario.


    His old personality was once again resurfacing, his lust for battle was not much as before when he was still a demon, but it was still there. When he realized that he was about to lose control of himself, Ren stopped thinking about fighting. As he tried to calm his mind.


    Valdel who felt his best friend''s rising battle intent as well as seeing that vicious grin of his, remembered that time. He remembered the time Ren fought the a.d.u.l.t red bear, he had a simr grin back then.


    Even Lara was starting to get worried about Ren''s current state, but before they did anything Ren suddenly calmed himself down. Once he was calm enough Ren continued to exin the reason why he did what he did.


    "Well, I also had another reason. It''s a kind of bait you see. The principal will find me once I''m an adventure, and at that point, I''m going to use the principal to boost my prestige." Ren then exined to the inexperienced Valdel a bit about his true intent.


    ...


    While Ren and his group were talking in front of the adventurers guild, Julius was speaking to the Principal. He exined what had transpired in the front gates of the academy.


    Julius then presented the broken sses as proof of what happened. The principal took the broken sses and inspected it. These sses of his were made with magical properties and the materials used came from a number of formidable monsters. To shatter the sses with simply showcasing one''s mana capacity, indicated the person had mana that surpassed a certain threshold.


    "So what happened afterwards? Were you able to invite the boy to be a student at the academy?" The principal asked Julius while still inspecting the sses. Julius hesitated a bit, before answering.


    "No sir, I tried but he rejected the invitation." When the Principal heard Julius''s answer, he ced the sses down and looked at Julius like he was assessing him.


    "Did you at least acquired his name?"


    "No sir..." When Julius answered, he noticed that the Principal''s face seem to darken, so he quickly added on. "But his friend will join our school two days from now. We can question him about the boy. Here is his registration form."


    Julius handed to the Principal, Valdel''s registration form. The Principal then looked at the registration form, and the first thing he noticed was Valdel''s messy handwriting. He read every detail of what was written in the registration form, and what interested him was the vige Valdel came from.


    The boy was actually from Carto Vige. The forgotten vige of the hero who in the Dragon King Ruka. Was the boy perhaps a descendant of that hero, that might mean his friend was as well.


    "We might still be able to salvage this mistake of yours... Inform me immediately once the boy called Valdel arrives. I will personally talk to him."


    "Yes, sir." Julius respectfully answered.


    "If you won''t add anything more to your report, then you may leave." Julius who heard the Principal dismiss him left after saluting him the knight''s way.


    Once Julius left the room, the principal stood up and headed towards the bookshelf. He started to look around until he finally found what he was searching for. It was a book without a title, just a picture of a dragon with two heads on the cover. The Principal opened the book and started reading it when he found the passage he was looking for he smiled.


    "I wonder if they had inherited that skill as well. The skill that made Hero Carto, able to y Dragon King Ruka. The skill that had granted him the title of hero." When the Principal imagines himself training a future hero, his old bones that have grown bored and weak. Started to feel excited and rejuvenated once more.


    His final years were nearing, and death coulde at any time. But before he would greet the God of Death, his wish to train the strongest knight was within reach.

 Chapter 12 - Adventurers Guild

    <h4>Chapter 12 - Adventurers Guild</h4>


    After exining to Valdel and Lara a part of his n, the two had no more questions. They simply thought that Ren''s n was assuming too much. He was going to rely on too much coincidences to happen for his n to seed. Still they have never seen Ren fail before, so the two needed to trust him on this.


    Once they were done with their talk the three walked towards the adventurers guild. The guild was a building in the middle of the town, it''s size was a bit smaller than the knight academy, but it was still a huge building. Ren noticed that the building itself wasyered with numerous types of defensive spells.


    This was not only a normal guild building, this was obviously a fortress within a fortress. Ren felt excited to enter this ce. At the moment with his strength destroying the guild building was doable, but will result in him using too much mana. Ren was truly excited, the one who ced the defensive spells around the building, was surely as strong or stronger than the current Ren, who has only around five percent of his former strength.


    When the three of the entered the guild, some of the people inside looked at them for a moment, then didn''t bother with them anymore. It was just another group of kids dreaming of bing top adventurers, they weren''t even properly equipped.


    The more veteran adventurers didn''t mind the newbie''s since they too were once like that. The only true way to measure a great adventurer was an adventurer that doesn''t die. No matter if you have the greatest equipment, or the greatest skill, death can stille. Only if you live tomorrow and onwards, can one be truly a good adventurer.


    The only ones who truly took noticed of the trio were the young ones, the aspiring adventurers just like them. Also the newbie adventurers that, just survived a mission and still think that they''re the uprising stars of the guild.


    When they saw that Valdel was wearing some rusty armor, they snickered. Then they noticed Ren who wasn''t wearing any proper equipment, he even had a ridiculous amount of hunting knives on his waist, which made him look even funnier. Still what caught these guys attention the most, was the beautiful girl that was with them.


    The newbie adventurers know the rules of the guild so they couldn''ty there hands on the girl at the moment, but the aspiring adventurers that were here to register same as Ren''s group know no fear.


    A group of boys who were here to register approached Ren''s group. The boys who were heading towards Ren''s group looked like actual adventurerspared to Ren and Lara. The had proper equipment and based on their party line up they actually feel like an adventuring group. They had two front liners, a healer, a thief, and a magician.


    The leader of the group who had a greatsword on his back tried to approach Lara, but Ren blocked his path. The man looked at Ren annoyed that he stopped him.


    "I have no business with you. So get out of my way while I''m still being nice." The man threatened Ren by holding the handle of his greatsword.


    Ren didn''t move aside even with that warning, and instead snickered. He didn''t even bother to look at the guy with the greatsword, as he asked one of the guild''s receptionist something.


    "Excuse me guilddy, if someone attacks me, and I kill him in self defense is that alright?" The receptionist Ren talked to was surprised that the average looking boy spoke to her. She wasn''t sure why he was asking that kind of question, it can''t be that he thinks he can actually win against that guy with the greatsword with his poor equipment. Still it is part of her job to answer these kind of questions.


    "Yes if they attack first, no matter if you kill him, you will not be held responsible. That is if you have witnesses who saw the attack."


    "Hear that small fry? If you don''t want to die, you better back off." The man with the greatsword was stunned by what Ren said, so were hispanions. But after a brief pause they all started tough.


    "Hahaha, Really you think you can take me on?"


    "Not only can I take you on, I can kill all of your friends as well. So if you''reing thene already!" Hearing what Ren said, the man with the greatsword couldn''t take it anymore, even the thief of his group was about to throw a knife, but an arrow shot the knife out of his hand.


    "Don''t help me Lara, I will do this myself." Lara who shot the arrow lowered her bow, the man with the greatsword was shocked by Lara''s skill, but he didn''t care about that now. So without anymore hesitation he swung his greatsword downward. The strength that he used was enough to cleave even boulders in half.


    Yet Ren simply responded by raising his pinky finger to block. His pinky finger was coated with his own mana, so the moment the de touched the tip of his pinky finger the greatsword stopped.


    Everyone who was watching this scene was shocked, thepanions of the man with the greatsword, thought that their leader was simply toying with his opponent.


    "Hey boss, why did you stop your strike?"


    "Yeah boss finish him off already."


    The boss of the group of men couldn''t respond since he was exerting his full power to sh down at Ren. Seeing that there boss was actually seriously attacking made the group of men, panic a bit.


    "Damn it let''s all attack!"


    Ren hearing what one of them said, was getting excited. It was time to show everyone here his overwhelming might. He just needed to show it once, and the effect that he wants to happen will happen.


    Valdel who was watching the once arrogant group of men, attack Ren at the same time had mixed feelings. He already knew that Ren had nned to do this from the get go, and the only fate awaiting the arrogant men was death.


    Valdel clenched his fist tightly, if he was stronger he could have avoided this fight all together. Valdel would''ve simply talked to the men, and if that didn''t work he would''ve just beat them up, but not kill them. He believed that everyone has the ability to change, so he wanted to give these men a second chance... Unfortunately he didn''t have the power to change his best friend''s view of the world. He didn''t have the power to persuade his best friend to stop. If only he had the ability then they could''ve avoided the impending oue.


    If Ren could hear Valdel''s thoughts he would have puked. It was another of those heroic traits he hated so much, pushing ones own justice on another. Also the thinking of everyone is inherently good, and everyone deserves a second chance no matter how evil. These were the beliefs of a hero that Ren as the demon lord Kretos thought was hypocrisy.


    Back in his previous life, these ideals of the hero was the very thing that killed millions of people, be they human or demon.


    Yet since Ren couldn''t read Valdel''s mind, he wasn''t bothered and was fully focused on how to show these men and the people in the guild that he is not someone anyone would want to mess with.

 Chapter 13 - Overwhelming Might

    <h4>Chapter 13 - Overwhelming Might</h4>


    Some of the adventurers were going to help Ren, but when they saw him stop a greatsword using only his pinky finger they were stunned. The receptionist who thought Ren was going to lose and was too overconfident had her eyes wide open as she saw Ren intercept a greatsword with nothing but his pinky finger.


    The party of the man with the greatsword surrounded Ren, they were even a bit wary of Valdel and Lara, but even under this situation, Ren''s friends didn''t seem like they will move to help him.


    The party of the man with the greatsword had surrounded him but they were doing nothing. They cautiously waited for a chance to attack. Ren then pushed the greatsword upward with a slight flick of his pinky finger. The man who attacked Ren was caught by surprise and lost bnce by this sudden move.


    Yet even though he had a chance to attack, Ren didn''t move. This confused the man with the greatsword. Ren simply smiled viciously at the people surrounding him.


    "Come,e attack me! Show me everything you got! If you guys don''t attack me with all your might then you will die while regretting. Try to crush me with all your power, show me a battle worth remembering!" Once again Ren was being overwhelmed by his emotion of wanting to do battle.


    The party members with the man using the greatsword stopped hesitating and attacked Ren at the same time. The healer boosted all his party members with buffs. After getting buffed by the healer, the thief threw five to ten knives at Ren which were all aimed at his head. The magician then started chanting while the guy using a short sword as well as his boss both attacked at the same time.


    The one with the short sword aimed for the legs while the boss aimed at the head. Seeing the iing attack from all sides, made Ren happy. He caught some of the knives in between his fingers and evaded the rest. The boss of the enemy party smiled as he noticed that Ren couldn''t evade his attack as well as his subordinate''s attack who was aiming at Ren''s legs.


    The moment both attacks reached Ren everyone couldn''t believe what they saw. Ren who was using the non-attributed spell [boost] was unharmed by the attacks. The spell [boost] not only enhances the strength and speed of the user, but it also enhances the endurance and the hardness of the human body.


    The spell [boost] made Ren''s body harder than most metals. The hardness of his body was proportional to how much mana Ren could use at the moment. So at this point, the only way to beat Ren is if the enemy could somehow deplete his mana supply, or the enemy has an ability that can prate through mana coating.


    Unfortunately, the enemy couldn''t do any of those two options.


    "Boss move aside." The magician was finally done with his spell. The boss who was stunned by Ren''s powerful body was jolted awake by hispanion''s shout. He and his subordinate stepped aside, Ren who knew what wasing simply stood there with a look of excitement.


    "Take this you monster! [me Bolt]" A huge fire arrow formed above the magician''s head and struck down on Ren. The spell hit Ren without any interference, also due to the building''s defensive spells the attack was contained on Ren''s spot which amplified the spell. This surprised the caster of the spell as well. The magician never thought his spell was that strong.


    The area where Ren stood was now filled with smoke. Valdel was shocked by the power of that attack, but both he and Lara knew what sort of being their friend was.


    The people in the guild were saddened by the loss of a promising adventurer. He was simply too arrogant, and he let his opponent take him by surprise. An adventurer was only good if he was alive. The arrogant young man wouldn''tst long enough if he acted like this during a mission. Yet the strength he has shown was real, that''s why the senior adventurers were saddened by his sudden death. He wasn''t even able to register before he died.


    The party of the Greatsword user was relieved that the attacked worked. Yet they couldn''t let their guard down since Ren''spanions were still there. When they readied themselves for the attack from Valdel and Lara, they were surprised to see that they weren''t moving.


    While confused as to why they wouldn''t attack them, the party of the greatsword user heard a heartyugh. It was augh from someone they thought was dead.


    "Hahaha! Who knew that you guys had it in you. I thought you were losers that had no skill and simply knew how to bark. Yet how surprising your coordination was nice, I give your coordination a B-. Your individual strengths are a D since you''re still young. You would''ve had an F if you were some old veterans. Yet your battle awareness gets an F since you didn''t even check to see if I died. You simply assumed that I did. Overall the final grade I''ll give you guys is a C-, you get points for effort."


    Ren swiped his hands making the smoke surrounding him disappear. The people who saw him had their hearts beating faster because of fear. Ren who they thought had died was unscathed, even his clothes weren''t burned.


    "Now as a thank you for showing me something unexpected. I will show you what true overwhelming might is like." The moment Ren said those lines, the surrounding people felt a heavy pressure fall down upon them.


    The only ones unaffected were the receptionists, Valdel, and Lara. Everyone else felt that overwhelming pressure. The weaker adventurers were already on the ground unconscious while the stronger ones were kneeling trying to resist the pressure. Only a few of the truly strong adventurers remained standing.


    The greatsword user''s party who were the ones being targeted by the pressure, could only barely stay conscious as they knelt on the ground. At this moment they regretted everything, they shouldn''t have assumed the other party was weak based on his equipment. They regretted that they wanted to y with the girl. Yet the thing they regretted the most was that they didn''t ept Ren''s offer when he offered them to back off.


    Now that they have provoked this monster he will kill them without mercy. Some of the members were ming their boss for what was happening to them. Yet no matter who they me, or how much they regret doing what they did. They cannot change what has happened.


    "You guys were not as disappointing as I thought." Ren was about to finish them off, but before he could do so, someone interrupted him.


    "Wait! Can you spare their lives this one time." Someone suddenly appeared in front of Ren. He was able to stand while everyone was being pressured by Ren''s sheer presence.


    Ren who saw this interloper smiled at him.


    ''You finally took the bait.'' The person in front of Ren was the person he was waiting for. The reason Ren didn''t kill the idiotic group immediately was because he wanted to lure this man out. This man who had the highest authority in this branch of the adventurers guild. The guild master of Grenton''s adventurer guild.

 Chapter 14 - Guild master

    <h4>Chapter 14 - Guild master</h4>


    Ren released the pressure he was emitting and looked at the man who suddenly appeared before him. The person who appeared was a tall man wearing disheveled clothes, his bodynguage and the look he was giving feels like he''s saying everything was so tedious. He had not the intensity of a powerful man, he felt like an unmotivated employee, azy bum. Yet from the way he suddenly appeared and that he wasn''t bothered by the pressure Ren was emitting, indicated he was anything but normal. It was obvious that aside from Ren this man was the most powerful person in the building.


    "Who might you be? And why should I listen to you? Why should I spare these fools that attacked me?" Ren could already guess who the man in front of him was. It was easy to guess, since even though nobody noticed how he appeared, Ren saw that he came from the second floor of the building. He was also the only one who was concealing his mana flow.


    This man was obviously the Guild master of this branch. Knowing this Ren had sessfully done step one of his n now it was time for step two.


    The guild master who had heard Ren''s question answered while scratching his messy green hair. "Well the paperwork that I need to file if you killed them would be horrendous. I wanted to restter, but if you kill them I''ll be forced by that scary secretary of mine to do the paperwork. Seriously what kind of secretary threatens her boss? Why won''t she do the paperwork for me instead? Isn''t that part of her job? If it''s not it should be. The only thing she ever does is nag like she''s my mom."


    The Guild Master went on and on about how bad his secretary was and what a drag it was to do paperwork. Basically, he wasining about his job, and how his secretary forces him to do said job.


    "I don''t really care about your paperwork. Also, you still haven''t introduced yourself." Ren interrupted the Guild Master while he was speaking badly about his secretary which he was oddly passionate about.


    "Oh, right the name''s Nezard Netter. I am the twenty-seventh Guild master of the Grenton Branch. Nice to meet you aspiring... Um... Oh right, Adventurer. So umm yada yada yada, wee to the guild." Nezard unenthusiastically responded, it was a great difference from when he was passionatelyining about his secretary.


    "So Guild master, what will you give me in exchange for sparing these fools? You don''t expect me to not kill them after they tried to kill me, do you? Obviously, if you want them to live, you must give something aspensation."


    The idiotic party that attacked Ren, couldn''t move from the spot they were sitting on since they felt that any sudden movements from them might result in their sudden death. They all hoped that the Guild Master could help them, but the more they heard from him the less confident they got.


    "How about I give you the position of Guild Master? You know the only requirement to being a Guild Master is that you need to be strong... Oh right you would also need to be an S ss adventurer, and have at least two rmendations from other S rank adventurers, but as long as I convinced a few old grumps you should be good to go. So what do you think? Will you ept this stup- wonderful job? Come on it''s a once in a lifetime offer. Bing the guild master is every adventurer''s dream."


    The other adventurers and staff members of the guild who were listening in Ren and Nezard''s conversation had their mouths hanging open. The Guild Master was actually offering his position to someone who isn''t even an adventurer, and for what? To save some newbie fools.


    Valdel who was also listening in was surprised by the sudden jump of status Ren was receiving. They came here so that Ren and Lara could register as new adventurers the lowest rank, now Ren was about to be a Guild Master, as expected of his best friend and rival. Now he needs to be a knight captain to match him.


    Lara on the other hand simply thought that the Guild Master status was beneath Ren, he doesn''t really need it. Also, it might actually restrict his abilities if he bes the Guild Master, so it wasn''t a good offer at all.


    His two friends were already epting that he was the future Guild Master, but Ren himself was baffled at what had happened. He wasn''t expecting the conversation to go like this. He was going to use the foolish party as leverage to demand what he wants from the Guild Master, all these were part of the n, he simply wasn''t expecting the Guild Master to actually relinquish his title and hand it to him so willy nilly.


    ''Is there something wrong with this guy''s head? Or are all humans outside of the vige just stupid? I''ve been a human for fifteen years now, and I still can''t really understand them. They have so many restrictions, they lie about their desires, and they do so many random idiotic things.''


    At this moment Ren was once again baffled by the human species. How was a race so simr to looking like demons so different from them.


    While Nezard was waiting for Ren''s reply he suddenly felt a chill-inducing presence behind him. Nezard quickly took evasive measures and stood behind Ren''s group. There at the spot where he was standing a spear suddenly pierced the floor.


    The one who threw it was a beautiful serious looking woman with pinkish blond hair tied up into a ponytail. She picked up the spear that she threw and pointed it at the Guild Master. She was smiling but the aura she had was quite frightening.


    When Ren saw this, the thought that popped into his head was not how beautiful nor how sexy, nor how big the woman''s b.r.e.a.s.t was, no none of those normal teenage boy thoughts popped into his head. What he thought when he saw the woman was, this woman was strong, and he wanted to do battle with her.


    "Guild Master, what is this I''m hearing about you relinquishing your position? To a neer no less, and one who was messing around in the Guild." The Pinkish Blond-haired beauty red at Ren while sending a bit of killing intent his way.


    Ren on the other hand simply shrugged his shoulders at the lukewarm killing intent. He actually found the ring woman quite cute, for doing something like that.


    "But Hilda there was no other way. He was going to kill these guys, and he had the right to do so." Nezard exined to the angry Hilda.


    Hilda hearing Nezard''s excuse sighed in exasperation. "No matter what you say this is not how the Guild Master should act in this situation. Go back to your office now!"


    When Nezard heard Hilda''smanding tone, he reluctantly returned to his office.


    "As for you guys, Everyone rted to this incident head to the Guild Master''s office as well." When Hilda said these words she was specifically ring at Ren. This made Lara move in front of Ren and she red at Hilda as well.


    "Follow me." Hilda didn''t bother with Lara anymore and turned around, telling them to follow her to the Guild Master''s office.

 Chapter 15 - Hilda

    <h4>Chapter 15 - Hilda</h4>


    Ren''s group, as well as the greatsword user''s party, followed Hilda to the guild master''s office. While walking through the hallways of the guild, the party of the idiot who attacked Ren were currently sticking real close to Hilda, fearing that Ren might suddenly think to simply kill them without negotiating.


    When the group was nearing the office they noticed, that in front of Hilda was Nezzard who was walking as slowly as possible. He was moving so sluggishly you wouldn''t expect how nimble and quick his movements were awhile ago.


    "Guild Master, why are you stillllygagging here? Why aren''t you in your room right now, fixing the mess you made." Hilda said this with a gentle voice and smile, but this only made it even more frightening.


    "Why don''t you do it? Isn''t that part of your job?" Nezzardzily answered, unmotivated to even attempt to do what was asked of him.


    "I''m your secretary, not your cleaningdy! Go now and fix that room of yours!" Hilda frustrated by Nezzard, had her face distort as she shouted at him.


    "Fine Mom, I''ll do it."


    "Did you just call me your mom again?! How the hell could I have an older person as my son and azy one to boot." Nezzard didn''t bother to answer anymore and left, moving a bit faster than before.


    "Now for you guys. We will wait for the Guild Master to finish cleaning up his room so that he can receive you." The group was now standing in the hallway just outside the Guild Master''s room.


    ...


    During the wait, Hilda suddenly spoke to Ren.


    "So I have been watching you guys since you entered the guild house, and it was pretty obvious that you did this on purpose. You orchestrated everything that happened." Hilda pointed the tip of her spear at Ren, who responded with a confident smile. Ren lifted his arm, using his index finger and his thumb he pinched the tip of the spear by doing so it shattered a hundred tiny little pieces.


    Seeing what happened to her spear shocked Hilda. Even though she saw what happened in the guild reception hall, she simply thought that Ren could only overwhelm his opponents because they were weak, not because he was strong.


    "Please do not point something so dangerous in front of me. I might identally get hurt." Ren smiled at the surprised Hilda. The idiotic party who saw what Ren did made them even more scared of him. Unlike their equipment, Hilda''s spear was a real high-quality item.


    The reason the idiot party would even know Hilda''s spear was of high quality was because Hilda was a famous adventurer. Who in the whole city didn''t know of Hilda nicknamed the Valkyrie an A-ranked adventurer who was the youngest ever to receive the rank.


    She used to be a knight, but because of the financial difficulties her family suddenly had. She needed a quick way to earn money fast, and the fastest way to earn money was to head into dungeons and acquire the treasures within.


    The knights who had the duty to protect the kingdom and its people weren''t allowed to leave their post long enough to explore a dungeon. The only profession that could do this without restraints were the adventurers.


    So from being a knight to bing an adventurer, Hilda quickly rose to the near top. Once her family was free from their almost bankrupt state, Hilda was no longer allowed to return to being a knight. She didn''t want to go into dungeons anymore if there was no need. So the chance to be the secretary of the Guild Master was truly a lucky break for her.


    Yet the moment she became secretary a few weekster the old Guild Master would retire and what reced him was the strongest adventurer in the region. At first, she thought nothing would change, but this new Guild Master was nothing more than azy bum.


    And now in front of her was someone who seems like he would increase her workload even more. This irritated the already stressed out, Hilda.


    "You broke my spear... You need to buy me a new one." Hilda who saw Ren''s strength up close wasn''t scared instead she got even more irritated when she saw her spear break.


    "Well, you pointed it at me. What was I supposed to do?" Ren shrugged his shoulders in response. Lara who was watching at the side wanted to p Hilda in the face for being rude, but before she could do anything Ren signaled her to stop.


    "Tsk, whatever... Still, you won''t deny my im that you were the ones who provoked these idiots into attacking." Hilda pointed at the idiotic party that attacked Ren''s group.


    "What makes you think that?" Ren didn''t deny nor confirmed anything as he responded.


    "The moment you entered, you positioned yourself in a way that highlighted the girl you were with. Making her look more enticing to those foolish men. Usually, when men bring their women into the guild, they would usually block other people''s view of her face, but you did the exact opposite of that. You wanted someone to attack, you wanted to show off your battle prowess. Everything that happened was by your design." Hilda looked at Ren with a re.


    Ren was grinning from ear to ear. This human girl was quite good, and the way she handled the situation which was by using force reminded him of his old self. You don''t like something, then simply remove it, was his philosophy back when he was a young demon.


    "Okay assuming that I did all of what you said on purpose. What''s the problem? Did I do something wrong? Is highlighting the beauty of a woman and showing it off to other men, a bad thing? I''m really confused here, why are you angry at me? They''re the ones who attacked first, aren''t you suppose to be mad at them instead?"


    "Obviously to me, you''re all in the wrong. If it were up to me none of you would ever be adventurers. Also, you kid, why are you hanging out with this kind of bad influence, you''re a student of the knight academy, right? If you stick with this kind of guy, you might not be able to graduate." Hilda spoke to Valdel, which surprised the young man. Hilda had noticed the badge that was peaking out of his shirt.


    When Valdel heard what she said, it made even him who was normally gentle get angry a bit. "I''m sorry that we troubled you, but that doesn''t give you the right to judge others! What do you know about Ren? You know nothing at all! How can you tell me he''s a bad influence? When you don''t even know him."


    "Hmph, birds of a feather I guess. Whatever I warned you." Hilda didn''t bother with them anymore. Since talking to them just makes her even more stressed out. She simply waited there with them for the Guild Master to finish fixing up the room.


    Yet now the tension in the hallway was twice as much as before.

 Chapter 16 - Becoming Adventurers

    <h4>Chapter 16 - Bing Adventurers</h4>


    Nezard had finally finished fixing up the room, so that he can talk to Ren and the others. When the two groups entered the room, the first thing they noticed were the pile of documents scattered on a side of the room. The next thing that was quite noticeable were the magical staffs decorated on the wall. To the a novice of magic the magical staffs were nothing more than decoration, but to someone like Ren when he saw the staffs his eyes squinted a bit. They were the strongest weapons he had seen in this world.


    Next to the magical staff decoration were names of people, hundreds of names written on the wall. There were even letters beside the name of each, most of the names in the wall had the letter D on the side of their names.


    "You guys can just stand there." The Guild Master who was sitting on the seat in the center of the roomzily spoke. Hilda who had entered the room alongside Ren, stood behind the Guild Master ring at both groups, but most of her attention was on Ren. To her the reason this whole charade started was because of him, and the most dangerous of the bunch was also him. So he required special attention.


    Even though her spear broke, that wasn''t really her main weapon, she still had a trump card she had yet to y. So the moment she notices any of them acting up, she will move.


    "So let''s get straight to the point, since I just want this to end. What is it you want whoever you are?" Nezard didn''t bother with anyone else as he looked Ren straight in the eyes, while going direct to the point.


    "First off, you can call me Ren."


    "Okay then, Ren what is it that you want?"


    "My wish isn''t as extravagant as being Guild Master. That seems like it would restrict my freedom too much." Ren happily smiled at Nezard who almost choked when he heard this. It wasn''t like he didn''t know the truth, but hearing it so directly from another person was a huge blow for him.


    "Before I tell you what I wish for, can you tell the others who witnessed my fight to keep quiet about it."


    "That''s already been taken care off." This time it wasn''t Nezard who answered but Hilda.


    "Oh really? That was fast, well okay there is something I want to know before we proceed. Can you exin to me what happens when one registers as an adventurer, and what the usage of ranks are for." Nezardzily looked at Hilda, who responded with a sigh before she spoke.


    "After an adventurer registers he or she is apanied by a staff member of the guild, which is to be their proctor for the test. The test is what the guild uses to determine what rank to give the newly registered adventurers. Now in regards to the ranking. The ranking of an adventurer determines how skilled he or she is. Depending on ones rank the missions the adventurer could ept are different. If you have a low rank you can only do some simple gathering missions, while on the other hand if you have a high rank, most mission are avable to you, but you wont be able to ept low level missions. Also if you have a high rank and be famous there will be missions designated to you by name. Finally individual rank and party rank are different. The party rank is determined by the overall quality of every party member. Are there any questions?"


    Hilda exined all of these things with a clear voice. Once she was done she even asked if they had any questions, she clearly didn''t like either group, but she was still doing her job properly.


    "I see thank you for the exnation, umm... What was your name again?" Even though Ren already heard her name from Nezard who called her out, he still wanted to hear it from her.


    "Hilda Kirche." She reluctantly told her name, since she found no real reason not to tell him. Ren who heard her name as well as how reluctant she was found her defiance really cute. He couldn''t help but smile at the girl, which resulted to Lara pouting deep inside while on the outside she still remained her stoic self. On the other hand Valdel simply shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well thank you for the exnation Hilda. So about my wish, it''s really quite simple to grant. After taking that test no matter what the result is. I want you to give me and mypanion a B rank. Also I want you to spread a rumor that a rising star has entered your branch of the adventurers guild. That''s all I want isn''t it simple? If you do that, I will spare the lives of these fools."


    Ren looked at the idiotic party who cowered before his sight. It was at this point Nezard started to assess Ren, he couldn''t understand what he was nning by asking for such things. Still it didn''t feel like doing as he requested would affect the guild in a bad way.


    Actually if he did as Ren requested, the prestige of his branch would rise... But that would also mean more work for him, which made Nezard a bit reluctant to agree.


    "Why are you hesitating? I don''t think that what I ask for is too much." Ren could easily detect the hesitation in Nezard''s actions, yet he wasn''t sure why Nezard should hesitate.


    "Can you tell me Ren, why do you want to be a B rank adventurer? With your skills you could bypass all the ranks and head directly to rank A and after you gain a bit of recognition you could easily be S rank. The youngest adventurer to gain the S rank. Doesn''t that sound enticing to you?"


    Nezard wanted to rify this point before he agreed to anything. Expecting this question Ren was able to respond immediately.


    "I do want to be S ranked, but in due time. If I said I wanted attention, but not too much attention, would you understand that exnation of mine?"


    Nezard looked at Ren who seem to have everything under control. He felt a bit ufortable being gazed by those dark eyes of his. It felt like he could see right through his soul. At this moment Nezard felt like he was making a deal with a devil.


    "Fine then, no matter what the real results of the test will be. I will grant you three a B rank."


    "Oh, it would be only the two of us that will register as adventurers. This guy over here is a student of the knight academy." Ren pointed at Valdel, who bowed at the Guild Master out of courtesy.


    "I see... Well then I shall assign Hilda as your proctor for the uing test. Since I believe that you don''t want too much people to know about our deal." Hilda who heard Nezard''s decision could only sigh once more. A job is a job, no matter how much she didn''t want to do it. Still with this role of hers she could keep an eye on this person that felt like he would be the source of a lot of problems.


    "Much appreciated Guild Master." With this deal, part two of his n was done. Ren felt a bit disappointed since everything was going too smoothly. There can only be some fun to be had if some problem arises, which Ren hopes would happen.

 Chapter 17 - Ren contemplating about humans

    <h4>Chapter 17 - Ren contemting about humans</h4>


    Once they were done with the negotiations, Hilda handed Ren and Lara registration forms. At this point, Hilda treated them like how one treats any new aspiring adventurer. She asked them if they could write and if they wanted she could do the writing for them. Of course, they didn''t need her help to fill up their forms. The two quickly filled out the forms and gave them back to Hilda.


    After receiving the registration forms from the two, Hilda informed them to return tomorrow morning for the test. The three had finally finished their dealings with the adventurers guild.


    "Ren are you interested in Hilda?" As soon as they got out of the adventurers guild Lara asked Ren the question that has been bothering her the whole time.


    "Yes, that girl is indeed pretty good." Ren answered without any hesitation nor did he care how he looked when he answered.


    "Is it because of her chest?" Once again no matter how embarrassing the question, Lara asked it with her usual stoic face.


    "Lara! Ady shouldn''t say such things in public." Valdel who was listening in on the conversation warned Lara. A girl her age saying such a thing in public, and to a man no less isn''t something she should do.


    Lara and even Ren didn''t bother listening to Valdel''s remark.


    "Hmph, is that how you see me, Lara? I don''t care for the bodily flesh such as her chest, to me those were simply excess baggage, that might slow her down while in battle. No that''s not what caught my interest... What made me interested in her was her strength. I tried to provoke her multiple times so that she would attack me, but she never did. She kept her trump card hidden until the very end. She was a cautious one, not only that, her mana flow was even more stable than mine. That could only mean her control over her mana is much better than mine."


    Ren was getting excited as he was exining these things. When he noticed how abnormally excited he was getting, he tried to calm himself down.


    "So that''s it. What I am interested in is not her body but the power she''s been holding back." Hearing Ren''s answer made Lara nod her head.


    "So what are we going to do now?" Valdel who was looking around while listening in asked.


    "Let''s get better equipment. You still have that two gold coins, you were supposed to use for the entrance fee right? Now that you can go to the academy for free, why not buy better equipment?"


    "I guess you''re right. When we were in the adventurers guild I noticed that all of them, even the neers seem to be better equipped than us. That would mean the knights have even better equipment."


    Ren who heard Valdel''s opinion about the adventurers and knights found his statement funny, yet he didn''t say anything. So now that the three had decided their destination, they walked aimlessly around the town trying to find a weapon shop.


    ...


    While they were walking around town and his twopanions were being sucked into the atmosphere of the town, Ren was having an internal dilemma.


    ''Damn it! Ever since awhile ago, every now and then I''ve been acting out, and my emotions are going out of control. Being a human child is even more difficult than I thought... Ever since I turned fourteen I have been having bouts of emotional instability. I''ve started to feel that sex.u.a.l urge again after so long, it was a good thing Lara was there to quench that... But every now and then not only sex.u.a.l urges but sudden bouts of irritation and other unstable emotions seem to haunt me.''


    ''Being a human really is inconvenient. Still, there are some humans who seem to act based on their true desires. Like that Guild Master, true to hisziness a true sloth. Even those adventurers and the other people who look at Lara they were true to their lust. Hilda was a prideful individual, not even backing down in front of me. Still aside from those characteristics, I''m sure that the Guild Master has still a bit of pride. Hilda must still have a bit of greed as an adventurer.''


    ''Unlike demons that can only represent one side of the seven deadly sins, humans can represent the whole seven sins, but they can also have the seven virtues, which contradict the seven sins. This might also exin why only the human race, can wield all the elements.''


    ''Hmmm, are these weaklings actually better than I thought? Was it actually fortunate that I became human? With this, I can actually be stronger than what I was before... But I was already stronger than everyone and everything back then. But that''s only in the mortal standards, maybe I have the possibility to finally fight those immortal b*stards! Maybe in this life, I might be able to point my de against the foolish Gods and Goddesses.''


    ''Now this makes me wonder why those Gods would make humans. The angels were created because of the excess light of the Gods, the demons were created to bnce out that light with darkness. The swordians were made out of the Gods that waged war against each other. The elves were made to heal thend that suffered due to war. They were also made as servants to the Gods. Well, those were the original purposes of each race based on legend.''


    ''The dragons, those prideful beings, weren''t Gods but they were as strong or sometimes even stronger than Gods. It was said they had existed, even before the birth of Gods. Yet no one knew how they came to be.''


    ''The beastmen or the warbeasts others called them, are a subspecies of human, they were a race that evolved differently from the average human.''


    ''But the humans what was their purpose? Based on legends they came after the elves. They were weaker than the other races, but they also had the most potential, since they were able to synchronize with all the elements. They were also the ones who gave birth to the mutation called a hero, a person who is able to channel a portion of a God''s power.''


    ''This gave me the question, why create something that can challenge you? If the human hero can channel a God''s power, that would mean the hero can also have the ability to create his own divinity. Why make this kind of being? If the legends are to be believed all the other races were made for a purpose or by ident. Was humanity an ident as well? Or did something other than the Gods I know of, created the humans?''


    Ren who was going deeper and deeper into his own thoughts, felt someone tug on his arm sleeves.


    "Ren we found it." Lara pointed at a shabby looking building that looked like no one has entered it for years. There was a sign with a sword and an axe cross.


    "Ren let''s go inside I feel something calling to me inside." Valdel didn''t wait for Ren to reply as he entered the store. Ren who was already cut off from his thoughts awhile ago followed Valdel inside.

 Chapter 18 - Weapons shop

    <h4>Chapter 18 - Weapons shop</h4>


    The moment Ren entered the shop, the first thing he noticed was the dust surrounding the whole ce. It was pretty obvious that the owner of this establishment didn''t care about the customers. Valdel who had entered first was calling for the shopkeeper to appear.


    Yet no matter how much he screamed no one responded. Ren on the other hand noticed a letter on a desk. Since there was no clue that could indicate where the shopkeeper was Ren decided to read it.


    "To those that see this letter.


    All the items in here are free, but you can only take one item out. Taking more than one will force you to stay here for eternity as punishment. To you chosen few, I hope you make the right decision.


    P.S. If you leave this establishment you wont be able to see it again.


    Sincerely yours,


    Alphonso De Vrie"


    When Ren was done reading the letter it shredded itself until nothing remained. It was only at this moment Ren noticed that Lara wasn''t in here with them. He then proceeded to spread out his mana trying to check outside, but the moment his mana went out of the shop, he felt that the connection was cut off from himself. He then release the full amount of his mana to try and break free from the binding of this dimension, but it was no use.


    ''I was too distracted, I didn''t even notice we have been transported into a pocket dimension. Still the owner of this ce is leagues above my current self. Heck based solely on the ability to make a pocket dimension and transport me into it without my notice already proves how strong he is. This guy might even be able tost thirty seconds against me at my peak.''


    Ren was quite amused that there was someone this powerful in this world. Still to be able to meet someone like this, it must be because of Fateful meetings another one of the heroes passive skills. Ren who has fought many of them had also took a peak into their minds, he had gain intel about half of the heroes basic skills. At this moment he was sure the only reason that they had chance upon this shop was because of Valdel''s great luck.


    "Hey Ren why did you do that?" Valdel who noticed Ren''s actions awhile ago approached him, with a look of disappointment in his face. It would seem like he hasn''t found the owner yet. Well no matter how hard he looks he wont find the owner of this store.


    Ren proceeded to exin to Valdel about the letter, and that they were inside a pocket dimension. When Valdel heard Ren''s exnation the first question that came out of his mouth wasn''t how to leave, or how to trick the owner into thinking he took only one item, no his question was.


    "What happened to Lara? She saw the shop same as we did, then why wasn''t she able to enter?" Of course his first question was out of worry for another. Ren smiled at how calm Valdel was taking this situation they were in.


    "It might be Lara only saw the building because she was in close proximity to us, or it could be she was only half worthy and she was unable to pass the second test. No matter which happened, I''m sure she''s out there waiting for us. So how about we just pick a weapon and get out of here."


    Seeing how calm his best friend was, made Valdel feel calm as well. So he nodded and proceeded to look for the weapon that was calling him since awhile ago.


    Ren started to look at the ce as well. The more he looked, the more amused he became. All the weapons in here, though they were dusty, and some even looked a bit rusty, all the weapons here were magical weapons. They could even be ssified as legendary or mythical weapons. Some of them even felt Godly.


    ...


    While Ren was looking around the shop which was bigger than he expected, he suddenly heard a voice. Actually It was two voices, yet he couldn''t discern what kind of voice it was, it sounded both young yet old, it sounded both male and female, it sounded both threatening yet calming. A bunch of conflicting voices were what made up the two voices. He wasn''t sure why he thought it was just two voices, but it just felt that way.


    Ren approached the things that were talking to him. It was twin des, one that looked darker than darkest night, and the other looked like the beautiful blue sky.


    "Oh chosen one. You are the one who shall walk the path of the king of kings." Two beings were then projected out of the swords. One was d with pure darkness while the other was d in pure light.


    "You who are chosen to walk the path of kings."


    The being of light spoke "Will you choose the path of light that illuminates the darkness? If you do I shall grant you the power to save all."


    The being of darkness spoke "or will you choose the path of darkness shadowing the light? If you do I shall grant you the power to destroy all obstacles."


    Once more they spoke in unison "So the one who walks the path of kings which will you choose? Light or Darkness?"


    Ren found their question amusing so he answered "I choose neither. The power to save and the power to move against all obstacles I will gain both by myself."


    The two beings started tough cheerfully "You are one who walks the grey path the true path of kings. Though you may have declined our offer but nheless you are worthy to wield the swords. "Serenity of evesting light and Chaos of eternal darkness."


    "I am Chaos, the embodiment of destruction." The being of darkness proimed. "I am Serenity the embodiment of life and rebirth." The being of light proimed.


    Ren who saw the majestic looking swords and heard what they had to say, couldn''t help but smile. These two des actually im to be the embodiment of Destruction and Life. Well based on the power they were emitting that felt beyond divine, they might be telling the truth or they might just be exaggerating.


    "So why choose me? Isn''t that fool more worthy to be a king of kings?"


    "No... As of now he only walks near the path of justice, which is only one side of the bnce. What we need is someone who walks the grey path, one who treads between both light and darkness."


    "Boring, that''s too boring. I''m going to pass on that offer."


    "..." The two beings didn''t know how to respond. They weren''t expecting to be rejected like this.


    It was not only the weapon that chooses the wielder, but the wielder also chooses the weapon.


    The two beings tried their hardest to convince Ren. All the majesty they had disyed awhile ago was now long gone, as they desperately tried to convince Ren. Yet Ren continued to ignore them.

 Chapter 19 - I choose you

    <h4>Chapter 19 - I choose you</h4>


    While Ren was being distracted by the two beings of Chaos and Serenity, Valdel was looking for the source of the voice that was calling him. He looked all around and he saw many weapons that felt like they would be good partners with him, but he decided to find that one weapon that led him here.


    Upon going deeper and deeper into the weapons shop, Valdel saw a Zweih?nder on the ground, to him who wasn''t versed in weaponry he simply thought it was another greatsword. Yet what attracted him to the sword was among all the weapons here, this one weapon was rtively cleaner than the others.


    Unlike all the other weapons here that were either full of dust or almost rusting, this one weapon was almost in perfect condition. It had no visible marking of any kind.


    Valdel who was nearing the sword suddenly heard a voice of a woman in his head.


    "Help! Help!" The woman was screaming for help, Valdel looked around but wasn''t able to see anyone in the surrounding area.


    "Where are you! I''m here, tell me where you are!" Valdel shouted at the top of his lungs, as he sharpened his senses. Using his sense of hearing and smell he tried to locate the unknown woman.


    "I''m right in front of you." Valdel looked right in front of him but he couldn''t see anyone. The only thing in front of him was the Zweih?nder.


    "I can''t see you, are you invisible or something? Are you a ghost? Do you need me to help you pass on?" Valdel was getting even more confused by the minute. Yet he still wanted to help whoever it was who was crying for help.


    Since it was like what the old man said, a true hero answers the call of everyone. One must always answer the call even those voiced by the voiceless voices, how much more an actual voice.


    "I''m not a ghost you idiot! I''m the Zweih?nder right in front of you." The woman was now sounding a bit irritated with Valdel.


    "Zweih?nder is that your name? Alright Zweih?nder I will find you and help you no matter what." Valdel who didn''t know what a Zweih?nder was, assumed that it was the name of the woman who was asking for help.


    "No you idiot! I''m the sword that looks like a longsword. Zweih?nder is the kind of sword I am, you dolt."


    "Huh you''re a sword? A talking sword? What kind of sword is that?" Valdel who heard what the woman said picked up the two handed Zweih?nder with just one hand.


    The Zweih?nder then projected an image of woman in front of Valdel. The woman was a transcendent beauty. With a face akin to a jade and proper posture akin to a mimosa, and long steel colored hair like the shine of a sword, she appeared to be around eighteen years old simply based on appearances.


    "I''m the spirit inside the sword you''re holding. So how about it? Will you help me by bing my master?" The beautifuldy in front of Valdel, sounded all formal now, but it was still the same voice that kept on calling him idiot. This was also the voice that guided him into this shop.


    "Why do you want me to be your master? If it someone more suitable my best friend is also in this shop. He is a better swordsman than me, surely he would be a better master."


    Thedy smiled gently after hearing what Valdel said.


    "Do not sell yourself short. You were the one who responded to my call for help, not him. It is true at this moment he is indeed more powerful than you, but I do not wish for a powerful master... In this shop were all matter of legendary, mythical, demonic, and Godly weapons exist I am one of the youngest. Unlike all the other weapons here who have either a legend a story or a meaning, I have none. I am a new legend just waiting to happen, simr to you. Both of us are a nk te, and I wish to grow together with you as a magnificent legend. So what say you? Will you be my master?"


    "I-"


    ...


    While Valdel was having a talk with the Zweih?nder''s sword spirit, Ren was now surrounded by the spirits of numerous weapons. Ranging from spears, halberds, swords, and even futuristic weapons like guns. All of them were now trying to convince Ren to pick them.


    "Sir Ren with you''re ability, and with me at hand we can both be eternal legends. Our stories will be sung for eternity."


    "If you pick me Sir Ren, I can be your woman. I''m not only a spirit, I do have corporeal form."


    "Do not listen to them Sir Ren. Among all the weapons here I have the greatest fire power. So if you have me at hand we can dominate all existence."


    "Everyone please back off, we were the ones who first saw Sir Ren! I and Serenity have chosen him to be the king of kings!"


    "King of kings? What so good about bing something like that? If you choose me I can make you into a God among men!"


    "Will you guys shut up already! I already told you guys I wont pick any of you! Do you really think pestering me like this will actually change my mind? What are you guys children? Am I your dad or something?" When the spirits heard Ren''s shout they all turned quiet..


    Still they didn''t leave Ren alone, just in case he might change his mind and pick one of them. It was at that moment when everything turned silent once more, Ren felt a weak presence in a deeper part of the shop.


    Among all the presences here that were at minimum legendary, this one felt like it was barely ssified as a legend. No this weapon Ren was sensing felt like it was deliberately trying to erase its presence from anyone who enters the store.


    Its presence was faint, coupled with all the powerful presences in this store. It was very hard to even sense its existence. Yet even with all those factors Ren still felt it. This intrigued Ren, since almost all the weapons in this shop responded to him. This one was actually hiding from him, and based on where Valdel was currently at, it was hiding from him too.


    Ren whose interest was piqued tried to locate where the presence was. He went deeper into the shop until finally he found it. The one emitting the that faint presence was quite the curious weapon.


    When Ren saw what kind of weapon it was, he was now truly and fully curious about its origins. Since there were all manner of weapons in this shop, he wasn''t that surprise to see that here. It was its uniqueness that caught Ren''s interest, since most of the weapons here were either swords, or spears. There was more than one of each kind, yet even if you scour the whole store this one weapon was one of the most unique.


    Even back in his previous world, this particr weapon wasn''t really used that much inbat since it had too many ws. Most of the time it was only use as a decoration or at times out of desperation.


    "Hey spirit how about you show yourself to me."

 Chapter 20 - This is my weapon

    <h4>Chapter 20 - This is my weapon</h4>


    Ren asked the spirit of the weapon he was looking at toe out, yet no one responded. The other spirits who were with him started to warn Ren of the dangers of that particr weapon.


    "Sir Ren that is not something you want. That weapon... Its legend is that of Death and Massacres. It will never acknowledge you or anyone as a master."


    "Yes Sir Ren it would be better if you leave that weapon alone. It is not something you can handle. Not that I''m questioning your abilities, but that weapon is not something a mortal man can wield."


    The spirits continued to warn him, that the weapon was not something he could wield. They thought warning Ren like this would make him not want to use the weapon, that notion was foolish. Ren loved challenges almost as much as he enjoyed battle. So the warnings of the spirits sounded like urgings to him.


    So Ren without further ado took hold of the handle of the weapon. The moment he touched the handle a mysterious force was trying to remove Ren''s hands that held the handle. His right arm which was holding the handle was being attacked with no mercy.


    After a few seconds of simply holding the handle of the weapon had made the flesh of Ren''s right hand seem like it was tearing off. Ren then proceeded to heal his hand continuously as it was damaged. Though he was healing himself, the pain he felt didn''t disappear.


    If it were any other man, this much damage and pain would''ve made them scream in agony. But not Ren, instead of screaming he was smiling andughing heartily.


    "Do you really think, that this much pain will make me quit? It doesn''t even tickle. If this is all you have, ept me as your master already." Ren spoke while taunting the weapon, in which it responded by doubling the power it emitted.


    With the doubled power it was releasing it now felt like Ren''s whole right arm was going to disappear. Yet even with this level of pain Ren didn''t even wince.


    "Just being attacked one sidedly is boring, how about I retaliate?" Ren then sent a wave of his mana into the weapon. The weapon shook a bit, but it still kept on attacking Ren, who then increased the output of the mana he sent. Neither of the two wanted to back off, so they kept on attacking each other. It was now a simple battle of endurance. It was either Ren loses mana or the weapon concedes defeat.


    The other spirits simply watched the fight between Ren and the weapon. They wanted to see if Ren can subdue even this aggressive weapon''s spirit. After a few minutes of their back and forth energy attacks. The spirit of the weapon showed herself.


    It was a woman d in a ck cloak. Her face was covered by a thick veil but you could tell she was a female spirit based on her body figure that couldn''t be hidden even by the cloak that covered most of her body.


    "So you finally appear. Just when it was finally getting good, are you going to give up? Come on don''t do that to me, struggle some more. Show me why all these other weapons seem to fear you."


    The cloaked spirit didn''t respond with using more force, she simply spoke. Her voice sounded like that of a young female barely older than the current human Ren.


    "Why do you seek to be my master? I am not one who wishes to be wielded. I simply want to rust away in this shop forever forgotten. I do not wish to see another master die because of me."


    When Ren heard what the weapon spirit had to say, he couldn''t help himself and chuckled. A weapon that doesn''t wish to be wielded. A weapon afraid of her wielders death. How hrious, by its very nature a weapon should expect to be wielded. A master dying was simply because he or she was either inadequate or in stupid.


    "Hey I do not know what kind of masters you have served, but I assure you none of them are like me. I can tell you now, you would break first before I die by your hands, which by the way is never going to happen. You a weapon is asking me to not wield her? Sorry to say this but I am not one to listen to others. The more you deny me using such idiotic reasons, the more I want to wield you. If you do not want to submit to me willingly, I will force you to submit!"


    As Ren finished what he was saying, he released the full extent of his current mana. His fighting spirit rising to uncontroble state. Ren was once again getting excited. This time his opponent isn''t someone his current self could beat. That is if you look at the fight using numbers since the weapon had a greater amount of mana at this point, but a battle isn''t simply all about who has the greater mana.


    The spirit of the weapon looked at Ren confused. With Ren''s level of skill he must''ve felt the disparity of their power, yet why doesn''t he cower in fear like all the others? Instead he looked at her with eyes of anticipation. He didn''t despair at his eminent defeat, he simply showed that vicious smile of his aiming for victory.


    The weapon''s spirit couldn''tprehend what she was seeing, but she still needed Ren to give up. So she released the full extent of her powers in front of Ren. Her power could envelope the whole shop but she concentrated everything at Ren. This was also the usual tactic Ren used against those weaker than him. If you show them such overwhelming power most of them would kneel and cry as they beg for forgiveness.


    Yet that''s not what Ren did, as that overwhelming source of mana surrounded him. Not only did he not feel suffocated by the pressure, he felt excited instead.


    This was it! This was what he was looking for ever since his past life. A battle that he had no idea if he could win. Hell it was almost certain that one mistake can lead to his certain death. Yet that made it even more exciting.


    He who was once the strongest demon lord, had numerous life threatening battles, but as he grew stronger it got harder and harder to find someone worthy to face him. It was even harder to find someone even willing to face him. Aside from the various human heroes there was no other that could face his might.


    Yet now right in front of him was a being that was beyond his current abilities to face. Still he would face her with glee.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about! Come spirit! Show me everything you got! Show me your overwhelming might! Then let me ovee that power and step on it, crushing it underneath my feet."


    The weapon''s spirit didn''t expect this. She was sure that at this point Ren would back away and beg for mercy, like all the others before him. The spirit looked at Ren who looked like a little kid who was just given a new toy.


    This man before her has gone beyond everything she expected. She was shocked time and time again by his choices. This time it was her turn to shock him. The weapon the spirit resided in disappeared, and turned into a ball of light.


    This ball of light then touched Ren''s right arm. Ren who saw the ball of lighting didn''t evade it, he simply stood there ready to take the blow. Yet when the ball of light touched his right arm the attack he was expecting never happened. He was not blown away nor did he feel pain.


    The ball of light fused into Ren''s arms, and a tattoo of a red and ck dragon coiling around each other appeared. Ren who didn''t know what happened simply stood there stunned by the events that transpired.


    One of the sword spirits that was there then spoke in a congrattory tone. "Amazing Sir Ren. You have tamed that weapon! She has chosen you as her master."


    When Ren heard what the sword spirit said he stood there stunned for a few seconds as he couldn''t understand what was just said. After a short while he finally shouted at his right arm in frustration.


    "What was that?! I thought you were going to attack me? What happened to the battle!? Come out and face me! I am your master now, right? So I order you toe out and face me."


    The weapon''s spirit came out and spoke to her new master. "I''m sorry master I cannot face you in battle anymore. The moment you told me to submit to you, that was the beginning of the contract. So the moment I decided to submit to you, the contract was formed. So now that we''re wielder and weapon I cannot harm you in anyway master."


    "Annul the contract and face me first!"


    "Sorry master you just can''t annul the contract, this is until death do as part." The weapon''s spirit had fulfilled her goal and made Ren be the one irritated and shocked instead.


    Ren who finally fully understood that it was now impossible to face her, felt a wave of disappointment.


    "Fine then, let''s just get Valdel and head out of this ce. I feel really tired right now." Ren sighed as he walked towards Valdel''s presence.

 Chapter 21 - The night before the test

    <h4>Chapter 21 - The night before the test</h4>


    When Ren saw Valdel, he noticed that he was now apanied by two women. One was a calm beautiful woman, and the other looked like a bratty teenager, still she looked pretty cute. He also had two new weapons. Arge sword was seen on his back it was a Zweih?nder and on his waist was a knife of sorts. Ren couldn''t discern what kind of knife it was it looked almost like it was a simple sacrificial dagger.


    "Hey don''t you remember you can only pick one weapon. Why did you get two?" The calm beautiful woman who was most probably one of the spirits residing in one of those weapons smiled at Valdel. While the bratty teenager red at Ren while hiding behind Valdel.


    "I know but I found another note urging me to pick this weapon. The owner of the note told me that even if I have another weapon I must bring this one out as well."


    Ren snorted it was obvious that the owner of the shop, wanted to get rid of that particr weapon.


    ''Well just like they say another man''s thrash is another man''s treasure.''


    "Alright then since we already picked our weapons, how about we leave. I had enough of this ce." Ren said this while sighing.


    "What''s wrong Ren? Did you not get a weapon?" Valdel was very worried for his best friend as he looked at him. This was the first time Ren looked so disappointed, his was even sighing which he basically never does, aside from the times when he scolds Valdel.


    "No I did get a weapon, see this tattoo on my right. This is the mark of the contract. How about you show yourself to my friend here." When Ren said those words a woman covered in a ck veil and ck cloak appeared out of thin air. She was holding the weapon she resided in.


    "This is the spirit of my weapon and what she''s holding is the weapon I choose to wield."


    "Nice to meet you my master''s friend." Even though no one could see pass her veil Valdel imagined that she was smiling at him.


    "Wow how did you do that? Howe she can disappear and reappear at will? Also why does Ren get a tattoo and I don''t? Can''t you do this too Zwei, Nika?" Valdel questioned the spirits of the Zweih?nder and the knife.


    ''He actually gave them names... Damn I''m sure she''s going to ask for me to give her a name too.''


    "I''m sorry master I''m still too young as a sword spirit to be able to do that. I imagine Nika has a simr problem" The beautiful sword spirit Zwei answered with a smile. Nika the spirit of the knife nodded her head in agreement.


    "Really? Well I guess it''s alright." Valdel answered back with a smile as well. While Valdel and his spirits were talking, Ren''s weapon''s spirit was nagging at him as well.


    "Master why don''t you give me a name? Your friend did it why wont you?" Ren scratched his head as he was now unmotivated after that disappointing sequence of events, with him not being able to fight this powerful spirit.


    "Ok fine... From now on you shall be Silika. Are you okay with that?"


    "Thank you master. I will treasure this name of mine even long after your bones turn to dust."


    "Whatever let''s just get out of here." Ren''s weapon returned into the tattoo.


    "That''s really convenient. Hey if we go out will other people see you. Cause bringing you guys to the academy in your human forms is going to be hard."


    "No problem master we can just go back into our weapons." The moment Zwei said this both she and Nika returned to their weapons.


    ...


    Lara who was outside of the weapons shop simply stood in one spot looking at an empty lot. On the ground surrounding her were unconscious men and some some conscious men groaning in pain. These men were men that tried to hit on her, tried to drag her away or simply touched her inappropriately.


    The moment they did so, Lara retaliated with extreme force. The people who were watching on the sidelines found it amusing and gathered around. Now they were waiting for the next brave man to approach her. The town''s people found the whole thing quite funny which is why no one called the guards to clear up the mess.


    While they were waiting for the next fool to approach her, two men suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They then proceeded to talk to the girl, the town''s people were already betting on how long the two men couldst against the girl. But in the next moment the girl and the two men suddenly disappeared from their sights.


    ...


    The three friends headed for a nearby inn, and rented two rooms. One room for Valdel and another for Ren and Lara. The moment the two entered their room, Ren suddenly kissed Lara deeply. All the frustration he had awhile ago as he didn''t get to battle Silika was released in this one moment.


    Lara who was initially surprised didn''t resist at all and epted Ren fully as he caressed her body. Ren and Lara''s tongues wrestled in each others mouth, while doing this Ren forcefully rips Lara''s clothes. Exposing her beautiful young body.


    ...


    Valdel who was in the room beside Ren and Lara''s could hear Lara m.o.a.ning in ecstasy. Valdel found it extremely distracting so he moved the bed to the other side of the room. The moment he couldn''t hear Lara''s sensual m.o.a.ning anymore, the two spirits of his weapons appeared.


    "That guy is a beast, I tell you! A beast! No wonder he was so scary!" The one who spoke was the bratty looking spirit Nika.


    "Well Master''s friend, Ren has to release his urges every now and then... I suppose." Zwei answered with a little blush on her face. Some of the spirits inside the weapons were once humans who had used that particr weapon and became legends. While the others were born that way. Zwei was the former while Nika was thetter. That''s why Zwei had a more human reaction than Nika.


    "So Umm master are you feeling sex.u.a.lly frustrated as well?" Zwei asked Valdel without looking at him.


    "No! No I''m not! Let''s not talk about this. I need to meditate so... Umm let''s talkter." Valdel who answered in a panic, went into a meditative position. He cast away any impure thoughts he was having. He simply concentrated in feeling the mana around him.


    Zwei and Nika who saw their master quickly go into a void like state feeling the mana elementals in the area, decided to return into their weapons. Zwei looking a bit disappointed as she went back into the Zweih?nder.

 Chapter 22 - Sparring

    <h4>Chapter 22 - Sparring</h4>


    Ren woke up early in the morning, the moment he awoke a female voice sounded in his head. "Hey Master who knew you were such a beast in bed."


    When Ren heard this female voice he was shocked for about two seconds before he remembered what happened yesterday. He then looked to his right and saw a sleeping n.a.k.e.d Lara. He slightly caressed her face and smiled. This little girl had devoted her entirety to him without question, to him she was irreceable.


    Lara who was still sleeping responded to being touched, and she smiled. It was only when she was asleep that Lara able to express her emotions so freely. After seeing her smile Ren stood up and readied himself to do some training.


    When he got out of the inn, he felt Valdel''s presence at the inn''s backyard. Ren headed to the back and he saw the hardworking friend of his swinging the new sword he got. The force of his swings were irrelevant but his stance was near perfection.


    Ren found that the talent of all heroes to be shocking. They have a limited amount of time to be strong, and they get to their level in an extremely fast pace. All heroes no matter if they were weak in the eyes of Ren were all geniuses of battle.


    "Hey how about we see how good our new weapons are?" When Ren asked this, Valdel stopped swinging the Zweih?nder and looked at Ren.


    "Oh...that''s a good idea, we haven''t had a good sparring session in two years I think. So were are we going to do it? We can''t fight it out here since we might destroy the houses."


    "Follow me I saw a good ce where we can spar. I saw it before we got into town. We just have to jump over the walls walk a bit and will get there."


    ...


    Ren, and Valdel who was following him left the town and headed to a secluded area, an open field.


    "This ce is good enough ready your weapon Valdel ande at me." Ren simply stood casually in one spot with no intention to get into any stance. Yet Valdel didn''t take this as insult, since this was how his best friend fights.


    Valdel readied the Zweih?nder, while Zwei spoke in his head. "Master I haven''t seen how your best friend fights, but I assume he''s quite skilled."


    "He''s not just quite skilled, I haven''t seen any other person that is as skilled as he."


    "Well master I''m guessing you haven''t met many other people yet."


    "Yeah but I still think Ren would still be more skilled than them."


    "Well I think together we can beat him."


    "How about me?" Nika butted into their conversation.


    "I will use you sometimeter Nika for now let''s go with Zwei."


    Ren was getting impatient while waiting for Valdel who was currently talking to Zwei.


    "Are youing or what? I have not much time until the adventurer''s test."


    "Well you haven''t even prepared your weapon yet, so I was waiting."


    "I don''t need it for now. I will use it after we ascertain your weapon''s abilities. So juste at me already."


    The moment Ren said those words, Valdel disappeared from his spot. It was like he teleported in front of Ren, and downward sword sh came without any warning. Seeing the iing attack, Ren simply swayed his body to the right to evade the sword sh. Valdel then kept on attacking without pause, a downward sh, a sideward sh, piercing, and even kicking, but no matter which way he attacks Ren evaded everything within a paper thin margin.


    "Master with your current abilities you wont be able to match Ren. So I will channel my own mana into you." Zwei fused her mana into Valdel''s, which doubled his mana output. So when he used [boost] The sudden increase in speed caught Ren off guard.


    "[earth wall]" Ren had no choice but to use a spell. A sudden wall of earth got in between Ren and Valdel. Yet Valdel sliced through the wall like it was nothing.


    "[earth wall] [fire wall] [wind wall] [ice wall]" Ren used multiple spells in session, while backing away from Valdel. He was using all the spells he can currently use that can block Valdel''s path. Yet same as before Valdel was able to cut through everything.


    "So that sword of yours can cancel out magic, is that it?" Ren was getting a bit excited.


    "It seems so, Zwei can cancel and absorb magic to a certain extent. It all depends on-" Valdel didn''t continue saying what he wanted to say. Zwei warned him not to tell Ren.


    "No need to say anything Val. Having the weakness of your trump card known by another person isn''t really a good thing. So you don''t need to tell me anything. Still I guess it''s my turn to use my weapon."


    Ren''s tattoo shone brightly and his weapon appeared in his arms.


    "Here Ie Val."


    "Bring it on Ren."


    ...


    After an intense few minutes the surrounding area was now filled with craters, and the nearby trees have been either sliced or blown away. Valdel wasying on the ground, his hands and body were bleeding a bit, but he was still alright. The only true problem was his energy was drained, and that he couldn''t even stand at the moment.


    Ren who was standing right beside him was still unscathed, but he looked at bit pale.


    "I''m impressed master, you were able to use me to that extent, and didn''t die." Silika spoke in Ren''s mind.


    "I already told you that I''m unlike all that came before me. Still that ability of yours was quite powerful, but it takes too much. I guess I''ll just save that move as a my trump card. I''ll only use that move if there is nothing else I can do. Well mastering that move, seems to be quite interesting as well." Ren was once again smiling his vicious looking smile.


    "That move was cheating Ren! You''re already a cheat, and now even your weapon''s a cheat as well."


    "A cheat? Me? Heh, Says the guy that has a weapon that can negate and absorb almost all magic." Ren rebuked him, which resulted with the best friendsughing heartily.

 Chapter 23 - The start of the Adventurer’s Test

    <h4>Chapter 23 - The start of the Adventurer''s Test</h4>


    Lara woke up and saw that Ren wasn''t there beside her. She then proceeded to stand up and silently got dressed. Though on the outside she was moving in a calm systematical manner, in the inside was a whole different thing.


    ''Ren was so intensest night! He must have really wanted mest night. I thought he was slowly getting bored of me. Yet yesterday proves it! Ren still needs me!''


    Even though inside she was smiling in glee, on the outside she was as stoic as ever. Ever since she was small Lara had difficulty expressing her emotions. It was not like she had no emotions to speak of. It was just that her emotions existed within her, but for some reason she had difficulty showing it on her face. Or even in her tone of voice. She even had difficulty speaking what she wanted to say. Yet even with all those defects, Ren still understood her. It was like he could see into her very soul.


    ...


    When Lara was done changing she went out of her room. She jumped up towards the roof of the inn. Once she was up there, she closed her eyes and like how Ren taught her, she extended the flow of her mana outwards to scan the area. Even after she did this she still couldn''t locate Ren or Valdel.


    Deep inside she started to get worried. Was it possible that the two of them left her behind? Was she finally being abandoned by Ren? Even though deep inside Lara was now in a state of panic. Her outside look and expression remain ever stoic.


    To a third party Lara looked as cool as ice, yet inside her thoughts and heart she truly wasn''t. While Lara was contemting what to do, she finally felt Ren''s presence nearing her location. She immediately dashed towards the ce where she felt Ren''s presence. There at the distance she saw his silhouette.


    Once she was face to face with the two, she went direct to the point. "Where have you two been?" Lara as usual said so in an indifferent tone, but inside she was very angry.


    "Oh we tested our new weapons. So we went out to spar for a bit." Valdel unaware of what Lara was truly feeling answered with a smile on his face.


    "Hey no need to be angry. We just went out for a bit, you were sleeping so soundly so I didn''t want to wake you up." And like usual it was only Ren who could truly understand her true feelings. It was a simple thing for Ren to do, since he can determine ones mood depending on the flow of ones mana.


    "I understand." Lara''s answer was quick and to the point as usual, but deep inside her heart was a different picture.


    ''Ren understood me! Even though it so hard to change my expression, and even if I tried my tone of voice doesn''t seem to change. I also saw my reflection when I smile, it''s pretty scary, I can''t show him that. Still I knew Ren would figure out what I''m truly feeling. There is no need for words between the two of us. Since we our connected by a bond stronger than words alone.''


    "Lara let''s go we need to go to the adventurers guild. As for you... You don''t need toe Valdel, since it''s only Lara and I who will be tested."


    "Sure, I''m just going out of town for a bit to test Nika''s abilities. Don''t do anything too crazy out there." Valdel warned the two, especially Ren.


    "Hmph, how about you? How about you stop sticking your nose in another person''s business. If you keep on being such a busy body, someday you''ll get stab in the back." Ren responded with a snort.


    "I''m not a busybody... Whatever... Lara keep an eye on that guy and make sure he doesn''t get into trouble." Before Ren could retort to that statement, Valdel quickly fled the scene.


    "Yeah, you better run you coward." Ren not wanting to back down shouted those lines to the fading back of Valdel.


    ...


    Hilda who was holding a brand new spear stood right outside of the adventurers guild, waiting for Ren and Lara. This time she was prepared to watch what kind of person Ren truly is. Today will be their test as adventurers and she was their proctor. So that gave her a chance to observe Ren up close and see how he reacts and adapts to different types of situations.


    "Hey Hilda it''s nice to see you''re energetic today as well." It was then that Hilda heard that irritating overconfident voice of the troublemaker Ren.


    "Enough chit chat, are you ready for your test?" Hilda got right straight to the point, as she pointed her spear at Ren''s face.


    "As ready as I''ll ever be. Also can you stop pointing that thing at me. Or do you want me to break it again?" Ren nonchntly answered. Hearing Ren''s answer Hilda stopped pointing her spear at Ren, and shifted her attention to Lara.


    "How about you? Are you ready?"


    "Ready."


    "Okay since both of you are ready, let''s head out immediately." Hilda without waiting for a reply simply walked towards the north exit of the town. Seeing how impatient Hilda was made Ren shrug his shoulders as he followed her.


    Lara who saw how Hilda acted was a bit irritated.


    ''That woman really has too much pride in herself. She just makes me irritated, but it''s obvious Ren has set his sights on her. It''s pretty much an unavoidable fate that I need to get along with her as Ren''s woman. If only I could just kill her... Damn it! If only that was an option, I would''ve done so that first time she was rude to Ren.''


    Lara who was having a fiery internal monologue still look cool as ice on the outside, as she followed Ren and Hilda.


    ...


    The three walked quite a bit northwards from town, until finally they saw an entrance going underground.


    "This is a dungeon, in here I will be testing what rank would best suit you. Normally if you reach the third floor you pass, and get a D rank, C rank for five floors, B rank for nine, A rank for fifteen, and S rank for eighteen and above. But since no matter what happens in this test you two will be given a B rank, you just need to show me a bit of you strengths." Once Hilda was done exining how the test works, Ren went ahead and asked a question.


    "So how many floors does this dungeon have?"


    "No one knows, thest Guild Master was the one who got farthest in. He went as deep as twenty floors, but he couldn''t get pass the guardian of the floor, so no one really knows how deep this particr dungeon goes."


    When Ren heard what Hilda said, he started to smile. "How interesting."

 Chapter 24 - Dungeon Core

    <h4>Chapter 24 - Dungeon Core</h4>


    Ren, Lara, and Hilda had entered the dungeon. When Ren and Lara entered they were surprised to see, the dungeon that was underground was fully lit. Seeing Ren''s surprised expression Hilda was about to exin how the the dungeon was lit, but before she could say anything Ren cut her off.


    "Oh there is a strong concentration of magical power underground. The umted mana here is the most probable cause for the monsters being born underground. This phenomenon could exin why the underground passage way is actually bright as if there were torches lit here. Still why is mana gathering here in this particr position?"


    Hearing Ren exin his hypothesis out loud and was correct about it, made Hilda a bit irritated. She was about to answer him but then she was cut off. She knows it doesn''t make sense to get mad at him for answering, but for some reason that overconfident face of his made her irritated. Then she heard him ask about why mana gathered in the dungeon.


    Hilda was about to answer this as well, but before she could do so. Once again Ren answered his own question and once again he did it out loud.


    "Oh there must be an object that gathers and replenishes mana in here. Hey Hilda is there any object in this dungeon that gathers mana from the outside and stores it?"


    Ren who noticed Hilda''s ever darkening expression asked her a question. It wasn''t a coincidence that Ren would answer his own questions and say them out loud, when Hilda was ready to answer. Ren was doing this on purpose, since he thought Hilda''s irritated face was quite funny and cute. But now that her expression was darkening turning irritation into anger, Ren decided to stop fooling around.


    "Are you sure that you aren''t going to just answer your own question again?" Hilda red at Ren, who responded with a shrug.


    "Not sure what you''re talking about, but I do want to know if there really is an item that gathers and stores mana in this Dungeon."


    Hilda looked at Ren while half doubting him. Ever since he met this guy, he was just full of lies and tricks. Even though he has such overwhelming might, he still resorts to cheap tactics such as provocation and other petty ways. Ren doing this even with his strength made Hilda unable to look at him in a good light.


    "Fine I will answer your question since you asked. Yes, there is an object that gathers and stores mana inside the dungeon, we call that object a Dungeon''s Core. In the beginning the true and sole purpose of an adventurer was to explore Dungeons that keep on spawning monsters, and destroy the dungeon core within. Nowadays adventurers do a lot more than just finding and destroying Dungeon Cores, but even with all the other additional quests. The mission to destroy Dungeon Cores still remains our main job."


    "Okay so the object that is collecting the mana and spawning this monsters is called a Dungeon Core. I get that now, but your exnation raises a bunch of other question, but the ones I want to learn about are just a few things. One, how are dungeon cores created? I''m sure that they don''t just magically appear out of nowhere, so where do theye from? How are they created? Or if they''re not natural things, the question would be who created them? Second question if you know that there is a dungeon core in here, and an adventurers main job is to destroy them, why is this one still functioning? It can''t be, that just because you use this dungeon to rank adventurers, you haven''t destroyed it yet... Can it?"


    Lara nodded her head indicating that she agreed with all of Ren''s questions. Seeing the two look at her with eyes of curiosity, Hilda felt like she was being overwhelmed by their sheer curiosity. Well its really mostly because they were looking at her in a weird way.


    "The answer to your first question is still unknown. But there are two prevailing theories that exin the appearance of the Dungeon Core. One the dungeon core is created by the Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Master is someone that appears at the same time as the Dungeon Core. He is the one who supposedly controls all functions of a Dungeon. The Dungeon Masters that have been killed before were different sses of intelligent monsters, which ranged from the weak goblin priest, to the strong Dragons. The only reason we assume that they can control the dungeon is because once a dungeon master dies, the dungeon slows down in producing monsters. Also the dungeon stops growing once a dungeon master dies. The second theory is that the dungeon core is a natural umtion of mana that took form and with it an intelligent monster is born to safeguard the dungeon core. Making the monsters born here something like a defense mechanism."


    Lara was having a hard time understanding the information Hilda provided in quick session. Ren on the other hand got a lot more questions after hearing Hilda''s answer, like why are Dragons even categorized as monsters? Weren''t they suppose to be categorized as a race? Or does this world have a different view of Dragons? But Ren decided to just get the informationter, once they were done with this test.


    "Thank you for that exnation Hilda. It was very informative." Ren said in a bit of a sarcastic tone, but Hilda didn''t notice this. She was still feeling a bit proud that she could exin things about Dungeon Cores in such concise manner.


    "You''re wee, so onto your next question. The reason why we haven''t destroyed the Dungeon Core of this particr Dungeon is because it''s in too deep. The one who got the deepest into this dungeon was the former Guild Master who stopped on the Twentieth floor. The one he faced was assumed to be the Dungeon Master. The former Guild Master was able luckily able to flee with his life, but upon his return he became a bit unstable and was unable to continue his job as a Guild Master. So at the moment the only adventurer in our branch of the Adventurers Guild that has the qualifications to destroy the Dungeon Core, of this particr Dungeon is the current Guild Master, Nezard Netter. And as both of you know he is someone like that, so that''s why the dungeon core of this dungeon still remains functioning."


    While listening to Hilda''s answer. Ren and Lara recalled their impression of the current Guild Master of the Grenton branch. Nezard Netter was a person that even offered to give his position as Guild Master to the non adventurer Ren. Remembering this, the two could understand why this dungeon hasn''t been conquered yet.


    "So any other questions? None? Okay then let''s continue onwards." When Hilda saw the two, or more precisely Ren had no more questions, she went onward to the first floor of the dungeon. Ren and Lara followed in as they finally start their test to be adventurers.

 Chapter 25 - Deeper in

    <h4>Chapter 25 - Deeper in</h4>


    When the group of three got to the first floor of the underground Dungeon, Ren could finally sense the surrounding enemies. While they were outside Ren already tried to investigate the inner workings of the Dungeon by sending out a strand of his mana, but like the pocket dimension weapon shop, the Dungeon seems to block such things as well.


    Yet now that they were on the first floor, he could finally sense the enemies on this floor, but he couldn''t sense the enemies on the deeper floors.


    ''The walls might be interfering from letting mana enter or escape, but then how can the Dungeon Core umte mana? Does it have a function that ovees this little detail?'' While Ren was analyzing the walls and the interior of the Dungeon, the first group of monsters finally appeared.


    The monsters were goblins, green skinned three foot tall creatures. Each one of the goblins had weapons at hand, spears, swords, clubs, and other assortment of crappy looking gear. Their were dozens of them approaching Ren and his group.


    Even when the enemy approaches Ren didn''t bother with them. They were too weak to even provide a good workout, and this test was a good way to train Lara, who has lessbat experience than he. Also at the moment he was much more interested in the structure of the Dungeon that felt slightly familiar to him.


    Hilda who saw that Ren wasn''t going to do anything was even more unimpressed by him. Lara on the other hand started attacking the Goblins, but she didn''t use her bow. Instead she used a Beginners spell [wind slice]. A little de of wind was a formed that attacked one of the goblins.


    This spell was good to use against small animals or twigs. It was also used to teach small children how to use magic. Making this was the first time Hilda saw it be used forbat. She was sure that Lara''s [wind slice] would do minimal damage or no damage at all.


    Yet the moment Lara''s [wind slice] hit the goblins, they were sliced in half. Hilda couldn''t believe her eyes. How was that possible? Wasn''t [wind slice] suppose to be a beginner spell? Yet Lara continued to massacre the Goblins using it, while Ren continued to inspect the walls with a frown on his face.


    When the Goblins died there bodies evaporate into mana which returned to the Dungeon Core, to be revivedter on. Once she was sure it was done, Hilda approached Lara.


    "How did you that?"


    Lara with her expressionless face simply tilted her head at Hilda''s question.


    "How did you make the spell [wind slice] do that? How is your version of that spell more powerful than it''s suppose to be?"


    Even after hearing Hilda''s full question Lara still couldn''t understand it. Wasn''t [wind slice] suppose to be this powerful? Actually wasn''t her version super weak. When Ren taught Lara how to use [wind slice] he sliced through a portion of trees and animals in the forest.


    Hilda seeing that it was useless to ask Lara, asked Ren instead. In which he responded without even looking at her.


    "Aren''t spells dependent on how powerful your mana is? In the first ce who said [wind slice] was a beginner level magic? Isn''t it suppose to be intermediate level?"


    Hilda rolled her eyes at Ren''s answer. What did she expect from someone like him? Of course he wouldn''t give a straight answer. What was he talking about? How is [wind slice] an intermediate level spell? If that were true then Lara here would be an intermediate level magician, and she''s what fourteen? The youngest intermediate level mage was a genius at the age of twenty two. So is Ren telling her that Lara surpasses that genius?


    Hilda didn''t bother to even think about this anymore, since it was clear that neither of the two wanted to answer her question properly. So the group went deeper into the dungeon, and the next opponents that appeared were pack of stone wolves.


    In which same as the first time, Lara killed all the enemies while Ren simply pondered about something. Hilda who was watching this scene was getting even more irritated.


    "Aren''t you going to do something? How can I grade you if you don''t do anything?!"


    Ren finally looked at Hilda with confusion written all over his face. "What are you talking about? Why are you suppose to grade me? Don''t I get a B rank no matter what I do?"


    "So you''re just going to let her do all the work, while you do nothing but stare at the walls?"


    "Well those opponents don''t really matter to me, they wont even be able to satisfy a tiny bit of my battle lust. Also why bother fighting here? We''re going deeper in, if the Dungeon Master is as strong as you im it to be... Then I will fight the Dungeon Master. Also don''t worry about safety, if I feel either you or Lara are in danger I''ll step in." Once he was done saying what needed to be said, Ren went back into looking at the walls.


    "What?! You''re nning to go deeper in? You''re even telling me that you''re going to fight the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon?! Weren''t you listening awhile ago? Even the former Guild Master an S rank adventurer needed to flee from that monster!"


    "Please don''t categorize me and that guy under the same level."


    Hearing Ren''s answer, Hilda couldn''t respond. She looked at Ren as if she was looking at the most arrogant, stupid person in the world. ''What is it with this overconfident guy?! Is it such chore to even try to be humble? Where does he even get all that confidence from? We''re talking about a monster even an S rank veteran couldn''t handle! Fine if he wants to die, then so be it.''


    While Hilda was cursing Ren in her head, Lara was still fighting dozens of monsters using her arrows. She didn''t use her bow, and started attacking using her arrows instead, while using [enhance] to make her arrows more sturdy. With arrows at hand she pierced and stabbed the enemies to death.


    This violent way of fighting coupled with her expressionless face, made the scene a whole lot more intimidating. Once she was done killing all the enemies, she looked at Hilda who she was trying to intimidate, but noticed that she wasn''t even looking at her.


    "I''m done." Lara who was frustrated deep inside still said that line with her normal indifferent tone of voice.


    "You cleared the first floor congrattions Lara. At least you''re doing your part in this test." Hilda looked at Ren when she said this.


    "Oh finally done? Let''s head deeper in shall we?" This time it was Ren who went ahead first followed by Lara. Hilda who was casually ignored by Ren, was now even more irritated at the guy.

 Chapter 26 - Floor sixteen

    <h4>Chapter 26 - Floor sixteen</h4>


    Ren''s group had reached the Sixteenth floor, and all throughout the expedition Ren never even needed to lift a finger to fight. Hilda on the other hand started to help Lara on the twelfth floor onward since she noticed that Lara was getting hurt more often.


    Even though she was there to simply observe, she couldn''t let Lara just get hurt like that. Also in her eyes Ren was pretty much useless. At this point both she and Lara had a lot of scratches in their armor, but because of Lara''s healing spell they wasn''t a scratch on their skins. While the two girls were fighting with their lives on the line.


    Ren was still looking at theyout of the Dungeon and actually found something really surprising. Though there were some differences here and there, but theyout as well as the materials used in making the Dungeon was simr to the fortresses the humans build back in his previous life.


    It was at the time when Ren who was still Demon Lord Kretos was facing off against his fourth hero. The humans had finally found a way to fortify their walls with a material hard enough to withstand a bombardment of magic, and also stop magic senses from prying.


    Yet even with this advancement they couldn''t stop Kretos from his march. The material used was hard enough to stop a bombardment from dozens of Master ss magicians, but they were still unable to stop Kretos, whose power at that point in time was at its peak.


    The materials used to make the walls of this Dungeon felt simr to what was used that time, but it was also different. The materials used in those fortresses back in his previous world were able to withstand a certain level of magic, but these ones were able to negate a certain level of magic.


    The properties of this material were like those of Valdel''s new sword Zwei, yet this was made with something simr but weaker. Still it does its job quite well if you''re trying to fend off weaker level opponents. Also even without the effect of magic negation the material used in building the Dungeon is sturdy enough tost a millennia.


    While Ren was still contemting about what all these could mean, the girls were having a very thrilling battle. The two were fighting a giant suit of armor standing at least ten feet tall. This monster was called a steel golem, it''s ssified as an subjugation monster that needs at least five A rank adventurers to beat it.


    Yet seeing as Lara and Hilda were stronger than a regr A rank adventurer they were able to somehow fight evenly with the monster. The twodies fought with good coordination, as Lara supported Hilda with magic, and enchanted arrows. Hilda on the other hand fought up close and personal using her spear, deflecting the iing attacks and creating openings to exploit.


    ...


    The two had been fighting the steel golem for more than half an hour and they still couldn''t beat it. You think at this point Ren would have helped them but no, he continued to look around without a care in the world.


    It wasn''t because Ren didn''t care about them. It was actually because he trusted them that he didn''t help them. This battle against an opponent with a slightly greater power, was needed to surpass their limits and be able to grow stronger. To Ren no matter how long you train and no matter what technique you learn, none but true battle could help you grow.


    Still Ren was always ready to help them, just in case they truly needed him. So while Ren was thinking that he was an awesome teacher, the twodies have finally changed tactics. The twodies started to attack a singr spot with all their power.


    The two chose to attack the center of the body of the steel golem. For some reason that seem to be the weakest part of its armor. At first the two didn''t notice it, since they couldn''t even damage the monster, but after hitting that area a few times. They noticed that the steel golem actually started to defend that area.


    So with that simple observation the twodies started to attack that spot without relent. Since it wasn''t like they had any other idea. Showing how in sync they were with each other, the moment Hilda attacked she would shift the defensive position of the steel golem by redirecting its arms to the side. When the opening is made Lara fired arrows in quick session.


    The two repeated this process until finally they made a hole in the armor. When the two saw that they finally seeded. Hilda doubled her efforts to make the steel golem focus on her. Lara on the other hand started chanting and made a dozen dyed spells of [fire ball]. When she was ready Lara waited for the opening she needed to attack.


    Hilda who noticed Lara was done, pushed the steel golem a bit backwards by throwing her spear infused with mana. That attack gave the opening Lara needed to send all her dyed [fire ball] spells into the hole of the armor.


    Once Lara''s dyed [fire ball] spell was inside the steel golem, she made all the [fire ball] spells explode at the same time. This move was able to blow up the steel golem from within. When the two saw the steel golem explode and its body bing mana once more, they knelt on the ground panting heavily.


    "Good job both of you." Ren started to p at the twodies achievement. The two who heard what Ren had to say, felt two extremely different things.


    Lara looked at Ren while panting and she felt extremely happy. Her face was still showing the same stone cold look, but inside she was having a celebration.


    ''YAY! Ren praised me! It''s been so long since he praised me! Does that mean I grew even more powerful today? So that means I''m getting closer to him?'' Lara was still panting heavily but the joy of getting one step nearer to her beloved was exhrating.


    Hilda on the other hand who was also exhausted, red at Ren. ''What the hell does he mean good job? We nearly died, and he still didn''t lift a finger! What is wrong with this guy''s head?''


    "So you two just rest here for awhile. I''m going on ahead and will be clearing the path for you two."


    Hilda wanted to say something but she was too exhausted to even speak. So she helplessly watched Ren going deeper to the next level of the Dungeon. Her mind was a mess, she didn''t really like the arrogant boy but she didn''t want him to die.


    She tried her hardest to stand up and follow Ren. So that she could stop him from going deeper into the dungeon by himself, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn''t put any strength into her legs. She had no choice but to wait for her to regain just enough stamina to be able to move.


    ''I hope you''re still alive when I get to you.'' Those were Hilda''sst thoughts before she went into a meditative state.


    Lara on the other hand just directly went to sleep. Since in her eyes Ren was invincible and worrying about him felt idiotic.

 Chapter 27 - To the Dungeon Master

    <h4>Chapter 27 - To the Dungeon Master</h4>


    When Ren got to the seventeenth floor, what greeted him were three of the steel golems, Lara and Hilda had difficulty defeating.


    "[Wind Slice]" The moment Ren invoked his spell, a huge de of wind, darted towards the charging steel golems, and sliced them in half. Ren''s [wind slice] was iparable to Lara''s, in both strength and size. The sheer amount of mana used was already incredibly different.


    Ren didn''t bother with the fading steel golems as he walked onwards. When he got a bit further ahead Ren saw hundreds more of the steel golems and other different types of monsters. There were some that looked like gigantic lion like creatures walking on two feet. Others were a mixture of a snake and a bird, and other different varieties of monsters.


    The moment Ren saw this grand spectacle in such a tight space underground no less, he couldn''t help but show a smile on his face. Ren then started cracking his joints.


    "Now time for a little warm up."


    ...


    An hour after Ren left the twodies, Hilda had finally got enough stamina to move and fight. She wanted to immediately follow Ren and help him out, but she couldn''t. Lara was still fast asleep, it would seem that thest battle took quite a toll on her.


    Hilda had the choice to simply leave her here, since monsters don''t usually revive on the day they died. It takes the dungeon core around two days for them to revive. Still there are many mysteries regarding the Dungeons, that there might actually be a possibility that the monsters would suddenly reappear.


    So leaving Lara wasn''t an option, but waiting for her to wake up also wasn''t an option. Left with no other option Hilda carriedra on her shoulders, and ran to the next floor. When she got to the next floor, it was devoid of any noise, there weren''t even any signs that a battle took ce.


    As Hilda walked onwards the whole seventeenth floor was empty. That would mean Ren was able to beat monsters stronger than the steel golem by himself, and in under less than hour.


    Still as Ren goes deeper the monsters get stronger, and no matter how strong Ren was if he fought continuously by himself he might make a fatal mistake. Hilda sped up and headed to the next floor immediately.


    When Hilda reached the eighteenth it was simr to the floor above, in that it was empty. There was nothing in here. It was so eerily quiet Hilda thought that something might suddenly pop out to scare her. Yet no matter how far she got into the floor she found no signs of either Ren or any monsters.


    Hilda continued onwards and as expect the neenth floor was empty. The twentieth floor where the previous Guild Master was said to have fled was also empty. So the Guardian Monster of the twentieth floor wasn''t the Dungeon Master.


    It was as this point Hilda finally realized how much she underestimated Ren.


    ''So he wasn''t just an arrogant fool, but he was an arrogant guy for a reason. Still it doesn''t change how arrogant and overconfident he was, this showing simply puts a reason as to why he was like that.''


    When Hilda continued onwards and saw the stairs leading to the next floor, she heard a menacing roaring from the floor below. Ren was most probably at the floor below fighting something. It was at this point Hilda needed to make an important decision.


    Either leave Lara on this floor and head downwards to help Ren, or wait for Ren to finish his fight, since she might not be able to help him or worse she might get in his way. Still she was the proctor of this test, and had a job to do. Hilda gritted her teeth and decided to leave Lara near the stairs as she continued onward.


    ...


    Half an hour before Hilda heard the roar, Ren had just finished the Twentieth floor guardian.


    ''So the twentieth floor monster wasn''t the Dungeon Master. Still that was a tricky opponent to face, I can see why the former Guild Master had difficulty fighting it. Showing the form of someone you have lost. Heh it was clever, giving the enemy psychological damage and attacking with words before delivering a killing blow. If she was as strong as the original my current strength wouldn''t be able to do anything. Still it was amazing how much that monster looked like her, and acted like her. I would''ve been fooled if her mana flow was the same as well. Well that did take me awhile to kill, since I was amazed at first, and I wanted to hear her sarcastic voice for the nostalgia.''


    Ren immersed himself in nostalgia for awhile. Once he was done, he continued onward to the next floor.


    The next floor was different from all the other floors simply because it was just one huge underground area. The whole floor looked bigger than the town of Grenton. When Ren looked upwards he could barely see the ceiling even with his eyesight enhanced by mana.


    When Ren saw how different this floor was he got excited. This might mean the Dungeon Master was on this floor. Ren slowly walked forward and from beyond the other end of this one room in the twenty first floor he saw a huge body moving about.


    The body of this beast looked to be twenty meters long, not including its tail that looked to be at around eight meters long. When it moved its legs the ground shook, and when it opened the wings that were in its back a torrent of wind assaulted Ren. Its snake like eyes had locked on to Ren.


    When Ren saw this monstrosity instead of getting even more excited he felt a bit disappointed. It wasn''t that the monster in front of him wasn''t strong. In actual fact it was the strongest being Ren had seen in this new world of his, well excluding Nezard who seem to be hiding his true strength.


    "What a let down. I was expecting a dragon, but all I get is a King Drake." The king Drake was a pseudo dragon. It was thergest Drake in existence but it was still a step below a real dragon. Wether it be its strength or intelligence, even the size of their bodies were drastically different.


    The King Drake had understood that it had been insulted roared again in anger. It lifted one of its ws and swiped downwards trying to cleave Ren, who evaded by jumping backward.


    "Getting angry? I wasn''t really insulting you. I was just a bit disappointed." The King Drake followed up its attack with a fire breath. Ren started running to the side, evading the fire breath heading towards him.


    Even though Ren insulted the King Drake and was disappointed. The truth of the matter is he was no match for the King Drake with his current strength. The current Ren was so much weaker than the King Drake, yet to him that didn''t matter.


    "Silika are you ready for our first true battle?" The moment Ren asked this question he showed a vicious smile as the voice of a woman sounded in his head.


    "You''re finally going to use me Master? Well then let''s show this overgrown lizard what we can do."

 Chapter 28 - Fighting the Dungeon Master

    <h4>Chapter 28 - Fighting the Dungeon Master</h4>


    Ren materialized his weapon onto his right hand. The tattoos that were ced on his right hand as proof of the contract started to glow, slowly materializing Ren''s weapon on his hand.


    The weapon at hand had a long ck handle and at the end of the handle was the de of the weapon shaped like the crescent moon. At the other end were thin wires that could not been seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye attached to them were six inches long red sword shaped needle like things. These sword shaped needles were controlled by Ren''s mana and looked like they were floating in mid air because of how thin the wires that connected them were.


    Ren''s weapon was a scythe that was wholly ck, and the sword shaped needles were as red as blood. The scythe that he held was as tall as him, making it look even more intimidating.


    The King Drake who saw the scythe Ren was holding felt a fearful energy emitting from it. The energy of death that surrounded the scythe made the King Drake instinctually back away a bit.


    "Hey you lizard don''t back away! Show me the dignity and might of a King!" Ren taunted the King Drake as if he was the one in a superior position. Knowing that the puny human was insulting him, the King Drake used [me Breath] again.


    "That move again?" While saying that Ren jumped upwards evading the breath attack. With that one jump he was now directly above the King Drake. Once he got in a good position above the King Drake he used his mana to control the sword shaped needles to attack the King Drake.


    The sword like needles pierced the King Drake and started to drain blood from it. The King Drake having its thick scales and hide prated was the first damage it had received since its birth. This was the first time it had known pain. So it roared once more but this time it was a different roar of a higher pitch one showing its pain. The sword shaped needles were then forcefully removed from its body. The bleeding of the attack stopped immediately due to the King Drake''s amazing regeneration.


    "What are you a baby? Afraid of being pricked." When Ren said those lines he was already behind the King Drake who in its anger swung its tail trying to hit Ren, who easily evaded.


    "So how was it Silika?" While evading the tail of the King Drake who was angrily roaring, Ren started to talk to Silika.


    "As I thought Master I can try to drain the opponents blood, but it doesn''t give me power. The only person whose blood that can give me more power is you my master. Even a higher quality enemy such as the King Drake can''t bypass this restriction."


    "Damn, I thought I could somehow use the blood of a King Drake to get around that irritating skill. No matter, it''s not like I''ll die even if I use that skill."


    While Ren and Silika were having their casual conversation, the King Drake was aggressively attacking. It was now attacking with everything it had, using its ws, its tail, its teeth, and even using skills like [me breath] and [toxic breath]. Yet Ren easily evaded all the attacks and [toxic breath] doesn''t really affect Ren since his whole body is coated by his own mana, negating most ailment attacks.


    Seeing that all its attacks were ineffective the King Drake opened its wings ready to take to a higher ground so that it could use its most powerful attack. Ren who saw the King Drake gathering mana into it''s abdomen same as when it uses its breath attacks smiled viciously.


    Since the mana it was gathering was the most mana it had gathered since the beginning of the fight. It was pretty obvious that it was about to use a very powerful skill. Even though Ren''s current strength was below that of the King Drake he still challenged it head on.


    The King Drake flew upwards, while Ren took a stance ready to receive the iing attack. He wasn''t going to evade this attack like he did before this, because of two reasons. One this skill looks like it would pretty much engulf the whole area. Second Ren was waiting for this to happen, he wanted to test the very limit of what he and Silika could do.


    "Now that''s better! Are you finally getting motivated!Then I will respond in kind. Silika this lizard is about to use its strongest attack, so how about we answer it with our own strongest attack." Ren looked at the King Drake while showing that vicious grin of his, the excitement of battle energizing his own soul.


    "Very well Master." As Renmanded the seven sword shaped needles of the scythe stabbed into Ren''s right arm, taking blood from Ren.


    As Silika took more blood from Ren, a ck mana started to surround Ren. The ck mana took shape and now look like a ck cloak covering Ren''s whole body, his face was even covered by the ck mana forming what look like a hood.


    The ck scythe Ren was holding, its ded area started to glow dark red. This was the true form of Ren''s weapon Silika. The ck cloak that covers him is the purest form of the mana of darkness, death energy.


    Ren was now ready to take on the King Drake''s attack. The King Drake who felt Ren''s death energy grew fearful, and in it''s fear it charged its breath with all the mana it could muster. When it was ready it used its strongest attack [elemental breath], a breath infused with the elements of fire, water, earth, and wind.


    The [elemental breath] that the King Drake used was upon Ren. This move was powerful enough to wipe out the whole town of Grenton and then some more. This power was something the current Ren by himself can never resist, but instead of being afraid. Ren faced it with childlike glee.


    Ren covered by the cloak of death energy jumped upwards, looking like he was going to be directly hit by the [elemental breath]. The King Drake who saw what the human did, was sure that the human he faced was crazy.


    Ren was centimeters away from getting hit by the [elemental breath] but before it did so, he swung his scythe at the King Drake''s [elemental breath]. The attack Ren made sliced the [elemental breath] at the center making it split in front of Ren.


    Ren who was using everything he had for the first time, felt like it wasn''t enough. The [elemental breath] was still crushing upon Ren mid air while he almost exhausted his whole mana supply. Even the foothold of air he created to be able to stand mid air was slowly disappearing.


    "Now this is what I was hoping for! Silika take more of my blood!"


    "But master if I take anymore, even you might not be able to survive."


    "Who the hell are you talking to Silika!? Like I said before I''m different from those weak fools! Take some more. Don''t you dare sully this glorious battle with your hesitation."


    Silika who felt Ren''s resolve, and battle lust had no choice but toply. Silika took more of Ren''s blood. Ren who was getting paler, was now surrounded by red like death energy. His Cloak had changed from the color ck to the color red.


    With even more power flowing through the scythe, Ren was able to actually cut through the [elemental breath]. Once Ren was able to sliced through the [elemental breath] he used the element of wind to make another stepping stone using the surrounding air, creating a foothold for him to jump upwards.


    The King Drake that wasn''t expecting Ren to survive its attack wasn''t able to put up any kind of defense. Ren sliced through the King Drake''s wings and was able to cut them off. With no more wings the King Drake fell to the ground, which Ren followed downwards beheading the King Drake.


    Thest thing the King Drake saw before his death, was the vicious smile Ren had. Its final thoughts were ''who between the two of us was truly the monster?''


    ...


    Hilda who was going down the stairs was able to witness as Ren beheaded the King Drake. After witnessing that scene she simply stood at the corner in silence. She could only look at Ren whose red cloak turned from red to ck.


    While that was happening, Hilda heard something but she wasn''t sure if she heard it right, but she thought she heard Ren whispering at his now fading opponent.


    "Thanks for the battle."

 Chapter 29 - After the battle

    <h4>Chapter 29 - After the battle</h4>


    Ren simply stood there in that spot relishing in the afterglow of the fight he just had. This was the most exhrating fight he had in ages. A fight were he actually needed to use everything, and he still wasn''t sure if he could win it. This excitement, this thrill was something he had lost in the stream of time. While basking in joy, Ren noticed something happening to the flowing mana that came out of the fading King Drake.


    As the King Drake''s body started to turn into mana, something weird happened. Instead of the mana returning to the Dungeon Core, it headed towards Ren''s scythe which began absorbing it. The death energy that surrounded Ren slowly faded revealing the pale faced Ren, who had a look of confusion.


    "What happened? What is this Silika?" Hilda who saw that Ren was talking to himself, started to think that Ren might be going crazy. Yet as she thought that, she noticed Ren''s scythe had disappeared and what reced it was a ck cloaked, ck veiled person.


    Seeing this Hilda got confused, and started questioning if she was the one going crazy. Ren and Silika who noticed Hilda since awhile ago didn''t bother with her for the moment.


    "This one of my skills, from one of my more famous legends which portray me as the harvester of souls. Any enemy who dies, after you my master use that technique were I drain you of blood to strengthen myself. The soul of this enemy or just his mana is devoured by me. Doing this strengthens me, and you as well. We both gain a bit of the enemy''s mana. Don''t you feel it master?"


    When Ren heard Silika''s exnation he checked his current mana capacity, and sure enough it increased. As he confirmed what the situation was, Ren didn''t say anything anymore. He simply looked at the spot where the King Drake died.


    "Master?" Silika who saw her silent master, couldn''t understand what happened. Her master who usually showed an overconfident, arrogant expression was just staring at that one spot.


    Hilda who saw Ren''s reaction after talking to the veiled figure, couldn''t describe what she was feeling at the moment. The always overconfident expression Ren had was reced with a stoic one, as he stared silently at a spot.


    Somehow looking at Ren''s stoic face, Hilda could feel a sort of sadness engulfing him. As Hilda tries to understand what was happening to Ren, he suddenly looks at Hilda and smiled. As he did this, the veiled person beside Ren disappeared as if if that person never existed in the first ce.


    This strange urrences have bewildered Hilda, who was unable to understand anything as she silently stood there with no clue about anything that had transpired. The only thing she thinks she was sure of, was that she saw Ren kill a King Drake... But after everything that happened even that was a question for her sanity.


    "Oh you finally arrived Hilda. How about Lara where is she?" The switch of atmosphere Ren went through was amazing, and Silika who had witness everything was as confused as Hilda. Who simply stood there in silence not answering.


    "Hello Hilda? Are you okay?" Hearing Ren, who almost sounded a little bit concerned made Hilda wake up from her trance like state.


    "What the hell was that? Did you just kill a King Drake?! Also who was that person wearing a veil? Was that person even real? Did I just hallucinate everything?" Hilda suddenly asked Ren a barrage of questions. Her confusion, excitement, and fear somehow blended together as she asked all of these questions.


    "Calm down alright. Everything you saw was real. Everything you said happened." Ren answered while trying not tough at Hilda''s confused state.


    "How?"


    "Okay, I will answer all of your questions, after you tell me where Lara is, alright?" Hilda who heard Ren''s question was trying to calm herself down. The conversation can''t continue if she couldn''t calm down. After breathing in and out for a few seconds, Hilda was somehow able to control her raging emotions.


    "Lara is fine, I left her near the staircase at the upper floor. So Ren tell me what happened here."


    Ren then started to exin about how he cleared the other floors, before facing the King Drake in this floor. He also exined that he has a weapon that could be pulled out of the void, but he didn''t exin anything about Silika.


    Hilda who heard Ren''s entire exnation, now knew how much she had underestimated Ren, but she couldn''t understand why she would hallucinate about another person talking to Ren. Was she still exhausted from her previous fight that she would start to hallucinate?


    The answer was a no, that would mean Ren was simply hiding something from her. Well it was his choice if he didn''t want to say anything. The only thing different in her evaluation of Ren was his strength. He was still an overconfident, violent, and scheming person. It was just now there were some indications as to why he acted this way.


    "So anymore questions?" Ren didn''t care if Hilda suspected him of anything, as he smilingly ask this.


    "Why do you want to be B ranked? As the Guild Master said with your power you could shoot straight up to S rank, even Lara is of A rank quality. So then why go through all of these? Why do you want to be B rank? What are you scheming?" The only thing this test proved to Hilda was that Ren was someone she needed to keep an eye on even more.


    "I do want to be S rank, but just not right now. Also being B rank is the best position for me right now. I don''t want to raise too much suspicion. Getting S rank or even A rank after the initial test is too much. Getting B rank on the other hand is still somehow believable. I and Lara will simply bebeled as geniuses instead of monsters and other such colorful nicknames."


    "Why are you telling me all of these things? Aren''t you worried I''ll tell other people, or I''ll just tell them the real results of the test?"


    "First off even if you do tell anybody else, we have the Guild Master on our side. Who do you think the other branches of the adventurers guild will believe, you the secretary or Nezard the Guild Master? Even with his peculiar background, they would never suspect Nezard to do something that requires more paperwork. Finally I don''t think you will do anything of the sort."


    "Are you threatening me?"


    "How does that sound like a threat to you?"


    "..." Hilda couldn''t say anything anymore, since everything Ren said was the truth. Also there wasn''t really any harm if they were made B ranked adventurers. It was just that Hilda didn''t like the feeling that Ren was in control of the whole situation.


    "Anymore questions?"


    "..."


    "None? Alright then let''s go pick Lara up and head to the Dungeon Core."

 Chapter 30 - Dungeon Core

    <h4>Chapter 30 - Dungeon Core</h4>


    After Ren and Hilda got the sleeping Lara, they headed straight towards the Dungeon Core. The room the Dungeon Core was located was supposedly the area where the treasury was located as well.


    When Ren heard this, a lot of questions were raised. Why is the Dungeon Core ced in the treasury? Also why does a Dungeon that spawns monster have a treasury to begin with? Finally what will they do with the treasury? Do they the ones who cleared the Dungeon acquire it?


    Hilda answered all of Ren''s questions. The answer to the first two questions was no one knows. Same as Dungeons and Dungeon Cores, no one truly knows why they exist. She also exined that the treasures found in the Dungeon are divided with the adventurers who cleared the dungeon, the adventurers guild, and the Kingdom where the Dungeon is located.


    Obviously Ren asked what happens if he takes all the treasures for himself. The answer was as expected.


    "After a Dungeon is cleared, the surrounding monsters are lessened. If the adventurer withholds information regarding the clearing of the Dungeon, the royal family sends someone to inspect the Dungeon. Once the inspectors report that the adventurer who cleared the Dungeon was hoarding the treasures, he or she will be the enemy of the Kingdom."


    Ren didn''t really care about the Reschbeauch Kingdom that he is a citizen of. Still if he did do something, not only will he suffer the consequences everyone he knows will also suffer. So he decided to just follow the proper procedure for this.


    ...


    When Ren and his group got into the room where the Dungeon Core was, Ren was surprised in what he saw. He wasn''t surprise by the mountain of treasures, no it wasn''t that, what surprised him was the Dungeon Core and the room itself. While Hilda looked around the room, Ren started to recall some things.


    The Dungeon Core looked eerily simr to a young Dragon''s heart. Ren couldn''t understand why it would look so simr. He couldn''t believe that a young Dragon''s heart was a Dungeon Core. It might just look really simr to it, but Ren knew that was impossible.


    Yet why create something like this? What''s its purpose? Or is this really not a young Dragon''s heart? Ren had only seen a young Dragon''s heart once back in his previous world. An arrogant young Dragon wanted to show how weak he Demon lord Kretos was, by killing him. Yet after battling for three days, Kretos had finally defeated the young Dragon, and took its heart as a prize.


    That was one of the best fights Kretos at his peak ever had. The arrogant Dragons, well the a.d.u.l.t ones, would never stoop so low to attack a lower life form. Which is to them everything that is not a Dragon or a God. So that was the only time Kretos had fought a Dragon, and it was glorious.


    So seeing something simr to a young Dragon''s heart as the Dungeon core was a frighteningly amazing concept. That would mean that something, or someone had killed young dragons, and used their hearts to make Dungeons; and this wasn''t done by killing one or two young dragons, based on what Hilda said their were dozens of Dungeons scattered throughout the continent. That means there was a being that for a time, hunted young Dragons.


    The idea that there was some being powerful enough to kill young dragons and create these dungeons, was truly intriguing. Is that why the Dungeon Cores where in the treasury? Because whoever hunted the young dragons treated their hearts as treasures.


    Ren was getting excited just thinking of such a powerful being existing in this world. Ren really wanted to challenge that being to a battle to the death.


    Ren who got excited again, then thought of another question. Why does this room seem familiar? The moment he entered the treasury, it was not only the young Dragon heart that triggered memories of the past, but the room itself felt nostalgic.


    ''This room looks the same as that room, where I fought the fourth hero. Yet back then it wasn''t a treasury, it was his personal room. Still the design of this Dungeon and the overall feel, reminds me of the fortress the fourth hero owned.''


    Ren then started to reminisce about the fourth hero. Among all the heroes Ren faced, the fourth one was the only one who had escaped death by his hands. This was an impressive feat considering the time he fought the fourth hero, he was already at his strongest.


    The fourth hero was the hero who truly believed in his mission. Among all the heroes who were pretty much obsessed with justice the fourth hero was in a category of his own. He made justice the thing above all,passion, love, kindness, all of these things were secondary in the face of justice.


    Even during their final battle when he learned it was not Kretos who destroyed his vige, but the royal family. He didn''t finish the fight and went to annihte the royal family, from the main family to every descendant they had.


    It was at that time, Kretos wasn''t considered the worse enemy of humanity, it was the fourth hero. They evenbelled this hero who saved thousands as the greatest traitor of humanity. He was hunted down by the people he once protected. The final fate of the hero was a tragic death, supposedly by the hands of those he sought to protect.


    Hilda who was done inspecting the room, looked at Ren weirdly. Ever sinceing down to this Dungeon this overconfident man kept on staring at the distance. He would suddenly keep quiet and not say anything for a few minutes. Was the Dungeon having some kind of strange effect on him?


    "Oh are you done checking the room? So are we going to destroy the Dungeon Core now?" Ren who was having sudden shbacks to the past, finally noticed Hilda was looking at him.


    "Yeah you can destroy it now." When Ren heard the okay from Hilda, he used an unknown darkness spell and engulfed the Dungeon Core with a ball of darkness.


    Hilda who was unaware what kind of spell was used, simply looked on. The darkness that shrouded the Dungeon Core disappeared alongside the Dungeon Core itself.


    "There, gone. So how do we bring the treasures back up."


    "Don''t worry about that, the Guild will handle that. The guild will be processing the treasure and will give you, your share of the treasure." Hearing Hilda''s answer, Ren simply shrugged his arms and went out of the room. Hilda felt like Ren''s nonchnce about the whole sequence of events was normal with his arrogant personality.


    Little did she know Ren didn''t actually destroy the Dungeon Core, he simply hidden it from Hilda''s view, and took it with him.

 Chapter 31 - Adventurers

    <h4>Chapter 31 - Adventurers</h4>


    Ren, Hilda, and Lara returned to the guild. Hilda then gave a detailed report to the Guild Master. Nezard who was listening to the report shifted his line of sight and looked at Ren.


    "Do you really not want to be the Guild Master? With your strength and ability, you can pretty much force your way into the position. But don''t worry I will help you get it without any problems arising. Soe on, take my job... Please"


    Nezard once again offered his job to Ren, in which Hilda stopped herself from doing a facepalm. Yet for some reason she didn''t stop the Guild Master''s proposal this time. She couldn''t deny that even though Ren was an irritating, battle hungry, arrogant guy she felt like he would be a better Guild Master than the current one.


    "Can you stop forcing your job on me."


    "Well it was worth a try... So now you guys will officially be B ranked adventurers once I sign these documents." After shrugging his shoulders, Nezard showed two pieces of paper.


    "Are you sure that you just want to be B ranked?"


    "Yes" Ren answered without any hesitation.


    "How about you littledy? Are you sure you just want to be B ranked?" Nezard looked at the Expressionless Lara, awaiting her answer.


    "I''m alright with whatever Ren decides."


    Nezard hearing the Ren and Lara''s answers, shrugged his shoulders, and signed the papers.


    "Now you are officially adventurers, and are B ranked... Oh right, there was something I needed to say as a member of the Guild to the new adventurers. Usually this is told by one of the receptionists. So you must be really proud to hear it from me the Guild Master." The Guild Master suddenly yawned in the middle of his speech. Which earned him the death re from Hilda. Not caring about Hilda''s death re Nezard continued speaking.


    "You who have taken the first step as an adventurer. Devote thyself until all the secrets are revealed, until there is nothing left to explore. Until there is no more treasure to be found. Until all the stories end. Until finally the truth is revealed. Oh adventurer the soldiers of freedom and fortune go forth and have your grand adventure."


    When Ren heard those lines, he remembered one of his generals who liked to say simr things like this.


    "What''s with that? Does every adventurer need to hear that?"


    "Those are the words of the very first leader of the Adventurers Guild, a few thousand years ago. Those words have been passed down to all adventurers who start their journey... Well enough with the history lesson, here are your badges indicating you are B ranked adventurers."


    Nezard handed Ren and Lara two shield shaped silver badges, that had their names on it. The two took them without a care in the world. Usually when an adventurer reaches B rank and receives the silver badge there is a multitude of emotions they would go through as they receive it. Yet Ren and Lara who received the silver badges, had no visible reaction.


    While the two were looking at the silver badges, Hilda said something surprising.


    "Guild Master I have something to say as well."


    "Can''t it wait forter, we still have a sh*t ton of paperwork to go through."


    "I want to quit as you secretary." Nezard who heard what Hilda said looked at her stunned. Ren on the other hand had a sly smile on his face, while as usual Lara simply stared with no visible changes in her emotional state. Yet deep inside she was screaming in frustration, since she knows where this is heading.


    "Why?" Confused at the sudden request Nezard needed to know the reason.


    "I want to join his party." Hilda pointed at the slyly smiling Ren. She knew that this must be a part of his ns, but she had no choice but to do it.


    Nezard who heard Hilda''s answer started to think about the pros and cons of this.


    ''So she wants to go back adventuring and with that guy she seems to hate. What do I lose if I allow this... I guess I do lose an excellent secretary, even though most of the time she just nags at me to finish the paperwork. Still she does do her job properly, hell she does it perfectly but the problem is she doesn''t really go beyond what she needs to do. I know it''s not part of her job but why doesn''t she help me with my paperwork every now and then? Okay that''s it then I''ll let her go, and get a better secretary that wont talk back at her boss, and actually help me do my work. I can finally be free of the nagging girl!''


    "If that is your choice, then so be it. From today onward you are no longer my secretary." Nezard looked serious on the outside, but Hilda has known this Guild Master for quite some time. So she was sure that he was must be dancing in glee in his mind.


    "You better file my resignation papers properly." The moment Nezard heard what Hilda said he remembered that he needed to file for her resignation, then he needed to request for a new secretary which was even more paperwork.


    "On the other hand, I really do need you here Hilda. It''s going to be tough without you here. Especially now that things might get even busier."


    Hilda sighed hearing the reply of thezy Guild Master.


    "Don''t worry Guild Master I''ll help you file for my resignation as well as forming the request for a new secretary."


    "Umm aren''t you going to ask us, if we will take you in our party?" Ren suddenly butted into the conversation.


    "So are you not going to allow me to join you?"


    "Well I guess I could, but what do I get for letting you join us?" Ren couldn''t help but grin at the situation he was in.


    "What is it you want? What do I need to do so that I could join you?"


    "Hmm, I''ll let you join us, but in return you owe me one favor. I haven''t thought of what that favor will be, but no matter what favor I ask you shouldply. If you ept this condition I will let you join, so what do you say?"


    Hilda gritted her teeth, and clenched her fist. Little did she know, this was going to be one of the most important decisions she would make in her life. Yet she only hesitated for a bit before answering.


    "Fine I agree, I will owe you one favor. No matter what you ask of me, as long as it is something I could do I will grant it."


    "Well then wee to our party Hilda Kirche."


    ...


    After they were done with what they needed to do in the adventurers guild, Ren and Lara were heading back to the inn, but before they could get there Valdel suddenly appeared.


    When Valdel saw Ren and Lara approaching, he made a face of a child caught doing a prank. Ren who was nearing him, noticed that there was somebody hiding behind Valdel''s back. It was a girl who looked to be around fourteen years old the same age as Lara. She had long silky ck hair, and pretty cute features, but the most eye catching thing about her, was she had wolf ears and a tail as well as a cor around her neck.


    Ren who saw her appearance could pretty much deduce what might''ve happened, but he still needed to hear it from the mouth of his impulsive best friend.


    "Val, what the hell did you do!?"

 Chapter 32 - Not an update

    The wolf girl who saw Ren''s scary looking expression cowered behind Valdel. Noticing the mood was getting worse Valdel stood in front of the scared wolf girl.


    "Val, I''ll ask again, what did you do?" Ren was really pissed off this time around. He thought that he somehow lessened Valdel''s heroic impulses while training him. Yet it seems like he was wrong.


    "It''s nothing, I just saved this girl who was being chased by some bad men. I mean look at what they did to her, they chained her, and this cor on her neck has a veryplicated rune structure. She will die if I forcefully remove it. So I was hoping you could remove it, Ren."


    "What happened to the men that were chasing her?!" Ren had no time for Valdel''s nonsense. They needed to act fast.


    "I killed them," Valdel said this with an ice-cold tone. Even though he believed that there was good in everyone, Valdel was also hammered with Ren''s philosophy. So even though Valdel didn''t like killing he would still do so, if necessary. If a person reaches a certain point of no return in Valdel''s eyes, he would kill them. To Valdel this is a sort of release so that they could try again in the next life, or that is what he convinced himself to think of while killing them.


    "Tsk, we have no time. Show me where the bodies are." Ren finally noticed what was wrong. Valdel''s action of killing the ve traders was okay and something Ren himself would do. The problem was Valdel didn''t have any knowledge about ves or ve traders. This was a mistake on Ren''s part, he should''ve exined this while they were still on the road going to Grenton.


    Valdel, on the other hand, didn''t say anything anymore and piggybacked the wolf girl while running. Ren and Lara followed Valdel with rtive ease. While they were running Ren started to exin to the two about ves, and ve traders. Hearing this, as usual Lara had no visible reaction but deep inside she was having such evil thoughts.


    Valdel, on the other hand, got even more angry at the ve traders.


    "Did they kidnap you? Or were you sold to pay a debt?" Ren suddenly asked the wolf girl who was being piggybacked by Valdel. The wolf girl hesitated to answer Ren, but after thinking for a bit, she eventually answered.


    "They burned our home and took all the women and children. They killed all the men..." The wolf girl looked like she was about to cry, but stopped herself.


    Hearing the wolf girl''s story made Valdel feel even more outraged than before. He shouldn''t have killed those ve traders with mercy, he should''ve tortured them to death. This part of Valdel''s personality was influenced by Ren, but this part of his personality only appears when he gets really angry.


    "I see." Ren, on the other hand, started to think of what to do next. Then an idea came to him, this situation could be very beneficial not for him but for Valdel.


    ...


    After a few more minutes, Ren''s group finally arrived in the ce where Valdel killed all of the ve traders; and as Ren expected the other ve traders along with their men were investigating the scene.


    When the ve traders saw Ren''s group alongside the wolf girl they looked at each other and surrounded Ren''s group.


    "You kids that child over there is my property. I suggest you give her back. If you do so, we will kill you as painlessly as possible. If you do notply, well we will kill you slowly and r*pe that girl with you in front of your eyes. Well, either way, she will be a ve so it doesn''t really matter."


    A man who looked to be the leader spoke to Ren''s group. He was wearing leather armor, that covered his not too big but still bulging belly. The wolf girl who got down from Valdel''s back was trembling in fear when she saw the leader.


    Hearing what the ve traders leader had to say, both Valdel and Ren got angry. Valdel was even ready to attack but Ren stopped him. At this moment Ren really wanted to kill the guy, but he needed this man alive for the moment.


    "You can kill everyone else, except that guy." Ren pointed at the leader of the ve traders. Hearing what Ren said, both Lara and Valdel nodded.


    "Don''t worry stay here, and it will be over soon," Valdel reassured the wolf girl that he doesn''t even know the name off. The wolf girl hearing Valdel''s confident voice felt secure somehow.


    "What the hell are you talking about?" The leader of the ve traders was confused as to what Ren''s group was babbling about. Did this kid really think he and his friends could deal with him and his twenty-plus men?


    While the leader of the ve traders had this thought, Lara and Valdel attacked first with the spell [me wall]. Those who were able to evade the literal wall of mes was attacked by either an arrow or a sword. It didn''t even take Lara and Valdel ten seconds to kill all the enemies.


    The leader of the ve traders, as well as the wolf girl, looked at the scene stunned. Even the wolf girl who Valdel was trying to protect got a bit frightened by Valdel''s group. The leader, on the other hand, couldn''tprehend what he just saw, while in this state of shock he saw Ren slowly approaching him with a sinister smile on his face.


    The leader of the ve traders wanted to flee, but his shaking legs won''t listen to him. He stood there trembling until Ren was finally faced to face with him. The smiling Ren looked extremely menacing.


    "So what were you saying? Who is going to die? What are you going to do to my woman?" Ren''s tone was mild and gentle, but this made it even more frightening than if he just shouted.


    "No, I''m sorry! I must have gone crazy! Of course, I wouldn''t be able to do anything! I''m nothing more than a pig in human skin. Please have mercy on me, please don''t kill me. I was just doing as I was told. I will give you anything you want, money, women, anything just don''t kill me."


    It was quite a hrious sight to see the haughty leader of a ve-trading group beg for mercy.


    "Don''t worry I won''t kill you, as long as you tell me everything about your ve-trading operation. Oh also remove that girl''s cor."


    "As you wish, as you wish." The leader then scurried towards the wolf girl who was visibly afraid of him. Valdel who was beside the wolf girl held her hand, which for some reason calmed her down. The leader took a key from his pocket and used it to remove the cor from the wolf girl.


    "Good, so now tell me about your organization." The leader hearing Ren''s request started to tell everything he knows. Hearing everything the leader knows made Ren feel amazed by how deep the influence of the underworld was in Grenton. Valdel on the other hand just got angrier and angrier as he heard the leader exin about the organization he was in.


    "There I told you everything, will you please let me go."


    "I''m a man of my word. I won''t kill you... Lara finish him off." Before the leader could say anything Lara''s mana infused arrow had already pierced his skull.


    The wolf girl seeing this scene felt scared again. Valdel who noticed this, held her hand again, which truly made her feel calm. The wolf girl just couldn''t understand why she felt so safe when Valdel holds her hand. It was at this moment, Ren looked at hispanions and smiled.


    "So how about we take over Grenton''s underworld."

 Chapter 33 - Slave traders

    <h4>Chapter 33 - ve traders</h4>


    The wolf girl who saw Ren''s scary looking expression, cowered behind Valdel. Noticing the mood was getting worse Valdel stood in front of the scared wolf girl.


    "Val, I''ll ask again, what did you do?" Ren was really pissed off this time around. He thought that he somehow lessened Valdel''s heroic impulses, while training him. Yet it seems like he was wrong.


    "It''s nothing, I just saved this girl who was being chased by some bad men. I mean look at what they did to her, they chained her, and this cor on her neck has a veryplicated rune structure. She will die if I forcefully remove it. So I was hoping you could remove it Ren."


    "What happened to the men that were chasing her?!" Ren had no time for Valdel''s nonsense. They needed to act fast.


    "I killed them." Valdel said this with an ice cold tone. Even though he believed that there was good in everyone, Valdel was also hammered with Ren''s philosophy. So even though Valdel didn''t like killing he would still do so, if necessary. If a person reaches a certain point of no return in Valdel''s eyes, he would kill them. To Valdel this is a sort of release, so that they could try again in the next life, or that is what he convinced himself to think of, while killing them.


    "Tsk, we have no time. Show me where the bodies are." Ren finally noticed what was wrong. Valdel''s action of killing the ve traders was okay and something Ren himself would do. The problem was Valdel didn''t have any knowledge about ves, or ve traders. This was a mistake on Ren''s part, he should''ve exined this while they were still on the road going to Grenton.


    Valdel on the other hand didn''t say anything anymore, and piggybacked the wolf girl while running. Ren and Lara followed Valdel with rtive ease. While they were running Ren started to exin to the two about ves, and ve traders. Hearing this, as usual Lara had no visible reaction but deep inside she was having such evil thoughts.


    Valdel on the other hand got even more angry at the ve traders.


    "Did they kidnap you? Or were you sold to pay a debt?" Ren suddenly asked the wolf girl who was being piggybacked by Valdel. The wolf girl hesitated to answer Ren, but after thinking for a bit, she eventually answered.


    "They burned our home and took all the women and children. They killed all the men..." The wolf girl looked like she was about to cry, but stopped herself.


    Hearing the wolf girl''s story made Valdel even more angry. He shouldn''t have killed those ve traders with mercy, he should''ve tortured them to death. This part of Valdel''s personality was influenced by Ren, but this part of his personality only appears when he gets really angry.


    "I see." Ren on the other hand started to think of what to do next. Then an idea came to him, this situation could be very beneficial not for him but for Valdel.


    ...


    After a few more minutes, Ren''s group finally arrived in the ce where Valdel killed all of the ve traders; and as Ren expected the other ve traders along with their men were investigating the scene.


    When the ve traders saw Ren''s group alongside the wolf girl they looked at each other and surrounded Ren''s group.


    "You kids that child over there is my property. I suggest you give her back. If you do so, we will kill you as painlessly as possible. If you do notply, well we will kill you slowly and r*pe that girl with you in front of your eyes. Well either way she will be a ve so it doesn''t really matter."


    A man who looked to be the leader spoke to Ren''s group. He was wearing leather armor, that covered his not too big but still bulging belly. The wolf girl who got down from Valdel''s back was trembling in fear when she saw the leader.


    Hearing what the ve traders leader had to say, both Valdel and Ren got angry. Valdel was even ready to attack but Ren stopped him. At this moment Ren really wanted to kill the guy, but he needed this man alive for the moment.


    "You can kill everyone else, except that guy." Ren pointed at the leader of the ve traders. Hearing what Ren said, both Lara and Valdel nodded.


    "Don''t worry stay here, and it will be over soon." Valdel reassured the wolf girl that he doesn''t even know the name off. The wolf girl hearing Valdel''s confident voice felt secure somehow.


    "What the hell are you talking about?" The leader of the ve traders was confused as to what Ren''s group was babbling about. Did this kid really think he and his friends could deal with him and his twenty plus men?


    While the leader of the ve traders had this thought, Lara and Valdel attacked first with the spell [me wall]. Those who were able to evade the literal wall of mes was attacked by either an arrow or a sword. It didn''t even take Lara and Valdel ten seconds to kill all the enemies.


    The leader of the ve traders as well as the wolf girl looked at the scene stunned. Even the wolf girl who Valdel was trying to protect got a bit frightened by Valdel''s group. The leader on the other hand couldn''tprehend what he just saw, while in this state of shock he saw Ren slowly approaching him with a sinister smile on his face.


    The leader of the ve traders wanted to flee, but his shaking legs wont listen to him. He stood there trembling until Ren was finally face to face with him. The smiling Ren looked extremely menacing.


    "So what where you saying? Who is going to die? What are you going to do to my woman?" Ren''s tone was mild and gentle, but this made it even more frightening than if he just shouted.


    "No I''m sorry! I must have gone crazy! Of course I wouldn''t be able to do anything! I''m nothing more than a pig in human skin. Please have mercy on me, please don''t kill me. I was just doing as I was told. I will give you anything you want, money, women, anything just don''t kill me."


    It was quite a hrious sight to see the haughty leader of a ve trading group beg for mercy.


    "Don''t worry I wont kill you, as long as you tell me everything about your ve trading operation. Oh also remove that girl''s cor."


    "As you wish, as you wish." The leader then scurried towards the wolf girl who was visibly afraid of him. Valdel who was beside the wolf girl held her hand, which for some reason calmed her down. The leader took a key from his pocket and used it to remove the cor from the wolf girl.


    "Good, so now tell me about your organization." The leader hearing Ren''s request started to tell everything he knows. Hearing everything the leader knows made Ren feel amazed on how deep the influence of the underworld was in Grenton. Valdel on the other hand just got angrier and angrier as he heard the leader exin about the organization he was in.


    "There I told you everything, will you please let me go."


    "I''m a man of my word. I wont kill you... Lara finish him off." Before the leader could say anything Lara''s mana infused arrow had already pierced his skull.


    The wolf girl seeing this scene felt scared again. Valdel who noticed this, held her hand again, which truly made her feel calm. The wolf girl just couldn''t understand why she felt so safe when Valdel holds her hand. It was at this moment, Ren looked at hispanions and smiled.


    "So how about we take over Grenton''s underworld."

 Chapter 34 - Why?

    <h4>Chapter 34 - Why?</h4>


    "Take over Grenton''s underworld? What do you mean?! Shouldn''t we destroy such an evil organization?!" Valdel who heard Ren''s suggestion almost couldn''t believe what his best friend suggested. Even though at times Ren could be very brutal in how he does things, but it was always with a purpose, and it always followed Ren''s own sense of justice.


    That was one of the reasons Valdel would follow Ren without question. Yet now he was suggesting to take over such an evil organization, certainly there was no justice in that.


    "I will take over the underworld wether you want me too or not Val. Also there is no such thing as something fully evil, like there is no such thing as something being purely good."


    When Valdel heard what Ren said, he strengthened his resolve and for the first time in their whole lives Valdel actually sent killing intent Ren''s way. Valdel already knew he was no match for Ren, and he wont be able to beat him if he half ass*d it. So Valdel needed to fight like he was trying to kill Ren.


    Sensing the killing intent being sent his way Ren smiled. He already anticipated this, since taking over Grenton''s underworld was against Valdel''s justice.


    Lara who was still looking as stoic as ever, was panicking inside.


    ''What the hell are you doing Val! Are you really going to fight Ren?! If you do that what should I do? I don''t want to fight Val, but if he attacks Ren... Damn it! What should I do?!''


    The wolf girl that was behind Valdel was also able to sense the thick killing intent that Valdel was emitting. She wasn''t sure as to why the two were fighting. Still she wanted to help Valdel but she had no weapon at hand, and based on their level of strength she might only get in the way.


    "Val are you actually sending killing intent my way?" Even in the face of such a thick killing intent coupled with the strength of mana that could make a normal person faint, Ren wasn''t bothered in the slightest.


    "Ren I know as of now I''m not your match. Also as your best friend I would never like to fight you like this, but you''re leaving me no choice in the matter. As your best friend when you stray from the path, then I should be there to bring you back to the right path. Taking over Grenton''s underworld isn''t right. Please reconsider Ren, I really don''t want to do this."


    Valdel''s voice that was full of resolve at the beginning, started to change as he continued talking in the end he sounded like his voice was cracking.


    "Val, why did you decide that Grenton''s underworld was evil? How did youe to the conclusion that they are an evil organization?"


    "Isn''t that obvious? They make ves out of the free people. They have assassins that would kill people for money. They burn viges to make even more ves. They sell illegal products, and do many more atrocities."


    "So that''s what you think? Tell me Val what will happen if we do destroy Grenton''s underworld?"


    "If we destroy Grenton''s underworld wont the people be happier? Wont the ves go free? and wont the lesser evils disappear as well?"


    Ren almost couldn''t stop himself fromughing at Valdel''s naivet¨¦. Still he was already aware that Valdel was like this, like all the heroes before him, so pure and righteous. Unaware of the truth, and only seeking justice. The people who be heroes all had this simr trait of a mix between ideals and justice.


    "I want to exin to you why Grenton''s underworld, heck I want to exin why all simr organizations are a needed evil, but I don''t have the time or the patience at the moment. So let me tell you the end result of what truly happens when we destroy Grenton''s underworld. Once we destroy Grenton''s underworld something else will rece it, and the operations will continue anew. Before you say we destroy the new one as well. You got to understand Val, no matter how many times we destroy it after a few months or at most a few years, a new organization will take its ce. Unless you stay in Grenton for eternity destroying Grenton''s underworld isn''t a solution."


    When Valdel heard what Ren had to say his spirit sunk, and the killing intent he was emitting vanished. He thought about what Ren said and understood it, but he just couldn''t ept it.


    "So that''s why I propose to take it over instead. If I was the one running the operations, I would be able to limit the tragedies that happen. I can''t say that I can stop all the tragedies, but I can minimize them."


    Valdel had finally calm down and sighed. "I''m sorry Ren, I shouldn''t have doubted you. I knew you had a n, but all the blood kept going to my head, and hearing about such things is a first for me... I couldn''t think straight because of my anger, I''m sorry. Do what you wish to me Ren, kick me, punch me burn me, anything you wish, I just hope you will forgive me."


    "What the hell is happening to you Val? It''s creeping me out. You don''t need ask for forgiveness, or any other such nonsense. You and I have been best friends since we were little, so I already knew you would react that way. I would be surprised if you didn''t get angry."


    "Ren..." Valdel didn''t know what to say. Unlike him who doubted his own best friend, Ren believed in him, and continued to act like nothing would happen. He was ashamed to be called Ren''s best friend.


    The two girls just kept on staring at the two guys who they thought would fight, but all they did in the end was talk.


    "So Val what do you say? How about we take over Grenton''s underworld?"


    "Sure, let''s do it Ren." Valdel smiled at his easy going best friend.


    "How about you Lara do you have any objections?" Lara who heard Ren''s question shook her head.


    "Also we need to drop the wolf girl at the inn before we begin." The wolf girl was surprised to hear her being mentioned.


    "Let''s do that. Are you alright with that arrangement, umm... Oh I''m sorry I forgot to introduce ourselves. I''m Valdel, that one over there is my best friend Ren, and the girl is also my friend, Lara. So how should we address you?"


    "... I''m called Kuro."

 Chapter 35 - Grenton’s underworld trembles

    <h4>Chapter 35 - Grenton''s underworld trembles</h4>


    A man was sitting in a chair sharpening his sword. This man was huge and muscr, he had little mana, but what hecked in mana he makes up with brute strength. With his strength alone he could crush boulders into dust. This man was none other than Iselv the Bandit King, ruler of Grenton''s southern district.


    Grenton''s southern district was the ce where thieves, ve traders and beggars live. This ce was arguably the dirtiest part of Grenton, in the literal sense that it was dirty. Yet this was the ce, where some nobles go to if they want to hire some goons to do their dirty work. So it has never been truly targeted before.


    While the Bandit King was cleaning his sword, one of his subordinates suddenly entered his room in a panic.


    "Boss! There''s someone attacking all our hideouts!" Hearing what his subordinate said the Bandit King stopped cleaning his sword, and looked at his subordinate with a frown.


    "Is it the knights? Have they finally decided to attack us? How many are there?"


    "No Boss it''s not the knights. It''s someone else?"


    "Is it that shadow b*stard? Or is it that subus b*tch? Isn''t their territory enough for them? Are they actually eyeing my territory?" The Bandit King''s killing intent was on the rise.


    "No it''s neither one of them Boss, it''s someone else."


    "Another faction? How many men do they have?"


    "Just one?"


    "What?! One person?! Just one person and you''re acting like a frightened kid?! How much damage could one person do?"


    "He already f-" The subordinate was hit in the back of his head by the handle of a sword, and was rendered unconscious.


    The Bandit King was now on high alert. Out of nowhere a blond haired kid suddenly appeared, and without any warning he knocked out his subordinate. The blond haired kid was Valdel who pretty much dealt with half of the Bandit King''s hideouts, since he didn''t know where the Bandit king was staying. He needed to check all the rumored hideouts to find him.


    "Who are you? Why are you attacking my territory?" The Bandit King stood in front of Valdel showing off his bigger frame. Even though Valdel was pretty tall, the Bandit King still towered over him.


    "I have no time to talk, since you im this is your territory, then I assume you are the Bandit King Iselv."


    "Hmph, arrogant little prick. I''m the Bandit King an-" Before he could finish what he was saying, Valdel moved with a speed the Bandit King couldn''t follow, and was hit at the back of his head. The blunt force was strong enough to knock him out in one shot.


    Valdel looked at the Bandit King and tried to suppress his rage at the evil doer.


    "I would''ve killed you for all your crimes, but I guess the fate that awaits you, might lead you to the path of redemption." Valdel started to drag the Bandit King''srge body.


    ...


    On the third floor of a brothel,id a voluptuous woman, whose beauty seems so enchanting. She was wearing a night gown that showed the wonderful curves of her body while rxing on her bed.


    This bewitching beauty is said to be able to ensnare any man. She was also a very capable mage, by the standards of the Reschbeauch Kingdom, she was an advanced level mage.


    This beautiful fox like bewitching woman was Kithra, also known as the subus. She was part of the three rulers of Grenton''s underworld. She controlled the Northern district, that was filled with brothels, bars, and illegal drugs.


    While she was rxing on her bed, she felt a huge mana flowing up to her room. Still she didn''t feel like this was a threat, since her own mana was much more than the opponents. Unknown to her the other party was actually suppressing the output of her mana. This was none other than Lara.


    When Lara arrived at Kithra''s room, she with her expressionless face looked at Kithra for a moment.


    "Oh? What a beautiful young girl. Are you here to look for a job? With your abilities, you might be second only to me, Kithra-" The moment Lara heard Kithra announce her name, she was about to use a spell.


    Kithra noticed that Lara was gathering mana, so she readied herself to counter whatever spell Lara would use, but unfortunately for her Lara used an unknown spell that was taught by Ren.


    "[Ice coffin]."


    Kithra was suddenly encased in ice, she was still conscious but she couldn''t move. She tried to escape by using her own mana to overpower Lara''s spell but it was to no avail. Using the elements of the wind, Lara lifted Kithra who was encased in ice, and headed towards the western district where Ren was.


    ...


    While Valdel and Lara where heading towards Ren''s location. Ren was having some fun with his opponent. His opponent was the strongest of the three rulers of Grenton''s underworld. He was the best assassin in the whole kingdom. If he wanted to he could take over the other two districts, but since he didn''t care for that, he never done anything.


    This man was called Gregory, the shadow. He was only slightly older than Ren being twenty years old this year. He wasn''t a bad assassin believe it or not, he would only take the job if the targets were corrupt. Though he wasn''t wholly good either, since he waits for someone to pay him to kill evil.


    He was justzing around waiting for the next job, when suddenly a crazy b*stard told him to hand over the western district. The moment Gregory denied him, he suddenly smiled and attacked.


    Gregory was lucky enough to escape, but now as he blended into the shadows, he was waiting for an opportunity to strike. The opportunity already presented itself several times, but he did''t attack. All of his instincts told him that those openings were traps. After a while of waiting Ren started to get irritated.


    "Damn it! This is why I hate fighting against assassins! If you do not show yourself I will destroy the whole western district until not even ashes remain."


    Feeling the sudden rise of a suffocating amount of mana, Gregory knew that Ren wasn''t bluffing. In the end he showed himself in front of Ren.


    "Are you crazy?!"


    "Finally showed yourself. I don''t want to fight you anymore since it''s boring, but wont you just hand me your position as the leader of Grenton''s western district."


    "What do you n to do? You do know I''m the only assassin in the western district, and the only reason they call me the ruler of this ce, is because of those two idiots. The people in the western district are just using my name, to scare the two bosses of the Northern and the southern districts."


    "I don''t care if you have subordinates or not, I just want the title of the ruler of Grenton''s western district. I guess I should tell you this, I n to be the one and only ruler of Grenton''s underworld."


    "Really? Unlike me the other two have a bunch of subordinates, and they wont willingly bow down to you." Gregory shrugged his shoulders at Ren''s statement.


    "Well why don''t we ask them." Ren slyly smiled as he pointed at his two approaching friends.


    Gregory who saw the Bandit King being dragged around by a blond haired boy, and the subus encased in ice, was stunned by the sight, as he dryly gulped.


    "Heh I guess conquering Grenton''s underworld, was easier than I expected." Gregory looked at the smiling Ren in a daze. That smile on the face of the young man was the most frightening thing he would ever remember in his whole life.

 Chapter 36 - Hilda’s Home

    <h4>Chapter 36 - Hilda''s Home</h4>


    While Ren was having a heart to heart talk with the three rulers of Grenton''s underworld. Hilda has finally finished helping Nezard with his paperwork, so she decided to head home. Before going to her house, Hilda went and stopped by the market ce.


    "Hilda I''ve been waiting for you, here is the meat you requested. The meat of a berserker boar. I know this isn''t much but have some extra rabbit meat." One of the shopkeepers happily handed Hilda boar and rabbit meat.


    As Hilda walked through the market ce, a lot of people happily greeted her with smiles on their faces. Hilda was a famous individual not just as an adventurer, but also as a beautiful woman that frequents the market ce. The shopkeepers like her since she always gives them a big tip, and treats them with respect.


    Once Hilda was done with her shopping she headed back home. Hilda''s home was a decent two story building. Her house used to be a mansion in the eastern district, where the nobles live. But after her father died, they were forced to move out of their house, and they also needed to sell all their possessions, since Hilda''s father had an enormous debt to his name.


    ....


    Not only did Hilda''s family lose their noble title, since women couldn''t inherit it, they also became dirt poor, because of her father''s debt. After her father''s death alongside them going through poverty, proved too much for Hilda''s mother. Unable to handle the sudden misfortune Hilda''s mother became broken.


    It was then Hilda''s mother stopped speaking, it was like she became mute and would only stare at the sky in a daze. Seeing her mother had turned into someone useless. It was Hilda''s duty to take care of not only her mother, but her two little sisters as well. With virtually no money, and the only possession she had left was a sword left behind by her father, that they allowed her to keep.


    At that moment Hilda had few choices left for her. She could either wh*re herself, or she could sell the sword for some quick money, or she could be an adventurer and brave the dangers of Dungeons and monsters.


    Hilda didn''t want to be a p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.e since she had too much pride, and selling the sword could only help them for a short while. So Hilda chose to use the sword to be an adventurer.


    Hilda who became an adventurer quickly rose through the ranks. After awhile she was able to conquer a newly found dungeon with thirteen floors, earning her the treasures within the dungeon core. With the money she earned, she was able to pay the rest of her father''s debt and even acquired a suitable home for her family.


    Now they live in afortable home, but her mother still did not regain her sanity.


    ....


    As Hilda opened the door to her house, two little girls greet her at the entrance. These two girls were her sisters, the older one who was nine years old was Ka. The younger sister was a seven-year-old girl called Nina.


    "Wee home Big Sis." The two adorably cute girls smiled at their sister.


    "I''m back. Have the two of you been good girls?" Hilda who was always frowning in front of Ren was now smiling so happily, as she spoke to her little sisters.


    "Yes we have." The two sisters responded at the same time.


    "Really?" Hilda asked while walking towards the kitchen.


    "Yes."


    "Then I guess I should reward such good girls. Look here I got your favorite. With this I''m going to cook you two a feast." Hilda started to prepare to cook as her sisters smile in glee.


    "Yay!"


    "How about you two set the table while I cook." The two adorable little things nodded their heads and hurried off to set the table.


    ...


    Once the three sisters finished their meal, Hilda took some soup that she made and brought it upstairs. She entered the room at the end of the hallway. Inside that room was a woman sitting on a chair looking at the moon above. As the woman looked at the moon, with those lifeless eyes, Hilda felt an ache in her heart. This person who looked so beautiful and so sad was none other than her mother, Elizabeth.


    "Hi mom, here I brought you some soup." Hilda approached her mother, and like what she usually did, Hilda started to feed her. It was a difficult job, since Elizabeth couldn''t move her mouth or her hands. So Hilda needed to feed her, and help her swallow. Once she was done feeding her mother, she sat down in a nearby chair.


    "Mom today I met the most arrogant guy. He was overconfident, selfish, and does whatever the hell he wants without a care in the world. Though to be fair he was indeed powerful enough to warrant that arrogance. He was powerful to the point that when he faces a monster, you start to question yourself who between them was truly the monster. Still for some reason I could sense a kindness in him. Also his eyes as he looked at me wasn''t out of lust like most men, but one of curiosity. He actually seemed more pure than any other person I met. He was true to himself and followed in what he believed in without caring if he was right or wrong."


    Hilda then smiled as she looked at her mother.


    "He actually reminded me of dad. That irritating overconfidence, with the actually skill to back it up, was simr to dad. Maybe that''s why I was so against him. Not only did he make my job harder, he actually reminded me of that fool of a dad."


    Even though she was bad mouthing her own father, Hilda started crying.


    "He really was a fool... Not only did he leave his wife and kids, he even left them with a debt. Even though I''m suppose to hate him for all that, I still can''t. Like you mom, somehow I still miss him..."


    Hilda then wiped away her tears.


    "Heh, we got a little off topic there. So I just wanted to tell you mom, I''m going back to bing an adventurer. Seeing Ren and being reminded of dad, made me ask again if this is all I need. If this life I''m living has me satisfied... Not that I''mining or anything.... Maybe I am a bit, but can you fault me for that. I did everything for this family... I just wanted to see If Ren has the answers..."


    Seeing her mom was unresponsive as usual, Hilda stood up.


    "Well mom that''s all I wanted to report, I hope you have a good night sleep." Hilda left the room and as she closed the door, her mom whispered something. It was her first words after her husband''s death, and no one was there to hear it.


    "Sorry."

 Chapter 37 - Subordinates

    <h4>Chapter 37 - Subordinates</h4>


    The three rulers of Grenton''s underworld were now face to face with Ren. They stared at the face of the average looking boy, with different ideas and feelings. Gregory who saw that the other two were done in by Ren''spanions felt a bit dizzy. Kithra who was defeated by Lara''s surprise attack, was shivering in fear in front of Ren.


    Unlike the other two who can only specte how strong Ren was, she could actually feel the flow of his mana. Ren''s mana was thergest and densest she has ever felt, and that even included monsters who had arger mana capacity the most humans. Ren''s mana was so strong, It was like his mana was trying to devour everything within its range, it was frightening. Not only that, the handsome man with Ren was also strong. It would seem like among the three of them, Lara the one who subdued her was the weakest.


    ''What the hell are these monsters... Damn it! I could try and seduce that guy who looks like their leader, but if I make a mistake it would be an instant death for me... I have no choice I just need to try and get along with them. If the chance presents itself I''ll stick to that powerful guy.''


    While Kithra was thinking of what to do next, Iselv who just woke up was starting to get angry. He didn''t think of anything else and attacked the person in front of him. He punched Ren using his full force, yet Ren stopped this strike with nothing but one finger.


    Iselv was shocked seeing his fist that could break even te armor be stopped by a mere finger. Gregory was shocked as well, he knew Iselv and he also knew that his only redeeming factor was his brute strength. Yet Ren was able to so casually dismiss him.


    "It seems like you are the weakest among the three. Still your raw strength is somewhat impressive. Yet your mana is barely even there, how intriguing. I wonder why your mana capacity is even lower than that of a child..." Ren who suddenly started to think, made Iselv even more angry.


    "F*ck are you looking down on me!" Iselv then poured all his strength in attacking Ren. Punches and kicks were released in quick session, but Ren casually stopped all attacks using his one finger.


    ''There is something blocking the natural flow of his mana. This is a curse, and a ratherplex one at that. I need to study it a bit more, to see if I can break it. Still not only Alphonso the owner of that shop, there was Nezard, and now there is this one who put a curse on this man. It seems like there are many powerful humans hiding all over the ce. Hehehe I can''t wait to battle them all.''


    While Ren was thinking of fighting such powerful humans. A sudden rise of his mana happened alongside the rise of his battle lust. Valdel seeing what was happening to Ren shouted.


    "Ren snap out of it!"


    Ren who heard Valdel''s voice woke up from his daydreaming and pushed the attacking Iselv aside. "Hey you. You''re the Bandit King Iselv, correct?"


    Iselv was still angry as hell, but when he felt that ominous power from Ren, he knew he was no match. Iselv gritted his teeth, before answering.


    "Yes."


    "If you are willing to be my loyal subordinate, I will help you remove that curse of yours."


    "Curse?" Iselv who heard what Ren said was confused. What did this guy mean? What Curse? Ren who saw Iselv''s reaction, figured out that Iselv had no idea that he was cursed. So Ren rephrased what he said.


    "I will help you gain a higher mana capacity." Now that was something Iselv understood. Ever since he woke up in the western district three years ago without any memories, he was always ridiculed for hisck of mana. He wasn''t even able to use the simplest of spells. So hearing what Ren said made him confused yet excited.


    "Can you really do that?" The aggressiveness Iselv disyed awhile ago was now all gone. Now he started to act like a meek child.


    "Hmph, why would I lie? I don''t really need you, since I can find many others who could rece you." Iselv after hearing what Ren said knelt in front of him.


    "If you''re really able to do what you say. I Iselv the Bandit King will be your most loyal subordinate."


    "Very good, as long as you don''t betray me, I will do as I said." When Ren said those words, he started to recall a memory from his previous world, but he tried to push that aside as he focused on the other two.


    "So how about you two? Unlike Iselv I have nothing to give you. Only the promise that glory, and power will be yours if you follow me. Of course you can choose not to follow me. I wont kill you but you will need to move out of Grenton. So what do you say?"


    Kithra already made her decision awhile ago, when she saw how easily Ren subdued Iselv. "I will forever be your ve my master." Kithra smiled coquettishly at Ren, who responded in indifference. This was a first for her. A man actually didn''t have a response of any kind to her charm.


    Lara who saw this, wasughing on the inside. ''That''s what you get for even trying. Ren doesn''t really care for beauty like yours with no substance. Now if only Hilda was the same... That irritating b*tch.''


    While Lara was once again reminded of Hilda''s existence, Ren was now looking at Gregory.


    "How about you? Will you join me?"


    "Just tell me one thing, before I answer."


    "What is it?"


    "What do you n to do by ruling over Grenton''s underworld?"


    Ren smiled viciously upon hearing Gregory''s question.


    "Oh that. My n is pretty straight forward. Grenton''s underworld is but the first step. My true n is to rule over the whole underworld of the Reschbeauch Kingdom."

 Chapter 38 - Talk amongst allies?

    <h4>Chapter 38 - Talk amongst allies?</h4>


    "Oh that. My n is pretty straight forward. Grenton''s underworld is but the first step. My true n is to rule over the whole underworld of the Reschbeauch Kingdom."


    When they heard Ren''s n, all three of the former rulers of Grenton''s underworld had different reactions, but the one with greatest reaction was Valdel.


    "Ren can we talk, over there for a bit." Valdel signaled Ren to head towards the corner of the building they were in. As Valdel and Ren moved away Lara followed as well. When the three former rulers of Grenton''s underworld saw this, they looked at each other.


    "What do you guys think of his n?" Gregory was the first to break the silence.


    "I have no objections as long as he grants me the increase of my mana, I will do my best to aid him." Iselv was firm in his answer.


    Kithra on the other hand was thinking about something, after awhile she spoke. "I think with his strength, not only the underworld of the kingdom I think he can take over the whole kingdom and the neighboring kingdoms as well."


    "So you you''re alright with following his n?" Gregory looked at the sly woman called the subus. This woman even in the face of overwhelming power was not someone to change her ways. She was a person that would scheme as much as she breaths.


    Kithra who saw Gregory''s serious gaze directed at her, smiled coquettishly. "What choice do we have? We either cooperate with him or leave Grenton. Leaving everything behind and heading to another city is not an option, since he ns to conquer the whole kingdom''s underworld. The only other option we have left is to move to another country, but who''s to say that he wont decide to conquer that as well. It would be better to simply serve him. If we join now, we will be his first subordinates, and he did promise us glory and power. Overall joining him doesn''t seem so bad."


    Gregory listened as Kithra exined how she came to her decision. When he heard what Kithra thought, Gregory started thinking as well.


    ''I don''t care if he controls the whole underworld of the kingdom. The only thing I care about is if I can continue my job as an assassin...''


    ...


    While the three rulers of Grenton''s underworld were having their little talk, Ren and his friends had a talk of their own.


    "Ren what are you thinking? Do you really mean, what you just said? Do you really n to rule over the whole of the whole Reschbeauch Kingdom''s underworld?" Valdel looked at his best friend with an expression full of confusion.


    "Yes I do n to control the whole underworld of the kingdom." Ren responded with a matter of fact tone of voice.


    "Why? Why do you want to rule over criminals? Why do you want to be the king of Reschbeauch Kingdom''s underworld? Just tell me, why Ren? As your best friend I want to believe in you... But my mind keeps on screaming at me. It keeps on warning me that you''re heading towards a path that I can never follow."


    Valdel''s voice sounded desperate, this was the first time Ren and Lara had seen Valdel like this. This guy Ren called his best friend might look and sound like a person who acts first and thinkster, but in truth he does understand what he is doing before acting. He does know the consequences he faces if does something, but Valdel always believed in his own justice never wavering.


    He believes in his best friend who trained him. He believes in the righteousness his heart tells him. These things are what make Valdel sure about the actions he takes. Yet now two of those things were in direct conflict with each other. His heart of justice was saying something that denies what his best friend wants to do. So for the first time in a long while Valdel was confused on how to proceed.


    Ren seeing his best friend look uncertain like the time they faced the red bear, made him couldn''t help but smile slyly.


    "No need to worry Valdel. I simply want to be the ruler of the Reschbeauch kingdom''s underworld for the same reason why I wanted to be the ruler of Grenton''s underworld. I want to lessen the tragedies that happen. If I can control the whole underworld of the kingdom, then I will be able to control the flow of illegal drugs. I''ll be able to see the list of assassination targets and decide which to approve and which not to. I can even help the thieves find a more fulfilling job. The only reason why they even steal is because of their desire to live. Well the reason why everyone in these kinds of organizations do anything is simply because of their will to live."


    Ren looked at his confused best friend as his smile got even wider.


    "Or are you telling me Val, you the future strongest hero, doesn''t believe that these people deserve redemption?"


    "That''s not what I mean... I... Hmm... I see... I understand what you want to do now Ren. This is the second time I questioned your decision... Even though I call myself your best friend."


    Valdel bowed his head in front of Ren.


    "Don''t worry about it. It''s always better that you think for yourself. That''s better than blindly believing in everything I say. So in truth I''m happy that your starting to have your own opinions Val. It''s obvious that we wont always agree with each other; and like I said in the past, your path and my path are different. No need to follow each and every one of my whims."


    ''You need to have a stronger heart and mind than that, if you want to break the chains of destiny. Still don''t worry my foolish heroic friend, like I promise before I will help you go against the script. This is just part one of the n to go against that stupid script written by those irritating Gods and Goddesses.''


    Hearing what Ren said, Valdel could only nod his head epting what his best friend said. The paths they have taken was different so there was no need to alwaysply with the ideals of the other. Simply understanding each other was good enough.


    ...


    Once the three friends, well basically once the best friends finished talking they went back to speak to the former three rulers of Grenton''s underworld.


    "So where was I?... Oh right will you join me Gregory?" Hearing Ren''s question Gregory looked intensely at Ren''s smiling face.


    "I... I will join you." When Ren heard Gregory''s answer he started pping.


    "That''s great! Now that the three of you are my subordinates, let''s act quickly. The first order of business is, I want you Kithra to stop your men from selling illegal drugs. Instead we will start buying and selling information."

 Chapter 39 - Opening Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 39 - Opening Ceremony</h4>


    When everyone heard what Ren said they all had different reactions. Kithra the one Ren gave themand, just smiled her coquettish smile and answered.


    "If that is what you wish, my master." She kept on calling Ren her master to try and make him excited. Kithra has met many men before and based solely on his looks Ren appeared to be just a young boy. So she thought that if she kept repeating calling Ren master, she would get a reaction out of him. Yet mentally Ren wasn''t affected at all, since in the past many beautiful maidens had called him master, so hearing it from someone of Kithra''s level of beauty was not really effective.


    Still because of his body being the body of a teenage human boy, there was still an uncontroble reaction. It''s just that no one has noticed anything. Ren who was aware of what was happening to his body was once again irritated by the human body.


    The only one who noticed the change in Ren, was the one who has always observed him, Lara. She was able to discern that Kithra''s bodynguage and flirty ways was actually having an effect on Ren, even though he didn''t show it on the outside.


    ''What the hell is that b*tch doing?!'' Lara screamed in her mind. She wanted to attack Kithra but that wouldn''t really help. Also if she did attack Kithra the others might notice what''s happening to Ren. So Lara just stood there looking at the Kithra with her deadpan eyes.


    Ren on the other hand shifted his attention to Gregory. "Gregory I want you to take some of the thieves and beggars in the southern district, and teach them how to bepetent assassins. Aside from that you can continue your assassination work as per normal."


    "Huh? You want me to train other people to be assassins? How do I do that? I haven''t trained anyone before... I don''t even know where to start."


    "Just train them how you see fit, or if someone had taught you the way of assassination, train them the same way your master taught you."


    "I''ll try, but don''t me me if the results aren''t good." Gregory could only sigh as he reluctantly agreed.


    "Just try it out for now, and we''ll see how we can improve you training regimenter." Ren wasn''t really bothered if Gregory fails to train them or not. If he was able to train them well, then good. But if he wasn''t then it didn''t really matter. He had other reasons as to why he ordered Gregory to do this. Once Ren was done talking to Gregory, he looked at Iselv.


    "As for you, I want you to assign a man for each of our new information dealers. I want your people to protect them as they buy and sell their information. Also I want you to tell your men to stop stealing, I will give you guys a sry. I will hand you money tomorrow, and you decide how to distribute it. I will send you two some money as well. Just do as you are told and we will get along just great." Ren looked at his three subordinates with a smile on his face.


    "I will follow yourmand." Iselv acknowledge themand given to him, while the other two nodded at Ren. Now that Ren exined the basics of what he wanted to happen, he then started to exin a bit of his long term n.


    ...


    It took Ren half a night to finish exining his ns for the future. Once he was done with exining the basics of his ns, the six of them went their separate ways. Kithra wanted to go with Ren and even offered up to do some nightly duties, but Lara denied her for Ren. Kithra seeing the stoic Larae to Ren''s defense giggled at how cute the expressionless girl was acting.


    "Maybe next time then." Kithra left after saying this line, which made Lara scream with anger on the inside. The three went back to the inn, and waiting in front of the inn was Kuro.


    "Kuro we solved your problem about being a ve. You''re a free person again. So What do you n to do now?" Valdel asked Kuro with a smile on his handsome face.


    "...Umm, I just need to do something in my vige. Once I''m done with that... I... I want to stay with you Valdel. Can I stay with you Valdel?" Kuro bowed her head as she pleaded. Valdel was shocked to hear what Kuro said, while Ren and Lara already guess that this might happen.


    "umm, hmm, I... Kuro... I don''t think you cane with me. The path I take is a harsh one, and you need to have the strength to follow. As of now you don''t have the strength needed to follow me." Valdel hesitated before answering, but in the end he said what was needed to be said.


    Kuro who heard Valdel''s answer gripped his hand tightly. Valdel could feel the trembling of her hands.


    "Please Valdel! I have nowhere else to go. My vige is gone, the people I care for are dead... I... I have no one else... No one... I... Please, you''re my only hope." Kuro started to cry, the people walking pass the inn started to look at the crying girl.


    Valdel hesitated to answer, since he really wanted to help her. He wanted to help, but bringing her with him will not really help her, it might actually be the death of her. Valdel''s journey will be a harsh one, and those without strength will perish. If Kuro joins him with her current strength, then she will die for sure.


    "Kuro I-" Ren cut Valdel off as he spoke.


    "Valdel what are you doing? Are you going to half a*s this? You save her out of your own selfishness, then you leave her to fend for herself. You think your protecting her, but the truth is you''re just being selfish. Her whole vige is gone, and she has no one left. If you''re going to leave her like this, then you might as well left her as a ve."


    When Valdel heard what Ren said, he clenched his fist. He knew as usual Ren was right, but still he can''t change his decision. Even if it was his own selfish desire, he didn''t want to see Kuro die, simply because she followed him. Ren noticed Valdel''s hesitation and knew what he was thinking.


    "That girl, is a part of the warbeasts, and she''s of the wolf tribe. That tribe boast of unrivaled speed in battle. Also warbeasts are physically better than humans, as long as she is trained properly she would be a great ally."


    Kuro was shocked to hear Ren the scary person siding with her. Valdel on the other hand couldn''t argue with Ren''s logic, so in the end he could only sigh.


    "Fine Kuro, you can join me on my journey. Do what you must first, and when you''re donee find me in Grenton''s Knight Academy."


    Kuro hearing Valdel''s answer was ovee by joy and hugged him. The little wolf girl was crying so much that some snot came out of her nose. Valdel wasn''t bothered by this as he gently hugged the crying Kuro.


    Seeing that this charade was over, Ren took hold of Lara and headed to their room. Upon entering their room Ren proceeded to ravish Lara. As Ren was doing it with Lara and passion had taken over, a bit of rity sneak into Ren''s consciousness.


    ''I really hope this stage of my human life gets over quickly. The sudden burst of emotions is inconvenient.''


    ...


    Kuro told Valdel that she needed to leave first to finish some personal matters.


    "Do you need to leave now? It''s already pretty dark outside, how about staying the night and leaving tomorrow?" Kuro shook her head, and look at Valdel with determination.


    "I need to do this now, it is important. Also unlike humans I can see perfectly in the dark. So Valdel thank you for everything. Please tell your friends that I thank them for all they had done as well." Kuro bowed her head again as she said her thanks.


    "It''s Val."


    "Huh?" Kuro tilted her head in confusion.


    "That''s what my friends andpanions call me. No need to say my whole name, you can just call me Val." Hearing what Valdel said Kuro couldn''t help but blush, her tail was even wagging left and right, showing her excitement.


    "Umm... V-v-Val! Thank you very much!" After saying this, Kuro sprinted away from the inn. Valdel who saw Kuro''s silhouette disappearing in the distance scratched his head confused.


    "What was that? Did she really need to leave so fast? We didn''t even get to say goodbye."


    Zwei hearing what Valdel said sighed and spoke in her master''s head. "You really are so dense aren''t you master."


    "Huh?"


    "Nothing."


    ...


    Once Valdel saw Kuro off he went back to his room. When he entered Valdel was once again hearing what his two friends were doing in the other room. With no other choice Valdel started to train, so he could distract himself from the noise. Zwei who was also present was pretty envious of Ren and Lara. While Nika on the other hand was quite curious of what Ren and Lara were doing, as to make those kinds of noises.


    ...


    The night pass by quickly and it was finally the day, when Valdel would officially start attending the knight academy.


    "Are you nervous?" Ren noticed that Valdel was acting weird as they headed towards the knight academy.


    "Not really, I''m actually pretty excited about all this. This is going to be the start of my path to bing a true hero. This is will be the beginning of my story. When other people tell my tale this is where it will all begin."


    Valdel was getting even more excited when he told Ren what he was currently feeling. Ren on the other hand simply shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to tell Valdel that even if he didn''t go to the knight academy he would still be a hero. Well for now he can do whatever he wants, Ren thought.


    ...


    The three arrived at the knight academy and saw a lot of peopleing to school either riding horses or getting out of their carriages. All of them were wearing nice looking armor as opposed to Valdel''s crappy armor.


    When the three arrived at the front gates, some of the students noticed the three them for a second and looked at the three with a bit of disdain. Their thoughts were simple, these three were most probablymoners that wish they could join the academy, and came to admire the sight.


    Ren wasn''t bothered by the look of disdain the students were giving him, since to him they were mere ants beneath his feet. Valdel on the other hand didn''t notice the stares since he was truly excited as he saw the gates of the academy open. Lara was same as normal unresponsive to anything else aside from Ren.


    Since they had other things to do Ren and Lara were about to leave, when suddenly a dignified looking old man wearing a suit of armor made of adamantite stood in front of the three. This old man was none other than the principal of the Knight Academy.


    "Greetings, Valdel and friends. I am Galius Wolfneir the principal of this academy." Galius smiled at Ren''s group as he greeted them. Also even though it seems like Galuis was talking to Valdel, but in truth all his attention was on Ren.

 Chapter 40 - The gap between us

    <h4>Chapter 40 - The gap between us</h4>


    When the students saw that Principal Galius was actually talking to themoners they were shocked. This scene had caused a hugemotion in front of the school gates.


    "Why is the Principal personally greeting thosemoners?"


    "Is there something special about those three?"


    "What the hell?! How could this happen? Even when the son of a Duke came, the Principal didn''t greet him."


    The students were now in a state of confusion as they asked each other the same question, who were those three? Unaware of the students thoughts Galius was fully focused on Ren. Even without the sses that could see through mana flow, Galius could feel the power Ren was trying to suppress.


    The feeling he got when he saw Ren, was the same as the feeling he got back in the day when he was still roaming from to battlefield to battlefield. The feeling Ren gave Galius was the same feeling he got from war, it was like Ren was a physical embodiment of war itself.


    This made Galius truly excited, with someone like Ren as his student, he might actually not only be able to train the strongest knight. He might actually be able to train the strongest mortal being in history.


    While Galius was assessing Ren, Ren was doing the same thing to Galius. At first nce the old man doesn''t look all that powerful, but the mana he was emitting was special. He didn''t have thergest mana capacity, nor was it the most powerful, but it was different. Galius'' mana was like a sword, it was sharp and concentrated on one spot. Galius'' control over his mana was the best Ren has seen ever since he reincarnated.


    Ren wanted to fight the old man, but then he noticed something as he was checking Galius'' body using mana sensing. Ren found out that the old man was sick and hadn''t much time left. At most he wouldst around ten years more, in the least he could pretty much die in a few months.


    Knowing this made Ren feel disappointed, he didn''t want to fight a sick person. There was neither excitement nor honor to be gained in doing so. Unaware of Ren''s thoughts about him, Galius approached Ren.


    "May I know your name, young one?" Ren looked at the old man and was thinking for a bit before answering.


    "I''m called Ren."


    "It''s nice to meet you Ren." Ren looked at the smiling Galius, and sighed it was obvious what this old man wanted to say to him.


    "Is that all? I have other things that I need to do, so good day." Ren was about ready to leave with Lara, but Galius spoke stopping them from leaving.


    "Wait!"


    "What? Do you have something more to say?" Ren couldn''t help but sigh again as he looked at Galius.


    "Do you want to be knights? You and thess, can join your friend Valdel in the academy. You wont even need to pay for anything. Food, lodging, and even equipment everything would be free. So what do you think?"


    "Sorry I''m not interested."


    The students who were listening in, were shocked to hear the Principal such great benefits to amoner. They were expecting that Ren would dly ept with tears in his eyes, but the reality was different. Ren actually said he wasn''t interested and he said it with such a indifferent tone of voice.


    This shocked all of the students, and made most of them angry. They were all proud that they were able to attend such a prestigious school, that had the most difficult entrance exam in the whole kingdom. Yet thismoner who was given the chance to be a part of this school, to be a knight, actually refused and he said it as if bing a student was such a burden.


    "Then how about bing a teacher instead? I will even pay you five white gold coins per month. All you need to do is spar with the students every now and then, and just attend one of my sses once a week. That''s all you need to do. So what do you say?"


    When the students heard this, they went into a frenzy. Was the Principal going crazy? He actually gave themoner boy a job as a teacher, and he even offered him ten white gold coins for his wages! One white gold coin was equivalent to ten normal gold coins, which was a lot. A normal noble family like a Duke''s household receives one white gold coin a month, and Ren was actually offered ten of those.


    "I''m still not interested." The moment Ren said those words, one student couldn''t take it in anymore, and shouted at Ren.


    "How dare a lowlymoner like you speak that way to the Principal! Not only was he being overly generous to scum like you, he even offered you a job beyond your abilities, and you were still ungrateful."


    The one who spoke was stair, the son of a Marquis and a second year student in the academy. He was proimed as the most outstanding genius the school has ever trained. At the young age of seventeen he already achieved the rank of an advanced rank swordsman.


    Swordsmen same as mages and adventurers had their own ranking system. The ranking of swordsmen from weakest to strongest was initiate, beginner, intermediate, advanced, master, Saint, Divine, and Demi-God.


    Those who achieve advanced rank swordsmanship are the only ones considered to be a true swordsman, and stair was one of the youngest to receive the rank. On the other hand Ren''s swordsmanship based on the criteria of this world would be barely at Master level. Since the forms of Ren''s swordsmanship which he invented was made to kill more efficiently.


    It didn''t have flowery movements, nor did it have grace. Its forms were too simplified andck theplexity of the sword forms of this world. Yet the power of Ren''s swordsmanship back in his peak was at the Divine level nearing Godhood.


    ...


    stair who was now beside the Principal spoke to Galius. "Sir Galius please allow me to punish this arrogantmoner, for disrespecting you." Even now stair couldn''tprehend why Sir Galius a renown swordsman of the Saint Rank, was giving Ren a position as a teacher.


    At this point he simply thought that, Galius was simply getting old and his ability to judge things was getting bad.


    Galius looked at the most promising student his school has ever produced and wanted to say something. Yet he stopped himself, this might be a good chance to gauge Ren''s real skill. Mana capacity isn''t all one needs to be strong. You need to be able to control your mana to use it properly. Also it is possible to win against someone who has a stronger and denser mana flow, using skill alone. So Galius decided not to say anything, and simply watch how things will unfold.


    Seeing Galius was not speaking, stair saw this as him giving consent to the fight. He took one of the four swords he had on his waist and tossed it to Ren.


    "There take my sword, I don''t want you saying that this wasn''t a fair fight." Ren who heard what stair said looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. Lara and even Valdel was now feeling a bit sad for stair.


    "Why aren''t you picking up the sword? Do you even know how to use one?" stair was now mocking Ren while sneering. Ren wasn''t bothered by the barking of the weak and signaled stair toe at him already, while looking a bit impatient.


    stair seeing that look of Ren''s who was looking at him as if he was facing child, made stair angrier. stair took a stance both his hands which were holding the handle of the longsword was near his face as his sword tip was pointing at Ren. stair looked at Ren who wasn''t even in a stance, and saw a lot of openings.


    Without hesitation stair charged forwards and pierced through Ren, aiming at his arms. The speed of his charge was incredible, the other students couldn''t even see him move. Valdel and Lara on the other hand who were also watching saw him moving so slowly.


    stair who was sure that he had pierced Ren''s left arm, was shocked to see that what he just pierced was just an afterimage. He then felt something hit his leg, making him trip. stair who was trying to regain his bnce saw what hit him.


    It was Ren''s leg that was ced to obstruct his movement. After evading stair''s slow moving strike, Ren extended his leg to the side so that stair would trip. Ren was getting bored of this fight, and wanted to end it quickly, but he remembered the stupid crap stair said, and decided to show the stupid youth the gap in their abilities.


    stair who saw that Ren wasn''t actually focused on the fight gritted his teeth and attacked. A downward sh followed by an upward sh and then a spinning sh. stair did all of these moves in one breath, yet Ren evaded them with ease. He didn''t even move from his spot, as he simply swayed his body.


    stair then sped up as his attacks became sharper. A pierce to the chest, followed by an upwards sh, then a low kick. stair was even faster than before but even with the increase of his speed, Ren was able to easily evade.


    Galius who saw how easily Ren evaded stair''s strikes still couldn''t understand how deep Ren''s skills go. He was sure that this is but the tip. Galius wanted to challenge Ren as well, so that he could determine just how strong Ren truly was. Yet in the end Galius decided not to do that, since he was still the Principal of the knight academy. Asking a young person for a spar no matter how strong, was not something he should do.


    stair who was attacking Ren with no rest, was also trying different kinds ofbinations in his attacks, but sadly no matter what he did, he wasn''t even able to touch a single strand of hair from his opponent. Ren on the other hand had multiple asions when he could finish stair off, but didn''t. He wanted to see what else the boy called stair had to offer.


    ...


    After awhile Ren had seen everything stair had to offer, and decided to finish the fight now. stair who shed downwards with all his might, even using his mana to envelop his weapon was stopped by Ren pinching his sword.


    Ren who had caught stair''s swords with his index finger and thumb broke it. stair who saw what Ren did to his weapon stared dumbly at his opponent. Ren then stood near stair and spoke to the stunned boy.


    "You see that? That is the gap between you and me. I might be arrogant in your eyes, but as you can see I have the skill to back it up. So if you think, that what I said to your Principal was too much, then you cane at me anytime." This time Ren didn''t give anyone a chance to speak, before he left with Lara. Galius didn''t stop them this time, since it would seem that at the moment he had nothing that could move Ren''s heart. So he gave up on asking Ren to join the academy, instead he was now going to focus all his attention on Valdel.


    Everyone who saw what happened still couldn''t believe their eyes. stair the genius swordsman was treated like a little kid, as he was easily defeated. Seeing as Ren was now gone all their attention was now on hispanion who was going to study in the academy.


    Valdel who noticed that all the stares were directed at him, couldn''t help but smile wryly.

 Chapter 41 - Let’s get started

    <h4>Chapter 41 - Let''s get started</h4>


    Ren felt a bit irritated by how idiotic that boy stair acted, but he was also happy that he was actually able to control his emotions for once. This time he had actually seeded in suppressing his urge to kill, even without Valdel reminding him.


    Ren feeling a bit ecstatic by his current achievement, happily walked towards the adventurers guild.


    Lara who was as usual watching Ren, quickly noticed the great mood he was in. She couldn''t understand why he was so happy.


    ''Why is Ren in such a great mood? Did something happen after that supposed fight? Obviously that kind of weak opponent wouldn''t satisfy him, that usually would''ve made him even more irritated. So then what made him so happy? I need to know what it is, so that I have an idea how to make Ren''s mood better, if needed.''


    While Lara was thinking of what could''ve made Ren so happy, the two of them finally reached the adventurers guild. When they got near the front entrance, they noticed that there was a hugemotion going on.


    Ren approached one of the men that was blocking the entrance. "Hey, What''s happening? Why is everyone gathering at the front door of the Guild."


    "What are you s-" When the man who was looking at something was interrupted by Ren, he got angry, and was about to mouth off at the one who disturbed him. When he turned his head and looked at the person who dared disturb him, he was stunned to see it was Ren.


    He remembered the face of this powerful rookie, because of the fight he had two days ago. So the moment he saw that it was Ren, the man immediately shut up. At this very moment he was trying hard to calm down but he just couldn''t.


    "Hey, Did you hear me? Can you tell me what''s going on? Why is everyone gathering in front of the adventurers guild?"


    The man who Ren asked once more, was still a bit shaken. Still if he didn''t answer now, that might irritate the monster in front of him. So with all his courage he tried to answer.


    "Umm, all of us are gathering here... Because the guild master''s secretary quit, and went back to adventuring."


    When Ren heard what the man said, he quickly figured out that this group of men were here to look at Hilda. Ren who was in a good mood, was now a bit irritated. Though Hilda wasn''t officially his woman yet, Ren already set his sight on her. So these men doing this wasn''t really something he liked to see.


    He then started to emit a strong killing intent on the surrounding people. Ren had good control so he was able to spread his killing intent only to the people who were gathered in front of the adventurers guild.


    The man who saw Ren''s expression darkening, didn''t wait for something more to happen. He apologized to Ren and escaped the scene. The others who were there weren''t so lucky. The moment they felt Ren''s killing intent, they felt their knees growing weak. Their body started to sweat profusely and they felt as if death was behind them.


    The people didn''t have the courage to look behind, as all of them started to run without looking back. When the crowd dispersed, Ren saw the person they were looking at. In front of Ren was a beautiful maiden, d in what looked like flexible te mail. Hidden within that te mail was chain mail. In her left hand was a shield and on the right was dius.


    She didn''t wear any helmet, as you can see her beautiful face and pink blondish hair. This time she didn''t tie it in a ponytail instead it in a braided bun. This battle maiden that looked so serious was none other than Hilda.


    Seeing her valiant form, shocked even Ren. Lara on the other hand was looking at Hilda, and was irritated deep inside.


    ''Why did she do this? Is she actually trying to attract Ren?!''


    Ren who was shocked for a few seconds, approached Hilda. "Hey what''s with the new look?" Hilda who saw the approaching Ren and Lara, answered.


    "This was my equipment back when I was still an active adventurer. Now that I''m back to adventuring, I decided to wear it again."


    "It looks good on you."


    "It doesn''t matter if it looks good or not. The important thing is its functionality not the looks." Hilda spoke a bit disappointed at Ren''s line that sounded like a third rate pick up line.


    "Oh, I know that. I just said it looks good on you not because of something stupid like outward appearances. I said it, because the armor you are wearing alongside the shield and sword, feels like the right choice for you, based on how you fight. Unlike the spear you were using this gear looks good on you."


    When Hilda heard what Ren said, she turned around a bit embarrassed by assuming things. This was one of the reasons she wanted to observe Ren, he was somehow different from the others.


    ...


    When the three were done talking, they head straight to one of the Guild''s receptionist. Hilda exined to one of them that Ren was the adventurer that recently conquered the dungeon. The receptionist double checked the documents, and once she was done, she handed Ren a bag of white gold coins.


    Ren was handed thirty percent of the treasures hidden in the dungeon. He received around fifty white gold coins. This was a huge amount of money, with this kind of money a normal citizen could live a life of luxury and still have enough to give to his grandchildren.


    When Ren received the payment, he handed exactly twenty white gold coins to Lara. "Give this to our friend in the Southern District." When she heard what Ren whispered, Lara nodded her head, took the money and left.


    "Where is she going?" Hilda who was not included in the conversation, butted in.


    "Just going to give some money to a friend in need."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, so while we wait for her, let''s look at what kind of quests we can do." Ren and Hilda headed to the bulletin board and looked at all of the avable quests.


    "So what kind of quest can we take Hilda?"


    "Our party rank is B mainly because both you and Lara are B ranked. So the quest we could undertake range from C- to A ranked quests. You take your pick."


    Ren looked at all the quests that were avable for them. They ranged from picking up a rare flower deep in the forest of the forgotten knight that was to the east of town. To killing an Orc king that was spotted near a vige to the north.


    To Ren all of these quests seem to be a bit boring, so he kept on looking until he found a weird looking quest.


    "Hey Hilda what is this? It doesn''t say the rank of the quests." Hilda looked at the quest Ren was pointing at, and answered.


    "That''s a special quest. It''s rank is undetermined since the difficulty and danger level are unknown. Based on the description, there is a suspicious movement from an unknown monster in the northwest mountains. All you need to do is determine what kind of monster it is and if possible y it, if not return to the Guild and inform them of the threat. The monster could be a wyvern or a troll, but since the monster hasn''t been identified, it''s ssified as a special request."


    When Ren heard Hilda''s exnation, he started to smile as he took the quest from the bulletin board.


    "We''ll be doing this quest." Hilda who saw the excitement in Ren''s eyes didn''t say anything. Since it looks like no matter what she says, it wouldn''t matter.


    "Our first job as adventurers... Heh, I''m actually getting pretty excited."

 Chapter 42 - Equipment

    <h4>Chapter 42 - Equipment</h4>


    Once Ren was done picking a quest, he and Hilda were waiting for Lara toe back to the adventurers guild. While the two were waiting, Ren couldn''t help but look at Hilda''s equipment. Compared to her other equipment, which she used when going to dungeon, the one she was wearing now was pretty good.


    Hilda who noticed Ren''s staring at her spoke to him, with a wary look on her face. "Why do you keep on looking at me like that?"


    "I was admiring your equipment. Compared to the one you used when we went into that dungeon, the one you''re wearing now is so much better. Why didn''t you wear that when we went into the dungeon? If you were better equipped, you might have beaten that steel golem with less effort."


    Hearing Ren''sment, Hilda felt like she was the bad guy. She didn''t mean to do it again but she did. She once again judged Ren based on her past experience with men. Turns out he wasn''t looking at her, he was only interested in her armor.


    "This armor was handcrafted by the dwarves in the mountains of Jattori. It was a gift by my father before I entered the knight academy. The weapons on the other hand are a family heirloom."


    Ren got a bit excited, since Hilda said something unknown to him. "You said something about dwarves. Tell me, what are dwarves?"


    When Hilda heard Ren''s question, she was shocked. There was someone in the kingdom that doesn''t know about dwarves. When she thought about it for a bit, she then remembered that Ren was from a small vige. There was a chance that stories about dwarves were never told to him.


    "Dwarves are a race of sub-humans. They are small bearded people that live in the mountains, but do not underestimate them because of their height. Dwarves possess greater strength than humans, a dwarf child could lift a grown man with rtive ease, and an a.d.u.l.t dwarf even without training can lift boulders with one hand. Though they are famous for their strength, what makes them truly stand out among the races is their unrivaled cksmithing skills. Even the average dwarf cksmith is more skilled than the best human cksmith. Some even say the best cksmiths of the dwarves could make weapons that could harm even Gods."


    Hearing that this race could create weapons that could harm Gods, made Ren even more excited. At this very moment Ren decided that he would find this the best cksmith of the dwarves and ask whoever it is to make him a weapon. Just thinking about owning a weapon that can harm or even kill a God made Ren really excited.


    "I see thank you for that exnation. So your armor was made by dwarves, then are your sword and shield also made by dwarves?"


    "No they are not. In truth none from my family know where the sword and shielde from. They have simply been passed down from one generation to the next. The origins of the weapons have been lost in time."


    "I see..." Once they were done talking about Hilda''s equipment the conversation stopped and both were silent. After awhile Hilda broke the silence.


    "Speaking about equipment, why don''t you and Lara buy some new ones? I know that your weapon that you used to beat the King Drake was nothing short of legendary. But Lara''s bow and arrows looked like they were hand made by her. Even your leather armor looks so old, that at this point it doesn''t serve its purpose."


    "I guess, we could buy new equipment, seeing as I do have a lot of money at the moment... Sure let''s do that. So tell me Hilda, where can I buy the best armor in this town?"


    Hearing that question Hilda started exining about the different armor shops in town. Each armor shop had their own specialty. Some armor shops have thick armor that boast considerable defense but one losses maneuverability when worn. Others have excellent resistance to spells, but not much with ded weapons.


    As Hilda continued on with her exnation about the various armor shops in town, Lara had returned. She noticed from a distance that Hilda and Ren were having a very lively conversation. She didn''t like the feeling that Hilda was getting close to Ren. So she sprinted onwards and interrupted their conversation.


    Surprised by Lara''s sudden appearance, Hilda stopped talking. Ren on the other hand had already noticed Lara''s return a few seconds ago, wasn''t really surprised.


    "So Lara have you handed the money to our friend?" Lara nodded her head in response, and handed a letter to Ren.


    "This is from that friend." Hearing what Lara said, Ren safely hidden the letter in his pocket. He decided to read it once he was alone.


    "Now that we''re all here, how about we head to one of those armor shops. Hilda if you would, please lead the way." Ren made an over dramatic gesture telling Hilda to go on first and show him and Lara to an armor shop.


    ...


    The group of three headed towards an armor shop that sold armor that could protect one from some minor damages and was light as well. The reason for choosing this kind of armor, was because Ren and Lara knew how to surround themselves with mana that acts out as their armor. So in reality they never needed armor in the first ce. Though if the armor was better than their mana shield, then that was a different story, but unfortunately there wasn''t anything like that in Grenton.


    Still buying new armor was a bit fun for Lara. It was like trying some new clothes. Most importantly for her, it made Ren look even cooler, even though Ren was not really cool or handsome looking.


    Ren who was done picking out his armor, wore some ted shoulder guards, some enchanted silver armor, and enchanted silver greaves. He decided not to buy gauntlets cause it disrupts him from doing spells. Overall with this new look of his, even with his average looking face, he somehow looked a bit cool.


    Lara was also able to buy new armor, and it made her even more eye catching. She wore a silver gauntlet on her left arm, which she uses to hold her bow. Her armor was a tight fitting leather armor, with matching leather boots. The shopkeeper liked her look so much that he even gave Ren a discount for it.


    Once they were done buying armor. The three headed to a weapons shop, to buy Lara a new bow and arrows. With Ren''s money they were able to buy the best bow in the shop, which wasn''t much, since no one in town was very adept in using bows. Though it was a big improvement from Lara''s old bow.


    Now that the party was fully equipped and ready, they left town and headed to the location of their quests.


    ...


    Back in the knight academy, Valdel''s swordsmanship was being ranked. The test was simple three Saint Rank swordsmen would watch the person being ranked do some moves using his/her swordsmanship and they will evaluate it.


    Valdel moved the way Ren thought him. There was no superfluous movement, it wasn''t elegant or beautiful to look at, but it was powerful. Valdel''s movements might look simple and easy to dodge, if looked at by lower level swordsmen, but the Saint ranked swordsmen gathered could see that Valdel''s movements were precise and deadly.


    Once Valdel was done showing his swordsmanship he stood before the three Saint ranked swordsmen and waited for their verdict.


    "Valdel first year student of the knight academy. You''re talent is nothing short of miraculous. We are proud to witness the birth of a future legendary swordsman. From today forth you are ranked as a Master ranked swordsman. You young swordsman, we hope, that your journey be worthwhile."

 Chapter 43 - The start of the first adventure

    <h4>Chapter 43 - The start of the first adventure</h4>


    Ren, Lara, and Hilda were heading towards the vige near the northwest mountains were the unknown monster was spotted. Their destination wasn''t that far and they reached the vige after walking for half a day.


    The vige they arrived at was a bigger vige than Ren''s hometown, which surprised Lara. When she heard that they were going to a vige near the mountains, she imagined a ce simr to her hometown with the only difference of it being near a mountain. Yet this vige was so different from where she came from.


    It was located near the edge of the mountains, and it seem like it acted as a ce were travelers would stay before they cross the mountain range. The houses and the general feel of the vige was simr to that of Grenton but in a smaller scale.


    When the group of three finally entered the vige, a lot of the vigers were looking at them. Some of the children even went near and greeted the three with happy smiles. The overall feel of the vige seemed lively.


    Ren wasn''t expecting this, seeing as their was a report of an unknown monster roaming, he imagined that the vigers would be more alert or frightened.


    "Are you here for the quest, the vige elder posted?" A man approached the group and asked.


    "Yes, we are adventures from Grenton. Can you please lead us to the vige elder''s house." Hilda was the one who spoke for the group, seeing as Lara was not really the talking type, and Ren might say something that would anger the vigers.


    ...


    The man led the group of three to the other end of the vige. In the very edge of the vige was a fancy looking house made of stone instead of wood.


    The house was three times bigger than the other houses in the vige. When Hilda saw this, she could already guess what kind of person the vige elder was.


    Ren on the other hand didn''t care for such things. He unlike his friend wasn''t a hero of justice. As long as the vige elder doesn''t get in his way, then it doesn''t matter.


    After thanking the man that guided them, the three knocked on the door of the vige elder''s house. The one who opened the door was a tall skinny middle aged man covered in jewelry.


    "Who are you people? What do you need?" The middle aged man sounded a bit irritated when he saw Ren''s group.


    "We are adventurers from the guild."


    "Oh, so you guys finally sent someone and it''s a bunch of women and children. Is the guild in such a dire state... Well no matter, I guess you will do." Ren wasn''t overly fond of the way this vige elder talked, but since this is part of the quest, he just needed to deal with it.


    "We will do our best... So vige elder, what manner of monster are we facing here? What has it done, and what can it do?" Hilda was also a bit irritated by the vige elder, but since she was used to this kinds of situations, she continued on professionally.


    "I don''t know." The vige elder responded with a shrug of his shoulders.


    "You don''t know? Then how are you able to tell that there is a monster near the vige." Hilda was holding it in as she continued her questioning.


    "It could be a monster, it could be a human, it could be something else. All we know is that one of the hunters in the vige went into the mountains and in the trail going up, he saw a lot of blood scattered everywhere. There was no body and all that was seen was blood, so we aren''t sure what was killed. At first we thought that it was just a one time thing, but every now and then when our hunters go up the mountains, they would see arge amount of blood on the trail. But that wasn''t what really frightened the others. What truly frightened them was that the hunters finally found a body to match the blood, and it was a mountain ogre that died. Something or someone is killing the mountain ogres on top of the mountain."


    Once he was done recounting his tale, the vige elder looked at Ren and his group with a bit of disdain. "That''s the reason why we sent that request, but who knew the guild would send you lot... Well that''s all I have to say, juste back once you figure out what kind of being is killing the mountain ogres."


    After saying his piece the vige elder mmed his door shut. "That man has a real problem." Ren sighed. "So Hilda what is a mountain ogre? How strong is it?"


    "A mountain ogre is a B ss monster, it is two ranks below the King Drake you fought. Still you need at least two parties of B rank adventurers to safely kill one mountain ogre. The thing that killed those mountain ogres and the other monsters in the mountain must be near the strength of the King Drake or at least a level below it." Hilda who was thinking about the information the vige elder gave, answered Ren when he asked his question.


    "I see... So what do you think killed those monsters?"


    "No clue at all... Well that''s why we''re here. It''s our mission to figure that out." While Ren and Hilda were talking, Lara noticed something looking down at them from the side of the mountain. The moment she saw the silhouette, it ran away. Lara reported what she saw to Ren and Hilda.


    "Do not think to much about it. The people here are quite curious about adventurers, since no one has passed this mountain ranges in a long time... Let''s just focus on the quest, first we need to talk to those hunters that saw the body of the mountain ogre, as well as the one who first saw the blood on the trail."


    Hearing what Hilda said, Lara and Ren decided to not be bothered by the mysterious onlooker. If the one spying on them wants to do something then let hime.


    ...


    Back in the knight academy, Valdel was pointed towards his room in the dormitory provided for him. He was very tired after finishing his first day of shcool. Since the whole time during sses, most of the attention was on him. He was even approached by various nobledies wanting to get to know him.


    The first day in knight academy wasn''t as he expected. At this point Valdel just wanted to rest for awhile, in bed.


    As he opened the door to his new room, there were three other people in there. These guys should be Valdel''s roommates. The moment the trio saw Valdel, they had different reactions. One of them who was eating some bread, dropped the bread he was holding and looked at Valdel stunned. Another one was ring at him, there was no ill intent behind the re, but it was still kinda off putting. Then finally thest one smiled at him as he approached.


    "You must be that guy, who got a master rank in swordsmanship... Valdel right. Allow me to introduce myself and the others. I''m Noel Ainsley, that boy whose eating the bread over there is called Kurt Fulton, and the boy with the nasty re is Daniel Ogden. It seems like will be roommates from today onwards." Noel extended his hand for a handshake in which Valdel smilingly shook.


    This was the real start of Valdel''s school life.

 Chapter 44 - Mysterious killings

    <h4>Chapter 44 - Mysterious killings</h4>


    Ren and his group went to talk to the hunters that saw the dead body of the mountain ogre. The questioning went smoother than expected, since the hunters were very proactive in answering Hilda''s questions. When the hunters showed the head of the mountain ogre, Ren, Hilda, and Lara inspected it.


    While the three were inspecting the head, Ren noticed something strange with the head. Ren didn''t say what he found, since he felt something was amiss. When the three were done inspecting the head, they thanked the hunters and left.


    Hilda then passed a piece of paper to Ren and Lara.


    ''head towards the exit of the vige.'' When Ren read this he and his group headed straight outside of the vige. The three who were now away from the vige, doubled checked if they were followed.


    Once they confirmed that no one was around Hilda spoke. "So what do you guys think about this?"


    "The vigers are hiding something." Lara as usual made herment concise and to the point, yet as she said those lines, she kept on looking here and there.


    "Yes the vigers are obviously hiding something, most of them, even the children smelled of blood. Also that mountain ogre that they showed had nail marks at the back of its head." Ren reported what he saw, which made Hilda tilt her head in confusion.


    "So? Maybe the monster killed it with it''s ws."


    "That''s the point... I don''t think that the mountain ogre was killed by a monster. The nail marks I saw was made by a small hand... It looked like it was made by the hands of a human." When Hilda heard what Ren said, her eyebrows scrunched together.


    "Are you telling me, a human cut off a head of a mountain ogre, using his or her nails? Is that what you''re telling me... Ren?"


    "Yes. Also those hunters should have noticed this too, seeing as they should have already inspected the head before. My father is a hunter as well, and he would have easily spotted the wound that killed the mountain ogre. Yet those hunters didn''t give us that kind of information. I''m sure if any normal hunter saw that wound made by human hands they would be suspicious of it, but these guys said nothing." Hearing what Ren said, Lara nodded her head in agreement, while Hilda was thinking about something.


    "Not only that everyone in this town was too calm. If there was a monster that could easily kill a mountain ogre near my vige, almost everyone would panic, but these people treat it like it was nothing."


    "I also have something to report about the vigers. I noticed that they were hiding something on their necks. All of them, the children, the vige elder, the hunters, every one of them might have a wound on their neck." Lara might have said this with her usual poker face, but the contents of what she said was deeply concerning.


    "We have too little information regarding this incident. What could the vigers be hiding? For now we shouldn''t believe in anything the vigers are saying. Not even the children." Ren and Lara nodded their heads in agreement, to what Hilda said.


    "Okay now that we are in agreement, let''s head to the site where the hunter saw the head. Maybe we could get some clues there."


    "Sure, but before that." When Ren said those words, he disappeared from his spot. After a few seconds he returned with something in hand. When Ren returned he was holding a scrawny looking boy with ck hair and eyes. The boy was screaming and kicking in Ren''s arms.


    "Let go of me! Let go!"


    "Who''s that?" Hilda asked looking at the scrawny boy confused. ''Did Ren kidnapped a kid? Or was this...''


    "That''s the kid who was spying on us." Lara informed the other two. The moment he saw the boy''s figure she figured out that he must have been the one who was looking at them from a distance.


    Hearing what Lara said, Ren smiled as he put the kid down. The boy who was finally released from Ren''s grasp looked at Ren with an expression of both fear and anger.


    "So Kid why were you spying on us? Do you need something from us?" The kid who heard Ren''s question looked like he was about to cry, but tried his hardest not too.


    "..." The kid kept looking silently at Ren.


    "Let me try." Hilda butted in and stood in front of the boy. She took something from her pocket and handed it to the boy. The thing Hilda handed was some fruit candy, and the boy dly epted it. The boy who got the candy looked at Hilda a little less wary.


    "Hi there, I''m Hilda an adventurer from Grenton. What''s your name." Hilda smiled gently at the boy. Ren and even Lara was surprised to see Hilda was able to act this way. The boy who was looking at the smiling Hilda, hesitated a bit but still answered in the end.


    "...Darius..." Hearing the boy finally answering made Hilda smile even more.


    "That''s a nice name you have there Darius. It''s a truly valiant name. So Darius can you tell this big sis why you were spying on me and my friends?"


    "I... I wanted to ask for help... I wanted to make sure you didn''t be one of them?" Darius started to tremble when he mentioned them. Hilda then hugged the trembling Darius.


    "Do not be afraid Darius, me and my friends are pretty strong. I''m sure we''ll be able to help you. So tell me what''s happening."


    "Everyone... Everyone in the vige started acting weird, a few weeks ago. At some point even my mom and dad, they-" As Darius spoke about his parents he started to cry.


    "It''s alright, just cry it out." Hilda who was hugging the boy patted his back. After some time the boy finally stopped crying.


    " *hic* I saw everyone eating that monster, and they only left the head."


    ''The vigers ate the mountain ogre. What the hell is happening in this vige?'' Hilda continued to hug the boy, as her mind was thinking as hard as it could.


    Ren on the other hand had some thoughts in regards to this incident. Based on the evidence they saw, the story Darius told them. Ren had a vague guess as to what is happening in the vige, but he wasn''t sure. It was at this moment Ren started to smile as viciously as ever.


    ''This quest turned out to be better than expected. If my hunch is right, then a good fight is probablying.''

 Chapter 45 - Silika’s past

    <h4>Chapter 45 - Silika''s past</h4>


    While Hilda wasforting the boy, Lara was surveying the area just in case someone might be eavesdropping on them. Ren on the other hand heard a familiar voice speaking in his head.


    "Master, I''m finally done with the stabilization of the mana we got from the King Drake... Hmm, what''s this?... It seems like you got yourself into quite a situation master."


    Silika spoke in an amused tone. It was obvious that she knew with a nce what kind of situation they were in.


    "Tell me what you figured out, Silika." Ren responded in his mind.


    "It''s nothing much, but that boy is something like a ghost. He''s alive and at the same time he''s not. Basically he''s dead." Silika answered, still with an amused tone. When Ren heard what Silika said, he was shocked. The boy in front of him was dead, he didn''t notice at all.


    "How do you know that? He''s not emitting anything different from a normal human. There doesn''t seem to be any abnormalities that I can see in his body... Then how? How do you know he''s dead?"


    "You can say I''m very sensitive to blood, and I know for certain that boy has none. His skin might not be pale or anything that could indicate that, but trust me, when ites to blood there is no one that knows more than me." Silika confidently told Ren why she believes the boy was dead.


    "I see... Hmm, I suppose I need to try something out."


    Once Ren was done speaking with Silika, he approached the boy called Darius that Hilda was hugging. Ren took the two of them apart, as Ren started to inspect the boy.


    "Hey what are you doing?!" Hilda who was suddenly pushed aside wasn''t happy. Ren didn''t bother to answer her, and continued inspecting the boy. The body heat emitting from him was warm like any other living being, but Silika already said that he wasn''t alive, he had no blood flowing through his veins. Then how is it that he still looks and feels alive?


    ''Well there is no use being all passive about it. Also I need to believe in Silika, she has no reason to lie, and she is connected to me by contract.''


    When Ren finally decided what to do next, he looked at the boy who was scared. He looked at him, eye to eye and spoke. "Do you know that you''re already dead?"


    The moment Ren said this, even Lara was visibly shaken. Hilda was confused as well, why would Ren say such a thing? Was the boy really dead? That can''t be... Right?


    The boy in question Darius was also visibly shaken and screamed angrily at Ren. "NO! I''m Alive! I know it! Why are you saying that I''m dead?! I''m not! Why did you say that!?"


    "Don''t you remember? What happened on the day youst saw your parents?" Ren wasn''t sure about what he was saying, everything that wasing out of his mouth was just a bluff, but he trusted Silika. Still Darius had a weird reaction awhile ago, when he mentioned his parents, that event might have something to do with his death.


    Darius tried to remember what happened on that night, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn''t remember. He wasn''t even able to remember what his parents look like.


    "I can''t... Why can''t I remember?! I''m Darius the son of... The son of... Why? Why? Why can''t I remember?!" Darius who was screaming couldn''t take it anymore. He was confused, and scared. With his mind unstable, he fled towards the mountains. Hilda who saw this wanted to follow, but was stopped by Ren.


    "Why are you stopping me?"


    "Why do you need to follow him? You already know he''s dead, so why bother with him? Isn''t it better to figure out what is truly happening in the vige? If we figure out what is going on, we might be able to help that boy."


    Hearing what Ren said, Hilda finally cooled down and sighed. She nodded her head signifying her agreement, but even though what Ren said was right. Hilda couldn''t approve of the way Ren handled the situation.


    "I''ll ept what your saying, after you tell what you mean when you say Darius'' is dead." Hilda waited looked at Ren waiting for an exnation.


    ...


    While Ren and the others were having a conversation, Silika was thinking ever so deeply within the tattoo of the contract that was on Ren''s right arm.


    She who had looked deeper into Ren''s soul has seen numerous things. She knew that this boy was once a demon lord who was hailed as the strongest. But upon looking deeper, she saw numerous other reincarnations until finally she saw a familiar face, of a boy she once knew a thousand lifetimes ago. A boy who always stood in the middle of a fight thirsting for more.


    She met this boy, back when her true name was still known. She met this boy when she was hiding in that dark cave. There he made a promise to her.


    ''So we finally meet again. It has been an eon since west met. Your form might have changed, but what''s inside still remains the same. You still have the same thirst for battle, and you still seek an opponent worthy of your strength.''


    Silika started to reminisce about a time long forgotten, when she too hadpanions that she had adventured with. When she fell in love with that idiotic battle freak. From within the veil that hides her face, she smiled.


    A sensation she had long forgotten had returned to her, it was afortable feeling. Silika couldn''t help but smile wryly at how mysterious fate could be.


    ''Are you finally going to fulfill that promise?... Leo.''

 Chapter 46 - Weapon grade

    <h4>Chapter 46 - Weapon grade</h4>


    Ren unaware of Silika''s thoughts exined to Hilda and Lara about how Darius had no blood flowing through his body. When Hilda and Lara heard this they were shocked and confused.


    "How do you even know he has no blood? When I hugged him, he felt warm and alive. How is that possible if he had no blood?"


    Ren started to think if he should tell Hilda about Silika. Seeing that he already shown Hilda his weapon telling her about Silika, shouldn''t be a problem.


    "... Silika show yourself." The moment Ren said this, the tattoo on his right arm started to glow and out of nowhere a woman wearing a ck dress and veil appeared before Hilda.


    "This is Silika the spirit of the contracted weapon I''m using. She''s the one who told me about how the boy had no blood." When Silika appeared in front of Hilda she was surprised and even went into a defensive stance. She was observing the woman wearing a veil, and to her surprise her defense had no openings to exploit, same as Ren. That was when she suddenly heard Ren''s voice.


    "Spirit of a contracted weapon?" Hilda was confused by the new term she just heard.


    "Well that''s what I''m calling her. We formed a contract so that I can use the scythe that you saw back in the dungeon. I don''t know what you call that kind of weapon so I made the term contracted weapon."


    "Okay... I can kind of understand your naming sense, but a spirit? A spirit that resides in a weapon, wouldn''t that make your weapon something like a legendary weapon?" Hearing what Hilda said, Ren shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess... What do you think Silika?" Unable to see her face from beyond the veil the others couldn''t tell what reaction Silika made to this statement. She answered the question with a sweet and calm voice.


    "The weapon you are using isn''t just legendary it is a mythical weapon that dates back to the age of Gods. I was thest known user and had fused myself to the weapon."


    Hilda already knew that Silika had her own awareness as a spirit, but it still surprised her to hear the spirit speak. She was even more shock to hear what weapon grade the scythe was at.


    "Is that so? A mythical weapon... Well it doesn''t really matter, even if it''s a stick I can still have the same result. It''s just a bit easier when I use the scythe." Ren total disregard for a weapon in the mythical grade shocked. appalled, and disgust Hilda. The pride Ren showed at this moment was great and domineering but at the same time, felt like he was overestimating himself.


    It was like he didn''t understand the meaning of having a mythical weapon. In this world weapons were ssified by seven grades. The first one beingmon weapons these were weapons created by amateur cksmiths that any person could afford and wield. The second grade were advanced weapons, this were weapons created by veteran cksmiths that have years of experience.


    The middle grade weapons were called expert weapons. These weapons were forged by renown cksmiths whose skills were praised all throughout thend.


    The next grade were things no human hand could forge these were the legendary weapons. Usually crafted by dwarves, these weapons were usually given to a hero or a king. The reason why only heroes and kings had legendary weapons, is because forging them was only the first step to grade a legendary weapon. The next step is creating a legend by doing a grand deed. An example would be like the sword a king used as he founded a country, or a spear the hero used to y an orc king. Only after doing that grand deed could the weapon be called legendary.


    The subsequent grades of weapon were things that no normal mortal being could ever create, but some of the genius dwarves could. The saint weapons were weapons imbued with mana, they are the weapons used by Saint and Divine level swordsmen. The continuous used by such masters, and the constant supply of mana had turned the weapons into something divine. Though some Dwarven cksmiths could gain simr effects if they used mana in forging a weapon, but that takes extreme skill and mana control; that only a select few of the dwarves could manage.


    Thest two grades were in a dimension of their own. The next grade were the mythical grade, these were weapons wielded by the Gods. They were said to be something made in rtion to the divinity of a God. An example would be if the God was a God of hunting, then his weapons would share his divinity of hunting. Ren''s weapon is of that grade, which had Hilda truly surprised.


    The final grade of weapons were called origin weapons. These weapons are said to be older than the Gods themselves. None know if they truly exist and have only heard of their existence as stories.


    ...


    So hearing that the scythe Ren was using was mythical grade weapon made Hilda wonder which God once wielded such a weapon. Also she was still feeling a bit annoyed by Ren, when he said that even if he used a stick he would get the same result. How arrogant could a person be?


    Though Hilda was looking a bit calmer than expected, but in truth deep inside she was overwhelmed by different emotions in seeing a mythical grade weapon. She was really... No words could describe what she was feeling by hearing this piece of information. The only reason she wasn''t making a bigger deal out of this was because she felt tired. Ever since knowing Ren it was one shocking event after another. The more she knew about Ren, the more shock and confused she got. So Hilda simply decided to just ept whatever she sees and me it on the absurdity that is Ren.


    Unknown to Hilda, the only reason Ren said what he said, was not because he didn''t understand what a mythical grade weapon signified, but because with his current abilities he couldn''t fully use the scythe. So it really didn''t matter if he used a stick to fight since to him it would really give the same results.


    Seeing a bit of contempt in Hilda''s expression, Ren could guess what she was thinking, but decided not to clear up the misunderstanding since it really didn''t matter.


    "Sorry, but don''t we need to check out the site of where the mountain ogre supposedly died? The sun is already setting." Lara who was left out of the conversation spoke.


    "You''re right, Silika return."


    "As you wish." Silika''s form disappeared as she once again entered the tattoo.


    "Any more questions?" Ren looked at Hilda, who was looking at Ren seriously as she shook her head.


    ...


    While the group was heading towards the site of where the mountain ogre died, Darius was still running towards an unknown destination. He didn''t know where he was heading, but he felt like he was suppose to head there.


    He was still confused, scared, and angry at what Ren said. He just couldn''t understand why Ren would say that to him, since he was obviously alive... But thinking about his parents and the day everyone turned strange, he just couldn''t remember what truly happened. Which made him afraid that what Ren said could actually be...


    "No! I can''t be dead! I''m alive!" When Darius screamed this as he was running, he saw something that made him kneel, not wanting to ept what he saw.


    "This can''t be... It just can''t."

 Chapter 47 - Coffins

    <h4>Chapter 47 - Coffins</h4>


    While Darius was shocked in what he saw Ren and the two girls were heading towards the ce the hunters supposedly saw the dead mountain ogre. When the group got there they started their investigation. When Ren and Hilda started looking around Lara left to scout the area.


    It didn''t even take them a few minutes before Ren and Hilda, came to the same conclusion that they''re was nothing there.


    "How many days ago did he say it was when he saw the head?" Ren who was still looking around asked Hilda.


    "The hunter that spotted the head im that he saw it three days ago." Hearing Hilda''s answer, Ren spoke to Silika.


    "What do you think Silika?"


    "I do not sense any blood in this area, and I''m sure no blood has been spilled here for a very long time, certainly longer than three days."


    "As we expected the vigers are liars. So Hilda who was the one who made that request and passed it to the guild?"


    "The one who made the request, didn''t identify himself and simply pass the quest details, and gave the reward money to the guild."


    "Tsk, then tell me what you know about the vige."


    "This vige used to be something like a checkpoint for people who wanted to go to the Goddesses holy shrine that''s on the other side of the mountain range. Yet no one passes through here anymore, since there a lot of monsters and the people found an easier path towards the shrine. That''s all I know."


    "When did that happen?"


    "When did, what happen?"


    "When did the people stoping here? When did this ce stop receiving guest?"


    "... Around five months ago." At this point Hilda already understood what Ren was implying.


    Ren then started to think, about the vigers that were acting strange. The request that no one knew who requested it. The mysterious boy with no blood that had distorted memory of his past. The vige that used to be a famous ce to rest before heading to the Goddesses holy shrine. All of these things put together what could they mean?


    While Ren and Hilda were thinking about what to do next, Lara who was scouting the area appeared beside Ren.


    "Ren I found something you might want to see."


    ...


    Ren and Hilda followed Lara to a ce on the side of the mountain. Lara who was running was actually running at a slower pace than usual, since Ren warned her that Hilda wouldn''t be able to keep up. When Lara heard this she wanted to speed up instead and leave Hilda behind, but she couldn''t since Ren might get angry at her.


    So while irritated by how Ren treated Hilda, Lara could only grit her teeth and try to ept it. The sooner she epts the situation the better it is for everyone, is what she thought.


    Even though she understood that Ren wanted to have other women, and was attracted to Hilda. Lara was still having difficulty epting the situation. Ren already warned her before that she wouldn''t be his one and only, he already told her if she wanted to be his, she must ept this fact.


    Of course Lara at that time who was being drowned by passion epted. Yet now she was having difficulty epting the first woman that came after her.


    ''It''s alright, once I ept Hilda the others would be easier to ept... I hope.''


    ...


    The trio finally reached the area Lara wanted to show, but since the sun already set, it was quite dark and they really couldn''t see the surrounding area properly.


    Ren then extended his hand and invoked a spell, "Light."


    An orb of light suddenly appeared on Ren''s palm. He then pushed it upward and it floated above his head. Lara and Hilda did a simr spell to illuminate the area. As the light of their spells shone on the area, Ren and Hilda finally saw what Lara wanted to show them. They were surprised by what they saw.


    It was a graveyard and there were dozens of graves, but that wasn''t the surprising part. The surprising part was that someone had dug out the coffins.


    "Lara, did you try opening the coffins?" Ren asked Lara as he approached one of the coffins.


    "No the moment I saw them, I immediately went to inform you." As Lara was exining what she did, Ren opened up one of the coffins. The three of them were stunned to see who it was that was there.


    It was a fresh body that hasn''t dpose yet, and the person that was in the coffin was non other than the hunter that supposedly saw the mountain ogre''s head. When the three saw who it was, they started to open up all the other coffins. As they expected all of the bodies were of the vigers.


    Ren who was thinking that the vigers could either be undead or vampires, was now confused. What does this mean? Also if all the vigers are dead and buried here, who was the one who buried them, and who was the one who dug them up? Was it the fake vigers that desecrated their graves? Or was it whoever buried the vigers?


    "What is this?" Hilda was also confused as to what was happening, They were all dead, and their bodies were here, if so then who were the people staying in the vige now.


    "It''s obvious that something else is going on. So what are we going to do Hilda? Does the quest sent to the guild still cover this?"


    "It doesn''t anymore... At this point, we can go back to the guild and report this new piece of information, or we can stay and solve this mystery by ourselves. You decide what we should do, seeing as you are the party leader."


    "Backing out on something isn''t really my style, and trying to solve a stupid mystery is also not my style." Ren then showed his vicious grin, the one he shows when he gets excited.


    "Let''s just take the direct approach, and ask the vigers what the hell is happening in this vige."

 Chapter 48 - Finding the villagers

    <h4>Chapter 48 - Finding the vigers</h4>


    When Hilda heard what Ren said she wanted to stop the fool, but seeing that determined face of his she knew that it would be impossible. She was sure that Lara would side with Ren no matter what his decision was. So knowing that it was useless, Hilda had no choice but to let Ren do what he wants to do.


    "Fine, do whatever you want." Seeing the ever serious Hilda pouting made Ren chuckle, It was nice to see how cute she was being at the moment.


    Ren didn''t respond and simply chuckled as he headed towards the vige. Of course Lara immediately followed, while Hilda had a face full of reluctance before she too followed.


    ...


    Since it was already night time, the trek back down the mountain was a bit hard. Still the three had safely returned to the vige entrance. The moment they returned they noticed that the vige was eerily quiet.


    Ren couldn''t sense anything in the vige, he then asked Silika.


    "Silika is there anyone in the vige?"


    "No master, there is no one."


    When Ren heard Silika''s reply he was went into full alert. If Silika couldn''t sense them, that would mean they all disappeared, or someone powerful was hiding them. Ren knew that the former is the most probable thing that happened, but he really wish that thetter was the one happening right now.


    Still no matter how long the three of them stood there waiting for someone to appear no one came.


    Hilda who was on hight alert, lowered her guard and spoke to Ren.


    "So what do we do now? We can''t ask the vigers anything, seeing as they aren''t here. Do you still think we should do this by ourselves? Whoever is pulling the strings behind this operation, obviously knows that we know about the dead bodies, so whoever it is would most probably have something ready to deal with us."


    Ren didn''t bother to listen to Hilda since she was just saying things that he already knew. Instead Ren spoke with Silika.


    "Silika can you increase the range of your search?" At his current state Ren could only search in a limited distance. So the fastest way is to let Silika do it, since her senses were better than his.


    "I could, but I would need get a bit of blood from you master."


    "It doesn''t matter just do it."


    When Ren agreed, the sword shape needles came out of his tattoo and once they were out they pierced into his skin. Silika took a bit of Ren''s blood, which strengthened her. The moment Silika powered up a bit, her ability increased. She started to search the area, and found out that underneath the vige elder''s house mana was gathering.


    "There''s something going on, underneath the vige elder''s house. I''m sure the vigers are down there as well."


    The moment Ren heard what Silika said he sprinted towards the vige elder''s house, seeing Ren suddenly moving the two girls with him followed as well.


    ...


    "What''s happening?" Hilda asked Ren, when they reached the vige elder''s house. Ren didn''t reply and just kicked the door open. Seeing as Ren wasn''t going to reply to her, Hilda was irritated, but making a scene now wasn''t to her advantage. So she just sucked it up and followed Ren.


    She didn''t like this feeling that he was allowing Ren to do whatever he wanted, but at the same time she didn''t think what he was doing was wrong. Even though Ren didn''t say anything Hilda could pretty much guess what was happening. Still it would''ve been nice if he actually said something instead of just acting out and making her guess what''s next.


    The three entered the house, and headed straight to the basement.


    ...


    Ren who was now in the basement saw nothing weird, but he could now somehow feel a fluctuation of mana gathering underneath the house.


    "There is something going on underground. I need you two to search this room, and see if there is a switch, a lever, a secret path or something."


    Silika turned into her human form and started to search for a way to go underground. Ren could''ve destroyed the floor with magic but if he did, some trap of sorts might activate, or he might make a mistake and identally crush his allies as well since the only earth spell he can use at the moment for this situation was [Crush] an earth spell that could literally crush the ground beneath him like a piece of paper. This spell was usually used to seal opponents, but if done properly it could be used in so many different ways.


    Yet with Ren''s current skill level in regards to earth magic, he wasn''t able to use it properly. While he was thinking about what to do next, he heard something moving. A part of the floor opened up showing a staircase going down.


    Hilda had found a switch, hidden inside one of the wooden boxes. Ren looked at her and spoke teasingly. "Good job Hilda, so you are good for something."


    Before Hilda could reply in anger, Ren and Lara already headed down. Hilda''s frustration was building up as she followed the two downward.


    ...


    As Ren andpany were about to learn the secrets of the vige, in the western district, a boy wearing a cloak was passing by from street to street looking for something. This boy was none other than stair Saulon the one Ren defeated just recently.


    He was in the western district trying to find the strongest assassin Gregory. After being defeated by Ren in such a humiliating way, one of the servants with him, headed to the main house to report the situation. stair was sure his family would do something to elevate his shame, but he in turn would be punished for the failure.


    Still stair wanted to do something on his own, before his family intervenes. He wanted Ren, Valdel, and Lara dead. He wanted Ren dead because of the shame he bestowed upon him. He wanted Valdel dead because of all the attention he was gaining, even though he was nothing more than amoner. Finally he wanted to Lara to die simply because he was rted to the two.


    stair''s hate even extended towards the family members of the three. Once he finds out more information about them, and locates their family members he will ask his father to annihte their families. Seeing as they''re nothing more thanmoners no one would notice or help them once they''re gone.


    While walking around the western district stair finally found the ce he was looking for. He knocked on the building five times. He waited for a bit and someone asked.


    "What is it you want?"


    "I want a shadowy de that I left here." stair responded with the password stating that he was a customer. After saying the password, the wooden door opened.


    ...


    The inside of the building was just one room with two chairs a table, and a candle.


    "Take a seat." From within the darkness somebody spoke, stair couldn''t see nor sense the person who was talking, but still he took his seat.


    "Who do you want to be killed?" stair then told Gregory everything he knew about Ren, Valdel, and Lara. When Gregory heard the description of the targets, he stopped stair from saying anymore.


    "I cannot do this job. Let me give you some free advise, do not mess with these three. You might be the one and only heir of the house of Saulon, but even your family will not be able to save you from those three if you decide to mess with them."


    Once Gregory was done saying what he wanted to say, the candle light was put out and the room was now in total darkness.


    ...


    stair who left the western district was furious.


    ''What best assassin of the kingdom?! That was just a coward! He even dares to tell me a noble son what to do! Does he think he''s the only assassin around? I''ll just get another group to deal with my problem.''

 Chapter 49 - The mastermind

    <h4>Chapter 49 - The mastermind</h4>


    Ren and hispanions were heading down the secret staircase. Before they went down they saw a torch but they didn''t use it since they can use magic to make light. As the group descended the staircase, Ren could finally feel the presence of the vigers. He could also sense a very powerful presence among the vigers.


    The quality of the mana was pretty simr to the King Drake he fought recently. Ren was getting a bit excited, since he was sure that the opponent this time was much harder than the King Drake. The King Drake was a monster so no matter how intelligent it was it would still follow its instincts.


    This opponent on the other hand had actual intelligence and was sure to have a n of sorts to deal with Ren and hispanions. This made Ren truly excited to see what kind of opponent he would face next.


    ...


    The group had reached the end of the staircase, and saw a tunnel lit by torches. It was pretty obvious that the enemy was waiting for them on the other side of the tunnel.


    "I''m sure that you two are aware, that once we go forward from here there is no turning back. As the leader of this party, I suppose I should say something like don''t worry, or I know we can do it, or some other stupid cliche. Well I wont say something so disgusting like that. Instead I''ll tell you the truth, beyond that tunnel is an opponent that is stronger than me. It''s an opponent that has unknown skills coupled with the vigers will make this battle unpredictable. The chance of us dying is very high..."


    While Ren was speaking his eyes was twinkling with joy, and he was smiling his ever vicious smile.


    "So if you guys want to run, now is your chance. I will not stop you, since your life is your own. So what do you two want to do?" Ren looked at his twopanions, unable to hide the excitement that he was holding in.


    "I will follow you, even in the depths of the underworld. If you are to die then I will die with you." Lara responded with her usual indifference, but deep inside she was strengthening her resolve. When ites to battle Ren doesn''t lie, that means the enemy they are facing was truly stronger than Ren. Still a fight is not merely determined by strength of arms or mana, there are a lot of factors to add in. That''s why Ren never ims to have absolute certainty in battle.


    Hilda looked at the two and sighed. In her head retreating and informing the guild was the safest and best option. But she knew it was entirely possible that the culprit would get away if the three of them do nothing. Also Ren would most probably need all the help he can get.


    Hilda then remembered his mother and her sisters. ''It''s alright, I already prepared for this. As long as that stupid Guild Master fulfills his end of the deal then everything will be alright... Though I hope it neveres to that.''


    Hilda looked at Ren with steely determination. Ren couldn''t help but smile even wider than before. Those eyes that show him she would never give up, and is willing to face death head on. Those are the same eyes the heroes of old showed as they faced him.


    "I wille with you as well." Hilda said with determination.


    "Very well let''s go." Ren stepped forward into the tunnel.


    ...


    While the three were walking, Silika''s voice resounded in Ren''s head.


    "Master why didn''t you ask me if I wanted to go or not?"


    "Huh? Doesn''t our contract state that you would stay with me until my death."


    "What a bore it is to tease you master." Even though Silika sounded like she was pouting, but in truth she was smiling widely as nostalgia filled her. Now that she knew Ren was Leo, she felt different than before.


    She was happy to see that no matter which incarnation he was in, Leo remained the same.


    ...


    The three finally reached the end of the tunnel, as expected the vigers were there. Not only that there was a man in the middle wearing a grey cloak his face hidden behind a mask.


    "Oh, our guest have arrived. Wee to my humble abode. I am Alfred the master of this ce. Though our meeting shall be short, it is a pleasure to have met you."

 Chapter 50 - The truth behind the village

    <h4>Chapter 50 - The truth behind the vige</h4>


    Hilda and Lara who were looking at Alfred felt an ominous presence surrounding him. He smelled of death, which not only sent shivers down Hilda''s spine, it actually made Lara a little bit afraid. This was a surprise for her ever since she trained with Ren, Lara thought he was at the pinnacle, but seeing the being in front of her she knew that this being was more powerful than Ren.


    Lara for a second doubted Ren''s victory which made her angry at herself. How could she doubt his victory?! Lara thinking this looked at the person in question. Ren who was in front of her was smiling boldly, even in the face of an opponent many times stronger than him Ren didn''t falter. Instead, he looked like a kid eyeing a new toy he wants to y with.


    ...


    Alfred looked at Ren a bit wary of the young man. Though his mana outsses Ren''s in quantity, Ren''s mana was of better quality. The mana emanating from him looked like it wanted to devour everything in its path.


    "They say the flow of mana within oneself could show what a person truly is inside. For example the mana flow of thatdy over there." Alfred pointed at Lara.


    "Her mana flow is icy cold, but deep within there is a fire burning ever so brightly. Then there is her thedy with a shield. Her mana flow is steady and fierce, this is usually how mana flows for true knights. Then finally there is you, the one who looks like the leader of the group. Your mana flow is overwhelming it looks like it wants to devour all. How truly fascinating..."


    Hilda who was shocked by Alfred''s presence was now facing him without fear. If their group kept on being silent, the idiot would most probably ask for a duel with Alfred or something simrly stupid.


    ''The first thing we need to do is gather information.'' As Hilda thought of this she looked at the masked man and spoke.


    "So Alfred can I ask you a question?" Hilda spoke as politely as she could, which made Alfred chuckle.


    "What is your question youngdy?" Hilda hearing Alfred''s reply almost sighed in relief but was able to hold herself back. She looked at Ren who looked like he was calmly watching the exchange between the two, but if you look more closely you would see his hands trembling. It was obvious he was itching for a fight. Hilda needed to quicken this conversation before Ren couldn''t take it anymore and attack.


    "What have you done with the vigers?" The moment Hilda asked this question Alfredughed.


    "I was waiting for you to ask that." The man moved forward closing in on the three, once he was in a morefortable distance he continued his answer.


    "It was an experiment I was trying to revive them."


    "Revive?... You wanted to resurrect them?" Hilda questioned, while Ren hearing the term revive tensed up a bit.


    "Yes I did and in a way, I seeded."


    "Then what about the bodies that we saw? Who are those people?"


    "Those are the original bodies of the vigers."


    "Huh?" The three adventurers were confused by this statement. Seeing the confused faces of the three Alfred answered in a more detailed way.


    "You see I have killed the vigers of this ce for an experiment. Once I was done killing them, I tried to raise them from the dead. Of course, when I did so, they turned into nothing more than walking corpses which was not a true resurrection. With this failure, I tried other means to resurrect them, but at that point, some of the bodies couldn''t handle it and were destroyed."


    Hearing this part of the exnation made Hilda''s blood boil. She could already guess what kind of monster was behind that mask. Still, Hilda did nothing and continued to listen to Alfred''s exnation.


    "Knowing that the bodies were weaker than expected I created newer stronger bodies, a replica of how the vigers looked. At this point, you might think that if I changed the bodies then it won''t be a true resurrection. Well, that''s what I thought as well, that was at the beginning. I was about ready to proim this experiment as a failure, but then an idea came to me. The reason I couldn''t revive these people properly was that even if I can recreate their bodies perfectly I couldn''t bring back their souls, making them into mindless undead."


    "So I decided to summon devils to possess the bodies I created. Then wouldn''t that be a different person? That''s what you''re thinking right? Well, let me answer that question with a question. What makes a person with the exact same bodily features different from a person with the same features? The answer was their memories! I extracted the memories of the dead vigers and ced them into the new bodies. The result is as you see before you."


    What Alfred was saying was outrageous. The idea of making a new human body from scratch was sphemous and inhumane since the materials needed to make a human body came from living humans. Seeing as this vige had at least forty people, that would mean Alfred had not only killed the vigers but everyone that had visited the ce.


    Also, the fact that Alfred was able to make undead meant he has dealt with forbidden arts and was most probably a necromancer. The rage Hilda felt was overwhelming, at this moment she remembered Darius which only made her even angrier.


    Lara as well who only understood a part of the exnation was angry. Though her face remained ever stoic, the killing intent she emitted was on the rise.


    Alfred not caring about the reactions of the two girls continued his monologue.


    "I thought my experiment was a sess but unfortunately the new vigers, still had characteristics of wild devils. They were no longer human, and as you can see they don''t have any free will either. It was a failure once again, but now I''m so much closer to achieving true resurrection. Isn''t that wonderful, I''m about to achieve something only those hateful Gods could aplish!"


    "For what reason do you do this?" Ren who was quiet all this time spoke in a chilly voice. This shocked both Lara and Hilda. The usual excitement Ren exhibits before the battle was now gone. They couldn''t understand what was happening to Ren, but they knew it wasn''t anything good.


    "What reason?... Truthfully I can no longer remember the reason... But it was most probably because I only wish to see the depths of magic." The moment Alfred said this, something burst forth and hit him. The force of the attack was blocked mostly by his [magic barrier] but a bit of it prated and was able to damage his mask.


    The mask Alfred was wearing broke, and the face that was shown was nothing more than a skull. As Hilda suspected Alfred was a Lich, but not just any Lich, based on the quality of his magic and his skull that had not a single speck of flesh on it. Hilda was sure Alfred was an Elder Lich, a higher form of Lich. An Elder Lich was a human who turned into a Lich for more than a few hundred years and survived.


    Alfred who has his masked brokenughed at his opponent. No one was sure why, but they felt like at this moment Alfred was smiling, even though you cannot tell since his face was nothing more than a skull.


    "What a very aggressive reply, did I perhaps hit a nerve? Well no matter, it seems like our talk is over. It was nice that I was able-" Alfred wasn''t even able to finish what he said when Ren holding his scythe appeared in front of him with a speed that couldn''t be seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye and shed down at him.


    The [magic barrier] that surrounded Alfred was cracking. Seeing this Alfred pointed his palm at Ren. "[Piercing ice.]" A meter long icicle appeared and darted towards Ren who retreated backward.


    "My what an impatient guest you are." Alfred signaled the fake vigers to attack.

 Chapter 51 - Ren’s Rage

    <h4>Chapter 51 - Ren''s Rage</h4>


    The moment Alfred signaled the vigers to attack, Hilda and Lara joined in the battle as well. The two girls blocked the iing attacks of the vigers. The two went into the same formation they used back in the Dungeon. Hilda as the vanguard and Lara as the support.


    "Ren don''t worry about us here. We will deal with the vigers, you go ahead and kill that monster!" Hilda shouted at Ren, who didn''t hear it since all his focus at the moment was on Alfred.


    ...


    Ren charged forward towards Alfred ignoring the swarming vigers. Ren proceeded to use [air step] intermediate level wind magic, that allowed the user to walk on air. It hardens the surrounding air into something like a stepping stone, allowing the user to walk on it as if onnd.


    Ren used this magic to bypass the vigers and head straight towards Alfred. Seeing Ren using [air step] surprised Alfred since he had thought Ren was a pure fighter type, who only used mana to enhance his physical abilities.


    "[Icicle barrage]" Seeing the approaching Ren, Alfred greeted him with an ice spell. six to eight pieces of sharpened floating ice appeared above Alfred and with a flick of his wrist, the six spears of ice headed towards Ren.


    Ren who saw the approaching ice spears dodged some and the others that he couldn''t he sliced with his scythe. Ren at the moment was deadly quiet as he rushed towards Alfred. This was really different from his usual excited nature when fighting strong opponents.


    Ren was angered because of what Alfred said about the vigers. Their deaths and the numerous experiments done to them after were done all for the sake of curiosity. There was no grand goal at mind, Alfred simply did it cause he can. Every time Ren thinks that what if these vigers where the people of his own vige, what would he feel then?


    Once he thought about his mother dying for a reason Alfred stated made his blood boil. If this were the past him, back when he was a demon lord he wouldn''t be so angry. Since demons of his era were thought that the weak die and the strong take all.


    Yet now that he was human, and had been brought up by human parents. He had new multitude of feelings that he couldn''t control. Ren already understood this, but he wasn''t expecting this kind of raging emotion. Most of all he didn''t expect to care so much about total strangers that had nothing to do with him. At this moment he couldn''t even hear Silika''s voice who wasmunicating with him in his mind.


    ...


    As Ren kept on attacking Alfred, he was at the same time trying to control his raging emotions. Alfred, on the other hand, was surprised by Ren''s way of fighting, though the weapon he was using was quite interesting as well, yet Ren''s fighting style was even more interesting.


    Alfred had lived for a very long time, including the time when he was still human could be counted in the hundreds. He has met many people and saw many fighting styles from different countries over the centuries but none were like Ren''s.


    Even though he was consumed by anger Alfred could still see the distinct precise fighting style of Ren that was made for efficient killing. How could a boy who looks no older than sixteen years old, be so skillful?


    Well, it doesn''t matter now, as long as Alfred is able to kill Ren he could easily know the answer to his question if he extracts Ren''s memories.


    "[Shadow bind]" Alfred used an advanced level darkness magic. A circr shadow appeared below Ren and was about to bind him, but before it could do so Ren jumped upwards. The shadow that was underneath Ren then sprouted chains made from the shadow and was trying to capture Ren.


    Seeing this Ren swung his scythe cutting the chains apart. He thennded on the ground and breathed in and out, calming himself down. Ren who had finally calmed down took a stance. He held the scythe with his right hand on top and his left on the bottom. The de of the scythe was pointing behind Ren, as his left foot was in front pointing forward, his right foot supporting his weight from the back. The six sword like needles floating above his head, Ren''s then concentrated his raging mana inside of him.


    Once he was calm enough Ren spoke to Alfred who looked at him curiously.


    "Sorry about that, showing you such an unsightly battle."


    "Oh, your demeanor changed... Don''t worry child I won''t fault you for your actions."


    Hearing what Alfred said made Ren snicker, a being that was less than a thousand years old was calling him a child, how funny. Still seeing as in this form he was a child, Ren didn''t bother much about this statement.


    "Now that I''m back in the game, how about we start the real battle!" Ren then showed his vicious smile, the same smile he showed back in his own world when he gets excited about a battle. Feeling the sudden change in Ren''s mana flow, Alfred strengthened his [magic barrier].


    "Very well childe at me."


    As if that was the signal, Ren pointed his left index finger at Alfred. "[Dark Curtain}" Ren used darkness magic that covers the enemy with artificial darkness. This spell was meant to be used to blind the opponent. Still, Alfred was also a master of Darkness magic, so he knew how to counter this spell. He used a burst of mana to scatter the darkness away.


    When his vision was restored he couldn''t spot Ren. His barrier was then broken and he was hit from behind. Alfred was kicked by Ren and was pushed into a wall. The wall Alfred hit was smashed a bit. Ren didn''t let up and was about to do a follow-up attack but Alfred countered.


    "[Bone Wall]" Alfred used a necromancer spell and summoned a wall made out of human bones. Ren was able to demolish this wall, but it gave Alfred enough time to stabilize himself and used another spell.


    "[Summon Undead]" Two undead with tower shields were summoned, blocking Ren''s path.


    "[Earth Pierce]" Ren used another spell to counter, two earthen spikes came out of the ground and pierced the two undead shield and all. Ren was nowing down on Alfred his scythe raised above his head. He shed downward at Alfred, unlike the attack before this one attack easily destroyed Alfred''s [magic barrier] and was about to strike Alfred himself, but before it could do so Alfred was able to dodge to the side.


    "[Bone Lance]" Alfred summoned ance made out of bones and threw it at Ren who was still in mid-air. Ren seeing the iing attack, used [air step] and was able to haphazardly evade. Ren whonded on the ground a bit of bnce stabilized himself before getting into a stance.


    After that quick exchange of attacks, the two could already understand the ability of the other. They knew that the opponent they were facing still had an ace or two up their sleeves. This made one of them even more cautious, while the other was extremely excited.


    "Now that the warm-up is done. How about we get to the real thing." Ren said so in a domineering manner.

 Chapter 52 - End of the Battle

    <h4>Chapter 52 - End of the Battle</h4>


    Hilda and Lara were able to hold off the fake vigers as Ren was fighting the Elder Lich. The fight against the fake vigers wasn''t as hard as the two girls expected. The fake vigers were indeed stronger and faster than some monsters, but they acted on instinct with no thought whatsoever. Their movements were predictable and they had no battle skill. Overall they were nothing but a pack of wild animals.


    Though it was easy to predict their movements to evade and counterattack, it was hard to kill the fake vigers. Seeing as their endurance and regenerative abilities were top ss. If you aren''t able to blow their heads off in one shot, they will still regenerate. Even if you cut off their heads and it separates from their bodies they could still regenerate somehow. The only way to kill thempletely is smashing the whole head or to make it explode.


    Among the two girls only Lara has the ability to do that, so while she was concentrating on gathering mana and using intermediate level spells from the back, Hilda protected her.


    ...


    While the two girls were nearing the end of their battle. Ren and Alfred''s battle was also reaching its climax. The six sword like needles pierced into Ren''s right arm sucking in blood. Alfred who saw this was surprised, a weapon that needs the owner''s blood to function was something he has never seen before. Yet what surprised him even more, was what happened next.


    Ren was suddenly being surrounded by ck mana and this mana formed into something like a ck cloak with a hood. When Alfred saw this ck mana surrounding Ren, he quickly understood what it was seeing as he too was using the same kind of mana. This was Death energy, yet unlike Alfred''s, the Death energy surrounding Ren was of a much purer quality. It was like Ren was the personification of Death itself. Well that''s what it felt like but of course Ren was still far from controlling this energy adequeatly.


    "I see so the weapon you are using is from a God of Death. I wonder which one bestowed you with its weapon..." Ren didn''t bother to respond, which made Alfred chuckle.


    "It doesn''t matter as long as I win, I will have all the answers. [Mass summon undead] my subjects protect me." Alfred used arger amount of mana to summon a dozen undead to protect him, this time the summons were of a much higher quality than thest. Half of the undead were fully equipped warriors and the other half were archers.


    "Icy frost that makes the bones tremble, shivering cold that makes the soul quiver-" Alfred then started to chant, this was a Master level spell. If Ren allowed Alfred to finish his spell, he was sure that the he, Lara, and Hilda, the three of them will die.


    Seeing this Ren was about to ask Silika something, but as if anticipating his question, Silika answered before he could ask anything.


    ''Master even if I suck your blood dry, at our current state we won''t be able to face that spell head on. The best I can do right now is either to strengthen the mana of death surrounding you to somehow endure the spell, or to teleport you above ground and if you want to save the two girls you need to be beside them before teleporting.''


    Hearing Silika''s advice Ren still decided to continue the fight and used [boost] and [enhance] as he charged forward. The undead Alfred summoned obviously blocked his path. Ren shed at them, as he was about to slice through all the five warrior undead Alfred Summoned, the undead archers fired arrows at him. Ren seeing as there was no time to even make a pseudo [magic barrier], or evade Ren decided to take the hit as he sliced through all the undead warriors.


    An arrow had pierced through the mana surrounding him and got stuck on his shoulder, and another one was stuck at the left side of his chest. Ren had no time to be bothered by this as he went onward and destroyed the remaining undead summons.


    When Ren was done, he heard Alfred''s chant was nearing its end. He now had three paths avable to him. The first path was that he defends himself from the iing spell and after he endures it, Alfred who has used up a lot of mana and will not be expecting him to survive could be easily ambushed.


    The second path was that he rushes towards his twopanions and retreat from battle. The final path would be Ren would risk it all and attack Alfred. It would either end with Ren killing Alfred before he activates the spell or Ren and hispanions dying to Alfred''s spell.


    If this was the former Ren he who would have risked it all and attacked Alfred. Yet the moment he thought of this, the faces of his parents, Valdel, Lara, Lisa, and even Hilda came into mind. Ren even remembered that promise he made with Valdel that only he knows.


    ...


    Alfred was finally done with gathering mana, and finishing the spell words, he then activated his spell. "[Cocytus]" once Alfred activated his spell, the whole underground area was suddenly covered in thick ice. Afterward, the whole area was filled with piercing icicles from below and above, the only safe spot was were Alfred was standing.


    Everything underground at the moment the spell activated was either dead or sealed in ice. Alfred surveyed the area and saw no trace of Ren and hispanions.


    "So they escaped, how unexpected... I really wanted to know the boy''s origin, as well as the origin of the weapon he was using, but..." Alfred felt the amount of mana he had at the moment was minuscule. If Ren decided toe back and finish him off, it would be as easy as killing an ant.


    ''I''m sure he and I will be able to meet again. For now, I need to escape and regather the mana I lost today.'' After thinking this Alfred left the underground tunnels.

 Chapter 53 - Two days after the battle

    <h4>Chapter 53 - Two days after the battle</h4>


    Two days have passed since Ren and his group reported about the elder lich Alfred. When Nezzard heard Hilda''s report on the situation, he felt his head hurt. The situation with the vigers was bad enough, but the news about an Elder Lich appearing in this area where one of the three knight schools of the kingdom was located wasn''t really something he wanted to hear.


    ...


    An Elder Lich was a powerful being. Usually, a Lich was a powerful human magician that wanted immortality or when a necromancer bes too powerful. Then there''s the Elder Lich this is a more powerful version of the Lich. To be an Elder Lich a Lich needs to survive for a hundred years to gather enough mana and supposedly be one with death.


    Usually to subjugate an Elder Lich you need at least two S rank fighters, five A rank parties, and several B rank parties to surround the area of battle. The reason you needed this much to safely subjugate one Elder Lich was because of its ability to summon undead.


    Unlike normal necromancers, the Elder Lich doesn''t need anyplicated rituals and can instantly summon undead beings as long as it has the mana to do so.


    ...


    Nezzard first needed to gather information about any powerful magician by the name of Alfred in the past hundred years. Then he needed to call in a favor from the adventurers guild in the neighboring city to help subjugate the Elder Lich. He also needed to send an experienced scout to track the movement of the Elder Lich. He also needed to inform the principal of the knight academy about the situation, since if one of those glory-seeking young noble knights hear about this news they might be stupid enough to find the Elder Lich and try to kill it themselves, aside from those things Nezzard needed to do a ton of other stuff as well.


    ''Damn that guy! I thought that my job will be a bit easier if he became an adventurer, but instead, it got even harder.'' Nezzard started cursing at Ren in his head as he started writing a letter.


    ...


    After the battle was done and they reported their findings to the Guild Master, Ren told Lara and Hilda to do some quests by themselves. He exined that he needed time to think. He even requested Lara not to go into the room, and just sleep with Hilda for a while.


    It has been two days and not once did he leave his room. He simply stayed in the room thinking about the recent events.


    Ren realized that he thought he had epted being human, but in truth every now and then he still thinks that he was still Demon Lord Kretos the strongest Demon Lord. He still fought as if he was on the top of the food chain, but he wasn''t.


    At the moment he was still a growing human boy in his teens. His mana flow and his physical body haven''t even fully matured yet. Not only that he was also dealing with a lot of overflowing emotions. Being a human child and demon child was a totally different experience.


    He was too invested in his emotions as he fought, back in his previous life the only emotion he had when fighting was excitement. Yet now when he fights he felt a multitude of emotions, yes he still does feel the excitement, but at the same time, he feels fear and anger.


    These feelings that he was having during a fight only slows him down, but he didn''t know how to control them properly. At first, he thought as long as he satisfies his urges he would be able to control his emotions better, but it wasn''t as effective as he thought it would be.


    Overall the main problem was he was weak. He needed to get stronger, if he was stronger it doesn''t matter if he felt a lot of things during a fight he would still win. Actually, if he was stronger maybe he might not feel fear and anger anymore.


    Ren smiled as he thought of something. ''Humans and their emotions, it''s their weakness as well as their strength. I wonder what kind of emotions those heroes had when they faced me.''


    ...


    As Ren was deciding what to do next to get stronger, Valdel, Lara, and Hilda were talking in the pub.


    "I see, so Ren lost..." Valdel was shocked as he heard Hilda exining what happened during their first quest. His best friend that he always thought was invincible actually lost a battle.


    "It was my fault." Lara couldn''t ept the idea of Ren losing. In her mind, if she and Hilda weren''t there Ren would''ve done something to win. The only reason he retreated was because of the two of them.


    Hilda who came to understand some of Ren''s peculiarities knew that if he was by himself he would have never retreated. The mood in their table suddenly became a bit depressing. It was at that moment they heard a familiar voice.


    "Good you''re all together, this saves me the time." The three of them looked at the direction the voice came from, and as expected there was Ren waving at them with his usual smile.


    Seeing Ren go out of his room after two days staying in there, Lara couldn''t hold it in anymore and charged at Ren hugging him. Even in this situation, her face remained stoic, but her actions conveyed what she truly felt. Valdel stood up as well and approached Ren patting his shoulders.


    "It''s alright buddy, one loss isn''t the end of the world. You can still get back at that monster, next time I''ll be there to help."


    Hilda looked at Ren pleasantly surprise. She wasn''t sure if he was eating or drinking inside his room. She was a bit worried about him since no one saw him go out of the room to eat. So seeing him alive and looking very healthy made her feel like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.


    Ren standing there stunned while being hugged, was surprised by everyone''s reactions. "I don''t get it but it''s alright Lara. Also, Val, I know that losing one time is not the end of the world. You talk like I -" Ren didn''t finish that sentence since he remembered that this was his actual first loss ever sinceing to this world. So instead he changed the topic and told the people present what he wanted to say.


    "So I just wanted to tell you guys, I''m going Dungeon hunting by myself," Ren said this with a carefree smile on his face, unaware of the impact this news brought to Valdel, Lara, and Hilda.


    ...


    stair had gone around the whole town of Grenton but none, not even the lowliest of scum would take the job of attacking Ren and his group. This vexed stair and forced him to go to a nearby town were there too he was rejected.


    It would seem that information of what happened in Grenton''s underworld was passed to the nearby cities. They knew now of the dreadful existence known as Ren. They didn''t want to mess with him for the time being, the big wigs of each organization decided to strengthen the fort instead anticipating Ren''s arrival. They still needed to gather more power to prepare for the worst possible situation.


    Unaware of what was happening in the underworld, stair journeyed back to Grenton irritated that he couldn''t find anyone to do the job. Was he really going to just wait for his family to deal with this?


    While he was contemting what to do next, someone approached him. "I heard that you wanted someone dead."


    Hearing this made stair smile.

 Chapter 54 - A solo adventure

    <h4>Chapter 54 - A solo adventure</h4>


    When Ren was done exining what he nned to do, he handed a list of things to do to Lara. It was instructions on how the underworld will work. He even asked both Iselv and Kithra to send some men to Carto Vige, to protect and monitor it. He emphasized the protection of his parents and exined that if anything happens to the two especially his mother, then they should expect a harsh punishment.


    He also ordered Gregory and Kithra''s men to do some scouting of the big underground families of the nearby cities.


    After telling Lara what to do, he also told Valdel to be careful of the scheming nobles.


    "Not all battles are fought with swords, some of the more ruthless battles are fought in the darkness." When Ren said this he remembered his eldest son back in his old world. Unlike him, his son was a master of scheming and preferred to do things in the shadows. That skill of his eldest son was one of the reasons for his death in his previous life.


    "Don''t worry Ren, I''m not as naive as you make me out to be." Hearing Valdel''s response Ren chuckled.


    "We shall see... Sorry about this Hilda, I know we just formed this adventurer party, but I need to do this." Hilda looked at Ren and knew what he was thinking. It was obvious what he wanted to do, and she couldn''t fault him for that. Everyone has something they need to do, in order to keep what''s important to them.


    "It''s alright, you are the party leader so I will abide by your decision." Ren was surprised at how Hilda responded. He thought that she would be less understanding.


    "How surprising you aren''t lecturing me" Ren smiled.


    "I don''t lecture anyone if they don''t deserve it. I hope you remember that" Hilda pouted.


    "Sure will... Well anyway, I need to go and talk with Nezard about some things before leaving." As Ren was about to leave he felt somebody held his hand, stopping him from moving.


    "I''ll go with you." The one who held him back was none other than Lara.


    "I already told you, Lara, I need to go by myself. Also, don''t you have things to do as well?"


    "I''ll let Valdel do that. Let me go with you." Lara once again asserted. Lara''s action surprised the other three since this was the first time Lara went against what Ren wanted and asserted what she wanted.


    Ren knew what the girl was feeling and found it adorable as he gently hugged his lover/childhood friend.


    "Don''t worry Lara, I''ll alwayse back to you. No matter where I go and how many more women I get, I will alwayse back to you."


    Lara was touched to hear the first part of what Ren said, but thest part made her frown. Still, she knew that forcing what she wanted might hinder Ren''s growth so she decided to stay behind albeit reluctantly.


    Seeing Lara finally let go of him, Ren kissed her forehead and left the premise.


    ...


    Ren went to the Guild Master''s room and asked for information about a nearby dungeon that hasn''t been conquered yet. Nezzard seeing the guy that made his work harder, demanding for information made him a bit irritated. Still, the main job of adventurers was to destroy dungeons so it might be good that Ren wanted to do this.


    Nezzard gave Ren a map and told him the nearest Dungeon was in the forest of mist that was located east of the town. The reason why this Dungeon hasn''t been conquered yet is because no one could find it, since the forest of mist was infested by different kinds of monsters, from Treants to ghostly figures. Not only that it said the forest does something to people that wander in, making them unable to get out.


    Of course, there are many theories about why this is happening, but no one could prove which one was true. Due to all theseplications as well as the reason that the monster inside the forest does not leave the forest, no adventurer bothered to seek the dungeon.


    Still, Nezzard figured based on what Hilda reported about Ren''s personality he would like the challenge. As he expected Ren happily took the map and left the room.


    ...


    Once Ren was done getting supplies he headed out of town to go to the forest of mist. Ren who had traveled quite a distance from town stopped walking.


    "Hey, I know you people have been following me since I left town. How about showing yourselves? See there''s no one here to bother us."


    When Ren said this a bunch of people came down from atop the trees. There were exactly thirteen men surrounding him. Eleven were visible and two were still hiding in the shadows. Ren smirked at theughable way the two concealed themselves. They think that they had him fooled, but if their level of stealth wasn''t the same as Gregory then he could easily spot them.


    Not to mention he had Silika who had better senses than him.


    "You are as good as he said you would be." One of the men spoke to Ren. He and hispanions were wearing something simr to a robe, but looser. Their weapons were expertly concealed within their garments, but Ren with his superior senses could steel hear the nking of steel in their robes.


    "So what do you want?" The men surrounding him were thinking that Ren was either crazy or stupid. He was still acting like they were just here for a chat.


    "Isn''t it obvious we''re here to kill you. If you want to me someone, me your own stupidity for messing with someone you shouldn''t have."


    "Oh, I see you''re here to kill me... I thought it was something else, well thene on bring it then. I don''t have all day, I need to reach the forest of mist before sundown so can we get this started already."


    The thirteen men were surprised at how Ren reacted when the leader of the group said they wanted to kill him. The nonchnt reaction made them stand in position stunned.

 Chapter 55 - Training

    <h4>Chapter 55 - Training</h4>


    The leader of the thirteen men was dumbfounded at how nonchnt Ren was being. This was then followed by rage. The leader pulled out a sword that was hidden at the back of his clothes. It was a pretty sturdy short sword, which he pointed at Ren. The others also took out their weapons and surrounded Ren.


    Seeing that he was being surrounded Ren smiled his vicious smile and took a branch from a nearby tree. He then suppressed his mana to the utmost limit and only focused a bit of mana to the branch so it won''t break. Once he was ready he took a stance. The thirteen men surrounding him felt like they were being smacked in their faces.


    What was this? Was he making fun of them? He thinks that a tree branch is enough to fend them off. The thirteen men couldn''t take it anymore and attacked Ren.


    The first thing they did was throw some knives at him. Ren using the branch he was holding deflected all the iing knives. Aside from using his mana to enhance the branch Ren didn''t use it on anything else. So right now Ren was just using his actual physical strength to react and deflect the iing knives.


    Seeing Ren masterfully deflect the knives, the men weren''t surprised since stair an advanced Rank swordsman was easily defeated by him. Ren''s estimated strength was at Master rank nearing Saint rank. Those knives that they threw serve another purpose, there were some strings attached to them, so the men pulled on the strings and tried to bind Ren.


    Of course, Ren already noticed the strings and when he saw the men pulled on them, he quickly shed downwards cutting the strings apart. The men were shocked to see this, since those strings were made from the web of the sand spider an A rank monster. It is said that their webs were stronger than steel. Now they saw someone actually cut them using a tree branch that wasn''t even sharp. This scene wasn''t something their mind couldprehend.


    Still, they already started the fight so they must end it. No matter how strong Ren was he was still only one person as long as they cooperate properly and attack him together then they would still be able to overwhelm him and win. Well, that''s what they believe.


    Ren heard something heading his way and using the tree branch he deflected it. The thing that came was an arrow covered with poison. It seems like the two hidden people couldn''t wait anymore and started attacking him with arrows.


    Ren who was able to deflect all the iings attack without the use of mana felt bored. This wasn''t even good as a warm-up, these people that came to take his life didn''t even have one magician.


    Whoever sent them to kill him had underestimated him too much. Ren then decided to close his eyes and simply feel the movements of his opponents. He sharpened his senses and continued to deflect all attacks while his eyes were closed.


    ...


    After a few seconds of attacking Ren, the thirteen men finally noticed what was happening. Ren had closed his eyes and not only that he hasn''t moved from the spot he was standing on since the beginning. He hasn''t even attack them yet he only did it once and that was to cut the strings attached to the knives. Aside from that time all Ren has done was deflect their attacks.


    It was at this moment, they knew what kind of monster they actually provoked. To him, they weren''t even opponents to take seriously. So that''s why he was so nonchnt about being targeted.


    The thirteen men decided to flee while they have a chance. It doesn''t matter if they won''t be able to kill Ren now, as long as they have there lives they can try again, with a better n.


    "Huh? Where do you think you guys are going?" The moment they heard Ren said this, they felt a suffocating killing intent directed at them. It was at this moment they truly understood how much Ren was holding back against them.


    This soul-shaking killing intent was enough to stop their movements. The thirteen were gritting their teeth as they tried to make their legs move. They then heard the agonizing scream of two of theirpanions.


    They looked behind them and saw that the who hid themselves atop the trees were burnt into charcoal. Ren had used a [fireball] spell at the two.


    Ren then sighed as he spoke to the remaining eleven. "I didn''t want to use magic for this whole bout, but you guys were fleeing so I had no choice. So now I''m going to give you guys two choices. Choice number one you flee and I will kill you or you stay and fight me until the end. Decide now, how do you guys want to die? Shamefully or with honor."


    Once Ren was done speaking, the eleven remaining men looked at each other, and as if they were talking telephonically, they all decided to run in different directions. Ren who saw the eleven men fleeing once again sighed.


    "Shamefully it is." The moment they heard Ren say this, the felt a gust of wind pass them by. In the next second, they saw Ren was already right in front of them. Seeing this they were about to run in a different direction.


    "You guys weren''t even good enough to be my training dummies." These were thest words the men heard, as they lost consciousness.


    ...


    Somehow the leader of the group was spared as he watched the heads of hispanions fly off their heads. A rain of blood fell down from the sky as he saw the monster who did this slowly approach him with a smile on his face.


    "So tell me, who is it that ordered you to kill me? I want to personally express my gratitude for sending me some training dummies, but I need to give aint as well since the training dummies weren''t even good enough to give me a warm-up."

 Chapter 56 - Assassination Group

    <h4>Chapter 56 - Assassination Group</h4>


    Ren who was smiling ever so brightly looked like a ferocious devil in the eyes of the leader of the assassination group that attacked. His whole body trembled as he faced Ren. He could only think that this man in front of him could kill him with using nothing but his finger. So he answered the question looking as honest as he possibly can.


    "It was a kid from the Saulon family, called stair. He wanted to get back at you for shaming him in front of all the other young nobles."


    ''Oh, so it''s that kid that I trampled a while back. Couldn''t take me down, so he asked someone else to do it. How pathetic...'' While Ren was thinking about how useless stair was he suddenly had a thought.


    "Hey, am I the only one that fool asked to be killed?"


    "No, he gave us two more targets a guy named Valdel and a girl named Lara." The leader of the group of assassins quickly confessed since there was no point in keeping this information a secret. He thought that if he gave even more information he might actually live.


    "I see... So did you send some men to attack them now, or are the guys you brought with you all the men you have?" The leader shook his head.


    "No, there are others that are waiting for their chance to strike."


    "Are the men aiming for my friends stronger than the ones that you brought?"


    "For the girl called Lara, the ones attacking her are weaker. While the ones attacking the guy Valdel are the elite of our group, even the boss joined that group and went to kill him. Seeing as he is a Master Rank swordsman and also attending the knight academy of Grenton, the boss decided that he was the hardest to deal with, so he went to kill Valdel himself."


    Ren was a bit insulted that these people thought he was weaker than Valdel. Well he hasn''t actually been ranked in swordsmanship or in magic and a B rank isn''t really as good as a Master rank swordsman, so maybe he didn''t need to feel insulted.


    "How strong is your boss?"


    "He''s an intermediate level mage and an advanced rank swordsman." When Ren heard this he was disappointed that the boss of this group didn''t head for him. If he did he might have gotten a better warm-up session. Well, nothing he can do about it now.


    "Ok then thank you for your cooperation." After saying this Ren turned around and left. He was in a hurry since he used up too much time ying around with these weaklings. When the man who led the assassination group saw Ren leaving he was about to sigh in relief.


    Yet before he was able to do that, he saw the world suddenly turned sideways, and now he was able to see his body that had no head. Those were thest things he saw before he died. Ren had cleanly cut his head off without him noticing.


    Ren went straight to the forest of mist not worrying about Lara or Valdel. Since the people that went after Lara were the weakest he wasn''t really worried for her, she even has Hilda to help her. Valdel, on the other hand, was on his own and was facing an above average opponent, that has allies and would most probably use dirty tactics. Still, if he couldn''t even deal with that level of opponents then he should stop dreaming of bing the strongest hero.


    The actual thing that made Ren a bit worried was the Saulon Family, based on how stair went and hired assassins to deal with him, Ren knew that the Saulon Family wasn''t an honorable noble family.


    It was obvious that stair would report the humiliating defeat he received from Ren. He would most probably alsoin about Valdel being amoner attending the same school as him. At this moment Ren wasn''t as strong as he thought he was, and he has no clue on how strong the Saulon family was.


    But based on the information he gathered some time ago, families with a rank of Earl and higher usually have someone as strong as an S rank adventurer or even stronger protecting them. Not only that they even have a personal army that they control. At Ren''s current abilities even with Silika, he could barely beat an S rank adventurer much less someone stronger than that.


    So he needed to get stronger faster, and the only way to do that at this moment is to get more of those Dungeon Cores, the heart of a young Dragon.


    ...


    As Ren was heading towards the forest of mist, Lara who was in a back alley with Hilda has just finished shooting down the final assassin from the roof. She quickly noticed that she was being followed and without hesitation shot at the people hiding on the rooftops.


    She didn''t who they were and what they wanted, but the moment they directed killing intent her way was the moment they signed their death sentence. Ren had always told her, it doesn''t matter if it looks like a child, or if it''s a pregnantdy, or even an old man, as long as the person directs killing intent your way kill them.


    She didn''t even leave one person alive for questioning. Hilda who was with her wasn''t able to stop Lara from killing all the assassins. She wanted to question them but you can''t question a corpse.


    ...


    Valdel who was doing his usual training outside of the city in the ce where he and Ren did some sparring, was currently fighting a middle-aged man who was attacking him with advanced level spells. Surrounding them were half dead men that Valdel quickly incapacitated before fighting one on one with the middle-aged man.


    From the distance, stair was watching. He couldn''t believe that amoner such as Valdel would be this strong. What surprised him even more, was the sword he was wielding was able to actually absorb the spell. After a few more blows without magic being of any use, the middle-aged man was also defeated.


    stair who saw what happened felt frustrated. Why was amoner such as him so strong?... When stair thought of this, he came up with his own answer. It must be the weapon he was wielding, the weapon that can absorb magic.


    ''How does amoner such as him even have such a weapon? He most probably stole it. Not only did the Principal ept amoner as a student but a thief as well... Enjoy this victory you have today filthymoner, but I will expose to everyone how filthy you truly are.''


    After eyeing Valdel''s Zweihander with greed, stair left the scene.

 Chapter 57 - A story

    <h4>Chapter 57 - A story</h4>


    Ren kept on going without stopping but as he expected the dy in killing those guys made it impossible to reach the forest before nightfall. While he was running he kept on thinking that the way he used that branch as a makeshift sword made him feel rusty. His swordsmanship that was once in the top five of his generation, turned into something so weak. If it was before, he could have defeated those guys with the branch, even without using his mana to strengthen the branch.


    Not only did his strength reduced to almost nothing, but even his technique also turned rusty. Well, that''s why he decided to train by himself for a while. As he was thinking this, Ren stopped since it was about to be nightfall.


    He looked around and saw that at the moment he was in an open in, which made him an easy target for monsters. He won''t be able to sleep as he needed to be wary of the monster or bandits that lurk in the area.


    This was another thing he hated about his new human body, it needed to sleep after a few hours of staying awake. His past body was sturdier even as a child a demon''s body could go on without sleep, water, and food for at least two days straight. Now the human body especially this young one has difficultysting even one day without those three things.


    Ren saw the sun was about to set, and as he checked his map he still had some distance to travel. Based on the map given to him by Nezard he was at Autire ins. Ren sighed as he once again surveys the area.


    There doesn''t seem to be any strong monsters nearby. Still, you never know what might happen outside aside from when he is doing it with Lara, Ren is at his weakest when he sleeps.


    "[Earth Wall]" Ren surrounded himself with a wall of earth. After which Ren conjured a ball of fire that hovered above him. This ball of fire consumes mana as long as it stays summoned, but Ren has a huge amount of mana for someone his age. Also if he doesn''t keep this ball of fire going, he might die in the cold.


    "Hey, Silika why haven''t you been talking to me?" When he felt a bit safer Ren spoke.


    "Well, I thought that Master needed some alone time, to be with his thoughts."


    "I see... Hey, Silika I wanted to ask you this for quite some time now. Seeing as we are alone I guess this is the best time to ask." When Ren said this, Silika manifested herself in her human form.


    "What is it you want to ask Master." Silika was still wearing her veil, but Ren somehow felt like he could see her smiling.


    "You once said that our souls are connected by the contract, am I right?"


    "Yes." Before Ren asked what he wanted to ask, he observed Silika for a few seconds and sighed.


    "Hey Silika, how much do you truly know about me?"


    "I know quite a bit."


    "How much is quite a bit?"


    "Well, I know when you peed in your bed. I know that you almost assaulted Lisa because of rising lust. I know that the moment you learned wind magic, you tried to fly and failed miserably."


    While Ren was listening to Silika, he felt a bit relieved that she only knows about his memories of the current him as a human, but then she giggled.


    "Of course those aren''t the things you wanted to hear. I know Ren, I know you are the Demon Lord Kretos in your past life. I know that you still have your memories intact."


    Ren already knew that it was possible, and he was expecting it, but actually hearing it from the other person''s mouth felt a bit different.


    "I see..." After learning Silika knew of his past, Ren started to open up to her. Since she was the only one who knew his secret. He didn''t like to tell the others since it wouldplicate matters, but with Silika it felt alright. Ren exined what he was currently feeling about his disappointment in his weakness, as well as the mindset that he was still the strongest Demon Lord.


    He exined to Silika that he didn''t know what to do with all these distractions and emotions he was having. This new human lifestyle was so different from what he knew for hundreds of years, so he found it difficult to cope with these new changes.


    He didn''t have these many feelings as he goes through battle. It made it feel impure like he was disrespecting the fight, with his hesitations and feelings.


    "This feeling, this confusion I''m going through all happened because of that battle with Alfred. If that was the old me, I wouldn''t have cared about Lara or Hilda. It was there decision to follow me there, and fight by my side. They knew that they could die, I told them they could die but they still went. Yet the moment when I needed to decide, instead of fighting until the end, I chose to run and save those girls. I am changing, I do not know if this is progress or just weakness... Heh, look at me telling my feelings to a spirit who seems to be no less than a few hundred years old. What have I be?..."


    "First off, I am older than you, even counting the time you were Demon Lord Kretos. I have existed for tens of thousands of years. So in my eyes, Demon Lord Kretos is nothing but a child."


    Ren chuckled at what Silika said.


    "Heh, I see... I''m a child huh..." The idea that someone in this world that wasn''t a God or a Dragon can actually call him a child was amusing.


    "Ren let me tell you a story of someone who was exactly like you, back when you were still Demon Lord Kretos. This person was called Leonard Tranor, his name might have faded in the annals of time, but he was once known as the strongest human to ever existed. He loved to battle, he felt excited as he faced stronger foes. Yet no matter who he faced, be it a Dragon, an invincible conqueror, or even a God, victory would always be his. Ever since he left his world, he had never gained a single defeat. Yet in the end, a human no matter how strong was still human. He had many problems in regards to his emotions as well."


    At this point in the story, Silika went silent for a while. Ren waited for her to continue since this story intrigued him. He felt amazed to know that a human actually fought Gods and won. This answered one of his questions before. He was right humans do have the capacity to y Gods.


    "Leonard as he battled on and on, he still felt excited but aside from that, there were other emotions he felt as he battled on. He felt a sense of responsibility for hispanions. He felt worried for the safety of his friends. He felt scared at the thought of them dying. You see, Leonard might be the strongest, but his friends weren''t. Don''t get me wrong his friends were strong too, but as I said Leonard''s enemies were Gods at this point. Yet no matter the difficulty Leonard never med his emotions for his weakness. He kept on fighting and kept on winning."


    "Even at his final battle where he died, he still won the battle. The enemy he fought died before him, making him the winner. Not only that he was even able to protect all his friends. You could say the reason for his victory was because at that point the battle was no longer just about the excitement he felt, but also for protecting his friends. He used his emotions to strengthen himself. I hope you think about that my Master."


    When Silika finished her story she went back in the tattoo at Ren''s right arm.


    "Emotions to strengthen oneself... Leonard Tranor... I see so even I''m still a greenhorn." Ren chuckled as hey down on the grass looking at the night sky filled with stars.

 Chapter 58 - Called by the king

    <h4>Chapter 58 - Called by the king</h4>


    Valdel who called some of the nearby town guards to pick up the men he recently beat up, was now at a room exining what had happened. After a brief talk with the guards, Valdel went back to school.


    He wondered who could possibly want to kill him. He hasn''t done anything wrong, and he never treated anyone aside from Hilda badly. Valdel was sure that Hilda wouldn''t hire some random assassins to kill him, if she wanted him dead, she would''ve attacked him herself.


    Then who else would want him dead, well he couldn''t do anything at the moment and he didn''t have the skill or resources to find out who wants him dead. There are Iselv and the others from the underworld, but Valdel didn''t like to ask those guys for help. So the only option he had left was to wait for Ren and tell him about it.


    He just needed to get stronger so no matter what kind of guy the person who wants him dead sends, he could still fight back.


    ''What do you think Zwei?''


    "I''ll follow whatever you think is right master."


    ''How about you Nika?''


    "I don''t really know, but if master thinks that''s the right thing to do, then it must be right."


    Valdel sighed no good came out of asking his two contracted weapons what to do next.


    ...


    When Valdel finally reached his dorm room, he felt a presence from the other side of the door, and it was not any of his new friends. It was someone else. Valdel readied Zwei and cautiously entered the room.


    The first thing he saw was a muscr man, standing in the middle of the room. He was wearing magic armor, and at his waist was a short sword on his back was a spear, and on his left hand a shield. He had a stern expression as he looked at Valdel. This was the very image of a knight Valdel had in his mind.


    "Master rank swordsman Valdel?" The muscr man asked, seeing that he was not an enemy Valdel ced Zwei onto his back.


    "Yes, who are you?"


    "I am Matthew Graypike a humble servant of the king."


    "Okay, so what do you want with me, Sir Matthew."


    "The king wishes to meet you the youngest Master rank swordsman. I already asked the Prinicipal, he has allowed you to take a leave of absence." Valdel was shocked to hear that the king wanted to see him, but looking at Matthew''s expression, it seems like he had no time to be shocked.


    "When do we leave?"


    "Right now."


    "Can I at least inform my friends where I''m going."


    "No, this meeting with the king, never happened. No one must know that you two met. So we''ll be saying that the Principal, let you train in a Dungeon with a Senior Knight."


    "I see, when do you think will be able toe back."


    "It takes a day to reach the capital, and you''ll be meeting the king tomorrow. So you''ll be able to return after three days."


    Hearing this Valdel scratched his head and sighed.


    ''Well if there were any problems, I''m sure Lara can handle it. If not I''m sure Ren would''ve thought of something and prepared ordingly.''


    "Very well then, Sir Matthew please lead the way." Matthew nodded in response and walked out of the room.


    ...


    While that was happening, stair had spread some news to the other young nobles of the school, about Valdel''s magical sword that could absorb spells. He even imed that this was the whole reason he was strong. The weapon might have enhanced his skills.


    Many of the young nobles, believed stair''s im, since that would exin whymoner such as Valdel was so strong. In this situation, they even believed that this was also the reason why Ren was strong. Maybe he too was hiding a powerful weapon, who''s to say that the girl he was with wasn''t hiding one as well.


    This rumor quickly spread throughout the school. More than seventy percent of the student poption believed in this rumor, while the others thought that it was a baseless rumor that stair spread because of jealousy. Either way, it was still a magic weapon, that could absorb spells. If it was the truth then this was something too big, that these young nobles couldn''t handle. So they immediately sent letters to the heads of their houses, to know what they should do next.


    When stair saw that everything was going as nned, he smiled sinisterly. No matter what happens in the end, it would be advantageous to him.


    Noel and gang who heard the rumors went to their dorm room, to learn the truth straight from Valdel''s mouth, but when they got there Valdel wasn''t present.


    Everyone in school was looking for the man of the hour, but none could find him. Someone then suggested that he must have fled since everyone now knows about his magical weapon, but then a teacher announced what actually happened.


    Valdel went to train in a Dungeon for the next three days. Hearing this piece of news, everyone felt a bit relieved that gave them time to hear what their noble houses think of this situation.


    ...


    Valdel unaware of the mess that has started because of him, was seating stiffly in front of Matthew inside a carriage.


    "No need to be so stiff kid, I won''t bite you."


    "I-I''m sorry about that Sir... It''s just that this is the first time, I have seen a full-fledged knight. I''ve been dreaming of bing one myself that''s why I attended the academy."


    "I see... Let me give you a piece of advise kid. Don''t be fooled by the stories, knighthood isn''t as honorable as you think it is." When Matthew said this, the inside of the carriage once again turned quiet. as Valdel started to think about what Matthew said.


    Seeing the kid in front of him thinking so seriously made Matthew sigh.


    ''Such a good and honest kid. I hope he stays the same, even if he learns the truth of what it means to be a knight.''

 Chapter 59 - Lara and the list

    <h4>Chapter 59 - Lara and the list</h4>


    Lara who had just killed all the assassins that came to kill her, took all their bodies, piled them up in one spot, and then burned them into ashes. Hilda just watched as Lara did her thing. Lara as usual showed no emotions as she killed, without mercy.


    "Why did you kill them all? You should''ve left one alive, so that we could''ve gotten some sort of information from them, or you could have left a body intact and we could have inspected it to see if we can get any clues."


    "It doesn''t matter, as long as they direct killing intent my way, I will kill them." Lara with her cold indifferent tone answered Hilda, who hearing what Lara said sighed. Unlike Ren who enjoyed fighting, Lara was a like a weapon who kills with nothing but efficiency in mind.


    The reason for this was back when they were young, Ren would bring Lara along as he looked for bandits that were near the vige. Of course he would kill them all without mercy, and he thought Lara to do so as well. He brought Valdel sometimes as well, but he had more difficulty taking a human life than Lara. Also he had difficulty killing things that had a humanoid shape, or a monster that could talk and has intelligence.


    With that kind of training both Lara and Valdel had strengthen their tolerance to killing another human being. Especially Lara who practically has a scary level of trust in whatever Ren says.


    Hilda looked at Lara''s emotionless eyes, and sighed once more. Still unlike a few days ago, at least now Lara was actually having a conversation with Hilda, instead of just nodding or shaking her head.


    "So what will you do now?"


    "I''m going to do the things written on this list." Lara pointed at the list Ren gave her.


    "I see do you need my help?"


    "No." After saying this, Lara immediately jumped onto a nearby roof and left Hilda.


    Hilda looked at the fading figure of Lara. She knew that even without her heavy equipment weighing her down, she would still be unable to catch up to Lara.


    ''Those two still don''t trust me, even though we are supposedly party members... Well I can''t really me them, I don''t trust them that much either, especially Ren. Every time I look at him, it feels like he''s scheming something... Well he did save me when we faced off against that Elder Lich. I know how much he wanted to stay and fight, but he decided to save us instead... He might not be all bad, but still I need to keep an eye on him whenever I can.''


    While Hilda was thinking about Ren, she headed to the adventurers guild to do a solo quest.


    ...


    Lara who left Hilda moments ago, went straight to the Northern District where both Iselv and Kithra were located. In this ce Kithra still continued her business of prostitution, but they no longer sold drugs but information, and because Iselv''s men have be bodyguards for the brothels, the district felt a bit safer.


    Laranded on the roof of Kithra''s office and then entered through the window.


    "You do know that you could enter through the front entrance." Kithra who already noticed Lara''s arrival the moment she stepped foot on the roof, spoke with a seductive smile on her face. Iselv was also with her and she looked at Lara with a little re.


    Ever since they agreed to be Ren''s subordinates, they haven''t seen him. Ren who promised Iselv that he would improve his mana capacity hasn''t done anything yet. This made Iselv kind of grumpy.


    "So what do you want?" Iselv spoke with a tinge of irritation in his voice.


    "Ren asked if you already sent some men to Carto Vige?"


    "I already did that." Hearing Iselv''s irritated answer, Lara nodded her head.


    "Ren also wanted to say, once he returns from his trip he would begin trying to raise your mana capacity." When Iselv heard this, his eyes opened wide but afterward he simply nodded his head.


    "Kithra, Ren said that you need to gather all the information you can about the underground businesses of the neighboring cities."


    "Why?" Kithra asked, even though she already has an idea as to why they needed to do this. Still she wanted to hear it from the other person''s mouth.


    "Ren said that we should conquer the underworld societies of the nearby cities, and we should do it within two months."


    Iselv who heard this had his blood boiling with anticipation. On the other hand Kithra was also having goosebumps. She had a tiny understanding of what kind of person Ren was. Seeing his mana wanting to devour everything, it felt like he too was like that. A person that wanted to devour everything. Kithra smiled a very seductive smile as he thought of the young boy, with such great ambition.


    "Very well, I will do as he says." Seeing Kithra''s seductive smile made Lara very angry deep inside.


    ''This d*mn b*tch is thinking about Ren isn''t she! If Ren didn''t need you I would have pierced your head with an arrow!''


    Of course Lara didn''t say any of this out loud, and remained ever stoic. Once she was done with that, she was about to leave through the window, but was interrupted by Kithra speaking.


    "Wait, that''s all you wanted? Aren''t you going to get your share of the profit?" Kithra asked. Hearing this question Lara remembered something, but she didn''t turn her head as she answered.


    "Ren said just use that money to buy more information. The more information we have to sell the better... Oh, I forgot to say, any information you acquire about noble houses with the ranks of Earl and above, we''ll be keeping those for ourselves, and inform Ren once hees by." Without waiting for a reply Lara jumped down the window.


    Seeing the fading figure of Lara, Kithra wryly smiled. "Like I said you could''ve just used the front entrance."


    ...


    Lara''s next destination was the office space Gregory uses. The moment she stepped into the premise a single candle lit inside the dark room.


    "Oh it''s you, what do you want?" From within the shadows Gregory appeared looking a bit sullen.


    "Ren has a task for you."


    "What is it?"


    "Ren wants you to kill the marquis that owns thends to the south." When Lara said this her ever indifferent voice almost trembled. This marquis that Ren wanted dead, was none other than the marquis they heard rumors off as children in Carto Vige. This man was a pig that would steal married women for fun.


    Lara understood why Ren wanted him dead, seeing as he could be a threat to the vige. Gregory feeling the rising bloodlust from Lara, felt that this mission wasn''t as simple as it seems.


    ''Well when ites to that guy nothing is simple''


    "As you wish." Hearing Gregory''s answer Lara nodded in response and left the room. Once she stepped outside the candle light was gone, as the room returned to darkness, Gregory''s presence disappeared as well.


    Lara then continued to do things that were written on the list. The next thing on the list, find an alchemist.

 Chapter 60 - The forest of mist

    <h4>Chapter 60 - The forest of mist</h4>


    Ren after a long run finally reached his destination. Right in front of him was a forest with thick trees, and dense fog. The aura he felt from within the forest was ominous. This was probably one of the reasons no one approaches the forest of mist. Ren finally got a bit more excited as he stepped forward into the forest.


    The moment Ren entered the premise of the forest, he felt something was off. He also noticed that as he walked forward the fog seems to get denser the deeper he goes.


    "Silika what do you make of this?"


    "There is a thick mana flow surrounding the forest. It''s very simr to that of the inside of a Dungeon."


    "Do you think that the forest is the Dungeon?"


    "It could be, but the mana I feel surrounding the ce is much thicker than a young dragon''s mana."


    "Are you suggesting, a real fully grown Dragon made a nest here in the forest?" While Ren was saying this, he couldn''t help but make that vicious smile of his. The thought of fighting a Dragon without any distractions was making him extremely excited.


    "I''m not sure... This aura and mana flow is indeed stronger than a young Dragon''s but, it''s not as strong as a fully grown one either. It''s actually quite weak, the intensity of a Dragon isn''t there."


    "Then what do you think it is?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Whatever it is, will find out, once we get to the source."


    ...


    After his talk with Silika, Ren continued to walk deeper into the forest, but no matter how long he walked, it didn''t seem like he was going anywhere. Also, he''s been in here for half an hour and there was still no signs of monsters.


    Based on the information given to him by Nezard, thest time anyone went into the forest was a hundred years ago. of course, all of this information given to him was only rumors since no one from thest expedition into the forest was alive at this point.


    Ren getting a bit irritated jumped on some trees and tried to look overhead, but the fog wouldn''t let him see anything. He then jumped upward and tried to go above the trees, but the moment he did so he hit something hard and got blown back.


    Ren who was falling from a great height tried to grab onto some branches. Yet as he grabbed them they broke, and his back hit the ground.


    Feeling a bit hurt, Ren stood up while rubbing his back and shoulders.


    "What was that?" Ren looked above his head and saw nothing not even sunlight because of the fog.


    "I think there is a barrier cast all over the airspace of the forest. I''m not sure since the fluctuation of mana is messed up in here." Silika gave her opinion, which made Ren sigh.


    "Do you think if we attack the barrier will be able to break it."


    "No, that''s impossible at the moment. If you could have wielded the scythe even about twenty percent of its power you could have a number of ways to break the barrier or leave this forest. But with your current strength, you won''t even be able to use a tenth of the scythe''s true power."


    Ren already knew that the current him was weak, but hearing it from Silika just made it even more real for him.


    "So the fog distorts our senses making us unable to know where we are, it also makes us unable to go forward or even retreat from this forest. Now there''s even a barrier above us, making us unable to escape from above. So Silika what do you suggest we do in this situation?"


    "How about using this opportunity to increase your mana capacity and your affinity with the water and earth element. Like I said before this ce has a very thick amount of mana, especially water and earth mana elementals gather here in droves."


    Ren who wasn''t able to think straight ever since entering the forest decided to just do what Silika suggested since there was nothing else he could do.


    "Silika please defend my body while I try to absorb some of the mana in the area." Hearing Ren''s order Silika appeared in her human form beside him and answered.


    "As you wish my master."


    Ren nodded at Silika and went into a lotus position and went into a deep meditative state. Ren''s body then started to emit a blue glow as his body became one with his surroundings.


    "No matter which incarnation, your ability to improve always surprises me." Silika who was watching at the side, smiled gently under her veil.

 Chapter 61 - On the way to meet the king

    <h4>Chapter 61 - On the way to meet the king</h4>


    Ren sat there doing as Silika advised and started to enhance his mana capacity by using the dense amount of mana that was flowing through the forest. While he was doing this Silika stood by his side protecting his body. At the moment she couldn''t sense anything due to the weird fluctuation of mana in the surrounding area, nor could she rely on her sense of smell, since the monsters rumored to be living here are treants. Meaning they would feel and smell like an ordinary tree.


    So Silika decided to stay close to Ren''s side and react ordingly depending on the threat.


    ...


    Back in Grenton Lara was already half way through her list. She had dealt with all the people against Ren''s rule in Grenton''s underworld. She also eliminated everyone who were still selling illegal drugs when Ren said otherwise.


    She also bribed the head of the town guard to look the other way in regards to their operations. Though the head guard was a lecherous person and even insisted Lara do something for him, she showed the person who was superior. After disying an overwhelming might to the head guard, Lara then threatened him. The head guard finally understanding his position agreed to all of Lara''s terms.


    After doing that Lara continued doing everything on the list. The remaining half of the list was to bribe fallen noble families like Hilda''s to join under Ren''s g, using the money Lara had earned while adventuring. Lara didn''t understand what Ren was trying to do, but she didn''t question it. She knew that if it was Ren he would have a n and all she needed to do was to follow it.


    ...


    Valdel and Matthew had finally reached the capital of the Reschbeauch Kingdom, Grimsby. It was thrice the size of Grenton, and it too had walls surrounding the whole city, but unlike Grenton''s these wall were enhanced by mana. Another major difference between Grenton and Grimsby was that near the middle of the city stood a majestic castle. Also Valdel noticed that even the lowly guard in Grimsby wore high quality equipment. It would seem that the people living in the capital were better off than most.


    Valdel was amazed by all the wonders he saw in the capital. He saw a lot of horse carriages, and he saw some carriages moving around without horses, but instead were being pulled by mana. In the notrthern sky of the capital he saw Griffons with knights riding them. While on the southern sky he saw knights riding on wyverns.


    It was an incredible sight to behold. Valdel also noticed the cheery faces of the people they pass by. Still Valdel knew that if there was light there would also be darkness. He knew based on his experience when he saw Grenton''s underworld, he was sure that something simr must be lurking in the capital as well.


    ...


    Before they got down the carriage Matthew gave Valdel a hooded cloak and mask to hide his face. Once he was done putting those two things the two got down from the carriage, and Matthew led Valdel into a very expensive looking inn, that was located near the pce. Upon entering they proceeded to get some rooms.


    The owner of the inn had personally came to greet the two guests. The owner did this since he was quite familiar with Matthew a knight that directly worked for the king. The owner knowing of Matthew''s status didn''t make things hard for him, as he didn''t ask for the identity of the new guest.


    After a brief talk with Matthew the owner handed them their room keys and guided the two to their respective rooms.


    ...


    Once Valdel entered his room Matthew spoke to him. "We will be meeting the king a bitter. So you rest here, and prepare yourself. Once the time is right I wille back for you."


    After saying what needed to be said Matthew left Valdel in his room. Valdel who was finally alone spoke to Zwei.


    "So what do you think Zwei?"


    "We have been followed ever since we entered the capital. About thirty people are surrounding the inn. It doesn''t seem like they n on attacking. I also noticed that they don''t seem to be cooperating with each other."


    "I see... They''re most probably spies sent by the nobles and big bosses of the underworld in the capital. I guess They''re curious about me, who Sir Matthew brought. Still I''m sure Sir Matthew noticed them as well, I wonder how he would deal with those spies."


    "Don''t worry master no matter what happens me and Nika will protect you." Valdel hearing that smiled wryly.


    "I know you will... So Zwei did you notice any powerful presence within the capital."


    "There are many here that know how to hide their presences, and even if we know how strong their mana is, it doesn''t necessarily mean we know how strong the person is. There are some masters thatpensate theirck of mana with extreme skill. So I hope you keep your guard up while we''re here master. Since unlike in Grenton your dear friend Ren isn''t here to protect you."


    "Hey you''re making it sound like I rely on Ren for everything."


    "Don''t you?" Hearing Zwei''s counter, made Valdel unable to reply. Now that he started to think about it, it was true he did rely on Ren for almost everything. He just unconsciously assume that Ren would handle everything.


    Seeing her master wasn''t replying Zwei was sure that he had finally realized that what she was saying was the truth.


    "See I was right. Still don''t worry about it too much master, now that Ren isn''t by your side, you can make your own decisions and see for yourself the consequences of the choices you make."


    Not wanting to continue this conversation, Valdel tried to change the topic. "Hey Nika why aren''t you talking?"


    "Master and Zwei''s conversation is too hard for me to follow, so I decided to not listen anymore." Hearing Nika''s answer made Valdel want to face palm.


    "Never mind then, I''m just going to rest for a short bit, before Sir Matthewes back. Zwei just inform me if you sense something amiss."


    "Very well master." Zwei transformed into her girl form and bowed. Once he was done giving his orders Valdel pretended to go to sleep.


    ''I see ever since I was kid, I relied on Ren for everything. I might have different opinions than him, but I never enforce mine and fully believe that Ren''s choices were correct. If seen by a third person, Ren doesn''t really look like my friend, he looks like my superior. Now that I think about it, is Ren actually just using me? No that can''t be! I know Ren and I''m sure he won''t do something like that to me. Ren has never forced me to do anything that I don''t want to do, everything I did was by own decision. Even following Ren was my own decision.''


    When Valdel got to this point of his thoughts, he remembered something Ren said. "Don''t worry about it. It''s always better that you think for yourself. That''s better than blindly believing in everything I say. So in truth I''m happy that your starting to have your own opinions Val. It''s obvious that we wont always agree with each other; and like I said in the past, your path and my path are different. No need to follow each and every one of my whims."


    Remembering those words Ren said to him made him feel a bit relieved. ''Yes I guess I''m really just overthinking it.'' Once Valdel reached this conclusion of his, he truly fell asleep.

 Chapter 62 - Meeting with the king

    <h4>Chapter 62 - Meeting with the king</h4>


    Valdel who was still sleeping heard Zwei''s voice in his head. "Master Sir Matthew is back." Valdel woke up and got ready. A momentter Matthew knocked on his door.


    "Valdel ready yourself we are about to head to the castle. Make sure to wear that mask and hooded cloak I gave you." Valdel almost forgot about that, and wore the two items. Once he was done Valdel left the room.


    "So how are we going to the castle?"


    "From the front of course. We''ll be heading to the castle in the carriage we rode in."


    "I thought that me meeting the King was supposed to be a secret?" Valdel was really confused since he was expecting that they would use an underground passage way or something simr.


    "Valdel the young sword master will not be meeting the king. The one meeting the king is the light warrior Zephyr that disappeared three years ago. Well that''s the rumor we''ll be spreading. If we hide and do things in secret, those fools will try harder to figure out who you are, but if we do it out in the open and give out a bit of information, it will be easier for them to be convinced."


    Valdel hearing Matthew''s exnation was somehow convinced, but he still felt that all this hiding and secrets isn''t really something he approves of. He wanted to meet the King in a more open manner, not like some war criminal that''s in hiding.


    ...


    When the people surrounding the inn saw Matthewe out with the mysterious person wearing the mask, they all tried to see if they could somehow identify who it was, but were unable to because of the mask and hooded cloak that covered every part of his body. The only thing that was visible was the hilt of the mysterious person''s sword.


    Some of the men that came to observe the mysterious person that came with Matthew had the ability to see mana flow, and what they saw from the mysterious person was something amazing. His mana was intense and pure, it wasrge same as some of the captain level knights, but what was most surprising was the look of his mana flow.


    Normally people''s mana flow looks grey some have distinct colors added in depending in which elemental affinity they''re best at. The mysterious person''s mana was a brilliant white, that almost looked a bit silver. Usually this was the same with any person that has a great affinity with the light element. Yet the mysterious person''s looks even more majestic, it practically looks holy.


    The others who were watching the mysterious person noticed something else. The way mysterious person walked was very peculiar. The ones who noticed this had a high level in the martial way. So they immediately noticed that the way the mysterious person walked was that of a person always ready for battle.


    Usually these people observing would know which school of fighting another person was from depending on how he walks, but for some reason they couldn''t guess what kind of practitioner the mysterious person was.


    The group of people followed Matthew and hispanion until they entered the pce. No matter how long they observed the mysterious person they couldn''t figure out who it was. Still they understood that this person was dangerous. Not only does his mana flow look formidable, indicating that he might be a strong mage, but his martial arts looked to be as formidable or even more so than his magic. This person was most probably a very high level magic swordsman.


    With only this piece of information at hand some of the men who were observing retreated back to report to their masters. Some of them stayed waiting to see if they could get any more information once the mysterious person leaves the pce.


    ...


    Valdel who was now inside the pce asked Zwei if the people observing them were still following. Zwei told Valdel that most of them were gone and only some stayed behind but were not daring enough to get near the pce''s walls.


    Hearing this Valdel felt a bit more relieved as he was now able to fully appreciate his surroundings. As he expected the inside of the pce was beautiful. Walls filled with the finest paintings. The floor had an expensive looking carpet. Due to his upbringing Valdel couldn''t really fully appreciate the things he was seeing, since he didn''t know how valuable they were. The only thing Valdel could understand as he looked around, was that the items inside the pce were things that he couldn''t even imagine owning.


    Still it was not only the fine tapestries that caught Valdel''s interest. What caught most of Valdel''s interest were the knights protecting the pce. They all wore the same armor as Matthew and had the basic sword and shield as equipment. On average each individual knight''s fighting strength seem to be only a bit lower than Matthew. Valdel wasn''t entirely sure about that assessment since he wasn''t sure how strong Matthew truly was. Like him Matthew seems adept in controlling the flow of his mana. It was entirely possible that Matthew had a muchrger mana capacity than Valdel, and not only that he might actually be stronger than Valdel in actualbat.


    While Valdel was thinking about how strong Matthew truly was, the two finally reached the door to the throne room.


    "No matter what happens, I hope you don''t show any signs of disrespecting the king. If you do so, then you won''t be able to live for another second to regret what you have done."


    Valdel nodded his head in response, as he did so he heard Zwei''s voice in his head speaking to him.


    ''Master I sense several presences in there that are extremely strong. Even with me and Nika, if they attack we wont be able to do anything.''


    ''Between them and Ren who is stronger?'' For Valdel Ren was the standard for one to be a strong person. So asking Zwei topare them to Ren was so that he could have a better understanding of how strong the people in the throne room were.


    ''If you talk about mana capacity alone, then your friend Ren wouldn''t stand a chance. But when ites to battle, mana capacity doesn''t decide everything. I am confident in saying that your friend Ren''s martial arts is at the top of this continent. Also his use of magic is very different from how other people in this continent uses magic. So overall to answer your question master. In a fight I believe that your friend would win but only in a one on one situation.''


    ''I see...''


    Matthew who was looking at Valdel saw that his faced tensed up a bit, and waited him to calm down a little before he spoke.


    "Are you ready?" Valdel hearing Matthew''s question looked at him eye to eye and nodded. Matthew nodded in response and opened the tworge doors to the throne room.

 Chapter 63 - Audience with the king

    <h4>Chapter 63 - Audience with the king</h4>


    Valdel who had entered the room didn''t know what to expect, and the first thing he saw was the man sitting on the throne made of stone in the end of the room. It was a man with an overwhelming presence, this was the same feeling Valdel gets when Ren starts getting serious. It was an unknown pressure that was neither mana nor killing intent, it was something else entirely.


    The man sitting on the throne was arge man wearing full ted armor that covered his body, which was made of bulging muscles. On his head he wore a beautiful crown made of silver and gold. On his right side was a heavy looking sword that was twice the size of Valdel''s Zweihander, and on the left was a staff that radiated holy brilliance. There was also a towering shield by his side.


    Behind the throne was a coat of arms, that had a picture of a phoenix embracing a castle. Valdel who was looking around also noticed that there were people hiding on the roof and behind the walls. It was obvious that these were the other people Zwei was talking about.


    Matthew who was walking in front knelt, seeing this Valdel did the same.


    "I have brought him my King, as you have requested."


    "Well done Matthew. We are pleased by your performance."


    "I am honored to receive your praise my king."


    "Young knight raise your head and tell this king who you are." Valdel who was kneeling with his head looking downward, raised his head. Valdel who was now in close proximity of the king, noticed that the king looked quite simr to Iselv. He was surprised by the simrity, but he couldn''t dwell on his surprise and needed to respond immediately to not look rude.


    "Your majesty I am Valdel a simple student in the knight academy of Grenton."


    "Do not be so humble, it makes you look even more arrogant. We know that you are the youngest to ever receive the rank of master in swordsmanship. This achievement of yours greatly pleases us, for you and all the young ones are the future of the kingdom."


    "Thank you for thepliment your majesty."


    "Now that we are better acquainted, we wish to see the skill of the newly appointed master swordsman." The king stood up and Valdel who was kneeling saw how huge the king truly was. In his point of view it was like a mountain just stood up.


    Matthew who was kneeling stood up as well, and made way for the king to walk in front of Valdel.


    "Stand young knight and let this King take a good look at you." Following what the King said, Valdel stood up in an upright manner and looked at the king. Valdel was already pretty tall but the king was even taller, making Valdel need look up.


    The king started to inspect Valdel and found the young knight to be better than expected. The muscles on Valdel''s body said everything, they told the king that Valdlel didn''t just get strong overnight. He was unlike all the other geniuses that he knew, who relied on their God-given talents to get by. They think that they''re already the best and it was a matter of time before they became stronger than most. They with their talent never worked hard. Yet here in front of him was a true genius, not only was he talented but he worked harder than most.


    The Warrior King of Reschbeauch Kingdom was happy to see such a fine young knight.


    "Young Knight this King has a test for you. Are you willing to take this test?" Valdel didn''t know what the King wanted, he wanted to refuse but he was unsure what would happen if he did so. KNowing this Valdel had no other choice but to do it.


    "I am willing your majesty." Hearing Valdel''s firm answer, greatly pleased the king. The resolve that the young knight shown in his eyes was exemry.


    "Do not fear young knight the test isn''t anything difficult, and if you seed I will reward you with something nice." The Warrior King smiled at Valdel and gestured Matthew toe to his side. Once Matthew was near enough the King ordered Matthew to bring two swords of identical size and make. They must be the heaviest swords that he could find. Hearing the King''s order Matthew saluted and left the room.


    "While we wait for Matthew to return, tell us young knight who taught you swordsmanship." Hearing the King''s question made Valdel ponder a bit. Was it alright to tell the king about Ren? Well Ren never did say that he was against people knowing that he was Valdel''s teacher, and the way he acted in academy in front of dozens of students indicated he didn''t really care what anyone thought of him.


    "The one who taught me was my childhood friend Ren."


    "Childhood friend? Does that mean the one who taught you swordsmanship is the same age as you?"


    "He is a year younger than me."


    The King hearing Valdlel''s response was surprised. He had imagined that the one who taught Valdlel was some sort of old master that was hiding away in his vige, but it turns out it was a kid who taught Valdel swordsmanship and it was even a kid one younger than him.


    "Is that friend of yours stronger than you?"


    "He and I aren''t even in the same level. He would always hold back when facing me." The King got a bit excited as he heard this. What kind of child could be so much stronger than Valdlel that he was even able to teach his friend that was older than him.


    "We wish to see this friend of yours, where is he now?"


    "I do not know, but he said that he would go Dungeon hunting."


    "Dungeon Hunting, is your friend an adventurer?"


    "Yes, he is your majesty."


    "Oh, what rank is he at?"


    "He just started and he is currently B ranked." When the king heard this answer he felt a bit disappointed. Though it was indeed impressive for someone as young as Ren to immediately jump to B rank, but that wasn''t anything special. There were many geniuses that had done the same thing. This might be because Ren was only good in swordsmanship and had nothing else going for him. It was possible that Valdel had just exaggerated the skill of his friend.


    It was entirely possible that Valdel had long surpassed Ren in strength, and Ren wasn''t actually holding back, that''s just what Valdel thought and he simply hasn''t noticed that yet. Since a master ranked swordsman could easily reach A rank as an adventurer.


    While the King was thinking, Matthew finally returned with the swords requested by the King. The two swords were quite heavy that Matthew was practically dragging them.


    The king took one sword and asked Matthew to hand the other sword to Valdel. The King who held the heavy sword with only one hand, and swung it around as if it was light as a feather. Valdel on the other hand needed to use two hands to lift the weapon. That is if he didn''t use [boost] and only used his bodily strength.


    As Valdel was checking out the sword given to him, the king whispered something to Matthew who once again saluted and left the room.


    "Now that the swords are here, are you ready to take the test?"


    "I am ready, your majesty."


    "Very well, the test is quite simple. You just need to survive three strikes from this king. Do not worry young knight I will not kill you. At most you would be knocked out." Even though the King said this with a smile on his face, Valdel felt the pressure emanating from the king doubled.

 Chapter 64 - Three sword strikes

    <h4>Chapter 64 - Three sword strikes</h4>


    The first thing Valdel did after he heard what the king said was remove the cloak covering him and wrapped it around the Zweihander. After cing the Zweihander in a safe spot, Valdel removed the mask he was wearing since it obstructed his eyesight.


    Once he was done preparing himself Valdel took the stance he was most familiar with. This was the stance that Ren drilled into him since childhood. It was the most basic stance of Ren''s swordsmanship but it was also the most versatile. The two hands holding the heavy weapon lifted the weapon up until the handle was a little bit below Valdel''s chest.


    "Young knight there is no need to hold back. Use your mana and strengthen your body. If you do not do that, this king might identally cripple you. We do not want that to happen to such a promising young knight."


    Valdel who has always stayed with Ren was used to this kind of confidence. Still he wasn''t sure that the King knew what he was dealing with.


    "Your majesty, I know you are confident with your strength but if I use mana I hope you do so as well. I do not wish to sound rude, but I hope to fight your majesty fairly. So if your majesty wishes me to use mana, I hope your majesty uses his mana as well."


    The king hearing what Valdel said looked at him amused. After a short while the King smiled and then startedughing. His heartyugh echoed throughout the the throne room.


    "We are truly impressed with you young knight. I understand what you want from this king, but unfortunately we can not do anything about that. You see this king has only the bare minimum amount of mana."


    Hearing what the king said made Valdel looked at him in shock. This was the exact same problem that Iselv has. Valdel who was still in a stance not once breaking off from his position asked the king.


    "Once again I''m sorry your majesty if this might sound rude, but has your majesty been cursed?" The moment Valdel said this the people hiding started acting a bit agitated. On the other hand the kingughed another thunderousugh.


    "Young knight you really are straightforward. This is the first time this king has to deal with someone as direct as you... There is no need to worry young knight, this is not a curse, it has something to do with the royal bloodline. You see young knight all the men in my family have God like strength and in exchange for that strength, the mana we have is lower than even children. There is no need to worry about this king. So defend with all your might young knight, and if you can find an opening I allow you to strike me. It doesn''t matter if you attack this king or simply defend as long as youst three moves, it will be your win young knight."


    After saying this the king raised the heavy sword with his one hand. The pressure that king was emitting was fierce it reminded Valdel of his daily spars with Ren. Without any signal the king shed downward at Valdel. The speed of the sh was fast which surprised Valdel. There was no time to evade as the heavy sword wasing down on Valdel.


    Seeing this, Valdel tried to block and redirect the king''s attack but the moment he blocked the king''s attack his hands went numb and he almost let go of his sword. Still with sheer willpower Valdel was able to hold onto his weapon and sessful parry the king''s strike.


    That one attack from the king greatly shocked Valdel, who was even using [boost] to strengthen his physical abilities. He already thought that Iselv''s inhuman strength was weird, but witnessing the king''s inhuman strength was frightening.


    The king was pleased to see his attack got blocked and redirected, but that didn''t stop him from continuing his next attack. While Valdel''s hands were still numb from the first attack, the king did a sideward sh. Valdel had no choice but to use [enchant] on the weapon he was using strengthening it. He then ced the backside of his sword near his left shoulder and did a horse stance.


    The moment Valdel received the king''s attack he felt like he was hit by a huge monster. The power from this attack was double than what was used awhile ago. Valdel who was hit by the king''s attack slid across the throne room. Even though he had sessfully blocked the attack and enhanced his weapon as well as strengthened the spell [boost], he was still on the verge of vomiting.


    The king didn''t follow up immediately and spoke to Valdel whose hands were already shaking from receiving his two strikes.


    "That was very good young knight, this king is truly impressed. Now is the moment of your victory. If you are able to receive the next attack without fainting or dying. Then this test is your victory. Still this king must warn you young knight, the next strike this this king will make, this king will be using about ny percent of my full strength. The next strike might actually kill you, so we will allow it if you do not wish to continue, since this king is already pleased witnessing the strength of the next generation."


    Valdel who heard what the king said, smiled the same smile his best friend always shown when the battle gets tougher. For some reason Valdel felt something boiling within him.


    "Your majesty, I will not falter if I did my friend Ren willugh at me." Hearing the name Ren again in this situation tingled the king''s curiosity. Even if it turns out that the boy Ren wasn''t as strong as Valdel ims. The king was still interested in what kind of character would be able to train someone of Valdel''s calibre.


    "Very well young knight, brace yourself for this is thest strike." The king who was holding the heavy sword with one hand, was now holding the sword with two hands. He then raised the sword above his head.


    Valdel whose hands were already numb and whose legs were about to give in, stood there with sword at hand. When he saw the king readying to strike, his whole body was screaming to him that death wasing. Still Valdel didn''t back down and remembered something Ren used to say. When facing against an opponent who is stronger than you, you must use that strength against him. Valdel had never understood this part of Ren''s lesson. How does one use the strength of an opponent who was stronger against him?


    Still if he doesn''t do something about this, he might actually die. The king who as promised used ny percent of his strength had shed down on Valdel. This strike looked like a strike that could cleave mountains. The moment the king''s sword touched Valdel''s sword, Valdel loosen his grip on his weapon. This move was able to parry the king''s move, and Valdel was able to evade the attack.


    When this was done sessfully the king was about to congratte Valdel, but he felt eminent danger. Valdel who was standing motionless started to glow for a bit, it was then the king unconsciously moved to the left. Momentster the king saw that there was hole in the roof of the room, and a ray of sunshine was able to enter the throne room from the roof.


    It was then the king finally noticed that his right cheek was bleeding. Amazed by what had happened, the king looked at the young knight who did this. The king was about to ask Valdel what he had done, but what he saw was another surprise. The young knight who had injured his cheek and had pierced through the roof of the throne room, was now standing motionlessly, unconscious.


    Valdel who had used thest resort that drains all his mana, had fainted after that one sessful attack.

 Chapter 65 - Returning to Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 65 - Returning to Grenton</h4>


    Valdel who had fainted was sent to one of the private rooms in the castle, to recuperate. The king then sat on his throne, after which ten figures appeared before him. These were the people hiding behind the walls and on the roof. Out of the ten, there was one who had an injured arm.


    This person wasn''t able to dodge the final attack Valdel made and sustained an injury. Though he was hurt, he didn''t get angry or resented the fact that he was hit by a teenager who was weaker and younger than him. This man didn''t any reaction whatsoever as his right arm was slightly bleeding.


    The ten people now kneeling before the king waited for him to speak.


    "So what do you think of the boy?" Hearing the king asked them a question each one of them gave different answers, starting from the person to the left.


    "He was impulsive."


    "He has the potential to be one of the strongest humans to ever live."


    "His swordsmanship was something I have never seen before. It was the very basic movements of swordsmanship but done in such a precise manner that it looked beautiful. The creator of this style must have gazed into the very depths of swordsmanship."


    "Aside from thest strike he made to his majesty, he was at best mediocre. Just a better thrash in the pile of thrash the younger generation produced."


    "He has the burning passion of a true warrior."


    "He has such an immense amount of mana hidden within him, that it was a waste that he stuck to bodily enhancement spells. Though I guess what his majesty wanted to see was his swordsmanship, so I will assess him again once I get to see the other spells he knows."


    "For his age overall, he is a good fighter. One that we could use in the war against those foolish invaders from the Serbek Kingdom."


    "His face is pretty cute, his abilities are appropriate, and his potential unlimited. It would be a good idea to pair him up with one of the princesses."


    "I don''t like him. He''s a powerful young warrior, who is easily convinced. It is possible that his allegiances would change if he was tricked. Better to kill him now than let loose a potential enemy."


    "I believe that he could be the hero this kingdom needs."


    Hearing the thoughts of the ten most powerful people in the kingdom, the king went into deep thought.


    "We have heard the thoughts of you ten. Listening to your thoughts, We have decided to trust this young knight as the potential for the future. We will ce someone to monitor him, and help him if he is about to stray from the right path. That is all, you are all dismissed."


    Once he gave this order, the ten dispersed into the shadows. Now alone inside the throne room, the king thought of the name of the boy who taught Valdel how to fight.


    ''Ren is it... We guess we should meet him as well, but we need to meet him incognito. To see what he truly is.''


    ...


    Valdel who wasying down on a veryfortable bed suddenly jolted awake. The first thing he did when he woke up was to start looking for Zwei and Nika. He saw the both were in their human forms embracing him as he slept.


    When he saw this Valdel tried to remember what happened before he lost consciousness. He remembered that he attacked the king and missed, afterward he fainted due to mana exhaustion.


    "Zwei, Nika, don''t pretend to sleep. Tell me why are you guys hugging me?" Valdel knew that these contracted weapons of his don''t sleep.


    "Master we were trying to transfer a bit of our mana to you. Direct contact like this makes it easier." Zwei answered with a smile, while Nika nodded in agreement.


    "Okay, so how long was I unconscious?"


    "You were unconscious for two days."


    "Two days!"


    ...


    After Valdel finally calmed down and reassessed his situation, he went out of his room. The moment he stepped out there was Matthew standing at the side, waiting for him. After confirming that Valdel was finally awake, Matthew told Valdel if he wanted to rest some more. Of course, Valdel declined, since already spent too much time here than expected, and he now wanted to leave immediately.


    When he told Matthew this, the knight told him to meet the king first before leaving.


    ...


    Once again Valdel was face to face with the king. Now that he knew how powerful the king was, Valdel was extra respectful.


    "Young knight we are pleased to see you awake. We have been informed of your wish to return to the academy immediately. But before you go this king has something to give you. As this king promised, I shall gift you something nice. Here receive it."


    The king then tossed a ring at Valdel who caught it. Valdel inspected the ring and saw nothing special about it. It was a ring made of tinum and the insignia on the ring was the same as the one on the coat of arms behind the throne.


    "This king has heard that you are having difficulty with some nobles in the academy. That ring is a symbol, that informs others that you are friends with royalty. Show those foolish nobles this ring and they would bother you no longer. Still, if they persist on bothering you just tell them, To him who mischief seeks, shall mischief fall. Therees an hour that rpenses all. The smart ones will understand, while the stupid ones, I will allow you to deal with them as you see fit."


    "Thank you, for this wonderful gift your majesty." Valdel who thought he didn''t really need such a present, simply epted it because he felt like saying no to the king''s gift would be very rude.


    Once this exchange was done, Matthew and Valdel immediately left the pce, got on a carriage left the capital and started their journey back to Grenton.


    The king who was looking at the balcony overseeing the capital saw the carriage Valdel was on slowly fade into the distance. He had a serious expression on his face, quite the change from the whimsical look he had before.


    "I''m sorry young knight, but for now we need to use you. This king needs you to cut down those nobles that are leeching of the kingdom."

 Chapter 66 - Lara and the Regalcrags

    <h4>Chapter 66 - Lara and the Regalcrags</h4>


    Two days before Valdel woke up from mana exhaustion, Lara was almost done doing everything written in the list Ren gave her. The only thing left unchecked was to convince the fallen noble families to join them. Ren allowed her to use any means necessary to convince the fallen noble families. Unless the fallen nobles demands weren''t too much, that it tramples on their groups dignity, if that is not the case then Lara was to do whatever they wish. He also written on the list to bring Kithra when she does negotiations.


    Lara didn''t want to do that, she wanted to do the task by herself. Still she didn''t want to disobey Ren, but she didn''t like to ask Kithra for help either. She would rather ask Hilda for help, but Ren specifically told her not to do that.


    ''Okay then, first I''ll try to negotiate by myself, and then if I fail I''ll ask that b*tch Kithra for help.'' Making her decision Lara headed towards the residential area of the western district. This is the area where the majority of the fallen noble families in Grenton reside.


    There were a total of twenty six fallen noble families inside of Grenton. The highest ranking noble that has fallen was the Regalcrag family who used to have a position of Earl. Their downfall came when they supposedly tried to kill the second prince of the kingdom.


    But in truth, the first prince wanted to kill hispetitor the second prince and used the Regalcrag as a scapegoat. Still because of their past performance as a sessful military family, they were not executed but instead were stripped of their noble rank.


    The warrior king Willmot Reschbeauch, of course, knew the truth of the matter but didn''t save the Regalcrags, since it was their own decision to follow the first prince and failed to execute his ns. This kind of infighting was normal during the time when the king hasn''t announced a crown prince.


    Until he does so, the four princes will try to kill each other. This was the same as the time when the king himself was fighting for the right to be the official crown prince. This fight was meant to be training for the young uing King, to be able to scheme, form alliances, and if possible overpower his opponents. Of course it is possible to not join this fight, and support another candidate.


    That''s what happened during the warrior king Willmot''s era, when his brothers banded together to fight him, but in the end he took the throne for himself, and killed all the opposition.


    ...


    Being strip of their peerage, the Regalcrag family were no longer able to continue being knights and soldiers of the kingdom, so most of them became adventurers or mercenaries, while some decided to kill themselves because of the dishonor. The current head of the family was a young man called Stephan.


    Lara who finished reading all the information she had on the Regalcrags she went straight to their home.


    ...


    The house that the Regalcrags stayed at, was a small mansion like house that at first nce looked little bit untidy. The reason that they were still able to afford living in such a ce even though they weren''t nobles anymore, was because the family was still able to gain enough funds from being adventurers and mercenaries.


    ...


    Lara who was about to knock on the door, was then greeted by an arrow which she knew wasing, but didn''t bother to dodge since it wasn''t aimed at her.


    "That was a warning shot, the next one will be aimed at your head. So state your business." Lara looked above her head, and saw that on the roof, ten men were aiming arrows at her. Lara wanted to attack them, but she didn''te here for that, she came here to negotiate. She came here to make them join under Ren''s g. Attacking them might not be the best thing to do.


    ''But if I don''t show my dominance now they might think we''re pushovers. Well, Ren did say that if I''m confused in what to do with someone, I just need to beat them up and think about what to do once they''re unconscious. So better beat these guys up and decide what to do with themter.''


    "Why aren''t you talki-" The person aiming the bow at Lara, wasn''t able to follow every movement but he saw that Lara moved from her spot. A secondter Lara was already beside him. The man was about to strike, but before he could do anything he lost consciousness.


    Lara quickly dealt with the remaining nine men, but to her surprise thest one standing was actually able to hit her. Still she already dealt with the archers and as she was about to move on and go inside the mansion another person appeared before her.


    It was a middle aged man wearing a butler uniform, Lara was surprised to see him get so close without her noticing him. Overall Lara wasn''t expecting that a fallen noble family had this much strength.


    "Mdy, we''re sorry for the rude introductions. You must understand, most of the people inside the mansion are wary of outsiders. Especially those who don''t state the purpose of their visit."


    Though the butler was speaking politely and had no ill intent, Lara could sense that the butler was ready to attack if need be.


    "I did not appreciate being fired upon, and then questioned. That''s the only reason I fought back."


    The butler bowed "once again mdy, I apologize." The butler even with all his experience couldn''t get a read on Lara''s intentions, since she waspletely expressionless.


    "Very well, just bring me to the current head of the house and then I will forgive you." The butler hearing what Lara said, was a bit surprised. He was under the impression that Lara was from one of those old enemies they had back in the capital, and was here to make a mess. Still it could be possible that she''s here to assassinate the family head, but he was already ordered by said family head to bring her to him.


    "Very well mdy, please follow me inside the mansion." Lara and the butler jumped down from the roof, after which the butler opened the door of the mansion inviting Lara inside.

 Chapter 67 - Lara demands to know what you want

    <h4>Chapter 67 - Lara demands to know what you want</h4>


    Lara who followed the butler inside the mansion was now face to face with the supposed head of the family. The family head was much younger than she expected. He looked to be around his mid twenties. His overall presence was weak, Stephan Regalcrag was a symbol of how low the Regalcrag has fallen.


    Lara and Stephan were sitting in front of each other. The butler who guided Lara was standing beside Stephan. Lara also noticed that there were three men hiding behind each picture on the wall. She could practically hear their bowstrings.


    There were also eight men hidden underneath the room, to be more specific underneath the position she was sitting on.


    "Good daydy Lara. Can I ask, why is the rising star of the adventurer guild, looking for someone like me?" Stephan was looking at Lara observing her every move. ''


    "I am here on behalf of my party leader Ren. He wishes to make a deal with you, more specifically with the fallen nobles in the city."


    Stephan who was observing Lara''s every movement, was trying to see if she was lying or trying to do something else. Yet no matter how long he looked or how much he tried to observe, every facial movement, every twitch, he couldn''t see anything through Lara''s stoic expression.


    "So what kind of deal do you wish to make?"


    Lara took out the list and read the part Ren wanted her to say to Stephan.


    "Ren wants to offer you a chance for revenge. He says if you join and work under him, he could help your family regain the honor they lost, and if you want he could also help you dispose of the first prince that made your family into a scapegoat, which led to your fall from grace. Ren is also offering a steady ie if your work under him, so what do you say."


    Stephan who heard what Lara said has his facial expression darken. Lara could feel bloodlust from the people surrounding her. She almost unconsciously attacked, since that''s how she was trained. Still she held herself back and waited for Stephan''s reply.


    "Lara, do you really think we the Regalcrags, will allow a young nobody of an adventurer to have us serve under him? We may hate the first prince, we may have lost all our honor, but we have not lost our pride. Also even if we do consider your offer, how do you expect us to believe that you and your party leader could actually do what you promised... Of course you can''t, this is talk is over, you may leave." Stephan gestured Lara to leave, but Lara didn''t want to leave just yet.


    "Then please tell me, what is it that you want?" Lara didn''t want to give up just yet since Ren wrote on the list that if negotiations fail, she was allowed to annihte the whole fallen noble family that rejected the offer. Lara didn''t want to do that since if she exins what happened to Ren, she would need to say that she didn''t bring Kithra along as she did the negotiations. Also among the other nobles in the city, the Regalcrags were the most important, and Ren really seems to emphasize them on the list.


    "Didn''t you hear me? I said you may leave."


    "I won''t leave until you tell me how I can convince you to join us." Stephan who was looking at Lara was confused if this girl was being serious, or wasn''t. He just couldn''t tell from that expressionless look of hers.


    "I already said that we won''t be joining, Cale please escort our guest outside." The butler standing beside Stephan approached Lara and was about to grab her hand, but before he could do so Lara used her right hand and chopped at Cale''s throat. Her movement was so quick and fluid Cale wasn''t able to dodge. Being hit on the throat with that much force, he was now on the ground having difficulty breathing.


    Stephan who saw this was about to shout for the people underneath to attack, but before he could say anything Lara stomped on the ground while infusing her right foot with mana, which resulted in her breaking the floor, and creating a cave-in, incapacitating the people underneath the floor.


    The archers who were hiding behind the paintings didn''t wait for Stephan''s signal anymore. They shot their arrows, but Lara who was already expecting that caught all the arrows and flung them back to the ones who fired them.


    Lara was able to fling the arrows and hit precisely on the right hands of the three men, making it hard for them to use their bows. Stephan who witnessed Lara doing all these in a matter of seconds was stunned into silence. Lara who had just finished incapacitating everyone who had directed their bloodlust at her was now walking slowly towards Stephan.


    The man who was currently the head of the Regalcrags did not cower in front of the overwhelming force shown by Lara. Even though they had fallen and he was the worst head of the family, he was still a proud Regalcrag. So he stood there showing a fierce expression as he looked at the approaching Lara.


    "I was ordered to annihte your whole family if you didn''tply with Ren''s wishes, but I decided not to do that. I will give you one more chance. Tell me what I need to do to make you join under Ren''s g."


    This time Stephan was truly surprised to hear what Lara said. After all that she has done, it would seem that she really was holding back.


    ''If this kind of person is that faithful to Ren, then he must be something. If this Ren person is stronger than Lara, we might actually have a chance to get revenge on the first prince. Still, I wonder what he''s nning on doing?... Based on what I heard Lara say a while ago, Ren wishes to make all the fallen nobles in Grenton follow him... With only that information at hand, I can make a few guesses on what he wants to do, but all of them aren''t really anything good... If I don''t follow him the Regalcrags will end in my time, and I as its final head...''


    While Stephan was thinking about what to do next, Lara stood there patiently waiting for an answer. After a few minutes, Stephan finally talked.


    "Fine, I only have a few conditions before my family joins your group. But before I do that, can you pleasee back tomorrow, since I need to talk to the other family members regarding this situation. Once I finished doing that I will tell you my conditions, is that alright with you?"


    "Alright, I will return tomorrow." Lara without hesitation answered, and left the mansion.

 Chapter 68 - Fallen nobles join the group

    <h4>Chapter 68 - Fallen nobles join the group</h4>


    Lara who had left the Regalcrags knew that with her ability, she wouldn''t be able to convince the other fallen noble families. Lara didn''t want to do it, but in the end she decided to ask Kithra for assistance.


    Lara exined a part of Ren''s n to the former leader of the Northern District Kithra. Hearing what Ren was nning to do excited the beautifuldy. She already knew that Ren was someone with a big ambition, but she didn''t realize how big that ambition was. She could make some guesses as to why Ren would want the fallen nobles on his side. There was a huge possibility that Ren wanted to start a coup. Still even if Ren didn''t start a coup no matter what he nned involving the fallen nobles, it was obvious that it was something big.


    Kithra was excited to see what Ren had in store for the future. She was now truly grateful that Ren had given her the chance to join him. Now alongside Lara the two girls headed to the next family that they would negotiate with.


    ...


    Most of the fallen noble families quickly agree to join under Ren''s g, because of money. As long as they were paid they didn''t care who their leader was. After a few years of being fallen nobility they already understood the harshness of the world without money. So the moment Ren''s side offered a suitable amount of money they were willing to let go of their pride and follow amoner.


    Other fallen noble families, agreed to join because of Kithra''s beauty. The family heads of these fallen noble families have fallen in love with Kithra''s beauty. Some of them were even more direct, and asked that Kithra would sleep with them once, in exchange for their services. Of course Kithra who wasn''t really an innocent littledy, agreed to such demands.


    Lara on the other hand, felt d that she decided to bring Kithra along. Since it would be impossible for her to offer her body to anyone else but Ren. She was certain the moment anyone else forces themselves on her, they would either die or she would die.


    The convincing of the other fallen nobles went rather better than expected. With the budget Kithra got from Lara''s solo adventuring, as well as her own budget, it was easy to convince the fallen noble families to join their cause.


    Yet some have actually rejected them, and as instructed by Ren, Lara showed no mercy and annihted their family right down to their roots. She didn''t really like the feeling of killing other people especially these people that weren''t all that bad. Even worse, since the children were expected to take revenge on Ren if they live, Lara was forced to kill them as well. It was a good thing that their were no babies involved, since Lara wasn''t sure if she could actually go through with killing innocent babies. The youngest she had to kill was around ten years old, which was four years younger than her. It made Lara for the first time almost question Ren''s ways. Still that thought hadn''t even formed when it was removed by her fanatic devotion to Ren.


    Still now that all of the fallen nobles in Grenton had joined their cause, the actually nobility in Grenton should have gotten wind of what they were doing. Lara and Kithra weren''t really worried about what those nobles will do to them. Most of them would probably dismiss the situation as the weak gathering to lick each others wounds.


    Still some of them will act by sending spies to find out more about the situation. If the nobles decide to get a bit violent with them, they could retaliate under the guise of self defense. The two girls were also sure that Ren might have something nned in case something like that happens.


    The reason they thought Ren had a n, was because someone like him would most probably anticipate all possible scenarios once he starts to do something.


    ...


    A day passed since Lara''sst visit to the Regalcrags and as promised she returned to their mansion to hear their answer. This time Lara brought Kithra just in case the Regalcrags try something sneaky. Even though Lara hated Kithra''s flirty ways, she couldn''t help but admit that she was indeed someone good in negotiations.


    When the two girls finally reached the old mansion of the Regalcrags, Lara felt the presence of the archers on the roof. She looked up to see the archers, staring at her in frustration and fear. This time they only looked at her and did not attack.


    The butler Cale from yesterday also appeared.


    "Wee back Lady Lara. Pleasee in the master has been waiting for you." Cale didn''t bother greeting Kithra, and simply gestured Lara to follow him. Kithra wasn''t bothered by this reaction, since this former proud noble family didn''t really like dealing with the people of the underworld. They viewed such people as dishonorable. Still because of their current predicament, their honor wasn''t really worth much anymore.


    ...


    Stephan looked at the two visitors. One of them was someone he was expecting to see, while the other was someone he didn''t really want to associate himself with.


    "Oh, Lady Kithra what a surprise, what brings you here? If you have something to say, please tell meter. I have something important to discuss with Lady Lara."


    "It''s alright I was the one who brought her here. She''s one of the people who recently joined under Ren." Stephan and Cale were surprised to hear this new piece of information.


    Stephan hearing this news gritted his teeth, and started to question the decision they had made.


    ''Have we fallen so low, that we would actually be subordinates of someone that takes the likes of the people in the underworld as followers. Still if we don''t join them, that would spell the end of the Regalcrags.''


    Stephan was already aware of what happened after Lara left yesterday. She had immediately taken over the remaining fallen noble families, to join under Ren''s wing and those who didn''t join were mercilessly killed, not even the children and women were spared.


    Stephan now had to make a choice will he join these people and lose the very essence of their family''s pride and honor, or will he fight them instead and die with his family with thest remaining pieces of pride and honor they had left.


    "So Stephan Regalcrag, will you join us or will you perish?" Hearing Lara''s indifferent tone of voice made Stephan look at her. There in front of him was the beautiful maiden with her stoic face, asking him to live under their rule or die with what''s little left of their pride as Regalcrags. This beauty was nothing more than an executioner.


    Stephan gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. The decision he makes today will be one that would decide the very fate of the Regalcrags and how they will be looked upon by future historians. Even though he was the weakest head to ever lead the Regalcrags, Stephan was still the head of the once mighty family.


    He then decided on what to say and looked at Lara with newfound determination. With a confident voice, Stephan spoke.


    "I-"

 Chapter 69 - Visions

    <h4>Chapter 69 - Visions</h4>


    While Lara was negotiating with the Regalcrags, Ren was nearing the end of his meditation. Ren has been absorbing the natural mana floating around the forest of mist. While he was doing this, for the past two days, he kept on seeing visions of different people all of them powerful.


    He couldn''t understand why he was being shown such things, but those visions and the people in them felt so familiar. There were five visions of five different men, that caught his interest the first one was about a boy who looked no older than seventeen years old.


    The boy stood before an army wounded and weaponless. One of the men inside the army started shouting at him.


    "Why are you doing this Sir Krimen?" The boy looked at the soldier and smiled.


    "Are you guys idiots? Why am I doing this? Isn''t obvious it''s to protect this girl." Behind the boy was a small girl barely seven years old, trembling terribly.


    The soldiers looked ashamed but held great resolve. "You do know what will happen, if we don''t give her to the God of destruction."


    "Of course I do." the boy answered.


    "Then why? Why Sir Krimen, you who the king granted the second name, twin des, the kingdom''s saint. You are the hero of the people, you who protected many, have saved many, why do you betray us now?" The soldier looked at his hero feeling betrayed.


    "I did not betray you, guys. I just want to save this girl. I think this is right while you guys think what you''re doing is right. We''re all doing what we think is right. I do not n to scold you or anything I just don''t like the idea of sacrificing an innocent girl to save my ass." The boy showed a ferocious smile toward the army.


    "You would sacrifice the world, for just one girl? I can''t believe I called someone like you a hero."


    "Hey I don''t n on sacrificing the world, I''ll save both the world and this girl! How can I im to be able to save the world if I can''t even save one measly girl! Also hero? You people are the ones who gave me that title, I never asked for it, I just did want I wanted to do!"


    "I guess, there really is no convincing you. Men apprehend him, if you cannot do so, do not hesitate to kill. Also the girl muste with us unharmed." The soldiers surrounded the boy, they all knew his abilities. Even if wounded and weaponless, he was someone they cannot take lightly. A wounded beast is even more ferocious.


    The soldiers have no n to capture the boy, the person they called a hero would never allow such a thing to happen. So the only option they had left was to kill him. Though all of them didn''t want to do this, they had no choice, it was either the girl or the world. The soldiers from the back started firing arrows.


    Rei, evaded and caught some of the arrows, but the others pierced his skin. Rei was now looking like a porcupine with arrows sticking out of his body. The arrows he caught he threw them back at some of the archers. The arrows hit all of its targets, yet he hit them just to immobilize them.


    The vanguard unit was nearing him. the boy charged forward, and with his bare hands cut the tendons of his opponents, he even cut their wrists. Even with all his strength and ability the battle was difficult. The soldiers are out to kill him, while he fought just to immobilize them.


    As the battle dragged on, the boy umted numerous wounds, but was still smiling. Themanding officer spoke to the boy as he was fighting.


    "Why do you still smile in such a desperate situation? Why do you always gamble your life for others?" Themanding officer was one who spent a great deal of time talking to the boy, back when he just came to the kingdom.


    "Why do I smile? If I show a desperate face now, how can I prove to you guys I can save you all and this girl. Why do I gamble my life for others? Simple because the people I save, have more important lives to live, than I who has been stained by the blood of thousands."


    The boy spoke while fighting, his body was battered and bruised. He had a lot of holes made by arrows, his cuts were numerous, but still he imed that he could save everyone. All who heard his answer started to cry, even the soldiers who fought couldn''t stop their tears from flowing. Yet even with that they still needed to do this.


    Noticing the change of atmosphere, the boy screamed for everyone to hear.


    "Even if it is the God of Destruction, I care not! I will fight till the end for everyone''s happiness!"


    ...


    That vision of that boy was simr to some of the heroes Ren had faced, but the way he acted, the way he looked, the way he did whatever he wanted, using force to prove his point was simr to Ren himself. Yet that wasn''t the only vision he saw as he was meditating. Ren also saw another person fighting for revenge that he discarded his allies like pawns. In the end he was able to kill a demon lord, but in exchange he died full of regrets.


    This person was also simr to Ren and somehow felt simr to the other people in his other visions.


    ...


    The other vision he saw was that of a man fighting a dragon, with a smile on his face. The weapons he was using was simr to the twin des he saw at the weapon shop where he acquired Silika. This man who fought the dragon had wless swordsmanship, and even in the face of such an overwhelming opponent like a dragon, he was smiling viciously. He looked like he was toying with the dragon.


    The apex predator, an entity who has been strong by birth a dragon, was being toyed around by a single man. The man Ren saw felt exhrated by the battle. Ren knows that must be the exact same face he shows as he enjoys the battle. The man waited until the dragon has shown all his cards, and when it had nothing left to offer the man finished Dragon.


    What surprised Ren in this vision was what the man said afterward, "thanks for the battle." This line and the way he said it was exactly the same as what Ren says after defeating a formidable opponent.


    ...


    Ren saw many other visions of different people, but the next one that caught his interest was that of a person, who was facing a horde of monsters. This person even in such a dire situation had a smile on his face, surrounded on all sides and no hope for survival, the boy who looked to be around twelve years old smiled a joyous smile as he faced his enemy. With a longsword and a staff at hand he faced the horde of monsters and shouted.


    "I''m not going down without a fight!" The moment he said those words, he saw a girl who had flowing ck hair, skin white as snow and ruby red eyes. She was wearing something like a ck kimono, the kimono was short which allowed a glimpse on her thighs , it also showed her bare shoulders. She was enchanting that even Ren who was simply seeing this vision was mesmerized, and felt something nostalgic about her.


    The girl jumped down from the stone ruins, and gracefullynded in front of the boy who was holding his sword. As if he has forgotten everything, he stared at the girl and was mesmerized by her beautiful facial features. The girl then said something that Ren felt was important. He didn''t know what was said but Ren felt that the girl said something that altered destiny itself.


    ...


    Ren wanted to learn more about that girl he saw and that boy who was in a dire situation, but he couldn''t control the visions, as it moved on to the next. Thest vision he saw as he was deep in meditation was the one that caught his interest the most.


    It was another man who was also fighting against something beyond understanding. Most of the visions Ren saw were about different men that felt familiar to him. They were all fighting against beings that were far beyond what any mortal could face. Sometimes it was Dragons, other times they fought Gods, and other times they fought monsters that existed since the beginning of creation. Yet even with all those things, the being this man was facing was beyond all of those opponents.


    Ren couldn''t describe what kind of being the man was facing. All Ren knew that this was something no one could ever hope to win against. Yet like all the others in Ren''s visions, the man faced his opponent with a vicious, gleeful smile on his face. Ren couldn''t help but feel excited as well.


    ''I wish to fight such a being.'' Those were Ren''s honest feelings as he watched the man fight. He couldn''t see the whole fight, since the vision didn''t allow him to. He wasn''t sure what happened, but he had a feeling that no matter the result that battle had, the man he saw was satisfied.


    ...


    Ren couldn''t understand why he was seeing these visions of these different people. They were all different, from different races, and different ages. They were all different but at the same time the same. Most of all to Ren the men in his visions felt familiar, they all felt almost simr to himself. The way they fought, the way they felt excited to be in such dire battles. To the smile they show as they faced the impossible. They resonated with him, since they might look different but deep down, they were all the same, their core felt as one.


    Ren couldn''t understand what the vision meant, why they were being shown to him. Still seeing those people made Ren feel something deep within. It felt like his soul itself was hiding something powerful.

 Chapter 70 - Borrowing skills

    <h4>Chapter 70 - Borrowing skills</h4>


    Ren was confused by all the visions, and why they started appearing now of all times. But these visions made him sure that there was something hidden deep within him. He had hunch that it has something to do with his soul.


    ''At first I pushed it aside, since no matter how long I think about it I knew there will be no answer. Still I wonder why did I reincarnate with my memories intact? The only beings that I could think off that can mess with a soul from someone as powerful as me, would be Gods or ancient dragons. Actually that''s only to my knowledge, their might be other beings capable of such feats.''


    Ren remembered those primordial monsters he saw in the visions. Those things looked like they could actually reverse time itself. While thinking about this, Ren then wondered how those people in the visions got to be so strong. The youngest he saw was around twelve and he was more powerful than the current Ren, and then there was that guy who looked to be around thirty something, and he was the one who fought that unbeatable being.


    All of them were strong and so young. Though Ren was also strong for someone his age, and even stronger than most a.d.u.l.ts in this world, but he was nowhere near the level of the people he saw in his visions. They were strong as strong as him when he was still the Demon Lord Kretos, actually some of them were stronger still.


    Ren then remembered how some of them casted spells, it was different from the way he casted them, especially the way they gathered mana to use the spell. Some of them gathered the surrounding mana and filtered them to use a spell. This was something Ren has never thought of doing.


    In principle mana surrounds everything, the air, the earth, the sea, everything has mana. Still no one uses the mana from the surrounding area to use spells, since the mana needs to be purified before one can use a spell, and the only way Ren knows how to purify mana is by circting it into ones body. That''s why he was absorbing the mana in this ce to strengthen his own, and increase his mana capacity. The mana here is much thicker and purer than normal, making it a good ce to absorb mana.


    That''s the reason why Ren was so impressed by the magicians in his vision, since they didn''t need to have great mana capacity or mana strength to use spells. All they needed was the mana in area.


    Not only were the magicians in his vision impressive, the swordsmen in his visions were equally impressive, well most of them were magicians and swordsmen. Still the swordsmanship of these already impressive magicians were great. Especially that one guy who caught his attention that fought a dragon with ease. That person''s swordsmanship was wless, his defense and offense were blended well together that he could switch from offense to defense and vice versa wlessly making it hard to predict what he would do next, and also making it easier for him to react to attacks.


    ...


    Ren who was multi tasking, by thinking about the visions, absorbing the mana in his surrounding area, and trying to improve the overall cirction of mana in his body, finally felt a disruption. His body could no longer absorb mana from the surrounding area. He already absorbed as much mana as he currently can, and now he needs to stabilize it.


    Ren finally opened his eyes, and as he expected Silika was there. He then felt really hungry and thirsty so he rummaged through his supplies, and started eating and drinking.


    Silika simply stood there as she waited for Ren to finish his meal. She has been standing guard for the past two days, and was attacked only three times. All the attackers seem to be lost Orcs, it was easy for her to kill those things, even with her current restrictions.


    When Ren was done eating his meal, Silika spoke to him.


    "How are you feeling master?"


    "Really great, also there are a bunch of things I want to try out." Silika noticed that Ren''s mana capacity, and mana strength did improve. If it was anyone else, they would have difficulty absorbing mana this thick, but to Ren it was no problem at all.


    Ren then extended his hands, and concentrated his mana.


    ''So not only the strength and capacity improved, even the flow is much better than before.'' Silika watched Ren as he was weaving a spell, chantless. A few secondster a huge body of water in the shape of a dragon appeared and it flew upward assaulting the barrier in the sky.


    The moment the water dragon spell that Ren used touched the barrier it dispersed. Instead of feeling dejected Ren instead assaulted the barrier with multiple water dragons, until finally he wasted all of his mana and fell unconscious.


    Silika who was watching Ren do such an explicable thing was confused. She caught her unconscious master, and looked at his excited smile as he slept.


    ...


    Ren woke up and saw that his face was ced on Silika''s thighs. He looked above and saw the veiled Silika.


    "Did you have a nice sleep master?"


    "Yeah I did." Ren then tried to feel the mana in his body and was pleasantly surprised. With this realization Ren couldn''t help butugh like a mad man.


    ''It worked! It really worked! So that training for mana that one of those people in my visions used actually works!''


    "Master are you really alright?" Silika asked a bit worried by her master''s sudden outburst.


    "I''m more than alright, I''m great. For now Silika I''m going to be training so we''ll be staying here for a few more days, well just until we lose all our food supplies."


    "Master, you do remember that we can''t escape the forest?" Hearing what Silika said made Ren show an expression of shock and then a sudden realization.


    "Oh yeah you''re right. Well we''ll figure something outter. For now I need to start training." Ren then took two branches, and cut them until they were as long as short swords. Ren then took a stance and started dancing with the two branches.


    Silika who was watching was amazed. Though his movements weren''t as sharp or fluent as the person in Silika''s memories, but Silika knew of that swordsmanship, she knew of those movements. This was the same swordsmanship of a person very dear to her in a long forgotten past.


    Ren who was moving a bit sluggishly at the beginning was now moving slightly better. Every time he swung the branches, every step he made Ren was slowly improving. It was like his body already knew the movement and was simply trying to remember.


    Silika who saw Ren''s astonishing improvement was simply staring at Ren in a daze. Though they lookpletely different Silika couldn''t help but see him again in Ren''s form as he practiced his newfound swordsmanship.


    Ren was getting excited as he swung the two branches and his movement getting sharper. Who knew that copying those people in his vision would lead to something this incredible. With this Ren could finally see how he will surpass his former self.

 Chapter 71 - The memory of his death

    <h4>Chapter 71 - The memory of his death</h4>


    Ren kept on swinging the branches around as if they were swords. Even though his main weapon was a scythe, Ren felt so enamored by the swordsmanship he saw in his visions that he couldn''t help but wanting to practice it. The swordsmanship he saw felt so familiar, so he was able to copy it with memory alone.


    The swordsmanship Ren used when he was a demon lord, focused solely on attacking and its defensive capabilities was abysmal. The reason why Ren created such a swordsmanship was because he thought it would only take him one hit to kill his opponent, and even if the opponent survives the first strike Ren decided that the best defense was a good offense. So Ren''s style had little to no defensive moves.


    The same couldn''t be said with the swordsmanship Ren was trying to copy. This swordsmanship had perfect offensive and defensive capabilities, since the offense and defense were as one. As he swung the branches like swords, Ren''s concentration increased. He no longer felt his surroundings, the only thing he could feel were the branches he used as swords, and how he swung them. He didn''t even notice that the leaves that were falling in his area were actually being sliced in half, and he wasn''t even using mana it was just his swordsmanship.


    Silika who was watching since the beginning was amazed. Ren doesn''t even seem to notice he has been moving and swinging the branches for a half a day now. Silika couldn''t help it, but she felt that Ren was slowly bing the person she so wished to meet once more.


    ''You might simply be a reincarnation of him and a different person altogether, but I just can''t help it, I can only see him. You might not be Leo but I... I can''t help it, I still...''


    Silika who was no longer mortal and turned into a spirit felt like she could hear the beating of her heart, that has stopped long ago. Watching Ren she remembered thest time she saw Leo.


    ...


    Leonard Tranor the strongest human of his era, the one hailed as the God of battle and victory. The only mortal who would strike fear to even the Gods themselves. He who seem to be the embodiment of victory itself. He had manypanions on his journey to find the ultimate battle, but the first one to apany him on his journey was a half vampire called Elizabeth, whom he called Eli and in turn called him Leo.


    Leo and Eli started their adventure by themselves, and after a short while they were joined by numerous otherpanions. Most of them being girls and some guys, Eli didn''t understand why but Leo seem to be easily attract girls because of his overwhelming strength. Still because he was so focused on battle, it seemed like he wasn''t able to notice the feelings of the women traveling with him. Well that''s what the girls thought, but in truth Leo knew of their feelings, he just didn''t bother with them since he wanted to focus on finding the ultimate battle.


    On one of their adventures Eli was killed in battle for protecting Leo. Her death caused Leo to lose himself but only for a moment. Leo being who he was charged into the underworld, and destroyed the God of Death, in which he took his title and became the new God of Death. With his new title and abilities, Leo revived Eli.


    The newly resurrected Eli, after hearing what Leo had done for her, requested him to give her the title of God of Death. Leo relinquished the title to Eli who then professed her love for him. Leo hearing Eli''s confession didn''t answer, instead he promised her that he would return for her. Eli then promised to wait for him, no matter how long.


    Years have passed and Eli as the new God of Death, has learned of Leo''s amazing adventures. On how he conquered the forbiddennds, on how he defeated numerous War Gods. On how he dered war on the Dragons, and even fought the Dragon of beginning who fled from him. She even heard that Leo unintentionally created the strongest Kingdom led by hispanions and his children.


    Eli hearing that Leo had children felt happy at the same time sad. Since once upon a time she too dreamt of bing one of his brides.


    A few more years went by, and Leo finally found the opponent he was looking for. He then returned for Eli, who he asked if she could apany him for onest adventure. The God of Death Elizabeth, handed her position to another and happily joined Leo.


    In this final adventure, Eli saw some familiar faces as well as new ones. Everyone was with them, as they faced an enemy who imed to be a part of the ORIGIN. This being was so strong that even with thebined might of Leo and hispanions, they were still having a difficult battle.


    The battle they had with this being was fought for days, until finally only Leo was the only one able to fight. He was badly injured but still he showed a fearless smile as he faced the enemy who he sought for all his life. He stepped forward even though he knew that this was going to be hisst battle.


    He fought with all his might, and as he fought he smiled a joyous smile. He who loved battle was rewarded, and in the end he killed the being that was part of the ORIGIN. It was a close battle, and Leo was slowly dying. Eli was able to crawl to his side, and she held him in her arms. Leo looked at Eli, and touched her face as he gently spoke to her.


    "Heh, this time our situations are reversed. I remember you being in the same situation many years ago. As I was the one holding you, making the same face." Even as death was nearing him, Leo kept his smile.


    "Idiot." Those were the only words Eli could say, as she felt the vitality of Leo slowly fading.


    "Heheh, I guess I really am... Hey Eli, do you remember the promise we made when we first met?"


    "Yeah, you promised to show me a ce I could call home."


    "Next I promised to return for you. How about we make a new promise."


    "Sure."


    "Eli the next time we meet I promise to marry you."


    "Heh, sure I''ll be waiting Leo." Eli who could feel Leo growing colder held his hands, as she stopped herself from crying and instead smiled.


    "I... Love you Eli, you were the most important person to me. You were the one who made me be who I am now. I truly... did... lov...e yo..u E...Li..." As Leo talked his voice grew softer and softer, until finally he could no longer speak.


    ...


    Silika who remembered that time, felt pained. She tried to bring him back but his soul wasn''t part of the normal flow, and she wasn''t even sure how Leo was able to resurrect her at that time. So she felt totally helpless. Yet now she finally met him again, even though he no longer resembled the him of the past, and was basically a totally different person. Silika who saw him practicing his swordsmanship, couldn''t help but hope.


    ''Will he finally fulfill his final promise?''

 Chapter 72 - Trouble is brewing

    <h4>Chapter 72 - Trouble is brewing</h4>


    It has been a day since Valdel returned to the knight academy, and it was tense. The moment he returned tons of people surrounded him, and they all started asking about his sword the Zweihander. At first they said that they wanted to buy it from him, when Valdel answered that he didn''t n to sell the sword, the students answered in anger. The students then started ndering Valdel, by shouting words like cheater, thief,moner, and other wonderfully colorful words.


    It was a good thing Sir Matthew was still with him and he easily made the group of student disperse. Once they were dispersed Valdel took the chance to head towards his dorm room, where there was no one there.


    For the moment Valdel started to think of what to do next, it was obvious to him that the moment Sir Matthew disappeared the students wille bother him again. He could show the ring the king gave him, but he didn''t want to use it for something like this. While Valdel was thinking about the next step, he heard someone knock on the door and opened it. He saw three people enter the room, they were none other than his room mates, Noel, Daniel, and Kurt.


    When the three saw Valdel inside the room, they asked if he was alright. Once the three heard about what happened a while ago, they too started asking about the origin of the sword that Valdel has, but they unlike the other students didn''t want the sword for themselves, instead they just wanted to know the whole situation to form a n that could better support Valdel in the uing crisis.


    Valdel feeling that these guys were somehow trust worthy, exined to them that his sword was given to him by a powerful magician and the sword itself choices the master. If an unworthy person held Zwei then they will be met with an extreme punishment at worst cases death. Of course this wasn''t the truth, but some parts were. Valdel wanted to trust these people he really did, but he just wanted to make sure. Once this whole ordeal was over, he nned to tell them the truth.


    Hearing Valdel''s exnation made Noel and the others look at him a little bit in doubt. Valdel knowing what they were thinking showed Zwei and told them if they don''t believe him they can test it out, and see what happens. Of course none of them were brave enough to hold the sword. Instead they all nodded at Valdel and told him that they believe him.


    The four of them then started talking about what to do next, but no matter how much they talked about it, the couldn''t figure anything out. The opponents this time were a marquis and various earls. Among the dorm mates the highest noble rank they had was Viscount.


    The only thing they could think of doing that could actually work was for Valdel to escape, but Valdel didn''t like running away like a criminal. He hasn''t done anything wrong so why should he run. Of course Noel and the others exined to him why he needed to run.


    "Valdel we might not have known each other for long, but I know you''re a good guy. So I don''t really want you to die like this."


    "Yeah listen to him Valdel, aren''t we already friends, and as friends we just want to do what''s best for you."


    "Dying because of something like this is foolish. Once you''re dead you can never achieve anything even those ideal of yours."


    "Do you really understand what you''re getting yourself into?"


    But no matter what they said Valdel just wouldn''t budge, instead he answered the three by showing them the ring he got from the king.


    The moment the three of them saw the ring, they had their mouths agape. This ring was a symbol of the royal family, having this ring meant that the bearer was a friend of the royal family. With this ring alone even Dukes need to treat the person holding this ring with respect.


    Knowing that Valdel has this, the three got confused and wondered which person of the royal family gave him this ring.


    "The king gave it to me."


    When they heard Valdel say that the person who gave the ring was the king himself, the three of them had their eyes bulging out. If they knew that Valdel had this ring, they wouldn''t be as worried as they were before.


    "How did you get that? Why did the king give you that ring?" Noel asked Valdel still surprised by the sudden knowledge of the ring being from the king.


    "The king ask me to take three hits from his sword, if I was able to take the three hits while standing, he would reward me, and as you can see that ring was the reward."


    Hearing that Valdel was able to take three hits from the king''s de and live, made the three look at Valdel with newfound respect. The warrior king Willmot Reschbeauch was considered to be the second most powerful warrior in the kingdom. His power was so strong that not even the four Saint level swordsmen of the kingdom could match him. So hearing Valdel who was only a master level swordsman take three hits from the king made them feel amazed.


    "Did he use Maertach?" Daniel asked in excitement.


    "Maertach? What''s that?"


    "It''s the sword the king of Reschbeauch uses. It is a powerful weapon only the king and his bloodline can use." Noel chimed in the conversation.


    "Oh, I think I saw that sword. No he didn''t use that, we both used normal heavy swords." Hearing Valdel''s answer made Daniel look a bit disappointed.


    "Well no matter, that''s not what''s important. What''s important is that you have that ring. As long as you have that ring, not even a Duke can do anything to you. So no matter what happens you cannot lose that ring."


    Like the king said Valdel really did need the ring. Still for some reason he couldn''t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

 Chapter 73 - Hilda’s contemplating

    <h4>Chapter 73 - Hilda''s contemting</h4>


    It has been a few days now since both Lara and Ren weren''t able to go and do some adventurer work as a party. Ren went and had a solo adventure, while Lara was doing something she wouldn''t tell. Hilda was the only one doing actual adventurer work.


    Even now she was currently on a mission to subjugate a few goblins that were terrorizing a small vige. The goblins have been a little unrulytely, this happened ever since the lich from before disappeared. The surrounding monsters seem to be in a berserker state, as they came closer and closer to human settlements, that they used to avoid.


    Still no matter how aggressive this goblins be they were still no match for Hilda, who was able to quickly dispatch them. Hilda who was in a very bad mood, decided not to only kill the goblin raiders, but find their den and destroy them inside their own home.


    It was quite easy for Hilda to find the goblin cave since she used to deal with goblins a lot before. She didn''t annihte all the goblin raiders and left one alive, so that she could follow him back. When a goblin is badly wounded it would return home by instinct.


    Now that Hilda found the cave were the goblin menace was hiding, she went in andpletely massacred them. She cut off some of their ears, as proof of subjugation. As Hilda ventured deeper into the cave she saw, some n.a.k.e.d women.


    It was as Hilda expected, of course there will be a bunch of kidnapped women. Since goblins were a race only made up of males, they needed to kidnap women from other races to procreate. Every time Hilda sees a scene like this she somehow feels a bit angry. Imagining her own family in a simr situation made her blood boil.


    ...


    Hilda then proceeded to free the captured women. She promised them to bring them back to their vige, but some of them who were already pregnant with goblin children asked to be killed. Actually most of them who were a bit older asked Hilda to kill them.


    Even if they were saved, being defiled by goblins basically meant they were already dead to the people of their vige. Even if they do return, no one would want them there, and their lives will be difficult. Hilda has been in a simr situation before when she started as an adventurer.


    At that time she wanted to save the women, and not kill them. Yet the moment she brought them back to their vige they were shunned. Only the parents of the victims wanted them back, still there were some parents that actually shunned their own children. This resulted in the women leaving their vige some of them became p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.es while the others killed themselves.


    Knowing this Hilda decided to fulfill the wishes of these women. First she asked those who wanted to go home to wait outside. When the others left, Hilda faced the remaining women.


    "Do you guys have anyst words."


    "Thank you."


    The women who have been r.a.p.ed numerous times had nothing to say except their thanks. The look of relief they had as Hilda''s de sliced their heads off was heartbreaking. These woman had loved ones, had a life that hasn''t been lived to their fullest, and now they stood here thanking the person who would end their lives.


    Hilda had cut off their heads and made onest final prayer for them, that one day in a new life they would find happiness wherever they go.


    ...


    Hilda who had returned the remaining women back to their homes, saw the scene she had expected. The reactions of the vigers was not good. The parents epted their daughters back, but some of them didn''t. No matter how much the women groveled and screamed, their parents ignored them.


    Hilda gritted her teeth, but she knew she didn''t have the ability to save them. This left a bad after taste for Hilda.


    ...


    Hilda who returned to the adventurers guild to report thepletion of the quest, handed her proof of subjugation. Once she was done with everything she sat down in one of the chairs of the guilds bar. She felt like these simple quest was more exhausting than it should be.


    ''This wasn''t what I was expecting when I became an active adventurer again. It''s all that guy''s fault, why would he leave his party to do a solo adventure. We''ve just done one quest and that was it. Well to be fair that one quest was more than what we expected...''


    Hilda then sighed as he ordered a mug of ale.


    ''Wasn''t the whole purpose of me joining his party, was for me to see if he really is a trustworthy person. What am I actually doing right now?...''


    Hilda then remembered everything she noticed about Ren during theirst quest. He wasn''t at all what she was expecting him to be. At first she thought she was like one of those hot shots that think they could do anything. Later on she learned that he was just a free spirit that liked to battle.


    Actually now that she thinks about it, Ren''s essence, his personality, his very core seems to revolve around battle. She remembered the time he fought the king drake, where he thanked the monster after killing it. He also remembered the time with the lich, when he was forced to retreat to save her and Lara. The disappointment in his eyes was clear to see.


    ''It''s not like he''s a bad person per se, well it''s also not like he''s a good person either. It feels more like he only cares about those somehow rted to him, and everything else that isn''t worth fighting is nothing in his eyes. Well I guess that''s nothing special since everyone is somehow like that, only caring about those that are close to them. Actually it''s more abnormal for someone to care for another that they know nothing about.''


    ''Still I wonder what Ren ordered Lara to do. Well as long as it isn''t too excessive and it doesn''t mess with the lives of my family, then maybe it''s alright to let him be. That guy does seem to have a good reason for doing the things he''s doing... Heh, I guess I too am a selfish person, just like that guy.''


    Hilda who had her ale at hand started drinking. She hasn''t noticed that for the past few days that she hasn''t seen Ren, was the time she started to think about him more. It was at this point, she didn''t realize that it was just a matter of time before her obsession of him will turn into something else.

 Chapter 74 - Sepchel

    <h4>Chapter 74 - Sepchel</h4>


    It was a brand new day and Valdel was about to do his daily routine, until he remembered that the people in the academy were trying to get Zwei. It was at this moment Valdel started to think of what to say to make the other students leave him alone. Valdel could say that Zwei has a will of its own, and will choice its owner. If he did that the others might actually try to kill him.


    It was also possible that upon knowing of Zwei''s sentience, those students would get crazier, making matters even worse. Either way telling the truth about Zwei wasn''t an option. Still Valdel wondered if showing the ring and telling the noblemen what the king told him to say would actually work. It was during these times that Valdel wishes that Ren was here to give him some advise.


    ''Wait what am I thinking. The moment things get rough I look for Ren for answers. It''s like I''m a kid and Ren''s my dad. That''s not right I''m the older one yet I always act like I''m the younger one. It does seem that Zwei was right about me, I do rely on Ren far too much.''


    Zwei who was listening to her master''s thoughts didn''t respond since she wasn''t asked. There was a certain decorum of those weapons that have a contract needed to somehow follow.


    ...


    Valdel started to think of every possible scenario. This was one of the things Ren tried to teach him back in the day. Yet he was so enamored by swordsmanship that he didn''t really get to learn this trick too much. Unlike him, Lisa who was very good at understanding and thinking of all possible scenarios. She was even capable of quickly thinking of solutions to said problems. The only drawback she had was she was too weak. She just couldn''t implement the ns she had in her brain, due to her weak body.


    ''At times like this, Lisa would''ve been a great help... Damn it! I did it again, I actually wanted to rely on someone else to do my job. What kind of hero always needs someone else''s help!''


    The heroes of old that Valdel admired were the type of heroes the did everything themselves. They faced insurmountable odds and won, all these feats were done supposedly by their lonesome. Though all these stories were simply stories that the viger elder told, it had quite an impact on him.


    Valdel who racked his brain as much as he could, couldn''t really think of anything. When thinking of what do next failed, Valdel simply stopped thinking about it.


    ''Well I''ll just deal with whateveres, when it happens. I''m not really as smart as Lisa and Ren, but I can still solve my own problems, I''m sure of it.''


    Valdel who quit thinking about things to deeply, smiled a confident smile, as he felt refresh. If Ren were here and saw how Valdel was struggling in thinking about what to do, he would''ve snickered in the inside.


    Valdel was a hero, and those heroes no matter who they were, had one basic trait that all of them shared. They were all supernaturally lucky. As long as Valdel wasn''t facing someone with overwhelming might like Ren when he was demon lord Kretos, Valdel would easily get the things he needs to win in any situation.


    He would coincidentally gain a sudden power-up, or an ally that he didn''t know off will appear, an item he needed will be handed to him. As long as there was a chance, Ren noticed that a hero would get what he needed in the most crucial time. The only reason that Ren always won back in his past life, was because there was nothing that could help the hero to actually beat him.


    ...


    While Valdel was in his room, getting ready for what''s toe a group of people were nearing Grenton. These people were some of the top men of various noble families. They had all gathered in Grenton to acquire Valdel''s magic weapon. The only family that had another agenda aside from the magic weapon were the Saulon''s, the family of stair.


    They came here not only to acquire the magic weapon that could absorb mana based attacks, but they also came here to punish stair for making their family look bad. They also came to see what kind of person was audacious enough to actually fight on of their own. The man in charge of the people who came today was stair''s older brother, Sepchel Saulon.


    He was a twenty two year old man, who had a great physique making him look bigger than normal. He was the eldest of the Saulon children that were of the main family. Unlike his little brother stair who was obsessed with the sword, Sepchel was a more of an all around type genius. He was good with a sword, magic, bow and arrow, strategy, and other such things that could help him in war.


    Sepchel was the youngest knightmander of the kingdom. He had a total of two hundred knights under him, and six hundred soldiers. He is also a part of a group of nobles that sided with the first prince, in favor of his idea of war against all the neighboring countries.


    Due to the matter at hand being out of the norm, the Saulon family sent in the best of their younger generation. This was also to train him, and see how he will deal with a such a situation. In this mission the Sepchel brought fifty nine of his well trained knights.


    Sepchel looked at one of men that was beside him and gave out a order.


    "Bring six men with you, and find out everything you can about the person called Ren. Once you''re done head straight to the academy."


    "Yes my liege." The man in knight armor saluted at Sepchel. He took six others and led them into the deeper parts of the town. Sepchel looked at the remaining fifty two men that he brought. He was unsure as to what might happen but he needed to prepare, just in case something unexpected would ur.


    ''I don''t like the feeling I''m getting from the town. Most of the lower nobles havee to take the magic sword away from the boy named Valdel, so that they could elevate their positions. I am sure that they would cause trouble, but I feel that there is something more threatening that would take ce. Tsk, how troublesome, damn it, this is all because of that stupid little brother acting without thinking things through.''


    Sepchel who was thinking about something, spoke to his lieutenant.


    "Take forty of our men, and separate into two groups, I want you to station yourselves on the northern and southern exits. If you see any suspicious people leaving town, I want you to apprehend them and bring them to me."


    "As you wish my liege." The lieutenant did a formal knight salute and took forty men with him.


    As Sepchel looked at the leaving forty one men on horses, he sighed. ''Now then, let''s go and meet that idiotic brother of mine.'' Sepchel with his remaining nine men entered the town of Grenton.

 Chapter 75 - Gathering of nobles

    <h4>Chapter 75 - Gathering of nobles</h4>


    The noble families that have gathered in Grenton had directly went to the knight academy. Majority of them only brought around five to six men, seeing as the boy who held the magic weapon was nothing more than amoner who had nothing backing him up. Even though the kid was a master rank swordsman, the noble families had brought numerous advance level swordsmen, and even some three circle mages also called advance level mages.


    Even though these people were one rank lower than Valdel, they had the advantage of numbers. With the preparations they made the noble families feltfortable. The only problem was that many of them were here for the same thing. How will they get what they want and justify it to the other nobles present.


    That was the question all of them had at first, until they learned that Sepchel Saulon hade for the same thing. All of the lower nobles present decided to band together and try to persuade Sepchel to not join in the chaos.


    Still before they could argue about who gets the weapon, they first needed to get the weapon in question. The noblemen and their guards had now surrounded the knight academy. A person then came out and it wasn''t Valdel, but the old knight, Principal Galius.


    "How can I help you gentlemen?"


    "Principal Galius, we heard that you have a student that''s has stolen something valuable. This student, no this thief, we the noblemen of the Reschbeauch kingdom wish to bring him to justice, and acquire the weapon he stole so that we may give it back to its rightful owner." The one who spoke was a middle age man, that had a rank of Earl. He was also the one who suggested that they the lower nobles should band together against the heir of Saulon.


    "Oh, a thief is it? I don''t remember having a thief as a student. Is there perhaps a misunderstanding here? Or do you have any proof that he is indeed a thief?" The old knight responded in a calm manner, unaffected by the numerous people surrounding him.


    "He has a magic weapon that even a high ranking noble will have difficulty owning. Amoner such as himself doesn''t have the money, nor the capability to gain such a weapon. Thus we concluded that he stole it from another noble, or perhaps ransacked it from a tomb of a powerful warrior, making him not only a thief but a person that desecrated the resting ce of the dead." Another noble present spoke his view about the matter, sharing to the others such an outrageous im.


    Galius hearing what the noble said, made him feel like smiling and even almost made him chuckle. Everything that noble said was preposterous. He imed that only nobles could own such a weapon, and used one of his students of grave robbing. How hypocritical, everyone knows that most noblemen are grave robbers. In the past war, the only reason that some of the noblemen gained their wealth was by ransacking not only the homes of their enemies but even their graves.


    Galius found it even more ridiculous that these people actually act as if they were righteous and were trying to bring back the weapon to its supposed rightful owner. Yet contrary to their words the greed in their eyes was unmistakable.


    "So all in all the proof you have, is nothing more but a im of the people gathered here? You don''t really have any hard proof that you can show to prove the legitimacy of your actions. If that is so, then I have no obligation to hand over one of my students."


    "Don''t be foolish Galius, just bring out the thief and we will settle this peacefully."


    "I have not intention of handing anyone to you." Galius stood in front of the various nobles with dignity. He didn''t care what they say, all he knew was he would never give up Valdel for something as foolish as this.


    The other noblemen started to berate Galius, while some continued to persuade him.


    ...


    While the trouble in the front gate of the academy was happening Sepchel was now face to face with his brother. stair who saw his brother quickly greeted him.


    ''Finally those foolishmoners will get what they deserve.'' As stair was thinking this, he was then pped in the face. The p was so powerful that he stumbled backward. stair was confused as to what had happened. He looked upward and saw his brother had dismounted his horse and approach him, he lifted him up with one hand and started pping him with another.


    This wasn''t what he was expecting to happen. Though stair knew he was going to be punished, but he never knew he would be punished like this. He simply thought that he would be reprimanded and then be brought back to the main family''s home and be on house arrest. He wasn''t expecting his elder brother to actually pped him continuously.


    "You thrash, do you understand what you have done wrong?" stair who was now red from all the pping, looked at his brother and was a bit frightened. This was the first time he saw his brother this angry.


    "I know my wrongs brother. It''s because I lost to amoner in a fight, that I shamed the family name."


    When stair gave out his answer, his brother Sepchel once again pped him in the face.


    "You really are thrash! Losing to an opponent stronger than you, also one that the Principal acknowledges isn''t shameful. Now initiating the fight against such an opponent, without an actual proper reason aside from your damn ego being hurt, is what''s shameful. You''re a disgrace, you are not fit to be a knight, much less to be my younger brother."


    Sepchel then tossed aside his brother, and as his back was facing his brother he spoke. "You are to quit studying to be a knight, and are to immediately return home. Once you get home, you will be punished. I will tell you now that the punishment will most likely be that the head, our father will make you be a soldier for our kingdom. You will fight in the battlefield and you will die in the battlefield. If you somehow miraculously survive and earn meritorious deeds in battle, you will be allowed to return home. But if you were to die in the battlefield, then at least you have contributed something to the kingdom, aside from being a fool with arge ego."


    Hearing what his brother said, stair was pale in fright the former proud knight student clung to his elder brother''s leg.


    "Brother please save me! Don''t you think that this is too much! I merely fought amoner, for being rude!" Sepchel swung his leg and kicked his brother away, he then proceeded to look at him with ridicule and anger.


    "First off the way you are acting with no pride or dignity makes you less than amoner, that you seem to hate so much. Do you understand that even we the Saulon''s have started out asmoners as well. I don''t understand how you can speak so arrogantly againstmoners, knowing this. Also you''re telling me that all you did was fight amoner? How stupid do you think I am?! I had one of my men ced here in the city to guard and spy on you. Obviously I''m sure you didn''t notice him. When I got here he reported to me all of the idiotic things you have done."


    As Sepchel was saying this, his face grew angrier and angrier.


    "Not only did you fight without proper reason and lost, but instead of trying to improve yourself to beat that person on ater date. You instead tried to have him and his friends killed, by using assassins. When that failed, you spread a rumor about that boy Valdel''s weapon. So instead of learning from past mistakes, you instead went deeper into your wickedness. I feel ashamed to have a little brother such as you!"


    After pointing at the fearful stair in anger, Sepchel calmed himself down, before speaking again.


    "I will talk to the Principal regarding you leaving the academy. For now pack up your things, and wait for me in your dorm room." Sepchel didn''t say anything anymore, mounted his horse and with his nine men left his little brother stair to sit on his butt, looking at his elder brother''s back in a daze.

 Chapter 76 - Come and take it

    <h4>Chapter 76 - Come and take it</h4>


    The nobles were getting agitated as the Principal kept on refusing them. They didn''t want to do anything to the Principal since even though he is old, he was once a legend in the battlefield. The old man has a lot of knights that would back him up, most of them were his former students. Messing with the old man Galius wasn''t something the noblemen gathered could afford to do.


    It was at this moment Sepchel appeared. The noisy nobles quitted down upon seeing him. This was one of the most famous of the younger generation, and he was also considered the greatest genius of the kingdom. If he decided to join in the im for the magic weapon every noble present needed to band together and persuade him to do otherwise.


    The Principal looked at the youth in front of him with a smile on his face. "If it isn''t the knightmander Sepchel Saulon. How can I help you today?"


    "It''s a simple matter Sir Galius. I just wanted to inform you that my younger brother stair will be leaving school, and will be returning home. I wish to thank you for the two years my younger brother received your care." Sepchel dismounted and then saluted Galius with a formal knight salute. Sepchel''s subordinates did the same thing as theirmander and gave Galius a formal knight salute.


    "Oh, that''s too bad. He was a very impressive student, aside from his character, his skill was one of the best in the entire academy."


    "It doesn''t matter how much skill he has with the sword, if his character is rotten. My father will make sure to straighten out his rotten character. Once again thank you for all the years you tried to teach such a useless younger brother." After once again thanking Galius and calling stair useless, Sepchel mounted his horse and was about to step aside.


    "I hope you allow me to stay at the side, while I wait for my younger brother."


    "There is no need for you to ask permission, the academy doesn''t own the road... Sir Sepchel are you not interested in the magic weapon, that the others gathered here are trying to gain?"


    The moment Galius asked this question, the people present were now focused to hear what Sepchel would answer. The proud noble son answered, even though he thought that the question was stupid, but he simply answered due to his respect to Galius.


    "I have no interest in the possessions of other people. Also it doesn''t seem like the boy is as helpless as everyone believes him to be."


    When Sepchel said this, he looked at a distant rooftop. In that certain rooftop, stood Lara watching with a few men surrounding the area of the academy. Ren who already guessed that it was possible that some random noble finds out about Zwei, since he knew that Valdel was an extreme busybody. He was certain that Valdel wouldn''t care about showing off Zwei''s abilities if it was to help others. So he told Lara to prepare for such an urrence.


    ...


    Lara who was reading the lips of the people gathered in the front gate of the academy, was surprised by what Sepchel said and did. The man called Sepchel had sensed her presence that she hid so well. She was even positioned quite a distance away from the academy, that you needed to have an absurd eyesight to spot her. Yet the man looked directly at her.


    Galius hearing what Sepchel said was impressed. He too noticed the men surrounding the academy, but unlike Sepchel was unable to detect Lara, which hid herself further away.


    When the other nobles heard Sepchel''s answer they felt relieved at the same time they felt that Sepchel was being too arrogant. It was like he was telling them, that they were thieves themselves. Still no one voiced out anyints since Sepchel''s status was not something any one of them could deal with.


    "Is that so..." Galius then nodded his head. Once Sepchel and his men went to the side, the noblemen once again tried to persuade Galius to bring out the student Valdel. They weren''t wary of what Sepchel said about Valdel, saying he was not as helpless as they thought he was. To the nobles present that remark just felt like he was referring to Valdel''s swordsmanship, which they had prepared for.


    As they were thinking of ways to make Galius give up Valdel. The person in question actually came out of his own ord. Valdel who had witnessed the scene of Galius trying to defend him dug into his heart. He didn''t want the Principal to be in that kind of situation because of him. Valdel knew that all of these events were happening because of him, so that means this was his problem not the Principal''s. Valdel wanted to clean up his own mess, and not make someone unrted take theshing for him.


    "Can all of you stop bothering the Principal. I''m Valdel the one you''re looking for." The moment Valdel showed himself in front of the nobles they felt that luck was on their side. They were almost about to give up for the day, and return tomorrow after forming a new n, but it would seem that there was no need for that.


    "Valdel master rank swordsman, we came here because it was reported that you have a stolen magic sword. If you hand it over peacefully, we will pardon your crimes of theft. What say you?"


    The advance rank swordsmen and some of the mages present were extremely wary of Valdel. As they waited for his answer the atmosphere was tense. The people present as guards knew that Valdel was a master swordsman but seeing him in person made the swordsmen and mages have a different impression of Valdel.


    The swordsmen actually saw how good Valdel was simply by him standing there in front of them. It felt like the moment they attacked they would be cut down. The mages on the other hand were a bit frightened by Valdel. Normally a swordsman was someone who walked the way of the sword to the extreme, they were people who had lesser mana than mages, that''s why they focused on enhancing their physical abilities. Even their spells revolved around enhancing their physical abilities. These spells used lesser amounts of mana than a normal outward spell like the basic spell [fireball].


    When they saw Valdel who was a master rank swordsman owning such a powerful mana flow, they felt confused and a bit scared. Though it was normal that knights who were the elite of the elite, to be able to use magic and the sword since they im to have mastery of both, but their mana was only above the normal swordsman, and the same as a normal magician. Yet the mana Valdel had was the same as an intermediate rank mage.


    This meant Valdel was not only a powerful swordsman, but is most probably a powerful mage as well. There were other people like this, who are powerfully in swordsmanship and magic, a good example was Sepchel who was watching at the side. Still the guards didn''t expect that Valdel their target today would be one of these people.


    ...


    Even the nobles noticed the rising tension of their guards, and were quietly waiting for Valdel''s answer. Sepchel on the other hand was impressed by the boy named Valdel. Even though Valdel wasn''t at Sepchel''s level yet, but the knightmander had to admit that Valdel was indeed stronger than he was when he was sixteen.


    After a few seconds of silence, that felt like hours, Valdel finally spoke.


    "First off this sword, my sword Zwei isn''t something I stole. She was something given to me. Second if you want her, thene and take her. But I must warn you this sword chooses her master. The moment a person she doesn''t acknowledge touches her, she would harm that person."


    Valdel took out Zwei and stabbed her into the ground in front of him. He then gestured to the noblemen that they were wee to try and take her. The noblemen didn''t believe that there was a weapon that could choose its wielder. They believe that Valdel simply said that to frighten them, making them unable to take the weapon.


    Though they didn''t believe in the sword''s sentience, none of the noblemen present stepped forward to im the sword. Though the sentience might be a dubious im, it was possible that Valdel himself would do something to them, and then im that the sword did it.


    "I thought you people wanted Zwei? Come on, try and take her. I won''t do anything, I''ll only stay here at the side and watch. If anyone of you is able to hold onto Zwei for a minute or so, then you may have her."


    Valdel knew that these people would not stop until they get what they wanted. So he decided to act like his best friend Ren, and openly challenge everyone. Once they see that they can''t hold Zwei, Valdel hoped that they will stop trying to obtain her.


    Hearing Valdel sound like he was looking down on them, made one nobleman extremely angry. He didn''t like the feeling that amoner such as Valdel was acting so pompous in front of them, so he stepped forward and readied himself to pull out Zwei from the ground.

 Chapter 77 - Ring of the king

    <h4>Chapter 77 - Ring of the king</h4>


    The noble who stepped forward was slowly nearing the sword, as he closed in he was getting a bit nervous. He looked at the direction of Valdel to see if he was going to do something. Yet Valdel simply stood beside the principal and as he said he was simply observing the situation.


    Still the noble who stepped forward didn''t feel relieved by this. It made him even more suspicious, it might actually be possible that what Valdel said was the truth. Once that idea stuck into the noble''s head, the courage he had gathered a while ago suddenly disappeared.


    He stood there motionless, his hand only a few centimeters away from the two handed sword. The other nobles watching this scene, were getting impatient. They also didn''t want to be the one to try and get the sword. Since they knew there was a possibility that the sword will really attack them. As if the other nobles could read each others minds, they all had the same thought. They needed to push the one in front to do it for them. It was obvious he was already hesitating and was about to give up, and they needed to push him forward.


    "Come on, pull it already!"


    "Are you going to pull it, or are you just a coward?!"


    "How about you move aside so someone else can try, you coward!"


    The other nobles then started jeering. This made the noble in front unable to back down anymore. If he backs down after all this, the insults will continue and he will forever be called a coward. His reputation would fall if he backs out now.


    The noble then strengthened his resolve and held onto the sword. The moment he touched the sword nothing happened, he and the others thought that it really was just Valdel trying to scare them, but the moment they thought this the sword was suddenly covered in mes. Unable to handle the heat, the noble was forced to let go of the sword.


    "What the hell have you done, Valdel! How dare someone like you attack a noble!" The noble who got his hand burn shouted in anger. Valdel simply shrugged his shoulders in response.


    "What the hell! You attacked someone and that''s how you act!" The other nobles started chiming in. Sepchel who was watching from the side, knew that Valdel did nothing. He was watching Valdel all this while and knew that Valdel neither gathered mana or chanted any spell words. He was simply standing there. The sword on the other hand, suddenly concentrated mana, and then expelled the mana using a me spell. This proved to Sepchel that the sword does choose a master, he could tell the other nobles the truth, but he already said he wasn''t interested in this event. So in the end he decided not to do anything about it. The Principal on the other hand had something to say on behalf of his student.


    "Valdel never used any spell, he did nothing to cause the sword to me up. Asked the mages that you brought and you will have your answer. I''m sure that they noticed the truth of the matter."


    The nobles were already aware about the truth, since even before the Principal spoke, their mages already told them what happened. Yet they couldn''t admit this, since this will prove that the sword really was given to Valdel. It was also because of that demonstration, of the sword ming up that their greed multiplied, since they were now sure that the weapon really was a magic weapon.


    "Our mages haven''t noticed anything. I understand that you want to defend your student Sir Galius, but helping a thief isn''t an honorable thing a knight such as you should do."


    "Heh, it is you bunch that aren''t acting with any honor." Once the Principal said this, both he and the nobles gathered once again started arguing.


    As they were arguing, Valdel was thinking ever so deeply. It doesn''t seem like anything he did will work on these nobles. They will keep on insisting that he was doing something wrong.


    ''Even if they fail to get Zwei right now, they might start to take even more drastic measurester on. It''s alright if I''m the only one, they would bother, but the moment they start messing with Ren, they would all die. I don''t really like the idea that Ren would kill them, but if Ren does that he might be an enemy of the kingdom. Also even if they don''t bother Ren, they might actually do something with my family. I guess I really do have no choice.''


    Today Valdel stood up for himself, thinking he could end thismotion with his own abilities, but in the end he still needed to use the ring the king has given him. His strength and prestige were still weak, for him to be able to do anything significant, but that''s only for now.


    "I didn''t wish to use this but you people have given me no choice." Valdel lifted his hand and showed everyone the ring the king gave him. Sepchel who saw the ring was amazed, even in this distance he could see that the ring was authentic. It even has that distinct mana flow that only the royal family''s items had.


    The nobles gathered also knew the significance of the ring Valdel held. That was something only given to friends of the royal family. It was an item that wasn''t something any of them could contest with.


    "That must be a fake!" One of the nobles shouted, which made the others say the same thing. Valdel took out Zwei from the ground and slowly walked towards the nobles. When they saw Valdel moving towards them, with a weapon at hand the nobles told their guards to protect them. Sepchel was also going to stop Valdel if he resorted to violence.


    "No need to panic, I''m just going to show you people that this ring is authentic." Even though Valdel said this, the nobles were still wary of him. Now that he was near them, the nobles started to look at the ring, and were now even more sure that the ring was truly authentic. Still they can''t just give up here.


    "Hmph, who are you trying to fool? That''s obviously a fake." The noblemen gathered still kept on insisting it was a fake. As long as they acquired the magic weapon, if the king questions them, they could say that Valdel never showed the ring to them. Even if Sepchel and the Principal tell otherwise, they had numbers on their side, and the king cannot simply dismiss their ims. They can just n further after they im the prize. Even with the chance of the king''s anger being directed at them, the nobles present decided to still gamble with the chance of acquiring the sword, that''s how much Valdel''s magic weapon was worth to them.


    "The king also said this, To him who mischief seeks, shall mischief fall. Therees an hour that rpenses all." The moment they heard this saying, most of the nobles got tense and weren''t able to speak anymore. What Valdel said was something the king says when he was about to execute traitors.


    If they keep on persisting, they would be killed. If they keep on bothering Valdel for the sword, they will be treated as traitors of the kingdom. That was the hidden meaning behind what Valdel said. Still some of the nobles present really didn''t want to stop, they really wanted to gain that weapon of Valdel''s, but after they heard what Valdel said, they knew they can never take it upfront, especially since Sepchel a loyal servant of the royals was present. The moment they acted out after hearing what Valdel said, Sepchel would kill them without hesitation.


    It was then most of them decided to back off for now. They thought that making a move in the open is no longer possible, but there were other ways they could use to acquire the sword.

 Chapter 78 - What is with this town

    <h4>Chapter 78 - What is with this town</h4>


    The nobles finally backed off after hearing what Valdel said. They had determined that facing him directly would yield nothing. After acknowledging that the ring was real, the group of nobles apologized. The Principal didn''t take to kindly to their insincere apologies and scoffed at them. Valdel didn''t say anything since he knew that this wasn''t the end. These kinds of people will not give up.


    As the nobles gathered slowly dispersed, some of the people suddenly heard someone screaming.


    "It''s all because of you!" Out of nowhere someone appeared with a sword at hand. He had bloodshot eyes, and he red at Valdel running full speed towards him. This person was none other than, stair, Sepchel''s younger brother. Even though he was in a frenzied state stair was still an advanced level swordsman, not only that, even though he was rotten he was still considered a prodigy with the sword. So that attack he was about to make on Valdel was fatal.


    Sensing the opponent''s killing intent, Valdel''s body unconsciously moved to counter. It was something that was drilled to him by Ren, who kept on doing surprise attacks on him while showering him with his immense killing intent.


    Valdel''s counter-attacks usually depend on how much killing intent was directed at him. If it reached a certain point, even though Valdel, in general, didn''t like killing people, he would still kill if this much killing intent was directed at him. Since this much hatred meant it was impossible to get along with the opponent, so the only option left was to kill.


    Valdel evaded stair''s frenzied strike from the front. Now that he saw stair''s defenseless back, Valdel was about to deal a fatal strike, but the moment he swung Zwei down someone appeared before him blocking his sword. It was Sepchel who suddenly sprinted forward seeing that Valdel was nning to kill stair.


    Sepchel then pushed Valdel forward, at this point the frenzied stair was about ready to continue his attack on Valdel, but he was then knocked out by Sepchel who kneed him at his Sr Plexus. stair who has lost consciousness was picked up by Sepchel.


    "I''m sorry about what my younger brother has done. I hope you forgive us, I know it isn''t much, but I will give you anything aspensation. State your price. If that is not eptable then I have no choice but to fight. Since no matter how disgusting and rotten he has be, he is still my younger brother. Watching him die in front will leave a bad aftertaste." Sepchel who didn''t really like the actions of his brother still protected him, and went straight to the point.


    "It''s alright, no need for that since no one was really harmed." Hearing what Valdel said Sepchel had nothing else to say and simply bowed his head, as he dragged his brother to the back of his horse. After saluting at Valdel and the Principal onest time, Sepchel and his men left the scene.


    ...


    ''Damn this idiot! Always causing trouble!'' Sepchel was very upset at his younger brother as he and his men headed towards the southern exit. The moment he arrived he saw that his men were allying on the ground unmoving. Not only that it wasn''t just the twenty men stationed here thaty on the ground, even his second inmand and his men that were supposed to guard the northern exit, as well as the men he sent to gather intelligence on Ren, were here. What had happened here?


    Sepchel and his men dismounted and checked on the status of their fallenrades. Upon closer inspection, they quickly figured out that the men were simply unconscious. Whoever attacked them, did it so cleanly and it would seem that they did it with on strike each.


    While they were checking the bodies of the unconscious knights for any abnormalities, one of the men saw letter squeezed into the armor of one of hisrades. He took it out and immediately handed it to Sepchel.


    Sepchel who looked at the contents of the letter, was first astonished, then he started wryly smiling, and in the end, he once again red at his unconscious brother, that was ced behind his horse''s back.


    The contents of the letter were.


    "Hey, Knightmander Sepchel here are your men, be grateful I didn''t kill them. If you were like your brother these men of yours would be dead, but since it seems like you have a brain of sorts I left them alive. They fail to be good sparring partners to test out my new skills, except for that lieutenant of yours he was pretty good.


    Ren


    P.S. If you want to know more about me, no need to be indirect just head to the bar of the adventurers guild. I''ll be staying there for the next two days."


    Sepchel sighed after once again getting angry at the foolish actions of his younger brother. Sepchel wasn''t sure how strong Ren was, but to be able to beat most of his men, and even his lieutenant with but one or two hits, was already an indicator that he was either as strong as Sepchel, or he was someone even stronger.


    Sepchel sighed once more, this wasn''t someone he wanted to deal with at the moment, seeing as the fight between the first and the second prince was getting even more intense. Sepchel then decided to try and talk to Ren, and see if there family''s rtionship with him could soften.


    ...


    While Sepchel was thinking of what to do with Ren, the nobles who wanted to get Zwei were now heading back to the inns that they have rented. They figured that they would be staying here for quite some time, so most of them booked a whole inn to stay at, while others had vis ced in this town.


    As they were heading back to their respective ces, they were suddenly ambushed on the streets which were mysteriously empty. This was happening in different parts of Grenton. The moment they were ambushed the guards they hired tried to protect them. The mages who were about to cast spells were suddenly hit in the head by arrows. On the other hand, the swordsmen, even though they were advance rank were picked apart by long-range spells.


    It was a one-sided ughter. The noblemen watched on in horror as their guards die like dogs. Some of the noblemen tried to fight back but were easily dealt with. The others tried to flee, but arrows rained down upon them. Some screamed for help, hoping a guard or some sort of knight was passing by, but no matter how much they screamed no one responded.


    They couldn''t understand what was happening, why were they being attacked? Who was attacking them? Was it the other nobles that wanted the sword? They had no time to figure this out, as they died by arrows and spells. One of the noblemen actually got as far as to actually see the north gate. The moment he saw salvation, he was killed by an arrow through his head. Thest thoughts he had before his death were, ''What is with this town.''

 Chapter 79 - Ren’s return

    <h4>Chapter 79 - Ren''s return</h4>


    Though most of the nobles that entered Grenton died, some actually survived. These people were the ones who had no more intention of getting Valdel''s weapon. After learning that Valdel had a ring with the emblem of the royals, these nobles decided that the risk of offending Valdel was too much for them to handle, so they left the town as quickly as possible.


    At this point those that left early didn''t know how lucky they were. The nobles that died in Grenton were eight in total. News of their deaths will be known to the public after a few days. The king who heard the news from one of his subordinates, didn''t bother hearing the pleas of the family of these nobles, and simply called them traitors. After branding their family as traitors the king needed to wipe out the whole family lineage, since they already were in such a state, the chance of them revolting against the crown was high. So before they could do that, the king went ahead to exterminate future threats to the royal family.


    ....


    Ren who had just return from his trip to the forest of mist, was now sitting face to face with Nezzard the guild master. Nezzard who was looking at Ren''s smiling face couldn''t help but want to smack it. Every time this person showed up in front of him some kind of trouble will happen or has already happened. To Nezzard who hates working above all else, decided that Ren the person who makes him work the most was a mortal enemy.


    Ren was enjoying the ever changing expression of Nezzard. He could practically guess what thiszy guild master was thinking.


    "So did you really go to the forest of mist?"


    "Yeah it was a fun little trip. I actually gotten stronger because of that ce."


    Nezzard who heard what Ren said coughed loudly. Even though he wasn''t eating anything he felt like he was going to choke. This guy went to the one ce that many venture to and never return, and he treated it as a vacation spot, or some sort of training ground. Not only was he able to return from that ce, he even ims that he gotten stronger after a few days of staying there, and he said it so casually.


    Nezzard wanted to smack Ren''s smug face for saying what he said. What would other people feel if they heard what he said. They might feel like all their efforts to get stronger were worthless in front of such overwhelming talent. Unknown to him, the way Nezzard saw Ren as an incredible talent that doesn''t work as hard to get stronger, is the way other people have viewed him. Thezy guild master who does nothing but try his best not to work, yet is still somehow was one of the strongest of the adventurers guild.


    "So how did you escape?" Nezzard asked, giving up on trying to understand what Ren was thinking and why does this things.


    "Oh that, when my food supply was running low, I walked aimlessly heading deeper into the forest. At first I couldn''t understand why it doesn''t seem like I was going anywhere even though I''ve been walking for hours, it was then I noticed something strange. I saw some shining orbs floating around. At first I thought they were fairies of some sort, but they weren''t. They were something different, that I couldn''t understand. So without knowing how to leave the forest I decided to follow the floating orbs. Cause you know, why not."


    The more Nezzard heard Ren talk of his adventure in the forest of mist. The more he understood how abnormal Ren was. Based on how he described the whole sequence of events, not once did he panic or get scared. That was a forest famous for peopleing in, but nevering out. Yet Ren described it like it was no big deal, it was like he was certain that no matter what happens he was sure to get out.


    "So after following the floating orbs for a while, I reached what looked to be the center of the forest. You wouldn''t believe what I saw there."


    "Was it the dungeon?"


    "No, there was no dungeon in the forest. It was actually something even more incredible. I saw the bones of a Dragon, and based on the look and the mana residue that formed the forest mist, it was a water Dragon and a very powerful one at that."


    Hearing about the Dragon bones, thezy Nezzard suddenly stood up.


    "DRAGON BONES! Did you bring some? Of course you couldn''t if it was a real Dragon, then the bones must''ve been huge and heavy. Ren do you think that you could go back, and guide some people to where you saw the Dragon Bones. If we''re able to bring them back for an assessment, I promise to give you thirty percent of what the guild will be able to gain."


    Even though Nezzard was azy one, it was at this moment, he has once again proved why he was the guild master of this branch of the adventurers guild.


    "To answer the first question, yeah I got its ws. The answer to the second question is a no. I''m not sure if we will still be able to find those floating orbs again. If I go there a second time, I might not be able toe out. The only way you''ll be able to safely get those Dragon bones, is if the mana residue thates out of the Dragon''s corpse disappears. Based on what I saw it would most likely take a few hundred more years before it fully disappears."


    Hearing Ren''s answer made Nezzard feel disappointed. He knew that Ren would never give him the ws he took for himself. He also understood that what Ren said was reasonable, based on his story up to now the only reason he found the bones, was because of luck.


    "Okay then... So how did you escape?" Nezzard who was now a bit depressed, asked with lesser enthusiasm.


    "The exit simply appeared. After I discovered the dragon bones, a path towards the exit appeared."


    "Huh?"


    "Yeah I don''t understand it either, but that''s what happened. Anyway now that I have reported that, I''ll be on my way." Ren stood up from his chair and was about leave, but then Nezzard said something.


    "Oh right, because you suddenly appeared like this, I forgot about something that I needed to tell you. The Elder Lich Alfred disappeared somewhere in the Arcarcia mountain range. The scout that was trailing him, lost track of the Elder Lich in that area. Since you are the one who fought him directly I thought you might want to know."


    Ren who wasn''t saying anything, nor turning around, extended his hand forward and looked like he was bout to grab something. Nezzard felt a strange fluctuation of mana, it would seem like Ren had used a spell of sorts. In the hand that grasped empty space, something suddenly appeared.


    Ren then tossed this object towards Nezzard, who caught it on Reflex. The thing Ren tossed was arge w, that was the same size as a longsword. Seeing this almost made Nezzard''s eyes pop out. He was confused as to why this was given to him. Like usual it was like Ren read his mind as he answered.


    "Take that, it''s payment for the information you gave me... See youter Nezzard." After that Ren left the room.

 Chapter 80 - Reasonable man

    <h4>Chapter 80 - Reasonable man</h4>


    Ren who had just left the Guild Master''s room was heading straight to the pub inside of the adventurers guild. As he was walking, he passed by the receptionist area, he then heard someone calling his name.


    "Sir Ren, please wait." One of the guild receptionist approached him.


    "What is it?"


    "Someone is here looking for you." The guild receptionist pointed to a stern faced looking man, wearing some high ss armor. Ren could pretty much feel that there was some sort of spells within the armor itself. The man Ren was looking at looked at him as well and seem to be assessing him. Ren who saw this, could now guess who the man was. Though he didn''t know what he looked like, he was sure that the man looking for him was the knightmander of those knights he recently beaten up.


    Ren raised his arm and waved at the man. The man seeing Ren do this approached him.


    "Are you Ren?"


    "Yeah, and you must be that knightmander, Sepchel, those guys keep on screaming about." Ren said this with a smile on his face, as if he was provoking Sepchel. Yet unlike his little brother Sepchel wasn''t provoked and simply nodded his head.


    ''I see so he really is different from his younger brother.'' As Ren was thinking this, he felt someone probe him with mana sensing. It was obvious who was doing this, so to show the other party that he wasn''t one to be messed with, he showed him a glimpse into his current mana pool.


    The moment Sepchel who was scanning Ren felt his mana pool, he shivered. Though he didn''t show it in his face, Sepchel was shocked, or to be more precise he was scared. This man that he thought was at the same level as him, or was slightly stronger than him, was in fact actually so much more than that.


    "I havee here to apologize." Sepchel was quick to act. The moment he realized Ren was somebody he truly didn''t want to deal with, he switched to a more amodating tone.


    "Well, I''m okay with that, but before you get to apologizing, how about we get a drink first?" Ren gestured Sepchel to follow him. When Ren got to the pub area of the adventurers guild, he walked towards a table. The people who were sitting on that table Ren was eyeing, saw Ren approaching, which made them scatter away.


    The people of the guild knew who Ren was, even though he was merely a B rank adventurer, Ren was a person who survived facing off against an Elder Lich. Though the Elder Lich was away from its army of undead, to be able to survive such a thing with only three people in his party, was a testament of Ren''s skill. Also they were people present on the day Ren arrived at the adventurers guild. Those who witnessed him fight had one thought, this was not someone you should mess with.


    Ren seeing the table he wanted was now empty took a seat, Sepchel who was behind him followed and sat down as well.


    "Hey, two drinks over here. Also give us some food!" Ren shouted at one of the barmaids.


    "So what were you saying? You came to apologize, what are you apologizing for?" After ordering his drink and food, Ren''s attention went back to Sepchel.


    "First I want to apologize for my brother''s behaviour. I know he has offended you in some way, and as his elder brother I''m deeply sorry. I promise you that I will re-educate him, and teach him proper manners. Also I know that my subordinates did something unseemly as well, so I need to apologize in behalf of them since I''m theirmander." Sepchel had bowed his head as he said his apology. Someone as proud as him had bowed his head twice in one day, and it was all because of his sh*tty brother.


    Ren seeing this guy who looked so serious, reminded him of those human generals in his past life. So seeing him bow like this made Ren smile a bit.


    Ren didn''t know what kind of guy Sepchel was but if based solely on the way he carries himself, this person Sepchel was an exceptionally proud person.


    ''Proud, but at the same time cunning. Heh, this punk reminds me of that son of mine, who gave me the joy of a final battle.''


    "I can see your sincerity, but what will you do if I don''t want to forgive you? If apologizing was enough for such things, then this world would have been much more peaceful."


    Sepchel who had his head bowed raised it and looked at Ren straight in his eyes.


    "What is you want then?" The moment Sepchel asked this, the drinks and food arrived. Seeing the food spread before him, Ren who hasn''t eaten a good meal for the past couple of days started stuffing himself with the meat.


    Sepchel who was watching Ren thought that he had zero table manners. After stuffing himself with food, Ren spoke.


    "Hey you should drink and eat as well, since you''re the one paying for these." Hearing what Ren said, Sepchel shook his head.


    "It''s alright, eat as much as you want. I don''t need to eat right now."


    "Suit yourself."


    ...


    After a few more minutes of eating, Ren stood up from his chair and was about to leave. Sepchel who was surprised by this sudden action Ren made, stood up as well and asked.


    "Huh, is that it? Aren''t you going to ask for something more?"


    "No need, the actions of your brother was nothing more than the actions of a dog trying to bite more than it can chew. Those kinds of things mean nothing to me, it didn''t even serve as a good warm up. His scheming was also sub-par, he wasn''t even able to force Valdel into a corner much less me. Also your men didn''t do anything wrong, your lieutenant was actually pretty good, since he was able to make me use two new techniques I just learned. So all in all the meal you just payed for, is good enough for me."


    "I see." Sepchel once again sat down, feeling a bit relieved.


    "Oh, another thing. I have forgiven you for now, but the next time you try and provoke me, be it your brother, yourself, or anyone from your family, expect no more mercy." When Ren said this, Sepchel felt an overwhelming force pushing him down. The other people in the pub, didn''t seem to be affected, it was just him who could feel this suffocating pressure.


    "If you don''t mess with me, I won''t bother you. That''s all, I hope you remember my warning." Once he was done saying what he wanted to say, Ren released the pressure he was pouring onto Sepchel and left the establishment.


    Sepchel who was left alone on the table sat there stunned. He didn''t understand what had happened. What Ren used on him was neither killing intent, nor mana, it was something else entirely.


    ''What kind of monster have you provoked, you stupid brother... I need to warn father about him. Under no circumstances must we provoke Ren.'' Sepchel who was reminded of the pressure that weighed him down, felt fearful. He was ready to fight to the death for his family, but facing Ren was not a fight, it was suicide. Once he calmed down Sepchel paid for the meal and left the pub.

 Chapter 81 - Let’s do a quest

    <h4>Chapter 81 - Let''s do a quest</h4>


    The moment Lara found Ren, they immediately went into a room, and had a bit of fun with each other. It has been a few days since Larast saw Ren, so her enthusiasm as they were doing it, was tripled.


    Once they were done with their ying around, Ren asked Lara if she has done everything on the list he given her. Lara happily reported all her achievements, and how she has done everything on the list without any problems.


    Ren who was listening to Lara''s report was quite interested in the way she handled the fallen nobles. Ren remembered that he told Lara to ask Kithra for help for this one, yet though Lara didn''t explicitly say it, Ren could guess that the first andst attempts to persuade the fallen noble family wasn''t done with Kithra. Knowing Lara she most probably did that, since she wasn''tfortable asking Kithra for help.


    Ren was also confused as to why Lara needed to kill all the children of the fallen nobles that refused to cooperate. It would have been enough to simply kill the head of the family and leave them be. In truth he didn''t really care about the fallen nobles, except for the Regalcrags. All the others were just extras. He just wanted the others to know that they shouldn''t mess with him and his group.


    What he told Lara back then, was to take the roots, not destroy them. She either misheard him, or didn''t understand what that truly meant. Well either way it still works for him. To Ren the lives and deaths of these people weren''t much. He just didn''t like the idea of killing without a reason. Well either way, those fallen nobles weren''t exactly good people so it didn''t really bother him much. As for Lara he just doesn''t need to tell her the truth, since if she found out she might get a bit broken. For such a little thing, Ren decided to take it for himself.


    "What happened to Gregory?"


    "I sent him to kill the marquis near our vige, but he hasn''te back from that mission. It has been around a week since Ist saw him."


    "Hmm, it takes around six days to get to the vige with a horse, unlike us who can pretty much run all the way here in just three days. So it might be that Gregory has just arrived in the marquis'' territory."


    Lara nodded at Ren''s deduction. She then continued her report about exterminating the nobles that wanted to steal Valdel''s sword. With Kithra''s ingenuity they were able to make it look like the nobles fought each other out of greed.


    Once Ren was done listening to Lara''s report, he stood up and was about to leave. Lara seeing this, stood up as well and hung onto Ren''s arm. Ren, actually found her behaviour quite cute, so he wasn''t bothered, by Lara being a bit clingy every now and then.


    ...


    Ren with Lara started looking around the smithies that where in Grenton. Ren wanted to turn the Dragon ws he found into swords. It was true that his main weapon the scythe was incredible, but it had a lot of drawbacks as well. To fully unleash its power Ren needed to offer up blood, even in it''s idle state Ren needed to offer a huge amount of mana for the scythe to materialize.


    Silika who heard of Ren''s n to make swords, for some reason actually agreed to it. She even sounded happy when he said that he wanted to create something like twin des.


    ...


    Ren after going around all the smithies in town, found out that no cksmith was capable enough to handle the Dragon''s ws. They weren''t even able to understand where to start with it. The material Ren showed them was too much out of the norm, and they had no clue on how to smelt the object radiating a great amount of mana.


    It was then that all the cksmiths suggested the same thing. The only beings in thisnd that could make a sword out of something like a Dragon''s w were the dwarves. Ren who heard the race called dwarves in the conversation was intrigued. This was the second time he heard of this race. It would seem that their cksmithing skills were nothing short but legendary. This made Ren really excited, he needed to gain more info regarding dwarves.


    He wanted to learn where they live, so that he could journey there, and take one of them as his personal cksmith. While Ren was thinking on how to go about locating these dwarves, he heard someone yell.


    "Ren you bastard, you''re finally back."


    "Oh, Hilda you''re as beautiful as ever." Hilda who suddenly appeared, attacked Ren in which he dodged perfectly as heplimented her with a smile. Hilda unable to hit Ren got furious and continued attacking, Lara on the other hand simply watched, as Hilda made a fool of herself.


    "Why are you trying to hit me, Hilda?" Ren asked as he continued dodging Hilda''s punches. The two of them hadn''t noticed that they had already drawn a crowd due to their antics.


    "You suddenly left to go on this solo adventure, and haven''t been back for six days! At first, I thought, you were just going out to clear your mind after the battle with Alfred. But no, that''s not what you did, you actually went missing for six days! We just created our party and did only one quest. I didn''t quit my job, and became an adventurer again, to do quests by myself."


    Hilda''s ice cold persona, had changed drastically. This surprised Ren, but also made him think that Hilda, was cuter than before. He liked Hilda''s icy cold pride, but she also liked this childish passionate Hilda as well.


    Ren then caught both of Hilda''s arms, and pulled her near him making it look like they were hugging. Lara who saw this was about to move, but saw Ren shake his head. Lara gritted her teeth as she stopped herself.


    Hilda who was now confused and red as an apple could do nothing since no matter how much she struggled she couldn''t break free, since Ren was stronger than her. Ren who had ced his mouth near Hilda''s ear, spoke.


    "I know I worried you, and I''m sorry about that. How about this, let''s go and do a quest right now. What do you say?"


    "Who the hell was worried about you?!Didn''t you hear what I just said?! I just want you to do your job as the party leader." Ren finally let go of Hilda, and smiled as he patted the red faced girl, which no one knew if she was red faced because of embarrassment, or anger. Lara was also looking at the two''s interactions and didn''t really like it. In her head every second Hilda was hugged by Ren, was reced with her sticking an arrow into her eyeballs.


    "Well whatever you say. Come on let''s do that quests you seem to love so much." Ren walked ahead of Hilda and was followed by Lara. The three of them headed towards the adventurers guild.

 Chapter 82 - Subjugation quest

    <h4>Chapter 82 - Subjugation quest</h4>


    Ren, Lara, and Hilda went to the adventurers guild to pick up a subjugation quest. Since those quests were straight forward and for Ren''s party pretty easy to do. All they needed to do in a subjugation quest was to kill all the monsters that are specified in the quest.


    The quest they took was to kill all the Arcadia Wolves near the town. It would seem that a lot of merchants have been attacked by these wolf pack, and only some survive. The number of wolves weren''t specified, but it is believed that there was an Arcane Arcadia wolf in the pack. This was an Arcadia wolf that could use magic, making it an A level threat. The quest was only avable for A rank parties, which Ren''s was not.


    Still Ren had a little talk with Nezzard who gave them special permission to ept this quest. The one who handed out the quest were the people from the merchants guild. Obviously they didn''t like the idea of their products being broken down by wolves, since that doesn''t make for good business. On a side note, the deaths of theirpanions, members of the guild weren''t worth much, since they were low leveled merchants.


    Also since the quest was handed by the merchants guild, the rewards were very generous. Actually some adventurers have tried to do the subjugation quest already because of said rewards, but failed miserably. Three parties have been disbanded due to the death of members, and heavy injuries. These three parties were made of B rank adventurers and headed out together, but in the end they weren''t able to win, since theycked preparation. Still they were the reason why the quest got upgraded from a B rank quest to an A rank quest.


    In the first report made by the survivors from merchants guild it was stated that there was a pack of Arcadia wolves. A pack of Arcadia wolves was only a B level threat, but after the failed attempt of the three parties, the quest got updated. It was now an A rank quest, due to the presence of the Arcane Arcadia wolf.


    The merchants guild that made the quest with limited information, needed to pay up for thecking information regarding the quest. Due to that mistake in information three parties made up of B rank adventurers were now out ofmission. Of course they payed for that mistake, but like all merchants they payed up using only the bare minimum. Still because of this mistake none of the adventurers in town would ept the quest, even though the reward money had doubled.


    Now that Ren, andpany acquired the necessary information regarding the quest, they started to n for the uing quest.


    ...


    "So what are Arcadia wolves, and how are they different from regr wolves?" Ren who has zero intelligence regarding the monsters of this world, asked Hilda, since Lara was equally clueless.


    "Arcadia wolves, are obviously different from regr wolves, since they are categorized as monsters, while regr wolves are animals. Regarding the difference between monsters and animals, I can''t give an answer to that since even I''m not sure about the difference. So if you want to learn more about that, you need to ask a schr. So back to the difference between an Arcadia wolf and a regr wolf. An Arcadia wolf is three times the size of a regr wolf, by this size alone it could eat a human child whole. Aside from their size, all of their physical capabilities are of course higher than a regr wolf. What makes the Arcadia wolf special from other monsters, is that each wolf is a B rank threat, and they are always in a pack of seven and above. Usually if a monster is this strong it wouldn''t be helping other monsters in a mutual manner."


    "I see, so then what''s so special about the Arcane arcadia wolf?"


    "An Arcane Arcadia wolf, is a higher level monster. It''s an Arcadia wolf that could use magic. This monster has the same basic characteristics of an Arcadia wolf, except for its horn that could be seen sprouting from its forehead. This monster is ssified as an A ss threat, coupled with the pack of normal Arcadia wolves, the overall assessment of this threat, is a top A rank threat nearing S rank. Usually the guild master who is an S rank adventurer would have dealt with this, but as you know our guild master is azy loser."


    ''Heh, these seems like it''s going to be a nice fight. I think I''ll be able to use the new techniques I acquired.'' Hilda once again saw Ren smiling that vicious smile of his. It was obvious that the battle freak was getting excited at the prospect of fighting such strong opponents.


    "So Ren, how are we going to prepare for this quest?" Hilda asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew what Ren will say. That smile of his, was basically the answer.


    "Huh, the wolves are near the town, it''s just a short trip so no need to prepare for food supplies. The difficulty of killing them is... Hey Hildapared to the King Drake I fought before how strong are the wolves?"


    "Well technically based on strength alone, even the Arcane Arcadia wolf, won''t be able to match up to the King Drake. But unlike the King Drake these monsters specialize in cooperation. Their overall threat level aren''t the same, the king Drake would be able to kill them all by flying in the sky and raining down mes. The only reason the King Drake would win is because it could fly, but take that away then the Arcadia wolves, with Arcane Arcadia wolf would win."


    Hilda tried her very best to emphasize that the threat of the Arcadia wolves wasn''t a simple one. She wanted Ren to act a bit more cautiously especially after what happened with the Elder Lich. But as if he didn''t understand what she said, it looked like Ren simply got even more excited.


    "I need to buy some new equipment for this quest, after that let''s head out." Hilda was surprised to hear Ren say this. She was so sure that he would just say, no need for preparations let''s head out. Even Lara was surprised by what Ren said.

 Chapter 83 - Powerful

    <h4>Chapter 83 - Powerful</h4>


    Ren went to a weapon shop and bought a spear. This confused not only Lara and Hilda, but even Silika was confused as well. She though that the weapon Ren would buy would be something like two short swords. Silika who had dived deep into Ren''s soul knew of his numerous reincarnations, especially that of Leo, and most of these reincarnations were dual ded wielders. So Silika was pretty sure that he would buy short swords.


    "Master, why buy a spear? Why not buy two short swords instead, weren''t those what you were practicing on using in the forest?" Silika''s voice echoed in Ren''s mind.


    "I bought a spear instead of two short swords because I don''t want to use that style of swordsmanship with half ass*d equipment. That''s why I wanted to make weapons out of Dragon ws. If I use this normal swords, after three to six moves they would break. That''s even after I use enhancement magic."


    "I see... Still why a spear though?"


    "Oh that, it''s nothing much. I saw an interesting fighting style that I wanted to use."


    ...


    After buying what he needed, Ren and his party headed out. Thest sighting of the Arcadia Wolves, was at the path in the grasnds where the merchants usually pass bying from Helios city to west.


    It was a short sprint for the group as they reached the grasnds. The moment they stepped foot into the path, Ren could sense the approaching enemies. It would seem that the whole grasnd area was the Arcadia Wolves territory.


    "You guys stay back and watch. I want to test out some new things I learned. If some wolves are able to somehow get away from me, I''ll leave those to you." Ren spoke as his right hand tightened its grip on the spear he bought.


    Hilda could only grit her teeth and listen to Ren''s order since he was the party leader. Even if she tried to argue about the order, it would end up with a group vote, and seeing that Lara will literally do anything Ren''s says, doing a group vote wasn''t really an option.


    Seeing that no one said anything else, Ren walked towards the iing Arcadia wolves. From a distance since it was a wide open grasnd, you could see that their were dozens of Arcadia Wolves running towards Ren. It would seem that they numbered around thirty or so Arcadia Wolves. This was arge pack, which made Ren even more excited.


    As the wolves were getting closer, Ren raised his left hand up. Four magic circles suddenly formed in the surrounding air and began rotating as they grewrger andrger. This was one of the things he learned from the people in his visions. Spells didn''t need chants, all you needed was the knowledge of how to weave mana, and a bit of imagination. As long as you''re able to control the mana flow properly, you won''t need the assistance of the elements. This was a new form of spell casting.


    Hilda and Lara were amazed to see the huge magic circles. Hilda in particr was really amazed. She has seen a high ranking mage once use a simr wide area spell. That one spell the mage used was able to kill hundreds of soldiers, but the preparations, and the chant time was so long. Yet Ren''s was of a smaller scale, but still prettyrge, and he did it in an instant. This was totally different way to use spells.


    Shortly thereafter, Ren lowered his his left arm with vigor. Dozens upon dozens of electrified sword looking objects rained out of the magic circles to causing wonderful sound of explosions, burning the grass with a majority of the Arcadia Wolves.


    Seeing that some Arcadia Wolves were able to survive, Ren was excited to try another spell. He snapped his fingers and five medium sized magic circles appeared in front of him. Out of the magic circles came icy frost.


    The icy frost that came out of the magic circles stopped the mes from burning, no it made the grass and the mes freeze over. The Arcadia Wolves were able to survive this, but there movements have dulled, all except for the Arcane Arcadia wolf, which used a spell to surround itself with me.


    Seeing that the wolves were getting closer, Ren readied his spear with a smile on his face. Ren then dashed forward on the now icy in. Ren held the spear in his right hand, and threw it. As Ren was throwing the spear he added a spin to the throw and released it. The moment the spear was thrown it turned into something that looked like a tornado and hit the Arcadia Wolves that were near him.


    After that Ren picked up his spear and took a stance. The remaining Arcadia wolves, plus the Arcane Arcadia wolf dashed forward, attacking Ren on all sides. Ren then swung his spear in a circr motion, pushing the Arcadia Wolves, and the Arcane Arcadia wolf upward into the air.


    Ren then jumped upward as he danced and darted about among the confused and hapless opponents. An overwhelming, six meters long aura exploded out from the sharp de of his weapon as he swung his spear around.


    With this one move, Ren was able to cleave the opponents in half. Yet after he finished using the move, andnded on the ground the spear he held shattered and turned into dust. Now all that remains of the opponents were charred bodies, frozen pieces, and chunks of flesh. Still Ren was able to control his attacks well enough that the the Arcane Arcadia wolf was still fully intact with only a single piercing hole in the middle of its body.


    Lara who was watching from the side, even though her face remained stoic, she was getting really excited in the inside, as she witnessed how much stronger Ren has be.


    Hilda on the other hand looked at the overwhelming way Ren battled, and in awe, she mumbled the words.


    "Powerful."


    Ren on the other hand was also surprised. This was the first time he used these techniques, as he only saw them in a dream like vision. He was expecting these techniques to be strong based on what he saw, but he wasn''t expecting them to be this strong. Still the overall mana consumption with using these techniques was nothing to joke about. After that battle Ren only had around six percent of his mana remaining. It would take three days for his mana pool to fill up again. Still using those techniques was worth it.


    "How incredible." Ren whispered to himself as he got excited just thinking about using the other techniques he witnessed at that time.

 Chapter 84 - Doubt me

    <h4>Chapter 84 - Doubt me</h4>


    After taking the pelt of the Arcane Arcadia wolf, he and the other members of his party, namely Lara and Hilda, started to pull out the teeth of Arcadia wolves as proof of subjugation. Once they were done with extracting what they needed, the party of three headed back to town.


    When they got back, Valdel was there waiting for them.


    "Hey Ren, why didn''t you tell me you''re back."


    "I had a lot of other things to do. Just wait a minute, I''m just going to report the sess of the quest." Ren then went to the receptionist. He showed the proof of subjugation, and was asked to wait. While the group was waiting, Valdel looked at his best friend and sighed.


    "You did a quest first."


    "Among other things." Ren shrugged his shoulders, in which Valdel responded with a palm to his face.


    "Whatever, that doesn''t matter. I have something important to tell you Ren." When Valdel said this, he looked at Hilda. This subtle movement made Ren aware that what they were about to talk about was regarding the underworld.


    "Lara, Hilda, me and my buddy here are just going to have a little chat. You two wait here for the quest confirmation ofpletion, as well as the reward."


    Lara and Hilda nodded in response. Hilda also noticed that subtle look Valdel gave her. She was already aware that up to now Ren didn''t really fully trust her. Well truth be told, Hilda didn''t fully trust Ren either. Still Hilda somehow felt a bit hurt, even though she didn''t understand the reason why she was feeling that way.


    ''Well it doesn''t matter, if we don''t trust each other right now. As long as we stick together, sooner orter we will learn to trust each other.'' Hilda didn''t noticed but at that moment she was actually smiling. Lara who saw Hilda''s smiling face knew that something was up.


    She was really irritated that she couldn''t do anything to stop this. She really wanted to ept Hilda as arade, but because she was going to be Ren''s woman in the future, she was having difficulty liking her. She was thinking that Hilda''s fall was inevitable.


    ...


    Ren and Valdel headed to an empty alley and started talking.


    "So what is it, that you want to tell me?" Ren asked as he was scanning the area double checking if they were really safe from outstretched ears.


    "I met the king a few days ago." Ren hearing this new piece of information had his eyes widened. This was something he had expected to happen, due to Valdel''s unusual skill. Still Ren wasn''t expecting Valdel to acquire the king''s attention this quickly.


    "What did he want?" Ren asked wary of what kind of king the king of Reschbeauch truly was. Though he heard the rumors, and other fantastical tale about the man, but hearing it from Valdel would be different.


    Valdel then started to tell the story of how he met the king. From how he was able to survive three strikes from the king to how he got the ring from the king. Ren who was listening to the story, found some things Valdel said extremely interesting.


    ''The king is obviously using Valdel as bait, to lure out those that are potential enemies to the crown. The gift he gave Valdel is more like payment than a gift. A warrior king is it... When I heard the rumors I only thought that he was a king that was the same as me, who only lives through battle, but based on what Valdel said, he''s more like my former son. A warrior that schemes is no longer a warrior, well he really isn''t one, since he is a king.'' As Ren mused about the king of Reschbeauch, he spoke to Valdel.


    "So the king has the same ailment as Iselv, and he didn''t call it a curse, instead it''s a blessing... I see, how interesting. An ability only given to his bloodline. The more mana he has the greater the power, but he would be unable to use even the simplest of spells. Well I guess that''s a fair exchange for such enormous power."


    Ren was getting excited again. This world had more races than his previous one, and they even had bloodline skills. This world felt familiar at the same time different to Ren, which really excited him. The idea that there are bloodline rted abilities, made him truly excited. Was it only the royal family that had such abilities, or does everyone have one, and they just haven''t noticed it yet?


    Ren wasn''t a schr, and his abilities mostly revolved around battle, so researching such a thing was not part of his expertise.


    ''I can always find someone to do the research for me. So not only do I need a dwarven cksmith, I also need a schr to do my research. Also having dealings with the merchant guild mighte in handy.''


    "So Ren what do you n to do?" Valdel suddenly spoke breaking Ren''s train of thought.


    "Huh? Do about what?"


    "About Iselv, it is possible that he is rted to the king. Seeing as he has the same ability as the royal family he must be rted somehow."


    "Obviously I understood that, him having amnesia is a problem, but now that we have this new lead, we can investigate even deeper. Still... I wonder what happened, if Iselv is really part of the royal family, what could have transpired for him to lose his memories and end up in the slums of Grenton? Well I''ll decide what to do, once I have a clearer picture. Thanks for telling me this Val."


    "Of course, but Ren... What of your promise to Iselv? You promised him that you could enhance his mana pool, but if he really has the same ability as the king. Enhancing his mana pool is close to impossible."


    Ren couldn''t help but smirk at what Valdel said. This best friend of his, even after what happened to him, still remained ever pure.


    "Don''t worry about that Val, I''ll exin his circumstances to him. So is that all you wanted to talk about?" As Ren was saying this, he was already nning his next move. With this new information his n of conquering the underworld of Reschbeauch, just got upgraded to a n to conquer the entire kingdom of Reschbeauch.


    "Yeah, that''s pretty much it... Ren I trust you... You know that right?" Valdel then suddenly said something iprehensible to Ren. Why would Valdel suddenly say that?


    "Of course I know that. Why?... Are you somehow doubting me? If so that''s great, even though we''re best friends, you should always doubt me Val. Think for yourself and see what the truth is with your own eyes. Do not always blindly follow me. I''m happy Val, it seems like you grown somehow."


    Valdel wasn''t expecting Ren to say what he just said. Ren was actually telling him to doubt him. His best friend that seem like he could do anything, had now asked him to doubt him, and see the truth with his own eyes. Valdel was really confused by this.


    Ren seeing the confusion in Valdel''s expression, couldn''t help but smile at his naive friend. He then patted Valdel''s shoulders.


    "You can think about what I just saidter, for now let''s have a meal, for some reason I''m hungry again." After saying what he said Ren headed back to the adventurers guild. Valdel who was left standing looking at his friend''s back shook his head, and followed after.

 Chapter 85 - It’s a blessing

    <h4>Chapter 85 - It''s a blessing</h4>


    Once Ren was done eating, since learning that Iselv was more interesting than what he initially thought, he and the others headed to the Northern District where Iselv was at. Ren decided that it was about time to show Hilda what he was doing on the side, so he brought her along as well.


    When the group got to the Northern district and headed deeper in, Hilda''s face changed greatly. The Northern District was a den or p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.es and has a lot of drug dealers. Yet now she noticed the p.r.o.s.tit.u.t.es, but the usual shady drug dealings that usually happens here and there were nowhere to be found.


    Also, Hilda noticed the change of atmosphere in the Northern District. She couldn''t pinpoint the change but she was sure that something was different in the air. This wasn''t the same Northern District she remembered, but what could have possibly happened that would change it this much, so suddenly?


    ...


    Ren finally reached the ce where Kithra and Iselv were staying at. Kithra sensing Ren''s presence immediately went out to greet him.


    "Oh my, Sir Ren to what do I owe the pleasure of you visiting?" Kithra smiled coquettishly, her voice would tickle the strings of any man, well at the moment there were two men that weren''t really affected.


    "I need to see Iselv, I have something important that I need to talk to him about. " The moment Ren said this, a huge giant of a man popped out. Hilda who saw Kithra and Iselv, immediately knew who they were. Well anyone in this town knew who these two people are. The enchanting beauty talking sweetly to Ren was the witch of the Northern District Kithra, and the giant of a man was the bandit king Iselv.


    Two of the three kings of the underworld of Grenton stood before her and acted subservient to Ren. This made Hilda''s head spin. Didn''t Ren just arrive in this town a few weeks ago? When the hell did he subdue two of the three kings?!


    ''Wait don''t tell me it''s not just these two, but even the third one was done in by him?'' The third one she was talking about was none other than Gregory.


    ''That can''t be, he''s the best assassin of this kingdom.'' Hilda then looked at Ren who was having a conversation with the two kings of Grenton''s underworld. ''No, if it''s him then it might be possible.''


    That was a guy who evenughed at the face of an A rank monster, and killed it like it was nothing more than an ant waiting to be stepped on.


    ...


    "What do you want?" Iselv looked at Ren still with a dissatisfied look. He might not be able to do anything to Ren physically, but he still wanted to re at the b*stard even though it was nothing more than a little act of defiance.


    "Is that the way you should be talking to me? You are still working under me, or are you about to start a mutiny?" Ren smiled as he said that. Iselv who saw that smile made him shiver in fear. He then bit his lower lip until it bled.


    "Sorry sir, I meant what is it you need of me, sir?"


    "No need to be that polite, just don''t talk to me like your growling and we''ll be alright."


    ''What the hell does this b*stard want from me!'' Islev screamed in his mind.


    "Alright then, so what is it you want?"


    "Well that''s better, a bit stiff but overall alright. Okay then I have some exciting news to tell you and it''s regarding your mana pool."


    The moment the topic changed to his mana pool, Iselv half irritated half I don''t give a f*ckm look turned into something of pure passion. It was finally happening, the moment he so waited to happen was happening. He could finally get away from beingbeled as manaless thrash, by those high horsed b*stards. Well nowadays no one dares messes with him, but that was that, and this was this.


    "What are you finally going to help me make my mana poolrger?" Iselv said excitedly.


    "Hmm, actually it is impossible to make your mana poolrger."


    "WHAT!? I thought you told me, that you could do it! The whole reason I''m even following yourmand is because you told me that you''re going to make my mana poolrger?! If you ain''t going to do that, then I might as well fight you here and now! Sh*t I''ll tear that little head of yours from your body." Iselv angrily started to curse at Ren. It would seem like hepletely forgot that Ren easily subdued himst time.


    "Before you do anything stupid like suicide how about you listen to me first." When Ren said this he sent killing intent Iselv''s way, which made his whole body freeze. Everyone present didn''t feel the killing intent Ren was sending Iselv, but they did hear what Ren said. He said that Iselv''s idea of attacking Ren was equivalent to suicide. What an apt description of how to describe the situation. Seeing that Iselv finally shut upped Ren continued what he was saying.


    "So I understand why you''re so angry, but don''t you think it''s foolish to throw your life away because of a little anger? Well anyway, the reason I won''t be able to increase your mana pool is cause you do not possess a curse, instead, you have a blessing."


    "A blessing?" Iselv was now confused after hearing what Ren said.


    ''Did this b*stard call my inability to expand my mana pool a blessing? This f*cking state of being unable to expand my mana pool, that gave me so much hardship was a blessing? Is this guy on drugs on something?'' Ren seeing Iselv''s look could pretty much guess what he was thinking.


    "Let me exin, your ability doesn''t allow you to expand your mana pool, but instead your ability is something that burns your mana and turns it, into your strength. Still, that isn''t the true blessing given to you by this ability. No the true blessing of this ability is that it is proof that you are part of the royal family."


    When Ren said this, aside from Valdel everybody looked at him dumbly. Even the ever stoic Lara was actually showing a rare look of confusion, and then as if they rehearsed it they all shouted in sync with each other.


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 86 - Devil’s whisper

    <h4>Chapter 86 - Devil''s whisper</h4>


    Everyone was shocked to hear this sudden statement from Ren. It was a surprise to hear Iselv was an actual rtive of the royal family. Everyone had the same questions in their mind.


    ''Who was a rtive? Iselv? A rtive of the king? The guy who is called the Bandit King was actually a real rtive of the actual royal family.''


    "Are you kidding me?" Iselv spoke which almost sounded like a growl. He looked at Ren, practically oozing with killing intent. Which Ren simply shrugged off as he answered the angry looking Iselv.


    "Do you think I''m the kind of person, who jokes around about these kind of things?" When the people present heard what Ren said, they tried recalling all the conversations they had with him. After thinking for a while they came to the conclusion that it was true Ren doesn''t tell such lies.


    "How did you figure this out? What''s your source?" Kithra asked a bit excited. If it was true that Iselv was an actual royal, then this could lead her to bigger things. It was at this moment, she was genuinely happy to have joined Ren''s group.


    "This guy over here told me." Ren pointed at Valdel, which made everyone''s attention shift to him. Seeing that it doesn''t seem like Ren minded telling these people what he found out, Valdel started to exin how he met the king, and how he was told about the royal families innate ability.


    When everyone heard Valdel''s exnation, they were first amazed that he got an audience with the king, especially Hilda who met Ren''s group the first time they came into town. Who knew that the country boy who kept on sticking to Ren like a lost child was actually able to meet the king. Still the main point of interest they had was with the ability the king had.


    The king imed that the males of his family were the only ones able to use this unique ability. The ability in question was extremely simr to Iselv''s, so the only conclusion they coulde up with given the new pieces of information they had, was that Iselv was part of the royal family.


    Still they could argue that the king must be misinformed there was the possibility that other people might have a simr ability. Yet the likelihood of that happening in the same kingdom was miniscule.


    "I''m part of the royal family?..." Iselv who was confused by the sudden promation stood there in a daze.


    "Well based on the information we have that''s most likely the case. So what do you want to do Iselv? Of course I can still try to expand your mana pool, but the result might just make your physical strength stronger, and your mana pool remain the same. So tell me Iselv, what is it you want?" Ren who said this, smirked a bit, but no one noticed it since all of the people present were looking at Iselv.


    Seeing that Iselv wasn''t answering the question, Kithra spoke first.


    "Even though I''m sure no one in the vicinity would even try to eavesdrop on our conversation, but still how about we go inside, so that we have some nicefy chairs to sit on."


    After saying this Kithra guided everyone inside the building.


    ...


    Once the group was inside the building, everyone sat down, all except for Iselv who looked like he followed them inside by instinct, and was now standing up looking at the ceiling in a daze. Everyone present could somehow understand how Iselv felt at this moment.


    To suddenly learn that he was part of the royal family is indeed a shocking revtion. Anyone in his position would be confused as well. But the situation makes one wonder, why then was he in the slums of Grenton with no memories whatsoever? BETRAYAL. It was possible that someone wanted him dead, but he was able to somehow escape. Still they weren''t sure what his rtion was to the king, he could be a b*stard son or something simr to that.


    While everyone was waiting for Iselv to speak, Ren went near him and started whispering in his ear. "Hey, how long are you going to mope around for, unsure what to do since you have no memories? Isn''t there a path now that you could tread to find out the truth? Now that the path is right in front of you, why don''t you walk it Iselv? In fact if you wish to tread this path of either revenge or finding the truth, heck you could even have both, I will dly lend you a hand. That is of course if you promise me something. Obviously if I help you, there must be something in exchange for my help, since I''m neither a hero nor a saint. So what say you Iselv?"


    No one except for Iselv could hear what Ren whispered. Even Valdel who had extremely sharp hearing could not hear what Ren said, since Ren casted a sound barrier spell, that no one knew off. Kithra noticed the slight mana vibration upon the activation of the spell. She was the only one who noticed since she was extremely sensitive to mana flow, still that sudden and minimal amount of mana didn''t register as anything to her. Kithra simply mistook it for a simple stray mana fluctuation.


    Iselv who heard what Ren said, started thinking. Everything Ren said was right, what was he hesitating for, the truth of his past was now clearer than before. Still what did he want? Revenge or did he simply want to learn the truth? Either way the answers to his questions were now so near that he could grab it, so then why doesn''t he grab it?


    The problem was Ren, he might look like a young innocent boy from some random vige, but the truth was different. Iselv who spoke and has seen Ren, knew not to be deceived by his looks. This boy in front of him, was more dangerous the the monsters hidden within the dungeons.


    Iselv could feel the moment he epts Ren''s proposal, was the moment he would sign his life to Ren. Was it worth it, to know the truth? To be frank his life as the Bandit king, or more precisely as a subordinate of Ren, was already pretty good. Aside from having to listen to a brat''smands, everything was good, the pay, the food, even the women were nice.


    Still something was telling him that, those weren''t enough. He wanted to learn the truth, he wanted to take back the past he no longer remembers, and the only way to do that is to take the hand of this devil right in front of him. Since he was already a subordinate of Ren, he was sure that Ren would ask for something more, but no matter what it was Iselv decided to ept it.


    "Fine then, please help me find out the truth."


    "Very well Iselv, as long as you promise me your everything, your loyalty, your strength, and your life. If your promise to give me those, I will help you find the truth." Ren showed off his vicious smile, the smile he showed only when he was excited for battle.


    Ren who only had a single goal in mind needed to use everything in his disposal to achieve that goal. This was an unexpected piece that fell right into hisp, and was someone he shouldn''t let go at all cost. To fulfill his promise to Valdel, the promise only he knows about, the promise to change the script, the Gods wrote. To aplish that promise he needed power, more power than he had back when he was still demon lord Kretos. He needed something more than his personal power.


    Iselv in front of the surprised people present, knelt in front of Ren.


    "I promise you my everything, my loyalty, my strength, and my life. I promise to give it all to you Ren, for as long as you show me the truth."


    Hearing what Iselv said, Ren lightly cut the palm of his right hands using a knife. After which he tossed the knife to Iselv. "Let''s shake on it." Ren extended his hand that had a knife cut. Seeing this Iselv knew what he needed to do. Using the knife Ren handed to him, he lightly cut the palm of his right hand as well, and shook Ren''s hand.


    "The pact has been formed. Your life and everything else is now mine. If you breach this contract form by blood, then expect to lose everything you have."

 Chapter 87 - What I desire

    <h4>Chapter 87 - What I desire</h4>


    After Iselv basically swore eternal loyalty to Ren, Hilda held Ren''s hand. Lara was once again about to move in between, but Ren signaled her not to do anything. Hilda then proceeded to pull Ren outside of the room into the hallway. Once she was sure no one else was listening in, she spoke to Ren.


    "What the hell is this?" Hilda''s voice was ice cold, same as the first time Ren met her.


    "What do you mean?" Ren smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''m not joking around Ren, tell me what this is all about." Hilda had a stern face on as she said this, coupled with her ice cold tone, showed why she was called the Valkyrie.


    "I''m not joking around as well. I''m telling you I don''t understand your question. You''ve got to be more specific than asking me with something as vague as what the hell is this?"


    "Fine, tell me Ren are you the leader of these people?"


    "Yes."


    "How long were you the boss of the underworld in Grenton?"


    "Hmm, it was after we finished that Dungeon for mine and Lara''s evaluation. After we were done with that, some things happened with some ve traders, and one thing led to another. Since they decided to mess with me, I, in turn, decided to just take everything they had."


    Hilda who listened to the reason Ren became the boss of Grenton''s underworld, was shocked. This man before her though he didn''t say it outright, practically said that he conquered Grenton''s underworld, just because he could.


    The same underworld that had Iselv the bandit king, Kithra the witch or sometimes called the subus, and the best assassin of the kingdom, Gregory. These three who controlled most of Grenton, that even the knights had a problem dealing with, was actually conquered by Ren, in what seems to be with minimal effort for him.


    Hilda was surprised but she had no time to be confused by that. By now she was already somehow getting used to how nonsensical Ren was. Staying with him was literally making hermon sense turn weird.


    "So Ren, what is it you''re nning? Making the leaders of Grenton''s underworld into your subordinates. Even making a suspected member of the royal family do a blood pact with you. Tell me, Ren, what is it you truly want?" When Hilda said this, she didn''t mask the killing intent she was emitting, as she tightly held her sword''s handle.


    "Tell me, Hilda, why should I tell you what I''m nning?" Ren narrowed his eyes and looked at Hilda. Even though Ren liked Hilda, and found her aggressive ways kind of cute, but even with that, he was not one to respond to hostility kindly. If he didn''t like Hilda, he would''ve applied mana pressure on her, forcing her to kneel, and in that position Ren would have asked her to beg for mercy.


    "If you won''t tell me the answer, I would need to use force and make you tell me... Ren I do not want to do this, but if you are a danger to the kingdom... I cannot allow a threat to the kingdom to remain free."


    "Are you sure you''re able to do that." Hilda hearing what Ren said, felt a chill. She gulped dryly as her hands started shaking a bit.


    "I know I''m no match for you Ren, but still as someone from this kingdom. As a subject to the royal family, I need to act."


    Hilda didn''t really want to do this. She knew Ren wasn''t a person that does things, without reason. Still, she was still someone from the kingdom, and she needed to protect her homnd from those that wish to harm it.


    "Look here Hilda, you make it sound like I''m not from the Reschbeauch kingdom. Aren''t I a citizen of the kingdom as well? Also a subject of the royal family? What did the royal family ever do for you? Are you really saying you would fight for the royal family? The same royal family that made the stupid rule that only males could inherit one''s noble title. The same royal family that made your family almost forced into very. Well if that is so, then you really are such a loyal person. Still what makes you think that what I''m about to do is something bad for the kingdom? Being bad for the royal family, and it being bad for the Reschbeauch kingdom are two different things."


    The moment Hilda heard what Ren had to say, she felt a wave of confusion assault her. Ren was right what did the royal family ever did for her. Weren''t they the ones who fought amongst themselves, dividing the others into factions. Wasn''t that one of the reasons for her father''s death. Wasn''t that one of the reasons why she and her family were almost sold as ves? Wasn''t that one of the reasons for her mother''s current predicament.


    "Then tell me, Ren, what is it that you wish to achieve? Making the guild master turn your adventurer rank to B, hiding your true abilities, conquering Grenton''s underworld, making a supposed member of the royal family into your subordinate by blood pact. Not only that I''m sure you made Lara do a lot of stuff in the shadows. So in the end what is it you wish to achieve?"


    Hilda was now finally able to calm herself down as she asked these questions. She looked at Ren with a more resolute mindset. Looking at Hilda''s ever-changing expression, as well as witnessing her ever-changing mindset made Ren chuckle. After hearing what Hilda asked him, he couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his.


    "Well, I guess the simple answer to your question, is that I want to conquer the whole underworld organizations of the Reschbeauch kingdom. I want to be its sole big boss of sorts. The reason I want that is because I want to help my friend Valdel achieve his dream, and at the same time save him from that dream. Still, that''s not what you want to hear, is it? What you want to hear is what I truly desire to achieve."


    Hilda looked at Ren and nodded her head.


    "Heh, that''s something I can only tell you, if you decide to be my woman." Hilda who was listening in so seriously was momentarily stunned by what Ren said.


    "Huh? What did you say?"


    "I said if you want to learn what I truly desire, the prerequisite is that you be my woman." Once again hearing what Ren said, Hilda''s facial expression changed from bewilderment to a face turning red from embarrassment, into a face that was full of rage.


    "W-w-w-w-w-what! Be what! Your woman?! Who, me?! What the hell are you saying you b*stard!" Hilda suddenly unsheathed her sword and shed sideward, which Ren caught between his thumb and index finger.


    "You really should do something about that quirk of yours. Attacking someone because of embarrassment, if it was someone else aside from me, I''m sure their head would have been detached from their body."


    Unable to answer Ren anymore, Hilda pulled her sword away and sheathed it. After that Hilda ashamed and irritated stormed into the room where Valdel and the others were staying. Seeing Hilda''s angry figure, Ren simply shrugged his shoulders and followed her back inside the room.

 Chapter 88 - Let’s begin

    <h4>Chapter 88 - Let''s begin</h4>


    After Ren was done talking to Hilda regarding what was happening, Ren returned to the room where everyone was gathered. The people present were looking at the ice cold Hilda and Ren weirdly and started sighing.


    What was the point of going out into the hallway, if their whole conversation was going to be heard anyway. Everyone in the room heard the two''s conversation, since Hilda''s voice was pretty loud, and the walls weren''t particrly thick. It was like the whole event was a show.


    Uncaring about the looks he was getting Ren smiled at hispanions.


    "Now that everyone is caught up, let''s get to the real talk." Everyone was silent at this point as they focused all their attention on Ren, waiting for him to speak. Seeing as everyone''s eyes were on him, Ren spoke.


    "Now that you guys have fully transitioned into information sellers, it''s time for the next step." The next step? Everyone was now even more interested to hear what Ren will say. Especially the two former leaders, Iselv and Kithra. The two of them have been wondering, why Ren made them stop selling drugs and told them to buy and sell information instead.


    Though truthfully the information business was somehow nearly on par with their drug selling business. What itcks in the quantity of buyers, it keeps up with the quality of buyers. Usually the ones who buy their information were nobles, and the ones who sell the information were people who don''t understand how good the information they had was, thus selling it to them cheaply.


    They also try to gather rumors, and learned how to use this rumors to their advantage. This was a trick Ren himself taught them, who in turn learned from his son from his past life. He didn''t think it relevant back then, since with his overwhelming strength he didn''t really care about the opinions of others, which proved to be a fatal mistake in the end.


    "Iselv, Kithra how many subordinates of yours could be considered mages?"


    "I don''t have anyone like that. If they had the capability to be mages, they wouldn''t be in the slums." Iselv answered as he was almost about to spit, but stopped himself.


    "Hmm, I have two girls who can be considered beginner level mages, and one guy who could be considered an intermediate level mage." Kithra tapped her finger on her cheeks as she answered, while blinking a few times in cutesy manner. This was her trying her best to make Ren notice her. To bad for her, Ren had already evaluated her potential and in the end she wasn''t up to the standard he wanted in his women.


    "I see, Iselv call ten of your best men, and bring them here. Kithra call the three mages you have, and eight more subordinates that are good inbat, bring them here as well. Huh? Didn''t you hear me, go now."


    The moment the two heard Ren say go now, Iselv and Kithra didn''t say anything anymore and left the room. As the two were leaving, Valdel approached Ren.


    "What is it your nning Ren?"


    "You''ll see... Don''t be too hasty Val, I''ll exin what I''m nning when those two return."


    ...


    After a few minutes, Iselv and Kithra returned alongside twenty others. Among the twenty they brought back, three of them looked out of ce from the group of burly looking men. Two of the three, were pretty, sexy women wearing a very thinyer of fabric. Thest of the three, was a handsome young man that looked like some rich merchant''s son.


    The young man upon entering the room, looked at Valdel then at Ren ring at both of them.


    "These guys are the best in my crew." Iselv gestured at the men behind him.


    "These are mine. The two girls over here, are the beginner mages I''ve told you about, and this man here is the Intermediate rank mage." When Kithra reported to Ren, the young man who was supposedly an Intermediate rank mage looked at Ren with a burning gaze.


    "Is that the guy Kithra? Is this the guy you''re talking about, the one who has your heart?" The irritation and anger could be heard in the young man''s speech as he asked Kithra.


    "Yeah he is." Kithra who looked at Ren with a flirty gaze, expecting something from him, was promptly ignored by Ren. The young man on the other hand, seeing her do this was enraged.


    "What the hell! He doesn''t look like anything much, and you''re telling me he has your heart?!" The young man who was ring at Ren, was now sending killing intent his way, and was even about to use a spell. Yet before he could do anything else, he suddenly had his face smacked onto the floor.


    He couldn''t move his body, he looked at Ren''s direction and saw that he hasn''t move from his spot. Though Ren wasn''t touching him, he knew that this overwhelming pressure that was pressing on him, came from Ren.


    Everyone present except for the twenty who cameter, knew of Ren''s skill so they weren''t surprised to see him do this. The others on the other hand, felt fear as they witnessed this scene. All of them kept quiet waiting for Ren to do something.


    Ren then slowly walked towards the young man, and knelt on one knee in front of him.


    "I don''t care what kind of drama, is going on between you and Kithra, but the moment you direct killing intent my way for a second time, will be yourst. The only reason you get this, oh so, miraculous second chance, is simply because you are a valuablemodity. Yet even with that a second time will not be tolerated." Once he was done exining this to the young man, he looked at the others.


    "So how about you people, do you have anyints about me?"


    Ren who was casually stepping on the young man''s face looked at the other neen people as he said this. The neen who heard Ren''s question immediately shook their heads.


    "Good... Okay then, let me tell you what''s about to happen to you people. First I want you all to register as adventurers that includes you Iselv and Kithra. After that I will personally train you all to be suitable people, to be called my subordinates. I will train you all, until you have the basic strength required to be called my subordinates."

 Chapter 89 - Request

    <h4>Chapter 89 - Request</h4>


    It was a surprising day in the adventurers guild. There was a ton of people that suddenly registered as adventurers. Of course, this event got the attention of the guild master, Nezzard. Yet the moment he looked he saw the irritating sly face of Ren.


    Nezzard knew that Ren was once again up to something. These guys were obviously people he knew. As Nezzard was scanning the newly registered adventurers he saw two familiar faces. When he looked even closer, he was shocked to see who the two were.


    The bulging mass of muscles that stood like a giant was none other than the bandit king Iselv. The beautiful maiden wearing provocative clothes, was the witch, the subus of the night Kithra. Those two were big shots in the underworld, especially here in Grenton, the two practically own Grenton and here they are registering as adventurers.


    Nezzard noticed that the two were especially respectful to Ren. This made him guess numerous things about Ren''s current rtionship to the underworld organizations. It was then Ren saw thezy guild master and approached him with a smiling face. ]


    Seeing that smile on Ren''s face Nezzard could already guess, he was once again going to ask for something unreasonable.


    "Hey guild master, long time no see."


    "What the hell are you saying, we just met yesterday." Nezzard looked at Ren with an unhappy face. This guy always knew what to say, to make him the most irritated.


    "Oh, is that so. Well anyway, you see guild master I have a request to make."


    "Another request, you do know I''m not your servant. Shouldn''t you give something in return before I agree to another one of these requests of yours? Howe it''s always me who gives and gets nothing in return."


    "Hmm, I see, I guess you''re right in saying that. How about this, you still need some help in your never-ending paperwork right? So how about I give you five people that can help you with that. They''ll be your personal assistants and do all the work for you."


    When Nezzard heard what Ren said, he was visibly shaken. That offer truly was tempting to him, but he couldn''t just take it. The guild master could only take a trustworthy person as a secretary since the documents they handle is very sensitive information rted to the guild. Nezzard could only gnash his teeth, as he answered Ren.


    "No can do, I can''t have outsiders handle that kind of work."


    "Then what do you want me to do, so that you would listen to my request?"


    When Ren asked this, Nezzard started thinking. What could he possibly ask of this irritating person that only brings trouble to him? The only thing noteworthy about the guy was his extreme sickeningbat prowess. Aside from that what else was he good at?


    ''He does look like a schemer of sorts. Seeing the respect Iselv and Kithra are showing him, must mean he also has high charisma... I wonder what should I make him do?''


    "For now I have nothing I need from you. So how about owing me a favor. The next time I need something, I''ll call for you, and no matter what I ask you should do it. How about that, if you agree to this, I won''t mind helping you out again." Nezzard smirked at Ren.


    ''How about that, even you, should have a problem epting those terms.''


    "Sure. As long as it''s something that doesn''t require me to die, then why not." Ren answered without hesitation. Hearing Ren''s answer, Nezzard was truly surprised.


    "What?! Are you sure about this?"


    "What are you fussing around for, Nezzard. Weren''t you the one who set this condition? Why is it you, that looks more worried than me?" This time it was Ren''s turn to smirk at Nezzard. Seeing that look of Ren''s, as if he was saying everything was going as nned made Nezzard even more irritated.


    "Fine then, what is it you want?" Nezzard gave up and asked Ren.


    "Nothing much, I just want you to make all my friends that just registered as adventurers, to be given D ranks."


    "Huh, is that all?" Nezzard couldn''t believe what he heard. He was so sure, that Ren was about to ask for something unreasonable, but this time he just requested something so simple.


    ''This isn''t worth him owing me a favor... Since it''s him there must be something deeper going on.''


    "Why, do you want me to ask for something more?"


    "No, fine, I''ll make all yourpanions into D rank adventurers." Nezzard quickly headed to one of the receptionists and told her a few things.


    ...


    After a short while, the receptionist returned and gave the people their guild cards.


    "There I fulfilled my end of the bargain, so I hope when the timees you''ll fulfill yours." Nezzard said this to Ren with a stern face.


    "Of course, I am a man of my word. See yah guild master." Ren turned around and headed to his people that were now newly registered adventurers.


    "So now that you guys are adventurers, hmm, let''s see... First I want the guys who don''t know magic to form two teams with six members, and one team will have five members. As for those who know magic, as well as Iselv, you''ll being with me. As for the three teams, here are the quests that I want you to finish within the day."


    Ren then handed the three teams, three quests for each team, that he took from the quest board. All of these quests were subjugation quests.


    "The team that finishes their questst, will be punished. So you guys better apply for those quests right now and finish them as fast as possible... You guys better do your best, as for the future losers, I do look forward to punishing you guys." Seeing that evil smile on Ren''s face, the three teams started running to the guild receptionists.


    Seeing them scatter about in fright made Ren chuckle. He then faced the members that will apany him today.


    "As for you guys, will be doing something special for your training, follow me." Ren was now walking out of the building, while the others follow him out.


    Little did they know, what awaits them in this training, was the sight of hell itself.

 Chapter 90 - Test

    <h4>Chapter 90 - Test</h4>


    Ren alongside Lara, Hilda, and the five newpanions headed out of town. They didn''t take any quest and simply headed somece. While they were walking Iselv and Kithra were talking to each other.


    "Hey, what kind of training do you think he''s going to make us do?" Iselv questioned the nearby Kithra.


    "Does it really matter what kind of training it is? As long as it''s going to make us stronger, then who cares."


    "Still for some reason hearing him, say that he would train us makes me feel a bit ufortable. I don''t know what it is, but the way he said it, was somehow ominous." Iselv then remembered that smirking face of Ren which made him feel even more ufortable.


    "Heh, So the feared Bandit King is actually scared of some training." Kithra giggled as she said this, which made Iselv frown.


    "Are you really sure you want to talk to me that way? You do know that I''m rted to the royal family."


    "You might be rted. But even if you were, in the end, you''re still Ren''s subordinate." Kithra shrugged her shoulders as she answered.


    The two former bosses of Grenton''s underworld started to bicker after that. As they were talking, the young man who seemed to have a thing for Kithra was looking at Ren. He was extremely angered by the fact that he was shown his ce in front of the woman he liked. Not only that but he was also made aware of the overwhelming difference in power between him and Ren.


    He wasn''t even able to move against the man. Ren didn''t even attack, all he did was overwhelm him with his sheer presence. He looked at Ren and even though he wanted to he couldn''t emit anymore killing intent at him. It was like his mind was rejecting the idea of opposing Ren.


    Yet even with that what irritated him the most, was that his supposed rival in love, wasn''t really a rival. Ren made it perfectly clear that he has absolutely no interest in Kithra.


    ''Damn it! Fine then, it doesn''t matter if I''m weak now. I''ll just get stronger, and I''ll use him in making myself stronger. Whatever training it is, I''ll do it!''


    ...


    With different thoughts in mind, the group headed to an empty field. This was the usual ce where Valdel would practice his swordsmanship. The group looked around and got confused. There was nothing here, except a huge open space.


    "What are we suppose to do here?" Iselv asked Ren as he looked around, and noticed that there wasn''t even a single monster nearby.


    "Well first things first, I want to see what you people are capable of. Hilda and Lara will be on standby. All I want you guys to do, for now, is attack me."


    "So you want to test us one on one is that it?"


    "One on one? No, I won''t test you like that since all of you are so weak. If we did a one on one, it would no longer be a test, and I won''t be able to gauge your abilities. No, that''s not what I want, what I want to test all of you together. Don''t worry I''ll give myself a handicap. I won''t use any weapon aside from my fist, and I''ll only use body enhancement magic. Soe on, attack me!"


    Iselv and Kithra who had a glimpse into Ren''s strength went into their battle stances. The young man and the two girls simply stood there dumbfounded but the sudden event.


    "Sarah, Nina, Hanz! Attack Ren from the distance using magic, support Iselv!" Hearing Kithra''s sudden shout, the three finally got into position. Iselv with an axe at hand charged towards Ren, who simply stood in one position.


    While Iselv was running, Kithra and the other three started firing basic attack spells. Fireball, Ice Spear, and earth Spear. The speed of their casting was different, as well as the speed of the spell traveling towards Ren.


    Seeing as Kithra was the fastest to cast her spell, it was also the spell to first arrive. She was the one who casted fireball. Ren seeing the iing attacks coated his hands and legs with mana. He then punched at the fireball negating it. Upon contact with more powerful mana, the mana that formed the fireball dispersed.


    The other three attacks came in almost at the same time. Ren caught the two ice spears and kicked the remaining earth spear. While he was distracted by that, Iselv was already right in front of him.


    Iselv used his axe to chop at Ren, who simply dodge by swaying his body to the right. Ren then caught Iselv''s right hand, kicked his right foot, and pulled on the right hand he was holding onto. This made the giant man Iselv fall t on his face.


    Ren then saw that the young man had closed in as well, and was about to use a big spell. "Burst me!"


    Ren moved Iselv''s body behind him and stomped on the ground. The ground Ren stomped on, was pushed upward making it into a wall. This wall of earth was able to receive the young man''s Burst me spell.


    Seeing his spell fail, the young man was about to cast another spell. Ren then kicked the wall of earth which was sent flying into the direction of the young man, who was unable to dodge in time.


    "Lightning!" A bolt of lightning came down from the heavens. This was an advanced level spell and the one who casted it was none other than Kithra. Yet even with the speed of literal lightning, Ren''s reflex proved to be superior. The moment he sensed the gathering mana on the clouds, Ren could already guess what wasing.


    Anticipating that lightning would strike on his spot, Ren was able to dodge in advance. After dodging he dashed towards Kithra. The two beginner mages, seeing the charging Ren couldn''t perform any spells so instead used their bodies to block Ren from reaching Kithra.


    Ren was able to pass by the two and hit them at the back of their necks. They weren''t even able to dy Ren for more than a second. Yet for someone like Kithra that moments dy was enough time for her to use another spell.


    "Earth wall." As the name implied the spell created a wall of earth that surrounded Kithra, She wanted to dy Ren for a few seconds so she can cast a stronger spell. Yet before she could even gather the mana required, Ren punched through the wall of earth.


    "I give up!" Seeing as there was no point in fighting anymore, Kithra surrendered.


    ...


    After the three people who fainted woke up, Ren looked at the group who faced him and sighed.


    "I wasn''t expecting much, but it''s much worse than I anticipated. The two beginner mages were the only ones who went beyond what I expected. Even though they were weaker than the rest of you, the two of them actually used their bodies to give Kithra more time to cast her spell. Aside from the two of them, the three of you were a disappointment."


    Ren looked at Iselv, Kithra, and the young man and sighed again.


    "I was expecting you Iselv and Kithra to have better skills than this, seeing as you two used to be the feared bosses of the Northern and Southern districts of Grenton. Yet you couldn''t fight to your full potential, especially you Iselv you were actually holding back on me! How insulting and alsoughable, a weakling such as yourself shouldn''t be holding back."


    Hearing what Ren said, Iselv gritted his teeth, while Kithra started to think about what Ren said. He wasn''t disappointed that she was weak, because it was obvious in the eyes of Ren most people were weak, no what disappointed him was that she wasn''t fighting in her full potential. That would mean the way she fought was a mistake in itself.


    While the two bosses started to contemte Ren''s words, Ren was now looking at the young man kithra brought.


    "I forgot I never asked your name, what is it?"


    "It''s Hanz."


    "Hanz is it... Based on how you moved near me to cast your spells, tells me that you have no idea how to fight. I wasn''t expecting much, but I at least hope you know the basics of fighting as a mage... Well then, now that I got a feel on how weak you guys are, we can start training."

 Chapter 91 - Training

    <h4>Chapter 91 - Training</h4>


    After assessing the level of his new subordinates Ren thought up ways to train them; but first he needed to train his strongestpanions which were Lara and Hilda. That was going to be hard, seeing as he already taught Lara everything he knew about archery, which she was most suitable in. Even her ability to use Darkness magic was near his level. She even stopped using darkness magic, since the spells she could use consume a huge portion of her mana, making it an inefficient way to fight.


    Hilda on the other hand, was a whole other problem. She was already used to her own style of fighting, and teaching her new ways might actually hinder her growth. All of Ren''s'' fighting styles were purely offensive, even the people in his visions were of the offensive type, but Hilda''s style was more well rounded.


    "Silika."


    After calling her name, a woman wearing a ck veil matching her ck dress appeared before Ren. Hilda and Lara were already aware of Silika''s presence, but Iselv and the others were amazed by the sudden appearance of Silika. Since it was like she appeared out of thin air.


    "What do you wish for, my master."


    "I want you to spar with these two." Ren pointed at Lara and Hilda.


    "As you wish my master." Silika then summoned the deathscythe. Hilda and Lara were surprised on what was happening, and stood there dumbfounded.


    "You two, this is your training. Basically you just need to fight with Silika. The only way to clear this training, is if you are able to hit Silika once. Can you guys do it?"


    Hilda didn''t answer and simply readied her sword and shield, Lara did the same and held five arrows on her hand. Ren smiled seeing the reactions of the two.


    "No need to go easy on them. Just make sure not to kill them."


    "As you wish my master."


    ...


    After instructing Silika what to do, Ren headed towards the two beginner level mages. The two girls stiffened as they stood face to face with Ren. Usually they wouldn''t fear any man no matter how powerful, because they could use their bodies to control them, but Ren wasn''t someone they could use their charms on. Even their mistress Kithra whose beauty was known far and wide, but even she couldn''t get a nce from this man.


    "The two of you will be training to first increase your mana capacity basically making your mana pool growrger. Usually one must wait for the mana pool inside oneself to gradually grow. Yet there is a way to forcefully strengthen your mana pool, at the beginning stages before you reach the high-end level. You just need to exhaust your mana reserves, until you faint. After that once you wake up I want you to do it again. You will repeat this until I say otherwise, do you two understand?"


    "Yes!" The two had no other choice but to say this. The look Ren gave them, told them that if they won''t follow they weren''t needed. They didn''t know what kind of thing this man will do to those he doesn''t need.


    Hearing there enthusiastic answer Ren nodded in response and left the two girls and headed towards Iselv and Kithra.


    "You two I''m unsure on how to train you. I guess for Iselv I could teach you the basics of my swordsmanship, but with your incredible strength, I guess using blunt weapons like a warhammer is a better option. For now how about trying to cut down those trees over there."


    Ren pointed at the nearby forest.


    "Huh? Is there any point in doing that, I could do that easily." Iselv without any stance simply lifted his axe using both his hands and chopped at the tree. A huge chunk of it was chopped off, after a two more swings the tree fell.


    "See," Iselv pointed at the fallen tree.


    "No I don''t want you to cut down the tree that way. I want you to cut it down using one hand and in a single motion, here give me your axe, I''ll show you."


    Iselv handed Ren his axe. When Ren held the axe he adjusted his strength to match that of Iselv''s strength. He then lifted the axe with one hand, he then took a stance. His feet were slightly apart, left foot a bit forward. He lowered his body a bit and then using his one arm he swung the axe along with his waist which twisted as he swung the axe.


    With one swift motion, Ren was able to cut down a tree in slice.


    "That''s how I want you to cut down a tree. Don''t tell me it''s impossible, since I did it with the exact same strength you have."


    Ren then handed the axe back. Iselv who now held his axe gritted his teeth as he tried to copy Ren''s stance and chopped on the tree. Seeing Iselv was now upied in trying to chop a tree in a single move, Ren shifted his attention on Kithra.


    In truth he really didn''t know how to best train this woman. So he just exined to Kithra how to do his meditation technique. Upon hearing Ren''s exnation, Kithra immediately tried it.


    ...


    Everyone was now doing something there was only one person left, and it was the man called Hanz. The youth saw Ren approaching him at this moment he had a multitude of emotions regarding Ren, but the one emotion that struck him the most was fear.


    "You''re already an intermediate level mage and your mana pool is decent enough, but your body is too weak. There are two options you could take right now. I''ll give you the option to choose which training style you prefer to use. The first option is the traditional route, which is basic training to strengthen your foundation, doing this will make you stronger, but the results won''t be apparent in the beginning, and you''ll only see changes after a few months. The second option is one of extreme pain and suffering. Yet picking this option, your body will get stronger faster, in a few days you will see great improvements. So which option will you choose?"


    Hanz looked at the smirking Ren, who seem to be already aware which option he would choose.

 Chapter 92 - Give them back!

    <h4>Chapter 92 - Give them back!</h4>


    Valdel had left Ren''s group since he needed to go back to school for his sses. While he was listening to the professor''s lecture , Valdel had a sudden thought. Was this really the right way to be a hero? It felt like he was doing nothing to achieve that goal. Was being a knight truly the right way to be a hero?


    Still the hero he admired the most was a knight. He was also the hero considered to be the model of all heroes that came after. Still not all heroes were knights, some had jobs like being a tailor, an inn keeper, and other random jobs.


    Should he be an adventurer instead, that way he could have sticked with Ren and get stronger together. Still it was also Ren that told him, to do things by himself. But it was also Ren to see and feel what was happening and judge things by himself. How could he do that, if he wasn''t beside Ren to witness what he was doing?


    "ARRRGH WHAT THE HELL!" Valdel suddenly shouted because of his frustration. This of course attracted everyone''s attention.


    "Mr. Valdel is my lecture angering you?" The professor of the ss was ring at Valdel, his tone was ice cold. The other students were also looking at Valdel, some had the looks of confusion, others had a look of contempt, while some had a look of indifference.


    "I''m sorry professor.''" Valdel didn''t know what else to do but apologize while bowing his head.


    "You might think that your someone special Sir Valdel being the Principal''s favorite, but even you cannot act this way in ss. No matter what you must have-" After that the professor used the whole period to lecture Valdel.


    ...


    Once ss was over some students suddenly approached and surrounded Valdel''s group. Among the group of students that surrounded them, one person stepped forward. She was a talldy that had a stern expression on her face. She was wearing a mass produced armor, that had the same design as the greatest female hero to have ever lived.


    Seeing her looking at Valdel like that, it was obvious that she was here looking for trouble. Noel then stood in front of Valdel.


    "What do you want, Lisa?"


    "This has nothing to do with you Noel, so I suggest you move aside." Lisa said this with apparent irritation, as the students present were all looking a bit agitated.


    "Oh, but it does have something to do with me. This man over here is my friend, and as a person who aspires to be a knight one must always be loyal. So Lisa, let me ask you again what is it that you want?" This time Kurt and Daniel also stepped forward.


    "Fine then, do whatever you want. I just want to ask your friend here, what he has done with my Uncle." As if that was a signal the other students with Lisa started to speak as well.


    "Where did you hide my Brother!"


    "What have you done to my cousin!"


    "Where''s my brother-inw!"


    There were lots of people asking for their family members. This was a very confusing situation for Valdel.


    "Why are you asking me where they are? I have no idea who your uncles, and other rtives are."


    "Drop the act already! You''re the only one who has any motive to take our rtives." Lisa couldn''t take it anymore and yelled at Valdel.


    "Like I said I didn''t take them. Also what kind of motive could I possibly have?" Valdel answered as calmly as possible.


    "What motive? You wanted to get rid of them, since they were the ones who went here and tried to take your sword. They already left you alone when you told them too, and they didn''t find trouble with you. They even left immediately after confirming your rtionship with the king. They weren''t like those eight that stayed and tried to do something. We know we were in the wrong, but your reaction was too excessive! Give them back to us! Give back my Uncle!"


    The stern expression of Lisa''s was reced by a grief stricken expression. Valdel couldn''t understand what was happening. He really didn''t do anything. While he was still stunned in ce, someone held his hand, it was a girl who had tears falling down her cheeks.


    "Please, give back my father! I know we were greedy and we were in the wrong, please forgive us already. I will do anything you ask, I will give you everything I have, even my body if you want it. Just please give back my father. If we lose him, my family we lose everything. My brothers and sisters will be forced out of the main family and will be toss aside. Please my family can''t survive without my father."


    The pain and sorrow in the girl''s look had shaken Valdel to his very core. Her trembling hands held onto his, as she pleaded with all her heart and soul.


    "I... I really don''t know where they are. I didn''t do anything to them." Valdel couldn''t say anything but this. Noel seeing Valdel in a confused state spoke.


    "My friend here says he doesn''t know. So you better try to find them elsewhere." Noel tried to pull Valdel to the side, but he couldn''t, as the girl who was holding his hand just wouldn''t let go.


    "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please-" The girl just continued to mumble this as she held onto Valdel''s hands.


    "Have you no heart! She already begged you this much. She even offered her everything, but you don''t respond. What is it that you want from us? What must be done for you to return our rtives to us?" Lisa had a look of pure disgust as she stared at Valdel''s eyes. She just couldn''t believe that what Valdel was saying was true. If not him then who? The onlymon thing these people that went missing had, was that they came to take Valdel''s sword, aside from that they had nomon ground.


    Seeing the different reactions of the people surrounding him, Valdel felt his heart being pierced. He was overwhelmed by the great negative emotions of the people present. It was then Valdel got an idea.


    "I''m sorry but like I said, I didn''t take your rtives... But I will find them. I will find them, and prove my innocence."

 Chapter 93 - The First Prince

    <h4>Chapter 93 - The First Prince</h4>


    When Valdel promised to find their rtives, some of the students present turned quiet. The girl holding his hand kept on saying thank you to him. While Lisa still looked at him skeptical of the whole thing.


    Unknown to them someone else was listening in on their conversation. Once he heard Valdel announced that he would find the rtives of the other students, the person hiding in the shadows left the scene.


    This person was the one who told the students that it was possible that their rtives were taken by Valdel. Of course he didn''t tell them this piece of information directly, but instead started a rumor of sorts. This person has never directly talked to the people who lost their rtives, and to make sure no one would recognize him, he casted an illusion spell on his face. So when people asked to describe the person who told them the information, each person will describe a totally different person from the others.


    ...


    The man who was eavesdropping on Valdel went into an inn, and headed straight to the second floor. Usually in this inn the whole second and third floor would be packed with people, but today there was no one. The man then knocked on the door near the end of the hallway.


    "The sun will smile onto the world." Somebody inside the room spoke.


    "It wille and shine its light on the crown." The man replied.


    The door opened and within the room, there was a man sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by five other people. The man in the middle of the room, had arger physique than most people, and his looks were a bit simr to Iselv.


    Yet there was a distinct difference between the two, the person sitting in the middle had a very majestic aura surrounding him. His posture and everything about him feels like he was meant to stand above others. This person was none other than, the first prince of the Reschbeauch kingdom, Reynold Reschbeauch.


    "Did it seed?"


    "It has seeded, and as your majesty predicted the fool Valdel took it upon himself to find the missing rtives of the other students." Reynold nodded his head, acknowledging the report of the man.


    "Your majesty, are you sure about this?" One of the five guarding the prince questioned. Another of the five then red at the person who spoke.


    "Are you questioning our liege?" The man who was ring was about ready to pull out his weapon.


    "Enough!" Hearing themand of his liege, the man no longer tried to pull out his weapon.


    "Erick, are you really questioning my decision?" Reynold looked at the man called Erick with a bit of intrigue in his eyes.


    "I would never question you my liege, but the warning Sepchel gave us still rings in my head." When Erick said this, another one of the five spoke.


    "Are you going to believe that coward?"


    "Stop it Henrick! Tell me how many of you could beat Sepchel in a straight out fight? Do not bother lying to me, since I already know all of your abilities." No one answered Reynold as they hung their heads in shame.


    "There is the answer, none of you can face Sepchel one on one, and win."


    Reynold then remembered thest time Sepchel came to him, it happened two days ago.


    ...


    Sepchel stood in front of Reynold asking for forgiveness. Reynold couldn''t understand what Sepchel could''ve done, to ask for forgiveness. Among the subordinates he as the first prince had, Sepchel was the best, he was the true embodiment of what it means to be a knight. Honor, dignity, Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity, Prudence, Temperance, Resolution, Truth, Liberality, Diligence, Hope, Valor. Sepchel had all of these qualities, and he tries his best to live by them. Of course he isn''t perfect, but he is closest one to bing the ideal knight.


    The only reason he even followed the first prince, was because he believed that to protect the citizens, an all out war with the enemy country was the right thing to do.


    So seeing this person the strongest of his retainers act like this, and even ask for forgiveness baffled Reynold.


    "Why are you asking for forgiveness? Tell me Sepchel, so I may judge you." After hearing what his liege said, Sepchel began exining his encounter with Ren.


    "I''m sorry to say this my liege, but no matter what, in any circumstances please do not provoke Ren."


    "How dare you say that you coward! To tell our liege to avoid a peasant in fear! Have you lost your mind?! I''m not sure why you are so afraid of this Ren person, he is but a single person. I''m certain that with our military might, no matter how strong he is he would fall." Hearing the screaming Henrick, Sepchel closed his eyes and sighed.


    "I am not underestimating our military might, nor am I insinuating that we would lose... But if we fought Ren, I expect we would have heavy casualties, and about three of us six would be killed."


    ...


    Remembering that warning from Sepchel made Erick hesitate in messing around with this person called Ren.


    "I understand your concern Erick, but the damage has already been done. This person called Ren is already enemies with Sepchel''s younger brother. No matter what he says, the grudge would always be there. Also I am not dealing with the person called Ren, but his friend Valdel. I''m sure I remember no mention of avoiding a person called Valdel."


    The first prince Reynold was not a stupid man, and he indeed took heed of Sepchel''s warning. That''s one of the reason why he didn''t bother to directly attack Ren, but Valdel instead. As the aspiring king of the Reschbeauch kingdom, if he bowed down to a threat by some random nobody, then how would he go about fighting the war against the neighboring kingdoms.


    He must at least show this Ren, that he shouldn''t threaten a subordinate of the first prince.


    "The death of his friend, might make him think twice before threatening a subordinate of mine. Also after dealing with Valdel, released those nobles we captured. I''m sure they now know whose side they should take, between me and my brother."


    Hearing Reynold''s orders, the six people present said nothing more, and simply bowed their heads and went their way to fulfill the orders given to them.

 Chapter 94 - ???

    <h4>Chapter 94 -???</h4>


    ??? POV:


    I have watched over you when you were still Gabriel lightbringer. After the death of Gabriel I have tied my soul to yours. I who have cursed the Gods, reincarnate with you.


    Gabriel Lightbringer, Leonard Tranor, Rei krimen, Shun Midgar, Edge Regius, and now Rei Kuraki. I have witnessed all of these reincarnations of yours.


    Gabriel lightbringer, he was a reincarnation, who truly deserved the title "true hero". He fought for the world and his beloved.


    Leonard Tranor, he was a reincarnation, who truly loved to battle. He journeyed through numerous worlds, numerous battlefields, searching for a worthy opponent. He was one who walks toward the beginnings end. Even though he had no intention, he was named a "war hero."


    Rei Krimen, a reincarnation that inherited Chaos and Serenity. He was someone who never wanted to battle, yet was greatly skilled at killing. He was searching for a ce to die. In his search for a ce to die, he instead had found many to save, he was called a "hero."


    Shun Midgar, this was a reincarnation that sought vengeance. He was caught up between the war of humans and demons. Due to his anger he killed many demons and in the end killed the demon lord. He was forever loved as the "hero of the humans."


    Edge Regius, a reincarnation that kept his previous reincarnation Shun Midgar''s memories. Deeply regretting his decision of killing the demon lord and living only for revenge, he promised to live a more fufilling life by bing the strongest. During the so called purge of non-humans. Edge led a group of heroes, and defeated the enemy leader. He was hailed as "the greatest hero."


    And then there was, Rei Kuraki. Even among the past reincarnations I have seen. He was the most abnormal. All previous reincarnations, were indeed geniuses, but they needed to train their body, to keep up with what they wanted to do. Rei kuraki never needed to train, from the start he was born with a body stronger than all of his previous reincarnations, that I have seen. He even has the memories and, abilities of two reincarnations. One from the strongest weapon master, the battle freak, nicknamed ,"the God of battle, death, and victory." Leonard Tranor. The other the strongest magic knight, the one above all reincarnations in terms of magic ability Edge Regius.


    All of his reincarnations were one of the strongest in their respective timelines... Yet even among those, Edge Regius, and Leonard Tranor, stand on a different field. He possesses both their abilities and some of their memories. The new reincarnation, fearing the memories, that are not his own, had sealed them along with his strength. He feared that he would lose his sense of self...


    I have been with him for the longest time.


    When he was Gabriel lightbringer, I was the one he loved the most Eva. I traveled around the world with him, having many great adventures. On ourst adventure, the one adventure where he died, I only felt rage and sorrow. Rage at the Gods'' who have allowed such a tragedy to ur, and sorrow of losing the one I love.


    I researched and researched of ways for him to return to me. That was when I found a way to bind my soul to his. So that no matter where or when he reincarnates, I will be there for him.


    As I bound my soul to his, I came across something I shouldn''t have seen. I finally knew the true purpose of my beloved.


    His soul has already undergone a thousand reincarnations, and he has always died as a "hero." He was chained by an existence greater than all. He who possessed the most powerful human soul, was chained to cmity. He would reincarnate to a time when he is most needed, when the people would need a "hero."


    No matter the reincarnation, no matter what he chooses, my love is always chained down by the name "hero" and he dies with the name. How cruel is his fate... Something greater than the Gods themselves has him following this path.


    I wanted to save him, I wanted to free him. So that was the time I choose to be his enemy in order to save him. I needed to remove either his link to the term "strongest" or "hero."


    That proved difficult to do with his next reincarnation, Leonard Tranor. This reincarnation was literally the embodiment of victory itself. I opposed him as the master of the Giants and wild dragons, but to him it was nothing more than a warm up. So I needed to try again.


    The next reincarnation, was Rei Krimen. He truly was finding a ce to die. I tried to oppose him as an evil sorceress trying to take over thend. Yet every time I saw him struggle, every time I did evil my heart would feel like it was breaking. So I kept on telling myself that, this was an evil, I was willing to do for the sake of my love. For him I will be something he hated the most, for him I will be an enemy to oppose. I couldn''t think of any other way to save his soul. Still in the end I have failed in this reincarnation.


    The next reincarnation Shun Midgar, at first I couldn''t locate his soul. This was the first time I couldn''t locate his soul. So I wasn''t sure if I reincarnated properly.


    So as I was reincarnated as the strongest demon, I became the demon lord. At first I told all my people not to harm the humans, so that we may live in harmony. That was when the humans reacted violently. Seeing that we demons looked like we have weaken, they started attacking us. At first I tried to negotiate with the human king, but he called all demons evil. He even dared to say that we are the cause of all cmity in the world.


    I didn''t want to do this but, I needed to protect my people. So we answered violence, with our own violence.


    As the war raged on, I heard of a human, who was treated as a hero. Curious I looked for him, I then met the boy and journeyed with him. During the journey he reminded me of Gabriel. Though Gabriel fought for justice and this boy fought for vengeance they felt simr.


    I then asked why the boy started his journey. Once I heard his story, I felt it... This boy was Gabriel''s reincarnation.


    I went back to my castle. Shun was another of Gabriel''s reincarnations, and unlike the others, his heart was weaker.


    That was when I thought of a n. If he kills me, then he will gain the resentment of the demons. Though he will be hailed as a hero of the humans, he will still be the most hated enemy of the demons.


    So when he came, to attack me. I let myself be killed. My heart felt relieved as I was dying thinking that this time, I might have saved him...


    Due to the link of my soul to his, I found out that wasn''t enough. The demons did resent him but they were the minority. I needed more people to resent him, so that his cycle will end, and he may be freed and begin anew.


    So on his new reincarnation, Edge Regius. I tried to make him into an enemy, of the human race, the most numerous race.


    I thought I seeded but in the end, the humans didn''t really resent him. He was branded a traitor but only by name.


    So I needed to begin the cycle anew. So with my own hands I killed him. I don''t know why I did it. Maybe it was because I was jealous. This reincarnation of his was surrounded by many women that love him...


    This time I moved into a new body, and found the new Gabriel. Still I wonder what cmity wille this time? All of his reincarnations had the appropriate strength for the cmity at hand. Will I be the one to bring this cmity? No it can''t be, I already had difficulty with Leonard, but this reincarnation is stronger than that.


    ...


    Rei Kuraki, has fought the origin and in the end still lost, but he was able to damage the will of the origin.


    My beloved has finally broken a chain of his from the hands of the origin, but he was still far from being free. Though he was now able to to free himself from the name ''hero''. He was now only attached to the anomaly as the strongest, a bncer for the world.


    He became a demon lord in his next reincarnation. He was still unable to stop himself from being the bncer, even in that situation. I could not think of a way to free him a this point. The only way I know, is for him to defeat the origin, but the consequences for doing that are unknown.


    I hope in this reincarnation you can finally find your peace. I hope your soul will be saved from this cycle of yours.


    I will wait and observe for now. My goal will never change, I promise, no matter how long it takes. I will save you my love. My dear Gabriel.

 Chapter 95 - A hero

    <h4>Chapter 95 - A hero</h4>


    Valdel had decided to head out to search for the missing family members of the other students. First he headed to the adventurers guild to see if Ren and the others returned. After asking around he was informed that they haven''t returned yet.


    Valdel decided to leave a note he handed it to one of the receptionists and asked her if she could give it to Ren when he returns. Once he was done doing that, Valdel headed back to his dorm room and started to prepare for his trip. He didn''t bother telling the Principal about his leave of absence since each student in the academy has an allotted six days of free time that you may use any time you wish during the year.


    This was incentive was made because most of the students of the academy were nobles and they were allowed that much freedom.


    ...


    While Valdel was preparing for the trip, Zwei turned into her human form sat behind him and spoke.


    "Master you do know that this is a trap? I already told you about the man who was eavesdropping while you were talking to those students. With that in mind I''m pretty sure that you already understand that this is a trap."


    Valdel continued to check his equipment and preparing his bag, without even turning around he answered Zwei.


    "Unlike what everyone thinks, I do understand what''s happening around me, more or less. It''s just that, what I see and what other people see, seem to be different. I can guess that this is a trap, there is too much coincidences pilling up one another, that it''s obvious someone must be pulling the strings from behind the scenes. I''ve been with Ren for years now that I can more or less understand that."


    Zwei was surprised to hear her master actually say something like that. Since unlike Silika who could sync with her master fully, that she''s able to view his soul. Zwei wasn''t at that level yet, and it has been proven that something was blocking Zwei for a more deeper synchronization to happen between her and Valdel. So she needed to ask her questions in a more direct way.


    "Then why master? Why do you still go knowing that it''s a trap? If it''s about those nobles, isn''t this simply karma for doing what they did?"


    "Hey Zwei you do know that I want to be a hero, right?"


    "Yes, but even so. Even heroes can''t save everyone."


    "I understand what you''re saying but... Hmmm, Zwei let me tell you the reason as to why I want to be a hero."


    Valdel suddenly shifted the topic to something else entirely, but Zwei hearing the seriousness in Valdel''s voice listened quietly.


    "Some might think, I wanted to be a hero because it sounded cool when I was kid. Of course back then I really did admire the hero lifestyle. Going out in grand adventures, finding some secret ruins, gainingpanions that you will cherish, protecting the weak and helpless, defeating evil, and all kinds of things. A hero''s life for me was an epic, when I listened to those stories when I was a kid, it made me excited."


    Valdel stopped his hands from packing, as nostalgia filled him.


    "My best friend Ren might think I want to be a hero, because of strength. Well to Ren strength means everything. He was the one who taught me that my views and ideals would never be heard, never be reached if I don''t have the strength to back it up. Of course as per usual he was right."


    Valdel smiled a bit as he said this and shook his head.


    "Still that wasn''t the reason I wanted to be a hero. The reason I wanted to be a hero, was because I wanted to see everyone''s smiling faces. I wanted everyone to have a happy ending. Of course now that I grew up, I knew that wasn''t possible. I was even proven a hypocrite when I saw Iselv and the others for the first time."


    Valdel sighed as he said this.


    "Back then I was blinded by rage, and killed most of the ve traders, and even wanted to kill Iselv and the others. I thought at the time, that killing them would have pardoned their sins and they could do better in the next life... I was wrong, I was too hotheaded, every time I see evil something deep within mepels me to do something. It''s like I hear voices in my head. Unlike yours these voices sound like me, it''s like there''s this other me that forces me to think certain things. I might actually be crazy a this point..."


    Valdel showed a weak smile as he continued to speak.


    "Still I was wrong about Iselv and the others. They might look evil on the outside, based on what they had done it would seem that they were evil. Still they had their own circumstances to deal with, and that doesn''t necessarily mean that they were evil or good. It made me think that people aren''t inherently evil or inherently good, the choices that were made the people that they''re with affects the oue of what they are in the end. It was just like what Ren said, not everything was ck and white. The truth is never so simple... I hate it when in the end what Ren said rings true. Of course most of what Ren says sounds logical and right... Still hearing a kid a year younger than you tell you life lessons, feels a bit wrong. Still, no matter the case I was wrong about the people from the underworld."


    "So then I decided that I want to give these kind of people a second chance to be better. I understand that not all are willing to change, and I''m not as naive as Ren thinks me to be. If there really isn''t much hope, then I would kill without hesitation... Even with all my hypocrisy, and all my faults I still truly wish to fulfill my dream, that naive and childish dream of everyone smiling at the end, everyone being able to get their happy ending... Of course I know that this dream of mine, is almost impossible to achieve, since like Ren said. The happiness of someone could be happiness taken by another. Still I hope, I foolishly hope for a happy end for everyone."


    ''I understand that everything I said is like a paradox, but still...'' Valdel sighed as he continued to talk.


    "Well, all in all, I just want to do the best I can. I want to save the people that I can save. I do this so that I can reach the ending of my story without any regrets... Zwei, to me a hero is a symbol, he grants courage to those who have none, he grants hope when everything seems bleak. I want to be the hero I once envisioned when I was kid. So please help me be that hero, Zwei."


    Valdel turned around and shone his bright smile at Zwei. Looking at his eyes that seem to be looking at a far distant future, an ideal future, made Valdel who was already good looking look even more handsome. Zwei caught up by Valdel''s speech bowed in front of him.


    "As you wish my master."

 Chapter 96 - Ambush

    <h4>Chapter 96 - Ambush</h4>


    After convincing Zwei, Valdel had finished packing for his trip. Noel and the others tried to persuade him not to go but Valdel had already made up his mind. He needed to do what he can and this was the best option. Wether the nobles are dead or not, he would find out. If they were alive he would bring them back to their families. If they were dead, he would bury their bodies and tell the others the truth.


    He understood that if he really did thetter things would get troublesome, but he still believed that''s what needs to be done. He would just act ordingly.


    ...


    When Valdel who was about to leave the school grounds, he saw Noel and the others standing near the exit. The group approached Valdel and tried to convince him for onest time. Of course Valdel didn''t budge from his decision.


    Noel and the other two who weren''t able to convince Valdel to stop, gave up and instead gave him a few silver coins just in case. Of course Valdel rejected the money, since he still had some money that Ren shared with him, and the money he got from the Principal. Still Noel and the others insisted that he take the money, since this was the only thing they could do at the moment.


    They couldn''t join him in this quest of his, since it involved other noble factions and it was possible something deeper was happening. They did like Valdel but their priority was still with what''s best for their families.


    Valdlel epted the money in the end, seeing as they wouldn''t give up until he took the money. After receiving the money, Valdel quickly left and headed to the path the nobles used on their way back home.


    ...


    While on the path Valdel encountered low level monster every now and then. Still he knew based on the quality of bodyguards the nobles had with them, this level of monsters wouldn''t really pose a problem to the nobles and their bodyguards. Valdel continued walking down the path, once he was quite far from the Grenton and the next town, that''s when they appeared.


    Valdel already noticed them following him a few minutes before, but decided not to bother with them. If they simply came to observe him, then let them do so, as long as they weren''t showing any hostility. Yet now it would seem that they were about to bear their fangs at him.


    A group of five strong looking individuals appeared before Valdel. At a nce it would seem that each one of them was slightly beneath Valdel in mana capacity, but that could be changed. Yet the overall feel they were exuding was something that couldn''t be faked. These people were experts, and quite strong ones.


    "What do you guys want?" Valdel asked, but the men in front of him didn''t respond and simply started attacking. Valdel was about to pull out Zwei but was stopped by a chain that wrapped around his arm.


    ''Zwei turn into your human form, and help me.'' Zwei did as she was told and turned into her human form. The five attackers who saw this sudden transformation were surprised, but only for a moment. They already knew that Valdel''s sword was magical, so they decided to think that turning into a human wasn''t a big thing. What''s more important at the moment was to kill Valdel.


    Zwei cut the chains that were restricting Valdel and decided to handle three of the attackers, while Valdel will handle two of the attackers.


    "Hear me spirits of fire, hear my voice and follow my mana-" One of the attackers suddenly started chanting a spell. Valdel who heard the spell words, knew that the iing spell was a fire based spell. So Valdel started chanting as well and was going to use an water based spell.


    Ren had already mention long ago, that if they were to encounter enemies that had the same level of mana as them, he and Lara should fight smartly. Fighting someone using spells was like ying a rock, paper, scissors game. Each element has another element that it''s weaker and stronger against. In this situation water beats fire.


    "Explosion!" The enemy mage finished his spell, while Valdel was dealing with another fighter. The one fighting Valdel in close quarters backed away. Seeing the iing spell, Valdel was also finished with his incantation, and just needed to use the trigger word.


    "Water Wall!" A dense wall of water appeared before Valdel defending him from the explosion spell and negated it. This didn''t really surprised the enemy mage, as he started to speak new spell words. A fighter that was equal in skill as Valdel in a melee, and a mage that was as proficient as Valdel or even better than him in using spells.


    There was also the problem of the three others with them. Right now Zwei is able to fight them in equal footing, but once Valdel''s mana diminishes Zwei won''t be able tost long.


    ''Zwei I want you to create an opening, so that we can retreat.'' Valdelmunicated to Zwei using their mental link.

 Chapter 97 - Unexpected meeting

    <h4>Chapter 97 - Unexpected meeting</h4>


    When Zwei heard what her master said, she was confused. Though the level of opponents were somewhat difficult to deal with and even if they went all out they would get a bit injured, but in the end they would still win. So why should they retreat? As if her master was able to hear her own thoughts, Valdel answered.


    ''I don''t want to kill them, since they might just be forced to do this.''


    That one sentence made Zwei remember what kind of person her master was. This was the man that wanted to save everyone even his enemies. While Zwei was thinking about her master''s w, Valdel on the other hand had was thinking about something else. In truth he had another reason for retreating that he didn''t tell Zwei. For some reason he felt that even if he goes all out he wouldn''t really get any advantage against these opponents.


    Valdel couldn''t understand it, but he somehow felt that the opponents were actually holding back on him somehow. He wasn''t sure why they were holding back, but he knew that these people truly wanted to kill him, which made their actions even more confusing.


    ...


    Zwei who already received her master''s orders made an opening for her and Valdel to escape. She charged forward surprising the three enemies. Using this chance Zwei casted a simple binding spell on the three. This spell wouldst for about two seconds, but those two seconds was more than enough for Valdel who knew how to use body enhancing magic.


    Once the two got pass the three blocking the way, Zwei turned back into a sword. Valdel took Zwei and blocked an iing spell. The caster of the spell was momentarily surprised when he saw his spell getting absorbed by the sword.


    Even though they were already aware that the magical sword was able to absorb spells, seeing it with ones own eyes was a different matter. After the failed attempt in using an attack spell, the five of them gave chase.


    Since their version of the body enhancing spell, burned a lot more mana than Valdel''s they couldn''t keep it up for that long. It was a good thing that the first prince predicted that Valdel would somehow escape the five of them.


    Of course the five retainers followed their lord''s orders but they didn''t believe him, since they believed in their strength. Yet now that it actually happened they were once again in awe of their lord''s foresight.


    Their were knights waiting for Valdel in every direction no matter where he runs off to. Zwei who was with Valdel was amazed that she didn''t notice theserge amount of people hiding in the surrounding area. She had a few guesses as to how they were able to elude her detection, but that didn''t matter at the moment.


    ''Master what do we do?''


    ''I see... So this was what that ominous feeling was about.'' It turned out that the five weren''t holding back, it was just that they had backup prepared.


    ''Zwei, I''m going all out now! We''re breaking out of the encirclement and heading back to Grenton!''


    ...


    Once Valdel was lucky enough to break out of the enemy formation, he was then forced into hiding, since he had used up majority of his mana. Without body enhancement magic, it would take him five days to get back to Grenton.


    Also he needed to move during the cover of darkness, since fighting head on against such arge amount of opponents wasn''t possible for him.


    ...


    Two days have passed since the first prince''s subordinates tried to kill Valdel, but until now they weren''t able to aplish the job. They couldn''t head back to their lord with news of failure, so they called in mercenaries to help search.


    ...


    On the third day the first prince''s subordinates were finally able to corner Valdel in a cave. Valdel who fled into the unknown cave had no choice but to go deeper in. As he went deeper into the cave, he noticed that this cave wasn''t what it seem to be. The inside of the cave had a lighting mechanism, and the deeper he went into the cave the more the cave looked like the inside of some sort of ancient fortress.


    Even Zwei who had more experience had no idea what kind of ce they stumbled upon. Valdel had not time to admire the various stone paintings as he kept on moving forward. He then reached a dead end.


    Seeing that there was no way out made Valdel smile a bit. He remembered what Ren said one time about him having incredible luck, and no matter what the situation he was in, his luck would pull him through.


    ''I guess you were wrong this time.'' Valdel held Zwei and got ready for one final stand. As Valdel stood there sword at hand, the enemy knights arrived at his position. As the knights were about to attack, everyone including Valdel was assaulted by an enormous pressure.


    "Who are you people?" A voice that sounded ancient and menacing echoed throughout the hall. The voice that spoke made everyone shiver in fear.


    Out of the darkness the wall that looked like a dead end, turned out to be wings. There in front of Valdel stood a man that had wings simr to that of a dragon''s, but his form was that of a man. He scanned the people present until his attention was drawn to Valdel. He slowly walked towards Valdel, as the ancient being did this no one dared to move, nay no one even dared to breath loudly.


    The ancient being stared at Valdel, looking at him from head to toe.


    "I sense the light of the hero within you... The same light that I had a eons ago." Now that the ancient being got closer, Valdel could see he was a stern looking middle aged man. If Ren saw this person he would be shocked, as this person was none other than the one Ren called the fourth hero, the hero that he thought was dead.

 Chapter 98 - The fourth hero

    <h4>Chapter 98 - The fourth hero</h4>


    The ancient being also know to Ren as the fourth hero, looked at Valdel in amusement. To him looking at Valdel was like looking at himself back in the days he was hailed as a hero. The fourth hero had already took notice of those honest eyes that could only see justice, the same eyes he had back then could now be seen in Valdel.


    He then looked at the knights that were about to attack Valdel. It was obvious to the fourth hero that the hero in front of him was being yed by an aristocrat of sorts. This was the usual pattern, a y that all heroes go through.


    It could be because of the betrayal of a friend. It could also be because a nobleman took a liking to the hero''s childhood friend. It could also be because a royal member felt threatened by the hero''s power. There were many more reasons that could be said, still no matter the reason, this was an inevitable scene in the script called the hero''s life.


    This made the fourth hero chuckle. Even though heroes were made to fight against the cruel tidings of fate, it would seem that they were the ones who were truly bond by it. How ironic and pathetic.


    "It would seem, I''m the strong wise old man in your tale, young hero." Valdel didn''t understand what the fourth hero was talking about as he chuckled in front of him. While Valdel was thinking about what to do next, the fourth hero stepped forward. The knights could somehow figure out that this ancient being, was not on their side, but somehow on Valdel''s side.


    They wanted to attack but an invisible pressure made them unable to move. The fourth hero was coiling them with his mana, he then raised his hand enveloping all the knights in the vicinity with his mana. Then once he was done he clicked his fingers and all of them disappeared.


    Valdel who saw the whole scene happen before his very eyes was shocked. Even in the face of such great power Valdel spoke with justice filling his voice. Even though they were the enemies, and he was prepared to take down as much as he could. Valdel''s hypocrisy came about, he knew he had no choice, but the being in front of him wasn''t someone who would find it difficult to subdue those knights without killing them.


    "What have you done with them!" Hearing the anger in Valdel''s voice, for the enemies he was ready to kill in hisst stand made the fourth hero chuckle some more.


    ''Such a flimsy justice... Is this my junior? The new hero? Justice without power turns into hypocrisy, isn''t that right demon lord.'' The fourth hero then remembered his friend, rival, and mortal enemy in ages past.


    Seeing the fourth hero smile and chuckle in a carefree manner, made Valdel even more angry. He was about to say something more, but the fourth hero spoke first.


    "Do not worry little hero. I didn''t kill them, if that''s what you''re worried about." Hearing the fourth hero''s answer hi query, made Valdel stand there shocked by the answer. After regaining his wits, he cautiously asked.


    "Then what happened to them?"


    "I transported them out of the cave and erased their memories of the past two days." When Valdel heard what the fourth hero did, he was amazed. This was the first person he had met that far surpassed Ren''s abilities.


    The fourth hero walked by the amazed Valdel and opened a door hidden within the walls.


    "Little heroe join me in a meal."


    ...


    Valdel followed the fourth hero inside the room. When he entered the room he was was in awe of what he saw inside. Numerous treasures just dumped in a pile on one side of the room. Powerful artifacts adorned the walls, and in the middle of the room was table with three chairs, which made up the only furniture in the room.


    Also on that table was a full course meal, it was like the fourth hero was expecting Valdel, and prepared this in advance. Valdel in a state of confusion simply stood at the entrance of the room. The fourth hero who was already seated called out to Valdel.


    "Little heroe in and take a seat. I want to hear some stories of your adventures." Valdel was bolted awake by the call of the fourth hero and headed towards the table.


    "Sorry, and thank you esteemed one. I am sorry to ask this sote, but how may I address you?" Valdel said this as respectfully as he could.


    "My name... It''s been so long since anyone called me by my true name, that even I have forgotten it already. Still there was the nickname that guy gave me, but that really wasn''t such a good nickname. Also seeing as I''m no longer a hero that nickname would be inappropriate. Let''s see a name..."


    Valdel simply sat there while looking at the fourth hero, who suddenly starting to mumble to himself. Valdel couldn''t understand parts of what the fourth hero said, but he did understand that the man before him used to be a hero.


    "It seems that I don''t have a name to give you, but you can just call me Shin."


    "I see... Then, Sir Shin, I''m Valdel, and these two are the spirits of my weapons." Zwei and Nika took their human forms and bowed in front of Shin. Seeing the bowing spirits, Shin simply nodded in response to the bowing Zwei, but when he saw Nika he was surprised.


    "I see, so you survived the passage of time as well." Hearing what Shin said to her, Nika simply tilted her head in confusion. Seeing her reaction made Shin realize something as he smiled gently and whispered. "So you don''t have yourplete form and your memory of the past no longer exist. I guess this is better than remembering that horrible past."


    Valdel seeing that Shin didn''t seem that he would start a conversation, initiated the conversation instead.


    "Sir Shin, I couldn''t help but notice that you kept on saying that you were a hero in the past. I''ve heard of countless heroes but I don''t seem to recall a hero with dragon wings."


    Shin smiled a tired smile when he heard what Valdel had to say.


    "Little hero, I didn''t look like this in that past. Back when I was a hero, I was human in both form and spirit. At that time heroes came and go by the hundreds. There were many kinds of heroes back in my time. Chosen heroes, Summoned heroes, Prophesied heroes, and many more. Well at that time, the human race with its usual greed and biases made the pure hearted heroes into beings that became... It doesn''t matter anymore those are days long gone. Little hero how about telling me your story instead."


    Valdel who was already ready to listen to an epic tale of heroes from a past long forgotten, was instead shock to hear that Shin wanted to hear his story instead.


    "I don''t have much of a story to tell." Valdel looked a bit embarrassed to tell his tale, from such an old and powerful hero.


    "Little hero, the mere fact that you''re being chased around by knights is already an interesting story. So don''t be embarrassed little hero, just tell me your story, and start at the very beginning. Start on the day you left your home to start your very own adventure."


    Seeing that Shin was being insistent, Valdel could only sigh as he started to tell his tale.

 Chapter 99 - Side Chapter: Kuro

    <h4>Chapter 99 - Side Chapter: Kuro</h4>


    After leaving her master Valdel, Kuro went back to her vige. The vige Kuro was from was near the borders of the Reschbeauch kingdom, and a few miles away was a vige from the neighboring kingdom Serbek.


    When Kuro reached her vige, she couldn''t help but tear up when she saw the ruins of her once happy vige. It would seem that the dead bodies of the vigers had disappeared, most probably taken or eaten by the animals or monsters in the vicinity.


    Kuro already knew that this was inevitable. She knew that this was what she was going to see. Yet deep down in her heart she wanted it to be different. She wanted it all to be nothing more than a bad dream, a misunderstanding. She wanted toe back home and see her mother cook her favorite meal. She wanted to once again see her fathering back home from a hunt. She wanted to see the children ying around, dreaming of the future they will have.


    Yet now that she returned, the little wish she had shattered before her very eyes. The houses were nothing more than broken pieces of wood, the fields have long been burned, and the smell of filth was all over the ce. There were no longer any bodies present in the vige, but Kuro all ready decided to dig up graves for them. She wanted to give the dead a proper funeral.


    Kuro looked around the vige but saw nothing simr to a shovel, so she decided to dig the graves with her bare hands. She thought that was appropriate seeing as she was the only one alive.


    Kuro went up a small hill near the vige and started digging one particr grave up there. She nned for the other graves to be underneath the great tree. The reason why she dug this grave up the hill, was for that one brave warrior who tried his very best to protect the vige. He was a human adventurer who wanted to be a great adventurer that the bards would sing tales about.


    Unfortunately his adventure had ended in this vige, protecting the innocent vigers. Kuro thought that such a great adventurer should have the honor of being buried on the highest point near the vige. There was no other deeper reason to the thought except that Kuro''s race believed that making a grave for someone on the highest point was the greatest honor.


    Kuro then started to dig using her hands, at first it was a alright, but then the deeper she dug the harder it got. She wasn''t even halfway through and her hands started to bleed a bit. Still that didn''t stop Kuro as she continued digging. A few hours pass and it was already evening when she saw that she was only halfway through.


    Kuro then looked at her hands and saw that they were dirty and bleeding. She went to the nearby river to clean her hands, it stung a bit but she was able to properly clean her hands. Once she was done cleaning her hands, she looked at some of the empty houses, looking if there was still some medical supplies left, but as expected there were none. So instead Kuro used some leaves to cover her wounds. Once she was done she picked up nearby herbs and got herself some wood and made a fire. She took a pot from one of the houses and started cooking.


    It wasn''t a very decent meal, but this was all Kuro could afford to make at the moment. After eating, Kuro went into one of the houses that still had a roof, and cleaned it up for a bit, so that she could sleep in it.


    While she was cleaning she noticed that the house she entered was that of her childhood friend Rika. She knew this was Rika''s house because of the scarf that she found while cleaning. This was the scarf they made as friends, since it was hard to get wool in the vige, they needed to share the scarf they knitted.


    It was Rika''s turn to have it... Kuro picked up the scarf and gently hugged it as she remembered her best friend''s smiling face. As she remembered that face of hers Kuro was about to remember something horrible, she then stopped thinking about it, and pushed it onto the back of her mind. Kuro wanted the memory of her friend to be the one where she was smiling, not that horrible memory at the end.


    Kuro used the scarf as a nket as she slept through the night, remembering the happy days she had with her best friend.


    ...


    The following day she continued to dig the grave of the fallen adventurer. After a few hours of digging she was finally able to finish it. It wasn''t deep enough for a human to fit, but it was deep enough for the broken shield she found. This shield was that shield of the adventurer, it would seem that to the ve traders that shield of low quality and had no use for them.


    Yet seeing that shield made Kuro remember that bright young adventurer.


    "This might be a crappy wooden shield now, but once I grow famous it''s going to be the first shield of the great adventurer Kyle. A shield that would be able to protect hundreds."


    He was so happy when he told this to the children who kept on teasing him about his shield. After cing the shield down into the grave she dug, Kuro started to fill the hole she made with dirt. Kuro then knelt down in prayer for the vige''s hero.


    "Thank you Kyle... I hope in your next life you have that grand adventurer you always wished for."


    Once she was done praying, Kuro stood up and bowed in front of the grave she dug. She then ced five stones on top of one another, after doing this she went down the hill towards the great tree.


    ''There are more graves to dig.''


    Kuro nned to bury whatever possession of the dead vigers she could find below the ground. This was another belief of her race, they believed that these things could help guide the soul through the afterlife and onto their next life. It was going to take a while even if the graves weren''t that deep, since Kuro had nothing else to use but her bare hands.

 Chapter 100 - Could it be?

    <h4>Chapter 100 - Could it be?</h4>


    After Valdel was done telling his story to the powerful fourth hero. The person in question who was now called Shin looked at Valdel curiously. The story was the standard story of a hero, but Shin found something strange. There was little to no form of tragedy in this hero''s tale. All the heroes Shin knew off were people with tragedies that made them move onward and be somewhat more mature. This event also happened to Shin back when he was still a weak hero, in the beginning of his journey.


    Shin has never met a hero that didn''t have a tragic opening to his tale. May they be chosen heroes, reincarnated heroes, summoned heroes, transmigrated heroes or any other kind of hero, none of them had ever had a perfect opening story. The opening to a hero''s tale was usually tragic. The hero''s vige would be burned down. The hero''s childhood friend would be captured, r*ped or even killed in front of the hero''s eyes. There were many other tragic tales such as this, that usually happens at the beginning of the hero''s journey.


    Yet here was a hero that didn''t have any kind of tragedy happen to him, actually his story was already a bit different than most heroes. There were several points that should''ve ended differently. An example was when Shin heard that Valdel and his best friend Ren had faced a Red Bear during their childhood. Shin was sure that the best friend would''ve died in this encounter. That was a normal thing to happen in the script that was made for most heroes. The lose of an important person would have given the hero a more mature take in how the world worked. He would be thought the valuable lesson that no matter how much he wanted to save someone, he just couldn''t save everyone. A hero wasn''t omnipotent, and by getting over this tragic beginning will the hero grow.


    Yet Valdel''s best friend Ren actually survived the ordeal, not only that it turned out that Ren was the one who killed the a.d.u.l.t Red Bear, while Valdel the hero was only able to kill a young Read Bear. If that wasn''t enough Valdel''s best friend who was a year younger than him was the one who taught Valdel how to fight, using both magic and swordsmanship.


    When Shin heard this part of the story, he had a sudden thought. ''This best friend of his called Ren is most probably a reincarnator... A reincarnator could also be a hero, but based on Valdel''s description of the guy, he isn''t actual hero material. Also the way he describes his friend Ren seems vaguely familiar, like I already met the person somewhere. It''s possible if he is truly a reincarnator that means I met him in his previous incarnation.''


    ...


    Aside from that, there were other points that were different, like how he saved the princess. Based on the situation, and Shin''s current understanding of the Reschbeauch Kingdom the person Valdel saved was a body double, nothing more than a trick. The real princess was most probably the silver haired guard, and it would seem like she was more interested in Ren.


    There were many other things, big and small changing in Valdel''s journey as a hero. This confused Shin, since this was the first time he has ever seen this kind of situation.


    Shin was now deep in thought, as he tried to figure out what was happening to Valdel''s path of a hero. Every abnormality seemed to stem from the friend called Ren.


    "Valdel tell me more about that best friend of yours."


    "You mean Ren?"


    "Yes, I find him quite intriguing, if it''s alright with you can you tell me more about him."


    Valdel was hesitating to tell Shin more about Ren, since he wasn''t sure what Shin wanted with Ren. Also he was sure that his best friend wouldn''t like him telling other people about him. Shin noticing Valdel''s hesitation interrupted his thoughts.


    "It''s alright if you don''t want to tell me. I don''t really want to know too much, I just wanted to know what kind of person your friend is. I think it isn''t too much to ask for to get some bit of information. Don''t you think so? This can be your payment to me for helping you out."


    When Valdel heard this, he started to think about it. It is true that there is nothing bad in telling this person a little bit about Ren. It''s not like he was going to tell Shin about Ren''s weaknesses. Well he won''t be able to tell that, since even he Ren''s best friend doesn''t know if Ren does have any particr weaknesses.


    "Very well-" Valdel then started to tell a little bit about Ren. He told Shin a little bit about Ren''s philosophy in life, as well as the joy he gains in fighting battles against stronger opponents, and other minor things Valdel could think off.


    Shin who was listening to Valdel describe his friend Ren, was having this feeling that he knew who Ren was. At first the feeling he got was a bit vague, but as Shin continued listening to Valdel the more Shin believed that he knew who this person was.


    ''This boy called Ren, he''s too simr to him. This can''t be a coincidence, Ren must be the reincarnation of Kretos!'' When Shin reached this conclusion he couldn''t help butugh.


    Valdel was confused as to what was happening and simply stood there dumbfounded as he looked at theughing Shin.


    "The Gods must be ying with us, old friend! You actually became a reincarnator! As expected of the strongest, not even death could change you. You still continue to look for that challenge that could make your very blood boil in excitement! No matter what you be, is that really all that you seek?Hahahaha!"


    Shin couldn''t help himself and startedughing even louder, he was getting too excited. Once he was doneughing he looked at Valdel with a huge grin on his face.


    "Little Hero, tell me-" Shin was about to ask Valdel to tell him where Ren was, but then remembered that he couldn''t leave the cave at the moment. Once he remembered this, his enthusiasm was dampened a bit.


    Valdel was still confused by the sudden outburst of Shin, as well as seeing his quickly changing expressions.


    "What is it you want Sir Shin?" Valdel couldn''t help but ask, seeing that Shin look like he wanted something from him.


    "I wanted to go and meet this friend of yours, but unfortunately I can''t leave the cave at the moment. So instead I want you to deliver a message to this friend of yours. Tell him that the fourth hero figured out the truth... Tell him that the fourth hero was sorry, and also grateful to the demon lord. Please tell him that for me, and also give this to him."


    Shin then handed a demon''s horn to Valdel, this horn was emitting a very strong mana flow. Valdel was overwhelmed a bit and he couldn''t touch the horn, noticing this, Shin covered the horn with some special cloth that seem to mask the mana flow the horn was emitting.


    "Please tell him for me." Valdel looked at Shin''s eyes and saw varied emotions that dwelled within those eyes of his. Valdel took the cloth that hid the horn and nodded at Shin. Even though he couldn''t understand what kind of rtionship was between Ren and this powerful being. Still he could feel the resolve Shin ced, when he told Valdel what he wanted him to say to Ren.


    "I promise that I will tell him what you said, as well as hand this over to him." Once Shin heard Valdel agree to his request, the long forgotten hero smiled at his junior.


    "Don''t worry little hero, with him by your side, your path will surely be different from the rest of us." After saying what he wanted to say, Shin forcefully teleported Valdel near the town of Grenton.

 Chapter 101 - To be king

    <h4>Chapter 101 - To be king</h4>


    The first prince was waiting on the second floor of another inn inside of Grenton. It has been six days now since he ordered his men to go and kill Valdel, and there was still no news regarding the situation. Thest time his subordinates reported to him was them saying, that Valdel was being cornered near the town of Valheim, that was north of Grenton. That report was given four days ago. So what happened after that?


    The first prince wasn''t that worried since he already somehow guess that this might happen, which was why he sent more men and hired mercenaries to help out. Yet it has been a few days since anyone reported to him. It was obvious that his people didn''t want to meet him with nothing to show for, but still not reporting for four days straight was not good as well.


    The first prince Reynold could only sigh as he waited for some news. He needed this to end faster since his brother the second prince was finally making a move.


    ''I wonder what that coward will do this time?... Also I''ve been wondering why he made our little sister the sword princess go on a wild goose chase. It is possible that this might all be distractions for the real n.''


    While Reynold was thinking about what to do with his little brother, he heard someone knock on the door, and spoke the password. Once one of Reynold''s guards heard the password he opened the door. The person who entered was Erick one of the six close aides of the prince.


    "Have you aplished your mission?" Erick bowed his head when he heard his liege ask this question. He didn''t want to return empty handed but he had no choice, since he knew that his liege would be wondering why no one was reporting.


    "Unfortunately we have lost track of him. The knights under my and Henrick''smand have been afflicted by a mind spell, they have forgotten what has happened for the past few days. We assumed that Valdel was in the area, where the knights lost their memories, but after searching the whole area there was no sign of him."


    Hearing what Erick had to say, Reynold frowned a bit. Erick hasn''t lifted his head the entire conversation, but if he did and he saw the frown on his liege''s face he would''ve propose to kill himself.


    "Is he that powerful?"


    "No my liege, when the five of us fought Valdel we sensed how powerful he is. The amount of knights that chased after him were too much even for the five of us to handle. So he either fought them by a set number of people and wiped their memory, or someone extremely powerful aided him."


    "Are you thinking Ren did this?" Erick once again shook his head before answering.


    "He is the most probable person to do this, but I don''t think he was the one who did so. Based on the information we had gathered about the person named Ren, he wouldn''t have just erased the memories of the knights, he would''ve annihted them. This means while on the hunt for Valdel a third party intervened."


    "A third party?"


    "Yes it would seem that Valdel has an enormous amount of luck. It is possible that while on the run, he met a random master that help him."


    "Isn''t that too much of a coincidence?... Hmmm, but still he does seem to be a person that has a ridiculous amount of luck. Gaining that magic weapon, meeting my father and gaining his favor, having a friend like Ren, escaping the encirclement. Yes he does seem to have a ludicrous amount of luck... Tsk, still I don''t have time for this."


    Reynold looked at his faithful subordinate and sighed.


    "Erick I need you toe with me, since my brother the second Prince ns to hold a banquet to celebrate the return of Captain Ross. Currently Captain Ross has a neutral standing, but it would seem that my second brother thinks he can make him join his side. I must stop him from doing this, if he gains Captain Ross, he would easily gain the favor of most of themon soldiers. So for now I want you to tell Henrick to continue the search on his own. While you and the others shall apany me back to the capital."


    "It will be as you wish my liege." Erick stood up and left the room. Reynold who was left alone with one of his guards sighed. Nothing seems to be going as nned.


    ''Well if I can''t ovee such challenges then bing king of this kingdom will be impossible, much less being a conquering king. Very well I will show everyone how I will ovee this challenge and prove I am the rightful king of all.''

 Chapter 102 - Tell me who you are

    <h4>Chapter 102 - Tell me who you are</h4>


    While everyone was training, Ren was sitting cross legged on the grass. He was also training by looking into his soul. At his current state gaining more mana wasn''t possible since he already reached the limit of what his immature human body can handle. To strengthen himself with mana Ren had no choice but to wait for his body to mature. Only when his body grow up can he store more mana, then refine and strengthen it. Right now he was finding ways to make himself stronger without waiting for his body to grow.


    So the only thing that could make him more powerful at the moment were techniques. Currently the only techniques from his demon lord days that his body could handle were limited. So he wanted to learn more moves from those powerful people in his visions. The majority of those guys were human, surely they had techniques that would suit his current human body.


    That''s why Ren was searching his soul, since he knew that those people were somehow rted to his soul. Still Ren wasn''t sure if those people in his visions were directly rted to him as a being, or if those people were simply ancestors of his now human identity. No matter how long he thought about it, the answer won''te, so in the end he decided to search his soul for the answers he seeks.


    Ren concentrated as hard as he can so that he could look deeper into his own soul. When he went beyond the surface he started to hear a voice. It was an arrogant voice which was familiar to Ren, the voice sounded like the man who fought the champion of the ORIGIN in Ren''s visions.


    "Hey what do you think you''re doing, you weakling? Do you want to cheat or something?"


    When Ren heard this voice talk directly in his mind, he was stunned for a second but quickly calmed down. He was already expecting something like this to happen, still when it happened it was a bit shocking.


    "What do you mean cheat? Also who the hell are you and why are you inside my soul?"


    "Oh, you''re pretty different from Edge Regius and Rei Kuraki, who were in a simr situation to yours. Also you didn''t mind being called a weakling, Ho, how interesting." Ren couldn''t see the face of the person speaking, but for some reason Ren knew that the person must be smiling the same smile as his. Why should Ren be bothered from being called a weakling,pared to his former self, his current human form was indeed weak.


    "How about you stop talking about things I don''t understand, and exin already. Also you should at least state your name first before babbling."


    "Heh, fine I shall tell you my name, I''m Leonard Tranor. The one who was once called the human God of Victory. You can call me Leo if you so wish Ren."


    A human worshiped as a God, hearing that made Ren smile. The only ones he knew that humans worshiped as human Gods were the so called heroes.


    "Well then Leo, tell me what the hell are you doing inside my soul?"


    "You still haven''t guessed it yet? You and me we''re one and the same. I am you and you are me, we share the same soul. So why shouldn''t a part of me be here."


    Ren already knew that what Leo said was indeed the most likely scenario, but he couldn''t be sure until he heard it from the horse''s mouth.


    "I already guess it was a possibility... But... Hey Leo tell me were you a hero?" When Ren asked this question he immediately regretted it. Ren wanted to take it back, but Leo answered before he could do so, and the answer he heard was the worse possible answer.


    "I myself don''t really consider myself a hero, but manybelled me as such. Heck most of our incarnations were heroes of their time. The only time we got out of the cycle of being heroes was the time when Rei Kuraki fought the ORIGIN and was able to damage it a bit..."


    Ren who heard the answer he feared the most, was now breaking down a bit.


    "I the demon lord Kretos was a hero in my past life... I was one of those self absorbed righteous b*st*rds?... Me a hero..."


    Hearing Ren mumbling such things made Leo chuckle.


    "Oh right, you were that kind of person. Don''t worry about it too much, I and the majority of your past incarnations weren''t anywhere near the same as those justice freaks. Most of us were onlybeled as heroes by others, not that we actively tried to be one. We never did serve justice, we just did whatever we wanted. It''s just that many people who witnessed our deeds saw us as heroes. Heck wasn''t that the same for you Demon Lord Kretos? Weren''t you the hero of the demons?"


    When Ren heard Leo''s exnation he felt a bit better, but only a bit. He calmed himself before speaking to Leo once more.


    "Okay... So then, you are one of my past incarnations... I''m a bit curious, among all my past incarnations how strong was Demon Lord Kretos?"


    Knowing that those visions of his were those of his past incarnations made Ren curious. Every one of those people in his visions were strong beyond imagination. If he was to bepared to them, how strong was the so called strongest Demon Lord.


    "Hmm... Among the thousands upon thousands of reincarnations we''ve been through, Demon Lord Kretos is within the top ten thousand."


    "Is that low or high in the ranking?"


    "We had hundreds of thousands of reincarnations, so I say you''re pretty high up the list, technically speaking."


    So Ren as Demon Lord Kretos was of a higher ranking, but who knew that there were that many mortals in history that were stronger than him. This knowledge didn''t make Ren feel disappointed instead it made him really excited. There were so many people who were stronger than him. For Ren this was proof that he could advance further than he ever dream he could.


    "So tell me Leo how high up are you in the rankings?"


    "Not to brag or anything, but even among our numerous reincarnations, I stand near the top. We didn''t have a meeting to decide, but we could feel it. I Leonard Tranor am in the top ten. I guess you could say I''m near those of the top five."


    So the guy Ren saw fighting that ridiculous monster that could make the Gods look like ants was not even in the top five. How ridiculously powerful were his past incarnations?


    "So then who is the the strongest among us?"


    "The strongest is obviously the first one. The one who started our unreasonable cycle of death and rebirth, the one who started the never ending chain of reincarnations that was different from everyone else. His name is something you wouldn''t understand since thenguage he uses goes beyond the understanding of any being of your era. So let''s just call him the original."


    "I see... Thanks for answering those questions. Now let''s get back to the real topic. Why do you say I''m here to cheat?"


    "Obviously I know the reason why you are here searching your soul. You n to steal the techniques of your other incarnations. It''s not like you''re the first incarnation that did this, so it was easy to predict." Ren was about to say something in rebuttal, but Leo intercepted him.


    "No need to say it, I already know what you''re thinking. If we are all one and the same then what you''re doing isn''t stealing since it was yours to begin with. Is that what you''re thinking? Well in a way that''s right and at the same time wrong. Indeed all of your past incarnations are you, but at the same time we are of different personalities that share the same soul. We might be simr in many aspects, but ultimately we still have individuality. So if you want to learn our techniques, you mustn''t do it likest time were you just glimpse in and tried to replicate the techniques."


    "Then how do I learn the techniques?"


    "That''s easy, you must beat the one who created the technique you wish to learn. Basically You must win against a past incarnation of yours in a match." When Leo said this Ren felt that something happened. He opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer in the forest he and his group were training in. He was now in a white open space and right in front of him was a man who was smiling viciously at him. He knew this man, this was the person in his visions Leonard Tranor. When Ren saw Leo he realized where he was. He somehow manifested a physical presence inside his soul.


    "So tell me Ren what do you want to learn first?"

 Chapter 103 - Give me your techniques

    <h4>Chapter 103 - Give me your techniques</h4>


    ''It''s been a while since an incarnation was able to ess this path. So I better have as much fun as I can.'' Leo thought this way, since all the incarnations of this soul were held here after death. Of course their physical bodies were long gone, but their consciousness remained. This was both a blessing and a curse.


    "So what kind of technique do you want to learn? Who do you want to face first? Don''t worry even though the current you is weak, in this ce you can turn back into Demon Lord kretos. Basically in here everyone can return back to their peak state. Also the weapons you once used can be replicated in this space." Leo said this while smiling viciously at Ren. Of course Leo could already guess what Ren would say and do.


    Though Leo said that they were different, it was still true that deep down their very essence was the same. As he expected the moment Ren heard what Leo said he quickly understood how to return to his peak state in this space. Ren suddenly grewrger and taller, his face changed into a handsome man with tworge horns that grew at the side of his head.


    Ren, no Demon Lord Kretos finally felt the power he once loste back to him. Even though he knew that this was only possible inside his soul, he was still intoxicated by his former power. The reason he felt this way, was because of the difference between his peak state and his current fifteen year old human self was huge. Still in the end he was able to control himself.


    Now that he was back in his peak form, Kretos felt more confident as he looked at the smile Leo was giving, he too was showing the same excited smile on his face. Kretos then manifested his weapon of old in his right hand. Arge broadsword appeared in his right hand, this was Kretos'' beloved sword that was made from the bones of the young dragon he killed before, as well as the essence of Vampire Lord. Once his weapon was summoned he pointed it at Leo.


    "So Leo, how about you give me all your techniques."


    Hearing what Kretos said got Leo extremely excited, as he too summoned his beloved weapons. The weapons he summoned were Chaos and Serenity, twin des one that was a dark as the abyss, while the other was blue like the calming oceans.


    When Kretos saw those des he was surprised, weren''t those the swords that approached him in that weapon shop. It was the same weapon, but the strength it exuded was different. When Leo saw the surprise look in Kretos'' face he knew what the other was thinking.


    "The Chaos and Serenity you saw in the weapon shop was a weakened version, since this weapon returns to its weakest state afterpleting its mission to bring the beginnings end. The Chaos and Serenity you see me holding was when they were at the peak of their power. Now that you know this, do you still wish to challenge me."


    Kretos could feel that the twin swords were extraordinary, coupled with Leo who felt equally powerful, made for an intimidatingbo. Still this didn''t really frighten Kretos to back out from the challenge, instead he got even more excited.


    "Of course I do!... Still what happens if one of us identally kills the other?"


    "Don''t worry about that, you do know that''s not your real body right? This is inside your soul, if you die here nothing will happen, you''ll juste back after a few seconds."


    Hearing that made Kretos even more excited. That would mean he and Leo can go all out without reservation.


    "Very well, how about we begin the challenge now!"


    "Such an impatient junior. Well thene at me anytime you want." Seeing how rx Leo was agitated Kretos a bit. Even though Leo already exined that Demon Lord Kretos was ranked in the ten thousands while Leo was ranked in the top ten based on strength, Kretos wanted to see with his own eyes the difference in power.


    "Fine then, I''ll show you my strongest attack!" Kretos raised his hands up pointing towards the nonexistent sky and started expel mana from his body. A huge ball of mana floated above Kretos'' head, it grew bigger and bigger. Once the ball of mana reached the size of a small country, which was roughly 300 km2, Kretos started topress it. The huge ball of mana started to shrink until it was able to fit Kretos'' hand.


    This was Kretos strongest magic, that could wipe out a whole continent in one shot. The whole process to use this spell took a few minutes, and all throughout this process Kretos was vulnerable. Yet even though he was open for attacks Leo didn''t do anything as he simply stood there waiting for Kretos to finish. This was the arrogance of the strong, the same arrogance Kretos usually disyed against his own opponents.


    "Are you done, my junior? Are you ready to attack?" Hearing what Leo said, made Kretos smile a bit. Even their way of provocation was the same.


    "Yes I''m ready. I hope you receive this properly." Without waiting for Leo to answer, Kretos threw the ball of mana towards Leo. Once it was released the ball of mana that was palm sized started to slowly growrger. The surrounding area that it touched would usually disintegrate, but in this empty space there was nothing to disintegrate.


    Leo watched the approaching ball of mana heading towards him with a vicious smile on his face. At that moment Kretos saw Leo surround himself with something. It was something simr to mana, but Kretos was sure it was a different power. It also looked like sword intent but it wasn''t that as well. Leo was using a power that Kretos couldn''t understand.


    The ball of mana was now about to hit Leo, but even now it doesn''t look like he was nning to dodge, instead he raised his right arm to block the ball of mana. Kretos was surprised to see Leo do that. This was the first time an opponent ever did that with his strongest attack. Most people would try and dodge, even thought that was futile. Some of them would try and teleport. While the stronger ones like the young dragon he fought would try to counterattack by using its own strongest spell. But Leo did none of those, instead he simply received the attack with his bare flesh.


    The moment the ball of mana had contact with Leo''s hands it stopped. Kretos couldn''t believe his eyes, this attack was even able to damage a true dragon, even though it was young it was still a dragon. Yet here in front of him was a person that didn''t look like he was having a hard time grabbing the ball of mana.


    Once Leo grasped the ball of man, he clenched his fist and destroyed it. Kretos almost had his eyes popped out as he couldn''t believe what he just saw. Leo seeing Kretos'' reaction smiled.


    "So is that you''re best attack? If so, this won''t be much of a fight will it. I guess I need to give you a handicap. I''ll match my mana and spiritualization to your level. I''ll even use a different weapon. Also don''t be bothered about preserving mana, since in here your mana will refill immediately after use." After exining things to Kretos, Leo changed his weapon into two normal short swords. His imposing presence also dialed down a bit.


    Kretos who heard what Leo said wasn''t really insulted since he knew that he was truly no match for Leo. Kretos just felt a little bit bad for Leo that he wasn''t a worthy opponent enough for the other party to go all out. Kretos was also much more interested in the term spiritualization. Was that the power that was surrounding Leo as he blocked the ball of mana? Kretos shook his head, and smiled.


    ''This is no time to be thinking about such things. For now I just need to enjoy the battle right in front of me.''


    Kretos casting away all his idle thoughts as he focused on the battle charged forth. Leo seeing that Kretos didn''t back down even in front of the overwhelming power difference made him feel ted.


    ''As expected no matter the incarnation, no matter how weak, in the end we are fools hungry for battle.''


    The two that shared the same soul shed their swords, with gleeful smiles on their faces.

 Chapter 104 - Spirit Aura

    <h4>Chapter 104 - Spirit Aura</h4>


    The battle between Leo and Kretos was a one sided affair. Even though at the moment Leo was suppressing his power to match Kretos, thetter was having difficulty keeping up. Every spell Kretos used was easily evaded or sliced apart by Leo''s swords.


    When it came to fighting a melee Kretos was in an even more disadvantageous situation. Leo''s abilities in close range, could only be described as transcendent. His swordsmanship was literally wless, as it easily shifted between offense and defense.


    Kretos couldn''t do anything to retaliate as he was outssed in every way. Still the battle was enjoyable for the two who loved battle. When it was finally obvious that no matter what he did Kretos wasn''t going to win, he spoke to Leo.


    "Leo, I admit that I have reached my limit in this battle. So I hope you can grant me a favor." Kretos spoke as his sword faded into nothingness. Leo looked at him in interest, he could pretty much guess what Kretos wanted from him.


    "Hmm... Alright then what''s the favor."


    "Can you finish me off with all your power. I wish to witness the full extent of your might."


    When Leo heard what Kretos said he couldn''t help butugh maniacally. He knew that if he were in the same position as Kretos he would have said the same thing.


    "Very well my junior, witness my might!" Leo threw the two normal short swords and then materialized Chaos and Serenity. He then held his beloved swords in a reverse grip as he brought them up near his chest. Once he got into this stance Leo released everything he had from his mana and his spiritual aura. He d the jet ck Chaos with all his mana, and the calming blue de Serenity with all his spiritual aura.


    The moment he did this, Leo''s very presence felt like it could crush everything in existence. It was a very beautiful sight to behold as the both the ck and blue sword shined brightly with mana and spiritual aura.


    Kretos who witnessed the sight couldn''t help but show a very excited smile, as his heart started beating faster. He saw the mana that formed on one of the swords could actually be discerned by the n.a.k.e.d eye. Mana was usually invisible and someone could only see it, if that person uses a technique or if the person was born with the ability to see it. Others could only sense mana, but never see it. Yet here in front of him was a mana so strong that it gained physical shape and appeared before him.


    Kretos also noticed that the other sword was being enveloped by that unknown power, he saw Leo use. It would seem that the unknown power was something as dangerous as mana.


    Seeing the two different kinds of powers being used to their fullest made Kretos really exhrated as his adrenaline pumped. Still, even though he knew that he had no chance, Kretos decided to use every bit of strength he has to defend against the iing attack. He wasn''t going to win, but that doesn''t mean he should stop trying.


    Kretos then surrounded himself in a barrier with multipleyers. He then strengthened the barrier with everything he had.


    "Are you ready my junior! This is my strongest attack! HEAVENS DESTRUCTION!" Leo stretched out both his arms to the side, and then shed at Kretos.


    The moment Leo''s attack was about to reach, Kretos felt a distortion of space was happening. He couldn''t confirm it but he somehow felt it. Leo''s attack was actually able to bypass his barrier without a problem. Kretos then felt that he had been sliced in half, after that he felt that his entire body was being disintegrated into nothing. Afterwards everything turned ck.


    ...


    A few secondster Kretos who couldn''t sense his body, was finally able to feel again. Kretos tried opening his eyes and saw a smiling Leo.


    "Wee back. So how was it?" Hearing what Leo said confused Kretos. It took Kretos a few seconds before he understood what was happening.


    "So I died... That was an amazing technique Leo. I''m just confused how it was able to bypass my barrier. Also I''m quite interested with that thing that looks simr to mana."


    "Well I guess, I could answer your questions. So first off, that was my ultimate technique Heavens Destruction. It''s a technique that could sh through space and time, there is no possible way to avoid getting hit... Hmm, well I guess that''s a wrong statement, I bet the original one has a few ways to evade that move. Even thatckey of the ORIGIN was able to evade it, even though I don''t know how he did it. Whatever, basically my attack can bypass anything I want, and even if you''re hiding in a different dimension I would still be able to cut you."


    Kretos couldn''t understand the other things Leo said, but he could understand how Leo was able to bypass his barrier.


    "The answer to your other question, the thing you saw that was simr to mana is called Spirit Aura. Back in my timeline the people called it Spiritualization, but then it had many name changes over the years. I''m sure that that those who know of it call it Spirit Aura nowadays."


    Kretos was happy to hear that there was another source aside from mana that could potentially increase his strength.


    "Do I have that Spirit aura as well?"


    "Yes, most people that have some martial arts background posses Spirit Aura they just don''t know how to use it."


    "Then can you teach it to me."


    The moment Kretos asked that question Leo smiled.


    "I told you Kretos no cheating. In here if you want to learn something, you either beat the opponent to gain all their techniques, or you convince someone to teach you. Unfortunately for you even if you ask me a thousand times, I will deny teaching you a thousand times, since I''m not really a good teacher. I tried teaching once, but they allined that they couldn''t understand anything I said."


    Leo proudly dered, which made Kretos smile wryly.


    "Okay, then how about calling the weakest incarnation that knows how to use Spirit Aura."


    "An easy prey huh, I was sure that you would ask for the strongest incarnation that knows Spirit Aura to teach you."


    "Normally I would do that, but after everything that happened to me, I learned to be a little less reckless."


    Hearing that made Leough his heartyugh.


    "An incarnation that''s not reckless?! That''s pretty much impossible. You may try doing that now, but deep down, you could never suppress that urge for battle."


    Kretos slyly smiled at Leo''s response.


    "We shall see... Anyway can you please call the person who will teach me Spirit Aura." Leo shrugged his shoulders, and then disappeared. A few secondster Leo reappeared with a bald haired monk.


    "This is Chowan." The monk called Chowan bowed his head acknowledging Kretos.


    "I have heard the situation from Leo. What do you wish to do Kretos, do you want to face me in battle to learn Spirit Aura, or do you want me to teach you?"

 Chapter 105 - Spirit Aura (2)

    <h4>Chapter 105 - Spirit Aura (2)</h4>


    "Do you want to face me in battle to learn Spirit Aura, or do you want me to teach you?" Hearing Chowan''s question made Kretos really want to ask for a battle, but when he saw Leo''s expression, looking like he knows everything, Kretos changed his mind.


    "Can you please teach me." Kretos bowed his head in front of the incarnation that was his senior. He had never shown anyone this much respect, but seeing how powerful these guys were Kretos thought that they were worthy of respect.


    When Leo and Chowan saw what happened they had their mouths wide open in shock. It was as if they saw the most unbelievable thing in the whole universe. Kretos noticed the expression of the two and asked.


    "Is there a problem? Why are the two of you looking at me like that?"


    "I just can''t believe that it was possible for one of the incarnations to actually bow in front of another. Not only that, you actually said please to someone else, and you did it with actual sincerity. Aside from when an incarnation was in battle, I have never heard of an incarnation that would say please." Leo spoke truly shocked by the development.


    "Leo is right, even I who was devoted to saving the souls of numerous people, never bowed my head nor said please." Chowan added his own opinion.


    "You guys are overreacting, surely one of the thousands of incarnations have done something simr." Kretos couldn''t believe what the other two were saying. Though it was true that when he was still Demon lord Kretos, he had never bowed to anyone before, except for right now. Still Kretos believed that surely with a literal hundred thousands of incarnations one of them must have said please with some sincerity, or bowed their heads.


    "I don''t think there was ever an incarnation that did so, and I''ve been here for quite some time. I''m sure, that there has never been an incarnation that bowed his head, nor was there any incarnation that said please to something unrted to battle. Though I did say please to someone before, but that''s because I wanted to fight some more. Aside from that time, I can''t think of any other time that I said please." Leo shrugged his shoulders after saying this.


    "Yes, sir Leo is right, the different incarnations have high pride and would never bow down to anyone. Also most of them would never ask anything from another, since for most of us only battle was what we desired. So the only time the numerous incarnations ever said please with sincerity would be during a battle." Chowan started talking seriously as he exined the relevance of Kretos bowing his head and saying please in his sentence.


    Hearing what the other two said made Kretos sigh.


    ''So that''s how most of my incarnations acted, confidence bordering arrogance. Well I do understand where theiring from... Still overreacting like this for just those two things is too much.''


    "Fine, let''s not talk about that anymore. Just go ahead and teach me already." Kretos decided to give up with the topic before and just directly asked to be tutored. When Kretos asked to be taught in such an aggressive way made the other two respond with a sigh.


    "Now that''s what I expect to hear from someone who shares the same soul as us." Leo spoke in relief, while Chowan nodded his head in agreement. This made Kretos slightly irritated, just a tiny bit. Talking to these people was like talking to a reflection that had its own sapience.


    "Let''s just stop talking about that and get right to the part were you teach me Spirit Aura." Even after Kretos said this, it took Leo and Chowan a while before they were finally willing to stop talking about the past incident.


    ...


    "Okay then first let me exin what Spirit Aura is. Spirit Aura is the physical manifestation of ones spirit, after achieving unification of body and spirit. It is when one spirit exceeds a certain threshold and the body acknowledges it that its aura could manifest on physical terms. Most martial artists who try to reach perfection in their art are able to unconsciously utilize spirit aura. The reason for this is because once one is already at the peak of their bodily training, the next step would be to train ones spirit, or vice versa. Others on the other hand, train them both at the same time. Still no matter which pattern of training they choose, they all reach the same end. So when a martial artists reaches a certain point of their training he/she is able to easily use Spirit Aura."


    While Chowan was trying to exin Spirit Aura, Kretos interrupted him.


    "I''m confused, if what you are saying is true, then why haven''t I been able to use Spirit Aura? I''m sure that I have reached that so called threshold in my martial art, meaning I should be able to use Spirit Aura."


    "The reason for you being unable to use Spirit Aura naturally, is because you understand mana. Actually it''s because since birth you have been influenced by mana." Chowan answered calmly.


    "Does that mean I wasn''t able to use Spirit Aura because I knew of mana? That still doesn''t make any sense. Since if what you are saying is true, then why can Leo utilize mana and Spirit Aura at the same time?"


    "That''s because Leo wasn''t aware of mana before learning of Spirit Aura. You see Kretos, it is much easier to learn Spirit Aura if you don''t have any knowledge of some other power. Because you knew of mana, you couldn''t truly feel your spirit, since mana and spirit feel almost the same. So the first thing I want you to do is learn to differentiate between mana and Spirit. This might sound hard for some, but I''m sure you would be able to do it real quickly."


    When Chowan said this, the benevolent smile that made him look like a Saint disappeared as it was reced with a vicious smile, the same smile all the incarnations show when they get excited.

 Chapter 106 - Take Over

    <h4>Chapter 106 - Take Over</h4>


    Kretos turned back into his Ren form, he did this because it was more important to feel the difference of mana and Spirit Aura using the actual body he was in. Chowan nodded his head in approval as he saw Ren in deep concentration. Leo who was watching at the side went closer to Chowan and spoke to him.


    "How long do you think before he learns the basics of Spirit Aura?" Leo looked at Ren who was in a state of enlightenment and asked Chowan his question. He was confused as to how long other people get to learn something like Spirit Aura, since he himself learned it almost instantly.


    "Well it''s as expected of one of our incarnations, he is a true genius. Based on the rate he is going, it would take him around a week to fullyprehend Spirit Aura. Any normal person would have needed at least a year toprehend the basics. If I had a student like this back when I was alive, I would''ve gotten to the end much easier." Chowan answered Leo with a hint of nostalgia on his face.


    "I see... That''s pretty slow." When Chowan heard Leo''sment he wanted to smack him.


    ''How is that slow!? Even I needed at least three days toprehend Spirit Aura! Damn it, I always thought I was the strongest, but when I came here I learned that I wasn''t even the strongest version of myself. Those guys from the top one thousand could f*cking destroys! While the guys on the top one hundred have battles with Gods for the fun of it. Not to mention the people like this guy, Leo, who are in the top ten, those guys seem to be unbeatable... Yet in the end none of them could win against the ORIGIN...''


    While Chowan wasining in his head, Leo wasmunicating with the original one. He was worried about leaving Ren''s physical body out in the open without anyone defending it.


    "Hey, so how about it? Can I take over while this guy is in training? I''m sure you can allow this. It''s not like we haven''t done this before. Last time we did it for Rei Kuraki, and it was you who took over his body. How about letting me go and take the wheel this time."


    Leo was waiting for an answer, and then he heard it.


    "Now that''s'' what I''m talking about!" After saying this Leo saw a bright sh of light, and when he opened his eyes, he was in a different location. This was the outside world, and right now he was controlling the body of the current incarnation.


    The first thing Leo did when he took control of Ren''s body was assess Ren''s body.


    "This body is weaker than I expected... Still, I guess I could praise him for actually gaining this kind of power so quickly, with the limitations of this world. Hmm, I can''t really get an exact feel of this body. I guess if I''m to protect this body properly I need to test it out. Good thing there is a battle happening nearby, and it''s being conducted by someone I know so well."


    Leo excited to be out and about headed towards Silika, Hilda, and Lara''s location.


    ...


    It has been a few days since they started, but not once have Lara and Hilda been able to hit Silika. The two of them had bruises all over their bodies, while Silika didn''t even have a scratch on her. The difference in skill was too much, she was too powerful for Lara and Hilda to handle. Not only was her closebat skills excellent her ability to control mana was near perfection.


    "You two have improved a great deal. With your current abilities I guess you won''t be too much of a hindrance to my master. If something like the time with the elder lich happens again, you two should be able to escape."


    Hilda and Lara knew that Silika was trying to praise them, but it sounded more like an insult. They didn''t want this spar to end like this, but their bodies could no longer move, as theyy down exhausted. When Hilda was about to say something, someone interrupted her.


    "I guess that''s it for today''s training. So how about you y with me instead. I still need to figure out some things in using this body, so how about you help me out... What was it again... Oh, right Silika, how about you help me out?" Leo mumbled some parts of what he said.


    Silika looked at the person who suddenly appeared, and as expected it was her master Ren, but for some reason she could feel that there was something different about him. Even the way he spoke was somehow different. For some reason the current Ren had a familiar yet foreign feeling to him, that Silika couldn''t understand.


    "If that''s what you wish master, then I shall be your sparring partner." Leo hearing Silika''s response couldn''t help but smile, his iconic vicious smile. Right now they were both using weaker bodies, than what they once had, but still fighting someone of Silika''s level excited Leo to no end.


    Leo approached the exhausted Hilda, and took her sword from her hand, as well as her spare sword on her waist.


    "I''ll be borrowing these two for a while. I hope you don''t mind." Hilda wanted to say something in response but was too tired to even talk at the moment. Seeing Hilda not responding, Leo took that as a sign that she''s allowing him to borrow the swords. Leo then started swinging the two swords and sighed. These things were low grade swords, which look shy on the outside but held no real substance on the inside. Well it really didn''t matter to him.


    "Okay then, let''s begin." When Leo said this, Silika suddenly disappeared from her spot. Leo then shifted his head to the side and pointed one of his swords behind him. The de of the scythe that struck was easily evaded with a paper thin margin, and the sword Leo casually stuck out almost hit Silika.


    The sudden counter caught Silika by surprise. It was like her master was already aware of what she would do and acted in advance. Silika then continued her attack despite the shock she just received. Yet no matter what angle she attacked, and no matter how much faster she moved, her master seem to be able to predict everything, as he casually dodged everything, while not moving a step.


    "Now that warm-up is over. how about we get serious." When Silika heard what her master said, she felt a heavy pressure assault her.


    ''This isn''t mana, this is Spirit Aura! When did master learn how to do this!?'' This thought suddenly made her remember what kind of person her master was. He was the reincarnation of that person she loved, and just like that person, her master was a genius of battle. So of course it was possible he could learn Spirit Aura just like that. Seeing her master get excited in battle, made Silika smile underneath her veil.

 Chapter 107 - Elizabeth

    <h4>Chapter 107 - Elizabeth</h4>


    Silika surrounded herself with Spirit Aura as well. When the two girls who were watching at the side saw the strange aura surrounding Silika and Leo they were amazed. At first nce the aura felt like mana, but it was obviously something else.


    Leo who saw Silika surround herself with Spirit Aura felt his whole body getting hotter as his excitement was reaching new peaks.


    ''A battle were the body I''m using is weak, the weapons at hand are cr*ppy, and my opponent is Eli. Though the current Eli is far from her peak, she still has that scythe and she''s actually using a body she''sfortable with. This is going to be so fun!''


    Silika was watching Leo who still seems to be in a carefree state, he wasn''t even in a stance. Seeing how rx Leo was made Silika feel nostalgic.


    ''They really are the same... That confidence, that no matter what happens victory is all but certain. That''s what I feel when I look at him. Ren really is like Leo...'' When Silika started to feel even more nostalgic, Ren''s voice woke her up.


    "Are youing or do you want me to start?" After saying that Leo started to casually walk forward. He had the two swords he was holding point their des downward. When Silika saw this, she knew what wasing. That stance was the stance her beloved Leo usually used when he got serious. The next thing he would do was most probably use that technique.


    ''Fangs of the wolf. Has master learned Leo''s favorite technique?''


    Silika didn''t n on waiting to get hit by that move, so she charged forward initiating her own attack. The two girls who were watching at the side were amazed at what happened next. Lara saw Silika pass by Ren, and the moment Silika passed by Ren, Ren''s hands suddenly turned blurry. After that, the two girls heard numerous sounds of shing des. That all happened within the span of a second.


    After Silika and Ren pass by each other, Lara and Hilda saw that Silika''s veil was cut and from there the face of a beautiful woman appeared. Crimson pupils and pale white skin, her face look liked it was personally sculpted by the Gods themselves. Silika''s beauty was so breathtaking that Hilda and Lara couldn''t help but stare. While the two were staring at Silika, Ren or currently Leo had the joints in his left arm dislocated.


    After the two girls were finished admiring Silika''s beauty they noticed the damage Ren received. In their minds Silika was the winner of that exchange, but in truth it was Leo.


    ''Tsk, this body is far too weak, it couldn''t even handle the basic attack form of fangs of the wolf.'' Leo was a bit irritated at first, but then he resumed showing his vicious smile. ''Well this kind of handicap is alright, I just need to learn the limitations of this body a bit more.''


    While Leo was assessing his current condition, Silika was also doing the same. ''I wasn''t able to block everything... Still that was amazing. Ren was almost able to do a perfect fangs of the wolf. As expected, the talent of these incarnations of Leo are beyond understanding.''


    Leo forcefully fixed the dislocation of his joints. He then decided to move in a less taxing way. Silika who was about to attack again felt something hit her. She then noticed that she was tossed up into the air. Leo was able to toss her without her noticing.


    While in mid-air Silika saw that Leo was about to give her the finishing blow, but before he could do so Silika used magic.


    "Ice coffin" Leo was then encased in a block of ice, but that didn''tst long as the mana Silika used wasn''t appropriate to maintain the spell. Still it was enough to buy her time tond safely. Leo who got out of his encasement in ice looked at Silika with a jovial expression.


    "I hope you don''t say I was cheating master. You never said we can''t use magic." Silika spoke to Leo trying to buy some time, to regain a bit of mana. The spell she used wasn''t something she could casually toss around, since her current mana capacity wasn''t even at a tenth of what she used to have.


    "Of course you can use whatever you want. Use everything in your disposal, be it magic, or your race specific skill, use them all and make this battle even more exciting! Then I will show you that even after you use everything you got, victory shall always be mine!"


    When Silika heard what her master said, she was amazed. The words he casually said and that foolish smile on his face that was filled with confidence, were almost the exact same line Leo usually said to his opponent when he was at the peak of his excitement. Everything was the same, which shook Silika''s heart.


    "Very well master! I shall show you everything the current me has got to give!" Silika then started to gather as much mana as she could. Hundreds of magic circles appeared in the air surrounding Leo.


    "Master take this! Icicle rain!" Once Silika''s spell activated, numerous icicle spears appeared from the magic circles surrounding Leo. One after another an icicle spear came out of the magic circles and were trying to pierce Leo. In response to this, Leo did nothing but slice through the icicles. He made use of this spell to get use to his current body. Slowly but surely the way he handled Ren''s body became more efficient.


    Silika who was running out of mana could no longer maintain the spell, and the moment the spell stopped, she heard Ren''s voice whispering in her ear.


    "That was pretty good Eli." When Silika heard this, she was shocked and wanted to say something, but then her consciousness faded. She had used too much mana, and she could no longer maintain her humanoid form. Her spirit quickly retreated back into the Ren''s tattoo to recuperate.


    Leo who saw Silika disappear into his tattoo smiled. He couldn''t help but find Silika''s shocked expression as he called her name kinda funny.

 Chapter 108 - I got some things to do

    <h4>Chapter 108 - I got some things to do</h4>


    After Silika entered the tattoo to recover, Leo who was using Ren''s body felt something in the surrounding area. He closed his eyes and extended his Mana to the area near the city. When Leo found the source of this weird feeling he couldn''t help but smile. Arge amount of mana was used, and it was used to teleport someone nearby.


    "You guys continue training, I''m just going somewhere, to deal with some things." Once he was done saying what he wanted to say, Leo didn''t bother to listen to Lara and Hilda''s replies as he coated himself with Spirit Aura.


    ''This body is just barely strong enough so that I can use the weakest version of my movement techniques. Let''s see if it can actually handle it.'' Leo after coating himself with Spirit Aura took a single step forward, and with that one step he was able to move a few hundred meters away.


    Lara who has seen most of Ren''s techniques was surprised to see him move that way. This was the first time she has ever seen him move like that. If he was able to travel that fast, then it would have taken Ren only a few hours to get to their vige to the town of Grenton.


    This made Lara question why Ren hasn''t taught her and Valdel that movement technique. When she came to the only conclusion she think off, she bit her lower lip in frustration. It was a simple answer, it''s because she was weak.


    Lara then stood up and looked at Hilda. When Hilda looked into Lara''s eyes she knew what the girl wanted from her. They once again took up arms and sparred with each other.


    ...


    Leo who was dashing towards the area where he felt the surge of mana, was finally feeling the strain "lightning step" had on Ren''s body. When Leo felt that the body could no longer handle the stress of the technique, Leo started running normally.


    ''Just how weak is this body? Is the cycle of death and reincarnation used by the original bing weaker, or is it because we were finally able to damage the ORIGIN? Either way this might be a bit of problemter on... Heh, well whatever, I''m sure whateveres Ren would be able to handle it.''


    ...


    It took Leo a few minutes to finally get near the area where he felt the surge of mana. On the way there he spotted Valdel. Leo who was watching Ren''s life every now and then, knew who this best friend of Ren was.


    This was a person who shoulders a simr fate as he and all of Ren''s other incarnations. Even though the weight of their burdens were different, he was still someone who shares the same journey.


    "Hey Val, what are you doing here?" It was obvious to Leo that Valdel was the trigger for the teleportation, so going further wasn''t needed.


    When Valdel heard the familiar voice he looked at his side and was surprised to see Ren smiling while waving his hands. Valdel instinctively felt that there was something different about Ren, but he just couldn''t understand what was different. So in the end Valdel didn''t bother to figure out what was different, since this best friend of his has many secrets.


    "As usual you have such great timing Ren." Valdel approached Ren while sighing.


    "So why are you here?" Leo once again went straight to the point. Valdel then started to exin to Ren why he was out here. He started with telling Ren about the missing nobles, then he exined how he was ambushed while he was searching for said nobles. He then got to the part where he met an ancient hero who had dragon wings.


    Valdel then told the message the ancient hero wanted to him to tell Ren. Even though Valdel couldn''t understand how Ren was able meet the ancient hero, seeing as they''ve been together all their lives, he still wasn''t that bothered by it. There were many things that were out of ce when it came to Ren, but Valdel believed that someday Ren would tell him everything.


    Valdel then proceeded to hand out the horn covered in cloth. When Leo got a hold of the horn he immediately knew what it was.


    ''This is something that could potentially make Ren a bit stronger.'' Leo hid the horn without bothering to remove the cloth to look at it.


    "Val, you better go back to your school. I''m sure the people you are looking for will show up a bitter." After saying that to Valdel, Leo proceeded to head towards the area Valdel pointed out where he was ambushed.


    ''If it were Ren he would have dealt with the enemies efficiently by killing all of them, but that''s too boring. Instead I will make them fear me, then that would force them to sharpen their fangs. Once they feel that their fangs have sharpened enough they will once againe to bite my, no, Ren''s neck off. At that time surely they would prove a challenge for my new incarnation, and with that challenge my incarnation will be able to be stronger than before.''


    Even though he didn''t show it on his face, nor did he think much about it. Leo was actually feeling a bit nervous. Ren was the weakest incarnation he has ever seen, and he was the fourth incarnation they had after defeating a main part of the ORIGIN.


    Leo couldn''t help but feel that something was going wrong.

 Chapter 109 - Took you long enough

    <h4>Chapter 109 - Took you long enough</h4>


    Leo was finally able to spot some of the knights that Valdel was talking about. As expected of knights their equipment was leagues above any normal person could afford. Which is why the lesser equipped mercenaries were eye catching when standing beside the knights.


    After he confirmed that they were the people Valdel was talking about, Leo made his presence known to the knights and mercenaries by spreading out his mana. The knights who were searching for Valdel stopped in their tracks and looked at the neer who was spreading was spreading his mana so aggressively. The moment they felt that mana, the knights knew that the person in front of them was extremely dangerous, so all of them went into a defensive formation.


    "Hey, I heard you guys been messing around with my friend." When the knights and mercenaries heard the neer''s statement, they immediately figured out who he was. Upon learning of Ren''s identity one of the knights immediately started running as he was about to send a message to their lord Henrick.


    The remaining knights stood firmly in their defensive formation, while the mercenaries were thinking of watching at the sidelines before deciding what to do next. The information given about Ren was limited, and they couldn''t gauge just how strong he was. Engaging an opponent without knowing much about him, wasn''t something a mercenary does.


    "Oh, I see there''s no need to talk, well I don''t really like talking as well. I''m more of a man of action." The moment Leo said thest word he disappeared from the Knights'' line of sight. The mercenaries who were watching at the side could all see what had happened and were surprised.


    Leo who was a few meters away suddenly disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of the knights. When the knights saw how close Leo was to them, they made a shield wall. Leo who saw how frightened the knights were of him, sighed.


    ''These are the weaklings that challenge my current incarnation? This is rather disappointing.'' Leo casually swung one of his swords at the shield wall. The mercenaries who were watching at the side found Leo''s movements rather weird, all of them had the same thought which was, what was he doing? Why did he just swing his sword at empty air, was this action suppose to threaten the knights?


    As the mercenaries were wondering what was happening, something that stunned them all happened next. After Leo casually swung his de, a few seconds passed and then all the shields the knights that made the shield wall were sliced in half.


    Everyone who saw this scene had their eyes left wide open. They couldn''t believe what they just witnessed. A man who casually swung his sword with no signs of mana fluctuations was able to slice over a dozen shields with a single sh.


    The knights were able to regain their senses quickly and were about to retreat, but then Leo casually waved the other sword in his right hand. The knights could no longer feel their lower halves, so most of them unconsciously looked down at their feet, it was then they saw that the upper halves of their bodies were slowly sliding away from their lower halves.


    Leo was able to kill dozens of knights with two sword swings. The mercenaries who were watching the whole event stood in their positions frozen in horror. The person called Ren didn''t even need to use mana to annihte dozen of knights, and he did it so casually and cleanly, like it meant nothing to him.


    They remaining people that were alive wanted to do a tactical retreat, but their legs wouldn''t respond as they all felt week in the knees. They couldn''t understand it, even though the man in front of them was emitting an enormous pressure upon them, it wasn''t enough to render them like this.


    Leo who had just finished dealing with the knights present shifted his attention to the mercenaries. The moment the mercenaries were stared down by Leo who was grinning widely they shivered in fear.


    "How about you guys, you don''t look like knights... I see you''re mercenaries. That means your being paid to kill my friend." When Leo was about to attack, one of the mercenaries spoke.


    "We weren''t going to kill him! We were just hired to find some student from the knight academy who mess with a random noble. We never nned to kill him, we were simply fooled by our employer. We never knew that person was such a big deal. So please we''ll back out and we''ll never mess with your business ever again, so please don''t kill us."


    "That''s funny, so you weren''t going to kill him, you were just nning to hand him over to some noble that hates him. I''m sure people from your line of work aren''t that naive. You knew full well what you were doing and epted the job. So I hope you guys don''t expect any mercy. You guys really are a different kind of mercenary from my friend. I used to have a friend who was like you guys, he was a mercenary and he once told me that a good merc gives as much as he''s paid. I''m sure you guys have been paid well enough to risk death. So at least show me the pride of a mercenary"


    When the mercenaries heard what Leo said and saw the vicious smile on his face, they knew that death was about toe. So in a desperate attempt for survival the mercenaries tried attacking Leo, but then they saw a sh of light which then turned into darkness. Leo was able to kill all the mercenaries with on swing of his de.


    The whole area was now littered with dead bodies, while blood fell down like rain. Leo who just finished off his opponents, felt his right hand bing a bit numb.


    ''Sh*t just how weak is this body?!... Well whatever, as long as the opponents are of this level, just a little bit won''t really hurt this body. Still I better use a weaker skill just in case.''


    After assessing his current condition Leo sat on a nearby rock waiting for whoever was in charge of these people toe.


    ...


    Henrick who was waiting for a report toe regarding Valdel, instead heard a report regarding Ren. The friend of Valdel that Sepchel warned them about finally appeared.


    ''That arrogant prick Sepchel must have been exaggerating about that Ren guy. He must be nning something, so after I deal with Ren, I''ll expose Sepchel of his lies.''


    While Henrick was imagining the first prince praising him, he smelled a very familiar smell. ''This is the smell of blood, did they actually killed Ren?'' Henrick who truly didn''t believe that Ren was strong, thought his subordinates already dealt with him, so he was shocked to see the scene before him.


    A pile of corpses littered around, as the ground was sttered with blood stains, and in the middle of all this mess, was a boy who was taking a nap. The moment Henrick got closer the boy yawned as he stretched his body looking at the new arrival.


    "Took you long enough, so are you the leader of these losers?" Thezy looking boy who was yawning moments ago, was now looking at Henrick with a vicious smile on his face.

 Chapter 110 - Sharpen your fangs

    <h4>Chapter 110 - Sharpen your fangs</h4>


    Henrick could feel the very air be tense when Leo woke up. The smile that the boy in the middle of all the lifeless bodies shown, was bone chilling. The pressure he was emitting while he was casually walking towards Henrick was overwhelming. The knight that was behind Henrick was now actually down on the ground kneeling as he was having difficulty breathing.


    "So you''re the person who''s messing with my friend... Hmmm, based on your build you aren''t what I was expecting you to be. Are you perhaps just a pawn, are you someone who''s under orders to do this? Tell me who is it that ordered you to kill my friend?"


    Henrick gulped dryly as he shivered in fear while Leo was assessing him. It was at this moment that he truly believed what Sepchel said, the man in front of him was extremely dangerous. It was like they stepped on the tail of a sleeping dragon and they even did it on purpose.


    ''I must never let this man meet the first prince.'' Henrick solemnly swore in his heart, that no matter what even if death should take him, he would never let the first prince face this monster.


    "I don''t know... What you''re talking about..." Henrick spoke even though it was difficult to answer under this overwhelming pressure.


    "Why are you talking like that? Oh, I see sorry about that, I thought since you had the balls to challenge me, I thought you would be somewhat decent. Turns out you''re just slightly stronger than the weak mob I annihted."


    After Leo said this, the pressure suddenly lightened. The knight who was kneeling was now breathing heavily as if he just surfaced from drowning.


    "So now that you can speak properly how about you tell me who''s ordering you around." Leo once again asked the wobbly Henrick.


    "There''s no one ordering me around, I''m doing this under my own volition. I just find thatmoner irksome, that''s why I wanted to kill him." Henrick answered with a look of disdain. He knew that he needed to act this out the best he can. If he makes a mistake here, then he would have failed as a vassal of his lord.


    "So you won''t tell me, well there are many other ways to make you talk." Leo hearing Henrick''s reply happily smiled as he slowly extended his hand towards Henrick.


    When Henrick saw Leo''s hand about to grab him, he wanted to flee but he knew that he wouldn''t be able to do that. Henrick tried lifting his leg, but they just wouldn''t respond. When Leo''s hand was only a few inches away, a suddenrge amount of mana came down from the sky in the form of a lightning bolt that hit the area Leo was standing on. Henrick who was able to feel the mana fluctuation was able to move aside before it hit. Unfortunately for the knight with him, he wasn''t able to do the same and died on the spot.


    Once the lighting bolt was gone, and the dust settled, Henrick saw that Leo was no longer there. The first thing that came to Henrick''s mind was that Leo was disintegrated.


    "I got him! That was easier that I expected. He wasn''t such a big deal after all." Henrick heard a familiar voiceing from the nearby trees, when he looked at the direction of where the voice came from, he saw a colleague of his Oliver, then he saw something else there and froze.


    "Why are you looking at me like that Henrick? Surprised to see me beat that b*stard for you. It wasn''t that hard, it was as we thought Sepchel was overreacting. So aren''t you going to say thank you? I did save your life."


    Henrick didn''t reply and simply looked at Oliver.


    "Huh, why are you so quiet? Also why are you looking at me like that, your facial expression is kind of creepy?... Oh, I see, were you that impressed by my lightning strike? That''s it right, it was very impressive wasn''t it. That was my strongest spell, at first it was a simple lightning spell, but then I improved the form of the spell, which led me to my masterpiece. That spell I enhanced was meant to killrge enemies like Ogre Emperors. How sad was it that I had to use it against a weakmoner."


    While Oliver kept on praising himself, suddenly someone spoke beside him.


    "It wasn''t that impressive, you used too much mana for such a measly spell. Your overall control in mana iscking and I find it quite offensive that you think such an attack could actually harm me. Well anyway," Oliver was shocked to see Leo beside him without even a single scratch on him. Not only that he wasn''t able to follow Leo''s movements at all, and if Leo didn''t speak, Oliver wouldn''t be able to detect him.


    Leo then grabbed onto Oliver''s neck and lifted him up. Oliver was unable to do anything in his current predicament. The iron grip of Leo''s wasn''t giving him any chance to counterattack.


    "I was going to torture you guys for information, but seeing how weak you all are, you don''t even constitute as a threat. So instead you all could be my friends whetstones... Hmm, so for now I won''t bother finding out who''s behind this shenanigans, but just tell him this. If you want to oppose me, you first need to sharpen your fangs. As you are now, in my eyes, all of you look like toddlers trying to catch an a.d.u.l.t''s attention."


    Henrick didn''t respond and simply continued to look at Leo.


    "Also seeing as I only need one person to send a message." Leo tossed up Oliver and he then raised his left arm and did a swiping motion. After doing that, arge lighting bolt came down from above incinerating Oliver until there was nothing left of him, not even his bones.


    "That''s how you use that spell." Once he was done saying that, Leo disappeared from the area. Henrick started looking around and saw no signs of Leo anywhere. At that moment if the smell of blood wasn''t so strong, Henrick would''ve thought that the events that transpired was all a nightmare, a very horrible nightmare.

 Chapter 111 - Need to back out

    <h4>Chapter 111 - Need to back out</h4>


    Leo who left after he was done talking with Henrick, that Leo who looked and sounded dominating before, was now breathing heavily under a tree. Though he looked rxed when facing the enemies, in truth Leo was already pushing Ren''s body to its very limits. The techniques he just used were his weakest, some of them weren''t even techniques just simple sword shes, yet it took Ren''s body a great deal to do them.


    Leo''s shes were done with perfect synchronization with his body, his mind, his spirit, and his mana. Normally in his own body he wouldn''t notice that he was doing this everytime he swung his des, since his body was so strong that it didn''t bother him. Yet now that he was using a weaker body that could not handle such movement, his whole body was in extreme pain.


    At this moment he could not move a single muscle, if someone were to attack him at this moment, they had a slight chance of victory since he couldn''t evade. So he casted an illusion spell in the surrounding area. If people pass by they will only see a bunch of trees clustered together.


    ''I thought it would be have a bit of fun once I got out and moved a real body. Yet this body of the current incarnation is the weakest one yet. It is true that the amount of mana he holds is pretty huge and it keeps on slowly getting denser, but his physical body is too weak. If he uses spirit aura with this kind of body, it wouldn''t help him much. He needs to retrain himself from the ground up.''


    Leo continued to grumble about Ren''s weak body as he tried to heal himself.


    ...


    Henrick who was left behind with a pile of dead bodies, felt his knees weaken as he fell to the ground. He couldn''t believe what had just happened to him. He thought Sepchel was exaggerating, but it turns out he wasn''t not one bit. That man called Ren was a monster that could devour everything whole.


    ''Damn this, what should I tell my lord? Should I tell him that he should listen to Sepchel and never mess with Ren and hispanions again. If we stop now, Ren wouldn''t do anything against us. Since in his eyes we are nothing more than bugs.''


    Henrick then started to remember the look Ren gave him, as if he was nothing. He treated this whole event like it was just some child''s prank. Henrick couldn''t help but shiver at that suffocating experience. That smile Ren had all throughout the conversation was unnerving.


    Henrick tried rxing his heavy breathing, trying to calm himself down. He then looked at the bodies of the dead knights and mercenaries littered all throughout the ce.


    Upon closer inspection Henrick noticed some things. The shields the knights used were all cut horizontally and it would seem that they were all cut in the exact same manner. Actually all of them, even the dead bodies were slice in half horizontally.


    The time it took for him to receive the message and find Ren, didn''t really take that long. That would mean Ren either killed all of these people with blinding speed while using the same move, or he killed them all with one sh. Either way this just proves even more that he was a monster.


    ''I know my lord, and I know even if I report what had happened he would never back down. Ren even said those provoking words, if you want to oppose me, sharpen your fangs. No matter what I say, or do not say my lord will still keep on bothering Ren. There must be a way that we can avoid that monster, while at the same time satisfy my lord''s wishes.'' Henrick left the area with an absent minded look on his face unable to think of a way to deal with the situation.


    ...


    While Ren was resting somewhere outside of Grenton, his best friend Valdel the cause of all this was walking towards the knight academy with a heavy heart. He set out to find the family members of his schoolmates, but now he returns with nothing to show for. He started thinking of how he should apologize to those schoolmates of his, that was when he remembered something Ren said.


    "Val, you better go back to your school. I''m sure the people you are looking for will show up a bitter."


    ''That''s what Ren said, what did him mean, does he know where the missing nobles are?'' While Valdel was trying to figure out, what Ren meant he heard someone calling him, he turned around and saw a familiar face.


    "It''s been a long time master." It was Kuro the ve he rescued before.

 Chapter 112 - The maiden

    <h4>Chapter 112 - The maiden</h4>


    Valdel was shocked to see the wolf eared girl again after that incident. He didn''t expect the wolf girl toe back so early, she was also waiting for him in front of the academy''s gates. Didn''t he already tell her his room number? Was she not allowed to enter or did she forget the number of his room?


    While Valdel was thinking about various things, Kuro suddenly bowed in front of him.


    "Master I have returned." Valdel who was thinking ever so deeply was surprised to hear what Kuro said.


    "... Kuro, there''s no need to call me master." Valdel couldn''t help but smile awkwardly at Kuro, whose ears and tail were moving so excitedly. Yet the moment Valdel told Kuro not to call him master, her ears suddenly drooped.


    "Does master hate me? Am I not suitable to be standing at master''s aide?" Kuro''s voice was filled with depression and disappointment. Seeing her like that made Valdel feel extremely guilty.


    "Fine, you can call me whatever you want." When Kuro heard what Valdel her ears suddenly perked up again, as her tail started wagging.


    "I''ll be in your care master."


    ...


    After reuniting with Kuro, the two started walking towards Valdel''s dorm when some people suddenly blocked their path. These people were the ones that lost their rtives, Valdel wanted to apologize about failing to find their rtives, but before he could say anything the noble students suddenly thanked him.


    "Huh?" Valdel couldn''t help but look at the crowd in confusion.


    "Thank you, thank you for saving my father!" One of the girl students suddenly hugged him, which made Kuro silently get in between the two. The other students were a little less emotional, as they bowed their head.


    Valdel then remembered what Ren said to him before leaving. That once he returns the people he was looking for would show up.


    ''Once again Ren was the one who dealt with my problem. Once again he showed just howrge the difference in our ability is.''


    Valdel was getting a bit depressed and was about to say something, but once again he was interrupted.


    "Valdel it''s great that you''ve returned. The principal has been waiting for you in his office. I suggest you go there immediately."


    ''It''s just one thing after another.'' Valdel couldn''t help but sigh as he headed towards the principal''s office.


    ...


    Galius was waiting inside his office and right in front of him was a woman near herte teens wearing a red robe with an emblem of a sword crossing with an ax.


    When Valdel entered the room apanied by Kuro, he immediately noticed the new face.


    "Oh, you''re finally back Valdel, and who is thisdy?" Galius looked at Kuro with a piercing gaze. The look Galius was giving her made Kuro tremble a bit. She felt that Galius was staring right through her core, which was ufortable.


    "She''s Kuro, my... Maid," Valdel couldn''t call Kuro his servant, since he didn''t like that, and he couldn''t call her hispanion since she won''t like that. So calling her his maid was the best he could do. Kuro didn''t seem to mind, which made Valdel sigh in his head.


    "I see... Can you please tell your maid to wait outside, since this is a sensitive matter."


    Valdel looked at Kuro, who simply bowed and left the room. Once Kuro was gone, the maiden sitting on the coach stood up, started to walk towards Valdel and started scanning him from head to toe.


    "Hmm, the looks seem to be a bit above average." The maiden then started touching Valdel''s body, which made Valdel do a backstep distancing himself from the maiden.


    "W-w-w-what the hell are you doing!"


    "The muscles are nice and tight." As if she didn''t hear the shocked Valdel, the maiden continued her assessment on Valdel.


    "Even the mana his pouring out is a bit better than most, but not as overwhelming as I thought it would be. Galius are you sure this is the boy called Valdel? Isn''t he too weak?"


    "Lady Rachel, how about introducing yourself first before doing anything else." The maiden now identified as Rachel looked at Galius with a bit of dissatisfaction.


    "Why should I introduce myself to someone like him? It doesn''t seem like he''s the one I''m looking for, so I might as well just leave as strangers."


    Hearing Rachel''s answer made Galius sigh. Valdel, on the other hand, was confused by the whole scene. He couldn''t understand what the hell was happening in front of him.


    "Valdel can you please stop suppressing your mana and showdy Rachel your true might." Seeing as the conversation doesn''t seem like it would move forward without him doing so, Valdel didn''t bother questioning Galius, and just did as he was told.


    Upon releasing the full extent of his mana, Rachel who was looking a bit bored was suddenly shivering. At first, Valdel thought he made Rachel scared because of howrge and dense his mana was, but her reaction was the opposite. She was actually shivering in excitement.


    "Wow! That''s awesome! Why the heck are you suppressing this kind of power? You really are the person I''m looking for." Rachel suddenly hugged Valdel with sparkling eyes. Valdel who wasn''t really that good in dealing with such situations didn''t know what to do at this time.


    ''Master how about pushing her aside.'' Zwei suddenly spoke inside his head. Galius who was watching at the side suddenly made a dry coughing sound.


    "So now that you have confirmed he''s the one you''re looking for, how about you introduce yourselfdy Rachel."


    "Oh my, where are my manners." Rachel then separated herself from Valdel and did a curtsy.


    "I''m sorry for thete introductions, I am Rachel the one and only holy maiden from the shrine of the War God Hieus. I have journeyed here to meet with you, the chosen hero of our glorious God."


    The moment Valdel heard what Rachel said, he couldn''t say anything as he simply stood there in stunned silence.

 Chapter 113 - Be my hero

    <h4>Chapter 113 - Be my hero</h4>


    When Valdel heard what Rachel said he couldn''t understand what she meant. He was the chosen hero of some God? When Rachel saw the confused look of Valdel she wanted to exin the situation to him, but then someone interrupted her.


    "Oh my, please don''t listen to that barbarian dear hero. Bing the hero of such a barbarian will bring you nothing but grief."


    Another girl wearing simr clothes as Rachel appeared, but the emblem she wore was different, instead of weapons, it was a weighing scale. Like Rachel, this girl was also incredibly beautiful. Even though both were beautiful the two have one major difference, the neer had a smaller chest than Rachel. Still, the looks didn''t really matter to Valdel what mattered to him was that he was unable to sense this girl''s arrival which shocked him.


    "Natasha! Who the hell are you calling a barbarian! I''m going to kill you, you t-chested loser!" You could practically hear something snap within Natasha.


    "Ara, ara, ara, it seems like all the nutrients that should go to your brain headed straight for your lump of meat. As expected of a barbarian there''s nothing up there." Natasha tapped Rachel''s forehead as she said this. Now this time it was Rachel who snapped, she lifted her arms and suddenly a weapon appeared. This was the same style of weapon summoning that Valdel heard from Ren that heroes usually use.


    The weapon that was summoned was halberd adorned with jewels and gold. The de at the tip of the halberd was shining with the color red. Seeing Rachel summoning her weapon, Natasha responded in kind. The weapon that Natasha summoned looked less extravagant, as it was simply the de of guillotine attached to metal wires.


    The two girls were about to attack each other, but before their des shed Valdel got between them. Using Zwei to block the halberd, and using Nika to block the guillotine''s de. Valdel was surprised by how powerful their attacks were, and was even forced to use his full strength. The power of their strike wasn''t proportional to the power they were emitting.


    ''There must be something with the weapons they''re using...'' While Valdel was thinking this, he pushed the two girls back. As they were pushed back the two girls looked at Valdel in amazement. Rachel was about to say something, but then Natasha ran towards Valdel and hugged his arm. Even though her b.r.e.a.s.t were smaller than Rachel''s it was still there. Valdel felt a bit awkward with what was happening.


    "That was amazing sir hero! I Natasha the holy maiden of the temple that worsh.i.p.s the Goddess of Justice, implore you, please be my chosen hero." Before Valdel could reply Rachel suddenly butted in the conversation.


    "How dare you suddenlye in and call me a barbarian, and not only that you''re trying to steal my hero. I''m sure that Sir Valdel doesn''t really want to be hugged by a t-chested girl such as yourself, for such a great hero nothing but the best should be provided."


    Rachel took hold of Valdel''s free arm and squeezed her chest onto it. The voluptuous b.r.e.a.s.t of Rachel''s felt so soft, which made Valdel feel that this really was a hard situation for him, in multiple ways.


    "Lady Rachel,dy Natasha, please stop for a moment. I think Valdel here is a bit confused. I hope you twodies can stop bickering for the moment and please exin to him, what it means to be a hero of a certain temple."


    Hearing what Galius said the two girls red at each other, before releasing Valdel''s arms. The two once again looked at each other and spoke.


    "How about I exin the situation, a barbarian like you wouldn''t be able to exin it properly anyway."


    "Heh, I''m sure you won''t be able to exin it at all since your brain is as big as your chest, practically non-existent."


    Galius seeing the two girls continue to fight, sighed as he once again intervened.


    "This is going nowhere, then if the twodies do not mind, allow me to be the one to exin the situation to Valdel."


    The two once again red at each other before answering in unison, "fine." Galius sighed once more before looking at the quiet Valdel.


    "Sorry for that, well then let''s get straight to it. Valdel how much do you know about the Temples?" Valdel scratched his head before answering.


    "Truth be told, this is the first time I heard about them." The two girls were shocked to hear Valdel''s answer as shown by their overly stunned looking expressions.


    "I see, you dide from a very remote vige... Fine then, let me start from the beginning. In this continent, the human race has twelve Gods and Goddesses that we worship. Each one of these Gods and Goddesses has their own temple which represents them. These temples are in every country, and each country has a different temple established within them. These temples and the people who work there are not considered citizens of the country in which they reside. The temples are considered to be their own country, and inside our kingdom of Reschbeauch we have two temples, one is the temple of the war God, while the other is the temple of the Goddess of Justice."


    "Okay then now onto the real topic, these two are holy maidens of there respective temples. Holy maidens are the ones said to be the closest to their respective deities. They are the ones that can somehow directly hear their voice, basically, they are like the spokesperson of their respective deities. They hold a very important position in their temples, which is only lower than the head priest."


    "Okay then, I guess I can understand that, then what do they mean about me bing their chosen hero?" Valdel interjected.


    "You see, each holy maiden must choose a warrior that would represent their temple. These special warriors are called heroes, they are beings that the Gods and Goddesses fancies, and are given blessings depending on which God or Goddess they serve."

 Chapter 114 - Who will you choose?

    <h4>Chapter 114 - Who will you choose?</h4>


    "Blessings? What kind of blessings?" Valdel was quite curious with the blessings that the Gods and Goddesses give out. When Rachel and Natasha heard Valdel''s question, the two tried to speak first, "The blessing," the two who spoke at the exact same time looked at each other.


    "Oh my, do you really think you should be exining such a difficult thing. I doubt you even understand the meaning of your own blessing." Natasha smiled sweetly at Rachel, but hidden within that cute smile were daggers.


    "I''m sure I can exin it better than a little girl, oh wait you''re not a little girl, you just look like one, you old hag." Rachel startedughing while looking at Natasha''s t chest.


    "What did you say, you dumb b*mbo!" Natasha shouted materializing her weapon once more.


    "Bring it you old hag!" Rachel responded in kind, but before the two could attack each other, Darius got between them.


    "Pleasedies, the two of you fighting helps no one. For now, sincedy Rachel was here first, how about she exins the blessings her God will give if Valdel decides to join the temple of the War God."


    When Rachel heard Galius'' side her, she looked at Natasha with a smirk. Natasha seeing how smug Rachel was wanted to retort, but then she noticed that the way she was acting was childish. Natasha finally noticing how improper her actions were was forced to hold it in.


    ''Damn it this always happens, whenever I meet Rachel. I don''t know why, but even among the people from the temple of the war God she really irritates me.''


    Seeing Natasha not responding to her provocative look made Rachel happy, as she stuck close to Valdel before she started talking.


    "Okay then, about the blessings, it''s as Galius said. The blessings are abilities gifted by the Gods that each temple serves. These blessings are given to the holy maidens chosen warrior. So if you choose to be my chosen hero, then the War God Hieus will grant you abilities that would make you a beast of war. He could grant you abilities that could either make you a brilliant strategist or a heroic warrior. The ability given by a God is not the same from warrior to warrior, it would differ depending on the deity''s mood or the ability that the deity deems suitable for you. So in truth, I can''t really give you an exact detail of the abilities you might receive, but I can tell you for certain that all the abilities of the God of war are powerful tools for battle."


    When Rachel got to this part of her exnation, she squeezed tightly onto Valdel''s arm, making her voluptuous b.r.e.a.s.t be more noticeable in Valdel''s perception.


    "Not only will you gain the power to be ever victorious in battle, but you''ll also have me. If you wish I''ll be your woman, and you may do what you wish with my body. Every part of this body of mine is all yours." Rachel then ced Valdel''s hand in the middle of her thighs. She was about to say something more, but then someone pushed her to the side.


    Natasha noticed the situation was getting dangerous so she got in between the two. Rachel who was pushed aside wanted to say something, but then she felt Galius grabbing her shoulder. Rachel was about to say something to Galius, but then he saw the expression on his face and stopped.


    Rachel was now reminded that this old man wasn''t just some random old man, he was not someone she could handle if makes him angry.


    "Sir Valdel, now that you heard the blessings given by the war God temple, it''s now time for you to hear of the blessing the Goddess of Justice Utune. Unlike the blessings given by the War God, the Goddess of Justice does not give abilities that could directly help in battle. The abilities given to the chosen warrior is either the ability to save or to punish. The ability rted to saving is usually a higher-level healing ability, while the ability to punish, is a bit more vague but usually, it''s an ability that can make you spot a sinner with one look. I think there was a record of a former hero that called it."


    Same as Rachel after she was done exining about the blessing Valdel might receive, Natasha stuck close to Valdel.


    "I know that you are a man of justice Sir Valdel. The Temple of the Goddess of Justice is a ce that strives on seeking justice for the weak and helpless. I understand it, the moment I saw you, I sensed that you too are a person that seeks justice. If you join the temple of the Goddess of Justice, not only will you be able to help those in need, you''ll also be able to acquire... Me..."


    When Natasha said thest line, she started blushing like a young maiden in love, as she looked at Valdel with upturn eyes. The moment she did this, Rachel suddenly got in between the two.


    "Okay enough of that!" The two girls then suddenly got into another ring contest. Galius could only sigh as he saw the interaction of the two holy maidens, as he then looked at Valdel.


    "So now that you have a rough understanding of the blessing, and the temples, who do you pick? Which temple will you join?"


    Hearing Galius'' question the twodies who were ring at each other shifted their attention to Valdel. Seeing everyone was waiting for his answer Valdel took a minute to think. He didn''t understand why, but as he was thinking of which side to join, Valdel suddenly thought of his best friend.


    ''If it were him what choice would he make?'' When he thought of that Valdel couldn''t help but smile a simr smile to what Ren usually shows when he gets excited. Valdel looked at the two girls who were waiting in anticipation of his answer.


    "I made my decision, I choose neither."


    The two holy maidens had numerous changes in their expression in the span of one second. When they heard Valdel''s answer the first expression they showed was excitement, then realization, then disappointment, and then confusion.

 Chapter 115 - A friend

    <h4>Chapter 115 - A friend</h4>


    The two holy maidens and even Galius were confused as to why Valdel would refuse them. This was an offer to be something akin to a hero, with the blessings of the Gods. Any other person even Kings and Emperors would not pass the chance to be a chosen warrior of deities. Especially if they were offered such beautiful maidens as a bonus. Also not epting both their offers might offend the two holy temples.


    In the human kingdoms aside from the high-level empires, the next powerful force would be the temples of the Gods and Goddesses. Offending them like this wasn''t a wise choice.


    "Valdel this is a chance only given to a select few. You shouldn''t decide so hastily." Galius looked at Valdel trying to guess what the boy was thinking.


    Valdel shook his head and answered, "No matter what, my decision wouldn''t change."


    "WHY?" The two holy maidens who were at odds since they appeared spoke in unison. "Are you not picking me because you are afraid of her?!" The two holy maidens spoke in unison and pointed at each other. Once they were done talking they red at each other.


    They wanted to berate each other but stopped themselves wanting to hear Valdel''s answer. The reason Valdel didn''t choose either of them might have been because he was afraid of offending the other party which he didn''t pick. Valdel then opened his mouth to answer the holy maidens'' question.


    Rachel and Natasha were so sure that Valdel was going to say what they wanted to hear, they were already ready with a counter reply. Yet the words that came out of Valdel''s mouth was something no one expected to hear.


    "I declined your offers because I want to be a true hero." Valdel proimed proudly to the three others in the room. Hearing Valdel''s answer just made the three of them even more confused.


    "If you want to be a hero then why decline their offer? Bing the chosen warrior of one of the holy temples will grant you the title of hero." Galius asked with a new look of interest in his eyes.


    Valdel hearing what Galius said shook his head once more, and with his handsome face smiled a bright smile. When the two holy maidens saw Valdel smiling they could feel their hearts beating faster.


    "I don''t want such a title given to me like that. I want to gain the title of a true hero, by merit, not because I was chosen like some random fruit in the market. I want to be a hero that could save everyone, a hero that vanquishes evil, a hero that the people would love. If I joined one of the temples, then I would naturally be bound by that group, and the other temples would find it difficult to approach and ask for help." Valdel said this because of the observation he made watching Rachel and Natasha.


    "I don''t want to be bound within a single organization, I want to be free."


    The three could now finally understand what Valdel was talking about, but then Galius continued to speak to Valdel in a rather serious tone.


    "Valdel you do understand that if you graduate and be a knight, you would be bound to serve the kingdom, or to be more specific you''ll be bound to serve the crown, whoever wears it will be your master. Truth be told if your dream is to be a true hero like you said, bing a knight of the kingdom isn''t really the way to go. What I''m about to say might run counter to my true beliefs, but because I expect great thing from you I need to tell you that, a knight might sound very gant and noble in the eyes ofmoners, but the truth is a knight is simply a higher ranking thug. Of course, I would love to raise children into real upstanding knights, that don''t just follow the king''s orders but think for themselves as to what is right and wrong... But as of now the truth of the matter is the current knights, and the next generation knights are as I say, just a bunch of thugs for the king, or to put it nicely they are the king''s sword and shield. They are nothing more than the weapons of royalty."


    Galius as the principal of the knight academy felt a bit bad as he was exining the truth to Valdel. When he was young he too dreamt to be the ideal knight, but his ideals and the reality of an ideal knight were vastly different. To honor and protect the people was not the main duty of a knight, it was to honor and protect the king.


    "If you really wish to be a hero to all, then joining one of the temples is a better bet." The two holy maidens hearing Galius advertise their temples made them smile.


    The moment Valdel heard this he couldn''t help butugh. "Of course I know all that. My friend already exined that to me before I joined, but he also told me of a way to break free from the rules after bing a knight. Not only that he promised me that he would make me into the greatest hero to have ever existed. If it was anybody else, I would never believe them if they told me this, but since he was the one who told me this, then I fully believe it. That friend of mine has never let me down, he has always fulfilled his promises not once has he failed."


    Galius could immediately guess who that friend was since he already met him and he was really a boy that could possibly do all that he imed to do. On the other hand, the holy maidens were very curious as to who could make someone like Valdel who was superbly talented to believe him this much. When they were about to ask who this friend was, someone, burst into the room.


    The holy maidens and Galius were about to reprimand the neer, but before they could speak the person he came in shouted an urgent message.


    "An undead army is approaching!"

 Chapter 116 - Approaching army

    <h4>Chapter 116 - Approaching army</h4>


    Lara who was done sparring with Hilda suddenly felt something from a distance. Now that her control over her mana was better than before the range of her scan had berger. Now that she was able to extend her scan a few kilometers away Lara was surprised to sense that there were arge number of beings heading towards Grenton.


    She also felt that their mana fluctuations were a bit strange, but that was beside the point. An army was heading towards the town. Based on how fast their march was, they should reach Grenton in about three days.


    Lara wanted to get a good look of the army so she could report what she saw to Ren properly. Without saying a word Lara left the others behind and started running towards the area where she sensed the army. When she got close enough Lara went to an elevated area and enhanced her eyesight with a strengthening spell.


    The moment she saw the invading army she was surprised. The army was mostly consisting of skeletal warriors wearing armor. From the distance, she could also see some ogres in chains. The army of undead was a huge one as it covered arge area with nothing but the shine of their armor. Lara could somehow guess who was behind this wave of undead.


    ''The elder Lich is here...'' With this new information, Lara immediately headed back.


    ...


    Hilda was surprised to see Lara suddenly leave without saying anything. The only times that person would do that, was if it was something that would involve Ren.


    ''I wonder what happened?... Even though I still can''t get a proper read on her expressionless face, I think I actually saw a bit of worry in her look.''


    While Hilda was thinking about Lara''s strange action, the person in question finally came back. Though she looked the same as before, with her signature stoic look, something felt a bit different.


    "Where have-" Hilda wasn''t even able to finish her question when Lara interrupted her. "Iselv, Kithra, I want you two to head back to Grenton and gather all your battle-ready men and return here."


    "Why, are we going to war or something?" Iselv looked at Lara seriously, if it was anybody else that said what Lara said, he would think that the other party was trying to make a joke, but he knew that Lara wasn''t that type of person. Everything this person does was serious, her face, her attitude, everything about her could never be associated with the term joke.


    "Yes." Lara''s answer was quick and simple, but that one single word had devastating effects on the people who heard it. Iselv and even Kithra could feel a shiver down their spine. Hilda who was in a state of stunned silence, finally regained herself and spoke, "Who is the enemy? What do you mean going to war?!"


    Hilda wasn''t one who was afraid of battle, but the term war had fazed her. She thought of her family and how they would survive if an army came to Grenton. Who could the enemy be? The answer to that thought came quickly as she knew there was only one enemy of their kingdom at the moment, and it was the Serbek kingdom.


    "The enemy are undead warriors... As for the meaning of going to war, figure out the answer yourself. Enough about that there is also something I want you to do Hilda." Seeing theposed way Lara acted, actually helped in calming Hilda down.


    "What should I do?" Although Lara didn''t like Hilda, she knew that she was quite useful. Hilda also felt the same way with Lara, so the two could still talk in a civilized manner even without Ren.


    "I want you to head back to the guild, and tell thezy guild master about the invading undead army. Tell him that-" Lara then started talking about her estimate on howrge the undead army was, as well as how fast their march was. She also told Hilda about her guess that the elder lich was the most probably the leader of these undead warriors. Lara gave all the information she had gathered after her initial look of the army.


    "When you''re done reporting all these to thatzy guild master,e back here and... Help me..." Lara found it hard to say thest two words, but when it left her lips she felt a bit relieved, which confused her. Upon hearing what Lara said, Hilda quickly started running back to Grenton.


    Lara who noticed that Iselv and Kithra were still rooted on the spot, she looked at the two of them with killing intent. "Why aren''t you guys moving?" When the two heard Lara''s cold tone of voice, the two former underworld kings were jolted awake. They immediately started running back to Grenton alongside Hilda.


    ...


    It took half a day for Iselv and Kithra to return with at least a hundred men. Hilda, on the other hand, couldn''t return yet since she needed to help the adventurers guild prepare for the uing battle. Instead, Hilda passed a report to Lara, saying that due to the war with the Serbek Kingdom, the reinforcements from the capital won''t be able to get to Grenton for at least half a month. That basically meant that they were on their own and they needed to survive the uing battle for until reinforcements arrive.


    After reading Hilda''s report, Lara closed her eyes and started to think. ''I wonder where Ren is right now... If he were here what would he do?...'' After thinking for a bit Lara opened her eyes, and saw an excited Iselv, a smiling Kithra, and some frightened men and women. There were about a hundred of them gathered here.


    ''This is all the forces the two of them could muster? Well, it doesn''t really matter...''


    "Right now an undead army is heading towards our town! I want everyone here to help me dy that army from getting to Grenton, we dy them for a minute, an hour, a day, and if possible a week!"


    "That''s impossible!" Somebody shouted from the group. Iselv who saw it was one his men who shouted, wanted to discipline him but then he saw a [fire arrow] spell pierce through the man''s skull and then burned him to ashes. Lara looked at the person she just killed with a cold re, which made the atmosphere frigid.


    "Anybody else thinks it''s impossible?" Hearing her cold tone of voice, with her stoic expression, coupled with the fact that she just killed someone pretty strong in their group, like she was killing an ant, made all of them gulp dryly as they stayed silent in fear.


    "Good... I''ll tell you now, I don''t care what you guys think. All you people need to know is that you are people under Ren''smand. As such, I don''t want to see you guys cowering in fear. Those of you who show any signs of retreating without permission will be killed on the spot."


    Everyone felt extreme fear as they heard what Lara said, but what truly frightened them was the overwhelming pressure of her mana that weighed down upon them, coupled with her killing intent, which made the whole experience even more horrific.


    "An undead army is marching towards our area, they came here to wreak havoc in Ren''s territory. So as Ren''s loyal subordinates, what are you suppose to do with that undead army?" Being pressured by that ice-cold look of Lara''s the hundred of subordinates felt suppressed, unable to take it any longer one of them shouted, "DESTROY THEM!" After that, all the others followed suit.


    Hearing them shout those words, Lara simply nodded in satisfaction. On the outside, she remained looking like the usual cool beauty, but on the inside, she was already pumping herself up.


    ''Ren, I hope you return soon so that you can see my gant figure as I kill all of your enemies. Surely when you see me like that you''ll fall even more in love with me.''

 Chapter 117 - First strike

    <h4>Chapter 117 - First strike</h4>


    Clomp, Clomp, the sound of footsteps could be heard throughout the area. Not only could one hear the sound of multiple footsteps, and the clinking of armor, you could even feel the earth shake from this mighty march. This was the march of the undead, this was the march of death.


    This mighty undead army had already passed three small viges and encountered one group of knights, none of which survived the encounter with the undead. Now the next stop was the town of Grenton.


    The reason this undead army decided to march to Grenton was because their master the Elder Lich Alfred was quite interested in Ren and his group. The power and weapon Ren used while fighting him wasn''t something an ordinary human could handle. This piqued Alfred''s interest, and now that his experiment had failed, he was a bit bored. So he decided to capture Ren and hisrades to make them into his new guinea pigs. Surely unlike those weak vigers, they would give better results, making his quest for true immortality one step closer. As a bonus if there are any strong humans on the way he would dly take them as well. Unfortunately, the humans he met on the way were nothing special, some were a bit stronger than the vigers he once controlled, but in his eyes, they were nothing much.


    ...


    The army had entered a forested area and continued their march. It was then a huge ball of fire fell down from the sky, hitting the front lines of the army. The fire then started to spread into the forest, but that didn''t stop the march of the undead, as the undead mages came out and used water spells to stop the fire. If this was a normal human army, that surprise attack would''ve caused them to panic a bit, and then tighten their formation as they send scouts to see who was attacking them.


    Yet the undead had no emotions and didn''t panic not even a twitch was shown as they continued to move forward. The elder lich who was aware of everything that was happening within his army, couldn''t help but chuckle at that surprise attack. Though the attacker was able to kill a few dozen of his minions, it really didn''t bother him, since he could create new ones. As long as he had dead bodies to use he could create however many undead he wanted. He also knew of a spell that could summon undead but those beings have a limited time frame to act before they turn into dust. So it wasn''t worth using them except for dire situations.


    ...


    As the march continued out of nowhere the left-wing and the right-wing of the army were suddenly being bombarded by earth spells. Rocks came flying at incredible speeds, towards the undead army. Alfred who finally saw where the spells wereing from, mentally ordered his warriors to attack.


    The undead receiving their orders started to charge towards the mages that came attacking them. Though they were getting hit as they got closer, the undead behind would continue onward making it look like they weren''t stopping from their charge.


    On the left-wing when the undead warriors were closing in on the mages, a giant man suddenly got in between them. This man was none other than Iselv who was now equipped with a Warhammer. He with hisrge Warhammer took the stance Ren though him while using the axe. Iselv with Warhammer at hand swung it like he would cut down a tree. The force of his swing was now stronger than its ever been blowing away the trees in front of him as well as the undead warriors charging towards them.


    Iselv''s men were also present as they swung around their maces and raising their shields, blocking the undead for the mages behind them.


    On the right-wing, the same thing was happening, and the one who was blocking the charge was Lara. This time she wasn''t using her bow and arrows since those won''t help with fighting skeletal opponents, instead, she was using her fist. Aside from teaching her archery and how to use magic, Ren also thought Lara close quarterbat techniques. Just in case she loses all her arrows and has no mana left for spells, this was her final line of defense.


    At first, Ren wanted to teach Lara swordsmanship like how he thought Valdel, but he quickly saw that Lara had no talent for it. Even with how nimble and dexterous she was, Lara was actually pretty horrible in swordsmanship, not so bad that she couldn''t swing it, but her level was the same as a child pretending to be a swordsman. Ren then tried to teach her other things but it turns out aside from using a bow Lara was horrible in every other weapon. So as ast resort Ren tried to teach her unarmedbat.


    Who could''ve known that aside from the bow she would excel greatly in the art of fighting barehanded.


    ...


    When the skeletal warriors were nearing them, Lara with blinding speed charged at them. A punch to shatter their ribs, a kick to blow away their skulls. Lara with blinding speed and fluent movement was a force to be reckoned with. Coupled with the fact she used some attack spells when she had time to do so, made her look like a tornado passing through enemy ranks.


    The warriors fighting beside her were falling for her beautiful form as she fought the enemy with powerful yet graceful movement, coupled with her attractive proportions, and beautiful face she looked like a divine warrior.


    When both Iselv, and Lara''s side were getting wonderful results from their ambush, the undead mages appeared and started firing mid-level spells. Most of the warriors in the front couldn''t evade or defend themselves from the attack and were killed on the spot.


    The mages with Iselv, and Lara''s group tried their best to protect the warriors but they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of the enemy undead mages.


    Iselv who finally saw the undead mages appearing smiled, he disregarded the undead warriors in front and simply charged at the undead mages at the back. Lara did the same thing, but unlike Iselv''s reckless charge while taking hits, Lara was able to bypass the frontlines with her speed and use of Shadow spells, from the branch of darkness magic.


    Iselv and Lara were able to defeat quite several undead mages, it was then the enemy force had sessfully surrounded them. As they were about to be bombarded from all sides, a thickyer of mist enveloped the area.


    This was a spell performed by Kithra, while Iselv and Lara were fighting she was already preparing to use thisrge scale spell for a quick retreat. Now that the sights of the enemy forces have been reduced Iselv even though he sustained some injuries was able to escape the encirclement, same goes for Lara.


    The two groups from the left-wing and right-wing, then quickly retreated into the forest. They needed to change the way they fought as Lara wasn''t expecting to lose so many men in their first confrontation. Though they were able to kill 1:100 of the undead, that wasn''t really much. The whole point of this intervention was to buy time for the people of Grenton to prepare.


    ''Tsk, I really am not good with making up a strategy. I lost more men than I hope in that first encounter.'' Lara then started to reprimand herself in her head, as she and the Iselv''s group converged in the designated checkpoint.


    Lara who took a quick nce at the remaining men from their side was able to see that they had lost thirty men in that first battle. Twenty-five warriors and five mages had died. Learning that fact made Lara want to click her tongue. Still, this failure made her even more motivated, making her think that she needed to do better than her best.


    "We''re moving onto n B, but instead of attacking with three different groups, let''s make the groupings even smaller. All of you should now move in groups of five, two mages and three warriors. Iselv and Kitra will form one group, while I''ll go by myself. Remember hit fast and hard, then immediately escape. Those who abandon their task midway, and run from the field of battle, will be hunted down by me personally. At the time I catch you... You would wish that you have died in battle."


    Lara looked coldly at the remaining men coupled with her killing intent, made everyone except Kithra and Iselv shiver in fear. Those who nned to sneak away while they were separated, erased the idea from their heads.

 Chapter 118 - Lara’s battle

    <h4>Chapter 118 - Lara''s battle</h4>


    Lara who was running around getting into position to attack felt a little bit excited. Now that she was alone she didn''t need to worry about defense and can go all out. When she was attacking with the others a portion of her attention was directed into protecting the warriors fighting beside her. So now that she was given the chance to finally let loose she was truly utterly excited.


    When she was inside the dungeon she couldn''t go all out since they were underground and she was scared of causing too much damage and breaking the dungeon making them unable to leave. Also, the enemies at that time were really strong, making her feel unsure of how strong she really was. So now that she was in a bigger field above ground, with numerous enemies that were basically small fry, Lara couldn''t help herself as she felt super excited.


    Even though she continued to show a stoic expression, a smile escaped her lips as she started to jump up onto the tree branches. While jumping Lara started to chant, once she was near the middle of the enemy army''s formation Lara jumped down smashing her fist onto the ground.


    With a majority of her mana ced onto her fist, that one move was able to pulverize dozens of undead while creating a crater in the middle of their formation. As the undead mages were about to counterattack, Lara who chanted a dy spell moments ago, unleashed it.


    A huge rotating column of air descended from the heavens tearing apart the undead mages. This was the spell [Tornado] a high-intermediate spell. Once she was done releasing the first spell, Lara proceeded to activate her second dy spell. The ground then started to burn with small mes, this was a low-intermediate spell, [Scorch earth]. Lara thenbined her two spells creating a whirlwind of fire, which turned those undead bones into ashes.


    Thebined spellsted for only ten seconds, but the results were devastating. Lara alone was able to destroy a few hundred of the undead. She made sure to incinerate their bones so that the elder lich wouldn''t be able to use them again.


    After finishing her initial attack, Lara did a quick check on how much mana she had left and decided not to use any big spells for a while. While Lara was thinking about retreating for a moment and attackingter, she saw that the undead released two monsters from their shackles.


    These monsters were, inhumanlyrge and tall and had a disproportionatelyrge head, with abundant hair, and unusually colored skin. Their bodies which were covered by bronze armor looked to be sturdy. This race of monster was called an ogre.


    An Ogre was a B ranked monster, and the higher rank of this race was called ogre king which was ssified as an A rank monster. Two B rank monsters would be pretty hard to face in her current situation as she was in the middle of enemy forces, but she didn''t want to retreat. So, instead, Lara shouted at her enemies.


    "Come then, face me! I''m Lara the number one woman of Ren ''the de of death!''" The nickname de of death wasn''t Ren''s adventuring nickname but was the nickname granted to him but the people of the underworld. Rumors about him were spreading to all the underworld organizations of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. Learning of what he has done in Grenton, the story of how he conquered Grenton''s underworld has been grossly exaggerated which led to his nickname. Lara who gained the information about this nickname felt like it sounded really cool.


    ...


    After she shouted her affiliation, Lara charged at the ogres, who were wearing bronze armor, and had veryrge maces as their weapons. One of the ogres saw that Lara was charging towards it, so as a response it lifted its mace and swung it down trying to hit the approaching Lara.


    With quick and fluent movement Lara jumped to the side avoiding the mace, she then jumped upward aiming for the ogre''s head, once she got close enough she kicked the ogre''s head. The ogre was slow to react and was unable to block Lara''s attack, which pierced its right eye. The ogre then screamed in agony as it iled its mace around hitting the nearby undead. The other ogre seeing itspanion running amok roared at it, forcing the first ogre to calm down.


    Lara didn''t miss this opportunity when the two ogres were distracted as it climbed behind the first ogre. Lara has no real knowledge of ogres and only knew of their name and appearance from the fairy tales she has heard. Still, Lara who was trained by Ren was able to notice a spot in the armor that was heavily protected, which was the back of the neck.


    It was obvious to Lara that was most probably the ogre''s weak point, so when she started climbing the back of the ogre, she headed straight for the back of the neck. Lara then gathered her mana within her fingertips, she then stretched her fingers outward making her right hand look like a spear, she then pierced through the armor of the ogre and was able to prate through it and dug her hand into the back of the ogre''s neck.


    Lara then jumped down, as the back of the neck of the ogre started to spray blood. The huge body of the ogre fell to the ground with a thud, crushing some of the undead. Enraged by seeing itspanion dying the second ogre roared louder than before.


    The second ogre charged at Lara swinging its mace left and right, downward, digging the ground. Lara seeing its enraged attack wanted to take some distance from it, but it was toote, the ogre was moving faster than she anticipated.


    Lara gathered most of her remaining mana and [enchanced] her legs, and arms. She lifted her left arm to block the swing from the left side and was in a horse stance as she received the ogre''s mace. The strength of the swing was able to push Lara, making her slide a few feet to the right. Once she was able to fully stop the attack, Lara punched the gigantic mace breaking it apart.


    Now weaponless the ogre held its two hands together and smashed downward. Lara lifted her right arm catching the ogre''s hands, she then clenched her hand making her fingers pierce into the ogre''s skin. Now that she was able to hold onto the ogre, Lara lifted the monster that was seven times her size and pounded it to the ground.


    The ogre same as a human coughed up blood, and could no longer stand. Lara then grabbed onto its head and separated it from its body.


    The whole fight only took two minutes, in which time another batch of ogres wasing towards Lara. Knowing that she couldn''t face them in her condition Lara quickly retreated. The undead surrounding her were unable to stop or even dy her.


    Lara who was retreating into a safer location was feeling something weird. The feeling of being able to fight like that was making Lara feel something foreign to her. She wasn''t sure what this feeling was, but this might be what Ren felt as he viciously smiled in battle. Knowing that it was possible that she and Ren felt the same way as they fought made Lara feel even more motivated.


    Once she was sure that she was in a safe spot, Lara started to meditate trying to replenish as much mana as she could, so that she may attack once more.

 Chapter 119 - Valdel heads to battle

    <h4>Chapter 119 - Valdel heads to battle</h4>


    After hearing about the undead army from the messenger, Valdel stood up and was about to leave. Galius reacted quickly and stood before Valdel blocking his path.


    "Where do you think you''re going?"


    "Of course I''m going to the adventurers guild to gain more information about the situation," Valdel answered a tiny bit annoyed that he was stopped.


    "Have you forgotten that you are a knight apprentice, that you are a student of this knight academy? In this time of crisis, you need to go back to your dorm and wait for further instructions." Galius was emitting a dangerous vibe as he said this. The usually kind old man was looking extremely dangerous at this moment.


    Valdel wasn''t one to back off, so he too started to unleash his vast amounts of mana. The atmosphere of the room grew tenser and tenser.


    "Old man, how about you let him go." Rachel stood beside Valdel, and spoke to Galius.


    "The ball of meat is right, Sir Galius. I think it''s better to let Valdel do his thing." Natasha chimed in as she stood on the right side of Valdel. Rachel started to argue with Natasha about her ball of meatment.


    Seeing the two holy maidens defend Valdel, made Galius sigh as he finally eased up. Seeing that the old man was no longer emitting that overbearing aura Valdel eased up as well.


    "Fine, since the two holy maidens asked of it, I will allow it just this once." Once he was done saying that Galius made way and Valdel left alongside Rachel and Natasha.


    ...


    While sprinting towards the adventurers guild Valdel was rather surprised to see Rachel and Natasha keep up with him.


    "Why are you two following me?"


    "I won''t leave your side until you be my hero," Rachel answered full of unfounded confidence.


    "I simply desire to witness you bing a true hero as you im." Natasha gave off a seductive smile as she answered.


    Hearing their answers Valdel didn''t bother to talk anymore as he continued running.


    ...


    Once the group reached the adventurers guild, Valdel quickly headed to the Guild master''s room. Some of the staff members tried to stop him, but when they saw that it was one of Ren''spanions was the one heading towards the Guild master''s office they no longer bothered to stop him.


    Who in the upper echelons of the town of Grenton didn''t know of Ren, the de of death. That was a guy who came into town and in one day took over the whole of Grenton''s underworld organizations. It was rumored that he even has all the fallen nobles in Grenton as his subordinates.


    Not only that there were even more rumors iming that from all of Ren''s subordinates there were two people that were so overwhelmingly strong that they could fight evenly with the five generals of the King.


    ...


    Unhindered Valdel apanied by Rachel and Natasha was able to reach the Guild master''s room quite easily. Upon entering the voice of a grumpy person was heard.


    "What the hell do you guys want?! Don''t you see I''m-" Nezzard stopped talking as he finally noticed who entered his room.


    "Oh, it''s you... And who might these two... HOLY MAIDENS!" Nezzard quickly stood in front of the two holy maidens and took a knee. As his head was bowed Nezzard spoke, "Nezzard Netter, Guild Master of Grenton''s adventurers'' guild. How may I serve the holiest ones."


    Even though Nezzard acted really respectful because this was how people should act in front of Holy Maidens of the Temples, deep inside he was extremely irritated.


    ''The hell not only does Ren give me nothing but trouble, even his friends do the same thing! Why bring holy maidens into the adventurers guild!'' As Nezzard was scolding Valdeld in his mind, Natasha step forward and spoke.


    "The sleeping lion of Reschbeauch, I''ve heard tales of you."


    "It is my honor, mydy."


    "Who knew that the once-celebratedmander became an adventurer, and even became a guild master... How intriguing..."


    "Life has its ups and downs, and no matter how strong you are, a human could never change fate," Nezzard answered with a smile on his face as he stood up. Valdel was shocked, as this was not the guild master he knew. Was he somehow reced by an imposter? That wasn''t possible since the mana fluctuating from within him could not be changed or copied.


    ''Sleeping lion of Reschbeauch...'' Though Valdel was extremely curious about this title of Nezzard, he decided not to pry since he had more pressing matters to attend to.


    "Nezzard, is it true, that an undead army is heading towards the town?" Hearing Valdel''s question made Nezzard sigh. ''So it really is about that.''


    "Yes, we specte that the army is led by the elder lich your friend Ren fought a few weeks ago."


    The two holy maidens who were listening to Valdel and Nezzard''s conversation, though it was surprising to hear about an elder lich heading towards the city, the two holy maidens were even more surprised to once again hear the name of Ren. Not only was this Ren someone that Valdel respected, he was also a person that was able to fight an elder lich and actually survive. The more they hear about Ren the more interested the two became.


    "How many days before the undead army reaches the city?" Nezzard was about to answer the question but someone interrupted him.


    "Based on what Lara said they can reach the city within a week. So Lara decided to stay behind and dy their march." The person entered was Hilda wearing her full ted armor.


    "What do you mean?" Hearing the name of his friend being mentioned Valdel looked even more serious now. Hilda then started to exin what happened and what Lara was nning to do. After listening to Hilda, Valdel turned around and was about to leave.


    "If you''re going, allow me toe with you. Since I''m done with the things I need to do here, I need to return. Lara is a party member after all." Hilda asked, in which Valdel only look at her and didn''t respond. Hilda interpreted that as a yes and followed Valdel. As the group was about to leave, Nezzard spoke to the two holy maidens.


    "Mydies, are you heading out to the battlefield as well?"


    "Of course, I do need to watch my hero candidate in action." Rachel said with a tone saying this was a matter of fact.


    "Oh my, so he''s your hero? Well, whatever, Sir Nezzard this lump of meat is right we do need to see the hero in action." Natasha spoke with a seductive gaze, Rachel who heard Natasha calling her a lump of meat started to argue with the girl.


    "I see... Still, I need to report this to your respective temples."


    "Do what you must." Afters Natasha said that she and Rachel hurriedly walk away trying to catch up with Valdel and Hilda.


    Watching the fading backs of Valdel and his group made Nezzard sigh deeply. ''Really, that group always giving me trouble. Aside from all the work I need to do in preparing for the iing attack, I now also need to report to the temples. This is getting even more troublesome... I should quickly find a recement Guild Master and retire already.''


    Nezzard returned to his seat and slumped.


    ...


    After leaving the adventurers guild, Valdel spotted a familiar figure running towards him.


    "Master! Why did you leave me behind." Kuro spoke with a bit of anxiety in her face.


    "Sorry, Kuro I was in a hurry. For now, I want you to head back to the principal''s office and ask Galius what to do next."


    "But master I want to go with you," Kuro spoke full of resolve as she clenched her fist and her tail pointed upward.


    "No you can''t, as you are now you are still too weak to follow where I''m going." Hearing what Valdel said Kuro''s tail drooped as she had her head down. Valdel seeing this patted the wolf girl''s head.


    "You just need to stay here and protect the town, please wait for me to return." Kuro lifted her head and looked at Valdel who was smiling gently at her. She then nodded her head and answered.


    "As you wish my master."

 Chapter 120 - The battle intensifies

    <h4>Chapter 120 - The battle intensifies</h4>


    After attacking the enemy forces a few times, Lara and the other groups converged. When everyone was present, Lara noticed that there were only forty of them left. It would seem that many have died while assaulting the enemy.


    Lara bit her lower lip with a rare show of emotions. She who was always stoic and indifferent actually looked a bit frustrated. Though this onlysted for a few seconds, it was enough to give the others a feeling of difort. If even their fearless leader was feeling stressed that would mean there situation was truly grave.


    Lara wasn''t a strategist so this was the best she could do. This battle gave her a reality check. She now knew that even though her individual might was stronger than most, she was still helpless in front of such arge quantity of enemies.


    ''If this keeps on happening, in the future, I won''t be able to stand proudly, side by side with Ren.''


    Kithra also felt a bit distressed and relieved seeing Lara frustrated. When she first met Lara she only saw a cold aloof beauty with incredible power. Kithra was assaulted with a feeling that no matter the order Ren would give out, Lara would be able to efficiently handle it, especially if it came to killing.


    Yet here she was showing such a frustrated look, it turns out she wasn''t so unppable all the time. Underneath thatyer of coolness was still a normal girl. This was the reason for Kithra''s relief and at the same time distress in their current situation.


    Iselv, on the other hand, was getting a bit impatient with the silence.


    "So what should we do now?" Iselv asked as he couldn''t wait anymore. Lara looked at the impatient Iselv and said nothing, as she continued to think. Looking at her reaction made Iselv mad.


    "What the hell are you doing?! If you don''t have any ns just say it already!" Iselv shouted, in which the others except for Kithra wanted to support him, but kept quiet since they knew that only death awaited them if they defied Lara.


    Seeing Iselv fuming mad, Lara spoke in her usual indifferent tone.


    "It''s as you say I no longer have any ns. We weren''t even able to dy them for a whole day and we are already in this dire situation. I will allow those who wish to retreat, to leave now. I will dy the enemy by myself."


    Lara decided this after looking at all the possible oues she could think of. It was better to move on her own without coordinating with anyone.


    The moment she said this, none of the people left, which actually surprised Lara. Iselv and Kithra were not stupid enough to leave Lara on her own. If they did leave Lara, and even if they manage to survive the uing crisis, they wouldn''t be able to survive Ren''s wrath.


    The Elder Lich and his army were frightening, but what frightened them more was Ren. The others, on the other hand, had different thoughts from Iselv and Kithra. In their point of view, if they left without Kithra and Iselv, they might be killed on the spot. Thus giving the result of no one leaving.


    "So you people will not retreat... I see you people are truly worthy of being Ren''s subordinates. Fine, if you wish to stay then do what you must and destroy the enemies you see before you. If you feel at any given time that you could no longer handle the situation I want you all to retreat."


    Though Lara still sounded indifferent the others could actually feel the affection in her voice as she said those lines. The people present weren''t sure if what they felt was real or simply a delusion there minds came up with because of the stress they were having, but they choose to believe the former.


    "HAHAHAHA! BRING IT!" Iselv joyfully shouted as he held his Warhammer. The others shouted random battle cries as they waited for the undead to reach their location.


    ...


    The Elder Lich who wasfortably sitting at the back of his army was watching something amusing through the eyes of his undead soldiers, he saw Lara and the others standing before them. It was a funny thing to see, in the face of his several thousands of undead, stood thirty-something humans. Their faces showed different expressions, there was the usual fear that he loved so much, then there was the ecstatic expression only battle-hungry men had. Then there was an expression of not wanting to be here but had no choice, this was the usual expression of the knights that stood before his army in the past.


    Yet among their expressions was something he usually doesn''t see, it was the expression of indifference. The graceful stoic expression that was seen in the face of that girl was something new to the Elder Lich. Even the hardiest of veterans or the most capable of heroes would show some kind of reaction to his undead army, but seeing someone looking at it as if she doesn''t care was truly an unexpected sight to see.


    ''Hmmm, I wonder how she could remain so calm in front of my overwhelming force... Does she have a trump card to y? Or is it perhaps she no longer cares about the things that are about to happen? Either way, I will find out, once I capture her.''


    The Elder Lich sent a mentalmand to all his forces to not kill Lara and capture her instead. They could hurt her as much as they want as long as they don''t actually kill her. He also ordered the headless horsemen, the Duhans under hismand to lead the charge against the enemy.


    ''Let''s see what surprises you will bring me.''


    ...


    Lara saw the iing Duhans and prayed in her heart. ''I will never pray to any God or Goddess since you told me never to do that... Instead I will pray to you Ren, so please grant me strength.''

 Chapter 121 - Reinforcements

    <h4>Chapter 121 - Reinforcements</h4>


    Lara was now fighting against a wave of Duhans beside her were Iselv, Kithra, and the remaining subordinates. During the first charge of the Duhans Lara was able to take down two that approached her, by jumping upward and doing a scissor kick empowered with mana. She was able to easily kill her enemies with these kinds of moves because all of Lara''s moves had arge amount of mana being released as she strikes.


    Iselv with his Warhammer was able to smash the horses of the Duhans and pounded the riders to the ground.


    Kithra with abination of agile movements and small continuous barrages of beginner level spells was able to take down one or two Duhans at the first charge. Some of the remaining subordinates were able to fend for themselves after the first charge, but most of them died there and then.


    The hundred or so men have now be ten counting Lara, Iselv and Kithra, were all stricken by immense fear. The remaining seven subordinates could no longer take it and started fleeing the battlefield. Even though they were scared sh*tless of Lara, they weren''t stupid enough to stay.


    The chances of escaping Lara''s grasp were much higher than surviving against this undead army. Using everything they had the remaining men started escaping. Lara who noticed there escape didn''t bother with them since she already said that they may leave anytime.


    Some of the Duhans followed the escaping men, their fates after this was unknown.


    ...


    Lara with only Iselv and Kithra left were surrounded by undead. They were also being bombarded by different kinds of spells. Lara and Kithra were alright as they were nimble enough to evade the attacks, Iselv, on the other hand, simply took the attacks head-on. His body empowered by his bloodline ability was able to withstand the spells hitting him.


    Still, even with his abnormal physique and durability, Iselv was sustaining too much damage in such a short amount of time. When Lara saw this she spoke, "Kithra take Iselv and leave." Lara knew that there was no more hope in stopping the undead march, and she couldn''t allow Iselv to die since he was a very important piece that Ren needed.


    Hearing what Lara said made Iselvugh. "Are you asking us to die littledy?" Iselv asked as he was smashing another undead mage.


    "What are you talking about, I''m asking you to leave," Lara answered in a cold tone as she crushed another undead in her hands.


    "Are you feigning ignorance, or do you genuinely not understand what will happen to us if we leave you here?" Kithra asked as she blocked an iing spell.


    "What do you mean?"


    "She really doesn''t know... Look here littledy, if we leave you here and something happens to you, how do you think Ren will react?"


    "He would simply say that this is as far as I could go. Then he will proceed to annihte the enemies." Lara answered seriously still not understanding what they were getting at. Though, now that she thought about it, she felt extremely dejected imagining letting Ren down.


    "That includes us! He will kill us as well if we left you to die!" Iselv shouted as he smashed the ground with his Warhammer shaking it.


    Lara hearing what Iselv said finally understood what was happening. ''So they weren''t staying behind out of loyalty, but out of pure fear.''


    "Fine then, you can stay." After saying that Lara didn''t continue to talk and went back in concentrating on destroying the enemy before her. Iselv and Kithra did the same and no longer talked. The three of them facing thousands of enemies stood in the middle with no fear of death.


    ...


    Two hours of fighting continuously and getting hit relentlessly, Iselv was finally slowing down as his wounds grew more and more. Kithra was also nearing her limits, as most of her mana was nearly gone.


    On the other hand, Lara remained the same, her breathing her movement remained ever calm, her face was as stoic as ever. Still, deep inside she was already nearing her limit as well, while they were fighting she was also subtly protecting Kithra and Iselv. Normally she would never have done that, but these two people, especially Iselv was a truly important piece for Ren''s ambitions, so as his woman she needed to do her best to support her man.


    As despair was slowly creeping in, Lara felt a familiar fluctuation of mana. This was not the person she was hoping to see, but he was good enough. As the spells from the surrounding undead mages intensified, a man wielding a Zweihander joined the battle.


    With therge sword at hand, he shed at the iing spells absorbing them. He then countered using a sword wave. Even though shing weapons like a sword was not as effective against undead, with his raw power alone that defect wasn''t really worth anything.


    Then from the encirclement of the undead, twodies one wielding a halberd shining zing red and the other wielding what looked to be the de of a guillotine were having apetition on who kills more undead. These two beautiful maidens with weapons at hand were plowing through the horde of undead.


    "How are you holding up?" Valdel who had joined the battle stood beside Lara and asked.


    "A little bit tired, but now that you''re here protect my body as I rest." Without any hesitation, Lara suddenly slept in the middle of the battlefield. It didn''t even take her a second before she was able to enter the world of dreams. As Rachel and Natasha were healing Iselv and Kithra they were surprised to see what Lara did.


    Valdel could only smile wryly as he picked up the sleeping Lara. The only reason Lara acted like this was because of her trust that Valdel could protect her. Aside from Ren, Lara only trusted Lisa and Valdel, and sometimes Hilda. Knowing how strong Valdel was, she knew that he could easily protect her body as she rested.


    "We''re going to retreat, once I open up a path all of you start running. Rachel, Natasha if you can please take the rear guard."


    Hearing Valdel''s order made Rachel and Natasha smile.


    "Aside from my God, you are the only one who has ever ordered me to do anything. Very well, seeing as you''re my future Hero I''ll do as you say." Rachel happily responded.


    "Very well, I will do as you say, my Hero," Natasha responded with a wry smile. When Rachel heard Natasha''s response, she knew that the t-chested female was actually challenging her. Since she said ''future Hero'' while Natasha said ''my Hero'' which means it''s a done deal.


    Before Rachel could respond in anger, Valdel shouted at them. "Everyone get ready! I''m opening a path now." Valdel passed Lara''s body to Iselv as he held the Zweihander tightly with both hands.


    ''Zwei help me in this.'' Valdel said telepathically to Zwei.


    ''As you wish my master,'' Zwei answered.


    Valdel with the assistance of Zwei started to gather a massive amount of mana into the sword. The sword started to glow pure white. He then shed Horizontally creating a massive sword wave that sliced through the trees, the undead and everything in its way.


    A huge path was created inside the encirclement, this sword technique almost drained all of Valdel''s mana, he only left enough for him to be able to escape. The people who were with Valdel, were stunned. Even the holy maidens that have seen a lot of powerful individuals only knew only a few people that could replicate that move and those people were old masters.


    On the other hand, Valdel was still young and had more potential for growth. Knowing this made the two holy maidens want Valdel even more.


    "What are you guys doing run!" Hearing Valdel''s shout the others were jolted awake as they started running for their lives.

 Chapter 121 - Unexpected help

    <h4>Chapter 121 - Unexpected help</h4>


    Valdel and the others who were able to escape from their pursuers were now a few miles away from the town of Grenton. Knowing that they were near the town, they started running faster, but then they saw something fly above them.


    A huge figure came down from above blocking their path. It was a skeleton of a creature that was feared as the strongest being that could match even the Gods themselves. It''s huge form that was twenty meters high coupled with its massive wings, even as an undead skeleton you could still feel its strength, its majesty, this was the apex creature, a Dragon.


    Valdel clicked his tongue as he no longer had any mana to fight such a strong opponent. While Lara who was being carried by Iselv doesn''t seem like she would wake up anytime soon. The only ones who were battle-ready at the moment were the holy maidens and Hilda. Aside from the two holy maidens, Valdel''s impression of Hilda wasn''t that good, so he wasn''t expecting much from her.


    The dragon roared at them, that simple roar was filled with mana making the already weakened Valdel and the others tremble. This was a dragon''s roar that can subdue weaker opponents with ease.


    The two holy maidens stood in front of the group. Hilda stood to the side waiting to give support if possible. She knew her limitations and was aware that she won''t be much help against something like an undead dragon.


    "How wonderful an opponent that could satisfy my God''s thirst for battle. I Rachel Hvanttar the holy maiden of the temple of the War God Hieus, shall show my might in battle!" Rachel summoned her halberd and dly weed the strong opponent.


    "Pitiful creature, that has lost the pride of dragons, and has been made a tool by the heinous elder lich, I Natasha Ivanov the holy maiden of Tiditte the Goddess of Justice, shall grant thee the justice you deserve," Natasha spoke in a neutral tone as she summoned her weapon that was the de of a guillotine that was attached to chains.


    As if it simply waited for them to introduce themselves the dragon attacked after. It swiped at the two maidens using its ws. Rachel instead of evading pounced forward aiming the tip of her halberd at the skull of the undead dragon. She tried to pierce its skull but to no avail, as her attack simply bounced off.


    Natasha, on the other hand, jumped to the side and threw the guillotine de at the body of the undead dragon. She then guided the de using the chains attached to it, wrapping the wings of the undead dragon. She then released an attack simr to thunder from her within her body, that flowed through the chains and attacked the undead dragon.


    This momentarily stunned the dragon, Rachel who saw that opening gathered mana to her holy weapon and it started to burn crimson mes. With all the power she had, she threw her weapon like a javelin aiming at the undead dragon''s skull. The halberd that was covered in holy crimson mes was flying at breakneck speeds towards its target. The Crimson me grewrger andrger until it finally hit the undead dragon, piercing a bit of its skull.


    Upon getting pierced by the halberd with holy crimson me, the me started to envelop the undead dragon. The undead dragon roared and then flew upwards, as it pped its wings the mes that were enveloping it gradually weakened. Natasha who was holding onto one of the wings had no choice but to let go since if she didn''t she might be pulled upward.


    On the other hand, Hilda was protecting the weakened group members from some of the debris that kept on flying there way from the intense battle.


    The undead dragon flew higher and started gathering mana onto its mouth. Upon seeing this the two holy maidens had the same thought. It wasing one of the Dragons'' strongest attacks, Dragon''s breath.


    Rachel who had her halberd pierced the undead dragon''s skull, resummoned it onto her hands. She then stood side by side with Natasha, the two holy maidens looked at each other and saw the grim expression the other had. They then nodded at each other and lifted their arms upwards forming a shield that was made from mana and holy powers.


    Valdel who was watching at the side gritted his teeth, in his current state there was no way for him to fight. Still, he couldn''t just give up.


    ''Zwei, Nika please grant me all the mana you have left.''


    ''As you wish my master,'' Zwei answered as per usual.


    ''If that is your wish, master,'' Even the silent Nika answered.


    Valdel stood beside the two holy maidens and using the remaining mana he had plus the mana Zwei and Nika were providing him, he helped strengthened the mana shield.


    Kithra also did the same thing as she too raised her hand upward and used all her mana and poured it into the mana shield.


    Hilda who was still in full fighting shape was able to pour every bit of her mana into the shield.


    The undead dragon was finally done charging up for its attack as it finally unleashed its very own dragon''s breath. The Dragon''s breath of the undead dragon was not burning mes, but instead was freezing ice. The massive breath of ice hit the mana shield making it crack a little.


    The breath didn''t stop and instead started to get even more powerful, as the surrounding area which was an open field was turning into an icy graveyard. The four of them supplying mana into the shield felt their bodies were freezing over.


    Iselv who had no mana to speak of, simply hugged Lara''s body trying to protect her from the cold aura of the dragon''s breath.


    After a few more seconds the dragon stopped releasing its dragon''s breath. The moment it stopped the mana shield that was protecting the group broke, and all of them except for Iselv were panting heavily.


    They then saw the undead dragon charging up for a follow-up attack. When they saw this, despair and unwillingness were seen in their expressions. As the second dragon''s breath was about to be unleashed on them, they heard a familiar voice. It was a voice that sounded both irritated andzy.


    "Really, you guys just keep on giving me trouble." As the dragon''s breath was about to reach them, arge magic circle formed underneath their feet, and then boom. The dragon''s breath hit the ground harming no one.


    The group was teleported a couple of hundred meters away. Beside them was the one who teleported them. The person who had messy green hair was stretching his body and yawned. He lookedzily at the bewildered group and spoke, "You guys head back to town and recuperate. I''ll handle the oversized lizard."


    This man that had no motivation as he casually said he would deal with an undead dragon, was the one and only Guild Master of Grenton''s adventurers'' guild, Nezzard Netter.

 Chapter 122 - The Sleeping Lion of Reschbeauch

    <h4>Chapter 122 - The Sleeping Lion of Reschbeauch</h4>


    Nezzard looked at the rampaging undead dragon in the distance and sighed. The undead dragon noticed that its prey had escaped death and quickly found Nezzard that was looking at it. The undead dragon then roared showing its dissatisfaction with the current situation and flew towards Nezzard.


    When it was near enough itnded on the ground a few meters away from Nezzard trying to intimidate the yawning Guild Master. Right now Nezzard wasn''t wearing any armor only a simple robe and he held no weapon but he looked bored and at the same time confident. Sensing it was being mocked made the undead dragon angrier as it started to charge at Nezzard with its jaw wide open wanting to devour the irritating prey before it.


    Nezzard then spoke in a soft voice, but for some reason, it echoed throughout the ins. "[Earth Bind]" Nezzard then snapped his fingers andrge vines sprouted from the ground binding the charging undead dragon.


    It struggled to release itself from the binding and with its immense strength, it was able to break through some of the vines. But that gave Nezzard enough time to chant and use his strongest spell in his current form.


    Nezzard pointed his finger at the undead dragon, and unleashed a low high-end spell "[Heaven''s Wrath]." A huge bolt of lightning that was triple the size of what Ren summoned to kill the first prince vassal. The undead dragon was hit by therge bolt of lightning the vines that entangled it was being vaporized, and some of its bones were being charred.


    Still, even though it was undead and no longer possessed its former might, a dragon was a dragon, may it be young, undead, or otherwise. It endured the lightning strike and continued its charge towards Nezzard wanting to devour the irritating foe before it.


    As it was about to close its jaws and devour its prey, Nezzard sighed as he stomps onto the ground and a magic circle appeared teleporting him behind the undead dragon.


    "Even as a young undead dragon you''re bothersome, as expected of the apex predator. I can''t beat you without unleashing a few of my seals." Nezzard jumped upward as he was talking evading the tail whip of the undead dragon. He then sighed exasperatedly, annoyed by the whole situation.


    "This is so beyond my paygrade. That brat and his friends truly bring nothing but trouble." Nezzard then coated his finger with mana and pierced his left forearm and the right side of his neck. After he did this a mechanical voice echoed, "the first seal released, the second seal released."


    Once the voice said that a rush of magic power started to gather beside Nezzard. Even the undead dragon stopped its attacks a bit wary of what''s toe. Two beings formed beside Nezzard, one was a beautifuldy covered with fire, and the other was a muscr half-n.a.k.e.d man that had a gentle breeze circling around him.


    "YAHOO! Finally, I''ve been released! It''s been forever!" The medy shouted in excitement, while the half-n.a.k.e.d guy simply smiled in response. The medy then saw the undead dragon and then looked at Nezzard.


    "Oh, you finally decided to release thisdy queen and you did it in the middle of fighting? You didn''t even greet me properly as I was released. You''ve be truly bold Nezzard. Still, as a benevolent ruler let the spirit queen of fire listen to your excuses."


    Nezzard sighed, he simply wanted to summon Kheter the spirit king of the wind, since he was the most agreeable among the spirit rulers, but knowing how strong the undead dragon was, he needed to summon Zoe as well. All of the spirit rulers except for Kheter had irritating personalities, which is why he didn''t like using them. Well, it''s not like Kheter was any better since he too had a quirk that can''t be fixed.


    "Cut the crap Zoe! I have no time for your games!" Nezzard shouted as he continued evading the fierce attacks of the undead dragon.


    "Hohoho, little Nez finally grew some balls! How about a remove them right now, and get back my submissive Nezzy." Zoe spoke while doing a cutting gesture as she looked at Nezzard''s lower region.


    "Fine, I promise I won''t seal you anymore so help me out please!" Hearing what Nezzard said made Zoe smile sweetly. This man even though he had a contract with the seven spirit rulers, and technically under the contract they needed to listen to whatever he says, yet he still chooses to talk to them in equal terms. This was one of the reasons all the spirit rulers decided to form a contract with this man.


    "As expected I really love my little Nezzy." Seeing that Zoe finally agreed to cooperate, Nezzard gave out hismands.


    "Kheter stop that undead dragon''s movements and don''t allow him to escape the area. As for you Zoe, you know what to do." Zheter nodded at Nezzardsmand, while Zoe smiled showing a fiery glint in her eyes.


    Kether ced his right hand onto his chest and then pointed it at the undead dragon. The undead dragon was then surrounded by a torrent of wind. The torrent of wind turned into a dome blocking the undead dragon from moving.


    Zoe then ced both of her hands onto the ground and then from underneath thend the undead dragon was standing on, a pir of fire rose up piercing through the clouds. Nezzard felt a bit dizzy as this was happening.


    Being able to summon a spirit ruler might make you look powerful, but they drain a lot of mana from the contractor. If the contractor was weak and had no mana to give, they would have drained his life force instead. Not only do they drain mana, but they also drain the user''s stamina, which only makes Nezzard even sleepier after using them.


    The undead dragon tried everything in its power to escape the pir of mes, but being surrounded by that torrent of wind it was unable to do anything as its bones slowly turned into ashes.

 Chapter 123 - The six heroes

    <h4>Chapter 123 - The six heroes</h4>


    After destroying the body of the undead dragon until all its bones turned into ashes, Nezzard felt his consciousness flickering. Not only was his stamina drained even his mana was nearing its limit. ''Tsk, I''ve be so much weaker.''


    "What''s happening to you Nez?" Zoe asked worriedly as she noticed something was off with Nezzard. This was the first time she has seen Nezzard look so weak. The Sleeping Lion of Reschbeauch has never been seen to look this fragile.


    Hearing Zoe''s worried voice, Nezzard couldn''t help but click his tongue as he fainted.


    ...


    In the distance, Valdel and the others were watching Nezzard''s battle against the young undead dragon. Even though they were told to run, the group couldn''t help but watch Nezzard''s fight against the undead dragon and be dazzled by it. Valdel was amazed at how easily Nezzard fought such a strong opponent. Aside from Ren, he has never seen someone winning against a powerful opponent in such an overwhelming fashion.


    All throughout the battle, Nezzard had total control of the flow, he was the one who dictated the beginning and the end. He didn''t even allow the undead dragon to use dragon''s breath. Still, the most surprising thing was those two beings he summoned. The two beings Nezzard summoned were beings of pure mana, they''re basically lumps of mana converged together to form a physical shape. They were like the elementals but somehow they feel a cut above the rest.


    After the battle was done Nezzard who won without even getting hit, looked pale and was breathing heavily. When Valdel saw what was happening, he started running towards Nezzard while the others followed. As he was approaching Nezzard he saw the bodies of the beings he summoned were fading.


    "Damn it! And I just got released!" After screaming the female and male summoned beings disappeared and Nezzard fainted.


    "Nezzard!" Valdel shouted as he started running faster. As he was getting closer he noticed that one of the rings Nezzard was wearing started to glow. The glow of the ring was now shining brighter which blinded Valdel and the others momentarily. It was then a magic circle appeared that epassed twenty meters of the are starting from Nezzard''s body.


    ...


    Valdel who was caught up in the magic circle was surprised to see himself inside the Guild Master''s room. Even Hilda and the others were teleported. Everyone except for Natasha and Rachel was shocked by this sudden teleportation.


    ''What happened?'' The moment Valdel asked this question he suddenly remembered what happened and tried to locate Nezzard''s body. After searching for a bit, Valdel spotted Nezzard''s bodyying on the ground while another ring on his fingers was shining enveloping him in warm green light.


    Valdel didn''t know what was happening and was afraid to move Nezzard''s body since he wasn''t sure what the ring was doing.


    Natasha noticing Valdel''s confusion approached him. "That''s an Olous ring. As expected from the sleeping lion of Reschbeauch he nned for everything."


    "What''s an Olous ring?" Natasha and Rachel looked surprised by Valdel''s question, but then they remembered that such information wasn''t widely known. Natasha happily smiled and was about to answer, but Rachel beat her to it. Natasha red at Rachel as thetter started to happily exin what the Olous ring was.


    "The Olous ring is a divine item and only six of them exist in the world today. It is said that during the age of chaos, The God of love Olous granted these rings to six heroes that were summoned to fight the strongest tyrant of the Demon race the Demon Lord Kretos."


    ''The Demon Lord Kretos?... That''s the first time I heard of the name. There are no stories in the vige that ever spoke of him.''


    "To defeat the demon lord the God''s decided to help, thus granting the six heroes those rings. The ring of Olous'' function was that if your mana was nearly depleted, it would activate and restore your mana five times faster than normal."


    "That''s amazing, so how did the guild master gain such a precious ring?" Kithra who was listening on the side joined the conversation. Rachel was about to answer, but this time Natasha interrupted her and answered first.


    "Nezzard Netter, the sleeping lion of Reschbeauch is from a very noble family. It isn''t public knowledge, but It is said that the Netter family are direct descendants of one of those six heroes that faced Demon Lord Kretos."


    Hilda who was also listening at the side was so surprised to hear that thezy guild master she used to work for was a direct descendant of a hero. She knew that he was a noble, but she didn''t know about his hero lineage. This was truly an eye-opener for her, how could a person born from such a family be such a cker?


    Valdel was also interested in Nezzard''s hero lineage, but for some reason, he was more interested in Demon Lord Kretos.


    "So did they win?" Iselv who ced the sleeping Lara at a corner of the room joined in the conversation.


    "Did who win?"


    "Did the six heroes win against the demon lord?" Iselv asked the thing Valdel wanted to know the most. This time it was Rachel who was waiting to answer this question. As she was about to answer Natasha pinched her side, but the holy maiden of the God of war wasn''t bothered by such a measly attack.


    "Unfortunately the six heroes lost their lives against the powerful demon lord. Even with the rings that practically granted them an endless stream of mana, even with the weapons blessed by the Gods, even with their skills that were at the peak of humanity they still lost against the powerful demon lord. Still, after the battle the demon lord did something that no one understood, the tyrannic demon lord gave back the six heroes'' bodies to their families. He didn''t even take their powerful weapons nor the rings of Olous."


    "Tell me who is this demon lord? Is he famous? Why haven''t I heard of him before?" Valdel suddenly asked.


    "Well, the records of the Demon Lord Kretos can only be essed by the holy maidens and high priests of the temples, also each royal family of every human kingdom has their own secret records about the demon lord."


    "Why?" Valdel couldn''t understand why keep such information secret?


    Rachel didn''t know how to answer this question, on the other hand, Natasha smiled slyly. "If you be my hero I''ll be able to answer that question. So what do you say?" Rachel was surprised by this sudden attack by Natasha and spoke up as well.


    "I''m offering you the same thing as well. If you want, even if you don''t be my hero, I''ll still tell you a bit about demon lord Kretos. I''m sure telling you just a tiny bit more won''t be bad." Natasha red at Rachel and summoned her weapon as she suddenly showed a smile that wasn''t a smile.


    "What are you saying, you cow woman? If Sir Valdel wants to hear about demon lord Kretos he could juste to me, I''ll even give him something extra as I tell him the story." Natasha sucked her finger seductively.


    "What are you saying you b*tch!" Rachel summoned her weapon as well and was about to fight Natasha, Valdel had no choice but to intervene.


    Hilda who was watching the whole fiasco sighed as she left the room. She needed to report the current situation to the vice-guild leader.

 Chapter 124 - Demon Lord Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 124 - Demon Lord Kretos</h4>


    While Hilda was reporting to the vice-guild leader, Valdel and the others went to another room. Lara and Nezzard were sleeping in the resting area for some of the Guild''s employees. After the group had settled down, the two holy maidens decided that it was alright for Valdel and the others to know a bit about Demon Lord Kretos. Though some information cannot be divulged to other people, most of the information regarding Demon Lord Kretos wasn''t really a big deal to share.


    The only reason why the temples and the royals never divulged even a little information about this Demon Lord was that they feared human curiosity. Once the public knew of his existence a lot of people would be curious about the demon lord''s past and they would try their hardest to find more information about said demon lord, and if they learn of a truth they shouldn''t have, it would possibly lead to chaos.


    ...


    The group was now allfortably sitting down as Natasha began talking.


    "Information about Demon Lord Kretos must be kept a secret, I hope before we begin everyone who wishes to listen should make a vow of silence."


    The people in the room all nodded their heads in agreement and gave her their word that they would never tell another living soul about what they were about to hear in this room.


    "Well, even if you do decide to tell another person it won''t be such a big deal. Since the information, we''re going to give isn''t really anything important. I just hope you people will keep your word." Natasha showed a sweet smile which gave the others a slight chill.


    "Very well, now that everyone has promised to not speak of this outside of this room, I will now begin exining who Demon Lord Kretos was. First off, the old records each of the temples and the royal families have in their possession, seem to have different views of the legendary Demon Lord. So we truly do not understand what he was like when he was alive. Still, all the old records can agree with three things, Demon Lord Kretos was the strongest, he loved battle, and his death was caused by his son."


    Everyone was now listening closely to every word Natasha said, as they were truly interested in the subject. Especially Valdel who loved hearing the stories of old. Though his favorite kind of story were the stories of the heroes of old. He was equally interested in the demon lords, who usually fought the valiant heroes.


    "So let''s begin with the records of my temple, then once I''m done Rachel here can tell you about the records of her temple."


    Natasha then cleared her throat in preparation for telling her narration of the events that transpired in the past. She stood up and began he narration.


    "In the age of chaos, when each race in the world was at war with each other due to their differences, a being with immense power came forth. This being was none other than Demon Lord Kretos. With his immense strength and love for battle, he had defeated all his enemies and conquered the world with ease. Making the demon race the supreme rulers of thend."


    "Not even the human heroes the peak of humanity could scratch him. It was said that when a hero was born from humanity the demon lord Kretos would nurture the hero until he or she reaches the peak of their power. Once they achieved their strongest form the Demon Lord would dly fight them. It was even imed that the Demon Lord Kretos had created an institution that trained human heroes so that one day they could fight him in a glorious battle."


    Natasha then started to exin all the things Kretos did to have a worthy foe. She kept on telling tales about how he wished for nothing more than to fight all the time.


    "With all the mayhem his battles have caused, some of the demons have voiced out theirints. They wanted a ruler that wasn''t simply all brawn. So these demons sided with one of the princes and plotted against Kretos."


    "Demon Lord Kretos with his overwhelming might had grown arrogant, believing nothing in the mortal world could hurt him. This might be the reason for his downfall. There are no records of how he lost against his son, all that is known was that the mighty demon lord died by the de of his own son."


    "Well, that''s what the records in my temple say." After Natasha was finished talking, Rachel happily spoke after.


    "Now it''s my turn. Unlike the records of Natasha''s temple that make Demon Lord Kretos look like a battle-hungry fool, the records in my temple are quite different."


    "Demon Lord Kretos was indeed the strongest mortal to have ever existed, but he wasn''t as bloodthirsty as you might''ve thought. In the records of the temple of war, Demon Lord Kretos only started his war against humans because they were the ones attacking him first. In retaliation of the neverending wave of heroes humanity has sent against him, Demon Lord Kretos began a counterattack. He might''ve loved battle but he found the neverending wave of weak heroes a bother. As he grew stronger they be nothing more than a nuisance, unable to bring him the joy of true battle."


    Rachel then started to exin about Demon Lord Kretos'' legendary feats. From defeating young golden dragons to wiping out a continent full of devils. His power knew no limit as he returned victorious every time.


    "To the humans in the age of chaos Demon Lord Kretos might''ve been a murderer and a tyrant, but on the other side of the coin, the demons worshiped him as a hero. He was loved by most of the demons who worship strength above all else. It was recorded that he had reigned for a thousand years."


    "Usually a new demon lord should''ve reced him at that point, but that was impossible since no demon was stronger than Kretos. You see the way the age of chaos demons elect their king was through battle, and only the strongest that could vanquish the current king could rece him. Unfortunately for them even though all of Kretos'' children were strong, they weren''t stronger than their father, they weren''t even close."


    "So knowing that victory wasn''t achievable in a head-on battle, one of Kretos'' sons gathered a force that consisted of the strongest individuals of every race and attacked his father. There were no records of the battle, but there was a record that a fierce battle took ce in the demon lord''s throne room and in the end Kretos'' son was the victor."


    After hearing Rachel''s side of the story, Valdel and the others grew confused. The first story portrayed Kretos as an evil tyrant, while the second story made him out to be a tragic hero of his race. Still, the question that each of them had was the same.


    "What happened to the demon lord''s son after he killed his father?" Valdel asked.


    The two holy maidens looked at each other, and after a few seconds, they both spoke in unison. "That we cannot tell."

 Chapter 125 - Hilda: A day before the battle

    <h4>Chapter 125 - Hilda: A day before the battle</h4>


    After Rachel and Natasha told their story about Demon Lord Kretos, Valdel kept on bothering them about what happened to the son after he became the demon lord. The two holy maidens told him that the only way they could tell him what happened is if he chooses to be the chosen hero of one of them.


    While that was happening Hilda finished reporting to the vice-guild leader and was appointed to lead the adventurers on the front lines when the undead army arrives. That position was supposed to be Nezzard''s but he''s currently asleep and no one knows how long he will be out. The vice-guild leader was the next possible candidate but he needed to handle other important work. That left them with no other choice but to choose Hilda the third highest-ranking adventurer in Grenton.


    Seeing as she had no choice in the matter, she reluctantly agreed. Once the talk was done, Hilda told Valdel that she would return home and prepare. She also told them that they should rest for as long as they could, for when the undead army arrives who knows when they''ll get to rx again.


    ...


    Hilda returned home and as usual upon entering the house she was greeted by her two adorable little sisters. Even though an undead army wasing, and most people within Grenton were either fleeing to the next town or shivering in fear at the corner of their houses, the two little girls before Hilda still had smiles on their faces.


    "Wee home Big sis!"


    "Ka, Nina, what did I tell you about locking the door?" Hilda spoke with a serious tone while ring at her two little sisters. This made the two little girls cower in fear.


    "We''re sorry Big sis!" The two spoke and bowed in unison. Hilda seeing her two little sisters trying their best not to cry, made her sigh. Hilda then hugged her little sisters.


    "It''s alright you two, I was just a bit agitated. The enemy is approaching and I''m not sure what will happen."


    "Of course big sis will destroy all the monsters!" Nina spoke with pure faith in her sister.


    "Yeah, big sis is the strongest!" Ka, on the other hand, answered full of pride. This made Hilda shake her head.


    "You two, do you remember what I said if you hear the ringing of the bells?"


    "We need to lock the door, and head straight to the basement and chant the magic spell." The two happily replied.


    "That''s good, you need to do this properly and once you say the magic spell, I want you two to be brave little knights and protect mom. Can you do that for your big sis?"


    "Yes!" The two little girls smiled as they answered.


    "As expected of my adorable little sisters!" Hilda hugged the two girls tightly and then she took the sword on her waist and handed it to Ka.


    "Ka this is father''s sword which he used to protect this family, it then became my sword which I used to protect this family and rose through the ranks as an adventurer. Now it''s your sword, it''s your turn to be the protector of this family."


    Ka was in a state of shock as she was handed the sword. She was overwhelmed by the numerous emotions that she couldn''t understand. She was confused but at the same time felt a sense of excitement.


    "I''ll do my best big sis! I''ll protect everyone!" Ka held onto the scabbard tightly.


    ...


    After eating a meal with her sisters and putting them to sleep, Hilda headed to the room upstairs. Upon entering the room, there in the bed, unmoving and unchanging, was her mother Elizabeth. She then started to clean her mother up and then fed her. After all that was done she sat beside her mother, the two of them didn''t speak a word. After a few more minutes of silence, Hilda spoke.


    "Mom, this might be the final time I speak with you. So I wanted to tell you something... I hate you, mom... Yet I love you as well... It''s such aplicated feeling for a daughter to have. Still, I hate you because of how weak you are, when we needed you the most you turn into this."


    "Not only did I hate you but, I was jealous of you as well. Unlike me, you were able to run away while I couldn''t. They were here, my sisters were here and they needed you, but they settled for me. Since you run away from your responsibility, I was forced to stay and pick it up."


    "To me, you became a burden, but I still take care of you and you know why?... It''s because I love you still... Even though you''re currently like this, that wasn''t always the case. You used to be my kind loving mother that gave me courage, that gave me life."


    Hilda had tears flow down through her cheeks as she continued speaking. The pain in her heart was slowly fading as she startedughing while crying. She then with her shaking hands held onto her mother''s hands and spoke with her voice trembling.


    "I... I''m scared mom... I''m truly scared... There''s a chance that death wille for me, but I''m not ready. I haven''t experienced anything yet. I haven''t seen any of my dreamse to fruition. I wanted to find love, have a family, have children as you did. I wanted to restore our noble lineage! I wanted to see Ka and Nina grow up and be beautifuldies."


    Hilda squeezed onto her mother''s hands tighter.


    "I don''t want to die, mom, I''m so scared, so, so, scared. I want to live, I want to fulfill my dreams... I don''t want to die... Please even if it''s just onest time, pleasefort me like you did back when father was alive. Please tell me that everything is going to be alright... Please give me strength for onest time."


    Even as her daughter pleaded and begged, Elizabeth remained silent and unmoving. Hilda didn''t care that there was no response, as she continued to cry until she fell asleep

 Chapter 126 - The time for battle comes

    <h4>Chapter 126 - The time for battlees</h4>


    One more day passed, and finally, the undead army could now be seen marching from the horizon. The adventurers, knights, mages, archers, and normal foot soldiers were feeling a bit unnerved by the sight. Even though the undead army was so far away the people on the walls of Grenton, could still see the massive army that looks like an ocean of undead. If that wasn''t intimidating enough the ground was actually shaking from the march of the undead. You could even hear the nking of their armor as the slowly approached the town of Grenton.


    Seeing that sight coupled with the other factors made some of the adventurers shiver in fear as they started to flee from their positions. The knights who would usually say something scornful, seeing this shameless act couldn''t say anything. In truth, they felt a bit jealous that the adventurers could flee. If they did the same thing only death without honor awaited them.


    The footmen were also scared, but unlike the adventurers who fought for fame and money, or the knights who fought for honor and hypocrisy, the footmen were fighting for their families that live in Grenton. These footmen were ordinary people that had little to no training, even though they were given weapons they had no idea how to use them. Still, they decided to fight since the lives of their families depended on them. Even though they were all holding crude shields, and spears, being covered by weak armor, and were trembling in fear, they stood at the front without backing down.


    The mages, on the other hand, were looking at this whole fiasco differently. The enemy was an elder lich, one of the highest forms of undead. Its mastery of necromancy was second to none, and its ability to wield high-end spells was nothing to sneeze at.


    Even if death was right in their faces, a true mage would never cower in fear and only continue to pursue the truths of the world. There in front of them was a being that had glimpsed into the depths of magic that they could only dream about. If they were able to witness its prowess, then even death would be a worthy price to pay.


    ...


    Hilda who was at the front of all the adventurers was still feeling a bit nervous but she never showed it in her face. Beside her were Lara, Valdel, Iselv, Kithra, Rachel, and Natasha. As the battle was nearing each one of them had different thoughts.


    Lara was, as usual, thinking about how to make Ren happy. ''If I''m able to beat the Elder Lich that beat Ren, surely he would praise me to no end. Wait! What if he gets mad that I was the one to defeat the Elder Lich instead of him? Wait! what if he gets mad that I was thinking of him this way?!''


    Valdel was strengthening his resolve as he watched the scared people of Grenton. ''It''s finally my time to prove my worth, to see if I can truly be a hero. I won''t just be a useless hero with nothing but ideals, I''ll be a strong hero that can back up my beliefs! I will protect the people from evil, I will protect everyone''s happiness!''


    Iselv was clenching his Warhammer, his blood boiling in excitement. The feel of fear and death that was near him, made him feel somewhat excited more so than usual. He was confused at first but in the end, decided to ept it.


    Kithra, was now holding onto a long magic staff that was a few inches taller than her. The magic staff she was holding had a glowing red orb floating at the tip. She was already chanting some spells and loading them as dyed spells. After chanting a few spells, Kithra proceeded to drink a potion that helps her regain some of her lost mana. It wasn''t as effective as the ring of Olous but it was eptable.


    Rachel was getting excited that a huge battle wasing. She wasn''t nearly satisfied with her battle against the undead dragon yesterday, so she was really excited to let loose today. This feeling of excitement of hers was unlike Ren''s who naturally loved battle. This was the unique constitution of the holy maiden chosen by the God of War Hieus. The more dangerous the battle the more excited the holy maiden bes. It could also be confused with sex.u.a.l excitement.


    Natasha, on the other hand, was thinking if she should be taking all the civilians and escorting them to the next town, or if she should stay here instead and help fight against the undead army. As the holy maiden of Tiditte the Goddess of Justice, she needed to weigh in which action did justicey. In other words, she needed to see which action her Goddess wanted her to make.


    ...


    As everyone was having their own thoughts about what''s toe, the people saw something weird up in the skies. Two gigantic bodies came down from above the clouds andnded at the back of the undead army. Even though they were so far away, everyone from the walls of Grenton could see what the creatures were.


    Mighty wings that gave them gain the nickname the ruler of the skies,rge bodies that could make any other creature cower in fear. These were true apex predators, they were Dragons, though undead and simply moving bones the aura that they were emitting could be felt even from such a distance.


    These two were unlike the young undead dragon from the other day, as these two were a.d.u.l.t undead dragons, and were three timesrger. The moment the people saw this, they who were on the brink of despair were now full in despair. Even Valdel who was usually so full of confidence in his desire to be a hero was for a fraction of a second felt that same tinge of despair.


    Still, that onlysted for a moment as he gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the Zweihander in his hands.

 Chapter 127 - Defending Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 127 - Defending Grenton</h4>


    The undead army was finally upon them, which unnerved most of those that were there to defend Grenton. As the humans readied themselves for what''s toe without any signal, the undead army charged at them.


    The footmen responded to this act by charging at the undead as well. "No don''t charge yet!" Someone shouted but none of the footmen could hear it. The fear and their resolve to protect their families had clouded their judgment which pushed them forward.


    When the two sides shed, it was obvious that the more well equipped skeletal warriors had the upper hand. Not only were they better equipped but they also had superior numbers. The enemy forces used one of humanity''s greatest tactics in the age of chaos the human wave attack.


    If that wasn''t bad enough every time one of the footmen dies, the elder lich that was leisurely watching at the back would turn the dead footmen into his minions. So every time one footman dies they were turned into enemy forces.


    "All of you retreat! RETREAT! RETREAT I SAY!" The footmen finally noticing what was happening needed to retreat, but even there retreatcked any structure making them easy targets for the undead. Valdel who was watching at the gates could no longer hold it in and wanted to charge forward to help. But before he could do so, Iselv and Hilda blocked his path.


    "What are you two doing?! Get out of my way!"


    "Calm down kid!" Iselv shouted at Valdel.


    "Calm down?! People are dying out there, I need to go and save them!"


    "You can''t do that. If you go and help now, how many do you think you can actually save? A hundred? A few dozen? A single person?" Hilda spoke in an ice-cold tone as she red at Valdel.


    "Does it matter? I''ll save as many as I can!"


    "You really are different from that friend of yours. Unlike him, you are an utter fool." Hearing Hilda calling him a fool made Valdel look at her with a maddening re.


    "If you really want to save as many as possible, I need you to stay here and prepare yourself. Sir Galius is too old and can no longer exert as much strength as before, and without Ren or Nezzard around no one aside from you and Lara could handle those things over there." Hilda pointed at the two huge undead dragons that were resting on a hill.


    "If you go in now and waste your strength when the crucial momentes and you fail not just us everyone in this town will die. Do you want that to happen?!"


    Valdel finally quieted down as he bit his lower lip until it bled. His hands shaking in frustration, as his mind kept on repeating if only I was stronger. If only he was stronger then he would''ve been able to do something. This just pushed the idea that in this world to be able to do anything you need strength.


    Unlike Valdel, Lara, on the other hand, remained ever calm as she was watching the whole situation unfold, waiting for her chance to strike.


    Seeing Valdel quite down Hilda sighed, as she turned to look at the situation. The majority of the footmen had died in that initial charge, but there were still a few dozen that manage to survive. Sir Galius who was watching from another side of the wall felt that things were going worse than he expected.


    As Hilda and Galius were thinking of what to do next, Rachel suddenly shouted. "I can''t take it anymore! I need to release this feeling that''s burning within me!" After shouting this Rachel jumped down from the wall and charged at the skeletal warriors that were nearing the wall. She with her summoned halberd shed head-on with the skeletal wave.


    As she smashed her way through the enemy ranks she shouted at the undead. "I Rachel Hvanttar the holy maiden of the God of war Hieus, shall grant you a glorious battle!"


    Galius seeing Rachel make a path in the middle of enemy forces, which gained the attention of the charging undead knew what needed to be done. He sent his knights to attack the left-wing of the enemy forces as their backs were facing them.


    Hilda also noticed this and sent the adventurers to attack the right-wing of the enemy forces. Though they didn''t n it, their coordination was perfect making them able to mow down the skeletal warriors with little to no casualties. Rachel who was now too deep into the enemy lines couldn''t retreat but instead of fear, she felt ted. That was when a chain wrapped around her and pulled her back.


    Natasha was able to save the foolish war maiden and bring her back to the walls of Grenton. The knights and adventurers retreated back into the fortress after that sessful attack.


    The Elder Lich Alfred who saw his vanguard being decimated wasn''t angry, but instead, he was amused, to him this was nothing more than a game. ''These humans are doing better than expected, how about we make it a bit more difficult.''


    Now not only did the skeletal warriors charged forward, but the undead mages also started backing them up by bombarding the walls of Grenton with low-level spells. If that wasn''t enough at the distance Hilda and Galius saw numerous Ogre kings pulling what looks to be fortified scalingdders.


    "Mages focus fire on the Ogre kings, destroy those scalingdders!" The mages started chanting getting ready to unleash a barrage of spells.


    "Archers get ready to make it rain on those charging undead!" The archers took their arrows that had reced the arrowheads with somethingrge and blunt. Though this made it harder for the arrows to gain distance, they had no choice since using normal arrows against skeletal monsters was ineffective.


    "Fire!" Upon hearing the order a rain of arrows showered the charging skeletal warriors. On the other hand, the ogre kings were being bombarded by low to mid-tier level spells. But this proved to be ineffective, since even as one skeletal warrior fell another reced it at the charge, and the ogre kings were wearing armor that helps them with their weakness from spells which made them difficult to kill. The mages were only able to kill two to four of them. Seeing that killing the Ogre kings was ineffective, the mages tried attacking the scalingdders instead, but that proved ineffective as well since the scalingdders were fortified by an unknown spell, which made it sturdier than normal.


    Hilda clicked her tongue and looked at the two holy maidens. "Mydies I hate to ask this of you, but can you aid us?"


    "How can we help?" Natasha asked.


    "If you can, please destroy those fortified scalingdders."


    The two nodded at Hilda and jumped down the walls and headed to the ogre kings pulling the fortified scalingdders.


    "Now then, every one it''s time to earn your pay! We''ll head out and destroy those undead mages! If you do this well, you will not only gain riches that couldst you your lifetime, but you will also gain fame and glory! The bards will sing of your exploits in all of the human kingdoms! Open the gates!"


    Hearing Hilda''smand the gates were being opened, seeing this and hearing what Hilda said made the adventurers feel both scared and excited.


    "Valdel, Lara if those things move, I''ll leave them to you." The two nodded in response. "Be careful out there Hilda," Lara spoke actually sounding a bit worried. Though her face remained stoic the tone of her voice actually changed for a bit. Hearing Lara speak like that made Hilda smile.


    "You as well Lara." The gates were now fully opened and Hilda wore her helmet and with her group of adventurers charged out of the gates.

 Chapter 128 - Fallen Nobles join the fight

    <h4>Chapter 128 - Fallen Nobles join the fight</h4>


    Hilda with her group of adventurers charged towards the undead mages. Even though they were a bit scared the adventurers that stayed were veterans and were not strangers to the stench of death. In fact, it was better that only adventurers with C rank and above remained since they were useful. If any adventurer below C rank stayed they would''ve only added to the undead army''s forces.


    The undead mages seeing the approaching adventurers shifted their attention to them. Hilda was quick to react as she shouted at the adventurers.


    "TURTLE FORMATION!" The adventurers that held shields formed a shield wall while the mages created mana barriers surrounding them. The barrage of spells couldn''t break through the adventurers'' formation, and once Hilda and the others got close they would quickly dispatch the undead mage and incinerate the bones so they couldn''t be revived.


    Hilda and her group repeated this action a few more times. Whenever they were about to be surrounded Kithra would provide support from the wall.


    ...


    While Hilda and her group of adventurers were destroying the undead mages, Rachel and Natasha were going around destroying the fortified scaling towers. At first, they tried to kill the ogre kings as well, but that proved difficult. Taking down one ogre king required too much time, which gave the other ogre kings a chance to reach the walls. So the best strategy, for now, was to destroy the fortified scaling towers while ignoring the ogre kings.


    ...


    As the two holy maidens were doing there best, Galius was watching the whole situation from the walls, and based on his understanding on how strong each individual present was, he concluded that as long as the elder lich or any of the two undead dragons don''t make a move, then they would probablyst for three days at most. If someone among the three were to attack then, everyone in Grenton will die after Valdel and Lara fall from battle.


    The only chance for survival now was if the reinforcements from the capital miraculously arrive early, or if either Ren or Nezzard join the battle. It was also possible that with some insane amount of luck, a powerful entity appears to help them.


    All of these options were things that he couldn''t control which frustrated Galius. ''If I knew this would happen, I wouldn''t have sent those saint level swordsmen back to the capital.'' Galius regretted his decisions that lessened Grenton''s fighting force. Still, this was no time to regret anything all he could do now is try his very best to lead his troops and survive for as long as possible. Who knows a miracle might happen.


    ...


    Hilda who was now deeper inside the enemy formation had lost arge portion of adventurers. As the adventurers died, Hilda and those that were left would immediately incinerate their bodies before they''re turned into undead. Also even though they lost a lot of adventurers, Hilda and the others were still able to destroy a majority of the undead mages. Now that her mission wasplete she wanted to retreat, but unfortunately, their escape route was blocked by the swarm of undead.


    "Everyone we need to break through the enemy ranks to get back to the wall! If you want to live stay in formation and destroy any undead in front of you! We need to retreat back to the wall!"


    As Hilda shouted this she was attacking an undead warrior in front of her. She must''ve killed hundreds by now, but their numbers don''t seem to be dwindling. Hilda and the other adventurers were starting to feel their bodies bing sluggish as they were utterly exhausted.


    At they were trying to break through some of them got killed by stray spells. The battlefield was getting even more chaotic, and this was a disadvantage for the human side.


    The only ones left in Hilda''s group were a bunch of B ranked adventurers. Yet even with their superior skill, they were already breathing heavily from exhaustion. If this keeps up they will surely die in the middle of the swarms of undead.


    Hilda who was smashing another undead waste to react as one of the enemy undead was able to stab a sword onto her shoulder.


    ''This doesn''t look good... Am I really going to die here?'' As she was feeling a bit of despair, Hilda suddenly heard the clip-clopping of horses. ''Damn it, are Duhans here!'' As she thought of this, Hilda who was expecting headless horsemen sweeping through the battlefield was instead greeted by a better sight.


    It was human riders and they were raising a g with the coat of arms that was a spear piercing through a dragon. Hilda was familiar with this coat of arms, this belonged to the powerful Regalcrags. A fallen noble family full of warriors.


    ...


    In front of the cavalry was a man wearing full ted armor holding a spear. This was none other than Stephan Regalcrag. He and his family swept through the undead warriors destroying all they pass. The proud warriors of the Regalcragsughed as their blood boils, knowing that this was a battle worthy to signal their rise back to power. Even if they do die, they won''t die as disgraced fallen nobles, they would die as a proud warrior family.


    Stephan was practically crying as he smashed another undead''s body. ''Finally a chance to redeem our honor! I will not be the sinner that led the family to eternal shame!''


    "My men, my brothers! Show this undead swarm the might of the Regalcrags! Show them the fierce might of true warriors! Show them our strength so the bards my sing praises of our valiant charge!"


    After shouting this, Stephan led his men to once again charge into the army of the undead.


    ...


    Lara who was watching at the walls showed a slight smile. ''So they finally made their decision. I now see why Ren wanted them as his subordinates if they''re able to survive this ordeal they might be a sharp de for Ren to use.''


    ...


    ''So they now have a cavalry, let''s see if their cavalry can match up with mine.'' The Elder Lich then ordered the Duhan to begin their charge.

 Chapter 129 - Undead enter Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 129 - Undead enter Grenton</h4>


    The Regalcrags charging through the undead army were greeted by an opposing force, a cavalry of Duhans which appeared before them. The Duhans were twice their number, yet this didn''t intimidate the Regalcrags instead it made them extremely happy. The more powerful the enemy they face the greater glory and honor they will receive upon victory, even if death takes them away the glory they will receive willst for eternity.


    ...


    While the sh between both sides was getting even more chaotic, Valdel was standing on the walls grinding his teeth. He was watching numerous people dying before him and he was powerless to do anything. He really wanted to dash in and save them, but he knew what Hilda said was reasonable if he wastes even a tiny bit of mana and stamina beating the undead dragons will not be possible.


    Valdel then looked at Lara and saw that she was still the same stoic Lara. Even as people were dying before her very eyes, some of them had talked to her, others have been people she met as she stayed in Grenton, yet even as they were brutally killed by the undead and turned into undead themselves, she remained unperturbed.


    This childhood friend of his had never shown any outward emotion aside from her obvious love for Ren, but Valdel was wondering what could she be feeling at this very moment. Was she perhaps also feeling the same things he did. Valdel knew Lara since they were little children but only Ren has ever understood her, not even Lisa her sister could understand her as deeply as Ren did.


    While Valdel was wondering what Lara was thinking about, the person in question was having different thoughts. ''Damn it! Why aren''t those huge monsters in the back moving? If I keep on being idle here, then Ren might think I was avoiding battle. If I charge forward and attack first, it might prove difficult to beat the undead dragons, as well as the Elder Lich... What should I do?...''


    ...


    As Lara and Valdel were thinking about these random things, two of the ogre kings were able to get close with their fortified scaling towers they were pulling. Rachel and Natasha were still in the middle of destroying the other fortified scaling towers and they didn''t notice that they miss a few.


    Iselv seeing this jumped down from the wall and with his giant Warhammer attacked the fortified scaling tower. While Iselv was doing that, Kithra was helping him by providing cover fire distracting the ogre king so that he could focus on destroying the fortified scaling tower.


    While Iselv and Kithra were busy with one of the approaching ogre kings, Galius and the remaining knights on the wall were trying to deal with the other ogre king and fortified scaling tower.


    They tried there very best to destroy the scaling towers, but unfortunately, one was able to reach the walls. The undead immediately used this opportunity to scale the walls using the towers. Galius was quick to react as he sent the remaining free men to block the undead from swarming them using the fortified scaling tower. Even the archers changed weapons from bows to maces as they greeted the undead.


    Kithra could no longer provide back-up for Iselv as she needed to help stop the flow of undead entering through the fortified scaling tower.


    The majority of the undead started to gather to the fortified scaling tower.


    With their current numbers, the ones on the wall couldn''t stop some of the undead from breaking through their defenses as those undead enemies headed into town.


    "That''s it! I can''t stay idle anymore!" Valdel was about to head into town to stop the dozen of undead that were able to break through and enter the town. Yet before he was able to move, Lara held onto his arm stopping him.


    "What are you doing Lara?!" Valdel was practically growling as she shouted at Lara.


    "You must not do that. It''s like what Hilda said only you and I can face those undead dragons. Our chances for victory will diminish greatly if you were to use your stamina and mana on small fry like that." Lara answered with her usual indifference, even in the face of Valdel''s angry face that looked a bit scary.


    "So you''re telling me to watch innocent people die without being able to fight back!"


    "Calm yourself Valdel, you must trust the others to do their job, as they trust us to do ours." As if it was timed, the moment Lara said this, some of the knights headed into town so that they could hunt down the undead that were able to pass through their defenses.


    "If Ren was here, then I''m sure he would say this to you. How can you be a hero if you don''t trust yourrades? How can you be a hero if you can''t carry the weight of their trust."


    When Valdel heard what Lara said, he could practically see Ren telling him off. Valdel sighed and said nothing more as he looked back to the battlefield.


    ...


    Seeing some of the undead had entered the town, the warning bells were being rung. The people that remained in town shut their doors close their curtains and hid in the most secure space in their homes. The men took out any weapon they could find, pitchfork, hammer, cooking knife, even a wooden stick, anything that could be used to hit. These men resolved themselves to protect their families until the very end.


    ...


    In Hilda''s home the moment Ka and Nina heard the warning bells, they quickly locked the door of the house, closed the curtains and tried carrying their mother to the basement. It took a bit of time but they were able to reach the basement safely.


    Once they were there as instructed by their sister, the two said the chant taught to them by Hilda. They felt a bit tired after chanting and was surprised when they saw a yellow aura surround the basement door. This was the very first time Hilda''s two sisters ever used magic, in a normal situation, they would be ecstatic at the idea of being able to use a magic spell but they weren''t able to feel that way in their current situation.


    Nina who was sitting beside their mute unmoving mother was tearing up because of the growing fear within her. The idea of undead swarming the town was enough to scare anyone, but hearing screams from outside made it extra scary. As Nina was being scared, Ka, on the other hand, gripped the sword given to her tightly. She then patted her little sister''s head and said with a smile. "Don''t worry I''ll protect you and mom."


    Nina seeing how calm on the outside Ka was felt herself calming down as she nodded her head at Ka. Unaware that Ka''s leg was actually shaking a bit. Ka was really scared right now, but like her big sis Hilda, she didn''t want to show it to her little sister, which would cause her to worry.


    ''Big sis... Father... Please give me the courage to protect Mom and Nina.''

 Chapter 130 - Nearing their limits

    <h4>Chapter 130 - Nearing their limits</h4>


    It''s the second day of the undead raid and the humans of Grenton were losing, badly. Some undead were able to get into town and a few nonbatants have died. Galius had been gravely injured after battling some ogre kings. Kithra was already low on mana and was nearing her limit in stamina as well. Iselv was trying his hardest to stop the undead from ramming through the gates, but even with his extreme vitality, he was losing too much blood.


    The two holy maidens have done their best as they have destroyed most of the fortified scaling towers. But they too were nearing their very limit, even with the divine blessings of their respective deities they still possess human bodies which had limitations. Still, even in these grim circumstances, they fought on.


    ...


    Rachel who has been fighting nonstop as she exhausted her mana and stamina, was getting stronger as she was nearing her very limit, this was another unique trait of the holy maiden that serves the God of War Hieus. Still, even with her increased strength and abilities the most she could do is defeat the ogre kings, and she was still incapable of matching the undead dragons, much less the Elder Lich. So before she loses her consciousness, Rachel did onest burst attack killing arge force of ogre kings, and undead skeletal warriors.


    Natasha, on the other hand, was actually getting weaker because of the unique constitution given to her by her on diety the Goddess of Justice Tiditte. Because of her failure to stop the undead from breaching Grenton and innocent civilians have died, she was penalized for being unable to administer justice. The effect of this is randomly activated, if the holy maiden or the chosen hero was able to administer justice, he or she would gain tremendous power for a limited time, but if one fails to administer justice then the holy maiden or chosen hero will lose significant fighting power.


    After the two holy maidens gave their all and have nothing else to give, Natasha carried the unconscious Rachel as the two of them retreated back to the walls of Grenton.


    ...


    The Regalcrags who have been valiantly fighting on the front lines were now half their initial numbers. They have in numerous Duhans, skeletal warriors, undead mages, and even some ogres. They were the greatest force Grenton currently has, but even they were almost done and gone. The warhorses that bravely charged with them, again and again, have fallen. The Regalcrags who were the greatest on horseback were now fighting on foot which greatly decreased their battle effectivity.


    Still, even with this handicap, they fought with only one thing on their minds. To die a glorious death, that would be remembered for ages toe. Now that their honor has finally been restored in this battle, they can now truly lift their heads up high, as they die with their honor intact.


    "FIGHT TO OUR DEATHS AND TOWARDS OUR GLORY! FIGHT MY VALIANT BRETHREN! FIGHT AND SHOW THE WORLD THE STRENGTH AND COURAGE OF THE REGALCRAGS!" Stephan who was already covered in numerous stab wounds shouted at his remaining men. He lifted his spear and the remaining members of his family cheered. They with no fear happily dashed deeper into enemy lines.


    ...


    Hilda who was unable to return to the walls of Grenton was in the middle of a fight against an undead warrior. Most of her men have died now and there were only three of them left. Her armor was already smashed and broken, her shield was worthless now. The only thing she had left was her sword and mace. Her mana waspletely depleted and she was fighting with only her physical skills.


    Block with the sword, attack with the mace, she kept on repeating this until her body was now automatically moving in the most proficient way possible. She was growing in this battle, but unfortunately, it wasn''t enough. As another skeletal warrior was crushed, Hilda heard the dying screams of herpanions. She without hesitation burned their bodies into ashes, so they cannot be used as material for another undead.


    Now she was truly alone in the middle of the battlefield. Her conscious was already murky at this point but she kept on moving, since stopping means death. She already surpassed her limits long ago, as her body was near the point of breaking.


    ...


    Valdel who was watching on the walls of Grenton, could no longer take it anymore and jumped towards the battlefield. This time Lara didn''t stop him from doing so. That was how dire the situation was.


    Yet the moment he jumped one of the undead dragons finally moved and attacked him with a long-range spell. Valdel quickly blocked using the Zweihander absorbing the spell.


    It would seem that it wasn''t just them doing the waiting, the other side was doing the same thing. Since only the undead dragons could fight effectively against Valdel and Lara, the elder lich didn''t bother to use them as long as Valdel and Lara didn''t move.


    Now that Lara figured that out she immediately joined the battle as well. The remaining undead dragon came and attack Lara. Now both sides'' most powerful pieces have joined the board the whole battlefield became even more chaotic.


    Valdel and Lara quickly lured the two undead dragons away from Grenton and started their battle further away. The battle between the four powerful individuals proved even more menacing than the battle between thousands of undead and hundreds of humans.


    ...


    Hilda who saw Valdel and Lara fighting against the two undead dragons had a faint smile on her face. The first time she met those two, she didn''t really have a good impression of them, since they were causing trouble the first time they entered the guild, which doubled her work. Now she was entrusting the lives of the people of Grenton to them. In those lives included her family, her sisters and her mother.


    ...


    Hilda who was in the middle of the undead army was suddenly hit by a fireball spell from behind. Even though it was a low-level spell, without mana or her armor protecting her, this attack was able to burn her back.


    As she was struggling to stand up an undead warrior was able to stab a sword on her right leg. Hilda countered and smashed the undead with her mace, but now she was unable to move. The mages on the walls were able to provide support, but now unable to move at all Hilda was a sitting duck.


    She was even bleeding quite profusely which lowered her chances for survival. As she wasying down on the ground waiting for her death, Hilda began to see a hallucination. She saw herself smiling while holding a child on her hands, and there in front of her was a man smiling back at her.


    She didn''t know why the man turned out to be him, but Hilda found it to be alright. She then smiled as she started to cry.


    ''Why show me something like that in the end... I... I don''t, want to die...'' As her consciousness was slowly fading, she felt a very familiar overpowering mana and bloodlust engulf the battlefield.


    "You''rete... Idiot..." Those were Hilda''sst thoughts before everything turned dark.

 Chapter 131 - Ren enters the battlefield

    <h4>Chapter 131 - Ren enters the battlefield</h4>


    Every single being on the battlefield was shaken to their very core as an incredibly massive amount of mana and bloodlust encroached them. Even the undead that no longer had any human emotions have stopped their assault, as their bodies were unable to move properly because of the sheer power of the mana that was felt throughout the battlefield.


    On the humans'' side, even the courageous Regalcrags were trembling in the face of such overwhelming, suffocating bloodlust. Galius who was already full of wounds and was near death couldn''t help butugh a very heartyugh. The tides of battle were going to finally change.


    Still, among everyone present, it was the two holy maidens that were the most surprised by this feeling they were having. The two holy maidens have encountered many powerful beings even so-called messengers of Gods, they have met most of the strong humans within the continent, from the olden masters to the young geniuses. Yet never had they felt such a powerful burst of mana that felt like it would devour anything and everything. Never have they felt such a spine chilling bloodlust that could make even the bravest of men cower, that could make every fiber of their being wish to escape from this ce.


    On the other hand, Iselv and Kithra were smiling from ear to ear as they felt such overwhelming pressure. They knew that this overpowering force can onlye from one person they knew. Now that he was here, they felt like victory was all but assured.


    ...


    Valdel who was fighting one of the undead dragons was able to feel the familiar fluctuation of mana and couldn''t help but smile. Even though his best friend kept on saying he didn''t want to be a hero, and sometimes even showed extreme contempt to the very word itself, but there''s no denying his timing was like a hero''s. Alwaysing when all hope is lost and bringing with him that ray of hope, that assures people that everything will be alright.


    ...


    Lara who was evading each attack of the undead dragon she was facing, was getting excited. The person she waited for was finally here. The moment she felt that suffocating bloodlust she felt relieved.


    ''I hope that Ren''s able to see me fight this undead dragon. I need to do my best and finish of this giant skeleton lizard with style. Not only should I finish with style, but I need to end this fast, but not too fast that Ren won''t see my cool side.''


    Though it was undead and was not even half as powerful as it was when it was alive, what Lara was facing was still an a.d.u.l.t dragon. Yet even as she faced her strongest opponent yet, Lara was only thinking about impressing Ren.


    ...


    The Elder Lich who was watching at the back of his army was surprised to feel this pressure. Thest time he met Ren he knew that this human was something else, but he was still surprised to feel this. The amount of mana Ren was emitting was way above thest time they met.


    Not only that, but the bloodlust he was emitting was something only beings that have massacred thousands upon thousands could emit. This was both surprising and confusing, how could a human that wasn''t even twenty be able to emit such bloodlust?


    If that wasn''t enough Ren was emitting something aside from mana and bloodlust. It felt like a new kind of power. Feeling these things from but a single human, made the elder lich cackle in delight.


    ''You are even more delightful than I expected... Show it to me human! Let me see the depths of your power!''


    ...


    From above the sky like a bolt of lightning Rennded in front of Hilda''s body. The undead monsters that were near Hilda have crumbled with the sheer force of mana Ren was unleashing onto them.


    Ren looked at Hilda''s body and injected her with a bit of his Spirit Aura. He then whispered something in Hilda''s ears. The unconscious maiden whose heart was beating slowly was obviously unable to respond.


    Ren who was in the middle of the battlefield turned blurry and in front of everyone''s eyes disappeared. In the next moment, he reappeared on the walls of Grenton. He approached one of the remaining knights and handed Hilda.


    "Protect this woman with your life. If you fail then your life is forfeit." The knight unable to utter a single word simply nodded his head. Ren who was surveying the entire battlefield concluded that victory was unreachable in their current states.


    Still, that didn''t make Ren worried instead it made himugh. Hisugh echoed throughout the battlefield.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA! I was going toe and find you to finish our fight. But how kind of you Alfred toe here with your whole army at hand! Surely this battle with you and your army will bring me endless excitement! Come master of the undead! Come face me so that you may meet your eternal demise!"


    Ren''s voice wasn''t that loud but everyone present was able to hear what he said. This made the Elder Lich curious wanting to know how Ren was going to achieve what he proimed. It was then Ren took out something from his pocket, it was an object wrapped in a weird cloth.


    ''Hmph, who knew that a horn from my traitorous son, would help me today.'' Ren then stabbed the horn onto his lower abdomen. A magic circle that he drew on himself started to activate as it absorbed the horn.


    Ren then extended his hand and a dark orb appeared. Once the darkness cleared what was shown was the heart of a young dragon, known by most of the people of thend as the dungeon core.


    Ren with the dungeon core at hand started eating it. Everyone who was watching Ren was dumbfounded by the sight. But before they couldprehend what just happened, the mana Ren was emitting had doubled.


    If it was already suffocating before, with the strength of the mana Ren was emitting right now, actually made some of the people near him faint. Even the holy maidens who were watching at the side could barely stay conscious. Though they haven''t heard the name of the person before them, the two can pretty much guess that this was the friend Valdel was praising endlessly.


    ''This man is supposed to be even younger than Valdel?...'' Both Rachel and Natasha had the same thoughts as they were trying their hardest to stay conscious.


    ...


    Alfred who was watching at the distance was surprised to see Ren have a demon lord''s horn and even a young dragon''s heart. But what surprised him, even more, was the fact that Ren was able to use these two objects to boost his power.


    Alfred already did some research regarding the young dragon''s heart, a.k.a the dungeon core. He was sure there was no possible way for a human to use the dungeon core as a power source for oneself. Yet here was a person that actually did it.


    ''Now I''m even more sure Ren is the key. He is the key to advance my research to new heights. With his body at hand, I might be able to finally solve the mystery of true immortality.''

 Chapter 132 - Ren demolishes the undead army

    <h4>Chapter 132 - Ren demolishes the undead army</h4>


    Ren who was standing on top of the walls of Grenton looked at the undead army and smiled that vicious smile of his. He summoned his death scythe and ced it on his shoulders. Silika was unable to talk at the moment since she was still trying to recover her strength. So for the meantime, Ren wasn''t able to use some of the death scythe''s abilities like turning kill count into mana. Even so as a weapon the death scythe was still one of the strongest out there.


    "Everyone who doesn''t want to die retreat back to the walls!" Hearing Ren''smand all the humanbatants except for Valdel and Lara retreated into the walls. Even the Regalcrags who would dly die in the battlefield retreated since this was an order from their new liege.


    While everyone was trying their best to retreat, Ren jumped up and shed downward at the nearby fortified scaling tower. The tower that was able to withstand a barrage of spells was easily sliced in half by Ren who then proceeded to kill all the ogre kings that were protecting the scaling tower.


    It took Ren nothing but one sh to slice the ogre kings in half. He then started to move around with his scythe, the spinning of the scythe coupled with his acrobatic moves made Ren look like he was dancing around the battlefield.


    The people who were watching on the walls were dumbfounded by what they saw. They almost believe that they were dreaming, some actually think that they''re already dead and what they were seeing was simply ast-second vision before death.


    ...


    Ren was actually casually killing the waves of undead like he was simply harvesting crops on the field. The speed in which he killed the undead was so much faster than all of theirbined efforts.


    The two holy maidens couldn''t believe what they were seeing either, Ren wasn''t using even a tiny bit of mana as he was moving around like that. Each move was so fast and powerful, that they couldn''t understand how Ren was doing such a feat without the use of any mana. It would''ve been possible with divine blessing, but they could see that Ren wasn''t blessed by any God they knew.


    Galius, on the other hand, was more surprised by Ren''s skills. The precision of his attacks and the efficiency in which he initiates them was amazing. Ren''s fighting style was simple and direct, it had none of the usualplications of other styles, but it was as effective, nay in Galius eyes, it was near perfection. Galius wasn''t sure as Ren wasn''t using a sword, but he believed that Ren''s skill should be higher with a sword, so it was entirely possible that Ren was already at the Divine level of swordsmanship.


    A fifteen-year-old divine swordsman was unheard of, this made Galius really excited. Even though he was wounded all over, he wasn''t bothered as he wanted to watch every single move Ren did.


    ...


    The people who were confused as to how Ren was doing these kinds of movement without using mana, were mostly the mages since they knew how impossible it was for the human body to have such strength without the use of mana. The only people they knew that could do such a feat were people that had bloodline abilities, like the royal family of Reschbeauch, who gain inhuman strength in exchange for their inability to umte mana.


    So some of them were wondering what kind of bloodline ability Ren was using. But the truth was they were wrong to assume Ren was using a bloodline ability, when in fact he was simply using Spirit Aura. Unlike mana, Spirit Aura was much more effective in enhancing one''s physical abilities.


    ...


    The Elder Lich was amazed by how Ren was able to easily sweep the battlefield. Wanting to see more of his abilities, the Elder Lich ordered all of his subordinates except for the dragons to attack Ren.


    All the undead that were attacking the walls of Grenton stopped and started to concentrate all their attacks on Ren. Seeing that all the undead were surrounding him made Ren smile that vicious smile of his even wider. His eyes were practically gleaming in excitement.


    "Finally deciding to take me seriously! Hahaha! Come on then, satisfy my hunger for battle!" Ren at that moment finally used mana. He started to chant a very long chant as he continuously spun his death scythe attacking and defending at the same time.


    After he was done chanting, Ren using his death scythe started swinging at the ground drawing a magic circle. Once he was done drawing a magic circle, Ren stomped on the ground activating his spell. Spikes made from earth pierced through the undead that surrounded Ren. The spikes from a distance looked like a flower, and Ren was in the middle. With that one move alone, Ren was able to destroy half of the undead forces. Just one move and he was able to kill more undead than all the people present.


    It was as if he was mocking them for their wasted efforts. The holy maidens gulped as they witness the scene of Ren easily destroying the undead. That spell he used was a high-level spell, a spell that needed someone to be at least a court magician level mage to use. Even with a massive amount of mana, a person won''t be able to use a high-level spell without understanding the form behind it. It takes years of study to be able to use such a spell, yet here was a person under twenty who was able to use it.


    Not only was Ren a powerful close-quartersbatant, with skills that could put a Saint-level swordsman to shame. His control of mana and his ability to use and understandplex spellputations made him a powerful mage as well.


    ...


    Ren who was in the middle of the pierced undead continued to smile viciously as he pointed at Alfred who was still standing at the back of his army.


    "Is this it?! Is this all you have to offer?! No, it isn''t right! I''ve finished warming up, so how about youe and fight me yourself, Alfred!"


    Hearing Ren''s confident voice made Alfred cackle. He then snapped his fingers and the remaining undead except for the two undead dragons, turned into dust. Alfred then began to absorb the mana that he used to create this undead. Once he was done absorbing the mana, he teleported in front of Ren.


    "Very well, Ren, allow me to entertain you. This will be my thank you gift to you, for offering me your body for the sake of my research on immortality. After I''m done experimenting on your body, I think I''ll turn you into an undead warrior. Rejoice you''ll be my right-hand man."

 Chapter 133 - I remember you

    <h4>Chapter 133 - I remember you</h4>


    The moment Alfred finished saying what he said, he teleported farther away while chanting. Ren started chanting as well while dashing forward following Alfred. Unfortunately for Alfred, he couldn''t teleport multiple times in session, while Ren could catch up with the sheer speed of his movement.


    When Ren caught up with Alfred he was about to sh down, but Alfred was finally able to finish his chant first. "[Ice Castle]" a giant fortress of ice was formed in the middle of the battlefield. This fortress was emitting an extreme level of frost, making anyone or anything that touches it transform into an ice sculpture.


    Ren who saw the spell used by Alfred smiled that vicious smile of his, he knew that Alfred would use such a spell. Based on theirst encounter with the Elder Lich Alfred, it was easy to guess that his preferred magic spells revolved around ice.


    So Ren had chanted a spell that he was familiar with in his past life, now that he had the appropriate amount of mana he could use some of his old spells. "[Pitch ck]" A huge ball of darkness engulfed the ice castle making it disappear.


    Alfred was surprised by the spell Ren used but was still able to evade on time. As Alfred was about tond on the ground, he heard Ren activate another spell, "[Shadow Bind]" Alfred was then caught by a shadow that appeared underneath his legs.


    Ren was about ready to swing his scythe at the helpless Alfred, but then as he sliced at Alfred''s body it disappeared, it turned out to be nothing more than an illusion spell. Then numerous bonences surrounded him, but Ren countered with, "[ck hole]" a darkness spell that draws-in mid-tier spells that was within a few meters away from it into a void neutralizing the spell used. Though the size was smaller than the actual size of the original spell, it was still enough to devour the bonences.


    After dealing with the bonences, Ren was then able to locate Alfred and once again charged at him. Alfred couldn''t understand what was happening, even if Ren was able to enhance his mana this battle shouldn''t be going this way.


    No matter what kind of genius Ren was, he was still a sixteen-year-old human child. His knowledge about spells shouldn''t be this good, and he also shouldn''t be able to to use suchplex spells. The scene before him was unimaginable. Thest time he fought Ren, it felt like Ren was more of a warrior than a mage, but now it seems to be the opposite. Not only that, Ren was actually using original spells and from the darkness attribute no less.


    It was at that moment Alfred felt something familiar. This style of fighting was something he has seen before, even the spells though original felt a bit familiar. Still, he had no time to think as Ren was happily slicing at him.


    "[Summon Doom Knight]" a magic circle appeared in front of Ren and from that magic circle a knight d in pure ck appeared. This was the strongest being that Alfred could summon, it was even stronger than the undead dragons. That summoning spell had taken a lot of mana from Alfred, so he needed to unsummon the two undead dragons. He had no time to be bothered with Valdel and Lara since he felt that the person in front of him was more dangerous than he initially thought.


    Ren seeing the Doom knight in front of him, made him smile widely from ear to ear. Ren was aware of how strong this thing was. During the age of chaos at the height of his power, his elite force led by one of his Demon generals thatter on betrayed him consisted of these Doom knights. An undead dragon was a dead dragon with barely any mana left from when it was alive. A doom knight, on the other hand, was something that was d in mana. As long as it had mana it supposedly would never fall, which made them perfect vanguards.


    Ren couldn''t help butugh as he saw one of the things he used to rip apart like toys. He knew of dozens of ways to destroy this thing, even in his current weak form. When Ren was about to face the Doom knight, Valdel and Lara appeared beside him.


    "Val, Lara! Stand back! I don''t need your help." Hearing what Ren said Lara immediately backed off, but Valdel stayed. "Val I told you to leave! Against somebody of this level, you''ll be nothing more than a burden." Ren didn''t even bother looking at Valdel as he said this. Valdel was trembling in anger at himself as he retreated.


    "That pride of yours will be your downfall," Alfred spoke as he started gathering mana while chanting. He just needed the Doom Knight to stall Ren for a few minutes so he can use his strongest spell.


    The Doom Knight stood in front of Ren menacingly which made Renugh even louder. "Hahaha! My downfall with this much! Against a toy like this! You''re hrious!" Ren then coated the death scythe with Spirit Aura and Mana, this was an extremely watered-down version of Leo''s ultimate move, but it was still strong enough. Ren casually swung the scythe at the Doom knight and it was erased from existence.


    If Alfred was still alive he would''ve shown a paled expression the moment he saw Ren killing his strongest summon with one move. Yet as a lich, he wasn''t affected by such emotions, still, he knew that there was no longer any chance for him to win. No matter what angle he looked at the two options left was to die again or try to flee.


    As he waited for Ren to finish him off, Ren simply stood there waiting. "What are you doing? Go on finish your spell."


    "What do you mean, aren''t you going to eliminate me?"


    "I will, just after you used that spell of yours. Last time I was forced to retreat due to various reasons, but this time I want to take on your strongest spell, then beat you. Only in that way will I be able to say I truly won."


    Normally Alfred would think that Ren was joking, but the moment the Elder Lich saw the crazed expression on Ren''s face he knew that this human wasn''t kidding. It was also at that very moment the face of a being he seen long ago, back when he was still human surfaced in his mind and ovepped with Ren''s face. Though Ren and this person didn''t look remotely alike, the facial expression he was showing was exactly the same.


    A thought then came to Alfred but he immediately denied it. It wasn''t possible, that being was the strongest being he has ever seen. Even though Ren was strong he paled inparison to that person, in front of that person Ren was nothing more than an ant. So why did they feel so alike? Alfred then remembered the spells Ren used, those were some of the spells that person used against thousands of human warriors. The scale of the spells was different but there was no denying that they were the same spells.


    "Demon Lord Kretos..." Alfred whispered the name and Ren was surprised to hear iting from Alfred.


    "Heh, how do you know that name?" Ren asked a bit curious, in which Alfred responded by pointing his bony fingers at Ren. "You''re Demon Lord Kretos." As an undead Alfred no longer felt emotions even the joy he has shown was nothing more than an act, but now a feeling he thought he would never feel again surfaced from within him. He was feeling fear, he remembered that bone-chilling fear he had when he firstid eyes on the demon lord. It has been a few thousand years since he existed, he has seen the rise and fall of numerous kingdoms and Empires, but he still felt this extreme fear in front of this person.


    "Oh, interesting you were actually able to recognize me. I wonder who you were in my past life... Well, it doesn''t matter, just use your strongest spell and be done with it. If you don''t use it, then don''t me me for dying again without giving everything you got." upon learning Alfred''s connection to him in his past life, Ren looked a bit interested at first, but then that interest faded as fast as it came.

 Chapter 134 - End of the battle

    <h4>Chapter 134 - End of the battle</h4>


    Alfred couldn''t believe his ears as he heard Ren confirming his guess. How was it possible that the human child before him was that fearsome being from ages past. Alfred wanted to deny it, he wanted it to be a simple joke from a human boy. Yet no matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn''t deny the possibility.


    Ren did use spells that only Demon Lord Kretos knew, Ren''s facial expressions and his mannerism as he fought was also the same as the Demon Lord Alfred knew when he was still human. Alfred who was nothing more than bones now, felt like he was sweating which was impossible. As a lich or basically as an undead he wasn''t supposed to feel any emotion. Yet here he was feeling a long-forgotten emotion. The moment he figured out who Ren was it was like his very soul shook in fear.


    "How?" Alfred asked still confused about what was happening before him.


    "I don''t know and I don''t care. Just use your spell already I''m losing my patience. If you don''t then I guess that''s all you can give." Ren was now slightly irritated since he knew the bacsh from eating the young dragon heart wasing. He really wanted to beat Alfred after he used his strongest spell, but he also knew that the bacsh cane at any time.


    Alfred who has been studying humans for centuries was very adept at reading human expressions. Ren wasn''t only feeling irritated there was slight signs of anxiety in there. Ren could or could not be the Demon Lord Kretos, but Alfred was sure that Ren wasn''t really that good in showing a poker face. It was then Alfred figured out what was happening.


    "Oh, so there are side effects in eating the dungeon core. I guess you have a time limit, so if I''m able to wait it out it''s my win." Alfred was expecting Ren''s face to contort as he revealed a secret that Ren seems to be hiding. Yet Ren''s face still looked a bit irritated but now with added scorn.


    "So?"


    "So I can do this." Alfred was about to activate his teleportation spell, but for some reason, he couldn''t use it. It was at that moment Alfred finally noticed that he was inside a huge magic circle.


    "I already knew you would do that. Ever since the fight started I''ve been preparing this magic circle and you didn''t notice. Why do you think I kept on spinning my scythe even though I don''t need to? Just to look cool? For a being that is a thousand years older than me, you''re pretty dumb."


    Alfred remembered what Ren did as he was attacking the hordes of undead, that really was him preparing arge magic circle. Because Alfred was looking down on Ren at the beginning he never expected him to do that. Now that he knew Ren''s true nature, it was toote to n anything. He grossly underestimated the whole situation.


    "In this magic circle, all spells that are rted to spatial interference won''t work. So there''s no escape now. You either use your strongest spell and hope to kill me, or I can just kill you right now. I''m going to give you until the count of five to decide. Once I end my count I''ll erase your existence."


    Alfred started to think as fast as he can on what move would be the best move at this moment.


    "One."


    ''There must be a way to survive.''


    "Two."


    ''I have survived countless cmities. There must be a way out of this one.''


    "Three."


    ''Even back in the day when he was still in the peak of his power, wasn''t I able to survive an encounter with Demon Lord Kretos.


    "Four."


    ''What should I do?''


    "F-"


    "Wait!" Before Ren could finish his count Alfred raised his hand to stop him.


    "Oh, are you finally willing to fight until the end?" Ren''s fighting spirit was on the rise as he got ready to intercept whatever Alfred has to offer. But instead of chanting a spell Alfred knelt on one leg and did the old demon''s way of bowing to a superior.


    "I want to serve you, my lord. Surely at this time you would need someone like me as your right-hand man. With my ability, I can be the same as your General Mon¨ºn¨¤ch."


    General Mon¨ºn¨¤ch one of Ren''s former generals also known as the immortal warrior. Hemanded the undead races in Ren''s former Empire, and he himself was an undead ghoul, the strongest of his kind.


    Hearing what Alfred said made Renugh hysterically.


    "HAHAHAHAHA! You, the same as Mon¨ºn¨¤ch?! You''re not even fit to lick his shoes. Enough of this farce if you''re not going to do anything, then die!"


    "I have news about your son, I know about what happened after the coup."


    "I don''t care about that. The life of my traitorous son is not something I care about. Though I am d he gave me the gift of death in battle. Still, whatever happened after that is no longer my business."


    "How about what happened to the Demon Empire, aren''t you curious as to why Humans are the new rulers of thend?"


    "Why should I care, if the demons are no longer on top that only means they were too weak to defend themselves. The moment I died as Demon Lord Kretos, my past rtions have less meaning. If that''s all you are going to say then die!"


    Ren raised his scythe and was going to sh Alfred. When suddenly the Elder Lich gathered mana and started chanting. Ren seeing this action smiled viciously as he looked at Alfred in a crazed manner.


    ''If you''re going to do it, why waste all of my time? I guess he really is hoping for the bacsh to kick in...'' While Ren was thinking about why Alfred changed his mind, Alfred himself was trying to prolong the chanting time hoping that Ren wouldn''t notice and the bacsh from eating the dungeon core would happen.


    Unfortunately for Alfred Ren was currently very sensitive to the flow of mana and was able to deduce when I spell was ready. When Alfred got to the end of his chant, he started to add new words hoping that he could buy some more time.


    "Unleash it already Alfred! I already know you''ve finished chanting the spell words, you already gathered enough mana and you already constructed the format of the spell, all you need to do now is activate it. If you don''t use it then prepare to die without a fight."


    Alfred having no other choice unleashed his strongest spell, it was his original spell "[Eternal Freeze]." Thend they were standing on started to freeze over as it even extended near the walls of Grenton. Even the people on the walls that were far away from the center of the spell were getting frostbite. The weaker ones who were near death were now dying from hypothermia.


    In the center of the spell an ice mountain appeared encased Ren inside. Alfred seeing Ren''s body inside the mountain of ice was amazed that he was able to defeat Ren so easily, he didn''t even try to dodge. This spell was made to capture and kill giant creatures such as titans and dragons, though Alfred has never truly tested this spell on a live titan or dragon, he knew theoretically this spell was supposed to work. Seeing Ren was still unmoving after a few minutes, Alfred thought he had seeded in killing Ren.


    "Like I said your pride was going to be your downfall. Even though you are no longer Demon Lord Kretos, you still acted as if you still were. Now, look at you... I can''t believe I was afraid of someone like you."


    As Alfred was about to retrieve Ren''s dead body he heard the voice of the person he thought was dead.


    "That was pretty good, a wide area spell that you can''t escape. Normally this would''ve spelled my doom, unfortunately, you''re so predictable. Using an ice-based spell even at the end, so easy to predict so easy to counter."


    Moments before the spell hit, Ren coated his whole body with Spirit Aura was able to withstand the spell and negate it from within. The spell was really working at the beginning, but because of using Spirit Aura an energy source Alfred had no knowledge of, the encroachment was slow which gave Ren enough time to create a double of himself using an illusion spell, and then slipped away waiting to see what Alfred would do.


    ...


    Ren was standing behind Alfred all this time, using the darkness attribute to mask his presence. With Ren''s proficiency in using darkness spells, masking his presence from Alfred was a piece of cake.


    Alfred was about to say something but he felt the scythe passed through him. He was going to escape using his soul but the death scythe was made to specifically reap souls so not even Alfred''s soul was able to survive the attack.


    "That was fun, thank you for the battle." Those were thest words Alfred heard as his soul was reaped.

 Chapter 135 - Fear

    <h4>Chapter 135 - Fear</h4>


    While watching the battle unfold the two holy maidens were shocked and in awe of Ren''s power and skill. As the battle got even more intense Rachel was having a hard time controlling her urge for battle. It was as if her patron God was whispering in her ear, telling her to join in the battle. The urge to battle was so strong that even in a weakened state Rachel wanted to move and enter the fray.


    It took every bit of Rachel''s willpower to stop herself. Joining in a battle like that was suicidal, still, the urge was so strong.


    When the battle was at the climax, the two holy maidens saw the undead elder lich looking like a scared little boy. They weren''t really sure but from a distance, it looked like Alfred was backing away from Ren. It was a weird sight since undead beings do not have any emotions to show. Yet here was an undead being and a high ranking one at that showing fear.


    It was also weird that the Elder Lich never used its most fearsome abilities. [Life Drain] An ability that literally drains your life upon touch. [Mana Drain] Same as Life Drain but with Mana instead. Also, it doesn''t look like Ren was affected by [Death''s aura] an ability that makes people unconsciously fear the Elder Lich.


    While Natasha was thinking about why the Elder Lich wasn''t using its strongest abilities, Alfred started to gather an enormous amount of mana. He then activated a spell that created a mountain of ice. Even at a distance protected by their holy blessings, the two holy maidens felt like their bodies were freezing.


    For a second everyone including them though that Ren was dead, but then they saw the mountain of ice alongside the Elder Lich get sliced in half. Ren managed to win and he did it with such ease.


    The people who were watching the fight, the people that were saved because of Ren''s actions, didn''t cheer, they didn''t rally towards their hero. Instead, they stood rooted in their spots. At this moment they were experiencing a flow of different feelings, different emotions. Most of them felt grateful, but at the same time, they felt severe fear.


    They couldn''t help themselves, Ren was too powerful. If he had a hard time beating the Elder Lich then they would''ve felt that it was just a little bit abnormal. But Ren was able to beat a high ranking undead like he was ying with a child.


    Strength brings about respect and admiration, but too much strength brings about fear and anxiety. It was not like humanity doesn''t have someone on Ren''s level of strength. There were humans as strong as Ren there are even some that are stronger still, and if you look at history there are many more that are stronger than that. Yet what was frightening was that these people that were as strong as Ren, they were old masters or heroes. Ren was too young and was also someone with a normal background. He wasn''t a descendant of a powerful family, he wasn''t a chosen hero of any of the temples, he wasn''t even a summoned hero. He was a random boy that came from a small vige.


    Even his adventurer rank wasn''t high he was just a B rank. Yet here he was doing something that only a group of S rank parties could aplish and he did it by himself. This mismatch was what brought even more fear. They couldn''t understand how Ren was so strong.


    ...


    Lara with her stoic face looked at everyone in disdain, how could they react like this and to the one who saved them no less. They looked like they were even more scared of Ren that protected them, than Alfred the one that tried to kill all of them. Still, it really didn''t matter to her. If Ren told her to she would have killed everyone in Grenton.


    What these people thought of Ren was nothing to her, right now in her eyes the people of Grenton were less than dogs. At least dogs knew how to show appreciation.


    ...


    Valdel who was witnessing the same scene as Lara felt confused as to why no one was cheering. Usually, in the stories, he''s heard, when the hero returns victorious from the battle the town cheers and sings praises for the hero. Yet here was a hero that was not weed withughter and cheers. He was instead weed with fear, Valdel could actually feel some of the people trembling. This was not the heroes wee that Valdel envisioned. This was not the reaction he wanted to see. He wasn''t expecting them to throw a parade but they should''ve at least pped.


    Still, Valdel saw his best friend Ren, the man who was a hero but feared by the people, he didn''t look to be affected by the people''s reactions as he stood still basking in the afterglow of the battle.


    Valdel smiled and thought ''as expected of my best friend.''


    ...


    Iselv who watched the whole fight from a distance was amazed to see how strong Ren truly was. It would seem that his previous estimations of how strong Ren was, wasn''t even close. He felt more confident now that Ren will be able to fulfill his promise to him.


    ...


    Kithra was shivering in excitement as she witnessed Ren in all his glory. This fight proved once and for all that it wasn''t a mistake to join Ren''s side.


    ...


    While everyone was having different thoughts about Ren, the person himself didn''t really care what they thought as he tried to relish in the feeling of victory against a strong opponent. Ren looked up in the sky and felt great joy that he was given this second chance.


    Be it a trick by those Gods, or because of his destiny to fight the Origin, at this moment, it didn''t matter what gave him this chance. All that mattered to him was that at this very moment he was able to relish in victory after a good battle. To Ren, this was the greatest feeling there ever was.


    After a few more minutes Ren finally felt the bacsh from eating the young dragon heart was happening. The violent mana that a dragon possesses that Ren forcefully taken in, was now rampaging inside his body. Even with the help of the Demon horn Ren wasn''t able to stabilize the violent torrent of mana.


    The increase that he gained after eating the young dragon''s heart was slowly fading. But while it was fading it was shing against Ren''s own mana, which might actually decrease his very own mana pool.


    While Ren was trying to control the mana within him, Valdel and Lara approached looking worried.


    "What''s happening to you Ren?" Valdel asked as he and Lara supported Ren.


    "Don''t worry about it. I''m going to be unconscious after a while. When that happens I want you to hide my body and protect it. I''m sure I''ll wake up in about a day or two. But if I wake up immediately and seem to be acting different do not let me out of your sights, and stop me with all your might."


    After telling Valdel and Lara what to do, Ren fell unconscious.

 Chapter 136 - Aftermath of the battle

    <h4>Chapter 136 - Aftermath of the battle</h4>


    A few hours after the battle Hilda finally regained consciousness. As she sat up from the bed, the first thing she saw upon waking up was Valdel''s face.


    "What happened?" After asking Valdel that question memories of before she fainted came back to her. She remembered the moment Ren entered the battle and that she was near death. Hilda looked at her body and saw that there were no wounds on her.


    "What happened?" Hilda once again asked this time really looking confused. Valdel sighed as he told Hilda everything that transpired after she fainted, from how Ren saved her to how Ren defeated Alfred. Once Hilda heard everything Valdel said she immediately stood up. She slipped a bit but Valdel was able to catch her on time.


    "You need to rest," Valdel was guiding Hilda back to bed, but Hilda pushed him aside and started running.


    ...


    The moment Hilda exited the building she noticed that she was in the knight''s barracks which was near the walls. The first thing she heard as she started running towards her home were screams of agony. She could hear people crying, she could see people wailing all around.


    "Where''s my husband? Why isn''t he here? Where did you hide him?"


    "I''m sorry but like I said your husband is gone."


    "That''s not funny! My husband can''t be dead, he promised me! He promised he wille back! He told me that he''lle back!" The woman started to pound the knight''s chest.


    ...


    A little kid was looking around and his mother was holding his hand tightly.


    "Mom, where''s dad? I can''t see him?" Hearing what her son said the mother started crying as she embraced her son.


    "It''s alright mom... Don''t cry, don''t cry." The child didn''t know what to do as his mother cried even harder when he triedforting her.


    ...


    A mother was holding the sword of her son that was handed to her by a knight.


    "You see what happens if you don''t listen to your mother. I told you bing an adventurer will be the death of you... See I told you this would happen... Why didn''t you listen to me..." The mother then started crying as she held onto the sheath of the sword even tighter. It was as if she was holding her actual son.


    She started to remember what her son kept on repeating when he was young.


    "I''ll be an adventurer mom! I''ll be the greatest adventurer there ever was, and once I get rich I''ll buy you thergest house in all of Grenton. I''ll fill that house with lots of servants so you don''t have to work anymore. I''m sure I''ll be one, the greatest of them all!"


    She remembered the smile he showed her full of confidence, full of hope. She worked night and day to buy him this sword and when she gave it to him he happily hugged her.


    "Thanks, mom, with this sword you gave me my adventure begins! This sword will be famous all throughout thend."


    She remembered all those times with him, but now there was nothing left of her son but this sword.


    ...


    Numerous tragedies were unfolding as Hilda ran. Hearing the cries of the people made her even more anxious, as she stumbled about while running. It took her some time but she was finally able to reach her home. Yet the moment she got there she was frozen in ce.


    The door to her house was broken, and she could smell the stench of blood. As Hilda slowly approached the door she was trembling. She wanted to call for her sisters but she was too scared to even open her mouth. As she walked into her house every horrible thing that could possibly have happened shed before her very eyes.


    Each step she made became heavier and heavier. She wanted this all to be a simple nightmare and any moment now she''ll be awoken by her two little sisters. Yet when she reached the door to the basement the stench of blood got even heavier.


    The door to the basement which she reinforced was broken as well. She descended the staircase and the first thing she saw as she lit up the basement was a pool of blood. The moment Hilda saw so much blood she was about to faint, yet she pushed herself and tried her hardest to make her shaking legs move.


    She then saw her mother facing the wall standing up. Her back was full of stab wounds it was amazing that she died standing up. Hilda then saw what her mother was covering. It was her two little sisters. She protected them...


    Hilda quickly dashed towards her two little sisters'' bodies and saw Ka grasping the sword Hilda gave her as she hugged Nina. Upon closer inspection, Hilda saw that Ka actually lost an arm but there was no blood flowing out of the stump, this meant that somebody healed it. The only one inside the house aside from Hilda that could use a cure spell was her mother. She then looked at her dead mother and couldn''t help but tear up.


    "So you were still in there mom... You were able to protect them." Hilda wiped away her tears as she carried her sisters and the body of her dead mother upstairs. She started to clean up her mother''s wounds and when she did she saw that her mother was smiling.


    Hilda then tried waking up her sisters but no matter what she did they wouldn''t wake up. Hilda started to worry again as she checked their bodies and saw no other signs of injuries aside from Ka''s missing hand. They were breathing normally, their hearts were beating, nothing seems out of ce, yet they won''t wake up.


    "Hey Niki, Ka this isn''t funny. Your big sis doesn''t like this joke! You two better wake up before I get angry! Niki! Ka! Wake up! Please wake up!" Hilda shook the bodies of her little sisters, while snot and tears fell from her face. Yet no matter what she did the two wouldn''t wake up.

 Chapter 137 - Plan moving forward

    <h4>Chapter 137 - n moving forward</h4>


    A day has already passed since the attacking undead army was vanquished, but the people were still in anguish for the losses they gained. In the mansion of the Regalcrags sleeping in the master bedroom was Ren. Beside him with her usual stoic expression was Lara watching over him.


    All throughout the night, Ren''s mana was violently pulsating throughout the mansion. Without him suppressing his mana, the whole weight of his overbearing mana was being felt through the whole western district of Grenton. Everyone near the Regalcrags mansion could feel Ren''s mana.


    ...


    Just outside Ren''s room were a bunch of mages trying their hardest to contain Ren''s powerful mana within the room. Galius had ordered them to do so since Ren''s mana could possibly harm the citizens of Grenton with how strong it was.


    Yet no matter how hard they tried they could only suppress it but not contain it in one spot. Though it wasn''t harming anyone outside the mansion, the people within the mansion were quite nervous.


    ...


    Stephan Regalcrag and the elders of the family have gathered in a secret room underneath the mansion. The faces of the elders present were that of worry.


    "So that man is to be our new liege... What do you think of him?" Stephan looked at the others cautiously as he asked his question. The group of elders turned silent for a while.


    "He''s a very powerful individual, I think it was the right decision to follow him." One of the elders told his opinion breaking the silence.


    "Individual power is nothingpared to a united group. Isn''t that the reason why he wanted to gain us and the other fallen nobles as allies?"


    "Did you see him fight that Elder Lich? He doesn''t need the power of a group, he by himself can fight this kingdom into a standstill, and with the current situation with the Serbek Kingdom, he might be able to destroy our kingdom."


    "I think he''s too dangerous an individual to let live. He might be our ally now, but once he chooses to wipe us out he can do so at any time. Not only us but anyone he doesn''t like. I say we kill him while we have th-" Before the elder could finish what he wanted to say his head was cut off.


    The other elders seeing this scene weren''t disturbed as their faces remain calm as ever. The one who had killed the elder was the only one present among them who has the authority to take their heads without a fight. It was none other than Stephan Regalcrag the family head that took his life.


    Stephan who drew his sword ced it back into its scabbard before he spoke.


    "Sir Randolph has stepped out of line, so I killed him. Ren is our liege now, I was not asking what you wanted to do. I was simply asking for your thoughts about him. Telling us to kill our own liege, such a dishonorable thing came into the mind of one of us. He deserved to die... So is there anyone else harboring such ridiculous thoughts? Speak now and I will grant you an honorable death."


    Stephan waited for a minute and when no one responded he continued talking.


    "Very good, since no one responded now, the next time anyone is found out to harbor such thoughts he or she will die in the most dishonorable way. Agreed?"


    "Agreed!" All the elders answered in unison. Stephan saw two elders twitch a bit as they answered. Seeing them do that made him sigh.


    ''Really these old fools, since I was named the weakest head of the Regalcrags they think they can step all over me? Hmph, the moment they slip up I will show no mercy. I''ll just keep an eye out for now... How ridiculous thinking they could deal with Ren. Don''t they remember even now as he sleeps another monster is right beside him.''


    ...


    While the Regalcrags were having their secret meeting, Ren''s mana was finally beginning to stabilize. Its density was increasing but its amount was decreasing a bit. Once it finally finished stabilizing Ren''s eyes opened.


    Lara wasted no time to hug the newly awaken Ren.


    "How many days was I asleep?"


    "One day," Lara parted with Ren and answered with her usual indifference.


    "What of Hilda?"


    "She''s alive..." Lara wanted to tell Ren that Hilda''s current mental state wasn''t right, but she decided that it wasn''t a good thing to say at the moment.


    "I see... Lara can you call Iselv, Kithra, Valdel, and the head of the Regalcrags over." Lara stood up from the chair nodded her head and left the room.


    ...


    A few minutes after Lara left she came back with all the people Ren wanted to see. Seeing as they were all nearby waiting for Ren to wake up it wasn''t really that hard to call them over.


    "You must be the head of the Regalcrags," Ren noticed the new face and spoke, Stephan hearing him being called step forward and knelt.


    "I am Stephan Regalcrag, it is an honor to serve you my liege."


    "You''re better than I expected you to be. I expect great things from you." Ren then signaled Stephan to stand, seeing as he was once the lord of all demons in his past life, Ren''s aura felt regal to the head of the Regalcrags. Stephan stood up and pounded his right hand onto his chest.


    "I will not let you down my liege." Ren nodded in response to Stephan''s enthusiasm.


    "Ok, then, now that everyone I need is here. Let me tell you about my n going forward. Iselve here and stand in front of the group."


    Iselv did as he was told and once he was in position, Ren made a grand gesture and spoke. "Here before you is the missing third prince of the kingdom of Reschbeauch. The son of King Willmot Reschbeauch the warrior king. I dere here before you all, I''m making this man into the new king of Reschbeauch!"


    Ren said all that while showing the same smile he has as he gets excited in battle. Lara was as usual stoic, but everyone else especially Iselv showed a shocked face.

 Chapter 138 - I can’t wait any longer

    <h4>Chapter 138 - I can''t wait any longer</h4>


    As Ren was telling the others about his n to make Iselv king, he was thinking of multiple things.


    ''I didn''t really want to move this fast, but I can''t take it slow anymore. Even if I try controlling the flow of information, somehow, someway news of me destroying an undead army will leak. Also, I guess this is a good time to promote Iselv. People are anxious and they want some sort of hope, Iselv will be that hope. While I''m establishing him as the king, I can also take over the other underworld organizations within the kingdom. Once I have total control, I can smoke out all those powerful individuals within the kingdom. This will also help Valdel go against the will of those that wrote the script. Four birds with one stone.''


    As Ren''s thoughts got deeper and deeper, his smile got wider and wider.


    "How do you know he''s the third prince? Last time, all we knew was he was rted to royalty. When did you get the information that he''s the missing third prince?" Valdel couldn''t help but ask.


    "Well, I don''t know if he''s the third prince."


    "What do you mean you don''t know. You just said that he''s the missing third prince."


    "You see Val, we already know that Iselv is a royal, but with his memory gone we can''t confirm what his real rtionship to the king is, he could be his brother, his cousin, he could even be his uncle. We don''t know and the public doesn''t know as well. Now, all they know is that the third prince is missing and no one aside from the king knows what he looks like. Even the king''s other children don''t know what the third prince looks like. So, it could be entirely possible that Iselv is that missing prince."


    "So you want to lie to the public, and start a coup?" Valdel was struggling to not get angry as he tried to understand what Ren was doing here.


    "I''m doing this for the greater good."


    "The greater good? Killing is for the greater good? Care to exin what you mean?"


    "Yeah, you see Val, right now the people of Grenton have lost a lot. Their fathers, their mothers, their sons, their daughters, their husbands, their wives a lot of people lost someone important to them in this battle. Most of them lost the will to live, and what did the nobles who were tasked to protect them do while their family members were dying? Nothing, that''s what they did. If I didn''te to save them do you think this town would be able to survive? No, this whole town would have been razed to the ground by Alfred and his undead army. I want to change that, I want to give these people something to hope for."


    "Many people will die won''t they?" Valdel could understand a bit of what Ren wanted to do, but the price to pay was too high.


    "Many people die every day Val! They die without meaning, without purpose. In this way, they die for a just cause, for a brighter tomorrow. I won''t deny that people will die in what I''m about to do, that''s what a coup is, but I promise you this Val, once we take over, we''ll be able to do a lot more good. I won''t ask you to trust me on this, I won''t even ask you to help me Val, but I will do this, with or without you. I believe this is the right thing to do." Ren didn''t really believe some of what he said, but he knew this is how to convince Valdel.


    Valdel closed his eyes and remembered all the sorrow he saw throughout Grenton for the past day. He knew that he wasn''t strong enough to change anything, he knew that the hero he wishes to be was still an ideal that was too far away to achieve... But here was his best friend giving him an option to do some good, but one thates with a price.


    Valdel gritted his teeth, he knew that there was nothing he could do and with his current abilities he would once again be helpless. As usual, Ren sounded like he was giving him a choice but in truth, there was only one answer avable.


    "Fine, do as you wish Ren. But I cannot willingly join a n that would harm innocent people. I need time to think... I might find a better way to save as much as I can." After saying what he wanted to say Valdel was about to leave, but he stopped before exiting and without looking back spoke.


    "Are you sure there''s no other way?"


    "This is the only way I know."


    "I see..." Once he said that Valdel left the room. Ren couldn''t help but chuckle as he saw Valdel leave. ''At least he''s trying to think for himself. He just needs a bit more time to think, I''ll give him a bit of a pushter.''


    After Valdel left, Ren began to exin to the people present the next steps to his ns.


    ...


    Valdel was walking around the town and saw numerous sorrowful faces. The once bright town turned into this depressing state. He kept on walking and reached the knight academy. In the distance, he saw a wolf girl running towards him.


    "Master!" It was Kuro the ve girl he saved.


    "Kuro, it''s good to see that you''re alright."


    "Thank you for caring master." Kuro''s tail was wagging happily as she answered. The two then started talking while walking. Kuro exined that Galius ordered the students and their servants to move in groups of six and patrol the town. She was assigned to one of the upperssmen.


    While they were talking Valdel reached his dorm room and upon entering didn''t see Noel and the others. Valdel was confused as to where they went. Most of the other students seem to be resting in the dorm rooms, so why weren''t his friends doing the same?


    Valdel walked out and asked around and when he finally got the answer he couldn''t believe his ears.


    "Noel, Kurt, David, Sarah, and Lisa had formed a team, and they all died while protecting some citizens from the undead knights that got in. They died valiantly like true knights."


    The one who told Valdel this was a teacher, and the moment he heard the answer he shook his head in shock. A pain like no other assaulted Valdel who was now clutching his chest tightly.


    ...


    While Valdel was processing what happened to his new friends, Ren was about to finish exining the next steps of his n.


    "I''m going to cast a spell on you Iselv, which will allow me to talk to you in your mind. Once we gather some townspeople to the square, I want you to say what I tell you, and I want you to say it word per word. I need you to act like a very passionate leader, can you do that?"


    "I''ll try..."


    "There''s no try Iselv, it''s either you can do it or you can''t, so which is it?" Ren approached the bigger Iselv and red at him, which pressured Iselv.


    "I''ll do it!" Hearing the answer he wanted to hear, Ren looked at Stephan.


    "Stephan I want you and all the other fallen nobles to gather as many people as you can to the town square."


    "As you wish my liege." Stephan bowed and left the room.


    "Kithra tell all your men to spread a rumor about the third prince. I want you to concoct a rumor that makes it possible that the third prince has memory loss and ended up here in Grenton. Can you do it?"


    "Of course," Kithra smiled seductively as she answered Ren with a wink, she then left the room leaving only Lara and Iselv with Ren.


    "Now then, Iselv do you have any better clothes?" Iselv was currently wearing a poor man''s tunic.


    "This is the best I got." Hearing Iselv''s answer made Ren frown a bit. ''Hmm, well we can''t find anyone that he can borrow clothes from, considering his size... Oh, I got it!''


    "Iselv changed into the battle armor you were wearing during the battle against the undead army, bring your Warhammer as well. No need to look like a noble, the people don''t need a noble with fancy clothes right now. What the people need now is a warrior that would protect them. Make them feel safe."

 Chapter 139 - Iselv’s speech

    <h4>Chapter 139 - Iselv''s speech</h4>


    The town square was now jammed pack with people. They didn''t know what was happening but the fallen nobles, though no longer nobles were still influential and semi-powerful making people go to where they want to was easy. Also, most of the people were still devastated by their losses and they were unconsciously guided to the town square.


    The people were confused as to what they were doing in the town square and started talking to each other. While everyone was asking what was happening a small portion of people started talking about the third prince that disappeared, that small amount of people made others start to talk about the same thing. A dozen people turned into a hundred and then most of the people present were talking about the missing prince.


    Galius and some of the other people with pretty high positions were present as well. They were curious as to what was happening in the town square. Beside Galius were the two holy maidens, who have temporarily stopped bothering Valdel about bing their chosen hero, as most of their interest was on Ren at the moment. Especially Rachel, the War God Hieus kept on pushing Rachel to turn Ren into the chosen hero of his temple. This was the first person Rachel has met that even the War God she worsh.i.p.s was so intrigued by.


    ...


    Galius who was watching everything unfold was getting a bit anxious. He was the first high official in Grenton that noticed Ren''s talents. He knew that the kid he met back then would do some incredible things, but he didn''t expect him to do it so quickly.


    Even though most people didn''t know that Ren was the one behind this, Galius knew. He knew most of Ren''s movements in Grenton, from how he ruled the underworld, to how he got most of the fallen nobles under his thumb. The worst part was the knowledge of him destroying those that didn''t follow.


    To Galius, Ren was both their savior and their noose. He was dangerous but at the same time, he was someone that they needed. So, for now, Galius decided to simply watch Ren''s movements. Since even if he wanted to do anything he still had no capability to oppose Ren. He first needed to prepare just in case Ren needed to be erased for the good of the kingdom and its citizens.


    ...


    As the crowd was gettingrger andrger, Iselv was getting a bit nervous. Ren smacked his back to hype him up.


    "Don''t worry, there''s no need to be nervous. All you need to do is say everything I say, word per word. You just need to say it in a dignified manner. Tell it like you''re telling them your dreams, your aspirations. Just sound passionate that''s it, that''s all you need to do."


    Iselv gulped as he tried calming his breathing.


    "Alright, Stephan introduce Iselv to the crowd."


    "As you wish my liege." Stephan who was beside Ren bowed his head and stood in the center of the makeshift stage they made using an Earth spell.


    ...


    "PEOPLE OF GRENTON! I PRESENT TO YOU PRINCE ISELV RESCHBEAUCH, THIRD PRINCE OF THE KINGDOM OF RESHBEAUCH!"


    The moment Stephan shouted Iselv''s name everyone''s attention was drawn to the middle fo the town square. Galius was surprised to hear what Stephan said, did Ren actually find the real third prince? Yet the moment he saw who came on stage he was both confused and surprise. The person that came on stage with Warhammer at hand was the bandit king.


    Everyone who saw Iselv started whispering. How was this person that looked more like a barbarian, a prince? Was this a joke? While everyone was talking to each other, Iselv pounded his Warhammer making a loud thud that quieted everyone down.


    "My people, I know that you are confused. To your eyes, I might look like a barbarian from the north. As I am not dress like a noble wearing those fancy robes, you might think I''m truly not a prince. But I am the third prince of Reshbauch! I am the son of the warrior King! I came here in front of you my beloved citizens not as a royal but as a warrior!"


    Iselv wasn''t shouting but his deep sonorous voice sounded verymanding. His words were heard throughout the town.


    "I am here to fight for you, my beloved citizens! I am here to fight for your futures! I know you have lost many loved ones from the recent attack, and who is to me for that?!"


    The people looked at each other confused as to who they can me, and waited to hear what Iselv would say.


    "It is the current system! It is the nobles that have failed you! They who take your hard-earned coin as taxes and promised you safety! Yet were where they as danger approached?! They were the ones who fled first, taking all the coin they could bring!"


    When the people heard this they felt anger and their looks of sadness turn into rage.


    "My knight Ren and I were the ones who have fought for you and saved you from the undead!" Iselv then gestured towards Ren who came up on stage. Someone from within the crowd shouted.


    "Yes! That''s him I saw him kill the Elder Lich!" This was one of Kithra''s men. The people hearing this started talking to each other about this revtion of who saved them.


    "Yes, it was not only my knight Ren and I, who saved you from the crisis. It was your fathers, your sons, your husbands! All of them went straight to battle to protect you! This was without the help of the so-called nobles! So as a prince of the kingdom, I apologize."


    Iselv bowed his head, which surprised most people. Never in their whole lives have they seen a noble bow to them, even more so, it was a prince.


    "With this apology, I also give you a promise, a vow! I Iselv Reshbauch, pledge to you my people that I will give you a chance for a better future! I shall give you back your pride! I as all of you as witnesses, announce here the birth of the free city of New Grenton! I dere independence from the kingdom of Reshbauch!"


    Themon people of Grenton couldn''t understand the implications of what was said, on the other hand, people like Galius knew exactly the implications of what was said.


    "In the new city of Grenton, anyone can be whatever you wish! Everyone will be allowed to study and go to school! No longer would you need to be a noble or a rich merchant to enter school. You can be anything you want, all the privileges nobles had will cease to exist, and everyone will be treated equally! As long as you have the talent for it, it doesn''t matter if you''re born a noble, or amoner you will all be treated fairly! I grant you my beloved citizens'' FREEDOM! I grant you my people new Grenton, where anyone can DREAM!"


    The moment the citizens heard what Iselv said, they all cheered in excitement. They still couldn''t understand everything, but they did understand that the nobles could no longer push them around.


    "ISELV! ISELV! ISELV! ISELV! ISELV!" They all started cheering Iselv''s name and when he raised his Warhammer, just made them cheer even louder. Unknown to all of them the freedom Iselv was talking about had a price.

 Chapter 140 - Bad News

    <h4>Chapter 140 - Bad News</h4>


    Ren hearing the crowd screaming Iselv''s name couldn''t help but chuckle. The speech he just made was a copy of the speech he heard one of the heroes say to his people. It might also be a human king who said it, but he could never remember. To Ren back in the day, all that asked for a fight were treated equally and had the same end, death. So knowing if they were a hero or a king didn''t really matter, to him it was only if they could put up a decent fight or not.


    While Ren was reminiscing about his past life, he saw Galius approaching him. The old knight was walking with a lot of caution in his steps. His form, his aura, everything about him was showing that he was about to fight his final battle. Ren was feeling excited when he saw this. Ever since he saw the old knight back when they first arrived in town, he always wanted to see the real limits of his swordsmanship.


    "Ren it has been a while since west spoke." Once he was in front of Ren, Galius showed a smile simr to how a grandfather smiles at his mischievous grandson.


    "Cut the crap old man. If you want to fight, thene at me with everything you got." Ren who was getting excited by the prospect of a fight summoned the death scythe. Even in the face of Ren''s gushing fighting spirit, Galius remained ever calm.


    "I didn''te here to fight here Ren. I just wanted to talk." Seeing Galius was not drawing his weapon made Ren look a bit disappointed.


    "What do you want to talk about? Tell it quickly." Now knowing that there wasn''t going to be a fight Ren was less motivated to listen to Galius.


    "Are you sure about this?" Ren didn''t need to rify what ''this'' Galius was talking about, as he looked at the old knight with a face saying why ask the obvious.


    "Do you think I''m going to move about if I''m not sure."


    "Then how will you deal with the nobles present in Grenton? I''m sure about half of them have already sent there messengers to the capital. In a few days, the whole army of Reschbeauch will be upon you. In that scenario, are you going to make the citizens fall with you?"


    Ren looked at Galius'' serious expression and couldn''t help but smirk.


    "Like I said, do you think I just did this without thinking? I already sent someone to deal with the messengers. As for the nobles present in Grenton, I already have them under my grasp. Those who didn''t follow, well they''ll find it hard to leave Grenton. I won''t harm them, but they''ll be caged birds until they change their minds. As for the army of Reschbeauch, they''ll only be aware of the situation when the current lord of Grenton doesn''t report, or when some random merchant gossips about. Either way that''ll give me enough time to prepare for the next step."


    After saying a bit of his n to Galius, Ren couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his, as his fighting spirit once again soaring.


    "Even if by some mishap the king or whoever finds out about the situation of New Grenton sends an army to quell the birth of New Grenton, then all I have to do is send them packing. As for the people surely after the incident with the undead army, they''ll fight even harder than ever for this chance to break free from the nobles. Iselv the third prince just gives more legitimacy to this move of mine. Well, it doesn''t really matter no matter what is thrown at me, I will deal with it."


    Galius saw in Ren''s eyes both madness and wisdom mixed together which frightened him a bit. It was like everything was truly within his grasp.


    ...


    While Ren was talking to Galius, Lara was hunting down the messengers the nobles sent out. She was givenmand of thirty men by Kithra. It didn''t take much effort to kill the messengers before they were even able to get a bit further from the city of New Grenton.


    Lara as usual dealt with the problem with efficiency andck of any emotion. Only when she kills does her outer appearance and inner self match. As she was killing she would always repeat to herself, that this was Ren''s n, which means it couldn''t be wrong. She convinced herself that everything that Ren was doing was for the greater good, and as his woman, all she needed to do was follow him.


    Yet deep inside, in a corner of her mind, she had doubts and feared what she was doing. In the corner of her very own heart, she knew that some of the things she did were unforgivable but those were sacrifices that needed to be made. Lara might act aloof, and only care for Ren but deep down she was still just a fourteen-year-old girl.


    After killing thest messenger Lara retreated back to New grenton.


    ...


    The nobles who were in New Grenton were panicking. Even the children in the knight academy who consisted mostly of children of noble families were also confused and anxious about the turn of events. The New Grenton Iselv was proposing lowered the status of nobles into one not abovemoners, but one that was in the same status asmoners. This basically was an announcement of the destruction of the social caste system, and the one who proposed it was someone from the royal family.


    The nobles wanted to fight back and usually even if it was the third prince they would''veined and would even use force if necessary. But unfortunately, they couldn''t do anything to the third prince, since the person who he called his knight was that fearsome being that practically destroyed the undead army singlehandedly.


    Ren the de of death was his knight, none of the nobles in New Grenton had the force needed to even talk equally with Ren. If he wanted to he could wipe out everyone in New Grenton. Little did they know the Ren they witnessed the other day that killed Alfred, wasn''t as strong as he was at that moment. The effects of eating the young dragon''s heart a.k.a the dungeon core was no longer in effect and Ren''s mana output returned back to normal but also slightly stronger.


    Currently, Ren wasn''t even half as strong as he was when he faced Alfred, but nobody, not even Valdel and Lara were aware.


    ...


    After talking with Galius Ren was about to move onto the next phase of his n, but Kithra approached him with a worried look.


    "What is it?"


    "Gregory''s dead!"


    "What happened?!" Ren was shocked it has been more than a month since hest heard of Gregory, and now he hears his dead. That meant that Ren misjudged how strong the marquis that governs his vige was.


    "Wait, how did you know Gregory''s dead?" The moment Ren asked this, Kithra handed Ren a package. Upon opening the package there was Gregory''s head with a note saying, "Here''s your pet mouse."


    "Who sent this!" For a moment, just a single second, Ren''s anger burst out of him. It also took him a second to calm down as he looked at the frightened Kithra.


    "Tell me, who sent this?" Ren who was able to calm down rather quickly asked the frightened Kithra, with a much calmer tone than before.


    "We don''t know..." Ren was about to burst out in anger again but was able to hold it in.


    "You don''t know? We have the whole city under our control, we have men stationed in every exit, I even let Lara patrol the area with you inmand, and you''re telling me you don''t know how the head of a dead assassin entered the city?" Ren''s voice was low and he didn''t shout, but this just made the tense atmosphere even scarier for Kithra.


    She knelt on the ground and bowed her head. "I''m sorry please forgive me!" Kithra the woman called the subus, the witch, and other colorful names was bowing in fear. Ren looked at Kithra for a moment with disdain, then after thinking for a bit, he started tough. Kithra raised her head and saw Ren showing his trademark smile.


    "It would seem that a new yer has joined the game. How exciting! I hope he''s strong, I hope he gives me the satisfaction of a good battle! Just after Alfred, another strong enemy appears! This is exhrating!"

 Chapter 141 - Save them please

    <h4>Chapter 141 - Save them please</h4>


    After hearing about Gregory''s death, Ren decided that he needed to reassess his findings of the marquis that governs the territory where his vige resides. Last time when he gathered information about the marquis he only knew the name and the rumors about him. The marquis was supposedly called Harold with the family name Resteti. It was reported that their family started from being mercenaries that helped the kingdom turn into what it was today. The first king of Reschbauch gave the patriarch of the family at the time the noble rank of Marquis and even granted them an exclusive right.


    They had the right to assign a new king if the current king was found to becking. Yet this special right of theirs was revoked by the seventh king of Reschbauch. Since at that time the head of the Resteti family was full of ambition and wanted the throne for himself. Before he was able to initiate his coup the other warrior families of the time suppressed them. Even though what they did was treason of the highest order, the seventh king pardoned the Restetis, because of all their past aplishments.


    The military might of the Resteti family at the time was an equal match to the entirety of the kingdom''s force. With their might, they had protected the kingdom countless times, and they have even helped the kingdom conquer a fewnds. With these kinds of aplishments, they were pardoned, but all their special rights have been revoked. They were also forced to send half of the men in their family to the capital as hostages, where they are treated as ves to the royal family.


    From then on, the Resteti family slowly fell from grace. From the fearsome mercenary group that helped the first king create the kingdom of Reschbauch, into a family rumored to be full of degenerates. It is said the current head was someone who kidnaps beautiful maidens in his territory and r*pes them. There are other rumors that the current Resteti family has zero warriors left, and they were all corrupt people.


    Now after receiving this message from them, Ren knew that all those rumors about the Resteti''s were most likely false or simply half-truths. It was obvious that they weren''t the degenerates that the rumors im them to be. They must be nning something huge that they''ve been hiding in infamy for generations. Yet why show their hand now? This was the question that was bugging Ren.


    "Kithra hire some adventurers from the neighboring cities for a long term job. ce them at the recently made base we have near Carto Vige. I want them to protect the vige for the duration of six months. Give them triple the normal pay, and tell them any misconduct will be met with the a sword to their neck. Use my name, I''m sure by now some of the adventurers know of my infamy in the underworld."


    "As you wish."


    "Oh, also increase the pay on rumors people hear about the Resteti family. If any new information is gained, I want you to tell me immediately."


    "It will be done." Seeing that Ren wasn''t going to say anything more Kithra bowed her head and left.


    ''Hmm, things are about to get interesting.'' While thinking that, Ren decided to check on Hilda.


    ...


    After asking around it wasn''t hard for Ren to find Hilda''s home. When he arrived he, of course, noticed the broken door. He could pretty much guess what happened here, as he slowly approached Hilda''s home.


    Upon entering the house, Ren saw Hilda holding the hands of two little girls. Beside them was the dead body of an olderdy.


    "Hilda?" Ren who went near saw that Hilda was in a trance-like state, where she was unable to perceive him. She was mumbling something as she held the hands of the two little girls tightly. Ren came a bit closer and heard what Hilda was mumbling.


    "It''s going to be alright, I''m here now. Please wake up, your big sis is here now." Hilda kept on repeating those words over and over again.


    ''Hmph, was I wrong about her? The first time I saw her, I was sure she was going to be a maiden of steel. But now I see she wasn''t one...'' Ren clicked his tongue as he saw what happened to Hilda which irritated him for some reason.


    "Hilda Kirche!" Ren couldn''t hold it in anymore and shouted at Hilda, but there was no response. He then picked her up by the cor and lifted her into the air.


    Hilda then looked at Ren with eyes that showed nothing but emptiness. The pride that sparkled within those eyes no longer present. This just made Ren even more enraged.


    "Hilda Kirche! I do not know what happened here, and I do not care! But showing me such an unsightly demeanor is unforgivable!" Ren knew what he was saying doesn''t make sense, but even though he couldn''t understand why he was so irritated, he allowed his irritation to take over.


    Hilda even though she saw Ren being angry at her remained unresponsive. Ren then tossed her aside and summoned his scythe.


    ''Oh, that''s right... There was that option. I see I can finally rest...'' Hilda who saw Ren summon his weapon knew that for some reason she pissed Ren off, and he was about to kill her. That''s what she thought, but the next thing Ren did surprised her.


    "Hmph, you''re acting like you''re dead even though you still breathe. Then I guess I better send you to the next life, and so that you won''t be lonely I''ll send them with you. They won''t be able to survive without you anyway."


    Ren then raised his scythe and was about to cleave Hilda''s little sisters. When Hilda saw this she roared as she dashed forward and blocked Ren''s attack. She then red at Ren as she used her hands to catch the death scythe.


    The killing intent she exhibited and the anger in her eyes, made Ren smile joyfully.


    "You see that! I knew you weren''t dead yet!" Ren then kicked Hilda''s abdomen pushing her away. She then hit the wall. As she was about to rush at Ren again, she saw Ren holding both of her little sisters'' necks.


    "Don''t you dare touch them!" Hilda was about to attack in a rage but was stopped by what Ren said next.


    "Oh, this is interesting, these two are under a curse. A very powerful one at that." Ren studied the flow of mana that was invading the two little girls. It was a very interesting spell that he has never seen before, but based on its characteristics Ren knew that it was some kind of curse.


    Hilda who was pleasantly surprised to know Ren knew something about what happened to her little sisters, approached him. She held onto his hand and with a shaky voice asked, "can you save my little sisters? If you can, please save them! I will do anything you want if you save them. I will give you, my everything!" Hilda spoke beggingly as she held tightly onto Ren''s hand.


    Moments ago she was trying to kill him, but now she was asking for help, the absurdity of the scene made Ren chuckle a bit. He then looked at Hilda''s eyes and saw the empty expression she had minutes ago, was reced with hope.


    ''How interesting... It''s so easy to change her despair into hope, and it will be easy for me to change that hope back into despair.''


    "Fine, then I ept your offer. If you grant me your heart, body, and soul, then I have no problem saving your sisters."

 Chapter 142 - The Curse

    <h4>Chapter 142 - The Curse</h4>


    Hilda looked at Ren and saw him smiling that smile of his. It irritated her and at the same timeforted her to see that smile. The arrogance of this man still irritated her to no end, but it also reassured her and made her feel that as long as it was him everything will be alright.


    Also truthfully speaking after hanging out with Ren for a bit, Hilda didn''t really hate the guy, in fact among all the men she knew, this was the first time she was so interested to know more about a man.


    "I agree if you''re able to save my sisters I will give you my everything. My heart, my body, and my soul are all yours."


    Hearing Hilda''s response Ren''s smile grew wider. "Then the deal has been made. Now let''s see what we have here."


    Ren held one of Hilda''s little sisters in a cradle position as he tried to see what kind of things the curse was doing to them. Ren started to circte his mana into Ka the older of the two.


    ''Hmm, this is interesting. The curse is supposed to put these children into a frenzied state, killing everyone on sight. Then why are they sleeping?... Oh, someone used a sleeping spell on them, this might''ve been done to suppress the curse. They''ll be sleeping for an indefinite amount of time, the only way to wake them up is by breaking the sleeping spell ced on them, but if I do that they''ll wake up and the curse will take full effect and they''ll try to kill me and Hilda.


    After gaining his initial findings, Ren told Hilda the current situation of the girls. When Hilda heard that someone used a sleeping spell on her little sisters to protect them, she unconsciously looked at the body of her dead mother.


    Ren looked at the same ce Hilda was looking at and put the pieces together. He then got a bit curious and checked the body of Hilda''s dead mother as well. Ren was surprised to see that Hilda''s mother was cursed as well. But unlike the two girls curse which was recent, Hilda''s mother''s curse has been around for years. It would seem like she forcefully broke free of the curse a few minutes before her death.


    "Did you know your mother has been cursed for a few years now?" When Hilda heard what Ren said she had her mouth from hanging open in shock.


    "What did you say?" Hilda couldn''t believe her ears and wanted to confirm what she just heard.


    "I said that your mother over here has been cursed. Even though she''s dead and had broken free using her own will, I can still sense a tiny portion of the curse lingering. This means she has been cursed for some time, seeing as once you get released from a curse its presence disappears entirely. The only reason I could think of, as to why I''m still feeling its presence of the curse is because of how long the curse has been attached to your mother."


    Hilda clenched her fist, as she heard her heart pounding faster and faster. She felt her body tremble a bit, as she gulped and asked, "what kind of curse was my mother under?"


    Ren felt that there was something more going on based on Hilda''s reaction, but he decided not to bother about it. He then looked at Hilda''s mother one more time.


    "She''s been under three types of curses. The first one was a curse that makes her mute. The second curse drains her of her mana continuously making her unable to regain any lost mana. Thest curse made her remain in a dream-like state, where she''s supposedly unaware of her surroundings, and could only see whatever the one who cursed her wanted her to see."


    When Hilda heard the answer to her question, she bit her lip until it started to bleed. She could no longer stop herself from tearing up. She felt an excruciating pain in her chest that made her want to vomit.


    Her mother that she both hated and loved, was actually in that state for all these years and she never noticed. She kept on saying bad things to her, but it turns out she was the worthless one. Not only was she unable to protect her little sisters, but she was unable to notice her mother''s condition.


    Unable to hold it in any longer, Hilda started to scream.


    "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Hilda screamed her heart and soul out, as tears fell from her beautiful face.


    Ren was shocked by this sudden reaction to what he said. In the end, he simply chalked up this reaction as something humans do because of their varied emotions. If it was back then he would never understand this, but now as he has been a human for quite some time he was able to empathize with her plight. He still couldn''t grasp the concept fully, but he somehow understood what Hilda must be going through. He then continued his probing on Ka''s body to see if he could remove the curse from her and Nina, he did this while he waited for Hilda to calm down.


    ...


    Hilda who was screaming knelt in front of her mother''s body. She could now truly understand why her mother was showing such a content smile in the end. How frustrated her mother must''ve been when she couldn''t do anything even though she wanted to, and how relieved she must''ve been when she was finally able to do what she wanted.


    "I''m so sorry, mom... I''m sorry for being a worthless daughter!" As Hilda was apologizing she suddenly remembered her mother''s smiling face, back when her father was still alive. It was at that moment Hilda heard someone whisper in her ears.


    "It''s alright my little one, be strong... I love you." Hilda was surprised and looked at her mother''s unmoving body.


    Ren was surprised as well, he didn''t hear the words that were spoken, but he felt a weird cold sensation. There was a power that suddenly flowed into the house, it wasn''t mana nor Spirit Aura it was something new. As he was wondering what that power was, he saw Hilda stand up, wiped away her tears and bowed in front of her mother. She then looked at Ren with more resolve than he has ever seen from her.


    "I''m sorry about my sudden outburst, but I''m alright now." Seeing her sudden change made Ren''s lips slightly curve upward.


    ''As usual, humans can change what they feel with the drop of a hat. Despair can turn to hope, courage can turn to cowardice, joy can instantly turn to sadness.''


    "No problem, I actually like the look you have right now. Well, let''s get back on topic. After checking on the curse your little sisters'' have, I can think of only two options on how to save them. Option one, I wake them up and we hope that they can break the curse on their own. While this is happening I will help you detain them so that they won''t kill others, but this process might take a very long time. A good example is your mother who took years to break her curse. The second option is more direct. We figure out who put the curse on your sisters and convince him to lift the curse, or we could do the hidden third optiong and kill him. Once the caster of this kind of curse is gone, there''s a fifty-fifty chance that the curse would break."

 Chapter 143 - The day her father died

    <h4>Chapter 143 - The day her father died</h4>


    Hilda''s facial expression turned stoic the moment she heard that they needed to find the person responsible for cing a curse on her little sisters, she was also sure that this person was also responsible for her mother''s curse. When she realized that fact, she couldn''t restrain her anger as her bloodlust filled the room.


    The heavy feeling of bloodlust was so great that if any normal person was inside the room with Hilda they would''ve puked already. Even the most courageous of people would have shivered in fear of such overwhelming bloodlust. Yet Ren who was with Hilda didn''t even flinch in the face of such bone-chilling bloodlust. To him, this level of bloodlust could only be regarded as a gentle breeze.


    ''Becuase of him, my mom is dead! Because of him, my little sisters are in this state! Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. I need to kill him!''


    Hilda''s mind was being filled with thoughts of killing the person who did this. She was now starting to me the person who cursed her family members with every misfortune she had. She pushed the me on that mysterious person without knowing the reason why. She was starting to believe everything bad that has happened to her was because of that person.


    "So what do you want to do?" Even though Ren already knew what Hilda''s answer will be, he still asked the question with a smile on his face.


    "We kill him!" Hilda answered the question with a tone that could make one''s soul freeze over. Even though she knew that killing the enemy will only give them a fifty-fifty chance of breaking the curse, Hilda didn''t care she just wanted to kill the person responsible for all this. She might be telling herself that she was doing this for her family, but in truth, she was doing this for herself. She knew that but she could no longer stop her anger from consuming her reason.


    "Alright then, now that you picked that option. We first need to find the person who did this. So we need to gather information. Tell me how did your father die?"


    Hilda whose hatred was growing by the minute was surprised by Ren mentioning her father. It was like someone sshed cold water in her face. She was not expecting Ren to ask such a question, which led to her bloodlust slowly diminishing due to her surprise.


    "What does my father''s death have anything to do with this?"


    "His death might actually be the reason for all of this. So tell me how did he die?"


    Hilda didn''t want to answer this question since even after all these years she still felt horrible remembering that day. But seeing Ren''s serious expression she knew that she had no choice but to answer.


    "My father was killed by bandits as he was returning home from the Capital."


    "Bandits?... That''s weird, tell me what was the noble rank given to your father?"


    "My father was a Viscount."


    "Oh, that''s interesting, being a Viscount shouldn''t your father have sufficient amount of men to protect him? So, how was he killed by bandits?"


    "My father was a swordmaster and he believed that he could handle the trip to the capital by himself. Well, he also brought two knights to protect him. One of the two knights survived and he was the one who reported the death of my father and the other knight."


    "Wait a minute, everything you''re telling me sounds weird. Didn''t you find it strange that a bunch of normal bandits was able to takedown a swordmaster that had two fully equipped knights with him? Actually, if they were able to deal with your father, howe that one knight was able to survive and leave? Surely you thought that this was weird, right?"


    "Of course I doubted this story! But because of that knight''s testimony, no further investigations were done. That knight was supposedly one full of honor and his word was like gold. When I became an A rank adventurer, I tried to find that knight only to learn that he killed himself because of the guilt he felt being the only one to survive that day. After that, I had no choice but to believe what he said. Surely someone that was filled with so much guilt that he killed himself after, was worth believing, right?"


    Hearing Hilda''s exnation made Ren shake his head and sigh.


    "How naive, Hilda, how very naive. Didn''t it ur to you that it was possible that someone killed the knight and made it look like a suicide?"


    Hilda was shaken to her core when he heard what Ren said. He was right, it didn''t even ur to her, to think that someone would kill that knight. Still, killing a knight and making it look like a suicide attempt was easier said than done. She only knew a few people capable of such a feat, Gregory was one of them, and another was standing right in front of her.


    "That knight was most probably killed because of some sort of information he had. He most likely knew something that someone else didn''t want to be leaked. Tell me, Hilda, why did your father go to the capital that day?"


    Hearing Ren''s question Hilda tried to remember everything she could about the day before her father left for the capital. It was a bit hard to remember seeing as quite some time has passed since then.


    "Hmmm, he didn''t really say anything about why he... Wait, I think I remember something... I remember him telling me that he was going to meet a friend of his at the capital. He told me that he was going to buy me a souvenir after meeting this friend of his. Also, before he left I remember hearing him tell my mom, that once he returns it was possible that he might rise in rank and be a Count. He never did say how he was going to raise his rank, nor did he say who this friend he was visiting was."


    "Is that all you remember, is there nothing else?"


    "It''s been so long, and I actively tried to forget anything rted to that day. So it''s pretty hard for me to remember anything, but I''m kind of sure that''s all of it."


    "How about the day your mother turned mute. I''m sure it was on that day your mother received her curse, when and how did it happen?"


    "The day my mom stopped talking was on the same day that the knight told us the news of my father''s death. After he told us of father''s death mom suddenly fainted and when she woke up, she became something akin to a lifeless doll."


    "Aside from the knight was there anyone else there on that day?"


    Hilda tried her hardest to remember that day, but it felt like something was stopping her from remembering. As she continued to think as hard as she could, she suddenly remembered that there was indeed another person there on that day.


    When Hilda remembered a bit about that person she couldn''t help but shake uncontrobly. She remembered that creepy smile that person had as he stood behind the knight. Also, that person was someone Hilda knew, he was someone that was here in town. That person Hilda remembered was someone who she greets every day.


    When Hilda came to this realization she couldn''t believe it. Why did she forget that he was there on that day? Why does she only have fond memories of him? The answer to her question came crashing down on her. Her mind was being manipted but then another question arose, since when? Was it on that day the knight reported her father''s death or was it even beyond that point?


    "Was there someone else?" Ren who saw Hilda''s shocked expression knew that she had the answer he wanted, so he asked once again since it didn''t seem like Hilda would wake up from her shocked state. Hearing Ren''s voice woke up Hilda from her current state. She couldn''t understand why she was so scared, but she still answered Ren''s question.


    "Yes, behind the knight who reported how my father died. The creepy old man that sells fish at the corner of this street was there as well. I don''t know why, but for some reason, I can''t remember his face properly, even though I see him every day."

 Chapter 144 - Hidden Enemies

    <h4>Chapter 144 - Hidden Enemies</h4>


    "Let''s go meet that old man. Show me were he is, and I''ll determine if he''s the one who ced the curse on your siblings." After telling Hilda what he was nning to do next, Ren was about to exit the house but stopped.


    "Why aren''t you moving? I told you to show me where that old man is." Ren looked at Hilda with confusion in his face, as the person in question was simply standing in her spot unmoving. Upon closer inspection, Ren noticed that Hilda was trembling.


    "Are you perhaps scared?" Ren couldn''t understand why she would be feeling that way, but based on her reaction that was the only thing he could think of, that was happening to Hilda.


    "I''m not scared!" Hilda suddenly shouted as she red at Ren. She then stomped her feet forward. She quickly passed by Ren, her body still slightly trembling. Ren seeing her move on ahead with that angry yet blushing expression of hers made him chuckle a bit before following after her.


    Hilda walked straight ahead and when she was near the corner of the street she stopped, her body started to tremble even more, but this time it was a visible action. Ren then walked ahead of her and saw that she was trying her hardest not to cry.


    "So where''s the old man?" Hilda didn''t say anything and pointed at an empty stall at the very corner of the street. Ren came closer and checked on the stall. After checking the stall and asking the surrounding people about the person who was using it, the people Ren asked all answered the same thing they can''t remember who was using the stall.


    ''He manipted everyone''s minds and erased any memory of himself. Only people with higher mental resistance like Hilda could somehow retain a bit of memory about him. What an interesting guy. Hmmm?''


    Ren who felt a flicker of mana directed at him looked at the direction where he felt the mana fluctuation but saw no one. In fact, that feeling of mana being directed at him disappeared as quickly as he felt it.


    ''Was that my imagination, or perhaps?... I see another one of those assassin types, and this one is a bit trickier than Gregory. An assassin that uses curses how troublesome.'' Even though Ren was thinking that things were getting troublesome, his expression that was smiling ever viciously was saying otherwise.


    ''So many rats inside my territory, I better flush them out all at once.''


    ...


    In an empty alleyway, an old man was panting heavily as he stopped running to take a breather. The old man''s body was sweating profusely as he was gasping for air. If Hilda saw the old man, she would immediately identify him as the old man that was with the knight on that fateful day.


    The old man who was breathing heavily clenched his chest.


    ''What the f*ck was that! That guy can''t possibly be human! That was a freaking monster in human skin!'' The old man couldn''t control himself from shivering in fear as he recalled the moment Ren almost spotted him.


    ''I was just going to probe him to see if all the rumors about him were true... But what was with that mana! I just poked at it a bit and it felt like his mana would devour me whole! He was even able to sense my presence and the moment he did he was ready to cut off my head.''


    The old man remembered the moment Ren looked directly at him, at that very moment it felt like his head was about to separate from his body. It was also at that very moment every fiber of his being screamed at him telling him to escape. The old man knew that Ren wasn''t able to see him, but for some reason when he saw Ren''s eyes it was like Ren was looking at a dead man.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, the old man quickly hid his presence again and fled the scene. He without using any mana so that he won''t alert Ren started running as fast as he physically could. Once he was able to calm down a bit the old man pinched the side of his neck and removed his skin. It turns out he was simply wearing a mask and beneath that mask was a very younger man inparison to the older man character he was acting out to be.


    The young man was around histe twenties and his face was something that could blend in easily in a crowd, he wasn''t ugly but he wasn''t handsome either. His face was only slightly more handsome than Ren''s face. His physique was also quite skinny and his presence was almost nonexistent.


    Once the young man removed the mask he was wearing felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He felt a bit more safe, as Ren and Hilda didn''t know what he truly looked like so it would be harder for them to locate him. The young man really wanted to escape from New Grenton at this very second, but he knew the moment he did that would spell his death.


    He needed toy low for a few weeks or maybe months to lessen Ren''s vignce. If he messes up even a tiny bit he would die in the most gruesome way possible. Every time he remembered that look of Ren''s he couldn''t help but think of the worse possible oue.


    ''I f*cking thought this was going to be an easy job! Not only did his wife prove to be hard to deal with, but even his eldest daughter was also such a nuisance. Damn it! Howe she knows such a monster! If he wasn''t here, this job would''ve been over and done with. The pay for this f*cking job is not worth risking myself against that monster.''


    The young man kept onining to himself as he blended into the crowd of people. He didn''t notice that someone was watching him from the rooftops.


    ...


    "Such a boring y... Still, I wonder what kind of act the so called bearer of the strongest soul will show. Is he truly worth all the effort and love my master is showering him with?" The hooded man sighed as he suddenly disappeared from view.

 Chapter 145 - Valdel’s contemplation

    <h4>Chapter 145 - Valdel''s contemtion</h4>


    While Ren and Hilda were nning how to flush out the assassin that uses curses, Valdel was in his dorm room feeling lost. Zwei and Nika tried consoling their master, but Valdel blocked their mental link. This move of his was an indirect order from their master to leave him alone. As beings that were in a master-servant contract with Valdel, the two decided to stop bothering their master and simply watch as events unfold.


    Kuro also tried to console Valdel, but she was ignored by Valdel he didn''t even bother looking at her. Knowing that no matter what she did she wouldn''t be able to get through Valdel in his current state, Kuro decided to find Valdel''s allies. She remembered her master had two people that might help him in this situation, the stoic woman and the scary smiling guy. Those two especially the scary smiling guy were really famous right now, so it would be easy to find them if she asks around.


    Kuro needed one of them to talk to Valdel who was acting this way. She informed Valdel of what she was about to do, but like before Valdelpletely ignored her.


    ...


    Valdel was sitting on his bed at the dorm room assigned to him and the others. His new school friends that he met recently, were supposed to be here with him, but the room was now empty would only him present. It was just a few days ago they were still here, happily chatting with him, full of life, and full of dreams.


    Valdel clenched his fist while gnashing his teeth, he felt pain and sorrow flood his senses. He felt his heart aching, screaming at him. He felt powerless, more powerless than he ever felt before. More than any of that Valdel felt disgusted at himself.


    When Valdel saw the citizens of new Grenton mourning their dead, he felt sympathetic but in a corner of his heart, he felt relieved that the lives that were lost only amounted to this much. If they had lost then everyone in Grenton would''ve died. Even though he kept on saying that he wanted to save everyone and keep everyone''s smiling faces, somewhere inside of him he knew that wish of his wasn''t possible. Yet the moment he heard that his friends have died, he for a fraction of a second had a thought pass through his mind, ''Why was it them?''


    That single thought, that selfish thought of his made Valdel question if he was truly worthy of bing a hero. He was full of hope and dreams of bing a hero, that could save everyone. It sounded nice to hear such a dream, but in the end, was he simply chasing an ideal that was nearly impossible to gain? Since unlike his friend Ren, he didn''t have the strength, the resources, the intelligence to reach that dream of his.


    ''These hands couldn''t even save people who are close to me... How am I supposed to save others... No... I could not save anyone, not the people who were right in front of me, nor the friends that I have gained, I could not even save myself from despair.''


    "In the end, was I..." Valdel punched his face in anger as he was about to say something that he should never say. He could practically hear Ren''s mocking voice, telling him, "is that it? Is that all your dream meant to you?"


    "What the hell am I doing!" Valdel stood up and started to bang his head onto the rock-solid floor, he kept on banging his head on the floor, until the floor had some cracks on it.


    ''Am I really this weak?! Is my heart still so fragile?! I already swore on that day that no matter what, even if the path was full of thorns, I promised myself I would move forward, always onward until I achieve my dream!''


    He then remembered what he and Ren were talking about a while ago. Ren told him that he was trying to save as much as he could with as little sacrifice as possible. Valdel with his naivete thought he could find a way to save everyone without sacrificing anything.


    ''In the end, I''m just a hypocrite... But nothing will change if I keep on moping around!'' Valdel stood up and left the academy, trying to clear his head. While he was walking he tried to reassess Ren''s n. Even though his best friend didn''t tell him his whole n, Valdel had a rough guess as to what some of Ren''s ns going forward were going to be.


    ...


    As he was thinking about what he should do next, Valdel noticed someone weird among the crowd of people. Even though at first nce the person looked rather normal, and was like Valdel just another person simply walking around town. Valdel still found the person''s behavior rather odd, he wasn''t really sure why that person was odd Valdel simply had this feeling that something was off about that person, which made him look at the person more intently.


    The person in question was the assassin, Ren was trying to flush out. The assassin noticed Valdel was looking directly at him. He knew that this person was part of Ren''s circle of friends which made the assassin feel very ufortable. He tried his hardest to remain calm as he continued to move naturally among the crowd.


    ''Did he figure out who I am? No, if he did he would''ve captured me already.'' The assassin was feeling his back sweating as he tried to calmly and naturally move farther away from Valdel. Once he got to the corner of the street he wanted to sprint away, but that would raise Valdel''s suspicion of him, so the assassin decided that he needed to find a ce where he couldy low for a while.


    He couldn''t return to his house in New Grenton since Ren would most probably have someone watching the ce. He then decided to hypnotize someone into taking him in. The moment Valdel stops following him around, the assassin decided to hypnotize the first person he saw.


    ...


    The assassin entered a pub to have a meal, and Valdel followed. Surely Valdel would get bored stalking him if he sees that he wasn''t doing anything suspicious. While the assassin was eating his meal, Valdel was about to leave, but then Kuro, Ren, and Hilda entered the pub.


    ''What the f*ck?! Did someone put a f*cking curse on me?!'' The assassin that uses curses screamed in his mind.

 Chapter 146 - Cornered

    <h4>Chapter 146 - Cornered</h4>


    The curse assassin was feeling extremely pressured as he saw Ren''s group enter the pub. It wasn''t just him that looked agitated, even the other patrons were looking a bit agitated as well. Turns out this pub was a ce frequented by small-time criminals that weren''t part of Iselv''s group. They were some normal patrons as well, they too were looking at Ren but not for the same reason as the criminals, they were looking at him because Ren was famous, and some of them have witnessed his fight against the elder lich.


    The noisy pub suddenly turned silent as they all looked at Ren. Seeing that all the attention was on him, Ren smiled at the surrounding people and spoke.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to disturb everyone''s meal. I''m just here to talk to a friend of mine, so all of you can go back to what you were doing. Oh, also in celebration for the creation of New Grenton, Drinks are on me!"


    "YEAH!" The patrons suddenly loosened up when Ren said he was paying for the drinks. Ren then passed a bag of gold to a waitress and told her to give the patrons as much they can drink. Once everyone had a beer at hand, they raised their mugs and shouted.


    "TO NEW GRENTON!" Then the silent atmosphere suddenly turned noisy once more. The assassin joined in the fun and acted natural. He also stopped looking at Ren and his group as he concentrated on eating.


    He had no choice but to stay, if he left at this moment he would garner the attention of everyone in the pub. Even if he doesn''t do anything Valdel for some reason was already suspicious of him. So his only chance now was to hope that they would leave him alone. He needed to act like them being here was a bit surprising but not something that affected him too much. Usually, it wasn''t that hard for him to act, but because of the pressure he was receiving from Ren''s presence, he was having a hard time.


    Still, he did his best and tried to act as natural as possible, and after a few seconds of eating, the assassin was feeling extreme pressure just from trying to lift his spoon. When he was about to put the spoon into his mouth, he noticed that someone suddenly appeared in front of him.


    "Hey, is this seat free?" The moment the assassin heard this voice, it felt like the world around him turned silent and only his heart beating could be heard. He started sweating profusely as he tried his hardest not to show his anxiety. Time seems to stop when he heard this voice as felt like death was standing right beside him, this was usually just a simple expression, but right now the truth was, death was really standing right in front of him. He then calmly raised his head and as expected Ren was there smiling at him. The assassin felt parched as he licked his lips before answering.


    "Yeah that seat is free, you can sit there if you want to." That was all he could say as naturally as possible before he continued to eat. He was acting like everything was alright, but inside he was panicking. He could feel his stomach crunching in pain as he wanted to puke at this very moment. This was to be expected cause right in front of him was the monster that could beat something like an elder lich with a smile on his face.


    The assassin really wanted to excuse himself and run away as far as possible, but he couldn''t. Right now he needed to eat his meal and finish it alongside his drink, even though he couldn''t stand it anymore and every bite just makes him want to vomit more.


    It would be simplicity itself for Ren to separate his head from his body. That was if Ren was feeling merciful, it was entirely possible that he would be tortured. Even while thinking about all these things, the assassin tried his very best to remain calm as he ate his meal. It was at that moment Ren spoke again.


    "So, I just wanted to ask what do you think of the idea of New Grenton? A kingdom that will help themoners rise from their positions, a kingdom where you can be anything you want to be."


    "It sounds like a dream... I hope that it can be a reality. Though for me, I just wish that I can have enough pay to live for the next day." The assassin answered in a way that made him seem like a normal citizen of Grenton. Yet what Ren said next sent chills down his spine.


    "Of course it can be a reality, but as for your dream well that depends on you." Ren didn''t say anything out of ce, but the way he said it made the assassin unconsciously tremble. He then saw Ren showing a smile that made the assassin even more scared.


    "I guess it is... Thank you for the free drinks, but I need to go now." The assassin was about to stand up and leave, but then he was assaulted by an invisible force that made him unable to stand. He then once again felt Ren''s killing intent directed at him.


    It was at that moment the assassin knew that it was all over. He knew that even if he tried his best he couldn''t match up with the monster sitting in front of him. If he were a normal first-grade assassin, he would''ve tried to kill himself the moment he knew he couldn''t escape. But he wasn''t that kind of person, he was a coward that only wanted some easy money to live his life in luxury.


    Ren showed his vicious smile at the assassin, and with a gentle voice spoke to him.


    "Now, now, isn''t it too early for you to leave? How about you drink some more. Since I have a lot of things that I want to talk to with you about Mr. Assassin."

 Chapter 147 - Choose the way you want to die

    <h4>Chapter 147 - Choose the way you want to die</h4>


    Hearing what Ren said the assassin felt all the blood in his body turn cold. Still, he acted like he was confused, hoping that Ren was simply probing him and didn''t really know who he was.


    "Sorry sir, I don''t understand what you''re talking about. I think you have me confused for someone else. I''m just a normal merchant if you want I can show you my papers, proving my vocation. Even if you check and ask around you''ll only get the same answer." The assassin said acting concerned and confused. He did create a fake persona when he entered the city and he did it with his actual face, just in case he needed it. So now he felt good that he prepared for this eventuality.


    "Oh, a merchant... What do you sell I''m quite curious? Is it fish perhaps?" Ren spoke with a smirk on his face. He was clearly taunting the assassin.


    "No, what I sell are talismans for good luck. I also sell an assortment of charms that range from childbirth to finding a lover." The assassin wasn''t baited by Ren''s taunt and continued to act oblivious to his situation.


    "Talismans for good luck, are you kidding me? An assortment of charms? That''s hrious, if you did this on purpose, I might even think you have what it takes to be a clown." Ren couldn''t help himself as heughed heartily while drinking his mug of beer. He found the whole situation truly hrious. Even though he was a cornered rat the assassin still tried to trick him.


    "I really don''t know what you want from me?! PLEASE-" The assassin was about to shout as loud as he can to get the attention of the other patrons and make a scene. But before he could do anything, Ren''s killing intent made him swallow the words he was about to say. Just being in front of such bloodlust made him feel like he was drowning. He couldn''t even open his mouth as he trembled.


    "You see, Mr. assassin, right now I''m trying to get a better reputation amongst the citizens. But if you keep on forcing me then I can drag you out of here and hand you over to mypanion over there."


    Ren pointed at Hilda who was sitting with Valdel watching them talk. She was still, unaware of the who Ren was talking to, as she obediently waited for Ren to finish his talk. If she finds out this was the assassin that was responsible for all her misfortune she would have raged.


    "You see right now, the only reason you''re alive is because I''m interested in the one who hired you. Also, there''s no use lying to me about your identity. If you were in hiding and were far from me, you might have had a little chance to elude me. But as you are right so close to me, I can sense your mana that has the same mana fluctuation of the person that tried to probe me."


    ''What the hell?! Does that mean he can differentiate people by their mana? That means no disguise will work on this guy...'' The assassin gulped dryly learning this new fact.


    "If I tell you who hired me, will you let me go?" When the assassin saw Ren''s reaction he immediately added, "I will also remove the curse I ced on the children. If you kill me they will forever be under the curse."


    The assassin used thest hand he could y in this situation. It was the truth that he was the only one able to remove the curse from the girls, and if he died the curse will remain. But for some reason, he still felt ufortable.


    Ren chuckled again as he got another mug and chugged it.


    "I think there''s a misunderstanding happening here. We''re not having a negotiation, and no matter what you say you''ll die today. I''m just here to give you a choice on how to die."


    When the assassin heard what Ren said, he felt fear had its iron grip on him. He couldn''t hold it any longer and started to cry. Ren seeing the assassin that dealt with Hilda''s family crying like this made him feel disgusted. He wasn''t expecting someone who dealt with curses to act like this.


    "Stop crying it''s shameful. You''re going to die soon, at least in your final moments act like a man."


    "Please, I don''t want to die. I don''t want to die, please spare me."


    "What kind of third rate assassin are you?"


    "That''s it, the truth is I''m not really an assassin. I''m just a curse master''s assistant. I simply stole a volume of the book of curses my master had and learned a bit from it. The most I can do is what you have already seen. In front of someone as powerful as you, none of those will work. So to you, I''m nothing but a harmless ant."


    "So this is how you act in the face of death... Pathetic!" Ren wanted to summon his death scythe and kill this worthless piece of trash, but he already told him he would give him choices.


    "Tsk, fine even though you are a disappointment I will still give you a choice on how to die." The assassin wanted to beg and plead, but Ren''s killing intent intensified making him unable to utter a word.


    "The first choice, you lift the curse you ced on Hilda''s little sisters and tell me who your employer is. If you do this I promise you a swift and mostly painless death, a death that''s a luxury to worthless scum like you." The way Ren said this was so full of bloodlust that the assassin felt like he was already killed.


    "The second choice, you don''t tell me what I want to know, you don''t lift the curse from the sisters. If you choose this I will hand you over to Hilda who will torture you until you wish you were dead. You might think I need you to lift the curse, but the truth is, it might take a long time but if I devote myself to figuring out the peculiarities of this kind of curse, I''ll be able to lift it on my own. It''s also possible that I might find the book of curses you stole. I can also wake Hilda''s little sisters, and wait for them to lift the curse you ced on them with their own will. See there are so many options on how to save them, yours was just the most convenient and less time-consuming."


    Ren shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head at the now despairing assassin.


    "I was going to give you a third choice, that would make you my ve, but seeing how cowardly you are I changed my mind. So pick either the first choice or the second choice. Which do you want?"


    "Please allow me to be your servant! Please, I beg of you, I promise to serve you with all my might!"


    Ren sighed when he heard the assassin''s answer. Ren then stood up and stealthily did a chop to the assassin''s neck making him faint. The other patrons noticed a man faint looked at Ren and the assassin. Ren wasn''t bothered by their gazes as he lifted the assassin onto his shoulders and said, "my friend has too much to drink, so I''ll be going first. You guys can continue drinking, I already paid for it all."


    After saying that with the assassin at hand Ren''s group left the pub.

 Chapter 148 - I should pay them a visit

    <h4>Chapter 148 - I should pay them a visit</h4>


    When the group got out of the pub the first thing they did was head towards Hilda''s ce. While they were walking Valdel asked the question he wanted to ask Ren since he received the demon''s horn from Shin.


    "Ren I wanted to ask this for some time now, how do you know Shin? Why does he feel like he was someone that knows you from a long time ago? Also, what does that message mean? Who is the fourth hero and why was he grateful to a demon lord?"


    Valdel was pretty sure that Shin was this supposed fourth hero, but he wondered who the demon lord was in the story. Based on what he heard and assuming Shin really was the fourth hero, then that would mean Ren was the demon lord. But that shouldn''t be possible, the demon lord the fourth hero knew should be as ancient as him. Ren was someone from the same vige, and he was born from two human parents, how could he be rted to a demon lord.


    "I don''t know a thing." Ren didn''t even bother to look at Valdel as he answered. When he learned from Leo that the fourth hero was still alive, Ren felt shocked and excited. He couldn''t believe it at first since no normal human could live for so long, but at this point, the current fourth hero wasn''t a normal human any longer. This new information just made Ren excited. The fourth hero was already someone that could actually fight him at his peak, but now that very same hero was stronger than before.


    Ren wanted to meet the fourth hero as soon as possible, but not in his current state. Ren wanted to first get stronger, it would be boring if he meets the fourth hero and he with his current body can''t put up a decent fight. He wanted to fight the fourth hero as equals the same as before.


    ...


    Valdel hearing Ren''s answer knew that his best friend was lying to him. How could someone unrted to the topic be able to use the horn of a demon to enhance his power? Valdel wanted to push some more to get answers, but seeing how Ren was acting Valdel knew that he wouldn''t tell him anything. So for the remainder of the trip Valdel was silent.


    Kuro who was watching the interaction between the two found the whole conversation strange, but as a servant, she had no right to intervene. Still, she at least wanted to somehow help her master in convincing Ren to tell his secret or if possiblefort him. But she didn''t know how to do either.


    ...


    Hilda who was walking behind Ren and the others, couldn''t help but stare at the man Ren apprehended. She wasn''t told why they took him but based on recent events she had a few guesses as to who the man was. Unfortunately, she wasn''t that sure, so she couldn''t do anything at the moment.


    ...


    Once the group were inside Hilda''s home, Valdel started to ask questions about what happened. While Hilda was exining to Valdel the current situation, Ren woke up the assassin.


    Upon waking up the first thing the assassin did was look around confused. When he saw the smiling Ren in front of him, he remembered what happened a few minutes ago. The assassin trembled as he watched the demon that would take his life.


    "So Mr. Assassin what choice do you pick? Number one or number two? I''m giving you three seconds to decide."


    "Wait! I can-"


    "One." The assassin felt terror creep into his very soul when he heard Ren start to count.


    "Two." When Ren says, three, his fate would be sealed. The assassin decided that if he were to die, better bring the b*stards that put him into this situation down with him.


    "Alright! I pick choice number one."


    "Nice choice, then go ahead lift the curse." The assassin approached the two little sisters of Hilda and ced his hand on top of their heads. He started to chant something, he then lifted his hands took out a dagger and cut himself. A tiny cut was made and with the blood that was flowing out, the assassin made the two girls drink his blood. After doing that, ck smoke came out of the little sisters'' mouths. When Hilda saw this she was about to charge forth and kill the man doing this to her sisters, but Ren stopped her.


    A momentter the assassin told Ren it was done. When Ren heard that, he negated the sleeping spell the two little girls were under. Upon removing the spell, the two girls started to slowly open their eyes. Ren was ready to move if any mishap were to happen.


    The two little girls who had opened their eyes looked around and when they spotted Hilda they spoke in unison.


    "Big Sis?"


    When Hilda heard her two little sisters call out to her, she immediately sprung into action and hugged her sister while crying.


    "Big sis, why are you crying?" Nina looked worried as she hugged Hilda back.


    "Big sis, what happened?" Ka asked confused and feeling groggy.


    Hilda hearing her little sisters'' questions couldn''t help herself as she started to tear up, even more, making her hug Nina and Ka even tighter. While the siblings were having their family moment, Valdel and Kuro were watching them with warm eyes.


    Seeing that the curse was lifted properly Ren looked at the assassin and guided him outside of the house.


    "Alright then, tell me who hired you?"


    "It was a member of the Resteti family." Ren was surprised to hear that the Restetis were somehow involved in this. He was just made aware of them this morning, now another link to them appeared. Was he getting lucky, or was Valdel''s luck affecting him?


    "Why would the Restetis hire you to curse Hilda''s family?"


    "I really don''t know, I just did as I was told."


    "Then were you the one who killed Hilda''s father?"


    "No, that wasn''t me. I''m not really good at fighting directly, someone else did that. Don''t ask who it was, cause I don''t really know."


    "Then tell me who among the Restetis hired you. Was it the patriarch of the family? Was it someone in a lower position? Who was it?"


    "I don''t know either. Some guy from their estate just gave me the contents of the mission. I was supposed to curse every living member of the Kirche family in Grenton. But the mother was able to somehow take all the curses meant for the whole family to only affect her. So I needed to wait for her to die to be able to curse the others. Unfortunately for me, I couldn''t kill her directly because of Hilda''s strength and connections. So I waited here for a few years to see if I can get the chance to kill the mother."


    "Was the pay worth all this trouble?"


    "They gave me an exuberant amount of money for a downpayment. They promised to give me twice as much if I was able toplete the mission. With that much money, it could''ve made me live a life of luxury until the day I die."


    "I see... I hope you enjoyed the money you got. Well then, do you have anything else to say?" Hearing Ren''s question the assassin knew that Ren needed him no longer. He was still afraid of theing death, but he had no other choice. If he was going to die either way, better die with a bit of dignity. At least he was going to be killed by someone as powerful as Ren, who will surely be a legend. He might be a minor story as a part of Ren''s legend.


    The assassin looked at Ren and shook his head. The moment he did so Ren''s hand shed through the assassin''s neck, it was instant death. Ren then engulfed the dead body in a ck space, which made the body disappear.


    ''The Restetis... Hmm, I was nning to gain information about them first, before I start moving. But it seems like they''re more dangerous than I thought. If this was part of a bigger n, then they already started a few years ago. They might be on the verge of doing something big. I guess waiting for news about them will take too long. I guess now is a good time as any to pay them a visit.''


    ...


    While Ren was happily ning what to do next, Nezzard who was sleeping all this time finally woke up.

 Chapter 149 - Visit our temples

    <h4>Chapter 149 - Visit our temples</h4>


    The following day after Ren dealt with the curse assassin, Hilda spent most of her timeforting her little sisters about their mother''s death. As that was happening, Lara came back to report to Ren about thepletion of her mission. Ren then told her that she needed to patrol the area for the meantime while he leaves the city. Valdel wanted to join Ren on his trip, but in the end, he decided to apany Lara on her patrol.


    Ren also called for Iselv, Kithra, and Stephan. He told Iselv to learn noble etiquette from the fallen nobles. He then ordered Kithra and Stephan to help Iselv in running Grenton. He gave the three of them some of his initial ideas on what to do. The main point focusing on two things, education and military might.


    For Education Ren wanted to use the mansion of a dead noble family as a school. This school would focus on teaching reading and writing as well as basic arithmetic. The teachers would be people from the fallen nobles who have pledged to follow him. The school would be free, and children below the age of ten will be required to attend. Even older children or grown men can attend if they wanted to. As long as they wanted to learn, they are allowed to study. The budget for this woulde directly from Ren''s pocket. With the money from his dungeon clear, and the one he got from selling information Ren had enough money to invest on this endeavor.


    As for the military, Ren wanted to train the local soldiers to be a force that resembled his army back in his demon lord days. He asked the Regalcrags the family of warriors to train the local military of New Grenton. He also ordered them to convince those who failed to be adventurers to join the military instead. After giving out his orders Ren started to prepare for his trip.


    ...


    While Ren was getting ready to leave for the Marquis'' estate, he was visited by some unusual people. Galius had brought along two women, that had the stink of divinity on them.


    "Ren, allow me to introduce to you the two holy maidens from the temples of the War God and the Goddess of Justice. Holy maiden Rachel and Holy maiden Natasha."


    "It is an honor to meet you, Sir Ren." The two holy maidens who usually bickered with each other actually bowed and spoke in unison as they showed Ren actual respect. Galius who knew what the two holy maidens were like, was shocked to see such a sight. It wasn''t his fault as anybody who knew the two would react in the same way.


    After his initial shock, Galius saw the confused expression on Ren''s face. He immediately understood that Ren didn''t know what holy maidens were, the same as Valdel.


    ''What was I expecting? Of course, if Valdel didn''t know then Ren who came from the same vige shouldn''t know as well.'' Galius then proceeded to exin to Ren what holy maidens were.


    ''Holy maidens?... That''s new... Back then only heroes couldmunicate with the so called Gods and Goddesses.''


    "So what do you want from me?" Ren asked the two holy maidens in front of him.


    "Can you pleasee to the temple of the War God Hieus. The God I serve wishes to speak to you privately, and the only way he canmunicate with you directly is if you are inside his Temple." Rachel said with the utmost respect since her God ordered her to deal with Ren as if she was dealing with Hieus himself.


    "The same could be said for me. My Goddess, The Goddess of Justice Tiditte wishes to speak to you as well." Natasha knelt down as she requested Ren toe and visit.


    Ren was about to ask why these divine beings wanted to speak with him when suddenly he heard two voices talking inside his head. One of the voices was a familiar voice.


    "Hieus? He actually became a God, and a God of war no less! Hahaha, that''s hrious crybaby Hieus took the position of a War God." Leo''s voice echoed through Ren''s mind. Ren wanted to ask how Leo knew of Hieus, but he was interrupted by another voice.


    "So that little girl I took in became a Goddess and one of Justice. As expected even after all these years she couldn''t let it go." This voice sounded way more mature than Leo.


    ''So tell me, how the hell do you people know these God and Goddess?''


    ...


    While Ren wasmunicating with his past incarnations, Galius, Rachel, and Natasha were looking at him. The three of them simply thought that Ren was trying to decide on what to do, so they waited for him to finish thinking.


    ...


    ''So you''re telling me, these God and Goddess used to be humans you know.?'' Ren didn''t know that a mortal being could take the titles and abilities of Gods and Goddesses, by defeating them or inheriting the title. Of course, he could never imagine a mortal being actually defeating a diving being, well that was before he knew of the past incarnations he had.


    Most of his past incarnations were powerful beings that could toy with Gods and Goddesses. They were mortal beings that were proimed to be the strongest of each of their respective generations.


    "Yeah, I''m guessing Hieus was forced to inherit the title God of War, I can''t ever imagine that kid beating A God, much less one suited for War. If you can, you should visit his temple. I really want to hear the story of how he became a God of War." Leo gave his opinion on the subject.


    ''How about you?... What was your name?'' Ren asked the other voice in his head.


    "I was called Murosaki Hayato, regarding Tiditte she was my adoptive daughter. I taught her everything I know. Unlike Leo''s acquaintance, I fully believe that my daughter, the most talented person I have ever met would easily defeat a Goddess and gain her title. As for going to her temple and talking to her, I would let you the current incarnation decide."


    ...


    After remaining quiet for quite some time, Ren finally looked about ready to speak. He nced at the two holy maidens and gave his answer. "Alright, I will visit your temples, but only after I''m done with the things I need to do here."

 Chapter 150 - Past Incarnations

    <h4>Chapter 150 - Past Incarnations</h4>


    After telling the holy maidens he would visit their temples, Ren found a nice quiet spot where he won''t be disturbed. He then ced a ward to warn him if anyone was approaching. After he was done making sure that his body would be safe, Ren once again entered his soul.


    Waiting for him was Leo''s familiar figure and beside him was a middle-aged man with ck hair and eyes. He had a lot of scars on his hands and his face had three distinctive scars that looked to be in the shape of a clover. That must be Murosaki Hayato.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Ren." Hayato greeted Ren with a slight nod.


    "So, what did youe in here for? Are you going to challenge another incarnation?" Leo jokingly spoke.


    "You know why I''m here. Tell me how many past incarnations have been in this world?"


    "In this particr world, excluding you and your past as Demon lord Kretos, there have been five incarnations that have journeyed through thesends," Leo answered quite readily.


    "Who are these incarnations? Can I speak with them regarding the people they knew in life?" Ren asked Hayato which made Leo look a bit shocked.


    "Hey, why are you asking him instead of me?! In terms of seniority, I''m older than him by a few millennia." Leoined with gusto.


    "Well, he just seems more mature than you, and in terms of looks... He even looks older than you." Ren answered without hesitation, which gave Leo a bit of a shock.


    "Whatever, I''ll be the one calling the others. Just wait there." Leo didn''t bother to quarrel with Ren, as she was trying to show his mature side.


    ...


    While Leo was contacting the other incarnations inside Ren''s soul, Silika who was asleep this whole time finally woke up and exited the tattoo on Ren''s arm. When she got out the first thing she noticed was, of course, Ren who was sitting in a lotus position.


    ''Is he talking with his past incarnations again? Well, I can''t me him those guys are the mightiest people that have live. Still, I wonder what they''re talking about.'' While Silika was wondering about that, she noticed that Ren ced a spell around the area that would alert him if someone was close by. It didn''t activate now since Silika was already within Ren''s vicinity and she didn''t enter the area from the outside.


    ''Well it doesn''t matter, for now, I''ll just wait here for him to finish.''


    ...


    Five more people appeared before Ren, these people were his past incarnations that have walked thesends.


    "That''s Edge Regius, proimed as the greatest hero to have ever existed. Like you, he remembered his past self upon reincarnating. His past was that of a hero as well, the Hero of humanity that almost wiped out the whole demon race. Oh, now that I think about it he is kinda like the opposite of you, but at the same time, you two are the most simr among the incarnations. Also, it''s worth mentioning, if it''s about swordsmanship alone, he''s at the top only second to the original incarnation. He created a sword style with his partner called the Moon Edge style."


    Edge stepped forward and extended his hand towards Ren. "It''s nice to meet you, my current self." Ren shook Edge''s hand and replied, "likewise... I just can''t help but ask. I need to know, why did you try to wipe out all the demons?"


    Edge showed a self-mocking smile before he answered. "It''s ame story, just a simple story of revenge that you could find anywhere. My family were killed by a pack of demons during a war, and in retaliation, I nearly annihted every single demon existing. If I didn''t meet her, the demon lord at the time then I might''ve killed every demon. That''s why on my second chance in life as Edge Regius, I tried my hardest to save everyone."


    "I see..."


    After talking with Edge for a bit, Leo introduced the next incarnation.


    "Now this is Rei Krimen, believe it or not, he is a direct descendant of mine. His techniques and abilities were nearly identical to mine. He also had the coolest death of us all. Didn''t you, oh descendant of mine." Leo teasingly smiled at Rei who was frowning.


    "Shut up you f*cking old man! Don''t remind me about that time! Every time I remember just makes me want to vomit!" Rei Krimen shouted while blushing.


    "How did he die?" Ren asked extremely curious.


    "He died by-" Before Leo could say anything a sword almost cut his head.


    "Don''t tell him!" Rei shouted at Leo while attacking him using the same twin des as Leo. Yet even as he was attacking, Leo easily dodged each strike, which amazed Ren.


    "Hey I don''t n to sacrifice the world, I''ll save both the world and this girl! How can I im to be able to save the world if I can''t even save one measly girl! Also hero? You people are the one who gave me that title, I never asked for it, I just did want I wanted to do!" Leo spoke while trying to imitate Rei''s voice.


    "NO!!! SHUT UP!!!" Rei started attacking even more seriously.


    ...


    After Leo was done teasing him, Rei formally introduced himself to Ren. Thest incarnation present stepped forward and Leo introduced him.


    "This guy''s name is also Rei, but he has a differentst name which is Kuraki. Well, there are a lot of incarnations so obviously there are some of us that have the same first name. Well, anyway this is Rei Kuraki, he''s the third strongest incarnation. He''s the incarnation after Edge, and he''s also the only incarnation aside from the original and the second strongest to have evernded an actual blow to the ORIGIN."


    ''There''s that term again, the ORIGIN.''


    "What''s the origin?" Ren asked, which made the other incarnations look at each other.


    "Sorry Ren, as you are now, we cannot tell you much about the ORIGIN. The only thing we can say is that the ORIGIN is our one true enemy." Leo who was usually smiling and full of confidence, actually showed a very grave face as he told Ren about the ORIGIN. Even the other incarnations showed a simr worrying expression.


    "Alright then, I won''t ask about the ORIGIN for now. So let''s just get back to what I originally wanted to ask you five. Can you please tell me any of your otherpanions that you think have survived the trials of time and are still here somehow waiting."


    "You might have already figured this out, but me and Silika, know each other. Aside from her Hieus, the current God of War is my only otherrade that survived. Most of mypanions died in my final battle. Those that survived that battle are also gone. Well, I am the oldest one among those present here, so it''s not that surprising that none of mypanions are alive." Leo was the first to answer.


    "As for me Tiditte my adoptive daughter is the only one powerful enough to have survive even the ravages of time itself. Well, she is a Goddess now so time isn''t such a big deal for her." Hayato answered with a bit of a sad expression.


    "I''m not really sure if any of myrades survive." Rei Krimen shrugged his shoulders as he answered.


    "After my battle with the ORIGIN, my civilization, all my friends, my family, everything was wiped out of existence, and humanity of this was forced to start from the beginning." Rei Kuraki answered with a stoic expression.


    Ren was shocked by what happened to Kuraki. He now had a little more understanding about this ORIGIN being. A being so powerful that it could wipe out everything, and it fought someone like Rei Kuraki, someone more powerful than Leonard Tranor and pushed him to death.


    "As for me, can I check something first. Can you show me your chest?" Ren was confused by this sudden request but he stillplied. Ren then showed Edge his bare chest, and Edge looked at it very closely.


    "It''s a bit faded but it''s still there." Edge spoke with a smile on his face. That single smile was filled with nostalgia, love, and many other emotions.


    "Are you talking about my birthmarks? Actually I also had them back when I was a demon lord. Are they somehow important?"


    "Those marks, are a link to two of my greatestpanions. Remember what Leo said that I created the Moon Edge style with my partner. You see that faded birthmark of a moon, that''s supposed to be a silver moon, that''s the mark of Tsukiyomi my partner that helped me create the Moon Edge style. The other birthmark beside it is a sun surrounded by stars. That''s the mark of a contract between me and the Great Dragon Tanith. If it''s still there and hasn''t disappeared that would mean, Tsukiyomi and Tanith are still somewhere in this world."


    Edge happily answered Ren, as he couldn''t help but tear up a bit, but then Rei Kuraki was surprised upon hearing this revtion.


    "That can''t be, Tsukiyomi and Tanith were with me before I fought the ORIGIN. I was sure everyone was erased from existence! How did this happen?"


    "It must be somehow rted to our soul. Since they are connected to our very soul, they must''ve somehow used that to survive." Leo gave out his opinion which made Rei Kuraki look at him with a shock expression. A few secondster Rei Kuraki started tough while crying.


    "I can''t believe it... hahaha, so they survived..." Ren who was listening at the side was a little bit confused by the turn of events.

 Chapter 151 - Edge sharing a bit of his memories

    <h4>Chapter 151 - Edge sharing a bit of his memories</h4>


    After talking to Edge about what was happening, it turns out Tsukiyomi and Tanith were also a part of Rei Kuraki''s group and these two had followed Edge''s soul for two incarnations. The two alongside all of Rei''srades have ceased to exist or that''s what they all thought until they saw Ren''s birthmarks.


    Ren still couldn''t fully understand what was happening, so Edge decided to share some of his memories with Ren.


    ...


    Ren was watching a scene unfold in Edge''s point of view when he was ten years old.


    I spent too much on that spider. Still... I went and picked up my longsword. "I am not going down without a struggle!" I screamed as loud as I can. This was a message of defiance against my fate.


    As I was readying myself for my final struggle I heard a voice. It echoed throughout the area I was in.


    "Kukuku that was a nice battle boy. Even now as you''re facing death you have such a nice expression. It''s as if you already experienced a lot of life and death struggles, but from your appearance, you''re supposed to be a human boy about ten years old. Yet the skills you have disyed in swordsmanship are not of this world. Was it your own made style? Even your magic capacity is top tier. So strong for one of your age. Are you one of those so called geniuses?"


    I didn''t answer the voice but instead, I heightened my senses. There is an unknown being near me and I can''t feel it? Is it because of fatigue? While I was thinking the voice continued on.


    "I see you are a cautious one. Really incredible for someone your age. No, not even fully grown humans show such promise, I have taken a liking to you boy. I think I might help you with this situation."


    She suddenly offers me help. "I don''t even know who you are and then now you suddenly tell me you''ll help me? What is your aim? What do you want in return for your help?" I''m speaking to someone I can''t see and I don''t know. I really must be going crazy.


    "Really does it matter who I am? If I don''t help you, it is evident that you will die. So I think it is in your best interest to ept my help."


    "Hahaha, you make it sound as if death is the worst thing possible. Let me tell you now I know things that are worse than death itself. Also, you haven''t answered my question what is it you want from me?"


    "I see truly you''re amazing, it makes me wonder if you''re truly a human boy. Well fine in exchange for my help I would want to form a contract with you."


    "A contract? Are you a demon?"


    "Huh? I''m no such thing as a demon. My race is of an older sort than those demons."


    "Then what manner of being are you?"


    "I''m an Ethereal!"


    "Ethereal? What''s an Ethereal?"


    "Oh, I thought of you as a more schrly type. I would have thought you would know what an Ethereal is. Hmmm... Seeing as your firewall is about to disappear I''ll make a basic exnation. I''m from a race that forms contracts with beings that have mana and in exchange for their mana we would lend them our power."


    "Why would you need mana of other races?"


    "Unlike other races, my race cannot regenerate mana. So once we use it we lose it forever. We can only replenish ourselves via the contract."


    ''So that''s it huh.''


    "Will giving you my mana drain me to the point of death?"


    "Kukuku really such a cautious child. I would not get such arge amount. Well, I will only get as much mana I require to function. If you need me to make a stronger attack then you must give me more mana. Also seeing as your mana regenerates you won''t lose it permanently like me. As long as you provide me with mana I will never betray you. Such is the contract of Ethereal''s. So what shall you do, child? Will you make a contract with me, or will you struggle by yourself and ultimately die? The choice is yours what shall it be, child?"


    Seven minutes before the firewall disappears. What should I do? Should I ept her offer? I don''t have the power to survive this. Yet I don''t have any information about Ethereal''s I''m not sure if she is telling the truth or not. Will I die once more without aplishing anything? But what if she was lying and the contract was something else. Damn it what should I do? Five more minutes before the firewall disappears.


    No choice then no matter what, I already decided when I was reborn I would not regret anything.


    "Fine then what is your name Ethereal?"


    "My name is Tsukiyomi, among Ethereals'' I''m referred to as the eternal moon."


    "Then Tsukiyomi how do I make a contract with you?" When I asked that question the air suddenly went cold. From above the stone ruins, I felt an incredibly strong presence. This was the same presence I felt before. Who knew it would be this powerful up close. I have felt countless presences'' of the strong but none were as powerful as this. I looked up where I felt the presence.


    There I saw a girl who looked about twelve years old, flowing ck hair, skin white as snow and ruby red eyes. She was enticing, she was wearing something like a ck kimono, the kimono was short which allowed a glimpse of her thighs, and it also showed her bare shoulders.


    The girl jumped down from the stone ruins and gracefullynded in front of me who was holding my sword. As if I have forgotten everything I was mesmerized by her beautiful facial features.


    The girl smiled and finally spoke "kukuku have you been enchanted by me?" This voice so this was Tsukiyomi.


    "You''re Tsukiyomi? How unexpected... By the way, you talk I thought you would be an olddy." Tsukiyomi smiled at me gently. "kukuku I may be young for an ethereal but for a human''s sense of age I''m pretty old."


    "How old exactly?" Once I asked that question Tsukiyomi looked at me while sneering.


    "How boorish of you to ask ady''s age. Well enough of the introductions, your firewall is about to disperse. To form a contract with me, you must speak what it is you wish of me, and if I ept I would acknowledge all your wishes. Thus the contract will be formed. Do you understand?"


    To speak what I wish from her... "I understand." Tsukiyomi looked at me appraisingly.


    "Very well make the contract boy."


    "Fine then I will make the contract, but stop calling me boy my name is Edge... Edge Regius."


    "Umu, Very well then Edge Regius, you may begin." She truly sounds like a queen ordering me around like this. No time to think about such things only a few moments before the firewall goes out. I inhaled and exhaled deeply before speaking.


    "Tsukiyomi I Edge Regius wish to form a contract with you. Be my sword, my shield, my partner, and my friend. In return, I shall give you my mana, my sword, and my trust. These are the terms of the contract will you ept?"


    Tsukiyomi bowed, while answering "Edge Regius I the eternal moon ept the terms of the contract, I shall stand by thee as your sword, your shield, your partner, and your friend. In return, you shall give me your mana, your sword, and your never-ending trust. Thus the contract shall be forged. As long as you never betray me, I in return shall never betray you. Now to seal the contract."


    Tsukiyomi came closer her face was right in front of me. I then felt a soft sensation in my lips. She was kissing me, not only that she even inserted her tongue. Flipping her tongue, licking her teeth, pressing her lips down upon mine. I couldn''t react at all after what seemed like ages she finally released my lips. I looked at her dumbfounded.


    She smiled at me mischievously "kukuku was that your first time? Do not worry for it was also mine." She said so while blushing ever so slightly. She really looked enticing no wait that''s not the point.


    "Why did you do that?!" I screamed, Tsukiyomi simply shrugged her shoulder and answered, "it was to seal the contract. Wait for a moment you''ll feel it right about now."


    As soon as she said that I felt a burning sensation on my chest. The pain was momentary when I looked at what happened I saw a mark of a silver full moon on my chest.


    "That is the seal of our contract. Proof that you are contracted to an ethereal, contracted to me. Now then, now that is over and done with I''m borrowing some of your mana to finish off these small fries."


    After she said that I felt as if something was flowing out of me. It was a simr feeling to using a spell. "Kukuku how wonderful this mana is! I haven''t tasted any others but I''m sure this must be high-ss goods. Now then how about I put you little kiddies out of your misery." As soon as the firewall dispersed the monsters started rushing toward our direction. I think that the amount doubled, Tsukiyomi faced the wave of monsters and simply waved her hand. She waved her right hand horizontally as if her hand was a sword. After that one simple movement, all the monsters that came charging were sliced in half. It then started raining, yet it was not water that rained down it was blood.


    ...


    Ren was surprised by the shared memory, he could now understand what the birthmarks were for. He could also understand how important this girl, Tsukiyomi was to his past incarnation Edge Regius. She must be as important to Rei Kuraki as well.


    "Now allow me to share a bit of information about Tanith."


    ...


    Once again Ren was shown a memory from the point of view of Edge Regius.


    "Hear me spirits beyond the end. Follow the path to the radiance of my soul. Those of you who wish to make a contract with thee. Come forth so I may appraise your worth!"


    After saying that a bunch of voices came talking in my head, I heard the teacher''s voice amidst the torrent of voices.


    "The voices will ask questions, answer them truthfully. After you finished answering their questions only two to three would be left. Among them, you pick one for your familiar. Also while talking do not forget to put mana in every word you speak."


    The first question came.


    What is it you desire?


    "I desire to be the strongest!"


    Why do you desire such?


    "I desire it so that I may protect what is important!"


    What is it important to thee?


    "Those who I know, who these hands can reach, and those who cherish me!"


    You do not wish to be a hero that protects all?


    That question made me think a little but still, I smiled as I answer. "I''m not so arrogant that I think I can protect all of the people. I only wish to protect those that I can see. A hero, who can''t even save the people close to him, can''t possibly save all."


    The torrents of voices disappeared and only one voiced remained.


    So what is it you will give me in exchange for power?


    I remembered the dream I had, that of me that wasn''t me the one who had unrivaled strength I remember his smile so I showed the same vicious smile as him. "I will give you the chance to witness my future."


    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA INTERESTING! VERY WELL, CHILD, I WILL GRANT YOU THE STRENGTH YOU SO DESIRE!


    A burst of light came forth... Everyone was now looking at the summoning circle that was being formed in front of me. Arge amount of mana was flowing out of the summoning circle.


    A giant snout wasing out of it. A massive body with ck obsidian like scales, it looked like a lizard but with wings. Its wings spread it was probably around ten meters in length. The dragon didn''t open its mouth but spoke through the minds of the surrounding people.


    "I have answered your call child. Speak thy name and tell the terms of the contract."


    Terms? I looked at the teacher confused, she looked at me still surprised by the giant summon. Still, even with her being surprised she still noticed my confused look and answered the question in my head.


    "Edge- you must state your name and what is it you wish from it."


    I see... I looked at the giant ck dragon. I was pretty shocked myself for this is also the first time that I''ve seen a dragon, but still how cool! I knew summoning was cool!


    "I''m Edge Regius! I wish for you to bring me toward the path of the strongest. As long as this is not fulfilled you shall forever be my familiar."


    "I ept the terms Edge Regius, I TANITH shall form this contract with you! HAHAHA, Edge show me a great future."


    "I shall!"


    With that, another emblem was formed under the silver moon in my chest. This time the sun surrounded by some stars.


    ...


    The memory ended there, Ren was once again surprised. That was a dragon from the ancient dragon n, the highest ss of dragon. It was still young at that time, but surely a few millennia have passed now, that dragon should be quite old at this point.


    ''I see so these are the marks that bound them to me.'' Ren clutched his chest as he remembered the scene he saw. Even though those were thepanions of his past incarnation, he still felt a sense of familiarity from them. Same as what he felt for Silika.

 Chapter 152 - I cannot allow this

    <h4>Chapter 152 - I cannot allow this</h4>


    After talking to his past incarnations regarding some other things, Ren finally opened his eyes and saw Silika staring at him. It''s been a while since he has seen her which made Ren smile a bit.


    "Silika how are you?"


    "Very well master now that I''ve seen you." Ren couldn''t see beyond the veil but he felt like Silika was smiling at him.


    "I feel better seeing you as well... Hey, Silika, before I forget Leo told me to tell you something."


    Silika was surprised to hear Leo''s namee out of Ren''s mouth. That surprise onlysted for a short while since Silika knew that Leo and Ren were basically the same person.


    "Leo said that the promise can only be fulfilled if you put in the effort." When Silika heard those words she couldn''t help but giggle.


    "He''s right if I don''t make the effort that promise will nevere to be." It was at that moment Silika finally removed her veil. Crimson pupils and pale white skin, her face look liked it was personally sculpted by the Gods themselves. After showing her face, Silika changed what she was wearing as well, he pure ck outfit transformed into something else, it turned into a dress of red and ck with a lot of curly frills on it, with matching brown boots.


    Ren already assumed that Silika would be a beauty but he wasn''t expecting something like this. Among all the women he has seen Silika might only be matched with the girl called Tsukiyomi that he saw in Edge''s memories.


    Seeing Silika''s otherworldly beauty made Ren chuckle a bit. "As expected you truly were a beauty."


    "So master, do you think I''m worthy enough to be your woman?" If Ren was like Valdel at this point he would have said something like, "I''m not Leo, we might share the same soul, but I am me, I am Ren." That''s what Valdel would have said if he was in a simr situation, but Ren wasn''t like that. None of the incarnations were like that. All of them were battle freaks that do whatever they want, whenever they want.


    "What are you saying, the moment I took you from that shop, you were already my woman," Ren answered nonchntly. Hearing Ren''s answer made Silika smile ever gently.


    ''No matter the incarnation, no matter the age, you still remain the same. You might not be the Leo I loved, but...'' While Silika was thinking about all these things, she and Ren were heading out of the city. It was time to head to the Marquis'' estate. When they left the south gate, Leo saw someone standing at the distance.


    It was Nezzard, but something was different about him. Nezzard who always lookedzy and unmotivated stood before Ren with a weird pressure about him. Ren felt really excited, this tension, this feeling, it was obvious what''s toe next.


    "What do you want Nezzard?" Even in the face of Nezzard''s overpowering presence, Ren remained as usual. As for Silika she simply stood behind Ren waiting for his orders.


    "I have heard of everything you have done while I was asleep. I am grateful that you saved Grenton, I am also grateful that you found and saved the third prince. Even I didn''t know the third prince became the bandit king."


    "So is that it? Did youe here just to tell me how grateful you are?" The moment Ren asked that question Nezzard finally showed the massive amount of mana thaty hidden within his body. Ren was now truly getting really excited.


    "I am grateful for everything that you have done, but what you''re nning to do by tricking the third prince isn''t eptable."


    "Hmph, what isn''t eptable? Everything that I''m doing, is for the good of the people."


    "What you''re doing might look good now, but it will only lead to more deaths. The current nobles won''t stand for an independent city, once they find out about what''s happening here, they''ll use the third prince of treason, and they will send an army to subjugate Grenton. You might be strong Ren, but I assure you the kingdom of Reschbeauch has a lot of hidden masters. If theye out you might be able to survive if you run, but everyone else including yourpanions will die. Are you alright with that?!"


    After warning Ren, Nezzard felt he had convinced the young man to stop before it was toote. But instead of showing signs of giving up, Ren showed a vicious smile.


    "Hidden masters! If that''s true, then they shoulde and join the party! I will see if they''ll be suitable dance partners for me to enjoy!"


    Nezzard could feel Ren''s thirst for battle growing, as the excitement of fighting such strong opponents tickled every fiber of Ren''s being.


    ''Tsk, this guy is really a madman! I don''t have any other choice.''


    "Ren, will you really not stop?"


    "Why should I stop? I''m not doing anything wrong, nor am I forcing others to do this."


    "I see... I may no longer be a noble, nor the general of Reschbeauch''s army, but I am still the lion of Reschbeauch and today I will once again prove my loyalty to the crown, and the people! If you won''t listen to reason, I will force you to listen!"


    Nezzard then coated his finger with mana and pierced his left forearm, the right side of his neck, the left and right side of his chest, his abdomen, and finally his forehead. Once he was done piercing those areas of his body, a mechanical voice echoed, "the first seal released, the second seal released, the third seal released, the fourth seal released, the fifth seal released, the sixth seal released."


    After the mechanical voice spoke, a rush of magic power started to gather beside Nezzard. Six being formed beside Nezzard and each of them spoke almost at the same time.


    "You''re finally awake Nezzy!"


    "..."


    "I can''t believe you actually remember us after all this time."


    "Hmph, so you finally decided to call me... Wait why did you bring out these other guys as well!"


    "I see, we must be facing a formidable opponent for Nezzard to summon six of us at the same time."


    "Let''s just get this over with."


    Nezzard summoned six of the seven spirit rulers.

 Chapter 153 - It can’t be you

    <h4>Chapter 153 - It can''t be you</h4>


    Ren looked at the six spirit rulers and showed his vicious smile. He was getting really excited, he has never seen any of the spirit rulers, but he has heard tales of them. Unfortunately back in his peak, no one was able to summon them. If Nezzard was living back in his past life, he would most probably be a human hero, if not he would still be a hidden master that would have challenged him.


    It was exciting to see the increase in Nezzard''s mana, even counting all the humans he fought in his past life, Ren was sure that Nezzard has the greatest amount of mana he has seen a human hold. Still, having stronger mana doesn''t necessarily mean you will win. Mana was just fuel if you don''t know how to use it properly, then it''s worthless.


    Ren then looked at each of the spirit rulers, each one of them was the peak of one element. The mere thought of fighting such beings made Ren tremble in excitement.


    ...


    After talking a bit with Nezzard, the six spirit rulers finally looked at their opponent. At first, they simply thought that Nezzard was overreacting. But when they saw the boy with an unusual smile on his face they changed their minds. The boy looked like any other human, but his mana and the way it swirled around him was frightening. Yet the moment when the six took a peek into his soul, they couldn''t understand it, but they felt extreme dread.


    They didn''t know what was happening, all they knew was that peeking into the boy''s soul was not a very good idea. It was then the six of them finally noticed the one standing beside Ren. Unlike when they took a peek into Ren''s soul, the six knew why they were shivering in fear at the very sight of this woman. Terror prated their very souls as they gritted their teeth.


    The Spirit Ruler of fire quickly shouted at Nezzard, while the other five stood at the front getting ready for a life and death battle.


    "Nezzy quickly summon thest spirit!"


    "Why?... Is Ren really that powerful that we need to call for her?" Nezzard was reluctant to summon thest Spirit Ruler since she was too powerful and summoning her always made him lose consciousness for months.


    "No time to exin, just do it! Once you summon her, run as far as you can. Teleport, dig underground, just do anything in your power to escape!"


    Hearing the Spirit ruler of fire who was usually so confident act this way, made Nezzard fully aware of how desperate the situation was. He no longer hesitated and poured mana into all his fingertips, and started drawing a magic circle. Unlike the six spirit rulers, thest one was a special being that needed a bit more preparation to summon.


    ...


    While Nezzard was preparing to summon thest spirit ruler, the six already summoned Spirit Rulers stood in front of Ren and Silika with the determination to die. They might not know who Ren was, but they knew who was beside him.


    The one beside Ren was none other than Elizabeth Rogue, the former Goddess of Death. Unlike the humans that have been forced to start over, and had zero recollection of the past beyond the repeat. The Gods and Goddesses knew of the events that transpired, so do the Spirit Rulers. Since unlike humans these beings were one with the world, and as such as long as the world remained the same, they would be unaffected by such a change.


    So the Spirit Rulers, even though they weren''t the Spirit Rulers at the time Elizabeth was the Goddess of Death they still recognize her. They were able to do this since they share the memories of their predecessors. With that knowledge at hand, they knew who and what kind of being was in front of them.


    Unlike all the others that took the title of Death, Elizabeth Rogue was a special case. She was without a doubt the strongest to have ever held the title of death. She was said to be so strong that even the other Gods of Death in other wolds fear her name. She was even given a special title among the Gods and Goddesses. At one point she was even considered as the Queen of the Gods.


    To be facing such a being inbat was idiotic and suicidal, but their master has already started the battle and there is no backing out now.


    ...


    Ren noticed the fear in the eyes of the Spirit Rulers, but it wasn''t fear towards him. They were looking at the person beside him.


    "Silika do you know these people?"


    "Not really, the Spirit Rulers I knew of are long gone. Still, I heard each generation of Spirit Rulers share all the knowledge of their predecessors, so maybe they know me." Silika shrugged her shoulders as she answered.


    "Oh, what did you do to their predecessors that would make them react this way?"


    "I can''t really remember..."


    "Well, either way, if you fought alongside me I guess it will be pretty boring. Look at them, they look like they''re ready to fight, but in truth, you already crushed their wills. Fighting them will only be a bore. I was already getting so excited only to see this sorry disy."


    The Spirit Rulers heard what Ren and Silika were talking about and it was clear they were mocking them, but they had no choice but to take it since the two in front of them had the right to be that arrogant.


    "Did you hear that? She won''t join in the battle. So no need to be so nervous, juste at me and show me what you got." Ren gestured with his hands telling the spirit rulers toe forward. Yet even with everything he said, the six Spirit Rulers remained ever vignt.


    "Tsk, so they still act like this. This is getting boring if you won''t fight, then step aside." Ren clicked his tongue and spoke in irritation. But before the Spirit Rulers could reply Ren and Silika felt another presence materializing and unlike the other Spirit Rulers, this one was much stronger.

 Chapter 154 - Fleeing until you can’t see the back

    <h4>Chapter 154 - Fleeing until you can''t see the back</h4>


    The atmosphere started to change as the clouds became darker and darker. The ground started to tremble, while the wind blew even stronger. Bolts of lightning came pouring down near the area the group was in. The people of New Grenton who were still trying to settle down from thest attack from the undead legion were now in a state of panic. Iselv and the others were trying to pacify the panicking citizens but to little avail. The fear they had from thest attack wasn''t gone, and now another powerful being was near.


    Iselv and the others then sent out scouts so that they could understand what was happening. It didn''t take long for the scouts to return and report that Ren was facing off against Nezzard Netter and his summoned beings. When Iselv heard the report, he and Kithra decided not to bother Ren''s battle. At this point they knew how much Ren loved to fight, and disturbing him might not end well for them. So they simply told the citizens that the guild master of the adventurers guild was just having a mock battle with Ren.


    ...


    Watching thest Spirit Rulere out and in such a grand fashion, Ren couldn''t help but get really excited. The power he was feeling from the Spirit Ruler almost felt like Silika''s the first time he met her.


    "Silika is the one being summoned really a simple Spirit Ruler?"


    "Hmm, based on the way she''s being summoned and this feeling... I''m guessing that this Spirit Ruler is in the middle of bing a divine being. It''s better to call this kind of being a Demi-God instead of a Spirit Ruler."


    When Ren heard what Silika said his smile grew wider and wider. This was the default feeling that all incarnations had towards a battle. No matter if it was a hero, a saint, or a Wiseman, all the incarnations of Ren shared the same love for battle. The harder the battle, the more excited they became.


    Right now from what Ren was sensing and from what Silika said about it being a Demi-God just made Ren feel like he was in paradise.


    ...


    Nezzard who was done summoning thest Spirit Ruler felt arge portion of his mana returned but at the same time, it was being drained by an equallyrge amount. Thest Spirit Ruler was of a special variety, she was the only Spirit Ruler that governed over an element nobody truly understood. Adding to that the way she talks was hard toprehend at times.


    "Nyahahaha, who is the fool that dares summon me! I who dwell in the deepest darkest pit of despair! Why have you summoned me, the Spirit Ruler of Chaos"


    A girl descended from a huge magic circle that formed from the sky. She had an eyepatch on her left eye, and bandages on her right hand. She was wearing a ck dress that was covered with chains. Behind her were ck mes that took the form of wings. She then looked at the desperate face of Nezzard and giggled.


    "Oh, so it is my servant that summoned me. So why did you summon the great me?" The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) who was floating above Nezzard looked down on him while smiling gently.


    Nezzard never understood why she would always call him her servant seeing as he was the summoner and she was the summoned spirit, that would make her the servant. Still, Nezzard would never argue about that with her. Since thest time, he did that, she almost beat him half to death. Even the contract between them was vague. It was like she only chose him because she found him somehow interesting.


    "Please, help me defeat him." Nezzard pointed at Ren. The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) didn''t even bother to look at who Nezzard was pointing at and simply tilted her head.


    "So you wish of me to do such grunt work? Can''t you let those lower Spirit Rulers do this?"


    "We can''t win without you. Please lend me your power." Nezzard didn''t really like to talk like this, but seeing the current circumstances he had no choice.


    "Nyahaha, fine I shall lend thee my overwhelming power. But the next time you summon me for such a tedious task, then I will be forced to discipline you... Do you need me to release the power of my left eye?" While she was talking about her left eye, she suddenly screamed and held onto her right hand that was bandaged.


    "Quiet down my right hand, it is not yet time. The time for the end has not yete!" Nezzard who was watching the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) act this way found it weird. Ever since he met her, she kept on talking about how a powerful seal was ced on her right hand, and the moment she unseals it, a power she couldn''t control would burst forth. But every time he tried to check on the bandages it never felt like there was a seal. Still, a powerful Spirit like her couldn''t possibly be lying about something like that. In the end, Nezzard simply thought he wasn''t powerful enough to understand the seal ced onto her right hand.


    After screaming a bit the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) finally calmed down. She then touched her eyepatch and whispered. "Let''s see what kind of being I''m facing first before I decide to remove my eyepatch. Now let''s see what pitiful soul I need to crush."


    The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) turned around spreading her ck me that looked like wings even wider. The dark clouds started to gather above her head making her look even more ominous.


    "Now was it you who was bullying my serv-" The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) took one look at Ren and without warning, she carried Nezzard and fled. She flew at the fastest speed she could muster while carrying the confused Nezzard.


    She couldn''t believe what she saw. Unlike the other Spirit Rulers, her ability to look at one''s soul was in another league. So she was able to see the monsters thatid hidden within Ren''s soul but more than that she saw someone she never thought she would see in her lifetime. Her predecessor''s memory about that person was that of Respect and Fear.


    The human that was given a Godly title even though in the end he remained a mortal. The human called the God of Victory, Leonard Tranor was within Ren''s soul. The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) didn''t understand why so many monsters were hiding in one soul, but she knew that the farther she runs the better.


    "Why are you running?" Nezzard was finally able to react to his current situation.


    "That''s not someone you or any mortal being should face. Nay, even the Gods above would think twice before facing that monster. Only those Primordial beings have a chance of winning."


    The usually arrogant Spirit of Chaos(?) was acting really fearful, which made Nezzard reassess Ren one more time. At first, he was afraid for the citizens of New Grenton, since he knew how powerful the hidden masters of Reschbeauch were. But now he was afraid for the Kingdom since he doesn''t fullyprehend just how powerful Ren was.

 Chapter 155 - That’s it?

    <h4>Chapter 155 - That''s it?</h4>


    Ren, Silika, and the Spirit Rulers were stunned into silence as they watched the strongest Spirit Ruler take Nezzard and fled. Ren was dumbstruck, with how powerful that Spirit Ruler was, even with Silika''s help with their current strength it would''ve been a tough battle were victory would''ve been a miracle. Yet for some unknown reason the moment sheid eyes on Ren she fled.


    The other Spirit Rulers were also confused and dumbfounded by what happened. Even though she was weird, and says iprehensible things her power was the real deal. Even Silika aka Elizabeth Rogue would have trouble fighting her.


    Yet she flew away without even a word, and she did it after looking at Ren. The remaining six Spirit Rulers finally figured out that it wasn''t Silika who was the most dangerous, it was the man who she calls master.


    Unknown to the Spirit Rulers, both Silika and Ren weren''t even close to their peak. Silika was restrained by how strong her master was, as Ren wasn''t really that strong yet Silika was still unable to summon even a tiny portion of her true power. So if she were to fight the current Spirit Rulers she would have a hard time and will most likely lose. Even if she and Ren work together the fight would still be not in their favor.


    Due to various misunderstandings, and quality timing the seven Spirit Rulers have misinterpreted how strong Ren and Silika currently were.


    ...


    Ren who was stunned by the sudden retreat of Nezzard and the final Spirit Ruler finally moved. He looked at the remaining Spirit Rulers in disappointment and irritation. "Is that it? Are you people going to do anything else?"


    The Spirit Rulers looked at each other and didn''t know what to do. The strongest Spirit Ruler fled and she took their summoner with her. Now they were left here to face Ren and Silika by themselves. The former looking super annoyed, while thetter was smiling gently.


    "Did you people juste here to waste my time? You raised my hopes up and then nothing! What the f*ck was this?! You came to me blocking my way and then Nezzard says some b*llsh*t about him being the lion of Reschbauch and then he summons you useless pieces of trash! You guys did nothing you were summoned and were tasked to fight me but here you are cowering!"


    Silika was a little surprised by Ren''s outburst, but she could still somehow understand him. Ren''s whole existence and those of his past incarnations seem to be catered for battle. Now that he was given a taste of an exciting battle, and then in thest minute was pulled away from him. Of course, he would be irritated, but Silika wasn''t expecting him to be this irritated.


    "If that wasn''t bad enough, Nezzard summon that thing! He actually summoned a being that is supposed to be considered a Demi-God! Her entrance was so exaggerated, her speeches were extremely arrogant. That Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) actually made me feel a chill for a second, but then as she was about to fight. As my excitement reach a new peak, what did she do?! She f*cking fled from battle!"


    Ren''s killing intent skyrocketed as he grew even more irritated. The Spirit Rulers who have lived a long time, and had the memories of their predecessors have felt this kind of bloodlust before. It was at that moment they finally understood what was happening. They now knew why the Spirit Ruler of chaos(?) fled as fast as she did.


    There was only one human to ever gained the trust and love of the Goddess of Death Elizabeth Rogue. There was that one human that made the very heavens tremble before his bloodlust. That made the Gods themselves flee from his might.


    The Spirit Rulers who were in front of Ren were quiet as they felt dread crawling into their bodies. Ren gritted his teeth as he saw the reactions of the Spirit Rulers.


    "Fighting you cowards in this state won''t bring me any joy. Tell that master of yours if you''re going to challenge me again, make sure that you are ready. Cause if you people show me this kind of thing again, then I promise, I will grant you unimaginable pain, that you will make you beg for the sweet release of death."


    After warning the Spirit Rulers, Ren, and Silika left. The Spirit Rulers were finally able to rx a bit. They then teleported towards the area Nezzard fled to.


    ...


    The moment the six teleported they noticed that they were at the kingdom of the dwarves, at the top of their greatest stronghold, which was on top of the tallest mountain. This marvel of a fortress was built by the dwarves the greatest craftsmen of thend. It was their masterpiece that was made to be able to withstand the assault of Dragons.


    The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) knew that this wasn''t enough to stop Ren(Leo) if he wanted to kill them. But this was the strongest stronghold the mortals have ever made. Even if it can onlyst a few days against Ren(Leo).


    It was chillingly cold at the top of the mountain, and Nezzard was using a spell to heat his body up. He also surrounded himself with mana to stop the freezing winds from killing him. Beside him was the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) who was trying to hide there presence using a spell.


    Nezzard who noticed the six Spirit Rulers arriving looked a bit worried.


    "What happened?"


    "We were spared." The Spirit Ruler of Earth answered.


    "Tell me, is Ren that strong, that none of you can face him?"


    "We aren''t really sure what Ren truly is, though we do have a few guesses. But we do know the one beside him. That was the former Goddess of Death." The Spirit of Darkness started to exin to Nezzard about the things he knew of Elizabeth. The more Nezzard heard, the more fearful he became.


    "If she''s that powerful, then why is she following Ren? I have never heard of a diving being following a mortal, and making him her master."


    "If you want an answer to that, then you better ask her. She''s the one who knows more." The Spirit Ruler of Darkness pointed at the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) Noticing all the attention was on her, the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) gave Nezzard an answer.


    "That man, that you wished to face, is one that has been to many battlefields. He is one who seeks the strong and crushes them. Within his soulys hidden the monsters of the past, heroes, demons, saints, Gods, none may be his match."


    That didn''t answer any of Nezzards questions, it only raised even more questions. It was no use to ask any further questions since this was how the Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) speaks. Her words, as usual, were hard to understand and sounded cryptic. The only thing Nezzard got from what she said was that they should never antagonize Ren.


    "We need to head to the capital and warn the king," Nezzard told the seven Spirit Rulers.


    "What will you say to them? Even if you exin it to them, they will never believe that one man can wipe out the entire kingdom of Reschbeauch." The Spirit Ruler of Fire told her opinion.


    "I still need to try. If we don''t do anything, then the royal capital might turn into a pile of ash. Even though I''m a fallen noble, even though I have been discharged as the general of the army. I still wish to protect Reschbeauch."


    "Very well my servant, I have heard your pleas. Then we shall go and save the kingdom from the fangs of the beast." The Spirit Ruler of Chaos(?) spread her ck fiery wings and picked up Nezzard and flew away. The other Spirit Rulers sighed as they followed Nezzard.

 Chapter 156 - The truth Hidden within

    <h4>Chapter 156 - The truth Hidden within</h4>


    The messenger that Ren allowed to flee was able to report of the events that transpired in Grenton that was now called New Grenton. The King who heard that his third son was still alive, didn''t really look that surprised if he was then he was a very good actor indeed.


    Though he showed a different expression when he heard the news of his son dering independence from the kingdom, now that was the news that struck him and all the other nobles the most. Even the sword princess Ashley that returned from her trip was surprised by all the things she missed out on.


    Who knew that the three people she met on the road, would be the cause of such a big problem, even finding her missing older brother. Still, after hearing everything they''ve done in the few months after they met, the sword princess Ashley didn''t know what to feel. She then remembered that confident smile of Ren''s, and that overwhelming presence he had.


    ''If it''s him I guess anything is possible.''


    The nobles, on the other hand, were enraged. They wanted the king to send a battalion of knights and a twenty advance rank mages to immediately stop the third prince''s uprising. Yet for some reason, the king turned a blind eye to the events that were transpiring and didn''t do anything.


    The nobles didn''t understand why the king wasn''t taking any action. Was it because it was a son he thought he lost? No that wasn''t possible, the royals of the Reschbeauch kingdom, were not that soft. Especially the warrior king Willmont, the one who killed all his siblings for the throne. He would never show any mercy, even to his own son.


    Still, the nobles couldn''t wait for the king to make a move. They needed to act immediately if they don''t stop this now some of the inhabitants of theirnd would move to New Grenton. It would be nice if ended there, but there was a chance that not only a few would migrate but a lot of them.


    Not only that, based on what the messenger said once the situation stabilized in New Grenton, it was entirely possible for the third prince toe and attack the capital. A coup was inevitable. So the nobles decided to act without the king''s permission and sent one of the strongest warriors in the kingdom alongside ten highly trained men, to infiltrate New Grenton and assassinate the third prince, and if possible Ren as well.


    ? POV:


    I was sent here to kill a royal brat, but then this chick shows up. What the f*ck is with this chick? Right in front of me, a beautiful girl was killing the ten men that those nobles ced on me. Her ability in using a bow was superb, and her hand to handbat was among the best I''ve seen. Unfortunately for her, she is no match for me.


    Lara''s POV:


    After I separated from Valdel while scouting the area, I bumped into these guys. It was obvious that they were up to no good, as they suddenly attacked me for no reason. I of course retaliated, the first ten were easy enough to kill, but thest one was in a league of his own. I tried everything within my power to fight back but he kept on countering my every move.


    "You stand no chance against me kid. I don''t really like killing talented kids like you, so just this once I will let you go. Leave now and I won''t chase you."


    Did this guy ask me to flee?! I a woman of Ren was asked to flee?! This man wants to shame me! How dare he! How dare he! How dare he!


    ? POV:


    The woman''s face that has remained expressionless throughout the entire encounter suddenly showed a wild look about her. It was actually a bit scary as I watch her beautiful face distort. It was at that moment her whole body radiated a violent surge of mana.


    It was a fearful presence that made me shiver in fear. As I felt her bloodlust directed at me, I could feel my back sweating. She was going to attack me at full force, so I readied myself. I was about ready to intercept her, but then something changed. The scary look she had moments ago disappeared and what was reced was a disappointed look. She then stared at me which made me feel like running away. Her whole demeanor changed, I don''t understand it but the person standing before me felt like a whole other person.


    "Now look what you''ve made me do. You actually pushed my current self to this point. It''s too early for me to wake up, but you forced my hand." Her way of talking was different from before, and what she was saying made no sense. It was then I felt a burst of wind passed by me.


    Huh? Why is she sideways? That''s my own body...


    Lara(?) POV:


    I silently watch as the man''s head fell to the ground. That was easier than expected how sad that my current self, is so weak. Well, I was the one who decided to put my actual consciousness to sleep and let my current incarnation take another personality from mine.


    Still, this is all worth it, as I am now able to stay by his side not as his enemy but once again as his woman. I couldn''t help but smile as I remember his warm embrace.


    "Surely this time I will be able to save you... Gabriel." For now, I need to go back to sleep, since it''s not yet time.


    Lara''s POV:


    I woke up my head aching so much, I then started to look around and saw the powerful warrior''s head was on the ground. Was I the one who killed him? I can''t really remember... What did I do? I got angry at ament of his and was about to do a suicide charge, but before I was able to do anything I cked out.


    Did someone save me? With that thought in mind, I started to look around and searched for clues about the person who saved me. But after checking the footprints the bodies and the surrounding area I found no indication that someone else came here. Unless they were able to kill that man from a long-distance...


    I decided not to bother with it anymore and left the area. I headed back to the city and reported what transpired to Iselv and the others.

 Chapter 157 - I got a deal for you

    <h4>Chapter 157 - I got a deal for you</h4>


    Three days after Ren left New Grenton, Iselv and Kithra were being bombarded with a bunch of work. Even with the help of the fallen nobles and the adventurers guild the problems of Ren''s New Grenton kept on piling up.


    Though Ren''s ideas were good for the people if they were implemented, but making them happen was a different thing than just telling them to make it happen. Aside from manpower, the biggest concern at the moment was money. The money Ren gave was a lot but it was not enough. Even draining all the money from the Regalcrags and all the other fallen nobles weren''t going to cut it.


    Right now they were doing things for free, and because of the rush the people had from the promation of independence the other day, many were feeling alright with doing things for free. But that was obviously not going tost. They needed a solution and fast, if they don''t find one immediately they might lose any momentum they got and the will of the people will shift. If that were to happen, they didn''t know how Ren will react...


    Based on what they have seen, two things could happen. One, Ren wouldn''t really care as much since the only thing that seems to truly affect him is battle. Second, Ren could get truly angry and decide to kill them all, or he could do something worse. Just thinking about that made all of them shiver in fear.


    ...


    It has been five days since Ren left, but the problems regarding their funds still haven''t be solved. The situation has been getting a bit bad. Even though on the surface, everything was going smoothly, but here and there you could hear rumors spreading around. Some people were talking about them bing independent from the kingdom wasn''t a good idea.


    Aside from the rumors, some more other things have gone wrong. As the people were finally cooling down after the battle against the elder lich, they''re slowly figuring out that what Iselv said on that day might be ideal, but the way they''re doing it isn''t helping them at all.


    ...


    While Iselv and the others were trying their hardest to quell the dissatisfaction of the citizens, help suddenly arrived from an unexpected source.


    ...


    In the middle of themon room inside the Regalcrags mansion sat a tall man with a calm demeanor. The man was smiling ever so slightly while drinking the tea that was given to him.


    Behind him was an old man wearing a butler suit. His grey hair and outstanding posture gave off a presence of rigidity. While the two were gettingfortable, someone entered the room.


    "I''m sorry for the wait." Kithra entered the room with a gentle smile on her face, that look of hers would have made any regr man fall for her, yet the two in front of her weren''t any regr men.


    "Oh, is his highness the third prince not joining us?" The tall man stood from his chair and looked at Kithra with a sly smile on his face.


    "His highness the third prince is extremely busy at the moment and is sorry that he couldn''t meet you in person."


    "I see... It''s alright, I understand. So introductions are in order I guess. My name is Harold I am but a simple traveling merchant from a little country to the west."


    ''A country to the west? That means he is from beyond the Hekoria mountains. But is there really a country there, based on what I know there is only a desert beyond those mountains... Is there perhaps a country in the middle of the desert?''


    While Kithra was thinking, Harold, continued his introductions.


    "This person behind me is my butler, Oliver." The butler that stood behind Harold bowed in front of Kithra.


    "It''s nice to meet you, Harold, and Oliver. I am Kithra, you can call me the secretary of the third prince as well as the person who handles finances. So, now that introductions are done, how about we take our seats and talk about why you are here Harold."


    ...


    Once Harold and Kithra have sat down in front of each other, the atmosphere suddenly got a bit tenser, but both parties still kept on smiling.


    "Let me get straight to the point. I want to make a deal." Harold who was drinking his tea was so rxed as he said this, it felt like he was in his own house.


    "A deal is it?" Kithra was intrigued by the calm demeanor of the merchant. She tried probing him and sense that Harold had only the same amount of mana as any other regr person has. The butler behind him was a different matter on the other hand. She felt like probing the butler would result in something bad.


    "Yes, you see I heard rumors about what is going on here. At first, I thought that there must be some mistake, but after reconfirming it from several different sources, it turned out to be real. You see I find the things that you people are trying to do, to be great. So I came here to help you by providing you with financial support."


    Hearing Harold say that he would provide financial support, made Kithra''s eyebrows twitch a bit. Still, she remained calm and smiled as she spoke, "oh... So what do you want in exchange for your support?"


    "No need to be so stiff, Ms. Kithra, or should I say Ms. Thelia Renia." The moment Kithra heard that name she started to gather mana onto her hand, but before she could do anything more, she felt the cold de of steel touching her neck.


    The butler Oliver was able to move so fast that it felt like he teleported. Kithra who had a knife pointed at her neck sighed. Harold, on the other hand, remained unperturbed as he continued to smile gently at Kithra.


    "Oliver, please don''t point a de at our business partner." Oliver redrew the knife he pointed at Kithra''s neck and silently retreated back to Harold''s side.


    "So now that we are all calm, let''s continue our talk. Don''t worry Ms. Kithra this deal with benefit us both greatly."

 Chapter 158 - Negotiations

    <h4>Chapter 158 - Negotiations</h4>


    Kithra was sitting down in front of the ever-smiling Harold, she looked and acted like she was calm but deep inside she was a mess. Not only did Harold know of her true identity but the butler behind him was not someone she could contend with. Oliver was the worse possible enemy for her, an assassin type like him that silently attacks with speed and precision is the enemy of all mages that needed time to formte a spell.


    ''Still, if they kill me here, then they would be assaulted by the whole might of New Grenton. Not to mention Valdel and Lara, even the Regalcrags can handle these two.'' When she thought of that Kithra felt a little bit more confident again.


    "So what kind of deal, do you want to make?" Kithra spoke while trying to do some chantless dyed spells.


    "It''s not something that big or anything. I just want to start a little business here. You see I''m growing tired of the traveling merchant''s lifestyle. I want to take root here in New Grenton, where I feel a lot of opportunities will arise."


    "If you want to start a business you could have just done it through the normal procedures. Pay the Merchants Guild the appropriate fee and do the proper paperwork. It''s not really that hard, even if you are a foreigner the Merchants Guild here in New Grenton will dly allow you to set up shop."


    Kithra tilted her head as she answered a bit confused at Harold''s request.


    ''Why would someone like this ask for help for such a small matter anyone could do? Not only did he show a bit of his hand, he even used my real name. Was all that done for a simple permission to set up shop?''


    While Kithra was wondering why Harold was going so far just for such a simple matter, Harold spoke.


    "You see Ms. Kithra I want to avoid those little things such as that. If I were to do this the proper way, then I would need to register in New Grenton''s Merchants Guild. For personal reasons, I wish to avoid that, that''s why I need your help. What''s there to think about Ms. Kithra I am simply asking for such a little thing in exchange for giving you the funds you need to fulfill your ideals."


    ''Why does he want to skip the registration process? What is this guy truly nning? If I make a mistake here I might end up as a training dummy for that guy.''


    "Is that all you want Harold?"


    "Of course that isn''t all, but it''s the most important part. If you don''t agree with that one request of mine then the deal is off. If I were you, I would take it no questions asks. I know you aren''t this indecisive back when you were still Thelia Renia, the hidden witch."


    When Kithra heard that name again her anger rose, and killing intent filled the room. Oliver feeling such intense killing intent was about to move but Harold signaled him to stop.


    "I wish you would stop calling me that. I no longer possess the power to be called a witch and on that day when my heart broke, was the day Thelia died. There''s no longer a Thelia Renia, only Kithra remains. If you keep on provoking me like this Harold, then I will take it as a deration of war." Kithra was about ready to attack, now that had stored a few dyed spells she might be able to take on Oliver.


    "I apologize if I offended you Ms. Kithra. It''s just that your fame as the hidden witch was phenomenal and hearing the rumor that you''ve died was a shocker. Now that I''m able to see that you are alive and well got me a little bit excited, and for that I am sorry."


    Without losing the slight smile on his face Harold bowed his head in apology. Hearing what he said made Kithra click her tongue in dissatisfaction. She really wanted to kill this guy at this very moment, but knowing that he was the solution they''ve been waiting for had her hands tied.


    "Fine, but never call me by that name again, understood?"


    "As you wish mydy."


    "Let''s get back to business then. If I were to allow you to set up shop without going through the proper procedures, then how much are you willing to give us in return?"


    Harold then looked at Oliver, the butler nodded in affirmation. Oliver then got something out of his coat and threw it at the table stopping right in front of Kithra, it was a bag full of gold. Kithra quickly opened it and was surprised to see what was inside. It wasn''t simple gold coins, it was white gold coins. It was a bag full of white gold coins, with this kind of money you can pretty much buy every product currently in New Grenton.


    "That''s just my downpayment if you agree to help me out with setting up my shop." Harold with his perpetual smile on his face looked at Kithra waiting for an answer.


    "What kind of shop are you going to make?"


    "Just a simple shop that sells weapons, armor, potions, decor, and other misceneous things. You can just call it a shop that deals with all sorts of things."


    Hearing Harold''s nonchnt answer made Kithra lick her lips. She was really tempted right now to agree with Harold''s demands. Just doing that one simple thing would at least give them this bag full of white gold coins.


    "What if we aren''t able to fulfill your other requests, will you stop supporting us?"


    "If you''re able to fulfill this one simple request of mine, then the others don''t really matter much to me. I guess my support will lessen but I will still provide a bit of financial support, even if my future requests aren''t fulfilled."


    Hearing that answer just made Kithra even more worried.


    ''What could he possibly be nning with that shop of his? Why is it so important to create that shop here in New Grenton that he''s willing to give up so much money?... Damn it! I''ll just deal with one problem at the time. If I don''t deal with our financial problems now, I won''t even need to bother thinking about what this guy is ning since I''ll be dead. I got no other choice... I hope I can deal with whatever he got nned.''


    "Alright, Harold you got yourself a deal."

 Chapter 159 - Entering at the front

    <h4>Chapter 159 - Entering at the front</h4>


    Kithra decided that she needed to take this risk since the whole situation was falling apart. Without any financial backing, once Ren returns from his trip, he might find that his whole n failed from the getgo. That guy seems like he would be okay with failure, but one cannot be too sure so Kithra decided that this was for the best, if anything goes wrong the worse that could happen is death, which will happen either way if she fails to implement Ren''s n


    ...


    It took Ren and Silika fourteen days to reach thends the Resteti family call home. It was very hard to find since their true residence was hidden inside a cave. The first ce they went to was the one that most people knew about, but that turned out to be nothing more than a false residence made to trick their enemies.


    Ren and Silika started to search for other ces they could be hiding in. As they searched for the true residence they were able to hear various rumors about the current Marquis of the Restetis. It seems that in some rural viges like Ren''s home, the rumor is that the Marquis was a b*stard that steals wives, but that rumor changes depending on the vige or town.


    Now as you approach a vige near the fake estate, a different rumor which sounds more realistic was going around. It was said that the Marquis used to act like a timid little boy, but then one day he suddenly changed. The Marquis that used to be kind and understanding suddenly turned fierce. He started to hole up in his residence and do all sorts of experiments.


    One time he went out and challenged all the swordsmen near his residence. He then showed swordsmanship that was like no other. Seeing their once kind lord suddenly show such profound swordsmanship just made the citizens confused.


    Everyone knew that once upon a time the Resteti family were a group of powerful mercenaries, but after the king dealt with them, they lost all of their former glory. Nowadays the strongest of their children are taken away and the weaker ones were the ones who inherit the title of Marquis. That hasn''t changed even with the current Marquis'' generation, but what happened now, it turns out the current Marquis was a strong swordsman.


    Those were most of the rumors Ren heard throughout his journey in finding the real home of the Marquis. The change in personality and the sudden increase inbat ability was something he had witnessed before.


    ''Heh, so he''s a transmigator. Those guys usually use swords as their main weapon, and now that I think about it, I guess they were using Spirit Aura at the time. I always thought transmigators were weird beings that used a different kind of mana, it turns out it was just Spirit Aura.''


    While walking inside the well-lit cave Ren couldn''t help but smile as he couldn''t help but feel excited at the prospect of fighting a transmigator. Especially after that disappointing, thing that happened with Nezzard.


    ...


    After a few more minutes of walking, Ren and Silika finally found what they were looking for. It was an amazing sight to behold even for Ren, a fortress was actually hidden inside a cave. As the two got closer Ren saw, the men who were at the fortress battlement were pointing their arrows at him and Silika.


    "Who are you?" The leader of the archers shouted at Ren. As an answer, Ren simply picked a pebble and threw it at the archer beside the leader which made his head explode. When the leader so this he was stunned for a second before he suddenly started shouting.


    "FIRE!" A rain of arrows inside a prettyrge hallow cave descended upon Ren and Silika. Seeing this just made Ren chuckle as he casually swiped his hand and made the arrows scatter like fallen leaves.


    Attacks that had no mana in them were as threatening as ant bite to Ren. Even when they saw how easily Ren dealt with their rain of arrows, the archers just kept on firing at Ren and Silika. While that was happening the leader of the archers sprinted away to report to the Marquis.


    ...


    While dealing with the rain of arrows, Ren would casually flick an arrow back to its sender. Slowly but surely the archers were slowly diminishing. It was then the gates of the fortress opened and a toon of full ted armor men appeared. These men also had the same amount of mana as a normal person, meaning they don''t know how to use mana to attack, nor do they know how to infuse mana into their weapons. So all in all they weren''t any threat to Ren.


    The full ted armor men started to charge at Ren and Silika, and in response, Ren merely coated himself with a bit of his mana, and Silika did the same. The man then swung their swords at Ren, but to their surprise, Ren''s body was not sliced in half. Instead, it was their swords that broke in half.


    The man who was first to charge in was surprised, but then he saw Ren''s finger was nearing his forehead and with that Ren poked the man''s forehead piercing his helmet and his skull. When Ren was about to kill the other full ter armored men in the same fashion he sensed somethinging his way and he evaded.


    An attack that looked like [wind de] sliced at the ground he was standing on a few seconds ago. Ren seeing that move that was not created with mana but instead, created with Spirit Aura made him smile his familiar vicious smile.


    From beyond the gate, Ren saw a man holding a sword that was around three feet long with a double edge de. The sword had a mystical green glow to it, it felt like the sword was a part of nature itself.


    The man who was holding this de was looking at Ren in an arrogant manner. This only confirmed even more that this man was a transmigator since all those guys had almost the same temperament.

 Chapter 160 - Transmigator

    <h4>Chapter 160 - Transmigator</h4>


    The man holding the weird-looking sword was looking at Ren with a murderous gaze. In response, Ren simply showed his trademark smile.


    "What do you want? Why did you kill my men?" The man presumably the Marquis spoke to Ren.


    "You killed one of my men, and you''re asking me why I''m here?" Ren answered happily as he was brimming with excitement.


    "Oh, so you''re the one who sent that assassin to kill me. So what do you want? Did you kill my men because I killed one of yours? But you were the one who struck first, I just retaliated in self-defense."


    "That''s just part of the reason why I came here. The other reason that made mee here was because of an assassin that uses curses. Someone in your family hired him to kill the whole Kirche family, and I wanna know why."


    ''Something like that was happening under my nose. Did it happen before my soul got transferred over? Who was the idiot that did it?'' While the Marquis was thinking about who could possibly do something behind his back, Ren took a sword from one of the knights present and without the Marquis noticing he was able to appear in front of him.


    In the past few days as they were searching for where the Marquis was hiding, Ren was practicing on how to use Spirit Aura better. So now his usage of Spirit Aura was less wasteful than the first time he tried using it.


    He was still not as proficient in using it like mana, but it was still the better choice when it came to physical augmentation.


    ...


    The Marquis wasn''t that shocked by the instant movement Ren disyed, what shocked him the most was that Ren didn''t use mana to do that move, instead he used Ki. Ever since he took over the body of Lance Resteti, he has never seen anyone use Ki before. Most of the residents in this world use mana, so it was truly surprising to see someone who can utilize Ki in this world to such a degree.


    While Lance was still stunned Ren was looking at Lance''s sword intrigued. He then asked Lance a question.


    "So what kind of transmigator are you? Are you the type that level-ups, iming that this world is a game? Are you the type that has read the events of this world in a novel, iming that there is some kind of protagonist? Are you perhaps the type that ims to be an immortal from some high and mighty n? Are you perhaps just some poor sap that got unlucky and came into this world by chance? Or perhaps you''re a different kind of transmigator? So tell me which are you?"


    Lance didn''t bother to answer Ren and simply swung his sword trying to kill the intruder. Ren easily dodged his attack. He then gathered his ki and started to move even faster, in response to this Ren also gathered his Ki and blocked the iing sword sh.


    "How are you able to utilize Ki, are you the same as me?"


    "Ki? Oh, do you mean Spirit Aura? Well, why should I bother answering your question if you don''t want to answer mine?" While the two were in a deadlock Ren suddenly kicked Lance''s abdomen blowing him away. Lance was blown a few feet away before he was able to stabilize his bnce.


    Lance who was blown away started to concentrate harder. At first, he was still slightly curious as to how Ren knew that he was someone who took over Lance''s dead body, he was also curious about Ren''s usage of Ki. But now he decided not to bother anymore since Ren was obviously trying to kill him from the getgo by sending that assassin, then why should he bother holding a conversation with the guy.


    Lance then changed his stance and gathered his Ki onto his sword. When Ren saw what Lance was doing, he couldn''t help it but his smile grew even more vicious-looking than normal. Lance''s Ki then started to materialize around him and several giant swords started to float around him. Lance then did a piercing motion which made all the swords that floated around him fly towards Ren''s direction at blinding speed.


    It was such a big move that you wouldn''t expect Lance to use it in such an enclosed space like inside a cave, but for some reason, the damage was only focused on Ren''s area.


    "That''s a pretty cool technique, but you didn''t scream the name of your technique, meaning your not the type that would call this world a game." Lance was surprised to hear Ren''s voice behind him. By reflex Lance shed his sword behind him, but as expected Ren was able to dodge with minimal movement.


    Lance then made therge swords that floated around him smaller, once he did that he started to attack Ren with his sword at hand as well as with the floating swords. Even with several swords hacking away at him and with such coordination, Ren was still easily able to dodge each one.


    Lance who saw how easily Ren was evading his sword dance made him grit his teeth. If this was back in his prime he would''ve been able to summon a thousand des.


    After a short time of dodging, Ren started to counterattack. He joyfully swung his sword around which frustrated Lance as Ren was easily able to push him.


    Silika who was watching at the side was also smiling, seeing how happy Ren was, she now fully understood how frustrated he was about the fight with Nezzard.


    ...


    After several bouts, Lance was now sure that no matter what he did in his current condition he won''t be able to so much as scratch Ren. He then distanced himself from Ren, who just stood there waiting for Lance to do whatever he wanted. Seeing how confident Ren was in victory just irked Lance even more. Every time Lance used a new move Ren would happily receive it.


    "So what else do you have for me?" Hearing Ren''s question Lance took out a shining oddly shaped orb. Ren and even Silika didn''t know what that was. Both of them especially Silika have lived a very long time and seen a lot of artifacts but this was the first time they saw something like that.


    "I now know that my current self is no match for you. But with this artifact, I''ll be able to show you what true power is like. With this artifact, you can make your soul materialize and form an actual body. Everyone within fifty meters of me would have their souls materialize. Normally this would only serve with making a doppelganger for both of us, but for me it''s different. As you are already aware my soul that is residing in the body of Lance Resteti is different. For I am Wang Lin the mighty heaven''s sword! The greatest swordsman under the heavens!"


    Ren wasn''t all the impressed by Lance''s title as heaven''s sword, what caught his interest was the use of the artifact he was holding. If Lance uses that artifact things would get boring real fast.


    "I''m going to warn you right now if you use that artifact the advantage you think you''ll have won''t happen. Instead, you will be horribly outssed that I kinda feel sorry for you."


    Lance couldn''t understand any of Ren''s nonsensical babble, and without hesitation activated the artifact.

 Chapter 161 - The First Incarnation

    <h4>Chapter 161 - The First Incarnation</h4>


    The moment the artifact activated a white light covered arge portion of the cave. Once the light that covered the cave disappeared a man with very tall stature, long ck hair tied in a ponytail, with facial features that might make you think he was a beautiful woman stood beside Lance Resteti. The body of Lance Resteti started to move away, even though his soul was able to materialize into a full functioning body, he was still connected to the body where his soul resided.


    "You forced me to use my trump card so early, but now you will regret it." The beautiful looking man who was Wang Lin was a bit disappointed that he was forced to use his artifact that could only be used once, but he still felt ted that he could once again feel his old power coursing through his veins. Though this will onlyst for half an hour Wang Lin felt that it was too much time for him to deal with someone on Ren''s level.


    As he was getting exhrated by getting his former power back, he looked at his opponent. He was surprised to see that Ren''s soul was also of a different person.


    ''So he really was like me.''


    Right in front of Wang Lin was someone different from Ren. It was a man that wasn''t too tall, nor too short. His facial features based on the standards he knew weren''t ugly but at the same time, he wasn''t handsome. He was the very definition of average.


    Not only that even Ren''s awe-inspiring presence was gone, as the man currently in front of him also exuded nothing. In fact, he was so average that it was hard to get a feel of him. It was like he was part of the background. Wang Lin was confused about what he was seeing. How can someone he thought was powerful turn out to be someone like this?


    The man didn''t even bother moving his now empty husk of a body. He was simply standing there looking at his own materialized Spirit body.


    "Hmph, so that''s what you truly look like. Seeing how weak you are in your current form makes me feel a little bad, so I will allow you the first hit." Wang Lin gestured Ren(?) toe at him. Ren(?) then finally took notice of him and looked like he was scanning him. After a short look, Ren(?) tilted his head confused.


    "Why should I attack someone weak like you?" Ren(?) asked in a nonchnt manner. Hearing what Ren(?) said and looking at his expression just served to make Wang Lin angrier.


    "You really don''t know how immense the heavens are! Fine, I will show you the difference between you and me!" Wang Lin then summoned a thousand des that floated beside him, he also coated himself in an immense amount of Ki. With this much power he would end up blowing away the whole cave and fortress, but that doesn''t matter since no one else was here. All of his men already died, and his current family was in a different location. So destroying everything right now wasn''t a problem. Still, he was wondering if that woman who was standing at the back would take action.


    Well, it didn''t matter if she makes a move or not he just needs to kill her as well. Wang Lin then charged at Ren(?) with a thousand des. But the moment he got two meters near Ren(?) he felt an invincible force blocking his path. He could not move, not even a single finger. He then used all of his Ki to strengthen his body but that didn''t do anything at all as he remained frozen.


    Wang Lin then tried to make the thousand floating des attack Ren(?), but same as him they were frozen at the same spot. So it turns out Ren(?) wasn''t as weak as Wang Lin thought he was. If this continues won''t he die without being able to retaliate at all? Him the once feared Heaven''s sword was treated like an ant. Just the mere thought of that made Wang Lin furious.


    "What kind of sorcery is this?! Isn''t this suppose to be a fight using only our sword skills?! Why are you using magic now?!" Wang Lin knew what he was shouting was nonsensical, but at this point, he was grasping at straws. It hurt his pride to even speak such words, but he had no choice at the moment.


    Ren(?) looked at Wang Lin even more confused. "A fight using only sword skills? Was this that kind of fight? Hmmm..." Ren(?) then looked to be contemting deeply, after a short while he looked at Wang Lin and nodded his head.


    "I see you''re right this is a battle using sword skills."


    "That''s right! So stop using this bizarre ability that makes me unable to move!"


    "Huh? That''s not an ability or anything, I mean I didn''t do anything at all."


    This time it was Wang Lin who showed a confused expression.


    "If this isn''t an ability or a spell of some kind then why can''t I move?"


    "Isn''t that because your body is instinctively fearing me?"


    When Wang Lin heard Ren''s(?) answer he was shocked. He was scared? His body was unable to move onward because he was scared? Wang Lin then shouted in anger, not at Ren(?) but anger at himself. He was then able to charge onward and using a thousand des attack Ren(?). But before any of the attacks hit Ren''s(?) body they stopped.


    "I see, even though you''re so weak and scared, you still wish to challenge me. I don''t really like fighting such weak opponents but seeing your spirit excited me a wee bit." While saying this Ren(?) raised his hands upward and was in a stance that looked like he was holding a sword overhead.


    Wang Lin who was watching Ren''s(?) every movement in close range, saw a sword forming in Ren''s empty hands. It wasn''t a sword created by mana nor Ki. Wang Lin couldn''t truly understand it but he was sure that sword was created by Ren''s very soul.


    "Origin Swordsmanship, first stance, {GOD SLAYER}." Ren(?) then swung his newly formed sword downward. It wasn''t fast that one couldn''t see the motion of the swing, but that move still felt undodgeable.


    Wang Lin who was witnessing this attack from up close felt like the very heavens wereing down on him. That sword move felt like it had the very essence of swordsmanship within it. The sword that was meant to kill him came down, but for some reason, he was still intact.


    Wang Lin then noticed a breezeing from behind. When Wang Lin saw what happened behind him he was shaken to his very core. The cave they were in was sliced open, and when he looked out he saw the night sky. The moment he saw the night sky he thought that he went crazy. The clouds were also cut in half, and even the full moon was sliced, there was now a perfectly sliced moon up in the night sky. If that wasn''t enough the sea of stars that were in the direction of the sh disappeared. That would mean Ren(?) was able to cut everything. A sword that was able to cut everything in its path.


    Wang Lin was trembling in fear, what kind of monster was he facing. Even back in the immortal world where powerful beings could destroys with but a single fist, this was the first time he has ever witnessed someone this powerful. While he was in a dazed state, he heard Ren(?) talking to himself.


    "I didn''t kill him as you asked... What are you talking about, I already held back a lot, and that was already my weakest attack. It was just the first stance."


    Wang Lin didn''t know who Ren(?) was talking to, but hearing Ren(?) say that attack was his weakest and he held back a lot, just shattered any pride Wang Lin had left. The man that was once feared as the Heaven''s sword started tough awkwardly at himself.


    ''What greatest swordsman under the heavens? What true power?'' Wang Lin remembered how Ren acted in front of him with a smile on his face as if he was ying with a child. ''So in the end, I was nothing more than a clown in front of his eyes.''

 Chapter 162 - What do you want?

    <h4>Chapter 162 - What do you want?</h4>


    While Wang Lin sat in a daze, Silika who was watching at the side was in awe of what she saw. One of the twin moons was cut in half. It was so cleanly cut that it just looks like there was a line separating the two pieces. The two pieces of the moon were so close together that it didn''t feel like it was cut. But what was even more surprising than that were the stars that were in the path of the sh they all disappeared from the night sky.


    Silika always believed that Leo was the strongest of the incarnations, but upon witnessing the might of the first incarnation she knew that she was sorely mistaken.


    While Silika was looking at Ren(?) in awe, a rain of blood came falling down. It would seem that one attack of Ren(?) killed anything that was in the path of the sword sh.


    ...


    In different ces of the continent, a rain of blood came down from above. In some ces, some wyverns and even dragons were killed by that one attack. This made the people fearful, and they all asked were the Gods fighting? If so which Gods were in the midst of battle? But the people also found it weird, since even Gods can''t kill a dragon so easily, yet four have died in that one attack.


    If that wasn''t enough most people noticed that the moon above their heads was sliced in half. Even the bright stars in the sky have faded. Most of the mages were in awe of the sight, as they wish to learn what kind of spell was able to create such a disy of might. They would never believe that this was created by a sword technique since to them any sword technique could never be able to reach the destructive capabilities of magic.


    The temples created by humans to serve the Gods and Goddesses were also panicking, as they thought they were about to go to war with another temple. Since to them, the only beings capable of such a feat were the Gods. Yet it only took a few minutes for the Popes and the holy maidens to receive divine revtions telling them that the Gods weren''t responsible for what happened.


    Instead, they were told that a being of unimaginable strength that they couldn''t pinpoint was the one who did this. Some of the Gods and Goddesses can guess as to who it could be since they knew of Ren''s other incarnations personally. The other Gods and Goddesses, on the other hand, couldn''t find any trace of the being who did that attack.


    This was one of the passive skills that each incarnation had to elude the senses of diving beings. They needed this skill to give them enough time to grow before they faced the enemies that needed to be dealt with. Usually, an incarnation of Ren was already the strongest right from the start, but as ofte each incarnation was getting weaker. The influence of the ORIGIN was finally affecting them, but because of their unnatural strength, they were still able to withstand it.


    ...


    The elves that were most in tune with the world, upon witnessing the scene of one of the moons being cut in half and the rain of blood that came afterward worried them. There were four races of elves in the continent and each one of them was worried about different things. The dark elves and the moon elves who draw power from the moon were worried about the effects of one of them being cut in half, and questioned if this will this also affect their powers?


    The wood elves were worried about what would happen to the ecosystem of the forest since a dragon the apex predator within said forest just died.


    On the other hand, the high elves, the oldest and fewest of the elves were having mixed emotions at the moment, but most of them were worried. They knew of the person who had cut the very stars themselves. Every time that person appears it would mean something that affects every living being was about to happen. That was the kind of being that person was, he was both the savior and the bringer of death.


    ...


    The dwarves who were holed up in their tunnels weren''t able to witness the spectacle of the sliced moon. So they continue with their lives unperturbed.


    ...


    The demons especially the higher-ranked ones were wondering if the prophecy of thete demon lord was about toe true.


    ...


    The other races, on the other hand, felt like that the slicing of the moon and rain of blood was a sign of an uing apocalypse.


    ...


    At the very edge of the world, a very familiar being looked up at the night sky and cried. She smiled ever so weakly as she witnessed the moment one of the two moons was sliced in half, and the stars were destroyed.


    "Still the same as ever..." The person weakly spoke before going back to sleep.


    ...


    While everyone was rattled by the event that transpired, the one responsible for said event sighed. He looked a bit mncholic as he simply stood in one spot unmoving.


    ...


    Ren who was witnessing the whole thing inside the realm of his soul was still a little shocked. He was already expecting the original to be strong, especially knowing that he was the strongest incarnation. Ren already knew how strong Leo was and that guy said he wasn''t even within the top three in strength. So Ren was already expecting the original to be unimaginably strong, but seeing it first hand was something else.


    "Every time I get to witness his power, it just makes me excited!" Leo and the other incarnations that were beside Ren who were watching the fight(?) were all trembling in excitement. All of them no matter which incarnation were all battle junkies. Since the base of their personalities all stems from the original. There may be some differences depending on how each incarnation was raised but that excitement they had for battle can never change.


    They were all thinking the same thing, ''I want to fight the original.'' It didn''t matter if they had no chance, it didn''t matter if victory was impossible, actually that made it even more exciting. They knew that even if all the incarnations attacked the original, they won''t evenst a few seconds. They knew this, but their lust for battle made them want to fight.


    They wanted to fight the so called strongest, the first swordsman, the original mortal soul. They really wanted to fight the original, as their battle spirit rose.


    ...


    While all the incarnations were getting rather excited, the first incarnation looked at Wang Lin. His eyes upon looking at Wang Lin contained neither arrogance or contempt after winning the battle. All Wang Lin could see in Ren''s(?) eyes was sadness and disappointment. Wang Lin could understand the disappointment, but he couldn''t understand why he saw such deep sadness in Ren''s eyes. While Wang Lin was thinking, Ren asked him a question.


    "So do you wish to continue?"


    Hearing Ren''s(?) voice shook Wang Lin awake, he then chuckled awkwardly at what Ren(?) said. ''Continue? Continue to fight this monster? Even with a thousand of me can''t even touch his hair. After I started living as Lance Resteti I always thought I can be the strongest in this world. Yet with him here, I stand no chance.''


    "I give up, kill me if you wish." Wang Lin was full of regrets and he didn''t want to die. He still wanted to show his parents of this life a brighter future for his family. He wanted to wipe away the sin his current family made. He wanted to get back at the arrogant royal family that stole away his younger brother. Yet what can he do, in front of someone like this, even his trump card was worthless.


    "What are you saying? I do not wish to kill you." Ren(?) spoke confused as to why Wang Lin thought he would kill him.


    "Huh?"


    "If I wanted to kill you, then the moment you told me who you were, was the moment you should have died. But here you are still talking to me, alive, aren''t you?"


    He was right, if Ren wanted him dead with howrge the difference in skill and power between them was, he should''ve been dead the moment he attacked Ren.


    "Then, what is it do you want from me?"

 Chapter 163 - I wonder

    <h4>Chapter 163 - I wonder</h4>


    When Ren(?) heard Wang Lin''s question he approached him and took the odd-shaped orb. Ren(?) proceeded to crush the artifact to speed up the end of its use. Once the artifact was crushed into nothing, the materialized Spirit Bodies disappeared.


    Wang Lin who was back inside Lance Resteti''s body looked at the approaching Ren in confusion. ''Why did he need to do that? Couldn''t he just tell me what he wanted in that form?''


    While Lance was watching the approaching Ren he felt something different from before. ''...OH! His aura changed again, it went back to what it was before I used the artifact. Howe he was exuding a different aura when he fought using his soul?...''


    Lance couldn''t understand why the aura Ren exudes was different since him and the projection of his soul were supposed to be the same. Ren''s materialized soul''s aura was nothing, which made him feel like he was part of the background. Ren''s physical body, on the other hand, had an aura that could suffocate you if you were weak.


    "So tell me Lance who sent that assassin to kill the Kirche family?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Then find out." Ren showed a smiling face, he did this to calm down Lance. But instead of calming him down seeing Ren smile put a lot of pressure on Lance. That smile of Ren''s was etched into his memory as something to be feared.


    "I will find out who did it, but you''ve got to give me some time. The Resteti Family is prettyrge. Even though the royal family takes most of the children the number of people left is still a great amount. Not to mention I need to find out how they were able to hire someone behind my back. So please just give me a bit of time."


    Lance who was speaking arrogantly at the beginning was now acting a bit more humble as he was frightened of Ren. He wasn''t even aware that he was speaking differently or that he was frightened to his very core.


    "Fine, I''ll give you a bit more time. So I''ll be staying at your ce while I wait. I hope that''s alright with you."


    "... It will be my pleasure." Lance didn''t really like the idea of Ren hanging out in his home, knowing how dangerous an individual Ren was. He wasn''t sure if it was the right move to bring him to were his current family was staying. But on the other hand, if he didn''tply with such a simple request from Ren the ramifications were unknown. It was entirely possible that Ren would do something drastic if he is angered. Lance didn''t know at all what Ren would do since he doesn''t know a thing about the man except that he is exceptionally strong.


    "Well then let''s get going." Ren turned around and was about to head out of the cave, but before he was able to move out with Silika, Lance suddenly shouted at him.


    "WAIT!" Ren looked behind him confused.


    "Huh? What is it? Is there anything more?"


    Lance then knelt on the ground and bowed his head. This action of his simply confused Ren even more. Why does everything this guy does was so confusing? Was what Ren thought as he looked at the peculiar scene happening before his very eyes.


    "Please teach me your way of the sword!" Lance spoke with all the sincerity he had. The idea came to him as he watched Ren''s back. Showing him his defenseless back, was Ren so confident that Lance wouldn''t attack him behind his back? No that wasn''t it, Ren was showing his back because it didn''t matter if Lance decided to attack. No matter what a single ant does, it wouldn''t amount to anything.


    Once upon a time Lance back in his past life acted the same way. He truly respected Ren''s strength and pride. But most of all he respected Ren''s sword. The way Ren fought at the beginning was already beyond Lance''s skill, but the sword swing he showed at the end was the very definition of a perfect sword sh. A sword that is capable of slicing everything and anything, Lance wanted that kind of sword too. So he swallowed whatever was left of his pride and asked Ren to teach him swordy.


    ...


    Ren looked at the bowing Lance and was a bit surprised. He wasn''t expecting an act like this from an arrogant transmigator.


    "You want me to be your master, and teach you the ways of the sword?"


    "Yes!"


    "But you already have your own way of the sword. Are you willing to discard all that to learn my own way of the sword?"


    "YES!" There was no hesitation in Lance''s answer, in fact, he was even faster to respond than the first time Ren asked.


    ''Hmm... Should I teach him my swordsmanship? I bet what he wants to learn is the original''s swordsmanship. Also, do I really want to teach someone else my swordsmanship? The only reason I thought Valdel was because of his status as my childhood friend, the same goes for Lara and Lisa.''


    "I''m going to be straight forward with you, even if I do teach you, you will never be able to do the sword strike that was used at the end of our fight."


    "It doesn''t matter, even without that final strike I know how much more superior your swordsmanship ispared to mine. I may have a lot of pride but I am not blind to see the discrepancy." Lance spoke without raising his head.


    "So you really wish to learn my way of the sword?"


    "YES!" Ren looked at Lance for a bit and sighed.


    ''This guy was pretty powerful, and he wasn''t all that stupid, also his family and prestige is something I can use.''


    "Fine, I shall teach you my way of the sword, under one condition."


    "Anything!" Lance finally raised his head and looked at Ren with eyes full of resolve.


    "Once I teach you my way of the sword, you will be my disciple, and with that title I want you to swear one thing, never betray me . Betrayal will be punishable by a fate worse than death itself."


    "I promise to never betray you, my master!"


    "We shall see... Well, it doesn''t really matter to me, since the only one who loses out with your betrayal is you alone." Ren shrugged his shoulders, as he headed out of the cave.

 Chapter 164 - Feeling Weird

    <h4>Chapter 164 - Feeling Weird</h4>


    It has been a few days after the incident of one of the twin moons being cut in half. The initial scare gradually disappeared in New Grenton, actually it was much faster than the time with the Elder Lich since no one died this time, which made the people not mind as much. One of the twin moons being cut in half was indeed something worrisome, but to the people of New Grenton who had been through hell before, they weren''t really that affected by it.


    ...


    Valdel was walking around New Grenton with Kuro at his side. Kuro who used to be a former ve that had nothing to her name and had her vige destroyed stopped looking like a ve and was now looking more like a knight. This change happened because of Galius.


    After being trained by Galius, who found out that she was very talented, Kuro turned from a helpless ve into a moderately eptable knight.


    After a few days of training, Galius started to treat Kuro like his very own daughter and bought her all the equipment she would need. He even offered Kuro the sword that was considered an heirloom by his family. Seeing as Galius already did so much for her, Kuro didn''t really want to take something so important from him.


    Yet Galius acted out of character and almost cried, this forced Kuro to reluctantly ept the heirloom. Though she has it on her waist, she also has a spare weapon she likes using better. So right now she was wearing hydra armor imbued with magical properties and had two swords at her waist.


    Kuro really didn''t want to ept such expensive gifts and was alright with the equipment she can afford to buy with her own money, but Galius was really pushy. Valdel who witnessed all of these events couldn''t believe how different Galius was acting.


    ...


    The two who were doing there usual patrol spotted something in one of the alleyways. Two men were harassing a single woman. At first nce, it looked like the two were in the wrong, but after everything Valdel had witnessed during his past patrols he didn''t want to jump to any conclusions.


    Valdel approached the three without them noticing.


    "What''s happening here?"


    The three people were surprised to see Valdel sneak up behind them. The woman quickly moved behind Valdel while the two men were still surprised.


    "Please help me!" The woman trembled as she hid behind Valdel''s back.


    "You better mind your own business buddy." One of the men spoke. Unlike Ren, only a few people knew of Valdel, so these two men didn''t know who they were facing at the moment.


    Valdel looked at the woman and then at the two men and sighed. Usually, he would have already attacked the two men knocking them out, but he held back since everything isn''t always as it seems.


    "I just want to know what''s going on here." Valdel calmly asked, but he also exerted a little bit of his mana to scare the two men a bit. Feeling a heavy pressure fall upon them, the two men finally understood that Valdel was not someone they can take on.


    "This woman stole our money and she won''t give it back." One of the men said sounding a bit more humble than before.


    "That''s not true!" The woman looked at Valdel with upturned eyes almost looking like she was about to cry. She also positioned herself in a way that showed her ample bosom.


    "What are you talking about, woman! You were flirting with my friend here and then I saw you slide your hand into his pockets. After that, you left in a hurry, and when we checked my friend lost all his money! How do you exin that?!"


    Hearing the men''s side of the story, Valdel looked at the woman waiting for her to give her side. The woman noticing Valdel''s stare started to panic a bit.


    "They''re obviously lying! They just wanted to have there way with me! I didn''t steal any money from them, and why would I flirt with that man, he''s not even my type. Please believe me!" The woman suddenly hugged Valdel''s arm squeezing it tightly which made Valdel feel her bountiful chest even more.


    Kuro who was watching at the side was starting to emit a murderous aura, but then Valdel sent her a look which made her stop.


    Hearing the story of each side made Valdel sigh. It was now obvious that it was the woman that was in wrong, and is really a thief. Still, once again Valdel needed to be cautious, as he didn''t want to make another mistake.


    "Did anyone else saw you talking to this woman?"


    "Yes, there were some people there at the time." The man who had his money stolen answered quickly.


    "How about we ask those people what they saw and see who''s telling the truth." The moment Valdel said this the woman knew that she failed to trick Valdel and she immediately started running. As she started running away Kuro reacted fast and was able to pin down the woman with rtive ease.


    After a quick search, Kuro found numerous bags filled with coins hidden within the woman''s body. It would seem that she has stolen from more than just these two men. Valdel then called some of the guards and reported what happened.


    ...


    After the incident with the thief, the people who had their money stolen thanked Valdel. Usually, Valdel would feel happy that he was able to help someone in need, but now he felt something weird. At first, he was indeed happy that he was able to help those in need no matter how small the problem was. But after that incident where he made a mistake in judgment and persecuted the wrong person, Valdel couldn''t feel as happy as before.


    He now truly understood that Ren was as usual correct. The world truly wasn''t as ck and white as he thought it was. He felt his view of the world expanding each day, but for some reason, as his view expanded the weirder he felt. He couldn''tprehend why he was feeling this way.


    If that wasn''t enough of a problem, he was also feeling a bit disillusioned. He always thought the journey of being a hero was much more exciting than this. He was expecting fighting evil lords, saving innocent citizens from a horde of barbarians or other things like that.


    It was true at the start of his journey it was going that way, but for some reason after the incident with the Elder Lich, such incidents were lessening. It was not like he wanted misfortune to happen to other people so that he could y the hero, but still, it felt weirdly wrong. Something was nagging at him that there was something wrong with this sequence of events.


    It was like someone was controlling the path he was supposed to take... No, it was more like someone was forcefully changing the course of his destiny. He wasn''t sure why he felt that way, but it was really bothering him to no end.


    He then remembered a bit of what Shin said, that a hero has a predestined route to take, and he could never change that. But for some reason, that route seems to have shifted a lot.


    ''Maybe Shin has some answers. I probably should visit him again.''

 Chapter 165 - Types of Heroes

    <h4>Chapter 165 - Types of Heroes</h4>


    It took Valdel about two days to find the cave where he met Shin. As even for Zwei who could sense the presence of powerful individuals found it hard to sense Shin''s presence since he was trying his hardest to suppress his power. Still no matter how hard Shin tried to suppresses it as long as it doesn''t disappear entirely Zwei could still somehow sense it.


    Now that Valdel was in front of the cave he cautiously walked inside. The moment Valdel entered the cave, someone appeared before him.


    "What brings you back here, young hero?" Shin appeared in front of Valdel out of nowhere. Though this was shocking, and Valdel wasn''t able to sense Shin approaching, Valdel remained calm as he already guessed Shin would do something like this.


    "I have a question I wished to ask of you great hero," Valdel spoke as respectfully as he could.


    "I see... I knew you woulde back." Shin then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Valdel felt a wave of mana surround him and he couldn''t do anything about it. He was then teleported back to the room where he and Shinst had a conversation. It was the room full of priceless artifacts and gold.


    Once they were in this room both Zwei and Nika took their human form and stood behind Valdel. Shin then gestured for Valdel and the two girls to sit down. Valdel sat down but the two remained standing.


    "So were you able to give the horn to your friend?"


    "Yes."


    "I see, did he say anything about it?" Shin looked at Valdel with curiosity as he too sat down.


    "He really didn''t say anything."


    "Hmm, well I guess that''s just like him. So young hero you came back and wanted to ask a question, what is it?" Shin mumbled the first part of what he said so Valdel was unable to hear it.


    "Actually, I''m feeling weird..." Valdel then proceeded to tell Shin everything that happened to him after the fight with the Elder Lich.


    ''Hmm, so Kretos was able to change Valdel''s fate to such a degree that the young hero could actually feel the changes.''


    "What''s happening to me?" After recounting the events that transpired Valdel looked at Shin with pleading eyes. Watching the current Natural-born hero of this era act this way made Shin sigh. Once Kretos died the quality of heroes seems to have had a huge decline.


    "I have a guess about what''s happening to you. I''m not really sure about it since there hasn''t been a case like yours before. Though my situation back then, feels a bit simr but at the same time different. Well, in any case, I do have an assumption on what is happening to you, do you want to hear it?"


    "Please, I trust your wisdom, Sir Shin." Valdel bowed his head as he asked Shin to share his wisdom with him.


    "Fine, but before I give you my view on what''s happening to you, I first need to inform you about the truth about heroes. Since it seems that you like most of the people in this world have misconceptions about what a hero is."


    "First off before I can exin to you what a hero is, I need to tell you about the different kinds of heroes. To my knowledge, there are six types of heroes, the Transmigrator, the Reincarnated, The Summoned, The Chosen, The Prophesized, and the Natural. You and I are considered Natural Heroes, I will exin what that is a bitter since I first I need to exin about the other types of heroes, I won''t exin in full detail, just a general outlook"


    "The mostmon Hero that you hear in fairytales, are the Transmigrator Heroes. These types of heroes could be beings of another world, from a different timeline, from a different reality, from any ce that has a mortal soul. So basically these Heroes are wandering souls that died in their original ces, and then inhabited the body of a recently deceased person. After incorporating their knowledge into this world, these people be powerful individuals that will be heroes that are praised throughout the ages."


    "The second mostmon type of hero is the Reincarnated Heroes. Now, these heroes are a bit simr to the Transmigrators as they also came from varying ces. The difference between them and the Transmigrators is that Reincarnated people are born into this world. Unlike the Transmigrators who have their souls transferred in another person''s body, the Reincarnated heroes were born into this world naturally, but with memories of their previous life."


    "Now next are the Summoned Heroes. Sometimes a country or a person in times of chaos, figure out how to summon beings from different dimensions or worlds. Using this knowledge they summon individuals with powerful abilities. Sometimes these people were already powerful in their homeworld, but other times they only became powerful because they were summoned."


    "Now onto the next type of hero, the Chosen Hero. These heroes are people chosen by divine beings, they are warriors granted incredible power by a specific God or Goddess. In my point of view, they are more like representatives to the Gods than heroes, but to be fair they do some heroic things every now and then, so calling them heroes is right as well." Shin shrugged his shoulders.


    "Second to thest are the prophesized heroes. Now, these heroes are a topic of controversy, others don''t even consider them heroes. They are only called heroes because they were usually prophesized to do some great deed or another, in the foreseeable future. Among all the hero types they are the most likely to die. The cause of their high death rates is because of the prophecy itself that stated them being a hero. Since most of them believe that them defeating a monster that is going to terrorize thend in the future is a done deal, these heroes indulge in all manner of vices. So when the timees when they are to face the monster they were destined to defeat, they usually die and another hero needs to step up and finish the job."


    "Finally there is the Natural Hero. The Natural Hero is born with the disposition of being a hero. He or she from birth has already a carefully mapped destiny that he or she will follow until the day they die. Unlike the prophesized heroes, the Natural Hero''s destiny is harder to break. Since the Natural hero has a disposition of being a hero, he or she is more likely to have the mentality of wanting to be stronger so that he or she can help everyone in need."


    "Now unlike the other heroes, the Natural hero has practically no free will. Even the Chosen heroes who are representatives of Gods have more free will than a Natural hero. At this moment you might think all the actions you have taken, all the righteous justice that you are feeling, came from your own self. But that the truth is, you''re just being controlled. The reason you are feeling something is wrong is because you are slowly breaking free from your destiny. The control they have on you is weakening."


    Valdel looked at Shin with mixed emotions, as he tried his hardest to try and understand what was just said to him. His ideals, his very self, his raison d''etre were being questioned here. The amount of information he was given and the content within it was mind-blowing.

 Chapter 166 - The truth about heroes

    <h4>Chapter 166 - The truth about heroes</h4>


    "Now that you are informed about the different kinds of heroes, that I know of, let me tell you about-" Before Shin could continue talking Valdel raised his arm and gestured Shin to stop.


    "Wait a minute! You''re telling me that I''m being controlled?! You''re telling me none of the things that made me, me, are mine, to begin with?!" Valdel who was finally able to digest a bit of what was said started to panic. His mana was going out of control and pouring out of his body. Zwei and Nika tried to calm Valdel down but they were unable to get near him.


    Watching what was happening to Valdel made Shin sigh. He was expecting Valdel to have better mental resistance than that, especially knowing that Ren was with him. Still, he remembered the time he figured out a bit of the truth, wasn''t he also the same.


    ''Well, I guess there were some unrealistic expectations from me since he was trained by that guy. Hmmm, still this level of power pouring out of him is incredible for a beginner hero. As expected of Kretos training a hero to this degree in such a short time.''


    While Shin was praising Ren in his mind, Valdel''s mana was getting a bit more violent. The two weapon spirits were having a difficult time stopping their master from running amok. Shin then slowly approached Valdel.


    When Shin got close to Valdel, the out of control Valdel was about to attack Shin unconsciously. But before Valdel was able to move, Shin flicked Valdel''s forehead. Valdel''s head was knocked backward and his rampaging mana stabilized.


    Valdel who was now a bit more in control started to breathe heavily as he looked at Shin and bowed his head.


    "I''m sorry about that, Sir Shin, and thank you." Even after being attacking and clearly having a difficult time right now Valdel acted polite in front of Shin.


    "It''s alright young hero, anyone would react the same way as you if they learn of such a truth. I know you really want to know more about those beings that I say are controlling your actions, but before I exin more about that let me tell you the truth I believe in, about what it means to be a hero."


    Valdel quieted down as he regted his mana while listening to Shin.


    "Tell me Valdel what do you think a hero is?" For the first time ever in his life, Valdel hesitated to answer this question. He was now unsure about a lot of things. He then closed his eyes and started to think about his experiences and even with the new set of information Valdel''s answer remained the same.


    "A hero is someone that''s there for the people. A hero is someone who responds to everyone''s cry for help, even from those that have not the voice to speak the words! A hero is someone everyone can rely on when despair creeps in! A hero is someone that makes the impossible, possible! And most of all for me a hero is someone that protects everyone''s smiling faces!"


    At the beginning of his speech, Valdel was speaking normally, but as he continued talking he got a bit excited and raised his voice.


    "Well, that''s nice. Now let me tell you what I think a hero is. I think a hero is a faceless nobody that changes depending on what the public wants. I think a hero is a powerful weapon used to change the tide of battle. I think a hero is a selfish being that only wants his point of view to be heard. Well, that''s my opinion on the matter. But that''s not what I want to tell you. After living for centuries and being freed from my duties as a hero I got a glimpse of what the true role of a Natural hero was."


    "First off I need to tell you what I''m about to say is simply my opinion, but I think that the Natural hero''s and the Chosen hero''s true role was to bring bnce to this world. In truth, a Natural hero and a Chosen hero could also be a viin and the viin could be the hero, it doesn''t really matter. The only thing that matters is a bnce. That''s what I thought at first when I was freed from my destiny as a hero, but it turned out the truth was worse than I thought. I don''t know much about the other types of heroes, but for the Natural Hero, the truth is we are nothing more than an experiment. Every natural hero is just a pawn in a game, set up by some beings of an upper realm. These beings are simr to Gods but at the same time different. Well, that''s what I understood based on what I saw, to tell you the truth I''m not really sure about it."


    "What do you mean an experiment?"


    "When I got the strength that surpassed that of a hero, I was able to glimpse into a world above this one. Only divine beings and those of simr levels of power could even glimpse into that realm. I learned that Natural heroes were simply an experiment created by some of the beings of that upper realm, they wanted to create the perfect replica of the first true hero, the one created by the ORIGIN, the one who broke free from its control. They imnt the power and personality of a hero into a random child and see if that child can be the same as the true hero."


    If Valdel was confused before, right now he was in a state that could break his mind.


    "I''m not sure about some of the things they said, like the ORIGIN or about the true hero... But I think the reason for the discrepancy that you are feeling is because you are going against the ideals that were imnted to you from birth. This is all just an assumption of mine based on all the things I have seen and experienced. I''m not really sure if what I''m saying is even close to the truth. Unless those beings exin themselves, this all that I can tell you."


    Valdel didn''t respond to Shin as he simply sat on the floor in a daze. Even Zwei who was much older and more experienced than Valdel was surprised by this information given to them by Shin. Though most of it was simply assumptions on Shin''s part, what he said was all Valdel had that could exin what was happening to him.

 Chapter 167 - Looking around

    <h4>Chapter 167 - Looking around</h4>


    The sound of a man heavingly breathing as he swung a sword echoed throughout the cave. It has been two days since Ren started to train Lance, and his progress was better than expected. While the two were taking a break, Ren looked at the panting Lance and asked, "what''s happening to the investigation?"


    "I''m sorry, master, my men are doing the best they can. At most the investigation will end tomorrow and I''ll be able to present to you the b*stard that tried to kill your woman''s family."


    "Very well, after you''re done resting continue swinging that sword I gave you. Every time you swing it, I want you to imagine that if your first attack doesn''t kill your opponent then you''re the one to die."


    "Yes, master!" Lance held the sword given to him by Ren tightly.


    "As for me, I''m going to look around the city. How about giving me some money to spend."


    "Of course master, here it might be too little but I wish you would bear with it for now." Lance handed Ren a heavy bag filled to the brim with gold coins. Seeing Lance so subservient continued to be weird. The change in Lance''s character in these two days was so much that Ren was still a bit bewildered by it.


    "No, this much is fine." Ren took the bag of gold coins and left with Silika following behind him. Once Ren''s back was nowhere to be seen, Lance stood up and started to swing the sword again.


    ''It''s been ages since Ist did something so basic, but for some reason, it feels like my foundation is actually getting better. Master''s swordsmanship is the very basics, but the way he does it makes it look an art form... Enough, I need to concentrate. Each swing must be swung like it''s my strongest attack.''


    Lance started to swing his sword with an intent to kill, he wasn''t using any mana nor ki but the power of each of his strikes was gradually getting stronger.


    ...


    Ren and Silika were finally able to reach the nearby city, but before they headed inside Silika stopped.


    "Ren do you want me to wear my veil, or go back into your tattoo?"


    "Why?"


    "Becuase thest time we entered a town and the people saw my face, we were assaulted."


    "So what? You''re my woman and if they try to do anything to you, then they just need to die. Why should you hide your face to such people?"


    Hearing what Ren said made Silika smile as she nodded her head. The two proceeded to head into the city. They were then stopped by a guard who asked them to identify themselves. Ren showed the guard a medallion given to him by Lance indicating that he was a guest of the Resteti family. The moment the guard saw the medallion he humbly backed away.


    In this city the influence of the Resteti family was huge and the only other family that could match them was the Valier family.


    The two then entered the city without any problem, but once they entered the people especially the men started to look at Silika. They were beguiled by her beauty and confused as to why she was with someone average looking like Ren. Was Ren perhaps a young master of an influential family, was he a rich merchant, or a powerful warrior? They didn''t know but they knew one thing they were extremely jealous.


    ...


    While they were walking around attracting attention, Ren wasn''t bothered one bit. Hearing them badmouth him about being with Silika was like praises to his ear. He wasn''t bothered by the people, as long as they don''t harbor any killing intent then he didn''t really care. Also, he was in a good mood since he was able to strengthen his mana capacity yesterday.


    The two then started to do some shopping and ate a fine meal. As they were touring the city they noticed a bunch of people gathering in one spot. Ren was a bit curious and used his mana sensing to see who were in the crowd of people. He noticed that there were three people that have a higher degree of mana than the rest of the people gathered. This got Ren a bit curious as he and Silika approached the crowd.


    ...


    When Ren got closer he saw what the crowd was looking at, an overly dressed teen was harassing a rather pretty maiden. Based on the reaction of the people and seeing they weren''t helping, it was pretty obvious to Ren that the young man was someone important. Ren then started to listen to the crowd and figured out who the young man was.


    The overly dressed teen was the young master of the Valier family that was directly opposed to the Resteti family.


    ''Hmm, if Valdel was here he would have quickly saved the girl... What the heck, I''m feeling really great today, I guess I can save her. The three guys protecting that man seems to be fairly strong as well, maybe I can test how much my mana increased. Oh, I could also test some new techniques I created.'' Thinking about being able to fight new opponents made Ren excited. Seeing Ren''s vicious smile Silika could already guess what Ren would do next.


    ...


    "Please my lord spare me."


    "Why are you acting like this? I already told you I would give you as much gold coin as you want. All you need to do is show me a good time." The young master of the Valier family licked his lips as he wrapped his arms around the woman''s belly. He was then about to touch a more intimate ce but a voice interrupted him.


    "Hey, why don''t you let that woman go?" The young master of the Valier family looked at where the voice came from with irritation. He saw the man who spoke and was about to angrily yell at the man, but then he saw the woman beside that man.


    The girl he was harassing now was indeed pretty butpared to the woman he was seeing now the girl was nothing more than a toad. The woman beside the man was so beautiful that he couldn''t believe that she was anything less than a Goddess.


    The young master of the Valier family licked his lips as his lower region was getting harder simply looking at the Goddess like woman.


    "Hey did you hear me? Let that woman go already." The young master who was entranced by Silika''s beauty once again heard Ren''s voice and grew even more irritated. Still, he decided to ignore Ren and went ahead and talked to Silika.


    "Woman ditch that man ande to me." The young master gave out an order to Silika while ignoring Ren, which made the two look at him dumbfounded.


    "Huh? The f*ck are you talking about?" Ren was also starting to get a tad irritated by this weakling''s attitude towards him and Silika.


    "G¨¹nter," the young master called one of his bodyguards.


    "Yes, young master." The man called G¨¹nter stepped forward and bowed.


    "Cripple that guy and take the girl." The young master gave out the order like it was such a bother.


    "As you wish young master."

 Chapter 168 - I’m the uncle of the Patriarch

    <h4>Chapter 168 - I''m the uncle of the Patriarch</h4>


    The man called G¨¹nter started cracking his knuckles as he approached Ren. He looked at Ren in pity, he was thinking that Ren shouldn''t havee and tried to be a hero. Now he was going to get crippled and his woman will be mercilessly r*ped by G¨¹nter''s b*stard of an employer.


    ''Sorry, but orders are orders, I''ll make it quick.'' G¨¹nter didn''t say this out loud since his employer would punish him. The people who were watching also felt pity for Ren. The man just wanted to do the right thing but he was going to be punished because of it.


    On the other hand, Some people actually thought Ren was stupid, why did he need to butt in another person''s business. Now he was going to get beaten half to death and his woman will be taken and defiled.


    When G¨¹nter was closing in Ren looked at him asked, "are you really going to do this?"


    "No hard feelings," G¨¹nter replied as he took a fighting stance. He then casually attacked Ren with a punch. Due to Ren emitting mana at the same level as an ordinary person and looking the way he did, G¨¹nter thought Ren was just a weakling that wanted to do the right thing.


    Ren then proceeded to casually evade G¨¹nter''s punch. G¨¹nter was surprised but then he continued his attack and Ren continued to dodge. The people watching thought that G¨¹nter was ying with Ren unaware that it was Ren who was toying with G¨¹nter.


    "G¨¹nter, enough horsing around, it''s getting boring and I need that woman right now!"


    "Yes, young master!" G¨¹nter hearing the young master getting irritated suddenly took a different stance. This time he was coating his whole body in mana. He was about to attack seriously but then he heard Ren''s voice.


    "Are you sure about this?" Hearing Ren''s nonchnt tone made G¨¹nter aware that something was off about Ren. Still, he had no choice as it was an order by the young master. G¨¹nter with a speed greater than before attacked Ren, the people watching could only see G¨¹nter turn into a blur then appearing behind Ren and attacked. They all thought it was over for Ren, but then G¨¹nter who initiated an attack was the one who copsed.


    Ren didn''t even move an inch, he didn''t even bother to look at G¨¹nter who had fallen. The people watching couldn''t understand what was happening. The only person who saw Ren''s move clearly was Silika. The two bodyguards with the young master of the Valier family also saw Ren move, but they couldn''t see it all that well. All they saw was Ren''s left hand slightly move and G¨¹nter fell.


    When the two saw what Ren did they finally came to a realization that the man in front of them was a master. The two then took out their weapons and shouted.


    "Young Master, you must get away from here!" The young master couldn''t understand why his two bodyguards were acting this way. Sure G¨¹nter lost because of some mysterious circumstance, but that didn''t really matter since he was the weakest of the three. The two bodyguards he had left, were Master ranked swordsmen, surely they won''t suffer the same fate.


    While the young master was still confused as to why his subordinates were panicking Ren started walking forward. Seeing him casually approach him the young master who was still unaware of what kind of situation he was in, shouted at the two remaining bodyguards.


    "What are the two of you doing?! Kill this f*cking b*stard!" The young master was getting agitated as he saw Ren approaching him.


    The two master swordsmen had no more choice as they were about to draw their weapons, but before they could do anything they felt a massive force hitting their chin and they cked out.


    Seeing his three bodyguards at the ground unconscious the young master finally realized what kind of situation he was in, as he saw Ren approach him.


    "Stop, don''te near me! I''m f*cking Simon Valier, I''m the next Earl! You cannot touch me!" Simon backed away and trippednding on his buttocks.


    "Not only did you looked at Silika in such a disgusting way, you even talked to her with your filthy mouth, but more than that because of you I wasn''t able to enjoy a good fight. Killing you quickly isn''t going to cut it. First I''m going to cut off your tongue for talking to Silika the way you did, next I''m going to cut off your genitals because of what you thought of doing to her. Then I''ll take your eyes because of the look you gave her. Then finally I''m going to heal you and allow you to live the rest of your life with no tongue, no eyes, and no genitals."


    Hearing what Ren said made Simon shudder in fear. He even peed because of the terror he felt.


    "What''s going on here?!" An old man alongside a group of fully armed men appeared before Ren was able to do anything to Simon. When Simon saw who arrived he felt a huge reliefe over him.


    "Save me, Sir Kite!" Simon hurriedly ran towards the old man called Kite. The old man who held a stern expression looked at the surrounding area, he saw the three bodyguards on the ground and a half-n.a.k.e.d woman at the side, and a Goddess like beauty behind the man who seems to be the center of this incident. Based on Simon''s personality, Kite could already guess what happened here. Still, it''s surprising that the young man before him was able to take down Simon''s bodyguards.


    ''It doesn''t matter, since no matter what I need to protect this brat.'' Kite sighed as Simon hid behind him.


    "Who are you?" Kite asked Ren as he signaled the men he brought to surround Ren.


    "I should be asking you that? Why are you protecting that piece of sh*t?" Ren responded sounding a little bit more irritated.


    "I''m Kite Resteti the Uncle of the Marquis Lance Resteti."


    Ren was surprised to hear Kite''s answer. ''So he was Lance''s uncle but then why is he helping Simon the young master of the Valier family? Weren''t the Restetis and the Valiers in a feud right now?''

 Chapter 169 - This is not a negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 169 - This is not a negotiation</h4>


    "Why are you helping a Valier, I thought that your family and their''s are at odds with each other?" Ren wasn''t pressured one bit by the people surrounding him as he asked his question.


    "Why should I tell an outsider like you?" Kite answered with a re.


    "An outsider," Ren then shed the medallion given to him by Lance. When Kite saw the medallion his look hardened a bit.


    "Oh, so you''re thatmoner friend my nephew is ying with. You might think that makes you part of this, but it does not."


    "Alright then, so what are you going to do? I want him dead and you and this lot can''t do anything about it?" Ren was thinking in what way should he knock out these men. Even though they are opposing him they are still part of his disciple''s men. Also, they aren''t strong enough for him to have a fun fight.


    "Apprehend them!" Hearing Kite''smand the men that surrounded Ren and Silika cautiously tightened the encirclement.


    "Apprehend?! I want him dead, and I want the girl!" Simon shouted at the top of his lungs. This time an even bigger crowd gathered as they watch everything y out.


    Kite red at Simon which made him shut up.


    "Silika can you take care of them?"


    "Sure, but don''t you want to fight them?"


    "They''re too weak for me to enjoy and I''m getting a bit pissed off. So just knock them out and don''t kill them."


    The men surrounding Ren and Silika were angered by the conversation the two had right in front of them. The two weren''t even registering them as a threat, they were treating them as a joke. The group was about to attack when they suddenly felt a heavy pressuree down on them.


    Silika targeted the men using the pressure of her mana. The men couldn''t handle the pressure and most of them fainted, while some of the stronger ones were puking on the ground.


    Kite was surprised to see what happened, and Simon was about ready to run away in fear, yet his feet were not able to move. Ren was approaching them when someone else appeared with another group of people.


    When Ren saw the grouping near he was getting even more irritated. Simon also saw the group and shouted in joy.


    "Father!" The moment Ren heard what Simon said he got really angry. Ren unleashed a portion of his mana and used the aura alone to ce pressure on everyone rted to the incident. Kite, Simon and the newly arrived group all knelt because of the heavy pressure that assaulted them.


    The people at the side were confused as to what they were seeing. The group of people with the Restetis and the Valiers suddenly knelt on the ground, while Ren and Silika remained standing.


    ...


    The Earl and current Patriarch of the Valier family, Cedric Valier rushed towards the city after learning that his son was in trouble. He brought the most elite of his men to subdue whoever dared mess with them. Yet the moment Cedric heard his son''s voice he felt an immense pressure fall upon him.


    He tried to gather his mana to strengthen his body so that he could stand up, but that didn''t do a thing. He then looked at the men he brought, even the Saint rank swordsman, and the advanced level mage were unable to move. As he was trying to process what was happening he saw an average-looking young man approach him.


    "Hey, how many more of you areing? You''re the father of this piece of sh*t right? Then is his grandfather going toe next? Then after that is his great-grandfather going toe next?! How many more of you people are going toe?! I was in such a good mood, and I just felt like rescuing the woman over there. I was even expecting a good fight from those three bodyguards, but your son had to be the most idiotic pile of trash to have ever lived!"


    Cedric couldn''t understand most of what Ren was saying, but he knew one thing, Ren was the person who was messing with his son. It was also obvious that it was Ren who was pressuring everyone to kneel on the ground.


    ''What kind of monster have you provoked?'' Cedric looked at his son who was on the ground crying and even peeing. Seeing how pathetic his son was made Cedric feel extremely disappointed. If that wasn''t his only son he would''ve abandoned him long ago.


    "So are more of you going toe?" Ren asked full of irritation.


    Cedric felt the pressure on him lighten, enough for him to answer "Why are you asking?"


    "Because every time I''m about to rip off your son''s genitalia someonees to disrupt me. If more of you areing, I want to know so that I can wait until all of you are here, before doing anything. Once every one of you arrives, I''ll proceed to gouge out your son''s eyes, cut off his tongue, and then rip off his genitalia, once that''s done I''ll heal him, so that he could suffer until the end of his days. So are any more of youing?"


    When Cedric heard what Ren wanted to do, he thought that this person in front of him was insane.


    "If you do that, you will forever be the enemy of the Valiers."


    "Then I''ll just kill your entire family," Ren answered so nonchntly that Cedric was unsure if he heard right.


    "Did you say, that you''ll kill my entire family?"


    "Are you deaf? Yes, that''s what I said. Oh, do you think I can''t do it?" Ren then unleashed the full extent of his current mana and showed it to Cedric for a second.


    ...


    It was only a short while, but Cedric was amazed by what happened. He didn''t have the ability to see mana, but for a brief moment when Ren unleashed the full extent of his mana, Cedric thought he saw his entire view being blocked by a powerful force. While he was amazed by what he saw, he didn''t fullyprehend what it meant, until he saw the reaction of the advanced level mage he brought.


    The advanced level mage who was kneeling on the ground the same as all of them was now looking pale while vomiting. His whole body was trembling as he started to cry. Cedric knew at that point that Ren wasn''t kidding when he said that he could kill his whole family.


    "Still think I can''t kill your entire family?"


    Cedric gnashed his teeth, "If you kill my family, the family of an Earl, you will be the enemy of the kingdom."


    "So you don''t know, I''m already an enemy of the kingdom of Reschbauch."


    Cedric didn''t understand what Ren meant when he said he was already an enemy of the kingdom, but he knew that threatening Ren wasn''t going to work.


    "What can I do for you to spare my family?" Cedric no longer had a choice. Clinging to his pride won''t save his family from this monster.


    "Wow, how quick you are to change your tune. I admire you for that... Alright, I won''t kill your entire family since you didn''t really do anything yet. But you must hand me your son willingly so that I can give him his punishment."


    When Cedric heard what Ren said he frowned. Simon, on the other hand, started to cry even harder as he used every ounce of his courage to shout at his father.


    "Father, save me!"


    "There must be another way. I can give you anything else you want aside from that."


    Ren scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. "I think there is a misunderstanding here. I''m not negotiating with you, I''m giving you a chance. Either you give me your son with your consent and I''ll spare your family from annihtion, or you don''t give me your son and I take him by force and kill your whole family."


    Hearing the cruel words Ren spoke, Cedric gritted his teeth.


    "You won''t kill him right?"


    "No, I already said what I''ll do to him."


    "Very well then, take my son." Cedric clenched his fist in frustration knowing that he couldn''t do anything.


    "Father! NOOO! Don''t do this father! Save me please!" Simon shouted and shouted but Cedric didn''t even bother to look at him.


    When Ren was about to gouge out Simon''s eye someone once again interrupted.


    "What''s going on here?"


    "For f*cks sake!S" Ren shouted full of anger and irritation.

 Chapter 170 - He’s my master

    <h4>Chapter 170 - He''s my master</h4>


    The moment Ren heard another person appearing, he was about ready to start a massacre. Ren then looked at whoever arrived and saw a familiar face.


    "What are you doing here?" Ren who was about to pulverize whoeveres next was now frowning at the neer.


    Kite who was still struggling under Ren''s pressure was delighted to see the person who came.


    "My Nephew, tell your friend to stop doing whatever it is he''s doing." Kite looked at the neer Lance while sweating profusely.


    "Master, what''s this all about?"


    ''Master!'' Everyone present the Restetis, the Valiers, and even the surrounding people were surprised to hear what the patriarch of the Resteti family said. The average-looking young man that Kite thought was just amoner and friend of Lance''s turns out to be his master.


    ''Was this young man the reason why Lance suddenly got so strong?'' Kite started to think about Lance sudden change and increase in power, was the average-looking youth that had overwhelmed them involved? Kite wasn''t too sure, but he knew, either way, he was not going to get out of this situation unscathed.


    Ren was really irritated by Lance''s interruption but he decided to exin to his disciple what happened. Once Ren was done with his exnation Lance knelt on the ground and pounded his head to the ground.


    "Forgive me, master! I didn''t wish to interrupt you, I was just worried since your mana output suddenly rose and I thought you were fighting someone powerful. I just wanted to help... Still, no matter what the reason, what I did was wrong, master, I will ept any punishment you wish to give me."


    "How about your uncle and his men, aren''t you going to defend them?" When Ren asked this, Kite looked at Lance a bit worried. If it was before, the gentle Lance would never leave his uncle in such a desperate situation. Yet the new Lance was a ruthless person and Kite could already predict his answer to Ren''s question.


    "Based on what you said master, my uncle was the one in the wrong from protecting such trash. He deserves whatever punishment you will give him. Also, master, if you decided to annihte my entire n, even if I fight alongside my family and our men, the chances of winning were nonexistent. With that knowledge protecting my uncle from you is not possible." Lance without lifting his head from the ground answered.


    "Aren''t you curious about why your uncle was protecting the young master of an opposing family?" Ren did want to kill Kite for obstructing him, but Lance''s nonchnce in allowing family members being killed was a bit weird for him.


    If it was the past Ren, he wouldn''t even bat an eye as he would kill some of his children if they did something stupid. But now that he was human, he understood theplexity of the rtionsh.i.p.s they had, especially the ones with their family.


    Was Lance so nonchnt about it because he wasn''t really Lance Resteti but Wang Lin? That couldn''t be it since he was worried about the younger brother of Lance Resteti. Still, based on Ren''s understanding of Wang Lin he should''ve already killed someone like Kite a few days after he transmigrated but he didn''t, but now he''s allowing Ren to kill Kite. What kind of thoughts were flowing inside Lance''s mind Ren really wanted to know.


    "I"m not really curious about that master, since it''s obvious what my uncle was nning to do. He should''ve already formed an oral agreement with the head of the Valiers, and promised to offer my sister''s hand in marriage to the Earl''s worthless son. My uncle must''ve thought that allying with the Valiers was the only option we had left to survive what''s toe. Obviously, he wouldn''t tell me any of this until thest moment. He must''ve thought to trick my sister into marrying that pig of the Valiers, telling her it''s all for the family''s best interest."


    When Ren heard Lance''s exnation he looked at Kite''s reaction and saw the old man looking surprised. That must mean most of what Lance said was the truth. That would also mean that Lance knew of Kite''s dealing beforehand.


    "If you knew why didn''t you stop it?" Ren who was irritated moments ago was now feeling a bit more curious about what was going in his new disciple''s mind.


    "I had no choice... A powerful Duke of the kingdom was eyeing my territory, knowing how low the Restetis have fallen, and our rtionship with the crown sullied, he thought that he could conquer mynd. The royal family allows fighting between nobles since they believe in strength above all else. Knowing that with my current military strength my whole family will be killed, I decided to see where my uncle''s n would lead us to."


    "Hmm, then are you alright with me killing the son of your allied family?"


    "Like I said master, no matter what you want to do there is no way for me to stop it. So what else is there to say?" Throughout the conversation, Lance never lifted his head. Ren found his whole action to be over the top, but he kinda liked Lance''s sincerity.


    "Alright then, lift your head. A disciple of mine should never bow their heads, not even to me."


    When Lance heard what Ren said he enthusiastically stood up. "Yes, master!"


    Ren then showed his back to Lance as he faced Simon, but before he continued he spoke to Lance. "Don''t worry I will help you deal with that Duke."


    Lance wasn''t that surprised to hear that from Ren, since even though they only met a few days ago, Lance knew that his master was someone who loved to fight. He was more curious to see what kind of expression Ren was showing at this moment.


    ...


    After talking to Lance, Ren was finally able to give Simon his undivided attention. At this point due to feeling relieved and then feeling horrified again, made Simon unable to talk as he continued to cry.


    Silika had already blocked the views of the people unrted to the incident. The only people who will be witnessing the brutal scene were the Restetis and the Valiers.


    Ren was finally able to sink his fingers into Simon''s eyes. The whole time Simon begged for mercy but Ren slowly pulled out the eyeball so that Simon can experience the most pain. Cedric watched as his only son had his eyes gouged out. Watching the scene only made him angrier at himself knowing how powerless he was.


    Ren then pulled out Simon''s tongue and then took out a knife as he slowly cut the tongue. Blood was overflowing as Simon''s mouth became a fountain of blood.


    Now it was finally thest part, even in his weakened state Simon struggled the best he could for Ren to stop. The men of the Restetis and Valiers didn''t want to watch the scene that was about to unfold and closed their eyes. The only ones who were watching were Cedric, Silika, and Lance.


    Before Ren proceeded to cut off Simon''s genitalia he healed Simon''s body first since it looks like he would die from blood loss. After healing Simon Ren immediately tore off Simon''s genitalia. Unlike the first two times, he did this one quickly since Ren didn''t like holding another person''s genitalia.

 Chapter 171 - Purging family members

    <h4>Chapter 171 - Purging family members</h4>


    After punishing Simon, Ren released the pressure he was exerting onto the surrounding people. He then looked at Kite who was trembling in fear. The young man before him was extremely cruel. he couldn''t even imagine what kind of punishment he will receive. Ren then took one look at Kite and sighed and he turned around.


    The look of contempt in Ren''s eyes as he looked at Kite made the older man feel disturbed and ashamed. Ren then shifted his gaze to Cedric and his men.


    "Take your son and scram. If you ever try to do this kind of sh*t again expect total annihtion."


    Cedric nodded his head hearing Ren''s deration, he then took his son and fled the scene. Now the only ones remaining were the Restetis.


    "You deal with your family issues, as for the one who tried to have Hilda''s family killed bring that person to me once you''re done."


    "As you wish, master." After hearing Lance''s reply Ren and Silika left the scene. The people who were watching at the side started to diminish as they saw that themotion was over. They then started talking about what happened and starteding up with theories regarding the young man the patriarch of the Restetis called master.


    ...


    After the disappointing turn of events, Ren returned to the cave with Silika. He then took a nap to calm his nerves before Lance appears. While he was napping Ren had another one of those dreams were he was another person, most probably one of his other incarnations.


    ...


    The sky was darkened because of a powerful release in divine energy. Gabriel, supposedly one of Ren''s past incarnation was heading toward it, of course beside him was his beloved partner Evangeline.


    The two have been through a lot together, but this might be something beyond what they can handle.


    Gabriel was looking at Eva, he wanted her to stay behind, while he finds out what was causing all this havoc. Yet, as usual, the girl never listened to him and just followed behind.


    Gabriel wanted to protect her, but at the same time, Eva wanted to protect him. The two with simr feelings wanted to do the exact opposite of what the other wanted.


    "Hey, Eva I really think you should sit this one out." (Gabriel)


    "Huh? Why should I? Also if anyone should be not going it should be you right?" (Eva)


    "Hey if there is danger, aren''t I the stronger one the most appropriate to go?" (Gabriel)


    "You? The one who knows almost nothing about magic or alchemy, wants to solve a problem regarding divine energy? That''s pretty funny, I a renowned alchemist and also an able swordsman am more fit for the job." (Eva)


    Gabriel looks at Eva for a moment before sighing.


    "I really think you should go back Eva," Gabriel said so with a more serious tone than usual.


    "Why?! Do you really think that I will be getting in your way?" Eva looks at Gabriel in pain. Gabriel shakes his head and answers while looking directly at Eva''s eyes.


    "No, you can never be in the way. It''s just that, if I know my woman is going to be in danger, of course, I want her to stay back."


    On hearing Gabriel say that she was his woman, Eva''s face turned crimson. Eva was now blushing furiously.


    "Huh? W... Wh...Who is... Your w...w....w....w-ommmm... Woman? Who is? Huh?" Eva was saying things while stuttering, causing Gabriel to smile. Gabriel pointed at Eva.


    "You are my woman Eva, I love you," Gabriel said so with straight face causing Eva to blush even more, if somebody looks at her they can actually see the smokeing from her head.


    "So Eva how about you, what do you feel about me?" Gabriel continues his attack. Eva was caught off guard.


    "Do I really have to say it?" Eva asks.


    "I told you my feelings isn''t it fair to tell yours?" Gabriel said so teasingly.


    "You already know, how I feel. Do I need to say it?" Eva still trying to evade. Gabriel nods his head. Eva scratches her head while looking at the ground.


    "Fine then, I... I... I lo...love you.. too." Even with all the stops, she was able to say it.


    Gabriel approached her and hugged her. "Hey wait Gab..." Without waiting for her to finish Gabriel starts kissing Eva, Their lips were interlocked, while Gabriel shares his passion onto Eva. After what seems like an eternity to Eva, Gabriel finally let her go.


    "W...W...W...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Eva screams. Gabriel tilted his head confused.


    "Huh? That was a kiss wasn''t it?"


    "I know that was a kiss! What I meant was why did you do it?" (Eva)


    "Huh aren''t we lovers now, isn''t that what lovers usually do?" (Gabriel)


    "Yes... But... (sigh) never mind."


    "Say, Eva."


    "What is it now? You want to say something more."


    "After we solve this problem, why don''t we get married?" (Gabriel)


    "WHAT!? Ummm... W... We just be lovers and now you want to marry?" Eva said so all flustered which amused Gabriel even more.


    "Well, I have always thought about it. So now that I got the flow going, better say it now. So what do you think Eva, will you marry me?" Eva looked at Gabriel and scratched her head. She sighed, she had always known this guy was always like this.


    "Sure, but you better make me happy." Eva showed a bright smile at Gabriel, which Gabriel responded with his own smile.


    "Of course, my love."


    ...


    The scenery changed and this time Ren felt an unknown pain in his heart. Ren could hear Gabriel''s voice echo in his mind.


    ...


    I know I''m not the hero type but still for you I will move forward with everything I got. To the very end this world that you wish to protect I will protect it for you instead. So please let me act cool for this onest time.


    I raised my sword over my head and shed the divine object in front of me with everything I had. I tried to absorb the chaotic light emanating from the divine object.


    I felt my fingers shattering, my bones being crushed, and my breathing bing difficult. My flesh was slowly shedding, damn it!


    I can''t let it end like this not after acting all cool in front of her. Even if my soul shatters it doesn''t matter anymore I will save this world! This world where we met, where we had many great adventures, where we exchanged our promise for the future, how can I let such a wonderful world end!


    Gritting my teeth I poured everything into my sword when it suddenly breaks into millions of pieces. Without even thinking I let go of the handle of my beloved sword and tried to hold the divine object with what''s left of my bare hands. If I can''t destroy it, then I''m bringing it down with me.


    Though magic was never really my forte I still have this one trump card left in my deck. Spatial transfer the only magic I know of. Using my body to move the divine object to a different space where it won''t hurt anyone other than me.


    I turned and looked at her, I left with a smile. My body and the divine object moved to a different dimension. The warm light that had so much destructive power enveloped me, my body and soul felt like they were shattering "I love you Eva" I smiled at least I was able to say that much...


    ...


    Ren woke up sweating profusely as he felt the pain of Gabriel in his final moments. Silika who was beside him looked worried.


    "Ren are you alright?"


    "Yeah, just having a bad dream." It was then Ren decided to ask his past incarnations about the dream he had, but before he could do anything Lance appeared before him with another person.

 Chapter 172 - A seed of the ORIGIN

    <h4>Chapter 172 - A seed of the ORIGIN</h4>


    Ren looked at the person Lance brought, he was a middle-aged man that had an angry look. He was radiating bloodlust and anger that could even make Ren sweat. Ren then scanned the man using his mana, the middle-aged man had above average mana but it wasn''t even enough to scare a knight in training.


    ''This is weird why am I feeling something is wrong?'' Ren could feel his very soul being shaken. That must mean that even his past incarnations were feeling weird. Yet not one of them was sure what was wrong with the man. Was his rage so great that it could even affect someone like Ren? This made Ren look at Silika and saw her expression remained the same, even Lance didn''t look worried.


    "Master, this is the man who had hired that assassin. He''s another one of my uncles Fean Resteti" Lance tossed the angry Fean towards Ren.


    Once he was face to face with the man Ren got even more confused, he actually felt a bit threatened by the Fean''s re.


    "Master are you alright?"


    "Ren is everything okay?"


    Lance and Silika got a bit worried about Ren since he hasn''t said anything and continued to simply look at the man. Ren who was still thinking what the feeling was about, discarded the thought for the moment.


    ''No matter what it is I''ll just deal with it when the timees.''


    "It''s nothing," After answering Lance and Silika''s question Ren once again focused on the man before him.


    "Why did you want to kill the Kirche family?" Ren asked but Fean didn''t answer. Ren then smacked Fean, making his face bleed. "Answer me!" Despite the pain he was feeling Fean remained silent. Ren then continued to p Fean''s face with enough force not to kill him, but still bring him indescribable pain.


    After a few more ps, Ren heard Fean whispering.


    "The Reschbeauch kingdom must fall..." After whispering that part, Fean then suddenly shouted in a rage. "The Royals of this sh*tty kingdom should all die! Their allies must all die! They took everything from me! They took my son and killed my wife for trying to take him back! The Serbek Kingdom would have been better rulers than this! That fool tried to give information about the spies from Serbek that have infiltrated the Kingdom. It was a good thing he died... Why must we the Restetis follow the rule of a king who treats us as ves!"


    Ren was about to say something to Fean about his incoherent ramblings, but then he felt something was weird. Even Silika and Lance could feel it as well.


    "Alright, I will give you my body, I only wish for the destruction of the Kingdom of Reschbeauch!" Fean was talking to an invisible being.


    ...


    Silika who was watching the changes happening to Fean''s aura felt an ominous presence. This aura was something she felt before, she remembered the final battle she, Leo, and all the others had on that fateful day. Even though the presence she was feeling was weaker than that time, she was sure that this person was being possessed by the seed of the ORIGIN.


    ...


    Inside Ren''s soul, the other incarnations were having a discussion. They all knew that even against a weak portion of the seed of the ORIGIN, Ren wasn''t strong enough to face it. Unlike the time when the original materialized his own body using an artifact, the past incarnations needed to possess Ren''s current body. Yet they just can''t possess Ren''s body to face it. As evidenced by Leonard''s past possession Ren''s body was still too weak for them to use most of their techniques. They needed someone strong enough to face the seed of the ORIGIN but it had to be an incarnation that can use Ren''s weak body to win.


    ...


    Lance who was seeing the change that was happening to his uncle was confused and at the same time, he felt fearful. He backed away unconsciously as he drew his sword.


    ...


    Fean Resteti who emitted only an above-average level of mana was now emitting something totally different. Ren didn''t know what kind of power it was but it felt really ominous. Yet instead of fear, he felt truly excited. Aside from that one time when he first faced Alfred, this was one of the few times he felt like there was no chance for victory. He couldn''t help but smile at the thought.


    ...


    Fean Resteti''s whole demeanor changed as he looked at Ren. It was the same as the first incarnation, Fean Resteti was there but at the same time, Ren felt like he wasn''t there. Fean then looked at Ren and spoke in a solemn voice.


    "We meet again my rebellious prodigal son."


    "Hmph, I don''t know who the f*ck is possessing you right now, but I''m no son of yours," Ren answered while taking a stance.


    "It seems like your current incarnation is still as rebellious as the first, and also as disrespectful... I see unfortunately this is where our talk ends, this life form can no longer control the seed and retain its sanity." The thing that possessed Fean no longer spoke, as the aura Fean had started to get more violent.


    "AAAARRRRGHH!" Fean then roared and without any warning attacked Ren. It was at a speed that not even Ren could perceive, he was only able to see the moment Fean''s hand was about to reach his face. Ren then gathered his Spirit Aura to envelope his body as tried to dodge the attack but it still nicked him and blew him away.


    Ren who was about to hit the wall of the cave used a wind spell to soften the blow. As he was going to stabilize himself, another attack from the vicious Fean wasing. There was no technique, no ability used, not even a trace of mana or Spirit Aura was felt, but Fean was currently able to beat up Ren so one-sidedly.


    The fight had only started for a few seconds and Ren looked like he was already half dead. Lance was confused as to what was happening. Silika, on the other hand, wanted to help, but Ren already told her to not interfere. Also, she knew that even if she joined in this fight she will be nothing more than a liability. If only Ren would use the scythe but he refused to use it since the opponent was fighting weaponless.

 Chapter 173 - Desperate Fight

    <h4>Chapter 173 - Desperate Fight</h4>


    Ren looked half-dead and shouldn''t be able to stand much less fight. But the truth was Ren only suffered minor wounds and small scratches. Fean who was given the seed of the ORIGIN was indeed strong, stronger than the current Ren, but that was all he had. He was just a beast with strength. All his attacks were linear, with ack of techniques or feints.


    Even though Ren could barely dodge them, he managed to avoid getting any critical damage. He was only bruised all over, with some minor cuts on his hands.


    ...


    Fean''s barrage of attacks was neverending which gave Ren little to no time to catch his breath. The situation was unfavorable for him in every possible way, but instead of showing a negative emotion Ren''s face was brimming with joy.


    The tension of death if you make one mistake. The concentration needed to find that one chance for victory and the tenacity needed to keep on going even though winning was close to impossible.


    It has been ages since Ren felt like this. It reminded him of his first-ever battle against the demon lord before him. Ren at that time was also having a hard battle were he could die at any moment, but the difference in power wasn''t as much as this.


    ''This is it! This was the kind of fight I always wanted!'' While Ren was dodging Fean''s attacks, he finally unleashed everything he currently had. Though his mana was not as much as the time he defeated Alfred, since the effects of eating the young dragon''s heart wore off, Ren''s current mana was still much thicker and stronger than his mana when he fought Alfred for the first time.


    After unleashing the full extent of his mana, Ren also coated himself with the entirety of his Spirit Aura. Yet even with using the full extent of his current strength, Ren could barely keep up. He was now able to dodge a bit better but that was it. Ren could not find a way to counter-attack but that didn''t make Ren feel hopeless, instead, it just got him even more excited.


    ''If I can''t find the perfect chance to counter, then I just need to attack!'' Ren decided to no longer bother with evading or defending and went back to his original style that leans more into attacking.


    Ren who was covered with mana and Spirit Aura took one of Fean''s attacks head-on. After receiving the attack Ren felt like his innards wanted toe out, but he pushed the feeling of pain aside and attacked as well. His fist finallynded a blow on Fean''s face. That attack was the best he could do at the moment, but it barely scratched Fean.


    The damage dealt and damage received was not in Ren''s favor but he continued to fight with that vicious smile of his. The attacks of the two were making the cave they were in that was already cut in half shake by the shockwaves of each attack.


    Lance cut any debris that fell his way, while Silika pushed the debris that fell onto her using mana.


    ...


    The battle between Fean and Ren continued as fist and leg hit every part of the human body that could be hit. But then a change started happening. Ren was now able to divert some of Fean''s attacks, but every time he did so, he could hear his skin being ripped apart. But Ren wasn''t bothered by such a trivial thing as he gave Fean a counter to the gut.


    Ren was truly having fun right now, facing an opponent that could overpower him so much was exciting. He was being given incredible damage by the enemy, while he could only give minor cuts onto his enemy. Still, he felt that his martial prowess was actually increasing as the fight went on.


    It was at that moment when he was finally able to evade and divert an attack perfectly, Ren took that chance and kicked Fean''s head. He ced all of his Spirit Aura he had surrounding his body into the shin of his legs, he even used all of the body enhancing spells he could use at the moment and focused it all on his legs.


    That strike of Ren''s was able to blow Fean''s body onto the wall even drilling through it. Of course, Ren didn''t let his guard down, but then Fean did something out of the usual.


    Fean like the beginning once again charged at Ren. Ren who saw the iing Fean was about ready to parry and counter, but then the attack Ren was waiting for turn out to be different. Fean who was using his hands and legs awhile ago suddenly used his teeth to attack.


    Ren didn''t see thating and wasn''t able to evade in time. Fean''s teeth sunk into Ren''s shoulder. Ren then tried to pull Fean away from him, but Fean hugged him tightly as his teeth sunk even deeper into Ren''s shoulder making it bleed like a fountain.


    Ren could easily push Fean by using a spell, but except for the time he used one spell to cushion him, Ren never used any spell aside from body strengthening. He already regretted using the wind spell at the beginning, so he wouldn''t use any spell that wasn''t body enhancement in this kind of fight.


    So instead Ren started to headbutt Fean repeatedly until he finally let go of Ren. Once there was some distance between them Ren punched Fean in the chest pushing him a few feet away.


    A chunk of Ren''s shoulder was bitten off, and his head was now bleeding. On the other hand, Fean only had minor wounds on his face and a few bruises on his chest.


    It was at that moment Ren sighed. Fean once again went into his offensive, but this time Ren retreated a bit.


    "Lance hand me your sword!"


    Hearing his master''s voice Lance reacted almost unconsciously and threw one of his swords at Ren.


    After Ren caught the sword he stopped retreating and took a stance. The sword was inside the sheath and Ren took a deep stance.


    Fean who saw his opponent finally stopped retreating charged at Ren at full speed. Ren who saw the iing Fean stabilized his breathing then muttered.


    "[Moon Edge style- Cresent moon]" Fean who was charging at Ren missed his target, and was about to turn around and attack. He was going to use his right hand to swipe at Ren, but he could no longer feel his right hand.


    Blood started spurting from Fean''s right shoulder. Lance was amazed to see Fean''s right hand was on the floor. No one could see Ren even draw his sword, not even Silika was able to follow the attack Ren made.

 Chapter 174 - Moon Edge Style

    <h4>Chapter 174 - Moon Edge Style</h4>


    After getting his shoulder bitten off, Ren already lost consciousness. Usually, the other incarnations wouldn''t care if the current incarnation dies in battle, but it''s a different matter altogether if it''s against the ORIGIN. Even if it''s just one of its seeds, they can never lose to the ORIGIN.


    So after Ren lost consciousness Edge Regius took over Ren''s body. Among all the incarnations who have too overpowered techniques hat Ren''s current body can''t handle, Edge''s style was created so that even the weak could use the sword to be powerful.


    ...


    After cutting one of Fean''s arms, Edge started to assess the current condition of Ren''s body. The right shoulder was still working but the rotation was not to his liking. The left leg was experiencing severe muscle trauma that could slow down his movement. A few ribs have been broken and the lungs were being squeezed by some of the broken ribs.


    The blood flowing from Ren''s head was flowing towards his right eye making his vision blurry. His jaw was slightly dislocated, and his eardrums were booming. Overall assessment Ren''s body could only handle a few more minutes of battle.


    ...


    While Edge was assessing Ren''s condition Fean took the arm that was cut off and reattached it to his body. He just ced it back to where it used to be and it reattached itself, Lance was surprised to see this, Silika, on the other hand, already knew that would happen.


    Back in the final battle against the agent of the ORIGIN that also had a seed of the ORIGIN. Silika saw the agent regenerate any body part that was cut off, even beheading him didn''t work. For as long as he had mana he could regrow any body part.


    Though it seems like this one had a weaker version of that skill. Seeing as he needed to get the dismembered body part and reattach it. The one Silika and the others fought back then could grow the body part back.


    Aside from that Silika also noticed the change in Ren''s demeanor. It was only a slight change but Silika was able to notice it since she has always been watching him. The one facing Fean right now was no longer Ren. Instead, it must be one of Ren''s many incarnations.


    ...


    Edge saw Fean reattaching his right arm and sighed. He wanted to finish this quickly but seeing Fean do what he did made Edge think that this fight was going to end a bit too close forfort.


    Right now with Edge''s skills, he could''ve won against the current Fean with little effort that''s if Ren''s body was still in tip-top shape. But now that Ren was hurt all over this battle became a bit more difficult. Still, this just made Edge feel even more excited.


    After Fean reattached his arm he once again charged at Edge with a speed greater than before. It would seem the longer the battlested the more in sync Fean bes with seed, which greatly increases his abilities.


    Fean who was now in front of Edge was going to attack but then he saw Edge was no longer in the same spot. Edge had already passed by him. It was at that moment Edge''s voice echoed in everyone''s ear. It was not loud but for some reason, everyone heard what Edge said.


    "[Moon Edge Style- Moonlit Dance]" After Edge passed by Fean with but a single stride, Fean''s whole body began to separate. Edge was able to cut Fean''s whole body into a hundred pieces.


    Once again no one was able to see Ren draw his sword. Yet he was able to cut Fean multiple times. Lance thought that this should finish the berserk Fean, but before the pieces of Fean''s body severed from each other, they bonded together again.


    Edge had already guessed that might happen so he was waiting ready for it. Edge once again used Moonlit Dance and cut the already sliced pieces of Fean''s body into even tinier pieces.


    Yet even though Edge cut everything into even tinier pieces, Fean''s body still seems to be trying to reattach itself. When Edge saw what was happening to Fean, he decided to see what happens when he finishes reattaching himself.


    After a few seconds of waiting Fean''s whole body was fully repaired. But Fean was now breathing rather heavily. It would seem that by trying to reattach his severed body parts, Fean had consumed a lot of stamina and mana.


    Edge now knew that there was a limit to his regeneration. He then smiled the same vicious smile as Ren and all the other incarnations.


    "Since this is the first battle I had in ages, I''ll allow you to witness the pinnacle of the Moon Edge Style."


    Edge''s Spirit Aura covered Ren''s body in a smalleryer than normal. The ground Edge was standing on started to crack and looked like a spider web. He then shed at Fean, which confused Lance and Silika. Fean was at least ten meters away from Edge, and the sword he was using wasn''t that long.


    They thought Edge made a mistake, but then they saw Fean trying to block from his left side. This move of Fean was also confusing since Edge was obviously aiming for the right side.


    After hitting Fean Edge changed the position of his sword. He ced it near his chest and held the hilt in a reverse grip. Same as the first move Lance and Silika weren''t able to see Edge unsheathe the sword but they were sure that Edge attacked using it.


    Fean who tried to block the attack had his blocking posture break instead, he was now off-bnced. Edge then started charging forward and as he got nearer to Fean his body multiplied and there were now seven Edge''s surrounding Fean.


    At first, Lance who was watching thought that the clones were after images or fakes, but then when Edge started attacking from all sides Lance knew those clones had a physical form.


    Fean''s animal-like stance was broken by that move. As Fean stumbled about, Edge released a massive amount of mana and channeled it into his sword. Once the mana gathered was sufficient enough Edge swung the sword down at Fean disintegrating Fean''s body.


    That was the Moon Edge Style''s final form. It was a series of moves that made defending practically impossible.


    Moon Edge style (final form) first stance [Earth], was used to confuse the opponent''s senses.


    Moon Edge style (final form) second stance [Heaven], was used to break the opponent''s guard.


    Moon Edge style (final form) third stance [Unity], was used to break the opponent''s stance.


    Moon Edge style (final form)st stance [Eternal Moon], this move was another variation of [Silver Sword], a move used by the hero Shun another one of Ren''s past incarnations and Edge''s past life. [Silver Sword] was a move that gathered every ounce of mana you had into your weapon and unleashed a final strike. [Eternal Moon] was a weaker version of that. Instead of pouring all your mana for a final move, this move was made to control the output, so that you won''t faint after one usage.

 Chapter 175 - Tell me!

    <h4>Chapter 175 - Tell me!</h4>


    Ren had lost consciousness for a second but within that second Edge Regius took over his body. This forced Ren to once again enter the realm inside his soul which was inhabited by his past incarnations.


    When Ren saw this he was immediately furious. This was the second time he was denied the end of a fight. He would have rather died in battle than being denied to fight until the end. He could understand the first time since that was beyond his control. But this time he was possessed without his permission again and in the middle of a fight no less. This left Ren fuming with rage.


    "WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!" No longer able to control his rage because of all the umting stress he had received. From the time Nezzard fled with his Spirit Rulers after getting him excited, to the time he was denied the ending of his battle with Lance, and now this.


    Ren was now so irritated he turned into his Kretos form and was about to attack, but before he could do anything one of his past incarnations restrained him.


    Ren in his Kretos form tried everything to get away from the iron grip of his past incarnation but he couldn''t do anything at all. The difference in power between him and his past incarnations was just too much.


    After struggling for a bit more Ren was finally able to calm down a little. He then reverted into his human form.


    "Why the f*ck did you guys intervene! Are you guys my nannies?! Surely you people should understand this thirst that I feel! The excitement I get as I delved deeper into battle! If it''s you people, the ones who share the same soul as mine, then you should understand my deep desire for battle! The longing I have to fight against powerful opponents, which consumes my very existence! Surely my past incarnations should understand!" The rage in Ren''s look changed into one of desperation. One could actually feel the pain he was having just by looking at his face.


    It was especially so for Ren''s past incarnations seeing as they all share nearly identical temperaments. His look of desperation in wishing to fight a powerful opponent struck them deeply. Some of them even remembered them begging their enemies to continue fighting, to show them more. Others remembered times when they begged the very Gods themselves toe down and fight them simply to relieve their boredom.


    "Of course we understand what you''re feeling right now better than anyone else. After all, we are you and you, we." One of the past incarnations answered Ren.


    "Then why?!" Ren showed a pained look, one that he has never shown before. Not even when he was stabbed multiple times, nor the time when he was nearly roasted, nor the time when he died or nearly died has he ever shown such a face.


    If anyone else aside from the other incarnations saw Ren''s face they would have been shocked to the point of doubting Ren''s identity.


    But these people knew painfully well what Ren was feeling at this very moment. A battle could only be called a true battle if there is a chance for death. To them, death wasn''t really a bother as long as they had a good fight out of it.


    "We truly understand what you''re going through... But no matter which incarnation, no matter the timeline, no matter the world. We are not allowed to lose to the ORIGIN. If it was any other battle, against anyone else we would have let you fight until you felt content. We wouldn''t even be bothered if you died and joined us in the realm of our soul. But against the ORIGIN, even if it''s just a seed losing is not an option." Another incarnation answered Ren. This answer was finally able to calm Ren down. Feeling his anger weakening, the one who was pinning down Ren finally loosened his grip.


    "Then at least tell me what the ORIGIN is? Howe we aren''t allowed to lose to it? Also, why did it call me its rebellious prodigal son?"


    All the other incarnations looked at each other trying to figure out if they can tell Ren the truth. While they were discussing what to do, somebody appeared in front of Ren.


    The person in question had little to no presence which made him very different from all the other incarnations. Also, this person was someone all the incarnations knew. This person was the first incarnation the strongest of them all.


    The moment he appeared the atmosphere changed. Everyone, even Ren wanted to ask the first incarnation for a fight. But they didn''t say anything since they were having an important discussion.


    "With your current strength, I cannot divulge a lot of information regarding the ORIGIN."


    "Why does my strength matter if I just want information? Surely just telling me what kind of enemy the ORIGIN is would help aid me. I just want to understand the reason for whatever it is that''s happening."


    "If you don''t have the sufficient strength and I tell you the truth about the ORIGIN, you will be destroyed. Any deeper knowledge you gain about the ORIGIN without sufficient strength will cause direct harm to your current form. Now that we know that the ORIGIN is working in this timeline and this world, we cannot allow you to die. Not until you defeat the portion of the ORIGIN that has once again encroached upon this world."


    "Then tell me how much strength do I need for you to tell me anything?" Ren was getting tired of all these secrets. Especially since the one who was keeping them from him were technically different versions of himself.


    "The peak strength of Demon Lord Kretos barely passes the required strength to even learn our rtion to the ORIGIN. If you want to learn the whole truth, then you''ll need to be at least at the top thirty among the incarnations."


    "How strong is that?"


    "You need to be able to solo two fully grown Golden Dragons, to be among the top thirty in strength among the incarnations. That''s how strong you need to be."


    Ren gritted his teeth for a second and then smiled that vicious smile of his. Among Dragons, a Golden Dragon was top tier. Back in Ren''s peak, he could probably solo one Golden Dragon but that included if he was lucky. Seven out of ten times he would lose against a Golden Dragon back as Demon Lord Kretos.


    So hearing the first incarnation telling him to gain strength to solo two of those powerful dragons made Ren''s blood boil. He was so excited in fact that he almostpletely forgot the incident with the fight against Fean.


    Still gaining that kind of strength was easier said than done. In fact, it took him a few hundred years to reach the strength he had as the most powerful demon lord. But this time he had a few cheats and those were his past incarnations.


    The fastest way to gain the strength he needed was to plunder his past incarnations knowledge and techniques.

 Chapter 176 - Extra Chapter: Christmas Special (kinda)

    <h4>Chapter 176 - Extra Chapter: Christmas Special (kinda)</h4>


    Inside the realm of Ren''s soul, the numerous incarnations were having a discussion. On the outside, using Ren''s perspective they saw some people exchanging gifts.


    "Why are they doing that?" One of the incarnations asked.


    "Maybe they have the same birthday?" Another incarnation answered.


    "No, if I remember correctly they''re having some sort of celebration. I think it''s a festival of sorts to honor one of the Ancient Gods of that world." Another incarnation joined in and gave his opinion.


    "You know what, this reminds me of a thing we did back in my old world. It''s been so long but I think we did it to celebrate Christmas." Yet another incarnation joined in the conversation.


    "Christmas?"


    "It''s was an event to celebrate a certain birthday of a child of God. Butter on, most people forgot the true meaning of the day, and only think of it as a day to receive gifts."


    "A child of God, was he strong?"


    "I wasn''t a part of that religion, but if I remember correctly that child of God wasn''t one who fought. He was a person that preached peace and love for all mankind."


    "Wait a minute, I think you and I were from the same world. But I remember that celebration differently. If I remember correctly there was this jolly fat old man that enters your home at night to deliver presents to good children. He goes around the world in one night to do those deliveries. As for naughty children, I think they get coal instead of presents."


    "Then was that person strong? Surely someone that can deliver presents all around the world in one night must be using some sort of spell."


    "I''m not sure about his battle capabilities, but I''m sure an old man like him who delivers presents isn''t really a person we would want to fight."


    The first person who talked about Christmas once again spoke to the group.


    "Wait a minute, I also remember another character in that story. I think he was called Krampus. If I remember correctly he was half-goat, half-demon that punishes the naughty children. Also before you ask I''m guessing he is kinda powerful... I''m not really sure since I only heard of him punishing naughty children and never a.d.u.l.ts."


    "What is this? This topic is getting boring, you guys suddenly said the names of some random people that sound like they could be strong but in the end, they turn out to be nothing more than weaklings."


    "We never said they were weaklings, we just said that they aren''t interested in fighting. But if it''s someone worth fighting during that season. Then I guess Jack Frost would fit the bill. He was the personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold."


    "Now that''s what I''m talking about! Come on then recreate him here. I want to fight him!" The moment the other incarnations heard the word fight they started to gather around that one incarnation that spoke.


    After exining what happened the other incarnations got excited as well. They have been inside this soul realm for a very long time, some of them have been here for trillions of years.


    The only entertainment they had was watching the current incarnation''s adventures. Aside from that, they could only fight each other every now and then. But by now they have fought each other so much that they knew each move of most incarnations, meaning the fights with themselves were boring.


    The only one left that they wanted to fight inside the realm of their soul was the first incarnation. Unfortunately, the one they call the original doesn''t show himself except for times when they were about to face the ORIGIN.


    Now that they know one of them has a memory of a being that wasn''t the ORIGIN but was strong enough to make them fight for real, the incarnations felt excited.


    "I haven''t really fought him, and I don''t really know much about him to recreate him perfectly. But he was a final boss in a game I yed once... I guess I can recreate that version of him."


    The one who spoke then imagined the version of Jack Frost he remembered. Then in the middle of the crowd, a man wearing a fur coat covered in permanent frost appeared.


    "W-" Jack Frost was about to say the same line as he did in the game, but before he could say a single word one of the incarnations jumped on him.


    "No fair! I"m next after you." Seeing that someone already took the first hit, the other incarnations started to line up.


    ...


    While the other incarnations were having fun with their new opponent, the incarnation that summoned said opponent sat somece far away.


    He looked at his brethren having the time of their lives beating a final boss monster from a game. He remembered when he yed that game in his house. In there, his father would be reading a book, his mother would be cooking, while his little sister bothered him as he was ying.


    It has been a few hundred thousand years since hest saw them. Around this time of year, his whole family would have been enjoying putting up lights and ying some party games.


    ''Why am I remembering this now?'' This particr incarnation was called Noel and he lived in a world called earth. One day he was summoned to a different world.


    In that world, he was summoned as a sacrifice to a devil. After some twist and turns Noel was able to fool his captors and in turn, kill them. Once he was able to escape he found out that the world he was transported to was unlike the animes he watched about being summoned into another world.


    It was hell at the beginning of his journey, but he was able to adapt and strengthen himself. The pain and sorrow he experienced on his journey to return home was something he could never forget. But the most heart-wrenching part of his journey was the end.


    When he was finally able to return home and reunite with his family after three long years. He thought his journey had ended but the devil that was supposed to be summoned by sacrificing him, was somehow summoned in another way and it followed him to his world.


    Noel was quick to act if he didn''t close the tunnel he created to the other world the devil would be able to fully cross over to his world and no weapon on earth could kill such a being.


    He wasn''t able to use magic in his world since the mana on earth was scarce. The power he needed to close the gate was enormous. So Noel without hesitation crossed back to the other world and from there closed the tunnel he created.


    While closing the tunnel he was assaulted numerous times by the devil and his minions, but Noel was able to withstand all that and closed the tunnel. After he was able to close the tunnel he faced the devil.


    "Oh foolish mortal, why suffer such torment? Do you love your world so much that you are willing to sacrifice yourself?"


    Hearing what the devil said Noel couldn''t help but smile the same vicious smile all the incarnations had and spoke his final words.


    "I don''t care about saving the world or any such heroic sh*t like that. I already knew I wasn''t the hero type when my delusion of being summoned to fantastical world turns out to be nothing but BS. All I care about is my family on the other side of that tunnel. It''s just a bonus that I get to save the world as well."


    The devil looked at Noel and was surprised to hear the words that came out of his mouth. The devil was expecting a hero to be the one to face him, but the boy in front of him was something else. He was selfish, crude, and his hands were filled to the brim by the blood of others. He was the farthest thing there was to the term hero, but the devil knew that this boy was actually the most suited to the title.


    Without any more words, the two shed resulting in both of them perishing.


    ...


    Noel who remembered his final moments had only one regret he wasn''t able to say goodbye to his family for a second time.


    Noel closed his eyes as tears fell from his cheeks, as he was feeling a bit depressed he heard a familiar voice.


    "Big bro, why are you crying?" Noel opened his eyes in shock as he looked at the people standing in front of him. There they were his family, right in front of him. His little sister, his mother, his father, they were all there.


    Noel thought that maybe he unconsciously created them using the power of his soul. Meaning they were nothing more than puppets, they weren''t his real family.


    Still, Noel felt like it was alright even if they were fake. Especially since he was feeling a bit sh*tty right now. He knew that even if he said goodbye to these fake family members he won''t have his regrets magically disappear, but still, he might feel better for the next thousand years.


    Noel then hugged his family and started to cry as he hugged them even tighter.


    "What''s this? Is my son actually crying?" Noel''s mother spoke as he wiped away Noel''s tears.


    "I don''t really understand what''s going on here, but no matter what it is you can tell us anything." Noel''s father patted his head.


    "My Big bro isn''t a crybaby!" Noel''s little sister clung to him tightly.


    "So son, tell us what is it you want to say?" Seeing his father''s calm face and hearing what each of his family members said made Noel feel various emotions.


    He wasn''t sure how he was able to replicate them so thoroughly that they were even saying words he wasn''t sure they would say in this situation... But that was enough for Noel.


    "I just wanted to say... Thanks, thank you for everything... And Goodbye... I love you all."


    When Noel said those words his family smiled back at him and disappeared. He then heard the other incarnations shouting.


    "What the hell?! Why is there coal in my pocket?!" Almost every other incarnation had coal ced in their pockets.


    While Noel was confused about what was happening he noticed a note was inside his own pocket. He took it out and started reading it.


    "Dear Noel,


    I know it''s a bitte since it took a while to locate your soul from the vast dimensions. But I hope you enjoyed my gift for you. Merry Christmas to you.


    From Santa"


    After rereading the letter a couple of times and seeing the other incarnations screaming about coal, Noel couldn''t help butugh as tears rolled down his face once more.


    "MERRY CHRISTMAS INDEED!"

 Chapter 177 - Time to hunt

    <h4>Chapter 177 - Time to hunt</h4>


    The moment Fean died Edge who was possessing Ren''s body went back into their soul realm. The moment Edge left the body, Ren''s body which had numerous wounds was about to flop down onto the ground. Silika was already aware that would happen so she was able to catch Ren''s body before it fell.


    "Quickly call a healer!" Silika shouted at the dumbfounded Lance who nodded his head and started running.


    Silika then used the link between them to slow down the bleeding. She then proceeded to transfuse Ren with the mana she had gathered using the scythe.


    ''It''s a good thing that his body is incredibly sturdy. If it was anyone else this much blood loss could have resulted in something more serious than just fainting. The cuts he has are deeper than they look, and the chunk of flesh that he lost looks much worse upon closer inspection.''


    While Silika was assessing Ren''s current condition, Ren''s eyes slowly opened. Once Ren''s consciousness returned to his body he stood up and tapped a few spots on his body stopping the blood from flowing out. He then circted his Spirit Aura onto his whole body and he even added his mana.


    After he did that most of his wounds healed almost instantaneously. The only thing that was left was the missing chunk of flesh on his right shoulder. Using his mana and Spirit Aura could only take him so far, and he wasn''t really that good with healing magic.


    "Are you alright?" Silika asked as she approached Ren.


    "A bit irritated but overall no problem," Ren answered while double-checking if the injuries on his body healed properly.


    "Silika I need the scythe."


    "What do-" Silika was going to ask what Ren needed the scythe for given the situation, but then she saw him smiling. The moment Silika saw that vicious smile on his face she understood immediately why he wanted the scythe.


    "You''re still not fully healed. Shouldn''t you rest a bit first?"


    "What are you saying Silika? This is nothing but a little flesh wound. As long as I keep my Spirit Aura up my wound will heal in no time. Also, I''m sure you are aware of what kind of being had given Fean that absurd strength."


    Hearing what Ren said Silika had no reply. It was at that moment Lance returned with a mage that specialized in healing. When the mage saw the destroyed cave he was confused since he has been here before, but when he saw Ren he was even more confused. Lance had told him that Ren was severely injured and was bleeding all over the ce.


    But the Ren who was standing before him was not bleeding and had only one injury. He had so many questions he wanted to ask but he didn''t say anything since Lance was already ring at him. The mage proceeded to heal Ren''s shoulder. The healing process was quick but was also a bit painful. When Ren''s shoulder was healed, the mage was asked to leave.


    ...


    Once the mage was gone Ren didn''t want to waste any more time and started walking towards the city.


    "Master where are you going?" Lance asked while following behind Ren.


    "I''m going to the Adventurers Guild."


    ...


    The moment Ren set foot inside the Adventurers Guild the people inside looked at the neers. After looking at Ren they noticed the beauty beside him. The moment they saw Silika some of the men wanted to approach her but then they saw Lance.


    Everyone in town knew who Lance Resteti was, especially after he challenged the strongest swordmaster in town and was able to fight her to a standstill. Not only that he was also a Marquis and he was the one who pretty much governs this town. Adventurers might be considered free people, but they still needed to listen to figures like Lance. With that kind of reputation, Lance was a good enough deterrent for them not to bother Ren. Still, that was a good thing for them, more than it was for Ren since the moment they did something to Silika would''ve been the moment they died.


    Unbothered by the onlookers Ren headed straight for the reception area and asked for all the avable subjugation quest for a B rank adventurer. The receptionist wanted to tell Ren that he couldn''t do all of these quests by himself but after Lance''s insistence, the receptionist had no choice and she was forced to call the Guild Master.


    The Guild Master stationed in this town was an A rank adventurer. S rank adventurers were usually the Guild Masters for big cities like Grenton, but for little towns like this, an A-rank Guild Master was enough, seeing as the town only had low leveled monsters surrounding it.


    The moment the Guild Master spotted Lance he decided to agree to whatever demands he wanted. Even though the Adventurers Guild wasn''t bound to a single governing entity like the royal family of any kingdom, they still needed to be wary of the nobles of each country.


    If it wasn''t any big request like joining a war against another country or aiding a criminal or anything simr to those, the Guild Master of any branch of the Adventurers Guild would listen to most requests of a noble.


    ...


    After getting all the subjugation quests, Ren headed out and started his hunt. On the other hand, Lance was asked to stay behind and continue his training by swinging his sword.


    Ren was now in a mountain region where a horde of goblins was spotted. With scythe at hand, Ren tracked down the goblin horde and found their cave. He proceeded to assault the cave and annihted every living goblin inside.


    For every kill he made with the scythe Ren could feel his mana slowly increasing. Even though he really wanted to fight his past incarnations right now his current strength was not sufficient enough. He was literally the weakest incarnation at the moment.


    If he fought using his past form as Demon Lord Kretos, he could defeat the lower strung of his past incarnations, but he didn''t want to do that. If he was to fight them he needed to fight them in his current form. Since fighting as his past self was not going to help him in the future.


    Once he was done killing every single goblin in the area he felt his mana capacity had increased but only a tiny bit. Aside from that, he was also able to save the human women that were kidnapped by the goblins.


    To the women that were kept alive for breeding purposes, Ren decided to ease the pain of the others by giving them a swift trip to the afterlife, while those that wanted to go home, he guided back to town.


    Once that was done Ren headed to the next area. He needed to kill as many living beings as possible the stronger the better. Only in that way can he increase his mana and be able to match his past incarnations.


    Usually, it didn''t matter if you had lesser mana since that wasn''t all you needed to win a fight. If you had better technique it was also possible to win. There were also other factors in gaining victory, the terrain, the condition of eachbatant, luck, and many more. A good example of that was the story of a master swordsman who fought a novice of the sword and died. The master swordsman was obviously better than the novice but due to a rock that was in his path he tripped and fell onto the sword of the novice.


    Still, no matter what factor he looked at, Ren''s past incarnations were better than him. There was no chance for luck to y a part in their fight since they would be fighting in their soul realm. They also basically have the same level of luck. So it all boiled down to skill and power.


    Each incarnation was considered the strongest of their generation, which means they have the skill to back that title up. So Ren''s only hope in victory is if he somehow gains better technique or he''s able to increase his strength. Seeing as he had no time to slowly increase his strength with normal ways, Ren decided to use a different way. The fastest way he knew that could potentially increase his strength dramatically was to use the death scythe''s ability to increase his mana for every living being his killed using the scythe.

 Chapter 178 - Investigation

    <h4>Chapter 178 - Investigation</h4>


    It has been a few weeks since Ren left New Grenton. During his absence, Harold''s shop became the grandest business in the whole city. He dealt with every business that wasn''t illegal, from selling weapons, armor and other adventurers necessities to selling bread, fruits, and other exotic ingredients, in the eyes of themoners Harold''s shop seems to have it all.


    He even hired the other business owners as his shop attendants and most of the cksmiths in the city now work under him. At first, some of the other merchants that were losing out tried to forcefully remove Harold from thepetition by sending some thugs and assassins.


    ...


    The assassins found it difficult to enter the city due to Valdel, while the thugs that were in the city were scared of Lara. The ones that were able to get through Valdel and Lara were killed by Harold''s butler Oliver.


    The merchants who hired the assassins and thugs were quickly caught by Iselv. He made their execution a public spectacle. After recounting their crimes Iselv allowed the people to be the ones to pass judgment onto the merchants.


    The people were at first confused at what Iselv was saying but once they understood what was asked of them, they quickly shouted for the death of the merchants.


    Once the people spoke Iselv personally cut off the heads of all the corrupt merchants. Seeing their leader, the third prince was listening to them and acted upon the decision they made. That one act made the people feel that he was truly on their side.


    ...


    While the whole fiasco about the merchants was happening Kithra was gathering every bit of information she could find about Harold. After extending their information business to the neighboring Kingdom of Serbek, Kithra gained a bit more information about the supposed country to the west.


    In Reschbeauch which was located near the east end of the continent information about the west was scarce, especially since there was a desert to the west which made traveling through it a difficult task for the people of Reschbeauch.


    The Serbek Kingdom, on the other hand, was located south of Reschbeauch and has some dealings with various other races. With the rtionship the Serbek Kingdom has with non-human beings they had a wider range of gossip and information. This was something that the Reschbeauch kingdom a human-centric Kingdomcks.


    Using these new sources of information Kithra was able to find out that there was indeed a Kingdom to the west, beyond the desert, but it wasn''t a human Kingdom. Though Kithra wasn''t able to acquire any information as to what type of beings inhabit said Kingdom to the west, she was now able to gain a bit more understanding as to what she was dealing with.


    Harold was either a non-human that was infiltrating the independent city of New Grenton, or he could just be lying abouting from the west. It was also possible that he was neither of the two. Though they haven''t gotten any new information that could actually help, Kithra still felt that this was better than knowing nothing at all.


    As she continued to gather information about Harold, Lara decided to stalk the guy and figure out the truth behind his actions.


    ...


    Lara had been shadowing Harold for a few days now, and she couldn''t find any evidence of any bad dealings. In fact, Harold was one of the most outstanding citizens in New Grenton. He pays all his taxes, he treats everyone fairly no matter who they are, he helps the elderly when he has time. He even goes to the orphanage and helps teach children how to read.


    If Lara wasn''t informed about Kithra''s conversation with Harold, she would''ve thought that Harold was a very good guy, almost at the same level as Valdel. Yet knowing how shady the deal he had with Kithra into making his shop, Lara just couldn''t trust anything he did.


    ...


    After a few more days of shadowing Harold and getting no result, Lara was starting to feel a bit frustrated.


    ''Ren might being back anytime now. If I''m able to find out something about this Harold guy he would surely praise me... On the other hand, if I don''t figure out anything about the guy, Ren might feel disappointed in me... AAAAHHH, Damn it! Do something already!''


    Lara still retained her poker face as she was screaming in her head while watching Harold close his shop.


    ''If I remain passive like this, nothing is going to happen. I need to get in there and search the ce.''


    Once Lara saw Harold leave the shop Lara covered herself in darkness as she hid in the Shadows. Lara''s ability to use darkness spells to hide was only second to Ren, not that he uses it for that purpose. She was also wearing equipment that covered her face and body making it hard to determine who she was, it was even hard to determine if she was male or female.


    ....


    After double-checking that Harold had left Lara quietly entered the shop, it was rather dark inside but Lara had pretty good eyesight and was still able to see the inside of the shop rather well.


    After sessfully entering the shop Lara started to investigate every room. Of course, most of the rooms were locked but Lara wasn''t that bothered by it. She decided to quietly break the locked doors down.


    As she was investigating each room Lara suddenly felt a chill. She quickly moved aside and dodged. Someone had tried to punch her from behind.


    "It would seem another rat has found his way inside." Lara wasn''t surprised to see Harold''s butler, Oliver was the one who attacked her. The moment she saw Oliver, Lara decided to escape since fighting Oliver might expose her. Seeing as Oliver hasn''t done anything wrong and Ren hasn''t ordered her to kill him, she didn''t really want to hurt the old butler.


    As Lara was preparing to escape, she saw Oliver disappear from her line of sight. She quickly ducked and rolled over to the other side of the room. By doing so she was able to dodge Oliver''s kick.


    "Oh?... It would seem that you aren''t just any rat." Seeing Lara was able to dodge his first attack, Oliver decided to attack seriously on his second time. Yet Lara was still able to evade, that meant Lara was the real deal.


    Lara could feel Oliver''s killing intent was bing sharper like a sword. He even changed his stance, it would seem that escaping would be harder than she thought.

 Chapter 179 - Escape

    <h4>Chapter 179 - Escape</h4>


    Lara was having a bit of a problem at the moment. She wanted to escape but the enemy in front of her was able to see her even while she was using the darkness to cover her form. The only other option was to render Oliver unable to follow her, but that would be quite hard as well, seeing as Lara didn''t want Oliver to know it was her that infiltrated the shop.


    "You''re taking me too lightly!" Oliver once again appeared behind Lara and attacked. This time when Lara tried to dodge by rolling, in which Oliver responded by punching the floor making it shake which also disrupted Lara''s rolling.


    "Now look at what you made me do. I''ve broken the floor of my master''s shop." Despite saying that he was reluctant to destroy Harold''s property, Oliver continued to attack Lara while breaking some random objects.


    ''What can I do?'' Lara was getting a bit frustrated as she continued to dodge Oliver''s attacks. It was quite difficult to evade most of Oliver''s attacks seeing as their fighting prowess were nearly at the same level, with Lara being only a little bit better.


    If Lara and Oliver were to go all out they would have destroyed the whole shop. That would benefit Lara but going all out against Oliver might expose her and alert the people. It was also possible that Valdel would find out about this and it would be even more difficult then. Also as long as Lara doesn''t know what Harold''s n was then she had no reason to destroy his shop or kill Oliver.


    As she was distracted by her own thoughts Lara was almost hit by one of Oliver''s punches. She was able to dodge it but only barely. Oliver was no longer speaking as his concentration had greatly increased as the fight went on.


    Lara seeing how Oliver was truly serious now made her stop thinking too deeply. The moment she stopped panicking and started to concentrate on the fight, the answer to what must be done came to her almost instantly. What she needed to do was simple she needed to defeat Oliver with the least possible attacks possible for her.


    In her current state, she wasn''t good enough to do that. But that was only, for now, seeing as she was already able to evade Oliver''s attack even while she was distracted. This meant that she only needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to attack. Based on their nearly identical level of skill, the moment one of them makes a mistake it would be hard to recover.


    ...


    The moment Lara started to concentrate wholly on the fight Oliver was surprised. There was no bloodlust or any ill willing from Lara, which made it already difficult to spot her as she was blending with the shadows. The only reason Oliver was somehow able to follow her movement was because of the sound of her footsteps and her breathing. Yet the moment she started to concentrate her feet felt like they became lighter and the sound she was making was reduced. It felt like Lara wasn''t even there.


    ''This person must be a genius assassin. Who could have hired this person? It can''t be one of the merchants here, they don''t have enough resources to hire someone so skilled. Could it be a person from the Third Prince''s side? That can''t be, based on the rumors about him and the one who was supposedly the real leader of the group, the person called Ren, the act of hiring an assassin seems very unlikely.''


    ...


    The first thing Harold and Oliver did when they entered the city was gathering information about the strongest people in the city. Most of the people from the underworld and the normal people on the surface gave the same answer, Ren was the strongest. Some answered Galius or Iselv but most of the people had viewed Ren as the undisputed strongest in the city.


    Once they learned about the hierarchy in the city, Harold used his own informationwork to find out everything he could about Ren, and what he found was weird. The things they found out about him were minimal but at the same time plenty enough. Ren wasn''t a noble, he was merely a country boy that registered as an Adventurer with his lover Lara a few months ago. He got a B rank the moment he registered but that wasn''t so surprising since most adventurers that im to be geniuses can do the same.


    The more interesting person was his best friend Valdel, who was being scouted by two holy maidens. If that was true then howe Ren was being hailed as the strongest? That was when Harold found out about the whole events of the Elder Lich incident. The whole reason for the deration of independence was because of that event.


    It was said by numerous sources that Ren single-handedly destroyed most of the undead army and in the end crushed the Elder Lich. One man was able to do all that... The moment Harold heard that news and when he heard a detailed description of Ren''s behavior, Harold couldn''t help but smile as he started to mumble something that Oliver couldn''t hear.


    ....


    The main point was based on the information he knew Ren wouldn''t send an assassin but instead, he would attack in a more upfront way.


    ....


    Oliver who was now the one being distracted by his thoughts was caught off guard when Lara suddenly dashed towards him. He was unable to evade on time and was forced to block the iing attack. The moment Lara''s punch hit Oliver, the old man was pushed back. Oliver was going to try and grab onto Lara''s hand but before he could reach out, Lara was able to follow up on her attack as she did a low sweeping kick, which forced Oliver to jump upward.


    The moment Oliver was up in the air Lara jumped upward as well. Lara jumped overhead of Oliver and was about to deliver a downward Kick. Oliver clicked his tongue as he didn''t want to use his trump card in this situation, but he had no choice given his other skills would destroy the shop.


    In the split-second, Oliver decided to use his trump card he stopped and defended instead. This gave Lara the chance she needed to strike down at Oliver. The strength of her strike forced Oliver''s body to tunnel through the floor. Seeing Oliver would be stuck for a few seconds, Lara used the chance to escape.


    ...


    Once Lara was out of sight Oliver jumped out of the man-made hole that he was in. He then kneeled in front of a figure that stood before him.


    "My lord, shall I chase after the intruder?"


    Harold who was watching the whole fight had a huge smile stered on his face. Due to him having the same amount of mana as a normal person and seeing as she was so focused on Oliver, Lara was unable to sense Harold''s presence.


    "No need, she won''t be able to do anything so it doesn''t really matter." When Oliver heard Harold call the intruder her, he knew that Harold must have an idea who the intruder was. He really wanted to ask Harold who the intruder was since she was quite skilled as an assassin, but as a loyal servant, he decided not to say anything. A servant can only know what his master wants him to know, so he can only say one thing in this situation.


    "As you wish my lord."

 Chapter 180 - In prison

    <h4>Chapter 180 - In prison</h4>


    In a room only lit by one torchlight, there was a man with messy green hair sitting on the floor. He had all of his limbs chained, not only that but the room he was in was draining his mana periodically. He had no mana to even light a small fire. If that wasn''t enough the chains that he was bound with gets heavier every time he moves wildly.


    "As expected from an ancient prison created during the war against the supreme demon. It can even hold you the former hero of the Kingdom."


    The man with messy green hair raised his head and looked at the people who just arrived. One was a beautifuldy with gorgeous silver hair that was tied in a knot, she had ruby red eyes that were looking at the man in chains with a sharp gaze.


    The one who stood behind her was also a gorgeous woman with long pinkish blond hair and blue eyes which had the same beautiful color as the sky


    "What an honor it is for the Sword Princess to grace me with her presence," Nezzard spoke with an almost mocking tone.


    "Do you really think you should be talking that way, in your current situation?" Rika who was standing behind Ashley red at Nezzard.


    "Oh did I somehow offend you Lady Rika? If so, then please forgive me. I guess I''m just a little grumpy since I''ve been imprisoned in a ce meant for ancient demons. Not only was I imprisoned in such a ce, but I was also forced to eat such horrible smelling food, while chained no less. But worst of all I can''t even sleep in peace in this ce! I wouldn''t care so much about the horrible food and atmosphere, but forcing me to stay awake for a session of torture is way too much. Not being able to sleep is torture enough for me. So forgive me for not responding with a smile on my face."


    Nezzard once again responded with an even snarkier tone. Rika was about to respond in kind but Ashley signaled her to stop.


    "If you didn''t want this to happen then why did you do what you did? Surely you of all people should know how those old nobles would respond."


    "Oh? You''re not going to scold me about what I said on that day?" Nezzard was quite surprised to see Ashley''s reaction to what he had done. Among all the children of the current king, Ashley was the person who had the most pride for her country and its people. Nezzard was expecting Ashley toe here and lecture him about how strong the kingdom of Reschbeauch was and how they can''t possibly lose to one man.


    "I see... You''ve met him haven''t you?" Hearing Nezzard''s question Ashley nodded her head.


    "Then you know how dangerous it is to oppose him!" Nezzard shouted as the chains in his hands and legs got heavier.


    Hearing what Nezzard said, Ashley remembered the first time she saw Ren. His mana was enormous and it felt so aggressive as if it wanted to devour everything in sight. She then remembered his eyes that looked at her, it felt like he could see through her very soul. Those weren''t the eyes of a young man, but someone that had experienced more than anyone could imagine. A person like that was aiding her older brother and created an independent city.


    "I do understand."


    "Then you can tell them, that whatever they''re nning will only end with our deaths. If it''s you then maybe they would listen." Nezzard who was usuallyzy and unmotivated had a weird desperation in his eyes as he pleaded with Ashley.


    The sword princess responded by shaking her head and saying, "That''s impossible."


    "Why?"


    "You do remember that this is Reschbeauch a ce where strength is highly valued. If they didn''t listen to you the hero of the kingdom, then they won''t listen to me. Also, as we speak my two older brothers are already getting ready to attack my third eldest brother. They have already gathered their forces and are making their final preparations before marching towards New Grenton. They''re hoping that destroying this rebellious force will give them a better chance of gaining the throne."


    "Then how about the king? Surely if you somehow exin how dangerous Ren is to your father, he would listen."


    "I already tried doing so, but father has been away for quite some time now, as the situation with the Serbek Kingdom has been intensifying. The Serbek Kingdom has been moving more boldly as ofte. Their aggressive offensive has pushed as back as they are nearing our Southern borders. With the current state of the Kingdom, father had no choice but to enter the battle himself."


    Hearing about the current situation of the Kingdom Nezzard was losing hope. He wanted to protect the crown and the Kingdom, but it feels like the crown and the Kingdom wanted to destroy themselves.


    "I see... Then there is nothing else to do but to wait for our inevitable demise. Well, seeing as I''m already imprisoned here, dying might actually be a better option." Nezzard sighed as he had given uppletely and epted his fate. The moment the two Princes attack Ren will be the moment of not only their deaths but also the fall of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. If this was going to be the oue no matter what, then he should''ve just stayed at home and slept.


    When Nezzard thought of that he smiled. That was really a funny thought for him, as the truth was he didn''t regret what he did nor the actions he has taken. ''Well, I guess if I died I get to sleep for all eternity. That''s a prettyforting thought.''


    While Nezzard was getting sucked into his own thoughts, Ashley spoke to him.


    "Do not look so hopeless Sir Nezzard. I''m actually here because I have another n on how to deal with this situation. First I need you to tell me everything you know about Ren. What have you observed about him? Not only him but hispanions as well. Tell me everything, every single detail that you know."

 Chapter 181 - Misunderstanding

    <h4>Chapter 181 - Misunderstanding</h4>


    It has been a few weeks since Valdel spoke with Shin, and all this time he still couldn''te to terms with what he learned. His feelings were artificial? His raison d''etre was nothing more than a sham?! Valdel was unsure what to feel at the moment.


    He was thinking about all this while he was hunting down some assassins that were able to sneak into town. The increase of assassins trying to enter New Grenton has been an ongoing problem and Valdel was the one who volunteered to deal with the situation.


    He wanted to do this to distract himself from the truth that has been weighing down on him. But aside from that, he found it weird that assassins were not only trying to kill Iselv but the merchant called Harold as well. Who were the ones hiring these assassins, also why do the assassins keep on epting this job knowing how high the mortality rate is. Surely they know by now how strong the people in New Grenton were.


    While he was thinking about all this Valdel pushed the truth about heroes in the back of his mind. It was at that moment he remembered the advice Shin gave him.


    ''Well, I guess doing that is better than doing nothing at all.''


    ...


    While Valdel was tracking down another assassin, Kuro, Rachel, Natasha, Zwei, and even Nika who were with him felt worried about him. Valdel who usually smiles all the time in front of children didn''t even greet them as he passed them by. He would also usually preach about Justice to any evil-doer he sees, but now he just kills the assassins without even a dialogue.


    Even Ren would banter a bit with his enemies before eliminating them. It was the same thing today as Valdel found the assassin and tried to kill him without speaking, but then the assassin showed that he had two hostages present.


    When Kuro and the other girls saw this they suddenly tensed up. Based on the speed on which he moved his hands, they weren''t fast enough to stop him before he kills the hostages. They needed to think of a n to somehow get the hostages away. The assassin seeing that his hostage y was working, decided to slowly head for the exit, but then he saw Valdel moved.


    The assassin wasn''t expecting Valdel to move, but he still unconsciously tried to kill the hostages. The moment he was about to slice their necks he saw that his fingers were already rolling on the floor. The assassin tried to move away but Valdel was too fast and pierced the assassin''s heart, killing him.


    Zwei and Nika were already aware that Valdel would do that, but seeing him implement it was another thing. Rachel tried to calm down the hostages, while Natasha could no longer hold it in. Natasha walked in front of Valdel and then without any warning pped him. Natasha pped Valdel so hard the sound of the p echoed throughout the room.


    Kuro and the others who saw Natasha pping Valdel were stunned into silence.


    "What are you doing?!" Natasha asked Valdel while ring at him.


    Valdel who was pped by Natasha looked at her confused as to why he was pped.


    "I killed the assassin and saved the hostages..." Valdel answered still confused as to what was happening.


    "Huh? Did I hear you say that you saved them? The way you handle the situation can''t be called saving! You recklessly charged in, one mistake and the lives of these people would''ve been forfeited."


    "The enemy is dead and the hostages are safe isn''t that enough?" When the girls heard Valdel''s answer they felt a myriad of emotions. Only Nika and Zwei understood what was truly happening and they couldn''t do anything about it.


    "What happened to you Valdel? Howe you changed so much?"


    "Enough of this farce, I don''t have time for this." Hearing this kind of answering from Valdel''s mouth made everyone present that knew him, feel weird. That was the kind of line you would expect Ren to say but not justice-loving Valdel. He was then about to leave, but Natasha blocked his path.


    Seeing everyone looking at him weirdly, Valdel was having second thoughts about what he was doing.


    ''I''m pretty sure that''s what Ren would''ve said in this situation. But why are they still trying to stop me? Well, I''ll think about thatter, for now, the next thing he would''ve done if they challenged him like this was...''


    Valdel looked at Natasha with a frown, he wanted to release some bloodlust to scare her, but Valdel just couldn''t. He was never one that could control his bloodlust like Ren, and he could only feel like that when face to face with great evil. So instead of using bloodlust, Valdel decided to use his mana instead.


    ''Zwei, provide me with your mana so that I can produce a greater impact.'' Valdel spoke to Zwei through their mental link.


    ''Master are you sure that acting like Ren will help with your current situation?''


    ''We''ll worry about thatter, for now just please do as I say.''


    ''Very well master...''


    Valdel coupled with Zwei''s mana surged out of his body. Natasha who was near him somehow felt that Valdel''s mana was bearing down her. Valdel then red at her, his look plus the scary amount of mana that he was emitting made Natasha feel a bit threatened.


    Seeing Natasha''s forehead sweating Valdel knew that what he was doing was convincing enough. He then decided to end it in a way that he feels will be the most Ren like.


    "I''m going to give you onest chance, move aside or I''ll make you move." Natasha unconsciously made way for Valdel who passed by her. The moment she realized what she had done, Natasha gnashed her teeth and clenched her fist. Seeing Valdel leave Kuro followed after.


    ...


    ''I did it!'' Valdel did a fist pump in his mind.


    ''Master, I don''t think this is what Shin meant when he said if you want to be truly free how about following Ren''s example.''

 Chapter 182 - Sightings of Ren

    <h4>Chapter 182 - Sightings of Ren</h4>


    Deep within a forest, the sound of a roaring monster could be heard. A party of five B-ranked adventurers had surrounded a Sgnik, an A-rank monster. The Sgnik was a ten-meter long beast that had skin that was harder than steel. With its nimble movement powerful ws and horrifying bite strength, this monster was considered to be the top of the food chain in smaller forests, but here it''s just one of many powerful monsters in the area.


    The Sgnik charged at the party of five and swiped its ws at them. The person that looked to be the leader of the group intercepted the attack using his giant shield. The support mage that was with them started casting spells that strengthen the leader''s defense. He then proceeded to cast speed and strength increase spells on every member of the party.


    "I''ll keep him busy! Go and attack him from the side!" The remaining three nodded their heads as they quickly surrounded the monster.


    "Be my de and slice apart my foe [wind cutter]!" Dozens of wind des attacked the Sgnik but only did minimal damage. Seeing that his spell was ineffective the mage clicked his tongue and started to chant a new spell while gathering all the amount of mana he could muster.


    The archer positioned himself upon a tall tree and infused his arrows with mana and started shooting at the Sgnik. The arrows were able to pierce the skin of the Sgnik but they were not deep enough making them nothing more than an annoyance for the monster.


    The swordsman in the party jumped up and rode at the back of the Sgnik. While he was up there the Sgnik wanted to fling him away, but the leader of the group was able to stop the Sgnik in its tracks. The swordsman coated his sword with mana and started stabbing at the Sgnik.


    The attack proved very effective as the Sgnik started roaring even louder and it became even more aggressive. The leader tried his best to hold the Sgnik but it was proving to be quite a difficult task.


    "Henry, aren''t you done yet!" The leader screamed at the mage while the Sgnik started biting at his shield. Henry was still in mid-chant so he couldn''t respond, but not hearing any response from Henry was enough for the leader to know what''s happening.


    The archer and the swordsman tried to lessen the load on their leader by making the Sgnik shift its attention to them. The Sgnik''s attention shifted and this time it tried to attack the support mage. The leader was quick to act and once again blocked the Sgnik, but this time he was unable to get a good foothold and was pushed back quite easily.


    "I"m done!" Henry shouted at hispanions. Hearing what Henry said the leader of the group charged at the Sgnik''s side and smashed it using hisrge shield. The Sgnik was pushed away, giving time for the support mage to escape.


    Once everyone from the party was far from the Sgnik the mage unleashed his strongest spell.


    "[Downburst!]" A strong downward current of air that was visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye came down on the Sgnik causing a strong gust of wind. The leader stood in front of his group and pierced the tip of hisrge shield onto the ground. He then proceeded to reinforce his body with strengthening spells. The Support Mage also casted spells that greatly increase the leader''s endurance. He then used another spell surrounded the group with tiny mana shields since that was the best he could do given the limited amount of mana he had left.


    Once the downburst spell was over, the group was able to see the shredded remains of the Sgnik. When they saw that they had finally won the battle, the group felt relieved. They have been hunting that monster for three days straight, and it proved difficult to corner. They were nearly out of supplies, and both their mages have little to no mana left. It was a good thing it finally ended.


    "Good job guys, we just need to get a piece of its ws and teeth for verification." The moment the leader said this he heard another roar. When the party members heard the familiar roar of the Sgnik they unconsciously looked at the shredded remains of the monster. It obviously didn''te from that, when they were wondering where the roar came from, the group noticed that they were already surrounded by more than a dozen Sgnik.


    "Damn it! That''s why it stopped running away! It was leading us to its nest!" The leader shouted as despair and anger crept in. Their mages were out of mana and swords and arrows don''t really work well against this monster. Not to mention that they were already having difficulty with one but now they needed to face a dozen. This was a hopeless situation.


    As the party of B ranked adventurers were epting their imminent demise. The two mages they had suddenly fainted, and then the remaining three felt a very heavy bloodlust surround the area. The mighty Sgniks that were about to kill the group were now cowering in fear and were about ready to flee, but before they could do anything a man appeared blocking their path.


    Without any warning, the man holding a scythe started shing at the Sgniks. The Sgniks who had skin that was harder than steel were being sliced in half like they were nothing more than a piece of paper.


    It took the mysterious man but a few seconds to wipe out the A-ranked monsters. Once he was done killing the Sgniks he took the teeth and ws from each kill and then tossed them into a mysterious dark space where the items disappeared.


    After his state of shock was over the leader of the B ranked adventurers wanted to thank the man for saving their lives but before he could open his mouth the man disappeared.


    "Who was that?" The leader spoke after a few minutes of silence.


    "I''m not sure." The archer answered while checking if the two mages that fainted were alright.


    "That scythe, and the way he easily defeated those Sgnik, he must be that new adventurer in those rumors." The swordsman spoke while feeling relieved.


    "Rumors?" The leader asked still a bit perplexed by the unexpected turn of events.


    "Yeah, a lot of rumors have been going aroundtely about a recently promoted B rank adventurer that has been finishing almost all the subjugation quests in nearby towns. I think that was ''one sh'' Ren."


    "One sh? Is that his nickname?" Once the archer was done checking the mages he joined in the conversation.


    "That''s what I heard, but seeing him in action I can understand why they call him that. It only takes him one sh to kill."


    "Well, either way, I''m grateful that he passed by." The leader spoke while approaching the Sgnik he and his party killed. He just wanted to get the proof of subjugation and leave with this horrible forest.


    When he got near the Sgnik that his party killed he noticed that the ws and teeth that were needed for verification were gone. He quickly tried to look around and saw no signs of it.


    "It''s gone!" The leader shouted which surprised the other two.


    "What''s gone?" The swordsman asked as he approached the leader.


    "The ws and the teeth are gone."


    "Wait, what?!" The archer came closer as well and started searching. After searching the whole area and finding nothing the group came to simr conclusions. They remembered Ren who easily subdued all the Sgniks in the surrounding area.


    ''That guy must''ve taken them all!''

 Chapter 183 - Returning to New Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 183 - Returning to New Grenton</h4>


    It has been a couple of weeks since Ren started hunting the monsters in the nearby areas. He nearly killed every living monster near his vicinity, and only left some of them. He was warned by the Adventurers Guild that he shouldn''t kill every single monster, he must at least let some of them survive. It would seem that killing all the monsters was a good thing since they weren''t necessarily bad for humans as they use them as materials for weapons, armor, and everyday items. Some monsters were even used for creating medicine, while others were tamable beasts.


    At first, the Adventurers Guild thought that Ren would only subjugate the number of monsters written but he did not do so. Instead of simply killing the number of monsters requested, Ren kills most of every monster he sees and sells the parts to the guild and others to some merchants he knows.


    When the news of his killing spree reached the top brass of the Adventurers Guild, the Guild Masters of each nearby town came and requested Ren to limit his killing. Of course, Ren didn''t want to listen to them as he imed that no one can and should tell him what to do. If they force him to do something without anypensation then he would just kill them as well.


    The Guild Masters already expected such an answer from Ren, so they have prepared apromise. They promised Ren that if he limits his killings to half the amount, they would double the amount they paid for the monster parts he has. Ren who was in control of the whole conversation readily agreed.


    ...


    That meeting happened a few weeks prior and now Ren had finished over fifty subjugation questing from six different towns. Ren wanted to hunt some more before he faced one of his past incarnations in battle, but he already wasted too much time. He needed to return to New Grenton as he feels that the prey he has been baiting was about to strike.


    ...


    "Master I promise toe after I finish cleaning up the trash in my family. Once I''m done I will head to New Grenton with my whole army at hand." Lance spoke with a very serious tone as he was now reluctantly about to part way with his master.


    "No need for that, juste by yourself. The citizens of New Grenton need to be baptized by a few more wars to be worthy to be called my army." Just thinking about the future battles from here on out filled Ren with indescribable excitement. It was at this moment that He was feeling a bit of fireing from his lower region. He really hated these intense human emotions that seem to all be connected to his libido. Still, Ren tried to calm himself down as he decided to do it with Silika a bitter while on the road.


    Unaware of the short internal struggle that was happening to his master, Lance nodded his head in response. "Then I shall bear witness to your superior tactics."


    "Oh, I don''t n to help the people of New Grenton in strategy. I''ll allow them to fight by themselves for a period of time. When I feel that the experienced they gained is enough I''ll step in and give a helping hand." Ren spoke nonchntly as he shrugged his shoulders.


    ''As expected of my master, in his eyes the army of this Kingdom is nothing more than training dummies. Well with his current power, he could probably fight the whole army by himself, that is if the Kingdom doesn''t have any hidden trump cards... It''s master I''m talking about, so there is no need to worry about that.''


    "Then Master I hope you have a safe trip." Lance bowed towards Ren showing his respect. Ren waved his hand as he and Silika left the Restetis estate.


    Seeing the fading silhouette of his master, Lance felt a bit sorry for the enemies of his master. They don''t know what kind of being they were provoking. When Lance thought of that he couldn''t help but smile.


    ''Well, it didn''t really matter if they provoked him or not, master was already nning to conquer them no matter what. They just made it easier for master to justify his counterattack.''


    ...


    While Ren was heading back to New Grenton, the first prince and his army were about ready to march to New Grenton. He has prepared everything he could for this day, the moment he wins a great victory in New Grenton the other noble factions would see that he was the better choice as the next king that would lead them to a new era.


    As the army was about to march a knight apanied by a cavalry approached the first prince. The Knight was none other than Sepchel Saulon.


    "My liege, I implore you to reconsider! Please try to make amends with Ren! If you just listen to his demands I''m sure he would grant you the crown. If you go with the second prince and attack him then the Reschbeauch Kingdom might cease to exist."


    The soldiers under the first prince were shocked to hear what Sepchel said and morale started to lower. This was because of Sepchel''s influence, who doesn''t know of the ''perfect knight'' Sepchel Saulon? The most loyal of knights, the most skillful of swordsmen, the most brilliant tactician. Even the other kingdoms know of him, much less the people of his own kingdom.


    If Sepchel was saying that fighting Ren was suicide then maybe it truly was. Seeing his men morale greatly decreasing, the first prince Reynold frowned.


    "Is that how a knight of the kingdom speaks, full of cowardice? This Ren alongside a person iming to be my brother has basicallymitted treason, and you wish for me to sit back and beg for mercy?! We are a kingdom of warriors! Backing down and bending over to the enemy will never be an option! So if you wish to stay and hide, then tremble in fear like the coward you are. But if you wish to fight for the kingdom as its knight then join me in battle, to prove you''re worthy of your title!"


    "I shall prove I am worthy of my title as a knight of the kingdom, by protecting you my liege." When Reynold heard what Sepchel said he felt relieved, but then he saw Sepchel draw his sword and pointed it at him.


    "I shall protect you by keeping you here!"

 Chapter 184 - Another bandit attack

    <h4>Chapter 184 - Another bandit attack</h4>


    On the journey back to New Grenton Ren and Silika had been attacked more frequently by bandits. This might be attributed to Silika remaining in her humanoid form.


    "Surrender everything you have and give as the woman and you''ll be able to leave here alive." The leader of one of the bandit group spoke. At first, he was just going to rob them of everything they had but upon gazing at Silika''s beauty a primal lust came over him. It wasn''t only him most of his subordinates were feeling the same thing.


    They wanted to ravage the woman so badly. At this point, they didn''t really care about whatever material possessions Ren had as long as he hands over the girl. The bandits brandished their weapons trying to intimidate Ren.


    The person in question looked at the bandits as if they were some sort of performers.


    "Hey, how many times is that?" Ren asked Silika.


    "That''s the third time. Two times it was, kill the man, capture the woman. Four times it was take everything, and only once was there''s no need for the woman just capture the man," Silika answered.


    "Thest one was the most dangerous one," Ren answered a bit shaken when he remembered the look of thest bandits they faced.


    While the two were bantering uncaring about the surrounding bandits, the bandits in question were thoroughly incense. Their prey were acting like they weren''t there.


    "WHAT ARE-" the leader of the bandits started to shout something, but before he could say anything of use Ren appeared before him and gripped his neck.


    "How rude we were talking." Ren smiled at the bandit that was now struggling to breathe. The surrounding bandits that saw how fast Ren moved, were surprised and at the same time fearful. The others knew that they messed with someone they shouldn''t mess with.


    Knowing immediately they were no match for Ren some of the bandits decided to use Silika as a hostage. But the moment they got close to Silika they were all cut into pieces. Seeing what happened to theirpanions the bandits stopped moving.


    "M-" The Bandit leader was trying to say something but Ren couldn''t hear it.


    "What did you say?" Ren loosened his grip a tiny bit so that the bandit leader could speak. The now frightened bandit leader coughed a bit as he suddenly was able to breathe again.


    "M-m-m....mer...cy. Mer... Cy... Pl...ease." The bandit leader begged and spoke even though it was difficult for him. When Ren heard what the bandit leader said, he released his grip and kicked the bandit leader aside. The kick wasn''t powerful enough to kill the bandit leader but it injured him greatly making him unable to move.


    "Silika did you hear that? This weakling was begging for mercy. I have no issue about bandits trying to steal and kill. But even as bandits you guys must have some sort of pride. You guys chose to live this way, so walk the path you have chosen until the end. Even the other bandits fought until the bitter end, and I can''t hate them for that. But you guys, asking for mercy? Fine I will grant you mercy."


    The moment Ren said that he would grant the bandits mercy, the group felt relieved. But the next moment they saw Ren wield a scythe and that was thest thing most of them saw. The surrounding bandits were sliced into pieces and their mana absorbed by the scythe.


    "I thought... You would grant us mercy." The leader of the group of bandits was the only one left and he still couldn''t move as he witnessed the casual massacre that happened before his very eyes.


    "I granted your men the mercy of death. As for you, I want you to tell me where your hideout is."


    "Why?"


    "I''m going to steal back everything you stole. Well, now that I think about it, those things aren''t yours so I''m not stealing from you, just picking up random objects I found."


    "Why would I tell you anything, you''re going to kill me either way."


    "What if I say that if you tell me where your hideout is I won''t kill you."


    The bandit leader knowing that death was imminent wasn''t as scared at Ren as he was before so he became a bit braver as he answered.


    "I would be a fool if I believed you." The bandit leader who was sitting on the ground his mouth bleeding answered with a smile.


    "Well, you would be a fool if you believed me, and you would be a fool if you don''t. Either way, you are a fool."


    "At least if I don''t believe you, I would be a fool that didn''t give you anything." Hearing the bandit leader''s answer Ren startedughing and then he showed a very vicious smile at the bandit leader. The moment the bandit leader so that smile he felt something ominous was about to happen.


    "That''s great, I thought you were going to be a coward until the end. It''s a shame that you''re going to die. Not only will you die, but you''re going to die while telling me where your hideout is."


    "And how are you going to do that? Threatening me with death seems silly at this point since even if you don''t do anything, the internal injuries you gave me is going to kill me."


    "Oh, you seem to think death is the worst that could happen. Let me tell you, there are far worse things than dying." Ren came closer to the bandit leader and whispered in his ear. Silika who was watching at the side saw theplexion of the bandit leader going from bad to worse. By the end of it, the bandit leader started to cry.


    "PLEASE SHOW MERCY! I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! Please just grant me a swift death." The bandit leader was now in tears as he asked for the mercy of a swift death.


    "Very well, I shall grant you that mercy." The bandit leader hearing what Ren said happily gave the information of where his hideout was. After hearing what he wanted to hear Ren swiped the scythe quickly beheading the bandit leader.


    "Hey, Silika how about we raid all the nearby bandit hideouts." Ren happily smiled as he spoke to Silika.


    "What about New Grenton? Shouldn''t we head back now?"


    "Don''t worry I trust Valdel and the others can handle things for a while. If they can''t even handle this little thing then the trials would be impossible. Better they die now than sufferter." Ren nonchntly replied.


    Hearing Ren''s answer made Silka sigh softly. She already had a feeling that Ren was slowing his pace as they got nearer to New Grenton. He''s now simply using the bandits as an excuse not to head back as quickly as possible. Knowing Ren this might be part of a bigger n, or simply a whim of his. Even someone like Silika who knew a bit of Ren''s past incarnations had no clue.


    "Very well, will do as you wish." Ren''s smile grew even wider when he heard Silika''s confirmation.

 Chapter 185 - The Sword Princess

    <h4>Chapter 185 - The Sword Princess</h4>


    While Ren was busy hunting down bandits an unexpected visitor came to New Grenton. In a room sat the most important people of New Grenton, Iselv, Galius, Kithra, Stephan, Valdel, Lara, Rachel, and Natasha were in this room. In front of the said group was a woman with long silver hair wearing silver armor who had a bunch of swords at her side. This woman was someone Lara and Valdel met several months ago when they left the vige.


    Behind the woman was someone with pinkish blond hair this was also someone Valdel and Lara met on the way to New Grenton. Though she had a familiar appearance her aura was somehow different from before. Unlike before when she acted dignified, the pink-haired woman was now exuding a different kind of feeling. When Valdel and Lara heard the true identities of the two they were both surprised. Though only Valdel showed a surprised face while Lara remained her stoic self.


    The pink-haired Rika noticed Valdel looking at her and she winked at him. This prompted the two holy maidens to re at Rika.


    "So you''re the one iming to be my third older brother?" Ashley spoke while assessing Iselv from head to toe. It was true that Iselv does resemble her father a lot. Among her brothers, Iselv looks to be the closest in physique and looks to her father.


    "And you''re supposed to be my little sister?" Iselv was also appraising Ashley. The two were looking at each other so intently that it looked like they were having a staring contest. Galius was the one to break the tension between the two.


    "So why has her majestye here? Are you perhaps here to threaten New Grenton?" The moment Galius asked this question a sudden surge of killing intent could be felt. Even in the torrent of killing intent, Ashley remained calm. On the other hand, Rika who stood behind her was smiling sweetly but her hands were ced behind her back most probably holding a weapon.


    "I''m not here to fight you guys, nor am I here to threaten the independence you proim. I''m here to speak to your leader." Ashley answered while still maintaining herposure in the ever-increasing bloodlust in the room.


    "Aren''t I already in front of you, my little sister?" Iselv spoke while frowning a bit.


    "You and I know you aren''t the real leader here, my big brother," Ashley responded with a small smile on her face. The moment the group heard this they immediately knew who the leader she was trying to find was.


    ''What does he want Ren for? Don''t tell me she''s fallen in love with him too? Maybe she isn''t attracted to Ren and just wants to talk... No that''s impossible! Of course, she has fallen deeply in love, I mean it''s Ren I''m talking about here. I really do want to eliminate her before she meets Ren but... Tsk, I already know Ren is drawn to powerful beautiful women, and I''m sure she fits that criteria, but... Damn it! I need to test her out to see if she''s worthy!'' Lara was once again having one of her normal inner struggles while maintaining her stoic look.


    "I don''t know where you heard that from, but there is no real leader here except for me," Iselv answered.


    "Who are you trying to fool big brother? Everyone who has even a tiny bit of knowledge knows who the real leader is. Also the reactions you all had when I mentioned the real leader is just further evidence that you are nothing more than a figurehead. So tell me, big brother, will you tell your real leader to show himself as I have something important to discuss."


    Even though Ashley sounded and acted calm, the truth was she was really anxious at the moment. She was able to reach New Grenton before her two other siblings got here. But now these people were dying her from meeting Ren. She needed to speak to him before her two brothers reach New Grenton. If she''s not able to convince Ren, the Reschbeauch Kingdom might truly cease to exist.


    Looking at the resolve in Ashley''s eyes Iselv looked at the others for confirmation. It would seem that they all agree that they should tell the truth. Even though her facade seems to be showing a calm and cool demeanor it was obvious to them she was anxious. If one wasn''t at the same level as Lara''s stoic look, then it would be hard to fool the eyes of the people present in the room.


    If you look closely one could see that Ashley was unconsciously tapping her fingers and the frequency grew faster as the talks went on.


    "Unfortunately my little sister, Ren is not present at the moment." When Ashley heard Iselv''s answer she started to feel a bit more anxious.


    "Then when do you think he''lle back?"


    "We don''t know, he does whatever he pleases and he coulde and go whenever he wants. There is no way of knowing when he would return."


    "Princess..." Rika who was standing behind Ashley looked at the princess with worry.


    "You can just tell us whatever it is you want to say to Ren." Valdel stepped forward and gave his opinion on the matter. Ashley then looked at Valdel and started thinking.


    ''This man is supposed to be Ren''s best friend. I guess telling him is the next best thing.''


    "Very well, I have information than I wish to share with you." Ashley then started to tell the group about the army of the two princes that were about to arrive. She also started to exin what was currently happening at the southern borders of the kingdom, as well as the movement of some of the nobles. When Galius heard what was happening outside of New Grenton he couldn''t help but sigh.


    The holy maidens weren''t that much perturbed by the news as they didn''t really care about the internal affairs of the Kingdom.


    The people on Ren''s side, on the other hand, were already aware that the Kingdom would respond as such. They already made preparations for this moment.


    "I see... Surely this information you''re giving us isn''t for free. So what do you want?" Kithra spoke to the princess.


    "For that, I need to speak to Ren."


    "Why is that?"


    "Since none of you may give me what I want. Only he could fulfill my request." The moment Ashley said those words an immense bloodlust could be felting from Lara. The silent stoic Lara started walking towards the princess.


    Seeing Lara approaching full of bloodlust Valdel blocked her path, "Lara what''s happening to you?"


    "Nothing is happening, I just need to tell something to the princess. Don''t worry I won''t kill her." After saying that Lara bypassed Valdel. Ashley seeing the approaching Lara finally stood up from her chair.


    The people inside the room grew tense as Lara and Ashley were now in arms reach of each other. Valdel was ready to pounce on Lara just in case she gets violent. Rika was also ready to do the same thing with Ashley.


    As the room grew even tenser than before, Lara who was looking at the princess eye to eye finally spoke.


    "Follow me outside." Those were the only words Lara said as she left the room. The Sword Princess couldn''t help but smile as she understood what the stoic maiden wanted to do. Ashley picked up her swords and ced them onto her back and on her waist. She was about to head outside and follow Lara, but then Rika held her hand stopping her.


    "It''s going to be alright, trust me." The princess smiled gently at her long-time friend and bodyguard. Once Rika let go of her hand Ashley went outside of the room and followed Lara.

 Chapter 186 - Who would win?

    <h4>Chapter 186 - Who would win?</h4>


    Ashley followed behind Lara as they walked outside of New Grenton into the open fields. Ashley could pretty much guess what Lara wanted to do. It wasn''t a secret that Lara''s bloodlust was directed at Ashley. The sword princess already knew the rtionship between her and Ren based on Nezzard''s information. This stoic woman must''ve figured out what Ashley would ask of Ren.


    ''She''s strong, but not as strong as him. I can see that she''s at my level, so there''s no need to worry.'' The sword princess had a very rare ability that could urately gauge a person''s mana. With this ability, she could also guess the person''s personality, quirks, and weaknesses.


    The moment sheid eyes on Ren she knew that death would be the only path if she were to cross him. On the other hand, Valdel''s mana told her that as long as you don''t push him to the brink he would forgive all as long as they were sincere in asking for forgiveness. Those two were undoubtedly strong, Valdel was only second to her father in strength, but Ren was something else entirely.


    Then there''s Lara, being childhood friends with Ren and Valdel meant that she was somewhat strong enough to keep up. She was indeed strong, but because she was always together with Ren and Valdel her strength wasn''t as noticeable. But now that she was walking in front of her, Ashley could see just how strong Lara was.


    The stoic maiden had a mana capacity that was near Ashley''s very own mana. The way it fluctuated indicated that Lara was a very emotional person, but her facial expression tells a different story. While Ashley was thinking about the mystery of Lara''s stoic look, Lara who was walking in front of her stopped.


    "This ce is good enough," Lara spoke while holding her bow.


    "I guess it is," Ashley nodded her head as she drew two short swords from her waist.


    "Based on your actions no further exnation is needed, is there?"


    "No need, a maiden in love is quite easy to understand," Ashley responded with a slight smile on her face.


    ...


    While the two maidens were talking, a bit further away from them were Valdel and everyone who was in the meeting. After the meeting concluded the group decided to watch the fight between the two maidens. Mainly because they wanted to stop the fight if it went too far.


    ...


    "Who do you guys think will win?" Rachel asked while looking a bit excited.


    "I have heard numerous rumors about the Sword Princess''s prowess in battle. But I have seen first hand Lara''s abilities and I can honestly say that Lara might have an advantage in pure power." Natasha responded seriously while remembering Lara pounding a bone dragon with her fist.


    "I''m voting for Lara as well. The Sword Princess has an almost legendary reputation as her beauty and skill with a sword were considered otherworldly. Though she is a beauty it isn''t as much as what has been said, maybe her sword skills are the same." Rachel gave her answer, which made Lara mockingly smile at the holy maiden of the War God.


    "Oh, jealous that she''s more beautiful than you?" Hearing Natasha was starting to tease her about it, Rachel decided to change the subject.


    "So what do you think Galius? Since you''re the one who has the most battle experience, surely you have an opinion regarding this."


    The old man smiled at Rachel before answering.


    "In my opinion, the fight could go either way. In terms of raw power, Lara has the upper hand, but in terms of skill, the princess holds the advantage. Though Lara has a wider array of skills from bows to fists and even using magic, the princess has more experience in actual battle. So the fight could go either way, it all depends on who is able to see an opportunity and take it."


    Being able to sessfully stop Natasha''s teasing, Rachel continued to ask others about their opinion on how the fight would go.


    "How about you Val?" Rachel looked at Valdel and was already expecting him to answer Lara.


    "I haven''t seen the princess in battle, so I can''t really tell who would win but... Based solely on how she carries herself I can somehow estimate a bit of her strength. So I have a simr impression as Sir Galius, I think the fight could go either way."


    Hearing Valdel''s answer surprised Rachel for a bit, but she quickly epted the answer as something he would say. That''s just the way Valdel was.


    "I can already guess that you would ask me as well, and my answer is Lady Lara," Stephan answered without waiting for Rachel to ask him.


    Rika who was listening at the side was a bit infuriated. None of the people present had voted that the princess would win. Some did say that it could go either way, but the others directly said Lara would win. She has seen a bit of what Lara could do and though the stoic maiden was strong she wasn''t that strong.


    "And you who do you think will win?" Rachel finally asked Rika.


    "Without a doubt, the princess would win," Rika answered without hesitation. Rachel was already expecting such an answer, seeing how gloomy Rika looked as the others voted for Lara. As the group were talking the conversation between the two maidens finally came to end.


    Lara and Ashley raised their weapons and pointed it at one another. Lara had one arrow ready to fire and held a dozen in one of her hands. Ashley who had taken out two swords started to juggle them, and then she took out another two and started juggling those as well.


    Both of them looked at each other observing every detail of their opponent''s movement. Lara was eager to strike and her bloodlust was already at its peak. Still, she waited for the right moment to strike.


    Ashley, on the other hand, was calm andposed as she waited for Lara to attack. The two simply stared at each other for several minutes before Lara released her arrow and Ashley defended by throwing one of her swords and dashing forward.


    The fight between the two had finally begun.

 Chapter 187 - The Sword Princess versus the Silent Death

    <h4>Chapter 187 - The Sword Princess versus the Silent Death</h4>


    After throwing one of the short swords Ashley started dashing forward. The moment the short sword hit the arrow it deflected it and continued heading towards Lara in breakneck speed. Lara was quick to react as she deflected the iing sword with her gauntlet. But the moment Lara deflected the sword, Ashley was already in front of her shing another sword down.


    Lara had no time to dodge was forced to block the iing sh by letting go of her bow and arrows and crossing her arms. The sword hit Lara''s gauntlets making a nging sound. Lara was surprised to feel how heavy the sword strike was. Still, that attack wasn''t enough to prate her defense. Lara was then about to counter using a kick, but she was disrupted as Ashley suddenly let go of the sword she was holding.


    Lara finally noticed that two more swords were falling from above her head. Lara then quickly jumped backward while trying to chant.


    "No, you don''t!" Ashley was quick to realize what Lara was nning, and the moment the two swords fell down she kicked the hilt of both swords pushing the two swords towards Lara''s direction. Lara''s chanting was disrupted as she blocked the iing swords.


    Ashley took that opening and once again charged at Lara who could only block at this point. Lara gave up in trying to get some distance and then started fighting Ashley in close range. Seeing Lara finally fighting her in close quarters made Ashley smirk.


    This was her n all along. Ashley already had a good grasp on Lara''s way of fighting based on the information she gathered. Lara was a great archer and mage, but she was also good in close quartersbat.


    Still among the three fighting skills Lara had, her close quarters was the weakest. Knowing that Ashley needed to limit Lara to only close quarters, and the solution she thought of was simple. She just needed to stick to Lara giving her no time to chant a spell or use her bow. Lara who was quick to adapt to a situation would surely decide to fight in close quarters.


    Ashley was able to think about various other ns on how to deal with Lara since she already predicted that the stoic woman would challenge her to a fight. Lara might not show any emotion on her face, but one thing was certain if it was regarding Ren she would do anything. So the moment Ashley showed any interest in Ren, Lara was bound to react this way.


    ...


    Lara who was the one in the offensive at the moment didn''t like the feeling she was getting. It felt like she was being yed with. The look Ashley was giving Lara as she aptly dodged her attacks was pissing Lara off.


    Seeing Ashley act like everything was going her way made Lara feel truly irritated. Lara increased the tempo of her attacks, but even after doing that Ashley was still able to keep up.


    ''If Ren sees me like this, what would he think?! Will he think that the training he has given me wasn''t enough, or will he think that I''m a failure of a student? No matter which path I take-'' Lara who was once again being sumbed by her own thoughts was interrupted.


    "Aren''t you taking me a little bit too lightly!" Ashley was able to find an opening in Lara''s attacks and started her own counterattack.


    "Thinking while fighting me, you really aren''t taking me seriously." Ashley who was given the chance to switch from defense to offense started fighting at an even quicker pace. She tossed all the swords she had and suddenly stabbed them onto the ground. The swords had now formed a circle around Lara and Ashley.


    The moment Ashley did this her fighting style changed a bit. Ashley started attacking Lara with one sword and then letting go of that sword then picking up another and attacking from a different angle.


    The way Ashley changed from sword to sword while attacking looked like a dance. Her movement as she switched swords while attacking and defending at the same time was breathtaking. Her silver hair swaying in the wind as she shed upon her helpless opponent was a sight to behold.


    The people who were already expecting Lara to win were now in awe of Ashely''s skill. They were all caught up in the beauty of her sword dance, as it was truly mesmerizing.


    The only one who was not affected by the beauty of Ashley''s sword dance was her opponent. Lara who was being assaulted from all sides suddenly did a heavy stomp making the ground shake. Ashley''s sword dance was disrupted because of that one stomp, which made it the perfect time to attack.


    Ashley was already expecting a heavy attack from Lara but for some reason, the attack never came. It was then Ahsley felt a horrible chill enveloping her. She then looked at Lara and noticed that Lara''s stoic face changed and was now showing a very frightening visage. Not only did her facial expression change but even the amount of bloodlust she was emitting was different.


    "How dare you make a fool of me! If Ren finds out!... Whatever you just need to disappear now." Lara clenched her fist and gathered a massive amount of mana into her right hand. When Ashley saw the intensity of mana that was gathering into Lara''s fist she had a vision and saw the moment of her death. Ashley saw a vision of being pierced through by that fist.


    The sword princess seeing that image instead of cowering in fear was feeling a bit excited. She took one of her two-handed swords that were on the ground and took a stance.


    ...


    When Valdel and the others saw what was happening, they knew that this sparring match was turning into a deathmatch. Valdel and the others wanted to step in and stop the fight, but the moment they tried to do anything it was already toote. The two maidens had already initiated their final attack, even the fastest in the group wouldn''t be able to stop the attacks from those two at this point. In fact, if one of them attempted to stop the fight and got in between the final attack of the two, the only fate that awaited the one who intervenes was death.


    Now the only thing Valdel and the others do was await the result and hope that no one died.

 Chapter 188 - Worse than monsters

    <h4>Chapter 188 - Worse than monsters</h4>


    The two maidens'' strongest attack met head-on which created a shockwave that formed a gust of wind. Valdel and the others were now worried about the result of the battle, as a thickyer of smoke was blocking their sight. This might be a problem for the others but not for Valdel who can somehow sense the flow of mana.


    When Valdel tried to sense the flow of mana, he couldn''t get a good fix on Lara and Ashley. The amount of mana that was released by the two of them made it harder to pinpoint their mana signatures.


    Valdel was getting a bit impatient as he started running towards the two. When he got close enough the dust had already cleared. Ashley had her left arm dangling in a weird position, while Lara had a sword hanging onto her shoulder.


    Lara who was no longer showing her scary visage had turn back into her stoic look.


    "Why did you stop? Are you showing me mercy?" Even though her facial expression was stoic, her voice clearly sounded irritated.


    "Speak for yourself, you could''ve gone for my heart but at thest moment you shifted your punch." Ashley who was badly wounded smiled faintly, and for a very brief moment, Lara did the same.


    "I see... Then this should be a draw."


    "Yup it''s a draw." After saying that it was a draw Ashley lost consciousness. Before Ashley''s body hit the ground Lara caught her.


    "Hmph, I guess you''re barely worthy enough," Lara spoke in a whisper.


    ...


    While the two girls were done with their fight, Ren was also finishing up with his own battle. Ren was walking inside a cave that some bandits made into their base. As he was walking the sound of screaming and begging could be heard. The stench of blood and death was all over the ce.


    Ren had entered their base and demanded that the bandits hand over all their treasures, and if they did so they would be spared. Unfortunately, the bandits didn''t ept his generous offer and attacked him. Of course, what happened next was to be expected, Ren and Silika had defeated every single bandit with ease. Right now Ren had gathered all the surviving bandits into one spot as he looked around their base. Silika guarded the prisoners as Ren wandered around.


    After a quick look, Ren was able to see that the bandits had kidnapped a bunch of women. Seeing them all tied up and bruised, showing a lot of signs that they have been r.a.p.ed and tortured made Ren feel a bit of irritation. There were even some with missing arms and legs.


    When Ren approached the women they started cowering in fear, some even opened up their legs inviting him like it was second nature. Seeing them act like that just made Ren feel even more irritated.


    ''What is this? Why am I feeling something like this? Normally I wouldn''t care this much, the weak are always devoured by the strong... That''s what I always thought, but... What is this?! Never mind, no use thinking about it now. I just need to do as usual and do whatever I want to do.''


    Ren approached the cowering women and started to heal them, once he was done he untied them. The group of women looked at Ren confused.


    "You''re free now." After Ren said those words he no longer bothered with the women and headed back to the bandits.


    ...


    Once the bandits saw Ren approach they started to beg for mercy. Yet before they could even get a word out they felt a very frightening aura emitting from Ren. It was as if an invisible hand had gripped their throats.


    "You know when I entered your base, I had a silly thought. Aren''t bandits and goblins practically the same?" Ren who was emitting such an intimidating aura suddenly started talking which confused the bandits. They all thought that Ren would start killing them, but instead, he suddenlypared them to goblins.


    "You bandits like goblins hide your bases in caves like this. Same as goblins you also rob and kill unsuspecting travelers. Also like goblins you take women and r.a.p.e them, but then unlike goblins you torture the women. If that wasn''t enough you even mutte them." When Ren said thest sentence his bloodlust grew even more intense.


    The already fearful bandits were now peeing in fear, some were even defecating as they cried.


    "You people are worse than goblins, your worse than monsters! The goblins r.a.p.e women to reproduce as there are no female goblins. They do this for the sake of their survival, which I cannot fault them. You on the other hand not only r.a.p.e your victims your torture them for no reason other than entertainment. I am by no means a saint, nor am I going to say that I''m a good person, but I still have a bottom line, but apparently you people don''t."


    Ren sped the head of one of the captured bandits and then started to squeeze it until it turned into a t piece of meat that was flowing with blood. The other bandits who saw the fate of theirpatriot were horror-stricken. They wanted to escape but their legs weren''t working.


    "I do things for a reason, for example I''m killing you right now cause I said I would. I even gave you foolish b*stards a chance but you dismissed it. You people, on the other hand, have no honor, have no pride, nor do you have any purpose." While Ren was talking he was crushing the heads of each bandit one by one.


    "Well, I guess you people might have a purpose, but it doesn''t seem that way. You... Oh, you''re all dead." Ren stopped talking when he noticed that there was no longer any bandit that was alive. Only a pool of blood and flesh were left behind.


    ''Even though they''re all dead, this irritation I have still won''t subside.'' Ren thought that by killing the source of his irritation, he might feel relieved but unfortunately, that didn''t happen.


    "Silika go and ask the captured women if they have a home to return to. If they do give head to town feed and clothe them, then give them some money for the journey back to their viges. As for those that have nowhere to return to, tell them that they can follow us back to New Grenton. While you''re doing that, I''ll be rummaging through the treasures in this cave."


    Seeing how irritated Ren was at the moment, Silika simply bowed her head and left.


    ...


    Once Ren was all alone in the cave he headed towards the treasury of the bandit group. Looking at how big the group was Ren was sure they had a vast amount of stolen goods. When Ren got to the treasury, it was as he expected this particr bandit group had stolen quite a lot.


    Ren quickly started to hoard the treasure, and as he was stashing away the loot he acquire in this raid, he noticed something familiar in the mountain of stolen goods. He saw an old box with an engraving written in anguage only known to demons.


    Ren brushed his hand on the engraving and said the words, "To my little nymph."

 Chapter 189 - Diary

    <h4>Chapter 189 - Diary</h4>


    Ren was familiar with this particr box, this was a box that was created during his rule. It was created for the daughters of demons with high social standing. These boxes were meant to be a toy and form of training for young daughters.


    It was a storage device that would only open when the right amount of mana is used. This was not only a popr toy for practicing mana, but it was also a nice ce to hide one''s belongings. The box was crafted using the bones of a monster that could deflect almost all physical attacks. It was also imbued with a spell that makes it hard to open for those that aren''t bound to it.


    Still, for someone of Ren''s level forcefully opening the box wasn''t a problem at all. When Ren forcefully opened the box he saw that inside it was a diary. The diary was made from the skin of a manticore which meant whoever owned this diary was the daughter of a very influential demon.


    Ren opened the diary and started reading a random passage.


    "I was finally able to open the box daddy gave me. It took me a few months to figure it out which might have disappointed daddy. The nanny that takes care of me told me that other children younger than me could''ve done it in less time. I need to do my best so that I don''t embarrass daddy."


    As Ren expected this diary was the diary of a little girl.


    "After I told daddy what my nanny told me he got a bit angry and fired the nanny. I asked why he did that, and daddy told me that my nanny was a bad person. Was she really a bad person? My nanny always told me wonderful tales about daddy and daddy''s daddy. Still, if daddy said the nanny was bad then she must''ve been bad."


    Ren skimmed through a few pages as it was all about how was she was struggling with her mana control. Ren decided to skip most of the pages and got to the middle part of the diary. It would seem that the little girl grew up a bit as her writing style changed.


    "Today was the day I thought I would enroll in school, like most of the children. I thought that I would finally be able to make friends, to be able to leave the mansion and see a bit of the world. Unfortunately, father had other ns, he wanted me to be homeschooled."


    This time the girl started talking about her studies and how her father came to visit her less and less. As Ren continued to read on, he found it weird that not once was the girl''s mother mentioned. Though there were multiple times the girl wrote about her grandfather. It was written that her grandfather was supposedly a man of great status. Ren was wondering who could that be, it might have been one of his generals.


    As Ren continued reading about the girl''s worries, joy, and pains he felt it was weird. ''This girl feels less like a demon and more like a human.'' Demon children wouldn''t write such emotional things, and would most likely write about their exploits in seeking greater personal strength or political strength. Yet this girl wasn''t that worried about such things, instead, she wanted to live free of her obligations.


    ...


    Ren was engrossed in his reading when he got to the part when the girl finally wrote something about her mother.


    "It was my fifteenth birthday and I was expecting to have a big party as it was mying of age. Yet once again, father has denied me such a thing. I finally confronted him about my situation. I asked him why I can''t show my face to others? Why must I be kept a secret from everyone else? I told him that I felt like a prisoner in my own home. When I told him all that, father decided it was time to tell me the truth about my birth. It turns out my mother was a human and not just any human she was a human hero. The reason I was hidden away was because I was half-human, but more than that, I was the daughter of the most hated enemies of demons a hero."


    The girl was a half-human normally that would have only resulted in a little bit of ridicule but because her mother was a hero the situation was dire for her. While Ren was still the ruler of all demons there were many that had human spouses. Since humans and demons look almost exactly alike and their biological make-up was nearly identical they were able to mate and reproduce.


    Still, because of the ongoing war against humanity, some demons looked at humans as lower beings. Of course, Ren as Demon Lord Kretos tried to stabilize the situation, but ultimately he failed as he was someone more fit for war than handling such matters. Now if you were half-human then it was pretty much certain that you were a target for hate, but if you were a child of a hero then that made you a target for vengeance. Since at that time heroes were butchers in the eyes of demons.


    Ren continued to read the diary, the girl was now writing about how difficult it was to ept her human heritage. But as she grew older she finally epted what she was. She could not me her father for loving her mother. She couldn''t me the hate the demons felt for the humans, especially the heroes. So in the end, the girl simply epted her position in life. As it was already a miracle that she was still alive in such a society.


    Ren finally got to the final passages of the diary.


    "Father has been meeting with some strange people from the alliance. I''m not sure as of now, but it seems like my father was about tomit treason."


    "I confronted my father about the shady dealings that he was having. He then looked at me and simply said that everything he was doing was for a better future. To make a world were I can live freely. He then whispered that this was a promise he made with mother."


    That was the final entry in the diary.

 Chapter 190 - Girl talk

    <h4>Chapter 190 - Girl talk</h4>


    A day after the fight between Ashley and Lara, the two alongside Rika, Hilda, Kithra, Rachel, Natasha, and Kuro were in arge room inside the mansion of the Regalcrags wearing their nightgowns. Valdel had practically forced the girls to have this meeting.


    At first, he was nning on it simply being a simple meeting between Ashley and Lara, just to clear the air between the two. He was also nning to join in so that he could monitor the situation and act just in case things got out of hand. But when he told the others of his n, they all told him that he was being creepy. It was at that moment Rika decided that she and all the other girls should have a sleepover so that they can get to know each other.


    If all of them were together it might lighten the mood. Valdel was still a bit worried, but in the end, he relented.


    ...


    Rika and the others were already expecting Lara and Ashley to be at each other''s throats the moment they saw each other. But contrary to what everyone expected Lara and Ashley looked like they had some kind of understanding and simply nodded at each other upon meeting.


    ''Is this perhaps the legendary friendship after a battle? Are they now friends and at the same time rivals?" Kuro who was simply filled in about what happened was getting a bit excited seeing how the two acted. She has been recently taught how to read by Galius, and her current favorite books were about hotblooded adventurers that would be better friends after every battle. Seeing the two girls acting the same way as the protagonists of the novel she was reading made Kuro giddy.


    "So everyone, thank you foring today. Because will be working together from now on, I hope to get to know you guys better. So how about we start with some introductions, I''ll start. Hello, everyone, I''m Rika Hemlin the bodyguard and close friend of the princess." Rika happily introduced herself.


    "I guess I''m next, I''m Kithra basically the oldest one here. So all of you should call me big sis." Kithra who was sitting beside Rika gave her own introduction.


    "I''m Hilda Kirche, an A-rank adventurer." Hilda who was also forced to be here was feeling slightly better than before. After a few weeks of thinking about things and consoling her sisters, Hilda had finally epted what happened to her mother. She then decided that she needed to be stronger than ever, both mentally and physically for her sisters and herself.


    "So it''s my turn, as you all know I''m Ashley Reschbeauch the only princess of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. I''m also more famously known as the sword princess." Ashley proudly introduced herself.


    "Alright it''s-" Natasha was about to speak but before she could do so, Rachel spoke first.


    "I''m Rachel the holy maiden of the temple of the God of War, it''s nice to meet ya." Rachel happily introduced herself. The people who knew the rtionship between Rachel and Natasha were already expecting Natasha to be emitting killing intent at this point. But for some reason, Natasha simply continued to smile.


    "Oh my, if you wanted to speak first you should''ve just said so. You really are such a child sometimes... How cute." Natasha then looked at Rachel with pity. When Rachel saw that look of Natasha''s, she wanted to rebut but then she noticed the others looking at her as well. There was no proof but Rachel felt like all of them were looking at her the same way as Natasha. Rachel decided to shut up for the time being.


    "Hello everyone, I''m Natasha a holy maiden of the temple of Justice. I hope we all get along." Natasha showed a very sweet smile at the others, and for a brief moment, she looked at Rachel with a smirk. Rachel who saw Natasha smirking at her made her feel extremely mad and knowing she couldn''t do anything, just made her even madder.


    "Greetings, I''m Kuro a knight of New Grenton and a subordinate of my master Valdel. Please take care of me." Kuro who was surrounded by very important people felt a bit out of ce. Still, she really wanted to get along with everyone. The others then noticed the swaying tail of Kuro and upon witnessing such a scene, they couldn''t help but smile, all except for Lara.


    "I''m Lara." That was all Lara said, which made everyone who was smiling at Kuro now smile awkwardly.


    ...


    After the initial introduction, the girls started talking about random things, from which weapon they prefer using, to what kind of armor feels nice. The topics they were having weren''t really something normal girls would talk about. Noticing what was happening, Rika decided to change the topic.


    "Since we are all girls here, how about we talk about something else... How about we talk about men? Lika, among the men we know who do you guys like the most?"


    "Oh, that''s very interesting," Kithra nodded her head in approval.


    "Ren," Lara answer without hesitation. When the other girls heard her answer all of them had the same thought ''We already know that.''


    ...


    "I guess if it''s the personality I think I like Ren the most, but if it''s about looks I''m for Valdel and if it''s about the body then Iselv," Kithra answered straightforwardly. Lara frowned for a bit when she heard Kithra''s answer. On the other hand, Kuro was blushing while holding her tail.


    "I see... As for me, I prefer Valdel overall, he got the looks, the strength, the kindness, and a guaranteed knight position, also from what I heard he''s like the kindest person around." Rika gave out her opinion. After Kithra and Rika said their part, the others who were hesitating started to talk as well.


    "For me, it''s actually a tie between Stephan and Valdel. I can''t exin why, but that''s just how I feel at the moment." Rachel answered with a tiny bit of hesitation.


    "Well as for me it''s gotta be Valdel. For some reason, he and I feel a bit simr somehow." Natasha answered while flipping her hair over her ear.


    "... Ma-..." Kuro tried answering but she instead started blushing real hard.


    "Huh? What did you say?"


    "Nothing," Kuro shook her head.


    "Come on just say it, who is it that you like?" Kithra chimed in.


    "It''s alright, no one is going to make fun of you here." Ashley gave her support as well. The others then started to encourage Kuro.


    "It''s master! I like master Valdel!" Kuro suddenly shouted but then she backed away and covered her face with her tail. The expression she was making was so cute that the other girls wanted to hug her.


    "It''s alright Kuro no need to feel embarrassed," Rachel spoke to Kuro. While Rachel was trying to calm Kuro down, Ashley was next to tell who she liked.


    "I think I like, Ren... Not too sure at the moment, but out of all the men I met he''s the one that I''m interested in." Ashley gave her honest opinion, in which Lara simply made a hmph sound.


    "So the sword princess likes that Ren... Well, I guess even with his face looking like that, he is someone influential, strong, and rich... Now that I think about it, aside from his face isn''t he already the perfect guy?" Rachel suddenly came to a realization and showed a shocked face.


    "Ren is already the perfect guy," Lara spoke with a tone that made no room for any argument.


    "Well, that''s your opinion." Rika joined in the conversation.


    "It''s not an opinion it''s a fact." Lara was not going to back down with this.


    "Wait, wait, wait! Before this esctes there''s still one person here who hasn''t said who she liked." Kithra looked at Hilda, which prompted everyone to look at Hilda. Seeing as she wasn''t able to sneak out before anyone noticed, Hilda sighed.


    "Ren..." That''s all she said, which made Lara show a triumphant expression at Rika.


    "You see Ren is superior to everybody," Lara told Rika.


    "Um, for your information the people in this room answered Valdel five times, while Ren was four times, Iselv and Stephan one time each. Tell me if I''m wrong but doesn''t five defeat four?" Rika answered with a smug look on her face.


    "Ren transcends such numbers." Lara then gave out such an illogical answer with a straight face, which then started an even greater argument. The others also started to take sides which made the whole thing escte.


    Though they were arguing one would notice that most of them were smiling, even Lara was smiling from time to time. Their talks continued throughout the night, which made the girls feel a bit closer to each other than before.

 Chapter 191 - The incoming threat

    <h4>Chapter 191 - The iing threat</h4>


    Two days have passed since the girls had their sleepover. In those two days, the girls were now getting ready for war. Once again New Grenton was about to have a big battle, but unlike before they were better prepared now.


    Though the forces of New Grenton had diminished greatly due to the attack of the Elder Lich, the ones who have survived the ordeal have be stronger than before. With the training routine, Ren gave them, though the military force of New Grenton was few the quality of each soldier was great. In terms of strength, most of themon soldiers have reached the level of C rank adventurers and some were even considered B ranked in strength.


    Before the attack of the Elder Lich, themon soldiers had no formal training whatsoever and were pretty much a mob of farmers. Knowing this Ren had allowed everyone to gain proper training, it was no longer just the nobles who had this privilege. As long as you had the talent for it then you can learn it, that''s what Ren told his allies. No matter who they were as long as they weren''t hostile if they had the talent they needed to be polished. Now, thesemoners were no longer the frightened cubs they were, now they were warriors waiting to be baptized in the sea of steel.


    ...


    While New Grenton was preparing for the uing battle, the second prince of the Reschbeauch Kingdom, Niel Reschbeauch was frowning. It has been two days since he and his older brother agreed to meet. He has been waiting for two days and even sent some scouts to see what happened to Reynold. But for whatever reason, his older brother was still a no show, and the scouts he sent haven''t returned.


    Niel wasn''t an idiot and had a few guesses as to what was happening to Reynold. Normally Niel would have been overjoyed by the knowledge that Reynold won''t be able to make it. This would mean all the honor and glory would go to him. That would have been his reaction if the foe he was facing was normal.


    Unlike his idiotic older brother who only believed in brute strength, and was always thinking with his muscles. Niel, on the other hand, believed that information and connections were power. Personal strength may only get you so far. Niel truly believed that the more information he had on his enemies the better his chances of winning. He was also a fan of gathering and nurturing young talents no matter what social background they had.


    Because of his vastwork, Niel was able to barely deduce Ren''s strength based on the rumors about him. Some of the rumors were too absurd to be believed, most likely a lot of them have been grossly exaggerated. Still, even if he only took half of the stories seriously Ren''s absurd strength was a threat that he wasn''t fully confident in handling.


    This was why even though he was currently fighting his elder brother for the throne, Niel decided to work with him to fight this foe. But now that his brother has been dyed for two days, Niel needed to reform his ns. The longer they hesitate to attack New Grenton the stronger its defenses would be.


    ''That foolish brother of mine is ruining my ns. Even that little sister of mine is doing things behind my back.'' Niel was already aware of Ashely''s actions but that was also something he expected to happen.


    ''No use, I didn''t want to show all my cards but against this opponent, I have no choice.'' Niel felt a bit disheartened knowing one of his trump cards would be used against people from the same kingdom. He was also irritated at how ipetent his elder brother was.


    "There''s no use in waiting, we march forward!" The second prince Niel, finally gave themand to move to his retainers. The army of the second prince that was on standby started moving towards New Grenton.


    ...


    In the meantime, the first prince was actually dyed for two days against Sepchel''s forces. Surprisingly there have been no casualties on both sides. This was only possible because of Sepchel''smanding skills. Seeing him in action just made the first prince Reynold even angrier.


    Reynold had already ordered his men to either kill or capture Sepchel. But most of his men were hesitant to do so. Sepchel was their hero and they couldn''t bring themselves to harm their hero, but they also couldn''t dismiss and order from Reynold.


    This proved useful for Sepchel''s side as their only goal was to dy Reynold.


    ...


    ''That little brother of mine had probably left for New Grenton already. I can''t afford to be dyed here any longer!'' Reynold was growing more furious as he thought of his second brother gaining all the glory.


    "Sepchel I challenge you to a duel! If I win you let me go, and if you win I won''t march to New Grenton."


    When the knights and soldiers heard what the first prince said they were surprised. Even Sepchel was shocked by the challenge. Everyone knew how strong Sepchel was and they also know how strong the first prince was. Though the first prince was very strong he wasn''t someone on the same level as Sepchel. Yet now he was challenging the famous knight to a duel?


    Sepchel was hesitating, he wanted to save his liege from Ren and was willing to block his path. But epting a duel and fighting his liege was a whole other thing.


    Reynold could already guess the inner turmoil Sepchel was having at the moment. Since he needed to leave immediately and bypass Sepchel''s legion, Reynold had thought of this gamble. He was now betting on Sepchel''s loyalty. He wasn''t really nning to fight Sepchel.


    After a moment of silence, Sepchel lowered his sword and answered. "I cannot ept the duel my liege, I concede." The moment Sepchel''s men heard what he said they all lowered their weapons.


    "Very well, I ept your surrender. Now move aside!" Once Sepchel and his men stopped blocking their paths Reynold ordered his men to quickly march towards New Grenton.

 Chapter 192 - Death to all enemies

    <h4>Chapter 192 - Death to all enemies</h4>


    It was raining heavily when a soldier stationed at the northern wall of New Grenton noticed a huge shadow approaching. When he looked closely he finally noticed that the shadow was an approaching army. The soldier quickly gave a signal to the people below the wall. Seeing the signal the soldiers started forming up and a messenger was now running towards Iselv''s group.


    ...


    The second prince Niel with his army at hand had finally reached New Grenton. Niel looked at New Grenton and was a bit surprised. He had been to this city a few years back, and back then Grenton wasn''t any different from most of the towns of the kingdom. But now as the name of the city changed its name into New Grenton, even the look change and was now looking like an imprable fortress. The walls have grown taller and thicker, and the mana barrier that enveloped said walls have a moreplicated spell ced.


    The overall defense of New Grenton seems to be just as good or even better than the Capital. Niel was already aware of the changes made to New Grenton but seeing it with his own eyes, was something else.


    ''It has grown even stronger than before... If I''m able to defeat them and take this fortress from Iselv, I can make this my central base.'' Niel was already thinking about what to do after his victory. He wasn''t doing this because he was assured of victory. In fact, by his estimates, the chances of victory were extremely slim, but thinking of defeat before starting was a loser''s mentality.


    Also, the worst-case scenario can only happen if Ren was within the city walls, but based on the information he received from the spies he ced inside New Grenton Ren was somewhere else. Knowing this, Niel knew this was the best chance to conquer New Grenton.


    Niel then signaled a mage beside him to enhance his voice by using a spell.


    "People of Grenton, I am Niel Reschbeauch the second prince of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. I havee here to give you a chance. Surrender andy down your weapons and this rebellion of yours will be forgiven. If you resist then only death awaits you!"


    Niel''s voice which was transmitted throughout New Grenton didn''t even make the people in New Grenton twitch. His threats were useless in front of the current citizens of New Grenton, in fact, what he said made them angrier.


    ''A chance?! Youe here and threaten us with death? Heh, we were already supposed to die when the Elder Lich came, death doesn''t scare us. When we dered our independence youe here as fast as lightning, but when we needed your help to defend our home you left us to die! Who would surrender to you!''


    Most of the citizens had the same underlying thought.


    "Second Prince Niel Reschbeauch, I am the third prince Iselv Reschbeauch! The answer we of New Grenton have chosen is freedom! We won''ty down our arms for you!" After Iselv spoke a thunderous roar resounded from within the walls of New Grenton.


    "Do you wish to follow this fake?! How dare a fake such as you besmirch the name of my long lost brother!" When Niel shouted, an arrow came flying towards him only to blocked by the shield of one of his personal guards. Niel was surprised to see an archer was able to hit him from such a distance. That was a near-impossible shot as the distance of him and the fortress was beyond the range of any archer he knew. It was even more impressive that the shot was made during such heavy rain, which made simply seeing the target from such a distance an incredible feat. Not only that the blowing wind was quite strong which should have affected the trajectory of the arrow. With all these factors Niel couldn''t help but admire whoever shot the arrow.


    Still, seeing this happen, he knew that this was their response. Niel and his personal guards backed a bit further away before he spoke again.


    "Fine, then you have chosen death!"


    ...


    Lara who shot the first arrow was already ready to shoot another and without any warning, she once again released another arrow at the second prince.


    ...


    The second prince had already signaled his men to bring out the catapults but as he was giving the order, his personal guard once again blocked another iing arrow. When Niel saw this he felt shocked and irritated. He was shocked because the archer was still able to reach him even at this distance. He was irritated because this supposed little brother of his was able to recruit such a talented archer.


    "My liege, this archer is dangerous and with the rain as camouge, it''s hard to spot the arrow. I advise you to please move to the backlines." Niel''s personal guard, Berold gave a suggestion as his vignce increased. Even though he could protect Niel from such an attack he didn''t want to risk it.


    Niel started to think about the pros and cons of moving to the backline. ''If I move back morale might fall a little bit, but if I get hit then that would either increase or decrease morale... There''s also the possibility of me dying. If that were to happen then all of this would be meaningless...'' Niel silently contemted for a little while and decided to listen to Berold''s advice and moved to the backline. Even though he was a bit reluctant this was the best course of action at the moment.


    ...


    Lara who saw the second prince moving farther back wanted to shoot another arrow, but the distance and the current weather made shooting him a difficult task even for her. As Lara was thinking about what to do next, she saw a bouldering towards her. Lara didn''t bother to dodge as the boulder that was arriving suddenly exploded into dust.


    Kithra and her mage corps intercepted the boulders with various spells. In response to the boulder attack, Lara started to gather mana and chanted.


    ...


    Valdel decided not to join this battle and was in the city protecting the citizens just in case some debris from the battle reaches some popted area of New Grenton. Alongside him were the usual people, Kuro, Rachel, and Natasha. Kuro followed Valdel because he was her master. Rachel and Natasha, on the other hand, didn''t join the battle and chose to follow Valdel simply because they weren''t allowed to fight.


    When the opponent was an Elder Lich a monster that threatened humanity, the holy maidens could lend aid. But now that it was an internal fight within a human kingdom they weren''t allowed to intervene. They were only allowed to subjugate the assassins since those were fights in the dark, but now that it was a battle out in the open battle they could no longer interfere.


    The two holy maidens who were helping Valdel move some of the citizens of New Grenton to safer grounds noticed the immense gathering of mana. They looked at who was gathering such an amount and saw that it was Lara.


    ''Hmmm, does that girl perhaps have the same potential to be a holy maiden?'' Natasha wondered as she could also detect traces of divine power within Lara''s mana.

 Chapter 193 - First day of the siege

    <h4>Chapter 193 - First day of the siege</h4>


    Niel was surprised to see therge ball of mana that was gathering above New Grenton. As the mana ball grew bigger it then started to be surrounded by ayer of thick ice. The moment Niel saw what was happening he shouted at the mages.


    "Mages form up! Hit that with the strongest fire spell you know!" The mages tried to attack the orb of ice with fire but due to the rain, all of their fire spells were weakened. Lara who was finally done with her chant unleashed the giant orb of ice upon the enemy army.


    As the orb of ice was getting nearer Berold with hisrge shield enveloped himself with mana and jumped towards the giant orb of ice.


    "Hmph!" Upon contact with the giant orb of ice, Berold felt how dense and heavy it was. He then used every ounce of his power to push it back. The orb of ice slowly cracked from the pressure of Berold''s shield and as it was about to break Berold noticed an arrow heading his way. Unable to dodge the arrow Berold decided to take the hit and destroy the giant orb of ice. The arrow pierced Berold''s shoulder which was only a few inches away from his neck. Berold was finally able to destroy the giant orb of ice andnded on the ground.


    ...


    Lara who has exhausted a great deal of mana lowered her bow and sighed. If it wasn''t for her fatigue after using such a huge spell the arrow she shot would''ve killed Berold. After that one shot, Lara needed to retreat for the moment as she tried to restore some of her mana.


    ...


    Afternding safely on the ground Berold pulled out the arrow that pierced his shoulder. He then retreated back to Niel''s side.


    "Can you continue?" Niel asked Berold who looked pretty exhausted. Berold shook his head as he answered.


    "I''m sorry my liege, even if my wounds are healed I won''t be able to fight for some time. I have exhausted too much of my mana and my internal injuries are more severe than I thought."


    "Very well, concentrate on regaining your mana. I will call for the healers." Hearing what Niel said, Berold went into a lotus position and started to replenish his mana. While watching Berold go into a meditative state, Niel couldn''t help but sigh as he massaged his temples.


    ''Hmmm, that girl called Lara was stronger than I expected. Based on the rumors and the reports of the spies I ced there''s another person within New Grenton that is stronger than her. Valdel, someone who has a legendary weapon that could absorb mana. If he joins the fray this might be a bit more difficult. The only ones that could match him on my side would be my personal guards.''


    Niel then looked at his personal guards, aside from Berold there were three more. A tall man holding ance in his right hand and a halberd on his left, this person was called Ansger. The one standing next to him who was smiling happily looking oblivious as to what was happening before her, was another one of Nie''s personal guard, Roheisia. Her weapon of choice was a two-handed sword that wasrger than her.


    Thest among the four personal guards was Carak. He was a silent man who uses concealed weaponry. Each of Niel''s personal guard had the same strength and level of skill as Berold.


    Seeing how strong Lara was, Niel could presume that to be able to sessfully fight Valdel who was rumored to be stronger he needed to use three of his personal guards.


    ''If Valdel shows up I''ll either be forced to use the card that I was saving for Ren, or I can hope that three of my personal guards could handle him... This would''ve been easier if that foolish older brother of mine was here.''


    Niel was getting a bit anxious as he watched the boulders loaded into the catapults hit the walls of New Grenton. The walls that have been reinforced were able to withstand the attacks for a bit before showing signs of cracks.


    ...


    Iselv who was watching the battle saw the cracks on the reinforced walls. Seeing the cracks he knew that they needed to destroy those catapults. At first, he and Galius had ordered the men to fire arrows at the ones reloading the catapults, seeing as they were the only ones close enough to shoot. But for every man they killed another quickly reces them. They then tried to use heavy-hitting spells to destroy the catapults but the mages on the enemy''s side would counter. Though some of the spells were able to hit some of the catapults, it wasn''t enough.


    "Kithra stop defending and start attacking." Kithra who was blocking some of the iing boulders heard Iselv''s orders and clicked her tongue. Hearing Iselv order her around made Kitra feel a bit irritated, but she decided to ept their current roles. She then started to switch from defense to offense. The mage corps she led also changed from defense to offense as they targeted the catapults.


    ...


    The moment Kithra and her mage corp stopped blocking the boulders, the other mages who were left defending had a difficult time and were unable to block most of the boulders. Now some of the smaller boulders had reached the inner spaces within New Grenton.


    Valdel who saw this gathered his mana and sliced the iing boulders. Rachel and Natasha also helped in destroying the iing boulders, while Kuro guided the citizens away from the danger zone.


    ...


    Seeing the catapults being destroyed one by one, Niel signaled the foot soldiers and mercenaries he hired to charge forward.


    As the iing wave of soldiers were nearing New Grenton a shower of arrows fell from the sky killing the charging soldiers. Still, even as theirpanions who were running beside them die in waves the soldiers continued to charge forth. In their minds, they all have the same manic thoughts.


    ''As long as I get near the walls it would be safer!'' The moment some of the soldiers reached the walls they were indeed safe from the arrows, but then were greeted with boiling oil being poured down on them. The other soldiers that were able to reach the wall had broughtdders and started to climb. The other soldiers tried using a battering ram on closed gates.


    ...


    Seeing some of the soldiers were climbing up the walls, Stephan and his men started to burn thedders. If some soldiers were able to climb up, Stephan and his men would kill them with their swords.


    This chaotic battle continued on for hours before Niel and his men stopped their assault and retreated for the day.

 Chapter 194 - Unwavering

    <h4>Chapter 194 - Unwavering</h4>


    As night fell the heavy rain continued to fall. The people of New Grenton were in their homes no longer as anxious as before. For the casualties, todaypared to the time the Elder Lich attacked was minuscule.


    ...


    As the rain continued to pour heavily Iselv with a bunch of soldiers were outside the walls stripping the dead of their armor and weapons. Once the dead bodies were stripped bare the mages would burn the bodies.


    Though they were at war and were stripping the enemies, Iselv and the others decided to at least give the fallen soldiers a proper send-off. Due to the rain, it took a long time for the bodies to be incinerated.


    ...


    Galius who was inspecting the surviving knights could only sigh. Due to the urgency of the situation, Galius was forced to use some of the students of the knight academy. Though they were stationed at the back and didn''t need to do much, some of them have experienced their first kill today. Knowing this made Galius feel a bit bad since they were practically forced to join in this battle.


    While Galius was feeling a bit depressed by the current situation of the students of the knight academy, one of his subordinates approached him.


    "Sir, they have nowpletely surrounded New Grenton." Hearing the report of his subordinate made Galius sigh even more. He was already expecting this situation to happen, but now that it truly happened he felt mixed emotions. Galius truly wished that after the failed first attempt of the siege, and after seeing Lara''s performance, the second prince Niel would withdraw his army and retreat back to the capital.


    ''It''s going to get tougher from here on out.''


    ...


    After the battle was done Hilda was now heading back home. As she was walking through the night streets of New Grenton she couldn''t help but remember the faces of those she killed. It wasn''t like this was the first time she killed another human being. In fact, she has killed bandits and murders before. But this was the first time she had ever killed so many people that were neither monsters or criminals.


    Hilda was feeling a little overwhelmed.


    ''It was either me or them, I had no choice...'' As Hilda was slowly spiraling into an unknown direction she heard her sisters'' voices.


    "Big Sis!" Seeing her two little sisters run towards her from their new house warmed Hilda''s heart. She couldn''t help but smile as she hugged her sisters.


    ''Right I don''t have time to think of others... I need to survive for them.''


    ...


    Valdel was still going around helping the citizens. He sent Kuro back to Galius so she could rest since she looking quite tired. Of course, Kuro didn''t want to leave Valdel but seeing as this was a direct order she reluctantly did as she was told. The two holy maidens were also doing their own thing at this time. Rachel was feeling extremely exhausted since she was fighting her instincts to head into battle. Natasha was trying to contact her temple and inform them of their current situation. So right now Valdel was all alone running in the rain trying to find a missing person.


    During the siege, some a fleeing citizen lost sight of her son. She tried looking for him but there was no response. Seeing as her son wasst seen in the ce were some of the boulders hit, Valdel headed there.


    Once Valdel got to the designated ce he extended his mana outward and tried to feel if there were any other presences around. The moment he spotted the mana of another he quickly moved towards it. As he got to the location he was horrified to see a child was pinned down by the roof of a destroyed house. The child was unconscious and he looked like he wasn''t breathing.


    The moment Valdel saw this he quickly lifted the roof and summoned Zwei to pull the child away. Once the child was out Valdel touched the child''s body and felt that it was cold and getting colder. First, Valdel needed to find shelter from the heavy rain.


    Valdel entered one of the empty houses and tried to warm the body of the child. He then noticed that the child''s beating heart was slowing down.


    "Zwei don''t you know any healing spells." Valdel looked at Zwei with a desperate plea. Zwei could only shake her head at this question, she was a being of ughter she had no means to heal another person. When Valdel saw Zwei shaking her head he gnashed his teeth.


    ''I got no other choice, I hope this works.'' Valdel hugged the child''s body tightly and started to transmit his mana into the boy the same way Ren would do when he tried to heal somebody.


    Valdel continued to transmit his mana to the child hoping for a miracle, after a few minutes he saw the child open his eyes.


    "Huh... Who are you? Why are you crying?..." The child asked still a bit confused about his current situation. When Valdel saw the boy waking up and talking, he could help but cry as he hugged the child tightly.


    "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Valdel who saved the child was the one saying his thanks.


    ...


    While Valdel was bringing back the child to his mother, Lara was in her room concentrating on strengthening her mana. As she was doing this, she felt a familiar presence. The moment she felt that presence it suddenly disappeared.


    ''Was it my imagination? Maybe I''m missing him too much... Ren when will you return...''


    ...


    In the distance in a hill to the southeast of New Grenton, Ren was watching everything unfold. Behind him was the silent Silika. It was raining heavily but not a single drop of water hit the two, as Silika created a barrier that protected them from the rain.


    The two had arrived in the middle of the siege and decided to watch everyone''s progress. At that time Ren was casually eating some fruits as he enjoyed the show. It would seem that the overall strength of New Grenton has improved.


    While he was observing the battle Ren was getting a bit excited. He then called Silika over and embraced her and the two started doing it while watching the battle unfold.


    ...


    Once the battle was done Valdel was pleased with the result, but it wasn''t enough. The people of New Grenton need to experience more. It was then Ren noticed a distinct mana fluctuation that wasn''t possible for pure breed humans. This particr mana fluctuation has the feel of demons, one was a demon with some impurities and the other was something else...


    ''A half-breed? No, it''s like his human but at the same time not... What is this?... Ooops.'' Ren who was trying to determine what kind of being has such a peculiar mana felt that Lara might have noticed his probing and stopped. It was not yet time for her to know that he was here.


    "Hmm, I wonder... What is a demon doing here?" When Ren said this he unconsciously tightened the grip on the diary he was holding.

 Chapter 195 - Who are you?

    <h4>Chapter 195 - Who are you?</h4>


    The moment the sun rose the following day Niel''s army started attacking once again. The same actions were made by both sides. Niel continued to use his catapults and human wave tactics, while the defending side continued to be passive. The only difference was Lara, who this time didn''t use any big spells. She decided that it was better for her to conserve her energy just in case the enemy sends in a powerful fighter likest time.


    Lara with her bow and arrow was a devastating force on the battlefield. As she only targeted those that look likemanders in the enemy army. Killing the enemymanders disrupted the formation of soldiers and the overall flow of the enemy. Which resulted in battalions moving in a disorderly fashion.


    ...


    Valdel who due to learning a part of the truth regarding his situation, got a bit confused and was now standing outside the walls of New Grenton. The enemy soldiers who didn''t know who he was, started charging towards him.


    The moment the soldiers got close enough they felt a heavy blow hit their jaws as they all fell unconscious. Valdel then tried loosening his shoulders as Lara came down to greet him.


    "I thought you didn''t want to join this battle?"


    "I was just a bit confused about some recent information I got, but now I''m okay," Valdel answered with a smile on his face.


    "Are you sure? I thought you didn''t like killing other people?" Seeing how chatty Lara was made Valdel feel warm inside. The ever stoic Lara didn''t really like talking so seeing her being so proactive made Valdel smile. Since this meant she was truly worried about him.


    "I didn''t kill anyone these guys are all unconscious. I know it might look like I''m being a hypocrite but I decided that I''m going to do things my way." After answering Lara, Valdel charged at the iing soldiers knocking them out.


    ''Master are you sure about this?'' Zwei asked Valdel through their mental link.


    ''It doesn''t matter if these feelings and ideal I have were handed to me, from now on I shall truly make it my own.''


    After saving the childst night from near-death, Valdel had a long self-contemtion. In the end, he found an answer that made him feel free.


    ...


    Niel who saw Valdel enter the fray was surprised to see how powerful he was. Valdel was beating down one soldier after another without killing them. In this kind of situation making an opponent, faint was harder than killing the opponent.


    Seeing how capable Valdel was Niel had to reassess how strong he thought Ren was. He bit his thumb as he grew a bit anxious. Seeing that Ren was more powerful than he thought, the n of using his ace in the hole on Valdel and leave Ren to his four personal guards was impossible.


    If he sent all his personal guards against Valdel, then the moment Ren appears no one will be able to deal with him even if they use that trap Niel had set up.


    As Niel was getting more anxious a messenger reported some good news for once.


    "My liege the first prince and his army have arrived."


    Another army was approaching from behind. When Niel saw his older brothering to his rescue, he felt both relieved and irritated.


    ''Betterte than never I guess.''


    ...


    While everyone was concentrating on the siege battle, Harold was drinking some tea inside his shop. Oliver his butler was standing behind him waiting for the nextmand.


    "It''s getting noisier out there," Haroldmented as he continued drinking his tea.


    "The first prince and his army have finally arrived," Oliver reported to Harold.


    "Oh, that means things are finally going to get a bit serious. What do you think are the chances of New Grenton winning?"


    "If that monster they call Valdel joins the fight they might be able to somehow survive this onught." Oliver gave his opinion on the situation.


    "Right... If that person joins the fray it would bnce the battlefield, quality over quantity. Still, it''s a surprise that the esteemed person was actually with that... Hero..." Harold cringe when he used the term hero. He looked like he wanted to puke just saying the word.


    "My lord, I do not wish to question your judgment, but-" Before Oliver could finish what he was going to say Harold raised his arm stopping him from talking.


    "Then do not question it," Harold red at Oliver. When Oliver saw Harold ring at him he shivered in fear. Though Oliver had the mana capacity that could rival Lara''s he was scared of Harold who was like an ordinary human. If anyone else saw this sight they will find it extremely weird. Still, even though he was frightened by that re Oliver continued what he wanted to say.


    "Forgive me my lord, but as your butler, I think it is my duty to inform you... I do not think it is wise to presume anything. Especially if it''s regarding the esteemed one." Oliver knelt on the ground as he spoke. Seeing his loyal servant acting like that made Harold sigh deeply.


    "I understand your worries... But it shall not change what I think." Hearing Harold''s reply, Oliver could no longer argue. After a short moment of silence, Oliver stood up and spoke.


    "My lord it would seem that another rat has entered." Oliver tightened his white gloves as he informed his master. Unperturbed by the news Harold continued to rx and drink his tea.


    "Go and deal with the rat quickly and then make me some more tea." Harold gave out the kill order with nonchnce.


    "As you wish my lord." Oliver bowed as he answered and then retreated into the shadows. Once Oliver was no longer behind him Harold whispered, "I can''t be mistaken."


    ...


    It has only been a few seconds after Oliver left when Harold heard footsteps. Harold found it strange since even with Oliver''s capabilities finishing the given task this quickly was hard.


    ''Maybe something happened regarding the intruders, was it a special guest?''


    "What happened, is the task already done?" Harold asked assuming that the person approaching was Oliver. The moment the question was asked, the body of an unconscious person flew passed by him. Harold was caught by surprise and as he looked closely he was shocked to learn that it was Oliver''s unconscious body that was rudely thrown at the table in front of him.


    Harold was about to turn around and look at the person who was able to do such a thing to his formidable butler. Yet the moment he stood up he froze in ce. An immense amount of bloodlust had suddenly filled the room. The intensity of the bloodlust was so great, Harold started hallucinating and saw numerous corpses all around him. Harold then gulped dryly as he felt an overwhelming sense of dread. As Harold was trying to figure out what to do next when the intruder spoke.


    "Who are you?" The moment that was question was asked Harold felt like a de was ced beside his neck. The moment he answered wrongly he knew that his head would be detached from his body.

 Chapter 196 - Story

    <h4>Chapter 196 - Story</h4>


    Harold had a few guesses who the person talking to him could be. He wanted to turn around and look at the person in question but the moment he showed such movement he felt a massive pressure fall upon him. The pressure was no longer simply bloodlust this was a pressure that could only be applied by an overwhelming amount of mana.


    "Do not move, and answer my question." The mysterious intruder''s tone suddenly turned ice-cold as his mood seems to be worsening.


    "I''m called Harold a merchant that has recentlye to this city to do some business," Harold answered in a rxed manner.


    "A merchant with a demon as a butler. Tell me what are your origins? You aren''t just a simple merchant are you?"


    "Dear sir, my family has been merchants for quite some time now. But yes it is true we aren''t simple merchants. As for my butler yes it is as you say he is a demon."


    "Then do tell me, merchant, what are your true origins? I can already tell that you aren''t human, but at the same time, you aren''t a pure demon nor a half. Tell me what are you, what''s so special about your family that you are able to employ a demon as your butler?"


    "To answer that question my dear sir may take a while since it is quite a story, are you willing to listen?" Harold asked while continuing to show a rxed demeanor.


    "Very well, tell me your story." The bloodlust lessened which made Harold feel a bit relieved.


    "Since we agree to talk, won''t you please sit down." Harold gestured at the chair in front of him.


    "There''s no need for that, just tell me what I want to know." Harold wasn''t offended by the mysterious intruder as he continued to act in a rxed manner. Harold then sat on a chair as he began his story.


    "Alright then, in a time long forgotten time an ancient demon with unrivaled power was born. This ancient demon was so strong that he was able to unify all the different demonic tribes, from the arrogant Vampires to the powerful Onis. He became a demon lord without much effort and once he was demon lord the humans started sending heroes to oppose him."


    "The heroes of old were more powerful than any human alive today yet even they were not able to handle the might of the demon lord. At first, the demon lord was excited fighting the never-ending tides of heroes, but after some time he grew weary of their challenge."


    "The demon lord had grown stronger and stronger for every hero he vanquished, and he no longer found joy in fighting such weak beings. As the humans continued to harass the demon lord and his people he finally decided to retaliate. The humans alongside the other races were unable to stop the demon lord''s march. In a few decades, the demon lord had conquered the whole continent."


    "Even after winning the war and bing the top power the demons continued to hate the humans, especially those who were born with the constitution to be a hero. Still, it was also at this time that the demons started to have rtionsh.i.p.s with other races and mated with them producing the halves. Though there have been halves before, this was the first time that arge number of them were created."


    "The other races were already treated unfairly by demons, but the halves were treated much worse. They were the subject of ridicule and contempt. Even after the great demon lord tried to amend the situation the demon race continued to discriminate."


    "It was at the height of this discrimination that the firstborn son of the demon lord conspired with the alliance of humans, elves, dwarves, swordians, warbeast, and the winged people. He had given his father a drug that suppresses his great amount of mana. Without able to gather mana through his body, even with his physical advantages, the demon lord could not win against his firstborn and his aplices."


    "After the death of the demon lord his firstborn son quickly took over the demon empire. With the support of the alliance and some other traitors, he was able to quickly subdue those loyal to the former demon lord."


    "It was revealedter that the reason the firstborn initiated a coup was for his daughter a half-human, half-demon child. Not only did she have a human mother, but that mother was also a hero. Knowing the great hate demons had for heroes and the halves, the demon lord''s son tried to convince his father to do something, but his father failed to do anything."


    "That was when the alliance gave him an offer, they offered him a solution to his problems. Blinded by his love for his daughter and the promise he made to his dead wife he agreed to kill his own father. Once the deed was done the alliance backstabbed him. They used him to control the demon empire and with that power, the demon empire was slowly dying as the pureblooded demons were slowly wilting away. The Demon Empire had been destroyed from the inside, and the demon lord''s son had no way to reverse the situation."


    "Still, even in the end he never regretted his decision. His father died with a smile on his face and even though it wasn''t what he was expecting, killing most of the pureblooded demons had stopped the discrimination as most of the citizens were now halves."


    "The demon empire alongside with most of the ancient demons have died, and the halves were forced out of their homes. The alliance then gave them a bit ofnd in the harsh deserts to the west. In that desert, the remaining demons created a small kingdom, waiting for the day they could once again rule. The other demons separated from them and created another kingdom were they decided to live peacefully with the other races."


    "Ie from the demons that have stayed in the desert. Though most of my demon blood has thinned out due to mixing with other races, I still have the blood of the supreme demon lord flowing through my veins. Does that answer your question Ren, or should I call you my esteemed ancestor, Demon Lord Kretos."


    Harold was finally able to look behind him and saw a frowning Ren and a silent Silika.

 Chapter 197 - Just tell me

    <h4>Chapter 197 - Just tell me</h4>


    Ren looked at the smiling Harold with a frown on his face. This man ims to be his descendant but since there''s no way to verify this statement Ren decided not to believe it. Though Harold''s story was somehow believable since most of what he said was something that really happened. He even knew about the half-human grandchild that he knew nothing about. Still, what happened in his past life, was not something he should worry about.


    "What are you talking about? Who are you calling your ancestor? You''re older than me and you im that I''m your ancestor, that must be the most idiotic joke I have heard." Ren acted like he had no idea what Harold was talking about.


    "There''s no need to lie to me. Your personality, your abilities, and your overall demeanor is practically the same as the stories about you. Also, I find it weird that a human that is as young as you, that isn''t even someone with a hero''s constitution to be so strong. I don''t know how you did it but you somehow were able to reincarnate into a human." Harold was feeling excited as he was sure that the person in front of him was the legendary supreme demon, the demon lord Kretos.


    "So you''re basing all of this on a guess? Heh, you''re a very funny guy, unfortunately, your guess is wrong. I don''t understand what personality this demon lord had nor do I know what abilities he used, but if they are like mine then it should''ve been a coincidence. Surely there have been countless people who had the same personality and set of skills as I. Do you think all of those people were reincarnated, demon lord?" Ren answered without being agitated by Harold''s insistence.


    ''This kid is iming to be my descendant does have some validity to it. If I didn''t acquire that diary I wouldn''t believe even one word from his mouth. Still, even if he truly is my descendant from my former life, if he gets in my way then he will die.''


    Ren wasn''t that attached to his former life, for in his mind as long as he could have a great fight every now and then everything else doesn''t matter. Though, he was still a bit distracted by the news of having a granddaughter that was a half. Ren was feeling things he had never known and was surprised by it. Even though he was iming that things regarding his past life were not things his current self should be bothered about, deep inside of him there was still a bit of worry.


    He had multiple sons and daughters but none of them had a child, that''s what he thought before. So knowing that his bloodline had survived made him feel a bit emotional which was weird for him. As Ren was thinking about the diary and his supposed granddaughter, Harold had approached him.


    ...


    Harold was truly convinced that the man before him was his ancestor, the most powerful of demon lords. Harold had heard the stories of the demon lord''s greatness ever since he was but a wee child. The Demon Lord Kretos the most powerful of all ancient demons. Power so great that none before and none after coulde close.


    Harold couldn''t hold it in as he saw Ren. The time for the demons to get back what was theirs was finally nearing. The time that they can finally emerge from the shadows of history wasing, and Ren was the key. Yet what was his esteemed ancestor saying? Telling Harold that he wasn''t Demon Lord Kretos.


    The dream of conquest was something he had when he first heard the stories about the supreme demon. To show the other races that they weren''t failures. Harold had other ns when he came to New Grenton, but when he learned of Ren''s existence all of his past ns changed.


    "Alright then Ren, if that is what you wish to be called by, I will call you using that name. But I just hope you would admit that you are demon lord Kretos. I won''t tell anyone, I just want to hear that truth from your lips." Harold''s calm demeanor was changing into something more crazed. His voice sounded like he was pleading. Ren even noticed that Harold was open and closing his hand looking a bit anxious about something.


    "I don''t know if you''re stupid or just crazy. I already told you I''m not a demon lord nor was I ever one. I''m just Ren nothing more nothing less." The moment Ren answered as such, Harold gripped Ren''s shoulder. Ren saw the moveing and was about to dodge but for some reason, his body was unresponsive for a second. That small gap was enough for Harold to be able to hold Ren''s shoulder.


    Ren was confused as to what happened to his body that made it stop at that moment. While Ren was trying to figure out what Harold did at that second, he felt Harold''s grip on his shoulder got even tighter.


    "Please don''t do this to me, just please tell me the truth. I don''t understand why you sided with the humans, or why you even reincarnated into a human. I don''t understand why you''re traveling with a human with the constitution of a hero. I don''t understand a lot of your ns or what you are trying to achieve, but that''s alright I can ept all of these things to be part of the bigger picture. You are after all an unfathomable being, I promise I won''t mess up your ns. I will even help you with whatever ns you have if you ask of it. Just please tell me the truth, tell me that you are Demon Lord Kretos." Harold''s eyes were showing a very crazed expression as he said his piece.


    Ren took Harold''s hand that was clenching his shoulder and pushed it aside. Harold stumbled backward as he looked at Ren still full of unwillingness. Ren dusted his shoulders off before answering the crazy person in front of him.


    "I already told you multiple times that you''re wrong. I''m not the person you think I am, nor will I ever be that person... Still, let me humor you a bit and let''s say that by some extreme coincidences that I was the person you keep on bbering about, what does it matter? It doesn''t change that I''m still Ren. Well whatever, I just came here to figure out who you are, and give you a warning. You can continue to stay and run your shop as long as you don''t do anything against me." Ren was then about to turn around and leave when he heard Harold mutter something.


    "So even now you won''t admit who you are. If you won''t admit it willingly, then I will talk to you in the onlynguage you seem to understand." Harold then removed the two rings on his fingers. The moment the rings were removed Ren saw Harold''s dark ck eyes turn into shining gold. Not only that his mana output spiked.


    "Ren I challenge you to a duel." The moment those words escaped Harold''s mouth, Ren who was standing a few feet away from Harold suddenly moved and instantaneously got in front of Harold.


    "I ept," Ren answered while he was about to deliver a devastating chop.

 Chapter 198 - Duel

    <h4>Chapter 198 - Duel</h4>


    The moment Ren was going to use his right hand to chop at Harold''s neck his body suddenly stopped moving. He then noticed Harold''s golden eyes looking at him. Harold was now about ready to attack with a kick. Ren using a greater amount of force was able to move his body and evade.


    Once Ren evaded the attack he backed away and looked at Harold in surprise. Harold, on the other hand, was also looking at Ren surprised. Though unlike Ren, Harold''s surprise onlysted for a moment before he smiled in a crazed manner and startedughing.


    "As expected of my ancestor, you''re able to force yourself free from my special ability." Ren didn''t bother to talk to Harold as he once again disappeared from his sight. This time Ren got behind Harold and was about to attack, but then a mana barrier halted Ren''s attack.


    Of course, the mana barrier wasn''t enough to stop Ren''s attack but it was enough to dy him giving Harold enough time to turn around. Once again when Harold''s gaze fell upon him Ren couldn''t control his body.


    Harold already knew that he wouldn''t be able to hold Ren using his ability but that didn''t matter as it gave him ample time to move back and attack using spells. Ren might have the advantage in speed but stopping his movements for even a second leveled the ying field.


    As the fight went on Harold was amazed to see that he was able to hold his own against Ren. Even though he knew that the current Ren was not even a tiny bitparable to his former self Demon Lord Kretos, but still fighting a legendary being such as him to a standstill was amazing. It was at that moment when Harold felt like he might actually win he saw Ren''s expression change.


    Ren started to smile a very vicious smile at Harold. The moment Harold saw that smile of Ren''s he remembered a part of the stories he heard about Demon Lord Kretos. The moment he shows that smile of his was the moment his opponent has been acknowledged and inevitable defeat was to follow. This meant Ren has acknowledged Harold as a worthy opponent and he was about to get serious.


    "You''re pretty good but I guess what you''ve shown me is all you got. Then I shall give you the honor of witnessing what I have." The moment Ren said those lines he snapped his fingers. Harold was confused as to what happened, there were no physical changes and nothing out of the ordinary appeared. Harold wasn''t sure what happened but he was positive that something has happened.


    Ren who had snapped his fingers waited for a little bit and then his smile grew even fiercer than before. Harold was about to speak when he suddenly felt Ren''s mana output spike to an absurd amount.


    Feeling the ever-increasing mana Ren was releasing made Harold want to puke. Ren was already exuding powerful mana awhile ago that outssed most people, but now he was exuding a different level of mana. This was the result of Ren massacring every monster on his trip using the scythe.


    The current Ren was more powerful than he was a few months ago. When Harold felt that suffocating amount of mana, instead of feeling fear he felt excited. Mana so powerful that you''ll be forced down in one knee, it was like he had entered the stories he so loved. Right now at this very moment, Harold was in front of Demon Lord Kretos.


    "I have isted your whole shop, now no matter how strongly I go at it no one would even sense us. So, if you have any other tricks up your sleeves you better use them now or else this would be over." Ren was getting truly excited as he wasn''t expecting an opponent such as Harold. Though Harold''s overall specs were weaker than Ren''s, he was still able to fight back due to his special ability,


    In the past, there had been no race that had such an ability that could stop one''s movement. There had been monsters that could have done something simr, but this was the first time Ren saw a humanoid being use such an ability.


    ''This must be due to a mutation by mixing different races.'' Ren was amused by the ability Harold had and was excited to imagine that there might be a whole kingdom of ability users. The battles they would have...


    While Ren was getting distracted by his imagination, Harold was trying his hardest to move his body. But it was difficult to even stand upright as the force of Ren''s mana was making his body unconsciously shiver in fear. The gap of power between them was too great.


    "Hmmm, it doesn''t look like you have anything more to show me. So do you yield?" Ren seeing how Harold was struggling to even move looked a bit disappointed. Seeing the disappointed look on Ren''s face made Harold feel devastated. This wasn''t what he wanted, he didn''t want to show such a pathetic side of his. But unfortunately, due to his upbringing, Harold hasn''t been in any real battle which made him unable to cope with what was happening.


    "Why should I yield? You haven''t even admitted that you''re Demon Lord Kretos. Soe and show me the extent of your power." Harold struggled a bit and was able to stand upright to look Ren in the eye as he said this.


    Looking at Harold''s false bravado made Ren sigh.


    ''This is getting boring.'' Ren turned around and once again issued a warning at Harold.


    "This duel is over, you are not a match for me. I''m leaving but I hope you remember what I said. You can continue your business here, provided that you don''t do anything foolish."


    Seeing Ren was about to leave, Harold mustered every ounce of power he had and dashed towards Ren. "Wait!" Harold tried to reach his hand out and grab Ren. He didn''t want the first meeting between him and his idol to end like this. As Harold was getting near Ren he suddenly felt a massive force hit his head and was now slowly losing consciousness. As he was about to faint Harold thought he heard Ren''s voice.


    "Thanks for the fight."

 Chapter 199 - Movement in the shadows

    <h4>Chapter 199 - Movement in the shadows</h4>


    While Ren was fighting with his supposed descendant the siege battle was intensifying. Reynold the first prince suddenly arrived with his army and entered the fray. The moment Reynold joined the battle, Valdel was finally forced to go all out.


    Niel who was expecting the tide of battle to turn into their favor was surprised to see Valdel''s burst of power. Valdel with his sword at hand continued to simply mow down the enemy soldiers without killing them. Valdel''s swordsmanship had improved greatly as his hesitation faded.


    Reynold seeing that the flow of battle was shifting due to a single person felt really irritated at himself. If he was stronger then this wouldn''t have happened. Still, he had no choice now as things have already been set in motion.


    "Big brother, we need to get rid of him if we want to win." Niel who was biting his thumb spoke to Reynold who was beside him.


    "Do you take me for a fool? Of course, I know that! But how do you propose we deal with that monster?!" Reynold was getting angrier and angrier by the minute. When he was getting ready for this siege battle he was expecting it to go differently.


    Not only was he stopped by his most loyal retainer, but the battle he thought would be easy turned out to be far from it. Even though their side had overwhelming numbers, just one person was able to shift the tide of battle. Learning how truly weak he was and how strong the other side was just made Reynold gnashed his teeth in anger.


    "Send the strongest among your men to deal with the girl. I will also send my men to deal with that guy. Once we iste him and the girl, we just need to keep them away from the main battlefield. If we aplish that we can steer the battle to our favor... Or if you want you can use our bloodline ability and use that one-time technique to deal with Valdel."


    Hearing Niel''s suggestion Reynold scoffed at his younger brother. ''This kid is truly treating me like a fool... But what he suggested is the best move we can do at the moment. I already know that if I used that technique not even Vadel could fight back, but... There''s still Ren, that man is way worse than Valdel... I need to be wary of him.''


    "Big brother are you worried about Ren intervening? Don''t worry too much I have a n to take him out." Niel said with a smile on his face. Seeing him acting like he knows everything just pissed off Reynold even more.


    "Fine, I''ll send my best man to attack the girl." Reynold reluctantly gave Niel an answer.


    "That''s good, I''ll send my personal guards as well."


    ...


    Valdel who was charging in the center of enemy lines suddenly dodged to the side. An earth spike suddenly appeared at the position he was in before. As Vadel was trying to regain his bnce a man with a huge shield came charging at him.


    Valdel using his Zweih¨¢nder attacked the man with the huge shield head-on. Berold who received Valdel''s attack was surprised to feel how strong it was. That attack was actually able to push him back quite a distance. Berold felt his hands shaking from the impact as he saw Valdel dashing towards him ready to press on his attack.


    Valdel who was about to strike suddenly stopped and jumped backward as a man with a spear fell from above. In mid-jump, the man with a spear swung the halberd on his left hand at Valdel. Valdel blocked the iing strike and was sted away.


    When Valdelnded on the ground while sliding he sensed something and shifted his head to the side. The moment he did so Valdel''s right cheek started to bleed, a throwing knife just passed by him without him seeing it. While trying to find the attacker Valdel heard a woman''sugh and saw someone charging from the side.


    The woman in question held a sword that was evenrger than his Zweihander and she casually swung it at him. Valdel was surprised to see that the woman''s attack was actually almost as strong as his.


    Seeing Valdel having a hard fight Lara was about to jump in and help but someone blocked her path. It was one of Reynold''s men that had ambushed Valdel and reported about Ren.


    ...


    With Lara and Valdel were being held up, the situation once again changed. Without the powerful force of Lara and Valdel, the princes'' side were able to deal more damage than the first day of the siege.


    Once nighttime came the army of both the princes retreated back. Unlike the first day this time, they were able to deal a significant amount of damage to Iselv''s forces.


    ...


    It has been three days since the siege started and as most of the attention was on New Grenton, spies from the enemy kingdom of Serbek had reported the current situation to their home country.


    The Warrior King of Reschbeauch, Willmont was still at the southern borders fighting a part of the Serbek army. The two princes were busy trying to capture their supposed third brother and punish the citizens of New Grenton. The princess was also out of the picture, and the cities in the Kingdom of Reschbeauch were in a chaotic state at the moment.


    This was the best time for the Serbek kingdom, they finally have a chance to be able to get rid of their long time enemy.


    Upon receiving the message of their spies that they ced in Reschbeauch, the Kingdom of Serbek made their move.


    ...


    While the main force of Serbek distracted King Willmont, a small detached army was sent out as a vanguard. The army had silently passed the borders but their food supplies were lost on the way. Now hungry and tired the army was able to find a vige that seems to be protected by mercenaries and adventurers, which they found odd.


    Though it was an unusual sight and normally they would try and gather information first about the vige in question. But due to hunger and their continuous march, the vanguard of the Serbek army decided to raid the vige without nning anything. Seeing as the adventurers and mercenaries were only a few dozens, they thought that it would be an easy raid. A simple swift attack with their overwhelming numbers would crush the vige. Unknown to them this was a decision they would regret dearly.

 Chapter 200 - The Village of monsters

    <h4>Chapter 200 - The Vige of monsters</h4>


    The battalion from the kingdom of Serbek had reached Carto vige. Once they were near the battalion surrounded the vige. The adventurers and mercenaries who were in the vige noticed that the vige was being surrounded, but the time they noticed it was already toote. Themander of the battalion stepped forward and spoke with a spell that enhances his voice.


    "Bring out the leader of this vige!" Themander didn''t even bother to state his name as he demanded the vige elder to approach. The adventurers wanted to flee but the moment they saw the battalion surrounding them they knew that escape was impossible.


    The mercenaries that already been paid by Kithra decided that the pay they were given wasn''t enough for this level of danger. So the moment they find an opportunity they will escape.


    ...


    "Come out, I wish to talk to the leader of this vige!" Themander once again shouted at the vigers.


    Everyone including the adventurers and mercenaries were expecting an old man to step forward. Since usually the leader of a small vige such as this was the eldest among the group of people. Yet the person that stepped forward was a young beautiful maiden.


    The adventurers and the mercenaries have been in the vige a couple of months now but this was the first time they saw the beautiful maiden. Yet upon closer inspection, the maiden looked oddly familiar.


    "Isn''t that the ''Silent Death'' Lara?" One of the adventurersmented.


    "Oh, now that you said it, she does look like the ''Silent Death''." Another adventurermented.


    "No, look closer, she''s smiling. The ''Silent Deth'' has never been seen smiling before. I''ve seen her a couple of times in the Adventurers Guild, and her face seems to only have one expression and smiling wasn''t it."


    As the mercenaries and adventurers were getting confused as to who this maiden was, Lisa approached themander of the battalion.


    "Little girl I was asking for the leader of this vige, not his granddaughter." Themander looked at Lisa with a frown on his face. Now that he was face to face with the woman in front of him he noticed that she had two short swords dangling on her waist.


    "I''m not the granddaughter of the leader, I am the leader." Lisa smiled at themander as she gave out her answer. Everyone present except for the vigers were surprised to hear her answer.


    "Are you kidding me?" Themander red at Lisa.


    "This is no joke my dear sir, so what do you want?" Lisa answered unperturbed by themander''s re.


    "Fine then, give me all of your food and weapons. If you do as you''re told we won''t have to kill you all. So little leader what do you say?" Themander didn''t n to fight since even against such a little amount of adventurers and mercenaries would result in losses that he can''t afford to have at the moment. He especially didn''t want to report that he lost even a single man while raiding a small vige.


    The mercenaries and adventurers present sighed in relief as they heard themander''s offer. It would seem that they can survive their current predicament. Some of them were already expecting a gruesome death but hearing what themander said made them loosen up, that was until the beautiful maiden suddenlyughed.


    Themander of the battalion frowned deeply as his killing intent rose which he directed at the girl in front of him.


    "Is there something funny in what I said?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry I didn''t mean tough so loudly. It''s just that, you want us to give our food supplies in exchange for our lives. That''s a pretty funny trade since we both own our lives and our food. So how can we trade if both the things are ours, to begin with?" Lisa answered with amusement in her eyes.


    The surrounding soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries were shocked to hear Lisa''s answer. The adventurers and mercenaries on the side of the vigers thought that Lisa was crazy. Why was she aggravating themander?


    "Don''t you see we have your lives in our hands. You no longer own it, we do." Themander signaled his men who all raised their weapons, and the mages with them started gathering mana while chanting.


    "Well, in my eyes it''s actually the opposite." No one was able to see it but Lisa''s swords that were on her waist were now touching the neck of themander. Seeing that his head was almost lopped off themander sweated a bit.


    "How about that, not only do we still own our lives and have the food supplies but now I own your life. Just a little push of my hand and your head would separate from your body." Hearing Lisa''s mocking tone, themander gnashed his teeth.


    "Even if you kill me my men won''t retreat. After my death, my men will kill all of you and burn this vige to the ground." Themander once again tried to threaten Lisa, who responded in an unexpected way. Lisa startedughing again, and this time as sheughed she started to circte the mana in her body.


    The mages that felt Lisa''s mana were frightened by the sheer amount of it. As they were trying to guess what she would do next, Lisa turned her back to themander. Themander was about to say something but then he fell to the ground his head had already been cut off from his body.


    "That''s not much of a threat since you guys don''t have the ability to kill any of us." Lisa shrugged her shoulders as she whipped her swords making the blood that stuck to it fly out.


    The mages from the battalion started firing spells at the vige, but to their surprise, their spells were warded off by a powerful barrier that surrounded the vige. They weren''t able to sense the barrier not until it activated. As the soldiers were about to initiate a melee battle, the vigers suddenly charged at them. From the young to the old each one of them started rushing at the soldiers of the Serbek Kingdom.


    The adventurers and the mercenaries hired by Kithra to protect the vige were shocked and scared by the scene they were witnessing. The vigers of Carto vige who they had friendly conversations with for the past few months, were now massacring an army that had five times their numbers.


    ''We were hired to protect these people? Shouldn''t they be hired to protect us?'' The adventurers and mercenaries had conflicting feelings as they watched the kind vigers crushing the enemy battalion. They felt that they were hired as a joke of sorts.


    In fact, Ren simply told the adventurers and mercenaries to protect the vige, not because he feared for the vigers'' safety. No, what he feared was that the Restetis might try to cause trouble and the secret of how strong the vigers were would be known prematurely. Since the vigers did not look menacing, which might make the Resteti family think it was easy to get a hold of the vigers and use them threaten to threaten him. Ren decided to hire adventurers and mercenaries as a deterrent.


    This was at the time when Ren was still regarding the Resteti family as an enemy. Now that he knows the truth about the Resteti family the adventurers and mercenaries were no longer needed to act the part of fake bodyguards.

 Chapter 201 - Thoughts of each childhood friend

    <h4>Chapter 201 - Thoughts of each childhood friend</h4>


    As Lisa was cutting down another mage she started to think. ''I wonder what Valdel is doing right now?'' She started to think about Valdel again. Even though she said to herself that she would wait for them to return home, Lisa was really tempted to leave the vige and follow the three.


    ...


    There was only one reason why Lisa hasn''t followed Valdel''s group even now. On the first day when Valdel''s group left, Lisa who was forced to stay behind decided that she still wanted to join her sister and friends on their journey. Despite what she and the a.d.u.l.ts agreed upon, she still wanted to go. So she decided to wait until nightfall to make her move. Yet when she got to her room, she found a letter that was addressed to her from Ren.


    "Hey Lisa, I''m pretty sure right about now you''re thinking about following us." The moment Lisa read the first line of Ren''s letter she couldn''t help but smile. ''As usual, Ren can pretty much see through everything.'' Ever since she met Ren she always had this feeling that he could see right through everything. Even though he was only one year older than her, Ren always felt simr to the vige elder. In fact, Ren actually exudes this unique aura that made him feel older than he truly was. Lisa who could practically see Ren''s sly smile continued to read the letter.


    "That''s a pretty bad idea and I advise you to not do it. You do know if you follow us you would be breaking a promise and mister goody two shoes Val won''t like that." Lisa thought about it for a bit and Ren was right if she did follow them after promising that if she failed she won''t leave, Valdel will look at her in a bad way. He won''t show it but Lisa would know that every time Valdel looks at her he would only be thinking about how she broke her promise.


    "Right now I''m pretty sure you changed your mind already. So how about doing something productive instead? Like for example, you should keep on training the people in the vige mybat skills. I already thought them the basics, so all you need to do is give them a few pointers here and there. I''m sure that doing this would make you feel a little less lonely." That was the end of the letter and it was then Lisa decided to do as Ren advised.


    ...


    ''I wonder... Did you perhaps predict all of this was going to happen, or did you make this happen with your own hands? I wonder which is it... Ren...'' Lisa thought that either way her childhood friend was indeed a frightening individual.


    ...


    The fourth day of the siege battle ended and the two sides were resting, getting ready for the next day. Valdel who fought the four personal guards of Prince Niel was now having Lara stitch some of his wounds. For some reason, the wounds inflicted by the guy who uses hidden weapons cannot be healed using any healing spells. As he didn''t want Kuro and the others to worry about him, Valdel asked Lara to help in stitching his wounds.


    "Why do you keep on doing this?" Lara asked while she was stitching his wounds. Valdel who heard Lara''s question was no longer that surprised by Lara talking so much. Since, for the past two days, Lara has been talking more frequently than normal. Though it''s only a few words, in Lara''s standards it was like she recited a whole y.


    "Doing what?" Valdel tried to evade the question, but then he saw Lara looking at him. Even though she still had that stoic expression of hers, Valdel could feel her frowning deeply at him. Feeling a bit pressured by Lara''s stare Valdel sighed before giving Lara a proper answer.


    "I know it would be easier to kill them and be done with it... But I just can''t, unlike bandits they aren''t doing this because they want to, they''re just being ordered to do this. I know that what I''m doing is nothing more than hypocrisy at its finest but... I decided that no matter what, even if it''s fake, even if it''s wrong in other people''s eyes, I want to be like Ren and stay true to myself."


    Lara who finished stitching Valdel''s wounds looked him in the eye without blinking. Valdel did the same thing and looked Lara in the eye. After a period of silence, Lara shook her head and stood up.


    "I hope you have no regrets on the path you have chosen." Lara once again spoke a rather long sentence. Hearing her talk to him like this only showed Valdel that Lara was truly worried about him. Valdel showed a confident smile to his childhood friend and answered.


    "From here on out, I n to have no regrets at all." Once she heard Valdel''s answer Lara nodded her head and left.


    ...


    Just outside the room where Valdel and Lara had their conversation two familiar silhouettes were lurking in the shadows. Even though Valdel and Lara were great at sensing the presence of others they weren''t at the level that they could spot the two that were hiding.


    Ren was getting a bit bored by the flow of battle between both sides and was about to show himself to his two childhood friends. But when he heard the conversation they were having Ren decided to continue watching the show without doing anything, for now. Though he really wanted to join in the battle and end it already he held himself back, because based on what Valdel said this battle was an important turning point for him.


    ''I wonder where your ideals will lead you. With such heavy chains dragging you, will you be able to live up to your own expectations? Will, you perhaps fall to the same tragedy as all the other heroes before you, or will you grab hold of your fate and change it by force? Show me Valdel what a hero trained by me could do. Show me that you are worthy to be called my best friend.''


    Ren couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his as he and Silika blended into the darkness and left.

 Chapter 202 - Special Chapter: Deep Within

    <h4>Chapter 202 - Special Chapter: Deep Within</h4>


    In the deepest darkest part of Ren''s soul sat the most powerful mortal being to have ever walked the multiverse. He has been called with many names, he was called the original, the prime warrior, the chaos bringer, the truth seeker, the defiant one, the true hero, and many more. All of these nicknames were what he has been called by over the years as his actual name was lost in the flow of time.


    It has been countless eons since he started his crusade, his final struggle against the being that toys with the fates of everything. He was who has been fighting for eternity was finally seeing the end of his road.


    All of his reincarnations have been the strongest of that era. Unfortunately not one of them had the same level of power as he, but still, they were able to continue the fight. One of them was even able to kill a part of the ORIGIN.


    After that victory, the original thought that the battles against the ORIGIN would get easier unfortunately for him, it turned out differently. After that victory, he noticed that the power of his soul was now weakening at an rming rate.


    It had weakened to the point that his current incarnation Ren had be the weakest reincarnation he has ever had. Though Ren still had the potential to be the strongest, his starting point was not as good as his previous incarnations.


    Based on the progression of things, the next reincarnations would get weaker and weaker until finally, his soul would turn into nothing. He knew that this would happen eventually, but he always thought when the time came he would already have a n to deal with the ORIGIN.


    Yet until now he had formed zero ns, and could only dy the inevitable. Once his soul bes nothing he will no longer be able to protect the mortal souls from the ORIGIN. With him no longer around to hinder the ORIGIN, the progression of all beings in every universe, in every dimension will stagnate.


    The ORIGIN only wanted to maintain order and control, having the other beings progress in both knowledge and power threatened it. So every once in a while when a civilization gets too powerful the ORIGIN resets it. Most of the time the reset would be prevented by a reincarnation of the original, but it wasn''t possible to save all from this fate.


    Now that his soul was burning away there was no one else that had the power to fight against the being where all things originated from.


    ''It might happen in this incarnation or the next, but the time for true death to take me is nearing...'' The original who had seen the birth and death of numerous universes was now feeling something he had long forgotten. He was actually feeling fear, he was not afraid of death as he should''ve died eons ago. No, what he was afraid of was failing before dying.


    He had sacrificed his entire being, from his name to his past even his fate was sacrificed for battle. His original allies have all gone and only he remains. Everything was lost for the sake of victory. Yet now there was a chance that he would actually fail, that very idea has revived emotions that he thought were long gone.


    ''Is this it? Have I really failed to uphold the promises I made?'' Unlike all the other incarnations, the original shared each and every one of the incarnations'' feelings and memories. Throughout his battles, he had made numerous promises to different people from all timelines and dimensions. Yet the promise he made the most, was the promise of victory against the ORIGIN.


    The resolve that was forged trough countless battles was now wavering. He the being that was hailed as the strongest of them all felt weak and powerless. He closed his eyes and recalled a scene from his past. The people that have been forgotten, those that only he remembers, all their faces shed before his very eyes. Their hopes, their dreams, he remembered them all, and he promised thoserades of his that he would bring them glorious victory.


    ''Back then I thought there was nothing I could not cut. Not even destiny could survive the sh of my de... I gave up my chance to enter the wheel of life and death, to be a part of the normal cycle of reincarnation. I made my soul undergo this gruesome reincarnation cycle that eats away at my very being... All for the sake of battle...''


    It was at that moment the original remembered that which he forgot, that original spark that led him to where he was now. He did not do this for the sake of others, he did this because he was a selfish b*stard. He saved others out of selfishness, he protected others out of the same selfishness. Everything that he has done, all of it was done for the sake of battle.


    It was then the original couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his as he startedughing. Hisughed echoed throughout his soul, and all of his incarnations heard himughing. When they heard thatugh they could all understand what it meant, a battle worth fighting was approaching.


    ''It truly has been a long time since I felt this excitement! This thrill that shakes my very soul! If the final battle approaches, then so be it. Even if I be weaker and weaker, I shall still fight until nothing is left of me. Even if defeat is inevitable I will show the ORIGIN the most spectacr battle!''


    The original''s smile grew wider and wider just thinking about his final battle. He no longer thought about the consequences if he lost. It has been such a long time since hest felt anything like this, so he was muddle-headed for a time.


    ''I guess like the ORIGIN, I too suffered from my own arrogance. Even if I fail, surely someone else will take my ce.''

 Chapter 203 - Bloodline ability

    <h4>Chapter 203 - Bloodline ability</h4>


    In the Serbek Kingdom, the general of the army was receiving an urgent message. The battalion that he sent to sneak into enemy lines hasn''t given the signal.


    When themander heard the news he massaged his temples as nothing was going as nned. Even simply distracting the Warrior King Willmont was not seeding as nned. Though they were able to properly distract the king and move him to the southern borders of his kingdom, the casualties for doing just that was more than they initially thought.


    Still, all of that would have been fine if the battalion that they sent to infiltrate Reschbeauch was able to reach the capital or even get a bit close to it. Since the signal wasn''t sent that would mean they were either dead or in a situation where they can''t send the signal. Either way that would mean the mission had failed.


    ...


    While the Serbek Kingdom was reformting its n of attack, the siege battle of New Grentong was entering its tenth day. Once again Valdel was being blocked by Niel''s four personal guards. Everyone thought that the fight would be like the previous times were Valdel will be forced into a defensive battle.


    At this point, the four personal guards and Valdel had already understood each other''s battle styles. So they assumed that nothing was going to be different in this battle, but unfortunately for them, they underestimated Valdel too much. Having the disposition of a hero Valdel was able to power up even with the smallest changes in his psyche.


    After he was able to fully ept his hypocrisy Valdel''s movements no longer had even the tiniest bit of hesitation in them. Not only that but after his doubts disappeared he was now able to use the holy light of the hero consciously. With these new factors added in Niel''s four personal guards were no longer able to keep up with Valdel.


    On the other hand, Lara had already dealt with her own pesky opponent. But even after she was done she didn''t help Valdel as she understood that this was something that he wanted to do by himself. Instead, Lara proceeded to shoot at the mage squad that were breaking the eastern walls.


    ...


    Niel who was watching as the situation was bing worse and worse, was about ready to use his ace in the hole. He took out a scroll that had a spell stored within it, this particr scroll was meant to be used at Ren. While he was still hesitating on using the scroll, he felt his brother Reynold''s bloodlust was rising.


    ''I guess even he sees that this situation is getting pretty bad... Still, with how much pride this idiotic brother of mine has he would never retreat. Such a shameful defeat he would never allow it. So his next move would be-''


    While Niel was thinking about what to do next, Reynold could no longer hold it in and charged at Valdel. As Reynold was dashing towards Valdel his body was growingrger andrger. His muscles were now bulging as his veins look like there were about to pop.


    ...


    Valdel who was about done with Niel''s personal guards saw the charging Reynold. Though he was surprised to see Reynold''s body growingrger, Valdel was even more surprised to sense that Reynold who already had only a tiny bit of mana that was even lower than a child was now showing signs that he had practically no mana left. This was really surprising since this was the first time Valdel has seen a living being withpletely no mana.


    While he was still stunned by this new information Reynold was already in front of him. Valdel saw Reynold was about to strike him with a halberd and was about to doge. Valdel waspletely confident that he was going to dodge Reynold''s strike quite easily, but the moment the attack arrived he was once again surprised.


    Reynold''s attack speed suddenly increased and Valdel was forced to block instead. The moment Reynold''s halberd touched Valdel''s Zweihander he was blown away. The strength of Reynold''s attack was something that wasn''t possible even with strengthening spells.


    ''So this is the royals bloodline ability to gain superhuman strength in exchange for mana.'' Valdel who was blown away spat a decent amount of blood. As he was about to regain his bnce Reynold was once again in front of him. Unable to react on time because he couldn''t sense the flow of Reynold''s mana Valdel was about to get hit.


    Valdel was trying to think of a way to stop the attack since if that hits him death would surely take him. Yet try as he might Valdel couldn''t think of a way out, and as the halberd was closing in on him Valdel saw a silhouette appear before him.


    The person who stood before him easily caught Reynold''s halberd that was powerful enough to blow Valdel away. The moment Valdel saw that he knew who had just arrived to save him. Mana so powerful that it could make those weaker want to vomit. Killing intent so overwhelming it could make even the hardiest of men shake in fear. A vicious smile and eyes that looked at his enemy as if he was lion eyeing his prey. This man could be no other than his best friend Ren.


    "Hey, Val you won''t mind if I take this one."


    "Do what you want, I''m going to help out Lara instead." Valdel shrugged his shoulders as he retreated. Reynold who was exerting every ounce of his strength on pulling his halberd away from Ren''s grip was getting mad. Ren and Valdel were acting like he was nothing but thin air.


    ''Damn it! I will not be humiliated like this!''


    Ren who was holding onto Reynold''s halberd felt the increase in strength which made his hand that was holding the halberd shake. He was surprised by the sudden increase in strength and also delighted.


    "How fun! Show it to me then, this so called bloodline ability." Ren didn''t summon Silika or used the scythe as he wanted to experience the rumored powerful strength of the Reschbeauch bloodline.


    Reynold knew that he was no match for Ren in his current state, so he decided to risk it all and used the forbidden technique of his family. Not only was he burning his mana to increase his strength he was now also burning his life force to double that increase in strength. At this moment Reynold''s body grew in size and he was standing taller than the walls of New Grenton. He now looked like one of those legendary giants that had died out a millennia ago.


    Seeing Reynold''s transformation greatly excited Ren as his smile grew wider and wider. The soldiers of both sides momentarily stopped their battle to look in awe at Reynold. The now gigantic Reynold sped his two hands together and lifted it up in the air and hammered it down towards Ren.


    Seeing the iing attack Ren didn''t move as his vicious-looking smile grew even fiercer. He then raised one hand upward. As Reynold''s massive hands hammered down a burst of wind blew the surrounding soldiers away. The mages were forced to increase the output on their mana shields else they''ll be blown away by the shockwaves as well.


    Reynold who should''ve easily squashed the small Ren suddenly felt something grab onto his hands. Underneath Reynold''s sped hands Ren was grabbing them with his two hands. His head was actually bleeding and a bit blood flowed out of his mouth. Lara who was watching the battle wanted to dash forward but she knew better than anyone else not to disturb Ren when he was smiling like that.


    Valdel and Hilda were equally surprised to see Ren bleeding, this was the first time any of them saw him bleed. ''So he was truly human after all.'' Those were the thoughts of the others that recently got to know Ren.


    "THAT WAS AMAZING! Now, this is what I''m talking about! Show me more! Unleash all your power and show me everything you have to offer!" Ren shouted at Reynold in excitement.


    It was a weird scene to watch, the man who was bleeding was demanding his enemy to attack harder. While the one who made the other bleed and was at an advantage was the one trembling with both fear and anger. Ren then released his grip on Reynold and looked at his opponent with the eyes of a predator who found a scrumptious meal.

 Chapter 204 - Let’s end this

    <h4>Chapter 204 - Let''s end this</h4>


    Seeing that he was being looked at the same way a person looks at food, Reynold got even angrier. Ren was the one who was bleeding all over but it felt like he was the one in control of the situation. Though he was the one looking from above, it felt like Ren was looking down on him. This didn''t sit well with Reynold as he roared at Ren.


    Reynold in his giant form stood up and was about to stomp on Ren. This time knowing how strong Reynold''s transformation was Ren gathered a massive amount of mana and circted it throughout his body. Even though it would be easy for him to dodge Reynold''s slow attack, he didn''t want to.


    Ren who saw the iing foot about to stomp of him, couldn''t help but smile as his excitement was reaching a new peak. A battle were he could actually feel death was possible was getting a bit rare as he was growing stronger. So seeing that he felt danger from the iing attack made him truly happy.


    Reynold used all his strength and stomped on Ren, yet the same as before he felt something grabbing onto him. A strong force was stopping Reynold from pulling his foot up. It was at that moment Reynold felt that he was being lifted. Without knowing what was happening Reynold lost bnce and fell to the ground squashing some of his men.


    As he was trying to get up Reynold saw Ren jumped upward. Ren had his index finger and middle finger pointing at Reynold. From Ren''s two fingers a massive sword aura burst forth. Reynold raised his hands to block but Ren simply shed at him.


    At first, Reynold thought that Ren failed to do whatever he was nning to do, but after a few seconds, three of Reynold''s fingers fell to the ground. A burst of blood gushed out of Reynold''s hand but even with that much damage, the first prince didn''t scream in pain. Reynold then quickly reverted back to his regr form and ordered the nearby healing mages to stop the bleeding.


    While Reynold''s hand was being healed Ren didn''t move one inch. Some brave souls tried attacking Ren as he simply stood there, but the moment they came close enough they were sliced in half. They couldn''t even see Ren move, some mages even tried attacking Ren from a distance trying to probe him, but same as with the soldiers the moment their attack came near it was sliced in half and a counterspell would then burned them alive. No one even saw him chant a single word.


    He didn''t even shift his attention for a second as he only looked at Reynold. Seeing him act like that just made Reynold grind his teeth in irritation. He was being toyed with, not only him by everyone else on the battlefield. Ren wasn''t even seeing him as an equal, he wasn''t even looking at the surrounding area as a battlefield, in his eyes, it was a yground. Reynold was nothing more than entertainment to his opponent.


    ...


    Once he was healed Reynold quickly turned into his giant form and roared angrily at Ren. He then picked up nearby boulders and threw them at Ren. Same as with the spells and the soldiers, whatever came close to Ren was sliced in half.


    Reynold then roared louder as he assaulted Ren with a barrage of punches. With his gigantic body, every attack Reynold made caused a shockwave blowing away the weaker soldiers, it even made the walls of New Grenton crack a bit just from the shockwave. If Reynold decided to bypass Ren and attack the walls of New Grenton it would already be destroyed and turned into dust.


    Reynold and everyone else on his side thought that barrage would finally kill Ren. As he was about to stop he suddenly heard an excitedugh echo throughout the battlefield.


    "HAHAHA! How fun! You truly have monstrous strength!" Those on the battlefield finally saw what was happening. Ren was actually matching the gigantic Reynold''s attack with his own attack. Ren''s hands were matching each punch of Reynold''s with his own punches. It was like watching a toddler trying to stop a punch of an a.d.u.l.t with its baby arms.


    Usually, the a.d.u.l.t would''ve killed the toddler, but in this case, the toddler was actually matching up to the a.d.u.l.t''s punches. In fact, as the two continued striking at each other Reynold''s gigantic body was the one being pushed back.


    ...


    Niel who was watching at the backlines couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Ren was actually able to withstand the full strength of their family''s forbidden technique. Not only was he able to withstand his elder brother''s attacks, but Ren was at an advantage.


    Niel already tried to imagine Ren''s strength at the highest peak that he knows of, which was the strength of his father. In fact, even though he didn''t believe it was possible, Niel estimated that Ren''s strength was double that of his father. Yet now seeing him ying around with Reynold who was the best among his siblings in using their bloodline abilities, proved that Ren was stronger than all of his initial thoughts.


    ''What the fuck! How is this kid so strong?! He''s even stronger than the rumors! Even if I use the same forbidden technique as that sh*tty brother of mine, it doesn''t seem like it would work. I got no other choice, I''ll use the scroll.'' As Niel was getting ready to use the scroll he was saving for Ren, he looked at the battlefield and knew that even if they were able to deal with Ren, they still needed to deal with Valdel and Lara.


    ''I was nning on sacrificing that idiotic brother of mine, but Valdel''s strength went beyond what I initially thought. The only one that has the same strength as reported was Lisa. Tsk, the only way to win is after I deal with Ren, Reynold and I should quickly kill Valdel and Lara. Once those three are gone everything else would be easy.''


    ...


    Ren who was having so much fun was able to dislocate Reynold''s hands by simply matching his punches. Seeing that his opponent''s hands have been dislocated Ren sighed as he summoned his scythe.


    "I guess that''s all you have to offer. Well, it was quite fun, but now it''s time to end this." Ren whose knuckles were bleeding looked at Reynold with lonely eyes. When Reynold saw Ren looking at him like that he thought that he was being mocked.


    "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!" Reynold roared as he flung his dislocated hands like a whip towards Ren. On the other hand, Ren was about to slice Reynold in half when he saw the space in front of him was bing distorted. He suddenly felt an unfamiliar mana signature about ready to use a spell. Ren was only able to sense the spell once it was activated, which gave him no time to counter.


    Niel who saw that Ren was caught in the forced transportation spell, felt relieved. No matter how powerful Ren was he wouldn''t be able to get out of this one. As Niel sighed in relief he saw Ren smiling at him before he vanished from the battlefield.


    After Niel was sure Ren was sessfully teleported somewhere else, he felt confused. What was that smile about? Even though his n was sessful Niel felt something was wrong. He couldn''t understand what it was but at the back of his mind, he was screaming at himself to retreat while the monster was away.

 Chapter 205 - The end of the battle

    <h4>Chapter 205 - The end of the battle</h4>


    Usually, Niel would''ve listened to that tiny voice that was telling him to retreat. He didn''t really like to do anything if he wasn''t a hundred percent sure, but this time he had no choice. He had used most of his hidden cards in this battle, and a lot of his men have fallen. If he retreats now after using everything he has, then even if he does win the throne his reign would notst. The people of Reschbeauch rever strength above all else. If he retreats and his brother dies in this battle, he would be branded a coward. So the moment he takes the throne, he was sure that a revolt would happen.


    So this was his only chance, now that Ren was out of the way he just needed to get rid of Lara and Valdel and victory would be his. Knowing how strong the two were Niel was about to use their bloodlines forbidden technique, but before he could do so he heard a scream.


    "REEEENNN!!!"


    ...


    Valdel was stunned as he saw his best friend disappear before his very eyes. He couldn''t believe it, he tried to sense Ren''s mana signature. Yet no matter how hard he tried he couldn''t sense it. What happened! That was the question that Valdel was screaming in his mind.


    "It can''t be, it''s not possible." As anger was welling up inside Valdel he heard a scream echo throughout the battlefield.


    "REEEENNN!!!"


    ...


    Hilda who was fighting some soldiers on the walls was also watching the fight between Reynold and Ren. Even against such an opponent, she knew that Ren would emerge the victor. As she continued to battle the enemy forces, in the corner of her eye she saw Ren was about ready to finish his battle. But the moment victory was upon him something unexpected happened and Ren disappeared.


    Hilda couldn''t believe her eyes as she saw Ren was no longer standing smugly in front of his opponent. While she was trying to figure out what was happening, Hilda heard a scream.


    "REEENNN!!!"


    ...


    Lara was watching Ren''s battle with excitement. As expected of Ren fighting the opponent with a simr style as if mocking him. Well, she knew the truth, for this was Ren''s way of showing respect. As the battle was reaching the climax Lara saw Ren summon his scythe.


    ''The battle is over.'' The moment Lara thought of that she saw the space surrounding Ren distorted. After that Ren suddenly disappeared. The moment that happened Lara''s mind nked out.


    "REEEENNNN!!!" Lara suddenly screamed which echoed throughout the battlefield. Lara could no longer feel Ren''s mighty aura.


    ''It can''t be, Ren can never die! He won''t die like this! Not against someone like that!'' Lara started shooting arrows at Reynold as she charged forward the gigantic man. Even though Lara''s arrows were imbued with her mana they weren''t powerful enough to pierce Reynold''s thick skin in his giant form.


    Lara who was charging without any n jumped upward and gathered all of her mana into her fist. She was about ready to punch Reynold''s face with her full power when she saw Reynold''s foreheading towards her. Reynold was obviously trying to do a headbutt, unable to move away and evade Lara whose fist was filled with her mana punched the iing forehead.


    The moment the two had contact with each other''s attacks they were both blown away. Reynold had suffered a major injury and fainted. Lara''s full power strike was able to crack a bit of his skull and shake his brain. On the other hand, Lara no longer had any mana left and even had her right arm broken. She too had fainted after that sh, but unlike her, Reynold was slowly dying.


    Seeing that this was an excellent chance Niel was running as fast as he could towards Lara to finish her off. Valdel who was still stunned in ce saw the running Niel and was about to intercept him.


    "No matter what block that man!" Niel shouted at his men. Hearing Niel''smand the mages used the ''Fire Wall'' spell. Layers uponyers of zing fire stood between Valdel and Niel. Valdel took out his sword and shed at the wall of fire. Zwei''s special ability to absorb spells was able to make the wall of fire disappear.


    Though that only stopped him for a few seconds, Niel was now closer to Lara and even if Valdel dashes at full speed he won''t be able to overtake him. With no other choice, Valdel sent a sword wave towards Niel. Seeing the iing sword wave Niel quickly took out another scroll and activated it.


    A wall of wind blocked the sword wave. Valdel gnashed his teeth in frustration, he had to make a choice right now. He could either kill Niel or he would still try to overtake him even though it doesn''t seem possible at this point. While Valdel was trying to make a decision the space in front of Lara was distorting.


    A ck tear in space suddenly appeared in front of Lara''s unconscious body. Niel backed away as he saw the mysterious urrence. As everyone was confused as to what was happening a person stepped out of the ck tear.


    "Sorry for the wait, that''s the first time I ever used that ability." That vicious grin and that massive amount of mana, there was no mistaking who appeared before them. Ren who was forcefully teleported was able to return safely.


    "That can''t be! You know how to use the forgotten spell of true teleportation! That''s not possible only a Near-Divine Mage can use that spell!" Niel couldn''t understand what was happening before him. All of his ns were going awry and all because of one person.


    "To tell you the truth I can''t really use such a spell, it''s all because of this." Ren presented the scythe he was holding. "It''s one of this weapon''s abilities. Well, enough about that, how about we end this farce... I actually wanted to fight you as well after beating your brother but based on what I''m seeing you''re no better than him. So it would be quite a bore to fight a weaker opponent after I had such a fun battle before. Though I do thank you for the nice little game of siege warfare. But I had enough of that."


    Niel didn''t hear anything else Ren said as the moment he heard Ren tell him that he was no better than his good for nothing brother something inside of him snapped. He was about to scream at Ren and use the forbidden technique of his bloodline, but before he could do anything Ren already killed him.


    Niel who saw his body fall and knew that he just died had a few seconds of consciousness left. As his consciousness was slowly disappearing, Niel felt humiliated and was full of regret. He died in such a pathetic way, after all his nning he died in a worse way than his older brother. At least Reynold was able to fight until the end, he, on the other hand, kept on hesitating throughout the ordeal.


    ''I see I didn''t really hate my older brother... I was just jealous of him...'' Those were Niel''s final thoughts as death came for him.

 Chapter 206: Valentine Special: Love that was never meant to be

    <h4>Chapter 206: Valentine Special: Love that was never meant to be</h4>


    Inside Ren''s soul, the past incarnations were getting a bit rowdy again. Each one of them were telling tales of their epic loves. Most of the incarnations had numerous women in their harem. Others had but a single woman in their whole life. Some even had no one as they believed battle was their only love.


    Because fighting each other was getting boring and no new opponent has appeared, the incarnations decided to have a different kind of battle. Since the current incarnation was celebrating his anniversary with his current lover, the incarnations inside his soul startedparing their own tales of love.


    As expected most of them fell in love with a woman due to their battle capabilities. Most of their romantic encounters happened during a fight. Others were after they were able to save the girl from certain doom. Some fell in love when they were near death.


    As each incarnation was trying to impress the others with their encounters one incarnation was not joining in the fun. This incarnation was called Heirich and he had the face of a thirty-year-old man. While all the others were arguing who had the best love story he was reminiscing about a past he could never forget.


    ....


    Like most of the incarnations, Heirich was born with incredible power. He was the son of a farmer and had a childhood friend called Louise. The two were inseparable since they were young. But as they grew older Heirich found life in their little vige to be quite boring. With his strength bing a farmer wasn''t for him. So when he came of age he told his parents that he wanted to be an adventurer. He told them that he wanted to see the world, to make a name for himself.


    Knowing his dreams and abilities Heirich''s parents agreed that their son should pursue his dreams. They only asked that hees home when he finds a wife. After getting his parents to agree Heirich set off to start his grand adventure.


    As he was leaving the vige he noticed that his childhood friend wasn''t there to say goodbye to him. Heirich was a bit sad that Louise wasn''t there to see him off, but he needed to move forward and left the vige. Once Heirich was walking down the road to the next town he met Louise on the way.


    "Where you, nning on leaving without me?" Seeing that smug look on Louise''s face made Heirich smile. It turns out Louise told her parents that she wanted to join Heirich on his adventure. Knowing how their daughter feels about Heirich they reluctantly agreed. So from there the two childhood friends who knew nothing of the vastness of the outside world started their adventure in the most cliche of ways.


    ...


    The two who were able to reach the next town after some difficulties started their days as adventurers. In the beginning, they were mocked as a weak two-person group, but after some time they rose through the ranks and became the fastest to reach the Orichalcum rank. Their adventures sang by bards in every tavern, from their adventures of ying legendary beasts to their adventures of saving royals from different kingdoms to finding ancient kingdoms, they even reached the literal edge of the world.


    As their fame grew so did their group, as two more people had joined in. The blind swordsman Nier, and the prince Roy of the Kingdom of Geruca. As the group continued to have many more adventures, as their fame grew, Heirich who was blinded by his fame and strength didn''t notice what was happening with Louise.


    ...


    At the beginning of their journey, it was obvious that Louise was in love with Heirich, but the fool never took notice of her. If that wasn''t bad enough numerous maidens tried and failed to capture his attention. There was the elven queen, the kingdom''s princess, the forest fairy, the witch of time, and many more. Unfortunately for all of them, Heirich''s love was for battle and adventure, he had only had eyes on the next fun adventure where he can fight the next exciting fight.


    Louise who has been following him for years wasn''t able to get him to look at her at all. On the other hand, Prince Roy who had fallen in love with her, at first sight, tried every possible way to make her love him. As the years passed by, Louise finally understood that no matter what she did Heirich would never be with her.


    She was also painfully aware that what she was doing to Prince Roy wasn''t fair. So, in the end, Louise tried to forget about Heirich and shifted her feelings to Roy.


    ...


    Heirich who finally noticed the change in their rtionship felt something unusual. As their friend, Heirich had congratted Roy and Louise on bing a couple. But for some reason, he felt a sense of difort.


    As the group continued their adventures after one certain adventure Roy finally proposed to Louise. The moment that happened Heirich''s feeling of difort increased.


    ''Oh, I see... I was in love with Louise...'' Heirich''s who finally understood what he was feeling was toote. Still, instead of feeling sad he feltforted. Now that he understood his own feelings the difort he was having disappeared. Though the woman he loved was taken by another man, she was happy and to Heirich that was enough.


    ...


    Unfortunately, as the reincarnation of the strongest mortal, his life was meant to end in tragedy. On the day of Louise''s and Roy''s wedding, an enormous dragon awoke from its slumber. This dragon was an ancient dragon called the dragon of Chaos. The dragon upon waking up destroyed a neighboring kingdom and had pledged to kill all of mankind for no reason whatsoever but just because it felt like it.


    Of course, mankind called for their greatest heroes to y the dragon and that was Heirich''s group.


    ...


    Heirich and his adventuring group battled the minions of the dragon of chaos and as they were nearing hisir, Roy and Heirich were separated from Nier and Louise. Even after being separated from theirpanions, Heirich and Roy knew that they had to continue onward to finish the dragon.


    ...


    The two finally reached the dragon''sir and where now face to face with the dragon of chaos. This wasn''t the first time the two had faced a dragon in battle, but this was the first time they had to fight such an enormous intimidating dragon. The dragon of chaos was so huge that its head was even bigger than the capital of Roy''s kingdom. Not only that the mana the dragon was emitting was leagues above anything they had faced.


    This was also the first time in a long time that the two felt the ominous presence of death. Just one look at the dragon and both Heirich and Roy knew that leaving this ce alive would be nothing short of a miracle. As Heirich and Roy held their weapons tightly, the atmosphere bing tenser, the dragon of chaos spoke to them which caught the two off-guard.


    "Foolish mortals, Imend thee for thy bravery. As a show of respect, I shall allow one of you to flee this ce alive. Do not worry I will not follow and kill you, consider this a whim of mine. So who between you shall die and who shall live?"


    The moment the dragon asked that question the two men looked at each other. The two knew that even together victory was far from their reach. So now that they had a choice of one of them surviving. They pointed their weapons at each other.


    "Roy it''s you who should leave. We know that between the two of us I''m the stronger one and have a higher chance of victory. Also, you''re about to marry my best friend, I don''t want to see her sad because her beloved died."


    "You really are stupid aren''t you Heirich! Even now it''s not me who Louise loves! It''s you, it has always been you! So you should go back and be with her! If it''s you I know you''ll be able to win if you prepare for the next battle. So it''s obvious that it should be you that retreats, for the world needs you more than I." When Roy was finished saying his piece he saw Heirich smiling a very lonely smile and then shook his head.


    "It''s toote for me... I can never give Louise the love she deserves... I guess it''s alright to tell you this since this might be the end for me... I do love her, I really do, but the thirst for battle that I feel will never disappear for as long as I live. Knowing this, I cannot be with her the same way as you. She deserves better than me, and that''s you." Roy was about to say something in response but before any words coulde out of his mouth he felt a strong force hit the side of his neck.


    "Live for her, and love her with all your heart." Those were thest words Roy heard from Heirich.


    Once Roy fainted Heirich drew a magic circle and used a teleportation spell. Seeing Roy''s body fade in front of him Heirch turned around and looked at the dragon of chaos.


    "Sorry for the long wait, I just needed to send my friend off."


    "Do not worry mortal, for the two of you will meet again in the afterlife!" The dragon of chaos spread its wings showing off its massive size. Feeling the pressure being emitted by the dragon of chaos, Heircih smiled a very vicious smile.


    "Come then dragon of chaos! Show me that you are worthy to be my final foe!" The two shed head-on.


    ...


    The battle between Heirich and the dragon of chaos was fierce as both sides unleashed everything they had. Heirich who was worried about involving the others in his fight forced the dragon of chaos to a different location, to the so called edge of the world.


    On a floating ind near the literal edge of Heirich''s world the two mighty beings fought. In the end, the dragon of chaos was the first to fall, but Heirich was nearing his limit as well. His right hand had been eaten, the majority of his left face has been scorched. His internal injuries were so severe that it was a miracle that he was still conscious.


    "That was a fine battle... to... end my adventures...." As Heirich said those words he started to cough up blood, and his vision was getting blurry.


    ''I''m sorry dad I wasn''t able to bring back a wife... I''m sorry mom I wasn''t able to give you a grandchild...'' As his consciousness was flickering he saw a dream. He was back in his vige, for he and Louise had never left. He became a farmer just like his father and was able to marry Louise. Life was boring but at the same time fulfilling. He and Louise then had three beautiful children. He didn''t have that grand adventure he always dreamt of, but he was satisfied. The dream ended and his consciousness slowly faded.


    ''Heh, what a waste...'' Thus ended the life of Heirich the adventuring hero.


    ...


    Once Heirich was done with his recollection of his past, he wondered if Roy was able to make Louise happy. He then shook his head with a smile on his face.


    ''Of course, he was able to make her happy. Cause at that time he didn''t know it, but Louise had already lost any romantic interest she had for me and was fully devoted to him...'' Heirich smiled wider as he thought that his beloved got the love she truly deserved.

 Chapter 207 - Convincing

    <h4>Chapter 207 - Convincing</h4>


    The Sword Princess Ashley was watching the battle from a distance and sighed. She wanted to save her older brother for the kingdom, but seeing how things were progressing there was no chance of that. Watching her older brother Niel''s head being sliced off so cleanly Ashley had a weird reaction. Instead of making her feel sad it made Ashley feel a bit amazed.


    She didn''t any love for her brothers, so watching them die wasn''t affecting her emotionally. Aside from her father and mother, Ashley wasn''t that attached to her other family members. Her brothers have always been fighting for the throne, her other mothers don''t like her. Aside from those people she didn''t have any other family members left since her father killed all of her uncles and aunts even their children were not spared.


    Ashley was already expecting whoever brother wins the throne would either kill her or exile her, or worse they would force her onto some old noble. So, though she was watching her older brother be cut down the only thing Ashley was thinking of was if Niel was gone then there was only Reynold and Iselv left.


    If Reynold was killed then will Iselv take over the Kingdom? Ashley already knew the answer to that question. Iselv wouldn''t take over the current kingdom, he would take thend but Reschbeauch would disappear and be something else. She might not like the royal family and the nobles all that much but Ashley loves the Reschbeauch Kingdom, its people, itsnd, and her father that governs it.


    So she decided that she would everything in her power to try and protect the Reschbeauch Kingdom. She would even discard her pride just to make sure that the Kingdom survives.


    ...


    Ashley who was watching at a distance started running towards Ren who was about ready to kill Reynold as well. As she was running at full speed towards Ren, some of the soldiers after seeing Prince Niel die started fleeing from the battlefield, while the others simply stood there in shock. When Ren approached the unconscious Reynold, Ashley blocked his path.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you again Sir Ren." Ashley curtsied beside her Rika didn''t speak and simply bowed her head. Ren wasn''t that surprised to see Ashley and Rika as he was already aware of their presence.


    "Oh, if it isn''t the lying princess and her guard... Well, it seems like you''re not acting anymore. So what are you doing here? Are you going to fight me as well?" Ren who was about to kill Reynold was now feeling excited again. He showed Ashley the same vicious smile he shows all his opponents.


    The moment Ren''s bloodlust shifted to her, Ashley felt like her body was about to break. Rika who was also able to feel Ren''s bloodlust was gripping her weapon as tightly as possible afraid that she might let go due to the fear Ren''s bloodlust inspired.


    Looking at the smiling fighting devil in front of her Ashley was amazed that her brothers were able to fight against such a monster. Just trying to stay conscious in front of such horrific bloodlust was already taking all she has.


    When she fought Lara she thought that she could somehow gauge Ren''s strength, but that was nothing more than arrogance on her part. This man was more than she could imagine.


    "What are you doing? Come on draw your weapons."


    Hearing Ren''smand Ashley shook her head. Though the bloodlust coupled with Ren''s fearsome mana was making it hard for Ashley to breathe she tried her best to respond.


    "I''m sorry Sir Ren, I''m not here to fight you. I''m here to negotiate for my brother''s life and the survival of the Reschbeauch Kingdom." While Ashley was talking she ced all of her weapons on the ground. She then signaled Rika to do the same. Rika hesitated for a bit but then decided that even with a weapon it wasn''t much of a difference in the face of Ren''s overwhelming power.


    Seeing themy down their arms made Ren feel a bit of disappointment as he sighed. Once Ren no longer looked at Ashley and Rika as opponents the suffocating bloodlust receded.


    "What a bore, if you don''t n to fight then get out of my way." Ren was about to walk towards Reynold but was once again blocked by Ashley and Rika. Ashley then dropped down to her knees and lowered her head. Rika was surprised to see the prideful sword princess do such an act. But the shock was momentary as she understood why the princess was doing this. Rika then proceeded to kneel down as well.


    "Sir Ren please listen to me. I know they were the first to strike but please have mercy." Ashley no longer tried to negotiate with Ren, as it seems like he has no interest in such a thing. The only thing left for her was to try and beg him for forgiveness.


    "Get out of my way... Or else." Ren positioned his scythe so that the de would be near Ashley''s neck. Ashley who could be beheaded by Ren with just a flick of the wrist looked at him with great resolve in her eyes.


    "I will dly offer up my life to you if you just give my brother and the Reschbeauch Kingdom another chance."


    "You seem to be confused here, you cannot offer me your life since in this situation its already mine to take." Ren was a bit irritated by this charade, but looking at the resolve in Ashley''s eyes and sensing her sword will, Ren was also a bit impressed by her. Which is why he didn''t really want to kill her. Ren always had a soft spot for strong maidens, it wasn''t as prominent when he was a demon, but now that he was human it was different.


    Seeing as she wasn''t dead yet Ashley could see that Ren didn''t really like to kill her. It was a good thing she got as much information she could from Nezzard regarding Ren. A man who seems to live and breathe for the sake of battle. A man who finds other things that aren''t regarding battle to be bothersome. A man who likes beautiful, powerful women. Those were the traits that Nezzard used to describe Ren. Knowing this Ashley used her aura and resolve to entice Ren. Now that she has his attention she needed to say the right words to change his mind.


    "I know that you find governing troublesome, and if you take over the Reschbeauch Kingdom then you would be forced to do a lot of work. This will squander your precious time, time that you can use in finding better opponents to fight. So you could take over and do the bothersome work yourself or you could find someone who can do that work for you. If you spare my brother, you can use him to control the Kingdom from the shadows. Unlike my brother Niel, Reynold isn''t really that good in scheming so he is easier to control. Not only that, if you want I will dly offer myself to you as a form ofpensation."


    After Ashley spoke of the advantages of keeping her brother alive, she hoped that Ren would take the bait. She made this suggestion, based on what Nezzard told her.


    "Hmmm, fine then... I will try it your way and see whates of it."

 Chapter 208 - Death to all

    <h4>Chapter 208 - Death to all</h4>


    When Ren answered the princess with an affirmative he shrugged his shoulders and turned around. The princess who saw Ren was walking away felt relieved. She was unsure if her proposal would even get through to him. Now watching him walk away, Ashley thank whatever God was helping her. As she was about to turn around and talk to Rika, Ashley suddenly felt a weird aura.


    It was not mana nor was it a sword aura it was something else entirely. Ashley started searching for where the weird aura wasing from, it was at that moment she felt a sharp wind pass by her cheeks. Her beautiful white cheek had a little cut and was now bleeding.


    She looked at the person who attacked and saw Ren was now pointing his scythe at her. Ashley was still unable to understand what happened when suddenly it started to rain. At first, she wasn''t bothered by the droplets but then the downpour became heavier. That was when Ashley noticed that it wasn''t water that was falling from the sky it was blood.


    "You know on second thought I change my mind. Though I do think governing a kingdom to be bothersome... But those who attack what''s mine all deserve to die."


    Ashley who heard what Ren said looked behind her. The body of her older brother had exploded from that attack not only him even the soldiers that were close to Reynold''s unconscious body all burst into a rain of blood.


    "I don''t need him to sit on the throne, Iselv would fit just right... Or if you want you could be queen. Think about it, while I clean up the trash."


    Ashley was about to give her answer but Ren was no longer there.


    ...


    The fleeing soldiers were still running for their lives when they suddenly heard someone whisper in their ear. "Do you really think that you can escape? If you have stayed and fight, I would''ve considered you guys joining my troops, but seeing you flee in terror like this all of you should die, [Shadow Bind]"


    Hearing Ren''s voice whispering in their ear the fleeing men started to run even faster. As they tried to flee further away they noticed that they could no longer move. A ck shadow had surrounded them binding them to that one spot.


    "As expected that guy wasn''t good in a one on one match but his skills were meant forrge battles against multiple foes." Ren who used one of his past incarnations skills for the first time was amazed by its effect.


    When he fought the weakest of his incarnations after powering up his mana, he noticed that most of that incarnation''s skills were meant for a battle such as this. This might be the reason why he was considered the weakest among the incarnations since most of them were powerful not only in group battles but they were especially powerful in a one on one scenario.


    While Ren was casually walking towards the now stunned soldiers, he noticed that some of them got away from the shadow bind. Ren wasn''t bothered since no matter how far they run they can never escape from him. Ren then proceeded to behead all of those that were bound by his skill. Once he was done with that, Ren proceeded to chant some spell words.


    "Hear me o spirits of icy frost. Show me thy bone-chilling might. Show me thy will that not even time itself could thaw. Show unto my enemies the unforgiving ice! [Eternal Ice Prison]!"


    Ren used another spell he acquired from the past incarnation he beaten. Ren used his mana sensing to spot the fleeing soldiers. Once he was done chanting the spell words he activated his spell targeting those fleeing soldiers.


    ...


    The soldiers who were running away could no longer see Ren behind them. They were also pretty far away at this point, and they even scattered and were running away in different directions. Surely some of them would be able to escape from that monster.


    As they were running they felt the air around them suddenly turning colder and colder. Their movements were now slowing down as they could feel their bodies slowly freezing. Then out of nowhere, they were all encased in ice.


    ...


    Thousands upon thousands of crystal coffins sprung from all over the ce. Each one trapping a fleeing soldier. Such powerful tactical level magic was done by one person. Those that knew Ren were already expecting him to do something like that. On the other hand, those that only heard rumors about Ren were both amazed and scared as they witnessed the scene before them. Such a young man was able to use such a powerful spell, what kind of monster will he be if he grows further.


    ...


    Ren who had confirmed that he was able to encase every soldier that tried to flee, was now thinking about what to do next. He could kill them using the scythe so that they could be a part of his mana pool, but moving towards each one of them and killing them one by one was too bothersome.


    ''It''s not like killing these weaklings would help increase my mana that much. Let''s just end it all in one swoop.''


    Ren extended his hand forward and clenched it, "[Break]." The moment he did that the ice that were encasing the thousands of soldiers started to crack. After a few more second the ice broke into millions of tiny pieces. The deaths of most of the soldiers and mages that attacked New Grenton happened in but an instant.


    Still, there were some Ren deemed worthy to be kept alive. Those people were now unconscious unaware of the hardsh.i.p.s that they were about to go through in exchange for being spared.


    ...


    Once he was done killing those that needed to be killed Ren returned to where the sword princess was. He then looked at Ashley and saw that she wasn''t shaken by what she just witnessed. Ren smiled at her before asking, "So what do you say?"


    Ashley smiled back at Ren with confidence as she already knew her answer even before Ren darted off. "Being queen doesn''t suit me, you can give the throne to my supposed brother Iselv. I don''t really care that much as long as the Reschbeauch kingdom can survive. Truthfully I don''t really like the current nobles of the kingdom, only my father was eptable. So removing those cocky old b*stards from their high horses is very much weed." Ashley shrugged her shoulders no longer caring about anything. Witnessing Ren''s power she knew that keeping up appearances doesn''t really matter anymore. Rika who heard Ashley''s answer was surprised by how the princess was speaking.


    On the other hand, Ren upon hearing Ashley''s answer couldn''t help butugh. He then looked at Ashley and asked a question while extending his hand.


    "I didn''t fulfill the conditions of our prior agreement and created a new one. Knowing this, do you still wish to be mine?" Ashley grabbed hold of Ren''s hand and answered with a charming smile on her face, while she was emitting her sword aura.


    "It would seem that you''re the only man who can handle me, so I''ll be with you until you can no longer control me."


    "Then you''ll be with me forever," Ren answered while overpowering Ashley''s sword aura with his own.

 Chapter 209 - Four women

    <h4>Chapter 209 - Four women</h4>


    The day after the siege battle ended Ren had gathered all the women that he had proimed were his. The five of them were now in a room inside the Regalcrags mansion. Ren was sitting on a chair while looking at the four women who were standing in front of him.


    Each woman that was in front of him was a beauty that could make any man look at them and make them drool. Not only their beauty was astounding but even their prowess in battle was better than even the best of men. It was rather surprising such powerful normally pridefuldies decide to share one man. No, it was more urate to say based on their rtionship with Ren that they were owned by him. He had made it clear that each one of them was his woman, emphasis on his.


    ...


    The four were standing side by side and the one standing at the far right side was a woman with long reddish hair and a stoic expression. She might be the youngest of the girls but her figure and looks wouldn''t lose out to any of them. Also among the women present she was the one who has been with Ren the longest. This was none other than Ren''s first woman after reincarnating as a human, Lara.


    The one standing next to her was an equally beautiful woman with long silver hair tied in a knot and ruby red eyes that were filled with determination and a little bit of ambition. Among the group of women present, she had the most voluptuous body. From herrge chest that she was hiding beneath her dress to her cute butt that could make any man''s imagination run wild. Her whole body was so sensual that it would make it hard for any man to resist her charms. This was the new member of Ren''s harem, Ashley.


    The next one was a woman that looks like she was about ready for any battle toe. She was wearing a full ted armor and had pinkish blond hair tied up into a ponytail. Among all thedies present she was the one who looked like she was pretty confused about what was happening. Still, even though she had no idea what was toe, she already resolved herself to do whatever Ren wishes. This was the former secretary of Grentons Adventurers Guild, Hilda.


    Finally, the one standing to the far left side was a woman of indescribable beauty. She was so beautiful that you wouldn''t believe that she was real. Wavy blond hair, crimson pupils and pale white skin. She was wearing a dress of red and ck, apanied by brown boots. She was the oldest among the girls, not just by a few years, her age was counted by the millennia. He was the partner of one of Ren''s past incarnations and was once called Elizabeth Rogue. But now she was Ren''s partner and was now called Silika.


    The four girls were simply standing there in front of Ren not saying anything, waiting for someone to speak. Lara didn''t say anything since she was thinking about various ways on how to eliminate herpetition. She wouldn''t do it but it was nice to think about it. Thinking about killing these b*tches that suddenly swarmed Ren made her feel a bit better.


    ''Though now that I think about it, not one of these sl*ts are weak, Silika is even stronger than me. Ashley is near my strength, and though Hilda is the weakest she''s still hard to deal with.''


    While Lara was thinking about how to finish off herpetition, Ashley was checking out the two new people she just met yesterday. She was expecting that Ren would have other women but it seems like his standards really are quite high. Ashley always thought that Lara was going to be the most powerful among Ren''s woman but she wasn''t expecting someone like Silika. She wasn''t sure what to think about Silika when she heard that she was a being within Ren''s weapon. All she truly understood was Silika was extremely powerful, but for some reason, her power was greatly restricted.


    ...


    After a few seconds of thinking, Hilda came to her own conclusion about her own situation. She was already expecting this to happen when Ren returns but she wasn''t expecting it to be alongside other women. Though she already knew that Ren had multiple women, she was expecting her first time to be a one on one type event.


    ''Well, I already needed to do this at one point, better get it over with now.''


    ...


    Silika who was standing at the side was amused by the various expressions each woman was showing. It reminded her of the days when she was still with Leonard when she and herpanions were traveling together with him. It was a nostalgic feeling that made her feel a long-forgotten emotion. This made her giggle a bit, which attracted the attention of the other girls.


    ...


    While each girl was assessing the situation Ren was happily looking at each of the girls'' reactions. After a few seconds of simply looking at them, Hilda couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Ren, why did you call us all here?"


    "Sorry about that, I was just basking in everyone''s beauty. Well anyway to business then, I called you all here today so that we can all get to know each other better. You four are now kinda like sisters, for you four are all my lovers, wives or whatever you wish to call yourselves."


    "Alright... Then how do we actually try to get to know each other better? We already introduced ourselves yesterday."


    "Oh, that''s easy, the best way to get to know each other is through our bodies." After Ren said those words he took off his clothes which surprised the girls, he then disappeared from their point of view only Silika could up with his speed. It was then they noticed that their clothes and armor have been sliced apart. Only Silika removed her clothing out of her own free will. The five of them were now as n.a.k.e.d as the day they were born.


    "Now let''s get to know each other."


    ...


    Though no one was allowed toe near Ren''s room, the people left in the mansion could hear the passionate m.o.a.ns echoing through the halls. This made those that were guarding the mansion feel a bit ufortable so they headed out and guarded the outside of the mansion instead.

 Chapter 210 - A normal day for Valdel

    <h4>Chapter 210 - A normal day for Valdel</h4>


    It has been a few days since the end of the siege battle and there had been no other response from the Capital of the Reschbauch Kingdom. Still, even during this time of waiting for the storm toe, the lives of the normal citizens continued on. During this time Valdel was helping around the city. He left Zwei and Nika back at the dorm as he wanted to be alone for today. Kuro and the other girls were also doing their thing. As he was walking through the streets almost everyone greeted him. Since at this point, most of the people knew who he was and were quite happy to see him.


    Valdel smiled and answered everyone''s greetings, he even knew their names. In the city of New Grenton Valdel was the most liked person and was also the most eligible bachelor. Many noble families who have allied themselves to New Grenton were trying their best to push their daughters into marriage with Valdel. They knew that among the people on the top Valdel was the closest to Ren who was now practically the ruler of New Grenton. So establishing blood ties with Valdel was for the best, since doing so with Ren seems impossible.


    So sometimes as Valdel was walking around town some noble would identally bump into him. Said noble would then introduce his daughter to him and would force them to have a little chat. That type of event has happened on numerous asions to date. Valdel being the nice person he was would always apany thedy for a bit.


    Due to his face, his kind disposition, and his heroic charisma once the meeting was done, it''s not Valdel who would fall into the honey trap it was always the girl.


    ...


    Today like any other day after Valdel helped some random people do random chores like looking for a lost cat, helping a lost child find his/her parents, acquiring a random herb in the nearby forest for some random alchemist experiment. Once he was done doing those things he would head out to the dungeon Ren conquered during his ranking test. Valdel goes there to train his sword skills.


    Since the dungeon core has been taken, the dungeon no longer produced monsters. But the natural-born monsters in the surrounding area have made the now empty dungeon their home. The dungeon was now upied by Myrmekes which were giant ant-like creatures.


    These creatures had hard exoskeletons that made it difficult for them to be cut by any normal weapon. Not only did they have incredible defensive capabilities but they also possess a decent offensive strength. Their mandibles which were their main weapons for an attack were very powerful.


    Their mandibles were sharper than any sword and once you were caught by those sharp powerful jaws, your bones would be crushed into powder. That wasn''t the only weapon they had, the Myrmekes were also able to spit acid that could melt even the sturdiest of armors. Getting hit by one of those acid spits would make for a gruesome death.


    Not only were they hard to kill one against one while using a sword, but they attack in waves which makes battling them a nightmare for even master swordsmen. Usually, to fight Myrmekes you would need a party that had multiple spell casters and a well-equipped shield man. Seeing as those kinds of abilities that the Myrmekes have would be the bane of most swordsmen, but to Valdel this was a great enemy to practice with.


    He wasn''t even using Zwei for this battle and simply bought a generic looking steel sword that you could buy cheaply in any weapon shop. He was doing all this because of thest battle. He noticed that he was relying too much on Zwei''s abilities. Though his current strength plus the strength of his weapon could deal with most problems, to Valdel that wasn''t enough.


    The ideals he sought weren''t possible to achieve without absolute strength. If Ren didn''t appear to save Lara what would''ve happened? He hesitated as he didn''t want to kill Niel at the time. In fact, in that whole battle, Valdel didn''t kill a single person. Yet because of his weakness, the option of defeating Niel without killing him and saving Lara at the same time wasn''t avable to him. Back then his only choice was to either kill Niel or to sacrifice Lara. Neither option was to his liking.


    If only he was as strong as Ren, no if he was even stronger then he could uphold the ideals he so loves. Which sh-forward brought him to the dungeon filled with Myrmekes.


    ...


    Valdel who was shing at the body of a Myrmeke was able to hit the weakest points of its exoskeleton. The first time he came here he wasn''t even able to attack it properly as the sword would break after one sh. But now after numerous trial and error, Valdel was able to figure out the weak points of the Myrmeke body. The only problem was the weak points were hard to reach so Valdel was forced to make smaller swings with his sword. Also, he was now using piercing moves more than shing moves.


    For every Myrmeke that fell, Valdel''s swordsmanship improved. After clearing the third floor today, Valdel was about to head back to the city, but then he saw something in the corner of his eye. There was a coin stuck on the wall. That was weird seeing as Ren said he already stripped the dungeon of all its treasures. Without thinking too deeply about it, Valdel took the weird-looking coin and decided to show it to Ren. After taking the weird-looking coin Valdel headed back to the city.


    ...


    Upon returning to the city, Valdel was happily walking to his favorite bakery. As he was walking he spotted the daughter of a noble waiting for him at the corner of the street. Most likely she nned to identally bump into him and say that it was such a coincidence to be bumping with each other near his favorite bakery. Seeing her anxiously waiting made Valdel sigh as he continued onward and as he foresaw thedy did everything as he predicted. She then invited him for dinner, Valdel was about to say yes but then he saw an olddy carrying a heavy bag.


    "Sorry, I''m busy right now. Maybe some other time." After politely declining the youngdy''s offer Valdel dashed towards the olddy and helped her carry her things.


    ...


    As the day was ending Valdel once again bought a cheap steel sword, and headed back to his dorm to rest.

 Chapter 211 Battling against a past incarnation

    <h4>Chapter 211 Battling against a past incarnation</h4>


    Though Ren found the silence of both the Serbek Kingdom and the Reshcbauch Kingdom to be a bit unsettling he also found it quite exciting. The thought that he didn''t know what''sing was making him feel exhrated. Now that both sides have some idea of how strong he and his forces were should mean that the next attack directed at them would be stronger than before. Just thinking about the battles toe made Ren feel that his body was heating up.


    Still, knowing that more powerful opponents were waiting to battle him, Ren needed to do but one thing and that would be to get stronger. It would be such a shame to fight strong opponents and not be able to fully enjoy it by dying prematurely. The only enjoyable battle would be a battle were both sides exhaust every ounce of their strength till victory is achieved.


    ''I guess it''s time to do my favorite pastime.'' Ren ordered the people in the mansion to not disturb him for the seeding days. The only time he was to be disturbed is if the city was burning to the ground. After giving instructions to the others, Ren headed back to his room and entered the realm within his soul.


    ...


    Upon entering the realm within his soul he was greeted by Leo.


    "So you''re back. Are you going to challenge the next one? How about stop doing this step by step and just challenge me again." Hearing Leo''s proposal Ren shrugged his shoulders. He has been here a couple of times already and Leo keeps on asking the same thing.


    "As much as I want to fight you, I can''t. Not at the moment... So let''s just get down to business, who''s next on the list?"


    "You''re no fun at all... Well, alright then, you already beat two of our incarnations. The next one will be a bit harder than the two beforehand. The first one you fought was an incarnation that focused too much on skills that were meant for group battles, the one after was more of an assassin. But this one is a true warrior and with your current strength he will be quite a challenge."


    "You''re just making me more excited! Enough forey bring my next opponent already!" Leo forgot that Ren was like him and the words he used that were meant to keep Ren vignt, had the opposite effect. Leo wasn''t really bothered by his mistake and simply shrugged his shoulders as he called for Ren''s next opponent.


    ...


    A man appeared before Ren that wasrger than even Iselv. His body was a pce of muscles, from head to toe the man in front of Ren looked like he had zero fat and even his muscles look like they had muscles. He held two massive weapons that looked like giant-sized maces. Each mace was asrge as Ren himself.


    "Ren I would like you to meet your next opponent, the only incarnation that doesn''t use mana and only uses pure brute strength, Karda." The massive man called Karda looked at Ren and went into a battle position.


    "There''s no need for you to introduce yourself. Let''s begin the battle!" Karda showed a vicious smile as he told Ren toe at him. Ren then showed a simr smile as he charged forward with scythe at hand.


    The sword-like needles at the handle of Ren''s scythe tried to pierce Karda''s skin but they were only able to prick him a bit. Karda then swung his giant mace at Ren with speed unbefitting his size. Ren had no choice but to block the attack. At first, Ren wanted to not use any mana, nor did he want to use Spirit Aura as he wanted to fight Karda in his own terms. But the moment the mace had contact with the scythe Ren felt Karda''s massive strength.


    Even if Ren trained his human body to the very limits it was not possible to gain simr strength as Karda. As expected of one of his incarnations he was a deviant as well. Ren no longer had any choice but to use Spirit Aura to buff his body.


    Karda feeling Ren''s strength was increasing made him smile more viciously than before. Ren who thought that he was going to sessfully repel Karda''s attack was surprised to feel the opponent''s power was surging. Caught by surprise Ren was blown away. As Ren stumbled to get up from that hit he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "I apologize... After fighting the first two, and hearing Leo''s exnation of your ability I thought you would be an easier opponent than this. But as expected of my past incarnation there is no such thing as an easy battle against you guys. Even though you and the other two are treated as the weakest of the bunch, you three still reigned supreme in your time. I truly apologize and will now go all out!"


    Karda silently listened to Ren''s speech and licked his lips as he held tightly to his maces. He knew that simr to himself this was the moment when the other party would finally go all out.


    Ren had the sword-shaped needles pierce his right hand, and then a cloak of blood appeared and covered Ren''s body. It has been a long time since he used this form, but unlike in the real world, the demerit of losing blood wasn''t applicable here. So Ren had no time limit and can go all out while using this ability without any of the former restrictions.


    Seeing Ren finally use the ability he has seen while viewing the life of the current incarnation Karda was feeling even more excited as he charged forward. Seeing the iing Karda, Ren charged forward as well and the two shed.


    There were no fancy moves just a in head-on sh of their weapons. Karda''s mace hit the handle of Ren''s scythe and he was pushed back a bit. The two proceeded to attack each other while dodging by a hairsbreadth. This exchange of attacks continued until Ren''s superior speed became apparent and Karda could no longer keep up. Once he was pushed back Karda spoke to Ren.


    "I see so this is the level you''re currently at... Then I guess you are worthy to see my ultimate skill!" Karda started to control his breathing as his muscles started to bulge, his veins looked like they were about to pop. Ren didn''t attack while Karda was doing his thing as he wanted to see what kind of ability made Karda the strongest of his generation.


    Karda''s muscles were bulging and pulsating like a heart. His muscles were expanding and deting at a fast pace. After a few more seconds his muscles stopped bulging, it was at that moment Ren noticed what had happened. Standing in front of Ren was a smaller version of the towering giant called Karda.


    Karda''s body now looked to be the same size as Ren''s but he was only slightly taller. This was the exact opposite of Reynold''s bloodline ability that made him growrger.


    "Even without a speck of mana, this was the skill that made me the strongest in my time. I call it [full release] a technique that brings out the body''s potential and goes beyond it. Sorry for the wait Ren, now let''s start the second round." After exining the skill he used Karda moved.


    Ren was unable to follow Karda''s movements and before he knew it Karda was already in front of him. Same as the beginning Ren had no other choice but to block the iing attack. Ren was surprised to see that not only did Karda''s speed increased but in this smaller form even his power had nearly doubled.


    This forced Ren to retreat but Karda didn''t allow him to get far as he followed him closely. The two were showing their trademark vicious smile as the battle grew fiercer. Ren who was losing out in both speed and power had no other choice but to use spells. So he started to chant as he barely dodged and countered.


    "[Shadow Bind]" Ren used the same spell he used to seal the movement of thousands of soldiers. Karda who was near him was unable to get away and was captured by the spell. Ren was sure that Karda who had zero mana would be unable to move, but then he saw something surprising using nothing but his physical strength Karda was able to forcefully free himself.


    "Really? Do you really think that spell used by the guy ranked lower than me would work? All you need is a bit of guts to break free from this spell."


    Hearing what Karda said made Ren a bit embarrassed of course that spell won''t work. Still, seeing how Karda freed himself with nothing but brute strength, which he called guts made Ren even more excited.


    "Then how about this! [Dark Sphere]" A small ck orb flew out of Ren''s finger and headed towards Karda. It was a small moving orb that even the most basic of swordsmen could dodge much less Karda. Usually, Ren wouldn''t use this spell in a one on one situation as it could only work in a surprise attack seeing how slow the spell was. It was practically a useless spell that most anyone could dodge, but its power was undeniable. Still, Ren used it now because he knew that if he were Karda after saying what he said he wouldn''t dodge this move.


    As Ren expected Karda simply stood there waiting for the ck orb to arrive. When the ck orb reached Karda''s space it suddenly started to spin trying to suck Karda inside. The suction power of the orb was so powerful that it felt like it could pull in anything it wanted. Karda who was trying his best to not get sucked in smiled and attacked the ck orb using his mace. The ck orb was smashed into nothingness by the mace. Even seeing it with his own eyes Ren couldn''t believe it.


    That was a purely physical attack but it was able to interact with his spell that should be able to devour and crush whatever ites in contact with.


    "How did you that?"


    "With guts of course!"


    ...


    Leo who was watching the fight on the sidelines saw that Ren was trying out different spells to see which ones would work on Karda. In truth, Leo didn''t even need to watch the whole battle to know who would win. As he was stronger than the two of them by a huge margin it was easy to see the victor between the two.


    ''Well after this battle he''ll get stronger than before. His idea of beating every incarnation to gain their abilities is the fastest way to gain strength, but having too much might also turn into a problem.''

 Chapter 212 The wheel of fate turns

    <h4>Chapter 212 The wheel of fate turns</h4>


    While Ren was trying to gain the experience of his past incarnations Harold was having a serious conversation with someone. He was outside the city''s perimeter and behind him was his trusted butler Oliver.


    "What do you mean!" Harold shouted at the person in front of him.


    "Are you deaf, or are you simply stupid? Fine then, I will say it again. You are no longer needed." The person in front of Harold spoke in a mocking tone.


    "How am I not needed!? It is I who created this n! It is I who had gathered everyone! It is I who has found the ancestor! Tell me how am I not needed?!" Harold was filled with bloodlust as he looked at the person in front of him.


    "First off that n you created would have been a full-on sess if not for you. Those you have gathered and sent to each strategic ces have already done their jobs or in the progress inpleting them. In fact, the Serbek Kingdom is pretty much ours at this point. Now all you needed to do was to take control of the newly independent city of New Grenton. Yet even such a small task you weren''t even able to do properly. Well, it''s not like we truly needed New Grenton to capture the Reschbeauch Kingdom. As for that supposed ancestor, aren''t you just going crazy? The brat might be strong but he''s nowhere near strong enough to be our ancestor, plus he''s human." The person talking to Harold shrugged its shoulders.


    "You dare!" No longer able to hold it in, Harold exploded in rage as he attacked the shadow before him. As the projection of the man disappeared after the attack Harold heard his voice echoing in his ear.


    "Well, if you do a good enough job, maybe we might allow you toe back." Hearing the shadow person''s mocking voice made Harold clench his fist in anger unable to do anything else.


    ...


    Lance Resteti was having a headache as he found out more about the truth of the incident with the Kirche family. Initially, he thought that it was going to be a simple affair, looking for the culprit and weeding out the rotten roots within his family. Yet as he looked into the circumstances regarding the initiator of the situation, Lance found a lot of irregrities.


    A few days before he found out the source of those irregrities. A demon or maybe it was more correct to say a person with a demon lineage had infiltrated his family. No one even noticed that this person wasn''t part of the Resteti family and epted that person fully. Lance wasn''t sure if the people surrounding said person were charmed, hypnotized, or are being controlled in a different way, it was also possible that they were just stupid enough to be bribed. Still, after capturing the demon, Lance wasn''t able to extract much information since the demonmitted suicide.


    Now knowing a piece of the conspiracy happening inside his family''s inner circle, Lance clicked his tongue in annoyance. He could easily purge every single member of his family, but that would cause a new set of problems. So he needed to figure out which ones were the demons conspirators and which ones were not.


    ''Damn this! I''m alreadyte in meeting master Ren... Though I did tell him I''ll go once I''m done cleaning up. I got no choice I''ll just send him a message about what''s happening here. When I find those fools that came to mess with me I will strip them naked and hang them on my walls.''


    After deciding what to do next Lance felt like his headache was getting worse.


    ...


    In Carto Vige, a happy couple was ying with a newborn child.


    "Shouldn''t we tell Ren about this already?" Milly asked Matias as she held onto their newborn child.


    "You know our son he''s a very busy man. But I guess he would be happy to know that he has a baby brother." Matias had a happy smile on his face. He was so happy that he was blessed with two sons, the first was a powerful son fit for battle. Now he wished that this son to be of the intellectual type, well either way as long as he grows up happy then it''s alright.


    "Fine let''s travel to New Grenton and tell him in person." Hearing Matias''s suggestion Milly couldn''t help but be excited.


    "Really! You hear that Kurt you''re finally going to meet your big brother."


    ...


    In the Serbek Kingdom in the council room above the mage''s tower, two individuals were talking alongside five spectral forms.


    "Have you told Harold about our decision?"


    "Yeah, I just had a conversation with him using my shadow. He took it better than I expected."


    "I see... Still, I''m a bit worried about the guy he ims to be our ancestor the Supreme Demon."


    "That''s just the ramblings of a lunatic nothing more. I''m more interested in the vige that wiped out the unit the Serbek Kingdom sent to attack the Reschbeauch Kingdom."


    "Who cares, it''s just a bunch of humans killing each other."


    "Well, we do n to rule over those humans. So if they keep on killing each other who are we to rule?"


    "That''s why we should quickly take over so that the stupid humans can be guided in the right direction."


    "So who''s going to deal with the Warrior King Willmont?"


    "Oh right, now that Harold is out of the picture, no one''s assigned to deal with that human king."


    "Well, I''m getting bored after beating that supposed Grand Mage of this kingdom. I want to see if the Warrior King is any better."


    "Nah, I heard that the Warrior King and the Grand Mage are of equal strength. That''s why both the Reschbeauch Kingdom and the Serbek Kingdom haven''t gone in all-out war since both sides have a trump card ready to be yed."


    "That''s disappointing to hear... Oh, I got it! After I kill the Warrior King, how about I test that supposed ancestor of ours. I have heard some rumors here and there that guy is supposedly exaggeratedly strong. Heck, he even tricked Harold into thinking his our esteem ancestor the Supreme Demon, so his strength must be the real deal. Now I''m getting a bit excited, I wonder what kind of faces they would make when I rip apart their pride and torture them until they beg for death." The person who was speaking was showing a very aroused face right now which made itspanions shrug their shoulders, sigh, or look at the person in disgust.

 Chapter 213 Sudden

    <h4>Chapter 213 Sudden</h4>


    "Hey Lisa, the three of us are going to New Grenton." Matias happily dered to Lisa who was in the middle of training the vigers.


    "Is that so..."


    "Don''t look at me like that. If you want, you cane with us. I''m sure Ren, Val, and Lara would be happy to see you." Milly who was holding her son chimed in.


    "No... I can''t... Still, I hope you three have fun. Say hi to the others for me."


    "Alright then, will being back after looking around New Grenton."


    "Sure, just-" Lisa was about to say something when she suddenly pushed Matias and Milly aside. A bunch of throwing knives passed by them.


    "Oh, you were able to dodge that, impressive." Lisa was hearing a voice and could feel an immense amount of bloodlust, but was unable to catch a glimpse of the attacker.


    "Matias, Milly get out of here! Take the others and flee towards New Grenton!"


    "Lisa?!" Milly didn''t want to leave Lisa behind, but the moment she called Lisa''s name another throwing knife came her way. Because she was holding her child she couldn''t move properly and was unable to react on time. Lisa, on the other hand, had reacted fast enough to deflect the knife aimed at Milly.


    "QUICKLY!" No longer hesitating Milly and the other vigers started running away.


    "Oh, why are you making them run. They should enjoy the party as well." The voice that was drifting in the wind sounded enchanting but with a mocking tone.


    "Who are you! Show yourself!" Lisa used the mana sense that Ren thought her but was still unable to pinpoint where the attacker was. As she was figuring out where the attacker was, Lisa heard someone screaming from behind her. The vigers and the adventurers that were trying to run away were being killed. Each throwing knife urately aiming at their necks. Blood sttered all over the vige grounds.


    "NO!!!" Lisa screamed as she couldn''t understand what was happening before her very eyes. The people she grew up with were dying right in front of her and she couldn''t do a thing. Lisa desperately tried to block each and every throwing knife but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn''t. The vigers who were also trained by Ren with the basics of his battle skills were unable to see the iing knives. Some were lucky to be able to dodge, but this level of stealth and the speed of the throw was something they couldn''t handle as more and more of them fell.


    Lisa was horrified as she watched the people she cared for dying one after the other. The people that took care of her growing up. She was even more scared to think that her very own parents were among the piles of bodies. Though fear and sorrow were slowly creeping into her, Lisa gritted her teeth and then started to use spells which she kept on firing in random directions.


    "Oh, lose your cool already? Don''t worry once I''m done with killing everyone else I''ll y with you."


    "NO, YOU WON''T!" Lisa used every ounce of her mana and fired it at the general direction she believed the attacker was hiding at. It didn''t matter if she didn''t know the exact location, seeing howrge the coverage of this attack Lisa was certain that she would''ve hit whoever it was attacking the vige.


    After unleashing her spell, the area in front of Lisa turned into a burning crater with no sign of life, or that''s what supposed to have happened. Yet there in front of her was a woman dressed like a maid holding two machetes all walking out of the crater. Her clothes were had burned marks here and there, and she some bruises but overall she looked to be quite healthy for somebody who was hit by such a massive attack.


    "That almost killed me!" The woman screamed at Lisa. She then slowly walked towards Lisa with a pouting face. Lisa was trying her hardest not to fall at this point, as not only did thatst attack drain her mana but it also drained most of her stamina.


    She couldn''t even hold onto her swords properly as she was now using them as walking sticks. The woman wearing maid clothes then threw one of her machetes at Lisa. No longer able to move properly Lisa wanted to dodge but was only able to move slightly. The machete lodged into Lisa''s left shoulder which started to spray blood. She wanted to scream in pain, but Lisa held it in as she didn''t want to give her opponent the satisfaction.


    "Wow, Amazing! I was trying to hit your head but even in your current state, you were still able to dodge." The woman holding a machete started pping her hands. She wasn''t mocking Lisa but was genuinely impressed, this only made Lisa even more vexed.


    While her opponent was enjoying her struggle, Lisa was trying her best to figure out a way to either beat the woman in front of her or escape. In her current state fleeing didn''t look like a possibility. Trying to kill the woman standing in front of her was hard but was actually the better option. When she thought of that Lisa couldn''t help but smile weakly, seeing how hopeless her situation looked.


    ...


    Matias and some of the vigers and adventurers were able to run quite far away from the vige. Once he noticed that the lunatic that attacked the vige was no longer following them Matias stopped running. Milly and some of the vigers stopped and looked at Matias a bit confused.


    Seeing the expression on his face, Milly could already guess what Matias was thinking. She knew that her husband had thought of the most idiotic idea at this very moment.


    "Don''t do it. You saw how strong that lunatic was, if you go back you''ll be nothing more than a burden."


    "You don''t know that... After all, in the vige the strongest person after Lisa is me. You and I both know that Lisa wouldn''t be able to hold on for long and if she falls now, that monster wille after us. On the other hand, if I join forces with Lisa we might be able to give you guys more time. Besides what kind of father would I be, if I escaped while letting the friend of my son die without doing anything... Milly take care of those two for me... Tell Ren I''m proud of him and tell Kurt I loved him and I''m sorry. Thanks, Milly, for everything... I love you." Matias smiled gently at his wife, who was now in tears. Milly then grabbed hold of Matias while their son Kurt was crying.


    "No, I''ming with-" Milly was unable to say the rest of what she wanted to say for Matias had struck her making her faint. Matias caught his wife and child and handed the two to the other vigers.


    "Take care of them for me."


    "Matias, are you sure of this?" The viger who was carrying Milly asked while looking at Matias''s eyes. Matias simply smiled without replying as he started to run back to the vige.

 Chapter 214 I’m sorry

    <h4>Chapter 214 I''m sorry</h4>


    Lisa was breathing heavily as the injuries on her body were piling up. The machete that was lodged onto her left shoulder was already removed, and Lisa already healed it but that just drained more of her mana that was nearing empty. The woman dressed as a maid was now simply ying around since none of the attacks after her initial strike were lethal. This frustrated Lisa who had no way to retaliate at the moment.


    "Hmm, this is getting boring. Why won''t you show me a more frightened face? Show me a face full of regret and despair!" The maid looked at Lisa with irritation as she casually tossed another dagger.


    Lisa could barely dodge that simple attack as she continued to breathe heavily. Though she was showing a determined face ready to die, the truth was deep inside she was truly scared. She could feel the helplessness creeping in as death was knocking on her door. She didn''t want to give the maid the satisfaction of showing such a weakness. So even though she was horrified in the prospect of dying Lisa held it in. The more fearful she was the more determined the look she showed.


    The maid was now looking at Lisa''s resolve with irritation. This wasn''t what she wanted to see from Lisa. She wanted to see Lisa crying in despair and wallowing in regret. It was at that moment the maid had a great idea.


    "I''m getting bored of fighting you. So how about I go ahead and kill those guys who fled." The maid picked up her machetes and started skipping away from Lisa.


    "NOOO! Youe back here! Don''t you dare leave!" An immense amount of bloodlust came out of Lisa who with her full effort stood upright pointing her two short swords at the maid. Lisa''s fear of death was now being curbed by her anger. The mere thought of the others dying was enough to ovee her fear of death for a period of time. Seeing the expression Lisa was showing the maid knew that her idea was right.


    "Don''t worry I won''t take long just a little stroll for you to get your energy back. Once I''m back I''ll even bring your friends with me... Well, their heads but that''s still them ain''t it?" The maid shrugged her shoulders as she turned around and was about to leave.


    "Come back here and face me!" Lisa kept on shouting as she struggled to walk towards the maid. To further mock her the maid was walking slowly just a bit faster than Lisa. She was doing this so that Lisa would struggle more in vain.


    Lisa could no longer hold it in as the hopelessness of the situation sunk deeper and deeper. As Lisa was about to kneel down to beg, the maid suddenly stopped and caught an iing arrow.


    "Oh, one of the fools actually came back to die. Watch me as I kill him right in front of your eyes." Lisa opened her mouth but before she could say a single word the maid disappeared from her spot.


    ...


    Matias whounched an arrow from a few kilometers away was about to fire his second shot when the target suddenly disappeared. The moment he saw the target vanished he quickly jumped to the side and as he expected a machete came flying towards that area.


    Even though Matias couldn''t follow the maid''s movements with his eyes he knew that she would attack him with precision. So all Matias needed to do was dodge in a general direction. After Matias jumped to the side he quickly ducked down and as expected the maid was behind him and did a horizontal sh.


    This was what Matias acquired from years of experience with ying with Ren. Though he couldn''t see with his eyes he knew the pattern most stronger opponents would use in a fight. The maid looked at Matias with surprise, the man before her wasn''t particrly strong nor did he exhibit any signs of being faster than her, but he was still able to dodge.


    The maid was intrigued by Matias''s mismatched ability. ''Could he be like that guy and is able to predict the future?... No that can''t be it, if he was able to predict the future he would have warned the vigers about my arrival.''


    While the maid was thinking about how Matias was able to dodge her attacks, Matias had already nocked another arrow and fired it at the maid. The maid evaded the arrow and once again disappeared from Matias''s view. In reaction to that Matias jumped forward and turned around. He raised his arms trying to defend against whatever wasing, but to his surprise, nothing happened. The maid just moved to pick up the machete she threw at the beginning.


    When she saw Matias''s reaction she couldn''t help but giggle. "Oh, I see. You weren''t seeing the future, you were just trying to figure out what I will do next." The maid then threw both her machetes in different directions. Matias didn''t know where to dodge and decided to bet it all and jumped backward. The moment he did so he felt a massive force hitting his stomach making him fly backward hitting a nearby tree. Matias vomited a mouthful of blood as he staggered to stand.


    The maid appeared right in front of him and before he knew it he saw his body fell forward for his head no longer attached to it.


    "I can''t wait to show that girl this head." Matias heard the excited voice of the maid as his eyesight was turning dark. He could already feel his consciousness fading.


    ''I''m sorry... Milly....''


    ...


    When the maid disappeared Lisa got confused and scared. She wanted to run after the maid and save everyone but she was unable to move the way she wanted to. As she was trying to figure out how to restore even a bit of stamina a severed head suddenly fell in front of her.


    "Sorry, I said I would kill him in front of you but showing his head is the same thing... Right?" Lisa who recognized the head that was thrown at her screamed in horror. That was uncle Matias, Ren''s father. Not only was he the father of her friend he was also the kind uncle that helped her and her sister growing up. He was like a second father to her and the other young ones in the vige. Lisa knelt on the ground and hugged Matias''s head.


    "No this can''t be... You can''t leave, what of aunt Milly, Kurt, and Ren?... This can''t be happening, it just can''t." Just a few moments ago Matias was talking to her happily telling her that he would meet his son in New Grenton. Now he was nothing more than a severed head, with no joy. no sorrow simply lifeless.


    "Didn''t you say you would watch your sons grow up to be legends. Why! Why did youe back just to die!" Lisa asked the severed head of Matias, but as expected no answer was given to her.


    "Are you talking to a severed head? Don''t worry I don''t judge, I actually do the same thing." The maid looked at Lisa''s despair and was cackling. While the maid was feeling excited she suddenly felt Lisa''s bloodlust was rekindled and was stronger than ever.


    "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DAAAAREEEE YOUUUU!!!" Lisa who heard the mocking tone of the murderer in front of her made her angrier beyond belief. It doesn''t matter anymore, her fear of death doesn''t matter anymore. Even if she has to die today, she promised herself that she would kill that b*tch of a maid.

 Chapter 215 The next adventure

    <h4>Chapter 215 The next adventure</h4>


    Lisa ced Matias''s head gently on the ground, stood up and red at the maid. Lisa''s anger was at full st while looking at the maid who killed Matias. Her mana pool was near empty with only a little left, just enough to make a little me on her finger. Her stamina was also at the brink, she was so tired that she could copse at any second. Her body was full of wounds though she has already stopped the bleeding she still bled too much. Yet even with all of those demerits, Lisa didn''t care as she needed to kill the murder in front of her. It doesn''t matter if she died as long as she was able to kill the b*tch wearing maids clothing.


    "Now that''s my second favorite look! Come on then get angry at me, curse at me, try to kill me. Once you fail and see how truly powerless you are, it is at that time you will show me the greatest look full of despair and regret!" The maid started to touch herself as simply thinking about Lisa''s face filled with despair made her feel extremely excited.


    Lisa seeing how the maid acted made her anger re up even more. She gritted her teeth and with all her power dashed forward. Even though she was barely standing before and was bleeding all over, Lisa used the power of her rage to move forward.


    The maid waited for Lisa toe to her and with a little bit of effort swayed her body a bit and evaded Lisa''s attack. The maid then countered with a swipe of her machete aimed at Lisa''s left shoulder. Lisa could follow the maid''s movements with her mana sensing but her body just wouldn''t move the way she wanted to.


    It took all her effort to simply lift her arm and barely block the iing strike. She almost fell to her knees by simply blocking a casual strike from the maid. Lisa continued to grit her teeth and exert every fiber of her being to attack again. Yet before she could get to strike another attack came at her which she was forced to block. The maid then initiated a barrage of attacks from all angles. Lisa unable to keep up with the flow of attacks decided to simply guard her vitals and allow the other attacks to hit. Though she wasn''t dead yet, the wounds she was umting will eventually kill her if she doesn''t heal herself.


    "That''s amazing! How long can you keep this up!" The maid happily continued her onught of shes and stabs. The maid was now able to see a bit of fear in Lisa''s eyes which made her ecstatic.


    As despair was once again creeping into Lisa''s mind she remembered something. It was something Ren said a long time ago when he was training her alongside Valdel and Lara.


    ...


    "Are you giving up already?" Ren asked the fallen Lisa.


    "It''s impossible Ren, it''s obvious that you''re going to win again."


    "... Lisa against a more powerful opponent such as myself when do you think is the best chance to strike?" Lisa was confused as to why Ren suddenly asked, but then she thought about it for a bit and answered.


    "Right at the beginning when he doesn''t know what I''m capable of, I will surprise him with an all-out attack."


    "Wrong, it''s actually at the end when victory is within the opponent''s grasp will be the best chance to strike. So all you need to do is wait it out and when the opponent is getting overconfident you strike the killing blow. Of course, that won''t happen against me."


    ...


    When Lisa remembered that she felt a bit of courage. Her trust in Ren was the same as Valdel and Lara it was unshakeable. She believed that even in this situation it would go just as Ren said it would.


    ''Huh? What''s this her courage ising back. That''s no fun, well I''m getting bored of this fight so better finish it now.'' The maid''s attack suddenly sped up and Lisa''s defense was barely holding up. Seeing Lisa''s guard finally loosened the maid took this opportunity to finish Lisa with one clean strike. This was also the opportunity that Lisa was waiting for as she was able to narrowly avoid the maid''s stab.


    Lisa roared as she put all the remaining power she had into this one strike. It was the fastest strike she had ever pulled in her whole life, the degree of perfection in that one sword strike would surprise even Ren himself.


    Lisa felt her attack came into contact with the maid''s flesh. As Lisa was about to feel relief she heard the maid''s angry shout.


    "You f*cking b*tch! You actually wounded me! A lowly human dared to wound me!" Lisa was on the ground and could barely lift her head up but she saw it. She saw that she was able to wound the maid''s neck but the wound was rather light. She then saw the furious maid discard her machetes and rushed at Lisa. The maid started to pound at Lisa with her bare hands. The power of each strike was powerful enough to kill a normal human but on Lisa''s body which was trained to a certain degree was able to take a bit more damage.


    As she was being pounded to the ground Lisa''s consciousness was flickering on and off. She was terrified at the prospect of death, but what terrified her, even more, was the idea of not being able to avenge Matias''s death and also not being able to see Valdel and the others again.


    ...


    "Hey, why are you staring at the sky like that?" Ren asked Lisa who was trailing behind the group.


    "Huh? Where am I?" Lisa looked around confused. She saw Ren, Valdel, and Lara looking at her worriedly.


    "Are you still half-asleep sis?" Lara asked with her usually stoic face.


    ''Oh right, we''re in the middle of an adventure.'' Lisa finally remembered what they were doing as she sped up.


    "Sorry about that, so how long do we need to walk again to reach the country of the elves?"


    "Based on the map we got from the dragon''sir it would take half a day. But if you keep on daydreaming like that it might take us a whole day." Ren replied while shrugging his shoulders.


    "I said I''m sorry already. Come on let''s just keep on going." Lisa answered while pouting.


    "Hey, you might still be a bit groggy from what happenedst night. So here take my hand." Valdel walked beside Lisa and showed her his hand. Lisa looked at him and smiled as she held onto his hand.


    The four childhood friends continued walking onto their next adventure.


    ...


    The maid who was pounding at Lisa was finally able to calm herself. She then looked at Lisa''s dead body and what she saw irritated her. The maid was sure that while Lisa was dying she was showing a horrified look, but now she was actually showing a bright smile. Her final expression as she was about to face death was a smile on her face.


    ...


    Lara was practicing her close-quarterbat skills with Hilda and the other girls. In the middle of the spar the girls who were helping Lara stopped and looked at Lara with shock and worry.


    "Lara, are you crying?" Hilda asked surprised and confused. Lara hearing what Hilda said and seeing the look the others were giving her touched her face. Sure enough, she was actually crying.


    "Huh? Why?" Lara didn''t know why but her tears just won''t stop.

 Chapter 216 Ren’s hear

    <h4>Chapter 216 Ren''s hear</h4>


    In a room inside the mansion of the Regalcrags, a group of people had gathered. The atmosphere was heavy as the people from the vige described what had happened. Valdel was seething with rage as he listened to the vigers'' story. Lara, on the other hand, was emitting bloodlust that made the people shudder in fear. The two were obviously angry and their rage was not something just anyone could handle.


    Yet the people present weren''t that worried about the two, what was important was the person sitting quietly at the back. Ren was simply listening with his eyes closed. He wasn''t saying anything, he wasn''t even emitting that overwhelming pressure he usually has. He wasn''t reacting at all which made the whole experience even scarier for those who knew what kind of monster he was.


    While everyone''s attention was on how Ren would react, Lara and Valdel could no longer hold it in and were about to charge outside. It was at that moment, without even seeing him move from his spot Ren made both of his childhood friends faint.


    Though no one saw him move and all everyone saw was Lara and Valdel fainting, everyone present knew that Ren must''ve done something. This caused everyone to tremble slightly, now that the two people that could stop him were unconscious those present grew even more fearful.


    They were now expecting an outburst of rage and sorrow from Ren. But instead, they were surprised to see Ren looking ever so calm. This just made everyone even more nervous.


    "Bring them to their rooms." After saying that one line Ren left the room.


    ...


    Ren headed towards the room were his mother and little brother were staying in. When he got to the room, his mother Milly was still asleep. On the other hand, his little brother Kurt was crying very hard while being carried by one of the maids in the mansion.


    Despite the noise, Milly continued to sleep. The trauma of what happened had taken a great toll on her. Seeing his human mother turn into that, Ren could feel a torrent of emotions swirling within him.


    Ren observed the two for a bit more and then spoke to Silika via their mental link.


    ''Silika I want you to stay here and guard them.''


    ''As you wish.'' After hearing Silika''s response Ren disappeared from her sight. The moment Ren was gone Silika dropped down to her knees and started to gasp for air. She who had existed for a very long time was now feeling a long-forgotten emotion, she was feeling actual fear.


    She was assaulted by Ren''s multiple emotions swirling within him. Since she and he were linked through the soul, she felt it the darkness deep within.


    ...


    Harold who was still pissed by the verdict given to him by his peers was drinking in his shop. As he was about to take another sip, somebody suddenly entered and grasped his neck. Harold tried to free himself from the one who was gripping him when suddenly he felt an immense feeling of dreade over him. He finally saw who was gripping his neck, it was none other than the person he believes to be his ancestor, Ren.


    "Who are you?! Release my lord at once!" Oliver who entered the room to serve Harold some snacks saw his master being assaulted. Without thinking much about it Oliver quickly moved to attack but he then found himself unable to move.


    ...


    "*Cough* My esteemed *cough* Ancestor... To what do I owe the pleasure?" Even though he was being strangled by Ren, Harold remained respectful.


    "One of yourpatriots a demon wearing a maid uniform attacked the vige I used to live in. Tell me who she is and why she attacked the vige." It was easy for Ren to deduce that Harold had something to do with this since the vigers had some mana residue that had an inkling of demonic origin.


    "She''s Krystal, one *cough* of the demons with great power that came out with me. She must''ve attacked the vige either because it was nned, or she got bored."


    "So there are more of your ilk prancing around?" Ren tightened his grip which made Harold''s face pale even more.


    Harold wanted to answer but he was chocking harder than he thought. He simply made some whizzing sounds. When Ren saw Harold''s reaction he loosened his grip a bit.


    "Tell me, where they''re hiding."


    "Thest I heard was they were in the mage''s tower of the supposed Grand Mage of the Serbek Kingdom." When Ren heard the answer he wanted to hear he let go of Harold.


    "Are you not going to ask what we are nning to do?" Ren who was about to leave heard Harold''s question and looked back.


    "What''s the use in asking such a thing, if all yourpanions are dead." Harold shivered in both fear and awe of Ren. He didn''t even bother to say going to die, he simply stated that Harold''spanions were already dead.


    "Are you not going to kill me?" This time Ren didn''t respond to Harold''s question and left. When Ren''s presence could no longer be felt, Oliver was finally able to move.


    "Are you alright my lord?"


    "I''m alive at least," Harold answered indifferently. He then looked at the direction of where the mage''s tower was and smiled a bit.


    ''You fools, now you''re going to learn the truth, but the price to pay will be your lives.''


    ...


    Ren who started running at full speed was now heading to Carto vige. Unlike before it only took him a few hours to reach Carto vige. Upon nearing the vige he smelled the familiar scent of blood. He saw the bodies of adventurers and vigers scattered about, and as he continued running he saw the body of a very familiar person. The body no longer had any head to distinguish who it was, but Ren knew immediately the body thaty before him was that of his father.


    He felt his heart aching as he gently picked up the body and started walking towards the vige. As he was near the entrance of the vige, he saw the head of his father and beside it was the body of his friend. Lisa was thereying on the ground bruised and full of wounds but even with all that, she had a smile on her face.


    He approached Lisa''s dead body and knelt. He closed Lisa''s eyes and whispered something in her ear. After that, he took the head of his father and aligned it with his dead body. Ren then started to gather the bodies of all the dead vigers and adventurers. Once he was done he used an earth spell to create holes on the ground in which he ced all the dead bodies, except his father''s.


    Ren looked at the body of his dead father and bowed his head. "Thank you for everything." Ren then proceeded to burn his father''s body. As the smoke of the burning body rose up to the sky, a single tear fell from Ren''s cheek as he spoke.


    "Dead upon the field of glory, Hero fit for song and story. I will remember you for all eternity."

 Chapter 217 Calm yourself

    <h4>Chapter 217 Calm yourself</h4>


    After honoring the dead Ren took one of Lisa''s swords and started running at full speed towards the Serbek Kingdom. As he was running Ren suddenly felt a bit lethargic, he was hearing the voices of his past incarnations but he decided not to listen as he continued onward. Yet the moment he stepped forward Ren was forcefully brought into the realm within his soul. His living body fainted but was releasing mana that defended him from attacks.


    Once inside his soul, Ren was surrounded by ten of his past incarnations four of which he recognized. There was, of course, Leonard tranor, the other three were Rei Kuraki, Edge Regius, and the original incarnation the one whose name has been lost in the passage of time. The others don''t seem to be pushovers as well.


    "What are you doing? Why did you force me here?" Though Ren was talking with a calm voice, he was anything but calm.


    "Ren, we understand the pain you are going through at the moment. We all have the same experiences of loss, but we want you to cool your head a bit." Leonard was the first to speak among the present incarnations.


    "You understand my pain?! I have witnessed thousands upon thousands of deaths. I have buried many of those close to me. I have been assaulted in every form. Yet none of those have given me such pain as I feel right now. Such anger, that I wish for nothing but the deaths of those who took from me!" Ren shouted at his past incarnations.


    "How foolish, for one that has lived for far longer than most you are such a fool. Do you think that you''re the only one to receive such pain? Do you think that you''re the only one suffering? You''re such a hypocrite." One of the unknown incarnations spoke.


    "Fine, I''m a fool! But I don''t care if I''m the biggest fool of them all! If it means that I can quench this thirst for vengeance, then I will be the fool you speak of."


    "Even this side of you we understand, for you, are us and we are you. We have all done foolish things in our respective lives, and the reason for it was no different from yours. But this time is a bit different and we cannot allow you to make this move." Another incarnation chimed in.


    "You people are such hypocrites! As expected of my past incarnations! Nothing but selfish hypocrites! Tell me if you were in my position would you have done differently?!" Ren looked at each incarnation present and each one of them didn''t blink as they stared back at Ren. Seeing as none of them was responding, Ren began tough.


    "HAHAHA! I knew it, nothing but hypocrites! You people that have defied the very nature of destiny! You people that have charged forward with smiles on your faces as you face your inevitable demise! You people are like me fools without a cure! How dare you stop me from doing this!"


    "Ren is right aren''t we all the same as he?" Leonard happily stood beside Ren.


    "Yes once upon a time we were the same as him. No, aren''t we still the same fools, that wish nothing more than to change fate itself." One of the unknown incarnations sided with Ren.


    "I''m sorry, but I cannot allow I repeat of what happened before." Rei Kuraki spoke with resolve. The other incarnations gave out their opinions as well. Four of the incarnations sided with Ren, while the other six stood to oppose him.


    When the tension of both sides was on the rise, and each one of them looked about ready to fight, the original finally spoke.


    "Enough!" The voice of the original was not loud but it echoed in everyone''s ear. It was a voice full of authority and resolve.


    "As I said before, usually I wouldn''t care what you do. But knowing that the ORIGIN is moving in this timeline, I cannot allow any mishaps to happen to you. With your current strength, you might be able to subdue those demons. Yet at the same time, you might also lose. You might think that you''re powerful enough to handle this situation, but against opponents like those, you still have a chance of dying. I cannot riks your death while the ORIGIN is active."


    "Hmph, if you and I are really one and the same, then you know that a little bit of risk such as that won''t ever rattle me. Also this mission regarding the ORIGIN it''s your mission, not mine. You might be the originator of our soul, you might be the basis of all of our personalities and abilities, but you and I are still different people. I have my own will and my own values! I''m not a puppet that bends to your will!"


    When the past incarnations heard what Ren said they were all jolted awake. Even the original felt like his face was pped and startedughing a wildugh. On the other hand, all the other incarnations showed a vicious smile.


    "I see! Of course, of course! How could I forget, obviously you are not a puppet that bends to my will, none of you are. We might all be the same, but we are still different. You''re right, you are the current incarnation so it is your choice, not mine on how our fates will unfold. Such a simple thing, but I have forgotten it. Very well, we shall dy you no longer. Seek out retribution if that is your wish."


    Once the original said those words, Ren was finally able to leave his soul realm and once again started running towards the Serbek Kingdom.


    ...


    The ten strongest incarnations stood in front of each other waiting for the original to speak. "It would seem that the weakening of our soul, is affecting even our minds. I can''t believe that I actually thought of suppressing the current incarnation."


    "I see, so that''s what''s happening." Edge Regius looked a bit worried as he spoke.


    "I know this was going to happen sooner orter, but knowing that the end is truly near, makes me a bit relieved."


    "I just hope that we''re able to fight until thest fragment of our soul fades."


    "There''s no doubting that. Isn''t fighting until the bitter end, just our normal routine. Going out with a smile on our faces suits us just fine."

 Chapter 218 Why do you disobey?

    <h4>Chapter 218 Why do you disobey?</h4>


    While Ren was running towards the Serbek Kingdom, Willmont the warrior king of Reschbeauch was finishing off another soldier from the Serbek Kingdom. It has been weeks since he went to the Southern border to defend from the supposed full-scale invasion of the Serbek Kingdom. But the moment he arrived until to this day, they had only been some small skirmishes here and there.


    Also every time he decides to return to the capital the enemy forces show signs of attacking in full force. Not only that Willmont also noticed something weird, among the soldiers of the Serbek Kingdom there, seem to be some demons mixed in.


    ''Demons... It can''t be those cowards that hide in that little kingdom of theirs. Another force? Either the demons are regaining their former pride, or someone is controlling them. Either way, it''s obvious what there n here is. They''re trying to make me stay away from the capital. Seeing as there have been no reportsing back, something is definitely happening in the capital. Even if I want to go back and check on the situation, I can''t leave because the threat here is real. They''re actually using a whole army as bait... So they had me at checkmate since the beginning.''


    King Willmont clicked his tongue and sighed as he looked at the direction of the capital. He had no choice but to trust his foolish sons to protect the Kingdom. He couldn''t help but shake his head at the thought.


    As he was thinking of countermeasures, King Willmont suddenly felt an oppressive aura approaching him. He turned around and saw someone dragging the bodies of five men with a rope. The person who was dragging the men was a young man with tattered clothes that revealed his toned body. It would seem that he had battled the five he was dragging, but aside from his clothes, there was no indicator of said battle. His body had no visible wounds, not even a bruise could be seen.


    As King Willmont was looking at the intruder, he finally noticed who the five bodies were. It was his most loyal retainers, the ones that guard him at all times. The five most powerful masters under his service.


    "Heya, Kingy I heard you''re one the most powerful warrior among the humans. I hope you''re better than that old man that calls himself the Grand Mage or whatever. Oh, what are you ring at? These guys, well I decided to y with them a bit since they might get in the way of our fight. Don''t worry I won''t kill them since we need powerful humans. Oops, I wasn''t supposed to say that. Well, it doesn''t matter since I''ll kill you and these weaklings. Soe at me and show me your strength" The youth then taunted the King to attack.


    "I thought that you need powerful humans, then why do you want to kill me?" The King asked while looking around signaling his men to retreat.


    "Hmmm?" The youth tilted his head before answering. "Oh, you misunderstood, sorry about that. What I meant was we want strong humans that we can control. You and that old man aren''t humans that we can control, right?"


    "I see... Then before you kill me can I ask you a question?"


    "Sure, why not."


    "You''re saying that you want to enve humans, am I too assume you aren''t human?"


    "Of course, I ain''t something lowly like a human. I''m a proud demon!"


    "Aren''t demons those that want to be friends with all races? Are you perhaps a deviant of sorts?" The moment King Willmont spoke of demons being friendly with other races the youth''s facial expression changed.


    "THOSE GUTLESS THINGS AREN''T DEMONS! Friends with other races? Friends with those inferior races? Those races that are greedy hypocrites that kept on suppressing us? HAHAHA, that''s the sh*tiest joke I have ever heard! Enough talk time for you to die!"


    ...


    At the same time, King Willmont was about to face the young demon, Ren was finally nearing the capital city of the Serbek Kingdom.


    It took Ren a full day before he reached the Serbek Kingdom. Even though he was filled with rage, he couldn''t help but notice theck of soldiers patrolling the area. No, it wasn''t just soldiers, not even animals nor monsters in the surrounding area.


    As Ren continued to run without pause, he finally spotted someone and that person was blocking his path. Ren was about to pass by, but then he felt a very ominous presenceing from the person in front of him.


    Ren stopped running and looked at the man blocking his path. The aura the man was emitting felt simr to something Ren had encountered before. Ren who was confused at first until he finally remembered where he felt that aura before.


    The being that even his powerful incarnations consider a threat. No, it was the only being his incarnations even considered as an enemy. The one true threat to all of his incarnations.


    "The ORIGIN." The man that was possessed by the ORIGIN nodded his head.


    "Yes, it is I, my disobedient son." Hearing the response of the person being possessed, Ren became cautious. Ren quickly covered his whole body with Spirit Aura and gathered his mana onto the tips of his fingertips.


    "Are you behind this?"


    "Of course not, I do not need to scheme or y these games with you. I know such things don''t work on you my son. The most courageous, the most vicious, the strongest, most powerful son I have ever created. Such petty squabbles among these lesser children should''ve been beneath you. Yet here you stand as always trying to join in. You should know why I''m here more than anyone. I''m here to help out these lesser brothers of yours, a game between my children should always be fair. But the moment you step into the game, the game can no longer be called fair. So as the parent of all of you, I came to make the game a bit more fair for your lesser brothers."


    "What the heck are you saying? You keep on yapping on and on about me being your son, but I don''t have a parent like you. My only parents are my honorable father Matias, and my loving mother Milly."


    After Ren said that the ORIGIN stopped talking for a moment. After a few minutes passed, the ORIGIN sighed before speaking.


    "Why do you always disobey me?"


    "Huh?"


    "Every time we meet, all you do is disobey me. From the time I created you, to all your subsequent changes. All you have done is disobey me. Even though in every lifetime, you always meet a tragic end. Even though you know full well thating back to me, will end you suffering. Even knowing all that you continue to disobey me."


    As the ORIGIN continued talking, the mana of the body he possessed started to rise.


    "Always the disobedient child. No matter what form you take, that trait of yours that always tries to defy me makes you the naughtiest child of all. Before I make the game a bit fair, it''s time for a little punishment."

 Chapter 219 ...

    <h4>Chapter 219 ...</h4>


    Ren was facing off against the supposed true enemy of his past incarnations the ORIGIN. Well, it wasn''t really its true body but was using the body of a random stranger. Yet even though the person in front of him was a normal looking person Ren didn''t let his guard down. When the ORIGIN said he would punish Ren the past incarnations within his soul started telling him to relinquish control of his body to one of them. Due to him being conscious it was harder to take hold of his body so they needed his permission.


    Ren, of course, wouldn''t allow such a thing to happen. Even though at the moment he was filled with rage and other emotions he normally wouldn''t have, the excitement of battle still trumped all. The feeling of facing an opponent of equal strength was exciting enough, but to face an opponent that made you feel that you had no hope of winning was a thrill on a whole other level.


    The other incarnations also felt the same way when they first encountered the puppet controlled by the ORIGIN. Yet despite their excitement, they still retained a bit of calm, since unlike Ren, they knew and understood the bigger picture. They really understood his feelings but the current situation shouldn''t be taken lightly.


    Though there has never been a time when the ORIGIN would kill a reincarnation of the original which it calls its son. Usually, the ones that had killed the past incarnations would either be the seeds or a representative of the ORIGIN.


    So in their conclusion when the ORIGIN appears it has never killed a past incarnation, so the group knew that Ren wouldn''t be killed. But of course, the ORIGIN wasn''t something that was that predictable. There was still a chance that it would finish them off, there was also a chance that it would do something worse than killing them. The mere thought of joining the cycle of destiny once more, made the original incarnation feel a bit agitated. So he and the other past incarnations inside of Ren''s soul tried their hardest to persuade Ren.


    ...


    While Ren was zoning out the shouts of his past incarnations, his body was tensing up because of the aura the puppet of the ORIGIN was emitting. Ren who was riddled with confusion, anger, and other negative emotions cast them all aside as he faced this powerful foe. Since the opponent was more powerful than him, waiting for a chance to counterattack was the best option. But obviously that wasn''t his style. So with no more hesitation, Ren gleefully charged forward and attacked the ORIGIN.


    Ren who enveloped himself with Spirit Aura was now also d with a fair amount of mana. He has never practiced it before but the moment he felt like he could merge the two different power sources into one, Ren simply did it and it worked. This was because from within his soul the past incarnations were trying to assist him in any way they can. Since Ren wouldn''t let them use his body, this was the only support they can give.


    The ORIGIN unperturbed by Ren''s sudden assault dodged to the side with the least possible movement. He then proceeded to try and grab hold of Ren''s right hand which was stretched out. Ren quickly retracted his arm and was about to do a low spinning sweep kick, but then he felt the ground was being filled with mana. Ren quickly backed away as spikes of earth filled the ground from where he stood.


    As he continued to evade the spikes of earth Ren finally noticed that his legs were freezing over, Ren then countered by using a simple [Fire] spell and attacked his legs. Ren continued to move around as he activated the [Shadow Bind] Technique but that too failed to do anything. The ORIGIN simply used an unknown form of power to counter the [Shadow Bind].


    As his technique was rendered ineffective Ren remembered where he felt a simr power before. That power felt oddly simr to what the original incarnation used when he initiated his sword technique.


    Ren was about to use another spell but before he could do so, he saw the ORIGIN disappear from his view. Ren by instinct ducked, saw a passing hand caught it and did a shoulder throw.


    "As expected of you my son. Even in this weak form of yours, you can still put up a bit of a fight."


    "Are you looking down on me, you haven''t even gotten serious yet! You''re just ying around. If you were really serious then destroying this puny continent would only require you to flex your pinky finger. I do not need your pity, show me what you got!" Based on what Ren saw the original incarnation did with one sword strike, he could deduce a little bit of the ORIGIN''s true strength. Since the ORIGIN was someone that even that powerful original incarnation of his was wary of, that would mean the ORIGIN was his equal or above him.


    "Well, even I have my limitations since my true form is unable to descend in this dimension for the time being. I was in the middle of punishing you for being such a naughty son. But since I no longer think that is needed I shallply with your request. Since my son has requested it, then as a parent I should respond."


    The moment the ORIGIN spoke those words, he moved a single step and the very ground shook. Not only that Ren saw the earth was actually splitting in half. That was just one step of the ORIGIN, he was not even doing anything special.


    The ORIGIN then extended his hand and pointed it at Ren. Though he was still a few meters away from him, Ren couldn''t take any chances and quickly evaded. Yet even as he tried to evade Ren was still caught by an invisible force.


    Ren struggled with all his might to free himself but it was to no avail. He used different spells and techniques, but in the face of this unknown force and power, he couldn''t do a thing. Even though he didn''t want to, Ren was about to ask a bit of help from his past incarnations, but before he could do anything he was hit by the ORIGIN. The moment he was hit Ren had his eyes wide open in shock. The connection he had to his soul was gone. His soul was still there, but he could no longermunicate with his past incarnations.


    "I changed my mind, I will punish you as well as show you what you want to see." When the ORIGIN said those words, Ren felt an emotion that he or any of his incarnations never felt before. He was now feeling pure unadulterated fear.


    The ORIGIN ced his palm onto the ground and within a second everything exploded. Just like that the whole disappeared. Ren who was trying to process what he just witnessed heard the ORIGIN''s voice.


    "I''m sorry I couldn''t show you what I could do. That was weaker than I remembered it to be. Well, it doesn''t matter... Oh, you did it again my son. So we''re going to y hide and seek once more." The ORIGIN looked at Ren''s body as it finally noticed that Ren had killed himself, by making his mana implode inside of him. Since he knew what was toe, Ren decided to bet on the next reincarnation.

 Chapter 220 Warrior King Willmon

    <h4>Chapter 220 Warrior King Willmon</h4>


    As Ren was facing the ORIGIN parallel to this, in the Southern borders of the Reschbeauch Kingdom King Willmont was facing his strongest foe yet. Without any hesitation, the King took out the two heirloom weapons of the royal family of Reschbeauch.


    The sword was given to his family by a hero from another world, the other worlder called it the baster sword. It was an enormous broadsword. From tip to handle, it is approximately five to six feet long, with a single-edgedrge de approximately one foot wide. There were two holes near the handguard, which the other worlder said was a ce to put great power into it.


    Though none of the kings of the past could understand what this great power was, it didn''t diminish how strong the sword was. The other worlder was the one who created the sword and called it as such. When asked why he named it so, the other world hero replied: \"It was from a game I loved as a child.\"


    The other heirloom was a staff, that looked like a simple stick but it was anything but. This staff was created by a great alchemist from the distant past. The name of the alchemist has been lost in time. But the tale of how he handed the staff to the first king of Reschbeauch was still intact.


    The staff was worthless to anyone but the royal line of Reschbeauch since it converts there bloodline ability into mana. This allowed the Reschbeauch royalty who had almost nonexistent mana supplies to be able to use spells.


    The person in front of the king who was irritated moments ago was now looking at Willmont with renewed curiosity. As someone with a demon lineage, the man could sense the subtle changes in mana. The weapons that Willmont brought forth had interesting mana fluctuations, which rekindled the excitement the man had in facing Willmont.


    \"After I kill you kingy, I think I''ll take those weapons of yours as trophies.\" Before Willmont could respond the man moved and got behind him. Willmont was able to follow the man''s movement and blocked with the baster sword. A dull ng could be heard as the sword and nails shed.


    Willmont then raised the staff high into the air and summoned lightning that came down from above. The man was able to evade the lightning strike, but this time Willmont was able to get behind him and struck with the baster sword.


    The man then quickly evaded the strike by jumping forward and rolling on the ground. Willmont didn''t allow the man to have any breathing space as he quickly followed through his assault. After a few more shes Willmont had the man cornered, it was then something different happened.


    The man took off one of the rings in his fingers. Willmont didn''t understand what that was for, but this gave him the perfect opportunity to get a strike in. Yet as he shed down at the man, Willmont''s de was stopped.


    Willmont seeing something was happening quickly backed away and saw what had stopped his de strike. The man who looked like a normal human being had now two de-like bones extending out of his wrists. That wasn''t the only difference the man''s body had, now there were two bone-like thingsing out of his back that were shaped like spider legs.


    \"You''re pretty good Kingy, you actually forced me to show you a bit of my true form. That man called the Grand Mage or whatever was too prideful and full of openings. Well, he was also too old to be able to y around with me. You on the other hand, with those weapons at hand, are awesome. Out of respect to your skills human, I will grant you the honor of hearing my name. I''m the descendent of the demon General Namor, the second inmand of the great demon lord''s armies, my name is Amon.\"


    After announcing his name in a grand fashion, Amon started walking towards Willmont. Even as the enemy approached Willmont remained steady and didn''t move an inch. When Amon got near enough to Willmont that extending his arms he would be able to touch the king, he spoke.


    \"Let''s start this in a more proper way, shall we. I Amon descendant of General Namor stand before you ready for battle. Now human king state your name.\"


    Even though Willmont couldn''t keep up with the changes in personality Amon was going through, he still responded in kind.


    \"I King Willmont Reschbeauch stand before you ready for battle.\" He didn''t know if those were the correct words in response, but Willmont saw Amon smile a bit. After the two gave their names, the battle restarted.


    In his new form, Willmont was having difficulty blocking Amon''s attacks. The attacks came from all directions, using his new limbs as des that could attack in any direction made fighting Amon difficult for the Willmont.


    After a few exchanges, Willmont knew that he was no match for Amon. Once he came to that conclusion Willmont decided to risk it all in one attack containing all the power he had. Sensing the change in Willmont, Amon backed away and smiled as he started gathering mana into a single point of his de-like limbs.


    Willmont raised his sword above his head and waited for Amon to charge at him. As if able to read Willmont''s mind Amon epted the challenge and charged forward. Seeing the demon in front of him adhere to warrior etiquette made Willmont smile as he unleashed the strongest and fastest attack he could muster at the moment.


    The charging Amon passed by Willmont and the two stoodpletely still for a few seconds.


    \"Heh, you really were pretty good for a human.\" One of Amon''s spider-like limbs were cut off and a part of his neck was bleeding.


    \"It was an honor to have faced an opponent such as you.\" The king smiled for onest time before revealing that his body had been cleanly cut vertically. Amon looked at the fleeing soldiers at the distance and turned around as he picked up Willmont''s sword and staff. Once he got the weapons and picked up the five loyal retainers of Willmont, Amon left without chasing any of the fleeing soldiers.

 Chapter 221 Restar

    <h4>Chapter 221 Restar</h4>


    Ren who has been fighting the ORIGIN for a few minutes was covered in bruises. Though he gave it all he got, not once in the entire fight did he get a hit in. Ren licked the side of his lip that was bleeding. He didn''t look panicked as he tried different ways of attacking the ORIGIN.


    Still no matter what he did everything seems to be ineffective. Since none of his usual attacks were working, and Ren couldn''t talk to his past incarnations, Ren started to create new techniques on the spot.


    If this doesn''t work, then I should do this. If that doesn''t work at this angle, then I should move onto this angle. Ren started to experiment on new ways to attack, and he was doing this while fighting against an opponent many times stronger than him.


    ...


    The ORIGIN for some reason didn''t end the fight as quickly as it could have. It was like the ORIGIN was allowing Ren to do whatever he wanted. Not only was he never using his true power, but all the attacks he unleashed were non-lethal.


    \"This game has gone far enough my son.\" The ORIGIN spoke as he evaded another one of Ren''s attack and caught him by the neck.


    \"Then finish me off! Kill me!\" Ren who was trying to pull the ORIGIN''s hand away was unable to even move one of its fingers. He then tried to kick the ORIGIN while he was being held up, it was then the ORIGIN let go and backed away a bit. Seeing that reaction Ren didn''t know if he should be happy or irritated.


    \"You can''t kill me, can you? I don''t know if it''s because you think I''m your son or something else entirely. But my past incarnations that I know off, have never been killed by you directly. It was either by someone you nted with a seed or a chosen messenger of some sort. It was always ackey that would force my past incarnations to their end. It has never been you, or those possessed by you that killed my past incarnations.\"


    The ORIGIN became silent for a bit and sighed. Ren then felt something changed, but he couldn''t pinpoint what it was. As his body tensed up the ORIGIN extended its right hand towards Ren. Even though there was quite a distance between them, Ren knew that this was the same strike it used to capture him moments ago. Ren didn''t understand how the attack worked since the power used was something he only encountered once back when the original incarnation used it to do a sword strike. So to evade Ren tried to move as quickly as possible to the side, but same as before it was pretty useless to do so. The ORIGIN was still able to catch him quite easily.


    Once again he was floating up in the air being held by an invisible force. Ren was about to do the same thing he did to escape the first time, but before he could unleash his counterattack, the ORIGIN lifted his left hand and made a grabbing motion.


    Ren could feel his right hand being grabbed by the wrist. It was a weird feeling seeing his opponent grabbing onto the air from a distance and still being able to touch him. It would seem like the ORIGIN''s attacks were truly unavoidable.


    Ren whose right hand was grabbed quickly gathered a bit of mana in his left hand, and as he was about to cast a spell, the ORIGIN started pulling his right arm. It was a slow pull, making the sound of tearing flesh sound awful.


    Though his whole right arm was torn off, Ren didn''t scream as he continued to gather mana onto his left hand.


    \"It is true that I cannot kill you, but I can harm you. So-\" While the ORIGIN was talking, Ren was able to gather enough mana to cast a [firence]. When the ORIGIN evaded the spell with rtive ease, its grip on Ren loosened giving Ren enough time to back away for a bit.


    Ren tried to get a bit of a distance from the ORIGIN so that he could figure out a way to evade the ORIGIN''s attacks. Yet as Ren backed away the ORIGIN was able to get behind him and grabbed hold of Ren''s left arm and easily tore it off the same as it did to Ren''s right hand.


    Now Ren was armless but that wasn''t enough for him to despair as he started to show that vicious smile of his.


    \"You tore off both my arms, big deal. Do you think this scares me? Even if you rip apart my whole body as long as I''m alive, I will fight! As long as I haven''t lost, I will find a way to win! If you let your guard down even one bit, I will bite you down!\"


    As Ren''s excitement was rising, he suddenly felt something and looked at his side where his hand should be. To his surprise, the hands that were torn off havee back good as new.


    \"Foolish son, don''t you see that I can easily torture you. Even if I can''t kill you, I can hurt you to the point that a normal human would go insane.\"


    \"Do you think doing something like that can break me?!\"


    Hearing Ren''s answer the ORIGIN shook its head and sighed. \"Of course, I know that you wouldn''t break from something like that. You who have continued fighting cannot break that easily... I don''t know what the others in your soul said about me, but I truly only wish for bnce and order. Even though your current self is truly weak, against the others it is truly unfair. So for now since you don''t want to listen to me, I''m going to take you out of the game for a while.\"


    The ORIGIN suddenly appeared in front of Ren and before he could react the ORIGIN poked his head with a finger. Once that was done to him, Ren had visions of his past from being Demon Lord Kretos until he became his current self. After seeing all those visions go through his mind, Ren fainted.

 Chapter 222 Kerrolan Fores

    <h4>Chapter 222 Kerrn Fores</h4>


    is In a tavern inside the adventurers guild within the capital city of the Serbek Kingdom, a very weak-looking boy was waiting for his turn to be called by the receptionist. This boy was wearing the uniform of the famous Mages school, Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane.


    While he was waiting, the boy could hear various rumors being spread, as people who were gossiping left and right could be heard.


    \"Did you hear that those idiots from the Reschbeauch Kingdom are saying we''re being controlled by Demons. How can those wimpy demons that only talk about love and peace be controlling this Kingdom behind the scenes?\"


    \"What kinds of nonsense is that? Well, that''s not as bad as the new king of Reschbeauch proiming that the Grand Mage is dead. We just saw himst week telling us not to believe the utter nonsense the people from Reschbeauch are saying.\"


    ...


    \"I heard another mercenarypany has been wiped out by that rumored adventurer from Reschbeauch. I think people call her by the nickname silent death.\"


    \"Well, she isn''t the only one in the rumors. Different beautiful maidens from Reschbeauch seem to be killing our soldiers at the borders.\"


    \"Do you think it''s not toote to defect to the Reschbeauch kingdom? It seems like they have an abundance of beautifuldies.\"


    \"Well, it is true that the rumors state that they are beautiful, but at the same time they''re all crazy. They keep on saying that our Kingdom is being controlled in the Shadows by some demons. Also, they keep on moring to hand over some guy, I think he was called Len, Zen, Hen I can''t really remember the name.\"


    ...


    The weak-looking student that was waiting for his turn to be called couldn''t help but notice that everyone seem to act so casually about the crisis their kingdom was going through. The crazy maidens that they were calling beautiful were slowly infiltrating the Kingdom and it took the entire elite forces of the Kingdom to be able to stop them.


    Also even though the rumor was crazy, but it was true that the Grand Mage has been acting weird as ofte. He has been too aggressive in promoting to not only go to war with the kingdom of Reschbeauch but all of the neighboring kingdoms as well. He even publicly insulted the king and called him a coward.


    \"Mr. Afeus,\" As he was thinking, the weak-looking student finally heard his name being called and headed to the receptionist that called him.


    \"Yes, that''s me.\" He raised his arm as he hurriedly walked towards the receptionist. The guild receptionist was a kind-looking woman who warmly smiled at Afeus.


    \"How can I help you today sir?\"


    \"I want to post an immediate quest.\"


    \"Certainly sir, what kind of quest do you want to post?\"


    \"I just want someone to pick up some materials from the Kerrn Woods.\" Upon mentioning the Kerrn Woods the receptionist''s eyebrows twitch a bit.


    \"I''m sorry sir, due to the increase of numerous A rank monsters in the vicinity it would be near impossible to hire adventurers to head to the Kerrn Woods. For the standard pay of an immediate quest, no decent adventurer would take it.\"


    \"Is there no other way?\" Afeus looked at the receptionist in desperation. Seeing that look of pure desperation in a mage student''s face wasn''t anything new but for some reason Afeus whole demeanor made the receptionist want to somehow help him. It might be because unlike the other students, Afeus didn''t have that haughty look and aura that seem to be looking down on everyone else.


    \"I can still post your quest and see if someone picks it up, but depending on the price it is highly unlikely anypetent adventurer would take your quest. It is possible that some young new adventurers would jump at such a quest, but due to how powerful the monsters are in that area they''ll most likely be unable to finish the quest. So how much exactly are you willing to pay?\"


    \"I only have around ten white gold coins. That''s everything I have on me.\"


    \"I''m sorry to say but that isn''t near enough payment for the quest that you want to post. At a minimum, you would need at least forty white gold coins.\"


    ''Forty?!'' Afeus couldn''t believe his ears, just for the simple job of gathering a few materials would cost him so many white gold coins, which was enough to buy a small house near the central district.


    \"Is there really no other way?\"


    \"The only other ways that I know of, is if you cant talk directly to the adventurers and see if you can convince some of them to do your quest with the amount of money you can give. The other possibility would be to hire mercenaries, but that might actually cost you more.\"


    \"I see... Thank you for the advice...\" Knowing that neither option was usible Afeus left the adventurers guild dejected.


    ...


    ''Damn it, what should I do? I can''t finish my thesis without those materials. If professor Epius finds out that I have nothing, I''m really going to fail his ss. I can''t afford to fail another ss... If I get kicked out now, I''ll lose everything! It''s either I fail and lose everything, or I can get the materials myself and pass the ss... She did say a lot of powerful monsters have been showing uptely... Well, whatever what''s the worst that could happen, dying?''


    After motivating himself to go Afeus went back to his dorm room got a bag and headed out to the Kerrn Woods.


    ...


    A few minutes upon entering Afeus was already running for his life. A pack of monsters were now chasing him. He wasn''t even able to determine what kind of monsters were chasing him as he continued to run around the forest.


    \"Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!\"Afeus kept on repeating those words as he gritted his teeth trying to run faster. At first, he tried to attack using a spell, but he was unable to concentrate and circte his mana properly. So instead he desperately prayed to every deity he knew off and tried to force his legs to move faster.


    ...


    It took everything he got but Afeus was finally able to ditch the monsters that were chasing him. He then hid behind a tree as he was trying to calm himself. While trying his best to remain calm and think of a way out of his current predicament, Afeus knelt on the ground and felt something weird.


    The moment Afeus looked at the ground he was so surprised he almost screamed. With all the effort he could muster at the moment, Afeus was able to stop himself from screaming. He looked at the ground again and rubbed his eyes. Yet no matter how hard he rubbed his eyes the thing he saw wasn''t disappearing.


    ''So I''m not hallucinating, there really is a human body here in the middle of the forest.'' On the ground,y the body of a young man. Not only was it weird to find a body in the middle of the forest, but it was weirder still that the body was still fully intact. In a forest infested with man-eating monsters, it was a miracle that this body was so well preserved.


    Afeus who was scared out of his wits a few seconds ago was now overwhelmed by his own curiosity. He started to check on the body and to his surprise, the young man was still alive. Afeus continued to examine the body but found nothing that could tell who the young man was.


    Now that he was able to calm down he finally noticed something weird was going on. He was already spotted by a few monsters but they never attacked. In fact, it would seem that all of the monsters were actively avoiding him. No, it would be more precise to say that the monster were all avoiding the unconscious young man.


    ''Why are they avoiding him? Such powerful monsters and they won''t evene close to an unconscious person. Why are they so afraid of this guy? In the first ce, what is this guy? Why is he here and why won''t he wake up?... Well, in any case, I guess I got lucky and with this guy in tow, I might actually be able to leave this forest alive.''


    After figuring out that the monsters were afraid of the unconscious young man, Afeus decided to bring the young man back to Zouver city. Once he was done deciding what to do, Afeus dragged the young man''s body.


    \"This guy is heavier than I thought.\"


    ...


    While dragging the body through the forest, Afeus was surprised to see the monsters running away from him. It was such a weird experience to see such powerful monsters, who he was running away from at the beginning were now the ones running away from him.

 Chapter 223 Where am I?

    <h4>Chapter 223 Where am I?</h4>


    Afeus was getting tired dragging the unconscious body through the forest, but he had no choice but to do so.


    ''Wait a minute now that I can move around in the forest I can get the materials I need.'' Afeus looked at the young man he was dragging around. '' He is kinda heavy and if I get the materials this trip might get harder... Screw it, I''m already here and a little bit of exercise is good for the body.''


    Afeus turned around and headed in a different direction. He went deeper into the forest where he could find the materials he needed. At first, he was still a bit wary of the monsters since he couldn''t understand for what reason they avoided the unconscious young man. It was possible that there might be a trigger of sorts and if something changes the monsters might attack.


    Yet after heading into the forest and meeting several monsters that were ssified as highly dangerous and seeing them fleeing for their lives, Afeus grew bolder. He went deeper and deeper into the forest now trying to find some rare material that he didn''t really need.


    ...


    After a few hours of picking up materials, Afeus noticed that the sun was going down. He quickly moved and started dragging the unconscious body. Yet unlike before he was carrying more which made it difficult for him to move since he was physically weak. Even with the help of a body strengthening spell, it was a tad harder than he expected.


    While he was dragging the body around, Afeus could hear various howls and roars by the surrounding monsters. He felt unnerved by those horrid sounds he was hearing and sped up. As he continued walking Afeus finally noticed that the monsters in the area had disappeared. Awhile ago they only fled when he passes once he passed through the monster would return to their respective areas, yet now he hasn''t seen a single monster. He could only hear them fighting, eating and howling at the distance which was in his opinion worse than actually seeing them.


    ''Sh*t, if I ever make it out of this ce alive, I won''t ever go out and do fieldwork again. I''m just going to be one of those mages that hole themselves inside their towers. Yup, just doing experiments, ordering around apprentices to gather materials for me. Getting whatever I need in the safety of my own room. Oh, that would be the life. Alright then, it''s decided if I get out of here and after I graduate I''m going to be one of those tower mages. Yup nothing wrong with being a tower mage, and devoting myself to research.''


    Afeus who was daydreaming while pulling the unconscious body stopped moving. He looked ahead of him and was stunned to see a giant bipedal tiger-like monster. It stood around four meters tall, its mouth was wide open showing its razor-sharp fangs. Afeus gulped as he didn''t know what kind of monster was in front of him. Still seeing as it wasn''t avoiding the unconscious young man like the other A rank monsters, would mean one of two things. Either it was so weak that it couldn''t determine the danger the young man posed, or it might be a monster that is so strong that it wasn''t afraid of the unconscious young man.


    ''In the first ce, I don''t really understand why the monsters are afraid of him.'' Though Afeus was trying his best to remain calm, he was already shivering in fear and had peed in his pants. He wanted to run but couldn''t, he didn''t want to leave the unconscious young man. He might not be the kind of guy that would actively seek out people in trouble and help them, but since he was already involved it would leave a bad aftertaste if he left the young man. Also even if he did run there was no guarantee that he would be able to escape the monster in front of him.


    The monster then reached out itsrge hand towards Afeus. Seeing the handing towards him, Afeus gathered all the mana he could muster and created a barrier. Despite his efforts, therge hand of the monster didn''t even flinch as it easily destroyed his barrier.


    Afeus closed his eyes as he stood in front of the unconscious body. He didn''t know why he did it as it was already hopeless even if he blocks the initial attack. Yet he moved since he felt that he owed the young man for all the materials he was able to gather today.


    ''Well, I guess this is it. At least I won''t need to study my butt off anymore.'' Afeus waited for the hand of the monster to squeeze him to death, yet after a few more seconds of waiting nothing happened. Afeus then opened his eyes and saw the monster had moved. The monster had backed a meter away from him. It was now on all fours baring its fangs as if it was trying to show that it wasn''t afraid. It was at that moment he felt a terrifying presence behind him. He might not understand the feeling of bloodlust, but Afeus was sure that was what the being behind him was emitting.


    If the monster in front of him made him shiver in fright, the one behind him made him feel utter despair as Afeus couldn''t even breathe properly at the moment.


    He heard the sound of footsteps from behind. Afeus remained perfectly still, and at the corner of his eyes, he saw who was emitting such a horrifying presence. It was none other than the young man who was unconscious mere seconds ago.


    The young man looked a bit annoyed as he scratched his head while looking at the monster at the front. He then looked at Afeus, and asked, \"Where am I? Who are you?... Who am I?...\" While the young man was confused the monster roared. Seeing as the young man showed his back, the monster thought that this was an indication that the young man was afraid. The monster no longer hesitated and attacked.


    \"Watch out!\" Though afraid of the young man, Afeus shouted at him. The young man didn''t even bother to look at the monster as he raised his right arm and grabbed hold of one of the monster ws. The young man then proceeded to lift the giant monster''s body up into the air and then mmed it onto the ground.


    \"You''re f*cking noisy!\" The young man rushed at the fallen monster and kneed the monster''s face. He then proceeded to pound the monster''s chest with his bare fists. Once he was satisfied the young man grabbed the monster''s head and ripped it off its body.


    The monster''s blood sprayed all over the surrounding area but the young man easily dodged the spraying blood. He then looked at Afeus one more time while clutching his head. The young man was about to say something but as he opened his mouth to speak, he once again fainted t on the ground.


    Afeus looked at the young man still overwhelmed by what he saw. During that fight, if you could even call it that. Afeus wasn''t sure which one between the two was the true monster.

 Chapter 224 How to wake him up?

    <h4>Chapter 224 How to wake him up?</h4>


    Afeus looked at the now fallen young man and didn''t understand what he was feeling. Well, obviously there was that fear of the unknown person that showed incredible strength. There was also gratitude for the person that practically saved his life. But more than that he was curious extremely curious about the young man that he found lying deep within the Kerrn forest.


    His curiosity had overpowered his fear as he wanted to know more about the young man. There were so many questions about him, like why was he there, why are the monsters afraid of him, well that question was already answered moments ago, but still, the young man held numerous mysteries within him. As a mage, he was someone who tries to glimpse at the very secrets of the world, Afeus wanted to destroy the shroud of mystery surrounding the young man.


    He slowly approached the young man and poked him a bit, after making sure that the young man was truly unconscious Afeus came closer.


    ''At first nce, this guy looks like a normal human being. He doesn''t have any of the special characteristics other known races have. He could be from some unknown race or he could be a mixed breed.''


    Afeus started to touch the young man''s face, while he was observing the young man Afeus heard the roars of some of the nearby monsters. When he heard those roars he finally remembered what kind of situation he was in.


    Afeus started dragging the young man''s body out of the Kerrn forest. As he was walking through the forest, the reactions of the monsters were the same as before they fled from them. It was already nighttime when Afeus got out of the forest. He then took a few more hours just to get to the gates of the city. Once he was near he remembered that the young man had no identification papers, and during this time because of the war with Reschbeauch, security checks became tighter.


    ''Damn it... I\"m just going to wing it then. I''ve been lucky the whole day so my luck might be able to pull me through.''


    Afeus picked up the young man ced the young man''s hand over his shoulder and walked towards the gatehouse while dragging the young man''s body. Of course one of the guards confronted them.


    \"Who are you, and what''s his problem?\" Afeus quickly showed his papers and his uniform. \"Me and my friend here were attacked by some monsters in the forest while we were gathering materials, most of my friend''s things have been destroyed.\" The guard looked at the two a bit skeptical about what was being said.


    \"Which forest are you talking about, also why were you gathering materials?\" The guard looked at Afeus''s bag.


    \"We have no choice! We were about to fail and be kicked out of school! This was our only chance of passing and we had no money to hire adventurers so we needed to risk it! Its been a hard day for both me and my friend!\" Afeus tried his very best to look as crazy and as desperate as possible. He was thinking about what would happen if he really failed in passing, which made his acting more believable.


    Overwhelmed by Afeus''s emotions and how he was clinging onto him, the guard allowed the two of them to go through. Knowing about how crazy those mage apprentices were when they fail in passing, Afeus''s reaction was pretty tamedpare to the others. Before it escted the guard decided not to get too involved and let them through.


    ...


    Once he was far away from the gatehouse Afeus sighed in relief. He didn''t know if that act would work or not and was ready to use the name of his family he hated so much. That''s how desperate he was, but seeing everything going so well he wondered if he really was that lucky.


    While having that thought Afeus continued to drag the unconscious young man towards his dormitory. It was a good thing that he shared his room with no one and thus could fit this extra body in his room.


    ...


    Upon arriving in his dorm room Afeus gentlyy down the young man on the floor. He then organized all the materials he gathered. Once he was done doing that he sat on his bed and started to think while looking at the young man that was lying on his floor. After some thought, Afeus decided it would be best to just wake up the young man and maybe once the young man was awake most of his questions will be answered.


    Afeus started by shouting excuse me loudly. When that didn''t work he tried pping the young man''s face. When that failed as well he sshed the young man with cold water, then hot water both of which did nothing at all. Afeus then proceeded to do multiple things to try and wake the young man up. At first, he was really just trying to wake him up but then he found it was quite fun doing these random things seeing which one would work.


    Since he was getting louder he drew a spell seal that blocks out sound from one side. After that, he went really crazy and did more experiments on how to wake up the unconscious young man. Yet as he continued to do various things none of them were working.


    \"Why did he wake up then, but not now? What triggered it?...\" Afeus tried to remember everything that happened upon encountering the unconscious young man. No matter how he dragged him or when his body got hit by rocks and other things on the ground the young man never responded. The only time he responded and woke up was when that monster attacked.


    \"He only moved because his life was in danger.\" When Afeus reached this conclusion he decided to act on it. He circted mana into his body and chanted a spell, now all he needed to do was say the activation word.


    \"Why aren''t you moving? Do I really need to hit you?\" Afeus hesitated as he didn''t really want to harm the young man or worse kill him. Still, if he doesn''t do something the young man might be sleeping forever which was no different from death. \"Well, he did do that to that monster, so he might be strong enough to survive this.\"


    Afeus looked at the unconscious young man and since he couldn''t think of any other way he decided to risk it. Afeus then lowered the output of the spell, so that even if the young man gets hit and injured he won''t die.


    \"[Light Pierce]\" A ray of white light shot out of Afeus''s finger and hit the young man. But to Afeus''s surprise, the young man wasn''t affected at all. His clothes had a hole in it but the young man''s body was fine. Seeing that got Afeus even more curious as he proceeded to increase the output of his mana. Yet no matter how much he increased it the young man''s body was unaffected. Afeus nearly drained all of his mana trying this method.


    ''It seems like I''m too weak for him to even notice my attacks. If the only way to wake him up is to make him feel like his life is being threatened then-'' Afeus started thinking of different ways as to how he could wake the young man up. He couldn''t help but smile excitedly as he thought about the numerous experiments he could conduct.

 Chapter 225 I will find him

    <h4>Chapter 225 I will find him</h4>


    While Afeus was trying to wake up the unconscious young man, back in Reschbeauch the kingdom was readying its soldiers for war. After the death of the Warrior King Willmont and seeing that the princes were also dead, Ashley supported Iselv to take the throne.


    Upon gaining the throne the first thing Iselv did was to inform the citizens of the demons that had infiltrated the neighboring kingdoms. He then organized the army and had form defensive walls near the borders. He also pulled back the citizens that live near the borders and sent them closer to the capital.


    It was during this time that the Serbek Kingdom dered an all-out war against the Reschbeauch Kingdom. During one of the skirmishes against the enemy forces. When the Serbek Kingdom looked like it would be able to get deeper into Reschbeauch''s territory due to one powerful unknown individual, four equally powerful maidens pushed back the advancing forces.


    The powerful fighter on the Serbek Kingdom''s side that was suspected to be a demon was forced to retreat due to these maidens. The maidens didn''t stop in pushing the enemy back as they demanded the Serbek Kingdom to return Ren to them.


    Of course, the people of the Serbek Kingdom had no idea who the maidens were talking about. Even the demons that control the kingdom from the shadows, didn''t know what had happened to Ren.


    ...


    After a major victory against the Serbek Kingdom, Lara didn''t want to retreat and instead wanted to advance forward into the capital of the Serbek Kingdom. Silika who was surprised by how powerful the demon they faced was made her a bit more cautious. She was afraid that there might be more of them hiding in the Serbek Kingdom.


    Now if she were at her full power those little demons would''ve been no different than tiny ants. But with her current limitations just facing one was hard enough. Also since she was so far away from Ren and had no contact with him for such a long time her mana supply was draining faster than she expected.


    So Silika tried to stop Lara from heading into enemy territory which of course resulted in a fight.


    \"Let me pass,\" Lara spoke with a low tone that made her look a bit more intimidating. Silika wasn''t bothered by it one bit, on the other hand, Hilda and Ashley were looking worried. When Ren disappeared the two of them were a bit worried about the state of things but with Silika''s guidance, they were able to pull through. Even Lara, who listened to no one but Ren was actually doing what Silika said. So they didn''t expect Lara to suddenly be so aggressive.


    \"I can''t let you pass. I understand how you feel but going there right now is pretty much suicide.\" Silika stood before Lara getting ready for the other party to be physical. For some reason, Lara''s stoic face that had only changed from time to time cracked. She showed a face that could scare most anyone.


    \"YoU unDerStand wHat I feEl?!\" Lara''s bloodlust rose as she clenched her fist. Being apart from Ren and not knowing where he was or if he''s alright or not has made her feel things that she didn''t think was possible for her.


    Ren was her emotional support after what happened during there childhoods and the secret they shared. After that event in the past, Ren practically became a God to her. Ren was her everything.


    \"ThE onLy oNe wHo UNderStands me Is REN! HoW Can soMeonE Like yOu UnderStand me?! ThE oNly reAson I eVen ToLErate YoU B*tChes is bEcAuse of REN! If It wEre Up tO me I wOuld''Ve kiLLed aLL of You, tHe mOment You sTucK to REN! So DOn''T tell me You unDersTand hOw I feEL! cAusE If You diD UnderStaNd me, tHen You wOulDn''t Be bloCking Me! YoU WouLd Be JoiNing Me!\"


    Ashely and Hilda were truly surprised to hear Lara talk like that and with that kind of tone. On the other hand, they weren''t really that surprised to hear Lara say that she wanted to kill them since she never tried to mask that from the beginning.


    \"Oh, little girl you have no idea. Not only do I understand you, but I''ve also been in the same situation once upon a time. Let me guess, Ren saved you from something in the past that only you and he knows of. He then promised you something that made you look forward to seeing the next day. You then tricked yourself into thinking that if you close off all of your emotions and only allow Ren in there and some others you deem worthy, it will make you seem stronger than before. Now that he has disappeared and Valdel your other friend has left you alone to do his own thing, you feel anxious. You feel scared and since you''ve closed off your emotions and tricked yourself which made you unable to express said emotions the anxiety just piled up. Now your emotions are out in the open and you''re feeling even more horrified, am I right?\"


    The bloodlust Lara was emitting faded as she looked at Silika while gritting her teeth in frustration.


    \"... So what now? Are you telling me that you three are alright with Ren missing...\"


    \"I''ve known Ren for only a year and I know that he''s not someone that would just disappear and die in some hole somewhere. He might be out there right now having fun battling somebody.\" Hilda chimed in the conversation, which prompted Ashley to do the same thing.


    \"Yeah that''s right, among the four of us I knew him less and I too think that he must be doing something he considers fun. Also didn''t your friend Valdel say something before he left to speak with the other temples. Didn''t he say that Ren was someone that did whatever he wanted any given time no matter the circumstances without caring for anyone else''s feelings? Isn''t that the reason he left the two of you to deal with whatever problems you guys from Carto Vige had.\"


    Hearing everyone''s thoughts about the situation, Lara remembered thest time she was with Ren. At that time he knocked out her and Valdel and headed to Serbek to enact vengeance. It was impossible that Ren would fail, so he must''ve aplished his mission and was doing something else entirely at this time.


    \"Don''t worry too much about that guy. I know for a fact, that no matter the situation he can pull through anything.\" Silika spoke with a confident smile on her face.


    ...


    While the four maidens were having their conversation, in Zouver city the capital of the Serbek Kingdom, Afeus had barely passed his ss with the materials he gathered in the Kerrn forest. But that didn''t bother him as much as before since he was now focused on a new project. He was still trying to figure out a way to wake up the unconscious young man. He had tried many things that could have killed any other person, but it wasn''t even enough to put a scratch on the young man''s body. His clothes, on the other hand, have been changed dozens of times now.


    Even though he had failed, Afeus was still excited to learn that the young man''s body was indeed more durable than others. But no matter how mysterious Afeus now knew after checking with a specialist that the young man was human. As a pure human being, the young man''s body wasn''t supposed to be able to endure the punishment it was given. It was then Afeus took a more in-depth look at the young man''s body. So after borrowing some measuring equipment from a senile professor, Afeus learned that the young man''s mana supply was an incredible amount. Not only that the young man was also able to circte his mana while unconscious. This just made Afeus even more curious about the young man''s identity. Also, above that, he was excited to test the limits of the human body even if covered by such a dense amount of mana.

 Chapter 226 Keep it down!

    <h4>Chapter 226 Keep it down!</h4>


    After numerous experiments in his room, Afeus was still unable to wake the young man up. Though he did find some new things on the young man''s body. The young man had something that looked like a tattoo but was etched onto his skin in a way that made it look seem like a birthmark. On the right arm of the young man was the tattoo of a red and ck dragon coiling around each other.


    Aside from that, the young man also had two more things etched onto his body specifically his chest. There were a silver moon and a sun-shaped mark. Afeus touched the two marks and felt a great surge of mana flowing through them. The tattoo-like thing also had a strong surge of mana, but the ones on the chest felt different and at the same time simr to the tattoo on the young man''s arm.


    Now after learning new things about the young man''s body, Afeus needed to use somece aside from his room. He needed arger space to use more powerful attacks that might make the young man feel threatened thus forcing him to wake up. He did ask a healing mage to help one time but that proved to be utterly useless. The healing mage found absolutely nothing wrong with the young man physically, there were also zero signs of a curse being used on him.


    Then what was the problem? The only person who knew the answer to that question was the person inflicted with the problem. Since Afeus only knew one way that was effective in waking the young man up, which was making the young man feel like his life was threatened, Afeus''s whole n revolved around that direction.


    So that brings us to the current situation where Afeus reserved one of the school''s magic rooms. These rooms called magic rooms were ces that have been surrounded by a barrier created by the past and current Grand Mages of the school. Though it was called a room it was pretty much arge field. It was made so that mages could experiment and create even more powerful spells without damaging the surrounding areas. It was also a ce where mages would release their stress, this was especially popr with mage apprentices.


    Afeus ced the body of the young man on the ground and started to draw a magic circle around the body. Once he was done Afeus gathered his mana and wanted to activate the magic circle. Yet upon trying to activate the magic circle, Afeus felt his mana draining quickly.


    ''Damn, so my mana really isn''t enough for such a spell... If only I could ask someone to help.'' When Afeus thought of that he could only sigh in resignation. In the sorcery school, he was attending, Afeus had zero friends, and he was infamous as being the target of Evior the top mage apprentice of the school. The so called beloved one of mana.


    Afeus couldn''t understand the reason for Evior''s bullying. The first time they met Evior treated him like air, the same way Evior treated almost all the students. Yet after a few weeks in school Evior suddenly noticed him and started to mess around with him. From verbally making fun of him to making him look like a fool duringbat ss.


    No one wanted to be his friend simply because no one wanted to antagonize Evior. While Afeus was thinking about his long time bully as if his thoughts were read by destiny or something the person he was thinking of appeared before him.


    Evior alongside hisckeys entered the magic room, he then looked at the unconscious young man thaty on the ground. \"Is that the rumored sleeping prince? How is that suppose to be a prince, his face isn''t anywhere near what a prince should look like. Whoever called him that must have been under a curse.\" Evior shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, this made hispanionsugh.


    \"What are you doing here Evior? I was the one who has reserved this magic room for the whole day.\" Hearing Afeus''s voice Evior finally looked at him and smiled.


    \"Oh, if it isn''t my dear friend Afeus. Why are you looking at me like that?\"


    \"What do you want Evior?\" Afeus spoke in a lower tone.


    \"Nothing much we needed to use a magic room for practice, but all the other magic rooms have been reserved. That''s when we heard that our good ole friend Afeus was able to reserve one. So we came to ask you a favor, how about you leave and we used this magic room.\"


    Evior and his five goons surrounded Afeus. Usually, at this moment Afeus would be frightened and leave. But today was different, after his experience in Kerrn forest Afeus couldn''t take Evior''s threats as seriously as before.


    \"I won''t leave, I''m the one who had reserved this magic room, so you leave.\" Evior and his gang had their eyes wide open when they heard Afeus talk back. This was the first time anyone, not just Afeus has talked back to Evior.


    \"What did you just say? I think I misheard you.\"


    \"I said get the f*ck out of here!\" Afeus whose courage rose to a whole new level shouted at Evior. It was at that moment Afeus could feel something prickling in his skin. It was the same feeling he had when he was in the forest. Evior was releasing an intense amount of bloodlust.


    \"It seems that you need to be reminded of who you are speaking to.\" When Evior raised his hand and was about to use a spell, he and the others felt an unnerving presence.


    \"Keep it down you f*ckers! You''re all so noisy.\" Everyone in the magic room looked at each other as the voice of an unfamiliar person was heard. Not one of them was speaking, it was at that moment they looked at the person they forget was present in the room as well. The unconscious young man had finally woke up.


    ''Huh, why did he wake up? His life wasn''t threatened or anything. So was my hypothesis wrong, was there another trigger?''


    While Afeus was analyzing the situation, Evior and his group were trembling. They couldn''t understand why they were trembling but they knew that it had something to do with the young man.


    \"Who are you to-\" Evior was about to say something but in the blink of an eye, the young man appeared before him and grasped his head with one hand.


    \"I told you to keep it down.\" Evior could feel the young man''s hand tightening. The pain Evior felt as the young man''s hand tightened around hid head was something he has never felt before. He wanted to use a spell but he couldn''t concentrate due to the fear and pain he was feeling.


    Evior''spanions stood there looking at the young man in fear. All of them wanted to flee as far as they could but they couldn''t move their bodies.


    \"What are you trying to do?! If you dare do anything to me, my family, and the order of truth will never let you go.\" Evior who could not do anything as his head was being slowly squeezed tried to threaten the unknown young man.


    \"I already told you to shut the f*ck up!\" Afeus who was thinking at the side heard what the young man said. the moment he heard this he knew what the young man wanted to do. He remembered what happened to the monster in the forest.


    \"Wait!\" Afeus shouted which made the young man shift his attention to him.

 Chapter 227 Let’s all calm down

    <h4>Chapter 227 Let''s all calm down</h4>


    Afues gulped dryly as the eyes of the young man were now looking at him. He needed to calm the young man down. Even though he didn''t know exactly how strong the young man was, fighting the Osted family which was Evior''s family alongside the Order of Truth would be suicidal. Even if the young man was powerful enough to fight back or escape, Afeus himself wouldn''t be able to survive such a conflict.


    Since he was the one who brought the young man into the school, some of the me would be pointed at him. Knowing how petty Evior''s family was, made it easy to guess what would happen to him if Evior dies. Since the young man had incredible power even the Osted family might have some difficulties dealing with him. On the other hand, it would be so easy for them to kill the one who brought him into the city.


    If it weren''t for that Afeus wouldn''t really care if an a**hole like Evior dies. So he either dies a few dayster because of the young man killing Evior, or he dies now because the young man will kill him. Well, the chances of convincing this mysterious young man were way better than trying to talk to the sh*tty Osted family.


    \"You?! Where am I?! What''s all this noise in my head!? Answer me?!\" The young man tossed aside the scared Evior and slowly walked towards Afeus. The overwhelming might of his presence made Afeus weak in the knees, but despite that Afeus stood his ground and looked at the young man''s eyes. It was then Afeus saw it for a brief moment, that he wasn''t the only one who was scared the young man was scared too.


    \"I see...\" Afeus decided to gamble on his guess about what the young man was feeling. \"I know you''re confused and frightened. You don''t know who you are and you''re in an unfamiliar environment. So how about let''s all calm down for a minute and talk.\"


    The young man looked at Afeus and after a few seconds nodded his head. The intense suffocating aura the young man was emitting lessened. The moment that happened Evior and his group fled the scene.


    Afeus wasn''t bothered by Evior''s group fleeing since he would''ve done the same if he had a choice. But right now his top priority was to calm down the person in front of him.


    \"... Tell me do you know who I am?\" The young man spoke while looking around.


    \"I was actually trying my best to wake you up. I was hoping once you woke up, you could answer that question for me.\" Afeus awkwardly smiled.


    \"So you don''t know anything as well.\" The young man looked at Afeus with a slight look of dejection. Afeus wasn''t really sure about his guess of the young man looking dejected for a second. Seeing as the young man had a pretty stern face while he was talking.


    \"I do know that you were in a forest, specifically the monster-filled Kerrn forest and in there you were unconscious, for I don''t know how long.\"


    \"What was I doing in a forest? How did I survive unconscious in a ce full of monsters?\"


    \"I''m not really sure why but I think it''s because the monsters could sense that you''re a threat. That brings me to another thing I learned about you, it would seem that you''re body and mana are geared towards fighting. It''s like you were breed to fight.\"


    Hearing what Afeus was saying the young man started to open and close his hands. He then closed his eyes and for some reason, he could indeed feel his body brimming with strength. Also even though he can''t remember most of anything, he could still understand the words being said to him, he also understood what mana was.


    \"I know this might be hard for you at the moment, but I want you to try and remember anything about yourself. Close your eyes and concentrate, try to remember something, anything at all.\"


    The young man did as Afeus suggested, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Afeus could see that the young man was concentration as hard as he can. The young man then held onto his head as he felt extreme pain. Though he was feeling unimaginable pain, the young man didn''t stop trying to concentrate on remembering.


    Afeus really wanted to help, but he didn''t know what to do in this situation. The young man then gritted his teeth and mumbled something to himself. \"Do you think this enough?! This isn''t going to stop me!\" He doesn''t know who he was saying this to, but the young man felt it was something he needed to say.


    The young man then roared a bit after which he knelt onto the ground panting. He was sweating so much that it looked like he took a bath. Afeus cautiously approached him and asked, \"are you alright?\"


    The young man who was still breathing heavily looked at Afeus, his eyes were bloodshot. The young man then controlled his breathing and stood up. \"Yeah, I''m fine... More than that I think I remembered something. I think I was a warrior of sorts, in fact maybe I was a Commander as I recall standing in front of thousands of armored soldiers. I also think that I remembered my name, I guess I was called Kretos, as the armored soldiers called me lord Kretos. That''s about it, that''s pretty much all I can remember. Does that name mean anything to you?\"


    ''A Commander named Kretos?'' Afeus tried to recall if he heard of that name. He does feel that the name sounded oddly familiar. Still, he knew that wasn''t the name of any of the Commanders from the Serbek Kingdom as well as the Reschbeauch Kingdom. Granted that he wasn''t really all that familiar with the names of the Commanders of the enemy kingdom, but Afeus would still recall a Commander named Kretos with such powerful mana. ''Maybe he''s a Commander from a far-off country... But that doesn''t exin how a Commander this powerful would be in the Kerrn forest.''


    \"I''m sorry, you''re name does sound familiar, but I just can''t remember where I heard it from. Though I do know you aren''t a Commander of any of the nearby kingdoms. We could ask one of my professors, he knows more about the world than I do. Maybe she has heard of a Commander named Kretos.\"

 Chapter 228 Professor

    <h4>Chapter 228 Professor</h4>


    Afeus and the young man called Kretos left the magic room and were now heading to meet Afeus''s professor that could possibly know who Kretos was. While they were walking Kretos was looking around curious about everything he saw. In some sense, he was like a newborn baby curious about every single thing. Though that''s what Afeus felt as he watched Kretos looking around with that curious gaze of his.


    The truth was, what made Kretos curious wasn''t the same curiosity Afeus imagined. Kretos was curious about the defenses of the school. While walking, Kretos noticed that this school wasn''t built just willy-nilly, it had a purpose a very defensive purpose. For some reason the more he looked the more he could see the strengths and ws in the defenses.


    Not only that, as people were passing by Kretos was also able to assess how powerful that person was with just one look. This just reinforced the idea that he should''ve been a Commander before he lost his memory.


    ...


    After walking for quite some time, the two finally arrived at their destination. On the outside, it looked like a broken-down building that had been through a lot. Based on Kretos''s observation, the building had been burnt, been frozen over, been bombarded by physical attacks, it basically has withstood great punishment. While Kretos was assessing the building, Afeus stepped forward and knocked on the door.


    Upon knocking for a few times no one answered. \"Professor, are you in there?\" Afeus shouted outside the door. When no one responded again, Afeus opened the door. He and Kretos stepped inside and the moment they did, the two of them could smell a foul odor.


    While walking in the room, Kretos could see a ton of books pilled up into mounds. Kretos was amazed at seeing that many books in one ce, that wasn''t a library. The room itself had no furniture or any other thing aside from books, maps, and a few talismans.


    The room was rather big, and it took the two of them a while to find the source of the stench. In what looked like to be the middle of the room, there was a tall smelly middle-aged woman reading a book. Though her hair was untidy, and the outfit she was wearing doesn''t look like it has been cleaned for weeks, you could still tell she was a beauty.


    The woman didn''t notice the two approaching as she was engrossed in her reading. \"Professor? Hello, Professor Mia, do you hear me?\" Afeus approached the professor and tried speaking louder but there was no response. Afeus was about to shake Mia to get her attention, but the moment he came close enough he could feel a dense amount of mana gathering. This was the same feeling as when someone was about to cast a spell.


    Unable to react on time Afeus could only raise his arms to block whatever wasing. The moment the spell was about to hit him, Afeus saw Kretos suddenly appeared in front of him and easily blocked the iing spell.


    \"Oh, overwhelming my defensive spell with a simple wave of your hand. That must mean the sheer amount of mana you posses is so great a spell of this level isn''t enough to even make you flinch.\"


    Afeus could hear Professor Mia''s voice but it wasn''ting from the person in front of him reading. The sound of the voice wasing from an entirely different location.


    \"How about you show yourself, or do you want me to use force?\" Kretos spoke while emitting his usual dangerous aura.


    \"My, my, what an aggressive child we have here. Not that I don''t like that kind of attitude, in fact, you''re the type I prefer. Now, if only you were even a tiny bit handsome you would''ve been perfect.\" From behind one of the mounds of books another Professor Mia appeared.


    This Professor Mia wasn''t looking as dirty as the one continuing to read. The Professor Mia that was slowly walking towards them did not have messy hair, was not wearing an old stinky outfit. Instead, she was properly groomed and was wearing proper clothes befitting her status as a Professor. With her looking like that you could finally see how attractive she was.


    Professor Mia then snapped her fingers making the Professor Mia who was reading disappear. The smell also disappeared, but the dirty room still remained dirty.


    \"So Afeus you finally were able to wake up this young man.\" Professor Mia was now looking at Kretos with a curious gaze.


    \"Yes, due to various circumstances. Actually Prof-\" Afeus was about to tell Professor Mia the main purpose of their visit, but then he saw her cing her index finger near her lips gesturing for silence.


    \"Before we continue our conversation since there''s someone new here how about we introduce ourselves. I presume that you haven''t introduced yourself to this young man yet. Am I correct Mr. Krain?\"


    \"No, I haven''t... I''m sorry I forgot to introduce myself.\" Afeus turned around and spoke to Kretos. \"It doesn''t really bother me,\" Kretos responded while shrugging his shoulders.


    \"Even so, it''s only proper manners to introduce myself. I''m Afeus Krain, twenty-six years old, a student of Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane.\" After Afeus introduced himself, Professor Mia stood in front of Kretos showing a coquettish smile.


    \"As for me, I''m Mia Sallow, a Professor here in Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane. I teach history and Archeology. Most of the students call me the mistress of illusion. It''s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Sir.\"


    Kretos simply looked at the smiling teacher and didn''t bother to introduce himself. Well, to be fair he couldn''t introduce himself even if he wanted to, seeing as he wasn''t even sure if Kretos was his real name.


    \"Oh my, trying to be the mysterious type? So what is it you want from me, that you came here to visit?\" Mia then made a sitting motion and a chair appeared out of thin air.


    \"Actually-\" Afeus proceeded to exin Kretos''s current predicament.


    \"Amnesia is it? So you have absolutely no recollection of anything?\" Mia rested her head on her hand.


    \"That''s what we wanted to ask you, Professor. Do you know amander by the name of Kretos?\" The moment Mia heard that name she stood up and approached Afeus.


    \"Where did you hear of that name?\" Mia''s reaction to the name surprised both Afeus and Kretos.


    \"We believe that might be his name,\" Afeus pointed at Kretos. Mia looked at Kretos with a weird expression as she started mumbling to herself.


    \"Is it a coincidence? ... But he''s human... It could be another Kretos...\"

 Chapter 229 Demons of the pas

    <h4>Chapter 229 Demons of the pas</h4>


    After mumbling to herself Mia took out a pair of sses and looked at Kretos one more time. She was now staring intently at Kretos.


    \"His mana capacity is indeed fearful, but it''s not enough to be him. Also, that guy has been dead for a long time, and he was from a different race.\" Even knowing howrge Kretos''s mana pool was, Mia went closer and inspected Kretos from up close. Getting a bit annoyed by what she was doing, Kretos spoke while releasing a bit of bloodlust.


    \"What do you think you''re doing?\"


    Mia was not the least bit bothered by Kretos''s bloodlust and continued to observe him from up close. Kretos was nearly unable to hold his irritation any longer and was about to strike when Mia stopped and looked at Kretos in the eye and asked.


    \"Why do you think your name is Kretos?\"


    \"Because of a memory I have, in it, I was called Kretos.\"


    \"Who was the one who called you by that name?\"


    \"It was one of the armored soldiers that called me Lord Kretos.\" Hearing Kretos''s answer made Mia look a bit more excited. Afeus who was looking at the Professor from the side noticed that look of curiosity of hers.


    \"Describe the armor of that person.\"


    \"Is this relevant?\"


    \"Of course, it is! Since you can''t remember much, every single detail of what you can actually remember matters. So tell me what kind of armor were they wearing. Describe any detail you can remember, even the smallest things are important.\"


    \"... I think they were wearing red ted armor from head to toe. The helmet they wore had different sizes of horns. In the middle of each of their armor was an insignia of sorts.\"


    Hearing the part about an insignia Mia''s eyes practically shone with excitement. She almost salivated but was able to hold herself back.


    \"What did the insignia look like?\"


    Kretos tried his hardest to remember what the insignia on the armor looked like. He felt his head hurting but not as much as the first time.


    \"I think it was mes shaped into a sword with bat-like wings.\" Mia got even more excited when she heard what Kretos said and started pushing away the pile of books as she was looking for something. No longer surprised by her sudden burst of entricity, Kretos and Afeus waited for the Professor to find whatever it is she was trying to find.


    After mowing down the books and scanning some of them, Mia finally found what she was looking for. She then showed a page from one of the books at Kretos. It was a drawing of mes shaped into a sword with bat-like wings.


    \"Is this what you saw?!\"


    \"...Yeah, that''s it!\" Hearing Kretos''s answer Mia licked her lips and started to once again mumble to herself. Before she went into her own little world, Afeus asked a question.


    \"Professor, what is that insignia? Is that the insignia of whatever knight corps Kretosmands?\"


    \"Yes, it was an army Kretosmanded but not this Kretos.\"


    \"What do you mean?\" Kretos thought there was a lead regarding his past, but based on what Mia was saying there was more to it.


    \"I mean you might be someone that changed his name to Kretos and remade his army to look like the legendary army of old. OR You could just be from a country that knows the truth, or something else entirely. Well, I need more information to derive a conclusion, but this is getting exciting.\"


    \"Huh?\" Mia wasn''t bothered by Kretos and Afeus''s confusion as she started to exin things.


    \"You see long ago, in a time that has little to no true records left in this world. There was once a demon who ruled over all other demons with an iron fist. He was the greatest and strongest demon to have ever lived, and he was called Demon Lord Kretos. He was the one who had made all the races bow before his overwhelming might.\"


    When Kretos heard Mia say Demon Lord, he felt something, his heart was thumping loudly and his head was hurting a bit. Afeus, on the other hand, was still looking a bit confused.


    \"Wait, aren''t Demons those weak guys that keep on spouting love and peace for all races?\"


    \"Yes, those are the current demons, who have been mixed with different races. But long ago, when pureblooded demons still existed, they had powers beyond anything you could imagine. It was said that they had the magical capacity of faeries, the ferocity in battle of the warbeasts, and the cunning minds of the devil race, that''s one of the legends passed down by a certain race. Though after investigating a bit, here and there I found out that the demon race wasn''t a single uniformed race. They had different ethnicities which resulted in different ns that differ from the original demons, each one had different cultures, but all of them had the same origins which made them all demons. Each demon had their own unique traits, like the mythical Oni n which boasts of physical strength that wasparable to the now extinct giants. There was also the n of the Ancient blood, which had weak physical abilities but had magical powers that could rival Demi-Gods. There was also-\"


    As she continued to exin Mia got overly excited. This was her life''s work her whole research revolved around the ancient demon race. Yet the one that truly got her interest from the start was the legendary demon lord. So when she had the chance to share the fruits of her research she couldn''t help herself. Seeing that she wasn''t going to stop anytime soon, Afeus interjected.


    \"Wait, how do you know all this? I haven''t heard of any of this, and I have read most of the book in the library, well that''s essible to students, at least. But I do know that everything you''re saying contradicts everything I have read about demons and their history.\"


    \"Now that''s a good question, Mr. Krain. You see history is written by the winners, and in this instance, the other races were the winners and the demons were the losers. Though one may change history to what he likes after he wins, he cannot change the things that have been left behind. I''ve seen the discrepancies of the books written by humans, and I also had the good fortune of reading the ounts written by the High Elves. Now their version of history is different than what ours is. So after piecing things from here and there together, I found out where all the discrepancies came about. It was a time I have deemed to call the holy war.\"

 Chapter 230 Studen

    <h4>Chapter 230 Studen</h4>


    "The holy war?" Afeus asked, which made Mia''s eyes look like they were sparkling.


    "Yes, the time when all the races banded together to face onemon enemy, the incredibly powerful Demon Lord Kretos." When Mia said those words, she could suddenly feel a tremendous amount of bloodlust that was unlike any other she has felt before.


    Kretos was getting really irritated by this woman straying far away from the topic. He just wanted to know more about his past. Not learn of a past of somebody with a simr name as him. Not to mention when Mia said that all the races banded together made Kretos feel doubly irritated, not only that his head started to hurt as he felt like it would explode.


    "Will you shut up already! I don''t give a sh*t about this different Kretos''s life story! What I want to know is who the f*ck am I?! Can you answer this or not?!" Kretos didn''t understand why he was so irritated. But at the moment all he knew was this anger that was swelling up inside of him. Since he has nothing at the moment this was his everything.


    "Professor, howe nobody ising, even though Kretos is releasing such absurd amounts of mana?" Afeus asked while not looking way from Kretos who was holding his head while looking really pissed off.


    "Since my experiments in creating some new spell formations were deemed too dangerous, they wanted me to quit. So I surrounded my whole ce with a warding spell formation so no one could sense anything in this direction."


    Even though they were in a dire situation, the Professor and student still had the time to talk like the threat before them was nothing. In fact, Afeus wasn''t really that scared of Kretos or dying in this situation. He was instead excited to see what kind of thing Kretos was going to do next using that enormous mana pool of his.


    Mia was also quite interested in what''s happening to Kretos. Yet unlike Afeus who was sure that he might die, Mia was a bit confident in her ability to survive. Though it was obvious that Kretos was far stronger than her, her ability with illusions might help her survive.


    Still, even if she doesn''t survive, just being able to witness what was happening before her very eyes, made her feel like giving her life was an equal trade.


    It was true what they said, the mages of the Serbek Kingdom were truly insane. Though most mages were already pretty insane the Serbek Kingdom mages put that on a whole other level. Most mages would do almost anything to witness more regarding the truths of the world. But they still retained some form ofmon sense.


    Yet most of the mages of the Serbek Kingdom have discarded that so calledmon sense. Even their belief was against such things. ''There is no such thing asmon sense, there is only the truth hidden within the abyss.'' So to most of the Serbek Kingdom mages, to have even a tiny glimpse beyond the abyss was worth everything.


    ...


    Kretos closed in and held his hand out to the weirdly smiling Mia, but as he was about to grab her he shifted his hand to the side. Afeus was confused as to why Kretos suddenly grabbed empty air. But in a moment he finally understood why.


    Another Professor Mia was now being gripped by Kretos. The other Professor Mia that was standing beside him disappeared.


    "Heh, how did you know?" Even though she was being handled roughly by Kretos, Mia still retained that smile of hers. She then saw Kretos''s eyes and was pleasantly surprised. "You can see the flow of mana, right?" Kretos then tightened the grip on Mia''s neck.


    "I already said to shut the f*ck up with all these extra things that I don''t need to know. Just tell me do you know who I am or not? Do you have any clues at all?"


    This person that was trying to attack her looked to be aggressive, powerful and dangerous. But his eyes were conveying different things. Irritation, anger, confusion, desperations, and many more. Mia couldn''t help but feel even more curious as to what kind of man was in front of her, trying to kill her.


    "...I..." Kretos noticed that Mia was trying to say something and loosened his grip. Once Kretos''s grip loosened, the sudden flow of air made Mia cough, before she was able to answer.


    "I may not know who you are at the moment, due to the few clues we have. But I have an idea. There''s a tournament that will be held a few weeks from now. The representatives of other Kingdoms wille, well except for the people of Reschbeauch and some other nearby Kingdoms. But they''re not really important since based on your name and the description in your memories you most likely aren''t from any of those ces. Also even if no one knows who you are in the tournament if you win it and gain fame from it. Surely someone you know would hear about you from the rumors and stories you would produce once you win the tournament. The more famous you are, the easier for your acquaintances,panions, friends, or whoever to know where you are. Well, there''s the risk of your enemies knowing as well, but I''m sure you don''t care about that."


    "Alright... So what''s your idea?" Kretos was once again getting a bit impatient.


    "If you join the tournament where a lot of important people from different kingdoms will gather. Maybe one of them will recognize you."


    "I see... Since I have nothing else I can do at the moment, I''ll do as you suggest. So how do I go about joining this tournament?" Kretos who was releasing that suffocating amount of mana finally calmed down as he put Mia down.


    Afeus who was listening on the side was thinking about what tournament Mia was talking about. He was so busy with his exams and doing his personal research that he was unsure what this tournament was. But then he finally remembered the one tournament they held every three years.


    "Wait, Professor, you don''t mean that tournament. But isn''t that tournament reserved for students?" While Mia was touching her neck, while circling her head she looked at Afeus and answered.


    "Yup that''s the tournament I''m talking about."


    "How are you going to let Kretos join the tournament?... He isn''t a student." Mia couldn''t help but look at Afeus as if she was looking at an idiot.


    "Didn''t you already give out the answer. The only people that can join the tournament are students. So, of course, the answer is to make Kretos into a student."

 Chapter 231 Information on the tournamen

    <h4>Chapter 231 Information on the tournamen</h4>


    A few days after Kretos decided to be a student, he found out that the supposed tournament wasn''t happening anytime soon. The few weeks Mia was talking about was all wrong. So he needed to wait it out for the time being.


    After learning that he needed to wait for the tournament to happen, Kretos decided to learn more about it. He told Afeus to exin the details of the tournament. Unfortunately, Afeus had little to no knowledge about the said tournament. So instead he guided Kretos to the library and found the rted books regarding the tournament.


    The tournament used to be something else entirely a few centuries back. It began when the school was still, a single mage tower. There was only one person at that time that could teach higher level spells and it was the Grand Mage.


    Knowing this and wanting only the finest disciple, the Grand Mage at the time held a tournament to receive the finest disciple. Only the most talented and strongest people could be the Grand Mage''s disciple, so he told the people that he would host a tournament, in which the winner will be his disciple. As for the losers depending on their performance, he would grant artifacts.


    After the first Grand Mage of the kingdom did it, the next Grand Mage his sessor did the same thing. The following Grand Mages followed with the same tradition. But as the mage tower grew in size, it was no longer a single mage''s tower, instead, it turned into a school.


    This happened because of those who failed to be the Grand Mage''s disciples. Those that lost the tournament stayed near the mage''s tower hoping that the Grand Mage would change his mind and pick another disciple.


    As the losers grew, they started to teach the neers about magic. Every now and then they would witness a spell from the mage''s towers and gain enlightenment. This trend continued for hundreds of years, until the single mage''s tower, turned into a few dozen. The surrounding area then turned into a fortress of a school.


    Nowadays the tournament is held every time the current Grand Mage felt like it. It wasn''t every three years like Mia and Afeus said. It just turns out that the current Grand Mage likes hosting the tournament every three years. This was for the new students to get a chance to be given a private lesson from the current Grand Mage. The losers that showed promise the same as before were given mystical artifacts.


    So the reason the tournament wasn''t happening in a few weeks, is because the Grand Mage hasn''t decided on the exact time for the tournament to be held. Though he did announce that he would be holding the tournament before winter.


    This was information Kretos was able to gain from a wad of paper that the students received informing them about what was happening. It would seem that neither Afeus or Mia were able to read this paper, because they were heavily focused on their research at that time. Kretos continued to read the wad of paper. After a bit of reading, he finally knew what was happening.


    So knowing how entric he was the other high-level mages were the ones who started preparing for the tournament. They made an announcement to all the kingdoms that were friendly with them. As per usual, the rules remained the same only students under the age of twenty-two may join the tournament.


    Many of the students of the other kingdoms all wanted the chance to be thought by the Grand Mage even though it was just a single lesson, it was all worth it. Besides that, even if they lose as long as they show their stuff, they can gain artifacts. So even though the date for the start of the tournament wasn''t finalized, some of the representatives of the other kingdoms decided to immediately head to the Serbek Kingdom.


    On, the other hand, the students of the mages school, Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane. They weren''t that thrilled about the prospect of the tournament. For thest few decades, the students of the institute and the nearby schools, have failed to win the tournament. They weren''t even good enough to receive the artifacts.


    The reason for this was because the students were more focused on research and tearing the mask of the world to reveal its secrets. They had zerobat training and only knew how to cast big spells that take a lot of time to manifest.


    After reading the wad of paper, Kretos was surprised. Whoever wrote this was writing in a way that could piss off the other students. Kretos looked around and saw that though there were a lot of copies of this wad of paper, no one was reading it.


    Everyone was too focused on what they were currently reading, and what the students in the library were reading were thick books that could take a few days to finish.


    ''These students do seem like all they care about is research... Then what''s with that noisy guy that was messing around with Afeus?'' Kretos then remembered Evior and his group. Those guys didn''t seem like the same type as the other students. In fact, they didn''t even feel like mages, but hooligans instead.


    ''Well, whatever now that I know more about the tournament, I wonder what else I could do? Seeing as the students of this school are no threat to me. How about I gain more information about the other schools from the different kingdoms that will be joining the tournament. If I join this thing, then I''m going to win it all.''


    Kretos then felt a weird sort of excitement that made his heart beat faster, his blood boiling with anticipation. He couldn''t help but smile a very vicious smile, as he thought about the battles he would have. He couldn''t understand why, but just thinking about the prospect of fighting strong foes, made his body tremble in exhration.

 Chapter 232 Demons planning

    <h4>Chapter 232 Demons nning</h4>


    The moment Kretos decided that he would win the tournament, he looked for Afeus to ask him to help him gather information. Afeus was at first reluctant to stop his research but when Kretos told him that he was willing to share his insights regarding magic, Afeus changed his tune real fast.


    The two of them proceeded to go around the school asking the students that were at the previous tournament about the opponents they faced.


    ...


    While Kretos was going around gathering information, at the Grand Mage''s mage tower, three demons have gathered. One of these demons present was the maid that killed Lisa and Matias. Another who had just arrived looked like the deceased Grand Mage, but once he entered the room his face turned into that of a young man.


    Thest one was sitting beside the maid was the arrogant demon called Amon that killed both the Grand Mage and the Warrior King. He was looking at the other two with anger in his eyes. He stood up and pounded on the table in front of him. His bloodlust and mana intertwining with his rage.


    "What the hell?! Why did you guys make me retreat?! The battle was just getting good with those girls. Especially the one who was using the scythe, that chick ain''t human, that was a monster in human skin. She was amazing, just thinking about her makes my blood boil with excitement."


    When Amon started talking he was angry as his bloodlust covered the entire room, but midway through his speech, he became intoxicated with excitement instead. The feeling he had at that time was the greatest feeling he had ever felt in a battle. He then recalled the fight he had with the four powerful maidens. Each one of them was strong, one of them was even stronger than the Grand Mage and the Warrior King. Just reliving that battle in his mind, made Amon''s body shiver in exhration.


    The maid noticed that something was happening to Amon''s lower region and frowned in disgust. "Calm down, you pervert."


    Hearing what the maid said made Amon stop his daydreaming and re at the maid in anger. The two then looked at each other as if they wanted to rip the other person''s throat. Their mana fluctuated violently, that if a normal person was in the room he would''ve suffocated by the sheer intensity of the mana. Amon was about to say something, but then the silent young demon that took the face of the Grand Mage spoke.


    "Enough of this farce, I didn''t call you two here to bicker. If you two continue do you wish for me to join in as well?" Feeling the bloodlust emanating from the young demon, the maid and Amon stopped quarreling. The maid couldn''t stop trembling as she lowered her head unable to look the young demon in the eye. Even the battle loving Amon didn''t like messing with this young demon, cause in his own words the fight wouldn''t excite him.


    "We didn''te out of our exiled kingdom to y around. We came here to conquer and take back what is rightfully ours. Amon, I called you back because as I watched your battle, I could deduce that if it continued you would''ve lost and died. At this stage, we cannot afford to lose demons like you."


    The moment the young demon said those words, Amon''s aura shot up and his bloodlust once again enveloped the room. The maid sitting beside him snickered.


    "Nero! Even if it''s you that''s not something you should say to me! I would lose to those girls? I wasn''t even using my full power, so how can you know that?!"


    The young demon named Nero looked at Amon with eyes of indifference as he answered. "Even if you used your full power I doubt you would win. You were indeed holding back, but you weren''t the only one holding back. The woman with the scythe was also holding back, so was the woman that used fist and arrows. If those two got serious then your death would''ve been assured."


    When Amon heard that he no longer got angry, instead he startedughing heartily. "HAHAHA! So they were holding back, they had so much more to show me! This is awesome, only fighting against powerful opponents could I grow stronger. Only fighting powerful opponents such as them can I show everyone my strength!"


    "Enough! Amon, we came here to conquer not to satisfy your petty wishes. We will conquer the Reschbeauch Kingdom in another way seeing as force isn''t going to work." The young demon calmly dered, and Amon was just about to respond but he stopped himself when he saw the look Nero was giving him.


    "I understand what you want to do Amon, but don''t forget those women aren''t the strongest fighting force Reschbeauch has. There is still that person called Ren. Though he hasn''t shown himself, based on what Harold said before, he is the hidden leader within the Reschbeauch Kingdom."


    "So what do you propose we do?" The maid asked after finally calming down a bit.


    "I already made ns for that, so no need to worry. Instead, let''s talk about the uing tournament."


    When Amon heard the word tournament, his eyes shone with a murderous glint as he smiled. "You''re going to let me participate, right Nero?"


    Nero looked Amon, who looked like a dog wagging his tail. Seeing this made Nero sigh, ''this person is one of the best fighters among demons? How low have we fallen...''


    "Yes, Amon you may join the tournament. As long as you retain your demon form, you can join, that was the deal. If you show your demon form during the tournament, you know the consequence right?" Nero''s cold stare bore through Amon.


    The battle junkie of a demon could only gulp dryly as he lowered his head. "...Yes..."


    "Very well, the tournament will be a gathering of not only human prodigies but even other races would join in as well. This is the perfect chance for us to nt some of our own into the ranks of the other races."

 Chapter 233 Teach me

    <h4>Chapter 233 Teach me</h4>


    Kretos was only able to gather a little bit of information regarding the other schools and races that were joining the tournament. Still, that was good enough for now.


    He learned that aside from humans, elves specifically wood elves, and moon elves wereing. Even some fairies were joining in the mix. Kretos didn''t know what these beings were, so he needed Afeus to exin it to him.


    "The elves are an ancient race that were said to be humans that have merged with nature. They have rather long ears, are tall, and have beautiful facial features. These are the basic features all elves have, but there are different types of elves. The Ancient elves, the wood elves, the moon elves, the dark elves, and the high elves."


    Kretos remained quiet as he continued to listen to Afeus talk. Seeing how engrossed Kretos was in his lecture made Afeus feel a tad excited, as this was the first time somebody was actually listening attentively to what he was saying.


    "The Ancient elves were the elves that broke free from humanity and became its own race, they are the first elves. After bing one with nature, they have been gifted with eternal life. They never grow old, they never get sick, and as long as there is no external force that harms them, they can live on forever. Still, after gaining immortality they lost some things as well. They can no longer reproduce the same way as they did before. Since they can die if attacked by an external force. They became fearful of the extinction of their race, seeing as there are only a few ancient elves at the time. So they needed new ways to reproduce, thus the wood elves were created."


    "The wood elves were elves born from the union of essences of earthly nature and the ancient elves. The original wood elves were born that way, but the next generation were different. Seeing as these elves can reproduce normally like any other living thing. Though it is hard for them to get pregnant."


    "The moon elves, on the other hand, are wood elves, that changed their beliefs and the way they use mana. They who had been disillusioned by nature have chosen a higher being, or so the say which was the moon."


    "Then the-" Hearing that he was going to say more, Kretos raised his right hand and signaled Afeus to stop.


    "That''s enough I don''t need to know about the other kinds of elves since they''re noting here. But tell me about the wood elves and the moon elves, their weaknesses, their strengths in battle, those kinds of things."


    Afeus looked a bit disappointed as Kretos didn''t want to hear the rest of his descriptions on the other elves, just as he was fired up. He sighed as he answered Kretos.


    "The wood elves are said to be the best in using bows and arrows. Their affinity to nature makes their spells rted to the earth and water more proficient and deadly than any other race. Also, they have a racial ability to talk to the forest, which was basically nts, this makes them near unbeatable when they''re near any greenery."


    ''Talk to nts?... So they could order trees and other things like that...''


    "As for the moon elves, after separating themselves from the wood elves and changing their beliefs, their abilities changed over the centuries after the separation. Instead of bows and arrows, the moon elves favored heavy weapons such as the B*stard sword. They also grow more powerful as the moon rises, and their power triples in a full moon."


    "Hmmm, how interesting. I hope theye here when the moon is full." Kretos''s battle intent was rising as he showed the vicious grin of his. "So, how about the fairies?"


    "The fairies were creatures that were born from the gathering of mana in the air. Well, that''s what they believe, but fairies nowadays are like humans but only a little bit shorter and with wings. Of course, you don''t really care about that, do you? You want to know what theirbat capabilities are like."


    "Obviously," Kretos answered while looking at Afeus confused as to why he was saying the obvious. Seeing Kretos''s reaction Afeus once again sighed.


    "The fairies have the advantage in mobility as they can fly without using any kind of spell. Their natural affinity with the mana in the air makes their recovery of mana faster than any other race. Though they excel in all things magical, their physical abilities are that of a child. Still, do not underestimate them because of that. Since they know their weakness in physicalbat, the fairies created a weirdbat system that ispatible with them. I don''t have any knowledge regarding thisbat system."


    "It doesn''t matter, this much is enough. I can''t wait to do battle with them." Kretos couldn''t really understand it, but the more he knew of the opponents'' strength the more excited he got.


    "Though you shouldn''t really rely much on this information. It could all be wrong since I only read those things in a book. Since the information regarding demons was wrong, maybe the information regarding the other races were wrong as well... Also, now that I think about it can you even fight using magic? This is a magic tournament so the use of physicalbat is not allowed."


    Afeus asked Kretos, he did so because he has never seen Kretos use spells before. He did have an overwhelming amount of mana, but it was only used to increase his physical abilities, nothing more. There was no indication that Kretos even knew how to use spells.


    ''Maybe I can teach him?'' When Afeus thought of that, he suddenly heard Kretos speaking to him.


    "Magic?... You mean using spells, like this." Kretos then raised his hand upward and mana started to gather in his palms. An orb of condensed mana appeared and then Kretos shot it into the sky. The orb of mana sted away from his hand and flew upward tearing open the clouds that blocked its way. It continued to fly upward until they could no longer see it.


    Amazed by the sight Afeus knelt on the ground bowed his head and then he spoke in a loud voice.


    "Please teach me, master!"

 Chapter 234 Trying to teach

    <h4>Chapter 234 Trying to teach</h4>


    When Kretos heard what Afeus said he looked confused. ''What does this guy want me to teach him?... Also....''


    "Who the heck is your master?! Is your head actually working properly?" Kretos looked at Afeus dumbfounded. He couldn''t understand why this boy in front of him was acting this way. Didn''t he just show him a simple spell, why did he suddenly call him master?


    "You are the master I wish to learn from. You might not have your old memories, but I''m convinced that you were an amazingmander that could use arcane magic." Afeus excitedly spoke.


    "Huh? Why do you want to learn from me? Was the magic I use special somehow.? That was just a simple concentrated ball of mana." The moment Afeus heard what Kretos said he quickly bowed his head again, this time it was an even deeper bow.


    ''Concentrating mana into a ball?! What the f*cking heck is that?! How can you concentrate mana into a ball-shaped object?! Aren''t spells derived from the elementals?!'' Afeus was confused by what Kretos said, but he knew instantly that concentrating mana was a far greater feat than using high-ss spells. Anyone could high-ss spells as long as they had enough mana and training, but what Kretos did was something entirely different from what he knew.


    "Please teach me your ways master. I will do anything as long as it doesn''t involved money... Wait it doesn''t matter, I will even give you all my money."


    "Shut up, and exin to me what you want properly."


    "As you wish, master." Once Afeus started calling him master, Kretos was starting to get a bit tired talking to Afeus.


    "The way you perform spells is something I haven''t seen before. Even the Grand Mage hasn''t done it. In my knowledge, no in everyone''s knowledge spells are the things the elementals grant us as our affinity with them grows stronger. The elementals are the beings that are one with the mana of the world itself. Through our understanding of them will the spells we can use grow. But what you did was something no one I know has ever done before. We were all too focused on better understanding the elementals, that we neglected to find our own way to use spells. Spells that can be used without the help of the elementals."


    Afeus looked a bit lethargic as he continued speaking.


    "No, some did try to use spells without the help of elementals, but that only led to disasters. The moment they used the power of their own mana without relying on the incantations of the elementals, their mana imploded. Now they can never use mana again. Yet you master were able to use mana in a way that has no need for the elementals."


    Hearing what Afeus said Kretos started to remember some things. ''Elementals?... I do remember them, it''s like basic knowledge to me. I think there was a time that I had a fight with some elemental beings, elemental lords. They denied me ess to spells, so I needed to figure out a way to use my own style spell... I wish I could remember more than that.''


    Afeus was silently staring at Kretos who was holding his head again. ''Every time he did that he would regain a bit of his memory. Maybe he was recalling how he was able to use that spell that didn''t require any use of the elementals.''


    "Can you control the mana in your body to enhance your strength?" Kretos suddenly asked Afeus.


    "You mean strengthening magic? Everyone can use strengthening magic. Hear me o elementals, please offer my body great strength upon thy guidance [Enhance Strength]." After speaking the spell words and using the activation word, Afeus could feel his strength doubling.


    "That''s not what I mean... When I said to enhance your strength by controlling the mana in your body, I didn''t mean you use a spell. I meant something like this." Kretos started circting the mana in his body, and the same as the spell he used before he did it without a spell chant. He once again simply used his own mana, it was obvious to Afeus that Kretos didn''t use the power of elementals to enhance his body.


    "How do you do that? What''re the principles behind your use of mana? Do you lose favor from the elementals if you use these spells? How much mana is needed to perform your spells, or is it perhaps that the mana can be varied and the quality of the spell depends on the mana itself? Oh, so much to learn, so much to see."


    Afeus eyes turned crazed as he approached Kretos. He no longer was bowing his head as he spoke in his crazed manner. In Afeus''s eyes, Kretos was a treasure of unknown knowledge, and he intends to get every single bit of knowledge.


    ...


    While Kretos was being aggressively persuaded by Afeus, Valdel was now in a lobby of the Temple of Justice. The temple was located northwest from the Reschbeauch Kingdom. It was a mighty looking temple that made every fortress he has seen in both the Reschbeauch kingdom and the Serbek Kingdom look like fortresses made by little people.


    After learning of Ren''s disappearance and hearing the reports of numerous demons infiltrating the different human kingdoms, Valdel felt oddly calm. He remembered Ren''s teachings at this moment. The enemy one must face is never clear. The distinction between right and wrong is a hazy one. Since everyone has their own definition of right and wrong. That would mean that the enemy is just someone that thinks he''s in the right and you are in the wrong.


    ''For the very justice, I believe, I must not make a mistake. I mustn''t point my de at the wrong enemy. For now, I need to learn more about these demons and what their real goal is. As for Ren,'' Valdel couldn''t help but smile thinking about his friend. ''If he learns that I was worried about him for even a second he would just look at me as if I was stupid.''


    As Valdel was thinking about that, he heard someone calling him.


    "Sir Valdel, the high priest can meet you now."

 Chapter 235 High Pries

    <h4>Chapter 235 High Pries</h4>


    Valdel was forced to hand over Zwei and Nika to one of the acolytes. Though they protested and told Valdel that they could take their human form to apany him, Valdel denied their offer. He didn''t want to do something like that since the people from the temple told him toe alone. Aside from that, he didn''t need weapons in the temple of Justice.


    These people blessed by the Goddess of Justice Tiditte were people radiating a feeling of unwavering Justice.


    They the harbingers of Justice have always done things that coincide with what they think was righteous. But more than that they followed their Goddess''s words almost to the letter. Last time in the war a thousand years ago, the Temple of Justice, War, and Death. Didn''t join the war against the demons.


    The Goddess Tiditte''s reason was that the demons were not in the wrong, but they weren''t in the right either, the same could be said with the humans. She imed that there is no justice to be found in that war, nor in any war for that matter.


    But unknown to them the truth was slightly different. Even though Tiditte truly believes that her followers shouldn''t join any wars since there really was no justice to be found. She had another reason for not joining the war. She had known of Demon Lord Kretos past incarnations. Since he and one other were the only ones that were not bound by the cycle of death and rebirth of this. It was easy for her to figure out that the Kretos was the reincarnation of her adoptive father.


    The true reason she didn''t want to help the other Gods in fighting the Demon Lord was because of her knowledge of Kretos being her old father. Also aside from that, she knew, that if nothing on the level of a God were to join the fight everyone else would lose.


    That''s how her father and his past incarnations were like, those people were the beast of the battlefield. Everything on the battlefield was their prey, none were truly worthy. So it came to no surprise that Kretos was able to subjugate the entire continent. It also came to no surprise to her that in the end Kretos was betrayed and he died in battle.


    It was almost the same for every incarnation they never die due to old age, but they die while fighting.


    ...


    The high priest was a rather old man, he was already ny years old this year. Usually, he would''ve been long dead if not for the blessings of the Goddess of Justice. Because of her blessing not only was the high priest alive and strong, he also looked no older than a thirty-year-old man.


    He looked at Valdel who had entered his office with interest. Before the boy came to him the Goddess of Justice Tiditte spoke to him in one of his dreams. He said that Valdel was under the protection of someone far greater than her, but told him to not fret for she and that mysterious being were allies.


    The high priest wondered who could this mysterious ally be. Tiditte was an ancient Goddess and her rank among the Gods was rather high, for someone of her level to admit that someone was greater than her, was rather surprising.


    ...


    The high priest who was sitting on a chair, his hand ced on the table in front of him gestured for Valdel to sit down. A nearby acolyte ced a bottle of water in front of Valdel. Once Valdel was properly amodated the high priest spoke.


    "Wee to the Temple of Justice. I am Cetro the high priest of the temple of Justice."


    "Greetings Sir High Priest, I am Valdel a newly appointed Knight of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. I havee here to request for aid."


    "There''s no need to call me Sir High Priest, just Cetro is enough. As for your request for aid, we cannot help you in a war for there is no justice to be found in war. But we can help you find your friend. Our great Goddess, the Goddess of Justice has explicitly told us to ept any form of aid you would need, all except for that of war. So if your wish is to find your friend, from here on out we would do our best to find him."


    Hearing what the high priest said made Valdel shake his head. "Sir Cetro, I have no wish for you to involve yourself in war, nor do I have any wish for you to find my friend. If Ren wanted toe back, he would be able to do so anytime he wanted. In fact, I believe the reason that Ren hasn''t return is because he''s having too much fun wherever he is. Still, no matter what he''s doing... It would most probably be beneficial to the people of Reschbeauch, even if it wasn''t his intention. Also, I don''t think for one second that there''s something out there that could hold my friend down."


    Valdel spoke fondly of Ren, which made Cetro even more curious. Though Cetro was curious about Valdel and his mysterious backer, he was also equally curious about the person called Ren. From the reports given to him by various sources including the holy maiden Natasha. Ren was a special existence.


    At first, he thought that Ren was just a uniquely gifted person. But then the moment he was lost and the kingdom of Reschbeauch couldn''t find him. Even the great Goddess spoke to him in his dream, in worry for the young man.


    He was sure that the aid Valdel would want would be regarding finding this young man. Yet he was neither here to request for aid to war nor to aid him in the search of his friend.


    "So what is your request? If it isn''t for war or for your friend, then what do you want us to help you with?"


    Valdel smiled hearing Cetro''s question.


    "Someone once told me that a war happened a thousand years ago. In that war, the humans imed that they were in the right, while their enemy was evil. Even those that remember that war thinks so. But the person who told me this story said that it is the victors that write history, no matter if it is true or false. He told me the truth of that war, and it turns out the humans were in the wrong, while the evil enemy had the right to retaliate."


    Cetro nodded his head in agreement, unlike the other temples that had a record of that event. The temple of Justice, War, and Death all had a different record than that of the other temples. In the other temples, the record of that war imed that Demon Lord Kretos was a cruel evil being. But in the records of the three temples, Demon Lord Kretos was depicted as someone who was forced to war, due to the aggressiveness of humans.


    "I only wish that you help me find out if the demons this time around, are truly evil. You who im to move for the sake of Justice, surely you would do so without any biases. I just want to know why they''re doing all of these things. Why had they infiltrated human society, what are their ns, is it truly for war? I just want to know, so that I can make the right decision." The high priest looked at Valdel for a while, and then nodded his head.


    "If that is your request then we shall help you."

 Chapter 236 Threatening

    <h4>Chapter 236 Threatening</h4>


    Kretos was trying to teach Afeus his way of using mana. Though Kretos knows how to use the elementals to perform high-level spells, Afeus didn''t want to learn that. What Afeus wanted to learn was how to control mana in a way that you can use it without chanting spell words. Though the knights of the Reschbeauch Kingdom could do something simr, it looks like Kretos''s way was more efficient.


    As Kretos was teaching Afeus how to properly circte his mana, someone unexpected came to disturb them. Evior the frightened little student Kretos almost killed when he woke up, was approaching alongside several dozen of hisckeys.


    When Kretos saw the grouping for him, instead of being afraid like the other students, he wondered why this particr group of people doesn''t seem to be researching. He has been in this school for a couple of days now, and the first thing he noticed was the obsession each individual had with their perspective research.


    He heard there was a war going on between this kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, but that doesn''t seem to be affecting the people here. They continued on their research as if nothing else matters to them. Yet these guys approaching him seem to have a lot of free time.


    "Hey you, I heard you are one of the representatives for this school in the uing tournament." As Evior was talking, the students with him coupled with people that looked to be outsiders started to surround Kretos and Afeus.


    "Seeing as you''re new here, I think you''re unfit to represent the school. So how about giving me your representative position? I can give you something good in exchange for it, just name your price. But if you refuse me, well, let''s not think about that. So what do you say?"


    Kretos was now looking at Evior with a face full of confusion. "Are you threatening me?" As he asked this question Kretos''s bloodlust started leaking out. Feeling such an immense bloodlust, the outsiders started tightening their defense on Evior, while the students couldn''t help but shiver in fear.


    It was obvious that the students who have no realbat experience won''t be able to handle bloodlust, much less the bloodlust of someone like Kretos. The outsiders, on the other hand, were taking the bloodlust emitted by Kretos by stride. It would seem that the outsiders were hardened warriors.


    "Oh sorry, about that. There seems to be a misunderstanding, I wasn''t threatening you. I just want to say, since you don''t agree with handing me your representative position, how about we fight for it? I challenge you to spell battle."


    "I ept," Kretos answered without hesitation, even though he had no idea what a spell battle was. Afeus who was by his side didn''tment since he was confident of Kretos''s victory. Over the past few days, he learned a bit more about Kretos, by observing him. The more he got to know Kretos, the more Afeus understood that this guy was no normal man. It was like he came from the age of legends when heroes were abundant, and Gods and demon lords roamed thend.


    "I see that you''re confident, but since you are the current representative. It''s obvious that you''re pretty strong. So how about you allow me a little handicap?" Evior smiled as he spoke.


    "Whatever you want, you can even bring all of your allies, I don''t care. No matter what you do, you won''t be able to do anything to me. In fact, if you actually able to make me feel somewhat excited as I fight, then I might hand over the representative position even if you lose."


    Kretos spoke with a tone full of contempt. This was the first time Evior ever experienced being looked down upon so much. Kretos was actually looking at him as if he was looking at a bug. This infuriated Evior to no end.


    "Heh, such confidence, that it''s pretty much arrogance. Fine then, since you already allowed my friends to join the battle, I hope you don''t regret itter. Follow me to the arena where we can have an official battle."


    ...


    The school''s arena was basically a coliseum like building with arge open field in the middle. The outer area of the open field had a magical barrier protecting the area were the audience would supposedly watch.


    The news quickly spread that the new student would be facing Evior the school''s best fighter ss mage alongside hisckeys, in a spell battle. A lot of students gathered at the coliseum wanting to watch the spell battle. Since it was an official spell battle, a professor was present to be the referee.


    "This is yourst chance to back out and just simply give me what I want," Evior spoke to Afeus from behind his wall of minions. There were over a hundred of them present on Evior''s side, which surprised both the audience and the referee. If it wasn''t for Kretos agreeing to such an arrangement this would never have happened in a normal spell battle. Still, even though they were so many in the open field like arena there was still a lot of space to move around in.


    "You talk too much, let''s just start and get this over with." Kretos continued to look at Evior and his men with both boredom and contempt. Hearing his reply made Evior gnashed his teeth. On the other hand, the outsiders had more serious expressions on their faces.


    "Very well, it seems like you need to be taught a lesson for you to understand your position. I hope you don''t die on me too quickly." Kretos simply shrugged his shoulders after hearing Evior''s reply. Seeing as the two of them look like they were done talking, the professor assigned as the referee started to exin the rules of a spell battle.


    "Since the other side is new here, I will exin what the rules of a spell battle are. As for the others, this is going to just be a refresher. So in a spell battle, both sides are only allowed to use spells, the use of weapons and fists are prohibited. Even weapons summoned with a spell are prohibited. Aside from that, you can do anything. The winner will be decided if, one side is unconscious, unable to move, surrenders, or dies, thest man standing is obviously the winner. Simple enough correct? I hope that this time around you people just surrender when you feel like you won''t win." As the professor was saying this he was looking at Kretos.


    "Any questions? None?... Alright then, both sides get ready..." On Evior''s side, all of them started chanting, readying their spells. On the other hand, Kretos was simply standing not doing anything, he was even yawning.


    "BEGIN!"

 Chapter 237 Death Battle

    <h4>Chapter 237 Death Battle</h4>


    Once the battle started a lot of spells wereunched from Evior''s side. Almost all the students on Evior''s side fired random spells towards Kretos. On the other hand, the guards who were paid to protect Evior didn''t fire their spells as they tried observing what Kretos would do facing a bunch of low-tier to mid-tier spells.


    Unfortunately, the students had no battle experience, nor did they have good cooperation skills. Some of them canceled one another spells as they collided mid-air. Still, even though some of the spells didn''t make it to Kretos, a majority of them were able to reach him.


    Kretos looked at the poorly initiated spells and felt greatly disappointed. When he heard some of them chanting, he could understand that some of them were actually chanting mid-tier spells. He was starting to feel a bit of hope that maybe these students weren''t as bad as he thought. But when he saw the execution of the spells, as well as the mana distribution, he couldn''t help but sigh as they were all messy, so the output wasn''t even close to mid-tier.


    Though the spells were meant to be mid-tier the way they were used, has made them only slightly better than low-tier spells. Also, the spells were all over the ce. The whole performance was idiotic in Kretos''s view.


    On the other hand, the students watching the battle were amazed by how many spells were being used at the same time. They started thinking that it might actually be a bit more fun to be abat mage.


    The referee was about ready to im the battle over when he saw the spells about to hit Kretos. Even a high-level mage like himself would find it difficult to block all those attacks. Especially if the mage in question wasn''t even chanting a counter. Instead, Kretos was just standing there yawning, as if he wanted to die.


    As the spells hit Kretos arge explosion urred, the dust from the explosion scattered everywhere, and the magical barrier surrounding the field was hit. It was a good thing that the barrier was working properly since if one of the students was hit by a stray spell they could''ve died.


    "The win-" The referee was about to announce Evior''s team as the victors, but then he sensed a weird mana fluctuation in the dust storm. He looked as the dust scatter away and within it revealed apletely unharmed Kretos.


    Everyone was shocked to see him without a single scratch. Aside from his spot, everything else within a twenty-meter radius from him was blown away. It was pretty obvious he didn''t move from his spot.


    The students watching couldn''t understand what happened, neither did the referee. How was Kretos able to survive that barrage without chanting? The referee then remembered the weird mana fluctuation he felt moments ago. Was Kretos able to use a spell without chanting?


    Though everyone was shocked, the most shocked by the events were the students that fired the spells. Evior once again felt fearful as the guards he hired tightened their formation.


    "Is that it?" When Evior heard Kretos''s condescending remark, his anger overcame his fear as he shouted. "KILL HIM! Hit him with everything you got."


    The students once again started chanting, but this time the guards also joined in. The students once again released a barrage of spells. Once those hit Kretos, the guards also released theirbined spell.


    It was their specializedbined spell, [me Snake]. A giant snake-shaped me appeared and wrapped around the area were Kretos stood. The heating from the [me Snake] was so intense that even though the outer area were the students sat was protected by a magical barrier. The intense heat was able to melt a bit of the stands barrier and all. The students who were watching backed away as they too felt the intense heat.


    The referee saw that some students on Evior''s side were dying due to the heat produced by the semi high-tier spell. Even he was forced to use multipleyers of ice spells to protect himself from the heat. Surely this time Kretos was dead. Even if he had the most powerful barrier being so close to such intense mes, would burn even his soul away.


    As the guards poured arge amount of mana into the [me Snake], they thought it was finally over. They were about to release their spell when they noticed something odd with the [me Snake]. Their spell was actually quivering, it was then the heat changed into an intense frigid atmosphere.


    The powerful [me Snake] was being frozen over. Once its whole body froze, it broke into tiny millions of pieces and from there they once again saw Kretos unharmed.


    "Is that it?" The moment everyone heard the same question being asked, they felt a shiver on their spine. This new student was unbelievably powerful. Seeing this performance the referee knew that even he wasn''t a match for Kretos.


    The guards had underestimated Kretos''s power and advised Evior to surrender. But unfortunately, the young mage wasn''t listening as anger filled his mind. The remaining students participating in the battle had all surrendered which made Evior even more furious.


    On the other hand, the guards couldn''t do the same, as long as their employer told them to fight they needed to fight. They were bound by a contract that would kill them if they disobeyed. So either they die by breaking the contract or they die at Kretos''s hands.


    "KILL HIM! ATTACK HIM, AND KILL THOSE TRAITORS AS WELL!" Eviormanded the guards. Despite wanting to attack once more, the guards noticed that they couldn''t move their bodies.


    It was a rather weird sensation as they weren''t paralyzed by any potion or spell. When they saw the bored Kretos looking at them, they finally realized what had happened to them. They were struck with fear, the fear they felt of the unknown being before them. Still, unaware of what was happening to his guards Evior continued to bark his orders. Kretos, on the other hand, had lost all interest in this supposed battle.


    "I see... That''s all you got, really what an utter disappointment. Allow me to show you fools what a real spell looks like... Since you fools used a fire spell, I will use an ice spell to finish you off." Kretos started to gather mana into his fingertips and drew a magic circle in the air. The form used to create the magic circle was soplex that none of those present could understand it. Still, it caught the interest of all the students watching as well as the referee. They all tried to memorize and write down the form used to create the spell so that they could research itter.


    Once Kretos was done with creating his magic circle, Evior finally understood what was happening. He wanted to surrender but the immense amount of manaing from the spell was suffocating him. He couldn''t breathe much less talk. By instinct, the referee and the students also understood what was about to happen so they all fled from the arena.


    "This was a bore." After Kretos said those words at Evior, he activated his spell. "[Absolute zero]." In an instant, the whole field turned into a field of ice. Everything was turned into ice sculptures. The look of horror in Evior and his guards'' faces got stuck as they turned into ice.


    Kretos then extended his hand outward and clenched it as he activated another spell, "[Break]." The bodies that were frozen started breaking, and then they exploded into tiny shards. The only person aside from Kretos to witness this scene was Afeus. He was at the edge of the arena and covered himself in multiple defensive barriers. He looked at Kretos with eyes filled with crazed admiration.

 Chapter 238 The Osted Family

    <h4>Chapter 238 The Osted Family</h4>


    The battle had ended with Kretos''s overwhelming victory. Yet despite gaining undeniable victory, Kretos felt empty. It was at that moment he started to remember something. He was on top of a castle of sorts. He was looking at the open skies, feeling excited for the battles he would have.


    He wanted to remember more than just this. Kretos stood silently on the arena trying his hardest to recall a memory of that past that was shown to him. Why did he suddenly remember such a thing?


    The people who fled the scene started returning and saw the devastation that one spell brought. The only people who can use that kind of spell were high-mages. They then looked at Kretos he didn''t even look to be around twenty years old. The youngest high mage that has been recorded was thirty-two years old, and that was during the age of legends.


    In that age, numerous heroes roam thend, the time when adventures were true adventures. The time when mages not only got a glimpse of the truths of the world but were able to bend the very fabric of fate to their will.


    Right now somebody with the same ability as the mages of old appeared out of nowhere. The people present were unsure, on how to react to this news. They couldn''t approach Kretos, so they simply stared at him while he just stood there.


    Afeus was getting even more excited after he watched that overwhelming disy of power from Kretos. If he could learn how to control his mana in such a way, a lot of its doors might open up to him. He might be able to delve deeper into a realm that no mage has ever been.


    The referee of the match could only look at the gruesome yet beautiful scene of falling ice with his mouth wide open. He never expected that someone so young could be so powerful.


    After waiting for a short while, Kretos finally moved and he looked quite disappointed. As Kretos left the arena with Afeus, the referee finally woke up from his shock. It was pretty obvious who won, but he still needed to say it.


    "Victory goes to Kretos!" The moment they heard the referee''s announcement, the students who were all frozen in ce suddenly burst into cheers. They felt so excited, that they couldn''t help but scream and cheer. This was the first time in a long time that they felt excited about something other than research.


    ...


    When he heard the cheers from the arena, even Afeus got excited as he walked behind Kretos. He wanted to say something but then noticed the look on Kretos''s face. Afeus decided to stay behind silently.


    ...


    "WHAT HAPPENED?! Evior is dead! My son is dead!" The life-saving artifact that he gave his son activated. It was supposed to teleport him at the moment when his life was in danger. Yet what came back was the broken pieces of ice containing Evior''s body.


    Evior''s father Sagar had a high position in the Osted Family, one of the old families in the Serbek kingdom. He never could''ve predicted that someone from his family would be killed like this, especially not his son.


    Sagar then quickly called in some of his men and ordered them to find out who was the one that did this to Evior. After his men left in a hurry, Sagar activated a spell to gather all the shattered remains of his son. Once that was done he headed to his father''s study.


    Sagar''s father, Evior''s grandfather, Walganus was the current head of the Osted family. He was the third strongest mage in the Kingdom. He was one of the few that could im to be a match for the Grand Mage.


    ...


    While Sagar was walking with floating ice shards, the people in his path tried to avoid him at all costs. The face he was making was so grim that it frightened the other Osted family members. They then started whispering to each other as Sagar passes by.


    "Why is Sir Sagar acting like that?"


    "Do you think it''s war?"


    "Who are we going to war with, the Reschbeauch Kingdom?"


    "Are you stupid, why should we join in that kind of stupid war. The battle between the two kingdoms is just the surface war. Everyone thinks that the two sides are going all out. Little did they know if the two sides really went all out, the war would''ve ended within a day and one side would''ve been annihted already. There''s something deeper going on here."


    Sagar continued walking not bothering with the rumors that were forming due to him. He finally arrived at his father''s study. Even though he was in a hurry, Sagar still knocked on the door and announced his arrival.


    "You may enter." Only after hearing his father''s approval did Sagar dare enter the room.


    "What is it?" An old man sipping his tea while reading a book asked. This was Walganus the current head of the Osted family.


    "Father, Evior is dead." The moment Sagar said those words, the old man''s demeanor changed. The air of sophistication and elderly wisdom disappeared, and what reced it was the face of a demon. The change was so quick and so sudden, that it might have surprised most, but not Sagar who knew his father rather well.


    "Who did this?! Who would dare do this?!" The elderly man''s voice was booming as his mana started to swirl around the room.


    "I have sent my men to the school, we will know once they return," Sagar answered quickly.


    "Then where is Evior''s body, did you recover it?" Hearing this question Sagar made the frozen remains of his son float towards Walganus. At first, the old man was confused as to why Sagar was making ice float his way but upon closer inspection, he was surprised to see that this was his grandson broken into pieces.


    He touched the ice and noticed that this was made by using a high-tier spell. It was not something a student of that school could have done. So it might be a teacher or someone else that killed his grandson.


    Walganus frowned as this event doesn''t seem as simple as he thought it was. But even so, it doesn''t matter, his grandson must be avenged.

 Chapter 239 My past?

    <h4>Chapter 239 My past?</h4>


    After the battle with Evior, Kretos became rather famous in the school. Many students wanted to learn from him, and lower level teachers also wanted the same. This greatly annoyed Kretos, so he gave the task of teaching them to Afeus. If Afeus is able to teach the basics of mana control to the students, Kretos was willing to acknowledge him as his disciple and would teach him greater mana control.


    This motivated Afeus greatly as he guided the others in basic mana control. While everyone was going crazy regarding the discovery of spells that didn''t need elementals, Kretos decided to rest.


    As he closed his eyes shut, Kretos immediately went to sleep. He would usually be only half asleep since enemies could attack him at any time and he needed to be ready, but this time he was in a deep sleep. As he was sleeping he had a dream, a very lucid dream.


    In the dream, he was fighting a strong opponent with horns of a goat, and a tail that was a snake. Its giant body was twice Kretos''s size who was bigger than most. This otherworldly being held an axe taller than Kretos and it was thick as a tree. The goat demon swung his axe at Kretos who wanted to dodge but couldn''t. He then raised hisrge sword to block the iing attack.


    The difference in strength between Kretos and the goat demon was great so he was blown away. He hit the wall behind him and coughed up blood. Normally when this happens the person blown away would either be fearful or be in despair, yet it was the opposite for Kretos. He felt extremely excited that it was like a drug to him. He smiled viciously at the strong opponent before him and charged again.


    The goat demon was shocked that the attack he made didn''t even slow Kretos down, instead, it actually made him even faster. Bleeding all over, Kretos was using his immense mana to keep his body together. The goat demon and Kretos were locking their weapons trying to gain the upper hand when the snake tail of the goat demon moved and bit Kretos on the neck.


    Kretos didn''t even bother to dodge as he strengthened the muscles in his neck by gathering most of his mana in it. The snake tail was unable to prate Kretos''s skin, this shocked the goat demon as he realized the problem.


    Though he was stronger than Kretos, and their mana supply was equal, but the goat demon''s control over his mana was far lesser than Kretos. If that''s the case he needed to capitalize on his own advantage. The goat demon roared as he gathered his strength and pushed Kretos aside.


    Once Kretos was off bnce the goat demon charged at Kretos with his horns. Kretos was unable to block it using his sword nor was he able to block it using his mana. The horn prated his body. But due to a demon''s greater life force, this wasn''t enough to kill him.


    Kretos who was losing so badly wasn''t afraid instead he was ecstatic as he startedughing heartily. Hearing himugh the goat demon thought Kretos had gone crazy in fear. As the goat demon thought of that he felt something hit his chin, the goat demon whose horns were stuck on Kretos''s chest were broken off.


    Kretos had kneed the goat demon''s chin with everything he had. The goat demon flew from across the room falling on the floor, it then started roaring in pain. On the other hand, Kretos wasughing merrily as he pulled out the horns of the goat demon from his body. Blood sttered everywhere, as his wound slowly closed.


    "This is awesome! As expected of one of the subordinates of the Demon Empress! Come then bring me some more joy as we dance between life and death!" Hearing what Kretos said, the goat demon whoy on the floor finally understood that Kretos was indeed crazy, but not the type of crazy he was expecting.


    Kretos waited for the goat demon to get up, and once he saw the goat demon was up and about Kretos charged at him. The goat demon swung his axe to intercept Kretos, who then blurred as he was about to be hit.


    "Doing the same thing again? That''s now what I want!" The goat demon raised his axe as he heard Kretos''s voice from above, he then felt something stabbed at him at the back. He saw that Kretos''s sword had gone through his body. The goat demon then immediately turned around and swung his axe wildly. Kretos pulled out his sword and backed away.


    Kretos then attacked but this time due to the goat demon''s wound its reaction time was slower and was once again hit by Kretos. As Kretos backed away he looked disappointed. "This is getting rather boring... How about I do this to make it interesting again!"


    Kretos then slowly approached the goat demon and once he stood in front of the goat demon his vicious smile grew wider. Kretos then provoked the goat demon into attacking. The goat demon swung its axe at full power, but this time Kretos was able to fling it away using his sword. Once the axe was gone kretos threw away his weapon as well, and the two began brawling.


    Punches and kicks were exchanged as blood flew around the room. The sound of pounding flesh and Kretos''s heartyugh could be heard echoing in the greatrge room. After hours of attacking each other, the goat demon finally fell to the ground as Kretos proceeded to smash the goat demon''s head repeatedly. As the goat demon''s consciousness was fading he heard his opponent''sst words to him.


    "Thank you for the battle."


    ...


    After Kretos was done pounding at the goat demon he picked up his sword and proceeded to the next room. Thest room of this castle he was invading was the throne room. In it was a single person sitting on a luxurious throne. The person on the throne was emitting mana that could crush the very soul of a weaker demon, but to Kretos it just got him even more excited.


    The one on the throne was a beautiful demon wearing a rather revealing red dress. She looked at Kretos while yawning, she was about to say something when Kretos spoke first. Kretos lifted his sword and pointed it at the demoness and with his vicious smile spoke.


    "Demon Empress, let''s fight!"

 Chapter 240 Demon Empress

    <h4>Chapter 240 Demon Empress</h4>


    Kretos didn''t wait for the Demon Empress to respond and immediately charged with his sword at hand. His body was still aching from thest battle, but he couldn''t care less. He had stormed the strongest demon''s castle because he wanted to fight.


    The moment he was within one meter of the Demon Empress an invisible force stopped him from moving forward, but that just made Kretos all the more excited. On the other hand, the Demon Empress was shocked to see that Kretos wasn''t disintegrated by her mana barrier instead he was just immobilized. She looked curiously at the viciously smiling Kretos.


    "You are the demon from the Shadow n that has been going on a rampagetely... Aren''t Shadow n members good in the art of assassination, why are you attacking this way?"


    "Assassination?... What''s the fun in doing that?!" Kretos shouted as he broke through the barrier. The Demon Empress was slightly surprised as she raised her finger to block Kretos''s attack. Yet the moment her fingernail came into contact with Kretos''s sword, she immediately knew that it wasn''t enough. She then used her full hand to block and was greatly surprised by Kretos''s strength.


    ''Unfortunately this isn''t enough.'' The Demon Empress raised her free arm and shot a ball of pure mana at Kretos. Seeing the iing attack Kretos couldn''t dodge but he smiled a very crazed smile as it hit. The Demon Empress was surprised to see that expression on her opponent''s face. Usually when she attacks the only expression her opponents have was fear. Yet Kretos showed a very crazed joy as he was about to get hit.


    The ball of mana blew away Kretos who crashed from one wall of the castle to another. When he finally stopped the Demon Empress was sure that should''ve killed him. But instead, his mana fluctuation was spiking to a level that equaled hers. As she noticed this, she remembered when she sensed him fighting the goat demon, didn''t he also had the same level of mana as her subordinate, but now it equaled hers...


    ''Did he hold back to gauge my mana, so we can fight on an equal footing?... Does this mean he has more mana than me?''


    The Demon Empress was finally realizing that the young demon in front of her wasn''t as easy to handle as she thought he was.


    "Now that''s what I''m talking about! Now I can finally go all out!" Hearing Kretos''s joyful voice the Demon Empress finally stood up from her throne. The moment she did so, Kretos suddenly appeared before her as if he teleported.


    The Demon Empress evaded the iing strike and shot another ball of mana at Kretos who was now able to evade. The Demon Empress then tried to get some distance so she could unleash a stronger attack, but Kretos wouldn''t let her.


    Kretos continued to stick close to her unleashing a barrage of sword shes happily. He evaded he attacked, it was so much fun for him. No matter how fast he went the Demon Empress was able to evade and counter.


    This was the first time he went into top gear and he still couldn''t hit the Demon Empress. This made him ecstatic. On the other hand, the Demon Empress noticed that for each attack Kretos made he was slowly getting faster, his attacks getting sharper.


    ''Is he still holding back, or is he growing during this battle?...'' If it was the former then it was still alright, but if it was thetter then the young demon was more frightening than she thought. She needed to end this quickly before his improvement surpasses her.


    The Demon Empress suddenly fought more aggressively no longer minding getting nicked by Kretos''s sword for as long as she could hit him squarely. Seeing her change tactics, despite him being the one getting pummeled, Kretos was happy. This was the kind of opponent he wanted to face. It wasn''t a mistake to have raided this castle.


    "You''re the best, truly spectacr! Show me more, bring out more of your power!" Kretos slightly provoked the Demon Empress. Yet despite the provocation the Demon Empress didn''t bother as she continued trying to hit key parts of Kretos''s body.


    ...


    After fighting for a few minutes Kretos felt that something weird was going on. The Demon Empress was full of wounds but despite that she still fought aggressively. Though that was what Kretos wanted, he felt like the Demon Empress wouldn''t be doing that without a reason. Kretos then felt his body going numb as he couldn''t move.


    The Demon Empress sighed as she saw the sight, her attack finally came to fruition. She was from the Subus n and her specialty was illusions and soul control. She had been slowly trying to control Kretos by injecting a portion of her soul into his. As the current strongest Subus, usually even a small portion of her soul would''ve made even the hardiest of demons copse under her control. Yet it took her great amounts of her soul to even stop Kretos.


    As she was feeling relieved she felt the soul fragments that she injected were being destroyed. It was at that moment she felt an overwhelming force within Kretos''s soul. It was so profoundly powerful, that it made her feel extremely insignificant. As she was distracted Kretos was able to easily stab her in the chest.


    Unlike other demons her vitality was weaker, that was one of the weaknesses of the Subus n that excelled in spell casting. Her life force was slowly draining, and she could no longer heal as a part of her soul was crushed by the unknown force.


    "NO!!! What the f*ck! Why didn''t you evade?! Damn it, we were having so much fun!" The Demon Empress heard Kretos''s cry as shey on the floor. Hearing the young demon''s desperate cry for more battle, made the Demon Empress giggle.


    "I''m sorry young demon, that I have disappointed you..." Kretos looked at the dying Demon Empress with a weird expression on his face.


    "You didn''t disappoint me... It was actually the most enjoyable battle I had so far." The Demon Empress smiled as she heard what Kretos said.


    "Is that so... Young Demon, since I was able to satisfy you, can you fulfill a wish of mine?"


    "... I don''t know if I can fulfill your wish, but I''m willing to listen."


    "Don''t worry, it''s alright if you can''t do it... You see I once had a dream of uniting the whole demonic ns. Unfortunately I wasn''t strong enough to do so. Seeing your strength today, made me think of that dream once more. If you can, I wish you could unite the demon race into a powerful Kingdom."


    "Will I be facing strong opponents?"


    "Yes, many wille to face you until you feel despair." Hearing what the Demon Empress said made Kretosugh.


    "The more the merrier! Now that would be a battle worth fighting!" Seeing the young demonughing so heartily made the Demon Empress believe that there might actually be a chance for him to fulfill her dream. Unfortunately she wouldn''t be there to witness the fruition of her dream.


    "If only I met you sooner..." The Demon Empress drew herst breath, but before she died she heard Kretos say something.


    "Thank you for the battle, and for the dream..."

 Chapter 241 Dwarven Weapon Shop

    <h4>Chapter 241 Dwarven Weapon Shop</h4>


    Kretos woke from his dream and he looked around and saw that he was in a room. He tried to organize his thoughts as they were a mess at the moment. That dream was so vivid it felt so real, and in that dream he was a demon a powerful demon. But in reality, he was a human...


    ''What does this mean?... Those skills, that feeling, it doesn''t seem fake...'' The more he thought about it the more confused he became. Kretos got out of bed and decided to try to find a sword, the same heavy sword as the dream version of him used.


    The moment he went outside of his room he was swarmed by a group of people. Kretos had no time to deal with them so he used his bloodlust to ward away the crowd. When the students and teachers felt Kretos''s spine chilling bloodlust, they all backed away. Even the bravest in the group could only lower their heads in fear.


    Seeing as no one was courageous enough to get near him, Kretos signaled one of them toe near. He pointed at a random person and that person approached him.


    "Do you know where I can get some weapons?"


    "Yes, there''s only one weapon shop in the school."


    "Oh, how about outside?"


    "It has been a few years since I''ve been outside, I don''t really know if there are weapons sold out there."


    "... Fine, lead me to the... What''s that smell?" Kretos started to smell something weird he then looked at the person he was talking to. He saw that the person actually peed.


    "Just tell me the general direction and I''ll go by myself." The person told Kretos where to find the shop and once he was done he fled from the scene.


    ...


    It was pretty hard to find the shop since it was located in a secluded area of the school. When Kretos saw the shop for the first time he thought it was an abandoned building. The only reason he stayed was because he saw some people insidezily sitting on chairs.


    Upon entering the shop he saw two small people with long bushy beards. Their bodies were muscr, they look like middle-aged men with the height of children. Kretos has no knowledge of what race they were.


    Seeing the new customer the two were surprised, but then they noticed that the new customer was looking at them weirdly.


    "What is itd, is this the first time you''ve seen a dwarf."


    "A dwarf?"


    "Yes, we''re dwarves, so are you just going to look at us are you going to buy something?"


    "I''m looking for arge sword, give me thergest sword you have." When the dwarves heard Kretos''s request they were rather surprised. Based on the uniform Kretos was wearing he was a student of the sorcery school. Most of the students here can''t even lift a normal sword, much less anything bigger.


    ...


    After being banished from the Northern Lands, the twin dwarves thought that it would be good business to start a weapon shop in a human kingdom. Unfortunately the human kingdom they came to, wasn''t a kingdom with many warriors. No longer able to leave, due to all the money they have spent opening the shop, the twin dwarves stayed in the Serbek Kingdom.


    The only ie they get was when one of the mages wanted them to help create some new invention. No one actually came to their shop to buy weapons, but now someone dide and he asked for quite an unexpected weapon. The only weapon they had that fits what Kretos wants, was an old longsword they made before.


    "Are you sure you can handle such a weapond?"


    "Just hand me the sword, and you will see." Kretos looked at the dwarf, he stared back at him. The moment they locked eyes the dwarf instinctively knew that the one before him was a warrior like no other.


    "Sorryd, but the weapon we have here won''t satisfy you..."


    "It doesn''t matter just hand me the sword." Seeing how resolute Kretos was being, the other dwarf went to the back of the shop to pick up the old longsword. He then handed the sword to Kretos.


    When Kretos held the sword he started swinging it a bit. It felt too light, even if he can enforce the sword with his mana it wouldn''t help.


    "Can you make a sword ten times heavier than this?" The twin dwarves were so shocked by the request that they almost stumbled.


    "Ten... Ten times!"


    "So can you do it or not?" Kretos asked once more sounding a bit more impatient.


    "We could, but we need more materials. It would take a month or two to gather the necessary materials for your request. Also, the payment for such an order would be quite high, can you afford it?"


    Instead of answering Kretos reached out into the air, and a ck orb enveloped his hand. He wasn''t sure why, but he felt like he had the things the dwarves needed. Kretos then pulled out a bunch of items from the ck orb. The dwarves were amazed by the treasures they saw appear before their eyes. As their eyes skimmed through the treasury, they noticed something incredible within the pile.


    "I... I... IS that, a dragon''s bone! Based on the look of it, that just ain''t any dragon''s bone. It must havee from an ancient dragon or a dark dragon."


    "Can you use this to make the weapon?"


    "Yes, with this we can make the weapon. We can make the greatest weapon ever!" The dwarven blood flowing through the twins'' veins was boiling in excitement.


    "As for the matter of payment-" Kretos wasn''t able to finish what he wanted to say when one of the dwarves interrupted him.


    "No need for payment. Allowing us to use such high-grade materials is enough payment. I would never imagine that after being exiled from the dwarven kingdom, my brother and I to be blessed with forging the strongest weapon. With this we can make a weapon that would match or even surpass the swords of legends!"

 Chapter 242 Side Chapter: The ORIGIN

    <h4>Chapter 242 Side Chapter: The ORIGIN</h4>


    In the emptiness before time, before the flow moved forward, backward, upward, or downward, or anywhere at all, before the very first concept was born, there was nothing and in that nothingness, a being of unknown power was born. The unknown power was the first sentient life in all of reality. It existed before the beginning and it will exist beyond the end.


    This being was the ORIGIN, of course this was a name that waster made for it. Its real name cannot be pronounced nor could it even be thought about. It had no shape or form, it was a part of the nothingness at the same time it went beyond it.


    The ORIGIN was the only being that had a sense of self. In its boredom the concept of time was created. In its contemtion reality came into existence. With its dreams the universes had burst forth. Like him his dreams had no beginning and no end.


    As the only being with a sense of self, the ORIGIN became lonely. In that loneliness it created beings that could keep himpany. It created a being that shared a part of its core self. This being was made to disperse the ORIGIN''s loneliness.


    The being created was created as a seemingly perfect being able to attend to the ORIGIN''s every need. Seeing that its new creation was sessful the ORIGIN created more of the perfect being. These beings would be known as the God race.


    The Gods were created to be a perfect existence that would do no wrong. But in that perfectionid their ws. Since they were perfect that was it, that was their end. They couldn''t grow, and that meant they could never match the ORIGIN, so in the end, they weren''t truepanions.


    The God race turned out to be failures, they were nothing more than children or servants of the ORIGIN. They couldn''t be hispanion as they could never reach its status. Still, the God race were its children and from them, the ORIGIN gained love.


    From that love, light and darkness were born. The ORIGIN felt that even though the God race were failures, they were still able to remove its loneliness but only for a time.


    So from there, the ORIGIN created new beings, these beings were full of imperfections, but their ability to grow was infinite. These beings started out as insignificant beings that were also born from nothingness. But unlike the ORIGIN they didn''t spawn as beings beyond perfection, they started from the bottom and slowly rose up from there. From the initial being they evolved into different life forms. The better-evolved ones wouldter be identified as humans.


    The human race was the younger siblings of the God race. Like most siblings they vied for the attention of their parent. To the Gods, the humans were no threat, but as the flow of time moved onward the Gods noticed something. The humans were constantly changing, they were curious little beings that started to create things. Thought their creations were nothing like the creations of their parent the ORIGIN, the humans still had the ability to create.


    Even the Gods, the ORIGIN''s first creation had no ability to create. That was an exclusive skill of the ORIGIN or so the Gods thought. Being a race that was at their peak state and capabilities, if they didn''t have the ability to create before, they would never have the ability to create forever.


    The Gods then asked the ORIGIN to give them the gift of creation. Of course, the ORIGINplied and gave the Gods the power to create. When they got the power, the Gods were once again far ahead of the humans. But same as before as time continued to flow the humans continued to improve. On the other hand, the Gods remained the same.


    The Gods seeing that the humans might eventually surpass them, felt threatened. If they reached the same realm as the ORIGIN, won''t they the first children be obsolete. No beyond that fear and Jealousy, the Gods were being consumed by a myriad of emotions. As they had remained the same since the beginning they were unable to cope with these new feelings that were birthed from within them.


    It was a rather curious case, which even the ORIGIN could not fullyprehend. The ORIGIN was the creator of everything in existence save for itself. But despite its omnipotence it couldn''t understand how his perfect beings were gaining new things despite it not giving it to them.


    The Gods who were overwhelmed by these new emotions started attacking their younger sibling the humans. Of course, humanity fought back with everything they had. The Gods and humans of that time were both immortal beings, so despite them attacking each other, no one could actually win.


    Seeing that the progress the humans were making was slowing down because of this sibling rivalry the ORIGIN intervened.


    ...


    When the ORIGIN intervened, the Gods in their fury attacked their master, their creator, their parent. Yet no matter what they did the ORIGIN was too powerful and they could never hope to win. Unlike the human race the ORIGIN had the power to erase them from existence. Still, they continued to persist. Though in the end the result was the same.


    But unknown to anyone this fight came at a cost that even the ORIGIN couldn''t foresee. Seeing as the ORIGIN had shared a part of himself to the God race, their fury and their jealousy had infected him. It wasn''t too much, but the ORIGIN no longer remained the impartial Judge.


    The ORIGIN still loved humans, but he acquired the fear of the God race and felt threatened by their growth. The ORIGIN who was infected by the God race''s feelings had forgotten its original purpose in making the humans and decided to suppress them.


    Every time human civilization would reach a certain point he would reset it. The humans who used to be immortal turned mortal beings and would now enter the cycle of death and rebirth. Though their advancement became slower, the humans still continued to move onward.


    Through the cycle of death and rebirth, a human had broken free from the ORIGIN''s control. He was the hero of the human race, one loved by battle, he who could battle fate itself. This was the original incarnation of Edge, Ren, and the others. The original now free from the shackles of the ORIGIN was the only being that could match its strength.


    Unfortunately, even with the original''s strength he was unable to win against the ORIGIN. Despite his failure, the original vowed to fight for the humans, so that they too may break free as well from the shackles of the ORIGIN.


    He tried to stop the ORIGIN from resetting human civilization from every universe, sometimes he would win but most times he would lose. In the end no matter how hard he struggled he couldn''t save them from their fates. Yet that didn''t stop the original from continuing his never-ending battle.


    Though it was a hopeless situation, and there were no signs that he could win. The original kept on going with a vicious grin on his face. Yet despite his power, the original was still mortal, and would eventually die. Once death embraces him he would once again enter the cycle of death and rebirth, and from there be shackled to the ORIGIN. Knowing of this problem, he created his own reincarnation cycle separate from the other humans.


    His powerful soul as the conduit, the original was able to continue to reincarnate without the ORIGIN''s influence. Thus their battle continued on and within those battles the ORIGIN never felt lonely again.

 Chapter 243 Scheming

    <h4>Chapter 243 Scheming</h4>


    In Walganus''s study, he and his son Sagar were waiting for the people they sent to investigate return. While waiting Walganus was thinking of the different people that would oppose his family. It has been quite a while since he has done anything aside from rxing, so people might have forgotten how powerful he was.


    ''It could be that upstart Henrietta the so called genius. She has been getting a bit too cockytely bing the seventh strongest mage in the kingdom. She keeps on saying that she''s busy doing research, but it''s possible that she''s been scheming behind the scenes.''


    ''It could also be one of those old b*stards greedily eyeing my family''s assets. Mages might have a great influence in this country, but we''re still under the buffoons rule. The king might not have as much power as everyone thinks, but he still has enough power to do some sneaky moves in the shadows. Not to mention those greedy nobles of his.''


    ''There''s also the warriors of this kingdom. They have tried several times to overthrow the mages but to no sess. It seems like their ns are getting bolder by the day. We still haven''t found where the rats are hiding. Now that the other kingdoms have been eyeing Serbek, they might start an actual rebellion.''


    ''The Grand Mage is also acting suspiciously nowadays. If it was before he would never bother with such inelegant things such as war but now he was the one who''s at the forefront in wanting to start wars...''


    ''It doesn''t matter if it''s those upstarts trying to bite more than they can chew or those old b*stards that are waiting to pounce at the right time. It doesn''t matter if those rats that called themselves warriorse out. It doesn''t even matter if the Grand Mage himself makes a move. Those that fight our Osted family will never meet a happy end.''


    Sagar who was observing his father felt his father''s mana pulsating as he was deep in thought. While waiting, Sagar was able to calm down a bit. Even though his son just died, he was still the sessor of the Osted family. He needed to look at the situation as calmly as possible.


    On the outside, the Serbek Kingdom was at war with different nations, but that wasn''t worth much since this happens every now and then. The problem was the fights in the shadows were getting tenser and more chaotic. The hidden forces of the Serbek Kingdom were getting riled up and were using the changes that are happening with the Grand Mage to their advantage.


    ''What''s with this timing, why did they attack us in this timing? What''s so important... The uing tournament, Evior was going to join that tournament. If that''s the reason for the attacks then the force that might be against us could be a force that''s not part of the Serbek Kingdom.''


    ''It couldn''t be the elves, even though I dote on the boy I know his limits. He isn''t a threat to the elves, nor is he any threat to the fairies. Then maybe he was attacked by someone that wanted to take his ce in the tournament. Seeing as he is the best battle ss mage in that school.''


    The two were going deeper and deeper into their own theories. The more they thought about it the more insane the theory they came up with.


    ...


    The five spies Sagar sent to investigate finally arrived at the school. They separated and went to different ces to gather information. It was quite easy to get the information they needed as the memory of the event was engraved in the minds of those who saw it.


    After talking to various students and teachers the three gathered in one spot. They shared the information they had gathered, and they couldn''t believe it. The power of the student in question wasn''t ordinary. If there really was such a student why did he just suddenly appear out of nowhere?


    The five of them needed to gather more information. Since this was rted to the only son of Sagar if theye back with iplete information, or they made a mistake, Sagar would kill them.


    They also agreed that it was entirely possible that Kretos was just a misdirect. A secret force made the unknown student famous so that they can operate more freely. So with that in mind, the spies of the Osted family decided to observe Kretos from afar.


    ...


    When they saw Kretos their first impression of the boy was he wasn''t as impressive as they thought he would be. Kretos''s looks were extremely ordinary if you ce him in the middle of a group of people you wouldn''t even notice him. The mana he was emitting wasn''t impressive, it could barely be felt at all.


    Was this the kid that killed their young master and all of his subordinates? Maybe it was really just a misdirect after all. The five followed Kretos for a while, and then they noticed that he was heading to a deserted area.


    Could it be that Kretos was about to meet with the real masterminds of this scenario? The five looked at each other and nodded their heads. The four continued to follow Kretos from a safe distance, while one of them headed to a secret location. If the four don''t arrive at the secret location after the allotted time thest one would assume the four have died and he would immediately leave.


    ...


    The four followed Kretos into a deserted open area. Kretos stood in one spot silently and he seems to be waiting for someone. After a second Kretos then looked at the direction of the four spies. The four of them were surprised to see that they were spotted and before they knew it Kretos disappeared from their view.


    The four wanted to quickly run away, but as they were about to flee they saw someone was already behind them.


    "Why are you guys following me? Well, it doesn''t matter since you guys don''t seem to be my allies that would mean you''re my enemies."


    The moment Kretos said those words one of the spies was about to answer, but then he saw that he was pierced by something as he and the other three now had holes in their stomachs. Thest thing they saw before their deaths, was the nonchnt look on Kretos''s face.


    ...


    ''Wasn''t there five of them? Hmm, so one was able to escape... Well, it doesn''t matter if hees back I''ll just kill him then.'' Kretos couldn''t be bothered to act more than he already did. The people that were following him were not at a level that could excite him, so he doubted that whoever sent them would even be a decent warm-up.

 Chapter 244 Let us kill!

    <h4>Chapter 244 Let us kill!</h4>


    The one spy that was kept alive returned to the Osted family and reported every information he and hisrades gained. When Walganus and Sagar heard the report they were stupefied. All their spections were wrong. It was not any known enemy that killed Evior, but an unknown student was the one who killed their one and only heir.


    Walganus and Sagar couldn''t believe their ears, it was a student that was able to use such a powerful spell. How can some unknown student be so powerful? If he was that powerful rumors about him would''ve spread long ago. It was like the student called Kretos just appeared out of nowhere.


    The report was unbelievable, but when Sagar noticed that there was only one spy that came back he understood what had happened.


    "Father what should we do?" Sagar looked a bit worried. If it was a teacher that killed his son then they could immediately sentence the person to death. Yet now they learned that it was a student who killed his son, not only that he did it in an official duel. The duel even had a few hundred witnesses.


    If they act now they would be enemies with a majority of people in the Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane. Bing enemies with the Institute wasn''t really that big a deal, but their enemies would most likely use this situation to corner them. Their reputation would plunge to an all-time low.


    "Hmph, it doesn''t matter if he''s a student or not. It doesn''t matter if the duel was legitimate or not. All I know is that he killed my grandson, the heir to the Osted Family! Even if he was the Grand Mage himself it won''t stop me from killing him!"


    Walganus''s mana swirled within the room frightening the spy that was still in the room. He then looked at his son and with a fiery passion that one doesn''t usually see on one so old, Walganus spoke.


    "Gather all the men it''s time to show those fools trying to attack our family the consequences of going against us."


    "As you wish father." Sagar bowed his head and signaled the spy to convey the message.


    ...


    It only took a few minutes for every abled man of the Osted family to gather in their main hall. From the side branch members to their subordinates, they all responded to Walganus''s summons. The main hall was now filled to the brim with people. A few hundred people were inside and looking at the old man at the forefront.


    The people present were still confused as to what was happening, but it must be something big as they were asked to bring their weapons.


    "I have called on all of you today for war!" When the people present heard what Walganus said they all looked at the old man dumbfounded.


    "We are dering war against all our enemies! We will show them the might of the Osted Family!" The people present still looked confused as they couldn''t understand who they were truly fighting. The Osted Family had many enemies, so when the elder said they will fight should they fight all their enemies?


    "Lord Walganus who are the enemies we must face, and how will we fight them?" A brave man from one of the branch families spoke out what everyone was thinking. Walganus looked at the man who asked the question. Upon being looked at by the Walganus the man could feel his heart beating faster. He could practically hear his heart pounding as everyone was silent.


    "Many of you might not know this, but Evior is dead." The moment those words came out of Walganus''s mouth the reaction disyed by those present was greater than the time he said that they would go to war.


    "How can that be?"


    "Who killed him?"


    "Was it a joint effort by those b*stards?!"


    Many voices started chattering as the news of the death of the heir was spread. While others were genuinely concerned most were nning on how to use this even to their advantage.


    "The one who killed him was a student, just some random student had the guts to kill our heir. That means that the respect our family has, no longer exists. Just about anyone thinks they can mess around with us. From some upstarts that came out of nowhere, to some weak nobles who have nothing but peerage. We need to show these b*stards that the Osted family still exists, that it''s still powerful!"


    The crazed anger in Walganus''s eyes was clear to everyone''s eyes. It was abnormal, even if Evior was killed, Walganus was a wise old man and he would normally not act this way. Yet he was acting as if a war was the only option.


    "If we attack the student won''t we be ced in a rather bad position. Even if we-" One of the leaders of the branch families spoke, but before he could finish a ball of fire engulfed him and turned him into ashes, not even allowing him to scream.


    The people present were shocked by the sudden development. They then looked at the person who threw the fireball. Walganus snorted as he looked at the burnt man with disdain.


    "How dare an Osted Family member, speak in such a weak manner! If somebody kills our own then we annihte their entire family! Any less would dishonor our family name! So who else here has any misgivings in what we''re about to do?!" Walganus asked while mana was being concentrated in his hands. Seeing this disy of power, of course, no one else spoke against the idea.


    "Now that everyone agrees, let me tell you what we''re going to do. We will march to the school with all our forces and anyone who gets in our way in killing the student called Kretos will be killed alongside him. Once we are done with him we will march to our other enemies and annihte them as well. We will once again show the Serbek Kingdom that the Osted family is a family to be feared and respected!"


    Once he was done speaking the people present roared in enthusiasm almost forgetting about the branch family head that died. For some reason, they felt highly motivated after hearing Walganus''s speech. It seems like his craze actions were infecting them as well.


    "Now let''s march forth and disy our might!"

 Chapter 245 Now this is a battle

    <h4>Chapter 245 Now this is a battle</h4>


    Kretos was feeling a bit bored as he was waiting for numerous things to happen. He was waiting for his sword to be made, he was waiting for the tournament to happen, and he was waiting for his memories to return. All he was doing was waiting and that was starting to infuriate him.


    ''Hmm, should I just leave this ce and go around thend? Surely if I travel all over the ce, someone would recognize me. Maybe I can even find someone strong enough to satisfy my thirst for battle... Though, I am quite interested in fighting those elves in the tournament... Hmmm, I guess I''ll stick around until the tournament''s over.''


    After making his decision Kretos sat crossed leg on the corner of his room trying to condense the mana flowing through him. He couldn''t remember much, but he knew that his current self was rather weak, well inparison to the person in his memories.


    Aside from his mana being weaker and less pure, his current body was actually quite strong than the one in his memories. The body of the person in his memories didn''t need to train his body for it was already powerful from the start. Yet his current body seems to be toned from hard work.


    ''I have memories of someone with the same name, but with a different body. That person in my dreams was clearly not human. I, on the other hand, seem to be one hundred percent human. I wonder what that means?... Was I not human at some point, or were the dreams just some grand delusion of mine?''


    As Kretos started to wonder about his true origins he felt a wave of different mana fluctuations. The level and density of the mana fluctuations were obviously not from the students. This kind of density were from bigger fish.


    ''Has the master of the rats finally arrived? That was rather quick.'' Kretos stood from his position and regted his breathing.


    ''I hope these guys would prove to be an actual challenge.''


    ...


    Walganus and his troops arrived grandly in front of the school gates. The guards in the capital didn''t bother to stop the march since it wasn''t unusual for the top four mages to bring their soldiers in a show of force. As long as they don''t go near the pce the army nor the guards would deal with them.


    In fact, some of the guards went close to watch the show. Seeing as the third strongest mage in the kingdom was about to do something, it would naturally be an exciting spectacle to witness.


    ....


    "Lord Walganus, how can I help you today?" One of the teachers approached. Walganus looked at the smiling teacher and spoke in an ice-cold tone.


    "Bring me the one who killed my grandson." Hearing Walganus''s demand the teacher frowned. Of course, he knew who the person who killed Evior was. Kretos was currently the hottest topic in the school, and everyone in school knows of him and what he did. It was obvious what Walganus wanted to do with Kretos, but the teacher still needed to confirm it.


    "May I ask why you are looking for him?"


    "Hmph, of course, I''m here to kill him." The moment those words were said the teacher frowned.


    "Both parties have consented on that duel, their life and death were decided by their own skills."


    "I do not care, if you won''t give me the child then moved aside. If you don''t move I will kill you as well."


    "Lord Walganus, I might not be your match, but even for you and your family fighting the full might of Rulwarry would force you to pay a heavy price."


    "Enough chatter move aside or die!" The teacher was about to say something when someone spoke first.


    "I heard some fools havee looking for me, are you those fools?" Walganus spotted the person who spoke and immediately attacked with an [ice spear]. Unlike other ice spears, this one wasrger and thicker than most. It flew towards the rude person''s direction but instead of piercing him, the rude person caught the ice spear and thew it back killing a few of Walganus''s men.


    "So you really are some fools that came to kill me. Come then, let''s see if you''re worthy enough for a proper battle." Walganus and Sagar looked at Kretos who was cockily waiting for them to make a move.


    "So you''re the one who killed my grandson. It seems like you do have some ability." Walganus raised his arm and a wooden staff appeared. He then tapped his staff onto the ground and a magic circle was formed.


    "A teleportation spell." Right before everyone''s eyes the army from the Osted family and Kretos disappeared.


    ....


    Walganus and his group alongside Kretos were teleported into an open field. Kretos looked around and then shrugged his shoulders.


    "Is this the grave you have chosen?"


    "Hmph, this is the grave I have chosen for you," Walganus answered with a sneer on his face. The true reason he teleported everyone here was because it would be hard to battle in the capital with its excessive spell barriers. Here in the open ins, a mage can really show his abilities.


    "Let''s see whose grave this will be!" Kretos showed his vicious smile as he provoked his enemies.


    "Kill him!" Hearing Walganus''s orders the men of the Osted familyunched a series of spells at Kretos. Seeing the iing spells Kretos raised his right hand and created a mana barrier. To everyone''s surprise, Kretos''s mana barrier was able to block all the iing spells with rtive ease.


    Kretos then formed a ball of mana and shot it at the enemy''s side. "[Wall of Gaia] [Castle of Stone]." Walganus and Sagar immediately used their strongest defensive spells. A huge wall of earth and a fortress of stone appeared to block the iing ball of mana.


    Upon contact with the wall of earth, the ball of mana pierced through it, but when it hit the walls of stone it was only able to pass through someyers but was unable to fully pierce through. Seeing this scene stunned Kretos for a moment but then the smile on his face grew even wider.


    Kretos coated his body with mana, charged forth, and punched the wall of stone making it crumble. The moment the stone wall crumbled another barrage of spells came raining down on Kretos but this time instead of blocking he evaded them.


    "[Increase weight x10]" Walganus used another spell which made the gravity around Kretos heavier. Yet despite his body bing so heavy that the ground he stood on was sinking, Kretos was still able to dodge most of the spells that came down on him. He was nicked every now and then but that just made him even more excited.


    As he was dodging the spells he noticed that the Osted family changed formation. He was now in the middle of a circle formation. The guys that surrounded him looked like warriors, holding their swords, spears, and shields.


    Then there were the mages at the side chanting a rather lengthy spell. It seems like they were about to use a joint spell. So the warriors surrounding Kretos were used to buy some time, while the mages prepare a sure kill spell. Seeing that the situation looked a bit dire for him just made Kretos happier.


    "Now this is a battle!"

 Chapter 246 That was fun

    <h4>Chapter 246 That was fun</h4>


    Kretos felt like he could finally let loose against these opponents, as he started to circte his mana faster than ever before. He felt his heart thumping as he hit another person in front of him. Each one came at him with the sole intent of buying time, it didn''t matter if they died today, for if they achieve victory against the monster before them their families that they will leave behind would bepensated. On the other hand, if they lose everything ends.


    ...


    While Kretos was having fun with his battle against the Osted family, Amon who was getting a bit bored noticed themotion that was happening in the city. He quickly went out to gather information on what happened.


    ...


    Sagar who was witnessing the unbelievable capabilities of the boy before him looked at his father. There was a crazed look in Walganus''s face, this was not normal. Sagar knew that his father doted on Evior very much but not to this extent.


    Seeing the capabilities of the boy called Kretos, Walganus would''ve normally retreated at this point to conduct a better n. Everything from the start seems a bit weird and too fast-paced.


    ''Now that I think about it, even I wasn''t thinking straight, I let my anger control me...'' Sagar was finally realizing that something was wrong. The more powerful the mage, the better his mental and emotional fortitude was, but this time both Sagar and Walganus allowed their emotions to guide their actions.


    ''Is this a mental attack on us amplifying our aggressive thoughts and feelings? If so, then why does it seem that only father and I are the only ones affected.''


    Sagar remembered the gathering before they came to attack, none of those present had the same crazed eyes as his father... ''Wait, the stronger members of the family seem to have acted a little bit more aggressive than usual. It''s just a tiny change so disregarded it. Even the Grand Mage had be excessively aggressivetely.''


    Sagar was slowly realizing a hidden truth, he wanted to say something to his father but by the looks of it, Walganus wasn''t going to listen.


    ''Still, I have to try...''


    "Father how about we calm down for a bit and regroup." Walganus who was casting numerous supporting spells looked at his only son and frowned.


    "What are you saying, Sagar? Are you telling me to flee?! Are you saying that the whole force of the Osted family cannot match up to a single child?!"


    "That''s not what I meant father. I''m just saying-"


    "ENOUGH! I don''t need your excuses, from this day forth I no longer have a son. Begone from my sight!" Sagar no longer retorted and bowed his head before he left.


    As he was leaving his signaled some of his men. When they saw Sagar''s signal the men slowly backed away from the battlefield.


    ''As I expected my father is no longer of sound mind. He has been corrupted by something. Good thing it doesn''t seem like he has been fully consumed by rage, else who would''ve killed me on the spot. I bettery low afterward and investigate what''s truly happening.''


    Sagar looked at Walganus and saluted him. "May victory smile upon you, father." ''But if you fail, do not worry I will make sure the Osted Family wille back more powerful than before.''


    Sagar and his men then quietly left the battlefield.


    ...


    Kretos who was almost finished killing off all the warriors finally felt like the mages were done chanting their spell. He looked above and as expected the spell was nearpletion. A huge ball of multicolored light was floating above the battleground.


    Kretos couldn''t help but smile as he saw the sight before him. He knew instinctively that the thing above was something that could actually kill him. Yet instead of feeling any dread, Kretos felt ted.


    "COME ON THEN, SHOW ME EVERTYHING YOU GOT!" A huge beam of light fell upon Kretos who was able to evade at thest second. The beam of light was so fast that Kretos''s senses couldn''t keep up. It was a good thing his instincts and reflex was good enough for him to be able to dodge.


    Yet despite dodging Kretos arm was still hit. Even though he coated himself with his mana, and had several defensiveyers on him he was still hurt by that beam of light.


    Kretos couldn''t help butugh in excitement. Another beam of light came falling down on him, but this time he didn''t dodge. Kretos gathered mana into his fist and punched the beam of light. Walganus and the other members of the Osted Family were shocked by the sight. That was the ultimate spell of the Osted Family and it was deflected by his bare fists.


    "Do not falter! He cannot keep doing that, end it with a barrage." Walganus shouted at the others. The ball of light above then started shooting multiple beams of light towards Kretos. Heughed in a crazed manner as he kept on punching each beam of light that came his way.


    After punching a dozen beams of light Kretos''s hand was scorched. On the other hand, due to the excessive mana needed to maintain the spell a lot the mages of the Osted family have fainted. It was now a war of attrition, either Kretos burns to death or the Osted family runs out of mana.


    Seeing this scene Walganus increased the output of the spell. Many of the mages fell immediately once the output increased, but this time Kretos was nearly unable to punch the approaching beam of light. As the output of mana increased the spell became faster and more powerful.


    Kretos''s left hand could no longer move and his right hand was nearing its limit as well. Seeing that Walganus thought he had won, but then Kretos used his legs. It was much harder than using his fists to redirect the attack but it was still possible.


    Walganus wanted to increase the mana output even more but then he realized he was the only one left standing. The mana being drained from him by the spell was enormous. He had a choice to make either stop using the spell or go all out into onest burst. Walganus immediately chose thetter.


    The strongest beam of light descended onto Kretos who smiled viciously and then headbutted the thing. The beam of light was once again redirected, seeing the ridiculous scene Walganus had no words as he was losing consciousness. As he was about to faint from mana exhaustion he heard Kretos''s voice.


    "That was pretty fun."


    ...


    After the battle ended Kretos was about to leave when he suddenly heard someone pping. He quickly looked behind and saw a man standing at a distance. Kretos was able to quickly assess that the man was pretty strong by the way he carried himself.


    "It''s just one thing after another. This day must be my birthday or something, one present after another." Kretos smile grew even more vicious as he knew that the man before him wasn''t here just to congratte him on his victory. He looked at his scorched arms, then at his slightly scorched legs, and he checked his mana which was at half capacity. Kretos then mumbled to himself.


    "Still, good to go."

 Chapter 247 I’ll treat you to a meal

    <h4>Chapter 247 I''ll treat you to a meal</h4>


    Kretos licked his lips as he faced the man that suddenly appeared before him. The man was just standing there with a weird smile on his face, but one look and Kretos could already tell that the man before him was the same kind as him. It was obvious that the guy was itching for a fight, seeing the subtle moves he was making.


    "So have youe to y as well?" Kretos asked the neer.


    "Normally I would say yes, especially with a ymate like you. But seeing your current state I''m not really in the mood anymore." The man shrugged his shoulders as he answered.


    "Hahaha, don''t make excuses for yourself. Even in my current state, I can still kick you around."


    "Hmph, trying to provoke me? You and I really are of the same breed. Unfortunately for you, I don''t want an iplete meal. I-" Before the man could continue to speak Kretos lunged at him. Kretos punched the man with his burnt hands and kicked him too, but the man simply took the strikes. After hitting him for a while the man was now a little bit bruised. Kretos no longer hit him and spoke a bit annoyed.


    "Why aren''t you fighting back?! You didn''t even circte your mana."


    "Like I said you and me we''re of the same breed. I knew that you wouldn''t want to fight someone who isn''t fighting back. I already told you I don''t want to fight you in your current condition." Kretos sighed hearing the man''s response.


    "So what now?" Kretos was finally able to calm down. The man then spat a tiny bit of blood before answering.


    "For starters aren''t you going to finish those guys off?" The man pointed at the men on the ground who had fainted from mana exhaustion.


    "They gave me quite a good fight, so I no longer care about their fates. If they''re strong enough to survive this then they should. If they wish toe at me for revenge then they''re free to do so."


    "I see... So you and I do still have some differences." The man then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The entire field turned into an inferno as mes rose from the ground devouring the hundreds of men. Kretos wasn''t surprised by this move as he already sensed that the man was going to do that when he asked about the men on the ground.


    "You see, I believe that to honor warriors who are defeated in battle, giving them a swift and honorable death is what they deserve."


    "Heh, I actually think the same way."


    "Then why?... I see making me do your work for you." When the man realized what Kretos did he couldn''t help butugh heartily.


    "You and I truly are the same. The name''s Amon, it''s a pleasure to meet you."


    "I''m Kretos-" When Amon heard the name he moved swiftly to stand before Kretos.


    "What was your name?" Amon asked Kretos, who was surprised by the sudden change in the atmosphere.


    "I said my name''s Kretos, what, do you know me?" Amon then looked at Kretos from head to toe and found nothing out of ce. Though the personality and skills were simr, the power and looks were totally different.


    ''Also this guy smells like a pure human.''


    "What, is there a problem?" Amon looked at Kretos and smiled.


    "Nothing, your name just sounds familiar."


    "I keep on hearing that nowadays."


    "Hmm, is that so..."


    "So what now, if we aren''t going to fight then I''m leaving." As Kretos was about to leave, Amon blocked his path.


    "What else do you want?" Kretos was starting to get annoyed by this fellow that ims to be like him but doesn''t want to fight.


    "How about I treat you to a meal, and introduce you to some of my friends that are quite strong as well."


    "Alright." Kretos didn''t hesitate to agree the moment he heard that he would meet strong individuals.


    "Then follow me." Amon and Kretos left the battlefield that had nothing left but ashes.


    ...


    Afeus who was back at school heard that Kretos was teleported away by the Osted family. Some of the students have shown their concern for Kretos''s plight, not because they worried about him personally. No, the only reason they were concerned was because of Kretos''s revolutionary way of using mana without the elements. They wanted to study it some more. Of course, they could start their individual research on the subject, but it was much quicker to simply extract the information from Kretos himself.


    On the other hand, Afeus wasn''t really worried about Kretos''s safety. Based on his understanding of Kretos''s abilities even he could not win he could easily escape.


    ''Though based on what I''ve seen of him, he doesn''t seem like the kind of person to run from a fight.''


    ...


    In the hidden cave where the fourth hero stays, shadows were flowing into the cave. Seeing this scene Shin the fourth hero frowned.


    "So it''s finally going to happen. So you guys are still trying to break your seals... Didn''t you already have your fun a few thousand years ago? Why bothering out now?"


    The beings inside the cave roared at Shin as an answer. Shin shrugged his shoulders as he started checking the seals.


    "It''s cracking... Based on the rate of deterioration this might onlyst a year at most, a few months in the least, might be even weeks. If a war breaks out now, all those negative emotions will feed these things. The seals might actually break in a couple of days if that happens."


    Shin felt his head hurting as he looked at the breaking seals. ''Myst mission as a hero is finally about to end. I wonder if I should feel happy or sad? Hmm, I guess a little bit of both... If possible I would''ve liked to have one final battle with you... But it seems like fate is a cruel thing to a hero like me.''

 Chapter 248 Nero meets Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 248 Nero meets Kretos</h4>


    Kretos followed behind Amon who was leading the way. As he was walking Kretos was trying to heal his wounds, but after a few tests, it would seem that the wounds he got from the beam of light couldn''t be healed as fast as he wanted to.


    ''That beam of light had poisoned a bit of my mana, it would take me a few days before I get back to my optimal state. Circting my mana in my current state might spread the poison even more, but if I do it right I can heal my wounds much quicker.''


    After thinking about it that far Kretos simply shrugged his shoulders no longer caring. He wasn''t really bothered by the mana poisoning.


    Amon looked at the distracted Kretos and was amazed by how easily he was following him. At first, Amon just nned to tease Kretos by moving as fast as he can and leaving him behind for a while. But he was surprised to see how easily Kretos was able to keep up and with his injuries no less.


    Amon then started to run faster and Kretos was still able to keep up. Seeing this Amon''spetitive spirit was set aze and he went all out and dashed. Despite that, Kretos was still able to keep up but he looked at bit conflicted.


    "Are you alright, want me to slow down?"


    "Huh, no that''s not what I was thinking about. I just wanted to say shouldn''t we go faster?" When Amon heard Kretos''s response he was tempted to show his real form but decided against it.


    ''It''s really tempting, but I''ll show him my true form when he recovers his strength. I''m sure it would be a battle that would shake my very existence!'' Amon got excited just thinking about the inevitable battle with Kretos.


    "There''s no need we''re already here." Amon stopped and so did Kretos who started looking around. Currently, the two were back in the city in an alleyway that doesn''t seem to have much human traffic. Right in front of them was a sign that says Lonely Cat tavern with a picture of a ck cat. The sign was written in two differentnguages. The first one was somethingmonly used, but the second one was something different. But Kretos could still somehow understand it.


    "This is my favorite ce to eat, the old man serves a lot of delicious food with awesome ale." Amon proudly dered as if he was the owner of the tavern.


    Upon entering the tavern a small bell rang alerting the person in charge. Kretos was amazed to see the very peculiar sight in front of him. The setup of the tavern wasn''t like anything he knew off, that might be because of his memory loss, but he did have the basic memory of some taverns, and they weren''t this clean, nor were they this empty.


    In fact, the whole ce felt weird. Though Kretos was sure this must be the first time he has seen such a tavern, he also felt like he has seen this kind ofyout before. The contradictions in his memory were making his head hurt a bit.


    "Heya boss! Bring me the usual for both me and my friend here." Amon spoke to the man by the counter. The man looked to be about thirty years of age with a deadpan expression. He was smoking something but it wasn''t a pipe, it was something smaller a narrow cylinder-like object. Noticing Kretos looking curiously at the boss, Amon spoke.


    "Oh, that''s what the boss calls a cig. He says ites from his hometown, some random ce in the east. He only has a few of them left and doesn''t want to share."


    ''Hmm, a cig?... That word sounds familiar.''


    ...


    The two sat down at a table and waited for their meal. While waiting for their food and ale, the bell rang once more and a rather good looking young man entered the tavern.


    "Hey Nero," Amon waved his hands at Nero who frowned for a fraction of a second and then showed a rather creepy fake smile.


    "Hello, Amon, who''s your friend here?"


    "Oh this guy, he''s called Kretos." When Nero heard that name the temperature in the ce seem to grow a bit cold as he looked at Kretos.


    "What do you have a problem?"


    "Is that your real name?" Nero asked with a tone as cold as the frozen tundra.


    ''Why does every one of these guys keep on fussing over my name?''


    "Yes that''s my name, do you know me?" Nero looked at the injured Kretos and noticed that despite the near-fatal injuries he had the cirction of his mana was quickly repairing the broken parts of his body. Yet despite his great regenerative capability, Nero could tell that Kretos was a pure human.


    "Oh sorry, it''s nothing, your name is just simr to someone I know, but you aren''t him."


    "Is that so?" Kretos also assessed Nero and found that the way he moved felt weirdly awkward. It was like the guy wasn''t used to moving his own body.


    ''Hmm, how curious despite his awkward movements I can tell this guy is much more dangerous than Amon.'' Nero who had a serious expression quickly changed his vibe and went back to his fake smiling expression. Nero then sat down and extended his hand towards Kretos.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you Kretos, I''m Nero a friend of Amon''s."


    "Sure," Kretos shook Nero''s hand, but at that moment Kretos felt a spiritual force trying to probe him. He quickly retaliated and pushed back the spiritual force but before that Nero caught a glimpse of Kretos''s soul. It was so profound that he almost went insane upon a tiny bit of contact with it. It was a good thing for Nero that Kretos''s soul was currently being sealed by the ORIGIN. If not he would''ve gone insane then and there.


    "What do you think you''re doing?" Kretos asked as he was prepared to attack. Seeing what just happened Amon shouted at Nero.


    "What the heck Nero! I was the one who saw Kretos first." Nero still a little bit rattled by the experience forced himself to continue smiling his fake smile.


    "Apologies Sir Kretos, that was a habit of mine. I know it''s rude but it something I do to everyone I just met. I didn''t mean to offend you."


    As Kretos was about to respond, three tes and three mugs of ale were ced on the table. The boss of the tavern appeared silently with a frown on his face. Kretos was rather surprised that he wasn''t able to notice the boss approach him. Even though he was focused on Nero, Kretos could still sense everything within a few meters from him. Yet he couldn''t catch the boss when he came so close to him.


    "If you guys are going to fight, you better do it outside. I can''t have you wrecking the ce. I''m already in the red as it is."


    Hearing what the boss said Kretos sighed and decided to let it go since he was no longer in the mood to fight. Kretos felt everything that was happening when he entered the tavern is weird. Usually, he would always in the mood to fight. Yet seeing and smelling the weird dish ced in front of him, Kretos felt hungrier than usual.


    "I won''t fight, after all, I''m here to eat." The boss nodded his head hearing Kretos''s response and red at Nero.


    "How about you?"


    "Of course, I''m going to eat as well. Eating the boss''s food is better than fighting." Nero responded with his perpetual fake smile. The boss no longer said anything and left the three to their meals.

 Chapter 249 The owner

    <h4>Chapter 249 The owner</h4>


    As Kretos was eating he looked at the owner of the Lonely Cat who was wiping a ss at the counter. Kretos couldn''t sense any manaing from the man. For him not being able to sense the mana of the other person could only mean two things, the man had perfect control of his mana that he''s able to hide it from Kretos''s senses, or the man had no mana at all that''s why there was nothing to sense.


    The first reason seems a bit too farfetched as the way the bartender moved doesn''t seem to indicate that he was a master or anything of the sort. On the other hand, thetter was nearly impossible, every living being born in this world is suppose to have mana.


    ''Could it be he''s not from this world?''


    Nero noticed Kretos looking at the bartender every now and then. He could already guess what Kretos was thinking, for he too thought the same when he met the owner of the Lonely Cat. Yet for some reason, Nero felt a bit of danger from the guy and didn''t investigate any further.


    Nero was a rather cautious individual so if he wasn''t a hundred percent sure he could escape the predicament he wouldn''t do it. An example of this was when he probed Kretos. He was already looking at the owner waiting for the proper timing. When he noticed that the owner was about to serve them with their food and drinks he initiated his n.


    As he predicted once he failed to probe Kretos the bartender intervened. No matter how aggressive Kretos was the bartender had this weird aura about him that could soothe almost anyone.


    ...


    The three ate their meal in silence as it started raining outside. The pitter-patter of the rain outside coupled with the dimly lit room of the tavern made for a cool ambiance. The owner continued to clean his wares despite no one using them. Once he was done it looked he wanted to smoke again but as the cig was about to reach his mouth he stopped.


    The owner sighed as he ced the cig back into its case, he then proceeded to head into the kitchen. After a few minutes, a very aromatic smell started toe out of the kitchen. Kretos and the other two who just finished their meal felt hungry again.


    Amon who had near zero self-control stood up from his chair and headed for the kitchen, but as he got closer he felt something was wrong. There was an invisible barrier blocking him from entering the kitchen. Still, that wasn''t going to stop him, as he was about to force himself through, the owner of the tavern spoke.


    "Any troublemaker will be cklisted from the Lonely Cat." Hearing what the owner said Amon no longer forced himself through.


    "Then can I order another meal?"


    "You know the rules one meal per person. Beer can only be ordered three times. You need to finish all the beer until thest drop and eat everything on your te until there''s nothing left. Anyone who breaks the rules will be cklisted from the Lonely Cat."


    "You know boss, this is why no one likesing here. Not only are you in a secluded area, your food and drinks are expensive as f*ck, but the most sh*t thing is all these f*cking rules. How can you even run a business like this?"


    "You really know to hit where it hurts, don''t ya brat." The owner/bartender/cook of the tavern appeared from the kitchen holding a te filled with food. The air was saturated with a spicy perfume, as the owner sat on his chair. Amon''s mouth was salivating in anticipation, he couldn''t help but drool uncontrobly, watching the food as if he hadn''t eaten for weeks.


    Kretos couldn''t help himself as well as he looked at the unknown food, filled with different things. The only thing he knew that was on that te were the strawberries. Even though they were normal strawberries, Kretos felt hungry just looking at it.


    As the owner was about to eat, Amon looked like he was going to steal the food, but just as he was about to move Nero stood up from his chair.


    "Amon we''re leaving." Surprised by Nero suddenly talking Amon slipped and almost fell.


    "It was nice meeting you... Kretos." Even now Nero couldn''t help but hesitate to say Kretos''s name.


    "Well, it wasn''t nice meeting you at all," Kretos responded without even looking at Nero as he drank his ale.


    "I see... Nheless, I hope we get along the next time we meet." With his perpetual fake smile, Nero didn''t look bothered by Kretos''sment.


    "Hmph, fat chance."


    "Amon let''s go." Amon looked at Nero then at the food the owner was eating, then finally at Kretos. He then sighed as he reluctantly followed Nero.


    "Hey Kretos, we''ll have our fight sooner orter. Until then, you better stay alive."


    "I should say the same thing to you," Kretos replied with a vicious smile on his face. Seeing the two interacting with each other Nero shrugged his shoulders.


    "Thanks for the meal owner, I ced the payment for the three of us on the table." With that Nero and Amon left the Lonely Cat.


    Once the two were gone the atmosphere grew quiet. It was still raining outside as Kretos took one final chug of his ale. When he was finished Kretos approached the owner. He unleashed a portion of his mana to see the owner''s reaction.


    "Hey, can you tell me your name?" The owner who was nearly done eating his meal looked at Kretos and frowned.


    "Can''t you see I''m eating, talk to me after I''m done." Hearing the owner''s indifferent response Kretos was shocked. Usually, when people sense his violent mana they would have some sort of reaction, but the owner had no reaction except for slight irritation.


    ''It seems like he can''t sense my mana pulsating... Maybe he truly doesn''t have any ounce of mana in him.'' Kretos then proceeded to wait for the owner to finish his meal. Once the owner was done he looked at Kretos and spoke.


    "Kazuya Haruto... In this country I guess, it''s supposed to be Haruto Kazuya."

 Chapter 250 Haruto Kazuya

    <h4>Chapter 250 Haruto Kazuya</h4>


    Hearing Haruto''s name Kretos first thought was, this guy was a noble? He then dismissed the idea, the way Haruto acted and talked had no indication that he was raised in a noble household.


    "Haruto Kazuya, so Haruto is your given name and Kazuya is your family name, correct?"


    "Yeah, that''s right," Haruto answered as he cleaned his te.


    "I''m Kretos, I have no family name if I do have one I can''t remember it." Haruto looked at Kretos and started assessing him.


    "Do you have amnesia?"


    "Is that what you call this, were I can''t remember anything from my past." Hearing Kretos''s response Haruto took out his box of cigarettes and gave one to Kretos.


    "It must''ve been rough having no memories of yourself, here you should try one." Kretos curiously took one cigarette. After seeing Kretos take one Haruto took one as well and ced it in his mouth. Haruto was about to take out his lighter and help Kretos in lighting his cig, but then Kretos pointed his finger at the cigarette and a small me came out.


    Watching the scene before him made Haruto shrug his shoulders. ''Of course, someone from this world could do that.'' Haruto then lit his own cigarette and the two started smoking.


    The first time Kretos took a puff of the cigarette made him cough a bit. Watching him made Haruto smile as it reminded him of the kids back home who tried a cig for the first time.


    On the other hand, the moment Kretos took a puff he remembered something. This wasn''t his first experience with a cigarette. He had tried this before, the memory was vague but he was sure that he had experienced this before and he remembered a bit about the person that gave it to him.


    "I see... So you''re a summoned individual." When Haruto heard what Kretos said he almost swallowed his cig.


    "What did you just say?!"


    "I said you''re a summoned individual."


    "Do you know others? Do you know how do I can get back?!" Haruto was getting excited as he held onto Kretos''s shoulders.


    "I think I remember meeting someone before. But he''s no longer with us." Kretos answered. ''Of course, he''s no longer here, though my memories are vague I''m sure I was the one who ended him.''


    Hearing Kretos''s answer like a deted balloon Haruto sat back down. "Is that so..."


    "Yeah, sorry about that. So you''re an otherworlder." Haruto nodded his head.


    "Yes I am, I came from a ce called earth in a country called Japan."


    "Interesting, so how did you get here?" Hearing Kretos''s question, Haruto stood up and started mixing some drinks and passed one to Kretos.


    "It''s going to be a long story, do you have the time?"


    "I got nowhere else to go." Haruto nodded his head and sat in front of Kretos while taking a sip of the drink he just made.


    "Alright, it all started a few months ago."


    ...


    Haruto was once your everyday sryman. He came from a normal family and had a normal life. That was until his parents died. After his parents'' deaths, he inherited the pub they own in a street corner in Harajuku.


    He visited the pub and as he entered a lot of nostalgic memories came flooding in. This was were he grew up in, specifically the upstairs of the pub was his childhood home. He would sometimes go down here during working hours and meet all sorts of people.


    Those people had a lot of interesting stories to tell. His dad who was the bartender would listen to their stories, and they would usually have smiles on their face. His mother who was the cook would serve meals to the people and as they ate they all had this look of content. It was like all there worries were expelled at that moment. That was the pub Haruto remembers.


    As Haruto continued looking around the pub he found the pub''s ledger. In it, he was surprised to see that the pub was in the red for a couple of months now.


    ''What happened and this was such a good pub? Also, why didn''t they tell me they were having difficulties.'' Haruto then remembered his dad''s reassuring grin.


    ''Yeah, he was like that wasn''t he... No matter what happens he would never have told me if he had problems, he would foolishly try to solve the problem himself.'' Haruto could very well imagine his father going around town passing flyers to people asking them toe and visit the pub.


    Haruto then closed the ledger and started thinking. This ce was the only thing left of his parents in this world. He also had a lot of good memories of it.


    ''Maybe I too can make people smile like that when they visit the pub... Can I really bring this pub back to its golden age?''


    As Haruto''s enthusiasm was slowly going down he remembered something his father used to say. "You know son when I was just starting out. I had this big dream of opening up a pub, where people who get tired of the daily grind can find sce and share their stories and worries in it. I wanted to create a pub were it wasn''t just a pub, it was a home."


    Remembering what his father said Haruto clenched his fist. ''I''ll do it, dad! I''ll make the pub of your dreams!'' With renewed enthusiasm, Haruto quit his job got his severance money, and used it to reopen the pub.


    On the first day, some old customers came to visit. They went to support Haruto in his endeavor and also to offer up condolences. Yet despite their support, they weren''t enough. On the following days, no new customers arrived, and the old ones would seldomlye after the first few days.


    After a full month of persisting the end result was horrible. Unlike when it was his parents'' time even in their darkest hour the pub still made a tiny bit of money. On the other hand, Haruto was actually losing money.


    As Haruto was losing confidence in himself, he heard a voice in his head. [Congrattions you have been chosen as the host of the Tavern System.]


    ...


    "After a few more mishaps, I was transported here into this world."

 Chapter 251 It was just a studen

    <h4>Chapter 251 It was just a studen</h4>


    After hearing Haruto''s story Kretos tried paying for the drink, but Haruto said it was on the house.


    "Hey, if you hear about any more otherworlders, I hope you inform me about it."


    "Sure, and if youe across someone that knows of a guy name Kretos,e find me immediately. I''ll be at a school called Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane."


    "Alright then, it''s a deal." Haruto extended his hand forward wanting to shake hands. Even though his previous handshake didn''t go so well, Kretos wasn''t bothered in the slightest. He grabbed hold of Haruto''s hand and shook it.


    After talking for a bit more Kretos left the Lonely Cat, and headed back to the school.


    ...


    When Kretos returned to the school a lot of people greeted him. As everyone was gathered around him, Kretos was about to tell them to move aside, when one of the teachers approached.


    "Student Kretos what happened to the Osted family, did they let you go?"


    "I''ve killed them all, none are left."


    "Don''t worry... Wait what did you say?" The teacher and everyone in the surrounding area quieted down. They all thought they had heard wrong, so they waited for Kretos to clear the misunderstanding.


    Seeing that everyone was now quiet and looking at him, Kretos felt slightly ufortable. He looked around and shrugged his shoulders.


    "I said that I killed them all, I left none of them alive." Everyone''s expressions paled as they heard his reply clearly this time. The teacher wanted to ask further questions but no sound woulde out of his mouth.


    "If you have nothing else to say, then move aside." With those words, Kretos left the area. Once he was no longer in sight the area suddenly burst in noise.


    "Do you think he''s telling the truth?"


    "The Osted Family came here and teleported away with him. Now hees back and no signs of a single member of the Osted family can be seen. What do you think, is he telling the truth?"


    "How is that possible, not only were there multiple high mages there, even Sir Walganus the one who fought the current Grand Mage for the title was there. His power could even make an earth dragon wary."


    "Just how strong is Kretos?"


    ...


    The news of the Osted family''s demise spread quickly overnight in the capital. The other influential families sent out their scouts to the ce were the battle between the Osted family and Krtetos took ce. What they saw was a sight they would never forget.


    Numerous holes made from massive spells were all over the ground. Thend was scorched ck, the smell of blood made the men want to puke. There were no piles of corpses but they knew that many have died on thisnd.


    The scouts continued to look around hoping to see even one survivor or even an intact body. But as they continued onward they only saw charred body parts, not even one of them were fully intact. It was then as they were about to leave, they heard the sound of some movement. They quickly moved and to the area were they heard the sound.


    They arrived in the area were the sound was made, but they couldn''t see anything. The scouts then saw that dirt on the ground was moving, it looks like it was trembling. It wasn''t an earthquake as only that portion of thend was shaking.


    The scouts found it weird so the leader of the scouts scanned the area and found that there was a subtle mana fluctuation of a person underground. The scouts then started using [control earth] to dig.


    After a few seconds of digging, they found a man most likely from the Osted family that was still alive. Well, if you call his current situation still living. He was barely breathing, his face was half burnt, he had lost his left hand, and his right eye that was burnt by mes had no light in it.


    It would seem that the only reason he was alive was because of some miracle. He had activated his mana shield and was quite a distance from where most of the destruction happened.


    "W..W...Wa-ter." The man spoke his voice barely audible. The scout leader took out his jug of water and helped the man to drink. As he was drinking the man almost chocked. The scout leader then proceeded to help him drink more slowly. Once he was done drinking the burnt man spoke again.


    "I will kill Kretos." After saying those words he fell unconscious.


    ...


    In a field behind arge gothic-style mansion, ady wearing a white tunic was floating above while in the lotus position. She was a rather stunningdy, long purple hair waving in the wind and a slender body that looked too delicate to touch. As she was concentrating mana flowed in and out of her as if it part of her.


    Orbs of fire, lighting, and wind floated around her circling her. As she continued to be in this state a person approached.


    "Mydy there''s urgent news."


    Thedy opened her eyes and looked at her servant. She slowly floated downwards and the orbs around her disappeared.


    "What news?"


    "Lord Walganus has died." Thedy''s eyes widened for a moment, then a smile appeared on her beautiful face.


    "So the old man finally went to the other side. How did it happen, poisoned, assassinated, or did he actually die of old age?"


    "None of those mydy, h-he and all the members of the Osted family were annihted." Hearing the unexpected answer thedy almost stumbled.


    "What did you say, annihted? A force strong enough to annihte the Osted family, which kingdom did it? Which old family came out and killed them, tell me?" The servant hesitated to answer as he saw the expression of hisdy.


    "Answer me." The tone of her voice lowered and the servant got even more spooked as he answered.


    "It was just a single student."

 Chapter 252 You are not my match

    <h4>Chapter 252 You are not my match</h4>


    While Kretos''s fame was spreading in the kingdom of Serbek, at the borders of the kingdom the war was getting more intense. But for some reason, both sides haven''t used their strongest units. The ancient mage families from the Serbek Kingdom, and the old warrior families of the Reschbeauch kingdom haven''t shown themselves.


    The normal soldiers thought that they were fighting valiantly for their respective kingdoms but in truth, they were just disposable pawns in a game. Yet even those that think they were the yers were actually also simple pawns to the real yers of the game.


    ...


    In one of the frontline battles, Lara was sent out to destroy a supply unit. As she was looking for the supply unit, Lara felt someone was behind her so Lara quickly ducked down and a throwing knife passed by.


    "Another person that''s able to dodge my surprise attack." When Lara turned around to see who threw the throwing knife, she spotted a maid who wore a shocked expression.


    "Well lookie here, now this is a surprise. I thought somebody else was able to dodge my surprise attack turns out it was the same person. Now tell me... How are you still alive after I killed you?" The moment those words left the maid''s mouth an intense bloodlust filled the area. Even the maid was shocked by the feeling.


    The girl who wore a stoic expression suddenly showed a very demon-like expression that even a true demon such as her was slightly frightened.


    ''Huh? Am I actually scared of a dead girl?''


    "So it was you! It was you who killed my big sis!"


    "Oh, so you weren''t a resurrected spirit, just a twin. I hope you entertain me more than your sister. She was-" When the maid was about to say more, she noticed an arrow flying towards her. She dodged the arrow that came flying towards her and was about to counter with another throwing knife when she suddenly saw that Lara was already in front of her ready to punch her.


    The maid was barely able to dodge the punch and was able to counter with one of her machetes. But then as she was about to hit Lara, an icicle had pierced her back.


    ''When did she have the time to cast that!'' The icicle didn''t pierce deep enough to cause any major damage, but it gave Lara enough time to attack the maid kneeing her in the abdomen. The maid was blown away, but Lara didn''t let up as she grabbed hold of the maid''s hand and pulled her back and punched her in the face.


    Lara then started kicking and punching the maid without a pause. No matter what the maid did she couldn''t get out of Lara''s stream of attacks. The way each attack flowed perfectly made it hard to find an opening to escape.


    It was at that moment when Lara felt like she would be able to avenge her sister something happened. Her fist started bleeding and she felt like the body of the maid grew harder than before. She then saw the maid''s body change shape. Her maid uniform started ripping and what was seen underneath was shining silver body. The maid also grew a pair of bird wings, and her hands became scythe-like objects.


    "How dare you human!" The demonized maid moved after pping her wings. The moment she moved Lara was unable to follow with her eyes. It was a good thing that her mana sensing has improved and she was barely able to dodge by sensing the flow of mana.


    One of the gauntlets Lara was wearing was sliced in half, and even a bit of her wrist was cut. It was then another attack came and another and another. The demonized maid flew in all directions attacking Lara from every possible angle. She was trying her best to finish Lara in one strike, but Lara kept on barely evading. Now Lara was full of cuts as she was bleeding in every part of her body. Seeing this scene the demonized maid smiled.


    "Heh, I was going to give you a swift death, but this is so much better. This is what you deserve for harming me, human. Not only that you even destroyed my favorite maid uniform." The demonized maid looked at the barely standing Lara. Seeing the expression on Lara''s face was making the maid feel ticked off.


    Lara like her sister wasn''t showing the face of despair as she was about to die. In fact, Lara wasn''t showing any expression at all, which was much worse than her sister Lisa.


    "Both of you sisters, the looks on your faces just piss me off... If you meet your sister in the underworld tell her that I was the one who sent you." Lara did not respond as she was looking at the demonized maid with a nk stare.


    ''Did she faint? Well, it doesn''t matter I''ll just finish her off now.'' The demonized maid pped her wings and darted towards Lara. With her scythe-like hands, she was about to cut Lara''s head off, but then the unmoving Lara caught her hand. She tried to escape but Lara''s grip was unmoving.


    The demonized maid who was trying to escape Lara''s grip was stunned to see that the wounds she inflicted on Lara were slowly healing. They were being stitched together by concentrated mana. Lara then ripped off the demonized maid''s arm. Losing the arm freed the demonized maid as she screamed while trying to stop her blood from gushing out.


    "Little bird, you have messed with the wrong person." The voice was the same, but the feeling she was exuding made her seem like a different person. The demonized maid was confused as to what was happening to Lara and decided to escape for now. As she was about to fly away an invisible barrier was stopping her.


    "Sorry, little bird, you need to die."


    When the demonized maid heard what Lara said she gathered mana into her body and was about to use a suicide move. The demonized maid in a desperate attempt unleashed everything she had. Lara(?) was waiting for the final desperate move, but then to her surprise the maid didn''t attack her instead attacked the barrier, making a small hole that she used to escape.


    ...


    After watching the demonized maid escape, Lara(?) simply shrugged her shoulders as she proceeded to finish the mission and destroy the supply unit.


    ''Hmm, my current self seems to be in aa of sorts. It''s still too early for this weak body to receive all of my memories. I cannot fully merge my past self with my current self. I also cannot head back or Silika might notice who I truly am... Better send a message back to them and then try wandering around until my current self wakes up. I guess I''ll have to take control of the body for now...''


    Lara(?) then wrote a message and met with one of the knights of the Reschbeauch Kingdom and told him to pass the message to Ashley. After doing that Lara(?) decided to train her current body into something that could satisfy her.

 Chapter 253 Hasten the plan

    <h4>Chapter 253 Hasten the n</h4>


    The demonized maid was able to somehow escape from Lara''s(?) entrapment after using most of her mana. Now as she was trying to distance herself from Lara(?) she could finally feel the effects of making her own mana explode to escape.


    The demonized maid fell from the sky andnded on the ground with a thud. She had lost a lot of mana and blood. She was slowly losing consciousness but before that could happen she sent a signal that only Nero and Amon could sense. Once she used thest bits of her mana she fell to the ground unconscious.


    ...


    Nero who was looking at various maps and Amon who was strengthening his body felt the signal the maid sent. Nero was shocked by that signal as that would mean the maid lost in battle and was in a dire situation. Even though the maid wasn''t at the top 3 of the strongest demons that came with them, herbat power was still above most humans. She was also the fastest among all of them, and she could fly. So when the situation arises she should''ve easily be able to flee.


    He already knew that in the Reschbeauch Kingdom there were a couple of strong humans. Especially those maidens that beat Amonst time. Yet based on the reports the one who went to the supply unit was the person called Lara, she was strong but the one to be wary of was the woman called Silika.


    Nero thought that Lara might be strong but based on the information he gathered she wasn''t supposed to be as strong as the maid. Yet now she was defeated, that must mean something that he didn''t know of happened.


    As he was thinking about what to do next Nero saw Amon getting ready to leave.


    "Where do you think you''re going?"


    "Didn''t you feel that? The stupid maid uniform loving idiot got herself done in. Of course, I''m going out there to either save or avenge her!" Even though Amon spoke with righteous words, Nero of course couldn''t believe that was why Amon wanted to go out. Especially after seeing the smile on his face.


    "Obviously you aren''t going there to do that. You just want to see what kind of opponent beat her."


    "Does it matter, if that''s what I was going to do. Either way, we still need to get her back, right?"


    "Normally I would have said yes... But... There are too many elements that we don''t know about. Also, we still haven''t seen even a shadow of this so called Ren. It''s entirely possible that instead of facing off against the girl called Lara, she could''ve been defeated by Ren. If not there might be some hidden dangers that we don''t know about. If you go now and lose as well, that would just lessen our forces and would make things even more difficult."


    "So you''re telling me to just leave it! How about the maid we leave her to die as well?"


    "Don''t sound like you care about her life or death. Still, you don''t have to worry much about her, I have already made some preparations in the chance of her failing. Even if you expect a sure victory you must always prepare in case you somehow lose. What I''m more worried about is ourck of information. Every spy we sent to Reschbeauch has been killed. The only person we can contact right now would be Harold."


    "You want to contact Harold after we kicked him out?" Hearing what Amon said made Nero think. Based on Harold''s personality he would have still cooperated with them even after they kicked him out. That would''ve been the case with the normal Harold. But thest time they spoke Harold was saying something nonsensical like meeting the Supreme Demon Lord Kretos. He was also acting a bit strange. So counting on Harold doing what he would usually do based on Nero''s past understanding wasn''t the right move.


    "This is getting even more troublesome. Should I ask for more assistance?" Nero mumbled to himself as he grabbed a locket from his pocket.


    "So what should we do now?" Amon asked as Nero went silent. He was still itching to go, but he couldn''t defy Nero''s orders.


    "We need to act ordingly as the situation changes. It would seem that the situation on the continent was moreplex than we initially thought. We shall contact the others and see how they are faring." Nero spoke as he was finally calming down from his initial shock. Panicking as everything was going wrong wasn''t going to help improve the situation.


    ...


    In one of the rooms in the Grand Mage''s tower, Nero and Amon were facing dozen of mirrors. In each mirror, a different person was shown. They were only a silhouette of the people on the other side of the mirrors. The mirrors were used to contact people from far away. It was one of the useful tools Nero and the others stole after killing the Grand Mage.


    "Why did you call us Nero?" One of the shadowy figures in one of the mirrors spoke.


    "Z has fallen." When the other shadowy figures heard that line most of them were surprised.


    "The maid obsessed freak has died?"


    "We aren''t actually sure if she''s alive or dead at the moment. All we know is she encountered a problem in herst mission and she sent a distress signal."


    "First Harold and his servant Oliver, now you''re telling me we lost Z. Is your ce still doing alright? Do we still continue with the n?"


    "... The n will continue as is. But we need to move faster than before. The humans aren''t as weak as we initially thought."


    "Actually I''m also having a bit of trouble with the dwarves." A male shadowy figure spoke sounding a bit embarrassed.


    "Why didn''t you report it!" Nero was getting a bit anxious as the control he felt when they first went out to do the n was loosening.


    "It doesn''t actually hinder the n since I already finished. The dwarves are already getting ready for a war against the humans. The only problem is some of the dwarves in the council are against this war. Still, even if they do keep onining nothing will actuallye out of it since most of the council members agree in waging war. I just feel like these dwarves that are against the war might do something stupid."


    Nero massaged his forehead as this was not what he was expecting. At this point, Reschbeauch should''ve fallen, and the dwarven leaders should''ve already gone to war but they''re still at the nning phase. Not only that but the tournament that was going to be held with the elves and fairies wasn''t happening yet.


    "Alright, just keep on pushing the dwarves to go to war faster. As for the other parts of the n we need to hasten them a bit. If something happens outside of the n, immediately contact me. Do not in any circumstance make your own call. You all should tell me when something happens. If any of you go around messing up, then you will be given what you deserve."


    Nero''s eyes grew darker as an intense amount of bloodlust filled the air. The other demons nodded their heads, seeing their response Nero ended their conversation.

 Chapter 254 Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 254 Shadow</h4>


    Even with the vastwork of the Temple of Justice, it took some time to discover even a tiny portion of the ns of the demons. The information they gained was few but important. One of the information gathered was that only a select few of the demons from the Western desert were out. Each one of these demons has been stationed at certain human kingdoms.


    As for the other races having demon spies in them, the temple of Justice had been unable to gain any information. Though the other races respected the Gods, they weren''t too keen on how some of the temples operated and one of them was the Temple of Justice.


    Still, they had gained some good information. It would seem that these few that left the western desert had no supporting from their home country. They were considered radicals and criminals. This information came directly from the current leader of the Western desert demons.


    More than that information the temple of justice knew were the leader of the group of radicals was located. They were able to get this information from a half-demon they captured that was actually a spy ced by the current leader of the western desert demons. It just so happens the leader of the western desert demons had nted quite a few spies among the group of radicals. Though most of them weren''t able to survive.


    ording to the spy, the leader of the radicals was in the Serbek Kingdom. That was all he knew since he wasn''t part of the inner circle.


    After gaining this information, as he promised the head priest ryed all the information gathered to Valdel. When Valdel heard the information he thanked the head priest.


    "So what are you going to do now?"


    "I n on hearing the truth." Once he said that Valdel bowed his head to the head priest. "Thank you for your hospitality, also thank you for helping me. I promise I will repay the favor someday." After speaking Valdel left the room.


    The head priest who saw Valdel exiting the room couldn''t help but smile. He had been with Valdel for a month now and he had a basic understanding of the kid.


    ''His sense of Justice isn''t as direct as ours, he''s trying too much to be in a gray area when clearly he wants to be in a ck and white one. He must''ve gotten the idea from someone else.'' The head priest tapped on the table in front of him and remembered the name, Ren.


    Not only was he a man that was able to gain so much respect from someone like Valdel, but he was also the one who caught the interest of their Goddess.


    ''Still... Even after I sent half of the inquisitors to find the person called Ren, there was not even a piece of information gained. I wonder...'' The head priest stood up from his chair and looked out of his window and sighed.


    ...


    Valdel carrying Zwei and Nika in their weapon forms were about to leave the temple of justice, stopped as they saw a familiar face. Her long tinum blond hair swayed a bit in the wind as she looked Valdel.


    "So you''re leaving?"


    "Yeah... Thanks for everything you''ve done Natasha."


    "..." Seeing that Natasha was not responding Valdel continued to walk forward.


    "Hey, Valdel won''t you think about being my hero?" Valdel who had already past by stopped walking and didn''t turn around as he answered.


    "Of course I can be your hero, but I want to be everyone''s hero." When Valdel said those words the excitement he felt when he decided to be a hero was once again surging within him.


    "... I see... So if one day, I call for help will youe to save me?" Valdel turned around and was about to answer when he saw a dark shadow underneath Natasha. Valdel moved without thinking and tried to push Natasha aside. Unfortunately, Natasha was stuck her legs seem to be bound to the shadow.


    Seeing that a spike was about toe out of the shadow and pierce Natasha, Valdel gathered mana and used a spell.


    "[Light]!" Valdel used the most basic spell that made a burst of light and he used more mana than usual to make it more powerful. The shadow that bound Natasha into one spot was momentarily gone so Valdel was finally able to move her.


    Valdel started looking around trying to find the one who cast the spell. That was a spell from the element of darkness called [Prating Shadow]. It was a rather powerful spell that sneaks into the target''s shadow and binds the person into one spot. As the person waspletely paralyzed a shadow spike would pierce and kill the enemy in one fatal strike.


    The only person that Valdel knew who was that adept with spells of the darkness element was Ren. Lara was rather adept as well, but those spells are more for stealth than attacking. It was a rather hard element to master, especially if you don''t have the talent for it.


    As Valdel spread his mana in the surrounding area, he saw that the shadow from the spell didn''t dissipate after it failed. It was then Valdel felt a very sinister auraing from the shadow and he backed away protecting Natasha who was behind him.


    The people from the temple of justice came out as they felt the same sinister aura that Valdel was feeling. Thebat-ready priests of the temple took a defensive position when they suddenly heard a voiceing from the shadow.


    "Kakaka, I was finally able to escape from that dragonized freak of a human, and then I spotted this ce full of delicious looking mana. It looks like my luck is at an all-time high!" From the shadow came out a being that seems to be a very tall slender person with hands that look like tentacles. The being''s whole form looked to be made of shadows.


    Valdel and the others couldn''t understand a word the being said, but it was obviously hostile. The being who had no eyes or ears and only a mouthing out from the darkness got its tongue out and looked at thebat-ready priests while drooling.


    When they saw this action every one present couldn''t help but tremble.

 Chapter 255 Goddesses descen

    <h4>Chapter 255 Goddesses descen</h4>


    Valdel couldn''t help himself but shiver in fear upon seeing the weird being in front of him. He had been trained by Ren since childhood and had experienced his fair share of battle now. Yet despite his great improvement, the being in front of him made his very being scream at him telling him to run away.


    The being made out of shadows was oozing with malice and hatred. It simply felt like a mass of evil. Even the veteran priests of the temple of justice who had fought against all sorts of monsters were feeling agitated in the face of this being.


    "Oh, what''s this are you scared of me?" The being with only a mouth on its face smiled. As it spoke it noticed that the humans in front of him don''t seem to understand the words it was saying, so it moved.


    The moment it moved it went back into the shadows on the ground and that shadow spread towards thebat priests.


    "MOVE!" Valdel shouted at thebat priests as he saw the shadow moving, but unfortunately, it was too fast. Four of thebat priests sunk into the shadow. They tried everything to resist but near the end, only their heads were left as they looked at the others in desperation.


    "Help... Please..." Those were theirst words they spoke as they disappeared into the shadow. When that was done the being made out of shadows once again appeared before the group.


    "Kakaka, that was delicious. So do you humans understand me now?" The being made out of shadows had finally spoken in anguage they could understand.


    "What did you do to them?" Even though Valdel could already guess the answer, he still needed to ask.


    "I ate them." When the being made of shadows gave its confirmation, anger was starting to swell deep within Valdel. Yet he couldn''t attack just yet, he needed to gain more information.


    "What are you, and what do you want?" Among all the people present only Valdel had his wits about him. He had triedmunicating with Zwei and Nika a couple of times but their mental link was being disrupted by something. He even tried making them turn into their human forms but they couldn''t. The most probable cause was the shadow being in front of them.


    "You have some interesting things with you. Weapon spirits, two of them... One also smells vaguely familiar. This is quite curious indeed."


    Even though it took a tremendous amount of courage and effort for Valdel to speak, the being in front of him didn''t answer his question. But since he was past the first hurdle of talking to the being for the first time, Valdel felt his courage increasing. Adrenaline started to flood Valdel''s system, even though the fear was still there he could now tolerate it a bit.


    "It doesn''t seem like you heard my question, so I''ll ask again. What are you, and what do you want?"


    "Kakaka, you''re a brave little human aren''t you. Even as yourpanions are trying their hardest simply not to faint in my presence, you''re actually able to have a conversation with me. Not only that the smell of your mana is quite enticing."


    Valdel red at the being made out of shadows, seeing the human''s reaction made it smile a very creepy smile. As it had no face and was made entirely from shadows, with only a mouth, a tongue, and a set of teeth, looking at it smile was very unnerving. Yet despite all that Valdel stood his ground and held onto Zwei in his right hand ready for any possible attack.


    "Kakaka! You really are interesting. Very well, I shall grant you the honor of hearing my name. I am Sceadwe, the primordial demon of shadows. I came here to feed on your mana. Now that I have answered your question it is time to feed!"


    The shadow moved swiftly and tried to grab Valdel, but before it could do so Valdel fired a ball of light. It wasn''t as effective as he thought it would be but it was still able to stop Sceadwe for a second giving Valdel enough time to attack. Valdel used Zwei to cut off one of the tentacle-like hands of Sceadwe. The tentacle fell to the ground and merged with the shadows, and at the same time, another grew out of the Sceadwe shoulder.


    "Nice try little human. You cannot harm me which such feeble attacks. Just ept your fate and be eaten by me."


    Sceadwe merged with his the shadows on the ground and moved towards Valdel and the others. Valdel was already aware of what was about to happen next, but he didn''t know how to block the attack. He could try evading but he was the only one fast enough to evade such a strike. He didn''t want to leave anyone behind. He quickly made a decision, Valdel was about ready to pick up the others and retreat when he heard a voice.


    "Close your eyes!" Hearing the voice of the hight priest Valdel and the others did as they were told. Arge ball of blinding light shot forward and hit the shadows crawling on the ground.


    "You can still see them without looking right? Please carry them back and retreat into the temple!" Valdel quickly moved, picked up Natasha and the survivingbat priest, and then retreated.


    "KAKAKA, That almost tickled. As a prize for making me feel something, I guess I could eat you first." Sceadwe who had submerged himself into the shadows went back into its bipedal form. He then saw the gates to the temple were closed and smiled sinisterly. It raised its arm and pounded at the door breaking it.


    "It''s time to eat!" Sceadwe got excited as it felt numerous people inside the temple. As it was about ready to chow down in this eat all you can buffet, somebody spoke.


    "Foul creature, you dare enter my domain and threaten my followers!" A voice echoed throughout the temple, it was an angelic voice with an ice-cold tone. Sceadwe looked around to see where the voice wasing from. He then saw in the middle of the hall, a group of sixty priests had fainted and from there stood a woman. The presence of the woman was otherworldly, it felt like she was a being made out of pure mana.


    "I Tiditte the Goddess of Justice, shall punish thee!" When Sceadwe saw Tiditte the smile on his face turned into a frown and he clicked his tongue.


    "Tsk, a divine being. So a Goddess came to ruin my fun. Well, I guess I''ll find my meal elsewhere." Sceadwe merged into the shadows and was about to escape, but then Tiditte pointed her finger at the shadow and slowly lifted it up. Sceadwe was no longer able to hide in the shadows as his whole body was brought out in the open. Sceadwe''s whole body did not just have two tentacle arms, he had hundreds of tentacles sprouting out of his back. Seeing as he was forcefully removed from the shadows, Sceadwe attacked.


    The shadowy tentacles surrounded Tiditte and tried to constrict her, but before they could do anything Tiditte was able to obliterate the tentacles. As she was finished destroying the tentacles surrounding her she noticed that Sceadwe was no longer within the temple, he had stepped out.


    "Kakaka, I have fought some veteran deities back at my peak, and I can clearly see that you''re just a childpare to them. Since you just manifested a part of your power in this world you are unable to fully exert yourself, and of course theirs the restriction that you cannot leave your temple. It was quite easy to dupe you O'' Goddes of Justice. Well, anyway it was quite fun. As for you boy, I''ll have you as my meal sooner orter."

 Chapter 256 Rabia

    <h4>Chapter 256 Rabia</h4>


    In the middle of a dense forest filled with bodhi trees, Lara(?) was quietly taking in the mana from her surroundings. From the mana in the air, in the trees, and even from the ground below. This was a special mana increasing technique she invented a few reincarnations ago. She invented it for the sole purpose of keeping up with Garbiel''s reincarnations. Since, Gabriel, Ren, Kretos, Leonard, or whatever his current form was, every one of them was always too strong. He grew stronger too fast and this was happening after every battle, it felt like him simply sleeping could increase his strength.


    So for her to be able to keep up no matter which incarnation it could be, she invented this technique that hastens the increase of her mana capacity. As she continued to take in the mana from the surrounding area, Lara(?) couldn''t help but sigh.


    "There''s no use in hiding from me, I''ve already sensed you since you came within a hundred meters of me. If you''re going to attack then attack, why wait for so long? If you''re not going to do anything then just leave, you''re messing up my training."


    "Heh, very impressive little girl. So you''ve noticed me from the start. If so you should''ve run when you had the chance. Now that I have shown myself, there''s only one fate for you, to be my meal."


    From behind one of the trees, a tall muscr being with the wings of a bat appeared. It stood around ten feet tall with horns that look like the antennae of an ant. Its legs were hooves and it hard four arms, each arm had hands with long sharp ws. In each arm, it held a weapon, sword, spear, mace, and a halberd. Its face was hard to describe as it looked like abination of a man, a wolf, and a buffalo.


    When Lara(?) heard the being''s statement she couldn''t help butugh at it. Herughter echoed throughout the woods. It was aughter that was so free and pure that it was almost felt simr to Ren''sughter when he gets excited in battle. The demonic being frowned at Lara(?) as she mocked him with herughter.


    "Have you gone insane from fear?"


    "Fear against a weakened primordial demon? That''s the funniest thing I have ever heard." When the demon heard Lara''s(?) response it eyes turned serious, as he once again reassessed Lara(?). Yet no matter how he looked at her it doesn''t seem like she has anything that could back up her confidence.


    Her mana capacity was great for human standards but aside from that, she was nothing special. In fact, in the primordial demon''s point of view, Lara(?) was nothing more than food.


    "You know what I am yet, you still talk like that? You''re pretty haughty for a meal."


    "Are you going to keep on talking, or are you going to attack?" Lara(?) signaled the primordial demon toe at her. When the primordial demon saw the gesture and the rxed smile on Lara''s(?) face he grew even more irritated and roared.


    He threw the spear he was holding at full force. The nearby trees were torn apart by the wind pressure from the spear throw. As the spear approached Lara(?) she without chanting produced a small tornado slowing down the spear. Upon losing momentum Lara(?) was able to easily deflect the spear.


    The moment the spear was deflected the primordial demon was able to get behind Lara(?). He then proceeded to use the sword in his upper right hand to sh at Lara(?). He sliced through Lara(?) but then he saw it was just an afterimage. The real Lara(?) was behind her and was about to punch at him.


    The primordial demon was ready to take the strike and counter. He was truly confident in the sturdiness of his body. Yet the moment Lara''s(?) fist was about to hit, the primordial demon actually felt danger. He quickly used the halberd in his lower left hand to block the strike.


    The moment Lara''s(?) punch came in contact with the primordial demon''s halberd, the demon was blown away. The power behind that punch made him fly backward crashing into the surrounding trees until he finally stopped a few meters away.


    The primordial demon was rattled, his lower left hand grew numb, and his prized halberd created from the anger of thousands of humans looked like it was about to shatter. As he was still dazed about what had happened, he saw a dozen spears of wooding towards him.


    No longer as confident as he was before the primordial demon evaded the iing spears of wood. The moment he evaded he felt like his legs were getting a bit cold, as he looked down he saw his two legs look like they were being encased in ice.


    The Primordial demon tried breaking the ice that was encroaching him using his mace but it proved useless. As he was trying to figure out how to escape he heard Lara''s voice behind him.


    "Is that it? That wasn''t much of warm-up. I had more trouble dealing with that half-demon bird than you. I can''t believe a primordial demon could be this weak. If you''re already this weak you shouldn''t have bothered me."


    When the Primordial demon heard Lara''s(?)mentary his anger grew as he roared louder than before. It didn''t want to show his true form since he was too weak to maintain it for long but needed to kill this wh*re that has insulted him over and over again.


    The Primordial demon started growing in size, its grey-skinned body was turning red as veins started popping out. The horns on his head started to bend and swirl. Once it was done transforming the weapons it held could no longer be used because of his size.


    "I Rabia the Primordial demon of rage, shall devour your very soul!" Rabia then used its fourrge arms and started pounding onto the ground where Lara(?) was standing. The strength and speed of his attacks were five times more than before. Each strike he made the very ground shook.


    Rabia pounded away with all his fury, but then he felt danger. His lower left hand was not moving and seem to have been grabbed by Lara(?). Rabia''s the supposed demon of rage felt an intense fear surge within him. So without any hesitation, he ripped off his lower left arm and fled.


    ...


    Lara(?) who watched the giant demon fleeing with all his might didn''t pursue. "Heh, what a pathetic excuse for a primordial demon. Still, I''m also quite pathetic myself."


    Lara(?) looked at herself covered in dust and sighed. "I do have a better feel for this body now, and I was able to increase this body''s overall abilities, but even with that I guess fighting a primordial demon even in a weakened state was too much."


    ''If Gabriel could see me now, he wouldugh at me.''


    Lara(?) felt all the energy she had a while ago was drained from her. She then fell down on her back. "I guess a little nap wouldn''t hurt." After talking to herself she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

 Chapter 257 Alphonso De Valerie

    <h4>Chapter 257 Alphonso De Valerie</h4>


    In the cave of sealing, Shin was breathing heavily as he pushed back another primordial demon into the seal. He then quickly patched up the hole in the seal. Once he was done patching up the hole Shin couldn''t help but frown. Despite his best efforts he had failed in guarding the seal.


    ''Four primordial demons got past me, Sceadwe, Rabia, Dekia, and Nyarlom. Those four are one of the worst possible primordial demons to escape. If I remember correctly Sceadwe was the one with the most experience in battle, as he has fought Gods before. Rabia was also quite troublesome as the limit of his physical strength even now is unknown. But those two are like kittenspared to Dekia and Nyarlom, especially Nyarlom the primordial demon of trickery.''


    ''Should I leave the cave and hunt the four of them down? I should do it quickly while the seal is holding up... Tsk, that''s too risky, if the seal breaks while I''m away then there will be no one to stop these demons.''


    Shin looked at the seal and noticed that its deterioration was hastening, it was only a matter of time before the seal would fully break and literal hell will be let loose.


    ''I already dyed them for a few centuries now, I hope the races are powerful enough to face them. If not then it would spell the end. If only the dragons would help deal with these things... But of course, the dragons would never lower themselves to do such a thing. Even when I hunted down their young they were too proud to even lift a w.'' It was at that moment when Shin suddenly remembered the vicious smile of his long time rival, enemy, and friend.


    ''That''s right, how could I forget, we still have that guy. I''m sure if it''s him he would dly fight each one of those primordial demons with glee. He might even want to fight the four all at once.'' Shin could already imagine Kretos having the time of his life, fighting opponents that seem to be stronger than him.


    Shin could already imagine the confusion of the primordial demons as they face that guy who would dly put himself in a disadvantageous situation just to make the battle more exciting.


    When Shin thought of that scene, he couldn''t help but have a smile on his face. He then started to chuckle, as he felt like with that guy around everything will turn out alright.


    ...


    In a shop that no one could see but only those that are destined, a cracked appeared in the empty space of the shop. From the crack, a person came out. He was a rather old man with a magnificent beard that stretched out towards his knees. He was wearing a robe and underneath the robe was a set of enchanted armor made of ck dragon''s scales.


    This old man was Alphonso De Valerie the owner of the shop of destiny. He was an avid collector of unique and powerful items. From legendary swords to mystical books of intrigue he collected them all. Each item in his collection came from different dimensions and different universes.


    He was known by the other powerful beings such as Gods from other worlds as the hoarder. He was also sometimes the mentor of many a hero. Aside from that, no one knows more about him. They don''t even know if he was human or something else entirely. He had many dealings with different Gods and true Gods.


    His power was unknown, his origins were unknown, even his name was an uncertainty. Though he has proimed to be called Alphonso De Valerie no one could tell if this was true or not.


    "Oh, that was a rather dreadful dimension I''ve gotten myself into. Still, it had quite a great collection of spears." When the old man was about to release his new stock of treasures, he noticed something was different in his shop.


    "Another destined one hase to take hold of his destiny. Now let''s see what kind of person has entered my shop." Alphonso snapped his finger and a mirror appeared before him. The scene of when Valdel entered the shop appeared in the mirror. When Alphonso saw the boy that entered he paused the scene.


    "So this is the boy who entered." Alphonso looked at the boy''s eyes and saw that unwavering look in the boy''s eyes. "So it''s one of those justice people. Nowadays it has been full of those that get transmigrated or reincarnated. It''s been a while since I got a pretty normal customer. I wonder what item chose him."


    Alphonso made the scene move again and noticed there was another person that entered the shop. ''Hmm, how is this possible only one person is allowed to enter the shop at a time. I''m the only person that could deny this rule, but I wasn''t here.''


    When Alphonsoid his eyes on the other person who had entered his shop he couldn''t help but shiver in excitement. He could quickly see through the outer appearance of the person and was able to see deeper in, and what he saw from that person was a sight he knew all too well.


    "So he came, he finally came to my shop. It has been a few millennia but he finally made it and fulfilled his promise. He was able toe to my shop."


    Alphonso surveyed the person he once knew and found out that his new name was Ren. As expected almost all the items in the shop responded to him.


    ''Of course, they would try and reel him in. This was the guy that wielded almost all of the items in my collection. The strongest soul of them all, the first hero, the breaker of destiny, the paragon of willpower, ***********. Oh, I can''t even think of his old name. Well, I guess that just proves how frightening he was.''


    After watching the whole scene from start to finish until the two left the shop, Alphonso didn''t stop smiling.


    ''So fate has once again linked us together. I wonder what excitement you would bring this time. Should I go meet up with him?... Well, he wouldn''t remember me as this is a new incarnation. Still, it''s always a good thing to befriend any incarnation of the strongest soul. Though, this guy has never lived for long, despite his power that could very much be described as a cheat he has always met a gruesome end. Still, that''s the way he likes it, the battlefield is were he is happiest and to die in battle has always been his greatest joy no matter the incarnation...''


    Alphonso remembered the incarnation he befriended. It has been so long but the memory of that time remained, as clear as the sky. It was the most exciting time of his life.


    "I guess I''ll just take a look at him and see where it goes from there. I could even be his mentor. I wonder what his past self would say if he knew that I would mentor his future reincarnation. That would be a sight to behold." Alphonso happily created a crack in space in front of him and entered it.

 Chapter 258 Be my Husband

    <h4>Chapter 258 Be my Husband</h4>


    When it was announced that the tournament was finally about to begin, Kretos felt relieved. It has been quite some time since he had awoken with no memories. But every now and then he would have dreams that seem to be glimpses of his past, but in those dreams his face, his body, every aspect was different, all except for the personality and the way they think. He wasn''t even human in those dreams.


    The Kretos in those dreams was a demon that just fought and fought continuously and unintentionally gathered an army that was loyal not to him but to his strength. He was on top but felt endlessly bored.


    There were even some dreams that he was another person with a different name. Actually there were multiple dreams of him being these different people that he didn''t know about. Yet despite him not knowing he felt some kind of resonance with them. They all looked different, came from different backgrounds, but their core self was the same as him.


    He couldn''t understand a single one of those dreams and what they meant to him no matter how hard he thought about it. So it was getting a bit irritating. He wanted to get this tournament going to see if someone from the other kingdoms know who he is.


    ...


    Aside from his memory problem, Kretos was also dealing with something else. After the battle with the Osted family, something started changing within his body. He felt like he was growing stronger and stronger at an elerated pace without him doing anything. The mana in his body was also growing rapidly just by breathing the mana in the air.


    Based on the knowledge that still remained in his mind, a human before a certain age shouldn''t be able to store such arge amount of mana before his body fully matures. Based solely on his looks Kretos was sure that his body was near being fully matured, but he wasn''t quite there yet. In fact, even if you weren''t human growing one''s mana by simply breathing the mana in the air was unheard of.


    So what was happening to him was quite illogical, if you base it on the knowledge he has. Even if his body was growing in strength, it shouldn''t affect his mana growth, but both were happening at the same time.


    ''Maybe I''m older than I look... Wait, that''s not the point... Why am I even thinking so hard about this? Even if it''s a power that I don''t understand, I can still feel that it is my own power. Getting more powerful is never a bad thing... Is it?''


    When Kretos thought of that for some reason he felt a sense of loneliness. He felt like this has happened before. As he felt like he was about to remember something important, Afeus entered his room.


    "Master, sorry to disturb you, but someone is here to see you." Kretos frowned and was about to say something, but was interrupted by another person''s voice.


    "It seems like the dorm rooms here are smaller than I remember." A woman with long purplish blond hair wearing a long robe that seems to imbued with numerous spells had entered the room. Just by listening to her voice, you would understand that she was a person full of pride.


    Yet the moment sheid eyes on Kretos she almost puked. She was one of the few people that could see the shape and size of one''s mana without any spell or item. So the moment she saw Kretos she saw thergest amount of mana she has ever seen.


    Even though Kretos was suppressing his mana, the degree in which it was rising was too much making some of it leak unintentionally.


    Henrietta the genius mage of the Serbek Kingdom was screaming in fear internally as she looked at the monster before her. Yet at the same time, she was feeling truly excited. Right in front of her was a person that surpasses her in every way, well except for looks.


    Afeus and Henrietta''s assistant looked confused as to why Henrietta was just standing there without saying anything. Kretos felt like there was something wrong with the way Henrietta was looking at him. He was used to the looks of fear and awe since those were themon looks people give him. Yet looking at Henrietta, aside from fear there was something else there.


    "What do you want?" Kretos finally broke the silence and asked.


    "Please marry me!" Henrietta who was known all throughout the kingdom as the most prideful woman of all and was rumored to hate men actually asked someone''s hand in marriage. Afeus was stunned into silence, while the assistant almost fainted.


    "Huh?" Kretos on the other hand, couldn''t evenprehend the words that the woman before him said.


    "With your genes and mine, the children we produce will be the most powerful beings to walk this," Henrietta spoke with the look of a crazed believer. At first, she came here simply out of curiosity. She wanted to see the man that could defeat the whole Osted family. If he was worthy she would allow him to be her subordinate. If he was better than that she would try to partner up with him. Yet the moment she saw Kretos she knew instantly that this was the man she needed to be with. This was the man that could help her achieve her ambitions.


    Her pride and talent always made her look at others as people beneath her. She believed that there might be no man out there that could match her, which made everyone think she hated men. In fact, she could go both ways, as long as her partner meets certain criteria. Even though Kretos''s look did not pass her criteria, everything else about him was beyond any criteria.


    Henrietta''s assistant regained her wits and stood in front of Henrietta and knelt. "Mydy please reconsider, we have no idea who this man is. Your husband must adhere to the highest standards. You cannot simply pick one with unknown origins."


    "You fool, don''t you see that this man is of the highest standard. None would ever dare match his brilliance." Henrietta pushed her assistant aside and approached Kretos.


    "Be my husband, and we can skip the wedding and get right to business." Kretos couldn''t keep up with what the woman before him was saying, she was even trying to remove her clothes while her assistant tried to stop her.

 Chapter 259 You’re pretty interesting

    <h4>Chapter 259 You''re pretty interesting</h4>


    Henrietta was getting a bit excited, as the thought of producing a stronger human bybining her genes with Kretos''s was something that made her heart race. Before she met Kretos she was set on creating a homunculus that would surpass the current humans.


    She always believed that humanity was too weak. Even her ancestor the legendary mage Albert Wolfstein believed that among all the other beings on the humans were by far the weakest. They had no special trait that made them stand out from the other races. The only reason they could keep up with the other races was because of their ability to procreate faster, as well as their innovative minds.


    But after seeing Kretos all those thoughts disappeared from Henrietta''s mind. She knew the instant she saw Kretos that he was above even those races that call themselves the children of mana. His mana was so pure and violent that it could match even that of the elven king''s mana, that she met once when she was little. That was the strongest existence she has seen and this boy that looked around twenty years old was of the same level. It was unbelievable that a human was able to get to such a level at such a young age, but here he was standing right in front of her.


    Not only that she noticed that he was also radiating something more than mana. This was the strongest human she has ever seen. She who has read all the research her esteem ancestor has wrote, as well as studying the human body for all her life made her the foremost expert in terms of human biology.


    She knew that everything in this world was made from two things which were spiritual and physical. The spiritual building block that makes everything in this world, was mana. The physical building block was called an atom, an atom was something her ancestor discovered and termed. Both these spiritual and physical traits in the human body could pass down onto the next generation.


    She and her ancestor believed that since the human race had a short life span than the other races, the human body created a way to be able to keep up with those other races. This was the passing of genes so the next generation of humans will always be stronger than thest. Unfortunately for them, despite that trait, even after a few thousand years since her ancestor has passed, humanity''s biological makeup hasn''t improved that much. In some cases, it even regressed.


    Now that she has seen Kretos she has seen the light of hope. With him, as an example, she knew that humans weren''t out of the biological race just yet. It was entirely possible that the children that Kretos will have would be beings that represent a new kind of human.


    As a mage, as a researcher, her curiosity was piqued, but beyond that, she wanted to be a part of history. She wanted to be known as the mother of those powerful humans. She stopped trying to undress so that her assistant would stop pulling on her. So with much excitement, she walked towards Kretos who was still looking at her confused and shocked.


    Once she was in front of Kretos and was about to say something she felt a threatening force. She quickly gathered mana and surrounded her body with a mana barrier. The moment she did so, she saw Kretos''s hand moved, and she then felt a massive force hit her forehead. She was blown away.


    "My LADY!"


    ...


    Kretos who saw the approaching Henrietta was confused, and he also somehow felt a bit threatened by her crazed stare. Not only that he was very baffled as to what she was saying. So when she got close enough Kretos used Spirit Aura and moved like lightning as he flicked Henrietta''s forehead.


    She didn''t feel like she was an enemy so Kretos made sure to regte his power so that she would only faint and not die from that attack. Yet to his surprise he suddenly saw Henrietta still able to stand and was even looking at him more excited than before. That crazed excitement in her eyes looks the same as his when he gets really into a battle.


    "What was that?! That was incredible, you moved your hand with such speed, and you even used something else that wasn''t mana! So not only is your mana impressive, but you even have more secrets within you. If you don''t want to you don''t need to be my husband. If that doesn''t work, then just give me some of your s*men."


    "Can you stop talking for a minute." Kretos released a tiny amount of his bloodlust, which made the assistant fall to the ground unable to stand. She was looking at Kretos in horror as her body trembled. Afeus was doing better as he was still standing, he already felt Kretos''s bloodlust multiple times now and was slowly getting used to it. He didn''t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.


    Henrietta on the other hand was also shaking but it didn''t seem like it was from fear. It looked like she just got even more excited when she felt his bloodlust. Kretos could only shrug his shoulders at this point and smile at the bizarre woman in front of him.


    "You''re pretty interesting."


    "So are you willing to ept my offer?"


    "Are you seriously asking me, a person you just met, to be your husband?"


    "Time, getting to know each other, love, and all that extra stuff, we can do thatter when we be partners. What''s important and what I think the main reason for marriage is for procreation. You who are so powerful need a partner that can give more to your genes to pass onto the next generation." Hearing Henrietta''s answer made Kretos smile a bit more.


    "I see, so you''re that kind of person... But what more can you add? I already have the physical and magical strength that surpasses yours by a long shot."


    "Intelligence and beauty. Not that I''m belittling you, but I am sure that there are only a handful of humans out there that is as smart as me. Not only that but I am quite the beauty don''t you think? My beauty and brains with your overwhelming strengthbined would make our children into the most powerful humans."


    When Kretos heard Henrietta''s answer he couldn''t help butugh. The woman before him was more interesting than he thought. He then smiled a very vicious smile at the woman and spoke.


    "To tell you the truth, I don''t have my memories intact, so I''m not even sure if I already have a wife and children. In fact, based on my gut feeling, I think I already have multiple women as my wives or lovers. So knowing this will you still want to be mine?" Henrietta didn''t even hesitate for a second as she answered.


    "Like I said love and all that is simply secondary. What I want is not you per se, what I want is your genes. So if bing your woman is what I need to do to get them, then so be it. Actually, I think you having multiple wives is a good thing. That way you powerful genes would be passed onto multiple individuals. This would give us a lot of differentbinations, and we could see which one would have the best results. Though I still believe that your genes and minebined will still be the bestbination of all."


    When Kretos heard Henrietta''s answer the smile on his face grew wider and he couldn''t help butugh again. Afterughing for a bit he looked at Henrietta who was looking at him with a serious face and gave her an answer.


    "Very well, from this point onward you are mine and mine alone."

 Chapter 260 Meeting of old acquaintances

    <h4>Chapter 260 Meeting of old acquaintances</h4>


    The moment Kretos agreed with Henrietta she wanted to do it immediately. Yet Kretos stopped her from doing anything. For some reason the moment he spoke the words he said, it felt like he had said those exact same words before. Not just once it seems like he has said those words multiple times.


    Kretos felt his head hurting a lot, it was a pain like no other. He has experienced being stabbed, being burned, and based on his dreams he has experienced his every bone being crushed into dust. Yet despite all that punishment he has always smiled that vicious smile of his, but now he was actually twitching a bit in pain.


    "Are you alright?" Henrietta asked while looking confused looking at Kretos''s reaction. Even Afeus was looking at Kretos a bit worried. Among the people present he was the one who knew just how durable Kretos was. Not just physically, but spiritually and mentally as well. This man called Kretos was someone that couldugh at the face of anything. So it was very surprising to see him look to be in actual pain.


    "Teleport me to somewhere without anyone within a few hundred kilometers," Kretos spoke while looking at Henrietta.


    "Why?" Henrietta asked reflexively.


    "Can you do it or not?!" Kretos this time shouted at Henrietta.


    "Yes!"


    "Then do it!" Kretos''s real mana capacity was starting to leak out, but before any more coulde out Henrietta activated her teleportation spell. A magic circle appeared below Kretos''s feet and teleported him away.


    Once Kretos was gone, Henrietta was breathing heavily as she was now sweating profusely. She then looked around and saw that Afeus and her assistant had already fainted. In that brief moment, Kretos''s true mana capacity leaked out the air in the room grew heavy.


    Henrietta couldn''t help but shiver in excitement, as she smiled. She already believed that Kretos was the peak of humanity, and that was only based on what she saw before. But now she learns that wasn''t even a fraction of what he has.


    ''Is he being attacked by an outside force? Though I am a bit worried about what was happening to him... Well, not matter, unfortunately, if even he can''t handle it at his level then even if I try to help I won''t be able to do anything but get in his way. I hope he survives this as he still hasn''t given me any of his genes yet.''


    ...


    Kretos was teleported to the top of a mountain. Once he was teleported he could no longer hold it in as his mana started gushing out of him. His current mana was so strong that the nearby rocks were being crushed simply by the pressure and weight of his mana.


    ''What the f*ck is happening!'' Kretos couldn''t understand why this was happening. When he was trying to regain his memories nothing like this has ever happened. Even after having numerous dreams about his past, or what he considered to be his past, there was no reaction like this. Yet just recalling that he was supposed to remember some words his said made him feel like this.


    He couldn''t think properly as the pain was getting worse. The more he tried to recall the time he felt like he said the words that triggered this phenomenon, the more pain he received. The pain might recede if he stops thinking about it, but why should he? This was the closest he got in remembering so why should he stop?


    "Do you think this is enough to get me! I might not have my memories, I might have lost a lot because of it, but even then I will never bow down to something like this!" Kretos didn''t know who he was screaming at, but he felt like he needed to say those words.


    "As expected no matter the incarnation you never do change." Kretos quickly moved back and took a stance. He looked at where the voice came from and saw a middle-aged man wearing a robe with armor underneath.


    Kretos was surprised that someone was able to sneak up on him. Even though he was in great amounts of pain, he always had his guard up.


    "Who are you?" Kretos asked the new arrival with his signature smile on his face. The man before him was able to sneak up on him, not only that, Kretos saw that though the man was simply standing there doing nothing he had no openings. So even though Kretos was in great amounts of pain he was still feeling excited and wanted to fight this man before him.


    "I know that smile very well. You want to have a battle with me, don''t you?"


    "So am I to presume that you know me?" kretos was now not only getting excited because of the chance to fight such a powerful opponent, but also because it seems like he was a clue to regaining his memories.


    "The answer to that is a yes and a no, but technically I guess the right answer would be a no."


    "I see..." When Kretos heard the man''s answer he was about ready to pounce. Yet before he could do anything the man raised his hand and signaled Kretos to stop.


    "I know that you''re itching to fight me, but in your current condition, I don''t think you should. How about we fight once your memories are back."


    Kretos was surprised to hear what the man said, how did he know that he had amnesia?


    ...


    Alphonso who was looking for Kretos had felt a powerful wave of mana on top of a mountain so he quickly teleported there. He then saw the boy he was looking for. The moment he saw Kretos he knew that something was messing around Kretos''s soul. Alphonso was able to figure out a bit of what happened just by seeing that. The only being that could do anything to Kretos''s soul was none other than the ORIGIN.


    ''As expected you''re still fighting against destiny even now.'' Alphonso smiled helplessly as he greeted Kretos.


    ...


    "I don''t need you to worry about me!" Kretos who was momentarily stunned by what Alphonso said could no longer hold it in as he dashed forward.


    "Damn it! Still the same battle junkie as before." Alphonso knew that this would happen from the start but he still wanted to try and see if he could reason with Kretos. Yet despite sounding irritated Alphonso was also showing a very bright smile on his face.

 Chapter 261 Side Chapter: The meeting that changed Alphonso’s life

    <h4>Chapter 261 Side Chapter: The meeting that changed Alphonso''s life</h4>


    The rain poured down heavily on the gigantic divine trees, while thunder boomed in every direction. A scared little boy was running for his life through the forest of divine trees. The young boy looked no older than seven, his clothes have been torn, his hair was burnt, and his overall appearance made one think of a beggar.


    This young boy was named Alphonso, he was currently running from the God of thunder and the God of rain. He was using the divine trees as a cloak to mask his aura so that the two Gods would find it difficult to locate him.


    When he got far enough Alphonso then hid inside a tree hollow. He was shivering from the cold and he started crying. His mother was killed right before his very eyes, and she did everything she could to let him escape. Now he was all alone and he didn''t know what to do.


    As he was crying the rain and thunder finally stopped, Alphonso thought that maybe the two Gods gave up or got bored and left. He then took a peek and the moment he did so, someone grabbed his head.


    It was none other than the God of thunder that held onto the little boy''s head tightly. "Hmph, you think you can run away from me, you filthy mutant. Now tell me where is the spear that your wh*re of a mother hid."


    Alphonso tried his best to remove the God of thunder''s hand but his feeble arms couldn''t even move a finger of the God. As the God of thunder continued to squeeze even tighter, someone suddenly spoke.


    "Hey what''s a grown as* man like you doing to a kid like that?" The God of Thunder let go of Alphonso''s head and looked at the man standing behind him surprised. He didn''t even notice the maning so near him. When the God of thunder looked at the person who was talking he was stunned.


    "You''re a mortal, how did you get here?" When the God of thunder asked that question the man then showed a vicious smile on his face. Alphonso who was looking behind the God of thunder would never forget that smile and the answer the man gave afterward.


    "You know I got bored. I have defeated every opponent in the mortal world, none could even match a single finger of mine. So I decided to look for worthy opponents elsewhere. Then I thought how about those so called New Gods, they should be strong. So with a little bit of effort, I tore open the gates of heaven and I came here."


    When the God of thunder heard what the mortal said he couldn''t believe his ears. This mortal was able to forcefully open the gate that separated the mortal realm with the immortal realm. It was hard to believe but seeing the mortal was standing before him made it difficult to believe otherwise.


    "Then I met this woman and she gave me this." The mortal then showed a spear with a dragon''s head holding the base of the de. "She told me that if something were to happen to her, I need to save his son. In exchange for the promise of protecting her son, this spear would be mine."


    When the God of thunder saw the spear he quickly moved behind the mortal and was about to deal a lethal blow but then before he knew it he was stabbed in the head. The mortal had stabbed him using the spear without even looking back.


    "You''re pretty fast, unlike the other guy." The mortal man then twirled the spear and sliced off the God of thunder''s head. Due to the effects of the spear the God of thunder was unable to regenerate and died.


    "That''s the second God I killed... Hmmm, maybe I shouldn''t use this spear next time. It won''t mean anything if I win like this." While the mortal man was talking to himself, he finally noticed the frightened Alphonso. The mortal man approached Alphonso and smiled at the kid.


    "Hey kid, everything''s alright now."


    "..."


    "You''re called Alphonso right? I''m Michael, your mom sent me to protect you. So how about joining in my journey for a short while."


    ...


    Years have passed since Michael saved Alphonso from the God of thunder and God of rain. The two have traveled to different ces in the immortal realm. While traveling the two sought different things, Michael was seeking to find a worthy opponent, while Alphonso was more interested in collecting the weapons the Gods and Goddesses use.


    It all started from the day Michael handed the spear Alphonso''s mother left behind. After getting that spear Alphonso who was amazed by its look and power, started to collect more powerful weapons, armors, and other interesting artifacts.


    The infamy of the two grew every day, and as it grew the more fear and hate they umted. So in one particr afternoon, the now twenty-year-old Alphonso was looking around the campsite trying to find Michael.


    No matter where he looked Alphonso couldn''t find Michael. He started to grow scared and started thinking ''was I once again left behind?'' Alphonso grew frantic in searching for Michael, it was then he noticed that there were multiple divine entities gathering in one area. Michael had a bad feeling about what was happening and quickly went to the ce were all the divine entities were gathering.


    When Alphonso arrived at the ce what he saw was a frightening sight. Hundred of Gods and Goddesses had their dead bodiesy all over the ground. The way each of them were killed were different, some were shed in half, others were pierced in the area of their divine core, and many had their heads removed.


    Right in the middle of the corpses of the Gods and Goddesses, stood a single mortal. His body was bleeding all over, he was missing an arm and it looked like he was stabbed multiple times in different areas of his body. If it was any other mortal having such wounds would have spelled instant death, but not him. He had a vicious smile on his face as he stood before his fallen enemies. This mortal man was none other than Michael.


    When Alphonso saw this he quickly dashed towards his long time mentor, father figure, rival, and friend. Even though his eyes were already dimming Michael was able to see the approaching Alphonso.


    "You missed the party. I had a very fine feast, and I''m finally feeling full.... Sorry about the weapons I was unable to hold back and broke a few."


    "Stop talking, you stupid battle junkie! I need to heal you quickly." Alphonso took out the staff of the Goddess of Life and tried healing the wounds of Michael but the wounds wouldn''t heal.


    "Don''t bother, I have been stabbed by a lot of different divine weapons I''m not even sure of the effects of most of them... I won''t be able to make it, this is the end of the road for me. Still, no matter, it was a fun road to walk and I even had the best battle at the end. I have no regrets."


    Hearing what Michael said Alphonso started to tear up. He desperately tried all the different divine weapons he had in stock hoping that one of them could heal Michael but it was no use.


    "Why didn''t you bring me with you?" Alphonso asked as tears fell down his face.


    "Already so old and still a crybaby." Michael tried lifting up his remaining hand to pat Alphonso''s head but was unable to move it.


    "This was the path that I have chosen. This is not the path for you. I know you don''t like being by yourself, but you''re a grown as* man now. You should find your own path and walk down that path to the very end. Unfortunately, I can no longer apany you on that path... It was... A... Pretty, fun... Journe-"


    Michael''s body was about to fall to the ground but Alphonso caught it. At that moment Alphonso took out the scythe of the God of Death and was going to try and capture Michael''s soul and guide it to a new body, but the scythe couldn''t control Michael''s soul.


    As Alphonso was shocked by what happened, Michael''s soul left. Alphonso wasn''t going to give up that easily, so he tried to find Michael''s soul in the wheel of reincarnation yet no matter how hard he looked Michael''s soul wasn'' there.


    ...


    It took Alphonso a few hundred years before he figured out that Michael''s soul wasn''t part of the regr reincarnation cycle. While looking for one of Michael''s reincarnations, Alphonso was able to learn a lot about the strongest mortal soul. Along the way, he learned about the strongest mortal soul''s neverending battle with the ORIGIN. It took another couple of hundred of years before Alphonso met one of Michael''s reincarnations.

 Chapter 262 Alphonso’s tears

    <h4>Chapter 262 Alphonso''s tears</h4>


    Kretos happily lunged at Alphonso who summoned a ck staff made out of unknown materials. Kretos concentrated his mana into his hand creating a long sword made out of pure mana. When Kretos''s mana sword made contact with Alphonso''s staff, Alphonso was about to redirect the flow of attack towards the side and counter.


    Kretos could feel what Alphonso was about to do with the slight shift in the momentum of his attack. So before Alphonso could finish what he was doing, Kretos sent out a kick towards Alphonso''s head. Kretos''s attack was swift and precise that if it any other opponent their heads would''ve already flown away.


    Alphonso was able to keep up and lifted the head of his staff upward and blocked both Kretos''s sword strike and his kick. But that wasn''t the end of it, Kretos dispelled the mana sword which made Alphonso stumble forward. The moment Alphonso lost his bnce Kretos was going to attack but to his surprise, Alphonso used the momentum of him stumbling forward to try and crash towards Kretos.


    When Kretos saw what Alphonso was trying to do he used the spell [Earth Wall] in which Alphonso countered with a [Water Slice]. A small amount of water formed into a de that sliced the wall made of earth.


    Once that first exchange was done Kretos and Alphonso backed away. "That was some nice set of moves, your style of fighting seems to be using defense as a cover for your true style of battle which is offensive. That''s a pretty nice fighting style you have there, I wonder who taught it to you."


    Kretos couldn''t help but praise Alphonso''s fighting style, it was style that fits well with him. In fact, Kretos found the very style of fighting simr to his, but unlike Alphonso''s, Kretos doesn''t mask defensive moves to counterattack, his style only focuses on one thing that is on attacking. Kretos way of fighting is to keep on attacking and doing so in every possible way avable.


    When Alphonso heard what Kretos said, he tried to stop himself fromughing. ''Of course, you like this fighting style, you''re the one who created it and taught it to me. Well, I did change some of the moves and even the philosophy so that I can make it my own.''


    Alphonso couldn''t help but remember the time Michael taught him the skills he needed to win a battle. It was so long ago now, that some of those memories are bing a bit foggy. As Alphonso was about to reminisce about the time when he tried to modify the style, Kretos spoke.


    "Though I think that fighting style is good, I do have a piece of advice to give you. That style seems to be more suited for an aggressive style of fighting, masking it with defense won''t really help it out. You should just keep on attacking like this!"


    Kretos threw some des made out of mana, which Alphonso deflected using his staff. Kretos then appeared in front of him almost instantly after throwing those des made of mana. Once he was in close quartersbat with Alphonso, Kretos began attacking from all directions. Using his fists, his legs, and numerous spells, Kretos happily attacked.


    Alphonso who was trying to find a way out of the torrent of attacks so that he could counterattack was still a little bit shocked by what Kretos said. The advice Kretos gave him was basically telling him to discard all the alterations he made to the style and go back to the original style he was taught.


    ''Are you saying all my hard work to improve this style, didn''t improve it but just made it worse?'' Alphonso gritted his teeth, although he knew that the person in front of him wasn''t Michael but someone else with a very simr personality, Alphonso couldn''t help but feel like it was Michael who said those words to him.


    Kretos felt like something was happening to Alphonso and saw that the Alphonso changed his stance. Alphonso held the staff in his right hand and was now in a throwing stance. He then threw the staff like a spear towards Kretos.


    Seeing the iing staff Kretos tried to evade, but even though it just passed by him he felt like his skin was torn open. There was no external damage to Kretos, but he knew that if he was a bit slower, that attack could''ve spelled his death.


    Kretos who was a bit rattled by the earlier attack, then saw a fist was about to hit his head so he ducked but the moment he did that, a knee was about to hit his chin. Kretos''s only left with one option and that was to block the attack, he used both his hands to stop the knee from hitting him.


    When Kretos felt like he couldn''t fully stop the iing attack he absorbed a bit of its power and jumped upward negating its strength. Kretos using the knee strike as a springboard and was now flying high up in the air.


    As he was about to counter attack with long-distance spells Kretos saw Alphonso had jumped upward and was speeding towards him. Seeing that action made Kretos smile even more as he gathered most of his mana into the palm of his hand.


    When Alphonso got near him he unleashed the mana point-nk at Alphonoso''s face. Alphonso was shocked by this movement and quickly summoned a shield that was only able to block a portion of the attack. Alphonso fell from the sky andnded on the mountain top destroying the peak.


    Kretosnded softly beside the newly formed crater on the mountain top. He then spotted Alphonso standing up from the falling debris. Although Alphonso''s robe was now dirty Alphonso himself didn''t receive any damage.


    "That was better than before, but being aggressive without understanding the flow of battle isn''t really a good thing." When Kretos once again gave out some advice, he noticed something weird. Alphonso had tears falling down his face.


    "Huh... Are you actually crying?" Kretos couldn''t help but ask. When Alphonso heard what Kretos said he touched his face. ''I''m crying...''


    Alphonso was confused at first, but then he understood what was happening. He couldn''t help it, seeing Kretos telling him about his inadequacies, reminded him of the past when Michael was doing the same thing. The way they talked, the way they think, even the subtle movements he made were near identical.


    Thest time Alphonso met an incarnation of Michael that person was near death, but same as the Michael he knew even nearing his demise, that incarnation wanted to fight him.


    ''No matter the era, no matter the race, no matter how powerful, you and all your incarnations remain the same...'' Alphonso wiped away his tears and summoned a spear that had its de being held by the mouth of a dragon.


    "Sorry about that, something you said just made me remember someone I knew long ago. So seeing that we can finally talk properly how about we stop this little scuffle of ours and talk like civilized people."


    "Is that why you summoned that ominous-looking spear so that we can have a civilized talk?" Kretos rebuked as he got ready to attack again.


    "No this is just a precaution. I really do want to just talk it out. I just want to help you, since I know how to get your memories back. So what do you say?"

 Chapter 263 Ally or foe all I see is an exciting figh

    <h4>Chapter 263 Ally or foe all I see is an exciting figh</h4>


    Hearing what Alphonso said Kretos couldn''t help butugh. Hisugh echoed throughout the now hollow mountain. Alphonso then felt Kretos''s battle aura was rising to an all-time high, not only that the vicious smile that Kretos and all his incarnations shared was now in full disy that even his eyes shone with delight.


    Alphonso who had known two previous incarnations was confused as to what had triggered the battle junkie to show such a reaction. Afterughing for a bit Kretos looked at Alphonso.


    "It would seem that you know me more than I thought. The way you moved, the way you talked, everything would indicate that not only did we know each other we have a much closer rtionship than I initially thought. Perhaps our rtionship is that of a senior and junior that studied under the same master. It must be something within that line of thought. That would exin why our styles of fighting seem to be really simr."


    Alphonso couldn''t help but sigh at Kretos''s deduction. Though it wasn''t a hundred percent correct, the answer was very close. Alphonso was once again reminded that even though most of the time the only thing in the heads of these incarnations was battle, they were rather sharp in other things as well. Though that still doesn''t exin Kretos''s excitement. While Alphonso was thinking Kretos continued to talk.


    "You seem to understand me but you fail to truly see what I am. Do you think that I fight for a reason? Do you think that offering my memories would make me stop? The answer is a resounding no! I only ever tried to get my memories back because not remembering was an annoyance. But if I have to pick between a battle against a powerful being or regaining my memories, the answer is obvious. I don''t need my memories, all I need right now is to fight you at your full power!" Kretos spoke with so much passion that you could feel his very soul burning with zeal.


    "What the heck are you talking about?! Of course, you need your memories! Don''t you want to know why you''re so strong?! Don''t you want to know about the dreams I''m sure you have, don''t you want to know the truth?!"


    Alphonso already knew that a reincarnation of Michael would surely be someone with a different set of values. But he expected that reincarnation to at least have a semnce ofmon sense... When Alphonso thought of that he tried to remember a time when Michael has shown something rted tomon sense. Now that he started thinking about it, Michael was someone so far removed frommon sense that the word might not even have existed.


    "What are memories anyway? I can make new memories even without my old ones. Why should I care as to why I am strong? Do the f*cking dragons that fly in the sky ever question why they are so strong, no they don''t. The dreams that I have those about different people, does it matter what it is. I can already guess that all of them should be rted to me. They might be my past lives, they might be my ancestors, but in the end, it doesn''t really matter what they are. Knowing the truth, what does that give me, rity? I don''t need any of that! If I die in battle without memories then so be it, I would still be satisfied. So you who seem to know me,e and show me all you''ve got! I will only think about talking with you if you show me what I seek!"


    When Alphonso heard the nonsensical things that Kretos said, he couldn''t help but sigh. ''It doesn''t seem like we''ll be able to talk properly if I don''t beat him up a bit.''


    Alphonso knelt on the ground and tapped it. He used a secret technique to assess the. After assessing the strength of the Alphonso found out that the they were on was quite big and its density would be able to handle the strength of his mana.


    "Very well, since you won''t listen to reason I will show you what you seek." As Alphonso was speaking his mana release started spiking.


    "Now that''s what I''m talking about! Show me the very limits of your abilities!" Kretos happily shouted at Alphonso.


    "Are you sure about this? I am not your enemy, in fact, I might be your closest ally."


    "Come on don''t say boring crap like that now that we''re on this stage. Ally or foe I don''t see any of that, all I see is an exciting fight!"


    When Alphonso heard Kretos say that he knew that there was no more use talking. It was noon when the area suddenly grew dark. Daytime suddenly became night time yet the moon and the sun was no longer in sight. It was if they were transported to a different world.


    In the darkness were only the light of the stars could be seen it started to snow. Kretos understood what this was, this was a mana field. He might have no memories of his past, but Kretos retained knowledge about certain things and this was one of them. A mana field was an area of space certain powerful mages create to fully exert their mana and control the surrounding space, but it was usually only the size of a room. This mana field stretched out as far as the eye can see. Not only did it epass arge area but each drop of snow was filled to the brim with mana.


    "I hope you are ready for this. Not even Gods nor demons can defeat me in this snowy field of mine." Alphonso spoke as he made the spear he was holding disappear.


    "Hahaha! This is so much better than I expected! Come then allow me to fully appreciate this power of yours!" Kretos spoke with the utmost delight. The snowy field of death before him might have looked like a graveyard for Alphonso''s enemies. But in Kretos''s eyes, it looked like a wondend.


    "Very well, I hope you are satisfied now, for I shall end this in the next strike." After Alphonso dered that, he lifted his right hand and the snow started gathering in the area above him creating a giant spear made of ice and mana.

 Chapter 264 The end of the battle and the start to recovering Ren’s memories

    <h4>Chapter 264 The end of the battle and the start to recovering Ren''s memories</h4>


    The moment Kretos saw Alphonso create an ice spear made of incredible amounts of mana he felt enraptured by passion. That was the strongest skill he has ever seen and it was a hundred times stronger than the orb of light created by the Osted family.


    Kretos''s blood was boiling and his very soul seems to be screaming out in joy. The mere fact that he gets to fight someone of this caliber has made Kretos so happy that death seems so inconsequential. Every fiber of his being was shaking in anticipation.


    ''As expected only battle can give me such a great feeling!''


    Kretos then tried to gather his mana but couldn''t do so, the snowy mana field was disrupting his own mana. If it was anyone else they would''ve felt like the situation was desperate one and would think of surrendering but not Kretos. He with his own mana created a mini mana field that surrounded him, covering him from Alphonso''s mana field. It was nowhere near as big as Alphonso''s but it was enough for Kretos to go all out. Kretos''s mana field was a ck aura that seems to devour everything it touches, the snow from Alphonso''s mana field was being devoured by the ck aura. The more snow that was filled with mana fell into Kratos''s mana field the more it grew.


    When Alphonso saw what Kretos was doing he couldn''t help but sigh. ''As expected from the battle junkie. Even though the difference between our power should be clear, he''s still trying to achieve victory. If I prolong this fight he might actually win as his power is still continuously growing... I guess I was caught up with too much nostalgia. Alright then, time to finish this.''


    Alphonso''s spear of ice grew into the size of a mountain and without any further ado, he threw it at Kretos. Seeing the gigantic thing heading his way at breakneck speed Kretos had two options, one was to flee from the attack while the other was to face the attack head-on. Of course to Kretos there was only one true option.


    With his fist clenched, he collided head-on with the gigantic spear made of mana and ice. The smile on his face showed true joy as he could feel his arm breaking and his mana being pushed back. His very skin felt like it was going to be ripped apart.


    "HAHAHAHA! This is the best, this is a very grand battle indeed!" Alphonso saw that Kretos was able to hold his own despite the overwhelming difference of their mana capacities. Not only was their mana capacities worlds apart, but even their physical abilities and their experience were also that far apart.


    Yet Alphonso wasn''t surprised, to see Kretos being able to hold his own despite that overwhelming difference. This wasn''t so surprising since the person Alphonso was battling was the so called strongest mortal soul. The person called that would try to achieve victory no matter the situation, he would endure and when you least expect it he would bite off your neck. If he wasn''t able to do that much then battling the creator of everything would never be possible.


    Still, the amount of mana Alphonso used should be enough to incapacitate Kretos without killing him. Alphonso even took into ount Kretos''s growth rate during battle. As Alphonso was getting ready to rescue Kretos just in case he made a mistake, he noticed something weird was going on.


    The ice spear that was the size of a mountain seems to be shrinking. When Alphonso saw what was happening he started to pour more mana into the ice spear. It was at that moment he felt like something was off. Though Kretos was someone who would take everything head-on, and he always did it simply for the joy of battle. But he wasn''t someone that would do something like ept a loss peacefully. There must be something more to this head-on sh, it shouldn''t be this simple. The guy Alphonso was facing was a being that defies logic itself, so there must be something more.


    Alphonso was now wondering what Kretos would do to turn the situation around. His mana field was not only something that makes full use of his mana it was also something that extended his senses. Everything the snow touches in his mana field was something he could feel. So in theory Kretos shouldn''t be able to do anything sneaky while in Alphonso''s mana field.


    Kretos continued to happily attack the ice spear, but then for a brief moment, it seems like he did something else. Kretos''s movement was so subtle and fast that if Alphonso wasn''t concentrating on what else he would do Alphonso wouldn''t be able to catch that weird movement.


    The moment Alphonso saw that subtle movement Kretos made, Alphonso quickly put up his strongest defense. Multiple shields were summoned and surrounded Alphonso, but then he still felt like something dangerous wasing. Alphonso''s instincts were telling him to evade while his mind was telling him to trust in his defense.


    ''While in battle if your mind is in conflict with your instincts you should always go with your instinct.'' Alphonso remembered what Michael said before and immediately dodged. At first, he was thinking of teleporting away but there was no time. As he dodged to the side he saw Kretos smiling at him with that vicious look of his.


    "HAHAHA! You truly are someone who knows me quite well. Being able to dodge that is a testament of how well you know me."


    When Alphonso heard what Kretos said he felt some pain in the lower left of his abdomen. Alphonso saw that a ck aura simr to Kretos''s mana field had attached itself to him. Alphonso then started to cough up a bit of blood.


    "I shall happily await our next battle!" Kretos shouted at Alphonso and was finally hit by the ice spear. The ice spear blew him away and destroyed the entire mountain range. Alphonso who was still bleeding from Kretos''sst attack deactivated his mana field and teleported to the destination Kretos''s unconscious body flew.


    ...


    Alphonso who teleported intercepted and caught the unconscious Kretos mid-flight. The wounds Kretos received would have been quite life-threatening if it were someone else, but to Kretos it was nothing but a minor inconvenience. Even as he sleeps Kretos''s body was slowly healing itself. Seeing this sight Alphonso once again sighed.


    ''You really are a reckless idiot, you bloody battle junkie.'' Alphonso teleported the two of them back to his shop. Once they were in his shop Alphonso headed to his room and ced Kretos''s body on his bed. Alphonso then healed the injury he sustained from Kretos''sst attack.


    ''If that were to hit me properly, even with my armor I would''ve been knocked unconscious.'' Alphonso looked at the now unconscious Kretos and once again sighed.


    ''Just like old times, this guy always makes me sigh so much. Well anyway, now that I got him here, I should probably get started in helping him regain his memories.'' Alphonso touched Kretos''s forehead and recited a spell. Alphonso was able to scan Kretos''s physical and spiritual bodies. Once Alphonso was done scanning, he started to think about ways on how to help Kretos regain his memories.


    ''As expected of the ORIGIN, this is going to be quite hard... I can''t just pour all of his memories and be done with it, that might break him even more... If I slowly pour the memories at a safe pace his human body would grow old before I finish. If he were to die in this state, I''m not sure if his soul would be able to go through the special reincarnation cycle he has... Hmmm, I guess I have no other choice.'' Alphonso snapped his fingers and summoned a pocket watch. He then ced the pocket watch in the middle of Kretos''s chest.


    ''I''m going to have him relive his life all over again.''

 Chapter 265 The Demon Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 265 The Demon Kretos</h4>


    In the past long forgotten by most of the races, the demons waged an endless war against each other. The demons were a race with different tribes and ns. Most demi-humans with high amounts of mana or the so called intelligent monsters were considered demons by the other races.


    The other races considered these demons to be a threat but at the same time, not a threat. They were a threat since every individual tribe of the demons were powerful beings. But at the same time, they weren''t a threat since those powerful beings were too busy fighting against each other to even notice the other races.


    ...


    Thend were the demons lived consists of half the continent and in thatnd war was amon sight. To the demons, going to war was as natural as breathing and eating. It was amon urrence to see tribes and ns having small skirmishes, here and there.


    In this ce full of blood and death only power was righteous. Among these powerful demons, there were five tribes that rule over arge portion of thend. The subus tribe ruled thends to the South. The Vampire tribe ruled thends to the west. The Kitsune tribe ruled thends of the East. The Tengu tribe ruled thend or to be more precise the skies of the North. Ruling thend located in the middle of all those four powerful tribes was thest of the five, the Lycan tribe.


    These five powerful tribes dominated all the other tribes in their respective area, and the one to rule above them all were the most powerful member of each tribe those that were called demon lords.


    The subus tribe to the south had the Demon Empress Nimune. Among the other demon lords, her mana capacity was of the highest tier. She also had her racial ability that is to charm and ensnare opponents with weak wills. She has thergest army among all the other demon lords. With her army by her side, she has the grand dream of uniting all the tribes other one banner, her banner.


    The Vampire tribe to the west had the Vampiric Lord Darius. The Vampire lord had both the physical and magical strength that could overwhelm most foes. He was a cunning individual that uses his subordinates as chess pieces. He was mostly satisfied with ying with the lives of the weaker tribes by using schemes and deceptions.


    The Kitsune tribe to the east had the Demonic Fox Tsukiko. The Demonic Fox was the weakest among the demon lords when it came to physical strength. But she overcame that weakness with a variety of skills and spells. She was the demon lord with the highest mana capacity. Her personality was rather yful and unlike most demons disliked going to war.


    The Tengu tribe to the north had the Overlord of the skies Jiro. The Overlord of the skies ruled over the mountainous area of the north that was filled with flying demonic tribes. He was a prideful warrior that believed that those that could only walk on the ground were ants that were beneath his notice. Among the Demon lords, he was the quickest and most prideful of the bunch, and that meant something since all the demon lords were rather prideful individuals.


    The Lycan tribe that was situated in the middle of the four powerful demonic tribes had their n chief, the Mighty Lord Kir. Among all the demon lords, Kir had the greatest physical abilities. Kir was the only demon lord that lived by a code of honor. He was like Tsukiko and didn''t really like war, but if someone were to attack his territory he would retaliate with all his might. His fangs show no mercy to intruders.


    ...


    In the Southern demon tribes under the rule of the Subus tribe, was a mysterious tribe called the horned demons. The horned demons had no special attribute except for the different shaped horns that grew on their forehead. They were a rather weak tribe and were very simr to humans with the only difference was having horns. Within this weak demon tribe, hides the strongest n of the South.


    The Shadow n of the Horned Demons. This n was a n of assassins that uses the shadows as their weapons. They were only a few Horned Demons of the Shadow n. As every year only ten of their children get to survive.


    ...


    From an early age, the Shadow n train their young in the art of assassination. Through this ten-year training course, the weak ones would die before the final examination.


    The final examination happens when the young ones of the Shadow n turn sixteen. Despite the ease of which the Shadow n procreates their n consisted of only a few members, and this was because of the final exam.


    The final exam was a battle royale between the young ones, and the final ten to survive would be able to be true members of the Shadow n. Yet even such a n was shocked to see the results of one particr final exam.


    ...


    It started out like any other final exam of the Shadow n. The young ones who had turned sixteen years old were sent out to the examination area which was a nearby forest. In this forest were a lot of deadly creatures, so aside from worrying about attacks from their peers the young ones would also be wary of attacks from the monsters in the forest.


    So usually at the start of the examination, every young one would use their greatest advantage which was hiding in the shadows. There they will wait for the opportunity to strike the others. That''s what would usually happen, but this year one of the young ones didn''t hide and boldly stood in an open area.


    This would have been a foolish move to make for any Shadow n member, yet to the young boy, it didn''t seem to be a problem. Most of his peers thought that he was a sitting duck and was going to be easily subdued yet the moment they attacked was the moment they died.


    The boy in the middle of a pile of dead bodies smiled viciously at the surrounding area and shouted. "Come and attack me! I will not hide, nor will I run, soe and attack me!"


    ...


    The senior Shadow n members were surprised by what they saw. Some of them knew that boy as he was considered the worst student in the n. He was someone who was always going out of the vige and never practiced a single assassination art. They assumed that he would be the first to die in the final examination. So no one even bothered to remember his name. Yet the reality was different from their expectations.


    Not only did the boy survive, but he killed every other examinee. He was the only one left standing. The senior Shadow n members were going to stop him when he had killed most of the examinees and the final ten were left. Yet the moment they saw him looking at them with that vicious smile of his as if he was waiting for them to make a move, the group of seniors were frozen in ce.


    Those eyes were that of a ferocious monster eyeing their prey. The seniors who had survived through multiple battles of life and death couldn''t move. Their instincts that had been honed from all those battles were telling them not to move. This scene would shock most of the Southern Demons who knew the Shadow n.


    ...


    Even after the boy had killed the remaining examinees the seniors couldn''t approach the boy to congratte him. They felt like the moment they approached they too would suffer a simr fate as the dead examinees.


    After waiting for a whole day the boy looked at the senior members of the Shadow n and sighed in disappointment. "Well, that was rather boring. You guys can continue to stay here and hide within the shadows, but I''m going out to have some fun."


    The boy waved his hands at the seniors before he left. Once the boy''s stillhouse was out of sight the senior members of the n finally showed themselves. Each one of them looked at theirpanions and saw that they were all shaking from fear.


    "What was that boy''s name?" One of the seniors asked the examiner in charge.


    "Student number 302600, Kretos."

 Chapter 266 Fame that spreads to every corner

    <h4>Chapter 266 Fame that spreads to every corner</h4>


    After leaving the Shadow n, Kretos started a journey to find strong opponents to have a wonderous battle with. He was doing this since he wanted to see the very limits of his strength. If he were to die after using everything he has he would die happily. With those things in mind, Kretos set off on his journey.


    Of course, he already had targets in mind, and those were the five demon lords. The first one he needed to deal with was the closest demon lord in his vicinity. That was the leader of the Subus tribe, the one show controls the Shadow n, Demon Empress Nimune.


    Kretos with excitement and adrenaline bursting out his body hurried on with his journey. As he went deeper into the territory of the Subus Tribe, he had faced many different ns that were under the charm of the subus tribe. He even gained a weapon from the strongest warrior of one of those ns.


    With his new sword at hand, Kretos headed straight to their of the Demon Empress. As he came near his destination he met thergest army in thend of the demons. He quickly passed through them excited to face the demon lord at the end.


    ...


    After a rather hard battle, Kretos was able to kill the Demon Empress. As she died she spoke to Kretos asking him for a favor. She told him to unite the demon race under one banner and be a powerful kingdom. Though the idea of creating a kingdom wasn''t that enticing to Kretos, what made him agree in doing the favor was the promise of meeting strong foes.


    The Demon Empress said that even after he unites the Demons stronger foes would appear. Hearing that made Kretos very excited. Even after defeating all the demon lords, he would still face stronger foes, just the thought of it made him filled with glee.


    ''Of course, that''s if I can actually beat the other demon lords. It is said that Demon Empress Nimune was the weakest among the five when ites to one on onebat. The only reason she could stand shoulder to shoulder with the other demon lords was because of herrge army. Well, she did have impressive mana reserves. Also, her spells were quite good. If she''s the weakest, then I can''t wait to face the others. I wonder who should I fight next?''


    As Kretos was getting excited by the battles toe, he once again looked at the dead Demon Empress Nimune''s body. ''I guess leaving you like this would make me feel a tiny bit bad. You did give me a satisfying battle also a bigger dream to walk on.''


    Kretos started chanting a spell he heard one of the frost demons used on him. With that, he encased Demon Empress Nimune''s body in a block of ice. Once he had done that he ced the body into his shadow. After he was done with storing Demon Empress Nimune''s body, Kretos left the throne room and was once again filled with thoughts of the battles ahead.


    ...


    A few days after Nimune''s defeat news of it spread all across the demon''snds. In a room that had tall ss windows and was filled with all manner of books, the moonlight illuminated most of the room. In the middle of the room was a handsome raven-haired man.


    He was reading some documents and after a while, he smiled showing his two pointy fangs. The man then looked at the chessboard in front of him.


    The Chessboard was a different kind as it was bigger than most and had five kings with arge number of pawns. The man then took one of the pawns and toppled one of the kings.


    ''I wonder if this pawn will be promoted as a ruling king or a powerful queen. Either way, this is a brand new piece I can y with.'' The man chuckled as he twirled the pawn in his fingers.


    ...


    Sitting in a throne made of stone in the middle of a forest was a man with long ashen color hair. He had a long scar at the side of his face, but that only enhanced the cool look he had. In front of the man was a crimson-haired woman with a simr cold disposition. She was giving out a report to the man on the throne, once she was done giving out her report the man sighed as he ced his cheek onto the back of his hand.


    "Don''t bother with those trivial things. If he doesn''t bother us we don''t bother him, but the moment he crosses that line we will crush him with all our might." Hearing the lord''s answer the crimson-haired maiden nodded her head and bowed.


    ...


    On top of the tallest mountain in the demon realm, a man with raven ck wings flew through the air his thoughts were in a bit of disarray. The Demon Empress was killed and it was done by a boy from the Shadow n one of her subordinates.


    ''Among those that crawl on the ground, I thought that she was better than them. Yet in the end, even she was nothing more than an ant on the ground below.'' The Tengu demon lord Jiro was quite interested in Nimune whose beauty was at the top of the demon realm. He even thought that he could make her his wife but now she was dead.


    ...


    A beautiful fox with nine tails was licking her fur when she started moving around. She then turned into her human form. An alluring face that could match the Demon Empress Nimume''s, with golden hair and ears, as well as a gorgeous golden nine tails. This was the Demonic Fox Tsukiko. With her golden eyes, she looked at the two full moons and sighed.


    "I can no longer feel the presence of the Demon Empress... I wonder who killed her?... The other demon lords are still in their ownnds. I can feel the mana mark I ced on them hasn''t been removed or altered. Then it must be a new challenger that appeared... I hope he or she doesn''te to my ce and challenges me... I just want to y around here and there, I don''t really want to fight. But if I let go of my position the other demon lords especially Darius would start bullying my people."


    The Golden-haired fox once again sighed as she hoped that whoever killed Nimune wouldn''te to her ce.


    ...


    The spies the other races had ced in the demon realm had reported the event of the Demon Empress Nimune''s death. This news that one of the demon lords had died shocked not only the demons but the other races as well.

 Chapter 267 Let’s play a game

    <h4>Chapter 267 Let''s y a game</h4>


    Once Kretos''s fame spread from killing one of the five demon lords, Demon Empress Nimune, many demons started challenging him. Since no one knows how strong Kretos truly was, gave the other demons confidence. Some of the demons felt like defeating the Demon Empress wasn''t such a big deal since in one on onebat she was the weakest of the five. The only reason most of the demons were afraid of her was because of the subus''s charm skill and herrge army.


    The news that Kretos dealt with the Demon Empress Nimune''s army hasn''t spread yet, so currently, the demons of the south felt like they had a shot in bing the new demon lord. Of course, this turn of events brought a happy smile on Kretos''s face.


    Fighting battle after battle was a dreame true for Kretos. He continued to fight every powerful demon in the South until all the tribes became fearful of Kretos''s overwhelming strength. Once there were no longer any demon that wished to face him in the south, Kretos immediately moved onto the west.


    Based on the information he got back in the Shadow n regarding the demons lords, Kretos knew that the demon lord of the East was a softie that didn''t like to fight. Kretos didn''t like fighting those that don''t have the will to fight, since those kinds of opponents would be boring to fight with, no matter how strong they are. He also didn''t kill if his opponent didn''te to him with the intent to kill. Kretos was still thinking about a way to make the demon lord of the east fight him at full power. So as long as he doesn''t have a n to do that, Kretos decided to battle that demon lordst.


    On the other hand, the demon lord in the center of the demon realm was also said to be someone who disliked fighting. It seems like he was one of the rare demons with some weird sense of honor.


    The demon lord of the west, on the other hand, loves ying around with the weaker tribes. The Vampiric Lord Darius was someone that would fight and kill as long as he deemed it to be fun. He would also torture and dominate for the same reason. That kind of person was going to be easy to convince to go all out. With that in mind, Kretos headed to the territory of the Vampiric Lord Darius.


    ...


    Numerous bats were flying through the room, these bats were scouts of the Vampiric Lord Darius. After listening to the reports of his subordinates Darius chuckled.


    "So the new toy hase to my domain as I expected. The reports and rumors about him seem to be true. A warrior that won''t attack those that don''t attack him. Since he has some semnce of honor he wouldn''t want to attack the cowardly brat Tsukiko or that hypocrite Lycan Kir."


    Darius took a bottle of wine and poured himself a ss and started drinking.


    "Warriors like this kid from the Shadow n are the most fun to y around with and then break when I get bored. I wonder what could break him?... Women? No, if he''s able to resist that b*tch Nimune''s charm then women would be unable to break him. Money, family, honor, I wonder what kinds of games I can y to break a warrior like him."


    Darius felt happy that this new toy hade to him as it made him feel excited again. Even though messing around and mentally torturing his subjects was still quite fun, this new stimulus was still better. As someone that can live for more than a millennia boredom was his greatest enemy.


    "I wonder what game we should y? Should I torture and break him until he wishes for the sweet release of death? Or should I trick and manipte him until he feels despair? So many things I can do. I wonder how long it would take for this new toy to break?" Darius looked to be intoxicated as he spoke those words.


    ...


    Kretos had entered one of the cities in the Vampiric Lord''s territory. Unlike in the south which was filled with fortresses this area was filled with cities that had numerous establishments. It was a sparkling city with lots of demons of different shapes and sizes.


    In this particr city, there was something called a casino were you can gamble your money and earn some more, or you can lose it all. There was the red light district filled with the smell of s*men and perfume coupled with the different sounds of mating.


    In another area of the city was an auction house, there were also numerous pubs and you could see drunken demons everywhere. There was also an underground fighting ring were you can join in the fun and either win a grand prize or die trying. You can also join the betting pool if you don''t wish to be a fighter.


    Kretos was surprised to see the city to be so vibrant and full of life. The demons on this side of thend seem to be having lots of fun. When he read the information from the Shadow n''s documents regarding the Vampiric Lord Darius, Kretos was expecting to see a rundown town full of depressed and scared demons. Yet what he was seeing now was the exact opposite.


    Was the information from the Shadow n wrong? That can''t be it, even though they were cowards that hide in the shadows, the Shadow n were good in assassination and espionage. They were the best of the best in their profession. So gaining false information and recording it, was possible but unlikely.


    Kretos shook his head. ''I really doubt the information I got was wrong. As the demon lord praised for his cunning, I shouldn''t take what I see at face value... Well, no matter what tricks he uses, all I need to do is face Darius in battle and win.''


    Kretos stopped thinking about Darius for now and was focused on the underground fighting ring. Seeing such a ce really got him interested.


    ''I guess since I''m already here, I better join in the fun.'' Kretos headed towards the underground fighting ring, unaware that he was being watched.

 Chapter 268 Underground fighting Ring

    <h4>Chapter 268 Underground fighting Ring</h4>


    Kretos entered the underground fighting ring and signed up as a fighter. The rules were simple the demons fighting on the ring would fight without weapons or use any outward spells. They can only use mana to strengthen their bodies, any usage of mana aside from that will be punished with death. The fighters on the ring cannot forfeit, the only way to win is if you kill your opponent or you beat them up that they can no longer fight.


    Kretos felt that he was lucky since after he registered he learned that there was an uing tournament. The winner of the tournament of this city will be its representative and will be able to fight the other powerful fighters of the different cities. The winner of the whole tournament will be then given a chance to meet the demon lord Darius.


    When Kretos heard that he couldn''t believe his luck, he went here on a whim and now it became a way to meet the demon lord who stays in his castle that no one knows of the location of. So not only will he get to fight the strongest of the Western Demons now this became the path to meeting the demon lord he wanted to beat.


    ''Coincidence or is something else?... The possibility that this is a trap specifically for me, is very high. Well, it doesn''t really matter as long as I get to have fun battles then who cares.''


    Kretos got happy just thinking about what the demon lord that was called the most cunning had in store for him. Kretos was thrilled by the thought of facing such an opponent since most of the opponents he faced so far were either warriors or assassins.


    Demon Lord Nimune was more of a leader type, but this one, Vampiric Lord Darius was of a different type altogether. Vampiric Lord Darius was a demon that had most of the bad biases the other races had of demons. The other races might have thought the different tribes of demons to be evil because of their violent tendencies, but not all of them were like that. On the other hand, Vampiric Lord Darius was probably the face of what the other races think of demons.


    The Demon Lord of the west and the leader of the Vampire tribe used lies, deceit, and betrayal to destroy his enemies. He would toy with the weak, and make fun of the strong. To him everything was just a piece in a game he was ying.


    Yet one shouldn''t be deceived by his aversion of not doing things head-on, since that doesn''t mean he wasn''t strong. His fighting capabilities especially after drinking the blood of some poor virgin soul would make him be the top of the Demon Lords. Yet, of course, that kind of power-up has its demerits. The effects of the boost in power onlyst for a few hours. Not only that after the effects of the boost disappear he needs to sleep for a few weeks.


    Still, despite these limitations of his, he was still one of the oldest demon lords. He had seen the passing of the old demon lords and the rise of the new ones. The only one left in his generation was the Mighty Lycan Lord Kir, who he considers to be his rival and a constant annoyance.


    Knowing all this Kretos was so excited to face such an opponent. He wanted to see what kind of schemes and underhanded tactics this so called cunning demon lord will use against him.


    ...


    After registering in the underground fighting ring, Kretos''s debut fight in the tournament came the following day. The underground fighting ring was at the name suggest located underground.


    In a well-lit tunnel covered by a powerful barrier was a ring made of stone. At the surrounding area were sits of various heights were hundreds of demons were now sitting on. It would seem that the underground fighting ring was pretty popr in the westernnds. It looked to be the most popr form of entertainment they currently have, which might have been the result of the tournament.


    Kretos was led by one of the staff to a waiting area where he needed to stay until his name was called. When he entered the room, he saw the opponent he was about to face. It was a gigantic red ogre that stood at least three meters tall.


    The ogre looked at Kretos and growled trying to intimidate him. In response, Kretos showed his signature smile.


    "How do you wish to die?" The ogre spoke with a hoarse voice that made it sound like he was growling.


    "I wish to die in battle against a powerful opponent, or against multiple opponents. Well, I guess it doesn''t really matter who the opponent is, I just want to die in battle. A battle where I can fight with all I have and still meet my end." Kretos answered without any hesitation.


    "Then you''re in luck you get to die by my hands, in battle as you wish." When Kretos heard what the ogre said he couldn''t help butugh.


    "Then I hope that you won''t disappoint me."


    "You think I can''t do it?" The ogre responded with a scowl. Kretos then looked at the ogre up and down then shrugged his shoulder before answering.


    "The subtle movements you make, as well as your mana fluctuation tells me all I need to know. But if you are somehow masking your mana fluctuation to hide your true capacity then I guess you might actually be able to do it."


    When the ogre was about to respond he heard thementator''s voice. "Wee everyone! I hope everyone''s excited, for tonight''s battles, will get your blood pumping! Now allow me to introduce the first fighter to enter the ring. He was one of the new blood that registered a year ago, and his battle record is ster. Having a total of eighty wins in the span of a year is nothing short but miraculous. Not only that, but all of these victories were also achieved in the most vicious of ways! Herees the ''Bloody Red OGRE'' KUMURUK!"


    When the ogre heard his name being called he looked at Kretos one more time before heading to the stage. Once he was on the stage a booming sound of cheers ringed in his ears.


    "Now his opponent is a newbie that just registered yesterday. But don''t look down on this man, as he is more than he seems. Hailing from the south the one who defeated one of the five Demon Lords, the rumored ''killer of a thousand demons'', the horned demon from the Shadow n, KRETOS!"

 Chapter 269 The first battle

    <h4>Chapter 269 The first battle</h4>


    Kretos was surprised to hear what the announcer said as he entered the ring. He never gave any information about who he was, and he even used a fake name. Kretos''s name was indeed famous but no one knew what he looked like, nor should anyone know he was part of the Shadow n. Horned Demons like him were indeed a rare sight in the Western Lands, but it was not like there weren''t any at all.


    So how did these guys knew who he was, the answer was damn obvious. There was someone here spying on him.


    ''There''s actually someone that could sneak around me without even a hint of his presence... AMAZING!'' There was someone capable enough to stalk him, without him noticing. Not even the great Shadow n who made the greatest of assassins had this kind of skill. Kretos and most of the Shadow n members had the ability to sense the fluctuation of mana. So even if you hide your physical presence and scent as long as you emit mana which every being in the world does, then it was impossible for him not to notice.


    This meant the stalker either has a spell that makes mana in one''s body stops fluctuating, or he has the ability to control his mana perfectly. Either way that was amazing, and of course this person could either be Darius or someone who works under him.


    ''So the game has begun.'' Kretos smiled viciously as he stood in the middle of the ring. When Kumuruk saw that Kretos''s attention was elsewhere he grew furious. He then punched the stone ring that has been enhanced with numerous spells and was able to crack it. That punch not only cracked the ring a bit but it also made it shake. He did all this with nothing more than his physical strength, not even an ounce of mana was used.


    When the crowd saw what Kumuruk did they grew even more excited. On the other hand, Kretos was still engrossed in his thoughts about the mysterious stalker. Seeing Kretos continue to ignore him just made Kumuruk even angrier.


    "It looks like our two fighters can no longer hold it in. So let''s get this battle going! BATTLE START!"


    The moment those words were said Kretos snapped out of his daydreaming and saw a charging red ogreing towards him. Kumuruk raised his right hand made a fist and mmed it down towards Kretos who simply raised his one finger.


    The moment Kumuruk hand came in contact with Kretos''s finger a powerful shockwave was produced. It was at that moment Kretos was surprised to feel the power of the strike. He was then forced to use his whole hand to block the strike.


    Kumuruk then unleashed an uppercut with his left hand, Kretos stopped it with his foot. Another loud shockwave happened and two were now at a deadlock. Kretos looked at the Red Ogre surprised. This was the first time he has faced an ogre and was surprised by the ogre''s physical strength.


    The ogre in front of Kretos didn''t use any mana and relied solely on his physical strength. When kretos learned of this the vicious smile he shows when he gets excited was now on full disy. He then let go of Kumuruk''s right hand allowing him to m his fist onto the floor. Kretos then used Kumuruk''s left fist as a springboard to jump backward.


    "I apologize for looking down on you. It turns out you are better than I thought."


    "It''s toote to say that now!" Kumuruk was also surprised by how easily Kretos was able to catch his attacks. That has never happened before, usually the moment his fistes into contact with something it breaks. He roared to shake the idle thoughts away.


    "Don''t be like that,e show me more of your strength!" Kumuruk once again charged at Kretos and had his arms wide open. It was like he was inviting Kretos to attack him. The moment Kumuruk got near he gave Kretos a hug, a bear hug.


    Kumuruk used all of his strength to squeeze Kretos to death. But the usual sound of bones breaking wasn''t heard. Instead, he heard a fanaticalugh.


    "Hahaha, incredible! You''re not using any mana at all to strengthen yourself, this is pure physical strength! This kind of strength is enough to crush even a sturdy minotaur''s body into dust. Is this a trait of the ogre tribe or are you special?"


    Kretos was handling being squeezed by a force of forty tonnes, which is enough strength to kill even the sturdiest of demons, like he was getting a massage. Kumuruk was enraged by the sight and tried to squeeze harder.


    Kretos then flicked his fingers at Kumurk''s forehead forcing the ogre to let go of him. Kretos was once again happily surprised. That forehead flick might''ve looked like a joke, but it was actually an attack that he used a greater amount of mana than usual.


    Kretos was expecting Kumuruk''s head to explode. If one did not use a mana barrier to block the strike that was what would usually happen, but the ogre took it with nothing but his flesh. This fight got way more interesting than he initially thought.


    Kumuruk who was light-headed because of that strike shook it off quickly and started to get even more enraged. His body started getting redder and he then attacked Kretos with a speed iparable to before.


    Kretos took the attack again but this time he was pushed back. It was at that moment Kretos finally took the opponent in front of him seriously. Kretos smile grew wider and wider as he fought Kumuruk fist against fist.


    Kretos redirected one of Kumuruk''s punches and then kicked Kumuruk''s elbow making it bend. Kretos then kicked Kumuruk''s knees making him fall. Yet despite his two legs and right hand being broken Kumuruk continued to attack.


    Kretos then quickly got behind the three-meter tall ogre and used his whole body to wrap around Kumuruk''s neck. The Red Ogre did everything to throw Kretos off, but then he heard Kretos whisper in his ear.


    "That was a good fight. Thank you for the battle." Kumuruk then felt Kretos''s grip getting tighter and he lost consciousness. The giant red ogre fell to the ground. Kretos didn''t wait for the announcer to say that he won and left the ring.


    ...


    The people spectating the fight were silently watching ever since the first shockwave. When Kretos won they continued to be silent that was until the announcer finally got a hold of herself and spoke.


    "T-t-hat was magnificent! As expected of the killer of a thousand demons! The winner of this match is Kretos!" When the announcer dered Kretos''s victory the silent audience suddenly woke up from their state of stunned silence and cheered.


    ...


    While everyone was cheering a man at the back frowned. He was ordered to assess how strong Kretos was, and see if he had any obvious weaknesses. So with that order at hand, the man rigged the match up and allowed Kretos to fight the strongest fighter in this city as his first opponent. He wasn''t expecting the red ogre to win but he did expect the red ogre to be able to draw even a little bit of Kretos''s abilities. Yet Kretos dealt with the red ogre as if he was dealing with a child.


    ''He might be stronger than we initially expected... Well, no matter, let''s see if he has any emotional weaknesses.''

 Chapter 270 Assassins

    <h4>Chapter 270 Assassins</h4>


    After his initial win, Kretos kept on winning in the underground fighting ring. He won all the battles in such an overwhelming manner that the name of Kretos the killer of a thousand demons spread throughout the westernnds. His name drew in the most powerful demons in the westernnds. Yet no matter who he faced Kretos would win, as victory seems to be his and his alone.


    The one assigned to watch Kretos already understood that fighting with Kretos head-on without the power equivalent to a demon lord was foolish. Yet he wasn''t expecting that Kretos would be this powerful. Every time Kretos fought he would always allow his opponent to attack at full power, and Kretos would happily ept everything. When the opponent showed everything he had Kretos would then retaliate and only use the minimum strength needed to beat his opponents.


    The weaker ones would die, while the stronger ones were beaten to the point that they could never fight again. He was even able to incite an unexinable fear that could make even the most courageous cower. So now when the observer looked at his vicious smile he couldn''t help but tremble.


    The scariest part of all these was not that Kretos strength was unfathomable, but the idea that Kretos might be growing stronger after each battle.


    ''I guess it''s time to use that.'' The observer sighed as his ns were being forced to move forward at a pace he didn''t like.


    ...


    After another victorious battle in the underground fighting ring, Kretos was feeling a bit bored. It wasn''t like his opponents weren''t fun to fight with, but he was expecting the so called demon lord of cunning would''ve done something by now.


    After the initial move the demon lord made, which was to control the order of the matches so that Kretos would face all the strong opponents who had a chance to win the tournament, the demon lord hasn''t done anything else.


    ''Is he perhaps waiting for me to lower my guard? That can''t be it, he must already know that it doesn''t matter if my guard is down or not. I hope he makes his next move soon.''


    Kretos was walking back to the inn he was staying at as he continued to wonder what the next move of demon lord Darius will be. While he was walking down the busy street he sensed that some people were following him. Their movements were so light and their mana fluctuation was barely there that Kretos almost didn''t detect them.


    Kretos couldn''t help but smile as he felt those presences that were trying to hide from him. ''Finally, something exciting is about to happen. I thought that this would happen earlier but after that fight with the red ogre, most of those that were following me stopped. Still, these guys are pretty decent...''


    Kretos headed to an empty alleyway and once he was there he looked around and spoke. "So are you people going toe out now, or are you going to do itter while I sleep?"


    Even after he called out to his would-be assants they didn''t appear. Kretos waited for a bit more and when no one appeared he sighed.


    "I really don''t like it when someone disturbs me while I sleep, so if you''re going toe and kill me doing it now would be a good time for me."


    The observer who was watching the scene using a special spell heard what Kretos said and was dumbfounded. Who would talk to his would-be assassins like this?


    When the silence continued Kretos suddenly emitted intense and heavy killing intent. After he did that, Kretos finally moved. The observer couldn''t even follow Kretos''s movements, this was the first time he saw Kretos move at such a speed. He then saw Kretos suddenly appear on top of one of the buildings and buried his hand onto a shadow.


    Kretos pulled up his hand buried into the shadows and a demon with horns appeared. When Kretos saw the horned demon he wasn''t that surprised to see who it was. There were only few assassins that were this good, and there was only one assassin n that uses the shadows to this degree.


    It was none other than the shadow n that had all these abilities. The moment Kretos was able to pull out one of the members the others appeared and surrounded him. They were all wearing the uniform of the Shadow n dressed all in ck while wearing white masks.


    "Heh, so you guys are working for Demon Lord Darius now. I never expected that the loyalty of the shadow n was this shallow."


    The Shadow n assassins did not speak a word and seeing there reaction confused Kretos. Though he didn''t really like the Shadow n''s way of dealing with things in the shadow, they wouldn''t work for just anyone.


    While Kretos was thinking about why they were reacting the way they are the shadow n assassins removed their masks. The ones behind the masks were people Kretos knew very well, these people were none other than the members of his direct family. The whole shadow n was a closed family of horned demons that married those of the same blood as to not dilute their so called superior bloodline.


    The people in front of Kretos were the strongest in the n and they were the ones supposedly with the purest of bloodlines. Not only were they the strongest but they were also Kretos''s family the main house of the n. His mother and father, his grandfathers, and grandmothers as well as his older siblings were now in front of him trying to kill him.


    As he was about to ask why they would do this Kretos noticed that their eyes were hollow. When he saw that Kretos could deduce what had happened.


    "I see so you all have fallen to the dominion of the Vampiric Lord." Kretos sighed when his family without warning attacked him. Their attacks were swift and precise which was expected of the elite of the n. They used the shadows to their advantage and coordination was near perfection.


    The observer smiled when he saw Kretos not retaliating. In the observer''s mind, Kretos must be hesitating because he doesn''t want to hurt his family. The moment the observer thought of that Kretos summoned a sword hidden within his shadow and sliced his grandparents in half.


    The observer''s eyes almost popped out in shock by the scene he witnessed. Kretos then proceeded to slice apart all of his rtives. This was the first time the observer had witnessed Kretos''s sword skills, and it was sharp and overwhelmingly powerful.


    Kretos was able to easily dispatch his family members all except his mother. The two of them fought in blinding speed that the observer found it nearly impossible to follow. All he could see were the sparks of the des colliding with each other. After a few shes, the victor was decided.


    Kretos looked at his heavily wounded mother and smiled. He was bleeding at the right side of his chest, if the de pierced a little bit more to the left he would''ve died. As they were fighting his mother was able to toss a hidden de that he was unable to detect until the veryst second.


    "As expected of the leader of the n the one with the moniker Shadow. You were and forever will be the perfect assassin." After saying what he wanted to say Kretos beheaded his mother.


    As all of his family membersy on the ground dead, Kretos closed his eyes. He remembered the days when he talked and ate with these people. He remembered when his mother taught him the way of the sword. There was no warmth in this family of assassins, but nevertheless they were his family.


    ...


    The observer watched as Kretos burned the bodies of his family members and left. He couldn''t believe that Kretos''s reaction while facing his family was the same as when he fought and killed those demons in the underground fighting ring. He still retained that vicious smile on his face as he killed them.


    ''So using his family won''t work as well. Based on the reports I read using women won''t work as well. Fighting him head-on or using assassins to attack in the dark doesn''t work as well. It doesn''t look like money could affect him. He already has fame and power. Does this demon even have a weakness?''


    The observer could only sigh as he decided to head back and report to his lord as well as to ask what the next move should be.

 Chapter 271 Step by step

    <h4>Chapter 271 Step by step</h4>


    In the silence of his study with the moonlight shining the demon lord of the west, the lord of all vampires, Darius was reading a book. It was an ancient book talking about a past that has nearly been lost in time.


    The ancient book tells of a tale of a being that went against the origin of everything. This being was one who continued to fight despite the overwhelming odds. It was a tale of a being that was simr to the heroes that the current humans had. In fact, based on what the book says he was the prototype of all heroes, the very first hero. One who denies destiny and twists it to his own liking.


    "With his unbeatable strength and an unwavering will, the mighty hero stood in front of his enemies and smiled. That smile of his never disappeared despite all that he lost he continued onward. That smile of his was the sign of death for his enemies. With nothing but one sword at hand the mighty hero faced the armies of the Gods and charged forth. At his back were the people he wished to protect, at his front was the battle he wished to have. In the end, he had nothing more to wish."


    After reading that part of that book out loud Darius closed it and turned around. In the cover of darkness stood a man wearing a butler''s uniform.


    "That''s a paragraph from my favorite book. I found it in an ancient ruin of an ancient human kingdom that was found near mynds. It''s about an ancient human hero that fought insurmountable odds. This is of course normal for fairy tales written by humans, but those are usually tall tales for children or written storybooks. Funnily enough, this book isn''t written as such, it is written in a history book. It took me a few decades to decipher the words and learn that it was indeed a history book."


    Darius looked at the silent figure and smiled as he continued to talk.


    "The humans who wrote this book were far stronger than the humans of today. Their civilization had reached its peak and the Gods didn''t like that. They feared the humans would be able to reach them if their progress continued, sent down their armies. In the face of the powerful armies of the Gods, the human weapons were unable to do anything. It was a one-sided massacre the humans stood no chance, that was when a savior appeared. This hero was someone who found joy in battle he fought the armies of the Gods with nothing but a single sword at hand. He enjoyed every bit of battle until he died happily in the battle that broke the path to the realm of the Gods."


    "Don''t you think this so called hero resembles that demon called Kretos? It is quite interesting, the more I read this book, and the more I hear about Kretos, the more simrities I find between him and the ancient hero... Well, I guess coincidences do happen from time to time."


    Darius smiled as he gestured the silent figure toe closer. The observer who was wearing a butler''s uniform stepped forward and bowed.


    "So what have you seen?"


    When the observer heard Darius''s question he once again bowed and gave his report. He reported Kretos''s sess in the underground fighting ring as well as his encounter with his family. After the observer finished reporting all the details Darius couldn''t help butugh.


    "This is quite interesting, he is very much like Kir but with more freedom. Not shackled by family or anything else, victory always by his side, he truly is the same as that hero of old. As expected, with this kind of opponent who has an enormous amount of strength and willpower, little tricks won''t work."


    "So how should I proceed my lord?"


    "Just continue to observe him for now. Find out everything about him, his favorite food, how long does he train, what time does he sleep. Find out every mundane thing and report back to me. There''s no such thing as a person without a weakness. If he doesn''t have one now then we just need to create one for him."


    "As you will my lord." The observer bowed his head and disappeared from the room. Once the observer was gone Darius took a stack of ying cards and picked up a joker. He then ced the joker in the middle of his chessboard making the various pawns and knights scatter.


    "Let''s have fun Kretos, you and I."


    ...


    After winning battle after battle from city to city the opponents seem to be getting weaker. Based on how the tournament works Kretos still needed to fight a few more before he could meet the demon lord Darius. But even he who loved battle more than anything else was getting irritated by theck of a challenge.


    ''This is getting pretty boring, I thought that the demon lord praised for his cunning would do something extreme, but all he has done are simple petty tricks. Fighting these weaklings is also no longer fun.''


    "I want a real challenge something that would make my blood boil in excitement! I want something that could force me to use all my moves, exhaust all my resources! I want a battle that could shake my very foundations!"


    Kretos suddenly shouted in the middle of the ring. The audience and thementator were stunned into silence, while the opponent who was on the ground was full of rage. Not only did Kretos beat him but Kretos even said it out loud that he was not even an opponent worth mentioning. Those were not his words but that was what he felt Kretos was saying.


    Kretos looked at thementator and then spoke in a loud enough voice that she and the audience could hear him.


    "This is getting boring, how about I just fight all the remaining fighters in this city all at once."


    Every one of them who heard what Kretos said had their mouths agape. They knew that Kretos was powerful but even he wouldn''t be able to stand thebined might of the strongest fighters in the city. Unarmed and without the use of spells even some of the demon lords won''t be able to do it.


    "I don''t think that is-" Thementator was about to answer but then Kretos raised his hand to stop her from talking.


    "If we''re just going to do this one on one and the opponents are of this level then just name me the champion already. But if you want to excite the audience then give them something to watch. Come let me take all the fighters and I''ll show you a battle worth watching!"


    The audience was getting excited and they cheered. Thementator was about to answer Kretos by telling him they couldn''t do that, but then someone whispered in her ears. When she heard the order of the higher-ups she was surprised. She didn''t understand why they would allow this but she had no choice but to follow.


    "Since fighter Kretos, wishes to fight every fighter all at once, and our dear audience seems all for it. Our sponsors have allowed to bend the rules for him! So now let us witness if the horned Demon Kretos is really worthy of his moniker the killer of a thousand demons!"

 Chapter 272 Found a weakness

    <h4>Chapter 272 Found a weakness</h4>


    After gathering all the fighters in the ring, the audience''s cheers grew louder. On the other hand, the fighters looked at Kretos with pure hatred. Even though they understood they couldn''t win one on one against him, they still had pride as the strongest fighters in their respective ns.


    They red at Kretos with intense killing intent. When Kretos felt their bloodlust he couldn''t help but smile. This was what was missing when he was fighting, the feeling that he could actually lose. When the opposing fighters saw Kretos smiling that vicious smile of his they could no longer hold it in and shouted in anger.


    "You arrogant b*stard, you might be strong but against all of us unarmed do you think you can leave here alive?" One of the fighters shouted at Kretos.


    "You''re courting death!" Another fighter gave his opinion.


    "Even a demon lord wouldn''t act so arrogant!" The other fighters started to join in as well and were now ring and screaming threats at Kretos.


    When Kretos heard the threat the fighters started shouting, Kretos couldn''t help butugh. Hisugh made the noisy fighters and audience shut up. He then looked at the fighters while a bit of his mana leaked out.


    The moment some of Kretos''s mana leaked out the fighters trembled. They felt a heavy pressure fall upon them. It was a suffocating feeling, but they were able to handle it. On the other hand, some of the audience members fainted from it. Thementator was also having some difficulty.


    "Oh sorry about that, I was getting too happy that I couldn''t control myself." After seeing the expressions of the people around him, Kretos finally noticed his leaking mana. After battling over and over again his mana supply had be something tremendous. He wasn''t sure what the limits of the supply were as he never tried to exhaust himself, but he was sure that normal demons cannot handle his mana pressure.


    When the fighters heard what Kretos said they grew even more outraged. How can this young demon be so arrogant? Even though he released his mana it wasn''t so strong that he could act this way. The poor fighters didn''t know that Kretos only released a tiny portion of his mana and they thought that was everything he had.


    "I had enough of this kid! Come on and start the fight!" Thementator was about to start the fight when one of the fighters suddenly lunged at Kretos. With that as the signal, the other fighters charged at Kretos as well.


    Kretos evaded the stream of charges by an inch. He could dodge by a wider margin, but Kretos like the feeling of using the least amount of movement needed to evade. Each strike from the opposing fighters was deadly and one hit could be fatal for any other demon. Kretos was tingling with excitement as he parried and evaded strike after strike.


    Kretos who was supposed to be at a disadvantage was ying around with the other fighters. The audience and the localmentator have seen Kretos fight before, and they all knew he was powerful and skillful, but they didn''t expect him to be this good. In their eyes, it didn''t look like a fight, but it looked like an adult ying around with children.


    When the opposing fighters saw how easily Kretos was dealing with them, they backed away and looked at each other. No words were spoken but they felt like they understood what the others wanted to do. The ten fighters surrounded Kretos and two of them attacked. When the two grew tired they would back out and another two would rece them, and when they got tired another two reced them.


    They continued to attack like this without giving Kretos a time to catch his breath. Instead of feeling pressured Kretos felt extreme joy. Even though he was excited Kretos was indeed getting tired, and the moment he slowed down a bit, the other fighters noticed. They then attacked at Kretos with everything they got, this was their only shot at victory.


    When the opposing fighters suddenly went into a higher gear, Kretos was caught by surprise. Even though he was able to block a majority of the attacks one of them was able to hit him in his abdomen. It was a powerful kick that sent him flying.


    Kretos was able to endure the attack due to his mana being constantly distributed into his entire body. As Kretos was trying to control his body in the air he felt a massive amount of mana from behind him. He couldn''t dodge the iing strike so he had no choice but to concentrate the majority of his mana onto his back to lessen the damage of the strike.


    When he was hit by the powerful strike made by seven of the ten fighters, Kretos''s body that was floating upward was pushed down to the ring breaking it and creating a small crater. The entire ce shook and even the audience was affected by the shaking.


    The observer was shocked by thebined might of the opposing fighters. That strike of theirs could even threaten his lord''s life. Surely this was enough to defeat Kretos. The observer wasn''t the only one thinking about such a thing, even the audience, thementator, as well as the opposing fighters, thought Kretos was dead or terribly injured.


    When thementator was about to announce the winner of the battle, a sudden wave of bloodlust enveloped the underground fighting ring. Not only was there a suffocating amount of bloodlust being emitted there was also a heavy pressure of mana. Almost all of the audience fainted at this point. When the observer saw thementator was about to faint as well he protected her. He needed thementator to stay awake to announce the end of the fight. This business was his lord''s side business, after all, if it failed to keep a certain standard it would tarnish his lord''s elegance.


    The observer then looked at the direction where this overwhelming mana and bloodlust wasing from. In the crater that was created from Kretos''s fall,ughter could be heard. It was a burst ofughter full of happiness and excitement.


    "That was great! So you guys can do it if you tried!" From the crater, a person walked out. This was none other than Kretos. He stood in front of his opponents his clothes tattered, dust and debris were all over his clothes, yet there was not a single scratch on his body. Not only that the mana he was emitting right now made the mana he emitted a while ago look like a bad joke.


    The opposing fighters who felt his bloodlust and mana had pale faces. Some of them were even shivering uncontrobly due to fear.


    "That was a pretty exciting battle, the most excitement I had in a while. So as a thank you, I''ll show you a bit of my true power."


    When the observer heard what Kretos said he looked at Kretos without even blinking. This was the moment he was waiting for. He needed to see just how powerful Kretos truly was. On the other hand, some of the opposing fighters wanted to flee, while the others were epting theing end with dignity.


    In one instant Kretos unleashed the entirety of his mana, but it didn''t burst outward instead it gathered inward. He then circted his mana into his five fingers and then spread it into his entire palm. With his open palm pointed at them, the opposing fighters felt that they were being squeezed by an invisible force.


    Some of them tried to struggle free but it was to no avail, while the others calmly epted what''s toe. Kretos then closed his open palm and the bodies of the fighters exploded into a mist of blood.


    "Thank you for a great battle." After saying his thanks Kretos left the stage.


    ...


    The observer went back to report to the Demon Lord Darius about what transpired in the ring. He also now had a better understanding of how strong Kretos was. When Demon Lord Darius heard the observer''s report he chuckled.


    "So he has strength equal or greater to my own. Well, that doesn''t really matter strength isn''t the only determining factor to who can win."


    "How do we proceed from here my lord, should I continue my surveince?" Demon Lord Darius shook his head before answering.


    "There''s no longer any use to observing him, I already know all that I need to know. I have other things I want you to prepare. But before you do that, I want you to tell all fighters that would face Kretos to not fight back, they should either knock themselves out or if they want they should allow Kretos to kill them without resisting. Of course, they can choose not to follow mymand, but they should know the consequences of doing that."


    The observer didn''t question Demon Lord Darius''smand and simply bowed his head and responded respectfully.


    "As you will it, my lord."

 Chapter 273 No longer fighting

    <h4>Chapter 273 No longer fighting</h4>


    Kretos was in another city, he was there to fight another match in the tournament. To his and everyone''s surprise, when the match began Kretos''s opponent started hitting himself.


    "What the f*ck are you doing?!" Kretos shouted at his opponent. He was confused as to why his opponent would do this. When Kretos approached his opponent, he saw his opponent''s eyes were suddenly filled with resolve and the opponent broke his own arm and legs.


    Thementator and the audience were unaware of what was transpiring and were as confused as Kretos. Seeing as the other side was no longer able to continue thementator announce the winner.


    "Due to Nekrea being unable to continue the winner of this match is the yer of a thousand demons, Kretos!" Even though thementator had announced the victor no one cheered. Kretos who usually leaves quickly after a match just stood there dumbfounded.


    Watching the demon who had harmed himself being taken away Kretos grew even more confused. ''Why did he do that? Was he under some sort of spell?'' Kretos thought about it for a bit but after a while gave up. He didn''t really care that much about it.


    ...


    Kretos''s next match had the same result and so did the next one and the next one. This made the audience think that Kretos was threatening or ckmailing his opponents to doing this to themselves.


    "If you''re scared to fight then run like the coward you are!"


    "This is boring, who wants to watch someone p his face."


    "I came here to watch a fight, not to see this farce."


    "yer of a thousand demons, he''s nothing more than a cheat!"


    "So that''s the true face of the yer of a thousand demons!"


    Many of the audience members started jeering, some of them left the underground fighting ring. While the others couldn''t understand why a demon as powerful as Kretos needed to use such underhanded tactics. In the outside world, the other races presume demons would always use underhanded tactics, but that was not the truth.


    The demon were simr to the other races as they too have people that are honorable and good, and they were also some demons that were conniving and bad.


    ...


    Kretos was frowning as he was waiting for his next fight. He wasn''t frowning because of what the audience members were saying about him. He could care less about what other people think of him. He was frowning because all the opponents he faced never attacked him. He hasn''t been fighting anyone for some time now. This whole thing was making him feel really irritated.


    He could attack them fast enough that he could beat them before they beat themselves, but if he did that what would be the point. He wanted to fight an opponent that will bring out all of his skills. He didn''t want to fight this kind of opponents that don''t even want to fight him.


    ''Okay, it''s okay I just need to wait it out, maybe there''s something going on in this city. Once I''m done here surely the next city will prove to be a better challenge.''


    ...


    Kretos headed to the next city and the same scene transpired again. All of his opponents continued to harm themselves. He was getting really angry now until finally an opponent that didn''t harm himself appeared.


    ...


    Kretos was once again standing in the ring while the audience was booing at him. His opponent this time was a demon made out of stone. He looked like a golem at first nce, but when you looked a bit closer his physique was different from a summoned golem.


    When thementator announced the beginning of the fight Kretos was sure that this opponent would also beat himself up. Yet despite waiting for a few minutes the opponent didn''t move at all and simply stared at Kretos.


    "Are you going to attack or not?" When Kretos heard what the opponent said, at first he reacted confused, but then when he finally understood what was said, Kretos couldn''t help but smile. He was once again feeling excited.


    "Finally an opponent that isn''t crazy. Let''s have a proper battle! I am Kretos of the horned demon tribe. State your name!"


    "I am Hasta the strongest warrior of the rock demon tribe."


    After the two gave out their names Kretos took an offensive stance his right-hand stretch forward, his left hand by his waist. On the other hand, Hasta took a defensive stance while covering all of his vitals he tightened his muscles to the extreme.


    When Kretos saw his opponent take such a stance he was feeling truly ecstatic. An opponent that seems to have focused his everything on defense, this was the first time he would fight someone like this. No longer hesitating Kretos dashed forward and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks.


    As Kretos continued to attack he was surprised to see that Hasta didn''t budge a bit. Hasta''s body was tougher than anything Kretos has seen before.


    "You won''t win if you keep on hiding like a turtle and don''t attack."


    "How about looking at your hands before speaking." Hearing what Hasta said Kretos looked at his hands and was surprised to see that they were bleeding. Even with his hands covered with mana he was still injured.


    When he saw this Kretos startedughing. He was the one attacking while his opponent didn''t move an inch but he was the one injured. This was very interesting indeed, Kretos then went into full gear and once again began his assault.


    Hasta who was looking at Kretos could no longer keep up with his speed. ''It doesn''t matter how fast you are, as long as I protect my vitals and keep my defensive posture I won''t lose.'' Hasta then tightened his muscles even more while enhancing his body to the very limits using his mana. It was at that moment Hasta felt Kretos had once again punched him at his left shoulder.


    At first, Hasta thought it was just a punch that was slightly stronger than the others, but then he felt something was wrong. He felt an intense pain on his shoulder and he could no longer move his left hand. His shoulder was dislocated! He then felt another attack was made on his right shoulder and the same thing happened again.


    Now unable to put up any kind of guard Hasta gritted his teeth and took all of Kretos''s attacks head-on. Each attack Kretos made was more precise and more powerful than thest. After a few minutes of withstanding the neverending torrent of attacks, Hasta saw that Kretos finally stopped. Hasta smiled as he saw that Kretos''s hands were bleeding badly.


    When Hasta was about to speak he felt his knees giving in and hey on the ground motionless. The next thing he felt was his consciousness was bing hazy. At first, he was confused but then a thought came to him.


    ''I see... I''m dying...'' Hasta smiled as he came to that realization. Kretos approached his dying opponent.


    "Thank you for the battle."


    "No, thank you for letting me keep my pride." Those were thest words Hasta spoke, as he could no longer open his mouth. While his consciousness was slowly fading, Hasta had onest thought.


    ''I hope my tribe is still alive... I did my part and did not attack him. Surely the Lord will-''


    ...


    Kretos won and was satisfied with the battle, but he still found it weird that Hasta never attacked him and continued to defend himself, even when there was an opportunity to attack.


    ''Was that because of his style of fighting and he had no offensive abilities or is it because of something else.''


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 Chapter 274 Final round

    <h4>Chapter 274 Final round</h4>


    After that battle with Hasta, Kretos had no other satisfying battle in the tournament. All the matches up to the finals were won without even actually fighting. This truly irritated Kretos to no end. Not only was the whole tournament unsatisfying, but his reputation also took a huge hit.


    It was spected that Kretos had somehow ckmailed the other fighters. This kind of thing wouldn''t bother Kretos if all they were doing was talking behind his back. But because of his current reputation, most of the inn''s didn''t allow him to stay the night. They gave out different reasons like they were fully booked, they are having renovations or other such nonsense. Kretos knew that they didn''t want him to stay since he currently has a sh*tty reputation.


    The only inn''s that would take him were those at the brink of losing their inns and needed all the customers they could get. Not only was he unable to get a good fight, but he was also unable to have a good meal and rest. It has been a horrible few months for Kretos.


    ''Should I just kill all these people?'' Kretos thought for a moment and shook his head. It was fine to kill those that try to kill him, it was fine to kill those that bother him since both sides were ready to fight him to the death. But killing people that just think he''s a coward isn''t something he wants to do. Since those kinds of people would not fight him properly, making him unable to enjoy the fight. The only ones worth killing are those ready to kill and die.


    ''Whatever I just need to endure this sh*t until I get to meet the demon lord. Once I see that old vampire I''ll be sure to release all my frustrations on him.'' Kretos gritted his teeth as he was getting even more frustrated.


    ...


    After a few more useless battles in the tournament where the opponents beat themselves up, Kretos finally became a finalist in the tournament. Thest battle was to take ce in the capital city of the westernnds, Narkia.


    ...


    The moment Kretos stepped foot into the city of Narkia he felt something was off. He looked around and saw nothing of interest, it was just like any other city in the westernnds. He then tried to use mana sensing but that also showed nothing was out of ce.


    Kretos started frowning as his instincts were telling him that something was wrong, but no matter how he looked at it there was nothing to be found.


    ''My instincts have never failed me, is this going to be the first time?...'' Kretos who was already irritated due to the past battles, could no longer think as clearly and was getting even more irritated.


    As his irritation was about to reach a new peak Kretos closed his eyes and started calmly breathing in and out. Once he had calm himself down a bit, he started to assess the situation again. Yet no matter how hard he thought about it he couldn''t find the answer he was looking for.


    At first, he thought that all the people in this city were vampire ves, those people bitten by vampires and forced into doing their bidding. But those kinds of beings had a certain mana fluctuation that those of the Shadow n were sensitive to. Also, they don''t exhibit the symptoms of being enved, then don''t even have the most basic trait which was having shallow eyes.


    They also couldn''t be vampires themselves since the vampire tribe has a distinct smell that Kretos would''ve noticed the moment hees in contact with one. So then, what was this uneasy feeling Kretos had?


    ''Well, no matter what it is, I''ll just have to deal with it when ites.'' Aftering to that conclusion Kretos headed straight to the underground fighting ring in this city.


    ...


    After walking for a while Kretos found the supposed underground fighting ring in Narkia. To his surprise the ce was neither underground nor was it a fighting ring. It was a huge arena in the middle of the city. It was a rather grand building that spans a few hectares. It was bigger than the Demon Empress Nimune''s castle.


    When Kretos got close he could smell the heavy stench of blood that covered the arena''s walls. As he entered the arena he was greeted by a member of the arena officials who guided him directly to the ring. This was going to be his final battle in the tournament before he faces the demon lord Darius.


    Unlike those that came before him Kretos didn''t feel anxious of the uing battle, in fact, he wanted the final battle to be a proper one, where there was a chance he could lose. As he walked behind the guide he felt something strange. It was only momentary but it made Kretos feel like escaping the arena.


    There were now too many signs telling him that this was a trap. He couldn''t think of what kind of trap, but his instincts were telling him that it was something deadly to him. Still, even with this knowledge, Kretos didn''t retreat instead he smiled that vicious smile of his and felt exhrated.


    ''Finally, something to get excited about!''


    ...


    The guide then told Kretos to enter through the door in front of him. As he opened the door he was greeted by the sight of a thousand spectators. He was now in the middle of the arena. In here there was a no ring, no stage, it was only dirt filled ground. As Kretos looked around, he noticed that the grounds were littered with teeth and bones. Most probably from those that lost their lives in this arena.


    Seeing this just made Kretos feel thrilled for what''s toe. Kretos licked his lips as he could feel his blood pumping in anticipation. He was actually feeling that death was near. It has been some time since he felt that indescribable feeling.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen. On the right, is the neer that swept through the tournament like a raging storm. The yer of a thousand demons, KRETOS!"


    "Now for his opponent in this final match of the tournament. The reigning champion of this arena, the one who rules over the night. The feared lord of all, our monarch and master, Vampiric lord, DARIUS!"


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 Chapter 275 Vampiric Lord Darius

    <h4>Chapter 275 Vampiric Lord Darius</h4>


    Under the red moonlight, the demon lord smiled at Kretos. Seeing this Kretos was surprised to learn that his final opponent in the tournament was none other than the demon lord himself. He thought that the prize for winning the tournament was a chance to meet the demon lord, so what was this all about?


    "So we finally meet the joker in the deck."


    ''What the f*ck is this old bat saying, the joker in the deck? Is that his nickname for me?''


    "I don''t know what you mean by the joker in the deck, but I also been wanting to meet you old bat." Kretos eyed Darius as if he was looking at delicious food. Seeing that look Kretos was giving him Darius found it amusing.


    "Hot-blooded and noisy, overbearing, and emitting a great presence. If I didn''t know who you are I would never have guessed you were from the famed Shadow n. The hidden vige of the shadow n, I''ve been there recently, and I can tell, you really are different from the other members of your n."


    After speaking, Darius looked at Kretos curiously. He kept on using the term Shadow n and hinted on the things he had done. Seeing what happened to his family members Kretos should know what the fate of the Shadow n was. Yet despite Darius''s obvious provocations, Kretos showed no signs of his emotions fluctuating.


    "You sure talk a lot old bat. Oh, I see... Was that your way of trying to provoke me? Hehehe, using my n as a form of stimulus to get some kind of response from me, that won''t work on me. Killing my whole n or enving them, won''t make me want to avenge them. Is this kind of petty tricks al you have? I was expecting much more when I heard you were a demon lord best known for his cunning. Yet from what I see your nothing more than a roadside trickster." Kretos responded while shrugging his shoulders.


    Seeing Kretos''s reaction Darius simply nodded his head and smiled. He wasn''t insulted or angered by what Kretos said, instead he was truly amused by the boy in front of him.


    "Of course, of course, I apologize for using such small tricks on a warrior such as yourself... I heard that you love to battle. So how was the tournament I''ve made just for you, was it fun?"


    When Kretos heard what Darius said he was once again reminded of the irritating matches he had in the past few months. Remembering those matches, Kretos''s face twitched a bit.


    "Hmm, did the battles I prepared for you not satisfy you?" Noticing Kretos''s reaction Darius finally had confirmation on what he was thinking.


    "Enough talk! Let''s get this battle starting old bat!" Kretos was trying his best to hold back as he really wanted to attack Darius at this very moment. Watching the excited Kretos, Darius chuckled, while removing his cape and tossing it to the side.


    "Now it looks like our two fighters can no longer wait! Let''s get this started! Let the final match BEGIN!"


    The moment Kretos heard thementator announced for the match to begin he used his fastest speed to reach Darius. Speed so fast that it made one feel like time stopped for Kretos, to those watching it looked like kretos teleported in front of Darius.


    Kretos then unleashed a punch that felt like it could destroy anything that was in its way. Yet despite the devastating attack about to hit him, Darius did not move an inch, there was not even a fluctuation of his mana that indicated that he would use a spell. When Kretos noticed this he unconsciously stopped his attack right before it hit.


    Darius smiled brightened as his right hand''s nails grew sharper and formed a de. He then swiftly aimed his hand at Kretos''s heart and pierced through. Blood started flowing out of Kretos''s body and onto Darius''s hands.


    Kretos quickly kicked Darius''s abdomen making the demon lord fly backward. Darius was rather surprised that Kretos was able to deflect his spear hand at thest moment, and pushed the demon lord''s hand only a few centimeters away from Kretos''s heart. Kretos started coughing up blood but his smile never disappeared.


    Kretos wiped the blood off his mouth and happilyughed at the demon lord. He tried healing the wound on his chest but it was to no avail, as it was only slowly healing. That would mean that Darius''s hand had some sort of poison, preventing Kretos from healing it quickly.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about!" Kretos once again dashed towards Darius. The Demon Lord knew that the same trick won''t work twice on an opponent such as Kretos. So he spoke at a voice loud enough for Kretos to hear.


    "I think I want to quit." When Kretos heard what Darius said he stopped and looked at the demon lord confused. Once again using Kretos''spse of concentration Darius was able to sneakily get near Kretos and was about ready to strike. Before he was able to initiate his attack he saw a fist iing and dodged.


    "So many petty tricks!" Kretos shouted joyfully as he unleashed a barrage of attacks. Darius sighed as he continued to dodge Kretos''s attacks. After a brief exchange, Darius noticed that he was nicked here and there and quickly understood that Kretos was faster than him. Even with his physical attributes being tripled due to it being night time as well as the red moon being up, Darius was barely able to keep up with Kretos''s movements.


    Kretos blocked one of Darius''s spear hands by letting Darius pierce through his left hand making it stuck into his bones. Darius unable to move his hand couldn''t possibly dodge Kretos''s punch. The moment Kretos''s fist was about to hit Darius, the demon lord suddenly turned into mist and was able to escape.


    This was obviously against the rules of the tournament, but Kretos already expected that Darius wouldn''t abide by any rules. Still, Kretos was rather surprised that Darius followed the rules of the tournament until this point.


    Darius licked the blood that was on his hands and sighed. "As I thought, doing boorish fighting like this, is beneath me."


    "Don''t say that and let''s continue the fun!" Kretos once again appeared in front of Darius and was ready to attack. Darius responded by snapping his fingers, and chains from underneath the arena appeared entangling Kretos.


    "It was a fun little game to pass the time. But now I grow tired of it." Darius then lifted his right hand and numerous spears made out of mana appeared above him. "Goodbye, my little joker in the deck."


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 Chapter 276 Let’s end this!

    <h4>Chapter 276 Let¡°s end this!</h4>


    Kretos was bound by chains and was unable to break free. It was not normal chains that have bound him, for these chains seem to be sucking his blood and mana. If that wasn''t troubling enough he saw that Darius was already preparing to kill him with those floating mana spears. Yet despite the situation is as dire as it was Kretosughed joyfully for all to hear. Hisugh was like that of a child who was given a wonderful present.


    Darius looked at Kretos dumbfounded, he had met various people from all races and had witnessed their ends. Yet this was the first time he heard someoneughing like this as he was about to die, it was a differentugh from what he normally hears. Sometimes some wouldugh because they were mocking him, some wouldugh because they had gone insane from fear, some wouldugh as a form of escape, some wouldugh as a form of honor, he had witnessed different peopleughing like that as they were about to die, yet Kretos''sugh was different.


    Theugh Kretos was making was full of joy, and his eyes were brimming with excitement and anticipation. Even as he was facing death he could show such an expression. In fact, it doesn''t feel like Kretos knows he was about to die. Darius was dumbstruck for a moment, and then he shook his head while sighing.


    ''This boy would''ve been the best toy to y with, unfortunately, he''s a joker and it''s hard to predict what he would do next. If I let him live today, I might not be able to survive our next encounter. Truly, a pity...'' Darius pointed his finger at Kretos and all of the floating mana spears came raining down upon Kretos. Each spear had the ability to pierce through the scales of a small dragon, which meant it could easily pierce through Kretos''s flesh. As the spears hit their target, blood sttered all over the ground.


    Darius thought it was all over and was about to take Kretos''s head as a trophy when suddenly a huge wave of mana burst forth. It was a crushing, suffocating, overwhelming mana, that made even the Vampiric Lord feel a bit shaken. Darius saw the chains that were binding Kretos came loose, as the supposed dead man stood.


    Kretos''s whole body was full of wounds and there were some holes here and there. He was covered all over by his own blood. His body which was enhanced by his mana was trying its hardest to heal itself, but the process was slow and painful. Yet despite all that Kretos had that vicious smile on his face and was now looking at the demon lord like he was going to devour him.


    "How did you free yourself?"


    "I didn''t do anything it was you who freed me. I just protected my vitals, wiggled a bit to change the target of your mana spears and they broke the chains for me. Now then Demon Lord, show me how many more tricks you have up your sleeves!"


    Kretos took out his giant longsword from his shadow and was about to charge at Darius. Seeing Kretos''s actions and looking at his crazed eyes that only saw battle, Darius snapped his fingers, as that as the signal the audience and thementator, as well as the staff of the arena all of them jumped down to block Kretos''s path.


    Kretos saw that their eyes that were full of life suddenly turned dull and grey and he felt their mana fluctuations shifted. It would seem that Darius was able to hide the fact that everyone in this city were his enved.


    Kretos tried gathering mana into his weapon but due to his wounds, it was much harder than he expected. He couldn''t gather mana quick enough and the enemies were all around him. This just made him even more excited. This ce was a wondend for Kretos. He also noticed that the Demon Lord was gathering an enormous amount of mana and was getting ready to unleash a huge spell.


    "Enemies all around, my wounds hurting all over. I cannot gather my mana properly, and a demon lord is getting ready to use a sure kill spell. This must be paradise!"


    Kretos happily moved his body while his blood kept on scattering. For each step he took, an enemy fell, yet no matter how fast he killed the enemies before him, they don''t seem to be decreasing. His body was feeling heavy but that didn''t matter. Right now all Kretos could see and feel were the enemies in front of him and the sword in his hands.


    Duck, slice, turn, slice, sidestep, slice, block, push, slice. Kretos kept his body moving, making his enemies unable to surround him properly. Kretos could feel the demon lord was just right in front of him, yet no matter how he pushed forward it doesn''t seem like he was getting nearer to his target.


    Kretos''s whole body was now covered from head to toe with blood, from his hair to his heels not a single part of his body was free from it. He could no longer tell which was his blood or the blood of his enemies, the only thing he could tell was that his wounds were finally closing.


    It was at that moment Kretos noticed somebody was holding his hand tightly. He turned around and was surprised to see someone had actually got near him without him noticing. This person was none other than the observer. Looking at him, he too has been enved as his eyes were grey and empty. He was one of the trump cards the demon lord had prepared in this scenario.


    The observer had a special constitution that allowed him to blend perfectly with the environment he was in, and not even someone like Kretos would be able to notice his presence. A few days ago Darius told the observer his n just in case he wasn''t able to kill Kretos in the first strike. He told the observer he needed him to be a sacrificial pawn, when the observer heard this he tried to flee but was unable to. Now he was part of Darius''s enved.


    ...


    Kretos was about to slice the arm of the observer so he could break free, but then another enved grabbed hold of his free arm. All of the enved quickly moved in and started biting and grabbing him. In a few seconds, a pile of enved were on top of him.


    "Hahaha, well my little joker are you having fun with the enved?"


    Kretos lifted his head and saw Darius floating above the arena behind him was the red moon. Kretos felt a massive amount of mana gathering and it was continuing to grow.


    "This is the most fun I''ve ever had!" Kretos answered as he tried shaking off the enved.


    "d to hear that. Take it as my farewell present, for this time it''s truly the end for you." A gargantuan magic circle appeared in front of Darius. He then activated his spell and a ray of red light fell upon Kretos and the entire city of Narkia.


    The people, the buildings, everything the light shined upon was incinerated into nothingness. It took but an instant and the city of Narkia was no more.


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 Chapter 277 The game is over

    <h4>Chapter 277 The game is over</h4>


    Darius looked at the ckened remains on the ground and fell. Darius could no longer maintain his floating and was now on the ground on his knees panting. He had used everyst bit of the mana reserves that he umted by sucking the blood of his citizens for the past few months.


    This was his final trump card, and he didn''t really want to use it. But after battling with Kretos and watching him excitedly mow down his enved, Darius actually felt threatened. He knew that normal spells wouldn''t cut it and using anything less than this big move Kretos might be able to evade.


    It was a good thing that he started this tournament distracting Kretos for some time, while he gathered mana by bloodsucking. Not only was he able to gather enough mana to use such a big spell, but he was able to fill a whole city with his enved.


    ...


    Darius tried to stand up but couldn''t as he found that it was difficult to gather strength in his legs. It would seem that not only was his mana drained but so was his stamina. As he was trying to stop breathing so heavily Darius noticed an out of ce shadow.


    The shadow started to tremble and a person came out from within the shadow and was now slowly rising. This was none other than Kretos whose body was now a total wreck. When Darius saw this he was surprised as he watched Kretos slowly moving forward with his sword at hand.


    "I never expected you would actually use that technique from the shadow n. I thought you hated hiding in the shadows." Kretos stopped moving forward and looked at the weakened Darius and answered.


    "I do hate using these techniques that are meant for hiding. But if it''s in exchange for my life then it doesn''t really matter, does it?"


    "Heh, I see... So I miscalcted, I truly thought that you would rather die than give up your pride."


    "What''s the use of having pride, what''s the use of anything if you die? I seek death, but not because I want to die, but because I want to feel truly alive."


    "Hahaha, that doesn''t make any sense. Seeking death to feel alive?... Hmmm, maybe I do understand a bit of that feeling. I loved ying games and in those games, I seek defeat so that when I win I truly feel like I won."


    "Wanting defeat to feel victorious? It does sound like you do understand." The two mortal enemies smiled at each other and chuckled.


    "Hey, so what''s your n after this?"


    "I just want to find a satisfying battle where I can go all out and still lose despite doing everything I can. This was a close one, but it wasn''t it. So the next step would be defeating the other demon lords."


    "I see..."


    "We have talked long enough, time to end this." Kretos once again started slowly moving forward while dragging his tattered body and using his sword as a cane.


    "As you wish." Darius tried lifting his hand but he couldn''t. He tried gathering mana to use a spell but he wasn''t able to do that as well. He couldn''t even activate a simple fire spell.


    ''I guess talking for that long wasn''t enough to regain even a tiny bit of mana.''


    Darius who was famed for having a contingency n for every possible scenario was unable to think of a way out right now. His mistake was using his strongest move too early, as he should have continued to whittle down Kretos''s strength.


    ''I guess my fate was sealed the moment I was intimidated by that undying will of his, coupled with that vicious smile that rattled my very core... Still, giving up before the game is truly over isn''t my style.''


    Darius used every bit of the stamina he had left to stand up. He tried turning into mist or turn into a bat, but it would seem that in his current condition he couldn''t do it. He then readied his arm to strike onest blow at Kretos. Kretos who was equally exhausted raised his sword and was about to swing it onest time. The two locked eyes and as ifing to an understanding moved at the exact same moment.


    The two stumbled pass each other while delivering their strikes. The victor was decided in that one instant as blood sprayed out of Darius''s arms. No longer able to hold on hey on the ground looking at the night sky.


    Kretos turned around and looked at his fallen opponent and spoke.


    "Are you going to beg me to spare you?"


    "Only second rate viins beg for mercy. I''m a demon lord, I shall ept my defeat with grace."


    "Heh, so anyst words?"


    "It was a very fun game that we yed. It''s the most fun I had in centuries. I would have loved to y some more, but this is it for me. Thank you, for ying with this old man." Darius the demon lord known for his cunning, the demon lord that was said to be the closest to what the primordial demons were like, the demon lord who yed around with people''s hearts and souls, smiled an innocent smile.


    "It was fun for me too... Thank you for the battle, Demon Lord Darius." Kretos stabbed his sword onto the heart of the oldest demon lord alive.


    As he was dying Darius had a vision of a long-forgotten past. A time when he wasn''t a demon lord, but an ordinary vampire. There standing beside him was his old friend Kir a Lycan and on his right side his beloved ine. The three of them used to y a lot and every day was a fun adventure. All this changed on the day ine died. After her death, Darius was never the same, and he grew apart from Kir.


    ''The Game is finally over... Are you still waiting for me... ine...'' That was the end of the Vampiric Lord Darius.


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 Chapter 278 The Fall of another demon lord

    <h4>Chapter 278 The Fall of another demon lord</h4>


    News of Vampiric Lord Darius''s death shook the whole demon race. This was the second demon Lord that died within a decade, and it was done by the same person. The yer of a thousand demons, Kretos. Beating Demon Empress Nimune could have been attributed to his luck but defeating Vampiric Lord Darius cannot be because of luck.


    Vampiric Lord Darius the oldest living demon lord, the eternal rival of Kir the Mighty Lord of the Lycans. He was a demon lord famed for his cunning and strength. Unlike Demon Empress Nimune who relied on her massive army to contend with the other demon lords, Vampiric Lord Darius could not be beaten with luck alone.


    The Demons who didn''t take Kretos seriously were now trying their best to find out everything they could about the demon called Kretos.


    Due to his rising infamy, numerous rumors started to spread among the demons. Kretos was no longer an ordinary demon but someone that became the stuff of legends.


    "I heard the title of his, the yer of a thousand demons is an understatement. It should be the yer of ten thousand demons."


    "Kretos was part of the shadow n. Rumor has it that he was the only survivor of the n after Darius attacked them. That''s when he vowed revenge against all demon lords. He wants to rid ournds of the demon lords."


    "Some say he is the lover of the Demon Empress Nimune, and he was betrayed by her, which forced him to kill his beloved. Yet he couldn''t stop loving her. Some eyewitness ounts say that he had encased the Demon Empress Nimune in ice."


    "I heard that after each battle his strength and mana doubles. I guess that''s why he keeps on looking for someone to fight."


    "There seems to be some debate that Kretos isn''t an ordinary demon, but the reincarnation of an ancient human hero. Some researchers who read records of this hero have spotted that the two had simr personalities and their quirks and likes were practically the same."


    Many more rumors circted and the image of Kretos grew bigger and bigger in the eyes of all the other demons.


    ...


    In the open ins to the east, a golden fox was yfully jumping and dancing. The Golden Fox turned into her humanoid form and startedughing.


    "The old bat finally died! With him out of the picture as well as that conquering fanatic Nimune, I can finally stop being a demon lord."


    The Golden Fox joyfully dance and started singing, this attracted the other nearby demons. When they saw their demon lord happily singing and dancing they joined in the fun and started singing and dancing as well. The whole Easternnds were now in a celebratory mood and started a festival thatsted for a few weeks.


    ...


    After hearing of Darius''s defeat at the hands of Kretos, Jiro the Overlord of the skies felt that he was next on Kretos''s list. He was a prideful warrior that felt like everyone was beneath him, yet when he heard the news of Darius''s defeat and what happened to the city of Narkia, the prideful demon actually felt a bit threatened.


    Jiro then started to train on top of the highest mountain in the demonnds. He nned on training while waiting for Kretos''s inevitable challenge.


    ...


    In the forest that was located in the middle of the demonnds, in a stone throne sat the mighty lord of the Lycans, Kir. For the past few days, after hearing of his long time rival and once friend''s death he sat on his throne silently.


    "My lord I found the wine that you were looking for." Ady appeared before the stone throne and presented a flowery bottle. The bottled wine was not even opened but it still released an amazing aromatic scent.


    Kir who had his eyes closed this entire time opened them and looked at thedy who was handing the wine. Kir took the battle and stood up from his throne. Without saying a word Kir jumped away leaving thedy behind.


    ...


    Kir with the wine bottle at hand headed to a small hill that you could see the westernnds. He then sat on the grass and used an earth spell to make two crude-looking wine sses. He ced the wine sses on both sides. He opened the wine and a thick aroma filled the air. Kir then poured wine on both wine sses.


    While watching the sun slowly set Kir raise the bottle of wine and without saying a word started drinking. After taking one chug of the wine Kir felt like he could hear the voices of his old friends.


    "One day I would be a demon lord, and I promise to change the demonnds into one where we no longer need to fight, were we can all y happily with one another." A young Darius''s voice sounded in Kir''s ears.


    "That''s a wonderful dream big brother Darius!" The voice of a maiden pping her hands was sounded in his other ear. Kir opened his eyes and saw a young Darius, standing in front of him, and at his side was a young maiden who was half-human, half horned demon, she was Darius''s beloved ine. Kir too was once in love with the young maiden who shined upon the lives of him and Darius. But of course, the more charismatic Darius won that battle. Still, Kir was happy for the two of them.


    Kir who felt like he was back in those days smiled a bit. A tear fell from his face as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again his friends were no longer there.


    "The Game is finally over... I hope that thest game you had was a fun one, Darius... I truly hope you found her again, and this time I wish you two can find your happiness."


    Kir stood up and poured the wine onto the ground. He then looked up at the night sky and started howling. Kir howled and howled until all of his tears dried up.

 Chapter 279: Special Chapter: Darius and Elaine

    <h4>Chapter 279: Special Chapter: Darius and ine</h4>


    Long before he was the feared Vampiric Lord Darius, he was the son of normal low ranking vampires. Still, even though his family''s origins were weak within the tribe, the Vampire Tribe was a powerful tribe in the demonnds. His parents didn''t really care about the tribe''s view of superiority which is why they lived on the outskirts of the tribe''snds.


    ...


    One day while Darius was busy reading a book he found in his father''s study, he heard the main door of the house opening. His father had returned home and in his hands was an injured horned demon.


    Darius looked curiously at the girl who seems to be only a few years younger than him. Even though she was injured and had bruises all over she looked like a beautiful doll. Darius''s mother arrived and started treating the injured horned demon.


    While his mother was treating the horned Demon, his father started talking about how he found the horned demon. As Darius''s father was heading home he noticed the sound of sobbing. Looking for the source of the sobbing he found the horned demon girl curled up injured and crying.


    Darius was curious as to why a horned demon would be near the Vampire tribe''snds. It was at that moment he smelled the horned demon''s blood.


    "She''s half-human." Darius murmured to himself. Darius now looked at the horned demon with even more curiosity. It was near impossible for any human to reach the western demonnds since most humans wouldn''t want to enter the territory of the demons, without a heavy reason. So going in so deep into thends of the demons was unlikely for most humans much less a child.


    Yet right here in front of him wasn''t just a human but a half-human half horned demon. For a half-human to survive this long was amazing, since neither demons nor humans would want this kind of being. Darius continued looking at the girl with curiousity and excitement. He wanted to learn more about her.


    ...


    After sessfully healing the young half demon Darius''s parents learned that the young half demon was an orphan. It was that moment they decided to raise the girl as one of their own.


    Years pass and the young demon who waster named ine turned into a rather cheery maiden who doesn''t let anything make her feel down. She and Darius had a lot of adventures together roaming around the western demonnds.


    To her Darius and his family were her everything. She really felt like they were her true family, and this family expandedter on. During one of their travels, while Darius was teaching some of the younger demons how to y some board games the ancient humans invented, Darius and ine met a Lycan.


    This Lycan was called Kir and he was on his own personal journey trying to find out the meaning of strength. The moment the three met, ine who was a rather curious girl kept on asking Kir many questions. She kept on bugging him until he told his whole life''s story.


    Darius found Kir quite funny and despite his tough look when face to face with ine he looked like a cute little puppy. The three quickly hit it off and Kir joined Darius and ine on their quest to show the demonnds that fighting all the time was not worth it. It''s more fun to y games instead. Darius was the leader, Kir was the bodyguard and ine was the mascot.


    The three of them had many adventures throughout the Western and Southern Demon Lands. They tried their hardest to convince the children and some adults that it''s more meaningful to have fun ying games instead of fighting and hurting each other.


    The three of them continued this kind of work for three years. After three years, ine was feeling homesick so the group of three decided to head back to Darius''s home. Darius was also excited to see his parents again and wanted to tell them all about the adventures they had.


    When the three were close to the old mansion Darius''s parents lived in, they saw smokeing from the direction of the mansion. ine without any hesitation started running towards the mansion. On the other hand, Darius was shocked by the sight and was momentarily stunned.


    "DARIUS, COME ON!" Hearing Kir''s voice Darius was shaken awake. The two quickly followed ine towards the mansion. Once they reached the mansion Darius was shocked by the sight he saw.


    His old home was burnt, the bodies of his mother and fathery on the ground lifeless. His kind, loving parents, were dead. Darius''s mind nked out for a bit when he saw that. He couldn''t understand what was happening. In his mind he was thinking that this might all be a bad dream.


    "Big Brother Darius!" Darius was jolted by the desperate sound of ine''s voice that was when he saw ine being held by the neck. The one holding her was a high ranking vampire. Kir turned into his wolf form and was about to attack, but the vampire spoke interrupting him.


    "Tell your mutt to stop or else I snap her neck." The vampire tightened the grip on ine''s neck. Seeing that the high ranking vampire was serious Kir stopped and transformed back into his human form. Darius and Kir were brimming with killing intent but they took not a single step forward.


    "What do you want?" Darius asked the unknown vampire.


    "I want you to die."


    "Why?"


    "Are you truly that much of an idiot?... What am I expecting from a low ss vampire that''s barely a vampire at all... The elders of the tribe wants you gone since you''ve brought extreme shame upon the tribe by advocating your games."


    "If that''s what you want, then why kill my parents?"


    "Since they failed to educate you, then they are equally to me from your failings." When Darius heard the high ranking vampire''s answer he clenched his fist trying to hold in his anger.


    "... If you want to kill me, let go of the girl and kill me now, I''m right here!" Darius opened his arms wide inviting the high ranking vampire to attack him.


    "No, no, no, I won''t be the one to kill you. That will be your job. I want you to pierce your chest, take your heart out and present it to me. Surely, even a low born vampire like you can do that. Once you have aplished that I''ll let the girl go."


    "Don''t listen to him Darius!" Kir shouted at his best friend, but then Darius looked at him and shook his head. Darius then raised his arm and was about to pierce his chest but then something unexpected happened.


    The high ranking vampire looked shocked like everyone present. ine had used a spell to pierce through her heart and also piercing right through the high ranking vampire''s heart. The two then fell on the ground as blood came flowing out of both of them.


    Darius and Kir quickly headed straight to ine''s side. The two looked at the girl in panick not knowing what to do. They had no knowledge of how to use healing spells, they didn''t even know how to do first aid. Demons had great regenerative abilities, that as long as the heart and the brain were safe they could potentially survive most things.


    Darius tried to stop the bleeding but it was to no avail. Kir on the other hand made sure that the high ranking vampire was dead. In his anger he even crushed the high ranking vampire''s head.


    "ine, why did you do that?!" Darius held onto ine''s hand which was growing colder by the second. The young maiden smiled at Darius and replied.


    "I couldn''t allow big brother Darius to die for me. Big brother Darius, mom and dad, have given me so much. It''s my turn to give something in return."


    "No, no, no, I won''t ept this!" Darius was starting to tear up. Not only were his parents dead, but now he was about to lose his most important person. ine weakly lifted her free hand and wiped away Darius''s tears as she smiled gently at him.


    "Big Brother Darius can we y a game?"


    "Of course anything you want."


    "The game is simple it''s a game of hide and seek. But to win the one seeking must try his hardest not to find the one who''s hiding. I''ll be the one hiding, and big brother Darius will be the one seeking. If you find me too... early... I will... be... very... mad... at... you..."


    ine''s voice slowly drifted away and her hands no longer gripped onto Darius''s. Kir and Darius who saw this scene didn''t want to believe what they were seeing. It had to be a joke, one of ine''s bad pranks. Yet no matter how much they called her name their was no response. Kir started to cry while Darius held onto ine''s lifeless body and continued to hug it even tighter.

 Chapter 280 Onto the next demon lord

    <h4>Chapter 280 Onto the next demon lord</h4>


    Kretos woke up after he finally recovered from hisst fight. After he killed Vampiric Lord Darius Kretos copsed to the ground due to his wounds. If anyone were to see him like this, they would''ve taken advantage of him and then killed him. So before he lost consciousness Kretos immediately melded into his shadow and hid there until he fully recovered.


    Two times he has been saved by the Shadow n''s signature technique of melding into one''s shadow. Once he was awake the first thing Kretos did was look around the area. It would seem that Darius''s body was no longer there, somebody must''ve taken it. He then looked around and saw that it was still the same devastated city that Darius destroyed. Nothing has been done to it, and no one seems to be nning on fixing it.


    After he was sure that no one was around Kretos checked his current condition. The battle with Darius was the hardest battle he has fought to date. He had broken almost all of his bones and had a lot of internal bleeding going on as well. Just a bit more and he could''ve died.


    Once he was done checking his condition he was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did he survive and was back at full health, but he was able to increase his mana capacity and even his bones and muscles grew stronger than before.


    ''As expected only battle can make me stronger. So time to head onto the next demon lord.'' Kretos started walking towards the north.


    ...


    It''s been a few months since Kretos defeated Darius which resulted in his fame reaching an unbelievable status in the demonnds. He was now feared by even the bravest of demons. Though the demons liked showing off their strength and some of them were exhrated by the carnage, none wish to provoke the horned demon from the Shadow n called the yer of demon lords.


    Kretos''s moniker had changed from yer of a thousand demons to the yer of demon lords. If hisst moniker made people curious, his current moniker made people flee at the sight of him. Some of the demons were also created a new n under his name, but Kretos wasn''t bothered by those things at this time. At the moment his main focus was defeating all the demon lords.


    ...


    Most of the demons were now thinking of one question, who was the next demon lord to face Kretos. Based on his current location, Kretos would either go to the mountainous North where Jiro the overlord of the sky resides, or he would head to the middle ins and forest where the mighty lord of the Lycans, Kir resides.


    No matter who he decides to face, the battle would be a sight to see. Unlike Vampiric Lord Darius who uses schemes and deceit, and Demon Empress Nimune who uses charm and military might, to ascend to demon lord status. Both Kir and Jiro were of the battling kind. They were demon lords who ruled over their respective areas with the sheer strength of fist alone.


    Among the five demon lords, Jiro has the most battle experience, seeing as hisnd was located at the border of the demonnds and the human kingdoms. So every now and then some crazy adventurers woulde to the demonnds seeking untold treasures. Of course, Jiro would eliminate these people before they could delve deeper into the demonnds. He had gained a lot of experience fighting adventures who had different fighting styles.


    Kir, on the other hand, was a fighting genius. With sheer talent and instinct alone Kir had won every battle he has fought. His physical prowess dwarfed all the other demon lords. His only weakness was he only had a moderate amount of mana and was unable to useplicated spells.


    ...


    News of Kretos heading northwards soon spread among the demons. Some were happy due to winning some money on betting correctly, as to who was the next demon lord Kretos will face. Others were of course gloomy since they lost a ton of money. But no matter if they had lost or won they all felt excited.


    Demons from all over started heading to the north looking for a good spot to spectate the uing battle. Since they remembered that a whole city was wiped out from the previous battle, some demons tried to find other ways to spectate the battle. Due to this, The demons that could use monitoring spells became in demand.


    Monitoring spells were usually used to spy on other people, but this time those that knew the spell made it into a viewing business. They found a way to make the spell a lot bigger so that many could watch the battle. They quickly set up a shop where people could watch the uing fight.


    ...


    Jiro heard the news that Kretos was approaching his territory. He couldn''t help but smile upon hearing the news. Jiro was getting excited at the thought of what''s toe after he had killed Kretos.


    ''It would''ve been boring if he had died at the hands of the mutt. I guess I should be thankful to the little demon foring to me. Not only will he alleviate some of my boredom, but he will also be the first stepping stone to my conquest of the entire demonnds. Now that Darius and Nimune are gone, all I need to worry about is that mutt Kir. The little fox Tsukiko isn''t really a problem. Once Kir''s gone I''ll take the little fox Tsukiko and make her my woman. Seeing as only someone with powers equal to a demon lord is worthy to be my Empress.''


    Jiro wasn''t even registering Kretos as a problem. He was fully confident that after training his new ability for a few months that no demon alive could be his match. He was already seeing an empire ruled by him. Once he conquers the demonsnds the next step would be to conquer the human kingdoms, from then on he would continue to conquer all the other races. Then finally he would be the sole ruler of all. Then he would be remembered as the most powerful demon to ever lived.


    Just thinking about such a wonderful future, made him feel intoxicated. Jiro wished that Kretos coulde sooner, so he could kill the little horned demon and continue onward to do more important things.


    ''Well if he pledges eternal loyalty to me, I guess I could make him my right-hand man.''

 Chapter 281 Elite Guard

    <h4>Chapter 281 Elite Guard</h4>


    Unlike the time when he journeyed the western demonnds, where he was constantly challenged. This time around there were no challengers, in fact, the other demons seem to be avoiding him like he was a gue. Some of them bowed their heads as he passed by, while others don''t look him in the eye and start sweating.


    Kretos didn''t bother with these people. If they don''t have the will to fight, then they were worthless in his eyes. Death was not frightening, it is when one loses the courage to fight is what frightens him.


    Once Kretos reached the Northern demon Lands, the first thing he saw were mountains. The mountains were covered with a rug of trees, green, yellow, scarlet, and orange, but their bare tops were scarfed and beribboned with snow. From carved rocky outcrops, waterfalls flowing down the edges.


    Kretos was surprised to see such a scene in the demonnds were infighting was rampant. This ce looked like a whole other world. While Kretos was amazed by the scenery he felt multiple mana fluctuations approaching him. They numbered around a few hundred.


    Feeling these approaching presences made Kretos smile. He looked above his head and the blue sky now had a ck portion to it. Numerous flying type demons were approaching him and fast. Kretos took out his sword from his shadow and waited patiently for the group to arrive.


    When the flying demons got closer Kretos saw that they were abination of tengu and harpies. Tengu were known for their spells and were mostly long-range fighters. Harpies, on the other hand, were more vicious beings as they prefer to use their talons and teeth in battle. Both these tribes were what popted most of the Northern Demon Lands.


    ''Long-range Tengus and close-range Harpies, they also seem to be split evenly. This is going to be a very fun fight.''


    The group of Tengus and Harpiesnded in front of Kretos. They were all ring at Kretos and were emitting killing intent. Kretos stood there unaffected by their killing intent and waited to see what they would do.


    One of the Tengus steps to the front, he seems to the leader of the group. He looked at Kretos with disdain in his eyes.


    Kretos was liking the reaction of this group of people. After defeating Darius most demons wouldn''t even look him in the eye, yet this group were not only ring at him, but they were also looking at him like he was a bug.


    "Kretos of the Shadow n, be honored for our master wishes to meet with you. We havee to escort you to him."


    "Oh, then who''s is your master?" Kretos obviously knew who the master was, but he still asked just to be sure.


    "Our master is the one and only overlord of the skies, the one true demon lord!" The Tengu announced with passion.


    "So you''re here to bring me to your master so that I can defeat him." The moment those words came out of Kretos''s mouth the killing intent the group of Tengus and Harpies were emitting intensified.


    "As I thought a knave like you doesn''t deserve to see our lord. In his ce, we the elite guard of the overlord of the sky will punish you for your insolence!"


    After that deration, the elite guards were about to fly up into the sky when Kretos suddenly moved forward and tried to catch one of them. When he was about toe into contact with one of the nearby Tengus, one of the Harpies used her talons to intervene.


    Seeing the w about to hit his hand Kretos unconsciously evaded and failed to capture the Tengu in front of him. The Harpy''s attack would have never get pass his mana defense so he did not need to evade, but because of his reflexes, he would dodge surprise attacks unconsciously.


    ...


    The elite guard were now up in the sky, the Tengus started using spells to enhance the Harpies speeds and power. After receiving the enhancement spells, the Harpies dove down on Kretos with their talons ready to tear him apart.


    At the same time the Tengus rain down spells upon Kretos, mostly wind type spells as that was their specialty. The spells unleashed by the Tengus were released in such a way that it didn''t affect the diving Harpies. This was a sign of how good their teamwork was.


    Kretos enveloped his sword with mana and started slicing the iing wind spells. Seeing that he was distracted by the spells the Harpies moved onto Kretos''s blind spots and attacked. Unfortunately for them, Kretos doesn''t fight simply by relying on his eyes, he uses his mana to sense the fluctuation of his opponent''s mana.


    The moment one of the Harpies got near him Kretos immediately ducked and caught the Harpy''s leg and started swinging her around hitting the other nearby Harpies. Kretos then ced his sword back into his shadow and summoned multiple spears instead. He acquired these spears back in the armory of Demon Empress Nimune''s castle. He had gained a lot of weapons from that armory but he has never used it until today.


    While he was evading the strikes from the Harpies, Kretos was throwing the spears at the Tengus flying above. The Tengus were unable to react to the spears flying towards them. The speed and power of each spear made it hard to evade. Also because of their rather tight formation, even if one of them luckily evades a spear the one behind would still get hit. Spear after spear would hit and the Tengus started dropping like flies.


    "SPREAD OUT!" The leader of the elite guard shouted at his men who flew into different directions.


    ...


    The Harpies on the ground had their blood boiling in anger, as Kretos simply disregarded them. He made it look like it was easy to evade them and they weren''t worth his notice which is why he attacked the Tengus first.


    Thinking about this made the Harpies feel infuriated as they charged at Kretos with more fervor. The Harpies were now surrounding Kretos giving him no space to evade. This also resulted in the Tengus being unable to unleash any spells since they would hit the Harpies.


    Seeing the change in his opponents'' battle formation, Kretos ced the spear back into his shadow and took out a pair of daggers. Kretos twirled the daggers in his hands and showed that vicious grin of his. An overwhelming burst of bloodlust suddenly filled the air. Mana that could suffocate the weaker ones came crashing down on the Harpies. When the Harpies felt this sensation they wanted to flee, yet their bodies wouldn''t move. They finally understood how Kretos was able to kill demon lords. Kretos seeing the Harpies weren''t moving spoke to his terrified opponents.


    "Come little chicks, be my partners, and let''s dance the dance of death!"

 Chapter 282 Intermission part 1

    <h4>Chapter 282 Intermission part 1</h4>


    While Kretos was regaining his memories and a few years have already passed in his memories, in the real world only an hour had passed. Alphonso was having a bit of difficulty adjusting the speed on the ancient relic he stole from a self-proimed God of time. He wanted to make the flow of time in Kretos''s dream world faster so that he would wake up sooner. Yet no matter what he did he couldn''t get the artifact to work as he wanted.


    "This is going to be tougher than I expected. I would''ve studied this thing properly if I knew that I would need to actually use it one day." Most of Alphonso''s collections were things even he had no knowledge of how to use. All he really wanted them for was the joy of seeing his collection grow. He also liked the feeling of collecting such rare artifacts, from dangerous ces and individuals.


    ''I guess I have no choice but to slowly figure out how to make this thing work more efficiently.''


    ...


    As Alphonso was trying to figure out how to speed things up with Kretos''s awakening, back in Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane, Afeus was having his own problems.


    After Kretos''s disappearance, a whole night had already passed. Henrietta visited early in the morning to see if his beloved sp*rm donor had returned. Afeus shook his head and answered.


    "He hasn''t been back ever since you teleported him away."


    "I see... So what do you think happened to him?" Henrietta suddenly asked Afeus. Surprised by the question Afeus was momentarily stunned before he started thinking about it seriously. After a moment of silence, Afeus answered.


    "Kretos has always been a man of mystery, the first time I met him was in Kerrn Forest. He was in some sort of deep sleep. The monsters there all seem to actively avoid him as if sensing how powerful he was. He wasn''t even emitting any bloodlust or mana at the time. Yet the moment he released a tiny bit of his mana I knew immediately that he had an incredible mana supply. It seems from the moment he woke up to yesterday his mana was increasing gradually. It seems to fluctuate whenever he remembers something from his past. I think every time he remembers something his mana increases greatly, and yesterday''s increase was too much too handle and it got a hold of him."


    Henrietta nodded her head from time to time as she listened to Afeus''s hypothesis. She looked at Afeus and became a bit interested in the man who was supposedly the closest friend Kretos had in the institute.


    "Is that so, can you tell me about his memory loss. He did say he could not remember who he was, but it seems like he still remembers some basic things like his name and such."


    Afeus then told Henrietta of the day he met Kretos and what he knew about the man. Once he was done retelling his story, Henrietta''s assistant arrived and she was carrying a majestic looking chair. She ced the chair behind Henrietta who without questioning it sat down.


    "So that''s how it is... I believe that his memory loss isn''t as simple as you think it is. It might be rted to his soul."


    "His soul?"


    "You see based on my family''s research, mana inside a human being is abination of one''s soul and life force. We know little to nothing about the soul, but we know a bit about mana. Which made my ancestor quite curious about it. After researching on supposed soul techniques, my ancestor figured out that this supposed soul techniques affected not only the invisible soul but one''s mana as well. Based on what you told me about Kretos, I think someone has used a powerful soul attack on him making not only his mana unstable but also affecting his memories."


    As Henrietta was exining her theory on why Kretos lost his memories, someone barged into the dorm room. Henrietta''s assistant standing behind her frowned at the neer.


    "Afeus you got to see this... Hmm, what''s happening here?" Mia who entered the room without warning was confused as she saw arge out of ce chair in the middle of the room, and a woman ring at her.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Professor Mia Swallow." Henrietta stood up from the chair and curtsied at Mia. When Mia saw the woman in front of her, she showed a surprised expression for a second before returning to a more neutral expression.


    "No, the pleasure is mine, Lady Henrietta Wolfstein. I wonder, what could the nobledy of the Wolfstein family want with my cute little student?"


    "Nothing much, I just came here to talk about my lover, Kretos." When Mia heard Henrietta''s answer she was truly shocked. The woman who was voted as the best wife candidate by the men in the Capital, actually proimed that Kretos a man with unknown origins was her lover. This was something that would make the men in the capital of Serbek want to cry tears of blood.


    "..." Mia wanted to say something but she was too shocked by the news that no words came out of her mouth. Henrietta then passed by her and was about to leave, but before she did, she spoke to Afeus and Mia.


    "It was nice talking to you Afeus, and Professor Mia once again it was a pleasure to meet you. I would have wanted to talk to you more, but I have another meeting I need to attend to." Henrietta bowed her head slightly and left.


    After a moment of silence, Mia exploded. "What the heck was that?! Is she really Kretos''s lover?! When did that happen?! Why did it happen?!" Mia''s face came close to Afeus''s who started blushing. He couldn''t help himself, to see such a pretty face so close to his. He then pushed Mia back and answered. He started exining what happened yesterday.


    "So much has happened... I see..." Mia became quiet as she started pondering about something. Afeus waited for her to say something more, but when it was clear that she was in her own little world, Afeus spoke first.


    "Umm, Professor, why did youe here so early in the morning? It seems like you were about to say something important."


    When Mia heard Afeus''s voice she was taken away from her own thoughts. She then remembered why she came here so early in the morning.


    "Oh right, you should see this, here are the names of the participants from our school for the uing tournament." Afeus read the list of names, and there were quite a few more than he expected. Obviously Kretos''s name was also there, but then he saw a name he was expecting to be there.


    "Why is my name among the participants?!"

 Chapter 283 Intermission part 2

    <h4>Chapter 283 Intermission part 2</h4>


    Afeus looked at the piece of paper in front of him and was dumbfounded. He read it over and over again, but no matter how much he looked at it the words did not change. His name was truly written in the list of participants.


    "Why is my name in here?!"


    "If I have to guess, Kretos was the one who did it. After defeating the Osted Family, most of the Professors can''t stand up to him. So if he asked them to put your name as a participant in the tournament, it would be easy."


    When Afeus heard Mia''s exnation he found that what she said made a lot of sense. Based on his understanding of Kretos, he might have really done that.


    ''I don''t have a choice now... If I don''t join the tournament and Kretos finds out, he might stop teaching me his ways, or worse he might just kill me outright. I guess joining the tournament might be beneficial to me.'' Afeus once again sighed as he epted his fate.


    ...


    On the road to the Serbek Kingdom, Valdel alongside his two weapon spirits and the Holy Maiden of the Temple of Justice were walking on the road. He was looking at the invitation letter he received from the Head Priest of the Temple of Justice.


    This was the invitation letter for the Temple of Justice to join the uing tournament hosted by the Serbek Kingdom. At first, the Head Priest had no intention of joining the tournament, since there was no need. But seeing as Valdel needed to enter the Serbek Kingdom, this was the easiest way. It was a good thing the Head Priest remembered the letter before Valdel left.


    He was now representing the Temple of Justice in this tournament. Just so that he wouldn''t raise suspicion, the Temple of Justice also sent Natasha to join the tournament as well.


    ...


    During their journey, the group had many stopovers. They helped a town from bandit attacks. They saved an ailing mother by helping a little girl find some herbs on a mountain. They thought an earnest-looking boy who had a dream to be a knight a few basic sword swings and gave him a sword. All of these events happened within a week.


    Natasha was rather amazed by how Valdel attracted such events. Everywhere they went it seems like there was someone in dire need of something, and Valdel would happily help all of them. As someone who was from the Temple of Justice, she too couldn''t turn a blind eye on some of those events.


    Also, they got something in return for doing those things. From the vige that they saved, Valdel was given an amulet that grants the wearer an increase in strength. The Vige Elder imed that it was from an ancient hero who established their vige and retired.


    From the little girl whose mom they saved, they were given a bunch of healing potions. Turns out the mother of the little girl was a rather famous alchemist. The healing potions she gave were of the highest quality, which was the equivalent of a high healing spell.


    From the boy, Valdel thought a bit of swordsmanship, Valdel acquired a promise. The boy who Valdel ims to have a potential greater than his own had promised Valdel that when he needs him no matter the task he would do it.


    Natasha had witnessed these ordinary people turn out to be more than they seem. Valdel would save someone and he gets something incredible in return.


    His luck was incredible it was like it could defy destiny itself. If Natasha didn''t know who Ren was, she might have felt that Valdel was abnormal. Yet if you ce Valdel beside Ren, Valdel would look ordinary inparison.


    While Natasha was thinking of these random things, the group suddenly heard a scream. Valdel without any hesitation quickly moved into action.


    ...


    Upon arriving at the scene, Valdel saw a group of men surrounding a lone girl. She was trembling in fear as she cried for help. Valdel reacted almost unconsciously as he stood in front of the crying girl.


    "Have you people no shame, ganging up on a woman like this!" Valdel shouted at the group of men. Natasha and the two weapon spirits appeared behind the group of men. Seeing the neers the leader of the group of men responded.


    "I don''t know who you are, but don''t be mistaken, we are not the ones in the wrong. It is that monster you''re trying to protect that''s in the wrong."


    "Yeah, she killed my wife!"


    "She murdered my entire family!"


    "I saw her devour my brother!"


    "Don''t be fooled by the way she looks that''s how she gets you."


    When Valdel looked at the girl behind him, he used his mana to sense if there was anything wrong with her. After checking her out Valdel didn''t sense anything out of ce. He then looked at hisrades and wanted to see what they think.


    Zwei shook her head, Nika was oblivious as to what was happening, and Natasha also found nothing wrong with the girl.


    "I think there''s a misunderstanding here." Valdel talked more calmly this time.


    "There''s no misunderstanding! We need to kill that monster before she kills anyone else!" The leader of the group shouted at Valdel. His shout made the girl behind Valdel flinch as she started trembling even more.


    "Do you have any proof that she did everything you im she did?"


    "... We have no proof, but she was the only one with my wife at the time."


    "That doesn''t prove anything."


    "I don''t have any physical proof but I did see her devour my brother with my very own eyes!"


    "Could you have been drunk at the time?"


    "... I was, but that..."


    "It seems like there really is a misunderstanding here."


    "It doesn''t matter if we have proof or none! We must y the evil monster!" The group men were now looking a bit more deranged. Seeing them act like this, Valdel spoke in a tenser tone.


    "I advise you to leave this poor woman alone, or else." Valdel used a spell to summon a wall of fire. When the vigers saw this all their courage disappeared and they fled the scene. Valdel sighed as he looked at the trembling girl and spoke in a gentle voice.


    "It''s alright now, you''re safe now." Valdel extended his hand towards the girl. The girl hesitated a bit before she held Valdel''s hand and stood up. Natasha was looking at the girl in a weird way. Natasha saw for a brief second when the vigers fled in fear, the girl looked like she smiled.


    ''It must be my imagination.''

 Chapter 284 Massacre

    <h4>Chapter 284 Massacre</h4>


    "Come little chicks, be my partners, and let''s dance the dance of death!"


    The moment those words were said, the Harpies felt like death was upon them. They couldn''t move, the couldn''t even breath properly. This was the difference in level, between him and them.


    When Kretos was about ready to massacre the Harpies in front of him, he heard a childish female voice speaking.


    "You goons of the demon lord, why are you ganging up on a single person. You guys really don''t have any honor at all!"


    After those words were spoken Kretos saw a small ball on the floor. It then exploded and a heavy smoke surrounded him and the Harpies blurring their visions. As Kretos was a bit confused he noticed an approaching mana fluctuation. He felt no malice from this person so he didn''t attack.


    The person in question then grab his hand and spoke to him in an urgent tone. "Quickly follow me if you want to live."


    Despite hearing her say that Kretos didn''t move an inch. The girl kept on pulling him but he wouldn''t budge. The smoke finally dispersed and Kretos could see the girl clearly now. Her facial features make her look like she was around thirteen to fourteen years old.


    She had no outright discerning characteristics that would indicate what kind of demon she was. She looked like a normal human girl, that was when Kretos noticed her teeth.


    ''I see she''s either a Werewolf or a Lycan.''


    The girl who was pulling on Kretos was now looking around in panic. After that, she looked at Kretos and red at him. It was not a threatening re in fact it was rather cute.


    "Why didn''t you run away! Now we''re both stuck here, and gonna die!"


    "If I die from battle, that would be the greatest pleasure for me."


    When the girl heard what Kretos said, the way she looked at him changed. She then started mumbling to herself.


    "Damn it, what have I gotten myself into! This guy is a crazy person. I thought he was being bullied by the crows and the chickens, but it seems like he was the one who initiated the fight."


    While the girl was mumbling to herself, the Harpies who were shivering in fear a while ago, finally got a hold of themselves. If they''re going to die anyway, might as well fight, if they''re lucky Kretos might be the one to die.


    One of the Harpies charged at the mumbling girl, but before her talons reached Kretos pulled the girl back and pierced the Harpy with one of his daggers.


    "Whoah!" The girl was surprised by the sudden action, and she saw that Kretos actually saved her life. As she was about to say something, she saw another approaching Harpy from behind Kretos. She was going to warn Kretos about it, but then a dagger fell from the sky, piercing through the Harpy''s body and killing her.


    ...


    Kretos then tossed the girl up in the air and picked up the dagger that fell. The Harpies were momentarily distracted by the girl who was screaming at the top of her lungs. They were all looking up, this gave Kretos enough time to dash forward and kill them one by one.


    His daggers swept to the battlefield with such blinding speed, all they could see were shes of silver light. The Harpies were finally able to react and started counterattacking. Each attacks the Harpies made Kretos would dodge by spinning his body or simply side-stepping, he would then follow up with a precise attack on the Harpy''s neck.


    The screaming girl was about to hit the ground, Kretos was about to grab her, but then she turned into a huge two-meter tall wolf.


    ''So she''s a werewolf, not a Lycan.'' Unlike Lycan''s who upon transformation changes into a humanoid wolf, a werewolf''s transformation was like what the girl did, they turn into actual wolves but bigger. Thergest werewolf Kretos knew off was around a four-meter tall wolf.


    Seeing that the girl distanced herself from the battlefield Kretos continued his dance of death as he threw the daggers he was holding hitting the foreheads of nearby Harpies. Kretos then summoned another pair of daggers and continued onward.


    ...


    The werewolf girl turned back into her human form and hid behind a rock unable to leave Kretos. She couldn''t help but stay as she wanted to watch the fight. The way Kretos fought, she was mesmerized by his fighting style. It was so elegant and precise it didn''t feel like he was fighting at all, instead, it was like he was dancing with his daggers.


    There were no wasted movements at all, each strike was deadly and each strike made was equivalent to one dead Harpy. The deadliness of his strikes was not because of its power, in fact, based on what she saw there was not much power involved at all. What made the strikes deadly was his precision and timing.


    ...


    On the other hand, the Tengus who were watching the massacre that was unfolding before them, fear was gripping their hearts. The leader of the group could no longer control his hands; they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm. A feeling of dread crept up from the pit of his stomach. It was getting harder and harder for him to breathe.


    He knew that he needed to order his men to support the Harpies, but as he watched them die one by one the fear he was feeling intensified. His pulse beating in his ears, blocking out all other sounds. As he continued to watch without saying anything he saw Kretos''s vicious smile and all the remaining courage he had leftpletely disappeared.


    "RETREAT!" Without waiting for the others the leader was about to retreat, but then he felt like something had passed through his head. He then noticed that he was falling from the sky and the ground was nearing. He wanted to move but he couldn''t. Up until the end, he didn''t notice that Kretos threw a dagger right through his forehead, the moment he shouted retreat.


    The other Tengus hearing themand and seeing theirmander fall immediately retreated. The Harpies did the same, but some of them couldn''t retreat as Kretos had locked onto them.


    ...


    Seeing the fading silhouettes Kretos sighed, as he wanted to fight some more. He was already feeling super excited as the Harpies were getting desperate and it was getting harder to dodge their attacks. Still, overall it was a rather satisfying battle. As Kretos was basking in the afterglow of the fight, he once again heard the childish female voice of the werewolf girl.


    "That was INCREDIBLE!"

 Chapter 285 Noisy Werewolf

    <h4>Chapter 285 Noisy Werewolf</h4>


    Kretos looked at the werewolf girl who disturbed him while he was basking in the afterglow of the battle he just had. She was looking at him with an expression that was foreign to Kretos. It would seem that she was looking at Kretos in admiration, not fear.


    Her short hair and petite stature made her look extremely adorable as her eyes sparkled while she excitedly recounted the events of the battle she witnessed. Kretos no longer bothered with her and walked away without saying a word.


    Noticing the leaving Kretos, the girl quickly followed behind him. "I''m Le of the Werewolf Tribe. Can you tell me your name?"


    Kretos looked behind him and saw the werewolf girl awaiting his answer. It doesn''t seem like she was going to stop following him anytime soon. ''I guess a littlepany during my journey will make it, a little less boring.''


    "Kretos."


    When Le heard Kretos say his name, she found the name oddly familiar. It took her a few seconds before she realized what that name represents.


    "You''re Kretos of the Shadow n! The yer of Demon Lords, the smile of death, and the king of battles! That exins why those goons of the Overlord of the Sky fought with you."


    Le was getting more and more excited as she continued to talk. Kretos was a tiny bit interested in what she was saying. He was mostly interested in the new nicknames he didn''t seem to know about.


    "The Smile of Death, the King of Battles?" The moment Kretos talked, Le''s eyes seem to sparkle even brighter as she enthusiastically responded.


    "Yeah, the smile of death and the king of battles are new nicknames that haven''t been used much, since most people think of you as the yer of demon lords. On the other hand, the people who have seen you battle started calling you the smile of death. Since the moment you show that so called vicious smile of yours, that could only mean one thing for the opponent, it would mean he was about to die."


    "As for the King of Battles, this is the name you got after winning all the battles you have fought. No matter if it was inside or outside the ring, victory seems to always be yours. Not to mention it seems like you''re always seeking battle."


    "Well, after witnessing your battle against the Harpies, I finally understand why you''re called the smile of death and the King of Battles. I would also like to call you the Dancer of the battlefield or maybe a de dancer. The way you fought was like a dance. It was as if you became one with your des, and danced among your enemies. Each movement you made was so elegant so spectacr so decisive that it made me want to use daggers as well."


    Le had so many things to say, and she continued to talk without stopping. Kretos had nothing else to do but listen. Then when he heard her something interesting Kretos responded.


    "You saw my movements?" He was going as fast as he could, and no normal being could keep up with his speed. Even though the Werewolf tribe and the Lycan tribe boast of greater physical abilities than the other tribes, and their senses were beyond most demon tribes, Kretos''s speed was something beyond that.


    He was using a technique from the Shadow n called [Blinding Shadow] which increases his speed greatly. Coupled with his stronger innate mana which he uses to enhance all of his physical abilities, Kretos''s speed was not something the eye could see.


    "I saw every bit of it and it was magnificent. The flow of your attacks was neverending. Throwing and catching the daggers while evading the iing enemies was so exhrating to watch. I want to be able to do that too, can you teach me?"


    Kretos didn''t respond to Le''s question with words, instead, he used [Blinding Shadow] and moved behind Le. He was about to flick Le''s back when Kretos noticed that Le wanted to evade. Unfortunately for her, Kretos was too fast and was able to hit the back of her head.


    "Your eyes can keep up, but your body can''t... Well, it doesn''t matter since I don''t take in students." After saying his piece Kretos continued walking onward. Le was momentarily stunned by what happened that it took her a while before she moved and continued to follow behind Kretos.


    "So you''re telling me that if my body can react fast enough to your moves, you''ll teach me?"


    "I didn''t say anything like that. I said I don''t take in students."


    "Why not?"


    "I don''t know how to teach."


    "Then just tell me how you learned it."


    "I learned by watching."


    "Huh?"


    "I learned these techniques simply by replicating what I saw. All the techniques I have learned, I got it by watching someone else do it. Aside from that, the thing I did a while ago while fighting the Harpies, except for the [Blinding Shadow] most of my movements were just me feeling the flow of the battle."


    "The flow of the battle?"


    "To me, battle in itself is a living breathing thing, it has a pulse and it follows a certain flow. If you can understand this flow, you can predict when to attack, when to dodge, when to counter, and when to block. I cannot feel and understand the whole flow of battle, but I can feel parts of it. I believe that the one who can understand and feel the flow of battle more would eventually be the victor of most battles. Still, there are times when I cannot feel that flow at all. When those timese I just follow my own instincts and make the flow myself. Well, most of the time I can only sense the flow of battle when I''m truly excited."


    "I see... So how does one get to feel and understand the flow of battle?"


    "Battle, continue to battle until you gain enough experience that you instinctually feel it. You need to battle until your body moves faster than you can think. You need to battle until you gain the ability to feel even the twitching of your enemies. Even then it would be hard to understand it. You may battle all your life and only be able to understand a portion of it."


    After hearing Kretos''s exnation the noisy werewolf finally stopped talking and was now contemting what Kretos said.

 Chapter 286 Journey to the top of the mountain

    <h4>Chapter 286 Journey to the top of the mountain</h4>


    The Elite Guard had returned to Jiro. Upon seeing the decrease in the number of his elite guard, and the absence of Kretos, Jiro could guess what had happened. He frowned at his approaching men. Seeing his lord displeased the leader of the elite guard quickly genuflected.


    "I''m sorry my lord, we have failed you."


    "What happened, and don''t you dare lie to me," Jiro spoke in a low gravely voice that made the Elite Guard shiver in fear. The leader of the group had no choice but to tell everything that happened. Once he was done talking Jiro appeared before him and grabbed a hold of his face.


    Jiro tightened the grip on his subordinate''s face. The leader of the Elite Guard struggled but Jiro''s power was leagues above him.


    "My lord spare me! I promise I will never fail you again!"


    "No one has ever failed me twice, and I''m sure you know the reason." When the leader of the Elite Guard heard what Jiro said, he tried to gather mana to attack but then he felt Jiro squeezed his head even tighter. The former leader of the Elite Guard of the overlord of the sky had his head crushed into meat paste.


    The remaining members of the Elite Guard turned pale after witnessing that scene. In their minds maybe it would have been better to die in battle fighting against Kretos than to die like that. Jiro then shifted his attention to the remaining Elite Guards. When they noticed that their lord was looking at them, they all lowered their heads fearing that their lord would shower them with his anger.


    Jiro then pointed at a random Tengu. When the Tengu saw that his lord was pointing at him, he could hear his heart pounding like a drum.


    "From now on you are the leader of the Elite Guard."


    "I am unfit for such a role." The Tengu immediately denied it. Even though bing the leader of the group sounds good on paper, the truth was right in front of him. The Tengu looked at the dead body of the former leader and trembled. That could be him if he takes the job.


    "Are you declining my offer?" Jiro looked at the Tengu with an expression that could make a grown man pee his pants.


    "No my lord, I dly ept the job." The new leader had no choice but to ept. It was either get killed now or possibly survive untilter.


    "Hmph, this time I don''t want you to meet Kretos. It''s obvious now he would simply kill of you weaklings. Since he''s going toe here anyway waiting for him toe on his own pace should be fine. So for now I want you to head to the Eastern Lands and find the little fox demon and give her this letter." Jiro handed a letter to the newly appointed leader of the Elite Guard.


    "Fox demon?"


    "Of course I''m talking about Tsukiko."


    "It shall be as youmand my lord." After giving out their salute the Elite Guard left with the letter at hand.


    ...


    On the mountain path, the sound of steel shing against steel could be heard echoing throughout the mountain. Le and Kretos were sparring. Since the journey had no enemies on the road Kretos got a bit bored and agreed to train with Le. Seeing as he couldn''t teach her his ways, they decided that the next best thing was to acquire experience from actual fighting. Kretos gave Le a pair of daggers so that they could spar using those.


    As they fought for a bit Kretos quickly understood at what level Le was at. Of course, it was obvious she had no skill in wielding daggers. The Werewolf tribe transforms into wolves when they fight so they don''t need any weapon skills. Still, their overall physical prowess were better than most tribes which made it rather easy for Le to pick up a few things as they continue to spar.


    The way she handled the daggers became slightly better, but it was still rather rough around the edges.


    ''She''s relying too much on her physical abilities and is brute-forcing everything. Well, it''s not like I hate that kind of style. But if she wants to do more fluid movements brute-forcing it like this won''t help her.''


    ...


    After sparring for a while more Le and Kretos took a break. Le was so excited about being able to wield a weapon for the first time.


    "Even if you be proficient in using daggers you might not be able to reach your full potential, since you''re a werewolf and your most powerful form is when you turn into a wolf. You won''t be able to use your full capabilities if you don''t use your wolf form... Are you okay with that?"


    "Hmmm...." Hearing Kretos''s question Le started thinking for a bit, she then looked at Kretos and tilted her head.


    "It''s true that my physical abilities are limited when I''m in this form, but I think that if I work hard enough this daggers might be sharper than my fangs. How about you Kretos? You''re from the Shadow n, but you don''t really use most of their assassination techniques."


    "I can make do without those."


    "The same goes for me. I don''t need to turn into my wolf form to show my full potential." Le happily smiled at Kretos''s answer. When Kretos heard Le''s answer he was stunned for a moment, then a smile arose from his face. It wasn''t his vicious smile that he shows worthy opponents, it wasn''t the sneer he shows when he looks down on people. It was an actual genuine smile that he unconsciously showed.


    "I guess you''re right, you''re the one who gets to decide if you''ll be able to reach your full potential or not."


    It was only for a second but Le was surprised to see Kretos smile like that, it was such an innocent-looking smile that didn''t fit his usual demeanor. Now that she got a good look at him, Kretos did look rather handsome even for her standards as a person from a different tribe.


    "So are we going to continue to spar?" Le was jolted awake when she heard Kretos''s voice. She then stood up and nodded her head.


    "Yeah, let''s continue."

 Chapter 287 I refuse

    <h4>Chapter 287 I refuse</h4>


    In the Eastern demonnds near the border to the Northern demonnds was the Gelder ins. Two gigantic demons stood guard at this border. They hadrge muscr bodies that were colored red and blue. They stood around four meters tall and held onto huge clubs as their weapons. Two horns were sticking out of the side of their heads. These demons were called Oni, and the two who were guarding the border were the strongest of the Oni tribe. It is rumored that in physical strength alone, they could match the strength of the mighty Lord of the Lycans Kir.


    The oni brothers who were usually bored because they had nothing to do noticed a flock of the winged demonsing towards them. When the two brothers saw the sight they got a little bit excited. One of the brothers picked up a boulder and threw it at the Tengus and Harpies.


    The newly appointed leader of the Elite Guard saw the iing boulder and ordered his men to fly low. After giving out his order the leader of the group sped up and flew directly at the Oni brothers.


    "I havee to deliver a letter to Demon Lord Tsukiko." When the Oni brothers heard what the Tengu said, the two looked at each other. After a short while, the red Oni spoke.


    "Show me the letter and I''ll be the one to deliver it to our master."


    "I can''t do that. I need to be the one to hand it over personally. I must ensure that this letter gets to Demon Lord Tsukiko."


    "Are you saying that we won''t be able to do that?" The blue Oni stepped forward while ring at the Tengu in front of him.


    "It doesn''t matter if you''re able to do it or not. I must be the one to send it to her and listen to her reply."


    The two Oni brothers now stood side by side their muscles bulging ready for action. The Tengu gave a signal to his subordinates and they surrounded the two. As the tension between the two sides were rising, a voice echoed through their heads.


    "That''s enough, let them pass." The voice that echoed was pleasing to the ear, making one feelforted that was what the Tengus and Harpies heard. On the other hand, when the two Oni brothers heard the voice, they felt like it was ice cold and their demon lord wanted to kill them. Of course, that was only their imagination since Tsukiko was a yful demon lord who liked to prank people.


    ...


    The two Oni brothers made way and no longer bothered the Elite Guard of the Overlord of the sky. Seeing the Oni brothers no longer blocking their path the Elite Guard continued on their journey.


    ...


    The location of each demon lord except for Darius was known to most demons. That knowledge was regarded as basic information so that they could avoid the ces were the demon lords reside.


    The Demonic Fox Tsukiko lived under the tallest tree in the Eastern ins called Jubokko. It was rather easy to spot from the sky, as the tree was enormous and was as high as a mountain.


    ...


    The Kitsune tribe used to be a strong tribe with the greatest of spell casters. Yet a time came when they became too weak and only produced members with two to three tails. The number of tails indicated how strong a Kitsune was. At their prime, the tribe used to have several five tail foxes.


    With their weakened status, the other tribes kept on harassing them. It seems like only a matter of time before their tribe became instinct. That all changed when Demonic Fox Tsukiko came into power. She was the very first Kitsune to gain seven tails, her power was phenomenal. But that wasn''t enough for her to protect her tribe. So she started creating different unique spells to protect her tribe from the other demon tribes.


    Overtime her power and influence rose, and slowly but surely without her noticing she had conquered the whole Eastern Lands.


    ...


    The Elite Guard finally arrived at Jubokko, underneath ity a fifty-meterrge golden fox with nine tails. The Golden Fox looked at the flying demons and yawned. When the Elite Guard saw Tsukiko for the first time they were frightened.


    Was the Kitsune before them still considered a demon or was she a monster or some kind of dragon, her size was too big. The Elite Guard cautiouslynded on the ground in front of Tsukiko.


    When they saw her from the angle on the ground, she looked even bigger than when they were looking at her from the sky.


    "Subordinates of the Overlord of the sky, why have youe to my territory?" The Golden Fox didn''t speak using her mouth, instead, they heard her voice in their heads.


    "Lady Tsukiko, I have brought a letter from our lord." When the Golden Fox heard what the leader of the Elite Guard said, she started to shrink in size. Once she was small enough Tsukiko turned into a human form.


    Her fox eyes looked at the surprised Elite Guard. She couldn''t help but giggle. It was always fun to watch the reactions of the people who see her true form after she shows the gigantic one. Tsukiko then approached the stunned leader of the Elite Guard and took the letter from him.


    Tsukiko then read the letter, at the beginning she was smiling, but as she continued reading the letter she started frowning. Once she was done reading Tsukiko who usually had a yful aura started emitting intense killing intent.


    "You tell your lord that no matter what happens, the answer is a NO! I reject his stupid ns, and most importantly I reject him! Now that you heard my answer go back to your lord and tell him what I said."


    The Elite Guard were stunned and confused by what Tsukiko said as they didn''t know the contents of the letter. Seeing as they weren''t moving at all Tsukiko shouted at them again.


    "I said LEAVE!" Tsukiko enhanced her voice using a spell which made her voice actually produce a gust of wind. The Elite Guard finally moved and fled the scene.

 Chapter 288 Talking with Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 288 Talking with Kretos</h4>


    Le and Kretos were journeying to the top of the mountain range towards their of the Overlord of the Sky, Jiro. As they continued walking the rocky mountain path Kretos noticed that the sky was getting darker. In the very next second lightning lit up the skies. A strong gust of wind followed afterward.


    At so high up the strength of the wind made it difficult to walk. Kretos and Le needed to find shelter and fast. Even though mana could protect one from a multitude of things, it cannot stop one from getting an illness if you aren''t careful enough. Kretos scanned the surrounding area with his mana sense. After a short while, he found a cave at the side of the mountain that was up ahead.


    Kretos and Le quickly moved onward, as it started raining heavily. Each drop was heavier than thest. Seeing the weather was worsening the two sped up and finally reached the cave.


    The cave was of course dark and damp, and there were a few monsters in it, but Kretos dealt with them swiftly. Kretos then summoned a ball of me and it hovered near him and Le.


    Once there was light in the cave, the two saw that it was smaller than they originally thought. Still, it had enough space for the two of them. They just needed to wait for the storm to pass.


    Seeing as they had found shelter, Kretos started taking off his clothes and ced them on the ground near the ball of fire. When Le saw this she started panicking.


    "W-w-what the heck are you doing?!"


    "Hmm, I''m taking off my clothes, since even with the use of mana I still might catch a cold. You should do it too." Kretos approached Le and was about to forcefully remove her clothes when Le signaled him to stop.


    "There''s no need for that, I''m not wearing normal clothes. These clothes are created using my fur. It''s a racial ability of us werewolves, If we wore normal clothes and turn into our wolf forms it will rip. So one of our ancestors created a way where we can use our fur and turn it into clothes."


    "... That''s a rather convenient skill." After saying that Kretos sat down and spoke no longer. The cave suddenly became eerily quiet as the two stood in front of the fire. The sound of crackling thunder could be heard as a backdrop. While the strong wind blows inside the cave. If they were using a normal fire it might have already been snuffed out.


    Kretos was calmly circting his mana and trying to stabilize its increase. On the other hand, Le was getting restless from the quiet atmosphere in the cave as well as the background sounds of thunder from afar.


    She looked at Kretos who had his eyes closed while in a lotus position. She couldn''t take it anymore and started speaking.


    "Hey, I''ve been wondering for a while now, but why do you want to battle so much?" Kretos didn''t respond and continued silently circting his mana.


    "I mean, I understand that most demons enjoy a good battle every now and then, but you seem to be different. Even the most battle crazed of demons doesn''t seek battle as much as you do." Kretos didn''t respond again and Le simply continued talking.


    "It''s as if you''re trying to find something in battle... I''m not sure what it is, but there must be a reason why you seek it so actively." Kretos sighed as he opened his eyes and finally responded.


    "It''s because I no longer feel much of anything. The only time I truly feel anything at all is when I''m in a battle."


    "Why?"


    "In the Shadow n, to be perfect assassins, to be a pure killing de, we were trained to suppress our feelings, it was better if we could remove any emotion that could negatively affect the oue of an assassination. There were many different ways as to how the elders in my n did this. One of which was to ce the child in a dark environment and lock him there for days. That was what my parents put me in."


    "After a couple of days with minimal food and water, the adults would ce a monster inside that locked environment. The monster wasn''t necessarily strong, but it was quick. The child wouldn''t know that a monster had entered the environment, and will think someone from the outside hade to kill him."


    "Alone in that dark ce with a monster attacking me, I felt nothing. At this point in my training, I was already only thinking about survival. I no longer held onto anything nor did I feel anything at all. Till now I still feel more or less the same. Though I guess I feel more emotions than I used to."


    "Yet when I was being attacked by that monster on that day, I felt nothing, not fear nor excitement. But as time went on and I could somehow feel the flow of the monster''s attacks. It was not that he as slowing down, but I was getting used to his movements."


    "In that dark environment were not even a single speck of light could be seen, I was able to evade the monster''s attacks. As I continued to evade each attack, I started feeling something. I didn''t understand what I was feeling at the time, but I was intoxicated by how new it was."


    "After a while, the monster finally slowed down, and I was able to kill it with my bare hands. Since then I tried to find that feeling again. The more I fought, the more I understood. That feeling I had at that time was something I could only feel at the height of a battle, where there''s a chance that I could die."


    "I love battle because it makes me who feels mostly nothing, feel like I''m alive. It makes me feel like it''s worth living and it''s worth moving forward. It''s like my soul itself is driving me onward. That''s what I think, but for some reason, a part of me thinks it''s not as deep as I make it sound. Nowadays I just think that there''s no true reason, I just really love fighting, especially fighting people stronger than me."


    "I see... But if you truly don''t feel anything aside from the time you''re in battle, why did you save me?"


    "... I don''t know... I just felt like it." When Le heard Kretos''s answer she smiled.


    "So what kind of battles have you had?" Le asked and Kretos with nothing better to do recounted the tales of his greatest battles to date. Le listened to Kretos''s stories and felt like she was slowly understanding the so called yer of demon lords.

 Chapter 289 The Overlord of the Sky

    <h4>Chapter 289 The Overlord of the Sky</h4>


    Once the storm went away Kretos and Le continued their journey to the demon lord''sir. It took them a few days before they were able to reach the highest mountain peak where Jiro the overlord of the sky resides. When they got there, a swarm of Tengu and Harpies surrounded them.


    Kretos licked his lips as he summoned a pair of daggers from his shadow. Le also took out the daggers he got from Kretos and felt a bit tense and at the same time excited. The Tengu and Harpies red at Kretos and Le, when they were about to attack a booming voice stopped them.


    "Let them pass!" Hearing themand of their lord the group of demons reluctantly made way for Kretos and Le. Seeing the group of demons no longer about to fight him, Kretos looked disappointed.


    ''Well, I dide here for the demon lord.'' Thinking about that made Kretos feel a bit better. Kretos then hid his des back into his shadow and proceeded forward.


    ...


    On top of the highest mountain that could oversee the whole demonnds stood the Overlord of the sky, Jiro. His ck wings were of a deeper darker color than the rest. Not only that unlike the other Tengus who had red skin and had a face with a pointy nose, instead he had light brown skin and simply looked like a rather handsome human with ck wings.


    Jiro was looking at Kretos with a frown on his face. He spread his long dark wings to intimidate Kretos but that just made him even more excited.


    "You''re sote, what took you so long?"


    "It would take someone a few weeks before they reach the top of the highest mountain. I already came here faster than most could, by foot." Hearing Kretos''s answer, Jiro shrugged his shoulders and sighed.


    "This is why demons without wings are such weaklings."


    "Heh, how about you show me how much stronger you are than me." Kretos looked at Jiro and smiled his vicious smile. He then took out his favorite sword. Seeing his actions made Jiro sigh even more.


    "You''re in so much of a rush to die. Well, since you dyed me in meeting my future Queen, I guess killing you fast and going to her would be for the best." Jiro pped his mighty wings causing a gust of wind to blow pass Kretos and Le. Seeing that the two were about ready to fight, Le distanced herself from the two.


    "Let''s see if you can do as you say. If you''re able to kill me in battle, I will forever be grateful to you Overlord of the Sky, Jiro."


    "Heh, you''re weirder than the rumors implied. So you want to be killed in battle? Very well, I am a magnanimous lord, I will fulfill your wish."


    "Show it to me then, show me you can do it!" Kretos gestured Jiro toe, and within the next moment, Jiro was already in front of him. Kretos was surprised by how fast Jiro moved. The demon lord was almost as fast as him maybe even faster.


    Kretos quickly got a hold of himself and tried attacking first. The moment Kretos''s sword was going to hit, Jiro blocked the strike using his wings. Upon contact with Jiro''s wings, Kretos''s sword had bounced back. Already a bit unstable, Jiro pushed Kretos which made him lose bnce. Seeing the unbnced Kretos, Jiro then used the spell [wind slice].


    Kretos twisted his body in a weird way to avoid the strike. He barely avoided the spell, when Jiro suddenly kicked him. Kretos was blown away into a nearby wall of rocks. Kretos quickly recovered and had a smile even wider than before. He gathered mana into his sword and charged in.


    Kretos shed downward, this time Jiro didn''t block the attack but evaded it with minimal movement. He then pped his wings and some of his feathers started flying towards Kretos. Seeing the iing feathers Kretos did a backflip to evade.


    The feathers that flew past Kretos hit the nearby rocks and shattered them. Jiro then moved behind Kretos who backflipped and attacked but punching. Kretos barely blocked the attack with his sword. Not only was Jiro faster than Kretos, but his strength was no joke as well.


    Kretos found it really fun, seeing Jiro get behind him every time. It was like the demon lord was telling him, see how fast I ampared to you.


    ''Well, I guess warming up is finished.''


    Kretos lowered his stance and no longer moved from his spot. Jiro once again got behind Kretos but the moment he did so he felt the cold de by his neck. Jiro was somehow able to evade, but he was dumbfounded by that strike. It was impossible to react that fast.


    That attack was clearly made before he even got behind Kretos. Jiro was a little bit rattled but that didn''t mean he was scared. He once again moved, but this time he did not go behind Kretos but instead moved above him. Yet despite moving in a different direction Kretos''s de was there waiting for him.


    Jiro who barely evaded the attack again didn''t give up and continued to attack Kretos from different angles. He knew that he was faster than Kretos so he didn''t like the feeling that Kretos was able to react to his movements. Yet no matter what angle he attacked in Kretos''s de was always there to greet him.


    ''It''s as if he can predict what I would do next.''


    Jiro got irritated and no longer fought in close range, instead, he started bombarding Kretos with his feathers and spells. Kretos continued to smile that vicious smile of his, enjoying the iing onught.


    Kretos quickly changed weapons from his sword to his daggers. He then enveloped his daggers with mana and attacked the iing feathers and spells. He deflected each and every one of them. At first, he was getting nicked here and there, but as usual, the more he fought the more he grew until he could finally feel the flow of battle. Seeing what was happening Jiro sped up his attacks and used more varied spells.


    Kretos was enjoying this fight and this feeling that he could die at any moment. He couldn''t help butugh as he continued to stand his ground deflecting every attack.

 Chapter 290 Special Skill

    <h4>Chapter 290 Special Skill</h4>


    The Elite Guard were watching Kretos and Jiro''s battle from a distance. It was a fast-paced battle that was difficult to see. At first, they were happy to see that Jiro held an almost overwhelming advantage. Yet as the fight went on they saw that it was moving in favor of Kretos.


    As the two continued with their exchange with no one gaining the upper hand, Jiro stopped attacking.


    "I''m growing tired of this. I''ll kill you now!"


    "You keep on saying that, but I don''t see you being able to do it." Kretos provoked Jiro wanting to see more of the demon lord''s power. Jiro was hating this horned demon more and more.


    "I''m going to f*cking kill you now!" Jiro''s body started to blur and his mana fluctuation started spiking and falling. Kretos didn''t know what Jiro was doing, but he was excited to find out. A few secondster Kretos felt that Jiro was emitting multiple mana fluctuations.


    To Kretos''s surprise Jiro''s body started splitting one became two and two became four and four became six. Though he was surprised, Kretos didn''t fail to notice that the moment Jiro''s body separated into six, his mana was also distributed to the six of them. All six of them had lower mana supplies than the original.


    ...


    The six Jiro''s charged at Kretos and the same as before Kretos predicted his movements. Kretos threw one of his daggers behind him, killing the Jiro clone who appeared there. Kretos then jumped upward evading the Jiro clone who was about to tackle him from the side.


    Kretos stabbed the Jiro that appeared in front of him, but that was a mistake. The moment Kretos stabbed the clone in front of him, the Jiro clone didn''t die immediately and was able to hold onto his hand.


    Due to this mistake, Kretos was unable to move for a second, which was enough time for the remaining four Jiro''s to do something. Another Jiro held onto him from behind. The two clones with Kretos at hand flew upward.


    As they rose higher into the sky, Kretos noticed that the air was getting thinner and it was getting harder for him to breathe. If this continued he would die from suffocation. Kretos with all his might headbutted the Jiro clone in front of him. The Jiro clone who was stabbed and headbutted could no longer retain consciousness and finally, let go of Kretos.


    Once the Jiro clone in front was out of the picture, Kretos had his arms free. Kretos quickly stabbed the Jiro clone holding him from behind. As the clone was dying its grip on Kretos loosened enabling Kretos to escape.


    ...


    Without the two Jiro clones flying him, Kretos was now falling from the sky. Kretos didn''t have any skill or ability which allowed him to fly. He knew how to fight flying opponent''s but that was all he knew about flying.


    Kretos could now see the mountain top were Jiro was looking at him. The Overlord of the sky didn''t even move an inch, truly believing that Kretos would die from the fall.


    Kretos finally thought of something as he quickly used a wind spell and created a gust of wind to softly push him upward. He then controlled the gust of wind to help himnd safely on the ground. His control was a bit rough since Kretos wasn''t that proficient with other elements except darkness.


    ...


    The two Jiro clones frowned while watching what Kretos was doing and started bombarding him with their feathers. Kretos seeing the iing feathers about to strike him lost concentration on his spell and started falling rapidly to the ground.


    Kretos finally fell to the ground creating a huge crater. As he staggered while trying to stand Kretos started coughing up blood. When the two Jiro clones saw Kretos they were surprised to see that even though he looked weakened, Kretos''s body was still tightly intact.


    "Is that it, it isn''t right?! Show me more, demon lord!"


    "Don''t you dare order me around!" The two Jiro clones started attacking Kretos in a coordinated stream of attacks. Since he was still weak in the knees Kretos was unable to dodge the attacks. Kretos used his mana barrier to survive fatal injuries but as expected from a demon lord he was able to pierce through Kretos''s mana barrier after a few strikes.


    Kretos had no choice but to tighten his defenses as he allowed Jiro to one-sidedly attack him for the time being. Kretos was so excited since every time he fought a demon lord he would always feel this kind of tension.


    Jiro saw that Kretos was already a bloodied mess but was still standing. Not only that Kretos was still showing that vicious smile of his, which made Jiro feel even more irritated.


    "Why the f*ck are you smiling! Are you mocking me! You who only knows how to crawl on the ground, dare to mock me the ruler of the skies!" The two Jiro clones once again moved in total synchronization to attack Kretos. Yet this time as they got close they could hear Kretos''s voice whispering in their ears.


    "I finally got you." Kretos grabbed hold of both of the clones. He then without mercy started pummeling them to the ground. Kretos finished off one of the clones by breaking its neck, while the other he broke the clone''s back.


    Once all of the clones were defeated, the bodies of each clone started turning into a mist of mana, and from that mist formed Jiro''s original body. The original Jiro didn''t look like he was injured but his mana was at an all-time low. Jiro then started coughing up blood as he red at Kretos.


    The two locked eyes and didn''t say a word. The world was silent for the two of them, it was as if nothing else existed. They could practically hear each other''s heartbeat. In what seems like an eternity, Jiro made the first move.


    With his fastest speed, he attacked Kretos head-on. Yet as he reached his target he could feel the cold de slicing through his neck. He then heard the voice of his enemy speaking in his ears.


    "Thank you for the battle."

 Chapter 291 Until we meet again

    <h4>Chapter 291 Until we meet again</h4>


    After thanking his opponent for the battle, Kretos could feel his consciousness fading. He was getting sleepy as he lost too much blood. His injuries this time were far worse than when he fought Darius. He needed to merge with his shadow, or else he would be a sitting duck.


    He tried pushing himself but his consciousness couldn''t hold out. He didn''t have enough rity to use the technique.


    ''Is this it for me?... At least myst battle was a fun one...'' Kretos lost consciousness.


    ...


    Upon seeing the death of their lord the Tengus and Harpies were stunned in ce. They couldn''tprehend what had just happened. The Overlord of the sky who had ruled the mountains of the North for three centuries has died.


    Now that their lord was dead the other tribes would start trying to conquer their territory. With their current strength, it would be next to impossible to hold onto what they have. As fear gripped the hearts of some of the Tengus and Harpies, most of them started thinking that this was an opportunity that they could be the new lord.


    As they were about to start arguing the group looked at the still breathing Kretos. It was then they all had the same thought.


    ''If we don''t kill him now, he would kill us allter.''


    The Tengus and Harpies slowly approached Kretos''s body, wary that he might suddenly move. As they were getting closer to Kretos''s body, Le appeared before them.


    With her twin daggers at hand, she stood in front of the hundreds of the Tengus and Harpies. She wanted to flee with Kretos, but even in her wolf form in this mountain area the winged demons would easily catch up to her.


    If she wanted to save Kretos her only option was to hold her ground until he wakes up. Even though she just met him a few days ago, she just couldn''t watch him die.


    The winged demons were a bit wary when they saw Le appear. They weren''t sure if she was a threat or not but seeing as her daggers were simr to Kretos''s they thought they might be of the same skill level. So they decided to bombard her with long-range attacks, to test the waters.


    Le seeing all the Tengus getting ready to attack her from long-range was flustered for a moment, but then she remembered that Kretos withstood an attack of a greater level. He didn''t back down despite getting hit a lot at the beginning.


    Remembering that scene granted Le greater courage. She then copied Kretos''s smile the vicious smile he shows as he got excited in battle. But Le was showing a simr smile for a different reason. She wanted courage, smiling that same smile as Kretos felt like she could do anything, it gave her courage.


    Le who had weaker mana as a werewolf knew that she couldn''t block spells like Kretos by cutting them apart. But she knew that she could redirect the spells with a little bit of mana and control. So she was ready to protect Kretos with all her might.


    When the Tengu and Harpies saw Le''s smile they hesitated even more. That was the same smile Kretos had as he fought their lord Jiro. By now most of the Winged Demons especially the Elite Guard associated that smile with death.


    They wanted to flee, but if they left Kretos alone he might hunt them downter. This was the best chance they had to kill such a powerful demon. The girl facing them was only emitting a little bit of mana, and she looked so much weaker than Kretos. Also, it''s not like they needed to defeat the girl, all they needed to do was to have one spell go pass her and kill Kretos.


    The Tengus then spread out and surrounded Le and Kretos. Once they were in their respective positions they started bombarding Le and Kretos with their spells and feathers.


    Le could see each and every one of those attacks as if they were in slow-mo. Compared to Kretos and Jiro''s attacks these ones were as slow as a tortoise. She felt confident that she could block all the iing attacks. With her naturally strong physique and the speed of a werewolf, Le was able to hit all the iing attacks and diverted them. Not a single one had hit Kretos, on the other hand, Le had scratches here and there.


    When the Tengus and the Harpies saw that Le had scratches they were emboldened. They now understood that her capabilities were a far cry from Kretos''s. All they needed to do was wear her down.


    The Harpies now joined in the attack and coordinated with the Tengus. Seeing that the next wave had arrived Le felt a bit excited, as she could feel like she finally understood the flow of battle.


    Her movements were bing even more fluid, yet despite being able to move in such a way her body could not keep up. She was feeling muscle pains as she was moving in such a way her body was unable to follow properly. Even though she was no longer hit by any attacks, she felt excruciating pain. Yet despite that, she continued to protect Kretos''s unconscious body.


    "Is that all you''ve got, show me more!" Le shouted at her enemies copying what she believed Kretos would say. The moment she said those words, she felt like she was Kretos. It was as if she could take on anything or anyone.


    The Tengus were momentarily stunned by her statement, but afterward, they got angry and started increasing their output.


    Le could feel it, the pulse of the battle, she knew which spells to attack which to dodge, and when to move Kretos''s body. It was a feeling like no other and she enjoyed every second of it.


    ''This must be what Kretos always felt.'' Le happily blocked the attacks while killing the nearby Harpies.


    ...


    Kretos who had lost consciousness was slowly waking up. He still felt his body was pretty heavy and his mana cirction was slowly flowing, but the wounds he had were now a bit healed. It was at this moment he could hear the sounds of battle, and he could smell a familiar metallic odor like iron.


    He could feel some kind of liquid near his face, it was most likely blood. He was sure it wasn''t his since the amount was a lot. If he bled this much he should be dead already.


    Kretos slowly opened his eyes, it was a bit blurry at first but he could see a bunch of dead Tengus and Harpies. He then heard a voice, it was a happy yet sad voice.


    "So you''re finally awake... I guess with this I no longer owe you, for the teaching fees." Kretos looked at where the voice came from, and he saw Le. Her entire body was full of wounds, her left hand was broken. Seeing how much damage she received it was a surprise to see her still alive much less talk.


    She was kneeling in front of Kretos, her back full of ck feathers that were sticking out of her. Some talons from harpies were also stuck at random parts of her body. Seeing this scene Kretos knew what had happened. Le who was relieved to see Kretos wake up started to fall.


    Kretos quickly sat up and caught the falling werewolf. As shey down in his arms Kretos could feel her pulse weakening, her body was growing cold. Kretos couldn''t understand it but he was feeling something new, something different, as he watched Le slowly dying in his arms.


    Le looked at Kretos with a tender smile on her face. She then spoke her tone full of pride and joy.


    "I was able to do it Kretos, I felt the flow of battle. Hehehe, I finally understand why you seek battle so much. That was an amazing feeling, it was as if I was the battle itself." Le started coughing up blood. Hearing what she said and seeing her fragile yet happy look, Kretos who was numbed to most emotions felt something he couldn''t quite grasp. It was a painful feeling more so than any other he felt before.


    "Why?"


    "Huh?"


    "Why did you protect me?" Hearing Kretos''s question Le in the midst of her coughing also giggled.


    "I don''t know as well... I just felt like I needed to protect you."


    "That doesn''t make any sense. You should''ve run away and left me for dead. I would''ve never fault you for that."


    "Hahaha, I knew it... Even though you say you don''t feel anything aside from when you battle, you''re still a kind person. Straightforward and gentle, though short it was fun having this little adventure with you. I hope we can... Have another... Fun adventure..." After saying thosest words with a happy smile, Le lost consciousness. Kretos could feel that any moment now Le would die.


    Kretos knew nothing of healing magic, as demons have great regenerative abilities. He didn''t know how to save Le, but he felt like he needed to do something to save her somehow. Kretos had a sudden thought. He used a spell to freeze Le''s wounds to stop her from bleeding out, he then used a protection spell to make her body unable to die from freezing. Once he was done with his preparations, like what he did with Nimune, Kretos used the spell [Ice Coffin] which encased Le''s body in ice.


    In this state she wasn''t dead nor was she alive. You could say Kretos was able to stop her time from flowing. For now, she would just stay here until he or someone else could find a way to save her. Alongside the cold environment and being a ce with lots of natural mana that was on top of this mountain, the spell should be able to hold for a few millennia.


    Encased in ice Le looked like a beautiful sleeping maiden from those human fairytales. Kretos touched the ice, still unsure as to what he was feeling spoke to her.


    "Until we meet again."

 Chapter 292 I cannot figh

    <h4>Chapter 292 I cannot figh</h4>


    After he was done with cing a few seals on the mountain, Kretos headed down and dered the Northern mountain range as his property. If anyone would dare enter, he would hunt them down and kill them.


    After hearing his deration, of course, many demons would listen to him, but as always there were a few that didn''t heed his warning. Since Kretos said what he said, it was obvious he was hiding a very precious treasure on the mountain, maybe it was something that could give a demon power to be as strong as a demon lord. The temptation was something most demons couldn''t ignore.


    Those brave yet foolish demons came to the mountain to find whatever Kretos was trying to hide. Yet the moment they set foot on the mountain their heads flew away from their body. The few who survived watched as the demons who came first became headless.


    It turns out Kretos was there waiting for them toe. He already knew that there would be some idiots that woulde despite his warnings. So Kretos decided to stay near the mountain range for a few months.


    After that incident, all the other demons knew that Kretos was waiting for them to go to the mountain range. He was serious in killing all who would enter. This was the yer of demon lords, and he has already in three of them which made his words sound even more menacing. No one not even the most foolish of demons thought of going to the Northern Mountains.


    ...


    The news of the Overlord of the sky''s death wasn''t as big as a deal as the first two demon lords to fall, since a lot of demons were now expecting Kretos to win. He had already proven time and time again that he was nearly invincible in battle. So they were more curious as to why he was protecting the mountain, rather than hearing of Jiro''s death.


    While everyone was discussing what could be on the mountain that Kretos was protecting it so well, Kretos himself was deep in thought.


    For the first time in his entire life, he was feeling somethingpletely foreign to him. He couldn''t understand it but he was feeling intense pain in his heart, and sometimes for whatever reason, he would start to feel sad. Most of the time this happens when he was reminded of Le.


    Even now he couldn''t figure out why she would do what she did. Even if he did teach her a bit of the basic movements in using the daggers, sacrificing her life for his was too much of a payment. Also, why did she smile so beautifully at the end?


    That gentle yet alluring smile of hers haunts Kretos even now. It made him feel hurt and angry. The more he couldn''t understand why he was feeling this way, the more irritated Kretos had be. Not even killing a horde of monsters made him feel better.


    As the pain, the anger, the confusion, the sorrow, as all of these emotions swirled within him, Kretos felt like he needed to do something to ease the pain.


    He took out the giant sword he used to y most of the demon lords and started swinging it. He tried emptying his mind and be one with his sword, but to his surprise, he couldn''t do it. What used to be something simple for him, became extremely difficult to do.


    Each one of his swings became heavier and heavier as time went on, not only that but the sharpness in his swings had be dull. Usually, the exact opposite would happen. He wasn''t even able to create a decent mana barrier.


    Kretos knew that if he fought in his current condition the same demon lords again, he would be killed on the first strike.


    Kretos sighed and was about to swing his sword again when he heard a voice simr to his own whispering in his ears.


    "She died for you."


    "You killed her."


    "You have failed her."


    Hearing his own voice say those things made it even worse. Kretos shouted at himself as he swung his sword downward.


    "I didn''t want her to die! I wasn''t the one who killed her! She was the one who decided to do what she wanted to do! I never asked for this, I never wanted any of this to happen!"


    Kretos shouted what he was feeling as he continued to swing his sword. This was the first time the now eighteen-year-old Kretos acted his age. Despite his age, he would usually act much older and calmer than his peers. Yet now he was screaming angrily at no one but himself.


    Another Kretos took form in front of him. This other Kretos was also holding a simr sword as him, this other Kretos was looking at him, while was smirking.


    "You didn''t want her to die? Then why did you bring her with you to face a demon lord? You weren''t the one who killed her? Then by whose hands did she fall on? She was the one who decided to do what she wanted to do? Weren''t you the one who inspired her to do so? You never wanted this to happen? But it all already happened and you should ept it!"


    The other Kretos suddenly dashed towards Kretos and attacked, Kretos blocked his other self''s sword and the two locked swords.


    "You speak as if all of these shouldn''t be affecting you, but it''s affecting you more than you think! It''s a wound deeper than you could handle!" The other Kretos was able to push the real one back. Each word he said bit deeper and deeper into Kretos.


    "Ask yourself this, why was she so important to you, that her life and death has sent you into confusion, into near insanity!" The other Kretos shouted as he showed the vicious smile Kretos would show when he gets excited in battle. The original Kretos himself was once again pushed back barely able to handle each strike.


    Even though Kretos knew that the being in front of him was merely an illusion created by his grief and hesitations, the pain he felt after receiving each strike seems so real.


    "How could someone you just met be this important to you?!"


    "I DON''T KNOW!" This time it was Kretos who pushed away his other self, as he started going into the offensive.


    "I don''t know! I don''t know! I don''t know! How could I understand any of this?! All I knew was the battlefield! All I understood was my de! My life and world all revolved around fighting and killing! How should I know what these feelings are?! How should I know what she meant to me?! She was a simple werewolf girl that I taught for a bit nothing more nothing less!"


    The moment Kretos said hisst line his other self seems to be empowered and once again counterattacked.


    "That can''t be all she was to you, don''t you dare lie to yourself!" The other Kretos stabbed the original. No blood came out of it, but Kretos felt extreme pain and screamed. He then pushed the other Kretos away and shouted.


    "Even if you do this, I don''t understand! I will never understand!" The two Kretos''s stopped attacking each other and stood a few meters apart.


    "You''re lying again! The truth of the matter is, you just don''t want to ept the truth, as epting it means getting hurt even more. You may be able to take a hit and survive even the direst of situations, but a hit to your emotions makes this weak."


    When Kretos heard what his other self said he who kept running away from the truth decided to face it head-on. The moment he decided this his other self smiled and waited for him to speak.


    "I get it already! I understand it already. She was important to me. She was the first of my peers to ever talk to me without hostility, jealousy, or any ulterior motives. She was straightforward and told me what she wanted without hiding anything back. She apanied me in my training... She was my..."


    "Friend, she was your friend." The other-self responded with a gentle smile on his face.


    "Yes, she was my very first friend." When Kretos came to this realization the illusion in front of him smiled and then disappeared. It was then Kretos finally understood why his heart was in pain. He started to feel great sorrow as he started to cry for the first time in his entire life.


    He has never cried before, even in battle, even when he needed to kill his family, not once has a tear fell from his face. Yet now he couldn''t stop himself from crying his heart out. Was that why she protected him because she too realized that they were friends?


    ''How am I going to save her? No one in the demonnds knows any healing magic. Am I really left with no other options but to head to the human kingdoms?...''


    While Kretos was thinking, he suddenly remembered that there was a demon that knew a multitude of spells, even the most obscure ones. This demon was also powerful enough, that maybe she could save Le. This demon was none other than the demon lord of the Kitsune tribe, Demonic Fox Tsukiko.


    ''I will ask her for help, and if she doesn''tply I will beat her until she does.''

 Chapter 293 Demonic Fox Tsukiko

    <h4>Chapter 293 Demonic Fox Tsukiko</h4>


    Kretos started his journey to the east. This time he didn''t take his time to head there and went full speed. Usually, he would slowly head to his destination and kill some monsters on the way. Yet on this asion, he did none of that and quickly headed to the Easternnds.


    As he neared the border of the easternnds he saw two four-meter tall Onis. These were the brothers that protected the border between the Eastern and Northernnds. Kretos would''ve wanted to face these famous Oni brothers in battle but he was in a hurry.


    Kretos used [Shadow Walk] another technique from his n which allows him to walk between the shadows of others. After he got past the two Onis Kretos once again dashed forward towards the tree Jubokko.


    As he got near he saw not only the gigantic tree Jubokko but a giant fox as well. The Golden Fox whose eyes were looking straight at him was obviously the Demon lord Tsukiko. Kretos sped up even more and eventually reached the tree.


    When Kretos stood in front of the demon lord he found Tsukiko''s mana fluctuation to be quite weird. There was something off about it.


    "yer of Demon Lords, Kretos of the Shadow n. What brings you to my abode? Are you here to kill me as well?"


    Even though Tsukiko''s voice sounded calm on the outside, but there were little cracks in her tone. The truth was Tsukiko was a little bit afraid of Kretos. Unlike the other demon lords, she had fought only a few times, even fewer than Darius. She was also the youngest of the demon lords and didn''t really like fighting.


    So when news came that Kretos had defeated Jiro, Tsukiko was both happy and anxious. She was happy because Jiro was dead, but she was anxious there were only two demon lords left. What if Kretos decided to fight her first. Will he be willing to allow her to live? Was there any possible way that they don''t need to fight?


    As she was panicking at what to do, Tsukiko heard the news that Kretos was protecting the Northern Mountain range for some reason. At first, Tsukiko was worried that Kretos would leave immediately after protecting it for a few days, but when he stayed there for a couple of months she felt relieved. She hoped with all her heart that Kretos would simply stay there forever. Yet such a simple wish couldn''t be fulfilled. Now standing before her was the very person she never wanted to meet.


    Tsukiko wanted to flee as fast as she could, but she didn''t want to show her back to Kretos who she felt could easily slice her apart. So instead she tried to intimidate him with her illusion. But unlike all the others that saw her for the first time, Kretos didn''t look impressed.


    ...


    Kretos was assessing the demon lord Tsukiko when he finally noticed what was weird about her. He could now finally understand why her mana fluctuation was off.


    "Demonic Fox Tsukiko, show me your true form."


    When Tsukiko heard what Kretos said she almost yelped in fear. This was the first time anyone has questioned her illusion. Even Darius was fooled by this illusion once. Tsukiko started feeling even more anxious but she stood her ground and remained calm on the outside.


    "What do you mean by-" Before Tsukiko could finish what she was going to say, Kretos had summoned a spear from his shadow and threw it at the gigantic demon fox. The spear went through the illusion and hit the tree Jubokko.


    The power in that strike was able to shake the oldest tree in the demonnds. When Tsukiko saw what happened she started feeling light-headed. If that were to hit her, she would''ve been gravely injured. The worse part was she didn''t even see iting and was unable to react to it at all.


    "Don''t y these tricks with me. I did note here to fight, I came here to talk." Kretos spoke while readying another spear.


    Seeing another speare out of Kretos''s shadow, Tsukiko dispelled her illusion and showed her human form to Kretos.


    ''Not here to fight but talk? You''re pretty much threatening me!'' Tsukiko sighed as she appeared before Kretos. She approached Kretos with a dignified countenance. Even though she was indeed a little bit scared of Kretos, she was still a demon lord.


    "What do you wish to talk about?"


    "I want you to help me with something. If you don''tply I will make youply by force." Kretos gripped the spear he was holding tighter than before. He even started emitting bloodlust which slightly unnerved Tsukiko.


    ''So he needs something from me.'' When Tsukiko understood this point she felt a bit more confident.


    "Is this how you ask for favors? If I don''tply how would you force me to do what you want, by beating me up? I might not like to fight, but I am still a demon lord. Also, if you use force to make meply, the more I won''t listen to your request."


    Kretos gritted his teeth, he knew what the demon lord was saying was right, but he had never asked anyone for a favor before. In fact, he never thought that he would ever be asking anyone for a favor. So he found it difficult to do so, but when he remembered Le sleeping in that ice coffin, Kretos sucked it up and knelt on the ground.


    "Demonic fox Tsukiko, please help me."


    Tsukiko was rather surprised by what was happening before her. All the imaginary scenarios she thought of on what Kretos would do, never did she imagine this would happen. The most she could imagine was Kretos killing her outright, or telling her to be his woman, or even asking her to kill herself, but him kneeling in front of her was beyond anything she could imagine.


    When she saw Kretos acting all subservient she wanted to y around a bit more. Even in such a situation, her inner prankster was poking out. Yet as she was about to speak, Kretos started emitting something dangerous. It was obvious that he was holding back as he knelt in front of Tsukiko.


    Feeling the intensity of his aura, Tsukiko awkwardly smiled and no longer thought of pranking Kretos. ''It was rumored that Kretos was a calm and cool kind of guy, but I guess those rumors were false. This person is really high strung.''


    "Fine, tell me what is you need, if I can help you I will. But of course, I need something in exchange for my help."


    Kretos stopped kneeling and stood up. He looked at Tsukiko for a second and nodded his head.


    "Alright, what do you want in exchange?"


    "I want you to promise not to harm me and my territory."


    "I promise I will not harm you nor shall I harm your territory," Kretos answered without any hesitation. Tsukiko was momentarily stunned but then nodded her head.


    "Very well, I shall trust your word."


    After confirming that they had made a deal, Kretos started to exin what had happened to Le. When Tsukiko heard the whole story she was once again surprised. It would seem that some of the rumors going on about Kretos were truly false. How is this a man that only thinks of battle? He was clearly here worried about his friend or maybe lover.


    "I can''t tell if I''m able to save her or not if I don''t see her. So let''s head there now." Tsukiko snapped her fingers and a magic circle appeared under her feet. She had been ying pranks on all the other demon lords a lot of times, so she had set up a teleportation spot near each of the other demon lordsirs, all except Darius''sir. That guy changed residences so much there was no point in setting up a teleportation spot.


    After activating the spell, in the blink of an eye, Tsukiko and Kretos appeared on top of the Northern Mountain range. The bodies of the dead Tengus and Harpies were no longer there as Kretos cleaned them up. In their ce, Kretos set up a garden of flowers on top of the snowy mountain. He had ced numerous talismans and spells to make the flowers survive for a very long time.


    Tsukiko was surprised at what she saw on top of the cold mountain where the Overlord of the sky used to reside. The mountain top that had nothing but boulders was now filled with flowers. There in the middle of the garden of flowers was a werewolf girl encased in ice. It was like Tsukiko had entered one of those fairy tales that humans like to write and sing about.


    Tsukiko approached the ice coffin and ced her hands on it. After scanning the body inside the ice, Tsukiko came to a conclusion. Tsukiko looked at the hopeful expression on Kretos''s face and frowned. She didn''t want to say it but she needed to.


    "Kretos, the wounds on this werewolf are too severe to heal even for me. There is no spell that I know of that could save her. The moment she is released from this ice coffin, she would onlyst a few minutes before she dies... I''m sorry..."


    When Kretos heard Tsukiko''s diagnosis the hopeful expression on his face faded and he lowered his head making an unknown expression.


    "I see... Then can I change my favor? Can you erase my memories of her."


    "I can indeed do that, but... Are you sure?"


    Kretos looked at the sleeping Le encased in ice and felt something stabbing at his heart. If he wasn''t going to be able to save her, and if this emotion gets in the way of his fighting, then...


    "Yes, I''m sure."

 Chapter 294 Intermission part 3

    <h4>Chapter 294 Intermission part 3</h4>


    In the middle of the forest near the border between the Reschbeauch Kingdom and the Serbek Kingdom was a panting girl. This girl was Lara(?) surrounding her where numerous dead monsters, destroyed trees, and craters on the ground.


    ''This body is finally nearing the doorway to bing decent enough for me to grant my current self all of my memories. Still, fighting these monsters won''t cut it anymore. My current self also needs more experience fighting actual people with equal skills to hers. Let''s see... I guess I''ll head to the nearest town and see if there are some adventurers that are skilled enough to practice on or maybe there''s a quest I could take that could allow me to fight human opponents.''


    ...


    After thinking about what to do next, Lara(?) stored all the monsters she had killed into a subspace and left the forest. The speed in which she moved made her look like a blur. She was simply walking but it looked like she was dashing at an unbelievable pace. The truth was she was shrinking the distance of thend moving instantaneously to one point to another, it was simr to teleportation.


    It took Lara(?) only a few seconds before she reached the nearby town that was located a bit farther away from the borders between the two warring kingdoms. As she entered the town Lara(?) changed her expression into the normal Lara''s stoic expression.


    Upon entering the town Lara''s ice-cold look and her beautiful face and body attracted a lot of attention. Yet when they saw her gauntlets as well as the blood on her clothes, the onlookers stopped looking. In their ce, the guards were the ones who were now taking notice if Lara(?), and they approached the dangerous-looking girl.


    "Excuse me Miss but can you show us some identification?" Hearing what the guard captain said Lara(?) shed her adventurer''s badge that she hasn''t been using for some time.


    "An S rank Adventurer!" The guards and the people watching at the side were surprised to see the badge Lara(?) showed. Usually, S rank adventurers were much older, since bing an S rank requires finishing a ton of quests. It was surprising to see Lara(?) who looked like she was seventeen or eighteen years old, be an S rank adventurer.


    After being momentarily stunned the guard captain once again looked at Lara(?) and finally realized who she was. That cold look that showed no emotion, that beautiful face and body that made her look like a Valkyrie in battle. She was the youngest person to ever received the S rank as an adventurer.


    "The Silent Death, Lara." The guard captain mumbled under his breath.


    "Can I go now?" When they heard her question the guards unconsciously stepped aside and some of them even bowed.


    "Sorry for the dy, Ma''am!" The guard captain and his men saluted. Even though Lara(?) was an adventurer, she was also considered a hero to the people of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. She with the other maidens of battle had defended the border of the Kingdom from the Serbek Kingdom''s relentless attacks.


    Lara(?) looked at the guard captain and nodded her head before leaving. The people-watching were surprised to see such a famous figure enter their town. They couldn''t help but start gossiping. It would seem that the rumors about her ice-cold personality and stoic look were true. It didn''t take long before most of the town knew of Lara''s(?) arrival.


    ...


    Lara(?) entered the adventurers guild and upon entering, like usual most of the attention was now on her. The adventurers guild located in this town was rtively smallpared to the capital but was still bigger than those located in other towns. So there were currently a lot of adventurers inside the Guild''s building.


    This was also because the adventurers guild wasn''t only a ce to get quests, but it was also a ce that functioned as a pub and sometimes an inn depending on the town. It would seem that this particr adventurers guild had a pub in ce. There were already some adventurers drinking, and one of those drunks approached Lara(?)


    When Lara(?) saw the approaching drunk who was looking at her lewdly, she sighed. This was one of the cliches she hated the most since she felt both disgusted and irritated by such actions.


    "Heya cutie, what ya doing here, offering up a quest, o wait, yer an adventurer as well. I''m Greg also known as Greg the swift a B rank adventurer. So how about ya join me and my party, we''re all B rank adventurers. We''ll teach you all the ropes, of course, will have some fun as well."


    When the other adventurers saw what was happening they felt sorry for Lara(?) but they couldn''t do anything. Greg was the strongest adventurer in this town aside from the Guild Master. If they messed with him, they would need to leave town.


    The drunk Greg slowly approached Lara(?) who could only sigh. As she was about to do something to the drunken person called Greg, someone spoke.


    "Greg, what are you doing?" One of the receptionists spoke to Greg.


    "Huh? We''re just having a little talk, do you want to join in as well?" Greg eyed the female receptionist from head to toe and licked his lips. The female receptionist wasn''t pleased by the look Greg was giving her.


    "We already have manyints about you Greg, if you keep on doing this we will confiscate your adventurer''s badge and we will revoke your license. You will never be an adventurer again."


    When Greg heard the receptionist threatening him, he started frowning. He was used to doing things his way since he was the strongest adventurer in town well aside from the Guild Master stationed here, who was an A rank.


    "I''m really not doing anything, I''m just saying hello to our new adventurer friend over here." Greg was about to ce his right hand on Lara''s(?) shoulder when he suddenly could no longer feel his right hand. He then noticed the expression of the people looking at him, they were looking at him with shocked faces.


    He then looked at his right arm and saw that it was twisted in a weird way. When he saw what happened he finally felt the pain and started screaming. Even though the pain was immense Greg was also feeling angry as he looked at the only person who could''ve done this. He saw that Lara(?) wasn''t even bothering to look at him as she was walking away.


    "Come back here you b*tch!" Greg shouted while dashing towards Lara(?). He extended his left hand wanting to grab Lara(?) but then without even seeing how she moved, his left arm was also twisted.


    Greg screamed in pain and rolled on the ground. Seeing what happened to their leader, Greg''s party stood up from their chairs and had their weapons out. The receptionist wanted to do something but was stunned in ce. As things were about to escte a booming voice was heard.


    "ENOUGH!"


    Everyone''s attention shifted to the person who spoke. A middle-aged man wearing simple leather armor came down from the second floor. This person was the Guild Master of this branch of the adventurers guild and the one and only A rank in town.


    "Guild Master, this b*tch was the one who caused trouble first. Look at what he did to our leader!" One of Greg''s party members gestured at Greg''s twisted arms. Seeing what happened the Guild Master frowned. He approached Greg and touched both of Greg''s arms and bent and twisted them. After a short bout of screaming in pain and agony, Greg''s arms were fixed.


    "I fixed his arms now leave, or else I will revoke all your licenses as adventurers."


    "How about her? She''s the one who started all this!" Greg who had his arms fixed pointed at the stoic Lara(?). The Guild Master red at Greg and answered.


    "Hmph, do you think I don''t know what kind of person you are Greg? If you weren''tpetent in your job as an adventurer or if you went too far, I would''ve revoked your license and have you sent to prison long ago."


    When Greg heard what the Guild Master said he couldn''t say anything to rebuke. He could only re at Lara(?) for now. If the Guild Master wasn''t going to punish her, he would find a way to do it himself. As if reading his mind the Guild Master spoke to Greg.


    "Don''t bother doing what you''re thinking. It''s already a miracle that she didn''t kill you, so don''t push it."


    "You''re talking like you would''ve allowed her to kill me."


    "If she did kill you I cannot do anything about it. Those who gain S rank if they have a legitimate reason to can kill anyone that they deem to be criminals. Even if you weren''t a criminal they could still kill you, their strength makes them almost immune to all thews of thend."


    Everyone held their breath when they heard what the Guild Master said this young girl was an S rank? Even the haughty Greg and hispanions were looking a bit pale.


    "Y-y-you''re kidding, right? She can''t be an S rank, she''s too young to be one." Greg pointed at Lara(?) who still didn''t bother to look at him. She simply sat down at a nearby chair waiting for this charade to be over.


    "That''s where you''re wrong, allow me to introduce you to the youngest S rank adventurer. The one nicknamed Silent Death, Lara."


    When the adventurers heard her name and her adventurer nickname it finally dawned on them who the person sitting there without a care, was. When Greg heard what the Guild Master said, he trembled in fear and finally fainted. Seeing what happened to Greg the Guild Master sighed.


    "Bring him out of here." He ordered Greg''s party members who all nodded their heads and fled from the scene.


    "I''m sorry for the rude wee Lady Lara."


    "Not a problem."


    "I see... So how can I help you today?"


    "I''m here looking for a quest that would allow me to fight strong opponents." When the Guild Master heard Lara''s(?) request he pondered for a second. After a moment of thinking, he finally remembered the perfect quest to give.


    "Lady Lara, the Adventurers Guild has the perfect quest for you."

 Chapter 295 The last Demon Lord

    <h4>Chapter 295 Thest Demon Lord</h4>


    Kretos woke up feeling a bit light-headed. The moment he woke up he saw that his head wasying on top of someone''s thighs and that someone was a golden-haired Kitsune. Kretos tried remembering what he was doing here and who this Kitsune was. After thinking for a while he remembered that this was the Demon Lord Tsukiko.


    Now that he remembered who the person was, Kretos was wondering why they were in this position. He tried to recall what happened before he lost consciousness, but all he could remember were fuzzy details.


    "You''re already awake?"


    "... Yeah, so can you tell me what am I doing here?" Kretos asked while continuing toy his head on Tsukiko''s thighs.


    "You came to me to ask for a favor. I''ve fulfilled my end of the bargain I hope you fulfill yours."


    When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said he could vaguely remember making a promise with her. He promised not to harm her or her territory, but what was the favor he asked of her?


    "What kind of favor did I ask for?"


    "You asked me to wipe away a specific memory." When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said he closed his eyes and frowned.


    "Is there something wrong? If you''re feeling light-headed that will dissipate after a while." Tsukiko spoke a bit worried that Kretos would get irritated by the aftercare treatment and then he would go against his promise and kill her.


    As Tsukiko was getting a little bit anxious about what Kretos would do next, Kretos himself was deep in thought. Even though he couldn''t remember much of what happened, he was sure that Tsukiko wasn''t lying to him. If she wanted to do something to him, she could''ve done a thousand things while he was unconscious. Also, it would be hard for even Tsukiko to mess with his memories without his permission.


    "So, in the end, I was a coward and ran away. I don''t know what memory was removed but for me to even think of such a thing, shows that I''m still immature and too weak."


    When Tsukiko heard Kretos''s mumblings she wanted to tell him, if you''re too weak then what about the rest?


    Kretos looked at the falling leaves of the Jubokko tree. It was already noon and the sun was high up in the sky. Being under the shade of the gigantic tree made it a bit breezy. The warm summer breeze blew by Kretos and he felt at peace.


    Kretos unconsciously smiled, it was a normal everyday smile that you wouldn''t normally see on his face. He then closed his eyes and decided that it was good to take a little nap.


    Tsukiko who watched the changing expressions on Kretos''s face was surprised to see him sleeping. But more surprising than that was the expression on his face, he was smiling but at the same time crying.


    ''That girl must have meant more to him than I expected.'' Tsukiko gently wiped away Kretos''s tears. She then gently caressed the face of the young demonying down on her thighs.


    ''I wonder what drives you forward? What made you choose, battle over the memory of her. What is it that you seek, and what is it you wish to gain?'' Tsukiko giggled as she looked at the defenseless Kretos. If she wanted to she could probably kill him now.


    ''As expected from someone so strong. Am I so weak in your eyes that even if you''re asleep, you think I won''t be able to do anything to you, or perhaps this is something else.''


    ...


    A few days after Kretos lost his memory of Le news of Demonic Fox Tsukiko''s surrender spread throughout thend. It was shocking enough that Kretos was able to get through the Eastern Lands without anyone noticing, but he was able to make the tricky Tsukiko surrender without fighting.


    "There''s only one demon lord left."


    "If Demon Lord Kir loses, will that make Kretos demon king?"


    "We haven''t had a demon king for a long time now. No demon is that powerful or even that charismatic. Still, maybe he could actually do it."


    "Don''t go saying that just yet, thest of the demon lords is the Mighty Lord Kir. He isn''t like the other demon lords and he''s basically the strongest. Even if all the demon lords came together to attack him he would still win. The only reason why he doesn''t rule over us all is simply because he just wants to stay in his territory. If he decides to go out and do it, he would''ve been the demon king long ago."


    "I almost forgot about that, since it''s been a few centuries since hisst battle. That''s why he''s able to stay in the middle of all the other demon lords territories since he doesn''t fear them at all."


    "Are we going to watch the battle?"


    "Are you kidding me, we all went to the Northern Lands and we didn''t even get a glimpse of the fight between Jiro and Kretos."


    "Yeah, this time I''m going to sit this one out."


    "Yeah me too, I think this fight is going to be too dangerous to spectate anyway."


    All the demons were all talking about the uing fight between Kir and Kretos. The two demons who have never known defeat before. Who between them will remain undefeated? Who will be known as the Demon King? The excitement of the uing match made all the other demons start betting on who would win. Some of them know they will die if they watch the fight, but they couldn''t help it and wanted to see the fight that would determine who the strongest demon was, even if death was the price to watch.


    ...


    While all the demons were having fun gossiping about Kir and Kretos. The Demon Lord of the Lycans was sittingzily on his throne. By his side was his adjutant Shera who was giving a report about the rumors of Kretosing to challenge him next.


    "So I''m the only one left. This Horned Demon seems to be stronger than all the other challengers that came before him. Well, it doesn''t matter the moment he steps foot in my territory there will be no mercy."


    ...


    A few days after resting in the Eastern Lands Kretos finally set out to face the final demon lord. When Kretos left the Eastern Lands, Tsukiko announced that she was renouncing her title as a demon lord.


    This announcement of hers didn''t shock many demons, seeing as she already surrendered to Kretos calling herself a demon lord would be a bit awkward.


    ...


    Kir was as usualzily sitting on his stone throne when he started smelling the scent of an unknown person entering his domain. Kir who was in his human form stood up and started howling, signaling his citizens to move out of the way of his strike. His howl was being echoed by the other Lycans.


    When the demons heard the howling of their demon lord, they quickly moved away from the location that was about to get hit. In fact, they all started fleeing the middlends, since they know a very destructive battle was about to happen.


    When Kir sensed that all of his citizens had evacuated he started gathering mana into his fist. Demon Lord Kir was a demon that didn''t know how to use any spells. Yet even without the use of spells, he knew how to use mana.


    After gathering a significant amount of mana into his fist Kir punched out. The punch released a massive beam of mana that destroyed everything in its path. The trees and everything else that were in the way of the punch were disintegrated. The mana beam that Kir released reached the very edge of his domain.


    Nothing in its path should be able to survive, yet to Kir''s surprise, the intruder was still moving. The intruder had actually evaded his strike. Kir then gathered mana again and released multiple mana beams.


    Once again the intruder was able to survive and was getting closer to Kir. The Demon Lord Kir unconsciously smiled as he felt the intrudering closer. How long has it been since someone was able to survive his first strike? It has been centuries since thest time.


    ''Will this challenger be able to show me something new?'' Kir no longer attacked and waited for the intruder toe to him.


    ...


    Kretos was surprised that he was attacked the moment he set foot into the middlends. It was such a powerful strike as well. The fight was just beginning but Kretos was already super excited. Yet after evading numerous mana beams the attacks stoppeding.


    Kretos sped up and finally arrived before the Demon Lord Kir. The first thing Kretos noticed upon seeing Kir was that the Lycan Demon Lord was still in his human form. That would mean he sent those powerful mana beams in his weaker form. Just thinking about that gave Kretos goosebumps and he started showing that vicious smile of his.


    "Name yourself intruder."


    "Kretos of the Shadow n."


    "As expected... Did youe to challenge me?"


    "What else would I be doing?"


    "A cheeky one... Very well, Warrior Kretos I Demon Lord Kir, ept your challenge."

 Chapter 296 The Mighty Lord Kir

    <h4>Chapter 296 The Mighty Lord Kir</h4>


    The moment Kir acknowledged his challenge, Kretos immediately attacked Kir. Kretos didn''t use any weapon since Kir wasn''t using anything as well and was still in his human form.


    ''No need to hold back with this one!'' Kretos jumped upward and did a somersault kick from above. Kir evaded the strike by sidestepping. Kretos who missed his target hit the ground which shattered upon contact with his leg.


    Even though the ground shattered and this move would''ve unbnced most opponents, Kir wasn''t most opponents. Even with the ground cracking and shaking Kir''s stance was steady as a mountain. He then countered with a punch and an explosive mana burst happened which ignited the surrounding air.


    Before the punch was able to hit Kretos, he was able to divert it but the explosion of mana was something he didn''t expect. When the mana burst happened, Kretos was quick enough to block it with his mana barrier. He then used the opportunity to do a low sweeping kick, in which Kir evaded by jumping upward.


    After dodging the attack Kir was ready to unleash another mana beam downward towards Kretos. The punch that unleashed a mana beam came down on Kretos as fast as lightning, but even with that kind of speed, Kretos was still able to evade. The mana beam prated the ground and dug dip underground.


    In an awkward position, Kir who was in mid-air was unable to dodge Kretos''s next attack. Kretos got a hold of Kir''s leg and flipped the Lycan to the ground creating another crater. Even in such a situation, Kir was able to unleash another mana beam, and this time Kretos was unable to fully dodge it. Kretos right arm was slightly burnt by the mana beam and he loosened his grip on Kir''s leg allowing the Lycan to escape.


    The twobatants then charged at each other and started punching and kicking while blocking and evading. Each strike Kir threw was loaded with a lot of mana which upon release devastated arge area. On the other hand, while Kretos was busy counterattacking andpletely ignoring defense, he was able to understand the basics behind Kir''s mana ignition and mana beams.


    Kretos was able to copy the technique and used it in battle. Kir couldn''t help but be surprised that his technique was stolen just like that. Yet despite his surprise, he was also excited. The two of them were now smiling so much it made them look like friends, instead of enemies trying to kill each other.


    ...


    The power of each of their strikes made the ground shake and each time their fists collided a crater was formed. The simple shockwaves of their attacks had uprooted the nearby trees. The demons who were waiting outside the middlends could feel the vibrations of the battle from such a distance.


    The whole middlends were approximately 92, 000 sq mi, and even with that distance, their battle could still be felt far beyond. The demons couldn''t help but feel a tinge of fear knowing how powerful these two demons were.


    ...


    After exchanging attacks for half a day the two finally separated. The environment they were fighting in was no longer the same as before. The trees were gone, the ground had many craters and cracks, the stone throne was no more.


    The two who fought were now full of bruises and wounds but they continued to smile at each other. They stood up straight looked at each other and startedughing. The two who have sought battle for different reasons have finally found a kindred soul.


    "Hahaha, that was a great warm-up. It has been a few centuries since Ist fought like this." Kir spoke with joy in his face. While he was talking the injuries he sustained were healing at a rapid pace.


    "That was fun for me too, Demon Lord Kir. It''s highly possible that you would be the one to fulfill my wish." Kretos''s vicious smile was looking more menacing than ever. He was circting his mana in such a fast pace the wounds he received were healing in a way that the naked eye could see.


    "Oh, so what is this wish of yours?"


    "To fight a glorious battle! To have a battle that will exhaust everything I have, and no matter what I do, I will fail. I want a desperate battle that would ignite my very soul!" Kretos spoke with such passion that his mana momentarily burst out of his body.


    "Heh, the same yet different from my dream..."


    "What''s your dream old man? Seeing as this would be thest time we talk to each other I want to hear your dream." Kir was surprised to hear what Kretos said and he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "I guess I am indeed an old man now. You''re right this will be thest time we get to talk to each other, no matter who wins, so why not tell you my dream."


    Kir sat down on the ground and Kretos sat down in front of him. Kretos then took out a bottle of wine from his shadow and tossed it to Kir. The two then started to drink before Kir spoke.


    "So where should I start... When I was your age, I too sought battle but for different reasons. At that time the Lycan tribe was being looked down upon by the other demon tribes, simply because we were unable to use our mana properly. We were a tribe that had difficulty using spells. As demons at the time were known for their powerful mana and spells, the demons that relied on brute strength were called weaklings."


    "So to change their opinions I sought to fight the strongest of demons, like what you are doing now. I fought the demon lords of that era. The first time I fought a demon lord was a horrible experience. I lost so badly that it was by sheer luck I was able to escape."


    "After that loss, I continued to train and train and I fought weaker opponents first. During those days I met Darius and ine. The two of them became my best friends, and we had many adventurers together. When ine died me and Darius drifted apart, and I was once again alone."


    "After a decade of training, I once again challenged the demon lords. This time I was able to defeat them. Not only that I was able to defeat any and everybody that came my way. As I was about to defeat the final demon lord of that era, Darius got ahead of me and killed that demon lord."


    "Not wanting to fight Darius I headed back to my tribe where I was crowned chieftain and then I became a demon lord. I dered the area where we are now sitting on as my territory. As long as nobody messes with my territory I won''t mess with them."


    "Of course many demons didn''t listen to me and many had challenged me over the centuries, but as you can see no one had seeded. I have fought and fought until the joy of fighting was no more."


    When Kir said those words his eyes, his facial expression, his aura, everything felt both sad and lonely. When Kretos saw Kir''s face distorted with a bit of mncholy, Kretos felt something as well. It was as if he could sympathize with Kir.


    "As you may know once your mana capacity reaches a certain degree as a demon, lifespan bes nearly irrelevant. For as long as you do not get gravely injured, a demon who''s that strong can live for as long as eternity."


    "I have long reached that stage, and based on the mana you emitted earlier you have also reached that stage... Having a long life is quite boring, especially if you''re as strong as me."


    "The challengers that used to bother me, became my only entertainment. Fighting those challengers from different tribes had quelled my boredom a bit. But those times ended as well, there had been no challengers toe for three centuries. You are the only one who came, and for that I am grateful."


    "This might sound weird since I have warned everyone not toe to my territory, but the truth is my dream is to once again taste defeat. The only reason I keep the act of not wanting people invading my territory is for my people and also to cull the weaklings that wish to challenge me. Those that run away from such a threat will never be able to give me defeat."


    "Why do you want to be defeated?" Kretos finally spoke after listening to Kir''s story.


    "I want to taste defeat again since that was thest time I have ever felt truly alive. Right now I am but a hollowed shell of my past self. When you''re at the top it bes lonely and boring. If you''re able to defeat me, sometime in the future you will understand what I''m saying."


    "I see... Thank you for telling me this."


    "Alright, now that we have nothing more to say, let''s get back to what we are doing." The two looked at each other and smiled. They then took some distance from each other. Kir transformed into his Wolf form, were he bes a bipedal wolf. Kretos summoned all of his weapons from his shadow. He was now surrounded by spears, swords, halberds, maces, and numerous other weapons.


    "Kir of the Lycan tribe, ready for battle!"


    "Kretos of the Shadow n, ready for battle!"

 Chapter 297 - Final Battle Of A Lonely Demon Lord

    <h4>Chapter 297 - Final Battle Of A Lonely Demon Lord</h4>


    Kir was the first to take action and with a speed that went beyond the speed of sound. Kir created a sonic boom by simply moving and was ready to sh at Kretos using his ws. Kretos summoned pirs of ice to block Kir''s path, but Kir was able to slice them apart.


    As Kir sliced through the numerous pirs of ice with his ws, a spear suddenly appeared from beyond the wall of ice. Kir was quick enough to knock it over, but he noticed that Kretos was no longer in front of him. With Kir''s sense of smell, he should be able to smell Kretos''s scent, but to his surprise, he couldn''t get a whiff of his scent at all. Kretos had disappeared, it was at that moment Kir remembered Kretos''s original profession, assassin.


    Kir stood in the middle of the field of weapons when he noticed something weird happening to his shadow. Kir quickly moved his body when a halberd alongside Kretos appeared from his shadow. Kir could barely dodge this surprise attack and was nicked in the cheeks.


    As Kir was about to counterattack, Kretos plunged the halberd down used it as a springboard, and took a nearby sword to attack Kir first. Kir once again evaded the attack. Once he missed Kretos threw the sword he was holding at Kir, and then picked up some daggers on the ground and threw those as well.


    While Kir was distracted with the thrown sword and daggers, Kretos started running around the field of weapons and throwing everything he could pick up.


    Kretos then charged forward alongside the thrown weapons. Kir could not dodge the iing attacks at such a tight space so instead of dodging he started deflecting the iing weapons. Kir could''ve destroyed all the weapons with a beam of mana, but he couldn''t use that technique too much. He had already used it a lot at the beginning of the battle, which drained a significant portion of his mana.


    Using this as an opening, Kretos was then able to get up close to the speedy Kir and shed at the demon lord, who countered with a piercing strike using his ws. Both Kretos and Kir didn''t dodge the attacks and simply hardened their defense. Kretos''s downward sh didn''t reach Kir''s bones and only tore a bit of Kir''s flesh.


    Kir''s piercing ws, on the other hand, were also unable to pierce deep enough which only gave Kretos a minor flesh wound. Both of their wounds healed up almost instantly. The two who witnessed what happened started smiling andughing happily. It would seem that only a truly fatal wound could damage the other party, or if their mana supply runs out.


    The two once again began attacking and attacking without any care in the world. Kir used his advantage in speed to get around, while Kretos used the diversity of the many weapons he had all over the ce to change his form of attacks.


    ¡­


    The battle between the two grew fiercer and fiercer after every passing second. Every time Kretos lost a bunch of weapons he would simply summon more from his shadow. The whole armory in Demon Empress Nimune''s pce could supply a hundred thousand men, and that was how many weapons Kretos had in store.


    He kept on tossing and shing about but no matter how much damage he or the demon lord received both of them wouldn''t go down. Their wounds would heal almost instantly due to their excessive mana supplies and characterstics as demons. By how it looks, it would seem that both of their mana supplies were near equal.


    If Kretos had faced Kir at the beginning of his journey he would''ve died, even facing Kir''s normal form at the time would''ve spelled death. But as Kretos continued to fight he grew stronger and stronger, until he finally reached this stage he was currently in. Yet even with his power increasing, which was happening even now as he was battling, Kir was still able to keep up with him.


    ¡­


    While Kir was dodging the thrown weapons, Kretos was gathering mana into a ball. This was the spell Demon Empress Nimune used against him, and he was going to unleash a stronger version of it at Kir.


    Being bombarded by weapons on all sides, Kir wasn''t that worried as his speed when in his Wolf form was truly fast. Kir was able to dodge and parry all the iing weapons. He was even able to catch and toss some of them back to Kretos. On the other hand, Kretos was also dodging the iing attacks while gathering mana and even tossing some more weapons towards Kir.


    It was at this very moment, Kir''s sensitive nose which could smell even mana itself caught a whiff of the mana Kretos was gathering. Knowing what''s toe Kir wasn''t nning to dodge it and instead, he shouted at Kretos.


    "Come on boy show me what you''ve got!"


    "Heh, so you''ve figured it out already¡­ Since you already know about it no sense in hiding it." Kretos lifted both of his hands upward and a ball of pure mana appeared. At first, it was just a tiny ball, norger than an orange, but then it grew and grew that it eventually became bigger than Kretos himself.


    Kir could''ve intercepted Kretos while he was gathering mana, but he wanted to face this attack head-on. For the first time in centuries, he could feel his blood burning with excitement. Kir and Kretos looked at each other their respective grins would''ve scared other demons. Yet to them looking at their opponent''s grin just made them feel more excited.


    ¡­


    The ball of mana grew and grew, when Kretos felt like he had depleted a huge chunk of his mana he knew that he was ready to throw it at Kir. Of course, Kretos also knew that if this ball of mana were to fall, it would destroy everything around it. So Kretos was also readying himself to hide in his shadow the moment he felt that the situation was unsafe. He didn''t really like doing that but that was his only choice at the moment since he wasn''t strong enough.


    Kir saw the ball of mana had grown to an unbelievable size. It was mana that came from Kretos himself, and it was a horrifying amount. Simply standing in front of it would have made a weaker demon perish. Kir then nted his feet onto the ground his hands extended forward. He was ready for whatever Kretos tosses at him.


    "Are you ready Demon Lord!"


    "Show me the extent of your power!"


    With that as the signal, Kretos threw the ball of pure mana at Kir. The ball of destructive mana was unleashed and everything in its path was destroyed be it the weapons stuck on the ground or even the very ground itself. Kir faced the ball of mana with no fear or hesitation. There was only joy and excitement on his face.


    Upon releasing the ball of mana Kretos felt extremely tired as he had used arge portion of his mana. Yet he did not fall as he too had a look of excitement and joy in his face. He wanted to see if Kir was able to handle the iing ball of death.


    ¡­


    Upon contact with the ball of mana, Kir could feel his hands being torn apart. He then gathered arge portion of his mana into his hands and was trying his hardest to push the ball of mana away. Kir started growling as he tightly grabbed the enormous ball of mana. The ball of mana had pushed Kir a few meters backward but it was finally slowing down.


    Kir forced all of his muscles to their very limit until he was finally able to stop the ball of mana from pushing him back. During this time Kretos could''ve attacked Kir, but that was not the kind of victory he wanted. The other reason for not attacking was because Kir didn''t attack when Kretos was gathering mana to form the ball of death.


    ¡­


    Kir who had finally stopped the ball of mana was now trying to shove it away. As he was going beyond his very limits he could taste the blood on his mouth, he could feel his very bones slowly breaking.


    "THIS ISN''T ENOUGH TO BRING ME DOWN!"


    Kir was finally able to redirect the ball of mana upward into the sky. Therge ball of mana kept on flying beyond the horizon destroying the clouds in its path.


    Once he was done Kir started panting heavily as his wounds were now healing slower than before. His body had gone beyond his very limits.


    "That was an amazing spell Kretos."


    "What''s even more amazing is how you were able to withstand it and redirect it."


    The two once again looked at each other andughed. Despite both of them being exhausted they continued to radiate an aura of wanting to do battle.


    "I''m d that I met you in the end." Kir who still had some fight left in him could already guess the oue of the battle. Kretos was continuing to improve while he was slowly losing stamina. They might look to be on equal footing but that might notst for long.


    "It has been quite lonely here at the top¡­ I''m d that you can keep this old manpany." Kir chuckled as he said those words.


    "Don''t worry old man, I will keep youpany until you no longer feel so lonely."


    "That''s good to hear!" The two once again began their battle that wouldst for days.

 Chapter 298 - The Death Of A Kindred Soul

    <h4>Chapter 298 - The Death Of A Kindred Soul</h4>


    Kretos and Kir''s battle went on for days. As they continued to fight when there was an opening they would try to eat whatever they could. Sometimes they would eat some insects that were near, if they were lucky a lost bird woulde close to them. If one of them wasn''t able to eat for a few days, it would mean that the other would gain an advantage.


    Aside from food, it was much harder to look for water since their fight had buried thekes and rivers. It was a good thing that it rained every now and then which was enough for the two. If it were any other demon they might have died after a few days without eating or drinking as their mana was depleting. Yet these two continued fighting without pause as they also tried to salvage whatever food and water they can.


    The two who had battled continuously with little to no sleep looked pale and a bit thinner. The environment they fought in became a ce filled with nothing but death and destruction. Yet despite everything, the two of them continued to smile happily. But in those smiles, there was also a hint of sadness.


    Both Kir and Kretos could already see the ending of this battle. There was no use denying it as it was in to see. In the end, it would be Kretos who will gain victory. The two had a keen sense of the flow of battle, and they could already feel that the end was drawing near.


    ¡­


    The demons who were waiting for the result of the battle between Kretos and Kir were amazed by how long it was taking. The fight was about to reach a few weeks now.


    "How much mana do the two of them have?"


    "Yeah, they should''ve fainted from fatigue long ago."


    "Maybe they''re some sort of demon Gods in disguise? They could even be demi-demon-Gods!"


    "Are you stupid what demon Gods? There''s no such thing. Also demi-demon-Gods what the f*ck is that?"


    "If the humans can have Gods, and the elves and fairies have Spirit Gods, then why can''t we have Gods as well?"


    "¡­ Now that you mention it, you might be right¡­"


    "What the heck are you two talking about? Aren''t we talking about what''s happening with the fight between Kir and Kretos? How did you two swerve into a topic about Gods?"


    The demons could only gossip about the oue of the battle, as they were unable to get near the middlends, all they could do was wait for the news.


    ¡­


    While the demons were having a busy time gossiping, the human kingdoms were getting a bit nervous about what was happening in the demonnds. It wasn''t unusual for the demons to fight all year round, but based on the spies they nted in the demonnds, the demons had stopped fighting. Not only that the huge spike of mana fluctuation wasing from just two demons fighting.


    Even all the archmages of the human kingdomsbined couldn''t have that kind fo mana output. Yet two demons were able to unleash such an output.


    ''If the demons stop fighting each other what would happen next?'' That was the question in every human king''s mind.


    ¡­


    While everyone was specting on what was going on in the battle between Kir and Kretos, the twobatants were finally nearing the end of the battle.


    Kir''s body was no longer regenerating, his left hand was gone, and half of his face was scorched. Most of his fur was shaved off, and his right eye was no more.


    Kretos was in a simr predicament, the wounds he had were no longer regenerating as fast as before. His mana was nearly depleted, his right hand was broken and unusable at the moment.


    The two of them were looking at each other while breathing heavily. Their bodies have already gone far beyond what they were supposed to be capable of, yet despite that, the two continued to smile.


    The battle that they so craved was on another level when they fought someone with very simr ideologies. It was like looking at a mirror. Under different circumstances, these two would''ve been the best of friends.


    "This was a very fun battle."


    "Yeah, it was the best battle I had, and it might be the best battle I will ever have."


    "I doubt that, but still, thank you for keeping this old manpany."


    "It was my pleasure."


    "The next strike should be thest¡­"


    "I know," Kretos answered looking a tiny bit sad as he continued to smile.


    "Don''t look like that young one, surely someday, just like me, you will find someone to fulfill your wish¡­ Unfortunately, it doesn''t seem like I''m the one who will be able to do that." Kir''s smile became a bit awkward when he said thest line. His wish had been fulfilled, but the young demon before him was just at the beginning of his journey and based on his strength fulfilling his wish might be incredibly difficult.


    "Heh, you don''t have to worry about me, old man. If you were able to meet me and fulfill your wish, surely someone out there can fulfill mine."


    "Hahaha, you''re right! Yes you''re right the world is huge, surely the end battle that you wish for wille¡­ Kretos, I hope that you remain this cheeky even after a thousand years¡­ I truly hope you find someone that would be able to fulfill your wish¡­ Being at the top is quite lonely."


    "Like I said old man, no need to worry. If fate doesn''t give me what I want, then I shall bend fate to my will. If the heavens get in my way, then I shall wreck the very heavens itself!"


    "Even for me, that sounds so arrogant and crazy¡­ But for some reason, when you''re the one saying it, I kinda feel like you can actually do it."


    "Enough of this sappy and depressing talk."


    "Yeah, we should probably end this battle now. Kretos, I Kir will never forget this fight. Even after death and I reincarnate, this fight will forever remain with me¡­ I hope we meet again in the next life, and next time I hope we can be friends."


    Hearing what Kir said Kretos felt a bit embarrassed as he scratched his head. He then looked at the strongest of the five demon lords and nodded his head.


    "If we do get to meet in the next life, I''m sure we can be friends then, and we''ll have another grand battle to celebrate."


    "¡­ That sounds nice¡­" Kir closed his eyes and a scene appeared before him. In that scene, there was Darius and ine happily talking to each other about the map they just found. Then behind them was Kir and Kretos teasing the two in front.


    The four of them were going on a fun adventure. Kir then spoke to Kretos and told him to spar with himter, Kretos agreed while smirking.


    "You know I''m going to win again right."


    "I''m not going to lose to you all the time! This time for sure I will win." The two of them spoke excitedly. Seeing the two nning a sparring match, Darius sighed in the background.


    "You two meatheads should stop doing this. If you keep on sparing every hour we will never get to the treasure."


    "How about you join us as well Darius?" Kir spoke while putting his hands over Darius''s shoulders.


    "Yeah, that''s a good idea. You should practice every now and then so that your body won''t look so girly." Kretos chimed in. Seeing the three men act this way, ine couldn''t help but giggle at the side.


    ¡­


    Kretos saw Kir who closed his eyes while smiling had a tear fall down his face. "What''s happening to you old man?"


    Kir slowly opened his eyes and looked at Kretos with a weird look on his face and a smile that was both lonely and satisfied.


    "I just saw a brief dream, a cruel yet happy dream. Thank you for waiting patiently. I''m ready now¡­ Let''s end this!" Kir went down on all fours, even though his left arm was lost he still took a stance that seems like it was still there.


    Kretos responded by holding a short sword in his left hand. He then enveloped this sword with thest remaining bits of his mana. Same as how he killed the other demon lords, thisst strike would be the one that will decide everything.


    The two locked eyes and with no more words to be said charged forward. Kir was still able to move faster than the speed of sound. His body was screaming at him in pain, but he didn''t bother listening to it. This will be his final strike and he wanted to pour everything he had left in it.


    Kretos swung the sword in his left hand with all his might. A bit of blood came flowing out of his mouth as he pushed his body that was already going beyond the limit to go even further.


    The two shed head-on, there was no special techniques or shy moves, they just poured everything into one single strike. Kretos''s de met with Kir''s ws. Kir was growling while Kretos shouted and then in what seems like a very long time, the victor was decided. Kir''s ws and his whole body had been cut in half. As he was dying Kir showed a very satisfied smile, and while his consciousness was drifting away he heard Kretos''s voice.


    "Thank you for granting me the honor of having a battle with you."

 Chapter 299 - Unable To Move

    <h4>Chapter 299 - Unable To Move</h4>


    Once the battle was done, Kretos could feel his body aching all over. Once his muscles loosened up a bit the pain he felt was immense. He fell to the ground no longer able to move. This was a simr situation to when he fought Darius, but way worse.


    His consciousness drifted in and out as Kretos felt his body growing a bit cold. His breathing was bing heavier as time went on. His mana was now fully drained and his wounds were no longer healing.


    If he were to die like this wouldn''t it be some after what he said to Kir? He even told the old man not to worry, and that he would crush the heavens itself. Yet here he wasying on the ground unable to do anything. Even his eyes were shut tight but his other senses were still working properly. What made it worse than the time after he fought Darius was that this time he wasn''t losing consciousness, he was still awake but unable to do anything.


    If an enemy were toe now Kretos wouldn''t even be able to open his eyes, much less move. This feeling of helplessness was an irritating feeling.


    ''Maybe dying after such a battle would count as my wish being fulfilled. I did use everything I had, and it was indeed a satisfying battle¡­ Still, to die like this¡­''


    Kretos didn''t know what to feel in his current condition. Most beings would''ve at least felt fear if they were in a simr predicament, but Kretos just found it slightly annoying.


    ''I don''t even have the strength to bite my tongue and end it. Well, it''s not like I would do that even if I could. Still, what am I supposed to do in this situation? I can''t even sleep and it doesn''t seem like I would die from my wounds. Based on the rate my mana is recovering it would take a week before I could move a bit. I might die from starvation before that¡­''


    After thinking about that Kretos grew silent. It took around an hour of silence before Kretos felt irritated again.


    "Aaaarrggghhhh!!! What the f*ck am I supposed to do now!" Kretos was so irritated at the moment. Usually, he was used to not moving when he was enhancing his mana since doing that takes a long time. But this time he wasn''t even able to circte his mana, he was doing absolutely nothing. When he tried to sleep he found out that he simply couldn''t do it.


    ¡­


    After raging for a little while more, Kretos''s thoughts became silent again. Kretos had nothing else to do and he started thinking about the demon lords he had fought.


    ''Demon Empress Nimune, although by herself she wasn''t as strong as the other demon lords, alongside her army she could''ve been the demon lord closest to conquering the whole demonnds. She was also the one I''m most grateful to, she gave me a goal to strive for, not to mention all of her weapons and gold. Without that supply of weapons, I might not have beaten Kir.''


    ''Vampiric Lord Darius, that guy was pretty tricky to fight with. It was as if he could read my every move. If he was even slightly stronger physically I might have actually lost. That was a rather exciting battle.''


    ''Overlord of the sky Jiro, for some reason I can''t remember much of my battle with him. It might be because he was not that memorablepared to the other demon lords.''


    ''Demonic Fox Tsukiko, we didn''t really fight but based on her illusion spell, she should be quite a versatile opponent.''


    ''Mighty Lord Kir, now that was an opponent. Powerful, fast, and his techniques were superb. He was the strongest I have ever faced. If it weren''t for my absurd mana supply I wouldn''t be able to do anything to him.''


    After Kretos was finished thinking about the demon lords, he found out that there was nothing more. He was once again getting bored and so he tried thinking about something else.


    ''Now that I defeated the demon lords, I wonder what my next move would be. Demon Empress Nimune told me to unite the demon tribes, if I''m able to do that stronger opponents shoulde, most probably from the other races¡­ But how am I suppose to unite the demon tribes?''


    Kretos thought about it for a while, but he couldn''t think of an answer. All he knew from birth till now is how to kill his opponents, he had no idea about how to do other things, much less govern.


    ''Should I ask for help?¡­ The only person I can think of that has experience in governing is Demonic Fox Tsukiko.'' Kretos then remembered the childish expression on Tsukiko''s face. That demon lord was older than him by a few centuries but she acted like she was younger.


    ''She doesn''t seem reliable at all. Well, if all else fails I can use force to subdue and unite every tribe.'' While kretos was thinking about other ways to unite the demon tribes, he suddenly heard footsteps. They were rather light and they appeared out of nowhere.


    Kretos couldn''t sense the other person''s mana since he couldn''t use mana sensing at the moment. The only things he could rely on were his sense of smell and sense of hearing. The footsteps wereing closer and closer to him, and once the person got near him, the person stopped.


    ''Is this it? I can''t even see the person who''s going to end my life.'' Kretos felt helpless and sad at the notion that he wasn''t even able to appreciate his end properly, he couldn''t even see his would-be killer.


    A few seconds had passed and the neer didn''t do anything to Kretos, which confused him. What was the neer doing right now? When Kretos thought of that question, he suddenly felt that a massive hand had grabbed hold of him, picking him up.


    ''Is this an Ogre?! Am I actually going to be eaten by an Ogre?!''


    As Kretos was feeling worse and worse by the idea of being eaten by an Ogre, he felt a shift in the atmosphere. The feel of the wind and the smell of the surrounding area changed.


    "It''s a good thing I found you before anyone else. You should thank me once you wake up." Kretos heard a familiar voice talking. This was the voice of the Demonic Fox Tsukiko.


    "Who would''ve thought that you could actually kill the old Lycan Kir. That guy was so strong, that he could defeat almost anyone in the demonnds without moving from his throne of stone. Yet you were not only able to keep up with him but actually kill him! You''re so much stronger than I expected."


    Kretos was ced on the ground, he then felt small soft hands lifting his head. His head was then ced in a familiar soft cushion-like object. Kretos was able to quickly determine that the thing he wasying on was Tsukiko''s thighs.


    "Look how helpless you are now, if I wanted to I could kill you easily." When Kretos heard this, he started emitting some killing intent. Tsukiko was shocked at first and then started giggling.


    "So you''re still conscious even in this state. I really am amazed by how resilient you are. Though it is quite cute that you are emitting killing intent, even though you can''t do anything at the moment¡­ Don''t worry I wasn''t really going to kill you. I just said that I could. Besides if I wanted to kill you, I had many chances before but I never did do anything, so rx."


    Even though Kretos heard what Tsukiko said, and it doesn''t seem like she was lying, but even knowing that Kretos didn''t let his guard down and continued to emit killing intent. When Tsukiko saw Kretos''s reaction she couldn''t help but sigh.


    "Hmm, you''re such a worrywart¡­ Oh wait, I think I have a spell that could help in this situation. Now that you''re in this state, your mental barrier must also be down or at least weakened." After saying that Tsukiko ced her hand on Kretos''s head and chanted a spell.


    ''Do you hear me?''


    ''What is this fox saying now, of course, I-'' Kretos then realized that he heard Tsukiko''s voice, not with his ears, but it echoed in his head.


    ''It seems like it worked. So Kretos, we can nowmunicate with our thoughts.''


    ''There''s even a spell, like this?!''


    ''Of course, there are a lot of different spells. I know about a few thousand spells, and I''m sure that just scratching the surface. There are even some forbidden ones that can connect someone''s soul with another person''s.''


    ''Why would someone want to connect with another person''s soul?''


    ''I don''t know but the spell does exists¡­ Wait that''s not what I want to talk about, tell me how did you win against the old Lycan. I really can''t imagine anyone beating that guy but you did it. So tell me how you did it!''


    Hearing the childish way of asking, Kretos sighed. Well, it''s not like he has anything better to do at the moment¡­ So Kretos began telling Tsukiko how the battle went down.

 Chapter 300 - Inside Kretoss Memories

    <h4>Chapter 300 - Inside Kretos''s Memories</h4>


    After listening to Kretos''s story Tsukiko now had a basic understanding of how strong Kretos was. If he was this strong then howe he had difficulty fighting the other demon lords?


    ''Was he holding back each time he fights¡­'' Tsukiko looked at the exhausted Kretos and thought about his battle loving personality. ''If it''s this guy that could be a possibility.'' While she was thinking, a very scary notion came to her. ''Could it be this guy is improving while battling?!'' That would mean every time he battles he gets significantly stronger, which would also exin his love for battle.


    When Tsukiko thought of this a lot of her questions finally had answers, but she also felt like she was missing some crucial information.


    ¡­


    Kretos and Tsukiko talked for a few hours until Kretos finally felt a bit sleepy. Seeing as he still couldn''t sleep, Tsukiko offered to help.


    ''I could use a sleeping spell on you.''


    ''Now why would I allow you to do that?''


    ''You need to rest to recover faster. If you continue to stay awake, the recovery time might slow down.''


    When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said, it did sound logical. Also even if he''s asleep or awake if Tsukiko wanted to do something to him, she could do it no matter if he''s awake or not. Kretos started to think that he did owe the fox a bit. So maybe it was okay to trust her, and even if she did anything it shouldn''t be fatal to him. If not for her he would''ve died back there, he should have been eaten or killed mercilessly.


    ''Fine do whatever you want.'' When she heard Kretos''s approval, Tsukiko didn''t waste any time and used a sleeping spell on him. It took only a couple of seconds before Kretos was fully asleep.


    Once Kretos was asleep Tsukiko smiled mischievously. Now that she got to know Kretos a bit more, she wasn''t as afraid as before. Besides she was just curious, she wasn''t going to do anything bad.


    ''Yup, it''s not like I''m going to hurt him or anything. I just want to know the secret of his strength. How can a horned demon be this strong, and at such a young age.''


    After convincing herself that she wasn''t doing anything bad, the mischievous fox started looking at kretos''s memories. Since he was only around twenty years of age his memories shouldn''t be vast. Tsukiko had already used this spell on an older demon with a millennium of memories and she was done scanning them within an hour.


    Tsukiko then ced her hands and scanned Kretos''s memories. She saw each and every battle he had and as she expected Kretos was indeed growing strong through battle. Was that a special trait of his or is that the trait of all horned demons that no one never noticed, since the horned demons except for those of the Shadow n are a rather peaceful bunch.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko had scoured Kretos''s memories from his training at a young age to the graduation exam of the shadow n, to his journey up to this point. Yet there was no indication that the other horned demons were like him, nor were there any clues as to why he was so strong. It was like simply living was enhancing his powers.


    Tsukiko kept on looking at Kretos''s memories over and over again, trying to see if she missed an important detail. The human heroes of old powered up because of revenge or some strong emotion, sometimes they were even blessed by Gods. There doesn''t seem to be any record of any demon being blessed by Gods and based on what she saw, Kretos doesn''t seem to have any strong emotion aside from when he battles, oh, and that one time with the werewolf girl.


    ¡­


    Despite the setback, Tsukiko didn''t give up and that was when she noticed that there was a memory that went beyond Kretos''s time of birth. This was a whole set of memories that was linked to Kretos''s soul. When Tsukiko saw this she became quite curious, this was the first time she has seen such a thing while scouring one''s memories.


    ''Is this perhaps memories of a past life?¡­ It is true that many believe that once you''re dead the soul would continue living and move onto another ne, or perhaps reincarnate into another body''


    Tsukiko followed the string of memories and then she saw a whole different person. This person was a human and a very powerful human at that. She already thought Kretos was an unbelievable existence of power, yet this human in these memories was someone that could fight hordes of dragons with nothing but a single sword at hand.


    This person was also a battle maniac with a simr vicious smile as Kretos. He overwhelmed his opponents with only the pressure his mana emitted. She looked deeper into this person''s memory as she was truly interested to see more.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko found a memory of the man when he was younger. The boy that had a simr personality with Kretos was called Rei Kuraki, and he was currently going to do some sort of test.


    He was back in the gymnasium, Tsukiyomi, went to sit among the students. Rei saw Rina sitting there as well; and of course, ring ferociously at him was Niel.


    There were fewer students witnessing this than expected, around forty students. Rei took some weapons from the table. Two short swords, one longsword, and a sword belt.


    The examiners looked at him warily. That was when the silver ranked examiner approached him, the examiner looked like he was in a good mood.


    "So you use a longsword as well¡­ So are you ready to begin the test?"


    "No, not yet¡­ You see this choker and bracelet, they''re seals I use to hold back my power. I need to remove them first."


    "I see¡­ So the bracelet really was something special. Still, why are you sealing your power? Well, it doesn''t matter, how about you remove those now, so we can begin the test."


    "Sure, but before I do that, can you tell everyone to brace themselves, and tell the students to use [mana barrier]."


    "Sure, everyone on the stands over there please cast a [mana barrier] and brace yourselves." Everyone present did as they were told without question. "There is that all?" The examiner asked.


    "Onest thing, call the other six to fight me. If it''s just you four, I don''t think you''ll be able to gauge my strength. I don''t mean to offend any of you but that is the truth." Rei was looking at the examiner seriously. Looking at Rei''s expression the examiner sighed.


    "Very well, I''ll call them now."


    ?


    After waiting for a while, the other examiners arrived, they looked extremely irritated.


    ''Well what I said was the truth, no use hiding my power anymore.''


    "So is that all you need, are you going to do it now?" Even the silver rank examiner was getting impatient. I nodded my head. "Alright then after you undo the seal, take a stance, once we see you take a stance, we will attack without dy."


    I removed the choker and bracelet.


    Rei finally removed his so called seals, and upon removal, a tremendous amount of mana poured out. This was totally different from thest time when he just removed one seal. Not only did the pressure he emits triple, the mana he released was unbelievable. He really wasn''t kidding when he said, that the others should brace themselves. This amount of mana was suffocating.


    Thest time the examiner was trembling in fear, but now he can''t even do that. The examiner''s body couldn''t move at all, he even felt light-headed. The silver rank examiner''s fellow hunters looked the same. Test him? Were they even allowed to stand before him?


    That was when we heard his voice across the raging storm of mana.


    "Hey, are you sure, you want to test me?" The examiner saw Rei, he was holding the hilt of his longsword. This was his stance; The silver ranked examiner threw all of his fear and anxiety aside, and move onward, his fellow hunters did the same.


    Once they got a little closer, the silver ranked examiner felt like he got hit. Rei did not move from his spot, the examiner didn''t even see Rei unsheathe the longsword from the scabbard. Yet the examiner and his fellow hunters were blown away and were now losing consciousness. They couldn''t do a single thing.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko who watched everything happening in the memory was amazed by how strong this person called Rei was. Even though she couldn''t feel his mana since this was nothing but a memory, she could still guess how strong it was. She wasn''t even able to see the sword swing that defeated the examiners. She even slowed down the memory to see but it was still too fast, she then slowed it down to the slowest possible speed and she could finally see how fast Rei sword swing was.


    The sword swing was faster than light itself. Knowing how fast it was Tsukiko couldn''t think of anyone that can survive the first strike, not even the current Kretos had the ability to dodge that.


    Tsukiko was getting excited as she wanted to look deeper into this person''s memories when she suddenly felt a massive force pulling her. Tsukiko was frightened as she wanted to cancel the spell she used, but the invisible force had a firm grasp of her and nullified her actions.


    ''What do we have here, a visitor?'' A voice sounded in her head, and it wasn''t Kretos''s voice. Tsukiko was panicking as someone had easily pierced through her mental barriers. The view Tsukiko was seeing changed and she was now in an empty space and in front of her was a person who had the same kind of aura as Kretos.


    "Little fox, peeking into someone''s else memories is already bad, but you actually peeked into my soul."


    When Tsukiko heard what the man said she was surprised. She was simply mentally linked to Kretos, she thought that the spell was a simple one that could only look into memories, she didn''t know that it could actually see through one''s soul.


    She was truly scared now, as the person in front of her was someone so much stronger than her. She couldn''t help but shiver in fear as she spoke.


    "I''m sorry about that, I didn''t mean to do it. I was just curious about Kretos¡­" Tsukiko then gathered everyst bit of her courage and asked, "If I may ask, who are you, and howe you''re in Kretos''s soul?"


    The man looked at the frightened fox and smiled the same vicious smile as Kretos and answered.


    "I''m called Leonard Tranor, you can say Kretos and I are the same person. Now enough of the introductions it''s time for a little punishment. So guys who gets to fight her first?"


    When Leo asked that question Tsukiko finally noticed the thousand of others that were concealed before suddenly appearing before her. Each one of them had a frightening aura and to make it worse they all had the same smile that Kretos shows when he wants to battle, or gets excited in battle.


    Tsukiko then remembered what Leo said that he was also Kretos, he then looked at the thousands of smiling faces and she finally came to a frightening conclusion. These people were all past reincarnations of Kretos.


    When Tsukiko finallyprehended what was happening she wanted to flee immediately. Yet Leo had a tight grip on her shoulder as he continued to smile at her.


    "Don''t worry little fox, we just want to y a little bit. You won''t die here, so once we have our fun we will let you go, alright? Also, the moment you leave all the things you saw while scanning Kretos''s memories will disappear from your own memories, even the action of you doing so will be gone from your memories. So let''s have lots of fun, while we can."


    Tsukiko couldn''t even scream as she was about to face the most dreadful moment in her life¡­ A moment she would never remember but one that will stay with her until her dying breath.

 Chapter 301 - The Birth Of The Strongest Demon Lord

    <h4>Chapter 301 - The Birth Of The Strongest Demon Lord</h4>


    Kretos had a long and rather satisfying sleep, as the wind and sun made him feelfortable, not to mention thefy thigh he was sleeping on. When he woke up he felt so much better than before as he could finally open his eyes again. His body wasn''t at its best and was still trying to recover but it was enough for him to move. When Kretos opened his eyes the first thing he saw was a sleeping Tsukiko.


    As she was sleeping beads of sweat fell down her forehead. Her facial expression was one of pain, it looked like she was having a terrible nightmare. Kretos stood up and tried waking her up but no matter what he did, she just wouldn''t wake up.


    After a few more tries Kretos stopped trying to wake her up and decided to wait for her to wake up naturally. Since she was nice enough to guard him while he slept he should do the same. Also, now that he can circte his mana again, waiting wasn''t a problem.


    ¡­


    Kretos started to circte his mana throughout his body to enhance and stabilize it making the quality better than before. The moment Kretos was done doing one round of cirction he noticed that the quality of his mana has improved yet again, and the improvement this time was five times better than before. If he were to get back at full strength he would be more powerful than the time he fought Kir.


    If he fought Kir this time, he would''ve won a few days earlier and with fewer injuries. Kretos was both excited and fearful of his newfound power. He was always excited when he felt more powerful like any other person, but he was also fearful that if he grew too powerful wouldn''t that mean fewer opponents would face him?


    ''¡­ I shouldn''t think like that, I should think positively. The stronger I get means I can face more powerful opponents. If I get strong enough I might be able to challenge dragons and Deities.''


    When Kretos thought about that he couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his. He was once again excited to do battle. He couldn''t wait to see what kinds of opponents he could battle with once he gets strong enough.


    ¡­


    News of Kretos''s victory against Kir started spreading throughout the demonnds. The Lycans who were brave enough had entered the middlends and saw the dead body of their lord. He was sliced in half, but even though he was like that, you could still see his mouth was slightly curved upwards. He was gleeful with his death and all the Lycans felt happy for him and at the same time they felt immense sorrow. The Lycan tribe all howled in unison for a few days and nights.


    When the other demons heard this news they had different reactions. Most of the demons didn''t really care since that would only mean a change in the number of demon lords. Others were excited seeing as Kretos loved to battle as much as they did maybe he would set out and conquer the other races. Then there were some that were nning on beating Kretos and Tsukiko so that there won''t be any demon lord level demons. Then the remaining demons all thought nothing about it since it doesn''t look like Kretos was going to do anything.


    But no matter what opinions they had they can all agree in one thing, Demon Lord Kretos was the strongest Demon Lord. They couldn''t call him Demon King yet, since that title was only reserved for one being and it doesn''t look like Kretos wants it as well. The demon king title was only given to a demon that all the demons in the demonnds agree to be the ruler of them all.


    ¡­


    After a few days of waiting Tsukiko finally woke up from her slumber. The moment she woke up she was gasping for air. Her body was trembling violently and her mind was fuzzy. She couldn''t remember what she was doing before she slept, and all she could feel at the moment was pure fear.


    "Are you alright?" Tsukiko jumped backward when she suddenly heard a voice talking beside her. She didn''t understand why she was so scared, but she looked warily at Kretos. When she saw Kretos''s face she could vaguely remember she was watching him as he was trying to recover from his fight against Kir.


    She could finally remember what she was doing before she slept, but for some reason, she couldn''t remember why she slept. A demon on her level could stay awake for a few months without any sleep, and when she was watching Kretos she was sure that she wasn''t tired.


    ''Why did I sleep?¡­ Also, what''s with this feeling of intense dread?¡­'' Tsukiko''s hands started to visibly tremble as she sweated bullets. She looked at Kretos''s face that was full of confusion.


    "What''s happening to you?" Kretos asked confused by Tsukiko''s violent reaction.


    Tsukiko tried calming herself down and after stabilizing her breathing Tsukiko felt a bit better. She looked at the confused Kretos and answered.


    "I''m fine¡­ I just had a nightmare of sorts."


    "I see¡­ Well, seeing as you''re awake now I guess I better get going." Kretos had recovered to a certain extent and was ready to make his next move. As he was about to leave Tsukiko stopped him.


    "Wait a minute, that''s it?! You do know I saved you, right?"


    "Yes you did, so?"


    "Aren''t you going to pay me back, or even just say thank you." When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said he nodded his head.


    "Thank you." After saying that Kretos turned around.


    "Is that it?" Tsukiko shouted at Kretos. When Kretos who was once again about to leave stopped when he heard Tsukiko''s voice. Kretos turned around and slowly approached Tsukiko. Seeing Kretos approaching her somehow made Tsukiko''s body start trembling again. She was sure she was no longer afraid of Kretos so why was she trembling?


    Kretos stopped right in front of Tsukiko, the demonic fox couldn''t help herself and covered her face in reflex.


    "I already said thank you, what more do you want?" Kretos asked as directly as he could. Tsukiko was still a bit scared but she gathered up her courage and answered Kretos.


    "¡­I want another promise from you."


    "What kind of promise?"


    "¡­ I want you to promise me that when I''m in a dire situation, you woulde to save me."


    "Is that all, alright then I promise. I will save you no matter what." Kretos promised without any hesitation. Hearing Kretos answer so quickly and decisively made Tsukiko smile. This was one of the traits Tsukiko liked about Kretos. She already expected him to answer this way, but hearing him do it without any hesitation just made her feel so happy.


    "Thank you Kretos¡­ So what are you going to do now? You''ve already beaten all the demon lords, so what''s next?"


    "I''m nning to unite the demon tribes under my rule."


    "Unite the demon tribes, are you really going to do that?¡­ But why? I didn''t know you had such high ambitions. I always thought you''re all about the battle."


    "I don''t know what you''re thinking but, I am just doing this for the battle."


    "Huh?"


    "I want to unite the demon tribes under my rule for battle."


    "Are you going to start a war?"


    "No."


    "Then how is uniting the demon tribes going to help you battle."


    "You don''t need to know," Kretos answered as such since in truth he doesn''t really know the answer as well. For now, he just needs to believe in what Demon Empress Nimune said. If what she said was wrong then he just needs to adjust his nster.


    "Then how are you going to unite the demon tribes."


    "Simple I will untie them with force."


    "¡­ Of course, you will." Tsukiko facepalmed hearing Kretos''s answer.


    "Should I call you demon king now?"


    "No need, I won''t take up the mantle of the demon king, the title of demon lord is enough for me. So is there anything else you want to ask?"


    "Fine, just leave." Tsukiko pouted as she turned around shooing Kretos away. Seeing her do that Kretos no longer hesitated and left. When Kretos left Tsukiko looked dumbfounded and then she once again pouted.


    "That guy is really not cute at all. He also doesn''t understand a maiden''s heart. Hmph, whatever I won''t care about him anymore." Tsukiko started stomping her foot and stuck out her tongue. But afterining a few more minutes she smiled.


    ¡­


    Kretos sent out a message to all of the heads of the different demon tribes. The message was simple but aggressive.


    "Come to the former ce of the stone throne of the Demon Lord Kir. I will be waiting for all the tribe leaders to pledge loyalty to me¡­ Those that don''tply will have their entire tribe annihted."

 Chapter 302 - Bow Or Die, Choose Now!

    <h4>Chapter 302 - Bow Or Die, Choose Now!</h4>


    Kretos headed to the ce where he and Kir fought, upon arriving he saw many Lycans howling. The Lycans noticed Kretos''s arrival and all of them immediately knelt on one knee. Kir''s former adjutant Shera approached Kretos and bowed her head.


    "Thank you Demon Lord Kretos for granting our lord a wonderful battle."


    "Hmm¡­ Do you not hate or fear me?" Kretos asked looking at the Lycans curiously.


    "We do not hate you, sir, as you have given our lord a satisfying death in battle. As for fear, we do fear you as one should, but at the same time, we respect you. The Lycan tribe has always believed in the winner takes all. So from here on out the Lycan Tribe is willing to die for you."


    When Kretos heard Shera''s reply he smiled amused by her answer. He also saw that the other Lycans had no objections making him chuckle.


    ''I kinda like the Lycan tribe.'' Kretos nodded his head.


    "Very well, as long as you don''t betray me, I promise you victory in every glorious battle. But if you betray me then there will be no mercy."


    The Lycans then stood up and pounded their chest in unison. They then started howling but unlike the mncholic howl they were doing a while ago, this howl was more upbeat and warlike almost like a growl.


    ¡­


    While the Lycan tribe were pledging their loyalty to Kretos the Northern, Western, Southern demon tribes were discussing Kretos''s deration. As for the Easternnds and the Middlends they have already fallen into his hands.


    ¡­


    In the Southern Lands, the leaders of each demon tribes had gathered in the now abandoned castle of Demon Empress Nimune.


    "So what should we do regarding Kretos''s deration?" The leader of the Naga tribe asked the other demons.


    "My tribe is the mighty minotaur tribe, we will never kneel to the likes of a Horned Demon." The leader of the Minotaur tribe spoke while huffing.


    "Are you saying our Horned Demon tribe is weak?" The leader of the Horned Demon Tribe red at the Minotaur.


    "Hmph, aside from Demon Lord Kretos and the once strong shadow n, your whole tribe is just a bunch of weaklings who are only as strong as the puny humans." The Minotaur scoffed.


    "You stupid cow head, say that again, and let''s see if you can survive?" The Horned Demon spoke while holding onto his sword.


    "Bring it little Horned Demon, I will rip you apart." The Minotaur gripped his giant mace and was ready to fight.


    "Boys how about you stop with the petty argument and let''s get back to the topic at hand." A seductive voice tickled the ears of all present. This was the newly appointed leader of the Subus Tribe.


    "Hmph, I don''t need to continue with this stupid talk. The Minotaur tribe will not bow down and we will not go and respond to his summons." The leader of the Minotaur tribe said what he wanted and left.


    ¡­


    In the Western Lands, a simr conversation was happening. The big yers of the Western Lands were already having internal conflicts after Darius''s death, as the arrogant and prideful Vampire Tribe still wanted to rule over the Westernnds. Of course, as no one from their tribe was as powerful as Darius the other tribes didn''t allow that to happen.


    As their internal conflict was escting they received Kretos''s summons. Now that a bigger threat was looming over them, they decided to stop fighting for now.


    "I propose an all-out assault on the arrogant young demon!" The newly appointed leader of the Vampire tribe shouted.


    "Are you stupid? We can''t even beat Darius with ourbined might, how do you expect to fight someone that is so much stronger than Darius himself?!"


    "I propose that we boycott the meeting. If almost all of us don''t go, I don''t believe Kretos has the guts to wipe all our tribes."


    "How are you so sure?"


    "Based on his summons and wanting us all to pledge allegiance, we can all see how great Kretos''s ambitions are. He wants to rule us, but if he wipes us out then there will be no one to rule over. Surely he wouldn''t allow that."


    "I don''t think we should think it''s that simple. Kretos has never shown any sort of ambition, all he seems to care about is battle."


    "Then how do you exin his recent actions?"


    "Do you think he wants to gather us all to fight a war against the other races?"


    "¡­ That actually sounds more usible. This guy is crazy about fighting, he might want to start a war against the other races."


    "In our current conditions if we start a war now we wouldn''t just worry about the enemy forces, but even our allies."


    "Yeah, a war is going to be suicide for us."


    "Also, why should we go to war with the other races? We already own most of thends on the continent and our lives here are surely better than theirs."


    "I actually think we can win if we went to war. With someone as powerful as Kretos in the lead, I think we can enve every other race."


    "I don''t think so, no matter how strong Kretos is he''s only one person."


    The Demons at the Western Lands kept going on and on until they all finally agreed to meet Kretos and decide what to do from there.


    ¡­


    In the Northern Demon Lands, the Harpy and Tengu tribes were now an endangered species and were focused in trying to save what''s left of them. Out of fear that Kretos might kill all of them, the Tengus and Harpies sent one representative. Most of the remaining tribes like the Werewolf tribe have decided to pledge allegiance to Kretos. But of course, there were some that didn''t want to do so.


    "Are we really going to pledge our allegiance to some young demon that hasn''t even lived for a half a century?"


    "Do we have any other choice?"


    "If we band together with the other tribes from all over the demonnds, no matter how powerful Kretos is we can beat him."


    "Is it really worth it to fight him in an all-out battle? Even if we do win many tribes will be lost, and we will be weakened to the point that the other races will strike us. The only reason they have never done so despite us owning arger portion of the continent is that they fear us. But now that we lost four demon lords, our overall strength has drastically weakened."


    "But if we follow this madman that only knows battle, would we survive? I know most demons like the thrill of battle, and different tribes have been at war for centuries, but this horned demon is something else. In the span of a few years, he has killed all the strong demon lords, now that he defeated the strongest of the demonnds, he might set his sights on the other races. It might get worse, he might challenge the Dragons and those winged servants of the Gods."


    "Then what do you propose we do, simply die by his hands?"


    ¡­


    While Kretos was waiting for the leaders of different demon tribes to arrive, Tsukiko alongside all the leaders of the tribes from the Easternnds had pledged their allegiance to him. Kretos of course epted them all under his rule. Tsukiko told him that even if he was their leader now, he can''t boss her around willy nilly. Kretos felt like the way Tsukiko was acting was quite cute, as she pouted and stuck out her tongue. Even though she was a few centuries older she still acted like a little sister.


    ¡­


    After a few more days of waiting the leaders of the demon tribes had arrived. They even brought arge force with them. Each tribe had sent their strongest warriors to meet Kretos. This was a tactic to intimidate Kretos.


    The other demons who had seen Kretos for the first time were a bit disappointed in how he looked. Was this young demon really the yer of demon lords and a thousand demons?


    "It would seem that not all the tribes havee¡­ Shera list down those that didn''t attend, we will annihte themter."


    "As youmand my lord." Shera bowed her head and started noting down the tribes that didn''t attend the meeting today. When the other demons heard Kretos''s deration some of them gulped dryly as up to this point they thought Kretos was bluffing about killing the whole tribe of those that defy him. The other demons on the other hand found Kretos''s act to be too arrogant. Even the previous demons lords have never annihted a whole tribe before.


    "Alright then, I won''t say too much and get to the point. All of you kneel down and pledge your loyalty to me. Those that don''t will have their whole tribe annihted."


    Some of the demon tribes didn''t hesitate to pledge allegiance to Kretos. The others, on the other hand, didn''t move and continued to look at Kretos with defiance in their eyes. When one of the tribe leaders that wish to defy Kretos was about to say something, Kretos interrupted him by releasing an immense bloodlust. He then pressured everyone with the might of his mana.


    Feeling such a fearful bloodlust even the most battle-hardened warrior started shivering in fear. Adding to that was the suffocating amount of mana that made it hard to breathe. Kretos red at those that were looking at him in defiance and spoke in an ice-cold tone.


    "Bow or die, choose now!"

 Chapter 303 - Purging

    <h4>Chapter 303 - Purging</h4>


    Kretos didn''t really want to rule over all the demons but this was a necessary step for future battles he wished to have. If he was going to do it, he needed to make sure that he wouldn''t be stabbed in the back. There might have been other ways to handle this situation, but this was the only way Kretos thought would be quick and effective. Also at the moment aside from killing he had no other skill.


    The moment Kretos asked his question, the defiant demons and even those that already pledged loyalty to him were sweating buckets. They couldn''t do anything but tremble as the dread was slowly encroaching their very souls.


    Many of those that wish to defy Kretos were feeling weak in the knee. Even the prideful Vampire Tribe couldn''t say anything in front of Kretos''s overpowering presence. As the ones who were defying Kretos were about to give up and take a knee one of them spoke.


    "Do you think will bow down to your threat?! All of you kneeling don''t you feel ashamed?! We are demons, have you all lost your pride, kneeling to a child who isn''t even half a century old? If all of us stand up to him, he wouldn''t be able to control all of us." One of the warriors of the Herto tribe shouted at the others while looking at them with disgust.


    When the other demons heard what the Herto tribe warrior said they felt a little empowered. Even though they were truly scared of Kretos''s power, they felt like they could do something if they stand up together.


    The other smaller tribes started to get up and looked at Kretos in defiance. In response to that, Kretos didn''t say anything and simply look on without saying a word. Seeing there was no response from Kretos embolden the other tribes to stand up as well.


    Therger tribes like the Vampire Tribe and the Subus Tribe hesitated to do anything at this moment. The Vampire tribe who were a very prideful tribe didn''t do anything since after feeling Kretos''s burst of mana they knew they stood no chance.


    The Subus Tribe members, on the other hand, were enamored by Kretos''s overwhelming power. They were convinced the moment they felt his pure powerful mana that he emitted.


    After waiting for some time the strongerrger tribes no longer fought back and were kneeling on the ground. On the other hand, the majority of the weaker tribes had gathered up their courage and stood in defiance of Kretos.


    "So you won''t bow down to me?" Kretos asked his tone was so icy that it made the people who were listening feel their blood grow colder. This time the weaker tribes their warriors and their leaders weren''t as intimidated as before.


    They stood in front of Kretos with the courage of numbers. The warrior from the Herto Tribe faced Kretos without any fear in his eyes. The Herto tribe was a weaker n that seemed to have evolved from the monster called Goblins. They were stronger, faster, and smarter than Goblins, in fact, they looked like humans but with green skin and one little horn on their head.


    This Herto tribe warrior was the same person who spoke at the beginning defying Kretos. He once again looked at Kretos with a re while holding onto his sword.


    "You can''t intimidate us with a bluff. We will never bow down to you!" The leader of the Herto tribe nodded at his warrior''s response. The other weaker tribes who stood up against Kretos were now full of confidence and courage.


    "So you think I''m bluffing?"


    "What else could this be but a bluff?"


    "I see¡­ Fine,st chance will you bow or not?"


    "Are you deaf, we will not do it!" The Herto Warrior shouted at Kretos.


    "How about the others do you feel the same?" Kretos looked at the other demons who were standing up in defiance. They held onto their weapons and answered.


    "We will not bend to your tyranny!"


    "You are no demon lord of ours!"


    "Who are you trying to scare?!"


    Tsukiko who was standing behind Kretos sighed as she watched the idiots shouting at Kretos. These fools didn''t understand who they were provoking.


    "Hmph, fine¡­ Shera point to me who the Tribe leaders are among these group of demons." The demons who were standing were confused as to why Kretos asked this. Shera started pointing at the tribe leaders, and once Kretos confirmed who was who he nodded his head.


    As everyone was confused about what Kretos was going to do, Kretos lifted one finger up to his head and then he swung it to the side like a sword. Everyone became even more confused when they saw Kretos''s action. What did he just do, what was the point of that? He did use some mana but it was rather weakpared to the suffocating mana he had emitted at the beginning.


    While everyone was thinking about what Kretos did, something shocking happened a few secondster. The heads of all the warriors of the tribes that stood up in defiance had their heads detached from their bodies. Blood started raining down and sttering all over the ce.


    The Vampires were greatly affected by the intense smell of blood and were about to go into a frenzy, but when they looked at Kretos they lowered their heads even more trying their hardest to suppress their urges.


    The other demons who were hesitant at the beginning were now d that they chose to kneel to Kretos. As for the tribe leaders of the small tribes that stood up to Kretos, they were still stunned by what transpired.


    Their strongest warriors who were considered the best among all the others in their tribe were killed so easily. They couldn''t even react to one of Kretos''s attack, nay they couldn''t even see what Kretos did.


    "Do you know why I didn''t kill you with your warriors?" Kretos spoke to the tribe leaders. When the tribe leaders heard Kretos''s question they were jolted awake. It was at this moment they regretted defying Kretos. Who said he was bluffing when he said he would kill them, he wasn''t bluffing at all!


    The tribe leaders simply looked at Kretos in fear unable to say anything. When Kretos saw their reactions he answered for them.


    "I didn''t kill you so that you can regret it. I want you to regret your decision. Because of what you did today your whole tribe will now cease to exist."


    When the tribe leaders heard what Kretos said their expression changed from fear to pure desperation. They all quickly knelt down and spoke in a loud voice.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, please spare my tribe. I will endure any torture as long as you spare my tribe."


    "I beg of you Demon Lord Kretos, please be magnanimous. It is only my fault and my fault alone, as the leader of the tribe, I was blinded by my pride. I beg of you please just take my life and not the life of my tribe."


    "Demon Lord Kretos if you spare my tribe, they will follow you as your most loyal servants. We will go to the underworld and fight death himself if you say so."


    The tribe leaders who heard what Kretos said regretted what they did. Now the only thing they could do was beg for forgiveness and see if Kretos would spare them.


    "Hmph, I am a man that is true to his word. I do not regret nor do I back out from what I say. If I said your tribes will be annihted then your tribes will be annihted."


    When the tribe leader heard Kretos''s deration and saw the cold look of indifference on his face, the tribe leaders knew that they had failed to move him. They now had be the sinners of their tribe, they will forever be known as the tribe leaders that doomed their whole tribe.


    Now that they know they stand no chance of survival, most of the Tribe leaders were waiting for their deaths toe, hopelessness had enveloped them. On the other hand, some of the tribe leaders started to get angry.


    "Kretos I curse you and your descendants!"


    "Kretos you are nothing more than a tyrant, there wille a day that someone will kill you in the most gruesome way possible!"


    While the angry tribe leaders kept hurling curses at Kretos, Tsukiko found the whole thing rather sad. From this day onward the demon tribes will be fewer. Kretos once again released his bloodlust which made the tribe leaders shut up.


    "You know death is not frightening, it is when one loses the courage to fight is what frightens me. All you and your dead warriors did was bark and bark but not bite. If even one of you had attacked me I would''ve probably spared your tribes. But from start to finish you guys never showed me that kind of courage." After saying that Kretos no longer bothered to talk to the tribe leaders and quickly dealt with them.


    Once those that openly defied him had died Kretos looked at the other demons and asked them.


    "So will you pledge allegiance to me?"


    When they heard Kretos question no one hesitated any longer and all the demons answered in unison as if they had practiced it.


    "We swear allegiance to the strongest demon lord Kretos!" Hearing their thunderous response Kretos nodded his head.


    "Alright then, to show me your loyalty, I want all of you to go out and annihte the tribes of the cowardly fools that defied me today."


    "It will be as you wish!" The demons answered loud and clear.

 Chapter 304 - The Ever Changing Situation

    <h4>Chapter 304 - The Ever Changing Situation</h4>


    After pledging their allegiance to Kretos the tribe leaders wanted to quickly head back to their territories so that they could prepare to annihte the tribes that went against Kretos. If they act too slow the other tribes might snatch credit. As they were about to leave Kretos spoke to all of them.


    "Before you leave I''m going to warn you guys once and only once, so listen closely." The demons who were getting excited to gain Kretos''s favor stiffened as they heard Kretos''s warning. They all stopped moving and waited to hear what Kretos wanted to say.


    "From this day onward we will no longer be separated by tribes, we are one race and will be one tribe. Those of you that have sworn loyalty to me should strive to stand united. I will not tolerate any more war among us happening within ournds. Those of you that start killing other tribes without my permission will be severely punished. You should understand by now that I''m a man that is true to his words."


    What Kretos really wanted to say is that they will be killed, but if he did that and knowing what these demons were like, then there might not be any demons left. He was still trying to figure out how to do these things.


    "It shall be as you wish." The demons answered and seeing that Kretos doesn''t seem like he was going to say anything more, they all bowed in front of him before leaving.


    "Don''t you think you''re being a bit too overbearing?" Tsukiko asked Kretos looking a bit worried.


    Kretos showed no remorse in issuing such an order. The demonnds was a ce full of war, many tribes have already fallen and cease to exist as they were weaker, what was a few more. To demons the annihtion of an entire tribe wasn''t anything special, but ever since the emergence of the five demons lords it became a rather rare event. Kretos looked at Tsukiko and shrugged his shoulders.


    "This was the only way I know how to do things, and it''s fast and efficient. Though we might have lost a lot of tribes, in the future the demons will stand stronger than before as a united race."


    "So what now?" Tsukiko asked while the Lycans stood on standby.


    "Next I will go visit those tribes that didn''t attend and I will personally wipe them out. I can''t have them undermining my authority." Kretos licked his lips and started smiling his vicious smile.


    ¡­


    A great upheaval suddenly happened in the demonnds. The demons under Kretos''s rule started to ughter the tribes that would not ept his rule. Of course, these demon tribes didn''t go down quietly as they fought to thest man. Unfortunately for them, they were the minority and they were facing more powerful tribes.


    Under the heavy offensive of the stronger tribes, the tribes that opposed Kretos had no chance of victory, they weren''t even able to kill a single warrior in Kretos''s side.


    While all the demon tribes under Kreto''s rule were doing their best to show their loyalty, Kretos himself was also doing a simr job, as he was now standing in the Minotaur tribe''s territory.


    ¡­


    Upon arriving in the territory of the Minotaur tribe the first thing Kretos noticed was the warm reception waiting for him. Hundreds of Minotaurs had their weapons ready and were now standing face to face with him.


    At the forefront of the group was a massive Minotaur who towered over all the others. This Minotaur at the front wore heavy armor, held a towering shield in his left hand and a scimitar in his right hand. This Minotaur was the leader of the tribe called Xanter.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, why have youe?!" While Xanter was speaking the Minotaurs at the rear were drawing their longbows getting ready to release a rain of arrows.


    "You should already know why I havee," Kretos answered with his vicious smile getting wider and wider. It has been a few weeks since his battle with Kir and he was excited to fight such arge number of opponents.


    "I see¡­ So you havee to eliminate us. Don''t think it will be such an easy task! Archers RELEASE!" Hearing Xanter''smand the archers at the rear rained down arrows at Kretos. Seeing the numerous arrows falling towards him Kretos summoned a spear. He twirled the spear above his head breaking the iing arrows, while he was doing this he dashed forward.


    Xanter got his shield ready and was going to block Kretos attack before counterattacking. As he was getting ready for some sort of impact, he suddenly felt an intense pain in his chest. Xanter looked down and saw that Kretos''s spear went through his shield, then through his armor, and then finally through his thick hide. With a single spear throw, Kretos was able to kill him.


    Seeing how easily Kretos defeated their leader didn''t deter the Minotaur tribe as they roared in unison. Seeing the death of their leader and most powerful warrior only made them more motivated.


    Kretos pulled out his bloodied spear from Xanter''s corpse and spoke to the remaining Minotaurs.


    "Minotaur tribe I have seen your courage and acknowledge it. If you stop now and swear loyalty to me, I will forget about your past transgressions and spare you all."


    When the Minotaurs heard what Kretos said they looked at each other and then startedughing. The second strongest warrior of the tribe stepped forward and gave Kretos an answer.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, we admit that you are the most powerful being our tribe has ever faced. It is true that you could annihte us, but even then we will not bend a knee. We followed the Queen of the Subus, Demon Empress Nimune because our chieftain decided following her was the right course. It also that same chieftain that told us that following you is not an option. Even though he has died by your de, we will honor his decision. We the Minotaur tribe might disappear from today onward, but let it be known that we remained loyal until the very end."


    Kretos was quite shocked to hear their answer but then he couldn''t help but smile. He really liked the way these Minotaurs do things, more so than those tribe leaders who were all bark and no bite.


    "I see, I respect your decision. You are true warriors and I will no longer persuade you. So out of respect, I shall remember your tribe as valiant warriors."


    "Thank you, demon lord Kretos. It is our honor that you shall be our final opponent." The Minotaurs stomped their hooves and roared. Without any more words between the two sides, the minotaurs charged at Kretos.


    In response, Kretos threw the spear he was holding which prated the heads of a dozen Minotaurs. Kretos then proceeded to massacre the Minotaur tribe until not a single one was alive.


    ¡­


    While the demons were wreaking more havoc more than usual in their ownnds, the humans had received news of what was happening.


    When they heard the news that Kretos the newly appointed demon lord was purging his disloyal subjects the human kings grew anxious. Once Kretos who was known to love battle was done purging the disloyal demons, who will be his next target? Wouldn''t he then set his sights outside the demonnds?


    Should they wait for the inevitable war with the demons to happen, or should they do something about it now? That was when one of the human kings had a thought. Wasn''t this the perfect time to invade the demonnds?


    Many human kings of past and present have thought about it but due to how powerful the demons were no one went through with it. But now that most of the demon lords have died, and the other tribes were being massacred weren''t the demons at their weakest state right now?


    The human king closest to the demonnds had called his generals and his court mage to ask them for their opinion.


    "We do need the resources found within the demonnds."


    "Even if we do invade, we might be able to deal with the barbaric demon armies, but what of the demon lord they call Kretos? There is no warrior in our kingdom or any other that could face him in battle. If the reports are to be believed he possesses power equivalent to a whole army. If we do attack should we form an alliance with the other kingdoms?"


    "We cannot trust those weaklings from the other kingdoms. We are the ones who have always guarded the only path to the demonnds and never let a single demon through. Surely we deserve to be the ones to im the demonnds as our own." One of the generals pounded his hand at the table.


    While the generals were continuing debating about what to do next, the king looked at the silent court mage and asked.


    "Do you have any solutions?" The court mage rubbed his chin for a while before answering the king.


    "Your highness I do believe I have a solution to our problem, but I am unsure if it would work or not." When the generals heard what the court mage said all their attention shifted to him.


    "That is alright, any idea would be weed at this point. So what is this solution that you speak of?" Hearing the King''s reply the Court Mage nodded his head and answered.


    "Our biggest problem right now is that no one possesses the power to fight the demon lord Kretos. So how about we summon someone that could."


    "Are you perhaps suggesting we use the hero summoning spell?"


    "That is what I am proposing your highness."

 Chapter 305 - Hero Summoning

    <h4>Chapter 305 - Hero Summoning</h4>


    As the demonnds were being cleaned of all tribes that won''t follow Kretos, the human kingdoms were also in a state of panic. Some of them decided to simply take a wait and see attitude, as they will act ordingly to the situation as it progresses. On the other hand, the other kingdoms were getting ready for war as they strengthen their defenses. Some were discussing an alliance with the neighboring kingdoms, some went so far as to discuss an alliance with the other races.


    While every other kingdom was still talking about what to do next, one of the human kingdoms located near the demonnds was about ready to take action.


    ¡­


    The Sliral Kingdom had been guarding the one and only path towards the demonnds for centuries. Tall Mountains separate the demonnds and the human kingdoms, the only way fornd units to pass is through the Great Canyon that the Sliral Kingdom protects.


    The ancestors of those of the Sliral kingdom have fought the ancient demon lords led by the demon king. They were barely able to repel the demons after losing much of theirnds to them. In the end, a warrior from a different world was summoned and was able to defeat the demon king. After the defeat of the demon king, the ancient human hero and the ancient demon lords agreed to a truce.


    For a time both sides flourished together. The Sliral Kingdom''s Touma City which was named after the hero that helped them had be a center of trade between the demonnds and the Sliral Kingdom.


    Yet after centuries had passed, both sides have long forgotten about this truce. The current people of the Sliral Kingdom believe that Touma City was a defensive fortress, a barricade for the demons.


    They had fortified the city into a near-imprable fortress. The once-bustling city ofmerce, where Merchants of different ces came to gather had turned into a military fortress. It was now filled with cksmiths, knights, mercenaries, andbat mages.


    Currently, the fortress was filled with more people than usual. The Kingdom was getting ready for war. So that the spies nted by the other kingdoms wouldn''t notice their movement the Sliral Kingdom had ced a simr amount of soldiers at the border near their long time enemy kingdom. They did this so that it would look like that they ced a lot of soldiers to defend the Canyon from the demons and at the same time defend against their long time enemy.


    ¡­


    While the soldiers were preparing for war, the King his queen, his son, and his daughter, alongside his most trusted generals, and court mage were all back in the capital getting ready to summon the hero.


    Due to this being of the utmost importance to the Sliral Kingdom aside from the people present in the room no one else knew of this n. They scanned the room for any unwanted person. After they saw that no one, not even a rat was in the room the court mage began the summoning ritual.


    He drew arge magic circle and wrote runes at the edges. Once he was done the Court Mage asked the princess to pray to one of the Gods for a blessing. The princess nodded her head, knelt in front of the magic circle, and started praying. While she was praying the magic circle started to shine.


    Seeing what was happening the court mage started to pour mana into the magic circle. Now all they needed to do was wait.


    ¡­


    Takafumi Sora was your everyday sryman who lived in a small apartment in Tokyo. As he came back from work Sora took a bath and turned on the T.V. He checked if his DVR recorded the magical girl anime, he wanted to watch.


    ''Good thing it was recorded properly this time.''


    Takafumi Sora twenty-six years old was an otaku. He liked ying games and watching anime, and it was the onlyfort he found in this world. After he was done enjoying his show, Sora noticed his phone was buzzing it was a message from his mother. He took out his phone and read the message.


    ''Another omiai, this is the second one this month.'' Sora scratched his head and sighed. He got a pack of cigarettes and went to the balcony to smoke.


    Sora looked dazedly at the shining lights of the city of Tokyo. He then looked up and saw that there were no stars shining, there was only the moon looking down at him.


    ''It''s not like I don''t want to get married, but I don''t want to marry a girl that thinks watching anime at my age is creepy.'' Sora started to remember his past experiences with women, the moment they learned he was an otaku they started looking at him differently.


    ''It would be better if I find someone with the same interest as me. Yeah, I should find my own girlfriend¡­'' When Sora said those words he sighed more heavily than usual. ''Who am I kidding, the number of years I had no girlfriend is the same as my age. How is someone like me going to find someone? Should I just give up and stop watching too much anime and ying too many video games? Should I stop collecting my limited edition figurines?''


    Sora started scratching his head as he put out the fire of his cigarette and flicked it to the side. ''Whatever I won''t change, and I don''t want to! If I don''t have a wife then so be it, I have all my lovely waifus with me.''


    Once he was done contemting, Sora opened the sliding door and entered his room. Yet the moment he stepped into his room, the scenery change. His 1ldk room changed, the T.V hisptop the tatami floors, and his futon all of it was gone.


    In ce of all those things, were a group of heavily armed men with swords and spears. A middle-aged man with a staff. There were also people that looked like a king and queen sitting on their thrones. Beside them was a young boy who looked to be around eight years old. All of these people surprised him, but what truly caught Sora''s attention was the beautiful maiden kneeling in front of him.


    She had long raven ck hair and had a body that was to die for. She could pretty much be a gravure idol. As Sora was confused as to what was happening, the middle-aged man spoke to him.


    "O hero from another world we thank you foring to our aid."


    "Huh?" Sora looked at everyone confused. ''Did this guy just call me a Hero? Am I dreaming, is this a dream after I rewatch Aura Battler Dunbine?'' Sora closed his eyes and bit his tongue, trying to wake up. Yet instead of waking up he just got hurt.


    ''What the f*ck, this isn''t a dream?!''


    "Dear hero, are you alright?" The princess asked looking worriedly at Sora. Seeing the worried look of the beautiful princess made Sora blush a bit as he shook his head.


    "I''m alright¡­ Just a little bit confused and tired¡­" Sora didn''t know what to say and just said whatever came to mind.


    "I apologize, o hero, being summoned from another realm might have been very taxing for you. You can rest, for now, we can exin the situation to you once you''re properly rested."


    One of the generals called in a maid and asked them to guide the guest to the room they had prepared. Sora who was still utterly confused followed the maid without further questions. Once Sora was gone from the room, one of the generals spoke in irritation.


    "What was that?! Is that supposed to be our hero?! That man was too weak and scrawny even the normal soldiers could beat him! How is he-" Before the general could continue shouting his frustrations the king signaled him to stop. The general gritted his teeth and stopped talking. The other generals were also looking concerned about the situation.


    "Jeter, Was there a mistake during the summoning process?" The king asked the court mage called Jeter.


    "No your highness, the summoning was a huge sess. There has been no mistake." Jeter answered calmly even though he was being red at by the generals.


    "Then howe, that person was summoned? Like General Marcus said, based on what we saw that person did not look like he was a warrior of any kind."


    "Do not worry your highness, heroes summoned from another world are usually like that at the beginning. Based on the records of the time the hero Touma was summoned he too at the beginning was a weak and scared young man. Yet after defeating a few monsters, his strength grew, and as he continued fighting and killing his strength grew even more. The potential hidden within these heroes from another world can be fully unleashed once he defeats his first monster."


    ¡­


    While the King and his men were talking about what to do next, Sora was sitting down on a bed in the room he was led to. He was finally able to calm down and was trying to assess the situation.


    ''Did I really get transported to another world?¡­ Okay, I just need to calm down, for now, panicking won''t solve anything¡­ Based on the circumstances, this isn''t like those isekai mangas were the hero gets to meet God, like in the anime In Another World with My Smartphone. This feels more like the rising of the shield hero type thing. If that''s the case maybe I have something like a status screen.''


    Sora then started testing out his theory and spoke the words, "Status" both in his mind and using his mouth. A status window then appeared in front of him.


    Status:


    Name: Sora


    Race: Human


    ss: Newbie Hero


    Level: 1


    HP: 72/72 MP: 10/10


    STR: 8


    AGI: 5


    DEX: 5


    INT: 4


    WIS: 4


    VIT: 6


    Luck: 3


    Attribute Points: 5


    When Sora saw the status screen, the fear and confusion he felt were blown away and was reced with excitement¡­ As an otaku, many have wished for a simr situation to happen to them, and now it was actually happening to him.

 Chapter 306 - Invading Human Army

    <h4>Chapter 306 - Invading Human Army</h4>


    It has been months since Sora arrived into this unknown world. During those months Sora learned why he was summoned. It seems like a powerful demon lord had taken over the demonnds and was getting ready for war with the human kingdoms.


    In the beginning, Sora believed every word the Sliral Kingdom''s people told him, but as he continued his journey heard the stories of different people, Sora figured out pieces of the truth.


    There was indeed a powerful demon lord called Kretos, but he wasn''t invading or nning a war with the human kingdoms, in fact, it seems like the opposite was happening. Based on the information he gathered by himself, the demon lord Kretos was not thinking of attacking the human kingdoms. In fact, it would seem like he was busy trying to quell the chaos in his ownnds.


    ''Based on what I saw and what anime, video games, manga, VNs, and light novels have thought me is that there should be more to this than what it seems. Maybe this is like Maoy¨± Ma¨­ Y¨±sha or Hataraku Ma¨­-sama! I guess the only way to find out the real truth is if I ask the demon lord himself.''


    Sora was now a hardened warrior that had in a lot of monsters. Still, he wasn''t sure if he could kill demons who were likely the same as humans. Also, after staying in this world, he learned not to trust all the people in the Sliral kingdom, even those that called themselves his allies could betray him. There were too many secrets being kept from him and he didn''t like that. Sora then looked at his current stats.


    Status:


    Name: Sora


    Race: Human


    ss: Professional Hero


    Level: 520


    HP: 82,000/82,000 MP: 52,350/52,350


    STR: 31,000


    AGI: 28,400


    DEX: 28,400


    INT: 22,530


    WIS: 21,000


    VIT: 30,322


    Luck: 400


    Attribute Points: 0


    With his current power, this should be enough to fight most of the beings in this world. In fact, with his current strength, he could fight the whole Sliral Kingdom alone. Still, even with his current strength Sora was a bit worried about the court mage that was apanying him. He couldn''t understand why but he always felt an ufortable feeling when he was near the court mage. Because of this ominous feeling, Sora made sure to strengthen his mind and learned a lot of skills that resist mind control spells just in case.


    Once his preparations were done, the Sliral Kingdom ordered him and his group to head to the demonnds and defeat Demon Lord Kretos. Sora''s group consisted of the court mage Jeter, a renowned mercenary who used five swords and a towering shield Niel. Then there was the supposed strongest assassin of Sliral Kingdom whose name sounds like a name some MMORPG yer would name his character, Night. As for the final member of the party was a cleric who has been in numerous wars, the oldest member of the party, Jason.


    These five people formed the hero party. Every time Sora saw the dudes in his party he couldn''t help but sigh. This wasn''t what he expected when he imagined his other world adventure as the hero party. He was imagining a group full of women walking beside him bickering. A Tsundere, a Kuudere, a Dandere, a Sadodere, and a Himedere. He was expecting at least one of those types would show, like the princess. But unfortunately, the princess was unable to join as she wasn''t suited for battle. Now Sora was stuck with this dude fest.


    The moment their group left, the king spoke to one of the generals. "Do you think Sora could win?"


    "I wholly believe in Hero Sora''s strength. Even if our whole army were to face him he would remain unscathed. I once saw him fought a horde of Colossal rank monsters while blindfolded. He said he was trying to gain a skill called the mind''s eye. I couldn''t understand what kind of skill it was but Hero Sora seeded in defeating every single monster without a problem. If it is him no matter how strong this demon lord Kretos is, he would not stand a chance. The only thing I''m concerned about is his sense of justice. It seems like he is rather suspicious of our motives, and once he learns of the truth about this invasion he might switch sides."


    When the King heard his loyal general''s concern he smiled a reassuring smile. "Do not worry about that. The only concern was if he was strong enough to win. Whether he is willing or not isn''t going to be a problem."


    ¡­


    While the hero party was on their way to the demonnds, Kretos was finally done purging the tribes that failed to attend to his summons. Most of them held onto their beliefs, while others begged for mercy. Those that held onto their beliefs Kretos gave a second chance, but because they were like that they never epted it. On the other hand, the cowards that begged for mercy were not even given a second look and were all killed.


    After he was done with his purge, Kretos returned to his newly built castle in the middlends. It wasn''t finished yet, but just looking at the scale made it look grander than Demon Empress Nimune''s old castle. Kretos sat on his new throne, and just beside his throne was a sleeping golden fox.


    Shera entered the room and reported to Kretos that the other tribes were still in the middle of a battle with those that won''t follow him.


    Almost immediately after giving her report another Lycan came into the room and whispered something in Shera''s ears. Upon hearing the Lycan soldier''s report made even the stern-looking Shera look surprised. Once the Lycan that gave the report was gone, Shera ryed what she heard to Kretos.


    "My lord, the human Kingdom called Sliral, located north of ournds has deployed their army which is now nearing our territory. There also another report that the same kingdom had sent a smaller group ahead of their army which is taking a different route through the mountains."


    When Kretos heard the report he smiled in excitement. He wasn''t even finished uniting all the demons and the promised enemy Demon Empress Nimune said woulde, hade to his doorsteps.


    "Howrge is the army?"


    "Based on our scouts'' reports, the rough estimate would make them a little over fifty thousand strong."


    "How about the smaller group?"


    "We have no information about the first group that had entered through the mountains."


    "Huh, What do you mean?"


    "The scout that spotted the first group had died. He was only able to send a signal saying he spotted a small group of intruders, after that there was nothing else. Everyone else that was sent to verify the report never returned."


    "I see¡­ So the army is most likely a distraction, the true threat is the smaller group. Can you guess where they are heading?"


    "Based on the reports and the scouts that had disappeared, it is most likely the group is heading here to you my lord."


    "Oh I see, so these people havee to meet me. Alright then, tell the others to stop obstructing our guests. As for the army tell the tribes that aren''t doing anything to stall them for now."


    "As youmand my lord." Shera bowed her head and disappeared. The Golden Fox sleeping beside Kretos''s throne started yawning as she opened her eyes. After stretching for a bit, Tsukiko turned into her human form.


    "Are you really going to wait here for them toe to you?"


    "Yeah, since they''reing to me on their own free will why should I stop them?" Hearing Kretos''s response Tsukiko shrugged her shoulders.


    "Then what about the human army, are you not going to do anything about that?"


    "Didn''t I already ordered the tribes that aren''t busy to stall the human army."


    "Why stall them though? Why not just order the tribes to annihte them?"


    "Oh, that''s my after-meal snack. Once I''m done with the main course I''ll head over to clear the remaining snacks."


    Hearing Kretos''s response Tsukiko sighed. After staying with him for the past year, she finally understood that this guy''s brain was mostly filled with thoughts of battle. Though that didn''t mean he was stupid. In fact, Tsukiko found out that this guy was incredibly smart, but he uses all of it for the sake of battle. If he really wanted to, Kretos could have done a dozen other things to ensure his position and unite the tribes. Yet he chose the most direct and forceful way since he simply thought it would make things move quicker.


    "So are you going to let your men die, just like that?"


    "Hmm, you make it sound like the demon tribes are soft like the humans. Unlike the humans who only have wars from time to time, the demonnds live and breathe war. Even if humans have superior numbers we outss them in every other area. If my so called men can''t even handle something so simple like this, then they won''tst long in the era toe."


    "¡­" Tsukiko no longer responded and started walking out of the room.


    "Where are you going?"


    "I''m going to have a taste of your after-meal snack. So if you don''t finish your meal fast enough, I might have eaten all the snacks before you arrive." Tsukiko stuck out her tongue at Kretos and left. Kretos looked at Tuskiko''s departing figure, a small smile emerged from his face before he sighed.


    ''She should really act her age¡­ Well, I guess waiting for the guests to arrive isn''t an option anymore. If that fox were to get serious I really might not be able to eat a single snack¡­'' Kretos stood from his throne did some stretches and with one step disappeared.

 Chapter 307 - Meeting The Demon Lord Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 307 - Meeting The Demon Lord Kretos</h4>


    In the snowy mountains of the Northern Demon Lands, a lone human was running freely. This was the hero Takafumi Sora. He was currently separated from his group as they entered the mountains and encountered a few monsters. He could have beaten the monsters easily but Sora wanted to leave the group and meet Demon Lord Kretos by himself. He wanted to learn the truth that has been hidden from him.


    ¡­


    A group of four were in the middle of a fierce battle against a pack of ice wolves found in the Northern Mountains of the Demon Lands. These four were Sora''spanions.


    Niel the vanguard of the group blocked one ice wolf and pushed another. As he was busy killing the monsters the mercenary finally noticed something was amiss. He looked around and noticed that Sora was no longer with them.


    "I can''t see the hero!" Niel shouted as he stabbed the ice wolf that was in front of him. The assassin Night dashed around the area and he too couldn''t spot the hero as well. He quickened his pace and checked a wider area but he still couldn''t find a single trace of Sora.


    "I can''t see him either!" Night informed the others as he threw a dagger at a nearby ice wolf.


    The healer Jason punched the face of one of the ice wolves, and then two ice wolves tried to bite his hands but their fangs couldn''t prate Jason''s bulging muscles. Jason then held the two ice wolves necks and snapped them, after he was done killing the ice wolves near him, Jason shouted at the others.


    "Don''t worry about the hero, if it''s him he can take care of himself. As for now, we need to concentrate on finishing these monsters. Once we''re done we can go and search for him." Hearing the veteran Jason''smand the mercenary and assassin nodded their heads and continued killing the monsters. On the other hand, the court mage Jeter was looking around listlessly.


    He had made a mistake, and let the hero out of his sight. He must find the hero as quickly as possible if he meets the demon lord without him present, might spell the end of the Sliral Kingdom. ''I can''t use the spell if he''s too far away from me. If he learns of the truth and forms an alliance with the demon lord¡­ That hero might¡­ No, he wouldn''t do that, his sense of justice won''t allow it. Still, I should find him before things get worse.'' Jeter wanted to leave and look for Sora but the ice wolves blocking his path wouldn''t allow him to do what he wanted.


    "Get out of my way!"


    ¡­


    Sora knew that the monsters near hispanions weren''t strong enough to kill them, so once he was sure they were safe he continued onward on his own. As he was running ahead of his party members, Sora decided to clear any monsters he meets so that his party members won''t have any trouble on the way.


    Sora was dashing through the mountain without any problem when he saw a horde of monsters ahead of him.


    ''What spell should I use?¡­ Oh, I always wanted to do this against such arge horde of monster.'' Sora stopped running took out a wooden staff from his inventory and then took a pose.


    "My name is Sora, my calling is that of a hero, I am one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic!"


    As Sora shouted those lines that a certain red-eyed arch mage used to say, the monsters noticed his presence and started running towards him. Sora then gathered mana and started chanting.


    "Darkness cker than ck and darker than dark, I beseech thee,bine with my deep crimson. The time of awakeningeth. Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortion! I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force: a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, ande from the abyss! Explosion!"


    A huge me from above the heavens came bursting down on the poor monsters, making the whole area explode in a fiery rage. None of the monsters survived the attack and as Sora watched his explosion he nodded his head.


    "That intensity, that disy of power, I''m going to give this an 8 out of 10. Nice explosion." Sora gave himself a thumbs up and smiled. After he was done with his routine, Sora felt extremely happy. He was able to actually do the same thing as that mage from one of his favorite animes, he was even able to mimic the protagonist of the anime.


    ''How about I use Phoenix veter.'' Sora happily thought of that as he continued onward.


    ¡­


    It took Sora sometime before he was able to meet another group of monsters. When he saw the group he started to happily chant.


    "Darkness beyond twilight. Crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the flow of time. In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness. Let all the fools who stand in our way be destroyed by the power you and I possess¡­ PHOENIX SLAVE!"


    A beam of mana came out of Sora''s hands and sted the nearby monsters. The spell that Sora used before and now came from his favorite anime characters, and the chants themselves were pretty much worthless. He could have the same effect happen even without chanting.


    As Sora was happily enjoying doing different poses and spells to satisfy his inner chuunibyou, his detection skill activated. He looked around but saw nothing in sight. As he was getting a bit confused by why his detection skill activated, Sora heard a voice.


    "Hmm, that''s a pretty impressive spell, but what''s the point of that long chant? Doing it without the chant would result in a simr effect, so why bother chanting?"


    Sora looked right beside him and saw a man suddenly appear out of nowhere. He wasn''t able to notice this man get near him. Even the supposed best assassin of the Sliral Kingdom, Night couldn''t get close to Sora without being spotted. Yet this man did it so nonchntly.


    Sora looked at the young man that appeared out of nowhere and noticed that he had a pair of horns sticking out of his head, but aside from that, he looked the same as any other human.


    ''Is this a demon?'' Sora looked at the neer curiously.


    "So did youe here to test your spells?" The demon asked Sora.


    ''Should I answer honestly?¡­ I guess it wouldn''t hurt to tell this demon why I''m here.''


    "I didn''te here to test my spells. The truth is I havee to talk to the newly appointed demon lord, Kretos." When the demon heard what Sora said his expression changed for a second and then he smiled.


    "Oh, why do you want to talk to the demon lord?"


    "I just want to confirm some suspicions I''ve been having."


    "What would that be?"


    "Sorry, that''s a conversation between me and the demon lord."


    "Hmm, then what if I told you I''m Demon Lord Kretos will you be willing to tell me then?" Kretos showed a vicious smile as he looked at the human before him.


    "This isn''t the time to be joking around." The moment Sora said those words he suddenly felt immense pressure like no other. He quickly backed away from Kretos and took out his beloved weapon which he named Masamune. He looked at Kretos surprised by the pressure he felt, was that bloodlust?


    This was the first time Sora had felt such an overbearing bloodlust. It was the most fearsome feeling he had ever felt before. He had fought numerous monsters but none of them had given him such a feeling of desperation before. It was like he was going to be devoured.


    "Do you believe me now?" Kretos asked his smile never fading.


    Sora was now on high alert as he looked at the smiling demon. He quickly used his analysis skill to peer into the other person''s stats.


    Status:


    Name: Kretos


    Race: Horned Demon


    ss: Strongest Demon Lord


    Secret ss: Strongest Mortal Soul


    Level:?


    HP: ? MP: ?


    STR:?


    AGI:?


    DEX:?


    INT:?


    WIS:?


    VIT:?


    Luck:?


    Sora was surprised that he couldn''t peer into any of Kretos''s information except for his name and ss.


    ''The f*ck, my ss is only Professional Hero, while his ss is literally called the Strongest Demon Lord. Also what the heck is a secret ss, howe he has it and I don''t? Strongest Mortal Soul, even his secret ss has the term strongest in it. Does this mean this guy is the literal strongest among all mortals, and only Gods could face him?''


    Sora was confused and was a little bit frightened by Kretos''s stats. This was the demon lord he was supposed to face. Yet underneath the fear, Sora was also feeling excited. He was having the same feeling he has, as when he faces the final boss in a game. The stats of the hero was always leagues below that of the final boss, but in the end, the hero can still win.


    "So what is it you want to talk to me about?" Kretos asked as he looked curiously at the human before him.

 Chapter 308 - A Conversation With Kretos

    <h4>Chapter 308 - A Conversation With Kretos</h4>


    Sora looked at the smiling Kretos wary of him. He was already at level five hundred twenty, yet despite that, he still felt extremely threatened by the defenseless looking Kretos. The fear Sora was feeling at the moment made him unable to think properly, his whole body was telling him he couldn''t fight Kretos, well he didn''t want to fight in the first ce and that was the truth.


    Sora stored his sword Masamune back into his inventory. When Kretos saw that Sora storing his sword away Kretos started to frown. Noticing the change in Kretos''s expression Sora felt like he had done something wrong, but he couldn''t understand what. The ever-changing expressions Kretos was showing caught Sora off guard. As he was getting distracted by his thoughts Sora shook his head, and Despite the dread, he was feeling, he looked straight at Kretos''s eyes and asked.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, I am the summoned hero of the Sliral Kingdom, Takafumi Sora."


    "A hero? Do you mean like the ones in those fairy tales told by humans? Also, a summoned hero, does that mean you''re not from around here? Are you as strong as those heroes found in ancient human scriptures, or perhaps are stronger than them?" Kretos was surprised by the new information he heard and became quite curious in the supposed hero in front of him. As his excitement rose so did his battle intent.


    Sora was once again surprised by the sudden change in Kretos. The supposed Evil Demon Lord now looked quite excited and was filled with curiosity the same as a young child.


    "I don''t know much about this world''s fairy tales, and I''m not sure how strong those ancient heroes were, but I guess in some respects I''m the same as the heroes in those stories." Sora scratched his head looking a bit embarrassed as he said that he was simr to the ancient heroes.


    "Hmm, this world? So you really are not from around here." Sora nodded his head and answered.


    "Yeah, I came from a ce far far far away from here, it''s basically another world. I was summoned to this ce with the sole purpose of defeating the evil Demon Lord, Kretos¡­ That''s you, right?" When Kretos heard what Sora said he startedughing hisugh echoed throughout the mountains. Soar looked at Kretos dumbfounded, as Kretos continued tough heartily a tiny bit of his mana flew out.


    When Sora felt Kretos''s mana he was once again surprised. His hands started to sweat and his heart was beating faster. The mana Kretos was emitting was encroaching his body. This was the first time Sora had felt such aggressive mana.


    His current MP was over fifty thousand, and his INT was above twenty thousand. A normal mage in the Kingdom would only have, around a few hundred MP and there INT barely reaches a hundred. Even Jeter the strongest mage in the Kingdom has around ten thousand MP and six thousand INT. Compared to them the other humans his mana was monstrous. Yet despite that, he felt that Kretos''s mana was so much greater than his. Sora wondered what those that called his mana monstrous, what would they think if they felt Kretos''s mana? The surprised Sora looked at Kretos confused and wary as to why he wasughing.


    "Hahaha, that''s nice to hear. I don''t know about me being evil as I never truly thought of my actions in the terms of good or evil¡­ As for your purpose, so you''vee to defeat me, that means you came to have a life and death battle with me."


    After saying those words Kretos''s smile became even more vicious as he summoned arge sword from his shadow.


    "Since you came to battle, then let''s have ourselves a fun battle!"


    When Sora heard Kretos''s excited voice, he finally understood what kind of person he was talking to. There were a lot of people like this in battle manga and anime. The so called battle junkies, those characters who find joy in battle. Usually, this kind of character would be a rival character or a mid-stage boss, but seldom were they final boss material.


    "Bring out your weapon and let''s get started!" As Sora was still thinking about the different battle junkie characters he has read about, he was jolted awake by Kretos''s voice. Sora immediately raised his hands.


    "I didn''te here to fight, I came here to talk to you." Kretos once again frowned when he heard Sora''s reply. Kretos really wanted to fight this unknown human who called himself a hero. Since time immemorial the demons had their demon lords, and the equivalent of that to the humans were the heroes. In fact, some tales say that heroes were almost always stronger than their counterparts the demon lords. Kretos really wanted to test if that old story was true.


    Yet here he was, so excited to have a fight between demon lord and hero, yet the hero in this story doesn''t want to fight him. Kretos had no wish to fight someone unwilling to face him, but just to make sure.


    ¡­


    Sora waited to see Kretos''s response. As he was waiting Sora saw Kretos gripping his sword tightly and in the next second the de of Kretos''s sword was nearing Sora''s neck. Sora was about to instinctively block the strike, but he held himself back. If what he knew of the battle junkie type character was correct then this de would stop before touching him or perhaps barely touch him. Sora didn''t move a muscle and waited for the de to stop, if it didn''t he believed that his defensive skills would activate and protect from a fatal strike.


    As the de was nearing him it grazed him a bit but it stopped in the end. Kretos red at Sora looking irritated.


    "What the heck! You didn''t even defend yourself!" Even as the de was ced near his neck, Sora remained calm, as he felt relieved that Kretos did as he predicted.


    "Like I said I didn''te here to fight, I came here to talk."


    "Tsk, how boring." Kretos clicked his tongue and ced his sword back into his shadow. Seeing the weapon gone Sora sighed in relief.


    "So what do you want to talk about? Talk fast as I''m needed elsewhere." Hearing Kretos''s question Sora nodded his head.


    "Alright then, I''ll ask you straight, do you n to invade the human kingdoms?"


    "Huh? Why would I do that? Aside from heroes, humans aren''t worthy opponents."


    Looking at the contempt in Kretos''s eyes, it doesn''t seem like he''s lying. ''To this battle junkie, humans weren''t worth his attention.'' Based on what Sora saw of the strength of the humans in this world, it was true they weren''t really a worthy challenge for someone like Kretos. It was likeparing a handgun to a nuclear weapon, Kretos was simply out of their league.


    ''That must mean my guess was correct.'' Sora sat on the ground took out one of the few remaining cigarettes in his pack and lit it. He started smoking right in front of Kretos who was now looking at the cigarette curiously.


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s a cig, wanna try one." Sora checked his pack and saw that there was only one left. ''Well, I guess giving myst cig to a demon lord would be a cool thing to do.'' Sora handed Kretos his remaining cigarette and lit it up.


    Kretos took the cigarette and copied what Sora was doing, he found that it tasted funny. Seeing Kretos smoking the cigarette with pure curiosity made Sora smile. This demon lord was very different from the demon lord the king of the Sliral Kingdom described.


    Kretos was indeed a battle junkie, but he wasn''t bloodthirsty. Sora started thinking about what he would do next, now that he knows the demon lord he was supposed to defeat wasn''t the evil overlord he expected him to be.


    While Sora was thinking about his next course of action, Kretos stood up and was about ready to leave. Seeing Kretos standing up Sora spoke.


    "Why are you in such a hurry demon lord?" When Kretos heard Sora''s question he looked at the human hero in a weird way.


    "Are you telling me that you don''t know?¡­" Sora tilted his head a bit confused as to what Kretos was talking about. "The kingdom that summoned you is the closest human kingdom to the demonnds, correct?"


    "Yes, what of it?" Hearing Sora''s answer, Kretos looked at Sora''s face for a while and shrugged his shoulders.


    "Hmm, it seems like you really don''t know¡­ The human Kingdom that summoned you has sent an army of fifty thousand to mynds. I''m going to meet them and have a little bit of fun."


    Sora showed a shocked expression when he heard Kretos say that the Sliral Kingdom had sent an army to the demonsnds. Even though it was as he suspected, hearing it actually happening was another thing. As Sora was still trying to digest what was just said, he heard Kretos say the other line.


    ''The only thing a battle junkie would call fun is fighting and maybe killing his opponents.'' Seeing as Kretos was about to leave Sora shouted at him.


    "Stop!" Kretos halted and looked at Sora.


    "What else do you want?"


    "Please take me with you."

 Chapter 309 - The Hero Party

    <h4>Chapter 309 - The Hero Party</h4>


    Kretos looked at the human hero who kept on surprising him with interest. This hero was quite the character, talking to a demon lord without wanting to fight, and then he proceeds to keep on bugging said demon lord with requests.


    "Now, why should I take a human who''s a part of the Sliral Kingdom with me?"


    "I want to see with my own eyes if you''re telling the truth or not. If you take me with you, I will give you this in exchange." Sora summoned a dark red sword that was two meters long and was slightly curved. The sword looked ferocious as it was emitting a violent aura. This was a sword Sora gained after adventuring to an area called the forgottennds. This sword was a rank lower than his ck Masamune Sword which was granted to him by the Spirit Ruler of Darkness. But even so, it was still regarded as a legendary sword.


    "A sword? Hmm, it does look like a good sword¡­ Well, I guess taking you with me isn''t really a problem."


    "Thank you, demon lord Kretos. Here, as promised you can have Scarlet Rage." As Sora was about to hand over the Crimson Sword to Kretos someone intervened.


    "What are you doing Hero Sora!" Niel shouted at the distance.


    "Are you colluding with a demon?" Night shouted as well while dashing at full speed towards Sora and Kretos.


    Jeter was also frowning as he watched Sora trying to pass on the sword Scarlet Rage to an unknown demon.


    ''Should I use the control spell now?'' While Jeter was deciding what to do, Jason who was at the rear spotted Kretos. The moment heid eyes on Kretos he halted. Jason couldn''t understand it but his instincts that he was honed by experiencing wars and multiple life and death battles were telling him that Kretos was extremely dangerous.


    Seeing the iing humans Kretos frowned as they were sending killing intent his way. Sensing that Kretos was about to strike Sora shouted at his fourpanions.


    "Stop!"


    Niel and Night who were already near stopped in front Sora. Even though they were furious that Sora would collude with a demon, they also wanted to believe in Sora. They had been Sora''spanions for nearly a year now and they got to know this easy-going and silly guy very well. He was easy to get along with and his sense of justice was something Niel and Night both admired.


    "Did you guys know?" Sora asked, making both Niel and Night look at him in confusion.


    "Did we know what? I don''t understand what you''re saying, will deal with thatter, how about exining why you''re giving the Scarlet Rage to a demon?!" Niel shouted at Sora while pointing at Kretos.


    "Did you guys know about the Sliral Kingdom''s army invading the demonnds?!" When Niel heard what Sora said he looked surprised, on the other hand, Night frowned. "So that''s what he was nning¡­" Night mumbled to himself.


    Jeter who was a few steps away heard what Sora asked and was getting impatient. If he used the control spell now before meeting Demon Lord Kretos, he might reach the time limit of the spell before they meet the said demon lord.


    On the other hand, Jason was silent and unmoving, he couldn''t even open his mouth as fear was slowly encroaching him. No one in his group had noticed his weird behavior as he was at the rear and they were busy talking to each other.


    "The army invading the demonnds? Is that what that demon this demon is telling you? It''s obviously a-" Niel was about to say it''s obviously a lie, but then he remembered the weird movements that were happening in Touma City. It''s easy to say that they ced all those soldiers to defend the city, but making the same amount of soldiers start an invasion was also possible.


    Seeing the reactions of his twopanions Sora nodded his head and sighed in relief in his mind. Throughout his journey in this other world, he had grown fond of Niel, Night, and Jason. As for Jeter even now he still couldn''t trust him.


    The aggressive and hearty mercenary Niel was always the mood maker in the group. He was like the older brother he never had. Night was the edgy quiet type character, which Sora found to be quite entertaining. Jason was like the father of the group who offered a lot of worldly wisdom.


    "I see, so the two of you didn''t know about it as well. Then what about you, Jeter. You''re the court mage of the kingdom surely you knew about it." Jeter who finally arrived in front of Sora smiled shrewdly.


    "Dear Hero, I don''t know what you''re talking about. The army hasn''t left Touma City and it will continue to stay there in defense of our beloved Sliral Kingdom."


    "Then are you telling me he''s lying. He has no reason to lie to me. You on the other hand, ever since I met you have been full of lies."


    Jeter looked at Sora as if he was hurt by Sora''s words. Jeter then responded in a tone that made him sound pitiful.


    "That hurts dear hero. I have been with you since you have arrived in this world. I have apanied you in all your dangerous endeavors. I cannot remember lying to you, and even if I did surely it was because it was in your best interest. As for that demon who we don''t know where he came from, you shouldn''t believe his words at all, since demons are known to be beings of deceit."


    Kretos silently listened to the humans'' conversation and found the old human called Jeter to be quite amusing.


    ''That human is the same as Darius in some aspects, but his leagues below Darius from his schemes to his strength.''


    "So you''re telling me that you know nothing about the invading army."


    "I''m not even convinced that there is an invading army."


    "If that''s true, then you wouldn''t mind swearing to Goddess of Justice that what you have said is the truth."


    When Jeter heard what Sora said, he was perturbed but he didn''t show it in his face as he continued to smile.


    "Of course I''m willing to swear to the Goddess of Justice, only if the demon does the same thing." Hearing what Jeter said the group looked at Kretos.


    "Huh, why should I do that?" Kretos looked at Jeter as if he was looking at a clown. Seeing the look of contempt on Kretos''s face infuriated Jeter, but for now, he needed to keep his anger in check. Once he was done convincing Sora and the others he would make sure to kill this arrogant demon.


    "See unlike me he isn''t willing to do it. It''s obvious now that he is the one lying."


    When Sora heard what Jeter said he frowned. He cannot prove what Kretos was saying was the truth nor can he prove that what Jeter saying was the lie. Niel and Night looked at Sora waiting for his decision.


    "If both of you don''t want to swear to the Goddess of Justice. Then how about we head to the Canyon and see if the army is really there."


    "We cannot dy our mission for some rumor spoken by a demon. The longer we take to finish our mission the more lives will be lost. Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of the innocent and believe in what this demon has said?" Jeter spoke with a passion, trying to convince Sora and the others.


    "I will go and see if what the demon said is true or not. Seeing as I''m the second-fastest in the group, I can go to the Canyon and meet up with you guys at the demon lord''s castle." Night suddenly spoke.


    "You cannot do that!" Jeter shouted, the moment he did so, he knew that he made a mistake. The group now looked at Jeter weirdly.


    "Why can''t I do that?" Night asked.


    "We all need to be there to support Sora while facing the demon lord. What if something happens and we meet the demon lord before you''re able to meet us, what then?"


    "Even though I believe in my strength, I know for a fact that once we face the demon lord aside from Sora we won''t be able to do anything. So it doesn''t really matter if I''m there or not, surely you know that Court Mage. Though I hate to admit it, the truth is for a while now we have been nothing more than decorations. Sora has long past the level were he needspanions like us."


    Seeing that the situation was no longer in his favor, Jeter gritted his teeth and red at Kretos for a second before calming down. Jeter sighed as he looked at Sora.


    "I didn''t want to do this but you leave me no choice." When Jeter said this, Jason who was immobilized the entire conversation suddenly moved. Even though he felt Kretos was a threat, it doesn''t seem like he was going to do anything, on the other hand, Jason could feel Jeter was about to do something bad. So without any hesitation, Jason pounced at Jeter and was about to knock out the Court Mage, but before his fist could reach Jeter''s head, Jason''s body stopped moving.


    Not only Jason but the whole hero party was unable to move. Even Sora who was supposed to be highly resistant to curses and debuffs wasn''t able to do anything. As the group was confused as to what happened, they heard Jeter''s sigh.


    "I didn''t want to use this spell before meeting demon lord Kretos but you guys forced me."

 Chapter 310 - Demon Lord Vs Hero Party

    <h4>Chapter 310 - Demon Lord Vs Hero Party</h4>


    "I really didn''t want to use this spell on you, children. I like you four and I actually saw you four as my grandchildren."


    When Sora and the others heard what Jeter said they almost spat out blood. They knew that even though Jeter looked like a middle-aged man, the truth was Jeter was actually a few hundred years old already. To demons, this might not be so shocking but for a human to have this kind of life span meant he was either a semi-divine being or he did something taboo. Obviously, thetter seems more likely than the former, which made the four of them shudder by the thought that this old man thought of them as something like that.


    "What are you nning on doing?" Even though they couldn''t move the four of them could still talk, so Sora asked the question all of them were thinking.


    "I just want us to continue on our journey as before. We have been given a mission and we should fulfill that mission."


    "You mean the mission of killing the demon lord Kretos. Hmph, do you still think I will do that when I finally found out what you and the king have been doing? When I first came here, you made the demons sound like monsters that would kill on a whim. Yet all I saw were you, humans, doing that instead."


    "You keep on saying demons are evil then what about you guys. Throughout my adventures, I have seen the way the Sliral Kingdom deals with its people. In the end, aren''t you guys the ones invading the demonnds?! Aren''t you the ones who want to assassinate the demon lord to take over the demonnds?!"


    Hearing Sora''s righteous sounding words made Jeter sigh deeply. Jeter looked at the three others in the hero party.


    "How about you help me convince him. Surely, you guys understand what''s happening. The only reason we''re attacking the demonnds isn''t because we want to invade them. No, this is a preemptive strike, we all know after the demons be united they will be the greatest threat to humanity. So while they are weakened shouldn''t we use this chance?"


    The three were silent when they heard Jeter''s exnation. Sora, on the other hand, got even angrier.


    "How could you know that! How could you say that the demons would be a threat to you, and how can you use that as an excuse to invade them first?!"


    Jeter shook his head and answered Sora. "They''re demons a vicious barbaric race. Of course, they are thinking of attacking us."


    "So you''re telling me that you guys from the Sliral Kingdom are not barbaric and vicious? How hypocritical are you, people?!"


    "It doesn''t look like I''m going to be able to convince you. How about the three of you, do you feel the same way?"


    "¡­ I was always taught that demons were pure evil, and we should never trust them¡­ I haven''t met any demons before, but I have seen evil humans as well. If there can be good humans, couldn''t there be good demons as well?" Niel spoke while trying his hardest to move.


    "I have seen the darkest depths of the Sliral Kingdom, in my eyes, those on top are more vicious and evil than any demon." Night gave his opinion while looking for a way to escape.


    "Hmph, if I knew of your n to invade I would have reported this all to the head priest of the Temple of Justice. Human or demon I believe both can be saved, as a follower of the Goddess of Justice. I only followed you here as I was convinced of Sora''s justice¡­ Jeter if you repent now I will speak on your behalf, as abat priest of the Temple of Justice." Jason spoke with burning righteousness in his voice.


    Hearing the answers of hispanions made Jeter sigh deeply. They could only talk this way since they haven''t seen any real demons. He on the other hand has seen a few demons. There might be evil humans, but they cannotpare to how evil the demons were.


    "Why can''t you see the light? Well, since you don''t want to finish our mission willingly, I will need to make you do it with or without your consent. But first I better finish off this demon that''s here."


    Jeter looked at Kretos and saw that the young demon hasn''t left yet. "You should''ve run when you had the chance."


    "Why should I run away? Are you telling me I should run away from a scheming weakling like you?" When Jeter heard what Kretos said he red at the young demon. It was that moment Jeter saw that Kretos was looking at him as if he was looking at a fool, this infuriated Jeter to no end.


    "As expected of a demon arrogant and ignorant." Jeter pointed his wooden staff at Kretos, he gathered mana while chanting. Seeing this scene the other three shouted at Kretos.


    "Run!"


    "Flee!"


    "Evade!" The three of them spoke at the same time. Sora on the other hand didn''t say anything since he knows what the oue would be.


    Kretos remained unmoving he didn''t even look perturbed which irritated Jeter even more. He already sensed that Kretos''s mana wasn''t all that great, he was just a normal low ranking demon. Jeter activated his spell, a huge ball of fire burst forth from Jeter''s staff and headed straight towards Kretos.


    The ball of fire hit Kretos dead on and a heavy smoke came after. Once the smoke dissipated they could no longer see a trace of Kretos''s body. Seeing this scene made Niel, Night, and Jason frown. On the other hand, Jeter was smiling happily in his heart, but on the outside, he showed a sympathetic look.


    "Foolish demon, you shouldn''t have acted so arrogantly with such weak power." As Jeter was saying this the group suddenly heard someone pping his hands. They then saw that someone was right beside Jeter.


    "Great performance, that was a fun thing to watch. You humans, are more entertaining than I thought." Jeter looked beside him and saw Kretos was there unharmed. Jeter activated another spell and golden chains wrapped around Kretos''s body. This was one of Jeter''s trump cards he was saving just in case something went wrong.


    Seeing Kretos was easily captured made Jeter feel a bit relieved. When he saw Kretos appear behind him without anyone noticing Jeter thought that Kretos might be some powerful figure, but seeing how easily he was caught by the [Holy light chains], Jeter thought he was just overthinking things.


    "Little demon, it seems like there is something special about you. Once we''re done with the demon lord, I''ll find out what you''re hiding."


    "Hmph, you think this puny spell is enough to handle me?" The moment Kretos''s said those words the chains started cracking and Kretos burst of the chains. Everyone present except for Sora was surprised to see such a scene.


    The spell [Holy light chains] could even trap Spirit Rulers. Yet Kretos destroyed it like it was nothing. This time Jeter finally took Kretos seriously as he looked at the demon with a tinge of fear in his eyes.


    ''If I can''t defeat this demon by myself, I''ll use Niel, Night, and Jason. I can use the control spell on Sorater when we face Demon Lord Kretos, for now, the three should be enough.''


    After formting his n Jeter tapped his staff on the ground three times while chanting a spell. Niel, Night, and Jason could feel their consciousness being taken over by something. Their bodies were finally moving but they weren''t the ones in control.


    Jason pounced at Kretos and attacked using his fists. Among the hero party members, Jason had the most powerful physical body, and even without using mana, he could crush boulders. This time he poured mana into his attacking fist which should have tripled his power, but Kretos caught it with ease. He tossed Jason upward and then hit him with a chop at the back of his neck making Jason fall unconscious.


    While Kretos was dealing with Jason, Niel and Night had gotten close to Kretos and was about to attack. But before they could do anything chains came out of Kretos''s shadow and wrapped around them trapping them. No matter what they did they couldn''t break free from the chains.


    Seeing how easily Kretos dealt with the three who were known to be among the top fighters in the whole Sliral Kingdom, Jeter finally felt truly afraid. The only reason he was still able to somehow keep it together was because he still hasn''t yed the most powerful card in his deck, the hero Sora.


    On the other hand, Kretos was disappointed by the so called party members of the hero. They weren''t worth much. If they weren''t being controlled and doing this against their will, Kretos would''ve already killed them on the spot.


    "Who are you? You can''t just be some normal demon." Jeter gathered up his courage and asked. When Kretos heard Jeter''s question he once again looked at the old man as if he were nothing more than a clown. Unlike before Jeter no longer got angry seeing that expression on Kretos''s face, instead he felt extreme fear towards it.


    "Haven''t you realized already, I''m the one you''ve been wanting to meet." Kretos smiled a very vicious smile while looking Jeter who was now looking confused. It took him a few seconds before it dawned on him. Jeter had his eyes wide open and moved a few steps backward as he shakingly pointed at Kretos.


    "Y-you''re Demon Lord Kretos?!"

 Chapter 311 - Kretos And The Hero Sora

    <h4>Chapter 311 - Kretos And The Hero Sora</h4>


    "So you came to assassinate me? Why does that sound like a joke to me? A hero and his clown came to assassinate the demon lord." As Kretos said those words he started emitting bloodlust. Jeter felt the intense bloodlust that Kretos was emitting and started sweating profusely. This was the kind of bloodlust that can only be achieved if one had killed thousands. Jeter felt his muscles in his body tightening. It was like his whole body was gripped by an invisible force. Jeter tried to calm himself as he convinced himself that as long as Sora was here with him it doesn''t matter how menacing demon lord Kretos was.


    ''Yes no matter how strong, surely this demon lord can''t be stronger than the summoned hero.'' Jeter was finally able to calm down as he gathered enough strength to respond to Kretos.


    "Demon Lord Kretos! You shall die here today!" Jeter activated the control spell on Sora. Unlike the other three when Jeter used the control spell on the hero, Sora''s consciousness didn''t fade, he was still conscious thanks to his skills against mental attacks. Yet despite all those skills he was still unable to resist the control spell as it took control over his body.


    ''What the f*ck is this spell?! When was it used on me and howe I''m affected?'' Sora couldn''t do anything butin in his mind. His body, on the other hand, summoned his beloved sword Masamune from his inventory.


    Sora then used a sword technique which he named [sword wave]. It was a technique were a literal wave of energy came bursting out of his sword. Kretos was able to easily evade the strike, but that gave Sora enough time for him to get close enough to initiate another attack.


    When he got close enough Sora unleashed a powerful explosion spell. Kretos''s mana barrier was able to block the explosion, without missing a beat Sora pierced through Kretos''s mana barrier with Masamune. Kretos evaded the strike and countered with a kick. Sora blocked the iing kick with his sword but he was still blown a few feet away.


    ''Damn it?! I know I''m not in control but what''s with this difference in strength!'' After that brief exchange and remembering Kretos''s stats, Sora knew that this kind of assault won''t work on someone like Kretos.


    Jeter looked in horror as Kretos was able to deal with the hero Sora unarmed. This was the hero who had killed even the strongest of monsters like it was nothing. Sora could even decimate the entire Sliral Kingdom with ease. Yet Kretos was dealing with that Sora as if he was a child. Doesn''t this mean Kretos was stronger than what they all initially thought?


    When Jeter thought of that he was terror-stricken. They had grossly underestimated Kretos, does that mean that the other demons were stronger than they anticipated? What was happening to the army at Canyon?


    While Jeter was ill at ease, Kretos on the other hand, was rather surprised. This was his first encounter with humans. All he knew about them was from what he had read in books and reports. Humans were a race that were supposedly far weaker than demons, this was proven today by the three he had defeated easily. Even if they were not in control of their bodies and their skill might have diminished a bit because of that, still, they were far too weak.


    The only advantage humans had over demons was their ability to reproduce en masse. Aside from that, there were also the heroes and the so called healers. Demons had no use for healers as their natural regenerative abilities were enough, as for heroes they were supposedly equivalent in power to a demon lord or supposedly have greater power than demon lords.


    Yet the hero Kretos was fighting wasn''t all that strong¡­ Well, he was indeed strong but not as strong as Kretos expected. After reading countless tales of ancient human heroes Kretos was expecting someone that could destroy mountains with a single sword swing.


    ¡­


    "Hero Sora what are you doing, it''s time to go all out!" Jeter who was getting anxious for every second the fight went on, gave a new order. The control spell once again activated forcing Sora''s body to its very limits. Sora summoned Scarlet Rage and was now dual-wielding.


    He charged at Kretos with an increase in his speed. Sora had finally used all of his buff skills and enhancement spells. Sora''s body started emitting an overpowering red aura. This was what Sora called his ultimate form, in this state Sora was four times more powerful than his base form.


    Kretos was shocked by the change and finally summoned his sword. He blocked Sora''s iing attack and was actually pushed back a few steps. Kretos didn''t expect that not only did Sora''s speed increase so much, but even his strength was beyond what it was before.


    Seeing Kretos was being pushed back Jeter was finally feeling relieved. On the other hand, Kretos finally showed the vicious smile he shows when he gets truly excited.


    "HAHAHA! THIS IS WAS WHAT I EXPECTED FROM A HERO! Come on then Hero, even if you''re being controlled, show me the very limits of your power!"


    Kretos and Sora exchanged blows at such a fast pace that the only thing Jeter could see was the glimmer of the des. As Sora was attacking using his two swords, he activated the skill [Multiple Processing]. With this skill even as he was attacking while using both hands and focusing on that, random low-tier to mid-tier spells would activate and attack the enemy in front of him.


    Kretos was surprised that Sora was able to use a [fire ball] spell and a [wind pierce] spell while fighting him with his swords. The spells were unable to prate Kretos''s mana barrier but the skill Sora used excited Kretos. What else can this hero do?


    As Kretos was getting even more excited, Sora who was unable to control his body was screaming in his mind.


    ''What the f*ck are you doing?! I''m finally fighting the demon lord but this is all wrong. I should be shouting the name of my techniques and be like, this is just one of my thousand techniques.''


    As Sora was feeling conflicted in his mind, his body started to use another technique. A huge ck space appeared above Sora''s head. This was Sora''s inventory space were he stored his weapons, armor, and items. From within the inventory space, numerous weapons came flying out and were aimed at Kretos.


    Seeing the numerous iing weapons Kretos backed away and blocked all of them. As he was defending against the nearly endless torrent of weapons he felt his sword was breaking and saw that Sora was also about ready to bombard him with spells. Seeing this scene made Kretosugh heartily.


    "Hahaha, this is awesome! Allow me to show you that it''s not only you who has an armory hidden." Kretos summoned most of the weapons from his shadow, filling the mountain with numerous weapons. When Sora saw what was happening he started screaming again in his mind.


    ''What the f*ck is this, isn''t this that skill of that heroic spirit from that visual novel uses?! Now my body is using the same skill as the arrogant king of heroes. Doesn''t this look like I''m the final boss, and Kretos is the protagonist?!''


    While Sora was doing hismentary in his mind, Kretos used his mana to control the weapons on the ground. This was a new skill he learned as he fought the different demon tribes. He could control all the weapons using his mana and move them like there were multiple Kretos''s wielding them.


    The floating weapons block the onught of weapons being released from Sora''s inventory space. While that was happening, the spells Sora was unleashing couldn''t prate through Kretos''s mana barrier. The only spells that could do that were high-tier spells. Sora knew a lot of hight-tier spells but those required him to chant a spell for a few minutes, and as he wasn''t in control of his body, he wasn''t able to do that or anything anyway. As of now, Sora''s controlled body was moving in a way that the spell deemed to be the most efficient.


    Now that the long-range attacks were dealt with Kretos could once again concentrate on attacking Sora from close range.


    After a few more exchanges Kretos was finally able to damage Sora, but to his surprise, there was no wound. Kretos felt his sword go through Sora''s flesh, Sora''s left hand should''ve been lopped clean off, yet it remained unscathed. In the inside of Sora''s mind, he too was rather surprised.


    ''It has been a long time since I got damaged, I wonder, how much HP I lost from that attack.'' Sora looked at his HP and was once again surprised.


    HP: 57,000/82,000


    ''I wasn''t even hit in my vitals and I lost twenty-five thousand HP!''


    As Sora was panicking in his mind, so was Jeter who was controlling Sora¡­ Jeter was nearing his limit in using the control spell, but not only was Kretos still standing he was actually at an advantage.

 Chapter 312 - Was It All A Dream?

    <h4>Chapter 312 - Was It All A Dream?</h4>


    Kretos was surprised that his attack wasn''t able to damage Sora''s body. Even though he was sure that his sword had made contact with Sora''s flesh.


    ''Amazing, I and all demons have great regenerative abilities but it''s nothing this perverted. I cut this guy''s arm off and it looks like nothing happened to him. I wonder what else can his body do? Does he have an undying body, or something simr to an evesting body? This is getting even more exciting.''


    Kretos got even more pumped up as he controlled even more weapons and attacked Sora with greater speed. He then started using some spells here and there to control Sora''s movements. Every now and then as Sora''s body was having difficulty in keeping up, he got hurt in multiple points in his body. Yet despite getting pierced by Kretos''s de, or being burnt by Kretos''s spells, Sora remained unscathed throughout the battle.


    When Kretos saw this it just got him even more excited. It would seem like this toy in front of him was more durable than he expected.


    ''So how can I beat someone that doesn''t seem like he can be damaged? I guess I should try a lot of different things today.'' Kretos smile was now at its peak, this was the most vicious, most ferocious-looking smile he has ever shown. Even while fighting against Kir, the strongest opponent he has fought, Kretos wasn''t this excited.


    While Kretos was basking in the thrill of a new challenge, he was also getting damaged every now and then. Kretos''s damage instantly heals but there was a visible change unlike Sora''s. So when an onlooker sees the battle between them it would look like Sora finally has the advantage but the truth was different.


    ''What the heck, seriously! Just a few hits and I''m already in the red!'' Sora looked at his HP bar. HP: 11,300/82,000. As his HP was now this low Sora''s body started casting healing spells. Yet the damage he was receiving vs the amount of HP being healed was just prolonging the battle for a bit. Sora''s MP was also nearing its limit.


    ''Is this is it? Is this how my otherworld adventures will end, without me doing anything? Without me able to fulfill any of my promises? I will lose without being able to fight?''


    Sora felt his heart beating faster and faster. He didn''t want to fight Kretos, but he didn''t want to lose as well. He didn''t want his adventure to end without him getting to at least fight all out with his actual abilities. As if noticing what he was thinking, Kretos spoke to Sora.


    "I''m sure that someone like you can still hear me even after being controlled. So let me ask you once, are you sure you want to end this way? I don''t understand how your body still looks like it''s in peak condition despite me going all out and slicing it apart multiple times, but I can sense that it can no longer hold on. I''ll tell you now, I didn''t want to fight you while being controlled. If killing that guy would release the spell I would''ve done it already, but I''m sure it doesn''t work that way." Kretos looked at Jeter who shivered upon hearing Kretos mention his name.


    "Even if everything is stack against you and all seems lost, isn''t it a hero''s job to make the impossible, possible? I have read the battles the ancient human heroes had, and every time they were about to lose, they always do something surprising, something impossible, and go beyond everyone''s expectations. So Sora, you''re a hero¡­ Aren''t you?"


    When Sora heard what Kretos said he felt something in him burning. He could hear his heart beating even faster than before. An unknown immense feeling had filled him. Sora screamed in his mind as he wrestled control over his own body.


    Jeter who was at the side started coughing out blood as he looked at Sora in shock. The spell was forcefully negated, which gave out a massive bacsh. Jeter who received the bacsh couldn''t keep himself awake and fainted.


    The shing Sora and Kretos stopped and the two looked at each other. After a while, Sora smiled at Kretos.


    "I can''t believe a Demon Lord is saying those things to a hero like me. You actually encouraged me to fight against my own fate."


    "No need to thank me."


    "Then I won''t¡­ Still, can we stop fighting?"


    "Sorry, you can''t back out now. Either you or I will die today."


    Sora closed his eyes and was silent. Kretos waited to see what Sora would do. If Sora allowed Kretos to kill him without continuing the fight, Kretos would be extremely disappointed, but Kretos felt that wouldn''t happen. When Sora finally opened his eyes it looked like all the hesitations he had disappeared.


    "I see¡­ Demon Lord Kretos, I know this might sound audacious of me, but can I ask you to fulfill a request of mine? No matter the oue of our battle."


    "Oh, what request do you have?"


    "Please spare those threepanions of mine." Sora pointed at Night, Niel, and Jason. On the other hand, he didn''t really care what would happen to Jeter.


    "If that''s all, then sure."


    "Thank you¡­ Also, one other thing, if you go to the Sliral Kingdom can you also forgive the innocent citizens, and the Princess and Prince. They bear no grudges against you or your race. They simply have all been used."


    "Ever since we met you''ve only been requesting for things without giving anything in return¡­ Well, as for your request this time, no need to worry. I won''t go to the Sliral Kingdom, after I repel the army they sent that would be the end of it. I don''t really find pleasure in bullying those who are too weak."


    Sora sighed as he smiled faintly at Kretos.


    "I see¡­ As for what you said regardingpensation, you can have all my weapons and armor once you win."


    "You''re talking like you won''t even try to win." Kretos frowned, and in response, Sora shook his head.


    "If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don''t fight, you can''t win. Of course, I''m going to go all out and try to win, I don''t want to die¡­ I''m just telling you this just in case you win. But now that I''m in control of my body there is only a slim chance of you winning anyway¡­"


    The two then smiled at each other, and without further distractions started to battle once again.


    ¡­


    Despite Sora being able to control his body now, he had already used most of his trump cards. He only had one technique left in his arsenal. The technique he was thinking of using was a do or die move. Once he uses it he would either gain victory or lose terribly.


    Sensing that something was about to happen Kretos backed away waiting for Sora to unleash his ultimate move. Seeing the action Kretos took made Sora chuckle.


    ''As expected from a battle junkie character. He''s the type that won''t disturb me even during a transformation scene.''


    Sora started to shine a bright white light and an intense amount of mana started to gather around Sora. It wasn''t just his mana, it would seem that Sora was gathering the mana in the surrounding area as well. As he gathered more and more mana the brighter the white light shined.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, this is the ultimate skill given to me as a hero. I call it [Hero''s light], this is a skill where my whole mana and the mana in the surrounding area are gathered into me. Once I unleash this technique you either die or I die! Let''s finish this, oh strongest demon lord!"


    Kretos picked up one of the swords on the ground and enveloped it in mana. Seeing as they were both ready, Sora unleashed his ultimate skill. A bright white light shot out from Sora and headed straight towards Kretos.


    Using his sword Kretos shed at the white light making it split right in the middle. As Kretos tried to continuously sh at the white light the weapon he was holding could no longer hold on and broke. The bright white light enveloped Kretos and a portion of the mountain and continued onward. Once the air cleared, Sora saw that the side of the mountain Kretos was standing on was no longer there, even the neighboring mountain wasn''t spared as it also ceased to exist.


    Sora knelt on the ground mentally and physically drained, he no longer had a single bit of MP left. It was then he felt a cold de by the side of his neck. Sora smiled and spoke to Kretos who was standing behind him.


    "It''s your victory." Once that was said Kretos ruthlessly shed at Sora''s head. Like before Sora''s head didn''t detach itself from the body, instead, Sora''s whole body started slowly fading into white orbs of light.


    ¡­


    "I guess this is the end of my journey. It wasn''t long, but it was still quite fun. I wanted to experience some harem shenanigans, or at least confess to the princess, but all I got was a bro fest¡­ Well then, as promised I''ll give you all my weapons." Sora unlocked his inventory and all of his weapons, armors, and items came flooding out. As his consciousness was fading alongside his body, for some reason Sora didn''t feel afraid of dying. As he was about to fade from existence he heard Kretos''s voice for onest time.


    "Thank you for the battle, o human hero."


    Sora smiled a very bright smile as his whole body turned into orbs of white light.


    ¡­


    Sora could no longer feel his body and his consciousness seems to be drifting somewhere. The ce he was currently in was just darkness, there was nothing else.


    ''Is this the afterlife? I thought that I could meet a Goddess or something, but with my rotten luck with women, I guess that wouldn''t happen.'' As Sora was feeling down, he suddenly felt a bit warm. The sight before him then got brighter and with a sh of blinding light, he saw a familiar ce.


    He was back at his apartment, there was hisputer, his bed, and everything else. He was stunned for a moment and then he quickly headed to his cellphone and checked the date and time.


    "Seriously¡­" Sora was surprised to see that not a single minute had passed from the time he went to his balcony to smoke.


    "Was that all a dream?" Sora asked as he slowly lifted his finger and tried concentrating. A ball of me appeared on the tip of his finger. Seeing the scene before him Sora awkwardlyughed.


    "Hahaha, Seriously?" The hero that came back from another world had retained his powers and had a different adventure in the modern age¡­ But that is a story for another time.

 Chapter 313 - Intermission Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 313 - Intermission Part 4</h4>


    Back in the Capital City of the Reschbeauch Kingdom, a beautiful maiden with long wavy blond hair, crimson pupils and pale white skin was sitting quietly while watching a little boy run around a garden. Following closely behind the boy was a pretty middle-aged woman who despite her age looked quite cute.


    The little boy who was around two years old spotted the maiden with crimson pupils and darted towards her. Seeing the little one approaching, the maiden smiled.


    "Sis!" The little one spoke with gusto gesturing to the maiden to pick him up. The maiden happily picked up the child. The middle-aged woman who saw the scene before her smiled gently.


    "Thank you Silika for always helping take care of Kurt." The middle-aged woman was the mother of Ren and Kurt, Milly. After she woke up from her long sleep, she felt extremely depressed. The news of her husband''s death and the disappearance of her firstborn son caused her great grief.


    Milly wanted to kill herself multiple times, but Silika and the others were able to stop her. They reminded her that Ren wasn''t someone that would simply disappear, he would return once he was done with whatever he is doing. Also, she still has her second son, she needed to be there for him. The child still needed a mother. She almost gave up on her life if not for her second child Kurt.


    ¡­


    Silika saw that Milly was looking a bit better now and smiled. "It''s alright, I do like ying with little Kurt."


    "Even so, I still want to thank you and everyone for everything. If not for you, I might not have seen my adorable Kurt grow up so well¡­ When when I look at Kurt, sometimes I forget that Matias is no longer with us¡­"


    When Silika heard Matias''s name she knew what was about to happen next and quickly stood up and helped Milly sit down.


    "I can still hear him talking to me, telling me how proud he is of Ren, how adorable Kurt is, and how much he loves me. I can even see him there looking at me, smiling ever so sweetly as if he''s beckoning me toe to him¡­" Silika started to look like she was in pain as tears fell from her face.


    Seeing his mother crying little Kurt who was in the arms of Silika patted his mother''s head. Milly who had her head down slowly lifted it up and saw her son looking at her with worry. Her two-year-old son was actually showing such a face.


    "What kind of mother am I?!" Milly took Kurt from Silika and cried even more as she hugged her son. Silika hugged Milly as well and spoke to her with a gentle voice.


    "You''re a kind mother Milly. You have just been through a lot. You don''t need to feel bad, it''s normal to feel sad. I''m sure both Ren and Matias would feel heartbroken if they saw you like this. Cry all the tears out now, so that when Ren returns you can show him a brilliant smile."


    When Milly heard what Silika said she started crying even more as she hugged Kurt even tighter. The little boy spoke to his mother.


    "No Mommy¡­ No cry." The words that came out of Kurt''s mouth weren''t all that audible but it did sound like he said no mommy no cry.


    It took Silika a few minutes for her to be able to calm down Milly. After Milly was done crying, both she and Kurt fell asleep. Silika then carefully carried the two to their beds.


    ¡­


    Once Silika was done cing the mother and son on their beds, she left their room. As she stepped out of the room Hilda was there to greet her.


    "Are they alright?" Hilda asked with a face full of worry. When she saw Milly looking to be in so much pain, Hilda also felt hurt. Watching Milly reminded Hilda of her own mother.


    "A bit better than before. It might take some time, but I''m sure she''ll be fine."


    "If only that b*stard Ren was here!¡­ If he knew how much his mother is hurting, he would have flown back here without dy¡­" Hilda gnashed her teeth as she remembered Ren again. "Shouldn''t we go and search for him?!"


    "¡­ I know what you''re feeling, but now is not the time for us to be lured in by our emotions."


    "How can you continue to say that, when you look at Milly don''t you feel anything?! Don''t you want to go out and save Ren?! I know you''re a spirit, but don''t you feel anything at all?!" Hilda could no longer hold it in, as she has been patient for a few months now. She like all the others believed that Ren would return, and it''s impossible for him to lose or die somewhere unknown. Yet as more time passes by Hilda grew more anxious.


    Silika just stood there without saying a word, the expression on her face turned ice cold. She then responded to Hilda.


    "If we leave now, who do you think will protect Milly and Kurt from the demons? If we do as you wish, and the demons attack without us here, who will tell Ren that we left his mother and brother to die?" Silika spoke in a tone full of indifference. When Hilda heard Silika''s response she gritted her teeth and stormed off.


    When Hilda''s silhouette could no longer be found, Silika clenched her fist tightly and walked away as well.


    ¡­


    Silika headed to the training grounds, there she spotted the princess Ashley training her swordy. Ashley was so engrossed in her practice that she didn''t notice Silika was there. After a few more swings, Ashley finally noticed Silika.


    "This is unusual I don''t normally see you here, Silika."


    "I came here to clear my head. Can we spar for a bit." Ashley was rather surprised that Silika wanted to spar. This made the princess look at Silika for a few seconds, before she smiled and responded.


    "Sure, let''s spar." Hearing Ashley''s response Silika nodded her head and took a dull de from the nearby weapon rack. The two then faced each other and bowed. After bowing the spar began and Silika went on the offensive which surprised Ashley. Usually, Silika was on the defensive and would tire her opponent out.


    Ashley hastily blocked Silika''s attack, which was followed by another then another. Silika made consecutive attacks in quick session. The flow of her movements made it hard for Ashley to counter. This was the first time Ashley saw Silika be so aggressive.


    ¡­


    A few minutester, Ashley wasying on the ground panting and sweating heavily. Silika was still standing but she too was panting.


    "That was a good spar, thank you, Ashley." After thanking Ashley Silika turned around and was about to leave, but before she left Ashley spoke to her.


    "Hey Silika, I know it''s hard. We''re all hurting now, me included¡­ But I know even though you don''t show it you''re the one hurting the most. So it''s alright to show it, it''s not a weakness. I''m sure even spirits can cry."


    Ashley spoke while facing Silika''s back. Silika was silent for a few seconds and didn''t move from her spot. After a short while, Silika finally responded.


    "¡­ Thank you¡­" After saying those words Silika left.


    ¡­


    After leaving the training grounds Silika headed to her room in haste. The moment she entered the room and closed the door, tears started falling down Silika''s face.


    "How could any of you understand what I''m feeling?! All you guys know is Ren, but I know more than that¡­ I''ve waited for him for an eon, from way back then and even now I''m still waiting. How would any of you know?! my soul is linked to his, so when I could no longer feel it how much pain and anxiety I felt, how could any of you know?!" Silika covered her face with her hand as she continued ranting to the air.


    "I know he''s still out there, I know he''s still alive. How could the strongest mortal soul just die like that?! I want to save him, I want to go to him, but I cannot! I promised him that I would protect them all, while he''s not here. How can I face him if I forsake my promise to him?"


    Silika then knelt on the floor and tried wiping away the tears, but they just keep on flowing. She had turned into a spirit, she had lived for an eon, but she still felt like the girl in that dark cave.


    "You damn liar, you keep on promising things but you never fulfill most of them¡­ You''re such a liar no matter the incarnation¡­" Silika continued sobbing in front of the door. The pain, sorrow, and anger she felt. She couldn''t show it to the others. She needed to be the person they can rely on during this time. She needed to be the leader, as she waited for his return.


    "How long are you going to keep me waiting this time?" Silika mumbled to herself.

 Chapter 314 - Tsukiko Showing Her Might

    <h4>Chapter 314 - Tsukiko Showing Her Might</h4>


    Seeing the hero''s body turn into white orbs of light Kretos was amazed. He touched the white orbs and noticed that they were a pure form of mana, the purest he has ever felt. It was at that moment Kretos had a very intriguing thought.


    ''Was the hero''s body constructed wholly by mana? He had no real physical presence in this world, is that why I couldn''t harm his body?''


    Kretos looked at the fading lights and started to smile viciously at the heavens were the white lights were heading towards.


    ''Heroes are more interesting than I thought. I wonder how his body was constructed, was that his actual body or was that a body created for him to assimte into this world?¡­ If that''s the case then that would mean someone had the power to create a body of pure mana.''


    Kretos looked at the fallenpanions of the hero, his sight naturally focused on the supposed mage that controlled and summoned the hero, Jeter.


    ''With this guy''s abilities, he shouldn''t even be able to use a true top tier spell, much less a miraculous spell that creates a human body of pure mana¡­ The only beings I can think of that could do such a thing are deities. Does that mean deities are real? I wonder how strong they are, fighting such beings should be a wonderful experience.''


    The moment Kretos thought that deities were real, he immediately thought of fighting them and these made Kretos smile even more viciously. As he was getting engrossed in his excitement, Kretos finally remembered that there was another delicious meal waiting for him.


    "I hope that naughty fox doesn''t eat everything before I get there." As he was about to leave Kretos once again looked at Jeter.


    ''Should I kill this fool? Sora only said I should spare the three¡­ I guess I can let him live for now. If he''s able to survive untilter he might be able to summon another hero, that would be fun. Though I doubt hispanions would even allow that.''


    Kretos shrugged his shoulders and no longer bothered with the four unconscious men and left the mountains.


    ¡­


    In the Canyon linking the Sliral Kingdom and the demonnds, a fifty thousand strong army was marching towards the demonnds. There were heavily armored knights, lightly armored knights, Knights on horses, mages, and healers.


    They also brought a lot of siege weapons and enough supplies that wouldst them a year. This was the ever-victorious army of the Sliral Kingdom.


    At the distance, Tsukiko looked at the rather impressive formation of the human army and giggled. "At a distance, they look like a snake made of steel."


    Tsukiko looked at the demon tribes that were avable to face the approaching army. Compared to the menacing fifty thousand strong armies of humans, the demons only amounted to ten thousand. Also unlike the humans, the demons were ill-equipped, also another thing worth noting was that these demons were from the weaker tribes in the demonnds. The stronger ones were still busy waging war against those that defied Kretos''s rule.


    ''Well, it doesn''t really matter all they need to do is kill those that I miss. It has been a while since Ist took to battle¡­ Hmm¡­ I wonder, why am I actually feeling a bit excited about this? Is it because of that guy''s influence?'' Tsukiko then imagined the vicious smiling face of Kretos and smiled sweetly. ''I guess I did get some bad habits from that guy¡­ Well, no matter I better finish this quickly before he gets here. I wonder what kind of face he would show when he arrives and there isn''t any left for him?''


    Just thinking about the face Kretos would make, made Tsukiko smile a bewitching smile that affected some of the male demons present in the field of battle. Tsukiko then looked at the demons who came to fight and spoke to them.


    "All of you don''t need to do much. Just kill those that get past me or try to escape. Aside from that just try to stay alive."


    The demons saluted Tsukiko and got ready for the uing battle. With a former demon lord such as Tsukiko by their side, the demons felt like victory would be easily achieved. Well, they still felt like they would be victorious even without the help of a demon lord. Despite the humans having superior numbers and equipment, in the end, they were still human.


    ¡­


    When Tsukiko saw how eager the demons were to head into battle, she nodded her head and started circting her mana. She then shouted at the human army with her voice enhanced by mana.


    "Humans I will give one warning, go back to where you belong. If you continue to move towards our territory don''t me me for being ruthless!"


    When themanders of the human side heard Tsukiko''s deration they felt like they were being looked down upon. Their scouts had already told them that the demon army only consisted of ten thousand men, while they had fifty thousand. Was this woman trying to bluff her way to victory? Without heeding or caring about Tsukiko''s warning the Sliral Kingdom''s army continued onward.


    Seeing that they didn''t back down made Tsukiko smile even more. ''Well, it would''ve been rather boring if they gave up so easily. Now that they disregarded her warning she had no qualms destroying them.


    Tsukiko gathered mana into the tip of her fingers and started reciting spell words. "Gentle breeze gather upon my call. Turn and turn and turn, until you grow. Into violent winds that flow. [Tornado]"


    Tsukiko made spinning motions using her finger and from there a powerful tornado was made. It started moving fiercely towards the human army. The mages tried desperately to block the spell, but they could only dy it for a bit. A lot of knights at the front were massacred just like that.


    ''Now for another spell.'' Tsukiko ced her hands onto the ground and started chanting spell words. "I call upon the mighty earth, bury my foes into your embrace. Show them thy love and fury. [Quake]"


    The ground started shaking as the earth shattered in the middle of the human army. Some were lucky enough to escape while the others fell into the hole screaming and crying.


    After being devastated by two spells the human army was in disarray. Some of those with weaker wills started to flee, but the moment they did so theirmander ordered to kill them. "There is no turning back, those who flee from battle will be executed!"


    When Tsukiko saw how easily the formation of the human army crumbled, she giggled. These humans had the audacity to try and invade theirnds even though they were this weak.


    ''It''s like a bunch of clowns came here to entertain me.'' Tsukiko smiled as she started to chant her third spell.


    "Icy frost that makes the bones tremble, the shivering cold that makes the soul quiver. Gather upon my call the frozen might of the eternal winter. [Cocytus]"


    Arge area in front of Tsukiko turned into a world of ice. Those that were near the spell turned into ice sculptures, those that were far enough were suffering frostbite. While the lucky ones who were at the back were feeling sluggish as the cold prated their skins.


    ¡­


    Watching as theirpanions die one after another without them being able to do anything, most of the soldiers could no longer hold in their fear and fled the battlefield. It doesn''t matter if they became deserters as long as they were alive, anything was fine as long as they were alive. Yet as they were about to flee en masse, they noticed that the demons had blocked their path of retreat.


    While Tsukiko was unleashing herrge scale spells, the demons under her used a secret path to get behind the human army. Seeing the demons in front wearing weak-looking equipment emboldened the frightened humans to attack them. Since the demons were blocking their path of retreat they needed to bypass the demons somehow.


    While the deserters were trying their best to flee, the soldiers who haven''t given up spotted Tsukiko. They immediately knew that she was the one who had unleashed those frightening spells. If they were able to take her down, they might be able to somehow win.


    Knowing that most mages were weak in close quartersbat, the knights charged towards Tsukiko. Of course, as they charged towards her some of them were killed on the way, but as some of them got closer they felt that this nightmare was about to end.


    A knight finally arrived in front of Tsukiko. He shouted at the former demon lord at the top of his lungs.


    "Die Demon!" The Knight stabbed his sword towards Tsukiko''s chest. Seeing as he sessfully stabbed the demon in her heart the knight smiled. As he was feeling the joy of victory the knight saw that Tsukiko who was stabbed in the heart disappeared. It was nothing more than an illusion, the knight then heard someone whisper in his ear.


    "Nice try little knight¡­" Those were thest words the knight heard as he was stabbed by a spear of ice.

 Chapter 315 - The Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 315 - The Nightmare</h4>


    A few days before the attack on the demonnds, in Touma city, a boy around sixteen years old had entered the city. He had been recruited as a soldier for the uing war. In truth, it was his older brother who was recruited to be a soldier, but he needed to stay back since his wife was about to give birth.


    The sixteen-year-old boy was called Marlo. When the Kingdom called to conscript one man from each family, Marlo''s older brother Jun was set to go. But seeing the worry and sadness in his sister-inw''s face made Marlo volunteer instead.


    "What are you thinking Marlo? This isn''t a game that you can joke around in. This is a war."


    "I know that, but do you know that? If something happens to you in the war, what would happen to sister-inw, what would happen to your kid? Are you going to be like our dad who wasn''t there?"


    The two of them argued for a while until Marlo was finally able to convince his older brother to not go. Jun sighed as he handed their grandfather''s copper sword and leather armor to Marlo.


    "Brother, this is thest chance, are you sure about this?"


    "Of course I am, so be sure to await my return. When Ie back I want to hold my niece or nephew in my hands."


    "¡­ Of course." The two brothers hugged each other and smiled.


    ¡­


    After saying his goodbyes in the vige Marlo left. He was able to get to Touma City without much trouble. Upon entering the city the first thing he saw was the row of knights wearing expensive heavy armor. When he saw those knights he looked at his old leather armor and felt a little bit embarrassed.


    He went to the barracks and saw a lot of youths around his age. There were a lot of them that didn''t even have armor, while others even brought some pitchforks. As Marlo was looking around the barracks a man wearing a different colored set of armor stood in front of the crowd and spoke in a loud voice.


    "All of those without proper armor and weapons gather here and form a line. The Sliral Kingdom will provide you weapons and armor that will not shame our glorious kingdom."


    When the people heard what the man said, Marlo and the other youths headed towards him and formed a line. Once Marlo got to the front of the line he was given a spear and a better set of armor.


    After they were given their new equipment, the neers were assigned to differentmanders. Marlo was sent to the unit that would be the first to charge towards the enemy lines. When he heard that, he felt a bit fearful.


    It was finally dawning upon him what was happening. He was about to go to battle, he was about to go to war.


    ''Will I be able to see Big brother again? Will I be able to eat sister-inw''s cooking? Will, I meet the child of Big Brother and sister-inw?¡­'' As Marlo was getting anxious, somebody suddenly tapped his shoulders. Marlo was startled and saw a towering man standing in front of him. He was wearing full ted armor and his face was full of scars which made him look intimidating.


    "Hey new kid, you should calm down a bit. If you''re too anxious before the battle even starts you might freeze when an enemy attacks. Just stick with me and you''ll be fine. Oh right, I''m Nate, I''ve been in numerous battles already and survived. So I know what I''m saying."


    "I''m Marlo."


    Seeing how timid Marlo was made Nateugh heartily as he pounded Marlo''s back. "Don''t worry kid, war isn''t as bad as you think it is." Being infected by Nate''s cheery personality Marlo smiled as well.


    ¡­


    A few dayster the army headed out towards the demonnds. They had sent scouts ahead and were informed that the demon army only had ten thousand men. Not only that the demon lord would be held back by the hero as they try to capture an area in the demonnds.


    "Did you hear that kid, only ten thousand. Not to mention the hero is with us. I''ve seen the guy and I''m pretty sure he could easily handle a demon lord or two." Hearing what Nate said made Marlo feel a bit better as they marched onward.


    Marlo looked at the surrounding area and saw the powerful-looking knights on horses and the mages at the rear. If the demon army truly only had ten thousand men, then they might win the uing battle quite easily.


    As Marlo was feeling relieved he and everyone in the army heard a voice ringing in their ears.


    "Humans I will give one warning, go back to where you belong. If you continue to move towards our territory don''t me me for being ruthless!"


    When they heard that warning Marlo suddenly tensed up. Nate then smacked him from behind and warned the one young.


    "I already said it before, don''t be too tense, the enemy isn''t even here yet. Just stay by my side as we meet the enemy forces. Don''t worry kid, I promise that you''ll get home to meet your family." Nate smiled confidently at Marlo.


    "Thanks, Nate."


    "Don''t go thanking me just yet, once this war is over you promised to give me your vige''s famous Ale." Hearing what Nate said made Marlo smile.


    "Of course," While the two were talking the army continued to move onward. It was then a tornado appeared and massacred those at the forefront. If that wasn''t enough the next thing that happened was a hole appeared in the middle of their formation.


    Marlo couldn''t react at all as he and the others beside him were about to fall into the huge deep pit that appeared. As he was about to fall, Marlo felt someone grab onto his hand. He looked up and saw Nate pulling him up.


    "QUICKLY KID, MOVE IT!" Nate pulled Marlo up and the two started running towards the rear. When Nate saw that there were demons blocking the escape path, he gritted his teeth. He then started looking around and saw a hole of sorts hidden behind some rocks.


    The two started running towards the direction of the hole, once they got close enough they saw that it was a small cave that was hidden behind some rocks.


    "You stay here kid, and no matter what happens keep your head low and avoid their detection. Once you hear the fighting stop, wait for a few hours before leaving." After saying what needed to be said Nate was about to head out again, but before he could do so Marlo grabbed hold of his hand.


    "Why are going out there?! You should stay here as well old man. You know that we have no hope of winning!" Marlo was so shocked by how fast the events unfolded before his eyes. He saw a lot of the people he talked to at the barracks be killed without them being able to do anything at all.


    Those guys that he was eating with and sharing stories with, died just like that. Seeing the person who was the closest to him in the barracks was about to head out to his death, Marlo couldn''t let him do that.


    "You need to survive kid, you still have a family waiting for you. As for me, those guys in our unit, those guys are the only family I have left. I can''t just hide and watch them die. Don''t worry kid, it''s not like all hope is lost. You never know how a battle will end, until the veryst moment."


    Nate then darted towards the battlefield while Marlo could only stare at his back. He couldn''t stop Nate, and seeing the conviction in Nate''s eyes Marlo knew he had no right to stop him. Marlo could only watch from his hiding ce as his fellow soldiers died one by one.


    Marlo hated himself as he wasn''t able to do anything at all. He hated the fact that he was just sitting there watching hispanions fall one after another. He then noticed in the distance Nate was running towards a woman with fox tails.


    That must be the demon that used the spells that devastated the entire Sliral Kingdom''s army. There were a lot of men that were running desperately beside Nate. One by one those men fell until it was only Nate left. He was able to reach the demoness.


    Marlo clenched his fist as he watched Nate stabbing the demoness in the heart. Marlo was about to cheer, but then, in the next second, he saw the demoness''s body disappearing and reappeared behind Nate. Marlo wanted to shout at Nate to warn him, but his voice wouldn''te out.


    He watched as his friend and mentor fall to the ground lifeless. Marlo wanted to scream, he wanted to run towards Nate and avenge him. Yet his legs weakened and he knelt unable to move.


    Marlo couldn''t see anything in his current position but he could hear the death cries of hispanions. The smell of blood filled his nose, as his ears could only hear screams of agony and sorrow. Marlo closed his eyes and wished that he would wake up, and find that he was still at the vige.


    ''This must be a nightmare¡­ Please let this all just be a bad dream. Please let me wake up.'' As Marlo was praying with all his heart, he heard footsteps, there was someone approaching his hiding spot. Marlo shakily gripped onto his spear and was getting ready to attack.


    When the footsteps got closer Marlo stabbed forward, and then he saw at the end of his spear was another human. He looked at Marlo with confusion as he died. Seeing what he did, Marlo couldn''t hold it in and screamed.


    The screaming Marlo alerted the nearby demons. They spotted the screaming Marlo quite easily. A demon who was holding a spear threw it towards Marlo and pierced the young man''s chest.


    Marlo looked at the spear in his chest and actually felt some relief. ''I hope this nightmare ends, and I wake up to eat sister-inw''s cooking¡­'' Those were the final thoughts Marlo had as death came to him.

 Chapter 316 - Despair

    <h4>Chapter 316 - Despair</h4>


    Kretos arrived at the battlefield and saw that the battle was nearing its end. The humans were being decimated as their screams echoed throughout the canyon. From a distance, Kretos spotted that there were also some dead demons, butpared to the humans there weren''t many dying demons.


    As Kretos was scanning the surrounding area, he felt a powerful aura from behind him. Kretos quickly drew his sword from his shadow and was about to attack the one behind him. The moment he turned around he saw the smiling face of a golden-haired fox.


    "You miss your dessert. I wonder, was the main course too much for you?" Tsukiko smiled mischievously at Kretos and was not bothered by the sword that was pointed at her face.


    Seeing Tsukiko smiling cockily at him, Kretos shrugged his shoulders and ced his sword on his shoulders.


    "Yeah, the main course was better than I expected. As for the dessert who knew that you were such a sweet tooth. It would seem like I underestimated you."


    Kretos was now showing his vicious smile. The moment Tsukiko saw that smile, she immediately responded before Kretos could speak more.


    "Nope, I will not be fighting you. I won''t even think of sparring with you. I surrender, I admit defeat, the demon lord Kretos has bested me." Tsukiko made exaggerated movements as she spoke.


    "I haven''t even said anything yet."


    "It''s all over your face. But sure what is it you wanted to say? If it''s about fighting, you already know my answer."


    Hearing what Tsukiko said Kretos was speechless. No words came out of Kretos''s mouth and without warning he shed towards Tsukiko''s face. Tsukiko didn''t even flinch as Kretos''s sword swung past her.


    "Oh Come on, just a little bit should be alright, just a little taste."


    "Nope, I won''t do it," Tsukiko responded without hesitation. "If you were going to eat me in another way I might''ve allowed it," Tsukiko mumbled to herself.


    "What did you say, did you agree?"


    "No." The demons who were clearing the battlefield saw that the strongest demon lord and the former demon lord were arguing while walking away from the battlefield.


    ¡­


    Some lucky ones from the Sliral Kingdom were able to escape from the clutches of the demons. From the fifty thousand, only a dozen or so men were able to return. When the King of the Sliral Kingdom heard their report his face looked like it grew older by a few years.


    The remaining Generals that weren''t among those that went to battle also had a pale expression. Even if the survivors reported that they had lost, these battle-hardened Generals wouldn''t react this way. They only reacted this way because it wasn''t just a loss, it was a devastating one. Their whole army was decimated and only a dozen survived, while the demons had little casualties.


    "This wasn''t how it was supposed to y out. This wasn''t how it was supposed to y out." One General kept muttering the same thing over and over again, while the other had nothing to say. The King was silent for a moment as well, trying to calm himself down. After he was able to somehow get a hold of himself he asked.


    "What about the hero and hispanions what happened to them?"


    "We''ve lost contact with their group a few hours ago, and¡­" The one giving out the report hesitated as he didn''t want to say the next words.


    "AND WHAT?!" The King who was already tensed up shouted at the person reporting. The person then flinched before answering the King.


    "The Arch Stone which could sense the mana signature of Court Mage Jeter, it stopped operating. It could no longer sense Court Mage Jeter''s mana signature."


    When the King heard that report he slumped down onto his chair, and looked like the blood in his body was drained. The death of Jeter could only mean one thing.


    "The hero has failed, it''s over¡­" The whole war room turned silent and no one could utter another word.


    ¡­


    The news of the failed invasion of the Sliral Kingdom was leaked out and spread throughout the other Human Kingdoms. The news was spread by those that survived the ordeal and couldn''t stop themselves from telling others the horrific tale.


    When the other Human Kingdoms heard of how badly the Sliral Kingdom was defeated they too grew even more afraid. There was no longer anyone thinking about fighting over who gets to invade the demonnds first. The people who also thought that the demons wouldn''t attack them changed their minds.


    Now that the Sliral Kingdom provoked the demons, it was obvious that those war-crazed demons would counterattack. Still, there were some even thought that once the demons get revenge on the Sliral Kingdom they will stop. Yet most of the Human Kingdoms started formingrge alliances getting ready for the invasion of the demons.


    ¡­


    In a small vige, Jun was waiting for his brother''s return. His vige was in a pretty remote region so the news about the annihtion of the Sliral Kingdom''s army hasn''t reached this far yet.


    Day in and day out Jun waited for his little brother. His wife who was pregnant was also waiting for Marlo''s return. To her, Marlo was already like her real little brother. She was about ready to give birth any day now.


    One day the two of them were waiting outside their house and saw two knights on horses in the vige. They were passing a letter and a pouch of gold coins to each family that sent out their sons to battle.


    When the families read the letter they all started screaming and crying. Some of them were even violent as they wanted to attack the knights while the others were holding them back. Seeing this scene Jun and his wife grew nervous.


    The knights finally arrived in front of Jun and his wife. Like all the others the knight handed them a letter and a pouch of gold coins. Jun shakingly took the letter and opened it. He knew how to read a little, and got the gist of what was written. The royal family was apologizing for their loss, and aspensation for the fine warrior that has fallen in battle, they were given enough gold coins tost their lifetime.


    Jun''s wife Katrice was able to read better than Marlo, and when she saw the contents of the letter she started sobbing. Jun, on the other hand, couldn''t believe what he had read at first, but after a while, a burning rage filled him. He threw the pouch of coins at one of the knights and shouted at them.


    "I don''t f*cking need this gold coins! You better give my brother back to me! He was just a youngd, he hasn''t even had his first love yet! He hasn''t even fulfilled his dreams of traveling to different ces! He hasn''t even had the chance to hold my child in his hands¡­"


    Jun knelt on the ground trying his best to hold back the tears. Katrice hugged his husband as she continued to cry. "Please, please at least bring his body back to me."


    One of the knights got off his horse took off his helmet and started picking up the scattered gold coins. Once he was done picking up all the coins the knight approached Jun looked at him eye to eye and spoke.


    "I may not have met your brother, but I''m sure that he had fought bravely and honorably. His body might not be here, but I''m sure his spirit is in here." The knight tapped Jun''s chest pointing at his heart. "You should take the money, I''m sure your brother would want you to have it."


    The knight then stood up and saluted Jun, he then saluted the other vigers as well. Once he was done he and hispanion left the vige.


    ¡­


    After learning of Marlo''s demise Jun and Katrice seemed lost. They became lethargic and unsteady, the only reason they could keep going was because of their unborn child. They needed to be strong for this child. But as if fate was mocking them, on the day Katrice was to give birth someplications had arisen.


    The midwife had no idea what to do, as she hasn''t encountered such a thing before. The doctor who could help was in another vige on that day. The midwife tried her best but in the end, she couldn''t save Katrice nor the unborn child.


    Jun was devastated and wanted to kill himself on the spot, but the vigers stopped him. He then screamed at them.


    "Marlo is gone, Katrice is gone, my child is gone! What more can be taken from me?! What more reason is there for me to live?!"


    Jun begged the vigers to let him go, he begged them to kill him. Yet the vigers who treated Jun like he was part of their family didn''t want Jun to die.


    ¡­


    A few days had passed since the death of Katrice and the unborn child. The two had been buried in the vige''s cemetery. For the first time since they were buried Jun visited them. He stood in front of their graves looking lifeless. It started to rain as Jun knelt in front of the graves.


    One of the graves had an empty coffin, this was the grave of his brother, beside him was Katrice''s grave, and the one next to that with the unnamed tombstone was the grave of his unborn child.


    "Why?! What did I do to deserve this?! Where did it all go wrong?!¡­" Jun was silent for a moment and then his lifeless eyes started burning with fury.


    "It''s all because of those demons if they didn''t start the war none of this would''ve happened. If only I had the strength if only I had the power to fight them." As Jun was wallowing in despair, he suddenly heard a deep sonorous voice.


    "Do you wish for power?"


    "Who''s there?!" Jun looked around and so no one.


    "Answer me, do you wish for power? Enough power to have your revenge?" Jun couldn''t understand who was talking to him, but he still answered.


    "Yes, I want power, overwhelming power to destroy those that took everything away from me!"


    "Go to the Temple of the God of Water, you will find the power you seek there." Once that was said the voice no longer spoke. At the same time, the raining stopped and the sky cleared up¡­ Jun looked at the heavens above, gritted his teeth, and clenched his fist.

 Chapter 317 - Namor

    <h4>Chapter 317 - Namor</h4>


    While the humans were forming their alliances and generally panicking about what to do, Kretos was back in his newly created castle sitting on his throne awaiting the next challenger. On his left side was a sleeping seven-tailed golden fox and on the right was a stoic Lycan woman.


    ''I wonder what kind of challenger wille next, it might be another human hero.'' Kretos was getting excited as he thought about the future battles. He then looked at Shera the Lycan standing on his left side. This Lycan was the second strongest Lycan after Kir. She might be among the top demons in terms of battle power, but she still pales inparison to a demon lord. Kretos was no longer excited fighting those on Shera''s level if it was one on one, but if it was one against many he might consider it.


    Kretos then looked at the sleeping golden fox on his other side. This one, on the other hand, was a demon lord and based on what Kretos saw in the aftermath of the battlefield she was more powerful than some of the demon lords he has killed. Her ability to fight one against many was greater than most demon lords. Based on the skills she has shown she would''ve been able to defeat Darius quite easily. This then raised a question, why did she never do anything and was always on the defensive?


    "Hey, Tsukiko." Hearing Kretos call her name Tsukiko yawned and looked at Kretos. She turned into her human form and asked.


    "What is it?" Tsukiko stretched her voluptuous body and continued to yawn.


    "How about-"


    "No, I keep on telling you I don''t want to fight you," Tsukiko answered before Kretos could finish what he was going to say.


    "Why do you keep on saying no, aren''t you bored sleeping all day long?"


    While Kretos and Tsukiko continue to bicker like usual, Shera who was at the side sighed. Unlike her former Lord Kir, Kretos was a more verbal and action-oriented demon lord. Kir could''ve sat on his stone throne for centuries withoutining, but her current lord could not evenst half a day on his throne.


    As the three were going about their usual routine, a Lycan burst into the throne room. When Kretos saw this he felt that it was a somewhat familiar scene.


    "Oh, what kind of army is approaching us now?" Kretos joked, but the messenger looked at him in surprise.


    "Did you already know my lord?"


    "Know what?"


    "An unknown army suddenly appeared from the Northern Mountains. The army is an undead army full of elder liches, wraiths, Duhans, and even Death Knights."


    Shera and Tsukiko were shocked to hear the report. The Undead weren''t considered monsters they were in fact considered as a race like demons and humans. Still among the races, they were considered the enemy of all living beings. Usually, once a lich or some undead were spotted they would immediately be annihted by all the other races. So it was surprising to see an undead army grow to such a size.


    ''Did they perhaps increase their size by using the corpses from the previous battle? That shouldn''t be it since I made sure to burn all the dead bodies. Also, they can''t be recent undead since it takes at least a millennium to be an elder lich. The requirements to be a death knight is also quite difficult. Then how did an army of this size go unnoticed for such a long time?'' Tsukiko started thinking about the reports she had read over the years.


    While Tsukiko was trying to figure out where the undead came from, Kretos was smiling happily as he was once again brimming in excitement.


    "Where is this undead army heading towards?"


    "My lord, they are heading straight to this castle."


    "That makes things easier, warn everyone to make way for this undead army. I''ll deal with them personally."


    "As youmand my lord." The messenger saluted Kretos and left.


    ¡­


    Kretos alongside Tsukiko and Shera stood outside of the castle waiting for the undead army to arrive. It was nearing sunset when Kretos finally spotted the undead army. Unlike the human army that simply had numerical superiority, this army of the undead had an aura of dread. Just watching that wave of undead marching forward would send shivers to anyone who bore witness to the scene.


    Floating skeletons, flying specters, knights with no heads riding horses, and fully armored gigantic figures, watching these monsters in a perfect formation marching forward made Kretos smile viciously.


    At the forefront of those undead beings was a skinny looking man wearing an armor made of bones riding a skeletal horse. When the undead army was a kilometer away from Kretos they stopped. Only the skinny looking man who seemed out of ce in the army came forward.


    The man arrived in front of Kretos''s group and dismounted. He then slowly approached Kretos''s group and looked at Kretos from head to toe.


    "Are you the new demon lord?"


    "Yes, I''m demon lord Kretos the one and only remaining demon lord, so who are you?" Hearing Kretos''s answer the skinny man nodded his head.


    "Greetings demon lord, I am Namor the keeper of the dead, the most trusted general of the former demon king."


    When the trio heard Namor''s introduction they were surprised. Thest time a demon was named a Demon King was around twenty thousand years ago. That was the time when the demons were at the peak of their power.


    "You''re telling me that you''re one of those ancient demons that fought side by side with the demon king?"


    "Yes," Namor answered without any fluctuation in his facial expression.


    "So you''re telling me the ancient demons used undead? The undead that all living beings including demons hate."


    "I don''t know about why demons would hate undead, as we were the ones who created them, but yes we did use the undead." Kretos and the others were once again surprised by what Namor said. Even though he said it so nonchntly the news that the demons were the ones who created the undead was truly a shock.


    Every now and then some weaker tribes would be annihted by the undead, and Namor was telling them they the demon race were the creators of such a race. Kretos tried to control himself as he asked another question.


    "So tell me if you''re really one of the generals of the old Demon King, then howe you''re still alive. It has been written that the demon king alongside the demon lords and his generals were annihted by the Ancient Human Hero." Hearing Kretos''s question Namor''s face twitched and he frowned for a second.


    "The Demon King didn''t allow me to join the final battle, as he had given me another task that must be fulfilled."


    "Alright, everything you''re saying is rather shocking and hard to believe, but let''s just say I believe every word you say, so what are you doing here?"


    "I came here to meet the new demon lord, that is to say, you. This is the task given to me by the former Demon King."


    "Huh, how could the Demon King from twenty thousand years ago know of me?"


    "It''s not you that the Demon King wanted me to meet, it was the strongest demon lord that has the ability to be the next Demon King. I have been in hiding for a long time, but I do send scouts out to learn of what transpires in the Demon Lands. I did think of meeting with the former demon lord Kir, as he too had the power equivalent to a Demon King, but he did not have the ambition. But you are different, after gaining your position as a demon lord, you united the whole demonnds under your banner. So as decreed by the former Demon King, I''m here to test you if you''re truly worthy to receive the loyalty of I Demon General Namor."


    "So basically you''re telling me to battle you?" As Kretos said those words he summoned his sword from his shadow. He was already raring to go.


    "Yes, I''m here to test your mettle in battle. If you prove to be worthy then I and my undead army will be under your rule. But if you fail then you shall be another warrior to walk eternity alongside my undead. So I ask you Demon Lord Kretos, do you ept the challenge?"


    "OF COURSE! To be able to have the chance to fight a General that fought side by side with the Demon King would bring me the greatest enjoyment. If it''s you, you might be able to fulfill my wish."


    Namor nodded his head and extended his hand forward. From his extended hand, a bone came out. It was a bone in the shape of a sword. Namor gripped onto the bone sword and took a stance.


    "I see, so you ept the challenge. I the Demon General Namor, the strongest general of the Demon King,mend your courage. Now then strongest demon lord of the current age, show me that you are worthy."


    Once Kretos heard those words heughed heartily as he charged forward.

 Chapter 318 - Demon General

    <h4>Chapter 318 - Demon General</h4>


    Namor pointed his finger at the charging Kretos and spears made of bones came out directly from his finger. It was a horrific sight, it was as if the bones inside Namor wereing out from his body.


    Kretos happily deflected the bone spears that came his way. Each time a spear was deflected the moment it dropped to the ground a crater was formed. Namor was surprised to see how easily Kretos deflected each strike. If this was the Kretos who fought Kir that strike wasn''t something he should be able to deflect.


    Even a demon lord at Kir''s level would find these bone spears to be troublesome, yet Kretos dealt with them like they were toys.


    ''Isn''t he improving too fast?'' The moment Namor had this idle thought Kretos appeared before him and was about to sh him.


    "Having idle thoughts during battle will get you killed," Kretos shouted as he shed downward. Namor quickly blocked the strike using his bone sword, but the power in Kretos''s attack stunned Namor. The strength that Kretos unleashed took Namor by surprise, Namor let go of his sword and evaded the strike by sidestepping.


    Kretos was quick to react to the sidestep and did a sideward sh. de-like bones sprouted from Namor''s forearms which he used to block Kretos''s attack. Namor''s body slid backward and Kretos dashed forward towards Namor.


    Seeing the fast approaching Kretos, Namor used the [Fire Ball] spell, as multiple five-meter balls of me floated above his head and headed towards Kretos. Kretos imbued his sword with mana which sliced through the balls of me.


    Namor was surprised as he used another spell against Kretos. [Ray of Frost] a beam of ice headed towards Kretos. Seeing this Kretos countered with the spell he saw Hero Sora used.


    "Explosion!"


    ¡­


    Tsukiko watched Kretos''s fight from a distance and was surprised at how strong Kretos was. This was the first time she saw him actually fight. She already knew he was strong based on how he beat Kir, but knowing that and seeing it were two different things.


    She knew that in a direct confrontation Kretos could win against almost anyone, yet deep down Tsukiko still held a bit of pride as a demon lord. She always thought that as long as she yed smart and with a little bit of luck, she could''ve won against Kretos.


    ''It''s a good thing I admitted defeat, there''s just no way that I could beat this guy.''


    ¡­


    Shera watched as her new lord was beating a legend of the demon race. Shera liked reading about the golden era of demons when the demon king still ruled. She had read about the Demon General Namor.


    Though she didn''t know that the army he controlled was an undead army, she knew that this particr Demon General led his army to numerous victorious battles. In fact, Demon General Namor could literally say that his army has known no defeat.


    So watching such a distinguished and powerful general be toyed around by her current Lord was something she couldn''t have imagined she would be able to witness.


    ¡­


    It wasn''t just Tsukiko and Shera, even Namor was surprised by how incredible Kretos''s prowess in battle was. In fact, even Kretos himself was amazed by his improvement. The mana circting throughout his body was faster and smoother than before. The quality and quantity have also increased to another level. Even now he could feel his mana increasing as he continued to battle.


    Kretos also felt that not only his mana improved but so did his physical body. Kretos felt his body was lighter than usual as he was able to move faster. He with his sword at hand and his newly enhanced abilities aggressively attacked Namor.


    Namor couldn''t believe that such a young demon was able to push him to this state. He couldn''t even break Kretos''s offensive and counterattack. As Namor continued to defend he finally made a mistake and Kretos was able to cut off one of his arms.


    Namor frowned as he used his innate ability and another arm burst out of the stump where hisst arm was cut off. This was an ability he gained that could regenerate any lost limbs in exchange for mana and a bit of his life force. After regrowing his arm, Namor gritted his teeth and his armor burst outward.


    The bone armor Namor was wearing surrounded him and formed a wall of bones that covered all areas. Kretos tried attacking the wall of bones but he couldn''t get through. Also as he touched the wall of bones, some spears starteding out. The wall was like a porcupine as it attacked and at the same time defended.


    Kretos felt even more excited as he saw this, it was good timing that Namor arrived, now he could check out just how strong he has be.


    Kretos used his new favorite move and summoned a lot of the weapons hidden in his shadow. The wall of bones was now surrounded by weapons. Kretos then started controlling all the weapons with his mana and used them to attack the wall.


    Piercing with ance, shing with a sword, smashing with a Warhammer, pounding with a mace. Kretos was using all the weapons at his disposal whileughing heartily. The massive wall of bones slowly cracked and crumbled.


    Namor couldn''t even finish his chanting as Kretos aggressively assaulted him. This wasn''t the kind of fight Namor and the others were expecting. Namor was stronger than any of the current generation demon lords, he was even stronger than Kir, yet he was being one-sidedly cornered by Kretos.


    "[Bone Prison]!" Namor activated a spell that trapped Kretos. Four huge bones sped onto Kretos''s joints. While Kretos was immobile Namor wanted to use this chance to regain a bit of his stamina.


    "This isn''t enough to stop me!" The bones that were grasping Kretos''s joints started cracking. Seeing this scene Namor activated two other spells.


    "[Raise Skeleton], [Chain of Sin]." These two spells consumed a lot of mana, and as Namor used them without chanting the spell words and directly activated them the mana he used was doubled.


    Four Skeleton warriors appeared before Kretos and grabbed hold of him. From beneath the ground, a crimson chain burst forth entangling Kretos. Namor had drained a significant portion of his mana using this spell [Chain Of Sin] without chanting spell words.


    The [Chain of Sin] was a spell that would entangle the target and the graver his negative Karma was the tighter it will hold. While being bound by the [Chain of Sin] one would find it difficult to circte mana and control spells. This was the strongest binding spell Namor knew, this spell could possibly even detain a Spirit Ruler. The weapons that were being controlled by Kretos fell to the ground as they lost their connection with Kretos.


    Namor was feeling his mana being drained greatly as well as his stamina. As he was sure that Kretos was unable to move, Namor wanted to use this chance to attack Kretos, but as he was about to move Kretos startedughing wildly.


    "Hahaha, this is awesome." A massive amount of mana started to gather around Kretos and then it burst out. The mana burst was so great it caused a shockwave blowing away the skeletal warriors that held Kretos. Even the tired Namor was pushed back without any difficulty. Namor summoned another bone sword and stabbed it onto the ground stopping himself from flying away.


    The [Chain of Sin] stopped tightening around Kretos. It looked like it only a tightened a little bit, which stunned Namor. That spell was effective against those that have great amounts of negative Karma. Someone like Kretos who keeps on killing should have enormous amounts of negative Karma, so why wasn''t the spell effective?


    Even a normal human who hasn''t done anything greatly wrong would have some kind of negative Karma, that would make the [Chain of Sin] tighten more than it did with Kretos. The only time Namor saw this spell not work properly was when it was used against the human hero.


    As Namor continued to look on stunned, Kretos had broken free from the spells that stopped him from moving. Now that he was free he noticed that Namor was on the ground unmoving.


    "Is that it? Is that all you have to offer?" Kretos looked at the panting Namor in disappointment. Was a demon general from the golden age of demons really this weak?


    ''Is he truly weak, or did I be too strong?''


    When Namor heard what Kretos said he gritted his teeth in frustration. It has been twenty thousand years since hisst fight, so his movement were a bit rusty. But of course, he couldn''t make such an excuse in front of Kretos. He came here to see if Kretos was worthy to be his new lord. Yet the test he thought of to measure Kretos''s strength became a joke.


    "Why aren''t you saying anything, so is this truly it?"


    Namor bit his lower lip angry at himself¡­ He wanted to test if his new lord was worthy, but now it looks like he was the one unworthy to serve his new lord.

 Chapter 319 - The Human Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 319 - The Human Alliance</h4>


    "I have nothing more to offer in this fight. You have won and I have lost." Namor gritted his teeth as he spoke each word. The test of seeing Kretos''s mettle inbat had backfired. When he heard how difficult Kretos battle was against Kir, Namor thought that he could match up to Kretos''s strength or even surpass it. Yet here stood Kretos totally unharmed while he was panting pathetically.


    Kretos looked at Namor with a look of disappointment on his face. He then looked at the magnificent army waiting for Namor''smand.


    "How about telling your army toe and help you fight." When Namor heard this he looked at Kretos with a weird expression on his face. Tsukiko and Shera who were approaching Kretos also heard what he said.


    "What the heck are you saying, you battle freak?!" Tsukiko spoke as she was about to smack Kretos''s head. Kretos of course easily avoided the strike.


    "Oh, are you going to fight me now?" Kretos looked at Tsukiko.


    "Who wants to fight you?" Tsukiko pouted and didn''t continue to speak. Kretos shrugged his shoulders and once again looked at Namor.


    "So what do you say, attack me using your army."


    "My lord, I apologize but I cannot do that." Namor pounded his head onto the ground. Seeing as he couldn''t even see where Kretos''s limitsy he wasn''t sure if his army could handle Kretos. Also, it wouldn''t make sense to use his army to attack the new lord he serves.


    Seeing Namor''s actions made Kretos sigh as he shrugged his shoulders. "¡­ Fine, this is getting boring. Shera deal with him and his army, give him somend near my castle. If there''s nothing else you want to say I''m leaving."


    Namor lifted his head as he wanted to properly greet Kretos as his new lord, but then he saw Kretos''s expression full of disappointment and with a tinge of something simr to rage. Namor felt like his life would be forfeited if he spoke now, so he continued to keep his head down.


    Once Kretos was gone Namor stood up and looked at the other two who were under Kretos. He noticed the Demonic Fox Tsukiko was one of the two, and the other was a beautiful Lycan woman.


    "Are you two perhaps the wives of my lord?" When the two heard this question each had a different reaction. Shera shook her head panicking as she looked around and sighed when she didn''t see Kretos near them. Tsukiko tilted her head and then shrugged her shoulders.


    "I''m nothing more than our lord''s aide. I am like you a loyal servant." Shera quickly exined.


    "I''m neither his wife nor his servant," Tsukiko answered briefly and then left without saying anything more.


    ¡­


    While Kretos had gained a powerful army of undead, the human Kingdoms had formed an alliance. On the other hand, the elves, the spirit rulers, the fairies, and the winged ones weren''t as bothered by the demons as the humans. Unlike humans, no other race had bad blood with the demon race.


    ¡­


    Once they had formed an alliance, humanity started preparing to wage war on the demons. Since the Sliral Kingdom already made the first move, the demons would surely retaliate so before they came to them the humans decided to attack.


    On the surface that was the reason, but each human Kingdom had their ulterior motives in invading the demonnds. Some wanted thend, some wanted resources, some wanted to rule over the demons, some wanted to use the war as an excuse to eliminate their rivals, some were there because of their faith. To humans, demons were the descendants of the devils, who were pure evil beings, on the other hand, the humans were descendants of the Gods who were supposedly righteous.


    The Sliral Kingdom was not part of this operation as they had lost too much in thest battle. Instead, they opened Touma City to the armies of the different human Kingdoms. The human alliance armies consisted of half a million soldiers.


    The army had wyvern riders, Wolfen raiders, and there were a lot of famous mercenaries all around. This was the strongest force the human Kingdoms could muster. Leading this powerful army was the Hero from the Temple of the God of Water, Jun.


    ¡­


    There were some warriors and generals that didn''t like the idea that an unknown hero that was also a formermoner would be the Commander of the whole army. So they sought after him to challenge the hero to a battle for the position as Grand Commander.


    Jun was sharpening his battle-ax when the supposed finest warriors of each Kingdom came to meet him. He looked at them for a second and continued to sharpen his ax.


    "So you''re supposed to be the current hero? You don''t look anything special." One of the warriors spoke while looking at Jun with an arrogant smile.


    "I can''t believe I the son of a Duke need to listen to amoner." Another scoffed at Jun.


    "Why should we even be led by a hero, didn''t thest hero fail his mission? I don''t think these so called heroes are strong. Unlike true warriors who had trained all their lives, I bet these so called heroes just rely on the blessing given to them." The only woman in the group gave her opinion.


    "Enough talk let''s just get to it."


    "So who''s going to challenge the hero first?"


    "I''ll do it." The first one to step forward was a man wielding a halberd. While the group was talking to Jun, the person in question didn''t even bother responding as he continued to sharpen his ax.


    "O hero, I came here to have a little spar. I want to see if the hero is someone worth following. If you win, I''ll even help you get along with the warriors from my kingdom, but if you lose I want you to step down as the Grand Commander of the army. So what do you say, are you man enough to ept the challenge?"


    Jun didn''t respond he didn''t even bother looking at the warrior as he continued to sharpen his ax. This infuriated the warrior as he gripped his halberd.


    "Look at me while I''m talking to you!" The warrior made a piercing motion and aimed at the front of Jun''s face. He just wanted to scare Jun a bit. Yet the moment he attacked the handle of his halberd was caught by Jun. He tried pulling away but the halberd wouldn''t budge.


    Jun finally looked at the warrior as he stood up from his position. Seeing Jun''s eyes looking at him the warrior grew irritated. Jun was looking at him the same way the warrior looked at his opponents, looking as if he was looking at a bug.


    The warrior who was now filled with anger started circting his mana to strengthen his body. Yet even with that he still couldn''t move the halberd. Jun then lifted him alongside the halberd and tossed them to the side. The warrior hit a nearby wall and fainted.


    Seeing this scene the four remaining warriors looked at Jun with a bit of fear. That warrior was someone that was on the same level as them yet he was dealt with so easily. As the four warriors were still silently stunned, Jun looked at them and spoke.


    "I don''t have time for this, all four of youe at me together. If you don''t want to do that then step aside and stop bothering me."


    Hearing Jun''s voice that was full of indifference made the four prideful warriors grit their teeth in anger.


    "Don''t act so cocky you damnmoner! The only reason Jerard lost to you, is because you caught him by surprise. If it wasn''t for him letting his guard down he wouldn''t have lost." The son of the Duke, Henry Mercossi shouted at Jun.


    "¡­ Y-Yeah Henry is right," The woman warrior called Mia nodded her head in agreement.


    "As expected from someone like you, using such a cheap tactic." Jason the warrior famous for dual-wielding two broadswords got into a stance.


    "¡­" Only Albert didn''t say anything as he knew that he couldn''t lose concentration when facing someone like Jun. He pushed his round shield slightly forward and his short sword was hidden behind him. Albert was getting ready for whatever was toe.


    Due to them shouting, they attracted the attention of the nearby soldiers. Now there was an audience watching the fight.


    "Enough yapping and juste at me," Jun spoke with the same tone of indifference.


    "Fine, if you truly wish to fight all of us don''t me us if you lose. Now pick up your weapon."


    "Against the likes of you four, I don''t need a weapon."


    No longer able to hold it in, the three warriors charged forward. The spectators thought that even if Jun was the hero and even if he was strong he shouldn''t be too much stronger than these famous warriors. Yet the moment they saw the three warriors get close, the three immediately fainted. Everyone gasped in surprise, none of those spectators saw what Jun did, all they saw was the three falling down without warning.


    The only one who saw a bit of what happened was Albert who didn''t charge forward. He saw for a brief second that Jun''s hands became a blur, and at that moment the three warriors fainted. Albert started sweating profusely as Jun stood there looking at him.


    "So will youe forward as well?" Hearing Jun''s question Albert felt his hands trembling. Albert shook his head as he raised his hands.


    "You win."


    When Jun heard Albert''s response he turned around took his ax and left. The dumbfounded audience couldn''t react for a time, but a few secondster they started cheering. They got excited seeing how strong the hero was¡­ They felt their confidence soar knowing that someone like that was with them.

 Chapter 320 - Undead Army

    <h4>Chapter 320 - Undead Army</h4>


    A few months after the human alliance was formed they were about ready to march towards the canyon to the demonnds, which was now called the canyon of death.


    The Lycan scouts that were waiting near Touma City noticed that irregr movements. They wanted to go closer to check on it, but they couldn''t get to close as they sensed that there was someone in the human camp that was at the same level as a demon lord.


    So all the could do was wait for something toe out of the city. Once they saw the sight of the human army moving out, one of Lycan scouts quickly turned into his wolf form and started running back to the demonnds.


    ¡­


    The Human Alliance moved rather slowly in the canyon as the wyvern riders took the lead to scout the area. In their current speed, they would reach the end of the canyon within a day.


    As the humans were walking through the canyon, the soldiers of each kingdom were watching each other closely. Even though they had formed an alliance to fight the demons, they were enemies just recently. They couldn''t help but show distrust with one another.


    Not only did they need to be wary of the demons that they were about to fight, but they needed to be wary of their allies as well. This was the best chance to eliminate the forces of the other kingdoms.


    ¡­


    Back in Kretos''s castle, the Lycan scout reported all that he saw. It had only been several months since theirst attack. The humans had lost that battle quite badly and now they came back with an even greater force. Kretos smiled happily as he heard each word of the report.


    "These humans do not know when to give up, I like that."


    "So what do you n to do Kretos?" Tsukiko asked while brushing one of her seven tails.


    "Do you even need to ask? Of course, I''m going to have some fun." As Kretos was getting ready to go, Tsukiko sighed. It was at that moment the new person at Kretos''s side knelt before him.


    "My lord, please allow me and my men to take this battle." Namor continued to kneel waiting for Kretos''s answer.


    ''Well, I guess I do want to see how strong his undead army is. I could always join the battle whenever I want. Might as well give Namor the opening act.''


    "Alright Namor, show me the might of the so called strongest general of the former demon king."


    Hearing Kretos''s response Namor stood up and saluted Kretos. This was Namor''s chance to show Kretos that it was worth it to keep Namor and his army by Kretos''s side.


    "I shall not disappoint you, my lord."


    ¡­


    While the human army continued to march forward the sky was growing darker and darker. A few minutester it started to rain heavily. Some of the soldiers were feeling a bit out of it as it continued to rain.


    "What the heck, it started raining."


    "This seems to be a bit ominous."


    "It''s not ominous, don''t you remember who is here with us. This is a blessing from one of the Gods."


    "What are you saying?"


    "Did you forget? The hero is from the temple of the God of water."


    While the soldiers were discussing the sudden rain, the area started to fog up a bit. It got harder to see ahead so the march became slower.


    As the fog was bing thicker one of the wyvern riders saw something sh at a distance. He went nearer to see what it was, but then without warning an arrow had pierced his head. One of the wyvern riders fell from the sky. The others haven''t noticed yet, since the fog was too thick, but then one after another the wyvern riders started falling from the sky.


    "What is happening?!"


    The surviving wyvern riders quickly retreated. The army stopped moving as they looked onward to see what was attacking them. From within the fog, a frightening sight came forward.


    Numerous people wearing armor came forward but they had no eyes nor flesh. Each move they made had the sound of grinding and clicking bones. These beings were nothing but walking bones wearing armor and holding weapons.


    Behind these skeletal warriors were headless horsemen. Riding ck warhorses, with a whip on one hand and a sword in another. Upon closer inspection, one would see that the whip was the spine of a human.


    If that wasn''t enough to frighten the human soldiers, there were also skeletons with a bit of flesh left floating above the ground cackling. Unlike those skeletal warriors, these beings had an immense amount of mana. Surrounding this ominous group were ghost-like figures.


    Then there were the most fearsome beings hidden at the rear, massive beings wearing heavy armor and holding different weapons. The aura this group of armored beings emitted was an aura of death and despair.


    The human alliance was unnerved by the sight of these ghastly creatures. Some of them had started shaking in fear. Some even threw up at the sight. The atmosphere grew tense and the only sound that could be heard was the pitter-patter of the rain.


    "UNDEAD! Why are their undead here?!" One of themanders shouted breaking the silence. No one had an answer as most of the soldiers started panicking. Before they could even fight the demons, they had to fight this army of undead.


    As the humans were trying to calm themselves down, someone came out from within the undead army. It looked like a normal skinny man wearing an armor made of bones.


    "Humans! Hear my lord''s decree, he has given you one chance. Retreat now or face annihtion!"


    When the humans heard Namor''s deration they came to a realization, a very scary realization. One of themanders told a mage to help him enhance his voice to reply.


    "Who is this lord of yours?"


    "My lord is none other than the strongest demon lord, demon lord Kretos!" Namor proudly dered.


    When the humans heard Namor''s reply they were stunned into silence. The demons were using the undead as minions!


    "What are you demons doing?! To even use the undead, as expected from such an evil race." Another one of the humanmanders responded.


    "Who are you humans to judge us demons as evil. In my eyes, you people are the ones who are evil. Toe here and invade ournds, and dare say that we are the ones who are evil! You are the ones who attack without being provoked, you humans are such a wretched race!"


    "How dare a demon who controls undead call us wretched!"


    "Enough of this banter! You filthy humans, since my lord doesn''t like to fight weaklings like you he has given you a chance to live. If I were you I would ept my lord''s kindness and leave, never to return to thesends. Decide now retreat or die!"


    "CHARGE!" The humanmanders could no longer hold their anger and gave out themand.


    The warriors started charging forward, even though fear has gripped their hearts, they moved onward. In their minds, this was for the sake of humanity, for the sake of their families. If before they were a bit reluctant to attack the demons, but now there was no more hesitation.


    To the current era, it wasmon knowledge that the undead would kill all the living. It was just a matter of time before the demons could no longer control the undead, and seeing howrge this undead army was, meant that if they lose here their families would dieter.


    ¡­


    Watching the humans charging towards him, Namor shook his head. "As expected, even after all this time humans are still fools."


    Namor then looked at his army and shouted. "It is time to show demon lord Kretos our worth! Show these humans the cold embrace of death!"


    Upon giving themand the undead army started charging forward meeting the human army in battle.


    ¡­


    The mages from the human army had gathered in a group and started chanting. They were bombarding the skeletal warriors with mid-tier spells from afar.


    The wyvern riders started attacking with fire breath, as they couldn''t get close. The moment they were within the range of the archers they were easily shot down. As they bombarded the skeletons from afar, they noticed the ghostly figures approaching them.


    The wyvern riders tried attacking with their swords but it only phases through the wraiths. Some had the idea to imbue their weapons with mana which were able to harm the wraiths for a time. Yet after a while, the wraiths were able to evade their attacks. The wyvern riders were dwindling at a fast pace. Since the beginning, the undead army seems to be concentrating their power on destroying them.


    ''Once we take down their aerial superiority, it would be easier to deal with them.'' Namor was watching everything from a distance as hemanded his undead. Each move the humans made he would counter, using overwhelming force.


    ¡­


    As the battle continued on, a few hours had passed and the humans noticed that while their numbers were dwindling, the number of undead was increasing. Once one of them dies the elder liches would immediately turn them into their minions.


    As the moral of the human army was decreasing, someone gave out amand from the rear. "All units retreat!" Once they heard thatmand no one hesitated and immediately retreated. After the humans retreated at a certain distance, a man holding an ax came down from above and started destroying the skeletal warriors at the front.


    "You demons that took everything from me, it''s time for me to take everything of yours!"

 Chapter 321 - The Second Hero: The Hero Of Vengeance

    <h4>Chapter 321 - The Second Hero: The Hero Of Vengeance</h4>


    Jun stood in front of the horde of undead with no fear only anger. Each strike he made was filled with his hatred. He pushed back the skeletal warriors and dashed towards the Elder Liches. Those that were able to get past him would be dealt with by the others.


    Jun quickly charged at one of the nearby Elder Liches. As he was moving with his ax at hand, some Duhans blocked his path. Jun lifted his ax upward and shed down cutting the Duhan horse and all.


    After Jun cut the Duhan in half a beam of ice was fast approaching him. Jun didn''t bother to dodge or even block the attack as he simply continued to charge forward. The beam of ice hit him without anything blocking its path. Upon contact with Jun, the beam of ice was dispelled.


    As the hero of the temple of the God of Water, Jun had immunity to all spells that uses water as their base. Jun with a heart full of rage continued towards the nearby elder lich. As he was running numerous skeletal warriors and Dullhan''s blocked his path.


    Jun hacked at each and every one of them with a speed that the naked eye couldn''t follow. Jun roared as he continued to destroy all those that stand before him. Within a few seconds, Jun finally arrive before an Elder Lich.


    With his ax at hand, Jun hacked at the Elder Lich with all his might. The downward blow he did, created a shockwave that blew away the nearby undead. Yet despite receiving the powerful blow the Elder Lich was unharmed.


    The Elder Lich then reached out its hand and grabbed hold of Jun''s ax. The Elder Lich was about to activate his skill [life drain], but before it could do so, Jun poured mana into his ax. The ax then fell onto the Elder Lich''s body and as it tried to create a mana barrier to block the strike, Jun had already shed down. The Elder Lich shared the same fate as the skeletal warriors and the Duhans and was cut in half.


    After cutting down one Elder Lich Jun was going to attack the next one, but then he noticed that he was now face to face with one of the gigantic warriors wearing heavy armor. This was a Death Knight a powerful undead being that was an even greater threat than an Elder Lich.


    The Death Knight wielded a broadsword and without any warning sh downward at the ground. The ground shook and shattered making it uneven. This move had unbnced Jun as the Death Knight rushed at him.


    The Death Knight shed sideways with its broadsword aiming at Jun''s torso. Even while he was unbnced Jun was able to block the strike, but the moment his ax made contact with the broadsword ice started to encroach his weapon.


    "This isn''t going to work!" Jun shouted as the ice was negated and Jun backed away. The Death Knight lifted its left arm and skeletal hands grabbed hold of Jun''s legs. He then saw that the Elder Liches were getting ready to bombard him with fire spells.


    "God of Water grant me strength!" Jun shouted and punched the ground. Pirs of ice surrounded him blocking all the fire spells. Jun then raised his left hand up into the air and prayed to his God.


    "God of Water please aid me in my time of need!" Jun then released a wave of mana. The raindrops near him stopped falling and transformed into sharp icicles. "TAKE THIS!" Jun whipped his hand downward making the thousands of icicles rain down on the Death Knight, the nearby Elder Liches, the Skeletal Warriors, and the Duhans, even the Wraiths were hit.


    The Skeletal Warriors and the Duhans could do nothing as the icicles pierced and smashed them. Most of the Elder Liches were able to survive using their mana barrier, but some weren''t able to hold it and were smashed by the giant falling icicles.


    The Death Knight facing Jun was rtively unharmed as the icicles were unable to pierce its armor, though you could still see some dents here and there. The Death Knight quickly grabbed a nearby corpse and consumed it. After that, the dents in its armor disappeared and its mana had returned to its peak state.


    As the Death Knight was about ready to attack again, Jun had arrived before it. The speed at which Jun moved was quicker than before. Jun then touched the Death Knight and it started to freeze. The Deah Knight had a natural resistance against frost spells but it somehow could not negate or break free from the freezing.


    A few secondster the Death Knight turned into an ice sculpture unable to move. Jun then lifted his ax and smashed the frozen Death Knight into a thousand pieces.


    ¡­


    The humans who were watching at the rear while destroying the undead that got past Jun were looking at how the hero fought and were in awe. Jun was like a storm, a force of nature as he swept through the battlefield. He alone had dealt with a lot of undead and if he''s able to destroy most of the Elder Liches then the battle would be easier.


    "Follow the Hero Jun into battle!"


    "Destroy all the Elder Liches!"


    "For Humanity, For our Kingdoms, and for our families!"


    "Move onward towards our death and glory!"


    The humans had their morale raised like never before. They charged at the undead with the ferocity of lions. They started to form groups of five warriors and one mage and one healer. The humans were finally using their superior numbers to their advantage. The fear they had of the undead was swept away by Jun''s mighty ax.


    ¡­


    Namor who wasmanding his undead noticed the shift in battle, he quicklymanded the Elder Liches to retreat and the Death Knights to protect the Elder Liches. The Duhans and the skeletal warriors were to continue to charge.


    Namor gritted his teeth in irritation. This battle was supposed to showcase the overwhelming strength of his undead army. He was supposed to present to his new lord an overwhelming victory.


    Namor looked at Jun who had by himself turned the tide of battle. It was obvious that the human was a hero as only those so called heroes were powerful enough to do this. As Namor was about to head into battle to intercept the hero, he received a mental message from Tsukiko.


    "Kretos said that you don''t need to move, he would be the one to handle the hero."


    "But-"


    "It is hismand."


    "¡­ It will be as he wishes¡­" Namor clenched his fist as he replied.


    ¡­


    A few kilometers from the battlefield, Kretos, Tsukiko, and Shera were watching the battle. At the beginning of the battle, the trio were in awe of how powerful the undead were. As long as an enemy dies the undead army will never lose in numbers, as they can refill the ones they lost with the corpses of the enemy forces.


    Even the strongest demon ns would have difficulty against the undead much less the humans. In fact, the special traits of the Vampire Tribe and the Subus Tribe would be ineffective against the undead.


    When the trio saw how some of the humans had difficulty vanquishing even the skeletal warriors made the oue of the battle clear. It was only a matter of time before the humans will once again be defeated. It was at that moment someone appeared that changed everything.


    A human carrying a war ax started decimating the Vanguard of the undead. He quickly destroyed hundreds of skeletal warriors, and he dealt with the Duhans with ease. He was like a passing storm and was unstoppable. He was then able to destroy an Elder Lich, that was the first Elder Lich that had fallen in this battle.


    He didn''t stop there and quickly killed more Elder Liches and even a Death Knight fell to his might. When Kretos saw this scene, he felt excited, it was obvious what kind of human that was.


    "Another hero has appeared! Tell Namor not to touch that guy I''ll deal with him." Kretos told Tsukiko as he showed his vicious smile. Seeing that smile of hi Tsukiko sighed as he sent Namor a mental message.


    "Let me test how strong this hero is." Kretos then jumped towards the battlefield.


    ¡­


    Jun continued to destroy every undead in his sight. As he was moving forward he was trying to find themander of the undead army, the one who was wearing the armor made of bones. Once themander fell it would be easier to destroy this undead army. Also, he wanted to kill the demon with his own hands.


    While Jun continued to search for Namor, he noticed that the undead were no longer charging at him. As he was wondering what was happening, Jun suddenly felt an immense pressure descend upon him. It was a very suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe.


    A person fell from the sky and appeared before Jun. The man looked at Jun with a vicious smile on his face. This person looked the same as any other human the only difference was he had horns protruding out of his head¡­ Jun gripped his ax tighter as he looked at the demon in front of him with extreme hatred.

 Chapter 322 - Kretos And The Hero Of Vengeance

    <h4>Chapter 322 - Kretos And The Hero Of Vengeance</h4>


    The humans felt an enormous heavy pressure descend upon them. It was bloodlust, unfiltered, unnerving, overwhelming, bloodlust. The humans started to tremble in fear as they felt their hearts being gripped by the grim reaper. It was a horrifying feeling of inevitable death. The humans couldn''t understand why there were feeling this way, but every fiber of their being was telling them to run. Some of them started weeping while others wanted to run but couldn''t move a muscle. Even the undead were feeling something as they stopped moving.


    "RETREAT! RETREAT BACK TO TOUMA CITY! I WILL HOLD HIM DOWN!" The humans heard the screams of their hero and saw that he was facing death himself. They all couldn''t help but see the image of death when they looked at the single demon standing in front of Jun. It was like staring at the deep abyss.


    "I ORDER YOU TO RETREAT!" Jun once again shouted at the others, this time he added a bit of a buffing spell using the rain as a medium. The army of humans finally broke free from their fear and started retreating. The undead didn''t pursue them nor did the terrifying demon.


    ¡­


    Seeing his men were able to flee sessfully Jun was now finally able to fully focus on the enemy before him.


    "Why didn''t you chase them?" Jun asked as he gripped his ax tighter than before.


    "Huh, why should I chase the weaklings, when the one I want is right in front of me? It''s nice to meet you, o hero. I am the Demon Lord Kretos." Kretos smiled his vicious smile as he felt his blood boiling in anticipation of the battle toe. He could tell at one nce that the hero in front of him was stronger than the first hero he faced.


    "You''re Demon, Lord, KRETOS!" Jun spoke each word with extreme malice, his body seething with rage and hatred. He looked at the demon in front of him in anger.


    "The one and only¡­ Hmm, what''s this, you seem to know me. Have we met before?"


    "Why?" Jun asked as he looked at Kretos wanting to strike but holding himself back. His expression, the pain, the sorrow, the anger he felt all mixed deep within.


    "Why, what?"


    "Why did you let them leave?"


    "You mean the others, didn''t I answer this question already?"


    "Why did you let them leave but not my brother?!" Jun roared at Kretos, he wanted to attack but he also wanted to hear Kretos''s answer. At the mention of his brother Jun also was about ready to shed tears, but he held back as he didn''t want to show such a face to his sworn enemy.


    "Oh, I see¡­ Your brother must''ve been part of the first wave of humans to invade. Is that why you''re angry at me, for killing invaders?" Kretos didn''t bother to tell Jun that it wasn''t him that annihted that army. He wanted all the hatred to himself, it was he who ordered it anyway.


    When Jun heard Kretos''s answer he gnashed his teeth in anger, he already found out the truth of the invasion long ago, but the hatred still remained. How would one feel if he said that his brother''s death was just a misunderstanding?


    "Not that I care, since you hating me and wanting to fight me is to my liking, but shouldn''t you find the real conspirators and make them pay? You know the ones who set off all of this into motion."


    "I already dealt with them."


    ¡­


    A few weeks ago when Jun had just received his powers from the Temple of the Water God, he used the Temple''s informationwork to learn the truth of the failed attack on the demonnds. When he received the report he found out that it wasn''t the demons who initiated the war, it was actually the king of his own kingdom. The King and his advisors made all of this happen because of their greed.


    When Jun learned the truth, the anger he had for the demons was shifted momentarily to the king and his advisors. He quickly headed to the capital of the Sliral Kingdom.


    He stormed the castle, as they had lost a lot of men in thest battle the defense of the castle wasughable. Jun didn''t kill the guards or the soldiers that faced him as they were like his brother, ignorant of the truth, as they were nothing more than puppets on strings.


    Jun burst into the throne room, where the royal family was at. Beside them were the remaining generals of the kingdom.


    "Who are you?!" The Generals stood in front of the royal family blocking them from Jun.


    "I am one who seeks justice for those who died!" Jun moved and within a blink of an eye, the three generals became meat paste as blood sttered everywhere. Watching the horrifying scene the Princess screamed and fainted on the spot, on the other hand, the young ten-year-old prince backed away in fear. The King stood up from his throne and took his sword. He knew that he wasn''t a match for Jun, but he needed to protect his children.


    "Why are you doing this? What is it you want?"


    "I want justice for those who died! I want justice for my brother!" Jun shouted as he pointed his finger at the king.


    "I don''t understand, what have we done to your brother? What has the royal family done to you?"


    "Because of your greed, you sent my brother and thousands of fathers, brothers, sons to their deaths. I the hero of the Temple of the Water God havee to judge you! I the brother of Marlo havee to judge you!" Jun roared at the King.


    Hearing what Jun said, the king finally understood who this man was. Even though he didn''t know who Marlo was personally, it was obvious that he was one of the soldiers that died in the canyon of death. The King threw his sword away and instead knelt in front of Jun.


    "I know that I can never be forgiven for what I have done. I know that I need to pay for my sins, but please spare my children they are innocent. Only I should be punished, please o hero, please show mercy."


    "You ask for mercy? You who have taken everything from me, ask for leniency when I had none!" Jun shouted at the King as he lifted his hand to strike him down. The moment his hands were about to strike the king someone came in between them. Jun quickly stopped his hand almost killing the child before him.


    "Don''t hurt father!" The young child, the prince spoke his voice quivering. He looked at Jun eye to eye his body was afraid but his eyes shown his resolve.


    "George what are you doing?! Move aside now!" The King pulled his son to the side.


    "I apologize he''s just a child." The King bowed his head until it hit the floor.


    "¡­ Fine, I will spare your children, but I want you to end your own life. Take responsibility and kill yourself."


    "NO! Father you can''t do that!" George screamed at his father. The King didn''t bother with his son at the moment, instead, he looked Jun in the eye and nodded his head. The King then looked at his panicking son and whispered something in his ear. The boy kept shaking his head as tears fell down his face. After whispering what needed to be done, the King then separated from his son and smiled gently as he said his final words to his son.


    "You must do what must be done. Do not let hatred fill you or you wille to regret it." After telling his son those final words the King knocked George unconscious. The King then picked up his de looked at Jun and stabbed himself.


    ¡­


    "I already took my revenge on the person who led my brother to his death. Now I''m about to get revenge on the borrowed knife that stabbed him to death."


    Hearing Jun''s answer made Kretos chuckle.


    "You''re pretty selfish for a hero."


    "Heroes are already selfish by nature. They save and help people out of their own selfishness, even those that do not want to be saved are still saved because of their vanity, their egos. I too am a hero and I shall avenge those that need to be avenged not out of justice but out of my own selfishness. Besides, before I am a hero, I am a brother." Jun looked at Kretos''s eyes as he spoke his mind.


    "Heh HAHAHA! Well-spoken hero, I like you. You''re just like me, you do things that you want to do. You do not mask it with good or evil, it''s just you. Who would''ve thought the supposed opposites the hero and the demon lord are just the same¡­ Well if you look at it in my perspective you are the evil that has invaded mynds, and I am the hero of my people that protects them. You, on the other hand, see the same thing. You are simply protecting your people and want to vanquish me the evil that needs to be eliminated."


    "I didn''t know the demon lord was such a chatty person. It doesn''t matter who is in the right or who is in the wrong. I came to fulfill my selfish desires and at the same time fulfill my role as the hero of the Temple of the God of Water."


    "Very well then, no more talk,e at me!" Kretos gestured at Jun toe and Jun responded by throwing his ax at Kretos.

 Chapter 323 - Battle Under The Rain

    <h4>Chapter 323 - Battle Under The Rain</h4>


    As the raining continued to pour heavily upon the Canyon of Death the sound of someone roaring could be heard. Jun attacked Kretos with his full speed and might. On the other hand, the Demon Lord decided to fight Jun barehanded and was continuously parrying attack after attack.


    "Why aren''t you using a weapon, are you looking down on me?!" Jun shouted as his ax was once again parried by Kretos.


    "I never look down on my opponents. Those that are willing to fight me have shown their resolve and courage, I will never look down on warriors such as those. It''s the same with you, I just feel like using my bare hands is the appropriate thing to do when fighting you."


    Kretos answered and then kicked Jun away when he saw an opening. Jun noticed the action and was able to block the strike, but he was still pushed a few meters back. While Jun was trying to bnce himself he saw Kretos took a stance. Kretos''s fist was by his waist gathering an enormous amount of mana. Jun didn''t know what was about toe, but he knew that it might affect those behind him.


    "My God please guide this faithful one!" Jun gathered as much mana as possible and asked for the blessing of his God. The falling rain was turning into ice and the ice started to gather to form giant walls of ice. Several thickyered walls of ice appeared before Jun.


    "How wonderful! Let''s see if you''re able to withstand this strike!" Kretos''s smile grew even more vicious as he saw the towering walls of ice. Kretos punch forward and unleashed a beam of mana, this was the same technique the Mighty Lord Kir uses.


    The beam of mana easily smashed through the first and second walls, by the third wall some of its power lessened but it still pierced through. Each wall it pierced through the weaker it became but it wasn''t enough to stop it. It continued onward until it finally reached Jun, but by the time it arrived its power was significantly lower.


    Jun roared as he used his ax to divert the beam of mana to the side. Even though it was so much weaker now Jun still had some difficulty redirecting it. When the beam of mana was redirected to the side it carved a portion of the canyon which disappeared.


    Jun felt like if that attack had reached him without the protection of the several towering walls of ice he would be dead. It was so certain that he would''ve died if that attack hit him, which made him sweat a bit.


    "So you can take one strike but how about a second!" Jun heard Kretos''s shout and saw that he was once again about to unleash that devastating punch. Jun couldn''t use the same move again and he couldn''t move aside since that punch could possibly kill everyone who was retreating.


    Jun threw his ax at full power towards Kretos. Seeing the iing ax that was swiftly heading towards him, Kretos couldn''t finish gathering enough mana into his fist to properly use the technique. Instead, Kretos with an iplete fist technique punched at the ax.


    Upon contact with the sharp end of the ax, Kretos was surprised that the ax wasn''t blown away by his punch. Kretos happilyughed as he put more power into his punch. The ax was smashed into the ground, and it was at that moment Kretos felt somebody touch his back.


    Kretos could feel his body being encroached by ice, he was being frozen. Kretos stomped the ground making it crack and unbncing Jun who was behind him. Kretos then quickly kicked behind him but Jun was able to evade.


    Kretos felt his legs were also being encroached in ice and it was pretty hard to destroy. As he was trying to escape from his predicament hundreds of ice needles were falling towards him. Kretos hastily deflected them but one of the icicles was able to get past him and actually pierce through his left shoulder.


    The icicle had pierced through his defensive barrier and into his skin but not too deep. Kretos pulled the icicle away and burst out of the ice that was encroaching his legs. Kretos then felt that Jun was once again behind him so he turned around and punched, but what greeted him was just the ax.


    Jun had thrown the ax to distract Kretos and once again got behind Kretos. He tried to freeze Kretos but for some reason, the freezing was too slow. Every time he failed, Jun continued to use hit and run tactics on Kretos.


    Upon seeing how strong Kretos was, Jun knew that going on the defensive won''t work well for him. The only option Jun had to somehow win this fight is if he doesn''t give Kretos the chance to move or counter. Which is why Jun continued to attack without giving Kretos room to breathe.


    Jun was able to keep using his mana in such an extravagant way because it was raining. As the hero of the Temple of the God of Water, as long as it continues to rain Jun wasn''t going to lose his mana any time soon. He had the advantage in a battle of attrition.


    ¡­


    Kretos was amazed by how Jun kept on using spell after spell as if his mana was bottomless. This was the first time he met someone that could pretty much match his own mana supply. It was at that moment Kretos remembered what Jun said before he attacked.


    "I came to fulfill my selfish desires and at the same time fulfill my role as the hero from the Temple of the God of Water."


    ''That''s what he said, the hero from the Temple of the God of Water.'' Kretos looked at the dark sky above as the rain continued to pour heavily. He looked at it and smiled, he no longer dodged Jun''s attacks as he started to gather mana into his fist. It was an enormous amount much greater than the one he used at the beginning of the battle.


    Jun noticed that Kretos''s defenses were lowered and he was once again gathering mana into his fist. Jun used this chance to attack Kretos with a full-power strike. Kretos didn''t even bother to move nor block as he epted the attack. Kretos''s mana barrier stopped a lot of the force but it still broke through and Jun''s ax hit Kretos''s torso.


    The ax had prated through his skin and was going deep into his muscles, but it didn''t go through fully. It stopped and it got stuck, while Jun was trying to pull his ax out, Kretos was done charging mana into his fist.


    "I don''t know what kind of God you are, but don''t get in the way of my fight! This is between me and the hero!" Kretos punched upward as if he was trying to hit the very heavens itself. A powerful burst of mana was unleashed. The mana beam that came out was so strong it pushed Jun who was near.


    Jun slid on the ground his ax in his hands. The shockwave produced by the mana beam was so powerful that Jun couldn''t stand up properly. If Kretos decided to use that attack at him Jun knew he wouldn''t be able to defend nor dodge the attack. Yet Kretos didn''t hit him with it, instead, Kretos shot it up into the sky while basically cursing at the God Jun served.


    The beam of mana past through the dark clouds and it pushed them aside. It broke apart the clouds and everything in its path. The rain stopped and the dark clouds were nowhere in sight, in its ce the sun shone brightly upon the battlefield. Kretos changed the weather with just one punch. After doing that Kretos looked at Jun with that smile on his and spoke.


    "Now that the interference is gone, let''s have a proper battle."


    ¡­


    After Kretos stopped the rain, the battle became harder for Jun. The only advantage he had was now gone. As he was backing away Kretos appeared before him and punched aiming at his chest. Jun blocked the strike with his ax but that wasn''t able to stop Kretos''s punch.


    The punch got through the ax and hit Jun straight in the chest. Jun was blown away into a wall of rock crashing into it. Jun coughed out blood as he heard his ribcage breaking. After that one strike, Jun was having a hard time standing up.


    Kretos looked at Jun in disappointment. "So that''s it? That''s all you could do without the help of your God?"


    When Jun heard what Kretos said he felt irritated. When Jun saw the look Kretos was given him made Jun''s anger burned even more.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, no matter what, even if I need to sacrifice my life, I will avenge my brother!" Jun grasped his ax with his two hands and lifted it over his head. The puddles of water that came from the rain started gathering towards Jun''s ax. The water then formed into a gigantic de that went upward towards the sky.


    "Now that''s what I want to see! Show it to me then, o hero, show me how you shall avenge your brother!" Kretos shouted back as he looked at the de with excitement and glee.


    Jun shed down his gigantic de made of water. The de filled the whole canyon and a flood of water burst forward trying to crush and drown Kretos. As Jun was trying his best to control the de of water, he saw Kretos piercing through the middle while heading towards him.


    "Pretty impressive, thanks for the battle." Jun heard Kretos''s voice and saw that Kretos''s fist had pierced through his chest. Jun felt all the power in his body slowly disappearing. His sight was bing blurry, it was at that moment he saw just behind Kretos was his brother sitting at a table eating a meal. His wife bringing some food to Marlo while carrying a child in her arms.


    "Come brother, it''s time to eat."


    ¡­


    The second hero Kretos fought the so called hero of vengeance Jun, had died with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 324 - The Third Hero, The Returner

    <h4>Chapter 324 - The Third Hero, The Returner</h4>


    After killing the hero, for some reason, Jun turned into water when he died and the water floated upwards into the heavens. It was the same with Sora who turned into white orbs of light. Were the humans who turn into heroes transformed into something else?


    ''Well, let''s see what the next hero has to offer¡­ Did Nimune predict all of this to happen, is that why she told me I will have a lot of battles if I unite the demonnds?'' Kretos looked at his shadow and sighed. ''I guess, I''ll never know the answer now.''


    While Kretos was looking at the sky, Namor approached Kretos and knelt. He didn''t speak and waited for Kretos to notice him. Several minutes have passed but Kretos didn''t move, so Namor didn''t move as well.


    "Getting sentimental?" Tsukiko arrived and saw the weird scene of Namor kneeling with his head down and Kretos looking at the sky without moving an inch. Kretos didn''t respond as he continued to look at the sky. Seeing that Kretos ignored her made Tsukiko pout.


    ¡­


    In the lonely night, a many on the ground and was staring at the night sky. This man was dying all alone on a battlefield that no one would see. He was just one of the many insignificant soldiers that will be forgotten within the flow of time.


    As hey their motionless he thought about his sister, his childhood friend who were waiting for his return. He promised that once he returns he would marry Anna, but now that seems impossible.


    He looked up at the starless sky as he felt regret, there was so much he still wanted to do. Yet here he was about to fulfill nothing, here he was about to fail everyone. He wasn''t sure if there was a God but he still prayed he begged for a second chance.


    He wanted to change fate, he wanted to be one that controls his destiny, not some nameless soldier that would die and be forgotten.


    The man felt his heart beating slower as he could no longer see the starless sky. Hey there unmoving, no longer feeling as death neared him. He closed his eyes regretting everything until the end.


    "Uke! Luke! Hey, wake up Luke! Come on if you don''t wake up in the count of five, I''m going to be a little rough on you." Somehow Luke could hear the voice of his childhood friend.


    ''To hear her voice in the end¡­'' Luke was feeling dejected as he heard Anna''s voice again. "You asked for it." Something heavy suddenly hit Luke''s stomach and he opened his eyes in surprise.


    He looked around with astonishment, he could feel his body and in front of him were two people he wanted to see dearly even at the end. There they were right in front of him. Long blond hair tied in a ponytail, with big round blue eyes this was his ten-year-old little sister ra. Standing next to his little sister was a girl around sixteen years old, with curly brown hair reaching her shoulders. A beauty with emerald green eyes, alongside a fiery temperant. She was looking at Luke with her arms crossed this was Anna his childhood friend.


    Luke couldn''t hold it in as a flood of tears came out of his eyes. He thought he would never see them again, he thought that he would die there all alone. Luke stood up from his bed and hugged Anna.


    ra was so surprised by what her brother did that she looked at him hugging Anna confused, but after a while, she smiled sweetly and joined in the hug. Anna, on the other hand, started blushing and was about to push Luke away but then she saw Luke crying in her arms.


    "Luke, what''s wrong?" When Anna asked this question ra lifted her head and saw the crying Luke.


    "Big bro, why are you crying? Don''t cry big bro, please don''t cry."


    Luke couldn''t hear their voices as he continued to hug the two tightly. He didn''t know what kind of miracle this was, but he needed to make this time count. The pain, the suffering, the sorrow he felt as he was dying there alone, Luke poured his heart out and cried.


    ¡­


    After he was done crying Luke looked at Anna and ra and smiled at them. It was such a lonely smile that even though Anna couldn''t understand it she felt heartbroken seeing Luke smiling like that.


    "I don''t know what kind of miracle was given to me from whoever God that did this, but I''m d that I got to see you two for onest time before I go."


    "Big Bro you''re going somewhere? You''re going to leave ra?" ra looked at her big bro as tears were forming in her eyes. Luke patted her small head and smiled.


    "It''s going to be alright ra, you have big sis Anna with you. Big bro is just going to go somewhere first, and you''lleter, wayter." ra hugged Luke''s legs and screamed at him.


    "NO! Big Bro please don''t leave me, please don''t leave like mom and dad. I promise, ra''s going to be a good girl from now on and listen to everything big bro says. So please don''t leave me."


    When Luke saw ra clinging to him so desperately he felt a pang in his heart. He really didn''t want to do this but what could a dead man do but stay dead. It was already a miracle that he was able to meet them onest time, he can''t be too selfish at this point. Luke hugged his little sister and pinched the back of her neck with a little bit of mana which made her faint.


    "What did you do?" Anna who was watching at the side was surprised to see ra faint. She was still confused as to what was happening to Luke and then that happened, too many things were happening at the same time, she couldn''t keep up.


    Luke didn''t answer Anna''s question and instead, he looked at her with a sad smile.


    "Luke, I don''t know what''s happening to you but I don''t like it. You''re scaring me¡­ Please Luke, if there''s something that''s bothering you, you know you can tell me anything."


    "I know I can¡­ I know you would listen to all myints as you always have. I know you will be there for me and my sis, no matter what. You were there with us when mom and dad died, you were there with us when everything had gone to sh*t. So I''m sure you would listen to all the crap I have to say, and you''ll be there to tell me everything is going to be alright."


    Luke approached Anna and looked deeply into her eyes.


    "You kept on listening, but I never got to say what I truly wanted to say." Luke touched Anna''s chin and then kissed her lips. Anna was surprised by the action but she didn''t resist. As their lips touched for some reason Anna could feel all the sorrow, the pain, and the reluctance Luke was feeling. But there was also the warmth, the love, and the hope.


    In what seems to be an eternity their lips parted and Anna looked at him dumbfounded. Luke seeing the expression on Anna''s face chuckled.


    "I wanted to say this for a long time, and I hate that I got to say it as my journey is nearing its end. I love you, Anna, I love you. I love you with everything that I am and more, much more. Heheheh, hahaha." Luke startedughing but at the same time, he was crying.


    "I''m d that I got to say that in the end. Anna promise me that you''ll protect ra when I''m gone."


    "When you''re gone, where are you going?"


    "Promise me."


    "I can''t, you need to be there with her, with me. You just can''t leave after telling me all that. Also don''t you want to hear my answer?!" Anna was so confused as she couldn''t make heads or tails about what''s happening.


    "Please just promise me, that you''ll be there for her¡­ Please." Luke grabbed Anna''s arms and looked at her, his eyes showing his desperation.


    "¡­ Of course, I will always be there for the two of you." Hearing Anna''s answer Luke hugged her tightly and whispered in her.


    "Thank you, having you as a childhood friend has always been my greatest treasure. Thanks for everything Anna, and goodbye."


    Luke backed away and closed his eyes waiting for his final death toe, yet after waiting a few minutes nothing happened.


    "Hey, I''m alright now, aren''t you going to take me?!" Luke shouted while looking up but no one responded. Anna looked at Luke frightened and worried for him. So she gathered up her courage and approached him.


    "Luke, I think you need help. Why are you saying all these strange things?"


    "It''s because I died, I already died!"


    "Huh?"


    "I died at the great demon invasion. I was part of the Vanguard and was killed while defending myrades who retreated."


    "Great Demon Invasion? What are you talking about? Are you perhaps talking about the failed attack of the Human Alliance?"


    "No not that one, that happened five years ago. Why are you even talking about that one?"


    "Five years ago? Luke, we just got the news two weeks ago."


    "Two weeks ago?" When Luke heard Anna''s answer, he went outside his house and saw that he was still in his original vige. It hasn''t been abandoned yet.


    "Hahaha, five years¡­ I''ve been sent back five years¡­" Luke touched his forehead unable to digest what just happened to him.

 Chapter 325 - Preparing To Change Fate

    <h4>Chapter 325 - Preparing To Change Fate</h4>


    It took Luke two whole days to finally ept what has happened to him. In the beginning, he thought he was having a very long dream that was happening before his death, actually, he still was thinking that was what''s happening, but now he had a different view. Be it a reality or a dream, this was his chance to change things to what he wants. This was his chance to face destiny and control his fate.


    The first thing he needed to do to control his fate was get more power, and more influence. The demons weren''t going to do anything for the next three years. Within those three years, something would trigger the demons and wouldter spark the war. As a nobody, Luke wasn''t privy to any information about why the demons started their invasion. Of course many voiced that the demons attacked simply because they were demons. But of course, there were also other voices saying it was a certain human''s fault.


    Either way no matter the reason the demons would attack in the end. It wasn''t really a secret that the most powerful demon lord loves battle, he lives and breaths it. If at some point in the future he gets bored he would attack the humans just for a good battle.


    Even if by some miracle the demons don''t attack, the humans will. Even after failing twice, human greed wouldn''t disappear. The humans would once again attack the demons at some point in time and of course, the demons would retaliate.


    Even if Luke gains enough influence he could only stall the inevitable. He didn''t really have anything against the demons, but he wanted to protect those important to him. He could run away from all of this and head to somewhere remote but knowing the future he saw, there was no ce the hands of the demons won''t reach.


    So the only way those important to him will be able to survive and be happy is if he pushes the demons back to theirnds. He must show them how to fear the human race. To do this Luke needed to eliminate three specific demons.


    The one on the top of his kill list would be the demon that started this all. The strongest Demon Lord, Kretos. Because of his elimination of the former demons lords, the dumb king of the Sliral Kingdom thought he could somehow take what wasn''t his. After the King of the Sliral Kingdom, the other human kingdoms also thought they could take a bite as long as they had more power, but that proved to be the most idiotic decision ever.


    In the future, Kretos never appeared in the Great Demon Invasion. It might because there was no one worthy to fight. Still, to stop the demons from ever thinking of attacking, Luke needed to eliminate their greatest support which was Kretos. Of course, he was not going to do that immediately, he first needs to find a way to get strong enough to kill Kretos.


    The next problem was Namor, the Demon General that controls the mighty undead army. Namor and his army wouldter decimate several kingdoms within the span of a few months. Because his undead army was such a threat, the humans created a new weapon called ''Holy Cannons'' which can only be powered by those battle priests from the Temples of Gods and Goddesses.


    The Holy Cannons were derived from an ancient human weapon called Mana Cannons. Unlike the Holy Cannons that needed the faith of the battle priests to activate, the Mana Cannons could be used by anyone as long as they had enough mana supply.


    These two weapons became instrumental in stopping the demons'' advances, but that would be four yearster, a year after the initial attack of the demons. The Mana Cannon showed its might at the beginning of the invasion, but the more effective Holy Cannons would be made a yearter.


    Now thest person on the kill list and also the weakest one on the kill list was the former demon lord, Demonic Fox Tsukiko. She was the one who led the first wave of demons to attack the Humans.


    Even though she was considered weaker than Kretos and Namor, it doesn''t mean she wasn''t strong. No quite the opposite, Tsukiko was like a storm on the battlefield. Her powerful and devastatingrge area spells could easily wreck any army that stood in her way. Not only that, the army shemanded consisted of Onis and Vampire Lords.


    She alone was already a huge threat but with an army of Onis, and several Vampire Lords under hermand she became nearly unstoppable.


    These three demons were at the top of the food chain in the demonnds, if they were to fall the others would fold. Without the three of them to lead, the demons would be forced to retreat.


    ''Alright I have the path to take but how to get there? I need power, overwhelming power that could match up to these three demons, but how do I get it?'' Every time Luke was formting his n on how to stop the Great Demon Invasion, he would always get stuck when he tries to think of a way to get enough power to win.


    ''The best-known way to gain power is if I be a hero of one of the Temples. But Kretos has already defeated a hero from a Temple. Though I have the advantage of knowing the future''s advanced military training to enhance one''s mana and physical strength, that wouldn''t help much. Even if I train now continuously for the next five years, I won''t even reach the level of Tsukiko power.''


    Luke who was in his room sitting on a chair near the window looked out and saw the moon. The night sky was beautiful today as not only was the moon full tonight, but there were also a lot of stars apanying it.


    It was so different from that time he died when there were nothing and no one there with him. Not even the stars were out that night¡­ Like a bolt of lighting an idea shed in Luke''s mind.


    ''Why am I thinking I should do this all by myself? I can train others, I can teach them the advanced military training that will be invented five years from now. If we start now, before the war begins will be stronger than most soldiers. Heck if I can even find those famous powerful people that would be famouster, and teach them these training techniques then they can get stronger faster as well. Also since I know most of the tactics Namor and Tsukiko used I can lead them to score some victories here and there.''


    Luke was getting excited when he got the thought. This n of his might actually work, the more he thought about it the more excited he became.


    ''Still, will that be enough?''


    Luke then remembered hisst battle were he faced the army of the Demonic Fox Tsukiko. Before that neverending torrent of spells, the Vanguard was helpless. He was the only one who remained until the end as hisrades retreated. Even as the Onis assaulted him he stood firm, trying to buy more time for hispanions to retreat.


    That was when he met her on the battlefield. Her Golden Hair shined brightly under the starless sky, her seven tails elegantly followed her every movement. Even though there was no denying that she was a great beauty only fear came to those who saw her. This was the Demonic Fox Tsukiko, the former demon lord.


    She with one spell had changed thendscape, Luke stood no chance whatsoever, as he could only dodge. Still, even though he was outmatched Luke stood tall and faced her with all his might. As he was defeated he remembered that line Tsukiko said to him.


    "What does he usually say at a time like this?¡­ Oh right, thanks for the battle."


    Those were thest words he heard from her as she and all the other demons left him there to die. After reminiscing, Luke renewed his resolve and promised not to die alone in a ce like that.


    ''First I need to improve my own personal power a bit. Second I should recruit others to my cause. Third, I need to find the genius that created the Holy Cannon. If the Holy Cannon is created ahead of time, then when the demons first strike the losses would be lowered. Fourth, I need to find a way to gain even more power, I need to research if there is a weapon or a spell from the ancient humans that could help me. If they can create something like the Mana Canon then they might have created a more powerful weapon that could fight the Demon Lord. Then Finally I need to face the three powerful demons starting with Demonic Fox Tsukiko.''


    Now that Luke had formted his n he felt like the fog of fate was bing a bit clearer.

 Chapter 326 - The Start Of The Invasion

    <h4>Chapter 326 - The Start Of The Invasion</h4>


    Three years after defeating the human alliance Kretos was standing at the top of his Castle. For the past three years, he had been waiting for another good challenge, but none arrived. The humans did keep on harassing him by sending their armies every now and then, but those guys were too weak.


    ''Are they just dumb or do they really think doing these little skirmishes will achieve something?¡­ This is getting a bit annoying.''


    "Shera."


    "My lord." Shera appeared behind Kretos and knelt.


    "Tell the Oni Tribe, and the Vampire Tribe to gather and take over the human city that''s guarding the Canyon. If I remember correctly the city is called Touma City or something like that."


    "It will be done as you wish my lord." Shera saluted before leaving.


    "Hmm, are you sure about this? The Onis and the Vampires aren''t really tribes that get along with each other. The Onis think the Vampires are wimps that can''t get their hands dirty. On the other hand, the Vampires think the Onis are dumb brutes that have nothing but muscles." Tsukiko spoke as she appeared beside Kretos.


    "Either they work together or they''ll be punished, I wonder which one they would prefer?"


    "Are you forcing them to like each other?"


    "I''m not forcing anyone to like each other, I just want them to work together," Kretos answered while looking at some monsters fighting at a distance.


    "That''s the same thing. Well whatever, I''m heading out to watch them."


    "Nobody is asking you to do that."


    "Well, I''m not one of your subordinates so you can''t order me around. I felt like doing it so I''m doing it." Tsukiko was about to leave when Kretos suddenly grab hold of her hand.


    "What is it?"


    "I don''t know why, but I have a feeling that something is wrong. It''s better if you don''t go to this one."


    "Oh, are you worried about me?" Tsukiko teasingly smiled as one of her tails brushed Kretos''s face.


    "Of course I''m worried," Kretos answered with a serious look on his face which startled Tsukiko who wasn''t expecting him to answer like that. The three-century-year-old fox started blushing furiously as she had her head down. It took her quite some time to be able to calm herself down. She then looked at Kretos''s eyes and saw something different.


    In those eyes that usually only see battle, there was a hint of worry. The only time Tsukiko has seen Kretos show such a face was when he was trying to save the werewolf girl, Le. If anyone else saw the look in Kretos''s eyes they would be even more surprised than Tsukiko.


    The strongest Demon Lord, the battle junkie, the yer of demon lords and heroes, the conqueror of the demonnds. He had many impressive nicknames, he was synonymous with power and victory. Yet here he stood looking at Tsukiko with worry.


    Tsukiko didn''t like the look Kretos was showing, it was as if she was holding him back. That look Kretos was showing her coupled with what he said made it seem like she was a caged bird. It was as if she somehow became a weakness for him.


    Tsukiko didn''t like that she didn''t like that at all, the Kretos she knew, the Kretos she loves was someone who stood tall and proud. He was arrogant beyond belief and unafraid of anything and everything. So when she saw the worry in his eyes Tsukiko hated it so much. She was a demon lord a former one but her power was still at the top.


    "Don''t worry Kretos, if something were to happen, which I doubt, I''ll escape. Don''t underestimate me, even if a hero appears I can still flee. Anyway, it''s not like you can tell me what I can and cannot do, I can go anywhere I want to go. See youter." Tsukiko disappeared leaving Kretos behind.


    Kretos didn''t understand why but he really felt like something was going to happen, he just couldn''t quite grasp what it was.


    ''Should I follow her? If nothing happens then it''s alright, but if something does happen at least I''m there to deal with it.'' Kretos was about to leave but the moment he moved he was forcefully transported to the Southern end of the demonnds.


    ''A forced teleportation?!'' Kretos was surprised there were only a handful of people that could use such a spell on him. As he was wondering who among those people could''ve done it, an image appeared before him.


    "I knew that you would follow me, so I had ced a teleportation circle underneath your feet without you noticing. If you were to move a few minutes after I left the teleportation spell would activate. This is just a little prank because you didn''t trust me." Tsukiko stuck out her tongue and ended the message.


    Listening to the whole message Kretos was dumbfounded, but after a while, a small smile appeared on his face. ''I''m going to punish that little foxter, but for now, I need to quickly move¡­ If I knew this would happen I would have set a teleportation circle near my castle.''


    Unlike Tsukiko who could create teleportation circles wherever and whenever she wants, other people like Kretos needed a bit of time to create one. It was faster to run than to try to create a teleportation circle from scratch. So without further ado, Kretos started running at full speed towards Touma City.


    ¡­


    Luke was looking at hispanions in Touma City and was feeling a bit nervous. He remembered the scene that happened a few weeks ago. In his house where his wife, sister, and son lived.


    "The day has finallye, you remember what I told you right?" Luke asked Anna, the two were having a conversation while their son was sleeping, and ra was taking care of him.


    "¡­ Yes, but-" Luke didn''t allow Anna to finish what she wanted to say as he interrupted her.


    "Promise me that you''ll do what I instructed. If something were to happen to me, you-"


    "NO! Don''t say that!" This time it''s Anna''s turn to interrupt Luke as she hugged her husband. "You need to return to us."


    Luke didn''t want to lie to Anna. He knew that even though he had nned for everything and he did what could be done, the sess of the n was slim. That''s just how strong the enemy waspared to them. He could n and n but against overwhelming power, any n could simply fall apart. You can''t just be prepared you need to be extremely lucky as well for his n to have an inkling of sess.


    Luke was uncertain if his n will seed or not which is why he was sending his family to stay in the elven forest. It''s a good thing he became acquainted with the Prince of the Moon Elves.


    Still seeing his wife looking like this, Luke didn''t want to make her worry even more. So instead of telling the truth, Luke told a white lie. He hugged his wife and whispered in her ears.


    "Everything is going to be alright, I nned this out to every single detail. I''m sure this is going to work so don''t worry. After I''m done I''ll quickly follow you guys to the forest of the elves."


    "You promise?"


    "I promise."


    ¡­


    When Luke remembered that scene, and as he remembered his family he felt his courage swell up inside of him. Fate had definitely changed and he was the one who changed it.


    ''Just a little bit more and I can go home and have my happily ever after.'' As he had gathered up his resolve Luke spoke to his men.


    "An army of Onis and Vampires are heading this way as we speak. It''s obvious that they n to take this city and im it as their own. But we won''t let them have it, not without a fight! I have trained you all for this day. It is time to show me the results of that training!" Luke look at each of his men''s faces and noticed that they too were looking anxious.


    "I know some of you are scared, truth be told I am too. But we must find the courage to stand up and fight so that we can protect what''s important to us. If the demons are allowed to conquer Touma City they''ll be able to start arge scale invasion. If we don''t stop them here and now, then our families will suffer. So my brothers in arms raise up your shields, grab your weapons, gather your resolve, and show these demons that we are not to be trifled with!"


    The soldiers in Touma City let out an incredible battle cry. The Mana and Holy Cannons on top of the newly made walls that have been enhanced by different spells were being prepared. The soldiers at the front no longer seem so scared. Looking at the scene before him, made Luke''s mouth curve upward. Luke then gazed at the distance and mumbled.


    "It''s time to change fate."

 Chapter 327 - Fate Be Changed

    <h4>Chapter 327 - Fate Be Changed</h4>


    On top of the wall, Luke spotted the iing Onis and Vampires. At the front of the pack were two gigantic Onis who were bigger than the rest. Upon seeing the formidable-looking demons some of Luke''s men gulped dryly. Those that were standing by near the Mana and Holy Cannons were itching to pull the trigger.


    Even the archers had already drawn their bows and wanted to fire. Yet without Luke''smand, they wouldn''t do anything.


    Luke stood tall, cleared his throat, and spoke to the nearing army of demons. "Demons leave now and we might spare your lives. If you don''t then your lives are forfeit."


    When the demons heard Luke''s deration they were dumbfounded, but then they started tough. Theirughs echoed unnerving those within the walls of Touma City. No matter how much they trained or how much monsters they have killed, they couldn''t help but feel this way. It was only natural since the beginning of the war not once have the humans won.


    "So you weak humans are allowed to invade us whenever you please, but we can''t do the same? How hrious, how about we give you an offer instead? Give up this city to our lord and we won''t kill all of you."


    "I guess we can''te to an agreement." Luke sighed as he expected this to happen, still, it would''ve been great if the demons actually retreated. ''Well, this is to be expected¡­ We just need to follow the n and everything should be fine.''


    "Since they won''t leave, let''s make them stay here forever, FIRE!" The moment they heard Luke''smand the archers unleashed a rain of arrows. The tworge Onis at the front were the first to charge and were also the first to get hit. But despite having a few hundred arrows stuck into their skin, the two Onis seem unaffected and continued to charge forward protecting the smaller Onis and Vampires behind them.


    It was at that moment the Mana and Holy Cannons bombarded the demons. Upon being hit by a Mana Cannon, the two Oni brothers were being pushed back. They had sustained some injuries from the Cannon fire despite being protected by their tough skins and the mana barrier produced by the Vampires.


    The two Oni brothers were rather surprised but they continued to charge onward, this time they were blocking the cannon fire not with their bodies but with their weapons.


    The people manning the Mana Cannon were numerous for after every three shots the person is drained of his mana. Only those withrger mana supplies could activate it, if your mana supply was too small it was possible that the user will die.


    Luke wanted to improve upon this weakness but even after researching it for the three years with the best genius of the age, they were only able to improve it slightly. The mana consumption had decreased but not a lot. There was also a safety mechanism in ce that would stop the mana drain if the user''s mana supply wasn''t sufficient.


    As for the Holy Cannons, the ones who were using it came from the Temples. Luke was able to recruit those from the Temple of the Goddess of Magic. The battle priests from the Temple of th Goddess of Magic had sufficient mana and faith to use both the Mana Cannons and the Holy Cannons.


    ¡­


    "Concentrate fire on the two Onis at the front!" Lukemanded as he looked at the fast-approaching demons. Some of the Vampires tried to fly but were shot down by a bombardment of arrows and spells. Now the only way to get past the cannon fire is if the two Oni brothers were able to continue charging forward while protecting the others.


    The Cannon Fire started concentrating on the two Oni brothers, but the uracy of the shots wasn''t good so only a few of them actually hit the target. Yet those few shots were enough to break the Oni brothers'' weapons and their bodies now had holes here and there, but despite their injuries, they continued to charge forward while roaring.


    As they were about to get near the wall, they were blocked by a powerful barrier. Normally this kind of barrier needed at least five Grand Mages to maintain and only for a few hours, but this barrier was being maintained by something else. This barrier was being maintained by using the w from an Elder Dragon that Luke stole. With the w of an Elder Dragon, the barrier could be maintained for around a week.


    As the demons stopped moving the cannon fire had an easier time hitting them. Even in this situation, the two Oni brothers continue to be meat shields, while the vampires were trying to prate through the barrier.


    It was taking too much time and the Oni brothers were nearing their limits. They knew that even if they somehow able to breakthrough they won''tst long. So as their final act the Oni brothers raised their mighty fists and roared. The two Oni brothers roars were the loudest they ever roared. It shook the ground and empowered their allies. The two Oni brothers then proceeded to pound the barrier with their fists. In the fury of their attacks, the barrier started to crack.


    "MAGES attack the Onis!" Luke was getting a bit worried as he shouted hismand. If the barrier falls this early, it would be a little troublesome. Hearing Luke''smand the mages shifted their attention to the two Oni brothers who were pounding at the barrier.


    Being bombarded by spells, arrows, and cannon fire the two Oni brothers were now riddled with holes, and their bodies bled, yet they kept on pounding away. It was obvious to anyone who saw that the two Oni brothers had reached the limits as blood flowed out like a river from the holes made by the cannons, yet the two continued to mindlessly pound at the barrier.


    Their resolve was like no other as they continued on even as their minds were bing hazy and their bodies growing heavy. They pound and pounded even as their fist became broken and deformed they continued. The barrier could no longer handle the might of the Oni brother and shattered like ss.


    When the barrier was finally down the two Oni brothers smiled at each other as their bodies fell to the ground. The two had fulfilled their goal and were now reaching death''s door. As death wasing they did not fear it and simply epted it as they were satisfied.


    "This is our final act to show our mistress our love. It has been a good life, my brother. A very fun and glorious life we had."


    "It truly has been, though I would''ve wanted to see the mistress marry our new lord. It would have been a grand wedding. To see our mistress happily smiling¡­ What a sight it would''ve been."


    "Oh, that''s also my one regret, to not be able to see Lord Kretos marry Mistress Tsukiko and to be able to guide their children into excellent warriors¡­ A dream that will never be fulfilled¡­"


    "Brother?" The younger of the two Oni brothers looked at his older brother. The younger Oni saw that his older brother had his eyes closed as if he were sleeping and having a nice dream.


    "Good night brother, let''s both have a simr dream¡­" The younger Oni closed his eyes and dreamt of a dream of a future that can never be.


    ¡­


    Even though the barrier broke Luke was still satisfied with the oue. The barrier was lost but in return, the Oni brothers had fallen. These two were quite famous in the future, their strengths were only below the demon lord level.


    The Oni brothers were the guards that made it near impossible to head to the demonnds. As Mana and Holy Cannons were difficult to transport, it was hard to deal with these powerful demons. Now that they died this early in the war, fate must-have, no, it surely changed.


    While Luke''s confidence was rising he ordered his men to get ready and intercept the iing demons. They needed to stop them from reaching the walls. Even though the walls have been fortified to a great extent this wave of demons would be able to destroy the walls.


    After giving out hismands Luke looked at a certain area at a distance. He noticed that something moved when the Oni brothers died. It was only a little movement and if you look at it there was nothing there, but Luke knew better. He was sure that Demonic Fox Tsukiko was hiding somewhere watching the battle.


    The reason why she moved or made a mistake in hiding was because of the Oni brothers'' deaths, seeing as they were her most trusted aides.


    ''So you''vee, I just need to follow the setup and I will change fate¡­'' Encouraged by the death of the Oni brothers Luke felt like fate really could be changed.

 Chapter 328 - The Fox Vs The Returner

    <h4>Chapter 328 - The Fox Vs The Returner</h4>


    Tsukiko watched as her most loyal subordinates died in front of her. She wanted to save them, but at the critical moment, Kretos''s warning rang in her head. The moment she hesitated it was already toote. The two Oni brothers died as they were bombarded by those new weapons the humans were using. The two fell to the ground their bodies full of holes, and blood that flowed like a river.


    Tsukiko hated herself for not being able to do anything. She hated that she actually hesitated to save the two. That brief moment of hesitation was all it took, now they were dead and gone forever. Tsukiko grabbed her chest as she tried to control her emotions but it proved to be quite difficult, as this was the first time after she gained the strength of a demon lord that she has ever lost someone close to her.


    She always thought that her power and wisdom were enough to protect what she wanted to protect.


    Tsukiko bit her lips until it bled. She was trying her hardest to not go. She really wanted to charge forward and annihte the whole city but for some reason, even now, Kretos''s warning rang in her head. She looked at the human city and was indeed surprised by how well fortified it was. Not only that but the humans guarding the city were a lot better than the ones that kept on attacking them.


    Then there were the new weapons they were using, Tsukiko saw that even though the ones using it didn''t have great mana control the weapon could concentrate their mana into a ball of pure power. This was simr to the spell that Demon Empress Nimune liked to use, but she was only able to use it as her control over her mana was among the best. Yet these humans didn''t even have half the skill Demon Empress Nimune had, but they could still perform such a powerful spell.


    ''Those weapons will be problematicter¡­ Should I destroy them now?'' Tsukiko once again started to wonder if she could just go in and destroy the base and the weapons to vent her anger and clear future troubles. Even though the humans in the city were better than the rest, well aside from heroes, they were still not a threat to her.


    ''Is there perhaps a hero hidden in that city?'' It was as if the other person timed it perfectly, since the moment she had that thought someone appeared before her. A human stood before her holding an ominous-looking spear.


    The human was looking directly at her even though she was sure that she had turned herself invisible by reflecting the light around her.


    "Demonic Fox Tsukiko, I came to talk."


    "¡­" Tsukiko didn''t answer and was thinking about her options here. The human standing before her, was possibly a hero or someone at the same level as one. So her options were to run away, try and kill the human, or show herself and talk. Seeing as Tsukiko wasn''t responding Luke stabbed his spear into the ground and held his hands up.


    "I came here to talk not fight, or to be more precise I came here to negotiate." After saying what he wanted to say Luke waited for Tsukiko to respond. Despite the noisy fight that was happening near them, the area they were in was silent.


    "What do you want to say?" Tsukiko finally appeared, her Golden Hair and eyes coupled with her Seven Tails in full view. When Luke saw Tsukiko after five years when he diedst time, he felt an unknown fear assault him.


    This was the demon that killed him, thest time. Even though it hasn''t happened in this timeline, he could still remember how he died.


    "Aren''t you going to talk?" Hearing Tsukiko''s voice Luke was jolted awake. He gathered up his courage and looked at the demon that killed him with resolve.


    "Demonic Fox Tsukiko, I am Luke themander of those that defend Touma City. I came here to offer a truce. If the demons retreat now we will not give chase. I can also promise you for as long as I am alive no human will invade the demonnds. As long as you retreat and do not invade the human kingdoms, I will grant you peace between our races."


    "¡­ Hmm¡­ A rather tempting offer but the deal is only as long as you live. How long can a human live anyway, a century, half a century? Even the strongest of humans could barely past three centuries. After your death, the humans will once again invade. You''ll only dy the inevitable, besides I''m not the one who can decide such things."


    "I know that, but if anyone could convince Demon Lord Kretos it would be you." When Tsukiko heard what Luke said, she grew even more curious.


    "You seem to know a lot about us, but it doesn''t seem like you know enough. Kretos would never change his mind even if I try to talk him out of it. You know he would not have bothered with you humans if you stopped sending your armies to invade. It is by your foolish hands that all of this is happening."


    "I already know that, which is why I''m offering a truce."


    "A truce? Even if I could convince Kretos, why should I? Why should I agree with your truce, we gain nothing for epting while you humans gain a lot. It is you people that started this and now you want to end it, just like that."


    "Then, what will it take for you to ept this truce?" Tsukiko was about to respond when she finally noticed that something was wrong.


    "You?! You tricked me!" Tsukiko yelled at Luke who responded by shrugging his shoulders.


    "I didn''t trick you I was really offering a truce. But since you don''t seem like you would ept then you leave me no other choice." The truth was Luke knew that Tsukiko would never agree to a truce. Luke also knew that it was indeed the humans'' fault that all of this happened, but it doesn''t matter. He needed to protect those important to him, in order to do that he was willing to be a devil.


    So while he was talking to Tsukiko he was activating one of the magic circles he ced all around the area near Touma City. This magic circle interferes with spatial spells like teleportation.


    "As expected of you humans! You call us demons evil and cunning, but the truth is, you humans are much eviler than we. Greedy, cunning humans you want to take what isn''t yours, and you disguise it with justice. You do things while saying its for love, for your family but in truth, it''s all about yourselves. At least we demons are true to our desires and we never mask it for anything else." Tsukiko kept on talking trying to figure out a way to break the magic circle interfering with her teleportation spell.


    Luke pulled his spear out of the ground and pointed it at Tsukiko. "I know we might seem that way to you, and I also know you will never be convinced no matter what I say. But let me tell you now, this is the truth when I say I don''t really want to fight you demons, but I do this for the sake of my loved ones and also for myself."


    Luke then threw his spear at Tsukiko who barely evaded. Luke was right behind the spear he threw and caught it as it went past Tsukiko''s face, he then swung it to the side and Tsukiko used a wall of earth to block the strike.


    The wall did nothing as Luke''s spear was able to cut it like it was paper. Tsukiko evaded the strike and tried to distance herself from Luke but he was persistent and fast, she couldn''t shake him off. As she continued to evade the ominous-looking spear Tsukiko noticed that her mana was slowly being drained. Seeing Tsukiko''s expression Luke could pretty much guess what''s in her head.


    "So you finally noticed it, this spear is a weapon that drains the mana of those that are near it. Of course, that includes me, but I have something to counteract this curse. But as expected of a former demon lord known to be the best spell caster among the demons. Your mana supply must be so enormous since most of my enemies don''t evenst a few seconds before losing all their mana."


    When Tsukiko heard Luke''s exnation she gritted her teeth in annoyance. The only reason why he would even bother to exin to her the effects of his weapon is that he thinks he has already won.


    Tsukiko activated a spell with no spell words, creating a wall of ice, fire, and earth. Luke was taken by surprise as he backed away from Tsukiko.


    "Don''t underestimate me human! I am Demonic Fox Tsukiko, a former demon lord and the one closest to Kretos the strongest demon lord! I shall not be toyed with!"

 Chapter 329 - The Last Favor

    <h4>Chapter 329 - The Last Favor</h4>


    Kretos felt something was wrong and started running faster. He was already at the Northern Lands and needed a few more minutes to reach the Canyon. Kretos didn''t like the feeling he was having, he didn''t like it at all. It''s as if something was pulling him to the scene.


    ''Is this something like the pull of destiny?'' Kretos quickened his pace. Even though Kretos was irritated by the feeling that someone was actually controlling his actions. he still went onward.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko used spell after spell but against Luke''s spear, they were nothing. Each swing of the spear absorbed or negated Tsukiko''s spells. She had no other options as she was a mage through and through. Even if she wanted to she knew she was no match against Luke in close quartersbat.


    So as Tsukiko continued to ward off Luke with a variety of spells, she was also trying to find a way to escape. The greatest disadvantage here was she was unable to use her spatial spells, which she could use to escape.


    "Didn''t anyone tell you not to be distracted in a fight!" Luke came bursting out of the torrent of spells his spear aimed at Tsukiko''s chest.


    ¡­


    Kretos was nearing the city when he spotted two people battling. Kretos immediately noticed that one of the fighters was Tsukiko, as he got near he saw that Tsukiko was on the ground, dying. Kretos saw that the man she was facing was about to finish her.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko was on the ground trying her hardest to breathe. There was a hole in the middle of her chest, and one at her stomach. Tsukiko''s body was trying its hardest to close the wounds, but the wounds created by the ominous-looking spear were disrupting her mana flow making it difficult to regenerate. She was feeling weak as she tried her hardest to stand up and cast another spell.


    She looked at the slightly wounded Luke and gnashed her teeth. She was only able to deal that much damage to the enemy. If Kretos saw her now he mightugh at how weak she was.


    ''To actually think about him as my life ends¡­ Even if I were to die, I should die with dignity.'' Tsukiko stood up and smiled as she looked at Luke unblinking, she wanted to bare witness to the final blow that will take her life.


    Luke stared at the defeated demon lord and sighed in relief. The only reason he was able to survive this encounter was because of the traps he had set in advance, as well as this cursed spear he wielded. If not for all of these factors he would be the one dying again.


    As Luke was about to end his ill fate with Tsukiko, he suddenly felt an immense overpowering pressure assault him. He wanted to quickly strike Tsukiko to make sure she''s dead and then flee. Yet the pressure had immobilized him for a second, when he regained his senses he was suddenly hit by a powerful force.


    Luke was blown a few meters away, he tried his hardest to stop himself from continuing to fly as he stabbed his spear onto the ground. Even with the spear stuck into the ground, Luke continued to fly backward. The moment he stopped flying through the air he tried to regain his bnce. As he bnced himself and took a defensive stance Luke started to look for whoever attacked him, it was at that moment he felt something past by him. He wanted to turn around with his spear at hand but then he could no longer feel his arms.


    Luke looked at his arms and saw that they were gone. Both of his arms were now on the ground, they had been cleanly sliced off. Luke wasn''t even able to perceive that attack happening, nor was he able to see who attacked him. The slice was so clean he didn''t even feel the pain of losing his arm.


    Luke was dumbfounded by the sudden events but as his mind wandered off he felt bloodlust from behind him. He quickly picked up the spear using his mouth and desperately tried to counterattack. Yet despite his efforts, he was easily stabbed in the heart. Luke clenched his teeth as he looked at the person who had stabbed him.


    A demon with two horns looked at Luke with emotionless eyes as he pulled his de out of Luke''s chest. Luke has never seen this demon before, but he could pretty much guess who it was. There was only one demon aside from Tsukiko and Namor who had this kind of heaven-defying strength.


    "Demon¡­ Lord¡­ Kretos¡­" Those were the only words Luke could say as he coughed up blood. He fell to the ground as his life was slowly fading, he was once again about to meet his end. Yet this time his end had meaning, he had achieved something and he wouldn''t be forgotten as a nobody.


    ''I got to live a different life this time, and I got what I wanted, and I have protected those that I swore to protect¡­ I was able to change fate¡­ I was able to have a wonderful dream¡­'' Even though his life was nearing his end, and he once again died with no one beside him, Luke didn''t feel as lonely as the first time.


    ¡­


    As the battle in Touma City was intensifying a loud voice echoed through the city. "All demons retreat!"


    When the demons heard this voice they immediately retreated without a second thought. They fled as if death was right behind them. Who in their right mind would hesitate to follow the orders of the strongest demon lord.


    The humans who saw the demons retreating were puzzled as they watched the fleeing demons. No one spoke a word as they couldn''tprehend what had just happened. After a few seconds of silence, somebody abruptly shouted, and as if everyone was infected by that shout the whole city was cheering.


    They all thought they had won when a beam of mana came out of nowhere and enveloped them. The whole city was annihted just like that. The knights, mages, mercenaries, everyone in the city had died without any resistance, they even died with joy in their hearts as they thought they had won.


    The demons saw how easily the city was destroyed and gulped dryly. They couldn''t move from their spots, as fear gripped their hearts. Even though Kretos was supposedly on their side, seeing what he did still frightened the demons who were d that they had fled as fast as they could.


    The demon who first regained his senses quickly knelt in the direction where the beam of mana came from. The other demons followed suit and knelt as well.


    ¡­


    Kretos didn''t bother with the kneeling demons and approached the dying Tsukiko. He knelt on the ground and lifted up her body. Seeing Kretos had dealt with the enemies so easily a beautiful smile appeared on Tsukiko''s face.


    "As expected of you¡­ Victory is once again in your grasp¡­" Kretos looked at the frail Tsukiko and felt a familiar yet unknown pain.


    "I warned you not to go but you didn''t listen. Why didn''t you listen?"


    "¡­ I wanted to prove to you, that I was worthy to stand by your side," Tsukiko answered truthfully seeing as this might be thest time they could talk to each other. Hearing Tsukiko''s answer Kretos was surprised and he bit his lips until they bled.


    "You fool, you were always worthy to stand by my side." Tears started to fall onto Tsukiko''s face. Tsukiko looked up and was surprised to see the strongest demon lord, the yer of demons and heroes, the battle junkie, the mighty Kretos was crying. The proud and arrogant Kretos was actually in tears. The Kretos she only saw smile brightly and viciously as a battle approached was crying in front of her.


    Tsukiko lifted her weakened arms and wiped away Kretos''s tears. She then lifted her head up and without warning kissed Kretos.


    Kretos was stunned by what Tsukiko did but he didn''t resist and as their lips parted Kretos who had tears on his face looked at Tsukiko in confusion.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, I loved you. I loved how you always stood proud and tall¡­ I loved how you were always so confident that it bordered into arrogance. I loved how you always single-mindedly did whatever you wanted to do, you were truly free from everything. You were what I aspired to be¡­ I''m d that I met you¡­" Despite her face bing paler, Tsukiko showed an incredibly beautiful bright smile.


    Kretos recovered from his confusion and looked at Tsukiko with a pained expression. He gripped Tsukiko''s body which was growing colder by the second. Memories of their time together shed in his mind.


    "I can''t¡­ Tsukiko without you¡­ Without you teasing me, without you smiling beside me, without you taking a nap in the throne room¡­ I can''t¡­"


    Kretos couldn''t form the words he wanted to say as this new feeling of helplessness and despair was drowning him. For someone like Kretos who had never felt much of anything, being bombarded by these various emotions proved to be too much to handle. Seeing Kretos like this made Tsukiko frown.


    "The Demon Lord Kretos I loved would never look so weak¡­ I guess I can do onest favor for you. We met because of a favor you asked of me, and I guess it''s only fitting that I do another favor as we part ways¡­ I can only perform about four more spells¡­"


    Kretos didn''t hear Tsukiko''sst line as she ced her hand on his forehead. Due to him unconsciously lowering his guard in front of Tsukiko, she was able to easily use a sleeping spell on him. As Kretos''s consciousness was fading he heard Tsukiko''s voice.


    "Goodbye my love, it has been fun¡­"


    ¡­


    Kretos woke up and was confused as to why he was sleeping in such a ce. He looked around and so the dead body of a human. His memory was a bit fuzzy as he tried to remember why he was here. He then saw the ruined Touma City and the kneeling demons.


    ''Oh right, I came to help my subordinates¡­ I annihted the enemies and then I think I fought a hero and¡­ I guess I expended too much energy and fainted after the fight¡­" Kretos wasn''t sure about his memory, in the battle with the hero something must have happened that messed with a part of his memory.


    Kretos then checked his body and then his mana cirction, everything seems to be okay. It was then he felt something on his face. Kretos touched his cheeks and saw that it was wet. He then looked at the sky, it was sunny. Kretos once again touched his face and finally noticed what was happening.


    "Why am I crying?" Kretos asked himself but no one was there to answer his question.

 Chapter 330 - Rens Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 330 - Ren''s Awakening</h4>


    It has been a few days and a child was staying beside Ren''s unconscious body. The child sighed in relief as he felt the changes within Ren.


    "Who knew this sh*tty artifact had this kind ofpensation!"


    Alphonso shouted as his body reverted back to when he was a ten year old, this was the price to pay for using the clock. He had used the clock before but the time he rewound was only a few minutes or so, which is why he never noticed thepensation. This was the longest he has ever used it and he finally witnessed what thepensation of using the artifact was.


    "It''s a good thing he''s about to wake up, cause if this continued and if I revert back into an infant I won''t be able to do anything."


    ¡­


    While Alphonso wasining about his new body, Ren woke up in a familiar ce. He had thoroughly regained his memories and not only the memories he had before he reincarnated into Ren, no he had gained more. The memories that Tsukiko erased had returned to him.


    ''Silly fox, why did you once again take all the pain away?¡­ You should have allowed me to remember so that I could grow¡­'' Kretos who had regained all the memories he had lost felt an intense pain in his heart. Now that he had a better understanding of his feelings, he could finally understand a bit of why he is in pain back then.


    ''The heroes I fought had used this pain to their advantage. If they could do it why can''t I?¡­ Besides unlike Lisa, you should still be out there somewhere.'' Ren remembered that scene when he woke up without his memories of Tsukiko. The only body that was there was of the hero, and there were no signs of her being there.


    Still, there was also a chance that Tsukiko destroyed her own body to make sure that Kretos wouldn''t see it. Aside from that, there were many other possibilities about why Tsukiko''s body wasn''t there, but Ren decided to believe that she was somehow able to survive.


    "You''re finally able toe back here." As he was contemting at a corner, Ren heard a familiar voice and turned around.


    "It''s been a while, Leo."


    "Yeah, it has been some time. Who would''ve expected that the ORIGIN would have interfered like that so early in the game."


    "What was the point of messing with my memories? Even though the ORIGIN did say that this was to even out the odds, it doesn''t make too much sense since I regained my memories after a few months. Nothing major happened and I actually feel a lot stronger than before I lost my memories. I actually think I''m nearing the strength I had as demon lord Kretos."


    "Oh right, that''s what we''ve been discussing here while you were gone. Ever since ourst encounter with the ORIGIN, we had been trying to figure out what he wanted to aplish."


    "So what did you figure out?"


    "The ORIGIN didn''t mess with your memories he messed with our soul." Another familiar voice spoke.


    "Hey, I was the one who was going to say that, Edge." Leo looked at the neer. Edge shrugged his shoulders.


    "It doesn''t matter who tells him, besides it''s always you who speaks to those that enter our realm. Who was the one that decided you''re to be the gatekeeper?"


    "Oh, those sound like fighting words." Leo smiled a vicious smile as he summoned his beloved weapons Chaos and Serenity.


    "Well, everything might sound like fighting words to the people in this ce." Edge smiled a simr vicious smile as he summoned his own weapon.


    "This would be our ten-thousandth battle, right? Two thousand wins, four thousand draws, and four thousand losses for me." Leo spoke as his fighting spirit was on the rise.


    "You already know that I''m superior but you keep on challenging me." Edge took a fighting stance.


    "You, on other hand, should also know that none of us here will ever stop to take the challenge. We might have that ranking now, and we might all be improving, but who said that I can''t catch up and beat you. I already won two thousand times, just need to win two thousand more to even the score."


    As Leo and Edge were about ready to do battle, Ren stood in between them.


    "Though I hate to get in between you two, I kinda want to hear what you were about to tell me. So can you guys have this battle after exining what''s going on?"


    Hearing what Ren said the two quickly cooled down and unsummoned their weapons. Leo and Edge looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders while sighing at the exact same time.


    "Fine, so like I said before the ORIGIN didn''t mess with your memories but with our soul. The moment he knocked you out the link between us was severed for a moment. It was just a single second, but it made a mess of your memories."


    "Okay so he messed with my soul and not my memories, but that still doesn''t answer why he did it?"


    "Didn''t you say that you''ve suddenly gained more powerpared to before you lost your memories? That was because of what the ORIGIN did. He actually healed our dying soul, he fixed it. You now have the full perks of having the strongest mortal soul. Simply by existing, you will grow stronger, simply going about your day and your mana will increase."


    Ren was surprised to hear Edge''s exnation as to why he had suddenly grown more powerful. He had many theories as to why he had this sudden growth, but the truth was different than he expected. It took Ren a minute to fully grasp what Edge had said. Ren then looked at Edge his expression was that of utter confusion.


    "Why, what''s the point?"


    "We actually had a very great debate about the reason the ORIGIN did all of these things. So after a very physical debate, we all realized something. We misunderstood what the ORIGIN meant when he said he wanted to even out the ying field. When he said those words he made it sound like he was helping those that killed your childhood friend Lisa. It was like he was saying that he would even out the ying field for our enemies. But we were wrong to think that. Remember what he said before you lost your memory."


    Ren recalled that fight as if it just happened recently. He remembered the exact words the ORIGIN said to him.


    "I don''t know what the others in your soul said about me, but I truly only wish for bnce and order. Even though your current self is truly weak, against the others it is truly unfair. I want to even out the ying field. So for now since you don''t want to listen to me, I''m going to take you out of the game for a while. That''s what That ORIGIN said, what about it?"


    "Yes, when the ORIGIN said that it wanted to even out the ying field he was talking about us. The ORIGIN restored our soul to its peak state so that our uing battle with him will be fair. I think the ORIGIN can feel it as well, our final battle against him is nearing."


    "I see¡­ But even if I go beyond the power I had in the past, I can''t see myself winning against that." Ren remembered his battle against the ORIGIN. He was beaten without being able to even graze the ORIGIN. Even his past incarnations who were stronger than him couldn''t do it.


    "Don''t worry about it now. All you need to do is grow stronger. Now that our soul is back at full capacity you''ll get stronger faster. You even have the advantage of having the chance to gain all of our abilities, so I''m sure we''ll be able to do something when the timees. Despite us saying that the final battle is near, it''s not going to be tomorrow or sometime soon. You still have a few years to grow in power. Also, even if you know you will lose it''s not like you''re not going to fight, right?" Leo responded as his smile grew even wider.


    Hearing what Leo said Ren couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile the three of them were showing at the same time. It was always fun talking to Leo, Edge, and all his past incarnations they were different from him, but they were also the same. They could understand each other in a way no other being can.


    "Of course, I''ll fight. Even if I don''t grow stronger than I am now, I will still fight. What''s there to fear? It''s just a fight with our very soul on the line." The three then started tough heartily. After a goodugh, Leo spoke.


    "Now that you know what to do, how about waking up now?"


    ¡­


    Ren slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a child around ten years old sitting at his bedside. At first, Ren wondered who the kid was, and where Alphonso disappeared to. But after feeling the mana fluctuation the child was emitting Kretos looked at the child, stunned.


    "¡­ Alphonso, is that you?"


    "About time you woke up," Alphonso responded sounding annoyed as he snatched the clock from Ren''s hands. Alphonso turned around his back facing Ren.


    "If you woke up a few dayster, I might have turned into a baby¡­" Even though Alphonso sounded annoyed he had a smile on his face.

 Chapter 331 - What Was Lost And What Was Gained

    <h4>Chapter 331 - What Was Lost And What Was Gained</h4>


    "Thank you for everything Alphonso. You have given me more than what I asked for." Ren looked at Alphonso with genuine sincerity and bowed his head. Alphonso who knew of Ren''s past incarnations and had witnessed his life as Demon Lord Kretos was stunned into silence.


    Aside from Elizabeth, who was now called Silika, Alphonso knew the most about Ren in this world. So he was sure that Ren would never bow his head. If anybody told Alphonso that the strongest mortal soul bowed his head to someone, he would look at that person as if he were the most insane being in the universe.


    The strongest mortal soul was someone who fought Dragons, Gods, Primordial beings, Dimension Destroyers, fate, and even the creator of all, The ORIGIN. This man was proud and arrogant, he would never lower his head to anyone or so Alphonso thought.


    Seeing the look on Alphonso''s face made Ren smile. As expected of someone who knew his past incarnations so deeply. Alphonso had the exact same reaction as his past incarnations when he did a simr action and lowered his head.


    "Alright now that I thanked you, let''s move on to other stuff. Do you have a ce where I can move around a bit violently?" When Alphonso heard Ren''s order like request he sighed in relief. This was the Ren he knew, this was the strongest mortal soul that he understood, not the one who bowed his head. Alphonso''s lips curved upward a tiny bit as he stood from the chair he was sitting on.


    "You really are such a ve driver¡­ Fine then, follow me." Alphonso sighed as he scratched his head sounding annoyed but still had his lips curved upward. Even though he looked reluctant he stillplied with Ren''s request. Ren followed the ten-year-old Alphonso and spoke.


    "You know acting like that is cute when girls do it, but if you do it¡­ Well, I guess with your current looks acting like a Tsundere might attract those older sister type women."


    "Who the f*ck are you calling a tsundere!" Alphonso shouted at Ren who was walking behind him. In response, Ren pointed at Alphonso and looked at the now ten-year-old Alphonso with a weird expression. No words were spoken but the look Ren showed Alphonso was the same as if he said the words isn''t it obvious.


    "I''m no Tsundere!¡­ Damn it, no matter the incarnation with or without memories, you always know how to irritate me¡­ Whatever here we are my special training room. You can wreak havoc here and go at it in full power. This ce is a pocket-sized dimension that I use to conduct some destructive experiments." Alphonso opened a door in his shop, and the two were transported into arge open white area with nothing in it. This ce felt like the realm inside Ren''s soul.


    "Thanks, also can I borrow some weapons to practice with."


    "Seriously, it''s just one thing after another with you." Alphonso snapped his fingers and an array of weapons appeared before him. "Here you can use this. They''re pretty good weapons but they don''t have any spirit so their just third-grade legendary weapons. You can have them since they just gather dust in the back of my store."


    Alphonso spoke like it wasn''t such a big deal, but every weapon that was disyed were powerful weapons used by legendary heroes of different worlds. Yet to him weapons without spirits were pretty much worthless.


    Ren looked at each weapon on disy and found out that the quality of each weapon was better than most. In fact, except for those weapons that had spirits, these weapons were top of the line.


    "Well since you''re giving them away, who am I to refuse." Ren picked up a broadsword and expanded his shadow which swallowed all the weapons in his sight. After he did that Ren closed his eyes and started to concentrate. He circted his mana through his body and into the weapon he was holding.


    Alphonso who was watching at the side noticed that Ren''s mana had once again increased and its purity was much better than before. It was so different from the time he and Ren fought.


    ''Ludicrous as always, just by existing you grow stronger. Training, hard work, in front of you all of that seems like a joke.'' Alphonso shook his head as he was once again reminded how ridiculous of an existence Ren was.


    ¡­


    Ren''s mind turned nk and the world around him became nothing, what existed was only him and his de. Ren then started to move, his sword swing seems slow but at the same time fast. He looked like he was moving but at the same time, he wasn''t. His breathing and his sword swings were in sync, it made one feel like his swordsmanship was alive.


    Each swing of the sword was elegant and without impurities. Just by watching his sword dance one could feel like he was being cut. After understanding a portion of his feelings, Ren had received enlightenment.


    In the beginning, he always thought that a weapon was nothing more than a tool for killing. Techniques were just killing skills. Since it was for killing, then obviously it should seek to kill in one strike. Superfluous things are all abandoned in pursuit of the limit of speed and power. Concise and precise movements were all one needs. That was what was taught to Ren when he was still Kretos, back when he was trained in the Shadow n.


    Yet after epting his feelings Ren had been enlightened. Weapons weren''t just tools they were living and breathing like him. This was why some weapons gained spirits. Techniques weren''t just for killing, they had a deeper meaning as well. Each sword strike had a certain flow to it, like the flow of battle.


    The precision of his strikes were still there, but there was now something more profound in them. Ren then started to switch weapons as he continued to train as if he was attacking someone. Each movement he made flowed so naturally even as he switched from weapon to weapon.


    Ren''s body could now finally keep up with what he wanted to do. The feeling he got as he no longer needs to conserve energy was freeing. He wasn''t as strong as his peak state as Demon Lord Kretos but he was getting there. In fact, even though he wasn''t as physically strong as his time as Demon Lord Kretos, his technique was so much greater than before.


    If his current self were to fight his past self they would be evenly matched at this point. Once he reaches the same physical and magical strength he had as Demon Lord Kretos, Ren would''ve surpassed his old self.


    ¡­


    Alphonso watched in awe as Ren continued to swing one weapon after another. No matter what weapon he used his control and technique was superb. In technique alone, this reincarnation had surpassed Michael.


    ¡­


    After a few hours of practicing Ren had a better feel of his newfound strength. He was so much stronger now than he was a few days ago, and he was growing stronger still. Now that he understood his physical limitations, Ren wanted to test the limitations of his mana.


    Ren lifted his right hand upward and released an enormous amount of mana. Arge ball of pure mana appeared above Ren''s head. Once he was done pouring most of his mana into the ball, Ren clenched his fist. The ball of pure mana started topress until it became the size of a fist. Ren then unleashed thispressed ball of pure mana into the distance.


    The moment the ball of pure mana made contact with the ground it exploded and a powerful shockwave followed. The explosion happened hundreds of miles away yet the shockwave still reached Ren.


    After the smoke cleared Ren saw that the ball of mana created a crater the size of two cities. He was satisfied with the experiment and looked at Alphonso.


    "Thanks for allowing me to use this room. Also once again thanks for everything, but I better get going. So where''s the exit?"


    "¡­" Alphonso sighed as he snapped his fingers. A portal appeared before Ren. "There''s your exit. Oh right, also here, catch." Alphonso threw two objects at Ren. One of them looked like a simr artifact to what Lance used to summon the original incarnation. There were some slight differences but the overall look and feel of the artifact was simr. The other object that was given to him looked like a crystal.


    "That crystal is amunication device. You can use it to contact me. The other one is an artifact that would be extremely helpful to you when you have your final battle. The original, the first hero should know how to use it." Alphonso scratched his head as he hesitated for a bit before continuing to speak.


    "I actually wanted to join you in your journey, but in my current state, I might be a liability to you. So I need to stay here and try to regain my real form. How about you Ren, what do you n to do now?"


    Ren hid the two artifacts in his shadow before he answered Alphonso. "Before I answer your question can you tell me how many days was I unconscious?"


    "About five days."


    "I see¡­" ''The tournament should be done with the preliminaries right about now. I did want to join in the fun, but there''s something important I need to do first.''


    "Thanks, and to answer your question. I''m going to meet someone I haven''t seen in a long time¡­" After giving his answer Ren entered the portal and disappeared.

 Chapter 332 - We Meet Again

    <h4>Chapter 332 - We Meet Again</h4>


    After leaving the portal Ren was transported back to the mountain top where he and Alphonso did battle. As he was about to leave, Ren heard Alphonso''s voice through the portal.


    "Oh right here''s a map of the current world and another one from the time you were a demon lord. I can pretty much guess who you want to meet so this should help you."


    Ren looked at the two maps and saw that each map was extremely detailed. With these maps at hand, he could go around the continent without getting lost.


    "Thanks, you really are a great help, Alphonso. I seem to be owing you more and more now."


    "You don''t owe me anything." Alphonso didn''t bother to hear Ren''s reply and closed the portal. Once he had closed the portal Alphonso sighed. "It is I who owes you more than you can imagine."


    ¡­


    Ren saw the portal close and shrugged his shoulders. Ren then looked at the map of the current world. It was clearly marked where the mountains he was standing on was at. It looked like Alphonso marked it before passing it to him.


    Ren then looked at the old map from when he was demon lord Kretos. These mountains where rather near to the ce where he wanted to go. After looking at the map a couple of times, Ren ced the two maps into his shadow and started running.


    ¡­


    With his current strength alongside the use of his Spirit Aura Ren was able to traverse a hundred miles within a few minutes. It took Ren only half an hour to reach the area he wanted to go to. Once he reached the ce the weather changed. A moment ago it was sunny but as he neared the area it started snowing.


    Snowkes came down and caressed Ren''s face. It was cold, but Ren who was enveloped by his Spirit Aura was unaffected by the cold.


    ''It''s been so long since I''ve been here.'' Ren closed his eyes and remembered the time he met her in this ce. There meeting started with a misunderstanding, and it ended with heartache.


    After reminiscing for a bit ren continued walking and saw the mountain range that used to be the base of the Overlord of the Sky Jiro. The shape of the mountains changed a bit over the years, and at the base, Ren noticed that there was now a human vige.


    Back then he couldn''t even imagine any human living in thesends where demons roam, yet now they were everywhere. He was once again reminded that the age of demons has ended and it was now the age of humans.


    Ren passed through the vige, due to it snowing heavily none of the vigers were outside. As he continued to walk by, Ren suddenly heard someone singing in a ce that was most probably a tavern.


    "In a cold starless night, on top of the mountain high. Where the sun can''t reach and the moon can''t find,ys the maiden whose beauty may blind. She awaits in her paradise, forever sitting in her throne of ice. Fair maiden o fair maiden, heroes fall and still you wait, in thy throne of ice."


    Hearing parts of the song Ren could pretty much guess that it''s about Le. It would seem that some of the humans were able to get past the old barrier he ced on the mountain.


    ''So you''re still up there waiting.'' As Ren was about to continue to his journey someone spoke to him.


    "Sir, are you going up as well? Are you another adventurer who wants to see the maiden on the throne of ice?" Ren turned around and answered the viger.


    "I guess I am here to see the maiden." When the viger heard Ren''s answer he scratched his head before responding.


    "I can tell that you''re pretty strong sir since you''re walking in this snow wearing such light clothes. But it''s a fool''s errand to try and find the maiden. Many adventurers have gone up never to return. Besides the maiden is just a folk tale past down here in our vige. The story goes that a drunk hero went up the mountain top and found a maiden on a throne of ice. When he returned to the vige he told everyone what he saw, but no one believed him. So to prove that he wasn''t lying the hero went up the mountain after he was no longer intoxicated, but when he reached the peak he didn''t see the maiden. There were other ounts of people seeing the maiden but most of them were drunk or sick. So they might have just hallucinated seeing a maiden on a throne of ice."


    "Thanks for the warning but I still want to try my luck." Ren didn''t bother to hear the viger''s response as he walked away.


    ¡­


    While he climbing the mountain Ren felt a wave of nostalgia. The mountain had changed, and the circumstances were different, but as he climbed while it was snowing Ren couldn''t help but remember that rainy day.


    On that rainy day, they talked in that cave, that was the first time he had ever shared his thoughts and feeling with another person.


    ¡­


    Ren was nearing the top and he could sense the barrier he created was close. Ren pointed his open palm forward and clenched it. "BREAK!" The sound of shattering ss echoed in Ren''s ears, the barrier he ced was no more. After breaking the barrier Ren continued climbing to the top.


    As he got closer to the top, Ren saw the flowers he had nted all those years ago. They were unaffected by the snow and continued to bloom beautifully. The scenery on the top of the mountain as snow continued to fall on the beautiful flowers was an enchanting sight.


    In the middle of the field of flowers was a maiden encased in ice. Even after tens of millennia, she stayed there unaffected by nature nor time. Ren approached the ice coffin that he himself made and touched it.


    "We meet once again¡­ Le¡­" Images of the past flooded Ren''s mind. He didn''t know her for long, but she was the first person that made him feel things that went beyond the scope of battle.


    "I''m sorry that it took so long to see you again¡­ I was weak at the time, both in mind and heart. I couldn''t handle the thoughts of loss, especially of something that felt so important¡­ But now I''ve grown and had lost many things that I can never regain."


    Ren''s whose hand was on the ice coffin used his finger to gently tap on the ice. The ice which encased Le for ten thousand years started to crack. The cracks started to look like a spider''s web and after a while, the coffin of ice shattered. Ren was quick to act and caught the falling Le.


    Le''s body which had been trapped in ice, whose time had stopped moving forward, had its clock ticking again. The injuries she got were once again opening up and blood was about to gush out. Ren immediately stopped the bleeding and injected his own mana into Le. Once he was done blocking the blood from flowing out, Ren used a healing spell he learned from one of his past incarnations.


    The holes in Le''s body started closing up and were healing at a rapid pace. Le''s paleplexion was bing better as time went by. Ren looked at the sleeping Le and sighed in relief. He was finally able to do it, he was finally able to save her.


    ¡­


    Le had a very long dream where she was waiting for someone on a field of flowers. Many hade to see her, but none of them were the ones she wanted to see. She continued to wait patiently for the person toe but he never did. There was also that one time when she was apanied by a golden-haired kitsune, but at some point, she disappeared.


    Time went by and the one she waited for never came. The people that visited her were bing fewer and fewer. The Golden fox that stayed with her never returned. As she was starting to think that the person she was waiting for would nevere, as she started to think that she would stay here on this lonely mountain top for eternity, another person came.


    This person looked different from the person she was waiting for, but he felt simr to him. She couldn''t understand it but she felt sad when he looked at his expression. The man then apologized to her and freed her from her prison.


    ¡­


    Le who was slowly waking up felt her body feeling extremely heavy. She was finding it difficult to move even a single finger. Her mind was also a bit foggy as she felt light-headed. She tried opening her eyes but they were heavy as well. As she was wondering what was happening to her, she remembered something.


    ''Wasn''t I bleeding and dying? Am I perhaps already dead? Is that why I can''t move nor feel anything?'' As she was growing confused, Le heard a gentle voice whisper in her ear.


    "It''s time to wake up." The voice was so gentle, warm and somewhat familiar¡­ She could feel her eyelids were bing a bit lighter and she slowly opened her eyes.

 Chapter 333 - Under The Moonless Sky

    <h4>Chapter 333 - Under The Moonless Sky</h4>


    Le slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the falling snow. The sky was dark and had no moon nor stars up. It was rather cold but due to her fur that doubled as her clothes, the coldness was quiteforting. Though she still felt her body was heavy and found it difficult to move.


    Le clenched his fist and then tried to move her head. It was very difficult and quite painful but she endured it. As she looked to the side she saw an unfamiliar person was standing there looking at her. Le''s eyes almost popped out due to the shock. The most shocking part was not that there was an unknown man at the Overlord of the Sky''s home, but that the person was a human. The moment Le saw the human her whole body was jolted awake. She still felt her limbs were heavy and ice-cold but she needed to move. Which demon didn''t how much humans hated their race. In her mind, this human might havee to finish her off.


    As Le backed away she tried to pull out her daggers but found that they weren''t there. It was at that moment she was finally able to take in the scenery and was once again surprised. She was still at the top of the mountain but instead of the dead bodies of Tengus and Harpies whaty around her were flowers. Most importantly Kretos was gone, and only the human male was standing there. Was it possible that this human was able to somehow beat Kretos?


    ''How can a human beat that guy?!''


    As she was confused by what she was seeing and was starting to panic, the human started to approach her.


    "Hey-" Ren wasn''t able to continue with what he wanted to say as Le turned into her wolf form and attacked. Ren was able to easily dodge such a sloppy attack, it seems that Le was still feeling sluggish. As Ren was getting ready to evade the next attack, he saw that Le was actually running away. She used her initial attack to create an opening for her to escape.


    ''I forgot this girl can already read the flow of battle. She instantly knew that she was no match for me in her current condition.'' Ren smiled his vicious smile as he appeared before Le. Seeing that Ren was blocking her path Le quickly backed away and was about to go in another direction.


    Yet despite moving as quickly as possible it was apparent that Ren''s speed and hers were greatly different. Compared to Ren it looks like she wasn''t moving at all.


    ''Tsk, It''s do or die!'' Le gathered up her courage and attacked Ren with her ws. Ren then emitted a portion of his mana which made Le stop mid-way into her attack and was now unable to move. The simple pressure from Ren''s mana coupled with her weakened body made it hard to resist. Le had no other options but to fall onto the ground.


    Le could no longer maintain her wolf form and reverted back into her human form. She was sweating profusely and found it hard to breathe. Le looked at her human opponent and saw him smiling viciously at her.


    The moment Le saw that smile the face of a certain someone converged with the human''s face. That smile, this overwhelming mana, in Le''s mind there was only one person who could the same. The conclusion she came to seem impossible, but base on the circumstances it was all she could think of.


    "Are you¡­ Kretos?¡­" Hearing Le timidly asking him that question Ren couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "It has been a long time Le."


    ¡­


    After confirming that the human in front of her was Kretos, the two sat on the bed of flowers. The snow continued to fall on them, yet they said nothing even though Le had a ton of questions, no words coulde out of her mouth. She was still in a state of shock.


    After a few minutes, Le had finally calmed down and ask the question she wanted to ask ever since she saw Kretos as a human.


    "What happened to you? What happened to this ce?"


    "It''s quite a long story, do you want to change locations first?" Le shook her head.


    "No, I don''t think my curiosity can handle any more waiting time. So tell me everything that happened after I fainted."


    "I hope you''re ready for this. So as you were dying in my arms I-"


    Ren patiently told her the story of what happened over the past eleven thousand years. When Le heard what Ren did to her so that she could survive she showed a shocked expression.


    Despite having even more questions than answers, Le didn''t stop Ren and waited for him to finish his story. While listening to Ren''s narration Le''s expression changed throughout the story.


    When they got to the part of the story when Ren heard that with the current spells of the time, no one could save her, Le started frowning. Ren actually erased his memories of her because of that incident.


    Ren told her everything he knew, he also told her about how he reincarnated into this human form. The only thing he omitted telling her was about his past incarnations. Well, aside from Silika and Alphonso there was no one else that knew about that secret.


    "So I''ve been asleep for eleven thousand years¡­" Le spoke her tone filled with uncertainty and anxiety.


    "Yeah," Ren answered. He wanted to reassure Le but decided to not force it.


    Once Ren was done telling his tale Le stood up and looked up at the sky. Even though she couldn''t see it, she knew that the remaining moon was still up there. As a werewolf, she was sensitive to the cycle of the moon. The falling snow touched her face as she smiled. Ren noticed some tears falling off her face but he remained quiet waiting for Le to take everything in. It has been eleven thousand years, but Le remained a fifteen-year-old girl both physically and mentally. He was half expecting her to scream and cry, but she did neither and simply stood there continuing to look at the moonless sky.


    ''My tribe, my n, my family, everything that I know, everything is now gone¡­ I wonder should I be angry at Kretos for saving me, and allowing me to live? Should I feel grateful that I can continue on? Is there even meaning to me existing in this time? The world has changed, but I have not¡­ What should I do now?¡­''


    Le wanted to scream, she wanted to cry as hard as she can, she wanted to wallow in her despair. Yet despite her various emotions, despite all the negativity that was encroaching her heart, she also felt strangely at peace. Knowing that sky was the same, knowing the moon she knew of was up there, and seeing Kretos still exist in this unknown future was a greatfort for her.


    "Hey Kretos, or should I call you Ren?" Le spoke while continuing to look up at the sky.


    "Kretos, the demon lord no longer exist¡­ There''s only Ren now." Ren answered as he continued to sit down on the bed of flowers.


    "Heh, even after a thousand years, even after you died and turned into a human, you remain the same. Unfazed by everything, always moving forward. I on the other hand also didn''t change, but that''s because I was asleep the whole time." Le giggled a bit before continuing to talk.


    "I would''ve wanted to see you when you ruled the world¡­ I would''ve wanted to stand by your side as you faced those human heroes¡­ I would''ve wanted to train with you side by side growing stronger. When I met you and even now I see you as something like my big brother. I wanted to show you, my family. I wanted to do many things and have lots of fun. But that can never happen now, right?" Le closed her eyes and daydreamed about a past that never was. Ren gritted his teeth feeling Le''s pain.


    "Even if I cry or beg, even if I get angry or sad nothing can be done¡­ What was lost can never return." Le became silent as she bit her lips and clenched her fist. She shooked her head and wiped away her tears. She then turned around and looked at Ren with a rather lonely smile.


    "You know Ren, while I was sleeping I had a very long dream. In that dream, I have been waiting and waiting for a very long time. It was so long and lonely that I was about to give up, but in the end, you appeared. It was such a lonely dream¡­ Wait, I guess it wasn''t that lonely, since at some point there was this Golden-Haired Kitsune that apanied me."


    Ren who was listening quietly suddenly stood up in surprise.

 Chapter 334 - Clue

    <h4>Chapter 334 - Clue</h4>


    "She told me that I must never give up and continue onward. She told me that''s what you would do." Ren could no longer hold it in as he approached Le.


    "What else did she say, what else do you remember about her?" Le was startled by Ren''s reaction. The look in his eyes was something she never thought she would see on the former strongest demon lord. That was the look of desperation.


    "She didn''t say much and just continued to listen to me talk. The only other thing I remember about her is that we usually talk here within this garden. We always sat there near the coffin of ice. Why are you acting this way, it''s just a dream."


    Ren didn''t bother answering the werewolf girl and immediately went to the area Le was pointing at. He touched the ground and used his mana to look for clues. The moment he did this a spell was activated. In front of Ren appeared an image of Tsukiko.


    The wound she received from the third hero was still present as she looked weak but unlike thest time Ren saw her, she looks rtively better. The image of Tsukiko smiled weakly at Ren before speaking.


    "If this spell activates that means you''vee back for Le, right Kretos?¡­ Even though it''s near impossible to break my memory wiping spell, I knew if anyone could do it, it would be you. You have always been someone that could go against anything and everything."


    The Tsukiko that was presented in the image looked to be in so much pain as she talked, but she remained ever smiling. Seeing her like that made Ren remember those words that she said to him in the end.


    "Demon Lord Kretos, I loved you. I loved how you always stood proud and tall¡­ I loved how you were always so confident that it bordered into arrogance. I loved how you always single-mindedly did whatever you wanted to do, you were truly free from everything. You were what I aspired to be¡­ I''m d that I met you¡­"


    Remembering that scene as she was dying in his hands made Ren feel ufortable. So even though he was seeing her looking in pain, Ren was still d that she was alive. As long as she was alive there was still hope.


    "If you dide back for the werewolf, that would mean you also remember who I am¡­ Do you remember this foolish fox that loved you and wanted to stand by your side?" Tsukiko''s smile became rather awkward.


    "Well, that doesn''t matter¡­ Seeing as you are here, that must mean you found out a way to heal the werewolf. I don''t know how long that might have taken you or how arduous the task was, but that means you have removed one of your regrets. I''m happy for you, Kretos."


    ''Why are saying all these things and wasting time?'' Ren felt a bit anxious seeing Tsukiko about to keel over any minute now. What was the point of leaving this message and doing all this? She should just tell him where she is now, why bother with all of this stuff?


    "Kretos if you do remember me, I wish you didn''t. It would''ve been much kinder if you forgot everything about me. Every time I remember the look of pain that you showed me on that day, makes me hate myself. I hated how weak I was, I hated that I couldn''t stand by your side, but most of all I hated the fact that I hurt you." Tsukiko pursed her lips. The memory of Kretos holding her in his arms while nearly crying made her feel anguished.


    "I didn''t want to see you like that, so weak, so unsure, so vulnerable¡­ I wanted to remember you as the strongest arrogant demon lord. I wanted to remember you as that guy that never hesitated that went against destiny itself and fought against all odds with a vicious smile on his face. Unbeatable, unshakeable that was you."


    Ren continued to listen to the Tsukiko image in front of him but he was now frowning. Nothing she was saying was a clue of where she was now. It was like she was giving another farewell speech and Ren didn''t like that.


    "I bet right now you''re feeling impatient and thinking, why am I wasting my time telling you all these things? I bet you''re trying to find me and looking for a clue from the dream I instilled in the werewolf girl''s mind."


    Ren was stunned by Tsukiko''sment, but then his lips curled a tiny bit upward. Tsukiko knew him so well, that it was like she was peeking through his mind.


    "¡­ Hey Kretos, you should once again forget about me. I tried to use the same spell you used on Le to stop her time by freezing her. When I tried the same spell on myself I failed. Unfortunately, that cursed spear interferes with my mana and the mana surrounding me. I was able to slow down the deterioration of my body, but I couldn''t cast a proper spell on myself. Any spell thates into contact with the wound created by the cursed spear gets dispelled or is slowly consumed¡­ After trying different things nothing worked, they simply dyed the inevitable¡­ I have no chance of surviving this ordeal."


    Tsukiko showed the two wounds that were created by the cursed spear. Instead of closing up the holes were slowly getting bigger.


    "By the time you gain the ability to heal me, it would be toote. I hope that you never find this message, as that would mean you will forever remain ignorant of the pain that you left behind¡­ So if you truly do find this message, this time I''m unable to wipe your memory of my existence. I didn''t want you to remember me this way. So please forget about me¡­ I just wish to rest now under the shade of my favorite ce¡­ Kretos¡­ Please forget that a foolish fox named Tsukiko ever existed." The image disappeared as the snow continued to fall.


    ''If you really want me to forget about you, you shouldn''t have left me this message. You really are such a foolish fox. You obviously wanted to be saved, but you never ask. I might not be a hero, but I was demon lord and I do whatever I want¡­''


    ¡­


    Le who stood behind Ren didn''t say a single word as Ren continued to look at the empty space. She was able to watch the same projection as Ren and quickly figured out that the Kitsune who was in her dream was the Demonic Fox Tsukiko. There was no other demon that had the ability to cast suchplex spells.


    When Le saw Ren''s expression and heard what Tsukiko said it would seem that these two shared a moreplicated past than what Ren told her. Unlike her who saw Kretos as a brother, it would seem that Tsukiko saw Kretos as a romantic partner.


    ¡­


    In about a few minutes of silence, Ren sighed and turned around to look at Le.


    "So what do you n to do now?" The heavy mood seemed to have lightened up a bit. Le already guessed that Ren would ask her this question and she had an answer ready.


    "I want to join you on your journey¡­ Can I?" Le asked looking a bit anxious. If Ren were to say no, she didn''t know what else to do. In this era, the only person she knew was Ren, as even the ces she once knew were probably different now.


    "Don''t look so anxious, of course, you cane with me."


    "Really?!"


    "Of course."


    "Then can I ask for one more thing?" Empowered by her first request being easily agreed to, Le tried to push a bit more.


    "Hmm, what is it?"


    "Can I call you Big Bro?" Le who always wanted a big brother had found Ren to be a suitable candidate. Ren was the ideal big brother that she had always envisioned. He was strong, was confident, kind, and he thought her a lot of things.


    Ren was rather surprised by the weird request, but after a moment of thought, he shrugged his shoulders and answered.


    "Sure, why not."


    Le wasn''t expecting Ren to agree and was momentarily stunned by what he said, but after a while, a huge smile crept up on Le''s face.


    "Big Bro! Big Bro! Big Bro! Big Bro! Big Bro! Big Bro!" Le continued to repeat those two words as she bounced around happily. Ren was rather happy seeing Le smile like that. After she felt better calling Reb Big bro a dozen times, she looked at Ren and asked a question.


    "So what are we going to do now Big bro?"


    "We''re going to hunt down a fox."


    "But Big Bro, she said to forget about her."


    "When have I ever listened to anyone''s opinion? I always do what I want, and no one can stop me."


    "But we don''t know where she is. How can we find her without any clues?"


    "Didn''t you hear, she wants to rest under the shade of her favorite ce. We''re going to the giant tree Jubokko." Ren smiled his vicious smile as he looked at the distance.


    ''You cannot hide from me Tsukiko. The moment you told me you loved me I already imed you as my own. Even if you head to the underworld I will take you back¡­ No one can take what is mine not even the God of Death.'' Ren dered to himself, since Leo his past incarnation can do it, then why can''t he?

 Chapter 335 - The Tournament

    <h4>Chapter 335 - The Tournament</h4>


    While Ren and Le were on their journey to find the Kitsune Tsukiko, back in the Serbek Kingdom the magic tournament was in full swing.


    The arena used for the tournament took arge area of the Capital. but it was located at the edge of the Capital. Inside the arena were multiple stages were each preliminary fight was taking ce. By the stands, there were a thousand people watching the fights. All of them came from different races and walks of life. From the farmers to the Dukes, everyone was treating the tournament like a holiday. Since it only happens ever so often, having eight nonworking days was still eptable. Though there were still some businesses that were open during this time, which were mostly inns and restaurants. Others weren''t really interested and continued to work despite it being a holiday.


    ¡­


    In this tournament, many strong magicians from the neighboring kingdoms, and from the different races had joined. Some were after the money, others came for the honor, others the fame, but most came to win the tournament and received teaching from the Grand Mage himself.


    Even though all of the contestants were above the normal standards, the most eye-catching fights were from Eight individuals. Each one of them showing a great deal of potential. Seeing as this tournament consisted of mostly young people below the age of thirty, these eye-catching youngsters were the cream of the crop, the geniuses of the younger generation.


    The Host and Commentator of the tournament was the youngest of the Great Mages of the Kingdom, Henrietta. With her deep knowledge of magic and her pleasing appearance, she was the perfect person to hype up the tournament.


    "This year''s tournament is shaping up to be the most exciting one yet. Who could have predicted that not one, not two, but eight geniuses would show up! These youngsters are well and above the rest of the pack, they''re in a whole different league. "


    "In the A block, the winner is the magic swordsman that dominated his opponents with the overwhelming force of his mana, Valdel! His speed and power make him a bit hard for most of the contestants that focus solely on spell casting. He can easily dodge and disrupt spells and his no chant makes it hard to counter whatever spell he uses. Well, it''s not like he used different spells as he has beaten all of his opponents with a single spell."


    Valdel was standing at one stage exerting his mana on the others making it hard for them to concentrate. Still, even if they were able to somehow use a spell, Valdel was able to easily dodge their telegraphed spells that move so slowly in his eyes.


    ''These guys should really work on their physical fitness. They''re so slow and their spell takes too much time before they activate.'' Valdel sighed as he finished another opponent with a simple [re] spell.


    ¡­


    "In block B, the winner is the representative of the elves, Irene. Her multi spell activation has been a sight to behold. She''s able to use eight different spells at the same time, but I don''t think that''s the limit of her prowess. Not only is she able to use different spells at the same time, but she''s also proficient in using all the elements. This elven mage is quite the formidable figure."


    A beautifuldy with pointy ears, cat-shaped eyes, and long silver hair stood serenely in the middle of the ring. Surrounding her were different magic circles, and on the groundy her defeated opponents.


    She didn''t let her guard down as she surrounded herself with a mana barrier at all times, even as she stepped out of the ring.


    ¡­


    "Then there''s block C where the S rank Adventurer the Silent Death reigns supreme! With nothing but head flicks using the minimum amount of mana release, she had beaten her opponents with ease. Some of you might think this is against the rules, but as long as one uses mana outwards to finish the opponents'' anything goes."


    Lara looked at her defeated opponents with indifference. ''I don''t really remember much of how I entered this tournament, seeing as the past month has been a bit hazy, but since this is a mission I took from the Guild I should do it with the best of my abilities. Though it would have been better if they were a bit stronger. Well, I guess this will be a challenge when I get to face Valdel. Also, that guy with the hood looks like he would be troublesome.''


    ¡­


    "Now for block D, the obvious winner is the priestess of the Temple of Justice, Natasha! As expected of a priestess of one of the major temples, her victory was a beautiful one. She didn''t even need to use the blessing of her Goddess to win."


    Natasha sighed as she didn''t really like the idea of joining this tournament, if not for Valdel she wouldn''t havee. She looked at the other blocks and saw that this year''s tournament felt a bit different from before.


    ¡­


    "In block E has another woman winning everything, the enchanting representative of the Fairies, Aerwenna. What''s the matter with the men in this tournament most of them are too weak to notice!" Hearing what Henrietta said some people in the crowd startedughing.


    Aerwenna sat by her defeated opponents and was healing them. As she continued to heal each and everyone she knocked out she was also apologizing to each and every one of them.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to hurt you so much. You suddenly came at me with a fire spell, so I reflexively used an ice spell, but I think I used too much power. I thought since you guys joined the tournament, you guys will be stronger than this. I''m sorry I didn''t realize you were this weak." The scene of the winner apologizing to her defeated opponents while making them feel bad was so surreal that Henrietta didn''t bother toment about it.


    ¡­


    "Ahem¡­ Alright¡­ In the F Block, the winner is the mysterious hooded fighter named Artifice. Within the whole preliminaries, no one has been able to see his face behind the hood. This mysterious fighter is the fastest contestant this year. Not only is his physical speed fast, but even his casting speed is incredible. If not for the fact that the mana detectors caught the fluctuation of mana we wouldn''t even know what kind of spell he was using to beat them. Who would''ve thought a simple [shock] spell could cause such devastating damage."


    In this ring, a man wearing a brown cloak whose face was covered by a hood exited the ring. On the ground were his opponents who were barely alive. Each one of them looked like they''ve been fried.


    ¡­


    "Now onto the G block, the winner is the wandering mage, the half-demon Hime! Like the demons of old Hime has an enormous mana supply and her activation speed, where she used spell after spell is only second to Artifice."


    Hime sat cross-legged in the middle of her beaten opponents. She was in the middle of regaining her lost mana to get ready for the next battle. No one would expect that one of the peace-loving demons would ever join such a violent tournament. Still watching one from the demon race showing her prowess was a sight to see.


    Also seeing as she was a demon, even a half one, that would mean that she has a form that she hasn''t shown yet. Not one of her opponents in the preliminaries was able to make her show her true form.


    ¡­


    "In the final block, block H where the most exciting battle took ce. Who would''ve expected that such a dark horse would join the tournament and he''s even one of the students of Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane! The winner of the H block, Afeus! His fight wasn''t as one-sided as the others, but the deep knowledge he has of spells as he countered spell after spell was very exhrating to watch."


    Afeus was kneeling on the ground panting as he looked at his defeated opponents. If it was him before meeting Kretos that joined this tournament he wouldn''t evenst after two moves, but now he was actually able to win against multiple opponents albeit barely. As he was getting a little proud of himself Afeus looked at the other blocks and saw how each one of the winners were unscathed or even barely sweated.


    When he saw that scene his excitement died down real quick. ''How the f*ck am I suppose to face those monsters!''


    ¡­


    After Henrietta finished saying the name of each block''s winner she started to remember Kretos''s face. ''I wonder what he''s doing right now? He actually missed the beginning of the tournament. If he were here I wonder what would happen.''


    Henrietta imagined a scene where Kretos was standing in one of the stages. Though she only met him one time but based on the rumors about him and what she saw she could imagine what he would''ve done.


    ''He would most likely shout at the other winners toe at him at the same time.'' Henrietta giggled as she thought of that. After that brief daydream, Henrietta announced the next step of the tournament.


    "Starting tomorrow we will begin the quarter-finals! The pairing for each contestant will be done by randomly picking a name from this hat. So without further ado, time to pick the contestants for tomorrow''s fight!"


    Henrietta plunged her hand into the hat and picked the first name.


    "The first contestant to be chosen is the S rank adventurer, the silent death, LARA! As for her opponent." Henrietta picked the next fighter.


    "Lara''s opponent for tomorrow''s fight is the representative of the elves, Irene!"

 Chapter 336 - Something Odd

    <h4>Chapter 336 - Something Odd</h4>


    After announcing the first battle for tomorrow morning, Henrietta also announced that each quarter-final match will be held once per day. Once she was done with her announcement the crowd started to disperse while talking about the battles they had witnessed.


    "This year''s tournament is crazy."


    "Who knew so many geniuses woulde this year."


    "Yeah, usually we get to see only one of those every nine years, but this year eight of them actually came out at the same time."


    "Not only that, but more than half of them are beauties! Different varieties of beauties. I thought that Henrietta was the pinnacle but after seeing thosedies, my worldview expanded."


    "Yeah you''re right, just thinking about Lara''s cold eyes looking down on me, makes me shiver in delight." One of the men shuddered in ecstasy as he imagined Lara''s cold and beautiful face looking at him as if he was a bug. Hispanions looked at him and took some distance.


    "Well I don''t know about this freak, but I think Lady Natasha''s valiant figure is always something you would want to see every single day. As you would expect from the priestess from the Temple of Justice, her very presence makes you feel her righteousness."


    "I already know that elves are beautiful but I wasn''t expecting them to be that beautiful."


    "The fairy girl was so cute, it makes you wonder how someone like her can fight like that."


    "You guys keep on talking about the girls, but there were also quite a number of strong guys in the tournament. You know like that Artifice guy. How the f*ck did he win without even moving too much from his spot, there wasn''t even any sign that he invoked a spell."


    "Huh, who would want to talk about those guys, we would rather imagine the beauties of the tournament. Just seeing them on stage is enough to fill me with happiness. Then there''s Henrietta this year''smenter, her melodious voice still rings in my ears."


    "Though I still wanted to see that guy who decimated the Osted Family join the tournament. If he was there he would surely have won the whole thing."


    "I would''ve agreed with you before, but after seeing those geniuses even he might have had a hard time."


    ¡­


    As everyone was expressing their different opinions about the tournament and its contestants, Lara had approached Valdel and the others. The two weapons spirits took their human form as Lara came by. Natasha looked at Lara and noticed that her movements became sharper. Even her normal walk showed no signs of an opening to exploit. Not only that but the mana she was trying to suppress is so much greater than before.


    ''It''s not only Valdel who''s growing stronger by the day, even she''s already at a level that''s hard to reach even for veteran fighters. Then there''s that abnormality these two call their childhood friend, Ren. How are these three able to grow stronger so fast?''


    Natasha could somehow understand how Valdel grew stronger, it was rted to his luck as well as his status as a hero candidate. But Lara and Ren weren''t an existence like that but they''re still able to match Valdel''s growth. Especially Ren, that guy hasn''t even shown the limits of his strength, all she has seen seems to be but the tip.


    ''If Valdel and Lara are already this strong, then what kind of monster has he be?''


    ¡­


    Unaware of Natasha''s thoughts the two childhood friends stared at each other. Lara lifted her right arm and greeted Valdel.


    "It''s been a while Valdel."


    "Yeah, it has¡­" Valdel didn''t know what to say at this moment. Thest time these two childhood friends were together wasn''t a good time to remember. At that time Ren had disappeared and Lara''s twin sister Lisa had been killed. Valdel was in a bind as he couldn''t think of anything to say. The long silence was slowly bing very awkward, so Valdel simply spoke whatever came to mind.


    "How have you''ve been feeling Lara? Are you doing alright?" When Lara heard Valdel''s question a sudden burst of bloodlust arose and disappeared as quickly as it came. Valdel and everyone present was surprised by that ruthless bloodlust that could rival that of Ren''s bloodlust. Lara''s face also flickered and changed for a second before returning to the look of indifference she always had. Valdel only caught a glimpse of her expression and even he felt a bit frightened.


    "I''m doing a bit better than before. How about you, it seems like you''ve surrounded yourself with even moredies, are your perhaps bing more like Ren?"


    When Valdel heard what Lara said he tilted his head and looked a bit confused. In what part was he like Ren?


    "What are you talking about?"


    "You know how Ren has created his own harem ofdies aren''t you doing the same thing?" When the girls heard what Lara said they all blushed all except for the new girl. They then looked at Valdel with a tiny bit of expectation in their eyes.


    "Huh? I''m not creating a harem. Ren considers you girls as his women, his lovers. I, on the other hand, see these girls that apany me on my journey as my friends."


    When the girls with Valdel heard his answer they all red at him with the exception of the new girl. They knew that''s what he was thinking, but hearing it from his own mouth was still a bit irritating. Lara sighed in her mind but on the outside, she remained expressionless as she shrugged her shoulders.


    ''This guy is so dense¡­ He''s a different kind of troublesome man than Ren. Well, at least Ren''s very open in the fact that he tells everyone that he doesn''t n to have one woman, though infuriating to hear at least he''s honest. Valdel, on the other hand, is theplete opposite, I don''t even know if he notices or if he''s just faking it. Howe my two childhood friends are so hopeless when ites to understanding a woman''s heart?'' Lara once again sighed in her mind.


    "Fine, they are not your harem but friends, then who is that?" Lara pointed at the new girl.


    "Oh, that''s Sasha I saved her from some vigers that tried to kill her. It seems that she doesn''t remember who she is, or where she came from. All she knows was that when she woke up she was in that vige and after staying there for a while the kind vigers became hostile. Seeing as she has no one else to turn to, I decided to help her out until she feels better."


    Lara looked at the girl called Sasha and felt that there was something odd about her. After staring for a while Lara couldn''t figure out why she felt that Sasha was odd so she dismissed it as some random feeling.


    "So you''re simply being your busybody self." Lara pulled Valdel closer to her and whispered in his ear. "Have you forgotten what Ren said about trusting others? You shouldn''t judge things by what you see, as the truth is always difficult to see."


    "Of course I haven''t forgotten, I''ve already been tricked once before and that''s not going to happen again. If she does anything suspicious or if I find out what the vigers said to be the truth, I will be the first one to punish her."


    ''Punish, not kill?'' Lara who was usually stoic showed a rare look of surprise on her face. ''It seems like he has once again changed a little bit.''


    "Whatever, you do what you think is right, but I hope that this doesn''t lead to your demise. If anything happens to you¡­ I promise I will avenge you¡­" Even though Lara returned to her stoic expression, Valdel could sense her anxiety. So he showed her a very bright smile to reassure her as he responded.


    "Don''t worry Lara, I won''t get careless. You should trust me a bit more." Lara pushed Valdel away after hearing his response. "Aside from Ren, there is no one I trust more than you," Lara mumbled to herself. Valdel wasn''t able to catch what Lara said and tilted his head in confusion.


    "What did you say?"


    "Nothing, I just said that even though you''re my friend I won''t go easy on you in this tournament. As a professional S rank adventurer, I n to fulfill my client''s request and win the whole thing."


    "I expect nothing less from you, Lara. Good luck in your match tomorrow." Lara then turned around and waved her right hand as she left. Seeing her fading back Valdel showed a wry smile. Valdel turned around and saw that the girls had surrounded him.


    "Hey, Valdel did you mean it when you said that we are only friends?" The girls looked at Valdel with a menacing look on their faces.


    "Of course I meant every word of it," Valdel answered with a beaming smile on his face. The girls responded by stomping on Valdel''s foot and left him behind. Valdel couldn''t understand what just happened and was stunned as he looked at the girls leaving.


    "What was that for?"

 Chapter 337 - Quarter Finals

    <h4>Chapter 337 - Quarter Finals</h4>


    The following day the arena was once again filled to the brim with people. The first fight in the quarter-finals was between two beautiful maidens who would want to miss that? As the audience was bing rowdy, Henrietta appeared on a stage.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, wee to the Grand Mage''s tournament! This is the stage where the strongest of the younger generation gather. Today is the start of the Quarter Finals, is everyone excited!" The audience started to cheer as loud as they can.


    "Here with me today is the winner of thest tournament, Sir Layfon." Henrietta gestured to the young man sitting beside her. Blue hair and a handsome face, coupled with a smile that could make most girls swoon, this man was thest winner of the tournament and had been imparted with an original spell created by the Grand Mage.


    "Hi Everyone." Layfon showed a dazzling smile that made the girls scream in joy.


    "Now without further ado let''s begin today''s battle! For the first battle standing at the right side is the rising star of the Adventurers Guild, the S rank Adventurer with the moniker the silent death, LARA!"


    After her name was called Lara with her usual stoic expression step foot onto the ring. Seeing her beautiful cold face, the audience started cheering even louder than before. Valdel and hispanions were also there watching and cheering her on.


    "Now onto our next contestant, hailing from the Eternal Forest of the elves. The young genius, the ultimate multi caster, the representative of the Wood and High Elves, the young prodigy Irene!"


    The beautiful elf with silver hair walked onto the stage looking extremely calm. Her demeanor was so serene that it felt like she was part of nature itself. Even now before stepping onto the ring, she had a mana barrier up, it was like she wasn''t worried about diminishing her mana supply before the fight.


    "These two have proven themselves the best among those younger than thirty years old. Not only are they beautiful maidens but they''re deadly as well. So Sir Layfon what do you think about their skills and who is most likely to win the match?"


    "I''ve seen their matches and I think both of them are strong. Lara''s fame has spread far and wide and many know of her deeds. She''s an all-rounder that can use magic, close-quartersbat, and ranged weapons. She mostly prefers using her fist by enhancing it with mana as seen by her fight yesterday. Seeing as this tournament only allows release type spells and not internal type spells, all Lara did was release mana through her fist."


    "Now then there''s thedy from the forest of the elves. I don''t have much information about her, but based on what I saw yesterday, in pure spellcasting alone she has everyone in this tournament beat. Her multicast ability is her biggest advantage and she can also use all the elements, not only that but her mana supply is enormous. From a certain point of view, she could be seen as the perfect mage."


    "That''s amazing Sir Layfon to be able to deduce so much by just seeing one battle. So who do you think has a higher advantage of winning?" Henrietta once again asked her first question.


    "That would depend on fate, in a battle the one with the most luck would be the winner."


    "So what you''re saying is you got lucky at thest tournament?" When Layfon heard Henrietta''s question he smiled and then shrugged his shoulders.


    "Luck is also a skill."


    "Well anyway, let''s get back to the main thing. The two contestants get ready." Hearing Henrietta''s signal Lara took a stance as she ced her right fist forward and the left fist by her waist. Irene on the other hand simply stood there without any movement at all.


    "Let the battle begin!" The moment Irene heard the signal to start she quickly activated twelve spells that she had prepared beforehand. A torrent of elemental attacks headed towards Lara who then responded by punching each and every one of the iing spells.


    Lara was unleashing her mana through her fist which negates the iing spells. The speed in which she moved was quite fast and the flow of her movements was a beautiful sight to behold.


    Irene was surprised to see how Lara countered her barrage of spells. Still, that wasn''t enough to shake her, while continuing to pin down Lara with her endless barrage of low tier spells, Irene was getting ready to use a stronger spell.


    Noticing the spike in Irene''s mana fluctuation Lara knew what was toe. Without any hesitation, Lara no longer blocked the iing spells and started evading those aimed at her vitals while allowing herself to get hit by the shallow ones. Lara needed to stop Irene from casting her spell, so she dashed forward towards Irene.


    Within a blink of an eye, Lara appeared before Irene. Those who were watching the match that couldn''t follow Lara''s movements were stunned into silence, while those who could see what she did were shivering in fear. Her speed and movements were unnatural. Layfon looked at Lara a bit amused. On the other hand, Henrietta looked at Lara with excitement. That move she used didn''t apply any mana at all, but it was impossible that would be a pure physical skill since no human could move that fast.


    ''Is she also using the same technique as Kretos?''


    ¡­


    Lara punched at Irene while releasing a burst of mana through her fist. Yet despite doing this Lara was unable to pierce through Irene''s mana barrier, and instead, a counterspell activated blowing Lara away.


    Lara quickly stopped herself from going out of the ring and stabilized her stance. As Lara was about ready to once again rush at the elf, Irene was done getting her spell ready. She quickly activated her spell and a violent tornado appeared in the middle of the ring.


    ¡­


    Seeing the raging tornado heading towards her, Lara didn''t panic as her expression remained stoic. In response to Irene''s spell, Lara gathered an enormous amount of mana through her legs. Lara then jumped upward and met the tornado head-on.


    Lara performed a mid-air summersault kick which unleashed a de of pure mana. The de cut right through the [tornado] spell and headed straight towards Irene. Seeing as you can''t kill during this tournament Lara made sure to aim at a non-vital area. Even if Irene has her arm cut off it could be easily reattached.


    As the de of mana struck Irene it was able to pierce through her mana barrier. This was the first time someone other than her master was able to pierce through her mana barrier. The de of mana had cut a bit of her skin and muscle, blood started flowing out.


    Both Irene and Lara were surprised by this oue, but for twopletely different reasons. Irene was surprised that her barrier had been prated this was a mana barrier that could withstand even high tier spells. On the other hand, Lara was surprised to see that she wasn''t able to cut off Irene''s hand.


    The two stopped attacking and looked at each other. The two of them now had a better grasp of how strong their opponent was.


    "It would seem that you are stronger than I expected," Lara spoke with her usual tone of indifference. Irene healed her shoulder as she looked at Lara her serene expression unchanging.


    "I too have underestimated how strong you are."


    "I see¡­ This means I can be a bit rougher on you." Lara changed her stance and lowered her center of gravity her body almost touching the ground.


    "I too need to get a bit serious. Even though my master told me not to use this unless absolutely necessary¡­ But I want to win this tournament and show to the world that my master is better than the Grand Mage." Irene closed her eyes and her mana started pouring out more so than before.


    "It would seem that our two contestants are about to get serious! But don''t worrydies and gentlemen the arena is surrounded by a barrier that could withstand even Demi-God level spells. Now let us bear witness to the climax of this exciting battle!" Henrietta shouted as the audience cheered in excitement.


    ¡­


    Irene''s mana that had flowed outward was so strong that it became visible to the naked eye. The mana then enveloped her and took shape, it formed into a long fox''s tail. This was the mana control her master thought to her.


    Irene then snapped her fingers and several dozen magic circles appeared above her head and surrounded the ring. Each spell seemed to be mid-tier and higher. As Irene was about to activate the spells and bombard the whole ring, she noticed that Lara had disappeared from her sight.


    She then felt someone standing behind her. Lara wanted to do a surprise stranglehold on Irene, but remembered that this was a magic tournament and she couldn''t finish her opponent with a physical move, she needed to use her mana outward like a spell.


    Lara''s dy had given Irene enough time to activate her spells. As she activated her spells the very picture of destruction had been disyed in the arena.


    Thunder fell from the sky, violent tornadoes surrounded the ring, the ground shook and broke, a massive fire started burning everything around it.


    The audience who were safe because of the barrier shuddered to think of what might happen if the barrier falls. Even Valdel looked a bit worried, was Irene nning to kill Lara?


    After several seconds, the numerous spells vanished and the winner of the battle stood in the middle of the ring unscathed, while the loser was pressed onto the ground unconscious.

 Chapter 338 - Quarter Finals (2)

    <h4>Chapter 338 - Quarter Finals (2)</h4>


    The audience was quiet as they held their breaths. The battle was so high-paced that most of them couldn''t see what was happening, and without even noticing it the victor was decided just like that. As everyone was waiting for the dust to clear to see who had won, Henrietta looked at the ring with an astonished expression.


    ''What was that?'' Before she used those mid-tier spells her mana spilled out and covered her¡­ I think I''ve seen that before, but where?''


    As Henrietta was trying her hardest to remember where she saw such mana control, the dust finally cleared. Everyone was surprised to see who the victor was. Standing with not a single scratch on her was Lara and the one on the ground unconscious was Irene.


    When Henrietta saw Irene''s condition she couldn''t understand how Lara beat her. There were no visible signs that Irene was attacked, except for the torn part of her dress that happened during the middle of the fight when Lara''s mana de pierced through. Henrietta frowned as she tried to figure out how Lara won. As she was fully engrossed in her own thoughts a voice sounded beside her.


    "She used her mana and bloodlust to pressure the enemy into the ground," Layfon spoke while looking amused.


    "Mana and bloodlust, how could?¡­" Henrietta then remembered another person who did something simr. This was one of Kretos''s favorite moves to test if one was worthy to fight him, but how could something like that affect someone on Irene''s level? As if reading her mind Layfon gave an answer.


    "The little elf girl isn''t weak but shecks actualbat experience. She has never fought a life and death battle before and being exposed to bloodlusting from someone like the Silent Death isn''t going to be easy to take. Even those battle-hardened A rank adventurers shiver when they hear her name much less feel her bloodlust from up close. Added to that fact she used her mana in tandem to her bloodlust, well this oue was within my expectations."


    Layfon shrugged his shoulders as he gave his opinion. Henrietta once again looked at Layfon with a bit more curiosity than before. This guy saw everything and he knew how Lara won.


    ''It would seem like I''ve underestimated this guy¡­''


    "Sody Henrietta won''t you announce who the winner is already?" Layfon shot a smile at Henrietta.


    "Ahem, Ladies and Gentlemen the winner of the first quarterfinals match is none other than the S rank Adventurer, Lara!"


    When the audience heard Henrietta''s announcement they were all jolted awake. Some of them were still unable to grasp what had happened, while others simply cheered out because of the excitement they were feeling.


    Once she was announced as the winner of the match Lara was about to walk out of the ring. As she was about to leave she felt an overwhelming presence behind her. Lara instinctively turned around and took a stance. Yet when she looked all she saw was the unconscious Irene.


    ''Was it just my imagination?''


    ¡­


    Once Irene was taken to the infirmary Henrietta was about ready to announce the next battle for tomorrow.


    "That was such an exciting battle! What a way to start the quarterfinals! Alright, let us continue the excitement and find out who will be participating in tomorrow''s match."


    Henrietta randomly pulled two names from the same hat she used yesterday. When she saw tomorrow''s match up her smile grew wider.


    "The next battle is between the half-demon Hime, and facing her is our very own mage from the Serbek Kingdom Afeus!"


    ¡­


    When Afeus heard his name being called he started to sweat. After watching today''s match he knew that this tournament''s level wasn''t something he could handle.


    ''Should I just forfeit?¡­'' The moment Afeus thought of that Kretos''s face shed in his mind. That confident look Kretos had as if there was nothing he couldn''t do was engraved in Afeus''s mind.


    ''If it were him facing a stronger opponent than himself, what would he do?¡­ Of course, there''s only one answer. That person wouldugh and smile merrily as if there was nothing to worry about¡­ Tsk, What the heck am I doing?¡­'' Afeus clenched his fist as a look of determination shined in his eyes.


    ¡­


    Hime was also in the arena as she was looking at her opponent for tomorrow''s match. Based on the intelligence she had gathered about the participants, a few months ago Afeus was just a normal student of one of the schools in the Serbek Kingdom. In fact, he was near the bottom of the ss when it came to the practical application of magic.


    Yet now he has be strong enough to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament that had more powerful participants than thest tournament.


    ''His increased abilities are surely rted to that mysterious transfer student, Kretos. Supposedly this transfer student is so strong that not even a family of powerful mages could stop him. Based on the rumors going around the city, if Kretos had joined the tournament he would have won. Even after witnessing the power of the so called geniuses first hand, the people of this city still believe that Kretos would win without any difficulty.''


    ''Kretos, he possesses the same name as the greatest demon to have ever existed. His personality, the way he acts, based on the rumors about him it''s as if he''s the Demon Lord himself¡­'' Hime shook her head since a human turning out to be the ancient demon lord could only happen in fairy tales.


    ''Still, overall it doesn''t seem like tomorrow will be a problem. I just need to win this tournament to smoke out those traitors that want to cause chaos.''


    ¡­


    It was already night time and the sound of someone moving around could be heard outside the men''s dormitories. Afeus was practicing the movements he saw Kretos do one time. Every time Kretos moved during a battle he would use this weird movement that would affect the enemy''s line of sight making him look like he disappeared due to how fast he was. But Afeus knew that truth, Kretos told him that he was using a technique.


    Afeus had been practicing this movement technique from the moment Kretos showed it to him, yet no matter how much he tried he couldn''t apply the move properly. Still, he needed it now to have even the slightest chance of victory.


    Afeus was panting as his sweat had drenched his whole body. Even as he felt exhausted he continued on as he needed to at least be able to use it once. Afeus once again tried to move but his body was feeling heavier than before. It was at that moment someone appeared before him.


    "Who taught you that move?" The one standing before him was one of the contestants in the tournament, Valdel the magic swordsman.


    "What''s it to you?" Afeus answered, but was also shocked that someone would ask that question. To an outsider, what he was doing just looks like he was practicing a weird-looking dance.


    "Please tell me who taught you that move." Valdel bowed his head as he once again asked. Afeus was truly surprised to see Valdel do this, he was expecting Valdel to get violent if he didn''t answer his question. All the people Afeus knew would have used violence to get what they want, this was the first time he saw someone bow his head in front of him.


    Afeus felt a bit awkward as he scratched his head. Afeus then approached the bowing Valdel until he was two feet away from Valdel.


    "There''s no need to bow, I''ll tell you who taught me the move."


    "Really, thank you very much!" Valdel raised his head and once again bowed his head.


    "Ohe on, I already told you not to bow your head. Someone as powerful as you shouldn''t be used to bowing his head like this."


    "What''s the difference between being strong or not. Isn''t itmon courtesy to show your sincerity when you are asking someone a favor?" Valdel looked at Afeus as he answered.


    Afeus was stunned, this was the first time he has encountered a person like this. He was used to those forceful types like Kretos who used their strength to their advantage. Seeing a person like this actually exist gave Afeus a weird feeling.


    "The guy who taught me the move is called Kretos." When Valdel heard Afeus''s answer he looked downcast. Noticing the change in Valdel''s expression Afeus was once again in an awkward position as he didn''t know what to say. After a minute of silence, Afeus spoke.


    "Um, so why did you ask who taught me the move?"


    "I''m looking for my best friend, and he uses a simr move. I thought that he was the one who taught you that footwork, but it seems like the footwork wasn''t Ren''s original."


    "Oh, I see¡­ I''m sorry that I wasn''t able to help."


    "Nah, it''s alright. Just telling me who taught the footwork was already a lot of help¡­ Can you show it to me one more time?"


    Afeus was confused as to why Valdel would want to see him do the weird footwork one more time, but he stillplied. Afeus once again used the footwork but it was still done wrong. After Afeus was done doing the footwork, Valdel approached him and looked at him up and down.


    "Your hands in the wrong position at the wrong time. Even though it''s footwork it doesn''t mean your legs are the only important thing to focus on, the position of your arms is equally important. Your arms help you with your center of gravity, so you won''t lose bnce. As you move you need your arms to work in tandem with your legs. That''s the only advice I can give you now, hope that helps. Good luck tomorrow." Valdel smiled as he waved his hand and left.


    Afeus stood there still confused by the whole encounter. After a while, Afeus looked at his hands.


    ''Not just my legs I need to be conscious of my hand cement as well¡­ It''s all about my center of gravity¡­ I see so that''s it! How did I miss something so simple?!'' Afeus got excited as he once again started practicing.

 Chapter 339 - Sasha?

    <h4>Chapter 339 - Sasha?</h4>


    After Valdel was done talking to Afeus he started walking back to the inn he was staying at. He continued feeling a little disappointed as he walked the nightly streets of the kingdom. He could hear the joyous conversations among the people regarding the fight earlier today. It would seem like everybody was talking about the tournament while drinking ale and being merry.


    Watching a couple of friends talking to each otherughing and generally having a good time, Valdel was once again reminded about his own childhood friends. One of them was dead, this event had almost torn his heart apart. Another was missing, this was something he expected from Ren, but it has been too long and he was getting worried. While thest one who was still with him was not in the mood to talk to him.


    "Lisa''s gone, making Lara feel a bit distant nowadays. I know she''s always been like that, but before no matter how distant I could still feel that our friendship was intact. Yet now I''m not sure anymore¡­ Then when I finally got a lead on Ren''s whereabouts it turns out it was nothing."


    ¡­


    When Valdel saw Afeus in the qualifiers he was astonished to see that his way ofbat looked a little bit like Ren''s style ofbat. It was incredibly crudepared to Ren''s overwhelming style but the basics were still there.


    Valdel truly thought that Afeus was someone personally taught by Ren. Yet the truth was a bit of a disappointment. Afeus wasn''t taught by Ren but was taught by someone named Kretos.


    ''Was that style widely spread? Does that mean Ren was also taught by someone? If that''s true then who taught him and when? I''ve been with Ren for so long and I haven''t noticed anyone that could have taught him those things.''


    While Valdel was thinking about his childhood, he saw Natasha running towards him.


    "Valdel something happened to Sasha."


    "Huh, what happened, is she alright?!"


    "Yeah she''s fine, but¡­ You just need toe." Natasha pulled Valdel forward.


    ¡­


    Valdel arrived at the inn they were he and the others were currently staying at. He quickly entered the room he rented and saw sitting at the corner of the room was a frightened-looking Sasha. She was looking at Valdel and the others with utmost fear.


    "Who are you people, where have you taken me?!" She shouted as she tried looking for something she can use as a weapon.


    "What''s happening to you, Sasha?" Valdel tried to approach the frightened girl but she then started throwing things at him.


    "Why do you people keep on calling me Sasha, my name''s not Sasha!" Sasha(?) screamed at them.


    "Alright, I believe you, so calm down first. We''re not here to hurt you, we just want to understand what''s happening." When Sasha(?) heard Valdel''s voice she somehow felt soothed. When she looked at how sincere and worried he was Sasha(?) feltforted. It was like an unknown force was making her feel better. A few minutester Sasha finally calmed down.


    "Are you feeling better now?" Zwei handed a ss of water. Sasha(?) nodded her head as she drank the ss of water seemingly no longer wary of Valdel and the others.


    "So can you tell us what''s your real name?"


    "I''m called Meline."


    "So Meline, what''s thest thing you remember before waking up here?" As Valdel asked this he checked Meline''s mana signature and felt that it was really different from Sasha''s. Yet there was no mistaking that the person in front of him was the girl who named herself Sasha.


    "Thest thing I remember was that I was in my room sleeping when I heard someone whispering in my ear, after that nothing. I don''t know how I came to this town nor how I met you, everything is a nk to me. Actually, we''ve been talking so much about me that I haven''t even gotten your names. Who are you people, and where am I?"


    Valdel introduced himself and the group before starting to tell the tale of how he and Meline met and how she called herself Sasha. After telling the story Meline looked even more confused and was starting to feel frightened again.


    "What the heck?! I''m now in the Serbek Kingdom, that''s two kingdoms over¡­" As Meline was getting even more disoriented, Valdel interrupted her thoughts.


    "You said you heard someone whispering while you were asleep, do you remember what that person said? Can you remember if the person who was talking was a male or a female? Tell me everything you can about that whispering voice. We should be able to understand what happened to you."


    "I was asleep, and I think the voice was that of a male¡­ I''m not sure since it sounded weird in my ear. The voice sounded like scratches, I can''t really exin it better. Just hearing it made me frightened since it felt like it wasing from a monster. I assumed I was having a nightmare as I couldn''t move an inch. I simply closed my eyes and hope the nightmare will end."


    Meline started to shiver as she recalled that night. It was so vivid in her memory it felt like it has just happened a few seconds ago. Her body was unable to move at the time as the voice felt like it was whispering directly in her ear. She even felt the person''s breath or so she thought. As she was feeling afraid again, she suddenly felt a warm hand, hold onto her hand.


    She looked and saw that the smiling boy called Valdel had held onto her hands. Seeing his smile and feeling his warmth made Meline feel secure, it made her feel safe. For some reason, this man that she just met made her feel confident.


    "It''s alright there''s nothing to be scared of. If anything happens I promise I will protect you, no matter what." Hearing Valdel''s resolute promise made Meline nod her head unconsciously. The three maidens with Valdel looked at the scene and sighed.


    ''This guy can really talk.'' Natasha frowned as she watched the scene happening before her.


    ''The worst part is he isn''t aware of what he''s doing¡­ Or is he aware?'' Zwei pondered as she looked at her master.


    ''I wish master would hold me like that '' Nika thought to herself as she pouted.


    Unaware of the thoughts of three girls Meline held onto Valdel''s hand even tighter as she tried recalling what the voice said.


    "I''m not entirely sure, but I think he said was something like. This vessel isn''t worthy but I have no time. I''ll use her for now and find a better vesselter. After that my consciousness cked out, and when I came to I was already here."


    ¡­


    While Valdel was trying to figure out what was happening to Meline, in another inn the hooded fighter Artifice was frowning.


    "The target suddenly disappeared. This mission is getting more troublesome by the minute." Artifice sighed as he remembered that he was the only one in the organization able to do this mission since he was the youngest. He was the only one able to enter the tournament without raising too much suspicion.


    ''The target must have hidden her mana signature. Based on the reports the target would surely join the tournament. So that must mean the target is one of the participants but I checked all of them and none of them fit the bill. Is there perhaps a mistake in the intelligence we gathered?''


    Artifice couldn''t help but feel irritated by the increasing difficulty of the mission at hand. He was sent here to deal with some evil being, but even after four whole days in the city, he couldn''t find the target. Worse yet was that until recently he could somehow sense the mana signature of the target and Artifice knew she was surely within the city but now Artifice wasn''t so sure.


    "Tsk, not only is the target hard to find but the contestants in the tournament aren''t pushovers either. To fulfill the mission I must win the tournament and kill the target. Yet it''s now proven that both will be quite difficult to achieve." Artifice once again sighed as he found his whole situation troublesome.


    ¡­


    In a certain room, someone was looking at a mirror with a smile on their face.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about. This one is way better than thest one I had. With this, I can finally do what I want." The mysterious person started to circte their mana to see what he was dealing with. Once the person felt every inch of the new body they obtained the person was pleasantly surprised.


    "This body is better than I thought! It''s not as good as my original body but it can do. I can use this body to find my original one and then true fun chaos can start again. But for now, I guess I can settle with a little mischief."


    "Hrl zngl hrmh fpgji, irmdei hrmh fnjd, seal he bnzl, mjd fl dlznjld. Flseal ao wpwwlhi mjd iwglmd hro zlmg mjd vbegnepi srmei irmbb mwwlmg!" The person started speaking in an unknownnguage that has been long forgotten.


    A number of shadow figures appeared before the person. Seeing this made the person chuckle and smile a very sinister smile. "Now let''s have some fun shall we." The person gave these shadowy figures an order. Hearing the person''s orders the shadowy figures were about to disperse, someone else spoke which surprised the person.


    "Oh, you want to have fun can I join in as well."


    "Who''s there?!"

 Chapter 340 - A Primordial Demon?

    <h4>Chapter 340 - A Primordial Demon?</h4>


    "Who''s there?!" The person shouted at the intruder who got behind it. The person was still rmed at how someone was able to escape its senses.


    "Oh my, you took over that body without even knowing anything about her. If you were to go out like that everyone would immediately know that you''re a fake." When the person heard what the unknown intruder said the person quickly realized that this intruder was somebody that the owner of the body knew. In fact, it would seem that they had an intimate rtionship.


    "How am I a fake? I was just surprised that someone suddenly entered my room." The person tried acting as if Irene wasn''t possessed.


    "The way you''re talking to me is already proof that you''re not the real one, but since you like to y this little game, let''s y. If you really are Irene you should know who I am." From within the shadows emerged a beautiful golden-haired maiden.


    ''This person isn''t an elf or a human, she''s one of those fakes that called themselves demons. What would a demon like this have to do with an elf? Not only that I can smell the stench of Death on this one, she''s alive but at the same time not.''


    "Of course I know who you are, you''re my teacher." Irene(?) smiled at the golden-haired maiden as it made a guess.


    "That''s correct," The golden-haired maiden smiled back. When Irene(?) heard that it was correct it almost sighed in relief. Yet the moment its muscles loosened she felt that its legs were being frozen. As Irene(?) was about ready to used spell words, a block of wind had covered her mouth making it unable to speak nor breathe properly. Irene(?) then tried using its hands, but rocks had encroached both of its hands. Irene(?) was fully detained it wanted to use no chant spells but against someone like this demon in front of it as its opponent, doing so was near impossible.


    ''I got no other choice I need to change hosts.'' The moment the one possessing Irene''s body thought of that, it tried to detach itself from Irene''s body but it quickly found out that it could not. It then saw the Golden-haired maiden smile mischievously.


    "You know my student has never called me teacher before, she always called me master or my esteem master. The way you looked and talked to me was all wrong from the start. The moment Irene would see me she would usually do a dogeza but you actually looked at me directly. Well anyway, there are a lot of ws in your acting, don''t you think so, Primordial Demon?"


    When the primordial demon heard what the golden-haired maiden said it was surprised. Time had eroded their myths, and they weren''t even spoken of as legends nor were they part of any fairy tales. They have long been forgotten in the annals of time. The only beings that could remember them would be the ancient races of deities, dragons, and the high elves.


    The only other being that knows of their existence was the ancient human hero that has been guarding their prison for a few millennia. Noticing the shocked expression of the primordial demon possessing Irene, the golden-haired maiden''s mischievous smile grew even wider.


    "You must be thinking how do I know about you senpai. You are one of the original demons, or to be more precise actual demons. Unlike us who came after, we were simply called demons but the truth was we were either humans that evolved differently or monsters that gained wisdom. The humans simply called us demons since they feared us, but in the back of their minds, they were thinking of you guys."


    The Golden-Haired maiden slowly walked up to the detained Irene(?). She then eyed Irene(?) from head to toe while muttering something under her breath.


    "While I was trying my best to save myself, the Giant Tree Jubokko had shared glimpses of its memories with me and I came to gain knowledge about you guys. Well to you guys the tree might have been called a different name. That''s the problem when an era ends and a new one takes root, the name changes all the time. The Giant tree Jubokko is what we used to call it during the era of demons but in this era the era of humanity''s dominance they call it the world tree. But its name during your time was something different Hrl bnzl hgll or in the current tongue the life tree."


    When Irene(?) heard the golden-haired maiden speak the old tongue it was surprising but when Irene(?) heard her say the life tree it was shaken to the core.


    Now that Irene(?) knows that the life tree still exists it was imperative that it should escape and tell the others. Irene(?) wanted to make the body it was possessing explode and then after it was free it would possess another individual and flee the kingdom.


    Yet as it was about to execute its n he noticed that it could no longer circte its mana. It then looked at the Golden-Haired maiden who was smiling ever so brilliantly.


    "You know I learned quite a bit about you guys from that tree. I was truly curious about what true demons were like, but after seeing you I''m quite disappointed, you''re just a parasite. Though I guess not all primordial demons are like you, the others should still have their true bodies."


    Irene(?) grew incensed when it heard what the golden-haired maiden said. A lowly fake demon was telling it that she was disappointed. Irene''s(?) body started to look like it was burning, something was about to happen. Yet despite the situation, the golden-haired maiden continued to look calm as if nothing was happening.


    "Well, it was kinda fun messing with you, but seeing how easily you''re provoked and how easily you got caught in my trap makes me think that the primordial demons aren''t really such a big deal."


    The golden-haired maiden tapped Irene''s(?) forehead and out came a red mist. Once the red mist came out of Irene''s body, the golden-haired maiden freed the unconscious elf. The red mist tried to flee but was blocked by an invisible barrier.


    "This was a rather interesting encounter, but the game is over." As the golden-haired maiden was about to end the other party''s life, the primordial demon spoke. Now that it was free from the body of the elf, the primordial demon felt a bit better.


    "Hahaha nice one my kohai however, even if you beat me nothing will change. You must never underestimate us primordial demons, as long as chaos and fear exist we will exist, and we will grow stronger. At this moment we haven''t even regained a quarter of our true strength, but once that gatekeeper dies we will once again create joyous chaos. The era of man is about to end, it will once again go back to the era of true demons. Well, this doesn''t really matter to someone like you who''s already dead."


    "Let me tell you onest thing before you go senpai. Even if what you sayes true, I don''t think you''ll ever win. Seeing as that idiot who loves battle still exists, he with that vicious smile on his face will annihte all of you¡­" The golden-haired maiden shrugged her shoulders as she destroyed the red mist in front of her.

 Chapter 341 - Journey To The Giant Tree Jubokko

    <h4>Chapter 341 - Journey To The Giant Tree Jubokko</h4>


    It has been two days since Ren and Le started their journey to the Giant Tree Jubokko. If it was Ren alone he could''ve gotten here within half a day, but since he was with Le who was still recovering from her long sleep reaching their destination took quite some time.


    During the journey to the Giant Tree Jubokko Ren was helping Le to get back into her peak condition. Now that Ren had trained quite a few people already it was easier for him to teach Le a few things.


    In the few days he was teaching Le, Ren noticed that the werewolf little sister of his was truly talented. In the past, he actually thought that Le was a bit slow since he wasparing her with himself and those of the Shadow n. But now that he had taught others and had met many people he finally understood that Le was actually someone with great ability.


    Le was more dexterous than even Lara, she was also a tiny bit stronger than Iselv a descendant of giants, she was also a quick learner like Valdel. Overall among the people Ren had trained Le was among the best.


    He also learned that though Le was good with daggers, her talent truly shines when she was using ance. Unfortunately, the girl herself doesn''t seem to like usingnces.


    ¡­


    While journeying with Ren, Le''s mncholy was swept away. The joy of training with Ren was a true treat for her. Still, she didn''t like it when Ren tried teaching her spear arts. To her, the time when she saw Kretos used those daggers in battle was the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.


    She wanted to recreate that scene, she wanted to be as good as him. She wanted to be able to dance with her des the same way Kretos once did. Though the spear was easier to pick up, she didn''t like its design nor did she like the idea of using any other weapon aside from the daggers.


    ''Even if Big Bro wants me to discard the daggers for the spear, I won''t do it.'' Even with Ren telling her to, this was the only thing Le couldn''t agree with.


    ¡­


    In the forest under the world tree was the new home of the elves. After the defeat of the demons a millennia ago, the elves took over the area to take care of the tree of life which was currently called the world tree.


    An elf of unbelievable beauty was sitting on one of its branches sleeping. As she slept soundly her long silver hair fluttered with the wind. She then slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by the morning sun.


    "So he hase, another incarnation of the strongest mortal soul." The beautiful high elf who was also the current Queen of the elves sighed.


    ''How long has it been since we entertained one of his incarnations? Thest incarnation was the demon lord, thest queen ordered us not to get involved in that conflict. It''s never a good thing to get in a conflict with any of that person''s incarnations. Yet despite the former queen''s many warnings, there were still idiots that caused trouble and allied with the humans.''


    Remembering those foolish ones that went against the former queen''s orders made her feel a wave of intense anger.


    ''Those fools how could they forget what kind of being the strongest mortal soul is? Once that person considers you an enemy then you''re pretty much dead. The only beings that could somehow fight that person are deities and those above them. It''s a good thing that I quickly executed the traitorous fools once I became the new queen. If he somehow remembers that, then¡­ I''ll just apologize with everything I have.''


    The Queen of the Elves once again sighed as she thought about facing Ren. If he somehow gets upset he might annihte their whole race. ''Why did he need to reincarnate in this world again? Why didn''t he go to another world? He might be a hero in many of his incarnations but every time he shows up it always means the changing of an era¡­'' The beautiful Queen of the Elves sighed heavily and looked extremely tired.


    ¡­


    On the third day of their journey, Ren and Le could finally see the Giant Tree Jubokko or the world tree in which it was called nowadays. The forest that surrounded it was much thicker than before. Also, the mana surrounding the ce seems to be much denser and purer than the time he wasst here.


    Ren had felt something simr back in the forest of mist, where one of the Golden Dragonsid dead.


    ''Not only did the mana be denser but the tree has grown quite tall, it''s pretty much going beyond the clouds at this point. Thest time I''ve seen it, the tree could barely touch the clouds. It''s been a long time since then.''


    Ren closed his eyes and remembered his first journey towards this ce. At that time he was heading here wanting to rescue Le. This time he already rescued Le and wanted to do the same for Tsukiko.


    A series of scenes sh before his mind, as nostalgia came flooding at Ren. Those days with her by his side weren''t bad. Just remembering the days of him and Tsukikozing around in the throne room made Ren smile.


    ''No matter where you hide I will find you little fox.'' As Ren and Le were about to step foot into the forest, Ren sensed that there were multiple presences hiding in the trees.


    "Why don''t you guyse out and show your faces, or is hiding like rats the elven way?" Ren tried provoking the prideful elves, but for some reason, not one of them held any ill intent. Usually, at this point, those haughty elves should be full of bloodlust but there was none of that. Ren was rather confused by this reaction as it differed from those elves he met long ago.


    "I''m sorry if bringing this much has offended you." A tall silver-haired elf appeared before Ren and Le. The beautiful elf was bowing her head and so did the people standing behind her. The feeling the Elven Queen and her men were exuding was something extremely familiar to Ren¡­ This was fear, pure, and unbarred fear.

 Chapter 342 - A Talk About The Past

    <h4>Chapter 342 - A Talk About The Past</h4>


    The Elven Queen was talking to the other elders when she suddenly felt the strongest mortal soul''s nearing presence. She started to think if she should go by herself or have an entourage. If she came by herself he might think that they were being rude.


    ''Tsk, there''s no time to think I just bring whoever is avable.'' The Elven Queen quickly called the nearby soldiers and elders toe with her.


    ¡­


    As their group was gliding through the forest, the Elven Queen could feel a powerful presence approaching. When they were by the entrance of the forest, the Elven Queen as well as the other elves couldn''t help but stare at the man just outside the perimeter of the forest.


    The current Elven Queen hasn''t actually seen an incarnation of the strongest mortal soul but based on the memories passed down by the former elven queens the person standing at the entrance of the forest wasn''t someone the elves can mess with.


    Now that she has personally seen him she finally understood what those past Elven Queens meant. That sheer force of his presence was frightening not to mention that immense mana that he''s trying to suppress.


    The Elven Queen and the others continued to stare in a dazed state. Despite knowing that the one looking like he was reminiscing was the strongest mortal soul, they couldn''t help but be shocked. They had met many humans before but none of them possess such abundant and pure mana.


    "Why don''t you guyse out and show your faces, or is hiding like rats the elven way?" When the Elven Queen heard that person''s voice her whole body shuddered. She and the elders standing behind her quickly stood before Ren and bowed their heads.


    "I''m sorry if bringing this much has offended you." The Elven Queen and the others didn''t dare lift their heads as they waited for Ren to say something. Most of them had seen the ounts in regards to the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    All the incarnations of this being had nearly identical personalities and fates. They all loved to battle, it was as if they were born to do just that. No one, not even the first Queen that had met an incarnation of the strongest mortal soul knew why they loved battle so much. Aside from that, all the incarnations have been called the strongest of their generation. As long as they get to reach a certain point in their life, it is all but certain that each incarnation would be someone that could shake the world and beyond. They were natural disasters and at the same time saviors.


    ¡­


    "It would seem that you guys know who I am."


    "Of course stories of the strongest mortal soul has been passed down for ages. Even as the world resets we have been able to somehow sustain the knowledge of the lost epoch."


    ''I see they don''t know Ren, but they know of my previous incarnations.''


    "Hmm¡­ I see¡­ So who are you?"


    "My apologies for not introducing myself beforehand." The Elven Queen once again bowed her head.


    "Enough of the bowing, it''s starting to get irritating." The Elven Queen and the others quickly lifted their heads.


    "My apologies, I am the current Elven Queen Kara."


    "So how were you able to determine who I was so quickly?"


    "I could read some traces of the flow of fate, and with the memories of the previous Elven Queens I could somehow understand who you are."


    "Read the flow of fate?¡­ That does sound interesting, but that''s not what I came here for."


    "If there is anything you need, the whole elven race will try and help."


    "Oh?¡­ If you already know about me, that would mean you also know about myst incarnation correct?" When Kara heard Ren''s question she couldn''t help but sigh in her heart. She already knew that he would ask her this question but she wasn''t expecting it to be this terror-inducing. Kara looked Ren in the eyes as she gathered her resolve.


    "Yes, we knew of your past incarnation."


    "Then you should also know what you guys did back then."


    "I know this might sound like an excuse, but those things were done by traitors. We have already dealt with them."


    "So you''re telling me the ones who helped my son were already killed by you." When the Elven Queen heard what Ren said, she immediately knew that this incarnation has memories of his past life. Another ancient Elven Queen had met a past incarnation with a simr situation. She had was fortunate enough that the incarnation she met was a more understanding type. The one before her now was a former demon lord who had conquered and massacred thousands. Yet for some reason, there was no anger in Ren''s tone.


    "Yes, we had killed them all."


    "Heh, that''s too bad I wanted to thank those people for helping my foolish yet loyal son."


    "Huh?" All the elves who knew of that incident were dumbfounded to hear what Ren said. What did he mean thanking the traitors, as well as having a loyal son?


    ''If I remember correctly the son he''s talking about was the one that killed him in the end. Why is he calling him a loyal son?'' Ren noticed the confused looks the Elves were showing and wryly smiled.


    "You all must think my son was a traitor, of course, you would all think that, who wouldn''t? But in my eyes, that son of mine was the most filial of all. He had given me the greatest gift I could have ever wanted. He had granted me the taste of defeat, and more than that he had allowed me to die in battle!" Ren viciously smiled as he remembered those final moments in hisst life.


    The dullness and boredom he felt before were all erased by that single battle. He was outwitted by his own son and he was defeated promptly. He had numerous battles, more than he could ever remember but among those battles, the one he would never ever forget was that one battle were he had lost. That battle was even more memorable than the one he had with the ORIGIN.


    When Kara heard what Ren said and as she looked at Ren''s smiling face, she couldn''t help but gulp dryly. This was indeed the strongest mortal soul, the one who loves battle and in return is loved by battle.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter, since you have already killed them then that''s the end of it. Now onto my real business¡­ I''m here looking for someone."

 Chapter 343 - Quarter Finals (3)

    <h4>Chapter 343 - Quarter Finals (3)</h4>


    It was the third day of the tournament and the audience was even more excited than they were yesterday. After watching the battle between Irene and Lara the audience knew that this year''s tournament would be like no other. It was just the first match and it was already beyond anyone''s expectations.


    ¡­


    Hime continued to meditate as she waited for her name to be called. As she was trying to concentrate, she couldn''t help but recall that terrifying surge of mana she feltst night. It happened so suddenly and left within half a second, some might have thought it was nothing but one''s imagination, but Hime knew that wasn''t the case.


    ''There was a very sinister aura, that was when I felt that horrifying surge of mana, after that the sinister aura disappeared. There''s obviously a connection between the two, but what. Is this perpetrated by those traitors as well?''


    Hime couldn''t help but frown remembering those traitors that had left the city. If the other races knew of those traitors'' ns the others of her race who hadn''t done anything would also be held ountable.


    ¡­


    On the other side of the arena, Afeus was trying his hardest to stay calm. Unlike the preliminaries, this was the true battle. There was an actual chance of death in this one. Though if Hime actually killed him she would automatically be disqualified.


    ''No, I should treat this as a life or death battle. If I make a mistake here I really might die. If my performance turns out to be cowardly andughable, even if I do survive Kretos might actually kill me.'' Afeus tried to gather his resolve as he waited for his name to be called.


    ¡­


    "Good daydies and gents! Today marks the third day of the Grand Mage''s tournament. I know you people can no longer wait for this to get started, so let''s get it on!" Henrietta was full of vigor as she made the announcement. This was the match she wanted to see the most. Afeus was someone Kretos personally trained. She knew quite a bit about Afeus before meeting Kretos, and it wasn''t an exaggeration to say that in the practical field of magic he was below average. He was only good in the theoretical field of magic and had a bit of knowledge of alchemy. Basically, he was a mage that was unsuited for battle and more suited for research.


    ''Let''s see how much you improved.''


    "Alright then, We all know the legends of how the demons used to be the strongest of all beings an even match to the mythical dragons of old. Today we shall witness the prowess of a descendant of such a race! On the right side of the ring, hailing from the western desert is the half-demon Hime!"


    Hime stood up from her lotus position and jumped into the ring. As she opened her eyes she looked at Afeus like a lion looks at her prey.


    "Now onto the next contestant. Hailing from the Serbek Kingdom, and the biggest dark horse this tournament has ever seen, Afeus!" When the audience heard Afeus was part of the Serbek Kingdom they started cheering even louder than before. It has been a few decades now since someone from the Kingdom reached the Quarter Finals. Knowing that there was such a student in the Kingdom made the citizens excited.


    ¡­


    When he heard his name being called Afeus with all his courage was about to step forward, but then the audience burst into cheers. Their cheering made Afeus feel like the ground was shaking, but in truth, it wasn''t the ground that was shaking it was his legs.


    The cheering was having the opposite effect on Afeus. He felt an unknown weight pushing down on his shoulders. It was getting a bit harder to step onto the ring. Afeus gritted his teeth as he finally took one step forward.


    ''It''s now or never!'' Afeus step foot onto the stage.


    ¡­


    "So Sir Layfon what do you think of the participants of this round?" Henrietta asked Layfon who was sitting beside her.


    "Hime being a half-demon has greater physical strength than a normal human, not to mention that demons are known to have a massive supply of mana. Basing on the preliminary match I saw, Hime is a person who doesn''t leave anything to chance. On the other hand, Afeus is pretty much out of ce in this tournament. I admit he is above average, and I''m not sure if he''s hiding a trump card, but based on what I saw of him I''m sorry to say but he won''tst in this tournament."


    "Oh, is that so?" Henrietta was quite amused by Layfon''s assessment since she also made a simr assessment. But unlike Layfon she was expecting to see something unexpected, after all, Afeus was someone trained by Kretos.


    ¡­


    Hearing what Layfon said made Afeus clenched his fist. He already knew that among the participants in this tournament he was the weakest, but saying he has no chance at all made him a bit angry not at Layfon but at himself. He was angry that he was actually agreeing to Layfon''s assessment of him.


    "Hey, how about you forfeit the match?" Hime spoke with a bit of sympathy in her voice. She joined this tournament to capture the traitors of their race, so if possible if she could she didn''t want to hurt too many unrted people.


    When Afeus heard what Hime said he looked at her and saw that sympathetic look on her face. Seeing that made Afues bite his lips.


    "Each and every one of you keeps on underestimating me. Here and now I will show you that I am not someone that you can just overlook!" Afeus took his stance as all the worry and anxiety he was feeling a while ago was curbed by determination. Seeing Afeus''s resolve made Hime sigh. It would seem that words would no longer work on him.


    Hime no longer had a choice, she needed to beat Afeus and if possible beat him without hurting him too much. She could only think this way since the gap in their abilities was clear to see. Hime started to feel the breath of her mana¡­ Seeing as the two contestants were about ready to go Henrietta announced the start of the match with zeal.

 Chapter 344 - Quarter Finals (4)

    <h4>Chapter 344 - Quarter Finals (4)</h4>


    Afeus awaited the signal for the start of the match as he stood there using the same stance Kretos had shown him he felt his heart beating faster than ever. The thumping of his heart was so loud it felt even louder than the cheering audience.


    Afeus felt his hands and legs were trembling. He tried calming himself down but it was proving to be quite the challenge. As he was breathing it felt like he was out of oxygen. The view before him was bing a bit hazier as it felt like the world was spinning. He gritted his teeth and tried to power through.


    ''I only have one shot at this. The first move needs to be thest move. If I can''t finish her then, I''ll receive one heck of counter-attack.'' Even as fear was gripping his heart, Afeus was also feeling excited. This was a battle that could test the limits of his current abilities. He wanted to see how far Kretos''s training had led him. He wanted to test out the theories he had created.


    Afeus looked at the calm Hime and stared at her every movement. He concentrated to the utmost of his abilities so he could observe every single motion that she made, if possible he wanted to see the very moment her muscles twitches.


    On the other hand, Hime was unperturbed by everything that was going on around her. This was just a minor event for her. She noticed Afeus''s unusual stance but she wasn''t that bothered about it. In the face of the overwhelming difference in power, nothing Afeus can bring out should be any threat to her. In fact, she really wanted Afeus to simply forfeit as it was obvious to anyone this match was a waste of time.


    "It looks like the two of them are ready. The second battle of the Quater Finals, BEGIN!"


    When Afeus heard Henrietta say the words begin he wanted to use the move he had been practicing all this while, but his legs were feeling heavier than usual. Even though he was filled with resolve, deep down there was still the cowardly Afeus in there. He knew that if she wanted to she could kill him with a flick of a wrist. At this moment If Hime decided to attack he wouldn''t be able to do anything.


    "Come at me Afeus, give me everything you got. Once you expended all your options only then will I defeat you. At least this way you would lose without any regrets." Hime tried to encourage Afeus in her own way, though the words she used were able to encourage Afues, but not in the way she was hoping.


    Hearing Hime saying those words made Afeus gnashed his teeth in frustration. He wasn''t even being considered as a proper opponent. In Hime''s eyes, he was nothing more than a training dummy that could somehow attack. Yet more than the frustration, than the anxiety he was feeling, Afeus felt angry not at Hime nor anyone else but at himself. When he met Kretos he thought that he had somehow changed, but he still remained the same cowardly person as he was before.


    ''Nothing has changed, I only fooled myself¡­''


    "Why aren''t you doing anything? Is it really too much for you, if so shouldn''t you just forfeit?" Hime who was waiting for Afeus to attack was getting a bit impatient.


    ''Should I really forfeit this match? It''s pretty obvious that I''m no match for her.'' Afeus closed his eyes as hopelessness started to spread within him. As he was about ready to quit he heard his voice in the back of his mind.


    "Is that it, is that all your worth?" Afeus was surprised to hear his voice, it was as if he was standing there right in front of him with that vicious smile of his. Just remembering that smile of his when a battle was nearing made Afeus start to smile as well.


    Seeing the rather eerie smile Afeus had on his face made Hime step back a bit. It was at that moment Afues started tough heartily.


    "Yeah, this is no time to back out. If I did that what will be the point of all the training I did!" Afeus was still trembling, so he gathered mana into his fingers and stabbed his right hand. The pain was rather strong, but it did help Afeus body to stop trembling.


    When Hime and everyone else saw what Afues did they were stunned into silence. Henrietta was also confused as to why he did that.


    ''Did the fear made him insane?'' Hime was rather confused by what just transpired, she then saw Afeus smiling at her. In the next moment, Afeus disappeared from her sight. Hime looked all around but couldn''t find him. The audience on the other hand saw what Afeus did and they couldn''t understand why he was doing that weird dance.


    ¡­


    "That''s Ren''s move!" Lara who was watching the battle was surprised to see Ren''s favorite opening move. ''Who the heck is that guy, does he know Ren?'' Lara wanted to charge into the ring and start interrogating the guy called Afeus, but if she did that she would be disqualified.


    ''Is the mission more important than Ren? Of course not, but if I fail my mission and Ren finds out I did it because of my own selfishness he might get angry¡­ Damn it what should I do?!'' As per usual on the outside, Lara remained stoic and ice-cold, but on the inside, she was screaming girl in love. The people sitting beside her were rather afraid of this cold beauty who was called the silent death and backed away.


    ¡­


    Afeus had sessfully used Kretos''s movement technique. It''s just like he had practiced, at this point Hime shouldn''t be able to follow his movement. In Hime''s point of view, Afeus had disappeared from her sight.


    Hime quickly activated her mana barrier and waited for Afeus iing attack. It doesn''t matter if she couldn''t see him, since any attack he would make would be deflected by the mana barrier.


    ¡­


    Afeus got behind Hime and started circling around her while doing that weird dance where he moves onto his opponent''s blind spots. While he was doing this Afeus was gathering mana into a ball. This was the only spell Kretos was able to teach him¡­ After gathering all the mana he could without fainting, Afeus unleashed the ball of mana onto Hime from behind.

 Chapter 345 - Quarter Finals (5)

    <h4>Chapter 345 - Quarter Finals (5)</h4>


    Hime stood in the center of the ring and was waiting for Afeus to strike. The movement technique Afeus was using was indeed something she couldn''t deal with. If Afeus were a stronger individual she would''ve been dead already. But since Afeus was too weak he hasn''t attacked yet.


    While Hime continued to wait she suddenly felt something hitting her from behind. The walls of her mana barrier were cracking. Hime tried to move away from whatever was hitting her, but it followed her as close as possible. Eachyer of her mana barrier was being broken and the horrifying pressure of the mana ball could be felting ever closer to her.


    Even though it was evident that this attack could defeat her, Hime didn''t panic, instead, she quickly tightened her defense by concentrating more of her mana into her barrier. The moment she did that Afeus suddenly appeared in front of her.


    "You finally took the bait!" Afeus who appeared before her shouted with a smile on his face. Hime was surprised by his sudden appearance and was about to reflexively cast a spell but Afeus''s move was faster. Afeus swung his hand that was bleeding and some of the blood sprayed onto Hime''s eyes. She was momentarily blinded by the blood that covered her eyes, it was then she felt Afeus was touching her in different ces, but they weren''t attacks he was just touching her.


    "Are you a pervert!" Hime screamed as she tried to rub the blood out of her eyes. Afeus was unperturbed by the usation as he did touch her, but it wasn''t for anything sexual.


    Hime was about ready to attack since Afues had already made his move. She started to gather mana but as she did so she felt her body was bing heavier. The more mana she circted through her body the heavier her body became.


    "What did you do?!"


    Afeus smiled as he saw that his long time experiment was a sess. With the movement technique, as well as the mana cirction he learned from Kretos Afeus was able to create a chance to use his new magic.


    "This is an original spell that I created which I call blood magic. Well, the truth is the name is temporary it''s not really blood magic, but it is magic that uses my blood. I have enhanced my blood using alchemy for over a decade. Now with my distinct mana signature, I can do various spells with it as the medium." Afeus happily replied as he started writing some runes on the floor using his blood.


    Hime felt that something wasn''t right and started to struggle free. Yet no matter what she did her body wasn''t responding properly. She tried forcing the blood away using a spell, but every time she tried to do so the blood that was all over her body started to feel like it was burning.


    The moment Afeus was about to unleash his strongest original spell, Henrietta spoke. "STOP!" When Afeus heard Henrietta''s voice he wasn''t sure what she was saying as he was fully concentrated on the spell he was constructing. It was then Afeus was suddenly surrounded by three men one of which was Layfon. Someone was also on the other side helping Hime.


    Seeing the scene the audience was confused. Why did the supervisors of the tournament stop the match?


    "So Afeus, I want you to stop circting your mana flow for now. If you make an unexpected move, I might identally kill you out of reflex." Layfon gently spoke to Afeus who quickly did as he was told.


    "Good boy." Layfon smiled as he no longer felt Afeus circting his mana. Henrietta came down as well and approached the confused Afeus.


    "That was a good match Afeus, but unfortunately you might have done some things that went against the rules."


    "Huh?"


    "Do you remember the few rules this tournament has?"


    "One cannot kill the opponent. Using a weapon from swords to staves are prohibited. The use of potions and other misceneous artifacts that enhances one''s abilities is also prohibited. Every participant can only use outward spells and cannot use body enhancement spells. Victory is determined when the opponent surrenders or is unable to continue." Afeus recited the rules of the tournament word per word.


    "So do you understand what you did wrong?" Afeus thought about it for a while and finally understood what was happening.


    "Is the blood in which I enhanced with alchemy considered a weapon, or is it considered something akin to a potion?"


    "It''s both actually. You did really well to get this far, if it weren''t for the rules you would''ve actually won the battle. But unfortunately, this is it for you. Can you undo the spell you used on Hime?" Afeus sighed as he nodded his head. After doing some few hand movements the blood that was all over Hime''s body started to disperse. As she regained her sight Hime gritted her teeth and red at Afeus.


    Based on what she heard, it would seem that she was going to win this match. But she knew that her victory was a hollow one. She was still a bit angry at Afeus for touching her body all over, but aside from that, she was angry at her own overconfidence. If the battle continued she would''ve lost without being able to do anything at all.


    ¡­


    "Due to viting the rules, Afeus is disqualified. So the winner of today''s match is Hime!" When the audience heard Henrietta''s announcement they were confused. No one pped nor cheered as the winner of the match was the person who wasn''t able to do anything, while the loser was the one who had one-sidedly attacked.


    After a while, some of the audience members started booing and throwing stuff at the stage. The people in charge of security immediately moved in and tried calming the audience down.


    ¡­


    As the audience was being suppressed by security Hime approached Afeus. Seeing the half-demon girl approaching Afeus smiled wryly.


    "Congrattions on the victory."


    "It is not my victory it is yours. I had looked down on you and that was my mistake. You are a true mage, and from now on my rival. This time it is your victory, but the next time it will be mine." Hime extended her hand towards Afeus.


    "Heh, very well I will wait for our next confrontation but I''m sure I''ll be the winner at that time as well." Afeus shook Hime''s hands¡­ After shaking hands Hime nodded her head and left the stage.

 Chapter 346 - The Elven City

    <h4>Chapter 346 - The Elven City</h4>


    When the Elven Queen heard that Ren was looking for someone she straightened her back. It was pretty obvious who the former demon lord wanted to meet. It has been five centuries since that person woke up and became the representative of the tree of life, or was it more urate to say she was now part of the tree of life.


    "Based on your reaction it would seem that I don''t even need to tell you who I''m looking for, you already know don''t you?" Kara nodded her head and replied.


    "I''m not going to lie to you, it is true than we know about the person you seek."


    "Then this would be simple then, bring me to her."


    "I shall, but before I do so, I need to tell you something," Kara spoke with a bit of nervousness in her tone.


    "What is it?" Ren replied sounding a bit impatient, as it has been a few millennia since hest met the naughty little fox.


    "Before I continue how should I address you?"


    "You can just call me Ren, and the one with me is my little sister Le."


    "Very well, Sir Ren, Lady Le. I wish to have this conversation in a more suitable ce, can I lead you there?"


    Ren clicked his tongue as this wishy-washy route was getting on his nerves. ''It''s alright it''s already been a few millennia, what''s a few more minutes.'' Ren calmed himself down and nodded his head in acknowledgment.


    When Kara heard Ren clicking his tongue she was already expecting the worst, but when she saw him nod his head she sighed in relief in her heart.


    ''Meeting with the strongest mortal soul is more stressful than anything I have ever been through.'' Kara continued to smile as she guided Ren and Le into the Elven City Emyhesari.


    ¡­


    Ren and Le followed Kara and the other elves deeper into the forest. Ren who has been here before was amazed by how much it had changed. Even though he already understood that a couple of millennia has passed since he has been herest, but seeing the difference with his own eyes was something else.


    ¡­


    The forest had numerous houses on top of the trees. These houses didn''t seem like they were built by hand, instead, instead it seems like the trees themselves took the shape of a house. The elves who were inside these houses looked at passing Ren and Le with curiosity.


    ¡­


    There was a river flowing through the city and at the end of it was ake were elven children yed.


    The few elven children in the city were rather curious about the new arrivals. It was their first time seeing another race and they wanted to approach the neers. When Le noticed the curious stares of the little elven children she smiled sweetly and beckoned the children toe to her.


    Seeing Le''s gesture, several elven children happily approached Le. They gathered around her and looked at her full of curiosity.


    "Excuse me, but who are you?" One of the elven children asked.


    "Hi, little ones my name''s Le, and that over there is my big bro Ren." Le pointed at Ren who was waiting for her to finish talking with the children.


    "He''s your big bro? Then why do you have fluffy ears and he doesn''t?"


    "That''s because I''m the cute one which is why I have fluffy ears, and he''s the grumpy one which is why he doesn''t have any."


    "Miss Le, can I touch your ears?" Another child asked.


    "Sure you can." Le picked up the child and allowed the little elf child to touch her wolf ears. When the other elven children saw this they all started to get a bit rowdy and asked if they too can touch Le''s ears. Seeing as they were only a few of them Le allowed all the children to touch her ears.


    While every child was having fun touching her ears, Le noticed that there was one child not joining in the fun.


    "Is there something wrong little one?" The elven child had his arms crossed as he answered Le.


    "Can you please stop calling us little ones? I have a name and it''s not little one, it''s Callon. You can''t fool me I''ve read that people from the outside might look old but are actually younger than us. I''m already seventy-one years old this year."


    "Oh is that so? Then I can still call you little one since I''m already eleven thousand fifteen years old." Le smiled mischievously at the child.


    "That can''t be, you''re a liar. The books in the library said that humans can only live for a century, and only a few can live for more than two centuries."


    "Well, I guess that''s true. But in the first ce, I''m not a human, I''m a demon or to be more precise a werewolf."


    "Really?!" Callon suddenly looked at Le with a zing curiosity in his eyes.


    "You''re a demon from the werewolf tribe, so what''s your other half?"


    "I''m not a half-demon, I''m a full-fledged demon and a pure-blooded werewolf."


    "That can''t be, I''ve read that there no pure-blooded demons exist anymore. The history books in the library said that the pure-blooded demons all perished a millennia ago¡­ Oh wait, you''re older than a millennium so that means you''re from the old era. Are there any more pure-blooded demons like you that survive?"


    When Le heard what Callon said she was once again reminded that this was a different era. Seeing the changing expression on Le''s face one of the elders approached the children.


    "That''s enough children, Miss Le and her brother are about to have an important conversation with the Queen." As the elven children were being led away, Callon spoke to Le.


    "Miss Le, when you''re done with your talk, can you tell me more about the werewolf tribe and the other demons from thest era. There''s not much information about the previous era in the library so I''m really curious."


    Le looked at Callon whose face was brimming with curiosity. Seeing that expectant look on his face made Le''s lips curve upward.


    "Sure, I''ll tell you everything I know." Hearing Le''s answer Callon smiled brightly.


    "Thank you, Miss Le, see youter." Callon waved his hands at Le as he sprinted back to the group of elven children. Le waved her hands in response and returned to Ren''s side.


    "Sorry for the dy."


    "Are you alright?" Ren asked. Seeing the look of concern on Ren''s face Le nodded her head and smiled awkwardly.


    "Yeah¡­ Yeah, I am."

 Chapter 347 - The Tree Of Life

    <h4>Chapter 347 - The Tree Of Life</h4>


    After the short dy with talking to the elven children, Kara guided Ren and Le to the center of the city near the tree of life. Now that he was close to the tree, Ren noticed that the tree was bigger than it was when looking at it from a distance. But more than that what really took Ren by surprise was the thickness of the mana near the tree.


    It was thicker and denser than whatever Ren could dish out. In fact, this level of power was the same as those on the top 50 incarnations in his soul realm. Yet unlike what they emit which was suffocating and overbearing, the mana released by the tree was soothing and harmonious.


    Ren found that being this close to something that''s pumping out this much mana made it easier for his body to absorb more mana. Right now after his soul was fixed by the ORIGIN, he was already growing stronger at a ridiculous rate, but being near this tree was able to slightly speed up his already ludicrous growth rate.


    ''Just by merely existing I grow stronger. This is so much more than I expected when I heard him say that. If I had this ability back in the day wouldn''t the battles be boring even faster?¡­ Well, even with this kind of growth rate I''m still not going to be a match for the ORIGIN any time soon. Heck, I''m still not even a match for an adult dragon at this point.'' Ren whose thoughts were straying noticed that Kara stopped moving.


    They had reached a ce beside the Tree of life near where the river flows. In that ce, there was a house made out of roots and greenery.


    "This is a safe ce to have our conversation." After Kara spoke she signaled the Elders and the Guards to leave them be. Once the others were gone Kara gestured for Ren and Le to enter.


    ¡­


    Ren, Kara, and Le sat down inside the house made from nature. The seats were branches and the table was also arge branch. Ren finally noticed that this house as well as all the other houses seem to be connected to the Tree of Life.


    At first, he thought that the houses were connected to the trees near them, but now that he looked at it that doesn''t seem to be the case. Ren was rather intrigued by the tree of life, to be able to do all of this did it have sapience or not?


    While Ren was once again having his thoughts going elsewhere, Kara was about ready to talk. She looked at the wandering eyes of Ren and coughed. Ren was brought back from his idle thought and looked at Kara.


    "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Ren asked as he was finally focused on Kara.


    "I want to talk about the person of whom you seek, but before that, I need to exin something about the tree of life, the world tree."


    "Stop trying to sound mysterious and just get to the point," Ren spoke while exuding a tiny portion of his mana.


    "Yes, I''m sorry about that. The world tree or as you know it the giant tree Jubokko is the source of this world''s mana. The mana that flows and surrounds us, all of ites from the tree. This tree has existed since the world restarted, nay it existed even before that. It provides the mana to every single thing in this world."


    "Then what of the mana that flows within me?" Le interrupted as she found what Kara was saying confusing.


    "The mana that is within you is produced by yourself, but at the beginning of everything, the tree of life was the one that granted mana onto the world. In the beginning, nothing had mana but upon the tree of life''s creation, it created a new source of energy, which waster called mana. With the tree of life present, the world was slowly being filled with mana. As the world changed every single thing within it changed alongside it, which included humans and the other races. To adapt to a world that was brimming with mana, the bodies of all the races evolved into one that can store mana into their bodies like blood. If ever therees a time when the tree of life was lost then our world will slowly lose mana and everything that has to do with it will disappear. The races will slowly forget about the world that was once filled with magical spells, and the races that are mostly made of mana will cease to exist."


    Hearing what Kara said Ren could already guess where this conversation was going, making him frown. Still, he patiently listened to what Kara was saying. On the other hand, Le found the conversation strange.


    "Does this history lesson have anything to do with the person big bro is looking for?"


    "It has everything to do with her. The one you''re looking for is the Demonic Fox Tsukiko, correct?" Ren and Le nodded their heads in response.


    "She is indeed here and had woken up five centuries ago. Based on what she told me, a couple of millennia ago she was on the verge of death, and as sheid underneath the tree of life she was absorbed by it. The tree of life had chosen her as its protector, it shared its life and power with Tsukiko thus saving her. It took a few millennia to change her body into something that could take in the power of the tree of life."


    "That''s wonderful that means she''s alive and I can see her, right?" Ren spoke with a bright smile on his face. Seeing Ren''s reaction Kara found it difficult to say the next part.


    "Yes, she is indeed alive, and yes you could see her, but¡­"


    "But what?"


    "The protector of the tree of life is connected to the tree of life. As she shares her life with the tree, if she dies or gets hurt the tree will be affected as well. She can leave the forest but only for a short period of time¡­ In the end, she needs to stay here to protect the tree of life for all eternity."

 Chapter 348 - Quarter Finals (6)

    <h4>Chapter 348 - Quarter Finals (6)</h4>


    On the fourth day of the tournament, the audience were having conflicting feelings because of yesterday''s match. In yesterday''s match, the clearly weaker Afeus had shown great prowess by using his opponent''s mentality of underestimating him to his advantage. He even used a new kind of spell that was unheard of, but in the end, he was disqualified and the winner was Hime.


    Everyone knew that he was the clear winner of that match, but because of the rules, he had lost. Most of the audience members found it hard to ept Afeus''s loss yesterday, so the energy in the arena was weird. There were those that were still excited, but there were also those that had looks of pessimism about them. The loud cheering from the prior days of the tournament wasn''t present on this day.


    Henrietta was able to notice all of this as she sighed. Being the emcee of this tournament, she needed to try and excited the audience members. She breathed in and then smiled the best smile she could muster.


    "Hello everyone it''s the fourth day of the Grand Mage''s tournament! I know that yesterday''s match has dampened the mood of the tournament, but let''s forget about that and get back to the fun times! Today''s match is going to be a treat indeed! On one side is the powerful magic swordsman that could overwhelm his opponents with the sheer pressure of his mana, Valdel!"


    Seeing that beautiful smile on Henrietta''s face some of the audience members were feeling a bit better now.


    Valdel stood up and slowly got on the stage with his back straight and his eyes looking ever forward. Unlike Hime, Valdel would never look down on his opponents as he would always go all out no matter what. This was something Ren had engraved into him as he was training. He could show mercy and not kill his opponents, but he was never one to hold back.


    "Now onto his opponent! On the other side is the representative of the fairies the cute and powerful Aerwenna! Don''t let her innocent look fool you, if she could she would ruthlessly beat you into meat paste."


    On the other side, a four feet tall maiden with clear butterfly-shaped wings stepped onto the stage while pouting. She looked at Henrietta with that cute pouting face of hers.


    "I''m not ruthless what happenedst time was an ident, how would I know the other people were so weak."


    "Well, then Layfon what do you think about this match-up?"


    "Hey don''t ignore me!" Aerwenna stomped her foot in anger as she was being ignored.


    "Valdel is a rather famous individual who has been acknowledged by different Temple''s priestesses. He is here now as the representative of the temple of Justice. I haven''t seen his actualbat style but the sheer amount of mana he possesses is enough to suffocate his opponents. In the quarter-finals, he used the basic spell [re], a spell mostly used to start small fires. He used that simple everyday spell to beat his opponents into the ground. Then there''s Aerwenna, as a fairy, she is naturally attuned with mana and has a better affinity with most elements." Layfon pondered for a few seconds before continuing.


    "In skill and actually battle experience, Valdel beats Aerwenna. On the other hand, Aerwenna possesses a natural talent that normal humans can never hope to match. If Valdel has actually been given the power of a hero by any of the existing temples this would have been one-sided. Even in ancient times, heroes were the pinnacle of humanity''s strength. Those unreasonable beings who you can never beat no matter how hard you train."


    Layfon''s expression changed for a second as he clenched his teeth. Henrietta who was beside him noticed the ice-cold killing intent he was emitting. It came and went so fast that no one except for her noticed it. After a second Layfon''s expression returned to normal and he smiled.


    "The two have their pros and cons so the victory could go either way. Well, it''s not like the people here will listen to my opinion due to the unfortunate incident yesterday. This isn''t an excuse, but a battle is always unpredictable and luck ys a part in every battle. If Hime went all out at the start and didn''t give Afeus time to do anything then she would''ve easily won. But of course, because of some circumstances and a little bit of luck, she never was able to unleash her whole strength."


    The audience''s reaction to Layfon''sment was very aggressive. As some people started shouting very hateful words, Layfon remained unmoved as he didn''t change his opinion. Even if one of the audience members started to do something, they wouldn''t be able to hurt him. Before the audience got even more heated up Henrietta interrupted them.


    "Alright then, let''s see to whom the Goddess of victory favors!"


    ¡­


    While Henrietta was trying to hype up the audience, Aerwenna was looking at her opponent curiously. Unlike the opponents on the first day, it was obvious to her that Valdel was in a whole different league.


    "Are you strong?" She went straight to the point and asked.


    "I''m okay butpared to some people I''m pretty average." Valdel answered with what he thought was true. To him who knows so many strong people he felt so much weaker.


    "Are you really average? The mana you radiate is like nothing I have ever seen before. Are you perhaps trying to trick me to get my guard down? Even though I look little I''m a proper adult and will not be tricked!"


    "I''m not really tricking you or anything, I''m just telling you what I truly feel." Valdel shrugged his shoulders as he answered. Aerwenna pouted and looked at Valdel with caution.


    "Are you really telling the truth, you''re not lying to me, are you?"


    "I have no reason to lie. Also who''s to say who is strong or not? The meaning of strength differs from person to person anyway."


    "I see, that''s right!" Aerwenna smiled a very cute smile that could warm the hearts of any that saw it. She then raised her hands while gathering mana. "Then I''ll be the judge if you''re strong or not."


    Valdel nodded his head and took a fighting stance. He held no sword but the stance he was in looked like he was holding one.


    "It looks like our two contestants are ready to get going! So let''s get this battle started! Valdel versus Aerwenna let the battle begin!"

 Chapter 349 - Quarter Finals (7)

    <h4>Chapter 349 - Quarter Finals (7)</h4>


    Upon hearing that the match started the first to move was Valdel. He quickly got into position and fired a [re] spell at Aerwenna. The [re] spell he used was unlike any other [re] spell as the size of his was forty times more than the others. You could even say that Valdel''s [re] spell which was an everyday spell had surpassed the mid-tier spell [me Cannon]. A powerful burst of fire headed straight for Aerwenna. The heat from the me was so intense that the audience members that were at the front could feel the temperature rising.


    ¡­


    Aerwenna saw the iing spell and quickly used a tenyer, [earth wall] spell to block. A giant wall of stone stood in front of Aerwenna who was now trying to chant her next spell. The [re] spell went through the wall of earth as if it were butter. Aerwenna dodged to the right, but Valdel was already at her side waiting. In such close range, Valdel once again used the [re] spell and Aerwenna quickly countered with a [water shield] spell.


    It was as if she was expecting this to happen so she got ready for another defensive spell. Valdel was rather surprised by her quick counter, but that was all there was.


    The water element should have directly countered the fire element thus weakening it and then finally negating it. Not to mention [water shield] was a mid-tier spell while [re] was amon spell that wasn''t in any of the attacking tier spells. The victory between the sh of the two spells should''ve been obvious, but the result most people were expecting didn''t happen.


    The [water shield] spell disintegrated and a small amount of Valdel''s [re] spell pierced through Aerwenna''s mana barrier. Shocked by how easily her mana barrier was negated, Aerwenna wasn''t able to finish chanting her next spell. Seeing his stunned opponent Valdel once again used [re] but a slightly weaker version knocking her out.


    ¡­


    The current match had a few moves in it, and there were no overpowered spells like in the first quarter-final match. There was no weird unexpected move used like in the second quarter-final match. The whole match was the most basic one of all. The spells that were used were clear, the counterspells used by Aerwenna were textbook. The only thing that went out of the norm in this fight was the power of Valdel''s spell.


    Henrietta saw the spell formation and was sure that what Valdel used was a simple [re] spell was. Despite seeing it with her own eyes Henrietta was confused as to what was happening.


    Even if you add an enormous amount of mana into using that kind of spell the most you could do was make it look like a [fireball] spell. That was the limitation on the form of a normal [re] spell which was made for those with weaker mana supplies. In fact, that spell wasn''t even created to attack someone, it was created to start a little spark to burn a few logs to start a fire. It was mostly used by people for cooking or starting a campfire.


    ''He didn''t change the form of the spell or did he, but if he did tinker with it what did he change? It was such a minuscule difference that the formation of the spell looked like it was untampered. In fact, can you even change anything from such a simple spell to make it turn that powerful?¡­ Though it''s natural to use the chantless style when using a spell below low-tier. But the changes he made to the formation, is it really possible to that chantless and with such speed?'' Henrietta was really intrigued by what Valdel did. He had created a new form from an old spell.


    The change he did couldn''t be discerned at a nce, but he was able to change an old spell that no mage was that interested in.


    ''The three styles, chanting, chantless, and natural, each style has a different way to create the form of a spell formation. Chanting is the style used if you verbally speak the spell words to create a form for a spell. It is also a plea to the elemental spirits to guide you, in creating a spell. The chantless style, is the same as chanting but you do them in your head, also the elemental spirits no longer help you in creating the form, this also uses a lot of mana but it has more power. The natural style is when a person that doesn''t use any spell words at all, chantless or otherwise. They create the form for the spell by controlling their mana directly and forming the form by hand. The only person I know that had sessfully pulled this off during a battle is Kretos.''


    Henrietta licked her lips and smiled as she looked at Valdel. This man wasn''t as powerful or unreasonable as Kretos, but his skill in changing the form of a basic spell into something extremely powerful was rather clever.


    ''I want to know more about how he formtes his spells. I guess I can talk to him after the match, will Kretos mind if I speak with another man without him present?¡­ Well, it''s not like I''m cheating or anything I just want to learn more about spell forms.'' While Henrietta was in deep thought, Valdel looked at her and was about to tell her to announce the winner, but at that moment he felt that something was wrong. Valdel quickly did a sidestep and as he did so a powerful torrent of wind blew by.


    "You even evaded that one." The adorable little voice of Aerwenna sounded behind Valdel. Valdel turned around and saw that the Aerwenna he hit was just water. She had used a water spell to create a decoy of herself.


    The twobatants stared at each other for a short time. Aerwenna then raised both her hands up in the air. Seeing her action Valdel looked about ready to evade whatever wasing, but Aerwenna''s next action was something nobody expected.


    "I surrender."


    "What?!" Valdel and everyone else was surprised. Seeing his reaction Aerwenna smiled sweetly and answered.


    "After my sneak attack failed I know I couldn''t win without sustaining some injuries. I don''t really like the idea of getting hurt so I surrender." Aerwenna shrugged her shoulders as she answered. Henrietta who was momentarily stunned regained her senses.


    "The winner of the third quarter-final match is Valdel!"

 Chapter 350 - Finding A Way

    <h4>Chapter 350 - Finding A Way</h4>


    In the eternal forest where the elves live, a sudden massive burst of mana started to envelop and encroach the whole forest. If that wasn''t bad enough after the massive burst of mana came a blood-curdling killing intent. The killing intent was so terrifying it made even the bravest weak in the knees.


    Those that were farther away from the source of the mana burst and killing intent were less affected and only felt a bit dizzy. The unlucky ones who were near the source were the elders and the elite guard. They were able to withstand the pressure but it was taking everything they got to remain conscious. Some of the weaker ones even started puking and crying.


    On the other hand, the elven children who were supposedly too weak to resist the power of the mana burst were for some reason unaffected by everything that was going on. The person who had released that overwhelming mana burst and frightening killing intent was able to control his mana so precisely that he was able to avoid affecting the children. Even his killing intent was so urate that it only affected those he wanted to be affected.


    ¡­


    The Elven Queen Kara who was sitting in front of Ren was looking at Ren in dread. Ren who was releasing such a horrifying killing intent coupled with an overpowering mana burst made the Elven Queen sweat profusely. It took everything in her power to not sumb to the dear as she was trying her best to stop her body from trembling. She could hardly breathe as she struggled to stay conscious.


    Le who was sitting beside Ren couldn''t feel the mana burst nor the killing intent, but she knew that Ren must''ve done something to make Kara act this way. She actually felt a bit sorry for the Elven Queen who clearly had no choice but, to tell the truth, no matter how bad.


    "Are you telling me that I can''t take her back?" Ren''s voice was ice-cold as he looked at Kara. He stopped emitting killing intent and restrained his mana so that Kara can respond properly.


    Once she was released from that terrifying pressure Kara felt like a person who was drowning that was finally given air. She couldn''t help herself but pant as she looked at Ren with even more fear than she initially showed.


    The knowledge passed down by the previous Elven Queens did not skimp in telling her that the strongest mortal soul was a fearful existence. She already tried to mentally prepare herself before Ren came to the forest, but experiencing that aura up close was beyond anything she could imagine.


    Kara as the Queen of the Elves had once met a young Golden Dragon, who had also threatened the elves by wanting to upy the Eternal Forest. Of course, she didn''t agree and with the help of Tsukiko, they were able to repel the mighty dragon. Yet even that time paled inparison to this encounter with the strongest mortal soul.


    At least with the young dragon, they had a chance of surviving, but against Ren, they could do nothing but ept their fates once he decides to annihte them.


    "I''m going to ask you again, are you telling me that I can''t take her back?" When Kara heard Ren''s voice she tried her best to gather her strength to speak out an answer.


    "I¡­ I wouldn''t dare¡­ If Sir Ren wishes to take the protector we are powerless to do anything. It''s just that the protector cannot stay away from the tree for a long period of time." Kara choked and stammered a bit as she answered.


    "Then what will happen if I just destroy the tree?" When Kara heard Ren''s response she grew even more nervous.


    "I don''t think that would be a good idea."


    "Do you think I can''t cut the tree down?"


    "No sir, that''s not what I meant. I do not doubt your strength. If it were anyone else that said they would cut the tree of life down, I would''ve thought they were insane, but if Sir Ren says it then I would believe it full-heartedly."


    "Then why don''t you think it''s not a good idea?¡­ Oh, I see¡­ If Tsukiko dies the tree will only be damaged a bit and will then choose the next protector. So what happens when the tree itself dies?" Even though Ren could already guess the answer to his question, he wanted to be sure.


    "As I said before if the tree of life dies all beings on the mortal realm will slowly lose mana, and the beings that areposed of mana will cease to exist. Aside from that, the protector of the tree who shares her life with the tree will die with it."


    Hearing the answer he expected made Ren frown. He then closed his eyes and calmed himself down before asking another question.


    "Then do you know of a way to sever the link between the tree and its protector?"


    "I do not know, and even if I do I don''t think it would be a good idea to attempt such a thing. If you do seed in severing the link between Lady Tsukiko and the tree of life, Lady Tsukiko would return to her former state before she was healed and die."


    ''I can deal with her injury of that time, but I need some way to sever the link between her and the tree.'' Ren remained silent for a few seconds. Ren then stood up from the tree branch and sat crossed legged in the corner of the house.


    "Le I''m going to do something, in the meanwhile I want you to protect my body." Le without questioning what Ren was about to do nodded her head and stood in front of him.


    "There''s no need to worry about your safety. No one in the Eternal forest would dare attack you. In fact, they will do their best to protect you from all harm." Hearing what Kara said Ren looked at her for a while and didn''t bother to respond as he went into a meditative state.


    If he couldn''t find the answer from the elves, he would ask the people in his soul realm, his past incarnations¡­ Surely one of those powerful beings would know of some way to deal with his current problem.

 Chapter 351 - Point Of Origin

    <h4>Chapter 351 - Point Of Origin</h4>


    Ren was once again inside his soul realm, and waiting for him, as usual, was Leo. "Hey Leo, I''m sure you already know why I''m here."


    "Yeah," Leo scratched his head as he answered. Seeing the normally rambunctious Leo act this way made Ren ufortable. Even though all of his past incarnations share the same core personality there were still some differences. An example of that is Leo''s rambunctiousness not all of his incarnations were like this as some preferred to be quiet. Some of them were extroverts while others were introverts. Each incarnation had such minor differences.


    It would seem that Ren had underestimated the tree of life. He was about to say something when Leo raised his hand and signaled him to stop.


    "I know what you want to say¡­ Damn it, I really hate these kinds of things! Just wait a minute for the others to arrive, we''ll talk then."


    Ren no longer spoke and waited for the other incarnations to arrive. After a few minutes of waiting more incarnations appeared. The usual people were there like Leo, Edge, and Rei, there was also one new face. There were four incarnations that appeared for this meeting.


    Once Leo noticed that there were no more incarnations arriving, as the one who called this meeting he spoke.


    "Everyone should know why I called you all here today." Everyone except for the new face nodded their heads in unison. Leo looked at Ren and sighed.


    "Alright, I''ll get straight to the point. Unlike this guy I know nothing about the topic, I just think you''ll feel better if there are some familiar faces while you talk. So I brought Edge and Rei, even though they also know little to nothing about the subject. Now to get this started you''re up Ezekiel, tell the boy what he wants to know."


    A rather annoyed looking man wearing robes with runes scribbled all over them stepped forward. He red at Leo and spoke.


    "You didn''t say what the f*ck this is all about? Edge here just dragged me along without any exnation. You guys might be of higher rank than me, but that doesn''t mean you can just drag me wherever!" Even though Leo, Edge, and especially Rei were so much stronger than him as an incarnation of the strongest mortal soul Ezekiel wasn''t one to back down. He waited for the three''s exnation while his crossing his arms. Edge pointed at Ren and answered.


    "Just ask the current incarnation what he wants, he''s the one who has a question for you." Edge shrugged his shoulders as he answered. Ezekiel sighed even though he was annoyed, but if the current incarnation has a question then he should at least hear it. Ezekiel looked at Edge with a bit of irritation, he hated how he could easily understand what Edge was feeling at this moment. Ezekiel then started at Ren who was supposedly the current incarnation.


    Unlike the other past incarnations who find joy in watching Ren''s development every now and then, Ezekiel wasn''t that keen on learning about the current incarnation. He wasn''t one to be bothered by what was happening outside, as he was fully focused on his research. Even though he''s already considered dead and was just part of a shadow created by his soul, Ezekiel continued to research the mysteries of mana, the universe, and everything in creation. Also ever now and then he would create new spells for fun. So this was the first time he has ever seen Ren. He wasn''t even there during the meeting with the original incarnation.


    "Fine let''s get straight to it, the name''s Ezekiel what do you want?" Ren introduced himself and then told Ezekiel about the tree of life and how Tsukiko was linked to it. When Ren finished his exnation Ezekiel frowned.


    "That''s a point of origin, every world has one, it could be an object a living thing or something else altogether. These things are where all the mana of that world originates from. Even the worlds that have no mana surely had a point of origin in the past, but after it''s destroyed there''s no turning back. There are only two things that could happen when a point of origin is destroyed."


    Ezekiel snapped his fingers and two floating orbs appeared before him. They were blue and had a little bit of brown and green all over it. Upon closer inspection, there were also little human-like figures walking on the floating orbs.


    "One, once the point of origin is destroyed the inhabitants of that world fall into despair trying their hardest to return the mana that could nevere back. Once they go into this route it''s just a matter of time before their civilization dies and the ORIGIN resets the whole world."


    Ezekiel snapped his fingers and one of the blue orbs turned white, and then the human-like figures all disappeared.


    "Two, the inhabitants of that world adapt and ept their loss. They then try to figure out a new way to improve. This would always result in making a world where science and technology reign supreme."


    Ezekiel snapped his fingers and the remaining blue orb spun a bit and once it stopped, Ren saw numerous tall buildings sprouting out of the blue orb. There were even floating castles, and flying shipsing out of the blue orb.


    "Alright, I understand the risk of destroying the point of origin in this case the tree of life, but how can I sever the link between the protector and the tree?"


    "Based on your description of the circumstance revolving around thisss called Tsukiko¡­" Ezekiel became quiet and started to ponder. A few seconds became a few minutes, and a few minutes became a few hours. Ren waited patiently for an answer not wanting to disturb Ezekiel''s thought process. After what felt like half a day of waiting Ezekiel finally gave his answer.


    "With my current knowledge, it is impossible to sever the link between the point of origin and its guardian." When Ren heard Ezekiel''s answer he was dumbfounded for a moment.


    "What?¡­ Impossible? I thought that there''s nothing impossible for us?! Haven''t we defied fate over and over again?! Surely there must be a way?!"


    "If you were the one appointed as the guardian of the point of origin then that would be a different matter altogether. If it was you, then you could forcefully destroy your link to the point of origin. Seeing as our fate is something that the point of origin cannot bind. Well, in the first ce no incarnation would be a guardian of the point of origin. If you really want some way to save thatss¡­ The only thing I can think of is that thess should find the willpower to sever the link herself. If you intervene as an outside force and forcefully sever the link then the most likely oue will be thess surely dying." Seeing Ren''s reaction to what he said Ezekiel sighed.


    "You must never forget, we as the strongest mortal soul might be immune to most things, but the ones that apany us are not¡­ If they truly wish to follow us in every sense of the word, they must first break free from the shackles of destiny."

 Chapter 352 - Behind The Scenes

    <h4>Chapter 352 - Behind The Scenes</h4>


    It was the fifth day of the Grand Mage''s tournament. Thest Quarter-final match was about to begin. The excitement of the first match was slowly cooling down, the reason for this was because the second and third match wasn''t as exciting as the spectacle of the first match.


    Everyone thought that the tournament was bing something they couldn''t understand. When the geniuses were first introduced the audience members were excited. These geniuses were the best of the best even among all the other participants in the past century.


    In fact in the Grand Mage''s tournament geniuses of this level were only seen once every two decades, but now eight of them appeared all at the same time. Who among the audience members wouldn''t feel excited when knowing this. It was like they were about to witness history in the making.


    Everyone was expecting to see marvelous sights of spells flying around. They did get such a show on the first round, but the subsequent rounds left them feeling disappointed. They were no longer expecting too much for this uing match. Not even the fact that they get to see the beautiful maiden from the temple of Justice could reignite their excitement.


    ¡­


    Henrietta who tried to meet with Valdel the other day was looking a bit disappointed as well. When she visited the inn Valdel and hispanions were staying at he and hispanions were nowhere to be found. So she returned to her ce feeling a bit frustrated.


    Both the audience members and the emcee were looking rather mncholic that the atmosphere of the Grand Mage''s tournament was bing rather weird.


    Still, Henrietta was a professional so she wouldn''t let her personal feelings interfere too much with her work. She quickly got in the mood and started to introduce the two contestants.


    "Heya everyone today is going to be a treat, in one corner we''ve got the beautiful priestess of the Temple of Justice. She with her heart of Justice has graced us today with her presence, the holy maiden NATASHA!"


    Hearing her name being called Natasha walked onto the stage. Even though the audience members weren''t as thrilled as before, when they saw her intoxicating charm they started to cheer unconsciously.


    "Now for her opponent-" Henrietta wasn''t able to finish what she was going to say as someone suddenly appeared beside her. The person whispered something in Henrietta''s ear. The more Henrietta heard the deeper her frown became. After listening to the report Henrietta couldn''t help but sigh.


    ''Maybe this year''s tournament is cursed.'' Henrietta sighed again before clearing her throat. She looked at Natasha who was standing on the ring waiting for her opponent.


    "Due to someplications, Artifice is unable to fight and has been disqualified from the tournament. So the winner of this round is NATASHA!"


    Everyone including Natasha was dumbfounded by the announcement.


    ¡­


    While everyone was at the arena, in the Grand Mage''s tower bodies of half-demons were littered all over the floor. Amon was standing in front of Nero trying to protect him. On the other hand, Nero was looking at the assant with a confused look on his face.


    "I thought we had a deal?! You said that if I did everything you ordered you would bring back the golden age of demons! You said that you would grant me power equal to Kretos''s power in his peak!" Nero shouted at the man standing before him. The man smiled at Nero and then chuckled.


    "I did not lie when I said I would bring back the golden age of demons. Once all my brethren escape that prison and kill that hero, then the world will once again be ruled by chaos and fear. The golden age of the primordial demons will return. As for power equaling Kretos at his peak, the peak you speak of is when he was dead. So once you die you''ll have the same power as him which is nothing at all."


    Nero looked at the primordial demon Nyarlom who was using the form of a middle-aged human male. Nero knew that the primordial demon would do something like this so he had set up a lot of countermeasures, but all of that was for nothing. Nyarlom had seen through all of his ns and now he was about to die by his hands.


    Nero regretted that he had listened to a primordial demon''s tempting words, if he had continued on with just the half-demons that were with him they could''ve achieved his dream. It would''ve taken longer, but he wouldn''t be in this kind of situation.


    ''I got greedy and this is the result¡­'' As Nero was feeling a tinge of hopelessness, Amon who was in front of him spoke.


    "This isn''t over yet! Nero, head to that bartender''s ce, I''m sure he could protect you for the time being. I can hold this guy back for about a minute or two, so you better run now."


    Nero looked at Amon''s back with a nk look on his face. "Even if I escape there''s nothing more I can do¡­"


    "What the f*ck are you talking about?! Are you telling me this is it?! Did our dream of making the demon race strong again mean nothing to you!? If you''re a real demon then you won''t care about anything else, and just do everything you can to gain what you desire!"


    When Nero heard what Amon said his lifeless eyes started to shine again. He stood up and gathered everyst bit of his resolve.


    "You better not die on me, Amon. You need to be there when our dreames to fruition." Amon didn''t bother turning around and smiled.


    "Who do you think I am? I am the descendent of the mighty demon general Namor, this is not where I will fall!" Hearing Amon''s response Nero nodded his head and started running. Nyarlom didn''t bother giving chase since no matter how far Nero runs he could easily find him.


    "You really are different from us primordial demons. Showing camaraderie and empathy, it makes me sick that you guys have the audacity to call your race demons. True demons should be spreading wonderful chaos throughout the world. Making others tremble in fear and frolicking in everyone else''s misery. That is what a true demon should do."


    "h, h, h, stop your yapping ande at me already¡­" Amon turned into his true form and charged at the primordial demon.

 Chapter 353 - The Bartender Enters The Fray

    <h4>Chapter 353 - The Bartender Enters The Fray</h4>


    Nero was running through the empty streets as fast as he could, but due to the injuries he had received in the previous battle, his speed wasn''t all that great. He was barely faster than a regr person in his current condition.


    Nero who was running with all his might smiled dryly at his current situation. He who held a grand dream of reviving the greatness of the demon race was now looking so pathetic. He had betrayed a lot of people and sacrificed everything from his past, he did all this just to fulfill his dream. Yet now he was running away like a beaten dog.


    As Nero was trying to navigate his way through the empty streets towards the tavern known as the Lonely Cat, he heard the sound of wolves howling. Nero looked back and saw shadowy wolves following him.


    Nero gritted his teeth and tried his best to run even faster. Yet despite his best effort, the wolves were slowly catching up to him. Seeing the wolves nearly reaching him Nero gritted his teeth and finally took out his weapon.


    Nero''s weapon were two daggers, it was said that these daggers were from the legendary Demon Lord Kretos''s collection. It was given to the ancestors of his n by the Demonic Fox Tsukiko as a sign of respect from one of their n''s kin. It was said that particr kin was one who apanied the demon lord and protected him until the very end.


    With these two daggers at hand, Nero felt a sense offort. His body was badly injured and his mana supply was all but drained, he couldn''t even change into his demonic form, but when he held these daggers it felt like the Demon Lord was by his side smiling.


    "Come at me you mutts, this is not where my dream ends!" As if responding to what Nero said one of the shadow wolves that was nearest to him lunged at him. At that moment everything seems to slow down from Nero''s point of view.


    His body was heavy and even though he could see the shadow wolf''s movement he couldn''t do anything about it. He didn''t want it to end this way so Nero tried his hardest to lift his heavy arms and attack. As he was slowly raising his two daggers to attack, a familiar object flew and hit the shadow wolf''s eye.


    ''Isn''t that the cig the bartender usually has in his mouth?'' It was at that moment a man wearing a ck vest appeared in front of Nero and kicked the shadow wolf away. The kick had no trace of mana in it, in fact, the man wearing the vest had not even a shred of mana within his body, yet the kick he made blew the shadow wolf several meters away.


    "Stop making a racket in front of my tavern."


    ¡­


    A few minutes before Nero was about to be attacked by the shadow wolves, Haruto was cleaning the tables of his tavern the Lonely Cat.


    In the past few days not a single customer came, heck there weren''t even people walking through the streets. It would seem that everyone was in the arena watching the Grand Mage''s tournament. Even Haruto wanted to watch the matches, and witness shounen manga like fights.


    Yet the system wouldn''t allow him to go since his level was too low at the moment. If he was able to upgrade the tavern and advance the security of his tavern he would be able to go out freely, but for now, he was stuck in his own tavern.


    It has been three months since he came to this fantasy world. He had met many different customers, but none of them looked like fantasy characters, well except for the dwarven brothers who were regrs. He wanted to see more but he was unable to go out and see what this fantasy world looked like. Haruto wanted to go to an adventurers guild and see what kind of atmosphere it had. He wanted to look at those so called dungeons and witness the adventures beating down monsters.


    Aside from the dwarven brothers who asionallye to drink some beer, Haruto hasn''t seen anything fantasy like at all. Back in his old world when he was a kid he used to read various light novels about being isekaied, but now that it happened to him it wasn''t as he expected. Haruto sighed as he ced his hands on his pockets. When he noticed that he no longer had any cigarettes he spoke to the system.


    ''Hey system, do you have any cigarettes in your store?''


    ''Yes,'' a robotic voice answered.


    ''How much to buy a pack of cigarettes?''


    ''A pack costs ten silver coins, and a single cigarette costs one silver coin.''


    ''The f*ck that''s too expensive!''


    ''Otherworldy items are avable but the prices will be inted due to it being a non-existent item in this world.'' Hearing the system''s response Haruto clicked his tongue.


    ''Fine, I''ll buy a pack of cigarettes''


    ''Thank you for your patronage.'' After responding a pack of cigarettes appeared in front of Haruto.


    Haruto immediately took one piece lit it up and started smoking. As he was waiting behind the counter he heard a system notification.


    [Urgent Mission= Hostile Beings are near your Tavern. As a tavern owner, you must make your customers feel safe. Even against drunks who cause trouble, to mighty dragons that threaten the establishment, the tavern owner must show the customers that they can drink and make merry without any fear. The mission will bepleted once you Eliminate or drive off all hostile beings near the Tavern.]


    [Mission Reward= 10,000 XP, unlocking new drink Moscow Mule.]


    When Haruto saw the mission notification he was surprised. In the past three months, he had received regr missions or daily missions. This was the first time he had received an urgent mission. The reward for this mission seems to be quite good. He was especially curious about the Moscow Mule drink. As an owner of a tavern or a pub, and also being its bartender he knew how to make Moscow Mule but he knew that what the system will give him would be different.


    The system never allows him to make any drink or food that wasn''t approved by it. The preparations of making the Moscow Mule created by the system would be different from the normal way he knew, so Haruto was curious how different it would taste from a regr Moscow Mule. Also, it was a good thing that the menu can finally be updated.


    Haruto smoked a bit more before heading out of the tavern¡­ This was the second time he had been allowed to leave the Tavern and he was a little bit excited.

 Chapter 354 - The Invincible Bartender

    <h4>Chapter 354 - The Invincible Bartender</h4>


    Nero couldn''t believe what he was seeing. The always bored-looking bartender who charged them unbelievable prices for food and drink, that bartender that had no inkling of mana within him was able to kick away a shadow wolf created by a primordial demon. Based on Nero''s understanding a shadow wolf was the equivalent of a low-tier A-rank adventurer. Despite being monsters they act simr to normal wolves they attack in a pack of ten. With that many shadow wolves, they should pose a problem for even a high-tier A-rank adventurer.


    So it was truly a shock for Nero to see Haruto easily kicking one of the shadow wolves away. That attack which relied solely on physical power without any trace of mana or technique was something Nero had a hard timeprehending.


    While Nero was looking dumbfounded by the whole situation, Haruto finally noticed him. Seeing as the shadow wolves were circling around Haruto warily, he figured he had time to talk with the confused Nero.


    "Hey, you''re the guy who oftenes with the noisy one, right?" When Nero heard Haruto''s voice he snapped out of his trance and nodded his head. "So where''s the noisy guy at?" The moment Haruto asked this question, for a brief second Nero''s face twitched. Seeing Nero''s reaction and looking at the current situation Haruto could guess a bit of what happened.


    "I see¡­Fine after I deal with this, let''s drink for a bit. Oh right, just for today, the drinks are on the house." After saying those words Haruto looked at the shadow wolves with a re. If it was back in his old world, Haruto would never imagine having such courage. Seeing as this wasn''t the first time he had fought, he had some confidence in his self.


    ¡­


    A few weeks after he arrived in this fantasy world, a rather famous adventurer caused some trouble in the Lonely Cat. The adventurer got drunk and acted like a pervert making the other customers feel troubled. The system then gave Haruto a mission to quell the disturbance. At first, Haruto hesitated to do anything since he wasn''t really a good fighter. In the twenty-five years of his life, he hasn''t been a fight before nor has he ever thrown a punch at anyone.


    As he hesitated the system reassured him that as long as he was within a kilometer from the tavern he would be granted superhuman strength and durability. It doesn''t mean he was almighty but he would gain enough strength to fight back. The strength he could muster was reflected by the level he was at.


    Haruto was a bit scared at first but as he gathered his resolve and spoke to the adventurer he found out that he was no longer afraid. As he expected the adventurer reacted violently and attacked. The adventurer''s attack was so fast that to a normal person it seems like the adventurer was a blur, but for some reason, Haruto could follow it. Haruto was so surprised by how the adventurer looked like he was moving in slow motion that he just stood there in shock and wasn''t able to dodge. Haruto was dumbfounded as the adventurer''s attack hit him but for some reason, it didn''t hurt at all. Haruto retaliated by kicking which resulted in the drunk adventurer being blown away.


    That was Haruto''s first and only fighting experience and it was extremely one-sided. After that day Haruto tested out his strength on some random objects and learned that he was now strong enough to crush iron and probably take a hit from a sword no problem. This boosted his confidence in being able to survive in this fantasy world.


    ¡­


    Haruto looked at the shadow wolves and clenched his fists. The shadow wolves had encircled him and were about ready to attack. The shadow wolves pounced in unison with their ws out and their fangs bare.


    Haruto evaded all the iing attacks while countering with punches and kicks. Each of the shadow wolves were blown away but they didn''t die. Seeing as his punches and kicks weren''t able to deal with the problem, Haruto looked at Nero''s daggers.


    "Hey, can I borrow those for a minute?"


    Nero knew what Haruto was asking for, usually, if someone was to ask him to lend his precious daggers he would''ve taken their heads. Yet this time he knew what needed to be done but was still hesitant. After a while, Nero reluctantly gave the twin daggers to Haruto.


    After receiving the daggers Haruto took a stance he once saw in an anime when he was a kid. He didn''t really know how to use any weapons but surely this was better than using his fists and legs. The shadow wolves were finally able to get back up and now they looked at Haruto more vignt than before.


    The alpha shadow wolf growled at Haruto, while the others once again surrounded him. This time the shadow wolves didn''t attack in unison, instead, the alpha dashed forward by itself. The speed in which it moved was faster than before, yet in Haruto''s eyes, it wasn''t that much.


    Haruto awkwardly pierced forward using one of the daggers, which the alpha dodge with ease. Seeing that Haruto was in a bad position the other shadow wolves came charging forward. Unable to dodge in time Haruto had his legs and arms bitten by the shadow wolves.


    Seeing as they were able to bite Haruto the shadow wolves thought they had caught their prey, but it was the other way around. The shadow wolves'' teeth were unable to prate deep into Haruto''s skin. To Haruto, it only felt like some mosquitos had bitten him. Now that they were not moving Haruto found it easier to slice them using the daggers.


    One by one the shadow wolves were sliced apart by Haruto''s horrendous shes. Normally the way Haruto used the daggers wouldn''t be able to cut anything at all, but because of his unbelievable strength and the quality of the daggers, he was able to simply use brute force his way through everything.


    Even as they were being cut down one by one the shadow wolves didn''t back down as they were ordered to kill Nero or die trying. After a short scuffle, the only shadow wolf left was the alpha. Showing that it was different from the other shadow wolves, it was able to survive three attacks from Haruto.


    Still, now that it was alone it was not a threat to Nero much less Haruto. The alpha shadow wolf growled and barked before it attacked. Haruto simply threw one of the daggers at the head of the shadow wolf. The dagger flew right through the shadow wolf''s head making it explode, it then continued onward until it stopped as it got stuck onto the floor.


    Seeing as all the enemies were dead and the missionplete message popped out, Haruto took one cigarette and started smoking.


    Nero who witnessed everything that transpired was still in a state of shock. The dead bodies of the shadow wolves were littered through the streets and their blood was all over the ce. Yet despite all that, not a single bloodstain could be seen on Haruto.


    The bartender was indeed strong, but his technique if you call it that, was horrible. It didn''t look like he dodged the blood that sttered towards him, but despite all that his whole body was clean. Nero couldn''t understand what he just saw and continued to look at the smoking bartender with a dumbfounded expression. After puffing for a bit Haruto looked at the dazed Nero and spoke.


    "Now that this is finished let''s head back to the lonely cat and have some drinks."

 Chapter 355 - Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 355 - Preparations</h4>


    Nyarlom who sensed that his shadow wolves have died was smiling a scary wicked smile. He looked at the surrounding area where Amon suddenly disappeared and that terrifying-looking smile grew even wider.


    "I underestimated this era''s so called demons they aren''t the pushovers I thought they were." Nyarlom chuckled as he looked at his bleeding hand and licked it. Even though he was superior to Amon in every possible way, the little demon was able to injure him and escape.


    ''Well, it doesn''t matter if they''re able to escape now¡­ Hmm¡­ I guess it was pretty foolish of them, it would''ve been better to die by my hands than to see whates next. They should''ve epted my gift of an easier death. Well, it doesn''t matter anymore a few days from now the beginning of the show will start, and if they stay in this city they''ll have front row seats." Nyarlom licked his lips as he was about to leave the Grand Mage''s tower.


    "Oh wait, even though it would be fun to see the reaction of the people if they see the dead demons and shadow wolves, it would ruin the grand surprise. I have no choice, better do some cleanup. First up let''s clean the shadow wolves." Nyarlom lifted his right and started writing in the air, as he was writing ancient runes appeared before him. The whole room turned dark and some shadows got sucked into a small hole.


    These shadows looked like the bodies of the shadow wolves that were killed. The street that was full of blood and littered with the dead bodies of the shadow wolves looked as it was before the fight began. After he was done cleaning up the Shadow Wolves mess, Nyarlom looked at the dead bodies of the demons.


    Each one of these current generation demons had extremely mixed blood and their battle power was far inferior to the demons of the past. Nyarlom found it funny at how easy he killed a bunch of them.


    ''Looking back at it now I didn''t really need to n so extensively against such weak opponents. Even without doing that surprise attack, I would''ve won quite easily. The two that were able to escape were a little better than the others, and that''s about it. I might have expected too much on a race that had the same name as my own. Well, I guess I can praise them for setting up my ns to start a tiny bit of chaos. Too bad most of them won''t be able to witness the change of an era.''


    Nyarlom shrugged his shoulders as he once again started to write ancient runes in the air, once he was done he pointed his finger at each and every dead body on the ground. After he pointed at them the bodies started to burn until nothing was left not even ashes.


    ''Okay cleanupplete. Now let''s enjoy the tournament for the next few days. The moment when the humans are at the height of their joy will be the best moment to bring them misery to start of joyous chaos. Hmmm, just imagining their horror-stricken faces is getting me super excited.'' Nyarlom smiled with a look of intoxication on his face. He happily left the Grand Mage''s tower full of expectations.


    ¡­


    In a forest outside of the Serbek Kingdom''s capitalid an injured Amon. He couldn''t move a single muscle as he looked at the blue sky above him. Even though he was seriously injured Amon had a grin on his face.


    ''That was an awesome fight! If I didn''t use the teleport scroll I got from Nero I would''ve been dead by now¡­ Who knew that primordial demons were that strong¡­''


    Amon held onto the hole that was near his heart, if the attack was just a few centimeters off he would''ve died instantly. Amon remembered the fight and knew that if Nyarlom hadn''t underestimated him then it would''ve been over.


    ''The next time we meet in battle, I will make sure you''ll never underestimate me again.'' Amon felt his wounds slowly healing, it would take about a week before he can move about. The main problem now was the wound on his chest. If he focuses all of his mana on healing, it would lessen the time needed for the wound to heal, but he wouldn''t have enough mana to defend himself.


    ''I guess I''m going to be stuck here for a while¡­''


    ¡­


    On top of the roof of a random house, a golden-haired maiden was eating some peaches. She looked in the direction of the Grand Mage''s tower and frowned.


    ''So there are more primordial demons in this city than I imagined, and that one seems even more dangerous than the one I just killed. I guess having a real body makes all the difference for primordial demons¡­ Hmm¡­ This might get a bit dangerous if more of them show up. I wonder what I should do about them?¡­ The only reason I got involvedst time was because of my disciple.'' The golden-haired maiden took a bite of a peach and sighed.


    ''I''ll just take a wait and see attitude for now. With the current restrictions on me, I can''t really fight a primordial demon with his original body¡­ Still, I wonder where that guy is, I even snuck out of the forest just to meet him and I can''t even find a single trace of his figure only the rumors about him.''


    When the golden-haired maiden remembered the rumors he heard about him, she couldn''t help but giggle.


    ''It has been so long now, but he hasn''t changed at all, not even a single bit. Still as arrogant and as carefree as ever, picking fights with everyone he sees. I can''t wait to meet him again, there''s so much we can talk about now.''


    The golden-haired maiden smiled radiantly as the sun shone brightly on the world before her¡­ It has been such a long time since she felt like this, wishing for tomorrow toe.

 Chapter 356 - The Start Of The Semi-Finals

    <h4>Chapter 356 - The Start Of The Semi-Finals</h4>


    It was now the sixth day of the Grand Mage''s tournament, and the audience had cooled down from the first day''s excitement. There had been too many unexpected things that happened which dampened the mood of the tournament. Some of the people were starting to worry that the tournament will be less interesting. If the Grand Mage''s tournament bes less popr some businesses might lose out.


    Henrietta was also a bit worried but for different reasons. Yesterday the match was Natasha''s win because Artifice was a no show. So after yesterday''s match, Henrietta alongside some of the other High Ranking Mages within the kingdom started their investigation about Artifice''s disappearance. They checked the inn Artifice was staying at and found no trace of him. The room he rented didn''t even look like someone was living there, it was too clean.


    They asked the people in the surrounding area but not a single one has seen Artifice exit his room after entering it two days ago. The investigation team was about to give up when Layfon found something interesting. There was one person that had a different answer to the rest. The one who rented the room next to Artifice''s room couldn''t remember who Artifice was. After some intensive questioning of the tenant of the room next door, Layfon learned a few things. The person could remember almost everything that happened in the week he rented the room but anything rted to Artifice was gone from his memory. Even the fact that Artifice was part of the quarterfinalist was blocked from the person''s memory.


    ''Maybe that person saw the one who dealt with Artifice. So it''s either Artifice was killed or kidnapped. There''s also the possibility that Artifice went into hiding, but the timing and the way he disappeared drew too much attention to himself.'' After that revtion, the investigation had little progress as they had no other clue as to who would want to kidnap or kill Artifice. At first, the main suspects were the other contestants of the tournament especially Natasha who was supposed to be his opponent. But after questioning them each one of them had an alibi and had given proof as to where they were during the supposed attack on Artifice.


    ¡­


    A day has passed by there was no other clue that was found the investigation had hit a dead end. Henrietta was a bit worried about what the purpose of the assant was. Why would anyone do anything to Artifice at that timing, when all eyes were on him? Was it on purpose to draw their attention or was it something else entirely¡­ Not much was known about Artifice only that he was part of a secretive group of people, that were simr to assassins.


    ''I guess in that line of work, you wouldn''t know when you could die. Death cane to you even as you sleep. Still, Artifice wasn''t a pushover, and to deal with him without anyone noticing means the opponent was stronger than him by arge margin, or it could be a group of people that attacked.''


    Henrietta sighed as she looked at the audience. Even though there seems to be trouble going around the Grand Mage and the king wanted the tournament to continue. She felt that something ominous was about to happen.


    ''Well, for now, it''s not my problem but the royal guards'' problem. Still, I better prepare to escape with my research materials if something does happen.''


    Henrietta started thinking about what to do next just in case this ominous feeling she hades true. As she was lost in thought the time for the semi-finals to start was nearing.


    ¡­


    Lara, Valdel, Natasha, and Hime were all staying in the contestant''s waiting room. Unlike the other times when their opponents were announced in advance this time they had no clue who would fight who. Among the four participants that reached the semi-finals, only Hime wasn''t part of Valdel''s group.


    Valdel, Lara, and Natasha were at one side while Hime was alone at a corner. Hime was not really bothered by the istion as she was using this time to stabilize her mana and readying her mentality for the battle toe. She wasn''t going to do it likest time, no matter who her opponent was she was going to go all out from the start.


    ¡­


    While Hime was meditating Valdel, Lara, and Natasha were looking at each other with troubled looks.


    "This tournament was not what I expected it to be. Missing contestants, contestants that quit without even getting hurt, and rules that don''t seem to be fair." Valdel spoke while scratching the back of his neck. ''Also the person I was hoping to show in the tournament didn''t show at all.''


    "Yes,pared to the past tournaments I watched this year''s tournament had the most powerful contestants but the way they lost was too weird." Natasha gave out her opinion.


    "It doesn''t matter if the tournament is weird or not, I willplete the mission given to me and win," Lara spoke with her usual indifferent tone, but Valdel was quick to notice that something was off.


    "Did you talk to Afeus as well?"


    "¡­Yes I did¡­" Valdel sighed as he looked at his childhood friend. Usually, it was hard to get a read on her, only Ren was able to do that. But at times like this, even he could see through her stoic expression.


    "I guess I-" Before Valdel could finish what was he was going to say, Lara had ced her index finger on Valdel''s mouth.


    "I don''t want you forfeiting, being given such a victory will not make me happy. As Ren''s supposed best friend surely you should understand that the most?" When Valdel heard Lara''s response he immediately bowed his head.


    "I''m sorry I don''t know what came over me¡­ It''s just that I don''t like seeing you this sad, Lara. I don''t how to make you happy, I''m not Ren and I can''t understand what you''re thinking without you telling me."


    "You''re my childhood friend, but that doesn''t mean, you need to make me happy, that''s not your job." As Lara was going to continue to nag at Valdel, she was interrupted by Henrietta''s voice.


    "It''s time to start the Semi-Finals!"

 Chapter 357 - First Semi-final Match

    <h4>Chapter 357 - First Semi-final Match</h4>


    "Today we''re going to change the rules a bit due to various circumstances. So this time the two semi-final matches will happen one after the other. After the morning match, ends the next match will be held after a two-hour lunch break. So without further ado let''s see who gets to fight in the first match!"


    Henrietta spoke with as much gusto as she could muster. Despite the crowd being a bit lethargic Henrietta continued her job as the emcee with the same energy she started with. She then picked out two names randomly.


    "The morning match will be between Valdel and Lara!" After announcing the matchup Henrietta waited for the crowd to react, but after a few seconds, all she got was low volumed ps.


    "I heard these two contestants are childhood friends and have been taught by the same master. Surely the uing match will be one for the ages!"


    The pping got a bit more enthusiastic but it wasn''t much of an improvement. When Henrietta heard the weak ps, she felt like trying to make the crowd excited was already beyond her ability. It was at that moment a person from the royal guard approached Henrietta.


    At first, she thought that it was going to be a report about Artifice, but as the royal guard whispered in her ear it turned out to be something different. Henrietta was shocked by what she heard.


    "It would seem that two new rules will be added just for this one match. The ban on the use of weapons will be removed. But of course, since killing is out of the question, the only weapons that could be used are wooden ones. Even though they''re just wooden weapons don''t let your guard down since even wooden weapons can kill if you''re not careful enough. Not only that the use of internal spells like strengthening spells are also allowed for this one match."


    When the crowd heard the new rules, they were at first stunned, and then after a few seconds, they started to cheer wildly. The lost excitement they had finally returned. When Henrietta saw this she praised the foolish king''s decision.


    "So what do you think of the new rules, Afeus?"


    Henrietta looked at the person sitting right next to her, unlike the previous bouts Layfon wasn''t with them, instead, it was Afeus who sat beside her. When Afeus heard the question he was caught unprepared.


    "Um¡­ I¡­"


    "Don''t be too nervous, just say whatever you''re thinking."


    "Um, ok¡­ I think the new rules that allow the use of weapons and internal spells, will make things a bit more difficult for those that are pure mage types, but this matchup is different. Seeing as both contestants are more of the physical variety. Valdel is a magic swordsman who only knows how to use minor spells. Even though those minor spells are quite devastating due to his ability to change the form, but it''s obvious that isn''t his specialty. So if you allow him to wield a sword in this match we will be able to see his full abilities. That is, of course, if his opponent is able to bring out his full capabilities."


    Afeus then stopped talking for a second, as he felt a slight chill. He noticed that Lara was looking at him with those emotionless eyes of hers. Afeus remembered the meeting they had a previous night where she asked the same question as Valdel, about the guy named Ren. When he answered her question he got a different reaction than the time with Valdel. Unlike Valdel who was civil about it, when she heard his answer she punched the ground cracking it. Afeus coughed dryly before continuing his analysis.


    "Of course his opponent would surely be able to bring out everything Valdel has. Lara is an adventurer known for her bowmanship as well as her powerful fist techniques. These two aren''t true mages as both of them are more used to weapon-based fights. So without the restrictions of the tournament, I expect that we will be able to witness an amazing spectacle."


    "Nicely said Afeus, so now let''s call in our contestants to the stage. The powerful swordsman that can make even the simplest of spells into destructive crushing spells, the only male contestant left in the whole tournament the magic swordsman, Valdel!"


    When Valdel stepped foot onto the stage some of the women started to scream in shrill voices. Valdel with a wooden sword in his left hand waved his free arm at the audience. Seeing the handsome man waving at them more of the singledies became even more heated up in cheering.


    "Now for the one to face the fearless swordsman, is the one who people consider as the favorite to win this whole tournament. The youngest S rank adventurer whose cold demeanor makes the men feel afraid and aroused at the same time! The one who has the moniker of Silent Death, Lara enters the stage!"


    Lara had a wooden bow in her left hand and on her right were three arrows without any arrowheads.


    "I thought we''ll be facing each other in the finals." Valdel smiled awkwardly as he started a conversation with Lara.


    "Just remember what I said before and go all out. There''s no need to hold back against me since even if you did I''m sure that victory will be mine." When Valdel heard Lara''s taunting words his eyelids twitched a bit.


    "Oh, it''s true that in our past bouts you have won more times than me. But that was when we were younger. Also if I remember correctly you''re more proficient in sneaking around in the darkness. I have improved greatly over the years and your victory isn''t'' as certain as before."


    "All the improvement I see is in the way you talk." Lara ced the three arrows she had between her fingers.


    "Well, all the improvement I see from you is that you can speak more words now." Valdel took a fighting stance with his wooden sword.


    "Hmph, fine then enough talk, as people taught by Ren we will let our fists do the talking." Lara pulled on the bowstring with the three arrows between her fingers.


    "Oh, it seems our two contestants are fired up now! Let''s get to it then, BATTLE START!"

 Chapter 358 - Irritated

    <h4>Chapter 358 - Irritated</h4>


    When Lara and Valdel heard Henrietta''s voice they immediately moved. Both of them moved at all almost the exact same time, but despite his speed, Valdel was the slower of the two. Lara had unleashed her arrows before Valdel could move forward an inch. The iing arrows were moving towards Valdel at a speed that the human eye could not follow.


    Valdel''s reflexes kicked in and using the wooden sword he deflected the three arrows. When he thought that he had redirected all the arrows, a fourth arrow made of mana was hidden behind the first three arrows that were shot only half a second faster.


    Valdel had already rxed his sword arm and wouldn''t be able to move it fast enough to redirect the iing arrow made of mana that was aimed at his right shoulder. The time frame of his mind sending the signal to his body to move was taking too long. The mana arrow was now a few millimeters away from hitting Valdel''s shoulder. At that moment the training Ren did with him kicked in.


    The moment Valdel''s body was about to get hit before he could even think of evading, his body had reflexively moved at thest second avoiding a major injury. After twisting his body to the side and barely avoiding the arrow made of mana, Valdel noticed that his shoulder was scratched.


    "As expected you''re able to evade that, then how about this!" Valdel heard Lara''s voice from above. Valdel lifted his head to look up and he saw a falling object. Valdel quickly evaded to the side, but then he noticed that the falling object was simply the wooden bow Lara was holding a second ago. The wooden bow was there but there were no signs of Lara. Valdel ced the wooden sword behind his back as his instincts dictated his movement.


    Valdel felt the wooden sword made contact with a massive force. Valdel knew that the force was Lara''s fist as he parried it. Valdel spun around and saw the stoic Lara about ready to give him a spinning kick. Valdel bent his body a little bit backward avoiding the attack, but Lara was quick to follow up.


    After doing a spinning upper kick, she followed up with a low sweeping kick. Valdel had no choice but to avoid the kick by jumping upward. Lara followed through and did an upward somersault kick. Valdel used his wooden sword to block the attack and was blown away. Lara followed closely as she dashed towards Valdel before he was able tond.


    The whole fight was being dictated by Lara as she was the one in control of the flow. The difference in their attacking speed at the beginning was all it took for Lara to take the initiative. Valdel tried his best to counterattack using his wooden sword but Lara''s fists were quicker.


    "You might have the advantage in strength but in speed, you''re no match for me!" Lara shouted as her stoic expression was slowly changing. Valdel was already having a hard time dealing with Lara''s onught but seeing her expression change so much was making it harder for him to keep focus.


    He had known Lara for eighteen years now, and this was the first time he has seen so many different expressions on her face. Valdel could practically see the frustration she was feeling not only on her face but in every attack she made.


    ¡­


    The audience was stunned into silence as they watched the match. The speed at which the two contestants moved was so fast that it was hard to follow. All they could see were the blurred hands and legs of Lara, while Valdel desperately dodges all of her attacks.


    Henrietta was also amazed by the sight she was witnessing, but in a different way from the others. She was able to watch the fight on a much deeper level.


    The control in which Lara and Valdel distributed their mana was so precise that it was amazing to see them do it so naturally as if it was as simple as breathing. It didn''t look like they had any difficulty in doing the task of evenly distributing their mana as they used it.


    Henrietta was aware this was also the way in which Kretos did things, in fact, it was at this moment she started to wonder. She knew for a fact that both Valdel and Lara visited Afeus for the same reason of looking for their missing friend. The techniques Kretos knew was simr to the techniques Valdel and Lara know and which their mutual friend uses.


    ''It is highly probable that Kretos and Ren are one and the same. Well, it''s not like it matters if he''s Kretos or Ren, to me him with or without memories is irrelevant.'' Aftering to a revtion, Henrietta simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to watch the match.


    ¡­


    After a very intense assault, Lara was able to push Valdel down and got into a mounting position. She then proceeded to punch and punch at Valdel''s body. Valdel protected his vitals with the wooden sword and strengthened his defense by using a hardening buffing spell.


    "I told you not to hold back, so why the f*ck are you holding back!" Lara continued to pound at Valdel as she screamed. This time her stoic expression has thoroughly disappeared as she was now able to express her emotion so vividly.


    ''Lara must have been extremely stressed all this time, with everything that has been going on¡­ Lisa dying, the vige being burnt down, Ren missing. The other day when she thought she found some clue of Ren''s whereabouts and it turned out to be nothing must''ve been the final straw. All the pent up emotions for the past eighteen years must being out. I better endure it all until she calms down.'' Valdel gritted his teeth as he focused everything he had on defense.


    "Why aren''t you fighting back at all! Come on show me what you''ve got!" Lara continued to hammer away at Valdel as her emotions were bursting out.


    This was the first time she had felt this way in her entire life. In normal circumstances no matter what she felt she wouldn''t be able to express it so openly like she was doing right now. It''s like something is heightening her emotions to an extreme level. Even the audience who came with a dampened mood seems to be even more expressive than they usually were.


    She was feeling good that she was able to express her emotions but at the same time, she felt like something was wrong¡­ Still, she decided not to think about it for now and simply release all her pent up frustrations.

 Chapter 359 - Heightened Emotions

    <h4>Chapter 359 - Heightened Emotions</h4>


    As Valdel continued to be pounded into the ground, he started to feel something weird. At first, he wanted to allow Lara to keep on attacking until she was satisfied, but for some reason, he was slowly feeling that he wanted to win.


    Lara who was hammering at Valdel suddenly felt something was wrong, but before she could do anything something had hit her stomach. Lara was pushed upward by the unexpected force. As she was in the air Lara saw Valdel flying right in front of her. Before Lara could react to what she saw Valdel had already swung his wooden sword downward. Lara crossed her arms to block the iing attack. The force of the downward sh made Lara fall from the sky onto the ground which resulted in the ring cracking from the strength of the fall.


    Lara was feeling a bit wobbly as she tried to regain her bnce. It was within that gap that Valdel once again appeared before her and did a piercing motion. Lara evaded to the side and countered with a kick. Lara''s kick hit Valdel''s right arm to which Valdel countered by kicking Lara in her abdomen.


    Valdel''s right arm was now swelling but it wasn''t broken. Lara who was pushed back found that four of her ribs almost caved in. The two didn''t move and looked at each other. Lara was surprised to see Valdel''s expression, and vice versa Valdel was also surprised to see Lara''s expression.


    The two of them were smiling the same vicious smile that Ren would usually show in the heat of battle. Lara couldn''t believe that for a brief second she actually saw a bit of Ren in Valdel''s disgustingly handsome face. On the other hand, Valdel who was already very surprised seeing Lara''s different expressions was really surprised to see that vicious looking smile on her face.


    "What are you staring at?" Lara asked as she noticed the weird stare Valdel was giving her.


    "No, it''s just that the way you''re smiling is just reminding me of Ren."


    "Huh, aren''t you the one who''s trying to foolishly smile like Ren?"


    When the two childhood friends heard what the other had to say they both started to touch their faces. They didn''t even notice that they were smiling. When Valdel finally noticed that he was smiling the same smile as his best friend he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "I guess both of us have been influenced by him a tad too much. To actually unconsciously smile the same smile like his. To think that I could feel this way¡­"


    "¡­ Is that why you suddenly changed your mind and started to fight properly?"


    "Yeah, I suddenly felt like I wanted to win, no matter what I want to win against you."


    The two then gazed at each other and the smiles on their faces widened. They couldn''t understand it but they felt something was happening within them.


    "Oh, so you did actually learn something from Ren." Lara mockingly spoke as she changed her fighting stance and lowered her center of gravity.


    "Yeah, I guess I did¡­ I learned more than I thought I did." Valdel ced the wooden sword by his waist as he too took a lower stance like Lara. The two of them no longer said any words as they locked eyes with each other. They could no longer hear the roaring cheers of the crowd as their concentration grew. It felt like they were the only ones in the whole arena.


    As their concentration reached the limit, Lara was the first to make a move as she dashed forward.


    ¡­


    Henrietta who was watching the match was feeling that something was wrong. She wasn''t sure what it was but there was something going on. She looked at the audience who were very excited at the moment the most excited they''ve been in the whole tournament. Some of the audience members were crying while others were starting fights. There were even some that started kissing the people beside them.


    She was also feeling quite excited seeing such strong human specimens, but for some reason, she felt like that was wrong. She would usually feel this excited when she found something interesting but this time it was somehow unusual.


    She couldn''t quite point out what was wrong, but there was definitely something awry happening. Henrietta then noticed that Afeus who was sitting beside her was writing vehemently on a notepad.


    There were also other people acting normal but also weird at the same time. Henrietta started biting her thumb while trying to figure out what was wrong in this picture. Something was there, the answer was somewhere in the back of her mind, but she couldn''t get it which was starting to frustrate her.


    ¡­


    While Henrietta was deep in thought Afeus was watching every move Lara and Valdel were making. The way they used their mana was the same as those races that were made mostly of mana. Not only that the way their physical prowess was astonishing.


    Afeus felt inspired to enhance his abilities with the skills he was watching today. After the fight with Hime, Afeus knew that he needed to improve his physical abilities. Most of the spells he knew needed to be used in close range to actually work, so being able to move like Valdel and Lara was a good thing. Even if he can only have a fifth of their physical prowess would be amazing.


    ¡­


    Hime who was in a meditative state felt a ripple in her emotions. Her desire to capture the traitors seem to be intensifying. She tried to calm her mind and heart but it was proving to be quite difficult at the moment.


    ''What''s happening here?''


    ¡­


    The golden-haired maiden that was Irene''s teacher was watching the match between Valdel and Lara from a distance also felt the changing atmosphere.


    ''To be able to manipte the emotions with such subtlety that it almost fooled me¡­ I guess I underestimated the primordial demons too much. They didn''t use any mana to do this, if they did even those young ones would have noticed. It seems that their source of power is different from ours, that might be the reason why they want to destroy the Tree of Life.''


    The golden-haired maiden crossed her arms and frowned. ''Should I just take Irene and retreat back to the eternal forest?¡­ If I did that this trip would be a waste, I came here to meet him but I haven''t seen any signs of him yet. Based on my understanding of him, he would probably arrive after the winner of the tournament is announced, so that he could challenge the champion. Should I wait until then or should I go now?¡­''


    The maiden started thinking about what to do next, but after a second of thought, the maiden giggled.


    ''If I fled now I would be too ashamed to meet with him. I guess I could leave after the champion is decided. If I still don''t meet him at that point, then I''ll head back to the eternal forest with Irene. Still, I have a feeling that I''ll get to meet him after watching the way these two fight¡­'' The golden-haired maiden smiled as she continued to watch Valdel and Lara fight.

 Chapter 360 - The End Of The First Semi-final Match

    <h4>Chapter 360 - The End Of The First Semi-final Match</h4>


    Lara and Valdel''s battle grew even more intense. Even with Valdel using a wooden sword and Lara using her bare fists, their bodies were full of scratches and bruises. If both of them had their real equipment they would''ve been severely injured.


    "Isn''t it about time we end this?" Valdel asked as he lowered his sword hand.


    "Hmph, how funny for you to say that¡­ Do you think I''m a fool? Even though we have fought numerous times and it would seem that you did go all out in every fight, but I know the truth. Ren has told me a lot about your special physique. If you truly wanted to win fate would never allow for you to be defeated. The only ones who could best you if you truly tried are those that can defy fate itself."


    When Lara said those words the two of them could clearly picture Ren''s face in their minds. The only person they knew of who couldugh at fate and crush it under his hand was that person who smiled ever viciously as heughed against the odds.


    "I hate to admit it but I''m not at the stage were I can defy fate. So I knew that every time I won before and even now is because you''ve been going easy on me."


    Valdel was about to respond but Lara raised her hand to stop him.


    "I know what you''re going to say, but don''t say it. The abilities you have as a chosen hero is part of you, it''s not an unfair advantage. You have been learning from Ren for all these years, you have learned many things but at the same time, you have learned nothing. I have never bothered correcting you since you are you and Ren is Ren, but¡­ Nevermind that''s not something I should deal with."


    Lara shook her head as she expressed her opinion. Valdel still couldn''t help but be shocked by the sudden change in Lara. So many words and emotions hade out of her. Still, what she said made Valdel realize a bit of what Lara was truly feeling.


    "I''m sorry¡­ Alright then, this time I''m truly going to go all out." Valdel breathed in as his body started to shine a white glow. The mana in the surrounding area started to gather around Valdel''s wooden sword. Seeing this scene Lara''s lips curved upward as she ced her right fist by her waist and started to gather all her mana into the fist. This was the ultimate fist technique Ren had taught her. She didn''t like using it since she could only fire one shot and then will lose all her mana and stamina. Still, in this kind of showdown, she wanted to go all out for once.


    "Let''s see who is the best student that Ren has ever taught!" The noisy audience all went quiet as the atmosphere grew tenser between Valdel and Lara.


    Some of the people in the audience to shake uncontrobly because of how tense it was. Every person present held their breath as they waited for the end of this eye-opening match.


    Henrietta knew what that white light that enveloped Valdel was, that was the hero''s light. When she saw the hero''s light as well as Lara''s gathering of mana into her fist, Henrietta had a bad premonition.


    Henrietta reacted quickly and asked all of the supervisors of the tournament to gather. She told them that they need to strengthen the barrier of the arena. The supervisors didn''t question what Henrietta said as they could feel the next attack was going to be unbelievable. All of the supervisors as well as the powerful guests helped in strengthening the barrier.


    ¡­


    The Golden Haired Maiden that was watching at a distance stood up from her seat. She looked at Lara with widened eyes.


    ''I could already guess that it was you that trained them, but I didn''t expect that you would teach her that technique. Now if there was any doubt before there is none now¡­ Still, this little girl is much more talented than I thought.''


    The Golden Haired Maiden looked at Lara''s fist that was gathering and concentrating mana into one spot. There was a reason that only Kir and Kretos used that fist technique, it''s not because Kir kept it a secret but because it was too hard to train.


    Kir actually tried teaching his kin his fist technique but no one could use it. The technique was simple by itself, but the execution was very hard. If you mess up while gathering mana into the fist then you would faint before even being able to use the technique.


    Seeing the human girl use the technique that hundreds of the Lycan race couldn''t achieve was a marvel to behold.


    ''It really is the era of humans now.'' The Golden Haired Maiden smiled wryly.


    ¡­


    Valdel could feel that he gathered everything he could, and he looked at Lara who seems to be finished with her preparations as well. The two knew that this one attack of theirs might kill the other but for some reason that didn''t matter to them, all they wanted to see was who could win against the other.


    "Here Ie, LARA!" Valdel swung his wooden sword downward, a white beam of mana and sword energy burst out of the wooden sword disintegrating it and everything in its path. Seeing the iing wave, Lara punched forward unleashing her ultimate move. Her mana was dark blue as it burst forward shing with Valdel''s sword energy.


    The sh between the two opposing energies was so powerful that the barrier surrounding the audience area was cracking from the pressure. The supervisors used everything they had to maintain the barrier.


    The two opposing energies grewrger as some of their excesses scattered hitting the ground and creating deep pits. The energy fluctuation was so immense that the weaker audience members had fainted while the others fled in fear.


    After a long sh between the two energies, the other started growing weaker and was now being overpowered. The winner of the two beams of energies destroyed the opposing energy and flew forward.


    The winner of the match between the two childhood friends has been decided.

 Chapter 361 - To Action

    <h4>Chapter 361 - To Action</h4>


    Ren was sitting on the highest branch of the tree of life. It has been a few days since he learned that there was no way of saving Tsukiko from her predicament. In these few days, he had multiple conversations with the other incarnations but no matter how much they brainstormed they couldn''t figure out a way to sever the link between Tsukiko and the tree. The Original incarnation who presumably might know of some way wasn''t responding to them. So now he started to contemte the things that were happening around him and within him.


    ''Hmmm¡­ If it was me from before I would have epted this much more easily. I would''ve said that it was natural for her to have this kind of fate because of her weakness. Everyone makes choices and you either ept whates or defy it with all your might¡­ Yet now I actually care a little bit about such things. I guess I''ve be a bit greedier than before.'' Ren''s lips curved upwards as he scoffed at himself.


    ''Well, who cares if I''m the greediest of all, if I have the power to back it up then I can be as greedy as I want to be! Hmph, moping around isn''t my style. I''ll just deal with it as theye, first things first I need to meet with Tsukiko.''


    Ren had been in the eternal forest for a few days now, but not once did he go visit Tsukiko. He didn''t want to meet her if he couldn''t find a way to sever her link with the tree. But now Ren changed his mind and decided to just meet with her and think about the difficult stuffter.


    ¡­


    In the eternal forest, Le was ying around with the younger elves. On the other hand, ever since Ren found out that Tsukiko was the protector of the World Tree, the Elven Queen Kara grew more anxious by the day. Seeing Ren keeping to himself and being quiet made her anxiety rise, so she did everything in her power to please Ren.


    She had warned all of the other elves to amodate every one of Ren''s wishes no matter what it was. Those that defy this order would be instantly executed. Because of all of these factors, the usually peaceful eternal forest the home of the elves was now enveloped by a very tense atmosphere.


    ¡­


    Ren stood up from the tree branch and felt the heavy wind blow through him. He looked ahead, the clouds were under his feet and the sun was shining brightly in front of him. It was a bit exhrating to be up so high.


    After he took in the scenery Ren jumped down from the tree branch. As he was diving headfirst to the ground, Ren passed through the clouds and then saw the eternal forest down below, from this height it looked so small. He could also see the surrounding areas beyond the eternal forest.


    Seeing thendscape that he once knew so well change so much, Ren couldn''t help but remember his past life making him feel a tinge of nostalgia. Once Ren saw that he was nearing the ground he created tforms by condensing his mana outward. If it was before he would have used a wind spell to help him float safely downward, but now that he had too much excess mana he no longer needed to conserve his mana and use such spells.


    ¡­


    Ren who was descending looked like he was walking on invisible stairs. When the Elven Queen felt Ren''s presence nearing she quickly asked the other elves to disperse as she would be the only one to greet Ren.


    Seeing Kara waiting for him by herself made Ren smile as the Elven Queen finally understood a bit of how he liked to do things.


    "Bring me to Tsukiko."


    "As you wish."


    Kara was about to bow her head but remembered that Ren didn''t really like people doing that so she forcefully stopped herself. She was now in an awkward position of being in mid-bow, Kara did a gesture telling Ren to follow her, she then walked ahead. In her mind, Kara was a bit happy that she was able to quickly react before things got even more awkward.


    ¡­


    Kara guided Ren through the thick roots of the tree of life that were now all over the ce which made the whole area into abyrinth. The tree was ever-growing which made the position of the roots ever-changing, without someone like Kara who could navigate through the roots Ren would''ve immediately gotten lost.


    Tsukiko''s ce was at the trunk of the tree, and it took Kara and Ren half an hour to reach their destination. Once they were there Kara announced their arrival.


    "Protector of the tree of life, Demon Fox Tsukiko, I the Elven Queen Kara have brought you a guest, Ren formerly known as the demon lord Kretos."


    Kara waited for a response but after a few seconds with no reaction, Kara once again announced their arrival with a louder voice, but there was still no response. kara was about to move but Ren beat her to it as he sprinted towards the trunk of the tree. Ren looked around and saw no one there. Ren wanted to use his mana sensing but he couldn''t as being near the tree of life that was emitting the world''s mana made it impossible to sense the mana of others.


    When Kara arrived beside Ren she was shocked to see that Tsukiko wasn''t there taking a nap. Kara searched the surrounding area with Ren but they saw no one.


    "Where is she?"


    "¡­ Please wait¡­ Um¡­ Oh! She might be in the capital of the Serbek Kingdom where the Grand Mage''s tournament is being held. It was her disciple that joined the tournament this year. She should be there to watch how Irene is doing."


    "Alright then, I''ll be going there now. Tell Le to stay here." As Ren was about ready to leave Kara stood in front of him.


    "Please wait Sir Ren. The tournament should be ending tomorrow. If you go now you might miss each other, so it would be better to wait here instead." The moment Kara said those words, some of the branches of the tree of life started to cken and looked like it was decaying.


    "What''s happening?"


    "I don''t know¡­ Lady Tsukiko hasn''t been separated from the tree that long, so this shouldn''t be happening¡­ Ifdy Tsukiko was dead or wounded the tree wouldn''t react this way, instead the branches would''ve fallen offpletely not just turn ck."


    "I''m leaving, just tell Le to stay here and wait for me," After speaking Ren no longer bothered to hear Kara''s response as he enveloped himself in Spirit Aura and Mana. Ren jumped upward cracking the ground where he jumped from.


    Once in the air Ren created a tform of mana and pushed himself forward by kicking it in full force. He traveled several miles within seconds. He repeated the process of kicking the tforms made of mana as he traveled as quickly as possible towards the Serbek Kingdom.


    ¡­


    Kara who watched Ren disappear from her sight had an odd look on her face. ''He could''ve just used the teleportation circle we have here that''s connected to the city near Varzon the capital of the Serbek Kingdom. Though I guess with his speed his way should be a bit faster. Still, I wonder what''s happening in the Serbek Kingdom¡­ Well with Sir Ren going there the problem should be as good as solved.''

 Chapter 362 - The Winner Of The Battle Between Childhood Friends

    <h4>Chapter 362 - The Winner Of The Battle Between Childhood Friends</h4>


    Lara was looking at the bright blue sky and felt great relief. It was a beautiful sight to behold as her body wasid on the ground unmoving her mana supply was near empty and her stamina was at rock bottom.


    It was obvious now that she had lost and her whole body was aching and was in great pain, yet the sensation within her was the best she felt in years. She was able to pour everything she had in this match and more.


    ''I guess I''m not there yet, so many ces I need to improve on. I already understood that Valdel was above me having that destiny of a hero. He was also the one chosen alongside Ren by that mythical weapon shop¡­ Still, I might have lost now but that won''t be the same in the future.'' Lara felt ted this wasn''t the end, she will grow stronger from here on out. As she was thinking about ways to improve, Lara found it strange that Valdel''s victory was still unannounced.


    ''Did something happen to Valdel?¡­'' Without being able to move Lara had no way of knowing, she couldn''t even use mana sensing in her current condition. All she could do now was to wait for Henrietta''s announcement.


    ¡­


    While Lara was wondering what was happening, Valdel was on his knees panting heavily. In this fight, Valdel had exerted too much force and mana as he needed to change the direction of the sword energy he unleashed. If that sword energy were to hit the barrier that was protecting the audience, the barrier would''ve been obliterated. Once that was gone hundreds of people would have died.


    So as ast-ditch effort Valdel pushed the sword energy upward into the air. The barrier wasn''t protecting the area above so the sword energy just kept on going higher beyond the clouds.


    After he had safely diverted his sword energy he felt all of his energy being drained and knelt onto the ground. While he was catching his breath Valdel noticed that Lara on the ground and that her breathing was even heavier than his. Valdel wanted to check on her but the moment he thought of moving he found out that he couldn''t.


    Valdel tried to stand up but his legs weren''t listening to him and remained unresponsive. Sweat trickled down his face as he continued to breathe heavily. He pushed himself more he felt his energy being drained quicker but it didn''t matter, he was truly worried about Lara''s condition. He made sure that the sword energy wouldn''t hurt her, but what if he made a mistake, Ren would never forgive him if something was to happen to Lara. While Valdel was struggling to stand up the audience was silently watching.


    The whole fight was unbelievable, who knew that close-quartersbat could reach such a level. It was even more spectacr to watch than watching a multitude of spells being fired.


    Henrietta and the others who had increased the density of the barrier were also exhausted but not as exhausted as Lara and Valdel. They stared at the stage with wide eyes, those two attacks were not any weaker than legendary forbidden spells.


    ¡­


    Henrietta looked with excitement and yearning, she was truly amazed by how powerful the sh between the two opposing energies were. It was so pure and destructive that just being near it made her feel like death was upon them.


    Henrietta saw that Lara wasying on the ground her eyes were opened but she wasn''t moving. Valdel, on the other hand, was kneeling his hands were touching the ground as he panted heavily.


    Both of them were down and a winner could only be decided if one of them stands up. As it was unclear if they still had the energy to even move, Henrietta decided that for now, she needed to wait. If they couldn''t stand up after a few more minutes then she would dere this match to be a tie.


    ¡­


    Valdel struggled to push himself up, but each attempt he made resulted in him falling down again and again. Still, Valdel didn''t give up as he gritted his teeth. After a few more times of falling Valdel was able to stand up, but was unable to move a single step forward. It took everything he had to simply stand up.


    "Valdel is now up! If Lara doesn''t get up in the count of ten, Valdel will be the winner of this match. I''ll begin the count now, ONE!"


    When Lara heard what Henrietta said she finally understood what had happened. Same as her Vadlel was exhausted and should have been on the ground like her, but unlike her, he didn''t give up and stood up.


    When Lara thought of how Valdel struggled to stand up despite his exhausted state, it made her feel inadequate. She kept on nagging at Valdel telling him that he hadn''t learned much from Ren, but the truth was now out in the open, his actions spoke louder than words.


    ''He might do things differently, but deep down he understood better than I did¡­'' Lara bit her lips and then yelled at her body to move. She flipped her body and now her belly was on the ground, she looked at Valdel who was standing while breathing heavily. Lara ced her hands onto the ground and tried to push her body upward.


    Valdel looked at how much his childhood friend was struggling and wanted to help her up but he could no longer move it was already a miracle that he was able to stand.


    Lara was now in a kneeling position when she suddenly heard the screams of the audience. She looked around confused, what happened? After a second the answer was given to her.


    "I repeat the winner of the amazing match IS VALDEL! Due to Lara being unable to stand within the count of ten, Valdel wins!"


    When Lara heard that announcement she looked at Valdel and said, "next time I''ll be the winner." After saying those words Lara fell to the ground and slept.


    Valdel looked at his fallen childhood friend and smiled, a few secondster he too fell to the ground and started sleeping.

 Chapter 363 - The Aftermath Of The First Semi-final Match

    <h4>Chapter 363 - The Aftermath Of The First Semi-final Match</h4>


    Seeing the two contestants on the ground Henrietta ordered some people to take them to the infirmary. It was such a normal order that no one expected what happened after. The moment the people who were going to carry the two came near Lara and Valdel''s bodies the two unconscious people attacked those that came close.


    It was a good thing that they didn''t attack to kill and instead made their opponents faint. After they were done attacking both Lara and Valdel''s bodies fell back into their fainted states. The audience were amazed by how swift Valdel and Lara were able to subdue the men while unconscious no less.


    While Henrietta was troubled about what to do, a couple of women alongside Natasha appeared on the stage. The three were Nika, Zwei, and the girl who used to be possessed by a primordial demon Meline.


    When the four girls approached Valdel he reacted the same way as he did with the others. Yet unlike the others, the three girls were used to Valdel being like this. The moment Valdel got close enough Zwei blocked his path. The unconscious Valdel was about to subdue Zwei but before he could do anything Natasha had summoned her divine weapon and wrapped Valdel in the steel wires.


    The unconscious Valdel couldn''t escape and once again stopped moving, the group did the same thing to Lara who acted in a simr manner. After they were done moving the two away, Zwei faced the audience and bowed her head before following Natasha and the others.


    Henrietta and the audience were silent as they watch the unusual scene that happened before their very eyes.


    "I-I guess that''s it, now that the two contestants are out of the stage we can clean it up. While we clean up it''s time for a break, the next fight will be held in the afternoon." After announcing that Henrietta headed out of the arena.


    ¡­


    During the break, the crowd started talking about the incredible fight they had witnessed. Most of them couldn''t follow what happened but they were excited nheless. The students of the various magic academies on the other hand were analyzing the match.


    "So you can train your swordsmanship to that degree. If swordsmen were all that strong wouldn''t spells be irrelevant?"


    "Didn''t you see that he used more mana than the usual high tier spell? A high tier spell and the moves he did were of simr strength, but his techniques were faster to activate while it takes a very long time to activate high tier spells. Still, the drawback to his techniques is that it uses too much mana than high tier spells. Also, high-tier spells have more uses other than destruction. So in my opinion overall if it''s a fight they''re still equal with their own merits and demerits."


    "Who cares about that, the real power came from that adventurer girl who uses her fist. She didn''t need any weapons and with just her body alone she was so powerful. Also, she was faster than the swordsman. If they had a simr level of mana supplies or if she was even remotely close to that guy''s ludicrous supply of mana then she would''ve been the winner. Didn''t you guys see what happened? Even though the mana she released was a few levels lower than Valdel''s sword sh, Lara''s punch was still able to hold its own. I''m sure that if they both released a simr amount of mana Lara''s punch would have won. Not to mention using one''s body to fight is manly as heck!"


    "Now that you say it I guess your right."


    "Also isn''t it cooler to fight with your fist than y with a long stick?"


    "What the heck are you talking about?"


    "Did everyone forgot that this is a magic tournament?"


    While the discussions among the people were heating up, back in the infirmary Natasha and the others ced Valdel and Lara onto the beds. Since they were being bound by Natasha''s wires the physicians were able to get close without being attacked.


    After inspecting their bodies the physicians were surprised that they were no fatal wounds only a few scratches and bruises. In fact, some of the other wounds were already being healed by their natural regenerative qualities.


    ''How could they fight such a battle without sustaining any serious injuries?''


    "How are they?" Natasha asked the physicians.


    "There''s nothing wrong with their bodies, they only sustained minor injuries. They''re sleeping now because of the loss of mana and stamina. After resting for a bit they should be feeling better once they wake up."


    "I see, thank you."


    "There''s no need to thank us we haven''t done anything at all. I still can''t believe that these two aren''t that hurt at all, watching that fight I was expecting them to be seriously injured. The bodies of these two have been trained to an incredible degree and the way they unconsciously circte their mana to heal their wounds as they sleep is unbelievable." The head physician spoke with a sparkle in his eye, he wanted to study the bodies of Lara and Valdel to see if there were more secrets hidden within their bodies.


    When Natasha saw that sparkle in the head physician''s eyes she stood between him and the unconscious bodies of Lara and Valdel. Seeing the re Natasha was showing him the head physician backed away and coughed dryly.


    "So they just need to rest, they can stay here for now." After saying that the head physician and the others with him quickly left.


    Natasha sighed as she watched the scurrying backs of the head physician''s group. ''As expected of the people of the Serbek Kingdom. These guys have only research in their brains, so I sometimes wonder why the heck are they always picking a fight with the Reschbeauch Kingdom.''


    ¡­


    After two hours of waiting the people returned to the arena to watch the second semi-final match between Natasha and Hime. Unlike this morning before the semi-final matches started, the crowd was now in a state of frenzy¡­ Most of the people were unaware that their emotions were irregrly heightened, and continued to feel more and more excited, angered, saddened, and other emotions.

 Chapter 364 - The Start And The End Of The Second Semi-final Match

    <h4>Chapter 364 - The Start And The End Of The Second Semi-final Match</h4>


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! After witnessing the previous match I''m sure that all of you are eager to watch the next fight. Due to certain circumstances, we haven''t seen the full power of either of these contestants. So let us witness the true power of the Holy Maiden, Natasha, and the wandering demon Hime!"


    Henrietta''s announcement was shorter than the previous ones as she too was excited to watch this match between the two. Even though her emotions were heightened she didn''t notice the change since this was a normal urrence for her. The moment Henrietta finds something interesting she would always feel this excited.


    Hearing their names being called both Natasha and Hime stepped foot onto the stage. The two beautiful calmed and collecteddies entered the stage with a presence of unwavering dignity. The two standing in the same ce looked like something that came out of a painting.


    "So between the twodies which one do you think is better?" Henrietta asked Afeus who was sitting beside her. When Afeus heard the question his face turned red as he opened and closed his mouth with no wordsing out.


    "W-w-w-what?!"


    Seeing Afeus''s reaction made Henrietta smile, it was pretty obvious what this guy was thinking. ''Should I tease him some more?¡­ Nah, I''ll do thatter, for now, the match needs to start.''


    "I was talking about who was better in battle, what did you think I meant?" ''Oops, I couldn''t help myself.''


    "I-I-I wasn''t thinking of anything else!"


    "I wasn''t saying that you were, so who do you think is more likely to win this battle?" Afeus didn''t speak and was silent for a few seconds before giving his answer.


    "¡­ I don''t know much about the contestants fighting styles, but I do know a bit about the Temple of Justice. One of the few Temples that survived the great war, the Temple of Justice is known as one of the top three temples. The battle priests from that temple are said to be extremely vicious when fighting against criminals. It seems that when conducting what they believe to be justice the battle priests gain an incredible buff called [divine possession]. A portion of the Goddess of Justice''s power is given to them to help them uphold justice. Seeing as Natasha is the holy maiden I presume she has a simr ability. To add to that fact it is said that all holy maidens of each temple are given a sacred artifact as a weapon. Well, in this kind of match she wouldn''t be able to use it."


    Afeus paused for a while as he pondered about something before he continued to speak.


    "Now for Hime truthfully I don''t know much about demons, I just started researching about them a few weeks ago. Based on what little I know the current demons are a mish-mash of different bloodlines of the ancient demon race. Today little is known about the ancient demons but what we do know is that they were a race that were born with higher quality mana. Since Hime is a part of such a powerful race and seeing how she herself is an excellent mage we should be having another exciting fight in our hands."


    "Oh, and that''s from you knowing only a little bit?" Henrietta smiled teasingly at Afeus who once again started blushing


    ¡­


    "Hey, can I ask you something?" While Henrietta and Afeus were having their own conversation, Natasha initiated her own conversation with Hime.


    "Hmmm¡­ What is it?" Hime who had her eyes closed waiting for the match to start opened them and looked at Natasha.


    "Why did you join this tournament?"


    "That''s a rather personal question, why should I tell you that?"


    "Truth be told I joined this tournament simply because of Valdel. I just needed to do the bare minimum as to not shame the temple of justice, after that, I could withdraw at any time. I already achieved the bare minimum by advancing from the quarter-finals so victory or defeat doesn''t really bother me at this point."


    "Why are you telling me this?"


    "For me, there is no justice to be found in continuing to participate in this tournament."


    When Hime heard what Natasha said she frowned.


    "So are you telling me that you''re going to forfeit?"


    "Yes, I''m going to forfeit that match¡­ I can see in your eyes that you are in this tournament seeking your own personal justice. I just wanted to know what kind of justice it is you seek before forfeiting. Since I am the holy maiden of Temple of Justice, I want to help those that seek justice. Still, if you don''t want t to tell me that''s fine as well."


    "¡­"


    "Alright¡­ I hope that the justice you seek is one of righteousness." As Natasha was about to raise her hand to forfeit Hime interjected by speaking.


    "Who is the one to decide what is righteous and what is not? I cannot tell you what I wish to do, but the justice I seek might not be that of righteousness. So what will you do?" Hime started to emit a frightening bloodlust, butpared to the bloodlust that person emitted it was nothing so Natasha remained calm as she answered.


    "I cannot tell another what is righteous and what is not, the person to decide that is you yourself. Though if your justice goes against my own justice then we will once again face each other, but at that time it will be a serious battle to the death."


    "I see¡­ Then I shall wish that our justices do not collide."


    "I shall wish for that as well." Natasha then raised her hands and spoke out loud. "I forfeit!"


    When the audience heard what Natasha said they all were dumbfounded but after a few seconds some of the audience members started shouting and throwing things onto the stage. Hime then red at the audience while emitting bloodlust. The audience couldn''t understand why but they started shivering. The audience finally calmed down and those that were angry sat back down with fear in their hearts.


    "¡­ Due to Natasha forfeiting, Hime is the winner of the second semi-final match¡­ Now that''s the end of the semi-final matches. Tomorrow will be the final match of the tournament, between the magic swordsman Valdel, and the wandering demon Hime!"

 Chapter 365 - The Prelude Of The Disturbance

    <h4>Chapter 365 - The Prelude Of The Disturbance</h4>


    As the audience were leaving the arena a person standing on top of the Grand Mage''s tower watched. A ck mist surrounded him and seeped into his skin.


    "Even with heightening their emotions I only get this amount of malice. This era has a distinctck of fear and anger. The wars they have are just petty squabblespared to the era before. If it wasn''t for those dragons and that human hero that turned into a half-dragon we would''ve already plunged this world into glorious chaos!"


    Nyarlom grumbled to himself as he continued to absorb the small amount of malice the people were producing. The quantity was minuscule but the quality wasn''t too bad.


    ''This should be enough to show these people a prelude to the fun times ahead.''


    ¡­


    The Golden-Haired Maiden frowned as she noticed something. She looked at the sky and noticed a faint dark aura enveloping the city.


    ''Primordial demons the tree of life has given me a bit of information about them. They are the creators of monsters. They use these monsters to spread chaos and death. I''m not sure what powers them but I''m sure that it isn''t mana which is why they want to cut down the tree of life¡­ Hmm, if they like creating chaos so much, then I have a few guesses of what they need. So it''s obvious what that primordial demon would do.''


    The Golden-Haired Maiden looked at Irene who was sitting beside her. Irene was pretty strong for the people of the current era, but she wasn''t strong enough to be a part of this kind of battle.


    ''I can try to tell the humans that govern thisnd about the impending crisis, but I''m pretty sure that they''re under the control of the primordial demons¡­ I guess I could try talking to Kretos''s students. Still, based on the fight they had today even if they somehow regain a bit more of their strength that wouldn''t be enough. I could use them as sacrificial pawns, but I''m no longer sure what kind of person the current Kretos is. If I used them in such a way he might never forgive me. So for now I''ll just do what I can do.''


    "Irene." Hearing her master calling her, Irene bowed her head.


    "Yes, master."


    "I want you to return to the eternal forest and give Kara this letter." The Golden-Haired Maiden waved her hand and a letter appeared in mid-air floating towards Irene.


    "What about you master?"


    "I''m staying here."


    "Then I''m going to stay too." When Irene said those words a torrent of killing intent could be felt from the Golden-Haired Maiden. Unlike the first time, she felt killing intent, this time Irene was able to hold on a bit longer, but that didn''tst for long. The elven maiden that had little to no experience in life and death battles had her knees buckled and fell to the floor.


    Irene tried her very best to stand up again but her legs wouldn''t listen to her. Seeing her disciple unable to stand up from such weak killing intent made the Golden-Haired Maiden sigh.


    ''I guess I cuddled her a bit too much.'' The Golden-Haired Maiden approached Irene. Seeing her master slowly approaching her Irene struggled to stand up but to no avail. Now standing in front of her disciple, the Golden-Haired Maiden knelt on one knee and started stroking her disciple''s hair.


    "This isn''t a fight someone of your level could mess around in. We must do what we can do with our own abilities. You better go home and give that letter to Kara."


    "But-" Irene looked at her master''s face and was about to persuade her master, but stopped before saying anything. Irene was surprised to see an unknown expression that had never been seen on her master''s face. It was a look of uncertainty and worry.


    "Irene just do what I say for now. Don''t worry about me, if something bad truly happens I can just leave. With my teleportation spells, I can do that quite easily."


    Irene gnashed her teeth and clenched her left fist while holding onto the letter given to her. She wanted to cry because of her weakness but she couldn''t do that in front of her beloved master.


    "¡­ I will fulfill the mission you have given me, without fail. So when should I depart?"


    "You should go now, the quicker you give Kara the letter the better. Bring the others with you as well. I''ll be the only one to stay."


    "¡­Be careful master." After saying those words Irene left the room since if she stayed any longer it would be harder to leave. Left alone in the room the Golden-Haired Maiden smiled.


    ''Didn''t I give a simr speech long ago¡­''


    ¡­


    In a tavern that seems out of ce in a street filled with magic shops, the tavern called the lonely cat had many people in it that were drinking and eating. In the tavern the lonely cat, there was a waiter who was having difficulty serving people was. This waiter was a new employee and was also the former leader of the traitorous demons, Nero.


    After being saved by Haruto he was forced by his savior to be a waiter in the tavern. Nero wasn''t really nning to be a waiter but after being tricked into signing some documents, Nero couldn''t even leave the tavern without Haruto''s permission.


    Even though he was reluctant at first, he was having a good time now. There were many good things about this job one of those was that he had free food and lodging. The lodgings hidden inside this little tavern was amazing. It had clean running water, something Haruto calls a toilet, and other miraculous things. Not to mention the food was something to die for.


    If that wasn''t enough Haruto was actually paying him twenty copper coins per hour. Usually, waiters or any other servers would only get paid one copper coin per hour, but he was given ten times that amount.


    ''Is it really okay to stay here and forget about my dream?¡­ No, I promised Amon that I would show him our dreame to fruition¡­ But staying here does feel kinda good, and it''s not like I can leave¡­''


    While Nero was having an internal struggle, Haruto received an ominous quest from the system.


    [New Task: Save as many paying customers as you can.]


    [A crisis is about to befall the area around you. As a Tavern owner, you need to protect the ce where the moneyes from, aka the customers. Save as many paying customers as you can, bring them all to the tavern to keep them safe.]


    [Of course, salvationes at a price, only paying customers may be saved and stay in the tavern. If one wants to be saved they need to cough up the coins.]


    [Task Reward: Will depend on how many paying customers are saved.]


    When Haruto saw the task given by the system, he couldn''t help but sigh. This system really is all about money.


    ''I wonder what kind of crisis will happen¡­ It''s not like I''m a saint or anything, but I do want to save the people, but if the system doesn''t allow them inside¡­ How should I go about saving them? Also, it''s not like I can fit the whole city into my tavern¡­ What should I do?''

 Chapter 366 - The Day Of The Finals

    <h4>Chapter 366 - The Day Of The Finals</h4>


    The final day of the Grand Mage''s tournament has finally arrived. Unlike the previous days when there were some people that didn''t attend, this time around almost every single person in the capital arrived at the arena.


    The seats were filled to the brim, many who camete were forced to stand, while the most unfortunate ones had to stand outside the arena. Aside from the area near the arena, there was no other ce that had people in it in the capital, well there was one establishment that had people still in it the Tavern known as the Lonely Cat.


    Haruto was still waiting for the disturbance to happen so the system would allow him to leave the Lonely Cat. While he waited for whatever was going to happen he needed to practice his bartender skills as well as his cooking skills. He was also teaching the new employee Nero how to be a better waiter.


    ''I wonder what kind of disturbance is about to happen¡­ Hey system, many people are going to die aren''t they?'' Haruto''s system wasn''t like those in the novels he had read where the system has some sort of AI that was helpful and yfully bantering with him, his system was just some text on a screen that only he could see, and a robotic voice that answers some questions.


    Still, his system was almost always right it was like it could predict the future. If it said that something will happen that will need Haruto to save people, then something truly bad was about to happen.


    ''I already understood this was a fantasy world were killing was a normal urrence but¡­'' Haruto gnashed his teeth at his own weakness. He has been thinking about different ways on how to save the people ever since he received that new task. Yet no matter how hard he thought he couldn''t find a way to save everyone from the uing disaster.


    ''In the first ce, I don''t even know what kind of disaster ising. Is it going to be a natural disaster like an earthquake or a storm? It''s also possible that the nearby monsters will gather into a legion and attack the city. There''s also the possibility that the enemies of this kingdom have infiltrated the city and will begin a massacre. There''s also the chance it has something to do with the guy that''s trying to kill Nero. Thest one is the most likely scenario but¡­''


    Haruto remembered asking Nero about the ns of the Primordial Demon Nyarlom, but even he wasn''t so sure. All Nero knew was that Nyarlom wanted to spread chaos.


    ''That could be anything¡­ It''s also possible that he would do all of the above at the same time. If that were to happen what can I do? The system has assured me that as long as we''re inside the Lonely Cat we won''t be in danger but¡­ I know I ain''t a Saint but I just can''t watch thousands of people just like that. There must be a way to save them all.''


    Haruto sat on one of the empty seats in the tavern and started to think. The more he thought about it the more anxious he became. Nero who was watching at the side frowned.


    ''The owner should be thinking about Nyarlom. Since he was asking about him so much yesterday, the owner must have some clue as to what''s toe. I did tell him that we should flee from the city but he reassured me that the safest ce was within the tavern. Well, this tavern is pretty mysterious. I can''t even leave the ce without the owner''s permission, I did try to sneak out but the doors wouldn''t open. I also tried destroying the walls and the windows but none of my attacks worked. I was so noisyst night but the owner didn''t scold me. Surely he should''ve known what I was doing, but I guess he allowed me to attack so that I can see there''s no escape.''


    Remembering the eventst night where Nero attacked the ss windows with all his might without scratching it made Nero feel reassured.


    ''If this ce is so safe, why is the owner acting this way? Not to mention that the owner is incredibly strong. No matter what Nyarlom has nned as long as we stay in the tavern, what''s there to fear?''


    Unable to understand what Haruto was thinking about, Nero gave up and continued cleaning the floor while waiting for a customer to enter.


    ¡­


    Nyarlom who was watching the gathering crowd and chuckled. "All my food gathering in one ce. I wonder what kind of fear and malice I can suck out of them once they see the fun I have in store for them? Surely it will be an exquisite meal, one that I haven''t had in millennia."


    As he was getting excited and started to drool Nyarlom summoned a ball of ck energy and yed with it. The excitement in his face slowly faded as he started to frown. The ck energy he formed made him once again notice his current strength.


    "I can''t even produce one-fifth of my true power. This will limit the ways I can y with the living beings of this era. Still, with how weak the current races of this era are, a fifth of my power should be enough to cause mayhem¡­ Hmm, now that I think about it there are people in this era I should be wary of. The human heroes for one thing can cause a bit of trouble." Nyarlom remembered the human hero protecting the cave where his brethren were trapped and clicked his tongue.


    "No matter the era those guys would always get in our way. The so called chosen ones, they always ruin the fun." Just remembering the numerous times his race has been stopped by the so called heroes made Nyarlom extremely irritated.


    "Now that I think about it, I did see one of the human heroes here, what was his name?¡­ Oh right Valdel. He''s still a fledgling of a hero but with my weakened power, he would''ve been a little bit problematic if he didn''t use too much mana yesterday. There was also that girl called Lara who was on the same level as him. Well even if they do regain their full power they''ll only be a tiny hindrance. The real problem is that one who''s been hiding from my senses."


    "The one who killed one of my kin. I did hear a tiny bit of their conversation before I lost them. The only thing I know about this person is that he or she is the new protector of the Tree of life. Whoever it is should be near watching me. Still, if he or she is just watching and not attacking that would mean that whoever it is doesn''t have enough confidence in dealing with me."


    "There''s also the guy that saved Nero from the shadow wolves. That guy is pretty mysterious, and he doesn''t look like someone that''s easy to deal with. I did try to do some scouting, but every time my monsters got near the tavern called the lonely cat they were killed without even getting inside. I could go to the tavern personally but wasting too much of what little malice I have gathered wouldn''t be fun. I guess if he doesn''t do anything then I shouldn''t bother with him for now."


    "Then finally there''s also the one who''s always being talked about, the one called Kretos. I haven''t seen him but there are plenty of rumors about him¡­ If that guy is the same as what the rumors make him out to be, if he decides to mess around with my ns it might spell actual trouble."


    "Now that I think about it, I remember some fake demon that has a simr name that appeared back then. I haven''t seen the demons of that era but it was said that the demon called Kretos was the closest to us. If this guy with a simr name is anything like that demon then we might actually have some real fun."


    Nyarlom happily smiled as he remembered that era when that demon called Kretos existed. That era was filled with the malice of the people, which empowered them, the primordial demons.


    Due to the massive amounts of malice, the primordial demons received in that era they were able to push their past jailer to a corner, but the b*stard was able to hold out for a few millennia more before dying. If that wasn''t enough the next jailer was an even more powerful hero than thest one.


    If they didn''t exhaust most of their power in killing the previous jailer they could have dealt with the newly appointed jailer then and there. Yet it took a very long time for them to regain enough strength simply to escape, but only a few of them were able to get through.


    ''Just a little bit more and we can regain our true powers¡­ Once we do that we can destroy the world tree and joyous chaos will be neverending! If anyone of those guys tries to mess around I''ll just offer them anything they want, just like what I did to that fool Nero.''

 Chapter 367 - The Start Of The Disturbance

    <h4>Chapter 367 - The Start Of The Disturbance</h4>


    Henrietta looked around and saw that the audience was the most excited they have ever been. This was normal since this was the final match of the Grand Mage''s tournament. This was the highlight of the tournament and it was always filled with a passionate audience. Yet today was filled with wilder fans than in the past years.


    Still, that wasn''t what Henrietta found weird what she found weird was despite it being the final match the Grand Mage wasn''t there to spectate. Usually, during the final match, the current Grand Mage would arrive in a pseudo majestic way to surprise the audience.


    He also did the same stunt in the past Grand Mage''s Tournaments but this time there was no sign of him. The royal family and the royal guards were here but not the Grand Mage.


    ''Too many weird things are happening at the same time to be a coincidence. Did something happen to the Grand Mage?''


    When Henrietta had that thought she felt a tiny bit of fear crept into her body. One of the biggest reasons that the Serbek Kingdom was able to survive up to now was because of the Grand Mage. The Grand Mage was literally the strongest in the kingdom.


    ''It can''t be¡­ The Grand Mage is one of the strongest of the human race has to offer he''s even stronger than most hero ss humans¡­ It might be that I''m just being paranoid and the Grand Mage is just deep into his research.'' As Henrietta shook her worries away, she looked at Afeus who was sitting beside her.


    Even now Layfon and the others still couldn''t find any further clues as to what happened to Artifice. ''What could this all mean?''


    While Henrietta was feeling a little more anxious many more people started toe. After a while when it doesn''t seem like any more people will being, Henrietta stopped thinking about the strange happenings and started the show.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen today is the day we have all been waiting for! The final match of the Grand Mage''s tournament is about to begin. We are here to witness the splendor of the two mages that have battled through all the others toe up on top. In one corner is the handsome and powerful magic swordsman, Valdel!"


    Hearing his name being called Valdel stepped foot onto the stage. The sun shone perfectly onto his body as if to show how attractive he was. When the women saw this they started to scream, mixed in with those screams were the sounds of some men.


    Valdel stood up straight smiled at the audience and waved his hands. "Thank you everyone for the support." The moment those words came out of his mouth the shriekingdies and some men grew louder.


    "Here stands a man who has fought every battle with overwhelming skill and power. We had witnessed the greatness of his skills in yesterday''s match, which was a sight to behold. Also, the secret of Valdel''s power was exposed yesterday. Who could''ve guessed that this man was a hero that can use the famous ability hero''s light!" The screams grew louder almost drowning Henrietta''s voice which was being enhanced by spells.


    "Well now onto his opponent. Adored by the Goddess of luck herself the wandering demon, HIME!"


    The moment her name was called Hime set foot onto the stage. She looked at her opponent for a while and sighed. After watching yesterday''s match she knew that she was no match for Valdel, but still, she needed to try and win. Also even though he was stronger it doesn''t mean she didn''t stand a chance. Unlike Valdel she hasn''t expended too much power and was in her peak condition. Depending on how much Valdel recovered would determine her chances of victory.


    "Up to now we still haven''t seen the full extent of this wandering demon''s power. Since her battles have been won by forfeit and by disqualification. Now in this final match against an opponent like Valdel, I hope we get to witness her true skill."


    "Alright then before we start, in today''s match, the restriction of using weapons is removed, and even the death restriction will be removed. As it was since the beginning of the original Grand Mage''s tournament the final match will truly be a no holds barred match! Of course if we the judges see that the match can end without bloodshed we will make a call to stop the match. So before the match, both contestants can pick the weapon of their choice."


    Some mages entered the stage while pushing two racks filled with different kinds of weapons. Valdel and Hime approached their respective rack and started looking at the weapons.


    Valdel tried swinging each of the heavy weapons that were on the rack and after looking at a few he chose thergest sword avable. It wasn''t as heavy as he wanted it to be but it had to do. On the other hand, Hime picked a towering shield as her weapon.


    After they were done choosing their respective weapons the two faced each other and waited for Henrietta''s signal.


    "Hey, Natasha told me that you joined this tournament to seek some personal justice. I may not know what it is you truly want to do, but I''m going to apologize now. I''m going to win this tournament and see if that guy shows up." Valdel spoke to Hime, who was rather surprised to hear what Valdel had to say. After her initial shock Hime smiled wryly and responded.


    "Hmph, you''re pretty confident that you''re going to win¡­ I guess I must admit that I''m no match for you, in skill or power. Still, there are many other factors in a fight, the stronger one doesn''t necessarily be the winner. Even the greatest swordsman can fall to the de of a novice." Hime held onto the towering shield which was bigger than her own body forward.


    "I guess you''re right¡­ There are many things that can happen in a fight. Very well, show me how you''re going to beat me!" Seeing the two ready to go Henrietta raised her hand and signaled the start of the match.


    ¡­


    The moment Hime heard Henrietta''s voice announcing the start of the match she ced the towering shield in front of her and recited spell words.


    Valdel was also quick to react as the moment the match started he dashed forward and without hesitation shed at the towering shield. The moment he sliced through the shield he was surprised to see that Hime wasn''t there. In fact, even with his mana sensing, he couldn''t find Hime.


    He then saw Hime at the corner of his eye about to unleash a spell on him. Valdel wanted to block the iing spell, but his instincts were telling him to evade. Valdel evaded the strike as a massive wave of earth passed by him. A wall was formed in front of him, it was then he finally sensed Hime''s mana fluctuation. She was hiding behind the wall of dirt.


    Valdel raised his sword, gathered a bit of mana, and sliced through the wall. Usually, Valdel would''ve blown the wall away with a stronger force, but because he wasn''t at full capacity he limited his mana output.


    As he swung downward he heard a voice behind him. "I knew it!" After that ice started to encroach his legs, he couldn''t move as a ball of fire came down from above and engulfed him.


    Seeing this scene Hime smiled, her gamble paid off. After watching Valdel''s past fights, Hime noticed something. Valdel''s movements were weird since he moved as if he could see his opponent no matter if the opponent was in a blind spot or if the opponent''s speed surpassed what the naked eye could perceive.


    This made Hime think that Valdel wasn''t using his eyes to track his enemy''s movement, but what else could he use, scent, hearing, or was it something else? After thinking about it Hime came to have various conclusions, but after understanding how much control Valdel and Lara had of their mana, Hime got an answer. She wasn''t sure but Valdel and Lara must somehow be able to sense the fluctuation of one''s mana. It wasn''t impossible but it was hard to do since there was mana everywhere. To find a specific mana fluctuation amongst everything else was difficult especially while in battle.


    Even though she wasn''t that sure, Hime took a gamble and it paid off. There''s no way Valdel could escape her surprise attack. Hime waited for the announcer to stop the match, but when Henrietta didn''t, Hime finally noticed something was wrong. Hime wanted to quickly evade but it was toote, a sword was already ced near her neck.


    The Valdel that was being roasted by fire turned into a puddle of water. This was the same move the representative of the Fairies Aerwenna used to trick Valdel.


    "It looks like I won," Valdel said with a smile on his face. Hime sighed and was about to respond but someone spoke before her.


    "Wrong, I''m the one who won." A man''s voice echoed through the arena. No one knew where the voice wasing from. It felt like the voice was echoing in their mind. As everyone was looking for the source of the mysterious voice, a violent bolt of lightning descended onto the stage about to strike Valdel and Hime.


    Valdel swiftly pushed Hime away and tried to block the bolt of lightning. The mana he had gathered before the attack reached him was barely able to block the lightning strike. Valdel was burnt a bit by the lighting. After sessfully blocking the strike, the sound of one person pping echoed through the arena. A man wearing a pure ck suit appeared floating above the stage.


    "That was pretty impressive blocking that strike¡­ Well, I was showing you a way out, but it seems like you want to witness the fun things that are about to ensue."

 Chapter 368 - Wonderful Chaos!

    <h4>Chapter 368 - Wonderful Chaos!</h4>


    The man wearing the ck suit emitted a very oppressive aura that made almost everyone in the arena look up in fear. The man then made an elegant bow as he smiled at everyone present.


    "Good daydies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Nyarlom. Since it''s our first meeting how about we y a little game to ease the tension?" Nyarlom smiled sinisterly as a ck aura spread out of him. The ck aura then surrounded the whole arena covering it in a ck mist.


    Nyarlom noticed that he wasn''t able to trap all of the people present, and clicked his tongue. He was a bit irritated that the malice he absorbed wasn''t enough to cover beyond the arena, but of course, he didn''t show on his face as he continued to smile that sinister-looking smile of his.


    "The rules of the game are simple. If you''re able to kill one person within an hour, I''ll allow you to live. If you don''t kill anyone when the time runs out, then you get to die by my hands. Also, if no one kills within two minutes, I''ll kill a dozen of you. Also, if you guys continue not to kill anyone, for every two minutes I''ll kill more and more of you and when one hour runs out, I''ll just kill all of you. Simple and easy to understand, right?"


    When the people heard what Nyarlom said they started trembling in fear. The children were crying as were their mothers and fathers. Valdel wanted to say something but the thunder strike he blocked was more powerful than he thought and he was paralyzed for the time being.


    Zwei and Nika started running towards him. Natasha looked at Nyarlom and was reminded of that Shadow figure that attacked the Temple of Justice. Yet unlike that thing, Nyarlom felt even more ominous.


    "Why should we do as you say?! The Grand Mage will protect us from the likes of you! So you better run now or beg for forgiveness!" One of the High Mages could no longer take it and shouted at Nyarlom.


    When Nyarlom heard what the High Mage was saying he tilted his head and looked a bit confused. After acting like he was pondering about something, Nyarlom tapped his forehead with his fingers and spoke.


    "Oh the Grand Mage, I was wondering who that was. Is it perhaps this guy?" Nyarlom summoned the head of an old man onto his right hand. This was something he got from Nero and the others when he was still coborating with them. Nyarlom tossed the head onto the floor in front of the High Mage.


    Seeing the decapitated head most of the people started screaming. On the other hand, the high mages, the royal guards, and the royal family looked at the decapitated head in pure silent horror.


    There was no use denying it, that was the head of the Grand Mage. The first thing that came to mind when they saw the head was to deny its authenticity, but after a few seconds of thought some scenes from the past started to click together in their heads. This would exin why the Grand Mage was acting weird as ofte and why he hasn''t shown himself for a few months now.


    Even the confident Henrietta gulped dryly as she saw the head of the Grand Mage. Aside from Kretos the Grand Mage was the only other human she acknowledged as powerful. Seeing that person fall without anyone noticing was a huge blow to her.


    ¡­


    Nyarlom felt ecstatic as the fear and malice he was absorbing had doubled. If this continued he would be able to release a quarter of his true power. As he was happily absorbing the malice of the people around, Nyarlom''s body that was floating above ground shifted to the side.


    Lara who initiated a surprise attack was surprised as she had missed her target. Nyarlom caught Lara''s leg and spoke with a voice that sounded astonished.


    "Oh, who knew that someone here could use the element of darkness to such a degree. I wonder who your teacher was. So-" While Nyarlom was talking he stopped as a sword wave sliced off the hand that was holding onto Lara. Lara who was freed from Nyarlom''s gripnded on the ground safely.


    "Oh quite feisty aren''t we." Nyarlom showed Valdel who attacked him the stub were his hand used to be and then from that stub a new hand grew back. Seeing that scene Valdel frowned, even Ren couldn''t regrow a hand like that.


    Valdel gripped Zwei that was in her sword form and got ready for Nyarlom''s retaliation. Lara stood beside Valdel and so did Natasha. Henrietta, Afeus, and the other brave mages went onto the stage and gathered around Valdel. The other tournament contestants that lost all gathered onto the stage as well and red at Nyarlom.


    "Oh, what''s this, are you guys nning to fight me? You guys are adorable, and just for that you guys get a prize." Nyarlom snapped his fingers and a ck aura that was the same as the one covering the arena had covered the stage as well. The people on the stage could no longer be seen by the audience as a ck mist enveloped the area.


    On the other hand, the people on the stage could see beyond the ck mist. They had a good view of what was happening outside. Valdel and the others inside this sphere of darkness tried attacking the mist but no matter what they did it wouldn''t disperse.


    "This is your prize, front row seats to watch the wonderful chaos that will ensue!"


    Seeing how easily Nyarlom trapped the powerful mages and contestants, the audience were suffocating in their anxiety. The whole arena was silent as they didn''t know what to do. After a few minutes, Nyarlom spoke again.


    "Oh this is disappointing, two minutes have passed and no one has killed anybody. You know what that means, I need to kill a dozen of you guys as an example. So who should I kill first?" Nyarlom looked around as the people recoiled from his staring eyes. Many tried to make themselves look smaller so Nyarlom wouldn''t notice them.


    After looking around for a bit Nyarlom stopped as he stared at the royal family. When the King saw Nyarlom looking at him and his family he stood up from his seat. The royal guards stood in front of the king and his family, but the king signaled them to stop.


    "Oh, is there something you want to say?" Nyarlom asked the king. The king looked at the demon floating above him and did not falter from the demon''s gaze.


    "I am known as a foolish king by my people. Surely if I die nothing will change as I am worthless as a person and as a king." The king then looked at his frightened citizens and spoke in a louder voice.


    "But today I stand against this evil being! If even I the foolish king, the most worthless of all can stand against this evil incarnate, surely all of you can do the same! If we-" The King stopped talking as he saw his wife, children, and even the royal guards were blowing up beside him.


    "Sorry you''re speech was taking too long and I got bored. Well, I''m not bored now, so do you still want to continue what you want to say?"


    The King of the Serbek Kingdom looked at the mist of blood that covered him and was unable to process what had happened. After a while, he looked at Nyarlom in anger and despair. As the King was about to shout at Nyarlom, his head exploded.


    "You took too long to speak so I just went ahead and killed you. Oh wait, who am I talking to you''re already dead. HAHAHAHAHA!" Nyarlom''s wild and crazedughter echoed throughout the arena. Afterughing for a while, Nyarlom turned around and saw some of the people in the audience were looking at him with anger, and a little bit of courage.


    "Hmm, this is getting boring, so I''m changing the rules a bit. If no one kills in the count of three, I''m going to annihte everyone on this side of the arena." Nyarlom pointed at the northern side of the arena.


    "One"


    "Tw-" Nyarlom wasn''t even done saying two when one man suddenly stabbed the one woman beside him. The woman who was his girlfriend looked at the man in shock. As if that was the true signal, the people on the Northern side of the arena started killing each other. It wasn''t just the Northern side but everyone in the arena started killing one another.


    There were even some mothers who helped their children to kill them, their mothers. Of course, there were many who tried to kill the children first since they were the easier targets.


    Valdel who was watching this horrific scene while being trapped in the barrier made by Nyarlom was outraged. He tried with all his might to break free from the barrier but it was to no avail. Even with the help of the people trapped with him, they couldn''t break free. He screamed and shouted for the people to stop but no one could hear him.


    On the other hand, Nyarlom who was watching the killings from above was feeling a thrill like no other.


    "WHAT WONDERFUL, GLORIOUS CHAOS!"

 Chapter 369 - The Spreading Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 369 - The Spreading Chaos</h4>


    Nyarlom cackled as he watched the people fall apart. Even though they were rted, even though they were friends, in the face of death they were nothing more than beasts. Though it was fun to watch the different races killing each other, the truth was, Nyarlom didn''t really want all living beings to die as they are the source of a primordial demon''s power. Still, the Serbek Kingdom was just one of the many human kingdoms. In fact, the humans were so good at reproducing that Nyarlom suddenly had an idea.


    ''Should I create a ranch made out of the other races, specifically the humans? If I do that I can control the flow of malice. Hmm, that''s a pretty good idea. We couldn''t do that to the races of old since those guys were way too powerful and were our equals, but now most of those races no longer exist and the ones that remain are a shadow of their former selves. Especially the humans they became pathetically weakpared to those of the ancient era.''


    As he was thinking about the old times Nyarlom noticed that his power was increasing even more rapidly than before. It was impossible that all this malice wasing from the people present in the arena, then that would mean.


    ''So the n that those fools did for me is starting.''


    ¡­


    Chaos wasn''t happening only in the Serbek Kingdom, up in the frozen north where the dwarves live deep inside the mountains, a war had started. The different ns had broken the peace treaty and started iming one another''s territory.


    It took the one nted by Nero a few years for this n to be realized but it was finally happening and right on time as well.


    ¡­


    In the Reschbeauch Kingdom Silika was looking after Ren''s little brother Kurt when she suddenly sensed something.


    ''This feeling¡­'' Silika picked up Kurt and headed to Milly''s room. While she was heading towards where Milly was, she asked one of the pce''s guards to gather Kithra and the other important members to the throne room.


    ¡­


    Silika arrived in the room where Milly was staying at. The current Milly was thinner than before, and her usual happy demeanor was barely there as she forced a smile out.


    "Oh Silika, and my little Kurt are you two done ying?" Silika hastily handed Kurt to Milly before answering.


    "Milly, I want you and Kurt to stay in this room. Keep the door lock and no matter what you hear do not leave the room. Never open the door to anyone besides me." Seeing the serious expression on Silika''s face, Milly nodded her head.


    "If someone pretends to be me, ask for her real name. If she answers Elizabeth that would be me only then should you open the door, but if she says Silika step farther away from the door and don''t listen."


    "Silika what''s happening?"


    "¡­ Somebody is about toe and it might get a bit bad, but don''t worry I promise to protect you two in Ren''s ce." As Silika was about to leave, Milly''s trembling hand reached out and held onto Silika''s hand.


    "Why don''t you stay here with us?" Milly couldn''t help but ask as she remembered her dead husband. Silika smiled gently at the trembling Milly and touched her hand.


    "Everything''s going to be alright. I promise that I will return." When Milly saw Silika''s determined expression she couldn''t say anything against her decision. "I''m sorry, I''m so sorry that I''m so weak. Even though I was trained to be able to fight, my current self is unable to do anything."


    Tears started to drop from Milly''s face. Seeing his mother crying Kurt tried to hug her tightly and wipe her tears away.


    "What are you saying aren''t you here protecting Kurt?" Hearing what Silika said and seeing the actions of her son, Milly gritted her teeth and then nodded her head.


    "Alright then, see youter Milly, Kurt." As Silika was about to leave, Milly spoke.


    "Please take care, Silika." Silika nodded her head and left the room. Once she was outside Silika ced multiple barriers onto the area outside the room. She even concealed the door with a spell. Once she was done she hurried towards the throne room.


    ''How could I ever forget this irritating feeling as if something gross is crawling up my body. A primordial demon ising to this ce. Unlike the half-ass demon Amon, a primordial demon is an actual threat that even I might have difficulty facing¡­ If only I still had the same power as when I was the Goddess of Death, I could''ve easily dealt with a dozen primordial demons, but now even one might pose a problem.'' Silika frowned as she quickened her pace towards the throne room.


    ¡­


    Not only in the Dwarven ns, and in the Reschbeauch Kingdom multiple ces were having a crisis. Even deep inside the cave where the Hero Shin protects the seal, a problem had arisen.


    Shin was in the middle of a battle against multiple primordial demons that had escaped the broken seal. It was just a matter of time until the seal was fully destroyed and Shin had been holding them off for a couple of days now. He was exhausted and his enormous pool of mana was slowly being drained.


    ''Damn it, there''s strength is slowly rising. Right now I''m still able to kill some of them but once they receive more malice, then even I won''t be able to hold on for long.''


    Shin looked at the numerous primordial demons flooding towards him and grasped his spear even tighter. He smiled in the same way that rival of his smiled back then.


    ''It doesn''t seem like I''ll be getting that rematch against you. Still, if I don''t pull through and win against these primordial demons then how can I call myself your rival¡­ Right¡­ Kretos.'' Shin charged into the horde of primordial demons and went all out.


    ¡­


    Back in the Serbek Kingdom, the representative of the fairy race Aerwenna was looking at the ck dome that covered the arena. She had overslept and when she woke up that was the first thing she saw.


    As a fairy who was more attuned to the world''s mana, she knew that the ck dome was not something created by mana but something else entirely.


    ''But that''s impossible, everything in this world has a portion of mana in them no matter how minuscule. If so, then what the heck is that?'' As Aerwenna was trying to figure out what was happening, a voice sounded beside her.


    "Tsk, this is getting more troublesome than I expected. If he gains more power than this it would be problematic. Why hasn''t he arrived yet, is he going to bete once again? Fine then, I''ll try to buy him some more time."


    Aerwenna saw a beautiful maiden with long golden-hair and eight foxtails. The aura the Golden-Haired maiden was emitting was so attuned with the world''s mana that Aerwenna had a problem sensing her presence even though she was standing right in front of her.


    While Aerwenna was in awe of the Golden-Haired maiden''s presence, the Golden-Haired maiden lifted her right hand and pointed her index finger towards the ck dome. The mana around her started to gather onto the tips of her finger, and after gathering an enormous amount the Golden-Haired maiden unleashed it.


    Shining golden mana burst out of her finger and headed towards the ck dome. Upon contact with the ck dome, the golden mana beam grew and pierced through. A hole was created, seeing that the Golden-Haired maiden quickly flew towards the hole.


    Once the Golden-Haired maiden passed through the hole, the ck dome started repairing itself and the hole disappeared.


    ¡­


    Nyarlom who was relishing in the power he was gaining, saw a ball of light falling towards him. Nyarlom lifted his hand and tried deflecting the ball of light. To his surprise, the ball of light was more powerful than he thought and it took a bit more effort to deflect it. Once he was able to deflect the ball of light he heard the voice of ady.


    "As I expected that wasn''t enough to even graze you. Heh, you''re sturdier than the other primordial demon that I killed."


    Nyarlom looked at where the voice wasing from and saw floating just right above him was a Golden-Haired maiden with eight tails.


    "You stink with the wretched stench of pure mana."


    "Is that any way to talk to ady?!" The Golden-Haired maiden pouted. Nyarlom shook his head and gave an elegant bow.


    "Forgive me, mydy. It''s just that, it seems you have been in contact with something that has a foul odor."


    "Hmph, there you go again insulting me. If there''s someone with a foul odor in here that would be you!"


    "I see, I Nyarlom have misspoken. If I may be so bold to ask can the nice smellingdy grace me with her name, so that I can properly apologize."


    "Well, even though someone like you doesn''t deserve to hear my name, I''ll make an exception today since you want to apologize, I will tell you. My name is Tsukiko."


    "What I wonderful namedy Tsukiko¡­ Once again I Nyarlom deeply apologize for what I have said."

 Chapter 370 - Tsukiko

    <h4>Chapter 370 - Tsukiko</h4>


    ''It''s a good thing this primordial demon knows how to y along. If this ys out a bit more I can gain a lot of time for him.'' Tsukiko''s lips curved upward.


    The people who were killing each other stopped in their frenzied states as they saw the gorgeous neer. The aura she was emitting was the opposite of Nyarlom''s as it was quite rxing. Was this perhaps their savior that came to deliver them from their hopeless situation, the people all had that one single thought. Those that had already killed look at Tsukiko in anger, if only you had arrived sooner why would I have be a murderer? Everyone present had many conflicting feelings as they looked at Tsukiko. Yet despite that, all of them still wished to be saved.


    "So Lady Tsukiko what is the protector of the tree of life doing so far from the tree?"


    "That''s none of your business."


    "Oh, is that so? Then there''s nothing to talk about is there? Please forgive me again mydy, as I have a prior engagement that I have to tend to. I won''t be able to apany you for today¡­ But on ater date, I will find some time to head to the tree of life with my brethren to visit you." Nyarlom turned around and was going to once again focus on gathering malice. He did this since he knew that the farther the protector of the tree of life was from the tree the weaker the mana the tree could offer as support.


    The basic strategy for killing the protector of the tree was to trick the protector into distancing the protector from the tree. So this was the best time to kill Tsukiko, but Nyarlom didn''t want to do that. He wanted the protector of the tree to face true and utter despair. At the peak of her power lose everything all at once. Just thinking about that made Nyarlom tremble in delight.


    ''Oh, to see the despair in such an arrogantdy who is full of pride is so sure of herself would be most delightful. Just thinking about her wails of hopelessness makes me shiver in delight. How wonderful, how truly wonderful!'' As Nyarlom was thinking of such a wonderful future, Tsukiko''s voice resounded in his ears.


    "Don''t act like that, entertain thisdy for a bit more!" Tsukiko appeared before Nyarlom, and it wasn''t just one Tsukiko there were multiple Tsukiko''s surrounding Nyarlom. These were all clones made out of different elements using mana.


    "Such an impatient littledy." Nyarlom''s body started to emit a ck aura which enveloped all the clones that were close to him. Nyarlom''s sinister smiled grew as the ck aura enclosed all the clones crushing them into nothingness.


    "Now that''s the spirit, entertain thisdy even more now!" The real Tsukiko was above Nyarlom and was controlling the mana in the air. Several bolts of lightning fell from the heavens breaking a portion of the ck dome and hitting Nyarlom.


    The ck dome immediately fixed itself after getting destroyed, and Nyarlom had his hands raised upward capturing the bolts of lighting. Now in his hands, the bolts of lighting became a huge spear made out of lightning. Nyarlom even added his very own malice into it.


    "Even though you''re ady please don''t look down on me too much!" Nyarlom flung the lighting spear at Tsukiko who was floating above him. Tsukiko looked shocked but the moment the lightning spear pierced her body she smiled. Tsukiko''s body suddenly dissolved into thin air.


    "If you want me to not look down on you, then you better entertain me some more." When Nyarlom heard the voice below him he was about to move, but then spears of earth burst out of the ground and pierced his limbs. There was no blooding out from the limbs that were pierced, as primordial demons weren''t made out of flesh and blood. In their true bodies, primordial demons were made out of different things.


    Nyarlom was stunned for a moment and then chuckled. Nyarlom pulled his own limbs to break free from the piercing earth. Nyarlom who was free and was floating without limbs looked horrifying, but he continued to smile as the limbs he lost regrew. Nyarlom looked at Tsukiko who was now below him and bowed.


    "I''m very sorry mydy I have been quite rude." When Tsukiko saw Nyarlom''s smiling face she didn''t feel relieved at all, instead, she felt her body grow cold. She knew that from here on out would be the real thing.


    ''This guy is pretty simr to Kretos.''


    "Well at least, you know when to apologize." Hearing what Tsukiko said Nyarlom nodded his head and disappeared from Tsukiko''s point of view. He appeared beside Tsukiko and was about to attack, but Tsukiko was faster. mes came out of Tsukiko''s hands hitting Nyarlom, but as the mes hit Nyarlom his body disintegrated.


    "This is how you do it right?" Tsukiko''s felt goosebumps as she heard Nyarlom''s voice whispering in her ear. She quickly jumped forward and saw Nyarlom was indeed behind her, but he didn''t attack.


    ''This guy is ying with me.''


    "Lady Tsukiko, your way of fighting is full of trickery and falsehood. It does resemble a little bit of what a primordial demon does. To fool one''s heart, to cheat, to lie, to do as one desires. I kinda like it, the way you fight."


    "Hearing praise from you isn''t really making me feel good."


    "Oh my, is that so, I wonder why? I was just praising you normally. Using tricks and lies during a fight is surely one way to fight. It is actually quite a good way, but. I like fighting that way because I find it most enjoyable as I toy around with my opponent, but how about youdy Tsukiko, do you feel the same way?"


    When Tsukiko heard what Nyarlom said she frowned. He looked at the smiling Nyarlom and found his face even more irritating than before. After a while, the frown on her face disappeared as she sighed.


    ''This guy really knows where to hit me. Yeah, I did like fighting using tricks and lies, but that''s not the only reason. It''s because unlike that battle idiot I can''t really fight head-on¡­ I wonder what he would say to me in a time like this¡­'' Tsukiko closed her eyes as she imagined him standing before her.


    ¡­


    Nyarlom looked at the silent Tsukiko and said nothing. ''Hmm, did I push her too much already? Is this the limit of the current protector of the tree? Well, this got boring real fast. If this is all she''s worth, then waiting for the best moment won''t give me any satisfaction. Should I kill her now?'' As Nyarlom was deciding to finish off Tsukiko, the eight tailed fox suddenlyughed.


    It was a joyousugh that reverberated through the arena. The people that were watching, the people that had killed their families, their friends, and total strangers, couldn''t understand why they were smiling as well. Hearing the sweetughter of the beautiful maiden made a lot of their feelings clearer, it was as if something was pushing away the darkness in their hearts.


    Nyarlom who felt that the malice being produced by the people in the arena was getting lower, looked at Tsukiko in confusion. What did she do? Also, why is sheughing like that, has she truly lost it?


    "Why are youughing?"


    "Huh?¡­ Oh sorry about that, you just made me remember someone, and the words he used to say to me." When Nyarlom heard Tsukiko''s response he was confused but more than that he was shocked. The person in front of him was still the same Tsukiko, but the feeling she exuded was now different. It was like she was apletely different person.


    ''Is this another trick of hers or is it something else?'' Nyarlom didn''t show it on his face but he felt a bit nervous about this change in Tsukiko.


    "Allow me to reintroduce myself. This time I won''t stand before you as the protector of the tree of life, instead, I shall stand before you as the Demonic Fox Tsukiko!" Tsukiko''s eight tails started to burn bluish mes, and her mana had burst outward.


    When Nyarlom felt the mana Tsukiko was emitting he was truly surprised. He knew that the distance from here to the tree of life was extremely far. If this was a normal protector at this distance she would only receive the bare minimum protection and mana from the tree.


    ''This must mean that''s her own personal mana¡­ Wait a minute, Demonic Fox Tsukiko where have I heard that name before? Oh right, so that''s who she is.''


    "You''re one of those that stood side by side with the supposed strongest demon lord Kretos, right?"


    "You better removed the ''supposed'' Kretos is and forever will be the strongest demon lord¡­ No Kretos is the ideal form of strength, it''s as if he was the embodiment of battle itself. But enough about that, this time I''ll be going all out, be sure to keep up with thisdy!"

 Chapter 371 - His Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 371 - His Arrival</h4>


    "Enough about that, this time I''ll be going all out, be sure to keep up with thisdy!" Tsukiko''s eight tales burned with an even brighter shade of blue as she roared happily at her opponent. Nyarlom who was in a dumbfounded state was shaken awake by the charging Tsukiko.


    It only took Tsukiko two steps to bridge the gap between her and Nyarlom. Her fingernails became sharp ws which she used to attack and swiped towards Nyarlom''s face. Nyarlom evaded the continuous attacks and found the new way Tsukiko fought, quite strange. A moment ago she was fighting with tricks and lies but now she shifted her style into a more direct approach.


    While Nyarlom was distracted by his own thoughts Tsukiko''s eight tails started burning brighter than before. The blue mes grewrger making her eight tails look longer. From Tsukiko''s foxtails, eight orbs made out of the blue mes floated above her head.


    The blue mes darted towards Nyarlom who evaded each and every one. In Nyarlom''s mind, these things weren''t that much of a threat even if he were hit it should be alright. The blue mes danced alongside Nyarlom and Tsukiko.


    One of the blue mes had grazed Nyarlom and as he expected the blue me didn''t do much. At first, Nyarlom continued to dodge Tsukiko''s attacks without any worry but after a while, he noticed that the blue me which had hit his left arm started burning even hotter than before. The blue me was spreading towards his body.


    The more it was able to spread the hotter it became. Nyarlom quickly pulled off his left hand and tossed it at Tsukiko. After pulling his arm off it once again regrew as if nothing had happened. Knowing what the blue me was capable of, Nyarlom no longer took things at a leisurely pace.


    Nyarlom stopped dodging and allowed Tsukiko to strike him with her ws. Tsukiko''s right hand sunk into Nyarlom''s chest. Since Nyarlom was using a humanoid shape Tsukiko assumed that was where his heart was, but the moment her hand pierced through she knew it wasn''t there at all.


    "You don''t have a heart?" Tsukiko spoke as she tried pulling her hand out of Nyarlom''s chest. Yet no matter how hard she tried her hand wouldn''t budge.


    "That''s a very bad assumption to make mydy. I do have a heart but it''s hidden for only a special someone to find." Nyarlom''s wound started to close and suck in Tsukiko.


    "So you haven''t fallen for my seductive charm." Even though she was in a dire situation Tsukiko still found time to make a joke as she tried pulling on her hand even harder, she even started to use different spells using her right hand but it was to no avail. Being this close to one another Tsukiko also couldn''t use her blue mes since if she did she would also get burnt by them.


    "Sorry mydy, but you''re just not my type. How about let''s just be friends that have a physical rtionship." Nyarlom answered with a snicker.


    "Sorry but I''m not that cheap of a person!" Tsukiko used her free w to slice through Nyarlom''s neck. To her surprise, Nyarlom''s neck was easily cut clean. The decapitated head of Nyarlom hit the ground.


    When the people saw what happened they all started to cheer in victory. They were happy that the evil demon was finally killed. With this, they should be free. Yet their moment of happiness was only short-lived as the people noticed that the ck dome was still in ce.


    Tsukiko on the other hand, frowned as her hand was still stuck on Nyarlom''s chest. Not only that the absorption was getting faster. She no longer had a choice, Tsukiko cut off her own arm. She then took some distance from Nyarlom''s body while stopping herself from bleeding.


    "Now that''s not a nice thing to do mydy." Tsukiko looked at the headless body of Nyarlom as she heard his voice. The head that was detached suddenly emitted a ck aura that connected to the neck of Nyarlom''s body. The head then floated towards the body and once again reattached itself to the neck.


    ''So his head doesn''t regrow but needs to be reattached. Still, a primordial demon in his original body is quite the monster. A heart that cannot be spotted, a body that can regrow limbs, and a head that can function despite being decapitated. If he were in spirit form I would have a lot of ways to deal with him, but in his original body as I expected I''m no match.'' Tsukiko then looked at her right hand that was being absorbed into Nyarlom''s body.


    ''Tsk, since I''m so far away from the tree of life, I can''t use its regenerative power to regrow my hand. As I expected fighting a primordial demon was not something I can do in my current state¡­ Kretos, where are you?¡­''


    Tsukiko no longer attacked as she wanted to switch into a more defensive style. She had lost too much mana and her right hand was now gone making it harder to fight in close quarters. Tsukiko tried to use her elemental clones to confuse Nyarlom to give her some time. Yet the moment she activated her spell Nyarlom yawned.


    "Using the same trick?" The elemental clones were engulfed into the darkness of Nyarlom''s aura. "So is that all you have to offer mydy?"


    "That''s not it at all."


    "Then will you allow this unworthy Nyarlom to witness more of your skills?"


    "Hmph, ady needs to have a few secrets. Asking to see everything I have on a first date how crass of you."


    "I see¡­ Very well mydy, allow me to see you out." Nyarlom emitted a heavy level of malice and gathered it into his palm creating a sword of pure malice. Nyarlom decided that there was no more fun to be had with this protector of the tree, so it was better to finish her off now.


    As Nyarlom was approaching Tsukiko, the people who were watching were once again plunged into the depths of despair. The savior that came for them was about to be killed, they were given hope for a brief moment only to be pulled down by the hands of despair.


    Nyarlom felt the enticing malice the people in the arena were once again producing and was ted. ''I guess ying around with this little fox was not a waste of time at all.''


    ¡­


    Tsukiko looked at the approaching Nyarlom and sighed. Just looking at the de of malice made Tsukiko understand that there was no evading or defending against the next strike.


    ''I guess we won''t be able to see each other again¡­ I really wanted to see you, to touch you, to have thosezy afternoons napping beside you¡­ Kretos¡­ I hope if there''s a next life, I''ll be able to meet you again and when that timees I want to fall in love with you all over again.''


    As Tsukiko was about ready to die, Nyarlom stopped as he felt something strange. He didn''t understand why but at this moment his entire existence was telling him to flee.


    Not only him but everyone in the stadium suddenly felt cold and started shivering as an intense fear had overwhelmed them. A raging unbearable bloodlust had enveloped the entire capital of the Serbek Kingdom.


    If that wasn''t enough a sudden burst of mana flooded the ce. The mana being emitted was so powerful, so overbearing it was as if it wanted to devour everyone. It was a suffocating feeling as if they were drowning, unable to breathe, unable to speak.


    This was a terrifying presence much more horrifying than Nyarlom. This powerful bloodlust and mana had overwritten everything, the despair, the anger, the sorrow, everything was blown away and what remained was pure fear.


    Nyarlom felt his power growing because of the extreme fear that the people were experiencing, but they weren''t the only ones having that feeling, even he, a primordial who lives from the malice of others actually felt a tiny bit of fear within himself.


    ''What the heck is happening! Me, afraid? Me a primordial demon having an emotion such as fear?'' Nyarlom couldn''t understand what was happening to him, but there were people in the arena that knew.


    ¡­


    ''This overwhelming presence.'' Natasha looked above.


    ''This suffocating bloodlust.'' Afeus and Henrietta smiled as they felt relieved. This bloodlust might be fearful to others, but to them, it was the warmth of his protection.


    ''So you havee.'' Valdel felt relieved as he looked beyond the ck dome.


    ''¡­'' Lara looked above as a torrent of emotions started assaulting her. She couldn''t describe what she was feeling right now, relieved, happy, excited, it was a multitude of emotions.


    ¡­


    ''It''s been so long, so very long¡­ You have finally arrived, and this time you weren''t thatte.'' Tsukiko raised her head in the direction where the bloodlust and mana wereing from. She couldn''t but smile as tears fell from her face.


    It was at that moment a de made out of mana and something else entirely descended from above and sliced the ck dome into two, destroying itpletely.

 Chapter 372 - One Sided Attack

    <h4>Chapter 372 - One Sided Attack</h4>


    The giant de made out of mana and Spirit Aura fell from above with a thunderous roar it broke through the ck dome slicing it in two. Ren who had used the technique didn''t know how strong the ck dome was since it didn''t have mana, so he couldn''t adjust the strength of his attack.


    It was a good thing that the thin giant de had hit an empty space of the arena. The de had actually prated not only the ck dome but even the ground was visibly scarred. Those that saw the might of that one attack shivered in the thought of what would happen if they were in the way. Everyone then looked above and saw a figure falling from the sky.


    The falling figure dropped in the middle of Tsukiko and Nyarlom. Even after falling from such a height, there was no mark on the ground. It was as if a feather had dropped down without making a noise.


    The one who appeared was an average looking man, but the aura he was emitting was overbearing. This new arrival was none other than Ren who was now looking at Tsukiko. At first, Tsukiko was surprised by the person standing in front of her. She had thought that she would meet Kretos, or someone closely resembling him. This was the first time she had seen this person, but for some reason, it felt like they have known each other for a long time.


    "It''s been a long time foolish little fox." Ren smiled gently at the kneeling Tsukiko. When Tsukiko saw the expression on Ren''s face and heard the words he just said many things clicked in her mind.


    "¡­Kretos?¡­" Even though she already knew the answer she couldn''t help but ask.


    "Kretos had died a long time ago, I''m now Ren."


    "I see¡­ It''s nice to meet you, Ren. I have waited for a long time, you stupid slowpoke." Tsukiko responded with a happy smile on her face. She really wanted to jump onto Ren''s arms but held herself back due to the situation.


    "Sorry to interrupt this touching reunion but-" Nyarlom interjected into Ren and Tsukiko''s conversation but before he could finish what he wanted to say a sudden sh happened and his body was bisected right in the middle.


    Nyarlom couldn''t believe what had happened, he couldn''t even see what kind of attack hit him. As he was trying to merge his body back together, Tsukiko was amazed by what Ren did.


    In the past as Demon Lord Kretos, he would usually overwhelm his opponent with a wild style of fighting, but it would seem now that he was the human Ren his technique had been refined to a terrifying degree.


    "Still as powerful as ever." Ren approached Tsukiko and looked at her missing arm.


    "Was he the one who did that to you?"


    "Yeah, but don''t worry about it once I return to the tree of life, I can regrow it."


    "I see, that''s good to hear."


    "Hey you two like I said it''s pretty rude to have this kind of conversation right in front of me. Also talking like that right after slicing me in half is pretty bad manners." Nyarlom who had reattached himself once again interjected.


    "We''ll talk more after I deal with this."


    "Don''t let your guard down. He might not look like it since he doesn''t emit mana but he is quite powerful. He isn''t even at full power yet." Tsukiko looked at Ren''s confident eyes and shook her head. "What am I saying it''s you we''re talking about, you should be quite happy to face such an opponent."


    ¡­


    For the first time since appearing Ren took notice of Nyarlom. When Nyarlom felt Ren''s icy gaze on him he felt a weird tingling sensation within him. Nyarlom took a step back when Ren approached. The moment he did that Nyarlom was amazed and then he started tough.


    "Hmhmhm HAHAHAHAHA! Amazing how wonderful for such a powerful human to appear before me, this is amazing!"


    "Oh, you''re able to withstand my bloodlust. Also, I can''t feel a single bit of mana within you. Even undead have mana¡­ Well, it really doesn''t matter what you are. Seeing as you harmed my friends and my women and even made me look like a hero by arriving at thest minute, in my eyes you''re pretty much dead already."


    "Kekekek HAHAHAHA! How very arrogant of you. This is going to be fun. For someone like you, powerful, full of confidence, and full of pride, it will be a joy to bring you to despair. The malice you would emit once your pride is broken and you lose all hope, that malice should be the most exquisite of all!"


    "Fine then, let''s see what you''ve got. Even though I want to kill you now, but you''ve got me interested. Show me if you have the power to bring me into the depths of despair. Show me that your darkness, your malice could break apart my strength, my pride, my everything!"


    "You really are an arrogant human, the most arrogant I have ever seen. Since you want to see my power so much, allow me to show you." Nyarlom''s ck aura was out in full force. The sky started to darken as Nyarlom''s body emitted a frightening aura that made everyone present recoil in terror, all but Ren who simply looked at Nyarlom amused by the power he was using.


    The power Nyarlom was releasing was not mana, Spirit Aura, Sword aura, it wasn''t even origin energy, it was something new, something unknown to Ren.


    "That''s rather interesting, show it to me!"


    Nyarlom had already recovered around fifty percent of his original strength. He didn''t know how strong Ren was, but based on the other humans he had seen of this era even those that have the title of hero, Ren shouldn''t be that much stronger than the heroes.


    ''It is you who should show me, show me the reason why I am experiencing this tiny bit of fear within me¡­ Let''s see if you''re able to handle this human.''


    Nyarlom condensed the malice he was emitting into a spear. He raised the spear and was about to throw it, but then he saw Ren''s confident expression. Ren was smiling a very vicious smile, that smile that expression of his it was as if he was about to devour Nyarlom.


    Seeing that made Nyarlom a tiny bit irritated, he then tossed the spear aiming at Ren''s abdomen. He was expecting Ren to evade or catch the spear of malice or even block it with a spell but he did none of those, instead, Ren simply stood perfectly still.


    Nyarlom was confused as to why Ren wasn''t doing anything did he want to get hit? No matter how strong the physical body was, no matter how strong a barrier was created, in front of a primordial demon''s power of malice, those things could easily be prated through.


    The spear struck Ren in his abdomen but to everyone''s surprise, the spear did not pierce through. Everyone saw that it hit the abdomen and was trying to pierce through but it could not. Ren had coated himself with Spirit Aura and mana, thebination of the two created a powerful thin barrier that covered his body.


    After a long while, the spear of malice finally broke through the barrier and it hit Ren. Yet after making a tiny dot of an injury in Ren''s abdomen the spear of malice lost power and dispersed. No one could believe what they just saw especially Nyarlom who knew how powerful that strike was. That was something nearing fifty percent of his full power. As a primordial demon that was almost as powerful as a young dragon''s breath.


    "Oh, pretty impressive to be able to make me bleed a little. So now it should be my turn." When Nyarlom heard what Ren said he quickly put up a barrier and distanced himself from Ren. He concentrated all of his senses on Ren''s movement, this time surely he would see what Ren would do.


    Ren lifted his right hand intertwined his middle finger and index finger. In his middle finger was Spirit Aura, in his index finger was mana, he fused the two together to create a silver sword. No one other than him could see this silver sword so everyone was confused as to what he was doing.


    Nyarlom who was concentrating all of his attention on Ren''s hand saw it blur for a second. He was already far away from Ren and he even put up a barrier yet the same thing had happened, no it was worse this time. Nyarlom''s whole body was sliced into hundreds of pieces. In but a blink of an eye Ren was able to execute multiple sword shes and from a distance without no one seeing even the first swing.


    Nyarlom quickly reattached all of his pieces but the moment they were about to fuse Ren''s hand once again blurred and Nyarlom''s body was once again cut into multiple pieces. This cycle repeated itself a few more times before Ren stopped attacking.


    This time Nyarlom had no words to say as he looked at Ren with an unknown expression on his face. On the other hand, everyone that watched that fight, if you could even call it that, were in a state of stunned silence¡­ The people didn''t know who was scarier the person that can slice you without moving or the one who keeps on reviving despite being sliced apart.

 Chapter 373 - This Is Not The End

    <h4>Chapter 373 - This Is Not The End</h4>


    Valdel and the others within the smaller dome of malice saw what happened and was surprised as to how Ren was easily subduing the primordial demon. They couldn''t even see how he did it, all they saw was him lifting his hands. Those that have better perception noticed Ren''s hand blurring but that was it. None of them was able to witness that first sh, nor the subsequent ones. That one move of his was such a Godly technique that many were in awe.


    ''How powerful have you be Ren? How far will you go, will it be in a ce that I cannot follow?'' Valdel clenched his fist as he was frustrated, his childhood friend that used to be near his level was now moving further away from him. Even though he was always praised as a genius, even though he tried his hardest to keep up, Ren was always ahead of him. Now his back was slowly fading from right in front of him. ''How can catch up to you if you keep on sprinting forward?''


    Valdel wanted more power, for the first time in his whole life he wanted something more than just saving others and bing a hero.


    ¡­


    ''Who the f*ck is that b*tch! Why the f*ck is she looking at Ren like that!¡­ Damn it, even though I already know that Ren is very attractive and that he was going to have more women¡­ Even though I know already, even though my head has already epted it¡­ It wouldn''t be so bad if not for every time I see him after he leaves there''s always one or two more women. If he gets even more than this maybe he will forget about me¡­ I don''t want that to happen! I know Ren would never let that happen, but still, I can''t help but feel anxious every time I see a new woman. I need to do something to make me the number one among all.'' Lara gritted her teeth as her icy cold eyes stared at Tsukiko.


    ¡­


    ''Oh, so his true name is Ren, that''s a rather cute name much better than Kretos¡­'' Henrietta felt Ren''s surging mana and smiled with excitement on her face.


    ''He''s more powerful than I expected, I wonder if he would teach me the techniques he just used. Also, I wonder if I could ask him to spare the primordial demon so I could experiment on him. Hmmm, No he doesn''t need to spare him but just even a bit of his flesh would work, if possible I want his brain to be intact.'' Henrietta looked at Ren who was smiling viciously at Nyarlom and sighed.


    ''I guess who won''t listen to me in his current state. I''ll just get whatever I can in the aftermath.'' Henrietta was already nning on what kinds of things she could do with the material she would gain from the body of a primordial demon.


    ¡­


    ''That''s Kretos¡­ Well, I guess his real name is Ren, that is what he called himself¡­ Though I do wonder who Kretos was. Ren did say that Kretos died long ago, was he perhaps a friend of his?'' As Afeus was thinking he felt Ren''s surging mana and looked at the smiling Ren.


    ''I already knew he was powerful but not that powerful. What happened to him in the few days he disappeared? Did regaining his memories gave him a boost in power or was he always this strong?'' Afeus looked at Ren in amazement. He always thought that Ren was hiding how strong he truly was, but he never knew what were the limits of his strength. Even after fighting against such a strong opponent, the limit of his strength wasn''t rified. It was as if Ren''s power was endless.


    ¡­


    While Ren and Nyarlom were staring at each other, Haruto was trying to evacuate the survivors. Well not all of them, the system wasn''t allowing him to rescue those that have killed.


    [Criminals aren''t allowed in the establishment. We must uphold the highest of standards. We must make the establishment as safe as possible. Only paying customers are allowed in the establishment.]


    ¡­


    Nyarlom could no longer remain as calm as before as he started to tremble, but he was not trembling in fear, in fact, he got even more excited and startedughing maniacally.


    "Kekekek HAHAHAHAHA! This is the best, you really are the best! Your power, your pride, and that glimmer of excitement in your eyes as you fight, you love the taste of battle don''t you?"


    "I don''t just love the taste of it, I love every part of it. Truthfully this fight isn''t enough to satisfy me and was an utter disappointment. Well, this wasn''t even a fight since you were no match for me."


    "That''s good to hear, that''s really good to hear. If you really want to have the battle you crave, then you should allow me to live and wait for me to regain my full power we''ll have a fight that will surely excite you."


    "Hmmm, that does sound intriguing. I''m really interested in seeing you at full power, but¡­ You''ve done too much. If you didn''t touch my women then I would have let you leave after I beat you half to death, but now this is where you die." Ren once again raised his right hand and this time he wasn''t using two fingers but his whole hand as a de.


    "I see, I see, well since negotiations have failed, I shall take my leave." Nyarlom bowed and was about to scatter and turn into a form mist but before he could do anything, Ren had his left hand open and was slowly closing it. Nyarlom was constricted by an invisible force, as a primordial demon, he knew that what Ren was using wasn''t mana, nor was it malice it was something else entirely.


    "There''s no leaving for you here. This will be your final resting ce. It''s rather disappointing I truly did want to fight you at full power."


    "Kekeke Hahaha! That''s alright even if you do kill me, my brethren wille out and spread joyous chaos all around. Not only that with your personality and power I''m sure you will be contributing to that chaos. My only regret is that I would not be there to witness it." Even as his end was nearing Nyarlom remained unperturbed.


    "Before I finish you off, can you tell me your name?"


    "I''m the Primordial Demon Nyarlom. I hope everyone remembers my name as they have their nightmares."


    "I see¡­ Is that all you wanted to say? If so then even though it was not what I expected I will still thank you for the battle. Goodbye primordial demon, Nyarlom." Ren swung his hand downward and this time everyone could see him do so. A ray of silver light enveloped Nyarlom. As he was being bathed by the light from the fusion of Spirit Aura and mana, Nyarlom wasughing merrily. After a few seconds, Nyarlom''s body disintegrated and left no trace behind.


    From that body, a red mist floated out of it, when Tsukiko saw this she immediately shouted. "Ren!" When Ren noticed the red mist it was toote it had already entered his body.


    "What was that?" Ren asked Tsukiko.


    "That was Nyarlom''s spirit form. I thought that strike of yours would have destroyed his soul as well, I didn''t expect him to be so resilient. Ren, you need to hurry, a primordial demon in spirit form can possess the body of another living being. The first thing he would do is merge your soul and spirit and rece it with his. I know that you''re strong, but even you can''t train your soul. We can cleanse your soul back in the tree of life, so quickly before he fully merges with your body."


    The moment Ren heard Tsukiko''s exnation he couldn''t help butugh a bit. When Tsukiko saw Ren like that she thought that Nyarlom had already seeded. Seeing the worrying look on Tsukiko''s face Ren stoppedughing and spoke.


    "There''s no need to worry, if he had invaded my soul that would mean there''s no longer any hope for him."


    "Huh? What do you mean? I don''t-" Tsukiko wasn''t able to finish her sentence as a feeling of intense fear assaulted her. It was as if she had a memory of Ren''s soul that she couldn''t remember. All she could remember was this intense fear.


    ¡­


    Inside of Ren, Nyarlom was on his way to Ren''s soul. He already nned for all of this to happen the moment he saw how strong Ren was. Still, after seeding he was surprised at how easily he was able to invade.


    ''Well, it doesn''t matter, with such a powerful body in my control nobody will be able to stop me from enjoying all the chaos I want. Oh, there it is, as expected his soul is muchrger than a normal human''s soul.''


    As Nyarlom entered Ren''s soul to merge with it he was surprised to appear in a white room with no one there. He was in a physical form which confused him even more. While he was unsure as to what was happening, Nyarlom suddenly felt his back grow cold. He then heard a joyful voice speaking to him.


    "Wee visitor, I hope you''re ready to provide us with a lot of entertainment." When Nyarlom turned around he saw thousands upon thousands of people smiling at him. They were all smiling the same vicious smile that Ren had. He then spotted someone he knew pretty well.


    "That''s impossible how are you in here? Y-y-you''re the God of battle, death, and victory, Leonard Tranor."


    "Oh, you know me? Oh, that''s right, you''re a Primordial Demon, wasn''t I the one who sealed you guys before the reset? Heh, so you were able to survive the reset because of my seal. How lucky of you guys."


    When Nyarlom heard what Leo said he knew that the person in front of him was the real deal. "Then that must mean¡­ I see¡­ I was destined to lose the moment he appeared."


    Nyarlom finally understood what his current predicament was¡­ He looked at the smiling faces of the many incarnations of the strongest mortal soul and sighed, as he was about to experience a fate worse than death.

 Chapter 374 - One Problem After Another

    <h4>Chapter 374 - One Problem After Another</h4>


    As Nyarlom was about to face the numerous incarnations, he still continued to smile. ''I guess even my wonderful surprise might be inadequate for someone of his level. Still, I hope it would at least bring a bit of chaos and grief in his heart.''


    ¡­


    After waiting for a few minutes for some kind of reaction nothing happened to Ren, and the ck dome that was covering Valdel and the others disappeared. The moment the ck dome disappeared, Valdel and the others darted towards Ren.


    "What the heck have you been doing Ren! Where have you''ve been your mother''s been worried about you! You need to go back to Grenton to meet your mother and erase her worries. You even left your little brother behind."


    "Master, that was an amazing battle, thank you for saving us."


    "So your real name was Ren, that''s so much better than Kretos. Well, now that out of the way let''s get to the point to want to say. I wanted to study the body of the Primordial Demon you were fighting, but you crushed him until nothing''s left. So instead of his body, how about you allow me to look at your body." The moment those words left Henrietta''s mouth she felt a shiver down her spine. Henrietta quickly turned around while trying to create a mana barrier but it was toote.


    She saw that her right eye was almost pierced by an arrow. If it continued onward her head would''ve been pierced and even if she survived her brain and right eye would have been permanently damaged. It was a good thing that Ren was fast enough to catch the arrow before it hit. Henrietta was surprised when she saw the one who had fired the arrow, it was none other than the stoic looking Lara.


    ''Why is she trying to kill me? Have we met before, is she one of those guys that coborated with me in my past research? Is she one of the daughters of the rotten old men that are trying to woo me? Perhaps she''s one of those women jealous of my beauty, but her looks aren''t too bad, not on my level but she is pretty.'' Henrietta tried to think of a reason as to why Lara attacked her. It was not umon for her to be attacked by jealous women that use her of stealing their lovers, but Lara didn''t seem to be like that.


    "Lara, this person is Henrietta she''s one of my women, same as you." When Lara and Henrietta heard what Ren said they were both shocked, but one was visibly shocked while the other remained expressionless.


    ''So she really is a jealous woman using me of stealing her lover, but it turns out we''re both his lovers¡­ I see, so it was true that Ren had other women, and this one is of a high caliber. Does that mean the others are the same as her?¡­ They should be quite strong for Ren to take fancy to them. I can''t wait to meet the rest of Ren''s harem.'' Henrietta licked her lips thinking of the fun expe-, games she would have with the other women.


    ''Yet another one and this one looks like a pervert! As expected I need to do something before Ren makes his harem the size of a kingdom. By that time it''s going to be hard¡­ Maybe I should try to get pregnant, I''m already eighteen and this was the same age mom had me and sis. If I''m the first of Ren''s women to bear his child maybe I can secure the first ce position.''


    ¡­


    As everyone was asking Ren numerous questions, Tsukiko smiled as she watched the scene happening before her eyes. Seeing the expression on Ren''s face she knew that a lot of things have changed and it was not just his race.


    ''Back then you stood alone in the midst of fallen corpses. Even with me by your side, I always knew that you were a lonely king. Yet now it''s different, many have gathered beside you not out of fear, but because of something different. I don''t know if it''s love, respect, or something else entirely, but I''m happy to see that you are no longer alone, that you are no longer the lonely king.''


    ¡­


    While everyone was talking to Ren, Tsukiko suddenly had a bad feeling. ''Still, that Primordial Demon looked like the cunning type. He might have acted like a crazed man but his words and actions were always full of lies. If it were me, I wouldn''t let it just end with my death. I would do something to ensure that I can get something out of what I''m doing even if I do die. So then what could he have done?'' Tsukiko pondered for a moment and then remembered something.


    "Of course, I knew he had more tricks up his sleeve¡­ Primordial Demons are the father of all monsters. They can create and control monsters." When Ren and the others heard what Tsukiko said, the hope they had that everything was over was once again pushed aside.


    "What do you mean?" Henrietta who was interested in this kind of topic was the first to ask the question.


    "It''s just as I said, a Primordial Demon like Nyarlom has the ability to create monsters, or if there are already existing monsters that have low intelligence he could control those as well. I don''t know what the limitations a Primordial Demon has in creating and controlling monsters, but I find it very hard to believe that someone like Nyarlom who seems to be quite cunning to not have created a single monster. He had a lot of time to prepare, and he wanted to spread chaos everywhere so I find it really troubling that he did not use a single monster as he fought."


    "Yes, if he truly had such an ability he would''ve used it while fighting master. He could''ve created monsters to block my master''s path so that he had more time to escape." Afeus chimed in the conversation.


    "Running away wasn''t his true n, since he wanted to possess Ren, but you do have a point. Why did he not use that ability? Maybe he couldn''t or is there something else at y here?" Henrietta started to think about the whole interaction with Nyarlom. Was someone like that really not going to use such useful abilities as monster creation and controlling monsters, when he had the chance? The answer to that was a, no.


    "Maybe he had already used it and was waiting for the right moment. I don''t want to think about it, but he could have already created a bunch of monsters or he could have taken control of a group of already existing monsters and they''re hidden somewhere in this arena waiting for a signal." Valdel told everyone his opinion.


    While Ren and his group were having their serious conversation the citizens were doing their own thing and feeling relieved that everything was over, it was at that moment the ground suddenly started shaking. One of the mages felt that something was wrong and floated above. When he got to an elevated height that he could see the whole city, the mage saw something moving at a distance.


    Ren and his group also felt that something was wrong. The shaking wasn''t stopping in fact it felt like it was growing stronger. It was at that moment Tsukiko spoke which caught everyone''s attention.


    "So I was right¡­"


    As if to make certain of Tsukiko''s im one of the mages suddenly shouted.


    "It''s an army of monsters! There''s an army of monsters from the northern forest heading towards here!"


    "There''s also an army of monsters from the southern insing!"


    "The monsters from the western mountain are alling down, they''re heading here!"


    After the news came one after another, the people started screaming and panicking while running in different directions.


    "Ren, my group is going to stop the monstersing from the west." Before Ren could respond Valdel and his group had already left. Seeing Valdel''s fading silhouette made Ren sigh as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "Henrietta since the Grand Mage and the royals are gone, who has the highest rank?" Ren asked while looking at the current situation.


    "¡­ It would seem that I''m the highest-ranking person alive." When Ren heard Henrietta''s answer he couldn''t help but smile. It would seem that he was going to get something from all this.


    "Then tell all the remaining soldiers and mages to guide the citizens to a secure ce and defend that area. Lara can you-" As if knowing what Ren would say Lara grabbed his arm and shook her head.


    "I see¡­ Fine then, can you deal with the monstersing from the South?" When Lara heard Ren''smand for a brief second her lips curled slightly upward. She then nodded her head and left.


    "What about me master, what should I do?" Afeus looked at Ren with a little bit of anticipation and fear in his eyes.


    "You should follow Henrietta and help her with guiding the citizens."


    "Alright master, but what about you?"


    "Me? I''m going out to have a little fun¡­" Ren''s vicious smile grew wider as he walked towards the Northern wall.

 Chapter 375 - Complicated Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 375 - Complicated Feelings</h4>


    Valdel was running towards the western gates while having mixed feelings. This was rather unusual for him, for he only had a one-track mind, but something was happening within him that he couldn''t quite grasp. He truly did want to help the people of this kingdom despite them being enemies of his own kingdom, but more than that he just wanted to flee from Ren. He tried his hardest not to show it on his face, he tried very hard to act normally, but for a second while he was facing Ren his mask was about toe off.


    He was even happy that the monsters attacked at that timing. When he thought of that feeling he got, he hated himself for it. He felt so ashamed of himself that the first chance he got he fled from the scene. This only made him hate himself even more, as the best friend of Ren he had fled like a coward.


    This was the first time in his whole life, Valdel had felt such a negative emotion and it was pointed at his best friend no less. He was actually jealous of Ren, he was afraid of Ren and more than that he was craving for more power. After witnessing how far ahead Ren was from him, he couldn''t help but feel this way. Unknown to him and everyone else was that most of them were still under the effects of Nyarlom''s tampering with their emotions.


    ''What am I even thinking about? Isn''t it a good thing that Ren is stronger now? Isn''t it nice that Ren can save more with his power? Why should his strength be my weakness?¡­ If I can''t reach him now, surely if I keep on going, if I keep on running I''ll be able to run beside him¡­ Surely, I can do that¡­'' The more he thought about it the more frustrated Valdel felt.


    Zwei who was in her human form looked at Valdel in worry. She could usually sense Valdel''s emotions through their link, but now Valdel''s emotions were a fog. This would mean that Valdel didn''t trust her enough to share what he was currently feeling.


    The always open, kind, justice-loving Valdel was hiding something from her. This all happened the moment Valdel witnessed Ren''s fight.


    ''I always knew that Ren was a bad influence on Valdel but this time he did the right thing, it''s just that Valdel might not be able to ept the difference between them¡­ What can I do to help Valdel?¡­ In the first ce, why is Ren so strong? If I could figure out the reason for that, I might be able to help Valdel¡­''


    While Zwei was thinking about how to help Valdel Nika was also deep in thought. For some reason when she saw the Primordial Demon something within her was stirred. It was like a memory from a long-forgotten past was trying to resurface. Yet no matter how hard she tried she couldn''t remember anything.


    Ever since she became a weapon spirit, she knew that she was different from the other weapon spirits that were born as weapon spirits. She must have been someone like Silika a weapons spirit that was once a mortal being.


    It was just a feeling he had no proof, as no matter how hard she tried she could not remember her past life, in fact. most of her memory was a fuzzy mess. The only thing she remembers properly was waking up in Alphonso''s shop and staying there for a very long time before Valdel picked her up.


    ''If I meet the other Primordial Demons would I be able to regain my lost memories?''


    ¡­


    Natasha noticed that her threepanions were distracted by their own thoughts. She did not know what they were thinking, all she knew was that she needed to keep an eye on them. Being distracted in the midst of battle could spell death, no matter how strong one was.


    ¡­


    The four of them reached the Western wall and saw from the distance the iing monsters. They were hundreds of them rushing towards the wall. The Capital of the Serbek Kingdom was not only protected by a thick stone wall but was also protected by arge-scale barrier, but even with the barrier and the stone walls with how many monsters wereing their defenses might not be able to hold.


    ''Dozens of C rank monsters, a few B and A rank monsters. There are even some hybrids mixed in, but there''s nothing that seems to be a leader. Maybe it''s hiding at the back or is behind thoserger monsters at the front. No matter, if I kill all thate it doesn''t matter if there''s a leader or not.'' Valdel breathed in and out trying to calm his emotions. His mana was not fully restored but against these much with the help of hispanions they should be able to do it. If they can''t deal with this much Valdel would be too ashamed to even look at Ren.


    "Zwei, Nika, Natasha let''s do this!" Valdel opened both his hands andmanded Zwei and Nika to turn into their weapon forms. Valdel held the massive Zweihander in his right hand and the dagger in his left. Once he felt the weight of both weapons in his hands Zwei charged forward.


    ¡­


    Lara was running towards the Southern wall trying to calm her raging emotions. Even though she was once again stoic looking on the outside, on the inside she was having her usual intern strife.


    ''It''s been so long since I''ve seen Ren and before I can even enjoy his presence this happens! Why do all these bad things happen to me?¡­ Well, I guess there was a good thing that happened. Once again Ren had figured out what I was feeling just by looking at me. I knew it, we are connected by the red string of fate!''


    Lara wanted to quickly finish the monsters off and return to Ren. She wanted Ren to praise her for a job well done.


    ''This might be a good chance to make Ren do me until I''m pregnant.''


    ¡­


    As Valdel and the others were wiping out the monsters outside the walls, some monsters had appeared inside the city. It seems that they were hidden in unknown areas and came out almost at the same time as the monsters from the outside. It was a coordinated attack and it was obvious that Nyarlom had nted these monsters.


    The mages, adventurers, and soldiers with Henrietta were doing their best to protect the citizens as they head towards the Grand Mage''s tower and the royal castle two of the most secure buildings in the kingdom.


    Unfortunately in the confusion some people got separated from the group and were now in a different street surrounded by monsters. The ones that got separated were a few families that were able to survive the massacre in the arena, but now it would seem that their luck had run out.


    The parents surrounded their children and formed a circle while holding hands trying their best to protect them. They knew they stood no chance of winning, but if shielding the children from the monsters was the only thing they could do then they would do it without moving an inch.


    As the monsters were about ready to attack the group of parents held each other''s hands even tighter. They could feel that each of their hands were trembling, but despite that, they still held on tightly. Even though they were afraid they held strong for their children. They waited for the monsters to attack and when the moment came a person wearing a ck vest appeared.


    The man that appeared punched one of the monsters to the ground, and kicked another monster into the air. They had already seen a lot of unbelievable things today so this one wasn''t as shocking. The man then proceeded to pulverize the remaining monsters.


    Once he was done, one of the braver parents approached the man to thank him. Haruto looked at the man and then at the children before sighing. He didn''t want to say this, but the system gave him no choice.


    "There''s no need to thank me, but if you guys want to keep your children safe you better follow me to my tavern. If you stay in my tavern not only will you be protected, but you can eat and drink great stuff as well¡­ Of course, you can''t stay if you don''t buy anything."


    The parents were stunned by what the man said but after a long silence, they all agreed to stay in his tavern, of course, they were going there as customers.


    ¡­


    While Ren was leisurely walking towards the Norther Wall, he spoke to the woman following behind him.


    "You should have followed Henrietta, instead of me. You''re still injured you know that, right?"


    "Of course I know that, but I just want to watch, or are you telling me now that you''re a human you can''t even protect one little fox." Tsukiko smiled coquettishly at Ren.


    "Heh, still as mouthy as ever. Of course, I can protect you, even if a million of those weak-ass monsterse they still won''t be able toy a single w on you." Ren answered with his usual arrogant style.


    "Then it shouldn''t be a problem to follow you."


    "Do whatever you want." After that, the conversation between the two ended. They walked forward in silence for a few seconds. Tsukiko approached Ren and tugged on his sleeves. Ren turned his head around and Tsukiko suddenly kissed him. After what seem to be hours their lips parted ways. Tsukiko smiled happily at the surprised Ren.


    "You''rete, you stupid battle freak¡­" As Tsukiko said those words while continuing to smile a tear fell down her beautiful face.

 Chapter 376 - The Sword

    <h4>Chapter 376 - The Sword</h4>


    Ren had reached the Northern wall without any problems. When he saw the iing horde of monsters he couldn''t help but smile. The monsters were still quite a distance away from the wall, but you could see that they were a very huge group. They were also a very diverse group of monsters. It was obvious that one of them was a leader of sorts controlling all the others.


    ''So that Primordial Demon really had more tricks up his sleeves. Well, I guess this is more of a present than a trick.''


    Ren smiled his signature vicious smile as his shadow grewrger andrger. After erging from within his shadow hundreds of weapons came out, these were the weapons he received from Alphonso''s shop. The weapons surrounded the area where Ren stood making it look like a graveyard of weapons.


    As Ren was about ready to attack, he suddenly felt two approaching presences. He looked behind him and saw Tsukiko simply standing there smiling at him and at a distance there were two dwarves holding something huge that was covered in some sort of cloth. The two whose height was as tall as a human child, but had arms the size of an adult human male''s thighs, were having some difficulty carrying the gigantic object.


    When the two dwarves arrived before Ren, he finally remembered who these two were. He had met the two when he had lost his memory. He hadmissioned these two dwarven brothers to make him a weapon out of the dragon''s talons and bones he had. He even gave them some rare ores that he had with him. One of the two dwarves held the clothed object upward. It was three times taller than him, in fact, it was even taller than Ren by two heads. The other dwarf approached Ren to speak to him.


    "It has been a while, Sir, we have finally finished creating the weapon you have asked for. This is the strongest sword that we have poured our everything into making." The dwarf pulled the cloth off and showed the a sword of otherworldly magnificence.


    The de was made out of the talon of the dragon and the handle seem to be made of a mixture of different kinds of metal. The aura the sword was exuding was rather menacing, this was expected of a sword made from parts of a dragon.


    "This is our masterpiece! The handle is created by mixing some of the extra bones you have given us, alongside Orichalcum and Adamantine. The edges have been sharpened with-" As one of the dwarves was getting excited exining how they created the sword, Ren stopped him and pointed at the nearing monsters.


    "I get that you want to describe how great of a sword you created, but how about I just test it out and experience how great it is, for myself." When the two dwarven brothers heard what Ren said they both nodded their heads.


    "Of course, please try out our masterpiece¡­ Also if possible can we stay to witness its performance." Tsukiko giggled when she heard what the dwarves said. Ren looked at her teasing smile and sighed. The dwarven brothers didn''t know what was going on and looked confused and a bit afraid.


    Even though they were excited to present the weapon they created, they were still afraid of Ren. They were there in the arena and had seen how Ren dealt with the monster called Nyarlom. They didn''t want to provoke such a powerful person, but at the same time, they were truly curious about the weapon they created.


    As cksmiths, they were sure they knew the quality of the weapon, as they had used the best materials avable to them. But since they weren''t able to wield the sword to test it out they weren''t sure of its true capabilities.


    The sword weighed two tons and it needed both of the brothers to even lift it from the ground. They already had so much difficulty simply lifting it much less test it. They knew that Ren was about to go into battle which is why they wanted to see the sword''s performance and rushed over, but now they were worried that they had made a mistake.


    Seeing the distress of the dwarven brothers, Ren chuckled. "Don''t worry you can stay if you want to. Just don''t get in my way and stay at the back."


    "Yes thank you, sir!" The two nodded their heads as they offered the sword to Ren.


    Ren grabbed onto the handle of his new sword and immediately felt the presence of the dragon''s mana within the de. He found it rather impressive that the dwarven brothers could handle such materials, and was able to create this sword. It was also remarkable that they were able to carry the sword all the way to him, without having some kind of bacsh.


    ''It must have something to do with the cloth they used to cover the sword. Also, their gloves seem to have some sort of rune enhancement¡­ The dwarven race, hmm, they are rather impressive.''


    Ren lifted the sword up and was surprised at how heavy it was. He tried making his mana and Spirit Aura flow towards the sword, and to his surprise, the sword that had some dragon''s mana in it easily epted the outside energy. Not only that, it quickly adapted the two different energies and seamlesslybined them with its own. It was as if the sword had a mind of its own.


    Ren double-checked and was sure that this weapon had no spirit, but it seems like it was in the middle of forming one. Ren was truly amazed by how magnificent this weapon was. Aside from Silika''s scythe, this was the best weapon he has ever held.


    "Hey, Ren, you better stop admiring your new toy and look behind you." Tsukiko''s voice snapped Ren back into reality. He looked behind him and saw that the horde of monsters were about to reach him.


    Ren quickly recalled all of his weapons back into his shadow and held his new weapon upward. Facing the numerous monsters charging towards him, Ren was at ease as he held onto his sword. Usually, the monsters would have already run in terror when they notice Ren, but this time they didn''t. This was because Ren was suppressing his mana and presence to the best of his ability. To the monsters who rely on their instincts, Ren who was suppressing his power was like any other weak human.


    The wave of monsters were finally close enough so Ren dashed forward. Ren swung the sword down as lightly as possible and a wave of mana burst out killing a dozen monsters. Ren was shocked to see such an oue, so he stopped making his mana and Spirit Aura flow through the sword.


    When he once again lightly swung the sword to the side, it easily sliced through one of the bigger monsters like it was butter. Ren was now only enhancing his body to a minimum but despite that, it was still too easy killing the nearby monsters.


    Ren didn''t even use any techniques or skills just a simple swing was enough to kill wave after wave of monsters.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko who was watching Ren battling the monsters was baffled. She already knew that Ren would easily win against the horde of monsters. Yet she didn''t expect it to be like this. It wasn''t even Ren doing most of the job, it was mostly because of the sword he was wielding.


    Each swing of the sword would kill several monsters, some of them won''t even go near Ren as they were afraid of the aura the sword was emanating. It was pretty obvious to Tsukiko who wasn''t that knowledgeable about swordy that Ren was simply swinging the sword around without any skill involved.


    ¡­


    The dwarven brothers were excited to watch their masterpiece being wielded by a true master. Yet the moment they saw the ongoing battle they couldn''t believe their eyes. They already knew that their masterpiece was powerful, but they didn''t expect it to be so heaven-defying.


    The wave of monsters were too weak to even test the true capabilities of the de. Seeing it slice through one monster after another without it even having so much as a nick made the dwarven brothers extremely exhrated. If they were simply saying it before, they felt like it was true now. The sword they had created was the strongest de.


    The brothers looked at each other and saw that they were both crying and smiling at the same time. Even after being exiled from the dwarven kingdoms, they had created with their own two hands a weapon that would go down in legend.


    Minstrels will sing of their tale of how two exiled dwarven brothers had created the weapon that would be in all of the adventures of this powerful human¡­ They were sure that Ren would go down in history, and surely the weapon he wielded will also be remembered, that would mean they too will have been part of history, of a legend.

 Chapter 377 - Snertal

    <h4>Chapter 377 - Snertal</h4>


    Ren continued to mow down one monster after another. It was too easy, each swing of the sword could bring down a monster no matter howrge. In the middle of fighting, he wanted to swap with another weapon but stopped himself from doing so. This new sword of his had to be tempered in the raging fires of battle. It needed to be bathed in the blood of his enemies. He needed to make this sword into a sword fit for every battle, fit for what''s toe.


    As Ren was halfway done with exterminating the monsters he noticed that the remaining monsters seem to be cowering in fear of him. Well, this was a natural thing to have happen as his sword was now bathed in the blood of multiple monsters, and it was obvious that they were no match for him. The monsters were slowly backing away looking for a chance to flee, but as they were stepping back farther away from Ren one of the monsters stepped forward and suddenly roared.


    Hearing the roar of this one monster the monsters that wanted to flee no longer backed away. Ren also noticed the roaring monster and saw it was a rather small monster barely bigger than a goblin. It looked like a mixture of different monsters jumbled altogether into one hideous looking monster. It had ten eyes, six arms, and multiple legs. Its legs and arms had different physical attributes, some of them had talons and ws, others look to have something simr to a beak.


    Ren was rather surprised that he didn''t notice this hideously unusual monster until now. Even though he was a bit captivated by his own sword, he wouldn''t have missed such a peculiar looking monster.


    Ren looked at the odd-looking monster and grew even more surprised, that one monster didn''t have a single trace of mana within him. It was the same as Nyarlom and Haruto.


    "Heh, that''s rather interesting. So you must be the monster created by that Primordial Demon. Let''s see how strong you are." Ren finally added a bit of mana into his sword and shed horizontally. A sword wave was produced and shed through the monsters in its way. When the sword wave was about to hit the weird-looking monster without mana the monster was able to evade the strike. Seeing what happened Ren''s smile grew even wider as he unleashed two more sword waves.


    The sword waves were once again evaded by the weird-looking monster, on the other hand, the other monsters that were in the way have all been annihted. The monsters within the area have been annihted, and the only one left was the odd-looking monster.


    Ren licked his lips as he added a bit more mana into his de and dashed forward. Ren decided to fight the monster in close quarters. When Ren swung his sword downward, the odd-looking monster wasn''t able to evade and lost one of its limbs. Ren was about to continue his assault when he noticed that the limb he cut down was slowly regrowing.


    "Oh, so you have the same characteristic as that Primordial Demon." Ren couldn''t help but feel excited maybe this monster could bring be a good test dummy for his sword. Ren started to move faster as his sword shes were bing blurrier and blurrier.


    The odd-looking monster had lost numerous limbs, and the speed of it regrowing new ones were too slow and it could no longer keep up with Ren. After a few more shes the monster could no longer regrow any of its limbs.


    "So that''s your limit? Still not enough for me to use this weapon properly¡­ Well, you are a rather interesting specimen, Henrietta would probably like you as a gift."


    Ren lifted pointed his left index finger at the weakened monster and activated a spell. With his current mana as well as having more knowledge in the structure of different spells, Ren no longer needed to use any spell words. He could activate most spells with simple movements.


    The monster was encased in a prison of ice, and once it was secured into the ice Ren''s shadow swallowed it.


    ¡­


    The battle was over, and it only took a few minutes. Hundreds of monsters were killed in a few breaths. The dwarven brothers were still a bit stunned by the sight. They already knew that Ren was powerful, and with the masterpiece they created he was looking nigh unstoppable. Still seeing it in person was something else.


    Tsukiko on the other hand was quite interested in the way Ren was fighting. She always knew that he was strong, but seeing how he was now more skilled in using spells she was once again amazed. She had never seen the old Kretos use any spells at all, but this one looks like he can use spells from all the elements and even something beyond that.


    ¡­


    While the trio were having their own thoughts, Ren approached the dwarven brothers. "This sword is way better than I expected it to be, tell me what is its name?"


    The older of the two brothers scratched his head and looked at his younger brother. The younger brother shrugged his shoulders, seeing that reaction the older one sighed before answering Ren.


    "We haven''t actually named it yet, we were going to name it Snertal, which means Fate in the dwarvennguage, but as the owner of the de we thought you should name it." The dwarven brothers really wanted to name the sword, but they didn''t want to offend Ren so with a heavy heart they decided not to be the ones to bless the sword with a name.


    "Snertal, actually that sounds pretty good. Why did you name it that in the first ce?"


    "Well, while we were forging this sword it felt like fate. We brothers have been exiled from the dwarven kingdoms and had set up shop in this kingdom. We didn''t know at the time that this kingdom has very few warriors and was a ce for those human scribbles¡­ Oh, right, you called them mages here. It was toote when we found that out as we have already used most of our money to create the shop, so we were stuck here. We only had a few customers and were barely earning much, from time to time we get a big job but the money we received wasn''t enough to move."


    When the dwarven brothers remembered the hardships they had to endure to simply feed themselves, they could almost cry. They were forced to create knives and cooking utensils just to get by. Their pride as dwarven cksmiths was slowly fading away as they needed the money to survive.


    Day to day pass by and they continued to stay in this kingdom and in that shop that only a few entered. As they were slowly epting their fate of staying in the Serbek Kingdom without achieving anything and even losing their pride as dwarven cksmiths, it was as if fate heard their pleas, and Ren appeared.


    "You appeared at the time when we have almost given up on achieving anything significant. It was as if fate had guided you to our shop that day. You have given us a chance to regain our pride as dwarven cksmiths. The materials you provided us sparked a fire within ourselves that we have almost forgotten existed. The very reason for our exile, our obsession, you have given it back to us."


    The older brother''s voice suddenly grew more passionate as he spoke about this part. Just remembering the day Ren showed those materials to them made him and his younger brother feel exhrated.


    "We then created our masterpiece that even the ancient master dwarven cksmiths in the age of myth would find praiseworthy. We with our own two hands have been a part of a legend. It was as if the reason we were exiled and mistakenly came here was to meet you and create this weapon. This is why we wanted to call this weapon Snertal, Eth guiding brond avor snertal, the guiding hand of fate."


    Hearing the older dwarf''s exnation, Ren looked at his new sword. ''The guiding hand of fate¡­ Snertal.'' Ren nodded his head a few times before raising the sword upward.


    "Very well, from today onward this sword shall be call Snertal. The sword that guides fate." As if it could understand what Ren said and epted its name, the sword emanated the powerful mana of a dragon and vibrated. The sword then created a sound that was simr to a dragon''s roar. Hearing the roar the two dwarven brothers backed away, while Tsukiko looked at it in surprise.


    Ren, on the other hand, smiled that vicious smile of his and spoke as if the sword could truly understand him.


    "From here on out you are my weapon, I will use you to cleave a path for myself! To go control and bend destiny to my will¡­ It''s nice to have you Snertal, may our path be filled with glorious battle!" The sword once again roared which echoed through the northern walls.

 Chapter 378 - Negative Emotions

    <h4>Chapter 378 - Negative Emotions</h4>


    After giving his broadsword a name Ren stored it in his shadow. He then did a quick scan of the area to make sure that there was not a single monster left.


    "I''m going to check on the other areas, you three better go and head to wherever Henrietta and the others went to."


    Ren left without waiting for any of the three to respond. Seeing Ren leaving so suddenly made Tsukiko have this sense of nostalgia. Even after all these years and reincarnating into a human Ren still had the same quirks as before.


    ''There were some changes but it seems that deep down he was still the same.'' Tsukiko shrugged her shoulders as she started to walk back into the city.


    ¡­


    In the Southern Wall, Lara was having quite a difficult battle. Fighting against the monsters wasn''t the difficult part, but trying to conserve her mana was. This was because her mana supply wasn''t full when she started the battle. She was still recovering her mana after her all-out battle with Valdel yesterday. She wanted to preserve her mana by killing the monsters using her bow and arrows. Yet after a few monsters were taken down she had exhausted all of her arrows.


    If she fought using her mana archery it would have wasted more mana than if she handled it with her close-quartersbat skills. She headed down to the middle of the enemy lines as per her usual strategy. Wreak havoc in the middle and escape to recover a bit, basically, hit and run tactics.


    After a while, she was able to thin down the wave of monsters. Yet the ones remaining were quite difficult to deal with. If she were in tip-top shape this wouldn''t have been too much of a problem. Yet now not only was her mana supply slowly draining she was also physically exhausted.


    That wasn''t her only problem, among the remaining monsters there was one oundish one that stood out. She couldn''t believe that she didn''t notice this particr monster as it was truly grotesque to look at. Not only did it have a frightening visage, but it was extremely powerful as well.


    Based on what Lara observed this monster was the leader of the group. If she could deal with it then the others wouldn''t be as problematic, in fact, the remaining monsters might even retreat if their leader falls. So after deciding what to do next, Lara slowly moved towards the grotesque looking monster.


    As she got closer to the monster without alerting the others, Lara was surprised to know that the grotesque looking monster wasn''t emitting any mana. It felt the same as Nyarlom.


    ''So he really is the one behind this.'' Lara clenched her fist and was ready to attack, she just needed to see which part of this monster was its weakest part. To take down an opponent that was stronger than you, one needed the element of surprise. Also, you needed to know where to hit. One quick powerful strike to its weakness and no matter how strong the enemy was, the enemy should fall.


    After observing the monster for a bit, Lara decided that its weakness was obviously its one eye, which was hidden underneath its body. Lara tried to gather mana into her fist to attack, but the moment she did that the other monsters spotted her. It would seem that these monsters had a sensitive nose when ites to mana.


    Knowing she was going to be surrounded if she waited, Lara attacked. She punched out a beam of mana towards the monster''s eye, but as it was about to hit, the monster''s eye actually changed position.


    Lara knew that she had missed her chance and was about to retreat, but before she could do so the other monsters had already sessfully surrounded her. Lara looked at the monsters surrounding her and was about to attack the weakest looking one to break the encirclement, as she was about to move multiple sword waves rained from above.


    The sword waves hit all the monsters except for the leader which was the grotesque-looking one with one eye. Ren descended from above and started slicing the monster into pieces before he encased it in ice, after he did that he quickly engulfed the monster into his shadow.


    "You better head back now." After saying that Ren left.


    Lara looked dumbfounded for a minute before her mind suddenly burst into girlish screams. ''Ren could actually feel that I was in danger! That should be the only reason as to why he arrived with such great timing. I already knew that Ren and I are linked by something strong¡­ Still, I wanted to finish off these monsters by myself. I wanted to prove to him that I''m the best among his women¡­ Well, I guess I can show him I''m the best in something else.''


    Lara headed back into the city while thinking of different ways to get pregnant with Ren''s baby before the others.


    ¡­


    In the western wall, Valdel and his group had already subdued all of the monsters except for one. It was a gigantic monster that seems to be made out of the darkness. Not only was it big and strong, but it was also quick on its feet and its regenerative abilities were ridiculous.


    Valdel had already cut it down numerous times, but every time it was cut its body parts would once again stick together. Natasha tried attacking it with spells, but even if its parts get disintegrated it would just regrow them.


    Valdel gritted his teeth and grew a bit frustrated. This monster was obviously something created by that Primordial Demon, Nyarlom. It was just a monster Nyarlom created and already Valdel was having a hard time, and he even had people to help him in battle.


    Ren faced Nyarlom alone, and it was a one-sided affair. Just thinking about that made Valdel feel even more ashamed and frustrated.


    Zwei could feel Valdel''s frustrations via their link, but no matter what she said it doesn''t seem like Valdel was listening. His heart and mind were slowly being clouded by negative emotions. Though Nyarlom had already disappeared, the heightened emotions were still in effect for some. It was especially effective for people that had deeply buried emotions that on normal asions wouldn''t see the light of day.


    ''How can I call myself his best friend if this is all I''ve got!'' Valdel grasped Zwei''s handle even tighter and charged at the monster.


    "Valdel, wait!" Natasha shouted but it was toote, all the blood had rushed to Valdel''s head as he was charging at the monster. When he shed down the monster was no longer in front of him but behind him.


    Valdel tried to quickly get into a position to defend himself, but the monster wouldn''t allow him. As the monster''s hand was about to strike Valdel''s back Zwei turned back into her human form and shielded Valdel.


    Zwei was the one hit by the hand and flew a few meters away. Valdel was in a state of shock as that happened, and was once again about to be struck by the monster. In his dazed state, Valdel wasn''t in any position to evade nor defend. Natasha was too far away to do anything, and as Nika was about to do the same thing as Zwei, a sword wave cut off the hand of the monster.


    As the monster backed away to regrow his arm, a heavy bloodlust filled the area. The monster whose instincts were telling it to flee couldn''t move. Ren appeared in between the monster and the stunned Valdel. Ren looked at Valdel for a moment, it was just a brief moment, but Valdel was able to see the look of utter disappointment on Ren''s face.


    That one look of Ren was the most devastating thing that ever happened to Valdel. It had woken him up. As he was about to step up, Ren signaled him to stop.


    "Ren there''s no need for you to intervene I got this."


    "You got this? Heh, I''ll deal with this monster, since it''s pretty obvious that you''re unable to deal with it yourself. So how about you just check the condition of the sword spirit that took the hit for you."


    Hearing what Ren said Valdel finally looked at Zwei who was on the ground trying to stand up. It was at that moment Valdel realized that he had actually forgotten about Zwei. When he saw Ren he actually forgot what Zwei had done for him. All Valdel had in his head at the time was that he wanted to prove to Ren that he could handle this.


    Valdel quickly headed to Zwei and helped her up. He felt truly ashamed of what he had done. While he was helping Zwei, Ren had finished dealing with the monster which he encased in ice and stored in his shadow.


    Ren once again looked at Valdel and said nothing. The expression on his face was message enough to express how Ren felt. He then walked back into the city without looking back.


    Valdel who was holding Zwei in her sword form wanted to call Ren''s name, but the moment his mouth opened no words came out. He couldn''t think of anything to say. That look Ren gave him made him feel even worse about himself. He couldn''t understand what kind of emotions were currently swirling within him, but he was sure that one of those emotions was anger.


    He was not only angry at himself but for some reason at Ren as well¡­ This anger of his was slowly growing and he couldn''t stop it.

 Chapter 379 - Valdels Outburst

    <h4>Chapter 379 - Valdel''s Outburst</h4>


    Ren watched a bit of the battle before he intervened. If it was the normal Valdel he would''ve found a way to ovee such a situation, but what Ren saw happen was different. He had seen how Valdel had lost his cool and attacked. He was the one who had trained Valdel from childhood and knew most of his skills so he was sure that this was something that he could''ve dealt with. Yet this time something different happened. Could it be that the time they had been separated from training Valdel had changed? It has been a couple of years, so there might be things that he didn''t know about, but the current Valdel was nothing but an embarrassment.


    The current Valdel was no longer purely seeking strength, nor was he blindly pursuing his so called justice. He was changing, it looked like he was being devoured by some unknown greed.


    In Ren''s eyes, he thought that maybe Valdel was still a little tired from the tournament as well as facing Nyarlom. This might be the effect of something Nyarlom did.


    ''Still, that was the first time I''ve seen Val act like that. For a brief second, I actually sensed bloodlust from him. The guy that doesn''t really like killing, the guy who generally wants to avoid fighting, that same guy was actually emitting such bloodlust. Is this growth good or bad?¡­ I did find his naivete a bit irritating at times, but that''s what makes him, Val.''


    While Ren was thinking about the changes Valdel was going through, as he was walking he noticed the bodies of dead monsters. Based on the wounds they had, the monsters were pounded to the ground using something blunt. They even had visible kick marks.


    The only person Ren knew that fights this way was Lara, and based on the kick marks it wasn''t her. There was someone else in this city that had a powerful hand to handbat abilities. Ren was pretty curious so he followed the trail of dead monsters.


    After walking for a while he arrived to see a familiar road. Wasn''t this the way to the tavern called the Lonely Cat? Ren headed to the Lonely Cat and saw through the window that the tavern was full of people. Seeing the tavern undamaged unlike the other nearby building, Ren could now pretty much guess who was the one who killed all the monsters in the vicinity.


    ''Oh, that''s pretty interesting, so he''s that powerful even without mana¡­ I wonder what kind of energy he uses, or is this all just his pure physical prowess. As expected those guys that are summoned from a different world are all pretty interesting beings. I better ask him for a sparter.''


    Once he was done checking out the tavern Ren quickly headed to the ce where Henrietta and the others gathered.


    ¡­


    Zwei, Nika, and Natasha were standing quietly. They were waiting for Valdel to say something or even move, they were getting a bit worried as he simply stood in front of the gates of the Northern Wall looking at the ground. The three of them couldn''t say anything seeing the look on Valdel''s face.


    This was the first time the three of them seen such an expression on Valdel''s usually kind face. After a few minutes Zwei tried to approach Valdel, but as she got closer she wasmanded by Valdel himself to stay back. He actually used the contract between weapon spirit and master against her.


    Seeing him do that that shocked not only Zwei but Nika as well. Valdel had never given them an order that was against their wills. Since the time they had been bonded as master and servant, Valdel had always treated them like family. He would always ask for their opinions before doing anything, but this time it was different.


    Natasha who saw Zwei simply standing behind Valdel without moving forward knew that something was up. She couldn''t understand what was happening inside Valdel''s head, but she knew that she needed to do something and quick.


    Natasha carefully approached Valdel and touched his shoulder. "Valdel are you alright? We better go back into the city to meet the others, they might be worrying about us." When those words came out of Natasha''s mouth, it was like a dam burst out of Valdel. He looked at Natasha with an angry look on his face.


    "Worry?! Why would they worry about me?! Oh right, of course, they''re going to be worried about me. I''m just the weak loser that keeps on spouting rubbish about wanting to save everybody and making everyone happy! Yes, I''m the loser who keeps on talking about high and mighty things without the power to back them up! I''m just the delusional person that keeps on saying sh*t that can never happen! I''m the person that couldn''t even save those that were near me! I couldn''t save anyone no matter how hard I tried! Yet he arrived and did it with absolute ease! In front of him, you and everyone else must think I''m just a joke!"


    The threedies were surprised by Valdel''s sudden outburst. They didn''t expect him to say such things. Still, now that they know what was going on inside Valdel''s head they can try to remedy the situation.


    "Valdel no one thinks you''re a loser. I think that your ideals aren''t delusional they are beautiful. Also, I''m sure that no one thinks you''re a joke." Natasha spoke with the most calming voice she could muster.


    "Heh, you''re just saying that because you like me." When Natasha heard what Valdel said she was surprised and couldn''t continue to speak. Seeing the expression on Natasha''s face Valdel smirked.


    "Do you think I''m such an idiot? Of course, I noticed all the times you were secretly looking at me. But I''m pretty sure you simply like my face, I have always been called handsome. How can a shallow woman such as you understand what I''m feeling!" When thosest words came out of Valdel''s mouth he was shocked that he said it, he knew immediately that he went too far, but for some reason, his anger won out and overwritten any guilt he felt.


    "You''re just like all of them, looking down on me! Just f*cking-" ''SLAP!'' Valdel''s face was pped and it echoed in the area. Natasha looked at him with the same disappointed look Ren gave him, but unlike Ren, she was crying. Without saying anything Natasha ran away.


    Valdel''s body which was forged by Ren himself was powerful, so a p like that did absolutely no damage, but for some reason, Valdel felt like it stung more than any wound he had ever received.


    ''That wasn''t my fault, no it can''t be! That''s Ren''s fault for always looking down on me! Yes, this is all Ren''s fault! It''s because he keeps on denying my efforts, he keeps on getting in my way! Yes, I need to show him that I''m not someone you can look down upon!''


    Valdel''s mind was bing a mess and his thoughts were all over the ce. Even though it was nonsensical he ced all the me on his childhood friend. The little malice Nyarlom ced in everyone''s heart was growing bigger inside of Valdel.


    "I''ll crush Ren and his arrogant face to the ground that will show him not to deny me!" Valdel forced anothermand onto Zwei and Nika, who turned back into their weapon forms.


    ¡­


    Ren had arrived at the ce where Henrietta and Afeus led the citizens. Tsukiko was already there with the dwarven brothers, Lara on the other hand was ring at Tsukiko without saying a word. When they saw Ren approaching they surrounded him.


    "So is everything over?" Henrietta asked.


    "Yeah, and I also have a present for you." Ren took out the three monsters he encased in ice. When Henrietta saw the monsters presented to her she grew excited.


    "Are these the monsters created by the Primordial demon? Oh look at them, I want to quickly dissect these things and see how they differ with the modern-day monster. Thank you, Ren, this is an incredible gift." Henrietta kissed Ren on the cheek. It was then Henrietta felt a very thick bloodlust, of course she already knew where it wasing from. Henrietta looked at Lara and smiled at her.


    ''Damn this b*tch!'' Lara screamed in her mind.


    ¡­


    As everyone was getting excited to hear that it was all over, Ren quickly stood in front of the group and blocked an iing sword wave.


    "What is this a surprise attack?! Is it another Primordial Demon?!" Afeus shouted as he looked around warily.


    "Yes, what is the meaning of this, Val?" Ren looked at the neer who was holding arge two handed sword. When Lara heard what Ren said she finally noticed that it was indeed Valdel that attacked Ren. Lara who usually had a stoic expression showed the face of an oni as she stood in between Ren and Valdel.


    "What the f*ck are you doing Val?!"

 Chapter 380 - Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 380 - Challenge</h4>


    Lara waited for Valdel to reply but he only red at her as if she was his worst enemy. Lara was surprised to see Valdel looked at her like that. Not only was he ring at her but there was this heavy bloodlust that she felt emanating from Valdel. Lara couldn''t help but be shocked, this was the same guy who used to abhor the thought of killing anyone.


    Valdel looked at Lara with an angry re on his face. He then proceeded to point his two-handed sword at Lara.


    "Ren this, Ren that, Ren, Ren REN REN! Everything is all about Ren with you! Your sister died, a lot of those we know from the vige have ceased to exist, but all you can say is REN! You have nothing else but Ren in your brain! I''m not even sure if you have ever seen me as your friend. Am I truly your friend, do you even see me?! All you see from me is a way to talk more about Ren! I don''t want to talk to a barking dog that can only say REN!"


    Lara was at a loss for words, as she looked at Valdel. At first, she was stunned, but then a wave of intense anger was starting to grow within her.


    "How dare you! What did you say about my sister?! You''re telling me that I was unaffected by her death?!" Lara was now also emitting heavy bloodlust.


    "Aren''t I right, in your eyes, there''s no one but Ren? Heck, I''m pretty sure right now you''re thinking of ways of how to eliminate the other wh*res that surrounds Ren. You have never treated me as a friend. Your sister Lisa is gone, but that doesn''t'' seem to faze you. I bet that in your head it was a good thing that she was gone, so you can focus more on your precious Ren!"


    Lara no longer said anything as all the emotions disappeared from her face, and she returned to her stoic look. Lara then took a fighting stance and the intensity of her bloodlust was fully exhibited.


    "As I expected, since you can''t win an argument you now show me your true colors. You have always wanted to eliminate me since I always got between you and Ren. I already knew that you were never my friend! Fine, if you want to kill me, thene! I already beaten you once, beating you again won''t be a problem!"


    Valdel provoked Lara even more and was about ready to receive her attack. Unlike yesterday these two were truly thinking of killing each other. As they were about ready to attack each other Ren stood in between them.


    "Ren I-" Ren raised his hand and signaled Lara to step aside. Seeing that Lara reluctantly stood to the side. Valdel showed a mocking smile as he spoke to Ren.


    "So here hees, the all-powerful Ren. Once again you''re telling us what to do like a puppet master looking down on all of us."


    "Hmph, I have always told you that you can do whatever you want Val. You were the one who chose to follow what I say. I have never once ordered you to do anything without your consent."


    "A choice, there was a choice? Hahaha, that''s pretty funny Ren. How naive do you think I am? There was never a choice, we never had a choice from the beginning! You have always guided our actions with the way you talk, and the things that you do behind the scenes. You have always, always, look down on us! We aren''t your friends, we''re your pawns! Your ves! You trained us simply to be usedter!"


    "Heh, so that''s what you truly believe, that''s what you think of me?¡­ I guess if that''s what you were thinking from the very beginning then it wasn''t me that didn''t treat you as a friend, it was you that has never seen me as a friend."


    "There you go again twisting my words to make you sound righteous! I hate it, I hate you!"


    "I haven''t done anything like that. Well, it''s pretty clear that there''s something wrong going in your head. The influence of Nyarlom''s malice might be affecting you. So how about you calm down Val and start thinking about what you just said. Also if possible how about you stop pointing that sword at me."


    "There''s nothing wrong with me, Ren. In fact, for the first time in my whole everything seems so much clearer. My dream, and my ideals, the reason for me being unable to achieve them is because of you. It''s because you always stood in my way. You make it seem like you''re helping me but in truth, you have always been hindering me! It''s obvious now that you''re doing all this because you''re afraid of me."


    Valdel''s thoughts and emotions were a total mess as he was saying everything he was currently feeling. There was little to no logic in what Valdel was saying, and he couldn''t understand most of what he said, all Valdel knew was that at this moment Ren was the root of all of his misfortune.


    "Hahaha! That''s pretty funny Val, me afraid of you? Are you sure it isn''t the other way around?"


    "Hmph, keep on denying it, Ren. All the time you were looking down on me, all the time acting like you''re so much better me, bringing me down all the time. You did all that because you were threatened by my abilities."


    "This is getting us nowhere, so what do you want to do Val? Are you going to attack me, or do you want to continue talking? It''s not like I hate listening to a lunatic, but this is getting boring. You keep on saying the same thing over and over again. You hate me, it''s all my fault, you know what I hear, a weakling ming his weakness on someone else."


    Valdel gnashed his teeth when he heard what Ren said. The hatred he was feeling towards Ren grew to an unbelievable level.


    "I challenge you to a duel Ren!"


    "If that''s all you wanted, you should''ve said that in the beginning, instead, you kept on pouting and barking like the weakling you are."


    "Sure, say whatever you want, but in this duel, you and I will fight solely on technique alone, there will be no use of mana or any outside energy. We will be using our pure physical abilities. Obviously, the omnipotent, omniscient Ren wouldn''t back out from this kind of challenge, right?"


    "You can add even more rules if you want. You can say that I''m not allowed to use my right hand in this duel, that kind of handicap should be fair right? Heck if you want I will not even move from my spot."


    "I don''t need that kind of handicap! Bring out your sword and let''s begin!"


    Ren shrugged his shoulders as he pulled out a sword from his shadow. The sword he pulled out was a curved, slender, single-edged de with a circr or squared guard and long grip to amodate two hands. It was in a sheath,pared to Valdel''s Zweihander this sword looked like a twig.


    When Valdel saw the sword Ren wielded he grew even more furious. He already saw the weapon Ren used as he defeated that odd-looking monster from before. The weapon he used was a powerful looking broadsword that emitted a dominating presence.


    "Must you keep on looking down on me, Ren! Use that broadsword you have the one you used to defeat that monster and fight me! Or perhaps you''re doing all this just so that when you lose you can me the weapon."


    "Hearing you talk Val, I''m pretty sure now that you''re not the Valdel that I know. I would never me my weapon for losing. Also, me losing to you, in your condition, if I did it would be the greatest shame of my life. To lose to embarrassment such as you, a person whose beliefs can be swayed by some little outside influence, I would rather die."


    "Die then!" Valdel could no longer hold it in as he charged forward. Ren then took a stance that neither Lara nor Valdel have seen him use.


    Though he was being controlled at the time, and he only saw a bit of it, but Ren and his body remember a tiny bit of its movements. Ren held the sheath of his sword by the waist and didn''t unsheathe. Seeing him not draw his sword despite the fact that the fight had started simply infuriated the current Valdel even more.


    When Valdel got close enough, and as he was about to swing his sword downward he felt danger. Valdel quickly ced his sword to his right and all of sudden he felt a strong impact making him slide a few feet to the left. Valdel looked at Ren who still had his sword sheathed and was surprised. It was quick but for a brief moment, Valdel saw Ren returning the sword back to its scabbard. That would mean that Valdel wasn''t able to see the moment Ren drew the sword. This was a new technique, something he hasn''t seen Ren use before.


    Ren had used one of his past incarnation''s sword technique. ''Moon Edge Style, Cresent Moon.'' After sessfully pulling off the Cresent Moon, Ren looked a bit disappointed.


    ''Based on some of the bits I saw of Edge''s memory, that move was meant as a surprise attack that no one could see. The first move should be thest move, yet I failed. Either I suck at using this technique or Val is better than I expected.'' Ren shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the stunned Valdel.


    "So are we going to keep on going, or are you going to surrender now?"

 Chapter 381 - Calming Down

    <h4>Chapter 381 - Calming Down</h4>


    Valdel who was in a shocked state was woken up by Ren''s question. Valdel couldn''t help but feel even more irritated as he made a motion to pierce Ren''s abdomen. Ren easily diverted the attack and even had a chance counter but did not. This action only aggravated Valdel even more.


    Each of Valdel''s sword shes were easily deflected by Ren. After a few more swings, it was painfully obvious that Valdel was nowhere near Ren''s level of skill. Valdel hated to admit it but in the back of his head, he was also consenting that Ren was the superior swordsman. The moment he thought of that Valdel shook his head and intensified his attacks.


    ''It would seem that Valdel''s skills have degraded, I should probably retrain him. So for now I better finish this already.''


    Ren took some distance from Valdel and lightly tapped the hilt of the sword. He then evaded Valdel''s attacks, left, right, duck, then right, duck, left, it was easy to understand Valdel''s pattern, after evading for a few more times, Ren passed by Valdel.


    In that one second that Ren passed by without anyone seeing him draw his sword, Valdel''s armor and clothes have been torn asunder. That was the other technique he got from Edge, ''Moon Edge Style, Moonlit Dance.''


    "Give this guy a new set of armor and clothes," Ren spoke to one of the soldiers. The soldier in question looked at Henrietta seeing if he shouldply with the order. Henrietta smiled before nodding her head. Seeing Henrietta nodding her head, the soldier quickly went to the nearby barracks.


    As the soldier was dashing away, everyone was looking at the butt naked Valdel with some awkwardness. On the other hand, Ren was rather surprised that even after the battle Zwei and Nika remained in their weapon forms.


    "Hey, why don''t you two change into your human forms?" Ren asked but Zwei and Nika didn''t respond.


    It was not like they didn''t want to turn into their human forms tomunicate with Ren, but Valdel had ordered them using the contract to remain in their weapon forms until he said otherwise.


    "Hmm, you don''t want to change or you can''t change back? Also, that holy maiden, what was her name again, oh right, Natasha. What happened to her?¡­ Nothing, well I guess I can only ask this guy once he wakes up."


    "What are you nning to do Ren?" Lara asked with a bit of worry in her voice. Lara was able to calm herself down as she was watching the fight, and listening to what Valdel had to say. The things he was saying weren''t something the normal Valdel would say, in fact, most of what he said seems to be nothing more than a child crying to his parent wanting to be praised for his hard work.


    "If this guy still isn''t properly awaketer, I''ll beat him up again and again until he fully wakes up." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he answered.


    "You guys better get things in order and deal with the aftermath of the Primordial Demon''s attack. Also, you better not let anyone get close to the arena, I''ll be bringing Valdel there." Ren spoke while looking at Henrietta. Seeing that look on Ren''s face Henrietta sighed.


    "I really wanted to immediately head to myb and study these monsters you have given me, but I guess seeing as I''m the current head of this country, I will do my best to stabilize the situation."


    "That''s my girl, also you better send some people to see what''s happening in the other Kingdoms."


    "Very well."


    Seeing Ren giving Henrietta such orders made Lara feel a bit jealous, but for now, she set that aside as she was more worried about Valdel. Lara was rather surprised at herself. This was the first time that she was more concerned about Valdel than Ren.


    ''Hmph, I guess the delusional Valdel, wasn''t that delusional after all. When he snaps out of his berserker state I''m going to treat him better.''


    ¡­


    While waiting for the soldier toe back, Ren started talking to Tsukiko. "Hey Tsukiko, you better head back to the tree of life so that you can regrow that hand of yours."


    "¡­ There''s no need, how about we go together after your done with what you''re doing." Ren shook his head as he replied


    "I know what you''re thinking. Don''t worry I''ll head straight back to you. Also once you arrive in the eternal forest, there is someone there who would want to meet you."


    "Who?"


    "That''s a surprise." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he replied with a mischievous smile on his face. Seeing him act like that made Tsukiko giggle.


    "Even though the core of your personality remained the same, there are many things that have changed. Seeing you act like this, makes me truly feel that time has truly passed."


    "No matter how strong one is, no matter how great his beliefs, time can change all."


    "The battle junkie actually sounded a bit philosophical for a second. It truly has been a very long time."


    "Let''s have a long talkter, I will meet you under your favorite tree." When Tsukiko heard what Ren said she had her eyes wide open, then she smiled.


    "I see, so that person has awakened as well. Then I better not keep her waiting like how you made her wait."


    "See youter, Tsukiko." The Golden-Haired Tsukiko smiled ever so sweetly at Ren, and without anyone noticing went close and kissed him on the lips. Ren could smell a pleasant scenting from Tsukiko as she kissed him, and her lips taste like sweet strawberries. Tsukiko then parted lips with Ren and activated a teleportation spell. As she was about to teleport she whispered in Ren''s ear.


    "You better not keep me waiting for long. I''ve already waited for thousands of years, if youe to mete again, I''ll y a trick on you." After saying those words Tsukiko disappeared.


    ¡­


    A few more minutes went by before the soldier returned with a set of armor and clothes. Once the soldier was done dressing Valdel up, Ren picked up the unconscious Valdel and headed towards the arena.


    As he was walking, Ren stopped and spoke to the two following him. "Afeus, Lara, you two shouldn''t follow me. You two better head back and help Henrietta in calming the citizens down."


    "¡­ As you wish, master." Afeus hesitated for a bit before leaving. Now it was only Lara left that was standing behind Ren.


    "You too Lara."


    "¡­ Ren, were the three of us really friends?" Lara suddenly asked. Ren didn''t turn around and thought for a bit before answering.


    "If something happens to me will be worried about me?"


    "Of course," Lara answered without hesitation.


    "Despite knowing how strong I am?"


    "Yes."


    "Then how about Val will you worry about him too?"


    "Of course, I will." Once again Lara answered without hesitation.


    "Then if I ordered you to kill Val will you do it?" When Lara heard Ren''s question she was stunned and was unable to answer.


    "Lara, will you kill Val if I ordered you to do it?" Lara clenched her fist until it bled. She couldn''t answer the question.


    "That hesitation of yours is the answer."


    "I''m sorry Ren, even if it''s you, I don''t think I can do it." Lara lowered her head. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly felt Ren''s warm hand patting her head.


    "Nor do I want you to. I would never ask you to do such a thing. But now you should know, the answer to your own question." Lara lifted her face and saw a gentle smile on Ren''s face. "The three of us have always been friends."


    When Lara heard what Ren said she could no longer hold it in and started tearing up. The one called the silent death, the iron maiden, and the stoic princess, was showing an expression that no one who knew her would expect to see.


    Ren who was holding Valdel on his right shoulder came closer to Lara and hugged her. He continued to do so until Lara was able to calm down. Once she was done crying Lara parted ways with Ren and wiped her own tears away.


    "Ren, can our Vale back?"


    "Leave it to me, I''ll bring him back no matter what." Hearing Ren''s usual confident answer made Lara smile from the bottom of her heart as she nodded her head.


    "Yeah, of course, if it is Ren you can do everything. This is not were our adventures as friends end. I''m sure big sis Lisa, would not want to see Val like this. So for her sake as well, he bettere back." After saying her piece Lara left. Ren then proceeded to head towards the arena. Once he was there he spoke to the person he was carrying.


    "You''ve been awake this whole while, right, Val?" Ren tossed Valdel''s body forward. Valdel quickly extended his free hand to the ground and pushed himself upward so that he cannd on his legs.


    "So you heard what Lara said, are you awake now, or do you still need me to wake you up?"


    Valdel simply red at Ren without saying anything¡­ Yet unlike before he was no longer emitting heavy bloodlust.

 Chapter 382 - True Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 382 - True Feelings</h4>


    Valdel continued to re at Ren without saying a single word. He was fighting the urge to rush at Ren and strike him down. He felt confused and irritated as he was unable to control himself.


    What''s more deep inside of him, the words Lara said resonated in his very soul. He knew that the way he was acting right now wasn''t right, but the emotions he was feeling the hatred that was crawling in his very being wasn''t going away.


    Now not only was Valdel angry but he was feeling ashamed for the things he said and done. Most of what he said were just twisted versions of what he has hidden deep within himself, while some were truly what he felt at the moment. He was having too many conflicting feelings at the moment and was unable to cope with it.


    ¡­


    Seeing Valdel not moving and simply ring at him, Ren came closer to Valdel and sat down a few feet away from him. Ren then ced his sheathed sword right beside him and wasn''t even holding it. The sword was a foot away from his hand. Just one step and Valdel could cut him down, showing this type of opening was both a provocation and a test.


    Ren even closed his eyes and rxed his body as if he was going to meditate. He was full of openings at this very moment. Even though this was the perfect opportunity to attack, Valdel couldn''t. His mind and body were telling him to attack, but his heart was saying otherwise. Even now what Lara said echoed in his ears.


    So in the end, Valdel simply continued to look at Ren with that angry re on his face. After a few more minutes of doing nothing, but stare at each other Valdel finally moved and ced his sword and dagger on the floor, Valdel then sat down.


    Seeing the way he reacted made Ren smile. If Valdel were to attack him Ren would''ve cut him down not killing him but severely injuring him. It was a good thing Valdel did what he did, since if he attacked Ren would need to fix him up again and then wait for him to wake up and repeat this whole thing. Now that they had their weapons down they can finally talk.


    "So the effects of Nyarlom''s influence is finally dying down. Still, no matter what he did I''m sure that his malice wouldn''t make you react that way if there was not some truth in it. I can''t believe I''m about to say something like this but, how about instead of using our des to talk, let''s actually talk with words. Tell me, Val, how do you truly feel about me?"


    Valdel looked at Ren without saying a word. The two of them were quiet for some time until finally, Valdel decided to respond.


    "Ren, I love you, I hate you, I respect you, I envy you, I''m irritated by you, I want to win against you, and there are too many other things, but those are the main things that I feel about you. To me, these feelings are what drives me forward. I love you and hate you as my friend, I deeply respect you as my mentor, I envy your strength that could win against any adversity, but at the same time, I''m irritated by that same strength that makes me feel weak. Your strength makes me feel inadequate, it makes me feel like everything I do is wrong."


    Valdel stopped talking for a moment and looked Ren in the eye. He looked for just a moment before sighing.


    "It also irritates me that you have the strength but you don''t do anything about it. All you want is to fight opponent after opponent, all you seek is battle. The only thing your strength aplishes is to crush those around you. Though on asion you do save people and in those times they were nothing but a side note to you. I always thought that if only I had your strength, then I will be able to save everyone, that I would be able to make everyone around me happy. This is why I want to win against you, I want to prove that I can surpass you and achieve my goals, my dreams. This is what I truly feel, Ren."


    Ren''s lips curled upward as he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Ren opened his eyes and responded to Valdel.


    "I see¡­ Seeing as we are friends, and you did tell me how you feel about me, then I shall do the same. Val, more than anything I feel pity for you. To me, your ideal to save everyone and make everyone around you happy is a joke."


    Despite hearing such a thing from Ren, Valdel was surprisingly calm as he continued to listen to what Ren had to say.


    "No matter how powerful, you cannot save everyone, there will always be somebody out there that cannot be saved. To make everyone happy is impossible, to make someone happy means you must take that happiness from another. It''s an equivalent exchange, to give you must take or are you telling me that you will sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of others?"


    "If it means that I can save one more person that I can make one more person happy, then I shall sacrifice everything I have."


    "Now this is what I hate about you Val, your naivete. Do you think those around you will be happy if you sacrifice what you have for their sake?"


    "¡­"


    "You can''t answer, can you?¡­ Well, I also hate that you keep on whining about how weak you are, about how strong I am. You keep on pushing your own ideals onto me, and you tell me that I control you. Isn''t it the other way around, haven''t I been mostly going around saving your sorry a*s from the problems that you create."


    "¡­"


    "Also let me tell you another thing Val, if you continue on this path of yours, you will change from a hero to a viin."


    "THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!" Valdel suddenly shouted at Ren. "No matter what I only wanted to save those that I can save. How is that the path leading me to be a viin?"


    "Weren''t you trying to kill me a while ago, because you think that I was in the way of your so called righteous path? Also, are you thinking that being a hero is a force of good while being the viin is to be bad?"


    "Isn''t a hero one that saves others good, and the viin the one that does evil?"


    "So that''s what you think?¡­ Val not everything is ck and white. You see a hero and a viin are two sides of the same coin. Viins aren''t necessarily evil, most of them think what they''re doing is just. A hero to someone can be the viin of another, and vice versa the viin to someone else can be the hero of another. It all depends on a single action that can change where the coin is facing. Just a single misstep and you will fall. What I''m trying to say is, that if you continue to be inflexible in your thinking you will eventually break."


    "Then how about you Ren, are you a viin or a hero?"


    "Haven''t you been listening to what I have just said?"


    "I have, which is why I''m asking you this¡­ I''m not asking if you''re good or bad, I''m asking you that in your eyes, what do you see in yourself, are you the viin or the hero?" Valdel once again asked while looking at Ren directly at his eyes. It was like Valdel was trying to peer into his very soul. Just that thought made Ren smile a bit. If Valdel could truly see through his soul, then Ren wondered what he would think of his past incarnations. Ren shook his head to expel the thought before answering.


    "I''m neither the hero nor the viin since unlike you who tries to be the hero all the time, I can be both and at the same time nothing. If I want to save someone I save them, if I don''t like someone I kill them. To me it''s that simple, I only follow my own path."


    "Is that so?¡­"


    "Yeah, it seems like we have said what we wanted to say or is there something you want to add?"


    "Ren, am I truly your friend? Tell me the truth, do you truly consider me as your friend."


    When Ren heard Valdel''s sudden question he was stunned for a moment before he started tough. "Even after hearing all that we said to each other, and you still ask that question?"


    "Yeah, I need to hear it from your own mouth," Valdel answered with a serious look on his face. Seeing him act like that Ren stoppedughing.


    "Yeah, we''re friends Val."


    "Then as your friend, tell me the truth Ren, what''s your connection to Demon lord Kretos?"

 Chapter 383 - A Story

    <h4>Chapter 383 - A Story</h4>


    Ren was stunned by Valdel''s question he wasn''t expecting Valdel of all people to ask such a question. He was speechless, he didn''t know what to say at the moment. Ren''s mind started working overtime as he tried to figure out what to say next. All of this was happening in a fraction of a second and when one second came Ren finally thought of something to say.


    "Why are you asking such a weird question?"


    "Ren, you might think I''m naive, but that doesn''t mean I''m stupid. When I first heard the story of the Demon Lord Kretos from Rachel and Natasha, I found that the bits of how they exined, Demon Lord Kretos who could''ve been a saint or a sinner, was rather intriguing, it actually reminded me of you. So that''s when I got a bit interested to learn more about this secret past that no one knows of."


    "So when I was in the temple of the Goddess of Justice, I started reading their records. Since I was your friend the Goddess herself had allowed me ess to records that not even the holy maiden can ess and only the head priest has ess to. I was able to read a lot of things. Also isn''t it weird that the Goddess of Justice respects you so much? Even though you have always seemed to despise all deities¡­ Well, that is just a side observation that I made so now back to what I read."


    "The secret war that no one remembers was a time when the human race had provoked the demon race over and over again, until finally the strongest demon lord of the time, the one who ruled over all the demons started fighting back. On this record another demon lord was mentioned aside from Kretos, it''s Demonic Fox Tsukiko. Isn''t that the new woman that acts as if she has known you for ages? She even introduced herself as she fought Nyarlom, she said verbatim she was the Demonic Fox Tsukiko."


    "¡­" Ren couldn''t say anything and waited for Valdel to finish what he wanted to say. Still, he was rather impressed by how much information Valdel was able to gather.


    "The only difference of this Tsukiko from the Tsukiko on the records is that this one has eight tails instead of seven. Well, I guess if you have lived for more than ten thousand years, then you would probably grow another tail or two."


    "Aside from her weird rtionship with you, there''s also the fact that the personality of Demon Lord Kretos matches yours perfectly. Well, there are a few minor differences but overall it would seem like you two would be a perfect match."


    "Demon Lord Kretos was not an evil entity but he was not a saint either. He saved those he wished to save and killed those that oppose him. Isn''t that the same as what you said a while ago?¡­ When my thoughts got this far, I had a sudden wild conclusion, Ren my childhood friend, my rival, and one of my final goals used to be the Demon Lord Kretos."


    When Ren heard what Valdel said he continued to be surprised, the more Valdel said the more surprised Ren became. It would seem that he truly underestimated Valdel''s abilities. As Ren was still in a state of stunned silence, Valdel continued on with what he was saying.


    "I didn''t just have this thought now, I had it while I was reading the various records in the Temple''s library. Yet at that time I had that thought I almost dismissed the ridiculous idea. That was when I read the most guarded secret of the Temple of the Goddess of Justice."


    Valdel paused for a moment to calm himself down as he was getting too excited while he was exining. After a few deep breaths, Valdel continued what he was saying.


    "It turns out the current Gods and Goddesses worshiped by the temples most of them used to be humans. They had gained the titles of deities as they had satisfied one of the three conditions. One, when the former owner of the title willingly passes it down to his or her sessor. Second, when a person actually defeats a deity and takes the title by force. Third, and the hardest one is when one human is deified by the people. If a person is worshipped by a ton of people from their hearts, that person will ascend and turn into a deity."


    "The current Goddess of Justice, Tiditte was a former human that defeated the former God of Justice and took his title for herself. She did all this so that she can once again meet her beloved father."


    "There was a very detailed record of that father of hers but the name was obscured so I don''t know it. That father of hers was a very legendary figure. He was summoned from another world to help the humans of that time. The humans of that time were in a crisis, as they were facing off against an evil God that wanted to enve them all. On his journey to defeat the evil God, this heroic human had defeated monster after monster, Demi-Gods, and other powerful opponents, yet no matter how powerful an enemy he faced he always had a smile on his face. Doesn''t that person sound familiar?"


    Ren was still impressed with how much Valdel was putting things together, but now more than that, he was also impressed that Valdel was able to remember all of these details from a record he only read once.


    "Well, it was written on the records that vicious smile on his face was fearsome it was as if he was trying to devour his enemies. That smile of his became a trauma for those that stood before him. Those that were lucky enough to survive a battle with this legendary figure were all extremely afraid of him. During this journey, he had met many people and saved many more, and then he met Tidditte an orphan child. Her parents had died at the hands of the evil God''s minions. Feeling sorry for her plight and seeing her potential the legendary figure adopted her."


    "After adopting Tiditte her foster father trained her. She alongside the legendary figure fought side by side until the moment of the final battle. Her foster father left her and hispanions and headed to battle on his own. The battle was won, but at a price, the legendary figure died alongside the evil God. It was said that he died with a satisfied expression on his face."


    "So why are you telling me this story?" Ren finally spoke. He could already guess why Valdel was doing all this, but he had nothing else to say at the moment.


    "It''s just something I wanted to share, and also it''s part of what I''m about to say next. If her father died then why is the Goddess of Justice trying to go beyond her human life span to once again meet her father? This is where it gets interesting."


    "After her father''s death, Tidditte didn''t want to admit that her overly powerful father could die in battle. He who had always smiled in the face of overwhelming odds would never fall on the battlefield. So Tidditte went to find the other Gods to see if there was a way to get her father back."


    "The first God she went to was of course the one who governs death, the God of Death. She demanded the God of Death to release her father''s soul, but the God of Death''s answer was unexpected. The God of Death told her that her father''s soul wasn''t with him, he told her that he wasn''t there. When Tidditte heard what the God of Death said the first thing that came to her mind was that her father faked his death somehow, but the God of Death denied this assumption. He then told her that her father''s soul wasn''t part of the normal cycle of death and reincarnation. His soul wasn''t cleansed to be brought out anew, it was undergoing a different type of reincarnation that wasn''t part of the workings of this world."


    "When Tidditte heard this she remembered, that her father was not part of their world and was summoned from another. Yet the God of Death once again told her an unexpected answer. Her father wasn''t part of any of the reincarnation cycles of any world, he was a special being. That was when he said that her father was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul."


    "The Strongest Mortal Soul was someone who possesses the soul of the first and greatest hero of humanity. The one who broke free from the shackles of the creator himself. His original incarnation was the strongest being that no one but the creator could defeat. After exining that the God of Death gave her hope, he told her that her father would reincarnate in the future, and since his reincarnation cycle was different and he wasn''t cleansed, his memories of his past lives should be stored somewhere in his soul. That was when Tidditte tried to find a way to extend her life to once again meet her beloved father."


    "You know the rest she fought the weakest deity at the time which was the God of Justice. Well, overall what I wanted to tell you with this story is about the strongest mortal soul¡­ The one who can defy destiny itself. So now that you know how much I know, I will ask you again Ren, what''s your connection to Demon lord Kretos?"

 Chapter 384 - The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 384 - The Truth</h4>


    When Ren heard Valdel asked him the same question, the implications of the question had changed. If it was before Valdel simply sounded like he had a hunch, but now after exining all that it was obvious that he pretty much knows the whole truth.


    If he simply said that he thinks Ren was a descendant of Demon Lord Kretos, then Ren would''ve gone with that. Yet now he actually knew about the term the strongest mortal soul. That was something that not even some deities know of.


    Ren looked into Valdel''s eyes, it would seem that only a little bit of malice remained. Ren''s answer would now determine what would happen to Valdel. If he lied at this point Valdel would hide his emotions deep inside and might be the same as the old Shadow n that Ren was a part of when he was still Kretos.


    Ren was certain that if he lied at this point Valdel would change and be consumed by the Primordial Demon''s malice.


    ''Still telling the truth might shatter his perception of me, and he would see me in a different light which might make it difficult to predict what he would do next. Well, even if he did something out of the norm I can still deal with it as it happens. Also as long as he doesn''t tell my mom who might break if she learned the truth, I guess telling him won''t be a problem. Still, I should test the waters first.''


    "Val why does it matter if you know the truth or not?"


    "I want to be your true friend, someone who can stand by your side as an equal. So for that to happen I first need to start with our secrets, I want us to be open with each other. If you tell me your secret then I will tell you mine."


    "¡­ Why should I tell mine first, shouldn''t you be the one to tell me your secret first since you''re the one who offered?"


    "Yeah, I guess you''re right. Fine then I''ll tell you a secret of mine, but first I want to show you something." Valdel stood up and spoke to Zwei and Nika via their mental link.


    ''Zwei, Nika you two can turn into your human forms now. I want you two to head back to the inn. This next part should only be heard by me and Ren.''


    Zwei who could finally feel that Valdel was going back to his normal state felt relieved. She and Nika quickly turned into their human forms. Zwei bowed her head to Ren and Nika followed after. Once the two of them were done doing that they left.


    ¡­


    Zwei was listening to the entire conversation and now that she knows Ren was the incarnation of the strongest mortal soul, she finally saw Ren in a different light. At first, she always saw Ren as a bad influence on Valdel, but now she knew that he was the strongest mortal soul it changed everything.


    Those that were powerful enough would learn sooner orter about the strongest mortal soul, the one who defied the creator himself. He was one who fought for the destiny of mortal beings, which includes humans, those created by humans, or those that evolved away from humanity. He wanted everyone to break free from the shackles of destiny as he did. He wanted them to live the way they wanted to and not be guided by the invisible hand of destiny. Now that she knew the truth about Ren, Zwei felt ashamed of herself and the way she acted around him.


    ''Next time I better apologize properly.''


    ¡­


    When Valdel sensed that Zwei and Nika were no longer near the arena, he took a stance. It was a very familiar stance as this was the same stance Lara took before she unleashed her most powerful move.


    When Ren saw the stance Valdel took he was astonished, he only taught this move to Lara and no one else. The only person who has seen this technique and was able to copy it at a nce was Ren. Even though Valdel was pretty good, Ren was sure that he wasn''t at that level yet. Still, there was no denying what he was seeing right now.


    Unlike Lara''s imperfect stance, Valdel''s stance was vastly different, his stance was the definition of perfection. Not only was his breathing in sync with the flow of his mana but it felt like everything around him was breathing the same breath as him. The mana started flowing through Valdel''s fist perfectly, it was not much, since Valdel''s mana supply was near empty but even so it was an amazing sight for Ren.


    Even Ren who was the one who got this technique from Kir wasn''t as good at using this technique as Valdel, it was as if he was Kir himself.


    "This was the thing I wanted you to see." Valdel stopped his mana from gathering into his fist and withheld the technique. He looked at Ren and spoke in a very solemn tone.


    "The real reason I started getting interested in Demon Lord Kretos when I first heard his name was because ever since I was a child I would sometimes hear his name in my dreams. Now ever since Natasha and Rachel spoke his name, I''ve been having more frequent dreams about him." As Valdel''s was talking his eyes seem to be looking somewhere distant.


    "In those dreams, I was fighting Kretos with my fist. It was as if I was Kir himself as I felt his emotions during that time. I felt happy that someone came to relieve my boredom alongside my responsibility. In the end, when Kretos killed Kir, there was one wish Kir had at the bottom of his heart, that if there was ever a chance that he could reincarnate in the same world as Kretos, then in his next life, he wanted to do good, and be friends with Kretos. He wanted to have wonderful adventures alongside Kretos."


    As Valdel said those words he looked at Ren and smiled gently. It was like Valdel turned into a different person entirely.


    "For the past few days, the dreams got even more vivid. When I was corrupted by Nyarlom''s malice, my emotions went all over the ce, but something hidden deep within me was taken out. As we fought the memory of Kir''s fight against Kretos briefly came to my mind. When I woke up and as I told you my story the memory of another life was getting clearer and clearer. For the longest time now there was like another person inside of me. He was different but the same, I always thought he would go away, but now he''s out in the open. So Ren are you willing to tell me your secret?"


    As Ren listened to everything Valdel said he was once again stunned into silence. The technique, the story, everything was pointing to one thing, Kir was Valdel, but that was impossible. Unlike Ren''s soul who was using a different way to reincarnate, Kir was ced in the normal cycle of reincarnation. Where one''s soul will be cleansed so it can be once again be brought forth onto the world. Seeing Ren being unable to say anything, Valdel shrugged his shoulders and sighed.


    "Seeing you hesitate so much, makes me feel like your a different person from the one I know. But of course, talking with words was never your strong suit, so how about we talk with our fists instead?"


    Valdel took a fighting stance and waited for Ren to do the same. Seeing what Valdel was doing, Ren couldn''t help but shake his head and smile. Ren then took a fighting stance as well, the moment Valdel saw this he charged forward and kicked aiming at Ren''s neck.


    Ren blocked the kick with his left forearm and was about to grab Valdel''s leg, but before he could do so Valdel had kicked the ground and spun. Valdel''s foot was nearing Ren''s face but before it could reach Ren ducked.


    Ren was about to counter using an uppercut but then Valdel used a beam of manaing out of his leg to force it downward meeting Ren''s fist midway. The two hit each other and were blown a few feet away from each other.


    The two then looked at each other and smiled. They then dashed forward to meet each other''s fist against fist, leg against leg. This movement, this fighting style, was something Ren would never forget. It was a very nostalgic fighting style, of an old man who wanted to have his end at the hands of one more powerful than he. It was the fighting style of an old man who sat at the top waiting for another.


    ¡­


    Ren and Valdel continued to punch at each other using the bare minimum amount of mana. After a while, the two stopped and the malice that Nyarlom spread in Valdel''s heart was no longer there.


    "I''m already sure of the answer now, but I still want to hear it from your mouth." Valdel was panting as he spoke. Ren who was sweating a bit chuckled as he gave his answer.


    "It would seem that we did get to meet in the next life, and we even became friends. As for the grand battle I promised you, we better do that next time¡­ So to answer an already obvious question, yeah I was once Demon Lord Kretos¡­ It has been a long time Mighty Lord Kir."

 Chapter 385 - Childhood Friends

    <h4>Chapter 385 - Childhood Friends</h4>


    Valdel felt relieved when he heard Ren''s answer. The truth was he wasn''t truly sure that Ren was Kretos, but now that Ren admitted it, all the worries he had disappeared.


    "Don''t call me that, like you said to Tsukiko, Kir has died long ago there is only Valdel left."


    "I see¡­ Still, it''s rather surprising that you have the memories of the old man and act the way you do."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Nothing, it''s just that you''re a bit different from the old man in my memories."


    "Well, you know you only knew the past me for just that one battle, before Kir became a demon lord, he cared about the people and fought for his kin."


    "Oh, well, okay. It''s not like I''m saying you didn''t care, I was thinking of something else, but sure it''s not as surprising as I thought."


    "What does that mean? What are you implying here, Ren?"


    "Nothing much, it''s just that the Mighty Lord Kir that I knew was someone who felt like a kindred spirit. Someone you know was like me, I didn''t peg you for someone that has such cute ideals."


    "Cute? I only had dreams about Kir when I was five years old, and unlike your memories which seem to have been there from the start, I only regained bits and pieces every now and then. It''s only now that I have full ess to the memories. Also, I''m pretty sure I''m doing some of this because I felt a bit of gratitude to fate or whoever gave me this chance. I promised at the end of myst life to be a good person and to be friends with you in the next life, so I think I''m doing pretty good."


    "So being naive makes you a good person?"


    "¡­ Alright, I guess we''re doing it that way." Valdel nodded his head as he looked at Ren with a tiny bit of hostility. "Well, alright I can admit that I''m naive, but at least I''m trying to grow, to change. Unlike someone here who hasn''t change for thousands of years. Oh, wait, if I remember correctly most of the incarnations of the strongest mortal soul have the same mindset and personalities. In fact, based on what the God of Death said in the records, you have ess to thousands of incarnations and still, you guys remain the same."


    Hearing what Valdel said Ren shrugged his shoulders as he responded.


    "What''s there to change? Since the beginning, I have always seen the world as it is. I don''t dress it up to make it look pleasing to my eyes."


    "I see¡­ Should you really talk to me like that? In this era and even in the past era, I have always been the older person between us. Shouldn''t you respect your elders a tiny bit more?"


    "Hey I might have called you old man in your past life, but if we''re adding past lives and memories of them, then I pretty much have eons. So technically I''m the elder here."


    "It seems like you think you can walk all over me just because I let you win every now and then."


    "It''s not every now and then, literally since your past life I have always been the winner of all our bouts with each other."


    "That''s just because I felt like losing. Also in my past life, Kir just wanted to lose and die so unconsciously he held back as he fought."


    "Is that so? Well, that''s not how I remember it. In my memory, there was this old man trying his hardest to win since he was a sore loser, but no matter what he did he still lost."


    "I guess you wouldn''t stop making up this sh*t if I don''t beat you down a peg or two." Valdel once again took a fighting stance.


    "Is that so, well this time I guess since you im to be so much older I should probably give you a handicap. This time I won''t use any mana at all." Ren smiled as he also took a fighting stance. He wasn''t going to use mana but Spirit Aura.


    No words were said as the two stared down at each other. Their fighting spirit was zing with passion and in a blink of an eye, they had already exchanged a few punches.


    ¡­


    It has been two days since Ren went to talk to Valdel, the people of the Serbek Kingdom were still in the process of getting back on their feet. Still, no matter how hard they fell with the help of Henrietta and the other remaining High ranked mages, they were able to somehow pull through.


    Also even though they were curious no one went to peek at what was happening in the arena. Even Now they could hear the sounds of Valdel and Ren shing with each other. After a few hours, the sound would die down but in a couple of minutes, the two would once again start their fight.


    Many people wanted to watch the fight that couldst for two days straight with only a few minutes interval for rest. Yet they couldn''t get near in fear of what Ren would do to them. Just remembering how easily he ughtered the Primordial Demon, Nyarlom was enough to frighten almost everyone.


    ¡­


    Lara was waiting just outside of the arena and hasn''t moved at all from the time she left Ren to deal with Valdel. She like everyone else was truly curious as to what was happening in the arena, but she didn''t want to disturb Ren while he tries to calm Valdel down.


    ''It has been two days now, but it doesn''t seem like the fighting is dying down. Should I go check on them?¡­ But if I do that Ren might think I don''t trust him that he can deal with this, but if I don''t go then this might continue on for a very long time, and one of them might identally kill the other¡­ No, yeah, there''s no need to hesitate I need to be there for both of them. It''s not like I will interfere I just want to see what they''re doing. In fact, I''ll just hide my presence so they won''t sense me, and I''ll just watch at the side.''


    After she was done deciding what to do next, Lara blended in with the darkness and headed to the seating area of the arena. Once she was there the first thing she saw were her two childhood friends fighting with their fists. Though she was rather surprised to see Valdel fighting using his fists and using the techniques Ren taught her, she was even more surprised to see the expression on their faces.


    The two of them were exchanging blow after blow. Unlike what Lara imagined they weren''t tearing each other apart out of anger, no they were actually smiling. Their attacks were precise and powerful but there was no malice nor an intent to kill.


    Seeing them act like this as she watched at the side made Lara remember the time when they were kids when everything was just them ying and nothing wasplicated. Just wake up and practice, have a little bit of fun, and roam around the nearby forest like it was a brand new adventure every day.


    "Is that all you''ve got, heh, I could fight you with one hand behind my back," Valdel shouted at Ren as he did a roundhouse kick. Ren matched the attack with his own roundhouse kick.


    "Have you seen a mirror, you''re already ck and blue with bruises while I''m still bruised free," Ren responded as the two continued to counter and evade each other''s attacks.


    Lara was smiling at the seating area. It truly felt like she had returned to the past when everything was perfect. Ren only had her, and her sister was still alive watching the two boys spar with each other. Lara who was smiling also started to tear up as she remembered her sister. For some reason, as she was watching Ren and Valdel spar, she felt like she could see her sister sitting beside her. Lisa was just there dreamingly looking at Valdel.


    It felt like if Lara just extended her hand she could touch Lisa, but she knew that this was nothing but a specter of her mind. Still, Lara looked at the fake Lisa and spoke to her.


    "I miss you, big sis¡­ If it was possible I would have wanted to go back to the time we left the vige. Even if everyone else didn''t support it, I would''ve forced you toe with us. If only I did that, if only I stopped only thinking about myself, you would have been here with me¡­ I''m sorry big sis. It''s all my fault, I could''ve done something but I didn''t, I only thought about following Ren and nothing more. I''m sorry big sis, I''m sorry I was a bad little sister."


    "You know Lisa would never me you for what happened." Lara was surprised to see that both Ren and Valdel were now sitting behind her. She was so distracted by the specter sitting beside her that she didn''t notice them. She quickly wiped away her tears and her expression went back to being stoic.


    "You know it''s alright to cry. It''s no problem showing your weakness to us. We are your friends, right?" Valdel spoke with a gentle smile on his face. Without waiting for an answer both Ren and Valdel hugged Lara.


    Feeling the warmth of her two childhood friends, made Lara feel rxed¡­ The three of them said no words and simply continued to hug each other as the sun was slowly setting.

 Chapter 386 - Primordial Demons

    <h4>Chapter 386 - Primordial Demons</h4>


    During the time Nyarlom was fighting Tsukiko, in the cave where Leonard Tranor had sealed the Primordial Demons, Shin who was also known to Ren as the fourth hero was out of breath. For the past three days, he has fought the escaping Primordial Demons from the hole on the seal. It has been thousands of years since theirst attempt to escape, but unlike that time the current Primordial Demons were growing more powerful by the second. Not only that, but the hole on the seal was growing.


    Some of the Primordial Demons were actually able to get past Shin. He had tried his best and had killed a few dozens of Primordial Demons, but their numbers were just increasing instead of decreasing.


    Even though the current Primordial Demons were not at full power, they were still a major threat to the current humans. Letting even a few of them out was already quite bad.


    Shin did a quick check on his body. His left forearm had a deep cut, but he was still able to move his hand. His right hand lost its ring finger which made it difficult to hold his weapon properly. His legs were full of cuts, and he had multiple stab wounds near his chest. His draconic wings were nearly torn apart.


    ''I can still move for a bit, but my mana supply is nearing empty. I can probablyst for only a day or two.''


    While he was thinking of what to do next the Primordial Demons didn''t allow him to rest for a single second as they intensified their attacks. Shin roared a dragon''s roar which momentarily stunned the Primordial Demons. He then quickly gathered thest remaining bits of his mana for an all-out attack.


    The cave where the Primordial Demons were sealed was destroyed.


    ¡­


    At the same time in the Reschbeauch Kingdom, Silika and the others were facing a Primordial Demon who came in to spread chaos.


    "You weak beings dare to fight me, howughable." The Primordial Demonughed as he swung his arm which was about to hit the nearby knights. As they were about to get hit Iselv came in to stand before them and received the attack.


    Iselv gritted his teeth as he tried to push the arm away, but then the Primordial Demon had a burst in power blowing away Iselv instead.


    "YOUR MAJESTY!" The Knights shouted as they started running towards Iselv.


    "Come on feel me up with your fear, your malice! HAHAHA!" The Primordial Demonughed while looking intoxicated. It was at that moment when his guard was down, Hilda got behind him, and Ashley was about to attack from above.


    The twodies coordinated their attack in perfect synchronization with each other. The Primordial Demon was caught by surprise with the attack the two made. He quickly tried to block the attacks but for the first time since the fight began the Primordial Demon was injured. It was a small cut but it was an injury nheless.


    Seeing that they were able to injure the Primordial Demon, Hilda and Ashley felt their morale rising. As they were about to start another wave of attacks, the Primordial Demon smiled at them. The Primordial Demon lifted the arm that was injured and showed it to everyone present. The wound started to heal and after a second the Primordial Demon''s arm looked good as new.


    When the knights saw what happened, an overwhelming sense of despair came over them. This monster was already ridiculously strong, but now they know that they couldn''t even hurt it. It was at that point a lot of them had the same thought, ''We can''t win.''


    Even Hilda, Ashley, and Kithra who were among the strongest of those present was feeling a bit of hopelessness was filling their hearts.


    "What sweet despair, scrumptious misery, and delectable fear. Now, do you understand, you weaklings? You people are nothing more than toys in my eyes. Let''s see how else can I torment you?"


    The Primordial Demon looked at the frightened faces of the people around him with delight. Seeing the faces of the knights who blocked his path so courageously at the beginning, were now cowering in fear made him feel great pleasure. It was at that moment he noticed one of the people at a distance who wasn''t looking at him in fear.


    That person wasn''t scared in fact she wasn''t even looking at him, she was actually ignoring him. The Primordial Demon approached thedy that was deep in thought and attacked. He was simply going to scare her by attacking the side of her face, but as his hand passed by, thedy didn''t even move an inch. She continued to look like she was contemting something,pletely ignoring the Primordial Demon. Seeing her reaction or theck of, infuriated the Primordial Demon.


    "You dare ignore me?! I was going to spare you all, after having a little bit of fun, but now I decided that I will annihte this whole kingdom, starting with you!"


    The Primordial Demon released his full aura of Malice and attacked thedy standing in front of him. His fist struck something but it wasn''t thedy''s head, instead, it was an invisible wall that blocked his fist. It was then thedy finally took notice of the Primordial Demon and looked at him directly.


    When the Primordial Demon got a good look at thedy''s face he felt like he had seen her somewhere before, but that was impossible since thest time he was out in the world was before the reset, which was an eon ago.


    As the Primordial Demon was getting confused as to what was happening, thedy smiled at him. When he saw that smiling face the Primordial Demon felt a shiver down his spine, he then quickly backed away.


    ''What did I do, did I just back away from thisdy? What is this emotion I''m feeling?¡­ Is this fear?¡­ Am I a Primordial Demon one who lives from the fear of others, actually feeling fear myself?'' The Primordial Demon couldn''t understand what was happening to him, as thedy approached him.


    "I don''t know what''s happening to Ren, but to actually supply me with this much mana feels great."


    "Huh, what are you talking about, who the f*ck is Ren?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry did I say that out loud?"


    "I don''t care about that, tell me who the f*ck are you?!"


    "I apologize for not introducing myself to a guest," Silika curtsied. "I''m called Silika."


    When the Primordial Demon heard Silika''s name he started racking his brain to try and remember if he knew anyone who had that name. Yet no matter how hard he tried he couldn''t remember meeting anyone with such a name.


    ''If so, then why am I afraid?¡­'' As the Primordial Demon was trying to figure out who Silka was, Silika summoned her scythe.


    "I''m sorry dear guest, but you have overextended your wee so allow me to see you out." When the Primordial Demon heard what Silika said he snapped out of his thoughts and quickly went into his best defensive posture. He surrounded himself in a ball of malice and tightened his defenses. Yet despite what he did the scythe was able to cut through and it almost cut him half.


    Arge cut was made on his chest, he tried to close the wound, but he couldn''t. He was sure that he wasn''t exhausted enough for him to be unable to regenerate, and there was a surplus of malice going around that he should easily be able to regenerate this kind of wound, but he couldn''t. That could only mean one thing, the weapon Silika was holding was a divine weapon.


    ''A divine weapon that is a scythe?¡­ It can''t be!''


    "That''s the Death Scythe!"


    "Oh, do you finally remember who I am?" Seeing the sweet smiling Silika holding the scythe, a memory shed in the Primordial Demon''s mind. Back then before he was sealed by Leonard Tranor wasn''t there someone else there with him.


    "It can''t be, you, you¡­ You''re Elizabeth Rogue, the strongest Goddess of Death!"


    "The former Goddess of Death, also I''m called Silika now, not Elizabeth Rogue."


    "That can''t be true, you and the others of that era faced against an envoy of the ORIGIN, not even Leonard Tranor could win against that. You should all be dead."


    "Have you forgotten what Leo was called back then? He was the one called the God of Victory. There was no way he would lose."


    The moment the Primordial Demon was sure that Silika was Elizabeth he tried to flee, but before he could do so the scythe had already sliced him in half. The Primordial Demon who was now in spirit form tried to flee, but even then he couldn''t escape from Silika''s grasp.


    "Fine it is your win this time, Elizabeth Rogue, but without Leonard Tranor you cannot hope to win against all of my brethren. Also with how weak you currently are, you would die once my brothers regain their full strength. This time, in this erea it is our win." The Primordial Demon cackled despite knowing his end was near. Silika smiled at the Primordial Demon''s bravado and whispered to him.


    "Before you go let me tell you a little secret, the strongest mortal soul lives in this era." When the Primordial Demon heard that he was stunned into silence.


    ''So even after waiting for eons, we will still suffer the same fate, no this time it might truly be the end.'' Those were thest thoughts of the Primordial Demon before Silika crushed his Spirit Form.


    After killing the Primordial Demon, Silika who was smiling moments ago frowned¡­ ''I might have said all that, but with how strong Ren currently is this Primordial Demon outbreak might be more difficult than expected.''

 Chapter 387 - Planning

    <h4>Chapter 387 - nning</h4>


    The Primordial Demons that escape the seal had gathered a few miles away from the cave from where they were sealed. The ce they chose was an open grasnd where a few powerful monsters resided, but being the so called father of monsters, the Primordial Demons weren''t bothered by them. In fact, they were able to control the monsters and make them part of their army.


    "It has been a long time since I''ve felt such intense malice in the air." One of the Primordial Demons spoke in excitement. He and the other Primordial Demons were taking in the malice surrounding them.


    "It would seem those five were able to seed in bringing about the start of chaos." The Primordial Demons could feel their strength finally returning to their peak states.


    "But can you guys smell it in the air? Unlike before the pungent smell of pure mana is stronger now, it all over the ce. Some of it is actually merging with our malice." Another chimed in while showing a sour face. He even looked like he was going to puke but did not.


    "Hmm, I guess the Tree of Life has grownrger in this era. Still, this malice that has a bit of mana in it is hard to absorb." The other Primordial Demons nodded their heads agreeing to what was said.


    "Well, it has been about two resets already since we were sealed. Of course, that wretched tree would grow, it''s the only living thing that could easily survive the reset. I guess if you think about it, being beaten and sealed by Leonard Tranor was good fortune for us. If we were here during the reset we would''ve died alongside all the others."


    When Leonard''s name was spoken the some of the Primordial Demons visibly shivered while the others had a look of anger.


    "Feel grateful for that b*stard who defeated us and sealed all of us! I would rather have died than do that."


    "Still you got to admit that guy was too powerful. He even created a seal that could hide us from the reset."


    "What do you expect wasn''t he the reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul?"


    "Now that you mention it there was a rumor at the time that he was indeed the reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Where those rumors actually real?"


    "If they weren''t how can you exin that guy''s existence. He was able to kill most of the War Gods of that era, he yed around with adult dragons as if they were toys, and he almost made our whole race go extinct. If he wasn''t the Strongest Mortal Soul, then who else could be?"


    "Let''s just stop talking about the guy. So what do we do now that we''re free?"


    "How about we do the same thing we did eons ago, go our separate ways, and spread as much chaos as possible."


    "Wasn''t that the reason for our downfall thest time?"


    "Don''t you sense it?"


    "Sense what?"


    "The aura of the other races, it would seem after two resets some of the old races have ceased to exist. The only ones capable of facing us in this era are the elves, the winged ones, the dragons, and the deities. Those elves after the first reset would never leave their territory. The winged ones don''t really care about what happens below those clouds of theirs. No matter the era the Dragons would never attack first if not provoked, and the Deities have too many restrictions. Isn''t this the Golden Era for oureback?" The Primordial Demon who spoke licked his lips as he got excited imagining the mayhem he would produce.


    "Wait what about the humans and the dwarves? Last time they were the main reason for our fall. Aside from Leonard Tranor, those pesky humans and dwarves dealt a huge blow on us."


    "Look around you, what do you guys see?"


    "Nothing special, just grass and monsters."


    "That''s what I mean, if this were back in our era, the sky would''ve been filled with floating warships of the humans. This grasnd would have had a stronghold of the dwarves, equipped with those irritating mana cannons of theirs. Yet from where we came from to our way here we saw nothing. It''s probably safe to assume that the humans and the dwarves of this era aren''t the same as before. Not to mention they don''t have their trump card the Strongest Mortal Soul at their side. If we y our cards right, we could be the rulers of this era."


    "Do you guys agree with what he said?"


    "It does sound exciting to be the rulers instead of simply being their nightmares. We should try doing it, be the rulers of this era."


    "Before we get to do that, we should gather information first. So let''s spread out and in five days let''s all meet back here to share the information we gathered."All of the Primordial Demons gathered nodded their heads and moved to different directions.


    ¡­


    After five days the Primordial Demons returned to the spot they agreed to. Upon arriving they waited for the others to arrive, yet once the day had ended the Primordial Demons were rather shocked by what they saw.


    "We''re missing eleven of us."


    "Could it be that they actually died?"


    "I don''t know but based on what I saw of the races in this era that seems unlikely."


    "Yeah, that''s what I think as well."


    "Alright, maybe they found something fun to do so they couldn''te back. So let''s just start without them."


    "I''ll go first, I found out that the current humans of this era are a joke. They''re extremely weak and they have no idea how to use mana like the old humans. Not only that their equipment is worthless. Not to mention having airships, but in this era, the humans still use horses as their source of transportation."


    "I also learned something about the humans. Unlike before when they stood united, but in this era, there are numerous human kingdoms that are at war with each other. We can easily take over and make them our ves."


    "It''s not only the humans but the dwarves of this era are also pathetic. Same as the humans the dwarves have broken out into different ns. They can still create rtively powerful weapons but they refuse to leave the mountains."


    "I found out that there is a new race in this era, called the warbeasts or beastmen. They seem to be artificial humans of sorts. I''m guessing in the past era humans created a hybrid with the mix of animal DNA and their own DNA. They are physically superior to humans but that''s all there is to them."


    "Heh, that''s nothingpared to what I discovered. In this era, there is a race called demons. Supposedly these demons are now just mismatches of the original ones that died in the past era. They are nothing like us and based on what I heard they are also nothing like their predecessors. These current demons abhor conflict, and unless it was ast resort they would never use violence. They are pretty strongpared to the current era humans, but since they don''t want to fight they''re worthless."


    The Primordial Demons continued to share the information they gathered. When they got near the end of their meeting they noticed something.


    "It would seem the rumors about the Temples of the Deities having chosen their respective heroes were true."


    "Who cares, if they have chosen heroes or not."


    "No we shouldn''t think that way, even though the current humans aren''t as strong as before, we must never underestimate their heroes. Those guys are the same ss of humans as the ones who protected the seal. If they even have half the power of the Draconic b*stard they will be a threat to us. We need to handle this properly."


    "Alright we''ll be careful, but what about the rumor of the human who is supposedly stronger than heroes?"


    "Oh right, the guy who even though he has a B rank in the adventurers guild is said to be stronger than all the S rank adventurersbined."


    "Don''t worry too much about that guy. Even if he does prove to be stronger than the heroes, he shouldn''t be that much stronger at most he should only be somewhat stronger."


    The strongest of the assembled Primordial Demons didn''t speak as everyone was sharing their thoughts, but once everyone seems to be done talking he spoke.


    "Even if it turns out that the heroes are weaker than we expected we shouldn''t let our guards down. So for now let''s separate into two groups. The first group should investigate the heroes of those Temples. The second group should investigate anything to do with the rumored strongest adventurer. We don''t need to rush things this time, we will slowly nt the seeds of Malice in everyone''s hearts. Once we''re strong enough we could finally destroy the tree of life."


    "Yeah, once that tree is gone, we can make all the other races into our ythings. Just imagining myself torturing an ancient dragon makes me tremble in excitement."


    "Without the tree, we could finally enter an era of eternal chaos!"

 Chapter 388 - Christmas Special Number 2

    <h4>Chapter 388 - Christmas Special Number 2</h4>


    Inside Ren''s soul realm the numerous incarnations were waiting for another visit from Santa us since it was already that time of year. Thest time he came all of the incarnations who were hailed as the strongest of their era were caught by surprise.


    So from then on, they gathered information about this so called Santa us from those incarnations that knew of the man. Basically what they gathered from the other incarnations was that Santa us was a type of sorcerer that has a list that designates who was naughty or nice. Supposedly this person called Santa rewards nice children with gifts and gives coal to naughty ones. When the incarnations that received coal learned of this they were quite upset.


    "The f*ck how am I a naughty child! I saved my whole country before dying for my people!"


    "That''s nothing, I saved the whole world from an invasion but I''m still considered naughty? How the heck does this guy, grade people?!"


    "I defended my entire universe from total destruction, how is that considered being naughty?!"


    Most of the incarnations were heroes and saviors so they couldn''t ept the idea that they were a naughty bunch. It especially aggravated them when they learned that some incarnations actually received gifts instead of coal.


    "We''re all the same being, so how are these guys nice while all of us are naughty?!"


    "Yeah, that''s right this Santa person must be crazy or something."


    "He might be senile I heard from another incarnation that he''s an old man with a beard that has existed for a very long time. Maybe he has lost it, so he can''t distinguish naughty from nice."


    "I see, that''s right we need to capture this guy so that we can see if he''s still right in the head."


    All of the incarnations which were on the naughty list which was basically seventy percent of them agreed to this n. So now that they decided to capture Santa us, they needed to convince the Original incarnation to help them.


    They needed the Original to stop Santa from escaping the soul realm. Only the original could do this, as he was the one who has full control of their soul realm. When the Original heard their pleas he agreed. Being the base of all of his reincarnations he knew what they were currently feeling. Still, unlike all the others Santa was unable to get to him, so he didn''t receive coal nor gifts.


    Once they got the Original''s cooperation they felt relieved. Now all they needed to do was wait. The moment Santa enters their soul realm they will all try to capture him.


    "Are we going to do this as a team or are we going to this individually?"


    "What a stupid question. Of course, we''re doing this individually."


    "Yeah, why are we going to do this as teams? Are you not confident in capturing an old sorcerer?"


    "That''s not what I meant, I was just worried some of you losers will be at a disadvantage if we do it individually."


    "Now you said it. I''m going to beat you down alongside this Santa person."


    The incarnations got rowdy as they taunted each other, but of course, none of them actually attacked.


    ¡­


    Noel who had received the greatest gift from Santast year wasn''t going to participate in this hunt for him. So he and the other incarnations that received gifts decided to watch the show from a distance.


    ¡­


    When the time finally came, it was like time stopped. Some of the weaker incarnations were unable to resist the unknown spell and had their individual time stop. Those that were prepared for something like this to happen smiled their vicious smile. The stronger ones like Rei Kuraki didn''t need to use any counterspells and forcibly resisted the time maniption.


    After a few seconds a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur cor and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, red hat with white fur, and ck leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts and coal appeared.


    The incarnations present couldn''t feel any mana from the jolly-looking old man, but for some reason, they felt a tiny bit threatened.


    "Are you Santa us?" One of the incarnations asked.


    "Hohoho, Yes I'' am, it''s nice to meet you, Henry."


    "How do you know my name?"


    "I know all of your names, your achievements, I basically know what you all did during your time alive, and even when you arrived in your soul realm. There''s Luke who likes to use a wooden stick, there''s Kai who is more into cksmithing than fighting. There''s even Alex over there who uses all kinds of weapons but is most known for his tactical mind. Then-" Santa started pointing and calling out names of those near him.


    "So you already know all of us, that makes it easier. Then I''m sure you already know why we gathered here."


    "Hohoho, of course, I know little Joshua. You naughty little boys want to capture Santa to remove yourselves from the naughty list, you also want to know why you''re all on the naughty list in the first ce. But I know that''s just a ruse, your true aim is that you want to fight Mr. us the person who snuck in coal in your pockets."


    "Then you better get ready then, you still need to deliver all of those gifts to the children right?"


    "Very well, this might count as a gift to you boys, but even so, Santa is going to teach you naughty children, a proper lesson."


    Santa opened his bag and a lot of different things came out. Those incarnations close to Santa reflexively reacted and sliced whatever was in the way, but the moment they did so they were blinded by a white light. What followed the white light was numerous explosions, which was able to subdue some incarnations.


    Once the incarnations were able to see again they saw Santa charging towards them holding a long candy cane with a sharp edge. The Candy Cane looked like a sword, Santa swung it at the nearby incarnations.


    Those in Santa''s path tried to block his attack but for some reason, the Candy Cane sword phased through their weapons and directly hit them. When the others saw this they quickly acknowledge that Santa''s Candy Cane sword was unblockable so they needed to dodge.


    Of course, Santa knew that the people present here were the most battle-hardened people to have ever existed so using a simr strategy won''t work. Santa then threw his Candy Cane Sword at a nearby incarnation who evaded but then saw Santaing closer to him hitting him with a red sack.


    Just one hit from Santa''s red sack was enough for that incarnation to get knocked out. The remaining incarnations who saw this were astonished, as the one who was knocked out with one hit was an incarnation that was at the top five hundred. Does that mean Santa could knock out the incarnations below the top five hundred?


    Knowing this and despite wanting to continue to fight, those at the lower ranking backed down. It was already shameful for them to fight Santa in a group so knowing that he could one hit them, they decided to stand down and simply watch the show.


    The remaining incarnations didn''t want to attack Santa in a group so they all approached in a one-on-one capacity. For each incarnation he faced Santa used a different weapon and it was always one hit, one kill.


    After a few more minutes Santa had already weeded out the weaker incarnations and only two were left. These two were the only incarnations from the top ten that had received coal. It was Rei Kuraki and Leonard Tranor.


    "So who''s going to face him first?" Leonard asked.


    "You should do it, Leo, seeing as if I were to go first, you might not get a chance to fight."


    "Ouch, that hurts." Leonard shrugged his shoulders as he summoned his weapons. He faced Santa with a vicious smile on his face.


    "Leonard Tranor, the most well-known incarnation. One who had traveled different dimensions and universes. You have saved numerous people, and have received a lot of love. Still, you would discard these rtionships if it means that you get to battle a stronger opponent. You like all the others could''ve been on the nice list, but you took things too far and ended up on the naughty list."


    "I don''t really care about that old man, like you said the thing I care about above all is the joy of battle. Soe at me!"


    "HOHOHO! Naughty little child, I won''t give you that kind of satisfaction. This won''t be a battle but a one-sided punishment." Santa disappeared from Leonard''s sight and in the next second, he was unconscious.


    Seeing that Leonard had fallen in one hit as well, surprised the other incarnations. Leonard might not have been the strongest, but his power was undeniable. He was also one of the most experienced fighters among the incarnations. Rei then stepped forward and got ready for battle.


    "I guess it''s my turn now."


    "Sorry little Rei Kuraki, I won''t be able to apany you as I have a prior engagement." After saying those words Santa us disappeared.


    ¡­


    The Original was surprised by what had happened and smiled. "Santa us, what an interesting character."


    ¡­


    Seeing Santa disappear the incarnations looked around but found not a single trace of him. Those that were knocked out all woke up at the same time. They then felt something in their pockets. As they took out what was in their pockets they were once again surprised to see that they all received coal again.


    While they were shocked they could hear the jolly old man''sugh echoing throughout the soul realm.


    "HOHOHO, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

 Chapter 389 - This Kingdom Is Mine Now

    <h4>Chapter 389 - This Kingdom Is Mine Now</h4>


    After their group hug, Valdel could no longer hold out and fainted. Once he was out ofmission, Ren lifted him and tossed him towards Lara.


    "Bring this guy back to his room."


    "What about you?"


    "I''ll follow a bitter. I have something else to do at the moment. Oh right, tell Henrietta I want to talk to herter so she should meet me at my dorm room." When Lara heard Ren say the name of the other woman, she gritted her teeth before nodding her head.


    "Understood." After replying Lara left with Valdel in tow. Once the two were gone, Ren looked at one of the pirs and spoke.


    "I know you''re there, so you bettere out now. If you don''te out immediately I might identally kill you." Ren then emitted a tiny bit of his bloodlust, and a few secondster a woman walked out from behind the pir. It was someone Ren already knew.


    "Hmph, what do you think you''re doing here holy maiden of the Goddess of Justice?" Ren then emitted the full might of his bloodlust and mana which was now directed at Natasha.


    When Natasha felt the overwhelming force that could suffocate even the bravest of warriors, she didn''t notice it but she was already down on her knees. Ren then slowly approached her. His footsteps echoed throughout the arena and it was the only thing Natasha could hear.


    As Ren got closer and closer to her, she felt her body trembling in fear as the suffocating feeling got stronger and stronger. She couldn''t help herself as a bit of pee leaked out of her. She was a dignified Holy Maiden of one of the most powerful Temples, but in front of Ren, she was nothing.


    Natasha was not in control of her body as she started crying and puking. She couldn''t even lift her head to look at Ren, who stood before her like a God. The steps could no longer be heard, and Natasha saw Ren''s feet were right in front of her. It was at that moment the heavy pressure dispersed.


    Once the pressure was gone, it was like she who was drowning could suddenly breathe again. Natasha took in a lot of air and started hyperventting. As she was trying to regain her calm, she heard Ren''s voice.


    "So tell me, what is a holy maiden doing sneaking around like a rat?" Natasha was finally able to move her body and respond, but it took her a few seconds to do so. She stood up before she gave her answer.


    "I was just worried about Valdel." Ren looked at Natasha''s face and saw that even though she was trembling in fear, her eyes were still full of resolve. It would seem that her will was stronger than her body.


    ''It doesn''t seem like she''s lying.''


    "So you were worried about Val, so then why did you continue to hide for two days straight? You were there since the beginning and you never showed yourself, why?"


    "I couldn''t find the right timing toe out."


    "¡­ I see¡­ So you heard everything did you?"


    "¡­" Natasha couldn''t help but shiver as she heard ask that question.


    "It''s alright, I won''t harm you since it does seem Val actually cares about you. Still, you better promise me that you won''t tell another living soul unless I allow you to."


    "I promise." Natasha nodded and replied without any hesitation. She knew that if she hesitated for even half a second she might be tortured.


    "Very well, I will believe in you for now¡­ You can leave now, do you better head to Val''s inn and wait for him to wake up. Surely the two of you have a lot to talk about." Ren turned around and waved his hand as he left.


    Seeing the fading back of Ren''s silhouette, Natasha sighed in relief. All the tension in her body was gone and she once again fell to the floor butt first. Her whole body smelled of sweat as she breathed in and out, trying to calm her nerves.


    ''So he''s the Strongest Mortal Soul.'' Once when she was younger Natasha had snuck into the deepest part of the library where only the high priest could enter. Seeing as the Goddess of Justice Tiddette didn''t stop her from entering, she felt that doing so was alright. In there she had read the records in regards to the Strongest Mortal Soul. So she knew about as much as Valdel.


    She had always thought that the ounts of that being were grossly exaggerated. Yet now that she was able to meet an incarnation of that being, she could finally understand that the ounts were all real.


    ¡­


    It was nighttime, Ren has just done the deed with Lara, who was now sleeping soundly on his bed. The two were currently in his dorm room in the school. As Ren was meditating on the floor someone knocked on his door. Ren opened his eyes and spoke.


    "Come on in Henrietta." The door opened and a surprised Henrietta entered.


    "How did you know it was me? Was it by smell, by the sound of my footsteps, or the way I knocked so what was it?"


    "It was your mana signature. I could sense your distinct mana fluctuations."


    "That sounds incredible, can you teach me how to do that?" Henrietta excitedly approached Ren.


    "I will, but not now. There''s something I want to talk to you about." Hearing what Ren said Henrietta pouted as she really wanted to learn the trick right away. Still, it looks like Ren was about to talk about something important so she immediately stopped pouting.


    "What is it?"


    "How''s the current situation of the Serbek Kingdom." Henrietta shrugged her shoulders before responding.


    "Truthfully it''s not good. It wasn''t just the capital that was attacked by a wave of monsters. It would seem that the Primordial Demon Nyarlom''s n was wider than we thought. The fortresses, cities, towns, and viges within the Kingdom have been attacked by waves of monsters. Our allied kingdoms are also having their own problems, so they''re unable to give a helping hand. Only a few cities were able to survive the monster wave, and a lot of refugees are all heading to the Capital. Overall it''s safe to say that this kingdom is pretty much finished. All we have left arend and a few people. Once the other kingdoms are done dealing with their problems they would surely attack and try getting their share of ournd. Even our former allies would join in this fiasco iming toe to our aid."


    Henrietta sighed as she shook her head.


    "Even if we somehow win with your aid, with this muchnd and so little people we won''t be able to utilize it properly."


    "I see¡­ So what are your ns now?"


    "Honestly there''s nothing much I can do. I didn''t even want this job as a leader, I just want to continue researching. Yet there''s no one alive that I could pass the position to."


    "Then how about you give it to me?" Ren spoke as he showed his signature vicious smile.


    "Huh?" Henrietta looked at Ren confused. She wasn''t expecting Ren to ask such a thing. Based on her understanding of Ren, from the limited amount of time, she has known him. She was pretty sure that he was like her. In her case, she was deeply in love with research and creating, and wouldn''t want troublesome things to get in her way of doing the things she loves. For Ren it was fighting, so she was sure that he too didn''t like to deal with such a troublesome thing as governing a kingdom.


    "You seem confused, why?"


    "Well, it''s rather surprising, since I thought you would actively avoid troublesome things that get in the way of you fighting."


    "This isn''t really troublesome for me, since I already have some experience in doing something like this, but more than that I really want this. Based on what Nyarlom said more Primordial Demons will being out. Remembering that guy''s ramblings, Primordial Demons feed out of other beings Malice and they love to spread chaos. So what is more chaotic than war? Nothing, war is the most chaotic thing of all, it is both logical and illogical. Primordial Demons seem to be adept in maniption so they should be able to easily control a kingdom or two. So we should be expecting arge-scale war between kingdoms at our hands. We should also expect all the other races to join in as well. This is going to be a world war."


    While Ren was exining his predictions of the future his smile grew wider and wider. He needed these kinds of conflicts to strengthen not only himself but the others as well.


    "Even though I myself can deal with an army or two, I can''t be in all ces at once. Based on how strong Nyarlom was, I could sense that he was not even at full power back then. It''s just a theory for now, but I feel that Nyarlom''s full power would be tenth of my own. So in that sense fighting ten Primordial Demons in my current state would be a bit troublesome. Also, it won''t just be the Primordial Demons that would be a problem, like you said the other Kingdoms will surely attack. Since I need more manpower I''ll get the most I can from this. So are you willing to hand over the Serbek Kingdom to me?"


    "I wasn''t really going to say no. If you want it, it''s yours. It''s not like anyone can stop you from taking it, even if the royals were still alive you could have just taken everything by force."


    When Henrietta said those words she noticed that Ren suddenly showed a mncholic expression. This was the first time she had seen such an expression on his face.


    "Power is not enough to lead. Using force on something like this usually leads to disaster and regrets." Henrietta was shocked, it was as if Ren was speaking like he had experienced something like that before. It was as if he was an old king, but based on his age that shouldn''t be possible.


    ''Oh Ren, you''re getting more interesting by the second.''

 Chapter 390 - All Of You Are Mine Now

    <h4>Chapter 390 - All Of You Are Mine Now</h4>


    The following day Henrietta had gathered all of the citizens within the Capital to make an announcement. Many people were feeling ufortable as they had experienced so much in the past few days. They had lost so much, and some of them even more.


    Those that had killed during Nyarlom''s sick game were standing at one side. Some of them were proud of surviving and doing what they did, others felt ashamed and were lowering their heads, some of them felt like they hadn''t done anything wrong as they needed to survive.


    Some of the children whose parents forced them to kill their own fathers and mothers had be orphans and were cowering and crying at a corner. Those that still had one parent left were having their own difficulties. Their surviving parent were treating them differently. Even though the parents knew it was their decision to do this, it was still hard to look at the person who had killed their significant other, even if it was their child.


    Then there were the few who had not killed during the event. They were wary of those that had blood in their hands and were looking at everyone even the children as criminals.


    ¡­


    While everyone was still at the stage of trying to calm down, they were called in for an important meeting, which made them feel agitated. After a while, Henrietta and a group of High ranked mages appeared. Even during this chaotic time the people still have some respect for the mages. Now that they were defenseless they were their only source of protection.


    Henrietta looked at the divided group of people and then she looked at the destroyed buildings she couldn''t help but sigh. The once-mighty Serbek Kingdom, the kingdom of mages which had centuries of history had just fallen. Henrietta shook the gloomy thoughts away and smiled.


    "Everybody as you all know, I''m Henrietta thest remaining council member. Seeing as the Grand Mage and the royal family have left for their journey to the astral ne, I am the one with the highest authority."


    The people started to murmur like buzzing bees. They all looked at Henrietta with mixed emotions, but the prevailing emotion everyone had was of worry.


    "I''m not going to lie you people, the Serbek Kingdom is pretty much finished." The moment those words came out of Henrietta''s mouth the people started panicking.


    "What do you mean finished?!"


    "How can you say that?! Can''t you mages do something?!"


    "Yeah, you high and mighty mages kept on suppressing usmon folk, but when a crisis arrives you''re useless!"


    "Go and do something you sh*tty mages!"


    "Use those spells all of you are so proud of!"


    Many people started agreeing with what that one guy said and most of them started yelling for the mages to do something. One of the braver ones started throwing things at the mages. Yet the rock he threw stopped mid-air and Henrietta looked at the person who threw the rock. She smiled ever so sweetly but seeing that smile made the person who threw the rock sweat bullets.


    "I know everyone''s anxious because of what I said, which is why I''m going to overlook this rude behavior. But those that continue shouting while I''m not yet done speaking will be punished, alright?"


    The whole ce suddenly quieted down as they looked at Henrietta with fear. The general popce who were angry moments ago finally remembered who they were talking with. They all suppressed their anger and silently listened.


    "Thank you for shutting up. So now that everyone''s quiet I can continue my announcement. So what was I saying again?¡­ Oh right, the Serbek Kingdom is pretty much finished. So to counter our inevitable demise someone hase forward to help."


    When the people heard what Henrietta said their anxiety had lessened, and they started wondering who hade to their rescue. It should be one of their many allied kingdoms. So as they were trying to guess which kingdom hade to their aid, someone stepped forward.


    The person that appeared was someone they could never forget in their entire lives. It was impossible that they could ever forget this person whose abilities were beyond words and imagination. Just him standing there made people feel like kneeling. He was their savior, but at the same time, he was a frightening nightmare. His strength inspires admiration as well as fear. It was none other than Ren.


    "This is the person who will guide us through this crisis. You can treat him as our new king since that''s pretty much what he is now."


    There were a lot of things the people wanted to say, but in front of Ren, they were speechless. They could not do or say anything in this situation. Valdel, Lara, and the others could only sigh as they watched what happened. This was basically a repeat of what Ren did in Grenton, but this time there was no proxy. Ren wasn''t bothered by everyone''s reactions as he was already expecting something like this.


    "Hi everyone, I know this might take some time for you to digest, but do not worry, with me around this Kingdom is as good as protected. So let''s get straight to it, my first order of business is those that aren''t children who killed during Nyarlom''s game, all of you step forward."


    Of course, no one stepped forward. They didn''t want to admit that they had killed during the chaos a few days ago. Even though others had seen them, they could just deny it. Ren licked his lips and showed a vicious smile. When the people saw Ren smiling like that, they felt extreme dread. That was the same smile he showed when he had killed Nyarlom.


    "It''s no use even if you don''t step forward, I already know who you people are. Do you want me to point at you or will you willingly step forward?" The people who had killed on that day felt intense pressure when they heard what Ren said.


    One after another they all started to step forward. After a while, almost all of them who had killed on that day had stepped forward. There was only one stubborn man who refused to step forward. Of course, Ren was already briefed by Henrietta as to who had killed and who had not, so he knew that man was part of those who had killed. Ren waited for a few seconds for the man to step up on his own, but he did not move an inch.


    "You sir, I already know that you have killed so why don''t you step forward alongside the others."


    "I have not killed so why should I do so?"


    "Oh, I was informed that you had killed your wife during that event."


    "I did not kill my wife! She asked me to do it, she asked me to send her off towards the eternal ne. That was not an act of killing, that was what my wife wanted, I have not killed anyone!" Ren sighed, and afterward, the head of the man exploded. No one was able to see what Ren had done, but he just killed a person without even moving.


    "You should''ve just admitted your mistakes. Well, now that that''s over, let''s move onto you guys." Ren looked at the people who had stepped forward. Seeing his sight was on them made the people who had killed visibly shiver in fear.


    "Unlike that guy, I will give you guys a choice." When they heard what Ren said, the killers felt a sense of relief. It seems like they could get out of this situation without dying. As they were starting to feel hope, Ren quickly plunged them back to despair.


    "Kill yourselves and I will allow your bodies to be buried with your loved ones. If you do notply then I will finish you all off, and leave nothing behind."


    Everyone including those that didn''t kill were stunned by what Ren said. They all thought that he would give them a second chance. The killers who were silent all throughout started to get rowdy.


    "Why should I kill myself?! I just did what I did in order to survive!"


    "Yeah, it''s not like we wanted to kill those that we loved. We were forced to do it, we had no choice!"


    Most of them started yelling and trying to reason with Ren, while the others had actually gone ahead and stabbed themselves. They really regret doing what they did, so knowing that they could escape from the guilt they decided to end it. Yet despite what they did, the remaining killers continued to protest. Ren then emitted a tiny bit of bloodlust which made the killers quiet down.


    "Well, at least some of you know how to listen, as for the others." Ren red at the killers and then smiled. "I understand that what you did was because of a desperate situation, but there are others that didn''t do the same. So it won''t be fair for them that you guys aren''t judged for what you have done. Also, and more importantly, I don''t want people that have so little willpower that they would turn on their loved ones just to save themselves."


    "This isn''t right! Those cowards didn''t kill because they were afraid to do what must be done!"


    "I don''t care what you say I''m not going to die today!"


    The killers then started running in different directions, but the moment they did so Ren lifted his hand and in everyone''s view simply swung his hand downward, and in the next moment all of the killers'' bodies disappeared as only blood remained.


    "Okay, now that''s done with, let''s move onto the next topic." Everyone present were now cowering in fear of Ren some even fainted. Seeing everyone act like that made Ren sigh.


    "There''s no need to be afraid, I won''t kill you guys. Well, as long as you don''t do anything wrong you get to live under my protection¡­ All of you are mine now."

 Chapter 391 - One Minute

    <h4>Chapter 391 - One Minute</h4>


    When the citizens of the Serbek Kingdom heard what Ren said they were dumbfounded. It wasn''t rare for a king to treat his subjects as objects, but they would never say it out loud in front of them unless that king wanted a riot.


    Yet despite Ren being so verbal about it not a single person had raised any objection. The ce was deadly quiet, even the cowering crying children have stopped.


    "Like I said no need to worry, as long as you''re under me then you won''t be dying anytime soon. I will train all of you people to be powerful warriors and mages. Depending on your talents no matter if you''re amoner or not you can rise in the ranks. Who knows maybe one day, one of you people standing here today might be my next general."


    When the citizens heard what Ren said they got a little bit excited. They were going to be given a chance to be warriors or mages. If it was before only those of high rank may learn true skills, and no matter how talented you are if you were amoner the skills you can learn were limited. Yet now Ren was giving them an actual chance.


    "Before all of you get too excited, I must warn you, thest group I had trained, most of them have died." As Ren was saying those words he was showing a pained expression. Only Valdel, Lara, and those that knew Ren from before could understand why Ren was showing such an expression. Those that didn''t know Ren and were just recently introduced to him, felt like Ren was disappointed with thest group he had trained.


    "Now that I know my mistakes fromst time, I will never repeat them again. So this time, the training would be grueling to the point that you would wish that you could die instead. Yet once you finished my training I assure you, that you will be stronger than even the old royal guards of this kingdom." Ren''s face got even more serious as he continued speaking.


    "I will warn you again, my training will not be light. Those of you without the will should not join in my training. Also as we train there is a high chance that you would die from my training. If you people still wish to train under me despite hearing my warnings then I shall wee you with open arms. If you''re able to seed in finishing the training you will gain strength, you will gain honor, you will gain status, and most of all you will gain glory! Those among you who aren''t brave enough to start this kind of training, You will still be required to learn how to be warriors and mages, but the training will be lighter and your achievements will be less than those that chose the harsher regiment. So who among you are courageous enough to take that step forward and will join me in glory!"


    The people started discussing amongst themselves, while everyone was still undecided Afeus and Henrietta stepped forward.


    "I would wish to join your training master." Afeus knelt on one knee while looking at Ren full of resolve.


    "As your woman, I can''t fall too much behind the others," Henrietta remembered Lara and Tsukiko as she said this. Those two were both Ren''s women but their skill in battle was leagues above hers. She didn''t want to be the weakest of the group.


    "The two of you already have the basics down, so you''ll be receiving a different kind of training from the others. The training I''m offering now is for the people who haven''t started their path yet. So who among you is willing to join the harsher training. Failure might mean death, but sess means you get everything you ever dreamt of."


    After a while, an orphaned child who looked around nine years old stepped forward. The boy''s body was small and looked rather thin. As he had stepped forward his body still trembling a little bit, but his eyes looked directly at Ren full of determination. Seeing such a young boy step forward others started doing the same thing. After a while, about twenty men and women had stepped forward including the boy there were twenty-one brave souls. Seeing as no one else was stepping forward, Ren smiled at the twenty-one people.


    He slowly approached the boy who first stepped forward. Seeing Rening closer the boy felt his heart beating loudly and his breathing was bing faster. Yet despite the fear that was gripping onto his very being, the boy continued to look at Ren with proud determination.


    Ren was finally in front of the boy. Those that were watching, anxiously waited to see what Ren would do. Seeing as he could kill without even batting an eye, most of the people thought he would kill the boy. In front of everyone''s concerned gaze, Ren lowered his body so that his eyes could be at the same height as the boy.


    "What''s your name little one."


    "¡­Arthur, my name''s Arthur." The boy named Arthur spoke weakly at first, but then at the end, he nearly shouted his name.


    "Arthur¡­ That''s a good name. So tell me Arthur why do you want to learn how to fight, why risk your life to gain power?"


    "I¡­ I want to be powerful. I don''t want to lose again. I don''t like to be the one being protected. More than anything I want to show mom and dad that I can be strong." Despite being a nine-year-old kid, the things he spoke about had strongly resonated to those that heard it. Especially those that had lost their loved ones during the incident a few days ago.


    At first, Ren thought that Arthur was like Valdel when he was young, but upon closer inspection, he was surprised at what he saw. Ren''s interest in Arthur grew as he saw deep in those eyes full of determination there was some kind of darkness, an intense hatred that''s hidden deep within.


    "Nice determination. Now let''s see how determined you truly are. If you''re able to stay conscious for one minute, I will personally train you." Arthur and everyone else present was surprised to hear what Ren said. Valdel looked at Arthur in shock. Even Lara wasn''t expecting Ren to say something like that, that would mean that boy was something special.


    "Are you ready?" Still unable to understand what was happening, Arthur braced himself before he nodded his head. The moment Arthur nodded his head, Ren emitted a tiny bit of bloodlust and directed it at Arthur. It was just a tiny bit, but for a boy of Arthur''s age that would''ve been enough to knock him unconscious from fear.


    Despite being attacked by Ren''s bloodlust Arthur stood tall. He had already experienced many different kinds of bloodlust on that day. Seeing that Arthur was still okay Ren increased the pressure.


    This time Arthur''s body was trembling but even so, he did not fall. He continued to look at Ren with all of his determination. Ren was truly impressed with the kid, even a fully grown adult would''ve fallen on his knees by now. Ren then increased the pressure some more.


    As he did this he could no longer control his bloodlust as it spilled all over the ce. The nearby children who were watching fainted in fear, their bodies convulsing while they unconsciously peed. Seeing this Henrietta quickly told the mages to bring the children away.


    It wasn''t just the children some of the older people that were near Ren started trembling as they fell on their butts. Yet to everyone''s surprise the boy who was right in front of Ren receiving the entirety of Ren''s bloodlust was still standing.


    Arthur''s whole body was trembling in fear, his heart was beating so fast it was like it was going to burst out of his chest. He even peed as his consciousness was slowly fading. It was then Arthur saw an image of that day, the day when he also fainted in fear. Once he woke up he saw the dead bodies of his mom and dad on top of him.


    They had died protecting him, and he wasn''t even awake to see them off. The sorrow and anger he felt on that day was something a nine-year-old boy should never experience. Recalling that scene Arthur didn''t want to once again faint and not be able to do anything at all.


    ¡­


    The one minute mark was nearing but Arthur looked like he was about to faint. Seeing that made Ren sigh. ''I guess this is a bit too much, it''s already good that he''s able to withstand this kind of bloodlust. Even some veteran adventurers wouldn''t be able to stand at this point. Yet this kid despite his whole body shaking, and his knees looking like they''re about to give in, he still remained standing.''


    Ren decided to take in Arthur as his personal disciple even if he does fail to remain conscious in this one minute. It was then Arthur did something not even Ren expected. Arthur bit his arm until it bled. It was like he was trying to rip his arm off using his teeth.


    Arthur''s fading consciousness was jolted awake by the pain. His eyes which were dimming was once again rekindled by his determination. Everyone were equally shocked by the scene they witnessed.


    ''This kid!'' Ren had unconsciously smiled that vicious smile of his as he watched the kid ovee his fear with pain. This went beyond pure resolve, this kid might be insane. The one minute mark passed and Ren finally stopped emitting bloodlust. Many had already fallen but the boy Arthur still stood with a fierce look on his face.


    "HAHAHAHA, that''s Nice! That''s incredible! From today onward, Arthur you are my student and I your master. I will make you into a strong warrior who will never back down from anything or anyone!"

 Chapter 392 - The Next Step

    <h4>Chapter 392 - The Next Step</h4>


    Hearing Ren telling him that he had passed, Arthur couldn''t believe his ears. It was finally over, as he let go of his arm which he had bitten a lot of blood started to flow out. At that moment as adrenaline was pumping through his veins he couldn''t feel the pain that much. Yet now that it was over he could feel devastating pain.


    The pain was great but it didn''t evoke any fear or worry in Arthur''s face. In fact, to Arthur, this pain was something to be proud of. This pain was something he used to ovee his weakness and allowed him to remain standing tall. This time he didn''t faint he went through it all awake.


    Ren was truly surprised by how much determination this nine-year-old kid had. The blood that was flowing out of him wasn''t much, but for a child like Arthur, this kind of wound was already big. Ren touched the wound and Arthur didn''t even wince in pain. Ren truly appreciated the talent hidden within this kid, he then proceeded to heal the wound. Once the wound was healed, Arthur bowed his head.


    "Thank you, master." Ren lifted Arthur''s head up.


    "Now that you''re my direct disciple, you shall not bow to anyone or anything, even me. Even if the creator himself told you to, never ever bow your head, instead show him a smile and fight!"


    When those near Ren heard what they say, they started to think that Ren might have a few screws loose in his head. Those words that he spoke were so arrogant, so domineering, and so out there that one would think he was insane, but for some reason when he said those words, it felt like he would actually do it.


    "Do not fear the deities up above, nor the devils hidden in the darkness. Never back down and always move forward. If it gets too hard and you lose your way do not despair and keep on smiling."


    Arthur didn''t understand some of what his master said, but he memorized every word of it. Arthur then nodded his head in acknowledgment.


    "Alright then, onto the next order of business."


    ¡­


    Ren continued to exin his future ns for the Serbek Kingdom. When he got to the part where he exins that the Serbek Kingdom and the Reschbeauch kingdom were merging together to be an empire, every one of the citizens reacted, even Henrietta and Afeus had emitted a faint scent of bloodlust. Yet the moment they realized that they immediately suppressed it.


    Ever since the creation of the two Kingdoms, they have always been at odds with each other. The Reschbeauch Kingdom which prioritized martial might above all things looked down on the skinny weaklings of the Serbek Kingdom. On the other hand, the Serbek Kingdom was focused more on gathering knowledge and finding the true truth within the depths of magic, so they looked down on the barbarians of the Reschbeauch Kingdom.


    Seeing as neither of the two would back down on their beliefs they started numerous wars against each other. But no matter how they tried the two kingdoms were evenly matched. Over the years the people of both kingdoms have forgotten the original reason for the fighting and continued to despise each other. Now that they heard they would be allying with each other the citizens of the Serbek kingdom felt the future was going to be bleak.


    "I can see that all of you are not really on board with my decision to have the two kingdoms be an empire. Do not worry, like you guys, the Reschbeauch Kingdom is in the palm of my hands. All you guys need to do is not cause trouble and get along with each other. Isn''t that easy?" Ren smiled a very gentle smile to calm the people down.


    The moment the people saw Ren''s smile it had the opposite effect of what he intended. Seeing him smile like that made the people feel even more frightened. When ites to Ren, the wider the smile the more dangerous the situation. That''s what they hadprehended with the few interactions they had with him. The people then remembered those guys that opposed him that left not a single trace as they died. They couldn''t help but gulp dryly as they remembered that scene.


    "We will be the best of friends." Someone could no longer stand the tension and shouted. This was followed by a wave of approval.


    "Yeah, we of the Serbek Kingdom are nothing but hospitable. Who cares if they are from the Reschbeauch Kingdom, will treat them like they''re our family."


    "That''s right, who cares about some past wars? Let''s just let bygones be bygones."


    "Peace is the best!"


    "Peace is the best!"


    "Peace is the best!"


    The people started cheering the same thing over and over again with so much gusto. Ren nodded his head satisfied with everyone''s reaction, he then continued to exin the ns for the future.


    ¡­


    It took the whole afternoon before Ren finished telling everyone what''s toe. Once he was done talking to the people, they immediately dispersed and headed back home to rest for the hard work that will start. Ren then gathered those under him to instruct them on what to do.


    "Val I want you to stay here and guide these people with the basics of body strengthening."


    "Fine, I will do that since I owe you," Valdel answered while shrugging his shoulders. Lara was surprised to hear the way Valdel spoke, it was slightly different. He was no longer speaking with a respectful tone, instead, it felt like he was now standing equally with Ren.


    ''Something must have happened during their fight that I didn''t see. I''m a little bit envious, but I''m still d for Val.'' While Lara was thinking Ren called out to her.


    "Lara I want you to head back to the Reschbeauch Kingdom, tell them what happened over here, and hand this over to Silika." Ren passed a letter to Lara. "Also can you give this to my mother, and this one to my little brother." Ren handed another letter and a box.


    Lara who would usually ept any order Ren would give actually hesitated. She didn''t want to ept this order, since that would mean she would once again be separated from Ren. Seeing through her thoughts Ren patted her head.


    "Don''t worry, as long as your alive we will always be able to meet again. Also, it won''t take that long after I''m done finishing some of my personal things, I will head back to Grenton."


    As her head was being patted, Lara looked at Ren. She didn''t really want to do it, but hearing what Ren said she couldn''t say no. Lara nodded her head as she responded.


    "I will deliver these things without fail."


    "You better get going Lara, the faster that letter is sent to Silika the better." Lara once again nodded her head and before she left she gave a peck on Ren''s cheek. After she was done doing that, she smiled a little before leaving.


    ''Heh, that girl is actually growing up a bit. If it was before she would never have hesitated. She would also be clingier than this. It''s a good thing that she''s growing up, but at the same time it feels a little bit lonely.'' Ren shook his head as he continued to give out instructions.


    "Henrietta I want you to help Val in training the people. He would deal with the physical aspects of their training and the remaining mages will teach them the basic theories behind spells. If you find anyone who is more talented than the others I want you to separate them and teach them personally."


    "I will do what I can¡­ But what about my own training?" Henrietta pouted as she approached Ren and hugged his arm.


    "I will teach you personallyter, don''t worry." Hearing Ren''s response she separated from him and pped her hands. She then approached Ren and kissed him on the cheek. She then whispered in his ear. "How about we do the thing you and Lara were doingst night?"


    ''This girl.'' Ren chuckled a bit before answering. "Suree to my roomter." Seeing Ren was done talking to Henrietta, Afeus interjected himself.


    "What about me, master, what should I do?"


    "You don''t need to do anything, just continue to train and make yourself stronger."


    When Afeus heard what Ren said he was disappointed. ''Am I so useless that I can''t do anything to help master?''


    Seeing the depressed expression on Afeus''s face Ren knew what was going on in the little mage''s mind. Still, Ren didn''t bother to make Afeus feel better by saying some words of encouragement. Even though Afeus wasn''t a true disciple, he was indeed something like a teacher to him. So Ren wanted Afeus to understand that with his current power he was useless. There was no way Ren would sugarcoat that for him. After a few seconds of looking depressed, Afeus showed a different look, it was one of pure resolve.


    "I understand master. I will train harder so that I won''t be so useless." Afeus bowed his head and left he was going to train even harder now.


    ¡­

 Chapter 393 - EVENT: TOP 3 Get 100 Coins!

    <h4>Chapter 393 - EVENT: TOP 3 Get 100 Coins!</h4>


    Hi guys author here, so obviously this isn''t a normal chapter. This is an event chapter for you guys. The readers that answer the most questions correctly in the fastest time will get a hundred coins! So let''s see how much you know about the Demon Lord''s Reincarnation! The difficulty of the questions will increase the more you answer, so I hope you guys do your best. Please answer the questions by writing your answers in thement section, just write the question number then your answer. Now let''s start the EVENT!


    The first ten questions are the easy ones.


    Question #1


    What is the name of the Main Character when he was still a demon lord?


    Question #2


    Who was the Childhood Friend that didn''t get to leave their hometown?


    Question #3


    Who is the strongest being in the novel''s universe?


    Question #4


    What was the weapon Ren took from the weapon shop?


    Question #5


    What is the name of Ren''s father?


    Question #6


    Who is the Bandit King?


    Question #7


    What are Ren and the other incarnations called by the old races?


    Question #8


    What is the name of Valdel''s second weapon?


    Question #9


    What is the name of the past incarnation of Lance?


    Question #10


    What was the name of the owner of the Lonely Cat?


    Alright now that we''re done with the easy questions let''s head to the more difficult ones. You guys no need to worry it''s going to be multiple choice.


    Question # 11


    What is the name of Ren''s little brother?


    A.) Zeke


    B.) Kurt


    C.) Urd


    D.) Curtis


    Question # 12


    What is the first S rank monster that Ren killed after reincarnating?


    A.) King Drake


    B.) Red Bear


    C.) Wyvern King


    D.) None of the above


    Question # 13


    Who was the one that inspired Ren to conquer?


    A.) The subus: Kithra


    B.) The Demon Empress: Nimune


    C.) The First Princess: Ashley


    D.) None of the above


    Question #14


    During their first quest for the adventurers guild what kind of being did, Ren, Lara, and Hilda encounter?


    A.) Vampire


    B.) Zombies


    C.) Puppets


    D.) Elder Lich


    Question #15


    Who was the first hero Ren has ever fought?


    A.) Hayato


    B.) Sora


    C.) Shin


    D.) Luke


    Question #16


    Who was the Hero of Vengeance?


    A.) Luke


    B.) Shin


    C.) Jun


    D.) Niel


    Question #17


    What n was Demon Lord Kretos from?


    A.) Assassin n


    B.) Warrior n


    C.) Demon n


    D.) Shadow n


    Question #18


    What was the name of the ideal knight of the Reschbeauch Kingdom?


    A.) Galius


    B.) stair


    C.) Sepchel


    D.) None of the above


    Question #19


    What was the Guild Master''s Nezzard''s famous nickname?


    A.) One who sleeps for all eternity


    B.) Idiotic Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild


    C.) The Forgotten Lonely Wolf


    D.) The Sleeping Lion of Reschbeauch


    Question #20


    What is Ren''s current Adventurer Rank?


    A.) C Rank


    B.) S Rank


    C.) B Rank


    D.) A Rank


    Wow, so you''re all halfway through the questions. Sorry about this, truth be told due to the win-win situation, I need to make this chapter like the rest go above one thousand five hundred words. Still, it is pretty fun creating the questions as I remembered the time I wrote them. Alright, this is where things get really hard.


    Question #21


    Who were the three Demon Lords that Ren defeated.?


    Question #22


    What are the names of the Childhood Friends?


    Question #23


    What are the names of all of Ren''s women in his current incarnation?


    Question #24


    Who were the incarnations that have been introduced in Demon Lord''s Reincarnation?


    Question #25


    What are the Sword Ranks?


    Alright now onto the final stretch of the questions. Now, these ones are truly hard these ones, will test how much you know about the novel Demon Lord''s Reincarnation. Sorry that this event wasn''t thought out properly and it might have wasted some of you guys'' time, but I hope some of you were happy to try it. So now onto the final stretch.


    This part is what I call who said it. I will write a quote from the Novel and all you need to do is tell me who said it.


    Question #26


    "Do not sell yourself short. You were the one who responded to my call for help, not him. It is true at this moment he is indeed more powerful than you, but I do not wish for a powerful master¡­ In this shop were all matter of legendary, mythical, demonic, and Godly weapons exist I am one of the youngest. Unlike all the other weapons here who have either a legend a story or a meaning, I have none. I am a new legend just waiting to happen, simr to you. Both of us are a nk te, and I wish to grow together with you as a magnificent legend. So what say you? Will you be my master?"


    Question #27


    "You who have taken the first step as an adventurer. Devote thyself until all the secrets are revealed, until there is nothing left to explore. Until there is no more treasure to be found. Until all the stories end. Until finally the truth is revealed. Oh adventurer the soldiers of freedom and fortune go forth and have your grand adventure."


    Question # 28


    "I¡­ Love you, Eli, you were the most important person to me. You were the one who made me be who I am now. I truly¡­ did¡­ lov¡­e yo¡­u E¡­Li¡­"


    Question #29


    "Little hero, I didn''t look like this in that past. Back when I was a hero, I was human in both form and spirit. At that time heroes came and go by the hundreds. There were many kinds of heroes back in my time. Chosen heroes, Summoned heroes, Prophesied heroes, and many more. Well at that time, the human race with its usual greed and biases made the pure-hearted heroes into beings that became¡­ It doesn''t matter anymore those are days long gone. Little hero how about telling me your story instead."


    Question #30


    "It was a very fun game that we yed. It''s the most fun I had in centuries. I would have loved to y some more, but this is it for me. Thank you, for ying with this old man."


    Question #31


    "You know I got bored. I have defeated every opponent in the mortal world, none could even match a single finger of mine. So I decided to look for worthy opponents elsewhere. Then I thought how about those so called New Gods, they should be strong. So with a little bit of effort, I tore open the gates of heaven and I came here."


    Question #32


    "In the new city of Grenton, anyone can be whatever you wish! Everyone will be allowed to study and go to school! No longer would you need to be a noble or a rich merchant to enter school. You can be anything you want, all the privileges nobles had will cease to exist, and everyone will be treated equally! As long as you have the talent for it, it doesn''t matter if you''re born a noble, or amoner you will all be treated fairly! I grant you my beloved citizens'' FREEDOM! I grant you my people new Grenton, where anyone can DREAM!"


    Question #33


    "Don''t worry, it''s alright if you can''t do it¡­ You see I once had a dream of uniting the whole demonic tribes and ns. Unfortunately, I wasn''t strong enough to do so. Seeing your strength today, made me think of that dream once more. If you can, I wish you could unite the demon race into a powerful Kingdom."


    Question #34


    "Hahaha, you''re right! Yes you''re right the world is huge, surely the end battle that you wish for wille¡­ Kretos, I hope that you remain this cheeky even after a thousand years¡­ I truly hope you find someone that would be able to fulfill your wish¡­ Being at the top is quite lonely."


    Question #35


    "I guess this is the end of my journey. It wasn''t long, but it was still quite fun. I wanted to experience some harem shenanigans, or at least confess to the princess, but all I got was a bro fest¡­ Well then, as promised I''ll give you all my weapons."


    Now onto the final question, it''s kinda like a bonus question of sorts. The final question is, drum roll, please¡­ Wait I don''t have any drums. Well, anyway the final question is,


    Question #36


    What does Ren say to those opponents that he finds worthy as they die?


    ¡­


    Now that was all the questions I had. To those that participated thank you for always supporting this work of mine. For those of you that have gotten herete, thank you as well for reading. It has been three years since I started writing this novel. I know that I haven''t been the best author, but I still thank everyone for being there for me and this novel.


    See you guys in the next chapter!

 Chapter 394 - Talking To Tsukiko

    <h4>Chapter 394 - Talking To Tsukiko</h4>


    While Ren was busy organizing the Serbek Kingdom, Tsukiko and Le were waiting for him under the tree of life. Even though it has been a few days since they havest seen Ren they weren''t that bothered by it. To races that can live for a longer period of time like them, they view days differently from the short-lived humans. To them, days were like hours and months were like a day and a year a month.


    So the moment Le stepped into Tsukiko''s territory the only thing she did was greet her, and after that, they waited quietly under the tree of life. Le was finding the right moment to talk, on the other hand, Tsukiko found it fun to wait and see when Le would talk.


    Every time Le gathers up the courage to talk, Tsukiko would notice it and try to talk as well. Once that happens Le stops and an awkward silence ensues. Tsukiko found Le''s different facial expressions kind of cute. It was actually quite amusing messing around with her. It reminded Tsukiko of the time when she would usually mess around with the other demon lords of her era.


    ''I wonder how I can mess around with this little puppy. I can''t really mess around with Ren, for some reason just thinking about it makes me scared. I no longer tease the elves since that got boring a century ago. I could mess around with Ren''s women, but I haven''t met them yet. Though I guess I did see that girl with no expression, and the other one who was looking at me like she wanted to dissect me. Hmm, the former would be a challenging one to tease, while thetter could be someone that could help me tease the others¡­ Wait, I''m getting off-topic here, what should I do to make this little puppy fumble about?''


    While Tsukiko was thinking of how to tease Le, the person in question was also having her own deep thoughts.


    ''Damn it! Damn it! What should I do?! What should I do?! This is getting too awkward! What the heck is this?! Every time I try to talk to her she would also try to speak. After doing that a few times we couldn''t get a word in. Are we cursed or something, what kind of curse makes people talk at the same time?!¡­ Okay, first I need to calm down and look atdy Tsukiko.''


    Le peeked at Tsukiko at the side. She saw that Tsukiko was engrossed in her own thoughts.


    ''I can''t talk now, what ifdy Tsukiko is thinking about something important and I mess up her thoughts. She might not be a demon lord anymore, but she still might kill me if I do something that irritates her¡­ Okay, let''s wait for a bit.''


    Le stopped thinking about it for a second and looked at the falling leaves of the tree of life. Unlike normal trees, every time the a leaf of the tree of life falls means one life on this had been extinguished. Yet at the same time, when those leaves fall a new one would rece them. Watching the falling leaves of the tree of life was both mncholic and inspiring.


    ''Among those leaves would be a reincarnation of my family. I wonder if they reincarnated as humans like Big bro?¡­ Even though we will never meet as we were before, it is heartwarming to know that they''re still there under the same bright sky.''


    Le curled her lips a little bit upward. The expression she had was a little mncholic, but at the same time hopeful. Seeing Le losing interest in talking and was immersed in watching the falling leaves, Tsukiko decided to do something. Tsukiko suddenly emitted some bloodlust, it wasn''t enough to alert the others but was enough for Le who was sitting right beside her to sense.


    Le who was calmly watching the falling leaves was surprised by Tsukiko''s bloodlust. Le quickly stood up from her sitting position and warily looked around. Even though usually no enemy could get near without her sensing them, Le was still on guard since the current enemies were somewhat different from the others.


    Based on the brief exnation she heard about Primordial Demons, Le knew that mana sensing and her sense of smell wasn''t going to cut it. As she warily looked around she noticed that Tsukiko was no longer emitting any bloodlust.


    "Lady Tsukiko what is it, did the enemy leave?"


    Hearing Le''s question and looking at her expression, Tsukiko was trying her hardest not tough. She then showed Le an apologetic expression before answering.


    "I''m sorry for startling you, Le. I just remembered something from the past. You know how it was back then, with us five demon lords fighting each other. Seeing you and Kretos, ahem, I mean Ren had reminded me of the old days."


    "Oh, is that so?" Le once again sat down and was about to say something to continue the conversation but then she saw Tsukiko once again deep in thought.


    ''Hmmm, so she''s thinking about the past just like me¡­ Now that I think about it, wasn''t she the one who apanied me during my time inside that ice coffin? I guess I haven''t thanked her for apanying me for all those years. Still, I should do that after she''s done reminiscing.''


    Le looked at Tsukiko who was gazing at the tree of life. Tsukiko''s eyes were looking beyond the tree of life, as her tails flutter in the wind. At that very moment, Le had a single thought. ''Beautiful.''


    Tsukiko was truly beautiful and ephemeral, it felt like she was one with nature itself. It was like at any moment she could be like the clouds in the sky and be blown away by the wind. Le was stunned by the very sight she saw. It was then that Tsukiko looked at her and smiled.


    "Hmm, why are you looking at me like that?" Being jolted awake from her daydreaming, Le shook her head and looked the other way embarrassed.


    "Not it''s nothing I just remembered something."


    Seeing that reaction of hers made Tsukiko feel extremely happy. ''She''s so cute! How adorable, I don''t think I''ll ever get bored teasing this little pup. Still, for now, that''s enough messing around. I''ll do itter once I get to know her better.''


    "What did you remember?"


    ''Damnt it! This is my chance for a normal conversation, so stop blushing Le!'' It took Le a few seconds to calm herself down before she was able to turn around and look at Tsukiko.


    "I just remembered that it was you who apanied me in that ice coffin all those years ago."


    "Yeah, that was me. I teleported there as I remembered what Ren did for you. I thought that if I did the same thing I would be able to stop the encroaching of the mana killing curse. Unfortunately, it did not, all it did was slow the process. Still, with that, I was able to stay there for a few years, and I was able to apany you in your dreams."


    "I always wanted to ask why you did that? You had no obligation to save me, so then why?" As a pure demon, Le knew that the demons believed in the strongest rule all, and survival of the fittest. So it confused her a bit that Tsukiko, someone she had never met before that day, helped her. Seeing the confusion on Le''s face made Tsukiko giggle.


    "It wasn''t anything noble like you think it is. It was actually a very selfish act of mine. You see, you were one of Ren''s few regrets. He had me erase his memories of you because at the time he couldn''t take it. Every time I remember that face he showed me when I told him I have no way to save you¡­ That face of his still haunts me to this very day. Knowing that I was the cause of him to once again show such a face, filled me with guilt. So I saved you before you sumbed to the darkness of your very soul. It was a way for me to somehow feel better about myself. It was something I did so I won''t be as guilty as I die."


    When Tsukiko said thatst line she sighed as she smiled. Le shook her head and responded.


    "It doesn''t matter what reasons you had, to me, the only truth I know is that you saved me, and for that, I''m truly grateful." As tears were slowly forming in both of their eyes, Tsukiko quickly wiped hers away and smiled an even brighter smile than before.


    "So Le, are you also one of Ren''s women?" Le who was also rubbing her eyes quickly shook her head as she blushed. She waved her hands in front of her before responding.


    "No, no, no! He and I aren''t in that kind of rtionship. We''re actually in a sibling type rtionship, he''s my big bro."


    "Oh, is that so? So you don''t see him as a romantic partner at all?


    "I do respect him, but that''s it. I only respect him as a big bro."


    "That''s what you say, but I wonder what you really think?"


    The two then started talking about different topics whileughing. As the leaves of the tree of life continued to fall, the two maidens that shouldn''t exist in this era filled their lonely hearts withughter.


    ¡­


    If you guys are unable to see the author''s note:


    It would seem that only three people had yed the game, so those three automatically win. Congrattions, Matt_Payne, Stick_Figure, and Jesus_Armentrout.


    These three winners, please tell me in thement section what your discord ids are and I''ll add you guys as friends and tell you the code to receive one hundred coins¡­ If you don''t have a discord id, just tell me your email addresses and I''ll send you the code there.

 Chapter 395 - The Start Of Training

    <h4>Chapter 395 - The Start Of Training</h4>


    The twenty brave souls that volunteered to undergo Ren''s extremely harsh training weren''t able to sleep the whole night. They arrived at the entrance of the Northern gates with looks that made it too obvious that they weren''t able to sleep.


    Valdel arrived with a group of most of the citizens of the capital city. Those that had jobs like cooking and such had a different schedule from the others. Today was the start of their physical training with Valdel, and they were going to start the day with a morning jog. When Valdel noticed the group Ren was supposed to train he spoke to them.


    "You guys should''ve slept and ate properly beforeing here. If Ren truly meant what he said that means you guys are in for something you might not be able to return from¡­ Still, if you guys survive then you mighte back as strong as me. Well, anyway good luck."


    After saying his piece Valdel jogged away. The people that came with him looked at the group of twenty with eyes full of pity.


    "Hey, you guys stop gawking at them and follow me. Those that don''t keep up will not get to eat!" Hearing what Valdel said the people no longer bothered with the twenty and started running towards Valdel.


    Seeing the fading backs of the others, the twenty who were left looked at them in envy. Just because of a moment of passion they were now in this current predicament. Still, now that they were here and had no way out except for death, they might as well do their best.


    After an hour of waiting in the morning sun, Ren finally arrived with Arthur walking behind him. Ren held nothing at hand, so maybe their morning training was going to be the same as the others like running. That''s what they thought and felt a tad relieved.


    When Ren saw the faces of the twenty it was obvious that they hadn''t slept nor did they eat. Still, he wasn''t going to be kind to them. He then smiled at the twenty which made them instinctively step back.


    "All of you should have slept and eaten while you can. In dangerous situations, you could never know when''s the next time you can eat or sleep. Well, since this was your decision to do so, then you need to stick with it. The twenty of you form two straight lines!"


    Hearing Ren''smand the twenty immediately formed two lines. It took them a few seconds just to form a line.


    "Since this is just day one, I''m going to allow this, but the next time when I say form a line you need to be finished within two seconds. For every second that you dy the more punishment, you shall receive."


    The atmosphere grew extremely tense when Ren said those words. The twenty men and women could practically hear their hearts beating.


    "So before we start our training you would need this." Ren''s shadow then grewrger as it surrounded the whole area. From within the Ren''s shadow, a set of chainmail, short swords, and sword belts appeared before the twenty.


    "Pick up your equipment and wear them." The twenty quickly moved their bodies and wore their new equipment, while they were doing that Ren summoned a pair of daggers and handed them to Arthur.


    "For now you''re going to use this as we train."


    "Thank you, master, I will do my best." Arthur took the pair of daggers and nodded his head. Once everyone was properly wearing their equipment, Ren spoke in a loud voice.


    "Alright with your equipment on, we will be running towards the base of that mountain which should be around 20 km, we''ll be doing that within an hour. Thest one to arrive at the base of the mountain will need to run back and forth two more times. So you better do your best!"


    The twenty were shocked but only a little since they expected something like this, it didn''t even sound that hard. As they were getting a bit rxed Ren spoke.


    "Oh right, while you''re running through the forest and the grasnds don''t forget about the monsters. On this path, there should be monsters equivalent to C rank adventurers. You either finish them off before continue to run, or you could just outrun them, either way, it''s your choice. You guys just need to make it to the base of the mountain within an hour. That''s all, begin!"


    The twenty were still stunned for a second as Ren said to begin, but after another second they quickly dashed away. There was no backing out now, it didn''t matter what kind of monsters they would face, since the scariest monster of all was the one training them.


    Arthur was also about to begin to run, but Ren stopped him.


    "Your training is going to be a bit different from theirs, so let''s head to the mountain right now." Ren picked up Arthur and jumped into the air.


    ¡­


    It took Ren two seconds to reach the base of the mountain. Once they were there, Ren looked around. There was a waterfall at the side and a river, seeing that Ren nodded his head.


    ''Alright, this is a good ce to train. When those guys get near here I''ll just guide them towards this ce, for now, let''s train my little disciple.''


    "Arthur for now I''ll teach you the basics of mana flow. Usually, I would teach you how to sense mana by closing your eyes and feeling the flow in your body. But if I do that it would take days before you can sense your mana flowing through your body properly. So we''re going to do something different. Hold onto your daggers."


    Arthur held onto his daggers as instructed and did a makeshift stance with them. Ren then started gathering some nearby pebbles.


    "You see once you understand the flow of mana you can use that to strengthen your body. Now I''m going to throw these pebbles at you. I''m going to throw them in a speed that you won''t be able to match if you aren''t able to somehow feel your mana flow and control it to improve your physical ability. It doesn''t matter if you dodge it, deflect it, or cut it down. All you need to do is not get hit by the pebbles. Once you''re able to not get hit for at least one time, then this training will be over. Now that I think about it, that doesn''t sound challenging enough, so let''s add a little more. If you''re unable to do this task before one of those twenty fools reach here, then you''ll stop being my disciple. So are you ready Arthur?"


    Even though Ren gave Arthur a nearly impossible task, the young boy didn''tin, instead, he looked at Ren with even more determination.


    "I will not fail you, master."


    "Now that''s what I want to hear. Don''t worry, even though this will hurt a lot, it won''t kill you. So get ready herees the first one." Ren threw a pebble at Arthur, who could see iting but was unable to react on time. The pebble hit him in his abdomen. The force of the hit almost made Arthur puke but he stopped himself from doing so. Ren then continued to fire another pebble at Arthur.


    The next pebble hit Arthur''s shoulder which almost made the young boy loosen his grip on his weapon. Yet it did not, it only made Arthur grip his daggers even tighter. Arthur didn''t even bother moving for the next couple of pebbles as he took them head-on, as he continued watching them while trying to feel the flow of mana.


    Arthur could somehow sense this so called flow, but he didn''t know how to use it to make his body stronger. So he continued to take in pebble after pebble. After a while, Arthur''s whole body was full of bruises there were even some small cuts here and there. Yet despite that, Arthur remained standing waiting.


    ''This kid really does have more guts than most. That look he''s giving like he would finish the opponent in one strike is making me excited. Now my little disciple, show me what you''ve got.''


    Ren continued to throw pebble after pebble, and after every five minutes, he increases the speed of the throw just a little bit. It was during the thirty-minute mark when Arthur suddenly moved. His movement wasn''t fluent but it was obvious what he was trying to do, he was trying to not dodge the pebble but to strike it down.


    The speed in which Arthur moved was beyond just mere physical ability, he was able to use his mana to enhance his body. Still, Arthur was unable to strike down the pebble. If it was a pebble thrown five minutes earlier then it would''ve been struck down, but Ren had increased the speed. Even though Arthur had sessfully used his mana Ren didn''t stop throwing pebbles.


    ''I did say until he''s able to not get hit.'' It took Arthur two more tries before he was able to strike a pebble down.


    "Very good my disciple." Ren approached the badly bruised Arthur and healed him¡­ "Now that we''re done with that, let''s move onto the next training."

 Chapter 396 - A Rekindled Passion

    <h4>Chapter 396 - A Rekindled Passion</h4>


    It has been over an hour now and there was no sign of the twenty. While they were waiting, Ren told Arthur to stand underneath the waterfall and swing his dagger upstream. He needed to this while trying to make his mana burst outwards, cutting the waterfall in half. He would not be allowed to stop until he was able to do it. Unlike thest task, this one didn''t have a time limit.


    ''Well, the only way he''s going to be able to cut that waterfall in half is if he could somehow utilize all of his mana into one burst. He doesn''t really need to finish this test, I just want to see where his limitsy.''


    While Arthur was being bombarded by the continuous waterfall, Ren was consolidating his umted mana. Ever since his battle with Nyarlom his mana had once again increased. It was now getting closer and closer to the time when he was at his peak. The absurd speed of his mana growth was shocking him. Not only that even his physical body was growing beyond what the normal human body was supposed to achieve. Even without using mana or any other form of energy Ren could lift boulders thrice his size.


    ''If I had this kind of ability in myst life, then every battle would''ve been too boring. Yet now that I have it in this life, it doesn''t feel enough to face the opponent that I''m supposed to face¡­ How wonderful, how truly enjoyable!''


    Ren could feel his blood boiling as he thought about his future battle against the ORIGIN. That would be the ultimate battle, a battle that would be the most important battle of all time. A battle against the very creator of everything.


    ''How do you fight a nearly omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being? The answer is it''s impossible. Yet despite knowing that the original incarnation the first hero, the greatest of humanity chose to fight. I can only say as expected of the origin of myself.''


    As Ren was getting even more excited he finally sensed the group of twenty. They were somewhere near. Ren quickly moved away and appeared at the spot where the twenty were located.


    When he arrived he saw that half of them were wounded. It was obvious that they had faced some monsters on the way. If they weren''t wearing the chainmail he had given them some of them should already be dead. They were now looking around trying to find Ren and Arthur, so to catch their attention Ren pped his hands.


    When they heard the sound of pping the twenty immediately form five circles, their backs against each other. Ren was truly surprised to see them do that.


    ''They''re actually better than I thought they would be.''


    "Congrattions everyone, you were all able to get through the first part of training without getting killed. Who knew that you guys would actually figure out the hidden way to survive, which is to work together. If you guys treated this as a contest and dashed all the way here without caring for one another then most of you would have been dead. I''m actually satisfied with all of your performances."


    When the twenty heard what Ren said they felt relieved. It was a good thing that they had listened to that guy at the beginning and grouped together. As the twenty were feeling relieved, Ren continued to speak.


    "Unfortunately you guys missed the one-hour mark. So since all of you arrived at the same time, all of you will run back to the Northern wall of the city and then run back here. This time there''s no time limit, so no need to rush. Also don''t bother cheating, since I can sense if you actually did what I told you to do. Once you guys are done running I will allow you to eat a good meal. So all of you better get going now."


    The twenty looked at each other and sighed before they started running back towards the Northern Wall.


    ¡­


    It took them an entire three hours to return. When they returned they were all sweaty and panting heavily. Ren once again congratted them and healed their wounds. Ren then guided the twenty to the ce near the waterfall. Once they were there, Ren summoned a table he stored into his shadow. On top of that table were tes filled with a mountain of meat and some roasted bugs.


    "Everyone should sit down like this and start eating. You should eat everyst piece. Anyone who pukes or falls to the ground will have another session of running back to the city."


    Ren did an air chair squat and started eating. The others had no choice but to do it too despite being exhausted. No one wanted to run back to the city again. So they did as they were told and did an air chair squat. The moment they did so they could feel their thighs burning, still, they endured, since this wasn''t as dangerous as running back to the capital.


    When the twenty stared at their tes they were overwhelmed by the staggering amount of meat. Not only that but there were bugs in there as well, which disgusted some, there were even some of them that wanted to puke just thinking about eating the bugs. Still, they all held back on puking since if they did that they would need to start running again.


    Most of the twenty started eating the meat first, while the others ate both the meat and bugs at the same time. After a while, the twenty finally felt their stomachs aching a bit but seeing as they weren''t even halfway done they needed to persevere.


    Ren had finished eating his meal and looked at the twenty. He found it quite funny to see their trembling legs trying their hardest to stay up. It was after a few more minutes the first loser came to be. Unable to continue squatting one of the twenty fell on his butt.


    "Alright, since you fail you know what you need to do, right?" The man that fell on his butt looked at Ren as if he were the scariest monster of all and reluctantly nodded his head as he stood up wobbling.


    "Then go already, or do you want me to train you in some other way?" When the man saw Ren''s widening smile he forced himself to move faster. Seeing the fate that befell one of their own the others tried harder to stay up while eating.


    ¡­


    In the end, only five of the twenty were able to finish their meal while doing air chair squats. Ren was rather impressed by their feat.


    "Alright then, the five of you will proceed to the next phase of the training, but before that, I would like to know how old each one of you is. So to start from right to left tell me your ages."


    "21"


    "18"


    "25"


    "29"


    "27"


    "I see, it''s as I expected. Unfortunately for you guys, you''re all too old to receive mana training. Even if you do train your mana at this point, it won''t amount too much unless you are a once in a millennia talent. Still, do not be disheartened, I have another way to make you guys stronger. Unlike mana which needs inborn gifts and talents to grow stronger, the form of energy I''m about to teach you, only needs you to put in your best effort. The more effort you put in the more rewards you gain."


    Ren made a fist with his right hand and enveloped it with Spirit Aura. Ren then punched forward releasing a tiny bit of his Spirit Aura. The Spirit Aura that was released hit the base of the mountain and formed a huge crack.


    "That was Spirit Aura, it is the energy that is birthed from one''s hard work. As long as you work hard enough you might one day reach my level. So do you guys want to learn it?"


    "YES!" As the five of them shouted their answer in unison, some of them were crying. These people who had once dreamt of bing stronger like the high mages have lost that dream as they grew older. The dream of bing adventurers, heroes, or mighty warriors that roam thend was once again rekindled.


    "Now that''s what I want to hear. For starters, before I teach you how to sense Spirit Aura, we must first make your body a suitable vessel to be able to release the hidden Spirit Aura. So for now I want you guys to draw your swords and begin to swing it for at least five hundred times."


    This time the five no longer hesitated and began swinging their swords with gusto. When the others came back from their run, they were surprised to see the five swinging their swords like mad. Their motivation seems to be increasing with each swing, the fifteen that returned couldn''t understand what had happened, but they knew the next thing they were going to do was swing their swords.


    When the fifteen who were feeling tired heard the same speech Ren gave the five, they once again felt extremely motivated. Despite being so tired that they could fall at any second, they still grabbed their swords and swung them.


    "This is the proper form, you guys better do it this way." Ren showed them a normal forward swing. The twenty nodded their heads as they tried to imitate what Ren did. After teaching them what they needed to do Ren looked at his disciple Arthur who swinging his daggers at the waterfall.


    Ren was rather surprised that Arthur was now able to cut a portion of the waterfall¡­ ''This kid''s potential is beyond what I imagined, how interesting.''

 Chapter 397 - The True Training Begins

    <h4>Chapter 397 - The True Training Begins</h4>


    Arthur who was swinging his dagger upwards against the waterfall was now slowly understanding how to release his mana outward. Yet despite feeling a tiny bit of joy about it, he couldn''t celebrate as he was still being continuously flooded by the waterfall. It has been a few hours since the beginning of his training and he was finally feeling the umted fatigue.


    His master Ren might''ve healed his wounds, but the energy that was drained wasn''t returning and at this moment he was truly exhausted. He could feel his body creaking from the stress of his movements. He was losing steam and it was right when he was nearly able to cut the waterfall in half.


    ''Am I going to fail just like that?¡­ No, I won''t fail, never again!'' Arthur started to think harder to find a solution to his current problem.


    ''What did master say I need to do? Oh right, he said that I needed to make my mana burst outward and cut the waterfall in half. He never did specify how I should cut the waterfall. I''m already able to make my mana burst outward so all I need to do now is cut the waterfall in half.''


    Arthur''s eyes were zing with intense passion. Ren noticed the shift in Arthur''s stance as he squatted deeper than normal. Arthur enveloped his daggers with a small amount of mana.


    ''That won''t be enough to cut the waterfall, so what is this kid nning?'' Ren curiously watched what his young disciple was about to do. After sessfully enveloping his daggers with mana, Arthur concentrated the flow of his mana onto his legs. When Ren saw what Arthur did, he could finally guess what the kid was trying to do.


    ''Heh, this kid is always showing me something beyond what I thought he could manage. Still, if he only focused his mana onto his legs he''s in for a world of hurt. Well, I guess experiencing it first hand is better than me just telling him about it.'' Ren could already see the oue of what Arthur was nning to do.


    Once Arthur was done gathering enough mana into his legs he jumped up against the waterfall. As he was jumping upward he held his daggers and sliced the waterfall while his whole body was darting upward.


    As he was going against the waterfall, Arthur could feel his body crying in pain. His arms were nearly breaking from the speed of his jump and the force of the waterfall, still, he held on and continued to slice the waterfall with a burst of his mana. At the end of it, he was able to sessfully slice the waterfall in half. It was for a brief moment but he was sure that he had seeded.


    Arthur smiled as hepleted his task, even though his whole body was aching and he was currently falling headfirst to the ground he was d that he had seeded. It was at that moment someone had caught him mid-air.


    "That was reckless my young disciple, but nheless it was impressive. For now, I will allow you to sleep for an hour. So rest and get ready for the next part of the training."


    "Thank you, master." After responding to Ren, Arthur closed his eyes and started sleeping. Ren was shocked to see the quick transition, Arthur didn''t even hesitate as he suddenly slept.


    ''Truly what is with this kid? Even most adults don''t have this kind of peace of mind, and his determination is abnormal. Is it possible that after that incident with the Primordial Demon, this kid gained the potential to be someone that breaks the shackles of fate? Could it be that he can really be like the original incarnation and break free? Now I''m really excited to see what this kid can do once he''s properly trained.''


    Ren couldn''t stop grinning as he healed Arthur''s wounds andid him down. Ren then looked at the twenty and sighed. ''Even though their potential isn''t anywhere near Arthur''s, I at least thought that they had simr levels of determination, but these guys arecking quite a bit.''


    The twenty who were swinging their swords were already sweating heavily and panting. At around the count of two hundred, their arms were like bricks and were getting too heavy to carry.


    Some of them were slowing down as they gritted their teeth to lift up their arms. The others were already on the floor trying to rest for a second. On the other hand, the first five who started earlier were swinging their swords at a faster pace as they were nearing the count of five hundred. It would seem that they were using the remaining energy they had to burst through and finish.


    ''So those five were a little bit above the rest¡­ Still, the others seem to be sorelycking, this might take longer than I thought.'' Ren then stood in front of the twenty and made an announcement.


    "Those who are resting now will need to restart their count from one. As for those that finish on their first try, they can have a twenty-minute break, as for the first ten that finish they can rest for half an hour."


    When the twenty heard Ren''s announcement they had different reactions. The first five felt even more motivated as they swung their swords even faster than before. Despite their shoulder and arms aching they continued to swing the sword frantically. Those that were near the first five felt as motivated and started topete with the others as to who will be part of the top ten. On the other hand, those that were resting were regretting their decision to stop. Still, now that they were resting they decided to use this time to rest for a longer time. As if he was able to read their minds, Ren spoke.


    "Oh, I forgot to mention those that stop swinging their swords for about three minutes will be punished. If you''re a repeat offender then there is no longer any need for the three minutes rule, I will punish you immediately." Hearing what Ren said those that were nning to rest stood up and started swinging their swords.


    ¡­


    Once most of them were down and only a few were left swinging their swords, Ren told them about the next phase of the training.


    "Alright, now that warm-ups are over it''s time for the real training."


    ''That was a warm-up!'' The twenty nearly shouted that out loud. So running while fighting monsters, and swinging their swords for five hundred times was merely a warm-up.


    "The real training will be a game of hide and seek." When the twenty heard what Ren said they dryly gulped. If it was Ren doing the seeking this would be truly a torturous game.


    "This game of hide of seek won''t be like a normal one. You guys will be indeed hiding, but once you''re spotted you need to fight back. If you''re able to subdue the seeker then it''s your win. If you''re able to avoid detection from the seeker until sunrise then it''s also your win. I can already see in your faces that you''re all thinking it''s impossible. Do not worry I will not be the seeker, that kid over there will be the seeker." Ren pointed at Arthur who was still sleeping.


    When the twenty heard that it was Arthur doing the seeking instead of Ren, they felt slightly relieved. Still, they did see the kid slice through the waterfall, he was also able to withstand Ren''s bloodlust. That would mean he was not only physically superior he was also mentally superior to them.


    "Since it won''t be training for my disciple if you guys aren''t somehow capable, I will teach you the basic form of Spirit Aura." Ren then started to exin to the twenty the basic principle of Spirit Aura. He didn''t go too deep and only taught them how to envelop their body with Spirit Aura. Despite oversimplifying it for them only a few got it. Seeing that, Ren shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, that''s good enough. My disciple will start looking for you guys once he wakes up so I advise you to head out as soon as possible. Oh right, I forgot to say, you''re all allowed to go for the kill, the same goes for my disciple expect him to go at you with the intention of killing you. Well, that''s all, I hope you guys survive this first part of the training."


    The twenty couldn''t believe their ears, Ren was allowing them to kill a nine-year-old child. Even though it was tempting to do it, so that they could be the direct disciple of Ren, the twenty shook those nasty thoughts away.


    ''What''s the point of gaining strength if you throw away your humanity?'' All of them had the same basic thought.


    ¡­


    After a few minutes, those that were done resting looked at one another and nodded their heads. The first ten left as a group. The remaining ten left a bitter but they left one by one and scattered in different directions.


    ¡­


    After Ren woke up Arthur, he exined the details to his disciple regarding the game that he was about to join. "You better go out and find them quickly or you''ll lose. Also, just a tip if you''re able to make your mana flow through even the surrounding area, you''ll be able to sense the mana of the others."


    Arthur nodded his head and responded¡­ "I will do my best, master."

 Chapter 398 - Infiltrating New Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 398 - Infiltrating New Grenton</h4>


    After running for two days straight with only short breaks, Lara was finally able to arrive at New Grenton. From afar, Lara could see the gates of New Grenton. When Lara saw the gates she noticed that it was not the same gates as before, it was obvious that it was a brand new gate. There was also some damage to the wall here and there.


    ''Did someone attack?¡­ Damn it, was it a Primordial Demon?'' Lara clicked her tongue. Even though she saw that there were guards at the gate and nothing else seems out of ce, she still, didn''t let her guard down. Since based on what she saw in the Serbek Kingdom, she knew that the Primordial Demons needed humans so they won''t kill them all. So it was safe to assume that they would try to rule over any human settlement that they capture. It''s possible that New Grenton had already fallen, and these guards were under the influence of a Primordial Demon.


    ''Though, I can''t imagine Silika ever losing. She should be near the same level as Ren.'' Even though she didn''t want to admit it, Lara clearly remembered Silika''s strength from the time she practices with them. She was always holding back as they fought, even if Lara got serious Silika would always have some room to spare.


    It was said that Silika''s current power was still less than what she had before. The reason for that was because her power depends on how much mana Ren has. So now that Ren''s mana had increased by so much, that would mean that Silika''s power should''ve also increased.


    "Still, it''s not certain if Silika can receive mana from Ren as he''s so far away. Better investigate first, and determine the current state of New Grenton. If they truly are under the influence of a Primordial Demon, I''ll quickly head back and inform Ren.''


    After deciding her course of action, Lara quickly headed to a part of the wall of New Grenton that had the least amount of soldiers. She quickly jumped over the wall and without anyone noticing she knocked out the nearby soldiers. Lara hid their bodies to the side. She then hypnotized them, so that when they wake up they would think that they copsed due to exhaustion.


    Once she was done doing that, Lara quickly blended into the shadows. Among those that Ren taught, she was the one who excelled the most in concealment, depending on the situation she was even better than Ren himself. Still, that was because Ren detested sneaking around as he found it boring. He would rather enter at the front with a loud boom.


    ''Well, I can''t do things like Ren, since I''m not as strong as him. Like Ren always says, I should do what only I can do.''


    ¡­


    Lara went around the city and noticed a few houses being repaired, it was obvious that a huge fight took ce, but who was the winner? The only way to find the answer is to see what those at the top were doing. This meant sneaking around Silika and the others. She was sure she could easily sneak around, Iselv and Kithra, it was uncertain if she could sessfully sneak around Ashley and Hilda, but those two weren''t as hard to deal with as Silika. It was entirely possible that the moment she entered the city Silika was already aware of her presence.


    The chances of that happening as she was suppressing her presence were minuscule but it wasn''t a hundred percent certain. Still, since there had been no reaction up to now, maybe she was being too wary.


    The first person Lara tried to find was Iselv, but after listening to some gossip here and there, Lara found out that there was indeed a battle and Iselv was injured. Also, Kithra had gone out and was not in New Grenton at the moment.


    After listening to some more rumors, Lara was still unable to determine who had won the fight. No one was talking about the oue of the fight and were actually showing signs of fear. She even tried to hypnotize some of the citizens, but despite doing that not one of them could answer the question of who won the battle. Even hypnotized they were too scared to even think about the Primordial Demon that had invaded a few days ago.


    ''Even though they didn''t say much, I now know that a Primordial Demon really did attack. Still, no one among these guys knows who had won that battle, or even if they did they refused to talk about it. I have no choice I can try my luck with either Hilda or Ashley, but if all else fails I''ll just confront Silika. Even if she''s stronger than me, I''m still confident with my ability to escape.'' Lara strengthened her resolve as she headed to the newly created castle in the middle of the city.


    ¡­


    Ashley was at the training grounds and was training harder than before. Thest fight with the Primordial Demon proved that she was still sorelycking. As she was swinging her sword, Ashley sensed someone hiding. It was vague but she was sure that someone was here spying on her.


    Despite trying her hardest she couldn''t determine the exact location of the person. ''This person is a highly trained assassin, is he here to take my head? Why though, Iselv is the one who''s king, and Silika is the person who controls the military. I''m nothing that important¡­ Is the assassin trying to get to Ren, or is something else entirely?''


    "Hey, I already know that you''re there, so how about showing yourself?"


    The moment Ashley said those words, the presence became clearer but the person in question didn''t appear, instead, the person started moving. Ashley quickly followed, it was obvious that this assassin was trying to lead her somewhere.


    After running around, the assassin had led her outside of New Grenton. It was obviously a trap, but Ashley wasn''t afraid.


    "Alright, I followed you here so how about showing yourself?" From within the shadows, a familiar figure appeared. It was the ever stoic Lara. As Ashley was about to ask her what she was doing, she quickly raised her sword to defend herself. A powerful fist hit her sword and made her move a step back.


    "What the heck are you doing, LARA?!" Ashley was confused as to what was happening and started defending from Lara''s ever-flowing attacks. After a few more rounds Lara suddenly stopped attacking. She looked at Ashely and nodded her head.


    "It would seem that you haven''t sumbed to a Primordial Demon."


    "What the heck are you talking about?!" Ashley didn''t lower her guard as she shouted at Lara.


    "I needed to make sure that you were still you. The only way I knew how is throughbat."


    "You could''ve just asked, you know!"


    "I wouldn''t be able to determine the truth in your words. The only way Ren taught me how to understand others is throughbat."


    "You¡­ You really don''t have any sense of self, everything is Ren for you."


    "I do, but I just don''t bother showing it in front of you."


    Hearing Lara''s response with that stoic expression of hers made Ashley sigh. Even though Ashley felt like it was alright to sheath her sword, she didn''t do so. Lara was too hard to read, and she wasn''t sure if all this talk was just to make her lower her guard.


    In the exchange they had, Ashley could sense that Lara was holding back. It would seem that she had powered up considerably during her absence. Just one mistake from Ashley could mean death, so even though she believed that Lara wouldn''t attack anymore she held her sword tightly in her hand.


    "Now that I''m certain you''re still you, how about telling me what happened during the time I was away."


    "How about we head back to the meeting room, and I can exin everything with Silika and the others."


    "No need, just give me a brief exnation now." Seeing how adamant Lara was, Ashley sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Ashley then told Lara about the important events that transpired in her absence.


    ¡­


    "I see, so you really were attacked by a Primordial Demon as well."


    "As well, so you too?"


    "Yes, I was in the Serbek Kingdom''s capital for a job the adventurers guild gave me. There I met Valdel and some others that I know. During the incident like you guys, we were helpless against the Primordial Demon. It was a good thing that Ren appeared."


    "Wait?! Ren was there as well?! Why was he there, what happened to him?"


    "I will exin it to youter. Just call Silika and the others over here. I will exin once everyone is present."


    ''Didn''t I already suggest that a while ago?''


    "You''re pretty talkative today¡­ Well fine, I''ll call them." Ashley was about to head back to New Grenton before, Lara stopped her.


    "Can you call, Aunty Milly as well¡­ Also bring Kurt over."


    "Alright."

 Chapter 399 - A Gift From Your Big Brother

    <h4>Chapter 399 - A Gift From Your Big Brother</h4>


    After waiting for a couple of minutes, Silika and the others arrived outside the walls of New Grenton, where Lara was waiting for them. Hilda approached Lara and grabbed her shoulders.


    "Lara is it true? Did you really meet Ren?"


    "Yes," Lara answered. When Milly heard Lara''s answer she almost cried. She always believed that her robust son would never fall, but hearing that someone had actually seen him made her feel extremely relieved.


    "So where is he, is he here with you now?"


    "No, he''s currently back in the Serbek Kingdom?" When the others heard Lara''s reply they each had different reactions.


    "Was he captured?" Even though the statement was an unbelievable one, it was the only thing they could think of at the moment. Lara was shocked by the statement, even though it wasn''t shown on her face, she was experiencing inner turmoil.


    ''What the f*ck is this b*tch talking about?! How could they even begin to think that Ren could be captured?!'' As that thought quickly floated by Lara''s mind she simply shook her head in response.


    "No, he hasn''t been captured. In fact, he has captured the Serbek Kingdom, it is now effectively his."


    "Huh?!" Most of those present were dumbfounded by the news.


    "So he just went out and captured a whole kingdom by himself?" Ashley shook her head still trying toprehend what she just heard. It was truly unbelievable for her, the Reschbeauch Kingdom had fought the Serbek Kingdom for centuries and no one was able to emerge the victor. Ren had been missing for a few months and now he''s the new ruler of the enemy Kingdom.


    ¡­


    While everyone was still trying to grasp the new info they heard, Lara approached Silika.


    "Ren had given me a task of delivering this letter to you Silika." Lara handed the letter to Silika, who quickly opened it and started reading. After reading the letter Silika couldn''t help but giggle at it.


    "What did Ren write?" Hilda and Ashley couldn''t help but ask at the same time. Lara also wanted to know what the contents of the letter were.


    "It''s nothing much, it would seem that Ren is going to use the crisis that the Primordial Demons are going to do, and turn it into training so that he can create strong warriors. He basically said that we should bring him the best knights of the kingdom so that he could train them. He also wants Hilda, Milly, and Kurt to head to his ce. As for Ashley, Lara, and I, we need to stay here to protect the Reschbeauch Kingdom."


    "What?!" Ashley shouted, even Lara was wide-eyed when she heard what Silika said. Ren didn''t want her to go back? That must be a mistake, Lara then took the letter from Silika. She skimmed through the letter.


    "So is it true, did Ren ask us to stay here?" Ashley couldn''t help but ask, even though she knew that Silika wouldn''t lie nor make a mistake, she still wanted to believe that Silika didn''t read it properly. Lara looked at Ashley and answered.


    "It is true." Lara gave back the letter to Silika.


    "Don''t take it too personally, Ren simply made this decision since we can''t all be at the Serbek Kingdom. Based on the distribution of power I guess these groups are about right. This only means that Ren trusts the two of you to hold the fort before he returns." Silika smiled gently at the two.


    When Ashley and Lara heard Silika''s exnation, it did make sense. Knowing that Ren trusts them that much made them feel better. Once she was able to calm down, Lara handed the other letter she had to Milly.


    "Aunty Milly, this is for you."


    "Thank you, Lara." Milly took the letter opened it and started reading.


    ¡­


    "Hey Mom, it''s been a while. I know that you must be very worried about me, but I''m sure you also know that there''s no need for that. Well, that aside, I wanted to apologize to you, for leaving without a word. I guess hearing of dad''s death had affected me more than I thought¡­ I couldn''t control my rage, and I wanted to tear apart whoever did that to dad. I forgot that you were hurting as well, I''m sorry that I wasn''t there for you when you needed me the most. My emotions just took over me, and I couldn''t stop myself. I hope that by the time you are reading this letter, you''re feeling much better. Don''t worry mom, Hilda will escort you here so that we can meet again. Oh, I hope that Kurt liked the present I gave him. See you, mom."


    When Milly got to the end of theter she was confused. "Lara, it says here that Ren gave Kurt a present?"


    "Oh, I almost forgot there was a package that Ren wanted me to give Kurt." Lara took out the small package and handed it to the now three-year-old Kurt.


    "Mommy, what''s this?" Seeing the bewildered Kurt made Milly smile.


    "That''s a gift from your big brother. Let''s open it up and see what he gave you."


    "Let''s open it!" Kurt happily ripped apart the package. Inside there was a letter and a book. Milly took the letter from Kurt and read it out loud.


    "To my little brother Kurt. If I remember correctly your birthday should''ve already passed. I was unable to be there for all of your birthdays, so to try and make up for that your big brother will hand you the best gift I can give. This book is a book that will teach you how to channel mana and use spells. This book essentially contains all the basic knowledge I have about mana and spells. Once you''re able to master this, I will hand you the next volume. For now, I hope that you can grow up to be strong, so much stronger than even your big brother."


    When the others heard the contents of the letter, it made their mouths open wide in shock. They all stared at the book Ren had gifted his younger brother Kurt. Seeing the hungry stares of the others made Kurt wary as he hugged his book confused. Seeing Kurt''s cute reaction the girls couldn''t help but giggle.


    "Don''t worry little one, we won''t take that from you." Silika patted Kurt''s head.


    "That''s a very valuable thing you hold. That could be considered a national treasure." Ashley couldn''t help but sigh as she stared at the book longingly. Unlike the others in Ren''s group, she was the one who has the least knowledge in regards to spellcraft. Though that couldn''t be helped as she devoted her entire time to the way of the sword.


    "You girls must be exaggerating. I know that my son is powerful, but this is just a book he wrote for his little brother." Milly spoke as she looked at the girls.


    "You underestimate your son greatly. In this world in the field of mana and spell research, if Ren ims he''s number two, no one can im that they are number one. Ren''s knowledge in regards to mana control is the best of all. No matter the era you look at, aside from the creator himself there''s no one who could surpass Ren in mana control." Silika answered with a serious expression.


    Knowing the truth about Ren, she knew that within him there was the incarnation that practically created the book regarding spellcraft.


    "Yeah, if possible I would also want to share that book with my little sisters."


    "Big sis Ka, and Big sis Nina, want to read as well? Let''s all read together." Kurt happily smiled as he wanted to hand over the book to Hilda. Hearing what Kurt said, Hilda patted the little boy''s head and smiled.


    "No, it''s alright Kurt, my little sisters won''t need to read that book¡­ This book is a gift from your big brother, you should cherish it and be strong." Kurt then tilted his head, even though he couldn''t understand much of what Hilda said he still nodded his little head happily. Kurt then ran over to Milly and gave her the book.


    "Mommy, can you read this for me?"


    "Of course, I can read it for you."


    "If I and mommy be strong, will mommy stop crying then?" Even though Kurt didn''t fully understand what it meant to be strong, he knew that at night his mother wept. She kept on mumbling to herself. "If only I was stronger." So knowing that his book could make a person stronger, Kurt asked that question to his mother. When the others heard what Kurt innocently said, they couldn''t help themselves as tears started to fill up their eyes.


    Milly hugged her three-year-old son and tried her hardest to not cry. "Yes, will both be strong, and mommy will stop crying from now on." She truly was a wretched mother, making her young son worry about her.


    ''I need to be strong not only for myself but for Kurt and even Ren. That boy might act like nothing gets to him, but I know deep inside he''s the one who always gets hurt the most¡­ Always hiding his insecurities in that smile of his.''

 Chapter 400 - Another One In My Soul

    <h4>Chapter 400 - Another One In My Soul</h4>


    A few days have passed and the twenty Ren was training were able to somehow stay alive. All of them could now manifest Spirit Aura. Still, even with that the training never got easier, in fact, the moment they have shown that they could use Spirit Aura the training became even deadlier.


    If it weren''t for the fact that Ren had allowed them to move in groups of two, they might have died already. Wellpared to their training which would seem like a breeze inparison, Arthur''s training was literal hell on earth.


    The twenty got to face monsters of all sorts and were required to beat a certain amount. On the other hand, Arthur''s opponent was none other than Ren himself. Ren would restrict his power to the bare minimum, but even then he was still a monster beyond any monster.


    It was a miracle that no one was dead. They continued to train and train. They had no choice, they were too far gone to quit now. Also, they weren''t sure that quitting was a good idea. Seeing how unpredictable Ren was, it was entirely possible that the moment they tried to quit Ren himself would cut them down.


    ¡­


    It was just another day of training, Ren told the twenty to dive into the deep river and start kicking punching the wooden dolls he had ced. They needed to stay underwater for about four hours.


    "Don''t worry, as long as you''re able to maintain your Spirit Aura and enveloped yourself in it, you can hold your breath for a very long time. Well, those that fail to do so might die. Still, knowing all of you I guess you can survive this." Ren nodded his head as he smiled. He started pushing the twenty into the deep river.


    Once the twenty were all in the river, Ren looked at his disciple Arthur. In the few days that they had been training, Arthur''s mana had grown by a substantial amount. So today he taught Arthur how to stabilize his mana.


    It was truly amazing to see how far Arthur could go with just his pure determination. Arthur did have talent, but he wasn''t as talented as Lara or Valdel. Lara had something hidden within her, and her obsession with Ren had pushed her to be very strong. Valdel was a natural hero, his destiny linked to the destiny of the very world, and added to that he had memories of the former demon lord Kir. It wasn''t hard for Valdel to get strong as he would always get something that could increase his strength due to his high luck.


    On the other hand,pared to those two, Arthur might be considered a normal child, well if youpare him to Lara and Valdel that is. All Arthur truly had was his absolute determination, his extreme tenacity had forced him to be able to ovee all of Ren''s tests.


    ''If he continues like this, it won''t take too long to reach the same level as Lara and Val. I guess this much tenacity could be considered a talent as well.''


    Ren looked at Arthur''s stabilizing mana and nodded his head. ''Well, I guess while I''m waiting, I should better train as well¡­ At this point both my mana and physical body are growing stronger for every second, the only way to power-up faster is if I fight opponents near my level or those stronger than me¡­ Well, at this point the only ones who could help me train are those inside my soul realm. There''s also that thing were I can gain their knowledge and skill if I beat them. So fighting them truly is the fastest way to get stronger.''


    As Ren decided to enter his soul realm, he noticed a weird presenceing near. The beinging wasn''t exuding any mana. ''Oh, perfect timing.'' Ren smiled as his body disappeared.


    ¡­


    The Primordial Demon Hako had wandered around the Serbek Kingdom gathering information. As he was returning to the meeting spot, he noticed that there were some humans at the base of the mountain.


    He found it weird as to what the humans were doing in the middle of a monster-infested area. Based on the ursed mana they were emitting, they were too weak to handle the stronger monsters in the area. There was only one person there that had a decent amount of mana that he could sense.


    ''I am rather curious, so I''ll just check it out for a bit.'' Hako changed directions and headed to the base of the nearby mountain.


    ¡­


    When Hako arrived at the area he found the humans. There were twenty humans kicking and punching underwater, while the one who had an impressive amount of mana was nothing more than a child. The child was sitting cross-legged and seems to be doing some meditation.


    ''That''s a rather interesting training regimen. They might have weak mana supplies, but their physical body is beyond the other humans. Hmm, physical type humans are troublesome, they aren''t that affected by our skill in emotion maniption. Also those humans with strong bodies, usually have strong minds as well, and they give half-ass malice, but once they break they do give exquisite malice. Hmm, should I keep them alive and break themter, but thates with a lot of risks. Should I just kill them now to nip this problem in the bud?''


    Hako started to contemte as to what to do. ''Even if I decide not to kill the twenty humans underwater, I should kill this kid that stinks of pure mana. Alright, I''ll just kill the kid first and think about what to do to the otherster.''


    Once Hako decided what to do he immediately dove to the ground and was about to attack the child. Yet as he was diving his sight was suddenly filled with darkness. He looked around in surprise and saw that everything suddenly became dark. He could still move his body and he could still see his hands and feet, yet aside from that everything else was in darkness.


    For a Primordial Demon who was born from chaos and darkness, Hako wasn''t that scared by his current situation he just found it weird. Hako tried attacking in a wide area but that did absolutely nothing.


    ''What the heck is happening?'' As Hako''s confusion was growing, he suddenly heard someone whisper in his ear.


    "Hey, what were you going to do to my disciple?" Hako reflexively attacked the person behind him. Yet when he shed behind there was nothing there.


    "Attacking like that is pretty rude." Hako once again heard the voice whispering in his ear. This time Hako took some distance and turned around. Standing in front of him was a man with a very average-looking face that you could see anywhere. His presence was nothing to write home about, and his mana seems to be only a little above average from the other humans Hako has seen. Yet despite all that Hako could see from the way the man stood that he had no openings.


    "Who are you? Are you the one who created this dark space?"


    "You''re unworthy to hear my name, but I guess I can tell you that was indeed the one who created this space. I just isted us from the outside world, you can call this a pocket dimension."


    "To be able to create a pocket dimension with your mana, you must be using an artifact of sorts. Human, if you release me now, I''ll spare your life. Even though you have artifacts that could create a pocket dimension, as well as teleport, that won''t be enough to beat me. In the end, no matter how many artifacts you have, you''re still just a weak human." When Ren heard what Hako heard, he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Pfft, HAHAHA! That''s so funny. You''re a very funny Primordial Demon."


    "You know what I am?"


    "Of course I do, I have already beaten one of you guys." Hako was alerted by what Ren said, this man had already defeated a Primordial Demon.


    ''Hmm, I guess with the artifacts he has shown me, he could defeat a weakened Primordial Demon. Even now I''m not at a hundred percent of my strength. So the Primordial Demon he fought before might''ve been below half his strength.''


    "Do notpare me to whomever you have beaten. I''m sure that I am currently way stronger than the one you had fought before." Ren tilted his head, after a while, he shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t think you''re stronger at all. In my eyes, both of you are pretty weak." Hako was angered by Ren''s arrogant tone. No longer able to hold it in Hako was about to strike, when suddenly he felt an immense force weighing down on him. The force was so great he couldn''t move an inch.


    "You see, aren''t you pretty weak?"


    "What did you do?"


    "Nothing much, I just thought about attacking you." When Hako heard Ren''s answer he could feel his whole body bing cold. ''Just him thinking about attacking me made my whole body stop.''


    It was at this moment, Hako had only one thought left in his mind. ''ESCAPE!'' He needed to escape. As he was about to flee in the other direction, Hako heard Ren''s voice.


    "I was going to use you as a training material for my disciple, but I changed my mind."


    At that moment Hako could no longer feel his body. In the blink of the eye, his body was disintegrated into nothingness. Hako was only left with his soul. If he didn''t find a body quickly his soul will disappear. Unfortunately for him, Ren was the only one near him.


    ''It''s do or die. If I fail all that would happen is death, but if I seed I''ll get his strong body.'' Hako took a chance and entered Ren''s soul. As he was entering Ren''s soul he heard Ren''s voice again.


    "How foolish doing the same thing as that guy."


    ¡­


    Hako couldn''t understand what Ren meant when he said those words, but now that he was inside Ren''s soul all he needed to do is merge with it. Yet for some reason, Ren''s soul was different from the others. The moment Hako entered Ren''s soul, Hako who was in spirit form was now in a physical body. He then saw a familiar figure, it was none other than Nyarlom.


    "Thanks for backing me up, now we can both experience the abyss together." After Nyarlom said those words Hako saw numerous humans appearing and surrounding them. Hako noticed a lot of familiar faces, especially one face that he could never forget. It was Leonard Tranor, when he saw that man Hako immediately knew what he had gotten himself into.


    "Oh, how fun, another Primordial Demon to y with."


    "Ren should collect them all so that we can have a lot of different sparring partners."


    Hearing the excited voices of the incarnations of the strongest mortal soul, Hako felt true despair.

 Chapter 401 - Demons Inside The Realm Of True Demons

    <h4>Chapter 401 - Demons Inside The Realm Of True Demons</h4>


    Nyarlom could no longer tell how long he has been in this forsaken ce. Since the moment he entered Ren''s soul he had only spoken once, and most of his time was spent fighting different incarnations of Ren.


    Despite being at his peak strength he was nothing more than a child in front of these monsters. The strongest mortal soul lives up to its legend.


    ''The strongest of every era, the legend that can never be forgotten.'' Nyarlom couldn''t help but remember that legend as he was getting pounded away by one of the incarnations. After fighting countless incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul Nyarlom understood a few things. These guys were practically unbeatable with his level of power.


    ''That must be why they say in the legends only beings that can surpass the world can face an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.'' He also understood that no matter what kind of damage he has taken in this soul realm, even if it was his death, he would always be revived a few secondster. So there was no escaping this ce even in death.


    Another thing he noticed was if you stop fighting, the incarnations would mentally torture you until you want to fight again. Their way of mentally torturing their opponents was something, not even he a Primordial Demon woulde up with.


    ''These guys are supposed to be heroes, right? Why do they seem more demonic than me a true demon?''


    Nyarlom had given up in resisting and assisted the numerous incarnation by doing sparring sessions. Still, it wasn''t all bad, even though he could not receive malice in this ce, there was something else that fuels him here. Supposedly in this realm, there was something called Origin energy, the base form of all energy, be it the mana that normal creatures use, or the Malice that Primordial Demons use, even other forms of energy such as Spirit Aura, and Sword Will, and many more could be reproduced using Origin Energy.


    So even in here, Nyarlom was growing stronger, he had already surpassed his former peak and was now stronger than before, yet despite the increase in strength, he was still nothing more than a ything to most of the incarnations.


    In this ce, no matter what kind of legendary being you were, aside from the ORIGIN everyone else would feel like a piece of crap if youe topare yourself with the monsters that reside in this ce, were not even deities dare tread.


    ¡­


    "This is getting boring, the only thing that seems to be increasing is just your power output, aside from that you''re worthless. You have no technique, all you do is wield your power around like a child." The current incarnation facing Nyarlom spoke as he was holding Nyarlom in a stranglehold. The incarnation let go of Nyarlom and sighed.


    "I wasn''t even able to use my weapon, after fighting you twice, I see that there''s nothing else you have to offer¡­ Have you learned nothing after facing off against all the different incarnations?"


    ''What the f*ck do you want me to say here?! Do you want me to say that I learned how to get beaten up?!'' Nyarlom wanted to scream but had no energy to do so. Even though theoretically speaking it was impossible to get tired in the soul realm, but it wasn''t Nyarlom''s body that was tired he felt that it was his spirit that was tired.


    "We used so many different techniques, yet you''re unable to learn a single one of them?" No longer able to hold it in Nyarlom replied.


    "What the f*ck, do you want me to learn your techniques as I get beaten up?" When the incarnation heard Nyarlom''s reply he tilted his head confused.


    "Huh, isn''t that how you learn techniques, you learn them by experiencing them?"


    ''Only you weirdos could do such an unbelievable thing!'' Nyarlom cried internally. She couldn''t say it out loud and only looked at the incarnation dumbfounded. ''Is that why they kept using different techniques as they face me? They were actually trying to teach me.''


    "Why?"


    "Huh, why what?"


    "Why are you trying to train me?" Hearing Nyarlom''s question the incarnation looked at him as if he was looking at someone stupid.


    "Isn''t the answer obvious? We were training you so that you can grow stronger."


    "Aren''t you guys afraid that I will grow stronger than you?" The moment those words left Nyarlom''s mouth he immediately regretted it.


    "Pfft, HAHAHAHA!" The incarnation started tough heartily, which made Nyarlom frown.


    ''Yeah, I know that no matter how much you train me I won''t be able to surpass you freaking monsters. Still, that doesn''t warrant so muchughing.'' As if able to read through Nyarlom''s mind the incarnation answered.


    "Do not misunderstand, I''m notughing because I''m looking down on you. No, in fact, it''s the opposite, I''mughing cause I got too excited. Of course, we aren''t afraid that you would grow stronger than us, as a matter of fact, I can speak for most of the incarnations that we wee you growing stronger than all of us. To fight someone that''s more powerful than us, and wants to control our very soul, what a wonderful battle that will be." The incarnation then showed the signature vicious smile that all of the incarnations would show as they get truly excited.


    ''As expected these guys are insane. They would even train their enemies just so that they can face a stronger opponent.''


    "Alright, since you aren''t able to learn it as quickly, I''ll teach you a simple technique." The incarnation then summoned a halberd. "Oh wait, I guess I should teach you unarmed techniques first." The incarnation unsummoned his halberd and then took a stance, he then showed a couple of fists and leg techniques.


    "Did you get that?" Still startled Nyarlom replied.


    "Can you show it again, but slower?"


    "Fine."


    After a few hours, Nyarlom finally understood the gist of each strike.


    "I''ll tell the others to give you some free time after every fight so you can practice." After telling that the incarnation left.


    After that incident, Nyarlom''s routine changed a bit. This time after every fight each incarnation would teach him a basic move from their branch of fighting. Even though it was hard to digest all of the techniques he had learned, Nyarlom had tried his very best.


    Now with the increase in his power as well as the refinement of his techniques, Nyarlom felt like a new being. He no longer wished to devour the malice of others, now all he could think of was how to get stronger. Yet even with the change in his mindset and the increase of his abilities, Nyarlom couldn''t beat a single incarnation.


    Still, there was a visible improvement. At the start, Nyarlom couldn''t evenst one move against the incarnations, yet now depending on who he was facing he couldst more than ten moves. Some of the incarnations got too excited and taught Nyarlom some advanced forms.


    Unfortunately for Nyarlom he wasn''t powerful nor experienced enough to understand those forms properly. He couldn''t practice them, since when he tried to do so, his spirit almost self-destructed. Seeing that Nyarlom wasn''t at that level yet, some of the incarnations looked a bit disappointed.


    ¡­


    Nyarlom continued his days like this, until one day another spirit arrived in Ren''s soul realm. It was a familiar person, it was another Primordial Demon.


    ''So it''s Hako.'' Seeing his fellow Primordial looking around confused, Nyarlom approached him. When Hako spotted Nyarlom his eyes widened in astonishment, he was about to ask where they were, but Nyarlom spoke first.


    "Thanks for backing me up, now we can both experience the abyss together." After Nyarlom said those words Hako saw numerous humans appearing and surrounding them. Hako noticed a lot of familiar faces, especially one face that he could never forget. It was Leonard Tranor, when he saw that man Hako immediately knew what he had gotten himself into.


    "Oh, how fun, another Primordial Demon to y with."


    "Ren should collect them all so that we can have a lot of different sparring partners."


    Hearing the excited voices of the incarnations of the strongest mortal soul, Nyarlom sighed as he looked at his kin and saw the face of true despair. It was obvious that Hako wanted to flee.


    "Don''t even bother trying to escape. Just ept the fact that you have been captured, the faster you ept this the better."


    "Is there really no way to escape?"


    "What do you think, with not only Leonard Tranor here but all the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, do you still think we have a chance?" Hako looked at all the smiling faces that were surrounding him, and the answer became pretty obvious.


    "Then should we just give up?" Hako looked at Nyarlom filled with reluctance.


    "You better stop thinking unnecessary things, in this ce all you need to think of is how to get strong. If you''re stronger who knows maybe someday we can escape¡­" Even though what Nyarlom said seem to have some form of hope in it, but for Hako he felt like those words brought only more hopelessness.

 Chapter 402 - Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 402 - Reunion</h4>


    Hilda, Milly, and Kurt were out on the road heading towards the Capital city of the Serbek Kingdom, Varzon. Unlike the time Lara sprinted towards New Grenton, Hilda and her party needed to move slowly. It was a good thing that Hilda was a very experienced adventurer, which made traveling much easier. In their current pace, it will take them around nine days before reaching Varzon.


    ¡­


    While they were traveling Milly was reading Kurt the book Ren gave him. The instructions in the book were very precise, and the exnations were quite simple. Seeing how simple it was, Milly felt confident that she would be able to teach Kurt a few things from the book.


    The first step was to learn how to sense mana. Ren had written different ways on how to do this. He didn''t know which way would suit Kurt since he hasn''t properly seen his little brother. So with so many choices, Milly decided on one which felt like something Kurt would understand.


    "Kurt close your eyes." Kurt did as he was told. "Now imagine butterflies flying all over your body. Do you see the butterflies?"


    "Mommy, I see them."


    "Do you feel the butterflies flying through your body?"


    "I do," Kurt got excited as he noticed the weird flow in his body. To him, it was a ticklish sensation. When Hilda and Milly felt the tiny bit of mana Kurt was emitting they immediately knew that Kurt was able to make his mana flow sessfully.


    Mana would naturally start to flow through one''s body at the age of six, but it was better if you''re able to force it out before then. Now that Kurt had sessfully activated his mana flow before he reached the age of six, he had a huge head startpared to his peers.


    ''That book is amazing.'' Hilda looked at the book bewildered. She already knew what kind of nonsensical existence Ren was, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she didn''t expect that his book will be all that effective as teaching material. Since Ren was someone who felt like he was naturally strong, so teaching others doesn''t feel like something he would be good at.


    It was a good thing, Hilda didn''t know about how Ren trained both Valdel and Lara, if she did she might have a difficult time epting it.


    On the other hand, Milly was excited to see her son activate his mana. She wanted to see how far Kurt could go. So after that day, Milly started teaching Kurt new things from the book Ren gave. Even though Kurt wasn''t able toprehend much, he still found it fun to listen to.


    Ren had written the book in a way that it doesn''t sound like a training manual, instead, it felt more like a story. A story in which the hero who started out as a helpless child turns into a reliable warrior mage. In each chapter, the hero would go through a new training regimen which made him stronger.


    It was obvious that the training in this book was teaching Kurt to do the training depending on his age, like the hero in the book. As the hero grows older, the sets of his training increases and changes. Milly was supposed to teach Kurt only up to the fifth chapter, where the hero was still three to four years old. Yet due to Kurt''s curiosity, they started reading the parts they weren''t supposed to read yet.


    ''Still, even though Kurt doesn''t understand these parts yet, I guess knowing about it should be somehow beneficial.'' They were already halfway through the book, and Kurt was really excited by the warrior mage character in the book.


    "Mommy, can I be as strong as the warrior mage?"


    "Of course you can be, as long as you continue to train someday you will be as strong no even stronger than the warrior mage."


    Hearing her mom''s answer Kurt got really excited. Their journey continued without much of a hindrance. There were asional monsters and bandits, but with Hilda''s current level those didn''t prove to be a problem. In fact, even Milly could have easily handled the situation.


    They were now halfway through their journey. Even though the trip could be easier if Hilda carried Kurt and she and Milly started running, by doing that they would arrive at half the time. Still, using this time to teach Kurt a bit about the contents of the book, was a good thing, so they decided to slow down their pace a little bit.


    ¡­


    After traveling a week more than they initially nned, Hilda, Milly, and Kurt finally arrived at the capital city of the Serbek Kingd, Varzon. As Kurt was getting excited to enter the city, Hilda suddenly unsheathed her sword, twisted her body, and attacked whoever appeared behind them.


    The person who stood behind Hilda easily caught the strong sword sh with his bare hands. The person then grinned.


    "To be able to sense my presence and attack, you''ve gotten stronger Hilda," Ren spoke while grinning from ear to ear. When Hilda saw Ren, she held back her tears as she let go of her sword. With swift movements, Hilda was about to hit Ren with a p, yet as expected from Ren he easily evaded.


    "Why are you trying to p me?" Hilda continued trying to p Ren, but Ren continued to evade each strike.


    "You dumb idiot, just stay still and receive your punishment!"


    "Punishment? Punishment for what?"


    "You left so many people worried about you, and you didn''t even bother to tell us that you''re still alive. We were all worried about you!" As Hilda screamed thest part a resounding p echoed throughout the area. Hilda was surprised that she was able to hit actually Ren. She looked at Ren whose face didn''t even move a centimeter despite getting hit by a powerful p. He was looking at Hilda with such a serious face.


    "You do have a point, I guess my circumstances are nothing more than excuses. I apologize for making you and the others worry." Ren hugged Hilda who started blushing furiously as she got confused by the sudden shift of events.


    Once Ren was done hugging Hilda, he looked at the two other people present. Milly was just standing there holding Kurt''s hand. She didn''t know what she wanted to say and was still in a state of shock.


    "It''s been a while mom." Hearing his voice that was calling her mom, Milly could no longer hold it in as she ran towards Ren while holding Kurt''s hand. She immediately hugged her eldest son and continued to cry on his chest.


    "Thank you, Ren, thank you for staying alive."


    "It''s alright mom, even if the very heavens fall I''ll be sure to lift it up. I won''t be dying just yet." Ren jested as he hugged his mom until she was able to calm down.


    ¡­


    Once the two women were done crying, Ren shifted his attention to the little boy that was ring at him.


    "Oh, why the sour look on your face?" Ren asked Kurt.


    "You''re a bad person, you made Big sis Hilda, and Mommy cry."


    "It''s alright Kurt, he didn''t make mommy cry, in fact seeing him made me very happy."


    "Really?"


    "Yes, let me introduce you. This is your big brother Ren."


    "Big brother?" Kurt looked at Ren. The big brother he was imagining was something like those heroes in the picture books his mom read to him. A handsome, charismatic man that had the sun rising at his back. Yet the big brother in front of him was an average looking person.


    "Yeah, I''m your big brother little Kurt. I see that you have already read my present, so did you like it?"


    Kurt hid behind her mom and stared at Ren without answering.


    "No need to be shy Kurt, your big brother is not going to eat you." Milly gently smiled at her youngest son. Kurt once again peeked behind Milly''s back to look at Ren.


    "Are you really my big brother?"


    "Of course, how can I prove to you that I''m really your big brother?"


    "Mommy and all the big sisters say that my big brother is the strongest of them all."


    "I see, so you want to see my strength. Very well, open your eyes wide and witness how strong this big bro of yours is." Ren gathered Spirit Aura into his fist and casually punched at the nearby trees. The power of the strike pulverized the nearby trees. When Kurt saw that he couldn''t help but get excited.


    "Wow!"


    "So do you believe me now?" As if his reluctance never existed in the first ce, Kurt quickly ran towards Ren. "Big Bro can you show me more?"


    "Of course, as much as you want." Ren then started to show Kurt different feats of strength. Like carrying a boulder and crushing it. Every time Kurt saw his big bro show off his strength the more excited he got¡­ In but a few minutes, Ren had sessfully made his little brother like him.

 Chapter 403 - Special : Ren Meets Alex

    <h4>Chapter 403 - Special : Ren Meets Alex</h4>


    Ren woke up in a simr ce as the one in his soul realm. He looked around and saw no one was there, as he was about to call out to the other incarnations, he suddenly noticed something weird, he could not use mana nor Spirit Aura, in fact, he could not use any form of spiritual energy in this ce.


    ''What is this ce? I''m pretty sure this isn''t my soul realm¡­ Was I kidnapped by someone and thrown in another dimension deprived of any spiritual energy? The only being I know that could do that to me, without alerting the other incarnations is the ORIGIN. Damn, he could no longer hold it in and trapped me in here. Still, it''s a good thing that he at least left me with a weapon.''


    In Ren''s right hand was his broadsword Snertal. Ren casually swung Snertal around and sighed. The speed of his sword swings was too slow, but with two hands it was barely passable. Ren licked his lips as he showed a vicious smile.


    ''This couldn''t be the work of the ORIGIN. Someone on his level wouldn''t need to restrict me like this. Then who could it possibly be, this is getting interesting.'' Ren started walking around the empty space while cing Snertal on his shoulders.


    ¡­


    After walking for a while, Ren finally spotted another human being. ''Was he the one who brought me here? No, upon closer inspection he looks just as lost as I am.'' While Ren was thinking, the other person noticed him and approached.


    When the person got closer, Ren noticed that the way he walked and moved showed no openings whatsoever. The person had ck hair and eyes, he had a stoic look simr to Lara''s, and he had a sword at his waist, and two unknown objects at his thighs. As he approached Ren, he was looking at him with an appraising eye, after a second the stoic looking man spoke.


    "You, you''re Ren from the anime Demon Lord''s Reincarnation."


    "Huh? You know of me, and what''s this anime thing you''re talking about?"


    "Are you the one who brought me here?"


    "You''re a rude one aren''t you? You know who I am but you never told me who you are, and I asked you a question but instead of answering, you answered with another question. So how about introducing yourself first, before we continue?"


    "I''m Alexander Samarita. Now that we are acquainted, can you tell me, are you the one who summoned me here?"


    "Unfortunately I wasn''t the one who did that. As you can see I''m just as lost as you are." When Alex heard Ren''s answer he started to process all the current information he had, after a brief thought he spoke.


    "If I remember correctly, you were one of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. You should have the ability to get us out of here."


    "Hoh, you even know about that. Well, sorry to say but I can''t do anything in this ce. There''s no Spiritual Energy in here and I cannot contact the other incarnations."


    "Then how do we-" Alex couldn''t finish what he was going to say as Ren interrupted him.


    "Since there''s only the two of us in this empty space, we should battle. Who knows maybe, that''s what we need to do, and the winner will be able to get out of this ce." Ren pointed Snertal at Alex. Seeing this action made Alex sigh.


    ''I forgot this character has the same personality type as Sir Lyner. When he gets like this he would no longer listen to reason. The only way to make him listen is if I beat him up. If he had the same powers he had in the anime, then I would''ve stood no chance, but he said that he could not use Spiritual Energy in this ce, meaning he''s restricted to physical skills. Knowing that my chances of victory have increased exponentially.'' Alex drew his two handguns and pointed them at Ren.


    "HAHAHA, I see that you want to fight as well!" Ren showed his vicious smile as he readied his stance.


    "Not really, but your type won''t listen if I don''t rough you up a bit," Alex answered with no fluctuation in his expression, he only stared at Ren''s stance finding where its weaknessesy.


    "Now you''re talking mynguage!" Ren dashed forward trying to get close, but Alex jumped backward while firing his handguns. Ren didn''t know what kind of weapon that was but based on how Ren backed away, it was easy to deduce that it was a long-range weapon.


    With his dynamic vision Ren could see the bullets flying towards him, Ren used Snertal''s huge frame to block. As he was blocking Alex''s rapid-fire, Ren was dashing forward trying to get close.


    Alex tried firing at Ren''s hands, yet despite being limited to his physical abilities, Ren could react to that move and shift his sword at the proper angle. It was obvious now that the surprise tactic of using a gun against an opponent that doesn''t know what it was has failed. Alex then shifted gears and started running towards Ren at full speed.


    Ren was rather surprised by Alex''s action and was excited to see what he would do next. As Alex got closer, Ren was about to swing his sword upward, but then Alex kicked the broadsword and used it as a board to jump upwards. Once in the air, Alex rained down bullets on Ren.


    Since they were quite close, and Ren''s stance was disrupted by Alex, Ren couldn''t use Snertal to block. So without any hesitation, Ren let go of Snertal and evaded the rain of bullets, by jumping backward. The moment Rennded, he jumped upward to intercept Alex mid-air.


    Alex had no time to reload his handguns, as he saw the approaching Ren. As Ren was flying towards Alex, he was about to deliver a punch. Seeing Ren fast approaching, Alex was unable to evade or use his guns, so he quickly tried to block the punch. Yet the moment Ren''s punch hit Alex''s forearms he was sted away.


    Alex quickly used RELEASE and tried to stop himself from crashing to the ground. Once he stabilized his bnce, Alex saw that Ren was once again in front of him. Alex threw his handguns at Ren to try to block his view. Ren swiped away the handguns and then saw a sword approaching his shoulder.


    Ren caught the de and stopped it from reaching his shoulder. Yet the power behind the strike had surprised Ren.


    "Oh I see, you used some sort of technique that allows you to transcend your physical limitations. I too have such a technique."


    Alex was now the one surprised as he saw Ren''s muscles were starting to bulge a bit, and his veins looked like they were about to pop out.


    ''How is he able to use RELEASE as well? I don''t remember seeing this in the anime?'' Seeing Alex show a momentary shock expression, made Ren''s vicious smile grow even wider.


    "Surprised!" Ren pushed Alex''s de to the side and broke it. Alex quickly released his grip on the sword and kicked at Ren''s abdomen. Ren couldn''t avoid the attack so he tightened the muscles on his abdomen. Despite doing that, Ren''s body was still pushed a few feet away.


    Alex tried to continue his attack, but Ren quickly went on the attack as well. The two then began attacking and evading, as they both no longer bothered with defense. Despite being an experienced merc that was the youngest to be given the title of S rank merc, it was obvious that Alex was being overwhelmed by Ren''s technique.


    This was the difference in their experience, Alex might''ve been on the battlefield since he was young, butpared to Ren who had been to numerous battles Alex''s battle experience was like that of an infant. Still, this wasn''t the first time Alex has dealt with someone who was vastly superior to him. The face of his psycho grandfather shed in his mind.


    ¡­


    Alex then stopped attacking and went on the defensive. He stood his ground as he was being pounded by Ren. He waited and waited for his opportunity to strike, yet no matter how long he waited Ren''s assault didn''t let up. After a while, Alex was on his knees, and he looked like he could no longer move his hands.


    "That was a pretty nice battle, thank you."


    "Thanking the enemy for having a battle¡­ Even that part of you is so simr to my teacher Sir Lyner."


    "Oh, I would''ve liked to meet him."


    "Unfortunately he''s been long gone."


    "I see¡­ Then I hope you two meet in your next lives." Ren raised his right hand and was about to deliver the finishing blow. As a show of respect, Ren used all of his power on this one strike. The moment his right fist prated Alex''s chest, he was surprised to see that Alex was able to counter. Ren couldn''t help but chuckle as he coughed out blood.


    "Heh, I was sure that you could no longer move those arms of yours. That was a brilliant counter-attack." Ren looked at his chest that was prated by Alex''s counter punch.


    "I was taught never to give up, even in thest minute."


    "I see, truly wonderful." The two then lost consciousness¡­ After that their bodies faded away from the empty space, the two woke up in their respective worlds with no memory of the encounter.

 Chapter 404 - First Mission

    <h4>Chapter 404 - First Mission</h4>


    It has been a few weeks since Hilda, Milly and Kurt arrived at the Serbek Kingdom. The three quickly assimted to life in the Serbek Kingdom. Hilda was assigned to be one of the trainers of the people, like Valdel and Henrietta, her lessons were all about survival skills, like navigation, understanding of herbs, and other such things.


    When the people learned that Milly was Ren''s mother, they all started treating her like a queen. In fact, even the former queen didn''t receive as much love and pampering as Milly did. They all acted this way since unlike the former queen, Milly had true power, true power in the form of his son Ren. Milly didn''t like the way she was treated and wanted to help out as well. She helped in the little things like cooking the meals of the trainees.


    On the other hand, Kurt was having a good time. He could y anywhere in this kingdom, and people treated him with the utmost care. He would usually hang out with his big brother Ren who started teaching him a lot of different things. If he wasn''t hanging out with his big brother, he was talking with Henrietta who was teaching him how to read and write, or he would help out his mother with minor things.


    ¡­


    A full five months had passed since Ren started training his disciple Arthur and the twenty. Now he looked at them with a smile on his face. The twenty now resembled true warriors, they had numerous scars on their bodies, their muscles were lean and ready for battle, and the way they stood left little openings.


    This was to be expected as they were able to somehow survive Ren''s brutal training by working together as a team. Now they stand before Ren as Advanced users of Spirit Aura. They were both happy and worried about their newfound power. It was as Ren said at the beginning, they were now leagues above the others that trained at the same time as them. In fact,pared to them the people who trained under Valdel and Henrietta were not even worthy sparring partners.


    On the other hand, Arthur who received the most brutal of training, stood proud and tall. In his training, his limbs have been sliced off and his body almost dying, but every time that happens Ren would heal him. The limbs he had lost regrew, and the body that was dying regenerated. Ren had allowed Arthur to experience true death numerous times. After reviving Arthur Ren would always say the same thing with a grin on his face.


    "Do not worry, no matter what kind of injury you sustain, as long as your brain works and your heart is still beating I can revive you no matter how many times. So go forward with no fear, and im victory against all."


    ¡­


    Arthur and the twenty were called into the castle were Ren was sitting on the throne. Even though he wasn''t wearing anything grand, the aura he emitted made others feel like Ren was the true ruler of all.


    Seeing the twenty line up in perfect formation without being ordered to do so made Ren grin. The twenty knelt on one knee while his disciple steps forward his head held high.


    "Master, what is yourmand?"


    Ren chuckled as he watched the disy before him. If it was before, Arthur would still unconsciously bow his head every now and then, but now he would never bow down his head no matter who he faced. The dangerous light in Arthur''s eyes was still around and it was being contained.


    ''I wonder when the wild beast within would release itself?'' Ren mused as he touched his chin.


    "Well, for starters I''m happy to say that the twenty of you have finallypleted your training. You guys should be proud you have achieved power that you would never have gained if you continued your lives normally. From this point onward you are true warriors, and you will now be my most elite unit. I will call you¡­" Ren closed his eyes and imagined a name. After a while a name came to him, it was a name wrapped in sentimentality.


    "Yeah, from here on your unit will be called the Shadow n. You twenty will be under my disciple Arthur who will be yourmander."


    "I will make you proud, master."


    Even though some of them didn''t really want to join, they had no choice since Ren had already spoken. Seeing some of them looking reluctant, Ren said something to convince them.


    "Even though being a part of the Shadow n will be dangerous, the wages you will receive will be great as well. Every month you will all be paid two white gold coins. Depending on the missions youplete you can earn even more. Your family will have better houses, and your descendants will be allowed to attend the school I''m about to build. So are you guys still reluctant to join?"


    The conditions Ren gave were too good to be true, but since it wasing out of Ren''s mouth the twenty immediately believed it. This was a person who will do what he says, if he said he would kill you he would literally kill you.


    Still, two white gold coins, if it was before that much money would be worth ten years of their normal jobs. Not only will they be given money, but they will also be provided with a house. Yet the most amazing thing Ren said was that their descendants will be able to go to school. Only nobles and rich merchants were able to send their children to school. The twenty no longer hesitated and knelt on one knee in front of Ren.


    "We are willing to die for you."


    "Nice that''s what I want to hear. Now I''m going to give the Shadow n''s very first mission. A few weeks ago, a Duke has announced that he won''t be epting me as the king. He ims that he is the rightful heir to the throne, and I''m nothing but a ruthless barbarian from the Reschbeauch Kingdom that usurped the throne. At this very moment, he is gathering most of the remaining nobles and officials to oppose me. Even some of the royal guards that were out on a mission when Nyarlom attacked are under his banner. He even gathered a lot of mercenaries and adventurers. I want you the Shadow n, to head out there to this Duke''s domain and give them all a chance. Either they surrender to me, or you annihte them. Of course, you should let the nonbatants live, aside from that you can do anything. Show them that I''m not someone they should mess around with. I expect nothing but absolute victory."


    Arthur and the twenty responded in sync. "As youmand!"


    "Henrietta tell them the necessary information they would need before they head out." Henrietta nodded as she approached Arthur, and exined who the Duke was and who the people joining him were. She told the group the location of the Duke''s mansion where the meeting will take ce. As Henrietta was doing that Ren had a sudden thought.


    ''Oh right, after they leave I better head out to the eternal forest¡­ It''s been a while since I met Tsukiko and Le.''

 Chapter 405 - Arrogant Noble

    <h4>Chapter 405 - Arrogant Noble</h4>


    In a room filled with sparkling cups, tes, and cutlery a man wearing shining jewels was eating his meal surrounded by beautiful maids that were serving his every need. This was the Duke that was opposing Ren, his name was Duke Reginald.


    Duke Reginald was the younger brother of the former king of the Serbek kingdom. He was a very arrogant man that loved to abuse those below him. In his view, nobles were practically a different race from themoners. To him nobles were always in the right, they were a superior being, who were supposed to be perfect in every way. As nobles, they needed to guide the lost sheep which were the idioticmoners. Only nobles had the right to rule, only nobles had the right to be served, only nobles have the right to be powerful.


    On the other hand, in Reginald''s view,moners were nothing but pitiful beings that need the guiding hand of a noble. They were only good to be his servants, those that don''t follow him were simply idiotic. They were dirty greedy little creatures that don''t know their ce in this world. Always trying to bring down nobles into their filthy level. To Reginald,moners were worse than animals, at least properly trained animals would never bite the hand that feeds them. Commoners were always trying to find a chance to bite their master''s hand.


    In his domain, mostmoners live in fear. Since when Reginald was in a bad mood, he would r*pe, murder, and basically do whatever he wanted. Themoners were unable to escape his domain since those that try wouldn''t get far before being killed. Even the wealthy merchants were sometimes harassed by Reginald, saying that their money was his money.


    On the other hand, for those of noble birth, even the lowliest knight was treated like a king. Those that defy even the most nonsensical order from a noble will be tortured. Nobles loved visiting the Duke''s domain as this was the best ce were nobles can fulfill their whims without facing much consequence.


    ¡­


    While Reginald was enjoying his meal a nearby maid would clean his mouth. The other surrounding maids refilled his cup or brought more food. It was during this time another maid entered the dining room and walked towards Reginald to whisper something in his ear. Reginald frowned as he heard the maid''s report.


    "Bring him in." Hearing Reginald''s curt response the maid bowed her head. She noticed the change in Reginald''s mood and quickly left the dining room.


    Reginald continued to eat, but his mood had worsened. It was no surprise that his mood would turn sour as he didn''t really like the person who had arrived to meet him. It was the Guild Master of this area''s branch of the adventurers guild. Among themoner rabble, Reginald truly hated those adventurers that roam thend free.


    In his mind, the adventurers weremoners that deluded themselves into thinking they had actual power. They acted as if they were above the social hierarchy which irritated Reginald to no end. If he had a choice he wanted to destroy the entirety of the adventurers guild, unfortunately, that was impossible at the moment.


    ''That is what happens when you give an idioticmoner the ability to use weapons, and spells. They start to think that they''re actually equal to us nobles. How stupidly arrogant of them. If only the royal guard was at its full power I wouldn''t need to use those irritatingmoners. At least the mercenaries don''t act as presumptuous as those adventurers.''


    The doors to the dining room opened and a man wearing ted armor and had a halberd hanging at his back entered. Seeing him Reginald frowned.


    "Why did you bring your weapon here? Guests especially you are not allowed to bring weapons inside." Reginald looked at the new arrival in annoyance, his voice was turning icy cold.


    "Oh, I''m sorry Sir Duke. I forgot about the little rules you nobles make up. If you want I can just go back and leave my halberd at the Guild."


    "Tsk, this is why youmoners are all¡­ Whatever, since you''re already here, just sit down and tell me what you want, Albert."


    The Guild Master Albert smiled as he sat down.


    "It''s nothing much but I just want to confirm something." Albert''s smiling face disappeared as he emitted bloodlust. The maids in the room started shivering while Reginald stopped eating.


    "What are you trying to do, you damnmoner?!" An even more intense bloodlust came from Reginald. The bloodlust Reginald emitted was like a drawn sword that was pointed at Albert''s neck.


    "Heh, as expected of a Sword Saint. Well, no need to get so serious, it was just a joke." Albert stopped emitting bloodlust as he smiled and raised both his hands in defeat. Seeing that gesture and attitude of Albert, Reginald also stopped emitting bloodlust and snorted.


    "Hmph, I don''t find yourmoner jokes funny. So tell me what you want to say, but if all you came here to do is irritate me then, I better cut off one of your arms as punishment."


    "No need to go that far, Sir Duke. I''ll behave now." Despite being threatened Albert remained at ease. "So back to what I wanted to say, did you know about the appearance of an S rank adventurer in the Capital?"


    "Huh? Why would I care about some S rank adventurer?"


    "As expected, I knew that you would say that. I just needed to check."


    "Is that all you wanted to say?"


    "Actually the investigation youmissioned is done." Reginald who was irritated the whole time finally looked at Albert properly.


    "Oh, so what did you find out about this upstart?"


    "He''s a B rank adventurer hailing from the Reschbeauch Kingdom."


    "We already know that, what more do you have."


    "Supposedly he was stronger than even Sword Saints such as yourself."


    "Baseless rumors, how can a child, how can amoner like that be stronger than a Sword Saint? If he was that strong, then he would be the youngest Demi-God Level swordsman. That''s just ridiculous, he must''ve been the initiator of such a rumor to intimidate his enemies. Hmph, such a crude tactic as expected from amoner."


    "He has two childhood friends, one is a confirmed S rank adventurer, and the other is someone that both the Temple of the Goddess of Justice and the Temple of the War God wants as their hero."


    "The S rank adventurer is nothing much, just the stronger version of an ordinarymoner. Now that hero candidate might be a little problematic. I might need to contact someone from the Temple of the God of Death. Well, seeing as he hasn''t been graced with divine protection yet, he shouldn''t be much of a problem, but just in case I should ask one of the battle priests from the Temple of the God of Death. So is there anything else?"


    "No that''s all I have at the moment. The other pieces of information are things you already know."


    "Heh, as expected from amoner. Just with that much strength, he thinks that he can take the throne from me? I will crush him and make his people my ves. Those fools that sided with him will be tormented before I kill them."


    "I have no doubt that Sir Duke would be able to do that."


    "Hmph, of course, I can. So how many adventurers have you gathered?"


    "I have convinced two more Guild Masters who are A rank to join. I got around a couple of dozen B ranks, and a few hundred C rank adventurers as well."


    "You''ve done better than I expected."


    "Don''t forget what you promised me. Once you''re sitting on the throne you will give mend and a noble title."


    "Hmph, don''tpare me to you idioticmoners. I as noble would never go back on my word. You do not have to worry, as long as you do your part properly then I would give you what you want."


    "Thank you o noble duke." Albert bowed.


    "Hmph, if you have nothing else to say begone from my sight. Just looking at you sours my mood." Albert wasn''t offended by what Reginald said and smiled before replying.


    "Then I bid you good day sir." Seeing the leaving Albert, Reginald sneered.


    ''Seeing as I am the perfect noble, who has both honor and strength, I would obviously keep my promises. I will grant you a baron title and a piece ofnd at the borders. Once you have your fun being a fake noble, I will once again reim what is rightfully mine.''


    Even though thinking about Albert''s downfall made Reginald feel a bit better, it wasn''t enough to brighten his mood. Albert then pointed at two maids.


    "You and you, go to my room and prepare yourselves. I''m sure you know what to do." The two maids who had voluptuous bodies smiled coquettishly and responded at the same time.


    "As you wish my lord."

 Chapter 406 - Surrender Or Be Annhilated

    <h4>Chapter 406 - Surrender Or Be Annhted</h4>


    Numerous carriages followed by different armies were starting to gather in Duke Reginald''s domain. Today was the day for the meeting among the nobles that want Ren out of the throne. Seeing the many noblesing to support him Reginald felt ted. This was better than he had expected, with so many nobles on his side victory was assured.


    ''You see this you dumb older brother, all of the nobles flock to my banner because I am in the right and because they all believe that I am the true rightful king. You on the other hand died most likely trying to protect those worthlessmoners. You should have fled when you had the chance, as long as the king survives the Kingdom will survive. Now that you died the kingdom almost crumbled, and amoner from the Reschbeauch Kingdom took the throne. If I wasn''t alive the Serbek Kingdom would''ve been finished. This is fate, this my destiny!''


    Reginald smugly smiled as he remembered what his older brother used to say to him. It had been so long but he could never forget it.


    ¡­


    "Reginald, I know that you take pride in being born a noble, and I understand why you do. Still, you mustn''t discriminate against themoners. Even nobles that you believe are above others are still human the same as themoners. It''s just that each one of us has different responsibilities we must fulfill. In fact, if you think about it properly it''s themoners that have the most power. They outnumber nobles one to a hundred. Also unlike kings, even if I die somebody would rece me, but if our citizens die the kingdom will die with them."


    ¡­


    Just remembering those words made Reginald boil in anger. ''How are themoners the ones with power? You see this brother, for each noble house, an army follows. Canmonersmand such power? You truly were nothing more than a foolish king, my idiotic big brother.''


    While thinking about that, Reginald continued to greet the iing nobles. It was then one of the royal guards who were in charge of security whispered something in his ear.


    "Tell this to him and his rabble that today I''m only meeting those of noble birth. I don''t have time to amodate them. Tell Albert that he should talk strategy with his own kind."


    The royal guard bowed his head and headed back. Reginald continued to greet the iing nobles with a smile, but in his head, he was scoffing at Albert.


    ''I''m only allowing you brutes to join in the glory because I can use them as meat shields. Did his brain melt thinking that he could join a meeting of those of higher birth than him? You should be grateful that I even allowed you to join me.''


    ¡­


    In the adventurers guild, one of the guild masters of a different branch mmed his hand on the table destroying it.


    "That f*cking arrogant noble!"


    "Calm yourself, Samson, I already told you that he''s that kind of person." Albert patted Samson''s back as he tried to soothe him.


    "Still, doesn''t it irritate you that he just tossed us aside like that? He''s the one who asked for our help."


    "Yeah, why aren''t we allowed in the strategy meeting? How do we know what we''re supposed to do? Shouldn''t we be coordinating with one another?"


    "I don''t think that idiot has any ns for us except to make us into meat shields."


    "It doesn''t matter as long as we survive the battle at the capital will be going home with so much money that we won''t need to work for a long time."


    "Speaking about that. Albert, I heard you made a deal with that arrogant Duke to make you into a noble."


    "What is that true?!"


    "I''m surprised that you were able to figure that out. Well, I guess I should tell you guys. Yup, it''s true I negotiated with Duke Reginald to give me a noble title andnd."


    "So you''re joining the side of those snobbish people? Why though, isn''t being an adventurer who is free better than that?"


    "Yeah, if I was younger that would be the best¡­ But you see Anna is pregnant."


    "Congrattions!"


    "Anna''s pregnant and you didn''t tell me?!"


    "Yeah, so you see I can''t continue being the guild master like this. Even though being a guild master pays well, but the jobes with a lot of danger. Seeing as I need to be there for my kid, I need a safer job that pays equally well. Also if I have a noble title my kid is going to be able to go to school and be somebody worth mentioning. I understand that what I''m about to do is going to make a lot of people suffer, but I''m willing to carry that sin for my kid."


    "Well, we''re adventurers we don''t really care about the political strife of one or two kingdoms. We''re just doing our best to live the same as anyone else, so don''t sweat it."


    "Anyway, we should celebrateter for you bing a father."


    "Yeah, sure, drinks are on me." As the three guild masters'' moods were changing for the better, a loud voice resounded throughout the city.


    ¡­


    "Duke Reginald and all of your aplices as decreed by my master, Ren the current king of the Serbek Kingdom all of you should surrender yourselves! If you surrender now my master will be merciful and forgive all of your sins. If you don''t surrender then as ordered by my master we will annihte all traitors. I advise all the nonbatants to leave now or else you might get caught in the crossfire. I will repeat once again, Duke Reginald-"


    Arthur continued to repeat the same things about three times. Once he was done with his announcement he looked at the twenty members of the Shadow n.


    "This is the first mission of our unit. Defeat is not allowed, we must not fail master. Only absolute victory is eptable."


    "ABSOLUTE VICTORY!" The twenty responded with gusto.

 Chapter 407 - So Are You Surrendering?

    <h4>Chapter 407 - So Are You Surrendering?</h4>


    While Reginald and the other nobles were conducting their strategy meeting which was basically them already celebrating their uing victory with a party, they heard the announcement made by Arthur.


    "So the fake king sent some people to rattle us. Let''s see what kind of army he sent." Reginal scoffed as he and the other nobles took a look outside.


    Outside the gates of the mansion stood twenty men and women wearing subpar equipment, and in front of them was a child that looks no older than ten. He then checked on what level their mana was. He took out the sses that could see through one''s mana. He saw that the twenty had average level mana that mostmoners had, but the child was different. The child was emitting mana that was the same level as a high mage. It was surprising but it wasn''t that weird since there were some geniuses like the former Grand Mage that had that kind of talent. Still, a child was a child, and no matter how strong his mana was his skills andbat experience wouldn''t be able to match his mana supply. When Reginald saw the lineup of not only women but even a child he gritted his teeth in anger.


    ''Is that Ren mocking me?! Sending women and children, and even men that have mana so little I could squash them with a finger. He wants me to surrender with that force?'' While Reginald was getting enraged, some of the other nobles startedughing.


    "As expected from amoner, to have weak people serving under him. Still, the child does have potential, but it''s a pity he serves a worthless master."


    "Some of those women are actually pretty good looking. Should I take some, no maybe I will take all of them?"


    While the other nobles were waiting for the show that''s about to happen, the royal guardmander stood in front of Reginald.


    "My lord, what is yourmand?"


    "I don''t care if they''re women or children, those filthymoners that get in my way should all disappear. Just kill them and bring their dead bodies back to the fake king." The royal guardmander simply saluted before leaving.


    Even though the job was not a good one, and he didn''t really agree with the order, he was a soldier and he was trained to follow orders.


    ¡­


    The knightmander ordered a few of his men to deal with Arthur and hispanions. A couple of royal guards surrounded Arthur and the twenty.


    "Are you here to surrender?" Arthur asked, which made the royal guards frown.


    "I''m sorry child, but you should not havee here. Do not me me for this. I simply hope you reincarnate to a better family next time."


    "So you guys aren''t here to surrender, is that correct?"


    "¡­" Silence was the response of the royal guards as they drew their weapons. Seeing their reaction Arthur signaled the twenty. Everyone watching thought that this would end with Arthur and his group dying without being able to do anything. Yet the opposite happened the twenty men and women standing behind Arthur moved in unison, the moment they drew their swords was the moment the royal guards started dying one by one.


    The royal guards who were wearing superior equipment and had used mana barriers were unable to withstand a single manaless sword strike. Themander of the royal guards was shocked by the scene he had witnessed, but he quickly gave out the order to retreat and get into formation.


    ¡­


    The nobles watching the show through the windows were shocked speechless, some of them wanted to flee, while the others were trying to contact the armies they stationed outside the city. On the other hand, Reginald looked at the scene with wide eyes.


    Reginald was not only a Sword Saint but his mana was ssified to be as powerful as High Mages. He also studied a ton of spellcraft. So he knew a thing or two about mana flow and he was sure that those twenty had little mana, in fact, some of them barely even have any. The way they moved could not be achieved without the usage of several spells, yet Reginald felt no fluctuation of mana. Not only that but the way the twenty used the sword was unique.


    The sword way the twenty used was not from a known school, in fact, it doesn''t look like they know any proper forms at all. Their way of the sword seems to be born from battle. The way they easily sliced through the waves of the royal guard with precision and perfectly timed coordination. Reginald could already guess that the royal guard will be annihted if they continued.


    "Commander back away now!" Reginald barked an order as he took his sword and jumped down from the third floor of his mansion. The royal guards followed the order and swiftly backed away. The twenty of the Shadow n stopped attacking and also retreated back to stand behind Arthur.


    "Who might you be?" Arthur asked.


    "Brat, you daree here without even knowing who I am? Then listen carefully, I am none other than the great Duke Reginald, the true heir to the throne!" Reginald unleashed the full might of his mana and bloodlust to scare Arthur and the twenty. Yet despite that disy Arthur and the twenty were not affected in the slightest. In fact, they were wondering why Reginald was doing that.


    Noticing the reactions of Arthur and the others, Reginald was dumbfounded since that wasn''t the reaction he was expecting. Where was the fear in their eyes, the awe in their expressions?


    ''Why are they looking at me like I''m some kind of idiot?'' Reginald was infuriated by Arthur and the other''s expression.


    "Oh, so that''s you. Hmm, I see you do indeed look more powerful than any of the people present here. As expected of a Sword Saint" Arthur nodded his head. Hearing what Arthur said Reginald felt relieved finally a normal reaction.


    "So now brat, do you understand what kind of predicament you are in?"


    "Yes, I do understand the situation. Did youe here to surrender personally?"


    Everyone was dumbfounded by what Arthur said. Reginald almost stumbled when he heard what Arthur said. ''Brat you didn''t understand a thing!'' Reginald screamed in his mind while gritting his teeth.

 Chapter 408 - Wild

    <h4>Chapter 408 - Wild</h4>


    Reginald gritted his teeth as heard Arthur''s question. Even though he showed him the difference between their statuses and their mana, Arthur still asked the same question. This child was looking down on him too much.


    ''Hmph, as expected he''s nothing more than an ignorantmoner''s child. Usually, there''s no use talking to someone as dumb as this. Still, as the perfect noble, I need to exin to him what''s about to happen. Yes, it is the duty of the higher ss to teach those below them.''


    "Brat, I will give you one chance. You should be surrendering to me. If you leave the false king''s side and join me, I promise you a bright future. I will save you from being amoner and take you in as my son. If you be this great Duke''s son you will be a noble, not only that but you will be trained by none other than me. Once I''m done training you, then nothing will be able to stop you, and you will be the strongest person in existence."


    Reginald felt confident that Arthur would join him since he was giving a chance for amoner to be a noble, no it was much better than that since he was offering Arthur to be his son. If Arthur bes his son he would be the crowned prince and have a chance to be the next king. There was no reason to reject his offer.


    The other nobles who heard what Reginald said were surprised. Among all the nobles of the Serbek Kingdom Reginald was the one who was most againstmoners, so hearing him ask Arthur one ofmon birth to be his son was astonishing. The only reason why Reginald did this was that he saw the potential Arthur possessed.


    "So what do you say?" Reginald was already anticipating Arthur to say yes.


    "Huh? So you''re not surrendering?" Arthur answered while sighing.


    "Did you not hear what I just said? I''m going to make you into a noble." Reginald spoke trying to hold back his frustration in talking with Arthur.


    "Yeah, I heard you, but what does bing a noble do for me? Also, what do you mean you will train me to be the strongest? How can you im that if you are barely stronger than me? You won''t evenst a second against my master." Hearing Arthur''s answer Reginald could no longer hold it in as he clicked his tongue.


    "Tsk, as I expected, a dumbmoner like you can not understand a single thing. I have given you a path to the heavens, yet you wish to remain down there with your filth. I must''ve been crazy to have thought that amoner like you is worthy to be my son." Reginald held a slim longsword and took a fighting stance.


    "So I take it that you won''t be surrendering?"


    "Stop saying that over and over again!" Reginald dashed forward while chanting something under his breath. A swift sword strike came down upon Arthur who nimbly evaded.


    "[Ice Bind]" Reginald activated a spell that would entrap Arthur''s legs. Yet that too was evaded by Arthur who jumped up. Reginald was quick to react to this as he did a piercing motion towards Arthur''s chest. Unable to evade mid-air, Arthur who was suddenly holding his daggers in both hands diverted the strike that was aimed at his chest to hit his shoulders instead.


    Reginald''s attack was diverted more than was expected and actually missed Arthur''s shoulder. Those that were watching that were skilled with the sword were sure that strike should''ve hit Arthur''s shoulder. Yet seeing a different oue they were confused as to what happened. That was when they noticed that it was Reginald who had been hit at the shoulder, a dagger had actually pierced his left shoulder.


    Arthur used this chance to gain some distance from Reginald, but the moment he did so he felt a huge impact on his chest, Reginald had kicked him. It was a good thing that Arthur''s reflexes honed by fighting Ren all the time kicked in. Arthur was able to quickly create a mana shield to lessen the impact of the strike. Still, even after doing that Arthur flew quite a distance.


    "Damn brat, I underestimated you thinking that you were just a kid, but now there will be no more mercy. I will allow you to witness the strength of a Sword Saint." Reginald pulled out the dagger on his shoulder and tossed it aside. At this moment his left shoulder was no longer moving properly and he could at most use his left hand to swing once. So this time Reginald took a one-handed stance with his longsword. The pressure Reginald emitted became heavier than before. It was like the very air had be des that surround him.


    Arthur stood up while coughing up a bit of blood. He did a quick check and was relieved to know that no ribs were broken, still, he had received some internal injury. Seeing the stance Reginald took, and the pressure he was emitting, Arthur knew that surprise attacks would no longer work. Also in that one exchange, he knew that Reginald was leagues above him in skill.


    ''In that case, I better fight until I win.'' Arthur lowered his stance and stood with his hands and legs were on the ground. The way Arthur looked at the moment was like that of a wild beast.


    ¡­


    "If you''re outssed in skill, then since it''s you, all you need to do is attack them with wild ferocity." That''s what Ren said to Arthur while training him. He noticed that the fighting style Arthur was best at, was something Ren could only call wild.


    ¡­


    "That stance, as expected youmoners really were just a bunch of wild beasts." The moment Reginald said those words a dagger flew towards him. Reginald easily deflected the iing dagger, but he lost sight of Arthur. Reginald then quickly did a backstep as another dagger flew past him.


    Arthur who was now enveloped by his mana suddenly appeared beside Reginald. At that moment Reginald instinctively shed his sword downward. Arthur kicked Reginald''s sword hand aiming at the sword handle. Arthur''s aim was to disarm Reginald but that didn''t work as Reginal was holding onto the sword tightly. Still, that move pushed Reginald''s sword hand away.


    Arthur used this chance to get inside, towards Reginald''s chest. Once Arthur was inside he gathered mana into his palm. He was going to strike at Reginald''s chest at full power, but then he was surprised to see Reginald about to strike him with the sword. Reginald had forcefully used his left hand to sh downward at full power.


    Seeing that they had the same idea, the fastest one would be the winner. Arthur''s instincts honed by ying hide and seek with Ren told him that he needed to stop. So instead of attacking he used most of his mana to strengthen his defense.


    As Reginald''s de fell down it was able to slice through Arthur''s right shoulder. The de didn''t go deep enough. Arthur used this chance to get Reginald''s right arm in an armlock. Arthur was about to break Reginald''s arm, but then Reginald lifted his right arm and smashed it and Arthur onto the ground.


    The strength of the smash made the ground crack. Still, Arthur didn''t let go in fact, he held on even tighter. Arthur''s fingers dug into Reginald''s arm piercing through his skin. Despite the agony Reginald was feeling, he did not scream in pain. He would never allow thesemoners to hear him scream.


    The two continued this way for a few minutes until finally, Arthur was able to break Reginald''s arm. The bone of Reginald''s elbow stuck out of his body. Seeing that made the people watching wince in pain. Reginald no longer had any functioning hands to hold his de, which he dropped on the ground.


    On the other hand, Arthur was breathing heavily and he was bleeding all over. Still, he stood tall without staggering. He did feel lightheaded but he has gotten used to these kinds of punishment and would not fall from something like this.


    Arthur checked the current status of his body and noticed that three of his ribs have been broken, and it was getting harder to breathe for him. Not only that if that assault continued his back would''ve given in as well. It was a good thing that he was able to break Reginald''s arm in time.


    One of the twenty approached Arthur and handed him one of the healing pellets that Henrietta passed onto them beforeing here. She said that it was still an iplete product but it should still be useful in case they were injured. Arthur did not hesitate to eat the pellet. Once he swallowed he immediately felt the effects and he could feel some of his wounds healing, and his lightheadedness was gone.


    Arthur then looked at Reginald who was ring at him while sweating from the pain. It doesn''t seem like he would be able to fight for now. As Arthur didn''t really want to kill another human being, he once again asked the same question he kept on asking over and over again.


    "This time will you please surrender?"

 Chapter 409 - Then You Have Chosen Death

    <h4>Chapter 409 - Then You Have Chosen Death</h4>


    Reginald who had lost function on both his arms looked at Arthur full of hatred. If only he didn''t hold back at the beginning. If only he had used all his might from the start, then all of this wouldn''t have happened. Those were the thoughts circling around Reginald''s mind. Reginald truly regretted that moment of folly as he gritted his teeth. Still, who would expect that a child would be able to beat him. Non would expect that a child who was only half his size could bring him a Sword Saint down to his knees. In fact, many people watching were still in a daze, when suddenly Reginald shouted.


    "Damn you! Damn you! You used your age to lure me in so that I''ll drop my guard. As apassionate noble, I was tricked into showing you mercy. Damn thesemoners, as expected all of you are just thrashes! Your filth does not know honor, as expected all of you are just animals! Animals the lot of you! You f*cking animals don''t have the right to stand before your f*cking superiors, you have no right to even think about going against us of noble status! The lot of you are only good as ves!"


    ¡­


    While Reginald was shouting profanities at the Arthur and the twenty, Albert and the other guild masters were in a state of shock the same as the other people watching. The battle they just witnessed was unbelievable, from the way the twenty members of the Shadow n easily massacred the Royal Guards, to the scene where a ten-year-old boy was able to beat down a Sword Saint, all of it left them awestruck. Not to mention that Reginald was not just any Sword Saint.


    Even though Reginald''s character was the worst among the Sword Saints, his strength was still in the upper middle-tier among Sword Saints. So even though Reginald let his guard down at the beginning which led to his injury andter his downfall, Arthur''s feat was still extremely impressive, that it made people doubt their eyes. Even Albert and the others who were A-ranked Guild Masters wouldn''t be able to beat Reginald even if they fought together. The most they could do was stall him and when they see an opportunity flee.


    Yet this kid beat that Reginald down, and he''s saying that his master was way stronger. They couldn''t even begin to imagine what kind of monster Arthur''s master was. Albert was perplexed, and the other Guild Masters started to look at him.


    "What should we do? Should we help the Duke?" Rick cautiously asked Albert.


    "I say that we don''t help the Duke, let''s just head back to the Guild and take Albert''s family, and flee. Who cares what happens to the arrogant Duke, he and his ilk could all die for all I care." Samson gave out his opinion. Albert did not respond as he was thinking about what the best course of action was.


    ¡­


    "You''re noisy, but I''ll ask onest time. Those of you who want to surrender will be spared, and we promise to protect you. We will then guide those who surrendered to meet my master. As for those that don''t then only death awaits. So who is willing to surrender?" Arthur tried using the same tactic his master would do while intimidating his opponent. He emitted his very own bloodlust and mana to the surrounding area. Unlike Ren''s, it didn''t make anyone throw up, pee, or faint. Still, it made the people feel unnerved.


    Some of the nobles were thinking about surrendering, while the others ordered their mages tomunicate with their armies to quicklye inside the city. Reginald who was being treated by a healing mage shouted at Arthur.


    "Who would bow down to amoner and surrender?! I won''t allow it, don''t you know even if you defeated me, there are thousands of men stationed outside the city! The entire noblemunity is on my side, which means that the kingdom is on my side, which means that I am right, that I am the rightful heir!"


    Arthur sighed as the light in his eyes faded. He looked at the twenty and was about to give out an order when someone interrupted him.


    "We of the Adventurers Guild surrender to King Ren. I hope that you can save our families." Albert suddenly spoke. When Arthur heard what Albert said the light in his eyes returned.


    "Of course, you two follow them and escort their families here." Arthur signaled two of the twenty to help Albert and his friends. Within a blink of an eye, the two appeared before Albert and the other Guild Masters. The three of them were surprised by not only the speed but the way they entered their field without being noticed. There was not even a shred of mana fluctuation nor did they make a sound. Just seeing that skill was enough to convince the three of them that they had made the correct choice.


    "Albert what the f*ck are you doing, have you no loyalty?!" Reginald shouted at the top of his lungs. Seeing him act like that Albert sneered.


    "Loyalty? Weren''t we both just using each other, you never truly treated us as one of your own. In fact, I''m pretty sure after you fulfilled your part of the deal you would make things difficult for me."


    "Damn you! Royal Guards what are you standing there for?! Capture the traitors and kill those that are under the fake king." Hearing Reginald''smand the Royal Guards went into formation and charged towards Albert and the other Guild Masters. Seeing the iing wave of Royal Guards Albert and the others were getting ready for battle, but before the Royal Guards could reach them, Arthur appeared in between the two groups and started cutting off the heads of the Royal Guard. The Royal guards stopped their charge and tightened their defensive formation.


    "The people of the adventurers guild are now under the protection of my master. Those who wish to harm them will be dealt with. So is anyone else going to surrender?"


    "Damnt it! Just kill the brat and capture those traitors! Don''t bother listening to his crap!" Even though they heard Reginald''smand, the Royal Guard no longer moved recklessly. Seeing that no one was responding and sensing that the armies that were stationed outside wereing, Arthur gave out hismand.


    "Shadow n, escort the adventurers guild members and their families, as well as the nonbatants to leave through escape point C. You better hurry since I''m about to use ''that''." When the twenty heard that Arthur was about to use ''that'' they quickly moved to evacuate everyone in the city.


    "What are you doing don''t let them escape!"


    The Royal Guards tried to scatter to distract Arthur and capture the fleeing Shadow n and Guild Masters, but as they got closer their heads were sliced off.


    "I didn''t want to use this but you forced me to! Since you don''t want to surrender then you have chosen death!" Arthur shouted as his mana was bursting out¡­ He was about to use the trump card his master had taught him.

 Chapter 410 - Berserk

    <h4>Chapter 410 - Berserk</h4>


    "You really do have talent, if you continue to train then you''ll be a top warrior in just a few years. Still, that won''t be fun. Following the straight and narrow path isn''t really my style, and since you''re my disciple I don''t want you to follow such a boring path." Ren spoke as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "So let''s go beyond that path. You see I noticed that there''s something deep within you, that you can use as a source of power. On the surface, you might seem like a kid who''s calm with pure determination, but hidden deep within you is a beast waiting toe out. A beast that would tear apart his enemies until nothing is left. Knowing your true nature, the technique I''m about to teach you is something I came up with when I first met you. I specifically made this technique just for you, so be grateful." Ren happily exined to his disciple.


    "Master, what kind of technique is it?"


    "It''s a technique that could triple your strength, and use all of your mana in full capacity. Yet in exchange for using such a techniquepensation is needed. Once the technique is used you will feel enraged and your mind will dull. This technique will turn you into something wild and ferocious. It will make you start killing everything in sight. You will not stop until everyone in sight is dead or your mana supply depletes. I call it the technique [The Berserkers Will]. It''s a technique that only someone with talent and an unending rage will be able to use." Ren noticed that look of worry in Arthur''s expression.


    "Don''t look at me like that. I understand your concerns but as of now, I don''t have a way to deal with the drawbacks. Well if you keep on using this technique you might find a way to stop yourself from being overwhelmed with rage. So for now only use it when you''re surrounded by enemies and you have no way out."


    After teaching Arthur the technique, Ren unleashed him in a B rank dungeon, and within a few days, the whole dungeon copsed and every monster in the vicinity was killed.


    ¡­


    Arthur remembered what his master said and looked all around. ''It would seem that now is the right time to use this technique. There''s nothing but enemies on all sides.''


    Reginald who saw the approaching army was delighted. He quickly shouted and gave amand to the approaching army.


    "KILL THE BRAT!"


    When themander of the approaching army heard themand he did not immediately respond since it wasn''t from his lord. Still, he noticed that there was something wrong with the child that was releasing a horrifying amount of bloodlust. He no longer hesitated and gave out themand to attack the child.


    ¡­


    As the Royal Guards surrounded him at the front and the armies of the different lords wereing from behind, Arthur''s pupils turned red, it was as if a dam was broken inside of him and his mana started flowing like a raging river. The sudden burst of mana caught everyone by surprise, it was then Arthur roared.


    The roar mixed with an intense bloodlust made the weaker nobles fall down and tremble in fear. Some of them even started to cry. Reginald was also somehow frightened as he retreated to the back.


    It was then Arthur moved, he appeared before one of the Royal Guards. The Royal Guard was surprised but he still quickly lifted his shield to block, yet despite doing that Arthur punched the shield and knocked the royal guard away shield and all.


    Arthur then jumped upward and mmed down in the middle of the army from behind. Arthurnded on the body of one of the vanguards which exploded making his innards stter. Arthur then began killing everything within his arms reach. The speed and ferocity of his attacks unnerved some of the soldiers.


    Unable to unleash a barrage of spells since Arthur was too close to theirrades the army was forced to handle Arthur in close quarters. This choice proved to be a mistake, as Arthur decimated everything in sight.


    Arthur used his hands to tear their flesh, he used his teeth to take chunks of their bodies. His fighting style was so brutal that it made those watching puke. The others wanted to flee but their legs weren''t moving.


    The battlefield was now littered with dead bodies. There were bodies that looked horrible and one could only describe them as meat paste. There were some that had their ears and fingers bitten off, and some that had their very skin torn from their body. It was a horrifying sight to behold.


    Reginald who was watching from behind could not help himself as he started shivering in fear. When he noticed what he was doing it only made him even more enraged. ''How could I a great and powerful noble fear such a savage beast?! Damn this! Damn it all! I won''t allow such a beast to make me feel fear!''


    "WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING?! GO, GO, AND KILL THAT MONSTER!" Reginald screamed at the top of his lungs. That was when the berserk Arthur looked at him. When those red pupils stared directly at him, all the courage, all the dignity Reginald had as a Sword Saint dispersed. Still, with his high pride, Reginald would not admit to it, and he red back at the beast. He would not cower, he would not back down.


    Arthur shifted his attention to Reginald and dashed towards him. Reginald who had his body healed a bit, tightly gripped at his sword. Yet before Arthur could reach a lot of Royal Guards blocked his path.


    The currentmander of the Royal Guard approached Reginald and spoke to him. "My lord you and the other nobles need to retreat from here."


    "Are you telling me and the other nobles to flee from this beast!?" Reginald gritted his teeth as he spoke each word. Themander hearing the death screams of his soldiers clenched his fist.


    "My lord, you are the only remaining person from the royal family. If you were to die then it is the end of the royal line of the Serbek Kingdom. You have a noble mission, my lord, to remove the fake king from the throne. So please leave this ce ande back to-" The Royal Guard Commander wasn''t able to finish what he was saying as he felt Arthur''s approaching presence. Without any hesitation, themander pushed Reginald to the side. The Royal Guard Commander then saw a hand had pierced right through his armor and chest. Themander grabbed the arm tightly.


    "My lord leave now!" Themander shouted as Arthur tried to remove his arm from themander''s chest but could not. Arthur then started pounding at themander with his free arm and swung him at the nearby Royal Guards.


    "I''m not going to let go you monster!" Themander of the Royal Guard shouted, but it was then he felt Arthur''s hand holding his head. Arthur then detached the head of themander from his body. A burst of manaing from Arthur destroyed themander''s body until only ashes remain.


    Arthur once again roared, his body painted with the blood of his enemies¡­ No one who saw him could see a human child, all they saw was the monster of Destruction.

 Chapter 411 - Annihilation

    <h4>Chapter 411 - Annihtion</h4>


    In the underground waterway of the city, the Shadow n and a group of people were walking through the stream of water. Albert was at the front walking alongside one of the unnamed members of the Shadow n. He was rather surprised that these people know about these ancient waterways. This wasn''t the waterway system that the current city was using, this was one that felt older was from a different era. Even though he had lived in this city since he was a boy, Albert had no idea that these waterways even existed. He was very impressed with how prepared the Shadow n was, that they even know about this ce.


    As the continued walking the shaking from above was getting more intense. Even though they were underground they could still feel the vibrations of the fight on the surface. This frightened some of the people.


    "Aren''t you guys worried about the kid?" Albert could no longer stop himself from asking.


    "The kid? Oh, you mean themander. Why should we be worried about themander?"


    Albert already had some suspicions but still hearing it made him feel weird. ''So the kid really was the leader of the group.''


    "No matter how strong he is, there are too many enemies. Also, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to leave a child at the rear." The person Albert was talking to looked at him confused and then he chuckled.


    "Oh right, themander is supposed to be a child. I always seem to forget that, since he''s always so mature and scary." Albert was surprised by the reaction made by one of Arthur''srades.


    "Don''t worry about themander he can handle things by himself. Also if we were up there we will only get in the way, plus if any of us were up there we''ll all be killed. Once themander uses that technique everything moving will be killed no exceptions. So the best thing to do is to leave this ce as fast as possible." Unable to understand what was said, Albert still looked worried.


    "Still¡­"


    "Our mission is to kill all of those that don''t surrender. As for those that surrender they will be protected no matter what the cost. We will not fail our master. Themander knows this so he will never lose. The motto of the Shadow n that our master created, is ABSOLUTE VICTORY. Nothing less is to be expected, and this being our first mission as a true unit, failure was never an option. Also, do not be fooled because he is a child, age doesn''t matter when ites to strength. If he cannot win themander is capable enough to escape."


    Even though he said all that he knew that themander would never retreat. Even when facing Ren himself, Arthur never backed down. Arthur was neither scared of death nor was he scared of facing overwhelming odds. The only thing that scared Arthur was that he would once again be powerless to do anything.


    When Albert heard the Shadow n member''s response he was once again surprised. The way he spoke, the conviction in his voice showed how much he trusted the child called Arthur. Not only was Arthur extremely talented as a warrior, but it would seem that he was also talented as a leader.


    ''Now I''m even more interested in the one who trained him. Just how powerful is this master of theirs, that he could train such elite warriors?''


    ¡­


    While the Shadow n members and those they were protecting were almost out of the waterways, on the surface the once beautiful city turned into and of death and destruction.


    Arthur was an unstoppable force of nature as he tore through the droves of people. No matter what kind of defense they put up it was nothing more than paper in front of Arthur. Those that wished to surrender could no longer do so as Arthur couldn''t even hear their voices as he killed them. They were many begging for mercy, but Arthur in his berserk state did not stop as he continued to kill all.


    A lot of the nobles who came to the Duke''s mansion regretted their decision toe today, as they watched their armies being wiped out by a single person. They wanted to retreat with some of their men, but they couldn''t get too far before they were crushed to death.


    Reginald, who was sitting there looking at the horrible sight before him in horror. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Today was supposed to be his most glorious day, as he stood above all the other nobles of the Serbek Kingdom. Today he was supposed to lead the armies of the noble families towards the Capital to destroy the traitors and execute the fake king. He was supposed to take the throne and live his life and be a legend forever remembered. Yet now all of his ns and his dreams were being crushed by a single boy. It wasn''t even the fake king that came, he simply sent his young disciple to deal with him. It was as if Ren was telling him that he was unworthy of his attention, as he didn''t even send the S rank adventurer Lara or the rumored Hero Valdel.


    ''No, no, no, no, no! This must be a nightmare. Yes, it''s all just a nightmare, a very bad nightmare. Once I wake up all the glory and worship will be mine. I will be a legend that willst forever. This is just a nightmare, yes nothing but a nightmare.'' Reginald''s mind was slowly falling as he continued to deny the reality of his situation.


    ¡­


    The battalion stationed at the rear that wasposed of young noble heirs who came here to gain experience were shivering in fear as they watched the battle from a distance. It was a good thing that they had fled before they were seen by the monster.


    Surely at this distance, the monster wouldn''t be able to spot them. At first, they wanted to leave immediately but now that they felt safe from this distance they werepelled to watch. They didn''t know why but they could not look away from the massacre that was happening in the city. The savagery of Arthur''s fighting style was both fearful and inspiring. There was a wild beauty to it.


    "We should leave now, else he spots us." One of the heirs spoke a little scared by the whole event.


    "Yes, we should probably leave now. Now that our family heads are dead we should head back to ournds, and once we settle down in our new positions we should all go and meet the current king and apologize."


    "What the f*ck are you cowards saying! Bow to the false king who came from our enemy nation?! I can never do that?! Also, are we really fleeing and leaving our family heads to die?!"


    Everyone looked at the screaming boy as if he was an idiot.


    "If you want to save your family head then go ahead be our guests. Unlike you, we don''t want to die just yet."


    "Yeah, if we go then all of us will just be annihted."


    "If you don''t want to bow to the new king, then sure, we won''t care about that. But if you want to bring us back into that city were that disaster is continuing massacring the soldiers, you''re on your own on that, don''t lure us in."


    "If you''re so brave, then go and save your family head."


    "¡­" The boy wasn''t expecting that all of them would be that angry at what he said. Also, not a single person took his side. He gritted his teeth as he looked at every one of those that mocked him.


    ''I will remember this, I will get my revenge on you all, that boy that killed my father, and the false king. I will take my revenge no matter what.'' The boy started nning on what he would do to take his revenge and as he was thinking, one of the people watching the massacre that was happening in the city suddenly shouted.


    "Everyone RUN!" The boy who shouted tried to move as fast as he could to escape the thing that wasing. When the others heard his shout they too didn''t think too much and immediately tried to flee. Yet before they could even move two steps a beam of mana had scorched their position.


    The family heirs all screamed in pain as they were being burnt alive by an immense amount of mana. They couldn''t breathe and the pain they were feeling was intense. They now regretted that they didn''t leave when they had a chance. The despair they felt as they died was so intense it felt like their very souls were crying.


    The boy who promised to get revenge was trying his hardest to stay alive. He was using his mana to try and regenerate, but it was to no avail. His mana was too little to be able to resist such a powerful strike.


    ''Why?! I haven''t gotten my revenge yet. I haven''t been able to do anything yet! I don''t want to die, I don''t want to die! I don''t want to die! I don''t care if it''s a God or a devil, anyone, I will give anything just allow me to survive so that I can take my revenge!''


    Yet no matter how he pleaded no one listened to his pleas, neither the Gods from high above nor the devils from down below¡­ The boy''s consciousness was slowly fading as the pain disappeared and all he felt was deep regret.

 Chapter 412 - Im Giving You A Choice

    <h4>Chapter 412 - I''m Giving You A Choice</h4>


    As the monster called Arthur continued to kill all in his way, themanders of each battalion of soldiers from the different noble families had no choice, even if it will result in friendly fire, they needed to start to fire a barrage of spells on this monster.


    The stronger mages in the battalion started chanting, while they were doing so a lot of warriors protected them. They all risked their lives to protect the mages before they could cast their spells.


    Arthur in his berserk state did not dodge and simply took all the hits, but his bursting mana was helping him regenerate at an unbelievable pace. So most of his injuries even the fatal ones quickly healed. Not to mention it was very hard to actually harm Arthur, his body was sturdy and his burst of mana not only helps in regeneration but was creating a constant shield.


    Still, Arthur who has been constantly regenerating and fighting for half a day had depleted arge amount of his mana. Also, [The Berserkers Will] was a skill that will only disappear once his mana supply was nearly empty or if all within his sight was dead. So Arthur continued to roar as he crushed all in his way.


    ¡­


    The mages had finished chanting their spells. The moment they were done they unleashed a barrage of spells towards Arthur all of which were powerful fire spells. Seeing that among elemental magic fire spells had the most destructive power.


    The spells not only hit Arthur but every one near him. Still, those that were hit didn''t me theirpanions as this was the only way they could think of to stop the monster. The mes from the bombardment melted all that was in its path, the buildings, the ground, and all the soldiers.


    Seeing that it was a direct hit, the mages were about to sigh in relief when they still felt that overbearing bloodlust. They then saw within the mes were nothing else was alive, the boy was in the middle of it. Arthur''s body was being scorched but because of his outburst of mana his burning body was able to regenerate quickly, and most of the attacks were blocked by his mana shield.


    Seeing that unbelievable sight, the mages were about to chant another spell when Arthur jumped in the middle of their group. He started ripping the mages to shreds. The unit tasked to protect the mages tried their very best to attract Arthur''s attention and try to stall him as the mages get some distance.


    Almost half of the mages had been killed, but still, the remaining mages continued to chant their next spell. There were of course deserters that were lucky enough to escape, but those were few in number. The rest were trying their best to kill the monster before them.


    After a while, the mages were finally done chanting their next spell. If fire spells were ineffective how about ice spells? Ice spells were a difficult branch of water magic to master, but those that master them were able to cast very versatile spells. The next spell were three different spells.


    "[Frozen abyss]!" The area where Arthur was was frozen and even the mes that were covering the ce disappeared.


    "[Ice Cage]" Thickyers of ice surrounded Arthur from all directions. He was trapped inside a cage of ice.


    "[cier Spike]" Numerous spikes of ice burst out of the ground killing everything in its way.


    ¡­


    When Reginald saw what happened and felt the diminishing mana fluctuation of Arthur''s mana, he felt ted. He stood up and was about to congratte the brave men who had killed the monster, when suddenly the diminishing manaing from Arthur burst outward, with even greater strength.


    The field of ice was instantly destroyed and with it, most of the nearby soldiers fell as well. Arthur roared in anger as he charged and killed the remaining mages.


    When Reginald saw this, the hope that rose up from his heart turned into deep despair. He was so deep into his own despair that he didn''t notice that Arthur''s mana had weakened significantly.


    ¡­


    In the sky above the city, a figure was watching the whole fight as it transpired. In the beginning, he was enjoying the massacre and despair, but as the fight continued he started frowning.


    ''If he kills all of those that I have influenced, then it will be harder to gain more malice. Since a lot of us have escaped the seal, there''s not much malice to go around. If I lose this area then arge chunk of my malice will be reduced.'' The Primordial Demon flying in the sky was frustrated.


    Now that there were more of them out and about, they needed to share malice. So they gave themselves different areas to operate in. No one was allowed to absorb the malice of other areas. Now that his area was losing too much of his puppets that could spread more chaos, and give him more malice he decided to take action.


    "Sorry Kid, but even though you gave me lots of malice, seeing as I can''t seem to influence you too much, I need to get rid of you." As the Primordial Demon was about to attack, he heard a voice that seems to be talking in his head.


    "Sorry, but you can''t do that." The Primordial Demon finally noticed that someone was floating right in front of him. The man that suddenly appeared had a very vicious smile on his face. When the Primordial Demon saw that smile he was reminded of the person who sealed them in the cave. When the Primordial Demon thought of that he wanted to immediately flee, but unfortunately for him with his current power he wasn''t able to do that. Ren had already grasped the Primordial Demon''s neck.


    "It''s a good thing I came. I kinda guessed that one of you guys were at the root of all this. So now that I met you I''m going to give you two choices. The first option is that I''ll kill you both in body and in spirit, which I mean literally¡­ The second option is I just destroy your body, and I''ll absorb your spirit into my soul. So what will it be?"

 Chapter 413 - The End Of The Nightmare?

    <h4>Chapter 413 - The End Of The Nightmare?</h4>


    The Primordial Demon was confused by the chain of events. Everything happened so fast that his brain was unable to keep up. Ren waited for a minute or two for the Primordial Demon''s answer but the Primordial Demon did not respond.


    "Did you not hear me?" Ren asked as he squeezed even tighter on the Primordial Demon''s neck.


    "Are you¡­ T-the¡­ Strongest Mortal¡­ Soul?" When Ren heard the Primordial Demon''s question the smile on his face grew wider.


    "What do you think?" Seeing that smile and hearing his response, the Primordial Demon felt his heart sinking in despair. That would mean that there was no hope for escape.


    "W-w¡­ Wh¡­ Wh¡­ Why?" Despite how difficult it was to speak while his throat was being squeezed, the Primordial Demon couldn''t help but ask.


    "Why, what?" Ren loosened his grip since he was rather interested in what the Primordial Demon was going to say. When the grip on his neck loosened and he was able to talk properly the Primordial Demon red at Ren.


    "¡­ Why, why do you always get in our way?! We are just doing this to stay alive. Aren''t we allowed to stay alive? Humans and the other races murder and steal all the time, we''re not doing anything wrong. All we''re doing is just showing them their true nature. We''re just doing this because we need this to live! We''re not evil, so why do you treat us as such?"


    "Huh?" Ren looked at the Primordial Demon dumbfounded and scratched his head. "I think you''re misunderstanding something here. I''m not doing this because I''m denying your way of life. It''s just part of nature, you know the survival of the fittest, right? If a lion''s pride was attacked wouldn''t he defend himself and his pride? Since your attacking those under me, of course, I will retaliate. If you were stronger wouldn''t I be the one to die, but since I''m the stronger one then you guys need to keep your heads down. Truth be told I wouldn''t even bother with you if you gathered the malice naturally, but you''re forcing events on arge scale, I can''t have that."


    "Also I have never treated you or any other being as evil. Good and evil are such subjective terms. In your eyes, you have done nothing wrong since you are doing what you''re doing because it''s necessary for you to live. On the other hand, in the eyes of the people that you have tricked you guys are pure evil. You know I was also once subjected to this good and evil bullcrap. Back in my previous incarnation, I was treated as an evil being by the other races, but I was treated as a noble king by my own people. To the other races, the heroes that attacked us were good, but to the demons of that time, the heroes were evil invaders. So you see I don''t look at others with stupidbels like good or evil. Well, now that I exined myself, I will ask again what''s your choice?"


    The Primordial Demon wasn''t expecting Ren to give such a long answer, but what he said did make sense. The Primordial Demon was silent for a while before he sighed and gave his answer.


    "Please absorb my spirit." Hearing the Primordial Demon''s answer, Ren nodded his head and injected arge amount of his mana into the Primordial Demon''s body, which made it explode. Once the body was gone, only the spirit remained which Ren absorbed.


    ''Alright now that''s done, let''s see what my disciple is doing now.''


    ¡­


    It was already night time as Arthur continued his rampage. Even though there were a lot of soldiers that were able to escape, those that stayed had all died. At this moment there was only one soldier left, he was amander level soldier.


    Right now Arthur''s movement had slowed down greatly, his mana supply had decreased considerably. At this point [The Berserker''s Will] was about to deactivate. Arthur''s body which was constantly regenerating before stopped doing that, as of right now Arthur was full of wounds. Still, even in this state, he was too much to handle for themander.


    After a few exchanges, Arthur was able to kill themander. Once he was done with themander, his technique [The Berserker''s Will] deactivated. As he slowly regained his sanity, Arthur felt his whole body was like a brick, it was so heavy and he found it hard to breathe. Still, he looked around to see if he had finished his mission, that was when he noticed that there was still one person alive.


    The person who was left was the most important target, it was none other than Duke Reginald. Since he just sat there without moving the berserk Arthur wasn''t able to notice him. Now that he spotted him, Arthur tried his hardest to move towards the Duke so that he can finish his mission.


    ¡­


    Reginald couldn''t believe his eyes the thousands of men that were part of the various armies of the noble houses were annihted by one kid. As he witnessed thestmander die in the child''s hands, he could hear his heart beating loudly. It was then Arthur looked at him, as their eyes met Reginald gulped, and his body trembled. He felt his body sweating like crazy as Arthur slowly approached him.


    When Arthur was nearing him, it was at that moment the horrifying child finally copsed from his wounds. Reginald was stunned by the sight, it took him a second to realize what had happened. Once it sunk in that Arthur had fallen, all the shame and rage he felt came back to him. He then startedughing in a crazed manner.


    "HAHAHAHA! As expected today is not the day I fall. Even the heavens are on my side! Now to im the honor of killing this horrific monster." Reginald approached the fallen body of Arthur, and he raised his sword and swung it downward. As the sword was about to sh Arthur, someone suddenly appeared in between them and caught the de with his thumb and index finger.


    The person that appeared didn''t bother looking at Reginald as he stared at the fallen Arthur and sighed.


    "I guess I need to intensify your training after this." The stranger mumbled to himself. As Reginald was about to yell, the stranger looked at him and spoke. "As for you¡­" The moment those words left the stranger''s mouth a heavy pressure made Reginald''s body fall to the ground.

 Chapter 414 - New Body

    <h4>Chapter 414 - New Body</h4>


    Reginald couldn''t move an inch as he was being pushed down by a very intense and horrifying level of mana that crashed onto his body. He tried his hardest to lift his head but no matter what he did he couldn''t even lift it by a centimeter. He tried to unleash his mana to counter but that proved useless as well.


    At that very moment, his very being was telling him to flee, yet how could he do that if he could not move?


    "Who¡­ Who are you?"


    "Oh, you don''t know who I am? Weren''t you trying to kill me by gathering a bunch of foolish nobles together?" When Reginald heard Ren''s response he was stunned.


    "Y-y-you''re the false king?" Reginald gritted his teeth as he spoke each word.


    "I don''t really like you calling me that, but yes I am the current ruler of the Serbek Kingdom," Ren responded in a nonchnt manner.


    Hearing that answer with that toneing from Ren''s mouth, ignited a wave of deep anger from within Reginald. Even though deep inside he knew that Ren outssed him in every way possible he would never ept it to be the truth. How could he ept such a thing? Ever since he was a child he was always believed that those of noble birth were superior. Seeing two people subverting that one truth he truly believed in made him mad beyond words. So with his sheer willpower, Reginald forcefully stood up from the ground although a little wobbly he was able to stand up with sword at hand. He red at Ren with eyes full of hatred.


    "Amoner like you! Amoner like you dare to call yourself the ruler of the mighty Serbek Kingdom how outrageous! You''re nothing more than a thief that stole the position from me!" Reginald shouted at Ren, and despite his wobbly stance he still pointed his sword at Ren.


    Ren was rather impressed to see Reginald stand up. Just moments ago this very person was about ready to cry from fear, from his young disciple, yet now he was standing up to Ren himself even while knowing the disparity of their power.


    "It seems I was mistaken about you, your pride is so big that it can actually force you to stand up against me. I apud you, Duke Reginald, despite knowing the difference in our strengths you still choose to fight against me." Ren smiled at Reginald like he was looking at a child who had aplished some mundane task. He even pped his hands as he praised Reginald. Seeing that smile of his and the action Ren took made the Duke infuriated.


    "How dare you look down on me, a great noble! You are nothing more than a filthymoner who doesn''t'' know anything! In front of a noble such as I, you should be prostrating and begging for mercy, so that I won''t kill you for L¨¨se-majest¨¦!" Ren looked at Reginald who was screaming his lungs out as if he was looking at a strange creature.


    "Did your brain fry from the fear? Also, aren''t I the one who is supposed to kill you for L¨¨se-majest¨¦?"


    "As expected talking to a fake king, who is nothing more than a filthy thiefmoner, you know absolutely nothing! I am the brother of the former king! I am a Sword Saint renowned throughout thend! I am the rightful heir to the throne! I am the great and powerful Duke Reginald!" Hearing Reginald proim all of his titles made Ren sigh.


    "Why do you talk so much. If you want something then take it! Come I''ll even allow you to get a free hit." Ren pointed at his neck as he signaled Reginald toe at him.


    "You dare look down at me to this extent!" Reginald screamed as he held onto his sword and shed at Ren''s neck. Ren didn''t move at all and allowed the strike to hit him. Yet the moment the de of the sword hit Ren''s neck it made a weird sound. Ren''s neck did not even sustain a tiny cut, on the other hand, Reginald''s sword seems close to breaking.


    Reginald was dumbfounded by the sight. He knew that Ren didn''t do anything not even summoning a mana shield. He simply took the strike with his own physical body.


    Unkown to Reginald, Ren was indeed not using mana, but instead was using Spirit Aura to envelope his body. He was doing this unconsciously, it was so natural for him now to use Spirit Aura that it became something akin to breathing for him.


    "Is that all you got, it isn''t right? Come I''ll give you another free hit. The same as before I won''t move at all. This time you better go all out or else you''ll regret itter."


    When he saw how miserably he failed, Reginald''s anger had subsided and he was finally at a state of calm. He needed to use everything he had in this next strike, he needed to put his very own life on the line.


    Reginald closed his eyes and became one with his sword. As he was concentrating his power to the limit, he received an epiphany. He understood that to be one with the sword was simply restricting, he needed to be one with the world itself.


    Ren was amazed by what he saw next, Reginald''s aura changed. ''Oh, he has been enlightened. Well, to power up before death is something very normal, most heroes back in the day could do it.''


    Reginald could feel himself and the sword bing one with the world around him. It was at that moment he could finally sense the true horror that was Ren. The world Reginald could feel was distorted in front of Ren''s mere existence. Still, despite now fully understanding how vast the gap was, Reginald did not back down.


    Reginald lifted his sword up and with everything he had he shed at Ren''s neck. The same as before, Ren did not move an inch but fully utilized all of his Spirit Aura to guard his neck. This time unlike before the de actually prated through Ren''s Spirit Aura, and it even prated a bit of his skin.


    Yet in the end, the de could not go any deeper, as it broke in half. Renughed a heartyugh as he removed the de from his neck and looked at Reginald. He then showed that vicious smile of his.


    "Hahaha! So you can do it if you tried. Well, you were more powerful than I thought. If you used the same technique on my disciple over there, you would''ve actually won. I guess that pride of yours got in the way."


    "I guess it did." In the end, Reginald who had gained enlightenment finally understood many things. Yet even then, he did not regret a single thing. Ren struck him down in a swift manner, and Reginald fainted.


    "Destroying your body would be a waste." After saying that Ren went into his soul realm. Once in his soul realm, he asked for the three Primordial Demons to meet with him. Nyarlom, Hako, and the new tenant Kolur came before him. Seeing that all the Primordial Demons were present Ren went straight to the point.


    "So do you guys want to have a new body?"

 Chapter 415 - Got To Catch Them All

    <h4>Chapter 415 - Got To Catch Them All</h4>


    The three Primordial Demons were perplexed for a few seconds as they were not sure if they heard the right thinging out of Ren''s mouth. The three wanted to ask and rify what was said.


    "What did you say?" Kolur was the first one to ask.


    "Did you guys be deaf when you came into my soul realm? Fine, let me repeat myself. I said do you guys want a new body?"


    The three Primordial Demons looked at one another. Their ears did not deceive them, what they heard the first time was actually true. Ren was actually offering them a chance to leave his soul realm.


    "If we take the body that you''re offering what would we need to give in exchange?" Nyarlom asked since he knew that Ren wasn''t the type to give things out of the goodness of his heart. Despite knowing that Ren was someone that moved on a whim, this one particr time doesn''t seem to be on a whim. Hearing Nyarlom''s question, the right side of Ren''s lip curled up a little.


    "Well, if you take the body that I''m offering, you will need to listen to me and follow my orders. That''s all there is to it. Of course before I give you the body I''ll be marking your spirits so that the moment you disobey will be the moment you die. Well that should be a given, since I''m giving you a top ss human body that was able to even injure me. So who wants to take it?"


    The three once again looked at each other. It was pretty obvious that this was going to be the conditions Ren would set forth, anything less would have been unlike Ren.


    "I''m fine with staying here. I don''t need a new body, since in this realm I have no need to feed on the malice of others, and I can continue to grow stronger." Nyarlom answered with honesty.


    "I also want to stay in your soul realm and grow stronger. In my current state even if I do go out, I won''t be able to serve you properly. Also beforeing to this ce I was the weakest among the three present here." Hako answered, but what he said was only partly true. The main reason he was denying Ren''s proposal is because he didn''t want to serve under anyone, not even the Strongest Mortal Soul. Still, if Ren wanted to, he could simply force him and he wouldn''t be able to do anything about it. So it was a good thing that Ren actually asked for their opinions.


    "I don''t really want to go out just yet. I want to see how these two got so strong so quickly." Kolur answered. Ren kept on nodding his head as he listened to the three and their excuses. He then looked at each one of them with a smile on his face.


    Seeing that smile on his face, made the three visibly shiver. Nyarlom and Hako''s teeth were ttering as they witnessed that smiling face. Since they started living in the Soul Realm, they knew what a smile means to any incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "I just wanted to ask for your opinions, but I didn''t say that I will allow you to back out. For now I''ll give you guys a chance. The three of you will vote for the person who will take the body. If no one is chosen, I will be the one to choose for you guys. So who will it be?" Ren pointed at Nyarlom.


    Surprised that he was the first one to be asked he looked at the other two, and then at Ren. Seeing as he had no choice in the matter Nyarlom was trying to think about the best answer.


    "Just give your answer already!" Seeing Ren looking impatient, Nyarlom''s brain went into high gear as he tried to think of an answer.


    ''None of us want to take the body. But Ren would still pick someone no matter what. Still, if we are made to pick then-''


    "I said answer already."


    "Nyarlom." Unable to think properly as he was surprised by Ren asking, he bbered his name.


    "Oh so you wanted to do it, then why didn''t you say so? Well, whatever since I already said you guys get to vote I''ll still ask the others. So how about you two?"


    "Nyarlom should do it since he wants to." Hako answered without any hesitation.


    "Yeah, Nyarlom is the best pick, since he''s been in here the longest. I''m pretty sure he''s the one who wants to go out the most. Also, he should already know a lot of sword techniques which matches that owner of that body." Kulor added on.


    "That''s right, seeing as the body that''s being offered is that of a so called Sword Saint, Nyarlom is best suited in taking it." Hako quickly assisted in what Kulor said. When Nyarlom heard how the two praised him, it didn''t make him feel good at all. Nyarlom gritted his teeth and red at the two. Still, no matter how much he wanted to rip them apart, he wasn''t able to do anything, nor was he able to deny what the two were saying, since it was partially the truth.


    "I guess that''s right. So the one who get''s to have a body first would be you Nyarlom. Be happy, since you don''t have to stay in here and be yed around with by the other incarnations."


    "¡­" Nyarlom had a sullen look and didn''t respond.


    "Alright, before you merge with Reginald, let me mark your spirit." Ren approached Nyarlom and started drawing some runes into Nyarlom''s spirit. It took Ren a full hour before he was done. After he was finished it marking Nyarlom''s sprit, Nyarlom was allowed to leave the Soul Realm. Ren then looked at the two remaining Primordial Demons and smiled.


    "Don''t worry you two, once I find a suitable body for you guys you can join us outside."


    ¡­


    Reginald who was unconscious suddenly stood up. He then looked around and started moving his body in weird ways.


    "So what do you think?" Ren asked.


    "I was able to merge properly and I''m now in full control of the body, but the will of this person is quite strong. It''s not as strong as yours, but even so a bit of his consciousness still remains."


    "Oh, that is rather impressive. So will that a problem for you?" Hearing Ren''s question Nyarlom shook his head.


    "No, not really. His consciousness may remain for now but after some time his consciousness will slowly fade."


    "Hmmm, I see, so will you be able to use this body to its full potential?"


    "This human''s body is decently trained, and his mana supply is above average. Even though this is the first human I sesfully possessed, I don''t know much, but I guess this guy is pretty good¡­ Wait, what?"


    "What''s the matter?"


    "The original owner of this body is screaming in my head."


    "Oh, what''s he saying? Is he asking you to give his body back?" Ren asked with a face full of curiosity. Nyarlom shook his head before answering.


    "No, it''s not that. He''s telling me that his body isn''t just pretty good. He''s shouting in my head that this body is a masterpiece given to him by the very Gods themselves. He''s telling me that he''s the perfect human in both body and mind."


    Ren was shocked when he heard Nyarlom rying what Reginald said, and after a while he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    ''Even though his body has been taken from him, his main concern is that? This guy really is more interesting than I thought. Should I give Nyarlom a different body and forcefully try to make this guy follow me?¡­ Nah, that won''t do, based on this guy''s personality if I did that he won''t do as I order, and will just kill himself.''


    "Well, alright then, let''s head out and meet with the others. I need to tell them that I was able to convince you into joining my cause. So from here on out, you are no longer Nyarlom the Primordial Demon, but Reginald Serbek, a Sword Saint and my follower." Ren spoke as he carried Arthur.


    "Fine¡­"


    ¡­


    As the two were running towards the ce where members of the Shadow n were staying at, Ren was looking at Nyarlom, who was now Reginald. Ren was rather impressed in how quickly Nyarlom was able to adapt in using Reginald''s body. He was even using what seem to be movement techniques that Reginald knows of.


    ''Hmm, Primordial Demons aren''t just pretty good sparring partners, but I can even use them to posses powerful beings that won''t bow down to me. Maybe I should capture them all and make them all my subordinates. They are a powerful race and they do have that useful skill of heightening emotions. Yeah, I should do that, I gotta catch them all. Well, that is better than bringing their race into extinction.''


    Nyarlom was unnerved as he saw Ren smiling at him as they run. "Is ther a problem?"


    "Oh no problem. I just thought that you Primordial Demons are pretty useful, but unfortunately you guys aren''t utilizing your full potential. So as apassionate person, as an incarnation of the very first hero, I want to ensl- ''Ahem'' Save you all. I want to show you guys the proper path. So I decided to capt-¡­ Bring you all in under my leadership."


    When Nyarlom heard what Ren said, he showed a very weird expression and after a while sighed. ''It would seem that getting out of the seal in this era was the wrong choice. We should''ve just stayed in that cave¡­ Now we''re just ythigns to this guy¡­'' Nyarlom once again looked at the smiling Ren and sighed.

 Chapter 416 - Stabilizing The Situation

    <h4>Chapter 416 - Stabilizing The Situation</h4>


    After the incident in Reginald''snd, Ren told Henrietta to announce to the other noble houses that Duke Reginald had already surrendered and was now serving under him. Although, he didn''t really need to announce that since even without Reginald the other noble houses will most likely bow down to Ren.


    When they learned that the armies they sent alongside their family heads and heirs had been massacred, even if Reginald was able to somehow escape, and continue his supposed crusade, the current noble houses would never think about opposing Ren again.


    ¡­


    Those that were able to somehow survive that day had returned and reported to their superiors about what had happened.


    Despite the contents of the report were unbelievable, they had no choice but to believe it. Since the bodies of those that died that day were still in the city. Of course, in the beginning, they had their doubts.


    So they sent scouts to determine if the reports were true. The elite scouts that they had sent came back with pale faces, reporting of the carnage they saw that happened in the city.


    Unable to believe it still, despite hearing numerous reports some of the new heads personally checked the situation and what they saw was a horrific sight. The whole city that used to be beautiful and full of life turned into and of death filled with monsters. It would seem that the monsters were attracted to the smell of the dead bodies, and had gathered in the city.


    So now that they knew the truth, the noble houses didn''t care if Reginald was on Ren''s side or not. No matter what, at this point, they would''ve sided with Ren either way. The power Ren wielded was something they cannot even begin to imagine. Since the reports were true, that would mean Ren only sent a total of twenty-one people to deal with an army of thousands. Just that thought alone scared most of the noble houses.


    ¡­


    Now that he was done making the Serbek Kingdom into his own, Ren could focus on other things. Still, before he did anything he needed to assure himself that his family was well protected. Thest time, he had miscalcted that oue was not something he wanted to repeat. So to ensure their safety Ren ordered Nyarlom to be his mother and younger brother''s protector.


    ''What the f*ck you want me a Primordial Demon to be a babysitter?!'' Nyarlom screamed in his mind. Still, no matter how discontent he was about the order he would never say it to Ren''s face.


    "Understood," Nyarlom had no choice but to reluctantly agreed.


    "Of course, you understand what will happen to you if either of them has even a single scratch or if even a single hair on their heads was harmed?" Ren looked at Nyarlom with a smile. Seeing Ren''s smiling face Nyarlom quickly went down on his knee and bowed his head.


    "I will protect them with everything I have. If either of them is harmed, I will personally avenge them, then take my own life aspensation."


    "Hmph, no, no, no, Nyarlom it would seem that you are mistaken. If either of them is harmed, death would be too easy an escape for you. How can I allow that? So for starters, you should know that I will torture you until you would beg anyone to finish you. Then I will bring upon you a pain that you wouldn''t even be able to understand. Well, that''s if they are harmed. On the other hand, the moment one of them dies¡­"


    When Ren said those words the atmosphere in the room has suddenly gotten extremely tense. It felt like the very ground was shaking in fear of Ren. The room''s walls were also cracking as Ren stood there the expression on his face unclear.


    At that moment Nyarlom had difficulty breathing, as his head suddenly mmed onto the floor. Ren wasn''t touching him, there was no mana fluctuation, nor was there any bloodlust.


    Ren was just standing there his back facing Nyarlom. There was no indication of something being done, yet everything around them was being crushed by an invisible force. Nyarlom could hear the bones of his new body creaking as his whole body was now on the ground, hugging the floor. Not only was his body creaking, but even his spirit was being crushed by something.


    Nyarlom thought that this was it, that he was going to disappear permanently but then the atmosphere suddenly lightened. Nyarlom was able to lift his head and saw that Ren was now kneeling in front of him looking at him who was on the ground.


    "Sorry about that, I just got a tiny bit angry just imagining that oue. Well, anyway if that were to happen, then expect your very mind and soul to break before your body." Nyarlom gulped dryly as he nodded his head.


    ¡­


    Once Ren was done introducing Milly and Kurt to their new bodyguard, Ren gave a new mission to Arthur and the Shadow n. The mission was to gather information on what was transpiring in the other kingdoms near the Serbek Kingdom. Of course, Ren had already asked Henrietta to send people to do the investigation, but some of them were unable to return. So for the ces that they weren''t able to gather information, the Shadow n would finish the mission.


    This time, Ren gave Arthur a handicap while performing this mission. Arthur wasn''t allowed to use mana during the duration of the mission. The moment he did so, he would be punished in an appropriate manner. Despite the absurd order, Arthur without hesitation agreed.


    "Understood master, this time I promise that I will fulfill this mission and achieve absolute victory."


    "I expect to hear the great news."


    "As you will master."


    ¡­


    Once he was done with all he needed to do in the Serbek Kingdom, Ren decided to finally visit Tsukiko and Le who he left at the tree of life. As he was about ready to leave he first informed his mother and his younger brother about his departure.


    "Is the ce you''re going to going to be dangerous?" Milly couldn''t help but ask worriedly. She somehow understood that her son was pretty much the strongest human in the Kingdom, but still, she was concerned. It was possible that there were stronger beings out there that could kill her son on a whim.


    "Don''t worry mom, the ce I''m going to is safe."


    "Can Ie?" Kurt asked as he stretched his hands upward wanting to be carried by his big brother. Ren patted his younger brother''s head and answered.


    "Sorry, your big bro isn''t going there to have fun, I have some business to attend to. I promise that the next time I go, I will bring you with me."


    "You promise?"


    "I promise. So while I''m gone you better listen to mom. Also, you better tell me if that guy over there is protecting you properly." Ren pointed at Nyarlom who was standing at the side.


    "Mhmm." Kurt nodded his head in response.


    "That''s my little bro." Ren once again patted his younger brother''s head.


    "Alright then, I''m going." As Ren was about to leave, Valdel came running towards him.


    "Ren, are you going to meet with the fox and those pointy-eared people?"


    "Yeah, I am."


    "Can Ie with you? There''s something I want to confirm." Ren shrugged his shoulders before replying.


    "Even if I said no, you would still go anyway, so why do you bother asking?"


    "Cause unlike you, I have manners."


    "Heh, manners from a dog?"


    "Well, that just means you have worse manners than a dog?"


    "Huh? Can you say that again? All I heard was barking."


    While Ren and Valdel were arguing they were already jumping and running. Hearing the two arguing with each other as they left made Milly smile.


    A lot of things have changed, and there are many things she still couldn''t wrap her mind around. Yet when she saw the two of them act like that, she felt at peace. It was as if she was transported back in time when they were all still in that tiny vige of theirs.


    The time when she would prepare dinner, while Ren, Valdel, Lara, and Lisa were ying and her husband was out hunting. When it was time for dinner, Valdel and the other kids would usually eat with them. At that time Ren would advise them on what they were doing wrong on that day. Valdel would happily talk about his dream to be a hero and repeat the tales of what he heard from the vige elder. Lara would be eating quietly as she looked at Ren from time to time. While Lisa would happily listen to Valdel talk about his dreams.


    She and her husband watching them grow and eating happily together. Those were the times, that the world still felt sane, that the world still felt like it wouldn''t disappear tomorrow¡­ Milly who was smiling couldn''t help it, as tears suddenly fell down her face.

 Chapter 417 - My Friend

    <h4>Chapter 417 - My Friend</h4>


    As Ren and Valdel were sprinting towards the eternal forest, Valdel suddenly spoke.


    "Now that I think about it since the Primordial Demons are out and about, that would mean that something happened to that hero in the cave. You know the one who called himself Shin."


    "You only now realized that? The moment I spotted Nyarlom, I immediately figured that out. As expected of a dog, thinking really isn''t your specialty."


    "Why does it seem, that ever since you found out that I was formerly Kir, you started acting like this towards me?"


    "I thought you wanted to be true friends, I''m just acting in an open way. Since you know my secret, and I know yours, we''re pretty much as close as can be as friends. This is just me being me. Thest time when you didn''t know who I truly was, I could never show you my true self since I was trying to control your actions in a hidden manner. Now that I know you''re the old man, then you pretty much should know what I''m like, making it harder to fool you. So if I can''t fool you, then why should I bother acting, I''ll just be myself."


    "Even before I got a clear picture of my past life memories, I did guess that you weren''t honest with me. Still, I kinda wanted to believe that you weren''t ying me for a fool."


    "Well, don''t worry about it, you were a fool before as Kir and you''re still a fool now. Nothing much has changed in that regard, so don''t sweat it."


    "Hmph, so says the one who foolishly pursues the greatest of battle. You would do so many foolish things in that pursuit of yours."


    "When did ever say I wasn''t a fool? I was a fool back then, and I''m a fool even now. Even my past incarnations were just as foolish as I, which is to be expected since we''re all one and the same."


    "Wait, alright, I will concede to that point of yours, but we''re getting off-topic here. Aren''t you worried about your hero friend?"


    "Hero friend?¡­ Isn''t that you?"


    "Not me the other one."


    "Hmmm, If you''re talking about Shin, then I never treated that guy as a friend. So in that regard, you truly were my only hero friend. That guy was more like a rival to me. He among all the other beings I have fought in this life and thest, the so called fourth hero, Shin, was the only one who was able to survive an encounter with me. I have met him in battle numerous times, and each time we fought he grows stronger than thest. He was truly a worthy rival, that kept me going."


    "Wait, the way you''re talking seems like you''re implying something¡­ How about me wasn''t I your rival as well?"


    "Hmm in our past lives, you were more of a kindred soul, rather than I rival. You were like a mirror of what I could''ve been. Actually, in the end, I did end up the same as you. As you said, the moment I reached the top it got really boring, real fast. At the time, the days became longer as nothing ignited my excitement, my passion, the thrill of battle was lost. There were no more battles to be had. Those that were stronger than me, did not want to face me in battle. Back then I thought it was because they feared the ridicule they would receive if they lost. Well, that''s what I thought back then, but now that I know more about my own hidden secrets, I guess those people knew the truth about me. They knew that I was the Strongest Mortal Soul. So they didn''t want to risk having a fight with me."


    "I see¡­" Valdel was going to ask Ren, that what about now, was he still not considered as Ren''s rival? Yet when Valdel remembered that in this current life of his, Ren was the one who taught him how to fight. So Valdel no longer bothered to ask the question.


    "So you''re not worried about that rival of yours?"


    "Worried, why should I be?"


    "Oh¡­ Knowing you, I thought you would''ve wanted to settle the score between the two of you, or that you wanted to see how powerful he had be?"


    "Of course, I want to settle the score and I also want to see how powerful he is now, but what does that have to do with me being worried?"


    "Then if you do feel that way, why aren''t you worried about his safety or whether he''s alive or dead?"


    "Why should I worry about that, obviously he''s alive which is why I can beat him down and learn how powerful he is when I meet himter."


    "How can you be so sure he''s alive?"


    "That guy when I was at the peak of my power and had an army of powerful demons and undead serving under me. Even with all that odds stack up against him, even while he was protecting other people he stood and fought against me. At the time he was already powerful enough to escape from me, and know that a few millennia have passed he''s obviously more powerful than before. Even if he''s being surrounded by an unknown number of Primordial Demons, that guy would still find a way to survive. That''s why I''m not worried, because I believe in him."


    Valdel was rather shocked to hear what Ren said. "You¡­ believe in him?"


    "Yeah, I do." Ren unconsciously smiled as he thought about that old rival of his.


    "I see¡­"


    "So what is it you truly want to ask, Valdel? I''m sure that you didn''t start this conversation because you just wanted me to talk about Shin."


    "How could you tell?"


    "Hmph, you might have the memories of the old man, but you''re still that naive childhood friend of mine, Valdel. I could easily see through you."


    "Heh, as expected of you. As per usual it''s like you could see through my own thoughts, that not even I know about."


    Ren stopped running and Valdel did the same. Without turning around to look at Valdel, Ren spoke in a more serious tone.


    "¡­ Is it about Lisa?" When Valdel heard Ren''s question he was truly surprised this time. Valdel who was stunned for a few seconds started to chuckle as he answered.


    "You really do see through everything¡­ Yeah, it''s about Lisa. The reason why I was trying to test you with my questions, was because I wanted to see how you''ll answer knowing that your friend was dead. But as I should''ve expected from you, the answer you gave was out of my expectations. Unfortunately, I cannot use the same answer, since even if I believe in her, we both know the truth about Lisa."


    "So what are you nning to do now?"


    "I thought about it for a very long time now. Once we''re done with the Primordial Demon crisis, I will head out to the underworld and I will speak with the God of Death."


    "That journey will be a tough one, even for someone like you."


    "I owe Lisa that much."


    "Of course, you''re telling me this because you want me to join you, right?" Valdel shook his head before responding to Ren.


    "No, I wasn''t expecting you to do that. This is a journey I must make on my own."


    "You fool, did you really think I will allow you to go to such a fun ce without me?"


    "Like you said to me, even if I said no, you would still go anyway, so why do you bother asking?"


    "Good that you understand¡­ Of course, you''ll tell Lara about it as well."


    "If possible, I wanted to go either by myself or with just the two of us. I don''t really want to endanger Lara''s life for this."


    "You really are idiotic sometimes. What do you think Lara would feel if we go by ourselves? How about what she would feel if we fail to return without telling her?"


    "¡­ Heh, I guess you''re right. I was being unfair to her¡­ When we return I''ll tell her the n as well."


    "You better prepare for the worst, before going to the underworld¡­ Unlike the time we dealt with the underworld of Grenton, this underworld is literally guarded by the God of Death."

 Chapter 418 - Can You Tell Me More?

    <h4>Chapter 418 - Can You Tell Me More?</h4>


    After they were done talking about their future journey to the underworld, the two continued their journey towards the eternal forest. As they were passing by some familiar ces, Valdel couldn''t help but sigh.


    "This ce looks so different from those days in my memories, it has changed so much that I can hardly recognize them."


    "What do you expect it has been eleven thousand years since then. Even the mountains and deities have changed in that time."


    "Heh, when you say it like that, it does make sense. But in my memories, it just happened a few years ago. Still, seeing it now with my very own eyes¡­ It truly has been that long." Valdel sighed as he said those words. Even though he had the memories of Kir, those memories were like dreams to him, still seeing the scenery had changed from that of his old memories made him feel a little heartbroken.


    ''My past life''s kin, all of them should be dead by now. Even Shera my most trusted aid shouldn''t be able to survive the purge that happened back then.'' Valdel remembered the story of what Ren knew regarding what happened after his death. It would seem that he was able to get some information from a supposed descendant of his. Based on that descendant of Ren''s every pure-blooded demon was killed on that day when Ren as Kretos died.


    ''If even Kretos wasn''t able to survive the purge, then most likely she''s dead as well. I wonder what her reincarnation would be like?'' Valdel shook his head as he continued running.


    ¡­


    When they finally arrived at the entrance of the forest, the elven queen was already there waiting for them. Both Ren and Valdel were surprised by the sight, but the reason for each of the surprised reactions was different.


    Valdel was surprised since this was the first time he has ever seen an elf. Even when he was called the Mighty Lord Kir, he hasn''t seen an elf. They were rather rare to see in his past life or even in this life since they didn''t like to go out and interact with the other races. Still, they were as the stories proimed a very beautiful race.


    On the other hand, Ren was surprised to see that Kara the elven queen was here waiting for them.


    "How did you know that we wereing, can you see the future?" Hearing Ren''s question made Kara smile a very sweet seductive smile.


    "Unfortunately I do not possess such an ability. The reason I was able to greet you today is simple. When the Guardian of the tree of life returned, she informed me that you''ll being to visit. So as I didn''t know when you''ll be arriving, and I didn''t want to be unable to greet you upon your arrival, I have been staying out here. I''ve been waiting for about one hundred and seventy days." Kara gave out a number that made Valdel and Ren look at her dumbfounded.


    "That''s a rather long time."


    "Maybe for those of little life spans, but for us elves, that''s just like the blink of an eye."


    ''Oh right¡­ If it was me from my past life, I wouldn''t even feel bothered if I waited for a few years. I didn''t really notice it but I guess after bing human my read on time has be different as well.''


    "Still, didn''t you need to sleep, or did you sleep out here?"


    "We elves are loved by nature, sleeping in the outdoors is normal for us."


    "Really, then why build houses?"


    "That was not built by our own hands, but by the tree itself made it from its branches."


    "Well, whatever." As Ren was about to move away, Valdel held onto him. "What are you doing?"


    "Introduce me to her?"


    "Why should I? Are you interested in her?"


    "No, but it''s the polite thing to do."


    "I keep on telling you that you don''t need to act that way. If you want to be introduced, how about you introduce yourself. I have other things to do, so see you." As Ren left, Valdel sighed as he looked at Kara.


    "I''m sorry for thete introduction. I''m Valdel the childhood friend of that rude guy that just left, it''s nice to meet you." Valdel extended his hand forward. Kara stared at Valdel''s hands for a bit before she grabbed Valdel''s hand and shook it.


    "It''s nice to meet you, I''m Kara the Queen of the elves." When Valdel heard Kara''s introduction he immediately backed away and was knelt on one knee.


    "I''m sorry I didn''t know. I hope I wasn''t being rude." Kara was equally shocked by Valdel''s reaction and tried to help him up.


    "There''s no need to kneel in front of me. I might be the queen but as a friend of Sir Ren, that means you actually have a higher status than I." When Valdel heard Kara''s response he stood up and looked at the elven queen.


    "So you know about his secret?"


    "We elves have a very cooperative rtionship with all the Strongest Mortal Soul''s incarnations. Our fate seems to be tied to his, however reluctant we are. That rtionship of ours has been both a blessing and a curse."


    "I understand what you mean, I truly do." Seeing that very awkward smile on Valdel''s face, Kara nodded her head.


    "It would seem that you truly do understand." The two looked at each other and started chuckling. After a little bit more small talk, Valdel''s tone suddenly got serious.


    "Um, Kara, I know that we''ve just met and all that, but I have something I want to ask."


    "There''s no need to be modest, please ask whatever you want, and I will answer as best as I can."


    "How much do you know about the God of Death?"


    "Hmmm, I know just as much as any other person, maybe just a little bit more."


    "Then do you know where the entrance to the underworld is located?" When Kara heard Valdel''s question she couldn''t help but frown.


    "The underworld, where souls are gathered and cleanse to prepare them for the next life. The only reason why a person would ask to find it. You have recently lost a person dear to you, haven''t you?"


    "¡­Yeah."


    "You should ept it, death is just simply a part of life. Trying to change that is impossible. Even if you do get to the underworld, nothing will change. The dead will remain dead, but the living might turn out dead. That''s the kind of ce you want to go to."


    "But I still must try. Also, who decided I cannot save my friend from the clutches of Death? I know of a person that defies fate and changes the rules to suit his whims. If he could do it, then why can''t I?" Kara looked at Valdel''s eyes and saw the burning determination in them. Kara sighed as she shook her head.


    "I know of whom you speak of, but even he had to give up things in the face of Death¡­ There are a lot of things in this world that you can change if you''re strong enough, but not even the Strongest Mortal Soul could escape death, much less you."


    "Even so, please tell me."


    "¡­ Truth be told I know not the way to the underworld, but I do know some that might know the way."

 Chapter 419 - What More Could I Ask For?

    <h4>Chapter 419 - What More Could I Ask For?</h4>


    Ren left Valdel with Kara and was walking towards the tree of life. It was obvious that Valdel wanted to talk to Kar. After learning about what Valdel wanted to do, Ren had a pretty nice guess as to why he wants to talk to a long-lived race like the elves.


    ''Well, if he can''t find the answer on his own, I guess I can help him get it. Silika should know the general direction of the underworld, as she was a former Goddess of Death. Well, even if she doesn''t know, the other deities should know.'' Ren no longer bothered thinking about that as he was heading towards the tree of life.


    ¡­


    Tsukiko and Le continued to chat under the tree of life unaware of how many days have passed. They continued enjoying each other''spany when Tuskiko suddenly felt someoneing closer.


    "So you''ve finally arrived, Ren. At least you arrived earlier than expected. I thought it would take you at least a decade before you decide to visit."


    "Big bro is here, why can''t I sense him?" Le tried looking around but she couldn''t find a single trace of Ren.


    "So we''re ying hide and seek now, are we?" Tsukiko asked but there was no response. "Well, I got to admit you are good in hiding your presence just like a sneaky rat." When Tsukiko said that word, there was a slight fluctuation of mana. Even though it was brief Le was able to sense it, and quickly pounced at a nearby bush.


    "Heh, you know me so well." Ren appeared from the bush and was hugged by Le.


    "Well, it''s not that hard. So do you mind telling this old fox what''s been going on since your reincarnation?"


    "Straight to business?"


    "I don''t really want to but¡­ Now that you''re human no matter how powerful you are you''ll probablyst five hundred years at most. That''s not really a long time, so it''s better to get things done quickly, don''t you think so?"


    "To humans, five hundred years is actually quite long. Still, I do get your point. So let me tell you a little story of how I became the bored king of the world."


    Ren started telling Tsukiko about the events that happened after she was killed by the Third Hero. Tsukiko didn''t say a word and simply listened until Ren had finished his story.


    "So you really were able to do it. Well, I guess if anyone can, it would be you."


    "So how about you Tsukiko. How did you spend your time here?"


    "It wasn''t bad, most of the time I would be sleeping, and other times I would be helping the elves train their young. There are also some thate to challenge me for the right to be the guardian. All in all, I always had something to do so it was never boring."


    "I see¡­ Hey Tsukiko, I just wanted to say, thanks¡­ Thank you for everything." Ren shifted his gaze away and was looking somewhere else as he said those words. Le stared at her big bro and was surprised at what he saw. Tsukiko then looked at Ren''s back and giggled.


    "Who knew that the all-powerful Ren would be a crybaby."


    "Hmph, who the heck is crying? I never cry cause what''s the point of doing so?"


    "Sure, that''s what you say, but, Le is he crying?"


    "I can''t believe it, big bro is actually shedding a tear!" Le responded.


    "What are you saying, Le? I was just sweating, this is sweat from all the running, I did run here at full speed."


    "Sure, sure I believe you, Ren."


    "Whatever, so Tsukiko what are you nning to do now?"


    "Changing the topic I see."


    "I''m serious Tsukiko, can you tell me the answer?"


    "Fine, I''ll allow you to change the topic cause you''re acting all cute." Tsukiko smiled as she stood up and approached Ren.


    "Come on Tsukiko, I''m serious please tell me what you n to do."


    "Oh, how rare, Ren actually saying please¡­ Well, what else am I supposed to do? As the guardian of the tree of life, the only thing I can do is guard the tree. I can leave it for a little while, but if I returnte I might die, and my soul could perish. So I didn''t really want to risk going out of the forest. The only reason I did so this time, was because I heard that you were there. I wanted to meet the guy that always arrivedte so that I could scold him a bit. Now that I was able to meet him again I feel satisfied. If you could visit me from time to time Ren, then that''s all I could as for." Tsukiko spoke every word with a happy smile on her face. Seeing her like that made Ren''s heart feel pained as he gritted his teeth.


    "Are you sure that''s all you want? Staying here, unable to leave? Are you sure, you''re alright with this?! Weren''t you the Kitsune called the Demonic Fox Tsukiko, one who loved freedom more than anything?! Then why are you happy, aren''t a prisoner here trapped unable to do anything?!"


    "What are you saying, Ren? You know sometimes, you speak so wisely, but at other times you also speak so foolishly. In this ce, I get to sleep under my favorite tree. I''m practically immortal when I''m near the tree of life so there''s no more danger of me dying. When I wake up I get to y around with the elves and teach their children. Now that you and Le are here, you can visit me from time to time and we can reminisce about the past era. What more could I ask for?"


    "Damn it, Tsukiko! Don''t you want to go out and be free like you used to be? Don''t you want to see what had be of the world since you slept? Don''t you want to enjoy the life that you worked so hard to keep! Just say the word and I''ll break you free from your contract with the tree of life."


    Tsukiko who was standing in front of Ren gently caressed his face before smiling ever so gently. She then spoke to Ren with a calming voice.


    "Same as before, beneath that rough exterior that faces everything head-on with no fear,ys the deep kindness you have. You seem to be misunderstanding something here Ren. I''m not trapped here, I''m as free as I can be. Everything I have done, every choice that I made, I made out of my own free will. I do not regret it and I ept it wholeheartedly. So, Ren, I hope that you, my beloved, proud Demon Lord to be free as well. The regret that you felt when you couldn''t save me, the guilt that has bound you to me, that has be a shackle in your heart, I free you from it."


    "Are you sure?" Ren was trying to hold back as he spoke those words.


    "Am I sure?" Tsukiko giggled when she suddenly caught Ren off-guard and kissed him on the lips¡­ "I''m always sure."

 Chapter 420 - Its Been A While

    <h4>Chapter 420 - It''s Been A While</h4>


    "Who is the person that knows the way?"


    "Truth be told this is just a guess, I''m not really sure of it. Still, there should be a couple of people with the knowledge that you seek."


    "I understand, so can you tell me who they are?" Valdel nodded his head as he asked.


    "One of them is actually here. She''s the one Ren came to meet."


    "Oh, so the Demonic Fox knows where the entrance to the underworld is located."


    "Supposedly, she might possibly know where it is at. Since the Guardian is linked to the tree of life, which knows everything that goes around in this world. It is possible that the tree has provideddy Tsukiko with the knowledge. You could ask her, but I''m not sure if she would tell you."


    "Then just in case who the others that would know about the location of the entrance?"


    "The Temples would most likely know of the location. I''m not really sure which ones but based on the rtionships between the deities¡­ I''m guessing the Temples of the Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Darkness, the God of Stone, the God of War, and of course the Temple of the God of Death would most likely know of the entrance."


    "The Temple of the God of War, I know where that is, but where are the Temples of the Goddess, of Light, the Goddess of Darkness, the God of Stone, and the God of Death located at?"


    "The Temple of the Goddess of light is in a human kingdom called the Holy Kingdom. That kingdom only believes in the Goddess of light and thinks that all other deities are weaker and less important. The Temple of the Goddess of light has the worst rtionship with all other temples. Still, despite their very provocative ways, the other temples are unable to deal with them, since the Temple of the Goddess of light is thergest and most powerful temple of them all. The only way for them to lose is if all the other temples join together, which would b unlikely. As the one who has the most believers, they should have a general idea of where the entrance to the underworld is."


    "The Temple of the Goddess of Darkness is almost the exact opposite of the Temple of the Goddess of Light. The Temple of the Goddess of Darkness is located to the west beyond the desert. The followers of this Temple, are very secretive and are few in numbers, but I heard each member is an elite. Each individual member of this Temple is at minimum at the Sword Saint Level. The rtionship between the Temples of Darkness and Death are closely linked, so they might know where the entrance is."


    "Now there''s the Temple of the God of Stone. This Temple''s worshippers are mostly dwarves, who are said to be the children of the newly appointed God. They came into existence a few years after the Death of Demon Lord Kretos. Supposedly the God of Stone knows of the location of anything and anyone that has touched a rock or even a pebble, that would mean that as long as they exist in this world they cannot escape his sights. You can find the Temple in the stronghold of the dwarves at far North."


    "Of course, finally there''s the Temple of the God of Death. Even though there is a Temple dedicated to him, but its location seems to be changing from year to year, so as of now I do not know where they are at."


    "I see, thank you for giving me all that information." Valdel bowed his head.


    "Valdel I will once again warn you, Life and Death are a part of nature, to forcefully try and change the cycle will cost you dearly. Are you sure that you''re prepared to pay that cost?"


    "¡­ Truth be told I''m not really sure if I''m doing the right thing, or if I''m just being selfish, but this is something I feel that I must do. I will deal with whateveres afterward but for now, I need to meet her." The resolve in Valdel''s eyes never wavered as they even grew more intense.


    "I see, then there''s nothing more that I can say."


    ¡­


    After talking with Kara, Valdel immediately headed to the Tree of Life to talk to Tsukiko. As he arrived Le had pounced at him. Valdel was able to react quickly and evaded Le''s attack. Le once again pounced, but Valdel kept on evading. As he continued to evade Valdel spoke to Le.


    "What do you think you''re doing? Why are you attacking me?"


    "You''re a stranger that suddenly came to Big Sis Tsukiko''s territory. Of course, I''m going to attack you."


    "Stand down Le, that''s a friend of mine," Ren spoke which made Le look at Valdel in surprise.


    "You''re a friend of big bro, then why didn''t you tell me?"


    "It''s because you didn''t give me chance, also did you call him big bro? Ren, did you make this girl call you big bro, is that a kink of yours?"


    "I didn''t make her call me that, she decided to call me that all on her own," Ren responded while shrugging his shoulders.


    "Oh, you''re the kid that won the tournament. What was your name again, V- something." Tsukiko joined in the conversation.


    "It''s Valdel, you little fox."


    "Oh, as expected of a friend of Ren, you''re very rude. Well, since you''re his friend I''ll forgive you this one time."


    "Hmm, how am I rude? I''m just calling a naughty little fox, a little fox."


    "Oho, Quite fearless as expected for one so young."


    "For your information, I believe that I was the older one between the two of us."


    "That tone of yours was funny at first, boy, but now it''s starting to get irritating. Do you even know who you''re speaking to?"


    "Of course I do, aren''t you the scared little fox that called herself a demon lord? Aren''t I right, Demonic Fox Tsukiko?" When Tsukiko heard what Valdel said she suddenly emitted killing intent as she looked at him with a cold re.


    "You know who I am and yet you still talk so rudely to me? The only one I can allow to talk to me like that is Ren, and no other. Ren, will you please allow me to teach your friend some manners." Ren was about to answer when Valdel interrupted him.


    "No need to ask for permission from Ren, it''s not like you''re going to be able to do anything to me anyway. On the other hand, I''ll be spanking a naughty brat''s behind."


    "Fine, you two do whatever you want just don''t kill each other." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.


    "Don''t worry I won''t kill this friend of yours, but he would wish that I did." Tsukiko''s eight tails suddenly erupted with mes at the tip. Tsukiko was about to unleash her foxfire when she saw Valdel taking a stance. At first, she was surprised to see him using that stance, but then she remembered that Ren also taught Lara how to use Kir''s fighting techniques.


    "It would seem that you do know a bit about me, but do you think I''ll be scared seeing you use the Mighty lord Kir''s fighting stance? Aside from Ren and Kir himself, no one else can properly use those techniques. So stop embarrassing yourself and just let me punish you."


    "Aside from Ren and Kir?¡­ Well, I guess you''re right, but little fox, have you truly forgotten who I am?"


    "Huh? What are you saying, didn''t I already say you''re Ren''s friend Valdel."


    "Yeah, that''s right, but you also know me as someone else. Can''t you remember little fox? Who was the one that saved you when Darius came to finish you off?"


    When Tsukiko heard what Valdel said she was surprised. Aside from three people no one else knew of that event, not even Ren as Kretos. The only ones who knew were her, Darius, and Kir. That''s when Tsukiko came to a sudden realization and looked at Valdel with a shocked expression. Seeing her reaction Valdel couldn''t help but smile, as he gathered mana into his fist, which he then released upward.


    When Tsukiko saw how perfectly executed that technique was, the image of that Lycan who saved her on that day seems to have merged with the person standing before her now.


    "It can''t be? Are you the Demon Lord of the Lycans, the Mighty Lord Kir?" When Tsukiko asked that question, Le, who was confused as to what was happening looked at Kir with a dumbfounded expression. Ren, on the other hand, was just watching at the side with not much reaction.


    "Well, you finally got it. Though I guess as Ren said, Kir is dead and now only Valdel remains. It''s been a while little fox." Tsukiko who was dumbfounded by the entire sequence of events smiled wryly.


    "First, Ren reincarnated into a human, then Le was revived from the ice, and now even Kir came back as Ren''s human friend. What''s happening here, are all the demons of the past that were connected to Ren reviving in this era? So who''s going to be next, is it Demon Empress Nimune, or Vampiric Lord Darius who''s going to reincarnate and remember who they are in their past life?" Tsukiko who was usually easy-going, couldn''t help but be a little bit overwhelmed by the situation she was in.


    "Who knows they might have already reincarnated as well, maybe you already met them and you just don''t know it," Valdel responded with a tired smile on his face. "Still, now that we''re on the same page. Tsukiko do you remember that you owe me one? I came here to collect." Valdel''s smile disappeared from his face as he looked at Tsukiko in a serious manner. Seeing that look Valdel was showing her, Tsukiko calmed down a bit and responded.


    "What do you want?"


    "Nothing big, I just want information. Do you know the location to the entrance of the underworld?"

 Chapter 421 - Until We Meet Again

    <h4>Chapter 421 - Until We Meet Again</h4>


    When Tsukiko heard Valdel''s question he looked at him with wide eyes and then she started frowning. She was still trying to process that Valdel was Kir, but now he suddenly asked this question which caught her even more off-guard.


    "Are you really trying to bring back the others? Are you trying to learn the locations of their current reincarnations? Is it Darius, do you want to meet that vampire after all this time?"


    "You misunderstood Tsukiko, the one I want to meet isn''t someone from the distant past. The one I wish to meet is from the here and now. She''s a childhood friend of mine and Ren."


    "That''s even worse. If you just wanted to find the reincarnations of someone you knew in the past, then that would be somehow alright¡­ But based on what you''re saying, you want to do something far, far more difficult. Do you want to bring that person back to life?"


    "¡­" Seeing Valdel''s reaction the always happy go lucky Tsukiko got angry.


    "You stupid old wolf! Do you understand why despite the entrance of the underworld being in the mortal realm and could be traveled to, no one has ever sessfully revived anyone?"


    Ren who was listening in suddenly remembered the face of the incarnation he had the most interaction with. Leonard Tranor, that guy had given Ren a brief memory of going to the underworld and sessfully reviving someone. The way he did it was ridiculous, but even so, he seeded in the end. Still, Ren didn''t bother to tell Tsukiko as she continued to berate Valdel. That was not something he should probably since the price Leonard, or more specifically Elizabeth had to pay was a great one. Also, it wasn''t something Valdel could imitate.


    "The reason no one was sessful in doing that, is that it''s obviously impossible. Even if you somehow get past the God of Death which is unlikely, or you got his permission from him to enter the realm of the dead which is even more unlikely, you wouldn''t be able to bring back a spirit to life without a body. Also even if you do have a body in which that person could enter, the base self the thing that makes her who she is would change and that would no longer be the person you know. There is no solution to save that person from Death. Only pain and suffering will assault that person if you continue to be stubborn. It is better to simply leave the dead alone, and allow them to move onto the next life."


    "¡­" Valdel remained silent with a neutral expression on his face.


    "Did you understand a single thing I said, you stupid old wolf?!"


    "¡­ I do understand, but I still need to try."


    "You idiotic wolf! You telling me that just means that you didn''t understand a single thing at all!" Tsukiko screamed at the top of her lungs. The way Tsukiko was acting now was so out of character that Le and even Ren were looking at her in surprise. It was only Valdel who wasn''t perturbed by the screaming fox.


    "It doesn''t matter, just tell me if you know where the entrance is."


    "You idiotic wolf! Thest time I allowed you to die because I knew that was what you wished for! Yet this time you''re trying to die again, but not for yourself, but for someone else! Even if I did know where it is I''m never going to tell you!" Tsukiko then touched the tree of life. The moment she did so the roots of the tree of life came out of the ground and surrounded Tsukiko, seemingly protecting her.


    "Hey Tsukiko,e out and tell me where it is!" Valdel punched and kicked the roots but it did nothing.


    "Val, don''t bother, it''s obvious that she won''t tell you anything even if she dies, so stop wasting your energy." Hearing what Ren said, Valdel stopped punching and looked at his childhood friend.


    "How about you try to convince her, surely she would listen to you."


    "In this circumstance, I don''t think she will. Let it be Val, surely you have other people to get the information from, right?" After calming down a bit, Valdel sighed.


    "Yeah, I do." Valdel then looked at the area where the roots covered Tsukiko and bowed.


    "I''m sorry little fox, I shouldn''t have forced you to tell me¡­ I''ll be leaving now."


    "I guess, I''m leaving as well. I promise toe back, Tsukiko. Le, how about you, are youing with us?"


    "Sorry big bro, but I''m staying here. I need to keep big sis Tsukikopany."


    "Alright then, I''ll leave Tsukiko in your care."


    "See you, big bro."


    ¡­


    Tsukiko who had hidden within the roots of the tree of life heard the leaving footsteps of Ren and Valdel.


    ''You stupid old wolf¡­ I just wanted to protect you, just like you protected me all those years ago. In the underworld, if you truly wish for it a person''s life may be restored but the way to restore it, the price to pay is greater than what you can give.'' Tsukiko sighed as she looked at the falling leaves of the tree of life.


    ''Even though I haven''t told you where the entrance is, surely with Ren by your side sooner orter you will find it. Still, I hope that even if you do find the entrance you will give up, and even if you don''t, I hope Ren will be able to save you.''


    ¡­


    Ren and Valdel headed back to Varzon. As they were heading back, Valdel told Ren about the Temples that should have information on the entrance to the underworld. Upon returning Valdel headed to New Grenton to tell Lara of their ns, on the other hand, Ren needed to meet with Henrietta since she had a ton of reports waiting for Ren. The reports were basically what happened to the other kingdoms surrounding the Serbek Kingdom and the Reschbeauch Kingdom which was now called the Grenton Empire.


    Basically, all the other kingdoms have been assaulted by different types of disasters. Some of the Kingdoms were unable to survive this tribtion and had fallen, some had sumbed to the control of the Primordial Demon, and others were like the Grenton Empire as they were able to survive the ordeal.


    "The refugees of the fallen Kingdoms are spreading out and a few are heading towards our newly created empire."


    "Oh, only a few? Where are most of the refugees heading towards?"


    "Most of them were reported to be heading towards the Holy Kingdom, where the Temple of the Goddess of Light is located."


    "Hmm, why is that?"


    "The Holy Kingdom wees every human refugee with a parade. As for the other races, they are still epted but they''re all treated as second-ss citizens. So all of those heading towards the Holy kingdom should be human. As for those that are heading to our Empire, they''re mostly demi-humans."


    "That''s a rather interesting Kingdom. I need to see what the ce is like, seeing as that ce might be a hindrance to my future ns¡­ A Kingdom that only epts a single race and promotes human supremacy will always lead to something troublesome. I will see with my very own eyes if that ce is worth sparing, or if it should be conquered, or if it''s not worth saving, I would probably purge it. Also, it''s quite a good coincidence that Valdel needed to get information from that ce." Ren licked his lips as he got a little excited at the thought of what''s toe.


    "I''ll be heading to the Holy Kingdom personally. While I''m away coordinate with Silika in New Grenton as to what to do with the refugees."


    "Understood¡­ Also, Ren, since I have been working so hard how about giving me a prize." Henrietta closed the door to Ren''s office and started undressing.


    "So it''s that kind of prize." Ren happily gave Henrietta the prize she wanted.


    ¡­


    Valdel who had arrived at New Grenton with Zwei, Nika, and Natasha wanted to head straight for Lara''s room, but before he could do so Natasha spoke to him.


    "Val, we should part ways here. I need to head back to the Temple and report about what had happened."


    "Oh, alright be careful out there."


    Valdel had already apologized to Natasha, and he was already forgiven, but despite doing that their rtionship became rather awkward after that incident. Natasha herself knew that what Valdel said on that day, despite him being under the influence of the Primordial Demon''s malice was him just telling the truth. Even now she was still shocked that Valdel knew about her feelings. She was always under the impression that Valdel was a dense person when ites to that kind of thing, but after that incident, it doesn''t seem to be that way.


    ''That would mean, he''s actively avoiding the topic.'' That was the conclusion Natasha came to. So with that knowledge, she no longer knew how to proceed with their rtionship.


    After saying their awkward goodbyes, Natasha was already at a distance from the gates when she suddenly turned around and shouted at Valdel.


    "Val! I know that you already figured out my true feelings about you, and I also know that you''re not ready to give a response. So I will wait, until the foolish boy that could only see the justice he seeks, sees me as well. I hope that you respond to my feelings someday, even if it''s a rejection I will wait for it!"


    Valdel was shocked by Natasha''s sudden shout, he wasn''t the only one who was shocked, even Zwei, Nika, and the soldiers guarding the gates were stunned. Valdel couldn''t say anything as he looked at Natasha dumbfounded. He wanted to say something but he couldn''t of the right words to say. While Valedl was still in a state of stunned silence, Natasha had already turned around.


    "Until we meet again, my foolish first love," Natasha smiled as she whispered those words to herself, before leaving.

 Chapter 422 - The Holy Kingdom

    <h4>Chapter 422 - The Holy Kingdom</h4>


    Ren waited for Valdel and Lara to return before heading out. As he continued to wait and stay in Varzon he yed with his younger brother Kurt. Though he called it ying it was mostly him teaching Kurt the different ways to fight.


    Each day Ren would teach Kurt how to use different weapons of all shapes and sizes. Even though Kurt couldn''t use most of those weapons as they were eitherrge or too heavy, Ren continued to exin the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon. Ren wasn''t even sure if Kurt could understand most of what he was saying, but that younger brother of his would always ask him to teach him more.


    Seeing his younger brother kept on asking for him to teach, Ren wasn''t sure if Kurt was learning anything or if he just wanted to hang out with his big brother.


    ''Well, either way, getting to review each weapon from the basics is also good for me.''


    ¡­


    After a few days of waiting Valdel finally returned with Lara. When they met Ren, unlike what she would usually do Lara did not immediately stand beside Ren, instead, she had this different kind of energy about her as she looked at Ren and asked.


    "Can we really do it, can we bring back onee-chan?" Though her expression remained ever stoic, the resolve behind her voice was clear.


    "Who knows if we can do it or not, but I''m sure you already know that with me around there''s nothing impossible in this world," Ren replied with a cocky look on his face.


    "If Ren''s say so, then surely it can be done. I just need to believe in ren and do everything in my power to bring onee-chan back."


    "It seems like the two of you are ready to go. Alright then, since I have some business that I need to settle in the holy kingdom we''ll head there right away." Ren smiled as he imagined what kind of battles they could expect from the supposed strongest Temple.


    ¡­


    The Holy Kingdom was a ce filled with devout believers of the Goddess of Light. Compared to the nearby kingdoms, the holy kingdom had a higher civilization than most other human kingdoms in the continent and was a hotspot for human alchemist and inventors.


    In its center was the Capital called the Divine City. The Divine City was a city of wealth, beauty, and power. It was also the birthce of many innovations. It was so bright and dazzling to any neer that wouldy its eyes on it. Yet even in this bright colorful city filled withughter and life, there were shadows lurking around.


    ¡­


    The noble district was at the top of hierarchy, in that area is where you could find the most beautiful of sceneries. It was a ce for not only the nobles of the kingdom, but for incredibly rich merchants as well. Of course, all of them were supposedly pure humans.


    In the middle district which was the life of the kingdom is were mostmoners live. In this district you could hear the lively noise of people selling and buying things. The adventurers guild, and the alchemist guild were also located in this area. In the Divine City the middle district was thergest area.


    Finally at the edge of the city, was the lower district. This was the shadiest part of town, where the poor and ill tempered reside. Most of the Demi-Humans live in this district. In here you could find all manner of things, from prostitutes to drug dealers. You can even hire assassins and thugs from this area.


    ¡­


    The reason for such a divide is due to the teaching of the Temple of the Goddess of Light. Unlike other temples, the Temple of the Goddess of Light was involved in the Holy Kingdom''s politics. They were not just somehow involved they were pretty much the ruling faction. The King was like a figureheadpared to the Head Priest of the Temple.


    In the teachings of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, humans were the original race and all other races were just byproducts made by them. In fact, in the teaching of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, one must be polite, ever courteous and always follow the light, but those were meant for only humans.


    ¡­


    After the Holy Kingdom had survived its crisis they were able to quickly get back and up and rebuild. They had weed the refugees from the other kingdoms with open arms, but that also led to many problems.


    Some of the refugees had family members that were demi-humans, and because of that they were given a choice. Either they live in the lower district with their demi-human family or they disown them to live in the middle district.


    At first the people hated the whole system of demi-humans being the lesser race. So at the beginning they stayed with their families in the lower district. Yet after some time staying in the lower district prove to be truly hard.


    If you were a resident of the lower district, you weren''t allowed to be employed with a well-paying job. Despite some of them being former merchants and pce guards they weren''t allowed to take a high position. The only jobs avable for those in the lower district, in the middle district, was to be a servant, an adventurer, or an alchemist.


    Being an adventurer was a dangerous job especially nowadays as the monsters were increasing and bing more aggressive. They were also a lot of new species of monsters being found every day. So most would want to be adventurers at this time. Being an alchemist was also equally hard as it was a specialized field that only some of the refugees understood. As for being a servant it was the easiest job to obtain, but the one with the worst benefits.


    Even though you don''t die as a servantpared to being an adventurer which has a high death count, the employers would most likely mistreat you or in some events won''t even pay you. Due to this the better job would be to be an adventurer or an alchemist. Seeing that not just anyone can be an alchemist, the only choice was to be an adventurer. Yet for many of the refugees, they had no experience in fighting, especially ying monsters. So those that tried their luck were met with an early death.


    ¡­


    Not only was it hard to gain a job if you were in the lower district, but even with money it was also hard to buy things as only a few merchants were willing to sell things to the people from the lower district. Also even if they sold things to the people from the lower district, the prices would be sky high. Compared to the regr prices the merchants would usually triple the prices of all their products, those ckhearted ones would even make it ten times the regr price.


    ¡­


    Due to the harsh environment of the lower district those people with weaker wills were forced to forsake their family. Most humans who had demi-human family members would most often than not forsake their family for an easier life.


    "Mama, where are you going?" A child with cat ears asked her mother.


    "Dear, what is it?" The husband that was a beastkin asked his wife.


    "I''m sorry, I''m so sorry, I can''t take it anymore. I can''t, I just can''t." The wife who was human could no longer stay and with tears in her eyes fled. Despite her young child clinging onto her, she pushed her crying child away and ran away. The husband that was crippled due to many unforeseen incidents couldn''t stop his fleeing wife.


    "MAMA!"


    ¡­


    "Hey, Mia, look here I got some bread, we can finally eat." The young boy tried waking up his younger sister who was covered in nkets sleeping at the side of the street. Yet no matter how hard he shook her, his little sister wouldn''t wake up.


    "Mia?¡­ Onii-chan''s back, I got the food. Weren''t you saying that you were very hungry. I got the food, onii-chan has the food. So please Mia, just wake up for me, wake up for your onii-chan. Please, please, wake-up mia, I don''t like this game. Stop kidding around and please wake-up." The young boy kept shaking his sister as he cried. Yet no matter how hard he shook there was no response.


    ¡­


    In an area of the middle district, a half-demon man was sitting at the side of one of the churches of the Goddess of Light. He had tried to ask the priests for help to heal his wounds, and head out to assist his wounded family, yet the moment they saw he wasn''t human they asked for a price he couldn''t afford.


    The half-demon man grabbed hold of his wounds as he continued to bleed out. The people going in the church didn''t even give him a second nce. He tried to call out for help and he even told the priests that he would somehow pay them, yet they didn''t believe him, they didn''t even bother to listen to him.


    Unable to stay standing due to his wounds, the half-demon fell to the ground, his conscious fading. As he heard the bells from the church of the Goddess of Light, the half-demon cursed. He cursed all that worshipped the Goddess of Light.


    He then spat a mouthful of blood. The half-demon was dying but he wanted to stand up and head back to his family. He just wanted to see them onest time. Yet no matter what he did he could no longer move.


    ''I''m sorry, my beloved wife, my wonderful children¡­ It would seem that I will be going on first. I hope that you''ll be able to survive this ordeal, and live a happy life. Please whoever is listening, please just grant me this wish.'' As his consciousness was bing blurry the half-demon man saw the smiling faces of his wife and children. He started running towards them to hug them. It was at the moment, when he saw that brief deam the half-demon man died then and there.


    ¡­


    The Holy Kingdom might be a paradise for humans, but for every other race it was ce worse than death itself.

 Chapter 423 - Arriving At The Divine City

    <h4>Chapter 423 - Arriving At The Divine City</h4>


    Ren, Valdel, and Lara had started their journey towards the Holy Kingdom. On this trip, Valdel didn''t bring Zwei and Nika, as he told them that they needed to stay in Varzon to protect his family. At this time many powerful people were protecting the family members of the three so that the event that happenedst time would never repeat itself.


    The journey towards the Divine City of the Holy Kingdom was pretty uneventful wellpared to what they were used to. There were some monsters and a lot of bandits which were mostly demi-humans, but with everyone''s current strength none of those poses any threat to them. To make it even remotely challenging, the three would only go one at a time with a handicap.


    The other two would tell the person going out which body part he or she couldn''t use. Still, even with that, it was easy to win. In fact, the entire journey the three didn''t even need to kill, just releasing a bit of their bloodlust was enough to make, bandits and monsters alike flee for their lives.


    ¡­


    This was no surprise since now that Valdel fully inherited his past life''s memory as Demon Lord Kir, his rate of improvement had drastically increased, still, it was no match for Ren''s, in fact for some reason Lara''s improving faster as well.


    It took the three a couple of days to reach the border of the Holy Kingdom. If they had run all the way it would''ve taken them a shorter time, but Ren needed to gather information. So they would usually talk to the traveling merchants and interrogate some of therger bandit groups.


    The two sources of information were givingpletely different answers. The traveling merchants would describe the Divine City as a paradise. It was a ce where anyone could be anything, this was basically what Ren was trying to do in New Grenton. It was also a ce where most technological advancements were happening. There were carriages that were moving without horses, and during night time the city was illuminated by small stars glistening through the streets. It was a magical ce where most humans yearned to live there. It was a ce of dreams and the promise of a wonderful life.


    The way the traveling merchants described the ce did make it seem like an amazing ce. A ce where everyone was smiling and no one felt any pain or sorrow, this was practically Valdel''s ideal world.


    On the other hand, the demi-human bandits described the ce as the total opposite. To the demi-humans the Divine Capital, nay the whole Holy Kingdom was a ce of pure evil. It was a ce where you could work forever but never get anywhere. It was a ce where dreams were continuously crushed into nothingness and death would be a sweet release. It was a ce where demi-humans were treated as nothing more than livestock, no they were even worse than livestock, they were treated like dirt. It was a ce of pure horror, where every waking moment was a nightmare that they could never escape.


    To them, the Holy Kingdom, especially the Divine City was a ce where even the kindest of souls could be tainted.


    ''Based on what I got from these people, the Holy Kingdom truly is a ce where human supremacy is prevalent. Still, these people might be exaggerating¡­ As expected I need to see the ce with my own eyes. Once I''m sure what the Holy Kingdom is truly like only then could I make a move.'' While Ren was thinking about his next step, Valdel was seething with rage.


    ''How could they do this to people! As expected even in this life, humans are the most dangerous¡­ No, it''s not like they''re all like that. Also, it''s not good to make assumptions from hearsay, I need to see it with my own eyes.''


    The two boys were having different yet simr thoughts, while on the other hand, Lara was staying focused on the task of finding information about where the entrance of the underworld was.


    ¡­


    After a few more days of traveling, the three now stood in front of the entrance to the Divine City. The trio were truly impressed by the sight. Even Ren and Valdel who had memories of their past lives, a time when the humans had a stronger civilization that revolved around the relics of the ancients, the sight before them was something they didn''t expect.


    Above the city were floating ships, and on those floating ships, were knights riding wyverns. The walls of the city were also taller than any they have ever seen before. The guards at the gate were also equally impressive, Ren could discern that their level of skill was at the advanced swordsman level.


    ''Seeing this city, I guess they weren''t lying when they said that the Temple of the Goddess of Light was thergest and strongest Temple.''


    ¡­


    As they were humans, the trio were able to easily enter the city after showing their identification papers. Ren showed his B rank adventurer card. Lara showed her S rank adventurer card, and Valdel showed his identification card which was also proof that he was a master swordsman.


    When the guards saw the identification cards of the trio, they were surprised. Based on the looks of the three they shouldn''t be older than twenty years old. These three were so young and yet so capable. The guards changed their attitudes with a more respectful one when they saw those identification cards.


    Based on the identification cards they saw, they had guessed that Lara was the leader of the group seeing as an S rank adventurer should be the strongest within this party of three. So they treated Lara with extreme care, after they were done with their inspection, they kindly informed Lara as to the locations of the best inns and restaurants within the Divine City. In fact, they even offered to send someone to be their guide.


    "Ren, what do you think, should we ept?" Lara asked Ren who was standing beside her.


    "No need, we''ll look around the city ourselves." Hearing Ren''s response Lara politely declined the guard''s offer. When the guards heard the exchange between Re and Lara they were surprised. It turns out the one they considered as the weakest person in the group was actually the leader of the group.


    ¡­


    Once they were done talking with the guards the trio entered the city. Upon entering the first thing they saw were tall magnificent stone buildings. The streets were wide and filled with unknown objects that looked like carriages with wires on top, but unlike normal carriages, these things weren''t being pulled by horses, in fact, they weren''t being pulled by anything as it was moving by itself. Inside those carriages were a lot of people heading towards different locations.


    The trio who could sense even the slightest mana fluctuation knew that mana wasn''t involved in making those carriages move.


    ¡­


    The sidewalk didn''t have the usual screaming merchants, but instead, people seem to be going inside the tall buildings to purchase the things they need.


    The trio were stunned for a second, as the spectacle they had witnessed upon entering made them feel like they had been transported into a different world.

 Chapter 424 - A Guide

    <h4>Chapter 424 - A Guide</h4>


    As they simply stood there in a daze someone suddenly approached them. He was smiling from ear to ear as he spoke.


    "I see that thedy and gentlemen aren''t from around here." The man who appeared was wearing brown trousers, a linen shirt, and a coat that cutaway in the front with a long long tail. The trio shifted their attention to the weird man who was smiling.


    "Oh, I''m sorry I forgot my manners and failed to introduce myself. I am Johnathan Brown, or you could call me John for short. I am a certified guide of the Divine City." The man called John did a proper bow after introducing himself.


    "Seeing your clothes and sensing this intimidating pressureing from you three, I''m guessing the three of you are adventurers or perhaps mercenaries, and this is your first time in the Divine City. If you haven''t been before you might get lost, seeing as the Divine City boasts to be thergest city on the continent, alongside being the most technologically advanced. If you don''t know which trolley to take it might take hours to reach your destination on foot." As John said those words, he had no idea that Ren and the other two were able to run faster than the so called trolleys. Still, they must admit that theyout of this city was confusing for them.


    "Allow me to be your personal guide, as I know this whole city like the back of my hand. I can show you around to wherever ce you want to go. Of course, I do this for a price." While John was telling his sales pitch, Valdel whispered in Ren''s ear.


    "What do you think, Ren, Should we hire him?"


    Ren thought about it for a while. The reason he rejected the earlier proposal was that it was from a guard of the Divine City, he wouldn''t show them the true face of this ce. Yet this person was one who seems to obey the rule of money. It was easier to convince this person into showing them some of the darker ces of the city.


    "How much for a tour of the entire city?" When John heard Ren''s question he got excited. It''s been a while since he had a customer. He tried to calm himself down since now that he was at this stage he shouldn''t scare them.


    "If it''s a tour of the entire city, that that would be five gold coins, each. Do not be too rmed by the price, since that includes the full month pass in using the trolleys. Since I know the operators we can get the full month pass at a cheaper price. If you bought that separately through normal means, it would''ve cost you four gold coins. Yet because of me, you can get it at three gold coins. If you still find that too expensive, we can do the walking tour. This option would need three days to tour the entire city on foot. The price of this tour would only cost you fifty silver coins each. Still,pared to other guides, my prices would be the lowest in the entire Divine City. So what do you think?"


    John continued to smile as he tried his very best to sound convincing that the prices he gave out were reasonable. He waited for a response when he saw Ren toss him some coins. John reflexively caught the coins and was surprised at what he saw. Three glistening white gold coins were now in his hands.


    "You can keep the extra five gold coins as long as you satisfy me by showing everything this city has to offer. If I''m in a good mood, at the end of this tour, I''ll give you an extra white gold coin. Also, if you do anything shady against us then your life will be forfeit."


    John couldn''t help but gulp dryly as he heard what Ren said. As an experienced guide, John had seen a ton of people, adventurers, mercenaries, knights, mages, merchants, bards, and a lot of different assortment of people, so he had a good eye for spotting the rich and powerful.


    The moment he saw Ren''s group he was sure that these people had money to spare, and they were even country bumpkins which would make them easier targets. But when he got near them he immediately felt something prickly and guess that these people weren''t as easy as he thought. The only people that made him feel like this were powerful warriors.


    Still, John continued on and wasn''t bothered by that. It wasn''t like this was his first encounter with warriors. Yet now that he was given the chance, he thought that he was home free when suddenly Ren said those words. When Ren said that his life will be forfeit, an icy cold feeling encroached on John. He could feel a terrifying force trying to choke him. It onlysted for a second, but John was already sweating a lot.


    "So are you willing or are you not? If you''re not willing just give back my money and leave."


    John looked at the white gold coins in his hands. It has been a very long time since he had gotten this much money. In fact, it has been a very long time, since he had any money at all.


    ''If I don''t take this job, I''ll die from hunger anyway. As long as I just do what these people ask of me, and don''t make them feel displeased I''ll be able to get through this with no problem.'' Feeling the weight of the white gold coins in his hands, John nodded his head.


    "Very well, my dear customers, I will show all the Divine City has to offer. Still, just in case, I need to ask if there is a specific ce that you want to see?"


    "There is none, just show us everything that''s there to see."


    "How about your luggage do you want to leave them in an inn?" John looked at the bags Lara and Valdel were carrying.


    "There''s no need, just get on with the tour already."


    "Alright, first off I want to once again wee you, dear customers, to the capital of the Holy Kingdom, the Divine City a ce where one''s hopes and dreams could be achieved."


    ¡­


    The first ce that John took Ren and the others was the shopping center. The Shopping Center was a four-story building, that was filled with people buying and selling. The things that they were selling were fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and poultry. There were also things, like clothes, bags, and essories.


    It would seem that in the entire Divine City, there were five different shopping centers. There were three in the middle district, and two in the noble district. Each shopping center had a different quality of items.


    ¡­


    After they left the shopping center, the group headed to a certain ce where they got their one month pass for the trolleys. Once they got that the group headed to a different area.


    As they boarded a trolley that was filled with people, Ren, Lara, and Valdel felt a bit weird. The carriage or the so called trolley was moving on its own and it wasn''t even shaking that much. It wasn''t going too fast, but it was able to amodate a lot of people. Also even though there were a lot of people in it, Ren and the others were still able to get seats. Overall the trolley was a rather good mode of transportation. Ren was starting to think if he could bring someone from the city that knows how to make a trolley and bring them back to the Grenton Empire.


    ''I''ll think about thatter, for now, I''ll experience the other things this ce has to offer.''


    ¡­


    The next ce they went to was the middle district''s restaurant area. It was basically a whole street filled with different kinds of restaurants. There was a restaurant that specialized in seafood, and another that specialized in soups. There were many kinds that filled each side of the street.


    "Are you guys hungry, seeing as it''s already noon, do you guys want to have lunch now?"


    "Sure, but before we go, tell me what''s that?" Ren pointed at a stand where a man that looks to be a merchant handing something to children.


    "Oh that, that''s an ice cream stand."


    "Ice cream?"


    "Ice cream is a pretty tasty dessert, here let me buy you guys some ice cream so that you can judge for yourselves."


    "No need to pay for us, how much do they cost?"


    "Three silver coins." Ren handed John nine silver coins. John then bought some ice cream and handed Ren, Lara, and Valdel an ice cream each.


    The three looked at the thing that they were given. It was emitting a cold air, after staring at it for a few seconds, the three ate it. The moment their tongues touched the ice cream, the three were assaulted with a wonderful sensation of vor. It was cold, sweet, oh so sweet, and yummy. The three quickly finished the ice cream they had in hand.


    Seeing how much they enjoyed the ice cream, made John smile¡­ He then guided the three to the best restaurant in the middle district.

 Chapter 425 - Discrimination

    <h4>Chapter 425 - Discrimination</h4>


    As they were eating in the restaurant Valdel noticed a pair of beastkin children. They were loitering at the alleyways and looking at the people eating with envy in their eyes. John also noticed those children and sighed.


    "Do you know them?" Valdel asked as he heard John sighting. John quickly shook his head as he answered.


    "No, I don''t know them personally. I just know that they''re Beastkin children most probably from one of the refugees."


    "Oh right, I was meaning to ask you about that. I heard this Kingdom treats the demi-humans poorly, so why would there be any refugee that''s demi-human." As Ren spoke those words, John became panicked he looked around and sighed. It was a good thing that the restaurant was noisy and no one heard him. John then looked at Ren who was waiting for his response. Remembering what Ren said a while ago, John had no choice but to answer. He once again looked around before giving out a reply.


    "It seems you''re pretty well informed, dear customer. To those less informed the Divine City is a ce where dreamse true, but as you know that''s not for all. Normal people who aren''t able to get a clear picture of what the Divine City is like would be those living in a different kingdom or in some remote ce of the Holy Kingdom. To those people, all they know about the Divine City are the rumors, that they would most probably hear from traveling merchants, adventurers, or some bards. So the most they would hear is that the Divine City is a paradise where all your dreams coulde true. So the moment they find out the truth it would already be toote."


    "Toote? Can''t they just leave once they see the truth of this city?"


    "Upon entering the city as refugees, the people would be registered as such. Registered Demi-Humans can''t leave this city."


    "Why?"


    "¡­" John felt his body turning cold. This was one moment that could be the end for him if he doesn''t make the right choice. He once again looked around and saw no one would be listening. Still, he wanted to be sure, so he gathered his courage and asked Ren.


    "Are there people listening to us?"


    "Oh, so that''s why you were fidgety since a while ago. Don''t worry since the start of this conversation I used a special trick so no one could hear our conversation. ISN''T THAT RIGHT EVERYONE!" Ren suddenly shouted which almost made John jump out of his seat. He looked around in a panic, but it was then he finally noticed that despite Ren shouting so loud, no one even bothered to look at them.


    "You see." Ren smiled at John, but for some reason seeing that smile of his unnerved John. Ren did not use an item, he didn''t chant a spell, then what did Ren do? Still confused as to what Ren did, John answered.


    "It seems the Temple of the Goddess of Light or some of its more energetic believers which are basically high standing nobles would pin a heavy crime to whoever tries to leave. Of course, these are but rumors and there''s no proof to them. If and only if this were true, even if they could leave the city were will they go? Ever since a few months ago, the monsters have be more active, stronger, and are bing even more numerous. Even the adventurers, whose jobs are to capture dungeons and y monsters aren''t able to keep up. So there are many monsters waiting outside the walls, the demi-humans wouldn''tst two days out there if they don''t know how to fight."


    While Ren and John were having their conversation, Lara didn''t bother them as she continued to eat, as for Valdel he continued to look at the beastkin siblings outside the window. While the siblings were trying to look for some crumbs here and there, a rather fat middle-ageddy and a young eleven-year-old boy were walking past them.


    When thedy saw the beastkin children, she looked at them with utter disgust on her face. She then pulled her son away as she looked like she started toin about the demi-human refugees that were infesting the pure and clean Divine City.


    It was at that moment while thedy was pulling on her son''s arm, the boy dropped the toy he was holding. The boy didn''t even notice it as he was looking at the yummy food in the surrounding area. One of the beastkin children saw the toy and picked it up, he started running towards the mother and son to give back the toy, when the boy suddenly started to cry.


    The mother turned around saw her son crying and the toy in the hands of the beastkin child. When Valdel saw this he could already guess what was about to happen. He quickly stood up and left the restaurant.


    ¡­


    "You filthy little demi-human! You dare steal from us!" Thedy was about to kick the child. The beastkin child didn''t understand what was happening and could only raise his arms in defense. As the kick was about to hit, someone got in between thedy and the child.


    Valdel was quick enough to block the strike. Thedy was shocked by the sudden appearance of Valdel, but after a while, she grew enraged.


    "What are you doing protecting that filthy thief?! Oh, I understand now, you''re the ringleader of these little thieves."


    "I''m not a ringleader or anything. This child was just trying to give back the toy your son drop."


    "How do you know that he didn''t steal it?"


    "I saw it through the window over there." Valdel pointed at the restaurant they were eating in. When thedy heard what Valdel said she scoffed.


    "You can''t me me for misunderstanding, they are demi-humans after all who knows what they''re thinking."


    As Valdel and thedy were talking the older sibling arrived and hugged her frightened little brother. The little brother feeling a bit better once again tried to hand the toy back to the son of the arrogantdy. As the child was about to reach for his toy, the mother pulled her son away.


    "Don''t take that thing. It''s already been held by that filthy demi human''s hand. Don''t worry mommy will buy you a new one." Thedy was about to leave but Valdel wouldn''t allow it.


    "Are you forgetting something?" Valdel asked.


    "What do you mean, are you talking about the toy? The filthy demi-human can have it."


    "No, not that, aren''t you going to apologize to this child?"


    "Huh, why should I?"


    "Well for starters you keep on calling them filthy. Then you started calling him a thief even though he was just trying to return the toy, and worst of all you tried to kick him when he did nothing wrong."


    "What''s wrong in calling someone filthy when he is filthy? As for calling him a thief, aren''t all demi-humans thieves to begin with. He might not have stolen the toy, but who knows about what he has done before. As for almost kicking him, I didn''t actually hit him so why should I apologize? If that''s all then goodbye, this is a waste of my time." Thedy turned around and was about to leave as she continued saying hurtful things.


    "I said you should apologize." Thedy was going to ignore Valdel and continue to walk away with her son, but then she felt something invisible holding onto her. She couldn''t help but started sweating profusely. She then fell onto her knees, her son looked at his mother worried.


    "Are you going to apologize now?"


    The people in the different restaurants started to notice themotion going on outside. John who had witnessed the entire sequence of events wanted to stop Valdel from continuing what he was doing, but Ren signaled him to stop. As John listened to the entire conversation he knew that thedy was in the wrong, but the people in this city wouldn''t care about that. Once they saw that it was a dispute between a humandy and a pair of demi-humans, the opinions of others would naturally side with the humandy.


    "What''s happening here?"


    "I don''t know, but I heard that guy wants thedy to apologize to the demi-human kid."


    "What the heck, is he insane?"


    "Is he one of those demi-human lovers? This kingdom is going down the drain because of people like him protecting those filthy demi-humans."


    When Valdel heard thements of the surrounding people, his anger grew. He wanted to beat those people up, but he restrained himself. As of now, he needed to make thisdy apologize. Valdel stopped directing bloodlust at the woman and once again asked.


    "Are you going to apologize now?"


    Once thedy got control of her body back, instead of apologizing she got angry and pointed at Valdel.


    "Everyone please help me, that person had assaulted me with a spell! He wants me to apologize to the demi-humans after I already gave them my son''s toy as an apology. Someone call the guards! This man''s crazy!"


    "What so he did that?"


    "Someone call the guards!"


    "Let''s surround him so that he won''t be able to escape."


    Seeing that the situation was escting, John was feeling scared. He tried to slowly walk away, but then Ren held onto him.


    "Please dear customer, I don''t want any trouble. Here I can give you back the three white gold coins you gave me. Please just let me go."


    "No, can''t do that. I still need you to guide us, since you already agreed to show me the entirety that this city has to offer."


    "After this, the guards will capture your friend and try to interrogate those with him. How are we going to continue the tour?"


    "Don''t worry about that. As long as you stand beside me those guards won''t be able to capture you. Still, this does seem more troublesome than I thought, so aspensation how about I add five more white gold coins to your payment."


    When John heard what Ren said he couldn''t help but gulp dryly. "Did you say f-five more white gold coins?"


    "Yeah, so what do you say are you going to continue to guide us? If you keep on rejecting me, I might just let you go and find a new guide."


    John only hesitated for a second before he gave his answer. "There''s no need to look for anyone else dear customer. I good ol'' reliable John is the best guide you can find. I will continue to guide you since you already paid for it."


    "Then what about the guards aren''t you afraid to get caught up in our trouble?"


    "This is a normal urrence here in the Divine City, especially with foreigners. After talking with your friend and asking us some questions, the guards should let us go. The trouble of this magnitude doesn''t scare me."


    Ren chuckled hearing John''s response, it was as he expected this guy won''t betray money.

 Chapter 426 - I Told You To Apologize

    <h4>Chapter 426 - I Told You To Apologize</h4>


    While thedy was screaming and asking for help, the two beastkin children were looking at the surrounding adults and were shivering in fear. Their ears which were the same as a cat''s ears flopped downward and their tails had recoiled from the fear. The people were once again hurling insults against them. The two children couldn''t understand why the adults were so angry at them despite them not doing anything bad.


    Ever since they arrived in this ce only bad things keep on happening. Their parents had died after trying to look for jobs. Once that happened the older sister tried her hardest to survive with her younger brother. Every day was a struggle to survive since all the humans hated them. Sometimes they started to think that maybe if they died, they could see their mom and dad again. It''s not like anyone wants them alive.


    ¡­


    Seeing that the two were trembling in fear and even crying Valdel''s heart ached. The siblings looked at him warily, but then Valdel showed a kind smile at them. Ever since their parents died, no not just then ever since they arrived in this forsaken city, they haven''t seen anyone smile at them. All they got were angry res and curses. So the moment they saw Valdel''s smile they started crying even harder.


    "It''s alright now, little ones, I will protect you." Valdel hugged the two. The moment they felt Valdel''s warmth, for the first time ever since their parents died the two felt safe.


    ¡­


    While Valdel was hugging the two beastkin children, the surrounding people were feeling agitated. Some of them were even showing extreme disgust on their faces. The more devout believer of the Goddess of Light could no longer hold it in and picked up a tomato and threw it at the direction of the beastkin children. Yet before the tomato could even get close it stopped mid-air and in a blink of an eye, the tomato was sliced in half.


    Valdel stopped hugging the children and stood up, he then red at the person who threw the tomato.


    "You should apologize as well." The people that surrounded Valdel could now feel an intense pressure emanating from Valdel. Thedy who kept on shouting and the man who threw the tomato gulped dryly as their legs gave in and they fell on their butts.


    "You two better apologize now." The people finally understood what kind of person Valdel was when they felt that intense pressure. This person was a very dangerous man. The man who threw the tomato gritted his teeth and shouted at Valdel.


    "Why should I apologize for?! It didn''t even hit anyone!" When Valdel heard the man''s response he sighed. The people in this city, their morals are so different.


    "You don''t even understand what you did wrong. It would seem I need to educate you guys as to what''s right and what''s wrong. Still, before that, I want you two to apologize to the children." Valdel spoke to thedy and the man. Yet despite being pressured by Valdel''s killing intent thedy refused to apologize, as for the man who threw the tomato he was gritting his teeth trying to remain conscious. He was afraid but he would never apologize to any demi-human.


    As things were escting, the guards finally appeared. "What''s happening here?" When thedy and the man heard the voices of the guards they felt relieved. They started pleading with the guards.


    "Sir this person is a lunatic! He attacked us using some weird spell. Everyone here is a witness to what I have said." Thedy quickly clung to one of the guards.


    "Save us, sir, this guy is bad news. I think he''s with that rebel group. What was it again, the w of something, whatever, all know is he keeps on protecting those demi-humans, so he must be one of them." The man who threw the tomato spoke to the other guards.


    The guards then asked the surrounding people what happened and got a better picture. Basically what they understood was that the man who was standing beside the two demi-humans was asking thedy and man to apologize. It was unknown if he truly used a spell, but he was indeed forcing the two to apologize.


    "How about you, would you care to tell us your side of the story?"


    "They tried attacking these two children, and they had no remorse in doing so. I just wanted them to apologize, it''s as simple as that." When the guards heard what Valdel said they sighed. This guy was obviously a foreigner, as no one who lived here would ever defend a demi-human.


    ''Foreigners should stop meddling in the affairs of others. They just keep on making more work for us.''


    "How about we talk more in the barracks. I''m sure after a calm talk the two groups cane to a more peaceful conclusion."


    When thedy and the man heard what the guard said they wanted to argue some more. The guards noticing that the two were still unwilling to follow, red at them. Seeing the ring guards the two finally stopped talking. Even though they were truly unwilling they decided to follow Valdel and the guards back to the barracks.


    Seeing the two finally relent, the guards made the crowd disperse. As they thought it was over and they just needed to make the two sides talk at the barracks, Valdel didn''t move from his spot.


    "What are you still standing there for, the barracks is over there. Just follow us and we''ll have a decent conversation over there."


    "There''s no need."


    When the guards heard what Valdel said they were at first dumbfounded, but after a while, they sighed.


    ''In the end, this guy is just like the others when faced with authority he''s going to back off. Just another foreigner acting like a hero, but is just a willful loser.''


    "Fine, seeing as you want this matter to end, we''ll let everything here slide. Now let''s all shake hands and forget about all this hateful stuff."


    The leader of the guards smiled as he spoke. Thedy and the man didn''t really want to let this matter go just like that, but looking at the situation they had no choice. It was at that moment Valdel spoke in a voice that was neither loud nor soft, still, it was a powerful tone that made the guards and everyone else in the surrounding area feel tense.


    "Who said that I want to let things slide? All I want is for those two to apologize to these kids. I don''t need to follow you anywhere, and for as long as the two apologize sincerely on their knees, I will be willing to overlook everything they did. This is the bestpromise I''m going to give them."


    When the guards heard what Valdel said they were perplexed. It was obvious that this guy wasn''t just some random thug, but still, he was in the capital of the Holy Kingdom. What does he think he could do here if he acts this heavyhanded.


    "Oi, oi, you shouldn''t push things too much. If you still want to talk, like I said we should do it in our barracks."


    ¡­


    When John saw the escting situation he felt scared. In the beginning, if they had followed the guards to the barracks after some small talk he could''ve found a suitablepromise, but now that was impossible. The moment they''re brought into the barracks, the guards would most likely lynch them, just like they did with the other foreigners that have done something simr.


    On the other hand, Ren was getting excited as the smell of battle was bing so strong now. It would''ve been okay if they did things in a more subtle manner, but doing it this way was more his style. Once Valdel causes a big enough disturbance, Ren would see the true face of the so called Holy Kingdom. Lara who was standing beside him was also looking at the current situation ready to pounce or flee depending on what happens.


    ¡­


    One of the guards approached Valdel and tried to touch Valdel''s shoulders, but the moment he did so his arm was twisted. He didn''t even see how it was done, the guard then started screaming in pain. When the other guards saw what happed they immediately drew out their weapons.


    "What the f*ck do you think you''re doing?! We just wanted to resolve this issue peacefully, and yet you started to attack us!"


    "Hmph, peacefully, really? You can''t even hide your killing intent and you''re talking about doing things peacefully? Whatever it doesn''t matter, my offer still stands if those two apologize then I will let this go, but if they don''t then don''t me me for being forceful." As Valdel said those words filled with bloodlust, he noticed that the two beastkin children were extremely frightened now.


    "Ren, can you please look after these two while I deal with this."


    "I don''t really like that tone of yours, it''s like you''re ordering me around, but sure I''ll keep them safe." Ren appeared before the two children and carried them one in each arm. Seeing Ren appear out of nowhere, the guards finally took notice of him, Lara, and John. It would seem that the crazy guy wasn''t alone after all.


    When John noticed the stares of the guards he wanted to kneel on the ground and beg for mercy. He wanted to scream that he wasn''t part of Ren''s group. Still, he stopped himself from doing that, since he felt the moment he did so Ren would cut off his head.


    ''Damn it, I just wanted to make a little bit of money. Why the heck am I so unlucky?!'' John was crying internally at the predicament he was in.


    ¡­


    Once Valdel saw that the children were secure, he once again looked at the guards, thedy, and the man.


    "So what''s it going to be, are you going to apologize, or do I need to be a little rougher?"

 Chapter 427 - Escalating Situation

    <h4>Chapter 427 - Escting Situation</h4>


    "So what''s it going to be, are you going to apologize, or do I need to be a little rougher?" Ren smiled as he heard what Valdel said. It would seem that after gaining most if not all of Kir''s memory Valdel became rather aggressive.


    ''Well, it''s better if he''s like this. If he were like before and done this with words, then that would be a little disappointing. Still, I wonder what he''s going to do now since I know for a fact this guy doesn''t like to kill people if not needed. In fact, sometimes I wonder if he doesn''t like killing monsters as well.''


    While Ren was watching the scene before his eyes with a smile on his face, the guards were doing the exact opposite. The guards were all advanced level swordsmen, and the strongest of them being at a level were he was near master level swordsmanship. Still, for some reason as they faced this single man in front of them, they felt like it was going to be a difficult battle.


    "I know that you''re pissed, but let''s use our words like civilized people." One of the guards spoke looking a bit nervous. He wasn''t sure why but he felt like things were escting to something they wouldn''t be able to control.


    "That guy''s obviously not a civilized person as he''s consorting with beasts! Just take him already!" The man who threw the tomato shouted. He was both frightened and angry at the same time.


    The guards who heard the man shouting at them looked at him with anger. This guy doesn''t know when to shut his trap.


    On the other hand, thedy who started this whole thing wanted to run as far as possible. She wanted to head to the adventurers guild and get her husband who was an A rank adventurer to deal with this guy. The woman''s child couldn''t understand what was happening, all he knew was that the person asking his mother to apologize was a bad man.


    "You want me to talk like a civilized person to a guy like that? Hmph, he thinks these children are beasts? What if I show you what a true beast looks like?" Valdel unleashed the full might of his bloodlust. The moment the man felt that bloodlust he felt an intense unbridled fear the likes of which he could never forget.


    Even though Valdel''s killing intent was directed at the man, the guards, thedy, and even the boy instinctively backed away. When the guards noticed what they had done, they became even more alert as they enhanced their bodies with mana. As for the man he could no longer hold it in and peed himself.


    "Seeing as you do not wish toply, you have forced our hands." The leader of the guards spoke, as his men started to surround Valdel, and some of them even tried to get near Ren who was holding the two beastkin children.


    When John saw the approaching guards he instinctively wanted to flee, but then something unbelievable happened. All the guardsing near them suddenly fainted. As John was confused as to what happened, he heard Ren''s voice.


    "These guys are amateurs they can''t even judge how strong their opponent is." John noticed that Ren''s hands had some blood on them. When he saw that, John could immediately put two and two together, he then timidly asked Ren.


    "Did¡­ Did you kill them?"


    "No, I just knocked them unconscious. Oh, I see¡­ This blood just came out of their noses as I punched them all at the exact same spot which was their noses. Don''t worry, if I wanted to kill them, they wouldn''t even leave traces of their bodies, much less blood."


    When John heard Ren''s response he gulped. Seeing that smiling face on Ren, John knew that this man was much more frightening than he initially thought.


    ¡­


    Unaware that theirrades had already fallen, the other guards cautiously approached Valdel with swords in a circle formation. On the other hand, Valdel didn''t even lift his hands and had no weapon at all. Still, the guards didn''t let their guards down as the killing intent Valdel exhibited a while ago was not something just anyone could emit.


    Once the group was close enough they swung their des. The leader who was watching at the back saw that Valdel could only evade the swinging des. Valdel had no room to counter-attack as de after de came striking at him.


    ''Still, it is pretty impressive that he''s able to evade all of those attacks. Even master level swordsmen would have problems defending themselves against that barrage of attacks. Well, it''s just a matter of time before this ends.''


    As the leader of the guards continued to watch he was surprised to see his men suddenly stopped moving.


    "What are you doing, don''t give him any time to breathe! Why the heck did you guys stop attacking?!" The leader of the guards couldn''t understand what had happened. He looked at his men in confusion when suddenly they all fell to the ground unconscious. They were like puppets that lost their strings as each one of them fell.


    "Huh?" The leader of the group of guards looked at his fallen men dumbfounded by the sight.


    "W-what did you do?!" The leader shouted at Valdel.


    "Don''t worry they''re not dead, I just knocked them out."


    "That''s not what I mean, how did you knock them out?! All you did was evade, I didn''t see you even lift a single finger."


    "It''s simple I just knocked them out by punching their chins. As for why you couldn''t see it, then that''s because youck training. Every time I evaded their strikes, I countered with a fast jab to their chins. Well now that you''re the only one left, what do you want to do?"


    The leader gritted his teeth as he grasped his sword. He knew that he was no match for Valdel. He then looked at Ren''s side and finally noticed that Ren had also taken out his men. These guys weren''t simple foreigners. As the leader of the guards was trying to think of this next move, thedy and the man who kept on screaming at Valdel were now looking pale.


    They couldn''t believe their eyes, the man just dealt with a group of guards like they were nothing more than a gentle breeze. Thedy was starting to regret the actions she has taken, as for the man despite the fear that was taking over him, he still felt not a single tinge of regret. In the man''s mind, he had done nothing wrong, and that Valdel was just a lunatic, a powerful lunatic.


    "I will ask you two again, are you going to apologize now or not?" Thedy could no longer take it and knelt in front of Ren who was holding the beastkin children. Thedy''s son was confused as to why his mother needed to kneel, but seeing the frightening man was looking at him the young boy didn''t even dare lift his head up.


    "I¡­ I''m sorry, I shouldn''t have done what I have done. I hope that you two children would forgive me. I sincerely regret my actions and I apologize." Once thedy was done apologizing, she continued to kneel without lifting her head waiting for Valdel''s response.


    "That''s all I ask for, very well, you can leave now." When thedy heard what Valdel said she quickly fled the scene with her son at hand and headed straight to the adventurers guild to find her husband. On the other hand, while Vadlel was distracted by the two, the guard took out something from his pocket and started talking to it. The only one who noticed the man''s actions was Lara.


    "So how about you, are you going to apologize or not?" When it was his turn to be asked, the man trembled as he gritted his teeth and red at Valdel.


    "Why the f*ck should I apologize?! I keep on telling you, I have done nothing wrong! What the heck don''t you understand?! The tomato didn''t even hit anybody, but even if it did, so what?! It''s just a pair of filthy demi-human children! It doesn''t matter if they get hurt, or if they cry. They''re nothing more than disgusting filth that dirties one''s eyes. In fact, they should just die already so that everyone can feel happy."


    "Ren, can you make those two sleep for a while." Valdel''s voice was trembling in anger.


    "There you go again with that tone," Ren shrugged his shoulders before nodding his head and casting a sleeping spell on the two. When Valdel saw that the two were asleep he looked at the man with a fierce look on his face.


    "Why the f*ck are you looking at me like that?! I just told the truth, why can''t you ept it?!"


    "You call those two children filth, and you even told them to go and die. In my eyes the only filth here is you."


    The man''s whole body came crashing down onto the ground. He felt something incredibly heavy crushing him. He couldn''t move a single finger, all he could do now was look at the ground¡­ He was scared, he was truly frightened at his current predicament.

 Chapter 428 - From The Guards, To The Knights, To The Hero

    <h4>Chapter 428 - From The Guards, To The Knights, To The Hero</h4>


    The man felt his very bones were being turned into powder by this unknown pressure. He could actually hear them creaking. As he was fearing for his life, he heard Valdel''s voice whispering in his ear.


    "Usually I would want to save every single person, to keep the smiles on their faces¡­ But you''re not a person, are you? You''re thrash wearing human flesh. Still, don''t worry I won''t kill you, instead I will hurt you so much that you would wish that you could die." Valdel pierced his finger into the man''s thigh. The man screamed as the sudden pain assaulted him. The man was now regretting the actions he took. If this was simply the start of his pain, what more would happen to him? He wanted to say something, but he could not make a sound. It was as if something was stuck in his throat.


    "Since you didn''t like to apologize, and I didn''t want to hear your thrashy words anymore, I used a minor silence spell on you. Magic isn''t really my forte, but I do know a thing or two. This wouldn''t have worked on a mage, but on someone that doesn''t know how to use his mana properly this is enough." While Valdel was teaching the man a lesson, Ren looked up at the sky and smiled that vicious smile of his.


    "Val, don''t bother about the people who areing, Lara and I will deal with them." Valdel stopped what he was doing and looked at Ren.


    "Ren, can you please not kill them¡­ They''re just doing their jobs."


    "Hmph, no one can tell me who I can kill and cannot kill. You know you''ve been pretty bossy since a while ago, Val."


    "Ren, please." Seeing Valdel''s look made Ren click his tongue.


    "Tsk, don''t look at me like that¡­ Fine, I will not kill any of them. It''s not like they''re strong enough for me to bother with wanting to kill them."


    "Lara, can you promise me as well."


    "¡­ Very well, I will not kill anyone."


    "Thanks, you two." After hearing the reply of his two childhood friends Valdel went back to teaching the man a lesson. While the three childhood friends were conversing, John was confused as to what they were talking about, but he got a bad feeling about it.


    It was then a gigantic shadow came over them, John looked up and saw one of the flying ships was overhead. Two wyvern knights came down from the airship. When John saw the two wyvern knights he felt like everything was over.


    The Holy Kingdom''s wyvern knights were one of a kind. Unlike all the other kingdoms in the continent, the Holy Kingdom can proudly say that they are the only kingdom that has aerial units. Even though the Serbek Kingdom has mages that could float, it was still different from the maneuverability that wyverns can produce.


    One of the wyvern knights came close and shouted at Valdel, Ren, Lara, and John.


    "The man over there, the one who''s torturing a citizen of the Holy Kingdom, give yourself up ande with us. The same goes for yourpanions as well. If you do notply then we will use force, by then we cannot guarantee your life. We have already evacuated the entire area, so we will use extreme force if we have to."


    ¡­


    "You heard that Lara, no need to worry about the people. Just shoot them down, of course, no killing, not even the wyverns." Hearing Ren''smand Lara took out her bow and created five arrows made out of mana. She then pulled on her bowstring and released her five arrows at the same time.


    Seeing the iing shes of lights, the wyvern knights tried to evade but when they couldn''t do so, they tried to create a mana shield but that proved useless. The arrow prated through the mana shield and through the wings of the wyverns.


    The two wyverns came falling from the sky hitting a nearby building. To Ren''s surprise, the building didn''t copse from the wyverns falling speed.


    ''These buildings are sturdier than I thought.''


    ¡­


    The leader of the group of guards was trying to wake up his men to escape when he saw what happened to the two wyvern knights. He was surprised and was rather frightened by the power that was disyed. The girl did it so casually like she was shooting a small bird.


    ¡­


    John who saw the entire process of Lara taking out her bow and to the moment the two wyvern knights fell, was dumbfounded. He couldn''t believe the sight he saw, those were wyvern knights the pride of the Holy Kingdom, to take out two of them so easily.


    ''So it''s not just the two guys that were dangerous. Even this silent girl that looked so delicate was a f*cking frightening existence. What the heck is with this day?! I just wanted to gain a little coin!''


    ¡­


    The two wyvern knights that fell from the sky were mostly unharmed and their wyverns just have broken wings. It was obvious to them that the enemy showed mercy, which was a great humiliation for them. They weren''t even treated as proper opponents. One of the wyvern knights then took out a ck box-like object and spoke.


    "Commander, the enemy resisted, and the two of us are down. There are four enemies, based on that attack they hit us with, I guess that the enemies could be considered Titan ss."


    "Are you sure?"


    "I can''t tell for sure Commander, but even if they''re not Titan ss, they should be close to that level of power." The wyvern knight responded in a somber tone.


    "I see¡­ I will contact the temple and ask for assistance. For now, we will need to keep them here, until back up arrives."


    ¡­


    Ren looked above and was happy to see three more airships had appeared. Now a whole toon of wyvern knights came to join in the fun. Lara continued firing arrows at the iing wyverns. Now in a bigger group, the wyvern knights dove to the ground. Seeing the iing arrows instead of evading or blocking as the first two did, the toon faced it head-on. The wyverns unleashed a smaller version of a dragon''s breath at the arrows.


    The wyvern''s breath was just basically an extremelyrge version of the fireball spell. The breath was able to destroy some of the iing arrows, but others got past and were able to hit a couple of wyverns.


    Still, now that the wyvern knights were able to get close they had their exaggeratedly longnces forward. Yet the moment they were about to get close to mow down Ren, Lara, and John, the fearsome wyverns suddenly started to panic. They could instinctively feel that Ren was someone dangerous to them. They could smell the blood of a mighty being all over Ren. It was the stench of the King Drake, Ren fought long ago. Even though it had been so long and Ren had already bathed multiple times since then, some of the blood was still there.


    The knights couldn''t understand why their mighty steeds were cowering back. Seeing that they could not force their partners into charging, the knights went down and faced Ren and the others on foot.


    ¡­


    "Can you take them on your own, or do you need my help?"


    "There''s no need for Ren to dirty his hands on these weaklings." Lara tossed aside her bow and wore her gauntlets. Lara then dashed towards the charging knights who were now using normal-sized spears and round shields.


    Seeing the charging Lara, the leader of the toon shouted hismand. "Everyone get into formation!" The knights then stood side by side shields at front and spears at the gap in between. This formation was meant to stop the charging enemy and puncture them with their spears.


    Yet the moment Lara got close she initiated her attack with a flying kick. The kick broke through the round shields and once she got behind she started to wreak havoc in their formation. Yet these knights were well trained and didn''t panic as their formation was broken, instead, they immediately shifted into a different formation.


    They were now fighting in pairs and were slowly dictating where Lara was moving towards. Since she wasn''t allowed to kill, it made it harder for her. Lara wasn''t even able to notice that she was being directed into an open area were she would be surrounded.


    ¡­


    ''Oh, aside from the people being discriminatory, this ce is actually quite good. Their civilization is so much higher than the others, their technology is way better, and their military might seem to be the best I''ve seen so far, well in this current era. Their soldiers are well trained and know how to use proper formations. Also those flying ships above us, I''m pretty sure those things aren''t just some form of transportation. Those ships must have some weapons on board, but they''re unable to use them inside the city, also seeing as they might hit one of their own they''re being held back. I would have really liked to see the full power of those flying ships.''


    While Ren was analyzing the power of the Holy kingdom, he suddenly saw someone approaching them. The person who arrived had casually walked into the battle zone, and upon appearing the wyvern knights backed away from Lara The knights then stood behind the neer and waited. Lara also backed away and stood beside Ren.


    The presence that this neer had was very familiar. Not only the presence, the overall look of the person, the way he moved everything seems so familiar.


    "I heard you people are causing a lot of problems." When Ren heard the way the neer talked, he couldn''t hold it in and the vicious smile on his face grew wider.


    "It has been a long time since I have faced one of these guys." Ren happily whispered to himself before speaking to the neer.


    "To what do we owe the pleasure, hero!"

 Chapter 429 - Hero Of The Goddess Of Light

    <h4>Chapter 429 - Hero Of The Goddess Of Light</h4>


    Kim Chul was what you would call your average everyday teenager. He would go to school, he would leave school with his friends to go and hang out. He would return home pretend to study, but in truth was just ying video games, or sometimes watch some vtubers.


    His everyday life was the same thing over and over again. There was no particr thing of interest.


    ¡­


    One day as he was ying on hisptop he noticed something weird. A questionnaire suddenly popped out, usually, he would quickly dismiss this thing, but for some reason, he felt drawn to it. Also, the topic was something he quite liked.


    If you were transported to another world, what ss would you pick? It was just like a character creation screen. After answering a few basic questions like name and gender, Kim Chul arrived at the part which was like ss selection.


    Do you wish to be a swift and silent Assassin? This ss uses daggers, whips, and bows. A ss suited for those who wish to finish off their opponents without being seen. Assassin is a ss suited for the shadows, their speed and stealth are unmatched.


    Do you wish to be the raging Berserker? This ss uses all two-handed weapons, from swords to staves. A ss that doesn''t know the meaning of defense. Berserkers are fearless warriors of the battlefield and only death could stop them.


    Do you wish to be the elegant Sword Dancer? This ss uses every type of sword imaginable. A ss that dances around the battlefield like a deadly fairy. The beauty and elegance of each strike are equally deadly and proud. The Sword Dancer is a ss suited mostly for one on one battle.


    Do you wish to be the powerful Mage? This ss uses offensive magic. A ss that uses the elements of the world to do his bidding. The Mage ss offersrge scale attacks the decimate the battlefield.


    Do you wish to be the faithful Pdin? This ss is defense-oriented and offers various buffs on one''s self. A ss that uses a towering shield coupled with one-handed weapons. The Pdin ss boasts an unrivaled defense.


    Do you wish to be the jack of all trades master of none, Mage Knight? This ss is an all-rounder that could use weapons and magic. A Mage Knight is much sturdier than a mage and has more powerful area damage than a Sword Dancer.


    ''They''re all somehow offensive type sses with the exception of the pdin. There''s no real support type ss, well the Pdin and Mage Knight were kinda like that. I wonder what I should pick?''


    Kim Chul looked at the sses again, even though he knew that this was a simple questionnaire and not an actual game, he still wanted to choose seriously.


    ''Even though it doesn''t say it, each ss has distinct weaknesses. The assassin ss has the obvious weakness of defense, and most probably power since it does say speed and stealth. The de Dancer is a duel type ss, basically a PVP ss. The Berserker sounds nice, but the no defense does sound a bit scary. The Mage is most probably simr to the other mages in most MMOs, it should basically be a ss cannon. The Pdin and the Mage Knight seem to be the most bnced. The Pdin focusing more on defense with little offensive abilities, while the Mage Knight should be versatile but with no absurdly powerful abilities. I wonder what should I pick?''


    ¡­


    After that event, Kim Chul was transported to another world were he was given the task to be the hero of the Holy Kingdom. It has been five months since he hade to this other world and all he did was try to level up. His current stats were high as unlike the people in this world who need to train their whole lives to grow stronger, all Kim Chul needed to do was kill, gain experience, level up, and he would grow stronger.


    This world truly felt like a video game to him, if not for the pain he felt he would''ve thought that he was in a dream of sorts. He had already defeated a lot of monsters, and even a boss monster called a Primordial Demon.


    The Primordial Demon that attacked the Holy Kingdom a few weeks ago, was so strong he thought that he would die then and there. After he gained the victory, Kim Chul knew that he was too overconfident recently. So without any dy, Kim Chul started looking for stronger monsters to kill to level up faster.


    He now had defeated many beings, from trolls to King Drakes. Kim Chul''s current level was far beyond what it was when he fought the Primordial Demon. His stats were now like this:


    HP: 42,000/42,000 MP: 2,350/2,350


    STR: 18,000


    AGI: 20,400


    DEX: 20,400


    INT: 1,530


    WIS: 1,000


    VIT: 7,322


    Luck: 1000


    Compared to the Sword Saints of this world, which the Holy Kingdom has two, his stats overshadow them. To have a clear picture this is what a normal Sword Saint stats look like:


    HP: 18,000/18,000 MP: 950/950


    STR: 4,200


    AGI: 8,400


    DEX: 8,400


    INT: 430


    WIS: 500


    VIT: 1,300


    Luck: 40


    He was so much stronger than those this world consider to be near the top humans. Yet today he was facing three very special people.


    ¡­


    When one of the priests of the Temple of the Goddess of Light told him there was a disturbance in the food district, and he had to go help, Kim Chul was confused. Usually, as the summoned hero he would be given missions like killing a troll attacking a vige, or a mission to protect the Holy Kingdom like the time with the Primordial Demon. In the several months, he has been in this world, he never needed to deal with some public dispute, that was usually the job given to the guards.


    Still, since the monsters in the surrounding area were no longer giving any EXP, he had nothing to do so he decided to look at the disturbance. Based on the initial report there were four criminals who suddenly attacked some citizens and fought the guards and even some knights.


    These four were suspected to be a part of the rebel army called the Fangs of Katar. Kim Chul had heard about this rebel group that has caused numerous disturbances in the Holy Kingdom. Supposedly this rebel group wasposed of demi-humans that wanted to destroy the Holy Kingdom as an offering to their evil god.


    Kim Chul wasn''t that interested in the politics of this world as he was currently focused on leveling up. He just wanted to get as strong as possible, so that he could protect himself. Since it was obvious to him that he was summoned here to fight some great evil.


    Still, no matter how many times he asked the head priest about his actual task, all the head priest ever answered him was that he wasn''t strong enough to know yet. The head priest did tell him to simply focus on leveling up for now. The head priest and the reason he was summoned into this world was obviously suspicious but Kim Chul who was treating this world as a video game decided that the main quest wasn''t avable to him since his level was too low. In fact, that was the only way he could still remain somehow sane after all the things he has been through.


    ''I wonder what kind of opponents I''m about to face that they actually needed to send me. Well, it doesn''t matter if they''re just some slightly stronger Swords Saints then I can deal with four no problem.''


    That''s what Kim Chul thought as he headed to the scene of the crime.


    ¡­


    Upon arriving at the scene Kim Chul quickly spotted the four criminals. The guy who was torturing the person on the floor was obviously one of them. Thedy who was fighting the wyvern knights was another. The guy who was carrying two beastkin children watching the fight with a smile on his face, and the one standing behind him, that was all four of them.


    After spotting the four, Kim Chul walked in between thedy and the knights. Seeing that Kim Chul had arrived the Knights backed off and so did thedy.


    ''Alright let''s just get this over with.''


    "I heard you people are causing a lot of problems." Once Kim Chul said those words he suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He then heard someone speak to him, it was the man who was carrying the two beastkin children. The man had handed over the children to the one behind him and spoke.


    "To what do we owe the pleasure, hero!" The smile on his face was like that of a lion, ferocious.


    "Hmm¡­" Kim Chul didn''t reply as he felt something bad was about to happen. So he used one of his initial skills, which was the status check. He tried to look at the man''s status and was surprised at what he saw.


    Name: Ren


    ss:???


    Secret ss:???


    HP: ??? MP:???


    STR: ???


    AGI: ???


    DEX: ???


    INT: ???


    WIS: ???


    VIT: ???


    Luck: ???


    Kim Chul couldn''t believe his eyes everything aside from the name was ???. ''What the f*ck did my system bug out?'' Kim Chul then checked the status of the others. First, he looked at the man standing behind Ren.


    Name: Johnathan Brown


    ss: Guide


    HP: 120/120 MP:10/10


    STR: 15


    AGI: 20


    DEX: 20


    INT: 18


    WIS: 19


    VIT: 12


    Luck: 10


    When Kim Chul saw that he was relieved as that was the normal standard of the people of this world. He then looked at the man who was torturing someone and was once again surprised.


    Name: Valdel


    ss: Hero


    Secret ss: Former Demon Lord (Past Life)


    HP: 32,000/32,000 MP: 12,350/12,350


    STR: 24,000


    AGI: 28,400


    DEX: 28,400


    INT: 950


    WIS: 820


    VIT: 10,322


    Luck: 10,000


    Except for HP, INT, and WIS that person was stronger than him. That guy was also a hero like him, and he even had a secret ss called Former Demon Lord (Past Life). Kim Chul then quickly checked thest member which was the girl.


    Name: Lara


    ss: Fighter


    Secret ss: The Seeker


    HP: 22,000/22,000 MP: 1,350/1,350


    STR: 16,000


    AGI: 19,700


    DEX: 19,700


    INT: 970


    WIS: 820


    VIT: 5,322


    Luck: 400


    Even though she was weaker than him it was only a small number difference. The three in front of him were the strongest humans he has ever seen. Still, he was confused as to why Ren''s status was filled with ???.


    ''Does that mean I can''t see through it, since the level difference is toorge?'' Even the Primordial Demon from before was stronger than Kim Chul by arge margin, but even then he could still perceive his status. Then how much stronger does Ren need to be for him to show ???.


    Kim Chul was feeling afraid. Even though he already knew that the one with the higher stats wouldn''t necessarily win as evidence by his fight against the Primordial Demon, but even then¡­ If it was only Valdel and Lara, he could still deal with them if he used his ultimate skill. Yet he wasn''t sure if he could deal with Ren even if he used all of his trump cards. As Kim Chul was thinking about what he should do next, he heard Ren speak to him.


    "Oh, so you''re one of those types. You''re a summoned hero with the ability to strengthen himself by killing. Just now you checked on our statuses, right? What did you see, oh hero?" When Kim Chul heard what Ren said he was stunned.


    Even the people who summoned him didn''t know that he had the ability to see statuses as he kept that a secret, yet Ren knew. Those eyes looking at him, felt like they could see right through everything.


    "Just who are you?"

 Chapter 430 - Its Been A Long Time

    <h4>Chapter 430 - It''s Been A Long Time</h4>


    "Who cares about who I am? Why ask me that question when we''re already in this situation? Tell me, oh hero why are you here? Are you here to ask questions or are you here to do something?" Ren tried provoking Kim Chul since if they had a conversation he might decide not to attack.


    ''Usually, this type of summoned heroes quickly adapt to the world, since they think this world is some sort of game. Still, once they figure out what''s what, they do get significantly boring and their morals do change. Knowing a bit about how the Holy Kingdom, no the Temple of the Goddess of Light deals with things, they most probably told this guy some ridiculous lie to get him to do whatever they want. Oh, foolish, idiotic heroes, you guys are so much more powerful than the others but you''re just their pawns.''


    Ren decided to give a helping hand to this pitiful hero, but that would be after he had his fun and fought the hero. On the other hand, when Kim Chul heard what Ren said, he didn''t know what to say. It was obvious that something he wasn''t informed about was happening, but the person who has the answers doesn''t seem like he wants to talk to him.


    "I just want to know your side of the story." When the knights heard what Kim Chul said they looked a bit worried. They knew a little about this summoned human hero. He was a powerful being that was stronger than even Sword Saints and was near the level of the divine tier swordsmen. Yet he knew nothing about the way the Holy Kingdom treats the demi-humans. Those things were hidden from him, and as he was focused on killing monsters and the like, he wasn''t able to see what was in front of him.


    If Ren told Kim Chul now what was happening, Kim Chul might actually change sides. Still, if they interrupted their conversation he would grow even more suspicious. The knights simply waited anxiously for Ren to answer.


    "I don''t care if you listen to my side of the story or not? What would happen if I tell you or not, you''re the only one who benefits if I tell you anything."


    "If you tell me, and if what you guys are doing isn''t wrong and there''s some sort of misunderstanding then we could talk it out. We don''t need to fight."


    "Heh, if what we''re doing isn''t wrong? Pray tell, who the f*ck decides what is right and what is wrong? Is it you, is it those knights, is it those priests that don''t listen to anyone but themselves, or is it that Goddess of yours that stands high above looking down on us like ants? The only one who decides what''s right and what''s wrong is ourselves." As Ren said those words he was leaking some bloodlust.


    When Kim Chul felt Ren''s bloodlust it was like a wave of neverending murderous rage. This was the first time Kim Chul felt such an intense feeling. It was already clear from the start that the guy in front of him was dangerous, but now he knew that he was even more dangerous than he assumed.


    "Enough words, if you want me to talk to you properly, then you need to speak mynguage. The onlynguage I truly understand is battle, if you win I''ll tell you whatever you want."


    "And if you win?"


    "Then you don''t get any answers."


    "Is that all you want?"


    "There''s nothing you can give me, that I would want?"


    "Are you not going to ask for you and your people to be able to leave safely?"


    "Huh, why would I ask for that? If we wanted to leave we could do so without your permission." When the knights heard what Ren said they got angry. Still, knowing that they were already having difficulty just dealing with one of them, they couldn''t really deny what Ren said, which just made it even more irritating for them.


    "Then why don''t you just leave?"


    "Can''t you see my friend over there is still doing something? This is getting boring, enough talk, if you''re noting then I will." Ren could no longer wait for Kim Chul to start, so he took out his weapon from his shadow. The weapon Ren pulled out of his shadow was Snertal the Dragon Sword.


    When Kim Chul saw Ren''s weapon and looked at his own, he felt that he had already lost. Kim Chul''s equipment was basically light armor with five short swords on his waist. His equipment was made from rare ores, and it even had a mixture of the bones of monsters like the King Drake. At first, Kim Chul thought that he was already wearing end game level gear, especially after seeing the equipment the Sword Saints wore.


    Yet now that he was looking at Ren''s weapon he felt cheated. That sword Ren was holding felt like some kind of mythical weapon, even the aura it produced felt like a limited-time event item. As Kim Chul was still in a state of stunned silence, Ren lifted Snertal and pointed it at Kim Chul.


    "So will you be starting, or will I need to start this performance myself?" Kim Chul sighed before drawing two of his swords. There was no choice now, he needed to fight.


    "I Kim Chul challenge you to a duel, do you ept?" Kim Chul activated one of his strongest skills, [Duel].


    Duel: Will be activated once a duel between two people has been verbally epted. Once in effect, the twobatants will be unaffected by an outside force. While in Duel mode, the de Dancer''s abilities will cool down 50% faster. All stats except luck will increase by 1.5x. Skill Duration is until the victor is decided. Skill Cooldown: one week.


    "Now we''re talking! I Ren ept this duel."


    The moment Ren epted Kim Chul''s duel a sudden change happened. Kim Chul''s presence felt different it was as if he was suddenly bursting with power. In fact, the feeling surprised Valdel and Lara as the increase in Kim Chul''s power made them feel threatened. On the other hand, Ren got even more excited, as the smile on his face grew even more vicious.


    "You just activated a skill didn''t you?" Kim Chul had no reason to lie to Ren since it was obvious he already knew so he responded by nodding his head.


    Name: Kim Chul


    ss: de Dancer


    Secret ss. Summoned Hero


    HP: 63,000/63,000 MP: 3,525/3,525


    STR: 27,000


    AGI: 30,600


    DEX: 30,600


    INT: 2,295


    WIS: 1,500


    VIT: 10,983


    Luck: 1000


    "As I expected, but of course, you should have more skills that can increase your strength. Fine, I will wait until you''re ready. I want to fight you in your strongest form. Don''t worry I won''t attack while you strengthen yourself."


    Hearing what Ren said made Kim Chul feel a bit lost. Even this much of a power-up doesn''t seem to faze Ren, not only that he was even telling him that he should power-up some more.


    ''I guess I''m nothing in the eyes of this guy. Well, that''s to be expected with a hidden boss-like character with stats that are just filled with question marks. Fine since he''s allowing me to, I''m going all out in buffing myself.''


    "I Kim Chul [Dere] here and now that I will attain victory!"


    Deration of Victory: Can only be activated once [Duel] is in effect. Once activated the user will gain two times his base agility. If the user loses the duel, a permanent loss of ten percent agility will take effect. Skill Duration is until victory is decided.


    "Here and now listen to me, for I will not fall!"


    Last Man Standing: Once the user is hit by a fatal strike, will regain all lost HP. Skill Cooldown: two months.


    "I am but a de and a de shall cut, even death itself!"


    de Dancer''s Will: Upon Death will resurrect with Half HP. Skill Cooldown: three months.


    "I offer my life to my de, for my world is my de."


    de Dancer''s Oath: All current stats of the de dancer is doubled. Skill Duration: Thirty minutes. Once the skill deactivates, the user will enter a weakened period. All stats will lower by half, and will only be restored after the user has rested for two days. Skill Cooldown: Two weeks.


    After using all of his trump cards and buffs, Kim Chul''s status increased by an incredible amount. His current status was rather monstrous.


    HP: 126,000/126,000 MP: 7,050/7,050


    STR: 54,000


    AGI: 122,400


    DEX: 61,200


    INT: 4,590


    WIS: 3,000


    VIT: 21,876


    Luck: 2,000


    Once Kim Chul was done buffing himself up, he started emitting an incredible pressure. This time Valdel and Lara knew for sure that they wouldn''t be able to beat Kim Chul in his current state even if they gang-up on him. The Knights were also getting excited as they felt the overwhelming power Kim Chul was emitting. On the other hand, Ren was feeling extremely ted as well.


    "It has been such a long, long time since I felt like this! Come, hero! Come show me everything you have to offer! Grant me a battle worth remembering!"

 Chapter 431 - Fighting A Hero Again

    <h4>Chapter 431 - Fighting A Hero Again</h4>


    Ren couldn''t control his emotions as the excitement he was feeling was on another level. This guy''s presence suddenly burst with power. He had now had an equal presence to a young dragon.


    "Show me oh hero, how you will wield this power!" Ren shouted when suddenly Kim Chul appeared before him. Kim Chul then used the skill [quick draw]. Depending on how high his agility was, this skill would deal more damage.


    As his agility was currently at an all-time high this should deal explosive damage. This was one of his fastest attacks. Kim Chul''s movements were so fast that he had left an afterimage. To the knights who were unable to keep up with his movements, all they saw was Kim Chul standing in a stance without moving.


    On the other hand, Valdel and Lara who don''t follow one''s movements using their eyes but through mana sensing could somehow follow Kim Chul''s movement. They knew that he had moved but to their surprise, they were also fooled by the after image.


    Kim Chul who moved at his fastest speed, and used one of his faster attacks noticed that Ren who was smiling was looking at him. As Kim Chul''s sword was about to hit Ren something blocked it. Ren had raised Snertal to block the attack. When the two swords shed a shockwave sted through the area.


    Ren''s feet dug into the ground, and the windows of the nearby buildings cracked. Lara reacted fast enough and was able to protect John and the two children from the shockwave. Valdel also moved away from the center of the battlefield and was carrying the man he was torturing. On the other hand, some of the knights were blown away while the others were able to create mana shields.


    ¡­


    Ren who had received the attack was rather surprised by how strong it was. There was no indication that Kim Chul had used any mana nor any other form of energy, that was entirely pure physical strength. Ren, who had blocked it while using Spirit Aura to strengthen himself was astonished. Even with him strengthening himself, he was still slightly affected by a pure physical skill. This made Ren feel even more excited.


    Kim Chul wasn''t that surprised by how Ren was able to block his attack. Still, he thought that he would be able to push Ren back a bit, yet Ren remained standing without moving an inch. Kim Chul quickly moved onto the next skill.


    de Dancer first de, one hundred steps. The next skill was the first of a chain skill. The first de was a move that creates a hundred shes within a few seconds. The attackes from all sides and at a blinding speed, which makes it almost impossible to evade. Not only that after every sh Kim Chul gets a tiny bit faster.


    Yet despite the speed, Ren was still able to block all of the shes. He didn''t even need to move from his spot. In fact, since he could no longer rely on his eyes, he used his mana sensing to block the entire barrage, he even closed his eyes.


    The knights who were watching the fight from the distance were amazed by the sight of how fast the hero was, but more than that they were amazed by how Ren was able to block everything with his eyes closed.


    After he was done with the first de skill, Kim Chul quickly continued the chain skill by activating the Second de. Kim Chul was now holding two swords in his hands, the Second de was a stationary skill were each sh would weaken the opponent''s defense. The only way to not be affected by this skill is if the opponent evades. Not knowing this Ren continued to block each attack.


    This time every time his sword shed with Kim Chul''s, Ren noticed that something was weird. It felt like his body was weakening, but not too much that it would be a problem. So Ren was not bothered by the skill and continued to block.


    Kim Chul went onto the next skill, the third de. Kim Chul threw three swords up into the air. The swords started spinning up in the air. Kim Chul then took some distance from Ren and controlled his swords from afar.


    The three swords attacked all at the same time from every direction. For every next skill Kim Chul uses, the attacks keep on getting faster and faster. Still, as Kim Chul was controlling the swords while using mana. Ren was able to keep track of the movement of the swords, despite them all moving beyond the speed of sound.


    The people who were watching the fight could only hear the sound of sonic booms sting through the area. Most of the buildings were now destroyed. The shing swords were whooshing all over the ce. Yet Ren remained standing and simply redirecting each strike.


    As Ren continued to redirect each de, one actually got to cut a bit of his cheek. There was some blooding out of Ren''s cheek. Ren who continued to block each of the three swords attacks while wielding Snertal with one hand used his free hand to wipe the blood from his cheek. Ren''s smile then grew even more vicious as he startedughing.


    "HAHAHAHAHA! This is awesome, the longer we fight the faster you be! Show me more hero, show me everything you''ve got!" As Ren was shouting, Kim Chul had activated the fourth sword, the hidden sword. Ren didn''t even notice the moment Kim Chul had appeared before him.


    Kim Chul then thrust his sword towards Ren. That one move was able to blow Ren away into a nearby building. The building that Ren hit had copsed on him. When the knights saw this they started cheering.


    On the other hand, Lara and Valdel were stunned by the sight they saw. Ren was not only injured but he was blown away. After a few seconds as the information finally sunk into their brains, Lara was about to hit Kim Chul with an arrow, but Valdel stopped her.


    "Ren won''t like you to interfere, also by now you should know this is were it truly starts."


    ¡­


    Kim Chul breathed a sigh of relief. He was getting a bit desperate there at the end, for most of his attacks were getting negated. If he didn''t see Ren bleed, he would''ve thought that Ren was an invincible being. He had unleashed most of his strongest skills while in his strongest form. Yet despite doing the best he can Ren wasn''t even fazed. So now that he saw that Ren could actually be harmed he felt really relieved.


    ''If this guy Ren, actually attacked me instead of testing me out, I might have already used up thest man standing, and the de Dancer''s Will.''


    As everyone on Kim Chul''s side was feeling relieved, it was at that moment it happened. A pressure like no other fell upon Kim Chul. This was different from the choking feeling he had when he felt Ren''s bloodlust. This was something else, calling it killing intent or bloodlust would be an understatement.


    Kim Chul then saw from the rubble of the building that just copsed, Ren was standing on top of the rubble. He was holding Snertal pointing downwards, he had so many openings at this very moment, yet despite seeing that Kim Chul did not move. It felt like the moment he moved carelessly would be the moment he dies.


    Ren was looking at Kim Chul with an eye of a predator looking at his prey. The smile on Ren''s face was so vicious at the moment, it made all the other expressions he shown before look tame.


    "NOW THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR! Kim Chul was it, I will remember that name of yours. BE PROUD, YOU ARE A WORTHY OPPONENT!"


    As if it was being infected by its master''s excitement Snertal roared to match Ren''s shout. Ren then started to slowly walk towards Kim Chul. It was at this moment, Kim Chul felt something within him telling him to run as far as he could. The moment he thought that Ren suddenly disappeared from his sight.


    Ren then reappeared in front of Kim Chul and was about to do a sideward sh. Kim Chul quickly reacted and used the three floating swords to block the attack, he also used the sword in his hand to block. Yet despite four swords blocking its path, Snertal was like a hammer and forcefully crushed those defenses.


    Kim Chul''s swords were weapons created by his skills and were unbreakable. If it was any other sword even legendary ones, they would''ve been broken by that strike Ren did. Yet all that happened was that they were pushed towards Kim Chul.


    The four swords and Kim Chul received Ren''s attack, which blew them away. That strike had actually drained Kim Chul''s HP significantly. It was then the skill, thest man standing activated, and Kim Chul had his full HP back.


    When Ren saw that he was now truly surprised, but after a while, he couldn''t help but get even more excited.


    "So you have skills that can heal you when you''re near death. That means we can y a bit more roughly!"


    Ren once again disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of Kim Chul. Yet this time Kim Chul was ready. It was suicidal to block Ren''s attack so instead, Kim Chul evaded. Since Ren was using arger sword the interval to initiate the next attack took some time despite how fast and strong Ren was.


    Kim Chul used those intervals to attack Ren with his floating swords, yet despite attacking at his blind spots Ren continued to easily evade the sword strikes.


    The two were now locked in a flow of sword strikes. Kim Chul was fully focused now as one mistake, one hit from Ren would spell his doom. He was sweating profusely as he evaded and attacked. On the other hand, Ren was having the time of his life, as he heartilyughed while evading and attacking.


    As the fight continued on, Kim Chul was getting even more desperate as he saw the timer on his skill: de Dancer''s Oath was about to reach the end of its activation time. If he loses that boost in his power, he wouldn''t stand even a one percent chance of winning. So he needed to end this before that timer hits zero.


    ''I have no choice, I need to use the fifth sword. Even though the pain I receive when I used that move is rather frightening, if I don''t do anything now I will lose.''


    As if able to read his thoughts, Ren took some distance from Kim Chul and spoke.


    "I can see it in your eyes, you still have a trump card that you haven''t used. COME ON THEN! SHOW IT TO ME! I will face your strongest move with my very own! Soe let''s bring this battle to a new height!"

 Chapter 432 - Find The Truth For Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 432 - Find The Truth For Yourself</h4>


    When Kim Chul heard what Ren said, he felt mixed feelings. It was a good thing that Ren was allowing him to use his most powerful move, but it didn''t feel right to him that his opponent was allowing him to use it. He knew it was good that Ren wouldn''t interrupt him while preparing, but it felt wrong. It was like those viins from those old shows, where they wait for the hero to transform before attacking.


    Still, knowing that the time limit for his skill was about to end Kim Chul had no choice but to take what he had. Kim Chul unsheathed his fifth sword and began using the strongest skill he had at the moment.


    The de Dancer''s swords were a linked skill, at the moment he had only unlocked up to the fifth sword. The first sword was to increase his speed, the second sword was to decrease his opponent''s defense, the third sword was to confuse the opponent, the fourth sword was to surprise the opponent, basically to catch the opponent off-guard. As for the fifth sword, the fifth sword was a sacrificial sword.


    The fifth sword allowed the de Dancer to put all of his stats into one specific area. Since Ren wasn''t the type to run away and face everything head-on, Kim Chul knew which stat he would pour everything into.


    Kim Chul changed his position so that he would only damage the areas that had no people in them. Once he was ready Kim Chul activated the fifth sword. He quickly chose the stat that would receive everything he had.


    Name: Kim Chul


    ss: de Dancer


    Secret ss: Summoned Hero


    HP: 1/126,000 MP: 1/7,050


    STR: 463,109


    AGI: 1


    DEX: 1


    INT: 1


    WIS: 1


    VIT: 1


    Luck: 2,000


    Kim Chul felt an unprecedented strength flowing through him. He was brimming with so much power at the moment that he felt like he could cut through everything and anything. He was feeling intoxicated by the sudden increase in his strength. Seeing that change that was happening to Kim Chul, Ren couldn''t help but smile an even brighter smile than usual.


    It would seem that this opponent of his was worthy enough to test out the new skill he was practicing. Ren summoned all the weapons he stored into his shadow. These were the weapons he acquired from Alphonso. They weren''t at the same level as Snertal or the DeathScythe, but they were all weapons with names that could be considered legendary.


    Ren had infused them all with his mana and made them move to his will. Ren then raised Snertal into the air and the several dozens of weapons clustered together like puzzle pieces and formed an intimidating sword that was five meters tall. Once Ren had gotten all of the weapons together to form his giant sword, Ren infused his Spirit Aura into the weapons.


    Ren clicked his tongue as he tried tobine the two opposing energies but the same as before he couldn''t do it properly. He can use mana and Spirit Aura at the same time, he can even use them together in an attack, but it was still rather hard tobine them into one thing. Still, seeing the hero in front of him going all out and doing his best to ovee him made Ren feel he needed to respond to that will of his.


    Ren felt the opposing forces of his mana and Spirit Aura battling it out for superiority. Ren grabbed onto Snertal''s handle even tighter, he grabbed onto it so tightly his hand started to bleed. Even though his mana and Spirit Aura didn''t want tobine into one form of energy, Ren didn''t allow them to resist him. That was when his Spirit Aura and Mana started to retaliate and were now going out of control within his body.


    Ren felt a great amount of pain as the two energies violently fought within him. It felt like he was going to explode as some blood starteding out of his mouth, ears, and nose.


    Kim Chul who was about ready to attack looked at the gigantic sword before him. Not only did it look menacing, but the aura it emitted was frightening. Still, Kim Chul noticed that there was a problem as he saw Ren''s hand was starting to bleed. Not only that but even Ren''s nose, ears, and mouth had blooding out of them. It even looked like he was about to cry tears of blood.


    Yet despite looking like he was going to die from his own energy, Ren continued to smile that vicious smile of his. He was not someone who would stop what he was doing just because of some small wounds. Well, small to him anyone else experiencing the same thing would''ve been screaming already.


    ''You''re my own f*cking energy! If I want you two to do something you should do it!'' Ren scolded the two energies inside of him as he continued to force them to merge. As Ren was doing that something strange happened, Snertal started roaring louder and louder.


    The weapons that were surrounding Snertal to make it look like a gigantic de were now being devoured. That was the only thing that could describe the scene everyone was seeing, Snertal a weapon was devouring other weapons. It was not absorbing them, not Snertal looked like it gained a mouth and gnawed on the other weapons, sucking them in and biting at them.


    It ate every single weapon and its outer look changed a bit, and the aura it emitted was even more fearsome than before. It was then Snertal helped Ren''s mana to fuse with his Spirit Aura. Once he was sessful he shouted at Kim Chul.


    "Come hero, show me all you''ve got!"


    Kim Chul felt an intimidating pressureing from Ren''s sword. Even though he was overflowing with his own powerful energy, Kim Chul was still feeling extreme pressure.


    ''Is this still not enough?'' Kim Chul gritted his teeth, as he looked at the smiling Ren. ''No something happened to him, so he should be weakened right now. This might be my only chance to gain victory. It''s now or never.''


    Kim Chul approached Ren slowly and once the two were at arm''s length, they stared at each other. It was at that moment more reinforcements for Holy Kingdom''s knights came. The sky was now filled with airships and wyverns. Still, despite being surrounded by a new force, both Ren and Kim Chul continued to stare at each other unaffected by what was going on.


    The two then shed both their weapons at the same time. Yet at that moment something happened. A thick smoke surrounded the area, Ren''s mana dispersed and to his surprise, even a portion of his Spirit Aura was being disrupted. The two swords shed and despite Snertal being the superior weapon but without mana, it couldn''t match up. Kim Chul who was using pure physical strength had the upper hand. Ren''s body might have be something beyond what was humanly possible even for this world, but Kim Chul was a cheat as well.


    Snertal was pushed back and Kim Chul was able to slice a bit of Ren''s right arm. While that was happening, Ren didn''t bother with the wound he just received but he was focused on the feeling he got at this moment.


    This smoke that was surrounding him gave the same feeling as the mana suppression drug that his firstborn son from his past life gave him. When Ren once again felt that irritating feeling flowing through his body he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    ''Hmph, I''m not like the me of the past, that can''t do much without mana. Still, this does seem like a bad situation to be in. Now things are getting exciting!'' Ren pulled out Kim Chul''s sword from his right arm and looked at the surprised hero.


    "Since you won, I guess I can give you some information. You shouldn''t trust the Temple of the Goddess of Light too much, you should see things with your own eyes. Sneak out of the temple and check the lower district and see for yourself what''s truly happening. Just remember while you were going around treating this world as a game, you failed to see the truth. So you better look at it properly this time, o hero."


    "Can you tell me one more thing?"


    "What is it?"


    "Just who are you, really? You seem to know an awful lot about where I came from. Am I not the first summoned person you''ve seen?"


    "I''ve seen a lot of different people. If you want, you can check the pub called the Lonely Cat that''s located in Varzon the capital of the Serbek Kingdom."


    ''This guy is just giving me clues, not real answers.'' As Kim Chul was about to ask another question, Ren had already disappeared from his sight. The airships lowered down and a bunch of knights had disembarked. The knights then quickly took out several round silver objects that started to suck the smoke from the surrounding area.


    When the smoke was cleared, Kim Chul saw that Ren, Valdel, Lara, the two beastkin children, and John were gone. The only one left was the man they were torturing, who was now huddled in a corner. He was trembling terribly while mumbling to himself.


    The Commander of the knights approached Kim Chul and saluted. "Are you alright, Sir Hero?"


    Kim Chul stood up before answering. "Yeah, I''m all good." Once the leader had confirmed Kim Chul wasn''t injured he quickly gave out orders for the other knights to lock down the area and search for the criminals. After he was done giving out orders the knightmander looked at Kim Chul.


    "Sir, the head priest wants you to return to the Temple to discuss what just happened."


    "Tell the head priest I won''t be returning for a while, I need to cool my head first."


    "Alright, but please allow two of my men to apany you." When Kim Chul saw the Knight Commander''s expression he knew that he couldn''t refuse. Kim Chul sighed before responding.


    "Fine." The Knight Commander signaled two of his men to approach. The knight Commander then started to whisper something to the two.


    "These two will apany you, Sir Hero. As for me, I need to help in the search for the criminals that escaped. I shall take my leave now." The Knight Commander saluted again before leaving. Once the knightmander was gone, Kim Chul approached the man that Valdel was torturing. Once he was near he could finally hear what the man was mumbling.


    "I''m sorry, I''m trash, I do not deserve to live. I''m sorry, I''m trash, I do not deserve to live." The man just kept on repeating the same thing over and over again. Seeing that the man didn''t look like he could talk properly Kim Chul frowned.


    ''I guess I can''t get any information from this guy. So first I need to ditch these two knights before heading towards the lower district. I guess leveling up will need to wait for now. I need to learn more about this world that I came into. It was truly stupid of me to think that this world was so simple¡­ I guess that guy''s right, I should stop thinking of this ce as a game¡­ Damn, I already read so many novels about being transported into a different world, and I still made these sh*tty mistakes. I guess got too excited by the feel of this world and being able to level up¡­''


    It was then Kim Chul noticed something was wrong.


    ''Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, it is weird. The moment I arrived in this world, I was able to quickly adapt. Not only that despite the head priest being super suspicious I believed every word he said. I also didn''t bother doing anything else aside from leveling up¡­ Wait¡­ I can''t remember¡­ Why can''t I remember the first day I was transported here?.''

 Chapter 433 - Underground City

    <h4>Chapter 433 - Underground City</h4>


    A group of beastkin were walking in the underground waterway. Two of them were carrying the beastkin children that Valdel saved, and another one was carrying John. When they were trying to save the two children they had no time so they, unfortunately, brought John along with them.


    "Hey what should we do with this human? Should we throw him somewhere or should we just kill him?" The one who was carrying John couldn''t help but ask, as he was starting to get irritated by carrying a human. Just the idea alone was making him feel sick.


    "Don''t talk like that, that human protected the children so we must treat him properly."


    "Even if he did protect them this guy''s still human. So I say we should just leave him here."


    "That would make you no different from the humans that discriminate against us."


    When the beastkin that suggested to leave John somewhere in the waterways, heard what the other beastkin said he started to growl. A wave of killing intent could be felting from him. Yet the person he was directing killing intent towards wasn''t bothered.


    "What did you say? Did you actuallypared me to those filthy humans?"


    "Yeah, isn''t it the truth? Even the way you talk is the same as a human, calling others filthy and such." When the other person heard that he could no longer hold it in and was about ready to attack. The person who spoke was also about ready to fight when another beastkin who was twice their size appeared in the middle stopping them.


    "You two better stop it now, or else I''ll get mad." The man who appeared in between the two spoke in a tone, that made him sound gentle and kind. Yet that was far from the truth. The two who heard what the man said had their tails lowered in fear.


    "Tsk, fine since Rogan said so I will stop, but if you keep on saying sh*t like that even if Rogan interferes, I will kill you."


    "Hmph, if Rogan didn''t interfere you and your foul mouth would be gone from this world and would have entered the hunting nes."


    "What did you say, Keku? Care to repeat those words?!"


    "Enough! Keku you should stop provoking Hian. As for you Hian, you should stop getting so easily provoked. Keep that temper of yours in check and stop using violence whenever possible."


    The two lowered their heads and could not say anything. Seeing that they looked like they had reflected on their actions, Rogan continued speaking.


    "Also Hian, Keku is right. You shouldn''t be hostile to all humans. That person you''re carrying is a fine human who risked his life to protect two children. We must not repay such bravery and kindness by leaving him to die in the Holy Kingdom''s hands."


    Hearing what Rogan said, Hian sighed. "Fine, I guess you''re right. But then if we were going to save the humans that protected the children why didn''t we bring those three with us?"


    "Those three don''t need us to help them."


    "I mean I know they''re strong and all, but even they would have trouble escaping that encirclement."


    "That''s what you think?¡­ Tell me how strong, do you think those three are?"


    "They seem to be at the same level as one of our more experienced hunters. Seeing as they can handle a dozen wyvern knights they should be at that level."


    "You underestimate them too much. Those three have power beyond what you imagine. Especially the one who fought the hero of the Holy Kingdom." When Rogan remembered thatst strike that both Ren and Kim Chul released he couldn''t help but sweat.


    When Hian saw Rogan looking a bit perturbed he couldn''t help but reassess the three. If even Rogan who was the third strongest of the group of hunters spoke like that the three humans must be somehow morepetent than he thought.


    "Enough about that, let''s just continue. If we stay here for too long those knights might find something. We''ll continue our talk back at the city." Rogan hurriedly spoke as he started walking again. The group of beastkin continued their journey back.


    ¡­


    After a few twists and turns in the waterways, the three had arrived at an ancient-looking area with a huge door. The ce they were in no longer looked like the Holy Kingdom''s waterways and was a different ce altogether. Rogan then stood in front of the door and roared. He then spoke in the ancient beast kinnguage.


    "Gakh Un Ka!" Upon saying those words the ancient-looking door swung open, revealing an underground city. It was a ce filled with demi-humans, which were mostly beastkin and some dwarves. There were also some half-demons and half-dragons here and there.


    The city was underground but it was illuminated by the sparkling minerals surrounding the ce. There was also the hugenterns up above. Unlike the civilization of the Holy Kingdom which used things that didn''t need mana, the underground city was using the natural mana of the surroundings.


    The guards near the gate saw Rogan''s group and greeted them. The Captain of the guards then noticed the two beastkin children and the human they were carrying.


    "Is that the guy who tortured these poor children?" The Guard Captain was practically growling as he said those words. Rogan shook his head as he replied.


    "No it''s actually the opposite, this guy alongside three others protected the children."


    "I see¡­ Even so, why did you need to bring him here? You do know that no human is allowed into the city?"


    "So you want us to leave him there for the Holy Kingdom bastards to have their way with him? If we did that we would be no better than the Holy Kingdom bastards. If we leave those who help us and be ungrateful to them, then we really are no better than the people we hate."


    "Still, rules are rules. If the Chief finds out about this."


    "Don''t worry about the Chief I''ll exin it to him."


    "Fine, if it was anyone else that said those words I wouldn''t have listened, but since it''s you, Rogan, I''ll trust you."


    "Thanks."


    After talking with the guards the group headed straight to the Chief''s house. While they were walking the people who noticed Rogan''s group started to greet them. Everyone in the underground city knew and loved Rogans'' group for it was their group that saved many demi-humans from the Holy Kingdom.


    Rogan''s group felt proud and happy when they saw everyone greeting them with smiling faces. This was the reason they kept on fighting the Holy Kingdom despite being in a losing position.


    ¡­


    The group finally arrived at the Chief''s house. The chief who was talking to the head warrior noticed Rogan''s group and greeted them.


    "Rogan, so you have returned, how was the hunt this time?"


    "Greeting Chief, greetings head warrior the hunt this time was a sess. We were able to save two children of the Cat tribe. Also-" Rogan wasn''t able to finish when one of the warriors who guards the chief drew his weapon and pointed it at the unconscious John.


    "Why is there a human here?!" The Chief quickly raised his hand and signaled the guard to lower his weapon. Seeing the signal the guard reluctantly lowered his weapon.


    "Rogan, there should be a story behind this, correct? Will you exin to us why you have brought a human to our sanctuary."


    "Yes Chief, I have a good reason for this." Rogan then began to exin the events that transpired, of how some humans protected the children. Once Rogan was done exining the situation the Chief grew silent. After a short pause, the Chief spoke.


    "I see¡­ I understand the reason why you brought this human. Still, if you were going to do that, then why leave the other three?"


    "Those three humans do not need protection from us."


    "Hmm, why would you say that?"


    "Forgive me for saying this, but those three humans don''t need us to deal with the Holy Kingdom. How could we protect people stronger than us?"


    "They''re that strong?" The chief eximed with a surprised expression.


    "Yes, especially the one who fought the human hero. That person is not someone we should provoke." While Rogan and the Chief were talking, the head warrior suddenly drew his weapon and shouted.


    "Who''s hiding there!?" When the others heard the head warrior''s shout they quickly drew out their weapons and looked around warily. The guards of the chief encircled him to protect him from all directions.


    "Come out you rats!" The head warrior shouted as he suddenly sprinted towards Rogan. The head warrior then raised his war ax and shed at the area behind Rogan. As expected the shing de had hit nothing. Yet at that moment someone started to talk.


    "Pretty impressive spotting us. How did you do it? We have hidden our presences so well." When the people heard that voice they grew even warier as they looked around and saw no one.


    "You may be able to suppress your presence and even your breathing was in sync with the people around you. Still, it''s impossible to hide from my nose. Even among my fellow tribesmen, I have a stronger sense of smell. I could smell the foul stench of a rat from a mile away."


    "Heh, I see. Guess there is no need to hide now." From within the shadows, two men and a woman appeared. These three were none other than Ren, Valdel, and Lara. The moment they appeared, Ren looked at Rogan who was in a state of shock, and spoke with a smile.


    "Thanks for leading the way."

 Chapter 434 - Fangs Of Katar

    <h4>Chapter 434 - Fangs Of Katar</h4>


    Rogan looked at the smiling Ren with a little bit of fear in his eyes. Since when was he being followed? Even all the members who were with Rogan were stunned by the sight. They were able to follow them without anyone noticing. No one even noticed them when they were walking through the busy streets.


    The demi-humans in the underground city had sharp senses but despite that, not a single one of them were able to spot the three humans.


    "So who are you three humans, are you part of the Holy Kingdom?" The Chief was the first to get his bearings back and asked.


    "If we were part of the Holy Kingdom don''t you think that we would''ve already attacked?"


    "If you''re not part of the Holy Kingdom, are you perhaps the three humans that helped in saving the children?"


    "Correct. So are you guys the rumored Fangs of Katar?"


    "Why should we answer that? I don''t care if you are the humans that saved the children, all I know is that you hid and trespassed into our city. Why are you sneaking like rats if you don''t have anything to hide?"


    "I guess you''re right. I too don''t really like sneaking around. I would usually appear at the front, and wouldn''t do something like this. Still, these people made it too easy to follow them so I wanted to see if they would notice us at some point. Yet even as we entered this ce and came to the heart of the city no one noticed us, well except for you. In truth, this was nothing more than a little game."


    When the head warrior heard Ren''s answer he got angry and growled at Ren while releasing killing intent. As he was about to attack Ren in anger, the head warrior saw an image of his head detaching from his body. The head warrior stopped in his tracks as cold sweat flowed from his forehead. He looked at the smiling Ren in a daze.


    The head warrior was confused by what his instincts were telling him. The person called Ren was just standing there with a lot of openings. Yet despite that, his instincts that he had honed from numerous life and death battles were telling him that if he moved now he would be dead.


    Unaware of what the head warrior was thinking the chief was relieved. Usually, at this point, the head warrior would lose all reason and attack. Yet this time the head warrior was actually holding back.


    "So what do you want? You wouldn''te all the way here just for a game."


    "Well, I was wondering what kind of organization this so called Fangs of Katar was. It would seem that you guys got lucky and found this ancient stronghold. Still, based on what I have seen so far, I gotta say you guys are fighting a losing battle."


    When the beastkin heard what Ren said, Rogan and all the others in the room started looking at Ren with anger.


    "We might not have arge army like those bastards from the Holy Kingdom, but we do have stronger warriors! Our warriors are even equipped with dwarven made weapons, which are known to be the best in the world. We might not have quantity but we do possess quality."


    "Hmm, you guys might be a bit stronger individually against the normal guards, but it doesn''t seem like you lot are good inrge scale battles. The Holy Kingdom, even though I only got to see a glimpse of it looked like they had created different formations for different scenarios. They don''t fight as one warrior doing better than the rest, they fight as a unit. As for you guys I haven''t seen too much, but based on how you reacted when you learned that there was an intruder, I can guess you don''t have suchplex formations. In arge battle, you guys look like all you understand, are themands, attack, defend, and retreat."


    Each word that came out of Ren''s mouth made the beastkin present angry. One of them even tried to attack, yet the moment he thought of doing so same as the head warrior he felt the sensation of death by just thinking about attacking.


    "It''s not like I''m saying doing things by instinct is bad, but in a war when arge number of people are involved, individual strength only matters if your strength surpasses all. You would need strength like mine."


    Ren casually spoke, and the more he talked, the angrier the people present got. Still, none of them had sessfully attacked, since even before they did so they felt death''s grip on them.


    "Also if you''re talking about quality, then the other side is better." When Ren said those words he suddenly appeared beside the head warrior and had his hand ced at the head warrior''s shoulders. No one present, not even the head warrior was able to discern the moment Ren moved. Those who saw how easily Ren entered the head warrior''s field made them gulp dryly.


    They all thought that even though they couldn''t handle Ren, as long as the head warrior was here, they might be able to do something. Yet seeing that one move made that hope of theirs disappear. Still, they were warriors, and even though there was this innate fear they felt, they shook it off.


    "This is your strongest warrior, correct?"


    "No, I''m not the strongest warrior. Even though I''m the head warrior, I''m only the second strongest. My elder brother who refuses to fight is the strongest beastkin in our tribe. No, he''s the strongest warrior to ever walk this world."


    "Oh!" Ren licked his lips as his mana started to leak out of him. He was getting excited as he heard those words. The beastkin surrounding Ren all knelt to the ground in the face of the overwhelming mana that pressed down on them.


    The head warrior who was standing right beside Ren was trying his hardest not to kneel as his legs started to shake.


    "Even seeing this, do you think you''re brother is the strongest warrior?"


    "Mana alone doesn''t determine victory. I still believe that my brother is the strongest of all." The head warrior responded. Ren then stopped leaking out his mana and smiled a very vicious smile.


    "Heh, interesting. If what you say is true, then you guys might actually have a chance against the Holy Kingdom. So where is this brother of yours? I want to meet him."


    "I do not know where he is at the moment."


    "Hmm, is that so¡­"


    "Sir, what is it that you really want from us?" The Chief once again asked. This time he spoke in a more respectful tone since the person in front of him was even more dangerous than he initially thought.


    "I wanted to ask was the Holy Kingdom always hostile to the demi-humans?"


    "No¡­ A century ago, the Holy Kingdom wasn''t even established yet. This ce used to be the Nekra Kingdom. It was a peaceful kingdom filled with diversity. It was a ce were many races came to gather. Yet upon the arrival of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, the kingdom changed and most of the royal family at the time were killed by the crown prince who was a firm believer of the Goddess of Light. Once he took the throne by force, the first thing he did was to massacre the demi-humans in the kingdom, and only left a few to be ves."


    "Hmmm, you''re talking like you''ve seen it yourself."


    "Yes, unlike humans, we beastkin or more specifically my tribe, the wolf tribe has a longer life span. I was just a youngd when it happened."


    "Why is the Temple of the Goddes of Light so hostile to demi-humans?"


    "I don''t know much as knowledge about the temple of the Goddes of Light is only avable to humans. Even if we were able to capture some member of the temple, they would never tell us a thing, no matter how much we torture them. So most of what we know is just from hearsay. It is said that among the current deities, the Goddes of Light is the youngest. She became a deity only a few centuries ago, but her fame was the fastest to grow. The supposed reason for the explosive growth of her believers is because of their doctrines. It is said that when the Temple was established in her honor, the believers quickly started preaching to anyone who would listen. They started telling the story that every race was once human. That all the other races were simply failed experiments of humanity. They say that humans are a superior race and the ones most loved by the Gods. They im that is the reason why most deities were once humans."


    "Hmm, that does sound something humans would do. Still, that doesn''t exin why they teach their followers to hate other races. Also, if they truly think that only human lives matter, then the moment they gained all of this power they would''ve started a holy war of some kind to kill all the heretics. Why haven''t they done that? Also, I understand that humans are the most numerous race, but the other races wouldn''t want a temple such as the Temple of the Goddes of Light to exist. Why hasn''t any other race wipe out this temple from existence? I get that it''s the strongest temple in the continent, but surely it wouldn''t survive an all-out assault of all the other races."


    Ren couldn''t help but remember the time when his own race was attacked by all the other races. Right now the Temple of the Goddess of Light was also in the same predicament¡­ So why hasn''t anyone done anything? Why does the Temple of the Goddess of Light continue to exist? What secrets does the Temple have that it was able to survive until now.

 Chapter 435 - Ancestor

    <h4>Chapter 435 - Ancestor</h4>


    "It''s because they are all cowards! None of the other temples, nor the other races have the balls to start a war!" The head warrior suddenly shouted.


    "The truth is we don''t know much as well. Based on what the people from the outside are saying. The reputation of the Holy Kingdom and the Temple of the Goddess of Light seems to be beautified. No one knows of their true face. Well, I guess the other temples should know some things, yet they haven''t done anything about it. As for the normal people, well those that don''t live in the Holy Kingdom all think that the ce is a paradise for everyone." The Chief exined as he sighed.


    "So what''s your n here?" Valdel suddenly stepped forward and spoke.


    "We will continue t save those that need to be saved from the bastards of the holy kingdom."


    "You talk as if you have saved everyone that should be saved. If that were true then why are there still people like those children?" Valdel''s eyes were filled with ridicule and anger.


    "What do you want us to do? This is the best that we can do at the moment. We just need to wait it out for a while and gather our strength, that is all we can do at the moment. Once we have enough strength, we can show the Holy Kingdom or mettle." The chief responded with a despondent look on his face.


    "That''s it, that''s all you can say? Tell me why do you call yourselves, the Fangs fo Katar?" The sudden change in question confused the Chief, but he still answered.


    "Katar is the name of the father of all beastkin. We name ourselves the Fangs of Katar as we wanted to show the Holy Kingdom that we are not ones to back down, and like the fangs of the mighty Katar we will bite down on the Holy Kingdom." The Chief replied with a passion. The other beastkin present were also getting inspired. Just the mere mention of the name Katar had made their blood boil in excitement.


    "I see, as expected you guys are¡­" Valdel started to mumble to himself as a long-forgotten memory came back to him. As the leader of the Lycans, Kir had many offspring, yet most of them were unable to survive the trial to be the heir to the Lycan throne. Well, except for one, the child''s name was Katar, he was the only child Kir had that was powerful enough to somehow manage to survive the trial. Unfortunately, as a demon lord, Kir had many enemies, and one of them was a powerful demon lord like himself. It was his old former friend the Vampiric Lord Darius, who took his son as a hostage.


    Darius demanded that Kir, that he should give all of his subordinates and his part of the demonnds to him. Of course, Kir was a leader first before he was a father and denied Darius. After that incident, Kir thought his son dead.


    ''It turns out that fool of a vampire wasn''t able to kill you¡­ So you were able to survive¡­ Hmph, well that''s to be expected. Still, what''s with these descendants of yours, they''re weak and had lost their pride and honor. Even though their blood is so thin and they can no longer change back and forth to their human forms and into their wolf forms, they are still the offspring of the Lycan tribe!''


    "Ren can you and Lara please leave for a while. I need to talk these people on my own."


    When Ren heard Valdel''s request he couldn''t help but shrug his shoulders as he answered. "Normally I would be very irritated by you ordering me around, but I guess I can understand where you''reing from here. I myself experienced something simr a while back. So sure, I''ll look around the city and see if I can spot that big brother that''s supposedly a stronger warrior than me." After Ren said those words, he and Lara disappeared from everyone''s sight.


    The head warrior could still somehow smell them, but it was a vague scent and after a few seconds the smell started to slowly disappear. Even though they didn''t want to, they had no choice but to allow Ren and Lara to do what they want within the city, as they had no way of detaining them. They couldn''t even spot them much less detain them.


    Once Ren and Lara were gone, Valdel looked at the Chief of the beastkin and then at the other beastkin present. Now that he knew the truth about these guys, seeing them like this made him feel annoyed. He felt a bit offended that these people actually share the same blood as Kir, even though it was a distant rtionship, knowing that they were kin was making Valdel boil in anger.


    "So you''re simply nning to wait here, cowering underground like frightened little rabbits? While you only go above to save a few of those that are screaming for help. Can you not hear the cries of your Kin?! Have all of you lost your pride and honor, and became such disgusting frightened little pups?!"


    When the beastkin heard what Valdel said they got really mad. Even the calm Chief was now growling at Valdel.


    "What do you know human?! Even if we wanted to save them, we don''t have the power to do so now! Don''t you think we don''t know the suffering our kin are going through?! If only we had power like yours and those friends of yours then we would dly charge onward! We would never hide in this hovel. Yet if we go now, no one will be saved and all of us will die." One of the warriors spoke as he bit his lips in anger.


    "Hmph, all I hear are excuses! Since when has this mighty tribe, descendants of the Lycans cower before anyone?! Even back then against the strongest of demon lords, the Lycans fought! Even against the might of the human heroes, the Lycans fought! There was no fear of death, only fear that their honor and pride will be diminished! Are you honorable wolves, or cowardly dogs that tuck their tails when they''re told?!"


    When the Chief heard what Valdel said he was truly surprised. Even most of the other beastkin didn''t know of the history between them and the Lycans. In fact, they were not just descendants of Lycans, but of the werewolves and Kitsunes as well. They were technically the same as the half-demons, but over time that was forgotten and they became a different race entirely, the beastkin.


    "How do you know so much about us?" The Chief asked as the anger subsided and the curiosity burst out. Valdel didn''t respond with words and instead, he unleashed his mana and made the beastkin present feel it through the blood and soul.


    Unlike when Ren was pushing them down with his overwhelming mana, now they were kneeling on the ground for a different reason. Valdel''s mana wasn''t as overbearing as Ren''s and couldn''t make them kneel with its force alone, but what they felt through their blood and souls made them kneel.


    It is said that mana is the soul itself. So even though Valdel had changed forms, his mana would not.


    "It can''t be¡­ Who are you?" The Chief looked at Valdel with a torrent of emotions. The others were looking at Valdel confused as to what was happening.


    "Do you still ask that question, despite feeling my mana? It seems that the blood in your veins is so diluted that you can''t even understand who I am."


    "A-are you, are you Lord Katar?" When the other beastkin heard what the Chief said they couldn''t help but look at him then at Valdel. Did the chief suddenly go insane? Why did he call this human, this pure human as their progenitor Katar? Still, despite them denying it with their heads, their very blood and souls seem to be telling them that there was a truth in that.


    "Hmph, you''re actuallyparing me to that mutt who got himself kidnapped and never returned home?"


    Normally the moment they heard Valdel insult their progenitor by calling him a mutt, every beastkin present would''ve attacked. Yet despite hearing those wordsing out of Valdel''s mouth they did nothing. Instead of feeling anger, they actually felt ashamed.


    "Then who are you?"


    "I might be a human now, but before I was a human, in a past long forgotten I was once known as the strongest among five demon lords. I was the ruler of all the Lycans, the one they called the Mighty Lord Kir."


    When the beastkin heard this name, all of them didn''t know its significance. Even the Chief who was the oldest and most knowledgeable in the group had no idea who that was. Seeing their reactions, Valdel sighed.


    "It would seem that my past life''s name has been lost in the flow of time. Then let me tell you who I was in a way that even you would understand. I was the father of your Lord Katar."


    When they heard Valdel''s response the beastkin present were astounded. The father of the forefather, that would make him the ancestor of their ancestors. Even though they heard it, even though they felt it through their blood, some of the beastkin couldn''t believe what was said.


    "Are you guys believing this?! This person is a human! How is he the father of our Lord Katar?! Even if he were reincarnated, the father of our Lord would never be one of those humans." One of the beastkin suddenly shouted.


    "Then how do you exin the reaction of our blood, of our very souls?"


    "It must be a trick of sorts. You know the humans, they''re a crafty bunch, full of nothing but lies."


    "Yeah, that must be it. This guy is just insane, who can believe him?!"


    "Yeah, that''s right. A human iming to be our ancestor. He''s just trying to fools us." After one of them started denying it the others who were still shaken by the revtion joined in as well. It was at that moment the Chief shouted in a loud voice that echoed throughout the halls.


    "ENOUGH!"

 Chapter 436 - The Truth Seen Through My Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 436 - The Truth Seen Through My Eyes</h4>


    "ENOUGH!" All the beastkin present stopped talking. The Chief wanted to stand before Valdel but no matter how hard he tried his body couldn''t go against themand of blood. Still, he looked at Valdel with challenging eyes.


    "I don''t know if you''re telling the truth or not. Even though my very soul and blood are telling me that you are who you say you are, but I¡­ No, we need more proof than that. What I see with my own eyes, what I smell from your scent. They''re are telling me a different answer from my blood and they''re telling that you are a pure human, and it is impossible for you to be my ancestor."


    The other beastkin nodded their heads as they heard what their Chief said. Even the head warrior was looking at Valdel with a weird look on his face. On the other hand, Valdel was looking at all the beastkin that were in front of him in disappointment.


    "So even after feeling the call of your own blood and soul, you still deny it? Even after I told you my story, you still deny it? All you pups can only see what is right in front of you, and yet you can''t even see it properly."


    "¡­ What do you expect after saying something like that? We can''t just believe you, simply because you said so. If we did that and be so gullible, then the cunning humans would have already killed us all."


    "Fine, then what will make you mutts believe that I am who I say I am?"


    "Hmm, I need to call the other elders for this. If it''s alright with you, can you please wait for a little while?" When Valdel heard what the chief said he sighed as he finally stopped emitting his mana. Once Valdel''s mana could no longer be felt the beastkin were able to finally move. The chief then told his guards to quickly call all the elders, they need to arrive as quickly as possible, no matter what they were doing at the moment.


    ¡­


    As Valdel was waiting for the elders to arrive, Ren and Lara were touring the underground city. Of course, since they knew that the people in this city didn''t really like humans, Ren and Lara were hiding their presence. It wasn''t that hard for them to go around the city without a single person noticing them. In fact, if they wanted to they could even walk in the middle of the street and as long as they don''t hit anyone or somebody particrly powerful was present, no one would ever notice them.


    Still, Ren didn''t bother doing that since he liked the view of looking above the buildings of the city. This underground city was entirely different from the Divine City above ground. This city reminded Ren of the old human cities he used to conquer back in the day. The walls made of orichalcum filled with different wards, which made it harder for mana to pass through.


    This was a countermeasure the humans created to defend against him, who at the time was more prone to using spells and whose physical abilities would drop tremendously without mana.


    It did serve its purpose and Ren was unable to destroy a whole city with spells because of it. Still, Ren found that more fun. The harder the humans tried to defend themselves the more fun it was for him.


    As Ren was reminiscing about his past life, Lara who was holding onto his arm suddenly spoke. The voice was the same but for some reason, the tone was somehow different.


    "Hey, are you thinking about the past?" Ren quickly pulled himself out of Lara''s grip and backed away. He then summoned his sword Snertal from his shadow.


    "Who are you?"


    "As expected, just a few words, and you already knew."


    "I said who are you? Are you a Primordial Demon? Did you take over Lara''s body?"


    "I am someone like you, I''m Lara but at the same time someone different. Of course, I''m not one of those Primordial Demons. Why would I take over my own body, this is mine, to begin with?"


    "Someone like me?¡­ So you''re a past incarnation of Lara, is that it?"


    "That''s correct. It''s always nice to talk to someone that can quickly follow what''s happening."


    "So what do you want? Why did you suddenly speak to me?"


    "Truth be told, I just wanted to talk to you."


    "Why?"


    "Well, my reincarnation cycle is different from normal, and it''s also different from your style of reincarnation. Unlike you whose past incarnations all reside within your soul like a world filled with only you. My soul and destiny aren''t as powerful as yours. Every time I reincarnate, my past personality, my past incarnation follows onto the next reincarnation. When the body and mind of the new reincarnation are ready she then receives all of the past incarnations¡­ Well, she gets everything, my memories, my skills, my feelings. It''s all carried over, but I as a person, as an individual will cease to exist."


    "I see¡­ Even if that''s true, why would you want to even talk to me?"


    "You see, the current incarnation is nearing the level needed to absorb my everything, so I''m close to fading away. As I near my end, I just wanted to talk to you for onest time." Lara smiled weakly as her eyes became a bit moist.


    "Why?¡­"


    "I am always drawn towards your soul. Every time I reincarnate, it will always be in a world and in a time that you exist, where the strongest mortal soul reincarnates. We have already met a few thousand times in a lot of your past incarnations. Though I did miss thest incarnation of yours, thest time we met was when you were, Rei Kuraki."


    When Ren heard those words, one of his past incarnations spoke in his mind.


    "Ren can you please allow me to take over for a while."


    "Are you, Rei Kuraki?"


    "Yeah, please Ren, I think this person really is someone I knew."


    "Fine, you can use my body." Ren allowed Rei to take over his body for a while. Once Rei had taken over the body he looked at Lara and with a gentle smile on his face. He tried to speak at once, but something was caught in his throat. Rei then tried to calm himself first, before he slowly approached Lara. Once they were close enough, Rei''s emotions started flooding him, but he kept all of that in as he once again smiled at the person in front of him.


    "Rina, is that you?" When Lara heard what Ren said she had her eyes wide open in disbelief. She couldn''t believe her ears as the name she once had was spoken. It took her a few seconds to regain her bearing as she then shook her head and replied.


    "It''s been a long time, Rei-kun."


    "Yeah, it has been, a very long time. So it turns out that you too had a secret that you didn''t tell anyone. Who knew that your bby mouth can keep a secret for so long."


    "Hmph, I did tell you about it once, but your stupid little brain quickly forgot about it." Rina pouted as she responded to Rei.


    "Even in this situation, you''re going to insult me? You haven''t changed at all Rina. Well, it''s a good thing Ren gets to have Lara who''s a way better reincarnation than you. She''s kind, obedient, and extremely loyal. She would never insult Ren and would always stand by him. Not like a certain childhood friend I used to have. Always teasing me, always insulting me, and always hitting me when she got the chance."


    "You think Ren has it good, no it''s Lara who has it good. She has a childhood friend that listens to her and understands her. Ren is a way better childhood friend than you ever were. Ren listens beyond the words that Lara speaks, it''s like he could read her mind that''s how close they are. Not only that but Ren''s dependable and far-sighted. He''s so different from a certain childhood friend that alwaysined about the little things."


    The two continued to talk back and forth, saying more insults than thest. After a while, they stopped. Lara or currently Rina red at Ren who was being controlled by Rei. Rei who was in control of Ren''s body red back. After a few seconds of intense ring, the two startedughing at each other.


    As they wereughing and having a rtively good time talking to each other, Rina could no longer hold it in as she suddenly started to cry. She then pounced at Rei and without any warning kissed him. As they were kissing the first thought Rei had in his mind was that Rina''s lips had some tears on them. After a while, the two parted as Rina wiped away her tears while looking at the stunned Rei.


    "I''m d that I got meet you again, Rei¡­ I wasn''t able to say this to youst time, but this time for certain I can say it without any hesitation. Rei Kuraki, I Rina Bright have always been in lo-" Rina couldn''t finish what she was going to say as she fainted. Rei caught her and with some tears in his eyes caressed Rina''s face.


    "Hmph, stupid fool, of course, I knew it. It was so obvious Rina, I''ve known since long ago¡­ Since, I felt the same way too¡­" Rei whispered into Rina''s ears, knowing that she could no longer hear him.

 Chapter 437 - The Trial Of The Wolves

    <h4>Chapter 437 - The Trial Of The Wolves</h4>


    The ten elders of the underground city arrived upon receiving the call of the chief. When they entered the room, they saw a human in their midst and quickly took out their weapons. Seeing the little pups drawing their weapons at him made Valdel feel a little bit irritated. These people im that the humans were discriminating against them, which is true but isn''t their way just the same but simply guided by different reasoning?


    "Lower your weapons!" The chiefmanded as he noticed the irritated look Valdel was showing. He didn''t want to provoke Valdel anymore than he already had. The ten elders were still ring at Valdel but they did as they were told and lowered their weapons.


    "What is this all about? Why did you bring a human into our sanctuary?!" One of the elders growled.


    "That''s right, how can you let a human into the city. Not only that he''s even so deep inside." Another elder spoke.


    "Everyone calm down!" The head warrior suddenly shouted. When the elders heard the head warrior''s shout they stopped talking. The usual head warrior would never do something so rude to them, so seeing the change in his behavior the elders looked at him confused.


    "Please dear elders, listen to the chief." The elders who were stunned by the head warrior''s outburst looked at the chief. Seeing that the attention was finally back on him the chief sighed before he started exining the current situation.


    As they were listening to the chief''s exnation their facial expressions kept on changing for every word they heard. Once the chief was done exining there was an eerie silence that came over them. After a period of silence, one of the elders could no longer hold it in and shouted at Valdel.


    "HOW DARE YOU HUMAN!" The elder suddenly charged at Valdel. Seeing the iing elder Valdel didn''t even bother to move and simply emitted his mana. When the elder felt Valdel''s mana his blood and soul told him to kneel. The other elders who felt that mana couldn''t stop themselves and knelt as well.


    When they heard the chief exin this phenomenon they thought that he was exaggerating but right now as they felt it for themselves, they knew that the chief actually didn''t exin it well enough. Who knew that Valdel''s mana could warrant such an extreme reaction from them.


    "So are you mutts going to acknowledge what I said as truth, or are you going to keep on denying me?"


    When the elders heard that contempt in Valdel''s voice they lowered their heads in frustration. Valdel stopped his mana from leaking out which allowed the beastkin to be able to move again.


    "Sir Valdel, please stand aside for now as we have a brief meeting." The Chief bowed his head as he spoke. Seeing the Chief like this Valdel shrugged his shoulders and left the room. Once Valdel was out of the room, the elders, the warriors, everyone present was able to breathe better.


    "What was that?"


    "Was it the ruler''s might that the Lycan kings of the past used to possess?"


    "NO, that can''t be it! I refuse to believe that our esteemed ancestor became a human!"


    "¡­ I know what you feel, but everything he has shown us, all of it points to him telling the truth."


    "Even then, I cannot and will not ept it!"


    "Then what, will you continue to deny him, out of spite? Even if he''s not telling the truth that human has the power to make us kneel without even lifting a finger."


    The elders came to a heated discussion as they argued back and forth. The chief then raised his hand to signal them to stop.


    "So who among you believe in Valdel''s im?" Five elders lifted their hands. "Who among you wish to deny his im?" The remaining five elders then raised their hands. Seeing that the group was split in the middle the elder knew that in the end, he was still the one who needed to make a decision.


    "I see¡­ Then do you wish for him to go through the trial of the wolves?"


    When the elders heard what the chief suggested they were at first surprised. "Are we allowing a human to take part in that trial?"


    "Well, if he passes then that would prove his skill without a doubt."


    "Even if he passes that doesn''t prove his im to be our ancestor."


    "Hmph, if he passes the trial even if he was not who he says he is it will not matter." The elders once again were in a heated argument. The chief waited for a few minutes before interrupting their conversation.


    "So who among you agrees to let the human Valdel go through the trial of the wolves?" This time seven hands had been raised. Even though the winner was already obvious the chief continued to ask the other side. "Who disagrees?" Two hands rose in the air.


    "Seven elders agree to let Valdel do the trial of the wolves, and two disagree, and one abstains from voting. So we havee to a decision Valdel will go through the trial. Head warrior call Valdel back in."


    ¡­


    "So have you decided to believe me now?" Those were the first words that came out of Valdel''s mouth as he entered the room. Of course, this made the elders frown, but they didn''t say a word to show their displeasure.


    "No, we have not, instead we wish for you to go through the trial of the wolves to prove your im."


    "Trial of the wolves?"


    "The trial is very simple. It''s a battle against the strongest member of each of the ten ns within our tribe. It will be an unarmed battle without using mana, only pure physical abilities will be used. This was the trial used to determine who will be the true ruler of our tribe. Thest person that was able to seed in the trial was the son of our lord Katar. In this trial there is a chance of death, even so, will you risk it?"


    Some of the elders thought that Valdel would reject the trial since without any mana involved a human could never match up to the pure physical prowess of a beastkin. Even the strongest of the beastkin who took this trial were unable to seed. Seeing as you needed to fight ten opponents in session without rest was something difficult to do. Yet to their surprise the words that came out of Valdel''s mouth were the exact opposite of what they expected.


    "I will do it."

 Chapter 438 - The Beginning Of The Trial

    <h4>Chapter 438 - The Beginning Of The Trial</h4>


    When the elders heard Valdel''s quick response they all had different reactions. Some of them thought that Valdel was crazy to ept such a challenge, others thought that he was impressive to have such guts, on the other hand, most of them thought he was being too arrogant. Yet the moment they saw the determination and contempt on his eyes they couldn''t say anything.


    "We can begin the trial tomorrow so that you-" The Chief wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as Valdel interrupted him.


    "There''s no need to wait, call for these supposed powerful warriors of your ten families. Unlike you mutts that don''t move even though your kin are crying and hurting, I have no time to wait until tomorrow to y this game with you mutts, so I will do this trial now."


    The elders and the warriors present didn''t really like Valdel''s overbearing style, unaware that this was unusual for him. If anyone who knew him saw this scene they would be dumbfounded. This kind of thing was usually something Ren would do, it was not something Valdel would''ve done, well until now.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Of course, it''s just a bunch of mutts calling themselves wolves. I will show them what a true wolf looks like."


    The elders couldn''t help but growl at Valdel hearing thatment of his.


    "I hope you do not regret your decision." One of the elders spoke.


    "Hmph, the only thing I regret is that you mutts are actually my own descendants. The Lycan tribe might not have been a strong tribepared to the other demon tribes, but we had pride and honor. The Lycan tribe would never leave kin behind and make so many excuses. If Katar were still alive, I would''ve beaten him up and disciplined him for producing such cowards."


    "I don''t care if you''re going to act like our ancestor, but no one can insult Lord Katar!" One of the elders charged at Valdel. This time Valdel didn''t use his mana to stop the elder. The elder thought that this was a chance and dashed even faster. He would attack before Valdel starts thinking about using his mana to suppress him. Yet the moment the elder got near Valdel he suddenly stopped.


    No one was able to see it but Valdel''s hand was now holding the elder''s throat. He then emitted bloodlust, which made the tails of all the beastkin present stand in attention.


    "I''m genuinely pissed now so call your warriors and start the trial. Do not test my patience for I''m already trying my hardest to suppress my urge of wanting to kill all of you pathetic mongrels." Valdel then looked at the elder with eyes that could make a grown man whimper in fear. The elder felt that death wasing and started to regret his impulsive move. Valdel then threw the elder to the side.


    "Just call your warriors and let me see if they truly are worthy to be called warriors."


    When the frightened beastkin heard what Valdel said, they wanted to respond by saying that this was a trial for him, not the other way around. Still, after feeling that frightening bloodlust they no longer spoke, they didn''t even have the courage to growl. The nine elders quickly left the room and headed back to their ce to call for their strongest warriors.


    The elder that Valdel threw remained in his position not moving an inch. He was still in a state of shock.


    "I told you to bring your strongest warrior, what are you doing there looking at me like that?" When the elder heard Vadlel''s voice he snapped out of his dazed state. He quickly left the room not wanting to anger Valdel more than he already has.


    ¡­


    Once all the elders disappeared the chief sighed. "Sir Valdel, please follow me to the backyard were we will conduct the trial." Valdel looked at the chief and nodded his head. As they were about to leave the room, the chief noticed the head warrior wasn''t moving.


    The head warrior like the elder that Valdel tossed aside was in a state of shock. At first, he thought that Valdel was only strong because of his weird mana, but that wasn''t the case at all. That one move that Valdel did to capture the elder proved his strength. Not even he the head warrior was able to clearly follow those movements. He could somehow see bits and pieces, but if he was the one who faced Valdel he wouldn''t be able to evade as well.


    "Head Warrior?" When the head warrior heard the Chief''s voice he looked at him still in a daze.


    "We''re about to head towards the backyard are youing?"


    "Oh¡­ Yes, of course." The head warrior nodded his head as he answered and followed the Chief outside.


    ¡­


    It only took half an hour before the elders returned with their strongest warriors. Upon arriving at the backyard the first thing the ten warriors did was look at the person who was causing trouble. Each elder had exined to their warriors that Vadlel was someone extremely dangerous, and he wanted to challenge the trial of the wolves. After hearing that exnation, the warriors wanted to see what kind of crazy person hade to initiate the trial of the wolves, but what they saw was even more surprising than what they thought. In front of them wasn''t some powerful beastkin warrior, instead, it was a human.


    Even though the beastkin warriors were still in a state of shock the Chief didn''t'' bother exining to them what was going on and spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone present to hear him.


    "We will now initiate the trial of the wolves. The Challenger Valdel please step up." Upon hearing his name Valdel walked forward.


    "Please choose which warrior you wish to fight first." The ten warriors who were still somewhat confused were now all looking at Valdel waiting to hear who among them he will face first. Valdel looked at each beastkin warrior and responded.


    "I don''t need to face them one on one, I''ll face all ten of them together."

 Chapter 439 - Pathetic

    <h4>Chapter 439 - Pathetic</h4>


    When the warriors heard what Valdel said they couldn''t believe their ears and thought they heard wrong. As for those that had already heard and seen a bit of how Valdel acts knew that he was serious in what he said. The group that knew couldn''t help but gulp dryly. Even the Chief was surprised by what was said. The Chief already knew that Vadlel was powerful but that was when he was using mana. This trial didn''t allow the usage of any form of spiritual energy and was a test of one''s technique and physical ability.


    "Sir Valdel, this trial will be done without the use of mana and weapons. You will fight with only your bare hands and with nothing more than your flesh to protect you."


    "You already told me that, why repeat yourself? Do you think these little pups with no real fangs can pierce my body or my will? These fangless pups won''t even be able toy a finger on me. So why bother in facing them one on one?"


    The warriors who were confused moments ago were now sure that Valdel was looking down on them. He was treating them as fangless wolves, no worse he was treating them as fangless dogs.


    "How dare a human act so arrogantly! I don''t know who you are, nor where you came from, but I alone am enough to beat you up." One of the warriors shouted while baring his fangs.


    "Hmph, stop barking at me, little pup. If you can''t even tell howrge the gap between you and me, then you truly are nothing more than a fangless pup. How funny for you to want to fight me one on one? Just tell them toe at me now, I don''t have time to listen to all their barking." Valdel didn''t bother taking a stance as he signaled the warriors to charge at him. Seeing that Valdel wasn''t going to change his decision the Chief sighed.


    "The challenger Valdel has chosen to face all of the warriors at the same time. Let the trial of the wolves begin!"


    The ten warriors stepped up, but the warrior who shouted prior signaled the others to stop. He red at Valdel while emitting killing intent.


    "I will face him alone."


    "Hmph, like I said pup you don''t stand a chance. You better stop barking and juste at me." The warrior could no longer hold it in and charged at Valdel. The speed at which he moved wasn''t something a human can replicate without mana.


    The warrior punched forward, Valdel shifted his body a bit to the left dodging the strike. Valdel then caught the warrior''s hand which he punched out and used his momentum against him. Valdel pulled the warrior''s hand making him lose bnce, Valdel then proceeded to kick the back of the warrior''s forwarded knee, making him kneel onto the ground. Once the warrior was kneeling Valdel quickly ced his hands onto his neck.


    "As expected from a pup, to attack while blinded with rage. Do you understand now how great the gap between us is? You might technically be physically better than me, but aside from that you are sorelycking in everything else."


    Everyone looked at the scene before them with wide eyes. They were amazed by what they had witnessed. Valdel didn''t move so fast that they couldn''t follow, but the flow of his movement was so smooth that those different moves he made seem to be like one move. He made it look so easy to bring down a warrior to his knees. Valdel then released his hand from the warrior''s neck and spoke to the nine who were looking at him dumbfounded.


    "I already said it before, all of you juste at me. I don''t need you to bark at me with empty words, nor do I want to see you emit your lukewarm killing intent. Juste at me with everything you got. I want to see what kind of failures my descendants truly are."


    When the ten warriors heard what Valdel said they couldn''t understand what he meant by calling them descendants but they now understood that he wasn''t an easy opponent. The nine looked at each other. After a silent conversation, the nine surrounded Valdel, as for the one who lost at Valdel at the beginning he still remained on the floor still in a state of shock.


    "Are you going to continue to kneel down on the ground in defeat, or are you going to stand up and try again. If you''re unable to continue just step aside and cry in the corner like the little pup you are." Each word the came out of Valdel''s mouth held so much contempt that you could feel his irritation from each word.


    The warrior heard what Valdel said and gnashed his teeth. He couldn''t help but admit that what Valdel said before was true. Valdel truly was someone above him, but even knowing that he didn''t like Valdel insulting him every time. The warrior then stood up and help the others to surround Valdel.


    Once every warrior was in position, they slowly approached Valdel. When they were close enough they looked at each other and waited to see who would start the attack. Seeing them hesitate so much just made Valdel even more irritated.


    "Even though you ten already have the advantage in numbers you''re still too cowardly to attack a single opponent?! How much more will you guys make me disappointed?!" As if those words were a signal the ten beastkin warriors attacked Valdel in unison.


    Valdel easily predicted each one of their moves and was able to use this to his advantage. He dodged some attacks, while he used the momentum of the others to hit one another. No matter what angle they attacked it felt like Valdel could handle it with ease. After a few minutes, the ten stopped attacking and were now filled with bruises, while Valdel remained unhit.


    The most surprising thing about this scene was the fact that Valdel never attacked. The bruises the ten beastkin warriors received were from each other, all Valdel did was guide their attacks.


    "Not only are you guys cowardly, andck the spirit of a true wolf, you also don''t have any coordination as a pack. Tsk, you bunch truly are pathetic." When the ten heard what Valdel said they no longer had the energy nor the will to refute. They all felt embarrassed by their own performance, they now understood why this person kept calling them pups, cause in his eyes they were truly nothing more than little pups.


    Seeing the reaction made by the ten beastkin warriors, Valdel sighed in utter disappointment. "I already knew that you guys were cowards, I was already expecting you guys tock the skill and coordination. But I hoped, I truly hoped that you lot would at least have the will¡­ How pathetic, and how sad I feel today. If I knew that this was what I would see from my own descendants, I wish that the Lycan tribe''s bloodline ended with Katar''s era¡­ At least then we could have sustained our pride and honor."

 Chapter 440 - You Have It In You

    <h4>Chapter 440 - You Have It In You</h4>


    Valdel couldn''t believe just how weak his descendants were. He looked at each one of them and found they had nothing to them. They had no honor, no pride, not even the willpower.


    "This has been nothing more than a disappointment. How pathetic, just announce that I have already won." Valdel looked at the Chief and waited. The Chief who was still looking at the ten didn''t respond. He and all the other beastkin didn''t expect such an oue.


    No one in this ce had underestimated Valdel, they understood all too well that this person was some kind of monster in human form. Still, they thought that once his mana was taken out of the equation, he would simply be a slightly stronger human.


    Some of the elders wanted to see Valdel embarrass himself, especially when he arrogantly challenged all of their warriors. They thought that this trial would finally put him in his ce, but it turned out to have apletely different ending from what they imagined.


    In their view, Valdel was stronger than them in every possible way. Strength, speed, technique, will, he had everything a warrior needs, and it would seem he had the experience to use his advantages correctly.


    Even the head warrior who believed that his older brother was the strongest warrior around was shaken by the scene in front of him. Every move Valdel did was precise and done without any hesitation. He even moved ahead of the others anticipating their every move, if he made one mistake during those times he would have gotten hit. Still, not once did he hesitate in each move he made, it was like he didn''t care if he made a mistake, or was he so sure that he couldn''t make a mistake? Either way, the head warrior knew that Valdel''s level was greater than what he initially thought.


    "Why aren''t you saying anything? Just tell them that the trial is over, or do you want me to kill them?"


    The Chief was jolted awake by what Valdel said. The moment he heard that he wanted to quickly respond, but then one of the warriors stood up and roared. For the first time since this whole thing started Valdel''s expression changed. It changed from one of contempt into one of surprise.


    The warrior that stood up looked at the surprised Valdel and once again roared. The anger and embarrassment he felt pushed him forward. He hated it, that no matter what he did he couldn''t even touch Valdel. He hated it even more that he couldn''t deny any insult Valdel made of them. More than that he felt like if he continued to kneel on the ground like this, he would forever regret it.


    Still, he was feeling scared by the overwhelming difference in ability between him and Valdel. So to scare away the fear he was feeling, he roared. To remove away the shame he felt he roared. To motivate himself he roared.


    At this moment the warrior felt empowered and he could feel his blood boiling, it felt as if something wanted to burst out of him. The warrior charged at Valdel.


    When Valdel''s saw the charging warrior, he sighed. He was surprised by that roar and thought that something different might happen, but when he saw the warrior simply charging at him Valdel felt disappointed again.


    ''These pups seem to know nothing but to blindly charge.'' Valdel as everyone expected was able to easily dodge the attack with a sidestep. Yet the moment he did so he felt something heavy hitting him at his abdomen. The warrior was actually able to kick Valdel.


    The beastkin watching, Valdel, and even the warrior himself were surprised by what happened. Valdel was able to block the attack and was simply pushed back by a bit, but that was still the first time one of these warriors were able to touch him.


    ''Was that a fluke or was that something else?'' This time it was Valdel who attacked. The warrior no longer hesitated and felt his instincts kicking in, telling him what to do. The warrior stopped thinking and followed his instincts, and quickly ducked his head. Valdel''s attack missed its target and he was now about to receive a counter, Valdel quickly used both his arms to block the attack.


    The warrior then continued to press on, he couldn''t fully understand what was happening, but he just followed his instincts and no longer thought about anything else but to attack. Valdel was finally forced to take this seriously as he evaded and blocked the iing attacks.


    The other warriors who were on their knees looked at the sudden change of that one warrior and were surprised. Their level of skill were all at the same level, yet at this moment this one warrior was able to burst out in an incredible show of power and skill.


    The elders who were watching were also happily surprised, they started to think that maybe this warrior could actually do something about Valdel. Yet in the next moment as if to mock them, Valdel was able to push down the warrior.


    ¡­


    Even with this, he wasn''t able to win, the warrior bit gnashed his teeth in frustration. He looked up expecting to see the look of contempt on Valdel''s face, yet what he saw was something entirely different. Valdel was actually smiling at him.


    "So you guys do have it in you! You guys aren''t such a waste after all. So how about you guys, are you going to do something too?" Valdel looked at the other nine warriors and asked. Yet unlike this one warrior who faced him with full determination and ferocity, none of the others seem to be disying a simr spark. Still, now that Valdel saw that they might actually have the potential, he started to think differently.


    "Hey, I won this trial, right?


    "¡­ Yes."


    "That means no matter your opinions, you can only believe me to be your ancestor correct?"


    "Yes, but it actually means, you are now our king."


    "I don''t really want to be something like a king again. So you guys don''t need to treat me as such. All I want from you guys is to follow me to war. Once that''s done, then you can assign another person to be a king."

 Chapter 441 - Rei Kuraki

    <h4>Chapter 441 - Rei Kuraki</h4>


    While Valdel was dealing with the beastkin, Ren was waiting for Lara to wake up. As he was waiting he started talking to his past incarnation Rei Kuraki.


    "So that was someone from your past. I don''t know what happened between you two, but I could see from your conversation that your rtionship wasn''t so simple."


    "Heh, you interested? It''s a story from a whole other era."


    "I have nothing else to do while waiting for Lara to wake up so why not listen to your story for a bit."


    "Heh, thanks, Ren."


    "Like I said it''s not that I''m doing it for you, but I have nothing else to do."


    "Alright if you say so. Now where to begin? It was a time when all of the races were at peace, and the civilization was way more advanced than it was now, in that era Rina and I were childhood friends. In that era, I was like you and could unlock all the abilities of our past incarnations, yet unlike you, I didn''t want them. Many fear my power and I couldn''t live a normal life unless I suppress my power which was hard to do. Not only could I not suppress my power but I was growing even more powerful by the day. At the age of seven, I was already more powerful than you are now."


    "I''m not sure if you''re bragging or not."


    "I''m not really bragging just stating facts. During my era, our soul was at its strongest so the moment I was born I was already the strongest of my world. My father at the time was a genius scientist and seeing me so mncholic all the time he created an item that could suppress my powers. I had three limiters at the time which made my mana fluctuate like a normal person. Yet even when my powers were suppressed I was still too strong, and it was difficult to find friends my age."


    When Rei got to this part of his story he paused. Ren didn''t know why he stopped talking, but he waited for Rei to continue. After a few more seconds Rei continued the story.


    "Yet even when many feared me, and even when I tried to avoid people in fear of hurting them, there was one person who stuck by me."


    "It was Rina, right?"


    "Yeah, that girl knew no fear, she was one of the few that stood by me at the beginning and until the very end. Even though she knew how strong I was, even though she knew that it was difficult for me to control my power and there was a high chance I could harm her, even though I actively avoided her, she still stood by me. Even when the whole world started to call me a monster, she was one of the few people who continued to stand by my side."


    "So it seems that no matter the incarnation eventually the world will be our enemy," Ren interjected.


    "Yeah, no matter how valiant, no matter how heroic, no matter how saintly, each incarnation of the strongest mortal soul will eventually be forced to fight. There were some that actually tried to live in seclusion but in the end, they were still forced to fight. We are beings that defy fate so fate fights back and tries to correct the mistake. This is why the ORIGIN is so obsessed with us, we are the only being in all of the universes, that have totally severed our link with him."


    "I see¡­"


    "Well, back to the story. When we were younger, Rina would always tease me, she also liked ordering me around and such. Seeing as she was the only person at my age that actually talks to me, and interacts with me, I didn''t really mind all of her shenanigans, in fact, I always followed her lead. To me, even though she might''ve been a bully, and a pain in the a*s she was and always will be my shining light."


    Ren couldn''t see the expression on Rei''s face since they were simply talking through their spiritual link, but Ren could imagine what kind of face Rei was making right now. His voice that was filled with happiness, nostalgia, and a bit of sorrow was enough to picture what kind of face he was making.


    "Eventually as I grew older, I gained more allies. There were Tsukiyomi, Tanith, Seri, and Evangeline, the four of which were once Edge''spanions. Tsukiyomi and Tanith were of a race that were pretty much ageless, so they waited centuries for Edge''s soul to reincarnate. As for Seri and Evangeline, they gave up their chance to forever reincarnate to be able to see Edge again. Even though I''m just a reincarnation of him, they were still d to be with me. That was how much they loved the guy. I always felt bad when they interacted with me and spoke about the past. I did have Edge''s memories, and I know that we are all pretty much the same person, but still, I felt sorry for them¡­ Also, there was Lauria from Leo''s era, who became my adopted little sister."


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t worry about that, that''s a whole other story. Well anyway, my allies that came from my era were Rina, Glen who was Rina''s brother, and the half-elf, Lisa. All of us had been through a lot. We defended our world as it was invaded by otherworlders. We fought against interdimensional beings, we battled against seeds of the ORIGIN and even won against many of the Branches of the ORIGIN. It was during those times that the people of my era, the people of my world turned their backs on me. They harassed my family, mypanions'' families, pretty much everyone that was rted to me were treated horribly at that time. This was before my battle with the ORIGIN''s main body"


    When Rei got to this part of the story his tone once again changed. Now there was a hint of anger in it.


    "That was a battle I unfortunately lost. I was able to injure the ORIGIN but that was all I could do. Even with all mypanions, even with my strength that could rival the original''s, even after weakening the ORIGIN by killing its branches and seeds, I was still no match. Mypanions were all banished to different areas and only Rina was with me at my final battle. Rina even sacrificed her life, which gave me that chance to get a strike in, it was one chance, just one, and I f*cking blew it¡­"


    Ren could pretty much hear Rei gnashing his teeth as he spoke those words. "In the end the sacrifice she made was all for nothing. The world, no the universe of that time was forcefully reseted, and we''re now in this current time line. I failed to protect the people I swore to protect. Especially her¡­ So you see, I owe Rina, everything."


    Ren could pretty much feel the pain, sorrow, anger, misery, and hate that Rei was feeling, but mixed in those negative emotions, were positive emotions like hope and gratefullnes.


    "I see¡­ Thank you for telling me your story."


    "No, Ren, thank you for listening to it."

 Chapter 442 - I Will Protect You

    <h4>Chapter 442 - I Will Protect You</h4>


    Kim Chul had a spell that could conceal his presence and effectively make him invisible. He wanted to use it, but not while the knights were looking at him. Once they knew what kind of spell he was using they could use something to counteract it. This was an easy thing to do for the knights since Temple had information of most of his abilities.


    ''Now that I think about it everything was suspicious since the beginning. Why did I tell them most of my skills and stats? I would normally keep those as a hidden card, yet I willingly gave them the information. Still, it''s a good thing that I was able to keep some of it a secret.''


    The more he thought about it the clearer his thoughts became. Kim Chul finally realized that many of his actions were weird, even considering that he thought that this world was some sort of game.


    ''It''s like my thoughts were being manipted.'' When Kim Chul came to this realization, he felt a chill on his spine as if someone was watching him. He looked around and saw the two knights that were still following him, but other than them there doesn''t seem to be anyone else that seems to take particr notice of him.


    ''That wasn''t just my imagination, right?'' Kim Chul gulped dryly as he finally understood what kind of situation he was truly in.


    ''Alright first things first, I need to escape from these two knights and check on the situation of the demi-humans.'' Once he decided on his next course of action, Kim Chul quickly set out to do it. He slowly walked forward and when he spotted an alleyway he quickly ran towards the alleyway. The knights were quick to react and followed him, but as they got to the corner Kim Chul had disappeared. The two knights panicked as they looked around and found no trace of him. They knew that Kim Chul didn''t use any spells since there was no mana fluctuation.


    ¡­


    Kim Chul''s level actually increased a lot after getting a hit in on Ren. So with his new physical abilities, he was able to burst out with extreme speed as he rushed by jumping to the rooftop of the nearby building. When he got on the rooftop he didn''t stop and distanced himself from the knights. Once he was sure that the knights were far enough Kim Chul immediately used a spell to hide his presence.


    ''Alright, phase one is done. I better get to the lower district before they start to look for me in earnest.'' Kim Chul started jumping from roof to roof.


    ¡­


    While Kim Chul was heading towards the lower district the two knights that were supposed to monitor him tried to look around the area in search of the missing hero but it yielded no results. Even though they were reluctant to do so they had no choice but to quickly report this to the head priest. The two knights started running towards the temple.


    ¡­


    Kim Chul finally arrived at the lower district, he was still using the spell that conceals his presence so that no one would notice him as he looks around. When he arrived at the lower district the first thing he noticed that there were many brothels. As a hot-blooded young teenager of course he was drawn to those ces. Still, even though he really wanted to check those things out, he stopped himself as he wanted to see what Ren was talking about.


    As he continued to walk around Kim Chul did notice that there were a ton of demi-humans in this area. There was the asional human but it would seem that they were here simply for the brothels or some other shady business.


    The deeper Kim Chul walked into the lower district the more horrible the living conditions became. At least near the brother area, there were still houses that look like houses, but deeper into the lower district, some of the houses were made out of some twigs and sticks. There were some that don''t even have a roof above their heads and were sleeping on the floor.


    Many of them were looking malnourished, the residents of the lower district seem to be either dying or were already dead. The whole ce was like a nightmare, it was such a horrible sight to see. He saw some parents abandoning their children and on the other side there was someone dying and no one was willing to help. Not a single person did anything as all these horrible events were transpiring, it was as if this was the norm for them. Not even a single person batted an eye when someone died, instead, once the person was dead they quickly looted the body. It was like those online games he used to y, but this time around this wasn''t a game.


    ¡­


    As Kim Chul was trying to take in the horrors he just saw, he noticed human teenagers picking on some demi-human children. No picking was too light a word, they were beating them up violently while smiling andughing. Anger was filling his heart as Kim Chul appeared before the human teenagers and grab hold of one of their hands.


    "Stop! What the f*ck are you doing!"


    The teenagers were surprised by the sudden appearance of Kim Chul, but after a while, they started ring at him.


    "Hey, I don''t know who you are, but we were here first. Find your own demi-human scum to hit." One of the teens spoke to Kim Chul with an irritated tone. The others didn''t even bother stopping as they continued to hit the children.


    "The only scum I see here are you guys." Kim Chul''s tone was ice-cold as he started leaking killing intent. The teens didn''t know what was happening, but when they felt Kim Chul''s killing intent they stopped. Kim Chul then controlled his strength and flicked the nearest teenager on his forehead. A loud thud was heard and then the teen fainted. When the teenager''spanions saw what happened, despite being a little fearful of Kim Chul''s killing intent, they still angrily shouted at Kim Chul.


    "What the f*ck are you doing?! Do you even know who we are? You look like a lowly adventurer, our parents won''t let you go! If you apologize now, we-" The teen wasn''t able to finish what he wanted to say when Kim Chul flicked his forehead as well. The remaining teens finally lost their courage as they started to run away leaving theirpanions behind. Kim Chul didn''t even bother to chase them as he looked at the frightened demi-human children.


    He wanted tofort them but as he approached them, the demi-human children cowered in fear and hugged each other while crying. Seeing the scene before him made Kim Chul gnashed his teeth in frustration. It turns out he wasn''t a hero, he was simply a thug working for the evil ones all along. Kim Chul stretched out his right hand and healed the children.


    Feeling the pain disappear the children looked at their bodies and saw that all of their wounds were gone. They then looked at Kim Chul and saw a gentle smile on his face.


    "Don''t worry, from now on I will protect you."

 Chapter 443 - Eva

    <h4>Chapter 443 - Eva</h4>


    Lara knew that she had fallen unconscious and was now inside a very realistic dream. In this dream, she was an alchemist called Evangeline, and she was not just any alchemist she was considered a genius and one of the very best. Not only that but she was also a respected swordsman that could rival even the strongest of Sword Masters. She felt proud and thought that she was the best of her generation. That was until she heard a rumor of someone her age that became a Sword Sage.


    A Sword Sage was someone at the top of all swordsmen, and the rumored new Sword Sage was the youngest to ever received the title. Unable to believe that someone of her generation was more talented than her. She started a journey to find this so called youngest Sword Sage. She wanted to see just how much better this so called Sword Sage was.


    On her journey, she had met many that wished to challenge the Sword Sage, and she has beaten them all. It took a lot of effort to find the youngest Sword Sage since he was hiding, but after a few months, her efforts finally bore fruit.


    ¡­


    Evangeline was now finally facing the Sword Sage. He was certainly as young as was rumored and had a huge broadsword as a weapon. The first thing that Evangeline thought when he saw him was that he was pretty handsome. She then approached the young man and knelt to show her respect.


    "Sir Gabriel, I'' am honored to be in your presence," Evangeline spoke with a gentle tone.


    "Stand, I don''t need you to kneel before me¡­ So you know my name, but, I do not know yours." Hearing what Gabriel said Evangeline stood and did a curtsy as she introduced herself.


    "My name is Evangeline."


    After the introduction, Gabriel started to assess the woman in front of him. Seeing as this person looked to be the same age as him, he could already tell what she was here for.


    "So Evangeline, I''m sure you came here knowing who I'' am. So I''m guessing you want to do something more than just a simple greeting." Evangeline smiled.


    "As expected of the youngest sword sage. Indeed I came here to challenge you to a duel." Hearing the frank answer, Gabriel sighed.


    "Sure, the first to hit wins. Ready your de." Evangeline did as she was told and readied her de.


    "Come at me anytime, Evangeline."


    With that as the signal for the start of the duel, Evangeline moved. Using swift movements Evangeline, got behind Gabriel and was about to sh at him with the intent to kill him. Yet with movements that looked like he had used no effort whatsoever, Gabriel blocked the attack.


    As if expecting that to happen, Evangeline, took out something from the pocket of her skirt. She threw an unknown bottle toward Gabriel. Yet when she threw it, she noticed that Gabriel was no longer in front of her.


    Evangeline felt cold steel by her shoulder. She smiled and asked.


    "Since when did you know?"


    "Know what, that you were an alchemist? I knew it from the very beginning. It was easy to tell since you had a distinct chemical smell." Gabriel answered nonchntly.


    "I lostpletely." After saying that Evangelineid on the green grass. Upon hearing her admitting that she had lost, Gabriel started walking away.


    "Where are you going, Gabriel?" Evangeline asked.


    "Don''t know, but if you want an answer, ask the wind." After answering Evangeline Gabriel left. That was how their story of love and adventure started.


    ¡­


    Gabriel and Evangeline had many encounters with each other and had various adventures. They had roamed the entire continent, having wonderful and memorable adventures. During one of those adventures, the sky was darkened because of a powerful release of divine energy. Gabriel was heading toward it and of course beside him was his beloved partner Evangeline.


    The two have been through a lot of life and death situations together, and have always survived, but this time might be something beyond what they could handle.


    Gabriel looked at Eva and wanted her to stay behind. He didn''t know what was toe and felt something wrong might happen, so he wanted Eva to hide while he finds out what was causing all this havoc. Yet as usual the girl never listened to him and just followed behind.


    Gabriel wanted to protect her, but at the same time, Eva wanted to protect him. The two with simr feelings wanted to do the exact opposite of what the other wanted.


    "Hey Eva, I really think you should sit this one out."


    "Huh, why should I? Also if anyone should not be going it should be you right?"


    "Hey if there is danger, aren''t I the stronger one most appropriate to go?"


    "You? The one who knows almost nothing about magic or alchemy, wants to solve a problem regarding divine energy? That''s pretty funny, as a renowned alchemist and also an able swordsman I''m sure that I''m more fit for the job."


    Gabriel looked at Eva for a moment before sighing.


    "I really think you should go back, Eva," Gabriel said so with a more serious tone than usual.


    "Why?! Do you really think that I will be getting in your way?" Eva looked at Gabriel in pain. Gabriel shakes his head and answers while looking directly at Eva''s eyes.


    "No, you can never be in my way¡­ It''s just that, if I know my woman is going to be in danger, of course, I want her to stay back."


    Upon hearing Gabriel say that she was his woman, Eva''s face turned crimson. Eva who was now blushing furiously started to stutter.


    "Huh? W¡­ Wh¡­Who is¡­ Your w¡­w¡­w¡­w-ommmm¡­ Woman? Who is? Huh?" Eva was saying things while stuttering, causing Gabriel to smile as he pointed at Eva.


    "You are my woman Eva, I love you," Gabriel said so with a straight face causing Eva to blush even more, if somebody looked at her they can actually see the smokeing from her head.


    "So Eva how about you, what do you feel about me?" Gabriel continued his attack and Eva was caught off guard.


    "Do I really have to say it?" Eva asked.


    "I told you my feelings isn''t it fair to tell yours?" Gabriel said so teasingly.


    "You already know, how I feel. Do I need to say it?" Eva was still trying to evade, but Gabriel nodded his head. Eva started to scratch her head while looking at the ground.


    "Fine then, I¡­ I¡­ I lo¡­love you¡­ too." Even with all the stops, she was able to say it.


    Gabriel approached her and hugged her. "Hey wait Gab¡­" Without waiting for her to finish Gabriel started kissing Eva, Their lips were interlocked, while Gabriel shares his passion with Eva. After what seems like an eternity to Eva, Gabriel finally let her go.


    "W¡­W¡­W¡­WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Eva screams. Gabriel tilted his head confused.


    "Huh? That was a kiss wasn''t it?"


    "I know that was a kiss! What I meant was why did you do it?"


    "Huh aren''t we lovers now, isn''t that what lovers usually do?"


    "Yes¡­ But¡­ (sigh) never mind."


    "Say, Eva."


    "What is it now? You want to say something more."


    "After we solve this problem, why don''t we get married?" (Gabriel)


    "WHAT!? Ummm¡­ W¡­ We just be lovers now you want to marry?" Eva said so all flustered which amused Gabriel even more.


    "Well, I have always thought about it. So now that I got the flow going, better say it now. So what do you think Eva, will you marry me?" Eva looked at Gabriel and scratched her head. She sighed, she had always known this guy was always like this.


    "Sure, but you better make me happy." Eva showed a bright smile at Gabriel, to which Gabriel responded with his own smile.


    "Of course, my love."


    This was the promise that will never be fulfilled.


    ¡­


    The two had found the cause of all the havoc. It was a divine object that could literally destroy their ne of existence. Gabriel without any hesitation took hold of the divine object before Eva could move. The power within the divine object could obliterate anything that came into contact with it, but Gabriel was able to withstand its power. He looked at Evangeline with a sad smile on his face and spoke.


    "I love you, Eva." Those were hisst words before disappearing from Eva''s sight. He had used the only spell he knew off, [Spatial Transfer]. It took Eva a few seconds before sheprehended what happened, and shouted.


    "NOOOOO!"


    ¡­


    After losing Gabriel, Evangeline raged at the very Gods that allowed such a travesty to have happened to one so noble. She then became obsessed with researching how to resurrect someone. Yet despite her efforts, she could indeed revive a body but it was an empty vessel with no soul. So Eva started to research souls.


    During her research, she encountered the term the Strongest Mortal Soul. After investigating that term, She finally understood that Gabriel was this so called Strongest Mortal Soul. She tried her hardest to learn more about it and found out that only beings at the level of deities had ess to such information.


    Eva who was now absurdly powerful was able to capture some world deities to interrogate them. The more she learned the closer she felt to meeting Gabriel again. Yet even with all of her power she was still human in the end and had no way to extend her life. So with her research on souls, she was able to bind her own reincarnation cycle to Gabriels. It took a lot of effort and sacrifice but she was able to do it.


    As she did this and as her body started to fail her, she promised with her very soul on the line that she would surely save her love.

 Chapter 444 - Awakened

    <h4>Chapter 444 - Awakened</h4>


    Lara had seen the lives of most of her reincarnations, it was like a long dream. She had now literally lived dozens of lives. At the beginning of each one of her reincarnations, she tried to beat every reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Evangeline believed that if she could somehow defeat him in battle he would lose the title of strongest making him sway from his destiny with the ORIGIN.


    It was an absurd idea and it was a crazy n which made little sense, but it was the only thing she could think of. Yet as expected from a legendary being that could fight the very creator himself, all of Gabriel''s reincarnations were monsters that could not be beaten in direct, one on onebat. Still, she tried her hardest to change his fate. She would do anything just to somehow free him from his burden.


    Yet winning against him proved difficult to do with his next reincarnation, the overly powerful Leonard Tranor. This reincarnation was literally the embodiment of victory itself. She opposed him as the master of the Giants and Wild dragons. Despite her having the strength to rule thend, to him, she was nothing more than a warm-up. So she needed to try again.


    The next reincarnation was Rei Krimen. This reincarnation was different from the others as he was finding a ce to die. Deep down like all the other incarnations, this one loved battled as well, but for some reason, he had suppressed his basic instincts. She tried to oppose him as an evil sorceress trying to take over the world. Yet every time she saw him struggle, every time she did evil, her heart would feel like it was breaking. So she kept on telling herself that this was an evil she was willing to do for the sake of her love. For him, she would be something he hated the most, for him she would be an enemy to oppose. She couldn''t think of any other way to save his soul. Still in the end she also failed in that reincarnation.


    The next reincarnation was the vengeful Shun Midgar. During this reincarnation, there were a lot of problems, at first she couldn''t even locate his soul. She was linked to him, so that was supposed to be impossible, but it did happen. This was the first time she couldn''t locate it which made her panic a bit. So she wasn''t sure if she had reincarnated properly.


    In this reincarnation, she became the demon lord. Since she wasn''t sure where he was reincarnation she told all of her people not to harm the humans, so that they may live in harmony. That was when the humans reacted violently. Seeing that the demons looked like they have weakened, they started attacking them. At first, she tried to negotiate with the human king, but he called all demons evil. He even dared to say that they were the cause of all cmity in the world.


    She didn''t want to do this but, she needed to protect her people. So she answered violence with their own violence.


    As the war raged on, she heard of a human, who was treated as a hero. Curious she looked for him, she then met the boy called a hero and journeyed with him. During the journey, the boy continued to remind her of Gabriel. Though Gabriel fought for justice and this boy fought for vengeance they felt simr.


    One day she then asked why the boy started his journey. Once she heard his story, she felt it¡­ This boy was one of Gabriel''s reincarnations.


    She quickly went back to her castle. Shun was another of Gabriel''s reincarnations, and unlike the others, his heart was weaker.


    That was when she thought of a n. If he kills her, then he will gain the resentment of the demons. Though he will be hailed as a hero of the humans, he will still be the most hated enemy of the demons. This might sever his fate his link as the first hero. That was all she could think of.


    So when the time came, for Shun to strike her, she allowed herself to be killed. Her heart and soul felt relieved as she was dying thinking that this time, she might have saved him¡­


    Due to the link of her soul to his, she found out that wasn''t enough. The link he had as a hero wasn''t severed, his fate to fight and die did not end. She continued to try other ways in the next reincarnations but all of her ns failed.


    When she reincarnated as Rina, she changed her ns and no longer tried to change his fate. Instead, despite the odds, despite it being something she knew was impossible, she decided to fight alongside him to defeat the enemy she thought was undefeatable.


    In thest incarnation as Rina, they were so close to winning. Even among all of the reincarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, Rei Kuraki was the strongest, he was nearlyparable to the original. So after weakening the ORIGIN, she thought that maybe this time it would finally be over. This time her love would bear fruit and she could have her happily ever after. This time her love would be free. Yet despite all of her effort the same fate still happened. Same as all the other incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, Rei Kuraki died in battle.


    Even with all the preparations they couldn''t win. Lara could feel the anger and sorrow, Rina felt when sheter learned of their failure. As she waited in the astral ne for her next reincarnation, Rina learned of the reset that happened. Even with that she still couldn''t save him, she still couldn''t change his fate.


    ''Even with everything on my side, I still failed?! How?! How am I supposed to save him?! Can we really not win against our creator?! Will he continue to fight until his soul dissipates?! Why?! Why?! Why does it need to be him?!''


    Rina raged on in the Astral ne cursing at the creator, at the ORIGIN. She hated it, she hated all of this. No matter how hard they struggled victory was so far away. As she was wallowing in despair she noticed that she still hasn''t reincarnated and the she once again couldn''t locate his soul. She started to panic as confusion took over her, even though they couldn''t win she still wanted to stay by his side, at least she should be allowed that much.


    As time flew by and she still couldn''t find his soul through their link, she felt immense despair, but then as if he could hear her pleas she found him. She quickly followed his soul to the path of reincarnation and was once again reincarnated near him.


    ''This time I will¡­''


    ¡­


    Lara slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by a familiar figure.


    "Good Morning, Lara." That smile of his was even more dazzling than normal.


    This was the person that all of her past reincarnations fought for. This was the person that all of her past reincarnations died for¡­ As she could now see all of his past incarnations upon looking at him, Lara who was usually stoic suddenly teared up and her emotions burst out.

 Chapter 445 - Lets Go To War

    <h4>Chapter 445 - Let''s Go To War</h4>


    When Ren saw the crying Lara he was surprised. Ever since a few months ago Lara''s emotions seem to be all over the ce. The once stoic Lara was now expressing her emotions more often and more vividly. She cried when she felt sad, she shouted when she was angered, she smiled when she was happy. If it was before this, she would never do something like that no matter the situation.


    Also before she would only focus on Ren, but as of recently, he noticed that she had acquired some hobbies. She secretly goes out to practice dancing and singing. She also started to take interest in eating, not just eating because it was a necessity, she''s now eating more than usual because she actually likes it. This also led her to start to take interest in cooking.


    Yet this time it wasn''t just a short burst of emotion it seemed like something that wascking within Lara was filled. Ren didn''t say anything as he waited for Lara to finish crying.


    It took Lara quite some time to calm herself down. Once she was done crying, Ren looked at her and asked.


    "Are you still, Lara?" When Lara heard Ren''s question she wiped away her tears and looked at him. Ren had a very solemn expression on his face. Lara didn''t know what he was thinking, but she knew that she needed to answer seriously.


    "I''m still me, I''m still Lara, but at the same time, I''m also the past versions of me. Unlike you and your past incarnations who seem to have separate memories and personalities, I and all of my past incarnations from Evangeline forwards share the same memories and feelings. I can''t really exin it too well, but I''m a continued existence of Evangeline."


    "Evangeline?"


    "It''s a rather long story."


    "We''ve got the time."


    Lara sighed as she told the sad story of a woman who just wanted to save the person she loved the most.


    ¡­


    While Ren and Lara were having a heart to heart, the beastkin were in a panic when they heard what Valdel said.


    "Did you say that we need to follow you to war?"


    "Yes I did say that, why is there a problem?" Valdel whose mood had lightened a bit was once again frowning. Seeing the expression on Valdel''s face the elder who question him gulped dryly as he shook his head.


    "¡­No, there''s no problem at all. When will we head out to war?"


    "Right now." When they heard Valdel''s answer the group of beastkin once again started to panic.


    "We can''t go right now. If we''re going to war, we need to prepare." One of the elders shouted. The other elders didn''t voice out their opinions simply nodded their heads.


    "How long have you''ve been living underground?" Valdel suddenly asked. Even though the question was so out of nowhere, one elder still responded.


    "We''ve been living in this ce for two centuries now."


    "Two centuries¡­ In those two centuries have you not prepared yourself enough?! You''re telling me in that two centuries all you people have been doing is hiding in this hole?" Valdel''s killing intent was once again in full effect as everyone present was shivering in fear. No one could say anything at the moment and all they could do was lower their heads.


    "I don''t care about the opinions of cowards, all you people need to do is follow me. I am now your king correct? So you should all listen to my orders and get ready for war¡­ Well, it doesn''t really matter if you follow me or not, even if you don''t I will go face the enemy by myself if I have to."


    All of those present remained silent after hearing what Valdel said. They were ashamed by the fact that all he said was true, but they were also afraid of facing the Holy Kingdom in war. It was true that Valdel and most likely hispanions were overwhelmingly strong, but against a whole kingdom such as the Holy Kingdom, victory seems to be nothing but a dream. As Valdel looked at the beastkin who had their head lowered he scoffed.


    "So even after I won this so called trial, even after you guys named me your king, all of you still hesitate to follow me and save your kin. Well, I guess it''s better this way. I don''t need cowering fools on the battlefield, what I need are courageous warriors, but I see that there are none present here. I will go and save your kin by myself, but after that, I hope that you people will never im to have any rtion to the Lycans of old. You are no descendants of mine, nor can you im to be descendants of my son Katar."


    As Valdel was about to leave, someone suddenly stepped forward and with a loud voice dered. "I shall apany you to battle, my lord!"


    It was the head warrior who spoke out, and as if that was a signal the ten warriors that faced Valdel all stepped forward as well. Despite being in pain they saluted Valdel.


    "We too shall apany our lord to battle."


    "Heh, so there are still warriors among you after all." Valdel smiled as if he was expecting this to happen. The Chief who saw the eleven most powerful warriors of their tribe volunteering to go to war, made him sigh. Unlike them, he was still hesitating because of his responsibility to his people. If they lose this war it would mean the end. As if able to read his mind, Valdel spoke to the hesitating Chief.


    "If you do not face your problems, they will never disappear. I''m giving you a choice now, you either wait for your death here wishing for it to nevere, or you charge forward with me and face it head-on."


    When the Chief saw the confident expression on Valdel''s face, he couldn''t help but sigh as his lips curled upward before he responded.


    "Then to war we go!"

 Chapter 446 - Onward To War

    <h4>Chapter 446 - Onward To War</h4>


    After the Chief dered that he was willing to go to war, the elders felt like they no longer had a choice but to follow. Seeing that he had finally convinced the beastkin to join him in battle, he wanted to call Ren and Lara back.


    ''Hmm, knowing those two they must be hiding their presence. Even with my skill, I wouldn''t be able to find Lara much less, Ren.''


    Knowing that he wouldn''t be able to find Ren and Lara even if he searched, Valdel thought of another way to call them over.


    The surrounding beastkin who were busying themselves by calling their subordinates to prepare for war suddenly stopped. They noticed a terrifying surge of manaing from Valdel. When they felt that massive amount of mana, the group of warriors started to sweat profusely. They now understood that Valdel was just ying with them when they battled, he wasn''t even trying when he fought them. It was already obvious but feeling the strength of his mana made their thoughts real.


    ''Is this his full strength, or is he hiding something more?'' The head warrior was amazed by how much mana Valdel had. The head warrior then suddenly remembered the twopanions that came with Valdel.


    ''Are they as strong as Valdel, or is Valdel the strongest?'' The head warrior didn''t even want to think about the possibility that the other two were stronger than Valdel. Yet at the back of his mind, he remembered the arrogant look on Ren''s face. The head warrior shook his head trying to get the thought out of his head. It was at that moment Valdel''s mana which he was umting burst out and made a sound as if a wolf was howling.


    Valdel''s mighty mana was felt throughout the whole underground city. Mages and Warriors alike shivered when they felt that massive mana burst out. On the other hand, the ordinary citizens only felt a little bit ufortable, but they were surprised that someone was howling so loudly.


    Ren who was listening to Lara''s story felt the mana fluctuation that spread throughout the entire underground city. He and Lara obviously knew whose mana fluctuation this was from. Ren''s lips curved up a little.


    ''That guy telling us to leave when he wants to, and calling us back like this. I guess he has more guts now that he got his memories as Kir. I would really want not to respond to his call like I''m some kind of servent, but¡­ I really am curious as to what happened with those descendants of his.''


    Ren thought about it for a little while before shrugging his shoulders and sighing. "Lara let''s continue this conversationter, for now, let''s meet our old friend Val and see what''s he''s doing."


    Lara nodded her head and both she and Ren stood up from their positions. The two then disappeared from the roof of the house they were at.


    ¡­


    A few minutes after Valdel released his burst of mana, Ren and Lara appeared before him. The warriors and elders who haven''t seen Ren and Lara before were surprised by their sudden appearance. They didn''t even notice the two as they arrived. If the two wanted to they could''ve killed them before anyone noticed.


    The warriors and elders quickly got their weapons out and surrounded Ren and Lara. When Ren saw the reaction of the beastkin before him he couldn''t help but show his vicious smile.


    "Do you guys wanna y with me?" Ren asked before he suddenly disappeared from everyone''s sight. Not one beastkin was able to follow Ren''s movement when he suddenly appeared before a nearby warrior. As Ren''s fist struck, Valdel appeared and blocked it.


    "Ren, please."


    "Tsk, are you going to ruin my fun?" The warrior who was supposed to get hit by Ren fell. Everyone was surprised by what Ren did. Valdel sighed as he saw the displeasure on Ren''s face. If this continued Ren would most likely attack everyone on sight including him.


    "Don''t worry Ren we''re about to do something you would enjoy even more."


    "Oh, is that so? Then what are we going to do?"


    "We''re going to war with the Holy Kingdom." The moment those words left Valdel''s lips, Ren''s expression had some dramatic changes. At first, he showed a shocked expression, then it slowly changed to a happy one and then into a ferocious-looking facial expression.


    As his excitement rose Ren couldn''t hold back his mana. The moment Ren''s mana started to leak, all the beastkin present knelt onto the ground unable to breathe. This was so much worse than when Valdel was releasing his mana. Unlike Valdel''s mana that had simply forced them to kneel, this one could kill them.


    "Ren!"


    When Ren heard Valdel''s shout he finally noticed what was happening around him and controlled his mana. He had forgotten that with how weak the people of this era were, his current mana leaking out could potentially kill them. When the oppressive force of Ren''s mana disappeared all of the beastkin looked at Ren in a new light.


    This guy was obviously someone they should never mess with. He was quick to attack, and the power he wielded could literally crush them and he need not lift a finger. The beastkin couldn''t help but look at Lara, was that girl even more of a monster than the other two? Unaware of what the surrounding beastkin were feeling Ren shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sorry about that, I got way too excited. So we''re going to war, what''s the n?"


    "We''ll do it the way you have always done things, attacking at the front in full force."


    "Now that''s what I want to hear! When are we heading out?"


    "Right this moment."


    "Yes!¡­ Oh right, are we bringing these weaklings with us?" Ren looked at the beastkin warriors and elders. When they saw Ren looking at them, the group of beastkin unconsciously lowered their heads in fear. When Ren saw their reaction he felt disappointed.


    "We''re bringing them, I need to baptize them with steel and spells. They need to learn how to be true warriors through battle."


    When the beastkin heard what Valdel said they clenched their fists and gritted their teeth. On the other hand, Ren nodded his head before speaking.


    "Many of them are going to die."


    "That''s alright, this is a cleansing, I need to instill pride and honor into my descendants'' very souls. Those that survive this ordeal will be true warriors, who will then teach the next generation."


    ¡­


    It took the beastkin half a day to gather their fighting force. The army that would head out to battle wasn''t just filled with beastkin, they were other demi-humans in their ranks. There were the dwarves, half-demons, and the half-dragons.


    The equipment of each race was of varying quality. The dwarves were wearing heavy armor, while the beastkin were wearing light armor, and the half-demons were wearing different quality of armor, ranging from poor to pretty good. On the other hand, the half-dragons weren''t wearing any armor and wore everyday clothing instead.


    When Valdel saw this sight he couldn''t help but sigh. The difference between the army of the Holy Kingdom and the underground city was like heaven and earth. On the other hand, Ren was getting even more excited knowing that they were at a disadvantage in this war.


    As they were about to march out of the city, somebody blocked their path and shouted.


    "STOP!" The head warrior was the first to react upon seeing the person who was blocking their path. "Big Brother¡­"

 Chapter 447 - Lets Think Things Through

    <h4>Chapter 447 - Let''s Think Things Through</h4>


    A beastkin who was two timesrger than the rest stood in front of the marching army. He was wearing light clothing which made his refined muscles stand out. As this beastkin stood in front of the army he looked at them and shouted, "STOP!"


    The tone of his voice was domineering and powerful that the marching army unconsciously stopped. The demi-humans who stopped their march were now able to get a good look at the neer. It was then they were able to identify who the person standing in front of them was. This was the strongest of the beastkin, no not just the beastkin this was the strongest demi-human in the underground city.


    "It''s Kor."


    "It''s the master warrior Kor."


    "What''s Kor doing here?"


    "Did he tell us to stop?"


    To the people of the underground city Kor was a very famous individual, in the eyes of many he was not only a strong warrior but also a hero. Kor was the one who had saved many of the current citizens of the underground city. So when they heard him say that they needed to stop, they were confused as to what to do.


    When Ren heard what the head warrior said and looking at the reaction of the demi-humans it was obvious to him that this demi-human was the supposed strongest warrior.


    "Kor stand aside." The chief stepped forward.


    "Why are you suddenly going to war? Is it because of those humans standing there?" Kor gestured at Ren and hispanions. The Chief sighed as he pointed at Valdel.


    "This is the person who had seeded inpleting the trial of the wolves. He is now the leader of this pack, so when he says we go to war then we must¡­ Also, this is not a war out of hatred, this is a war for our survival and for our people. Surely even you would understand that this is something that must be done."


    "There''s no such thing as a war that''s not out of hatred. How can you say this is something we must do? Is dying in battle something we must do, is killing others something we must do? Why do we need to fight, can''t we just continue to rescue those that are in need? If we go to war with the Holy Kingdom many will die, and by then no one will be saved."


    "So are you willing to allow your kin to continue to be mistreated without doing anything?" Valdel chimed in looking at the beastkin called Kor.


    "I don''t know who you are, and what reason you have for making us do this, but no matter what war is never the answer. I will save my kin in my own way without the need for bloodshed. The only reason for all of this happening is because at the moment the citizens of the Holy Kingdom are simply misinformed about demi-humans, if we are able to speak with the Temple of the Goddess of Light ande to an understanding surely things will change."


    "Do you truly believe that? So howe you''re still here fiddling with your thumbs and not talking to the Temple of the Goddess of Light?"


    "I have already sent them a letter and they are willing to meet with me. It''s just that they have to prepare some things first before the meeting. So can you please wait and stop this?"


    When everyone heard what Kor said they were surprised, did he really believe the words of the members of the Temple of the Goddess of Light?


    "Are you a retard? If they were earnest about meeting you they would already have met you. This is obviously a trap." Ren couldn''t hold it in as he spoke out his thoughts.


    "How would you know that if you don''t try? It could be a trap, yes, but it could also be the truth, it could be a chance to change things."


    "Are you truly willing to do this while many of your kin are being discriminated upon, while many of them are dying from hunger or abuse? Even now as we are wasting our time talking many of them are dying." Valdel spoke sounding a bit more irritated.


    "I understand what you''re saying and I too want to save them, but war is never the way. If we go to war many will die not just from our side but the other side as well. I do not want to take the happiness of others just to gain my own happiness. So please, let''s think this through before we regret our actions."


    When Valdel heard Kor''s response he was reminded of his past self before he got his memories as Kir. Still, he was sure that he wasn''t this bad as he was willing to kill evil no matter what. This guy seems to not want to hurt anyone no matter if they were evil or not.


    While Valdel was thinking about what to say, Ren spoke first.


    "This talk is going nowhere, so you either move aside or I make you move!" When Kor heard what Ren said he didn''t answer with words instead he answered with action. Kor took a defensive stance and stood in front of the army like an unmoving mountain. When Ren saw that and looked at Kor''s eyes that were filled with determination and resolve, Ren showed his vicious smile which made those that knew what that smile meant shiver in fear.


    "Now that''s what I want to see! An actual beastkin with some backbone! Now that you have told me your ideals let''s see if you have the power to back-up those ideals!"


    Ren''s mana and bloodlust started to leak out of his body, which made most of the warriors in the army feel an incredible suffocating pressure descend upon them. It was a good thing that Ren was in control now and was only directing all of this pressure on Kor, if the weaker warriors were to receive this pressure at full force they might have immediately died.


    When Kor felt the oppressive aura leaking out of Ren he was momentarily surprised. This was the first time he had faced such an overwhelming aura. It was obvious from this that Ren wasn''t some random human.


    "If you''re this strong then why do you need to shed so much blood, surely someone like you can deal with this in a better way."


    "Hmph, to me this is the best way to deal with things. If you want to deny my way, then show me your strength to uphold your ideals!"


    Ren then disappeared from his position and then reappeared before Kor. The warriors who had witnessed Ren''s insane speed before were still surprised by the sight, while those that had witnessed it for the first time thought that Ren used a teleportation spell.


    On the other hand, Kor was actually able to see the moment Ren dashed towards him. The speed was indeed surprising, but more than that Kor was surprised by Ren''s control over his own body. Ren was able to elerate at full speed and decelerate at the same time so that he was able to stop before Kor.


    "Enough talk!" Ren shouted as he delivered a front kick. Kor could have dodged this strike, but instead, he steadied his stance hardened his muscles while circting his mana. Ren''s kick hit Kor at the center of his abdomen. The sound made by Ren''s kick was like the sound of a blunt object hitting steel. Ren was surprised by the oue of his attack, Kor didn''t move a single step as his feet were nted firmly on the ground. Seeing that scene before him Ren showed a look of utter euphoria.


    "Will you listen to me now?" Kor asked.


    "Are you kidding me?! This isn''t enough, show me more!"

 Chapter 448 - The Unmovable Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 448 - The Unmovable Mountain</h4>


    Seeing that Kor was unfazed by his attack, Ren quickly did a follow-up attack and punched Kor in the chest. Another sound of a blunt object hitting something simr to steel reverberated throughout the area. This time Ren put in a little bit more effort and added a tiny amount of mana into his strike. Yet despite doing that Kor remained unmoved as he took the hit head-on.


    Ren got even more excited and slowly increased his mana output and did a roundhouse kick aiming at Kor''s neck. Yet even with that Kor remained steady.


    "Are you willing to talk now?" Kor once again asked Ren.


    "You''re a sturdy one aren''t you!" Ren once again punched forward this time hitting Kor on his right chest. Yet same as before Kor remained as steady as a mountain. Seeing that just made Ren even more excited as he continued to attack while slowly increasing the strength of his attacks.


    ¡­


    ''What''s with this human?!'' Kor who was concentrating on tightening his muscles while circting his mana to the appropriate spots in his body was stunned. Even though on the outside it seems like he was undamaged and at ease, the truth was he was already pretty beaten up. The first two strikes were still something he could handle, but the subsequent strikes after those were beyond anything he expected.


    Kor was only expecting Ren to attack twice and realize that he won''t be able to get past Kor''s defense. Usually, those that hit Kor''s body of steel would have their hands broken, but Ren was different. Not only did Ren''s hand not break, but his attacks were also growing more powerful for every strike. Kor wasn''t expecting Ren to be so strong. Kor was someone who felt a tiny bit proud of his physique and endurance, but in front of Ren it felt like his body of steel was nothing more than a thin piece of wood.


    Each body part that was struck by Ren''s hands was now full of bruises and even has some cuts here and there.


    ¡­


    Still, even though it was now clear to see that Ren was far stronger than Kor originally thought, Kor stood tall and unwavering. It doesn''t matter if Ren was too strong for him, Kor would never back down from his own ideals.


    It was also in to see that Ren was going easy to him since none of the attacks he made was lethal, basically, Kor couldn''t feel any killing intent. Kor gritted his teeth as he received each of Ren''s strikes. After a while, the damage was finally noticeable, as Kor''s huge body was starting to show bruises here and there.


    ¡­


    The demi-humans who were watching the scene before them were havingplicated feelings. Many of them wanted to help Kor, but at the same time, they knew that they would only get in his way. At this point no one would me him if he would evade Ren''s strikes, even Ren himself was thinking it was about time for Kor to start dodging his strikes.


    Yet despite what everyone thought, Kor refused to do any of that as this was as Ren said, a battle to prove his ideals. He needed to stand firm and do this in his own way.


    As Ren continued to increase the strength of his attacks he was truly surprised by Kor''s endurance and willpower. Ren figured that Kor would''ve been broken already a few attacks ago, yet here he was standing firm and unmoving.


    What was even more surprising was that Kor was still conscious. Ren noticed since a while ago, that several of Kor''s bones had already been broken. Not only that but Kor was already unable to circte his mana properly to strengthen his body. At this very moment, Kor was receiving Ren''s strike with nothing more than his bare flesh.


    Ren then noticed Kor''s eyes which were looking at him, those eyes were still full of determination and resolve. This was the first time since he arrived in this era that he has seen someone who has this much resolve to follow his ideals. Even Valdel would bend a bit.


    "How amazing, you''re willpower is truly a sight to behold. Fine, since you''ve shown me something great I''ll give you chance. I''m going to give you two options to end this. Option one, you hit me with everything you''ve got and if you''re able to push me backward, even a single step it would be your win. Option number two, I will hit you with a serious attack, if you''re able to remain standing then I will consider it your win. So which of the two options are you going to choose?"


    When the surrounding people heard Ren''s options they felt that the first option would be the best choice for the current Kor. Ren''s strength might be absurd, but surely if it''s just to push him one step backward, Kor should be able to do it. On the other hand, if he chose the second option with the current state of his body Kor might actually die.


    The head warrior who was the younger brother of Kor was starting to feel anxious about what will happen to his big brother.


    "Of course the choice is clear, I choose the second option."


    When the people heard Kor''s answer they were dumbfounded. Kor actually chose the more dangerous option. While everyone was still stunned and confused by Kor''s answer, Ren was smiling ever so brightly. This beastkin did not disappoint him, even now he still chose to stand by his ideals.


    "Heh, Kor is it, be proud for you have gained my respect. I promise to remember your name. No matter if you die for as long as you remain standing I will honor our deal."


    "Thank you."


    As Ren took a stance, the head warrior suddenly jumped in between him and Kor.


    "Mir, what are you doing?" Kor asked his younger brother.


    "Sir, please allow me to take this challenge instead of my brother." Mir bowed his head at Ren.


    "Hmph, I''ve already seen what you can do and you won''t be able to survive this. Do not embarrass yourself and your brother and step aside."


    "No, I cannot allow that. Please allow me to represent my big brother and allow me to do this challenge instead."


    "Mir, step aside. This is not your battle to fight." Kor ced his right hand on Mir''s shoulder. Kor and Mir looked at each other for a few seconds. No words were said between the two, but for some reason, it felt like they weremunicating somehow.


    "Big brother¡­" Mir gritted his teeth as he lowered his head and stepped aside.


    "Sorry about my younger brother. He was just worried about me."


    "Hmph, I don''t really care too much about that. So are you ready?"


    Kor nodded his head as he took a stance. He gathered thest remaining bits of his mana and strengthened himself. Kor then smashed his feet onto the ground firmly nting himself. Even though his mana wasn''t that impressive and he was already injured all over, Kor still made everyone feel like he was a towering unshakeable mountain. Ren then also took his stance as he gathered mana into his right hand.


    "Now show me the very limits of your resolve!" Ren punched forward.

 Chapter 449 - The Mountain Can Never Bend

    <h4>Chapter 449 - The Mountain Can Never Bend</h4>


    Most of the people present were in total admiration of Kor''s resolve. Also, even though they hate to admit it, it was painfully obvious that their hero wasn''t a match for Ren. The half-dragons felt great respect for Ren, as it was in their genes to admire the powerful, and Ren was the most powerful person they have seen.


    Valdel could only sigh as he watched the scene before him. Ren was like a force of nature, once he was going at it, there was no way to stop him. Ren was already at the point where he would no longer listen to anyone. Ren was that kind of existence, he might not be evil but he was not good either.


    ¡­


    Lara who was watching Ren sighed, now that she has all the memories of Evangeline and her other reincarnations she knew more about who Ren really was. She understood that though he was different in some ways from his past incarnations, the core of their self was the same.


    They were all battle freaks that took joy in a fight especially against the strong. It was like their very existence was made for battle. This was one of the reasons why the original was able to break free from the shackles of the ORIGIN since the only way to fight the ORIGIN was to break free from it. Of course, there were other reasons as to why he broke free from fate and fought the ORIGIN, but one of the main reasons was most probably because he wanted to fight the strongest being in existence.


    The Strongest Mortal Soul was the only mortal that was able to break free from the confines of destiny. The being called the Strongest Mortal Soul was able to achieve such a feat through his strength and willpower. He was the most absurd being that the ORIGIN had created. He was the eternal enemy of the ORIGIN, but he was also the one who was loved the most by the ORIGIN.


    Lara couldn''t help but smile wryly as she sighed while looking at Ren''s happy face. She now felt even closer to Ren as she now understood why this person enjoyed battle so much. Many of her past questions as to why Ren always felt more mature for his age and other simr questions have now been answered.


    ''I have witnessed dozens of your reincarnations and no matter the world you remain the same.''


    ¡­


    Kor felt the massive mana gathering into Ren''s right arm. It was a frightful amount that felt like it could drown him. It wasn''t just mana, there was also something unknown mixed into it. Kor didn''t know what it was, all he understood was that whatever it was it was dangerous.


    This one strike could potentially kill him, yet he wasn''t scared. In fact, at this very moment, Kor felt his determination rising. He wanted to prove to this strong person that his resolve was real, that he was someone who would follow through with his ideals no matter what.


    Kor circted whatever mana he had left as he gritted his teeth and waited for the punch toe. He looked at Ren''s smiling face and noticed that he was about to make a move.


    "Now show me the very limits of your resolve!"


    Ren then punched forward. To those watching from a distance, the momentum of the punch was so fast that it was like Ren''s hands had be a blur. Yet to Kor the fist wasing at him incredibly slow. In his eyes, it felt like the world was moving at a snail''s pace.


    Kor had experienced something like this before. It was back when he was still little and weak. His father took him out for his first hunt, and he was incredibly nervous at the time. As they were out hunting something unexpected happened, and Kor was separated from his father, it was at that moment a pack of monsters had surrounded him.


    The moment they attacked the world slow down just like this. He could clearly see the monster''s teeth that were about to sink into him yet he wasn''t able to do anything. He was then almost devoured by the monsters, but fortunately, his father had arrived on time to save him.


    ¡­


    This meant that this was what the world looks like when death was near. If it was anyone else they might have tried to flee at this point, but not Kor who remained steadfast. As Ren''s fist was nearing his chest, Kor noticed that the ground below Ren was cracking. Such an absurd power, but Kor felt like this wasn''t even close to Ren''s full strength.


    After a long time, Ren''s fist had finally reached him. The moment Ren''s fist made contact with his chest, Kor felt like all of his ribs had shattered. The air in his lungs was forced out of him. He felt that it was not only his body that was attacked but his very soul as well. Hisst remaining bits of mana that strengthened him were immediately depleted. Still, despite that Kor gritted his teeth and took the punch with nothing but his willpower.


    Yet Ren wasn''t done yet, as his punch pushed him forward. Kor felt that his feet that he had nted firmly onto the ground were now slowly rising up. A few secondster he could no longer feel the ground.


    ¡­


    Everyone watching in the distance saw Ren''s fist making contact with Kor''s chest, and the moment that happened a thunderous sound sted through everyone''s ear. A massive shockwave made those near Ren and Kor tumble down.


    As everyone was surprised by that frightening scene they saw Kor''s massive body flying through the air. Kor''s body thennded on its feet and slid through the stone steps. Yet despite doing that Kor didn''t stop until his body finally hit a wall.


    When Kor''s body hit the wall, the entire underground city shook as if there was an earthquake, not only that but it felt like the stone ceiling of the underground city was about to copse on them. The people looked above feeling anxious, but once the shaking stopped they breathed a sigh of relief.


    On the other hand, Mir who saw his brother hitting the wall wasn''t bothered by the earthquake or anything else as he sprinted towards his brother''s body¡­ At this point, no one was sure if Kor was still alive or not.

 Chapter 450 - Then...

    <h4>Chapter 450 - Then¡­</h4>


    "Brother!!!" Mir screamed as he ran towards his big brother''s body. The dust created from the debris was yet to dissipate so he couldn''t see his brother, the dust also made it hard for him to sniff his brother''s scent. So all he could do was blindly look all over the ce.


    Mir didn''t care about all of these distractions as he tried to look for his brother''s body. The beastkin who watched the whole thing from a distance were at a loss for words. That was the strongest warrior in their ranks, and he wasn''t able to do anything. Well, to be fair, Kor didn''t really attack, but that was how Kor normally does things.


    Usually, when someone hits Kor''s body of steel it was the opponent''s hands that would break not the other way around. They have seen Kor get bitten by monsters, but even the monster''s teeth break upon contact with Kor''s muscles. They have seen it many times, Kor winning without even lifting a finger nor sustaining any damage. Yet this time it was different, Ren''s power was on a whole different scale. So this was the very first time, they saw Kor get hurt.


    When the elders saw how easily Ren dealt with Kor, they gulped dryly. The warrior who was almost punched by Ren was ashen-faced. If Valdel didn''t block Ren''s strike then he would already be nothing more than dust in the wind.


    While everyone was surprised by how the challenge turned out, Ren was also surprised but for a different reason. He looked at his right hand and saw that it was shaking, his wrist joint almost broke. The knuckles on his right hand were also bruised. Even though he coated it with Spirit Aura and Mana, Ren was still damaged by Kor''s body.


    ''That''s amazing, I put in enough force in that strike that it could pulverize even the scales of a young Ancient Dragon.'' Ren looked in the direction were Kor flew and smiled with glee.


    ¡­


    Mir who was desperately looking for his brother''s body finally spotted it. Kor''s body was in the middle of a destroyed section of the underground cave. His body was covered in blood and parts of his ribs were poking out of his body.


    As the dust settled everyone also witnessed the sorry sight of their hero. Kor was mangled and beaten into an inch of his life. Yet despite his body looking like it would fall at any moment Kor remained standing. Seeing that he didn''t fall even after receiving that horrifying strike, the demi-humans were feeling a burning passion surge within them. This was a person worth respecting, this was a person worth emting, this was a person worth following. Those were the thoughts that filled the minds of the people as they looked at Kor.


    Mir on the other hand, almost cried as he saw the state of his brother''s body. His older brother who was the strongest and the kindest of them all was now in such a state. Mir took some time to process the sight before him, as he started running towards his brother''s body.


    When he got close enough he saw that his brother''s condition was worse than he thought. Most of his muscles were torn apart and some of his bones were sticking out of his body. Yet despite the damage he received Mir saw that his brother was still breathing. As he was about to panic wondering what to do he heard someone speaking beside him.


    "Oh, this guy is truly amazing. Barely alive but still standing, and he really didn''t attack no matter what I did."


    Mir saw the smiling Ren standing by his side. Seeing Ren, Mir didn''t know what to feel. He was angry at this man who ced his brother in this situation, but the anger didn''t form any hate as this was something his brother wanted.


    As Mir was processing his feelings Ren then extended his hand forward, when Mir saw this action he reacted quickly. Despite knowing how overwhelmingly powerful Ren was, Mir still held onto Ren''s hands trying to stop him.


    When the other demi-humans saw what Ren was doing they also reacted. Even in the face of death, they wanted to protect their hero. Most of the army had charged towards Ren. Seeing the scene made Ren smile a bit before sighing.


    Ren then unleashed the weight of his mana and bloodlust, the moment that descended upon the demi-humans all of them knelt onto the ground unable to move. With his current power, human wave tactics performed by weaklings would no longer work on him. In his current state, there were only a few beings in the lower realm that could pose a threat to him.


    As Ren was about to extend his hand forward again, he was surprised to see that Mir was still standing before him.


    "Step aside," Ren told Mir. The two locked eyes for a moment before Mir grabbed onto Ren''s hand and bit it with his fangs. Ren whose whole body was covered in Spirit Aura could not be prated by such a measly attack, but still, he was surprised by the willpower everyone suddenly showed. He needed to once again reassess these demi-humans.


    ''Is it because of him?'' Ren looked at the badly beaten Kor. ''Even more interesting than I expected.'' While Ren was deep in thought, Mir suddenly shouted at him.


    "Sir, please spare my brother! If you want to kill someone, please take my life instead." When Ren heard what Mir said he looked at the beastkin with a weird expression on his face.


    "Huh? What the f*ck are you talking about? I don''t know what you''re misunderstanding, but just stay down and watch." Ren grabbed Mir''s neck and tossed him aside, after he had removed the obstruction Ren once again raised his hand and pointed his palm towards Kor.


    Mir wanted to move and once again block Ren but he wasn''t fast enough, Ren had already unleashed something onto Kor''s body. Mir was about to scream when he noticed Kor''s wounds were disappearing. Once all the wounds on Kor''s body disappeared Ren looked at Mir.


    "Tell him that I will honor our promise. We will wait for him to do his thing, and if he fails then and only then will we go to war."


    Mir was still in a state of shock but when he saw Ren was about to leave, unable to say a word Mir instead bowed his head.

 Chapter 451 - The Temple Of The Goddess Of Light

    <h4>Chapter 451 - The Temple Of The Goddess Of Light</h4>


    In a room filled with numerous artifacts, paintings, and stone statues sat a man wearing a morous golden robe. He was sitting in a chair made out of the finest ores while sipping a ss of wine. This was the head priest of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, Baldur. He was a middle-aged man with an air of absolute authority simr to a king.


    As he was enjoying the serenity of the silence within his room filled with priceless treasures two people suddenly burst into his room. The head priest didn''t look too surprised by the scene before him, and before the knights could say anything Baldur spoke first.


    "So you''ve lost sight of the hero."


    When the two knights heard what the head priest said they started sweating profusely as they quickly knelt with their heads lowered.


    "Forgive us!"


    The head priest stood up from his chair and slowly approached the two knights. When the two heard the footstepsing nearer to them, they felt terrified. One of the knights then felt the head priest''s hand ced onto his shoulder. The knight felt like all of his blood was drained from his body.


    "It is alright my sons, this has already been prophesized to happen, it is by the guiding hand of our Goddess that events transpired." When the two knights heard what the head priest said they sighed in relief.


    "Still, a failure remains a failure." The head priest with his thin hands grabbed hold of the necks of two heavily equipped knights and lifted them up. The two knights struggled to break free from the head priest''s grip but were unable to do anything. They two kept on struggling in vain until they died. The head priest then dropped the dead bodies and prayed.


    "May our merciful Goddess receive the souls of these two humans into her paradise." Once he was done praying the head priest snapped his fingers and the two dead bodies were enveloped in some sort of white light and their bodies, as well as their equipment, were disintegrated. The head priest then went to the side of the room were the was a basin of water. The head priest washed his hands and lifted his head looking at the painting on the ceiling.


    The painting on the ceiling was of an otherworldly beauty with a holy glow and merciful smile. This was a painting of the Goddess of Light. The head priest started crying as he spoke to the painting.


    "Even though it was by your will, killing your followers is a sin. Please forgive me o'' merciful Goddess!" A shining light descended upon the head priest making him show a look of pure ecstasy.


    "Thank you for thy merciful hand. With this, I once again pledge to guide the lost sheep onto your embrace and destroy all of the filthy non-humans who dirty this world. Now that the fake hero has been released from his brainwashing, he would try his hardest to protect the non-humans. He will then retaliate saying it is out of self-defense, making it perfectly normal to penalize him with death. Seeing the hero die because he protected their own, the filthy non-humans will finally leave the hole they are hiding in and we will be able to finally get rid of these so called Fangs of Katar. My Goddess how far has your all-knowing eyes seen into the future?"


    As the head priest was getting even more excited someone spoke in his mind. The voice of the one who spoke was so melodious that her simply talking sounded like she was singing.


    "My child, do not let your guard down. Someone unexpected has arrived that could change the flow of events."


    When the head priest heard the voice of his Goddess he quickly knelt before replying.


    "Who is it?! Who is it that dares to ruin your ns? Who has the audacity to challenge our beloved Goddess? Please tell me, and I shall find this heretic and tear him apart and sacrifice his soul and the soul of his family and everyone dear to him to you¡­ No, I apologize for I have misspoken, sacrificing the soul of a heretic, is too good of a deal for him. To deal with a heretic like him I need to capture his soul and torment him.''


    The head priest went on and on as he spoke about the colorful ways he would torture the supposed heretic. The Goddess of Light didn''t interrupt him and waited for her faithful head priest to finish his rant, once he was done the Goddess finally spoke.


    "I appreciate your feelings my son, but this is not an opponent you can deal with by normal means. Even among us deities, this person is supposedly someone to be wary of. Well, I guess that''s just a problem for weaker deities with few believers, but I''m sure that someone of my status could deal with him easily, for as long as you''re able to lure him into the inner temple where I can fully manifest."


    "To personally deal with such a heretic¡­ I feel ashamed that I cannot deal with him in your stead."


    "It is alright my son, you have your part to y. Go now and prepare for the beast areing."


    "As you will my Goddess." The head priest genuflected before leaving the room.


    ¡­


    In the realm of deities, in the area designated for her, the Goddess of Light was deep in thought. After the conversation with her head priest, she remembered the rumors from the other deities regarding the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    ''A mortal man that is outside the realm of destiny and can y deities, but rejects to be one¡­ The rumors about him seem to be exaggerated, but even if they are not, surely he''s only capable of ying low-level deities that just recently ascended. It is nearly impossible for any mortal person who is unable to ess the power of w'' to kill a deity.''


    The Goddess of Light twirled the tips of her hair with her finger while frowning. Even though she was sure that her followers would emerge victorious in the uing battle she herself guided, she felt something was wrong.


    ''This uncertainty I''m feeling must be because of him¡­ If so to get rid of this anxiety I''m feeling, I just need to eliminate him.''

 Chapter 452 - Why?

    <h4>Chapter 452 - Why?</h4>


    Kor slowly opened his eyes as his consciousness was slowly returning. The first thing he did when he woke up was to take a look at the condition of his body. To his surprise the wounds he had sustained were gone, his broken bones were mended, and the only problem he had was the feeling of excessive blood loss, aside from that he was fully healed. As he was growing confused by his situation someone suddenly spoke.


    "Brother, you''re finally awake!" Kor looked at this side and saw Mir. Kor was surprised that Mir was inside the room all along and was right there beside him. The thing that surprised Kor the most was the fact that he didn''t notice Mir''s presence despite him just being there.


    "Are you alright?" When Kor heard what Mir said he looked at him nkly for a second before answering.


    "¡­ yeah, I''m alright¡­ What happened?"


    "Don''t you remember?"


    "I remember getting hit by that human, but after that, it''s all a nk¡­ I see¡­ I lost didn''t I?" When Mir heard what his brother said and saw the depressed look on Kor''s face, he immediately shook his head. Tears almost fell from Mir''s eyes as he tried his hardest to control himself.


    "No, that''s wrong, brother how could you have lost? There''s no way that you have lost! Even while beaten up, barely breathing, and unconscious you still remained standing. You have shown that powerful human your pride and your will to stand up for your ideals. The human even said that it was your victory and that he will honor his promise."


    Seeing how passionate his brother was as he replied to him made Kor open his eyes wide open. After his initial surprise, Kor finally calmed down and so did Mir. Kor then lowered his head as his lips curled upwards.


    ''That human could do whatever he wanted with his power, yet he would still honor the promise he made with me. As I thought, the world isn''t such a bad ce as long as one is willing to listen.''


    ¡­


    In a different room from Kor and Mir, was the room Ren, Valdel, and Lara were staying, in that room, the three childhood friends were having a conversation. Well, Ren and Valdel were talking while Lara was gorging herself on food as an attendant stood behind her. The attendant was there just in case the three needed something.


    "I didn''t expect you to do that Ren."


    "You didn''t expect me to do what, to attack him? We''ve known each other for so long now, and you still don''t understand how I operate."


    "I''m not really surprised that you attacked him, anyone who knows you even for just a short while would know you would do that. It''s pretty obvious that you would attack since all you know is to fight. I''m pretty sure that your brain is just filled with only fighting in mind."


    "Are you actually calling me an idiot?"


    "Well, idiot is such a strong word, you aren''t really one since I know that you do have someplex thoughts every now and then, but I guess you are sometimes."


    "Ever since we''ve arrived here you seem to be pretty intent on provoking me, Val." Ren stood up from his seat as his battle intent was rising. On the other hand, Valdel remained in his seat without any intention of moving as he sighed.


    "You see, this is why I said that your head is only filled with fighting. Well, anyway back to what I was saying. What I was surprised about was not the fact that you attacked, but the fact that you actually held back. Don''t you usually show your respect to a warrior that you fancy by going all out?"


    Seeing that Valdel wasn''t going to y with him Ren sat back down showing a little displeasure on his face as he replied.


    "I didn''t want to go all out since if I did so the game wouldn''t be fair. At my current level, most of the people would be pulverized by my all-out attack, so giving him that kind of challenge wouldn''t be fun nor fair for both of us. So instead I attacked with enough power I was sure would make him fall, or if he was unlucky kill him. I attacked him so many times at the beginning that I was certain that I had a good grasp of what his limits were, I even took into ount if he could somehow ovee those limits during the fight. Yet despite going that far, that guy, Kor was able to surpass even my imagination. He truly showed me how far he was willing to stand for his ideals."


    As Ren was exining the reason why he did what he did, he was once again reminded of Kor and was getting excited. That fight was the first time he experienced something like that. Even in his past life, no even thinking about the lives of his past incarnations that he knew of, that was the first time an opponent just took his hits without doing anything. Even the ORIGIN would have done something in retaliation. Seeing Ren''s reaction Valdel frowned.


    "So you were that impressed by him?"


    "Oh, what''s this, are you perhaps jealous?"


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t worry Val, the guy might be interesting but I won''t rece you as my best friend."


    "Who the f*ck says I''m jealous?" Valdel finally lost hisposure and stood up from his seat. Seeing his reaction just made Ren smile even more.


    "Aren''t you?"


    "That''s it since you''re asking for it," Valdel suddenly punched Ren who blocked the strike. "Since it seems like your not thinking straight, a few whacks in the head should fix the problem."


    "So you''re finally in the mood to y a bit."


    The two then began fighting in the room, exchanging punches without using mana. Yet even with just their pure physical abilities, the room was being destroyed. As that was going on, Lara wasn''t bothered at all and continued to happily eat her meal, while the attendant was hiding behind Lara''s back frightened by what was happening in front of her.


    "Hey, can you bring more food?" When the attendant heard what Lara said she almost cried.

 Chapter 453 - Heading Towards The Temple

    <h4>Chapter 453 - Heading Towards The Temple</h4>


    After he felt a bit better Kor alongside his little brother Mir headed towards Ren and the other''s room. As they got closer to the room they suddenly heard the sound of things breaking. Not only that they also heard someone screaming, Mir quickly figured out that was the voice of the attendant they had ced.


    The two started running towards the room, and when they opened the door they sensed somethinging and quickly ducked. Chunks of wood came flying towards them. The two brothers then looked at the inside of the room and were surprised by the sight. It was a very chaotic sight to behold.


    The room was pretty much destroyed, everything in it was broken, and in the middle of the broken things were Ren and Valdel punching each other. In the corner of the room was Lara sitting in the only remaining chair eating her meal as she casually dodges and catches the flying objects. The attendant was fearfully wrapping her hands over her head as she took cover behind Lara.


    When she saw Kor and Mir the attendant was in tears as she mouthed the words help me. Kor immediately went into action as he picked up the attendant and using hisrge body covered her from all of the flying objects.


    The attendant was surprised by the sudden action and as she felt the strong powerful arms protecting her. The attendant couldn''t help but blush as she looked at Kor in admiration. A thought then came into her mind, ''so this is the hero everyone praises.''


    After Kor had sessfully rescued the crying attendant and left the room, Lara appeared before him and held out an empty te.


    "Hey, can you bring me more food? If possible I want something sweet next." When Kor, Mir, and the attendant heard what Lara said they look at her dumbfounded.


    "Aren''t you going to do something about that?" Mir pointed at Ren and Valdel who were in a heated exchange of fists. looking at where Mir was pointing at Lara tilted her head looking visibly confused as she answered.


    "Why?" The three were once again dumbfounded by Lara''s answer. It took Mir a few seconds to be able to respond.


    "Well, for starters they''re fighting and destroying the room."


    "That''s normal for them, this is just a little squabble, if they were seriously fighting this whole city would''ve already been destroyed. As for destroying the room, just ask Valdel to fix itter, that guy is pretty good with that kind of stuff. So back to the more important issue, can any of you bring me more food?"


    The three were taken back by Lara''s reply as it took a few minutes for them toprehend what was just said.


    ¡­


    It took Ren and Valdel some time to finish their scuffle and as expected in the end, it was Ren''s victory. Once they were done with their fight they spotted Kor and Mir, who were now for some reason serving Lara food.


    "What are you doing?" When the two heard Ren''s question, Kor and Mir finally noticed that Ren and Valdel''s fight was over.


    "Oh, we were just waiting for you to finish what you were doing."


    "¡­ alright, so why have youe here?"


    "I just wanted to thank you for listening to my request."


    "There''s no need to thank me for doing that. You''ve earned that with your own power."


    "Even so, thank you."


    "Whatever, so when are you going to go and meet the people from the temple?"


    "I''ll do it as soon as possible."


    "How about we go now?"


    "But I need to meet the person that I keep in contact with first. I need to check if they''re ready to receive me."


    "There''s no need to go through something like that. We''re going there directly and going to talk to them by entering through the front door."


    "But-"


    "No buts, we''re going to do that now." Ren showed his vicious smile as he continued. "Don''t worry even if they try there''s no way they can detain us. So we just need to say our piece, and if they don''tply to our demands we leave ande back with an army."


    The two brothers hearing what Ren said were speechless. On the other hand, Valdel could only sigh and shrug his shoulders. Lara wasn''t bothered by what Ren said and continued to eat her dessert.


    Ren then carried Kor without asking for his permission. When Valdel saw Ren carrying Kor he couldn''t help butugh at the sight. Seeing Ren carrying someone thrice his size was quite an amusing sight.


    "You guys don''t need to follow if you don''t want to." After saying that Ren disappeared from everyone''s sight.


    "Huh? What happened, where are they?" Mir could no longer sense their presence nor could he smell their scents, which made him feel anxious.


    "Are you deaf, Ren just said he was going to the Temple of the Goddess of Light to talk to them."


    "Was he being serious?! I thought he was making a weird joke!" Mir shouted at Valdel.


    "Ren rarely makes jokes, you need to think that every word he says is something he''s going to do. We better follow quickly, I need to ask the Temple a few questions as well." As Valdel was about ready to leave, Mir held onto his arm.


    "Please take me with you."


    "You can follow if you want."


    "I know that with my speed I won''t be able to keep up. So, please¡­ Carry me as well." It took Mir great effort to ask Valdel that, as he felt extremely embarrassed as those words came out of his mouth.


    "Fine, just close your mouth properly since you might bite your tongue." Valdel carried Mir and started running.


    "Keep this for me and tell the chefs to prepare more food for when we return." Lara handed her te to the attendant who unconsciously took it. Lara then looked at the food she hasn''t finished eating and sighed before following Ren and the others.


    The attendant who was left behind after all the chaos just stared nkly in front of her unable to process the events that transpired.

 Chapter 454 - Busting Through The Front Door

    <h4>Chapter 454 - Busting Through The Front Door</h4>


    Kor was guiding Ren towards the Temple while being carried, and it only took them a few minutes to get there. Still, even without Kor to guide him Ren would''ve eventually found the location of the Temple of the Goddess of Light since it was a rather easy ce to find, as the building was too eye-catching.


    The Temple was located at the literal center of the city and it was a huge building that was easily thrice the size of the surrounding buildings. The Temple was exaggeratedly extravagant looking. Ren put down Kor and asked, "Is that really a Temple? It looks more like a castle."


    "Yeah, this is the Temple of the Goddess of Light, thergest religious Temple in the continent. It is the ce that houses the strongest army among all of the other Temples¡­ Sir Ren, I really think we should meet with my contact from the inside first."


    "No need, like I said we''re going to enter proudly from the front." Ren started walking towards the entrance of the Temple while Kor was following close behind. In front of the entrance to the Temple were four knights and with one look Ren knew that the four knights standing guard were pretty decent. Ren couldn''t help but smile viciously with his canine teeth showing. Ren then stopped a few feet from the entrance of the Temple.


    ¡­


    The four knights noticed Ren and Kor from a distance and one of them took out sses that could see through one''s mana. The knight noticed that the beastkin who was standing behind the young human had a very enormous mana supply that could rival the elites among the knights, as for the young man at the front his mana supply was above average but it was nothing special.


    The four knights thought that Ren was some kind of young master and the beastkin behind him was his bodyguard. They started to wonder what Ren wanted from the Temple.


    ''Is he here to ask for assistance?''


    ''Is he one of those young master''s that want to join the Temple''s knight order?''


    ''He does seem decently trained but with his mana supply, he wouldn''t be able to get past being a squire.''


    ''What is this guy thinking, bringing a beastkin here?''


    While the four knights were wondering what Ren came to do, Ren suddenly stopped. He then showed a very vicious-looking smile that actually made the four knights feel a sense of fear. They couldn''t understand it but it felt like they were being stared down by a gigantic monster.


    "WE ARE A PART OF THE FANGS OF KATAR! WE''VE COME HERE TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS OF LIGHT!"


    The four knights including Kor was surprised by Ren who was suddenly shouting, but more than that they were surprised by what he said.


    ''These two are a part of the Fangs of Katar!'' Three of the four knights quickly surrounded Ren and Kor, while another knight headed into the temple to alert the others.


    "Oh, are you not going to let us in to talk things out?" Ren asked as he looked at the three surrounding him.


    "We don''t negotiate with terrorists, especially with filthy demi-humans and those that support them." One of the knights spoke.


    "To actually betray your own kind for some mutts, how disgusting." Another knight chimed in.


    When Ren heard their response the smile on his face disappeared as he spoke to Kor who was standing behind him.


    "Did you hear that? These guys aren''t going to have a proper conversation with you. They don''t even see you as an equal, to them you''re actually worse than a monster. So do you still want to talk?"


    "Even so, I still believe that we could all get along as long as we''re able to remove the misunderstandings. No matter, if they look at me like something disgusting, I still want to try and talk to them." When Ren heard Kor''s answer the smile on his face returned.


    "Did you hear that? Even though you insulted him, this guy still wants to have a proper conversation."


    "Who would want to have a conversation with a beast?" The moment the knight said those words something huge suddenly appeared before him, and a thundering sound reverberated through the area.


    The three knights were unable to see how he moved, but the gigantic beastkin was suddenly in front of one of the knights and his back was facing the knight.


    "Please, Sir Ren, don''t kill them."


    "You hear that he saved your life even though you''re an irritating piece of sh*t."


    "Huh, what the f*ck are you saying? Are you-" The knight wasn''t able to finish what he wanted to say when he suddenly lost consciousness. The two other knights were surprised by what happened, but they were well-trained knights and quickly took their distance from Ren and Kor while pointing their spears forward.


    "You f*cking beast what have you done!" One of the knights shouted at Kor.


    "Why are you shouting at him? He wasn''t the one who did that, I did it." Ren spoke while shrugging his shoulders. The two knights were about to respond when they suddenly lost consciousness as well.


    "Sir Ren you said you wouldn''t attack."


    "I agreed that I wouldn''t kill them and I didn''t, but I never said I wouldn''t attack them." As Kor was about to respond, the knight that left to alert the others returned with a battalion of knights. When the knight saw hispanions down on the ground he shouted at Kor.


    "You f*cking beast, what have you done to them?!"


    "Seriously every single one of you, why do all of you assume that it was this guy that did it? Well anyway, that doesn''t really matter, so is any one of you willing to talk and take us to your leader?"


    "Huh, what the f*ck are you saying you filthy brat? Why would we allow someone like you to meet our leader?"


    "You guys keep on speaking curse words are you sure you guys are knights and not thugs?" Ren approached the battalion of knights.


    ¡­


    It took Valdel, Mir, and Lara a few more minutes to arrive at the Temple of the Goddess of Light. The moment they arrived they saw a chaotic scene of civilians running away, and a pile of unconscious knights on the ground right in front of the entrance to the Temple¡­ In the middle of that was a sighing Ren and a distraught Kor.

 Chapter 455 - Spell Rifles

    <h4>Chapter 455 - Spell Rifles</h4>


    Valdel sighed as he saw the chaos Ren wrought. "I thought we came here to talk to them, not beat them down."


    "I did say we came to talk to them, but these guys didn''t want to talk," Ren answered while shrugging his shoulders.


    "As expected of the muscle brain, everything leads back to you wanting to pick a fight." Valdel once again sighed as he spoke.


    "Did your head get messed up after the beating I gave you? Maybe I should hit your head again to fix it."


    "There you go again since you can''t win in an argument with words you always go back to physical means."


    "Oh you misunderstand, I can obviously beat you using my words only, but that would be too easy, and I pretty much prefer to use my fists."


    While Ren and Valdel were having a heated discussion, Kor was busy moving the unconscious bodies of the knights to one side and trying to double-check if they were alright. When he noticed Mir, Kor signaled him to help.


    Lara watched as the four of them did their separate things right in front of the enemy base. She couldn''t help but smile at the scene as it reminded her of a lot of things.


    ''This era''spanions may be different from thest ones but they sure act the same way.'' Lara closed her eyes and remembered her past incarnationspanions who fought alongside Rei Kuraki the Strongest Mortal Soul of the time.


    They were a powerful group filled with the same energy as this group. They had many adventures together and had fought through a lot of obstacles, and in the end, they had failed. When Lara remembered those images of Tsukiyomi and the others she felt her heart hurting. She shook her head as she stopped thinking about it.


    ¡­


    "Well anyway, now that we''re all here how about we have a tour of the temple until someone is willing to talk to us." Ren stood in front of the Temple''s tall doors which were decorated with rubies and gold.


    ''This Temple truly is wealthy, maybe I should loot the ce while I''m at it.'' Ren was once again amazed by how wealthy the Temple of the Goddess of Light was. He tried to open the door but to his surprise, he couldn''t.


    "There seems to be some kind of enchantment on this door, I can''t open it, how about you guys try."


    The others then tried to open the door but to no avail. After everyone was done trying, Ren shouted.


    "Hey open up! We just want to talk! If you don''t open this door I will be forced to break it down. I''m giving you by the count of three! If no onees to open the door I will break it down!" Ren gathered Spirit Aura into his palm as he shouted.


    "One!"


    "Two!"


    "Three!" Ren ced his palm onto the door and sent a wave of Spirit Aura which sted out of his palm. The door which had multiple enchantments on it was forced open. Ren was astonished by the level of enhancement on the door, it was so sturdy. He was trying to destroy the door but it merely flung open.


    As he was astonished by that fact Ren noticed that there were already people waiting for them beyond the door. At the end of the hallway, there were several dozen men holding a long metal object that had a hole pointed at them.


    "Those are ''Spell Rifles'', we need to take cover!" When Ren heard the new terming from Mir''s mouth he became interested in what kind of weapon that was. Kor and Mir quickly hid at the back using a wall as cover, on the other hand, Ren, Valdel, and Lara simply looked at the so called Spell Rifles with interest.


    "You people who are suspected to be part of the Terrorist Organization, Fangs of Katar, you either surrender now for questioning or we will be forced to shoot you down."


    ''Oh, based on what he said and the look of the weapon, those Spell Rifles should be something like a miniaturized version of the mana cannons.'' Instead ofplying with what the knightmander said, Ren responded by smugly smiling at them and gesturing for them toe.


    When the Knight Commander saw Ren''s actions he was infuriated. This person was looking down on them too much. The Knight Commander gnashed his teeth as he shouted.


    "FIRE!"


    When the knights heard themander''s order they quickly started firing. Ren, Valdel, and Lara who were enveloped by their mana shields were surprised by the speed of the attack from such a distance. Based on the mana fluctuation they felt from the knights, except for the knightmander most of the knights holding the weapon called the Spell Rifle didn''t have strong mana. Yet the power and speed of the attacking from the weapons they injected with their mana was ten times the amount they injected. Still, despite it being more powerful than they expected the attack wasn''t able to prate their mana shields.


    The knights who saw the oue of their attack were stunned by what they saw. This was the first time they have seen the Spell Rifle''s bullets which were created to pierce through one''s mana shield unable to do what it was made to do.


    "Oh, those are some interesting toys you have."


    The knightmander who was shocked by what happened heard what Ren said and his anger grew.


    "CONTINUOUS FIRE!"


    The Knights then started firing at Ren and the others multiple times. As they were being bombarded by bullets, Valdel and Lara noticed that their mana shields were slowly being broken. Even Ren noticed some of the bullets actually getting past his mana shield. When he noticed that Ren couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his.


    "HAHAHA! So it finally happened, you guys finally figured out a way for the weak to pierce the heart of the strong! Now that you have the weapon that could pierce my heart, do you also have the shield to withstand my hand?"

 Chapter 456 - Guests

    <h4>Chapter 456 - Guests</h4>


    When the knightmander saw Ren''s expression and heard the arrogant words he spoke he kept on gnashing his teeth. The knightmander hated it, but even though he was angry and felt extremely humiliated he could not say a word to the monster in front of him. The knight Commander knew instinctively that the monster in human skin was not someone he could handle on his own. one wrong word, one wrong move might spell his doom. As the Knight Commander was feeling frustrated, it was at that moment when every single knight present felt a horrific pressure descend upon them. The Knight Commander knew what that feeling was and was swift to give hismand.


    "Ready your masks, switch to anti-mage tactics!" The knights were quick and efficient in their movements as they all started to wear masks, they then took out a small ball-like object from their small bags at the side of their hips. The knights pulled something like a pin and threw the ball-like object towards Ren and his group.


    The moment the ball hit the ground smoke starteding out of it. The smoke quickly covered the entire hallway and Ren immediately noticed that this was the same thing they used to stop mana from flowing when they were fighting within the city, but a slightly weaker version. The knights then started firing at them, but this time they weren''t using the Spell Rifles, but a weaker version one that doesn''t use mana.


    Ren and Lara quickly used their Spirit Aura to envelope their bodies, while Valdel who had his mana stop flowing had no choice but to retreat at the moment. He then looked at Ren and Lara who despite losing their mana supply were still unaffected by the rain of bullets.


    "How are you guys able to do that?" When Ren heard Valdel''s question he turned around and showed a smug smile which irritated Valdel.


    "Oh this, you don''t know how to use Spirit Aura? I guess you need more training after all." Valdel was truly frustrated upon looking at Ren''s smug face but more than that he was intrigued by the term that was just used.


    "Spirit Aura?"


    "Interested? I''ll teach it to youter."


    While Ren and Valdel were having their casual conversation in the midst of the hail of bullets, the knights were growing confused and a little bit frightened. That was because right in front of them, one of the people who was being hit by their bullets while the mana suppressors were everywhere was casually having a conversation. The bullets that could pierce through steel were bouncing off his body. This was also a simr phenomenon if a bullet hits a mana shield, but that was impossible due to the mana suppressors.


    "How are you able to survive that?! What the heck are your bodies made of?" The knightmander could no longer hold it in as he shouted those words in surprise. Ren finally took notice of him and responded.


    "Oh, this is nothing much. Still, are you going to show me more, or is this is all you have to offer?" The moment Ren asked that question the Knight Commander gulped as he started to sweat. It was then something started beeping and he quickly took out a ck rectangr object.


    "What is it, Sir?¡­ You want us to retreat, but Sir!¡­ Understood¡­" The knightmander felt irritated and relieved at the same time as he received the order to retreat.


    "Tactical Retreat!" When the knights heard theirmander''s order they felt the same as him as they became both relieved and frustrated. Still, they were quick to act and moved backward while continuing to shoot.


    "Hmm, so that was it, you''re going to run away?" When they heard Ren''s disappointed voice they felt a spine-tingling chill run down their spine. It was at that moment they saw Ren pointing his fingers at them. The knightmander had an ominous feeling as the finger was pointed directly at him. He felt like something was gripping his heart ever so tightly.


    "Sir Ren, you promised not to kill anyone!" The gigantic beastkin that was at the back suddenly shouted, hearing that Ren lowered his arm and sighed. The knightmander felt the fear gripping his heart disappeared and without any hesitation left the scene alongside his men. Once they were gone Ren sighed.


    "If you keep on stopping me like that, we won''t be getting our message across."


    "What message do you want to send by killing them?! You promised me, Sir Ren, that we would do things my way first. We haven''t even gotten to speak with any of them properly."


    "Fine, I won''t kill them for as long as you haven''t tried your thing. So since they don''t want to tell us where to find their leader, we should look around ourselves."


    ¡­


    While Ren and the others were starting their tour of the temple, in a room filled with multiple magic arrays, a group of people were watching Ren and his group''s movement using a device that enhances the irvoyance spell. One of these observers was the head priest Baldur who was currently looking at Ren''s face with disgust.


    "So that''s the enemy of our beloved Goddess. Hmph, he does seem stupidly powerful for a heretic. Still, now that he''s here even if they are all heretics, they are still guests, so as servants of the most beautiful, most elegant, most merciful Goddess of all time, we should amodate them better. Tell Luke to guide them to my office," The head priest Baldur ordered.


    "Sir, should we call that squad back for your protection?"


    "Why would I need people to protect me? I''m just going to have a little conversation with our guests."


    "But Sir-" The person who was going to object stopped as he saw the expression on Baldur''s face.


    "My son, are you questioning my decisions?" The person quickly stood up and bowed his head as he responded.


    "Please forgive me, Head priest. As an apology, I shall take my own life to offer to our merciful Goddess." The person took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed himself. The person died on the spot, the others present didn''t even bat an eye as it happened and quickly cleaned the body out of the room. This was a normal urrence in the temple since if you offended a high-ranking official your whole family might be annihted, this was the only way to avoid that oue. Baldur then looked at the ceiling as he cried.


    "Oh sweet child, I hope you live in eternity alongside our magnificent Goddess."

 Chapter 457 - Speculations

    <h4>Chapter 457 - Spections</h4>


    Ren and the others searched the Temple of the Goddess of Light and were surprised over and over again by how rich this Temple was. The more they saw the less it looked like a Temple. Still, even with everything, the most eye-catching things were the abnormal amount of artwork in regards to the Goddess they were worshipping. Every single hallway, every room, basically every corner of this ce had some sort of artwork of the Goddess of Light.


    There were also a lot of rooms that seem to be for sermons, and there were even roomsbeled as rooms for the homeless. Still, based on the way this Temple works, the homeless people would be humans, and the non-humans would most likely never get to see those rooms.


    The more Ren and the others saw the more they learned that aside from this Temple treating every other race as dirt, it was pretty amazing. They had technology more advanced than any other race, they had the riches to support an entire kingdom, they had the ability and the heart to help others well as long as they were humans.


    ''Really if they''re able to change their ways and treat everyone equally, this ce would really be a paradise¡­ I wonder what the Goddess of Light is thinking doing this. From the information given to me by my past incarnations regarding world deities, there are only a few ways to be one. You could inherit the title of a deity if a former deity passed it to you. The second option would be if a mortal kills a deity. Thest option would be if you can somehow umte enough believers while being a mortal, after that you would ascend into the realm of a world deity.''


    Ren looked at the various paintings of the Goddess of Light and frowned. ''The person in these paintings doesn''t look like the type that could defeat a deity as a mortal. So she either was given the title or she ascended with her own merit by umting believers. Well, with the way she looks I guess I can imagine her tricking people into bing her believers. Also since I''m going against her she should be an opponent at some point¡­ World deities have the power ofw given to them by the world, and the strength they can muster depends on how much faith is given to them. I wonder what kind ofw did she received that she was named the Goddess of Light? Does she control all forms of light, or does the Light in this a different kind of Light? Also, how strong would she be as she does have a tone of believers?''


    As Ren continued to specte about the Goddess of Light, he suddenly felt someone''s presence. It was not only him but everyone else who noticed it too, well except for Mir who was unable to sense the presence of the neer. Kor started to sniff around while trying to get hold of the person''s scent.


    "How about you show yourself already? If you keep on hiding like this, one of us might identally kill you." It was at that moment after Ren spoke those words that Mir noticed that everyone except for him and Ren were on guard. He felt embarrassed at the fact that he was the only oblivious one that wasn''t able to sense the neer''s presence.


    "I apologize for not greeting all of you dear guests upfront. Seeing as the guests were all entranced by the paintings, I hid my presence as I did not wish to disturb you." A rather pretty-looking man wearing a pure ck outfit with sses on appeared before the group. Ren licked his lips as the man appeared out of nowhere.


    ''He was able to get this close without me noticing immediately. This guy''s level of concealment is at the same level as the Shadow n of old. How interesting, how very interesting. He''s also able to conceal his mana fluctuation to a degree that even I can''t quite grasp howrge his mana supply is. This guy is getting even more interesting by the second.''


    The man unaware that Ren''s battle hunger was rising bowed in front of all of them. Kor and Mir were rather surprised. This was the first time they had met a person from the Temple of the Goddess of Light that looked at them with no disgust evident in his expression.


    "Oh, how curious do you not find demi-humans hateful?" Ren asked the question every one of them were thinking at the moment.


    "I am not one to discriminate, and for as long as you are designated as guests, then I will try to amodate you to the best of my abilities."


    "Hmm, is that so? So who are you, are you perhaps not part of the Temple of the Goddess of Light?"


    "That is correct, I am Luke Nestor, I''m just a hired hand transferred from a different temple."


    "Oh, a Temple that is an ally to the Temple of the Goddess of Light, is there really such a temple?"


    "All temples that worship the different deities are neither allies nor enemies."


    "Is that so¡­ So tell me what temple do you hail from?"


    "I apologize dear guest, but that is one of the few pieces of information that I cannot tell you."


    "I see¡­ How about if I ask you for a battle will youply?"


    "If it is a fight you seek, then I would usuallyply, but unfortunately dear guest, right now I have other tasks I need to fulfill. One of those tasks is to inform you that the head priest of this Temple wishes to speak with you."


    "Did you hear that Kor? They''re finally willing to talk." Kor didn''t even hear what Ren said as the moment he heard that the head priest wishes to talk to them made him feel truly excited and at the same time anxious. This was the chance that he was working so hard for, and now that it was finally in front of him, he was being overwhelmed by his emotions.


    ''What am I feeling scared for? Isn''t this the chance I wanted?¡­ Still, what if everything goes wrong because I''m the one who is doing the negotiations. Will I be the reason as to why we had a chance for peace but weren''t able to get it¡­ What if I say something that would offend the head priest and things go south from there? Should I really be the one to talk?''


    As Kor was slowly being drowned by his own anxieties, Ren''s voice suddenly sounded by his ear. "Why are you hesitating? What happened to all that resolve you showed me before, surely that wasn''t all a lie? Was this all your supposed ideals amount to?"


    When Kor heard Ren''s voice he snapped out of his trance and looked at the smiling Ren, as he too started to smile and shake his head. That''s right this wasn''t like him to be so hesitant.


    "Of course, this isn''t all that''s there to my ideals¡­ I will show you that I will realize my ideals with my own two hands."

 Chapter 458 - Question

    <h4>Chapter 458 - Question</h4>


    Ren''s group were led by Luke deeper into the Temple. The deeper they went the more confusing the hallways became. There were a lot of traps and secret doorways they needed to pass through before they were able to reach the hallway towards the Head Priest''s room.


    The hallway to the room of the head priest was found underground. The hallway was lighted by torches and had a creepy vibe to them. As they were walking through the hallway Ren found something interesting. Since some time ago he was trying to sense the presence of the people in the Temple, but ever since they had gone underground his mana sensing no longer worked.


    ''These walls block mana from going out, they are of the same quality as those found in dungeons that use a dragon heart. This ce is like a rebirth of the ancient human civilization.''


    It took some time before the group was able to reach the door to the room of the head priest. Once they were there, Luke did a very elegant bow with his skinny frame and spoke.


    "This is the room of the Head Priest, I have sessfully guided you the guests towards it and with that, I have fulfilled my task. I hope you have a wonderful conversation with the head priest dear guests." Once he was done and said his piece his body started to fade from everyone''s sight.


    Kor and Mir could no longer sense his presence nor could they smell his scent. Valdel and even Lara with her new abilities were also having a difficult time sensing his presence, despite him just standing there in front of them.


    On the other hand, Ren was astonished, the technique he was using was uncannily simr to what the Shadow n had used in the distant past. This was a technique called Shadow threading. As Luke was about to fade away Ren asked a question.


    "What''s your rtion to the Shadow n?"


    When Luke heard what Ren said his poker face which was mostly always ever-smiling disappeared. In the next second, Luke appeared behind Ren. The moment he did so, Valdel took a stance and was about ready to strike, Lara had her bow out and was pointing numerous mana arrows at Luke. On the other hand, Ren who was about to get hit didn''t move an inch as he frowned. Luke''s reaction was already him admitting that he had some sort of rtion to the Shadow n.


    "What do you know about the Shadow n? Where did you hear about the Shadow n? Depending on your answer, I might need to go against my previous orders and deal with you." Luke wasn''t bothered that both Valdel and Lara were about ready to strike him since he had the confidence that he could kill Ren first and escape safely.


    "Teh, hehehehe, HAHAHAHAHA! Are you seriously saying that in this situation?" Luke was surprised by Ren''s reaction, but he didn''t waver, and instead he continued to push his question.


    "I understand that you and yourpanions are powerful people, but even then I am confident that in this position I can kill you quicker than yourpanions could attack me. If you don''t tell me what and how you know about the Shadow n then you have forfeited your life."


    "Valdel, Lara do not interfere." When Valdel and Lara heard Ren''smand, they lowered their hands.


    "So you finally understood your position. That''s good then tell me how do-" Luke was once again going to ask Ren about why he knows of the Shadow n when Ren suddenly startedughing.


    "Hahaha, it seems that you''re misunderstanding something. I didn''t ask my friends here to lower their weapons because I was going toply with your demands. No, far from it, instead I''m going to be the one to ask you the questions. But before that, I will show you that with your strength, you cannot force me to say anything. Come then strike me down, let''s see if you can really do it."


    Luke was stunned by Ren''s response. He understood that Ren was indeed a powerful individual but even then, he wasn''t invincible. Surely someone that knows the term Shadow n, knows its rtion to the assassination business. No matter how powerful you are in the end as long as your not some immortal monster, you can be killed. That was when he noticed Ren''s crazed smile.


    "I''m not joking, if you do not tell me what I want to know, then you''ll be dead in the next second."


    "Stop trying to threaten me, it won''t work. So how about you just go ahead and kill me." The moment those words came out of Ren''s mouth, several shes happened within a second.


    Numerous throwing knives fell onto the floor, while some of them stuck to Ren''s back. Luke had a dumbfounded look as his hidden de that struck Ren''s neck wasn''t able to prate his skin. This was surprising since the de he was using was a special one that was produced with alchemy and had the ability to bypass mana-created constructs like the mana shield and other simr spells. The de itself was also incredibly sharp and could cut through metal like it was butter. Not only that but the de itself was coated with an extremely deadly poison that had no antidote, so just a small cut would kill just about anyone. Yet despite all that the de was unable to prate Ren''s skin.


    "Do you understand now, how futile your actions are?" Luke didn''t bother to respond and was quick to react as he tried to escape. Yet Ren was faster and he grabbed hold of Luke''s neck.


    "Now that you understand what position you are in. How about you answer my questions?" Luke was about tomit suicide but before he could do so Ren pulled a tooth out of Luke''s mouth. That tooth was filled with poison and would activate the moment a specific type and amount of mana flowed through it.


    "You really are simr to the Shadow n of old¡­ There''s no way to escape me, so how about you make this simple for both of us and answer my questions. The first of which is what is your rtion to the Shadow n?"

 Chapter 459 - Descendant?

    <h4>Chapter 459 - Descendant?</h4>


    "¡­" Luke didn''t answer Ren''s question and he closed his eyes showing his stance on this matter. Ren was already expecting this since this guy felt like an assassin from the Shadow n. That would mean he was most likely trained to resist telling any information no matter what is done to him.


    ''It''s just not possible that the Shadow n survived until today. Darius and I already killed everyst member, and I was the only one left who knew their secrets, and I''m sure I never taught my kids or anyone else from that era the ways of the Shadow n. I did have some disciples but what I taught them was my own style of fighting not the Shadow n''s ways. The only one I had taught some techniques even though it was just a little bit was Lara.''


    Ren was truly intrigued by who this person was and how he was able to learn the ancient techniques of his past life''s n.


    "If you truly are trained in the ways of the Shadow n I know for a fact that no matter what kind of torture you face you will never give out information. Once a Shadow n assassin is captured and has failed tomit suicide, he or she would then proceed to use a spell that essentially makes that person brain dead. Still, that spell takes a lot of time before you can activate it, and in this ce that disrupts one''s mana flow, it would be even more difficult. Also, I was able to pick this up a while back."


    As Luke was surprised by how deeply Ren knew how the Shadow n Assassins operate, he noticed the item that Ren took out, it was one of those mana suppressors. Ren smiled and shook his head.


    "I know that even without being brain dead you are trained to not speak a single word upon capture. Still, are you going to remain mute after seeing this?"


    Ren''s shadow expanded and weapons starteding out of it. When Luke saw that skill his eyes look like they would literally pop out.


    ''That was one of the high-level techniques that only a few in the n could use. How is this person able to use it? Is he one of the hidden operatives of the n?'' Luke who had his neck held by Ren spoke with much difficulty.


    "Life and Death hold meaning, but what significance is there to them?" When Ren heard the code words, he was truly astonished. It has been a couple of millennia since the demise of the old Shadow n, yet to hear the old codes in this era was truly a surprise.


    ''This new Shadow n didn''t even bother changing the old codes.'' Ren let go of Luke''s neck and responded.


    "Life and Death might hold meaning, but I care not for its significance." When Luke heard Ren''s response he couldn''t help but tremble. That answer meant that Ren was of very high status an unimaginable one at that. If any other member of the Shadow n said those words, they who had been restricted by a contract spell would have died on the spot. Even the current leaders wouldn''t be able to say this particr line and only the Head would be able to say it. Yet Ren was obviously not the head, that would mean¡­


    "Are you a direct descendant of Demon Lord Kretos thest true head of the n?"


    "You could say that." Ren didn''t bother to tell Luke that he used to be Kretos himself, since that was a past life, and he was now living as Ren. When Luke heard Ren''s answer he could not help but cry. Everyone present were stunned to see Luke''s reaction, they didn''t expect that someone like Luke would suddenly cry.


    "Why are you crying?"


    "We have been searching for centuries, we all thought that your bloodline had disappeared but you have finally returned. To meet a direct descendant of the main family line of the Shadow n, I cannot tell you how happy and excited I am. Please allow me to escort you back to our base so that you can return as the Ruler of the n."


    "Hmph, so you really are a member of the Shadow n¡­ I have a ton of questions that I want to ask, but I guess I can put that on hold for now. I don''t n on going to your n''s base, but I am interested in you lot. So how about you bring your n to a ce called New Grenton and I''ll meet you there."


    When Luke heard Ren''s response he was dumbfounded, that wasn''t the response he was expecting to hear.


    "Sir, there are rules that I cannot disobey as I''m sure you know. I have orders to bring any descendant of thest ruler Kretos back to the n."


    "Even then, I will not be going. Tell whoever is in charge that if he or she wants to meet me, they can head to New Grenton. If they do notply, well tell them that they will be punished." Ren wanted to say that he would kill them but stopped himself. Thest time, Darius had killed his entire n, and he too was forced to y a role in that. Now that his n had somehow miraculously survived, he didn''t wish to annihte them again.


    "¡­ I shall inform the others of what you said¡­ I forgot to ask Sir, what is your name?"


    "It''s Ren."


    "Sir Ren¡­ I once again apologize for my earlier rudeness."


    "I don''t really care about that. So now that you heard what I said, you better go and inform those n members of yours and wait for me in New Grenton."


    "I shall do that in due time, Sir Ren, but for now I need to protect you while you''re in this current situation."


    "Heh, that''s a stupid thing to say. How are you, a person who''s weaker than me going to protect me?"


    "I-" Luke once again remembered how easily Ren dealt with him, which made Luke lower his head in embarrassment.


    "I need no protection so just go."


    "¡­ Very well then¡­ Until we meet again Sir Ren." This time Luke had nothing else to say so he bowed and immediately left. Yet before he disappeared Ren had used a unique tracking skill on Luke, by using Spirit Aura.


    No longer sensing his presence Ren closed his eyes, sighed, and curled the corner of his lips upward.


    ''So the most likely scenario is that someone aside from me was somehow able to survive Vampiric Lord Darius''s assault. I wonder who it was?¡­''

 Chapter 460 - Talking To The Head Priest

    <h4>Chapter 460 - Talking To The Head Priest</h4>


    Baldur was in his office waiting for Ren''s group to arrive. It has been a while now and the group still wasn''t there.


    ''As expected of beasts and those that collude with them, they can''t even arrive on time. Should I go fetch them myself?'' As Baldur was thinking about what to do next, he heard someone knock on his door.


    ''They''re finally here.'' "Pleasee in," even though he was clearly annoyed Baldur showed the brightest smile he could muster. Yet when the first person he saw past through the door was a gigantic muscr beastkin he almost lost his cool. Yet he was able to calm down quite fast and remained smiling. After everyone from Ren''s group entered the room, Baldur greeted them.


    "Good day dear guests. It seems that you have caused quite themotion, I wonder what is the purpose of your visit today?"


    Kor step to the front, even though he was a little anxious he shook those fears away as he spoke to the head priest of the Temple of the Goddess of Light.


    "We havee here to ask of you the head priest to hear our concerns."


    "Oh, is that so, what are these concerns of yours?" Seeing the smile on Baldur''s face and his willingness to listen to them, Kor felt like talking to the head priest might actually get them somewhere. On the other hand, Ren found something rather interesting in the room. It was hard to spot when he entered the room, but now that he got a good look at it he found something hidden. Ren didn''t bother to warn the others since he didn''t feel like it.


    "Before I tell you our concerns can I just ask you one thing?"


    "Sure."


    "Why do you discriminate against us demi-humans?"


    "Oh discriminate is such a strong word, is it not? Also, I don''t think discrimination is the right word to use in this situation. Is it discrimination if we eat the meat of wild beasts?"


    The moment Mir and Valdel heard those words killing intent started to ooze out of them. Even someone like Kor who was a pacifist found it extremely hard to keep his cool.


    "Are you saying that demi-humans like me are wild beasts?"


    "Are you not? You and the humans who join your cause do seem like wild beasts to me. See those two standing behind you, I''m just here talking, but they could not hold themselves back and are emitting killing intent which is directed at me. Isn''t that the ways of a wild beast when threatened he does not use reason nor words, instead he uses violence?"


    "I understand what you mean, but don''t humans do the same thing when they are insulted? In fact, in some cases aren''t humans much worse than wild beasts? At least wild beasts only kill others for food or out of self-defense, but humans kill for many other reasons. Some kill because they want something from someone else, they kill because they find it amusing, they even kill just because they can, and sometimes there isn''t a reason at all."


    When Baldur heard Kor''s counter-argument the smile on his face disappeared and was reced by a frowning face.


    "What you said does make sense, if only humans do it. Yet don''t you wild beasts do the same thing and don''t you do even worse things? Don''t you beasts follow thew of the jungle? What was it, oh right, the survival of the fittest. Unlike us humans who gained wisdom, don''t you beasts act on strength? Even if something is considered evil you still do it for as long as you are strong you beast think you can do anything."


    "Don''t you humans do the same thing? You use this so called wisdom of yours to oppress us demi-humans, the same way that you im that we demi-humans use our strength to oppress you. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. I know that neither side is perfect, and not a single side is wholly on the right, but I just wish for all the races to get along, to stand on equal footing."


    "How intriguing a beast that has intellect." Even after hearing all that Baldur remained disrespectful, which made Mir want to attack him, but Kor signaled Mir to stop.


    "You may call me whatever you like, but I hope that you would at least consider what I just said. Please allow the demi-humans to be treated with even just the bare minimum of decency." Kor knelt on the ground and bowed his head as he urged the head priest.


    "Hmm¡­" Baldur stroked his chin seemingly deep in thought. After a few minutes, Baldur finally responded.


    "Hmph, why should I even listen to the proposal of a beast? Just thinking about you wild beasts being treated the same way as us humans sicken me to no end." When the group heard Baldur''s answer, Kir and Valdel were about to jump on him when Ren suddenly pped. Ren''s p made everyone silent as they looked at him.


    "Alright, we have done it your way, and it doesn''t seem like this person is willing to listen to you. So this time will do it Valdel''s way. Hey you piece of trash, right here, right now we dere war on your Temple."


    "Hmph, as expected of an ally to the beast, even though you''re human you''re also just a wild beast." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he answered with a vicious smile on his face.


    "Say what you want, you piece of trash. The barking of a weakling doesn''t really bother me. You can yap all you want, it won''t change the fate of this Temple."


    Baldur gnashed his teeth as he saw the look Ren was giving him. Those eyes that don''t seem to even acknowledge his existence made Baldur both angry and afraid.


    "I see, you truly are an arrogant one. As expected of a person that could make weaker deities shiver in fear. How unfortunate for you that this time you have messed with the wrong Temple. Our Temple isn''t something the likes of you can handle."


    "Is that so? Then show me how you''re going to deal with me¡­ I wonder since you''re trash is your Goddess trash as well?


    "YOU BASTARD!" Baldur could handle it if he was the one who was insulted, but to insult his beloved Goddess, Baldur lost his reason and was about to attack, but he felt something was grabbing his heart.


    "Don''t push it, you weakling. The only reason you''re not yet dead is that my friend over here needs you tomand your army to be the whetstone of the demi-humans under hismand."


    After saying that Ren released Baldur who felt all the power drained from him as he sat on his chair breathing heavily.


    "Come on let''s leave." Ren lifted Kor up who was still on the ground bowing. As the group was about to leave, Baldur suddenly shouted at them.


    "Who told you that you can leave?! You heretics should be honored, you will be struck down by our Beautiful Goddess herself." Baldur snapped his fingers and a magic circle appeared on the floor where Ren and his group stood¡­ It was a forced teleportation spell, everyone except for Ren showed a shocked expression as they were forcefully teleported.

 Chapter 461 - Descent Of A Deity

    <h4>Chapter 461 - Descent Of A Deity</h4>


    A teleportation spell was one of the hardest spells to do as it required a lot of time, mana, and knowledge to be able to use. Now that was just a normal teleportation spell, but a forced teleportation spell was three times harder to do. A normal teleportation spell was easy to break free from, as long as you resist a little with your mana, you''ll be able to stop from teleporting. On the other hand, a forced teleportation spell disrupts one''s mana flow for a short period of time making them unable to resist the spell. Still to use such a spell would require a ton of time and it''s not a spell that could be used in a fight without preparations, so the spell was mostly used as a trap.


    ¡­


    After teleporting the first thing the group noticed was that they were in arge room that could fit a vige in it. Not only was it huge and spacious it was also made of gold and orichalcum. There were also various mirrors inside the room. Aside from the mirrors and some decorations the room was pretty empty with nothing worthy of note.


    "Damn it, that slimy bastard got us! I knew that he was going to do something, I should''ve been warier when I saw that he had no guards while facing us. To actually use a force teleportation spell as a trap¡­ Where the f*ck are we?!" Mir shouted in frustration and his voice echoed through the room. While Mir was getting excessively angry at the situation they were in, Kor was on the ground looking a bit lifeless, as his eyes lost their luster. Mir finally noticed that there was something wrong with his brother and approached him.


    "Big brother, is everything alright?" As he got near Mir could hear Kor mumbling something under his breath.


    "I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed." Kor kept on repeating the same thing over and over again. Mir hugged his broken brother and held his tears from flowing out.


    "It''s not your fault Big brother. That bastard was never going to listen to us, he was just there to mock us. So it''s not your fault, and this is not the end."


    While Mir was consoling Kor, Valdel spoke to Ren. "Did you know about that trap?¡­ Why am I even asking such a stupid question, of course, you knew about it. I can already guess what you want to happen, you know sometimes it would be nice if you told us what you''re nning before you do something,¡­ I hope we can survive this ordeal."


    "Hmph, what''s there to be afraid about? The worst thing that could happen is just death. Also even if we avoided that teleportation spell, we would still need to fight here eventually so why not just get it over with."


    "Ren do you need me to fight with you? In my current state, I do have the knowledge on how to fight deities, but with my body still adapting to my newfound abilities, I might not be as effective in battle." Lara interjected as she sensed the divine aura increasing, meaning a deity was about to descend.


    "When have I ever asked for help in battle? I will deal with her myself, all you need to focus on is to protect those two." Ren gestured at Kor and Mir.


    "Very well, I hope you have a great battle." Lara approached Kor and Mir and told them to stay by her side.


    "Tsk, I want to fight alongside you, but with my current power, I''ll be nothing more than a liability¡­ Even after regaining my past life''s memories, I''m still so weak¡­ Damn it! Next time Ren, I promise next time no matter the opponent I''ll be fighting by your side. So you better win this one!" After saying his piece, Valdel went to the corner of the room alongside Lara and the others.


    Ren then took out Snertal from his shadow and waited for the Goddess of Light to descend. The room was slowly being filled with very pure mana, and what Ren could only describe as a divine aura. It was at that moment, a blinding light filled the room. As the light slowly dimmed, right there in the middle of the once empty space was a woman of incredible beauty.


    Even though she was in the shape of a human, everyone who saw her would never think that she was a human. The sheer aura of her presence was overpowering, and her beauty otherworldly, it was hard to call such a being human. The woman who was wearing light clothing looked at Ren and smiled a very radiant smile.


    "You must be the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, Ren right?"


    "Yeah, and you must be the sh*tty Goddess that these lunatics believe in. What was your title again, the Goddess of trash?" Ren tried to provoke the Goddess into attacking, but it just made her smile. The Goddess of Light then continued to talk as if Ren said nothing.


    "I am the Goddess of Light. I have heard a great deal about you among the other deities, and now that I see you in person the rumors about you are indeed justified. For a mortal like yourself, to possess such pure mana is astonishing. Still, if you wish to fight me, then it would only lead to your death. I understand that you are a very powerful person, that could probably defeat minor world deities, yet you''re no match for a Goddess such as myself. The power of a world deity is based on the power that one possessed when that person was still a mortal, multiplied with the power of belief one gets from their worshippers. So it is safe to say with how many worshippers I have, I am easily one of the more powerful world deities in the current era. So how about instead of fighting me, you be my representative in the mortal world? As my representative, you would have the most authority second only to my own. If you want to, you can easily stop the oppression of the Demi-humans. Just one word from me and my worshippers will treat the demi-humans as equals. So how about it, are you willing to be mine?"


    The Goddess of Light showed a bright smile on her face, expecting Ren to agree with her proposal. She was confident that there was no downside in her proposal, that Ren would have no reason to refuse.


    "Are you done talking?" Ren yawned as he asked that question, which confused the Goddess of Light.


    "Huh?"


    "You kept on yapping on and on saying so many things that I don''t really care about. Still, let me give you an answer to that proposal of yours." Ren summoned a spear from his shadow and threw it at the Goddess of Light''s face. The Goddess caught the spear and disintegrated it as she red at Ren.


    "Now that you know my answer, let''s get started!"


    "Foolish, arrogant mortal! It would seem that your pride has been inted simply because you have that fancy title of Strongest Mortal Soul¡­ Allow me to bring that pride of yours down a notch!" The Goddess of Light roared in anger as she felt insulted by Ren''sck of reverence by challenging her in such a way.

 Chapter 462 - To Battle A Deity

    <h4>Chapter 462 - To Battle A Deity</h4>


    Ren could feel a spine-tingling sensation as the Goddess of Light red at him. It has been quite a long time since he felt this sense of danger. Thest time he felt this indescribable feeling of dread was back when he fought the ORIGIN. Ren who felt his body shivering in both fear and excitement couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his. Ren''s shadow started to expand as multiple spears came out from it.


    Ren infused his mana into the spears and with his total control made the spears levitate beside him. Ren then quickly pushed the spears forward making them dart towards the Goddess of Light. The speed of the spears were five times faster than the speed of sound.


    The Goddess of Light looked at the iing spears with disdain, and the moment they were about to hit her, the spears phased through her body. In the eyes of others, the Goddess of Light didn''t move as the spears simply went through her body, on the other hand, Ren saw something different. The Goddess of Light moved so fast that she was able to dodge the spears with minimum movement and quickly returned to her original spot. She moved so fast that her dodging looked like she was just standing there.


    Ren couldn''t help himself as the smile on his face grew wider. Ren used his mana control to make the spears that went past the Goddess of Lighte back, while he charged forward. Ren alongside the floating spears attacked the Goddess of Light. Ren didn''t give the Goddess of Light any leeway as he attacked in all directions. Yet the same as before the Goddess of Light evaded each strike with the same minimal movement.


    "Hmph, can''t you see that kind of attack won''t even hit me?"


    "Is that so?"


    When the Goddess of Light heard Ren''s reply, she finally noticed that her cheek had a little cut on it. She was truly surprised to see that she got damaged. Even without dodging, there were only a few types of mortal weapons that could harm her, the only reason she was dodging now was to show Ren the disparity between them. Yet now that she saw that Ren''s weapons could actually harm her she felt a little relieved that she was dodging those strikes.


    "Heh, so even deities bleed."


    When the Goddess of Light heard what Ren said she grew even more infuriated. As Ren was about to begin his assault again, the Goddess of Light lifted her hands and pointed at mirrors on the walls. A burst of light came flying out of her fingers hitting the nearby mirrors. The light then bounced from mirror to mirror creating a web of light that disintegrated the floating spears.


    It was a good thing that Ren was able to guess beforehand why there were mirrors on the walls, in a room that had nothing but decorations that could show one''s reflection. The moment Ren saw that burst of light he quickly summoned numerous shields from his shadow which covered him, and he did the same for Lara and the others who were at the corner of the room.


    The power of that one burst of light almost broke his shields. Just two more strikes like that and Ren''s stock of shields would be depleted. So before the Goddess of Light could make her next move, Ren quickly summoned several dozens of weapons which he immediately threw at all the mirrors and decorative pieces in the room.


    "Hmph, so you''re not just a brute, you can actually use your head. Still, that won''t be enough to defeat me."


    After she said those words the Goddess of Light''s hands started to blur as several bursts of light came flying towards Ren. Despite the attacks being literally as fast as light, Ren was able to dodge every single beam. As he was about ready to counterattack, Ren suddenly lost his sight. Still, even without his sight, Ren could sense the area around him. As he was confused as to what happened he heard the Goddess of Light''s voice.


    "Do you understand now? Unlike your title Strongest Mortal Soul, the title of Goddess of Light isn''t just for show. As a world deity, I have the power ofw on my side, as I can control this world''s light. For as long as you''re a being that exists in this world, I can plunge you into the darkness. This is the end for you, well it''s not like I expected you to do any better. Still, even though you''re about to die now, you should be proud that you were able to wound me."


    The Goddess of Light then fired multiple bursts of light towards Ren. She was expecting Ren to die with that assault, but to her surprise even without being able to see Ren was able to dodge all the beams of light. The Goddess of Light then continued her assault but Ren was still able to dodge. After a while, the Goddess of Light who was unable to hit Ren returned the light of his eyes.


    That ability of hers that takes one''s light uses too much divine power and since it wasn''t working the way she wanted it to, she deactivated it.


    Ren who was able to see again smiled. After those exchanges, it would seem that the two were at a stalemate. Ren and the Goddess of Light were having difficulty hitting each other, and it would seem that they were evenly matched to those who were watching.


    Yet the truth was Ren was on the losing side. In that brief exchange between him and the Goddess of Light, Ren could already guess how the battle was going to end. Even with his spiritual energy and his physical body getting stronger every second, Ren knew that with his current abilities the Goddess of Light wasn''t someone he could defeat using such half-ass means.


    Ren then looked at Lara and did some cryptic hand signals. When Lara saw Ren''s hand signals she nodded her head. Seeing Lara''s response Ren looked at the Goddess of Light while gathering all the mana he had. He even used his Spirit Aura to the very limit of what he can produce.


    "As expected of a deity, you''re harder to deal with than I thought. Still, even you would get hurt if you''re hit by this¡­" Ren gathered everything he currently had and circted it into his entire body.

 Chapter 463 - Exchange Between A Mortal And A Deity

    <h4>Chapter 463 - Exchange Between A Mortal And A Deity</h4>


    The Goddess of Light suddenly felt an overwhelming pressureing from Ren. The pressure made her feel like she was back to being a mortal again. She felt like she saw the battlefield of old embodied by Ren. It has been such a long time since she felt such dread. She hated it, she hated this feeling of uncertainty Wasn''t she a Goddess, didn''t she go beyond this mortal feeling of fear? Isn''t this person in front of her just a mortal man, that she should be able to squish like a bug whenever she pleases?


    The Goddess of Light gritted her teeth and felt anger not at the man before her but at herself. She already sacrificed so much to gain the strength and followers she had. Was that all meaningless?


    While the Goddess of Light was feeling overwhelmed by her own feelings, Ren''spanions were looking at him with astonished expressions. Valdel couldn''t believe in the power Ren was currently emitting.


    ''So he was holding back all this time¡­ Was he always this strong? Simply based on the aura he''s currently emitting, hasn''t he already surpass his peak state when he was still Demon Lord Kretos?''


    ''As expected, he''s growing stronger by the second. Every time I see it, no matter the incarnation, it such a treat to see. Still, even with this, he won''t be able to win.'' Lara thought to herself as she watched the battle unfold before her.


    ¡­


    Ren had finished unleashing his full force. This was the first time ever since his soul was healed that he was forced to go all-out. He found it amusing and got excited at the feeling he was having. He smiled that vicious smile of his, as he felt a surging exhration flow through him.


    He knew that even with this, he was no match for the deity that was standing in front of him. Still, that didn''t deter him to fight, instead, it pushed him forward to face the challenge head-on. It was not like all of his past battles were easy. There were many times that he felt that he would lose, but even then, didn''t he surpassed himself and won?


    "Now let''s see if you''re able to handle this O'' Goddess."


    Ren lowered his stance, his left hand was touching the ground, his right hand was holding Snertal, and was ced at the back. In this position, it looked like he was about to start running. The Goddess of Light sneered, she thought that he would do something different, but wasn''t this just a simple charge like before? It was at that very moment, Ren suddenly disappeared.


    The Goddess of Light quickly reacted as she lifted her hands upward, a wall of light appeared before her, defending her, yet in the next moment the wall of light shattered. She quickly evaded the next strike but unlike before, she couldn''t do it with minimal movement and evaded in a very awkward manner.


    She then saw at the corner of her eye, Ren was once again charging at her, she couldn''t evade in time, and couldn''t use a spell to protect herself. So she lifted her hands, trying to block Ren''s sword. The sword made contact with her hand. Despite her hand being sturdier than a Dragon''s scale, Ren''s sword strike was able to make her bleed, but in exchange, she had caught Ren''s sword and was able to counterattack.


    There was now a gaping hole, in Ren''s lower left abdomen. Ren started coughing out blood, but despite that, he was still smiling that vicious smile of his. Ren then increased the power he exerted in his sword swing, shing the Goddess of Light''s right arm off.


    The Goddess of Light screamed in a maddened state, as she pushed Ren away. She looked at where her right arm was supposed to be, and when she saw that it was no longer there, she grew even more infuriated. On the other hand, Ren who had a gaping hole in his stomach was chuckling.


    "Hehehe, that was pretty exciting. As expected there''s nothing that could beat the exhration of fighting a powerful opponent. This was awesome, this was the thrill I''ve long since wanted!"


    "Don''t get ahead of yourself you arrogant mortal! This isn''t much for I can still do this."


    Something started forming in the stump, where the Goddess of Light''s right arm used to be. In but a few seconds, she regrew her arm.


    "Do you see now, you arrogant mortal? I am a Goddess, you cannot kill me with such measly attacks. No matter what you do, no matter what you can think of, nothing you do will work on me."


    "Is that so?¡­ But in my eyes, it seems to me that unlike before, your divine presence seems to be weakening. So does that mean if I keep on attacking you, will you eventually fall?"


    The Goddess of Light didn''t respond to Ren''s question, instead, she red at him with all the hate she could muster. She knew for a fact, that what Ren said was the truth, in this mortal ne, she could potentially die. If they had fought in the astral ne where deities like her reside, she would have been able to unleash her full might. Yet here, in the mortal ne, her powers were limited. She couldn''t do anything about it, since those were the rules the deities abide by. If she were to break it, she would be punished by the world itself and she would cease to exist unable to reincarnate ever again.


    As the Goddess of Light was oddly silent, Ren looked at Lara and saw her nod her head. It would seem that the preparations were done. Ren then started to give out some orders using hand signals and Lara responded by nodding her head.


    "If you are able to regenerate your body parts, what if I use an attack that could destroy every part of you, all at the same time, will you die then? How about we test that out."


    While Ren was saying that. The Goddess of Light felt a horrifying pressureing from Ren''s sword. Snertal, which was being filled with mana and spirit aura suddenly roared. The Goddess of Light who heard the roar, finally understood why Ren''s sword was able to harm her. That sword was created using the body parts of an ancient dragon¡­ This was the first time since the start of the battle that the Goddess of Light felt like she could actually lose.

 Chapter 464 - That Was Fun

    <h4>Chapter 464 - That Was Fun</h4>


    As the Goddess of Light was stunned by the horrifying pressure she felting from the sword Ren held, she suddenly heard someoneughing. Ren who had a gaping hole in his abdomen was actuallyughing at her. Was an injury that could make normal men fall to the ground screaming in agony as they died, so insignificant to Ren that he was still able tough.


    "Haha, You know back in my past life when I was still called Kretos, I went on a journey to fight all of the demon lords of that time. They were powerful, cunning, and had a ton of followers, same as you. Do you know what happened to them? I defeated them all and became the strongest of that era. Now I''m thinking of taking a new journey, one were I beat all of you deities. Doesn''t that sound so exciting?!"


    As Ren was saying all of those words, the Goddess of Light didn''t respond and simply frowned at him. When she looked at Ren''s eyes, she saw a deep madness swirling within, and just looking at his eyes sent a shiver down her spine. It took some time for her to calm herself down, but after a while, the Goddess of Light finally responded.


    "Do you really think you can do it?" This time the Goddess of Light was looking at Ren properly, she was no longer looking down on him. Even though she didn''t fully believe the rumors, she now understood that this person in front of her was someone she should treat as an equal.


    When Ren heard what the Goddess of Light said, he was surprised. He wasn''t expecting her to say such things. Still, he found it very amusing that such a prideful Goddess talked like this. So as his blood was flowing out of his body and his injury wasn''t healing as fast as he wanted them to, he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Hehehe, who knows if I could do it or not? I may very well die in that journey, who could tell, but isn''t that the point? Isn''t that what makes it so exciting? Fighting an opponent that is so much more powerful than you, challenging someone at a greater height, isn''t that what makes it all fun? I want to test it, I want to witness it, to see the end of my own strength! Just imagining that grand battle before me, makes me want to jump in joy!"


    As Ren was saying all of those words in excitement, blood was flowing out of his mouth. If it were anybody else, they would have been unconscious long ago, the pain would have been unbearable. Yet Ren stood there, with the most joyous of the expressions. He was no longer looking at the Goddess of Light, instead, he was looking at a distant future to his next grand battle.


    ''This mortal is crazy¡­ Well for a mortal to face a deity, one must be crazy in the first ce.'' The Goddess of Light felt like she finally understood a tiny portion of what makes the Strongest Mortal Soul so dangerous.


    "Enough talk, let''s get on with it! This next move of mine was something I copied from the Original incarnation, it might be a bit crude, but it''s the best attack that I could offer. If you are able to survive this strike, that would be the end of me. Still, unlike the technique the Original made, I cannot draw power from my soul, but instead, I tried merging my mana and Spirit Aura into one, with that I can recreate a weaker version of it."


    Ren lifted his sword Snertal up over his head. This was the most basic sword stance that most sword schools teach to beginners, yet for some reason, that sword stance was the most terrifying thing that anyone within that room has witnessed. An overwhelming power was gathering within Snertal, as it continued to roar. This was a strike that had everything Ren had to offer.


    "This was the sword technique the Original used to wipe out all that was in its way, even the stars themselves could not survive this strike. The name of this sword technique is so appropriate for this situation. I hope you receive it well [God yer]!"


    Snertal, which had both Ren''s mana and Spirit Aura, created an image of a gigantic white sword. Ren then swung Snertal forward with a basic swing. The swing wasn''t fast, nor was it slow, the speed of the swing was as average as it can be, yet for some reason, the Goddess of Light felt that she could not dodge the iing strike. She who could move as fast as light itself, couldn''t dodge such a slow strike sounded like a joke. As the power of the strike was descending upon her, the Goddess of Light felt like a massive mountain was about to smash into her.


    She quickly gathered everything she had to counter the iing strike, she was now surrounded by an orb of golden light that protected her from the sword strike. Yet despite using most of her divine energy by surrounding herself with the orb of golden light, she still felt the sword strikeing down heavily at her. She saw that the orb was cracking. The Goddess of Light gritted her teeth and shouted in anger.


    "Don''t you dare look down on me mortal! Even with everything you have, I the Goddess of Light shall not sumb to your attacks!"


    The Goddess of Light lifted both of her hands forward, strengthening the orb of light as anger swell up from her. The orb of light started to expand, pushing the sword strike away. As the Goddess of Light felt like she was about to win, she heard Ren''s voice whisper in her ear.


    "That was a pretty fun battle, and for that I thank you. Unfortunately, I must end the fun for now. I hope that you would once again y with me when I visit next time. By then, I promise to give a proper conclusion to this battle of ours. Either you or I will die at our next meeting. So until then, have a pleasant day."


    After hearing that, the pressure from the sword strike disappeared. The Goddess of Light deactivated the orb of light and saw that the room was now empty. Ren and the others had escaped, based on the mana fluctuation that she could sense, Ren''s group used a teleportation spell to escape.


    ''I was blinded by my own rage that I couldn''t see such a massive spell being created in front of me. If only I did things more calmly, they wouldn''t have escaped¡­''


    For some reason, the Goddess of Light felt like she had lost her only chance to win against Ren. It felt like it was a certainty that she would die in her next encounter with him. The Goddess of Light shook her head to chase away those thoughts.


    "It doesn''t matter¡­ No matter how many times hees, I will always be the victor." Despite saying those words to encourage herself, the way she said itcked conviction¡­ Even she felt like she was lying to herself.

 Chapter 465 - Critical Situation

    <h4>Chapter 465 - Critical Situation</h4>


    Ren''s group had sessfully teleported out of the room where the Goddess of Light descended. After teleporting they were now in an abandoned alleyway in the middle district of the Divine City. Lara wasn''t able to pick a better location as she didn''t really know the coordinates of that room, and it was hard to tell if they were underground or aboveground. So she tried her best with what she had and this was the result.


    After they were teleported away the group sighed in relief that was when they noticed that Ren was on the ground kneeling. Ren was now in his weakest state. Right before they teleported away, Ren had depleted his mana supply.


    Ren who had nothing left could no longer heal the gaping hole in his stomach. He was still conscious but the pain he felt as the blood kept on flowing out was intense. Valdel and Lara reacted quickly the moment they saw Ren kneeling. Valdel pressed onto Ren''s pressure points slowing down the flow of blood near the area of the hole in his abdomen. Lara then pressed her hand onto Ren''s body and tried transferring her mana into him.


    Yet despite this technique of passing mana to others was something that she was proficient in, Ren''s body was rejecting her mana.


    ''Tsk, I forgot the mana of the Strongest Mortal Soul is special and manaing from an outside source will be automatically rejected. I can try to force it in, but that might harm Ren, and I can''t risk it in his current state. We need to somehow make Ren naturally regenerate his mana.''


    "Heh, I messed up. I should''ve conserved a bit of mana to suppress this injury." Ren who couldn''t move and was losing consciousness suddenly spoke. As those words left his mouth, he started coughing out blood.


    "Stay silent Ren! Just focus on regenerating your mana!" Lara grew anxious as this was the first time she has seen Ren this injured. She had seen Ren''s past incarnations dying before, some of them were even done by her hand, and every time that happens a part of her would break. If possible she didn''t want him to die before her. Ren whose consciousness was flickering from conscious to unconscious noticed Lara''s changing expression.


    "I don''t know what you''re thinking, but you should never give up until the very end. Victory wille to those that endure the longest."


    Lara almost cried when she heard what Ren said, but she held it in and gritted her teeth. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart. She then looked at Kor and Mir.


    "Do you know if there''s an alchemist''s workshop nearby?"


    Kor who had snapped out of his depression started to sniff around. After a few seconds, he responded.


    "Follow me, I smell the scent of potionsing this way!"


    Valdel picked up Ren''s body and the group started running. Kor moved as fast as he could towards the scent of potions. He then saw a shabby-looking house in the distance, that was where the scent wasing from. Kor then pointed at the house.


    "That''s where the smell ising from!" Seeing the direction Kor was pointing at, Lara and Valdel sped up as they burst into the house.


    ¡­


    Moments before Ren and the others teleported out of the Temple of the Goddess of Light. In the middle district of the Divine City, inside a shabby-looking house lived a seventeen-year-old girl who was trying to synthesize an energy potion. This girl was named Shion and she was an alchemist apprentice of the Holy Kingdom.


    It has been six years now since she started training as an alchemist apprentice. Usually, by the age of fourteen, most of the apprentices would have stopped being apprentices and would be professionals. Yet Shion was still an apprentice, she had failed the professional alchemist exam three times in a row.


    She had been mocked by others as a failure, and she was told to stop dreaming of bing an alchemist as she had no talent for it. Yet Shion refused to listen to any of them.


    "So what if I have no talent for it? I will be an alchemist so that I can fulfill my dream and hers."


    Shion''s dream of being an alchemist was something she had inherited from her older sister who had died while protecting her.


    Shion remembered the face of her kind older sister who wished to be an alchemist so that she could help those in need. Her sister had the talent to be one of the greatest alchemists yet she died for someone like her.


    ''I can''t give up now, I will be a splendid alchemist that big sis would be proud of.'' Shion followed the instructions on the book she had borrowed from the local library. It was a basic alchemy book that beginners would use. Usually, an apprentice alchemist was provided with the basic books and materials to start their journey into alchemy, but Shion had failed too many times and had to sell her books to keep on trying.


    Shion was currently low on funds, and could no longer afford to buy her materials from the local stores. So most of what she currently had were things she personally picked up from outside the city. She looked at the book and saw that she was missing some materials to finish the potion she was creating.


    ''Well, these herbs should be okay as recements.''


    Shion tossed the herbs into her burning pot and started to mix them. She then took a bottle of monster blood and poured it into the pot. The moment she did so, Shion noticed something weird was happening. She quickly moved away and ducked as the contents of her pot exploded. She was so used to her concoctions exploding that she was able to react with efficient movements. She looked at the empty pot and sighed. As she was about to clean up the room, someone suddenly burst into her house. She saw a man carrying a wounded person, and behind him was a woman of incredible beauty.


    This was the encounter that would for better or worse, change her life.

 Chapter 466 - Alchemy

    <h4>Chapter 466 - Alchemy</h4>


    Shion looked at the people who entered her house and quickly held onto her staff and pointed it at the intruders. Her hands were shaking in fear, but even then she stood her ground and spoke to the intruders.


    "Who are you people, and what are you doing here?! If you''re here to rob me, unfortunately for you I don''t have anything that you can steal so just leave! I''m warning you people, If you don''t leave now, I''ll be forced to attack you. I''m not joking, I know high-level attack spells, so if you don''t want to die then you better leave now!"


    Even though Shion had threatened them, the intruders didn''t even bother looking at her as they started rummaging around her house. Shion was truly afraid as her legs were shaking but despite that, she strengthened her resolve and shouted at the intruders again.


    "This is thest time I will warn you, leave now or I will attack? I''m not joking, I will try to kill you!"


    "Tsk, are there only these few materials in this workshop?¡­ Can we look for another workshop, no Ren is already in a critical state. There''s no choice then, Val put Ren down on the table over there. I''ll start preparing, just make sure to stop as much of Ren''s blood from flowing out. Please do whatever you can to keep him alive until I''m finished."


    "I''ll do my best, but you better hurry. Without mana or that thing he calls Spirit Aura, he won''tst long."


    The intruders didn''t even look her way as they started their own conversation, they treated her as if she wasn''t there. Shion didn''t know what to feel, but she couldn''t allow her materials to be used up now. Since those were herst stock and she had nothing left, if she loses those she won''t be able to practice and would most likely fail to be an official alchemist. Those materials were herst hope in seeding. Shion gritted her teeth as she gathered up all of her courage, and shouted.


    "I warned you!"


    Shion then started chanting a spell and once she was done released it towards the beautiful woman who was taking her materials, but even before the spell made contact with the woman''s body it was negated. Shion looked at Lara in surprise as she couldn''t understand what happened. Shion then started to panic as she used her next spell [magic missle]. Yet the same result happened as her spell was once again dispelled before even hitting the target. As she continued to be confused and was about to use a different spell, someone touched her shoulders.


    Shion looked behind her and saw a gigantic beastkin, her legs quickly gave in as she fell to the ground in fear.


    ''I''m sorry big sis, it seems like we''ll be meeting again without me fulfilling our dreams.'' Shion closed her eyes waiting for her death, but instead of being killed, she heard a kind voice talk to her.


    "I''m sorry that we have barged in so forcefully. We willpensate you for everythingter, but for now please allow us to save our friend." Shion opened her eyes and saw therge beastkin bowing in front of her, and behind him was another beastkin who was also bowing his head.


    Shion grew even more confused and that was when she noticed that the person on the table was wounded and he didn''t have a simple injury he had a huge hole in his abdomen.


    ''Shouldn''t he already be dead with that kind of injury? Didn''t he already lose some important organs, so even if they''re able to heal the wound somehow¡­ That person would still die.''


    "Miss, please just allow us to use your workshop. We will give you thrice the price of what those materials cost." When Shion heard Kor''s gentle voice she was finally able to calm down. These people weren''t bad they were just here to save their friend.


    Shion wasn''t one of those people that believed that every demi-humans were evil so she was easier to convince. Still, even though she sympathized with their plight, she wasn''t sure that they should waste the materials seeing the man''s injuries.


    "¡­ Ummm, I understand your situation better now, but¡­ I hate to be the one to say this, but isn''t your friend already-" Shion wasn''t able to say what she wanted to say as Lara angrily interjected.


    "Don''t you dare say it, don''t you dare finish that sentence! I will save Ren no matter what the cost!"


    Shion was surprised by Lara suddenly shouting at her, but she understood what Lara was feeling at this very moment. Shion also felt the same way as her big sister was dying in front of her.


    "I know it may not look too hopeful, but we need to at least try." Hearing what Kor said Shion shook her head as she replied.


    "¡­ It''s alright I truly understand. Don''t worry aboutpensating me. If I could I would want to help as well, but I''m just a failed alchemist apprentice."


    "Thank you, miss."


    After that, the conversation between the two ended. Shion then looked at Lara who was concocting a potion and Valdel who was trying his hardest to keep Ren alive. She was surprised at the skill Valdel was using to stop Ren''s blood from flowing out his body. Yet what surprised her, even more, was the way Lara was making whatever potion she was making.


    The way Lara was handling the materials, was a skill beyond what Shion couldprehend, it was an amazing sight to behold. Still, what caught Shion''s attention even more than Lara''s skill was that the ingredients that Lara were putting into the alchemy pot were so random that she couldn''t understand what Lara was trying to make.


    Every move Lara made was so elegant and precise that it was breathtaking. Even the senior alchemists in the association weren''t as good as Lara was in controlling the fire of the alchemy pot. Lara was able to control the fire with so much precision even while chopping some of the ingredients.


    While Lara was mixing the ingredients while perfectly controlling the fire, she bit her thumb and blood started to flow out. She then put a few drops of her blood into the pot and a small burst of smoke came out. The blood-red color inside the pot started to change into an azure color. There was then a fragrant smelling from the pot. When Shion saw what happened, she finally knew what Lara was making. She had read this from one of the history books on alchemy.


    ''Isn''t that the legendary ''breath of the world tree'' or more famously known as a mana potion!'' The process of making such a potion had been lost in time. It was the goal of many modern-day alchemists to recreate the effects of such a potion. Many had made inferior products, that could only restore minuscule amounts of mana despite using so many high-grade ingredients. Yet here in her broken-down workshop using the worst possible materials, this beautiful woman was able to create the legendary potion.


    As Shion was shocked by what she was seeing, she suddenly remembered that this was a potion created to save the dying Ren. ''How is a mana potion going to heal that person?''

 Chapter 467 - Breath Of The World Tree

    <h4>Chapter 467 - Breath Of The World Tree</h4>


    As Shion''s confusion grew she said nothing and simply continued to watch. Since she couldn''t understand why such a skillful alchemist would create a long-lost potion that wasn''t relevant to the situation Shion decided to keep quiet and look at what would happen next.


    ¡­


    After she was done mixing the potion Lara looked a bit disappointed, the quality of the potion was barely eptable. Still, she had no choice since the materials on hand were less than desirable, she was even forced to use her own blood as a recement material to create this poor-quality potion.


    In one of Lara''s past incarnations, Evangeline was a genius alchemist, whoter became the greatest of alchemists. She was one of the few mortals that could challenge Old Gods and actually win. She was considered by most of the ancient alchemists as the pinnacle.


    Yet now in her current incarnation, she had to use these low-grade materials. If it was her from before, she would never even look at this sh*t*y materials.


    ''Beggars can''t be choosers. It might be of inferior quality but it is still the breath of the world tree, one of the best mana potions you could create.''


    Once she was done creating the breath of the world tree Lara headed towards Ren who was now fully unconscious. Valdel was standing beside Ren''s unconscious body and was watching over Ren.


    "Val, since Ren''s unconscious he won''t be able to drink this, so I need to insert it myself, but since he''s unconscious he would most likely attack any that try to touch him by reflex. So I want you to hold him down for a few seconds."


    Valdel nodded his head, as he too understood that even in this situation as he was dying, Ren was someone that could do that. Based on the strength he showed while fighting the Goddess of Light, Ren was already at a level were Valdel could probably onlyst for about five hits if he goes all out.


    "Kor, you help as well. You and Val hold Ren down while I feed him the potion." Kor who was at the back was surprised that he was called. He looked stunned for a second but then nodded his head.


    "Alright, we need to do this quickly and at the same time. There''s a high chance that Ren even in this state would be able to counter so expect that you might die. Are you ready?" Valdel asked Kor who was in front of him.


    "I''m ready."


    "Alright, shall we do it on the count of three?" Kor nodded his head in response.


    "One."


    "Two."


    "Three!"


    Valdel and Kor quickly moved to hold onto Ren''s hands, yet the moment they were about to touch Ren''s body he suddenly moved. Ren who was unconscious summoned Snertal and was about to counter, yet because of his injuries he was moving slower than usual. If it was the normal Ren he would''ve already cut the two, but the current Ren was still at the motion before initiating the sh. Valdel reacted quickly and hit Ren''s wrist with a chop making Ren drop his sword. Kor used this chance to hold onto Ren''s legs making him stumble onto the floor.


    Valdel shifted his position and grabbed hold of Ren''s hands. Ren struggled to break free, and it was obvious that his body was trying to unconsciously use mana which made him spit out blood instead. Ren then stopped moving as his body could no longer exert any more force.


    Lara took this chance and put the contents of the potion into her mouth and forcefully made Ren drink it mouth to mouth. She continued to do this until the pot was empty. Once she was done Valdel and Kor quickly released Ren and backed away.


    Valdel and Kor were panting as it took a lot of effort to restrain Ren without trying to hurt him more than they need to. Now the group just waited to see if what they had done was enough to fix Ren up.


    Lara looked at Ren while gritting her teeth. This was the best she could do with the limited time and materials avable to her.


    ''Damn it, I was even once called the Queen of Alchemy but this the most I can do¡­ No, it''s alright, Ren is someone who has the greatest of luck as he is beyond the bounds of fate or destiny. Surely this won''t be the end of this incarnation''s journey.''


    Even though it wasn''t showing in her face Lara was extremely anxious as she bit her lips. She looked at Ren waiting for him to show her a miracle. If it was anyone else in this situation she would already have given up, and say that there was no hope even if she used something like the healing potion, the Blood of God. But this wasn''t just anyone, this was Ren, this was the Strongest Mortal Soul, surely he would surprise her as he did many times before.


    ''Ren you said that only those that endure the longest will attain victory. I believe that you will always be the victor so please show me that you will endure this.''


    ¡­


    Shion who was watching everything at the corner was amazed by what she saw. How could someone who had a hole in his abdomen and who was in an unconscious state move like that?! She couldn''t even see how he moved as it all happened so fast.


    Once the injured person was being held down, the beautiful woman who created the breath of the world tree, forcefully made the injured person drink it by using her own mouth.


    Even now Shion was confused as to how a potion that would restore mana could help the person who had a hole in his abdomen. It was true that mana could improve one''s regenerative qualities, but it wasn''t all that good. Even healing spells from priests would have difficulty healing that kind of injury. Only those at the level of the Saints could possibly heal such an injury.


    As Shion continued to observe the injured man she noticed something was happening. The hole in the injured person''s abdomen looked to be moving. She then suddenly felt an oppressive forceing from the injured person. It was getting harder to breathe as an invisible force was weighing down on her.


    The person called Valdel then stood in front of Shion and ced his right hand on her back. Shion then felt the heavy pressure being lifted as she could finally breathe properly again. She didn''t know what happened, but she knew that Valdel had helped her.


    "Thank you."


    "There''s no need for thanks, I actually need to say sorry instead, as it was our friend''s fault that happened to you." When she heard what Valdel said, Shion looked at the injured person and saw that the hole on his abdomen was getting smaller.


    "How?" Shion couldn''t help but ask as she was bewildered by how a mana potion could have such an effect. Did she perhaps make a mistake in identifying the potion and that wasn''t the breath of the world tree, but was instead another legendary potion called the Blood of God?

 Chapter 468 - Please Teach Me

    <h4>Chapter 468 - Please Teach Me</h4>


    Ren''s body started healing at a rapid pace and what apanied that was his mana started running amok. If not for Lara who had concealed Ren''s mana within the workshop, everyone near the vicinity would''ve fainted and the knights would''ve already surrounded the workshop.


    This phenomenon was happening since Ren was unconscious and his body was using arge amount of mana to heal itself. Due to his mana being sorge and wasn''t being held back it was in an uncontroble state as it raged around the workshop. It took everyone present just to hold back Ren''s mana from going berserk.


    Shion stood behind Valdel frightened by the sight, her legs continued to shake as she tried her hardest not to cry from the fear. This was the first time she saw such a powerful and violent mana. Not only was it exceedingly violent but it was also extremely thick and powerful. Usually, mana was something that was there but could not be seen by the naked eye, yet Ren''s mana had a visible physical form. In Shion''s eyes, Ren''s mana was like a monster wanting to devour everything in sight.


    It was a good thing that Valdel and the others had more than enough mana to hold it together, if not it would''ve been a very difficult task to hold Ren''s rampaging mana.


    ''Just how much mana does this person have? It''s like an endless ocean that wants to devour us under its waves.'' Kor who was helping with holding Ren''s mana back was surprised by its raw power. Kor had received Ren''s powerful punch and also witnessed Ren fighting a deity and knew that Ren was someone beyond his understanding, but this time was a different matter.


    ''So he really was holding back when he punched me.'' Kor shook his head as he shoved those useless thoughts away and concentrated on suppressing Ren''s mana.


    ¡­


    It took a full hour for Ren''s mana to stabilize and the wound to heal. Valdel, Lara, Kor, and Mir were sweating profusely as they tried to control their breathing. That was such an arduous task which needed them to concentrate for a full hour, just one slip up and they would''ve been devoured by Ren''s raging mana.


    Once she was sure that Ren''s mana had fully stabilized Lara approached him. She didn''t touch Ren as that would make him attack her, instead, she tried to assess his condition with her sight alone. On the surface it looked like the outer wound had healed properly, now the problem was did the organs that were destroyed regenerate? She wouldn''t be able to tell if she doesn''t touch Ren''s body.


    ''Well, he is breathing normally now and I don''t think he''s in any more danger¡­ Yeah, for as long as he has any kind of spiritual energy, the body of the Strongest Mortal Soul would hold. Still, I was expecting him to wake up the moment the wounds were healed, but he''s still unconscious. I wonder did something go wrong?''


    Lara who was deep in thought was interrupted by Shion who suddenly spoke.


    "Ummm, now that you''re friend is healed, what are you going to do next?" Shion had gathered all of her courage to speak. She now understood that the group of people before her were special. They were obviously stronger than those so called A-rank adventurers, and even the knights based on the skills that they showed. So she was frightened but at the same time excited. This disaster could prove to be a blessing instead.


    "We''ll be staying here for now. Here this should cover everything we used as well as the payment for us staying here." Lara took out a bag of coins and tossed it towards Shion who caught it by reflex. Shion''s eyes almost popped out as she saw the contents of the bag. The coins weren''t silver, nor gold, all the coins in the bag were white gold coins. With this amount of white gold coins, she could take the exam to be a professional alchemist every year for the rest of her life and still have some leftover. In fact, with this much money, she could live an easy life until her death.


    Shion was truly tempted to take the coins but decided against it. She quickly handed the coins back to Lara.


    "Hmmm, was that too little, do you want more, or do you need something else?" When Shion heard Lara''s question she knew that this was her chance. She needed to speak now or she would forever regret it. Shion gathered everyst bit of resolve she had and spoke.


    "Please instead of the coins, can you take me as a disciple and teach me the ways of Alchemy!"


    Everyone present was surprised by Shion''s sudden shout, but more than that they were surprised by her request. They then looked at Lara who had a stoic expression. Shion waited for Lara''s answer extremely anxious. After what seemed to be an eternity Lara finally spoke.


    "Many have asked me to teach them, they were the so-called geniuses. Even some spirits havee for guidance, and they were some that were called legendary alchemists that wished to be my students as well. Do you know how I responded to these people?"


    Shion noticed that Lara was staring at her which made her feel like a mouse being stared down by a snake. ''Wasn''t that a rhetorical question?'' After some time passed and no one had spoken, Shion finally replied.


    "I don''t know."


    "I rejected them and told them, what is there to teach since they knew just as much as I. There was no secret way, nor was there a special technique to be taught, it was just their execution and foresight that werecking. Those are things that would improve over time with some practice, so they didn''t really need me. As for you, based on the materials scattered about, and the sttered mess on the ground I can see that you don''t even have the basics down."


    When Shion heard what Lara said, she felt truly embarrassed. She wasn''t sure if what Lara said was true or not about the geniuses and the legendary alchemists, but if she had rejected those kinds of people she would most likely reject her as well.


    ''Of course, someone of her caliber wouldn''t want someone as bad as me.'' As Shion waited for Lara to reject her she had her head down in embarrassment.


    "Unlike those people, you truly need someone to guide you, and I do owe you one for it is your workshop that allowed me to save someone dear to me. So from this day onward, you are now my alchemy student."


    Shion and everyone else in the room had the same expression of shock on their faces. After hearing what Lara said about her rejecting geniuses and whatnot all of them were expecting her to reject Shion, but right at this very moment she did the exact opposite, she actually epted her.


    "What are you doing? Shouldn''t you be bowing down and epting me as your master?" Shion finally snapped out of her dazed state as she started to panic. Shion then clumsily knelt on the ground and bowed.


    "Thank you, master, for epting me as your disciple!"

 Chapter 469 - Gods

    <h4>Chapter 469 - Gods</h4>


    While everyone in the workshop were still in a state of confusion and surprise by what Lara said, Ren was currently in his Soul Realm.


    "Did I die or did I survive before I was sent here?"


    "You survived." Ren looked behind him and saw Leo''s familiar face.


    "I see, so I get to fight for another day."


    "Yeah, that was a great battle you had. Though it was a bit disappointing that you fled, instead of finishing it."


    "Hmph, I have no excuses to offer, but I can confidently say that there will be no escape for either me or that Goddess the next time we meet. I now understand how she fights and if that was the limit of her power then I have a better chance the next time we fight." Hearing what Ren said Leo shrugged his shoulders as he responded.


    "Well, you do understand that in this ne of existence a world deity cannot unleash her full might. Also, I''m pretty sure that she was holding back a bit when she fought you."


    "I know the basic information based on what you guys have told me, but what is a world deity, really?"


    "Hmmm, how to exin this¡­ Well, we do have a lot of time, so I guess I can exin it to you. To start with World Deities are different from the actual Gods."


    "Huh, then why do we even call them Deities?"


    "That''s just something that people started to call them since in the perception of a normal person they were kinda like True Deities. Yet the truth was they''re just a form of mana, a manifestation of beliefs of the living beings in the world. They are basically beings that govern a certainw of that given world. How to exin that part, for example, the God of Death, obviously governs thew of Death, he is a guide to those that die and protects the souls of the dead until they are able to reincarnate into their next life. Most of the different worlds have this world deity. Another example would be the Goddess of Alchemy, the world you are currently in doesn''t have this deity as those that practice alchemy mostly does not believe in any form of deities. So without enough belief this deity hasn''t manifested itself. So basically every world has a certain roster of world deities that is usually there no matter the world. Those would be the Gods of War, Death, Life, Light, and Darkness. Other, world deities are just add-ons that depend on what kind of people are living in a certain world. I''m sorry if I''m not exining this so well. If you want I can call someone else that has more knowledge in this subject."


    "¡­ No it''s Alright, I kinda understand what you''re saying. So then what are these so called True Gods? If world deities are simply like moderators of a certain world what are the True Gods are they like the moderators of the universe?"


    "The moderator of the universe? That title can only go to the ORIGIN, as for the True Gods there are different kinds. To exin more about that, I need to go back to the beginning. As you may have already guessed, the ORIGIN is the creator of all things, he is basically the beginning. The first semnce of intelligence that he created were the Gods, these Gods are now called Ancient Gods. They are few in number and some of our past incarnations especially the original one had killed a lot of them. Currently, based on my knowledge, there are only Twenty Ancient Gods left, each Ancient God exists in different universes. It is not possible for these ancient Gods to co-exist in the same universe as that would break the reality of that universe¡­ Well anyway, these Ancient Gods created their own beings, same as how the ORIGIN created them, the Ancient Gods created the old Gods."


    "Wait, wait, before we continue why did the ORIGIN create the Ancient Gods in the first ce?" Ren who was receiving too much information too quickly stopped Leo from talking to ask a question.


    "Oh, we''re not fully sure about this either, but we think that the purpose of the Ancient Gods existence was to get rid of the loneliness the ORIGIN was feeling. This was also the reason why the ORIGIN created the humans. It is safe to say that both sides have failed their original purpose. Well, that''s our theory anyway, of course, we can''t be too sure if that theory is right or wrong, for as long as the ORIGIN himself doesn''t give the answer."


    "I see¡­ Then what''s the purpose of the Old Gods?"


    "Oh, that''s just the Ancient Gods trying to show-off. They wanted to show the humans who were supposedly more loved by the ORIGIN that they were the ones closer to the ORIGIN, not the humans. Well, in a sense they were right. Ability wise the Ancient Gods were indeed closer to the ORIGIN than humans. The Old Gods they created were a weaker version of themselves, but these beings they created had something they did not. The Old Gods had the ability to reproduce the same as humans, but their ability to reproduce is extremely limited. An Old God can only produce one offspring in its entire lifetime and the time to produce this offspring takes a hundred thousand years. Granted that to ageless beings like them, a hundred thousand years might not be that long. These offsprings of the Old Gods are called New Gods, and they are beings closer to humans than Gods, but unlike humans, they are born extremely powerful. New Gods can copte with mortal beings such as humans, and this creates the Demi-God category. So you see True Gods and World Deities are pretty much different species. Anyone can be a world deity but to be a True God you need to be born as one."


    "I see, thanks for the exnation. So basically what you''re saying is that there are a lot of strong beings out there, that I can face in battle." Ren suddenly got excited as he showed a vicious smile on his face. Seeing Ren''s reaction Leo smiled as well while shrugging his shoulders.


    "After hearing my long-ass exnation that''s what you got from it? Well, granted if I heard the same thing that''s what I would focus on as well¡­ So anyway Ren, what are you nning to do now?"


    "What else is there for me to do? Before the rematch with the Goddess of Light, I need to gain more power, and the best way to gain that power is to train with you guys. This soul realm is the best training ce that I can ask for, cause I can get to fight strong opponents and go all out without dying¡­" Ren dered as he summoned a weapon.

 Chapter 470 - Talk Amongst World Deities

    <h4>Chapter 470 - Talk Amongst World Deities</h4>


    The Goddess of Light was back in her residence in the astral ne. She was trying to recover her divine energy which she expended on the fight with Ren. She needed to quickly recover so that the moment Renes back she would definitely kill him then.


    ''Damn it, he was so much stronger than I expected.'' As the Goddess of Light was getting angry while remembering Ren''s face, and the smile he kept on showing as he fought, she suddenly felt a divine presenceing towards her abode.


    "Who dares?!"


    "Hmph, I see that you''re still alive Jeniffer. I guess that you were lucky." A woman with equal beauty to the Goddess of Light Jeniffer appeared. She was wearing silver armor and holding a long halberd in her right hand. The halberd was glowing bright and was three times taller than thedy holding it.


    "So it''s you Tiditte." The Goddess of Light almost sounded like she growled as she spoke the Goddess of Justice''s name.


    "It''s not just her here, I''m here as well." Another person came forward, this time it was a man wearing fearsome-looking armor while wielding an enormous Warhammer. This was the God of War Hieus.


    "Even you are here, Hieus. Have the twoe here to eliminate me? How hrious, the Goddess of Justice and the God of War teaming up just to defeat a weakened me. I thought that you two had more pride than that?" Even though she was mocking them, Jeniffer was thinking about how to escape her current predicament. Since the two of them were able to easily enter her abode, that would mean her divine energy had depleted to such a state that other World Deities can now enter her personal space.


    "Hmph, I have never struck down an opponent that has already been wounded." Tiditte looked at Jeniffer with her cold soul-shaking eyes.


    "I may have once been called a coward by the most powerful man to have ever lived, but I would never think of attacking a weakened opponent, that''s not cowardly that''s just shameful. Well, it''s not like I''m still called as such, and even then, it was only that guy that has ever called me a coward." Hieus responded while looking at the distance reminiscing about a past that has long been forgotten by even time itself.


    "So if you two are not here to finish me off, then what havee here to do? Did youe to make fun of me? For I a world deity to be beaten by a mortal man."


    "Truth be told, the moment I sensed the barrier in your residence disappearing I immediately headed here thinking of administering justice upon you. I wanted to kill you since the moment your followers started discriminating against the other races. Yet I could not find your abode no matter how I searched. Also, after thinking for a bit if you as the Goddess of Light dies, the one to most likely rece you would be that head priest of yours and he is even worse than you. So I wanted to tell my followers to annihte the entirety of your cult-like religion but I could not ry that order. If the price to pay wasn''t too huge I would have led my followers to destroy every single one of you sinners."


    "So what are you waiting for? Why tell me all of that, and not just kill me now? Even at my full power, I would be hard-pressed to defeat you, and adding the God of War into the mix would''ve made it a certainty that I would die."


    "That is true, as you are now, I can finally get rid of you and all that you stand for¡­ But¡­ That would be against his will. He would not like me taking away his prey."


    "Who are you talking about?"


    "As I came closer to your abode I felt the mana of someone familiar. You have fought him have you not?"


    "The only one I have fought was the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Are you two acquainted?"


    "Our bond is so much more than that. Once upon a time, I was the daughter of one of his past incarnations, I was the adopted daughter of the original Sword Saint, Murosaki Hayato."


    "¡­ I see¡­ If what you say is true why change your mind now that you know who had fought me? Shouldn''t you want, now more than ever, to kill me?" When Tiditte heard Jeniffer''s reply she shook her head.


    "Now that you have been marked by him, your life is no longer mine to take. Surely the current incarnation said something like this, the next time we meet one of us will die, if it''s a reincarnation of my father he would surely say something like that. I hope as you await your inevitable demise you would think about all of the sins that you havemitted, and regret every decision you have made."


    "You make it sound like me dying in his hands is an inevitable reality. Don''t you know that it was not I who fled the battle but him?"


    "Though fleeing is indeed something he or most of his incarnations wouldn''t want to do, they would only do that if they feel that they could have more funter. I guess while you were fighting him, based on your personality you continued to look down on him and did not go all out. Hmph, he was giving you a chance, so that the next time you face each other you would know that not going all-out is a mistake. If you did not even understand that, then I guess you would lose faster than I anticipated. You may be a sinner that I want dead, but I at least hope that you would be able to entertain him."


    After saying that Tiditte no longer bothered to listen to whatever response Jeniffer had, and simply left the Goddess of Light''s abode. Seeing Tiditte leave with her saying those things made Jeniffer gnashed her teeth in frustration as she looked at the other intruder Hieus.


    "So what about you, why did youe here?" Feeling the intense anger and bloodlust Jeniffer was emitting, Hieus shrugged his shoulders before answering.


    "I came here to see how you''re doing. I just wanted to see how badly the current incarnation of that battle freak has beaten you up. Well, it was not as satisfying as I hoped it to be. It seems like you didn''t take much damage and only lost a portion of your divine energy¡­ Oh right, I also wanted to inform you that I would be watching your next battle personally. Seeing as I''m the God of War, I do need to bless the battlefield between your followers and those under the Strongest Mortal Soul. Don''t worry the side I will bless with all my might is your army and I won''t bless those under the Strongest Mortal Soul. I decided to take this course of action, seeing as it might turn into a one-sided massacre if I don''t do that. So don''t worry about your followers retreating because of something like anxiety. The moment they enter the battle with my blessing your army will be able to charge onward without fear." Hieus spoke with a lot of glee, which irritated Jeniffer.


    "So you''vee here to mock me?" Jeniffer spoke each word with seething rage and a re that could kill, yet Hieus continued to smile as he responded.


    "Of course, I came to mock you. To see the incarnation of that battle freak mess around with someone other than me is always a fun sight to watch. Not to mention, you were stupid enough to actually face him in battle. Not only that, based on what you said, you had a chance to beat him but you let him go. That was the stupidest thing you might have ever done. That was your only chance to gain victory and you let it slip by, so you deserve whatever''sing to you. That guy no matter the incarnation is someone that bes stronger for every battle he has faced. So as Tiditte said your demise is inevitable. I just hope the next Deity that gets that title of yours is a better one."


    Hieusughed a bit as he left, leaving behind the echo of hisughter. Jeniffer clenched her fist as anger swelled within her.


    "Each and every one of you guys looking down on me! Fine, let''s see who gets thestugh!"

 Chapter 471 - Jeniffer

    <h4>Chapter 471 - Jeniffer</h4>


    After raging for a short while Jeniffer was able to finally calm down. Once she got her bearings back, she immediately contacted her Head Priest.


    "My Goddess, what-" Jeniffer didn''t allow the Head Priest to finish his greeting as she interjected with a voice as cold as ice.


    "Get ready for war." Hearing the tone of his Goddess the Head Priest Baldur shivered in terror. This was the first time he has ever heard his Goddess talk in such a tone. The usual warmth and grace were no longer there. He could feel the hatred from her voice alone that sense shivers down his spine. The Head Priest immediately genuflected as he replied with all the respect he could muster.


    "I will immediately prepare for it. This Holy War is as good as won¡­ My Goddess while I prepare, shall I order the knights to evacuate the citizens?" Even though the Goddess of Light was angry and even though she was the worst kind of Goddess in the eyes of other races besides humans, she was still a World Deity that relied on the power of belief so she needed her followers to survive. If all of her followers die or if only a few survive she would not be able to maintain her Divine Energy and as the belief in her dwindles she would eventually cease to exist like the former God of Light, Nestor.


    "Evacuate the normal citizens, but those that can fight should stay for the uing war. This is a war that must be won at all cost."


    "It will be as youmand."


    "Tell them if they see any of the guests you met today, they should immediately bombard those people with the mana cannons."


    ''So they are still alive?!'' The Head Priest immediately came to that conclusion and fully understood why the Goddess of Light was so mad.


    "As you wish my Goddess." The Head Priest was smart enough not to talk about what happened to the guests. Once she was done telling hermands the Goddess of Light ended the conversation. Feeling the link with the Goddess of Light was cut off, the Head Priest immediately informed the heads of each sector to get ready for war.


    As he was going around giving outmands Baldur remembered the smile Ren showed him as he was teleported away.


    ''¡­ I see¡­ So that''s how the Strongest Mortal Soul thinks. He already figured out everything and wanted for that to happen. He''s a challenger, one who faces everything with a smile on his face. So that''s how it was¡­ Such an outstanding human is being fooled by the beasts. I wonder if I could persuade him to see the light of our beautiful Goddess?¡­''


    ¡­


    While Baldur was thinking of ways to make Ren join their side, Jeniffer sat on her throne in the astral ne and sighed. Today was such a bad day, she had fought a mortal to a standstill and even lost arge portion of her divine energy, and she even allowed said mortal to escape from her. To make matters worse two of the more powerful world deities had rtions with the Strongest Mortal Soul, so even if she won she would still need to face those two afterward.


    ''Was all I have done really a mistake?'' Jeniffer closed her eyes and started to reminisce about her past.


    ¡­


    Before she became the Goddess of Light, Jeniffer was the Saintess of the Temple of the God of Light, Nestor. During this era, the Temple of Light would shine its teachings upon all, no matter their race or their past, for as long as they sought after the light they were wee to join the Temple.


    Unfortunately in that era, the Temple of Light wasn''t as popr as it currently was. Among the Major Temples, the Temple of Light was the weakest one barely holding on. Not only was it already hard to maintain their standing as a Major Temple, but a lot of cults were trying to destroy them and they were being bombarded from all sides.


    At the height of the conflict, the God of Light Nestor was losing more and more of his Divine Energy as the believers were slowly dwindling. The moment when he could no longer hold on to his divinity, the God of Light Nestor was unable to pass his title to the next generation.


    With the death of their Deity, the Temple of Light was slowly being crushed by their enemies. Many of Jeniffer''s friends and family had died during this incident. It was at this moment in time that Jeniffer with her charisma and strength as a former Saintess assaulted the cults with overwhelming rage and power.


    Most of the cults she had destroyed were led by demi-humans, which led her to hate the entirety of demi-humans. So she who was the current leader of the fallen Temple of Light rejected every single demi-humans to be part of the Temple. This decision, of course, was received with outrage among the older believers that were not human. Yet with Jeniffer''s charisma and power, all the human believers sided with her and ousted the demi-human believers.


    Learning that the new Temple of Light only allowed humans into their Temple, garnered a lot of attention. Of course, the demi-humans were not happy about this discrimination, but that move also made a lot of humans happy. There were many humans that hated the other races because they were different and naturally more powerful than humans, which made the weaker humans fear them.


    It turns out a lot of the normal everyday vigers hated and feared the demi-humans. So once the Temple of Light kicked out all of their demi-human believers, many humans suddenly joined in. After a few years, the once deste and weak Temple of Light became a powerful force filled with nothing but humans.


    The human believers grew so much that Jeniffer ascended into a world deity because of their overwhelming belief. The Temple of Light kept on growing, from a dying Temple into a city and then eventually into a kingdom.


    Over the centuries as the new Goddess of Light, Jeniffer''s hatred for the demi-humans had long since faded, but despite that she never allowed any demi-humans into her Temple. The reason the Temple of Light was able to reach its current height was that they did not allow a single demi-human to join. Seeing as the human race had the greatest poption on the continent the Temple of Light didn''t really need to add the other races into their Temple.


    The other reason why Jeniffer never allowed Demi-humans into her Temple even after her hatred faded, was because of the power she received from her human believers. They allowed her to match the power of the more powerful Deities like the God of War and the Goddess of Justice. Not only that but her power continued to grow as the poption of the Holy Kingdom grew.


    Remembering the journey she took to get where she was now, Jeniffer felt that what she has done was not wrong.


    "Hmph, Goddess of Justice, who are you to judge me? In the end, it is the victor who is right. For as long as I have the power to be the victor, everything I do will be the right choice."

 Chapter 472 - The Game That Determines All

    <h4>Chapter 472 - The Game That Determines All</h4>


    While everyone was doing their own thing trying to grow stronger, trying to learn new things, or just trying to recover to their peak state within a limited time frame, there was a person deep within Ren''s soul realm who was in a very deep meditative state sitting in front of a board that had billions upon billions of pieces. The board in question was stretching out almost infinitely towards the horizon, and the pieces in y grew more and more for every second that passes.


    The one who sat there without moving an inch was the Original incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. This was the most fearsome and most powerful of all the incarnations, a mythical figure that could hold his own against the creator of all, the ORIGIN.


    After he was summoned for that one battle and talked to the current incarnation, he has been in this state since then. Usually, he wouldn''t bother with any of his reincarnations for as long as they continue to grow strong and fight, but this time he was forced to make a move and against a pathetically weak opponent at that. He wanted to move a bit since he could see that the end game was near.


    The Orignal opened his eyes and stared at the opponent sitting at the other side of the infinitely expanding board. The person was not one of his incarnations but was still able to enter his soul realm, despite not even Ancient Gods being able to achieve such a feat. It was the creator himself, the ORIGIN who sat before the Original.


    "My son, surely you have felt it as well. The game that we have yed for eons has finally reached this stage. You and I have set the board, and I have to say that I am truly proud of you. Among all the creatures that I have created, you and only you alone could y this game with me. Not one except for you could stand at the same stage as me, and for that, I am truly grateful. So my son, can you please concede on this game and quit."


    The Original looked at the ORIGIN his eyes looked as deep as the universe itself. The Original didn''t respond immediately and looked at the ORIGIN for a very long time. It was then time suddenly stopped and everything outside of the realm were the Original and the ORIGIN were staying had frozen into ce. Even the Ancient Gods of the different universes were affected by this time stop and had no idea that they were frozen in ce. Once he was sure that time had frozen, only then did the Original finally speak to the ORIGIN.


    "I can never concede in this game of ours. You should know what I had to bet into this game and the reason I y... Each move I made had led to a sacrifice I was never willing to make."


    "You already know that you''re not someone who can win this game using the other pieces. The only true piece on your side that could affect the board at this stage, is only you."


    "True,pared to your near omniscience, my moves may not impress you. The pieces I have collected in all lifetimes might not be any worth to you. Well, that is to say, they are worthless individually."


    "I know my son, you think that these pieces that you have gathered cane together and be a force that could threaten the pieces on my side. Yet how many of your pieces would be sacrificed just to take one of my pieces away?"


    "Do you think I''m not aware of that? I have already sacrificed more, so much more than you may think. Even if I need to sacrifice every piece I have, including myself, this game of ours will be won by me."


    "... My son, even though my omniscience, and omnipotence may not affect you, it will affect every other being. Though I must admit those thate into contact with you and your many reincarnations have shifted a little bit away from the flow of fate, they are still within its confines. For as long as your pieces are within the flow of fate, they aren''t fully your pieces to y, they can suddenly turn into my own pieces to y."


    "Hmph, of course, I already know that. Still, wasn''t I in the same state as them long ago. Who''s to say that those pieces will remain that way?"


    "It has been countless eons since then, and not one not a single one has been able to do the same thing as you."


    The Original didn''t immediately respond as he looked at the ORIGIN trying to see how forgone was the madness within.


    ''Of course, the mortals would never improve since you always reset them back to the beginning just as they are advancing in the right direction. On the other hand, the Gods would never try to improve since before and now they still think they''re perfect... You too have lost your perfection the moment you felt lonely. The game cannot be won if we go about your rules. So I created the reincarnation system, but in your head, it was you who created that system. That was the one move, you have never seening.''


    As the Original was deep in thought, the ORIGIN smiled in glee.


    "Among all the beings in all the universes you are the only one whose thoughts that I cannot see through, not even a little bit. I do not wish to lose you, so will you quit the game ande back to my side?"


    "No matter how many times you ask, I will continue to y this game with you until thest piece has been taken, until the final move has been yed. I will never retreat nor will I ever surrender. This is the game I have ced everything into." Seeing the never diminishing conviction in the Original''s face made the ORIGIN sigh.


    "Very well my son, if this is what you truly wish for, as your father I will y this game with you, until the day of your demise. I have been the ever-proud father to see you struggle and fight. I had witnessed your creation, and I will be there to witness your end... Your loss has always been a certainty... "


    The ORIGIN took one piece from his side of the board and ced it forward. Once he was done with his move the ORIGIN disappeared and time once again began to flow. The Original looked at the ORIGIN''s move and frowned.


    "Defeat may be inevitable in your eyes, but I will show you how I will fight to the bitter end. Surely the victor wille to the one who endures the longest."


    The Original lifted a hundred pieces from his side of the board and moved them forward to face the one piece the ORIGIN had moved. The solemn look on the Original''s face disappeared as it was reced with a very vicious-looking smile.


    "A game that has already an ending predetermined, that kind of game is boring. Oh father, if I can''t win with the rules that you yourself set, then all I need to do is not listen to those rules and flip the board at the right timing.. I will then restart the game under my own rules."

 Chapter 473 - The Eternal Moon

    <h4>Chapter 473 - The Eternal Moon</h4>


    At a lost ind hidden within the world were the monsters of a long-forgotten era reside. On that ind, for a few years now the monsters were going wild and ughtering each other.


    A few years back this wouldn''t have happened, as the Dragon that resided on the ind wouldn''t allow such arge-scale fight. Ever since the Dragon residing on the ind was killed by a random sword strike that shed through the sky, the monsters were now fighting to rece it as the king of the ind.


    During this turmoil, there emerged three monsters that stood out from the rest and had their own territories in which they protect. One was the Drake King an S ss monster that ruled over the wyverns and drakes.


    The next one was the Chaotic Hound, a legendary beast that had its whole ck body burning hotter than magma.


    Thest one was the Emperor Ape, a monster that lived during the age of myth. It had a powerful physical body that could withstand even the deadliest of spells.


    As these three monsters continued to fight each other to be the ruler of all monsters within the ind, they haven''t noticed, the being that was more powerful than the Dragon was just there sleeping in the middle of the ind under a powerful magic array.


    This magic array blocked the presence and mana of the person sleeping within, it was also there to protect the person from any outside force. It was meant to deactivate when a certain mana fluctuation touches the pirs that form the magic array.


    ¡­


    One day as the three powerful monsters of the hidden ind were once again fighting they stumbled upon the magic array. They all felt a dangerous vibe from the magic array and decided to cooperate and destroy the dangerous thing first before they continued their battle.


    The magic array had six pirs that acted as mediums so the three monsters who could feel the flow of mana knew what to destroy. Even though the pirs were made of sturdy materials and wouldn''t have been scratched with the strength of the monsters present if it was still in its best condition. The only reason the monsters were able easily to destroy the pirs was that they have long been eroded by time. After destroying the pirs an otherworldly beauty appeared before the monsters.


    She had long wavy ck hair that cascaded down her back towards her hips. She was an enchanting figure, who was wearing a white blouse that showed a bit of her chest, and a short red skirt that emphasized her thighs and long legs. She was also wearing a ck kimono over her blouse which only covered her arms and a bit of her back.


    The beauty rubbed her eyes as she yawned. She then started to stretch her body right in front of the monsters. The ferocious monsters did not attack. since the moment they spotted the beautiful maiden they could not sense any manaing from her, yet their instincts were telling them to run. They could not understand what was happening and stood in ce, confused.


    "What year is it?" The beauty spoke as she opened her eyes and looked at the three monsters. The moment she looked at them, the monsters wanted to flee but something was stopping them.


    "A wingless lizard (Drake King), a dog (Chaotic Hound), and a monkey (Emperor Ape). Were you the ones who killed Tanith''s little subordinate?¡­ No, you three cannot be the ones. Even the three of you together wouldn''t be a match to even the weakest of those winged lizards¡­ Well, whatever, I will figure that outter, for now, I need to punish the fools who dare disturb ady''s sleep."


    The beauty raised her hands, the three monsters who couldn''t retreat suddenly charged at the beauty. Yet before they could even get close enough, the beauty swung her hand and they disappeared from existence all except for the Emperor Ape, the one with the highest physical defense among the three.


    Once he was able to survive the Emperor Ape continued to charge forward and was about to grab the beauty. The Emperor Ape was the size of a hill and one of its hands could easily grab onto the beauty. Yet as it was about to grab hold of the beauty his hand stopped mid-way, he and even the beauty herself was surprised.


    "I have enough mana for my shield to activate, how can that be? Does that mean¡­" The Emperor Ape seeing the beauty being distracted no longer tried to fight. Now that the beauty was looking somewhere else and was distracted, the Emperor Ape took this chance to escape. As he was fleeing the Emperor Ape suddenly heard a creepyugh.


    "Kukuku, so this was the right time to wake up after all." The Emperor Ape then saw something falling from the sky. It was the beautiful maiden, she descended from above and mmed into the Emperor Ape creating a crater underneath.


    She was now on top of the screaming Emperor Ape. "Kukuku, I wonder what I should do with you, little monkey? On one hand, you disturbed my sleep, but on the other hand, you have allowed me to wake up at the right time, where I can meet him again. Still, the way you''re screeching while a beautiful maiden such as I, is riding your back, makes it seem like you think I''m heavy¡­ Well whatever, I guess I could spare your life since this is a joyous asion."


    The maiden let go of the Emperor Ape who sprinted away as fast he could. Seeing how fast the Emperor Ape was escaping the maiden shrugged her shoulders and no longer bothered it. She then jumped upward into the air. The jump made the ground she was standing on crack and when she got up into the air she didn''t fall down, as she stood suspended in the air.


    This was one of the old techniques called ''Air Walk'' this technique made thin footholds out of mana in the air to step on. The beautiful maiden closed her eyes and after a while, she giggled as she opened her eyes while looking at the horizon.


    ''So I can finally meet you again. Even now I can feel the mark of our contract still etched into your soul. Which Ethereal other than I the Eternal Moon Tsukiyomi could im that she has a contract with the Strongest Mortal Soul¡­ I wonder if that big lizard is awake as well and is with him now? Also, I wonder how many flies this current reincarnation has, buzzing around him? Well, it doesn''t matter for as long as I can get to meet him again.''


    Tsukiyomi had a very enchanting smile on her face that could seduce any who saw it. Yet at the same time that she was smiling, she was also crying. Tsukiyomi remembered thest incarnation Rei Kuraki, thest time he saw him off was when she and the others were dying a horde of the Old Gods, while Rei was off to fight the ORIGIN.


    She and the others held on until the bitter end, yet once again, in the corner of her eye, she was once again forced to see her beloved fall. Tsukiyomi gnashed her teeth as the pain of that memory resurfaced on her mind.


    ''This time for sure, I will die first before I allow you to fall¡­'' Tsukiyomi then started running through the air towards the area where Ren was currently at.

 Chapter 474 - The Moving Pieces

    <h4>Chapter 474 - The Moving Pieces</h4>


    In a universe different from Ren''s own universe in a dimension hidden from what can be observed a grand battle was taking ce. One of the Old Gods was fighting a group of mortals in his own dimension.


    The Old God was in his true form and was the size of a while the opponents he was facing were smaller than ants in his view. Yet these small insignificant beings had wounded him so. At the moment the Old God had the advantage but his body was already filled with numerous bruises, cuts, and burns. He an almighty being that could wipe outs with a swing of his hand was having difficulty fighting a bunch of mortals.


    On the other hand, the mortals he was facing were now on the ground some coughing out blood, others were bleeding badly, and the remaining ones still standing were trying to heal all the injured.


    "Do you see now, you are no match for me. It''s already an amazing feat for mortals such as yourselves to be able to stand in my presence, not to mention wound me. Be proud for doing the impossible, and die without regrets."


    The Old God lifted his hand and a-sized ball of energy appeared. If it was anyone else that witnessed this scene they would have already felt despair ovee them, yet these people were smiling ever so brightly. The Old God saw their smiling faces and was confused, he then remembered a certain individual who would always smile in the face of overwhelming odds.


    ''He can''t be here, I have already confirmed with the other Gods that he''s in a different universe at the moment.''


    "Why are you smiling, have you people gone crazy, or do you find your impending deaths amusing?"


    The hundreds of people who were fighting the Old God looked at each other and startedughing. The Old God frowned as his voice boomed.


    "Are you mocking me?!" One of the people who could still stand stepped forward. He was the leader of one group that were using two short swords as weapons.


    "Old God we aren''t mocking you, this is the greatest form of praise our n has to offer our opponent. I''m sure the other ns are of the same mind. One of the teachings from the founder of our n has taught us when in a tight spot, and when victory feels so far away then that''s the time when you should smile."


    "Hmm, that sounds familiar¡­ Who''s this founder of yours, if you lot are from different ns howe you have the same teachings?" Seeing as he could kill them whenever he wanted at this point, the Old God decided that it won''t hurt to learn more about these crazy mortals before ending them.


    "We might be from different ns and from different parts of the universe, but our founder is one and the same person. We are the Descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul. My n specifically are descendants of the one nicknamed the God of Battle, Death, and Victory, the mighty Leonard Tranor."


    Another one stepped forward this time it was from the group that mostly used spells and potions as they fought.


    "Our n is also Descended from an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. We are the descendants of the one that sought to unravel the mysteries of everything in existence, the one they called the Eternal Sage, Cry Loder."


    Then another one stepped forward it was from the group that uses spears and halberds. Among the different ns, they were the most muscr.


    "We too are the Descendants of an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul that was hailed to have the most powerful body even among all the other incarnations. With his left hand, he lifted a, and with his right hand, he wielded a spear that could pierce through the heavens themselves. The Thundering Guardian, As Raybach is our founder!"


    Thenst among the ns, their representative stepped forward. This n had fought using nothing but their legs and fists.


    "We as well are the Descendants of a mighty incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. His body was that of steel, his fists and legs were weapons that could destroy everything in its way. We are the descendants of the one whose name made all tremble in fear, the star crusher, Hanayame Ryuji."


    The Old God was surprised to hear the names of rather powerful incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul being mentioned. Two of which were powerful enough to easily kill Old Gods such as him as if they were children. Leonard Tranor and Cry Loder even among the powerful incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, these two were in a different league than the others mentioned just now.


    "I see¡­ So that''s why¡­ Still, even though you are his descendants, you guys are nothing muchpared to the actual Strongest Mortal Soul. If he was the one facing me, I would''ve already fled."


    "Which is why we are the ones to face you. We already know most of you Gods are cowards that would no longer face our founder in direct battle. So to lighten his load as he would once again fight the oppressor who calls himself the ORIGIN, we as his descendants are willing to eliminate those that would get in his way."


    "Hmph, you talk as if you stand a chance. Well, talk is over it''s time for you to depart." Once the Old God spoke those words he was about to drop the-sized energy ball on them. The leader of Leo''s descendants spoke to one of the descendants of Cry.


    "Are you guys still not finished?"


    "We need a few more minutes to activate the spell."


    "Tsk, I guess it''s time to die. EVERYONE! Do your best to protect the mages!" All of the descendants that weren''t part of the Sage''s n stood in front of the mages and used their strongest defensive skills.


    The-sized energy ball tore through the initial defenses easily but then it slowed down and grew smaller. The-sized energy ball was able to kill all the other ns except for the Sage''s n.


    The Old God wasn''t expecting that and was about to initiate another strike, but before he could do anything a beam of pure mana shed by. The beam of mana had easily pierced not only his physical body but his spiritual essence as well, this one strike had killed him almost instantly.


    The members of the Sage''s n all fell to the ground lifeless, they had used all their mana and life force to make that attack seed. The four ns had sacrificed arge number of their people but in exchange, they were able to take down a powerful Old God.


    ¡­


    In Ren''s soul realm, the Original who was sitting in front of the infinitely growing board saw the piece that the ORIGIN moved disappeared, but all the hundreds of pieces he had moved disappeared as well.


    The Original gnashed his teeth as his heart bled for the sacrifice he just made. Still, he needed to continue on, and no matter what he must achieve victory.


    "I''m sorry and I thank all of you for your sacrifice¡­ May your proud souls reincarnate into a better world."

 Chapter 475 - What Was That?!

    <h4>Chapter 475 - What Was That?!</h4>


    Inside Ren''s soul realm the sounds of battle continued to rage on. The sounds of weapons shing, explosions happening, and theughter of the residents could be heard. This was the normal sound that could be heard echoing everywhere as all the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul were battle-hungry freaks and they battled each other on a daily basis.


    Among them there were two people that were out of ce, they were the two Primordial Demons Ren captured. In the torrent of the neverending battlefield inside Ren''s soul, these two were even weaker than the weakest incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    Even after the many incarnations tried to teach them how to improve themselves, it took them quite some time to grasp even the basics of the basics. Well, in the eyes of the super-geniuses that reside inside the soul realm most of which could copy a skill after witnessing it once or a couple of times, the effort the two Primordial Demons were showing was too slow.


    Yet if other masters saw the improvement of the two Primordial Demons they would have praised them as once in a century geniuses. Still, despite them being called too weak and such, they were grateful to the teachings of the many incarnations. Even though the incarnations keep on saying they were improving too slowly, to the Primordial Demons that slow improvement was only great. In the thousands and thousands of years they have existed they have only improved a bit. Compared to their improvement in the few months they stayed in Ren''s soul realm, the improvement they had in the thousands of years was worthless.


    Currently, these two were watching Ren training with different incarnations. Yet watching someone like Ren training was a huge blow to their egos.


    They already understood that all of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul were geniuses of battle, but to see Ren easily grasp the concepts that they tried learning for months now was a huge blow to them. Not to mention every time Ren grasps something, he would ask the two of them to be his sparring partners, which was basically him asking them to be his punching bags.


    ¡­


    While Ren was taking a break, Leo appeared before him. He was watching Ren''s training as Ren continued to beat the weaker incarnations in a battle to learn their techniques.


    "You do understand knowing too many techniques is not really beneficial in a battle, in fact, it''s a demerit. It would slow down your decision-making during crucial parts of the battle were you would be thinking of what technique to use next."


    "Of course, I know that, I''m not some aspiring young swordsman that hasn''t bathed in blood and death of battle. I just want to learn as many techniques as possible to create a new set of skills. I already have a bunch of skills and whatnot, but if I''m somehow able to mesh together all the techniques of the other incarnations into one, won''t I be able to create a more powerful style? Right now, my body and spiritual energy are growing stronger without me even doing anything, so I no longer need to bother training in those aspects. What I need now to grow stronger are better techniques. So fighting with the different styles of the past incarnations had helped me visualize a better form."


    "I see¡­" Leo shrugged his shoulders as he sighed. He should have expected that Ren wasn''t making such beginner mistakes. Still, just to be sure he needed to remind Ren, as some of the past incarnations had on asion tried to learn as much as they can believing the more techniques you know the better. Unfortunately, he was one of those incarnations that believed such a thing, back when he was younger.


    "So are your preparations done, will you be waking up now? That reincarnation of the crazy girl Louise, what was her current name again¡­ Oh right, that girl called Lara has been looking at your unconscious body day in and day out, and while doing that she''s even teaching someone alchemy."


    "I am almost done I just need to refine these new techniques in actual battle. So how about it will you spar with me a bit, Leo?"


    "Hahaha, it''s been a while since we sparred. Of course, I''m willing to spar with you." Leo then summoned replicas of his beloved des Chaos and Serenity. Ren then summoned an entire field of weapons that were scattered all over the ce.


    "This reminds me of one of my own techniques back then, when I was still using Lauria. So are you going to use all these weapons for these new techniques of yours?" Leo asked as he was getting excited by the sense of danger he suddenly felt. Back when Ren first came here even at his peak state, Ren was no match for Leo and he won with ease, yet now Leo could actually sniff the scent of danger from Ren.


    ''Is he already at a level were he can harm me?'' Even in this soul realm, all the past incarnations were still improving and most of them were already more powerful than they were back when they were still alive. So it was an incredible feat for Ren to be able to catch up. Seeing the excitement in Leo''s eyes Ren replied.


    "Yeah, I need these weapons for my new techniques. So are you ready?" Hearing Ren''s question Leo lowered his hands and went into his most natural state as he became one with his weapons.


    "I''m always ready,e and show me how much you have improved." When Ren saw Leo''s stance he was once again reminded of how powerful this person was. Even though he had grown stronger than he was before, even stronger than his time as Demon Lord Kretos, he was still astonished by the dangerous feeling he got from Leonard Tranor. Even when he fought the Goddess of Light it didn''t feel this dangerous.


    That stance that Leo uses seems like it had a lot of openings, yet Ren who had a bit of knowledge of Leo''s fighting style knew that those openings were just feints. Make one wrong move and you would be cut in half without even knowing how it happened. Ren couldn''t help it as a vicious smile appeared on his face and he too took his stance.


    Leo finally noticed that there were steel wires moving around Ren. He then saw Ren lowering his center of gravity making his stance look extraordinarily stable, but at the same time, there was something weird about it. Leo couldn''t help but smile the same vicious smile as Ren when he saw that stance of his. The two then stared at each other for a period of time making the atmosphere extremely tense, it was at that moment Ren made the first move.


    ¡­


    A few minutester the battle ended, Ren was on the ground his weapons were scattered on the ground broken, while Leo was standing above Ren his de pointing at Ren''s head. Despite the victor and loser being so obvious the expressions on their faces told a different story.


    Ren who was on the ground and obviously the loser of the spar was smiling from ear to ear, as he was filled with excitement. On the other hand, Leo who was standing tall as the victory had a surprised expression on his face.


    "What the heck was that technique?! Even with my eyes, that could copy most techniques could not discern how that was done?! That technique ignored distance and defense. I have seen a lot of techniques with the same effect, but yours was somehow different from that?¡­ That was¡­ That was such an awesome move?! If you''re able to refine it to the point that I would not even see the initial movement, then it would be an unavoidable attack, same as the Original''s normal sword strike, [God yer]."


    "Of course, it has some simrities from that technique. I got my inspiration from the Original''s sword style, what was it called again¡­ Origin Swordsmanship¡­ Yeah, that single strike was perfection itself, and then it turns out that was just his normal sword strike. It even had a grandiose name and that was just his normal attack, of course, I wanted to replicate it. My own technique might be an imperfect copy, of meshing multiple techniques together, but after some more refining I believe it can be something more."


    Ren got excited as he imagined how to improve his new sword moves¡­ He felt like he was advancing into a new stage.

 Chapter 476 - Need To Move Your Body After Sleeping So Long

    <h4>Chapter 476 - Need To Move Your Body After Sleeping So Long</h4>


    After sparring with Leo a few more times, Ren''s new set of techniques were bing sharper, more precise, and were now better suited for battle. Techniques that were only good in theory but were useless in actual battle were discarded, while those that passed the test of battle were better refined.


    The two of them continued to spar with each other for a few more days. Even though Leo''s level was far above Ren''s and thetter would always lose, Ren''s growth was bing faster and faster. In some of the more recent battles, Leo actually used a bit more of his power. Usually, he would fight Ren on even footing and reduce his power output to the same amount Ren was using, but in some matches, Leo was forced to use a bit more power than he intended which surprised him. That would mean some of Ren''s strikes had exceeded Leo''s at the same strength.


    ''So another one I can actually y with has appeared. Just a few more years and he could probably match me in a fair battle.'' Leo wasn''t discouraged that Ren was able to quickly catch up to him, in fact, it just made him more excited, as like every one of the other incarnations the more he fights the stronger he gets. Not to mention all of them were basically the same person, they had long ago epted the fact, that they were like brothers no something more than that.


    After a few more days of refining his new techniques, Ren finally decided to wake up from his sleep. The moment his consciousness returned to his physical body he felt his body was heavy and he was extremely hungry. When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Lara looking at him.


    "Ren you''re finally awake. How''s your condition is-" Ren lifted his hand and signaled Lara to stop talking. Now that he was in his physical body Ren first needed to stabilize his consciousness as he was feeling a bit dizzy. Ren quickly noticed that they had safely returned to the underground city. After he felt a bit stable he spoke to Lara.


    "Bring me as much food as possible. I need to eat." Lara didn''t question Ren and quickly went to find food. It took her a few minutes before the first batch of food came alongside Valdel, Kor, Mir, and the neer Shion. Ren didn''t bother to greet any of them as he started eating.


    "Ren you''re finally awake, how''s your wound? Why did you sleep for so long despite your wounds already being healed? Hey, are you listening to me? Can you stop eating for a moment and talk first." Valdel spoke a tad irritated, Ren didn''t stop eating as he looked at Valdel for a moment before going back into concentrating on eating his food.


    Valdel gnashed his teeth as he tried to calm himself down. ''Yeah, Ren just woke up after sleeping for two weeks, so he must be very hungry. No need to get angry I just need to wait for him to finish his meal.''


    The group then waited for Ren to finish his meal. While they were waiting, Shion was looking at Ren in fear. This was the person that was half-dead but needed four powerful individuals to suppress his mana. Now that he was awake, she felt like he could kill her with a stare, so she hid behind Kor''s massive body.


    After Ren was done with the food in front of him, Valdel was about to speak but Ren interjected and spoke first.


    "Bring me more food, the more the better." After he was done saying his piece, Ren went into a meditative state, and no matter what Valdel said he didn''t respond. This just made Valdel even more irritated than before, but he quickly forgave Ren as he was gravely injured before this. Once the food arrived, Ren opened his eyes and quickly started to eat.


    Shion watched as Ren devoured the food in front of him, and was astonished. How could someone like Ren who doesn''t seem to have any fat on him eat so much? Even Kor who ate a lot because of his body mass was surprised to see how much Ren could eat. Even he wouldn''t be able to consume such arge portion of food so quickly.


    "Burp." Ren burped and cleaned his mouth. Seeing that he was finally done Valdel was once again about to try and talk, but Ren took hold of Lara pulled her close, and started to kiss her. Ren with quick and subtle movements started to undress Lara who didn''t resist at all.


    Shion started blushing as Kor and Mir guided her out of the room. Valdel facepalmed and sighed before leaving the room as well. The sounds of Ren and Lara''s passionate lovemaking resounded throughout the halls. Valdel didn''t know the spell on how to contain the sound and with his hearing, he could hear them all the way in his room.


    The two beastkin who had excellent hearing were forced out of their own house due to the noise. In fact, most of the servants in the siblings'' house headed out and only the four humans were left in the house.


    Shion was busying herself by performing the basic alchemy skills Lara had taught her. Still, from time to time she would start blushing as she remembered the scene from before.


    After half a day had passed the soundsing from Ren''s room finally stopped. Valdel felt relieved as he could no longer hear the two of them.


    ¡­


    Ren who had just finished having fun with Lara stood up from the bed and started stretching. On the other hand, Lara was on the bed exhausted and asleep.


    ''After a hearty meal and a good f*ck, I need to move my body. I better call Valdel, Kor, and that guy Mir to have a little sparring match with me¡­ Since my physical body has been asleep for so long, I need a little vigorous exercise to fully wake me up.''

 Chapter 477 - Morning Workout

    <h4>Chapter 477 - Morning Workout</h4>


    In the back of Kor''s mansion was an open field used for training. Right now Ren was standing in the middle of the field while Kor, Mir, and Valdel had surrounded him. At this moment Ren had requested the three of them to fight him with all their might.


    Kor wasn''t going to attack so he was looking at Ren''s movements to see what he would do and depending on who Ren attacks Kor would use his body to defend that person. If it was Kor that Ren would attack, then the others could use that chance to attack Ren.


    Mir was extremely tense at the moment as he knew that among the people present here he was the weakest. Not to mention the battle that he had witnessed before where Ren fought an actual Goddess still lingered in his mind. Standing right in front of him was a mortal man who could fight a Goddess and live to tell the tale, this made Mir feel anxious.


    While the siblings were trying their best to remain calm as they faced Ren, Valdel was looking for an opening to strike. It was weird as Valdel was able to find a lot of openings. Usually, Ren wouldn''t have any openings.


    ''This is obviously a trap for a severe counter, still, this isn''t Ren''s usual style¡­ What happened while he was sleeping?¡­ Is this rted to him being the Strongest Mortal Soul?'' Valdel shook his head to get all the unnecessary thoughts out of his head. ''I need to concentrate, onepse in concentration would be the end. This might be a spar but he did say toe at him with all our might.''


    Valdel started to emit bloodlust which surprised Kor and Mir. Wasn''t this supposed to be a simple spar, why are you emitting such an intense bloodlust? While the two brothers were panicking, Ren, on the other hand, was smiling that vicious smile of his.


    "As expected of the person who''s considered to be my best friend, you truly do understand me. Come then, let me have a good morning workout!"


    Ren''s shadow then started to expand and several dozens of weapons came out. There were hammers, spears, halberds, maces, daggers, and of course swords. Valdel had already seen Ren use this move and wasn''t distracted by the weapons as he continued to focus on Ren.


    Kor and Mir were rather surprised by the weapons that suddenly appeared, but they didn''t dare get distracted.


    As everyone''s focus was on Ren, they suddenly saw Ren wearing gloves. The gloves he was wearing had hidden steel wires. Ren was not going to use mana in this fight as he was going to rely purely on technique alone.


    Ren''s hands were at the side as he stood straight, Valdeld then saw Ren twitching his index fingers. It was at that moment he sensed somethinging from behind him, Valdel quickly ducked and a spear flew past by. Valdel was surprised as that spear flew without any trace of mana, how did Ren do it?


    Valdel looked at the spear closely and with his vision enhanced by using mana, Valdel saw the thin steel wire that was attached to the spear. There was no mana fluctuationing from Ren, that would mean he was controlling the steel wires with pure skill alone. As Valdel was surprised by that, he saw Ren moving all of his fingers this time.


    Several weapons then started moving towards Valdel, Kor, and Mir. Even though the speed of the iing attacks wasn''t great it was hard for Valdel to dodge them since they don''t emit any mana. Valdel''s usual fighting style consisted of not using his eyes but feeling the mana fluctuation of the opponent. It has been such a long time since he fought using nothing but his five senses.


    On the other hand, the beastkin siblings were doing a bit better as their senses were greater than any human, and they were dodging every strike. Still, the three continued to be on the defensive as they couldn''t get close to Ren.


    "Oh, so this much isn''t enough. Then how about this!" Ren then lifted both his hands and his fingers looked like they were ying an invisible piano. Under the sunlight, Valdel could hardly see the thin steel wires. It was then Valdel felt something wrap around his right leg, not only him but even Kor and Mir had felt the same thing.


    The three immediately looked at their legs and saw the steel wires wrapped around one of their legs. Ren then pulled back his hands and the three fell to the ground. Ren wanted to lift them up, but without using any mana and Spirit Aura he could not do it.


    Valdel and Mir were still possible to be lifted up, but Kor was too heavy and the steel wires wouldn''t be able to support his weight. So then Ren changed tactics and used the wires to control Mir. He tried to control Valdel as well, but Valdel was able to free himself from the wires.


    Valdel then charged towards Ren, but before he got close enough he saw that Mir was about to collide with him. Valdel was going to dodge, but he once again felt a wire wrapped around his leg. Valdel clicked his tongue as the wire tripped him, making him unable to dodge Mir on time. As the two collided, out of nowhere two swords came flying towards them. The swords didn''t hit them, but instead, the two swords were nted beside them. If Ren was trying to kill them these two swords could have easily pierced their hearts that neither Mir nor Valdel could have dodged the strike.


    As Ren was fully focused on the two, Kor wasn''t able to move in time. Ren didn''t even bother to look at him, as Ren knew that Kor would never initiate an attack. Still, even if Kor did attack Ren was also ready for that.


    The weapons on the ground were sucked back into Ren''s shadow as he smiled happily at the three.


    "Thanks, guys, for helping me stretch my body. So now that I''m fully awake, how about we head out to war with the Temple of Light?"

 Chapter 478 - Then Try To Catch Up To Me

    <h4>Chapter 478 - Then Try To Catch Up To Me</h4>


    When the three heard Ren''s deration their minds nked out for a second. After a short pause, they finally reacted to what Ren said.


    "Even if you say that after thest time it would take more than a few days to prepare. We can''t just go whenever you want." Mir spoke still confused as to what was happening.


    "The false start fromst time has lowered the morale of the soldiers. They won''t be able to sortie that quickly." Kor added on worried that Ren would force everyone to move without caring about their health.


    "Ren, even you should understand that if we go there right now, we will once again face not only the army of the Temple of Light but will need to face the Goddess of Light again. I know you must be frustrated by your previous loss, but we need to prepare first before we headed out again." Valdel spoke while looking at Ren concerned. He already knew that Ren was someone who would do things on a whim, but this time was different. The opponent was too strong.


    "Huh?... What the heck are you guys saying? You seem to be misunderstanding something here. I no longer need an army to whittle down the others. I''m sorry about this Val, I did promise you that I will allow these weak-ass descendants of yours to go through the trials of des and fire, but I changed my mind. Right now my body and soul are burning with excitement, and my skills are about to reach new heights. For me to reach that new stage, I need to be in a dire situation and go all out."


    Ren''s battle intent was rising to an incredible level. This was neither bloodlust nor mana, it was just his pure unfiltered thirst for battle. Even someone like Valdel who was used to Ren''s usual shenanigans was surprised by how excited he was at this moment.


    "Oh right, there''s another thing that you got wrong. I was never frustrated in losing, in fact, I consider losing the most enjoyable thing in the world. That would mean there''s an opponent out there that could face me in battle, and despite my best effort will make me taste defeat. That just makes things more interesting, thinking of ways on how to win, pushing myself to grow stronger. Not to mention the thrill of fighting an opponent above you, and when I taste victory against such an opponent, it is at that moment I can feel truly alive."


    Ren''s mana started to leak out in excitement. Yet this time it wasn''t oppressive and heavy, it changed into something burning hot as if it wants to devour everything in its mes. Mana was the representation of one''s soul, it should not be able to change yet Ren''s did.


    "I will face the enemy on my own. The army from the Temple, the Goddess of Light, everything, I will face everything on my own. There''s no need to worry for I will bring victory in my wake."


    Ren was then about ready to leave, when Valdel who was looking at Ren smiling so brightly, could no longer hold it in as he gnashed his teeth. An indescribable feeling of helplessness had ovee him as he heard what Ren said. So as Ren was about to leave he suddenly shouted.


    "Are, are we so useless? Do you not need us, anymore?... Can we not stay by your side?! Are we not even allowed to do so?! Answer me, please answer me, REN!"


    Kor and Mir were also shocked by what Ren said, but more than that they were shocked by Valdel''s sudden outburst. This person who was supposedly a reincarnation of their great ancestor was now looking like a lost puppy.


    ...


    Ren looked at Valdel for a moment and sighed. The Strongest Mortal Soul wasn''t just a title given to the Original, it''s the title each incarnation carried. All incarnations were literally the strongest being in their respective eras.


    Each incarnation walked different paths, but all roads lead to the same end. Their overwhelming power would always attract many, allies, lovers, and enemies. They were surrounded by a lot of different people, but they were always alone on that road of theirs.


    Each one took different paths, but they were all walking the road of battle, of power. None of their allies, lovers, nor their enemies could follow them into this road that they walk, as they were too far ahead.


    In the end, no matter how many people gathered, they wouldn''t be able to follow him to the end. They could not stand at the same stage as him. The Strongest Mortal Soul was a one-man show, he didn''t need a female lead, he did not need supporting actors, nor extras, and not even stagehands. He was a one-man show from beginning to end.


    Even though each incarnation looks like they could stop the sky from falling. Even though each incarnation looks like they could do anything and everything by themselves, deep down they wanted someone to walk this path with them.


    That''s why even though they were weaker than him, each incarnation would unconsciously seekpanions. It might seem like these people gathered around him by coincidence but the truth was each incarnation unconsciously seeks them out. The ones with the greatest potential, those that have the slimmest chance to break free from the confines of fate. Those were the kind of beings that he sought.


    Same as how the ORIGIN treats the Strongest Mortal Soul as his HOPE. The Strongest Mortal Soul views thesepanions of his, these weaker beings than him, as his HOPE.


    ...


    Ren smiled a different smile from the vicious one he had always shown. This smile of his was a gentler, kinder smile. Ren then said the words that most of his past incarnations said to theirpanions at one point in their journey.


    "Being useless, being unneeded, and staying by my side. I''m not the one who can decide that for you, the only person who decides that should be you. If you feel so inadequate, then run with all your might, no matter how hard, no matter how far, even if you stumble and fall, reach out your hand, and try to catch up to me. No matter how long, I will wait for you guys at this stage of mine."


    After saying those words, Ren disappeared.

 Chapter 479 - The Temple Of Light Shall Grant You Salvation

    <h4>Chapter 479 - The Temple Of Light Shall Grant You Salvation</h4>


    "Try to catch up¡­ Hmph, easier said than done." Valdel who sounded a bit irritated was now smiling. Those words that Ren said, resounded in his heart. If he just said it in the spur of the moment those words would only serve to hurt Valdel even more, yet Ren said each word with conviction. Valdel could feel his very soul-stirring.


    ''Now that I think about it, Ren has always been telling us to catch up to him. Still, he never slows down and always goes full speed ahead. So the only way to catch up is if we could surpass his rate of improvement¡­ You really think so much of us, don''t you¡­ Fine, I will do it, even if it burns my body asunder, I will catch up and reach that stage of yours!''


    "Valdel what are we going to do?" Kor asked still in a state of confusion by what happened.


    "What else can we do, of course, we should follow him! We can only bring the strongest among us. So that would be the group we had when we charged inside the Temple of Light. In Ren''s current state he might not need any backup, but you never know. Even someone as powerful as him trips every now and then, especially in his current state. Seeing as Ren is currently intoxicated, he might make more mistakes than usual."


    "Intoxicated?" Mir asked.


    "Yeah, he''s currently intoxicated with his newfound power. I want to use, I want to see my very limits, I want to unleash it all. These might be the thoughts going around Ren''s mind at the moment. Ren has always been strong, incredibly so, the opponents at his level are few and are pretty much hard to find. So now that he has found an opponent who is above him, his next course of action would be to use everything he has to crush that opponent. No tricks, no clever tactics, just a simple head-on collision. At this state Ren wouldn''t be thinking of ways to survive, he would be focused solely on unleash everything he has until he wins. So we need to be there to support him just in case. I''ll wake up Lara, you two get ready."


    ¡­


    As Valdel and the others were getting ready to chase Ren, the person himself was already at the front gates of the Divine City. Above him were several hundreds of wyverns and dozens of those so called airships.


    Ren had spread his entire mana sense to surround the entire city. He immediately figured out the exact location of all the soldiers. He also noticed the disappearance of the citizens, well everyone from the middle to the upper district, those of the lower district were still present and it would seem a powerful person was fighting multiple assants while protecting the people of the lower district.


    ''Oh, the hero found out the truth. Still, now that he defected to the other side, why does he still have his powers? Why isn''t the Goddess of Light taking them back? Could it be that once given it cannot be taken back¡­ Now that I think about it those other heroes also¡­''


    While Ren wasing to a sudden realization someone''s voice echoed throughout the city. It was the voice of that crazed head priest.


    "So as our Goddess has predicted you havee back, O'' Strongest Mortal Soul! Yes, I heard it from our Goddess the one who has earned the title of the Strongest Mortal Soul is you. The person who stands above all the mortal beings in this realm. One whose predecessors made even the Gods above fear their names. Yet the most important title that you seem to have discarded, that the first incarnation had, have you not discarded the title of the first hero? Where you, not a hero that saves all, was that not your original purpose? Then why have youe here to take from us?"


    "That''s a funny thing to hearing from you guys, have you not taken so much from others yourself. Have you not taken the freedom of the beastkin, the dwarves, the half-demons, and the half-dragons? The current me cannot im to be a hero nor could I im to be a good person, but even then I have standards. In my eyes, you guys are nothing but trash."


    A man then descended from one of the airships, it was the crazed Head Priest Baldur.


    "Have you misunderstood something O'' Strongest Mortal Soul? I might see the worthless demi-humans as nothing, but our master our beloved Goddess shines her light on everyone. We did not take from them, instead, we brought them salvation. We showed them the ugliness of their beings and once they see it, once they understand the truth of their worthless demi-human selves they die and will be reborn as true humans in their next lives."


    "That kind of salvation is not any salvation that I would want."


    "Why say that O'' Strongest Mortal Soul? Even after our Goddess so kindly spared you and your friends to see the Light, you still refuse to see our ways."


    "I''ve been spared? Your Goddess failed to kill us because she was ipetent."


    The moment Ren said those words a massive amount of bloodlust flooded towards him. It wasn''t justing from one person it wasing from several thousands of people. Ren couldn''t help but smile that vicious smile of his as he felt this spine-tingling bloodlust. Ren then saw Baldur was now crying, his tears overflowing.


    "In the end, you fail to understand anything. I wanted to save you, I truly did, I wanted you to see the shining Light of our Goddess. Yet you have failed to see beyond that darkness of yours. I heard that the Strongest Mortal Soul retains his sense of self, even after reincarnation. That would mean unlike everyone else your soul cannot be cleansed even after death. I feel nothing but pity for you. The one being in all the worlds that have been stained to the point that he can no longer be saved."


    Baldur''s tears suddenly turned into tears of blood.


    "Yet despite that allow me to bring you a bit of salvation. If you ept, the guiding light of our Goddess then surely even you could be saved. The Temple of Light shall grant you salvation."


    "I refuse."


    "I see, then you have chosen damnation."

 Chapter 480 - I Will Annihilate You All

    <h4>Chapter 480 - I Will Annihte You All</h4>


    "Due to your stupidity of not seeing the light despite it being right in front of you, it has cost you salvation. I even tried my hardest to convince you, yet you could not evenprehend what I had offered. Now you have chosen your own damnation. I weep for you O'' Strongest Mortal Soul, it was right I was handing it to you, salvation was within your grasp yet you denied it. How can you not understand the greatness of our Goddess, how can you not understand her passion and her love?! Oh foolish one, I hope that you grow a brain in your next reincarnation. May our almighty Goddess of Light shine her holy light on your filthy soul. May you find the proper path the next time you reincarnate, May you-"


    The Head priest Baldur continued to rant on and on about how Ren was stupid and ungrateful. As he continued to talk more and more wyvern knights started appearing beside him. Baldur wasn''t sure how strong Ren was, but he was confident in the wyvern knights that dedicated their lives and souls to their beloved Goddess, not to mention he as an individual was a powerful person.


    Ren might have some fanciful title such as the Strongest Mortal Soul, but that might just be him being the strongest in a one-on-one scenario. Unlike Ren who stood alone, Baldur had with him the strongest army in the continent, the army created for the most astounding of Goddesses.


    Baldur felt like Ren''s pride was his undoing, for Ren came here alone believing he could destroy them by himself. Baldur didn''t really believe that Ren could handle everyone present. So he continued to berate Ren since for some reason berating someone as powerful as Ren felt extremely satisfying. As Baldur continued to speak, Ren suddenly started moving forward.


    Several wyvern knights went forward to protect Baldur and block Ren''s path. It was at that moment Baldur felt something ominous and quickly stepped back. As he was confused as to what that feeling was Baldur heard Ren''s surprised voice.


    "Oh, so you were able to dodge that." Once those words came out of Ren''s mouth the bodies of the wyverns and the heads of the knights riding them fell to the ground. They were all sliced in half, that cut was so clean and precise that no blood burst out, it just started dripping a bit.


    "All units attack! Don''t give him any room to do anything and press on and attack! Kill this heretic, kill him now!" Baldur was the first to react as he gave his orders while retreating. On the other hand, the wyvern knights charged forward.


    Ren sighed as he watched Baldur retreating, he wanted to end the noisy priest in one shot. Yet he had made a mistake in his action. He should''ve waited for a better opportunity before he attacked.


    ''His irritating voice got to me, I got too impatient and attacked too early. Well, whatever, I just need to kill him now.''


    Ren evaded the tail whip of one wyvern, he then caught its tail and swung it around hitting the other nearby wyverns. Ren then tossed the wyvern towards the direction of the fleeing Baldur. The tossed wyvern moved so fast it was nearly about hit Baldur, but before it could even get close a wyvern knight intercepted it.


    Seeing the head priest once again escape, Ren clicked his tongue. He then closed his eyes and breathed in and out, once he cooled down he showed his vicious smile to all and shouted.


    "Fine! I don''t care how lucky you are! I''m going to annihte you all, it doesn''t matter if you flee now since in the end, you are all going to disappear today! So struggle all you want ande at me with everything you have, and know true despair!"


    When Baldur heard what Ren said he gritted his teeth in frustration. It was like Ren was indirectly telling him that he was a coward. Baldur wanted to charge at the heretic but knew, that the moment he did so, he would die. In the few moves Ren made, Baldur quickly understood the difference of power between them. Still, that was alright since he still had an army with him.


    "Use the cannons and bombard him!"


    The cannons that were set on the airship were all aimed at Ren and they started firing at the same time. The sound each cannon made was like the roar of thunder. Seeing the iing metal spheres falling towards him, Ren summoned Snertal and sliced the metal spheres before they reached him.


    The moment Snertal sliced through the metal spheres they exploded. The power of each explosion was simr to a mid-tier spell.


    ''Oh, those things aren''t mana cannons nor are they holy cannons. Meaning those things aren''t powered by mana nor divinity¡­ I see, same as all the things here they created in this ce, it''s a weapon anyone could use. How truly wonderful this ce is, if only they weren''t worshiping such a worthless Goddess.''


    Ren continued to slice the iing metal spheres, as they continued to fall he couldn''t find an opportunity to attack back. So as he swung Snertal, Ren created numerous spears made out of pure mana. After a few minutes, there were now several mana spears floating beside him. Ren made the mana spears rotate as fast as possible which he thenunched towards the airships.


    "Intercept those spears!" The wyverns used their wyvern breath to attack the mana spears, but all that did was slow the spears a little bit. The cannons were then used to intercept the mana spears, they were somehow able to stop the mana spears from reaching, but they gave Ren enough time to counter-attack. Ren quickly summoned actual spears and threw them at the airships. Unlike his mana spears, the speed of his throw had created a sonic boom, pushing away anything that got near.


    The airships started to fall down one by one like wingless birds crashing down towards the buildings below. It was at that moment Ren noticed that he had been surrounded, several hundred knights in full armor had gotten near him.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about!" Ren stomped on the ground which started cracking. As the ground shook some of the knights who were close to Ren had be unbnced. It was at that moment, Ren stomped on the ground again making spears of earth pierced through the nearby knights.


    Many had died in that one instance, but none of the knights loyal to the Temple of Light backed away, instead those that survived charged forward. Ren then returned Snertal into his shadow and summoned a long halberd which he started to spin around. Ren holding the halberd was like a hurricane of death, as he ripped apart the iing knights.


    Kim Chul who had sessfully evacuated the citizens of the lower district to a safe ce, came back to help Ren, but what he saw had him dumbfounded. As blood and flesh flew throughout the battlefield, you could hear the cries of pain of the knights and theughter of joy of a certain man.


    ''If I didn''t know how this conflict started it would look like Ren was the bad guy.''

 Chapter 481 - The Eternal Moon Has Arrived

    <h4>Chapter 481 - The Eternal Moon Has Arrived</h4>


    As Ren was having the time of his life fighting the neverending torrent of enemies, he hasn''t noticed that he was sustaining damage, though they were just some tiny scratches. he was slowly but surely umting wounds. It was then Kim Chul arrived to provide assistance. He appeared behind Ren and attacked the knight who was about to stab Ren at the back.


    "Ren, thank you for telling me about the truth. So as thanks please allow me to help you in th-" Kim Chul wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as he was blown away by a punch. Kim Chul quickly regained his bnce and looked at his attacker. The one who punched him was none other than the person he wanted to help.


    "Don''t you dare get in the way of my fun, hero! Just stay at the side and protect those that you must protect. But never under any circumstances think that I''m one of those people that need protecting. So get back and watch at the side, if you continue to be in my way then I will y you alongside everyone else!"


    Ren then started to emit such an intense bloodlust that the wyverns and horses of the knights were going crazy.


    Hearing Ren''s threat as well as feeling that overwhelming bloodlust of his, Kim Chul wasn''t scared, but he looked at the anger in Ren''s eyes and sighed. Kim Chul then backed away heading towards the ce where he hid the citizens of the lower district. As he was retreating he saw the anger in Ren''s eyes fading and was once again reced with glittering excitement.


    "Now let''s get back to the fun!"


    ¡­


    Baldur was watching from one of the airships and saw the horrific battle unfold. No, what was happening before him could not even be called a battle, that was a simple one-sided massacre. Though they were able to somehow put some scratches on Ren''s body that was all the damage they could manage, despite using everything they had. On the other hand, Ren had effectively destroyed around a third of their army.


    The wyvern knights were just used as things for blocking and throwing. The mage unit that was down there could not even get past Ren''s mana barrier.


    "Switch to anti-mage tactics, now!"


    Even though Baldur already knew that for some reason Ren was not bothered by the mana dispersers he still needed to give out the order, since if they continued without changing something Ren would continue to massacre them.


    ¡­


    Ren was able to immediately notice the smoke that stops the flow of mana as this was already the third time he felt it. The moment he sensed the mana flow stopping Ren quickly started using Spirit Aura. While using Spirit Aura a lot of his techniques that needed the use of mana would be unavable, but that wasn''t really that much of a problem for him, in fact, that was something he weed.


    Ren started using the steel wires hidden in his gauntlets, while the knights were now using those rifles that fired metal. Ren was able to use his steel wires like thin des that cut anything thates near him, effectively cutting the bullets bursting out of the rifles. Ren then started waving around his hands as if he were dancing. As he passes by the knights with elegant movements, those same knights became sliced meat.


    The knights tried to surround Ren with their giant shields to somehow stop him from moving, yet Ren who using the steel wires coupled with Spirit Aura was able to slice through their defense like it was paper.


    It was a terrifying sight to behold, but despite them being absolutely annihted the knights of the Temple of Light never backed down and continued to attack Ren. Even in such a dire situation the knights never doubted their victory, for as long as their beloved Goddess lives, then victory will always be on their side. Those thoughts filled their minds as they willingly gave up their lives for the sake of the Temple, for the sake of their Goddess.


    Watching the fearless knights charge and die for the sake of their Goddess was such an inspirational sight for Baldur. The head priest of the Temple of Light could not help but shed tears of blood for the fallen warriors of the Temple.


    ''May all of you brave and courageous knights find your sce by our beloved Goddess''s side.'' Once he was done praying for the lost souls of his fallenrades, the head priest spoke to themander standing beside him.


    "Are the preparations not yet finished?"


    "Due to the unexpected deaths at the beginning, we weren''t able to keep up. We haven''t finished it yet. It might take a few more minutes." Hearing themander''s answer Baldur gnashed his teeth in frustration.


    "Damn it! Don''t you see our finerades down there being killed by that heretic?! For every second that we dy, more and more of ourrades will fall."


    "We will speed up the preparations!"


    ¡­


    As Ren continued to kill the knights of the Temple of Light, he suddenly felt some kind of pressureing from above. The feeling he got was the same as when he fought the Goddess of Light.


    ''Is she about to descend?'' Ren quickly took out Snertal as he looked above his head. He then heard the irritating voice of the head priest.


    "Heretic, you have killed thousands of our braverades, but even then we will not falter. It is time for you to receive divine punishment. This spell was something granted to us by our beloved Goddess so receive it well, and DIE! [Heaven''s Light]!"


    A giant magic circle appeared on the clouds above the city. Ren knew that even if he ran at full power he wouldn''t be able to escape the range of that attack. He was also unable to teleport due to the mana flow being disrupted. This was an extremely grim situation for him, but it just made him smile even more. Ren gathered every bit of his Spirit Aura and coated himself with it.


    A gigantic beam of light descended upon Ren, obliterating everything from the buildings to even the mana in the air. Yet for some reason the light did not affect the knights that surrounded him not a single bit. As if able to read his mind, the head priest spoke.


    "This is a divine spell granted by our Goddess, those that are under her, will never be damaged by its warm light. Now be gone from this world you damn heretic!"


    ¡­


    ''Now this is turning out to be even more exciting than I thought!'' As Ren was getting ready to initiate a counter move, he suddenly heard someone''s voice. It was the voice of a woman, and it sounded extremely familiar to him.


    "Kukuku, what a hideous light this is. Such a thing isn''t worthy to be in our reunion." The moment the voice spoke those words, the beam of light scattered and disappeared into nothingness. After that, even though it was midday the surrounding area suddenly darkened. A silver moon appeared above the clouds, and basking in the moonlight was an otherworldly beauty floating among the clouds.


    She had long wavy ck hair that cascaded down her back towards her hips. She had an enchanting figure, that could make any man look her way. She was wearing a white blouse that showed a bit of her chest, and a short red skirt that emphasized her thighs and long legs. She was also wearing a ck kimono over her blouse which only covered her arms and a bit of her back.


    As Ren looked at the otherworldly beauty his birthmark that was shaped in a full moon started to shine brightly, it was at that moment the ruby red eyes of the beauty stared at Ren, the beauty then smiled a bewitching smile. Her melodious voice tickled Ren''s ears.


    "It has been ages, my love, I Tsukiyomi the eternal moon has once again returned to your side."

 Chapter 482 - Dont Any Of You Dare Get In Our Way!

    <h4>Chapter 482 - Don''t Any Of You Dare Get In Our Way!</h4>


    When the [Heaven''s Light] descended upon Ren it was such a majestic sight that Baldur started crying. This spell was one of the reasons that their Temple of Light could match up to even the oldest of Temples. Even newly birthed world deities would find it hard to survive this one attack.


    This was also the first time that Baldur has seen the [Heaven''s Light] in action. He only heard the legends about it being used in the past when the other weaker Temples attacked the Temple of Light. As Baldur watch the powerful blinding light fall upon the heretic known as Ren he felt excited. The devil would finally be subjugated. As Baldur was getting more and more confident he spoke to Ren using a spell to enhance his voice.


    "This is a divine spell granted by our Goddess, those that are under her, will never be damaged by its warm light. Now be gone from this world you damn heretic!"


    ''Now that [Heaven''s Light] has descended there is nothing to worry about. Surely even he would not be able to do anything.''


    As Baldur was feeling satisfied with himself, he saw Ren smiling under that intense burst of light. Even in such a dire situation, he had such a smile on his face.


    ''Hmph, just a foolish struggle of a person that''s going to die. No matter how much you struggle under the light of our Goddess all heretics will be torn asunder.''


    It was that moment when Baldur felt victory was at hand a melodious voice rang in his ears. "Kukuku, what a hideous light this is. Such a thing isn''t worthy to be in our reunion." The moment the voice spoke those words, the beam of light scattered and disappeared into nothingness.


    The ultimate spell, [Heaven''s Light] disappeared just like that. Baldur couldn''t believe his eyes, the believers standing beside him could not believe it either. As their confusion grew more and more, the surrounding area started to change. The weather which was sunny just moments ago started to darken, and the sun that was above their heads disappeared, what reced it was a shining silver moon.


    Under the moonlight of that magnificent silver moon was a maiden of unimaginable beauty. Even Baldur who has devoted his life and soul to his Goddess was momentarily swayed by that beauty. Yet the moment he even got that feeling he quickly punched himself. He continued to punch himself until those unwanted feelings disappeared.


    ''Who is that demoness that tries to seduce me?! Is this one of that heretic''s tactics?'' As Baldur''s confusion grew more and more, he once again heard that wondrous voice of the beautiful woman.


    "It has been ages, my love, I Tsukiyomi the eternal moon has once again returned to your side."


    ¡­


    Ren looked above, before he heard Tsukiyomi tell her name he was still unsure if it was really her. In the memories shared by Edge and Rei Kuraki, Tsukiyomi was more of a pre-teen typedy. Yet this Tsukiyomi looked like an older sister of the one in Edge and Rei Kuraki''s memories. Seeing the dumbfounded expression on Ren''s face, Tsukiyomi''s bewitching smile grew wider. She then descended with light steps towards Ren.


    Now that she was right in front of him, Ren was sure that this certainly was the Tsukiyomi that Edge and Rei Kuraki knew, albeit a more mature version.


    "Have you once again fallen for my charm? It has been such a long time. As I have expected wherever the battle is that''s where I shall find you. So before we bask in the light of our reunion can you tell me your current name?"


    "It''s Ren¡­ So you''re Tsukiyomi. I''ve been wanting to meet you for a long time as well!" Ren then showed a very vicious smile in front of Tsukiyomi. The moment Tsukiyomi saw that smile she quickly created a sword. This was one of her abilities as an Ethereal [Weapon creation].


    Tsukiyomi quickly blocked the iing strike made by Ren and then countered, but Ren was able to evade with ease. After that brief exchange, the two of them took some distance.


    "Kukuku, as expected of my beloved. Even though this is technically our first meeting, to attack me like this the moment we meet was already something I expected you to do. Unlike Edge and Rei, it would seem that your current incarnation is more true to his desires. Kukuku, I understand that only a reunion with blood and steel will suit the two of us. Come then my beloved, let us share a dance the deadly and beautiful dance of battle that you so love!"


    Tsukiyomi took a stance, it was the same stance Edge Regius uses, the Moon Edge Style''s first form [Hazy Moon].


    "As expected of one of the longestpanions of the Strongest Mortal Soul, you understand what I want!"


    Ren charged at Tsukiyomi with Snertal at hand, the moment he got close enough Ren lowered his body as Tsukiyomi''s de flew past him. That was Moon Edge Style''s [Crescent Moon] it was one of the fastest shes of the style. Ren already predicted that Tsukiyomi would start with that move, so he was able to evade it despite unable to follow the strike.


    Ren was then about to counter, but Tsukiyomi was still faster. Tsukiyomi passed by Ren and used Moon Edge Style''s [Moonlit Dance]. This was a technique that makes a hundred sword shes look like one. So in an outsider''s viewpoint Tsukiyomi had only shed once, but the truth was numerous shes happened in that one instance. Yet Ren was able to block all those strikes. When Tsukiyomi saw that she grew excited as well.


    "Kukuku, as I expected only you can make me feel this way!" Tsukiyomi shouted in a voice full of ecstasy.


    "Then let''s get even more excited, Tsukiyomi!" As Ren and Tsukiyomi were about to begin another exchange the knights of the Temple of Light had surrounded them.


    "Kukuku, how boorish of you knights. Can''t you see that this is a lovers reunion, we have no time to entertain you knights." Tsukiyomi was still smiling but the aura she was emitting was bing deadlier by the second.


    "She''s right, if you want to y as well, you guys bettere back after we''re finished." Ren red at the knights that disrupted them. Ren and Tsukiyomi then spoke in unison as they began to attack the knights.


    "Don''t any of you dare get in our way!"

 Chapter 483 - True Descent

    <h4>Chapter 483 - True Descent</h4>


    Valdel, Lara, and the others quickly followed after Ren once their preparations were done. As they were getting closer to the Divine city Lara noticed that there two mana fluctuations of simr wavelength. One of them was Ren''s and there was another. When she noticed that, Lara looked above and with her excellent eyesight she was able to spot a silver moon shining above the capital. Seeing that silver moon Lara couldn''t help but sigh as she stopped running. Valdel, Kor, and Mir also stopped and looked at Lara confused.


    "What are you doing Lara, were near the Divine City. I already sense that there''s another powerful person besides Ren."


    "You sensed that but you didn''t notice?"


    "What are you talking about?" Valdel tried to sense the mana fluctuation again and was surprised by what he felt, he then looked at Lara.


    "So you finally noticed, there are only two reasons as to why there could be two of the same mana fluctuation. One Ren was able to summon one of his past incarnations or the more likely scenario is that b*tch has awakened. Either way, Ren wouldn''t need our help anymore."


    "I don''t know who that person you''re talking about is, but even if he doesn''t need any help wouldn''t you want to watch the battle? Even just watching a battle of that level is good training."


    "I''m pretty sure you and I are already past the point for that kind of training. That kind of training is only good if you haven''t seen too many battles. I have no need for such training since the only reason I''m currently weak is that my soul is still trying to stabilize itself. As for you, it''s because your body hasn''t caught up to the level of your technique."


    "You''re not hiding it anymore, huh." Valdel smiled as he scratched his head.


    "What''s the use of hiding something you already figured out. Yes, like you I have memories of my past life, but unlike you not only do I retain my memories of multiple past lives, but once my soul stabilizes my body will reach its peak state."


    "Hmph, aren''t you and Ren pretty much cheating at this point?"


    "Please don''tpare me to Ren. Unlike mine Ren''s reincarnation cycle is more stable. Not to mention that he grows stronger simply by existing. If you want to call someone a cheat, isn''t the very definition of one?"


    "I now understand why you''ve be quite talkative. I''ve been a bit confused since you guys and everyone else keep using terms iI don''t understand. I hope you exin to me everything you know."


    "Well, you are his current best friend in this incarnation so I guess you should know the basics. Very well, I''ll tell you the story of the Strongest Mortal Soul."


    "Wait, that''s forter, first we need to get to a better vantage point to watch Ren''s battle."


    While Valdel and Lara were talking, Kor and Mir stood behind them unable to understand a single thing that was said. The group then started running again, but this time they were headed towards a hill near the Divine City to get a better look at the battle. Once they got closer, they could finally see the carnage Ren and Tsukiyomi wrought.


    The four of them had different reactions when they saw the sight before them. Lara was able to quickly spot Tsukiyomi, when she spotted the Ethereal Lara clicked her tongue.


    ''Tsk, that b*tch actually matured? Well, I guess after a few Decamillennium of course anyone would grow.''


    It seemed that Tsukiyomi noticed her as well, as she looked directly at Lara for a few seconds and then smiled at her. Tsukiyomi suddenly appeared behind Ren who was just finishing off another knight. She then out of nowhere kissed Ren on the cheek. Ren immediately countered by swinging his sword at Tsukiyomi but the damage has been done. It was rather surprising that she was able to get so close to Ren, but what was even more surprising that Ren wasn''t able to react fast enough, but more than that.


    ''WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT B*TCH DOING?!'' Lara was filled with rage, but she knew that unless her soul has fully stabilized she won''t evenst a few seconds against even the weakened Tsukiyomi.


    Valdel also noticed the new person fighting beside Ren.


    ''That person must be the one Lara is calling a b*tch. She must be a part of Ren''s past lives. I see that she''s extremely powerful and skilled, she would probably be above me even at my peak¡­ Still, more than that, why is it another woman?! Are all of Ren''s pastpanions mostly women? Is all of his past lives a bunch of perverts, that only know how to fight, f*ck and eat?!''


    Even though Valdel had fused with the memories of Kir, he was still the young rather innocent boy Valdel. Unlike Kir who has done the deed multiple times, Valdel hasn''t done it with anyone.


    While both Lara and Valdel were in a state of rage, Kor and Mir were looking at the battle nay the massacre unfolding before them with awe and fear. Above them, the sky was darkened and a silver moon shined upon the gruesome battlefield.


    The sky which was once ruled by the powerful wyvern knights were gone. In the face of Ren and Tsukiyomi''s overwhelming might, the wyvern knights became nothing more than flies. There were also the airships that the Holy Kingdom was proud of, that were now burning on the ground.


    The sword saints and swordmasters of the Holy Kingdom had tried their hardest to hold Ren and Tsukiyomi back but they were all became sliced meat. Yet what surprised Kor and Mir more than how the two were annihting the army of the Temple of Light, was that while they were doing that they were actually trying to hit each other as well. It was like they were having a one on one battle against each other while the army of the Temple of Light were just obstacles in their way.


    ¡­


    Baldur was watching the fight between Ren and Tsukiyomi who as they fought each other were killing the nearby knights. He could not believe how powerful the two were, it turns out that the army of Light that he was so proud of was nothing in front of such power. Baldur gnashed his teeth in frustration but after a while, he sighed as he looked at the fewrades he had left.


    "We had brought shame upon the name of our Goddess. It is now obvious that we arecking in strength to subjugate the heretics. But fear not my fellow believers, our Goddess is ever merciful. It is now time to offer our lives to our beloved Goddess so she may walk thesends and smite the heretics. Do not fear death for upon our death the Glory of our Goddess will forever remain and we will be there by her side!"


    Baldur and every believer present nodded their heads as they gathered their resolve. Each one of them took out a ritual dagger and spoke in unison.


    "WE OFFER OUR LIVES AND SOULS FOR THEE! MAY YOUR LIGHT ILLUMINATE THESE LANDS!" Baldur and the remaining believers stabbed their hearts with the ritual dagger.

 Chapter 484 - World Deity

    <h4>Chapter 484 - World Deity</h4>


    Ren was shocked by the scene before him, as out of nowhere all of those from the Temple of Light that were still alive suddenly pulled out simr-looking daggers and stabbed themselves in their hearts. Ren couldn''t understand why they did that. These people even as they were losing would never sumb to despair as their belief in their Goddess was unshakeable, so it wasn''t possible that havemitted suicide out of despair.


    As Ren was getting confused as to what was happening, it was at that very moment he felt massive energy from above. Ren immediately understood what was happening as the vicious smile on his face grew even wider.


    "Tsukiyomi, stand aside and let me deal with this! If you get in my way I will never forgive you!" Seeing the excitement on Ren''s face Tsukiyomi shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She stepped to the side to watch theing battle.


    ''So this incarnation still has the same crazed battle intent. Well, it doesn''t matter, the moment I see him in a dire situation I''ll swoop in and save him. This time, this time for sure I won''t allow you to die before my eyes again. As I promised all those years ago, no matter how broken you be I''ll be sure to fix you.''


    ¡­


    The energy above grew more and more as a shining light parted the clouds. From within the clouds, a figure emerged it was the familiar figure of the Goddess of Light, but unlike their first meeting she was wearing proper armor and had a sword and shield at hand. It wasn''t just her wearing proper equipment, the current Goddess of Light was emitting divine energy that was beyond what she disyed before. Compared to the current Goddess of Light who was like a warrior, the one he and the others met before was like a child.


    The Goddess of Light looked at the smiling Ren and frowned. She then noticed the Ethereal standing beside him. She had knowledge about the race that was called the failed weapons of the Gods, yet this was the first time she has actually seen one. Still, by the looks of it, the Ethereal wouldn''t join in the fight. The Goddess of Light then went back to ring at Ren.


    "Have you any idea of what you''ve done?"


    "What is it, I killed those that attacked me? Don''t make it sound like it''s my fault when they were the ones who came to provoke me."


    "If you were smart, you would''ve never returned here. I already allowed you to flee one time, but now there will not be a second time." Wings of Light sprouted behind the Goddess of Light. The Goddess who was flying above the clouds had her sword pointed towards Ren.


    "If I remember correctly, you didn''t let me go, you had no choice but to let me go." Ren summoned a multitude of weapons from within his shadow.


    "Hmph, you have killed thousands of my believers. Your crimes, your sins are too heavy to be forgiven. So it''s time for you to die!" The Goddess of Light shouted as she made a piercing attack at a speed that was as fast as light itself. Multiple rays of light descended towards Ren who evaded each one.


    The Goddess of Light then appeared behind Ren and was about to pierce him with her sword. Yet the moment the sword was about to stab Ren multiple weapons appeared and blocked the Goddess of Light''s sword. Despite the weapons blocking her sword''s path, her sword had easily blown away all the weapons that blocked her. Still, that was enough to hit, for that dy gave Ren the time he needed to dodge the iing strike.


    Ren then used this moment to counter, as he swung his arm that had grabbed hold of a spear. The spear went straight for the Goddess of Light''s head, yet the moment it got near it phase through her. What was hit was simply the Goddess''s after image.


    The Goddess of Light was able to once again get behind Ren, she then bumped Ren using her shield. Ren flew across the battlefield, and as he was getting his bearings back he felt something slice through his right arm.


    Ren quickly took his sliced arm and reattached it using his mana. As he slid through the battlefield, he noticed that the Goddess of Light disappeared from his sight. Ren stomped onto the ground and created a wall of earth that surrounded him. Suddenly a beam of light sliced through the wall of earth as if it was paper.


    Ren then used Snertal to block the beam that was about to slice his head. Yet despite his efforts, the beam was able to push him to the side. Ren then saw a sword flying towards him, Ren deflected the sword and it was at that moment the Goddess of Light appeared before him and was about to smack him with her shield. Ren could not get the arm he used to deflect toe back in time to block the iing attack, also he was in an awkward position and he wasn''t fast enough to evade.


    Ren quickly used his Spirit Aura to strengthen the body part the Goddess of Light was about to hit. Still, even after doing that, the moment the shield hit his abdomen that was hardened using Spirit Aura Ren almost puked, that was how hard the hit was.


    The Goddess of Light followed up that attack with a close-quarters beam of light. Upon contact with the beam of light, the ground exploded and a mountain of dust flew upward. The Goddess of Light took a step back and stopped attacking as she suddenly felt something was wrong.


    ¡­


    ''So this is the full power of a world deity¡­ HOW AWESOME, HOW INCREDIBLE!'' Ren couldn''t help butugh heartily as his excitement reached a whole new level.


    "HAHAHAHA, you''re better than I ever expected O'' Goddess of Light! I see I see, so you weren''t trash! Now that you have shown me your full might, allow me to reciprocate!"

 Chapter 485 - Ren Going All Out

    <h4>Chapter 485 - Ren Going All Out</h4>


    The Goddess of Light who had transcended her mortality centuries ago was feeling something she had long forgotten, she was actually feeling fear. At this moment Ren was exuding mana that was continuously growing, not to mention there was also this mysterious form of energy that was coating him. She was actually feeling dread as she watched Ren smiling at him with that vicious smile of his.


    Ren looked at the Goddess of Light like he was looking at the most precious treasure in the world. In a sense, Ren was showering the Goddess of Light with crazed affection. Yet this was not the kind of affection the Goddess of Light wanted.


    "Now Goddess of Light, allow me to show you my full strength!" Ren hid all of his weapons back into his shadow and took a stance without any weapon at hand. When the Goddess of Light saw what Ren did her anger overcame her fear.


    "Even now, even now! YOU dare look down on me?!" The Goddess of Light released a burst of light that burned everything it touches. This was the same move as [Heaven''s Light] but at a much smaller scale. Tsukiyomi was quite near the st radius and was about to get hit. She raised her arm and took a bit of mana from Ren through their contract and created a mana shield.


    ''It''s still not at the level of Edge''s nor is it even near Rei''s level but as expected his mana just keeps on rising.''


    ...


    The light from her st faded and she could not see Ren anywhere in sight, but the Goddess of Light did not let her guard down. She raised her shield and was about to fly up when she suddenly felt a hand touch her face.


    "Looking for me!" Ren had grabbed hold of her face, at a speed that she could not discern. Among the World Deities, her speed was near the top as she could literally move at the speed of light. It was not just her movement that was fast, all of her senses match up to the same speed, yet even she was not able to catch Ren''s movement.


    Ren then proceeded to smash the Goddess of Light onto the ground. The ground cracked the first time, he then raised the Goddess''s head again and was about to smash her onto the ground again, yet before he could do it, the Goddess of Light grabbed hold of his hand and tried to burn it. Ren was reacted quickly and let go of her, upon letting go of her face, Ren smashed his knee onto her head.


    The Goddess of Light could not react at all and was blown away upward. She gritted her teeth and stopped herself mid-air by using her wings of light. As she floated in the air she quickly initiated an attack by sending beams of light to the ground.


    "Who are you hitting?" The Goddess of Light heard a voice above her and raised her shield upward. An enormous force smashed onto her shield and she was pushed downwardnding onto the ground her legs shaking. Ren once again appeared before her and was about to punch her face. The Goddess lifted her shield to block the attack, but it turned out to be a feint and the real attack was a roundhouse kick to the neck.


    As the Goddess of Light staggered to the side Ren grabbed hold of her neck and lifted her up. Ren''s grip was so strong, that no matter what she did the Goddess of Light could not escape. The Goddess of Light started to panic as she grew confused.


    ''How is he so strong? He wasn''t this strong thest time we fought, and I wasn''t even going all out back then. It has only been a few weeks how can he gain such strength in such a short amount of time?'' As those thoughts filled her head, the Goddess of Light remembered what the God of War told her.


    "You had a chance to beat him but you let him go. That was the stupidest thing you might have ever done. That was your only chance to gain victory and you let it slip by, so you deserve whatever''sing to you. That guy no matter the incarnation is someone that bes stronger for every battle he has faced." It turned out those words were no exaggeration.


    "Was that all you were capable of? I guess I overestimated you a little. If you have any more trump cards hidden you better use them now, or this time you will truly fall."


    When the Goddess of Light heard what Ren said she looked at him and saw the expression on his face, it was one of disappointment. When she saw that look of his something within her snapped.


    "You''re still looking down on me!" The Goddess of Light no longer hesitated and started to release all of her power. She didn''t want to do this, as after using this move she would need to replenish her divine energy for a century. Even if she won now, her believers would need to fend for themselves as she sleeps. Yet seeing as she was about to lose, such worries were nothing more than a luxury.


    Ren who was holding the Goddess of Light''s neck noticed that the Goddess of Light''s body was turning translucent. Not only that, but, Ren was also feeling an intense heating from her, and he could no longer hold her neck. Seeing the change that was happening to the Goddess of Light Ren could feel his excitement returning.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about! You should''ve used this from the start!" As Ren was shouting in excitement he saw in the corner of his eye, that his arm was once again sliced off. The Goddess of Light was now moving faster than before. Ren quickly got hold of his arm and reattached it. As he did that he was now evading the Goddess of Light''s sword swings.


    Ren could not find the right timing to counter, nor could he find a way to escape the relentless attacks. The speed, precision, and power of each of the Goddess of Light''s attacks were iparable from before. Ren was forced to take out Snertal from his shadow as he matched the Goddess of Light''s sword swings strike for strike.


    "Show me more, and I will show you no matter what you do, I will surpass you!" Ren happily dered.

 Chapter 486 - Go Beyond Your Limits!

    <h4>Chapter 486 - Go Beyond Your Limits!</h4>


    Ren and the Goddess of Light exchanged sword strikes at a speed that went beyond just being fast. Each strike was made with not just speed, but power and precision. Each strike was made to take the other person''s life in a single hit. The once prosperous-looking Divine City had be nothing more than a huge crater with almost nothing left of its former glory but some few wrecked airships here and there.


    Ren was having a st as he swung his sword thinking that he should go faster, making each strike with sharper movements in each swing. He continued watching the Goddess of Light''s every movement and trying to take advantage of any mistakes she made. This was the kind of battle he loved the most. On the flip side, he was sure that the Goddess was doing the same thing and one mistake would lead to the other losing miserably.


    ''This is it, this is the only ce were I can feel that I am truly alive.''


    While Ren was getting excited for every passing second the battle raged on, the Goddess of Light, on the other hand, was getting even more irritated. She was already using her maximum power but Ren was still somehow able to keep up with her. She was clearly faster than Ren and her strikes were more powerful, yet Ren was able to keep up. He was not only able to keep up but there were times that he almost got her.


    "How are you keeping up?!"


    "Hmph, you may have the superior speed and power, but my battle experience is leagues above yours."


    The Goddess of Light gritted her teeth as she increased her speed. Ren was unable to quickly react and gained some scratches here and there, but after a few exchanged Ren was once again able to perfectly match the Goddess of Light''s superior speed.


    ''If this keeps up I will eventually lose. Since it came to this, I need to finish him in one decisive move. I need to force an opening or else the one to die would be me.''


    As Ren was growing as he fought he noticed something strange was going on with the Goddess of Light. Ren''s instincts told him to quickly back away so he did. Unlike other people who hesitate due to what their minds say is different from what their instincts tell them to do, Ren was someone who will follow his instincts during battle, no matter if he thought that was the wrong move.


    When the Goddess of Light saw how quickly Ren backed away she cursed in her mind on how good Ren''s instincts were.


    ''Fine, since it''s like this, I''ll just force an opportunity. Even if I expend all of my divine energy in this battle, it doesn''t matter for as long as I win!'' The Goddess of Light started to shine even brighter than before, and a burst of blinding light surrounded her.


    Ren who was the closest to the Goddess of Light was blinded by the light and could no longer see. It wasn''t just his eyes he could not spot the Goddess of Light by tracking her divine energy as that burst of light scattered her divine energy everywhere. In these conditions, it will take quite some time to pinpoint her exact location. The Goddess of Light had no scent so Ren could not use his sense of smell, the Goddess of Light also never made a sound while attacking, so Ren could not rely on his ears either. The only thing Ren could use to spot the Goddess of Light at this point was his sense of touch.


    Ren created a mana barrier to protect himself, he used his Spirit Aura to its very limits and coated his entire body with it. Ren then lifted Snertal to block any other attack aimed at his vitals. The only option Ren had now was to wait for the Goddess of Light''s attack, endure it, and then counter.


    Ren felt the mana barrier in front of him was cracking, so he shifted his position to intercept whatever wasing to the front. The moment the strike at the front broke through his mana barrier he swung his sword and heard a dull thud sound. Ren was quick to understand what that was, that was the Goddess of Light''s shield. The moment he was stunned by that fact something went past his mana barrier at his right side.


    Unlike the attack upfront, this one easily broke through his mana barrier and was now heading towards him. Ren was unable to retract his sword in time, and he could not create another mana barrier. The only thing he could do at the moment was to try and evade. Ren barely evaded the iing strike that was faster and stronger than any of the other attacks made.


    Despite evading the fatal blow both of Ren''s hands got injured and he was unable to move them. It would seem that strike was meant to deal with his mana healing. The wound he sustained from that strike was not healing properly as the mana with him was being disrupted by the divine energy that entered his body.


    The blinding light finally faded and what was shown was a panting Goddess of Light. She had expanded most of her remaining Divine Energy to do that killing move but it seeded and failed at the same time. It was a good thing that even though Ren avoided death, he was now unable to use his arms. On the other hand, despite her feeling extremely tired and her Divine Energy almost depleted the Goddess of Light still had the upper hand.


    "It would seem that this is the end. I have won this battle." The Goddess of Light dered.


    "Tsk, don''t go deciding that on your own."


    "Without your arms and your mana being disrupted even if you use that unknown energy of yours, it would only prolong your suffering. You have reached the limit of that mortal body of yours."


    "Who are you to decide that?! If I''m at my limit then all I need to do is go beyond that!" Ren who was smiling ever so viciously suddenly shouted at Tsukiyomi.


    "Don''t you dare interfere, Tsukiyomi! If you butt in now I will never forgive you! Surely you of all people understand, this is what brings meaning to my existence! So don''t you dare get in my way!"


    Tsukiyomi who was standing by the side frowned. ''As expected of one of his reincarnations, he was able to discern what I was going to do from my subtle body movements. He''s not only focusing on the opponent in front of him, he''s aware of his entire surroundings. I guess in this regard he is better than Edge.''


    Seeing that Tsukiyomi was no longer showing any signs of taking action Ren returned his focus to the Goddess of Light as he picked up Snertal using his mouth. He then spoke while Snertal was in his mouth.


    "Now let me show you how I go beyond my very limits!" It was hard to understand what he just said, but those that heard his deration even though they could not understand the words, but they understood what was said through Ren''s spirit.

 Chapter 487 - The End

    <h4>Chapter 487 - The End</h4>


    Even though his arms were pretty much useless, and he could not circte his mana in his current condition, Ren continued to smile that vicious smile of his as he bit down on his sword Snertal. The Goddess of Light did not charge in despite her overwhelming advantage, as a wounded beast was dangerous.


    The Goddess of Light no longer had a shield so she changed her stance into a more offense-orientated one. As she faced Ren who was weakened and nearly out of breath she suddenly remembered the time when she was still human, as the Saintess of the old God of Light. Back then she had been in many situations such as this. Yet despite always facing overwhelming odds she always somehow won in the end. Still, her opponent this time was also someone who had survived even more life and death situations than her.


    The two locked eyes with each other, and Ren sense that there was some change in the aura of the Goddess of Light. He didn''t really bother with that as he got excited all the same. Ren and Snertal roared from deep within their souls and charged forward. Snertal was created by the bones of a dragon the most powerful living creature in existence. Even the true Gods themselves do not take dragons lightly, especially ancient dragons.


    Even though it was just a sword now and only had a little spirit of a dragon, Snertal was nevertheless a dragon. It roared in joy and pride as it faced the world deity, in gloriousbat.


    Ren swung Snertal using his mouth, the Goddess of Light stepped back to evade the strike and at that moment Ren spun and was about to kick her. The Goddess of Light no longer stepped back and instead stepped forward and shed at Ren''s leg.


    Ren stuck Snertal onto the ground and flung his body away before the Goddess of Light''s sh was able to hit. Ren then used this momentum to initiate another strike. Now that the Goddess of Light had shed downward Ren found the opening he needed. Yet before Ren''s strike could reach her the Goddess of Light let go of her sword and evaded the strike.


    As the sword was falling to the ground, the Goddess of Light kicked it back upward forcing Ren to step back. The Goddess of Light then grabbed her sword and pierced forward. Ren shifted his head a little to the side evading the attack and countering.


    The two continued to exchange blows like this, and same as before the longer they continued the sharper Ren became. Still, even as he was improving he was still in a very disadvantageous situation as he now had many wounds on his body and each one wasn''t healing as the Divine Energy that invaded his body disrupted his mana flow.


    The exchange between the two was less shy than before, but unlike before each strike they made depleted their opponent''s stamina. It was now a contest of endurance, the one who endured the longest would win.


    Ren despite his arms dangling lifelessly as he swung his sword using his mouth, was smiling from ear to ear. On the other hand, the Goddess of Light who had fought Ren to this point was reminded of long-forgotten things. This battle had helped her remember some feelings she had back when she was still mortal.


    She remembered her origin. On that sad battlefield, as her family, friends, and fellow believers were dying by the hundreds, she wished for a world where she and all like her would no longer need to fight. A world where you can believe in whatever religion you want, and you won''t be judged because of it. She had once dreamt of a world where every child was smiling happily no matter their race.


    Yet at some point, she had forgotten about that dream due to her rage. Though the rage has long been gone, that memory had disappeared with it. She had pushed it aside and grew more distant to it as each day passed by. Now she became the ruler of the very ce she hated back when she was still mortal. The moment those memories and feelings returned to her in this crucial moment made the Goddess of Light, Jeniffer chuckle lightly.


    "What are you doing?!" Ren shouted as the Goddess of Light no longer lifted her sword and allowed Ren to strike her. Yet before Ren''s de had cut off her neck, he stopped.


    "I''m tired, very tired, as you reminded me of something I have long forgotten. So I decided that maybe it''s time for me to rest. Who better toy me down to my eternal rest than the Strongest Mortal Soul himself."


    "No, no, no! This is not how it is supposed to be! What happened to your fervor, what happened to your anger? Aren''t you insulted that a mortal such as I had pushed you to this state?"


    "What''s the point, the dream I had before was crushed by my very own hands. I have forced thousands to their deaths, and had be something I never wished to be." When Ren saw the lifeless look the Goddess of Life gave him, he grew angrier.


    "So what?! So you realized that you have be evil, then so what?! Do you think dying like this would absolve your sins?! Then what of your believers that died believing that you would win, will you forsake those wishes of theirs?! If you finally acknowledge your mistakes, then the more reason to try and live. I know it might sound weirding from the guy that is literally trying to erase your existence, but is this really the way you want to die?"


    The Goddess of Light looked at Ren who no longer had a smile on his face. In fact, unlike the time he was being sliced and battered he looked more hurt now more than ever. It was at that moment the Goddess of Light finally understood the hiddenyer within the Stronger Mortal Soul. She smiled gently at the Strongest Mortal Soul and raised her sword once more.


    "Then let''s end this in a more fitting way."


    "¡­ Alright, then." Ren bit onto Senrtal''s handle again and bent his neck to the side raising Snertal upward. The Goddess of Light charged at Ren at full power, and Ren shed downward at the same timing. The Goddess of Light was confused as to the timing of Ren''s attack. At her current speed, she wouldn''t reach the range of the sword strike, and Ren would miss. Yet despite that, she unconsciously lifted her sword to block. Ren''s sword that was a meter away from her made a full arc downward and at that moment the Goddess of Light''s sword and her body were sliced in half.


    That was Ren''s new sword technique, a technique that ignored distance and defense. It was a nearly unblockable strike. If he had performed that technique before the Goddess of Light would''ve easily dodged. Yet now that she was tired and was caught by surprise she wasn''t able to do anything at all.


    "Thank you for the battle." As those words entered the ears of the fading Goddess of Light she looked at the man who continued smiling. Yet she knew that there was more hidden within that smile of his. She then whispered to herself.


    "O kind, gentle, Strongest Mortal Soul, I hope that you too find your rest someday."

 Chapter 488 - New World Deity

    <h4>Chapter 488 - New World Deity</h4>


    Once the Goddess of Light fully faded, Ren finally remembered the reason why they went to the Holy Kingdom in the first ce. He came here with Valdel and Lara to find the location to the entrance of the underworld, but as things went out of control so fast, they totally forgot about their main purpose.


    ''Well, it doesn''t really matter, I can just ask Silika. Heck, even Tsukiyomi might know where the entrance is. I could also just go to one of those other temples that have invited me to visit, overall this isn''t really a problem. Though I wonder if Valdel realized that we have forgotten our main objective.''


    As Ren was shrugging his shoulders he suddenly felt a massive amount of Divine Energy entering his body. The damage he had sustained during the fight was being healed. Ren who was surprised for a few seconds finally understood what was happening.


    ''I defeated a World Deity so I was chosen as the next one to gain the title¡­ I see¡­ So this the power of a world deity.''


    Ren then started to hear the voices of different beings praying to the Light, there was also a stream of information forcefully inserted into his mind, as his body was also slowly changing into something different. He could feel that once he fully changes into a world deity he would be forced out of this mortal ne.


    ''Hmm¡­ Divine Energy doesn''t depend on my strength, hmph this kind of power is boring to have and is pretty much limited. I don''t really need it, and it doesn''t really matter as I already decided who to give this title to. Oh but first, let me talk to that guy.''


    Ren looked at the hero Kim Chul who was standing at a distance. He then moved towards him, with thew of Light, Ren was able to move as fast as light itself. This was faster than how he normally moves. The only reason he was able to keep up with the Goddess of Light during battle was because of his superior reflexes and his battle experience which made him able to predict most of the Goddess of Light''s actions.


    ¡­


    Kim Chul who had watched the entire battle from start to finish was in awe as it felt like he was watching a real-life anime battle, well the battles he had were also anime-like, butpared to Ren''s his was more like a fight from an anime with pretty good martial arts fights, but Ren''s was more akin to something from an anime with golden-haired busters. As he was still trying to calm himself down from the excitement of watching the battle between Ren and the Goddess of Light, Ren suddenly appeared before him.


    "I''ll get straight to the point. Do you want to go home to your own world? With the abilities granted to me by bing a world deity, as the sessor of the one who had summoned you into this world, I have the right to send you back. So do you wish to return to your world?"


    Kim Chul was surprised to hear Ren''s question. So he could actually return. Ever since he was transferred into this world he never thought of returning. This was the world transfer that most otakus like him dream of, yet it wouldn''t be a lie to say that he didn''t miss his friends and family. After the brainwashing had worn off, his homesickness has been growingtely. If not for the mission of protecting demi-humans he would''ve slowly gone insane from anxiety.


    As Kim Chul was about to answer, someone suddenly tugged onto his sleeves. It was one of the demi-human children that he saved.


    "Are you leaving us? I thought you promise to be with us and protect us?" The demi-human child was on the verge of tears. Ever since Kim Chul protected them he became their hero, but more than that to most of the demi-human children that no longer have parents, Kim Chul became something like a father figure to them.


    When Kim Chul heard what the demi-human child said his hesitation disappeared and he smiled.


    "Since you''re able to bring me back, that would mean you can do that any time right?"


    "That is true, though I''m not going to be a World Deity for long, the person that will rece me will have the power to bring you back anytime you want."


    "I see, that''s good enough. So I think I''ll be staying for a while more." Kim Chul patted the head of the crying demi-human child. Ren shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he replied.


    "Suit yourself." After hearing Kim Chul''s decision Ren headed towards the area Valdel and the others were at. Tsukiyomi was also there now bickering with Lara.


    "Kukuku, so the traitorous b*tch actually reincarnated again. How long are you going to stick to him like a cockroach?"


    "Heh, look who''s talking aren''t you the cockroach here? Oh right, sorry you''re not a cockroach you''re a washboard."


    The two were smiling at each other but their killing intent was explosive.


    "Kukuku, look who''s talking at least I''m not a fatty with excessive meat on me."


    "Who are you calling fat, you damn washboard?!" Lara took out her bow and gathered mana into an arrow aimed at Tsukiyomi.


    "Stop saying washboard you f*cking fatty!" Tsukiyomi created a sword and pointed it at Lara. The two then red at each other, when Ren suddenly appeared before them. He didn''t bother the two women fighting and instead spoke to Kor.


    "Hey Kor, you wanted to save your brethren from oppression right?"


    "Huh¡­ Oh yes, I do." Kor wasn''t expecting Ren to talk to him and was startled by his question.


    "Now that most of the believers of the Temple of Light are gone, you can start over. It might take a while to achieve your dream of equality if you go about it your way. So why don''t I give you a boost? I can give you a better position so that you can make a better Holy Kingdom. So Kor, how about you be the new God of Light?"


    "Huh?" Kor and Mir looked at Ren dumbfounded by his proposal.

 Chapter 489 - Passing The Title

    <h4>Chapter 489 - Passing The Title</h4>


    While both Kor and Mir were still in a state of shock, Tsukiyomi and Lara''s argument was bing even more heated. Though he only understood a portion of Tsukiyomi and Lara''s rtionship Valdel needed to intervene before things get out of hand.


    "Um,dies I don''t know about your past lives, but Lara you keep on calling Tsukiyomi a washboard, which I''m assuming means t-chested, but that might have been in the past. Look at her carefully now."


    Tsukiyomi and Lara stopped bickering for a while and listened to Valdel. Lara then looked at Tsukiyomi''s chest and to her surprise, it was no longer t. The image she had as she met Tsukiyomi again was that of her young self, but now that she got a closer look at Tsukiyomi, she could finally see her true look.


    The Tsukiyomi of the past was an otherworldly beauty but her overall look was that of a child around the age of thirteen or even younger. Yet the current Tsukiyomi looked to be around seventeen or older. Even Tsukiyomi herself was surprised by this sudden realization. She was in a hurry to meet up with Ren that she didn''t get a good look at herself, and she was excited to meet him that she didn''t realize that her body had changed over the years.


    "Kukuku, it would seem that things have changed. I''m no longer a washboard as you say. Now that I look at you, I should apologize you aren''t the fatty I remember anymore."


    When Lara heard what Tsukiyomi said she looked at her own body, and it was as Tsukiyomi said, unlike herst reincarnation her current body was a little bitcking. Still, it wasn''t that she had bad proportions butpared to herst reincarnation it was a step-down.


    "Hmph, well I guess you have improved, butpared to me you''re still nothing much." Lara shrugged her shoulders as she replied.


    "Kukuku, it would seem that the damage in your head has doubled in this reincarnation. Don''t worry as your long-time friend, rival, andpanion, I will help you. I few hits to the head should do the trick." Tsukiyomi created a club.


    As the tension between the two was once again rising, the two of them looked at each other with little smiles on their faces. Seeing how the conversation was going and looking at the expression of their faces, Vadlel could only sigh as he shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡­


    While the two women were doing their own thing, Kor and Mir were having a conversation of their own.


    "Brother, I should be the one to do this." Mir was the first one to speak. Kor simply shook his head and answered.


    "This is not for you to undertake. Also didn''t you hear what Ren said? He''s trying to give the title of God of Light to me and not you."


    "But-"


    "Mir, I might be considered the strongest warrior of our kind, but I''m not the type to be their leader. That''s your job isn''t it little brother."


    When Mir heard what Kor said he bit his lips as he suppressed the emotions he felt right now. Mir then looked at Ren who was floating above them with a halo of light.


    "Tell me, Ren, once my brother bes the God of Light will he still be himself?"


    "Well, that''s an interesting question. Before I answer your question how about I ask you my own question. What do you mean by himself, do you mean will he still be Kor the wolf kin or will he be Kir the God of Light, is that what you mean? Tell me how do you define oneself?"


    "¡­ I just want to know if he will still be my brother¡­"


    "Mir¡­" When Kor saw Mir''s distress he


    "Hmmm, I see so that''s what you mean. Then the answer to your question is that a portion of him will still be your brother, but most of it would disappear. Even now as I have not fully ascended as a World Deity, I can feel some of my feelings being distorted, there are even a bit of my memories that are trying to be removed. Well, I can tell you now that I am a special case. I feel if it was anyone else, then their feelings would already be distorted and most of their memories wiped out. So I guess once Kor receives the title of God of Light, some of his memories might disappear, and a few of his emotions might intensify. Overall I guess he''ll somehow be him, but at the same time not him."


    When Mir heard Ren''s answer he looked at his older brother and was about to say something but Kor raised his hand to stop him from talking as he spoke first.


    "Don''t you worry Mir, you know me my willpower isn''t something that will waver so easily. I''m sure if I try hard enough I can retain my sense of self, more than you think."


    "But what if-"


    "Don''t you trust me Mir?"


    When Mir saw Kor''s resolve he knew that nothing he says would be able to move his big brother. As the little brother of Kor, he needed to at least show his own resolve. Mir grind his teeth as he answered with a loud voice.


    "Of course, I trust you! Leave everything to me big brother, I''ll lead everyone to a better future! So you need to be our guiding light, not just for us demi-humans, but for the humans as well. So that you may fulfill your wish, we both need to do our best." Kor nodded his head as he smiled at his little brother, he then looked at Ren and spoke.


    "Ren, please hand me the title of God of Light."


    "Are you sure? This is yourst chance to back out."


    "It''s like you said before, I need to grab hold of my dreams with my own hands. This is my chance and I''m taking it." Kor answered with the utmost confidence, making Ren grin. He then spoke the words that were ryed to him by the knowledge passed down for being a World Deity.


    "Then, I Ren relinquish my title as a World Deity, as the God of Light, and I pass it down to you, Kor¡­ May thew of light continue to shine upon the world."

 Chapter 490 - Returning To New Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 490 - Returning To New Grenton</h4>


    Ren, Lara, Tsukiyomi, and Valdel had finished their dealings within the Holy Kingdom and were now heading back to New Grenton. After passing the title of God of Light to Kor, the believers of the Temple of Light were immediately notified. Once it was known to the believers that the new God of Light was a demi-human, of course, many started to leave, yet at the same time to everyone''s surprise there were also many that stayed.


    It would seem that not all humans believed in the teachings of the head priest Baldur saying that the demi-humans were an inferior race. Those that stayed followed the old doctrines, back in the time when Jeniffer was still a Saintess not the Goddess of Light.


    The old doctrines state that the Light shines upon anyone that wishes for salvation. Your race, age, gender, matter not, for as long as you seek the Light with all your heart. Even if you were the greatest of sinners, as long as you repent and show your resolve to change the Light will help you.


    When the God of Light changed into the Goddess of Light these old doctrines were slowly forgotten, but there were many that still believed in the old ways. So now that the Deity of the temple of Light has changed once more, maybe the old doctrines could be revived.


    ...


    Before leaving, Ren had promised to send help to the Holy Kingdom, as it was now effectively his. The Holy Kingdom was currently under the rule of the Wolf Kin Mir, but the truth was Ren was the real ruler of the Kingdom. Ren now had control over several kingdoms. He was now pretty much the ruler of all human kingdoms. He even had the elves under his thumb, the only ces that were not under his rule were those governed by the demi-humans.


    ''Hmm... I wonder... After I''m done with the God of Death, which ce should I subjugate next? Since I''m already the ruler of so many ces, I might as well conquer everything in thesends. This can prove a fine distraction before I need to face the ORIGIN.''


    Ren wasn''t bothered too much about training, since him simply breathing makes him stronger. It was also easy to gain new techniques by sparring with his numerous incarnations. Still, that would get boring if that was all he did, so conquering everything in sight was a fine hobby to have.


    ''I wonder, should I try to gain the dwarves next? They''re the race that ims to have the best smiths and based on the workmanship on Snertal that might be true. I can also try to take on the dragons as I''m now strongerpared to when I was still demon lord Kretos. Seeing as there are so many half-dragons in this era, that would mean that the dragon race has a nest in this continent. So I could either conquer the dwarves or the dragons. The dwarves are good to have as workers, but the dragons could be good pets."


    When Ren remembered the wyvern knights, he imagined himself riding a huge dragon, wouldn''t that be quite exciting.


    ''Riding one of those prideful creatures might prove to be quite fun indeed.'' Ren smiled his vicious smile as he thought of him riding on one of those proud dragons. His dream of endlessbat had grown, now a dream of conquest had been added. It was at that moment Ren suddenly remembered something and looked at Tsukiyomi who was still bickering with Lara. Noticing Ren''s stare, Tsukiyomi looked at him with a seductive smile on her face and then looked at Lara with a sneer.


    Lara was infuriated seeing Tsukiyomi look at her that way. The way she was able to express two different emotions with a slight change in her smile was impressive.


    "What is it Ren, do you have something you want to say?" Tsukiyomi approached Ren and hugged his right arm. Lara red at Tsukiyomi, on the other hand, Ren wasn''t bothered by her action and simply responded.


    "Though I don''t have theplete memories of Edge and Rei, I do remember that there was someone else that I have a contract with that was of the same era as you. Your contract is the silver moon above, but below it is the sun. If I remember correctly that sun represents the Dragon Tanith."


    When Tsukiyomi heard Tanith''s name she frowned a bit. "Yes, what about her?"


    "Since the mark of the contract is still here, that should mean like you, she''s still alive, correct?"


    "Yes."


    "Then do you know how I could contact her, or how to summon her?"


    "If it was during Edge''s era, you could''ve easily summoned Tanith with the amount of mana you currently have, but now it''s different. The current Tanith is too big to be summoned into this ne. and even without that problem, with your current mana, it is impossible to summon her. The only way for us to meet her is if she herselfes here under her own will... If I remember correctly after the battle with the ORIGIN that lizard went to the outer ne to sleep. She did leave me some guards to help me sleep soundly but after that, we haven''t been in contact so I don''t have any way to call her."


    "Hmm, I see..."


    "Why are you looking for her, aren''t I enough?" Tsukiyomi spoke while pouting.


    "I just felt like I wanted to ride a dragon."


    "Hmph, you can ride me anytime you want," Tsukiyomi spoke while showing a coquettish expression. It was at that moment Lara could no longer hold it in and hugged Ren''s free arm.


    "Of course, you can ride me anytime as well."


    "That''s not what I mean, but whatever. It would be fun to ride a dragon I conquered using my own strength, instead of riding one I got from a previous incarnation." Ren shook his head and had his lips curve slightly upward.


    Valdel who was watching from behind found the entire conversation rather ridiculous. The three of them were talking about different things, but they were still able to somehowe to some sort of understanding. Valdel was also bothered that many women from Ren''s past lives seem to be appearing one by one.


    ''This might be a coincidence, but knowing what kind of existence Ren is, I highly doubt it. A great storm unlike any other might befall this era.. Heh, what a time to be alive.''

 Chapter 491 - The Shadows In New Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 491 - The Shadows In New Grenton</h4>


    It was taking quite long for Ren''s group to reach New Grenton, as they were leisurely traveling. All throughout the journey Tsukiyomi kept on telling them that they should use [Air Walk] so that they could have a faster journey. Yet both Ren and Lara who could already use this technique didn''t want to use it. On the other hand, Valdel had no knowledge of the technique.


    Tsukiyomi was confused since based on the talent she has seen from Vadlel it wouldn''t be that hard to teach him how to do it. So then why were they continuing to walk like normal people? She couldn''t help herself as she asked Ren why they continue to walk like this, to which he answered.


    "I want to have a feel of thend, and of the people. As you know In the past months I¡­ no me and my people have done many things that would affect the entire continent, so I wanted to see the changes with my own eyes. Well, aside from that it''s also nice to have a leisurely trip every now and then. Don''t you think so?"


    When Tsukiyomi heard Ren''s answer she was rather surprised. This was the first time she had heard an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul that he wanted to slow down for a bit. This was a guy that wanted to battle every powerful being he meets, a person who seems to go full speed ahead in everything he does. Tsukiyomi looked at Ren for a minute before smiling and then hugging one of his arms.


    "Kukuku, I understand, you want to have a longer walk to spend more time with me. Is that it, that''s it isn''t it? You could''ve just said so, you know."


    As Ren was about to answer someone suddenly grabbed hold of his other free arm. Of course, that person was none other than, Lara. Tsukiyomi and Lara then started bickering again, this was now a normal urrence that kept on happening all throughout their journey. While the three of them were doing their thing, Valdel who felt like an outsider watched them at the side feeling a bit alienated.


    ¡­


    During the journey, Ren was able to discern that to the normal people the changes that happened within their respective kingdoms were nothing much. The only thing the normal popce were worried about were the Primordial Demons. The changing of rulers didn''t mean much to them as no matter who ruled they still would do the same thing. As for the Primordial Demons, the general poption feared them.


    ''I see¡­ I guess I really need to find all of those Primordial Demons and make them my pets. I''ll have Arthur locate them all. Hmmm, in his current level the Primordial Demons would make worthy opponents for him.''


    ¡­


    After a few more days of journeying around, Ren and his group were finally near New Grenton. It was at that moment Ren and his group stopped walking.


    "Kukuku, so many rats hiding in the shadows, what to do? I don''t really want to deal with such weaklings. How about you do it, umm, what''s your current name again, oh right Lara."


    "Tsk, don''t tell me what to do. Also if you don''t like them, how about you just finish them off. I''m sure that just a flick of your hands, and then they''re all dead."


    "Can you two even pinpoint where they are?" Valdel asked the twodies.


    "Kukuku, I don''t know about the little girl, but I of course can sense where they are." Tsukiyomi proudly dered, making Lara grit her teeth.


    "¡­ In my current state, I''m only able to sense them but not tell where they are."


    "Kukuku, as expected even in this era I''m still above you."


    "Why, you-"


    "Quiet down you two." Ren finally interjected, making both Tsukiyomi and Lara shut up.


    "So you guys must be the remnants of the Shadow n. We already know that you guys are there, so how about you show yourselves."


    No one spoke and only the rustling leaves were heard. Ren sighed before he once again spoke to the hiding Shadow n members.


    "The [Shadow treading] that you people are using is too imperfect¡­ Hmm, wait I guess there are at least two of you that know how to actually use it properly. Well, anyway if you people don''t show yourselves within the count of three, we''ll be going on the attack."


    "One."


    "Two."


    "Three. I see, don''t say I didn''t warn you guys, Tsukiyomi let''s do this." Hearing Ren''s order Tsukiyomi sighed.


    "Should I kill all the rats?"


    "No, just rough them up a bit." It was at that moment Ren stepped forward and ced his hand on the shadow of a nearby tree. Ren''s hands went through the shadow as he lifted it up, he pulled out a person. Ren quickly subdued that person that he picked up.


    It was at that moment that a dagger came flying towards him but Ren easily evaded. A few more daggers came flying towards Ren''spanions. Tsukiyomi easily caught the dagger, Lara evaded it, while Valdel didn''t even bother to dodge as the dagger throw wasn''t hard enough to prate his skin or so he thought. He felt the dagger pierce through his defenses and a form of poison started to spread into him.


    "Don''t let your guard down you fool. They may be weak little rats, but they are poisonous." Ren berated Valdel who took out the dagger that was lodged on his shoulder. Valdel then used his mana to push out the poison spreading within his body.


    "Yeah, I forgot how the Shadow n operated. I keep on forgetting since Every time I remember you were part of that n I always forget that you werepletely different from them."


    While Ren and Valdel were talking to each other, Tsukiyomi continued to subdue the hidden Shadow n members.


    "Hmph, these foolish descendants of mine, it''s obvious that they are trying to test me. Do they want some kind of proof that I am who I say I am, is that it? Very well I will show them what a true member of the Shadow n can do. Tsukiyomi, Lara, Valdel the three of you back off, I''m going to teach these naughty descendants of mine a lesson!"


    Ren smiled that vicious smile of his as his shadow expanded covering more than a hundred meters¡­ Tsukiyomi and the others were quick on the uptake and took their distance from Ren.

 Chapter 492 - Teaching Ones Descendants

    <h4>Chapter 492 - Teaching One''s Descendants</h4>


    The Shadow n a true demon n that survived the ending of an age. They were a legendary n that lived and died in the shadows. Normal people don''t even know of their existence but those in the know understand that their power and influence was able to rival a nation. Now the current Shadow n is nothing like its predecessor. It had weakened a considerable amount, but it was still considered a rather fearsome n. Most of the best assassins could trace their lineage back to this n.


    The current head of the Shadow n wasn''t a direct descendant of the Shadow n Horned demons, instead, he was a descendant of a demon that was lucky enough to have learned their techniques, through a series of incidents. The name of the current head was Henry and though the blood of demons that flowed through his veins was so minuscule that you could say that he was fully human now, the current head still respected his ancestors.


    The day when he heard Luke''s report regarding Ren he felt excitement and joy that he had never felt before. All of the members of the n even started crying, it was at that moment Henry''s twin sister N whispered in Henry''s ear.


    "What are we going to do brother?"


    "Hmmm, if what Luke says is true then we of course need to greet this descendant. Still¡­ A few words and actions can''t really tell us much, so even now I''m not entirely sure if he''s actually the real deal. Though it is true that those words can only be said by the head of the n, and you''ll die if other n members say it, but if a normal non-n member said it nothing will happen. As for the skill he used, I learned that there are many skills that could replicate the effect of [Shadow Holding]. So overall we need to reassess this so called descendant."


    Even though he said all that, the truth was Henry had already believed that Ren was the actual direct descendant. Still, he didn''t want to let this chance go. He wanted to see the full capabilities of an actual descendant of the Shadow n. He wanted to see if his techniques which he and his n members honed for years were truly just imitations. He wanted to prove that what they learned and stacked up over the years could match up to the supposed original.


    "We''ll head to New Grenton and see for ourselves if this person truly is who he says he is."


    ¡­


    Henry who was hiding in the shadows using [Shadow Treading] was surprised by what he was seeing. The person called Ren who was supposedly the true descendant of Demon Lord Kretos didn''t have the smell of a demon, it felt like he was a pure human, but still, there was something about him.


    As the Shadow n continued to observe Ren, the person in question suddenly approached one of them and picked him from within the shadows, and was incapacitated by Ren.


    As Henry was trying to figure out how Ren detected them, one of Ren''spanions the beautiful maiden with blood-red eyes started dispatching them one by one. She wasn''t killing them but the way she easily spotted them was a big problem. Henry then gave a signal to the others to start attacking.


    The Shadow n members started throwing daggers at Ren''s group who easily evaded and or caught the daggers. The Shadow n members were surprised by how easily their surprise attack was evaded, but then one dagger was actually able to hit one of Ren''spanions. As they began to think that they actually got one, that person that was hit casually pulled the poisoned dagger out and started expelling the poison within his body. That was the most shocking sight they saw today, as the Shadow n members became a bit dumbfounded, it was then Ren suddenly did something they weren''t expecting.


    Ren''s shadow started to expand covering arge area. When Henry and N saw this they quickly got off the Shadows way. Unfortunately, most of the Shadow n members that were with them were unable to do the same thing and got caught within Ren''s shadow. Those that were within the area of Ren''s shadow could no longer move and were forced out of their [Shadow Treading] revealing their locations.


    Ren then summoned numerous chains from his shadow binding the Shadow n members.


    "Oh, so there are actually two of you that know what they''re doing. Still, how sad it is to see that the Shadow n has fallen so low. If it was the old Shadow n, the moment I spotted one of you, the others would''ve immediately retreated and try to gather more information on the enemy. Yet you guys did the exact opposite and actually started attacking. Not only that, but each of your attacks were too weak. As a member of the Shadow n, you must know that each strike is meant to kill, if you''re not sure that one strike could finish the opponent you would never try to do it. Also even if you do attack the moment it fails to kill the next step would have been to retreat which all of you failed to do."


    Ren sounded so exasperated and disappointed that it made Henry and N unconsciously clenched their fist.


    "I wonder which old Shadow n member survived to teach you sh*tty descendants. Sloppy and shabby techniques, you guys aren''t worthy to be called the Shadow n. The way you move makes me think that your ancestor must''ve been a reject of the n." The moment she heard this N wanted to attack, but then Henry stopped her. Ren continued to hurl insults but Henry and N continued to hide.


    "Oh, that''s a bit impressive that you''re still not attacking despite my provocations. I guess you guys aren''t all that worthless after all¡­ I didn''t want to do this, since using the ways of the Shadow n wasn''t really my style, but as a prize for giving me quite a surprise, allow me to show you, how a true Shadow n member fights."


    It was that moment Ren''s body started to fade until he disappeared from sight. His presence, his overwhelming aura, everything even his mana fluctuation disappeared.

 Chapter 493 - A True Shadow Clan Member

    <h4>Chapter 493 - A True Shadow n Member</h4>


    Ren who had suddenly disappeared shocked both Henry and N. Though Ren disappearing was not that surprising, the way he aplished the feat that was surprising. It was a perfect disappearance, not a single mana fluctuation was made, his whole presence disappeared as if it became one with nature, not only that, but that move actually made them doubt that Ren was even standing there in the first ce. This was either a technique that was better than [Shadow Treading] or this was the true form of that technique.


    While Henry and N were trying to find traces of Ren, they suddenly heard his voice echoing throughout the area.


    "Now, let''s see how good your techniques are. Show me that you aren''t disappointments!"


    Even though he was speaking they were still no signs of any mana fluctuation. They couldn''t even trace where his voice wasing from, Ren truly was perfectly hidden.


    The three of them did not move a single step and those who were watching could not see any trace of the three of them. There was an unusual silence for a while until Ren spoke again.


    "Hmm, quite impressive it seems that you two have the basics down a bit better than the rest. To hide until you see an opening for you to strike, one of the basics of assassination. Unfortunately, if both sides are assassins and use the same techniques, then we could be waiting here for days, and no one among us will move. So in a battle like this, the next thing you should do is force your enemy out into the open. The old Shadow n would use anything to do this, coercion, bribery, trickery, it doesn''t matter how they did it for as long as they''re able to force the opponent out in the open anything goes. So long as the target is spotted then that''s the moment the target dies. Still, the more powerful members of the n would not need to resort to such tactics, and instead would use brute force. Just like this, Shadow n secret technique [Endless Shadow]!"


    Ren''s shadow started to expand again, but as the siblings were about to evade they noticed the shadow was no longer just bound to the ground it started to spread even above them. They reacted toote and were caught by the technique. In the eyes of the siblings, even the sky was now being covered by Ren''s shadow, but those that were watching from the side could see the Ren just created a huge block box and entrapped them in it.


    "[Endless Shadow] a technique used to entrap a single enemy, but with my skill and power I can use it on multiple targets in arger range. It is pretty hard to use this on fast-moving opponents, but since you guys were stationary for so long, you weren''t fast enough to evade. This technique is meant to confuse and scare opponents, as it messes with a person''s sense of sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Once inside this technique there are a few ways to get out the easiest one is if you can overpower the technique using even more mana than I. Unfortunately for you, I doubt that even both of youbined could match up to my mana supply¡­"


    ''I really hate using these kinds of techniques since it takes all the fun of battle away.''


    Henry and N who were inside could not see a thing nor could they smell any kind of scent, and the only sound they could hear was Ren''s voice. Yet that wasn''t the worst part, the worst part was that they could not feel their limbs, it was as if they were nothing more than a mass of consciousness with no physical body, this feeling was something they could not even begin to understand. The two were slowly bing frightened by the experience and were trying their hardest to calm themselves down. While Henry and Ni were trying their best to think of a way on how to escape, it was at that moment they once again heard Ren''s voice.


    "In this position, it would be easy for me, well for anyone for that matter to kill you two in one swift attack."


    After saying those words, Ren released the siblings from the technique. Regaining their senses the twins looked at each other and saw that they were both sweating profusely. Their breathing was also rather irregr and their mana fluctuation was all over the ce. Their very being was shaken by that one technique.


    "Hmph, if that''s enough to scare you two, then you guys really are failures of the Shadow n. A shadow does not know fear nor sorrow, those things are unneeded for an assassin. It would seem that you two who are the best among the failures are still failures. If it were in the past, at worst you lot would have been either banished or killed by the n head for your ipetence."


    Hearing each word Ren said that was full of disappointment and disdain made Henry and N clenched their fists in frustration, they clenched them so tightly that their hands started bleeding.


    They could do nothing, they were not even able to show half of the techniques and skills they learned from their predecessors before Ren beaten them.


    Still, based on what they saw their techniques were nothingpared to what Ren showed them. As they were wallowing in their frustration, Ren finally appeared before them. He stood in front of them with a look of utter displeasure.


    "Now that you guys have been spotted, and you obviously understand the difference between our abilities, a normal Shadow n member would''ve alreadymitted suicide but since I''m guessing that you''re the head of the current Shadow n, your next course of action should be-"


    Ren wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as Henry charged at him while summoning a sword from his shadow. The sword Henry was using was of course coated with poison, and the material used to create the sword could easily prate through spells and mana barriers. So in Henry''s mind the only option Ren had was to evade or use a more powerful weapon to block. Yet the moment the de was about to reach, Ren did neither, instead, he pinched the sword using his thumb and forefinger. Henry tried to pull the sword away from Ren but it was to no avail.


    Henry then released his grip on the sword and was about to throw poisoned daggers, but before he could do so Ren kicked him in the abdomen. Henry was blown away by that kick and was caught by his sister. The siblings then heard Ren''s deep sigh. Ren approached the siblings and then pointed at the two.


    "I might have hated the ways of the Shadow n, but even so they were the n I belonged to. You people aren''t worthy to call yourselves the Shadow n. You aren''t even worthy to be my disciple''s sparring partners." Ren who was frowning suddenly smiled that vicious smile of his and spoke.


    "So I will retrain you guys from the bottom up, until the day you be true assassins of the Shadow n."

 Chapter 494 - The Meeting From Different Generations

    <h4>Chapter 494 - The Meeting From Different Generations</h4>


    "You want to train us, what do you mean?" N asked while holding her brother who had fainted. She was now feeling fear as she looked at Ren. She who thought that she had total control of her emotions was actually afraid.


    "Well, since you guys keep on calling yourselves the Shadow n, I can''t and will not allow you to be so pathetically weak. This is not an offer, this is an order. You will be trained by me, so you better pick up the others."


    Ren then took out a piece of paper and started drawing on it. Once he was done drawing he passed the piece of paper to N.


    "After you guys are done resting, head to that ce and wait for me. Do not bother to escape. Though I guess you could try since that could also be some good training for me and you guys. Still, I''ll warn you only once, now that I got a feel of your mana fluctuation, it would pretty difficult to get away from me."


    Ren then waved his hands as he walked away heading to the city of New Grenton. Tsukiyomi, Lara, and Valdel followed behind.


    ¡­


    As Ren got closer to the gates of New Grenton he felt a familiar presence approaching. The person that appeared before him, was a beauty that could match Tsukiyomi, it was none other than Silika. As Silka approached him the mark on his arm started shining brightly.


    "It''s been a while."


    "Yeah."


    As the two smiled at each other, Silika finally took notice of the people standing behind Ren. She was especially interested in the new person she hasn''t seen before. Tsukiyomi also took notice of Silika and the two began staring at each other.


    ''That girl, she''s an Ethereal same as Lauria. It''s been a while since I''ve seen the supposed failed weapons of the Ancient Gods.''


    ''That girl, she looks like a True Blood Vampire¡­ No based on the feeling I''m getting she''s already something else entirely.''


    The two continued to stare at each other for a few seconds. Ren and the others simply watched without doing anything. Tsukiyomi started smiling a bewitching smile as she spoke.


    "Kukuku, it would seem that this incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul really does have a lot of women around. Still, I did not expect Ren to meet a True Blood Vampire. Back in my era, I was sure there was none of them left."


    "Well, I too didn''t expect Ren to bring back another one, not to mention an Ethereal¡­ So based on how you talk, I''m pretty sure there was a first, so who was it."


    "Hmm, I don''t really want to answer any of your questions, but since we are going to be seeing each other for quite some time, I guess we can bond a bit. It was Edge Regius, I was also there for Rei Kuraki. How about you?"


    "Mine was Leonard Tranor."


    "Oh, the ancient war hero, that would mean you''re already pretty old. You must''ve known the mother of all Etherealsdy Lauria."


    "Don''t speak of our ages as if it''s some kind of demerit, since we''re pretty much eternal beings does it really matter what our ages are?"


    "Kukuku, those are the barkings of a loser. Well fine, I guess we are eternal beings so such things aren''t too important, if that''s what you want to believe, sure we''ll go with that. Still, I''m sure we can both agree that there is something more important than that."


    "Yeah, aspanions of the Strongest Mortal Soul, there is something even more important than that."


    "Heh, before we start I think we should name ourselves. I am the Eternal Moon, Tsukiyomi."


    "As expected of the naming sense of the Ethereals, such an overbearing name¡­ Well, I''m Sili¡­ No, I guess you have the right to hear my true name. I am Elizabeth Rogue, thest true blood Vampire, I was also the former Goddess of Death. Well, I guess nowadays I''m more of a spirit."


    "Hmph, giving out so many titles. Well, you can say whatever you want, the titles I have are so numerous it would be a pain to list them all."


    "I have more than you think, I just listed the important ones."


    "Kukuku, you are an arrogant one aren''t you."


    "Heh, isn''t that you?"


    "Whatever you say. So what are the rules going to be?"


    "I say we use the minimum amount of mana, just enough mana to use basic skills. We aren''t really here to kill each other after all."


    "I see, so how about we decide it with one attack. I don''t like to do this for too long. Seeing as both of us aren''t actually in the best state."


    "I agree, so one strike using the minimum amount of mana. Shall we begin?"


    "Very well, let''s do this."


    Silika summoned her death scythe, while Tsukiyomi created the strongest weapon in her memory. The weapon Tsukiyomi created was Susanoo, the weapon Rei Kuraki used as he faced the ORIGIN. Her replication of the weapon wasn''t very decent, in fact, it was only at around two percentpletion, but even so, its power was on par with a divine weapon like Silika''s death scythe.


    The two stared at each other, their weapons at the ready. Silika''s style was offensive-oriented, while Tsukiyomi''s was more of a counter. Silika was waiting for an opening, on the other hand, Tsukiyomi was predicting what kind of attack Silika was going to initiate.


    ¡­


    "What the heck are the two of them talking about? Why are they suddenly fighting each other?" Valdel asked as he watched the two facing each other. Ren didn''t answer the question as he was excited to see the oue of this face-off. It was Lara who gave Valdel an answer.


    "Those two are like me, they''re both people who love the Strongest Mortal Soul dearly. The two of them are now going to test who between them is the stronger one, as that is what is important. Since if you want to follow Ren, strength is a prerequisite. This is also going to determine who among Ren''s lovers stands at the top¡­ I really hate to admit it, but with my current power, I''m unable to face any of those two in directbat. These two are currently the strongest in Ren''s harem."


    As Lara answered she clenched her fist in frustration. If her soul had finally stabilized she could have joined this fight, but right now in her current state, she would not be able to keep up with those two.


    ''Just a few more days, and I''ll be able to fight as well.''


    ¡­


    Tsukiyomi and Silika stared at each other for quite some time without moving an inch. The sound of the rustling leaves were the only thing that could be heard. It was then as the tension got to its peak Tsukiyomi and Silika lowered their weapons.


    "Kukuku, it would seem that there''s no need for us to sh. As I imagined someone from the era of Leonard would be pretty monstrous." Tsukiyomi answered with a smile on her face while shrugging her shoulders.


    "Hmph, are you talking like that to make me feel better? I hate to admit it, but In our current state, it is obvious that you are the stronger one between us," Silika sighed before continuing. "Well, if we fought without the restrictions it would be a different story."


    "Kukuku, sure, if that''s what you think." The two of them looked at each other and started smiling.

 Chapter 495 - Planning For The Next Step

    <h4>Chapter 495 - nning For The Next Step</h4>


    Tsukiyomi and Silika stared at each other while smiling. Even though they had already lowered their weapons the atmosphere still felt a bit tense. It was as if any moment now the two would suddenly strike at each other.


    Ren who was watching sighed as he felt a tiny bit disappointed that the two didn''t fight, but he understood their reasoning. It was obvious that if the two of them sh in one instant, the winner would be the one who was faster between the two, which was Tsukiyomi.


    Silika might have arger array of skills, she also had more power and has more experience, but Tsukiyomi''s speed and technique far surpassed Silika''s. In a fight with a rule of one-hit wins, Tsukiyomi had the overwhelming advantage, but if the two of them went all out and fought the oue was still unclear. As the two continued to stare at each other, Ren approached them and spoke in a rather excited tone.


    "Hey, how about you two-"


    "NO!" Tsukiyomi and Silika answered in perfect unison.


    "You haven''t even hard what I was going to propose," Ren responded while looking at the two with his eyebrows twitching.


    "It''s pretty obvious what you were going to say," Silika sighed.


    "Yeah, even though the body you have is different. Even though the experiences you have are something unknown to me. Even if this is our first meeting¡­ I know you." Tsukiyomi looked at Ren with nostalgia in her eyes. On the other hand, Ren hearing what the two said, asked.


    "So what do you think I was going to say?"


    Tsukiyomi and Silika looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and giving out their answers in sync.


    "You were about to say, how about you two fight me?"


    Ren scratched his head as he looked at the confident faces of the two who gave out their answers. He then sighed as he spoke in a more solemn tone.


    "I see¡­ Yeah, you two are right, that is what I was going to answer, but¡­ Silika, Tsukiyomi, and even you Lara. I''m pretty sure you already understand this, but I just want to warn you one more time. I am Ren, I am not Leonard Tranor, I am not Edge Regius, I am not Rei Kuraki, nor am I Gabriel Lightbringer. We may share one soul, we may have nearly identical personalities, but I assure you we are still different people. If you understand that, and still want to be mine then speak now."


    "I already answered this long ago Ren, I might see Leo in you but you should know by now, I see you as Ren as well," Silika answered with no hesitation.


    "Kukuku, do not look down on me. I have already been through this twice now. I know you are a different person from Rei and Edge, no matter how simr every incarnation is they have their own wills. Still, no matter what, only the incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul is worthy of my love and devotion. To me it matters not who you currently are, I will forever love you and only you." Tsukiyomi answered with a smug look on her face.


    "Unlike the two of them, I ampletely different. I might have the memories of all my past incarnations up to Evangeline the greatest alchemist to have existed, but I am still Lara. I know only you Ren, and I love only you." Lara gave her answer filled with her conviction.


    "Kukuku, you just copied what I said at the end, also aren''t you embarrassed calling yourself the greatest alchemist to have existed?"


    "What''s there to be embarrassed about, since that''s the truth. How about you, aren''t you embarrassed that you keep on adding Eternal Moon before proiming your name?" Lara responded with a look of indifference.


    "Well, I guess I am embarrassed to keep on saying that. Why must Ipare myself to something like the Eternal Moon, no I guess the Eternal Moon is beingpared to me." Tsukiyomi smugly answered.


    "That doesn''t make any sense!" Lara shouted at Tsukiyomi.


    "Kukuku, of course, it doesn''t make sense to you, for I am beyond your understanding."


    While Tsukiyomi and Lara were bickering, Silika had already grabbed hold of Ren''s arm and two were walking into New Grenton.


    "Hey Ren, you know Hilda and Ashley have been worrying about you. I think you better meet them before doing anything else."


    "I''ll pamper themter, for now, call everyone to the throne room. I have something important to announce." Hearing Ren''s response and seeing the vicious smile and excited look on his face, made Silika sigh.


    "Very well."


    ¡­


    After a few minutes, everyone had gathered in the throne room. Iselv the supposed King of New Grenton was there, but he was not the one who was sitting on the throne, it was Ren. Beside Ren, on his left stood Silika and Tsukiyomi, on his right were Lara and Valdel.


    Ashley and Hilda were standing in front of the throne were Ren sat. The two had many things they wanted to tell Ren, but they held back for it wasn''t the right time for that. Iselv, Kithra, Lance, and even Sepchel, Nezzard, and Stephan the leader of the Regalcrags were there.


    Seeing that everyone had gathered and were now looking at him waiting to hear what he had to say, Ren stood up and spoke.


    "I don''t really want to exin too much, but here''s a summary of things. At this moment, I have conquered most of the human kingdoms, and even the Elven Kingdom is under my control."


    When the others heard what Ren said most of them weren''t that surprised as the news of the different kingdoms falling and being conquered by the Serbek Kingdom have reached their ears.


    "Even the mighty Holy Kingdom is now under my rule."


    This time many of them were surprised to hear this piece of information, as the news of the fall of the Temple of Light hasn''t spread yet.


    "Now I''ve been thinking since I now have most of the Kingdoms on this continent under my rule, why don''t I just conquer them all. So I''ve been wondering who should I conquer next, the dwarves or the Dragons. What do you guys think?"

 Chapter 496 - Time To Conquer

    <h4>Chapter 496 - Time To Conquer</h4>


    Ren sat on his throne with a look of utter excitement on his face as he spoke. When the others heard what he said they all had different reactions but they were mostly sighing. No one present in this room was that surprised by Ren''s deration.


    They have known Ren for a long time now, some of them have been with him even in his past lives. They knew that no matter what ridiculous thing Ren said, he was never joking, he always meant every word that came out of his mouth.


    "Hmm, why isn''t anyone giving out their opinions? Very well, I''ll just call each one of you and you should tell me what you think. Tsukiyomi how about you go first, let me hear your opinion."


    "To conquer the mole people or the lizards? The only thing those mole people know to do is worship dirt and dig underground. As for the lizards I don''t like them either, especially the weaker ones. At least those at Tanith''s level know a little restraint and are powerful enough to back up their bark with some bite, but those weaker dragons, don''t even have the power but they still have that extreme pride of theirs and keep barking even louder than the older ones. So if you ask me, I would conquer the moles, even though I don''t really like them. As for the lizards, we should just annihte everyone that''s in this continent."


    Those present that don''t have any memories of their past lives were rather shocked to hear someone openly show disdain for the mighty dragon n. She even called the dragons as lizards and wanted tomit genocide.


    "Alright, how about you Silika what do you think?"


    "Dwarves, I remember them, but in my era, they had a different name¡­ If we''re talking only about their ability to create then they are unmatched, no matter the universe. They are pretty useful smiths and have a lot of other applications. As for the dragons, all they know is strength, nothing more, and nothing else. So it would be best to conquer the dwarves first before making a move on the dragons. Since no matter how young and weak they are a dragon is still a dragon, the strongest race, second only to the Old Gods themselves."


    "Kukuku, I would never have expected to hear such words from you. It''s rather surprising how weak-willed you are." Tsukiyomi sneered at Silika.


    "Hmph, I''m just stating facts, as a race, it is undeniable that they are powerful, but make no mistake I am even more so," Silika answered Tsukiyomi with a re, which made Tsukiyomi giggle. Ren didn''t mind the two''s silent confrontation and continued on.


    "Okay then, how about you Lara?"


    "In my eyes, dwarves or dragons, they''re both pretty worthless, since my alchemy is better than any cksmith no matter the race. My power once in its peak could rival even the oldest of dragons. So it doesn''t really matter who we conquer first, so I will let you decide Ren." Lara answered with her usual indifference.


    "Kukuku, such big talk from a weakling like you." The moment Tsukiyomi was done speaking, Lara quickly took out her bow and pointed a mana arrow at Tsukiyomi.


    "Just you wait, once I finish stabilizing my soul and return to my full power, you''ll be the first one I beat up." Lara dered with a little bit of killing intent. In response, Tsukiyomi created a sword and pointed it at Lara.


    "Heh, I would like to see you try." Tsukiyomi replied with a smug smile on her face. Lara was about to release her arrow, and Tsukiyomi was about to cut Lara''s hands when suddenly Ren shouted at them.


    "Enough you two! Put down your weapons, NOW!" Hearing Ren''smand, Lara clicked her tongue as she lowered her bow, on the other hand, Tsukiyomi shrugged her shoulder as she made the sword she created disappear. Once the two had lowered their weapons, Ren who did not even stand up from his throne spoke to Valdel.


    "Alright then, how about you, what do you think Valdel?" When it was his turn to answer, Valdel shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t really know anything about these dwarves, and I know only a little about the dragons, so I don''t think my input would be of any use."


    "It doesn''t matter, I still want to hear it."


    "Fine, based on what I could guess hearing the girls'' description on dwarves, they have great abilities and are good with their hands. So they would be of great use in various ways. As for the dragons, they can only be used as fighters. If we''re talking about who''s going to be more useful, I''ll go with the dwarves."


    "I see, thanks for your input Valdel. Then how about you Hilda, what do you think?"


    Hilda wasn''t expecting her name to be called next, as she looked at Ren in surprise. She had many things she wanted to say to him, but for now, she held it in and sighed before answering.


    "I''m of the same mind as Valdel. I know little to nothing about the two races, but based on what I know the better ones to conquer first, are the dwarves."


    "Is that so, then what about you Ashley, what do you think of this?"


    "I think dragons are cool, and I would love to ride one. So if it was me that gets to pick, I would want to conquer dragons first, and fly in the sky on their mighty backs." This time a different opinion was said, and there was finally one in favor of conquering dragons first.


    "Oh, I too want to ride one as well. How about you, Lance what do you think?"


    "Master, I don''t have any clue what dwarves are, but I do know a thing or two about dragons. It would be quite fun to tame those arrogant beasts and show them their ce." Lance answered with his battle intent rising.


    "I was thinking something simr as well. Then how about-" Ren continued to ask everyone in the room about what their opinions were. After he was done hearing each and everyone''s input, this is what he got.


    There were seven people who wanted to conquer the dwarves first before the dragons, as in their opinion the dwarves would be much more useful than dragons. These people were, Tsukiyomi, Silika, Lara, Valdel, Hilda, Kithra, and Nezzard.


    As for the opposing side, there were five people who wanted to conquer the dragons first, and they had many different reasons. These people were Ashley, Lance, Sepchel, Iselv, and Stephan. Ashley wanted to ride a dragon, Lance wanted to shame them, Sepchel wanted to prove his strength and so did Iselv, as for Stephan he wanted to relive the glory days of his n since back in his ancestor''s time the Regalcrags were said to be powerful enough to hunt dragons.


    "Now that I have heard all of your opinions, I have made my decision." Ren stood up from his throne and smiled that vicious smile of his and announced.


    "We will now head to the Dwarven Kingdoms! Everyone begin preparations, for now, it is time to CONQUER!"

 Chapter 497 - Freedom Or Shackles

    <h4>Chapter 497 - Freedom Or Shackles</h4>


    After giving out his orders Ren stood up from his throne and left the room. Lara, Tsukiyomi, Silika, and Valdel noticed a slight change in Ren''s expression. Even the way he said those words that should have been filled with excitement were truly empty.


    The three girls were quick to act but the moment they saw each other moving at the exact same time they understood that they had the same intentions as the other.


    "Kukuku, I wonder what are you girls up to?" Tsukiyomi looked at the two girls as she spoke with a smile on her face.


    "Hmph, how about you, what is it you''re scheming?" Lara clenched her fist ready to strike.


    "You two are so hotheaded, we don''t need to do this."


    "Heh, spoken like a true grandma." When Tsukiyomi said those words Silika''s eyebrows twitched a bit.


    "Why must you keep on talking about our ages? Haven''t we agreed that in our case age is nothing more than a number?"


    "Please do not group me with two grandmas like you. Unlike you two this body of mine is as new as it looks. The only thing that has aged is my memories." Lara interjected while looking at Tsukiyomi.


    "Kukuku, In Silika''s opinion to people like us, age is but a number, but in my opinion age is more important than you think. As an Ethereal, my body is growing but ever so slowly, and once it reaches its peak state it will stop growing and remain that way until the day I cease to exist. You could also say the same for my mind. We Ethereals were a race originally created by the Ancient Gods to be their weapons in battle. In order to prevent an Ethereal from losing herself from the eternity that is toe, our minds are guarded by an ancient spell that removes that apeirophobia. So to me, the only measure to my existence is our ages, for me that truly is an important thing. Overall what I want to say, age is to remind us of the moment we came into existence, that means the oldest one among us, is, of course, Lara."


    "So you said all of that sh*t just to tease me about my age?"


    "I''m not teasing you, I''m just stating a fact. Among the three of us, you could pretty much be my grandmother. Not to mention you''re super weak at the moment, just like an aged grandmother." Tsukiyomi smugly smiled at Lara.


    "Ever since you came, you''ve done nothing more than piss me off. It doesn''t matter now if you''re stronger than me or not. This time I''m going to pound you to the ground!" Lara clenched her fist and got into a stance.


    "You think you can take me on?" Tsukiyomi shrugged her shoulders. As the two were about to fight, Silika was going to sneak away when the two attacked from behind and she evaded.


    "Don''t think you can escape," Lara spoke while ring at Silika.


    "It would seem that I need to deal with the two of you at once." Silika sighed as she faced the two.


    "Taking you two grandmas out won''t be too much of a problem." Tsukiyomi arrogantly dered.


    ¡­


    As the three girls seem like they were about to fight Sepchel stood beside Nezzard and asked. "Should we stop them?" When Nezzard heard what Sepchel he looked at the knight like he was an idiot.


    "Are you crazy? Any one of those girls could kill us with nothing but a finger, besides, I don''t think we need to interfere. Just look at their expressions."


    Sepchel took a closer look at the expressions on the three women''s faces. Even though they were ring at each other, the three were actually smiling. Not to mention there was no bloodlust among them.


    "I think this is just their way ofmunicating."


    While everyone was looking at the three women, no one had noticed that Valdel was no longer in the throne room.


    ¡­


    On top of the highest tower that overlooked the entirety of New Grenton Ren wasying down watching the clouds in the sky.


    "That''s not the look I was expecting you to have after making such an announcement," Valdel spoke as hended on top of the tower. Ren didn''t look at Valdel as he stretched out his hands as if wanting to grab a cloud in the sky.


    "You know there was once a time that I was envious of the birds in the sky. They were free and could fly anywhere. I once thought that if I gained overwhelming power I would be as free as them, but that wasn''t the case as even the powerful weren''t free."


    "¡­ What are you trying to say, Ren?"


    Ren stood up and looked at Valdel with a smile on his face. It wasn''t his usual smile that was vicious and intimidating, for some reason that smile that he was showing felt rather lonely.


    "It''s nothing, just something I used to think about when I was a young demon in my past life¡­ Say Val, what if I tell you that I have be too strong, and I could now go to the ce where the world deities reside. What will you do then?"


    "Of course, I will follow you."


    "What if your strength is not enough, and only those as strong as Silika and Tsukiyomi can follow. What will you do then?"


    "Then I just need to get even more powerful so that I could follow you there. I won''t allow our adventure to end because of such a thing. Why are you asking all of these questions, do you actually have the power to get to the realm above?" Valdel looked at Ren with a serious expression, and Ren looked at him with the same expression. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Ren smirked.


    "Heh, that was just a hypothetical question. I don''t have time to go to the upper realms yet, as I''m not yet done conquering this ce first. I''m heading back to the throne room since I feel that those three girls are doing something rather interesting." Ren passed by Valdel, and it was at that moment thought he heard Ren whisper something to him.


    "Thanks, Val."

 Chapter 498 - A Quick Trip To The Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 498 - A Quick Trip To The Underworld</h4>


    "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"


    It was morning the day after Ren dered he was going to conquer the dwarven kingdoms. Valdel who was sleeping soundly suddenly got up and screamed as he remembered something important. He then rushed towards Ren''s room afraid that he would once again forget.


    ''Damn, because of all the things that happened, I forgot the main reason we went to the Holy Kingdom.''


    When Valdel opened the door of Ren''s room he saw several bodies piled up on one another. It was obvious what Ren and the girls did. Valdel clicked his tongue, the moment he did so, the girls that were asleep while surrounding Ren, suddenly moved.


    Tsukiyomi had created a de and it was pointed at Valdel''s forehead. Silika had summoned her death scythe and its edge was ready to cut Valdel''s neck. Lara had her fist gently ced on Valdel''s Heart. On the other hand, both Hilda and Ashley were still reaching for their weapons.


    Valdel was surrounded by different women with varying weapons pointing at him, but he remained calm. Despite two of those women being way more powerful than him, he knew that he could probably survive a single strike from each of thedies.


    "Hey, Ren I know you''re already awake." When thedies heard Valdel''s voice they lowered their weapons.


    "Oh, it''s Ren''s friend. Sorry about that, you''ve startled me." Tsukiyomi sighed as her weapon disappeared from her hands.


    "Val what are you doing here?" Lara who was still a bit sleepy lowered her arms and rubbed her eyes. After the other girlsined to him for a bit, Valdel was finally able to get a word in.


    "Ren we forgot the reason why we went to the Holy Kingdom, didn''t we go there to ask for the location of the underworld?" Hearing what Valdel said Ren sat upright on the bed before answering.


    "Oh is that all, I didn''t really forget it, but you know that we basically killed everyone that could have answered that question."


    When Valdel heard Ren''s answer the realization dawned on him. What did they do upon entering the Divine City? Didn''t they do their usual thing, made a mess and killed a bunch of people? It was also true that he was the cause of that mess.


    ''Damn it, so it was all my fault!'' Seeing the despondent look on Valdel''s face, Ren spoke.


    "Don''t worry, I already had something else nned if our trip to the Holy Kingdom failed. Actually, I just went there because I wanted to see how strong the supposed strongest human kingdom was. Well, overall it didn''t disappoint and I had a ton of fun there."


    "Alright, you had your fun so what is this other n?"


    ¡­


    While Ren and Valdel were having their conversation thedies were getting dressed. As they were getting dressed Hilda and Ashley were dumbfounded by the conversation between Ren and Valdel. Were they talking about the location of the underworld where spirits are led to after death to be cleansed and reincarnated? Was it that underworld, if so why do they need to go there?


    Tsukiyomi was rather disinterested in the conversation. How many underworlds of different dimensions ands has she already seen.


    Lara sighed as she too had forgotten their original n. On the other hand, Silika was confused as to why Ren needed to go find someone else for this information. It was at that moment Ren spoke her name.


    "I''m pretty sure that Silika over here can lead us to the underworld."


    "Is that true?" Valdel looked at Silika expectantly.


    "Yes, I can directly bring us there right now."


    "Really?"


    "Yes, since Ren''s mana supply has greatly increased a ton of my death scythe''s abilities have been unlocked. One of which is opening a portal to the underworld." Silika gave an answer that would shock most people, but the response she got from the people in the room was rather underwhelming.


    "You hear that Valdel." Ren was a bit surprised by what Silika said, but not too much. He was already expecting Silika to know the way, but he didn''t expect that she could directly teleport to the ce.


    "You knew about this from the beginning? So why did we need to get sidetracked and head to the Holy Kingdom." Valdel spoke a little angrily.


    "As I said, it was because I was interested in the Holy Kingdom. Not to mention I wasn''t entirely sure that Silika knew of the way and I especially didn''t know she could teleport there."


    Hearing Ren''s nonchnt response was able to calm Valdel down.


    "So do you wish to go now?" Silika asked.


    "Yes, please." Valdel immediately answered.


    Silika looked at Ren who nodded his head. Seeing Ren had approved Silika summoned the death scythe, and walked out of the room. The group followed her into an open area, where Silika shed at the empty space in front of her. In the next second a dark tear in space was made.


    "Just enter the portal and it will teleport you to this world''s underworld." Without any hesitation, Valdel entered the portal, followed by Lara and then Tsukiyomi. Ashley and Hilda were about to enter as well, but Ren stopped them.


    "You two stay here."


    "Why?" Hilda and Ashley responded in sync.


    "I know that you two have be quite powerful, but this is not something you two can handle. What we are about to face is a world deity and one that governs thews of death. Even the current Val and Lara might not survive this. So it''s a certainty that if the two of youe, you will die. I don''t want to see that happen so please stay here."


    When the two heard Ren''s exnation they were both shocked and touched by Ren''s care for them. It also rmed them to hear that even Ren was taking this seriously. Usually, he would say something arrogantly like, even in such a ce he could protect them. Most shocking of all he said please to them. Now understanding the risks involved the two unwillingly nodded their heads.


    "Be careful out there."


    "You need to return safe and sound."


    "Don''t worry it''s just a quick trip to the underworld."


    Ren smiled at the two and kissed them before entering the portal, Silika followed suit, and once she entered the portal disappeared.

 Chapter 499 - The Entrance To The Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 499 - The Entrance To The Underworld</h4>


    Ren stepped outside of the portal and the first thing he saw was a gigantic door made of bones. The bones on the door were made from different species from humans to dragons. The aura the door emitted was that of the purest form of death energy. If that wasn''t creepy enough the sounds of screaming souls could be heard from the other side.


    Ren and hispanions could feel a lot of powerful energies being gathered beyond the gate. It was at that moment Ren also noticed another door beside the door of bones, it was a door made of pure energy. The energy emitted by the door was like abination of Ren''s mana and Spirit Aura, coupled with multiple other kinds of unknown energies. It was the purest form of energy and Ren had sensed something simr before.


    It was the same form of energy that the original incarnation uses. Ren then looked around if there was anything else but there was nothing.


    The surrounding area was nothing but darkness, he couldn''t even tell if he was above ground or underground as the only light source wasing from the door of bones and the door of pure energy in front of him.


    "Why is this so different from Leo''s memories of the underworld?" Ren asked Silika who was standing in front of the group.


    "Oh, that memory when he saved me¡­ That''s because that entrance to the underworld was located on the. That was the entrance that recently dead souls use. This ce is in an entirely different dimension. These two doors are where souls who have finished their initial journey from their respective underworld arrive at. After the soul has been judged by their respective Gods of Death they are guided to this ce and will stand in front of these two doors. If you have umted too much bad karma then the door of bones will open for you."


    Silika pointed at the literal door made of bones. It was as if the souls behind the door could hear her, since the moment Silika pointed at the door the wailings of the souls grew louder.


    "Behind that door no matter how powerful you are, may you be an Ethereal or a Dragon, you will never be able to escape and will be tortured until your soul has paid for all their sins. Once all of the sins have been paid you will be allowed to have your soul cleansed."


    "Hmm, that''s interesting, then what about Gods or the world deities could they also be unable to escape from that ce?"


    "World Deities will never be able to enter that door and upon death will have their soul cleansed automatically and once again enter the cycle of reincarnation. As for Gods, any form of God up to Demi-Gods will upon death cease to exist. The reincarnation system does not apply to any God, from the lowest Demi-Gods to the strongest Ancient Gods. Unlike us, if they die their very being disappears and turns into nothing. Well, it''s not like it''s easy for them to die in the first ce."


    "Alright, then what about the other door?" Ren pointed at the door that was made of pure energy.


    "That is the door of cleansing. Those that have umted enough Good Karma will be weighed and those that have umted greater amounts will be blessed with a better life upon reincarnating. Everything about the person will be cleansed here it usually takes around a century or two for a soul to be cleansed depending on how much that person has experienced. Once it is cleansed the soul is then sent somewhere in the universe to live its next life."


    "Alright, thanks for the exnation, but why are we here? Shouldn''t we be back in the underworld of our own world? You do know why we''vee here?" Valdel finally interjected. Silika looked at Valdel and sighed before answering.


    "I know why you guys want to go to the underworld, which is why I brought you here. Too much time has already passed and Lisa''s soul has already passed the initial stages so she is no longer in the underworld of our own world. She has entered the next phase and has already entered the door of cleansing."


    "Does that mean¡­ We''re toote?" Valdel asked his voice almost cracking.


    "No, since she just entered the door of cleansing she''s still at the beginning phases. Like I said cleansing a soul takes a minimum of a century."


    "So that would mean we can still save her soul, and bring her back?"


    "Now that''splicated. Only Gods of Death that have fullyprehended thews of Death can enter these rooms while alive. In this universe, there are about five of those, and only they could open those doors, and the only time they do that is in case a mistake is made. If one of the Gods of Death makes a mistake in their judgment of one''s Karma they will ask one of the five to open the doors. Unfortunately for us, those kinds of mistakes don''t happen very often, in fact, it barely happens at all."


    "Then how are we supposed to enter and save Lisa?" Valdel gritted his teeth frustrated that he was here just one door away from saving Lisa but he could do nothing.


    "What if I force my way in?" Ren spoke as his mana rose.


    "That won''t do, if you were at the level of Leo or those stronger than him then sure it would''ve been possible, but the current you is not strong enough." When Ren heard Silika''s reply his mana grew even stronger as he released even his Spirit Aura. A vicious smile appeared on his face as he summoned the death scythe Silika was holding.


    "Even so, you won''t know unless you try." The needles at the end of the death scythe punctured into Ren''s skin and started sucking his blood. Ren offered as much blood as he could possibly give without making him feel sick. The people that were with him stepped back, except for Tsukiyomi.


    "Tsukiyomi, support me!"


    "Very well!"


    The full moon mark on Ren''s chest started to glow even brighter, as Tsukiyomi supported Ren with her power.


    Ren''s mana turned blood red and covered his entire body like a cloak. A silver aura also surrounded him as the image of a silver moon appeared behind him.


    "Silika give me everything you''ve got!"


    "As you wish." Silika empowered Ren with her own energy as she merged with the Death Scythe.


    The power Ren was now emitting was the most he has ever used in his entire life, past and present. This was his strongest form, and he was about to unleash his most powerful attack.


    The Death Scythe Ren was holding with his two hands started to be enveloped by Ren''s blood-red energy and silver aura which was formed from the numerous energies that reside within his body. The de of the Death Scythe started to erge and looked extremely menacing as an aura of death and destruction came out of it. If Ren had used this move on the Goddess of Light, it would''ve been absolutely certain that he could have wiped out not only the body of a world deity but even her true soul would''ve ceased to exist.


    "Now let''s see if I can''t break the door with this!"

 Chapter 500 - Exchange

    <h4>Chapter 500 - Exchange</h4>


    Ren''s overwhelming might was now on full disy and it was an amazing sight to behold. The sheer power of his aura was enough to kill any weakling that woulde close to him. In his current state just being in his presence could harm you. It was a good thing that his control over the different energies in his body was good enough that it didn''t affect Valdel and Lara.


    As Ren continued to gather more power, his muscles were bulging and his veins looked like they were going to pop out of his body. The power he was trying to control grew more and more, which made him tremble in excitement.


    The shine of the silver moon behind him grew brighter and brighter. The blood that was being drained from him turned into energy and fused with his mana and Spirit Aura, making the blood-red aura coating him look even more vivid. The fusion of the four different energies within him created a whole new thing that made a frightening power burst forth.


    The power from the fused energy was so extreme that it was difficult to control. It was even harming its master. Ren could feel his very skin being shredded by his own power, but it was also quickly regenerating because of the same power. The pain he felt was intense and would''ve been unbearable to most people, but to Ren, this pain meant more power, power on a scale that he never knew he could exhibit.


    Yet despite gaining such strength, Ren felt that it wasn''t enough to break the door in front of him. So Ren continued to gather even more power and concentrated it into the de of the death scythe.


    When Ren felt that he could no longer control it anymore, he smiled that vicious smile of his and swung down the death scythe at the door made of pure energy. The moment his death scythe made contact with the door, there was no sound, no loud explosion, not even the sound of something being hit. The death scythe was just inches away from the door but it did not move despite Ren trying his hardest to bring it down.


    It was like the death scythe was hitting an invisible wall that could not be broken. Not only that but Ren felt that something was absorbing the energy from his attack. The blood-red aura that was surrounding him was being sucked into the door. Even his full-powered attack was not able to even touch the door, let alone open it.


    Yet despite what was happening, Ren continued to put more strength into his attack. He could feel his hands trembling as more power was being drained from him. After a few more minutes Ren could no longer hold onto the scythe and let go of it as he copsed onto the floor.


    "Ren!" Lara dashed towards Ren, so did Tsukiyomi, Valdel, and Silika who turned back into her human form.


    "So even that wasn''t enough. Heh, this is getting even more exciting. After I''m done resting for a bit let me try again." Even though he was on the ground unable to move a single finger, the smile on Ren''s face never disappeared.


    "No, you won''t be able to do it, Ren. After that attack, I have a better understanding of the power of that door. It absorbs energy, and it seems like it can absorb a limitless amount of it. I think the only thing that could damage that door is an energy source simr to what it''s emitting. Knowing this I retract my earlier statement, even if Leo was here he wouldn''t be able to force his way in either."


    Hearing Silika''s exnation made Ren frown. ''A simr energy?¡­ That would mean only the original incarnation can break through that door using force.'' Ren sighed as he knew that the original would never move for as long as it wasn''t rted to the ORIGIN.


    "There must be another way, surely," Valdel spoke trying to remain calm.


    "There are only a few ways to get through that door. If I had my full power as the former Goddess of Death, as long as her soul is still there I could''ve open that door and bring her back¡­ But¡­ In my current state, I''m not able to do that." Silika sighed as she spoke those words. She was lost in thought for a few seconds before she continued speaking.


    "The only other way to get in there is if you''re dead. Still, that won''t work either. Even if you die and get into the door, you won''t be able to meet Lara as that door is separated from time and space. Look right now, many souls are still passing through but you don''t notice them."


    Silika tapped the ground using her death scythe, it then showed the view of millions of souls surrounding them entering the doors.


    "Everything is happening at the same time, but not. In here time and space are distorted, they are personalized for the people who enter. So even if we try to enter once we die we won''t be in the same ce as her."


    "Then how?! I want to save her, I promised that I would do that."


    "Can you not move on and ept that she has died? Everything dies, everything has an end, well almost everything¡­ Death is just part of the natural cycle of things, it''s not like she''s gone forever. Once her soul is cleansed then she will reincarnate, same as you when you were Kir and now you''re Valdel."


    "I understand that¡­ I do, but¡­ I cannot ept it. I''m here, I''m so close to saving her and I want to do it no matter what. It''s hard to exin but it is what I need to do, I owe her that much." Valdel spoke his tone mncholic. "So tell me, do you have another way? Do you have a way to save the person I want to save?"


    "As expected of a friend of Ren''s, how selfish of you. Wanting to save those that weren''t even asking to be saved." Silika looked at Valdel and saw the determination in his eyes. "What are you willing to give in exchange for your friend''s life?"


    "Everything, I''m willing to give my everything."


    "Then I have a way for you to bring her back."


    "Really what is it?!"


    "First I want to know if you have her body?"


    "We don''t have her body, but I can recreate it with my alchemy," Lara responded to Silika''s question.


    "Alright then, I just want to make sure, are you really willing to give anything to bring her back?"


    "Yes!" Valdel answered without any hesitation.


    "I see¡­ With my current power, I cannot open the door on my own, so I need to trick it. I can let you slip through the door for a few minutes, but only your soul may pass through that door. Once you enter, I can control the location and bring you to the ce where Lara is having her soul cleansed. You will only have a little bit of time, so once you enter you need to quickly bring her back to the door. Unfortunately, only one soul can get back out, meaning you need to stay in order for her to get out. Knowing this are you still willing to save her?"

 Chapter 501 - Thank You

    <h4>Chapter 501 - Thank You</h4>


    "Yes, of course, I''m willing," Valdel answered immediately. Lara then grabbed hold of Valdel''s hand.


    "Valdel, I know that you think the death of my sister was your fault, but it''s not. Even if you are able to resurrect her using this method she would never forgive herself."


    "I know that already. I''m not as idiotic as you think I am. Even so, I want to do this."


    "So you''re leaving just like that? After telling me that you would follow me to the upper realms." Ren who could still not move and wasying on Tsukiyomi''s thighs spoke. Valdel looked at the fallen Ren and sighed.


    "I know, it''s pretty selfish, but this is what I want to do. Well, you should understand this feeling the most, right, Ren? We were both once Demon Lords, and you, yourself once said that Demon Lords are the most selfish of them all, as selfish as the heroes that fight them. Even now that we''re human, you haven''t changed and are still quite selfish, right?"


    "I can''t argue with that. Still, it would be a little more boring without you here. You''re one of the few whose strength and potential I approve of."


    "Heh, that''s quite the honor."


    "¡­ Truth be told, Val, I do have something that could change the situation. It''s my final trump card that I''m saving for when I face the ORIGIN in battle. It''s a one-use item, and I was actually thinking of using it now to open that door, but many of my past incarnations keep on nagging about not using it now."


    "That''s interesting, what is it?"


    "It''s an item that could summon all of my past incarnations into the world. Though it does have an unknown time limit after use."


    "I see¡­ I guess you can''t really use something like that for this¡­ Well then, it''s been quite fun, Ren." Valdel smiled and so did Ren.


    "Yeah, it has been a st. From the moment we fought our first battle as Kir and Kretos. To the time we met again as humans, were I trained you. To our many adventures, it has been one fight after another, one crisis to the next. It has always been you, me, and Lara facing them all head-on. Knowing you won''t be there little pup will be quite lonely." Everyone present had shocked expressions on their faces when they heard what Ren said. Valdel who was also momentarily shocked started chuckling.


    "Hehehe, who knew that the all-powerful Ren would actually feel lonely¡­ Don''t worry Ren, I''m sure that someday we will meet again. Since we have met in this life as well as thest, who''s to say that we won''t meet in the next as well."


    "Yeah, who''s to say¡­ Thanks for everything Val, it truly has been a fun journey."


    "Not only did you say you''re lonely, but now you''re even thanking me. I guess dying has its perks too." Valdel jokingly spoke, as he forcefullyughed trying to shake away the fear he was feeling. The truth was, Valdel was truly scared, he might have the memories of one of the oldest demon lords, but his base still remained that of a twenty-two-year-old man.


    " Are you scared little puppy?"


    "Yeah, a little bit."


    "That''s pretty honest of you."


    "If you are afraid, why force yourself? You don''t have to do this, Val," Lara interjected. Valdel looked at Lara who looked a little bit sad. Seeing that changing expression of hers, Valdel could not help but remember the emotionless expression she used to have


    "You''ve changed Lara, I don''t know if it''s because of those memories you inherited, or something else, but the you of the past would never even care this much. All you saw back then was Ren."


    "¡­ You too have changed Val, all you wanted before was to be a hero of justice, that will protect everyone and everything. Now you don''t even think about that any longer¡­ I take back what I said, what you''re doing now is something those stupid and selfish heroes would do. Selfishly saving someone who doesn''t want to be saved by sacrificing your own life, you''re truly living up to the title of hero."


    "Still as sarcastic as ever, I guess that hasn''t changed¡­ I know you really want to see your sister again. This is our only shot in doing this." Lara shook her head as she responded.


    "I do want to see my sister again, but not in this way. If you follow through with this, you''re giving my sister a life filled with guilt. Even if she smiles by our sides, even if she will act like it''s not bothering her, the memory of you who sacrificed your life for hers will forever haunt her. Even knowing this, are you still willing to continue?"


    "Yeah, I am. Even though she might be guilty about it, even though she might not want it, but you would be there with her to help her through it. She would be there to experience what life is. I already have memories of life as an old demon, I already have experienced a ton as a human. Yet she died there in that vige of ours, the ce where we left her, unable to see the majesty of the world beyond. I want her to have that chance to go on that journey, that we denied her."


    Valdel smiled gently at Lara who had bit her lip. "So you really won''t change your mind?"


    "Yeah, I won''t. Thanks, Lara, for worrying about me, but I''ll be alright. I might be a little afraid of dying, but I''m even more afraid of not taking this chance to save her."


    "¡­ Fine then, let''s do it your way."


    "Thank you for understanding." As he was about to tell Silika he was ready, Valdel suddenly remembered something.


    "Oh Ren, can you tell Zwei and Nika that I''m sorry about this. Surely like you and Tsukiyomi, I would be able to meet the two of them in the next life. Also, please tell Kuro that she''s free now."


    "I will."


    "¡­Can you also tell Natasha¡­ Can you tell her that I said, maybe in a different life."


    "Huh?"


    "She will understand it if you say that those were my parting words for her."


    "Alright then, I promise to deliver those messages for you." Hearing Ren''s response, Valdel nodded his head and looked at Silika with renewed resolve.


    "I''m ready." Silika nodded her head in response as she lifted her death scythe. She then swung it downward at Valdel.

 Chapter 502 - Through The Door Of Cleansing

    <h4>Chapter 502 - Through The Door Of Cleansing</h4>


    Silika raised her death scythe and used it to sh at Valdel. The de of the death scythe stopped before it was able to touch Valdel.


    "I forgot to say something very important." Valdel who had already gathered his resolve was shocked to see Silika stop.


    "What is it?"


    "It''s something about what you''ll see once you enter. Since Lisa hasn''t died for that long, she''s still at the beginning phase of the cleansing of her soul. That would mean right now she''s having a long dream. A dream about a future that could''ve been, a dream she wishes to see, the thing she most desires. Showing such a dream is so that she would feel a sense of fulfillment, with that cleansing her soul would be easier. Once she feels fulfilled and satisfied, the true cleansing would start. Her memories, her personality, everything about her about Lisa will be erased. She will then start anew in the next life."


    "So when I enter I''ll be seeing a dream. Alright is that all?"


    "The longer you stay in that dream, the more you will forget about the real world, and then you''ll slowly be a part of that dream. If a dream version of you exists, then once you enter you''ll be recing him. Since you, Ren, and Lara were such important people in Lisa''s life, surely counterparts of you exist in this ideal dream of hers. The memories of that dream version of you will merge with your own. So do not be fooled, those memories are not real, and yours are. Also, the time frame in that dream world is different from the time frame here in the real world. A day there could be a second here, a year there could be a few days here. I can probably keep the door unlock for you for about an hour or so. Since, I''m not really at my peak condition, once the door locks, the next time I can open it from my side would be a month from now. By then who knows if you can still remember the real world. It''s possible that at that point your soul will be cleansed alongside Lisa''s."


    "I see, so basically I just need to find Lisa fast and bring her to the door."


    "Yes, well basically that."


    "Anything else you need to say?"


    "Hmm¡­ Oh right, the current Lisa will only have vague recollections of the real world thinking her life here was the dream. The memories she has of this world would be nothing more than some dreams she has from time to time. The longer she stays the less she would dream about it, and then eventually forget all about it. So right now, Lisa might not want to go beyond that door back to the real world. Not to mention only you would be able to see that door and open it."


    "So aside from locating her, I need to convince her that she''s in a dream and needs to wake up."


    "Well, you can also force her through the door."


    "Alright, is that all, or is there anything more?" Valdel looked at Silika a bit impatient now.


    "Nope, that''s pretty much it."


    "Alright then, let''s get this done already." Silika nodded her head and once again lifted her death scythe. Valdel watched as Silika brought down her death scythe and shed at him. As the de came and seem to pass by, for some reason, he didn''t feel anything.


    "What is it, do you need to say something else?"


    "No, I already separated your soul from your body." Silika pointed downward. Valdel looked below and saw his own body on the ground, it was at that moment he noticed that he was nothing more than a floating orb. "Wait, so I''m not talking with my mouth, then how are you able to hear me?"


    "It''s nothing special, as a former Goddess of Death, it''s quite easy for me tomunicate with wandering souls. Anyway, now that you''re in this form you can enter the door, but before you do so I need to change the ce you''ll arrive at. Since if you enter now without any preparation you''ll enter your own dream world, not Lisa''s. Just wait there for a second."


    Silika held onto her death scythe and pointed it at the door made of pure energy. Silika''s energy then made contact with the door. After a few seconds of silence, Silika lowered the death scythe.


    "Alright, you can enter now. Just walk up to the door and it will open for you." Hearing what Silika said, Valdel did not hesitate and did as he was told and approached the door of pure energy. Once he was close enough the door swung opened and a powerful suction force was pulling him in. As he was being sucked into the door, Valdel heard Silika''s voice.


    "Never forget why you went there, do not forget yourself, do not believe what you see, nothing in there is real, it is all but a dream."


    Valdel''s soul entered the door of pure energy. At first, there was nothing but dark nk emptiness, and Valdel felt like he was floating towards somewhere. As he continued to float aimlessly he saw a light at a distance, it seems that his soul was floating in that direction. The light was getting nearer and nearer and when he reached it, he was blinded by it.


    "Dad, are you alright?" Valdel who was blinded by the light heard the voice of a child. He then opened his eyes and saw that his body was back and right in front of him was a child, who looked somehow simr to him. It was at that moment a torrent of memories invaded his mind.


    ''This must be the memories of the dream version of me.'' The pain of the sudden burst of information was momentary, and once it was done the child was now in front of him looking at him with worry in his eyes.


    "Dad, what''s happening to you?"


    ''¡­ This boy is my child, Rex.'' As Valdel was about to speak, he heard the familiar voice of the person he wanted to save.


    "Dear, what''s happening?"


    "Mom, something''s wrong with dad!"


    Valdel who still had a raging headache turned around and saw her standing before him looking worried. She might look a bit older and more mature, but Valdel was sure that this person was Lisa.

 Chapter 503 - Within The Dream

    <h4>Chapter 503 - Within The Dream</h4>


    Valdel who was not feeling well because of the flood of information assaulting his mind was currently being carried by a knight. In the real world, Valdel didn''t know who the knight was, but upon looking at him a memory of the knight popped into his mind. This was Raymond the personal knight, who was assigned to guard him and his family.


    ''Wait, we''re being guarded by a knight, why?'' Though Valdel already had the memories of the dream world version of himself, he hasn''tbed through the memories so it was hard to get the information he needed without context. So he wasn''t too sure about some details, it seems like it would take a while before the new memories settle in.


    ??


    "I''m alright now, thank you, Raymond," Valdel spoke while standing up on his own. Raymond then saluted Valdel and stayed at a distance. Right now Valdel and his family were in a room inside a huge castle built in the middle of New Grenton.


    "Lisa, why are we living in a castle?" Even though Valdel already has a vague answer, he wanted to hear it from the owner of the dream itself, since he wasn''t sure if the memories he received were urate or evenplete.


    "Why are you asking something like that? Are you really alright?"


    "Please just answer the question." When Lisa saw the serious look on Valdel''s expression, she looked at Raymond and gave an order.


    "Raymond, please bring Rex out, the king and I need to have a private conversation." Raymond gave a salute and approached Rex.


    "Prince, please follow me outside." Rex hesitated for a bit before nodding his head in agreement. After the two left the room, Lisa approached Valdel.


    "Now tell me, what''s happening to you?"


    "It''s just that my mind is currently in a mess, and my memories are all over the ce."


    "Do we need to call a mage that specialized in mental maniption? Maybe you''re being attacked by somebody."


    "I don''t think that''s it. You know how strong I am, if there''s someone that could do that to me then no mage would be able to help me. So please just answer my questions." Lisa knew that Valdel''s statement was true, so she sighed before asking.


    "Alright what do you want to know?"


    "Why are we in a castle?"


    "It''s because you are the king of the entire continent."


    "The king¡­ Me, then what happened to Ren?"


    "Ren¡­ Such a nostalgic name it''s been years since Ist heard of him from your mouth."


    "What happened to him?"


    "You really don''t remember?"


    Some memories flooded Valdel''s mind, but he wanted to hear them from Lisa.


    "Yes, please just tell me."


    "Years ago, after the four of us finished our adventure in roaming the entire continent. Ren grew bored and started conquering the kingdoms, the other races and uniting them. After conquering everything in his sight he grew too strong. There was nothing in this mortal ne that could fight him, so he went to the upper realms. Alongside him were my sister and a few others."


    Valdel had a memory of those times, there were like passing thoughts in his mind. A sh of images came and went, the four of them went around the continent and had numerous adventures, but at some point, the adventures stopped.


    "Then why are we here and not with them?"


    "You really don''t remember¡­ We are here because Ren said that the two of us were too weak to follow him and so he passed the role of king to you. But we both knew the truth, Ren left us behind not because you were weak, it was because I was weak, not to mention I was pregnant at the time. Even if I wanted to I could not follow, since I didn''t want our child to go around an unknown world full of dangers. You, of course, stayed with me and we''ve been here ever since. Why are you asking this, is it because you''re starting to regret your decision to stay?" Valdel shook his head before responding.


    "I might not remember much, but I''m sure that I would never regret that decision." Hearing Valdel''s answer put a smile on Lisa''s face. Valdel then continued to ask Lisa a few questions and got the basic idea of the situation in this dream world.


    This ce was a utopia, after Ren conquered everything, he was able to settle the differences between races and stop all wars. Ren had basically started a war that would end all wars, and he won. Though nowadays there were still some minor fights between races, those were easily dealt with.


    The prideful young dragons and even the cunning half-demons were living in harmony with each other. In this world, the Temple of Light never existed in the first ce. Ren had conquered even the world deities and the temples became charity organizations that dealt with orphans and the poor.


    As Lisa was telling their story she was always smiling, she was happy and proud of the things they had aplished in this world, to her this world was perfection itself. She had Valdel and her son beside her, she was able to have that grand adventure with her sister and friends. Now she was living a life of peace and joy.


    It was at this moment, Valdel hesitated to tell her the truth of this world. Even though this world was fake, it was real to Lisa. The experiences she had, the joys she had in this world were all real.


    ''Wait, the joys?''


    "Lisa, how are the people from our vige?"


    "Oh, everyone is doing fine. You know they''re all high-ranking officials now. Why are you asking?"


    "Did a half-demon ever attacked the vige?" Hearing Valdel''s new question Lisa tilted her head in confusion.


    "A half-demon attacking the vige, I never heard of that happening¡­ Though I did have a nightmare of that happening once, in that nightmare I was also there in the vige, but that could not happen, since the four of us left the vige ages ago."


    Valdel finally understood why he felt something was wrong. This world was too perfect, Lisa had never experienced any sorrow, it was all blissful happiness. Even the moment her sister left her, it didn''t cause Lisa any grief, since she was happy that Lara was able to follow her beloved Ren.


    ''Is bringing her back to the real world, truly the right thing to do?'' Valdel''s resolve suddenly wavered as the thought popped into his head.

 Chapter 504 - Unable To Decide

    <h4>Chapter 504 - Unable To Decide</h4>


    After learning about the things that happened in this world Valdel could not decide what was the right thing to do. He hade into this world expecting toe and go as quickly as possible. He was expecting an entirely different scenario to transpire, he wasn''t expecting that his resolve would break so easily.


    In the end, Valdel decided to stay in this world for a few more days. Seeing as Silika did say a second in the world is a day in this world, so Valdel had a lot of time to think. He wanted to see what kind of world Lisa was living in.


    ??


    ¡­


    It has been a few days since Valdel arrived in this dream world. During this time he couldn''t find the right timing to have another conversation with Lisa about this being a fake world. There was also the problem that for every day that passes in this world, bits of his memories about the real world were starting to fade. There were still there but they were bing slightly blurry.


    Yet despite what was happening to him, Valdel continued to hesitate. In fact, the longer he stayed here, the more he saw, the harder it was to make a decision. He didn''t know what to do, he didn''t know what was the right thing to do.


    ¡­


    He also found this world to be truly perfect, in this world there was no one to save. There was no need for a hero. This was the ideal world he wanted to see after saving those he wanted to save. A world were even as a king he had too much time. He could idle around andy on the grass watching the clouds pass by.


    It was also nice to hear about the adventures he and his friends had in this world. Their stories had inspired a lot of children into wanting to explore the great unknown. Their adventures had created a huge boom of people wanting to join the adventurers guild.


    Also even in this world, Ren was still considered the most famous among the four of them. Ren was the first king to have united all the kingdoms and races. Not only was he known as a king, but he was also known as the most powerful warrior to have walked thend. The only one who could match him in battle was the current King Valdel.


    Valdel had watched numerous ys of how he and Ren had fought side by side as they charged into the dragons nest. As they braved the front lines of the war against all kingdoms. As they traveled the very depths of ancient dungeons. Seeing all that he and his friends have aplished in this world was amazing.


    It was so different from the real world. In the real world, Ren was still the strongest, but Valdel was nowhere near his level. In this world, Valdel was able to save everyone that was important to him, but in the real world, there were times he could not save those that were close to him. The Valdel in this world had not known the feeling of loss. He was the perfect hero Valdel aspired to be.


    This world was indeed Valdel''s ideal, but it was a rather boring world. Except for the times Valdel teaches his son on how to use a sword, Valdel need not hold a weapon. There was nothing in this world that could threaten him, there was nothing in this world that he needed to do.


    ¡­


    A few months have passed since Valdel arrived in this dream world. One day during a time when Valdel was out watching the clouds, Lisa came and apanied him.


    "Valdel, you have been acting weird for a few days now. You know that you can tell me anything, no matter what it is I''m always willing to listen."


    Valdel did not speak for a few seconds as he continued to watch the clouds pass by. Now that he has stayed in this world for more than a month, his memories of the real world were bing a bit messy. At some point, he even thought that staying here would be better, but today he remembered why he initially came here to do.


    "¡­ Lisa¡­ What if I tell you that this whole world is nothing more than a dream. What will you do then?" When Lisa heard Valdel''s question shey down beside him and answered.


    "Even if this world is nothing more than a dream, I will continue living the same way as I did before."


    "You''re still willing to continue to live in a facade, despite knowing the truth?"


    "What is true, what is false? Right now, I''m living, I feel the warmth of my husband and son, I see the beauty of the kingdom I and my friends created. I hear the joyousughter of the people. I can taste the sweetness of the fruits. To me right now, this is real, this is my truth."


    When Valdel heard Lisa''s answer he felt a pang in his heart. What she said made sense, and taking her away from this world felt wrong. Still, Valdel wanted to tell Lisa more, just to make sure this is what she truly wishes.


    "What if I told you that the nightmares you use to have were events that truly happened?"


    Lisa became quiet for a while. After a moment of silence, she sighed.


    "I see, so that''s what it was. You are not my Valdel, but a different one, aren''t you?" When Valdel heard Lisa''s response he stood up and looked at her. The eyes that were looking at him, weren''t the same eyes of the girl he had left behind in that vige, these were the wizened eyes of one who has experienced a lot.


    "Yeah, I''m the Valdel that came from those nightmares¡­ No, to be more precise I''m the Valdel from the real world."


    "Can you please tell me more." Valdel finally felt that it was alright to tell Lisa about everything so he started exining about her death and that this world was a dream before her reincarnation.

 Chapter 505 - Will You Stay?

    <h4>Chapter 505 - Will You Stay?</h4>


    "I see¡­" Lisa mumbled to herself.


    "Is that all you have to say after hearing what I have said? Aren''t you the least bit shocked? I just told you that you have died." Valdel was finally able to say what he was truly feeling. Ever since he heard about Lisa''s death, he had always med himself. He hadforted Lara about it, but the truth was he was more affected by Lisa''s death than even Lara.


    ??


    The truth was Valdel knew about Lisa''s feelings for a long time now, but he did nothing about it. In fact, he was happy that she wasn''ting with them on their journey as she would have proven a distraction to the goal he wished to achieve.


    Yet now he regretted everything. So hearing how calm Lisa was about her death was not something he expected. Valdel expected there to be shouting, more denial, and angry rants. Yet there was none of those, he wanted her to get angry at him, to me him.


    Seeing Valdel''s downcasted expression, Lisa smiled and gently caressed his face.


    "Even though you''re different from the Valdel of this world, you still share the same base. Well, I guess if what you said was true then that Valdel was someone created by my ideal of you. I know what you''re thinking right now, and of course, I could never me you."


    "But why? If I or any of the three of us wanted to, we could''ve brought you with us in our adventure, and then you wouldn''t have died!" Lisa shook her head before she responded.


    "Based on what I saw in my nightmares, and the vague memories I have of that world, I was too weak. Even if I joined you guys on your adventure it would not have made too much of a difference. I would''ve died in some other ce, in another person''s hands."


    "Even so, I-" Valdel clenched his hands into a fist feeling extremely frustrated. It was at that moment he felt something warm and soft grab hold of his hands.


    "It''s alright Val, it''s alright now. Everyone dies at some point, and as you can see that isn''t an end, it''s just the beginning of another adventure." Seeing the bright smile on Lisa''s face, made Valdel feel a lot better.


    "You have matured."


    "Of course, I did. In this world, I have already experienced a lot. Not to mention I was one of the few people that Ren personally trained. Something like this isn''t enough to faze me."


    The two of them started to chuckle, and then Lisa''s expression became serious. Lisa then took a step back and faced the other direction when she spoke.


    "So tell me, Val, why are you here? If I''m truly dead and this is a world created to fulfill my wishes, to cleanse my soul, what are you a living person doing here?¡­ I can already guess what you came here to do, but I want to hear it from your mouth."


    "I''vee to bring you back to thend of the living."


    "I see, and of course, there is a price to be paid for doing that, right?"


    "Yeah, a soul for a soul." When Lisa heard Valdel''s answer she frowned.


    "That really is like you to do that, sacrificing yourself for someone else. You know I won''t ever choose toe back if you weren''t there."


    "I know, that is why I was going to force you back if need be. Yet now, I don''t think I need to do that. It was just a selfish wish of mine, to bring you back. Yet after seeing all this, after hearing what you have to say, I don''t think bringing you back would be the right thing to do."


    "Then are you going to leave now?¡­"


    "I don''t know." After he said that Valdel sighed and the two became silent. Lisa looked at Valdel and hesitated for a bit before she spoke.


    "Seeing you like this, so weak, so fragile, and full of hesitation. You''re no longer the same Valdel I knew back in the vige. I understand that you have done your best, and you might have already been beaten down quite a lot, and you have lost some people along the way, but for as much as you have lost I''m sure that you have saved many more. So please, don''t show me such a weak Valdel."


    "¡­ You know to hit where it truly hurts."


    "If you''re already so tired, instead of me going back to the world of the living, why don''t you stay here instead? You know this world might be as you say, a dream, but it''s a wonderful dream. So how about dreaming the same dream as me? We could grow old here, together, and when it''s time to cleanse our souls, the both of us could reincarnate together."


    Valdel was quite shocked to hear, Lisa''s proposal. Valdel then lowered his head hiding the expression he was making.


    "You know what, that actually sounds like a nice idea¡­ But-"


    "There you go again hesitating! Fine then, we will settle this the old-fashioned way. We will settle this in the way Ren taught us." Hearing what Lisa said made Valdel mumble to himself as he chuckled.


    "The way Ren taught us¡­" Valdel then lifted his head and looked at Lisa''s eyes. "So a duel. The winner will make the loser do something he or she wishes."


    "Right, so do you ept the challenge?"


    "There''s no need for that. Even without the duel, I will do as you say, Lisa. So what is it you want?" When Lisa heard Valdel''s answer she was surprised. She then bit her lips and walked towards him. Once she was near enough, Lisa pped Valdel in the face. The p was so powerful that it actually blew Valdel into a nearby wall.


    The p hurt a lot, but it wasn''t fatal or anything. Even so, Valdel was still rather shocked as to what happened. He then looked at Lisa and saw her teary-eyed. The wizened eyes she showed him were no longer there and were reced with the familiar look Valdel remembered as he left her in the vige.


    "This isn''t the Valdel that I know, you aren''t the Valdel that I loved!" After shouting those words, Lisa left running. Valdel did not stand up and continued to look dumbfounded, unable toprehend what just happened.

 Chapter 506 - Im A Cheat Why Should I Choose?

    <h4>Chapter 506 - I''m A Cheat Why Should I Choose?</h4>


    On the other side of the door of pure energy, it was already nearing an hour. As Silika continued to hold the door open, she noticed something was happening to Lisa''s soul. It was returning back to the state before it entered the door.


    ''What''s happening? Is this because of Valdel''s soul interacting with Lisa''s soul? Tsk, I knew that there would be some risks, but I wasn''t expecting something like this.'' Ren who had recovered a bit noticed Silika was looking rather unsettled.


    ??


    "Is there something wrong?" When Silika heard Ren''s question she started exining what was happening.


    "So that guy messed up again." Ren sighed as he approached the door.


    "What are you doing Ren?"


    "What else, I''m saving my friend." Ren ced his hand on the door made of pure energy. He felt the energy flowing through him trying to rip up his body and even his soul. Yet the moment the energy touched his soul, a powerful force started repelling it back. It was at that moment someone spoke from within Ren''s soul.


    "What do you think you''re doing?"


    A deep powerful voice echoed within the dimension of the dead. It was an ancient and majestic voice. It was so overwhelming that the moment Silika, Tsukiyomi, and Lara heard this voice they unconsciously wanted to kneel, in fear of offending the unknown entity.


    On the other hand, Ren smirked, he knew who exactly this person was. The strongest among the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. The person that could tear the body of an Ancient God like it was made of y. The heroic figure that saved the mortals from the Gods, and created the Reincarnation System to fight back. The person who was the origin of many legends. This was none other than, the original incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "I knew you would step in, once our soul was in harm''s way."


    "I''ll ask you again, what are you doing?" This time the original''s voice was apanied with killing intent. The threedies present were powerful figures in the past and were one of the few that stands at the top of the food chain. They were legends that could defeat old Gods. Yet they could not help but shiver in fear, in the face of the original incarnation''s presence. It was as if they were nothing more than ants that could be stomped at any moment.


    Ren was the only one who was not affected by the killing intent, he even smiled that vicious smile of his as he responded.


    "I want to save my friends, and you''re the only one that could help me do it. So are you going to help or not? Well, if you don''t then I would just continue to forcefully open this door until I can get in."


    Hearing Ren''s stance the original couldn''t help but sigh. He knew that Ren was not bluffing, as he was a part of him. Back when he was young he too had this kind of disposition. Ren and all the other incarnations were him back when he was still pure and had not known defeat or loss.


    Yet now he had witnessed countless deaths, countless losses, and yet he continued onward.


    "I understand how you feel, but are you really willing to die in such a way? To die not in battle but by suicide, is that truly what you want?"


    "If it was me a few years ago, then I would not have done this. But now, I believe they are worth it for me to ept death in such a manner. So please I ask of you help me save them, help me save my friends."


    "You do understand that reincarnation is not a bad thing. It is something I set up hoping to finally end the ORIGIN. It is the chance I gave to others. The idea was the more one reincarnates the stronger the soul bes, thus the stronger one''s mana will be¡­ Unfortunately, our reincarnation is different, and instead of growing stronger over time, it fluctuates more wildly and is unpredictable, the next incarnation could be stronger than thest but it could also be weaker."


    "I don''t need this history lesson, all I want is for you toe and help me save my friends. I do not give a f*ck if they get stronger in the next life, I want them to get stronger now and stay with me!"


    Ren spoke what was in his heart and it shook the original. This too was his hope and his dream. It was one of the few dreams that the original can never forget. Ren then continued to persuade the original.


    "I''m sure you understand what I''m feeling right now, even without me saying so. Also, aren''t we the one who defies fate itself! How can we be expected to beat the ORIGIN, if we can''t even do something as simple as saving my friends?!"


    "¡­" The original did not respond.


    "The Strongest Mortal Soul, the literal incarnation of victory and power. The one who defies fate andughs at destiny''s designs. The hero that sacrificed his everything for battle." Silika suddenly spoke as she was still in a state of fear and was kneeling. When Ren heard this, the smile on his face grew wider as he spoke more boldly at the original incarnation.


    "Did you hear that?! That''s what the people think of us, that''s what those in the know fear and hope from us. So are you really going to stand by and do nothing?"


    "Hmmm, hehe, fine then I will help you this time. The next time if it''s not rted to the ORIGIN, I will not make a move even if you try to die. Also, you are not allowed to use that artifact Alphonso gave you, that''s something we need for our battle with the ORIGIN."


    "Alright, I promise not to use it until then, so now help me save my friends."


    "Oh right before we go through with this, I need to warn you that the only way for me to help you is if I lend you my power. In your current state, your body will only be able to withstand my power for about twenty seconds. More than that and you will be a disabled person for the rest of your life and nothing will be able to heal you, and even our very soul might be damaged again. Even if you sessfully save them before the twenty seconds is up, your body will still have been crushed by my power and you''ll be in unimaginable pain for a few weeks. Even then are you still willing to save your friends?"


    "Is there really a need to ask?" Ren confidently spoke.


    "I guess there really wasn''t a need to do so. We truly are such a foolish being." After saying those words, the original lent Ren a bit of his power, enough power to open the door made of pure energy and enter with his physical body. Ren did not have time to revel in the joy of obtaining such incredible power and forcefully opened the door.


    Silika knew that there was no time and quickly set the coordinates to Lisa''s dream. Once that was done Ren went through the door to save his friends.

 Chapter 507 - A Choice To Be Made

    <h4>Chapter 507 - A Choice To Be Made</h4>


    While Ren was having his conversation with the original incarnation, Valdel and Lisa were in a high tension situation. The two were currently in an old vige that had no one in it. They were now staring face to face with weapons at hand.


    Going back a few days ago before this incident urred.


    ??


    ¡­


    After Lisa had that conversation with Valdel about the old world, memories that she had forgotten were returning. Her reality was bing the dream and her nightmares her reality. Unable to process everything that was going on in her mind, Lisa fled.


    The following day the kingdom that had been peaceful for years suddenly grew chaotic as their queen suddenly disappeared. Rex had rushed to his father''s side apanied by numerous knights. Valdel sighed as he knew this whole thing was his fault.


    After that incident, Valdel had some time to think about various things. Ever since he came into this dream world something had been continuously affecting his mind. Still, he could not use that as an excuse for what he had done.


    ''Tsk, how shameful of someone with my experience to act like that. Of course, Lisa would be disappointed. Still, the way she talked at the end and the look she gave me as she fled¡­''


    Valdel had some thoughts as to what was happening to Lisa, but before he could do anything he needed to find her first. Valdel sighed as he patted Rex''s head.


    "Everything is going to be alright, I''m going to bring your mother back."


    "My King please allow us to apany you." The knights all knelt as theirmander spoke. Valdel looked at them for a second. Even in this world, the knights weren''t all that strong as he felt their mana fluctuations. It was obvious to him that they wouldn''t be able to keep up with him. So Valdel shook his head as he responded.


    "I want you to stay here and protect the kingdom. At this moment when both Lisa and I aren''t around there might be some people wanting to do something stupid. Besides, it''s the job of the husband to bring back his lost wife."


    When the knights heard Valdel''s response they could not help themselves as they lifted their heads to look at their king. For the past months, their king was not like the king they knew. He had lost that aura of confidence he had, that made one feel everything will be alright for as long as he stood, it was a simr aura to the legendary warrior Ren.


    Yet here today standing before them was the king they swore their eternal loyalty to. The knights held the tears in as they responded with loud voices.


    "As you will our king!" Hearing their response Valdel nodded his head and went to his personal armory.


    ¡­


    Upon entering the room filled with various armors and weapons, a wave of nostalgia was filling him. These armor and weapons hold different stories to the glory of Valdel''s past battles. Even though he wasn''t the Valdel that experienced all of that, he still had the memories of it and felt the bond he had with each of these weapons.


    ''I see, though I never gained Zwei and Nika in this world, I still had these guys.'' Valdel touched the armor and weapons fondly and started taking some of them. Valdel wore the armor that he had on, thest time he had battled Ren in this world. He also took the Bastard Sword from that time as well.


    The armor was pretty light and felt more like leather armor than a full ted one. The sword was also pretty good nothingpared to Zwei but still better than most. Once he was done equipping himself, Valdel was about to set off.


    As he stepped outside the castle one of the knights approached him with a warhorse. Valdel was familiar with that warhorse as it was the one he has been using for a few years now. Valdel raised his hand and signaled the knight to stop.


    "I won''t be needing her for today. I''ll be going on foot." Valdel then jumped into the sky, before the knight could say anything. Seeing his king leaving in such a way, the knight saluted him.


    ¡­


    It took Valdel a few days to catch up to Lisa, as he followed the path he, Lisa, Ren, and Lara took during their grand adventure in this world. Every vige he passed, every town, knew who he was, and they knew him not as a king, but as the boy who journeyed with his friends.


    Every time Valdel arrived in a vige the people would say that he just missed Lisa. During his stay in those viges, the people would reminisce with him about how he and his friends saved their vige, from monsters, from natural disasters, from the gue, and other such stories.


    ''Is she trying to relive her memories?''


    After a few more days of missing each other, Valdel finally arrived in a familiar ce that was the same as the memory he had in the real world. This was the path to their old vige. Valdel could already feel Lisa''s mana, she was waiting for him at the entrance of their old vige.


    A ton of memories flooded him the ones from the real world and the ones from this dream world. As he came closer he saw Lisa wearing her battle armor holding her two short swords. She turned around and spoke.


    "Do you remember Valdel? This is where it all started. This is where you, Lara, and Ren left me to have your grand adventure. This is also the ce where I lost and died."


    "I''m sorry," that was the only thing Valdel could say at this moment. Lisa smiled gently at him and shook her head.


    "There''s nothing to be sorry about¡­ Seeing that you''re wearing that armor and holding that sword, it seems that you''ve once again be the Valdel I love. So shall we do this in the way Ren taught us?"


    "I won''t be holding back Lisa." Valdel got into his stance and raised his sword.


    "That''s what I wanted all along." Lisa also took a fighting stance with her two short swords. Without any more words to be said the two charged at each other.

 Chapter 508 - Their Decision

    <h4>Chapter 508 - Their Decision</h4>


    Lisa and Valdel''s sword shed and upon contact, Valdel could tell that Lisa''s power was nearly equal to his own. It was true that the body of the dream Valdel was a bit weaker than his original body, but even then he wasn''t expecting Lisa to be able to match his strength.


    The two attacked each other with a quick exchange of offense and defense. Their power and speed were nearly the same, being Valdel were a bit stronger, but Lisa was slightly faster. Since Lisa was faster and more dexterous, Valdel was forced into the defensive relying on parrying and countering her strikes.


    ??


    The Lisa in this dream world might have be stronger and had gained a lot of experience over the years, but Valdel did not only have his experience from the real world but the experience of the Valdel of this dream world, as well as his experience as Demon Lord Kir.


    Valdel''s battle experience dwarfed Lisa''s by a lot. It wasn''t easy to predict Lisa''s attack pattern as her two des flowed continuously without stopping and for each strike made the next was moving faster than thest. Yet Valdel could sense and predict each move and was able to avoid and parry them. Still every time he would try to counter-attack Lisa was able to easily evade his strike.


    Both of them were at a simr level so the first one to get hit would be the one to most likely lose. So at this point in their battle, they were still probing each other out not using their best moves. After a few more exchanges Lisa stopped and the way she was breathing changed.


    She then suddenly threw one of her swords at Valdel. That actually took Valdel by surprise and he barely evaded the strike. He then saw that Lisa had disappeared in front of him. Valdel quickly ced his sword behind him and a loud ng reverberated.


    Lisa then kicked Valdel''s sword and used it as a stepping board so that she could jump upward, and once she was above Valdel''s head she threw one of her swords at Valdel. She once again disappeared in front of Valdel''s eyes. Valdel then felt Lisa''s presence below him. Valdel quickly stepped back and evaded the iing strike.


    It was at that moment, Valdel finally understood what Lisa was doing, she was teleporting around and using her swords as a medium to where she will teleport to. Lisa smiled sweetly at Valdel.


    "As expected of you, to evade my new skill without prior knowledge of it. That was one of the secret skills I have been developing without you knowing."


    "I see, since you''re getting serious, I better get serious as well." Valdel tossed his Bastard Sword aside and removed his ted armor. Lisa simply watched as Valdel prepared himself. Once the armor was off, Valdel took a stance unarmed.


    "Oh, it would seem that we both didn''t know the true specialty of the other. Still, even with that, I will be the victor!"


    Lisa once again threw her de at Valdel, but this time Valdel didn''t evade but instead caught it. Lisa teleported towards the de and was about to receive Valdel''s fist to her chest. Yet before Valdel''s fist could reach her, she spun evading the strike, and pulled her sword away from Valdel''s hand.


    It was at that moment Lisa saw in the corner of her eye, a leg was fast approaching her. Lisa quickly threw one of her swords away and teleported. Lisa looked at Valdel with a shocked expression on her face. She wasn''t expecting Valdel''s reaction time to increase once he discarded his weapons.


    Now that Valdel had the option to catch her swords, throwing them to teleport became a bit tricky. So Lisa sighed as she discarded her two short swords, she then took out the two daggers she had hidden. Lisa once again changed her stance and charged at Valdel.


    The speed of her charge made her seem like she teleported, this was her maximum speed. Valdel who did not move waited for her to strike so he could counter, but then Lisa suddenly stopped and then moved erratically to the side. Her mana fluctuation started to spread out and Valdel saw multiple Lisa''s surrounding him.


    Each Lisa was weaker than the original, but since the distribution of mana was exactly the same, Valdel could not guess who the original was. It was at that moment all the Lisa''s charged at him, but Valdel was not shaken as he stood firmly like a mountain.


    Valdel evaded and struck each Lisa that came to attack him. Their coordination was perfect, and Valdel was nicked here and there, but each time they got a hit in Valdel struck one of the clones and they would disappear. After a while, all of the clones were gone, and the original Lisa was on the ground panting. On the other hand, Valdel was bleeding all over.


    It would seem that it was Valdel who lost that exchange, but the truth was different. Though Valdel was bleeding all over those were just minor wounds and none of them were fatal. On the other hand, Lisa had used arge portion of her mana to create those clones and was now running on fumes.


    Lisa then stood up, barely able to stand straight. She looked at Valdel with a smile.


    "It would seem that the next strike, will be thest one."


    "Yeah¡­ Are you sure about this, Lisa?" Even though no words were said, after that exchange, Valdel knew what Lisa truly wanted. Lisa chuckled as she answered.


    "Yes."


    As they were about to have their final sh, unbeknownst to them Ren had already arrived at their location and was watching their battle from the distance. He had only a few seconds left to use the original''s power, but he waited for the battle to finish.


    He knew that this was a battle that needed to happen, and he was not one to interfere in such a battle.


    ''Are you sure about this, I thought you wanted to save them both?'' The original incarnation asked.


    "Yes I did, but it seems like this is what they decided by themselves. It would seem that Lisa is also satisfied with this." Ren who was already hurting from the power he was receiving continued to watch from a distance.

 Chapter 509 - The End Of The Dream

    <h4>Chapter 509 - The End Of The Dream</h4>


    Lisa who was barely able to stand smiled fearlessly at Valdel. She then turned around and walked towards her twin des that she tossed aside. Once she had her swords back in her hands, she lowered her hands so that the des were pointing downwards. In the distance, Ren was shocked when he saw her stance.


    That was the same stance Leo loved to use once he got serious. Leonard Tranor was one of the stronger incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, and his techniques were all top ss. Yet that stance was basically his signature stance, his most powerful skills can only be used with that stance.


    A stance that could defend and attack within the same breath. Even though Lisa was far weaker than Leonard Tranor, Ren could feel that Lisa''s sword intent had reached an unbelievable level.


    ¡­


    Valdel who was standing in front of Lisa was even more dumbfounded than Ren. The power Lisa was emitting wasn''t the increase of one''s mana, it was the power of a concept.


    ''This is a Sword Intent and a rather powerful one at that.''


    Valdel had memories of facing those using Sword Intent most of them were heroes he had faced as Demon Lord Kir. Sword Intent does not rely on the strength of mana or any other spiritual energy, nor did it rely on the strength of one''s physical body. Sword Intent can only be achieved if one has reached a certain level of their understanding in the way of the sword.


    Valdel could also manifest Sword Intent but his version would be weaker as his true fighting style relied on his body. The concept he cultivated was battle intent, but even that was not at the same level as what Lisa was showing right now.


    ¡­


    While both Valdel and Ren were in a state of awe, Lisa was in a trance-like state. Seeing as this would be the end no matter what, she put everything and betted her entire existence into her swords.


    When Valdel saw Lisa''s sword intent solidifying he sighed and took a stance. Even though Lisa was already nearly out of mana and her body had a few broken ribs, he did not let his guard down. Valdel used a breathing technique to stabilize his mana. He then waited for Lisa to make a move.


    Seeing that Valdel was done with his preparations, Lisa slowly walked towards him. Unlike before when she burst forward at unbelievable speeds, this time Lisa was walking as if she was taking a casual stroll.


    As Lisa was getting near, Valdel observed Lisa''s every movement. He wanted to see if there were any signs of what she would do next. Yet no matter how hard he looked there was nothing, it was as if she truly had no intention of attacking him.


    Since he had no way of knowing what she would do next, Valdel decided to discard the idea of evading and circted the entirety of his mana through his body. He strengthened his defense to the extreme.


    The moment Lisa was within arm''s length from Valdel, her arms suddenly blurred. Even with Valdel''s dynamic vision, he was unable to see the moment she initiated her attack. There was no time to evade nor block the move that was about toe.


    Valdel gritted his teeth and waited for the attack to arrive. Lisa''s swords were now pointing at Valdel''s heart and neck. Yet despite the speed and precision, she could not follow through, she had used everything she had simply to make that move.


    Despite Lisa being the one who attacked, she started bleeding from her mouth and her hands were now trembling. She smiled sweetly at Valdel and spoke.


    "It would seem that this was my win, right?"


    "Yeah, it is."


    "So am I strong enough to follow you guys?"


    "Yes, you are."


    "I see, so I finally proved myself worthy to be a part of your group."


    "What do you mean, Lisa? You were always a part of our group." Hearing Valdel''s response, Lisa showed a bright smile.


    "Is that true, that''s good to hear." After saying those words Lisa could no longer keep on standing and copsed to the ground. Valdel caught her, he almost cried as he felt Lisa''s life fading in his hands.


    It was at that moment, Ren appeared before the two. When Valdel and Lisa saw Ren, they wanted to question him if he was the dream world Ren or the real world Ren, but before they could ask anything, Ren spoke.


    "Lisa, I''ll ask you this once, right now I have the power to bring you and Valdel back to the real world, do you wish to go?"


    When Valdel and Lisa heard Ren''s deration they were surprised. After a moment of silence, Lisa shook her head and responded.


    "There''s no need, I already achieved everything I wanted. If I go back now, I''ll just once again be the weak Lisa that would hold you guys back."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yeah, I have already proven myself worthy to call myself a part of the group. I get to die in my beloved''s arms. The only thing that would make this better is if Lara was here."


    "In my current state, I can fulfill that request." Ren used the original Incarnation''s power and sliced through space and pulled something from beyond it. Ren had forcibly summoned Lara into this dream world.


    Lara who was at first in a state of confusion looked around and was able to get the gist of what was happening. Seeing what happened dumbfounded Lisa as she chuckled.


    "You really can do everything¡­ It''s been a while, Lara."


    "Yeah, it has been a while, big sis."


    Seeing her sister, her childhood friend, and her beloved surround her as she was dying, made Lisa feel a sense of content.


    "This truly was the best dream¡­ Lara, I wasn''t able to say this before, but thank you for being the best little sister." When Lara heard what Lisa said she couldn''t hold back her tears and cried as she responded.


    "It was an honor to be your little sister."


    Lisa then looked at Ren who was standing beside Lara.


    "Ren, was I a worthy student, a worthy friend?"


    "You were one of my best students, and there can be no denying that you were a worthy friend. Be proud Lisa, for I Ren an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul approve of you."


    Lisa could no longer hold herself back when she heard Ren''s approval. Lisa''s tears fell from her face, and she smiled a very brilliant smile. She then looked at Valdel who was gritting his teeth looking like he was in pain. She lifted her weak arms and caressed his face. She then lifted her face with much difficulty and kissed Valdel.


    The kiss between the two onlysted for a second but to them, it was an eternity.


    "Thank you foring back for me. Thank you for allowing me to love you." Valdel then hugged Lisa tightly.


    "I''m d that this time I get to see you all before I go¡­ Thank you, guys¡­ For granting me¡­ A¡­ Wonderful¡­ Dream-"

 Chapter 510 - Fainting

    <h4>Chapter 510 - Fainting</h4>


    The moment Lisa died while in the arms of Valdel, her entire being suddenly turned into orbs of white light. As soon as that happened the entire dream world started shaking. The ground and sky were now slowly disintegrating.


    "The two of youe closer to me!" Ren shouted at Valdel and Lara, who were still in a dazed state. When the two of them heard Ren''s call, they immediately moved towards him. It was at this moment Ren was finally feeling the bacsh of using the original incarnation''s power.


    That pain was beyond any he had felt before. It was an indescribable pain, that even he an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, one who lives for battle could not help but gnashed his teeth and convulse from the pain.


    Ren could not move his body and his mana was going berserk. It felt like he was drowning and trying to move was just making it worse. The power he received from the original was destroying him from the inside. Noticing the weird expression on Ren''s face, Lara and Valdel looked at him worried.


    "Ren are you alright?"


    "What''s happening to you?"


    Despite the world literally crumbling before them, both Valdel and Lara were not bothered by that and were more concerned about what''s happening to Ren.


    "Is this because of the power of your original incarnation? There''s no need to push yourself, Ren. What''s the worst that could happen, death?" Lara spoke with no fear nor hesitation, there was only worry for Ren. Valdel who heard what Lara said, finally understood what was happening.


    "I see, so that was it¡­ Ren¡­ If you can''t take it anymore, you can stop channeling whatever power you are using right now. Who among us hasn''t died before, it''s nothing much."


    Ren''s two childhood friends tried to make him stop trying too hard, but at this point, Ren could no longer hear a word they were saying. The pain he was feeling had exceeded his limit and he was near the point of fainting.


    ''Damn it! I can''t even move a single finger nor can I manipte the mana within me. The only way now is to stop using the original''s power, but once I do that there won''t be a way to escape this ce.''


    Ren gritted his teeth and tried to power through like he always does, but unfortunately no matter how hard he struggled he could no longer feel his body.


    ''Is this how I''m going to die? Unable to save my friends, even after all that big talk I did¡­ Have I be so pathetic?'' Ren was getting angry at himself but not even his anger was able to help him ovee his current predicament.


    Ren could already feel his consciousness slowly fading. Yet even as the end was nearing the thought of asking the original for more help never passed his mind. Ren had already asked the original for a favor and that was more than what Ren''s pride could handle.


    As an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul Ren continued to struggle until the very end, but no matter what he did he could not do anything in his state. As his consciousness was slowly fading he gritted his teeth and was filled with rage at himself. He wasn''t willing to die in such a pathetic way.


    ''Damn it! This must be the worst death an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul could have. This should be the most embarrassing death ever. At leastst time despite being poisoned I died in actual battle. Damn it, I-''


    Those were Ren''s final thoughts before he fainted from the pain and he finally stopped using the power of the original incarnation.


    When Lara and Valdel saw that Ren fainted they sighed in relief. They weren''t that bothered by the fact that the world was crumbling before them, what mattered to them was Ren.


    "So what do you think we should do now?" Valdel asked as heid Ren''s body on the ground.


    "Of course, we try to escape. I know that it might seem impossible, but we should at least try. Do you still remember where the door you entered from was located?"


    "It''s a little far from this ce, based on how fast this world is crumbling, I''m guessing that ce no longer exists." Valdel shrugged his shoulders as he answered.


    "¡­ Tsk, if I was at my full strength I could''ve tried to create a portal to escape out of this ce. I''m still just at a quarter frompletion." Lara clicked her tongue feeling a little bit irritated at how slow the progress of her soul restoration was going.


    "Then how about I pass my mana onto you. Surely thebined might of both of our manas might do something, right?"


    "¡­ You know that might work. Alright then let''s try it." Lara who was frowning moments ago started to smile, it was a very vicious-looking smile. Seeing her smile like that Valdel couldn''t help but show the same smile as well. This was their way of encouraging themselves. Valdel then pressed both his arms on Lara''s back. His mana started flowing outward towards Lara.


    Feeling the mana she was receiving from Valdel surging within her, Lara started chanting as she raised her right hand upward. The surge of mana from both of them was extremely powerful which actually helped in hastening the destruction of the world they were in.


    Valdel had nearly passed all of his mana to Lara, could no longer stand, and fell to the ground. Heid right beside Ren and fainted. Lara was concentrating so hard on her chant she hadn''t realized that Valdel had already fainted.


    Lara who was in the middle of her chant could already feel that the mana she possessed was insufficient. Yet despite that, she continued to chant. Giving up despite knowing the end result was not her style. If she had given up because of something like that she would not be able to meet the reincarnations of her beloved.


    Lara wasn''t even able to reach the halfway point of her chant when she felt her consciousness fading, her mana supplypletely depleted. She wanted to fight it and forced herself to at least say one more word, but in spite of her pushing herself beyond her limit she still could not do it, and in the end, she too fell.


    She fell beside Ren, and thest thing she saw as she fainted was Ren''s face. Despite knowing that death wasing, she still felt happy that at least in this incarnation she was able to die beside her beloved.

 Chapter 511 - Escape

    <h4>Chapter 511 - Escape</h4>


    The moment Lara fainted inside Ren''s soul, the original incarnation watched silently. Watching how Ren''s twopanions fought until the bitter end reminded the original incarnation of his ownpanions. They too had fought bravely and persevered without giving up until the bitter end, where only he remained.


    It wasn''t just his and Ren''spanions most of his reincarnations hadpanions, and like all those thate in contact with the Strongest Mortal Soul, they too were influenced by their stubborn nature. Everypanion his reincarnations had all fought beside him and apanied each incarnation until the bitter end.


    Even now some of thosepanions still live and fight to break through the confines of destiny, of the ORIGIN''s control.


    The original incarnation smiled as he was reminded of the desperate struggles all his reincarnations had to go through. He then looked at fallen Ren, Valdel, and Lara. If Ren was a normal incarnation he would never have interfered so much, but this incarnation might be the final one and he could not allow him to die like this.


    "Besides I was once treated as a Guardian of Heroes. I have always favored those that don''t give up even though they know that certain demise wille. Even if my current reincarnation won''t like this, I guess I should help. This isn''t the ce for you to die, our final battle is still toe." As the original incarnation was about to make his move, something unexpected happened.


    "Don''t you dare!" Ren''s voice suddenly resounded. Ren who had fainted had woken up using nothing but his own willpower. "Don''t you dare, do anything. It''s embarrassing enough that I had to ask for your help, to begin with. After lending me your power if I can''t even do this by myself then I''m pretty much worthless. So don''t lift a finger and let me do handle this situation."


    Ren was stillying on the ground unable to move a single finger nor was he able to control his mana, but the tone of his voice was firm and was filled with confidence. The only thing Ren could move was his mouth and he was now showing that vicious smile of his.


    "I understand how you feel Ren. I know that you have grown in a different way than most of the past incarnations, but that doesn''t mean you aren''t the same as us. You still retain that pride of ours, and I understand that you don''t want to ask for more help than you need to, as you feel like you be a weakling. Still, I''m sure you understand the world around you is literally crumbling and in a few minutes it will reach you and once you enter the void your bodies will cease to exist and the three of you will die. Is keeping your pride worth such a risk?"


    After the original incarnation spoke it became quiet for a while, as Ren simply looked dumbfounded by what he heard. After a few seconds of being quiet Ren out of nowhere startedughing.


    "HAHAHAHAHA! You''re only half correct in what you said. It would seem those eons of doing nothing but watch each of your reincarnations have made your senses dull. It is true that I do not wish to ask for your help because of my pride, but in such a situation if I do not have anything else even if I did not want to I would''ve asked for your help. You underestimated my growth as a person, well I guess that was expected since most of your reincarnations only grew strong physically and had no other growth besides that."


    As he continued to talk Ren''s smile grew wider and wider. It was at that moment the original incarnation saw Ren''s hands twitching.


    "The reason I wasn''t asking for your help is simply because I do not need it. As a reincarnation of someone that has defied fate itself, you should trust my abilities a bit more. Well to be fair even I was doubting my chances a few minutes ago. Yet after feeling that intense pain and fainting from it, I had an epiphany. I now have a better understanding of myself." While Ren was talking the destruction of Lisa''s world was nearing, but Ren continued to smile that vicious smile of his.


    "I see¡­ very well then, show me how you go beyond my expectations." The original replied with the same vicious smile on his face. It has been a long time since one of his predictions regarding his own reincarnation was wrong. The only reincarnations that have gone beyond his expectations were those that were among the truly powerful, or those that grew in a different way from most incarnations. When Ren heard the original incarnation''s response he licked his lips and bared his canines.


    "Then allow me to show you, how I go beyond!" Ren''s body started twitching and convulsing, his mana that was going berserk started to stabilize, even the power he borrowed from the original incarnation was bing somewhat stable. When the original incarnation saw this he could not help but be a little amazed.


    ''Not even Rei Kuraki the second strongest incarnation who had mastered most of the other incarnations techniques could understand the power of the Origin Soul. This guy has been using it for just a few minutes but he has actually arrived at the starting line. I can finally see a little bit of hope in our situation, the end that I foresaw in our battle against the ORIGIN might note to pass.''


    While watching Ren suddenly stood up, the original incarnation then looked at the board in front of him and smiled as he knew what the next move he would take the moment Ren sessfully survives.


    ¡­


    Ren could once again move his body, and his mana had stabilized, but more than that he actually understood a bit about the power the original incarnation uses. It wasn''t much, it was basically simr to how a child understood how to swing a wooden sword without getting hurt. Yet despite just getting to the starting point, Ren could already feel that his personal power had grown thrice as much.


    ''Just how strong is the original incarnation?'' The moment that thought came into his mind, Ren shook his head and discarded it. Right now what was important was to escape this crumbling world. Ren made Lara and Valdel''s bodies float using a spell, and with the power he borrowed from the original incarnation, Ren extended his hand forward and tried to open a portal back to where Tsukiyomi and Silika were waiting.


    A bit of blood came flowing out of Ren''s mouth as he tried to do so. Ren didn''t mind the blood as he was fully concentrated on the task at hand. Same as before he could feel his body breaking just by using a bit of the original incarnation''s power, but this time it wasn''t as devastating. After a while, the portal finally opened and Ren pushed Lara and Valdel into the portal. Before Ren stepped into the portal to leave the dying world, he looked back and spoke.


    "¡­ Until we meet again, Lisa."

 Chapter 512 - Within A Single Second

    <h4>Chapter 512 - Within A Single Second</h4>


    Silika and Tsukiyomi saw Lara being dragged into a portal. The two were about to make a move when they felt a rather familiar mana wave. Even though they couldn''t see him it was impossible for them to not recognize who it was that created that portal and pulled in Lara.


    Silika and Tsukiyomi lowered their guard and allowed Lara to be taken. Once Lara was pulled into the portal both Silika and Tsukiyomi stared at each other. Even though they were acting rather civilized in front of Ren, the truth was the two of them wanted to start fighting, especially Tsukiyomi. In Tsukiyomi''s eyes, it didn''t matter how many flies wanted to swarm Ren, what was important was that she was the number one person among his women.


    Silika was also looking at Tsukiyomi and wanted to fight her but for a different reason. In Silika''s eyes, there was no such thing as rankings among Ren''s lovers, but there were rankings among the women themselves. She wanted to prove to everyone that came that she was the strongest among them.


    The two women wanted to immediately attack but held themselves back. They knew that the timeframe in the different world was faster than theirs, so it was possible that Ren and the others would appear any time now, so the battle between them should be decided within a single second. This was the continuation of theirst confrontation.


    Even thoughst time Silika already admitted that in their current states Tsukiyomi would win, but here when she was in the underworld her power had increased a bit. So now if the two were to face each other the winner wasn''t so obvious anymore.


    The two were already visualizing each and every action the other would take. They had already crossed des a thousand times in their minds, and not even a second had passed in the real world.


    Tsukiyomi knew of Silika''s fame when she was still Elizabeth Rogue the strongest Goddess of Death. She was one of the most famous world deities that ever existed. It was said that she could make even the Old Gods look like whimpering children. It was even rumored that aside from Leonard Tranor the Strongest Mortal Soul in her era, she could also hold her own against Ancestral Gods the strongest power among Gods second only to the ORIGIN himself.


    Even if you removed her status as a Goddess of Death Silika was a prominent figure among vampires. She has always been considered the strongest ancestral vampire even though she was half-human. Her stories and legends have endured even the test of time, and Tsukiyomi knew each and every one of those tales. This is why even she who was usually so confident was unsure if she could win against the famed individual, here in the underworld.


    Silika was also assessing her opponent but unlike Tsukiyomi she didn''t have much information regarding Tsukiyomi, all she had to go on was in what she saw.


    Silika knew that Tsukiyomi was an Ethereal, a race created by the Old Gods as weapons for battle that could grow alongside its user. Yet in the end, they were discarded as worthless tools that could not match up to expectations. Little did the Old Gods know that the Ethereals willter be a race that could rival most of them in power, for the maximum level of power an Ethereal could achieve was only limited by her master.


    Obviously seeing as Tsukiyomi''s contractor or master was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, that would mean that she should probably be the strongest among all the Ethereals. Well, that is aside from Lauria the original Ethereal, who was also contracted to an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal soul.


    Aside from her origin as Ethereal, Silika knew from thest time they were about to face each other, that Tsukiyomi was probably very adept at using ice spells. It was pretty easy to tell since Tsukiyomi''s mana was practically freezing once unleashed. If she fully used Ren''s current mana supply as her own, Tsukiyomi could probably freeze an entire kingdom.


    There was also the fact that as an Ethereal, Tsukiyomi has the racial ability to create any weapon. In fact, the original Ethereal Lauria could not only create weapons but she herself could turn into a weapon. The weapon form of an Ethereal was their strongest form, but based on what Silika could see from Tsukiyomi she shouldn''t be able to use that form. If Silika''s guess was correct Tsukiyomi should not be a pure-blooded Ethereal.


    ¡­


    Now with all that knowledge the two of them had on each other, they needed to create a battle n that would ensure victory with a single strike. Silika had the advantage in long and mid-range attacks. Tsukiyomi had the advantage in close-quartersbat.


    Knowing this it was obvious that Silika would try to use arge attack at the beginning to finish off Tsukiyomi before she could even get close. Tsukiyomi on the other hand would use her superior speed to get close and finish it with a single sh.


    Now the question was, if Silika''s move could finish Tsukiyomi or if Tsukiyomi would be fast enough to strike Silika before she could cast a spell. If Silika does in fact hit Tsukiyomi and Tsukiyomi survives then it would be easy for thetter to win. On the other hand, if Tsukiyomi was able to get close but Silika manages to evade the strike, then Tsukiyomi would be open for a counter, making it easier for the Silika to win.


    The two of them had clear advantages over the other, and even though they had only met recently the two had been observing each other all the time. The two had formted thousands of ns in their head and it hasn''t even been a second. All of these thoughts were happening a thousandth of a second.


    When the two finally decided on the n of attack they were going to use, both of them looked and smiled at each other. As they were about to make a move, suddenly another portal appeared between them. An unconscious Lara and Valdel came out of the portal, and a secondter Ren walked out of the portal. When Ren passed through the portal he immediately fainted.


    "Ren!" Tsukiyomi and Silika screamed.

 Chapter 513 - The Sudden Change

    <h4>Chapter 513 - The Sudden Change</h4>


    While the group were getting worried about Ren fainting, inside his soul realm something bigger was happening. The original incarnation who was smiling while watching Ren survive this ordeal with his own strength suddenly frowned.


    A powerful outside entity had entered the soul realm and into his very own secret space, of course, there was only one being outside the Strongest Mortal Soul incarnations that could do such a thing. The ORIGIN had arrived but unlike the ORIGIN''s past visits there was something different. Not knowing what was happening to the ORIGIN the original incarnation was on full alert. He was ready to strike at any moment.


    The ORIGIN did not say a word as he sat across the board from the original incarnation''s position. Unlike his usual calm expression, the ORIGIN was actually showing something very mortal-like, he looked to be in pain. The original incarnation who had seen numerous things in his almost eternal existence was never as surprised as he was now.


    In their long history not once has the ORIGIN shown him such an expression. The facade of being an omniscient, omnipotent being was gone, and all the original incarnation could see was a being in need of help. The ORIGIN who had sat on the other side of the table looked at the original incarnation and couldn''t help but sigh, as he then softly chuckled.


    "My son, it would seem that the final battle you so wish is about toe." While the ORIGIN was talking, the original incarnation noticed some ck smoging out of the ORIGIN''s body.


    "So it has finally reached that point. The corruption of your so called children has finally prated your inner self and still, you do nothing." The original incarnation shook his head as he spoke those words to the ORIGIN.


    "Hehehe, as expected from you, such biting words¡­ It is true that I could easily terminate the children whose inner corruptions have encroached on me, but I won''t do it. Even with all they have done, they''re still my children. How can I punish them for their inadequacies born from my own failures? Even you who had tried to kill me numerous times and had almost seeded still exist."


    The ORIGIN who was in a form that could not be perceived by weaker beings suddenly chuckled. The original incarnation even saw the ORIGIN having a pained smile.


    "You''re one to talk, don''t you kill numerous mortal beings as you reset theirs, sr system, gxies, universes? You might be the origin of all living beings, but you have no right to sound like a benevolent father."


    Even though what the ORIGIN was saying was what he truly believed in, the original incarnation couldn''t ept it. The faces of all therades who had died, who had sacrificed their lives for him surfaced in his mind. Their battle with the ORIGIN and the Gods has been going on for eons now, and several universes and hidden dimensions have already been destroyed.


    "You know resetting them isn''t the same as killing them, it just forces them to restart from the very beginning. I simply for them to do better in every reset. Even you do the same thing with every reincarnation of yours¡­ Though because of my current state, I do not recall ever creating a way for humans to reincarnate, especially the special form in which you reincarnate¡­ But I''m certain I did so out of my love for you, and all of humanity and those that evolved from them."


    When the original incarnation heard what the ORIGIN said he sneered. The greatest trick he had ever pulled was still unknown the absolute being that was the ORIGIN.


    "Resetting them is not the same as killing them? Every time they reset their new selves will no longer be who they were before. How is that not the same as killing them? To me death is not when one''s biological body dies, but when one''s experiences are no longer there. Those people aren''t the same people that I have met and experienced so much with. They might look the same but they are different. Unlike my reincarnations, we might look different but deep down we are the same."


    The original incarnation gritted his teeth as he said those words. He was reminded of the numerousrades his reincarnations adventure with, many of them had been reset and they were no longer the same as the people they knew before.


    "It would seem that even now as the end of my rationality is nearing we still don''t see eye to eye. Well, that''s alright, because of that stubbornness of yours, you are the only one who can save all that I have created. Please my son, save them from myself."


    The ORIGIN who had stood above all beings bowed his head. Seeing that scene shook the original incarnation to his very core. There had been many surprises that happened during this brief conversation of theirs, but seeing the ORIGIN bow with sincerity hadpletely caught him off guard. The original incarnation could not help but show a rare expression of shock, but it quickly went back to his neutral expression.


    "I have always nned to save them, which is why I went through all of this trouble. It''s not just them I''m trying to save¡­ It''s you too."


    This time it was the ORIGIN''s turn to look at the original incarnation in shock. He was an almighty being, who knew almost everything from past, present, and future, in all universes the only thing even the ORIGIN could not foresee were things rted to the Strongest Mortal Soul, but even without that foresight the ORIGIN could easily predict what the other was thinking, but now it was different. What the original incarnation said was outside the ORIGIN''s expectations. After a moment of silence, the ORIGIN smiled a very bright smile.


    "As expected you truly are my HOPE. Very well, my child, even though we are standing on opposite sides I hope you achieve victory."


    "¡­ How long do you have before you are fully corrupted?


    "Not long, it could be tomorrow, a month, a year, a century, I''m not sure. All I know is it''s nearing. Once I lose control and my entire rationality disappears and turns into those negative emotions the Ancient Gods feel, then I do not know what I would do next. I might just end it all in a single breath or I might just destroy all human life from the universe. The rage and jealousy the Gods, my children feel for humanity and all of its offspring is immense."


    "I see¡­ Do not worry, I would never allow you or them to destroy the very multiverse mypanions died protecting." When the ORIGIN heard the original incarnation''s answer he smiled and nodded his head.


    "I''m d to hear that my son¡­ Then this is farewell, the next time we meet¡­ I would no longer be the father you once knew." After saying that the ORIGIN left the soul realm. The moment the ORIGIN left, the board that stretched almost infinitely with numerous pieces on it was broken in half, but before it broke most of the pieces on the side of the ORIGIN started gathering into one spot. Seeing this happening the original incarnation sighed as he spoke in a lowered voice that only he could hear.


    "Goodbye¡­ Father¡­"

 Chapter 514 - Chaos Within Ones Soul

    <h4>Chapter 514 - Chaos Within One''s Soul</h4>


    After meeting with the ORIGIN, the original incarnation quickly went into a lotus position and started meditating. Even though his will that had been tempered through countless battles was the strongest among all the incarnations, the original incarnation was still in a chaotic state from the news he just heard. After stabilizing his emotions the original incarnation''s state returned to his usual neutral state.


    ''So the time has finallye. Will I be able to win this time?¡­ What the heck am I thinking, of course, I''m going to win this time! As the original incarnation of those battle freaks how can I think of defeat even before a battle starts.''


    When that thought crossed the original incarnation''s mind he could not help but shake his head as he smiled.


    ''I guess it''s been eons since I actually fought a good battle, I have already forgotten the thrill it brings me. I have be a bit rusty¡­ Since the time for the final battle is approaching I need to prepare.'' The original incarnation suddenly disappeared from his private space.


    ¡­


    In the inner parts of the soul realm, the sound of shing steel and exploding spells could be heard everywhere. If this was happening in the outside world many dimensions and gxies would''ve already crumbled from just a few attacks.


    Among the powerful maniacal group of battle junkies stood two weaklings, well weaklings if youpared them to the people within the soul realm, but in the outside world, the two were considered rather powerful. These two were none other than the Primordial Demons that Ren had captured.


    Even now these two Primordial Demons were trying their hardest in training trying their best to keep up with the lunatics inside the soul realm. Yet despite their efforts, they could barely match up with even the weakest incarnation.


    Every single incarnation that was sparring with each other suddenly stopped as they felt an immense pressure fall upon them. When the numerous incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul felt that immense pressure all of them could not help themselves as they smiled that vicious smile of theirs. There was only one person that could emit such pressure that even they who were hailed as the strongest people of their era were having difficulties resisting it.


    "My reincarnations, the final battle ising, and I want you guys to help me warm up a bit." The original incarnationnded on one of the floating inds. When the other incarnations saw him and heard what he said, they all quickly rushed towards him wanting to challenge the strongest of them all.


    "I should be the one to go first."


    "No, it should be me."


    "You two are both wrong, it should be me. If you guys have a problem with that how about we decide who goes first with a fight."


    Chaos erupted between the many incarnations as all of them wanted to fight the strongest incarnation the original who was the base form for all of them. Seeing that a battle that didn''t include him was about to ensue the original incarnation spoke to all of his reincarnations.


    "There''s no need for you guys to fight each other. All of youe at me at the same time, since only then would it be a bit of a challenge." When the other incarnations heard such arrogant lines they stopped fighting and stared at the original incarnation.


    All of them had extreme pride and arrogance but they knew that the words spoken by the original incarnation were the truth. They all looked at each other and they hesitated. It was at that moment the nine strongest incarnations appeared.


    "Hahaha! Finally, we get to see the original incarnation''s true strength. You guys cast away your pride and let''s join hands to fight the strongest among us. If you won''t join then you''ll be missing out from such wonderous battle!"


    The one who spoke with so much excitement in their voice was Leonard Tranor, he was already eager to move in and attack but he held himself back, and waited to see what the others n to do.


    "Since the final battle is nearing this is a good way to practice a bit of cooperation among us incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Seeing as our fight against the ORIGIN will most probably not be a one on one fight, but all of us against the ORIGIN. So let''s practice our teamwork in the heat of real battle!" This time it was Rei Kuraki who spoke, the second strongest incarnation.


    The other stronger incarnations also spoke about cooperating and eventually, everyone agreed to fight against the original incarnation with all of them as one. Once they agreed to fight, the incarnations that were archers and mages all fired their strongest attacks at the original incarnation.


    Seeing the attacks that could easily obliterate a gxying towards him, the original incarnation smiled a vicious smile and summoned a sword.


    "Origin style swordsmanship second form [Star Breaker]!" The original incarnation''s sword grew asrge as a and pierced forward towards the barrage of ultimate attacks. Upon making contact with the sword all of the attacks from the archers and mages were instantly nullified.


    The Primordial Demons who were watching from afar could not evenprehend what was happening. All they understood was that among the monsters in this realm it was obvious that the guy fighting everyone else was the monster among monsters.


    ¡­


    After several days of fighting nonstop, the final winner was obvious. In the middle of the numerous fallen stood on man the original incarnation. Even against all of his reincarnations fighting together he still won. Normally the original incarnation would not be surprised by such an oue since he already knew most of everything the incarnations knew, their techniques, their philosophies, even their deepest darkest secrets.


    The original incarnation had the most experience and the greatest power among his reincarnations. So even though he was a little bit rusty he knew victory was his. Yet to his surprise his absolute victory without a scratch on him that he envisioned did note to pass.


    The original incarnation looked at his body that had a few wounds here and there in a daze and after a while, he startedughing.


    ''As expected from my reincarnations! They actually grew so much during the battle that they went beyond my own expectations. If they continue growing at this pace, they might actually win against me. Once they perfect their teamwork even I won''t be able to do anything. Though one on one we are nothing much in the face of the ORIGIN''s true body, but with this, we might actually stand a chance once I join in.'' Just thinking about how much stronger they could be excited him. He then looked at his fallen incarnations and spoke in a loud voice.


    "How about it guys, let''s start round two!" The moment those words came out of his mouth, all of the fallen incarnations stood up with a smile on their faces. They all quickly took a battle stance and started attacking again.


    The Primordial Demons who had witnessed the entire battle from afar had already gone numb from all they had seen.

 Chapter 515 - Ive Grown Too Strong

    <h4>Chapter 515 - I''ve Grown Too Strong</h4>


    After their trip to the underworld, the three childhood friends returned to New Grenton. The conquest of the dwarven kingdom was put on hold while the three were recuperating.


    As the days went by Lara was finally able to stabilize her soul and regained the memories of all her past lives. Once all her experience and skills came back a drastic change happened to her body.


    Lara who was already a beautiful maiden turned even more breathtakingly beautiful. Her body had seemed to grow into something exotic. Not only did her outside looks change but she now had this mature vibeing from her that wasn''t there before. Not to mention she was now more expressive thane before.


    Lara had now be as powerful as Tsukiyomi and Silika, so the moment she regained her power the first thing Lara did was challenge the two. The three of them battled it out for days while Ren was sleeping. Sometimes Lara would win, other times Tsukiyomi, and then Silika. The three of them were equally matched and it was hard to gain a clear winner.


    Yet despite the sparring matches between the three of them being fierce and extremely violent, the three were still able to form a sort of bond. They weren''t as close as sisters but they were now more than friends.


    ¡­


    After the incident in the underworld, Valdel had gained the knowledge of the Valdel within Lisa''s dream. Unlike him, the Valdel in the dream was physically weaker with less mana, but his techniques and experience were leagues above the original Valdel''s own techniques. Now that Valdel had all of the dream version''s knowledge he started training. After a few weeks of training, the effects were extraordinary.


    The techniques used by the dream versionbined with Valdel''s power became something beyond what he expected. The current Valdel was now at least three times stronger than he used to be. Just a little bit of training and this was the effect. Valdel could only imagine what heights he would reach once he masters all of these techniques. As Valdel grew stronger so did his swords Zwei and Nika.


    ¡­


    It took Ren several months to recover from the bacsh he received using the original incarnation''s power, but the moment he woke up he felt his own power had risen to unimaginable heights.


    He had understood a minuscule portion of the original incarnation''s power to control one''s soul, it was just a little thing but it had given him power that far exceeded what he currently had.


    With his current strength, Ren could fight Ten Demon Lord Kretoses with rtive ease. So the moment he woke up, he wanted to do a quick warm-up and fought all of the warriors in the castle. He even allowed Tsukiyomi and the others to join in the fun.


    Those that didn''t join in the fight watched from the sidelines. At first when they saw how many people were joining in and knowing how strong some of them were, everyone thought that even Ren would not be able to win so easily, yet the reality was different from expectations.


    Ren had easily decimated the opposing force. Tsukiyomi, Lara, Silika, and Valdel were the only ones left standing at the end, but even they could not even get close to Ren. The battle then ended with Ren''s overwhelming victory.


    After winning the battle, Ren did the next thing he liked to do: eat till he was full. He had been asleep for several months so he ate practically several months'' worth of food. This time it was a battle between Ren and the pce chefs.


    Ren would devour every meal in his line of sight and the chefs kept on bringing him more food. Ren continued to eat for a full day before he was satisfied. Most of the chefs in the kitchen had fainted due to over-exhaustion.


    ¡­


    Now that Ren had woken up and was even stronger than before the n to attack the dwarven kingdommenced. Ren had made his disciple Arthur join this battle as a foot soldier under Lance''smand which consisted of all the people Ren personally trained.


    The army Ren sent consisted of only two hundred men, and the army of the newly united dwarven kingdom had more than a hundred thousand, not to mention there was a Primordial Demon hidden in the mix. There were also their fortresses to worry about which were said to be the strongest in the entire continent. Those fortresses'' defenses were rumored to be strong enough to handle an attack from an adult dragon.


    Despite knowing the military power of the opposing army Ren didn''t add more to the army he sent. In fact, Ren wasn''t even among those that would attack. Now that he had gained too much power, fighting the dwarves wouldn''t be too much fun, which is why he decided to use this battle to train his students. On the other hand, while the others were attacking the dwarven kingdom he decided to attack the dragons instead.


    ¡­


    Upon arriving at the dragons'' nest, Ren immediately noticed that there were only a few dozen young dragons present. Ren sighed as he felt that the dragons present weren''t enough to get him excited. Still, since he was already here it was time to conquer them.


    The young dragons who had noticed Ren standing above the clouds were about to attack when Ren suddenly spoke to them in thenguage of dragons.


    "Submit or die!"


    When Ren said those words he unleashed a portion of his mana. The moment he did so the clouds started to darken and the ground started to shake. It was like the time when Alphonso unleashed his own mana, the environment changed. Same as Alphonso the current world was having difficulty supporting Ren''s power.


    When the young dragons felt Ren''s mana their entire bodies stiffened. This was the suppression of a strong being. The young dragons looked at Ren as varied emotions overwhelmed them. There was hatred, anger, but most of all there was fear.


    The weaker half of the younger dragons could not handle the pressure they felt and submitted to Ren. To them, it was not shameful to bow down to the stronger one, but the other young dragons did notply. They were dragons, they were born as the strongest species in all the universes. How could they allow themselves to be subservient to a human, it was not possible.


    The rebellious young dragons roared as they shook off the fear they felt and attacked. Seeing the young dragons flying towards him Ren sighed. Since the other young dragons had already submitted he could not use his aura to force the others down since that would affect those that are already under him.


    "I didn''t really want to fight weak young dragons, but I already said submit or die."


    Ren pointed his finger at a nearby dragon and a burst of pure mana pierced its skull, and just like that one dragon was killed.


    When the other charging dragons saw what had happened they did not back away instead they charged forward even faster than before. Ren then used the same technique to kill the remaining rebellious dragons. Seeing that the fight was over Ren felt a bit disappointed.


    A few months ago he was so excited to conquer the dragons, as he imagined that fighting young dragons would have been a great battle. When he was still Demon Lord Kretos it took everything he had just to beat one young dragon, but now he was so powerful that he could kill young dragons like he was killing ants.


    ''I guess I''ve grown too strong for this mortal ne¡­ Should I wait for Valdel to get stronger or should I just go now and wait for him on the other side?''

 Chapter 516 - Allied Kingdoms

    <h4>Chapter 516 - Allied Kingdoms</h4>


    The battle against the dwarven kingdom took longer than expected. Even with Lara, Tsukiyomi, Silka, and Valdel within the army, the fortresses would not fall easily.


    Even though no dwarven warriors could face the weakest of the army Ren sent, but the fortress itself was a miracle. Even after being bombarded by Tsukiyomi''s powerful spells, it did not fall. Even with Silika''s numerous skills could prate its defenses. Lara''s alchemy and Valdel''s luck were also not enough to break the dwarven fortresses. It turns out the dwarves truly were the greatest craftsmen on the entire continent. The fortress they built stood tall without a single scratch, which made even the calm Silika grit her teeth in frustration.


    On the other hand, the dwarves could not retaliate. At first, they tried sending out their armies to greet Ren''s army inbat. The morale of the dwarves at the beginning was extremely high. They were even angry at the humans for looking down on them by sending only two hundred men against their hundred thousand strong armies.


    The dwarves sent out ten thousand men to intimidate Ren''s army. The dwarves were rather confident in winning this battle as they had numbers on their side, not to mention their superior equipment.


    Dwarves were not only good at building fortresses they were famous as the best cksmiths on the entire continent. Their weapons, armor, and technology were far, far ahead of the other races. In their minds, they had a zero percent chance of losing, yet reality was cruel. The moment they shed with the humans they were immediately wiped out.


    Those watching from the fortress''s walls were dumbfounded at the sight. While they were still trying toprehend what they just witnessed their heads were suddenly pierced by arrows or spells. The dwarves then quickly hid within their fortress not even daring to look outside.


    The moment the dwarves started hiding inside their fortress while focusing solely on defense was when Ren''s army stopped marching.


    It then turned into a battle of attrition, and to see whose supplies wouldst longer. Unfortunately for the dwarves, this was a losing battle. They tried tost for as long as possible while trying to think of a way to make their enemy withdraw their forces. Yet no matter what kind of n they thought of none of it was working.


    Seeing that their food supply was running out, and they had no way to retaliate the dwarves finally surrendered after a stand-off of five months.


    The moment the dwarves surrendered the hidden Primordial Demon who had watched the entire ordeal was frightened. At first, he wasn''t sure but now there was no doubt he had recognized two women within the army of humans. One of them was the Strongest World Deity that once governed over death among hundreds ofs, while the other was the famous killer of a hundred Gods.


    Those two were beings that he had no hope of facing. The Primordial Demon who had fled the scene was suddenly stopped by an unknown human. At first, he thought that the human before him was just some random passerby but then he saw the smile on the human''s face. When he saw that smile he suddenly remembered a simr smileing from the one who had sealed his entire race into that cave.


    ''Wait a minute, both Tsukiyomi and Elizabeth Rogue are here and there working together, then that must mean this person is-'' Before The Primordial Demon could even finish his thought he was killed and his soul captured. Ren then ced the Primordial Demon''s soul into his soul realm, after he was done doing that he left.


    ¡­


    Even though they had won without a single causality Lara and the others felt ashamed to face Ren. They had taken too long to conquer the dwarves while Ren took only one day to tame the dragons. Still, Ren did not me them for taking too long, but he decided to retrain all of them, including Lara and the other powerful ones in his group.


    ¡­


    After conquering the dwarven kingdom, all the remaining kingdoms in the continent not under Ren''s rule decided to form an alliance to defend themselves from Ren. In this alliance, most of the human Temples had joined, except for the Temple of Justice, War, and Death. The three Temples instead allied themselves with New Grenton.


    The allied kingdoms felt extreme hatred towards the three temples, but among the three the one they hated the most at this point was the Temple of Justice. How could justice side with a ruthless conqueror? Still, what''s done is done they could do nothing about it.


    While Ren was busy training his men and stopped his conquest in the meantime, the allied kingdoms started to gather any information they could about Ren. They needed to find out what kind of ruler the person called Ren was. So each Kingdom sent dozens of spies into Ren''s territory.


    Finding information about Ren was not as difficult as they expected. The spies they sent returned rather quickly and the facial expression on their faces was quite a sight to behold. The rulers of each Kingdom and the Temples did not have time to contemte why the spies looked that way and asked them to report their findings.


    The spies who were in a dazed state were shaken awake and what reced their dazed look was a look of fear, and with great difficulty, they started reporting the information they gathered.


    When the rulers heard the report of the spies they were horrified and the more they heard the fearful they became. It turns out the person called Ren wasn''t just a King, but he was also a fierce warrior and it was no exaggeration to say if the reports were true Ren would be the strongest of all warriors.


    After learning each one of Ren''s many aplishments the rulers, as well as the head priests, were suddenly falling into despair. Not only was their opponent a mighty warrior with a mighty army, but he also controlled several dragons the mightiest of creatures. The meeting of rulers and head priests suddenly turned chaotic.


    "What should we do?!"


    "How do we face such a monster?"


    "Should we surrender?"


    "How can you say that? If we surrender to such a monster won''t our lives be a living hell?"


    The voices of the rulers and head priests became louder and louder as fear and despair gripped their hearts, it was at that moment someone gave an interesting suggestion that made everyone quiet down.


    "How about we try using the ancient spell of hero summoning?"


    "Are you talking about the one that humans used to defeat the strongest Demon Lord, Demon Lord Kretos?"


    "Yes, that''s the one."


    "That might actually work. It is said that heroes summoned by the ancient spell are those with unrivaled powers and are blessed by the Gods."


    "Records even say that those heroes are stronger than those heroes from the Temples."


    The rulers and head priests could finally see some hope with the use of the Ancient spell of hero summoning. If even Demon Lord Kretos could be defeated using this spell then Ren no matter how strong he was would fall as well.

 Chapter 517 - Mass Hero Summoning

    <h4>Chapter 517 - Mass Hero Summoning</h4>


    It took Ren and his army a year and a half to take over almost half of the continent. The speed at which he was conquering the continent was ten times faster than when he was Demon Lord Kretos. Still, Ren felt a bit disappointed at this oue and sighed.


    ''Well, in this era the various races have be much, much weaker than before which has been an utter disappointment. Also for some reason, the most powerful hero type hasn''t shown themselves yet¡­ Thought that in itself is rather weird¡­ I already cause so many problems and the other side obviously knows they''re no match for me and my army, then why haven''t they used their greatest trump cards the heroes? Hmmm, maybe they already sent them and they weren''t even worth mentioning, or because this time around I''m human making them feel like I''m less of a threat than when I was a demon lord.''


    Ren was thinking such random thoughts as he was concentrating on stabilizing his growing mana supply. During these two years, he had not gone out and left the conquering to his subordinates. While inside he retrained every one of his direct subordinates and also his younger brother who had shown great promise. He even taught the new Shadow n the true ways of the old n.


    He was already getting bored of training the others and stabilizing his mana, but he could not leave yet, as Valdel still hasn''t reached the level needed to ascend. Still, based on Valdel''s talent and luck it would probably take about a few more years before he could ascend.


    While Ren was trying to figure out what to do to make things more exciting he suddenly felt the mana of the world gathering to the South. It was arge amount of mana that even from afar people could feel its touch.


    Ren who after a year and half of locking himself up within the confines of the castle of New Grenton finally left and flew above the clouds. He looked at the distance and saw a shining rainbow of light fall from the heavens. This was a gathering of the world''s mana, seeing this scene made Ren''s lips curve upward into a vicious smile.


    It has been a few millennia since hest saw it, but he would never forget what that rainbow of light represents. He was just thinking about it a while ago and now they have actually gone and did it.


    The gathering of the world''s mana that consists of all the elements to summon a rainbow bridge that connects to other worlds. This was the strongest spell the humans of this world could use, the hero summoning spell.


    ¡­


    Back in the Allied Kingdoms'' base of operations, Seven individuals stood before the various rulers. From the left stood a man of towering size, he was like a small giant. He was wearing leather armor and held a halberd as gigantic as he was. He looked at the rulers and knights that stood before him with bloodlust oozing from his body.


    The one who stood beside the giant of a man was a young man wearing pajamas sleeping on a bed. He stood up still feeling sleepy and rubbed his eyes while looking around after yawning a bit he went back to sleep.


    The next one was a stunning woman wearing a beautiful dress adorned with gems, sitting on a throne of pure gold. She was wearing an insane amount of jewelry all over her body. The aura she was releasing was shining golden, she looked at the surrounding people with contempt in her eyes.


    The next one was a middle-aged man sitting on a white chair drinking tea while reading a book. He did not even acknowledge his surroundings as he continued to drink his tea and read his book.


    The next one was a child a little girl or someone that looked like one. On her back were translucent wings, currently, the girl was in a lotus position meditating. She then opened her eyes for a second, and at that moment the people who saw her deep dark eyes saw the wisdom of an ancient. The girl then closed her eyes again and went back to meditating.


    The next person was wearing a dark cloak that hid his/her body and a mask that hid his/her face. No one could tell what gender the person was, no one was even sure if there was a person standing there in that position. It was as if they were looking at a ghost as the person''s presence was nearly non-existent.


    The next one was a half-naked man who was on the floor doing a few push-ups. Unlike the giant who was also muscr, this man''s muscles were smaller but more defined. When the man noticed he was transported into a different ce being surrounded by other people, he suddenly changed his two-handed push-ups into one-finger push-ups and he smiled at the people watching him.


    The final person among the seven was a young man who looked to be the weakest one among those that were summoned. He was wearing a VR headset that was plugged into his nervous system. The young man started shouting and was iling about angrily.


    "What the f*ck happened?! Why did the game shut down, we were just about to defeat the f*cking raid boss! Hey guys can you hear me? Were you guys also kicked out of the game or was it just me? John?¡­ Andrew?¡­ Nina?¡­ Why aren''t any of you responding, was my connection lost? That can''t be it, it says here I''m still connected to the inte."


    The surrounding people even some of those that were summoned stared at the weird-looking young man who was talking to thin air.


    The young man then removed his VR headset and to his surprise, he was no longer in his room. He looked a bit confused as he started talking again.


    "What the h*ll was I transported into a different zone? Wait a minute didn''t I already remove my VR headset?"

 Chapter 518 - The Seven Heroes

    <h4>Chapter 518 - The Seven Heroes</h4>


    The people ignored the confused young man who kept on spouting words they could notprehend. The appointed head of the allied kingdom was about to speak when he was interrupted by the gigantic man.


    "Where are the Sun Eaters?! Where is this ce?!"


    The gigantic man raised his halberd and pointed it at the person in front of him. The knight had the tip of the halberd near his nose. The knight wanted to draw his sword but he could not move due to being intimidated by the stature and presence of the gigantic man.


    "Answer me!"


    As his rage was building up the gigantic man lifted his halberd upward and he started gathering unknown energy infusing it into his weapon. When he was about to attack a loud sound of a book closing startled the man making him stop. The gigantic man then started looking for where the sound originated from.


    "How about we all calm down and listen to our hosts'' story." The middle-aged man ced his pocketbook in the pocket of his coat. He then sipped some of his tea while smiling. "As expected nothing beats drinking good tea."


    While the middle-aged man was enjoying his tea, the gigantic man charged forward towards him. As the gigantic man''s momentum increased he shed his halberd downward towards the middle-aged man.


    A loud explosion coupled with a shockwave was made by the attack. A storm of dust filled the area, the gigantic frowned as he looked ahead. As the dust dispersed the people present saw the middle-aged man was now standing on the tip of the halberd while taking a sip of his tea. The chair he sat on was destroyed and a deep crater was formed below where he sat.


    It was an amazing sight to see how the middle-aged man dodged the powerful attack, but the strength shown by the gigantic man was also a sight to behold.


    "Why are you being so violent, sir? Nothing productive has evere from being so violent, so how about we both calm down and drink some tea instead."


    The middle-aged man spoke to which the gigantic man replied by raising his halberd. The middle-aged man jumped backward, but the moment he was about tond he saw the halberd flying towards him.


    The middle-aged man who was still in mid-air had no way to dodge the attack, so he took out his pocketbook and used it to redirect the halberd. The halberd was pushed into the ground, and the middle-aged man''s pocketbook now had a hole in it.


    "Not only do you look like a barbarian but you''re acting like one as well. That was my favorite book and was a gift from a beloveddy, now it has a hole in it. I wanted to talk nicely but it seems like you cannot act in a civil manner. So as a gentleman allow me to teach some manners."


    The middle-aged man took out some scalpels from within his coat. Seeing the small weapon made the gigantic man feel irritated as he thought that he was being looked down upon. As the two were about to sh they were suddenly held by an invisible force. It was like a giant hand had gripped their bodies.


    "You two are being so noisy."


    The man who was sleeping on the bed had raised his hands as if he was clenching something. The gigantic man grew even angrier by being restrained making him look weak. He then started gathering that mysterious energy into his body strengthening him and making his skin turn darker in color. He then started thrashing about trying to release himself from whatever was holding him.


    On the other hand, the middle-aged gentleman gently sighed. "Why must you force my hand." The middle-aged gentleman then inhaled arge amount of air then expelled it but what came out of his mouth was not air but smoke. Now surrounded by the smoke it made the people unable to see what was happening, it was then they suddenly heard a growling sound.


    The man who was sleeping on the bed could no longer hold on and was forced to release the two. He then scratched his head, shrugged his shoulders, and went back to sleep.


    Seeing that he was finally released from the unknown force that restricted him, the gigantic man''s anger shifted from the gentleman to the man that was sleeping. He charged at the sleeping man and was going to attack, but then someone suddenly jumped in front of him, it was the half-naked man.


    "I want to show off as well!"


    The half-naked man then caught the gigantic man''s hand and tossed him into the ground making another crater. As the half-naked man was about to continue his attack another person swooped in, this time it was the unknown gendered person wearing a mask.


    "Why are you interfering in my performance?" The half-naked person asked.


    "I was hired to stop you."


    "Huh, by who?"


    The person wearing the mask pointed at the beautifuldy sitting on her throne of gold. The half-naked man then shifted his attention to thedy.


    "Do you want to join as well?"


    "Hmph, I have no time for such barbaric games, and I do not wish for you to continue. So how much do you want me to give, for you to stop?¡­ I''ll give a hundred gold bars if you stop, is that enough?" Thedy then raised her hand and waved it summoning a tower of gold bars.


    "Don''t bother, I cannot be bought!" Hearing the half-naked man''s answer thedy scoffed at him.


    "Heh, cannot be bought? There is no such thing as someone that cannot be bought. Everyone has a price, even the lofty Gods themselves have a price so surely you do too. So what is it?¡­ Hmmm¡­ Base on your attitude and the words you have said, I''m guessing you''re an attention seeker meaning you want fame and glory. I can give that to you, I could create an arena were you can showcase your talents. I can have bards sing of your tale to every part of this world. I can have monuments of you ced in every kingdom, in every city, in every vige. They will forever remember your name. I can give you all of these things, for as long as you are willing to follow my orders. So what do you say?"


    Hearing thedy''s proposal the half-naked man was shaken and was now hesitating. Seeing his reaction, the beautifuldy sneered. It was as she expected everything could be bought, even one''s beliefs. As she was going to sweeten the deal, someone interrupted her.


    "How idiotic, an angry idiot, a nosy fake gentleman, azy bum, a hypocrite, a goon, and a misguided princess. How utterly disappointing for these people to even be considered as heroes." The little girl who was meditating spoke.


    "Are you talking to me, little girl?"


    The moment those words came out of thedy''s mouth a sudden pressure befall the people in the room. It was a suffocating feeling that pressured them into the ground. Most of the knights and rulers have alreadyid down on the ground unable to stand.


    Even the powerful heroes that were summoned had difficulty shaking off the pressure they were currently feeling.


    "Think before you speak young one. No one, not even the creator himself is allowed to call me a little girl."


    ¡­


    While most of everyone was being affected by the pressure released by the little girl, there was one person that waspletely unaffected.


    "Wow, that was awesome. Is this some sort of cutscene from a new game? Did I somehow stumble on a hidden trailer or something?" The young man who looked to be the weakest of the summoned heroes spoke excitedly¡­ Everyone, even the little girl who seems to be the most powerful was shocked by what they saw.

 Chapter 519 - Player

    <h4>Chapter 519 - yer</h4>


    Inside the room prepared for him, Hayate was still in a daze. He could not believe what he heard during the meeting a while ago. After everyone had calmed down they were told that he and the other six standing beside him were summoned heroes.


    Hearing this revtion the seven of them had different reactions, two of them were indifferent to the news, another two were excited, one was feeling displeased, another was calmly assessing the situation, while the gigantic man was once again enraged as he shouted.


    "What of my n?! I''m the head warrior the strongest of them all, the one who protects them all from the Sun Eaters! How dare you summon me into this world making me forsake my duty! Every second I stay here will bring death to my n! So bring me back now!"


    "I''m sorry but we don''t have a way to bring any of you back, this was a one-way ticket. I''m truly sorry but we were desperate as well." The moment the warrior heard this answer his eyes darkened and he roared he looked like he was going to attack, but then he fell onto the ground in despair.


    While the warrior was wallowing in despair, thedy on the throne frowned as she tried something while waving her hands. Thedy was surprised by the oue of her action and after a few seconds, she sighed.


    "Very well, I believe your story. Seeing as I can no longer return to my beloved empire, I shall start anew and once again create the Empire of Gold in this world. Everyone present here be honored, for you are now the subjects of I Artemisia, the Golden Empress."


    Hearing what Artemisia said four of the heroes started leaking out killing intent that filled the room, making the rulers and knights feel nervous. Some of them had already backed away a bit. The gentleman approached Artemisia and smiled.


    "I''m sorry mdy, even as a proper gentleman, I cannot gift you my freedom nor my pride. So I deeply apologize for the inconvenience but I shall not be one of your subjects." Even though the gentleman was smiling on the outside everyone could feel something ominous hidden within that smile.


    "I do not serve any master, but I shall kill anyone for as long as the price is right. I can even kill you right now if someone paid me to do it." The one who wore a white mask appeared behind the golden throne and had ced a knife near Artemisia''s neck. Unperturbed by the killing intent nor the knife on her neck, Artemisia looked at the one sleeping on the bed.


    "Then how about you, do you have aint as well? Even though it was a brief moment I did feel your killing intent and it was the thickest of them all."


    The person who wasying on the bed lifted his head a little and looked at Artemisia. The eyes that looked at Artemisia didn''t seem like a living being''s eyes, it was empty as if the man had no soul.


    "Being your subject seems like a hassle and I don''t want any part of that. So as long as you don''t mess with my sleep I could care less." Once he was done saying his piece the man went back to sleep.


    "Heh¡­ So then how about you, it seems like you''ve wanted to talk since a while ago." Artemisia asked the half-naked man who suddenly did a weird pose.


    "I, Dz the greatest adventurer to have ever lived will bow down to no one, no matter how beautiful. As the greatest of all adventurers, I love my freedom. To explore the unknown and witness the mysterious. So I shall never give up my freedom no matter how many treasures you give me."


    Dz continued to show different poses as he spoke. Once he was done speaking, the terrifying little girl who was sitting in a lotus position snickered. Artemisia who heard the snickering little girl red at her.


    "Is there something you find funny?"


    "Yes, it''s you."


    "How am I funny?"


    "I find your every action since meeting you hrious. I bet you''re one of those foolish ones that think everything is yours since you have the most material treasures."


    "Is that wrong?"


    "Physical treasures aren''t the only treasures, and having the most of them doesn''t make you almighty."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Hmph, if you can''t understand that by yourself then there''s no hope for you, O'' foolish one."


    "A little girl calling me the Golden Empress a fool, now that''s hrious."


    The two started ring at each other, their bloodlust practically visible. As things were once again heating up, thest of the seven heroes pped his hands.


    "Wow, that was such a great cut scene, whoever produced this game must be a genius. Well, I guess I should continue checking this game out tomorrow. Game mode deactivate¡­ Huh?."


    The young man looked around confused, he then tried to do something else as he once again wore the weird helmet and spoke some iprehensible things. After a few minutes, he took off the helmet and started to panic. He approached one of the female knights and touched her chest, the moment he was able to do this he was shocked.


    "This is real!" As he shouted those words, the female knight who had been touched reacted violently and punched the young man in the face knocking him unconscious.


    ¡­


    That was all the things Hayate remembered before waking up in this room. It took Hayate quite a bit of time before he was able to calm himself down.


    ''Alright, so I''ve been summoned as a hero just like those isekai novels I used to read. Usually, those guys that get transported gain a cheat of sorts, so what is mine?''


    Hayate tried to feel if he had gained any mysterious power but there was nothing. He called out to summon a system prompt but there was nothing. He tried different things that he had read in different isekai novels, but none of them worked, as he was losing hope something finally happened.


    ''Download Complete, yer Detected, Descendant of yer Sora, System Activating¡­''

 Chapter 520 - [Bonus ]

    <h4>Chapter 520 - [Bonus ]</h4>


    Ren became excited as he heard the news of seven heroes appearing in the allied kingdoms'' ranks. Each one of these so called heroes were extremely powerful and with distinct styles ofbat. The knights who had survived the encounter with the seven reported back to Ren.


    There was a gigantic man who held a halberd of equal size. He was the most aggressive of the heroes it was as if he did not fear death, in fact, it was like he was seeking it. The way he deals with his opponents is pretty straightforward charge at everyone and sh away. He doesn''t defend nor does he dodge any attacks, but no matter how much he gets hit he doesn''t stop and only grows stronger.


    That was the type of hero Ren liked fighting the most since both of them could simply duke it out. No need for fancy techniques just a brutal pounding.


    ¡­


    Then there was the supposed gentleman of the battlefield, to this date this person has not killed a single knight. He was courteous to everyone even to his enemies, but even then he wouldn''t allow anyone to pass through the border he was protecting.


    This person''s way of fighting was the exact opposite of the gigantic man and used softer tactics. If it wasn''t for Ren training his men to never retreat, they wouldn''t have gotten beaten up so much.


    ¡­


    There was also the woman described to be incredibly beautiful and haughty, her beauty could rival Tsukiyomi and the rest. She had the demeanor of a king and every time she meets any knights she would offer them any price they want if they would follow her. If they refuse she would use some mysterious techniques and would decimate any knight squadron without even standing up from her golden throne.


    That golden throne that she sits upon is able to move from ce to ce by floating, the knights that reported to Ren had already confirmed that she didn''t use any mana to move the throne and sometimes she would talk to it, it was as if it had a mind of its own.


    ¡­


    There was also an unknown hero that doesn''t show his/her face as she would easily kill those thate close to his/her territory.


    ¡­


    Another hero was the man who always sleeps like Nezzard, but unlike Nezzard this man never leaves his bed and like the golden throne the bed moves from ce to ce. This man''s ability was weird as he would do some hand gestures and manipte his opponents'' movements without using any mana.


    ¡­


    Then there was the strongest of the summoned heroes, the little girl who warns any of those thate close to her space, that they would die. The knights who watched as theirrades continue onward and simply die without any exnation were confused. They had tried numerous times to figure out what kind of power the little girl had but no matter how hard they observed they could not understand how she killed her opponents.


    Unlike the man on the bed who also used a weird power or thedy on the throne, who both make hand gestures as they attacked or at least move some body part to indicate they had attacked, this little girl was always meditating even as she kills. After giving out her warning she would not even open her eyes, which makes the way she kills the most horrifying.


    Also unlike all the other heroes who at least dodge when being bombarded by spells, this little girl could reflect any spell base attack without moving an inch. Among the heroes present, she was the most frightening.


    ¡­


    Then finally there was the weakest of the heroes, yet has the greatest potential to advance. In the beginning, this hero was extremely weak and could not even defeat the weakest of knights, but his escaping skills were excellent, helping him survive the battlefield.


    Yet as time went by this particr hero was getting stronger, and it was not just little growth spurts. Every time he would appear his strength, speed, technique, everything about him would improve drastically.


    Nowadays he could easily defeat a squadron of knights, without sustaining so much as a scratch. He was even wearing better equipmentpared to when he started.


    ¡­


    When Ren heard the description of thest hero he was reminded of someone. Wasn''t there a hero in his past life who continued to defeat monster after monster and every time he battles he would grow stronger and gain new skills?


    ''Is it possible that someone simr to Sora appeared?''


    Simply thinking about his fight with the first hero he encountered made Ren''s blood boil in excitement. He could no longer hold it in and wanted to see these so-called heroes for himself. He immediately headed for the base of the allied kingdoms.


    ¡­


    Upon arriving near the allied kingdoms'' base Ren used one of Shadow n''s techniques that he had improved and blended into the environment so no one could see him. He walked through the base and saw the other heroes.


    When he saw each one he felt a tiny bit disappointed, he could tell their level at a nce. In his current state, none of them were his opponents. Still, they could probably fight on equal terms with the current Tsukiyomi, Lara, and Silika who were not in their peak states. He then decided to let the three of them deal with these heroes.


    He also found he hero who had a simr ability to Sora and to his surprise this person looked very simr to Sora himself, in fact, if not for some differences here and there, Ren would''ve thought that Sora had revived. Ren then came to the conclusion that it was possible that this was a descendant of Sora''s.


    Unlike the other heroes Ren saw, he knew that this person still had room to grow stronger and at a quicker pace than the others. For now, Ren would wait until this person reaches his maximum level to see if he could face him.


    Since he already saw the descendant of Sora, Ren was about to leave when he suddenly felt a powerful presence that was near his own level close to him. Ren smiled as he turned around and saw a little girl staring straight at him. At first, the little girl looked like she wanted to attack, but suddenly she had this look of extreme horror fill her face, and after trembling for a bit she fainted.


    ''¡­ Did this girl try to peek into my soul?¡­ How unfortunate, I thought she would be a good ymate, but I guess after seeing what''s hidden within she won''t even have the guts to lift her head in my presence. How disappointing, I guess Sora''s descendant is the only hope I have for a good time.''


    Ren who had infiltrated the allied kingdoms'' base with high spirits left dejectedly.

 Chapter 521 - Fear

    <h4>Chapter 521 - Fear</h4>


    Among the seven heroes that were summoned one of them was Xia the eternal, this was a nickname she got as she was someone who never grew old no matter how much time had passed. She had gained overwhelming strength at a very young age and transcended her mortal body to live a longer life.


    She was so overwhelmingly talented that she already defeat the strongest people in the kingdom she lived in before she became twenty years old. She then traveled her world seeking a challenge. Yet no matter where she went victory was always hers. As she was getting bored she was suddenly transported into a new ce.


    She thought that maybe in this new ce there could be some sort of challenge waiting for her, yet she was disappointed to see the so called heroes that were summoned alongside her. A brute, a nosy fake gentleman, azy bum, a hypocrite, a goon, and a misguided princess, they were rather strong but in no way were they a match for her.


    As she was once again feeling disappointed she was informed of the reason they had been summoned to this world. Supposedly there was a powerful human tyrant trying to conquer everything and bring the entire continent into an age of despair. He was the strongest warrior on the continent and the most feared tyrant.


    When Xia heard this description she once again grew excited as she thought that maybe this person could prove to be a challenge. She wanted to storm the enemy base, but to her surprise, she found out that the knights under the Tyrant were pretty powerful, and it proved to be difficult to go on the offensive even with her capabilities.


    So while she was defending her area from the enemy forces she was also trying her best to improve her strength. It has been a long time since she has gotten this excited.


    ¡­


    As she returned to the allied kingdoms'' base she noticed something weird. She started looking around the base when she suddenly bumped into an unknown person. Though at first nce this person didn''t seem threatening, Xia''s instincts told her something entirely different.


    As she was getting excited to face this new challenge, Xia used one of her abilities to check on the opponent''s aura. The moment she activated her ability what she saw were horrific images of endless battle. This person wasn''t like her who only seeks battle for enjoyment, this person lives and dies for battle, the beloved son of battle itself.


    Yet what frightened Xia, even more, was the numerous auras hidden within that body. It was like she took a glimpse into something she shouldn''t have. She felt overwhelmed by a new emotion she has never experienced before, fear. Unable to handle it any longer Xia fainted.


    ¡­


    Everyone in the allied kingdoms'' base were confused when they saw Xia''s current state. The strongest of the seven heroes whose limits were unknown to everyone was shivering in the corner of her room. Seeing her act like that was not to Artemisia''s liking.


    "What happened to your usual haughtiness little girl? Did someonee and scare you until you sh*t yourself?"


    Artemisia tried insulting Xia, usually just calling her little girl would have triggered her to do something, but now Xia ignored Artemisia. They had been with Xia for several weeks now and they were rather familiar with some of her quirks, and this was the first time she had no reaction whatsoever to calling her little girl. If it was before she would already have attacked in anger.


    "What happened to you,dy Xia? Please tell us so we can alleviate your fears. Surely by now, we can count as yourrades. Aren''t we all in the same boat so we stand and fall together? So pleasedy Xia, please tell us why are you acting like this?" The gentleman asked.


    Xia who had ignored all of them finally moved her head and looked at the people around her. She then spoke in a tone of pure fear.


    "We need to stop, we cannot win against him¡­"


    "Him? Who is him?"


    "The one who loves battle the most, the one who smiles that vicious smile as death closes in on him."


    "Wait, was he here? Did Rene to our base without us knowing?" One of the knights asked.


    "The King of Conquest was here? Then why didn''t he finish you off?"


    "He doesn''t need to, we are all ants beneath him. Even if we all go up against him all that awaits us is death. We stand no chance at all, that person is a monster."


    "Hmph, I kill monsters for food, what is there to fear?" The gigantic man Helk spoke in irritation.


    "Yeah, a warrior who flees even before the start of a fight is no warrior at all." Dz agreed with Helk.


    "You fools, if we go and fight that man, that would be no battle at all but a one-sided massacre. There is no glory to be found at the end of his de only blood and death." Xia answered with anger and fear heard in her voice.


    "Even if we do as you say and surrender, what will be of us? I for one am no coward and will fight even if death is evident." Dz responded with vigor and the others nodded in agreement.


    "I told you guys already there is no fight to be had against that being. Do you think I fear death? No, if I feared such a thing I would''ve never even chosen to fight any battle in the first ce. What I fear is to see all my efforts be in vain. To see myself try the hardest I can but be unable to do anything, nothing at all. To be someone helpless, that''s what I fear, and that''s what will happen to us if we face him."


    "Heh, from day one you kept on saying we were the disappointing ones, but it turns out you were the most disappointing of us all. Just because of one encounter you''re not going to even try? How are you sure that we will fail without even trying it. Even the most powerful warrior could still lose to a beginner if luck is by their side. As the Golden Empress, I have always been lucky asdy luck is under my payroll."


    "I must agree with them Lady Xia, as a gentleman even if death is inevitable I must do my utmost to help those in need."


    "No matter what you people say, it is truly impossible to win. If you don''t want to listen to me then you can go ahead and die a worthless death. Do not say that I have not warned you."


    "Hmph, just leave the frightened child behind." Helk left and one by one the others did so as well. The only one who stayed behind was Artemisia.


    "What is it you want? Do you wish to continue and mock me?" Artemisia didn''t respond and simply looked at Xia. After a few seconds of silence, Artemisia finally spoke.


    "The moment I met you, the moment you mocked me and defied my orders, I have treated you as my equal. I thought that you and I could''ve been friends, but it would seem that I was wrong about you¡­ To me, failure, death, being helpless, all of these things are nothing to fear. What truly frightens me is the idea that I would stop trying at all. Even if the odds are impossible, not taking that chance and regretting itter is the most frightening of all."


    After saying what she wanted to say Artemisia left, leaving behind the frightened and depressed Xia.

 Chapter 522 - Creeping Fear

    <h4>Chapter 522 - Creeping Fear</h4>


    After a few weeks of intense battle for some reason Ren''s men suddenly retreated. The allied kingdoms'' forces were confused but they still did not let their guard down. Even though the enemy army retreated they did not advance but instead tightened their defenses. The allied Kingdoms knew that the only reason they were winning was that they were defending, if they make a mistake now and start an offensive they might be annihted. So they continued to stay within their borders.


    ¡­


    It was during a rainy day when the allied kingdoms'' forces received intel that five people from Ren''s side were approaching their borders. It has been a while since any from Ren''s side came to them. It was quite curious as to why they picked today to attack.


    Also seeing that every time Ren sent a smaller force meant each individual was stronger than those in arger group, which means each of the five individuals approaching was a monster beyond imagining. These should be the people Ren trusts the most, and it was entirely possible that Ren himself was among the five.


    Based on rumors and the intel they received from spies, they had a few guesses who the five were. Lara and Valdel who were his childhood friends could certainly be among the five. There were also his two apprentices Arthur and Lance. Then the mysterious woman that''s always by his side. These five people were the most likely to be the group approaching their borders.


    Knowing what they know, the leaders of the allied kingdoms made six of the seven heroes intercept these five people alongside ten thousand of the strongest knights. If Ren was truly among the five people that wereing then this might be their only chance to beat him while he wasn''t surrounded by his army.


    ¡­


    Artemisia sat on her throne waiting for the supposed five warriors from Ren''s side to arrive. At her side were the other heroes and the knights of the allied kingdoms. While they were waiting for the enemy toe the six suddenly felt a very massive energying towards them. They could easily dodge this energy st but if they did most of the knights would perish. So without any hesitation Artemisia and the gentleman Julian stood at the front and deployed a barrier.


    The surrounding area was destroyed but the knights were saved. Artemisia and Julian were sweating bullets as they had used arge amount of their energy to block that one strike. It was then they saw five silhouettes approaching them.


    "So you were able to withstand my greeting. Heh, that means you guys have be rather strong from thest time I saw you. This might actually be quite fun."


    The person who spoke was walking ahead of the others and had a vicious smile on his face. That person was suppressing his aura but the six heroes had ways of telling how strong their enemies were. The moment theyid eyes on Ren they all started to unconsciously tremble in fear.


    ¡­


    Helk was the strongest warrior of his tribe and had been in many life-and-death situations. He had a sixth sense and could tell how powerful his opponent was. Even if the opponent was stronger than him he had never backed away and had always survived. Yet now his entire being was screaming at him telling him to run away from the monster before him. It was telling him that no matter how hard he struggles no matter what luckes his way, victory¡­ No, survival was impossible.


    ¡­


    Artemisia stood up from her throne and looked at Ren her eyes betrayed the fear she was feeling.


    She had the ability to see howrge the opponent''s mana was even if the other party tries to hide it, her ability sees all. So the moment she used this ability on Ren she nearly puked from what she saw. An endless wave of mana that was trying to devour all in its wake was what she saw. She bit her lips until they bled. She did this so that she would not wanting to sumb to her fear.


    ¡­


    Dz the so called greatest adventurer had acquired an item that tells him how dangerous his opponent was. The item in question was a small orb that would change color depending on how dangerous the opponent was. The color green indicated that the opponent was weak, and the color red indicated the opponent was extremely dangerous.


    He had seen it glow green when in front of a baby and red when facing a dragon. Yet now it was shifting from color to color until it turned ck and broke.


    Dz smiled weakly as he looked at Ren. This was the most dangerous situation he has been in since the start of his adventures. He who had traveled his entire world, who had faced countless adversaries was now trembling in fear.


    ''This might actually be myst adventure¡­''


    ¡­


    Zol the man who continued to sleep on his bed was now fully awake as he looked at Ren in horror. Unlike the others, he had a better grasp of how strong Ren was since he had the ability to glimpse into one''s soul.


    What he saw was simr to what Xia saw. The image of endless battle shrouded Ren''s soul, but upon trying to look deeper what Zol found was despair. He saw the countless powerful beings hidden within Ren''s soul.


    Not only was Ren himself powerful beyond belief but there were several others hidden in his soul that were more powerful than him.


    ¡­


    Julian gulped dryly as he stared at the monster before him. He could hear the echoes of the in from that monster with a vicious smile. The image of him and the others being skewered had shed in his mind.


    He knew that if they don''t retreat now there will be no chanceter. Yet despite knowing they had no chance he did not retreat. As a gentleman, he could never leave his allies behind.


    ¡­


    Hayate who had been in this world for several months now had grown from the frightened gamer into a respectable warrior. He had the ability to see the levels and stats of other people, but the information gained depended on his level. He was currently level 720 two hundred levels above his ancestor Sora who had fought Demon Lord Kretos.


    In the beginning, he was too weak to see through any of the heroes'' levels as they were shown as ??? but now that he was strong enough he could see their levels. Xia was the strongest among them at level 982. Artemisia and Zol had simr levels, level 840. Julian was level 800, Dz was level 700, and Helk was level 689.


    Hayate had learned that even with a higher level that doesn''t necessarily mean you would win in a fight. Victory depended on one''s luck and skills, the levels simply indicate their physical stats.


    Hayate thought that with his current strength he would be able to see through everyone''s level but when he saw Ren all he saw were question marks. He could not even see through Ren''s ss, the only information he could see was Ren''s name. This could only mean one thing, Ren''s stats were way above him and the others.


    ''This guy is a literal raid boss¡­ Can we really beat him?''


    ¡­


    It wasn''t just the heroes who were visibly afraid but even the knights were feeling an intense fear gripping their hearts. They might not truly understand how powerful Ren was, nor could they feel his power like the heroes, but they knew of the countless legends surrounding Ren. The most famous of them all was a warning. Some of them could not help but whisper that warning.


    "Once you see his vicious smile do not bother to flee for you''re already dead."


    They might havee here to kill Ren, but even after mentally preparing themselves seeing Ren in person was an entirely different thing.

 Chapter 523 - Battle

    <h4>Chapter 523 - Battle</h4>


    Seeing the frightened faces of the enemy forces Ren sighed. He looked around and could not spot the powerful little girl. Unable to spot the little girl who was supposedly the strongest of the heroes Ren felt a tinge of disappointment.


    ''What use is power if you''re so easily swayed by fear?¡­''


    Ren once again sighed and shook his head, he then shifted his attention to the person who looked like the first hero he had ever fought, the hero Sora. It had been several weeks now since hest saw the kid with a simr ability as the first hero, and his improvement was indeed incredible but it was not enough.


    Ren wanted to give Hayate more time to grow but he could not just aimlessly send his soldiers to die just for that reason. At first, he was sending his men to train them as well as train their enemies and whoever survives would be stronger. Now that he had trained a lot of his own men, and lost the weaker ones Ren found that this training through steel and fire had no more use, and they can no longer gain anything from the same opponents.


    .


    Ren did not really want to kill any of these heroes, so he already told the others in advance that they could spare anyone that is willing to surrender, or if they had the leeway to simply incapacitate them without killing anyone, but if that proved impossible it was alright to kill them.


    ¡­


    "We haven''t even begun to fight and all I can see is the fear on your faces. Do not worry for I''m not such an evil man that I would kill those that surrender. So before we begin this fight, those of you that wish to surrender speak now and you may go. As for those that stay, I will treat you as true warriors."


    Though they were afraid of Ren as knights that promise to protect their people and obey their lords they could not retreat. On the other hand, some of the heroes summoned to this world were swayed by what Ren said. Specifically, it was Dz and the genderless assassin.


    The two of them had jobs that made them allies to no one but themselves. One decides his actions based on his freedom, while the other decides based on the money given. After thinking for a while, Dz decided to retreat for now. The only reason he had stayed in the allied kingdoms'' base for so long was that he felt sorry for them. Now that he needs to face Ren with no hope of winning, he knew that there was no point in doing so. Then there was the genderless assassin who decided to ask Ren if he was willing to pay for his/her loyalty.


    "Sorry guys but I do not wish to die. I have already done the best I could but an adventurer knows when to back away. We weren''t even asked toe here, we were just dragged into this war without any say on the matter. Now that I can no longer return to my old world, I want to explore this one. Do not resent me for this, but I wish to live."


    "Hmph, I never expected anything from you anyway. Since you are not one of my own then you may leave whenever you want." Artemisia spoke without even looking at Dz.


    "I understand your decision Sir Dz. I hope the next time we meet you can tell me of your wonderful adventures in this world." Julian bowed his head towards Dz.


    "Tsk, coward."


    Helk did not look at Dz as he clicked his tongue and mumbled to himself. As for the other heroes they had noment on Dz''s decision. Seeing no one else was going to say anything to him, Dz bowed and then left. After Dz left the genderless assassin spoke to Ren.


    "I am willing to surrender if you offer me more than the Empress of Gold."


    Ren looked at the genderless assassin, his stare felt like he was burrowing into the assassin''s soul. The assassin stood firm but being started at by Ren made him feel incredibly ufortable. After a moment of silence, Ren then smiled at the assassin.


    "There is only one thing I offer my followers, I offer them evesting glory and incredible power. Their names will forever be remembered as they stand by my side as I create my legend."


    "That''s not what I''m asking, I''m talking about money, gold, silver, materials, something I can hold that I can see. I don''t need things such glory or power." When Ren heard the assassin''s answer the smile on his face disappeared.


    "If that''s what you seek then sorry to disappoint you but I pay those that follow me basic sries. It''s a pretty nice srypared to what mercenaries get but it''s not really extravagant. Well then now that you have your answer what will you do?" The assassin then stood beside the Golden Empress Artemisia.


    "Of course I''m siding with myrades. How can I not side with them after fighting alongside them for so long."


    "Heh, I really do like your honest personality, always true to your desires. It makes you a rather interesting subordinate." Artemisia looked at the assassin while smiling.


    "I see, so is anyone else going to surrender?" Ren once again asked but this time no one answered. Seeing that only one of them surrendered despite knowing the difference of power between them made Ren smile that vicious smile of his.


    "I see, then all of you are true warriors and shall be treated as thus. Do not worry knowing that if I join this battle then it wouldn''t even be a battle at all, I will simply spectate. If you guys somehow beat my fourpanions here, then I promise that I would stop trying to conquer the kingdoms that you protect."


    "How about if yourpanions win, what would you gain?" Julian asked.


    "Isn''t that obvious we would have gained victory. Not just victory in this battle but victory in my conquest. Seeing as you lot are probably the strongest the allied kingdoms'' have to offer, then after we gain victory here nothing else would be able to stop my march, isn''t that right?"


    "Enough babbling!"


    Helk could no longer hold it in and charged towards Ren, but before he could reach someone blocked his path. The person held no weapon and was about to strike using his fist. Helk''s defense was the strongest among the heroes, not to mention he had an ability that enhances his power whenever he receives damage. So Helk decided to take the blow and continue charging at Ren, but the moment the opponent''s fist hit his body he was blown away.


    "Making us do all the work again, huh Ren." Valdel cracked his knuckles as he sighed.


    "Sir Helk?!" Julian was about to help Helk when a woman with an ice-cold re intercepted him. Julian blocked his nose and backed away as he smelled something wrong with the woman.


    "Hmm, interesting you actually sensed the danger of the toxin I released." Lara looked at Julian curiously.


    ¡­


    "Empress, what should we do, should I try and assassinate the enemy leader?" The assassin asked Artemisia.


    "Heh, do you really think you can kill that monster?¡­ Well, it really doesn''t matter since the second most frightening opponent seems to want to face us." Artemisia looked at the otherworldly beauty in front of her. Even though she wasn''t interested in the same gender she felt the allure of the woman in front of her.


    "Kukuku, how nice of you to acknowledge I''m the strongest after Ren." Tsukiyomi smiled brightly as she created a long sword.


    ¡­


    Zol had already left his bed and stood beside Hayate as they stared at the opponent before them. The woman in front of them had ruby red eyes and wielded a scythe as her weapon. Hayate found thedy in front of him extremely cool-looking.


    Silika looked at her two opponents and then she started to stare at Hayate. Ren had told her that he was excited to see Hayate''s potential. She too was rather interested in what the kid had to offer since those that Ren considers having potential are usually beings that had a chance to grow strong enough to fight the Old Gods.

 Chapter 524 - A Warriors Death

    <h4>Chapter 524 - A Warrior''s Death</h4>


    Ren who sat on top of a hill watched as each of the heroes tried to fight their respective adversaries. It would seem that with their current strength Lara and the others were quite evenly matched with their opponents. In fact, those that were fighting in a duo had good coordination which made it difficult for Silika and Tsukiyomi to get out of their opponents'' flow.


    While Ren continued to watch the fights between the heroes and his ownrades the thousands of knights that followed the heroes did not know what to do. Their numerical superiority would not help in this situation. Still, they needed to do something, it was at that moment they looked at Ren who was watchingfortably in the distance.


    The knights gritted their teeth as they looked at each other. They knew what everyone else was thinking at the moment since they all had the same thought. Even if it might seem futile they needed to at least try to take down Ren or at least wound him.


    The knights got into a tight formation their towering shields imbued with mana upfront and above creating a wall. They then began to march towards Ren. When Ren saw them marching he was reminded of a memory from his past incarnations¡­


    It was a simr event from Leanord''s time. When he was reminded of that memory Ren could not help but smile viciously. Ren''s shadow expanded as he summoned numerous spears. Seeing the spears that he had summoned the knights grew even tenser as they strengthened their resolve and continued their march.


    Ren''s smile grew wider and even more fierce as he saw the knights continuing their march. He then picked up a spear and threw it with a spin using his wrist. The spear rotated towards the knights and created a tornado around it. The knights thought that the anti-spell imbued in their shields would negate the iing attack but that was a wrong assumption. Ren did not use any mana, that spear throw was just his physical strength at y.


    The knights who saw the iing spear tightened their defense as they continued to march forward. When the spear made contact with their tower shields a great portion of the knights were blown away.


    The knights weren''t shocked at what happened and simply fixed their formation and continued their march towards Ren. Seeing the reaction of the knights'' Ren could not help but feel excited. They might be weaker than him to the point that they could bepared to ants, but even knowing that they continued onward. Ren loved these kinds of warriors that despite knowing the end wasing continue still, they had shown their pride and courage to not answer in kind would be disrespectful. This truly reminded Ren of Leonard''s memory and made him smile from ear to ear.


    Ren continued to rain down spears towards the knights who continued their march forward. No matter how many of them fell they did not show any fear or anxiety instead what they shown was their fierce determination to continue onward. They did not scream, nor did they look back, all they could see was the hill up ahead and the enemy they must defeat. Watching them march ignited Ren''s emotions and the boredom he felt disappeared and what reced it was a feeling of exhration.


    ¡­


    Unknown Knight''s POV:


    I and my brothers in arms continued to march forward. Despite being torn apart by the rain of spears, my brothers in arms did not scream, they did not flee from the battle and instead strengthened their resolve and continued onward.


    I could smell the blooding from behind but I did not look back and marched. I just need to take one more step, even if my limbs are torn apart my heart and soul will not break. I need to go onward for the family and friends that I must protect.


    Even if it''s futile I need to at least put a scratch on the Death God in front of me. The Death God smiled a vicious smile, though it looks like he was mocking us, but I and my brothers in arms know that the Death God only smiles on those he sees as worthy.


    I finally got near the hill, but for some reason, the Death God no longer threw spears at us. He then looked directly into my eyes and spoke to me with glee.


    "I like the look in your eyes, intimidated and full of fear, but even then you resolved yourself to move onward. You and your fellow knights be proud for I Ren, the incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul acknowledge you and your fellow knights as true warriors. Seeing as you are thest one standing I shall grant you a prize. Come I will let you strike me once, so ce everything you have and try to cut off my head."


    I looked at the Death God confused as to what he was saying, I then looked around and saw the field that was full of blood and flesh. I truly was thest one standing. I looked back at the Death God with hesitation and confusion, he then smiled at me and spoke.


    "Do not hesitate, this is my parting gift to a warrior that was able to make it to the end. Come on then, strike me down!"


    The Death God opened his arms wide showing that he would not attack nor defend. Seeing that, I gathered every bit of my resolve threw my shield to the side, raised my sword, and shouted a war cry. I charged at the Death God and with all my strength, with all my being I shed down at his neck.


    Upon contact with the Death God''s skin my sword broke, then I saw a little cut on the Death God''s neck. Seeing that I could not help but smile.


    "Nice strike, tell me your name warrior."


    "Nichs¡­"


    "I will remember you, Nichs, farewell." Once the Death God said those words I did not see him move but my head was cleanly cut off as I saw my headless body. Even as I died I was smiling, since I will be able to brag to my buddies in the underworld that I was able to wound the Death God, Ren.

 Chapter 525 - Even At The End My Heart Will Waver No Longer

    <h4>Chapter 525 - Even At The End My Heart Will Waver No Longer</h4>


    After Ren had finished off the final knight he touched his neck and was rather surprised to see some blood flowing out. Ren''s body that was now harder than most materials on this was actually cut. It would seem that even at his current level he could still be killed if he let his guard down too much.


    Upon learning that fact that he was still vulnerable in this lower world made Ren feel truly excited. He wasn''t scared of any enemies, since he was already an enemy to the strongest being in existence, but what he feared most of all was boredom. He knew that at the end he would need to face the ORIGIN, but before that, he wanted to feel the thrill of edging between life and death. So now that he knew there was a chance for him to die in these lower worlds, he found it quite interesting.


    ''I guess there''s still some fun to be had here, while I wait for Valdel and the others to grow strong enough to follow me to the world of deities.''


    Ren wiped away the blood on his hands and once again sat down to watch the battle between his followers and the heroes.


    ¡­


    The heroes who had seen the massacre of the knights in the corner of their eyes were greatly shaken. Ren didn''t need to use any form of spiritual energy as all he used was his pure physical strength and even that was fearsome. They could no longer imagine just how powerful Ren was.


    On the other hand, they could not even defeat Ren''s subordinates and they even outnumbered them. It was obvious that they truly had no chance since the beginning. Still, their hearts were clear as they continued to fight without fear.


    The raging Helk was the first to fall and was followed by the sleepy Zol. The two weren''t killed and had simply fainted. They had fought with all their might but unfortunately, their opponents were a bad match-up for them.


    As things were bing dire for the heroes a powerful burst of mana came crushing down the battlefield separating the two sides. When Artemisia saw who the person that arrived was, she couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "So little one, you finally stopped being a frightened little child."


    "I told you already to stop calling me little one." The one who appeared before the remaining heroes was Xia. She looked at the enemies before her, then stared at Ren who was watching the battle from a distance.


    When she saw Ren looking at her she visibly trembled in fear. Still, despite that, she looked at him head-on without adverting her gaze.


    Ren smiled that vicious smile of his as he looked at Xia as if wanting to eat her. He had actually made a mistake in assessing the girl''s situation. He was sure that fear had taken over her and when he saw that she hasn''t shown herself on any battlefield after their meeting, Ren felt that she was nothing more than a disappointment. She was the most powerful of the seven heroes but she was also one of the most cowardly. Yet now that she was standing before him he needed to reevaluate his assessment of her.


    Ren saw that even now she was still afraid of him, more so than before. Yet here she was standing before him still trembling in fear, but the resolve in her eyes burns brighter than any of the heroes or the knights he had just killed. Ren then spoke his voice wasn''t loud but it echoed in everyone''s ears.


    "You''re incredible! Out of all the heroes here, I respect you the most. Even though these heroes never retreated before me, I still respect you more. Unlike them, you had witnessed the true horror of my existence. Unlike them, you actually saw the truth of my very existence and those that came before me. You understand the true extent of my power that even ancient demons fear. Yet here you are standing before me, afraid, and shivering, yet full of resolve. You have shown true courage and for that I apud you. Still, I wonder what gave you the courage toe here, despite understanding the truth?"


    Upon hearing Ren''s question Xia was silent for a while. She sighed before giving an answer.


    "¡­ I always thought that what I seek was a good opponent, one that could give me a thrill like no other. Yet the moment I found such an opponent I choked and fainted on the spot. It was then I finally realized that I was a hypocrite and a narcissist. What I was truly doing was just having fun beating up those weaker than myself¡­ I just wanted to feel powerful, to feel good about myself. So what I have isn''t true courage, even now I''m shivering in fear by just being in your presence¡­ But¡­ What I found when I was cowering at the back and letting myrades go alone to face you, that there was something I feared more than you. It was the fear of living on with regrets in my heart. If I fled by myself, I would always wonder if it was possible to win if we all joined forces to face you. I would always wonder what would happen if I had joined the battle instead of fleeing. So instead of regretting all that, and continue to live in shame, I found the strength to join this battle. I found that my courage was with myrades all along. So now even in the face of the end, my heart will never waver."


    Hearing Xia''s answer Ren startedughing maniacally and appeared in front of Xia. When the heroes saw Ren suddenly moving and appearing before them, they all went to defend Xia pointing their weapons at Ren. Ren wasn''t bothered by their actions as his canines were showing through his smiling face. He spoke in a very excited voice.


    "I am Ren, the current reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. State your name warrior."


    When the heroes heard Ren''s introduction they were confused as this was the first time they heard the term Strongest Mortal Soul. Yet even though they did not understand what the title represented they knew it must be something incredible.


    "¡­ I am Xia¡­"


    Ren nodded his head and looked at the other heroes and his ownpanions. When Silika and the others saw that look on Ren''s face they could already guess what was going to happen next.


    "How about instead of fighting each other, all of you juste at me?"

 Chapter 526 - Rampaging

    <h4>Chapter 526 - Rampaging</h4>


    The remaining four of the seven heroes were confused by Ren''s statement, on the other hand, Ren''spanions immediately knew what was going to happen. They quickly spread out and took defensive stances. Ren could no longer hold it in and stomped his foot onto the ground causing the earth to shake.


    Ren did not use mana nor Spirit Aura, that was simply his physical strength at full disy, with his current strength this was enough to face most opponents. The moment he used mana or Spirit Aura, he might identally destroy arge portion of the continent, and worst of all he might not be able to enjoy this battle fully.


    The four heroes who were sensitive to the fluctuation of spiritual energy knew that Ren did not use any form of spiritual energy. They were already expecting Ren to be unreasonably strong, but this was beyond ridiculous. Just his physical strength alone was enough to shake the very ground they stood. He wasn''t even releasing any mana nor bloodlust, but his mere presence was already causing them to feel extremely pressured.


    As they were still in a daze, Ren suddenly disappeared from their sights. They then saw something unexpected as Ren started attacking one of hisrades. It took them a few seconds to understand why Ren had done that¡­


    ''So he wasn''t lying he really ns on fighting all of us!'' Artemisia gritted her teeth feeling extremely frustrated. She felt like she was being looked down upon, and the worst part was she couldn''tin. Even though they were all-powerful individuals in their respective worlds, but in front of Ren, they were nothing.


    ''This guy isn''t thest boss, this guy is a f*cking hidden boss a raid boss. We need at least ten times the number of people present to win. I don''t see anyway to win this, is this really game over?'' Hayate gritted his teeth as he finally felt a tinge of fear creeping into him.


    ¡­


    Unaware that the remaining heroes were feeling hesitant, Ren was having a st as he attacked Silika. He had summoned Snertal that had already ascended into a stronger spiritual weapon, that was already at the peak of the legendary rank as a weapon.


    Silika blocked Ren''s strike with her scythe and wanted to push him away but to her surprise, Ren''s physical power was stronger than it was thest time they sparred. Silika was blown away, but in her ce, Valdel appeared and was ready to punch Ren.


    As his fist was about tond on Ren''s face, Valdel thought that Ren would dodge, but that didn''t happen instead Ren headbutted Valdel''s fist. Valdel who had imbued his fist with mana and attacked was the one that was blown away as his shoulder was dislocated.


    Ren''s head was now bleeding but he didn''t use his mana to heal it and continued fighting with the injury. Seeing the scene before them the four heroes were in awe of Ren. Unlike them who were having a difficult fight against Silika and the others, Ren who was holding back actually had the upper hand. They didn''t know that except for Valdel all of Ren''spanions weren''t at their best state.


    Even though they didn''t want to ept it, the heroes knew that the only way to beat Ren was if they join forces with Silika and the others. It was at that moment the heroes joined the battle and attacked Ren from all sides.


    ¡­


    Ren who was being bombarded with spells, and was being attacked from all angles was filled with glee. He wasn''t using his mana nor his Spirit Aura to defend his body from the attacks. He was receiving everything with nothing but his flesh and blood.


    It has been such a long time since he had received such damage in a fight that he was ecstatic. He once again reaffirmed that only battle could bring him such joy. Power, family, treasures, immortality no matter what it was, to Ren, to the Strongest Mortal Soul, nothing couldpare to his love for battle. He was entranced by the desperate struggle between opponents as they try to emerge victorious in battle, the excitement of feeling his very essence being burned away in the heat of battle.


    It was like he was born just for the sake of battle, for the sake of bing stronger than anything else. Even though he had gained a lot and learned how precious his friends and family were, deep down he knew that he could never fully change himself. Ren who was now bleeding all over wiped away the blood on his face and shook his head. He started to discard all the unnecessary thoughts and focused fully on the battle.


    Everyone noticed the sudden change in Ren. There was no dramatic change in his appearance, nor did he start using any spiritual energy, but everyone understood that Ren had finally gotten a bit serious.


    ¡­


    Xia who saw Ren''s bloody figure, suddenly had the naive thought that they could actually win. For as long as Ren continued using nothing but his physical strength to fight, then they could win against the monster. Yet that naive thought of hers was immediately shattered.


    She could not exin it but despite Ren''s numerous injuries, and his reluctance to use any spiritual energy, Xia suddenly felt an unusual pressure emanating from him.


    Ren then started charging at the nearest person, and unlike before he no longer bothered to dodge the attacks.


    Ren started to attack more ferociously than before, and what made the entire scene creepier was that he continued to smile that vicious smile of his. You could no longer see much of his face at it was covered with his own blood, and even his eyes were no longer clear to see, yet that smile of his was there for all to see.


    ¡­


    Despite their struggles, in the end, Ren had won and all others had fallen. To top it off, except for the knights'' Ren had not taken a single life of any of the heroes.

 Chapter 527 - Fifteen Years Later

    <h4>Chapter 527 - Fifteen Years Later</h4>


    After defeating the heroes, Ren was able to easily march into the allied kingdoms'' base. The leaders of the allied kingdoms didn''t even dare to speak when face to face with Ren much less showed any resistance when he gave his usual ultimatum.


    "Serve me or die."


    At first, the members of the allied kingdoms nned to fight Ren to the death. They weren''t scared of him even after hearing all of his legends. The stories had made him seem more than a single man, he was like some sort of God of War that no one could best. They all felt that the stories were grossly exaggerated, that was until today.


    .


    Now that they have seen Ren they had apletely different view. The stories, the legends about him were not enough to describe the horror that he represented to his enemies. He was once likened to a God of War, but those that looked at him today were convinced that was an understatement, as they felt that Ren was the very embodiment of battle itself.


    All of the people present chose to submit to Ren. They had no choice since the moment they saw Ren, they knew that even if they fought to the end, they would be annihted without achieving anything.


    The victory was anticlimatic but Ren still felt somewhat satisfied after battling the heroes and hispanions.


    ¡­


    After Ren took over the allied kingdoms, he had practically taken over all the races and kingdoms within the continent. There was nothing left to conquer onnd, once he was done Ren started developing his empire.


    The first thing he did once he was the absolute ruler was to fix the roads and create new ones that connect everywhere.


    With the help of the transmigrators who had shared their knowledge of the technology in their own world, such as trains, Ren used these transmigrators'' ideas alongside the technology within the holy kingdom to create a railway system. Since he had the greatest alchemist (Lara) and the best craftsmen (dwarves) and engineers (humans) on his side the railway system was established quite nicely.


    Now what once took months of travel takes around a few hours. The next thing Ren did was create schools for not only noble children but for everyone, no matter the race or social standing every child was to attend school.


    In this school, all children were taught basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. Once they graduate from school depending on their talent they would be ced in the appropriate ce.


    An example of that would be if one had the talent with magic, he/she would be ced in the magicians'' tower to further their studies. Those with the talent of swordsmanship will head to the academy for knights. The ones talented in cksmithing will be taught by the dwarves themselves, and so and so forth.


    In the span of a few years, many geniuses rose to fame and Ren''s Empire grew powerful by the day. Even his brother had grown into a powerful individual who was well-loved by the people. Once their beloved mother had left the world to meet their father, Kurt spoke to Ren.


    "Brother, I hope to go and have my own adventures. I wish you would give me your blessing and allow me to leave the continent. I want to explore the great blue ocean and see what lies beyond the horizon."


    Ren was already expecting Kurt to say this since the only reason he stayed for so long was because of their mother now that she''s gone there was nothing stopping him.


    "Alright, I''m going to agree, under one condition, and as my brother, you should already understand what it is."


    Kurt took out his sword and so did Ren, the two smiled at each other and started attacking.


    ¡­


    A couple of years after Kurt left to have his own adventures, Ren was now the father of many children. He had married Tsukiko, Henrietta, Hilda, Lara, Silika, Tsukiyomi, Le, and Ashley. All of them had given him children, who were close in age.


    All of his children were born into this world withrge amounts of mana, and each one was a genius that went beyondmon sense. Their skills and knowledge were different and though all of them were good at most things, they had their own specialized skills.


    They took different interests and pursued those interests to the extreme. Ren was delighted in seeing his children growing up as such. It was different from the time he was still Demon Lord Kretos, back then his purpose of having children was to challenge them once they grew stronger, but now he had them because of his love for his wives.


    ¡­


    It wasn''t just Ren who was getting lucky with thedies, but so was Valdel. While he was training to get stronger, by his side were Rachel and Natasha, and of course, his weapons spirits Nika and Zwei. After not responding to their feelings and ignoring them, the four women had made various ns to seduce Valdel.


    Being on the receiving end of their seductions day in and day out, even someone like Valdel had finally given in andid a hand on all fourdies. After taking each of their first times, as a responsible person Valdel promised to marry them all, which he did.


    So like Ren, Valdel now had four wives and six children.


    ¡­


    Ren who watched his family and empire grow was once again getting a bit bored of waiting for Valdel. So he created a tournament for the young geniuses to showcase their talents. The winner of this tournament would then get the chance to fight the strongest warrior in the continent which was, of course, Ren.


    Over the years this tournament Ren created grew in poprity and be the most-watched event every year. The young geniuses within the entire empire would gather every year to show their peers that they were the strongest of their generation and in the end, all of them had the dream of one day defeating Ren to im the number one spot as the strongest warrior.


    ¡­


    Fifteen years had passed since Ren had defeated the allied kingdoms and now it was the month of the yearly tournament to begin. The empire that started out from a little city called Grenton has now grown majestically. As for New Grenton, it has now turned into a metropolis that every single person dreams that they could live in it.

 Chapter 528 - The Start Of A Journey

    <h4>Chapter 528 - The Start Of A Journey</h4>


    John was a boy born in a remote region of the continent. Despite being the son of a farmer he was able to study in the local school while learning swordsmanship.


    Whenever his parents saw him being able to get an education they could not help but tear up a bit. Back in their generation people like them had no chance to ever go to school. This was why the people were truly grateful to Ren for giving them hope, for giving them a chance to choose what they want to be.


    To the normal people in the continent, Ren was a benevolent and wise ruler who had made many astonishing changes. He had brought them to an age they could never imagine before. It was an age filled with hope, dreams, and adventure.


    ¡­


    .


    John was the best among the students in his little town, and even the sword instructor said that he was a genius that could match up to those monstrous genius found in the Capital. Seeing as no one aside from the sword instructor could fight him without losing in a single strike, John believed that he was someone special.


    Being praised a lot and not having any worthy opponent in the small town had inted John''s ego. He now believed that he had a chance to be able to fight the legendary emperor Ren. He was the same as every boy in his generation who loved to hear the stories of the legendary emperor and hispanions. Every child of this era admired Ren and dreams of one day being able to go and have a great adventure like the emperor and his friends once had.


    ''The legendary emperor and his friends all came from the same small vige. I heard it was smaller than this town. Yet they had their grand adventure and had done many things, and in the end, they became the rulers of thend. If they can do it, why can''t I?''


    John was getting excited as the time for the yearly tournament hosted by the emperor himself was about to be held. He could finally go out and prove himself to the world. Like the legendary emperor and his friends he too was about to embark on his own grand adventure. He alongside five more students from the region would head out tomorrow to the Capital, New Grenton. The six of them were the most outstanding students within the region and they were chosen as the representatives of the younger generation of their region to join the uing tournament.


    The unnamed tournament that the legendary emperor hosted every year was for any young prodigy that was below the age of twenty. All the young prodigies from all over the continent would gather in New Grenton to prove to the world that they were the best among their peers. The reward for winning aside from fame and honor was a prize of ten thousand white gold coins, and the privilege to face the undefeated emperor Ren in battle.


    The ten thousand white gold coins were enough for someone to livefortably for three more generations. Yet despite thatrge prize money, the one prize that the prodigies truly cared about was the chance to fight the undefeated emperor, the legendary emperor Ren.


    ¡­


    John who was in the training grounds was swinging his sword already thinking of facing Ren in battle. He had never seen the legendary emperor, but the image in his mind was that of a tall muscr individual whose mere presence could frighten any monster.


    John continued to swing his sword with that image in his mind when he suddenly heard the voice of a girl calling his name.


    "Hey John, hey John!"


    John stopped swinging his sword and looked at the girl calling him. The girl had long ck hair that reached her waist and had a face that one could call pretty cute. She was none other than John''s childhood friend Alisa.


    Unlike John who focused on the sword, she was from the mage''s tower. She was considered above averagepared to other students but unfortunately, she wasn''t good enough to join thising tournament, and the representative of the mage''s tower was another girl from the nearby town.


    "What do you want, Alisa?"


    "Nothing much I just wanted to congratte you for being able to go to New Grenton for the tournament," Alisa answered with a smile on her face.


    "¡­ No need to show that fake smile of yours. I know that you want to scream and roll around in envy." Alisa sighed hearing what John said, she then shook her head while shrugging her shoulders.


    "Of course, I already did that yesterday¡­ Hey John¡­ After the tournament is over will youe back?"


    "What the heck are you saying, of course, I''lle back, this is my home after all. Why, don''t you want me toe back?"


    Alisa turned around not showing the expression on her face as she did not respond to John. After a few seconds of silence, she turned around and spoke with a bright smile on her face.


    "¡­ How did you guess that? Of course, I don''t want a musclebrain loudmouth like you toe back here¡­ Hmmm, Well, I guess if you bring back some presents from the Capital, I will wee you back."


    "Damn, what kind of a childhood friend are you?¡­ Fine, I guess I can buy you a souvenir or two."


    "Why stop at two, how about buying me a dozen souvenirs seeing as it''s not every day that you can go the Capital."


    "You really want to empty my pockets¡­ Whatever, I guess it is just this one time."


    "That''s the spirit."


    The two childhood friends then continued to talk with smiles on their faces. They didn''t know what tomorrow might bring, but they felt excitement in their hearts.


    ¡­


    The following day, John and the five other prodigies of the region were at the train station with their families. John''s parents were hugging him tightly.


    "Go and make us proud my boy." John''s father spoke while trying to hold back his tears.


    "Be sure to eat well and sleep on time." John''s mother spoke with teary eyes. The three of them continued to say their farewells when the train''s whistle started blowing.


    "All aboard!" The conductor announced to the people at the train station.


    The five prodigies all boarded the train, while John looked at the distance and saw that Alisa didn''te to see him off. He hesitantly boarded the train while waving goodbye to his parents. As the train started moving, John saw Alisa running towards the station. It was at that time the train was starting to speed up.


    "JOHN, CATCH!" Alisa whispered a few spell words and threw an object towards John. Seeing the approaching objecting at him at an unbelievable speed, John held onto the train and extended his right hand forward. He caught the object and saw that it was a talisman for good luck. Seeing John had caught her gift, Alisa continued running beside the train as she shouted at him.


    "YOU BETTER SHOW THOSE PEOPLE FROM THE CAPITAL WHAT YOU''RE MADE OF! IF YOU DON''T, I''LL BE TOO EMBARRASSED TO CALL YOU MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND!"


    John tightly clenched the talisman he received and responded to his childhood friend by showing her the secret signal that they created when they were younger. Seeing him do that secret signal she responded in kind. After a while, Alisa could no longer keep up with the train and John''s view of her got smaller and smaller until she disappeared from his sight.


    "I promise I''ll show everyone a performance you and my parents will be proud of," John mumbled under his breath as he continued to tighten his grip on the talisman.

 Chapter 529 - The Five Prodigies

    <h4>Chapter 529 - The Five Prodigies</h4>


    John looked at the talisman that Alisa gave him. It had a bit of mana in it, but it wasn''t too much. John knew what this was as it was a rather famous talisman that friends and family give to their loved ones to protect them from danger. It actually has a rather nice spell in ce, as whenever the holder of the talisman gets hit by an attack that could kill the owner instantly then the talisman would take the damage and be used up.


    Though the talisman had little mana in it, the procedure to make it was ratherplicated and required a lot of materials. Just this single talisman must''ve taken months to create.


    ''So that''s why she kept on pestering me to lend her money.''


    John started chuckling as he hid the talisman in one of his pockets. He then proceeded to find his seat on the train. He looked around and saw the other prodigies sitting near each other. He noticed that there was a free seat and took it.


    Noticing his arrival the other prodigies looked at him for a moment and quickly resumed whatever it was they were doing. John hasn''t seen the other prodigies as he was too focused on his own training but he has heard of them before. He was rather impressed by the aura they were emitting. The mana they had umted were beyond what a normal person their age could achieve.


    The one sitting in front of him that was meditating was the famous fist-fighter, Midas. The oldest of the six prodigies in the region, he was famously known as the seconding of Valdel who is considered the second strongest fist-fighter in the world, second only to Ren himself. Midas was also famous for creating his own style of fighting, which he supposedly perfected by beating up bandits and monsters.


    The one sitting next to him was the girl who represented the mage tower of the region. She was the person who had quite easily defeated Alisa from the position of representative. She was Melody, not only was she a great mage that could defeat her superiors, but she was also a beauty like no other. She was supposedlyparable to the Emperor''s wives who were all said to be otherworldly beauties. Now that John has gotten a look at her, he couldn''t help but agree with that assessment.


    Then there was the one sitting next to John, holding a giant sword that was nearly as tall as the wielder. Among the six prodigies in John''s region, this person was said to be the strongest of them all. His name was Tyr he was someone who was rumored to be truly obsessed with the legendary emperor. It was true that most boys in this era admire the emperor, but Tyr went beyond that and copied Ren''s style. The way he looks, the weapon he uses, even his personality was said to be simr to the legendary emperor.


    The two on the seats across John''s were Shir and Kiara. Shir was a prodigy who specializes in all manner of weapons, in his mind the more options you have the better your chances to survive. He was very adept in using all of his weapons, but unlike the other prodigies, he hasn''t truly mastered any of his weapons.


    Kiara the final prodigy was always wearing a mask, everything about her was a mystery, from her looks to her style of fighting. Not much is known about her except that she was the student of one of the people the Emperor had personally trained. There were numerous rumors as to who that master was, but even then it doesn''t help deduce what style Kiara practices as the Emperor''s students all have different talents. It also didn''t help that no one has ever seen Kiara''s weapon.


    ¡­


    The trip to New Grenton was going to take a day even by train, and John found it rather boring sitting with these so called prodigies. He was about to stand when a group of young students wearing the crest of a dragon appeared. This was the crest of the famous school in New Grenton, Tirnagog Academy. When the students noticed the six prodigies they smiled as they approached the group.


    "Oh, look at what we have here some country bumpkins that think they''re actual geniuses."


    "Yeah, I don''t understand why these bunch of nobodies keep oning to the capital even though they stand no chance."


    When the six prodigies heard what the students said most of them looked at the students for a few seconds and lost interest immediately. The moment they saw the way they moved the six concluded that these students were nothing much. Melody even scoffed as she closed her eyes.


    The students noticed the contempt in the eyes of the prodigies which irritated them. As they were about to do something, John stood up from his seat and was about to head to the dining car, but as he was going to pass by the students, they blocked his path.


    "Can you please move out of my way?"


    "Well, I guess I could if you bow down and apologize for looking at me the way you did."


    When John heard what the student said he sighed, in the next moment he grabbed his scabbard and used it to hit the student''s knee. The student was then forced to kneel, seeing what happened to their buddy the other students were about to make a move, but before they could do anything the other five prodigies had moved before them.


    Kiara had appeared from behind and had grabbed the necks of two students. Tyr pointed hisrge sword at the head of another student. Shir had tossed a few daggers pinning three of the students to the side. Midas knocked out two students, while Melody had frozen the legs of the remaining students.


    "You should have listened to me when I nicely told you to move," John spoke to the kneeling student.

 Chapter 530 - New Grenton

    <h4>Chapter 530 - New Grenton</h4>


    After the incident with the students, there weren''t any other disturbances during the trip to New Grenton. Once they had won against the arrogant students, John and the other five prodigies did not speak to each other. In fact, most of them started meditating while waiting on the train.


    When the sun started setting, the train was finally nearing its final destination. John looked outside the window and was greeted by a spectacr sight. In the sky above them were gigantic dragons flying alongside shining airships. It was a sight like no other and as they got closer they finally caught a glimpse of New Grenton.


    Numerous structures that tower over everything some of which were even able to touch the clouds in the sky. The sun was already gone, but the city was glowing brightly as if the city itself was the sun. This was the first time John and the five prodigies who came from the countryside saw such wondrous things. It was like they had arrived not in a different city but in a different world.


    Seeing the numerous amazing things from a distance John unconsciously grab the talisman Alisa gave him.


    ''I finally made it to the Capital, Alisa.''


    As the view of the city was bingrger, John noticed some people fighting in the sky, but before the fight could escte some dragon riders had intervened. He could also hear some musicing from a distance, it was a familiar sound. It was one of the songs the bards that travel to their vige use to sing.


    When the train finally stopped at thest station everyone headed out. The students from Tirnagog were looking at John the others with hostility, on the other hand, John and the five prodigies didn''t even bother looking at them. This made the students feel extremely frustrated.


    When John and the others exited the train station they saw a man holding a board with their names written on it. The six of them approached the smiling man.


    "Oh are you guys the prodigies sent by the instructors from region four?" The six of them nodded in response. Seeing them nodding their heads the man''s smile grew wider as he looked at them.


    "I see, it would seem that this year has a lot of good seeds. The Emperor might be entertained this year. Okay then, first allow me to introduce myself. I''m a former champion of the Emperor''s tournament, the name''s Luke. Of course, I''m pretty sure you guys know me since I joined the tournament just a few years ago."


    The six were rather surprised to hear that the person before them was a previous champion of the tournament, still, that surprise onlysted for a moment. They then responded to Luke.


    "I''m sorry I have no idea of who the winners of the previous tournaments were."


    "It doesn''t matter to me who the winners were since I''m sure that I''m stronger than any of them."


    "Sorry about that, I know all the names of the previous winners but I haven''t seen any of your faces so I didn''t realize you were the iron fist, Luke."


    "¡­" The others also didn''t know who Luke was. Seeing their reaction Luke was confused as he scratched his head. After thinking about it for a bit he suddenly realized something.


    "Oh right, you guyse from region four a rather rural area, that means none of you has any television."


    "Television?"


    While the other prodigies were confused by the new term, one of them suddenly vanished from his spot. Luke was already aware of that one and quickly lifted his one hand to block the iing strike. Arge sword came falling down towards Luke who easily caught it.


    "So you''re one of the past champions that means your strong. I wonder if we can fight right now!" Tyr smiled a vicious smile same as Ren''s as he strengthened the grip on his weapon. Seeing the expression on Tyr''s face as well as the weapon he uses surprised Luke who then sighed.


    "Looking at that smile of yours reminded me of some bad memories¡­ I see that you''re quite a fan of our dear Emperor. You have the same smile and even use a simr weapon, but unfortunately, that''s the only simrities you have with our almighty Emperor."


    Luke shifted Tyr''s weapon to the side, as Tyr was about to swing his sword to the right aiming at Luke''s torso, he felt something powerful hit his neck making him slide backward. Tyr who got hit was feeling groggy, but he still smiled that fierce smile of his. Luke who saw that Tyr was still standing though barely was rather surprised.


    "Oh, I was trying to knock you out, but I guess you''re considered a prodigy for a reason, but still a far cry from our dear Emperor. That smile of yours is just slightly irritating, on the other hand, when you see the smile of the Emperor''s you will know what true terror is¡­ Well anyway, we already wasted a lot of time, we got to get going the six of you follow me, I''ll bring you to the ce you''ll be staying at while you''re here."


    "Wait a minute our fight isn''t over yet!" Tyr tried to move but he could not.


    "Fine, we can have another rumble but how about we do that some after you get some rest, for now, let''s get you guys to your lodging. You better rest properly for now and challenge me again when you''re at full power."


    Luke no longer bothered to tell anything to Tyr and turned around walking away. John and the other five were rather surprised to see how powerful Luke was. Even though they were already expecting him to be quite powerful knowing he was a former champion, but to see how he easily handled the strongest of them was quite surprising¡­ Still, this did not dishearten the prodigies instead it lit a fire in them, as they grew excited about the uing tournament.

 Chapter 531 - Watching The Previous Matches

    <h4>Chapter 531 - Watching The Previous Matches</h4>


    John and the others followed behind Luke, and after walking out of the station there were astounded by what they saw. It was already amazing to witness the majesty of New Grenton from the outside but inside the city was a whole different view. It truly made them feel like they were in a different world.


    The whole area was full of lights and the various buildings were glowing ever so brightly. Then there were the carriages without horses moving around on the beautiful-looking street. The six prodigies sensed that the horseless carriages were moving using mana, the problem was it was not the drivers that were using mana it was the carriages themselves. Noticing the interest the six of them had, Luke smiled as he pointed at the moving carriages.


    "Those things are called automobiles. They run using mana crystals and depending on the type of automobile they can move really fast. Also depending on the mana crystal that''s installed in the automobile, the automobile can function for at least a whole day, and the best mana crystal has enough mana supply tost for a ten-day continuous operation. You can recharge the mana crystal of your automobile in recharging stations that are all over the city. Well, I guess you guys don''t really need that information since you guys don''t own an automobile."


    Luke shrugged his shoulders as he continued walking. The group then arrived at an automobile that was slightly bigger than the ones they saw on the street. Luke then touched the automobile and his wristband started glowing. Melody noticed that there were multiple spell formations in the wristband as well as the automobile that started linking together. After Luke twisted his hand the doors of the automobile unlocked, he then opened the doors.


    "Alright, you guys get in."


    Jonh and the others nodded their heads as they entered the so called automobile. Once inside they looked around in curiosity. It was like a mini train inside the so called automobile. As they traveled towards the dorms were they would be staying during thepetition John and the others continued to be in awe of everything they saw.


    While they were on the road Luke started to exin some basic things about the dorms they were heading to. The dorms were made for not only them but the prodigies of regions four to six. So there were two more groups of prodigies that they needed to stay with.


    The start of the preliminaries was three days from now, and during that time they could do whatever they want as long as they don''t leave the city. They don''t really need to leave the city anyway as everything they would need for the tournament could be found in the dorms.


    There was an arena were they could spar with the other prodigies. There were also video records of the previous tournaments for thest ten years. If they didn''t want to train they could also enjoy doing recreational activities.


    Despite hearing the many recreational activities avable none of the prodigies were interested, most of them were more interested in the arena. On the other hand, John was interested in those so called video recordings of the past tournaments. He wanted to see the battles of the former champions against the legendary Emperor.


    ¡­


    It took them a few minutes to finally arrive at the dorms and when they arrived, John noticed that there was a sound of shing steel echoing throughout the vicinity. As they disembarked Luke gave them a tour of the dorms and introduced them to the prodigies of the other regions.


    The other prodigies had shown the basic etiquette and simply greeted the other party and then they went back to training. John then asked Luke to teach him how to watch the recordings of the previous tournaments.


    Luke asked if the others wanted to watch as well, but the others decided to go to their assigned rooms and rest first. Seeing no one else wanted toe Luke guided John to the audio-visual room. Upon entering the room, the first thing John noticed was a square box that had a non-reflective ss.


    "This is a television, and to watch the recordings of the previous matches, will be using this Seer''s orb. So that we can watch it properly we need to connect the Seer''s Orb to the television."


    Luke took out a small orb that was marked the sixth championship. He then took a wire with spell runes on it and connected it to the Seer''s orb. Luke then proceeded to exin to John how to use the television as well as the Seer''s orb. It took a few minutes for John to understand how to use the y and fast forward function. Once Luke was done teaching John what he needed to know he left the room.


    ¡­


    John watched each championship battle against the legendary Emperor Ren. The first-ever recording was the match ten years ago, the sixth champion was a mage that specialized in earth spells.


    The Emperor fought in a rxed manner as he easily evaded each attack, and no matter what was thrown at him he did not move from his spot. The challenger then used an attack that would hit in all directions, it was at that moment the emperor spoke to the mage, but the recording did not have any audio of what he said. After speaking the Emperor finally took out a weapon from his shadow, it was arge sword simr to Tyr''s butrger. It even had an aura that you could feel through the recording, an aura that would make one feel threatened.


    The Emperor swung his sword in a rxed manner and after that one swing, everything ended. The surrounding spears of earth were broken and the mage had fainted. At first nce, it looked like the Emperor used only one swing, but after studying it a few more times John finally saw the truth. The Emperor swung his sword several dozen times hitting everything with a sword wave. He was just moving so fast that it only looked like one swing.


    John then continued to watch the other championship matches and all of them ended in a simr fashion. The Emperor would allow the challenger to attack with everything he had, and once the challenger has shown all he could, the Emperor will do one simple attack to win.


    John then watched the matches each champion had beforehand to see just how strong they truly were. After watching most of their matches John knew that the level of the champions were simr to his own and some of them were even stronger than him, yet no matter who they were they could do nothing to the Emperor.


    Realizing just how strong the legendary Emperor was made John''s blood boil in excitement. He wasn''t really one who enjoyed battle like Tyr, but he liked the challenge. It has been years since he had faced such overwhelming odds. It wasn''t just facing the Emperor that would be challenging, even getting to that stage was going to be difficult.


    He had only seen a glimpse of what the other prodigies could do, but that was enough for him to get a rough estimate on how strong they were. Most of them were practically on the same level with each other with only slight variations. Some were slightly stronger, but the difference was just minuscule that the other party would still have some difficulty winning¡­ John grabbed the talisman hidden in his pocket as determination filled him.

 Chapter 532 - Little Lady

    <h4>Chapter 532 - Little Lady</h4>


    John had watched the video records of each of the Emperor''s matches multiple times and had gained a lot of insights. Even though he has not figured out a way to beat the legendary Emperor, he had learned a little bit of the Emperor''s swordsmanship.


    The Emperor''s sword was not as shy as the other swordsmanship styles in the empire and had no excess movements. It uses but a single swing to cut everything in its path. It felt less like a swordsman style, but more like an assassin''s style.


    ¡­


    John got excited as he went out to do some of the forms of the Emperor''s swordsmanship. It was already night and most of the prodigies have gone to sleep. Still, there were some of them continuing to practice.


    John went to look for a secluded spot and started to practice the Emperor''s style. The more he swung his sword, the more he understood. The Emperor''s sword was as simple as it could be, and it functioned in the form of the origin of the sword.


    Nowadays many swordsmen have different philosophies in the way of the sword. Some believe that the sword was a means of enlightenment. Some practice the sword as a means to protect others. The others use it to take whatever they want. Then there were others that use it for the thrill of the kill.


    On the other hand, Emperor Ren was different. He used the sword as nothing more than a tool. In the eyes of the Emperor, the sword wasn''t anything beyond what it was, it was simply a tool nothing more nothing less. In Ren''s eyes, the sword could be used to kill, it could be used to protect, it could be used as a tool for enlightenment, it could be used in any way he wishes it to be. He was unlike the others who practically believe the sword was something beyond what it was. To Ren, it was nothing more than what it was, but it could also be whatever he wanted it to be.


    It was like the Emperor took all the other philosophies and turned them into one thing. The sword path the Emperor was on, was where the sword was but decoration and the real power came from the owner. To John, that felt like the truth of the sword.


    John wasn''t sure if his theory was correct, but that''s what he felt. As John continued to swing his sword in different forms, he came to an understanding that there was no need for any of those ridiculous techniques that he has learned. All of those things were simply impurities in his swordsmanship.


    ¡­


    After a while, John finally stopped swinging his sword, the moment he did so he heard someone pping. John quickly lifted his sword and took a defensive stance.


    He looked around and finally noticed that there was a girl that look to be around ten years old standing near him. The little girl had long wavy ck hair and deep dark eyes that felt like they could peer to your very core. Despite being a young child, John could already see that she would grow into an unimaginable beauty.


    At first, John thought that he didn''t notice the girl because he was too focused on his training, but now as he looked at the girl he had a different opinion. Despite seeing her there standing right in front of him, John could not feel her presence, nor could he sense her mana flow.


    "You have a rather good grasp on the formless sword for an outsider, big brother. It still pales inparison to the real deal, but I guess you''re on the right track."


    As she was talking the girl suddenly disappeared from John''s sight. He was rather surprised that he could not catch her movement at all. As his tension rose, somebody suddenly spoke beside him.


    "You should loosen your stance a bit more."


    When John heard the voice beside him he reflexively attacked and swung his sword sideways. The moment he did so he wanted to stop but he couldn''t. He was already afraid that he would identally cut the little girl, but to his surprise, she was no longer there.


    "Did I startle you?" He once again heard the little girl''s voice, he saw that she was now standing right in front of him. John breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his weapon.


    "Who are you?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I''m also a participant in the uing tournament. My name is Kiara."


    Hearing what she said, some things finally made sense. Normally John would be surprised to hear such a young child was joining the tournament, but after seeing her capabilities he wasn''t that surprised.


    "I see¡­ I''m John, it''s nice to meet you, Kiara." Seeing that John was no longer hostile, Kiara smiled at him.


    "Yeah, it''s nice to meet you, big bro."


    John was a little embarrassed to be called a big bro and wanted to tell Kiara to stop, but when he saw her smile he sighed and just epted it.


    "So big bro, about your stance you really should loosen up a bit. The main point of that style of swordsmanship is flexibility. So being too tight would stop you from mastering the formless sword. Hmm, I guess, I can show you how it''s done."


    Kiara created a sword made of mana and took a stance she feltfortable with. It was a simr stance to what the Emperor had used in the previouspetitions. The weapon was lowered and her whole body was rxed. She then slowly moved forward towards John. Once she got near enough the sword was suddenly ced in John''s neck. He was unable to respond to the movement, as everything she did was so natural it was as if the sword near his neck was supposed to be there.


    "That''s how you do it."


    "How do you-" John was about to ask how she knew so much about the Emperor''s swordsmanship when someone suddenly spoke.


    "Mydy, it''s about time you head back home. If you''rete again, your mother will scold you, and increase your training."


    John could not detect where the voice wasing from, as he looked around he could not find any trace of the person.


    "Oh fine¡­ Hey big bro, I need to get home. I hope the next time we meet you can y with me."


    Kiara waved her hand and disappeared. John was amazed from start to finish. It would seem that he had grossly underestimated the other geniuses that would fight in this tournament. He then gritted his teeth and a few secondster he sighed. He scratched his head and calmed himself.


    "¡­ So I need to loosen up¡­" John whispered to himself as he decided to sleep.

 Chapter 533 - The Lonely Cat

    <h4>Chapter 533 - The Lonely Cat</h4>


    The following day John tried to follow Kiara''s advice and did his best to loosen up but it was harder than he had anticipated. The way he had trained himself from childhood to now had made loosening up a rather difficult task.


    Unable to continue his training, John decided to take a stroll for a change of pace. Also, he was quite interested in the Capital since he had heard numerous stories about it while he was growing up. This was the first city that the legendary Emperor and his friends headed to at the start of their journey. Not only was New Grenton the most advanced city on the continent it was also an important part of history since Ren''s Empire started from this ce.


    ¡­


    John went out of the dormitory and it took him half an hour to reach the main road. Just like yesterday, New Grenton was brimming with life. The skies were filled with dragons, wyverns, griffons, and airships. On the ground, the streets were full of those automobiles, and many people were walking on the sidewalk.


    This was the first time that John had seen so many different races. He knew that the continent had many other races aside from humans, but it was still shocking to see the different races walking beside him.


    There were dwarves, elves, and different kinds of demons, from the beast tribe to even half-vampires, there were also dragons in human form. Despite being from different races, everyone treated each other equally. It was said that the unification of the different races was one of the Emperor''s greatest achievements.


    ¡­


    John felt quite excited by the numerous new things he saw. He continued walking around basking in the numerous sights the Capital had to offer. He headed to one of the Capital''s main attractions, the adventurer guild that the Emperor and his wife Lara joined.


    The building the adventurer guild in Capital uses nowadays wasrger and different from the old building. Still, that wasn''t the adventurer guild tourists swarm to, the adventurer guild they wanted to visit was the old building that no longer functioned as before, and was now used as a museum.


    There was a ticket fee to enter the former adventurer guild. John was thrilled to see the adventurer guild that was in the stories he heard from when he was a little kid. There were even some actors reenacting the scene when Ren and hispanions first arrived in the guild building.


    It was quite fun to watch such a y inside the actual building where it happened. Not to mention the actors were actually pretty good. It felt like the story from his childhood wasing to life right in front of him. The trip to the former adventurer guild was better than John expected, and he left happy for the experience.


    John continued to look around, but after a while, he felt rather hungry. As he was walking through what looks to be an abandoned street, he noticed a peculiar-looking sign. He didn''t know why but he was attracted to it.


    "The Lonely Cat, is this ce a restaurant?"


    John looked through the window and saw that there were only a few people inside. Seeing this and feeling his hunger increasing, John entered the establishment. John sat near the window, and after a quick scan of the menu, he finally understood what this ce was, this ce was a pub.


    As he was thinking about what to order, a man approached him. The man had something on his mouth that emitted smoke. He took out the object on his mouth and spoke to John.


    "So kid, what are you having? Just in case you don''t know alcoholic drinks can only be ordered by those seventeen and older."


    " I see¡­ It''s my first time here in the Capital and I''m not really sure what''s good to eat on this menu. So can you rmend me something?" The owner of The Lonely Cat, Haruto Kazuya looked at John for a second before responding.


    "Are you perhaps one of the prodigies going to join the tournament this year?"


    "Yeah, I am, why?"


    "If so, I rmend the Honey Garlic Salmon. Many champions of the past tournaments like ordering that."


    "Wait the championse here to eat?" John looked at the owner incredulously. He found it hard to believe that a pub that has so few customers to be frequented by such famous people. Seeing the look John was giving him Kazuya snorted.


    "Not just the champions, sometimes Ren''s wives and children woulde here to eat as well."


    "Are you pulling my leg?"


    "It doesn''t really matter to me if you believe me or not." Kazuya shrugged his shoulders. "So are you going to buy the Honey Garlic Salmon?"


    "Fine, one Honey Garlic Salmon please."


    "That will be two silver coins." After John handed the money to Kazuya, he started to look at the other patrons.


    Even though they weren''t the champions of the previous tournaments nor were they the wives and children of the Emperor, the people in the pub look to be rather powerful individuals. As he scanned the pub, he then noticed some pictures on the walls.


    John got out of his chair and checked the pictures. Even though he didn''t know most of the people in the pictures, he knew some of them. He had seen numerous video recordings of these people yesterday, they were the previous champions. Not only that there was also a picture of the Emperor standing side by side with the owner.


    ''If he wanted me to believe his story, why didn''t he just show me these pictures?''


    As John continued to look at the pictures he noticed a familiar face, a face that he had seen just yesterday, but it was not from a video recording. He had met this person yesterday, face to face.


    ''Isn''t this Kiara?''


    She was younger in the picture but John knew that this was the same child he had met yesterday. He looked at those that were with her in the picture. She was surrounded by many beautiful olderdies, and beside her were other children. He wanted to find a clue as to who Kiara was, but he didn''t know any of the other people in the picture.


    "Hey kid your food is here."


    John turned around and saw the owner cing his food on the table.


    "Hey, Mr¡­"


    "You can just call me master or barkeep."


    "Okay, master, can you please tell me who the child in this picture is?" Kazuya came closer and looked at the picture John was pointing at.


    "Oh, those are Ren''s kids. I can''t really remember the name of the kid you''re pointing at. What was her name again, Kirara, Kyrie¡­"


    "Kiara."


    "Oh, yeah, that''s right Kiara. Why are you asking, do you know her?"


    When John heard Kazuya''s confirmation he was shocked to learn that the child he met yesterday was a child of the legendary Emperor. After learning this, it took John a few seconds to calm himself down.


    ''Wait, didn''t she say that she was a participant in this year''s tournament.'' When John thought of that, he realized that maybe it wasn''t just Kiara who would be joining the tournament, but her siblings as well. John looked at the children in the picture with Kiara and sighed.


    ''Am I lucky or unlucky to be in the tournament the same year the Emperor''s children are joining in?''

 Chapter 534 - The Mysterious Weapon Shop

    <h4>Chapter 534 - The Mysterious Weapon Shop</h4>


    John was still in a state of shock by what he learned as he was about to eat his meal. Yet the moment he tasted the Honey Garlic Salmon all of hisplicated thoughts were washed away. The taste of this Salmon was incredible, it was beyond description.


    After he was done eating his meal, John thanked the owner and left the Lonely Cat. He was walking through the street still a little bit shocked by the fact that he had an encounter with a child of the Emperor.


    ''That means the technique she showed me was indeed the Emperor''s sword. What did she call it back then?¡­ Hmmm, oh right, the formless sword.''


    The authenticity of the advice given by Kiara was higher now that John knew who she truly was. He was also rather interested in the movement technique she uses to disappear and reappear without a sound. It wasn''t teleportation since there was no mana fluctuation, but it wasn''t purely speed either.


    As he was deep in thought while walking on the sidewalk he noticed a peculiar shop in the busy street. It seems like no one has noticed the shop. It was a shabby shop that had a sign with a sword and an ax cross. John came closer to the shop, and once he was near enough he faintly felt an overpowering presence inside. It was a brief feeling, so fleeting that he thought it was just his imagination.


    John became truly intrigued by the mysterious shop. As he was about to open the door, he finally realized something even more shocking. The sound of the people on the street was gone. He could still see the people passing by the street, but it felt like he was no longer in the same area as them.


    It was at that moment John hesitated a bit. He wasn''t sure what was behind this door, it could be something that wishes to harm him, it could be a trap of sorts. As he continued to hold onto the doorknob at the corner of his heart, there was a tinge of excitement.


    ''Why the f*ck am I hesitating for? Isn''t this what I wanted, an adventure to the unknown? I''m sure the legendary Emperor never hesitated like this. He with that vicious smile on his face would challenge everything and anything. If it was him he would have walked forward no matter what.''


    After encouraging himself, John tightened his grip on the doorknob. He had unconsciously used more strength than he was supposed to, once he realized that he panicked a bit, but then he noticed something. He was rather surprised that despite the strength he put into gripping the doorknob it didn''t even crack. His physical strength was enough for him to be able to crush rocks into dust with his hands, yet this doorknob that look like it was nothing special was unaffected by his strength. John smiled as he discarded the fears he had and entered the shop.


    ¡­


    Upon entering the weapon shop the first thing John noticed was the ce was bigger than what it looked outside. Even though there weren''t any candles or lightbulbs, the entire shop was well lit. Lastly, in just a nce he saw that this shop was filled with weapons of all kinds, even weapons he wasn''t sure existed were in this shop.


    "Hey Kid, wee to the Fate Shop."


    John suddenly heard a voiceing from within the shop. A few secondster a child that seem to be around twelve years old came out.


    "You''re calling me a kid, even though you look to be younger than me."


    "Hmph, I guess the spell I ced on the shop is failing, since I can''t understand why it chose an amateur like you as a destined one." The child responded while shrugging his shoulders.


    "Destined one?"


    "Well whatever, since you''re already here then I guess despite your low level you are still technically a patron."


    The child decided to ignore John''s question, who was now feeling a little bit irritated. Still, despite that, his instincts were telling him that this child wasn''t someone he should mess with.


    "The rule of this ce is simple, you can take one weapon of your choosing. If you try to take more than one then you''ll be cursed into working in this store for all eternity. Also, despite me saying you can take any weapon, that will depend on your capabilities. The weapons in here aren''t your typical weapons. In this ce, you can find all sorts of weapons ranging from mythical weapons to demonic weapons. Most of the weapons here have sentience and are very arrogant, so the truth is you''re not the one choosing the weapon, but the weapons are the ones choosing their master. If you''re not capable enough you might not get any weapon."


    After hearing the child''s absurd speech, John was stunned. Even though it was a rather unbelievable im, somewhere in him John knew that the child was telling the truth.


    "Then is there a weapon her that''s as strong as the Emperor''s sword Snertal?"


    "Snertal? Oh, the current weapon Ren is using. That one is now a mythical weapon infused with the spirit of an ancient dragon. The dragon in question isn''t that strong before, but now after staying with Ren for a few years, it''s no longerparable to any normal dragon. If you went to any other ce that weapon would''ve been the best that shop has to offer, it might''ve even been the best one a world has to offer. Yet in here that kind of weapon is numbingly ordinary."


    John was surprised by the im of the child as he spoke of the legendary sword Snertal as if it was a simple iron sword you can buy in any weapon shop. Yet what surprised him, even more, was when John heard how casual the child spoke of Ren''s name he couldn''t help but remember the pub owner he met.


    "Are you perhaps acquainted with the Emperor?" Hearing John''s question the child''s lips curved upward.


    "He and I are more than just acquainted, you can call us friends,rades in arms, or a confidant take your pick."


    "¡­ Just who are you?"


    "Hmph, now you ask that question. Well, I guess introducing myself isn''t really such a big deal. The name''s Alphonso De Vrie. Do not let my appearance fool you, I am in fact much much older than I look."


    It was at that moment John wanted to smack his head. John had forgotten that even the elves who look to be younger than he could actually be hundreds of years old. There are so many races in this world, that it was presumptuous of him to judge a person by the same standards as humans. John knew that he made a mistake so he quickly bowed his head.


    "I''m sorry if I had offended you."


    Alphonso was momentarily shocked by the kid''s reaction but then a smile surfaced on his face. This kid was pretty straightforward and he rather liked that kind of personality as it was simr to his mentor and friend the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "It''s alright, just go now and pick whatever weapon you want."

 Chapter 535 - Failure

    <h4>Chapter 535 - Failure</h4>


    John started looking around the weapon shop and he found that it was even bigger than he initially expected it to be. He had been walking for half an hour now and there doesn''t seem to be an end in sight. He had tried to pick a weapon to look at but it was as Alphonso said, it was the weapons that choose the master. The weapons wouldn''t allow him to pick them up as they told him he wasn''t their destined one.


    John sighed as he continued looking for a weapon that would ept him. A few hours had passed and he still could not find a suitable weapon for himself.


    "Having trouble picking a weapon?"


    John turned around and saw Alphonso sitting on top of a shelf eating an unknown object that looks simr to bread. He was munching onto his food as his eyes stared at John, who felt a little unnerved by his stare.


    "¡­ It seems you were right about me, I guess I wasn''t worthy of any of the weapons here,"


    John answered dejectedly. In the beginning, he was thrilled to learn that this ce houses weapons stronger than even the Emperor''s weapon Snertal. It felt like this was the start of his own great adventure, were he would choose a famed sword and go out and start his tale. Unfortunately, it didn''t seem like his story would end that way.


    Seeing how dejected the boy was Alphonso sighed as he threw his food away andnded in front of John.


    "Hey brat, are you going to give up just like that? Is this is all you have to offer?"


    The moment Alphonso spoke those words for some reason John saw the image of a powerful being instead of the small child that was Alphonso.


    "¡­ What can I do, no matter what weapon I pick they reject me."


    "So what? If you fail once, then do it again, if you fail twice then do it again. No matter how many failures you umte it doesn''t really matter, since those are not real failures. The real failure is when you give up. Since giving up means there''s no more chance for sess, so that''s what true failure is."


    "¡­"


    John didn''t respond and remained silent while his head was lowered. This was the first time in his entire life that he had experienced a setback and it took him by surprise. He understood what Alphonso said, but it was still difficult to get over his first failure.


    ''Tsk, I kept on saying that I wanted a challenge, but in the end, this is how I end up when faced with a true challenge.''


    John hated himself, for being such a hypocrite. Now that he remembered his past words and thoughts, it would seem that he was rather arrogant, no he was too arrogant. John once again sighed, but the moment he did so Alphonso had kicked him from behind.


    "Hey, brat! I don''t like the way your moping around with self-loathing. If I''m correct you''re one of those kids that idolize Ren, right?"


    "¡­ Yes, what of it?"


    "Let me ask you this, do you think Ren has failed before?"


    "What are you talking about? Everyone knows that the legendary Emperor was ever victorious and was always unbeatable. I do not believe that he had ever failed."


    "Heh, that''s what you know, but those who truly know Ren, know that Ren has failed numerous times. He has failed over and over again, yet with that vicious smile on his face and his soul burning with fighting spirit, he kept on going forward. He had experienced all kinds of failures, he has seen all kinds of horrors, there might have been times when he would fall but he would immediately stand right back up and continue onwards. In the end, Ren was never such a perfect existence, but what made him stronger than anyone else was his will to go forward no matter what. In his failures, he found indomitable strength, an unwavering heart, and a will of steel."


    John was quiet as he listened to Alphonso''s speech. He was still a little skeptical about the legendary Emperor having so many failures, but as he listened on he felt like maybe there was some truth in what Alphonso said.


    ''Indomitable strength, an unwavering heart, and a will of steel. Can you really gain those from failure?''


    When Alphonso still saw an inkling of hesitation within John, he scratched his head in irritation. Normally, he wouldn''t even bother helping those who enter his shop. After exining the rules, he would usually not even bother looking at them. Yet for some reason, he felt like helping the kid.


    ''Is the pull of his destiny so strong?¡­ This kind of person if he''s able to break free from the flow of destiny he would be a great ally of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Fine, I guess I''ll help¡­ I''m not doing this because the brat has intrigued me, I''m doing this to help Ren prepare for the future battle against that almighty being. Yup, that''s it.''


    "It seems like you don''t believe me, you little brat, then allow me to show you a little of what kind of failures Ren has experienced."


    Alphonso snapped his fingers and a pocket watch floated into his hands. This was the same pocket watch Alphonso used to help Ren regain his memories. After using it on Ren, the experiences Ren and his past incarnations had were now recorded into the watch. Not all of the experiences were recorded, but there were still quite a few. With Alphonso''s current mastery of the pocket watch, he could show a tiny bit of Ren''s failures.


    "Kneel down so I can show you."


    John wasn''t quite sure what was happening and after hesitating a little he did as he was told. Alphonso was now able to press the pocket watch on John''s forehead. Once he did so he controlled the pocket watch to show John images of Ren''s failures.


    John suddenly saw the image of the Emperor losing to what looked to be a lich. He then saw the Emperor mourning for the death of his father. There were many images that shed by John''s mind, he had seen not only the Emperor fail over and over again, but other people who seemed equally powerful as him fail as well. Some of their failures could''ve devastated anyone else into not being able to move onward. Yet no matter what came those people would always look forward with a smile on their faces.


    "Those weren''t just about the Emperor, who were those people?"


    "Those people you saw are all part of Ren. Those were the people he used to be, his past reincarnations. Do you see, no matter what kind of failure he experienced he would always stand right back up with that smile on his face. Those kinds of people will never know true failure."


    When John once again heard what Alphonso had to say, now that he has seen those images he could not help but feel pathetic. He then clenched his talisman and gritted his teeth. John stood up and looked at Alphonso.


    "Thanks."


    "Hmph, no need to thank me, just go and find your weapon. I hope this time you won''t give up so easily."


    John nodded his head with a smile on his face¡­ He then continued to look around the weapon shop.

 Chapter 536 - The Day Before The Tournament

    <h4>Chapter 536 - The Day Before The Tournament</h4>


    It took John a few more hours before he was able to find the weapon that was most suitable for him. The weapon he got was a wooden sword, but it wasn''t just any wooden sword, the wood used to make the sword was from the tree of beginning from a universe that no longer exists. It was one of the universes destroyed in the battle between the ORIGIN and the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    At first nce, it didn''t look that impressive, but any weapon you find in Alphonso''s weapon shop was something extraordinary. The wooden sword created from the Tree of Beginning from a dead universe was nearly unbreakable, and even though it had sentience it was unlike the other mythical des in the shop as it could not speak, nor could it transform into a humanoid form.


    ¡­


    After picking his weapon, Alphonso wasted no time and shooed John away. Once he was outside he looked at the shop but when he turned around the shop was no longer there. What reced it was a restaurant that sold squid.


    John tried to look around some more, he even entered the restaurant a few times, but no matter what he did he could no longer see the weapon shop. He then looked at the wooden sword in his hand, if it weren''t for that being in his hand right now he would''ve believed that everything that happened was a dream or a hallucination.


    John sighed as he shook his head. It was simply a weird twist of fate that allowed him to enter that ce.


    ¡­


    After returning to the dorms, John decided to rest for a bit and contemte on the things that happened today. There were so many things that happened at once that it should''ve overwhelmed him.


    The pub called The Lonely Cat were he learned the truth about the girl called Kiara. Who could''ve guessed that she was a child of the Legendary Emperor, Ren, John sighed after thinking about it again.


    Then there was the owner of The Lonely Cat, he couldn''t detect any mana from him not a single trace. Still, that was impossible since even a flower had mana, all living things in this world had mana. Does that mean the owner was someone who''s able to hide his mana so perfectly, that even someone on John''s level wasn''t able to detect it?


    ''Well, he is someone who is close to the Emperor''s family. Also, that ce is very weird, even though he''s someone who knows the Emperor his shop is located in a rather deserted area. Then there''s his food it was unbelievably delicious and quite inexpensive for something of that quality. Howe it isn''t always flooded with customers?''


    John tried recalling the state of The Lonely Cat. He then remembered that the customers present in the pub were rather powerful individuals.


    ''Could it be that the same as the weapon shop, The Lonely Cat is only used by those who are powerful enough?''


    When John thought of the weapon shop, he found that inparison to that ce The Lonely Cat wasn''t that weird. Both the owner of The Lonely Cat and the owner of the weapon shop were unbelievably mighty beings, but unlike the owner of The Lonely Cat that didn''t exude any mana, the weapon shop owner exuded lots of it.


    John remembered the first time he saw the child-looking owner of the weapon shop. He had joked around the weapon shop owner, but deep down he was a little frightened of the owner. The owner might''ve looked like a child, but the aura he exuded spoke otherwise.


    John could feel an incredible amount of mana within the body of the little shop owner. If it weren''t for the mysterious space the weapon shop was at, John was certain that many of the people in the Capital would''ve been overwhelmed by the shop owner''s mana. It was so dense and powerful that John felt a little suffocated being near the shop owner. Still, John was someone hailed as a genius and something on that level wasn''t enough to overpower him.


    It wasn''t just the shop owner that had that overbearing aura, there were the weapons within that shop many of which had sentience. The weapons within that shop were supposedly famed weapons used by legendary figures and even the Gods themselves.


    Knowing what he knows the question of how the little shop owner got those weapons popped into John''s mind. Were they given to him, or did the little shop owner steal them if it was thetter then how was he able to survive the wrath of many mighty figures? John didn''t think about it for long before moving on.


    ¡­


    John then looked at the wooden sword at his side. Among all the weapons in the weapon shop, this was the one that had epted him as a master. He swore that with this weapon at hand, he would leave a mark in history.


    Feeling a bit excited John got up and headed to the ce were he was practicing yesterday. He stood there for some time without moving an inch. He closed his eyes as he put all of his attention on the wooden sword in his hand. John then opened his eyes and without even thinking about it shed forward cutting a falling leaf in half.


    He was rather surprised at what he had done, that one swing was better than all the others he had. It was easy for him to cut a leaf in half, but the way he did it now without even thinking about it, as he allowed his body to move on its own was something new to him. As he was getting more excited about the progress he made he suddenly heard someone pping. John could already guess who that was.


    "Hey, princess are you sure you should be here?"


    The moment John said those words a little girl appeared before him. Just like yesterday John still couldn''t sense Kiara''s presence nor could he understood how she could suddenly appear before him without seeing any movement. It wasn''t just him who looked surprised even Kiara herself had a shocked expression though for another reason.


    "You figured out my identity?"


    "Yeah, the owner of The Lonely Cat told me."


    "Oh, you met Uncle Kazuya. Is that why you''ve improved so greatly? Did uncle gave you some pointers?"


    "He didn''t give me any pointers I just went there to eat."


    "Is that so, also what''s with that weird wooden sword. I can sense a strange will from within it."


    Kiara looked at the wooden sword filled with curiosity.


    "I don''t know if you would believe me, but I got this from a weapon shop that others couldn''t see."


    "A weapon shop that others couldn''t see?¡­ Oh wow, you''ve actually been to Uncle Alphonso''s weapon shop! I knew that you were something special!" Kiara started jumping around in excitement.


    ''Uncle Alphonso, so that guy really was telling the truth¡­''


    "Not only did you improve greatly from thest time, you even got a weapon from Uncle''s shop. You might actually have a little chance of fighting against my siblings."


    "A little chance¡­ You think I can''t win?"


    When Kiara heard what John said he looked at him weirdly and then after a while, she started giggling.


    "That''s a funny joke, you winning against my siblings?"


    John felt insulted as he responded to Kiara.


    "I''m not joking, I''m serious."


    The moment those words came out of John''s mouth, Kiara''s aura changed and so did her expression. The smiling little girl suddenly showed a very cold expression.


    "You''re serious? With your ability, it would''ve already been a miracle if you couldst at least three strikes from any of my siblings. Do not look down on the Emperor''s children."


    "¡­ It''s not like I''m looking down on you guys, but no matter how powerful or skilled you guys are, victory is never certain. Even the very Gods themselves can fall much less you guys."


    The cold expression on Kiara''s face disappeared and went back to the normal smiling one she always had as she responded.


    "Heh, you''re pretty interesting. Fine, I guess that even an expert can lose to a beginner if he''s not careful enough or if thetter is extremely lucky."


    "Yeah, also it''s not you guys that I want to fight, the one I truly wish to face in the tournament is the legendary Emperor, your father Ren."


    "Every person who chooses the path of the warrior wants to fight my dad¡­ Alright then, it''s already gettingte and tomorrow is pretty special, so I better get going. See you tomorrow in the tournament, I hope you show me that you truly got what it takes to fight me and my siblings."


    After speaking Kiara then disappeared from John''s sight. John then looked at the night sky as he gripped the handle of the wooden sword tightly.

 Chapter 537 - Tension In The Waiting Room

    <h4>Chapter 537 - Tension In The Waiting Room</h4>


    It was finally the day of the tournament and John felt even more determined than before. After meeting one of the children of the Emperor, as well as the other powerful people in the Empire, John now understood that he wasn''t a dragon among men, but a frog in the bottom of the well.


    ''Even knowing all that I will keep moving forward.''


    John held the talisman that his childhood friend gave him. He grabbed hold of his wooden sword and alongside the other geniuses headed for the arena were the tournament would be held.


    ¡­


    The yearly tournament had no name but most people have called it the gathering of geniuses, the other people call it the Emperor''s stage. There were many names for the tournament since it didn''t have an official one.


    This unnamed tournament was held in a gigantic arena outside of the city. The arena could easily amodate the entirety of a poption of three cities. The people who work in the arena were the Primordial Demons that Ren caught, and the previous champions of the tournament. The entire ce was also being watched by the Shadow n that was led by his disciple, Arthur, and his adopted sister Shera.


    During this period the Capital City New Grenton was at its weakest, but even at its weakest, the Capital was strong. The people who were guarding it were the noble n the Regalcrags and Lance another disciple of the Emperor. Many of those who wanted to kill the Emperor and take over the Empire had tried to attack during this period but before they could even begin their attack the Regalcrags would have already killed them.


    Also unknown to most people there was anotheryer of protection the Capital had during this period. The half-demons who were now ruled by Harold a descendant of the strongest demon lord Kretos were also guarding the city secretly. Those enemies that the Regalcrags miss, the half-demons would dispose of.


    ¡­


    John and the other contestants of this tournament have all been guided into the waiting area. The contestants in this waiting area numbered in the hundreds. Each one of them were praised as geniuses all their lives, so they didn''t regard the other geniuses as their equals. Each one of them believed that they were stronger than the rest.


    The people in the waiting room only spoke to those they were already acquainted with. John had formed a group with the geniuses from his own region.


    As the different groups were having their respective conversations a group of children that looked to be around nine to twelve years old appeared.


    The geniuses were confused as to why such young children were in the waiting room. It was true that the minimum age requirement to join the tournament was nine years old, but none of them expected to see someone of that age enter. Even they who were proud sons and daughters of heaven knew how difficult the tournament was, so they had waited for their strength to reach a certain level before deciding toe to the tournament.


    Yet these young children came here the moment they reached the minimum age requirement. Most of the participants thought the children were too arrogant and were looking down on the tournament, meaning they were looking down on them.


    Some of the participants thought that the children were naive and didn''t know the true horror of this tournament. Even though the rules state that there will be no killing, idents do happen and people do die from this tournament.


    While many of the participants were looking at the neers with various thoughts in their minds, John spotted someone he knew. One of the children present in the group was Kiara, the moment John saw her he already guessed who the other children were. These children were most likely the children of the Emperor.


    "I was so excited for this year''s tournament toe, since father finally allowed us to join, yet look at this they all look so weak. I don''t think any of these people will be a challenge."


    The one who spoke was a girl with flowing silver hair and deep dark eyes. She had four swords by her waist and wore golden armor. She might be young but her beauty was apparent.


    "Heh, don''t say that little sis you never know some of them might surprise you."


    The young man who seem to be the oldest in the group of children spoke. Among the children he was with, his looks were only slightly above average. He was wearing a cloak that covered his entire body.


    "Yeah big bro is right, yesterday I met someone who imed he would beat all of us."


    Kiara spoke and then looked directly at John with a smile on her face. The other siblings noticed her actions and also looked at John as well. As they were about to approach John to strike up a conversation, one of the contestants suddenly confronted them.


    "Hey you kids I understand that you might be geniuses but everyone here is the same so there''s no need to act so arrogantly. In fact, you children shouldn''t even be here."


    This person was infuriated when he heard how casually these children dismissed them and even called them weak. When the Emperor''s children heard the person''sment they looked around confused but after a while, the oldest of the children who was wearing a cloak pointed at him and his siblings.


    "Are you talking to us?"


    "Who else do you think I''m talking to?!"


    "Oh, I was just confused cause what you said doesn''t seem to be right, so we thought you were talking to someone else. You said that we''re all the same and that my siblings and I were arrogant but that''s wrong."


    "How so?"


    "Well, first of all, my siblings and I are better than all of you here it''s pretty rude for you topare us with you guys, and secondly we aren''t arrogant we were just stating the facts. Oh right, also it''s not right to say we aren''t supposed to be here, it''s you people who shouldn''t be here. If you stay here you''ll just embarrass yourselves."


    When the other geniuses heard that response they were all infuriated¡­ The geniuses gritted their teeth and wanted to attack.

 Chapter 538 - Start Of The Tournament

    <h4>Chapter 538 - Start Of The Tournament</h4>


    Everyone in the waiting room red at the children, and as a fight was about to begin someone suddenly called.


    "All participants of the tournament follow me."


    Someone came into the waiting room right before anyone got to attack the children. The one who entered noticed what was happening and frowned. He could already guess what happened, he sighed before speaking in a rather cold tone.


    "I said all the participants of the tournament follow me. Those who fail to follow even this simple instruction will be immediately disqualified. Those that harm any other participant outside the arena will be disqualified. Heck if I find any of you displeasing I can disqualify you."


    Hearing what he said the participants finally quieted down. Most of them didn''t want to get disqualified so they had no choice but to follow, not to mention there were quite a few that knew who the person speaking was. This person was a very famous individual whose fame is only second to the Emperor himself. Unfortunately, he doesn''t make too many public appearances as ofte as he was busy training, so many of the participants didn''t know what he looked like, even though they knew his name.


    If they knew who he was they would''ve listened to him without question, but of course, even then there are fools who think too highly of themselves among the geniuses. The pride of these various geniuses were too high for their own good, and among the many geniuses whose prides were higher than normal people, some didn''t care about the rules set by others.


    "I don''t know who you are, but no one tells me what to do. These f*cking children have looked down on me and this won''t stand. I need to teach them a lesson."


    The moment those words came out of that participant''s mouth the man who was standing a distance away suddenly moved and as if he teleported appeared before the young man who spoke.


    Every single person in that room was a genius of some kind but even then only some of them were able to follow that man''s movement. The man had his fist near the boy''s face and spoke.


    "If you want to go against the rules you first need the appropriate strength. Unfortunately, you don''t have that strength¡­ You''re disqualified so you better leave now."


    The boy who had just been disqualified felt ashamed and angry at this random nobody who disqualified him.


    "You dare tell me I don''t have the strength! I am Hillion a proud warrior, the son of the once great king Hector of the fallen kingdom of Azov. I will prove here and now that I have the strength!"


    The boy grabbed hold of his weapon and was about to attack, but before he could do anything the man had already made a move. The same as before only some people could barely see the man''s movement. The boy who was about to attack felt something sh before his eyes, it was only for a fraction of a second, but that was thest thing he saw before he fainted.


    "You talk too much."


    The man spoke to the now unconscious boy, he then looked at the other participants and sighed before speaking to them.


    "So anyone else has a problem with my rules?"


    This time no one responded and simply nodded their heads. Some of the geniuses believed that they could somehow win against the man but that would mean exposing their hidden cards, which was not worth it.


    "You little imps, you better not mess around too much, or else you won''t be allowed to continue." The man spoke to the arrogant children.


    "Ohe on, Uncle Valdel, we didn''t even do anything but talk. there the ones who butted into our conversation."


    "Yes, Big Sis Calli is right, father. These guys were the ones who bothered us. We weren''t even talking to them." The little boy standing behind thess called Calli spoke.


    "Theon when did you learn to make such excuses? Hmm, I wonder what your mother will think if she heard what happened here. Also, you guys what would all your mothers think if I told them what kind of mischief you''ve been pulling."


    Valdel spoke with a smile on his face, making the children freeze for a moment.


    "Uncle!"


    "Father!" The arrogant children trembled by the mere mention of their mothers.


    "Alright, I''ll keep this a secret but you guys better behave from here on out." The children nodded their heads in response.


    When the others who were unaware of the identity of the man and the children heard their conversation they couldn''t help but stare dumbfounded. The person who moved so fast they could not see him clearly was none other than the Emperor''s best friend and right-hand man, Valdel.


    Then there were the children they wanted to attack, based on what was said they seem to be the children of the Emperor and the children of Valdel. Now the participants felt a little d that they didn''t attack out of anger. Even though they felt like they could defeat the Emperor''s children, they knew that these children might force their hands making them show some of their trump cards before the tournament even begins.


    ¡­


    Now that the participants knew who these people were, they no longer held any anger at the children. Being the children of the Emperor as well as being geniuses in their own right, the children did have a reason to be as arrogant as they are. Still, the participants believed that they were better and they would prove that in the tournament.


    After everyone had calmed down, the group followed Valdel''s lead and headed to the center of the arena.


    ¡­


    Upon arriving at the center, John could hear the sound of thunderous cheering. He then looked all around and saw that thousands of people were here watching the tournament. He had dreamed of this scene hundreds of times, he had imagined what he would feel when he stood in this grand tournament over and over again, but the real thing went beyond his imagination. As John was being overwhelmed by the scene before him, he noticed a person in the middle of one of the rings who started speaking by enhancing her voice with a spell.


    "Everyone let''s wee the participants to the fourteenth tournament of the Emperor!"

 Chapter 539 - Side : Julia

    <h4>Chapter 539 - Side : Julia</h4>


    The announcer was a beautiful maiden in her early twenties. She was Julia the champion of the tournament several years ago, she was eighteen years old at the time. On that day, she used a whip as a weapon which was a first in the tournament. At that time people thought she wouldn''t make it far in the tournament, but in the end, she had won every battle with overwhelming skill. This was the first time in the history of the tournament that a single participant had won every battle without getting hit, in fact, throughout all her matches she didn''t even move from her spot.


    Like all the other champions of the tournament Julia had the privilege of fighting the Legendary Emperor, Ren. This was the third year of the tournament and the television and recording devices weren''t popr yet so this was one of the few finals that John didn''t know of.


    ¡­


    Everyone at that time was excited to see what kind of fight Julia would show against the mighty Emperor. Yet what happened on that day, no one expected it, as Julia basically proposed to Ren. The things she said and did on that day were never forgotten by any of the citizens who had watched that tournament.


    "Emperor Ren, I have heard of your story numerous times. All of those legendary tales of you and yourrades seem to be too mythical and I always wondered if they were true or just exaggerated tales."


    "Then why don''t youe and see if those tales are exaggerated or not." Ren smiled that vicious smile of his as he faced the opponent of his who was brimming with confidence.


    "Well, I guess that''s true¡­ Hmm, before we start how about a wager?"


    "Hmm, that''s interesting, very well what''s the wager?"


    "If I win then you will hand me your empire and I will be the Empress."


    When the people heard what Julia said they were all shocked. They had seen many confident geniuses but this was something else altogether. Some of them were angered by how brazen the girl was. Others were wanted to see the Emperor get enraged and show the arrogant girl her ce.


    On the other hand, everyone who knew Ren started smiling and chuckling. The little girl had no idea what kind of monster Ren was, and her confidence was truly amusing.


    "Alright, fine, if you are somehow able to win then I will give you the entire Empire and crown you as its Empress. Then how about if you lose, what would happen then?"


    "If I lose then I will offer you my everything. I''m willing to be your woman if you want I''m d to be wife number eight."


    Julia smiled a very enchanting smile which made the hearts of the younger audience tremble. It was also at that moment that several overpowering presences red up. The Emperor''s seven wives appeared before Julia.


    "Kukuku, how brave of you to dare speak such nonsense in front of us. Do you think we don''t exist?" Tsukiyomi spoke as she smiled sweetly at Julia, but hidden within that smile of hers was terrifying killing intent.


    "Tsukiyomi is right, it''s already crowded as is and I don''t want anyone else to join," Lara spoke in an almost freezing tone.


    "I can agree to your proposal, provided that I get to take some of your blood and that of your future children." Henrietta chimed in while assessing Julia from head to toe. Ashley, Hilda, Tsukiko, and Silika had noment as they stood there ring at Julia.


    "Wait a minute, the way you talk, it''s like you don''t think I have a chance of winning."


    When the seven of them heard what Julia said they all looked at her and startedughing. Their beautifulughs sounded like the chimes of heavenly bells. Julia felt like she was being looked down upon and that infuriated her. As she was getting angry, Tsukiyomi spoke to her.


    "Kukuku, you really are a funny little girl. There''s no chance of you winning against Ren. The only way you could possibly win is if Ren was already severely injured wasn''t using any spiritual energy, was bound by dragon scale chains, and was blindfolded. Even then there''s like a slim chance of you winning."


    Hearing Tsukiyomi''s mocking words made Julia grit her teeth.


    "Do you all truly believe I stand no chance?"


    "Well to tell you the truth, it wouldn''t be fair to make such a bet with Ren. You stand a better chance of winning if you fought us his wives instead. Mind you that the chances are also slim, but it''s better than fighting Ren."


    This time it was Silika who spoke, unlike the others who had a rather mocking tone, hers was serious, there was also a hint of pity in her tone. This just infuriated Julia even more.


    "Enough you guys, no need to bully the little girl like this. Still, now that they mentioned it, this kind of bet doesn''t really seem fair at all. I don''t really like the feeling that you have no chance at all of winning so how about we change the rules a bit. I will stand here and won''t dodge nor move. If you''re able to somehow push me back or make me even bleed a bit then it''s your win."


    "You really dare look down on me this much. Fine, I''ll show you what I''m made of. YOU BETTER GET READY TO CROWN ME EMPRESS!"


    Julia''s mana spiked as her anger grew. Seeing that two were about to fight Ren''s wives left the stage. Ren stabbed Snertal on the ground and crossed his arms waiting for Julia to attack. Seeing him do that just made Julia''s rage grow as she red at Ren.


    She coated her whip with a dense amount of mana and started attacking Ren. This was the strongest attack they have seen her use in the entire tournament.


    She thought that even if Ren wouldn''t be pushed back he would at least bleed. Yet the moment her whip made contact with Ren''s body it was like she was hitting something other than a human''s skin. She then saw that Ren did not evade and he was not injured in the slightest, not even a tiny scratch.


    Julia was not disheartened by seeing this and continued to attack. The sound of Julia''s whip hitting Ren sounded like thunder. The audience could already guess how strong those attacks were as even though Ren didn''t move nor get hurt the ground below him was the one getting damaged.


    Julia continued her attack. her movements had be faster than before, and her attacks were also sharper. Yet no matter at what angle she would attack Ren was never damaged. She attacked and attacked for almost half a day, some of the audience members already went out of the arena and came back, but to their surprise, Julia was still continuing her attack, while Ren stood there doing nothing.


    It was already painfully obvious that she was no match for Ren, even after giving her a handicap. It was like a single ant trying to push a gigantic dragon, even with that knowledge, she didn''t want to give up. Yet even though her spirit was willing, her body and mind could no longer keep up. She had lost a lot of mana and was already running dry, as was her stamina. After a few more attacks she finally fainted.


    ¡­


    After that battle, Julia woke up and wanted to fulfill her promise seeing that she lost. Yet Ren''s wives wouldn''t allow her to be wife number eight. She was then made to fight the weakest of Ren''s wives, Hilda. Upon losing again she finally understood that in her current state she wasn''t worthy to be Ren''s wife¡­ So instead of bing a wife she was hired as a knight in the castle, were she decided to train until she can at least win against Hilda, and show that she could be worthy.

 Chapter 540 - Preliminaries

    <h4>Chapter 540 - Preliminaries</h4>


    "Today''s tournament will be is a bit special than the previous years. The Emperor said that since his own children and his best friend Sir Valdel''s children have joined the tournament this year, they needed to increase the challenge a teensy bit. So instead of the battle royal that usually happens, this year''s preliminaries we''ll be doing something different."


    Julia smiled which made many of her fans in the audience swoon. She then pointed at the people who were standing behind her.


    Everyone was amazed to see who the people behind Julia were. In the entire Capital of New Grenton, not a single person hasn''t heard of the five standing on the stage today. Their heroic deeds were known to all, as well as their past battle with the Emperor. These were the five heroes summoned to fight the Emperor in the pseudo-war that had happened years ago.


    "This year the participants will be facing the five heroes for the preliminaries."


    When the audience heard what Julia said they were stunned into silence. The children before them were geniuses and were better than most of their peers and they had the potential to be among the strongest in the Empire, but that was all it was at the moment, potential. Unlike the geniuses who were still at the start of their journey, the five heroes before them were already among the strongest in the Empire.


    "How is this a teensy bit?"


    "There''s no way they can beat the five heroes."


    "I guess this year we won''t get to see the Emperor fight."


    "I wonder if the Emperor''s children can win?"


    "That can''t be, I''m sure that not even the Emperor''s children could beat the five heroes."


    While the audience members were discussing and some of the participants felt a tiny bit nervous, Julia smiled mischievously.


    "I can already guess what our dear audience members are thinking, how can our little geniuses fight the famed heroes? Don''t worry everyone, the heroes will be given many handicaps so that it would be somewhat fair. The first handicap would be that the heroes aren''t allowed to leave the circle that''s one meter wide. The moment they step out of the circle the participant wins. The second handicap will be the heroes are going to wear the newly created power suppressors."


    Julia raised a metallic-looking chocker for everyone to see.


    "These are the power suppressors, once ced on the neck they will stop the flow of mana. Of course, we can control how much mana the one wearing it could use, for this tournament the mana that the heroes are allowed to use will be regted to thirty percent of their power. Then the final handicap, if the participants are able to hit the heroes even once it would be considered their win."


    When the audience heard the many restrictions that were ced on the heroes they felt thepetition was now finally fair. On the other hand, the participants felt a little bitter, even those that thought that they were no match for the five heroes didn''t like hearing that the five were so heavily handicapped to face them. It was like they were saying without all of those restrictions they stand no chance whatsoever. These so called geniuses who had always been high and mighty were now continuously shown that they were nothing in front of the true powerhouses in the Empire.


    "Now that the restrictions have been ced, I will call out five participants one by one, and they can choose which of the five heroes they want to challenge, of course, thest of the five will have no choice but to choose whoever of the five hero remains. Now then let''s begin the preliminaries! I will now pick the names of the first five participants at random."


    Julia got off the stage and walked to a table at the side were there was a bow filled with small pieces of paper. Julia pulled one piece of paper and announced a name.


    "Come on up, Riku Okin!" Hearing his name being called a young man stepped forward. "So who do you wish to fight?"


    "I wish to fight the hero Artemisia!"


    The young man chose the Golden Empress as his opponent since many believed that among the heroes she was the weakest when ites to battle. When Artemisia heard the young man choosing her she frowned as she knew what the young man was thinking. She red at him and could pretty much guess the general level of the young man.


    "Hmph," She snorted as she waited for the young man toe up on the stage wanting to beat him up. She wouldn''t allow the battle to be over quickly, she will show a little opening every now and then so that the young man would think he has a chance and continue fighting. She would slowly torture him for thinking that she was the weakest among the five of them.


    ¡­


    Julia continued to call on other participants'' names, each one of them chose the hero they wanted to fight. Now only Xia and Sora were left of the five heroes. The next participant to be called didn''t know who to pick between the two.


    Xia was widely considered to be the strongest of the heroes, she was the one who was at the same level of power as Ren''s wives. Then there was Sora, who was also considered by some as the strongest hero with the highest potential. Among all the heroes he was the trickiest to battle as he had a great array of spells and battle techniques in his arsenal. He also had an ability to get stronger every time he fights in that way he was simr to the legendary Emperor, Ren.


    The young woman who was going to pick between the two felt like she was so unlucky today. She gritted her teeth and had no choice, but to choose the slightly weaker one.


    "I wish to fight the Hero Hayate."


    After that participant was done picking, Julia once again dipped her hand into the bowl trying to pick a name. Most of the participants started praying that their name wouldn''t be the one that''s picked. Julia picked another white paper from the bowl and spoke the name of the unlucky participant that needed to face Xia.


    "Please step forward, John of Region four!"

 Chapter 541 - Surprising

    <h4>Chapter 541 - Surprising</h4>


    John clicked his tongue at how unlucky he was. Of all the people he could face he needed to face Xia the eternal as his first opponent. Among the six heroes present, she was the most troublesome of them all to deal with. No one aside from those close to the Emperor has ever seen the way she fights, most of the time she would just continuously meditate and the enemies whoe close to her would die mysterious deaths.


    John knew all the stories and rumors about the famous warriors of the Empire, and he had imagined different ways on how to beat them. He was confident that he stood a chance against most warriors in the Capital, all except a few.


    There was, of course, the legendary Emperor, Ren, that no one has ever beaten before, then there was Valdel, and the wives of the Emperor. Finally, Xia the eternal, as unlike all the other warriors in the Empire, information regarding her was sparse. Even though she was widely known as the strongest of the remaining heroes that were summoned into this world, and her battle achievements were high, not much was known about her. Age, style of fighting, favorite food, preferences, most things about her were a mystery.


    Just thinking about facing someone like her made John''s head hurt a bit. He scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders as he stepped towards the stage.


    ''I guess if I want to be the strongest warrior I need to face her at some point.''


    ¡­


    Seeing that all six participants were now standing at their designated stages, Julia who was the announcer and Judge of the tournament nodded her head.


    "Alright, all six participants bring out your weapons and take your stances!"


    Upon hearing Julia''s announcement the six participants took out their weapons. At this moment everyone noticed something different with one of the participants. While the others took out steel swords, magical staves, and other assortments of deadly weapons, one participant took out a wooden sword. At first, they thought that the sword was magically enhanced but to everyone''s surprise, the sword didn''t emit any sort of mana, meaning to everyone''s eyes John''s sword was nothing more than a sword made out of normal wood.


    "Is that kid joking right now?"


    "Is he throwing the match since he''s facing Xia?"


    "Hey kid, you do know it''s alright to use real weapons!"


    While everyone was shouting at John, the person in question wasn''t bothered by the noise as he took his fighting stance. The stance he took was the basic stance that the swordmen of the Empire uses. Seeing as everyone was ready Julia raised her hand and shouted with her voice that was enhanced using a spell.


    "Alright, let the preliminary rounds begin!"


    ¡­


    John slowly approached Xia and once he was close enough he began his assault. Xia who was familiar with the Empire''s swordsmanship was able to predict John''s moves quite easily making evading each strike he made quite easy. Still, Xia was quite impressed by the level the young man reached with just the basic footwork and attacks of the Empire''s swordsmanship.


    ¡­


    After evading John''s continuous attacks, Xia noticed that the others have already started fighting their second round of participants. It looks like not a single one had passed the challenge for now.


    ''I guess I should finish this one already.''


    Even though she was restricted to using only thirty percent of her power that was enough for her to win. She gathered mana, formed it into a little ball, and flicked it at John.


    Seeing the iing attack John had no time to evade it and had only enough time to raise his wooden sword to block the attack. The moment Xia''s attack hit the wooden sword it pushed John a few feet backward. John was surprised at how powerful that attack was even after restricting Xia''s power to thirty percent. Xia was also surprised by John who was able to block her attack, but more than that she was surprised that the wooden sword didn''t break even after receiving her attack.


    ''That wooden sword is not normal and the same could be said about that kid. Hmm, this is pretty interesting.''


    "It seems that my normal swordsmanship isn''t enough to beat you," John spoke to Xia as he changed his fighting stance. He lowered his hands pointing the wooden sword to the ground, he then started to regte his breathing as he rxed his entire body.


    Xia was shocked to see this stance of his. The stance John took was something she has seen numerous times. Unlike the original it was no were near perfect, but the essence was there. This was the Emperor''s formless sword stance.


    The audience members who have been watching the tournament every year also knew of this stance as it was the iconic loose stance the Emperor uses as he faces his opponents.


    "Does that kid think he can copy the Emperor''s fighting style?"


    "He must be crazy, if it were that easy to copy the Emperor''s style then everyone would''ve done it already."


    "The Emperor''s swordsmanship could only be done by people who have been through many life and death battles, as well as having powerful physical abilities, and innate talent in the way of the sword."


    "Why the f*ck are you talking like you''re a master?!"


    As the audience members were in a frenzy discussing the fighting stance John took, Ren who was watching from the shadows also grew interested in John.


    ¡­


    "Hmph, very well child, show me if you are truly capable or if you''re just a fool." John found it a bit weird that Xia called him a child when she herself looks more like a child than he does.


    "You just thought of something rude, right?" Xia asked while frowning. John quickly shook his head and denied it. As he was doing that he saw an iing small orb of mana, he dodged the attack by swaying his body to the side. He then saw numerous orbs of manaing at him. Xia had started her attack and it was relentless.


    John would dodge those that he could and deflect the others that he could not. Even though he was nicked here and there it wasn''t much damage¡­ The audience members who were arguing at each other finally became quiet as they were enamored by Xia and John''s battle.

 Chapter 542 - Victory Or Defeat

    <h4>Chapter 542 - Victory Or Defeat</h4>


    John found that for every attack he blocked he could predict the next move easier than before. He had entered a trance-like state were all of his senses were focused on dodging and blocking every attacking his way.


    At first, he was struggling to evade and block the iing attacks, but now his movement was as smooth as a flowing river. Evade to the side, redirect the orb of mana upward, duck, shift left shoulder to the right. John was growing while fighting, and even though his current level wasn''t near Ren''s were he could dodge each attack as if he were taking a casual stroll, John was slowly arriving there.


    Xia noticed that after some time that her attacks were no longer hitting. She also noticed that the other heroes were already at their third opponents and she was still at her first. This was a very embarrassing situation for her. A child whose mana supply was not even half of hers was and whose strength and skill was also below hers was actually fighting so well against her. It even looked like he had a chance of winning.


    Xia gritted her teeth but before she was about to rage she quickly stabilized her feelings and calmly inhaled and exhaled. John who was in a trance finally noticed that the attacks suddenly stopped. He saw Xia standing there quietly while her eyes were closed.


    This was a chance for John to attack Xia while she was not on guard. Yet John didn''t take that chance and waited for Xia to make a move since he felt like he was about to reach a new height in this battle. He wanted to fight Xia more to gain more experience as this was a great opportunity to fight someone like her in this kind of setting were she was weakened.


    Xia who had finally calmed down opened her eyes and was surprised to see John not attacking her. She looked at John and saw the expectations in his eyes, it was then that she quickly figured out what John was thinking.


    ''Damn kid, he actually wants to use me as a whetstone. Heh, fine let''s see if I''ll be your whetstone or your inner demon.''


    Xia raised her hands and a small portal appeared before her, she summoned her weapons that most people haven''t seen before. The weapons she summoned were four circr objects with a sharpened outer edge. These were her chakrams, that she uses for long and mid-range attacks, but Xia was also proficient in close quartersbat with them.


    Except for Ren no one who had battled with Xia has ever survived upon seeing her weapons. Today she wasn''t going to try to kill John, but since she summoned her weapons she needed to teach John a lesson.


    This was the first time John had seen such a weapon but he had a few guesses on how it works. Xia started spinning the chakrams on her index fingers. The speed that she spun the chakrams made them look like a shining light spinning around her fingertips. Once they were at their optimal speed Xia threw the chakrams at John.


    John''s instincts were screaming at him to back away and raise his wooden sword. John didn''t think twice before moving his body. He heard a loud clink as he was pushed back.


    Compared to the orbs of mana she was shooting a while ago, the speed of the chakrams made was barely visible to John, he could no longer follow them with his eyes. If it wasn''t for his heightened senses due to his recent enlightenment he would''ve already lost.


    The chakrams returned to Xia''s fingers. Seeing that John had survived her initial strike, she smiled sweetly at him.


    "You''re so much better than I anticipated. I now acknowledge that you are worthy to see a bit of my true skill."


    "Bring it!"


    "Heh, do your best to survive child."


    Xia once again threw the chakrams. This time John couldn''t see the chakram upon release. John felt a chill on his back as he jumped to the side. A chakram passed by behind him nicking his shoulder. He then heard the sound of clinking steel at his side, John raised his wooden sword to the side and he felt something bounce off it.


    John once again heard another clinking sound and this time it came from above him. John quickly jumped backward. He then saw a shing light falling and another shing light hitting it from the front. The shing light was then pushed towards him, John barely dodge the shing light by swaying his body to the side.


    John then saw that the chakrams had returned to Xia''s fingers and their spinning was much fasterpared to before. John knew the next time Xia threw those chakrams he might not be able to react on time anymore and get severely injured. As if reading his mind Xia spoke to him.


    "I''m warning you now, this next throw might kill you, if not it will severely injure you. I''m going to give you this one chance to surrender before I make the throw. So what will you do?"


    John showed a shocked face before smiling as he gave his response.


    "Heh, you''re more kindhearted than I thought. You might be an old hag on the inside, but I guess you are a good person."


    "What is being an old hag have to do with being a good person or not?! Also, who the f*ck are you calling an old hag?! Have you ever seen an old hag that looks like me?"


    John shrugged his shoulders before responding.


    "How old are you exactly?"


    "Didn''t your mother tell you to never ask ady her age?"


    "Sure, whatever you say old hag."


    "¡­ We''re getting off-topic here. So will you surrender or not?"


    "The moment I chose to walk the path of a warrior I was always prepared for death. So it''s either victory or reincarnation."


    "I see¡­ Then if you''re able to survive this move, we can consider it my loss."


    "Thank you," John bowed his head once. John then stopped using the formless sword stance and raised his wooden sword near his face and closed his eyes. Since he could no longer follow the attacks with his eyes, he decided to use his other senses instead.


    "Then receive it well!" Xia threw the chakrams at John.

 Chapter 543 - The Victory Is Mine

    <h4>Chapter 543 - The Victory Is Mine</h4>


    John had closed his eyes since his sight was only distracting him. With the chakrams, current speed, his sense of sight was practically useless. He like most of the current generation of warriors were taught how to use mana sensing to detect movement but he wasn''t that good at it, so to make up for hisck of skill John used his other senses. He could hear the sound of clinking steel, and he could feel the slicing wind that was carried by the chakrams. Alongside his mana sensing, he now had a rather clear picture as to where the chakrams were.


    The chakrams were hitting each other circling him while changing directions. Not only were they fast but their movement was erratic and nearly unpredictable. The mana in each chakram was equal but every time they hit each other they seem to start spinning faster and the mana within them was thinning out, making mana sensing harder.


    It was when the mana within the chakrams was about to disappear that they suddenly attacked. Even with using everything he had John could barely dodge the strikesing towards him. He needed to never stop moving, the moment he stops would mean death. Yet he couldn''t just continue to dodge, he needed to somehow counterattack or it would only end with defeat or worse his death.


    He could feel the stinging pain that came from the numerous wounds he received. He had basically avoided any lethal damage, but as he continued to dodge he felt his stamina being drained faster than ever before.


    Usually, John could move his body without breaking a sweat for hours without end, even when he was doing sword training he could go and swing his swords for a full day without stopping. Yet now facing the deadly chakrams and dodging them was taking a lot out of him. If his concentration wavers for even a second he would be unable to evade. The mental stress as well as the physical one was proving quite difficult.


    ¡­


    As John continued to dodge the neverending stream of attacks the people watching him were amazed by the sight. The young man was able tost so long against the strongest of the summoned heroes. Even though Xia had many restrictions on her she was still a warrior of legend.


    It was like watching the unbeatable knight from a fairytale fight against a random person and that random person was able to hold his own against the fairytale knight. John who was holding on and bleeding all over, made many people start to cheer for him. Many of the audience members didn''t even look at the other matches as most of them were focused on John''s battle against Xia.


    John kept on standing up over and over again even though he kept on falling down and was now bleeding in every part of his body. Seeing him like that made the audience members'' blood boil. The spirit to never give up and fight even if death was evident was something the people of the Empire admire the most.


    "Kid, you can do it!"


    No one knows who the first one to shout was, but as if that was a signal many others started shouting as well, giving their encouragement.


    "Come on John, show us what you''re made of!"


    "Yeah, go on and fight!"


    "Show us the power of youth!"


    "If you lose at the preliminaries after eating a meal from my pub, it would lower the reputation of the Lonely Cat, so you better win even if you need to crawl and bite your way to victory!"


    "How is a destined one losing to some regr ass summoned hero. You even got a weapon from my shop, if you lose the first fight while using that weapon then you''ll be the worst destined one to have ever entered my shop."


    Among the screaming cheers of encouragement, there was also a few familiar voices mixed in. Unfortunately, John was unable to hear those cheers as he was fully focused on the fight.


    On the other hand, Xia heard each one of them cheering for John. Even she was rather surprised by how long he was able tost against her. This reminded her of the time when she and the others fought Ren fifteen years ago. He might not be as powerful or as intimidating as the powerful monster that was Ren, but John had something within him that was simr to the legendary Emperor. That tenacity and the ability to improve during a battle were things that make him a formidable individual.


    As she was mesmerized by John''s tenacity she saw that he suddenly stopped moving. Everyone else was surprised by the scene, they all knew what would happen once John stopped, and as expected the chakrams at a speed that made them look like round lights finally hit John.


    Two of the chakrams were now stuck on John''s back and his left thigh. To everyone''s surprise, the chakrams that looked like they could cut through anything didn''t fully cut John. Those that had the ability to see everything noticed that John actually allowed those chakrams to hit those spots on purpose as he subtly moved at thest moment before they hit him.


    The remaining two chakrams were still whirling around him. Xia looked at John confused as to what he was doing.


    ''Is he nning to let all my chakrams stick to him? Is that his solution on how to deal with my chakrams? But even if he does that I still have other ways to attack, on the other hand, the damage he took will drastically lower his ability to evade my attacks.''


    While Xia was thinking the remaining two chakrams were now about to strike John. As they were about to hit him, John used his wooden sword to deflect the two and their trajectory changed and they were now heading towards Xia.


    Seeing the chakrams about to reach her, Xia simply lifted her fingers and the two chakrams slid into her fingers as if it was the most natural thing. She then saw another chakram with blooding towards her, and this time she wasn''t prepared so she needed to sway her body to the side evading it. At the corner of her vision, she saw thest chakraming for her from the back and then the bloody John charging at her from the front.


    Xia threw one of her chakrams and made it collide with the iing chakram, and as she was about to throw the other one at John, she saw that he threw his wooden sword. The wooden sword was not aimed at her but above her head, she unconsciously looked up and saw the wooden sword hit the deflected chakram. The wooden sword then changed its trajectory and was now falling down towards her.


    Xia was about to catch the falling wooden sword, but then she felt something from behind her. She immediately moved but it was toote something had nicked her, and it was one of her chakrams. The moment that happened Julia''s voice resounded throughout the entire arena.


    "The victory goes to John of region four! The first participant to pass the preliminaries is John!"

 Chapter 544 - The Emperors Children Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 544 - The Emperor''s Children Part 1</h4>


    When John heard his name being called he smiled. The gamble he paid was his win, the talisman that his childhood friend disappeared as it had been activated a while ago.


    "I¡­ Did¡­ It¡­ Thanks, Alisa¡­"


    John breathed heavily as blood flowed out of his body. Unlike, Ren who could heal most of the wounds he has for as long as he has mana, everyone else did not have the same ability. Only those with powerful bodies immense mana supply and precise mana control could do such a thing.


    Unfortunately, John wasn''t at that level yet and could not even stop the blood from flowing out. John was feeling weak as his consciousness became hazy. He didn''t want to fall after winning such an incredible battle, yet no matter how hard he tried he could no longer withstand it and fainted on the stage.


    Xia was going to catch John before he could fall face-first into the ground but before she even moved somebody appeared before John and caught him. The person who appeared was someone everyone has heard of, even if you haven''t seen him before the sheer presence he emits would make sure that you never mistake him for anyone else.


    The legendary Emperor, Ren appeared before everyone and caught the unconscious John. Ren''s shadow then expanded and he took an object from within it. The object Ren took was a potion created by one of his wives the great alchemist Lara.


    Ren forced the unconscious John to drink the potion, and the effect was immediate. John''s wounds started to close until all of it was gone, if not for the blood on his body everyone would''ve thought that he never received any injuries. Ren then ced his hand on top of John''s forehead inserting a bit of his mana stabilizing John''s body.


    "You fought well kid. I hope you get to reach the finals since fighting someone like you should be very interesting."


    Ren then handed John to the nearby medic and left without saying another word. During the entire process, everyone present was silent. Then after a while, a thunderous cheer boomed throughout the arena.


    "That kid caught the attention of the Emperor!"


    "I knew he had potential!"


    "What did the Emperor give that guy? It actually healed all his wounds instantly!"


    "I''m guessing that''s one of Lady Lara''s potions."


    While everyone in the audience as well as the participant was ecstatic seeing the Emperor so early in the tournament, the Emperor''s children had a different reaction.


    "Father has acknowledged that boy." Calli the daughter of Ashley spoke with a grim expression on her face.


    "I knew that he would be someone to watch for." Kiara the daughter of Silika said with a smiling face.


    "Hmph, he is not worthy of father''s praise." A young man who carried a gigantic shield and sword spoke with a bit of irritation in his tone. This was Nestor the son of Hilda.


    "Now, now, you know our father has always been like that. Though I am kinda jealous that father has praised that guy, I''m also interested in how he was able to improve like that during battle. Is he perhaps simr to Hayate, or is he like Uncle Valdel?"


    Nero, the son of Henrietta and the eldest of the Emperor''s children spoke. He looked at John with extreme curiosity.


    "Hmph, no way some kid that uses a wooden stick for a sword could be like father." A young man who is supposed to be ten years old but looks like a sixteen-year-old with frightening muscles spoke. This was Valdel and Rachel''s son Ares.


    As the children of the Emperor and Valdel''s children were having their conversation, the matches continued, and after a short while, one of them was finally called.


    "Oh, now this is a treat. Finally one of the Emperor''s children is going on stage. Kiara, the child born from thebined essence of our dear Emperor, Ren, and thedy Silika. She is the second youngest of the Emperor''s children and is now eleven years old, but do not be fooled by her age, as the child of the Emperor she is not one to be underestimated."


    While Julia was giving a long introduction, Kiara had already stepped forward. She with her long ck hair and deep dark eyes looked at the stages with a smile on her face.


    "So who do you wish to fight?" Julia asked. At the moment there were three options, Hayate, Xia, and Julian. Most of the participants would''ve picked Julian without any hesitation but Kiara wasn''t most children.


    "I wish to fight Auntie Xia, but I also request that you remove the handicap of her being only able to move within a one-meter radius."


    The moment she said those words the entire arena was once again abuzz. Even Julia was surprised at how confident Kiara was. She hasn''t seen any of the children fight before, but she did work at the castle and heard some rumors.


    "Since you requested it and it doesn''t really help your chances of winning, I will allow it but only ifdy Xia agrees." Julia looked at Xia waiting for her approval.


    "As expected of a child of that person. Fine, since she wants to fight me with fewer restrictions then so be it."


    "Alright then since both parties agree, for this one battle the restriction of a one-meter radius movement range has been lifted. Then the two of you prepare for battle."


    Unlike the previous battles, Xia already summoned her chakrams and it wasn''t just four chakrams this time she summoned six of them. If not for the mana and power restriction ced on her she would''ve wanted to summon all twelve of her chakrams against this opponent.


    On the other hand, Kiara''s shadow expanded in the same way as Ren''s, she then inserted her hand into her shadow and pulled out two daggers.


    "Alright, both of you get ready¡­ And, fight!"


    Xia wasted no time and immediately threw her six chakrams at Kiara who easily dodged everything by swaying her body. Xia then charged towards Kiara while continuing to throw chakrams at her and the same as with the battle with John, the chakrams grew faster and faster over time. Yet despite the speed increase, Kiara was still able to evade the attacks, but not with the same ease as before.


    Kiara now needed to deflect some of the iing chakrams with her daggers. When Xia got close enough she took two of her chakrams and used them to sh down at Kiara. Being attacked from all sides, it doesn''t seem like Kiara would''ve been able to evade this strike, yet the moment Xia''s attack touched Kiara, thetter''s body dissolved into her shadow. Xia then shifted her head to the right side evading a dagger throw from behind.


    The moment Xia evade the dagger from behind, Kiara suddenly appeared in front of her. Xia reacted immediately and was about to attack using her chakram, but Kiara was faster and pointed a dagger at Xia''s throat.


    "It seems like I''ve won auntie Xia," Kiara spoke with that cute smile on her face. Xia sighed as she shook her head.


    "Yeah, it''s your win."


    "I would''ve wanted to fight you at your full power, but I know my own limitations. Thanks for going easy on me, auntie."


    "Winner Kiara!" Julia announced which was greeted with a momentary silence and then a round of apuse and cheers.

 Chapter 545 - The Emperors Children Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 545 - The Emperor''s Children Part 2</h4>


    After Kiara''s victory, the other heroes were also starting to get a bit tired. Under normal circumstances, they could''ve fought against a thousand of these kids without breaking a sweat. Yet, because of the power suppressors, it became rather difficult as they were deprived of their spiritual power. Their bodies weren''t ustomed to such a restriction.


    Yet even when they were pretty much exhausted they still won most of the battles. Currently, there were only three people that had passed the preliminaries. There was, of course, John who had that hard-fought victory. Then there was Kiara who had fought the same opponent but won with a bit more ease. Then thest was Tyr that came from the same region as John.


    The preliminaries raged on and the defeated participants were still unconscious, even the first victor, John was still unconscious. Another child of the Emperor took the stage, this time it was the eldest of Emperor''s children.


    "Oh herees another of the Emperor''s children. He might look a bit average on the outside but do not be fooled as he is the one most widely known as the most powerful of the children. Everyone here stands Nero the son of the Grand Mage Henrietta."


    Nero sighed internally as he was aware the way he looked was indeed pretty averagepared to his unimaginably good-looking siblings and cousins. Still, as the eldest who was already thirteen years old this year, he showed that he was unconcerned by such trivialities.


    "So Nero who do you wish to fight?"


    "As the eldest son of the Proud and Powerful Emperor who else should I face other than the most powerful of the Heroes, that''s what I would usually say, but today." Nero looked at the exhausted heroes and sighed.


    "I wish to fight Lady Xia but not as she is now. Can you please allow her to fight me at full strength without any restrictions?"


    When Nero uttered those words everyone was stunned into silence. Even Xia was momentarily stunned but then chuckled. After the initial silence, the audience started buzzing like bees.


    "What is the kid thinking? Wasn''t it rumored that Lady Xia was at the same level as the wives of the Emperor, is he saying that he''s already at that level?"


    "The kid''s got balls I''ll give him that."


    "There''s always someone like him every year, that one guy that thinks he''s already one of the strongest."


    "Yeah does this child think he''s the Emperor himself?"


    As everyone continued to talk to each other, Julia looked at Valdel who was also watching at the side. Valdel noticed Julia''s gaze and made a gesture telling her that the decision is hers to make.


    "Fine, I will allow it, but do not me me if you die here today. Well, even if you did die neither your mother nor father would me me ordy Xia for your death. I''m pretty sure you know what they would say."


    "If died today they would say that my death is my own doing, that it''s because of my own weakness that I died."


    "Even knowing that do you still wish to continue?"


    "I''m the eldest son of the strongest being in this world, how can I back down because of a little thing like death."


    When his siblings and cousins heard what their eldest brother had to say they felt a burning desire to fight even more boldly than before. As the child of the Strongest being in this world, they were somehow deep inside afraid of the mere notion of defeat, as that would stain the honor of their powerful father. Yet they had forgotten about what their father truly wanted of them, to face everything without fear.


    "So what do you think Lady Xia are you willing?"


    Xia looked at Nero and spoke to him first.


    "Little Emperor of Magic, that''s what they call you in all the Mage towers on this."


    "A nickname I don''t really deserve as dealing with spells is just a hobby of mine."


    "Heh, as arrogant and domineering as your father¡­ It would seem that you and your siblings are going to keep on fighting me for the entirety of these preliminaries."


    "I apologize in advance¡­ In truth, I would''ve wanted to do it the same way as my father did back then."


    "Oh, so you wished to face all of us summoned heroes. Now, why would you want to do that? Is it because you want to follow in your father''s footsteps, or is it something else?"


    "It''s nothing like that, it just seems interesting to me."


    "I see¡­" Xia then looked at Julia and finally responded to the earlier question. "It''s alright, let''s begin the fight without any restrictions."


    "Since the two have made their choice," Julia approached Xia and took off her power suppressor. Xia felt the entirety of her mana flowing back into her. She then quickly summoned all of her twelve chakrams. This time she wasn''t spinning them on her fingers, the twelve chakrams were floating around her and spinning on their own.


    When Nero saw this he could not help but smile the same smile his father usually shows when he gets excited. Nero removed the cloak he was wearing showing everyone what was underneath. Nero was carrying dozen of potions on his body and at his waist were the newly developed weapons they called spell guns. It was very smallpared to the mana cannons and had a weaker output, but these things were more versatile in their use.


    Seeing the two of them taking out their weapons in such high spirits, Julia could only sigh. "Asdy Xia has agreed and is about to use her full power, all the other matches shall be put on hold for now and every participant should stay back into the corner over there."


    Julia pointed at the side were Valdel was standing. The participants were a little confused as to why they needed to do this, but theyplied. Once they were at the corner Julia gave out a signal and a barrier surrounded the audience and the participants.


    "Alright, now that preparations are done, the two of you can go all out. Now everyone let''s bear witness if the Young Emperor of spells can ovee the full might of Lady Xia the eternal!"

 Chapter 546 - The End Of The Prelminaries

    <h4>Chapter 546 - The End Of The Prelminaries</h4>


    Nero took out his spell guns whispered something to them and filled them with his mana. When he heard Julia announce the start of the battle, he saw several of Xia''s chakramsing towards him. Nero used the spell guns for a precision wind spell to hit the chakramsing his way.


    The spell guns were weapons that has stored spells within them, and all you need to do to activate those spells was to first insert mana into them, then press a specific button on the handle, and finally pull the trigger to fire out the spell. Of course, once all the spells that were stored have been used up, you can also simply insert mana into them and it will shoot out balls of pure mana. Even though Shooting out the balls of pure mana was stronger it also drains one''s mana supply faster.


    Upon hitting the chakrams they changed trajectories. As Nero was busy dealing with the chakrams, Xia had easily got behind him. Xia was going to strike out at the unsuspecting Nero, but then Nero showed a yful smile. The moment Xia saw his smiling face she wanted to quickly back away.


    She knew that anytime a person from Ren''s family shows a smiling face means imminent danger. Though she reacted quickly enough she felt her body feeling a bit heavier.


    "What did you do to me?"


    "Like I said I''m not really that good of a mage like my mom. On the other hand, I find these little things a bit more interesting." Nero showed Xia an empty vial.


    "My own creation, a biological weapon that attacks the person from the inside. Normally those that have breathed it in would be knocked unconscious for at least a full day. Only people like me who have drunk my antiserum would be perfectly fine. It is quite curious to see that you weren''t knocked out. I have tested this against some young dragons and even those who are said to have the greatest resistance to any abnormal status were unable to resist its effects. I wonder what makes you different, is it your mana supply, is it because you are not of this world, or is it something else? How curious I really want to open you up and see how your body works. "


    While Nero was giving his exnation and looking rather creepily at Xia as he slowly approached, Xia started controlling her chakrams to attack. Nero evaded the chakrams while shooting them down. On the other hand, Xia found it harder and harder to move as whatever Nero used on her was more potent than she thought.


    "I thought you were somehow simr to your father, but it turns out you''repletely different from him. He would never use such underhanded means to win."


    "Of course, I''m different from my father, why do you people keep thinking that as his son I need to be like him? I''m me and only me. I don''t go around wanting to attack the strongest person I see. It''s not like I enjoy fighting, as I prefer doing research. Well anyway, I don''t fight battles and wish I would lose like my respected father. I cannot allow myself to give handicaps to my opponent. I fight using everything avable to me, and I fight to win. Against someone like you who has years and years of battle experience, as well as having a stronger body and greater mana supply than I, under normal circumstances I wouldn''t win at all. So I needed to even the ying field."


    "If you wanted to do something like this, then why did you allow them to remove the restrictions on me?"


    "It''s different if you were already restrained from the beginning or if it was I who was the one that restrained you."


    "¡­ Doesn''t that make you feel like you cheated?"


    "Is there such a thing in the battlefield, on the battlefield, there are only winners and losers, right? Well enough talk, I know that you''ve been stalling as you try to recover from your weakened state."


    It was true that Xia tried purging whatever was within her while she was talking with Nero, but in the end, she could only purge a tiny bit of it. She felt her body be a little lighter but it was still hard to move the way she wanted to. Still, this was enough for her to be able to face Nero.


    Now that she knew what kind of warrior Ren''s son was, she was more cautious as she faced him. She couldn''t allow the cunning young man to get close to her.


    ¡­


    The people who were watching the fight had mixed feelings about it. The way Nero fought was so different from what they expected from the person nicknamed the young emperor of magic. Yet they couldn''t fault him for using such tactics against a stronger opponent. Still, they couldn''t help but feel a tinge of disappointment as they expected something different from him. Some of them even wanted to jeer at the young man but held themselves back since he is still the son of the Emperor.


    Many might have forgotten it since the Emperor has done many great things that helped the lives of the people, but fifteen years ago, the Emperor was like a monster on the battlefield. No one in their right mind would want to provoke such a person.


    ¡­


    Despite struggling for a few more moves and even managing to injure Nero, Xia was still unable to ovee Nero''s biological weapon. She was kneeling while Nero had his spell gun pointed at her forehead.


    "Do you yield?"


    "Heh, you might have used such underhanded methods but a victory is a victory. Be proud young one, Amongst all I have fought even counting your father, I consider you the person who truly understands the battlefield more than anyone." Xia raised her hands signaling her defeat.


    ¡­


    After Nero''s battle, Xia was unable to continue with the tests and only four of the heroes remained. Once she was out of the picture it was Sora''s descendant Hayate that was challenged by the children of the Emperor and Valdel''s children.


    Hayate found it really irritating to fight those children as it reminded him of fighting those mid-bosses in the video games he used to y. Difficult but not overly powerful to be too much of a problem, yet as they came one after another it became irritating.


    In the end, not all of the mighty Emperor''s children were able to pass the preliminaries. Only ten participants got through the preliminaries. Four of the Emperor''s children, three of Valdel''s children, and finally three that were part of the normal participants¡­ Thus ended the preliminaries of the tournament.

 Chapter 547 - Exhibition Match

    <h4>Chapter 547 - Exhibition Match</h4>


    Everyone thought the preliminaries were over, but then Julia said something rather surprising.


    "Since this year''s tournament is rather special, we will be ending today''s battles with an exhibition match. I hope you''re ready folks as this is going to be a match worth remembering. Allow me to introduce one of the two who will be fighting in this exhibition match. One of the Emperor''s wives, the mighty Ethereal, the eternal moon, Tsukiyomi!"


    When Julia announced Tsukiyomi''s name the sky suddenly turned dark. The sun that was not yet going to set suddenly disappeared and a silver moon appeared above the sky.


    "Why must you always be so dramatic, mom."


    A girl with ck hair and deep red eyes sighed as she looked at the shining silver moon. This girl was Nakano the child of Ren and Tsukiyomi, she too was an Ethereal, but she was different from other Ethereals. Unlike the other Ethereals who needed a contractor to produce mana, she needed no one, in fact, her mana supply was enormous. She also has almost all of the racial abilities of an Ethereal except for their greatest ability a race, the ability to transform into a weapon. Nakano can create weapons but she is unable to transform into one.


    ¡­


    A woman with otherworldly beauty appeared under the shining silver moon. Her flowing dark hair swayed in the wind as her deep red eyes looked at the audience. She then smiled a very seductive smile that entranced all the saw her be they, man or woman.


    "Kukuku, have I bewitched you all?"


    Tsukiyomi''s rather seductive tone reverberated in everyone''s ears, making most of them blush. Even Nakano was blushing but for a different reason than the rest.


    "So who will be my opponent for this little game?" Tsukiyomi looked at Julia. "Will it be you?"


    "No, unfortunately, you won''t be fighting me. The opponent of our deardy Tsukiyomi is the one hailed as the strongest champion of the Emperor''s tournament. Now everyone let''s greet the challenger for today''s exhibition match, nicknamed the unparalleled prodigy, herees Samson!"


    A man that looked almost like a woman stepped onto the stage. He had long blond hair and navy blue eyes, his body was on the thinner sidepared to the other contestants, it almost looked frail. The weapons by his waist were a rapier and a dagger. The moment he stepped onto the stage the silent audience suddenly cheered. The girls especially were screaming his name.


    "Samson! Please look at me!"


    "I''m willing to do anything for you Samon, just be mine!"


    "What the f*ck are you saying you b*tch?! How can he be yours if he''s already mine!"


    "Huh, with your ugly mug?"


    The women in the audience seats started fighting. Some of the guards protecting the arena appeared before the women and they either forcefully stopped the women from fighting or threw them out of the arena. While everyone was in a frenzy by this surprising match-up, Samson bowed before Tsukiyomi.


    "It''s a pleasure to once again meet youdy Tsukiyomi."


    "I bet it is," Tsukiyomi responded with a yful smile on her face.


    "It is truly such an honor to be in your lovely presence once more."


    Samson stared at Tsukiyomi and for a brief second showed an expression that looked like he was intoxicated, but immediately returned to his normal expression. If it was someone else they might not have noticed, but he was in front of Tsukiyomi who was able to see the changes in his expression.


    "I see that you haven''t changed since thest time. It would seem that you are still obsessed with me."


    "Oh my, obsessed is too vulgar a word. I would call this my devotion to you and all of the lovely wives of that arrogant Emperor. Even now I cannot believe such a person whose looks that''s so far inferiorpared to you lovelydies, a brute that only knows how to fight, who fills his days with nothing but carnage, and disguises himself as some kind of benevolent ruler is the husband of youdies."


    As Samson spoke he had a look of disgust for a moment before once again returning to his usual look. The normal people weren''t able to hear their conversation, but those that heard him especially those loyal to the Emperor wanted to attack the rude fellow, but didn''t. The Emperor already knew what Samson was like and has ordered all of his subordinates not to harm Samson if all he was doing was just saying rude things about him.


    "Well, that''s what I like about him as he stays true to himself. Some women might choose their significant others based on looks, but that isn''t what I''m looking for, and I think the others think so as well. I was enamored by Ren''s power, his freedom, and his tenacity. Never bending to fate''s will always pushing forward¡­ I truly do love him."


    Seeing Tsukiyomi''s lovestruck look made Samson grit his teeth in anger and annoyance.


    "Why don''t you choose me instead? I have a beauty that could match yours, I have the strength and the prestige. Just give me some time and I will surely surpass that savage of a man."


    "I understand why Ren keeps you around, it''s because of that drive of yours pushing to be stronger, to defeat him. In his eyes, you are nothing more than a toy that he''s waiting to be even more entertaining. Still, even though I understand all that, and seeing as you are nothing more than a child in my eyes, but even so it''s kinda hard to keep calm if you continue to insult my husband."


    Behind Tsukiyomi''s smile, she was oozing with killing intent. The killing intent she emitted made those close to the stage shiver in fear. Yet Samson didn''t seem to be affected at all as he shook his head.


    "It would seem that you are still under his spell. I promise I will free you and the others that have been tricked by him. First, I shall show you that I am worthy of your love and adoration by defeating you."


    Samson unsheathed his rapier and took a fighting stance.


    "Kukuku, how amusing that you think you have a chance of winning." Tsukiyomi used her racial ability and created a longsword. "Julia announce the start of this battle already, so that I may punish this little boy."


    Julia nodded her head and announce the beginning of the battle.

 Chapter 548 - Speed

    <h4>Chapter 548 - Speed</h4>


    The moment Julia announced the start of the match Samson was about to do his famous lightning lunge but before he could do anything he was already surrounded by swords made out of mana.


    "Kukuku, already beaten with the first move. What happened to your prided speed?"


    Samson wasn''t offended by Tsukiyomi''sments as he smiled before responding.


    "You know medy Tsukiyomi, I always believed in the adagedies first. Now that you have made your move, allow me to show you how I will get out of this prison of swords and counterattack."


    "Oh, still as cocky as ever. Very well, let''s see if you have actually improved."


    Tsukiyomi closed her fist and the swords made out of mana enclosed in on Samson. Being surrounded in all directions with little to no room to maneuver it seems like this was the end. Everyone who saw the scene thought that it was over. They believed that Samson must have turned into a porcupine, but to everyone''s surprise, once the mana swords dispersed Samson was no longer there.


    Tsukiyomi giggled as she ced her longsword to the side. Out of nowhere, something hit the longsword and it sparked. Tsukiyomi quickly changed the position of her longsword, and once again there was a spark. Tsukiyomi kept on changing her stance and the position of her longsword and the sound of shing steel echoed throughout the arena.


    Those that were powerful enough and were able to use mana sensing finally noticed that something extremely fast was dashing around Tsukiyomi hitting her from all angles. Despite the difference in speed, Tsukiyomi was still able to keep up, in fact, she was doing so with rtive ease.


    "Kukuku, I got to admit that your speed is superior to mine. In fact, you''re almost as fast as the former Goddess of Light. Yet unfortunately, speed isn''t enough to win against the Moon Edge Style."


    Tsukiyomi changed her stance, she was going to use ''Moon Edge Style: Ecliptic.'' Unaware of what was going to happen, Samson felt a sense of danger as he saw Tsukiyomi''s stance. He started circling around Tsukiyomi withouting close. He waited for a while but Tsukiyomi didn''t move an inch. It was then Samson started getting a bit impatient.


    ''It''s alright, I have the advantage in speed, no matter what kind of trick she has in store I can dodge it.''


    Making his decision Samson strengthened his resolve as he sped up. At his top speed, the surrounding light started to look distorted. Samson knew that even though this was just an exhibition and the Emperor had ordered that none could kill him as long as he doesn''t go too far, he knew that didn''t apply to Tsukiyomi. If she truly wanted to she would really kill him.


    Samson had finally exceeded the speed of the Goddess of Light and the space surrounding him started to crack. Tsukiyomi was rather surprised by the improvement Samson made over the years. The speed he was at had surpassed the very limits of this world. The space that Samson was running around on started to distort and was bing dangerous. The barrier that protected the audience doesn''t seem to be enough. The moment Tsukiyomi thought of this, the barrier was suddenly reinforced by a massive amount of mana that wasbined with Spirit Aura.


    ''Silly me, I almost forgot that Ren was here.''


    Seeing thepse in Tsukiyomi''s concentration Samson made a move and with his greatest speed attack Tsukiyomi, his aim was Tsukiyomi''s hand that was holding the hilt of her sword. In just one step he arrived before Tsukiyomi, yet to his surprise what greeted him was not Tsukiyomi''s beautiful face, but instead was Tsukiyomi''s sword.


    Samson moved his body to evade, though he was able to barely evade the strike and a few strands of his hair being cut off, he was unable to control his body well at his current speed. Samson tried to stop but he could no longer control his body and smashed into the barrier reinforced by Ren.


    When he hit the barrier he was sure that his entire body would break, but to his surprise, it didn''t hurt at all. Samson noticed that an invisible force had enveloped him protecting him from any damage. While he was confused as to what was happening he suddenly heard Tsukiyomi''s voice.


    "Kukuku, I already know that you like this toy very much, but you didn''t need to protect it from breaking. Even if the toy somehow breaks, I''m pretty sure Henrietta could fix it up." Tsukiyomi looked at a corner as if she was speaking to no one.


    Samson and the others looked in the direction Tsukiyomi was talking to, and didn''t see anyone or anything.


    ''Who isdy Tsukiyomi talking to, and what is this toy she''s talking about?''


    Tsukiyomi who seem to be talking to air finally stopped as she shrugged her shoulders. She then shifted her attention back to Samson.


    "Alright little toy since you have left the fighting ring, that means it''s my victory."


    Tsukiyomi showed a bewitching smile. At first, Samson was entranced by that smile of hers, but then he realized what she just said.


    "Wait, the toy you were talking about was me?"


    "Of course it''s you, you''re the toy that¡­ Hmm, now that you mention it I guess toy is the wrong word. You''re the cattle that my husband is raising so that he can have funter."


    Samson was momentarily stunned after hearing what Tsukiyomi said, and then after a while, he suddenly grew extremely mad.


    "TOY?! CATTLE!? How dare that ugly piece of sh*t treat me li-"


    Samson wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as he was suddenly surrounded by several beautifuldies, these were the wives of the Emperor. They were looking at Samson coldly and the killing intent they were emitting was suffocating Samson. It wasn''t just them before he noticed it he was also surrounded by the Emperor''s children who were equally angry¡­ They all wanted to tear Samson apart and feed his flesh to the dragons.

 Chapter 549 - Hidden Danger

    <h4>Chapter 549 - Hidden Danger</h4>


    Everyone who was watching the scene before them held their breath. Normally being surrounded by such beauties would be a blessing, but in this case, it was nothing but a horror show. The killing intent that they were emitting was spreading and now not only Samson but most of those present in the arena could feel the grip of death.


    Samson wanted to say something but just slightly opening his mouth made the Emperor''s wives'' killing intent rise and their weapons by his neck came closer.


    "I have tolerated your existence for far too long. If not for Ren always protecting you, I would''ve cut you down the moment I met you."


    Silika stepped forward and stood face to face with Samson as she spoke. She then looked at the others and gave a signal. The others then backed away giving Samson and Silika some space.


    "Do you have anyst words before I send you to the next life?"


    Finally being released by the grip of killing intent, Samson had a crazed look on his face.


    "What have I done to warrant death? I merely stated that truth, that barbarian does not deserve any of your love!"


    "Is that all you want to say, if so prepare to die."


    Silika lifted her hand and a scythe appeared. Samson wanted to fight back but found that he could not move at all. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Henrietta the Grand Mage pointing her staff at him. He could sense her mana encroaching his entire body. He could even feel that his own mana was being drained by Henrietta.


    Unable to move and retaliate and looking at the scythe Silika was holding, for the first time in a long time, Samson actually felt afraid. As the scythe was about to hit him he unconsciously closed his eyes.


    "You scared him enough."


    When Samson heard that familiar voice he opened his eyes only to see Ren standing between him and Silika. The scythe was inches away from Samson''s neck but was stopped by Ren. After surviving from the near-death experience, and seeing that he was obviously saved by Ren, almost everyone would''ve thanked Ren profusely but Samson did something else entirely.


    "You damn b*stard it''s all your fault! If not for your trickery these lovely maidens wouldn''t have been sullied."


    Samson who was freed from Henrietta''s spell quickly got his rapier and lunged at Ren with the quickest speed he could muster at such a short distance. Samson used every bit of his mana and enveloped it on his weapon as he tried to pierce through Ren''s chest. Yet the moment his weapon made contact with Ren''s chest it shattered.


    ¡­


    The actions Samson did had shocked everyone, when they saw that he actually dared to attack the Emperor and actually seed they were even more shocked, but what happened next made them feel numb. The rapier Samson used to attack had shattered into a thousand pieces upon hitting the Emperor''s chest, it didn''t bend nor did it break, it actually shattered, as if it were ss.


    If it was just any weapon that shattered the audience wouldn''t be as shocked, but Samson''s weapon was forged by the dwarven brothers that created the Emperor''s legendary weapon Snertal.


    "How?!"


    Samson screamed as he looked at his now deless weapon in anger, shock, and horror. As he was still in a state of confusion he heard a sigh, he raised his head and saw Ren looking at him with utter disappointment.


    "Even though I gave you so much, and allowed you to go around practically unhindered this is all you amount to. The first time I met you the fire in your eyes, the obsession you had to take me down, I thought for sure that you would amount to something. When I saw the speed that you had during the fight I was pleasantly surprised. In that one aspect, you have far surpassed me, unfortunately, that''s all you had. Not only that, you don''t even know how to use your great speed properly and actually self-destructed on your own. You really did turn out to be nothing more than a waste of time. Now that you''ve made my wives and children angry to this point, I guess you have already resigned yourself to your fate. Still, I guess I can give you onest chance. I will allow you to attack me for five seconds without moving from my spot. I won''t use any spiritual energy nor will I dodge any of your strikes. If you are able to somehow injure me then I will let you live."


    Samson who was in a dazed state heard what Ren said and the fury within him was once again reignited. He red at Ren his killing intent on the rise.


    "You! You! It''s all your fault! How dare you look down on me! Injure you? I''m going to f*cking kill you!"


    Samson took out his dagger and sped around Ren elerating to his maximum speed. Once he reached his ultimate speed, he was about ready to attack Ren. He knew from thest attack that even though Ren didn''t use any mana Ren''s muscles were harder than even the hardest steel. So attacking Ren in almost every part of his body would result in the breaking of his dagger that was inferior to his rapier. As he was thinking about where to strike, he heard Ren''s voice.


    "Three seconds left."


    When Samson heard Ren''s warning he no longer hesitated and rushed at Ren his aim was Ren''s eyes. As he was going to stab Ren''s eyes he saw that Ren had closed his eyelids blocking his eyes. Samson scoffed as he felt that even though Ren''s muscles were able to shatter his rapier the eyelids were too thin to be able to deflect his dagger. As he stabbed into Ren''s eyes something unexpected happened his dagger could not pierce through.


    "Two seconds left."


    Hearing Ren''s voice Samson became desperate as he pulled away and this time sliced at Ren''s neck. Yet the same as with the eyelids his dagger could not prate his skin. Samson then tried kicking Ren''s balls but instead of them cracking it was his legs that cracked. He screamed in pain and could no longer move one of his beloved legs.


    "Zero¡­ It would seem that you can''t even harm me, much less kill me. You really did turn out to be such a disappointment." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he sighed. "I guess even I could make mistakes in seeing one''s potential. Well, I guess this is all you would amount to. So anyst words?"


    Ren grabbed hold of Samson''s neck and lifted him up. Samson struggled with all his might attacking Ren with some middle-tier spells at close range, but Ren was unaffected. Over the years Ren''s body has only grown stronger, nowadays he doesn''t even need to use his mana or Spirit Aura to fight his opponents for his physical strength alone was enough.


    After struggling a bit more and failing Samson knew that he would not survive today. Still, he did not beg for his life and instead showed a crazed look andugh.


    "HAHAHA! Fine, kill me now you b*stard! The only regret I have is that I won''t be able to see your eventual fall and the Empire you created crumble. You have little time now to continue ying as the Emperor. HAHAHA, even now you still don''t know that death is by your side."


    "Is that all you have to say?"


    Samson who heard Ren''s reply was dumbfounded that''s not what he expected Ren would say.


    "Wait aren''t you curious as to what I know? Wouldn''t you like to know about the traitors who linger within your own backyard? If you kneel and beg me I might divulge everything I know."


    Ren couldn''t help but look at Samson with a face saying that he was looking at an absolute idiot. Ren once again sighed as he replied.


    "It seems I really did make a mistake in my judgment of you. As for the information you have, I don''t really care about it. Let the enemiese and it doesn''t matter whoever they are, since all I need to do is crush them. I will remind them that plots, schemes, and any kind of trickery are useless against overwhelming power. I just hope that whoever is plotting in the dark to provide me with some kind of entertainment."


    After saying his piece Ren broke Samson''s neck¡­ Even as death hade for him he still had that dumbfounded look on his face.

 Chapter 550 - Speculations

    Chapter 550 - Spections


    When everyone saw how easily the Emperor killed the supposed strongest champion they were in awe. In their hearts, everyone viewed the Emperor as a near-invincible existence but seeing him in action like that just made that thought of his invincibility stick in their minds.


    Unlike his previous public matches this time the Emperor did not negate any of the attacks Samson did. He even allowed the opponent to hit him without dodging for a full five seconds. Yet despite doing all that not only was Samson unable to harm the Emperor but Samson was harmed by his very own attack.


    The Emperor''s might was truly a sight to behold. Seeing the Emperor being unharmed by those powerful attacks just made everyone feel excited. Not only did his actions excite them but the words he said had resonated with the young men and women that were watching him.


    "Let the enemiese and it doesn''t matter whoever they are, since all I need to do is crush them. I will remind them that plots, schemes, and any kind of trickery are useless against overwhelming power."


    Those domineering words represented the very essence of the undefeated Emperor. It just shows how confident the Emperor is of his own power that no matter what the enemy does he would remain the victor. While everyone was in a state of awe, the Emperor used some sort of spell that burned Samson''s body into ashes. He then gave Julia some kind of signal.


    "Sorry about that everyone, now that''s all over I just need to announce the date of the Quarter-Finals. Due to some issues, the Quarter-Finals will be held three days from now. I hope that all the participants to be a top shape when the time arrives. Alright then, everyone thanks foring today! Now please exit the arena in an orderly manner."


    The audience left their seats under the guidance of the Royal Guards that were stationed in the arena. Once they were out of the arena numerous discussions took ce. Some were talking about the intense battle John had with Xia the eternal, others were talking about the Emperor''s children, then there were those that were talking about the demise of the strongest tournament champion Samson. There were many different discussions but everyone was talking about how powerful the Emperor was.


    None of the citizens were concerned about the threats that Samson spouted. It doesn''t matter what kind of enemy it was, for as long as the Emperor was alive nothing in the world can destroy the Empire. Even though it has been fifteen years since the war had ended no one alive at that time can forget the fear Ren had produced. They could not imagine anything scarier than the path of carnage he walked. He was even scarier than the legendary Demon Lord Kretos.


    Knowing what kind of person their Emperor was, how could they be afraid of any enemy? In fact, some of the people actually felt some pity for the enemies that were hidden within the Capital. All those that have challenged the Emperor, be they Mages, Dragons, or even Deities all had fallen.


    ...


    Once everyone was gone, Ren looked at his family and friends that have gathered around him. Ren then showed a vicious smile, one that he hasn''t shown for quite some time now.


    Ren''s children haven''t seen their father showing such an expression before and it actually frightened some of them. On the other hand, the older ones that have seen this expression of his numerous times, know what''s toe. That look of his could only mean a fierce battle was about to happen.


    "Have you guys noticed it?"


    "What is it?"


    "The power of faith."


    "You''re not making any sense, Ren. What are you trying to say?"


    "Sure, I guess I can exin it. As you guys know over the years the mana of the world has increased by a significant amount. Even the overall strength of this world seems to have increased. Based on the knowledge of my past incarnations even though it isn''t as strong as the higher nes, it is still pretty sturdypared to other lower dimensions. With the current strength of our world, a world deity''s true body can descend with fewer problems. Unlike the time with the Goddess of Light that forcefully descended by sacrificing thousands of her believers and was limited to that area, this would be a true descent."


    When they heard what Ren said, Valdel, Rachel, and Natasha were stunned. On the other hand, the rest except for the children weren''t that bothered. A world deity might be a very big deal for some, but to those who have faced Old Gods, they really weren''t much. Still, with their current power and abilities, the true body of a world deity might pose a challenge.


    "Are you saying that the reason why Samson was able to suddenly get stronger is because a world deity was backing him?" Valdel asked still a bit bewildered.


    "Don''t you guys sense it? The power of faith,rge amounts of it are gathering in this city. This shouldn''t be possible since there is no temple nearby. I''m guessing apostles of some unknown deity have gathered in this city and had made some preparations so that the world deity would descend on the Capital." Ren spoke with an excited tone.


    "What kind of World Deity would want to descend in this city? Surely they know that you''re here, not to mention that you''re allied with four world deities and three of which are powerful world deities. Descending here with their true body would be a death sentence."


    "Who cares? It doesn''t matter what kind of world deity it is, let ite and I will face it head-on."


    "Then should we have Arthur stop patrolling the area so that those apostles who are working in the dark could finish their jobs smoothly?"


    "There''s no need for that, if they can''t even get past Arthur and the others then it just means that''s all they were worth."


    "Should we postpone the tournament then?"


    "No, there must be a reason as to why they only started moving now when the tournament has begun.... I wonder how will they gain enough mana and faith to summon the world deity''s true body? I can''t wait to fight another world deity."

 Chapter 551 - Kidnapping

    Chapter 551 - Kidnapping


    John finally regained consciousness and opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed upon waking up was that he was no longer in the arena. He quickly got out of bed and took a defensive posture as he scanned the area. Once he got a good look at the room he was in he was finally able to calm down. He was now back in his designated room at the dormitory.


    Once he calmed down John did some stretches and exited his room. When he got out he saw a lot of people moving around. John spoke to one of the passing people.


    "What''s happening?"


    "Oh, you''re finally awake, congrattions on passing the preliminaries."


    "... Thanks, but what''s happening?"


    "Oh This, well since most of us weren''t able to pass the preliminaries I and the others thought that there was no point in staying here. So most of us decided to head back home. Some already left while you were sleeping."


    "Wait, sorry I''m a bit confused. What exactly happened after I fainted?"


    The person John was talking to sighed as he exined the important things that happened after John had fainted. He told John about how the Emperor healed John and told him that he was impressed by his battle. Then there was the eldest son of the Emperor who was able to defeat Xia the Eternal at her full power. He told John about the people who were able to pass the preliminaries with him. Then finally he recounted the part where Samson the strongest champion was killed by the Emperor.


    John was overwhelmed by the sequence of events that happened right after he had fainted. He felt a little bit regretful as he wasn''t able to witness those events with his own eyes, especially how the Emperor said that he was impressed by John''s performance.


    After thanking the man for the information John headed out to clear his mind. The wounds he had received from the previous battle were already gone, but he still felt some sort of pain in his body.


    ...


    When John exited the dormitory he saw a familiar face. Melody was talking to a projection of the tower master from their region, the same tower master that had taught John''s childhood friend Alisa. Once she was done talking to the projection she noticed John and approached him.


    "It has been some time since west talk John."


    "Yeah, it has. We were much younger then, when you were taken by the tower master. Who knew that you''ll turn into quite a beauty. I couldn''t recognize you at first, I even thought that there was another Melody in the Mages Tower." John smiled awkwardly.


    "Oh, have you actually fallen for me? Well, if it''s you I don''t mind stealing you away from Alisa. We could elope right now."


    "How about I take you and Alisa together?"


    "I''m alright with that, but Alisa might kill you."


    "Well, I guess I tried. Do you mind dying together then?"


    "Oh my, you won''t even fight for our love."


    "Sorry, sorry, let''s stop. I can''t keep up with this joke anymore." John shrugged his shoulders.


    "... I wasn''t joking though," Melody whispered to herself.


    "Hmm, did you say something?"


    "It''s nothing, I was just thinking out loud... Well, anyway, are you really not willing to think about my previous proposal?"


    "I don''t really want to be a mage, the basic spells I know are enough for me."


    "... I guess you are kinda, sorta, a good swordsman, you did win against Xia the eternal even though her power was restricted."


    "Heh, at least I won, unlike some people."


    "Well, I suppose luck is part of your skills." Melody smiled at him sweetly.


    "Whatever, a win is a win." John shrugged his shoulders as he answered.


    "Heh, you''re right, a win is indeed a win no matter how it came to be... Anyway, I''m sorry that I won''t be able to watch your next matches. Master is very disappointed that I was defeated and that you won, so I need to head back to retrain. Do you want me to pass a message to Junior Sister Alisa?"


    "Tell her that I got through the preliminaries and it''s all thanks to the talisman she gave me. Also, tell her that I might not be going home anytime soon even if I do lose in the tournament."


    "Oh, are you staying here in the Capital?"


    "Yeah, I think that I''ll get stronger faster if I stay here."


    "I see... So is that all you wanted to say?"


    "Yeah," John nodded his head.


    After that the two talked a little bit more and as Melody was about to leave John gave her something.


    "Here you can have this, it''s an extra protection talisman I got while I was strolling around the city."


    "Thank you, John, I hope the next time we meet you''ll tell me all about your adventures here in the Capital."


    Melody bowed her head and left alongside the other geniuses that had already lost. John watched as the silhouettes of the group of people disappeared into the road ahead. The once noisy dormitories had turned silent as only he and Tyr were left.


    ...


    John and Tyr weren''t that close but for some reason, Tyr continued to bother John asking him to spar with him. John, of course, didn''t want to spar with Tyr, since thetter was famously known to always go too far when sparring. Many of Tyr''s sparring partners have been reported to always be injured from minor injuries to severe ones. Seeing that the Quarter-Finals were happening in a few days, John could not afford to have an injury.


    After trying and failing to invite John to spar with him, Tyr went out to look for other people that he could spar with. Once Tyr was gone, John went back to his room so that he could digest the numerous things he gained from the battle he had with Xia.


    ...


    On the following day, the Emperor''s disciple Arthur hade to question Try and John. They were basic questions as to where the two of them were at, and what were they doing during eight p.m yesterday. Also, he had asked if they had spoken to any of the tournament participants that have left yesterday, that and other minor questions. Once Arthur was done questioning them, John asked.


    "Sir Arthur, what is this all about?"


    "Yesterday around eight p..m, almost all the tournament participants that were supposed to head back to their own hometowns are now missing."

 Chapter 552 - Searching

    Chapter 552 - Searching


    It had been two days since the end of the preliminaries andpared to before many people from the other regions had arrived in the Capital. Normally you would think they hade to the Capital to watch the tournament, but that was not the case as they had a different purpose ining to the Capital.


    Two days ago something big happened as several dozen of the geniuses that were going home had suddenly disappeared. The numerous schools, ns, and wandering warriors havee to the Capital to find their lost geniuses.


    The entire Capital that always felt safe and secured suddenly had an air of uncertainty and fear. An unknown enemy had infiltrated the Capital city and had captured the Empire''s geniuses. This has never happened in the past fifteen years since Ren took over as Emperor.


    The Shadow n had always eliminated every threat without fail, and even if they miss something the Dragon Knights of the Regalcrag family would have easily burned any enemy to a crisp. Then finally there were the Royal Guards that were filled with powerful individuals that the Emperor had personally trained. Yet even with such powerful forces protecting the city, the unknown enemy was still able to kidnap the geniuses right under their watch.


    The city were all the powerful individuals of the Empire were gathered was unable to stop the kidnapping from taking ce.


    The once lively city was now being encroached by a certain type of darkness. The streets that were once filled to the brim with people were now nearly empty and those that were outside had a look of anxiety. The majestic skies that were once filled with dragons, griffins, and airships, was now only upied by a few Dragon Knights.


    ...


    "How dare those b*stards embarrass me in front of my teacher! If I ever the leader of these b*stards I will crush their bodies and tear their souls asunder!"


    Arthur pounded on the table breaking it in two and cracking the floor, it even made the very ground they stood on shake. Several of the strongest members of the Shadow n were being suppressed by Arthur''s violent aura.


    "Calm down Arthur!" The Lycan woman standing beside Arthur spoke with a cold tone.


    "How can I! Big sis Shera, those b*stards have made a fool of me! I for the first time in the sixteen years under my teacher needed to tell my teacher that I have failed the mission! I who had done all of the teacher''s mission without fail needed to say that I have failed him! Teacher who gave me hope, who gave me power, and who is like a father to me, I had disappointed him!"


    Arthur''s aura broke out making the weaker members kneel on the ground unable to move. The base of the Shadow n under Arthur was located just a few kilometers outside the city. The reason for this was because their training methods were excessive and could harm the citizens if they were too close to the Capital.


    It was a good thing that the Capital was so far away as the burst of Arthur''s aura had directly killed anything that had too little mana. The animals and monsters outside the base werepletely annihted. As for the members of the Shadow n, they were still kneeling unable to move but aside from that, they were alright.


    "Big brother wouldn''t be disappointed in you for failing to capture the criminals, but he would be disappointed if he saw you act this way."


    When Arthur heard what Shera said he gritted his teeth as he stopped his aura from running amok. He stabilized himself before he started gnashing his teeth.


    "Teacher might not care if I capture those b*stards, and to him, the culling of the weak is nothing much, but the mere fact that I had tarnished teacher''s perfect record hurts me. Even after every one of us used mana sensing we couldn''t find any of them. Those that we were able to capture had used some kind of technique that not only wiped out the memories of their bodies but even their souls were cleaned. Damn them, they''re only weaklings that know how to flee, yet they have so many tricks in store."


    "Hmmm, you''re right at this point only people at big sis Tsukiko''s level could sense them." Hearing what Shera said, Arthur shook his head and responded.


    "Unfortunately, that''s not the case, I have already asked all of teacher''s wives, and none of them could sense the intruders. Evendy Silika, Lara, and Tsukiyomi cannot sense the presence of these b*stards."


    Shera was stunned into silence. She knew just how strong the Emperor''s wives were, especially Silika, Lara, and Tsukiyomi who stand atop those powerfuldies. Aside from the Emperor himself, no one else was a match for those three, even Valdel who was famously known as the strongest below the Emperor was no match for those three.


    "If even those big sisters are unable to find these people, I guess only big brother''s mana sensing could spot them."


    "Which is why I''m so frustrated right now. I cannot bother teacher with something like this. He had trained me so that he wouldn''t need to make a move himself if the opponent was weak. These b*stards are clearly nowhere strong enough for teacher to take action." Arthur spoke while gnashing his teeth. Seeing him act like that Shera could only sigh as she understood his frustration.


    "So what do you n to do next?"


    "I will search every nook and cranny of the city, I will search deep underground, to every single area within ten kilometers from the Capital. I will tighten the security and I will use all the staff of those academies and make the families of those that have lost their geniuses follow mymands. I will do everything within my ability to capture these b*stards, and once I do they would wish that they had never provoked the Empire."


    ...


    While Arthur was already to tear down the entire Captial just to find the hidden enemies, John was also in search of the kidnappers who took Melody.

 Chapter 553 - A Promise Forgotten

    Chapter 553 - A Promise Forgotten


    John had gone around to thest ce where Melody was seen but no matter where he looked he could not find a single clue as to where she was. He had scoured every ce within the Captial City but hadn''t seen even a shadow of Melody or her kidnappers. The people who were also looking for the other missing geniuses were having simr problems.


    It was already the day before the next round of the tournament, but John wasn''t able to prepare as he was busy searching for his missing friend... He couldn''t concentrate on his training and his mind was drifting around. Even after knowing that the powerful Shadow n was trying their hardest to find the culprits he couldn''t just sit still and let them handle this. He wanted to find Melody himself, he didn''t care if he loses in the tournament. To him at this very moment, Melody was more important than the tournament.


    ...


    Aside from Alisa, Melody could also be considered his childhood friend. He hasn''t spoken to her for a few years now, and even when they met again a few yearster he still couldn''t believe how different she looked and felt. When he first met Melody she was just a little girl trapped by her own talent. Still, he could never forget the conversations they had before, especially that day when he decided to be the strongest swordsman.


    Back then when he was just starting his journey on the way of the sword, Melody was already an apprentice of the Tower Master of Mage''s Tower in his region. At that time she was so far above him, that when he went to challenge her he was defeated soundly. After that day he came back day after day to challenge her.


    Every day he came, he was beaten ck and blue, sometimes he was beaten until some of his bones were broken, but he never gave up. John noticed that after every battle he had with her, his swordsmanship became sharper and faster than before. Then finally there came the day that he had won against Melody. After that day he had won two more times. On his third victory, he spoke to Melody.


    "Thanks, because of you I have further improved. I guess this is goodbye, thanks for keeping mepany all this time."


    "Will youe back?"


    "This should be thest time, since I already surpassed you then there is no longer any point ining here."


    "... So if I beat you again you will being back?"


    "I guess..."


    "Let''s have another battle then."


    "Huh, why?"


    "This time I''m going to beat you."


    "Well, I didn''t think you were thepetitive type, but sure if you can''t ept your defeat, I''ll just do it again."


    After that, the two of them had another battle, and this time Melody actually won. It was at that moment John understood that Melody had gone easy on him.


    "Why?" That was the only thing John could say at this moment.


    "I wanted you toe back and y with me. So I always fought you at your level, so that I won''t hurt you too much, but then I realized that like the others you might not want toe back if you kept on losing, so I let you win. Are you mad?"


    Seeing the way she acted, John could not help but sigh.


    "I''m not mad, just shocked... Still, you could''ve just told me if you wanted someone to y with. Fine, I promise toe back every now and then to y with you."


    "For real! You promise?!" John was surprised to see her reaction, Melody''s eyes that were usually cold and dim were shining brightly.


    "Yeah, I promise."


    The two then started to converse about random things. Melody had a lot that she wanted to talk about. She asked about John''s life, his friends, his hopes, and his dreams. John told her about his friend Alisa and how he started his path on the way of swords. As for his hopes and dreams, he hasn''t thought about them yet. After a minute of thinking, John responded with the first answer he thought of.


    "I guess my dream is to reach the end of the path."


    "The path?"


    "Yes the sword path, I want to see the pinnacle of the way of the sword. I want to walk through that path."


    After hearing John''s answer, Alisa also told him about her. Unlike John, she had no friends, as everyone close to her age or even some adults were afraid of her overwhelming mana. Her life just revolves around practicing her spells and trying to control her mana. She didn''t really like that she was so powerful, and if possible she wanted to give away her strength and be a weakling, to her that was her dream. Yet despite not practicing too hard her mana still kept on growing.


    John felt sorry for her and told her that he wasn''t afraid of her and he could be her friend. When Melody heard what John said she became ecstatic and the two continued to converse until the sunset. Once it was time to leave, Melody was unwilling to let John go. She even told John that he should join the Mage''s tower and stay with her. John of course declined that offer, as he wasn''t really that keen on learning spells, he was more interested in swords. Still, John promised that he would return to y with her every now and then.


    Unfortunately, that promise would never be kept. After that day, the tower master had taken Melody away to train at the academy where the Emperor''s wife Henrietta teaches. As for John, he could not leave his town for some time due to a monster raid. The moment the monster raid was over he went to the Mage''s tower only to find that Melody was no longer there.


    ...


    After not meeting for a while, John eventually stopped going to the Mage''s tower even when his friend Alisa was epted as an apprentice there. All he did for the next few years was to continue swinging his sword, day and day out forgetting about his promise to Melody.


    ...


    While trying his hardest to find Melody, John had finally recalled that promise he made with her years ago. Upon remembering that promise, John was now determined more than ever, to find Melody. He would devote everything he had to find her.


    ''Damn it, this time for sure I will keep my promise, so you better be safe.''

 Chapter 554 - The Calm Before The Storm

    Chapter 554 - The Calm Before The Storm


    Despite looking for two days straight John could not find a single trace of Melody. He had pretty much searched every corner of the Capital but there was nothing. Even now he could not understand how she and the other geniuses disappeared right in the middle of the city that had almost all the powerful people in the Empire.


    He went around the city and even look outside, he searched all the nearby areas but he found nothing. The second day of searching ended with him unable to do anything at all. The following day arrived and the tournament continued, despite everything going on in the Empire.


    John no longer wished to participate and wanted to continue his search, but he couldn''t just not go as that would be insulting the other contestants that had already failed. It was a good thing that he was scheduled for the very first fight. The opponent John was supposed to face today was the littledy Kiara.


    Unlike the previous time, the crowd wasn''t as excited as they once were. The atmosphere in the arena was weird, and some of the people there looked like they wanted to leave. That wasn''t the only thing different from the preliminaries, another different thing was that the skies above the arena were filled with dragons, and on the ground were the Shadow n''s top assassins patrolling the area.


    The people from the various ns and academies were also helping in patrolling the entirety of the arena.


    The majority of the forces in the Capital were now in the arena, if the enemy could get past this lineup then they would be truly formidable.


    ...


    In a secret location, Arthur was waiting patiently for the enemy force to make a move, standing beside him was Shera who was doing some minor preparations.


    "This time, I''ll make sure to capture each and every one of those b*stards! I will make sure that they would pay the price of making a fool out of me. I will beat them down so much that even after they reincarnate they would never think of rebelling against teacher." Arthur showed a simr vicious smile the same smile his teacher usually shows as he gets excited. At his side, Shera who was looking at him could only sigh.


    ''What happened to the cute kid I once knew? I thought that if I supervise him, I would be able to somehow save him from bing like big bro, but this kid became even more aggressive than big bro. There''s no more hope he has been influenced too much by big bro.'' At that thought, Shera sighed again and shook her head.


    ...


    In the sewers below the city of New Grenton, several groups were moving around, and when they met a group of knights they captured and hypnotize them. At this point, they had control of over half of the normal knights in the Capital.


    Despite everything they had done, even now none of the people from the Capital had found their secret base that was located deeper underground. In that underground base, the three top members of the enemy forces were looking at the map of the city.


    "Are the preparations done?"


    "Yes, we have everything that we need to summon our God. We just need to wait for the right time and he will descend upon this world, a true descent."


    "Finally, the time is nearing, the fall of the false God is upon us. We have suffered so much under his foolish rule."


    "We can finally be free from that arrogant person''s rule."


    While his twopanions were getting excited for what''s toe thest one among the three was frowning.


    "Will this really work?"


    "Huh, what do you mean? Are you doubting the sess of our n?" The two red at theirpanion.


    "Yes... I do not wish to say it, but I must. Are we truly sure that we could win against him?" When his twopanions heard what he said they looked at him as if they were looking at an idiot.


    "Hmph, if it was by ourselves we stand no chance of achieving victory, which is why we have prepared for many years to summon our God. Once he descends even that arrogant b*stard will fall."


    "It''s not like I wish to doubt our God, but don''t you remember that he has already defeated a Deity before. Not only did he defeat that Deity but he gave her a true death."


    "How dare you! How dare youpare our all-powerful God, to a weak Deity such as the Goddess of Light. I can''t believe that you a believer of our omniscient God would dare say such sphemy!"


    The mana of his twopanions started to leak and their killing intent was so dense and thick that the atmosphere became extremely tense. Yet despite the anger of hispanions, the man remained calm.


    "As one of his faithful believers, I do not doubt the power of our God, but I do wish to dismiss the strength of our opponent. We are after all facing the Undefeated Emperor, and as his title implies he has won in every battle he has been in. From battling liches to facing off against dragons, and even Gods, every opponent he has faced had shared simr fates, they were all defeated. I fear that we are simply leading our God to an untimely end. I do not wish to be the sinner that has doomed our God to such a fate."


    "So what, do you wish to stop at this stage? Do you wish to continue to live under his rule? You do remember why were are doing this?"


    "It''s not that I wish to stop, but... I just want to be sure that we have prepared for every possible scenario."


    "We have already nned for everything, and there will be no mistakes. We have already waited for years, if we continue to wait his strength would only continue to grow, and at that point, there will be no future for us."


    "...."

 Chapter 555 - The Start

    Chapter 555 - The Start


    John was out of it as he heard his name being called by Juliana. He walked up onto the stage looking like he had no interest as to what was happening, his heart that was once burning in excitement was reced with anxiety. On the other hand, his opponent the young Kiara was looking at John with a weird expression on her face. When the start of the match was announced, the two of them didn''t move.


    John was about to raise his arm and was about to announce that he wanted to forget the match, but before he could speak Kiara spoke first.


    "I know what you want to do, and I just want to say I''m disappointed in you."


    "Huh?"


    John snapped out of his dazed state and looked at Kiara. He didn''t want to get angry at someone younger than himself, but he was already feeling stressed, and hearing her speak like she was above him was irritating.


    "What do you know about me, and what I''m feeling right now?! You''re disappointed in me, you speak as if I care about what you think."


    "I might not understand much about how other people feel, but I know how you feel right now. At this moment you feel anxious, and I''m sure it has something to do with the missing people. I know that you want to go out there and be a hero, or you want to save someone that you know personally... But even if you go you don''t know what to do, and to be honest you''ll only get in the way. There are already people better suited for this type of task out there doing their job."


    It was such a surreal situation as a little girl who was around twelve years old was speaking with such maturity and insight. It was as if she could truly see right through him. John was silent for a moment when he looked at Kiara and responded.


    "Do you think I don''t understand all that?! I already know thatpared to the truly strong ones I''m nothing more than an ant. I know that in my current state, I''m nothing more than a burden! Aftering here to the Capital that knowledge has been pounded into me over and over again, but even so! I-"


    John wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say when the ground suddenly shook. Something was happening in the City.


    ...


    "Why are you here?" One of the cultists asked as he pointed at the man with a huge grin on his face standing right in front of him.


    "HAHAHA! Finally you rat b*stards came out of your hole! I knew that if I send most of the forces to the arena, you would loosen your guard, and I was right! Now it''s time for your punishment. You b*stards have been making me look like a fool in front of teacher, I won''t be satisfied until I crush each and every one of you!"


    Arthur''s words made the cultists feel stunned, they had made a mistake at this point in the game. Still, they were already expecting something like this to be possible so they had multiple contingency ns in ce. One of the Mages present contacted the others and wanted to inform them of what was happening. Yet the moment he tried to link with the others, he found that he could not get a hold of any of the nearby teams.


    "Heh, are you trying to contact your rat friends? I don''t think they would be able to answer at the moment. I''m sure that right about now they''re too busy to worry about any of you."


    When the cultists heard what Arthur said they did not panic, but instead half of them raise their hands into the sky and the other half pointed their hands at their bodies. When Arthur saw this he wanted to quickly make a move, but it was toote.


    The first half had released some sort of mana sphere into the sky and the other half had directly killed themselves. Arthur was so confused as to what they were doing, but then he saw numerous spheres of manaing from different locations from within the city, all heading to the sky. Arthur got one of the cultists before the cultist was able to kill himself.


    "What did you just do?"


    "Heh, foolish one who serves the false God, you have lost. I would''ve wanted to see the true God trample upon you and the false one, but I feel satisfied that I would reincarnate in a world that no longer has a false god, and the True God thrives."


    Arthur was going to ask more questions, but before he could do so the cultist had died.


    "What!? Damn it! These b*stards they really want me to look bad in front of teacher!"


    Arthur looked at the gigantic ball of pure mana hanging above the city and frowned. It was not falling down but instead, it was bing smaller and smaller as time goes by. Arthur could sense something weird from that ball of mana. Even though it was shrinking, the power he felt seemed to be increasing. Not only that but the blood of the dead cultists were all floating towards the gigantic ball of pure mana.


    ...


    In the underground base of the cultists, the three leaders were crying as they looked at the events happening outside being projected before them.


    "The sacrifice of our brethren is not in vain! Our God is about to descend!"


    "Now that the sacrifice of blood and mana has seeded what do we do with the prisoners?"


    "We should sacrifice them as well. Their mana and blood are pure and powerful, our God would be delighted."


    As the three had decided the fates of the geniuses they captured, one of the underlings burst into the room.


    "My lords, the prisoners are escaping!"


    ...


    Ren was flying above the city looking at the gigantic ball of blood and pure mana. He couldn''t help but feel excited as he was going to have a true battle, something he hasn''t been able to experience for the past fifteen years.


    Ren showed a vicious smile as the ball of mana and blood was getting smaller, and the aura he was feeling was bing denser. He could practically hear his heart beating loudly in excitement.


    "I don''t know what kind of deity you are, but I hope you won''t disappoint me!"

 Chapter 556 - Evacuation

    At the arena when the people saw the giant ball that was filled with mana and blood, most of them started to panic. They could sense an immense powering from that giant ball in the sky.


    The mages felt some powerful force oppressing their control of mana. The warriors felt a heavy pressure descend upon them it was as if a mountain hade crashing down on them, even the mighty young dragons above the skies were restless and started roaring. The normal citizens were already on the ground unable to move some of them even fainted.


    It was at this point in time the wives of the Emperor took action. Silika and Tsukiyomi erected a barrier that stopped the unknown aura from harming the people in the arena. Once the barrier was set up, the pressure on the people disappeared.


    Tsukiko, Lara, and Henrietta were working on creating a teleportation circle to bring everyone to safety. Ashley and Hilda were coordinating with the guards to help the people who were unconscious.


    Valdel and his own wives were going out to lead a group into the city to rescue the people that were still there. They needed to be quick as the battle could start at any moment now.


    ...


    Alphonso looked at the giant ball in the sky and frowned. He sensed a familiar auraing from that thing.


    ''Hmm, as I expected no world deity would dare fight Ren after he defeated the Goddess of Light, that would mean only those arrogant sh*tty New Gods will think they have a chance... I wonder if Ren is already strong enough to fight a New God?...''


    ...


    Tsukiyomi and Silika who were managing the barrier looked at the giant orb and felt a familiar presence manifesting itself. They had ughtered dozens of people with simr presences before.


    "It''s not a world deity, a True God is about to descend."


    "Are you worried Silika?"


    "A little..."


    "Why?"


    "Even if it''s just a New God, not an old one, the power of a True God is always unpredictable. I''m sure that you know some of them could even go beyond the powers of the Old Gods."


    "So are you saying Ren could lose?"


    "... I always believe in Ren''s victory."


    "Kukuku, then stop showing such a face. I understand that you''re feeling restless since you''ve already seen a past incarnation of himself fall from battle. I have seen him fall twice now and every time it happened I felt my heart being torn apart. Yet as someone who fell in love with him, surely you know that he and battle can never separate, the same as how death can never separate itself from battle. Isn''t that right former Goddess of Death."


    Tsukiyomi smiled mischievously which made Silika smile as well.


    "Heh, you really are something... Yeah, you''re right... As someone who fell in love with such a guy, I should''ve already been prepared. Well, it''s not like I''ve not gained something with his current incarnation." Silika looked at her daughter who was talking to her siblings.


    "Yeah, I have gained much as well... Still, it actually feels like something ising, something way worse than all the other incarnations before." Tsukiyomi who was smiling suddenly frowned as she mumbled something to herself.


    ...


    Numerous citizens have already been teleported to the far north to the old fortress of the Dwarves. On the other hand, the children of the Emperor didn''t want to leave.


    "I already said that you kids have no business staying here," Lara spoke her tone as cold as ice.


    "But mother."


    "But Auntie."


    "Enough! I know how strong you kids are, but in the end, this isn''t a fight that you should mess in. The best thing you could do is follow the citizens to the northern fortress and if an enemyes, you should protect them."


    ...


    While Lara was trying to convince her children, nieces, and nephews, Valdel had found the entrance to the secret base of the cultists. As he walked deeper within the hidden base, he suddenly saw some people running towards him. Valdel was about to get into a defensive position but then he recognized who these people were, they were some of the missing geniuses.


    When the kidnapped geniuses saw Valdel their first reaction was to attack, but then one of them recognized Valdel and stopped the others.


    "Sir Valdel! Please help the others!" The young genius quickly spoke.


    "Calm down and tell me what happened."


    The young man then told Valdel that they were being chased by powerful cultists and some of them stayed behind to give the others a chance to escape. As the young man told his story, his face was filled with desperation.


    "Alright, you guys keep going straight from here, there are people just outside of this ce that will guide you to the evacuations sites."


    The young men and women nodded their heads, as they were about to leave the young man who spoke to Valdel stopped and looked at Valdel with tears in his eyes.


    "Please Sir Valdel, I''m sorry that I was a coward and wasn''t able to help, and I know I don''t deserve to ask this but please save them."


    "Don''t worry, I promise I will." Valdel showed a confident smile as he dashed deeper into the enemy base.


    ...


    As Valdel got deeper into the base he smelled the heavy scent of blood. When he got closer to where the smell wasing from what he saw had enraged him. There were dozens of bodies on the floor, several were that of cultists while the others were obviously those of the kidnapped geniuses. There was even one person who had died still standing protecting herrades that were already dead behind her.


    "You f*cking monsters!"


    Valdel shouted as his killing intent filled the area. The cultists that were busy finishing off the young geniuses finally noticed the new arrival, and so did the young geniuses. Each side had different reactions. When the cultists saw Valdel they stopped attacking the young geniuses and tightened their formation.. On the other hand, the young geniuses started to cry as they darted towards Valdel.

 Chapter 557 - True God

    Ren who was closest to the ball of mana and blood felt the powerful aura that it was emitting. If it were anyone else they would''ve already burst into a bloody mist by the sheer pressure that wasing from the ball of mana and blood.


    Ren used his mana sensing to see if there were still people in the city. After a quick scan, Ren was able to sense a few people still moving around in the city. He wasn''t that worried as he knew most of the people still present in the city, and all of them were powerful enough to be able to escape if need be.


    So without worrying about the people in the city Ren continued to wait for his opponent to fully materialize. After a while, the ball of mana and blood shrunk considerably. It was now taking a different shape. The blood now had a human shape and the mana covered the blood and it slowly turned into something simr to skin.


    What materialized took shape of a human male with wless skin that was practically shining. He might look like a handsome human male wearing a dark green robe, but anyone who saw him would never believe that this person was a human. The aura he was emanating was so intense that even Ren was affected by it.


    Once the being had fully formed he stretched his right hand to the side and summoned a long staff with a multicolored crystal on top of it. After doing that he finally took notice of Ren who was floating in front of him. The pupils of the man look like tiny stars swirling around the gxy. The moment heid eyes on Ren it was as if he could see through his very being in an instant.


    "Hmph, so this is your current form o'' mortal who challenges the Gods."


    Before Ren gave a response he extended his right hand and a portal appeared where he pulled out Snertal and ced it on his shoulders.


    "Oh it seems like you know me but I don''t know who you are. It would be better if your name yourself now, so I can remember your name after you die."


    "Arrogant human, even though you have the irritating title of the Strongest Mortal Soul, you are in the end just a mortal. So you need to show your respect to the God that stands before you and kneel!"


    The moment those words came out of the God''s mouth it was like a mandate from heaven as the clouds grew darker and a pressure like no other assaulted Ren. Yet instead of going down and kneeling as the God wanted, Ren instead showed a vicious smile and remained floating in the air.


    "If you want me to kneel, then you would need to force me to do it. Come on New God show me your might!"


    "Hmph, very well. I shall show you the disparity between you a mortal and I a God."


    The unknown God raised his staff and dark clouds started to rumble and the sound of crackling thunder could be heard. The New God then pointed his staff at Ren which made numerous thunderbolts rain down on Ren. Seeing the iing thunderbolts Ren did not move an inch nor did he use a spell to block them, instead he received all the thunderbolts with his body.


    The God who watched the entire thing frowned and as the smoke cleared he saw Ren with small ck marks on his body but overall no damage.


    "HAHAHAHA! It''s been so long since Ist took real damage! That would mean that you are capable of harming me, that means this will be a real battle!"


    The excitement in Ren''s voice was like that of a happy child. He then taunted the God by making ae-on gesture while his sword was still on his shoulders. Seeing Ren''s tant disregard of his authority the God spoke in anger his voice was like booming thunder.


    "You dare, you dare mortal! For you insolence your death is not enough. I will break apart everything you worked hard to create, I will destroy everything that you hold dear, starting with this city of yours."


    The God pointed his staff on the city below and an invisible force of pure mana descended onto the city ttening it to the ground. Just like that the glorious capital of the Empire New Grenton was no more. Yet unknown to the New God one building actually survived that st, the pub known as the Lonely Cat had survived.


    "See how powerless you are! You can''t protect anything, and this is but the first of many things I will take from you. If you kneel and beg me now I might feel benevolent enough to just kill you and be done with it." As the God looked at Ren smugly he was surprised to see Ren who was seemingly unaffected by the ttening of the city.


    "h, h, h, you know you talk much for someone who came to kill me. So how about you stop talking ande try to kill me!"


    "Don''t you care about the city you created or the people in it?"


    "... Oh, that''s surprising a high and mighty New God like you actually cares?" Ren shrugged his shoulders before he answered the God''s question. "Well, I guess I can answer your question since you asked nicely. A city to me is just a pile of rocks, you can just rebuild it. As for the people in it, do you really think that the citizens who live in my city are so weak?"


    The God then looked below and was surprised to see that what Ren said was true, the buildings might have all been destroyed but the people in them were able to escape. The God could sense a spatial spell was used to move the people that were in the city.


    "Hmph, very well, they have just extended their lives for a little while. Once I''m done with you I''ll not only kill your citizens but I will extinguish their very souls so they would never be able to reincarnate."


    Once the God was done speaking he made a circr motion with his staff, and a magic circle appeared below him. The ground then shook as arge portion ofnd was lifted from the ground. It was a like mountain was now above Ren''s head.


    Seeing the spectacr scene before him Ren''s vicious smile grew ever wider as he finally removed his sword from his shoulders and pointed it at the mountain above his head.


    "NOW THAT''S WHAT I''M TALKING ABOUT!!!"

 Chapter 558 - Battling A True God

    Ren was feeling ecstatic as he looked at the mountain above his head. On the other hand, the New God Ren was facing frowned. The New God no longer spoke as he raised his staff upward. This action of his made the mountain ofnd he lifted up go up even higher than before, almost nearing the atmosphere, and from there the New God dropped the mountain on top of Ren.


    The mountain fell at a great speed, the area it covered was sorge that even if Ren tried to avoid it he might not be able to. While the mountain was falling, the New God teleported away.


    Ren looked above his head and saw the gigantic mountain blocking the sun, and then it turned dark. He was so excited that he kept onughing as he gathered mana into Snertal. The sword made out of the remains of an ancient dragon roared as Ren shed at the huge mountain before him.


    After the mountain was cleanly sliced in half, Ren then performed multiple shes reducing the mountain into nothing but dust. Once he was done with that, Ren noticed that his surrounding area was bing colder and colder. He then saw the ground below him forming pirs of ice.


    Ren evaded a few of them but was unable to dodge all of the pirs as one got a hold of him and he became encased in ice. The ice that encased him was made of pure mana and was colder than anything in this world. Usually, a person would die when encased in something like this, but instead of dying Ren''s body started to burn, and the ice that encased him melted away. Ren was now surrounded by his Spirit Aura as it burned away the mana of ice.


    "Why do you spell caster types always like to use the same tired spells like ice coffin?"


    As Ren spoke he looked at the New God who had teleported a few kilometers away. He then saw that the New God had finished reciting something. The cold air moments ago was reced by scorching heat, Ren looked above his head and saw that there were now two suns in the sky.


    The second sun then started to descend and wasing closer and closer to Ren. Seeing the second sun falling down on him while feeling the scorching heat burning his body just made Ren incredibly intoxicated with glee. As he continued to smile his vicious smile, his mana was surging out.


    Ren then raised his hand above his head blocking the second sun''s light, as he did that shadow below him started to expand and chains made from his shadow came flying upward. The chains made from his shadow collided with the small second sun. The chains then started to wrap around the small second sun until it could no longer shine its light. Once it was fully wrapped with the shadow chains, the second sun was then pulled into Ren''s shadow and disappeared.


    This was the first time Ren had used this technique on such a powerful spell, and it was more exhausting than he thought. At the moment his shadow was trying to devour the spell and it was continuously consuming his mana. Despite feeling his mana slowly being drained he felt incredibly excited waiting for the next thing the New God would do.


    When the New God saw how easily Ren dealt with his attacks it infuriated him to no end. The NEw God then gritted his teeth as he twirled his staff a few times, and a downburst of wind came crashing down on Ren.


    It took Ren several seconds to dispel this attack and once he did so he noticed something had gotten behind him, but as he was about to dodge whatever it was a shadowy hand had grabbed hold of him and dragged him into a portal.


    Ren was pulled into another dimension, and in this dimension dozen of New Gods with simr appearances and aura surrounded him. They then started to talk to Ren with smug looks on their faces.


    "This is my own dimension in here I am in total control, in here I can see through your inner self, in here your life and death is within my grasp." One of the New Gods spoke.


    "Oh, who knew that the proud incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul has some regrets. To think that you who have reached such a height despite being human have a weakness such as that." Another one of the New Gods spoke in a mocking tone.


    "Heh, even the so called Strongest Mortal Soul can''t save all that he wishes to save." Another one of them sneered.


    "It''s because of you that your father died. It''s because of you that your vige was destroyed. It''s because of you that your granddaughter from your past life had be an outcast. It''s because of you that many lives were sacrificed. You make yourself look like a Saint that wants to sacrifice yourself for the mortals, but in truth, you are nothing more than an egotistical barbarian."


    All the New Gods that surrounded him continued to taunt him telling him his deepest darkest secrets. They had exposed his innermost thoughts, yet Ren remained motionless as he looked at them with indifference.


    "Is that it? Trying to break my will with words, is the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. I already know my mistakes, and I have epted them. I was never a hero that saves others, and I might have regrets but they do not weigh me down. I was expecting something more when you said that this was your dimension and you could control my life and death, but this was nothing but a letdown." Ren sighed in disappointment which angered the New God.


    The surrounding New Gods raised their staves and pointed them at Ren, and a burst of mana came crashing down on Ren. The power of the attack was a hundred times stronger than what the New God used to tten the Capital City. Yet Ren remained standing as his vicious smile returned to his face, he then shouted.


    "Now that''s what I''m talking about, show me more of your power!"


    Ren closed his eyes concentrating his mana and Spirit Aura into Snertal. As his mana barrier was being eroded by the attack of the New God, Ren opened his eyes.


    "Snertal ROAR!"


    Ren''s sword Snertal roared which echoed throughout the New God''s dimension. This disrupted the mana attack of the New God, and at that very moment, Ren swung his sword filled with thebined power of his mana and Spirit Aura. The sword sliced through everything and cut apart the very dimension they were in.


    Upon breaking apart the New God''s personal dimension the two of them returned to the area above the former Capital of New Grenton. The New God was blown away by that attack, and for the first time since the start of the battle, he was damaged. Something that look like blood slowly trickled down his mouth. The New God touched his chin and noticed the blood that came out of his mouth. He was surprised by the revtion, on the other hand, when Ren saw this he chuckled.


    "Heh, so even a True God can bleed."

 Chapter 559 - Why?

    The New God was stunned at the sight of his own blood. Ever since he was born into existence he had never lost a battle. His father one of the more powerful Old Gods had given him some of his power before he left. So among the New Gods, he was among the strongest.


    As he was in a state of confusion the New God looked at the smiling Ren. He hade here for the sole purpose of killing the Strongest Mortal Soul, proving that he a New God was better than even the Ancient Gods.


    He like all the other New Gods have heard stories of the Strongest Mortal Soul. It was said that any incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, was always at the peak of all mortals. All incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul were born with an innate sense of battle. In front of the Strongest Mortal Soul, no one can im to be loved by battle except for him. There were many stories of the adventures the Strongest Mortal Soul had.


    The most famous of which was the battle of the first incarnation who directly fought the all-father, the ORIGIN in an all-out war. The first incarnation was so powerful that he was able to kill half of the Ancient Gods who were said to be the equivalent of an entire universe. In the end, the ungrateful son was defeated, but he did not fall without fighting back. It was said that at that time the original incarnation was able to give a very grievous wound that would never heal against the ORIGIN.


    But those were the old stories, it was rumored among the Gods that the current incarnation was nowhere near the level of the original incarnation nor the incarnation called Rei Kuraki who had killed numerous Old Gods. So he thought that this was the chance to kill the weakened Strongest Mortal Soul. Now facing Ren he had confirmed that the rumor of the Strongest Mortal Soul''s weakened statepared to the original incarnation and Rei Kuraki was true, but he was still strong nheless.


    ...


    "Why aren''t you making your next move? That can''t be all you have. I thought you would show me the might of a God?... Don''t tell me that was everything you have to offer?"


    When the New God saw the look of disappointment on Ren''s face he felt infuriated.


    "It seems like making me bleed has inted your ego. Do you really think that I a mighty God would have gone all out to fight a human like you? Hmph, you really are such an arrogant human. Fine, since you want to see my full might I will indulge you."


    The New God raised his staff the multicolor crystal shone brightly and a wave of mana burst from the crystal heading into the New God''s body. The multicolor crystal lost its light while the New God started shining brightly mana emanating wildly from his body. The New God then merged with the staff he was holding. The New God''s shining body then grew twelve additional arms, each arm was made from the six different elements of this world.


    "Be proud human, for you are the first mortal to have witnessed my true form. Be happy human, this splendid form of mine will be thest thing you see. Hmph, since it''s a special asion I shall allow you to hear my name. Be humbled human, for you are the only mortal who will ever know my name. I am the New God Khalos, the son of the Old God Kereon and the Ancient Magus Nadir. Be grateful human, for I the powerful God Khalos shall allow you to say your final words in front of me."


    Ren was excited to see the new form the New God Khalos had taken and as he was about to respond he stopped as he received a message from the original incarnation who wanted him to ask something.


    "Alright since you think I''m about to die, then tell me why do you want to kill me?"


    "Is that all?... Very well, I wish to end you because... Wait what was the reason?... It was because I wanted to prove that New Gods are stronger than even the Ancient Gods... No, wait... Is that right, no I think it''s because of something different... Oh yes, it''s because the ORIGIN wishes for your destruction... No that can''t be it... Wait why do I want to kill you?... I don''t understand, what''s happening to me?..."


    Khalos''s expression kept on changing from his proud look into a look of confusion. He then started mumbling something under his breath and the more time passed the more confused Khalos became.


    When Ren saw what was happening to Khalos he frowned, and so did the original incarnation who then sighed.


    ''It would seem that the corruption has even affected the New Gods. It''s only a matter of time before the Old Gods fall into insanity and then the Ancient Gods will rampage across the multiverse.''


    While the original incarnation was feeling a bit of mncholy, Khalos started to look at Ren enraged.


    "Damn you! How dare you use these kinds of tricks! I thought you were a worthy foe, an honorable human, but to use a mind maniption spell! I will tear you apart limb from limb!" Khalos roared at Ren.


    "So stop on yapping ande on then,e and show me how you''ll tear me apart!"


    Ren didn''t clear the misunderstanding between them and instead pushed it forward with that vicious smile on his face.


    "DAMN YOU, HUMAN!!!"


    Khalos charged at Ren with his twelve arms emitting a violent aura. Unlike before where he wanted to keep some distance from Ren, in this form he wanted to fight him in close range. Seeing the charging Khalos just made Ren even more excited as he too charged forward.


    The two collided in the air and in their first sh the two were pushed back but once again charged at each other.

 Chapter 560 - Battle!!!

    Each swing of Khalos''s arms produced different effects. He could produce gales of wind, and torrents of hale from swinging his arms. He could summon pirs of ice, earth, and fire that could freeze, pierce, or burn through Ren. Khalos could even create beams of light and trap Ren in a prison of darkness. Khalos was like a force of nature which was expected of a God.


    Ren who was receiving everything that a God had to offer was not cowering in fear nor was he repentant in fighting a God, instead, he was smiling that vicious smile of his. In the midst of the New God''s rampaging fist, Ren who was unable to counter was smiling fiercely he was enjoying every moment of this battle.


    Each and every attack Khalos made was lethal which made Ren even more excited. On the other hand, Khalos was confused as he had hit Ren with different spells from all angles, and Ren was even bleeding here and there, but instead of looking anxious, he was smiling. Seeing him act like that Just made Khalos angrier.


    Khalos''s twelve arms merged into one and were glowing with different colors. Khalos then punched forward with such speed that it distorted the space around him. Ren had already seen the attacking but he knew that if he blocked with Snertal his sword would break in two.


    Ren made a quick decision and let go of Snertal. He absorbed Snertal with his shadow and blocked the iing attack with his own hands. The power of this strike made the ground which was several miles below the two get destroyed from the pressure. Ren had difficulty catching his breath as he was blown away his whole body feeling a myriad of things.


    Ren could feel his body burning up and at the same time freezing, he could feel it being paralyzed and at the same time, he was poisoned. While he was flying rapidly towards a mountain Ren quickly tried to cleanse his body of the symptoms he was feeling. As he was doing that, Ren had hit a mountain but that didn''t stop his body from flying backward as part of the mountain shattered when Ren''s body hit it. Ren then continued to fly a few more miles backward before being buried deep into the ground.


    Khalos teleported to the area where Ren''s body had crashed into. It was an uninhabited ind west of the main continent. Khalos smirked as he saw Ren''s body that was full of cuts burn marks, bruises, and other assortments of injuries. Yet even though Ren looked like that he was still smiling as hemunicated with Silika through their link.


    ''Silika I''m going to use the scythe.''


    ''So he''s that strong?''


    ''Yeah, this is so much fun! Since he has given me a wonderful fight, I want to fight him with the best that I can offer.''


    ''If the two of you go all out, this world might break.''


    ''Don''t worry about that, like I said before this world seems to have grown stronger. That''s one of the reasons why this New God is able to descend here. If it was before the restrictions of this world would''ve killed him.''


    ''Alright, then I hope you have a fun fight.''


    Silika was no longer a weapon spirit as a few years before Henrietta and Lara had sessfully created a body that was simr to what Silika had when she was still the Half-vampire Elizabeth. So right now the two of them shared ownership with the Death Scythe. So if one of them wanted to use the weapon they needed the permission of the other person.


    ...


    Khalos waited for Ren toe out from the hole he was buried into. He wanted to see what the arrogant human looked like at this moment after getting smashed by him. As he waited Khalos felt an incredible pressureing from the area Rennded on. He then saw Rening out of the hole he created when he crashed onto the ind.


    Ren was now wearing a ck cloak and was holding a Death Scythe. Khalos could feel a divine power being emanated from the Scythe.


    ''That''s a True Death Scythe and based on the divinity I sense from it, this belonged to a rather powerful world deity. How did he get something like that? Did one of those Fakers give him that?... Well, it doesn''t really matter if he has a divine weapon or not, I will still beat him.''


    Ren looked at Khalos who was flying above his head andughed.


    "Allow me to thank you Khalos, this has been a st! So to show you my appreciation I will show you everything I have to offer!"


    The cross-shaped needles of the scythe pierced through Ren''s body and started sucking his blood. The ck cloak Ren was wearing started to turn red. Ren then changed the position of the scythe and was ready to do an upward slice.


    When Khalos saw what Ren was doing for some reason he felt something he has never felt before. He couldn''t understand it but he unconsciously backed away, it was at that moment Khalos understood what the unfamiliar feeling was. This was the same feeling he had given thousands of mortals and even some New Gods. He was actually feeling afraid.


    The moment Khalos came to that realization he got very angry not only at Ren but at himself. How could a God be afraid of a mortal?! Khalos roared in frustration as he charged downward wanting to vent his anger at Ren. When Ren saw the iing Khalos he was feeling thrilled, as he thought that the New God was having as much fun as he was.


    Ren shed upward and everything within a hundred miles was sliced in half. The ind Ren was standing on, the sea that was in front of him everything within the path of the sh was sliced in half.


    Khalos barely evaded the strike and saw that a few of his fingers were cut off. Ren then appeared in front of Khalos, he was about ready to slice Khalos in half. Khalos intercepted Ren''s attack by separating his arms into two pairs and holding down Ren''s forearms. After blocking Ren''s attack Khalos was about to kick Ren away, but Ren had overpowered him and he was pushed back.


    Before Khalos was about to get blown away by Ren''s attack he was still able to counterattack and was able to hit Ren at his side. He could hear some of Ren''s ribs cracking from that strike of his. The two were sted away in different directions.


    Ren who was aching all over, having his skin burned, his body with a few holes here and there, and had numerous bruises was having the time of his life. Heughed as he felt so alive at this moment when death was so close, Ren then got up and charged at Khalos. On the other hand, Khalos had two of his arms sliced off. He wanted to regrow them but to his surprise, he could not do so.


    ''That Death Scythe isn''t just a normal scythe of a world deity! It was actually able to render my regeneration abilities null?!''

 Chapter 561 - Branch Of The ORIGIN

    When Khalos finally admitted to himself that he could actually die from this battle his anger simply grew. Khalos wanted nothing more than to destroy Ren''s very being but no matter what he did he could not end his opponent. Ren was beyond what he expected, he hade here thinking that Ren was nothing more than prey, but it turns out instead of him being the predator it would seem that he was the prey.


    "DAMNT IT, DAMNT IT, DAMN IT ALL!!! I DON''T CARE ANYMORE I''LL DESTROY EVERYTHING, I''LL DESTROY THIS WORLD AND YOU IN IT!!!"


    Khalos raised his arms into the sky as his mana raged forming a ball of all the different elementsbined. Ren who was smiling from ear to ear did not interrupt Khalos from gathering so much mana, as he wanted to see the full extent of this powerful attack. So in preparation, he too gathered his mana and Spirit Aura into his scythe.


    The two sides were gathering thergest amount of mana they have ever shown in this entire battle. The very weather was going crazy by the sheer force of their mana. The inds near them were being destroyed, the ocean was splitting, the volcanoes were erupting, and the clouds were raging.


    The current energy they have gathered for this one attack could destroy the world they were standing in ten times over. Khalos tossed his attack towards Ren, the beam that was thebination of all the elements came crashing towards Ren.


    In response to the raging elements that wereing down on him, Renughed in glee as he shed the death scythe upwards. The two attacks collided creating a distortion in space that even affected those that were hundreds of miles away from them. The entire world shook from the collision and it felt like the world was going to end.


    After a few seconds, one of the attacks was dispersed and the other continued towards its target. Ren was hit by a portion of the remaining energy of Khalos''s attack. Ren''s mana barrier was unable to stop the attack as it hit him. Seeing that he was able to hit Ren with his full-powered attack Khalos thought that he had won since even if Ren was able to somehow survive the attack he would be gravely injured.


    As Khalos tried to see if Ren had died from that attack he suddenly heard a heartyugh and at that moment an overwhelming aura came assailing him.


    "HAHAHAHA!!! WONDERFUL! THIS IS TRULY WONDERFUL! NOW, THIS IS A TRUE BATTLE! COME ON O'' NEW GOD, SHOW ALL YOUR MIGHT AND RESOLVE! COME AND SHOW ME THE STRENGTH THAT CAN SHATTER MY VERY SOUL!!!"


    Ren appeared before Khalos rtively unharmed from that attack. When Khalos saw Ren he was shocked. Among all the possibilities that he thought of this wasn''t one of them. Despair was slowly kicking in as Khalos wildly threw spell after spell against Ren who either dodged or countered. As the damage Khalos received slowly umted the fear he was holding back took a tight grip on him. It was at that moment as his despair has sunk into his very soul and the fear had shattered his resolve, he heard a voice.


    "Do you wish for unrivaled power, enough power to destroy all your enemies?" The voice echoed in Khalos''s ears. There was madness in the voice that felt dangerous but Khalos did not care, all he wanted right now was to gain power, enough power toy waste to the enemy before him, so he did not hesitate to agree.


    ...


    Ren stopped attacking Khalos as he noticed something weird happening to his opponent. Ren felt an ominous auraing from Khalos, and he had sensed this aura before.


    ''Is this a seed of the ORIGIN?''


    After Ren asked this question he heard the original incarnations voice answer him.


    ''No that''s something stronger than a seed, that''s a branch of the ORIGIN. Once he assimtes with that thing his power would rise to an extreme level that this world won''t be able to handle. You need to forcefully bring him to the higher nes, now!''


    When Ren heard what the original incarnation said he immediately took action and charged towards Khalos. As he got near Khalos''s body Ren could feel the intensity of the other party''s aura, he then sent a telepathic message to Silika.


    ''I''ll be going to the higher nes first, you guys follow once things settle down.'' Before Silika could respond the link was lost. The power Khalos was emitting was disrupting the mental link between him and Silika.


    Ren also noticed there were actual cracks in the space near Khalos, and they were expanding at a fast pace. Ren no longer had time to go through the usual route in ascending he needed to use a spatial spell and forcefully teleport him and Khalos to the higher nes.


    Ren grabbed hold of Khalos as he was still in a passive state. The moment Ren''s hand touched Khalos he felt a powerful force pushing him away, but Ren did not back down and tightly hold onto Khalos. Before Khalos could react Ren had already used a spatial spell to teleport him and Khalos to the upper nes.


    ...


    The spell took effect almost instantly, Ren and Khalos were now in an unknown desert area were no living thing could be seen in miles. Ren was then flung away by Khalos who had a dark aura surrounding him. There was no longer any sense of rity in Khalos''s eyes as he roared.


    Ren was not able to react as he suddenly felt something had hit his abdomen. Ren was blown away, and before he could stabilize himself another attack had hit him in the same spot. Ren was still unable to see or sense Khalos''s movements but he knew that he was responsible for the attacks. Ren raised his arms to defend himself from another attack to his abdomen but this time the attack came from above as he was smashed into the sand below.


    The attacks were so powerful that each punch was equivalent to the strongest attack Khalos used but moments ago. This was Khalos''s full might just a while ago, but now it was just his normal punch. If Ren wasn''t wearing the blood robe that shielded him from the attacks, he would''ve been gravely injured.


    Ren stomped on the ground inserting his mana into the sand. The sand infused with his mana surrounded him and createdyers uponyers of walls. This infused sand was almost as durable as the scales of a dragon, this gave him time to catch his breath.


    Ren could hear the sound of Khalos pounding at his defensive sand walls. Each strike Khalos made destroyed ayer and it was just a matter of time before he would destroy all the sand walls. In his current state, Ren was unable to keep up with Khalos''s speed, and the same as thest time he fought someone with a simr aura mana sensing could not work. This was a very desperate situation and if it was anyone else they would''ve started to panic, but not Ren, instead of panicking he was even more ecstatic than ever before, now that Khalos had powered up.

 Chapter 562 - Going All Out

    Khalos had lost all of his reasoning and the only thing left in his mind was the desire to kill Ren. He was blinded by uncontroble rage and continued to destroy everything in his way. There was nothing else in his sight except for Ren. The pride he once had as a New God was gone, the drive he had to be stronger had disappeared, the skills he has honed for centuries were nowhere to be found, everything he ever was and ever will be was devoured by the branch of the ORIGIN.


    After epting the strength granted by the Branch of the ORIGIN nothing was supposed to be left of Khalos but madness, yet despite the insanity, the branch of the ORIGIN gives the bearer, Khalos was able to maintain one single thing and it was his anger at Ren. As he kept on punching through theyers or walls Khalos suddenly stopped and backed away.


    Even though Khalos no longer had any emotions aside from rage, Khalos''s body instinctively felt an overpowering sense of dread. It was like his very being was telling him to run away, but even though his rage made him want to move forward his instinctive fear wanted him to back away. It was at that moment Ren''s boomingughter echoed throughout the desert.


    ...


    Ren felt his excitement reach its peak as he decided to finally remove all of his restrictions. A few years before Ren had be too powerful for the world he was living in. The world was literally unable to handle his existence and wanted to forcefully expel him. So as to not ascend into the higher nes without hispanions Ren had to seal arge portion of his power. Now at this very moment, he could finally release the seal and he felt liberated.


    "Hahahahaha! This is incredible, it''s been so long since I could truly go all out! Now I know you can hear me O'' ORIGIN. I don''t know if you have already fallen into madness but watch me as I show you my might! I will show you that unlike before were I couldn''t handle a single seed of yours, this time I will crush this branch of yours!"


    Ren looked at Khalos who had stopped attacking and gestured him toe. Khalos whose body was ovee by fear was once again enraged as he roared and dashed towards Ren. This time Ren who had released the seal on his body could finally see Khalos''s movements.


    Ren discarded the death scythe and decided to fight Khalos bare-handed. Ren blocked one of Khalos''s punches with his forearms and he felt it numb a bit, but this time he wasn''t pushed back. Ren then punched Khalos with all his might and of course, Khalos in his maddened state did not dodge and received Ren''s punch head-on.


    When Ren''s fist connected to Khalos''s face he felt a corrosive power trying to invade him, but it couldn''t. Not only that the punch Ren did was at least eighty percent of his full power but Khalos didn''t even flinch as he kept on attacking Ren.


    The two exchanged blows which destroyed thend they were standing on. If they had this battle back in the lower nes, the world would''ve disintegrated from just the aftershock from their blows.


    Ren felt a rush like no other as he received a punch and delivered one. He had almost thought that this would end fast after he had released his seal but it wasn''t like that. Even after receiving Ren''s full-powered attacks, Khalos wasn''t stopping, even after he tore one of his arms apart Khalos just grew new ones and continued to attack.


    This regenerative ability of Khalos was even more ridiculous than the Seed of the ORIGIN Edge fought. Ren could do something simr with his mana and Spirit Aura but that drains him a lot, on the other hand, in Khalos''s case, it doesn''t seem like he''s affected by energy consumption as it felt like he could go on forever.


    Ren knew that if they continued this way he would eventually be defeated. Still, he didn''t want to change tactics as he wanted to feel the heat of battle even more.


    ...


    Under the scorching heat of the desert, the sound of booming thunder reverberated. It has been four days since Ren and Khalos started their battle. Khalos was still in an enraged state and kept on attacking without rest, on the other hand, Ren was still in high spirits but had numerous injuries that were slowly healing.


    During these four days of nonstop battle, Ren had destroyed Khalos''s body a dozen times but was still unable to kill him. At one point the original incarnation was about to give some advice as to how to fight such an opponent, but Ren rejected the offer since he wanted to find out how to win on his own.


    Now that he could feel his massive amount of mana supply depleting rapidly Ren finally decided to change tactics. First Ren summoned all the weapons hidden in his shadow and bombarded Khalos with them. While Khalos was being distracted by the waves of weapons, Ren resummoned the death scythe.


    "It was fun Khalos, but it''s about time we end this."


    Ren activated one of the Death Scythe''s abilities, and a giant skeletal figure holding a scythe appeared behind Ren who then swung its scythe at Khalos. The scythe had cut Khalos''s body cleanly in two. Seeing that scene Ren whispered in the wind.


    "Thanks for the battle."


    Ren was about to leave when he suddenly sensed something from behind him and dodged to the side. Khalos had actually survived and attacked him. Seeing Khalos still alive for the first time in this entire fight, Ren was truly surprised. That ability he activated using the Death Scythe was something he could only use once a decade. It was meant to reap not just a person''s body but his soul, so it was supposed to be impossible to survive once it hit you. Able to hear his thoughts the original incarnation gave an answer to his question.


    ''The Death Scythe''s ability to reap souls only applies to mortal souls.. The souls of Gods even New Gods who are only half Gods cannot be reaped. Now that your ace in the hole has failed, are you willing to listen to me now?''

 Chapter 563 - Conversation During Battle

    Ren who was evading Khalos''s attacks gritted his teeth as he finally asked the original incarnation for his advice.


    "So you''re finally willing to listen to me. Heh, I know that took a lot of strength to say, seeing as your pride should be simr to what mine was when I was young. You know back then-"


    "How about you stop reminiscing and start telling me how to win."


    "How impatient, surely you''re having a st fighting in such a dire situation."


    Ren didn''t respond as what the original incarnation said was correct. He was indeed feeling a thrill like no other as he barely dodged an attack that could kill him. The wounds on his body were slowly umting and his mana supply, as well as his Spirit Aura, were being drained so fast that if the battle continues a few more days his massive amounts of Spiritual Energy would be fully drained. He was so close to death, that the death scythe in his hands became harder to control.


    If he had a choice he never wanted to cheat and ask the original incarnation for advice. He wanted to fight this battle on his own merit and if he were to lose then so be it, but unfortunately, Ren knew what was at stake here. He wasn''t allowed to die until he could face the ORIGIN.


    After a moment of silence between the two, the original incarnation continued what he was going to say.


    "If I was in your position just a casual swing of my sword and this New God alongside the branch of the ORIGIN would be destroyed. Back in my day people with the seeds and branches of the ORIGIN were nothing more than footmen. Mypanions and I would kill thousands of those on a daily basis in the war. I can''t believe eons after those days, one of my own incarnations would have difficulty defeating one of them. The reincarnation cycle was supposed to strengthen a person after every death but it seems like I''m the only one who never got stronger. Did I perhaps make a mistake in the initial creation of the reincarnation system?"


    The original incarnation then started to mumble to himself.


    "Is anyone else there that could help me? What happened to Edge, and Leo? Surely they know how to kill this thing."


    The original incarnation''s train of thought was stopped when he heard Ren''s question, he then looked at the people who wereying on his feet and chuckled.


    "Don''t bother looking for other people to answer you, right now they''re unable to respond since I''m the only one standing in here."


    "Then can you just tell me the answer already, so that I can concentrate on my fight? If you''re not going to answer and just continue to babble then can you just stop talking?"


    "Hmph, if you were strong enough I wouldn''t need to waste my time talking to you. I''ll give you an answer when I feel like it. I will also continue talking since I want to."


    "What happened to you, where you always like this?"


    Ren asked confused since the original incarnation in his memory was a dignified person who was always serious and spoke sparingly. This person who was talking sounded like the original incarnation but he felt like a different person.


    ''Don''t tell me he''s also being corrupted?... That would mean that I''m also being corrupted.''


    "You do know I can literally hear your thoughts. Also, I''m not getting corrupted by the ORIGIN, that''s not possible. The ones who would get corrupted are those of the God race or any that share their blood. If even the mortals get corrupted that would mean that the ORIGIN has truly fallen to insanity. As for us, even if every single being in the multiverse gets corrupted, we will remain untainted by the corruption."


    Before Ren could respond, he got hit by khalos but was able to counter. Once the two got some distance from each other Ren stopped using the death scythe and switched to Snertal.


    "Why aren''t we affected by the corruption?" Ren asked as he charged towards Khalos with Snertal.


    "My soul, no our soul has transcended the grip of our creator. We are no longer part of the flow of fate of this multiverse. Still, even though were are no longer part of it we can change it and poke around here and there. This is why the ORIGIN''s omniscience doesn''t work on us or anyone rted to us. As for his omnipotence well if he were to escape the prison I made for him back then he could easily wipe out all the universes."


    "Huh, a prison?"


    "In my final battle against the ORIGIN, not only was I able to seriously injure him but I was able to seal him in a space that wasn''t connected to any of his universes. It was a ce that wasn''t created by him."


    "If that''s true then who was the one I''ve seen before?"


    "That''s just his avatar, at most its level is the same as an ancient God. If he were truly here in this ce then everything would''ve ended. The only reason he hasn''t escaped after all this time must be because of the wound I inflicted upon him."


    There was a hint of pride in the original incarnation''s voice as he spoke those words.


    "... Alright that''s all fascinating and all that but care to exin what happened to your personality?"


    "Oh that, this is how I originally am. After sparring with all my reincarnations I finally remembered and felt things I have long forgotten. Also, since the final battle is nearing I decided to toss aside the facade."


    "Okay, then now that we had a nice long conversation how about telling me what I need to know."


    "Hmm, not yet. If you listened to me two days ago then I would''ve given you a way out, but now I''ll watch you suffer a bit before telling."


    "Tsk, fine let''s do it your way!" Ren no longer spoke to the original incarnation as he continued fighting Khalos.. On the other hand, the original incarnation kept on bothering him with stories of his valor.

 Chapter 564 - Melancholy Of Battle

    Ren continued to swing Snertal at Khalos who had now been torn apart several times. Khalos had received numerous fatal injuries, yet the same thing happens every time, no matter what damage he receives, no matter what skills Ren uses, Khalos could not be killed. The only positive thing was that the corruption could not affect Ren despite the ominous aura that kept on trying totch onto him.


    It has now been several days since the start of the battle. Ren was not only being depleted of his spiritual energy but he was also thirsty and hungry. All throughout the fight, Ren tried to find anything he could eat or drink, yet despite them moving for hundreds of miles he could not find a single thing. It didn''t so much as drizzle as the sun stared down from above.? All there was in this ce was scorching heat and the sand, nothing but sand.


    ...


    Ren could no longer tell how many days he has been in battle, but despite his spiritual energy continuously being drained, his stamina already depleted, as well as being hungry and thirsty, Ren was still able to enjoy the battle before him. It was at this moment the original incarnation stopped telling stories and spoke to him seriously.


    "Hmm, I guess it''s about time to end this. Listen up Ren, the way to defeat a person with a branch of the ORIGIN with your current weak strength is to locate the area of corruption. There should be a single spot in his body that has the most corruption, once you purify that area his regenerative properties will greatly diminish, or if you were lucky he would regain his sanity."


    Ren who went into a defensive posture listened to what the original incarnation said. It didn''t take him too long to locate the area in Khalos''s body where the corruption was spreading.


    "I found it, so how do I purify it?"


    The original incarnation started to exin the details of the purification technique after a few minutes Loki had grasped how to do it. Ren needed to restrain Khalos for several seconds to be able to pull this off. If he did this a few days ago it would have been easy, but in his current state just one mistake and it would be extremely difficult to do one more time. Still, Ren relished the challenge as he licked his lips.


    Now that he knew how to win, Ren''s battle intent rose and his shadow then expanded. Numerous chains created from his shadow came out and tried to restrain Khalos, but it wasn''t enough. Ren then summoned almost all of the weapons hidden within his shadow and used them to pierce Khalos''s body into the ground. Khalos was finally restrained, the moment Ren saw that he quickly made various hand gestures while reciting an ancient spell. Ren then rushed towards Khalos and touched the corrupted area activating the spell.


    At first, Ren noticed that the corruption holding Khalos was fading, but then the purification stopped as the corruption once again took hold of Khalos.


    "The purification spell cannot prate deep enough!"


    The moment Ren heard the original incarnation say those words, he quickly used a knife-hand to pierce Khalos''s body and once again activated the purification spell. This time the spell quickly spread throughout Khalos''s body and the ominous aura disappeared.


    ...


    After Khalos gained the so called power the ORIGIN promised him, his consciousness went into a dark area where he could only feel nothing but anger. In that dark ce as he was slowly being consumed by madness, for a single moment, he felt a tinge of regret. This wasn''t the way he wanted to win, this wasn''t the way he visioned this battle to head into.


    As the darkness was about to swallow him whole, he saw a single light shine upon him. That light flickered for a moment giving him hope but then it disappeared within the darkness. The hope that came so suddenly left without warning and was reced by despair. It was then the light returned and this time it wasn''t just a flicker it was so dazzling as it fought the darkness destroying it.


    Khalos''s consciousness returned to him, the anger he felt, the insanity that took over, all of those had vanished and was reced by a sense of rity. He opened his eyes and saw the clear blue sky. He wasying on the ground while Ren was standing beside him.


    "Oh, I see... So I lost..."


    Khalos chuckled and started coughing out blood. Despite losing he felt happy more so than he felt in all the centuries he was alive.


    "Thank you, O'' Strongest Mortal Soul. Thank you for freeing me from the darkness."


    "... This wasn''t how I wanted to end this battle." Seeing the disappointment in Ren''s face as he said those words made Khalos smile.


    "I apologize if I wasn''t a fitting opponent."


    "No, that''s not it, you were the best opponent I''ve ever had. If I could I would''ve kept that battle going, as I never wanted that battle to end, but this kind of ending... I just wanted to fight the New God Khalos."


    "... Is that so... I am honored that you felt that way." As those words left Khalos''s mouth he felt his body and soul fading away. He knew the end was near, but he did not feel any fear.


    "Hey, can you tell me your name?"


    "... It''s Ren."


    "... Ren, I hope that with your strength you may save the all-father."


    "I will try my best."


    "That''s all I wanted to hear... So this is it... To die by the hands of the Strongest Mortal Soul, what a glorious death this turned out to be... I only regret that I cannot reincarnate so that I could have... another... battle... with... you..."


    After Khalos spoke those words with a gentle smile on his face his body and soul faded from existence. It was at that moment, the sunny skies darkened and for the first time since Ren arrived on this higher ne, it started to rain. Ren looked up to the sky letting the pouring rain, fall upon him, the expression on his face indescribable.


    "... It was truly fun.... Khalos."

 Chapter 565 - The Higher Planes

    After Ren had purified Khalos some of the memories of the New God flowed through him. The memories he received were that of the New God''s childhood. In those memories, he could feel what the New God Khalos felt at the time. He now had a better understanding of the hardships new Gods had to endure. Not epted by the Old Gods, feared by the mortals, they were pretty much outcasts. The only ones who truly had any sort of affection for the New God Khalos were his parents, but even then his father eventually left him, and his mother died of old age.


    This New God Khalos might''ve sounded proud and overbearing but he was just trying to prove himself. So for every battle, he won against peers and against even some of the Old Gods he felt incredible joy and pride.


    The battle against the Strongest Mortal Soul was supposed to be the one to prove once and for all that he was worthy, that he was not some half-breed monstrosity. Yet in his final battle, he wasn''t even the one in control of his body. It was not the battle Khalos yearned for nor was it the battle Ren wished for.


    For a brief moment Ren was ovee by sadness as the memories he gained from the New God had actually made him shed a tear. The final memory he received was what Khalos felt at the end. Khalos was actually grateful to Ren and was a little sad that despite dying he would never be able to reach the same ce as his mother.


    ...


    After paying his respects to the fallen warrior, Ren started to look for any signs of life or at least a source of water.


    Despite his body already achieving a state that no normal human could reach, he still needed nutrients like food and water. This was one of the few weaknesses of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Even though he looked like he had transcended humanity he wasn''t. He was in the end still a mortal, and no matter how powerful he gets he could never go beyond that line. Unlike all the other mortal beings who had the potential to shed their mortal coil, Ren wasn''t allowed to transcend it, as this was his promise the original incarnation made when he started his journey of reincarnation.


    ...


    It was a good thing that it started raining after his battle. The water he drank was able to quench a bit of Ren''s thirst, so now he could at leastst a few more days. Still, despite Ren dashing around at least a thousand kilometers from his initial spot, there was still no sign of any other life.


    Ren who could easily sprint around the entirety of the world he came from in a day was now unable to escape the desert area he was in, despite running for two days straight.


    "What is this ce, howe it''s so big? I''ve been running for so long and I can''t even get out of this desert." Hearing his question the original incarnation decided to answer him.


    "The higher nes is a separate dimension from the lower nes weres, gxies and other such things exist. Here in the higher nes, there is no out outer space, there is only the sky and the ground that you see before you. If you try to fly upward you might not be able to see the end of the clouds. Here you can connect to all other universes which are separated by the so-called endless sea. In here several million kilometers is still considered near. The measure of distance in the higher nes is in light-years."


    When Ren heard what the original incarnation had to say he was surprised and stopped moving for a second.


    "Damn, if this ce is that big then how long would it take before I can escape this barren ce?"


    "With your current speed, I guess if you continue to run at full speed for three more days without stopping we should be able to at least find some other life form. If you''re lucky you should be able to meet a town."


    "Huh, people live in this ce with no water or food?"


    "Most beings in this ce have already transcended such worldly things. The only things the people here consume are spiritual herbs and pills."


    "So you''re telling me I won''t get to eat real food?"


    "No need to worry about that, there are demon beasts here that you could eat. Heck if you want to you could even eat those so called divine beasts. Also even though this ce is the higher nes, were deities live, the most numerous are still the humans and sub-humans. In fact, there are a lot of descendants of our various incarnations who live here."


    "Oh is that so... Then since there are numerous humans here then it shouldn''t be as hard to defeat the Gods as I thought it would be."


    "You better stop thinking such naive thoughts. Even though the humans in the higher nes are numerous they are not united. There are even those humans that are allied with the Gods. Oh right, allied is the wrong word, there are humans that are enved by the Gods. There are even humans who sold their fellow humans to the Gods. So it would be nearly impossible to unite the humans under a single banner. Even back in my time, the only reason all the humans came together was because we were on the brink of extinction."


    "I see... Well, I guess that''s just part of human nature. It was our imperfections that pushed mortal men to try and grasp the things beyond their reach." Ren sighed as he shook his head no longer continuing the conversation.


    ...


    As Ren sprinted forward non-stop the original incarnation kept himpany. It took Ren two days of continuous running to finally see other living beings. There was a group of humanoid figures fighting arge beast that looked like a mix of a dragon and a centipede.


    Based on the aura being emitted by the humanoid figures, what they were using wasn''t mana nor Spirit Aura.. It felt simr to mana but was much much purer, in fact, it was at this very moment Ren finally noticed that the atmosphere in the higher nes was not emitting mana but that unknown energy, which for some reason felt rather familiar to him.

 Chapter 566 - Sand Dragon

    An old man alongside a few young men was facing a creature that looked like a mix of a caterpir and a Dragon. This old man was Mo Fan a loyal servant of the Mo family. The Mo Family was one of the high-ranking ns in Swallow City. The Patriarch of the n was a legendary figure that was considered to be the strongest person in the city. There was also their young master who was a genius that could very well reach the legendary Saint Realm.


    At this moment Mo Fan was tasked with finding a certain ore in the desert fields. This ore was something that could potentially create the perfect weapon for their young master. They had been searching for days and when they found it, they also found some trouble. The thing that they were looking for was actually guarded by a Sand Dragon.


    The Dragon species had always been known for their love of treasure, so the ore must be one of its treasures. Those that face a Dragon usually have one emotion and that was fear as they face one of the strongest races second only to the Gods. Unlike humans, Dragons do not need to train as they''re the strongest from the start. They also grow stronger the older they get, and the one they were facing was not a normal young dragon but one that was nearing adulthood.


    When they saw the dragon emerging from the ground, some of the men felt despair. With their current strength, they were not a match for the Sand Dragon. What awaited them now was most certainly their end.


    "GET INTO A DEFENSIVE FORMATION! Mo Ye, bring this back to the Master and tell the others of our final bravery!"


    Mo Fan passed the ore in his hands to the young man called Mo ye. Hearing their leader''smand Mo ye could not ept it.


    "No! I will not do it, I can''t leave you guys! We eithere home together or we fall together!"


    Mo Fan was about to respond but then the Sand Dragon roared and looked about ready to attack them. Seeing this scene some of the men went out to distract it, to give Mo Ye time to say his goodbyes.


    "You fool! If we all die here then it would be all for nothing!" Seeing Mo Fan so angry, Mo Ye unconsciously backed away.


    "But-"


    "I beg of you, Mo Ye, leave. At least make our deaths have meaning."


    The others nodded their heads when they heard Mo Fan''s words and encouraged Mo Ye to go.


    "You better live your life to the fullest, for all our sakes."


    "Today is not the day we will die, so you can go first will catch up with youter."


    "Yeah, he''s right so you should just go, if you stay you''ll just get in our way."


    "As the new guy in the group, you shouldn''t question your elders."


    Seeing the smiling confident faces of hispanions Mo Ye truly didn''t want to flee, but he knew that he should honor theirst wishes. Mo Ye who was feeling conflicted bowed his head and started running away. Once he was gone the group looked at the Sand Dragon that had just flung two of theirpanions.


    "We must dy this Dragon long enough that it won''t be able to catch up with Mo Ye! This will be ourst battle together so show me everything you''ve got."


    In response to Mo Fan''s words, the young men roared their battle cries. Even the Sand Dragon looked like it was taken aback by the sudden passion of its formerly frightened prey. The group then charged at the Sand Dragon without fear for their lives.


    ...


    Ren who was watching the battle from a distance was impressed by the valor these men disyed. In face of a Dragon especially one nearing adulthood most would flee from terror.


    ''Now these people are true warriors... Still, I wonder what kind of energy they''re using, surely you know the answer to that, right Mr. Oringal?''


    ''That''s the source of all other spiritual energy, it is the base of the energy in which all the universes are created. It is the very energy that the ORIGIN himself is made out of, and thus its name is origin.''


    ''Huh? The f*ck kind of half-ass name is that, who the heck gave it that name?''


    ''I don''t really know, people back then just started calling it as such.''


    ''So how do I gather and use this origin energy?''


    ''No need to worry about that, it''s the same as mana, you automatically gather it. As for how to use it, it''s basically the same as any spiritual energy. Surely with the talent of a reincarnation of mine, this should be easy.''


    ...


    While the two were having their conversation the battle between the men of the Mo n and Sand Dragon was getting more intense. Numerous sword beams assaulted the Sand Dragon but it did not even scratch the Sand Dragon''s scales. Not only did the attack do no damage it just made the Sand Dragon angrier.


    Despite them knowing that no matter what they did they could never win, the men fought with no fear. They had already epted their deaths and had passed their hopes onto Mo Ye. As long as Mo Ye survives they would''ve won.


    After a few more exchanges one of them was going to get eaten.? The man watched the open jaws of the Sand Dragon as he was about to get devoured. Yet before he was about to get eaten he the Sand Dragon and everyone else felt an overwhelming pressure assail them.


    ...


    The Sand Dragon who was about to eat one of its prey stopped as it felt something a Dragon like itself should never feel, it actually felt fear. The Sand Dragon''s instincts were telling it to flee with all its might before it was toote, yet its pride as a Dragon had helped it stand its ground as it roared angrily at itself and whoever was making it feel this way.


    "Oh as expected of a Dragon nearing adulthood, you actually overcame your instinctual fear."


    The Sand Dragon lifted its head and saw a man floating above it. The moment it saw the man with a vicious smile on his face, the Sand Dragon felt an oppressive forceing from the man. The Sand Dragon used its dragon''s breath to attack the threat before him.


    A beam made out of the purest of earth elementals came out of the Sand Dragon''s mouth and headed towards Ren. Seeing the iing attack, Ren didn''t even need to move as his mana barrier was enough to block the attack. Even though he was tired, hungry, and thirsty, it wasn''t a problem to deal with a Dragon of this level.


    Despite it being a Dragon nearing adulthood it was still in the end a young dragon that hasn''t even gained the Dragon race''s strongest racial ability its Divine Might. The Divine Might was an ability that a Dragon gains once it reaches adulthood. This ability was one of the reasons the Dragon race wasparable to the Gods. The Divine Might was an aura that has different effects depending on what kind of Dragon that uses it and how old the Dragon was.


    If this Sand Dragon had its Divine Might, Ren who was weakened would have had a lot of trouble fighting the Sand Dragon, but without it, the young Dragon was nothing more than a sturdier ant to Ren.

 Chapter 567 - A Mortal Man

    Mo Fan was surprised to see that the young man took the Dragon''s Breath head-on without receiving so much as a scratch. It was such a shocking sight, as not only did the young man block the attack but he could not sense any traces of the young man using origin energy.


    There was also this indescribable fear Mo Fan felt when he looked at the young man. Unlike the Sand Dragon where he felt fear because he and the others knew how powerful Dragons were, the fear he felt from the young man seems to stem from his very being.


    While Mo Fan and hispanions were still in a state of shock the Sand Dragon swung its tail at the young man in the sky. The young man who looked like an ant to the Sand Dragon raised his hand to block the tail. Normally the young man was supposed to be crushed by the Dragon''s tail, but instead, the young man caught the Dragon''s tail spun the Dragon, and threw it upward into the sky.


    ...


    Ren sighed as he wanted to crush the Sand Dragon''s tail but instead was only able to stop it. He thought since the enemy was so weak even in his tired state he could easily do it, but he had either overestimated himself or underestimated his opponent. Seeing that he had barely any stamina and mana left, Ren summoned Snertal.


    The moment Snertal appeared the Sand Dragon started roaring madly, and Snertal responded in kind. Ren could sense what Snertal wanted, but he too wanted the same thing. Ren sighed as he pointed Snertal at the falling Sand Dragon.


    "Let''s get this over with, I''ll allow you to eat half of the Sand Dragon."


    In response to Ren''s words, Snertal roared happily. Ren took a bit of mana from Snertal to perform a sword technique. As the Sand Dragon was falling towards Ren, it once again used its Dragon''s breath, yet unlike before Ren did not allow the breath to get near him as he intercepted it.


    Ren''s sword sliced through not only the Dragon''s breath but the Sand Dragon as well. The surrounding people could not believe their eyes as Ren sliced the body of the Sand Dragon like it was butter. Yet that wasn''t the most shocking part, what happened next was the true eye-opener.


    ...


    Mo fan watched as the young man''s sword devoured half of the Sand Dragon. It was a weird sight to see, as a sword eating the meat of a Dragon. Still, it wasn''t just the sword that started eating even the young man was eating the Sand Dragon.


    The powerful young man ate the Sand Dragon''s body raw, he did not bother removing the scales as he chewed through them.


    Mo Fan and hispanions could do nothing but stare at the young man waiting for him to finish his meal. While they waited they could not move a single inch afraid they might offend the young man. They dare not breathe too loudly in fear that they might disturb the young man''s eating.


    As he waited Mo Fan could finally feel a trace of origin within the young man, but to his surprise, it was not even enough to forge one''s body, he was basically a mortal man. As he was deep in thought Mo Fan suddenly felt that the young man''s origin energy increasing rapidly, it was like the young man was sucking the origin of the surrounding area into his own. For every bite, for every breath, for every movement, the young man did it seem to gather the origin energy.


    ...


    Ren felt better after he was done eating the Sand Dragon in fact, he felt a bit stronger than before. Once Ren and Snertal were done eating he took his sword and ced it back into his shadow. Ren''s attention then shifted to the native people present.


    When Mo Fan saw Ren looking at them he and the others couldn''t help but shiver in fear as this was a being that could kill and eat Dragons. Mo Fan quickly knelt to the ground, seeing what he did the others followed suit.


    "Thank you Senior for saving our lives."


    "Thank you, Senior!"


    "I didn''t really do it to save your lives, I just so happened to be hungry."


    Mo Fan was surprised to hear what Ren said. Once a person goes past the Golden Core he would no longer need to eat or sleep. Seeing how easily Ren killed the Sand Dragon he should at least be at the Nascent Soul realm level of power. This just made Mo Fan even more confused as to what manner of being Ren was. Still, after a moment of silence, he quickly bowed his head.


    "Still, it doesn''t change the fact that Senior had saved our lives. I''m Mo Fan a servant of the Mo n, I and my nsmen promise to repay this life debt."


    "Hmmm, is that so... Then I actually need something from you right now."


    "Please tell us, Senior."


    "You guys are going back to where you came from, right?"


    "Yes."


    "It''s a city or somece where people gather, correct?"


    "... Yes, we came from Swallow City."


    "That''s nice to hear, I want you to bring me with you."


    "... Is that all? Of course, we will dly guide Senior to Swallow City."


    "Oh, another thing."


    "What else does Senior need from us?"


    "A few seconds from now I''m going to sleep, and I want you guys to carry my unconscious body. I''m going to warn you guys now if any of you try anything funny to my body while I sleep, it will not end well for you. The moment I sense any killing intent even while asleep my body will automatically react and kill whoever was emitting that killing intent. So you better think twice if you have such thoughts."


    When Mo Fan and the others heard Ren''s warning they gulped. Mo Fan then quickly nodded his head and responded.


    "Of course, we will never try to harm our savior. You can trust as Senior, we will properly protect your body as you sleep."


    "Very well, I will ce my trust on you for now."


    After Ren finished saying what he had to say he closed his eyes and his body fell to the ground. He had suddenly fallen asleep making Mo Fan and the others look at him with expressions on their faces.


    ''I heard that masters of Senior''s level were entric but this.... This is unexpected.''

 Chapter 568 - Journey

    Mo Fan and the others were stunned by what Ren did. Either Ren was an incredibly stupid person to fall asleep in front of strangers or an incredibly powerful person who didn''t see them as a threat at all. After witnessing Ren''s fight against the Sand Dragon it was obvious that Ren was thetter of the two.


    "Are we really going to bring him back to the city?" One of Mo Fan''s men spoke as he looked at the unconscious Ren. "We could just leave him here and based on what he said it doesn''t seem like he knows his way around here, so he wouldn''t be able to find us."


    "So you want to leave behind the person who saved us?"


    "You heard what he said it was just a coincidence that he rescued us. Also, are you sure we should bring such a dangerous person back to the city?"


    "Even if that''s true, it''s also true that if he didn''te we would''ve been eaten by the Sand Dragon. I don''t know about you, but I don''t want to be the kind of b*stard that doesn''t know how to repay a life debt. Not to mention, have you ever thought of what would happen if we leave him here without fulfilling our end of the deal?... It would be good if he doesn''t find his way to our city but once he does he would take revenge. Even if our n could stop him, how much will we sacrifice? By then we''ll be the sinners of our n. So knowing all that, do you still not want to bring him?"


    The person who suggested leaving Ren behind became silent, and so did the others who had simr thoughts as him. After a short pause, Mo Fan asked a question.


    "So does anyone still object to bringing him back to the city?" Everyone shook their heads in response.


    "Alright, since we all agree let''s get going, if we''re lucky we could catch up to Mo Ye before he reaches the teleportation array."


    Mo Fan then approached Ren''s body and carried him. He could not risk the others carrying Ren since it was possible that they might have some ill intent. Since Ren had already warned them, Mo Fan was afraid to risk it. What if, they just had a single thought of attacking Ren for just a moment, and Ren suddenly moves to kill them all. Just the thought of that made Mo Fan nervous.


    Even though they already resolved themselves to die just moments ago, the situation right now was different and if they died because of something stupid, then wouldn''t it have been better to die honorably in the Sand Dragon''s ws.


    ...


    During their journey, Mo Fan who was carrying Ren was constantly being surprised by the unconscious Ren. Despite being unconscious Ren was absorbing the origin energy in the area much faster than any other person Mo Fan has ever seen. Even the genius of the Mo n could not absorb so much origin energy in so little time, and Ren was doing it while asleep.


    That wasn''t all, during their journey to the Teleportation Array the group had not encountered any beasts. Which was different from what their initial journey was like where they would spot beasts in every corner, but now it seems like these beasts were actively avoiding them. It was obvious that it was Ren the beasts were avoiding. Despite being unconscious Ren''s sheer presence made the demon beasts and even the divine beasts walk the other way.


    When the others saw this scene they felt relieved that they followed Mo Fan''s advice and did not do anything to Ren. If they did anything, it was obvious that even asleep Ren could''ve killed them all.


    ...


    The journey towards the Teleportation Array was quite long. It would''ve taken them at least five days to reach it, but due to Ren''s deterrence, it seems like it would only take them three days at most to reach their destination.


    On the second day, the group felt Mo Ye''s presence but it was weakening. The group quickly dashed towards the ce where they felt Mo Ye''s presence, they then saw Mo Ye fighting a group of people. Mo Ye had even lost an arm to these b*stards.


    "You people, what do you think you''re doing to a member of the Mo n?!"


    Mo Fan roared at the bandits. Seeing Mo Fan and the others, the bandits stopped attacking, on the other hand, Mo Ye could not help but tear up as he approached the group.


    "Elder, everyone, you''re alive!"


    "We already told you we won''t be too far behind." When Mo Ye heard their voices he started smiling.


    "I knew you guys woulde, I knew it!"


    "So what happened to you, who are these b*stards?"


    The bandits outnumbered Mo Fan''s group but they did not dare get closer. The aura the neers were emitting was beyond the body forging stage, the old man, in particr, was someone they should never mess with.


    As Mo Ye was exining how the bandits attacked and cornered him, Mo Fan''s expression grew worse and worse. The moment when Mo Ye told how the bandits had cut off his arm, Mo Fan and the others were having a hard time holding their killing intent. Still, they needed to hold it in, as even though it wouldn''t be directed at Ren, it might anger him.


    "Each one of you cut off an arm and leave, if you don''t wish to do so then you can leave your lives here today."


    The Bandits hesitated as they did not like either option. As they continued to hesitate another group of bandits arrived.


    "Oh, you''re telling my men what to do, who gave you the balls to do that?" Mo Fan looked at the neer who was riding a tenth-level body forging demon beast. Mo Fan frowned as he could sense that this neer was a level above him.. Aside from him, the other bandits were all at the beginning level of the Qi gathering stage.

 Chapter 569 - Asleep

    The bandits who were hesitating in what to do suddenly turned smug when they saw their leader arrive. Even though all of thembined were no match for Mo Fan''s group, their leader was something else. Their leader was someone that should be able to deal with Mo Fan''s group quite easily.


    "What was it you want my men to do, cut off their arms?"


    The Bandit leader took out his de as he spoke with a sinister smile on his face. On the other hand, Mo Fan was rather surprised that he wasn''t nervous at all. Even hispanions except for Mo Ye weren''t nervous.


    When the Bandit leader noticed that the group of people wasn''t showing any signs of fear he was confused.


    ''Are these people exiles from a warrior n, are they unafraid of death?... It doesn''t really matter since they''re weaker than me then that means I can take whatever I want, even their lives are for the taking.''


    After a short pause, the Bandit Leader gave a signal making his men surround Mo Fan''s group. He circled around old man Mo Fan with a teasing smile on his face. When he saw that his men hadpletely encircled Mo Fan''s group he spoke.


    "How about instead of my subordinates cutting off their arms, you and your men leave your lives here."


    The moment he said those words, the Bandit Leader saw that the group remained indifferent to his threats. The Bandit Leader was infuriated by their reactions and emitted his killing intent to show that he was serious. It was at that moment Mo Fan''s group finally showed some kind of reaction but it was not what the Bandit Leader was expecting, the group of lunatics was actually smiling. Seeing their reactions as if mocking him just made the Bandit Leader even more furious.


    "Kill them all! F*cking kill them all leave none behind!"


    When the Bandit Leader gave that order to kill, all of his subordinates came bursting with killing intent. It was at that moment when they were about to attack that all the bandits suddenly froze as an intense fear had taken over them. Their bodies and minds were screaming in terror telling them to run away as fast as possible, but they could not move not even a single finger was able to so much as twitch. The Bandit Leader and his men couldn''t understand what was happening as the intense sense of dread came over them. They then saw the young man who was sleeping suddenly stand up.


    All of their senses were telling them that death wasing. It was at that moment they finally understood that it was the young man who had his eyes closed that made them feel this way. The young man was slowly approaching them, they could easily escape if they run now but their bodies weren''t responding. The killing intent Ren was emitting was so intense that it could only be emitted by someone who has killed thousands or even more.


    The person who was closest to Ren was unable to hold it in as he started to pee and tears flowed down from his face. As Ren''s hands stretched towards him the man gritted his teeth and with all of his might he attacked Ren, but before he could hit, Ren had already grabbed hold of his head and squeezed it. The pain was severe as he struggled to break free, yet in the end, it was a fruitless effort as his head exploded and his blood and brains sttered everywhere.


    Seeing this scene of theirpanion dying such a horrible death, the Bandit Leader and his men were fully overtaken by their fear, but this time their fear did not immobilize them, instead it pushed them forward. The Bandits charged towards Ren, crying and roaring trying their best to use their superior numbers. Yet as soon as they came close Ren would grab hold of their heads and same as the first bandit were killed by him squeezing their heads.


    No matter what they did, no matter how they dodged, how they attacked, how they defended, no matter what in the end Ren''s hands would eventually reach their heads and kill them. Even if an attack were to reach Ren''s body it proved useless as Ren''s body was harder than any of their weapons. None of the Bandits except for the leader were beyond the body forging stage so they could not empower their weapons with Qi, or the so called origin energy.


    As the bandits were being killed one by one, those that had regained their senses tried to flee, but the moment they showed their backs a hand would pierce through their abdomen. It was a ughter as blood rained and fell on the desert sand.


    Mo Fan''s group watched in horror as Ren was killing off the bandits. They were now even more relieved that they listen to old man Mo Fan and didn''t do anything stupid in front of Ren. If they had made a mistake they would''ve died much more horrible deaths. On the other hand, Mo Ye who had no clue who Ren was, looked at the scene with utter confusion and terror.


    ...


    After only ten seconds, several dozen Bandits have died on the desert sand, and now only one remained. Even the Bandit Leader''s mount was killed without mercy, and right now the Bandit Leader whose strength was leagues above the rest of the bandits was doing his very best to dodge Ren''s hands. It took everything he had just to dodge and he had no room to do anything else. He knew that if this keeps up he was going to die sooner orter. After a while, the Bandit Leader then decided to take a gamble.


    "Damn it! Let''s see if you can take this!"


    The Bandit Leader roared as he gathered every ounce of his Qi into his sword. Of course, Ren wasn''t going to stop attacking as the Bandit Leader was gathering Qi. As Ren''s hands were about to reach, this time the Bandit Leader did not avoid it, instead he blocked it with his left hand. Ren had tightly grabbed hold of the Bandit Leader''s left hand and pulled it, detaching it from the Bandit Leader''s body. The pain the Bandit Leader felt was like no other but he held it in and concentrated on gathering his Qi into his weapon.


    "It''s time to die you monster!"


    The Bandit Leader swung his sword down. The sword that was filled with the Bandit Leader''s entire Qi reserves came crashing down on Ren. As he thought that victory was in his sight, the Bandit Leader smiled when his sword made contact with Ren''s head. Yet the scene where Ren was split in half never happened, instead, his weapon was the one that broke. He wasn''t even able to feel the despairing back as Ren''s hand tightly squeezed his head and killed him.


    Mo Fan and his men who had watched the entire fight could not believe that Ren was able to kill someone as strong as the Bandit Leader even while asleep.. He didn''t even wake up after receiving that full-powered attack from someone at the mid-level of the Foundation Establishment Realm. The question once again came to their minds, what kind of monster did they pick up?

 Chapter 570 - ...

    After Ren was done killing the final bandit his body remained standing for a few more seconds before falling down like a puppet that had its strings cut. Mo Fan''s group could finally breathe as they saw Ren going back to sleep. The group of people looked around and saw that the desert sand had been dyed red with blood and was filled with people''s innards. They couldn''t help but recall the horrifying massacre they just witnessed, Ren needed only one attack to kill each bandit, and no matter what the other party did they couldn''t even scratch Ren.


    Mo Fan wanted to quickly leave this ce that had an intense scent of blood all around. Usually, this much blood would''ve attracted predators but with Ren''s deterrence that wasn''t a problem. What was problematic was Mo Fan and the others were too frightened to approach Ren. They knew that Ren wouldn''t attack them, but after witnessing such carnage they dare not risk it.


    "What should we do now?"


    One of Mo Fan''s men whispered. Seeing the anxiety in his men''s faces Mo Fan sighed. Even though he was a little reluctant he and his men could not continue their journey in their current mental states.


    "We will camp out a few meters away from here."


    "How about him?"


    The one who spoke didn''t even dare point nor look at the person he was talking about, but everyone knew who it was.


    "We will leave him here for now and return tomorrow. Any beast thates near him will be torn to shreds so we have no need to defend him."


    The group collectively sighed when they heard what Mo Fan said. They then distanced themselves from Ren and set up camp. Once they were done setting up, Mo Ye could no longer hold in his curiosity.


    "Who is that monster, why is he with you guys?" Mo Ye asked while looking in the direction where they left Ren''s unconscious body. The others look at each other and in the end, Mo Fan was the one who exined the situation.


    ...


    "So he''s that powerful? He actually defeated that Sand Dragon and ate it... Surely he should be at least in the Nascent Soul Realm the same as the Ancestor, so then why does he need to sleep?"


    "We aren''t sure as well. Even though he''s currently absorbing a ton of Qi, I feel like he remains a mortal."


    "How is that possible, how can a mortal absorb Qi? Shouldn''t his body have changed once he started gathering Qi?"


    "That''s what I don''t understand as well... Still, while I was carrying him I''m sure that I didn''t feel a cultivator''s aura on him, that would eliminate the possibility that he''s a demon or divine beast that took human form. I then thought he was some kind of deity from the lower realms, but he wasn''t that as well, nor was he one of the Gods. Despite everything we had seen him do, he is a hundred percent mortal. He didn''t even use any Qi despite constantly absorbing it, instead, he used the energy that they used in the lower realms."


    "So that''s what that was, I was wondering why I couldn''t feel any Qi from his attacks."


    "... Despite using such an impure form of spiritual energy he dealt with that fifth stage Foundation Establishment realm cultivator like he was a child."


    "A mortal man with the strength of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator. I can''t even grasp what kind of existence that is." Mo Ye held his forehead feeling a bit dizzy.


    "It''s not just his strength, you didn''t see it back then but when he fought the Sand Dragon the sword technique he used was beyond words. It looked like a simple sword sh, but it was something more profound than that. Even the top Sword Cultivators in Swallow City shouldn''t be able topare to him in terms of swordsmanship."


    "So not only is his strength top ss, but even his techniques are powerful. Who is this person, someone so powerful shouldn''t be some unknown guy... Is it really alright for us to bring him back to the city?"


    The group suddenly became silent when that question was asked. They each looked at each other their anxiety visible on their faces. As the invisible tension was rising, Mo Fan suddenly spoke.


    "I won''t deny that he is dangerous, and bringing him back to the city might prove to be our downfall, but it could also be an opportunity. Even though he acted that way, he did warn us about it. So he''s not some mindless beast that kills everyone on sight, and he did save us twice now. If we y this right, we might gain a powerful ally for our n. Not to mention have you guys forgotten what I said before, the alternative of not bringing him to the city might not end well for us as well. If by chance this Senior finds Swallow City on his own and finds us, he might not hesitate to kill the ungrateful b*stards that left him in the desert after saving their lives."


    When the group heard what Mo Fan said, they imagined Ren''s anger if they leave him here. He would surely kill them in a more gruesome way than the way he killed the Bandits. They shivered in fear at the mere thought of Ren''s vengeance.


    "... If you put it that way, we really don''t have a choice."


    "Yeah..." Mo Fan suddenly realized something and took out a pen and paper. He started to write something on it, once he was done he took out a seal and marked the letter.


    "Mo Yan, you''re the fastest among us. You head back first and deliver this letter to the Patriarch."


    "What is this?"


    "Basically it''s a letter exining our current circumstance. The n needs to prepare itself for the Senior''s arrival. Since we''re near the Teleportation Array now, it should take you half a day to reach it with your speed."


    Mo Yan held the letter tightly, nodded his head, and sprinted away. Seeing Mo Yan''s fading silhouette Mo Fan felt a little worried. His position in the n wasn''t high enough to make any decisions regarding Ren, so he sent the letter just in case.


    ''I hope, the n makes the right decision....''

 Chapter 571 - Mo Clan

    "It has been a few weeks now since Mo Fan and his group left to find the spiritual ore Mo Feng needs to forge the perfect weapon for him. Mo Feng needs that weapon if he wants to show his worth in theing Sect recruitment of the Void Sect. As long as he''s able to get a good position in the Void Sect the future of the Mo n is secured... First Elder, in your opinion, what do you think happened to them?" The Patriarch of the Mo n, Mo Han spoke to the person sitting in front of him while drinking his tea.


    "Even though most of that group were weaklings in the Spirit Gathering Realm, Old Fan, is a Foundation Establishment Realm expert and a very loyal member of the n. If I remember correctly the Mordian Desert has beasts that were at most in the Spirit Gathering Realm, and even if they meet Bandits they should be able to easily deal with them. So I think it could just be that it was harder to find the Spiritual Ore than we expected. Still... The Sect recruitment of the Void Sect is nearing, so if they don''t arrive in the next week, it would be better to send someone to find them."


    "I guess that would be the best thing to do at the moment." As if it was nned someone came into the room after the Patriarch said those words.


    "Forgive my intrusion Patriarch, First Elder, but, one of Mo Fan''s men hase back."


    "What of the others?"


    "He''s the only one who returned, and he wants to report something to the Patriarch."


    When the Patriarch heard what the messenger said he and the First Elder were truly surprised, especially the First Elder. It was like a p to the face for the First Elder as he just basically said that it should be alright with Mo Fan present. Now it was possible that the group had encountered some trouble that even someone of Mo Fan''s level could not handle.


    "Very well, bring him in." Mo Han spoke in a solemn tone.


    ...


    A few secondster Mo Yan entered the room, when he saw the First Elder and the Patriarch he quickly knelt on the ground.


    "Greetings, Patriarch, First Elder."


    "Skip the formalities, just tell me what happened. Where are Old Fan and the others?"


    "Patriarch, Sir Mo Fan is still in the desert but he had ordered me to head back first to pass you this letter."


    Mo Yan quickly handed the letter to Mo Han without raising his head. Mo Han took the letter and started reading it, the more he read the weirder the expression on his face became. The First Elder who was standing beside him noticed Mo Han''s weird expression and could not help but ask.


    "What''s the problem, did something happen?" Instead of answering the First Elder''s question, Mo Han handed the letter to him. After reading the letter the First Elder frowned.


    "Tell me exactly what happened, tell me every detail that you remember."


    Mo Yan quickly recounted everything that happened to him and the group, from the desperate battle against the Sand Dragon, to how Ren defeated the group of Bandits while asleep. The more Mo Han listened the deeper the frown on his face became.


    "This person should be at least in the Nascent Soul Realm, the same as the Ancestor. First Elder, what do you think?"


    "It is also possible that this person is a genius in the Golden Core Realm that could fight a nearly adult Dragon. Either way, this is someone our family shouldn''t provoke."


    "That''s true, also he did help out Old Fan and the others in securing the necessary Spiritual Ore that Mo Feng needed. We should wee him to our n with open arms. Inform the others to prepare for our guest''s arrival."


    Hearing Mo Han''smand Mo Yan quickly left the room to inform the others.


    ...


    After a while, everyone in the Mo n knew of what happened to Mo Fan''s group. When they heard about the expert on par with their ancestor wasing to visit they quickly started preparing a feast to wee their distinguished guest. As the people in the Mo n were busying themselves happy to hear of Mo Fan and his group''s survival, there were some that were not in such a good mood when they heard that Mo Fan''s group had survived.


    "Damn it, those b*stards failed to kill Mo Fan and his men! We paid them so much but they were useless!" A young man shouted as he pounded on a table shattering it.


    "Calm yourself, Mo Wei."


    "But Father, now that Mo Fan had survived and acquired that Spiritual Ore, that b*stard Mo Feng would gain a powerful weapon making him stronger than ever. Howe that b*stard is so lucky?! Not only is he considered the genius of the n and gets all the resources he wants, he even has Ying Yue''s affection. Even though he''s just the son of a lowly servant, howe he gets to have everything!"


    "Yes this has been an utter failure but it doesn''t mean that we won''t have other opportunities. In fact, the more Mo Feng gains the more you will receive." Hearing what his father said Mo Wei was able to calm himself down.


    "You''re right father."


    "Good boy, still the news of Mo Fan''s survival was a little shocking, but what I''m truly interested in is this expert that saved Mo Fan''s group."


    "Do you truly believe that Mo Fan was able to meet such an expert?"


    "It should be true, seeing as Mo Fan was able to survive the Bandit trap we prepared for him. Now if this person truly defeated a near-adult Sand Dragon with a single attack then he should be at the same level of power as the Ancestor, even if he''s not he should be extremely close to it."


    "Really?... Then what should we do, father?"


    "No matter if this person is a true Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator or a powerful Golden Core Realm one, we should befriend him before Mo Feng and his allies get to him."


    "What if we fail and he joins Mo Feng''s side?"


    "It would be a shame to lose such a powerful ally, but it doesn''t really matter. As long as you are able to enter the Void Sect and do as we nned then everything we desire will be given to us.. For now, all you need to do is not do anything stupid."

 Chapter 572 - A Single Thought

    The following day arrived and Mo Fan alongside his men headed to where they left Ren. Upon arriving it was as they expected, Ren was still asleep and his body was unharmed. Usually, the blood and dead bodies would''ve attracted some of the demon beasts in the area, but with Ren present none of them dared to get close.


    Even though they had already calmed down from yesterday''s events it was still a little unnerving to see it again. It wasn''t like this was their first time witnessing a massacre, as it was normal in the upper nes to have conflicts, the rise and fall of ns and sect happens every other day, yet for some reason, this scene was more frightening than any of their past experiences.


    It wasn''t that what they saw was the most brutal or even the most kills, but the feeling Ren gave them as he killed those people. It wasn''t just an elephant stepping on an ant, it was something more, it was something different.


    Despite the fear that was enveloping him, Mo Fan approached the unconscious Ren and once again carried him. When the others saw that Ren did not attack they felt relieved. The group then continued on their journey towards the Teleportation array.


    It only took the group a few hours to reach the teleportation array and after paying for its usage they directly teleported to the nearest Teleportation Array near Swallow City. From there it took another hour before they finally reached their destination.


    ...


    Swallow City was ssified as a mid-tier city and had many ns in it. The top ns within the city were the three ns, the Mo n, the Xue n, and the Teng n. Each of these ns had a Nascent Soul Stage expert protecting them. Yet even then the Mo n was considered the strongest since their Ancestor was a Fourth Realm Nascent Soul Stage fighter, stronger than the Ancestors of the other two ns by one stage.


    The level of technology the city had was a mix of old and new. Unlike Ren''s world where they already had trains and cars, this one still uses horses and wild beasts as their mode of transportation. Still, the wild beasts in this world were faster than even the fastest cars in the lower realms.


    There were also flying ships in this world but the energy they use was different, and not only can these flying ships fly through the sky but the better ones could actually jump through dimensions.


    Also even though this was supposedly a higher ne of existence than the lower realm, the number of cultivators, Gods, World Deities, was lower than the number of mortal men and women. The difference between Ren and the other mortals here was that Ren ascended from the lower realm with his own power, while the mortals here were born in the higher nes.


    ...


    Mo Fan and the others were just outside the city but were unsure if they should go in or not. They truly wanted to quickly head back to the n but they were afraid that something might happen before they reach the ce.


    Swallow city wasn''t thatrge a cepared to other mid-tier cities, but they were many people in it, and Mo Fan was unsure if someone might identally provoke the sleeping Ren. Even if they don''t directly provoke him, what if Ren felt an inkling of killing intent and reflexively kill that person.


    "We''ll stay outside, for now, Mo Ye you head back first and inform them of our current predicament."


    "Leave it to me." Mo Ye left with a smile on his face, he felt relieved since he could finally escape from the frightening man that was asleep.


    ...


    A few hourster Mo Ye returned alongside five others. These men were pirs of the Mo n, the Patriarch, and the four elders. The only one missing in the line-up was the Ancestor who was currently in close door cultivation.


    Seeing the leaders of the Mo n present Mo Fan and his group quickly knelt on the ground.


    "Greeting Patriarch! Greetings First, Second, Third, and Fourth Elder!" The group spoke in unison.


    "So is that the person I''ve heard so much about?" The Patriarch asked as he looked at the unconscious Ren.


    "Yes, Patriarch." Mo Fan quickly answered.


    The Patriarch and the four Elders looked at Ren curiously. After a quick probe, they were surprised to learn that Ren was gathering so much Qi into his body even while sleeping. Not to mention that Ren''s body was still that of a mortal, it hasn''t even gone through the body forging stage.


    "Did he really singlehandedly kill a Sand Dragon nearing adulthood?" The First Elder asked quite curious about Ren''s background.


    "Yes, First Elder, me and my men have all seen it happen."


    "Is this true?"


    "Yes." Mo Fan''s group responded all at once.


    "This boy has obviously some kind of secret within his body, to be able to gather so much Qi while still being a mortal."


    The Fourth Elder spoke while looking at Ren with a hint of desire in his eyes. If they could figure out what Ren''s secret was the Mo n would surely rise into greatness. For just a brief second, the Fourth Elder had thought of killing Ren and stealing whatever treasures he had. He just emitted a tiny bit of killing intent for that single second, and it was enough to trigger Ren''s reflexes.


    Ren disappeared from his previous spot and appeared before the Fourth Elder. Everyone was surprised as Ren''s hands were about to reach the Fourth Elder''s head. Mo Fan and the others, who had already witnessed what would happen if Ren touches the Fourth Elder''s head shouted.


    "Dodge!"


    The Fourth Elder was quick to react and was able to dodge the iing hand. The other Elders also moved at that time and tried to restrain Ren''s body. They all used a sealing spell to stop Ren''s movements, but to their surprise even with theirbined might they could barely stop Ren.


    "What''s happening?! Why is he attacking me?!" The Fourth Elder shouted as he helped the other Elders in restraining Ren.

 Chapter 573 - Awakening

    When Mo Fan heard what the Fourth Elder said he remembered the warning Ren gave them before he fell asleep. After exining that detail to the others, the Patriarch and the three Elders all looked at the Fourth Elder.


    "Fourth Elder, did you n to kill our guest?"


    Hearing the Patriarch''s question the Fourth Elder thought of lying at first but decided against it. He looked at the others who were waiting for his answer, he sighed before answering.


    "It was just for a brief moment, just a single second of greed, I was just thinking for the good of the n. I didn''t know that he would react in such a way."


    Even as they were conversing the unconscious Ren was trying to break through the sealing spell. The people present knew that it was just a matter of time before Ren breaks free.


    "We will talk about your offense on ater date Fourth Elder, for now, we need to do something about this situation."


    "He''s not even using any of his Qi his physical body alone is already beyond our means. At this rate, it would take around him a few hours before he''s set free and kills the Fourth Elder. I''m already consuming various potions I brought with me to replenish my Qi. We need to think of something before I lose all my potions." The Second Elder spoke while taking out another potion.


    "Usually if we couldn''t subdue him we would either restrain him or put him to sleep. Since we''re already restraining him and he''s already asleep, the only other thing I can think of to stop him is to kill him." The Third Elder suggested with a rather calm smile on his face.


    "That would be ourst resort, I don''t really like to kill the person who helped our people. We need to think of another way." The Patriarch spoke while asking the Second Elder for another Qi replenishing potion.


    "How about we try waking him up. The only reason why he''s attacking us is because the Fourth Elder emitted killing intent, and his body is reacting to it unconsciously. If he were awake he should stop, right?"


    When the others heard the First Elder''s suggestion they were dumbfounded, such a simple solution and they weren''t able to think of it.


    "So how are we going to wake him up?"


    "Maybe we should attack him. If we attack him with a force stronger than what his physical body can handle he should wake up to protect himself. Even if that doesn''t wake him up, at least if his body gets injured enough he would stop moving. As long as we don''t kill him anything goes, right?"


    "Once we do that and we fail wouldn''t he perceive us all as enemies to kill."


    "It''s better than doing nothing."


    "Alright then, Third Elder and Fourth Elder should attack him, while the others and I continue to seal him."


    "Alright, let''s do that."


    The Fourth Elder quickly agreed, on the other hand, the Third Elder wanted to say something but kept quiet and nodded his head. Once they were ready the Third Elder and Fourth Elder stopped using the sealing spell weakening it. Now that only three of them were maintaining the sealing spell, they could feel Ren breaking the spell faster than before.


    The Third Elder took out a couple of Golden Talismans and threw them at Ren, and the fourth Elder clenched his fist and punched forward emitting golden light. The talisman that the Third Elder threw summoned a barrage of lighting, which hit the unmoving Ren. At the same time as the lightning descended a giant Golden Fist had also hit the unmoving Ren.


    The three who were restraining Ren could still sense Ren struggling to break free. As the dust settled they saw that except for his torn clothes Ren was basically unharmed.


    "No choice, all of us need to attack at the same time!" Feeling that the situation was getting out of hand, the Patriarch made his decision. Even though he knew that it was the Fourth Elder''s fault he was still a part of the n and Ren was an outsider.


    Even Mo Fan who didn''t want Ren to die had no choice at this point. He and his men also got ready to attack with their strongest move. It was a good thing that the Second Elder had set up a protective array formation making so that the people outside wouldn''t notice their battle.


    The group had unleashed their strongest attacks in unison, theirbined might could even kill an early-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Yet before their attacks could reach Ren''s body they were negated. It was at that moment they felt an intense aura envelop them forcing them to kneel on the ground.


    Even the First Elder who was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm could not remain standing. They then saw Ren opening his eyes and he looked at the people standing in front of him. When Ren was looking at them the group felt an incredible dread fill their hearts. It was as if a primordial monster was looking directly at their souls wanting to devour them.


    "Did you people just try to kill me?"


    As Ren spoke each word in a frigid tone, his killing intent was rising. The force of his killing intent made the group of cultivators feel like a giant mountain was crushing down on them. They could actually feel the touch of death.


    ''How is this at the Nascent Soul Realm?! Even the Ancestor can''t emit such pressure by his aura alone.'' The Patriarch gritted his teeth as he endured.


    "Senior! Please it''s all a misunderstanding!" Mo Fan gathered up all of his strength and courage to speak. Ren then looked at him and frowned.


    "Oh, a misunderstanding is it? So you trying to kill me while I sleep is all a misunderstanding, is that it?"


    Mo Fan and the others could feel Ren''s killing intent bing more intense as they could barely hold on to their consciousness. As they thought that they would be killed, the pressure Ren was emitting disappeared. The moment the pressure was gone some of Mo Fan''s men directly fainted, Mo Fan himself was barely hanging on to his consciousness.. The Patriarch and the Elders were breathing heavily as they looked at the fearsome monster before them, unsure why he didn''t kill them.

 Chapter 574 - Two Conditions

    "So tell me what kind of misunderstanding did you have, that made you attack me? If your answer isn''t satisfactory then your lives are forfeit."


    Ren''s tone was severe as he released the pressure that was holding down the group from the Mo n. Even after the pressure was gone they did not stand up as the fear they felt was still there. Ren waited for a few minutes but none of them spoke.


    "Are you not going to say anything? Since you''re not speaking then-" Ren was about to say die but Mo Fan interrupted him.


    "I apologize, Sir, we didn''t mean to attack you. It was because of various circumstances that we were forced to do what we did."


    Mo Fan started to exin what happened while Ren was asleep. He tried his very best to exin everything without fumbling. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that the words he spoke now would decide the life and death of the Mo n.


    While Mo Fan was telling his tale to Ren, The Patriarch and the Four Elders weremunicating via telepathy.


    ''That person is a monster disguised as a mortal! That pressure he was emitting was something I have never felt before.'' The Second Elder screamed internally.


    ''I was already expecting him to be stronger when he''s awake, but this is beyond what I was expecting. His flesh alone was able to fight against all of us, and now his aura alone could suppress all of us. If he decides to kill us all, the only way to survive is if we ask the Ancestor to intervene.'' Despite sounding calm on the outside, the First Elder was the most shocked by what happened.


    ''... It''s not as simple as you think... Even if we call upon the Ancestor''s help we might not be able to win...''


    When the others heard what the Patriarch, Mo Han said they became silent. They did not doubt Mo Han''s words since among the five of them the closest to the Ancestor was Mo Han. Seeing as Mo Han''s cultivation was on the verge of bing a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, he was also considered the strongest member of the n not counting the Ancestor. So what he says had weight and could not be ignored.


    ''Then what should we do?''


    ''If he decides to kill us the only thing we can do is retreat back to the n and activate the Protective Array Formation. Even if he''s at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, the Protective Array Formation of the n should be able to withstand his onught.''


    ''So that''s the n hide inside the n, for how long?''


    ''Surely even he would give up after a couple of decades.''


    As the Patriarch and Elders were having their discussion, Mo Fan was nearly done telling Ren everything that happened during his sleep. Once he was done Mo Fan pounded his head onto the ground as he spoke with the utmost sincerity.


    "Sir, please forgive us for what we have done. If you truly need to take a life, I shall take responsibility and offer up mine, but please spare the others." Mo Fan took out his sword and was ready to kill himself but Ren raised his hand stopping him.


    "There''s no need for that. Also you five you''ve beenmunicating using some sort of spell since a while ago, don''t think I haven''t noticed."


    When Mo Han and the Elders heard what Ren said they stopped their telepathy and knelt on the ground.


    "Sir, we apologize if that has offended you." The five were quick to act and actually responded in a synchronized way.


    "Fine, I ept your apologies I just found it a little rude since I was in the middle of deciding your fates. Now I have my verdict."


    The group from the Mo n held their breaths as they waited. This was a new feeling for the Patriarch and the four Elders as they had always been the ones to give their judgment on others. Even when they were younger they were already of high status so there was none that was able to do this to them.


    "I will spare your lives, but I have two conditions."


    When they heard Ren''s verdict the members of the Mo n sighed in relief.


    "What do you need from us?"


    "Don''t worry the two conditions are quite simple to fulfill. The first condition is you guys need to give me a ce to stay and provide me with my daily necessities."


    "We will offer you the best we can provide." Mo Han felt relieved that the first condition was a rather simple one.


    "Okay, the second condition is, I want you to bring me to the strongest person in the vicinity."


    When the members of the Mo n heard the second condition they were shocked. The strongest person in the vicinity was obviously their Ancestor. Why did this person want to meet the Ancestor?


    "Is there a problem?" Hearing Ren''s voice the members of the Mo n woke up from their dazed states.


    "Umm... Sir, I''m sorry but I have to ask, why do you need to meet the strongest person in the vicinity?"


    "It''s to challenge him to a duel, of course."


    Ren was amused as he looked at the reactions of the members of Mo n to what he said. He could already guess that the supposed strongest person in the vicinity should be someone they know.


    "Sir, I-" Mo Han was about to say that he was the strongest person in the vicinity but before he could say it, Ren had raised his hand.


    "I''m going to warn you just once, so listen carefully. Do not take me for a fool, and lie to me."


    Ren''s tone was filled with killing intent, which made Mo Han shudder, he then saw, Ren, looking at him with his deep dark eyes. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, not only him but his entire n would perish.


    "Sir, please, I will grant any other condition except for that one! I beg of you, please change the second condition!" The Patriarch bowed his head.


    "Please, Sir!" The other members of the Mo n spoke as they too bowed their heads.

 Chapter 575 Meeting

    Ren found it rather amusing that despite being bathed by his killing intent these people did not tell him what he wanted to hear. He also noticed that five of the people present were stronger than those people from the lower realm, well if you were not counting those people close to him. The original incarnation then answered the question in his mind.


    ''It''s not surprising the average strength in the upper nes are higher than those of the lower worlds. In here even the weakest mortal is as strong as a normal adventurer in the world you were in. Here the world limit does not exist, so theoretically you can grow infinitely. Well even if we were in the lower world as the Strongest Mortal Soul for as long as you are alive you will continue to grow stronger.''


    After hearing the original incarnation''s exnation Ren was excited not that he could grow stronger, but the fact that the people here are stronger. That would mean the people he could challenge in this new ce were numerous. In this ce, he had almost an unending supply of ymates.


    ...


    While Ren was having a conversation with the original incarnation, the people from the Mo n were waiting for his response. Seeing how deeply Ren was thinking they thought that he would agree to their request. After a few moments, Ren finally spoke to them.


    "I understand that you''re trying to protect this person, but you don''t have to worry about me fighting him. I won''t kill him or anything, I just want to spar with someone strong. As long as the other person doesn''t offend me, I usually don''t kill my opponents."


    "So you aren''t willing to change your second condition?"


    "No, I won''t change my second condition, I would still like to meet the strongest person near here... Still, it''s like I said there is no need to worry I won''t kill anyone I just want to have a little spar. Also even if you guys don''t tell me who it is, I can just ask another person, I''m sure someone in that city is willing to tell me what I want to know."


    The people from the Mo n could not say anything to that, they knew that even if they were able to postpone Ren from meeting the Ancestor, that was just dying the inevitable. Mo Han and the Four Elders look at each other and after a while, Mo Han sighed.


    "Alright, we agree to your conditions."


    "Now was that too hard? So then, let''s get going."


    "Are we going now, shouldn''t you rest a bit more, Sir?"


    "I already rested for a few days, so let''s go already."


    Seeing the excited expression on Ren''s face, the people from the Mo n finally understood what kind of person Ren was. The man before them who had a mortal body but the strength of a powerful cultivator was a battle-hungry individual. This type of person only had one fate and that was death from battle. No matter how strong, nor how talented one who seeks battle all the time, will only find his end in battle.


    "Very well, please follow us, back to the n."


    Mo Han and the Four Elders took out their swords, stepped on them, and flew through the sky. Once they did this and were already halfway to the n, they remembered that despite being overly powerful the person following them was a mortal. Is he even able to fly?


    They then turned around and saw Ren flying in the sky without using a sword. Seeing him do this, they were now even more sure that Ren''s capabilities were simr to a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator as only those that step on that realm could freely fly in the sky without the use of a sword or some other medium.


    "What are you waiting for, continue onward." Hearing Ren''s voice the group nodded their heads and continued onward.


    ...


    Mo Fan and his group looked at the fading silhouettes of Ren, the Patriarch, and the Four Elders. Seeing them disappear in the sky Mo Fan and his team fell on their butts as they sighed in relief.


    "Finally it''s over, we''re finally free of that monster."


    "That was the most torturous experience in my life."


    "Is it really okay to bring that monster back to the n?"


    "What choice do we have, if the Patriarch and Elders didn''t do as he wanted we''ll all be dead."


    "Maybe we should''ve just died from the Sand Dragon instead of bringing such a cmity to the n."


    ...


    While Mo Fan''s group was still airing their grievances Mo Han''s group had arrived at a mountain peak. Seeing the snowy mountain peak reminded Ren of the ce were he sealed Tsukiko. As he was approaching the peak of the mountain he noticed a very powerful surge of energy gathering into a single position.


    When Ren saw the man gathering all this energy his battle intent rose to unprecedented levels. Since the person was using the Origin energy that he was unfamiliar with he could not discern his strength but he knew thatpared to the Patriarch and Elders that person was in another league.


    ''Now that I also have this Origin Energy or as the natives call it spiritual Qi, I want to test it out, this guy should be a suitable opponent.''


    As the groupnded on the peak of the mountain the man who was in a lotus position continued to meditate and didn''t bother to greet them.


    "Sir, this is the Ancestor of our Mo n. He''s currently in a deep meditative state and has isted his senses from the outside world."


    "Oh is that so?... How about I try something, let''s see if he responds to this."


    Ren then emitted an oppressive force that was unlike the one he had shown them before. The Patriarch and the Four Elders could barely remain conscious. After a few seconds, the Ancestor of the Mo n opened his eyes. What greeted him upon waking from his meditative state was his great-great-grandson and his juniors were on the floor barely clinging to consciousness, and a young man smiling viciously at him.

 Chapter 576 Sudden Battle

    The Ancestor of the Mo n was at first bewildered by the scene before him. The moment he opened his eyes he saw his descendants on the floor unable to stand, and an unknown man looking at him with a vicious smile on his face.


    "Who are you, and what have you''ve done to my descendants?"


    "I''ll get straight to the point, I''m Ren and I''vee here to challenge you to battle." Ren pointed at the Ancestor whose anger was getting worse by the second.


    "You dare barge into my n, harm my descendants, and have the audacity to challenge me?! Are you seeking your demise?"


    "Heh, with your level I don''t think you''re able to bring me my demise."


    ? Seeing how confident Ren was, the Ancestor of the Mo n use his spiritual sense to see what realm Ren was in, but to his surprise, he found out that Ren was just a mortal. Still, there was something weird going on with Ren, he wasn''t sure what it was.


    The Ancestor of the Mo n didn''t notice that the spiritual Qi in the surrounding area was no longer gathering around him but towards Ren. Since they were so close to each other and the Qi was abundant he was unable to see what was happening.


    "You''re just a mortal man, how did you do this to my descendants? Did you poison them?"


    "I''ll answer all your questions if you defeat me in battle."


    When Mo Han heard what Ren said, he wanted to say something to stop the misunderstanding but before he could open his mouth the pressure he felt intensified. Ren had noticed what Mo Han was about to do and stopped him.


    ''You guys better sleep, for now, I don''t want you ruining this for me.'' Ren then used a mental attack making Mo Han and the Four Elders faint. When the Ancestor of the Mo n saw that his five descendants suddenly fainting he was enraged.


    "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The Ancestor of the Mo n roared his Qi and blood rapidly circted in his body. The Ancestor of the Mo n then took out a saber from what looked like his ring. When Ren saw this he was quite intrigued.


    ''Is that ring simr to the item box Sora, and Hayate uses.'' As Ren was curiously eyeing the storage ring, the Ancestor of the Mo n pointed his saber at Ren.


    "Speak, mortal, or else I''ll slice off your limbs, you won''t need those to speak."


    The killing intent of the Ancestor of the Mo n filled each word he spoke. Ren then started cracking his knuckles as the smile on his face became even more vicious-looking than before.


    "Heh, you cane and try."


    Ren made a mocking gesture toe at him. No longer able to hold it in, the Ancestor of the Mo n, swung his saber. The distance between him and Ren was about twenty meters normally swinging his saber at Ren from such a distance would do nothing, but this was different. Ren felt something heavy hit him on the shoulders.


    Ren was already expecting such a thing to happen, but he wasn''t expecting the attack to be so powerful. If he hadn''t adjusted his stance Ren would''ve already knelt on the ground.


    Ren wasn''t the only one surprised, even the Ancestor of the Mo n was rather shocked. He was nning to cut off Ren''s right arm with that sh of his but it ultimately did nothing.


    ''How is the body of this mortal so strong?... It doesn''t matter let''s see how long his body canst. If one sh isn''t enough then I''ll attack with ten, if ten isn''t enough I''ll attack with a hundred.''


    The Ancestor of the Mo n once again raised his saber and started making shing movements. This time Ren was prepared for it, but still didn''t evade nor guarded he simply strengthened his stance.


    The wave of saber shes came at him like a storm each sh aimed at his limbs. Yet the result of the attack was the same as before.


    "Is that it, is that all you got? It seems that I won''t even need to do anything for you to lose."


    Ren shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. Seeing him being provoked so much the Ancestor of the Mo n was now angered to his limit. He stood up from his spot and the aura from his body rose.


    "You should''ve obediently answered my questions, now there is no turning back. Let''s see if you''re able to keep that smug smile of yours after you received my [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes]."


    The Ancestor of the Mo n stepped forward and appeared a meter away from Ren, and then faster than the eye could blink, the Ancestor of the Mo n initiated his technique. It was a blinding torrent of saber shes that normal people wouldn''t even be able to see the blurs.


    At the beginning of the technique, the strength of the shes was the same as the previous attacks in which Ren did not bother to defend himself, but then each attack suddenly increased in speed and strength. Ren was finally forced to defend himself by blocking the saber attacks with the palm of his hands.


    As the attack kept on going not only the speed and strength of the attack was increasing, but even the sharpness of the saber was also increasing. At some point, the strength and speed were already at a level that could actually harm Ren.


    From a physical standpoint, the overall speed and strength of the Ancestor of the Mo n even after using that technique were beneath the New God Ren fought, but his techniques were leagues above the New God Khalos. After a while, Ren started getting little nicks here and there and had some blood flowing out of him. This just made Ren excited as the smile on his face grew wider and wider.


    On the other hand, the Ancestor of the Mo n was surprised to see Ren able tost so long. It was at that moment, Ren suddenly stopped defending and started to counterattack.

 Chapter 577 Sudden Intrusion

    The moment Ren started to counterattack the Ancestor of the Mo n felt pressured. Ren''s body was as hard as a treasured de, and each of his attacks was powerful. Still, that didn''t stop the Ancestor of the Mo n''s flow as his technique continued to strengthen itself.


    The technique the Ancestor of the Mo n was using the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] was something he found when he was younger. Back then he stumbled upon an inheritance site where he was found the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes]. After learning the basics of the technique his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds.


    The [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] had now be his signature move. The technique uses a set of forms that make each strike more powerful than thest, in theory, the longer the flow of the technique the stronger it gets and it could go on indefinitely, that is as long as you can pour the amount of Qi needed to continue such a move. The stronger the Sabre sh bes the more Qi it needed, butpared to other Sabre Techniques the Qi needed to use the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] was low.


    So aside from practicing the different forms of the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes], the Ancestor of the Mo n also focused on increasing his Qi reserve. In fact,pared to other people in the same realm as him, the Qi reserves of the Ancestor of the Mo n were abnormallyrge.


    Usually, as long as he kept on using the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] at some point the opponent would sumb to the increase in strength and losses before the Ancestor of the Mo n even uses half of his Qi reserves. Even when he was facing the Ancestors of the Xue n and Teng n who were his peers would sumb to the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique.


    Yet today while facing this unknown young man he felt like his Qi reserves would finally be depleted. Despite knowing this the Ancestor of the Mo n had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue using the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique.


    He had other techniques that he could use, but in singlebat, no other technique could match the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes]. So the only option now was to continue onward and use the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique until it gets strong enough to beat his opponent.


    He had faith in his technique but in the back of his mind, he had a dark thought that he wouldn''t win. Despite Ren being unable to hit him and was now bleeding all over, it felt like he was not winning. He couldn''t understand it as the fight went on, his [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique should be growing stronger, but then why was Ren''s ability to dodge his attacks bing better?


    "Hahaha! Incredible, this technique of yours is truly something else. It''s so weird, it''s not like you yourself are improving with your own abilities, but for some reason, this attack of yours is automatically improving your abilities on its own. I wonder what are the principles behind it? Come show me more, let me see what more you can do with this technique!"


    Ren was getting extremely excited as the Ancestor of the Mo n''s attack was nearing a speed and strength that could fatally wound him. It was at that moment, he noticed that the Qi reserves of the Ancestor of the Mo n were nearing empty. Ren didn''t want to end this battle just yet, as he wanted to see if the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique could still continue to grow.


    ...


    While Ren was contemting what to do next to make the battle go a step further, the Ancestors of the Xue n and the Teng n appeared outside the mountain were Ren and The Ancestor of the Mo n were battling.


    "You''re here as well, Xue Jing."


    "Of course, the moment I felt his Qi bursting out I immediately came. To think that there was someone strong enough to make that b*stard use so much strength... So, Teng Yi, you didn''t juste here to have a look?"


    "Heh, it''s obvious that we had the same idea."


    "Hmph, this is a good opportunity."


    "Still, I wonder what kind of opponent Mo Sheng is fighting."


    "Let''s get closer and see if we can team up with this unknown person to finish off, Mo Sheng."


    ...


    Ren who was evading the strikes of Mo Sheng felt the presence of the two individuals that were close to the same level as his opponent Mo Sheng.


    ''Oh, are they perhaps reinforcements? If so, then this fight might get even more interesting.'' Ren then saw two men stepping foot at the mountain peak where he and Mo Sheng were fighting on.


    Mo Sheng noticed the two neers and frowned, he didn''t want to stop the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] technique now, but when he saw the two he had no choice but to back away. Ren had a look of disappointment as Mo Sheng disengaged, still Ren did not press his attack and stood motionless wanting to see what will happen next. Seeing that Ren wasn''t going to interrupt him while he spoke, Mo Sheng faced the two neers.


    "Xue Jing, Teng Yi, what are you two doing here?"


    "Old Mo we came to see what kind of opponent could push you to such a degree. What a surprise to see that it was a mortal man that did it. I wonder what secrets this little brother has on him." Xue Jing smiled as he looked at Ren curiously.


    "If that''s all you two want, then you better scram, or do you want me to teach you two another lesson?"


    "Oh, such big talk from someone who''s already breathing so heavily." Teng Yi showed a simr smile as Xue Jing as he spoke, he then look in Ren''s direction. "Little brother, it seems that there is some bad blood between you and old man Mo, if you want we can help you finish him off, what do you say?"

 Chapter 578 Not Following The Script

    Teng Yi was sure that this mortal man fighting with Mo Sheng would agree to team up with them, even Xue Jin felt the same way, yet instead of answering him, Ren looked at them weirdly.


    ''Why is he looking at me like that?... Oh, I get it, since Mo Shen is hailed as the strongest of Swallow City, this mortal doesn''t think that Xue Jin and I would be able to handle the weakened Mo Shen.''


    Teng Yi was sure that his guess was right, so to assure Ren of his confidence he showed a bright smile before he spoke.


    "Little brother I know why you''re hesitating, but do not worry, seeing how weak the current Old Mo is, even if he is hailed as the so-called strongest of Swallow City, as long as you, Brother Xue Jin, and I coborate it will be an easy victory."


    Ren was about to give an answer when Mo Shen spoke first.


    "Heh, with just you two? I can beat the two of you with one hand behind my back. So how about you two just leave while I''m feeling merciful. Still, if you want to stay then you''ll be staying here for eternity."


    As Mo Shen spoke he startedughing as the Qi in his body exploded outwards taunting Xue Jin and Teng Yi. Mo Shen''s sudden outburst made Xue Jin and Teng Yi take a step backward. Mo Shen''s momentum seem to be unstoppable which made the two neers have sudden doubts about their ns.


    ''No this is just a final bravado, I''m sure that he''s at the end of his rope!'' Xue Jin gritted his teeth as he stepped forward.


    "Hmph, who are you trying to fool Old Mo? If you were in your normal state you wouldn''t even bother giving us a chance to escape." Even though Teng Yi was sure Mo Sheng was bluffing he had taken out a talisman he made for escape.


    "Heh, you''re overthinking it, I was just in a good mood after having a bout with the little brother over there. Still, if you two think I''m bluffing then stop talking ande at me already."


    While he was talking to Xue Jin and Teng Yi, Mo Sheng had already taken a Qi restoration pill and started buying for time, until his Qi returned.


    ''Tsk, there isn''t enough time for the Qi restoration pill to take proper effect. I have only recovered a bit of my Qi, this isn''t enough to beat these two much less that young-looking mortal man.'' As Mo Sheng was trying to regain his Qi faster, Xue Jin and Teng Yi looked at each other and used a voice transmission technique.


    ''What do you think?''


    ''He might just be bluffing or buying time. Either way, that just means he''s desperate. There might not be another chance like this, so let''s take it.''


    After saying that Teng Yi took out another talisman, seeing Teng Yi ready to attack Xue Jin clenched his fist and started gathering his Qi into them. When Mo Sheng saw the two get into fighting stances he sighed in his mind as he tightly grasped his treasured Sabre.


    "I see you guys made your choice. You two should''ve taken the chance to leave when I was being generous. Now let''s see who among us will die today!"


    As the three Nascent Soul Realm experts were about to start fighting, they suddenly felt an intense feeling of dread. They knew that what they were feeling right now was killing intent. This was the first time they had sensed such horrifying killing intent, that could even make the three of them who had centuries of experience feel fear. The trio then looked where the source of the killing intent wasing from. To their surprise, it was the young mortal man, who had a vicious smile on his face.


    "Did you three seriously forget about me?"


    "..."


    The three Nascent Soul Realm experts could not say a word in response as they were all stunned by Ren''s overwhelming killing intent. Xue Jin and Teng Yi were truly bewildered by what they were feeling. The two then had a simr questione into their minds, how could a mortal man have such frightening killing intent?


    Seeing that the three Nascent Soul Realm experts look like they had no n on responding made Ren sigh. He then scratched his head before speaking.


    "You two were such letdowns. I thought that you twoing here would make it a little more exciting, as you would team up with that guy over there, but not only did you not do that but you actually invited me to fight alongside you. If that wasn''t bad enough you actually forgot about me midway. I really thought that you two woulde here and be like. Old Mo we''vee to back you up, allow us to help you defeat this powerful foe. That''s what I thought you were going to say. Why are you two not following the script?"


    ''Aren''t you the one not following the script?! You were supposed to be a normal mortal man with some secret treasure!'' Xue Jin and Teng Yi shouted in their minds.


    "*sigh*, You two have spoiled my mood. I was having fun fighting this guy, and I wanted to see how far he could take that Sabre technique of his. Now not only did you disrupt his technique ruining it, but you didn''t evene here to help. I''m no longer in the mood to fight." Ren sighed again as he looked at Mo Sheng.


    "Hey you, what was your name?" Ren stopped emitting his killing intent as he asked this question.


    "... I''m Mo Sheng..."


    "Alright, so Mo Shen long story short I helped these nsmen of yours so they owe me. They brought me here under my request, also I didn''t harm any of them they just fainted from the pressure of my aura. I wasn''t nning on hurting you and your nsmen in the first ce, I just wanted to have a little battle with you."


    Mo Sheng looked at Ren dumbfounded by what he heard. He wasn''t expecting the story to be like that. After Ren was done talking to Mo Sheng he shifted his attention to the two interlopers.


    "As for you two, even though you didn''t mean it, you''ve put me in a foul mood. I was nning on killing you two swiftly but I''ve changed my mind."


    This was the first time Xue Jin and Teng Yi met a person that casually said that he was going to kill them as if it was the easiest thing to do. Even their greatest rival Mo Sheng wouldn''t be able to kill them with such ease as the mortal (?) man was making it out to be. The worst part about it was that the two of them couldn''t feel angry by the mortal (?) man''s arrogance since even they felt what he said was true.


    "... So are you going to let us go?..." Teng Yi cautiously asked as he tightly held his escape talisman ready to use it at any time.


    "Since you guys did disturb my fun, you need topensate me somehow. So I will let you two go but only after we y a little game."

 Chapter 579 A Game

    Teng Yi and Xue Jin felt a shiver down their spines when they heard what Ren said. They looked at each other seeing the subtle fear in their eyes.


    ''What kind of game is this person going to make us do?''


    ''Is he going to make us kill each other and whoever wins gets to live?''


    ''He could also make us into his ves if we lose.''


    The two of them had simr thoughts as they had done these kinds of things before to other people, but now they were the ones on the receiving end. It has been centuries since they werest humiliated like this. Yet despite their shame and anger, they could not say anything against Ren.


    On the other hand, Mo Sheng was dumbfounded by the scene before him. Even now he was still trying to process what Ren said. So in short everything he did was just for Ren''s amusement. Even though he took that battle seriously, even willing to sacrifice his life to avenge his descendants, yet to his opponent that was nothing more than them ying.


    The three waited for Ren to continue what he was going to say but he seems to be too deep in thought. Usually, one would think that this was the best time for them to flee, as the opponent was distracted but the Ancestors of the Xue and Teng ns knew that wasn''t the case here. Their instincts were telling them that the moment they try to flee from Ren would only result in their deaths.


    In fact, every time Teng Yi was about to use his life-saving escape talisman, he noticed that Ren would look at him. If it was just once it would''ve been a coincidence, but even while deep in thought Ren would still nce at him every time he thought of using it.


    Even Xue Jin who had a technique that should''ve assured him that he could escape was unusable at the moment.


    As they continued to wait for Ren to tell them how they can survive, their anxieties grew. Normally in front of their descendants, they would act like wizened sages that have seen the truth of life. They would even say things like seeing how prosperous their ns were they felt like they could die without regrets. They believed that they were not afraid of death, but the moment the time hade they felt desperate and afraid. In the end, the longer a person has lived the more that person doesn''t want to die. After a while, Teng Yi could no longer wait and spoke to Ren.


    "What kind of game are we going to y?"


    "Hmm, oh, I''m still thinking about it. Normally I would''ve said something like you cane and attack me in any way you like and if you''re able to somehow wound me it''s your win. Yet after seeing you two, that game wouldn''t work."


    "Why is that?"


    "It wouldn''t be fair if that was to be our game since you would certainly lose. I''ve seen the way you guys move and I''m pretty sure of what fighting styles you use. You over there should be someone that likes to use spells, and the other guy should be a fist-fighter. Unfortunately, neither your fists nor your spells would be able to even prate my flesh. Also, based on your conversation with the Ancestor of the Mo n, it means you''re weaker than him, then I can assume that you two don''t have any technique that could match up to his saber technique. The only other way for you to harm me is if you at least have a divine-ranked weapon. So do you have something like that?''''


    Every word that Ren said had damaged Xue Jin and Teng Yi''s pride, yet even then they could not refute what Ren said. The two could only shake their heads in response.


    Even though Ren had already anticipated it seeing them shaking their heads he was a little disappointed. Ren sighed as he started thinking again about what to do with these two.


    "I got it, instead of you attacking me, I''ll be the one attacking you." The moment Ren said those words, Xue Jin and Teng Yi had this weird expression on their faces.


    "So in the end you''re just going to kill us."


    "All this talk about being fair and giving us a chance was just a farce, a cruel joke to give us hope then take it away."


    "Whoah, the two of you misunderstood. Of course, I''m not going to attack you at full power. I will be only flicking your foreheads."


    "That''s all, you just want to flick our foreheads?"


    "Yeah, just one forehead flick and if you survive you can leave."


    "If we survive?"


    "Don''t underestimate me, even flicking your foreheads with my finger can be deadly. So you two better prepare yourselves and use any means at your disposal to survive my forehead flick. So who between you two wants to go first?" After Ren asked this question Xue Jin took a step forward.


    "I''ll go first." ''I''ll show this arrogant brat not to underestimate me.'' Xue Jin took a defensive stance as he strengthened his body with his Qi.


    "Are you ready? You better use everything you got now so you don''t regret itter." Ren spoke as he approached Xue Jin.


    "I know that I''m weaker than you but do not look down on me so much. My n focuses on body tempering, and among all the ns in the entire Swallow City, my n has the strongest bodies. We train our entire bodies to make it into a weapon."


    "I see... Before I flick your forehead just in case you die do you have anyst words?"


    "There''s no need for that since I''m not going to fall today. Just be sure to keep your promise and let me go when I survive your forehead flick." Hearing how confident Xue Jin was, Ren shrugged his shoulders and was about ready to flick his forehead.


    "Don''t worry I''m a man of my word, if you survive then you can leave. Get ready, I''m about to flick your forehead, one, two, three!"


    Ren initiated his forehead flick. As Ren''s finger was getting close to Xue Jin''s forehead, Xue Jin finally felt the threat of death from this simple flick. Xue Jin quickly burnt his life force to strengthen his body to his utmost limits. At this moment he felt like he could take just about anything without sustaining damage.


    Teng Yi and Mo Sheng could feel Xue Jin burning away his life force and were confused. Even though Ren was unbelievably strong, that was just a simple flick of his fingers, he didn''t even use any spiritual energy and only used his physical strength. Why was there a need to burn away your life force against such an attack? The moment they thought of that question, the answer was immediately presented to them.


    Ren''s finger had made contact with Xue Jin''s forehead a powerful booming sound echoed throughout the mountain peak making the mountain tremble, and then Xue Jin''s entire head exploded. Not only that but even Xue Jin''s Nascent Soul was extinguished by that simple attack.

 Chapter 580 Too Fragile

    Mo Sheng and Teng Yi''s thoughts were in disarray and even now they couldn''t believe what they just witnessed. The Xue n was a n famous for their body tempering, it was rumored that the first Patriarch of the n was able to make his body into something harder than divine weapons. Even if that rumor was grossly exaggerated, the abilities of the Xue n in regards to body tempering were no lie. Xue Jin was a genius of the n and thest time Mo Sheng fought him it took him fifty shes of the [Mad Sabre Consecutive shes] to be able to harm him. That means that Xue Jin''s body was akin to something like a treasured weapon.


    Xue Jin''s body was already sturdier than most of those in the same realm but if you add his control of Qi into the mix it was no exaggeration to say that no one within the entirety of Swallow City could match up to his body''s sturdiness. Yet not only did Ren easily make his head explode but he even destroyed Xue Jin''s Nascent Soul. That was the worst possible fate one could have as without a soul there was no hope for reincarnation and that means that was a true death.


    This scared both Mo Sheng and Teng Yi, especially Teng Yi who was next in line to receive that dreaded forehead flick. If it was just the death of his body Teng Yi wouldn''t be as frightened, but now even his soul was at stake.


    No matter how hard he thought about it, despite the knowledge and experience which he umted over the centuries he still could not understand how a physical attack could harm one''s soul. At first, he was the same as Xue Jin and thought that this little game with Ren was nothing, but now it turns out even after he tried to overestimate Ren''s abilities it turns out he was still underestimating Ren.


    Teng Yi was trying his best to suppress his fear as he was thinking of what action to take. At the moment there were two options avable to him. The first option was that he would try his best to survive that forehead flick. The second option was to use his escape talisman and bet that Ren wouldn''t be able to stop him. Both options were risky and only had a fifty-fifty chance of working. While Teng Yi was thinking hard about what to do, Ren had arrived in front of him.


    "It''s your turn, are you ready." The moment Teng Yi heard Ren say those words he felt his entire body grow cold.


    "Please give me a few minutes, I still need time to prepare."


    "Take as much time as possible. Also, I''m sorry about yourpanion I wasn''t nning on destroying his soul, I just didn''t expect that he was so fragile. If I knew that beforehand I would''ve decreased the strength I used. I promise this time I will decrease the strength of my forehead flick." Ren bowed his head in apology, which made Teng Yi''s eyebrows twitch as he tried his hardest not to speak what was on his mind.


    ''You f*cking monster! You weren''t trying to destroy his soul, it was an ident?! Is this how it''s going to end, my life at the hands of this monster?... No, it can''t be, there must be a way!'' Teng Yi screamed in his mind but on the outside, he was smiling awkwardly.


    "It''s alright, it was Xue Jin''s fault for being weak."


    "Hmmm... That is true, so I hope that you at least don''t allow your soul to get destroyed."


    "I will try my best, so please allow me more time to prepare."


    "Sure." After nodding his head, Ren stood at one side waiting for Teng Yi to finish his preparations. At this moment Teng Yi''s mind went into overdrive trying to figure out how he could possibly survive this ordeal.


    ''Either way, failure would mean true death. The second option does seem to be my best bet, but even if I seed in escaping, this horrifying person would surelye looking for me, and the first ce he would look is in my n. Based on what I''ve observed of him in the little interaction we had, this guy would definitely destroy my entire n if they don''tply with his wishes. On the other hand, the first option would be the hardest, even if I use everything at my disposal I''m not confident that I can survive even a weakened version of the forehead flick.''


    Teng Yi closed his eyes and pictured the scenery within his n, after a while, a smile emerged from his face. He already had found his answer to what to do next, Teng Yi looked at Mo Sheng who had been silent for a while now.


    "Mo Sheng, I know you and I aren''t really on good terms, and our ns have been rivals for a long time, but I hope that you would listen to a request of mine."


    "What is it?"


    "I hope if I were to perish today, that you and your n would not bully the Teng n. Of course, I''m not asking you to do this for free." Teng Yi took out his prized escape talisman a few spirit stones and a map he then handed them to Mo Sheng.


    "This is a life-saving treasure that could help you escape and a few spirit stones, I know it isn''t much, so you can also have this map, it''s a map to my secret treasury. I''m sure that should satisfy you. So will you promise to not do anything to my n?"


    Mo Sheng looked at Teng Yi surprised that he would offer these things. He always thought that Teng Yi was just an arrogant fool that liked to scheme in the shadows, but it would seem that wasn''t all there as to him. Seeing Teng Yi''s determination, Mo Sheng nodded his head and answered.


    "I promise."


    Teng Yi smiled as he looked at Ren, Teng Yi then took out all of his talismans that could amplify his defense. Teng Yi then started writing on the ground making a simple array formation to help him negate some of the damage he was about to receive.


    "Great, then Sir... Oh, I haven''t heard your name yet..."


    "It''s Ren."


    "Then Sir Ren, I''m ready."


    Ren looked at Teng Yi and saw the fear in his eyes was no longer there, in its ce was a sort of rity. There was utter calmness in Teng Yi''s bearing.


    "Very well, do your best to survive."


    Ren stretched out his arm towards Teng Yi''s forehead. The moment Ren''s hand came close to his face Teng Yi tensed up a bit as he quickly burned his own life force to strengthen his array formation. Unlike Xue Jin who only did his best at the very end, Teng Yi used everything possible thing at his disposal to survive. Ren then flicked his fingers and this time he weakened the flick.


    Despite the finger flick Ren used being weaker than what he used against Xue Jin, it was still considerably powerful. The force of Ren''s finger flick was lessened by Teng Yi''s defensive array formation, and as the finger hit Teng Yi''s forehead he felt an oppressive force invading his body.


    Teng Yi gritted his teeth and did his best to endure this attack, but despite him being better prepared than Xue Jin he still shared the same fate. Teng Yi''s head had exploded, but his soul had miraculously survived albeit barely. It looked like it was going to disappear at any moment. Seeing the slowly disappearing soul, Ren sighed.


    ''How fragile...''

 Chapter 581 Legendary Heroes Of Old

    Seeing the slowly disappearing soul of Teng Yi, Mo Sheng couldn''t help but sigh. Two of his rivals have disappeared from this world. He could remember the days of his youth. He, Xue Jin, and Teng Yi had always fought for the honor of their respective ns. They have fought against each other for centuries, and the three of them knew one another better than any friend, lover, or family. So even now Mo Sheng was surprised by Teng Yi''s noble act.


    ''Maybe that was his true self, that he has hidden within the schemes and deceit. That guy even in the end, truly only thought of his n... Now I can''t help but remember the first time we met. I was so young and naive back then.''


    While Mo Sheng was reminiscing about the past he suddenly noticed that Ren was about to do something. Ren lifted his hand and touched Teng Yi''s soul. The soul that was slowly dissipating suddenly disappeared. Based on what he saw Mo Sheng was sure that Teng Yi''s soul should''vested an hour at least, but then why did it suddenly disappear.


    ''What just happened, what did that mortal do?''


    ...


    Teng Yi opened his eyes and saw only darkness, he was confused as he was sure that his soul was shattered and he was supposed to stop existing, then howe he was still able to retain his consciousness.


    ''Where am I? Did that mortal do something to me?''


    Teng Yi observed his surroundings but found nothing but darkness. He felt like he was floating as there was no ground to stand on, but for some reason, he could still sense his hands and legs. As he was floating in what seemed to be endless darkness he suddenly noticed something.


    ''The Qi here seems to be of the highest order, it''s so pure... I''m sure that the path of the dead doesn''t have Qi and is ced in a separate dimension. That means I''m not floating in the path of the dead, then where am I?''


    Even though he was confused by his circumstances no one was there to answer him. Still, instead of fearing the unknown before him, Teng Yi was curious. It took Teng Yi a few hours before the darkness before him was slowly disappearing and what reced it was a dense fog.


    Teng Yi felt that this fog was rather strange the more he floated onward the more he felt like the purity of Qi was increasing. Even without his body, he could already feel like he was about to have a breakthrough simply by floating through the fog.


    His cultivation had been stagnant for a couple of centuries and Mo Sheng his greatest rival had already surpassed him, but today he suddenly broke through without warning. Even though he should feel excited by his sudden breakthrough, he wasn''t as he was still confused as to what kind of state he was in.


    The more he thought about it, the less he understood. Everything that was happening was beyond his understanding.


    ''All of this must be something that mortal did... Still, is that person really just a mortal man. How is he so strong and know such weird techniques''


    As he was deep in thought, the fog before him was clearing. He then heard the sound of battleing from a distance, what he saw next was something he would never forget in his entire existence.


    Thousands of men were unleashing attacks that could wipe out entire gxies, then there was that single figure receiving all the attacks like it was nothing. The sh between the single man and thousands of others was something beyond hisprehension. The weakest among those fighting was at least in the Emperor realm. As for the one man who was fighting everyone else he could not discern what kind of realm one needed to reach such a level of power. He then saw that each one of these powerful beings had a vicious smile on their faces as the battle grew more intense.


    While Teng Yi was watching the battle in awe of their strength, he noticed something that shocked him more than ever. All of these powerful beings were all mortal men. They were the same as the young man that had killed him.


    ''Wait... A mortal man having the strength that''s beyond reason, one who enjoys battle above all, a smile once seen would make any of his enemies shiver in fear. Why does this description seem vaguely familiar?''


    As he was thinking Teng Yi who was now close enough finally saw the faces of the people who were fighting.


    ''Michael the indomitable, the one who charged through the camps of the Gods and killed thousands of New Gods, and even dozens of Old Gods. Leonard Tranor, the shining victory, the man who had never lost in his entire life, even in his final battle he was ever victorious. As Raybach, the unwavering knight, it was said that his fist could destroy gxies and his body could withstand a strike from an Ancestral God. Emesan Heisys, the Godly archer, his archery had no equal and it was said he could never miss, it was like every shot he made bent thews of the world.''


    Teng Yi could not believe his eyes as he saw so many legendary figures, their heroic deeds forever embedded in the hearts of many. Even now many of their descendants live as powerful individuals, their ns the strongest in the upper realms.


    ''Is this a ce where heroic souls gather?... Wait all of these people should be legendary figures whose strength was above all in the respective eras they were in, then who is capable of fighting all of them at once?''


    Teng Yi could not get closer to the battle since his soul might truly be obliterated this time. He looked intently at the lone figure fighting against all these legendary heroes of old, then he saw the face of someone that every human in the upper realms knew of.


    In the earliest recorded era of the human race, the humans of that time were under the harsh rule of the Gods who would torture and humiliate them. During that time the humans were too weak and had no way to save themselves. The Gods kept them like cattle and if they were displeased it was normal for the Gods to kill most of the humans and leave only a few of them alive. After waiting for the humans to repopte the Gods would once again start eradicating them, once again leaving a few alive. This cycle repeated itself for eons until one day a group of heroes emerged from the humans. These heroes had the power to rival the Gods, and among them was the strongest of them all, their leader a powerful human the could defy fate itself.


    This legendary figure that had carved a bloody path through the darkness into a tomorrow full of hope was now before Teng Yi. The one who is said to be the true start of humanity. The humans of the lower world might have already forgotten his mighty deeds, but the humans of the upper realms would never forget. Teng Yi could not help himself as he shed a tear. No one could remember his name as thenguage in which his name is spoken has long been erased. The only records left of him and his deeds were of immortal paintings and stories through word of mouth. Yet for some reason as Teng Yi was watching the hero a name suddenly came to mind, he subconsciously spoke in awe and reverence.


    "The mythical legend, the original hero, the eternal light, Sir ?%$&*!"

 Chapter 582 Foolish

    After a few more rounds the incarnations of the Strongest mortal soul stopped fighting and looked at the neer. Being surrounded by such legendary beings made Teng Yi feel immense pressure. Still, he didn''t want to look bad in front of them so he gritted his teeth and greeted them.


    "Hello Seniors, I''m Teng Yi a humble cultivator from the upper realms."


    "We already know who you are, do you not know why you''re here?" One of the incarnations asked.


    "I''m sorry seniors I don''t even know where this ce is."


    "This inside a realm hidden within the soul of the person who destroyed your body."


    When Teng Yi heard this reply his mind nked out a bit. A realm that was hidden within one''s soul, and it was not just a normal realm it was one where the most powerful heroic souls gathered.


    "Umm, may I ask what''s your rtionship with that mortal?"


    "All of us here are the same entity. Do you know the term the Strongest Mortal Soul?"


    ...


    While the other incarnations were conversing with Teng Yi, Ren was resting in arge room within the Mo n. The Ancestor himself has said to treat Ren like they would treat him, which made everyone in the n quite curious as to who the mortal man was.


    Even though they were all curious none of them dared approach, Ren. The only people who were allowed to do so were the ones appointed by the Patriarch.


    ...


    "Father, is that person truly that powerful?" Mo Wei asked as he like all the other members of the n were quite curious as to how powerful a mortal man can be.


    "Powerful couldn''t even begin to describe that monster." As Mo Wen spoke he remembered the description given to him by his father the Third Elder. Even the Patriarch, his father, and the other elders were no match for Ren. In fact, that man had also beaten the Ancestor as well as the Ancestor of the Teng and Xue ns.


    Those were all Nascent Soul Realm experts, and seeing Ren''s unharmed body meant that he was so much stronger than those three. Even a peak Nascent Soul Realm Elder from the Void Sect wasn''t that strong.


    Of course, in the beginning, Mo Wen thought that his father was exaggerating the mortal''s capabilities, but after seeing Ren he was convinced. The moment Ren looked at him it felt like a primordial being was staring at him as if he was prey that was to be eaten.


    "Father, are you alright?"


    When Mo Wen heard his son''s voice he looked at his hands and saw that he was clenching them so hard that he was bleeding. Mo Wei was panicking a bit as he saw his father trembling, this was the first time he saw his always calm father act this way.


    Seeing the expression on his son''s face Mo Wen was able to forcefully stop his trembling as he tried to calm himself.


    "I''m fine..."


    "... So father, am I still supposed to interact with the mortal?"


    The moment those words came out of Mo Wei''s mouth, Mo Wen''s reaction was abnormal. A deep frown was seen on Mo Wen''s face as he suddenly appeared before Mo Wei. He looked at his son and spoke in a cold tone.


    "You are not to make contact with the esteemed guest. If you dare to do anything foolish, I will disown you and personally end you. Do not even bother to try and do those foolish schemes of yours."


    Mo Wei was surprised as this was the first time his father had spoken in such a cold tone to him. Not only that, he was being berated for something he hasn''t done, which made him feel aggrieved. Being spoiled too much, Mo Wei wasn''t able toprehend what kind of situation he was in as he spoke back.


    "Isn''t that too much father, why are you acting like this? No matter how powerful that mortal is that''s just the power of one man, even if he did defeat the Ancestor and the others, shouldn''t we just use that as an excuse to ally with the Teng and Xue n to ki-"


    Mo Wei wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as Mo Wen suddenly p him pushing him into the wall. Mo Wen was so angry at the moment that he wanted to kill this stupid son of his, but he was still able to hold himself back.


    Mo Wei screamed in pain as he wriggled on the floor. He looked at his father wanting to say something, but when he saw his father''s face seething with anger he became silent.


    "I already knew that you were a foolish son but I didn''t know that you were this foolish. Not only is your cultivation talent weaker than Mo Feng''s but it would seem that even your intelligence is in question. It is true that your foolish tactic of attacking in a group would work if your opponent was a Golden Core Realm fighter. Since several dozen peak Foundation Establishment realm fighters could potentially kill a Golden Core Realm Fighter, but that changes if the other party is a Nascent Soul Realm Expert. The strength of an early Nascent Soul Realm expert and a Peak Golden Core Realm fighter is like the difference between heaven and earth. Even if hundreds of Peak Golden Core Realm fighters attack they won''t be able to defeat a Nascent Soul Realm Expert. So as that esteemed guest is already someone that could easily defeat Nascent Soul Realm Experts he should have at least the strength of a True Monarch."


    When Mo Wei heard that the mortal (?) had the power of True Monarch he gulped. In the entire Region, there were only a few True Monarchs and one of them was the sect master of the powerful Void Sect.


    "Now do you understand how foolish your n is? Also, do not even think of doing anything shady. Do not think I do not know what goes on in that feeble cowardly head of yours. If you weren''t my only son then I would''ve already disowned a useless piece of garbage like you. Just keep a low profile and prepare for the sect recruitment of the Void Sect. Alright, that is all you may leave."


    Mo Wei stood up and bowed his head before leaving the room. As he exited the room there was a cold glint in Mo Wei''s eyes.

 Chapter 583 So Noisy

    The following day after Ren killed the Ancestor of the Xue n and absorbed the Ancestor of the Teng n, the people from both ns went to the Mo n to have the Mo n exin what happen to their two Ancestors as both suddenly disappeared after making a trip to see the Mo n Ancestor.


    Even though the Mo n was considered the most powerful even they would note out unscathed against the Teng and Xue ns. It was the Ancestor of the Mo n, Mo Sheng who spoke to the group.


    "Teng Yi and Xue Jin are both dead, and their Nascent Souls have perished." The moment they heard this piece of news the people from both ns had varied reactions.


    "That can''t be true, you''re lying!"


    "What have you done to our Ancestor you b*stard?!"


    "Even you aren''t capable of killing both our Ancestors, so don''t lie!"


    "This means war, even if your Mo n is stronger, it wouldn''t be able to survive if our two ns ally with each other."


    "Yeah, you might be a Nascent Soul Realm expert but with thebined might of both our ns let''s see who gets to survive until the end."


    While the people from the two ns were moring, the Ancestor of the Mo n alongside the Patriarch and the Elders weren''t really bothered by their threats. What was thebined might of two ns like the Teng and Xue ns? If it was before maybe they would''ve been fearful, but now after witnessing what real power was like, the two ns seem like little children crying for their parents.


    It took quite some time before the members of the two ns were able to calm down. Once, everyone was quiet, one of the Elders stepped forward and spoke in a rather chilling tone.


    "I hope you have a good exnation for what happened, or else we would truly go to war with the Mo n."


    ? Hearing the outright threat of the elder just made the Ancestor of the Mo n chuckle in his mind as he nodded his head.


    "Very well, I will tell you everything in all honesty. The truth is I wasn''t the one who killed them, I was only there to witness their deaths."


    "If that''s true, then howe you''re still alive, and who is the true killer?" The moment one of the people of the two ns said those words they suddenly felt a chill.


    "I was the one who killed Xue Jin, as for Teng Yi I did destroy his body."


    Everyone shifted their attention to the person who spoke. Someone appeared from behind Mo Sheng who knelt on the ground like a servant to his master. The other members of the Mo n present did the same thing and knelt. There was a trace of fear in their eyes.


    The members of the two ns looked at the scene dumbfounded. Some of the Elders have even done a quick check on Ren and found that he was just a normal mortal man. Still, the way he walked indeed exuded extreme confidence and great arrogance which wasn''t normal.


    ''Is this some sort of trick?'' That was the thought that shed through everyone''s mind at the time. The ce became quiet for a few seconds before a member of the Xue n could no longer hold it in and spoke.


    "Are you mistaking us for fools?" As if that was a signal the other people also started to chime in. Seeing the rowdy crowd Mo Sheng and the other members of the Mo n said nothing as they continued to kneel because Ren did not say they could do otherwise.


    On the other hand, Ren looked at the people from the two ns with a smile on his face, in his eyes, these people were just noisy clowns. How many times has he seen a crowd act like this in front of him believing that their numbers could somehow frighten him? From back to when he was a demon lord until he has seen this scene numerous times and the end result was always the same.


    When the people from the two ns saw the look on Ren''s face they felt irritated, some of the younger ones that came were so pissed that they clenched their fists. Most of them were still able to hold onto reason since if they make a move they were sure that the Mo n would also make a move, unfortunately not all of them were as calm.


    A member of the Xue n could no longer hold his anger and charged at Ren, but before he could even get within two meters from Ren he suddenly felt a heavy pressure descend upon him making him unable to move. It wasn''t only him that felt that heavy pressure every single member of the Teng and Xue n present felt that incredible heavy pressure. As they were confused as to what was happening, they once again heard the mortal man''s voice.


    "You people are so noisy."


    The people looked at the mortal man, even now they dare not believe that he was the one emitting such incredible pressure. They all thought that it was the Ancestor of the Mo n doing an act. Ren could pretty much guess what these people were thinking by looking at the expression on their faces as they red at Mo Sheng.


    Ren shrugged his shoulders as he didn''t really care what these people believe, but he wasn''t so soft-hearted that he would allow the one who tried to attack him to go unpunished. Ren slowly approached the man who attacked him releasing the pressure he ced on everyone.


    When the man from the Xue n saw Ren approaching his anger had already reached its peak, and he punched Ren with his full power. He was at the foundation establishment realm and even a wave of his hand could turn any mortal into a bloody mist.


    Everyone from the two ns was expecting Ren to meet a tragic end. The Elders from the two sides also saw that Mo Sheng and the others from the Mo n did not make move. Yet what happened next surprised the members of the two ns, Ren who was hit by a full-powered strike from a member of the Xue n was unfazed, on the other hand, the member of the Xue n who punched out was the one who was hurt. The hand used to punch Ren was bent in a bad way, the bone tore out of his skin.


    "You dare strike me even though you''re so pathetically weak. I''ll give you one more chance to attack, this time do your best since that will be thest strike you''ll ever make."


    The man from the Xue n no longer dared to attack as he looked at Ren like he was a monster, in his fear he started running away.


    "Not only are you so weak, but you''re a coward as well. That means you don''t deserve a warrior''s death." Ren casually pointed his finger at the man who was running and swung it four times. The man then fell down and then he saw that his legs and arms were no longer attached to his body.


    Witnessing everything from start to finish, everyone saw that Mo Sheng and the members of the Mo n did not make a move so that means it was truly the mortal man that did all of that.


    "So then what else do you people have to say?" The moment Ren shifted his attention to them the members of the two ns held their breath as they felt the fear grasping their very hearts.


    "This is boring, normally I would''ve killed all of you now, but since the Ancestor of the Mo n had pleaded for mercy before you guys arrived I shall spare your lives, you better be grateful." After speaking Ren turn around and left.


    Seeing the monster finally leave, everyone present even the members of the Mo n felt relieved. The members of the two ns felt especially happy as they had survived. They truly felt that Ren was going to kill them all. They could already guess that the pressure he emitted before was just a casual one so it was possible if he got serious he could probably kill them all with just the pressure of his aura alone.

 Chapter 584 Why Should I Fear You?

    "So do you believe me now?" Mo Sheng stood up as he spoke. The people from the two ns were still in an unusual state when they heard Mo Sheng''s voice. Seeing them being unresponsive Mo Sheng continued to speak.


    "Elders of the Teng n, your Ancestor has made an agreement with me, in exchange for his wealth, the Mo n promises to protect the Teng n, do you ept?"


    It took the Elders of the Teng n some time to fully digest what was just said and when they did some of them started to tear up. The Ancestor even when facing death still thought of the n.


    "Thank you, we will be under your protection from now on." The members of the Teng n did a palm holds fist salute as they spoke.


    The Teng n knew that this was the only possible move that they could make at the moment. Now that their Ancestor had died their enemies might take this chance to finish them, this would''ve been a disaster for the Teng n. Even if they do somehow survive this ordeal they thought that the Xue and Mo ns would quickly end them. What was supposed to be their greatest ordeal changed now that the Ancestor actually asked for the Mo n''s protection.


    Even though their ns were practically enemies for centuries they understood that not gaining the Mo n''s protection meant annihtion. It might take some time for some of the members to ept this new arrangement and there might be some that would act aggressively but that was still better than total annihtion.


    While the people of the Teng n were feeling relieved the people of the Xue n were waiting and looking at Mo Sheng expectantly. Did their Ancestor also make a simr deal? If that was true then the Mo, Teng, and Xue ns would be one big group that could rule the entire Swallow City. The people from the Xue n were already imagining the possibilities, yet after some time, Mo Sheng did not say anything more, one of the Elders of the Xue n stepped forward.


    "Sir Mo Sheng, how about our Ancestor, did he also make an agreement with you?"


    Mo Sheng looked at the elder with a face that showed a bit of confusion, he then sighed before responding.


    "Oh, you people are still here?... Xue Jin did not leave anything behind for you guys. The only one who made an agreement with me is Teng Yi. If I were you, you better leave now and prepare yourselves for the worst. I know how arrogant the younger generation of the Xue n are, because of them you guys have made a ton of enemies. Right now, what you do next would determine the very survival of your n... Do not worry in respect to Xue Jin one of my greatest rivals, I promise that the Mo n will not do anything to the Xue n."


    Hearing what Mo Sheng said the faces of the members of the Xue n paled as they quickly bowed their heads and left.


    ...


    While the respective elders of the Mo n and Teng n started having a conversation about their newly formed alliance, Ren was back in his room.


    He felt slightly disappointed by the events that transpired. Even though the people of the upper realms were obviously much much stronger than those of the lower worlds they were just as cowardly.


    What was even worse was the fact that he was just getting stronger and stronger without doing anything. That means that finding a good fight were he could use everything he has would be harder and harder. He knew that this was for the final battle against the ORIGIN, but it was still rather hard for him.


    ''Well, this ce is so huge and has many beings in it, from the immortal cultivators, divine primordial and demonic beasts, the world deities, the New and Old Gods, even the Ancient Gods exist in this upper realm.''


    There''s no end to the future opponents he would face in this realm, and then there was also the battle against the most powerful being in all of the different universes, the father of all things, the ORIGIN. Just thinking about that made Ren feel excited again.


    As Ren was once again motivated for the challenges toe he sensed someone approaching his room. The way the person walked told him a lot, it wasn''t as soft as an assassin but it was skilled enough that it made as little noise as possible. There was also a sense of confidence in each step made, it was as if the person walking had no fear whatsoever. This was rather surprising as most of the people of the Mo n who approached Ren didn''t even want to get near him and their fear of him was apparent. There was also another person but the second person was obviously afraid and wanted to quickly run away but could not.


    ''Hoh, so there is someone interesting in this ce.''


    The door to his room was opened and as he expected two people had arrived. One was a handsome young man who had a great posture and was exuding a very dominating aura. He was overflowing with confidence as he looked at Ren. Beside the young man was another younger-looking boy. This boy was the exact opposite, he looked timid and frightened as he cowered behind the confident young man.


    "Coming in without even knocking, that''s pretty rude, don''t you think so?... Well, I guess it doesn''t really matter all that much, so then who are you, rude young man?"


    "I''m Mo Feng, and this is my best friend Mo Lan. I heard from the elders that you''re someone incredibly strong."


    "I''m Ren and that''s correct, if we''re talking about battle strength no one in this city could be my match."


    Mo Feng smiled as he took out his sword and pointed it at Ren. Mo Lan who was at the side was panicking as he tried to pull Mo Feng away but was unable to even budge him.


    "Hoh, what is it you''re trying to achieve by pointing that de at me, incredibly rude young man?"


    "I want to test my abilities against you, please allow me to challenge you Sir Ren to a sparring match."


    The moment those words came out of Mo Feng''s mouth, Ren released his aura and incredible pressure came down on both Mo Feng and Mo Lan. Thetter fell to the ground trembling in fear, while the former still stood proud and tall waiting for Ren''s answer. Seeing the reaction of the one called Mo Feng, Ren smiled that vicious smile of his.


    Ren then emitted his killing intent and directed it entirely at Mo Feng. The killing intent wasn''t even directed at him but Mo Lan who was trembling at the side could not help but stumble back farther away. On the other hand, Mo Feng continued to stand without even flinching, this just made the smile on Ren''s face grow into an even more vicious one as he started to chuckle.


    "Hoh, interesting, very interesting. Are you not afraid of me, young man?"


    "Why should I be afraid of you?"


    "Nice answer young man, fine I ept your challenge."

 Chapter 585 Then Force Me

    The news of Mo Feng challenging the guest of the n spread almost instantly. The Ancestor, the Patriarch, and all the elders of the n had also heard the news and were deeply troubled. They all hoped that Ren would not be offended by the young man''s challenge. They were afraid that Ren''s mood would sour and if he wanted to vent his anger they could only try to appease him by offering their lives in exchange for Mo Feng''s. They will do that without hesitation as Mo Feng was the most talented descendant of the Mo n in thest millennium, he was their hope for the Mo n to rise higher.


    ...


    When they arrived at the Southern Training hall they were relieved to see that Ren didn''t look pissed instead he looked to be quite excited. It was at that moment, they remembered the reason why Ren wanted to meet Mo Sheng. It was because he wanted to fight the strongest person in the city. Based on his words and actions, they had concluded that Ren was a battle maniac who adored battle so challenging him to a battle was the best way to please him. All of them suddenly had the same thought.


    ''So to get on Ren''s good side we should risk it and ask him for a spar.''


    While the higher-ups of the n were thinking of ways how to get Ren''s favor, the younger generation of the n who had no clue who Ren was, were confused and some were even mad. How could an unknown mortal man dare to challenge their ace and idol? They might not understand why a mortal man was such an esteemed guest of the n, but, no matter what kind of background he had in the end he was still a mortal.


    Even if the person was some sort of martial arts master of lower realms how can hepare to a cultivator? In the end, a mortal''s martial arts was vastly different from a cultivator''s.


    ...


    As everyone was in one way or another excited to see the uing match, Mo Feng and Ren were now standing face to face in the Southern Training Hall. Mo Feng had his personal sword in his hand while Ren was weaponless.


    "Were is your weapon Sir Ren? I do not wish to fight an unarmed man." Hearing what Mo Feng said Ren shrugged his shoulders as he smiled that vicious smile of his.


    "You really are a confident one aren''t you? Well, since you said it, I guess I should bring out a weapon. Hmm, so that it would be fair I''ll use a weapon with a simr grade as yours."


    Ren extended his hand forward and his shadow expanded which surprised everyone present. There wasn''t any fluctuation of Qi, it was like his shadow was alive and moving on its own. Though everyone was surprised by the sudden expansion of Ren''s shadow what happened next almost made their eyes pop out. A thin long sword of incredible beauty came out of Ren''s shadow.


    Mo Sheng looked at Ren''s shadow with the most exaggerated expression among those present. Unlike everyone else, he had a deeper understanding of what Ren did.


    ''His shadow is like a storage ring, which means he has a certain understanding of thews of space. That''s one of the more difficultws to grasp... Just how powerful is he really?''


    ...


    "Now that we both have our weapons out, let''s get this party started!"


    In his excitement, Ren''s aura burst outward for just a brief second, but that was enough to make some of the people watching faint. Ren quickly retracted his aura but the damage has already been done. The only person that was unperturbed by Ren''s aura was his opponent Mo Feng who took that moment as a go signal and attacked.


    Mo Feng''s swift motion was wless as his sword pierced through the air but Ren simply swayed his body to the right avoiding the strike by a few centimeters. Mo Feng didn''t relent and made his next move but the same as before Ren simply evaded the strike. After a few more moves, Mo Feng backed away for a bit. Every person who hasn''t seen Ren fight before was surprised by his movements. On the other hand, Mo Feng frowned as he asked.


    "Why aren''t you fighting back?"


    "Hm, oh that, I was trying to see what your speed and power were like. Now that I have a basic understanding of it I can finally match you for this fight to be fair. Get ready, this time I will also attack."


    After saying his piece Ren lunged at Mo Feng and he initiated the same fluid movement as Mo Feng. In fact, Ren was doing all the moves Mo Feng made just moments ago, it wasn''t just a perfect copy it was even better than the original. If that wasn''t bad enough, Ren''s speed and power were truly the same as what Mo Feng showed beforehand. There wasn''t the slightest difference but the technique was ten times better.


    Seeing this the elders of the Mo n couldn''t help but sigh. Mo Feng has always been considered the future of the Mo n his talent was beyond anyone his age, Mo Feng himself believed that at the same level no one was his match, yet today he was proven wrong. It was obvious that Ren had suppressed his power to be at the same level as him, but Ren was able to not only keep up but surpass him in technique.


    "Hmph, you''re better than I expected but why are you holding back? How about showing me all you''ve got!"


    "Doing that wouldn''t really be fair and it would make me look like I was bullying you. If you really want to see me go all out, then you better force my hand." Ren replied while blocking all of Mo Feng''s attacks.


    "Heh, fine, allow me to show you what I can do!" Mo Feng''s movements suddenly became sharper and faster. The change surprised Ren for a bit and he was actually pushed back for a few seconds before he was able to adapt and once again get the upper hand.


    As Ren was going to press on with his attack he felt something was wrong and stopped, the moment he did so there was a stinging pain in the palm of his right hand. When he looked at his right hand he was surprised to see that it had a cut and was bleeding a bit.


    Seeing that he was hurt Ren was rather surprised, it wasn''t just him the Ancestor of the Mo n, and the others who had faced Ren were more surprised than the person himself. They all knew just how hard Ren''s body was, yet Mo Feng was able to cut him.


    "Hoh, that was rather impressive." Ren summoned a dagger and threw it at Mo Feng. Seeing the iing dagger Mo Feng didn''t move a single finger but the moment the dagger got close it was cut down. Ren who had seen everything knew that Mo Feng didn''t truly move but the dagger was still cut down by something. "How interesting, this is the first time I''ve seen such a technique. Do you mind telling me how you did that?"


    "That was my sword intent." When Mo Feng answered, everyone present was once again stunned beyond belief. Even the Ancestor who had overestimated Mo Feng''s talent to the maximum was still surprised by what he said.

 Chapter 586 Sword Intent

    Sword intent was something Ren has never encountered before. Based on the reaction of the people who seem to know what it was, Sword intent should be a big deal. If he wanted to learn more about it all Ren needed to do was ask his past incarnations, in fact, the original incarnation should be the most knowledgeable being besides the ORIGIN when ites to anything rted to battle. Still, Ren decided to do none of that and simply experience Mo Feng''s sword intent first hand and learn from that.


    Mo Feng shed down at Ren with his sword intent. Ren did not evade as he lifted the sword in his hands to block the attack. To Ren''s surprise, he was actually pushed back a bit by this attack. It felt like the sword in Mo Feng''s hand could cut everything and anything in existence.


    Mo Sheng who was watching at the back had his eyes wide open, it really was sword intent. A twenty-four-year-old at the early foundation establishment realm with the initial stages of sword intent, the word genius could not begin to describe Mo Feng.


    ''For as long as he survives and bes stronger, it seems the raise of my Mo n will be inevitable... Still, is that enough to even harm Ren?''


    Mo Sheng couldn''t help but frown as he looked at the smiling monster known as Ren. He had just met him yesterday and their interactions have been sparse. The most time they have spent in each other''spany was when he fought Ren. Still, Mo Sheng had acquired a basic understanding of Ren. This monster of a mortal was someone that could shrug a full-powered attack of a Nascent Soul Realm expert. He was also someone that enjoyed the thrill of battle. He was growing stronger at an rming rate, in fact, even now Mo Sheng could feel the Qi in Ren''s body was continuously growing. It was like his very existence was meant for the fight.


    ...


    Mo Feng knew that even now Ren was suppressing his strength to match his, but that should change now. Mo Feng was extremely confident in his abilities, his sword intent was created by his own understanding of the way of the sword. A sword was meant to cut and in the hands of a true swordsman, there was nothing that his sword could not be cut.


    The sword that Ren was holding was slowly being cut by Mo Feng''s sword or to be more precise his sword intent. It took but a bit more effort and Ren''s sword was cleanly cut in half. As Mo Feng''s sword was about to slice through Ren''s shoulder, Ren didn''t bother to evade it as he took the attack head-on.


    Mo Feng''s sword had cut Ren''s shoulder a little bit as blood started to flow out. Seeing this everyone thought that Mo Feng stopped his attack, but that wasn''t the case. Mo Feng was surprised, he was truly trying to cut Ren''s shoulder to prove his victory was beyond doubt, but he wasn''t able to.


    "That was interesting, now I have some understanding of what Sword Intent is, this is truly some interesting ability. Allow me to show you what I understood."


    When Mo Feng and the other people present heard what Ren said they were rather interested as to what insights he got from receiving Mo Feng''s attack that had his Sword Intent. Still, no matter how good he was no one can just magically learn Sword Intent on the spot. As everyone had that simr thought in their minds they suddenly felt an oppressive aura overwhelming them.


    ''No need to be shocked this is just his basic aura.'' At the moment they thought that the people watching suddenly saw that their hands and legs have been sliced off their bodies, they could not even find their missing limbs. The weaker ones felt a pain that they have never felt before.


    "AAAAAHHHHH!!! Why did you attack us as well?!!!!"


    "No, not my hands!!!"


    "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, this isn''t real, this isn''t real, this is just a nightmare. I need to wake, I need to wake up, please let me wake up, let me f*cking wake-up!"


    "How cant this be?!!! I''ve be a disabled person!"


    "I don''t care who you are, it doesn''t matter if you''re stronger than me, it doesn''t matter if I no longer have hands or legs but I need to kill you!!!"


    "There''s no point in living like this..."


    As many were feeling anger, despair, fear, and many more colorful emotions, the more powerful elders were still able to see through what happened. The limbs of the people of the n weren''t sliced off their bodies as they were in actuality still attached to their bodies, they were just experiencing the effects of Ren''s sword intent. In fact, even though they knew that Ren didn''t really slice off their limbs even the powerful elders like Mo Sheng the Ancestor of the n felt extreme pain as if he was being cut by a thousand swords. The weaker ones even puked out blood as they fainted.


    Now that was what the people watching were feeling even though they weren''t really the target of Ren''s Sword Intent, Mo Sheng could not even imagine what was happening to Mo Feng.


    ...


    Mo Feng who had received the full brunt of Ren''s Sword Intent felt like millions of tiny swords had prated into his skin. He had even seen the world changing before his eyes. He was no longer in the Southern Training Hall of the Mo n, instead, he was on a battlefield full of blood and dead bodies.


    At a distance, he saw an army of knights on horseback drawing their longswords. The equipment of this army was like something you would see in ancient paintings of the battlefield between humans and Gods. Mo Feng then heard the sound of a war horn. The mighty warriors on horseback charged at him with longswords at hand.


    Mo Feng could not move a single inch as the knights on horseback came near him. The longswords of the Knights pierced him in every inch of his body. He felt so much pain that he almost fainted but he held on and did not fall, trying his best to calm his mind. He felt that everything he was seeing right now was nothing more than an illusion, he wasn''t truly being pierced by thousands of longswords.


    As he calmed his mind the illusion of the battlefield slowly dispersed from his sight, but he was mentally drained and was now panting. Ren''s Sword Intent was vastly different from his. The Sword Intent he hadprehended was simply that of the sword as a weapon to cut what was in front of him. On the other hand, the Sword Intent that Renprehended was that of war, death, and many other things that Mo Feng could notprehend. The path of the sword that Ren had was different and much farther away from his own path.


    As Mo Feng''s sight was clearing and he was finally seeing the reality before him he saw Ren''s smiling face in a weird angle. It took him a few seconds before he realized that he was on the ground staring upwards looking at Ren who had his broken sword pointed at Mo Feng''s neck.

 Chapter 587 To Surpass You

    Mo Feng was still on the ground unable to fully process what just happened to him. As for the people watching the battle end, those that were still awake were stunned into silence. Then there was the single person among those that watched who understood most of everything that had happened.


    Mo Sheng had a dumbfounded expression on his face, he wasn''t able to see what had happenedpletely as only Ren and Mo Feng saw that scene, but Mo Sheng knew something incredible had just transpired. Mo Sheng sensed something beyond simple sword intenting from Ren.


    ...


    "What did you do?" Mo Feng asked as he looked at Ren who was smiling at him.


    "I applied what I understood from your so called Sword Intent. What you basically did was make your understanding of the path of the sword take form into something tangible, that''s what I did as well, but I guess my understanding of my own path of the sword was much deeper than yours. Well, overall that was a nice fight. After fighting you I can honestly say you''re pretty good, so how old are you?"


    "I''m fifteen years old."


    "Oh, I guess you are pretty talented for your age. You''re ability and confidence have impressed me. Do you want to learn my swordsmanship? If you want I can teach you, not only my swordsmanship, but I''ll also help you improve that Sword Intent of yours. So what do you say?"


    Mo Feng was in a state of pure shock when he heard Ren''s offer. After seeing Ren''s skill with the sword no one doubted that Ren wasparable to a Sword Saint. Many of them were instantly jealous the moment they heard that Ren offered to teach Mo Feng. Even the Elders and the Patriarch wanted to trade ces with Mo Feng and learn swordsmanship from Ren.


    Seeing Mo Feng still not saying anything and continuing to be in a state of shock Mo Sheng moved towards them. He appeared beside Mo Feng and quickly pulled Mo Feng up.


    "Mo Feng what are you doing, greet your Master."


    Being elbowed by the Ancestor of the n Mo Feng got his senses back. Mo Feng then quickly made the gesture of epting a teacher.


    "Master, disciple Mo Feng greets you."


    Ren was rather surprised by how quickly Mo Feng agreed and based on what he was seeing Mo Feng did agree just because of what Mo Sheng did, Ren could actually see through Mo Feng''s expression that he epts him as his Master.


    "Interesting, I thought you would be more reluctant in agreeing to bing my disciple. After that confident deration you made, saying you would defeat me, I truly thought that your pride wouldn''t ept me as your master."


    Mo Feng looked directly at Ren''s eyes. Ren saw that confident expression and the sparkling resolve in Mo Sheng''s eyes.


    "Can I speak my mind Master?"


    "You may."


    "I now have some understanding of how powerful you are, and your sword skills are something beyond my current abilities. You are my better in every way possible. So learning from you would help me advance faster, only a fool would not take you up on your offer for something as silly as pride. What''s the use of pride if you don''t have true power. What I want is the power you possess so that I have my pride. Also, I haven''t given up on beating you, Master. I n to learn everything I can from you, gain the power, knowledge, and skill to surpass you."


    After Mo Feng was done speaking, everyone couldn''t help but hold their breath. Mo Sheng who was closest to the two was sweating bullets despite being in a realm were sweating shouldn''t even be possible. Mo Sheng even had thought of immediately killing Mo Feng and apologizing, but stopped as he reminded himself what Mo Feng''s current status was.


    As of just a few moments ago, Mo Feng had be the disciple of Ren. So Mo Feng wasn''t just a member of the Mo n he was Ren''s disciple, and based on Ren''s strength being his disciple takes priority over Mo Feng being part of the Mo n. So at this time, only Ren could punish Mo Feng, while the others have no say in the matter.


    While everyone waited for Ren''s response no one except for Mo Feng had the courage to look at Ren''s face. After a few seconds of silence, Ren suddenlyughed a heartyugh.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA! I was right about you, kid. Brimming with confidence and ambition, the drive to move forward and seek what you want, and the talent to achieve it. Not only did you give me a good fight, but you were also able to say something none of the disciples before you could say to me. To actually im that you will learn from me and used what you learned to surpass me, you are the first person in all of my existence past and present to have ever said those words. The most I have heard before is someone dering they would match me but to surpass me, there was no one but you. HAHAHA, just thinking about it makes me feel so ecstatic."


    The smile on Ren''s face grew wider and wider as he shivered in excitement. He was now looking at Mo Feng as if he was the greatest treasure he has ever seen.


    "Very well, my disciple, I promise I shall teach you my swordsmanship. Then perhaps one day, you will allow me to fight with everything I got. I hope you do not disappoint me."


    Hearing what Ren said Mo Feng''s eyes were shining with respect and awe. He then did a fist to palm salute as he bowed his head this time with full respect of his master.


    "I shall not disappoint you my, Master."


    ...


    While Ren and Mo Feng were having their conversation, Mo Wei had a very dangerous glint in his eyes as he stopped hesitating in his mind and made a decision that was only known to him. It was but a brief second but Ren looked at him without Mo Wei noticing. Ren then showed a slight smile.

 Chapter 588 Summoning

    It has been a few months now since Ren had stayed in the Mo n. During that time he taught Mo Feng the basics of the formless sword which drastically increased Mo Feng''s skill with the sword.


    After teaching Mo Feng the basics, Ren had also started training with his various incarnations. The first thing he learned was summoning techniques, one of his past incarnations even gave Ren all of his past summons. At the moment Ren had only summoned one being, and the very second the summoned being looked at Ren it actually started jumping around.


    It turns out the beings that have a contract with the past incarnations were like Tsukiyomi. They can feel Ren''s soul so no matter how much different he looks from his past incarnations they would always recognize him as their master.


    The first thing he summoned was a gigantic hound. The hound''s size was the same as the mountain where Mo Sheng was training. The moment the hound saw Ren it started jumping in joy causing an earthquake. It was a good thing Ren tested out his summoning in arge open field. There were many such areas in this higher realm.


    It took Ren quite a bit of effort to calm the hound down. Once it was done jumping around in joy, Ren wanted to cancel the summoning but the hound didn''t want to leave.


    "I know that it has been a very long time since you werest summoned, but I can''t bring you along if you''re that big."


    The hound started to whimper as it didn''t have the ability to decrease its size. It was such arge dog-like creature that just looks like a giant Belgian Sheepdog. It looked at Ren with a pleading gaze, it was trying to be cute.


    Unfortunately, due to its enormous size, Ren wasn''t able to see the expression on its face. Ren was also unaffected by the hound''s cutesy act, he was also unaffected by its whimpering, so in the end, Ren sent it back to wherever it came from.


    "Hey, don''t you have any smaller summons?"


    Ren asked the past incarnation that thought him summoning, Richter Felix. Among the past incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul, many of them had a summoned contract or two, but none had as much as Richter Felix.


    Unlike the other past incarnations that treated summoning other beings as an extra ability, Richter''s whole thing revolved around summoning. He was truly different from the other incarnations as he liked to use the summon beings to battle for him. He like all the other incarnations still loved battle but he was toozy to do it himself. That was why he mastered the art of summoning which allowed him to battle others without even moving.


    Richter who was in the soul realm did some stretching as he yawned. He looked at the outside world through Ren''s eyes.


    "Huh? What did you say?"


    "I said don''t you have any smaller summons?"


    "Smaller ones? Hmm, let me think... Oh, I know what you need. Here I''ll tell you how to re-establish the contract and summon him."


    After following Richter''s instructions Ren was ready to summon something new. Ren then used Richter''s modified version of summoning. After doing a few weird movements with his hands, Ren spoke in his mind of the true name of the being he wanted to summon. A surge of Qi gathered in front of Ren and the summoned being appeared before him.


    Ren was rather surprised to see what kind of being he had summoned. It was an old man wearing a butler suit. Upon appearing the old man bowed in an elegant way.


    "Master, it has been a few eons since west met, it seems that you have changed quite a lot since then."


    "Alright, let''s get this out of the way first. I am and I am not your master Richter, he and I might be the same technically speaking, but I''m a different person from him. The current me is called Ren."


    "Understood, my master." The old butler wasn''t even startled by the revtion and continued to show an elegant demeanor.


    "So what''s your name, and what can you do?"


    "Sir Richter has never given me a name and simply called me, you. As for the things I could do, I can do anything my master wishes. From cleaning a supposed uncleanable room to ying legendary beasts to feed my master."


    "It''s going to be hard tomunicate if you don''t have a name, so I''ll give you one... Let''s see..." Ren looked at the old man a few times and after a while, he nodded his head. "Okay, your name will be Walter."


    "I deeply appreciate your kindness, my master. From here on out I shall be called Walter."


    "Alright then, I am feeling a bit hungry, so how about I test that cooking skill of yours."


    "What do you wish to eat, my master?"


    "Anything is fine as long as it''s meat."


    "It shall be as you wish my master."


    After bowing his head, Walter closed his eyes and once he opened them he disappeared from his spot and reappeared at a distance. Walter then punched the ground with such strength that the surrounding soil burst upwards. Once the storm of dirt and grass dispersed a hole was made and in that hole was a giant worm-like creature.


    The worm-like creature made a horrendous sound as it wanted to attack. Walter calmly approached the raging creature and punched it. The punch Walter made did not show any outward damage made to the creature, but with that one punch, the creature died without a wound on its massive body.


    Walter then kicked the giant body of the creature into the air. It flew very high into the sky, Walter jumped upward and once in the air, he used a water spell to clean the creature. Once it was cleaned of dirt, it started falling, as it was falling Walter used his hands to chop the creature into bits, he then proceeded to cook the creature mid-air using a controlled fire spell.


    As he and the creature were about to hit the ground, Walter opened a hole within the space before him and used that hole as storage for the cooked meat of the creature. When hended elegantly on the ground, he was already in front of Ren. Waltered then summoned a long table and a chair for Ren.


    After Ren sat on the chair, Walter opened that hole again and this time summoned a te, spoon, knife, fork, and a few spices. He then summoned a piece of the creature''s cooked meat and put some salt and pepper on it, recooked it using another controlled fire spell. Walter then used the spices he had ready and put some on the meat, after which he summoned something that smelled like honey and covered the meat with it.


    The cooked meat from the hideous worm-like creature looked so beautiful as Walter presented it to Ren.


    "I hope this is to your liking, my master."


    Ren took the knife and fork to cut the meat. As he was cutting the meat the delicious aroma emanating from it was already filling his nose. Ren took a bite of the meat and felt that this was one of the best things he has ever eaten.


    "This is good, this is really good. I decided from now on you are the one who will cook all my meals."


    "It will be as you wish, my master."

 Chapter 589 The Disciples Of The Void Sect

    Ren was liking his newly summoned butler, Walter. After a few weeks of living with Walter, the butler''s presence grew on Ren, it was like having a loyal and helpful dog. Walter was pretty much the perfect butler, he cooked for Ren, cleaned Ren''s things, and would give advice when Ren needed it. There was even a time when Ren had fought Walter. The old butler was plenty powerful and had a lot of battle experience, it was fun fighting him. At this point, Walter could anticipate everything Ren wanted before he even thought of it.


    Ren was also continuing his training with his various incarnations. After summoning Walter, Ren no longer continued summoning other beings. At first, he was nning to try and summon all of his past incarnations'' summoned beings, but after learning howrge almost all of those summons were Ren changed his mind. So instead right now Ren was learning to use spatial spells.


    It was rather enjoyable learning different spatial spells, before this the only spatial spell Ren knew was with the use of his shadow, now Ren had more options. Though, it was still more efficient to use his shadow.


    While Ren was enjoying his stay in the Mo n, Mo Feng was having difficulty mastering Ren''s formless sword. After he was done mastering the basic techniques, Mo Feng thought that the other techniques would also be easier than he expected. Yet the moment Ren taught him the advance techniques of his swordsmanship, Mo Feng was shocked.


    The advance techniques of Ren''s formless sword were difficult to evenprehend for most people, only the most talented individuals with specific skills could learn it. It was a set of techniques that required not only knowledge of the sword but a deep understanding of being one with the surrounding area. It was a swordsmanship that Ren had created bybining the sword skills he learned as an assassin and the sword skills he learned from his past incarnations. Due to the difficulty of learning the formless sword, Mo Feng was taking a lot of time to learn even the first technique.


    Still, Mo Feng was even more talented than Ren''s best friend Valdel. Among all of the people Ren knew, Mo Feng''s talent was only below Lara''s who had the abilities of numerous reincarnations. Also, it was quite fun teaching Mo Feng things.


    Every day after practicing the different techniques, Ren and Mo Feng would end their training sessions with a spar. Up to now, Mo Feng could not even touch Ren which frustrated him a bit. On the other hand, Ren was excited as unlike Mo Feng he noticed the huge improvements thetter had every day. If this keeps up, he might reach the same level as the current Ren in just a few years time.


    ...


    While Ren and Mo Feng continue to improve their skills many things were also happening within Wallow City. When news of the Xue and Teng n''s ancestors dying spread many of their enemies took this opportunity to attack.


    The Teng n was able to survive the ordeal due to the Mo n protecting them, but the Xue n wasn''t so lucky as no one was protecting them. The once-powerful n that was high above the others had fallen, and it was not just a small defeat. Almost every single member of the n had been killed.


    While all of these things were happening in Swallow City, another event wasing just beyond the horizon.


    ...


    In the sky near Swallow City, four people were approaching. There were three young men flying alongside a very beautiful young woman. The two young men were at the early stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, while the third young man was at the mid-stages Foundation Establishment Realm, and thedy was at thete stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm.


    "Senior Sister we''re approaching Wallow City."


    "Remember what I told you before, it doesn''t matter what families you three are from, do not act the same way you did in thest city. We are representing the Void Sect so act like it. Also, this city has three Nascent Soul Realm experts, one of which is said to be at middle stages."


    When the three young men heard what the youngdy had to say they were rather surprised. A little city such Swallow City actually had a Nascent Soul Realm Expert, and it wasn''t just one but three, one of which was even a middle stage one. Even in the Void Sect, middle stage Nascent Soul Realm experts were at least inner court Elders.


    "Do not worry Senior Sister we will not shame the name of the Void Sect."


    "Hmph, just don''t have a repeat of what you did in the previous city." Thedy''s tone became ice-cold as a bit of killing intent could be felt in her words.


    "That was a misunderstanding Senior Sister, we didn''t do anything that was against her will."


    "Enough! Just do as I say and properly assess those that want to join the sect."


    The trio nodded their heads with smiles on their faces, but in their heads, they were mad at the way thedy was acting.


    ''Why does she care so much about some outsiders? We were just having fun and that girl even agreed to it... They can''t even do anything, who would dare go against the void sect?''


    ''Hmph, you''re only able to boss us around because you''re Elder Ming''s disciple.''


    ''I''ll endure it, for now, Elder Ming can''t protect you forever.''


    Even though she could not hear their thoughts, Jing Su could pretty much guess what they were thinking. If they weren''t from the same sect Jing Su would''ve already cut down these worthless pigs. Not to mention even though the other two were nothing, Qiu Shi was from a very powerful family and was also a genius of the sect. Still, if they do something else and were caught red-handed, Jing Su swore that she would no longer hold back.

 Chapter 590 Your Own Way

    The disciples of the Void Sect had arrived in Swallow City and immediately started to examine those that wanted to join the sect. They were here to see who was worthy to apply to be the new disciples of the Void Sect. The requirement to even be eligible to be assessed was that you needed to be below the age of eighteen and had to be at least in the Spirit Gathering Realm.


    When the people of Swallow City learned of this news every single eligible candidate came, there were even some that faked their identities. Even the geniuses from the nearby cities came swarming into the city. The area given to the disciples of the Void Sect for this assessment was now filled with numerous candidates.


    ...


    Within the Mo n, many of those eligible to take part in the assessment were getting prepared to head to the assessment area. They weren''t that many that fit the requirement in the current generation of the Mo n, but those that did were the best within the n.


    In one particr section of the Mo n, there was a father and son duo that was nning in the dark.


    "The time has finallye Mo Wei, go and do not mess this up."


    "I will, father." Mo Wei bowed his head and left the room. Once he was far enough a sinister smile appeared on his face.


    ...


    Just outside of the Mo n''s estate Ren was watching Mo Feng swinging a sword while he was drinking the tea made by his now favorite butler Walter. As he was rxing, someone from the Mo n arrived, but before he got close to Ren, Walter stopped him.


    "My master is currently rxing, if you need to say something you can tell it to me."


    The old butler showed a gentlemanly smile as he spoke. The person of the Mo n wasn''t offended that a servant had approached him as he knew that the prestige of their n meant nothing to the person in front of him. The person from the Mo n nodded his head and told Walter the message given to him. After listening to what the person had to say, Walter ryed the news to Ren.


    "Hey, Mo Feng, your little fiance came looking for you. She''s waiting for you back in the n. It seems something interesting happened in the city. The news your little fiance brought is quite interesting. She says that some disciples from the Void Sect looking for some new blood, and that little fiance of yours wants to go together with you to see if the two of you can get in."


    Mo Feng stopped swinging his sword and turned to look at Ren who was sipping tea.


    "Master, what do you think?"


    "Well, to tell you the truth, no matter how much you learn swordsmanship from me, the pace of your growth will not be that good than if you went to the Void Sect."


    "Why?... Even though I haven''t seen the sect master of the Void Sect, I still feel that if Master fought him you would still be the victor."


    Mo Feng told his thoughts with full confidence in Ren''s abilities. In the past months that Mo Feng trained under Ren, he had caught a glimpse of just how powerful Ren truly was. It wasn''t even a full look at Ren''s power but even then he felt that Ren was unbeatable. In Mo Feng''s mind, if Ren wanted to, he could easily kill the Mo n''s Ancestor with just a re.


    "Hmph, do not assume victory and defeat like that, battle is much moreplicated than you think... Though I am rather interested in the Sect Master of the Void Sect, well that''s another matter altogether. Anyway, the reason I think you would better improve in the Void Sect is simple, it''s because our power systems are different. I cannot teach you in the ways of Cultivation as my own way is something entirely different. Not to mention the way I used to get stronger is through meditation, but based on my understanding of your ways, for you to get stronger you need something more than just that. Also, nowadays I don''t even need to train to get stronger, simply by me existing makes me stronger. So if you really want to get stronger faster, you need other people to help you. Do you understand what I mean?"


    Mo Feng was stunned for a moment after listening to what Ren had to say. After he got everything Ren said he finally responded.


    "I think I understand... But then, what about the formless sword techniques, I haven''t even properly done one advanced technique."


    "I already taught you what I can regarding that, now you need to figure it out on your own. Once you properly understand how to do all the advanced techniques you cane to find me so that I can teach you the higher forms."


    "Are you going to continue to stay in here in the Mo n, Master?"


    "No, I''m not staying here for that long."


    "Then how am I supposed to find you after I''m done mastering the advanced techniques?"


    Ren stretched out his hand and a tear in the space in front of him appeared. Ren then pulled out a ring and tossed it at Mo Feng.


    "Whenever you need me, just pour some of your Qi into that ring, and no matter where you are I will be able to locate and teleport towards you. Of course, you can only use this once you have mastered the advanced techniques of the formless sword."


    "Thank you, Master." Mo Feng bowed his head.


    "Also I almost forgot, if you want to acknowledge another master I do not mind. All you need to think of is how to get stronger. If gaining more Masters will help then you better take the chance."


    "I understand, Master."


    "Alright then, you better leave now with that little fiance of yours before those people from the Void Sect leave."


    "Thank you for everything, Master."

 Chapter 591 Venue

    After Mo Feng left, Ren looked at the sky above. This ce was called the higher nes yet the sky here was no different from the lower ne. There was still a sky, the sun, the clouds, and during the night the stars still sparkled with the moon beside them.


    ''I wonder what Lara and the others are doing, have they arrived in the upper nes? There are also those descendants of my past incarnations, I wonder where they are in these humongous higher nes?... Since they''re descendants of my past incarnations, they should be pretty strong. They mighte in handy once the Gods go berserk.''


    Ren unconsciously licked his lips as he thought of the chance of fighting his past incarnations'' descendants was reced by fighting the powerful Gods. As he was deep in his fantasy, Walter suddenly spoke.


    "Master, what are you going to do now?"


    "Oh, it has been a while since you needed to ask me that. Well, what do you think your master wants to do now?" Ren smiled mischievously as he asked the question.


    "Since master is basically the same as my former master, usually the right answer would be you want to find someone to fight, but even back then finding a worthy opponent would take some time. The only other thing my former master liked doing was eating a lot of different things, but that can''t be it."


    Ren couldn''t help but chuckle as he watched Walter agonizing over the answer. This was the first time that his perfect butler looked so lost. It was truly a rather amusing sight to behold. Yet the sight was short-lived as after some thought, the butler finally answered.


    "I guess considering the things that happened and the current circumstances, right now Master should be interested in watching young master Mo Feng''s assessment test. Then from there, once he passes and gets the chance to enter the Void Sect, you will secretly follow the group back to the Void Sect and meet with their sect master, where you will ask for a battle."


    Ren looked at Walter stunned by what he said. He was just messing around with the old butler not really expecting him to guess what he was going to do next.


    "Am I really that predictable?" Ren couldn''t help but ask.


    "Hmm, well, I''m not saying that you''re simple-minded as I know how intelligent you and my former master were, but most of the time you would simply use all of that intelligence for one thing and that''s for battle. Well, there are also times that you would want to eat some new things. Well, overall it''s pretty simple to think that your next move would involve something along the lines of how to find someone else to fight."


    Hearing Walter''s exnation Ren sighed as he hooked his head and shrugged his shoulders.


    "Alright then, since you already know what I want to do, how about you prepare some snacks so I can watch how my little disciple will do in this test."


    ...


    Unaware of what Ren was nning to do, Mo Feng was walking side by side with a beautifuldy with long ck hair tied in a ponytail and a natural defiant look on her face. This was Mo Feng''s fiance the youngdy of the Ying n Ying Yue.


    "Hey, is that master of yours truly such a bigshot?"


    "My master is the strongest person that I know of."


    "Stronger than your Ancestor Mo Sheng?"


    Mo Feng simply nodded his head in response. Even now Ying Yue couldn''t believe that the guy she saw back then eating biscuits and seeping tea while watching Mo Feng train was that strong. She couldn''t even feel any fluctuation of Qiing from Ren, the first time she met him she thought that he was just an ordinary mortal man.


    She was really surprised when she learned the truth. Even no she found it hard to believe but based on the rumors, what her elders had said, what happened to the Ancestors of the Xue and Teng ns, the actions of the Mo n, as well as what Mo Feng said, she had no choice but to believe it.


    The mortal man was someone above everyone in Swallow City, his estimated strength was at least in the True Monarch Realm. Those of the True Monarch Realm were said to be able to fly freely in the region. Even the mighty Void Sect only had a few True Monarch Realm experts, and all of them were high-ranking elders. That guy was such a being, even knowing all this Ying Yue just couldn''t picture that guy being such an expert.


    ...


    While Mo Feng and Ying Yue were talking they finally arrived at the venue. There were hundreds of people in the streets. Some of them were people Mo Feng and Ying Yue recognized.


    There was Teng Fan the genius of the Teng n. Usually, when he saw Mo Feng with Ying Yue he would approach them to provoke Mo Feng, and then would try to flirt with Ying Yue, but now he simply nced at them and didn''t approach. Due to the current circumstances of the Teng n, Teng Fan could not risk offending either of the two.


    There was also Ying Mang, Ying Yue''s cousin who also had some hidden desires for Ying Yue. He was a talented individual within the younger generation of the Ying n but he was always below his younger cousin in terms of ability. He noticed Ying Yue in the crowd and smiled but when he saw Mo Feng standing beside her, he started to emit killing intent for a second before hiding within the crowd of people.


    Then there was Mei Zhen who was wearing a very tight-fitting outfit attracting the attention of all the men. She was one of the five beauties of Swallow City, another was Ying Yue. Among the five beauties, Mei Zhen was considered to be the most beautiful and the most powerful. The cold demeanor that could freeze you with a look, her prideful walk that was full of confidence emphasizing her figure, could make any man feel a thing or two.


    She was said to not only be the strongest among the five beauties but the strongest of the younger generation in Swallow City. Her current realm was at the first stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, while Mo Feng''s strength was at the peak of the Spirit Gathering Realm.


    There were also other powerful people from outside the city mixed in the group. Even though his cultivation wasn''t the highest Mo Feng still felt fairly confident in his chances. Since after sparring with Ren these past few months, Mo Feng''s battle experience grew by leaps and bounds.


    As the noisy crowd was growing bigger and bigger, ady as beautiful as Mei Zhen appeared above everyone''s heads beside her were three men with high cultivation bases. These were the disciples of the Void Sect. Even though they weren''t in the Golden Core Realm, they were still able to use sword flight. The swords they were standing on were obviously special which allowed them to do this, even when their cultivation bases were at the Foundation Establishment Realm. This scene just made the people present extremely envious and in awe of the Void Sect''s treasures and strength.


    ...


    On one of the roofs of the nearby buildings was Ren sitting on a chair enjoying the snacks prepared by Walter. He watched the entire scene with a vicious smile on his face.

 Chapter 592 Assessment

    Jing Su stared at the people present, and she quickly spotted those with the highest Cultivation Realm in the sea of people. Among the people present there were even those at the Golden Core Realm, but they were too old to take the test. They were obviously here for their juniors hoping they could enter the Void Sect.


    "All of those that wish to apply to join the sect recruitment test of the Void Sect, step forward as for those that aren''t here to be assessed move back."


    Jing Su''s voice wasn''t loud but everyone present heard it. The Elders gave somest-minute advice to their juniors and wished them luck as they stepped back. Jing Su and the other three waited for the participants of the assessment to get ready. Once everyone was prepared Jing Su did a quick look at the dozens of people that met their requirements. After a while, Jing Su couldn''t help but frown.


    "Didn''t you know that not only should you be below the age of eighteen but you also must have the Cultivation Realm be at the Spirit Gathering Realm? I see that there are some of you that do not understand the humannguage."


    Jing Su pointed her finger at three people and those three were lifted into the air by an unknown force. Jing Su then bent her finger making the three fly towards her. The trio looked bewildered as they now stood in front of the cold beauty.


    "So you three, do you not understand that only those at the Spirit Gathering Realm and above can join this assessment. The three of you are just in thete stages of the Body Forging Realm. You might think you can hide your Cultivation Realm from me using whatever means you have, but such things are junk, and anyone from the Void Sect could see through it."


    When the others heard what Jing Su said they finally realized that the three really were at the Body Forging Realm. The other participants started throwing out insults at the trio some of them even wanted to attack but held back because the people from the Void Sect were there.


    "You three better leave now while I''m feeling merciful."


    The moment Jing Su''s voice echoed in their ears, the trio felt as if the temperature has dropped. Two of the three quickly bowed their heads and left without looking back.


    "Hmm, how about you, aren''t you going to leave?"


    Being directly looked at by Jing Su made him feel like he was being stared at by a Primordial Beast and it made him shiver, but the young man didn''t back down as he bravely stared back at her. The young man then gathered every bit of his courage and responded.


    "Don''t you think this is unfair?"


    "Unfair, what is unfair?"


    "I might only be at the peak of the Body Forging Realm but I can beat any Spirit Gathering Realm Fighter."


    The confidence in his voice as he spoke was so pure that Jing Su was actually moved when she heard it. On the other hand, the participants that heard those words were offended and red at the young man. There were only a few participants that weren''t angry at what he said, one of those was Mo Feng who looked at the scene with interest. Then there were those like Mei Zhen who remained indifferent.


    Even the trio who was apanying Jing Su felt that the young man was too arrogant for a nameless guy. There was only one other person who was excited to hear what the young man said.


    Ren who was watching at a distance heard every single word as if he was there standing in front of the young man. Ren''s smile grew as his eyes sparkled in excitement.


    "This guy is interesting."


    ...


    "Fine, then show me that you are stronger than a Spirit Gathering Realm fighter. I''ll give you a chance, if you''re able to win against three Spirit Gathering Realm fighters I will bend the rules and allow you to join the assessment. You can pick three of the people present here, and I will be the referee. So who do you want to fight?"


    The young man was surprised at first that Jing Su actually agreed so easily, it took him a while to get his bearings back. He faced the other participants who were now ring at him, he could feel their killing intent directed at him, but he was not perturbed. He then look back at Jing Su and responded.


    "It doesn''t matter who I fight, so please choose for me."


    "Oh, you''re that confident are you." Jing Su then pointed at one of the people standing at the front. "Youe forward and face him."


    The man who Jing Su called was at the second stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm. The man had a look of annoyance as he stepped forward.


    "Hmph, you''re unlucky that you have to face me." The man who was chosen to fight held his sword ready for battle.


    "We shall see," the young man responded in a cool manner.


    "Alright, greet your opponent properly and begin the fight."


    "Sun Lan, second stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm."


    "Fang Mu, tenth stage of the Body Forging Realm."


    After they said their names Fang Mu quickly made his move. Fang Mu''s speed surprised everyone present as that speed was not something a mere Body Forging Realm Cultivator should possess. He shouldn''t even be able to use Qi at this stage, but Jing Su sensed Fang Mu''s cirction of Qi.


    Sun Lan could barely follow Fang Mu''s movement, but he was still able to put up his sword in defense. As Su Lan''s sword met Fang Mu''s, Su Lan felt the heavy pressureing from Fang Mu, and for a second he thought that his sword would crumble from such might, but what happened next surprised him and everyone present. Fang Mu''s sword was the one to actually break.


    Surprised by the sword breaking Su Lan was stunned for a second, but then he felt something hit his abdomen. Fang Mu had used a palm strike making Su Lan fly awaynding a hundred meters from his original location. Su Lan now had a palm imprint on his abdomen and was knocked unconscious.


    Seeing that scene everyone even Jing Su was stunned into silence. On the other hand, Ren was pping his hands whileughing heartily.


    Fang Mu looked in the direction his opponent fell and did a palm holds fist salute. After that, he looked at Jing Su and said in a cool voice.


    "Who''s next?"

 Chapter 593 Honor

    The second challenger didn''t fare any better as Fang Mu simply kicked him once and it was over. That challenger was of an even higher cultivation realm than the first challenger, but he still lost. The reason behind this was that Fang Mu''s physique was greater than most of them present, he could bridge the gap between their cultivation using his unique physique. After the second fight, Jing Su had already noticed Fang Mu''s special physique.


    Once he was done Fang Mu waited for his final challenger. This time no one dared to look down on the Body Forging Realm, Fang Mu, in fact, they felt like facing him was not worth it. If they lose the match they would forever be shamed for being beaten by someone of a lower cultivation realm. The people wouldn''t even care even if they reasoned that Fang Mu had a special physique, they would still be mocked for being beaten by him. Now if they win, no one would really celebrate them as beating someone of a lower cultivation realm was to be expected. This means winning or losing nothing good wille from it.


    Everyone then became quiet, no one spoke a word, and no one even looked like they were breathing loudly as they avoided Fang Mu''s gaze. After several minutes have passed Jing Su suddenly spoke.


    "Is there no one willing to take up the challenge?"


    Jing Su looked around and as she was going to repeat the question, somebody finally stepped forward. A man with rather long ck hair, a sword on his waist, one at his back, and an indifferent look on his face stepped forward.


    "I will take up the challenge since no one wants to. So how about you juste at me and let us get this over with."


    The surrounding people who heard what the man said to Fang Mu were surprised. The young man''s cultivation realm was the same as thest one who fought Fang Mu, so how was still so confident, even after witnessing what Fang Mu could do.


    "What is your name?"


    "I have no need to tell my name to someone that''s about to lose." The young man replied calmly. Hearing his response Fang Mu did not get angry and instead smiled.


    "Heh, we will see about that."


    Fang Mu took a fighting stance this time weaponless. On the other hand, the young man did not draw any of his swords nor did he take any kind of stance and simply stood there like a tree.


    "Come at me then."


    Fang Mu could feel it, even though the young man looked defenseless that wasn''t really the case. It already felt like there was a sword to his throat so blindly charging forward would only mean defeat.


    Fang Mu and the young man stared at each and the atmosphere became extremely tense. Everyone watching including those from the Void Sect was silent. Ren who was watching from a distance was smiling viciously while his hands were squeezing his forearms until his nails dug into his skin making it bleed.


    Walter who saw his master bleeding from self-harm knew what Ren was thinking. Ren was holding back from attacking the two young ones, which actually surprised Walter. If it was his former master Richter he would have summoned all of his servants and let them attack everyone in sight.


    "Master, why don''t you just go and do what you want?"


    "You think that I don''t want to do that, but if I go now even if all of them attack they won''t be able to harm my body even if I was just standing there doing nothing. They''re all talented but they aren''t strong enough yet. Battling them wouldn''t be as satisfying as it should be... Also, I don''t want to break their spirit. Still, this is very irritating, watching them fight is getting me too excited."


    "So do you wish to leave now, my master?"


    "No, I won''t leave just yet. I want to see what the other guy can do."


    ...


    While Ren and Walter were having their conversation Fang Mu and the young man haven''t moved for a few minutes now. After a while, the young man sighed.


    "What is this, a staring contest? What happened to your aggressiveness from the earlier matches? If you''re not going to move, then I''ll do it."


    The young man started tapping the hilt of the sword on his waist as he walked forward. The way he moved so casually and defenseless makes him look like he was not in a fight and instead was on a stroll. When Ren saw this an image of another person ovepped with the young man.


    "That form, is this guy-" The smile on Ren''s face was so wide and ferocious-looking that if anyone could see it now they would''ve been frightened.


    ...


    Fang Mu saw the young man approaching him and his body tensed up. The sound of tapping entered Fang Mu''s ear and before he knew it the young was now right before him. Fang Mu nned to react to whatever the young man throws at him and then counter, but for some reason, the young man simply passed him by. As Fang Mu was going to turn around and attack, he heard the young man speaking to him.


    "Well, that was pretty easy."


    At first, Fang Mu couldn''t understand why the young man said those words, but then he suddenly felt heavy and before he knew it there were cuts all over his body. Fang Mu was in disarray confused as to what happened, it was then he heard the young man speak once more.


    "So are you going to continue?"


    Hearing what the young man said, Fang Mu finally understood what happened to him. He sighed as he raised his arms in defeat, he then bowed his head to his opponent.


    "Thank you for sparing me." After saying that Fang Mu turned around and was about to leave, but Jing Su intercepted him.


    "Where are you going?"


    "I lost so that means I have no right to join the test." Fang Mu answered while shrugging his shoulders.


    "That''s not true, you have proven to me that you are better than most people in the Spirit Gathering Realm. So now that you have proven that fact, I can allow you to join the test." In response to what Jing Su said Fang Mu shook his head.


    "There''s no need to do that, we made a deal and I lost, so I will ept my lose and leave."


    Seeing the look Fang Mu gave her, Jing Su knew she wouldn''t be able to convince him and she gave way. Fang Mu thanked Jing Su and left without looking back.


    The surrounding people didn''t even look at him as they continued to talk about what the young man with the indifferent look did. On the other hand, the young man in question noticed a chip on the de of his sword.


    ''Did that guy unconsciously counter?''


    ...


    "That really was Leonard''s technique Fangs of the wolf! Is that kid a descendant? Well, I''ll figure that outter, for now, let''s deal with that guy first." Ren chuckled as he stared at the leaving Fang Mu.

 Chapter 594 Thats Enough

    Fang Mu was the sole survivor of his n and wanted to enter the Void Sect to grow stronger so that he could take revenge on the Phoenix Empire which destroyed his n. He trained and trained until his Sky Destroying physique was at the second stage. He thought that even though the Void Sect needed people who had Spirit Gathering Realm cultivations he would be able to prove himself. He was sure that no one in the Spirit Gathering Realm could be his match with his physique, yet he was wrong. Now he was walking away beaten and a little ashamed.


    ''I guess there are other sects I can join, I can even wait for one more year and try again with the Void Sect.''


    As Fang Mu was making ns as to what his next move was going to be, he was already outside Swallow City. It was at that very moment a group of people suddenly appeared before him, two of which were familiar to him. Those two were the two he had defeated moments before.


    They were with four elders who were obviously at the Foundation Establishment Realm and above. Fang Mu''s body tensed up as he was now surrounded, still, he showed a slight smile on his face.


    "Oh, if it isn''t you guys, so what can I do for you two?"


    "What you can do? Do you know what happened after you left?" Sun Lan spoke with a heavy tone. Fang Mu shrugged his shoulders as he responded.


    "How should I know?"


    "Hmph, still acting tough despite your situation."


    "Situation, what situation are you talking about?"


    "Still acting that way, fine I''ll tell you about your situation. After you left, thedy from the Void Sect disqualified the two of us who were defeated by you. Not only that she told us that no matter how hard we tried our talents were not suitable for the Void Sect and that we aren''t even allowed to join the next sect recruitment. It''s all because of you."


    "Why are you ming me, isn''t the reason as to why you two couldn''t get in because the two of you are just weak?"


    When Sun Lan and the other person heard what Fang Mu said they only smiled and shrugged their shoulders. Seeing their reactions Fang Mu was surprised, he was nning on riling them up and once there was an opening he was going to flee.


    "Of course, we are weak in your eyes, wellpared to you most would pale inparison. After all aren''t you the sole survivor of that n, the ones who were said to have the physique of dragons."


    The moment Fang Mu heard those words his whole body tensed up but he kept on smiling.


    "I think you might''ve mistaken me for someone else."


    "Oh, there is no use denying it. At first, it was confusing since there was no n with the surname Fang in the region that could produce such a powerful descendant like you. Not to mention you''re body was so powerful that my elders here told me you might be able to survive a full-powered strike from a middle-stage Foundation Establishment Realm fighter. You really should''ve at least changed your name if you wanted to hide. You even came out and wanted to join the Void Sect. I''m sure that after some time the others would also guess the same thing and news of youing here will spread. By then you would be chased around by not only the Phoenix Empire but by everyone who wants to get into the Phoenix Empire''s good graces."


    "... Alright, it doesn''t look like you''ll believe me no matter what I say... So if hypothetically speaking I truly am the sole survivor of this n that you''re talking about, what are you going to do?"


    "Even after all that, you''re going to continue to deny it, well that really doesn''t matter. Now as for what we''re going to do to you, well first we''re going to beat you up until you can no longer move, after that, we''ll give you to the Phoenix Empire. They''ve been looking for you for quite some time now, so bringing you to them we would get some good things. This should be enough to repay what you did to us."


    Sun Lan smiled as he stepped aside and the four elders stepped forward.


    "Are the four of you really going to attack a junior? Aren''t you afraid that people would say that you bullied a junior?"


    "We are not here to bully you, as your Elders, we''re just here to teach you a lesson." After he responded one of the Elders stepped forward and attacked. A giant golden palm came flying towards Fang Mu.


    Seeing the iing attack Fang Mu tightened his fist and retaliated with all his might as he punched forward with everything he has. The giant golden palm and Fang Mu''s fist collided. The giant golden palm then started to shatter, making the four elders look at Fang Mu in amazement. Even though that wasn''t his strongest attack, and only had around forty percent of his full power, it was still an attack made by a Golden Core Realm fighter.


    "Oh, the Sky Destroying Physique really lives up to its reputation, if we were in the same realm, no... Even if you were just at the Foundation Establishment Realm this would''ve been a difficult battle, but as of now you''re too weak."


    The Elder then unleashed another giant golden palm to attack, and once again Fang Mu shattered it with a punch. The Elder then continued to attack relentlessly and after a while, Fang Mu''s hands started bleeding and his limited amount of Qi was waning. He was now out of breath but he continued to look for an opportunity to escape, unfortunately, the other three elders were on alert and he could not find that opportunity.


    ''Is this how it''s going to end, without me being able to do anything again?!'' Fang Mu gnashed his teeth as his anger filled him. It was at that moment a voice resounded in their ears.


    "That''s enough!"

 Chapter 595 Ants

    When the four elders heard that voice they started to look around but saw no one, nor could they feel the presence of the interloper. Yet despite not seeing him he was still able to stop the Golden Core Elder''s palm strike. This would mean that the other party was at least at the Golden Core Realm. Even Fang Mu was confused as he remained motionless, his body too hurt to be able to fight.


    "Who is there? Do you know who you''re messing with here? We are from the Sun n and the Meng n! If you know what''s right for you then you better leave now while we''re being merciful."


    The elders of the Sun and Meng n waited for a response, and when they heard no response they thought that the interloper was intimidated by them and left. So the Golden Core elder was about to continue his attack on Fang Mu, but as he was about to release another palm strike someone suddenly appeared beside him.


    "I told you that''s enough."


    Every single person in the scene was surprised to see a man suddenly appearing out of nowhere. They were all stunned, but at the same time, they examined the neer. Yet no matter how hard they checked the man that was standing before them was nothing more than a normal mortal man. There was not even a single trace of Qi in the man''s body. Then how was he able to get so close without any of them noticing? They couldn''t even detect the use of a spiritual tool.


    "I don''t know who you are mortal, but-" As the Elder was talking to Ren, he was trying to get his hand free from Ren''s grip but for some reason could not. He could not even make Ren''s hand budge a little bit.


    "This is thest time I will say this, that''s enough."


    Hearing Ren say those words again just made the Elders angry especially the one Ren was holding onto. Even though they could not understand how Ren got near without them noticing, in the end, he was still nothing more than a mortal man. The Elder from the Sun n that Ren was holding onto, lifted his free arm and was about ready to attack Fang Mu again, but before he could do anything the hand Ren was holding was crushed. The Elder who had his arm crushed did not scream in pain as he looked at Ren in shock.


    "I warned you, now don''t me me for bullying you, weaklings."


    The moment Ren said those words a sudden burst of killing intent assailed all of the men in the vicinity. The killing intent was so intense that their entire bodies were paralyzed and shaking in fear. The Elders were still unable to understand how, but now they know that the man before them was not just a mortal man.


    Ren sighed as he saw the fear in the eyes of these men he then tore off the arm of the man he was holding. Seeing that scene, two of the Elders who were at the Foundation Establishment Realm quickly ran towards their young masters and were going to flee. Thest remaining Elder who was at the Golden Core Realm was going to support the other Elder in the same realm.


    "You think you can flee?"


    Ren''s shadow started to expand, when the two Elders at the Golden Core Realm saw this, they immediately flew into the air. On the other hand, the two young masters and the two Foundation Establishment Realm Elders were unable to dodge Ren''s shadow. Chains came out of the Shadow restraining them. The Golden Core Realm Elder who had one of his hands torn gritted his teeth as he sent a sound transmission to the other Elder from his n.


    "I''m going to unleash my strongest attack, once that man is distracted you take the young master and flee back to the n."


    After sending that message, the Golden Core Realm Elder made his Golden Core appear in front of him. The Golden Core was both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of people in the Golden Core Realm. Showing it to the enemy was just asking for it to be destroyed, but he needed to do this to be able to use every ounce of his power. Seeing that Ren was unmoving and simply staring at him waiting, made the Elder furious. Ren was not even treating him as an opponent, it was as if Ren was looking at an amusing performer. The Elder from the Sun n shouted at the other Golden Core Realm Elder from the Meng n.


    "What are you staring at, if you want your young master to live, join me and attack with everything you got!"


    The Elder from the Meng n nodded his head as he too summoned his Golden Core. The two Golden Cores that shone brightly looked like miniature suns. The two Elders then attacked Ren using their Golden Cores that burn as hot as the very sun itself.


    Seeing this attack, Ren simply sighed as he reached out his hands and actually touched the Golden Cores with his bare hands. Ren proceeded to crush the Golden Cores with nothing but his own physical power.


    When the Two Elders saw their Golden Cores so easily destroyed all hope disappeared from their eyes. Their power, their skills, their cultivation, everything was there in their Golden Cores, now without them, they were weaker than even a normal mortal. Fortunately for them, Ren was kind enough to kill them.


    Seeing how easily Ren dealt with the two Golden Core Elders, the four who were being restrained knew that they had no chance. As they saw the approaching Ren, Sun Lan started shouting in a hysteric manner.


    "Damn you! I''m not meant to die here! I''m the f*cking genius of the Sun n! My future was supposed to be brighter than any star in the sky! I''m not going to die, in the hands of some-"


    Sun Lan finally stopped talking as a rock struck his head making it explode.


    "You talk too much, now then."


    Ren waved his hands and various weapons suddenly pop out of Ren''s shadow piercing the three who were restrained. The three weren''t even able to scream as they died. After killing the remaining people Ren yawned.


    "Well, that was boring," After Ren said those words Walter suddenly appeared behind him.


    "You didn''t need to fight such weaklings, master. If you so wish I could''ve disposed of them myself."


    "Tsk, that would''ve been even more boring. Anyway, that doesn''t matter." Ren then look at the beaten-up Fang Mu and smiled, "Well then."


    Fang Mu was dumbfounded by the sight, of a man who appeared and killing the people who were stronger than him like he was killing ants. When Ren turned around to look at him with that vicious smile on his face, Fang Mu gritted his teeth. If there was already but one percent chance of surviving before, now before this man with a crazed smile Fang Mu was sure that not even a miracle could save him.

 Chapter 596 I Will Grant You Power Beyond Belief

    Ren looked at the badly beaten Fang Mu with a smile on his face. Despite the young man being on the brink of death, his body trembling in fear of Ren''s power, his eyes were still full of vigor. Even in his current state he was still fighting, waiting for a chance to survive.


    Even in the face of Ren''s overwhelming presence, the boy remained calm. Seeing these detailed reactions on the boy''s face just made Ren even more excited. Recently aside from fighting, Ren found that training those with potential was a fun thing to do as well. Seeing a weakling barely able to perform a simple technique grow stronger and stronger until he can finally harm even Ren himself, was extremely stimting. Just thinking about battling someone like that made Ren tingle in excitement.


    Not only does training these people help him find good opponents to fight, but they might be able to somehow help him in the war against the ORIGIN that was closing in. Even if they could not fight the ORIGIN itself, they should be able to at least fight again the Gods that follow the ORIGIN.


    ...


    Fang Mu looked at Ren warily unable to discern what the other party was thinking. He already understood that there was little to no hope of escaping from this person, yet Fang Mu didn''t want to ept such a fate. He still had a lot of things he needed to aplish, the was shouldering not only the dreams of his entire n but their desire for revenge.


    ? "What do you want to do with me, why did you save me?"


    "I saved you because I found you interesting."


    "Interesting?"


    "Yeah, your toughness, skill, and determination are very good that even I can''t help but admire you. Not only that but the calmness you have in every given situation is something to behold."


    "..."


    "Don''t look at me like that. It''s the truth that I admire your spirit."


    "If that''s everything you wanted to say then thank you for helping me, so can I go now?"


    Even as he was talking like he normally would Fang Mu was coughing up a bit of blood. At this moment his physique the Sky Destroying Physique was already healing his wounds.


    "What''s the rush, you''re badly beaten and it seems that even though your special physique is great and all it doesn''t seem like you can instantly regenerate, and even if you could your stamina won''t suddenly recover."


    "... It''s enough, my wounds will heal eventually." Fang Mu tried to stand up, it took him a bit of effort but he was able to stand up.


    "Hey, it seems due to the excitement I forgot to introduce myself, I''m Ren and you are?"


    "Huh?" Fang Mu showed a confused expression at the sudden topic change.


    "Like I said we haven''t introduced ourselves yet so since I have told you my name, how about you tell me yours."


    "... I''m Fang Mu."


    "Nice to meet you Fang Mu. So since you don''t like chattering too much, I''m just going to get straight to the point now. Do you want to be my disciple?"


    When Fang Mu heard what Ren said the expression on his face became really weird. He was so surprised that he wasn''t even sure if he heard the words correctly.


    "Disciple?"


    "Yes, if you be my disciple I promise you that you will be stronger."


    "..."


    "Hmm, still not convinced? Tell me what is your goal in life, and what it is that you desire? Perhaps I might be able to give it to you."


    The way Ren spoke was very enticing it was like the devil himself was whispering in Fang Mu''s ears. After a short pause, Fang Mu finally answered.


    "... Revenge..."


    As Fang Mu said those words the memory of his n being ughtered shed before his eyes, his killing intent was hard to hide. Unlike Ren''s overbearing killing intent that could make someone kneel in fear, on the other hand, Fang Mu''s killing intent was like a refined de that could cut anything in its path. Hearing what he said and feeling his killing intent Ren started smiling again and was holding down hisughter.


    "Now that''s an interesting response... So you wish for revenge, that''s easy for me to give you. If you want it, as long as you follow me as my disciple you can gain power that could help you in your revenge, or you can just ask me to do it. No matter what kind of enemy you have, as long as you be my disciple I can annihte them."


    "I do not want anybody to fulfill my revenge for me. It needs to be by my hand. I need to be the one to annihte the enemies of my n, if not me then everything would be meaningless..."


    "I that so... Hm, I guess you wanted to join the Void Sect not to use its reputation to kill your enemies, but to gain strength so that you can do it yourself. Hahaha, I really like you kid, so what do you say want to be my disciple? Like I keep on telling you if you be my disciple I will grant you the power to take whatever revenge you want."


    "Are you sure that you can grant me such power?"


    "Even after seeing me fight, you still think that way?"


    "My enemies aren''t so lowly as those guys. My enemies could possibly be even more powerful than the Void Sect. So can you truly grant me the power to achieve my revenge?"


    "Just how strong is this enemy of yours?"


    "My enemy is the Phoenix Empire, I don''t know just how strong they truly are, but they should have several true monarchs."


    "How strong is this so called true monarch?"


    When Fang Mu heard Ren''s question he was once again surprised. Someone at Ren''s level who should at least be at the Nascent Soul Realm should know about True Monarchs but based on his tone when he spoke it doesn''t seem like he knew anything. Even though he was still confused, Fang Mu answered.


    "A True Monarch Realm Cultivator is supposed to have the strength to overthrow a minor sect with but a wave of their hand."


    "That is such a vague way to exin one''s strength."


    "Sorry, I haven''t really seen a True Monarch in action so I don''t really have a clear idea of just how strong they are."


    "Fine, I''ll just show you a bit of my power, and you tell me if it is enough to challenge these so-called True Monarch Realm Cultivators."


    Ren faced the direction of a mountain that he could be seen in the distance, he then lifted his right hand. Fang Mu could feel the Qi in the surrounding area gathering into Ren''s right hand. The power he felt from Ren''s right hand was beyond anything he has ever seen before. Ren then chopped down and the mountain in the distance was sliced right in the middle. Ren had created a crevice with just a single motion.


    "Is that enough to prove my power?"


    Fang Mu quickly stood up straight despite his injuries he made the proper gesture of greeting one''s master.


    "Disciple Fang Mu greets master."

 Chapter 597 Rumors

    "Alright now that''s done and over with, Walter I have something for you to do." Walter appeared in front of Ren and knelt waiting for his orders.


    "I want you to protect Mo Feng in the shadows. Of course, you only need to make a move when his life is truly in danger. As long as he doesn''t die it''s alright to let him have as many near-death experiences as he can. There are many ways to gain strength but to gain experience that could only be forged in battle... Oh right, also find out who the strongest person in the Void Sect is. Well, that''s it, just report back to me every three months I guess."


    "As you wish, my master." After bowing one more time Walter disappeared from Ren''s sight. Ren then looked at his new disciple Fang Mu.


    "Alright then, how about we go on a little adventure."


    ...


    Several months had passed since the trial set by the Void Sect in Swallow City happened, and many events had transpired during this time. The biggest event that happened was the sudden rampage of the Demi-God children of the New Gods. Out of nowhere the silent forsaken children of the Gods suddenly attacked human cities. Anyone below the True Monarch Realm was not their match and many small cities were destroyed.


    In response to these attacks, the different Sects and ns had joined forces to protect the people. Even the legendary ns that were created by the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul started to reappear. The Heisys n, the descendants of the Godly Archer Emesan Heisys, and the Raybach n, the descendants of the Unwavering Knight, As Raybach have suddenly reappeared in this era.


    With all of these Sects and ns out there dealing with the Demi-Gods the destruction was somewhat lessened. Still, even now there were many unfortunate souls that had met their ends at the hands of these Forsaken Children of the Gods.


    ...


    In a restaurant near the area of the upper realm called the Land of the Gods many mercenaries, bounty hunters, rogue cultivators, and many others were eating and drinking. They have all gathered in this ce for the prize the many Sects and ns had promised for the heads of specific powerful Demi-Gods.


    Because of the growing threat of the Demi-Gods, as well as the fear that even the New Gods or the Old Gods might join in the mayhem, the various Sects and ns were having difficulty fighting back. So in response to the growing threat they had made a bounty system using the heads of the Demi-Gods.


    So many people looking for fame and fortune came to the front lines to battle against the Forsaken children of the Gods. Before heading out to take find their fortune the people would stop by this particr restaurant to gather intelligence as well as to get a good drink and meal.


    "Hey did you hear the rumor, that the n of the legendary God of battle, Leonard Tranor''s n has been eradicated by a New God?"


    "What?! How could that be? Even among the ns that descended from the Strongest Mortal Soul the Tranor n was one of the strongest. The Tranor n should have had enough power to fight an Old God, so how can a New God beat them?"


    "Rumor has it that, the top powers of the n went out to defeat the Old God Irosi. I''m not sure how urate the rumor is but, it was said that none of the nsmen that went into battle against the Old God Irosi was able to return, and those that remain could not defend against the sudden attack from the New God. Well, in the end, it''s just a rumor. Even if there was some truth in it, the powerful Tranor n wouldn''t be so easily defeated. I guess some sort of enemy of the n was the one who spread this rumor so that those greedy b*stards that want the legacy of the Tranor n would attack."


    "I guess you''re right... None of those legendary ns who descended from the Strongest Mortal Soul are normal. Even if we think they have lost, they always somehow find a way to get back up. Small-time bounty hunters like us, shouldn''t measure them with our own understanding." The man who responded drank all of his beer in one gulp.


    ...


    While there were many people in the restaurant talking about the Gods and the legendary ns that oppose them, there was another interesting topic going around the restaurant.


    "Have you heard of the Sect Challenger, Ren?"


    "Sect Challenger? That''s a rather straightforward nickname. Why are you acting so excited, it''s not like there hasn''t been some lone cultivator challenging sects before. So what has this guy done, challenge some small-time sects?"


    "No, he''s actually doing the exact opposite. He never touches any sect that only has Golden Core Realm cultivators. He would always challenge sects that have at minimum Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators. As of now, he has defeated many sects in the East Region and has never lost. The only ones that he hasn''t defeated in that area should be the Void Sect and the Dajiao Sect. Not to mention he has only been doing this for only several months. He challenges sects once every week."


    When the other party heard more about Ren, the more surprised he was.


    "Ren? Was there such a powerful guy before?"


    "No, that''s another thing that''s surprising. There are many rumors about who Ren is, but there''s no clear picture of where he came from. The most people found out was that he was once staying at somece called Swallow City. That''s the most I know about him, this guy seems like he just popped out of nowhere."


    "Do you think that he could be from the lower realms?"


    "The lower realms?... It couldn''t be, the guys thate from there are usually at most in the Golden Core Realm. Still... If he truly dide from the lower realms that would exin why no one knows where he came from."


    "So just how strong is this guy, that''s he''s able to defeat so many powerful sects?"


    "That''s also a mystery. No one who has seen him could get a feel of what his cultivation is. Many who has met the man has said that no matter how hard they try they could only see him as a normal mortal man."


    "Coming from the lower realm, and being powerful I can somehow believe. Beating all the powerful Sects in such little time, was barely believable. Now you''re telling me he did all that while still being a mortal? Do you think I''m an idiot or something?"


    The man smacked his hand on the table as he red at the person sitting in front of him. The person being red at simply shrugged his shoulders as he responded.


    "Well, that''s what I heard. I haven''t seen this Ren character so I''m not too sure myself."


    ...


    As the discussion in the restaurant was heating up, a man who was sitting by himself at another table frowned, as he spoke under his breath.


    "A mortal man, with unbelievable strength. Could he be..."

 Chapter 598 Sect Challenge

    The rumored Sect Challenger, Ren, and his disciple Fang Mu had arrived in front of the sect that was supposedly as strong as the Void Sect in the East Region, the Dajiao Sect. This sect focuses on the sword, they were filled with the so-called Sword Cultivators.


    It was rumored that those called Sword Cultivators dominate anyone in the same realm as them among all the other arts. Knowing this Ren was excited to see what they got. He then looks at the person standing behind him.


    The young man from several months ago had a different demeanor from before, if before he was like an unsheathed sword ready to cut everyone and anything, but now he was like a hidden sword his sharpness unknown. Fang Mu''s body was now filled with scars and burn marks, it would''ve been very easy for Ren or even him to remove those things but in the end, he decided to keep them. When Ren asked him why Fang Mu answered with resolve.


    "These scars are reminders of my mistakes and the effort I made to be stronger. I will not erase them to make sure I will never forget."


    Hearing his student''s answer made Ren smile. He was reminded of one of his incarnations that he has recently talked to. That guy As was one of the few incarnations that never healed his battle scars even after death. When Ren asked him why he did that, he gave a rather simr answer.


    "These scars are my pride, my history of battle etched in my entire body. Each scar, each burnt mark, each hole, every single wound you see here tells a story. Also, they''re super cool."


    Obviously, the first part was slightly true, but the second part should be As''s true feelings. Ren was sure of that since he also thought that the scars were rather cool. Ren even started to think if he could somehow have scars as well, but after thinking about it for a while he came to the conclusion that he could not.


    Ren''s current body was still under the category of mortal, but it was a special kind of mortal body. Even against those with so called immortal constitutions, his body was something that was beyond even that. Right now his body could regenerate some minor wounds even without circting spiritual energy, it also had the durability greater than most materials in the universe, and currently has the function of extreme strength that no mortal body could ever achieve.


    The only time Ren would need to circte his mana to heal is from fatal wounds, if it was just some minor wounds his body would heal itself, meaning he could no longer gain any of those battle scars. Even his old scars had disappeared the moment his body''s strength reached a certain level.


    ...


    Ren and Fang Mu were about to enter the Dajiao Sect''snd, and both of their battle intents were rising as this was the strongest Sect they would face.


    "So my dear disciple, are you ready. Unlike the past Sects, this one would really prove to be an actual challenge."


    "I''m ready, master."


    Fang Mu responded full of confidence. He then grabbed the hilt of the sword Ren gifted to him after learning a bit of the formless sword style. The Sword Ren gave Fang Mu was a legendary weapon that supposedly creates mes that could burn not only the body but the spirit as well. Of course, with Fang Mu''s current mastery he wasn''t able to use that ability. In Fang Mu''s hands, this legendary weapon was nothing more than an extremely sharp sword.


    "Alright then, let''s go and have some fun."


    The very moment Ren and Fang Mu were about to step onto the stairs towards the Dajiao Sect, a voice echoed in their ears.


    "Who are you, what business do you have in the Dajiao Sect?"


    "I''m Ren and this is my disciple Fang Mu, we''vee here to challenge the strongest elder and the strongest disciple of the Dajiao Sect."


    "Oh, so it''s the so-called Sect Challenger, Ren, and thest remaining member of the Fang n. Hmph, I heard of you two. Unfortunately, the two of you are not worthy to even enter our sect much less challenge any of our elders or the geniuses of my Sect. So you better leave now."


    "Did you hear that, Fang Mu? Even though they''re supposedly one of the strongest Sects here in the East Region they say the same things as the other sects."


    "You dare mock my Sect! I will punish you for your ignorance!"


    The Sword Cultivator that was hiding somewhere suddenly attacked. A wave of Sword Qi came crashing down on Ren and Fang Mu, but despite it nearing with such a devastating momentum, Ren didn''t even bother to move. The Sword Qi hit Ren but it did not do any damage, it didn''t even make Ren''s clothes flutter.


    "It seems that you are the one who''s not worthy."


    Ren looked in the direction where the Sword Cultivator was hiding, seeing that he had been spotted the Sword Cultivator wanted to move to another location but he could not do so as his body was not responding. The Sword Cultivator then heard Ren''s voice as if he was talking right beside him.


    "Your Sword is dull allow me to show you a truly sharp de."


    After hearing those words the Sword Cultivator saw Ren lift his hand his index finger pointing towards the sky. The Sword Cultivator then saw Ren producing Sword Qi from his fingertip. Compared to the Sword Qi he used Ren''s was purer, it was on a whole other level. Ren was right,pared to that Sword Qi that seemed to be so sharp that just looking at it made the Sword Cultivator feel as if he were being sliced, his own Sword Qi was not just dull it was broken.


    Ren then did a shing motion, the Sword Cultivator saw that Ren''s Sword Qi was aimed towards his arm and he wanted to dodge but no matter how hard he tried he could not move. The Sword Cultivator could only grit his teeth waiting for the Sword Qi to arrive, but before it could slice his arm someone appeared before him and intercepted Ren''s Sword Qi.


    "Is it fun for you to bully a junior?" The man who intercept Ren''s Sword Qi asked. Ren shrugged his shoulders before answering.


    "I wasn''t bullying a junior, I was educating him."

 Chapter 599 Napping

    "Hmph, you are as arrogant as rumored." The Sword Cultivator that blocked Ren''s attack spoke with an indifferent look on his face. On the other hand, Ren was smiling that vicious smile of his as he responded.


    "Hmm, am I arrogant? I don''t think so, shouldn''t this be called confidence instead. I''m confident in my abilities, that''s all."


    "Overconfidence always turns into arrogance."


    "Well, if you say so, I was simply telling the truth. I don''t really care what you think. So let''s move on from that, and get back to what I really wanted to do. I''m sure you know why I came here, but just in case you don''t I''ll say it again. I and my disciple wish to challenge the strongest Elder and the strongest disciple of your Sect."


    "You should know that right now because of the threat of the Gods, most of our fighting force went to the borders of the Land of the Gods."


    "Oh is that so, how boring... That means only weaklings are left here."


    When the Sword Cultivator heard Ren''s remark he red at Ren he wanted to attack but stopped himself as he did not act out of anger. After surprising his rage, the Sword Cultivator spoke.


    "If you truly think you are that strong then why are you here, and not in the Land of the Gods where the Forsaken Children are killing everything they see. If you truly wanted a challenge you should''ve gone there, instead of fighting other humans. Are you just someone who fears the strong and bullies the weak?"


    "Are you calling yourselves weak?" Ren jokingly responded. The Sword Cultivator red even more intensely making Ren shrug his shoulders.


    "Well, like I said before I didn''te here to bully anyone. I just wanted to see how strong the Sects in this area were, I also did this to train my new disciple. Now as for those Forsaken Children of the Gods, well they aren''t that threatening, so I decided to use them as a test. If you guys can''t even handle little Demi-Gods, then it would be best for you guys to die earlier for the horrors of true Gods are not something you can handle."


    "You speak as if you have already fought an actual God before."


    "Hmm, even if I tell the truth an idiot like you would never believe me. Anyway since the strong people of this sect are gone this became boring. Fine, I will no longer challenge you guys, my disciple will be enough to do that. So bring out whoever is the current strongest and I''ll let my disciple face him."


    After waving his hand Ren stepped back and sat on the ground while Fang Mu stepped forward. Seeing his actions the Sword Cultivator could no longer hold it in as a wave of killing intent surged outward directed at Ren and Fang Mu.


    "I''ve listened long enough to your continuous disrespect to my Sect! Time for you two to be punished!"


    The Sword Cultivator who managed to block one of Ren''s attacks took out his sword and suddenly disappeared from his spot. The Sword Cultivator had dashed forward with an unimaginable speed.


    The Sword Cultivator''s movement technique was almost like teleportation but in the end, it was not, as he still needed to get from point A to point B in a straight line. As he was about to reach Ren, a sword got in between him and Ren. The Sword Cultivator could not stop as he was moving too fast, so the only thing he could do to defend himself was to raise his own sword to block.


    The two swords collided and the Sword Cultivator was pushed backward, and before he could stabilize his footing he saw a sword about to reach his neck. The Sword Cultivator quickly evaded but another attack came just as quickly. The Sword Cultivator couldn''t even lift his sword in defense as each attack made by the opponent was quick and precise, not to mention he could not sense the iing attack.


    The Sword Cultivator was being suppressed not by the realm of his opponent but by sheer skill alone. He could sense that the other party was just at the early stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm while he was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. The Sword Cultivator felt ashamed by this fact, but he had no time to wallow in his self-pity as he was still being attacked.


    The only option the Sword Cultivator had to win was to use his superior realm to suppress the other party. It was a shameful tactic but it was even more shameful to lose to a junior who was in a weaker realm. The Sword Cultivator unleashed his Qi at the Golden Core Realm and was able to push back his opponent Fang Mu. Affected by the suppression of a higher realm Fang Mu''s attack became slower, which gave the Sword Cultivator the chance to counter-attack.


    ...


    Ren who was watching at the side yawned as he watch the rather boring fight between the two. After Fang Mu was suppressed by the Sword Cultivator''s stronger cultivation Realm, his attacks did be slower but in its ce, Fang Mu''s attack was slowly bing sharper instead. At the moment the two sides were about equal.


    Ren who was getting bored watching their back and forth decided to take a little nap. Ren headed to a nearby tree andid under its shade.


    "Hey, I''m still waiting for that punishment of yours! Since you''re taking longer than expected I''m just going to take a little nap. Wake me up once you guys are done ying, alright. I''ll be waiting over here, soe and try to punish me whenever you''re ready."


    Hearing Ren''s provocation and seeing him yawning in the distance while waving his hands, the Sword Cultivor''s anger rose to another level. He wanted nothing more than to slice that smug smile on Ren''s face, yet he could not do it as he wasn''t able to get past Fang Mu.


    Seeing the Sword Cultivator burst of energy and killing intent, Ren chuckled. Despite angering the other party to the extreme Ren wasn''t the least bit afraid as he closed his eyes and slept.

 Chapter 600 Like Teacher, Like Student

    Ren woke up from his little nap and after stretching a bit he looked around and was rather surprised at what he saw. The stairs towards the Dajiao Sect had numerous sh marks. Even the ground outside the stairs and every other tree in the vicinity except for the one he was napping on was sliced.


    Ren was somewhat surprised that the Sword Cultivator could actually fight his disciple Fang Mu to such an extent. He was sure that the other party wouldn''tst more than a few exchanges. Still, this was a rather pleasant surprise to him.


    Ren looked around and could not find a single trace of the three people that he was with before he had his nap.


    Ren then closed his eyes and spread out his spiritual sense. After a few seconds, Ren felt the spiritual presence of multiple individuals and one of them was his disciple Fang Mu. He was now truly awake as he sensed something very surprising, based on the feeling he got there was one person in a state of exhaustion and that person was none other than his disciple.


    There was also a presence that was way above even the Mo n Ancestor he fought several months ago.


    ''Oh, was there something interesting that happened while I was napping?''


    ...


    Now let us turn the clock back to the time when Ren just took his nap.


    ....


    Fang Mu was fighting the Sword Cultivator who was at the Golden Core Realm. After attacking a few more times Fang Mu noticed that even though the Sword Cultivator was of a higher realm than him he was far far far too weak.


    Compared to his teacher the moves of this so-called Sword Cultivator were crude and his state of mind was all over the ce. Now that he thought about it, wasn''t his teacher a little too powerful. No matter the sect they challenged his teacher would always fight them in what they were good at, using spells, using talismans, from unarmedbat to fighting using spears and daggers.


    As long as it came tobat, his teacher seemed to be pretty much all-knowing. In fact, based on everything he has seen his teacher has never shown him his true strength. Even though he has been with his teacher for several months now he knows little to nothing about him. He wasn''t even sure what realm his teacher was at. As he was thinking Fang Mu suddenly heard someone shout at him.


    "How dare you get distracted while fighting me!"


    The Sword Cultivator''s sword came flying towards Fang Mu, who easily dodged it. Seeing the angry Sword Cultivator Fang Mu sighed.


    "Just like my teacher said you are not worth fighting. Even if I don''t focus on the battle it doesn''t feel like you''ll be able to beat me. I better end this now."


    After speaking those words Fang Mu suddenly appeared before the Sword Cultivator with a speed that was faster than before. In the corner of the Sword Cultivator''s eye, he saw Fang Mu''s sword about to slice through his neck. The Sword Cultivator could see the attacking but was unable to do anything, as he was sure that Fang Mu''s sword would reach his neck Fang Mu suddenly backed away.


    "How aggressive. I thought you just came to challenge some people in the sect but not kill them."


    A man with a beautiful blue sword suddenly appeared in front of the Sword Cultivator shielding him from Fang Mu.


    "I wasn''t going to kill him, I was just going to ce my sword gently at the side of his neck and ask him to concede."


    "Hmph, that''s what you say but who knows what you really wanted to do."


    "It really was my intention to stop. I have no need to kill such a weak opponent, not to mention he was the first to strike me with murderous intent."


    When the Sword Cultivator heard what Fang Mu said his killing intent rose but he no longer attacked as he now understood the difference between them. Seeing the reaction the Sword Cultivator who fought Fang Mu made, the new arrival frowned.


    "Oh, so an honorable Sect Guardian actually did all that. Do you have anything else to say in your defense, junior brother Ding Ju?"


    The Sword Cultivator called Ding Ju simply looked at his senior brother but said nothing as he was already aware that no matter what he said it would only make him look worse than he already was.


    "So it''s like that..." The neer sighed as he looked at his junior brother and then at Fang Mu. "Alright then, I will report this to the Sect Master once he returns, he will decide what your punishment will be. As for you outsider you and yourpanion may leave."


    "Huh, what do you mean leave? We haven''t settled who the winner is." As Fang Mu spoke he noticed that more and more Sword Cultivators had arrived.


    "It''s better if you just forget about this whole thing, and leave." The supposed Senior Brother of the Sect Guardian spoke with a hint of killing intent.


    "If I decide not to leave, what are you going to do?"


    "Boy, I am Ma Jun one of the Dajiao Sect''s Guardians, do not mistake me for my weak Junior Brother over here. He and I might have the same title as Sect Guardian but I''m on a whole other level."


    After speaking Ma Jun unleashed his aura which was at the Nascent Soul Realm. He was in an even higher realm than Ancestor of the Mo n. The pressure Fang Mu felt was incredible, it wasn''t at the same level as when he faces his teacher but it was still something.


    Still, instead of being threatened by the powerful foe before him, Fang Mu felt excited instead. When facing his teacher Ren, Fang Mu was always beaten before he could understand what he did wrong. Even when his master never fought back he still could not understand why he could not hit his opponent. That was because his teacher was way too strong, the skill difference between them was like heaven and earth.


    On the other hand, fighting the disciples of the other sects was the exact opposite they were way too weak. He would pretty much defeat everyone either in one attack or after a few exchanges. So even now Fang Mu doesn''t know the extent to which he had improved.


    So now that he was going to face an opponent that won''t lose to him immediately, he felt his heart racing. In fact, Fang Mu wasn''t even sure if he could beat the opponent before as even the weaker Sect Guardian with his Golden Core realm upon unleashing Cultivation could already suppress Fang Mu to some degree. The opponent this time was stronger than him by two major realms, and the chance of victory was minuscule.


    Seeing that Fang Mu wasn''t responding, Ma Jun thought that he had frightened the young man, so he shrugged his shoulders.


    "Are you too scared to even move?" After saying those words, Ma Jun saw Fang Mu smiling at him. The smile Fang Mu showed was very simr to Ren''s vicious smile.


    "Scared, me? No, what I''m feeling now is pure excitement. An opponent that could test the very limits of my ability has appeared before me, why would I leave? Your name is Ma Jun right, I''m Fang Mu the disciple of Ren, and I challenge you to battle."

 Chapter 601 Allow Me To Show You How Its Done

    While Ren was walking toward the ce he felt his disciple''s aura, Ren double-checked if there was any other strong person nearby. After a quick scan of the surrounding area, he found no one but instead found a weird sort of energy hidden deep within the sect. Ren didn''t really care as to whatever that weird energy was as long as it didn''t bother him he would not bother it.


    ...


    Ren finally saw the battle that was happening, it was between his disciple and a person he did not know. In fact, his disciple was surrounded by several dozen Sword Cultivators.


    Fang Mu was facing the strongest among the group and he was already panting and his Qi was fluctuating wildly. Still, Ren saw the smile on Fang Mu''s face, seeing that carefree smile despite being surrounded by enemies and only looking at the opponent ahead of him reminded him of himself.


    ''Hoh, I guess he did truly learn a thing or two from me.''


    Despite standing next to them the surrounding Sword Cultivators couldn''t sense his presence and even if they look directly at him they wouldn''t be able to perceive his existence as his body blended into the shadows.


    The Sword Cultivators who were watching their Sect Guardian fight the intruder were amazed by Fang Mu. Despite being dealt numerous critical blows he still kept on standing as if he wasn''t hurt. Fang Mu was actually fighting someone two realms higher than him, and even though he wasn''t able to get a hit in he was still able to dodge and block some attacks. They all thought that if they were the ones facing Fang Mu they wouldn''t be able to win.


    It wasn''t just the watching Sword Cultivators that were shocked by Fang Mu, even Ma Jun was stunned by Fang Mu''s performance. He had tried numerous times to finish the fight, but Fang Mu just kept on going and going. He had heard stories about the Sky Destroying Physique, but seeing it in person it turns out some of the stories were true.


    No matter the damage Ma Jun had dealt to Fang Mu it would almost instantly heal, and then there was his strength that went beyond Fang Mu''s realm. Still, this was a far cry from the Sky Destroying Physique told in legends.


    It was said that the Sky Destroying Physique got its name because the original owner of Physique was able to break the very heavens itself with nothing but his own physical power. A punch from someone with the Sky Destroying Physique could destroy stars and his body was near indestructible. Those were the traits of a person with the Sky Destroying Physique in Legends, but even though Fang Mu''s physique was impressive it was nowhere near the original legends.


    ''Hm, has the mythical physique of their n diminished over time, is he still immature, or was their physique just an exaggeration.''


    While Ma Jun was thinking he noticed that Fang Mu''s attack was once again bing sharper and faster. The excess movements he made at the beginning were now nearly gone. The rate of Fang Mu''s improvement in this battle was frightening.


    ''... This guy might be a problemter on, should I just kill him? His master the Sect Challenger Ren, should have a deeper understanding of the way of the sword... If I allow them to go now, We might lose the title of the Strongest Sword Sect in the East Region...''


    A sh of killing intent rose in Ma Jun''s heart but it was only for a brief moment as it quickly disappeared.


    ''No, if we can''t keep our title after this kind of a challenge then we truly do not deserve to be called the Strongest, we can''t even be worthy of being called Sword Cultivators. Still, I better finish this now.''


    Ma Jun parried one of Fang Mu''s attacks and then pushed him to the side. Ma Jun''s exquisite blue long sword floated beside him and then he took another sword from his storage ring, it was a golden curved sword. The two swords then floated in front of Ma Jun blocking all of Fang Mu''s attacks.


    This was the kind of technique Ren knew how to do but did not like using, so he did not teach it to Fang Mu. In Ren''s mind, the best way to use the sword was with one''s own body using techniques like the flying sword technique in battle was not desirable.


    Now that Ma Jun summoned his second flying sword Fang Mu was unable to even get close to him. As the battle continued Fang Mu''s Sky Devouring Physique continued to heal his wound but his stamina could no longer keep up.


    "It''s time to end this."


    Ma Jun made various hand movements making his two swords attack more aggressively. Fang Mu was now having difficulty keeping up if it was just one sword then he would''ve been able to do something, but the speed and rhythm of the two swords were too much for him. After a few more moves were exchanged Fang Mu''s grip on his sword loosened and it was separated from his hand.


    Normally someone in Fang Mu''s realm would be able to use the flying sword technique to continue the battle, but since Ren never taught him that technique he did not know how to move his sword in battle using his Qi. Though he did know how to use his sword as a mode of transportation that technique wouldn''t help in this situation.


    Ma Jun''s two swords were now crisscrossed on Fang Mu''s neck.


    "It''s over, you have lost." Once Ma Jun dered his victory he and the others heard someone pping his hands. Everyone looked at the person pping and they were all surprised to see Ren. No one had noticed him evene near them but he was already standing beside Fang Mu. Even Ma Jun was unable to detect Ren''s arrival.


    "That was a good fight my disciple, but you still don''t understand the essence of my Formless Sword Style. Allow me to show you how it''s done."

 Chapter 602 Formless Sword

    Ma Jun''s tensed up as he looked at Ren, even now he couldn''t figure out how Ren got so close without anyone noticing him. Even now as he was looking at Ren it didn''t feel like Ren was truly standing there.


    Ma Jun probed Ren to see what realm Ren was in, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn''t sense the other party''s cultivation, in fact, based on what he sensed the other party was nothing more than a mortal man.


    ''So the rumors about him were true... No matter how you look at it he really is just a mortal man.''


    Seeing the tense expression on Ma Jun''s face, Ren shrugged his shoulders as he took out a slim sword from his shadow. Ren then pointed his sword at Ma Jun.


    "Thank you for sparring with my disciple, unfortunately, he''s not at the level where he can face you yet. So how about you y with me instead."


    "Why would I do that?"


    "Now don''t say that, since you''re already here how about you just ept my challenge. Even though you''re obviously too weak to be my opponent but at least you have value as teaching material."


    "You''re a very arrogant challenger, and you should''ve left when you had the chance. Since you keep on insulting me, you should understand what''s about to happen next."


    Ma Jun''s cold indifferent eyes look straight at the ever-smiling Ren. The blue and gold swords circled near Ma Jun.


    "Oh, I understand what will happen next, but I don''t think you understand it."


    After he was done speaking Ren casually started walking forward. He was not moving too fast or too slow, his every movement was so natural that it made others feel like he was part of the background.


    When Ren finally stood before him, Ma Jun was taken aback. He already saw Ren walking toward him but for some reason, he didn''t do anything. It was like he was in some sort of trance. He was confused as Ren''s body did not show any signs of wanting to attack, there was no killing intent, there was no stance, there was nothing he was just walking forward.


    Ma Jun wanted to attack but before he could even flinch Ren''s sword was already pointed at his neck. No one saw Ren moving his hand, but everyone could see that his sword was already ready for the kill.


    The disciples of the Dajiao Sect had no words to say, as they watched how easily Ren defeated one of their more powerful Sect Guardian. Even in a Sect like theirs, a Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator was strong, there were only a few people in the sect that could beat him so effortlessly in battle just like Ren did.


    "See what did I tell you? You''re too weak to be my opponent but barely enough for being a teaching material." Ren shrugged his shoulders as he ced the sword he was holding back into his shadow. Ren then walked towards the stunned Fang Mu.


    "You see that... That''s how you use the Formless Sword Style. There are no stances, there are no forms, and there is nothing but the natural flow. Reacting to everything that''s happening and being one with the battle itself, that''s the very essence of the style. I wanted to ce my sword on his neck, so that''s what I did, it''s as simple as that. People of that guy''s level wouldn''t be able to resist the formless sword as he hasn''t evenprehended the breath of all things. It would seem that he focused too much on his cultivation and his talent is mediocre at best. Instead of trying to increase his cultivation, he should''ve practiced his sword art more. Well, overall this supposed Sword Sect was a disappointment."


    ? Fang Mu looked at his teacher and sighed, he already knew that his teacher didn''t care that the Dajiao Sect has a long history and its hidden power runs deep. It didn''t matter if the Dajioa Sect was hailed as the Strongest Sword Sect in the East region, to his teacher Ren they were nothing. Fang Mu already noticed the intense re of the disciples of the Dajiao Sect that had surrounded them. Fang Mu could pretty much see the killing intent radiated in their eyes.


    Ren also noticed this and he was feeling a tinge of excitement as his smile grew wider and wider. He then noticed arge fluctuation of Qi was gathering in their area.


    "You are indeed strong, but you have insulted our Sect far too much, the dignity of our Sword Sect can never be tarnished. You and your disciple will be buried here today. Activate the Sword Array!" Ma Jun shouted at the other disciples.


    "Fang Mu, do your best to protect yourself, if you don''t survive this that only means you weren''t worthy to be my disciple."


    Fang Mu gritted his teeth as he stood up clenching his sword. "I will not disappoint you, Master."


    Seven disciples surrounded Ren and Fang Mu and plunged their swords onto the ground. A burst of Qi then surrounded Ren and Fang Mu alongside the numerous disciples of the Dajiao Sect. This was their prized Sword Array, the Seven Spirit Sword Array.


    Not only does it trap the opponents within the array, but it also strengthens the Sword Cultivators of the Dajiao Sect, advancing their Cultivation by one stage. Under this Sword Array, Ma Jun was at the first stage of the True Monarch Realm. Normally it could also be used to attack, but that''s when the people activating it are at least in the Nascent Soul Realm, but right now the ones who activated it were just at the Foundation Establishment Realm.


    They had no other option as most of the people who usually activated the array were out in the frontlines against the Demi-Gods. Still, they believed that this was enough to punish the arrogant Ren.


    Seeing that they were done with their preparations, Ren gestured at the surrounding Dajiao Sect disciples toe and get him. Seeing the expression on Ren''s face as well as seeing that hand gesture of his, infuriated the Dajiao Sect disciples. No longer able to hold their rage they charged at Ren.


    As they got near, they saw that Ren didn''t even take out his sword, which made the disciples even angrier than before. Their swords were about to sh down at Ren, but then they felt a massive force hitting their chins, abdomens, and their neck. That was thest thing they felt as they fell onto the ground unconscious. Several dozen disciples were incapacitated in a blink of an eye.


    "Come on now, at least force me to use a weapon," Ren spoke while he shook his head raising his hands showing that he was unarmed.

 Chapter 603 SHOW ME MORE!!!

    Ma Jun watched as Ren easily subdued every opponent that attacked him. He didn''t even bother to move from his spot nor did he draw any weapon. He simply used his fist to attack, in fact as if to mock him even more sometimes he would dodge in a way that made two of his opponents attack each other.


    What made Ma Jun even more upset was despite getting a boost on his cultivation he could not follow Ren''s movement. He was temporarily at the initial stages of the True Monarch Realm, with this much power shouldn''t he be able to suppress Ren easily? That''s what he thought at first, but after watching Ren for a while, he knew that it won''t be that easy.


    "Hey, why are you just looking over there?"


    Ma Jun, seeing the cocky look on Ren''s face, was growing angry once more. Still, unlike before he no longer charged out of anger as he continued to observe Ren waiting for the right moment to strike.


    While Ma Jun was fully focused on Ren who was easily beating up every person that came too near, Fang Mu was having a difficult time.


    Even though almost all of the focus was on his teacher, Fang Mu was still being attacked by a few Sword Cultivators. If not for the earlier fight he had with Ma Jun he would have already defeated these people, but in his current state, he found it a little difficult. He then unconsciously looked at his teacher, who was calmly standing ahead of him defeating everyone that came near.


    If his teacher decided to even simply point his pinky finger at these people they would fall. Despite thinking about it, Fang Mu knew that would never happen as his teacher already said he needed to survive this ordeal on his own. Knowing this Fang Mu could only clench his teeth and continue his struggle.


    ...


    While everyone was heating up, only Ren was getting a bit bored about all of this. The truth was he could end the entire battle whenever he wanted in so many different ways, but he chose not to as he wanted to see if this group had any more trump cards hidden.


    Yet despite holding back the strongest among them did not seem like he wanted to attack. Ren sighed in his heart, it turns out the so-called Sword Cultivators weren''t as valiant as he thought they would be.


    ''Whatever, let''s see if he still won''t attack if I show him an opening.''


    As Ren continued to mow down the enemies every now and then he would look at his disciple Fang Mu, showing that for a few seconds he was distracted. Ma Jun obviously saw this w in Ren''s movement.


    ''Even though he kept on saying he wouldn''t help his disciple he''s still worried. I didn''t want to use this kind of tactic but the enemy is too strong... Tsk, if only the Sect master was here, or even one of the inner sect elders then this arrogant b*stard wouldn''t be able to act so c*cky. I really don''t want to do this, but...''


    Ma Jun gritted his teeth as he soared above the battlefield, as he floated above Ren and the others he lifted his sword upward, and the image of a giant swordsman appeared behind him. The power being emitted by the giant swordsman Ma Jun summoned was nearing the level of the New God Ren fought but before he got the Branch of the ORIGIN.


    When Ren saw this technique he started getting excited, but after waiting for a while Ma Jun was still not ready to strike. If it was any other opponent seeing this one-hit move, they would surely have run away or attacked Ma Jun while he was charging up. Fortunately, Ma Jun was facing Ren who wanted to experience the attack of someone at the Tru Monarch Realm.


    Once he was done gathering enough Qi, Ma Jun shed his sword downward. The image of the giant Swordsman behind Ma Jun also shed itsrge de down at his enemy. Ren could already see the trajectory of the attack, Ma Jun was clearly aiming for Fang Mu.


    Ma Jun did this so that Ren would be forced not to run away and instead receive the attack head-on to protect his disciple. Ren already knew what Ma Jun was thinking since he was the one who made him act this way.


    ''Well, it''s not like I was going to evade the attack.''


    Ren quickly summoned a sword from his shadow and received the enemy''s attack head-on. When Ren''s de collided with the de of the giant Swordsman, space distorted and the ground trembled violently.


    The shockwave caused by their sh pushed almost everyone nearby, Fang Mu was also blown a few feet away. The Array they had set up was nearly destroyed by their sh.


    Ren who felt the weight of the enemy''s strike could not help butugh, heughed out loud in his excitement.


    "NOW THIS IS WHAT I''M TALKING ABOUT!!!"


    Ren was pushed downward making the ground where he stood crack. Ren''s sword was also nearing a breaking point. When Ma Jun saw this he thought that victory was close, but then Ren did something surprising. Ren actually let go of his sword and caught the Giant Sword with both of his hands. Ren could feel his entire body creaking from the pain, normal people would''ve passed out from this sort of pain, but to Ren, this pain was the excitement he was waiting for.


    Ren was still not using any spiritual energy and was solely relying on his physical strength which had reached an absurd level. He didn''t want to end this battle too early by using his spiritual energy, since this was the first time that he had fought a human opponent that could push his current body this far.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! NOW, THIS IS A BATTLE!!! AN ACTUAL BATTLE WERE OUR LIVES ARE ON THE LINE!"


    A vein popped in Ren''s arm, the muscles in his body were being torn apart but he continued tough in excitement, which not only frightened the Sword Cultivators but even his disciple Fang Mu.

 Chapter 604 A Relative?

    Ren''s blood was boiling from excitement as the pressure Ma Jun was releasing had increased. Ren could actually feel his hands bing numb from the power of the falling de. Fang Mu and the others were stunned into silence as they watched Ren blocking a full-powered strike from a True Monarch Realm expert with nothing but his flesh.


    Even Ma Jun was surprised as he saw that even with the increased output Ren was still able to hold on. Seeing his full-powered strike being stopped coupled with Ren''s smiling face, Ma Jun felt a chill run down his spine. At this very moment, he was actually feeling afraid. Ma Jun quickly discarded those distracting thoughts and strengthened his avatar fully intent on cutting down the frightening monster before him.


    Feeling the pressure increasing at an incredible rate, Renughed harder than before as his body screamed n pain. Even now as he was on the verge of being sliced by the Avatar''s sword Ren did not use any spiritual energy. No longer able to hold on, Ren tried to redirect the de.


    The de of Ma Jun''s Avatar was finally able to slice down on Ren. As the de went down everyone saw that Ren was able to slightly divert the strike somehow that it was only able to slice his right shoulder and lopped off his whole arm.


    As Ren''s arm flew off, blood started spraying everywhere. Yet despite what had just happened Ren continued to smile that vicious smile of his.


    "HAHAHAHA!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!"


    As he shouted those words of joy, the hole that was made because of his right arm which was detached from his body suddenly closed.


    Ren then extended his left hand forward and something within his shadow roared. It was the roar of a powerful beast whose species has always stood at the apex, it was the roar of a dragon. Followed by that roar a gigantic sword came out of Ren''s shadow, it was a sword that was taller than its wielder. The aura the sword was emanating was so fierce, that the people who stared at it started hallucinating, as they saw the shadow of an enormous Dragon beside Ren.


    "This is my Beloved Sword Snertal, created from the bones of an Ancient Dragon. It may not be the strongest weapon I have at my disposal, but it is the most powerful sword that I have. Since you showed me your most powerful move, I would''ve wanted to reply in kind... But unfortunately, with your current strength using my strongest move will not just kill you but it would probably annihte not only your body and your soul, but even your entire sect would turn to dust... Well, since you got me this excited, and you were actually able to wound me, as a thank you allow me to show you a glimpse of my current power."


    Ma Jun wanted to respond to Ren''s arrogant words but he was unable to do so. Thest attack he did had cost him a great amount of his Qi, and he was running low. At the moment he was only barely able to stand much less rebuke Ren.


    ''If it was just that I wouldn''t be like this, it''s because of that sword of his.'' Ma Jun looked at Ren''s sword which emanated such an oppressive aura.


    ''The bones of Dragon was it...'' Ma Jun gritted his teeth as he knew that his death wasing. He felt extremely frustrated as he was unable to protect the honor of his sect, and he would be defeated without being able to do anything.


    ''Even with the power of the Sword Array, I was unable to win. How truly disappointing.'' As Ma Jun was slowly epting his imminent demise, he felt a massive amount of Qi being poured into him. Ma Jun was stunned as he felt his body bing lighter and his Qi was fully restored. He then looked at the person who had given him this Qi.


    "Why?"


    Ma Jun was so confused as he spoke those words. The enemy he was facing, the enemy he had tried to kill, the enemy whose arm he cut was actually helping him.


    "How can you properly experience my thank you present if you could barely stand? Now that your spiritual energy has been restored you should be able to appreciate my thanks for giving me such a fun battle."


    When Ma Jun heard Ren''s answer he was dumbfounded, it was not only him but everyone else who had a simr expression to Ma Jun. Even Ren''s disciple Fang Mu could not believe what his teacher just said. It would seem that even now he had underestimated his teacher''s thirst for battle.


    "Alright then, here Ie!"


    Ren suddenly appeared beside Ma Jun and had his sword was already near Ma Jun''s body. Ma Jun barely blocked Ren''s de with his own. When the two des shed Ren''s sword Snertal roared sending Ma Jun flying to the side.


    As Ma Jun tried to stop his body from flying, Ren suddenly appeared behind him. Ma Jun quickly ced his sword at his back and it met with Ren''s de pushing him to the side. As Ma Jun was once again sent flying, Ren once again intercepted him and tried to hit him, to which Ma Jun once again responded by blocking the attack. The same scene kept on repeating itself as Ma Jun had no time to do anything else but block. It was like Ren was ying tennis with himself and Ma Jun was ball.


    Ma Jun then summoned his avatar the giant swordsman to counterattack. Seeing this Ren shouted in excitement.


    "SNERTAL ROAR!" Ren''s sword roared ferociously as she shed at Ma Jun''s avatar. The Avatar that was able to seriously injure Ren was sliced in half and dispersed. Ma Jun was about to summon it again, but he then noticed that he could not do so.


    As Ma Jun was confused as to what was happening he looked around and finally noticed what happened. The people who were supporting the Sword Array had fallen unconscious as they overexerted their Qi. This was to be expected as the Sword Array was meant to be used by people who were at least in the Nascent Soul Realm, on the other hand, these disciples were only at the Golden Core Realm.


    Ma Jun had miscalcted as he thought he would be able to deal with Ren swiftly after he gained the power of a True Monarch. He never imagined that Ren was such a monster, that even with his cultivation raised to the True Monarch Realm he would still lose.


    "...So that was it... Well, I guess you have my thanks for ying with me a bit."


    Ren sighed as he ced Snertal back into his shadow. Ren then turned around his back now facing Ma Jun as he walked away. He picked up his arm that was lopped off and pressed it onto his shoulder reattaching it. Once his arm was in ce he took his disciple and left. As he was leaving no one dared to stop him.


    As Ren was about to descend the stairs of the Dajiao Sect he looked in a certain direction and spoke to something unseen. Fang Mu looked in the direction Ren was looking at, and saw no one.


    "Teacher, who are you talking to?" Fang Mu curiously asked. Ren who was done speaking to the unknown being looked at his disciple and responded.


    "A rtive."

 Chapter 605 Descendant

    A young man around seventeen years old was running down the mountain in a panic. He was startled as the person he was observing suddenly looked at him and even seem to have said something.


    "Was that really him?!"


    The young man whispered to himself. He had heard rumors of a man that was mortal but had the strength that went beyond even immortals. A man that supposedly could crush the heavens and the earth with a smile on his face. When he first heard these rumors, he thought they were exaggerating things, blowing them out of proportion, so that their sects could lessen the shame of being defeated.


    Yet after listening to more and more of the rumors, he found the description of the man in question was somewhat familiar. The strength that went beyond all reason, a thirst for battle that could never be quenched, and a vicious smile that signified death to every enemy.


    That description was very simr to the Ancestor of his n who was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. His n was one of many ns created by an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but unlike the others, his n had been declining recently due to many factors and at this point, there were only five of them left. The prestige of his n was at its all-time lowest, so to show the other ns of the Strongest Mortal Soul that his n was still worthy of being a descendant, he went to the battlefield to kill the rampaging Demi-Gods as a show of strength. That was when he heard the rumors about Ren.


    The rumors of the smiling devil had spread and many knew that he was challenging every single sect in the Eastern Region. The young man knew that Ren would being to the Dajiao Sect so he waited for him to observe how he fights. He wanted to see if this man could truly be a reincarnation of his Ancestor. If he truly was the current reincarnation of his Ancestor maybe he could help save his n which was about to fall and its remaining members'' force to join the other ns.


    ...


    The young man arrived a few days before Ren and Fang Mu did, as he waited for the two to arrive he started cultivating. For a cultivator a few days would pass by in a blink of an eye, in fact, even a few years were like a blink of an eye to those who can live for centuries. So waiting for a few years much less a couple of days wasn''t a problem.


    As the days passed the person he was waiting for finally arrived. The young man looked at Ren from a distance and found that there was nothing extraordinary about him. Ren''s looks were rather average in fact, his looks were below average. Ren''s physique at nce wasn''t anything special either. There was also the structure of his Qi and body, no matter how hard the young man looked Ren was nothing more than a mortal.


    ''No, I shouldn''t think like that. Based on the tales passed down by the elders the Ancestor was always a mortal. No matter the incarnation, that was aw that did not change. No matter what race he had reincarnated into, he would never be anything but a mortal.''


    The young man continued to observe Ren from a distance. He saw that Ren was about to fight the Golden Core Realm Cultivator. As the young man got ready to observe how Ren fought, what happened next made him feel a little disappointed. Ren did not fight instead it was his disciple who fought the Golden Core Realm Cultivator. Instead of watching the fight between his disciple and Golden Core Realm Cultivator Ren slept.


    The young man found that this was the best opportunity to observe Ren closely. Yet the moment he got close to the sleeping Ren he felt numerous warning signals sounding in his head. As a descendant of the Strongest Mortal Soul, he was trained since birth and was taught to show no fear, but for the first time in his entire life, he was actually feeling something he has never felt before. The young man was actually feeling frightened, he was feeling fear so great it almost made him want to puke. The young man quickly backed away his body still shivering, he no longer dared get close and continued observing from a distance.


    The young man calmed himself stabilizing his thoughts and breathing. Once he had calmed down he hid further away before continuing to observe Ren. The young man started to think as to why he suddenly felt that way when he approached Ren. He was aware that if you train your body it could potentially unconsciously move if it felt threatened


    ''What the f*ck was that? I wasn''t even trying to attack him, I didn''t even dare think of doing something with ill intent. That feeling, it was like he was going to attack me the moment I came close enough. Is it spell or something, or is he not really asleep?''


    The young man who was trying his hardest to think of why he suddenly felt so much fear, stopped. Since he could not find an answer, it was best not to think too deeply about it and continue to observe.


    ...


    After a while, Ren woke up and headed to where his disciple was. It was there the young man finally witnessed Ren fighting. To the others who had watched, the fight between Ren and the True Monarch Realm Ma Jun would seem like it could have gone either way, but the truth was Ren had absolute control of the situation.


    From what the young man saw, Ren never considered that battle as something serious. Ren had willingly handicapped himself just so that the fight would seem somewhat fair, but even with that much of a handicap, Ren was able to win with rtive ease.


    Still, to be fair Ma Jun was a rather weak True Monarch Realm fighter since that wasn''t his true realm and was only temporarily boosted by the Sword Array. Even the young man was confident that he could beat Ma Jun quite easily.


    ''Even after all that I still can''t determine if he''s the real deal or not.''


    It was at that point when the young man was thinking that, he saw Ren looking directly at him. Ren then spoke some words, the young man could not hear what was said but he saw Ren''s mouth movement.


    ''Meet meter, near the giant boulder two hundred meters north of here.''


    At this point, the young man was half convinced that Ren was truly a reincarnation of his ancestor. Still, until he finds further proof he didn''t want to make a conclusion about it. So to learn the truth the young man went on ahead to the meeting spot.


    The giant boulder Ren was talking about was easy to spot as it was the only boulder among the field of trees. The young man looked around and saw that Ren wasn''t there yet. Seeing that Ren wasn''t here, the young man began to doubt if he was in the right ce, or if he misinterpreted what Ren actually said. As he was starting to think of what to do next, he heard someone''s voice whispering in his ear.


    "So whose descendant are you?"


    The young man instinctively raised his fist in defense and got into a stance as he looked behind him but so no one.


    "No need to be so jumpy, I won''t hurt you. Well, not too much."


    When the young man heard that voice again and this time he felt something, he then instinctively lowered his center of gravity and covered his right abdomen. It was at that moment he felt a massive force hitting him. It was obviously aimed at his right abdomen but the young man was able to block it by intercepting the attack with his left hand.


    Even though he had blocked the attack and his center of gravity was lowered so that he would be able to withstand the attack, the young man was still blown away. It was a good thing that he had reacted fast enough and at the moment of impact when he noticed that he could not stop the attack, he quickly jumped following the flow of the attack negating some of the damage.


    The young man who had jumped to the side hit a nearby tree, the damage he received was minor. As the young man quickly stood back up, he once again heard the voice.


    "Oh, you''re pretty good, as expected of a descendant of one of my past incarnations."

 Chapter 606 Kauzaki Style Martial Art

    Even now the young man was unable to see the person who was talking to him. He had used his Qi to try and scan the surrounding area but even then he could not find the location of the person talking. It was like the person didn''t exist at all.


    "Don''t bother doing that, at your current level no matter how hard you try if I don''t want you to find me then you''ll never be able to find me. So stop bothering doing that and just answer my question, whose descendant are you?"


    The young man hesitated for a bit, but in the end, he decided to answer the unknown person. Still, even though he decided to cooperate the young man didn''t let down his guard.


    Even if the other party truly was his Ancestor based on the numerous stories he has heard of the Strongest Mortal Soul, his ancestor will strike no matter if you''re a friend or a family member, he would do so to test if you were worthy, or just because he was bored.


    "I''m Kauzaki Yuuto the descendant of Kauzaki Kenji the creator of the strongest martial art, the Kauzaki style martial art."


    After Ren heard Yuuto''s answer, he spoke to the past incarnations in his soul realm.


    "Hey who''s Kauzaki Kenji?" The past incarnations in Ren''s soul realm who were fighting momentarily stopped as they heard Ren''s question.


    "That would be me." A middle-aged man wearing rather loose clothes and bracers spoke.


    "So, do you want to talk to your descendant?"


    "If you would allow me."


    ...


    Yuuto stood in ce waiting for the other party to say something, as he waited he continued to try and find the other party''s location. Unfortunately, it was like the other party said no matter how hard he tried he could not sense the other party''s presence.


    "Let me judge if you truly are a descendant of mine."


    As if to mock him even further Ren suddenly appeared behind him without doing anything but stand there. If Ren did not speak Yuuto wouldn''t even know that he was there, if Ren had struck at that moment Yuuto would''ve died without knowing how.


    "So are you telling me that you truly are the current reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul?"


    Ren did not answer with words and instead got into a fighting stance, his right hand raised upward into the heavens, and his left hand pointed below the earth. When Yuuto saw the stance Ren made he was stunned. That was one of the final stances of the Kauzaki style martial art, one hand to hold the heavens and another to stabilize the earth. Either the person in front of him was the real deal or he was just someone who got his hands on the final scroll.


    Normally it would''ve been impossible for anyone aside from the main family to ever see the scroll, but after the fall of their n, the scroll had already been stolen. It was possible that Ren took it or he knew who stole it.


    ''So what is it?...''


    Yuuto looked at Ren who hasn''t moved since a while ago, his stance was perfect as he was like an unmovable mountain. Yuuto stared into Ren''s eyes, unlike when he battled Ma Jun, Ren was as calm as still water. Yuuto sighed before getting into an offense-oriented stance.


    "You won''t answer me with words right?... Fine, let''s talk with our fists!"


    Once he was done speaking Yuuto charged at Ren, as he got close enough he punch forward with blinding speed or so he forecasted but before Yuuto''s fist could reach Ren he stopped. Yuuto then ducked and did a low spinning sweep kick aimed at Ren''s right leg which was extended forward.


    Ren simply lifted his leg to dodge the attack, but Yuuto wasn''t done, after missing Ren''s leg he quickly did a rising somersault. Ren was able to redirect Yuuto''s attack by simply moving his left hand that was pointing toward the ground to the side.


    Yuuto looked like he lost his bnce but that was just a trick to invite Ren to attack him, unfortunately, Ren was an unmoving mountain. Yuuto stopped attacking as he looked at Ren, observing him, finding a hole in his defense, yet no matter how he looked at Ren there was no opening. Ren''s heaven and earth stance was the best Yuuto has ever seen, even the former head of the n was not as good.


    Yuuto knew that if he went about things normally there was no way to get past Ren''s defenses, so he changed his stance. Yuuto lowered his center of gravity, his right fist hidden behind his waist, and his left hand was like a w facing forward. Yuuto then changed his breathing and the way he channeled his Qi, he was now emitting a simr aura to that of a dragon.


    If the heaven and earth stance was the strongest defensive stance of the Kauzaki Style Martial Art, then the Dragon stance was the strongest offensive stance. It was just a brief moment but Yuuto saw the tranquil Ren, suddenly showed that ferocious smile of his, but immediately went back into his tranquil state.


    Yuuto wasn''t bothered by this and simply charged forward. When he got close enough Yuuto''s left hand which was like a w came down at Ren aiming at his right hand that was raised upward. This move was meant to destroy one''s guard, but then Ren allowed Yuuto to break his defense.


    Yuuto wondered for a second if he was heading into a trap, but then he stopped hesitating and unleashed the Dragon''s bite. It doesn''t matter if there was a trap or not, the entire point of the Dragon''s stance was to break everything.


    Yuuto''s fist that was hidden behind his waist burst forth with incredible power, he wasn''t even using his Qi but the image of arge dragon appeared as if it wanted to devour Ren.


    Seeing the dragon, Ren did not even look like he wanted to dodge instead, his two arms made a circr motion, and as the dragon came into contact with Ren the attack was negated, no it looked like it was absorbed into the circr motion.


    Yuuto then saw Ren put his right and left hands together pushing forward with open palms, the dragon that disappeared reappeared, and this time it attacked Yuuto. The power of the attack was doubled what Yuuto unleashed making him fly a few kilometers backward. Yuuto hit every single tree that was in his way until he finally stopped his back on the ground.


    Yuuto coughed out a bit of blood and a lot of his bones were currently broken but to him, that wasn''t his main concern. What filled his mind at this point was the move Ren just used. That was the ultimate technique of the Kauzaki Style Martial Art which was only spoken in legend. It was never written down, nor did anyone have the knowledge of how to perform such a technique. The only person who knew how to use it was the founder himself.


    "Hmph, even though you have only a crude understanding of my martial art, I guess I can believe that you are my descendant." Ren appeared in front of the beaten Yuuto and spoke in a rather arrogant tone.

 Chapter 607 Please Save Us

    After receiving Ren''s powerful counter, Yuuto was severely hurt. He was still able to move but he did not bother to stand up. Thatst blow he received had confirmed it, the person he was fighting was truly the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul since that move was something no one except for his Ancestor Kauzaki Kenji could pull off.


    "Hmph, even though you have only a crude understanding of my martial art, I guess I can believe that you are my descendant."


    Hearing Ren''s voice and seeing the look on his face Yuuto tried to get up and kneel but instead was about to cough but he held it in. He has already shown such a disgraceful look to his ancestor and he could not allow himself to look even more disgraceful. Yuuto really wanted to move and speak to the current incarnation of his Ancestor, but in his current condition, it would take a few hours to heal enough for him to be able to talk properly.


    Seeing the disgraceful look of his descendant, Ren, no, Kenji who was using Ren''s body sighed. Kenji approached the fallen Yuuto and pressed his fingers onto different spots in Yuuto''s body while injecting his mana into Yuuto.


    After that was done Yuuto could feel the broken bones returning to normal and the torn muscles healing quickly. He was amazed by such an ability which made him feel even more awed by his Ancestor''s power. Yuuto who could finally move his body immediately knelt in front of Kenji.


    "Esteemed Ancestor forgive me for testing you."


    "No, it wasn''t you who was testing me, it was I who was testing you, and you barely passed."


    "Forgive me!"


    Yuuto quickly pounded his head into the ground as he shouted for forgiveness. The impact of him headbutting the ground actually made the ground shake. Seeing that Kenji didn''t respond, Yuuto continued to pound his head into the ground, yet instead of his head cracking it was the ground that started cracking.


    "Enough!"


    Kenji shouted making Yuuto stop pounding his into the ground but he did not dare look up. Kenji looked at his descendent and sighed.


    "I don''t know what has happened to my descendants in the thousands of years after my death, but seeing you it seems that you lot have be quite weak... Are you one of my direct descendants?"


    "I am of the Main bloodline."


    "Back when I was alive even the weakest practitioner of the Kauzaki Style Martial art would''ve been able to fight you. Now you''re telling me that the main bloodline, a direct descendant is this weak?"


    "Forgive us Ancestor we have sullied your legacy."


    "..."


    Kenji then became silent which made Yuuto feel even more nervous. Yuuto who had his head lowered saw Kenji''s feet going away. Yuuto quickly lifted his head and Kenji really was going away.


    "Ancestor!"


    Kenji stopped and turned around to look at Yuuto with an indifferent expression on his face.


    "You don''t need to keep on calling me that, Kauzuki Kenji is no more, now it is Ren''s time. I am nothing more than a ghost who just wanted to see how far my descendants have fallen."


    The way Kenji spoke was filled with cold indifference which made Yuuto gulp. There was no killing intent but each word spoken by Kenji was like daggers into Yuuto''s heart. Hearing the founder of his martial art, who was also his bloodline Ancestor speak such things made him feel varied emotions. He was also holding himself back trying his hardest not to cry.


    "So what is it that you want to say? If you''re not going to say anything, I''ll be returning this body to its actual owner."


    "... Ances-" Yuuto wasn''t able to finish what he was going to say as Kenji suddenly red at him.


    "... Fine, since I''m still the one talking, you can just call me Kenji but just stop calling me Ancestor. So once again, what is it you want to say?"


    "Umm... Sir Kenji, can you please help my n. Right now, the Kauzaki n is nearing extinction. Please, please guide us, like you did in the Ancient times."


    "Hmph, I will not help you in this endeavor."


    "Why?" Yuuto''s voice almost cracked as he asked that question. If even the Ancestor of his n was unwilling to help, then his n was doomed. Seeing the expression on Yuuto''s face just made Kenji feel even more disappointed.


    "I already told you, Kauzuki Kenji is no more. How can a ghost of the past help the people of the present? Also, even if I were brought back to life, I wouldn''t help your n... Everything eventually withers away, and that''s part of life. Even the so called eternal Gods can be ended much less your n."


    "I... I cannot ept that!"


    "Then don''t ept it. If you want to change the very destiny of your n''s demise then, fight! Do not rely on a ghost, but on yourself, as the only ones who could change one''s destiny is oneself."


    "That''s easy for you to say, you were an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, one who has the power tough in the face of anything. If only I had your strength then I would be able to fight our destiny of demise."


    "Hmph, that''s just an excuse cowards make. It doesn''t matter if you''re strong or not, to challenge one''s destiny all you need is courage and willpower. The courage to move forward even with the knowledge of almost certain doom, the willpower to never give up despite the odds, that''s all you truly need to challenge destiny."


    "... Is that truly enough to beat destiny?"


    "Courage and willpower just enable you to challenge destiny, as for you beating it that will depend on you. That''s all I have to say about this matter."


    Kenji turned around and was about to leave. Unlikest time Yuuto wasn''t going to stop him and instead bowed his head and shouted.


    "Thank you! May you find victory in the path you walk!" The line Yuuto spoke was something all the ns of the Strongest Mortal Soul say before entering a deadly battle. Kenji then stopped walking, he did not turn around as he responded.


    "May you face destiny with a smile on your face... Despite the disappointment, it was still nice seeing a descendant of mine."


    Yuuto only heard the first part of what Kenji said and could barely hear Kenji''s voice on thest part. As Yuuto lifted his head Kenji was no longer there.

 Chapter 608 Part Of The Truth

    News of Ren''s victory over the Dajiao Sect spread quickly and many were stunned and found it unbelievable. Even though most of the experts of each sect had gone to the border of the Land of the Gods, they still had left experts to guard their respective sects. Not only did Ren defeat an expert at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, but he also did so while fighting in the Dajiao Sect''s Sword Array.


    One of the known effects of the Dajiao Sect''s Sword Array was to temporarily increase one''s cultivation. That would mean Ren had fought a True Monarch Realm expert and won. A True Monarch Realm expert was someone capable of fighting evenly against a New God, they were the top fighters of the human side. So it was a big deal to hear someone at that level lose, even if he was just a pseudo True Monarch.


    ...


    "To think he was that strong."


    "If he was that strong why did he need to go and challenge our small-time sect? Was he just doing all this for some kind of amusement?"


    "Well, at least he didn''t wreck the ce unlike what he did in Dajiao Sect. Rumor is Ren obliterated half of the Dajiao Sect as a result of his battle against one of their Sect Protectors."


    "Once the Sect Masterse back from the Land of the Gods, I wonder what they''ll do with him?"


    ...


    "Now that he has defeated the Dajiao Sect I guess the next Sect would be the Void Sect. Do you guys think he''ll be able to continue winning?"


    "That''s going to be pretty hard, the guy might be strong but that''s all, the Void Sect isn''t considered the strongest sect for nothing. Unlike the Dajiao Sect, the Void Sect has a long legacy, it is said that the founder of the Sect was also a rival to the Strongest Mortal Soul."


    "Is that for real?"


    "Who knows, anyway this might be the end of Ren''s winning streak."


    "Why are you guys even talking about this? It doesn''t matter if Ren wins or losses, it has nothing to do with us. So instead of talking about all these things, how about you guys start cultivating so that one day you won''t be talking about these things but you''re the ones going to be talked about."


    While everyone was talking about Ren''s situation a certain disciple of this small Sect, a young man with a cultivation at the peak of the Qi gathering Realm was in his room listening to the bustling conversation by the other disciples.


    "Did you hear that old man? This guy called Ren seems like a very strong person. Do you think he''s stronger than you, old man?"


    The young disciple suddenly spoke to the air as if there was someone there, but then an aged voice responded in his mind.


    "Are you looking down on me young one? If we were present when that Ren person came to challenge the Sect even with your Qi gathering Realm Cultivation we would''ve been able to beat his disciple easily. Heh, if I still had my old body I would''ve easily defeated this Ren with one hand behind my back. Back in my time, True Monarch Realm cultivators were as abundant as the clouds in the sky, and the Saint Realm was not an unreachable dream. I was a mighty Emperor Realm Expert that could crush everyone before me, True Monarch Realm cultivators were nothing but bigger ants. If it weren''t for those b*stards that betrayed me I wouldn''t have died."


    "Yeah, yeah, if you say so old man. So anyway I keep on hearing how strong you were and all that but were you stronger than the Strongest Mortal Soul?"


    "Heh, brat, no matter how arrogant I am, I would never say that I''m stronger than any incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. In fact, no being aside from the Gods would have the guts to im to be stronger than him. I might not have been born in an era were an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul existed, but I have spoken to beings that have met an incarnation of him, and based on what they told me I can definitely say that the title of Strongest is well deserved. Surely you too know the stories."


    "Of course, I know, who doesn''t know the tales of the Strongest Mortal Soul. One of the very first humans to be created by the ORIGIN. He was the first human to rise up against the cruelty of the so called Ancient Gods. He was considered the first hero of humanity and was able to free us from the servitude of the Gods. It is said that he reincarnates every time a hero is needed."


    "Hmph, that''s what they tell you nowadays?"


    "Do you know a different story, old man?"


    "Yes, I do. The Strongest Mortal Soul could be considered a hero in some perspectives, but do not be fooled. A hero that reincarnates every time he''s needed? that''s not what was told to us back then. It was said that the Strongest Mortal Soul''s original purpose was to kill the strongest humans of each generation so that we will never be able to oppose the Gods. This is the reason why every incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul seeks to battle the strongest beings he could find. He might''ve been able to break free from his fate but a part of his core personality had remained the same. Fortunately, it was no longer a necessity for him to kill the strongest mortals, despite wanting to fight them he would no longer kill them, well except for those that get in his way. In fact, he would instead train those strong mortals to be able to fight against the very Gods themselves. It was said that his one wish was for another mortal to be able to break free from the shackles of destiny. These people he had trained are the various ns that we have today. Well, that''s what I heard, who knows if that''s true or what you say is the truth. The only person that could really know is the Strongest Mortal Soul himself. Still, even if we don''t know the real reason it is a fact that he has saved numerous lives no matter the incarnation. The only other truth that everyone is sure of, was that his power was beyond understanding."

 Chapter 609 In The Void Sect

    Seeing as most Sects in the East Region of the upper Realms have already been defeated by Ren, the only one left was the most powerful of them all the Void Sect. As expected of the number one Sect in the Eastern Region, despite knowing that Ren wasing, the people in the Void Sect weren''t really worried. So there wasn''t much change in the Void Sect except for people talking about Ren every now and then.


    The only person who was truly concerned about the news regarding Ren was his disciple Mo Feng. Ever since he came to the Void Sect he learned that there were geniuses beyond him, if it weren''t for the Formless Sword that Ren taught him he would''ve be just another normal disciple of the Sect. He was truly grateful to Ren for teaching the essence of his sword techniques.


    Right now he was an Inner Sect Disciple and Ying Yue was an Outer Sect disciple. Surprisingly even the weak Mo Wei became an Inner Sect Disciple.


    Mo Feng''s life in the Void Sect was rtively peaceful at the start, but nowadays he was being harassed by some Inner Sect Disciples which was the group Mo Wei was with.


    At first, it was just a little harassment but then it escted into actual violence. Mo Feng tried to retaliate but then he learned that the leader of the group was the Grandson of an Elder of the Sect, who was a powerful Peak True Monarch.


    As of now, Mo Feng had no way to properly fight back so he could only endure it. Still, he was not enduring all of this harassment without any hope of fighting back. He knew that everything will change once he wins the uing Inner Sect tournament and show off his prowess at the Elders'' present. If they take a liking to him, he might be a Core Disciple, or even better a personal disciple of one of the Elders. Once he bes a Core Disciple he would finally be able to retaliate against the guys harassing him.


    ...


    After Ren had defeated the Sect Protector of the Dajioa Sect, news of it reached Mo Feng''s ears. When he heard that his Master was able to win against all the major sects in the Eastern Region he was feeling proud and motivated.


    ''If Master can defeat Sect after Sect then I winning something small like an Inner Sect tournament should be easy. As his disciple, I better do my best not to embarrass Master.''


    Fully motivated Mo Feng started training even harder than before. He was already at the middle stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm and was about to have a breakthrough in his cultivation.


    Still,pared to the other geniuses his cultivating speed might not look like much since most of the top Inner Sect Disciples were at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, some were even about ready to break through the Golden Core Realm. On the other hand, the average cultivation of Core Disciples was already at the peak of Golden Core Realm there were some who were at the Nascent Soul Realm.


    Even though he knew all that Mo Feng wasn''t in a hurry to raise his cultivation, instead he was focusing on making his techniques sharper. Mo Feng was confident that he could win the tournament without raising his cultivation and relying simply on his techniques to defeat those of higher cultivations. As he was training he spotted some familiar faces in the distance. Ying Yue was being surrounded by Mo Wei and his new friends. Mo Feng quickly came to her aid.


    "Mo Wei, what do you think you''re doing?" Hearing Mo Feng''s voice Mo Wei looked at the neer with a shocked expression but then it was reced with a condescending smile on his face.


    "Oh my if it isn''t the genius of my n. Well, as you can see Mo Feng, we''re just talking to Ying Yue here we''re not doing anything bad."


    "Then why does she look so ufortable." Mo Feng pulled Ying Yue close to him which made the two other people with Mo Wei frown.


    "How can she be ufortable, we were just offering her an option for a better life than being with you." When Mo Feng heard those words he almost attacked Mo Wei but held himself back.


    "He''s right, Miss Ying Yue would be better off with Senior Brother, Ming Hao. Not only is Senior Brother a top Core Disciple he''s also the Grandson of Elder Ming, a Peak True Monarch." One of the thugs with Mo Wei spoke.


    "Do you even know how many maidens would want to be in your position? It''s already a miracle that Senior Brother would even look at you, but you still stick to this nobody."


    As the other thug was speaking, Ying Yue tightened her grip on Mo Feng who stood bravely in front of her.


    "Hmph, it doesn''t matter what other people think, what matters is what Yue''er wants, and what she wants is for you guys to leave her alone, or do you want me to make you leave her alone?"


    Mo Feng unleashed his aura which made the three back away in fright. They knew that they were no match for Mo Feng as proven by thest time when the four of them fought in a duel, but back then Ming Hao was there to protect them.


    "What are you nning to do to us? If you dare to attack us without reason, you would be considered a traitor of the Sect."


    "Hmph, if you keep on provoking me then who knows what I might do." Mo Feng clenched his fist as if he was about ready to attack which made the trio back away.


    "Just you wait Mo Feng, when the Sect tournamentes, Senior Brother Ming Hao is going to show you who''s the better man."


    "Yeah, you better be careful even in a spar idents could happen."


    "Hmph, you have no idea what you''re missing. You''ll regret this if you don''t pick Senior Brother Ming Hao."


    The trio shouted out their threats as they were running away. Once they were gone, Mo Feng sighed.


    "Those three really have nothing better to do? Instead of doing this, they should concentrate on their cultivation."


    "I''m sorry Mo Feng." Ying Yue spoke while looking downward feeling bad about the whole situation.


    "Don''t worry about it, this is not your fault."


    "But-"


    "No buts,e on, how about you and I train together." Mo Feng pulled Ying Yue''s hands bringing her away.


    ...


    The trio who were running far away from Mo Feng stopped as they felt embarrassed and angry at the entire situation.


    "Damn that Mo Feng! Howe he''s still alive, I thought that Senior Brother Ming Hao told you to hire assassins to deal with him?" Mo Wei asked one of the thugs with him.


    "I did, they were even several Golden Core Realm cultivators in that group of assassins. I don''t know how he was able to survive."


    "Do you think that some powerful expert from the Mo n is protecting him?"


    "How can that be, we''re from the same n and the only ones that could deal with that many Golden Core Realm cultivators is our Ancestor."


    "So do you think that he''s being protected by one of the Elders?"


    "If he is we better report this to Senior Brother Min Hao."

 Chapter 610 Ming Hao

    "So the assassination failed how is that possible, is he really being backed by one of the Elders?" A young man with arge build and scary-looking face was walking through a hallway while mumbling to himself. This was Ming Hao one of the Core disciples of the Void Sect.


    Mo Wei and the others had reported to him of Mo Feng''s survival. The level of the assassins he sent was high, in fact, in a certain sense, they were too much just to deal with a Foundation Establishment Realm disciple. Yet in the end, they failed to kill said Foundation Establishment Realm disciple.


    ''It''s impossible for that kid to be able to defeat such a lineup of Golden Core Realm and peak Foundation Establishment Realm assassins. I already checked his background and there''s nothing special about him. The most powerful person in his n was just a middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. So is he really being protected by one of the Elders, but why?... Tsk, I thought it would be easy to get rid of him and have Ying Yue for myself.''


    Ming Hao clicked his tongue in irritation, he thought that by now he would be able to have Ying Yue but every time he was blocked by Mo Feng. Ever since heid eyes on her Ming Hao was smitten. It was not like Ying Yue was the most beautiful or had the most attractive body or even the most talented, there were many disciples in the Sect that could surpass her in looks and talent.


    In fact, Mei Zhen who was in the same batch as Mo Feng and Yin Yue was many times better. The moment she stepped foot in the Sect her beauty was already said to rival or even surpass Suzuki Hana''s beauty, the one everyone agrees to be the most beautiful disciple in the Sect. Not only was her beauty above all others even her talent was beyond understanding.


    After a few months in the Void Sect, she quickly rose in the ranks. She was now the direct disciple of the Sect Master and was now a Golden Core Realm Cultivator. She was the most outstanding woman within the Sect, but to Ming Hao, Ying Yue was better.


    Unlike the powerful Mei Zhen who doesn''t feel like she would kneel to anyone, the more docile Ying Yue was better in his opinion. The only problem was that there was a b*stard that was stuck to her.


    At first, Ming Hao directly spoke his mind and asked Ying Yue to be his woman. He thought that someone like her who was below him would immediately agree, but what happened was the opposite. She rejected him in front of many of the Outer Sect disciples.


    If not for the image he wanted to maintain he really wanted to p her. Why would she pick someone who''s obviously below him in everything? His Talent, riches, family background, and even his looks, everything about him was above Mo Feng, but he was not chosen. It didn''t make any sense to him, but that''s what happened so all he could do at the time was smile and tell her he wouldn''t give up.


    After that event, he told those who followed him to put some pressure on Mo Feng but not kill him. At first, Mo Feng fought back but once he learned that Ming Hao was the grandson of an Elder of the Void Sect, he no longer retaliated, but despite all the harassment he received he maintained a calm attitude and did nothing but train his sword arts.


    Ming Hao thought that Mo Feng would do something at this point, or even just ask for them to stop harassing him, but in the end, he did none of those things. He was even able to be an Inner Sect Disciple after a few months.


    Seeing his talent made Ming Hao actually feel threatened, now he was more determined than ever to remove Mo Feng from his life. That was when the harassment Mo Feng received turned into violent acts, of course, Ming Hao did not do any of this as he had an image to maintain. The ones who did the violent acts were his followers that were also Inner Sect Disciples. Yet, even after all that Mo Feng remained unperturbed.


    Ming Hao saw how instead of making Mo Feng distance himself from Ying Yue, the two became even closer than before. Angered by this, Ming Hao asked one of his followers to hire some assassins. Due to his anger, he had hired too many assassins, but even then they were subdued. So now Ming Hao has no other choice but to ask his grandfather for help.


    ...


    "Greetings grandfather," Ming Hao bowed as he approached his grandfather. Seeing his grandsoning to meet him Elder Ming could not help but smile.


    "Oh, what''s this my beloved grandson actually came to meet me. It''s been so long since youst visited."


    "Grandfather, it hasn''t been that long we''ve just had a meal two days ago."


    "Is that so? Well, to me those two days were like an eternity. What happened to the little boy who always clung to me and wanted to learn more about cultivation." Elder Ming sighed so deeply.


    "I cannot always rely on grandfather in my cultivation, I need to have my own path to follow to be stronger."


    "Heh, as expected of my grandson. I know you''ll be able to soar far higher than I... So then, tell me why are you really here, did someone dare bully you? Just tell Grandpa who he is and I''ll handle the rest."


    "Actually," Ming Hao started to exin how he fell in love with an outer sect disciple but she had a fiance already. Of course, he didn''t tell his grandfather about how he harassed Mo Feng or how he had hired assassins to deal with him.


    "Oh, tell me who is this young man that actually dares to get in between my grandson and the girl he likes." Elder Ming spoke in a calm manner but the aura he was releasing was anything but calm.


    "His name is Mo Feng an inner Sect disciple." The moment Elder Ming heard the name of the disciple the oppressive aura dispersed and his facial expression changed.


    "Ming Hao, forget everything about that girl you and she are not fated. As for Mo Feng no longer bother him, do not do anything to him, and make sure to keep your distance from him. That goes for all your followers as well."


    "Why must I do that grandfather? I cannot do that, I just can''t forget about her!" Ming Hao could not understand why his grandfather would say such things. As he continued to tell his grandfather how he could not give up, Elder Ming suddenly spoke.


    "Enough!"


    Elder Ming''s voice was not loud but the weight it carried was overwhelming, and the aura he was releasing was frightening. Ming Hao stepped backward as he was surprised by his grandfather''s reaction. This was the first time he''s seen his grandfather showing him such a serious face.


    "Hao''er I have tolerated many things you have done, but this is one thing I cannot allow you to do. It''s not like I don''t know your personality, and I know that you have already done some things against Mo Feng, but that needs to stop now. Just follow what I say and forget about that girl, if you want I can introduce you to someone even better, someone more qualified to be by your side."


    Ming Hao did not respond as he was looking downward. After a while, he lifted his head and looked at his grandfather.


    "Can you at least tell me why? This is the first time I have felt like this, and I want to know the reason why I cannot do anything about it."


    "This is not something I can tell you, you just need to know that you''re no longer allowed to antagonize Mo Feng, and do not get close to that girl."


    Ming Hao was about to reply but then he saw the expression on his grandfather''s face and knew that no matter what he said nothing will change. Ming Hao then bowed his head and left the room without saying anything more to his grandfather.


    Seeing his grandson leave Elder Ming could not help but sigh. He then remembered the day before the Sect Master left to go to thend of the Gods to hunt down the cursed children with some of the other Elders of the Sect. On that day the Sect Master had called every high leveled Elder in the Sect and issued a warning.


    "Do not antagonize Mo Feng."

 Chapter 611 A Better Idea

    "Do not antagonize Mo Feng."


    When the other Elders of the Sect heard the Sect Master''s warning they all had the same thought in their minds.


    ''Who the hell is Mo Feng?'' As if reading their minds the Sect leader responded.


    "Mo Feng is an Outer Sect Disciple that was recently epted into the sect."


    The moment they heard that the person was nothing more than a new Outer Sect Disciple, the Elders were all confused. Chu Feng, the Elder in charge of disciplining disciples who had a very fiery temper asked a question.


    "Sect Master, are you asking me to give way to this kid? If he does something wrong should I just make way for him, and give him a drink while he''s breaking all the rules?"


    The Sect Master looked at Chu Feng with a weird expression on his face and sighed. The Sect Master then looked at every other Elder in the room and they more or less looked like they had the same thoughts as Chu Feng.


    "That''s not what I meant. You can treat him like any other disciple, if he does something wrong he can be punished, no need for special treatment, but do not do anything wrongful to him. I know some of the disciples and some of you Elders like to y around with cloaks and daggers but do not even try doing that to him."


    "Why?"


    "As of now I can''t tell you theplete details, but all I can say is the Void Sect is only a training ground for Mo Feng, as long as it remains fair and does not do anything directly evil to Mo Feng, it won''t matter even if he dies... But if, and only if he dies in a way that was not fair like being attacked without issuing a proper challenge by someone with a higher cultivation or if someone uses poison then..."


    The Sect Master spoke in a serious tone, but he could not say the final word he wanted to say as he was under a contract that won''t allow him to say it for now.


    "Well, the only thing you need to know is that if you guys intentionally antagonize Mo Feng without any proper reason then it would be a disaster. The most you can do that''s allowed is send assassins of the same cultivation or slightly higher. You can also directly challenge him to battle and if he epts then it would be his fault if he dies or survives."


    After saying that the Sect Master no longer said anything more and left with half of the Sect Elders to the front lines. Even though he could not understand why an expert like the Sect Master would act like that Elder Ming knew that there must be a reason.


    ''Just remembering the slight fear in the Sect Master''s voice makes me wonder what kind of secret Mo Feng is hiding... That Grandson of mine always doing something troublesome. Once I deal with this problem I better reeducate him. I guess losing the reputation he built can be a good punishment for him.''


    ...


    News of Elder MIng apologizing for his grandson and his subordinate''s misconduct towards Mo Feng, he even gave Mo Feng some presents as a sign of his sincerity. This news shocked everyone in the Sect more so than the news regarding Ren.


    The disciples started to wonder if Mo Feng had some kind of special background, so many of the disciples whoe from good families tried to gather information about this newly promoted Inner Sect Disciple. Yet no matter how hard they dug they could only see that Mo Feng came from a small n with only one Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator.


    After numerous people got the same information most of them concluded that the only reason Elder Ming was apologizing was because of his good character. So now, with all the information they gathered about Mo Feng they couldn''t find anything special about it. He was just a genius of some small n. They were no longer that much interested in him but they still kept tabs on him.


    After that day Mo Feng no longer had any problems with Ming Hao and his followers. They also stopped harassing Ying Yue. This gave Mo Feng more time to focus on the uing tournament.


    ...


    In the darkness of the night, some people at the Golden Core Realm arrived just outside Mo Feng''s residence. They had concealed themselves very well and were observing Mo Feng who was cultivating.


    "So this guy is the target? He''s only at the Foundation Establishment Realm... Is it really necessary for all of us to be here?" One of the assassins spoke in a whisper.


    "Don''t question it, as long as the client pays enough all we need to do is fulfill the mission."


    "Still, don''t you think it''s weird that the pay for this mission is so high? With that amount of spirit stones the client could have hired a Nascent Soul Expert."


    "Like I said it is not our ce to ask questions we just need to do what we are paid to do. Alright, let''s go and get this over with."


    The six Golden Core Realm assassins were about to strike the cultivating Mo Feng when someone suddenly appeared before them it was a man wearing a butler suit, his cultivation was unknown. Still, to appear before them without making a noise must mean he was an expert. The butler smiled at the assassins as he did a little bow before speaking.


    "My dear assassins, unfortunately, I cannot allow you to proceed. If you were all at the Foundation Establishment Realm or if only one of you was at the Golden Core Realm then I would not have bothered, but since you are one realm higher than the young master and areing in such numbers then you cannot proceed from here. So how about you six leave now."


    When the six assassins heard the butler calling Mo Feng young master they confirmed that this guy was truly an enemy. Even though they could not grasp how strong the person in front of them was they could not retreat. Retreating from an assassination means death not only for themselves but also for their loved ones.


    The six assassins looked at each other and after a brief pause they all started running in different directions, but they did not n to escape instead if there was a chance they would try to kill the target. Yet the moment they tried to run some invisible force had grabbed hold of their necks, they tried to escape with all their might but they could not do anything, they then heard a sigh.


    "I didn''t really want to kill you people, but since you are so set on attacking the young master, then, I-" Walter did not finish what he was going to say as he felt something, he quickly ducked but nothing happened. As he looked around confused Walter then heard someone chuckle.


    "You really have good senses." When Walter heard this voice he quickly knelt on the ground which shocked the assassins that were still being held by an invisible force.


    "Your Butler Walter greets Master." The moment the assassins heard Walter say Master they knew that there was no hope anymore of survival.


    "Yes, it''s been a while." Ren and Fang Mu appeared before Walter who was kneeling on the ground. "So are you going to kill these assassins?"


    "Yes, they were about to attack Young Master Mo Feng despite having higher cultivation."


    "Hmm... Don''t do that I have a better idea in mind." Ren smiled a ferocious smile which made the assassins who did not fear even death felt terrified when they saw it.

 Chapter 612 Pick One

    The six assassins gulped as they looked at the smiling Ren. Even though he was smiling like a Saint they felt like they were prey being eyed by a horrible predator, they were no longer restrained and could freely run away but for some reason, they could not move a muscle.


    They had been on many missions were their chances of survival were slim, but even then they never gave up and survived. They had seen Peak True Monarchs fight, they even survived a battle against a Nascent Soul cultivator, and even then theypleted their missions, but now in front of this person, they felt helpless.


    Their very souls were screaming in horror as they faced the smiling Ren. Even though every fiber of their being told them to escape their bodies would not listen.


    ''What was this, what the f*ck is this?!'' The assassins couldn''t help but scream in their minds as their bodies uncontrobly trembled.


    Fang Mu who was watching the entire scene sighed. He had seen his master do this a few times already but every time he saw him doing it, he could not understand it. Ren was not using killing intent or his aura to intimidate his opponents, he wasn''t even using his Qi to restrain them forcefully, it was just his presence alone that made them feel such intense terror.


    "So the six of you nned to kill my disciple. Well, I would''ve allowed it if Mo Feng had a chance at victory, but based on what my butler over here said that chance doesn''t exist if the six of you attack together. At most he could have handled two of you, and barely survive three... Normally I would''ve killed you six already but this time I decided not to. Instead, I''m going to give you six three options."


    Hearing Ren''s words gave them a tinge of hope but for some reason, they felt like something was wrong. They could not understand what it was, but could not think too deeply about it in their current situation.


    "So the first option is for the three of you to face this disciple of mine and the other three faces Mo Feng. If any one of you are able to kill them then I will let whoever survives leave, and will no longer bother with you and that would be it."


    Hearing the first option the assassins were confused. Does it matter if they were split into two groups, any one of them could kill a Foundation Establishment Realm fighter. Even if the two were geniuses that could bridge the gap between their cultivations, that would only be good in a one-on-one scenario not against many of them together. It was then they remembered what Ren said a while ago, that his disciples could handle two of them and barely survive three.


    ''No way, that would mean even if we do win against the two there would be some sacrifices.''


    "The second option is for all six of you to face me."


    The moment Ren said those words the six of them look at Ren weirdly. If he wanted to kill them then why doesn''t he just kill them what''s with this choice?


    "I think you''re misunderstanding something here. When I say face me, I don''t mean we fight, if we did do that there wouldn''t be any chance for you guys to win. What I meant was for all of you to attack me with all you''ve got. Use every bit of your strength and try to kill me. I won''t move nor retaliate, if you''re able to somehow damage me then I will let all of you go. The time limit is until all of you faint from exhaustion. Of course, if you lose then I will grant you guys a swift death."


    Listening to the second option the six felt like it was also too good to be true which was simr to the first one. Since Ren would not be attacking back and all they needed to do was hurt Ren wasn''t this a little bit too easy? If theybined their attacks even a True Monarch whose focus was on body strengthening would get hurt if he takes the attack head-on. Still, for some reason in the back of their minds, they felt that Ren was above True Monarch Realm Cultivators.


    "Now as for the third and final option, you guys be my subordinates. You will follow me and do as I say. If you choose this option, I promise to protect you guys and of course, you get to live. The only downside is you will lose a portion of your freedom, well it''s not like you six are free now anyway. So what do you choose?"


    The six assassins looked at each other andmunicated using various gestures. One of them then gulped as he stepped forward his legs trembling.


    "If we join you will you be able to save our families?"


    "Oh, is that how they''re able to control you guys?... Do you know where they''re being held?"


    "Yes, we do... All the families of the defeated ns that were forced into bing assassins are being held in the hideout hidden in the forest of withering trees."


    "So how strong are the people in control of the assassins that you guys can''t save your own families?" ''


    "The leader of the assassins is at the peak of the True Monarch Realm, the five elders are all in the True Monarch Realm, and even if webine the might of all those forced to be assassins we would not win."


    "Hmm, that is rather interesting... So Walter what do you think, can you defeat the leader and the Elders of this so called assassin group?"


    "Of course," Walter answered while bowing.


    "You hear that, if you join me I''ll let you guide Walter back to your base to kill that leader and those elders. As for saving your respective families that should be your job, so what option do you want to pick?"


    The six no longer hesitated as they answered in unison.


    "Please take us in."


    "Nice choice, alright now that you are under me, as promised I will let Walter kill those who had held your families hostage. All you need to do is guide Walter to your base and tell him who to kill. Now just in case, you''re thinking of betraying me, be warned. The moment you betray me, Walter will not only kill you guys but every single person in your base which of course, includes your families."


    "Master, are you not going to ask us who the client that wanted to kill your disciple is?"


    "No, I don''t really care, he can send more assassins if he wants to."


    ...


    After Ren gave out some other orders, Walter and the six assassins left, and only Fang Mu and Ren stayed to watch over Mo Feng.


    "Master, what are you going to do now?"


    "Well, for now, let''s just rx a bit while we wait for those guys. Also, I want to watch this tournament and see how well Mo Feng will do."


    When Fang Mu heard what Ren said he thought that those guys were Walter and the assassins, but those were not the people Ren was waiting for. Ren of course, did not exin it to his disciple and instead said something different.


    "So for now, you can do whatever your want until your Senior Brother''s tournament."

 Chapter 613 This Is The Will Of The ORIGIN

    While Ren was waiting for something or someone in the Void Sect the situation in thend of the Gods was getting worse. The Demi-Gods also known as the forsaken children of the Gods were able to kill a lot of Nascent Soul Cultivators and even some True Monarchs have fallen in their hands.


    Each Demi-God had different abilities depending on which New God they were rted to, and their rapid increase in strength was due to their human side. This allowed them to grow rapidly after every battle.


    As the battle grew even more intense the Descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul sent some of the stronger members of their respective ns into the battlefield.


    Yet despite doing that the situation was not getting any better. Still, even now that the situation was worsening they could not send their most powerful members since those people were there just in case the New and Old Gods join in the chaos.


    Still, if the Old Gods were to truly join in the chaos, then this universe might not be able to withstand their battle and it might copse. The worst-case scenario is if even the Ancient Gods were to join in the madness.


    If that were to happen it would not only be a fight for the survival of humanity but a fight for the very survival of everything in all universes.


    ...


    On one of the battlefields in thend of the Gods, a Nascent Soul Realm fighter was being surrounded by the Forsaken Children of the Gods. Even though he and his friends were just here to find a little bit of fortune in battle what they got was the opposite.


    The Forsaken Children who they thought were in a berserker state were actually able to ambush them which they never expected. The rogue Nascent Soul Realm cultivator had watched hispanions that he had adventured with, those that he cherished as family, die one by one right before his very eyes. Seeing as he has barely any Qi left the rogue Nascent Soul Realm cultivator knew that it was his turn to die.


    For some reason now that he knew that his end was near, the rogue cultivator felt nothing, he was neither angry nor afraid. What was left in him was simple curiosity.


    "So little Demi-Gods since I''m going to die anyway, how about answering some of my questions."


    The Demi-Gods who had surrounded the rogue cultivator stopped and looked at each other, after a short pause one of the Demi-Gods spoke.


    "Very well, before we send you off, I''ll be willing to answer any question."


    The rogue cultivator was rather surprised at how sensible these berserking Demi-Gods were being. It was so different from when they were fighting a while ago. At that time these Demi-Gods fought like crazed demons.


    "It doesn''t seem like you guys are as crazed as everyone said you were. So then why did you start attacking everyone?"


    "That''s rather funny, you people think that we are the crazed ones, but in our eyes you humans were the crazy ones."


    When the rogue cultivator heard the Demi-God''s reply he was confused at first, but then he thought that these guys were really crazy.


    "How can you say that we are the crazy ones when it''s the Demi-Gods that have been attacking and killing everyone in sight? I heard that you guys have even killed some New Gods."


    "The things that we did can''t be could killing, what we were doing was sending them back to were they belong."


    "What does that mean?"


    "It is finally time for all of us to return to the ORIGIN. The ORIGIN has spoken to us he has called for us, and we want to share our joy with others so we decided in the kindness of our hearts to bring you all to his side. Once we are done and everyone else has gone before us, we will dly enter the ORIGIN''s embrace."


    The Demi-God spoke with such passion that some of the other Demi-Gods started crying, there were even some that began to pray. Seeing them act this way the rogue cultivator was sure that they truly have gone insane.


    "So your n is to kill all,"


    "Not Kill but send."


    "Fine, so your n is to send everyone to the ORIGIN''s side, and he told you to do this? Did the ORIGIN tell you why, why now?"


    Hearing the rogue cultivator''s question the excited Demi-Gods all looked at him. The intensity of their stares made the rogue cultivator feel incredibly ufortable. Then out of nowhere all of them showed creepy grins on their faces.


    "Of course, of course.''


    "The ORIGIN has told all of us who were blessed enough to listen."


    "Of his grand n."


    "To save the souls of his creation."


    "And begin anew."


    Unlike a while ago when only one Demi-God spoke, this time all of the Demi-Gods present spoke in a weird monotonous tone. The way they spoke as if they could read each other''s minds alongside those creepy smiles of theirs made the entire scene feel rather eerie.


    "The ORIGIN the father of all."


    "Wishes for the destruction of the old."


    "The ORIGIN wishes for the creation of the new."


    "We who have failed him, need to return to him."


    "Even after all our mistakes, after all our failures."


    "The ORIGIN our father is still willing to receive us into his warm embrace."


    When the rogue cultivator heard everything he was surprised. So this insanity had some meaning to the Demi-Gods. If the ORIGIN truly wishes for this, then how long before the New Gods, the Old Gods, and even the Ancient Gods be as crazed as the Demi-Gods?


    "Is this truly the will of the ORIGIN?"


    "Yes, it is his will, so do not bother fighting it and just ept it. The sooner you ept your fate the better it is for not only you but for everyone."


    The rogue cultivator smirked before he started to chuckle.


    "I see that you''re d that you''re about to be weed into the arms of our father."


    "No, that''s not it, that''s not it at all. I just find this entire thing funny. You telling me to ept the sh*tty fate you''ve given me is the funniest thing I have ever heard."


    When they heard what the rogue cultivator had to say the Demi-Gods who were smiling creepily were now frowning.


    "You think the salvation we bring is a joke?"


    "Yes, for as long as the Strongest Mortal Soul exists, then your salvation will always be a joke. He would never allow anyone to decide his fate, so why should I?"


    After he was done speaking the rogue cultivator startedughing out loud as his Nascent soul grew to cover arge area and then exploded. The power of the explosion was so strong that it disintegrated not only the rogue cultivator but several Demi-Gods.


    After that confrontation, the Demi-Gods shook their heads as they had a singr thought in their minds.


    "What is there to fear, even if it is the Strongest Mortal Soul? As long as our father is there, then even the incarnation of the legendary Strongest Mortal Soul would need to embrace the ORIGIN''s salvation. Once we find his current incarnation we will convince him of our father''s love."

 Chapter 614 Everyone Training

    Unaware of the intensifying battle between the human cultivators and the Demi-Gods, the Sects of the various factions continued to go on in their daily lives without too much worry. Even though they haven''t received any news of what was going on in the Land of the Gods the Sects were confident in their victory. The reason for their confidence was that not only did they send out their True Monarchs but the news of the Legendary ns created by incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul joining in the fray made them feel like defeat was impossible.


    Still, despite not knowing that things were going badly in the Land Of the Gods the various Sects actually strengthened their defenses. After Ren had defeated each Sect they learned of their shorings and improved upon them. Not knowing when Ren might return to once again ''have a little fun with them'', the various sects in the Eastern region had strengthened their Sect level arrays.


    The disciples of every Sect Ren and Fang Mu had visited were burning with a passion to retrain themselves. They might be unable to reach the ludicrous level Ren has shown them, as they didn''t even know what his cultivation realm was. Even now they were unable to get a clear picture of just how strong Ren was, all they knew was that he was ridiculously strong and that it defied all reason.


    On the other hand, Fang Mu had a detectable cultivation realm, and his abilities were indeed above most geniuses but that was it. When they saw him fight, it was not so unreachable that they couldn''t ovee him with a little more effort.


    So now with renewed determination, each Sect had not only strengthened their defenses, but even the quality of their disciples have increased. After their battle with Ren and Fang Mu, the various Sects in the Eastern region were actually improving better than before.


    It wasn''t just the various Sects that were improving, but Ren himself was also continuously strengthening himself. While waiting for the Void Sect''s tournament to happen, Ren was training with his past incarnations.


    After all these years of training in his soul realm, Ren has finally grown strong enough to face the people in the top hundreds with his soul realm. He could still remember when he first encountered his past incarnations and his soul realm, he was considered to be the weakest incarnation. Even his past incarnation Demon Lord Kretos was just in the top ten thousand ording to the strength of his past incarnations.


    Even though he was the weakest his growth was one of the best among all the Strongest Mortal Soul''s reincarnations. Still, with his current power, he wasn''t strong enough to fight an Ancient God much less the ORIGIN.


    With Ren''s current strength the best he could do was to fight an Old God by himself, but winning would depend on which Old God he was facing. Overall his improvement was good but not enough.


    Since the Demi-Gods have started rampaging it was only a matter of time before everything breaks. This was just the start, even if the New Gods join inter it wouldn''t be too much of a problem. The real problem will only start once the Old Gods join the fray.


    The Old Gods were the beings created by the supposedly perfect Ancient Gods. These Old Gods were beings that were hidden within a universe, they live in their own pocket dimension and they wererger than severalrgesbined.


    The weaker old Gods could control two to threews of the universe to a certain extent. The stronger ones could control numerousws of the universe to a certain extent as well.


    ...


    In the beginning, all old Gods were of equal strength, but now there were two types of old Gods the weak ones and the strong ones. The reason for the sudden decrease in strength of a lot of Old Gods was because of the death of the Ancient Gods that created them. Back then the original incarnation had killed numerous Gods including the Ancient Gods.


    So it was possible that the moment the Old Gods be crazed, they would do everything in their power to find and kill the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    The Old Gods hate the Strongest Mortal Soul with every fiber of their being, their very souls burn with hatred for the Strongest Mortal Soul. Yet despite their immense hatred they never directly acted against the Strongest Mortal Soul, they would only do something if ordered by an Ancient God or the ORIGIN. The reason for this reluctance to attack is because of their fear, the terror of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    Their hatred might be strong, but their fear of the Strongest Mortal Soul was even stronger. A lot of them were there when the original incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul charged toward the army of Gods. He killed New Gods and Old Gods like they were ants, and even the Ancient Gods had problems keeping up. If not for the intervention of the ORIGIN, all the Gods might have died back then.


    That fear might have kept them back for this long, but once they entered a crazed state that fear will no longer stop them. In Ren''s current condition he would not be able to stop a swarm of Old Gods by himself. That wasn''t the worst part, the worst part is if the Ancient Gods started moving.


    ...


    An Ancient God was a being created by the ORIGIN to be supposedly perfect in every way and be apanion for the lonely ORIGIN. In the end, they were considered failures since they were not perfect and they were not a true match of the ORIGIN. Still, even if they were called failures their strength was the real deal.


    Unlike Old Gods that could control thews of the universe to a certain extent, Ancient Gods were the veryws themselves. Each Ancient God governs over aw of a universe, such as time, space, light, and such. When they die thews that they governed be open source, ownerlessws.


    At first, other Ancient Gods thought that gaining these ownerlessws would grant them more power, as for the Old and New Gods they thought that once they gain an ownerlessw they could be as powerful as an Ancient God. Unfortunately, they were wrong, if one tries to absorb the power of an ownerlessw, they lose their sense of self and be part of thatw.


    ...


    Now if the Ancient Gods join in this insanity, the very fabric of reality might break and those too weak to resist will cease to exist.


    Still, Ren was not that worried about that, since based on what the original incarnation said to him the chances of an Ancient God joining this early was not possible. Even if one were to suddenly join in, the original incarnation had a n on how to deal with one Ancient God. So now all Ren had to do was get stronger and wait for the final battle. Of course, aside from that, he could do whatever he wanted.

 Chapter 615 The Void Sects Tournament

    Unaware that his master was watching him from a distance, Mo Feng continued to hone his swordsmanship. He did not bother to increase his cultivation realm as he thought that technique was more important in battle than how high one''s cultivation was. Training right by his side was his wife to be Ying Yue. Unlike, Mo Feng who concentrated on swordsmanship, Ying Yue focused on increasing her own cultivation first.


    Time quickly passed by and the day of the tournament finally arrived, but to Mo Feng and all the other disciples surprise, the rules of the tournament had changed.


    "Due to some circumstances, the other Elders and I have decided to change some things regarding the tournament. First, we will no longer divide the battles between outer court disciples, inner court disciples, and core disciples. Next is how we decide who will fight and who will be the opponent. We will not pick who will fight who, instead it will be the disciples who get to pick who to fight. The Outer Disciples can challenge any other outer disciple, they can also challenge the inner disciples and the core disciples. If the outer disciple is able to beat a higher ranking disciple he or she would take that disciple''s rank. Now the inner sect disciple could do the same, but an inner sect disciple will not be allowed to challenge an outer sect disciple. Then finally Core disciples will only be able to challenge other Core disciples. After winning one match, the winner can decide if he wants to continue or not, also the person who just won can only be challenged by another person after five matches are done. Also, if the winner of the match decides to continue to fight he would not be choosing his next opponent, instead, it would be the other disciples of the same rank who would challenge the winner. Of course, the ones who win the most battles will be given more resources and a special prize. So are there any questions?"


    When the disciples heard what the Elder said some of them got nervous but most of them got even more excited than before. This was a rare opportunity for not only fame and fortune, but also a chance to leap through the Dragons gate and be a core disciple.


    After a short pause and looking at the excited faces of the disciples, the Elder in charge of the matches nodded his head.


    "Alright since there are no questions let''s start. Now the first one to step onto the stage should be an Outer Sect Disciple. Who among you will be brave enough to stand on the stage?"


    The Elder pointed at the gigantic stage. Even though the disciples were so excited a while ago none of them stepped onto the stage. The group of Outer Sect Disciples was looking at each other waiting to see who would step up first. Seeing their cowardly performance most of the Inner Sect Disciples started sneering, as for the Core Disciples who stood high above all the other disciples they were not interested in the slightest.


    ? Seeing that no one was going up onto the stage, the Elder in charge of the matches was about to force one of the Outer Sect Disciples to take the stage, but then a heartyugh interrupted him. A fierce-looking young man stepped forward, he wasn''trge nor was he tall, he did not look strong at all, but the aura he emitted felt a little bit overpowering. The fierce-looking young man had no weapon at hand, and only wore a pair of gauntlets. As he stepped onto the stage he looked at his fellow disciples and made an announcement, his voice wasn''t all that loud but it could be heard by all.


    "It seems like I have the honor to be the first to stand on this stage. I Chu Fan have longed admired the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul who stood at the peak of all humanity. This is why I want to surpass them and be a legend of my own. So now to start my legend, I challenge Richard Tranor, the descendant of the ever-victorious Leonard Tranor who was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul."


    Chu Fan pointed at the meditating Richard whose closed eyes opened and was now looking at Chu Fan. The disciples as well as the Elders of the Sect were quite surprised by this challenge. It was just the first match and an outer sect disciple had already challenged a Core Disciple, and it wasn''t just any Core Disciple it was Richard Tranor.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Even among all the talented Core Disciples in the sect, Richard Tranor was considered to be one of the strongest. Even though he was one of the newly recruited disciples no one questioned his strength after watching him battle twice, once during the trial exam and the second time when he killed a former Core Disciple who challenged him to life and death and battle. His strength is what one would expect from a direct descendant of an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    After being directly challenged Richard said nothing and simply jumped onto the stage. Everyone present had no doubts of Richard''s victory, as he was at the Golden Core Realm while Chu Fan was only at the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm, they were separated by two great realms.


    "So are the two of you ready?" Richard nodded his head, on the other hand, Chu Fan still had something to say.


    "Richard I know that you could easily beat me by overpowering me with your higher cultivation, so how about for this match you lower your cultivation to my level? Surely a descendant of the ever-victorious Leonard Tranor would want to fight fairly."


    Richard did not say anything as he simply suppressed his cultivation to the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm. Seeing him do that just made Chu Fan even more excited.


    "As expected of a direct descendant, your confidence is beyond doubt. I know I''m the one who asked you to do it, but I hope you won''t regret thister." Chu Fan got into a fighting stance while Richard did not even draw the two swords on his hip. Seeing Richard''s actions the Elder once again asked.


    "Are the two of you ready?" Richard simply nodded his head and so did Chu Fan.


    "Alright then let the battlemence!"


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 616 Come At Me!

    The very moment Chu Fan heard that the battle has started he made his move. He appeared before Richard in the blink of an eye. As Chu Fan was about to punch he suddenly felt something was wrong. Chu Fan quickly raised his arms in defense while backing away. All of this happened within less than a second and the moment Chu Fan backed away something shed by.


    Chu Fan felt something heavy hit his gauntlets and then after backing away there was a strong wind that passed by him. Once his footnded on the ground his body was now filled with tiny wounds and his gauntlets had many scratches.


    It wasn''t just Chu Fan that was stunned; even the other disciples and Elders were shocked by what they saw. Despite lowering his cultivation to be the same as Chu Fan, that technique of his was incredibly fast.


    Chu Fan and the other Outer Disciples and even most of the Inner Sect Disciples weren''t able to follow the movement of Richard''s swords. In fact, they weren''t even able to perceive when Richard''s swords left their scabbards.


    On the other hand, those that could follow Richard''s movements were amazed at how sharp each sh he made at such high speeds.


    The Elders were quite aware of what technique Richard used as it was one of the most famous moves of the Tranor n. This was the Fangs of the Wolf, a technique created by Leonard Tranor, nicknamed the God of battle, death, and victory.


    This technique was supposed to destroy the opponent''s weapon, body, and spirit. Yet, none of the three things that were supposed to break was broken. While Chu Fan was still stunned by what just happened Richard was also slightly surprised, so for the first time in a long time he spoke.


    "You''re worthy."


    The moment he said those words the entire atmosphere surrounding Richard changed. Moments ago Richard''s aura was like a flowing river calm and serene but now it changed into something deadlier. The feeling Richard exuded was like the de of the sword was right next to your neck ready to behead you. Even those that were simply watching felt the oppressive force being emitted by Richard.


    Chu Fan who was standing right in front of Richard could fully experience the menacing aura. Still, instead of being afraid he could not help but smile, the same vicious smile as all the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. As someone who admired the deeds of the Strongest Mortal Soul, Chu Fan had practiced this smile for the longest time. He had created his style of fighting from the stories he heard of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Even parts of his personality mirrored the various incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. If not for his talent being only slightly better than others, many would think that he was an actual incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "As expected of a direct descendant of Leonard Tranor! Fine show me everything you got, and I promise I will go beyond that and surpass you!"


    After he spoke Chu Fan got into a stance that was simr to the Kauzaki style martial art Dragon Stance. When Richard saw the stance he was once again surprised. As a direct descendant of the Tranor n who came out to train he had met many of the other ns of the Strongest Mortal Soul and he was quite familiar with the Kauzaki Style. He was able to see the simrities between the Dragon Stance and the stance Chu Fan was using.


    Obviously, it wasn''t the authentic Dragon Stance, but for an imitation it was the best Richard had seen, not to mention that Richard could sense that Chu Fan had added his own understanding into the stance. Richard felt even more impressed by the opponent he was facing. Despite having a weak cultivation his battle sense seems to be top ss. Richard then nodded his head as he unsheathed his two swords.


    "That smile, that stance, the very way you speak, I understand how much you admire my ancestor, I also understand your desire to surpass him. So allow me to show you a glimpse of the strength of which you seek."


    Richard had his two swords pointed downward, at first nce it looked like he had many openings but those who have listened to the stories of Leonard Tranor knew that this stance was the most iconic stance of the Tranor n. The way it showed many openings was nothing more than a trap.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Mo Feng who was watching saw Richard''s stance and the first thing he thought was wasn''t this simr to the formless sword Ren taught him? There was also the aura Richard was emitting it felt slightly simr to Ren''s as well.


    ''Is Master rted to the ns of the Strongest Mortal Soul?''


    ...


    Hearing the words Richard said and seeing the stance he took made Chu Fan even more excited. He had already witnessed Fangs of the Wolf, now Chu Fan was about to see another legendary technique.


    "Now this is what I''m talking about,e at me RICHARD TRANOR!"


    The moment Chu Fan shouted those words, he clenched his fist gathering Qi, on the other hand, Richard started walking toward him. The way Richard walked was as if he was simply there to admire the scenery.


    Yet despite simply walking it was as if each step he made teleported him a tiny bit forward. Chu Fan did not wait for Richard and charged at his opponent. Once he was close enough Chu Fan punched with his right hand, Chu Fan''s right hand then seem to change into a roaring dragon. Richard calmly responded by thrusting one of his swords forward.


    Richard''s sword and Chu Fan''s fist were about to collide but then something unexpected happened, right before Chu Fan''s eyes Richard''s sword suddenly bent in a weird way. Richard''s sword was like a snake as it twirled around Chu Fan''s fist which looked like a dragon.


    Chu Fan gritted his teeth and tried to strengthen his arm as he continued to punch forward wanting to hit Richard. Yet before his fist could even touch Richard, the sword had already wrapped around Chu Fan''s arm it was like a snake constricting a mighty dragon. Richard retracted his sword, once he did so Chu Fan''s gauntlet started breaking, that attack almost took Chu Fan''s entire arm.


    Chu Fan''s right arm had lost its gauntlet and was bleeding and broken, he could no longer move it. Chu Fan tried to kick Richard away but then he saw Richard''s swording from above and below, it looked like a lion trying to devour its prey. Chu Fan quickly stomped on the ground, breaking one of the arena''s tiles and he kicked it upward blocking one of Richard''s swords as he backed away evading the other.


    The moment Chu Fan took a step back Richard charged forward this time his two swords pointing towards Chu Fan. The image Chu Fan saw was that of a dragon charging toward him. Chu Fan gritted his teeth and instead of running away, he gathered all of his Qi into his left arm and punched forward striking the charging dragon head-on.


    Richard and Chu Fan''s attacks met head-on and an intense shockwave pushed back both sides. Richard was pushed back a few steps while Chu Fan flew a few meters away, he nearly fell off the stage. The result of the exchange was clear, Richard had only a scratch on his right shoulder, while Chu Fan was bleeding all over, also both of his arms were no longer able to move. Yet, despite what was happening to him he still had that fearsome smile on his face.


    "That was amazing!"


    On the other hand, Richard was stunned by what happened. He was actually injured by someone weaker than him. It was at that moment Richard felt something he has never felt before, excitement.

 Chapter 617 Standing

    Ren who was watching the entire battle from afar was also getting excited because of the spirit Chu Fan was showing. The young man might look weak in the eyes of others because of his cultivation, but in Ren''s eyes, he was strong, stronger than most.


    ''This kid just might have what it takes to be able to break the shackles that bind him to destiny.'' Just thinking about it made Ren iparably ecstatic.


    ...


    Both of Chu Fan''s arms were no longer able to move but despite that setback, he was still burning with fighting spirit. Even now he fully believed in his victory, his will did not waver one bit. Chu Fan then saw Richard who always had this indifferent look on his face showing a smile.


    "Chu Fan even without your arms you can still fight, right? You won''t surrender with just those injuries, right?"


    ''Just those injuries?'' When the audience heard what Richard said they looked at the bloody Chu Fan who had both his arms broken. If he was at the Golden Core Realm those kinds of injuries wouldn''t matter, a Golden Core Realm cultivator could easily reconstruct his body as long as he has enough Qi. Unfortunately, Chu Fan was just at the Qi Gathering Realm and did not have any ability to heal his wounds.


    In fact, even the elder who was appointed as the referee was unsure if he was going to stop the fight.


    "Of course, it won''t end here! I still have more to give!"


    The moment Chu Fan said those words Richard had already appeared before him, his hands a blur. Richard once again used Fangs of the wolf, yet unlike the first time, Chu Fan was able to see the sword swings.


    At this very moment, Chu Fan was in an incredible state of concentration. In Chu Fan''s eyes, every single thing was moving extremely slowly.


    ''Huh, what is this, why is he moving like this?''


    Chu Fan easily dodged each sword swing, he then noticed an opening. Unlike the other openings that felt like a trap, this one was different. Chu Fan raised his right leg and kicked at Richard''s opening. Richard who had initiated Fangs of the wolf could not react on time and was blown away by Chu Fan''s kick.


    "What just happened?!"


    "Wasn''t Chu Fan already beaten senseless, how is he able to dodge like that?"


    The audience was surprised by Chu Fan''s sudden change. Even though most of them weren''t able to see how Chu Fan dodge the flurry of sword strikes, they still saw how he attacked. On the other hand, the people who saw how Chu Fan dodged each strike were amazed. Chu Fan did not suddenly be faster, but it was like he was able to predict each attack before it happened.


    In a distance, Ren was pping his hands, while Fang Mu was looking at the fight amazed by the development.


    "So he was even able to enter that state. I''m liking this kid more and more."


    ...


    Richard was stunned by the sudden kick, this was the first time he has seen someone fully evade the Fangs of the wolf that wasn''t from the legendary ns. Richard was feeling extremely excited as he then dashed towards Chu Fan ready to unleash every technique of the Tranor n.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The flow of each technique of the Tranor n was near perfection. Each move connected wlessly with one another. It was as if Richard was dancing with his des. Yet despite the wlessbination of attacks Chu Fan had evaded each one without a problem. Still, unlike a while ago Chu Fan had no opportunity to counter-attack.


    The elders were quite shocked by the level of the battle they were witnessing. This was a fight with only using their Qi gathering Realm cultivation. What surprised them the most was the state Chu Fan was in, it was like he could see the future as his body was moving in a way that should be impossible in his current state.


    ...


    Richard felt happy as he used one technique after another. As a direct descendant of Leonard Tranor himself, he was taught all of the n''s techniques at a young age. He was the genius of the n whose talent was said to be second only to Leonard Tranor. Even back in his n, even if he suppressed his cultivation he was not able to find an opponent his age that could make him use all of the n''s techniques.


    He taught that going out to train for the next thirty years was also a pointless exercise. He would rather continue training his sword swings back in the n. Well, those were his thoughts before this battle. Now he was d that he went out on this journey and met someone like Chu Fan.


    ...


    It was a spectacle for everyone to see the techniques of the legendary Tranor n. If Richard was not suppressing his cultivation with the techniques he was using he could''ve destroyed the stage and even the barriers surrounding it.


    "Hahaha, how wonderful! Even with this, you can still keep up, then allow me to take it up a notch!" Richard''s aura once again changed, he strengthened his body to the very limit of what was possible with his suppressed cultivation. As he was about ready to attack, someone suddenly appeared before him blocking his path.


    "What''s the meaning of this?! Get out of my way, the fight is just about to get serious!" Richard roared at the Elder who blocked his path. The Elder did not respond to the roaring Richard and instead spoke to everyone present.


    "The battle is over, the winner of this match is the Core Disciple Richard Tranor!"


    When the audience heard the Elder''s announcement they were confused, how did Richard win, wasn''t Chu Fan still standing ready to fight?


    "What do you mean I won? Can''t you see that Chu Fan is still in this fight?"


    "How about you take a closer look."


    The Elder stepped aside so that Richard could see the state Chu Fan was in. Richard stared at Chu Fan and finally realized what had happened.


    "He''s unconscious... Since when?"


    "I wasn''t sure as well, but at some point, he had already fainted, but his body kept on moving on instinct alone."


    Everyone who heard what the Elder said was shocked beyond belief, yet the most stunned by the turn of events was of course Richard who stood there with a nk expression on his face looking at the unconscious Chu Fan.

 Chapter 618 Another One

    After staring at the unconscious Chu Fan for a bit Richard approached him. Even unconscious Richard could still feel Chu Fan emitting some battle intent. If Richard would attack right now he was sure Chu Fan''s unconscious body would move on its own. Richard sighed a little regretful that the battle ended this way.


    "You were a good opponent. As my Ancestor used to say, that was a great fight." Richard nodded his head and carried Chu Fan''s body, as he was about to leave the arena while carrying Chu Fan the Elder stopped him.


    "Disciple Richard as the victor of this battle, you should stay and choose your next opponent. As for Disciple Chu Fan, there''s no need to worry about him I will have other people help him."


    "There''s no need for that Sect Elder, I will forfeit the next round."


    After saying his piece Richard stepped out of the fighting stage and headed toward the healers'' tent. Everyone was stunned by Richard''s decision of letting go of the opportunity of gaining more rewards if he continued fighting.


    The Elder sighed as he watched Richard leave the arena. He could not say anything to entice Richard to continue since as a direct descendant of the Tranor n, the prizes given out in this event were nothing to him. The Elders of the Sect knew the only reason someone like Richard was in the Sect was that he was on a journey to see and experience more things. The real reason Richard chose the Void Sect wasn''t simply because it was the closest Sect that was near his n.


    Richard''s n was simply to stay in the Sect for the time being and once the time of his training trip was over he would be able to quickly return to the n. Yet now after fighting Chu Fan, Richard felt like there must be other incredible people outside of the ns of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    ...


    Once Richard was out of sight, the Elder once again asked who among the Outer Sect Disciples would want to step forward. Unlike the first time, this time, many of the Outer Sect Disciples wanted to step forward.


    The following battles weren''t as exciting as the first and the hierarchy of the Outer Sect Disciples had slightly changed. Also aside from Chu Fan, only a few Outer Sect Disciples challenged the disciples of higher ranking. Yet despite their valiant effort they were unable to secure a spot and defeat the disciples of higher rankings.


    "Now that all the Outer Sect Disciples have finished their challenges it was time for the Inner Sect Disciples to start their own challenge. Who will step forward!"


    The very moment the Elder spoke those words Mo Feng was the one who stepped forward. When the Elder saw the person who stepped forward he felt slightly nervous as he remembered the warning the Sect leader gave them. It wasn''t just him most of the Elders felt the same way.


    "I Mo Feng an Inner Sect Disciple wish to challenge the Core Disciple Ming Hao!"


    When those words were said everyone in the Sect had different reactions. Mo Wei taught that Mo Feng had gone crazy. Even now Mo Feng was still at the Foundation Establishment Realm, while Ming Hao was at thete stages of the Golden Core Realm.


    Hearing how boldly Mo Feng challenged him Ming Hao was both annoyed and d. He was so annoyed by the mere fact that Mo Feng dared to challenge him as if he had a chance of defeating him. Still, he was delighted now that he can actually kill Mo Feng with little punishment.


    Even if the Elder wants to stop the match, Ming Hao was confident that he could kill Mo Feng before that happens and make it look like he didn''t mean it.


    On the other hand, Elder Ming was panicking. He could pretty much guess what his idiotic grandson was thinking. Elder Ming quickly sent his grandson a message through their mental link.


    ''Hao''er I''m sure that you understand that killing your opponents is forbidden. If you do anything stupid I won''t be able to help you.''


    ''Grandfather do you think so little of me, I won''t go too far.''


    ''Kid I know just how low you can truly go. If not for the fact that you were my only grandson and your father is dead making you my only heir, I would''ve crippled your cultivation or at least banished you from the n.''


    Ming Hao no longer bothered to respond, which made Elder Ming feel frustrated as he watched his grandson Ming Hao step onto the stage.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ...


    "How brave of you to challenge me Junior Brother Mo Feng."


    "Hmph, if I didn''t do this you would have never confronted me personally and just continue to harass me with those thugs of yours."


    "What are you even saying Junior Brother Mo Feng, it seems like you have some misunderstandings about me."


    "Heh, fine keep up the charade, after this battle it won''t matter anyway."


    "Whatever you say Junior Brother, but do you want me to suppress my cultivation to your level?"


    "There''s no need for that, even with your higher cultivation I can still beat you."


    Mo Feng unsheathed his sword and took a rather simr stance it was the same as Richard''s neutral stance. Ming Hao gnashed his teeth in anger as he too unsheathed his sword from its scabbard.


    "Alright, are you two ready?" The two nodded their heads. "Then, Begin!"


    ...


    Ming Hao swung his sword unleashing a beam of sword light. The amount of power he used wasn''t even thirty percent of his full strength as he nned to y around with Mo Feng before killing him. He was expecting that Mo Feng would barely be able to survive the strike, but what happened next surprised not only him but everyone present. Mo Feng easily deflected the sword beam with a simple upward sh.


    "Was that Sword Intent?! Mo Feng has actuallyprehended sword intent!"


    Upon seeing Mo Feng use Sword intent the crowd was in an uproar, and a lot of the Elders were stunned. On the other hand, Ming Hao continued gnashing his teeth in anger.


    ''HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL!''


    Ming Hao screamed in his mind as he floated above Mo Feng. The sound of Ming Hao chanting the secret mantra of the Void Sect echoed throughout the arena. A small swirling ck hole appeared near Mo Feng. The gravity had increased to an incredible amount making the stage Mo Feng was standing on start to break sinking him in.


    This was one of the Void Sect''s ultimate techniques, ck hole. Unlike the spell ck hole that Ren knows of, which was a spell that sucked the opponent into another dimension, this one was crushing Mo Feng with increasing gravity while pulling him into it. The closer the ck hole got to Mo Feng the greater the gravity that was pulling him in and breaking him.


    As everyone was shocked by the scene Elder Ming was about to intervene when he saw the look on Mo Feng''s face there was not a single trace of panic.


    "Are you going to admit defeat now Mo Feng?"


    Ming Hao asked with a condescending smile on his face. Ming Hao expected Mo Feng to cry for mercy, but instead what he heard was Mo Feng''s deep sigh.

 Chapter 619 Surprise

    Mo Feng''s sigh wasn''t loud or anything but it looked like everyone had heard it. The audience was shocked by the sight they saw, Mo Feng standing so easily even under the heavy gravity. When Ming Hao saw the contempt in Mo Feng''s eyes and was grew more irritated. He wanted to grab hold of those eyes and reap them off of Mo Feng''s face.


    ''Stop looking at me like that! How dare you look at me like that!''


    Ming Hao screamed in his mind as he poured more of his Qi into his attack. The ck hole got bigger and the gravity grew heavier, making the space around them start to distort. Finally, the calm look on Mo Feng''s face disappeared. Seeing his reaction Ming Hao couldn''t help but snicker.


    "Heh, so you finally understand how powerful I am, but it''s toote now."


    Mo Feng did not respond as he grabbed the handle of his sword. The moment his hand touched the handle an unimaginable pressure assaulted Ming Hao, it was a pressure like no other. Just feeling that pressure almost made him cough up blood.


    The next moment the sound of something being sliced was heard. It was a crisp sound that echoed followed by the sound of broken ss. The ck hole that was warping the very space in front of them suddenly disappeared. Only the Elders understood what happened, but everyone else was dumbfounded.


    Yet the most confused was Ming Hao as he looked at the still-standing Mo Feng. That was the trump card that he had reserved in case he ever fought someone with a stronger cultivation than him, yet now he actually used it at someone with a weaker cultivation than him and it did nothing. It took him a lot of effort to understand the basics of the Void Technique, he needed to understand a lot of principles.


    "That was better than I expected. So do you have anything else?"


    ...


    "HAHAHAHA, do you see that, did you see that Fang Mu, that''s your Senior Brother, that kid actually learned more from me than I thought!"


    Ren who was watching in the distance couldn''t help butugh and p his hands as he heard what his disciple just said.


    ...


    Ming Hao''s face turned ugly as the anger in his heart rose to a new level. He has never been humiliated like this before. Seeing Ming Hao not responding while continuing to float above him, Mo Feng shrugged his shoulders and sighed.


    "Looking at that ugly expression on your face I guess you really don''t have other tricks to y. So how about you concede since you don''t have the strength to even y with me."


    Ming Hao whose anger had reached its peak roared as he threw a few talismans on the ground. The talismans made a formation on the ground. Ming Hao was about to activate the talismans but before he could do so they were cut into pieces. This time Mo Feng didn''t even use his sword, simply his sword intent alone had cut everything.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Seeing his talismans being sliced in half as well as the bored look on Mo Feng''s face Ming Hao charged at Mo Feng. Ming Hao used his sword to attack Mo Feng, there was no technique in his swordsmanship only violence.


    The disciples were shocked to see their elegant Senior Disciple act in such a manner. Mo Wei was desperately praying for Mo Feng to lose, in fact, he wished that Mo Feng would die here. On the other hand, Ying Yue was hoping that Mo Feng would end this fight already. She knew that Mo Feng could easily win now but she was nervous that Mo Feng would make a mistake at some point if he kept on going on like this.


    ...


    Mo Feng was evading the attacks of the crazed Ming Hao and sighed again. He had trained desperately for the past few months because he thought Ming Hao would be a challenge, yet now he was disappointed. Ming Hao who was nearing the peak of the Golden Core Realm was too weak.


    Mo Feng dodged a few more attacks before counter-attacking by punching Ming Hao in the gut making Ming Hao fall to the ground in pain. Even though the bodies of the cultivators are stronger than normal humans, and even though Golden Core Realm cultivators can heal their bodies even if they only had a single blood left, they still felt pain.


    "Ming Hao surrender now or I''ll be forced to inflict you with more pain."


    Mo Feng spoke while looking at the coughing Ming Hao. The shame, the anger, and the pain were all mixing up within him as he remained on the ground motionless. Seeing him like this Mo Feng shook his head as he looked at the Elder in charge.


    "Elder, it''s obvious that Ming Hao cannot defeat me and he won''t admit defeat so what do I do? Do I still need to continue this fight?"


    The Elder looked at the discouraged Ming Hao and then at the unscathed Mo Feng. After a few seconds of deliberation, the Elder nodded his head and gave an announcement.


    "The winner of this battle is Mo Feng!"


    There was a moment of silence before the crowd burst into cheers. This was the first time they saw someone defeat somebody with a higher cultivation with such ease. They weren''t even able to see Mo Feng take out his sword.


    "Ming Hao, please exit the stage. Mo Feng, please select your next opponent."


    The moment the Elder said those words Mo Feng turned his back on Ming Hao no longer caring about this enemy of his. Everyone thought that everything was over and Mo Feng would continue to fight another person, but then something unexpected happened. Ming Hao''s flying sword came flying toward Mo Feng.


    The unexpected attack caught Mo Feng off guard and even the Elder was a step toote. The Flying Sword had pierced Mo Feng''s chest.

 Chapter 620 Who Dares?

    Mo Feng who was just stabbed in his chest fell to his knees, the blood was flowing out uncontrobly. Mo Feng was just at the Foundation Establishment Realm, his body was stronger than most but he was still not at the level were he could easily heal such a mortal wound. If he was in the Golden Core Realm he would be able to reconstruct his body, but in his current realm the best he could do was stop the blood from flowing out, unfortunately, his dantian was nearly destroyed making it hard for him to even control his Qi.


    Mo Feng turned around and looked at the fallen Ming Hao, he saw that the enemy who stabbed him in the back was smiling wickedly at him.


    "MO FENG!!! NO, MO FENG!!!"


    Ying Yue''s scream was faint in Mo Feng''s ears as he red at Ming Hao. Even though he couldn''t properly gather Qi due to his nearly shattered dantian, his Sword Intent was still there. Mo Feng used thest bit of strength he could muster to attack.


    The Sword in Mo Feng''s hand was about to pierce through Ming Hao''s dantian once that breaks then even if he was at the Golden Core Realm if he wasn''t able to use his Qi then he would not be able to recreate his body and he would die. In fact, even if Mo Feng didn''t attack his dantian with how much Qi Ming Hao had used before, he would still die even if Mo Feng simply cut off his head or pierced his heart.


    Ming Hao who watched the sword strike near him was unable to evade the iing strike and in his eyes death was but a certainty. He did not wish for such a death! To be killed by the person who he once looked down on, what kind of fate was this?! As the sword powered by sword intent was about to reach him somebody came in between him and the sword. It was a tall figure whose back Ming Hao quickly recognized.


    "Grandfather!" As Ming Hao was about to say something more but Elder Ming red at him and shouted.


    "Shut up you fool!"


    Elder Ming gritted his teeth as he knew how bad the situation was. Even now he was still unsure who Mo Feng''s mysterious backer was, but his grandson already did all this. Despite knowing his grandson was wrong, Ming Hao was still his only grandson. It was very difficult for cultivators to have children, especially those with higher cultivations so every child was precious. He could not allow this grandson of his to die just like that. Even though he said that if this stupid grandson did something stupid he would kill him, yet when the time came he couldn''t do it.


    ...


    Mo Feng who had lost most of his blood and Qi looked at the Elder with anger on his face. Before Elder Ming could say anything someone had appeared beside Mo Feng it was Ying Yue.


    "Mo Feng! Elder, please save Mo Feng!" Ying Yue who was in tears spoke while hugging the weakened Mo Feng. Elder Ming nodded his head and stretched out his hand, but before he could do anything Mo Feng raised his hand and roared.


    "I don''t need the help from a b*stard like you!"


    Mo Feng pulled out Ming Hao''s sword and more blood flowed out but the wound was slowly closing. Mo Feng''s face was pale as he pointed at Elder Ming.


    "Why did you protect him?! When he was trying to kill me you did nothing but when I retaliated only then did you make a move!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The killing intent in Mo Feng''s heart was not small as it affected everyone around him. Even Ying Yue who was by his side was shivering in fear. Elder Ming looked at Mo Feng''s eyes which were filled with hatred and sighed. At this point, he knew anything he said would most likely be useless, but even then he still tried to reason with the boy.


    "It''s not that I didn''t want to save you, but I was not quick enough to notice. As for punishing my grandson killing him is a bit too much seeing as you''re still alive."


    "Heh, so if I were to die only then would you take action?! So now that my dantian is nearly broken will you do the same to your grandson as punishment?"


    When Ming Hao heard what Mo Feng said he sneered how could his grandfather allow such a thing. On the other hand, Elder Ming frowned he knew that normally that would be the case, but how could he allow his only grandson to be a cripple.


    "Mo Feng I understand your anger, and I promise that we will have a proper trial. After the trial is done and the Elders make their decision no matter what the sentence given to my grandson will be I will personally uphold it."


    When the audience heard what Elder Ming said they felt that this Elder was truly righteous. Even Ming Hao was stunned by what his grandfather said, wouldn''t that mean he was going to die? On the other hand, Mo Feng was not convinced and sneered.


    "Do you take me for a fool? Do you think such pretty words could trick me? I know what you truly want to do, you just want to stall for time, you want to have enough time to help your grandson escape. I''m telling you Elder Ming, I will destroy your grandson''s dantian now whether you like it or not!"


    Mo Feng who still had a hole on his body slowly walked towards Ming Hao, but was blocked by Elder Ming.


    "If you continue to be so unruly Mo Feng, I will be forced to punish you."


    "Heh, punish me while your grandson escapes?"


    "Do not push me too far young one!"


    Elder Ming''s Qi burst out making the already injured Mo Feng stumble backward coughing out blood, Ying Yue quickly caught the falling Mo Feng.


    As everyone was surprised by what was happening a sudden horrible feeling assaulted the Elders of the sect, especially Elder Ming. It felt like death itself had a tight grip on their hearts, they then heard an icy cold voice filled with horrendous killing intent.


    "Heh, do not push you too far? If he did so, what will you do then? I''m curious what were you nning to do to my disciple?" A person with a vicious smile on his face appeared above the sect.

 Chapter 621 Shock

    Unaware of how powerful the enemy before him was Ming Hao sneered, in his eyes the person who appeared was just a crazy fool. Since his grandfather and all the other elders of the Sect were present at the moment emboldened him. Even if he didn''t know who the other party was did it matter? No matter how strong the other party was could he be stronger than the Void Sect?


    "Such a big tone from a nobody. Who the heck are you? You must be some kind of retard waltzing into the Void Sect and speaking such words to one of our Elders. Don''t you know? Any one of our Elders could destroy you with just a flick of the finger."


    As Ming Hao was talking the attention shifted from Ren to him, the Elders who were receiving Ren''s pressure looked at Ming Hao in anger. They didn''t know how powerful Ren was but they were sure that even if they could win it wouldn''t be as easy as Ming Hao said. They wanted to scream at Ming Hao to shut up but they couldn''t speak at the moment.


    Ren was also looking at Ming Hao with interest, he wasn''t angry at the arrogant young man instead he was amused.


    Seeing that neither Ren nor the Elders were speaking simply made Ming Hao feel even more courageous.


    "Heh, if my guess is correct you should be the one who taught this loser his swordsmanship. Hmph, I admit that you do have some skills but that''s all you have, just a little bit of skill. Did youe here thinking that you could save this student of yours?"


    While Ming Hao was talking to Ren, Mo Feng had already closed the sword wound but unfortunately, he had already lost arge amount of blood. Ren momentarily diverted his attention from Ming Hao back to Mo Feng.


    Seeing his master looking at him, Mo Feng smiled awkwardly as his consciousness was flickering. Mo Feng wanted to say something but could not find the words. Ying Yue who was beside Mo Feng was already crying as she hugged Mo Feng''s cold body. The wound was already bad enough by itself but not only did Mo Feng''s flesh been stabbed but even his dantian was cracked. This means that it would be difficult for Mo Feng to gather Qi.


    "Little disciple the way you acted during your battle was quite satisfying in my eyes, but the ending was a little bit shameful. Unless you are as strong as I am, no matter how weak the opponent is, you should never let your guard down."


    Ren sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. Mo Feng who was about ready to faint actually felt ashamed, he wanted to apologize to his master but instead of words, what came out of his mouth was a dry cough. Ying Yue could not help but hold onto Mo Feng''s hand even more tightly as she watched him struggle, she then looked at Ren with a pleading gaze.


    "Please save him."


    "Don''t worry I will."


    While Ren and Ying Yue were talking a burst of loudughter interrupted them.


    "HAHAHAHA!!!" ''


    Ming Hao who listened to what Ren said could no longer hold it in as he felt both amused and enraged. It was bad enough that Ren sounded delusional but he even dared to ignore him.


    "Enough of this farce! Anyone who kills this man who dares intrude into our Sect, I will give a hefty reward."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Oh, so you''re not going to do it yourself?"


    "Why should I dirty my own hands for someone inferior like you? So who wants to finish off this man?"


    The disciples were rather tempted by Ming Hao''s offer as not only will they be able to get a reward but they would also be able to look good in front of the Elders of the Sect. Still, the disciples weren''t idiots and wouldn''t charge forward without knowing what kind of enemy Ren was.


    While the disciples were hesitating to see who would step forward first, the Elders wanted to smash Ming Hao''s head in as he was doing something incredibly stupid, unfortunately, even now the Elders could not move nor speak.


    ...


    As everyone continued to hesitate on attacking, Ying Yue continued to beg Ren to heal Mo Feng already.


    "Don''t be impatient even in his current predicament he wouldn''t die. You just need to wait as I''m still quite interested in what this fool in front of me is going to do."


    Angered by what Ren said Ming Hao shouted at the other disciples.


    "Why isn''t anybody killing this loser?! Whoever kills him now I promise I will grant that person one of my prized weapons."


    The moment those words came out of Ming Hao''s mouth the disciples no longer hesitated and charged forward like madmen wanting to be the first ones to kill Ren. Numerous spells, talismans, and swords came flying toward Ren. The iing wave of attacks had enough power to decimate any Golden Core Realm cultivator, it was even possible to gravely injure Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Yet despite the powerful wave of attacks, Ren did not show any intent of defending or even evading as he simply stood there. When Ming Hao saw this scene he sneered.


    ''In the end, he was ovee by fear.'' Ming Hao shook his head as he watched the final act of the fool.


    Every single attack had sessfully hit Ren this was no surprise, what was surprising was the oue of those hits. Despite being hit by every spell, talisman, and flying sword Ren remained unharmed. The spells inexplicably vanished the moment they touch his skin, the talismans attached themselves to Ren but their effects did not activate. Finally, the flying swords that came darting toward Ren, each and every one of the flying swords fell to the ground broken like pieces of ss.


    Seeing this scene the ce became deadly quiet, Ming Hao had his mouth wide open. Even the elders who were being suppressed by Ren''s aura were bbergasted. They would understand that those attacks won''t work against Ren if he enveloped himself with Qi or even if he just used a simple barrier but no, what happened was something beyond their expectations. Ren with his body of flesh and blood took all the attacks without doing anything and withstood the wave of attacks without a scratch... No, even saying that he withstood it was wrong, in the face of such an attack Ren look like he did not even notice the attacks being made on him.


    "Is that it?"

 Chapter 622 Suppressed With One Look

    "Is that all?"


    Ren smiled as he spoke sounding a little bit disappointed. On the other hand, the people from the Void Sect especially Ming Hao were bewildered by what they saw. Still, even though Ming Hao was quite surprised by what Ren did he was not afraid as he still believed that Ren was no match for his Grandfather and the other Elders of the Sect.


    "Heh, I guess you do have more skill than most. So what are you going to do now?"


    "Huh, aren''t you going to attack me yourself or is this all you''re going to do?"


    When Ming Hao saw the disappointment in Ren''s eyes he was thoroughly enraged worse still was that he knew that he couldn''t do anything to Ren. The only hope he had left was his grandfather, but he couldn''t just ask for help in front of so many people. Even though his reputation had been damaged it was still salvageable, but if he asked for help now he would lose even the remaining respect some people had for him.


    ''It''s alright even if this person does something my Grandfather will surely save me.'' After thinking about it for a little while, Ming Hao regained his confidence, took a pill, and ate it. The pill he ate helped him regain the lost Qi from the previous battle. Ming Hao then smiled bravely as he took out his sword and pointed it at Ren.


    "It seems that you''re lucky enough."


    "Lucky?" Ren tilted his head as he looked at Ming Hao with a bemused smile.


    "Yes, you''re lucky enough to be killed by my sword?"


    "With just you? You can''t even beat my disciple without relying on tricks, so how are you going to do that?"


    Ming Hao did not respond and instead charged forward. Usually, Ming Hao would use a spell to restrain his opponent to one spot as he cuts him down, but knowing that Ren would not move from his spot Ming Hao focused all of his Qi for an attack.


    Ming Hao''s sword hit Ren''s neck, and most of the disciples thought that maybe this time Ren would finally get hurt, Ming Hao himself imagined that Ren''s head was already decapitated. Ming Hao who was smiling because of his victory suddenly heard a voice.


    "Are you done?"


    Ming Hao raised his head and saw Ren standing there in front of him without a single scratch, on the other hand, the sword Ming Hao was holding was broken. Seeing his broken sword not only surprised Ming Hao but even the Elders who were being restrained by Ren''s oppressive aura were shocked.


    Ming Hao''s de was an artifactpletely different from the normal flying swords. The sword was created from the tooth of an ancient creature that an Ancestor of the Ming n killed. Even the full power of a True Monarch wouldn''t be able to put a dent in this weapon, but Ren who did nothing was able to break it so easily.


    This time Ming Hao was finally frightened, he was not sure how powerful Ren''s offensive power was, but just his defensive power alone was scary enough. Ming Hao wanted to back away but if he did so would only make things worse for him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''It''s okay I just need to attack, if this guy truly dares fight back my Grandfather would surely do something.''


    Emboldened by his own thoughts, Ming Hao tossed his sword aiming at Ren''s eyes. Seeing the iing broken de about to pierce his eyes Ren did not even blink. The same as before the moment the broken sword hit Ren''s eyes it shattered.


    Ming Hao no longer cared to think too deeply about what he saw and simply charged at Ren, he then started kicking and punching at Ren''s vitals. Each attack of Ming Hao was filled with the intent to kill. The booming sound echoed throughout the area, it was the sound of Ming Hao hitting Ren''s body.


    Despite hitting all the usual vital areas with everything he got the one who was getting hurt was not Ren but the attacking Ming Hao. As he continued to attack Ming Hao finally noticed that his hands and feet were bleeding, he then saw his fingers bent in a weird way.


    Ming Hao wanted to scream but held it in as he reconstructed his body and fixed his broken bones and stopped the bleeding. At this moment Ming Hao had little Qi left and he knew that no matter what he did he would not be able to win.


    ''What''s happening why hasn''t grandfather made a move yet?''


    Ming Hao was finally truly frightened as he backed away. Seeing that the barrage of attacks was over Ren sighed.


    "So that''s all you can do? Really what a disappointment. Now that you''re done I guess it''s finally my turn to make a move."


    The very moment Ren said those words a killing intent like no other swept across all that attacked him. It was such a fearful aura that some of the Void Sect disciples started vomiting, crying, and some with weaker cultivations could not withstand the killing intent and fainted on the spot.


    Ming Hao could no longer hold it in as he cried and shouted at his grandfather.


    "Save me, Grandfather!"


    Ming Hao looked at his grandfather with a pleading gaze, but even then Elder Ming did not move nor did he speak. Seeing Elder Ming''s reaction Ming Hao was confused, as he could not understand why his grandfather was still not doing anything, it was then Ming Hao heard Ren''s voice.


    "You said before that any of these Elders could kill me with a flick of their fingers. How about I show something even better than that."


    Elder Ming and the other Elders of the Sect suddenly felt an even more intense pressure descend upon them. No longer able to remain standing the Elders were forced to kneel on the ground. When Ming Hao and the other disciples of the Sect saw this scene they finally understood what kind of guy they provoked.

 Chapter 623 What Do You Want?

    Elder Ming watched the entirety of his grandchild''s farce in the distance. Even now he could not believe just how powerful Ren was. This person who suddenly appeared no matter how you looked at him was just a mortal but his body was like an artifact.


    ''Not to mention he has this powerful oppressive force. Even though I''ve been trying to move since a while ago I couldn''t do it. It''s not a spell nor did he use a talisman, it''s also not some sort of sealing array...''


    Elder Ming gritted his teeth as he saw his idiot of a grandson challenge the unfathomable Ren. They knew nothing of the other party, how strong he is, what kind of background he has, they knew absolutely nothing, so challenging someone like that was simply foolhardy.


    ''Is this kid out of his mind, does he really think he stands a chance?... Wait maybe it is possible I did give him the sword of the Ancestor. Even Saint Realm experts should be affected by that weapon.''


    The very moment Elder Ming thought of this he saw Ming Hao sh at Ren aiming at his neck. Even if Ming Hao was unable to cut off Ren''s head he should at least be able to make Ren bleed, yet to his surprise, the artifact from the era of the first Ancestor broke.


    That was an artifact created for the first Ancestor of the Ming n using the tooth of an ancient creature that no longer exists. Legends say that the creature was a being that was used by an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Now such an artifact has been broken like it was ss.


    Seeing this scene Elder Ming wanted to cough out blood. That artifact was one of the few trump cards of the n. Elder Ming gave that sword to his idiotic Grandson in case of emergencies. As Elder Ming wasmenting the loss of one of the n''s artifacts, he saw Ming Hao rushing toward Ren empty-handed.


    Elder Ming was dazzled by his idiotic grandson''s performance. The shock of seeing the Ancestral Sword break was less shocking than watching his mindless grandson attack someone like Ren using nothing but his fist and legs.


    ''What is going on in this boy''s head?! He couldn''t hurt that guy even after using a powerful artifact, not to mention how he''s better at using spells, so how does he think he stands a chance using only his bare fists?''


    While Elder Ming was wondering if Ming Hao was crazy, he saw his grandson looking at him from time to time, it was at that moment, Elder Ming finally realized what was happening.


    ''This idiot thinks I can save him from this situation?''


    It was as Elder Ming expected after Ming Hao was hurt by his own attacks Ren''s killing intent exploded. It was such a thick and powerful killing intent that it even gave the illusion that the original God of Death was standing behind Ren. You could even see the corpses of millions on the ground.


    The sight of such a hallucination made some disciples vomit or faint. Elder Ming himself was having trouble understanding what kind of monster they had offended.


    "Save me, Grandfather!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Ming Hao looked at Elder Ming with a pleading gaze, seeing his grandson act like this in front of so many people was quite a surprise. Elder Ming was so sure that his idiot of a grandson would rather die than have his reputation sullied.


    ''I guess I was wrong about a lot of things.''


    Elder Ming was thinking of how to save his stupid grandson from his predicament when he suddenly felt a heavier pressure descend upon him. Unlike the pressure that was suppressing him from the beginning, this one was like the weight of the very heavens was crashing down on him.


    Elder Ming and the other Elders of the Void Sect tried their hardest to stand up but were no longer able to hold on as their knees weakened and they kneeled.


    "All of you now see that it''s not your Elders that could kill me with a flick of their fingers, but it is I who can kill them with nothing but a look."


    After Ren spoke there was an eerie silence that followed, no one even dared to breathe too loudly in this situation. Ren then ced his finger on the back of Mo Feng''s neck making him fall unconscious, he then pressed his palm onto Mo Feng''s chest. Everyone present was curious as to what Ren was trying to do.


    It was then a massive amount of Qi started to gather near the unconscious Mo Feng, Ren was whispering something that no one could hear. After a few seconds, the massive amount of Qi stopped flowing and Mo Feng''s face was no longer pale. Not only did Ren heal Mo Feng of his injuries but they could feel the breath of Qi on Mo Feng''s body bing stronger. This move of Ren''s was so much more surprising than his killing intent or his unparalleled defense. Ren had actually fixed Mo Feng''s dantian no he did not just fix it but improved it.


    "Now that''s over with, let''s get back to business."


    The pressure that was crashing down on Elder Ming disappeared as he noticed that Ren was looking directly at him.


    "So let me ask you again what do you wish to do?"


    Elder Ming knew that Ren was talking to him but he could not respond as he could not think of any words to say.


    "Not speaking are you? Hmm, you know I don''t really care if you guys try to kill my disciple. In fact, normally I wouldn''t care even if he does die that would simply mean he was too weak. So in regards to killing the only thing I care about is how you do it. If you killed my disciple in a proper duel, I wouldn''t care, if you killed him with the use of assassins that were close to his level I wouldn''t care. Now if you poison him, use assassins much stronger than him, or if you BACKSTAB him then that''s a whole different matter."


    "... Then what do you want?"

 Chapter 624 Three Days

    It has been three days since the tournament where Ren showed his might to everyone in the Void Sect. After the incident surprisingly enough Ren didn''t kill Ming Hao or Elder Ming or anyone for that matter instead Ren simply destroyed Ming Hao''s dantian, so now he could no longer gather Qi and became a human who could not cultivate the Void Sect''s arts. As Ming Hao was falling in despair Ren spoke to him.


    "Hmph, this is already a light punishment for what you have done. I hope next time you won''t do something so cowardly. If you wish to fight or kill my disciple do it upfront."


    When Ming Hao heard Ren''s words the fear he felt for the other person was reced with a fit of intense anger. Upon losing his dantian he became nothing more than a mortal with no power and here in the upper realms were Gods and Ancient beings reside, being a person that could not gather Qi was equivalent to being a dead person or a person forever protected by others.


    "Next time? There''s no next time for me! Do you call this light punishment? It would''ve been better if you just killed me! Without my cultivation, I won''t be strong enough to be able to protect myself I would be nothing more than livestock."


    "Huh, what the f*ck are you saying? Are you confused or something?" Ren responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "Even without Qi or mana or whatever you want to call it, you can still be strong."


    Not only was Ming Hao bewildered even the others were confused by what Ren said. To everyone present, the only way to be stronger was by using Qi, even if you try your best there was a limit to what you can do without Qi. Even Ren''s disciple Fang Mu was surprised to hear what his master said.


    ...


    If it was the time he was still Demon Lord Kretos even Ren wouldn''t believe in what he was saying, but now he knows more than he ever did. After fighting with his past incarnations he learned that some of them had no mana or something simr to it, what they relied on was only their body and technique to fight. Some might think that these incarnations who fully rely on physical skills would be the weakest of the bunch, but the truth was different. The truth is that there is one incarnation that was able to reach the top hundreds in strength without using any form of supernatural ability.


    Even the current Ren isn''t strong enough to beat that incarnation, but Ren was able to learn the ways of that certain incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. So now even if he had no spiritual power he could still fight.


    "You don''t believe me, fine then watch this. I won''t use even a tiny bit of Qi." After speaking Ren''s breath changed and the entire fluctuation of Qi from his body disappeared. "See I stopped the flow of Qi in my body. Now allow me to show you that Qi is not needed to be strong."


    Ren raised his right foot upward and smashed it onto the arena. The arena were the Void Sect disciples fought was created to be able to endure most attacks released by people at the Golden Core Realm but it was unable to withstand Ren''s attack without even an ounce of Qi.


    Not only was the arena destroyed by that attack but the ground shook so much, it was like an earthquake.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "See I did that with nothing but my body and skill."


    ...


    After that incident surprisingly enough Ming Hao actually asked Ren to teach him how to be stronger, what was even more surprising was that Ren actually agreed. Fast forward to three dayster, right now Ming Hao was tied to a tree being punched by a disciple at the Qi Gathering Realm.


    During these three days, Ming Hao has been stuck to that tree and he has been punched with a rest time of one hour every four hours. During Ming Hao''s break time, Ren would feed him with a pill he made that restores Ming Hao''s physical health. It doesn''t matter if it was daytime or night time there was always a Qi Gathering Realm disciple that was punching Ming Hao. Some people even thought that this wasn''t really training and Ren was just punishing Ming Hao. Of course, Ren knew about these rumors but he didn''t bother correcting them.


    Then there were Ren''s two other disciples Mo Feng and Fang Mu, upon meeting each other for the first time the first thing they did was issue a challenge to one another. The two wanted to establish who was the elder disciple between them. As Ren''s disciples, seniority wasn''t about who was first, but who was stronger.


    The two had a sparring match a day after the tournament was over. Some disciples wanted to watch the battle between the two but Mo Feng and Fang Mu warned them that it would be dangerous if they weren''t strong enough. Some disciples did not care about the warning and went to watch the battle between the two anyway.


    At the end of the battle, several disciples have been seriously injured and two disciples died. The end result of the match was a tie, Mo Feng had higher cultivation but Fang Mu''s technique was sharper than Mo Feng''s, overall the two were equally matched. In the end, the two decided to have another match in a few days.


    ...


    As his disciples were doing their respective training, Ren entered his soul realm to speak to the original. Ren was now inside the special space within his soul realm that was created exclusively for the original.


    Even though he has met the original incarnation several times, Ren could not help but be in awe of the original incarnation''s bearing. The aura he was emitting was so much purer than all the other incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. The original incarnation smiled at Ren and asked.


    "So what do you want to talk about Ren?"

 Chapter 625 Tell Me Of The Past

    "I remember you said that if I be strong enough you''ll tell me everything. So do you think I''m powerful enough now? I want to know more about you and your battle against the ORIGIN. It has been so long and the only things I truly know about you are the bits and pieces I hear from the other incarnations as well as those poor souls that are captured into our soul realm. Yet nobody would tell me the full story, no it seems like no one truly knows the full story... So the one who has been praised as the first hero of humanity what is the purpose of your eternal battle?"


    The original incarnation looked at Ren and smiled at him gently. Among the various reincarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul Ren wasn''t the strongest like Rei Kuraki or the smartest reincarnation like Cry Loder, he didn''t have the bestpanions like Edge Regius nor did he have the most incredible weapons like Leonard Tranor. Ren wasn''t too weak nor too strong, among all the heroic and reckless reincarnations Ren seemed oddly normal.


    ''Yet, he''s the only one who wanted to learn the truth about me, about us... Even Cry Loder who wishes to see the truth of everything never asked me such a question.''


    "Hmm, you have indeed grown more powerful than that time you asked for the truth. You might be strong enough to learn a portion of the truth, but if you want to learn everything you need to prove yourself."


    "Hoh, then how can I prove myself? Don''t tell me that I need to be able to hit you at least once, or are you going to say something that if I can hurt you then you''ll approve of me? Well, that''s what I usually tell my opponents, but let me tell you now even though I truly want to fight you, and my blood is boiling just thinking about battling the strongest among all these battle-perverted incarnations... But, I understand my worth. At my current level, I won''t be able to hit you much less harm you."


    The original incarnation chuckled before responding.


    "Of course I know that. I already faced every single reincarnation in this realm and even together except for Rei Kuraki, none of you can even touch me. Well, I guess Leonard Tranor can hold on for a little bit because of his greater tenacity... Still, I do understand... That''s not the kind of challenge I wish to bestow upon you. At some point, the so called Demi-Gods and I think even the New Gods will being to the Sect you''re staying at, so if you''re able to defeat or repel them, then I can agree to tell you everything I know."


    "Then, it''s a deal. I will defeat all of those thate just like normal."


    "Even though I already know that all of you are this kind of person hearing your confidence in everything you do is really..." The original incarnation shook his head as he smiled helplessly at Ren.


    "Anyway, since you''re here I guess it''s alright to tell you a little bit about my story. Do you want to listen or do you want to wait until you finish your challenge?"


    "Well seeing as you''re willing to tell me a bit of your story I''m willing to listen." Hearing Ren''s answer the original incarnation nodded his head and started to tell a tale.


    ...<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Back when the ORIGIN first created humanity there was no concept of age. As long as you weren''t killed by some ident any human being could live potentially forever. Not only could every human live forever but the where humanity was birthed, the world called EDEN was a paradise like no other."


    "EDEN had everything humanity needed, and in there humanity flourished. At first, humanity was content with what they had but then they started to wish for something more. Humanity started to create things that never existed before. Seeing the humans create things shocked the Ancient Gods as back then only the ORIGIN had such an ability. Even the Ancient Gods could only control the things that they received from the ORIGIN. Even their ability to create the Old Gods was an ability given to them by the ORIGIN, they did not have the ability to create new things."


    "Unfortunately, this was the start of humanity''s misfortune. Seeing their ability to create new and wonderful things made the ORIGIN appreciate the humans more than his first creation the Gods. Jealous, the Ancient Gods started to attack humanity with a little gue every now and then. Of course, the Ancient Gods did not go too far as the ORIGIN was protecting humanity, but then after a while the Ancient Gods noticed something."


    "Slowly but surely the ORIGIN''s attention on humanity was disappearing as he was no longer intervening as much as he did before. The Ancient Gods grew bolder by the day until finally, one Ancient God identally killed a human. Of course, humanity pleaded with the ORIGIN for justice but then the ORIGIN did something that no one expected and instead of punishing the Ancient God who murdered a human, the ORIGIN actually annihted the first humans. After annihtion, The ORIGIN then recycled the souls of the humans and recreated them."


    "The madness and jealousy of the Ancient Gods had started to infect the ORIGIN. Every time humanity grew to a certain point the ORIGIN would annihte and recreate them. The ORIGIN restarted humanity by using the same souls and every time he did so he would cleanse these human souls before cing them back into EDEN."


    "At some point in time, a human had somehow remembered the past annihtion. The horror he felt upon gaining this knowledge was enough to drive him crazy. It turns out the paradise of EDEN was no paradise at all, it was just a cage that trapped humanity in an endless cycle of death unable to move forward. He tried to warn the others but no one believed him, and once again humanity was cleansed and restarted."


    "Upon the new start, that man who remembered still retained his memory. The man was no longer affected by the cleansing. It was at this moment that the man swore he would break free from the cage he was imprisoned in. Obviously, I''m sure you could guess who this man was."


    The original incarnation looked at Ren waiting for him to answer. Seeing the look the original incarnation was giving him Ren sighed before responding.


    "The man who broke free from his shackles was you. So what happened next?"


    "The next part can only be told, once you proved yourself."

 Chapter 626 Another Descendant

    While waiting for the Demi-Gods to arrive Ren continued to supervise his disciples'' training. Ren would even help some of the Void Sect Disciples with their problems from time to time, well those that were brave enough to speak to him.


    ...


    There were many disciples who wished to honor Ren as their master, unfortunately, Ren was not interested in any of them. On the other hand, Ren''s pseudo-disciple Ming Hao was done with being a punching bag and was now running up and down a mountain with weights on.


    Fang Mu was standing at the top of a small pir of dirt swinging his sword. The pir only had enough space for Fang Mu to swing his sword in a certain stance without moving even a millimeter. If he moves in the wrong way he would fall. Normally, even if he fell from such a height it wouldn''t be able to harm him, but Ren had sealed the flow of Fang Mu''s Qi making him essentially a normal mortal man. Now if Fang Mu fell it would either mean being gravely injured or death.


    Finally, there was Mo Feng, Ren also deprived this disciple of his Qi and ced him in a dark room where not even a tiny dot of light may enter. Ren recreated the training he did when he was still a horned demon. Not only does this training enhances one''s senses but it also makes one more cautious. Seeing Mo Feng''s performance before Ren felt that this training was the best for him.


    ...


    Of course, Ren himself continued his own practice. At this moment, he has learned hundreds of new techniques from his past incarnations. Ren understood that knowing too many techniques might be a problemter on. For now, because his opponents were too weak he wasn''t bothered, but the moment he meets an opponent of equal strength having too many options might slow down his reaction time.


    ''I need to figure out which techniques would work well together so that my attacks will flow better.''


    Ren then closed his eyes and started to do image training, he was imagining an opponent of equal skill and power. Normally he would go into his soul realm to find an opponent to practice with, but battling one of those guys gets a little bit out of hand so it was better to do this image training first.


    Ren started using all the different techniques he has learned to see which one goes well with the other. Of course, some of the techniques upon use will causerge-scale destruction so Ren chose not to practice those for now.


    In the beginning, Ren''s movements were stiff and the chain of techniques was horrendous, then slowly it started to click much better, then after a while, the flow became faster and faster until finally, each technique came beautifully after the next.


    The way Ren moved was like a dance, elegant, powerful, and alluring. The way each move ebbs and flows with the other was enthralling.


    ...


    Richard Tranor was watching Ren at the side with absolute awe. He wasn''t there when Ren showed his might in front of everybody so he was very curious about this person who everyone was afraid of. As a descendant of an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul Richard was very curious as to how strong Ren was, and his will to challenge the strong was making his blood boil.


    He wanted to go find Ren and challenge him, but when he found Ren, Richard was stunned in ce. The techniques Ren was showing were so eye-catching, Richard was enamored by the brilliance of each technique.


    After the dazzling disy of techniques, Ren who had his eyes closed this entire time opened them and looked in the direction where Richard was watching.


    "So what do you want?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    In a dazed state, Richard was not able to respond for a minute.


    "Did you not hear me?"


    Ren spoke again as he suddenly appeared right in front of Richard who woke up from his dazed state.


    "Oh, I''m Richard Tranor I came here wishing to challenge you."


    The moment Ren heard Richard challenging him he could not help but smile. Every single one of his past incarnations'' descendants that met him would immediately challenge him. Despite seeing him using all those techniques this descendant called Richard wasn''t scared, instead, it seems like he was very excited. Ren then startedughing, Richard was bewildered by Ren''s heartyugh and misunderstood.


    "I know that I''m no match for you, but I hope that you can ept this challenge from a junior."


    Richard wanted to bow his head but could not, the pride of being a descendant of the Strongest Mortal Soul was stopping him from doing something like that. Admitting that he was no match for the opponent was already too much for him, much more bowing.


    "You misunderstand..." Ren sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I ept your challenge."


    Ren''s shadow expanded and two short swords came out. The two short swords had no ornaments and looked to be dull and had scratches on the de, but the aura they exuded was quite powerful.


    "Allow me to see what you can do." Ren grabbed hold of the two broken-looking short swords.


    "So you also use two swords." Richard unsheathed his two swords. Hearing what Richard said, Ren did not bother correcting the other party and simply chuckled. The two then stopped talking as their aura became sharper.


    Richard noticed that Ren''s stance was simr to his own, a defenseless-looking stance but in truth was full of hidden danger.


    ''A simr stance?... No, this just means that Ren has also reached the same conclusion as the Ancestor. Still, it doesn''t mean he''s as good as the Ancestor. Let''s see if he''s able to respond to this move.''


    Richard who was feeling a little tense a while ago calmed his breathing, and his eyes became even sharper than before. Richard had entered a state of absolute concentration, this was his best state. Once he was ready, Richard started walking forward and as if to mirror him Ren walked forward too.


    When the two were about a hand''s length away their bodies seem to blur and the two passed by each other. It was then, the scabbards on Richard''s waist broke and he coughed out a mouthful of blood. Richard staggered a bit but did not fall and instead looked at Ren with eyes mixed with different emotions.


    "Who are you?"

 Chapter 627 Lets Have A Chat

    "Who are you?"


    Unlike before Richard''s tone became extremely serious. The move Ren did was not something anyone could do.


    ''The stance he did could be considered a coincidence, but that technique he used on me was obviously Fangs of the Wolf. So he''s either an exiled person from the n or he knows a traitor of the n.''


    "Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? Well, alright then, I''m Ren just Ren."


    "How are you rted to the Tranor n?"


    "You have a lot of questions, is this battle or an interview? Anyway, I''m not obligated to answer any of your questions." Ren ced one of the short swords on his shoulders and pointed the other one at Richard with a smile on his face.


    "Fine, if you won''t speak then I''ll force it out of you!"


    Richard''s demeanor changed as his momentum kept on rising. Richard pointed his two short swords forward and the image of a green dragon enveloped him. The image of the green dragon roared it was as if it truly was a dragon. Richard then charged at Ren the green dragon''s mouth was wide open it was like a dragon wanted to devour Ren.


    Seeing this scene Ren couldn''t help but chuckle. In response, Ren did the exact same move but the quality of the technique was obviously different. Richard''s dragon was green but Ren''s dragon was ck no it looked like the scales of the dragon were the night sky filled with stars, and the eyes of the dragon were the zing sun. There was also the matter of size, Richard''s Charging Dragon was the size of arge hill while Ren''s was two times more than that, it looked like an adult charging at a young dragon.


    ''He even knows Charging Dragon!!!''


    Seeing the scene in front of him made Richard feel even more surprised. If a while ago was just spection he was now sure that Ren knew the secret techniques of the Tranor n. Even though it was obvious that he would lose in this collision between the two techniques, Richard could not stop or back down. Instead of stopping like a coward as a proud member of the Tranor n, he was not going to back down and kept on charging forward.


    The two dragons collided and as expected Ren''s Charging Dragon devoured Richard''s own Charging Dragon. Richard who was already bleeding from the previous Fangs of the Wolf had acquired a few more bruises on his body. Ren had held back the power of the attack if he fully unleashed it, Richard would have be a shredded person.


    Richard who staggered back a bit did not fall and roared as he tossed one of his short swords upward, Ren did the same thing. Once in the air, the short swords filled with Qi burst with sword light and quickly darted toward each other''s opponent. Richard and Ren also charged forward with their remaining short sword and shouted the name of the technique in sync.


    "STAR FALL!"


    The short sword in the hands of the two extended with Qi and became a sword of pure white light. The sword that was falling towards them was a distraction while the sword at hand was the true killer move. The two moved at the exact same time but only Richard was hurt and Ren was able to block the strike by raising his hand stopping Richard mid-swing.


    Richard and Ren once again took some distance from each other. Unlike at the beginning of the battle, only Richard was full of injuries while Ren remained unscathed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So do you still want to continue our little chat?"


    "WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Richard suddenlyughed crazily as his aura once again erupted with strength like never before. This was one of the unique innate abilities some of Leonard''s descendants inherited from him. Only a select few descendants were able to inherit this powerful ability of Leonard Tranor, the more excited for battle the more strength one could unleash. The upper limit of this ability was unknown, but it was a weaker version of the Strongest Mortal Soul''s will to fight.


    Richard no longer cared about Ren''s identity every single chaotic thought in his mind disappeared and the only thing left was the battle happening in front of him. Richard inhaled and exhaled slowly, the breath of Qi could be felt circting within him in a weird way. Richard loosened his body and his spirit as if he was breaking free from the hidden shackles within his very self.


    Looking at what was happening in front of him Ren could not help but smile that vicious smile of his. It seems that this descendant was able to inherit a very incredible ability. Richard disappeared from Ren''s sight, this skill would be able to fool others but not Ren.


    Ren quickly lifted one of his swords above his head as Richard suddenly appeared there, Ren then quickly ced his other sword behind him as Richard disappeared and reappeared behind him. This flow continued for a while, Richard disappeared and reappeared from different angles trying to find Ren''s blindspot, unfortunately for him, Ren did not have such a thing.


    Still, Richard did not stop, shing, piercing, and even pounding with his swords. Ren calmly took them all, right now he was using another technique from the Tranor n, Falling Leaves. This technique was one of the rare defensive techniques created by Leonard Tranor. As a firm believer of the best defense is a good offense Leonard almost never created any defensive moves, but once in a blue moon, he would identally create one.


    Falling Leaves was created by Leonard when he was meditating under arge tree. Many of the leaves of the tree were falling down at a fast pace. The number of leaves that fell at a time was in the hundreds that''s howrge the tree was. Sensing the falling leaves Leonard was distracted so he decided to cut down each leaf and to make things a little bit more interesting he did it without moving from his spot while his eyes were closed.


    At first, Leonard was unable to cut down all the leaves as some of them as his senses could not detect each falling leaf. So as he continued, his senses increased in sensitivity and the moment anything came close to a fifty-meter radius Leonard was able to slice it without moving or looking.


    Ren did not need to train his senses to such an extreme to use Falling Leaves, since, unlike Leonard who fully focused on physical skills, Ren is able to use mana sensing. Leonard was a pure physical fighter, who despite learning spellster never used them. He only learned them so that he could better react to opponents who used spells. On the other hand, Ren used everything he could to win battles, so his fighting style was a mix of spells and physical skills.


    ...


    Richard used all the techniques he knew but was unable to get past Ren''s Falling Leaves, in the end, he lost. For the first time in his entire life, Richard had lost a battle and instead of feeling dejected, he felt delighted. Seeing the smile on his descendant''s face, Ren was also smiling.


    "I lost... Still, I''m really curious. You don''t have to answer, but are you from the Tranor n?" Richard who was on the ground looked up at Ren''s smiling face as he asked this question.


    "Well, I guess I can tell you a little bit. After you rested for a while let''s go somewhere to eat while we chat."

 Chapter 628 In The Restaurant

    Richard and Ren went to a famous restaurant that was selling food made from rare beasts. This was a ce frequented only by the rich and powerful. The cost of a single meal in this restaurant is in the hundreds of thousands some of them even reach millions.


    It was a good thing that Ren was wealthy since the Mo n gave him lots of riches and even the Void Sect had offered him great wealth just to quell his anger. There were also the bandits who tried to rob him of his things in turn he beat them up and took their stuff, Ren even raided their bases and got all their riches. At this point, Ren was richer than most ns and Sects in the Eastern Region.


    Still, even without those Ren could easily get rich as he had the ability to find those so called spirit ores, and with his strength, it was just a flick of the wrist for him to get them.


    Upon entering the restaurant the people eating as well as the staff looked at Ren and Richard with curiosity. The first thing they noticed was Richard''s cultivation it was nearing the Nascent Soul Realm, he was so strong while being so young.


    While everyone was impressed by Richard''s cultivation they finally noticed the one standing in front of Richard. When they also probed the other person they were even more surprised than when they looked at Richard.


    The other person who came with Richard was just an ordinary mortal man. Even using some special artifacts they could not detect the slightest bit of immortal cultivation within Ren.


    ''Why does that Golden Core Realm genius stand behind the mortal as if in respect?''


    As most of the people were confused about the rtionship between Ren and Richard, the two people in question took a seat. One of the waiters came in front of the two with a professional smile on his face as he handed a menu to Richard and Ren. The waiter was looking at Richard and did not even bother to nce at Ren.


    "What do you wish to order?"


    "Just bring everything on the menu."


    When the waiter heard what Ren said he finally turned his head toward Ren. What Ren said sounded absurd as the worth of all the things on the menu would be in the billions, even powerful aristocratic ns with a lot of money can''t afford to waste so many spirit stones, not to mention that amount of food was something a single or even a group of several people cannot hope to finish. Then finally there''s the fact that the person who spoke those words was a normal mortal man. If someone without immortal cultivation eats so much meat that has a lot of Qi in it his body would explode.


    The people listening in their conversation were looking at Ren in a weird way. Some of them even started to chuckle at the foolish mortal man.


    Still, even though what Ren said was ridiculous to everyone present except for Richard, the waiter remained professional and spoke without breaking his smile.


    "Sir due to the price, quality, and rarity of the materials in the food we serve, we require our customers to pay half of the bill before we start cooking. The total amount of spirit stones for the entirety of the menu cost six billion five hundred seventy-eight million medium grade Spirit Stones. So half of that is three billion two hundred eighty-nine million medium-grade spirit stones."


    When the other customers heard the number they could not help but gasp. They already guessed the number of spirit stones needed would be astronomical but listening to the price it was still incredible making them speechless. On the other hand, Ren was not bothered by the number and took out a hundred rings from his shadow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Each one of these storage rings has a million high-grade spirit stones. I''m sure that''s more than enough, right?"


    The waiter and everyone present was stunned to see Ren produce so many storage rings out of nowhere, but when they heard that each storage ring had a million high-grade spirit stones the people had their mouths wide open. Even the waiter almost opened his mouth but gulped dryly as he nodded his head and quickly picked up the storage rings.


    "Of course, sir this is definitely enough. Is there anything else you wish to have?" The waiter was already polite before but now he was truly respecting Ren, it was as if he was looking at a God.


    "No need, just bring the food faster."


    "As you wish, dear guest." The waiter nodded his head took the menus from Ren and Richard''s hands and called some other waiters to take the storage rings.


    The people watching from the side were now confused as to what kind of identity Ren had. Even some of the old monsters quietly eating were now inserted in the young-looking mortal man sitting nonchntly as he handed so many spirit stones. It was now obvious to everyone present that this guy wasn''t just an ordinary mortal man, he must be masking his cultivation and his way is so powerful that none of them was able to discern the truth.


    ...


    In the back of the restaurant, the staff was able to confirm that the storage rings do have millions of high-grade spirit stones in them. In fact, Ren gave more than was asked, it was enough for two full sets of everything on the menu.


    The treatment they gave Ren and Richard quickly changed, the waiter even asked Ren if he wanted to head to the VIP section. Ren did not want to move anymore and refused, he also told the staff to not disturb them and simply give out the food.


    The staff happily obliged, but they were still some people on standby near Ren just in case he needed something.


    ...


    "So are you going to tell me who you are, now?" Richard asked as he looked at Ren feeling even more curious about the other''s identity.


    "No need to be so impatient, let''s have some food first then we talk."

 Chapter 629 Talking To Another Descendant

    The food came rather quickly which surprised the other guests, usually, it would take a very long time to make the food it wasn''t strange even to wait a few hours before the food arrives. Before when the guests asked the waiters why it took so long to make the food the waiters would answer you can''t rush the chefs. Many had tried and failed to make the chefs quicken their cooking.


    "What kind of magic did they use?"


    "I remember that someone offered to pay twice the amount just to make the chefs work faster, but he was instead thrown out."


    While the people were happily discussing how Ren was able to make the chefs cook so fast, Ren himself was already eating his fifth steak. The spiritual essence in the meat was so intense that even people at the Golden Core Realm would find it difficult to digest but Ren was eating it like it was nothing.


    To the current Ren, this amount of spiritual essence was nothing but a drop in the ocean. Ren''s body was able to not only store such a huge amount of spiritual essence but it was also converting it quickly into pure origin Qi. This was one of the greatest passive skills of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    The people watching from the side were rather surprised to see how quickly Ren devoured the food, not only was he able to eat so fast but he was able to eat such powerful spiritual essence without blowing up. Many had thought that Ren was going to use some sort of prop to survive eating but he did nothing at all. Even some Nascent Soul Realm cultivators will find it hard to eat such heavy spiritual essence at such a fast pace.


    Richard was even more amazed than the others as he ate a tiny piece of the meat, and he found that the spiritual essence within was so dense it was hard to swallow but it was indeed delicious. If he eats the meat too fast he might implode which made him realize how amazing Ren was again. The guy in front of him was able to eat such meat like it was nothing.


    "So can we talk now?"


    Hearing Richard''s question Ren drank some tea and burped before answering.


    "You can talk what''s stopping you?"


    "Well, you told me to wait, also are you sure it''s alright to talk in this kind of ce?" Richard looked at the prying eyes of the surrounding people.


    "Don''t worry I already used a spell, to be able to hear our conversation other people need to be at least one meter close to us, everyone outside this area will be unable to hear us even if we shout with all our might."


    The moment Richard heard what Ren said he unconsciously gulped. Richard didn''t even notice the moment Ren used such a spell, and he was looking at Ren all throughout.


    "So what do you want to talk about?" Richard who was deep in his thoughts shook a little as he looked at Ren. It took him a little bit of time to calm his mind before speaking.


    "It''s the same question as before, who are you?"


    "I''m Ren, simply Ren nost name. As for my identity, I have many, but I guess my most famous identity is the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul."


    The very moment those words came out of Ren''s mouth, Richard almost fell to the floor. He had already had a thousand guesses as to who Ren was, and the most outrageous one was that he was one of the original sons of Leonard Tranor, but it turns out that Ren''s identity was even more outrageous. Ren was Leonard Tranor himself or a reincarnation of that person.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you serious?" Richard couldn''t help but blurt out.


    "Oh, are you questioning me?" Ren stopped eating for a second and looked at Richard with a vicious smile on his face.


    "No, it''s not that I don''t believe you, it''s just that the truth is more spectacr than I thought... That means you''re my Ancestor?" Ren continued eating as she shrugged his shoulders.


    "In a way, I am indeed your ancestor, but at the same time not really. So is that all you wanted to ask?"


    "Then Ancestor what are you doing here, is there some purpose?" Ren stared at Richard for a few seconds before answering.


    "... The final battle is fast approaching and I''m here to prove my worth to myself."


    "The final battle?! What do you mean? Who''s the enemy, can anyone even be the opponent of the Ancestor?"


    Richard was both excited and confused as he heard many spectacr stories about the Strongest Mortal Soul and even more stories about his ancestor an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, Leonard Tranor. It was said that his Ancestor has never known defeat. So Richard cannot imagine any kind of opponent that would make an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul say it would be a final battle.


    "Have you not noticed what''s happening around you?"


    "Do you mean the Demi-Gods? But no matter how powerful those guys are even in a group I don''t think that they would be a match for the Ancestor."


    "Heh, of course, but who said that they''re the only ones who I must battle."


    "No... Are the New Godsing as well?..." It was then Richard remembered that his own n had sent their best people to fight an Old God. At the time he found it weird as to why the head of the n would do that but now he was starting to see something. "Could it be even the Old Gods are joining in on this battle?"


    "Hmph, it''s not just them even those Ancient Gods or the so-called true Gods will be joining in... But that''s not the end of this battle. There has only been one true enemy for this crusade of mine."


    The very second Richard heard what Ren said he shivered uncontrobly. He didn''t need to hear who the true enemy was as it could only be one person. The ORIGIN, the beginning and the end of all things.


    "ANCESTOR! HAVE YOU FINALLY GONE MAD?!" Richard stood up from his chair and looked at Ren with both fear and anger.

 Chapter 630 Shocking

    "ANCESTOR! HAVE YOU GONE MADE?!"


    Richard could not believe the words that came out of Ren''s mouth. It was bad enough to go to war with the Old Gods and the Ancient Gods. Those two beings were able to control the veryws of the universe, in fact, the Ancient Gods represented thews themselves. Fighting those beings would shake the very universe itself, no, the very multiverse itself.


    Still, that wasn''t the scariest, Ren actually said that he would battle the ORIGIN. That was the creator of all things of all the universes that are known and unknown. The very idea of fighting someone like that was pure insanity, it wouldn''t even be considered a fight since Richard can''t even imagine how Ren would fight such a being.


    Even if Ren could somehow win which is impossible what happens then? Victory against the ORIGIN might mean the copse of all the universes and all creation. Defeat in a battle like that would also result in horrific consequences.


    "Calm yourself and sit down."


    Ren stopped eating for a moment as he looked at his flustered descendant. Even though Ren was not releasing his killing intent or anything simr to that, his very presence alone was able to suppress Richard''s anger. Richard gulped as his legs were shaking, and he slowly sat back down.


    "Ancestor surely you know the implications of fighting against such a being."


    "Of course, I know, how could I not know? Which is why I said it was going to be the Final Battle. I meant that literally, it will be the final battle for everyone, not just me."


    "Why do you need to do this? Is it because of your lust for battle?"


    Richard asked, since he remembers the numerous stories of the Strongest Mortal Soul, the main simrity of all of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul no matter how they were raised was their joy for battle.


    "Though the thought of fighting the creator of all things is indeed exciting for me, that''s not really the main point. Haven''t you noticed what has been happening around you, not just here in the upper nes but in the lower ones as well, didn''t the elders of your n tell you anything?"


    "... What do you mean?..." Seeing the confused look on Richard''s face, Ren could not help but sigh. It seems that almost every descendant he has met has been quite disappointing.


    "Why do you think the Demi-Gods have been going wild and started attacking? Also, why have the ns who were created by the various incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul started showing up now?"


    When Richard heard what Ren said various memories came flooding his mind. The time when the elders sent their best fighters to kill an Old God, the time when all this madness started he was sent out of the n. The timing for every action couldn''t just be a coincidence, it meant there was a purpose to making those moves at that period of time. Like pieces of the puzzle sticking together to form a clearer picture Richard was finally beginning to understand. The questions he used to have now had answers and the view became clearer to him.


    "Why is this happening, is there a way to stop this madness?"


    "Hmph, this battle has been dyed for a very long time now. Unfortunately, no matter what we do at this point it can no longer be dyed. The madness of the Gods, the battle against the ORIGIN everything is inevitable. So you can either cower in fear or fight until the end."


    "Then we must inform everyone of this battle! We must get all the ns in the upper realm to join hands and fight! Then there''s also the people in the lower realm we must somehow inform them of the uing disaster."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Ren looked at the frantic Richard and sighed as he shook his head. What happened to the cold cool type descendant he saw before? It was like he was looking at an entirely different person.


    Well, truth be told it wasn''t really Richard''s fault since anyone except for Ren would react the same way if they heard that someone wanted to fight the ORIGIN and this story about the final battle. In fact, others might have gone insane the moment they hear the truth, which just proves how much better Richard waspared to others.


    "Telling other people about the uing final battle will not help, in fact, it might make things worse."


    "Huh, why?"


    "Do you remember your reaction when I told you about fighting the ORIGIN? You wanted to quit before even starting and unfortunately, you are one of the braver ones. Now imagine telling this to a normal person."


    Hearing what Ren said Richard started to sweat a bit as he clenched his fist.


    "Now if we told everybody either everyone suddenly bes braver and we all unite to fight themon enemy, or everyone starts to panic and does a lot of stupid things before fighting the enemy. I think thetter is more likely to happen. So it''s best to not tell anyone at all and let them do their best to survive the uing crisis without the knowledge of the battle I''m about to undertake. Don''t worry most of you people will only fight the Gods that get by me. I''ll be sure to kill the stronger ones."


    Every word Ren spoke was brimming with confidence despite the bleak situation. Hearing him speak like this even made Richard who was skeptical before feel like this whole ordeal wasn''t a big deal after all.


    "But Ancestor, I''m sure if it''s you, you could lead everyone to victory. If you tell everyone your identity they will surely follow you to the death."


    Ren sighed before answering.


    "That''s a very big assumption you have there... Well, to tell you the truth, in thising battle, it would be easier for me to move on my own and not lead a bunch of weaklings to battle. If I were to do what you say I would surely get distracted in battle instead of simply focusing on it. The best way for everyone in this situation is to allow me to do what I must do without any distractions this way more people might be saved once I win."


    Ren had already thought of doing what Richard suggested long ago, but no matter how he looked at it that way was a dead end. Some of Ren''s past incarnations might have been decentmanders but aside from the original which Ren knew little about, there was never an incarnation that was truly great atmanding people, as he never truly trusted anyone but himself. It was better to do things he was good at.


    "... Then Ancestor, what do you think will happen if you lose?"


    "If I lose the final battle, then if we are lucky enough the ORIGIN will create a new humanity without free will. It may no longer be us but at least humanity will exist. If we''re not lucky then every human will cease to exist."


    "Then what will happen if you win?..." Once that question came out, Ren and Richard became quiet, and the atmosphere became even more intense. Ren who always had a casual look on his face became serious making Richard even more nervous.

 Chapter 631 Trouble?

    The atmosphere between Ren and Richard was bing more and more intense. The atmosphere was so heavy now that Richard felt like it was getting hard to breath. Ren stared at Richard for a short while this descendant of his was quite the curious one, Ren also noticed that the other party was nervous so Ren could not help but sigh before answering.


    "If I win?... If I win I guess the best case scenario will be that all of humanity bes truly free from the ORIGIN. All of us will no longer be bound to things like destiny. On the other hand, the worst thing that could happen if I kill the ORIGIN is that we cease to exist alongside everything the ORIGIN has ever created."


    When Richard heard Ren''s answer he could not help but clench his fist even tighter than before. No matter if Ren losses or wins a lot of bad things will happen, except for that miracle that they can be free of destiny. Except for that single miracle, all other scenarios lead to either extinction or near extinction.


    "Do you really need to fight this battle, isn''t there any other way?"


    "There''s no choice, even if you don''t do anything every God from the powerful Ancient Gods to the weakest Demi-Gods will eventually turn crazy since they''re all spiritually connected to the ORIGIN. The stronger ones will be able to resist longer, but the weaker ones have no chance at all. This isn''t a battle of right or wrong it''s a battle for survival."


    "..."


    Richard became quiet as his thoughts became messier and messier. As one of the prominent descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul, he was indeed someone who loved battle but this kind of battle was not something he wished for.


    "Can I at least inform my nsmen?"


    "It seems like you are misunderstanding something here. First off, I''m pretty sure that your nsmen already know what''s going on. Second, I never told you to do anything I just gave you my opinion you can do whatever you want. If you want to tell others about what''s toe and convince them to fight alongside you then go ahead, just don''t expect me to lead anyone or to cooperate with you guys. I will do things my way and so should you."


    "I see, thank you, Ancestor."


    Richard bowed his head in front of Ren. When the people watching from the side saw this scene they couldn''t understand what was happening, a peak Golden Core genius was bowing his head to the mortal. Even though they already know that Ren wasn''t normal, it was still surprising to see. Usually, geniuses like Richard has high pride and arrogance, bowing to anybody was already a sign of deep respect.


    "I will do what I must do. I might not be as strong as you but I''m sure that I can at least do something."


    Seeing the look on Richard''s face change from hesitation to that of someone with the resolve to die made Ren smile, he also started to remember the faces of the heroes he has fought over the years. Despite the obvious difference in strength those heroes never gave up and fought until the end. One of those heroes said something that Ren dismissed before but now he understood a little.


    "The hymn of mankind is the hymn of courage," Ren whispered to himself as he chuckled. "Then show me what you can aplish."


    "YES!"


    After talking for a bit more Ren and Richard continued eating. The waiters and the guests watching them were truly surprised now. The food that Ren and Richard had eaten was much more than what the restaurant could sell in a week.


    The sheer amount of food they have eaten was surprising, but even more so was the fact that they were able to eat so much food with spiritual essence without overloading. That would mean their spiritual cores were able to store that much spiritual essence making them way above most people. Some of the people who nned to mess with Ren because of jealousy or just wanting to rob him stopped their foolish thoughts.


    ...<novelnext></novelnext>


    Ren who was continuing devouring the food in front of him felt that the speed of his growth had actually doubled which was truly shocking, as his progress was already outrageous. He decided to eat here every day from now on or find some way to cook simr food for himself.


    ''The food they''re sending is bing less and less, that means my meal time is nearly over. It''s been a long time since I ate so much good food, now if only I can find some opponents to fight.''


    Ren looked at Richard for a second and then shook his head. He had just fought Richard and the other guy seems to be distracted by the things Ren told the other party, so he won''t be a good sparring partner. Ren then started to think if he should provoke the people in the restaurant to fight him.


    ''No, doing something like that ispletely idiotic and scum-like. Still, I really want to have a good fight after eating such a fine meal.''


    Ren then started to think of who he can ask to fight when he suddenly heard people outside talking in a rather loud voice. When he heard the conversation happening outside Ren licked his lips and showed a vicious smile.


    ''How lucky, it seems an opponent is about toe to me willingly.''


    ...


    Outside the restaurant, one of the staff was talking to an arrogant young man who was being apanied by two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. This young man was from one of the more powerful ns in the region, it was a n that could match some of the stronger sects.


    "What do you mean someone is sitting in my favorite spot and even ate most of the food?! Does that mean you''re not willing to serve me, the young master of the Xiang n, Xiang Rong?"


    Despite Xiang Rong shouting at him the manager of the restaurant showed a kind smile. The Xiang n might be a big deal to others, but if it wants to do anything to the restaurant and its staff they need to think again as the restaurant owner was a powerful individual. Still, it was also strong enough that the restaurant owner won''t provoke it.


    "Of course, we can still serve you young master Xiang Rong. It''s just that you need to seat somewhere else, and you need to pick something else to eat aside from your usual meal since we no longer have enough ingredients to make it."


    Xiang Rong gnashed his teeth in anger.


    "Fine, can I at least speak to the person who took over my favorite spot? Surely you won''t stop me from asking the person to give up the seat."


    "If Sir Xiang is able to convince the other party then of course."


    Xiang Rong scoffed as he entered the restaurant and spotted Richard and Ren. The first thing Xiang Rong noticed was Richard who was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. He quickly assumed that Richard was a genius of some powerful n, but Xiang Rong wasn''t afraid as his own n was powerful as well. Then he took a nce at Ren.


    ''Hmph, eating with one of his servants how low ss.'' Xiang Rong sneered as he approached the table of the two.

 Chapter 632 After Meal Excercise

    "Hey you," Xiang Rong approached Richard and spoke in a rather condescending tone. Normally Richard would have already cut down such a fool but he was now in front of the Ancestor. Richard had already grabbed the hilt of his two swords he almost instinctively attacked the rude person but held back.


    "Are you talking to me?"


    Richard responded with a cold tone while restraining his killing intent. The young man Xiang Rong who was just at the Peak of the Qi Gathering Realm did not notice this, but the two Nascent Soul Realm bodyguards sensed it. They were about ready to take action the moment Richard does something weird, but still, they weren''t that worried as even though Richard was a genius at the peak of the Golden Core Realm they were also once called geniuses and they had a higher cultivation that was at the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.


    No matter what kind of genius Richard was it didn''t matter since time immemorial there have been many geniuses but not all of them could show their full potential, as there are many dead geniuses along the path.


    Richard also noticed the look the two bodyguards were giving him and sneered, he could pretty much guess what the two of them were thinking. On the other hand, Xiang Rong had no clue what kinds of thoughts were running through the three people and simply spoke in an even more arrogant tone.


    "Who else could I be talking to but you? It seems that you aren''t that bright. Well, it doesn''t really matter, here." Xiang Rong shook his head and sighed exasperatedly he did not even bother to acknowledge Ren''s existence as he tossed a storage ring at Richard.


    "What is this for?"


    "If you leave now, you can have that storage ring, and there won''t be any trouble. Inside that storage ring is about a million low-grade spirit stones. I''m sure that should be enough to make you leave."


    The way Xiang Rong spoke was extremely irritating it was as if he was talking to a child. It took Richard everything he had to stop himself from chopping the other person''s head. The two bodyguards noticed Richard holding himself back and they couldn''t help but chuckle. The two guards thought it was because of the two of them that Richard was holding back, despite feeling humiliated. Richard tossed the storage ring back to Xiang Rong.


    "If you want us to leave then you shouldn''t talk to me. You should ask mypanion over there." Richard gestured towards Ren who was still eating, Ren did not even bother to look at Xiang Rong and his bodyguards as he spoke.


    "Even though I really want to fight, I will still warn you. I will not give you my spot until I''m finished eating, and if you force my hand I will beat you three up and head to your n and beat up everyone there as well."


    The way Ren spoke was so casual it was as if what he said was nothing at all, it was like saying that he was going out for a walk. It took Xiang Rong and his two guards a few seconds to fully understand what was said, and the moment the words Ren spoke sunk in Xiang Rong and the two guards were furious.


    "Young Master please allow me to teach this boy some manners!" One of the guards spoke with killing intent. Xiang Rong shook his head and stopped his guard from attacking and spoke in a cold tone that was unlike the irritating frivolous arrogant tone he had before.


    "Don''t worry it''s just a mortal man I''ll deal with him myself."


    "Young Master, do you think it''s wise to attack inside the restaurant? Please remember the person behind this restaurant."


    "Don''t worry I know what I''m doing. The dignity of the Xiang n cannot be tarnished."


    Hearing Xiang Rong''s answer the guard simply nodded his head and stepped aside. Xiang Rong red at Ren who was still eating.


    "I don''t know what kind of backing you have, but it doesn''t matter. Anyone who disrespects the Xiang n will be eliminated." Xiang Rong was about ready to attack but then Ren spoke.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I''m warning you for onest time, if you do anything to me I will retaliate and you will then be a sinner of your n."


    "Hmph, big talk for a weakling. Where does your confidencee from, is it because of this Golden Core Realm genius?"


    "I already said what needed to be said." Ren no longer bothered with Xiang Rong and went back to eating his meal. Seeing him act like that without caring about them made the people watching surprised.


    "Either this guy is really confident and has some kind of insurance or he''s really stupid."


    "Is he really that confident of his Golden Core Realm follower? It''s a three-on-one situation he might die instantly without even saying a word."


    "Will the staff stop the fight?"


    "No, as long as they don''t destroy things in the restaurant the staff will treat this as a personal affair between the two. Only if they start hurting other customers or they start breaking things will the staff do something."


    While the outsiders were talking to each other heartily, Xiang Rong''s veins were already about to pop from anger. He no longer hesitated and attacked as his hand was about to pierce through Ren''s head he suddenly stopped as a suffocating feeling overwhelmed him.


    It was a pressure like no other, this was the first time he has ever felt so scared. Xiang Rong who had no actual battle experience could not handle the pressure and knelt on the ground shaking in fear. He turned his head and was going to ask his guards to help him but then he saw that they too were on the ground shivering in fear.


    The onlookers were not being targeted by Ren''s killing intent so they couldn''t understand what was happening to the three who picked a fight.


    "What''s going on, why are they suddenly kneeling?"


    "The Golden Core Realm kid didn''t do anything..."


    "Is there perhaps a hidden master protecting the two?"


    "I''m already at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm but I still can''t detect anybody making a move. Even if the other person is at the True Monarch Realm I should still be able to..."


    While the spectators were guessing as to what was happening, the three who were kneeling from Ren''s killing intent were confused and frightened, Xiang Rong even started puking. Ren stood up from his chair and the pressure became even more intense. The noisy atmosphere suddenly became quiet, everyone unconsciously closed their mouths as they watched.


    Ren slowly approached the three kneeling on the floor. Each step he made echoed throughout the restaurant, he then knelt on the floor to speak to the three at eye level, yet none of the three lifted their heads to look at him it was as if they did dare to do so.


    "I already warned you twice, but you still did it. Now what''s about to happen is all your fault. Well, anyway thank you for the after meal exercise."

 Chapter 633 Thanks

    The sound of screams echoed throughout the vast territory of the Xiang n. There was smoke everywhere and unconscious bodies were on the ground, they were alive and breathing but it was still a nightmarish scene. Then there was a man with a vicious smile on his face that was fighting two True Monarch Realm experts with nothing but his bare hands. This was, of course, none other than Ren fighting against the elders of the Xiang n.


    Behind Ren watching the fight was Richard Tranor and three kneeling men, Xiang Rong and his two bodyguards. At first, they thought that Ren was crazy barging into their territory without any backup or preparation. So when Ren arrived in the Xiang n Xiang Rong was happy to see that many of the Elders were present. Xiang Rong quickly screamed telling them that Ren was the enemy, and that was when the nightmare happened before his very eyes.


    The Nascent Soul Realm fighters attacked Ren without restraint but Ren did not bother to dodge or even block the attacks, every single attack hit him but to everyone''s surprise, there was no damage to him or his clothes. As the group from the Xiang n was confused a vicious smile appeared on Ren''s face and he spoke in an excited happy tone.


    "Come on then let''s have some fun!"


    After he was done speaking he suddenly shed toward the nearest person and punched him. It was so sudden that the person was barely able to use a barrier to defend but it was of no use it was as if the barrier was made of y Ren punched through it and hit the man in the abdomen.


    The force Ren used was not enough to kill the other person but it was enough to make him kneel in pain. Ren wasn''t nning to kill these people as they didn''t really offend him it was only the stupid Xiang Rong that had offended him. Still, he was in a rather good mood so he decided to spare the life of Xiang Rong.


    Ren then shed toward another person but this time he slowed down and even telegraphed his next attack so that the other party was able to defend himself properly. This time it was a kick aimed at the neck, the other party had a sword so he used it to defend plus a barrier, but the same as before Ren''s kick destroyed the barrier and broke the sword. Ren was able to kick the person''s neck and knock him out.


    This time before Ren could sh to another opponent the people of the Xiang n finally reacted and got into a formation, still this just made Ren even more excited.


    "Now that''s good, it won''t be fun if you don''t fight back with all your might!"


    Various talismans, flying swords, and spells came at Ren like rain. At this level of attack, Ren had no need to block or evade since it was impossible to hurt him with this much strength, but he wanted to test out a few of the new techniques he got from his past incarnations.


    Out of nowhere, the circr wall of ice appeared and blocked the iing attacks for Ren, after blocking the attacks it then turned into a puddle of water that floated into the sky. Ren then twisted his hands and the water droplets turn into icicles that darted forward in all directions hitting some people. The icicles then slowly froze those that touched them.


    Ren quickly followed up with another move as he raised his right hand the clouds became darker, he then shed his hand downward and multiple bolts of lightning came raining down. The power of the lightning was not lethal and only burn a bit of the skin of some people.


    Ren then stomped on the ground making a crack and from those cracks, numerous root-like dirt came upwards restraining some people.


    ''Using spells really isn''t that exciting. I''ll just stick with my fists for now.''


    The moment Ren thought of that the space surrounding him became distorted. Ren could feel his body was actually getting hurt, this made him smile as he gathered his strength and punched forward actually breaking the space in front of him. Two elderly men appeared in front of Ren from the broken space both of whom had shocked expressions on their faces.


    "Heh, now it''s getting more exciting!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    ...


    The two grand elders of the Xiang n that stayed to protect the n were surprised that someone had actually dared to attack their n. Not only did he attack head-on he was fighting by himself, he did not even bother using the young master as a hostage, but after a while, they figured out why the intruder didn''t care, it was because he was that strong.


    Seeing the others being beaten one-sidedly the two grand elders at the True Monarch Realm finally made a move. They used a surprise attack to finish the fight quickly but the young man was able to deal with it quite easily which surprised the two grand elders. After that, they tried different kinds of attacks but the young man crushed all their moves with nothing but his bare fists.


    Distorting space, controlling the opponent''s time, and attacking the soul, all of their attempts ended in failure. Ren was too strong for them, it seems that the only reason they were able tost so long was simply because Ren allowed it.


    Ren in simple terms was ying with them, wanting to see what other moves they had. The two grand elders could not understand why he was doing this so when they asked, Ren actually stopped and pointed at Xiang Rong.


    "This young master of yours provoked me numerous times despite me saying if he did anything I would break your n."


    The two elders looked at their young master who was on the ground kneeling while shivering and sighed. It was as expected they already knew that their young master was such an arrogant fellow and he would eventually provoke someone that they couldn''t afford to provoke. They remembered when some of the elders voiced their concerns to the patriarch.


    "It doesn''t matter if my son is arrogant or not, he has the right to be so." That was what the patriarch answered, not even bothering to discipline his son.


    "If we apologize now will you stop?"


    "I think you know we''ve already way past apologies now!" Ren charged at them, seeing this and hearing what was said the two grand elders could only do their best.


    ...


    Xiang Rong watched the entire scene while trembling in fear, he had hoped that the two grand elders would be able to defeat Ren but the more he watched the more fearful he became. The two Grand Elders were not able to do anything at all, no matter what they did Ren responded with pure brute force to solve all attacks.


    It was only at the moment when he saw Ren beating up the two Grand Elders that he understood he had truly provoked someone that he could not afford to provoke. Despite not killing anyone, and only destroying a few buildings this was enough to decrease the fighting power of the Xiang n.


    Xiang Rong then saw Ren slowly approach him with that vicious smile on his face, no longer able to hold it in Xiang Rong actually soiled himself in fear. Seeing what happened Ren shook his head and sighed.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t kill you. I''m just here to thank you for the great after-meal exercise." After he said those words Ren left with Richard. While watching Ren and Richard''s fading backs Xiang Rong fainted, the screams of his nsmen thest thing he heard.

 Chapter 634 Follow Me

    In the distance as Ren was rampaging in the Xiang n, a group of people was watching his every move, this was the group of Demi-Gods that has been causing chaos all over the upper nes, some of them even went to the lower nes.


    They have been stalking Ren from a distance that even he could not perceive, as long as they were careful even Ren wouldn''t be able to spot them.


    Despite slowly growing insane because of the ORIGIN''s branches, the Demi-Gods, no, all of those that had the essence of deities had an instinctive fear of the Strongest Mortal Soul, and the level of fear varies on how strong the God is.


    The stronger Gods would still feel that fear but to a lesser degree, in fact, New Gods feel like the fear will go away if they challenge the Strongest Mortal Soul. Old Gods, feel both fear and anger when fighting against the Strongest Mortal Soul, as for the Ancient Gods what they feel is a mix of emotions fear, hate, love, and respect, but the thing they feel most of all when confronted with any incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul is envy.


    The Ancient Gods envy all the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul as they are the only ones the ORIGIN truly looks at. Even though they were all connected to the ORIGIN it was only the Strongest Mortal Soul that was treated as a true child, and this made the Ancient Gods feel extreme jealousy and envy. This envy, this jealousy the Ancient Gods were feeling were two of the reasons why the ORIGIN was bing crazier by the day.


    So right now even though the Demi-Gods wanted to attack the fear they felt stopped them, so instead of attacking immediately they started to observe Ren''s fighting style. Yet no matter how they look at it the Xiang n was too weak to make Ren use any powerful moves. Still, the Demi-Gods now understand a little bit of understanding on how strong Ren''s body was.


    Not only was Ren continuously umting Qi in his body, but his physical body alone without even using Qi was so strong. The hardness of Ren''s body could not be described and his physical strength alone was at least at the level where Ren should be able to punch a star and destroy it.


    It was only a brief moment but the Qi that burst out of Ren''s body was so pure it felt like the Qi of the world was circting within Ren himself.


    Overall they found out nothing about Ren''s weakness, and as time goes by the insanity in them grows and the fear was slowly disappearing, they wanted to attack Ren right now.


    "What should we do?" One of the Demi-Gods asked the others.


    "I can no longer take it, I want to fight him, I want to crush his soul, I want to devour him!!!"


    Another Demi-God shouted his killing intent rising rapidly. In the beginning, these Demi-Gods were still able to fight with some form of strategy but as the days went by their reasoning was slipping away and their fighting style became even more brutal. Those with weaker willpower be like this only wanting to fight and destroy, and finally, they will lose all reason and dedicate their entire being to chaos and destruction not caring if they''re attacking their allies or not.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Noticing that most of the Demi-Gods were getting angry, Erebos the strongest Demi-God knew that it was a matter of time before he could no longer control these people.


    "Fine, if you want to attack then go attack him, no one is stopping you."


    In the end, Erebos no longer cared and gave up. Since the end would be destruction, everyone should just do whatever they want. The only reason he decided to attack in groups is to cause as much destruction as possible before the people realize how serious the situation was. Now that their reasoning was barely there, they no longer needed to n anything they just needed to obey their instincts and do whatever they want.


    "Finally! Finally! Finally! Finally! Finally!!!" The Demi-Gods roared and they started to move, only Erebos and a few others were left behind. Erebos looked at the remaining Demi-Gods with a serious expression.


    "Hm, why are you people still here, aren''t you going out and rampage about?"


    "I don''t know about the other guys, but I''m not someone who would do the will of others. The ORIGIN might be able to corrupt pure Gods, but as a Demi-God resisting such corruption should be doable as for those guys they were simply weak."


    ? "Oh does that mean you guys despite some semnce of reason still continued to destroy?"


    "Why fight it? Even if we''re able to resist the urges since we''re not True Gods, in the end, even those powerful Ancient Gods will be corrupted so no matter how strong the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul is, he would not be able to defeat those monsters that control the veryws of the universe, and even if by some miracle he does win against the Ancient Gods, there is absolutely no way to defeat the ORIGIN. So if the end is destruction why not embrace it, but I don''t want to do it in such a stupid barbaric way. I like your style Erebus, causing destruction in the most efficient way possible. I don''t know about these guys, but I stayed because I want you to lead me. I want you to show me the greatest destruction, if the multiverse will end I want to end it with a big bang!"


    After that one Demi-God was done speaking the other Demi-Gods nodded their heads approving of what the other said.


    "So you all epted destruction but you just don''t want that simple-minded kind of destruction. I see... Heh, hehe, who knew... Even as our sanity is breaking there are still people who are like me. Alright then, if you want then you can follow me. Let us bear witness to the end of times and contribute as much as possible toward chaos. Let us plunge the entire multiverse into endless darkness!"


    The Demi-Gods roared in excitement as their auras rose to an unimaginable level. This group of Demi-Gods separated from the others and moved in the shadows waiting for the right time to cause the most destruction.

 Chapter 635 Actual Battle

    Seeing how powerful the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul was, Richard felt relieved. It seems that the uing battles weren''t so hopeless after all. As long as Ren fights with all of his power defeating the other party isn''t as absurd a thought as before.


    "I can already guess what you''re thinking, and I hate to break it to you but the truth is, the battle against the ORIGIN will be despair inducing even for someone like me. It''s normal if you think about it, what I want to fight is the creator of all things in our multiverse. Since you want to be a part of this fight doing your own thing, I want to emphasize once again that this is a battle that must be fought, but it is a losing battle. I will remind you onest time, defeat means extinction and victory means wishing for a miracle. So do what you must with the resolve of total demise."


    Richard''s mood which was getting better once again sunk, but after a while, he just sighed and smiled at Ren. As Richard was about to say thanks, Ren raised his hand. A vicious smile appeared on Ren''s face.


    "Hehe, it would seem that the after-meal exercise isn''t over yet. Richard this time you need to head northwest from here, the next battle is for me alone to have."


    When Richard heard what Ren said he used his divine sense to see if there were any people in the surrounding area, but no matter how hard he tried he could not sense anyone, but still he did not doubt Ren''s words. Richard took out his twin des and was ready to fight side by side with Ren.


    "Ancestor please allow me to fight alongside you."


    "You really are an idiot. Did you not understand a word I said? I told you to flee northwest and leave me be, these guys are mine to fight... Besides didn''t you say that you have things to do, this is not the ce for you to fall."


    ''I see... The approaching enemies are too strong for me, the Ancestor is doing this to save my life. It seems I really am too weak.''


    Richard gnashed his teeth in anger, what pride of heaven, what heir of the Tranor n, what genius of the era? Right now he was nothing more than a hindrance, a weakling. Richard bowed his head in frustration and shouted.


    "Thank you, Ancestor! I promise I will do my best, this will be thest time I will ever flee from battle!"


    After he was done shouting Richard fled toward the northwest he no longer looked back as he dashed at full speed. Ren also did not look back as he spoke in a murmur.


    "Hmph, why are all the descendants of past incarnations such showy fools? I wonder where they inherited that from."


    Ren chuckled as his shadow expanded covering a kilometer of the surrounding area. Ren took out the death scythe since this was a battle he needed to take seriously. The aura of death enveloped Ren turning it into a cloak that covered his entire body. Ren was getting even more excited as he could sense that the approaching enemies were powerful.


    Ren waited for the enemy to arrive, and after a while in the distance, he could see a wave of people whose auras were stronger than the two Grand Elders he fought. They wereing at a breakneck pace, Ren felt ecstatic since these guys were beings that could actually kill him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The very moment the first Demi-God stepped on Ren''s expanded shadow the shadow grew tentacles and tried to entangle the Demi-God but it failed as the aura of the Demi-God tore the shadow tentacle apart. The charging Demi-Gods were only dyed a few seconds by that move, but Ren already expected that.


    As the Demi-Gods got nearer to Ren they all stepped on his shadow, Ren smiled viciously as he spoke.


    "If you people are able to survive my next move that means you are truly worth fighting!"


    Ren shouted at the iing enemies and from within his expanded shadow various weapons burst upward, these were all the weapons he had hidden within his shadow. Each weapon darted out with unimaginable speed, and some of the Demi-Gods that were too slow to react were sliced into pieces.


    The other Demi-Gods were able to block or evade the surprise attack. After all the weapons flew out the entire area was destroyed, and what remained was a field full of Ren''s weapons. It was quite the sight to behold dead bodies on the ground with numerous weapons everywhere, from demonic weapons to legendary weapons, and even divine weapons. These are Ren''s weapons that he has collected over the years.


    The Demi-Gods that survived the onught of weapons continued to charge at Ren with crazy momentum. Seeing this scene Ren licked his lip as he got into a fighting stance, Ren swiped his scythe horizontally. The charging Demi-Gods did not even think of blocking the attack and simply evaded it by jumping or rolling, some of them who werete to move have been cut down.


    Despite more and more of them falling the Demi-Gods continued their crazed charge until they were finally close enough that Ren could see the madness in their eyes. One Demi-God punched the ground causing a miniature earthquake, Ren was unbnced for a second, seeing this the other Demi-Gods charged at a faster speed. The booming sound of breaking the sound barrier erupted from all sides.


    Each attack the Demi-Gods made surpassed the speed of sound making numerous booming sounds echo throughout the area. One Demi-God enveloped himself in lighting and summoned lighting to attack, another enveloped himself in fire and the heat of the sun radiated from his body attacking Ren from high above. The others were also using their unique abilities as they fought close range after the two long-range attacks failed to hit.


    Ren was having quite a hard time dodging their attacks, and even if he does sessfully evade the wind pressure from the attacks still does a bit of damage to him.


    Ren controlled the cross-shaped needles of the death scythe to attack the surrounding Demi-Gods. It was pretty difficult to hit one since despite their obvious madness they were still coordinating in such a seamless manner. Some of the Demi-Gods were supporting the others by using spells from outside Ren''s range of attack, and the others were sticking to Ren fighting him in close-quartersbat. The way that Demi-Gods keep on attacking gave Ren no room to counter, once he escapes the closebatants he would be bombarded by long-range attacks, but still Renughed out loud in joy.


    Ren released his Death form and ced the death scythe back into his shadow, he then changed his fighting style. Ren used mana strings and stuck them to the various weapons on the ground and manipted those weapons into attacking the Demi-Gods. Seeing the change in tactics, usually, the other party would shift from offense to defense, but the Demi-Gods were in a semi-mad state and started attacking even harder than before. Ren who was now able to fight backughed out loud.


    "HAHAHA!!! I apologize for thinking this is just an after-meal exercise. No, this is an actual battle, and all of you are worthy!"


    The moment Ren said those words, it was as if all the restrictions in his body were removed and a burst of Qi flooded the entire area.

 Chapter 636 I LOVE THIS!!!

    Despite Ren''s body having incredible defensive properties, and his regenerative abilities that were nothing less but ridiculous, he is not immortal, he can be hurt and killed. Ren''s defense can be prated and his regenerative abilities can be exhausted.


    The group of Demi-Gods were very much capable of breaking through Ren''s defense and over-taxing his regeneration. Each strike of the Demi-Gods was strong enough to destroy a small, and their speed is something that constantly created sonic booms.


    The battle between Ren and the Demi-Gods was destroying everything in sight. If they weren''t in the upper nes which have distances measured by light-years and were in the lower nes instead, they would have destroyed numerouss already.


    Most of the Demi-Gods were elemental bodies, some of them even have physiques that could travel through time but only for a few seconds which was enough in a fight. Still, the more difficult the battle was the more excited Ren became.


    Ren''s Qi burst out and it was like a tsunami flooding the Demi-Gods. For the first time in the entire fight, the crazed Demi-Gods actually stopped attacking. They looked at Ren whose Qi was flooding out of him, normally Qi could not be seen with the naked eye but with how thick and pure Ren''s Qi was and it was concentrated near him making it visible to everyone present.


    Ren''s Qi was at first crimson red then it was slowly turning ck, in this form, Ren''s Qi was like pure chaos itself. Ren''s Qi flowed out of his body like a raging torrent and burst into the sky like a pir connecting the heavens and the earth.


    "I haven''t tested out how strong my current limit is, it''s a good thing you guys are here to help me check. Come on then little Godlings show me more! Show me if this is were I fall! Let this battle burn our very souls and scream out our existence!"


    The dazed Demmi-Gods roared after hearing Ren''s statement it was like their madness had doubled. Their attacks became even more intense but unlike before Ren was no longer struggling as much. Ren was now manipting thousands of weapons using his mana strings.


    Manipting so many weapons was a difficult thing to do, as he needed to be aware of the entire battlefield and he needed to react to every movement not to mention his opponents were Demi-Gods with incredible speed and strength.


    Ren was still able to kill a couple of Demi-Gods despite his situation, but instead of things getting easier, it became even harder.


    Now that he killed the weaker Demi-Gods what remained were the truly strong ones. Ren didn''t even notice that it has already been a full day since the battle began. It was a good thing he had eaten so much in that restaurant.


    ...


    A Demi-God who had been chanting since a while ago finally finished and raised her hand. Ren who was in the sky using Air Walk suddenly felt an invisible force pushing him down. Ren plummeted to the ground creating a huge crate. Ren''s entire body was heavy, if it was anybody else who received such an attack they would have been meat paste by now.


    ''Oh, this is... Somebody is controlling the gravity around me. Heh, a simr move but stronger than the one used against my disciple.''<novelnext></novelnext>


    Ren scanned the area using his mana sense and was able to quickly detect the one who was manipting gravity. Ren wanted to quickly kill the Demi-God controlling gravity but he could not concentrate as the attacks aimed at him were getting harder to block. If it wasn''t for the madness in their eyes, Ren would''ve thought that these guys were still somewhat sane, since their coordinated attack was better than most.


    Ren decided to take a few attacks head-on so he can kill the Demi-God that controls gravity. Ren took out his favorite sword and a powerful sword intent came flowing out.


    "Snertal, ROAR!"


    It takes two seconds for Ren to umte enough energy to attack the enemy from this distance, normally that two seconds wouldn''t be a big deal, but in this kind of battle against opponents that are so fast that they create sonic booms just from moving those two seconds were fatal.


    The Demi-Gods did not miss this opportunity and used their strongest techniques, Ren simply increase the strength of his barrier but because of the pressure from so many attacks, it broke in a second. Ren quickly used a breathing technique to slightly move his internal organs barely dodging the fatal strikes that got past his barrier. Ren was pierced in various parts of his body and he even coughed out blood, but he did not fall and continued his attack.


    The sh Ren made sliced the clouds above the ground below, everything in its path was sliced in half. This was a variation of the Godyer sword technique of the original incarnation. Even now Ren was still inspired by the sight of that one sh that sliced apart countless stars in the night sky.


    Ren was able to kill the Demi-God that controls gravity as well as those that were near the sword sh. Still, Ren''s body was now full of holes, and even with his regenerative abilities, it was taking longer than usual.


    ''Heh, so this is the limit of my body.''


    "HAHAHAHA! I LOVE THIS, NOW THIS IS A FIGHT! The taste of blood in my mouth, the feeling that any second I could die, Death is close to me that I feel so alive!"


    Ren shouted in bliss as he dodged each attacking his way, he then picked up a nearby spear and threw it at full power. Wherever the spear passed by the ground shattered and the shockwave was so intense it changed the weather. A couple more Demi-Gods fell to this move.


    Despite killing a lot of Demi-Gods, it still felt like there was no end in sight. Any other person would have felt despair in this situation but not Ren, what he felt now could not be described. Even his battle against the New God was not as enjoyable as this one, it was euphoria like no other.


    "KEEP ON COMING! LET''S HAVE MORE FUN!"

 Chapter 637 Playground

    Richard who ran to the northwest felt the ground shaking, he looked back and saw in the distance that arge area turned into a in filled with weapons. What he saw next was a battle he could not even have imagined before. This was a battle that causes the ground to shatter and the sky to burn.


    Richard who was told to flee could not leave as he watched the incredible battle happening in the distance. Even though he was already so far away he could feel the aftershocks of the battle as it was blowing even the mountains in the distance. He finally knew who Ren''s opponents were, those people attacking were the Demi-Gods that have been causing chaos throughout the upper and lower nes.


    Each Demi-God had special abilities that they had inherited from their parent. Not only do they have an ability only Gods can have but they can also cultivate the same way as humans which is different from the Gods. Some Demi-Gods are even stronger than the New Gods.


    When Richard saw so many Demi-Gods besieging Ren he could already guess what happened in thend of the Gods. Seeing how the Demi-Gods got here, means a lot of people have died under their hands.


    Richard who was deep in thought suddenly saw a crimson light pierce the sky, then that light slowly turned ck like an abyss. The aura of chaos emanating from Ren was devastating.


    ''Is that the Ancestor''s Qi?''


    Even at such a distance, Richard could clearly see Ren''s Qi, he could also feel its intensity that took his breath away. After releasing such ominous Qi the battle became even more chaotic. Richard could not follow the battle with his eyes, he could barely follow their movements even with his divine sense.


    Richard needed to move farther away as the battle was bing even more intense. Each strike was capable of killing Richard, in fact, the attack doesn''t even need to hit him directly just the aftershocks from their movement could hurt him or even kill him.


    Even though Richard could not participate in such a battle watching it was also beneficial to him, so he observed the battle with the intent of learning. As Richard continued to watch the battle for an entire day, it was at that time other people started toe. They were the members of the ns located nearby.


    Seeing the battle before them, they quickly reported back to their respective ns and brought back their strongest fighters. Richard frowned when he saw this, he knew that Ren wanted to fight by himself. If these people disturb Ren while he fights then based on the stories of all the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul their only ending will be the worst kind of death.


    ''I better warn them before they do something stupid.''


    Richard appeared before the other spectators and with a voice that was filled with Qi echoed throughout the area making everyone hear his voice.


    "Everyone I am Richard Tranor, the heir to the Tranor n!"


    When the people heard the name Tranor they all stopped. The Tranor n was part of the legendary ns created by humanity''s first hero, not to mention among all those legendary ns the Tranor n was one of the strongest.


    "How do we know you''re telling the truth? You do know what happens to those who lie about being part of those legendary ns."<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    One of the people asked, Richard could not help but sigh in relief when he heard that question. At least these people were willing to talk, Richard he would need to beat them up first.


    ''What am I thinking? Of course, they would at least listen to me. I''ve been with the Ancestor for just a few days and now my thinking is bing a bit distorted.''


    Richard shook his head trying to cast away those thoughts as he took out a ne. The ne had two swords ovepping with one another, one was pure ck and the other was deep blue. These were the twin des of the Ancestor of the Tranor n, Chaos, and Serenity. Then there was also the Qi of the current patriarch of the n who was a Saint.


    The Qi of a Saint cannot be replicated, proving the ne''s authenticity. Most of the n members have the same ne which already proves their rtion to the n but only the next head of the n was given the ne with the Qi of the current patriarch. When the people felt the oppressive auraing from the ne was without a doubt a Saint''s Qi so the people already believed Richard.


    "I''m sure that this should prove my identity."


    Everyone present nodded their heads, they all know what happens to people who question any n rted to the Strongest Mortal Soul. Those people are battle crazed and will surely destroy all who opposed them.


    "Alright, I want to say that no one should disturb that person''s battle. That person is a very important person to all the ns rted to the Strongest Mortal Soul. I will warn you just this once, anyone who dares join that battle will most likely die."


    "Even though you are the young master of the Tranor n you cannot dishonor us like this! Are you telling me that we are not enough to fight those Demi-Gods, that we will be killed by them, or are you saying that you will kill us if we try to join that fight?!" One of the men shouted in anger and his battle intent was rising. Not only he, but the others were also looking at Richard with angry expressions. Seeing them acting like this Richard sighed while shrugging his shoulders.


    "You misunderstood me, I do not doubt that you people can fight those Demi-Gods, but I never said that they will be the ones to kill you nor did I say I will be the one to do it. No, that man over there fighting by himself will kill you all if you bother him while in battle. Not only will kill you, he would do it in the most agonizing way possible."


    When the people heard what Richard said they looked at the smiling Ren. That man who was fighting by himself bleeding profusely butughing so heartily, despite his overwhelming power, and the battlefield was full of dead bodies and scattered weapons, the man fighting by himself looked like a kid ying happily with his friends on a yground.


    Seeing the battle before them many of them suddenly remembered a famous story and the protagonist of that story.


    A man who once fought against the very creator himself, unyielding in the face of all the trials that were given to him. It was said that person was able to fight all those desperate battles with a smile on his face. To his enemies that smile of his was like a death sentence but to his allies, that very smile gave them confidence it gave them hope. The reason why humanity was able to survive until today was because of him.


    "The Strongest Mortal Soul..."


    Many whispered that title of his, and as if they were heard a sword that could pierce the very heavens itself appeared. Seeing the scene before them, it was like they became part of those fairy tales told to them when they were children.

 Chapter 638 Falling Down

    Ren''s consciousness was getting a little hazy, his right arm was numb, and his breathing was bing unstable. Still, the smile on his face never faded, he even became more excited as his regeneration was no longer able to help him keep his wounds in check.


    Even though Ren could already use summoning spells, and could summon an army to fight for him, he did not do so. The reason for that is because this was a test the original incarnation gave him, well that''s what he tells himself, but the truth is he didn''t want anyone helping him in this enjoyable battle of his. Ren wanted to enjoy this battle with his body, and as he expected it was a thrill like no other. Ren looked ahead and saw that the hundreds of Demi-Gods he was facing were now left with only three people.


    These three remaining Demi-Gods were the strongest of the lot, so even with the others being dead it didn''t get easy for Ren in fact it became even harder to fight with his current condition. Due to Ren''s injuries, his consciousness was flickering. This would''ve been the most desperate moment for anyone else, but to Ren, it was the most exciting moment, this was the moment he could very well die.


    Ren went back to using the Death Scythe as it was his best weapon, and unlike before he was just fighting three people now so he could use the death scythe more effectively.


    The remaining three were a Demi-God with the power to control space to a certain extent, the other could summon instantaneous strength that could match and even surpass Ren''s own strength but it can onlyst for a few seconds and he needed to wait for a few minutes before being able to use it again, his normal strength was also good but nowhere near Ren''s. Lastly, there was the most dangerous Demi-God that Ren perceived, throughout the entire fight she only made two moves, and both times were the two times Ren nearly died.


    Ren had no idea what kind of ability thest Demi-God had, and that made her extremely dangerous. Also, unlike the other Demi-Gods she seems to retain a bit of her sanity and only moved when she found the best timing. Ren had no idea what was going on with her, but that just made it even more fun.


    The two Demi-Gods rush at Ren, and as Ren was about to slice through the enemy he felt something squeezing his body locking it in ce. At this moment when he could not move the Demi-God with instantaneous strength appeared before Ren and was about to m at him with all his might. In normal times Ren would''ve epted such a blow with relish, but in his current condition getting hit with that kind of power might end his life.


    Ren quickly checked what he could use and in the end, he found that he could only move his left hand. Ren saw the iing Demi-God about to hit him and the smile on his face became even more vicious. The very second the Demi-God was about to hit, Ren moved his hand and ced it forward. The Demi-God who was charging at Ren collided with Ren''s left hand.


    After the collision, the space lock was dispelled and the oue of the attack was seen. Ren''s left hand had bent in an odd way, on the other hand, the Demi-God with instantaneous strength had a hole in his abdomen.


    "Heh, my aim was off, oh well."


    Ren kicked his bent arm pushing it back into ce and then he charged at the Demi-God in front of him. As Ren was about to slice th Demi-God with instantaneous strength, the Demi-God suddenly disappeared. The other Demi-God who controls space had teleported his ally.


    ''So I need to get rid of that guy first.''


    Ren threw his scythe at the Demi-God that controls space, and the Demi-God unconsciously reacted by stopping the scythe with his space lock, it was then Ren appeared beside him and struck.


    Ren''s fist pierced through the other party''s body, and the Demi-God''s heart which was hit exploded on the spot. The Demi-God as he was dying had a moment of rity the link between him and the ORIGIN disappeared, and the Demi-God smiled peacefully as he faced his own demise. It was at that moment Ren sensed danger he stepped back and a knife shed through where Ren''s neck was before jumping backward. The Demi-God that hasn''t made a move for a while finally acted. It was surprising that even Ren wasn''t able to detect her presence before she struck.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Heh, you really are the most dangerous."


    While Ren was speaking he grabbed hold of his scythe and swung it behind him without even looking. The Demi-God with instantaneous strength was sliced in half with a shocked look on his face.


    "So... It''s just you... and I left."


    As Ren was speaking he was having a hard time focusing and he was already out of breath. It has been a long time since Ren was in such a dire situation, thest time he was in such a situation was the time when he faced the avatar of the ORIGIN. His body was screaming in pain, Ren almost knelt on the ground but he used his scythe as a walking stick to remain standing.


    "This will be thest strike!"


    Ren shouted at the enemy and also at himself to wake himself up. After thest attack, he had already guessed what kind of ability the other party was using. The Demi-God before him was able to jump a few seconds forward in time. This was the reason why no matter how hard he tried he could not detect her until she made a move. So the only way to hit her is the moment when she attacks.


    Despite being barely conscious Ren waited patiently for the other party to make a move. Ren was already showing a lot of openings but despite that, the other party doesn''t seem like she wants to attack. The female Demi-God might have been in a maddened state but she still retained a bit of her rationality and she knew that an opponent like Ren showing so many openings meant it was not safe to attack.


    ''I can pretty much guess what she''s thinking. I was trying to preserve some energy but I guess I have no choice.''


    Ren with some difficulty took a fighting stance, and the openings he had disappeared except for one area, the opening was barely there. Seeing that tiny opening the Demi-God finally made a move. The two of them looked like they just passed by each other but the truth was that the two had already attacked.


    Ren knelt on the ground panting, on the other hand, the female Demi-God was sliced clean in half. Ren looked behind him and bowed his head.


    "Thanks for the battle."


    Ren was about ready to fall into a deep sleep when a huge tear in the space before him appeared, it was then he suddenly felt an overwhelming presence. Something wasing, something much much more dangerous than the Demi-Gods he had fought.

 Chapter 639 Old God

    The tear in space grewrger andrger, the skies became darker, the ground continued to shake, and as all of this was going on somebody spoke in Ren''s mind.


    ''I already know what your answer is going to be but I still need to say it. The oneing through that tear is an Old God, in your current condition the chances of victory are almost nonexistent. I would want to say that you should flee, but as a reincarnation of me that was never an option, right?''


    ''Heh, if you already know the answer then why bother asking?''


    ''You do understand that you will die here and there will be no one to face the ORIGIN.''


    ''If it were you, will you flee?''


    ''Heh, of course not. Still, I already told you once before that if you die now there might not be a multiverse where we could reincarnate into as the ORIGIN might have destroyed it already, and unlike before no matter who among us takes over your current body the chances of winning are the same. Even then will you not flee?''


    ''Of course, I will never flee, never again. Besides if I can''t handle something like this then how should I face the ORIGIN in battle?''


    ''Fine, I still had a backhand prepared just in case, I didn''t want to use it but I guess if the timees I will have no choice. So if this will be the end at least be sure to show me an end worthy of my reincarnation.''


    ''Of course!''


    After that the original incarnation no longer spoke, Ren stared at the growing spatial tear in front of him with that vicious smile on his face. Ren ced back the death scythe into his shadow and took out his sword Snertal.


    Now that his spiritual supply and his stamina were nearly drained using the death scythe that uses a lot of both was not ideal, so instead, he took out his favorite sword which was powerful and can help him preserve his Qi.


    It was at this moment he remembered his idiotic son from before when he was Demon Lord Kretos. That day when that idiotic son gifted him his first defeat was the greatest joy in his life. Now just thinking about having this glorious end fighting against a True God a so called Old God made Ren feel joy like no other.


    ''If this is truly the end, this time I will die even more brilliantly than before.''


    Ren did a quick check of his current state, the left hand was okay, and the right was still a little numb but he could move it for a few seconds. Ren''s Qi was at an all-time low, but due to his ability to absorb the surrounding Qi, he was still able to make a few moves, but because of the lower amount he could not use his usual passive abilities.


    ''Still, this is enough I''m able to continue fighting.''


    Ren licked his lips as he continued to stare at the growing space tear. The power he felt within the space tear was quite powerful.


    ''If I had faced this Old God at my peak state... What am I thinking, actually thinking of what-ifs? Heh, I guess I really am at the end of my rope, to even think of such foolish things.''


    Ren shook his head trying to remove all the unnecessary thoughts. he needed his mind to be clear as he needed to focus everything on this battle. As an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, it wasn''t difficult for Ren to get into a battle state quickly.


    ...<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The tear in space finally stopped growing, and it was a few billion kilometers in length, one could only imagine what kind of being was about to pass through it. A giantrger than a steppe out from the tear and appeared before Ren, at this distance Ren could not even see the shape of the enemy, all he felt was a distortion of some of the naturalws.


    "We finally meet, oh Strongest Mortal Soul." A voice spoke directly in Ren''s ears, it was a pleasant-sounding voice which was a surprise.


    "Heh, this is surprising, are you still sane?"


    "If you''re asking if I have been corroded by the madness of the ORIGIN, then the answer would be yes and no."


    "Hoh, so you haven''t fully sumbed to the madness, then what are you doing here?"


    "I havee to take you away. If I offer you up to the ORIGIN, this whole ordeal might end."


    "How foolish, do you truly believe that would work?"


    "It is worth a try."


    "Is that so?... Well then, do you truly think you can take me?"


    "If it were the original you, then it would''ve been suicidal toe here if it had been Rei Kuraki that would''ve been a near-impossible feat to aplish, but you not to mention the current you who has been in a hard battle, capturing you should be possible."


    "It seems the Gods have forgotten their fear of the Strongest Mortal Soul, then allow me to remind you."


    Ren raised Snertal upward as it roared wildly at the Old God in front, as a dragon a race full of pride and power even now as a sword Snertal would never allow looking weak in front of a God. The roar was a signal for the Old God to begin his attack as he tried controlling Ren''s time but to no avail.


    "As expected of an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, thew of time does not affect you."


    Ren moved far away from the Old God, he appeared a few thousand kilometers away from the Old God, but despite being so far away Ren could still not see the form of the Old God, all he could see was a white wall.


    "Hmph, is the Strongest Mortal Soul fleeing?"


    "Heh, who would flee from the likes of you? I was just getting some distance so I can see what you look like."


    "Hmph, if that''s all you wanted, then you just need to tell me." The white wall disappeared and then someone suddenly appeared before Ren. It was a humanoid-shaped being made of some sort of white mass. There were no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth it was just white flesh in a shape of a human.


    "Heh, so you''re bald."

 Chapter 640 No One Tells Me What My Limits Are!

    "So are you going toe with me quietly to meet our creator the ORIGIN?" The white mass ofws that was called an Old God spoke.


    "Heh, even if you are somehow able to capture me do you even know where the ORIGIN was sealed?"


    "It doesn''t matter if I don''t know the location of the sealed universe. The malice, the madness that keeps creeping into my very soul is getting stronger meaning the seal that has been ced is weakening. Even though the ORIGIN still hasn''t been fully released, he still has pseudo-omnipresence. I know an area where he has full dominion over even in his sealed state. I just need to offer you up in that location."


    "So that''s how you n to do things... Well, my answer is obvious." Ren raised Snertal and pointed it at the Old God.


    "As expected."


    The Old God raised his hand and a tree as tall as a mountain suddenly grew in front of Ren''s eyes. The branches of the gigantic tree came raining down on Ren as if the tree had a mind of its own. Ren quickly cut off the branches that came at him but no matter how much he cut down more branches kept oning.


    ''I need to destroy the source.''


    Ren appeared at the base of the gigantic tree and using Snertal tried to slice through the tree trunk. It was harder than he thought, multiplews were protecting the tree trunk, and not only that it even had the stink of divinity on it. The cutting of the tree actually took Ren a few seconds longer than the time he thought he would need, making him open from an attack.


    As Ren expected the Old God made a move and tried to use force teleportation on him, but it failed to activate as Ren anticipated it and threw a weapon that disrupts such spells. As Ren finished cutting the tree, a geyser erupted directly below him. Ren was a step toote and could not dodge.


    After the geyser blew him upward the water surrounded him and ced him inside some sort of water orb made of divine water. Ren tried to escape the divine water orb but found it difficult to do so, he then gritted his teeth and poured all of his remaining Qi into Snertal.


    The sword made of a dragon''s bone and injected with its soul roared violently breaking the divine water orb. Ren shed at the Old God''s side and attacked with everything he had. The sword''s path was blocked by an invisible wall, but Ren''s sword pass through it like it was butter. Snertal was about to sh the Old God when the Old God casually lifted its hand catching Snertal.


    The Old God used a bit of thew of time to stop Snertal''s time and thew of space to halt Snertal''s downward sh. Even though Dragons were famous for negating almost all forms of spells, some even had the power to ignore the veryws of the universe itself, but surely a young dragon that was turned into a sword didn''t have such power or so the Old God thought.


    Snertal ignored thew of time and space used by the Old God and continued downward but as it was about to slice through the Old God, Ren''s de stopped as the Old God held onto Snertal.


    "As expected of an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, even in your condition you still have the power to harm me. Unfortunately, no matter how strong you be in the end, you''re still a mortal, this is were your limit lies."


    Hearing what the Old God said Ren chuckled, he was about to respond but then he felt a burning sensation on his chest. The sun mark that was near Tsukiyomi''s moon mark suddenly started to glow. As Ren''s head started to ache he saw a moving dot in the distance. Ren could no longer think straight so he ignored what was happening and finally responded to the Old God.


    "Heh, who are you to tell me what my limit is?! I am Ren! Reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul! Former Demon Lord Kretos! yer of Demon Lords and Heroes alike! Dominator of Spirits and Dragons! and the bane of the Gods!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ren burst out with an indescribable power, it was a power that was always within him but he had no ess to, until now. Ren''s very soul became his power and enveloped him and his weapon Snertal.


    The Old God that was so sure of his victory finally felt a true threat of death, as he tried to block Ren''s sh. The Old God was then finally forced to use his actual power.


    "Under my true name Gwydion I dere to unleash my heavenly might!"


    The Old God Gwydion who was just a white mass in the shape of a human transformed into a muscr man with long ck hair and white eyes. Not only did his appearance change by the aura he was emanating became suffocatingly powerful.


    Gwydion raised his other hand and a barrier with multipleyers appeared in front slowing down Ren''s sh. Gwydion then summoned a glowing white longsword and swung it upward intercepting Ren''s sh.


    The two weapons collided which made the ground below them shatter and the sky above them part ways. The wind created by their sh turned into numerous tornadoes. The very space surrounding them was shattering from their power. Gwydion was once again surprised that even at full power he was not able to get the upper hand against an extremely weakened incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "As always no matter the incarnation you defy all logic. Still, how long can you keep this up?"


    "Heh, you''re bing more talkative, are getting scared?" Ren was about to say something more but blood came rising from within his throat wanting toe out.


    "It seems like this battle ising to an end." Gwydion''s indifferent tone coupled with his cold look just ignited Ren''s fighting spirit.


    "True this battle ising to an end, and this move will be the one to end it!"


    Ren''s power once again increased drastically as he sliced through Gwydion''s longsword. Ren was finally able to strike Gwydion''s body. Seeing he had sessfully hit Ren''s consciousness could no longer hold it as he took a final look at his opponent.


    There was a slice mark in Gwydion''s chest, it was a deep wound that was filled with Ren''s Qi, this was a wound that will never be healed but to an Old God like Gwydion, this was nothing more than an annoyance.


    "Tsk, not as good as I hope, but thanks for the battle." Ren chuckled before he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.


    Seeing Ren finally fall down, Gwydion was about to take him when he noticed that someone had erected a well-built barrier locking them in the area. Gwydion looked behind him and saw a dragon flying towards them at a speed close to the speed of light. Even at this distance, Gwydion could see that the dragon was several times bigger than his true size.

 Chapter 641 Tanith

    ?


    In a space between universes, an obsidian-scaled dragon the size of a fewsbined was sleeping. This was one of the most powerful dragons second only to the mother of all dragons. This was anotherpanion of an incarnation of the Strongest, Tanith.


    She was dreaming her never-ending dream of the days she adventures with Edge Regius and Rei Kuraki. Those days of fighting alongside herpanions were the best of times. Back then Tanith thought those days would continue forever, but after Rei''s death, their contract could no longer be felt.


    She could not understand it at the time, as the Strongest Mortal Soul wasn''t he bound to reincarnate endlessly, so surely he must exist somewhere. In the beginning, Tanith alongside Tsukiyomi traveled through different universes trying to find the reincarnated Edge, but no matter how hard they tried they could not find him, eventually, Tsukiyomi stopped her journey with Tanith.


    "Sorry Tanith, unlike you I can''t continue for too long without my contractor. So you need to continue this journey on your own for now."


    "It''s really weird if you suddenly speak like that, it''s like we''ll never see each other again." Tsukiyomi smiled slightly as she closed her eyes before responding.


    "Kukuku, well then ck Dragon Tanith, I guess this is goodbye for now. I will return to the ce where Edge and I first met. If you meet first be sure to bring him to that ce."


    "Don''t order me around you little Ethereal..."


    "See you fat lizard."


    The two looked at each other seemingly about to start a battle, but after ring at each other for a few seconds the two started giggling.


    "Take care, Tanith."


    "Sleep well, Tsukiyomi."


    The two then parted ways, and after that Tanith continued on her journey to find the new reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Tanith visited numerous universes, in some she was the savior and in others, she was the destroyer. Still, to Tanith all of those things were just fleeting scenes in her search for the current Edge.


    At the start of her journey, Tanith would get excited visiting a new ce thinking this time she would find the current reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but as time went on that enthusiasm began to fade and was reced by a growing dejection.


    Even for a dragon tens of thousands of years was a long time. At some point, Tanith gave up and hid in a space between the universes, between the upper and lower nes. In that space she was all alone, where she sleeps dreaming of the days long past, of the adventures with her belovedpanions. She even remembers thest time she spoke to Rei Kuraki.


    It was the eve of battle against the avatar of the ORIGIN, many people had fled the part of the gxy where they were going to do battle. Rei spoke to every singlepanion of his one-on-one, and then it was Tanith''s turn.


    "Tomorrow will most likely be our final battle. So tell me how are you feeling Tanith?"


    "Heh, Rei Kuraki there''s no need to bother worrying about my mental state. As a mighty ck dragon I do not fear the Gods nor am I willing to bow down to a maddened creator. I will fight with all my might that you can be assured of." Hearing Tanith''s reply Rei shook his head. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I already know that, and that''s not why I''m asking what you''re feeling now Tanith... I know that you Tsukiyomi and a few others only follow me because, in my past lives, I was a lover, master, and parent to you guys. Still, I want you to know that it is true that I was once Edge Regius, but Rei Kuraki is a different person. Even knowing that will you still follow me to certain doom?"


    "Heh, HAHAHA! Is that all you wanted to ask? I already understood that no matter how simr you two are, and even though he was your past life, you are not Edge Regius. Though it is true that the only reason I followed you, in the beginning, is because you were his reincarnation and the contract we share, but now I follow you because Rei Kuraki is someone I trust."


    "Is that so?... Hey Tanith, after the battle what do you n on doing?"


    "I n to continue following you. Staying by the side of the Strongest Mortal Soul no matter the incarnation is always bound to be fun and exciting."


    "I see... Alright, it''s decided then after the battle all of us should go on another grand adventure how about going to find the mother of all dragons? Yeah, then we can go visit the birthce of the Ethereals."


    Rei continued to speak of the grand adventure they would have after the battle, and Tanith continued to listen with a smile on her face. Unfortunately, all those ns will nevere to fruition, as the next battle will be where Rei Kuraki would take his final breath. The grand adventure they nned to go on could only happen in their dreams.


    ...


    Tanith who was in her deep sleep continued to dream, of what used to be and what could''ve been. The space she was in suddenly shook and she felt a familiar presence. The eyes that had been closed for thousands of years finally opened and a roar that shook the void came out of her.


    ''I can feel it he''s finally appeared! Where is it?! I need to meet him right now!'' Tanith quickly tried to sense the location of the new reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul through their contract.


    ''The upper nes!'' Once she found the location Tanith spread her wings and broke the barrier between universes and flew at full speed.


    ''I wonder what the new reincarnation is like. Obviously, he''s going to be someone who loves battle. I wonder if there are many women beside him like before. Did Tsukiyomi already meet up with him or am I going to be the first one? I wonder if he has memories of his past lives, like Rei Kuraki. I really want to meet him faster!''


    Tanith felt a long-lost emotion, she felt excited. Tanith appeared in the upper realm where the Gods and the truly strong humans live in. She was able to sense the new reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but for some reason, his aura that suddenly exploded in strength was now being drained at a terrifying pace.


    ''He''s in the middle of a battle which I already expected but, he''s actually losing? Who''s the opponent?''


    Tanith finally sensed the aura of divinity that she hated so much, it was an Old God that was facing the current reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. Tanith teleported into the area near the battle and sealed the area so that the Old God won''t be able to escape.


    ''Damn it! I just found you, I won''t allow a stinking God to take you away from me again!''


    Tanith roared at the Old God who seem to be taking away the unconscious reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. The Old God Gwydion changed back to its original size and was about to confront the iing Tanith.

 Chapter 642 Dragon And God

    ?


    Two gigantic beings faced off against each other. On one side was an Old God a powerful being that could manipte some of the naturalws of the universe. At the same time, the other was a ck dragon one of the strongest species of dragon that was not personally created by the ORIGIN but birthed from the mother dragon which was created by the multiverse itself.


    Despite being bigger than somes from the lower nes the entire body of the Old God Gwydion was just the same size as the ck dragon Tanith''s head. Still, despite the size difference Gwydion stood proud and tall.


    "What are you doing here you lizard?"


    "Heh, a puny god like you calling me a lizard."


    "You didn''t answer my question, what are you doing here?"


    "I came to save the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, so just step aside and leave. I don''t really wish to ruin this reunion of him and me, so for now I will allow you to live."


    "A measly lizard trying to order me a God?" The more Gwydion spoke he started to feel a little frustrated and summoned a weapon in his hand. As Gwydion''s frustration grew so did his anger, and his aura was also changing into something ominous.


    "Oh, you stink of madness... I see so that''s what it was, it has finally happened. As expected those beings spiritually connected to that thing are so unfortunate. Hmph, I don''t know if I should pity you orugh at you."


    "How dare you lizard! The ORIGIN might not have directly created your species, but your birth came from the multiverse the ORIGIN created. How dare you speak like that to your own creator."


    Gwydion who was still holding onto his sanity before was having a hard time at this point. The pace of the madness eroding his very soul has progressed dramatically. The battle with Ren and the meeting with a dragon that keeps on challenging him affected his emotions too much.


    "Hmph, even though you''re speaking so rudely to me I''ll let it slide since this is a happy day and I don''t want you ruining my mood. Here, even though you''re an Old god I''ll help you just this once since it seems you have given him a decent battle."


    Tanith looked at the unconscious Ren who was smiling so happily, it was easy to guess what his final thoughts were before fainting. Tanith then lifted one of her ws and made a tear in space. An object floated out and appeared before the Old God.


    "That''s a special potion that dys the madness eroding in your soul. It will relieve your symptoms for a few more years, I only have two bottles of this so be grateful."


    When Gwydion heard what Tanith said he could not believe his ears, there was something able to block the madness. Of course, Gwydion never even suspected that Tanith was lying since the prideful dragons would never lie.


    "How and why did you make this, also why are you giving me this thing?"


    "So many questions, but fine I guess I can answer. Back when mypanions and I first learned about the madness the ORIGIN was spreading, we tried to create a potion that could cure the ORIGIN of said madness, unfortunately, we failed. The potion was only able to suppress the madness and not cure it. Still, we were able to dy this day for so long thanks to this potion, too bad the materials needed for this potion were things I can no longer remember, but I''m somewhat certain that those ingredients no longer exist, and even if they did the person who created it the only person who knew how to make the potion is no longer alive. As for your other question, did you not hear me the first time? I''m giving it to you as thanks for giving his current reincarnation a decent battle. So drink it now and leave, but if you don''t want it and insist on taking him from me, then I guess this will be your death day."


    Tanith''s aura rose as she used her ''Dragon''s Might'' which actually affected Gwydion who was an Old God. Usually, a normal ''Dragon''s Might'' used by an Ancient Dragon would barely affect even a New God, but Tanith was no ordinary Dragon, she was second only to the mother of all Dragons in strength, so her ''Dragon''s Might'' can affect Old Gods. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "So what will you choose Old god?"


    Gwydion was silent as he stared at the potion floating in front of him, he then looked at Tanith whose size towered over him. The madness in him wanted to fight against the arrogant Dragon, it was also telling him to kill the current incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but the sanity that remains told him that it was better to ept Tanith''s offer. After a long silence, Gwydion finally responded.


    "You said you had two of these potions, correct?"


    "Hmph, don''t be greedy Old god. I already know what you''re thinking, but thest potion is for someone special, so don''t push it. Be grateful that I''m even willing to give you this one."


    "..."


    The two once again stared into each other''s eyes. Tanith was already losing her patience, she wanted to end this farce quickly so that she could save the exhausted incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. If Gwydion continued to dy giving an answer she would attack him without mercy.


    "I ept your terms, give me the potion and lower the barrier. I will leave after drinking the potion." Gwydion finally gave his answer.


    "You made a wise choice today little god."


    Tanith handed over the potion, and Gwydion drank it. The potion quickly took effect as Gwydion''s mind became a bit clearer, and the madness no longer overpowered him. The way the potion was stopping the madness from oveing him Gwydion predicted that it would take a few more decades before the madness fully takes over him. A few decades wasn''t really a lot of time for an Old God like him, but Gwydion was still grateful for that much.


    "Thank you."


    Tanith looked at Gwydion surprised by what he said, he never expected to be thanked by a God much less an Old God. It was hard to tell with her Dragon''s face but she was truly shocked.


    "Heh, I never expected to be thanked by any kind of God. Hmph, but it doesn''t feel bad. So now that you took the potion you may leave." Gwydion hesitated to leave at this moment and looked like he wanted to say something.


    "Why aren''t you leaving yet, don''t tell me you n on going back on what we agreed on?" Tanith growled a bit as she spoke. Gwydion quickly shook his head and responded.


    "No, I just wanted to ask if you could tell me the ingredients for this potion."


    "As I said before, the only one who knew anything about the creation of this potion was already dead. I don''t know about the other ingredients used, the only thing I know is it used a little bit of my blood to make it. If that''s all you wanted to ask then leave now."


    Gwydion knew that he could no longer push his luck, it was already good enough that he knows that the blood of a Dragon was needed to make. Gwydion nodded his head and left.

 Chapter 643 The Final Test

    ?


    Ren woke up and found himself in a dark empty space, of course, he did not panic as not only did this ce feel very familiar to him, but he also felt no restrictions were ced on him. Ren used his mana sense to see where he was yet all he could see was an endless abyss.


    ''Did I die? No, even if I did die as a reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul I should have entered that specialized soul realm... Is this because our soul has weakened again?... No that can''t be it, the ORIGIN had already solved that problem. So then where am I, was I really captured?''


    "Why do you look so worried?"


    The moment he heard a voice from behind him Ren reacted quickly and got into a defensive stance. Ren who had just had a very tough battle was tense but then he realized that the voice sounded familiar.


    "Why are you acting like that, do you want to fight? Oh right, what a stupid question as one of my reincarnations of course you want to fight."


    From the darkness, a figure emerged it was the most powerful person Ren knew, this was the original incarnation the origin of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "I see, so I really did die in the end... I guess I failed you, huh? So what''s going to happen next?"


    "Huh? I think you misunderstood something, you didn''t die you just fainted you overused a power way beyond your current limit."


    "What does it matter if I fainted or not, that Old God will sacrifice me to the ORIGIN either way, so I''m going to die anyway."


    "Howe you suddenly became so pessimistic?"


    "I''m not pessimistic, I''m a realist. I fought with everything I got, no, I gave more than that and I still lost. You should know that the Old God wants to offer me up to the ORIGIN, so maybe the final battle will start any second now."


    "No that won''t happen, since you were saved."


    "Huh? Who was able to save me? None of those near me had enough strength to fight an Old God"


    "The one who saved you was one of Edge''s originalpanions the Dragon Tanith."


    When Ren heard the name Tanith various memories flooded his head. Edge once showed Ren various scenes in his life, and in those scenes, Tsukiyomi and Tanith had prominent positions. Of course, Ren remembers the powerful obsidian Dragon. Ren then realized what the shining mark on his chest that glowed before was.


    "I see... So that''s what it was..."


    "Why do you look so disappointed? Never mind I can already guess what you''re thinking. Hmph, do not think of such superfluous things, you survived, for now, that''s all that matters."


    "Heh, I guess you''re right... So what happened after I fainted?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The original incarnation waved his hand and a floating screen appeared from the darkness. On the screen, the scene when Ren faints was shown, it then shows Tanith''s appearance as well as her talk with the Old God. After they were done talking Tanith gave something to the Old God which made the other party leave. Once the Old God was gone, Tanith started to observe the unconscious Ren and after a while, she picked him up and ced him on her back.


    "So that''s how I was saved."


    "Well now that we got that all cleared... Congrattions!"


    As the original incarnation''s voice fell a blinding light appeared above their heads with the words Congrattions shing before Ren''s eyes.


    "You have proven your strength, I was already expecting you to be able to barely fight against that many Demi-Gods, but as expected of one of my reincarnations you went far beyond that. You actually fought an Old God and forced him to show his true face. The progress of your strength is quite good despite the limitations at the beginning."


    "Hmm, so are you going to continue that story of yours?"


    "Of course, I never go back on my word, but before that, there is one final test you must pass."


    "Hey! You never said anything about another test!"


    "Well, I just decided on this new test now. Why got a problem with that? It''s not like you have anything better to do."


    The original incarnation looked at Ren in such a way that it felt like Ren could hear the other party''s voice without him even opening his mouth, it was like he was saying "are you stupid or something?" Seeing that look Ren could only sigh as he scratched his head before he replied.


    "Fine, whatever the challenge is I will do it! Come on then, original one bring it on!"


    Ren''s fighting spirit was ignited. The change between being reluctant and forced to do it, into a burning hot-blooded passion was something most incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul could do. No matter how many times he sees that change from his various reincarnations the original couldn''t help but smile as he too remembered the origin of why he had such a personality trait that sunk into his very soul.


    "Heh, since you''re able to speak so confidently then let''s begin. The test before was a test of your physical power, but this time it''s a test of your mentality and spirit."


    The original incarnation lifted his finger and pointed at Ren. The surrounding darkness was engulfing Ren but he did not move from his spot as he knew that this was part of the test. As per usual there was no fear in Ren''s eyes as the darkness slowly took over his five senses.


    "I forgot to warn you, this is a test that I had all of my reincarnations take. Among all of them, only a handful was able to barely pass. This test is something that could break even those guys that are known as fearless."


    Ren clicked his tongue as he knew that the original incarnation did not truly forget to tell him, surely that guy waited for this moment as he just wanted to tease him. Ren''s sense of hearing was about to be fully taken over when he once again heard the original incarnation''s voice.


    "I hope you don''t disappoint." Those were thest words Ren heard when all his five senses disappeared.

 Chapter 644 In The Darkness

    There was only darkness in front of me, an eternal nothingness, an abyss like no other, I tried to move my body but I wasn''t sure if it actually moved, I wasn''t even sure if my eyes were even open. In this dark ce, I could not smell anything, I could not feel anything and I could not hear anything, right now I felt like I''m talking but I was unsure if my mouth is moving or if this is just the voice in my head.


    I tried to use my spiritual senses but even that didn''t work. In such a ce, the only reason I know I still exist is because of my own consciousness, talking to myself like this helps me. I wasn''t even sure if time was passing by in this weird ce, was I here for a few minutes, or has it been more than an hour now? Time did it even exist in such a ce?


    In this ce there was nothing but uncertainty, I wasn''t even sure if this is truly part of the so-called test... Wait a minute, test? What test?... Now that I think about it, why am I even here?... What is this, I can''t remember anything concrete, no matter how hard I try it''s like a fog is blocking my thoughts.


    It feels like when I got here I still had that memory but as time passes by my memories seem to be like clouds in the sky. They''re there but for some reason, he could not grasp them, it felt like knowing something but not fully knowing it.


    I can''t even remember my own name, but I''m sure I had a body once or is that just a fantasy of mine? No that can''t be it... I''m sure that I had a body before, and that I was somebody, but then who am I and why am I here? All I can get from my vague memories is this is a test of some sort.


    Once again I tried to see aside from my consciousness what else was there. If I''m truly alive shouldn''t there be a heartbeat or any other sign? No, in this ce except for my own consciousness, there is no sound so how can I know if my heart is still beating? Maybe instead of trying to figure out things about me, I better figure out what kind of ce this is.


    Even now as I''m talking I''m not even sure if my words are just in my head or did I speak from my mouth. Alright, it''s no use thinking so frantically, first I need to calm my mind and spirit.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    I guess in this situation all I can do is wait, if this is a test then there must be a proctor. Surely at some point, the person who created this test will appear.


    I then started to wait in this endless darkness with nothing but my own thoughts. The flow of time in this ce was unknown but to me, it felt like weeks, then months, then years went by, yet no matter how long I waited no one came. It wouldn''t be so bad if I was just experiencing this continuous nothingness, but the more I stay in this ce the more my memories seem to fade.


    If before my memories were simply vague but still there, now one by one my memories seem to be disappearing. Even though I''m supposed to not feel anything in this ce, for some reason it seems like this darkness suddenly became cold. What is happening to me, what is this feeling I''m having?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Death is cruel but this is worst than death, for some reason that thought suddenly came to my mind. I shook it off and continued to observe this weird feeling I''m having.


    At first, I was simply curious about this growing feeling that I could notprehend but the more it stayed the more things I felt. Even without my memories, even without knowing if I still have a body or not, something started to bubble up deep within me. What is this, not only is the darkness invading from the outside it is even invading my own consciousness... Is this feeling perhaps, fear? Am I actually afraid?


    I might not remember my own name, nor can I remember my own experiences, I''m not even sure if my thoughts are my own, but I''m sure I have never experienced such fear before. It''s not like I have never experienced fear, even without my memory I''m sure I had experienced a few instances of fear, any living being would have such emotion, but this kind of fear that threatens my consciousness to such a degree should be a first for me.


    Still, it''s not only fear I feel at this moment, it seems like there is another emotion that came at the same time as fear.


    ...


    Unlike the fear that was spreading inside of him which was like the darkness surrounding him, something burning like a bright sun was also spreading within him. Different from the unknown feeling of fear this new feeling was something his very soul could never forget. From within his fear, excitement, and joy sprouted.


    As the fear grew for some reason so did his excitement, the two grew proportionally, in fact, the more they grew within him the feeling of excitement slowly grew faster than the fear.


    He no longer cared how long he was in the darkness, he no longer cared to know who he was or whatever memory he had, all he cared about at this moment was if the fear would be able to overwhelm him or if he could ovee the great fear that was threatening his very existence.


    When that very thought was born into his mind the fear within him no longer stood a chance of growing beyond his excitement. The cloudy vague memories in his mind started to clear up, it was then he could not help but smile.


    ...


    I remember now!!! I am an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, the former Demon Lord Kretos, I am Ren!!!


    Once he recalled this memory the fiery passion to surpass the darkness surrounding him burst outwards. The darkness was blown away by a light like a burning sun.

 Chapter 645 What Happened?

    ?


    Ren burst out of the darkness and when he opened his eyes the original incarnation was not there as he expected, and the ce he was in was no longer inside his soul realm. The ce he woke up in was still dark all around but unlike before he could feel his body moving, he could smell the scent of fire, and when he used his mana sense it actually worked.


    Ren was quite surprised to know he was underneath the body of a massive living being, it was a being that was quite literally bigger than mosts. Ren was a little confused at first but then he felt the contract with Tanith was having some kind of weird reaction, it was at that moment he finally realized who the massive living being that was on top of him was.


    Ren quickly burst out all of his spiritual power as he teleported himself outside the area where Tanith''s body was. When Ren got out of the Shade under Tanith''s body what he saw was simply a disaster.


    By the looks of it, he was no longer in the area of the upper nes he was once in, but in an area where the ground looks like the reflection of the universe and the sky was filled with stars blowing up.


    Tanith the dragon in front of him was barely alive her obsidian scales that deflect most physical and spiritual attacks were broken, and her body was bleeding all over but not a single drop of blood was on the ground.


    Tanith''s eyes opened and when she saw Ren she quickly transformed into her human form. Upon transforming into her human form, Tanith looked even more bloody. Even though she had blood all over her body, the bloody appearance actually enhanced Tanith''s violent beauty.


    "It has been such a long time... It''s a good thing... I was able to see you again..." Tanith smiled as she staggered towards Ren caressing his face, her eyes no longer able to focus. "I... Hope I can join you again... in... another... advent-" Tanith couldn''t finish her words as her eyes closed never to be opened again.


    Even though Ren has never truly met Tanith, the memories from Edge came flooding in and he could not stop a tear from falling. Ren tried tomunicate with the people in his soul realm but no one responded, in fact, after trying for a while he found out that he could notmunicate with them but he could not enter his soul realm.


    ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom ''What is happening here?''


    As Ren was trying to figure things out he notice that Tanith''s left hand was pointing at something. Since he could not figure out where he was Ren decided to head in the direction Tanith was pointing at, but before he left he encased Tanith''s body in ice and absorbed it into his shadow.


    ...


    While Ren was dashing through the unknownnd the bursting stars above him gave him an ominous feeling.


    Even though Ren himself had the power to destroy stars, seeing so many stars being destroyed at the same time was quite the spectacle.


    It was not only chaotic outside, but even inside Ren''s mind was equally chaotic, for some reason he could not seem to think clearly. It was not as bad as when he was inside the darkness but it was still affecting his overall performance. This phenomenon was also enhancing some of his emotions. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ren who was running at full speed was also spreading out his mana sense, and after a while, he suddenly felt many familiar presences. The look on Ren''s face was that of shock and worry as those familiar presences were weakening until they slowly disappeared.


    Ren burst out with more power as he sprinted towards the area where he felt those presences. When Ren arrived he could not speak as what he saw was something he never wanted to see. Lara, Tsukiyomi, Elizabeth, and all of his other wives were there on the ground most of them were already dead.


    Ren could not understand what he was seeing, even Tsukiyomi and Elizabeth had fallen. Those two have fought Old Gods before, and Elizabeth even faced off against an Ancient God and survived. Not only the two of them but all of his wives were battle capable even if they could not defeat an Old God they still had the ability to escape.


    Ren gritted his teeth and approached Elizabeth the only one who was still alive. Ren tried to heal her but no matter what he did nothing was working. Elizabeth opened her eyes and when she saw Ren she showed a simr smile as Tanith.


    "Hey... I guess I won''t be able to apany you on your next battles... I''m sorry that I was too weak to protect them." Ren quickly shook his head as he gently hugged the dying Elizabeth. Even though time was limited Ren did not even think of asking her what happened to them.


    "It''s not your fault, it is mine for being too weak to protect any of you."


    "You really are different from the other reincarnations... Always apologizing... Hey Ren, can you please call me by my name for onest time? Not Silika but my true name." Elizabeth''s voice was bing softer the more she spoke.


    "Of course, Elizabeth. I will call you by this name until you''re satisfied."


    "..." Elizabeth no longer responded her breathing slowed down until it finally stopped.


    "Eli..."


    Ren slowly ced Elizabeth down and saw that she had a wonderful smile on her face. Seeing her like this Ren closed his eyes for a moment, he then stood up, picked up all of his wives, and ced them next to each other. Ren cleaned their bodies and fixed their clothes, after he was done he encased them all in ice and ced them into his shadow, except for one.


    Ren took a long look at Lara, he then closed his eyes and hugged her dead body. Ren gently kissed Lara''s forehead then he leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Ren continued to hug her dead body as if wanting to warm her body back to life, but no matter how long he hugged her she remained unmoving. Ren separated from Lara. encased her in ice and ced her into his shadow. As her body encased in ice was descending into his shadow Ren mumbled to himself.


    "Thank you, for everything."

 Chapter 646 WHY?!

    ?


    Ren could not understand what was happening around him, and for some reason, his emotions were bursting out of him. Normally even in such a situation, he would quickly stabilize himself, but at this time he felt there was something wrong with him there was something like a fog clouding his judgment.


    Ren who was overwhelmed by his own emotions roared loudly. Ren''s aura exploded outward as he continued to roar, tears were slowly falling from his eyes. What he was feeling was something he has never experienced before. He has lived two lives and has an inheritance of numerous others, one of which was thousands of years, and even with that much experience this kind of thing was a first for him.


    Ren punched forward with the strength that could burst a star, he then stomped on the ground with the strength to crack an entire in half. As he continued to rampage around the faces of his wives appeared in his mind, the adventures he had with them, even the adventures of his past reincarnations with Tsukiyomi, Tanith, Lara, and Elizabeth kept shing in his mind.


    Ren stopped attacking the air and knelt on the ground. He bit his lip until it bled, and he then smashed his head onto the ground. Yet no matter what he did he could not calm down. Not only was Ren not calming down he was also getting more and more confused and annoyed.


    "Oh, it looks like you''re having fun here all by yourself."


    Ren heard a very familiar voice speak behind him he stopped what he was doing and turned around. Ren saw three familiar faces, it was Valdel, Sora, and the fourth hero he fought as a demon Lord, Hero Shin. Ren could understand Valdel being here, he could barely ept Shin being here, but Sora under normal circumstances was nearly impossible to appear since he clearly remember killing the other party. Ren immediately took out the death scythe and got into a defensive position.


    "Who are you people?"


    "Can''t even recognize your best friend?" Valdel shrugged his shoulders as he responded.


    "Heh, you really do act and feel like Valdel, but how can you exin those two people beside you? Even if you are real, why are you with two of my former enemies?"


    "Heh, I''m heartbroken to hear that Kretos, oh wait you''re called Ren now right? We might have fought before, but even then I never really thought of you as an enemy and I was sure you felt the same way."


    Sora sighed and shook his head as he spoke. Ren was really surprised by what he was seeing, their actions, their tone, and the words they speak even for him it was hard to say if they were truly fakes.


    "Okay, let''s say that you are who you say you are, then what are you guys doing here?"


    "What I''m about to tell you now is the truth. I and these two like Lara and others are already dead. I don''t know who, but, someone summoned us into this ce, and before I could react I was killed. Funny right, as a rival to the former Demon Lord Kretos I was actually killed without seeing the enemy''s face."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ren was startled, there was too much information in what Valdel said. Still, this just made Ren act even more cautious.


    "Then before I knew it I was resurrected, and now I''m forced to tell you all these things. If that wasn''t cruel enough whoever did this to me, made me retain my memories and my emotions. Yet I have no control over the expression on my face, and I''m only partially able to speak what I want to say. Deep inside Ren, I''m screaming, I''m trying my best to break free, but I can''t. I hope that you''ll be able to kill me."


    The way Valdel spoke it was like he was having a normal conversation with Ren, there were no fluctuations in his tone, his expression, or his movements.


    "If you''re really controlled by someone, then why are you talking to me like this, why not just attack and kill me, or is that not what the one who controls you wants to do?"


    "I already told you what I''m telling you right now is something that mysterious being allowed. I don''t know what that being''s n is, maybe to rattle you or something, but he doesn''t really know you that well. Something like this won''t shake you. So please, kill us."


    Valdel finished speaking and disappeared from Ren''s sight, Ren moved his head slightly, and Valdel''s fist passed by where his head was. The wind pressure alone could kill a few high-level fighters but it was not enough to harm even a single hair on Ren''s head. Sora and Shin also acted at the same time and were about to sh down at Ren from above, but before their weapons could reach Ren swung the death scythe pushing them away. Ren then quickly grabbed Valdel''s hand before he was able to retract it.


    Ren threw Valdel at the flying Shin and Sora, the three hit each other and before they could do anything Ren appeared before them and using the death scythe sliced them right in the middle. The difference in power between the two sides was too great.


    Valdel, Sora, and Shin might have been strong opponents before, but to the current Ren, they were no longer at the same level. Ren didn''t even allow them to go all out, Shin had a stronger half-dragon form he hasn''t used yet, Sora still hasn''t pulled out his strongest weapon, and Valdel was still suppressing his mana.


    Normally Ren would have waited for the three to go all out before finishing them off, but this time it was different. Ren''s emotions were all over the ce and he could not keep a calm mind, at this point he wasn''t sure of himself. If for some reason he would hesitate and the fight drags too long he might have difficulty continuing to fight, which is why he decided to end it quickly.


    The three who had fallen had a smile on their faces as their bodies were fading away. Before Valdelpletely faded away he mouthed out the words thank you to Ren.


    Seeing his best friend once again die, coupled with the fact that all of his wives have fallen Ren had no words, all he felt at this point was suffocating pain. It was at this moment when he was at his lowest he heard the sound of someone pping.

 Chapter 647 Fear? Anger? Hatred? Im Already Beyond All That.

    ?


    When Ren saw the being that suddenly appeared before him, he could identify the other party almost instantly. This was the one most high, the absolute ruler of the endless universes, the controller of allws between heaven and earth, supreme and unparalleled. The Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent, the ORIGIN.


    The body of the ORIGIN looks like it was made up of multiple universes swirling within his deep abyss-like body. Just looking at the body of the ORIGIN makes one feel the vastness of the universe, it would make one feel the very breath of the universe.


    Just simply standing in front of him, Ren could feel a sense of oppression that prated his very soul, but as a reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul he could resist it, if it were anyone else they would''ve already knelt or if they were weaker died by simply being in the presence of the ORIGIN.


    "As expected of my favorite son, even after observing my true body you still remain unfazed."


    The voice that came out of the ORIGIN was not like anything Ren has ever heard before. The closest thing he could think of that was somewhat simr was the voice of Chaos and Serenity, the tone which was both man and woman, ancient and young, overbearing and fragile. The ORIGIN''s voice was like the meshing of two extremes.


    If you''re not powerful enough simply hearing the ORIGIN''s voice would turn a person insane, but to those worthy, the sound of his voice brings endless enlightenment.


    "Where you the one who killed them?" Ren went straight to the point and directly asked the ORIGIN the question that has been in his mind the very moment he saw the ORIGIN. Even though his emotions were all over the ce at the moment, the tone of his voice as he spoke was that of pure indifference.


    "That''s a weird question to ask me. The act of Killing means actively depriving another person''s life, correct? If that is so, then the answer to your question is I did not kill anyone."


    When Ren heard the ORIGIN''s way of answering he frowned.


    "Then how did mypanions die? How did those threee back to life to fight me? So either you''re lying or there is someone else here that killed them."


    "Oh my beloved son, as you should know I never lie, there will never be a reason for me to lie. Still, if those are your questions then the answer is different from before. You see, the moment I was able to escape that prison you my beloved son ced me in, I wanted to meet you. So I was about to teleport you directly to me, but then I quickly scanned all various universes and dimensions even through time but for some reason, I could not find you. Of course, this kind of thing was as expected of my favorite son. Seeing how shyly you avoided me I decided to do something else."


    The way the ORIGIN spoke made Ren feel his deep affection, but within that affection was something indescribable.


    ''Is it perhaps the madness the original incarnation kept talking about?''


    "This is not madness my son but truly my love for you." The ORIGIN spoke as if he read Ren''s mind which made thetter frown. "Don''t be rmed my son, you know my Omniscience does not work on you, I cannot read your mind, but I know you very well."


    "Now where was I... Oh right, so since I couldn''t find you I decided to invite those close to you. I simply wanted to talk to them. It was unfortunate, I thought as people close to you they would be strong, I guess some of them were but most of them were a disappointment. The moment I summoned them here almost all of them died instantly within my presence."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You told me you didn''t kill them... What is this then?" Ren wanted to shout at the ORIGIN and attack but he did neither, he continued to speak in an indifferent tone and held himself back from attacking. Still, the ORIGIN could sense his true feelings.


    "Calm down my son, I really didn''t kill them. As you know only those strong enough are allowed in my presence. I expected that you of all people would only associate with the strong, so I simply assumed that yourpanions were strong enough to stand in my presence but I was wrong."


    "How could someone like you make such a mistake, aren''t you omniscient why don''t you know how powerful mypanions are?"


    "Did you forget my Omnipotence and Omniscience don''t work on you? This ability of yours also extends to those who have interacted with you for a long time, my Omniscience bes a little distorted when I encounter you or yourpanions. So I really had no idea that they were so weak."


    The more the ORIGIN spoke the more anger Ren felt, and for the first time, even the excitement for battle was overshadowed by this anger.


    "Still, they all didn''t die instantly. There were indeed three people that suddenly attacked me."


    "So you killed them?"


    "I told you to calm down my son, I already said I didn''t kill anyone. The moment they tried to attack me their attacks rebounded and hit them instead. They even used their most powerful skills without hesitation and the rebound was a hundred times stronger. Those three were really powerful, two of them didn''t die even after taking a direct hit."


    "... Then were you also the one who resurrected the three I just fought?"


    "Oh that was my gift to you, I know that you liked fighting so I chose those three since they had a history of fighting hearty battles against you. Seeing as they were already dead I decided to use them to entertain you. Unfortunately you my naughty son took some of my authority in thews of life and death, which was why their resurrection was iplete. Still, they did give you a bit of a warm-up, so were you entertained?"


    "..."


    "Hmm, what''s this it seems that my surprise wasn''t able to please you. Hmm, wait are you perhaps truly mad at me?"


    "You don''t know and will never understand what I''m feeling right now! Fear? Anger? Hatred? I''m already beyond all that!" Ren who was already holding the death scythe in his right hand summoned Snertal in his left hand.

 Chapter 648 Unwinnable

    ?


    With a roar full of his passion, his power, and his growing regret, Ren charged towards the ORIGIN. Upon the death of Elizabeth, the death scythe in Ren''s hands truly became his own weapon. An avatar of death materialized behind Ren carrying a scythe, Upon Ren''smand the avatar swung its scythe at the ORIGIN. This avatar was a full manifestation of the concept of Death, it is the strongest of all the World Deities of Death, this was the umtion of the Goddess of Death Elizabeth Rogue.


    As long as you are alive, Death could take you, this attack from the very concept of Death itself was a supposedly unavoidable strike. Seeing the iing attack the ORIGIN didn''t bother to do anything, he didn''t even look at it. The moment the avatar of Death''s scythe was about to hit the ORIGIN it stopped, there was something like an invisible barrier stopping the strike inches away from the ORIGIN.


    Despite seeing his attack stopped in such a way, Ren did not stop. Ren used Snertal in his left hand and shed horizontally, the image of a gigantic dragon with its mouth opened came rushing towards the ORIGIN but the same as before the ORIGIN did not even move. It looked like the ORIGIN was about to enter the maw of the dragon but the dragon stopped a few inches before it could close its mouth.


    Even though both of his attacks did not work Ren continued his assault with both the reaper and the dragon bing even more aggressive. The reaper with the very concept of death embedded in each attack was unable to do anything, even the proud dragon which boasts the greatest destructive power in all universes was able to touch the ORIGIN.


    "My silly son, what''s with all this? You do know that as the creator of the multiverse where you stand attacks using suchws or conceptual attacks won''t really work on me. Are you trying to make a fuss so I would notice you more? Oh, but you do know that among all my creations only you are worth noticing. So there really is no need to do all this useless prancing about."


    The ORIGIN asked sounding really confused. To the ORIGIN Ren''s all-out assault was nothing more than the wind blowing right past him, it was nothing more than a little fuss.


    Ren didn''t care that his attacks weren''t working nor did he bother to listen to what the ORIGIN was saying as he attacked more violently than before. Each attack Ren made was able to cleaves in half but no matter how fast he moved, or what angle he attacked, using all the techniques he knew nothing was able to even touch the ORIGIN. Ren smiled helplessly as he had a thought.


    ''This should be how some of my opponents felt as they fought me. Heh, it''s worse than I thought...'' Ren sighed, ''Even now I can''t connect with my soul realm, the original incarnation is not saying anything, so I''m on my own. This is really heading towards a bad end, but...''


    Unlike those people who fought Ren and only felt despair, Ren, on the other hand, smiled that vicious smile of his and felt his fighting spirit grow the more he was unable to strike the ORIGIN. Ren stopped attacking, closed his eyes, and started concentrating trying to remember the feeling he had as he fought the Old God Gwydion.


    "My son, are you finally finished with your little game?... I guess you aren''t done yet, fine thene my son I''ll y with you until you''re satisfied."


    Ren was not listening to the ORIGIN as he was concentrating on trying something new. In a normal battle with someone as strong as the ORIGIN Ren would never do something like this, but because it is the ORIGIN, Ren had the leniency to do so. Like Ren when facing weaker opponents, the ORIGIN would not actively attack and would instead wait to see what other surprises the other party can show.


    Ren was now fully immersed in his own world. The ORIGIN noticed the subtle changes in Ren''s aura and was quite pleased. In the background the stars above continued to explode, the most powerful being the ORIGIN stood in front of him the pressure was immense. At this point, Ren had only one way he knew that could damage the ORIGIN and he wasn''t even sure if he could do it.


    ''Isn''t this the battle I have always dreamed of?'' <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The fear, anger, and all other distorted emotions Ren was feeling greatly diminished and the excitement for the battle ahead became as prevalent as the others. Ren opened his eyes finally understanding how to use his soul as a weapon, the power of his soul enveloped him.


    Ren''s body glowed with a brilliant white, this was the strongest he has ever been. At this very moment, he felt like he could never lose, but that feeling quickly disappeared as he looked at the ORIGIN in front of him.


    "Hoh, it''s been a while since I''ve seen this form, so you finally entered the strongest state... Though... This is just at the beginning stage, incredibly weak. Still, now I guess we can y a bit rougher now."


    The aura of the ORIGIN who was simply standing in one spot suddenly changed, it was a subtle change but for people on Ren''s level it was different. Even Ren who was at the peak of his excitement unconsciously gulped, still the anxiety that was growing did not drown out the excitement he was feeling.


    "Heh, so are you finally going to make a move? So then, let''s have fun ying!"


    Ren who was not yet adept in using his new ability discarded Snertal and his death scythe and decided to fight the ORIGIN with his bare hands. Ren who discarded his weapons got into a fighting stance, he stabilized the power of his soul that was enveloping his body.


    "Alright then, how about this for an opening move? Be prepared my silly son."


    The ORIGIN whose body was made of countless universes took out a tiny part of his body, it was a tiny ck orb the size of a fingernail that had a gxy within it. The ORIGIN tossed the orb at Ren, it was a speed that Ren could barely perceive, Ren had no time to evade so instead he attacked the orb head-on and punched it.


    The tiny orb and Ren''s punch collided making a powerful burst flow outward. Ren who had punched the orb could feel its immense weight. Ren was actually pushed back a little, he then gritted his teeth and put more power into his attack. The ck orb started to crack and finally, it exploded in front of Ren. The power of the explosion was incredible and it took Ren a lot of effort to not be blown away.


    Ren who has fought numerous battles, and could fight for days, was quickly exhausted by the first exchange. As Ren was panting he heard the happy tone of the ORIGIN.


    "As expected of my favorite son, able to withstand the power of an entire gxy exploding in his face. You really are a miracle."

 Chapter 649 The End...

    ?


    Ren who was panting heavily felt a stinging pain in his right hand, that one sh almost exhausted him. It was at this point Ren actually felt anxious again, which confused him.


    ''Huh, what the f*ck is this?! What is this irritating feeling?''


    As his anxiety grew so did Ren''s confusion as a person who rarely ever feels even the slightest bit of anxiety, this new emotion was very weird to him. Still, despite the confusion, anxiety, and exhaustion, as always Ren stood up with that vicious smile on his face.


    "My silly son, if you could no longer hold on why don''t we just end this game? I really don''t understand why you''re struggling so hard."


    "... I don''t know what you''re nning, but the original continues to fight you to this day, there should be a reason."


    "That''s just you my silly son being a little naughty. I simply want to reset the entire multiverse I created. This multiverse is already far from the wish I wanted to create, it is a mistake I wish to clear, but do not worry my son only you are worthy enough to be able to survive the reset."


    Ren was speechless, even though the original never told him what the ORIGIN who became crazed was nning he already had a few guesses, but it turns out the truth was far worse than he thought.


    "I see, I now understand why he would fight you to the end. No matter the incarnation we will fight to the very end!"


    The vicious smile on Ren''s face grew the same as his battle intent. When the ORIGIN heard Ren''s reply there was a change in his aura, and the space near him started to distort.


    "Even now you cannot understand me, even now you oppose me! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! Why won''t you understand me, you my son who has the power to stand beside me, why can''t you see what I see?! I have seen all the endings of each universe no matter if I intervene or not the end result is always destruction. The cause of the destruction of each universe is because of my very own creations. If the end result is destruction then should you not all embrace it and allow me to remake it all? I will recreate the multiverse into a perfect paradise."


    "Heh, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    The ORIGIN simply looked at Ren who continued tough wildly. Ren stoppedughing and stared at the ORIGIN with a more firm look.


    "So with your Omniscience, you saw the endings of all? Hmph, you can''t even see through my own future how can you say for sure that the ending will always be destruction? How can you be so certain that you can remake everything into a paradise, haven''t you already failed once?... Well, it doesn''t really matter if you can do it or not, unlike you, I don''t n on abandoning everything here. This ce is where I and all of my past incarnations fought and died, this is the ce where all our memories live on. If the entire multiverse is to be destroyed then I will fight to the end, as I did before, and will do so in the future."


    The ORIGIN shook its head and the distortions around it were growing, Ren could now feel the ORIGIN''s anger.


    "You still don''t understand! My Omniscience might not work on you or the people around you, but it works on everything else. Even with your power, you cannot change the inevitable oue of destruction. So I''m telling you nay I''m ordering you toe to my side and we shall build my eternal kingdom together."


    "You really have gonepletely mad, haven''t you? Well, since you keep on calling me your son I guess it''s my duty to fix your crooked thoughts." Ren once again got into a fighting stance. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Fix my crooked thoughts?" The moment the ORIGIN spoke the ground started shaking and the surrounding was breaking. "It is you who have crooked thoughts. You think that because I favor you, I won''t harm you?"


    Something suddenly hit Ren, he was not able to perceive the iing strike even though he already predicted the ORIGIN would attack. Ren''s entire left arm disappeared, he didn''t even have enough time to be surprised when he instinctively dodged to the side. Even though he moved fast enough, his right hand had disappeared.


    Another attack wasing but unlike before Ren was finally able to perceive the attack and evade it properly. It was then out of nowhere hundreds of simr attacks came toward Ren, but now that he could perceive the movement he was able to somehow dodge all the attacks. Ren needed to be cautious as he continued to evade, as even the slightest touch would destroy a part of his body.


    Ren who got into the rhythm of things came rushing forward towards the ORIGIN while dodging. Ren knew that passively evading would lead nowhere, and even though he knew that his attack won''t even touch the ORIGIN he continued onward.


    As Ren was running through the battlefield, various memories sh in his mind. The adventures he had, the pain and joy he experienced, the women he loved, the children he had, the friends he lost, everything went by as if he could see his entire life sh through his very eyes.


    ''It really was a great life.'' Ren thought as his vicious smile softened a bit.


    Ren who was getting closer to the ORIGIN roared and burst out with all of his power. The shadow beneath his feet expanded and numerous weapons came flying out and rained down on the ORIGIN. The various weapons that came falling down at the ORIGIN disappeared the moment they got within a meter of the ORIGIN. No matter the origin of the weapon, or the special effect it had nothing was able to get within a meter of the ORIGIN.


    After releasing the barrage of weapons, the attacks on Ren stopped so he was able to continue running toward the ORIGIN without obstructions. Ren who was now two meters away from the ORIGIN gathered all of his power onto his legs and jumped upward. Ren did a dive kick and crashed into the ORIGIN.


    The ORIGIN who had never moved the entire fight actually raised its hand and pointed its finger at Ren''s leg. The ORIGIN''s finger and Ren''s foot collided a burst of white light enveloped the two sides. Once the light disappeared Ren had now fallen onto the ground, and he no longer had legs.


    "You see the current you have no chance of winning, so instead of struggling so horribly, join me. If you join me, even though I do not want to, I can resurrect your deadpanions they can join you in the new multiverse."


    "I will not join you." Ren who had lost all his limbs still had that vicious smile on his face as he answered.


    "... My child if you don''t join me willingly I''ll just destroy your body and imprison your soul. I have eternity on my side If I wait long enough at some point you will change your mind."


    "Hmph, even if you imprison and torture me for eternity I will never change my mind. For as long as you are the person who destroys this ce where all my memories reside, then you will forever be my opponent."


    The ORIGIN no longer spoke and touched Ren''s body, a simple touch was enough for Ren''s entire body to turn into ashes. As Ren''s body was bing ashes, thest thing that disappeared was his mouth which remained smiling until the very end.

 Chapter 650 Death Of All The Gods

    ?


    Ren who had his body disintegrated did not entirely die as his soul was captured by the ORIGIN. Ren''s powerful soul which houses numerous powerful characters was so easily captured, even now he could not connect with any of his past incarnations, even the strongest of them all the original incarnation was unresponsive. It was at this point Ren was once again filled with a sense of dread.


    Even now Ren could not understand why he was so afraid. No matter the battle, no matter the situation he always faced it with a smile on his face, but now that smile of his faded.


    ''This feeling not only is causing me so much distress, but it''s also clouding my thoughts.'' While Ren was deep in thought the voice of the ORIGIN sounded in his mind.


    "My son watch me as I wash away the incurable universes that I created." The ORIGIN raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The space in front of the ORIGIN changed and billions, trillions, quadrillions, countless orbs appeared in front of him.


    ''What is this?'' As if reading Ren''s thoughts the ORIGIN spoke.


    "These orbs are parallel universes, different universes, pocket dimensions, inner and outer dimensions, everything that''s within the original universe that I created is all here. Even the birth of future universes is disyed in front of us. Most of your past incarnations do not know that there are so many universes within my realm, in their minds their just a couple that they know of."


    Ren who was in spirit form was amazed when he heard what the ORIGIN said. Now that he knew that all these little orbs were universes Ren felt a sense of awe. He had already understood that there were numerous universes based on what his past incarnations have told him, but seeing it with his own eyes was something else. Even though he has been to numerous ces, overall those ces were just on his own and a portion of the upper nes, he has never truly left his own universe. While Ren was still in a state of amazement the ORIGIN spoke again.


    "You see in these parallel universes there are numerous Elizabeths, different kinds of Valdels, a ton of Laras, even New Gods, Old Gods, and some Ancient Gods are not so special... But... The two of us are different, there can only be one. The incarnation of you my son who was called the Strongest Mortal Soul there is no parallel version of you, you can summon your past incarnations either through the flow of time or directly from your own soul. I on the other hand, even though I''m the only one, I exist in all universes this is due to my Omnipresence. So as long as I hold your soul, there is no Strongest Mortal Soul in any universe but only beside me."


    When the ORIGIN spoke even though his voice was a mix of many things Ren could feel the madness in his voice. It was such an intense emotion that was even affecting Ren who was called the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "What are you nning to do by showing me this?"


    "Have you already forgotten my n? You truly are my silly son, I''m about to show you the end and the beginning. Without you in the scene, the ability of those affected by you disappears, and my Omnipotence once again works. I no longer need my failures to clean up for me, I can do it myself. Watch as I rewrite everything."


    The ORIGIN tapped one of the floating marbles and it started to crack, that was a start of a chain reaction and all the other marbles started cracking as well. It was at this moment Ren heard the screams of millions, billions, trillions, an innumerable number of beings. The horror the desperation in those screams made Ren feel extremely angry and frustrated, he knew that in those screams there were also his friends and children. This was the second time in his entire life counting even his past life that he felt so entirely helpless.


    While Ren was filling up with anger and anxiety there was a fluctuation in the space in front of the ORIGIN. Ren knew that what was happening was not something the ORIGIN was doing which surprised him. Ren had already guessed that the beings that were about to appear were going for theirst resistance. Even though he wanted them to fight and win, but deep down in Ren''s heart he knew that was near impossible to happen. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Several colossal figures appeared before the ORIGIN, these were the Ancient Gods the most powerful of all the Gods. They were the first creations of the ORIGIN, they exist even before the original universe itself. As the first creation of the ORIGIN who were supposed to symbolize perfection, they have a firm grasp of how to control the veryws of the universe, in fact, most of them are a manifestation of a certainw.


    "Father, what are you doing?"


    The strongest of the Ancient Gods spoke, this was Dyeus the first God created and is the only God that is the manifestation of all thews, it is the only other being thates close to the ORIGIN and the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "Dyeus, even without me saying anything you should understand what''s about to happen. If you''re not even able to do that then you''re even more disappointing than I thought."


    "Father, I wish it was not so, but since you have said it, then-"


    Dyeus wasn''t even able to finish what he was saying when he saw the ORIGIN raise his hand, the very moment he saw that action Dyeus quickly shielded himself and he also tried to protect hispanions but even by doing the best he could Dyeus could only save himself. The other Ancient Gods became ashes unable to even scream. Dyeus who had been with those brothers and sisters of his for eons watched in horror as they just disappeared like that.


    "As expected all of you are disappointments, I could''ve killed you all with just a thought but I gave you all a head start yet only you were able to survive. Truly you are not worthy to see the birth of a new reality."


    Dyeus was no longer showing anyposure as he roared while exerting all of the power he could and attacked the ORIGIN. Seeing the final struggle of the strongest oldest God the ORIGIN pointed at him and the other party started to crack. Dyeus tried to reform his body but could not, so he quickly tried to escape into a different time but that was no use as well, he then tried to escape by abandoning his physical body, but that didn''t work either, he then tried to pass on his memories into a different being but that didn''t work as well. In just a second Dyeus exhausted countless attempts to fight back or escape, but none of them worked.


    The desperation in his eyes conveyed everything. This intense fear was the same fear he felt when he fought the original incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but back then the Strongest Mortal Soul allowed him and his siblings to escape.


    "Goodbye, my failures."


    Those were thest words that the Ancient God Dyeus heard before his entire existence disappeared from the Omniverse. The ORIGIN then quickly deleted all of the other Gods, and not one being with divinity survived.

 Chapter 651 Awaken

    ?


    Once all the divine beings were gone the power of thews each Ancient God wielded became a part of the multiple universes. Without the so called Gods in control of thews of the universe, each universe became even more stable than before. Seeing what happened the ORIGIN sighed.


    "As expected you who I created to be perfect were nothing but failures just full of ws. Well, it doesn''t matter all will disappear."


    After wiping out the divine beings of each universe the ORIGIN continued to destroy each universe in front of him. The cracks in each universe began to worsen, it was at this moment Ren noticed several dozen peopleing out of multiple universes. They were tiny at first but then space began to crack the same as when the Ancient Gods and several thousands of humans appeared before the ORIGIN.


    Each human had with them different weapons some were even riding mechas, the only simrity among them was that they were all powerful individuals. There were also their auras that had a sense of familiarity to Ren.


    "Hoh, the descendants of my most powerful and beloved son. Are you going to fight to the bitter end like your Ancestor?"


    "Of course! As a descendant of the Strongest Mortal Soul fighting until the end is our way!" One of the descendants shouted and the others nodded their heads. All of them then showed the same vicious smile same as all of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul.


    "I understand foolish children, that smile is to wipe away the fears deep inside you so that you can bravely move forward. Truly an admirable trait you have inherited from your ancestor my favorite son. Unfortunately, you children have not the ability nor the power to do anything at all. Even if you act like your Ancestor you can never be him, you can''t break from the shackles of destiny."


    There was a deep sadness in the Origin''s voice as he spoke which affected all who heard it. Every word and every movement the ORIGIN made affected everything around the ORIGIN.


    "Even so, since you want to end our existence then this battle is our only answer."


    The descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul were about to attack at the same time with their most powerful moves, but then they stopped as the ORIGIN''s voice echoed in their ears.


    "It''s truly unfortunate, if you''re not able to break free from destiny you are all under my power. If I so wish it I can kill you all, I can remove all your powers, I can even make it so that you have never even existed, no matter what kind of death you can think of I can make it happen."


    The descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul had all their weapons, vehicles, and other armaments disappeared and were lifted off the ground unable to resist.


    "I can even bring you unimaginable pain that even you brave and powerful descendants of my favorite son will beg for the mercy of death."


    After the ORIGIN was done talking the bodies of the descendants started to vibrate, then their flesh was pulled out, and only their bones remained. Even in their current condition, they were still alive, the pain they felt at that single moment was something words could not describe.


    "How about it my son, I can save these descendants of yours and bring them to the new world if you only promise to stand by my side."


    "..."


    Ren did not say anything and the ORIGIN shook his head, the skeletal bodies of the descendants began topress into cubes.


    "Even in this form, they''re still alive and in constant unbearable pain. If you wish to save them just say that you would stand by my side and I will release them from their suffering." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No matter what you do or say, as long as your thoughts of destruction is the same, I will always stand against you."


    When the ORIGIN heard Ren''s answer the ORIGIN''s anger grew to a new height. The cubes mashed into each other andbined into a giant cube. The giant cube then started to crack, it was at this moment the sounds of horrific screams were heard by Ren.


    The screaming descendants of Ren''s started begging for death, for respite, and all called his name. After a while, the begging changed into cursing, they started cursing their fate for being descendants of the Strongest Mortal Soul. They med Ren for all their suffering, they med him for the fate of destruction.


    Ren''s emotions which heightened all the fear, sorrow, and guilt were eroding him, but still, Ren''s determination never broke.


    "You hear that child, even your own descendants curse you for your decision."


    "No matter what, I will not change my mind. No matter what you do, what deal you try to sell, as long as your want to destroy the universes were all their stories, hopes and dreams exist, then you''ll always be my enemy. You must know by now, pain and fear are nothing to me. I will always fight until my body and soul disappear."


    The ORIGIN''s body now radiated anger like no other, the cube of screaming descendants was crushed into nothingness. The ORIGIN then created a body out of nothing and ced Ren''s soul into it. The very moment Ren regained a body he was about to strike, but the ORIGIN was quicker as numerous ck spears created from the ORIGIN''s body pierced Ren. Dozens of ck spears were pierced into every single part of Ren''s body. The only free space left was on Ren''s head.


    Despite being pierced by so many ck spears Ren did not die, all he felt was pain and fear. The dark emotions in him were once again enhanced, but even then he showed that vicious smile of his.


    "Last chance, join me or cease to exist."


    At this point, even Ren''s consciousness and instincts were telling him to join the ORIGIN, yet a part of him continued to resist. Ren who was quiet for some time now startedughing and showed a vicious smile.


    "Smile to wipe away the fear and gloominess,ugh as hard as you can to fight against destiny. Follow your own path, never waver, never surrender, always remember this, and keep moving forward. I don''t know who told me that, but it is the creed that is rooted deep into my very soul. I guess this is the creed that all incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul follow. So there''s only one thing I can say to you creator of all."


    Ren closed his eyes, inhaled a little, and exhaled. After that short pause, the aura surrounding Ren became even more fierce as he opened his eyes.


    "THANKS FOR THE BATTLE!"


    Those were thest words Ren said as the ORIGIN destroyed Ren''s body and soul.


    ...


    "Congrattions, you pass."

 Chapter 652 The Start Of A Story

    ?


    "Congrattions you pass."


    Ren who thought that he had ceased to exist heard a very familiar voice speaking to him. Ren who only saw darkness in front of him finally saw a small light that was growing bigger and bigger. Ren''s closed eyes slowly opened and he saw that he was back inside his soul realm.


    "Was I saved by you?"


    Ren looked at the original incarnation that was standing in front of him and was confused. Why did he appear now and why did none of his incarnations respond when he needed them the most?


    "Saved you? You seem to be misunderstanding something, you weren''t in any danger in the first ce so there wasn''t any need to save you."


    "Huh, what do you mean?"


    "Did you forget? I told you before I was going to test you."


    "Wasn''t the darkness, in the beginning, the test?" Ren was still confused as to what was happening, as his head was aching.


    "Wrong, that was just something akin to a waiting area. I needed to create the whole scenario with the ORIGIN and not only that I was also heightening your fears and anxieties, so I needed some time to prepare. That''s the reason for that nk area with nothing in it. I also used your memories and how you imagine the ORIGIN to be as the base of my created scenario. Of course, as my reincarnation, you have never experienced such fear before. At that point in the test, many of my reincarnations have already failed, they weren''t even able to reach the testing site. Feeling such intense fear for the first time they had no resistance at all."


    "So that''s what it was..."


    Ren remembered the growing fear he felt at that time, at first he was confused and he wanted to quit multiple times but in the end, he did not do so.


    "Unlike most who took this test, despite tasting such fear for the first time you were able to move forward. I even showed you the hidden fear deep in your heart, and that did not stop you. It was so exciting to watch you ovee your fears and keep moving onward."


    "Then the ORIGIN that I fought was that his real strength?"


    "No, it wasn''t," when Ren heard the Original say those words, he felt relieved and disappointed, but then the Original continued.


    "The power of the ORIGIN is much more powerful than you can imagine. If that was the real ORIGIN then once you were sealed the ORIGIN who is Omnipotent and Omniscient could''ve destroyed everything with but a thought. There was no need for that cracking each universe thing that took so long."


    Now that Ren heard the Original''s answer the disappointment disappeared and he started to be excited again, as that vicious smile appeared on his face.


    "Heh, I can understand what you''re feeling right now Ren, but before you get even more excited and want to fight how about I show you the truth that you wanted to know so much."


    "The truth?"


    "Yes, since you passed the test as promised it''s about time to tell you my story, but since we''re reaching the end, I guess it would be fine to show everyone about it." The Original snapped his fingers and the hundreds of thousands of reincarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul appeared in the same space.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Everyone, since Ren here has passed the test I decided to show everyone the story of my past. Since my true name cannot be spoken and most of the characters in my story are also the same, the names mentioned will be different from their True names. Now allow me to show you an epic tale the story of where it all began."


    A huge screen appeared in front of everyone, it wasrger than a and every incarnation could see it despite how far they were from the screen. After a while a picture on the screen.


    ...


    Erste (the original incarnation''s name for now) woke up and looked at the ceiling. It was another day of doing the same thing he did every single day, wake up, wash up, eat, go to work,e home, take a bath, eat, and go to sleep. Doing things over and over again, not a single thing changes.


    This world was like a well-tuned clock were all the gears mesh and flow together. There was only emptiness in this world that was supposed to be a utopia. Even though there were no wars, no fear, no pain, nothing, only progress, but at the same time, there was no joy, no excitement, no love, no reason, just nothing but progress. Humans reproduce simply because they need to, they might not have lifespans and stop aging upon reaching a certain age but they are killed quite frequently, so they needed new generations to continue to progress endlessly.


    The only thing that changes from day to day was the Gods that would descend upon them and torture the humans in different ways, there were many times that they wouldn''t torture humans but just directly kill them. The humans who do not feel pain or fear could not understand why the Gods do this to them but because they didn''t understand it they weren''t bothered by it.


    One day Erste who continued his daily life like normal saw one of the Gods descend and started attacking some humans. The ones being attacked did not resist or run, the people nearby only nced at the scene and continued on their way.


    This was supposed to be a normal thing that happens every single day, but for some reason, Erste stood at the side and watched. While he was watching the people he sees every day being killed one by one a question suddenly popped into his mind.


    ''Why?''


    It was such a simple question that anyone could have but it was this moment that changed everything, not only for the simple Erste but everything in the original universe.


    The God noticed Erste and was about to yfully kill the other party, but unlike all the others present something different happened when the God attacked Erste, Erste actually evaded the strike.


    "Hoh, what''s this an interesting human came about. Tell me human why did you evade my attack?"


    "I evaded because I could not understand."


    "Couldn''t understand, what do you mean?"


    "I couldn''t understand why you were going to kill me. I couldn''t understand why you were killing everyone. Why are you doing this, what''s the point?"


    When the God heard Erste''s response he was quite shocked, he had seen some humans evade before because of an awakening of some instincts, but after asking the same question they did not respond and simply allowed themselves to be killed, on the other hand, this was the first time he has seen a human ask the question why. After a while, the stunned God suddenlyughed.


    "You ask me why I''m killing the humans I see, it''s because I have the power to do so, and I don''t really like you humans. You guys are so weak that I can kill you with but a breath, I can never understand why Father (the ORIGIN) cares so much about you guys. You guys infuriate me so much you who are weak and worthless why are you so favored?!... Now that you know my reason, let me ask you this, why shouldn''t I kill you?"

 Chapter 653 The Beginning Of Everything

    ?


    "You want to kill me simply because you can? I should die simply because you feel irritated? So does that mean if I have the power I can kill you too?"


    The expression on the God''s face when he heard Erste''s words was that of surprise as he was stunned silent and then after a brief pause he suddenlyughed heartily.


    "Of course, if you had enough power you can kill me too if you so wish. Unfortunately for you, the weak have no choice."


    "So is it fun to fight those that have no chance of fighting back?" Erste asked with a continued look of indifference.


    "Hoh, now that you say it maybe a different kind of game is in order."


    The God stretched out his hand and pulled out something from a sub-space. The item the God took out was a veryrge sword-like object. It was a sword that look like it was infused with the night sky, as tiny stars twinkle within it. The shape of the weapon was like two swords fused into one with the middle of the de missing. The God then tossed the weapon over to Erste.


    "Here this is a weapon that could kill me. I''ll let you borrow it for now. Of course, I made it lighter so that you could at least lift it up."


    Erste grabbed hold of what looked like to be the hilt of therge weapon. Upon lifting up the weapon Erste felt great power emanating from it and like the God said the weapon was as light as a feather.


    "Now you have a chance of winning, even though it''s just a minuscule almost non-existent chance, it''s still there. Now make this a bit more interesting for me."


    The God then appeared before Erste and was about to p the other party to death, Erste who had no idea how to use swords, tumbled backward evading the attack, and then started running away.


    "So we''re going to y tag now." The God smiled mischievously as he started walking.


    ...


    Erste who was running all over the ce, was always easily found by the God. Erste kept on running and hiding as he carried around the weapon unable to think of a way to change the oue of his death.


    The God even while walking was faster than him, and nothing in this world except for the sword in his hand could damage the God. It was such a desperate situation yet the same as before Erste''s expression remained indifferent but what was happening inside was very different.


    Erste''s heart was beating faster and faster as a certain thing was being born within him, he wasn''t sure what it was but it feltfortable. Erste didn''t notice that there was already a slight smile on his face.


    "So we changed from a game of tag to hide and seek." The voice of the God sounded as if he was right beside Erste. "Don''t worry I won''t use my abilities to find you, if I did that the game will be too boring."


    ...


    Erste who was hiding in the corner heard the approaching God and held the weapon in his hands tightly. When he heard that the God was about to reach the corner Erste swung his body and shed with all his might. It was a very awkward sh but it made the God step backward evading the strike and a strand of his hair was cut. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Erste who had failed to kill the God with that strike started running away again. As he was running he once again remembered the feeling of cutting the God''s strand of hair and his heart was beating even faster than before and the smile on his face was growing wider.


    "Oh, you''re right little man, ying the game this way is more exciting than just killing you humans without resistance. As a thank you for introducing such a fun game, I promise when I kill you I will keep your corpse intact."


    It wasn''t just Erste who was smiling even the God chasing him was smiling from ear to ear, this feeling of chasing one''s prey was something new he hasn''t experienced in his entire life. Humanity has been reset numerous times now, and this human should''ve already reset the same amount of times but this was the first time he has seen a human act this way.


    Erste who tried doing surprise attacks a few more times failed, the only time he was able to cut something off was the first surprise attack and that was just a strand of the other party''s hair. While running away Erste who was in an alleyway arrived at a dead end.


    Erste who wanted to run back in a different direction saw that the God was already blocking his path. This was such a desperate situation but Erste who had gained some emotions felt even more excited.


    "Oh, I see, it seems that the game is about to end. It was an enjoyable hunt little human and I thank you for it. As I said to you before as a form of thanks for showing me something fun I will keep your body intact and I promise to keep it clean as a trophy."


    The God slowly walked toward Erste, each step echoed loudly in Erste''s ears which matched the beat of his heart. Erste''s heart was no longer beating fast but it was beating loudly. Erste held the weapon that could kill the God tightly as his face showed a very vicious smile.


    It was at this moment memories of different lives flooded into his mind. Each life that he had lived never reached old age as he was always killed by different Gods. Yet unlike all those times, this was the first time he questioned it and had the chance of victory.


    ''This might be my only chance to kill a God.''


    The smile on Erste''s face became even more vicious as he looked at the approaching God who had deliberately slowed down his walking. It was obvious that this God noticed Erste had awakened some emotions that other humans do not have, this means that this God was trying to enhance a certain emotion by walking so slowly. The God finally arrived one foot away from Erste.


    "You''re smiling so widely so that you could mask the fear you now feel inside. It is wonderful isn''t it, gaining so many emotions in such a short time. Well, I wonder how it would feel to kill a human with such colorful emotions. Let''s find out, shall we?"


    Before the God did anything Erste swung the weapon upward but the God evaded by swaying his body backward a bit. The weapon then flew out of Erste''s hand.


    "How unfortunate, that you failed even with a weapon that could kill me." The God then lightly pierced his hand into Erste''s body but to his surprise, his attack missed Erste''s heart. Erste was actually able to move at the time of the attack and shifted the God''s attack to the lower abdomen.


    "Even if you do that, it just makes your life onlyst a second longer." As the God was about to pull out his hand, Erste suddenly grabbed hold of the God''s hand. "Wha''s the point of doing this?" It was at that moment that God who was rxed all throughout the encounter suddenly showed a look of panic as he quickly backed away, but he was a littlete as the weapon that was tossed upward fell and actually sliced the hand Erste was holding.


    This was the first time the God had been hurt and it was done by his own weapon in the hands of one of the humans he despises. In a state of shock, the God wasn''t able to react as Erste caught the weapon and did a horizontal sh. The God''s head was detached from his body, and then the weapon pierced through his true essence which shifts from different parts of his body. Erste was actually able to see where his true essence was, and even as he was disappearing all the God felt was confusion.


    It wasn''t by luck Erste attacked the God''s true essence. The truth was Erste noticed every time he did a surprise attack the God would calmly evade, but at the same time he evaded there was a subtle movement of his arm as if he was shielding something. Erste thought that part must be important which is why stabbed it.


    This very day was the start of everything a human being was actually able to kill a God.

 Chapter 654 New Gods Descend

    Chapter 654 New Gods Descend


    After piercing the God''s true essence an unknown power entered Erste. The power was overwhelming him and it was trying to consume him. The emotions birthed within him gave him not only pain and fear but also courage and joy.


    "I''m no longer going to bow down to any God, from today onwards I''m going to live freely!"


    Erste gritted his teeth clenched his fist and not only did he not try to force the power out of his body he allowed it to spread even faster. The pain he was feeling right now was unbearable but he did not scream as he kept enduring.


    Something was changing within Erste''s body it felt like he had unlimited energy within him. The pain slowly subsided and as Erste was stabilizing his breath numerous Gods descended from the heavens. Now that Erste gained a simr power to the Gods he could sense their power and it was even scarier than he initially thought. Feeling their powerful overbearing strength Erste''s lips curved into a vicious smile.


    There were numerous Gods that appeared before Erste one of them stepped forward and spoke in a voice that made all the beings in this world hear.


    "You a human have witnessed the death of a New God and piged a portion of his authority and strength. Is this true?"


    "I don''t know about piging anything, but he attacked me and I fought back that''s all."


    When the New Gods and the Elemental Spirits they created heard Erste''s reply, there was a look of shock on their faces. They already knew that a New God had died, and Erste must have seen what happened, but hearing his answer it seems that he didn''t just witness the event but he was the cause of it. It was at that moment the New Gods saw the weapon in Erste''s hands.


    "Hahahaha!!! That guy actually gave a human being a weapon that could kill himself." One of the New Gods couldn''t stopughing.


    "Well, to be fair, none of us would think that a human even with a weapon that can harm us could actually kill us. Also, it''s not like it''s a true death that guy will resurrectter but with weaker strength."


    "Still, I wonder what was going on in that guy''s mind to give a human a weapon like that? Hey human, why did that idiot give you that weapon?"


    "First off, stop calling me human I have a name it''s Erste, as for the weapon given to me what happened was like this."


    Erste exined the cause and effect as to how he received the weapon to kill Gods from a God. While listening to Erste''s story the various changes in the New Gods facial expression were quite a sight to behold. After they were done hearing the story they found that Erste actually made a new fun game for them, it''s just that the New God who died made a silly mistake in the end.


    "That''s a rather interesting game you made for us. Give the weak humans a little hope as if they can truly kill us, and then upon tasting hope crush them to make them feel despair."


    "That is interesting, but almost all humans don''t have any emotions that could make them feel hope or fear. It''s just that this guy seems to be special and has shown varying emotions."


    to propose to Father (the ORIGIN) to reset humanity and give them some emotions so that ying with them bes even more fun."


    "Now that you say it, that''s right... Alright then, after were done with our business here let''s make a proposal to those Ancient Gods to propose to Father (the ORIGIN) to reset humanity and give them some emotions so that ying with them bes even more fun."


    "Won''t Father get angry if we do that? It''s already touching his bottom line that we kill humans so much."


    "As long as we don''t drive humans to extinction or mess with their souls, I think Father will forgive a little roughhousing with our younger brother (humanity). We can make the appeal that humans will be stronger with emotions. I mean look at this guy after gaining a bit of emotions he''s able to kill a New God though it was mostly by luck. Also by now with father''s Omniscience, he should already know what''s happening."


    While the New Gods were discussing their following ns theypletely disregarded Erste as if he wasn''t a threat to them. Seeing them happily conversing in front of his very eyes and hearing what they were saying made Erste suddenlyugh which caught the attention of the New Gods.


    "HAHAHAHA!!!"


    "Did this guy suddenly grow crazy after obtaining emotions?" One of the New Gods asked but the others could not give an answer.


    "HAHAHAHA!!! I see, so that''s how it is. To you Gods, we are nothing but livestock, where here simply to live and die for your so-called fun. How ridiculous everything is, so the truth of the world is like this."


    Even though Erste could not see the whole truth he had seen a glimpse of it, none of these Gods were any good. He might not truly understand the concept of death, but he felt everything about these Gods was wrong.


    "Hoh, after killing a weak New God in a surprise attack do you think you have the ability to kill us as well?"


    The New Gods surrounding Erste burst out with terrible pressure that was even affecting the surrounding area making the ground tremble and the nearby building start crumbling.


    If it was before he got the power from killing the New God, Erste would''ve already exploded from the pressure being emitted by the New Gods but now he was able to withstand and a vicious smile appeared on his face.


    "To actually smile in this situation, you really have gone crazy haven''t you?"


    Erste gripped the weapon that could kill Gods and got into a fighting stance. The aura that came out of his body was no longer simr to any human being on this.


    "I see, so you really aren''t an ant anymore, you be a bigger bug. Hmph, very well allow me to show you what a true God can do." As one of the New Gods was about to make a move another stopped him.


    "Hey, why would you want to end the battle so fast? I have a better idea." The New God showed a wicked smile. "It''s such a rare opportunity to meet this kind of human. So let''s make our subordinates go first and see how much this kid has improved."

 Chapter 655 Rapid Improvement

    Chapter 655 Rapid Improvement


    The New Gods agreed to make their subordinates fight Erste. Upon hearing the order of their masters the first thing the elemental spirits did was clear the area. The surrounding structures, humans, and any other thing in the way were turned into dust. Seeing the deaths of thousands happening in front of him Erste felt nothing. Even with his newly acquired emotions the implications of death were still not fully understood by Erste at the moment.


    After clearing the area of battle the elemental spirits did not all attack at once, despite knowing Erste had killed a New God they weren''t that impressed as it was all done by luck. Even now all they could see was a slightly lucky weak human being.


    An elemental spirit of water was the first to go forward. A torrent of water was about to hit Erste who could not even see the movement of the elemental spirit of water, but for some reason, his body which sensed the power of the spirit was about to hit actually evaded.


    Not only were the elemental spirits surprised that Erste evaded the strike even Erste himself was very surprised. That time when he was attacked he could not even see how the elemental spirit of water moved much less try to evade the attack, but for some reason, he sensed it and acted purely on instinct.


    ''I see, even if I can''t follow the movements with my own eyes, that new power I got can help me sense and predict their movements in advance.''


    The elemental spirit of water was no longer startled and started attacking again. The speed of the attack had increased slightly but Erste was able to evade it all the same. Now the elemental spirit of water was getting angry as she was being made a fool in front of the others so not only did the frequency of the attack speed up but even the power that would''ve just stunned Erste had increased to a level that was enough to break Erste''s bones.


    Erste who felt the pressure increasing did not panic in the slightest instead he felt that he could actually do something more than just evade. Since he can now sense the iing attack predicting the enemy''s movements before they happen, and he had at hand a weapon that could harm the Gods maybe he could also slice through these attacks. All he needed to do was ce the weapon in between him and the torrent of water.


    As the next attack wasing Erste stood his ground and pointed the weapon in his hand forward, the gushing water attack split in half. Upon seeing what was happening the elemental spirit of water became even more ashamed and mad as she finally used a powerful move.


    The ground below Erste started to tremble as a geyser was about to appear below him, but before it coulde out Erste already started running towards the elemental spirit of water. Erste''s running speed was extremely fast and he looked like a blur while evading all the erupting water and appearing in front of the Elemental spirit of water.


    Erste was starting to understand how to use the unknown power he got from killing the New God from before. The Elemental Spirit of Water started to panic as she saw Erste get so close to her. Even though the mana in Erste''s body was low and his mortal body weak, the weapon in his hands was something that could definitely kill her, even just a scrape from that weapon would spell her demise.


    The first thought that the Elemental Spirit had at this moment was that the other Spirits would help kill this human, but then that thought quickly disappeared. The other Elemental Spirits were not on friendly terms more like rivals that would be happy to see each other die.


    The Elemental Spirit of Water nced at the other spirits and as she expected they were all snickering at her. The other spirits all thought that it was impossible for the Elemental Spirit of Water to lose but her victory was already embarrassing as she allowed Erste to get so close to her.


    No longer able to take things likely, the Elemental Spirit of Water decided to end this farce immediately. Even though she knew that her master would want to toy with this human, butpared to that if she continues to show such an embarrassing sight it might also affect her master''s prestige.


    The aura of the Elemental Spirit of Water rose to a new height and a burst of water that was iparable to her previous attacks finally hit Erste pushing him back. Erste''s body flew quite a distance andnded with a thud.


    "Heh, so it''s finally over. How embarrassing little water spirit, you actually had such a hard time dealing with a puny human." The Elemental Spirit of Fire teased the other party with a rather seductive feeling.


    "Hmph, if it were you I guess you would be dead by now." The Elemental Spirit of Water responded while folding her hands. As the other spirits were about to join in the fun they suddenly felt that Erste''s mana was not disappearing but instead, it felt like it was rising.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Erste''s heartyugh surprised all the Elemental Spirits as they looked in the direction where Erste flew.


    Erste was now bleeding from head to toe but instead of his presence weakening it was getting stronger instead. The vicious smile on his face alongside the blood on his body coupled with the aura he was emitting actually made the Elemental Spirits unconsciously shiver.


    Erste had barely avoided death by instinctively defending himself from the powerful burst of water using the weapon in his hand blocking most of the attack. A few of his ribs were broken and he had a few internal injuries, but even then he was smiling that vicious-looking smile of his.


    At this moment Erste felt alive in the face of death. The excitement and fear he was feeling had mixed together giving him a feeling of incredible ecstasy. Erste wanted to feel more, he wanted to continue fighting, he wanted to continue improving so that he could face even stronger existences, to feel even more than he could have imagined.


    "That attack was incredible! Do you have a stronger attack?! Come on show me everything you got!"

 Chapter 656 Do Gods feel fear?

    Chapter 656 Do Gods feel fear?


    No one moved a single muscle as they were overwhelmed by the force of Erste''s sheer presence. Even the New Gods who were watching the show with yful smiles suddenly froze. At this moment it was as if time suddenly stopped flowing.


    "HUH? Why did you stop attacking? Come on show me more, make me feel more!"


    Erste shouted at the elemental spirits who were now in a state of confusion. He waited for a few more seconds but not a single attack came his way. He then looked at the elemental spirits in disappointment.


    "What is this, why aren''t you attacking me?!... Fine if you won''te to me, then I''lle to you."


    Erste who was bleeding all over started walking forward. Each step he took made him travel a few meters forward, and every step he made increased his rising momentum, and alongside the rise of his momentum was the rise of his mana.


    Feeling Erste''s rising mana everyone present was stunned, it was already absurd that a human had mana but now it was rising as well.


    Mana was one of the things human beings do not possess which was only avable to the Gods. The ORIGIN who created everything created the humans hoping for a different kind of advancementpared to his first creations.


    The ORIGIN was hoping that Humans beings won''t go on the same path as his first creations, which is why he did not give Humans anything. Human Beings started out with nothing in the hopes that they could gain what they need with their own hands, this is one of the reasons Human Beings had this instinctive urge to keep on progressing.


    ...


    As Erste wasing closer and closer to them the frightened Elemental Spirits still couldn''t move from the shock and fear they were feeling. It was at that moment Erste arrived in front of the Elemental Spirit of Water who quickly used her strongest move.


    The water in the air condensed and started to gather surrounding Erste putting him inside a giant ball made of water. The current of water was so strong and fast that normal people trapped inside would be unable to move a single muscle. If Erste continues to be trapped inside the giant ball made of water he would drown to death.


    Even though Erste was already caught inside the Elemental Spirit of Water no longer let her guard down as she strengthen the flow of water within the orb. As she waited for Erste to de the so called strongest move of the Elemental Spirit of Water was suddenly cut clean in half. Despite the powerful water current Erste was still able to swing the weapon in his hand. The Elemental Spirit of Water was about to make another move when Erste''s weapon was about to cut off her head.


    The Elemental Spirit of Water quickly evaded the iing sh but then she felt something hitting her from below. Erste who swung the weapon and missed used that momentum to hit the Elemental Spirit of Water with a powerful kick that blew the other party away.


    "Come on, show me more! What are you people doing just staring at me,e and attack all of you together!"


    Erste could not help but look at the surrounding Elemental Spirits with that vicious smile on his face. He wanted to learn more, he wanted to fight more, he wanted to feel even more alive.


    Erste did not wait for the surrounding Elemental Spirits'' response as he appeared before the nearest Elemental Spirit and swung the weapon in his hands aimed at the head.


    Unlike Erste''s first few shes which were obviously done by a beginner this time, Erste''s shing motion became faster and sharper. Even though his stance was unorthodox and his way of shing was weird it had the feel of a sh initiated by someone well-versed in swordy.


    Erste who had never fought before today nor had held any kind of weapon was improving at an incredible rate. Even though the way he fights could only be called wild, it still had some refinement like a master. Still, unlike other masters of the fighting arts, the way Erste moves is less on precision in hitting at the best moment in the best spot and more on the philosophy of how can I hit my enemy no matter what.


    The Elemental Spirit of Wind was surprised by the sudden attack and was barely able to avoid the strike. Despite being an elemental body the weapon in Erste''s hand was able to slice through her body and was unable to regenerate the part that was sliced.


    the weapon that could harm Gods. The Elemental Spirit of Wind wasn''t able to do anything at all before she disappeared into The Elemental Spirit of Wind wanted to get further away from Erste but before she could back away Erste''s hand filled with mana grab hold of her head. This was rather surprising as someone who had no mana before was actually able to understand that to touch the Elemental body you need to coat your body with mana, which is what Erste did to his left hand holding the Elemental Spirit''s head.


    "Where do you think you''re going?"


    Erste mmed the head of the Elemental Spirit of Wind onto the ground, and then before she could recover Erste stabbed her with the weapon that could harm Gods. The Elemental Spirit of Wind wasn''t able to do anything at all before she disappeared into nothingness.


    Upon witnessing the death of their peer the other Elemental Spirits became desperate and now started attacking Erste. Unfortunately for them, the current Erste already understood that no matter what kind of attack the Spirits use as long as it was not a physical attack he could cut through their mana-based attacks without any difficulty.


    Even though Erste''s current mana was continuing to rise he was still nowhere near the mana possessed by the Elemental Spirits. Usually, the disparity in mana would mean the Elemental Spirits would crush Erste, but with the weapon in Erste''s hands, Victory and defeat became uncertain.


    The Elemental Spirits did their best but no matter what kind of attack they made it was cut in half by Erste''s weapon. In the process of evading and attacking, Erste''s fighting form was slowly taking shape into something frightening.


    It didn''t take long for Erste to destroy the Elemental Spirits that had surrounded him until only one was left. It was an Elemental Spirit of Water that was now underneath Erste''s foot and beside her neck was the weapon that could kill her.


    "Tell me what are you feeling right now," Erste asked truly curious, but to the Elemental Spirit, it was like he was mocking her.


    "..."


    "If you don''t start talking then there''s no point in keeping you alive." As the de of the weapon got closer the Elemental Spirit of Water panicked and screamed.


    "FEAR! What I''m feeling now is indescribable fear!" Erste looked at the Elemental Spirit of Water and nodded his head.


    "Oh, is that what it''s called? I wonder if they too feel fear." Erste no longer had any questions for the Elemental Spirit so he killed her. Erste then looked at the New Gods who were watching the show and spoke loud enough for them to hear.


    "I wonder do Gods feel fear?"

 Chapter 657 The original incarnations first death

    Chapter 657 The original incarnation''s first death


    When the New Gods heard Erste''s question they showed varying reactions, but most of them showed anger, extreme anger. Anger at the human for looking down on them, anger at their subordinates for losing to a human, and anger at themselves for actually feeling fear.


    "Heh, how arrogant you are human. It seems that you need to be taught a lesson."


    One of the New Gods teleported in front of Erste and as he was about to make a move, Erste was able to move before him and was about to sh at the other party, but before the weapon in his hand could reach the New God something grabbed hold of Erste''s forearm. The New God was faster than Erste and quickly blocked the iing attack.


    "Now let me show you-"


    The New God couldn''t finish what he was saying as Erste gathered mana into his forehead and then suddenly smashed his head on the head of the New God. Despite being the person who attacked Erste''s head was the one bleeding while the New God remained unscathed but the power of that headbutt was greater than the New God expected as he felt a little dizzy.


    The New God''s grip on Erste''s hand loosened. Of course, Erste did not miss this opportunity and quickly attacked, there was not even a single thought of backing away. The New God noticed that the weapon that could harm him was about to hit so he was forced to sacrifice his arm to escape.


    The New God''s right arm was sliced clean off and flew upward, normally he could regenerate a new arm instantly but the weapon Erste used didn''t allow him to do such a thing. The New God teleported away in shame.


    "What are you doing?! Come on, you New Gods like to y with humans right? Thene here and f*cking y with me!" Erste roared at the New Gods who all flinched.


    "Don''t get ahead of yourself human!"


    The New Gods were truly mad now and quickly surrounded Erste, two of the New Gods grab hold of Erste''s hands, and another took the weapon that could kill them. This time the New Gods no longer spoke any nonsense and quickly restrained Erste.


    Once they got the weapon away from Erste, the New Gods used a spell to wrap chains around Erste''s wrists and legs.


    "See, if we really wanted to we could kill you any-"


    Thinking that they had already won one of the New Gods was about to gloat but then something unexpected happened. Erste suddenly roared and stepped forward pulling the chains restricting him, the chains pulled out a part of the ground.


    Still, restricted by the chains but the ground holding him down no longer bothering him, Erste used the chains bound to him as weapons and swung them at the New Gods.


    One of the New Gods had been pped by the chains, as Erste was about to continue to attack, the other New Gods grabbed hold of the chains. Erste did not care about the New Gods pulling on the chains stopping him from moving forward.


    needed. Seeing Erste''s target the New Gods holding the chains pulled with all their might.


    Erste who was held back for a few seconds suddenly burst with greater power actually pulling the New Gods holding the chains. Erste quickly charged at the New God holding the weapon he needed. Seeing Erste''s target the New Gods holding the chains pulled with all their might.


    Erste''s two hands were then ripped away from his body and blood sprayed all over, but that didn''t stop him from charging at the New God holding his weapon. The New God was frightened by Erste''s incredible momentum and before he could make a move, Erste had already bit the hand of the New God. Erste with unbelievable power was actually able to tear off the New God''s hand reiming his weapon.


    Holding the weapon in between his teeth, Erste killed the New God in front of him. The same as the first New God he had killed a part of the other party''s mana had entered Erste''s body, but unlike the first time Erste did not receive any new authority but he was able to quickly assimte the new mana into his body.


    Erste did not slow down as he charged towards the nearest New God. The New Gods were still shocked by the sudden death of another one of theirpanions, but then they saw Erste charging at them, this time they took out their own weapons to defend themselves.


    The battle between the two sides was intense, despite losing his hands Erste''sbat prowess did not decrease but instead, it continued to get better and better.


    ...


    Even though Erste''s power was growing rapidly as he killed more New Gods, in the end, the New Gods were able to suppress him. This time there was no more talking to the other party, and the moment they had him restrained they killed him.


    Even as Erste was dying there was that vicious look on his face as he never let go of the weapon in his mouth. The New Gods continued to stab him, afraid that he would suddenly move and attack them again. Just one human being who had just gained mana had killed a lot of them, it was the first time they had experienced such fear and shame, worst of all it came from the human they so despised.


    The New Gods felt Erste''s life force had been depleted and his current body was truly dead. Once they had confirmed his death after checking several times all of them sighed in relief.


    "What was that?! Howe he was so strong?"


    "That was the authority of strength of the first New God he killed, but that authority was supposed to be a weak one, but in that human''s hands it became something else entirely."


    "DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!! Just a single human shamed us so much. After the world resets and he is resurrected I''ll make sure to torture him. No, I''ll kill him again and resurrect him again to kill him again."


    "I''ll join you as well, damn that crazy human. I need to kill him a few more times before I''m satisfied."


    Afterining a bit more, the New Gods who were still alive left the.

 Chapter 658 World Reset

    ?


    "Hey, Erste it''s time to wake up." The voice of a woman rang in Erste''s ears. When he opened his eyes he saw the same familiar ceiling.


    Erste got up from his bed and did some light stretching, once he was done he headed downstairs. Erste was what you would call a normal high school boy, the only thing different about him was that he was obsessed with both armed and unarmedbat. As of now, Erste was good at striking martial arts with some knowledge of grappling, and on the armedbat side, he knows how to use bows and swords.


    Erste does not know why but he likes the feeling of fighting, but, of course, he would not hurt another person without reason.


    Erste arrived at the dining table where his mother had made his usual breakfast of several eggs and some toast. Erste''s father was also present and looked at his son.


    "Are you going to the archery range after school today?"


    "Nah, I''m going to the gym and then to my part-time job after school."


    "You know son, it''s alright to slow down a little." As Erste''s father was about to say something more his mother pped his father''s head.


    "What the heck are you telling our son?! Have you forgotten how you were when we were young? Tsk, don''t listen to thiszy father of yours. Go on and live your youth."


    Seeing his parents act this way made Erste smile, after he was done eating he left the house and jogged to school. As he was jogging Erste saw someone at the corner of the street. It was a girl wearing the same uniform as Erste. The girl in question was what one would call extremely cute, ck-haired twintails, petite in stature with knee-high socks. This was Erste''s childhood friend Elena. The two of them had known each other since they were five.


    "I can never understand how you''re always earlier than me. You do know that it''s still an hour before ss starts?" Erste started jogging in ce as he spoke to Elena.


    "Hmph, if I don''t wake up earlier than you then you would leave me behind you big dufus," Elena murmured to herself.


    "Huh, did you say something?" Erste asked while doing some burpees.


    "I said that you need to stop doing that and let''s head to school, I remember that you wanted to clean the archery range for the archery club as thanks for them letting you practice there every now and then." Elena took out a small notebook and read what was written in it.


    "Huh, how did you know about that, I haven''t told you?"


    "Hmph, have you forgotten nothing in school happens that I don''t know about..." ''Especially if it''s about you.'' Thest sentence Elena could only say it in her mind.


    "You really are a frightening woman." Erste who was jogging backward while talking to Elena had a smile on his face.


    "So says the man who killed a grizzly with his bare hands." Elena shrugged her shoulders as she spoke about one of the legends regarding Erste.


    "Ohe on, I was just lucky at that time all of you guys are just making a big deal about it. Especially knowing what I killed was just a young adult bear not even a fully grown one."


    "Do you hear yourself talk? No one in their right mind would see a grizzly appear and think I can take that. Not only did you fight it bare-handed you even won. If it weren''t for you trying to be low-key you wouldn''t just be some rumored badass in town you would''ve already been famous in the nation. A high school student killing a grizzly bare-handed is not something normal!" Elena was panting as she spoke too fast.


    "Calm down Elena, chill alright." When Elena heard what Erste said she was about to shout but then she stopped, then inhaled and exhaled, after repeating that a few more times she was able to calm down.


    "Never mind about that, have you heard about the few missing students that came from our school?"


    "Another case of missing people, it''s like this every year, there''s always a bunch of people missing. Haven''t the police solved any of those cases yet?"


    "Not really, it''s just weird. Cases of missing people happen all the time, but among all the other cases this is the most frequent one. It''s not a kidnapping since no one demanded for anything, and it''s not some sort of mass killing since to this day not a single body has been found. It''s just really weird. What do you think Erste?"


    "True it is weird that there is always a group of people disappearing not just one by one but disappearing as a group... I can''t really think about anything, maybe they were abducted by aliens or something."


    "Come on, be serious."


    "I am serious, I can''t really think of any other reason."


    "... Hey Erste, what will you do if I were to be one of those missing people?" Elena suddenly asked which made Erste look at her weirdly, but he did not hesitate as he answered.


    "Of course, I will try to find you no matter what. Don''t you remember when we were kids, I could always find you no matter where you hide." Erste smiled brightly which made Elena smile as well.


    "Yeah, you''re right, you''ll always find me."


    "So what about me, if I suddenly disappear and be one of those missing people what will you do?"


    "Hmph, if that ever happened I will use all my means to find you, but of course, there will be no hurry since it''s impossible for someone like you to be in any danger. Even if there really are aliens I''m sure you would beat them up."


    "Damn, you''re describing me like I''m some sort of monster."


    "Aren''t you?" Elena tilted her head cutely while speaking. The two looked at each other andughed, they then started to talk about random things as they continued on their way to school.

 Chapter 659 Missing

    Chapter 659 Missing


    After school, Erste was about to head to his part-time job when he spotted Elena with a group of students. Seeing his figure Elena approached Erste.


    "Heading to your part-time job? Today''s Tuesday so it should be the one in the convenience store, right?"


    "Yeah... How about you, got ns?"


    "Those guys and I are staying here in school to finish writing some articles for the school newspaper."


    "Right, you were part of the school''s newspaper team."


    "I''m not just part of the team, I''m the Editor in Chief."


    "Oh right... So, you''re staying here for the night do you need me to pick you up when you''re done?"


    "Hmph, I''m not a helpless little girl that needs an escort home. Also, I will be done before seven, I''m sure you''ll still be at the gym by then."


    "I can skip going to the gym today."


    When Elena heard what Erste said a beautiful smile appeared on her face, she knew that Erste was very strict with his own time management and would never do anything else that wasn''t on his schedule, to make him change something shows how much he cares for her.


    "Hmph, like I said there is no need." Elena still spoke in an arrogant tone but now she was looking sideways blushing.


    "I guess if it''s you, then I should worry about the people who even think about attacking you. The poor dudes might not know what kind of demon you are." Erste nodded his head as he spoke.


    The smile on Elena''s face disappeared and was reced with what looked like a hannya mask. Erste was still smiling and nodding his head when suddenly Elena kicked him in the shin. Due to the training, he did in the mountains avoiding traps blindfolded, Erste was able to develop some kind of sixth sense where he could sense the movements of things even while blindfolded, which is why he easily avoided Elena''s attack.


    "Why did you avoid it, you big idiot!"


    "If you had hit me, I won''t get hurt but you will." Erste shrugged his shoulders as he answered the now pouting Elena. Before Elena could say get even more mad at him Erste fled.


    "Alright, I''m going to bete for my part-time job. If you need anything, just call me."


    "Hmph, who would call you for help?!" Elena shouted and stuck out her tongue, even though she was angry with her looks and actions she look even cuter than usual.


    ...


    Erste got off his part-time job earlier than usual, he looked at his watch and saw that it was already six thirty maybe Elena was going home now.


    ''I guess I can escort her back and head to the gym after.''


    Erste took out his phone and called Elena but the call won''t connect saying it was out of the coverage area. Erste who had a bad feeling since a while ago started to dash madly towards the school.


    Erste''s running speed was faster than some passing small motorcycles. This was the first time Erste had run with all his strength, and something within him made his body feel lighter than normal.


    While Erste was running he called Elena''s mother.


    "Oh, Erste, it''s been a while since youst visited, I hope you coulde every once in a while little Elena would be happy."


    "Sorry about that Auntie, but is Elena home?"


    "Isn''t she on a date with you?"


    "No, she isn''t."


    "Is everything alright?" The tone of Elena''s mother suddenly changed.


    "... I''m not sure."


    "Should I call the police!"


    "Auntie, please calm down first. I''m already near the school, I''ll see what''s happening first, and if there''s anything I''ll call the police myself."


    "Erste what should I do?" The trembling voice of Elena''s mother sounded in Erste''s ears making him feel even more anxious as well.


    "Don''t worry Auntie, I''ll find her no matter what. Also, please keep on trying to call her cell."


    "Alright, please find her."


    "I''ll do my best."


    ...


    Erste finally arrived at the school grounds, and the first thing he noticed was that there were lights turned on but there was not a single sound to be heard. Usually, there were security guards at the gate, and there should also be custodians cleaning but he did not notice anyone.


    Erste started searching the school, but he found no one, when he arrived at the newspaper team''s clubroom he saw openedptops but not a single person in sight. The bags were still there and there didn''t seem to be any signs of a struggle, it looks like they just vanished.


    "What the f*ck''s happening here?!"


    Erste frowned as he looked at the scene before him, it doesn''t make any sense. Not knowing what else to do Erste called the police.


    ...


    It didn''t take long for the police to arrive, they searched the entire school and did not find a single trace of any of the now missing students. They asked Erste about what he saw and knows, but it wasn''t much. They checked the surveince cameras, that were at the front gate.


    There was nothing worth noting, no one came or left the school grounds before Erste arrived. The police also tried looking if there were any eyewitnesses but it seems unlikely. Seeing the police making no progress whatsoever made Erste feel even more anxious.


    "Excuse me, what should we do next?"


    "We will continue searching for the missing people, but as for you, you should call your parents and head home."


    "I can''t just stand by and do nothing, Elena is out there somewhere!"


    "Kid, I know you''re frustrated but looking for them aimlessly won''t do anyone good, even you might be one of the missing. So just go home for now, and will do our best to find your friend."


    At this moment Erste wanted to shout at the police officer, he wanted to tell them that they haven''t found many of the missing people for years now, how could he trust them. Still, Erste held himself back as he looked at the expressions of the police officers present. It seems that they too are desperate.


    Erste gritted his teeth turned around and left.

 Chapter 660 Nothing will happen

    Chapter 660 Nothing will happen


    Erste opened his eyes and it was still the familiar ceiling, the familiar room, and the familiar equipment, the only thing different was Erste himself. The always energetic Erste hadrge puffy eye bags as he hasn''t been sleeping well, and his powerful bodyy on his bed unmoving.


    It has been more than a week since Elena and the others'' disappearances. The same as all the other missing people cases, the police had no clue as to what happened. While the police were supposedly doing their best in looking for the missing people, Erste was also going around searching for any clues as to where Elena and others might''ve been taken to.


    Erste had looked everywhere in the city and the neighboring cities but he could not find a shadow of Elena. He was exhausted and he felt horrible, he told Elena no matter what he would find her, he made a promise, but no matter how hard he tried Erste could not do anything at all.


    Erste''s mother Emma, knocked on the door, and without waiting for a response she entered. Upon entering the first thing she noticed was how dirty her son''s room had be, usually, it was always spotless as Erste would regrly clean his room. She then saw her son looking at the ceiling in a daze, seeing him like this made her tear up.


    Her son who always had a bright demeanor and a smile that was infectious was now on his bed looking like that. Her son who had so much energy and life was now something akin to the living dead. Seeing her son like this was hard to ept, it made her want to cry, but she knew that she shouldn''t do so.


    "Son, I know that it''s hard for you, I know I told you to always do what you feel is right, and I know I told you that pushing yourself is part of youth... But pushing yourself like this is self-destructive."


    Erste did not respond as he continued to look at the ceiling.


    "Elena wouldn''t want to see you like this, what would she think if she knew that you''re running yourself ragged for her?"


    Erste continued to remain silent no matter what his mother said, it was as if he truly couldn''t hear her words. Seeing her son like this Emma could only sigh. It was a good thing that despite his mental state he was still doing normal things like eating and sleeping. All Emma could do for now was trust that her son could ovee this crisis.


    After Emma left the room a few minutester Erste''s father Jeff entered the room. Jeff sat beside Erste and did not say a word. It was quiet in Erste''s room only the sound of the ticking clock could be heard. After a few more minutes Jeff sighed and finally talked.


    "Son, I know that it might not look like it, but I always believed that you could ovee any obstacles. Even though it would seem that I always stop you from doing the things you want to do, I do that because I care about your well-being." Jeff grabbed hold of Erste''s hand and squeezed it tightly, still there was no response from Erste.


    "I may not fully understand what you''re going through, but I also felt despair when I lost my parents when I was near your age. The fear, regret, loneliness, all sorts of dark emotions mixed in, if it weren''t for you mother I don''t know what would have happened to me, she was my guiding light. I know that Elena must have been something simr to you, but I hope you know that your mother and I are still here."


    As Jeff was about to leave Erste got up from his bed and he finally spoke.


    "Thank you, Dad... I know that you and Mom are worried about me, but I just can''t stop it. Elena is out there waiting for me. I promised to find her no matter what, I promised."


    Erste clenched his left chest tightly as he spoke with so much pain in his voice.


    "It hurts Dad, it hurts so much. Even as I sleep I could see her full of fear waiting to be rescued, I could hear her voice calling my name asking me to save her. I cannot abandon her."


    The more Jeff heard, the more he felt his son''s pain.


    "Erste, that pain and feeling of powerlessness you feel right now, I''ve been through that. Even after I met your mother every now and then I would feel anxious, but I learned a trick to help me cope with all those emotions."


    "A trick?"


    "Yeah, it''s nothing special it''s just a forceful trick. I simply smile andugh out loud. No matter what kind of fears or problems I face as long as you keep smiling andughing it gives me strength to keep on going. I don''t know if it will work for you but it''s alright to try, right?"


    Jeff smiled widely, it was at that moment after hearing what his father told him Erste finally understood a lot of things. The reason why no matter what happens to him his father would always smile andugh, even when Erste''s mother hits him, even when he speaks about serious matters, no matter what there was a smile on his father''s face.


    ''I see...''


    A smile appeared on Erste''s face, then he and his father startedughing loudly. Even though he was smiling andughing there were tears in Erste''s eyes, but for some reason, he was actually feeling better.


    "Thanks dad."


    "Anytime son, me and your mother are always here for you."


    "Thanks." The smile on Erste''s face changed.


    "Once you''re readye down and eat." After saying his piece Jeff left the room. After his father left Erste was once again reignited with a passion.


    ''Yeah moping around doesn''t help me or anybody, just giving up and wallowing in despair affects not only me and everyone around me. So all I need to do now is keep on moving forward, surely someday I will be able to find you, Elena.''


    Erste stood up and clenched his fist as he made a vow to himself to find Elena, the find the truth.

 Chapter 661 Waiting

    Chapter 661 Waiting


    A few months have passed since the missing student incident, and most of the parents of the missing students have already epted the fact that their children wouldn''te home. Then some of the families couldn''t handle the loss and it had disastrous effects on them. Some parents hadmitted s*icide. Other parents med one another and were divorced, while the others simply drowned their sorrows in varying levels of depravity.


    Elena''s parents were in a much better state than the others since Erste was there tofort them. Elena''s parents had continued their life like normal hoping for the day their daughter would return to them. There was also Erste who also did not give up on the search like the police, but this time his way of searching was not self-destructive.


    Erste knew that the people who went missing over the years were all in a group it was usually a group of young people below thirty. So Erste no longer did things by himself and joined numerous groups and became rather sociable. The people around him thought that this change was because of losing Elena which in a way is true.


    Erste''s image became positive and he was no longer seen as a horrible frightening individual. Still, sometimes when some students see the now very active Erste they couldn''t help but tear up.


    "He must be doing all this to distract himself from the pain."


    "I think he''s living and experiencing things for the two of them."


    "I don''t know why, but I think what he''s doing is quite romantic."


    "Now that you guys are saying it, I can no longer see him smiling, all I can see is a sad boy running away from his own pain."


    There were many such voices talking behind Erste''s back but it didn''t matter as Erste''s hearing was excellent and he could hear every word those people were saying.


    ...


    The days continued and Erste eventually turned into a third year, for some reason after Elena''s group no one else inexplicably disappeared. It was weird as normally every year or less some poor group goes missing, this has been happening for a very long time now and no one can remember when it started, but now it felt like it was over.


    To many people knowing the sudden disappearances had stopped was good news something worth celebrating, but to Erste, it was not. If the disappearances stopped that means whoever took Elena was no longer taking other people, and that would make Erste''s ne to naught.


    Still, despite all of that Erste continued to believe that he would one day meet Elena again so he continued to do his own thing and stick with varying groups of people.


    ''I''m sure that Elena is bing a problem for the one who took her.''


    ...


    Erste who suddenly became sociable also became rather popr with thedies. Erste was already popr before due to his handsome looks and physique, but many girls were afraid of him because of many rumors of Erste''s vicious nature, there was also the fact that those brave enough to try to get close to him were blocked by Elena.


    Now that Elena''s gone and Erste became more sociable many girls had approached him and confessed to him, and right now Erste was being confessed to. The girl who was supposedly confessing to him was a rather famous individual from another school, she was the boss of a girl gang.


    This person was Nikki a beautiful talldy with long brown hair tied into a ponytail, she had a fierce look on her face that made her blue eyes have this sparkle in them. Not only was she beautiful but as the boss of a girl gang she was a powerful fighter. She came all the way to Erste''s school because of his strength.


    "Hey they say you''re a powerful guy, how about you fight me?"


    "Huh?"


    Erste who met with Nikki after reading the note she gave him was confused, based on what was written in the letter this should''ve been a love confession but now it turns out she wanted to fight. Erste then looked at the group of girls standing behind Nikki.


    Erste had made a mistake and thought since it was a girl that gave him the note it was a love letter, turns out it was the other kind he kept on receiving a challenge letter. Over the years even back in middle school, many supposed tough guys from different ces havee to challenge Erste after hearing all of the rumors about him. So aside from love confessions, Erste also received a lot of requests for duels, of course, Erste never rejected such things and defeated everyone that came his way.


    "I see, alright thene."


    The moment Erste spoke those words Nikki quickly dashed towards him. Erste evaded Nikki''s fist, and then she quickly shifted her center of gravity and did a roundhouse kick which Erste easily avoided. Erste kicked Nikki''s leg which was supporting her while she did her roundhouse kick. Nikki was knocked unbnced and before she could get her bnce back Erste''s fist was already near her face, but before it hit her Erste''s fist stopped.


    Nikki''s gang who was watching the fight truly believed that their fierce leader would win, but after watching the entire thing they were quite shocked. Nikki was only able to do two moves which were easily avoided and Erste was able to counter leisurely.


    "So did I win?"


    Nikki who was still dazed looked at Erste for a few seconds and smiled at him. The smile on her face was like a blooming flower full of intoxicating beauty, coupled with her rather wild demeanor Nikki was like a rose full of thorns. Nikki didn''t respond and simply continued to attack, Erste once again evaded each attack she made and countered whenever possible. After a few more rounds Nikki who was not able to hit Erste a single time had a look of satisfaction on her face.


    "You really are as strong as the rumors say, no you were stronger than that. Now that I know how strong you are. Erste be my man!"

 Chapter 662 Nikki

    Chapter 662 Nikki


    After being confessed to Erste rejected the other party politely and as he was about to leave Nikki grab his hand.


    "Why are you rejecting me, do you have another woman or is there a problem with me?"


    "There''s really no problem with you since I just met you, as for there being another woman I guess in a way there really is."


    "Huh, what do you mean by that?"


    "It''s not important, just give up on me and find another person."


    Erste no longer waited for Nikki to reply as he left. Seeing Erste was gone Nikki clenched her fist and punched the ground.


    "Do you think I''ll give up just like that?" Nikki murmured to herself.


    ...


    Two days after the confession incident Erste who was in ss was looking outside the window when the teacher arrived with a weird grin on her face.


    "Good morning students, today I have an announcement to make. Due to some personal circumstances, there is a new transfer studenting in today."


    When the students heard the teacher''s words, they looked confused.


    "Transferring schools during senior year?"


    "That''s weird, what kind of circumstances would make your transfer in the middle of the semester and in their third year as transferee is a cute girl or a hot guy."


    While the students were chatting and getting excited the well."


    "I don''t care about any of that, what I want to know is if the transferee is a cute girl or a hot guy."


    While the students were chatting and getting excited the transferee entered the room. The first thought that came into their minds was beautiful. The girl that came into their view was unlike any other teenage girl in this school as she had a more developed body.


    As the boys were about to explode they suddenly saw a rather cold look on the transferee''s pretty face. The eyes of the transferee were quite sharp and she exuded a fierce kind of aura. Seeing her looking like that all the boyish fantasies almost disappeared from some of the minds of the boys, but some remained strong they even liked that fierce look the transferee was showing.


    "So please Miss, if you would introduce yourself." The teacher spoke like he was speaking to a superior. The transferee nodded her head and dered.


    "The name''s Nikki and I''m going to get this out of the way real fast, I''m not interested in any of you people, and I only came here for one person and that''s Erste."


    The moment those words came out the entire ssroom was in an uproar, the boys who still had thoughts of trying their luck immediately gave up. The moment they heard the name Erste the guys knew that they stood no chance as even though Erste had be sociable they were still a little bit afraid of the guy.


    The girls were also quite surprised as there were now many of them targeting Erste, but seeing Nikki''s looks and her demeanor the girls felt like their chances were nill.


    While everyone was chatting about Nikki''s sudden deration Erste was in a daze and his thoughts were all over the ce.


    ''Isn''t that the girl from yesterday, didn''t I already reject her, what is she doing here in school, did she transfer here because of me?''


    Nikki approached Erste with a smile on her beautiful face, she then arrived in front of Erste who was still in a daze, and spoke.


    "We meet again Erste."


    "What are you doing here?"


    "Weren''t you listening to what the teacher said I''m a transfer student."


    "No I mean why did you transfer here?"


    "Isn''t that obvious? I transferred her because of you."


    "Why? Didn''t I already tell you that no matter what I don''t really want to date anyone at this point in my life."


    "I know, but I came here to be friends with you. It should be alright with you if the two of us be friends right?"


    There was a moment of silence between the two for a while then Erste sighed as he nodded his head and replied.


    "Fine, if you want to be my friend then sure."


    ...


    The entire day in the school Nikki stuck to Erste like glue and wouldn''t leave his side except for when he goes to the washroom. Rumors of the new transfer student quickly spread throughout the school and those curious quickly learned of what happened during Nikki''s self-introduction.


    Erste who was in the middle of the storm felt conflicted. Nikki made it difficult to do some of his extracurricr activities, and being looked at by numerous students more so than usual was a little distracting, but on the other hand, being constantly surrounded by so many people was what he wanted in the first ce.


    ...


    After school and club activities were over Nikki invited Erste to have dinner with her as a celebration for bing friends.


    "Since it''s a celebration how about we invite everybody?"


    Nikki was surprised to hear Erste''s response and felt a little irritated, on the other hand, when she saw some students heard what Erste said they became a little excited. Normally Nikki would have insisted on what she wanted but now that she was trying to get close to Erste she couldn''t just do that.


    "Alright then, let''s invite everyone in ss, but since we became a ratherrge group where do you think would be a good ce to celebrate?"


    "There''s a karaoke ce that can amodate the entire ss, how about we go there?"


    "Okay, now that''s decided let''s call the others and go together."


    ...


    Despite initially being a little irritated by the turn of events, Nikki was actually starting to enjoy herself as she and the group of students sang one by one. She also learned that despite being so aplished in so many things Erste was a very bad singer.


    Except for her everyone was suppressing themselves fromughing out loud in theical way Erste sang. The funniest part for Nikki about the entire scenario was that Erste himself hasn''t realized that he was a bad singer and no one seemed to be brave enough to tell him, well except for Nikki.


    "Erste who knew you were so bad at singing." The very moment those words came out of Nikki''s mouth the fun atmosphere suddenly turned tense as the group of students waited to see Erste''s reaction.


    "Really?"


    "Here listen to it yourself." Nikki showed a video she took while Erste was singing. After listening to his own voice Erste showed an expression of disbelief.


    "Huh, is that what I sound like? I sound like a dying frog."


    "No way, you sound more like some sort of tone-deaf cat."


    "Oh right," Erste chuckled. Seeing the interaction between Erste and Nikki the group of students felt relieved, some became brave enough and also started roasting Erste''s singing voice. The fun atmosphere was back.


    While the students were enjoying their time doing karaoke and eating some snacks they didn''t notice that the space around the room was bing distorted.

 Chapter 663 Let the game begin

    Chapter 663 Let the game begin


    Erste who was drinking felt something was off and he stood up and went out of the room. Upon looking outside he saw that the people in the other rooms were no longer there, in fact, he could no longer see anyone else and the hallway seemed to have changed.


    "Guys, I have something to say and everyone should stay calm." Erste closed the door and spoke to everyone, the music stopped ying as everyone''s attention was now on Erste. No one made a sound as they saw the seriousness on Erste''s face.


    "I don''t know how else to say it so I''ll just tell it to you guys straight we''re no longer in the same ce, we''ve been moved."


    "Huh, what are you saying what do you mean we moved?"


    Even after hearing what Erste said most of the students didn''t understand the meaning of what he said, while some had a certain thought shed by their minds but quickly tossed it out of their minds. Erste was about to say something more when a floating screen appeared in front of the group. The face of a handsome young man was shown on the screen.


    "Wee lowly humans to my yground. Normally I would be there to personally wee you to the game but due to some nasty little bugs scurrying around the area I won''t be able to do so. Still, I will be kind enough to tell you the rules of the game yed in my yground."


    When the students heard what the handsome young man had to say they became worried, what yground, what game, also the term lowly humans was used does that mean the person speaking wasn''t a human? So many questions filled their heads but no answer woulde, on the other hand, Erste''s thoughts were spinning fast.


    ''Suddenly disappearing from our world and appearing in this new one, and that person said this is his yground and some bugs are scurrying around. Aside from us, there are other people here, but those guys seem to be causing trouble.'' Erste already had a guess deep inside his heart and was getting excited, but for now, he needed to listen to this kidnapper''s exnation.


    "First of all allow me to introduce myself, I am the New God Re'' Khe Hata, I have some authority over the element of fire."


    Erste frowned when he heard the term New God, it made him feel varying emotions but the most prevalent emotion was that of excitement. Erste did not understand it but he felt like he wanted to fight this so called New God. Something within Erste was changing but he was unable to notice it at this time.


    "The game in my little yground is quite simple, the only thing you guys need to do is SURVIVE for as long as possible."


    "Survive, survive what?" One of the students suddenly asked.


    "Survive me of course. After two hours from now, I''m going out to kill you. Don''t worry since if I use all of my abilities then all of you would die immediately making the game boring. So the only ability I will be using is my authority over the element of fire."


    The very moment the students heard the words kill you they froze as their hearts started beating wildly. Erste clenched his teeth as he spoke to the so-called New God.


    "So how do we win this game?"


    "Huh, win?" The New God Re'' Khe Hata looked at the students with a dumbfounded expression and startedughing. "There seems to be a misunderstanding here, there is no such thing as you little humans winning, the best you could do as I said before is survive as long as you can. Let me once again rify, this game is not between you guys and me, but it is a game between me and the other New Gods to see who can kill more humans the fastest."


    The students hearing what Re'' Khe Hata said were about to go crazy and wanted to release their emotions. Some wanted to scream, others wanted to cry, but no one did any of those as the feeling of fear they had for the New God Re'' Khe Hata had stopped them.


    "Alright, now that I said the rules, I hope you guys will not do stupid things like the previous bugs that are hiding. I''ll give you two hours to prepare before I start hunting you down. So anyway, let the game begin!"


    The floating screen disappeared and after a few seconds of silence, the students suddenly screamed and cried.


    "What the f*ck is happening! What is this, the f*ck is this?!"


    "This must be a dream, no this should be a nightmare. Yeah, this is all in my mind I just need to wake up and I''ll be in my bed."


    "This should be some kind of joke, right? What the sh*t is this, are we being pranked, were are the cameras?! Come one show yourselves you b*stards!"


    The other students were in chaos all except for Nikki and Erste. Nikki who noticed the calm expression on Erste''s face approached him.


    "Do you know what''s happening?"


    "No, I know just as much as you do, but panicking about it won''t get as anywhere."


    "So what should we do?"


    "First thing is we need to make everyone else calm down first, but I don''t know how to do that."


    "Oh, is that all, well then leave that to me." Nikki smiled as she lifted her right leg upward and smashed it down onto the table destroying it. The students who were panicking stopped and looked at her. "Hey you losers stop your whining and listen to Erste he has something to say."


    Nikki looked at Erste as if sayinge on say what you need to say. Erste sighed before he started speaking.


    "I know that all of you are scared and confused, but we have no time for that. No matter if this is real or not we still need to do something. The other party already said that he was going to give us two hours before he does anything so we need to use this hour wisely and instead of crying and shouting how about we go out there and look for other people?"


    "Other people?"


    "Yeah, he did say that little bugs are hiding. Maybe those guys who have made that psycho mad can help us."


    The students were finally feeling a little bit better knowing that they weren''t alone in this ce, not only that, but seeing the calm expression on Erste''s face made them feel safe.

 Chapter 664 Looking around town

    Chapter 664 Looking around town


    After talking to his ssmates Erste led them out of the building they were in, once they were outside they were amazed by what they saw. In the sky, there were several floatingnd masses above their heads.


    Those floating inds look to be very far from them, but they still looked very big, which made the students wonder if they were truly far away.


    "What the f*ck is this ce?!"


    "Did we enter some sort of other dimension?"


    "The f*ck we''re not even on our anymore, where the hell is this?"


    The group of jumpy students started panicking again making Nikki sigh, on the other hand, Erste was looking around with a certain hope in his heart.


    "Okay everyone let''se down, we only have forty-six minutes left before that guy starts hunting us down. So the first thing we should do is find somece to hide."


    When the students heard Erste speak they all looked at him and even though they were still frightened they forced themselves to calm down as they nodded their heads. As the group were about to leave Nikki suddenly spoke.


    "Wait, why do we need to hide from this lunatic? I say we go around and look for some weapons and take him down."


    "Do you really think we can win against someone that could bring us to this kind of magical ce?"


    "Yeah, that Dude called himself a God so he must have some unreasonable abilities."


    "That''s right, how can we beat a God, I haven''t even punched a person before."


    "Only you and Erste know how to fight."


    ''If I were alone I might''ve given it a try but...'' Erste once again looked at his ssmates and sighed.


    The group of students became rowdy again, but Nikki didn''t really care about any of their opinions the only opinion she cared about was Erste''s opinion. Nikki nced at Erste who hasn''t spoken yet.


    While the group was waiting to hear Erste''s answer, Erste himself was deep in thought. After hearing Nikki''s suggestion, Erste became strangely excited. Even though his mind was telling him that the best way to survive was to hide, but somewhere deep down within him he wanted to fight the so-called New God. Still, when he looks at the frightened faces of his ssmates he knew that he could not abandon them just so that he could seek the excitement in his heart, not only that, but there was also the thought of her being in this ce. Overall Erste couldn''t take the risk of facing off against the New God even if his very soul seems to be screaming at him telling him to fight.


    ''If I were alone I might''ve given it a try but...'' Erste once again looked at his ssmates and sighed.


    "No, we shouldn''t try to confront the person iming to be a New God. We don''t know what his capable of. So first we need to find a hiding spot and observe him, and while we''re doing that we should also look if there are other people in this ce."


    Hearing Erste''s answer Nikki had a look of disappointment on her face, on the other hand, the others had a relieved look on their faces. It was a good thing that Erste was with them if not they could not dare imagine what kind of death they would face with a leader like Nikki.


    The group then started looking around the city, the first thing they did was get a mode of transportation so they found some bikes. While biking through the city Erste asked the others if they have ever been in a simr city before, and the answer was no. Also based on the style of the city it felt like it was from thest century or so.


    "You guys wait here, I need to check something out." Before anyone could say anything else Erste burst out at an unbelievable speed. Seeing his fading back from a distance the group of students looked in awe.


    "Is that guy really human?"


    "The better Erste is the safer I feel."


    "It''s a good thing Erste is with us."


    While the students were praising Erste, Nikki watched the incredible scene before her eyes and felt even more smitten by Erste.


    ''As expected of him.'' Nikki had a beautiful smile on her face.


    ...


    It took Erste who was pedaling as fast as he could a few minutes to arrive at the edge of the fake city. As he looked downwards he saw other inds of simr sizes and at the bottom, all he saw was an endless abyss. Erste wanted to see if he could go down but the moment he was at the edge he felt an invisible force stopping him from moving forward.


    ''I see, so it''s like that...''


    Erste sighed as he returned to the group and told them what he saw. After learning that there really was no escape from this ce, which made them look gloomy again. Feeling the ups and downs in the emotions of his ssmates Erste felt bad, on the other hand, Nikki had no noticeable fluctuation in her expression.


    While the group was looking for a ce to hide Erste spoke to Nikki.


    "Nikki, aren''t you worried?"


    "Worried about what?"


    "About all this, about our chances of surviving, about if we could ever could go home?"


    "Heh, to be honest, I am a little worried but that''s all there is to it. Worrying, getting scared, those things won''t help us in surviving... Besides, I''m actually curious and quite excited about our current situation."


    "Huh?"


    "This ce is right out of some sort of sci-fi novel, and the opponent is even iming to be some sort of God. It''s like I''m in one of those adventure novels I loved when I was a kid."


    Nikki then showed an excited smile as she clenched her fist. Seeing her like that made Erste unconsciously smile as well.


    "Well then, for now, let''s do our best to survive." Erste extended his fist forward, Nikki was taken aback for a few seconds before she giggled and bumped Erste''s fist with her own.

 Chapter 665 Hide and Seek

    Chapter 665 Hide and Seek


    It has already been an hour and fifty minutes since the game started, which means only twenty minutes were left until the New God Re'' Khe Hata starts chasing them. The group had found several good hiding spots and were now debating as to where they should hide.


    "We should hide in that old bunker, it has a lot of food and it''s difficult to find in the forest. As long as that so-called God doesn''t cheat, we can survive there for a few weeks."


    "No, we shouldn''t hide there. I think it''s better to hide in that small ce in the middle of town in the basement. You know hide in in sight all that sh*t, he would never guess that we were hiding in such a ce."


    "Are you kidding me? You two are both wrong the ces you pick once discovered we''ll be sitting ducks, we should hide in the sewers and move around so that it will be harder for us to spot him."


    Erste who was at the side listened to everyone''s opinions but the situation got worse and the argument became extremely heated. The time when the New God starts hunting was closing in and they needed to make a decision it was at this time someone suddenly suggested something that no one wanted to say.


    "Enough! I can''t trust you guys I''ll go do my own thing. Those of you that want to survive should join me!"


    As the time given to them was about to end the group of students became agitated and aggressive. Seeing them act like this made Erste sigh, on the other hand, Nikki was getting irritated.


    "Shut up all of you!" Nikki could no longer hold it in and shouted at them in a rage. When everyone had quieted down she spoke in a cold tone. "Since none of you seem to have a united answer then we should break up here and do our own thing to survive. I don''t know about you sh*theads but I don''t want to die because of some stupid disagreementter on. What do you think Erste?"


    After speaking Nikki didn''t forget to put all the attention on Erste who was staring at the frightened expressions on everyone''s faces.


    "I really don''t know what to say to you guys... I know everyone is scared and stressed out because of what''s happening right now, and I no matter what I say will not be able tofort any of you. I''m not some kind of leader nor am I a hero that could save you... If you want to leave and do your thing then do so, I will not tell you that staying together will increase our chances of surviving since it''s not the truth. The truth of the matter is I don''t know what''s going to happen, I don''t know if staying together is better or going our separate ways is the better way, the choice is for you guys to make... I won''t force you but if you want to follow me then you can, if you want to do things your way then that''s your decision. That''s all I have to say."


    Once Erste was done saying his piece the group became silent for several seconds. The students looked at Erste waiting for him to say more but not a single word came out after.


    "Fine, I guess this is where we part ways. I hope you guys survive."


    "Until we meet again."


    "Damn it, why the f*ck are we so unlucky!"


    The group then dispersed and only Nikki and two others stayed with Erste.


    "Are you guys sure?"


    "Heh, I''m sticking with you until the end." Nikki boldly proimed as she smiled brightly.


    "I guess if I''m going to make a bet, I should bet on the strongest one, right?" The one who spoke was one of Erste''s ssmates a guy who loves ying video games named Miguel.


    "I believe in your skills, I trust that you can take us home." T a girl who usually only has an interest in reading manga and light novels was unfortunate enough toe to this weing party and be in her current predicament.


    "I''ll try my best."


    ...


    The time for the hunt has started the New God Re'' Khe Hata had started moving. Re'' Khe Hata had already yed this game several times now and his best record was ten minutes. That time the prey had actuallye out and challenged him feeling that they were some sort of hero group. Of course, even after handicapping himself greatly the fools had no chance of winning. The longest hunt he had was five days, that group had actually found a way to hide deep underground without using the bunkers all over the ce.


    ''I wonder what kind of prey will it be this time.'' Re'' Khe Hata had a mischievous smile on his face as he went to the first hiding spot the prey would usually pick. Re'' Khe Hata who was walking towards the nearest bunker suddenly frowned.


    ''Tsk, damn somebody entered my hunting ground without permission. It must be one of those pests that have been messing with the game... No matter, I''ll kill those pests alongside everybody else.''


    Re'' Khe Hata''s good mood had entered as he entered the bunker, and his mood continued to improve as he saw two students huddled together in the corner of the bunker and one of them actually confronting him head-on.


    "Who are you, why are you doing this?"


    "Please, please, please don''t kill us. Please, I''ll do anything you want, just don''t kill us."


    "You b*stard do you know who I am? Get me out of here already and I''ll tell my dad to only hurt you a little bit... Hey did you not-" The annoying young man was pped by Re'' Khe Hata and his head exploded. Seeing this scene the two students who were hugging each other felt an immense amount of fear, one of them even peed.


    "Please, please, please don''t kill us, I''ll do anything." One of the girls started undressing, and seeing this scene Re'' Khe Hata startedughing.


    "Hahaha, you think your lowly flesh would make me happy?" Re'' Khe Hata''s hand pierced through the naked girl''s chest, and she died looking at Re'' Khe Hata in confusion. Seeing another one of herpanions dying thest girl did not speak.


    "Hoh, are you not going to beg?" Re'' Khe Hata looked at thest girl with interest.


    "Will it matter if I beg or not, you''ll kill me anyway, right?"


    "Well, who knows, I might feel pity for you and let you go."


    "..." The girl did not respond to what Re'' Khe Hata said and simply took out a rusty nail and pierced it into the girl''s leg who screamed closed her eyes.


    "Tsk, how boring..." Re'' Khe Hata looked at the girl for several seconds and the frown on his face turned into a cruel smile. "I see, so you won''t beg for mercy, then I''ll make you beg." Re'' Khe Hata took out a rusty nail and pierced it into the girl''s leg who screamed in pain, Re'' Khe Hata then proceeded to pierce more rusty nails into the girl''s legs.


    "How about now, will you beg?"


    The girl who was screaming in pain was crying as she nodded her head and started begging.


    "Please end the pain, please just killed me."


    "Well, I wonder... I think I won''t kill you I want to hear you scream some more." Re'' Khe Hata pierced another nail this time into the girl''s shoulder.


    "Why! You said I just need to beg, please just killed me!"


    "I did ask you to beg, but I never said if you did I will end your suffering. I want to y some more." Re'' Khe Hata cackled as he continued to use the nails on the girl''s body.

 Chapter 666 Our own choices

    Chapter 666 Our own choices


    Re'' Khe Hata enjoyed torturing the human for a few hours but after a while, he got bored so he killed it.


    "Well, torturing someone is kinda fun as they beg but giving up almost immediately felt a little boring. I wonder if the other humans are as fun as her."


    Re'' Khe Hata looked at the deformed shape of the girl he tortured and shrugged his shoulders as he left the bunker.


    ...


    Unaware of what happened the other students had found their hiding spots and kept hidden hoping that the Re'' Khe Hata would not find them, the other students found weapons cold weapons, and firearms. Upon gaining weapons the students'' confidence soared and they felt like they could defeat the New God and escape this world.


    While those students were trying their best to hide or prepare some sort of ambush Erste''s group was looking around trying to find those people the New God Re'' Khe Hata called pests. So for now they were looking to find something like a radio station to see if they can somehow contact the other party.


    ...


    Re'' Khe Hata headed to the next most likely ce the students will hide which was in the sewers, but before he could head there he was confronted by several students who were armed with swords and guns. Seeing this scene made Re'' Khe Hata chuckle since it reminded him of the fastest recorded hunt he had.


    "Hey you f*cking b*stard, you''re the freak that sent us here, right? I don''t care what kind of fake god you are I don''t believe you won''t die after being filled with lead."


    The students holding guns pointed them at Re'' Khe Hata at a nce it was obvious that these kids have never held a gun before as their way of holding the gun wasughable. Re'' Khe Hata couldn''t help himself as he chuckled looking at the students yfully.


    "Well, I guess it is right to say those guns and swords can indeed do some damage to me, but even in my handicapped state I don''t believe that any of you will be able to actually hit me."


    "Who are you trying to scare!" One of the students could no longer hold back his fear as he started shooting. The student couldn''t control the gun he was holding as he was surprised by the recoil still a few of the shots were straight. As the bullets were about to hit Re'' Khe Hata a sudden burst of me erupted burning the bullets into ashes. Seeing this scene the students were dumbfounded.


    "You see, even if those weapons can somehow harm me it''s useless since you can''t even hit me."


    The students unconsciously backed away as the fear they were holding back slowly crept into their very souls. Re'' Khe Hata then took a step this was all it took for the minds of some of the other students to copse as theyy on the ground in fear, the others started screaming and shouting while shooting at Re'' Khe Hata but the same as before the bullets were burned into ashes before reaching the target.


    "You people have shown me such a funny y and sessfully amused me. Which is why I decided to give you the luxury of picking the way you die. Do you want to die by burn by my mes, do you want to die by being pierced by my hands, how about making you fall into the abyss? There are so many ways to die so tell me how do you humans want to die?"


    The response Re'' Khe Hata got was simply screams and a hail of bullets. Seeing them act like that Re'' Khe Hata shrugged his shoulders. "Chef''s choice I guess."


    ...


    The other students who were hiding in different ces could hear the sound of gunfire and soul-shaking screams. They could not imagine what horrible things were happening to their fellow ssmates, still, no one had the courage to help them.


    Erste had a momentary urge to go and help his screaming ssmates but he held himself back as he thought of the three who were with him. These three had trusted him to bring them back home, if he went and tried to help what would happen to these three?


    ''Still, something inside me is screaming at me wanting me to go and fight. The more I stay in this weird ce the harder it is to control this urge for battle... No, I need to keep a calm mind, I need to protect these three and... I''m so close to finding her...''


    Erste and his group continued onward trying to find any trace of the so-called pest the New God spoke of. While they walked they kept on hearing the horrendous screams of the other students. Miguel and T were a little unnerved hearing those screams as they walked behind Erste. Miguel even wanted to start sprinting toward the screaming students to try and do something, but in the end, he could not do so.


    ''Sh*t life really is a f*cking sh*tty video game and I''m a sh*tty character.''


    Nikki who was walking in the rear was frowning deeply. She didn''t really want to leave anyone behind. Back when they were trying to decide what to do, she wanted Erste to forcefully lead everyone to make them join him.


    Now hearing the screams of the other students she had the urge to tell Erste that his decision to leave them behind was wrong. Even though she knew thatining wouldn''t help she still wanted to do it.


    ''No, I decided to follow him I should not question his decision or the decision of those guys... Even if they did follow us would we really be able to survive?... No, I got to stop thinking like that, I just need to do the best I can given the situation. I hope the others canst long enough for us to find help...''


    While Erste''s group was deep into their own thoughts about the situation they finally arrived at a radio station.

 Chapter 667 How Interesting

    ?


    Erste''s group had arrived at a radio station they quickly found a usable radio to try and contact. Erste tried different frequencies to see if someone would respond to his call. While they were trying to contact someone, Nikki who was on lookout duty spotted the New God Re'' Khe Hata.


    "Erste that guy is here! We need to leave now!"


    "Where is he now."


    "About fifty meters away from the radio station."


    "Tsk, he''s too close, there''s only one way in and out, and that guy''s going to block our path. We got to move fast."


    Miguel and T were starting to panic and even Nikki was biting her finger trying to calm herself down. Seeing them act like that in front of him Erste was about to say something when suddenly a voice came from the radio.


    "Is there... there? Is... Anybody there? Hello..." It was a little hard to hear but there really was someone speaking through the radio.


    "Erste he''s almost here!"


    "F*ck! Change of ns, I''ll hold him back for as long as I can, you guys get into contact with whoever it is on the other side." Erste was about to leave but then Nikki stopped him.


    "No, you''ll die!" Miguel and T were also looking at Erste worriedly. Erste then showed a smile that he never showed before it was a vicious-looking smile that made the three who were with him actually back away.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll just dy him and the moment I have a chance I''ll escape. You guys when you finish talking to whoever it is trying to contact us, just run away from here and I''ll follow after. I promise you guys this is not the ce where I will fall."


    Nikki no longer held Erste back and instead nodded her head, the other two also showed their determination as they gritted their teeth and tried to speak to the person contacting them through the radio.


    "You bettere back Erste we''re all going home together!" Miguel shouted not only at Erste but at himself as well, to encourage both of them.


    "We''ll do our best here, so do your best as well, Erste," T spoke as she tried to adjust the frequency of the radio.


    "I trust you Erste."


    "Heh, you guys it''s like I''m going out to die. Don''t worry we''ll all go home together and once we''re back I''ll invite you guys to hang out in my ce."


    Erste headed out to confront the New God Re'' Khe Hata. Even though the chances of surviving this encounter were nearly zero that did not scare Erste, in fact, that fact made him feel an excitement like no other.


    ...


    Re'' Khe Hata had already killed almost half of the people brought here and it hasn''t even been half a day.


    ''I guess this hunt wasn''t as fun as I thought it would be. I guess I''ll finish the others quickly and see if the next batch of humans would be better.''


    Re'' Khe Hata was heading towards one of the most likely ces the humans would go to. Most of the time the humans would head to the radio station hoping by some miracle they would be able to contact someone from the outside world. Every time Re'' Khe Hata sees their faces of despair after learning the truth made him smile. The very moment they find out that it was impossible to contact anyone from the outside since they were in a different dimension always made Re'' Khe Hata feel a pleasure like no other.


    Re'' Khe Hata could already see a human blocking the path into the radio station, that was all he needed to see to know that the scene he envisioned was about to happen.


    "So you''re that so-called New God Re'' Khe Hata. Hmph, even in person you aren''t that menacing, how disappointing."


    Re'' Khe Hata took a quick look at Erste and was surprised to see that there wasn''t even a trace of fear in him, instead, Re'' Khe Hata could feel that the other party was excited. It was weird, Re'' Khe Hata has killed millions of humans in this game, they would show fear, anger, sorrow, forced courage, and even a rare feeling of happiness, but it was the first time he has seen someone so excited to see him. Even those warriors of the past that imed they were excited to fight a God were only saying those words to mask their fears, but this boy in front of him was different.


    "How interesting, why do you look so excited to see me?"


    "Cause I get to see if I can defeat a God."


    "HAHAHAHA!!! Defeat a God? Do you think you have a chance to defeat me? Well, I guess I did lower my level so that humans like you can harm my body, but that doesn''t mean you can actually do it. In fact, those humans I killed beforeing here also thought they could defeat me, but now their bodies are worthless and their souls are about to be recycled."


    "Is that so... Well then, since you think I''m going to die no matter what, can you answer one question of mine."


    "Very well human, since you have caught my interest I''ll answer one question of yours."


    "Why are you doing this?"


    "Oh well, that question has no one answer, but I guess I mainly do this out of hate for you humans and because it''s fun."


    "Hate? How can you hate us, we don''t even know who you are."


    "Oh, I did say that I''ll answer only one question, but since I''m in a good mood I''ll answer that as well. It''s not only I who hates humans every God from the Ancient Gods to us New Gods hate humans, but the level of hate is different. I and most New Gods do hate you humans but only a tiny bit. As for the Ancient Gods and the Old Gods well they hate you humans, body, heart, and soul. It''s all because of the love of the father of all things the ORIGIN has graced you with."


    "The ORIGIN?"


    "Question and Answer time is over it''s time for you to die." Re'' Khe Hata suddenly appeared one foot away from Erste and stabbed with his hands aiming at Erste''s heart, but to Re'' Khe Hata''s surprise, Erste was able to dodge.


    "Hoh, I guess this hunt is more interesting than I thought."

 Chapter 668 This cant be the end

    Chapter 668 This can''t be the end


    Erste was caught by surprise as the so-called New God had moved in a way that he could not capture with his eyes. The strike was aimed at his heart if it would hit Erste was sure that he would have died without knowing how, but before the New God Re'' Khe Hata''s hand reached him his body moved unconsciously and he had evaded the strike.


    "Hoh, I guess this hunt is more interesting than I thought."


    After he was done speaking Re'' Khe Hata once again appeared behind Erste ready to strike, this time Erste no longer had any messy thoughts and instead followed his instincts without hesitation. Erste kept on dodging each attack Re'' Khe Hata made, and the expression on Re'' Khe Hata''s face turned into confusion.


    ...


    ''What is this? This human is weird, very weird. It''s not like I haven''t seen human warriors that could dodge my attacks every now and then, but even the best of them could only barely evade, but this human can evade it so easily. Not to mention there''s this familiar feeling I sense within him...''


    While Re'' Khe Hata was deep in thought he stopped moving but despite him doing that Erste did not dare make a sudden move. It was a good thing that Re'' Khe Hata stopped since all he needed to do was dy him until Nikki and the others are done with contacting whoever it was on the other end of the radio.


    Re'' Khe Hata looked at Erste once again no matter how he looked at the other party all he could see was a normal human.


    ...


    Erste looked at Re'' Khe Hata who continued to simply stare at him without moving. Even though he knew that waiting like this was to his advantage, somewhere deep inside Erste he wanted to attack he wanted to have a hearty battle.


    It was taking a lot of effort for Erste not to make a move and attack he was now sweating. On the other hand, Re'' Khe Hata who saw the sweating Erste couldn''t help but chuckle as he thought that the other party was sweating because of his fear of him.


    The two locked eyes for a few seconds and then Re'' Khe Hata suddenly tossed a fireball at Erste who rolled on the ground evading it.


    "Heh, so you could even dodge that. You really are an interesting human, how about we make a deal? If you promise to be my servant and do whatever I want I might consider sparing you ssmates and bringing them back to your reality. So what do you say?"


    "... I refuse."


    "How selfish of you. Since you refuse then there''s no point in continuing this game of ours. It''s time to burn your body and recycle your soul." A dozen balls of me appeared around Re'' Khe Hata and with a wave of his hands, they fell onto Erste like rain.


    Erste tried to avoid the iing rain of fire but it was futile, upon hitting him he could feel his body burning as he flew backward. Upon hitting a wall he stopped, his consciousness was bing blurry as he looked at the smiling New God, instead of fear all he felt at this moment was anger.


    ''Is this it, is this how my story ends?! I haven''t done anything, I haven''t brought those guys back home, I haven''t fought to my fullest, I haven''t found Elena, and I haven''t fulfilled any of my promises! This can''t be how it ends, this can''t be!''


    ...


    Re'' Khe Hata looked at the burning Erste and shrugged his shoulders. For some reason, despite killing the human in front of him, Re'' Khe Hata felt a little disappointed.


    ''I don''t what I expected from a human... I wonder... Let''s see what he was trying to protect.''


    Re'' Khe Hata was about to enter the radio station when he suddenly stopped. Re'' Khe Hata felt an immense, powerful, suffocating aura from behind him. His entire body was actually shivering and if he could sweat he would''ve already sweated buckets. Re'' Khe Hata found it hard to breathe as an intense feeling assaulted him. This reminded him of what he felt when he considered challenging an Ancient God.


    ''It can''t be did an Ancient God suddenly appear here?!''


    Re'' Khe Hata turned around but he saw no one, still, that pressure was not going away. As Re'' Khe Hata was growing even more confused he saw Erste''s body had stopped burning.


    "How is this possible?"


    Re'' Khe Hata looked at Erste in horror, the powerful aura he was feeling wasing from Erste, he could feel mana flowing out of the human boy. Despite looking like he was barely able to stand in the eyes of Re'' Khe Hata, Erste became something horrifying. In front of Erste, a sword of some kind appeared in his hands. Seeing the sword in Erste''s hand Re'' Khe Hata''s entire being was telling him that the sword was extremely dangerous, it was something that and faster as Erste was slowly walking toward him. At this moment Re'' Khe Hata wanted to run but his body was not responding. The could actually kill him even if he removed the restrictions on his body.


    Re'' Khe Hata could now hear the sound of his heart beating faster and faster as Erste was slowly walking toward him. At this moment Re'' Khe Hata wanted to run but his body was not responding. The pressureing from the human being he so despised was so intense that he was drowning in it.


    "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"


    Re'' Khe Hata knew he needed to remove the handicaps ced on him for this game, and the moment he did so not only will he be ridiculed by the other New Gods, but he would also be punished. Still, even knowing all that Re'' Khe Hata decided to remove them as his instincts were telling him he needed to get rid of the human standing in front of him.


    A burst of energy burst out of Re'' Khe Hata as the restrictions on his body were removed. Upon gaining his full power back Re'' Khe Hata quickly summoned blue mes and used them to attack Erste. The blue me that erupted from his hands engulfed half the city into a sea me.


    As Re'' Khe Hata felt that he was victorious he saw a sudden sh and his head fell to the ground.


    Erste who had sessfully sliced off the head of the New God Re'' Khe Hata fainted, and the sword he was holding disappeared from his hands.

 Chapter 669 Bad News

    Chapter 669 Bad News


    Several minutes before Erste started his fight with the New God Re'' Khe Hata, Nikki, Miguel, and T were trying to find the correct frequency so that they could speak to whoever was trying to contact them through the radio.


    While the trio were doing their own thing Erste outside was now in a tough battle, making them feel a lot of pressure especially since they don''t know how strong the so-called New God was.


    "Hey, can you guys do this faster?! I don''t think Erste can hold on for long." Nikki who was watching the battle between Erste and Re'' Khe Hata through the window saw that Erste was only barely evading the attacks of the inhuman Re'' Khe Hata. As she watched the way Re'' Khe Hata used mes she was starting to believe the other party''s im of being a so-called New God.


    "I''m doing it as fast as I can, I can''t go any faster. There''s no other way to do this than to check each frequency." Miguel was turning the knobs of the radio while T was speaking on the microphone. It took them several tries but they finally got what they needed.


    "Hey is anyone there?!"


    "... Are you human?" The voice on the other end of the transceiver spoke, they could not make out if the voice was from a boy or a girl, but what made them even more confused was the question asked.


    "Huh?"


    "Answer me, are you human?!"


    "Yeah, we''re all humans."


    "Yes, right now our friend is dying that person while we talk to you. Can you help us?!"


    "Alright, right now are you being chased by a monster calling itself a New God?"


    "Yes, right now our friend is dying that person while we talk to you. Can you help us?!"


    "Sh*t, you guys need to leave now! That friend of yours is already dead, and so will you if you don''t leave now."


    "But!"


    "No buts, that monster is not something that could be reasoned with nor could you survive this ce with-" Nikki took the microphone from T and shouted at it.


    "I don''t know who you are, but Erste already cut off the head of that so-called New God."


    "Huh?! Wait?! Did you say that friend of yours was able to behead a New God?"


    "Yeah, why are you impressed?"


    "Sh*t Sh*t Sh*t Sh*t! You really need to get away right now! Get your friend that beheaded the New God and flee that area as fast as you can."


    "Huh, what do you mean?"


    "No time to exin, for now, you better bring this radio and follow my instructions!"


    "Wait, setting aside whether we should trust you or not how can we bring this radio transceiver that''s plugged into the wall?"


    "That thing doesn''t really need electricity just unplug it and you''ll see."


    Nikki checked it out and after unplugging the device it was still on.


    "So did it work?"


    "... Fine, I''ll trust you for now... So how are we going to escape from here?"


    "First I want you to check on what happened to that friend of yours as well as the body of the New God."


    ...


    The trio went out of the radio station and saw the unconscious Erste lying on the ground full of blood. The trio quickly checked if he was alive, after confirming that Erste was breathing Nikki tried to find any wounds on Erste''s body but she could not find a single one.


    ''What does this mean, where did all this bloode from?'' While Nikki was confused the person on the radio spoke.


    "So what''s happening, is your friend still alive, how about the New God is the New God''s body repairing itself?"


    Hearing what the other party said the trio quickly understood that the New God had the ability to regenerate, so they backed away with Erste''s body and observed the New God''s body from a distance. Upon looking at it for a couple of seconds there was no indication that it was regenerating.


    "Our friend is still alive as for the New God''s body it''s not doing anything, there is no blood flowing out, nor is the head regrowing, there''s nothing happening."


    "That''s weird... Can you guys check if there is some sort of mark on the forehead of that body?"


    The trio looked at each other and without saying a word it was Nikki who stepped forward. Nikki had a serious expression on her face as she slowly walked toward the head of the New God Re'' Khe Hata. As she was getting closer and closer to the head Nikki was already sweating profusely, her heartbeat getting louder and louder as that was the only sound she could hear.


    Nikki was just one foot away from the head but she could not see the forehead as it was facing downward. Nikki gulped as she mustered up all her courage and knelt to move the head. As she was about to touch Re'' Khe Hata''s head she noticed that her hand was trembling, Nikki then bit her lower lip as he moved the head and looked at the forehead. Nikki saw that there was indeed something on the forehead, it was an emblem of sorts one that looked like mes enveloping the stars.


    After she was done looking she went back to report to the person on the other side of the radio. After hearing the description of the emblem the person on the radio was silent for a few seconds, and then he sighed.


    "Alright, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"


    "... How about you tell us the good news first to ease the tension," T suggested as no one was responding.


    "Fine, the good news is that your friend is someone incredible and he was able to actually truly kill a New God, even if that New God was not using his full power and surely was underestimating your friend that is an incredible achievement. So the moment your friend wakes up he would gain a power like no other for killing that New God."


    The trio looked at Erste in awe, Erste was already a very powerful person before but with the new power he gained, they wondered how powerful he was now.


    "That''s incredible, so if you kill these so called New Gods you''ll gain unimaginable power?" Nikki asked excitedly also wanting to try her hand in killing these b*stards.


    "Don''t even think about it, killing one who was suppressing his power is almost an impossible task. It takes not only skill, power, and strategy, you also need a miracle to even dream of doing such a thing. You''re friend over there is just one of the lucky ones. I don''t know what kind of person you are, you could be a grandmaster martial artist in your old world but is worthless in front of the New Gods."


    "Whatever, no need to be so mean about it. Anyway, let''s hear what the bad news is."


    "The bad news is after killing a New God, one of the parents of that New God also known as an Old God will surely show up. Unlike those New Gods, Old Gods are truly impossible to kill even with the powers acquired from a New God. If you face them now, they won''t hold back and torture you until you wish for the release of death."

 Chapter 670 Escape

    Chapter 670 Escape


    "What should we do?!" Hearing what the other party said the trio who felt ted that the New God was dead started panicking again.


    "I need you guys to head to the North East of that ce, and once you''re at the edge contact me again." After that the radio became silent.


    "Are we going?" T asked while looking around nervously, Miguel was also looking at Nikki waiting for her answer. Nikki gritted her teeth as she stared at the unconscious Erste she then looked at her other twopanions.


    "Fine, let''s go."


    ...


    Even though the edge of the ce they were in wasn''t that far, it took the trio a long time to reach it as Erste''s body was quite heavy.


    When the group saw the edge of the fake city that they were in their various thoughts stopped. Even though they already heard it from Erste seeing it for themselves was something else.


    "Can we really go home?" Miguel murmured to himself. T was barely holding on and Nikki had closed her eyes seemingly deep in thought. After several seconds of silence, Nikki contacted the person on the radio.


    "We''re here, what should we do next?"


    Nikki waited for a response but none came.


    "Hey, are you still there?!"


    "Hey?! respond g*ddamnit!"


    Nikki screamed at the radio transceiver, but no matter how loud she shouted, no matter what kind of profanity or insult came out of her mouth the person on the other side never responded.


    "What should we do now?"


    Miguel couldn''t stand the silence and asked. Nikki looked at her twopanions and the sleeping Erste. Nikki, for the first time in her entire life, was unsure, this was beyond anything she could have imagined, so she answered Miguel with the truth.


    "I... I don''t know..."


    "Huh, what do you mean you don''t know!"


    "I don''t know what I don''t know. It''s not like I know more than you two, I seriously have no idea what to do next."


    Miguel gnashed his teeth as wanted to punch something but instead started screaming out loud. In his mind Miguel knew that Nikki didn''t have all the answers, in fact, she must be just as scared as he and T were, but even so, he wanted someone to be responsible. While the group became silent the radio transceiver suddenly sounded.


    "Hey, are you guys still there?"


    "Yes! We''re still here you b*stard!" Miguel was the one who spoke.


    "Huh? Who the f*ck are you calling a b*stard?"


    "Who else but you is a f*cking b*stard! Do you know how many times we tried contacting you without getting any response?!" Miguel''s voice was trembling as he spoke.


    "..." The person on the other side sighed deeply before continuing to speak. "I was doing something here on my side. I know that you''re scared but I have my own sh*t to take care of. Damn, we don''t have time for this an Old God might appear any time now."


    "We''re already at the location you told us to go to, what do we do now?" Before Miguel could say something more Nikki already took the transceiver from him.


    "What I''m about to say next might sound crazy, but you need to trust me and jump down from your position."


    "Huh?"


    When the three heard what the other party said they unconsciously looked at the edge and saw other floating cities but below that was an endless void.


    "You want us to jump down there, to where? Even if wend on the nearest floating city the fall from this height would still kill us. What''s the difference between doing this and dying by the Old God''s hands they both end in death anyway."


    "Even if you do die by falling which you won''t it would be significantly better than dying in the Old God''s hands. You may not understand it now, but unlike a New God even at full power is simply like a human with superpowers, an Old God ispletely different. An Old God is something close to what we think of as a true God, depending on what kind of Old God it is it can control certain elements in the universe, most of them are able to modify reality and control time to a certain extent. So if an Old God were to capture you, that Old God may be able to rewrite your reality to make you feel pain like no other. You can''t even escape by dying as an Old God is able to manipte souls. So do you still think dying by falling is the same as being captured by an Old God?"


    "Tsk," Nikki clicked her tongue as she once again looked at the distance between them and the other floating cities.


    "You guys need to act now, the Old God will be there any moment now. Once any Old God fully descends then you won''t be able to escape anymore."


    "Damn it! Fine then, let''s do this! If you''re lying we would die either way so I''m going to bet on you f*cking b*stard! How about you two, are you going or staying?!" Nikki asked the other two who were bewildered by her sudden outburst.


    "Of course, I''ll do it!" Miguel also shouted trying to encourage himself.


    "... If you guys are going then I''ll go as well."


    "Alright then, let''s-" As Nikki was speaking the artificial sky was darkening and the ground they were standing on was trembling violently.


    "Sh*t there''s no more time, you guys jump now!"


    Nikki grabbed hold of the unconscious Erste with the help of Miguel, and T held onto the radio transceiver. The three were now holding hands and were about to jump but before they could jump, the trio felt a suffocating pressure. They looked upward and saw something like an eye staring at them.


    "F*cking jump now!"


    The trio who were stunned no longer hesitated and jumped downwards and as they were falling, they saw above them that the sky was shattering, and from beyond the sky they heard a voice filled with malice.


    "I will find you!"

 Chapter 671 In my soul

    Chapter 671 In my soul


    Erste who had fallen was currently in some dream state as his consciousness felt like it was in deep waters submerging even deeper. At this moment Erste could not move a single muscle as he continued to immerse deeper into the water. The light that was barely there was slowly fading as he continued to go deeper and deeper into the darkness.


    Even though he could no longer see, feel or hear a single thing, Erste''s heart had no fear. As long as his consciousness exists he will not fall.


    Erste did not know how long he had been going deeper into the water, but he finally saw something different. There were two bodies floating side by side. Erste was able to identify one of the floating bodies it was the New God Re'' Khe Hata that he had killed, as for the other one he also looked familiar.


    Erste was able toe closer to the two bodies, once he was close enough he could finally feel his body and move it. Erste extended his hand to touch the body of the New God Re'' Khe Hata and once he did he could feel an immense power trying to merge with him.


    Not only was he absorbing the power of the New God Re'' Khe Hata but he was also gaining an understanding of the power he was absorbing.


    ''So this is mana... There''s also the authority to control mes... Heh, that guy even in the end underestimated me, with his authority, he could have easily destroyed everything. Well it doesn''t really matter now, I''m the winner and he was the loser. Still, this power called mana is way more flexible than the authority.''


    ...


    The moment the other incarnations saw this part of the story they finally couldn''t help themselves as they had questions.


    "Wait a minute that means killing those New Gods gives us powers?" Michael raised his hands and asked.


    "Back then that was the only way to gain mana, we haven''t created the world tree yet so yeah." The Original Incarnation spoke as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t know about the other incarnations but I have killed hundreds upon hundreds of New Gods, but I never felt their power surging into me. If I was able to absorb their power while I was fighting I''m sure that I wouldn''t have died back then."


    "Well, like I said defeating the New Gods was the only way humans could''ve gained the power of mana, but after a while, it stops working. Mana or any spiritual power is linked to one''s soul, which is why all of you my incarnations grow almost infinitely as long as you are alive. Back then I have nearly annihted all New Gods, Old Gods, and halved the Ancient Gods. If not for the ORIGIN interfering with my massacring those b*stards I would''ve already wiped all the so-called Gods from existence!"


    The Original Incarnation''s power burst out of his body as the vicious smile on his face that was usually filled with battle intent was now filled with anger. The foreign souls in the soul realm, as well as some of the weaker incarnations, could not handle the power that burst out of the Original Incarnation and were now kneeling on the ground.


    The foreign souls were one thing but even some of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul were affected. This was surprising as even the weakest incarnation who had died young after protecting what he wanted to protect was strong enough to crush New Gods, but right now it took almost all of his strength just to stay conscious.


    After several seconds of his aura slightly leaking the Original Incarnation was finally able to calm himself down.


    "Sorry about that, I guess I got a little emotional since we were talking about the past. Now to answer your question, the reason why you didn''t get any kind of power up after killing numerous New Gods is because there''s nothing to gain from them. Our soul which we all share has already consumed Authorities from Ancient Gods and even some that I stole from the ORIGIN itself."


    The Original Incarnation shrugged his shoulders as he chuckled.


    "Basically to those of you that understand gaming terms, all incarnations are already at the max level in regards to hunting divinity so we can''t get any more experience for killing those things, but it does help hone our technique fighting such beings so I guess in a way there is still something to gain from them..."


    The Original Incarnation then became quiet for a few seconds seemingly deep in thought, but after that, he continued what he was saying.


    "Still, for any of you to get stronger was simply to wait as power will eventually fill the body of whoever the current incarnation is. This is the main reason as to why we are called the Strongest Mortal Soul, since despite being mortal our soul houses Thousand of Gods. Of course, the power I''m talking about is simply the stats of one''s body like strength, agility, mana, those kinds of things, but as for technique that is different that is one thing that you guys needed to fill on your own. Fortunately, all of you strived to better yourselves in that regard. So overall the way for any incarnation to get stronger is for him to wait for time to pass for the longer we live the stronger we be and of course, if you hone your techniques then you can be stronger faster than the other incarnations."


    Listening to the Original Incarnation''s exnation they now understood that their strength, agility, dexterity, endurance, and mana were equal in this spirit realm despite some of them dying earlier than others, since they should have already absorbed the power of their own soul. So the only thing that differentiates their overall strength was the techniques they use and their mental strength. Having these thoughts the other incarnations couldn''t help but look at the original incarnation who overpowers even all of thembined.


    Did they really absorb all of the power they could or is there more? Some of them who had stayed here for eons still continue to feel like they were growing stronger every second, does that mean they weren''t done absorbing the full power of their own soul? While every incarnation was thinking the Original Incarnation spoke.


    "Well, we wasted a lot of time with that exnation sp how about we get back to the story of my wonderful and thrilling life?"


    The Original Incarnation snapped his fingers and on the screen, the scene had changed as Erste was no longer absorbing the New God and instead had woken up in an unknown ce.

 Chapter 672 A f*cking monster

    Chapter 672 A f*cking monster


    Upon waking up Erste looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar room. The room had a dangling light bulb that was barely illuminating the room he was in. The room had no windows and one door, it wasn''t big nor was it small. There was a table in the corner and a chair, aside from that there was the bed Erste was on. Erste stood up and, after checking the room several times, found nothing more.


    ''What happened, where am I, where are the others?'' Now that he was certain that there was no apparent danger in the room, Erste had time to think.


    Erste tried to recall what had happened before losing consciousness, and thest thing he remembered was getting hit by a huge torrent of mes. There was also that dream-like state where he found the body of two New Gods.


    Erste closed his eyes as he tried to sense the mana within him. It didn''t take long as he felt the massive mana that was now flowing through him. Feeling the surging power Erste nodded his head in satisfaction. After checking his current status Erste opened the door of his room and was surprised to see that it wasn''t locked.


    ''So I''m not some sort of prisoner or they had no time to lock it and were careless.''


    Erste did not let his guard down as he cautiously stepped out of the room he was in. He was now in a hallway but unlike the room where he was the light from the hallwayes from torches. Even with the torches the hallway was still quite dark, so Erste took one torch and started walking.


    After walking for several minutes he was surprised that he had not seen anybody or anything else while walking. As he continued to walk he finally saw a door and as he entered, it was the same room he was in before, that would mean he had gone in a circle.


    ''I already checked this ce and there''s no secret switch or anything. I''m sure whoever put me here wants me to test me to find some sort of clue to get out of here, but I''m not patient enough for that.''


    A vicious smile appeared on Erste''s face as he got into a fighting stance, his right fist was on his waist as he gathered mana into it.


    "I have no time nor patience for some sh*tty test!" Erste punched at the wall with such power and speed that a sonic boom erupted from his punch.


    ...


    Several minutes before Erste woke up Nikki, Miguel, and T were with a group of people who had helped them from the crisis of the Old God. To their surprise, the people in this so-called secret base had a very intimidating presence simr to the New God.


    "I know that you saved us but I still need to ask... What are you going to do with Erste, why did you put him in a different location?"


    Nikki asked the leader of the group of three. The person she was talking to was a man who looked to be only a few years older than them. The man was wearing armor that looked to be from the middle ages, and behind him was a crimsonnce. The other two of hispanions were also wearing simr armor, and their weapons were alsonces.


    "Don''t worry we won''t hurt you guys. What we''re doing now is to separate the person who recently gained mana from us. The reason we''re doing this is because usually once a person who has gained mana wakes up they be violent and are unable to control their mana. Well, there are also some instances that their personalities be simr to the New God they killed."


    "... I guess we can only believe you guys for now. So what''s the deal with all of this, who are you, people?" Nikki stared at the leader sitting in front of her with a frown on her face. Miguel and T were too nervous to even say a word.


    "Remember the missing people that police can never find? We are those people, well you guys are also missing people now."


    "So are you going to exin to us what is going on with every crazy sh*t that''s happening?"


    "We will but we''ll wait for your friend first before exining anything since I don''t like repeating myself. See here that guy is already awake." The leader snapped his fingers and a floating screen appeared before the group.


    The group watched as Erste calmly looked around the room and then afterward he stabilized the mana circting through him. Seeing that scene the leader was quite shocked at how easily Erste stabilized his mana without anyone guiding him.


    ''This guy must be some sort of genius.''


    The leader was now even more interested in the man who defeated a New God by himself. They watched as Erste got out of the room and started walking through the hallway. The leader used an illusion to make Erste go back to the same room. The leader wanted to make Erste figure out that the hallway was a simple illusion that could be easily dispelled with a little use of mana. After seeing Erste easily control his own mana the leader was expecting something more from Erste, but then he saw that Erste went back into the room.


    ''Does he think that there is some sort of secret switch in there, or did he notice that we are on the other side of the wall? Anyway, it doesn''t really matter the only way to get into this room is through the hallway.''


    As the leader was feeling a little disappointed he saw that Erste suddenly got into a fighting stance.


    ''What the f*ck does he think he''s going to do, is this crazy guy going to punch the wall? That wall is reinforced with mana, even I wouldn''t be able to break it barehanded.'' As the leader shook his head, Erste suddenly looked in their direction with a vicious smile on his face. ''Did he notice my surveince?''


    "I have no time nor patience for some sh*tty test!" After speaking Erste punched at the wall, and to everyone''s surprise, Erste was actually able to break through the wall reinforced with mana.


    ''This guy isn''t a genius, he''s a f*cking monster.''

 Chapter 673 Punch first, talk later

    Chapter 673 Punch first, talkter


    Erste who broke through the wall saw Nikki and the others as well as a couple of unknown faces. When Erste saw the three who were wearing armor and were emitting mana from their bodies he smiled a vicious-looking smile.


    In this kind of situation, the first thought Erste had was to beat up the unknown people in front of him and then ask them questions. Erste did not even hesitate as he suddenly attack.


    The first person Erste charged at was of course the one closest to him, it was the tallest guy who had a mean-looking face. The man was quite shocked by Erste suddenly dashing towards him and was unable to pick up his spear when Erste punched him in the abdomen.


    Erste''s punch seemed to bypass the man''s armor hurting him and making him kneel on the ground, Erste then followed up by hitting the man''s carotid artery with such precision and power that it made the man faint.


    Erste was about to attack the other two but unlike the first one, the remaining two were now ready for battle holding theirnces.


    "Wait, we''re not your enemies!"


    The leader of the trio shouted, but Erste did not respond and instead once again charged at the nearest person. The guy that Erste attacked quickly defended himself, but due to the space being quite tight, it was rather difficult to properly use hisnce.


    ''Still, I shouldn''t be having this much trouble with someone who just gained mana.''


    The two then began to fight one another in close quarters. Erste''s punches and kicks were quick and precise, not to mention he was using mana to enhance his strength, while the other party was having difficulty just defending himself.


    The leader who was watching the battle on one side noticed that as the battle continued Erste''s attacks were bing sharper, faster, and stronger, even his mana control was showing improvement visible to the naked eye.


    ''What kind of talent is this?!''


    The leader had unconsciously gripped hisnce tighter as his heart was beating faster wanting to fight Erste. After a while Erste''s opponent could no longer hold on and he fell as well, now among the three only the leader was left standing.


    Just like the first two times, Erste dashed toward the leader and punched at a speed that actually made the sound of a sonic boom. The leader who barely evaded the strike was still hurt a little by the wind pressure alone. The leader unperturbed quickly reacted and countered by thrusting hisnce forward at a simr speed to Erste''s punch.


    Erste parried the attack by pushing thence to the side with his forearm. At first, Erste wanted to grab hold of thence but the leader''s thrust was too fast making it hard to grab hold of thence, not to mention there seems to be some force surrounding thence.


    ''Did he coat hisnce with mana?'' The moment he had that thought, Erste wanted to test something. Erste controlled his mana to cover his arms and legs with them as if he was wearing armor.


    When the leader saw what was happening before him he couldn''t evenugh at it anymore, the guy before him was a monster amongst monsters. It took the other missing people who gained mana years to figure out mana coating but Erste did it almost immediately after seeing it once.


    Erste fist then met with the tip of the leader''snce, when the two shed with each other both the leader and Erste were pushed back. Erste took two steps backward while the leader slid towards the wall.


    ''Damn, I need to go all out or I''ll lose here! As long as I don''t kill him it''s going to be alright.'' The leader then changed his fighting stance as mana circted throughout his entire body he held hisnce in one hand and got into a stance that made him look like a lion that was about to pounce on its prey.


    When Erste saw the change in the leader''s fighting stance a vicious smile appeared on his face. After that brief confrontation between them, Erste understood that the other party was holding back which made him feel disappointed but now it seems the other party was ready to go all out.


    Erste then took thence of one of the fallen men and after twirling it around a little bit he held it with both hands and pointed it in the leader''s direction. Seeing Erste pick up a weapon to face him the leader felt ecstatic.


    "Heh, this next attack is going to be different since I''ll go up a gear, I hope you don''t get hurt too badly."


    "Come at me!"


    Erste who was getting even more excited roared. The leader then moved at an incredible speed and did a forward thrust at a speed that broke the sound barrier twice, making a loud sonic boom that blew away the unconscious two men, Nikki, T, and Miguel. Just the shockwave from the leader''s movement had made Nikki, T, and Miguel fly into the wall. T and Miguel had fainted afterward but Nikkiy on the ground barely conscious.


    Erste evaded the supersonic thrust by spinning and used the momentum of his spin to counter with his ownnce. Erste''snce was about to hit the leader but unfortunately, it was just an afterimage and the leader was already behind Erste ready to strike.


    Erste then stomped on the ground creating cracks in the floor which not only made the ground tremble but also made the leader lose bnce momentarily creating a small opening that was enough for Erste to evade the attack and counter again.


    This flow of battle continued for a little bit, evade, counter, evade, counter, evade, counter, the two repeated the same thing for several moves, but then Erste did something surprising. As the leader was getting used to the flow of battle, after counter-attacking he expected Erste to once again evade, but that wasn''t what Erste did instead he blocked the attack.


    As the leader''snce and Erste''snce collided, Erste let go of his weapon and the leader''s momentum made him stumble a bit. Erste got behind the leader and got him in a chokehold. The leader tried to struggle but to no avail, as he lost consciousness shortly after.

 Chapter 674 Human rebellion

    Chapter 674 Human rebellion


    Jack was once a regr office worker when he and some of his officemates went out for drinks one day. As they were eating and drinking they were unable to notice that there was no one in the bar except for them. When one of Jack''s officemates was going to order some more drinks that was when they noticed that everyone else disappeared.


    What came next was simr to what happened to Erste and his group. A New God appeared and told them that he would hunt them down. Unlike Erste and his group, Jack and his officemates were drunk and quickly confronted the so-called New God. That was the beginning of the horror that became Jack''s life.


    Once they found the New God they started berating and making fun of him as they were still intoxicated and unable to fully understand what was happening. It was at that moment the New God lifted his hand and a spear made of ice pierced one of Jack''s officemate.


    Seeing the body of their officemate fall in a pool of blood sobered up the drunks rather quickly. All of them were stunned and could not move from where they stood, it was then the New God spoke.


    "Run."


    The very moment they heard that word it was like they had rockets on their feet as the frozen group started running away at full speed.


    The group did everything to survive but it was to no avail as the New God ughtered them with a big grin on his face. In the end, Jack was the only one left alive, and as he was about ready to ept his death a miracle happened a group of people appeared before him and fought the New God.


    The smile on the New God''s face turned sour as anger arose from deep within. The power released by the New God became terrifying it was a power that could break the world.


    "Damn dogs that dare to bite at their betters!"


    Despite the power of the New God being so much more than the humans fighting him it seems like he was at a disadvantage. The coordination of the humans that fought the New God was impable, it made it look like the powerful New God was a cornered animal. It was like a lion being harassed by a pack of hyenas. After a while, some sacrifices appeared on the human side, and three people were killed before able to restrain the New God.


    After battling for several hours the New God fell barely alive, it was then one of the humans who fought the New God approached Jack and offered him a weapon.


    "Let us rebel against the Gods."


    It was on that day, Jack killed his first New God and gained the power of mana. After that fateful day, he and the others continued to hunt New Gods and save as many humans as they could. Unfortunately, the amount of people they could save was minimal and many of them had died sacrificing their lives for the cost of rebellion.


    For a couple of years, this was the reality Jack lived in, but then it changed as soon as that person joined their rebellion. Nowadays the people in their rebellion rarely die, and their coordination had improved by a lot. Even though they still could not save everyone, they were able to save more than they used to.


    ...


    "It has been a few years now since that person joined and now here we are. Is that what you want to hear?"


    Jack spoke to the person who had just beaten him and his twopanions. The three of them were kneeling on the floor with their hands up.


    "Who is that person who you''re talking about?"


    "I don''t know who that person is, not the name, age, gender, nothing, all I know right now is that person is the leader of the Human rebellion against the Gods."


    "So you''re following the orders of a person you have never seen or heard from?"


    "Yeah orders are ryed by others but they mainly doe from the leader of the rebellion."


    "Huh, how could you follow someone you have never directly seen before?"


    "You understand? Before that person came, the rebellion was nothing more than a wish, a hope that we could somehow defeat the Gods, but in truth, we were doing aughable, futile rebellion. We gained power beyond any human being but even with that power, it takes several of us to take down a New God, and in exchange, we only gain one new ally. We lose many and only gain a few. It was obvious if we kept going the way we did, the rebellion would eventually disappear."


    Jack who had his arms raised clenched them as he gnashed his teeth. Remembering those horrible days made him feel a myriad of things, regret, hate, anger, and strongest of all sorrow.


    "When that person appeared I heard no one believed in what that person was trying to do. Of course, no one would''ve listened to some neer that knew nothing, but after a few missions, it was said that person was able to finish each mission with no one dying. It was a miracle that no one expected to happen. It was then slowly but surely one by one the people within the rebellion started following that person until that person became our leader. Now members of the rebellion dying in missions became a rarity."


    Jack then stared into Erste''s eyes and spoke the next words with passion.


    "That person not only led us to more victories, but that person also gave us hope. Now rebelling against the Gods isn''t only a dream a hopeless wish, but something that can truly happen. That person showed us that we can pull down the Gods from their thrones."


    "I see... So if we join your little rebellion will we be able to meet your leader?" Erste asked after listening to Jack''s story.


    "No the only ones who can speak to the leader directly are the ones who have proven themselves worthy."


    "... Then how can I prove myself worthy?"


    "How else, of course, it''s by killing the Gods."

 Chapter 675 Hidden

    675 Hidden


    In a dimension between parallel universes was where the HQ of the human rebellion against God hides. Even the Old Gods and Ancient Gods were unable to locate this ce amongst the almost limitless universes. The only being strong enough to locate this ce without any trouble is the ORIGIN, but the ORIGIN at this period never interfered and only watched.


    This particr dimension wasn''t that bigpared to the other dimensions as it was only a few million kilometers big. It was a good hiding spot when you''re trying to hide away from the eyes of literal Gods.


    The HQ was a gigantic city in the middle of this unnamed dimension. The poption in this city was around fifty thousand more or less. Eighty percent of the poption here were made up of normal humans and twenty percent were people who had killed New Gods and gained mana.


    The HQ had a mix of different people from different walks of life, and over time the city turned into something like a sci-fi world mixed with a fantasy one. Teleportation stations, people flying in the sky, an artificial sun, and power generated through mana stored in mana crystals.


    The teleportation stations weren''t used just to get around the city but it was also used to go to different worlds, the worlds created by the Gods as a hunting ground. There are many hunting grounds and it takes time to be able to infiltrate each one.


    The rebels who had mana were grouped into a three-person team. If it was before the leader appeared they would''ve sent a team of ten or more to fight a New God, but now after training their coordination they could handle a normal New God with just three people.


    Still, every now and then the three-man team would meet a powerful New God or worse an Old God and perish. The system was not perfect but it was infinitely better than what they used to do. Now there were trying to see if they could somehow understand what kind of New God was in that world before heading toward it.


    ...


    It was just another day and the group of rebels were returning with new allies. Most of the new allies were unconscious since usually after gaining new power they became very aggressive.


    So it was weird when they saw that Jack''s group was being led by an unknown person. Erste was proudly walking at the front of the group. Seeing this scene one of the people who was a little close to Jack approached the group. The person was a man with a sort of delinquent biker gang look to him with his ear piercings leather jacket and burning skull shirt, it was like he was trying his best to make him look like a cartoon bad*ss.


    "Hey Jack, what happened, do you want me to teach the new guy how things work here?"


    "I don''t think you would want to do that."


    "Hoh, are you saying that this newbie can do something to me?"


    The guy looked at Erste and saw that he did seem to have a better build than most newbies, but that really doesn''t matter as the most important thing was one''s mana.


    "I''m warning you, An, if you don''t want to make a fool of yourself, you better stop now."


    "Now you got me even more interested than before."


    "Don''t say I didn''t warn you."


    An no longer bothered Jack as he approached Erste and was about to hook his arm onto the other person but then Erste dodged.


    "Oh, hey newbie wanna use that newfound power of yours?"


    "Hmm, who are you and what do you mean?"


    "Oh me, I''m friends with Jack over there as for what I mean and simple terms I just want to spar with you."


    "A spar you say, fine I wanted to see what kind of people are in this so-called rebellion."


    "Hehe, very arrogant I like that, it makes it so much more fun to discipline guys like you."


    When Jack heard what An said he couldn''t help but sigh knowing the other party will be very embarrassedter.


    ''Well, I did warn him.''


    ...


    In this unnamed city, there are many sparring centers since those that have mana their main source of entertainment was sparring with each other.


    The sparring centers also had the most technologically advanced equipment thatbine modern science, alchemy, and mana. After renting a sparring room An handed a small device to Erste.


    "What is this?"


    "This device surrounds you with a mana shield and depending on the setting could take a certain amount of damage, victory will be decided when the mana shield is dispelled. This device only works here in the sparring room which is surrounded by a field the guys who made it call those the spell resonators. I set mine to the lowest setting as a handicap, as long as you hit me once you win."


    "Huh, I think you got this wrong, how about you set yours in the highest setting and mine in the lowest, as long as you''re able to hit me once then it''s you win."


    "You really are a c*cky little newbie, aren''t you? Still, I admire your bravado so, I''ll set my and your device to the normal setting we use during training." An pressed some buttons on some sort of control panel that was at the end of the room.


    "Now the winner will be decided once that device on your chest starts blinking red which means the mana shield is down. Alright then, now that I set the devices up properly pick any weapon you want."


    An then pointed at the weapon rack which had all sorts of weapons from swords to bows and arrows. The only weapons Erste noticed weren''t there were guns. An got a longsword from the rack and waited for Erste to pick one. While they were waiting Jack spoke to An.


    "This is yourst chance to back out."


    "You really think that this newbie can take me?"


    "Yeah, you should know he beat my entire team."


    "Huh, Are kidding me? I''m guessing you guys let your guard down. Anyway hearing that just makes me want to fight him even more."


    ...


    "I don''t need any weapons, my fists are enough."


    When An and his team heard what Erste said they were dumbfounded but after a few seconds An startedughing.


    "Hahaha! You c*cky little sh*t you really need to be taught a lesson. Since you think you don''t need a weapon let''s begin then. START THE MATCH!"

 Chapter 676 Overwhelming

    <h4>Chapter 676 Overwhelming</h4>


    The moment the match started An walked toward Erste without any guard he was going to show the newbie the difference between their levels. Erste looked at An weirdly as he spotted several openings.


    ''Is he luring me or is this some trick?... Whatever, it doesn''t matter if it''s a trap let''s see what he has in store for me.''


    An who was waiting to see what Erste was going to do suddenly felt something was wrong, before he could figure out what was wrong, Erste''s fist was already right in front of him almost touching his nose. An couldn''t even see the initial movement of Erste''s fist before it arrived in his face.


    "I see, you weren''t trapping me you were just looking down on me. Stop ying around if you don''t get serious this spar will not be fun for either of us."


    Erste slowly backed away as he waited for the stunned An to get into a fighting stance. The people on An''s team were also stunned by what they saw. They thought that Jack and his team were exaggerating when they exined how skillful Erste was, but even now that they saw it they still couldn''t believe it. That punch Erste did was just a simple punch without any mana, but the way Erste did it made it look like his hand blurred for a second.


    An finally got his bearings back as he looked at Erste and gnashed his teeth. He wanted to teach the neer a lesson but now he was taught a lesson in front of his not only his team back Jack''s as well. An calmed himself as he showed a smile before speaking.


    "You''re better than expected, did you practice any martial art beforeing here?"


    "I did," Erste answered in a rather nonchnt manner.


    "You caught me off guard there, but now I''m going toe at you a little bit more seriously."


    "As it should be, don''t disappoint me."


    An frowned after hearing Erste''s reply, he then got into a fighting stance as he circted his mana throughout his body. Seeing An''s stance Erste nodded his head in approval. An dashed forward at a speed that was hard to follow with the naked eye, and he then did a jumping kick. Erste evaded simply by stepping to the side.


    An whonded on the ground quickly did a back kick, but Erste evaded again and casually kicked An''s foot which he was using for bnce. An was about to fall face-first onto the ground, but he stopped himself using his arms and in that position began lifting both his legs and started kicking.


    Before An could gain any momentum Erste did a football kick aimed at An''s head, but before Erste''s kick could connect An pushed himself upwards did a mid-air somersault, and distanced himself from Erste.


    The two had finished their first few exchanges, Liam and T who were not really versed in martial arts thought that An''s shy style was cool and he had the upper hand, on the other hand, the others knew who truly had the upper hand.


    "Surely that''s not all you''ve got, how can that level of attack even harm those so-called New Gods? I don''t know why you''re just such a crude fighting style, but it should be clear to you now that you won''t be able to beat me with that. My skill in martial arts is above you, so you better change the way you attack."


    "You really have a way of getting on one''s nerves you know that?"


    "I was just stating a fact, if it got on your nerves that just means you know it''s the truth."


    "Fine, since you want me to fight you seriously then I will!"


    An''s mana burst outward as well as his killing intent which was aimed at Erste. An''s mana then started to envelop him with a blue glow looking like it was crackling. Seeing the change in An''s demeanor, Jack and the others who were watching started feeling nervous. An might identally break the mana barrier and seriously injure Erste, Jack wanted to stop the fight but then he saw Erste''s expression.


    On Erste''s face was no nervousness, there was not a single trace of it as Erste was smiling a vicious-looking smile.


    "Finally! Show me everything you''ve got!"


    Erste who was not using mana since the start of the fight started circting it throughout his entire body enhancing his physical prowess. An disappeared from Erste''s sight, but by instinct, Erste quickly defended his body by using his hands, it was then he felt something hard hit his forearms.


    An was attacking Erste from different angles with such speed that alongside his mana wrapping around him made An look like a bolt of lightning. Up, down, right, left, in front, in the back, An was attacking Erste with such speed and ferocity but despite that, Erste was able to block or evade all of the iing attacks.


    ''He really is something else... Still, this fight is over, as long as I keep attacking even if he is blocking it with the setting we input in the device the mana shield should dispel after a few more strikes, and I would win... I didn''t really want to win in such a way, but... A win is a win.''


    An was about to increase the intensity of his attacks when he faintly heard Erste mumbling to himself.


    "So that''s how you do it."


    Erste''s mana suddenly burst out in a simr fashion as what An did, and the same as An Erste''s own mana started to envelop him. Erste''s mana was pure white emitting an exceptional level of heat. If you were at least half a meter away from Erste you could feel a heat that felt like it could burn everything.


    Seeing this scene An unconsciously stopped attacking as he could not believe his eyes, and so did the other people watching.


    "That''s mana emission and mana coating... Don''t tell me you learned it after seeing it once..."


    "Yeah, thanks for showing it to me. Come on then let''s continue!"


    An and the others could not believe their ears, Erste really learned two techniques that took everyone else years to master with just a nce.


    ''This f*cking? monster...''

 Chapter 677 End Of The Spar

    ?


    Even as Jack and the others were watching it with their own eyes they could not believe it. Erste who only recently acquired mana was able to not only use it so efficiently but was able to use aplicated technique like Mana Coating, even though it isn''t asplicated as Mana Coating he was also able to use Mana Emission. Those two techniques might be the basic skills of an advanced warrior but it took them years to even do the basic Mana Emission and Erste did it in a nce.


    As the one who was facing Erste, An felt like sh*t. This was supposed to be a match where he would show the newbie the harshness of this world, but it turns out he was the one who''s being shown the harshness of the world.


    There have been many so-called geniuses that came and joined the rebellion. Many of those so-called geniuses thought they were the chosen ones able to defeat the Gods and free the helpless humans, unfortunately, they weren''t.


    Those so-called geniuses either die on the battlefield, supposedly after a glorious sacrifice or they would lose and never recover from that loss. Yet today An and all those present had seen a genius like no other, in just a couple of moves they felt like they had never seen a genius like Erste.


    ...


    "Come show me more!"


    Erste smiled so happily as his excitement rose. In the beginning, he was simply nning to have a little exercise also he wanted to see what kind of facilities they had for sparring, after which he wanted to know if anyone had seen Elena, also he wanted to ask more questions about the new leader of the rebellion.


    There were so many thoughts swirling in his mind before the match and even during the match, but all of those messy thoughts were blown away as the match progressed. Now all Erste had in his mind was to fight more, to see more techniques, to feel even more excitement.


    Erste had a vicious smile on his face as he got ready to strike at An, but then to his surprise, An''s offensive stopped. When Erste saw the look on An''s face it was a look that he would never forget even across all of his reincarnations. An raised his hand and spoke the words Erste never wanted to hear.


    "I surrender."


    "Huh?" It was only Erste who was surprised by what An said but everyone else could understand why An surrendered.


    "Why did you surrender?! I don''t ept it! I can''t ept it! Fight me more, show me more, make me feel even more excited!"


    Nikki, T, and Miguel were quite shocked when they saw Erste''s outburst. This was the first time they have seen this side of Erste, he was like a child throwing a tantrum.


    "I''m sorry I can''t continue."


    "WHY?!"


    When An saw the screaming Erste who was full of anger he could not help but sigh. Erste might have been the most incredible genius they have ever seen but it seems that he still has a bit of immaturity in him.


    "I can''t win, so I surrendered."


    "That''s uneptable! In a fight, until it''s over nobody can tell who the winner is or who the loser is so continue! Fight me, and let''s determine who the winner and the loser is!"


    Seeing Erste being so adamant about the entire thing An once again sighed as he raised his hands into the air.


    "I already said that I surrender, I lose."


    "And I said that I don''t ept that!"


    The ground where Erste was standing started to crack as an even more powerful force erupted from Erste''s body. Jack and the others protected Nikki, T, and Miguel as that simple burst of power could potentially harm the three that didn''t have any mana in their body. An''s twopanions were also getting ready to intervene if Erste did anything excessive, while An himself continued to raise his arms.


    Erste gnashed his teeth and suddenly disappeared from everyone''s view. No one was able to follow Erste''s speed as he was already in front of An just an arm''s length away. An''spanions were not even able to react as Erste''s fist was about to hit An''s face.


    An did not move a single inch as he stared at the iing fist without even blinking. Even with the mana shield and the defensive power of An''s body Erste''s fist was too powerful to block. If An does not dodge his head would most likely explode from the force, yet despite slowing down his attack Erste saw that An had no intention to evade.


    Before Erste''s fist was about to touch An''s face it stopped, not only did Erste''s fist stop but all the force released dissipated showing the degree of control Erste had. It had only been a few hours since he gained mana but the exquisite control he showed was unbelievable. Seeing this just made An fully ept his loss even more than before.


    "DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! Who else wants to fighte I''ll take you all on!"


    Erste shifted his attention to others who were watching the battle, but they responded by shaking their heads. Seeing this just made Erste feel even more frustrated.


    "Hey, you said to meet your leader I needed to make that person notice me, so all I need to do is kill more of those so-called New Gods, right? Alright then, show me were I need to go I''ll battle those New Gods now!"


    "It''s not that simple, first you and your friends need to do some basic check-ups, and then you have to be registered into the hunting group. After that there''s a basic training course, then you''ll form a team with two others, then and only then will you be able to go do missions and raise your reputation."


    Hearing Jack''s exnation just made Erste feel even more frustrated. Seeing that Erste was about to explode from rage, Jack told him something to calm him down.


    "If you want there''s also a ce where you can release your frustrations by destroying a few training dummies."


    "Show me where."


    Jack guided Erste and his friends out of the room. Once Erste''s presence was no longer there An fell to the ground sweating profusely as he was breathing erratically. Despite not being hit by thatst attack the pressure was incredible, that it took An''s entire willpower simply to stop himself from fainting.

 Chapter 678 One Man Team

    ?


    A week had quickly passed by since Erste and the others had arrived at the rebellion''s HQ. Nikki, T, and Miguel have settled in quite nicely in the city where most of the nonbatants stay and Nikki even applied to be abatant.


    On the other hand, Erste had entered the training center for the newbatants of the rebellion. As expected even though they have been defeated by their respective saviors some of them haven''t learned their lesson and were quite arrogant.


    Erste who had observed their training for a few days didn''t feel like ying around with them any longer so he wanted to quickly prove himself and said something no one expected.


    ...


    "I got no time for this, can I just skip this training?"


    The instructor in charge of the group of neers red at Erste and then he checked his file. The file says that Erste had defeated a New God by himself and had sparred with An upon arrival. The oue of the spar was not written on the file. The instructor frowned as he thought that Erste was one of those geniuses that think they could do everything by himself.


    "Fine, you can skip the basic training if you''re able to beat a team of three."


    "That''s too easy to be a test. How about if I beat everyone here, you allow me to go do missions by myself."


    After he was done speaking the other people in the training center all red at Erste. In a ce where everyone thinks they were the protagonist seeing Erste act like he was the Main Character made the others feel irritated. One of the neers approached Erste.


    "You think you can take us all on? I''m sure that you can''t even beat me."


    Without warning the guy speaking with Erste punched out while using his mana to strengthen his body. Erste focused a little bit of mana into his index finger blocked the guy''s fist with his finger and then redirected it downward making the guy stumble forward. Erste then lightly tapped the back of the guy''s neck making him faint.


    Seeing Erste''s fluid movement and how easily he defeated the person who attacked him made the others gulp their saliva. Still, there were some that remained defiant and wanted to fight Erste.


    "I know that you''re above the others but do you think you could take on all the neers here? Even if you somehow do so, do you really think that''s enough to be exempt from forming a team?" The instructor asked Erste.


    "It seems that you misunderstood something here when I said everyone that was including you."


    The very moment Erste said those words of provocation the Instructor burst out with a very frightening energy as a bit of bloodlust was leaking out of him.


    "I''ve seen my fair share of arrogant b*stards, but you''re something else entirely. It seems like I need to teach you a very hard lesson."


    Seeing the Instructor ready to fight a vicious smile appeared on Erste''s face.


    "Come show me what you got."


    ...


    At the same time that Erste was about to fight the instructor, Jack was finally freed from the nearly endless questioning of the past week. After he reported what happened with Erste, the higher-ups came to question him. Jack had told them everything he knew without any deceit or falsehood.


    It was a very extensive Q and A, but most of the time he just needed to stay in a room. After the questioning and investigation of what happened during the rescue of Erste and the others, Jack was apanied by one of the Generals of the Rebellion.


    The Generals of the Rebellion are the most powerful fighters in the Rebellion each one of them has enough skill and strength to defeat a New God at full power by themselves. The General that was apanying Jack was one of the oldest members of the Rebellion, his name was Gratz.


    General Gratz was the General with the most experience as well as the General with the highest kill count among the other Generals. The weapon he used was a rapier which Gratz loved calling an elegant weapon.


    The two were now heading towards the Training Center Erste was in. After learning of Erste''s ability the higher-ups sent out a General to assess the other party.


    "I wasn''t able to ask you back in the base but Jack my boy are you sure that you haven''t made a mistake in your report?"


    "Yes, Sir Gratz, that young man has unbelievable skill and power. It feels like he was born and bred for battle."


    "Hoh, how intersting. Do you think that young man understands elegance?"


    "Huh, Elegance, sir?"


    "Yes, does the young man exude nobility and elegance?"


    When Jack heard Gratz''s question he remembered the vicious smile on Erste''s face. ''That guy should be the farthest thing from the nobility and elegance Sir Gratz is talking about.''


    "No, Sir, the thing that Erste exuded was not nobility nor elegance, what he exuded was a certain wildness and ferocity."


    "Well, that''s disappointing to hear, it''s another one of those. We already have a ton of people that have the same aura. I wish that some of the younglings could learn from me and show nobility and elegance at all times. As the chosen few fighting for the future of our race, we should keep a certain level of nobility, don''t you think so?"


    "Sir, yes Sir."


    "Oh my, Jack my boy no need to be so stiff."


    "Yes, sorry about that..."


    Gratz looked at Jack who had his head down and sighed.


    "Don''t worry about it. Oh, we''re already here."


    Jack looked ahead and saw the Training Center Erste was in, and when the two entered what they saw was quite surprising. Erste was sitting at the side drinking water and on the ground were unconscious people. Those people on the ground were the neers and even the Instructor was beaten to the ground. Noticing the neers Erste waved his hand, greeting them. Seeing the scene before him Jack couldn''t help but sigh.

 Chapter 679 My Own Test

    ?


    "Is this Erste?"


    Gratz examined the boy waving his hand at them. Even though the other party was simply standing there waving at them, Gratz actually felt there was something weird about Erste but he could not determine what it was.


    "Yes, that''s him," Jack answered while sighing.


    "You''re right about this child, he looks like he has no elegance at all, but he is still young and can be taught."


    While Gratz and Jack were having their conversation Erste was already standing right in front of them.


    "What did you do?" Jack asked Erste who was acting like nothing had happened.


    "Oh this, I wanted to skip the basic training so I made a bet with them. If I''m able to beat them all I don''t need to do basic training and I don''t need to be in a team of three."


    After hearing his exnation Jack once again sighed, Even though he already expected Erste to do something like this it was still surprising to see actually happen.


    "The instructor doesn''t have the authority to make that happen."


    "Then who does?"


    "That would be me. I apologize for thete introduction, I''m Gratz a General here in the rebellion. It''s a pleasure to meet you young one."


    "Nice to meet you too, I''m Erste a neer. So you''re the one I need to talk to if I want to skip basic training and go on missions alone."


    "Young one, I don''t know much about you, but I can already see that you''re skill in battle is above mostbatants and I can understand why you want to skip basic training. Still, I cannot allow you to skip basic training since you need to do that not only to learn the skills for using mana but also to have a better understanding of your futurepanions."


    "So you''re not going to allow me to skip basic training, and you''re not going to allow me to do missions by myself." Erste was now frowning as he spoke.


    "You must understand boy, fighting against the Gods has a lot of risks if you do it by yourself. Without the appropriate amount of power and experience, you can''t possibly do any missions by yourself. The only way to be able to get out of forming a team is if you be a general like myself."


    "I see, so you''re telling me if I defeat you I can prove that I can do missions by myself."


    Jack already had a feeling that this would happen the moment he brought Sir Gratz to meet Erste. Even though he and Erste had only known each other for a short while, Jack had a basic understanding of Erste based on what he saw in the sparring match against An.


    ...


    The moment Erste finished speaking a powerful burst of energy erupted from Gratz. A suffocating pressure descended upon Erste and despite not being targetted Jack could also feel a portion of the pressure which made him kneel.


    On the other hand, Erste had a vicious smile on his face as he resisted the pressure. Seeing Erste resist Gratz increased the pressure as he was releasing about eighty percent of his power.


    Erste who had ignored the initial release of pressure was finally feeling its effects. It was like gravity had increased greatly and something was pushing him down wanting him to kneel. Even in this situation, Erste could not help himself as he smiled a very vicious-looking smile and burst out with his own power. Erste''s powerful mana had offset the pressure making him sessfully resist Gratz.


    It was then the pressure suddenly dispersed as if it was never there in the first ce. Jack breathed heavily as the pressure disappeared, on the other hand, Erste looked at Gratz confused.


    "Why did you stop?"


    "Using more power than that would be a disgrace, to continue such a farce would be inelegant." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Gratz looked at Erste and noticed that the other party was just about ready to attack. Seeing Erste''s reaction and remembering his own rather immature actions made Gratz sigh deeply.


    "Truly how inelegant."


    "I don''t know why you keep saying inelegant this or inelegant that, but now that you have caught a glimpse of my own capabilities. Can you make an exception for me and allow me to skip basic training and go on missions by myself?"


    Gratz didn''t reply immediately as he stared into Erste''s eyes. What Gratz saw in Erste''s eyes was something akin to a fighting spirit, but it felt more than that.


    ''Are you a wild dog that would bite anyone in sight, or are you a warrior looking for a challenge?''


    ...


    Back in the Soul Realm one of the incarnations raised his hand interrupting what they were watching.


    "What is it?" The Original Incarnation stopped the memories and asked.


    "We''re watching your memories of these events right?"


    "Yes, and?"


    "Then howe there are parts that don''t have you and you still seem to know what they were talking about? Also, I have noticed before that we seem to be able to listen to other people''s thoughts, if these are just a yback of your memories then howe we can hear the thoughts that aren''t yours?"


    Hearing that incarnation''s question the other incarnations also agreed and now realized that it was indeed rather confusing.


    "That''s an excellent question. Now normally I would give you an answer, but answering that question is ratherplicated. It delves into my various abilities and having some of the authority of the ORIGIN. So for now, just ept that this is just a part of my abilities, alright, so can we continue watching?"


    "... Fine."


    The original incarnation nodded his head in satisfaction as he continued ying his memories.


    ...


    "Alright then, I''ll test you myself. I''ll bring you along in my next mission were I''ll judge whether you can have a special exemption or not."


    "Sir, are you sure about this? Missions given to the generals usually are about facing the more powerful New Gods or even gathering information about the Old Gods. Even if Erste is talented, going on those kinds of missions with you is..."


    "I know what you want to say, but don''t worry as long as I''m there nothing bad will happen. I am after all one of the oldest surviving members of the rebellion, I was here even before the days when we got to call ourselves a rebellion."


    "Alright, Sir."


    "So what do you say boy, will you ept this test of mine?" Gratz looked at Erste who still had that vicious smile on his face as he answered.


    "When do we leave?"

 Chapter 680 Battle After Battle

    ?


    Gratz and Erste headed out and were now in one of the dimensions were the hunting of humans was happening. The rebellion knew that in this particr hunting ground, a very powerful New God was roaming. In fact, the New God was so powerful that several members of the rebellion had already fallen under his hands. So now they needed to send in a general to either kill the New God if possible or if it turned out to be too difficult to kill then they needed to simply learn more about this New God. At this point in time, Gratz and Erste were now waiting for the New God to make a move.


    "So boy can you tell me why you are in such a hurry?"


    "Stop calling me boy, I have a name you know, it''s Erste."


    "I call almost all inelegant and immature young men, boys, as for the women I call them girls. If your temperament gets better I''ll call youd, and if you do well enough I might even call you young lord. Now if and only if you prove yourself truly worthy, only then will I call your name. There''s also the fact that I''m truly older than you, in fact, I''m older than all the members of the current Rebellion."


    "Heh, just how old are you?"


    "The time in different dimensions is different, but if you''re talking about my age counting the time in the original world then I''m about five hundred and seventy two years old."


    Loki was actually surprised by Gratz''s answer and looked at the other party with a bewildered expression.


    "Don''t look at me like that, We who have plundered the abilities of New Gods have not only gained their abilities but our bodies have also evolved. One of the benefits of this evolution is our longer lifespans. I might look like an elegant fifty year old man, but my true age is as you already know."


    "Hmm, so we really are no longer human."


    The moment Erste said those he suddenly felt a chilling from Gratz''s direction. The aura from Gratz was unlike the time he was pressuring Esrste with his presence and mana, now what was being released was a suffocating amount of killing intent.


    "Don''t you dare say those words! No matter what happens to us, no matter what changes within us, we will always be humans! We shall fight elegantly and die elegantly as humans!"


    Erste was stunned not only by Gratz''s outburst of killing intent but what he just said. Erste stared at Gratz for a few seconds before he shrugged his shoulders and responded.


    "Alright, I guess we''re still humans, but what''s this about fighting elegantly and dying elegantly business? Fighting by itself is inherently a dirty business there''s no elegance to be found in that, as for dying elegantly that too is a farce."


    "Hmph, what a sad little boy you are. The only reason you can''t find elegance in fighting is because youck any semnce of elegance, but don''t worry boy as long as you''re with me I will teach you what true elegance is."


    "How about you show me what kind of elegance in fighting by facing me."


    Erste''s battle intent was once again rising. After learning more about mana, no after seeing so many strong opponents something within Erste was slowly changing, or something within him was finally being released. Erste''s thirst for battle was growing by the minute, and every time he found a powerful person he had the urge to attack.


    Seeing the vicious smile on Erste''s face, and feeling the intensity of his battle intent made Gratz shake his head and sigh.


    "I guess teaching a barbarian like you will take some time, but do not worry boy I will guide you properly."


    Erste was about ready to attack, but when he saw that Gratz looked like he had no thought of fighting back made Erste feel a little irritated.


    "Are you not going to guide me properly? Why don''t you take out your weapon and show me that elegant way of fighting you keep on talking about."


    "In fighting a beast like you, my right hand is enough." Gratz had his right hand forward and his left hand was behind his back, he stood there with a straight back, and with his height, it felt like he was looking down on Erste both figuratively and physically.


    "Hoh, is that so then let''s see what you got."


    Like a beast, Erste charged forward with a speed that the eye could not follow. Erste''s current control over his mana was nothing like it was before as he had improved greatly. So now he didn''t even need to use mana emission and mana coating to move at such a speed.


    Gratz was really surprised by Erste''s speed, he already tried to overestimate Ersete''s abilities as much as possible but it seems that his imagination fell short. Erste who only gained mana in a month was already better than most seasoned members of the Rebellion.


    ...


    Back in the Soul Realm one of the incarnations interrupted the scene by asking a question.


    "Another battle? Ever since you defeated that New God it seems that you just shifted from one fight to another."


    "Huh, What kind of thing to say is that? Is there any reincarnation in this ce whose whole life did not revolve around battle?"


    When the others heard the original incarnation''s question they all fell deep into their own thoughts. After a moment of thinking they all came to the same answer. It seem that none of their lives was peaceful, as most of their lives revolved around battle. Seeing the reaction of the crowd the original incarnation scoffed.


    "You see, none of you lived a life outside of battle. Since all of you share most of my core personality traits as well as having power beyond most people, of course, your lives will revolve around battle. Not to mention when I created the reincarnation system I made sure that each reincarnation of mine would be born in a ce that has the most chaotic energies. So do you have anything else to say?"


    The reincarnation who spoke shook his head and the group continued to watch the next scene.

 Chapter 681 An Old God

    Chapter 681 An Old God


    Gratz evaded Erste''s strike but he did not look pleased as he did so. What Gratz wanted to do was show the difference between him and Erste, at first he was going to block Erste''s attack with one hand but as Erste''s fist was about to hit him he actually avoided the strike. Gratz didn''t want to do that, but his instincts told him to dodge. Even now as he continued dodging what he really wanted to do was to stop Erste''s attack but he could not.


    "Is this your so-called elegant way?"


    "As you can see even if my dance partner is like a wild boar I can still move so elegantly."


    It was true Gratz was evading Erste''s attacks like he was on a dance floor. It was a mix of ballet and a waltz. Still, this wasn''t what Gratz wanted to happen. Right now Gratz wanted to counter and he had a lot of times when he could do so, but every time he was about to make a move his instincts kept on screaming at him telling him not to do it. In fact, a part of him was telling him to take out his weapon while another part of him was telling him to run away.


    Gratz could not understand why he was feeling such things. He who had seen so much, who has lived so long, and has battled all throughout without backing down actually had the thought of running away. Noticing the subtle changes on Gratz''s face Erste sighed.


    "Why don''t you take out your weapon?"


    "There''s no need to take out my weapon."


    "Really now."


    When that unknown voice sounded in their ears, Erste and Gratz quickly went into defensive positions as they stood side by side. Gratz had already gotten out his rapier as he stared in the direction where the voice came from.


    Gratz was not able to perceive the person approaching him, which only meant one of two things either the person had a powerful cloaking ability or the other party was way more powerful than Gratz.


    "I wanted to see if you''re fighting was going to get interesting but I was wrong."


    The one who appeared before the two was someone who looked like he or she could be a man or a woman, even the voice made it even more confusing. The only thing Gratz was sure of was that the other party was a God.


    "So you''re the New God that has hunted down every human without fail even those that already have mana." Gratz started a conversation while observing the God before him.


    "What you said sounds a little wrong."


    "What do you mean?"


    "You make it sound like I killed other kinds of humans aside from those that have mana. No, the only humans I kill are those who have piged mana from the New Gods."


    When Gratz heard what the God before him said his entire body tensed up as he slightly stepped forward, on the other hand, Erste was getting excited the more tense the situation got.


    "Hoh, it seems that you are a rather powerful New God."


    "That''s another misunderstanding. You see, New Gods hunt normal humans, on the other hand, I am someone who hunts down humans that have killed New Gods. So what do you think that makes me?"


    "... Are you an Old God?"


    "That is correct, I am indeed what you may call an Old God, a being created by an Ancient God the direct creation of the ORIGIN, which is simr to you humans, but unlike you humans the Ancient Gods my direct creators are beings with great powers, on the other hand, you humans are weak creatures, imperfect beings."


    "That is true, we humans may be imperfect, and may have nothing... But... That is also the reason why we can strive for an unattainable perfection all the while trying to hold anything we can grasp in this empty hands of ours."


    "You see, that there is what I hate about you humans. Oh right, it''s not just me almost all the Old Gods hate you humans. You who have been blessed by being created by the ORIGIN, by being loved by the ORIGIN more so than any other creation, you humans who are worthless! Howe you humans get so much and yet we who are closer to the ORIGIN get nothing."


    "Is that why you so-called Gods created this hunting game, because of jealousy? Is killing humans whom you call worthless so satisfying? Heh, how inelegant that is. I have been fighting your kind for more than four centuries and I did always wonder why you guys try to hunt us, but now that I''m hearing your reason it makes me feel embarrassed for you. I already knew that you so-called Gods are inelegant beings with no sense of honor, but this is quite a shocking revtion."


    "What honor should we give for you humans? You deserve no such thing, the only thing you humans deserve is to be the ythings of us Gods."


    "I see, so that''s how you so-called Gods see it. I might not know who this ORIGIN is, whether it''s the creator or not, but I think I understand why the ORIGIN loves us more than you. What parent wants a whiny child like you." This time it was Erste who spoke.


    "..." The Old God became quiet, there was silence for several seconds before a sudden pressure assaulted Gratz and Erste.


    "Normally I would have given you two a chance like all the others by ying a game first, and if you won the game I would let you live for one more day, but now I changed my mind. The two of you especially you." The Old God pointed at Erste. "Have truly angered me, so not only am I going to kill you two, but before that, I will torture you two until you beg me to gift you death''s sweet release."


    Gratz stepped forward hiding Erste behind him. At this time he was thinking of some way to escape, all while observing the Old God''s every movement. It was at this moment, that Erste suddenly charged forward shocking both Gratz and the Old God.

 Chapter 682 Power beyond Fate

    Chapter 682 Power beyond Fate


    The ORIGIN who was already being slowly corrupted by the desires of his creations was looking through the flow of fate. The ORIGIN was trying to see what kind of changes the humans he created would bring about.


    The ORIGIN created humans with the idea of making a race different from the Gods. When he created the Gods he wanted to create a perfect race that could apany him through eternity, but that was a failure. The Gods he created were not anywhere near perfection. So The ORIGIN decided to create humanity, a race that had nothing, to begin with but had unlimited possibilities.


    Due to his previous mistake, with the Gods, the ORIGIN created humanity without any emotions. The humans did prosper a bit despite theircking emotions but they didn''t go that far until they were destroyed by decreasing birth rate as well as the Gods ying with them.


    The ORIGIN did not bother scolding the Gods as they could do what they pleased as long as they didn''t annihte the entire human race. Still, because of a few suggestions given to The ORIGIN by the Gods The ORIGIN reset humanity and this time the ORIGIN added emotions into them.


    Now because of the emotions they felt humanity became much more colorful. They created more things that went beyond anything the Gods could conjure. The ORIGIN looked at the creativity of humanity and even the ORIGIN was impressed.


    The ORIGIN thought that this time humanity would reach the end he hoped for, so he looked through the flow of fate but what he saw was a disappointment. Ultimately, the humans who would eventually colonize most of the universe they were in would eventually die out because of fighting against each other.


    Still, humans aren''t static creatures, and the flow of fate changes erratically because of their different choices. So the ORIGiN glimpsed into every possible future of humanity trying to find the one he wanted to see. Unfortunately, despite looking through literal infinity the ORIGIN was unable to see the future he wanted to see.


    The ORIGIN felt utterly disappointed, still, he had hope that something beyond his understanding would happen so he went back to waiting. While he was waiting he could feel the corruption already invading his core, but he did nothing simply because he wanted something to happen. The lonely ORIGIN had always wanted something beyond his reach beyond his understanding to happen, yet unfortunately as an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent being that was nigh impossible to ever happen.


    Still, the ORIGIN continued to wait for that impossibility to happen since it was the only thing that made eternity a little less boring. In the eyes of the ORIGIN everything that happened, that''s happening, and will happen has already been seen by him. The creativity of humans had brought something new into his eyes, but that did notst long as he could see through everything.


    Even if he limits his Omniscience to a certain degree, he can still foresee almost everything which can only quench his boredom and loneliness for a small amount of time.


    ...


    Every passing moment for the ORIGIN was like torture, until one day as he was looking at the flow of fate, he noticed that some parts disappeared, parts of the past, present, and future had disappeared from his sight. This has never happened before this was actually making the ORIGIN feel something.


    The ORIGIN tried to scan the time when this happened and could not find out what, why, where, and when it happened. This was incredible, as an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent being this should have never happened to the ORIGIN. Trying to find out something and failing to do so was of course a first in the entirety of the ORIGIN''s existence.


    Since the ORIGIN could not trace how this happened, he looked at the things that disappeared from his sight. After a short pause, the ORIGIN now understood that everyone who had contact with a certain human had disappeared from his sight. They were still in the flow of fate, but there were parts when they disappeared. On the other hand, there was one human that hadpletely disappeared from the flow of fate, not only that but this human had severed his link from The ORIGIN his creator.


    This made the ORIGIN feel like he had found an incredible treasure, the thing that the ORIGIN thought would never happen actually happened. Something beyond his cognition was born from his own creations.


    The ORIGIN created an avatar to head to the ce where Erste the human who disappeared from his sight was. The ORIGIN wanted to see what was happening that made Erste break out from not only the bonds of fate but even the bonds of his creator.


    ...


    The ORIGIN''s avatar arrived at the dimension Erste was in and saw that he and another were in a fierce battle against an Old God. The ORIGIN could already tell that Erste and hispanion were no match for the Old God. Seeing this the ORIGIN started thinking if he should intervene since he did not want Erste the treasure he found to just die.


    Even though the ORIGIN could resurrect Erste after death, would that still be the same Erste that had the ability to go beyond the ORIGIN''s cognition? Still, the ORIGIN also wanted to see if Erste who had done an impossible thing by breaking free from fate do another impossible thing by defeating the Old God who outsses him in nearly every aspect.


    As the ORIGIN was deciding what to do things turned for the worst for Erste and Gratz as the Old God had severely injured both. Gratz had fallen and was barely conscious while Erste was bleeding all over his mana nearly depleted. The ORIGIN who was about to intervene then saw the vicious-looking smile on Erste''s face it grew wider.


    "HAHAHA! This is incredible! Come on then let''s have more fun!"


    It was then something incredible happened that surprised not only the Old God and Gratz but even the ORIGIN was surprised at the sight. Erste pulled out a portion of his own soul, gathered the energy of chaos that was in the void and it turned into the shape of a sword.


    It was a power, different than mana, the ability to control one''s soul and control the energy of chaos was a power only the ORIGIN itself had. Even the Ancient Gods could not sense the void much less take and control chaotic energy from the void, but Erste did it with his own power.

 Chapter 683 F*cking human!!!

    Chapter 683 F*cking human!!!


    Erste did not know why, but the moment he saw the powerful Old God he wanted to attack. It took a lot of effort for Erste not to attack while the Old God and Gratz were talking, but then the very moment the Old God had the intention to attack Erste was the first one to move.


    As Erste charged forward he suddenly stopped mid-air it felt like something was holding onto him. Erste then used mana emission to shake off whatever was holding him. The Old God was once again shocked as Erste was getting closer, but then before Erste''s fist could reach Erste was suddenly slowing down.


    "Hmph, you actually tried to charge right at me, I don''t know if you''re fearless or just stupid. It doesn''t really matter no matter what you are since you''re about to die."


    The Old God could kill a human or any weaker being without even touching them, but this time he wanted to finish off these disrespectful humans with his own hands. As he was about to finish off Erste a burst of powerful fire elemental mana burst out of his body stopping the hand of the Old God.


    "Hmph, you really have many tricks for a human!"


    The Old God who was stopped by the burst of mes was about to do something else when suddenly he moved aside as something pierced through the air.


    "Look at what you may me do foolish boy, you made me do something so inelegant." Gratz stood before Erste standing between him and the Old God.


    "Hoh, I thought that you were just going to watch."


    "Unfortunately, even if it''s inelegant I just can''t allow to kill the boy."


    "Heh, is that so?... Then are the two of you going to face me together?"


    "It was already a blight upon my honor that I attacked you by surprise! I will never attack an enemy by ganging up on them. I Gratz one of the generals of the rebellion challenge you to one on onebat."


    "GRATZ Don''t you dare, don''t you dare but in! I was here first, that guy is my prey!" Erste who had escaped from whatever spell was holding him screamed at Gratz.


    "I already issued the challenge, it is you that should step aside, you''re too weak. Go back and report wh-"


    Gratz was not able to finish what he was going to say as he raised his rapier blocking an iing attack. The power of the attack surprised Gratz as he slid backward.


    "How dare you f*cking humans look down on me like this!!! Challenging me to battle, what a f*cking joke, worse of all that other guy is actually looking at me like I''m prey! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! This is the first time I have been so angry!"


    The Old God stomped his foot on the ground in anger, the ground seemed to be shaking, no it was the entire dimension they were in that actually shook. While the Old God was screaming and stomping like a child, Gratz was already in a fighting stance gathering every bit of his energy into the tip of his rapier.


    Gratz gritted his teeth as the power being disyed by the Old God was beyond what he expected. This was not the first time he had seen an Old God, but back then that Old God didn''t show such a powerful aura. It was obvious now that the other party back then was suppressing his strength.


    ''Even with an enemy such as this, I''m sure that humans will be able to win.''


    Gratz then nced at Erste who seemed to be frozen in shock. Seeing that guy not moving an inch Gratz could only sigh, he could not me the young man for being frozen like that since it was just recently that he had gained his power, meeting something like an Old God would make even the most hardened veteran shiver in fear.


    ''I''m sorry, boy I should not have brought you here, but I''ll make sure that you can get back alive!''


    Gratz steeled himself as he gathered his determination, his conviction, his everything into the top of his de. The Old God was still raging about, this was Gratz''s best chance to attack. Gratz unleashed his attack it was a forward pierce using every single bit of his power.


    The speed and power of Gratz''s piercing strike was so great that it distorted space in line with the attack. This strike felt like it could pierce everything in this way. The Old God finally noticed the iing attack but it was toote as it was about to reach him. The moment the attack hit, Gratz already had the image of his rapier''s strike piercing the Old God but what he saw was not what he had expected.


    The Old God had blocked the attack with the palm of his hand, it pierced the Old God''s hand and that was it. The attack Gratz put his everything was only able to do so little damage. It was at that moment Gratz''s instinct was sending warning signals but it was toote something had hard hit him in the chest and he was blown away.


    "Damn you f*cking human that hurt!" The Old God shouted at the now barely conscious Gratz. As the Old God was about to finish Gratz off, he quickly raised his hand blocking a sudden impact to his left side.


    "Seriously you f*cking humans!" The Old God shouted at Erste who had kicked him. "You should''ve attacked with your friend a while ago. At least it would have been somewhat of a challenge if both of you attacked at the same time, that was yourst chance. Now you won''t be even able to touch me."


    "Is that so? Come on then show me if that''s true!"


    Erste disappeared from the Old God''s sight and reappeared behind him, the Old God didn''t even move as something hit Erste blowing him away. Erste quickly stabilized himself and once again charged at the Old God this time with an even faster speed, but the same as a while ago, the moment Erste was about to hit the Old God, something hit him instead.


    ...


    The Old God who was facing Erste was noticing something weird. The Old God was sure that the attacks he unleashed were of the same strength as he used against the fallen Gratz, but Erste kept on getting back up and attacking. Not only did he continue to attack, but every time he stood back up he was getting faster and stronger. The Old God was actually feeling something from the young human.


    "ENOUGH!"


    The Old God unleashed an attack that affected the area around him making Erste stop his relentless assault. Erste was now bleeding all over, most of his ribs were broken and some of his internal organs were damaged, yet he remained smiling that vicious-looking smile of his.


    "HAHAHA! This is incredible! Come on then let''s have more fun!"


    After Erste shouted those words the Old God saw something beyond his understanding. The human before him took out a portion of his soul and created a weapon from it, and then he was gathering an unknown energy from who knows where. This energy was something that he had never seen before, even his creators the Ancient Gods did not have such an energy.


    It was at this very moment every fiber of the Old God''s being was screaming at him to run away. The Old God was actually feeling fear, and the source of his fear was the energy the human was using, no... It was the human being himself that was the source of the Old God''s fear.


    "This is uneptable! How much more will you humiliate me?! You damn human!!!"

 Chapter 684 Death of an Old God

    Chapter 684 Death of an Old God


    The Old God''s body started to erge itself until he grew to the size that towered over everyone, but it didn''t stop there the Old God continued to grow until he had already surpassed the height of a.


    Erste could not even see the face of the Old God anymore. The Old God''s body was now at full height which was the height of severals.


    "You damn humans be happy, that you have the privilege to see my true form. Now feel honored to hear my glorious name, I am Veseus one of the Old Gods of War!" Vesues''s deration was like a roar as it echoed throughout the entire dimension.


    Seeing the size and power of Veseus the barely conscious Gratz had finally fainted, on the other hand, Erste was looking at the-sized Old God with that vicious smile on his face. The beating of his heart because of his excitement was unlike any before.


    Erste who was holding onto a sword-like object he created using his very soul and the chaotic energy in the void was in a bizarre state. The energy of chaos and the mana within him were trying to merge, as this was happening Erste could feel more power flowing through him.


    "This is amazing! Come on then God of War show me what you got!"


    Despite seeing his true visage, Erste remained in high spirits which made Veseus even more irritated. Anger rising Veseus summoned his weapon a halberd that looked like it was the night sky. Veseus lifted up his halberd and brought it down towards Erste.


    Seeing the halberd that wasrger than even a wasing Erste startedughing in excitement. It was at that moment Erste turned his head and saw the unconscious Gratz.


    ''Really...'' The scene of Gratz protecting Erste shed in his mind. ''I guess it''s my turn to protect you.''


    Erste knew that if the de of that-sized halberd were to hit them, the ground they were standing on would be sliced in half. Even if the halberd doesn''t reach them the air pressure alone, would probably destroy the ground where Gratz''s unconscious bodyy.


    ''Then there''s only one thing to do.''


    Erste jumped upwards as he was going to intercept the halberd''s de. In front of such a huge halberd, Erste was even smaller than an ant. Erste swung the sword created from his soul upwards.


    "Even with the energy of chaos from the void, you won''t be able to defeat me!" Veseus shouted as he used even more strength to sh downward.


    Veseus and Erste''s weapons were not even touching as the collision of their energy was already distorting not only the space around them but even time. Except for the two of them time within the dimensions they were in had stopped flowing forward. Veseus who had always looked down on humanity was surprised to see what was happening before him.


    Veseus always believed that humans were inferior beings that were meant to be the ythings of Gods, yet the human before him was not only able to control the energy of chaos in the void but he was also able to match his full-powered strike, an attack capable of slicing through gxies.


    No... Not only was Erste able to match him, but Veseus felt that he was actually being pushed back a little. Right now Veseus was adding as much power as possible in his attack, but despite doing that Erste was still able to hold on and even go beyond.


    ''This isn''t happening! This can''t be happening!''


    Veseus was now panicking as he tried to use other means to defeat Erste, but no matter what kind of spell he used the energy of chaos destroyed it.


    "NO, I DO NOT ACCEPT THIS!!!"


    Veseus once again roared but even his divine body was no longer able to bring forth any more power. Erste was finally able to push back Veseus''s halberd making Veseus stumble backward.


    "Since you''re attack has failed it''s now my turn to attack! Come on then Old God show me that you can block this one. I call this a move GOD SLAYER!"


    Erste gripped the sword created by his own soul with two hands and it turned into a sword that grewrger until it was as tall as the Old God before him, it was then Erste shed downward. The speed of the sh was not slow nor fast, and the Old God should be able to easily avoid such an attack, but for some reason in the eyes of the Old God, this strike was unavoidable.


    The Old God Veseus was now feeling unprecedented fear as he saw the swording towards him. This was a sword that was filled with the energy of chaos, this was a sword capable of truly wiping out his existence. The Old God Veseus wanted to flee from the spot but the surrounding space was locked by that attack, so he decided to flee through time, yet even fleeing to the past or the future that sword sh seemed to be following him.


    Veseus knew now that it was impossible to flee, so his only option left was to block the iing attack and hope that he could survive. As long as he was able to survive this single attack, the surrounding space should open up so that he could teleport and flee. As all these thoughts came to his mind, the Old War God Veseus''s anger grew not at the enemy but at himself.


    ''The f*ck did I just think?! I actually wanted to flee from a human. I who calls himself a God of War was scared?!''


    "I will never retreat!!!"


    Veseus raised his halberd to block the iing attack and even created several hundreds of mana shields. Erste''s powerful sword sh, sliced through all the mana shields created by an Old God like they were butter. Erste''s sword then shed with Veseus''s halberd but even that was sliced apart and the sword filled with the energy of chaos sliced through the Old God Veseus, who showed a shocked face but then smiled.


    "So is this a human?..." Those were Veseus''sst words as the energy of chaos obliterated his divine body.

 Chapter 685 Aftermath

    Chapter 685 Aftermath


    Erste had given the Old God true death as he not only destroyed his body but his soul, the energy of chaos even eroded some of the rules that the Old God controlled. Despite giving him true death some of the Old God''s power was devoured by Erste. Still, at the moment Erste didn''t even feel the power he had gained as he was in a state of euphoria after having such an incredible battle.


    This battle was something he could never have imagined, not even in his wildest dreams could he have seen himself shing through someone bigger than severals. Now that he had a taste for it he wanted more, he wanted to battle more.


    Even as he was bleeding all over inside and out, and had several broken bones that didn''t stop him from relishing in the excitement of the battle.


    ...


    The ORIGIN who was watching hidden from everyone''s view felt something new for the first time in eternity. The ORIGIN who knows all from what has been and what could be, the ORIGIN who has seen all the dimensions, parallel universes, multiple multiverses, the omniverse, and even beyond that to the void were he lives was actually surprised.


    On most timelines and even parallel universes Erste would die in this battle there were some versions were he would be able to flee with Gratz and die due to his injuries, but there were never any versions of this battle that he would actually win.


    This time not only did Erste win but he was able to tap into the chaos energy within the void, that''s a ce beyond the omniverse the ORIGIN created, the void was a ce that existed even before the ORIGIN itself.


    The ORIGIN who had breathed in chaos energy since the ORIGIN existed was able to control and manipte it at such a high level that the ORIGIN was able to use chaos energy to create. Even though Erste was able to use chaos energy his use of it was extremely crude.


    Still, it was an amazing feat as the ORIGIN had tried numerous times to create a creature that could use chaos energy but despite trying different things the ORIGIN was unable to do so. In the end, the ORIGIN was forced to create a pale imitation of chaos energy which was the mana used by Gods. Yet now aside from him, the ORIGIN finally found another who could use chaos energy and had the potential to create his own omnniverse.


    "Am I finally no longer alone?"


    Erste was now the first creation the ORIGIN made that was outside his control, not only that but every single being that had contact with Erste had be a blur in the flow of fate. Erste who had disappearedpletely from the flow of fate and the people surrounding him who had be vague existences in the flow, the ORIGIN was getting excited to see what they would do.


    ...


    After defeating the Old God and reveling in the afterglow of victory Erste fainted, by the time he woke up he was already on a bed in an unfamiliar room. Erste tried to stand up but he could not move, it was at this point he felt extremely weak and sleepy. When Erste tried to circte his mana he found that it was now flowing properly.


    "You''re awake!"


    A nurse entered the room and shouted as she quickly went out and called a doctor.


    ...


    Erste who finished talking with the doctor learned that he was actually asleep for an entire year. When he was brought to the hospital back in the rebellion''s dimension, Erste was in a very bad state. The doctors who had seen him used various tools to check on his body and what they saw was surprising. There was some sort of unknown energy stopping his body from trying to heal itself, if this kept on going Erste would really die. Seeing such a rampant unknown energy something that they had never seen before, the group of doctors needed time to study it but even then they knew it would be difficult to heal him even with the power of mana and technology.


    When they had given up on saving Erste and decided to study his corpse something incredible happened. The unknown energy that was destroying his body just disappeared and the moment it did so, Erste''s body returned to a normal state. Only then were the doctors able to heal his body.


    ...


    ''Unkonwn energy... Was it that energy I felt?''


    Erste tried to see if he could once again use the unknown energy he used when he fought the Old God, but try as he might he could no longer sense it. Still, Erste did not give up as he continued trying to sense that unknown energy, while he was doing that someone had entered the room. The person who entered was a familiar face, he was thest person Erste was with before he fell into aa.


    "Hello, Gratz."


    "It''s a pleasure to see you awake, Erste."


    "Hoh, no longer calling me boy are you?"


    "I apologize for misjudging you, Erste."


    "Boring, that should mean you won''t y with me anymore."


    "If by y you mean have a match then you don''t have to worry I would dly spar with you if you want, but as someone who can defeat an Old God I don''t think I''m worth the time."


    "But I think in my current state you can prove to quite the challenge." Erste smiled as he tried to raise his hand.


    "That it might."


    "So what happened after I fainted?"


    "After you fainted, I woke up and saw you on the ground while the entire dimension was breaking apart. It was the first time I saw something like that, it was an incredible sight watching an entire dimension break like that. I picked you up and fled back here, and the doctor should have already told you what happened afterward."


    "Yeah..."


    "Erste, thank you for protecting me." Gratz bowed his head.


    "There''s no need for that, you saved me from the copsing dimension, so we''re even."


    "Even so, I still want to thank you..."


    "Fine, you''re wee then." The two looked at each other for a while and both had smiles on their faces.

 Chapter 686 Invitation of the leader

    Chapter 686 Invitation of the leader


    It had been a few days since Erste woke up his body had healed and he was able to move, but his mana cirction was still not flowing properly. While Erste was recuperating Gratz continued to visit him. Even Nikki, T, and Miguel would visit him every now and again.


    Nikki came one day and told him that he had finally be a member of the squad and she was able to acquire the mana of a New god.


    ...


    The moment they saw this scene some of the incarnations watching from the soul realm noticed that the original incarnation seemed to be affected by this sight. It was only for that single moment, but as people who had better senses than most beings, all the other incarnations noticed the change in the original incarnation''s look. Only some of the incarnations understood what that look meant, it was a look of regret and disappointment.


    Those incarnations that understood the look of the original incarnation were confused. The only reason they had regrets and disappointments was because even though they were the strongest of their era, they were still too weak to protect what they wanted to protect, but the original incarnation was different from them.


    They might have been the strongest of their respective eras, but the original incarnation was the strongest period. Even among all of them who have been called the strongest and had numerous legends, the original incarnation was stronger than all of thembined. Not only was the original incarnation stronger than all of them, but his luck was beyond any of them as well.


    So what kind of thing could such a person who could do almost anything he wanted regret? The question lingers in the minds of those few as they continue to watch the next scene.


    ...


    Erste who was able to move properly now started practicing. In the battle against the Old God, he knew the reason for his victory was because of luck. If he wasn''t able to tap into that unknown energy then he and Gratz would have died back then.


    ''Heh, the next time I fight I''ll win not by luck but by my own power and skill.''


    Even as his mana was not flowing properly he could feel his strength growing stronger and stronger the more time passed.


    ''When I defeated that Old God the form my soul took was that of a sword, maybe I might be the best at using a sword.''


    Erste had trained in different forms of martial arts and was good at almost all forms of cold weapons, yet he didn''t know which he was best at since he was extremely talented inbat, and no matter what he used it felt the same to him.


    Seeing as the sword was the best fit for him Erste decided to put all of his effort into gaining more proficiency with a sword, which is why he was currently swinging a sword around. While Erste was practicing Gratz arrived.


    "Sorry, did I disturb you?"


    "Nah, not really, I was about to take a break anyway."


    "Is that so... I have to say your form was beautiful."


    "So what brings you here, surely it''s not just to give me apliment?"


    "Of course, I forgot that you''re not one for pleasantries. So direct to the point as usual, right?''


    "Yeah, so what is it?"


    "Remember when you asked if you could meet the leader?"


    "Of course, I do."


    "I did tell you before that you could only meet the leader after you have proven yourself by doing countless missions."


    "Can you just get to the point already?"


    "As impatient as ever, long story short the leader has deemed you worthy. So that means you get the chance to meet the leader."


    "Hoh, so this mysterious leader decided I was worthy... Now I''m even more interested in meeting this so-called leader. So when can I meet your leader?"


    "Whenever you want, you can meet the leader now,ter at night, in the morning, whenever you want. All you need to do is tell me when you want to meet and I''ll guide you there."


    "I can meet your leader any time. Do you guys no longer need to sleep?"


    "You should already know the answer to that question."


    "Actually no I don''t know the answer."


    Gratz was quite surprised by what Erste said as he looked at the other party. At first, Gratz thought that Erste was once again trying to make fun of him, but then he saw the expression on Erste''s face.


    "You really don''t know?"


    "Would I even ask you this question if I knew the answer?"


    "No it can''t be, I can sense mana in you and you have beaten an Old God, surely... This doesn''t make any sense... Erste do you still need to sleep, and eat?"


    "I do sleep, and eat the same as before."


    "Do you do that because you need to or because you want to?"


    "What kind of question is that, of course I do it because I need to... Don''t tell me..."


    "That is right, you should have already guessed it, but aside from gaining a longer lifespan, we who have been bathed by the blood of gods no longer need to eat or sleep... But... Why do you who has so much mana and power, someone who was able to defeat an Old God still a..."


    "A normal human is that what you were going to say?"


    "..." Gratz was silent as he stared at Erste.


    "Well, I guess that''s a mystery that we won''t be able to solve today, for now, let''s get back to what we were originally talking about."


    "You''re the one who derailed the conversation."


    "You changed old man, you used to not talk like this, what happened to you being an elegant gentleman?"


    "That was your fault, I have been hanging out with you too much... No matter, even if you have corrupted me a little, I still believe that I exude elegance."


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. So about meeting your leader, I want to meet now."

 Chapter 687 Meeting the leader

    Chapter 687 Meeting the leader


    Erste followed Gratz toward the center of the human headquarters. In the center of the incredible city built in a dimension hidden from even the Gods themselves was a gigantic fortress. It was a fortress made of unknown materials, just standing near it Erste could sense the immense mana being hidden within it. The fortress looked extremely gorgeous, it was a mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements with its middle-age aesthetics and its state-of-the-art defense system.


    "So this is where your leader is staying, quite impressive." Erste praised as he looked up at the fortress.


    "That''s not entirely right, the leader is staying somewhere here, but not inside the fortress."


    "Then where is your leader hiding?"


    "Erste I might have some respect for you, but I cannot allow you to disrespect the leader like that. Don''t speak as if the leader is some sort of coward."


    Seeing the anger on Gratz''s face, Erste shrugged his shoulders.


    "My bad, I didn''t mean to offend you."


    "... Fine... As for the answer to your question, the leader isn''t in the fortress but underneath it."


    Gratz and Erste stood in front of the entrance of the fortress but they did not enter instead, Gratz tapped on the ground while sending tiny bits of mana in a rhythmic way. After a few taps the ground where Erste and Gratz stood suddenly shook and they started descending.


    The speed of their descent was rather fast and would frighten normal humans, but as the two of them were anything but normal the speed of their descent did not affect them in the slightest.


    Based on the speed at which they were descending and the time it was taking they were already deep underground. While they were descending silently Gratz suddenly spoke.


    "This is not known by many but the leader has faced an Old God, even though the leader was unable to kill the Old God like you did but the leader was able to fight until the two agreed it was a draw."


    "Is that so..."


    Erste was only listening halfheartedly as he had sensed something amazing the more they descended. After the battle with the Old God and with his training, Erste was able to sense the flow of outside mana better, though he was still unable to feel the chaos energy. Now he was sensing an incredible amount of mana flowing through this ce, he was sure that most of the mana in this dimension was going through this ce.


    "I see that you have understood why the leader is staying here." Gratz who noticed the changing expression on Erste''s face spoke with a smile.


    "Is that so."


    ...


    It took a few minutes for the elevator to stop. When they got off the elevator the first thing Erste noticed was the weapons adorned on the wall, each one of those weapons had a simr feel to those used by the New Gods.


    ''Trophies of that leader''s victories.''


    Gratz and Erste continued to walk through the hallway and based on what Erste could see the hallway seemed to be a few kilometers long. The two of them were already walking rather fast but there doesn''t seem to be an end in sight. Still, despite already walking quite a long way the weapons adorned on the wall were still plentiful.


    ''Heh, this leader has killed quite a few New Gods. Now I''m actually getting a bit more excited.''


    ...


    "So how strong is that leader of yours?"


    "The leader is not only the brains of our current operation but also the strongest and most elegant among us all... Well, I guess I''m no longer sure about who the strongest is, but I''m sure that the leader is still the most elegant of us all."


    "So you think I''m the strongest?" Erste smirked.


    "I didn''t say that, I said I was unsure."


    "Even after seeing me fight that Old God you think that I''m not the strongest?"


    "I didn''t see you defeat the Old God and I don''t really understand your power. I only seen the leader make a move once but even now I don''t fullyprehend how powerful the leader is. The only thing I know for sure is that the two of you are incredibly powerful."


    "Is that so..."


    Simply hearing more about the leader got Erste very excited. The figure of the person he had been looking for shed in his mind for a second.


    ...


    It took exactly one hour for Gratz and Erste to reach the end of the hallway. Of course at the end in this dimly lit hallway was a door.


    "This is where I take my leave. Only you were invited to meet the leader, so only you may enter beyond this door."


    Gratz stepped aside as Erste nodded his head and opened the door. The very second he stepped foot on the other side of the door an indescribable pressure assaulted him. It was a different feeling from the pressure he received from the Old God, this one was much heavier as if something more than power was weighing down on him. Still, this didn''t scare Erste as he smiled ferociously at the person at the end of the room sitting on the chair his back turned to Erste.


    "Quite the wee you have given me, I like it."


    The person sitting on the chair turned around and when Erste saw the person sitting on the chair he was disappointed. All along Erste had this little hope in him that the supposed leader of the rebellion was his long-lost friend, Elena, instead the person sitting on the chair was a gorgeous-looking woman. Long silver hair, dark red eyes, a cold sharp aura, this was nothing like Elena. Still, the disappointment he felt onlysted a second.


    "So you''re the one who has defeated an Old God. It seems that you''re better than expected."


    "You too are better than expected."


    The two stared at each other, Erste smiling ferociously his confidence shining. On the other hand, the leader of the rebellion had a cold calm expression on his face making one feel everything was under her control.

 Chapter 688 Do you want to be the leader?

    Chapter 688 Do you want to be the leader?


    "Why do you seem a little bit disappointed?"


    "Truth be told I was expecting someone else to be the so-called leader."


    "I''m guessing it was a friend of yours that has been missing in the old world."


    "Yeah, that''s right."


    "What''s the name of your friend."


    "Elena, she''s a rather small girl for her age, incredibly intelligent and very sassy."


    "Hm, I haven''t heard of her, but if she''s here then she should be registered."


    "I already asked there are many people in this city that are named Elena, but none fit her description."


    "... Then don''t you think she''s already dead?"


    "Heh, that nosy girl kicking the bucket? That isn''t possible, I''m sure right now she''s ying around with those so-called Gods under the palm of her hands."


    "You really believe in that friend of yours."


    "Yeah, she''s the only one that I can truly call my friend."


    "So you wanted to meet me just to make sure if I''m that friend of yours. Then now that you know I''m not, what do you want to do next?"


    The very second the leader said those words the two looked at each other and the atmosphere heated up. The two of them started releasing an unseen pressure that could have suffocated any normal person to death just by being close to them.


    "Aside from wanting to know if you''re my old friend Elena, I wanted to see how strong the leader of the Rebellion is."


    "Are you challenging me to a duel?"


    It was only a slight change of tone but it made the leader sound more cold and deadly than she did before. The feeling Erste was having at the moment was as if the leader was pointing a de at his neck.


    "I see that you''re excited. So where do you want to have our dance mdy?"


    "A dance is it?... Very well, I shall be your dance partner. Follow me and I''ll show you the dance floor."


    Erste chuckled as he heard the leader''s serious answer. The two of them then headed out and into the hallway, the leader then turned one of the weapons adorned on the wall upside down. A clicking sound could be heard from behind the walls and a door hidden within the walls appeared. The leader opened the door and entered while Erste followed in.


    The room beyond the door was arge space with walls that had runes written on them. Erste could feel powerful mana being emitted from the walls.


    "This is my training ground, where I try using newly created techniques. The entire room is protected by multipleyers of rune spells."


    "Rune spells?"


    "It is something we use to contain the mana of the world, it''s basically a spell in written form."


    "So those runes are there to protect the walls from crumbling because of a powerful attack."


    "That''s basically it. So what weapon would you want to use?"


    "I usually use whatever but now I''m trying to practice using swords mostly longswords."


    The leader snapped her fingers and multiple longswords appeared in front of Erste. Seeing how shy she summoned those swords made Erste sigh as a portion of his lip curled upward. Erste took the sword closest to him since all the swords seemed equal.


    "How about you, what weapon do you use?"


    "There is no need to take a weapon since my weapon is already here, for I'' am the weapon. My entire body from head to toe is a weapon. My body is harder than steel, and my hands and legs are sharper than any weapon."


    "Normally I would have fought you in your own specialty, but I am practicing using swords so I won''t."


    "How confident, as expected of someone who defeated an Old God."


    "Truth be told, if you told me to beat that Old God like I did before I won''t be able to do it."


    "Is that so?..."


    "Yeah, but that doesn''t mean I won''t still win."


    Erste had a vicious smile on his face as an incredible aura was emitted from his body. The leader felt like she was being stared down by a predator, this feeling was the same as the time she had when she was stared down by a dragon.


    "You really are something else, aren''t you?... Hey, do you want to be the leader?"


    "Huh?"


    "I mean do you want to be the leader of the rebellion?"


    "What are you talking about? Aren''t you already doing a good job as the leader, why suddenly spout such nonsense?"


    "... I have been able to survive for so long not only because of my intellect and strength but also because of my instincts and luck. Right now my instincts are telling me that you''re going to do better than me as a leader."


    "I''m no leader, and the only strategy I know is to recklessly charge forward and fight head-on without backing down."


    "Maybe that''s the kind of leader we need right now. Doing things my way may indeed make us survive longer but the rebellion would never be able to win. All I''m doing is dying the inevitable. I have seen the strength of the Old Gods, and I know for a fact that before you came here, defeating an Old God was near impossible. Even if all of us attacked together, we would have never won. The only reason I was even able to have a draw with an Old God is due to luck. That Old God had just fought a Dragon and was severely wounded, so I was able to fight back to a standstill."


    "Now you''re just telling me how good of a leader you are. That despite such a desperate situation you were still able to lead these people. So why are you telling me I would have been a better leader than you."


    "Since only you can grant them victory. Since only you can give them hope of truly defeating all the Gods."


    "... Even if you say that, I also only won because of luck, and I''m sure that I won''t be a better leader than you are. So sorry but I decline your offer."


    "Is that so... How about a wager then?"

 Chapter 689 One second battle

    Chapter 689 One second battle


    "How about a wager then?" The leader of the rebellion asked.


    "A wager, what kind of wager?"


    "It''s simple really since we are about to have a spar how about having the one who gets a clean hit first be dered the winner and can request something of the other party."


    "Hoh, that sounds interesting. Sure, let''s decide the winner that way."


    "Also for this match how about we don''t use any mana?"


    "Sure, let''s do that."


    "Now that we have both agreed, let''s start the match. I Frieda the current leader of the Rebellion will be your dance partner."


    "I Erste will dly ept this dance."


    The two of them got into fighting stances. Frieda''s stance made her look like she was about to sprint, on the other hand, Erste raised the longsword above his head. Erste''s stance discarded defense and focused fully on the attack.


    When Frieda saw Erste''s stance she knew that she and him had the same idea of ending this in one strike.


    ''Alright then let''s see who''s faster.''


    Even the floor that was reinforced by many rune spells cracked a little from the pressure Frieda''s feet were putting on it. The distance between her and Erste was exactly fifty meters, for Frieda, it wouldn''t even take a millisecond for her to reach Erste from that distance.


    Frieda who burst forward with incredible speed was seeing the world in slow motion. Frieda''s extreme speed and her consciousness that could keep up with such a speed were some of the reasons that she was able to hold out against an Old God.


    In a world that had slowed down so much that it felt like someone pressed the pause button, Frieda saw Erste swinging his sword downward. Aside from the Old God, she fought this was the first time she saw someone else who was the same as her able to move in her field. That would mean Erste was moving at an incredible speed as well.


    Frieda looked at the speed at which Erste''s sword was dropping, and she calcted that her speed was faster and she would be able to hit Erste before Erste got to hit her. Knowing this Frieda continued to dash forward as she put more effort into moving faster, but as she was getting nearer her instincts were screaming at her to dodge.


    She could not understand why her instincts were making her dodge as everything she was seeing made her sure that she would be able to reach Erste before his strike reached her. As Frieda was getting closer to Erste she noticed that his sword swing sped up a bit. It was then Frieda no longer hesitated and listened to her instincts and stepped to the side.


    The very moment Frieda did a sidestep the sword that was slowly moving downward suddenly sped up and almost hit her. If she had moved just a littleter she would have lost. Frieda had no time to feel relief as the next strike wasing, still, she continued dashing forward.


    The second sh Erste made was faster than thest one, this time Frieda immediately dodged the attack. There was still some distance from Erste, so Frieda gritted her teeth and continued to dash forward.


    Surprisingly at this distance even without the use of mana, just the wind pressure from his sword sh was incredibly powerful. Frieda had evaded several strikes now and was getting closer and closer to Erste.


    It felt like a lot of time had passed but not even a second had passed since Frieda first dashed forward. If a normal person was watching this scene all they would notice was Frieda disappearing from her spot and the powerful wind pressure that enveloped the entire room.


    Frieda finally arrived in front of Erste and quickly spun around and did a roundhouse kick aiming at Erste''s neck. Erste caught Frieda''s leg with his left hand and was about to counter with his sword.


    Frieda wanted to evade but with Erste holding her leg she couldn''t do so. Frieda then jumped upward with the strength of one leg evading the sword strike, she then quickly shifted her body weight forward making her fall toward Erste''s direction. No matter what form it was as long as she was able to hit Erste first then everything was fine.


    As Frieda''s body was about to hit Erste, she saw his finger approaching her. In her current position, she had no way to evade the iing strike so in a desperate attempt she lifted her head a bit and opened her mouth trying to bite the iing finger, but then she felt something hit she felt something hit her abdomen.


    The hilt of Erste''s sword had hit Frieda, the move with the finger was nothing more than a distraction.


    The entirety of that battle only took less than two seconds. Frieda was on the ground holding her stomach as she red at Erste.


    "Is that the kind of battle you wanted one that ended with trickery?"


    "When ites to battle there are no rules, you can do anything to your advantage."


    Hearing Erste''s response Frieda pouted.


    "I misjudged you."


    "I guess you did, but to tell you the truth I wasn''t nning to end the fight that way. I was really going to flick your forehead, but I just couldn''t help myself since you showed such an opening. Anyway, even if I didn''t do that I would have won since it was impossible to dodge my forehead flick."


    "Hmph, you don''t know that. I could have bitten your finger before you could have reached my forehead."


    "Heh, is that so? Anyway, a win is a win. So about that wager."


    "... Fine, I won''t go back on my word. What do you want from me?"


    "Nothing much, it''s a very simple request." Erste had a weird smile on his face as he looked at Frieda. Seeing him stare at her like that Frieda felt exposed.


    "What is it, is it something perverted? Is it something humiliating? Whatever it is I won''t back down! Come on just say it!"


    "No need to get so excited, I just wanted you to continue to do your best as the leader of the rebellion."


    Frieda could not help but look at Erste with a dumbfounded expression.

 Chapter 690 Lets hunt down the Gods

    Chapter 690 Let''s hunt down the Gods


    After that brief exchange with Frieda, Erste went back to training his swordsmanship. Now that he had superhuman abilities, and the enemies he needed to face were beyond any mortal martial art, Erste needed to create an entirely different form of martial art one that could deal with the Gods themselves.


    Erste thought back to the fight he had with the Old God Veseus, the move he made which he named God yer. It wasn''t any fancy technique all he did was concentrate a lot of power into the tip of his sword and swing downward.


    ''Right now it''s an iplete immature technique, I need to refine it into something more, but for now, let''s think of other moves.''


    Erste imagined a New God was standing in front of him, a being with incredible speed, strength, and endurance, there was also the ability of mana in the mix. Normal sword techniques could possibly damage a New God or even an Old God, but it was not enough to kill them except if you added mana into the moves.


    Without the unknown energy he usedst time, he was unsure if he could even harm the skin of an Old God. As for the New Gods the sword he had in hand was extremely deadly to them, but if he used any other weapon it might take some time to kill a New God.


    ''I need a set of techniques that could prate their defense with a speed that they can not dodge to kill them with one strike. The Iaijutusu is fast enough but the attack is too linear, making it easy to predict. I need to do something so that the enemy will not be able to follow my movement.''


    ''Circting mana in my entire body increases my physical abilities, and the thing I took from the New God I killed made me able to control and use fire. I can also manifest my mana into something solid I can also unleash it like an energy attack which isn''t as strong as just using the fire control skill. Hmm, there''s also the mana emission and mana coating technique. Mana emission basically makes the mana within my body burst outward which makes it easier for me to use the mana coating technique. The only other good usage of mana emission is a sort of suppression to those who have weaker mana than yourself. Then there''s mana coating, which is just coating your body or possibly weapon with your own mana.''


    Erste recalled the way he and the others used mana coating which is basically pouring mana into the part he wanted to be coated. Erste using the sword in his hand used mana coating and cut down a nearby tree.


    As he expected the tree was cut down with ease as even without using mana coating he could perform a simr feat. Still, he had a feeling that the mana coating could be improved. So Erste asked Gratz if he could bring some objects that were hard to cut down.


    While he was waiting for Gratz''s reply, Erste started trying to create a new kind of footwork with the use of mana. Erste noticed that he could use his mana to stabilize his footing so no matter what angle he was in he would never stumble, it was as if his feet were glued to the ground. Erste continued to explore what he could do with his mana alongside his footwork.


    ...


    As Erste was training Gratz came and brought him to a private training room provided to him by Frieda herself. Inside the training room were several dummies that had varying degrees of toughness. At first, Erste could cut down the dummies without manater he needed to use mana until finally the toughness of the dummies became so hard that his sword with mana coating was not able to cut it.


    "As I expected it''s not sharp enough."


    Erste needed to make his weapon sharper and simply pouring mana into his weapon was not enough. Erste closed his eyes and sensed the mana he poured into his sword. The mana he was pouring was scattering in all directions. It was like the water from the ocean trying to head intond without any direction, he needed to control the flow and concentrate it into an area.


    Erste controlled his mana and shaped it to surround the sword he was holding he concentrated and made the mana as thin as possible as if it was one with the sword itself. Controlling his mana in such a way was harder than he expected, but despite that, he was still able to do it.


    The overflowing mana was now concentrated into the shape of the sword at hand, there was no excess leaking out. Erste casually made a shing motion at the dummy he could not scratch and easily cut it in half.


    "Better, but I can make it sharper."


    ...


    While Erste was immersed in his training Gratz was just outside the training room standing in front of the door. Gratz closed his eyes and whispered to himself.


    "I must uphold elegance."


    Gratz opened his eyes and knocked on the door, he then waited for Erste to let him in. After waiting a while there was no response so he knocked again, but no one responded. Normally Gratz would have left already and waited for another time to meet with Erste, but not this time. The thing he needed to tell Erste was very important to the other party, so after knocking one more time and hearing no response Gratz entered the room.


    Upon entering the first thing Gratz noticed were the broken training dummies, each one sliced cleanly in half. Even those training dummies that he needed to hit multiple times to destroy were also sliced cleanly in half, meaning Erste only needed one attack.


    In the middle of the training room stood a half-naked Erste sweating profusely as he held his sword in his hand.


    "Excuse me Erste, apologies for disturbing your training but I have something important to tell you."


    Erste turned around and in Gratz''s eyes, Erste''s figure suddenly became blurry and without any warning appeared right in front of him.


    "What is it?"


    Gratz who was surprised by Erste''s movement wanted to ask how he did that but restrained himself as what he was going to say was important.


    "I have some unfortunate news to share. Your friend who recently gained mana went out on a mission... Nikki and her team were ambushed by several New Gods, she stayed behind to cover her teammates'' retreat. Before her two teammates were able to escape they saw the New Gods torturing her with smiles on their faces. Yet I was told that even at the end she continued to uphold honor and elegance a human must have."


    Erste who heard the news of Nikki''s death turned his back on Gratz, so Gratz could not tell what kind of expression Erste was making at the moment. After several seconds Erste turned around and spoke.


    "Honor and Elegance? Are those things important? What she needed was neither of those things, what she needed was power, overwhelming power that could destroy all those Gods!..." Erste paused for a bit before continuing to speak. "Gratz care to join me?"


    "Join you where?"


    A vicious smile appeared on Erste''s face as he replied.


    "I''m going out to hunt. Let''s hunt down those f*cking Gods!"

 Chapter 691 Massacre and fear

    Chapter 691 Massacre and fear


    A New God who was supposed to be hunting humans was now running away from a human. The New God could not believe what was happening to him.


    ''What the f*ck, what the f*ck, what the f*ck!''


    The New God could only run and curse in his mind not wanting to make too much noise knowing who was chasing after him. Even though he wanted to flee he could not escape because the space he was in was somehow locked. If he tried breaking the lock it would take some time and he would be noticed and killed.


    ''What should I do?''


    The New God remembered the guy who was chasing him, the very moment heid eyes on the other party every fiber of the New God''s being screamed at him telling him to run away and never look back.


    "Do you now understand what the humans you brought here felt?"


    Hearing that voice from behind the New God wanted to run away but fear had shackled him as he could not move.


    "Are you afraid you so-called God?"


    The New God no longer had a choice it was either to fight or die. The New God turned around and was about to attack but then he noticed that he no longer had arms. The New God wanted to regenerate his arms but he could not do so, he then looked at the weapon in Erste''s hand with fear.


    That was a weapon that could give him true death, one that could potentially destroy himpletely. The New God started backing away and wanted to run but then he could no longer feel his legs. When the New God looked down he saw that his legs had been cleanly cut and he fell down onto the ground. The New God felt his body grow cold his breathing unstable as he looked at Erste.


    "Hmph, the fear you''re feeling now is nothingpared to the fear you gave to humans as you toyed with them. Now I will grant upon you a fear worse than that, not only to you but to every single God that thinks humans are toys."


    Erste''s calm indifferent tone with no hint of any emotion frightened the New God even more. The New God wanted to beg for mercy but no words woulde out of his mouth.


    Erste ced the sword that could kill the New God back into a scabbard and drew out a normal sword. Erste then proceeded to stab the New God in different positions, and after a few seconds, the wounds would heal. Erste continued to stab the New God cut off some body parts waited for them to heal and repeated the action over and over again.


    "Hmm so even if I slice off a part of your body it just regrows. Now I wonder what would happen if I cut off your head. Will your body grow a new head or will your head grow a new body?"


    The New God who kept on screaming in pain upon hearing Erste''s words wanted to do something but his body could no longer move. With a swift and clean cut, Erste was able to slice off the New God''s head, and surprisingly under the head of the New God a new body slowly formed but the parts that were cut by the sword that could kill Gods remained gone.


    "Hoh, how intersting."


    Erste continued to torture the New God in different eyes until all the light faded from the New God''s eyes, he stopped screaming, stopped feeling, and became nothing. It was then Erste finally finished off the New God.


    After killing the New God he sent the human survivors back to the rebellion''s dimension, and then he set off again looking for the next God to kill.


    ...


    In the endless gaps between the universes in certain dimensions, New Gods and Old Gods had gathered together in groups hiding from that one human who started hunting them down. An Old God who could no longer hold it in shouted at the others.


    "Why are we the ones cowering, hiding, and being hunted as if we are the prey?! That''s just one single human being, he''s not a predator he''s not even prey he''s nothing more than a toy to be yed with."


    "Hmph, if you think he''s just a toy then you go and y with him."


    "No, he''s right, it''s not just that human but there are now many humans that have formed some sort of rebellion and they have been killing us and taking our mana and authority. At this rate, a time wille when we are no longer the predators but the prey."


    "How about we ask the Ancient ones to kill those humans?... Or if possible ask the ORIGIN to reset everything again."


    "You want us to ask our parents, our creators to help us deal with the little humans! It''s embarrassing enough that we needed to gather in groups to hide from a single human being, but now you want to cry and ask for help?!"


    "So what do you want us to do?"


    "Even though that guy has killed many of us, that''s only because we fought him one on one, now if we attacked him as a group there is no way he can survive."


    "So you think that it''s better to fight without honor and attack a single human as a group instead of asking for help?"


    "Yes, I think it is better than to show our embarrassment to not only the Ancient ones but even the ORIGIN. At least if we do it my way we kill him with our own hands and keep the tiniest bit of pride we have left."


    The Gods became quiet as they had their heads cast down. It was truly an embarrassing thing for them, hiding and ganging up on a single human being. Still, if they do nothing it is possible that one day all the Old and New Gods will be nothing more than prey hunted by humans.


    "Alright let''s do it, let''s kill him as a group."


    "So how are we going to find him?"


    "We don''t need to find him, we just need to lure him into one of our hunting grounds."


    "There''s no need to make things soplicated since I''m already here."


    The Gods gathered looked at the source of the voice that just spoke and saw a human with a vicious smile on his face in the middle of the group. They weren''t even able to sense that this human had entered their group. In fact, despite looking directly at him they could not sense his presence.


    "Oh right, I hid my presence since I did not want to disturb your meeting."


    After saying that Erste''s aura burst out and the undetectable presence suddenly became an overpowering pressure. Just by merely standing there made the weaker Gods kneel on the ground suffocating from the pressure of his presence. The scene made it look like the Gods near him were kneeling to their king.


    "Come on then, seeing as I''m here right in front of you. Try and kill me as you have nned, and I will massacre you people as I have nned."

 Chapter 692 True form of one of the original Old Gods

    Chapter 692 True form of one of the original Old Gods


    Erste did not hesitate as he killed the nearby New Gods. Unlike before it was no longer hard for him to kill New Gods as his mana and his control of it had increased dramatically, not to mention that he had gained many more authorities at this point in time. Even though he still could not harness the power from the void what he had was enough to win.


    After beheading the nearby New Gods, the remaining New Gods with some of the weaker Old Gods started to flee while the remaining Old Gods transformed into their true forms. Seeing them transform into theirrger forms made Erste smile that vicious smile of his.


    "Heh, finally I can get to test out the martial art I created to deal with you guys."


    ...


    In the era Erste was in humanity did not even understand the bare minimum regarding mana and other things such as elemental changes. The only thing they used mana for was to strengthen their bodies and create runes. The only other form of attack they knew was to use the authority they stole from the Gods which they were unable to wield properly.


    There weren''t any spells, there weren''t any proper techniques to increase mana except for ying Gods. Humanity at this stage was helplessly in the dark, they needed to create their own techniques, and they needed to explore how to manifest mana that wouldter on be called a spell. Still, the advantage of this era that no other era humanity had, was that Erste was in this era.


    ...


    After a few trials and errors, Erste understood a little bit about mana. In the past, he was taught that atoms make up everything, and after fiddling with mana he knew that mana was something that could potentially create and destroy atoms.


    After learning more about mana the first technique or you can even call it a first-generation spell that Erste created was a cloning spell. After manifesting his mana outward Erste was able to control well enough to create several bodies simr to his own. Each body is easy enough to control the only problem is when they get too many, so Erste usually limits the cloning spell with twenty clones.


    Erste''s clones had swords created by mana as well, the clones then started using one of Erste''s original techniques. The clones lifted their swords up to the heavens and with the power of Erste''s mana coupled with his current understanding of the sword. A beam of pure mana burst out of each of the clones'' weapons. This was Erste''s technique called God yer.


    The beams of light sliced through the surprised Old Gods, those that survived attacked Erste''s clones while the original was controlling his clones from a distance.


    ''This is harder than I thought... After using God yer with my clones, it drained a considerable amount of mana. Still, despite the huge amount of mana drained thebination of clones and God yer was quite a good idea in a situation facing multiple Old Gods.''


    Erste knew that he could not use God yer multiple times due to his limited amount of mana, so he created other simpler techniques to deal with these gigantic Gods. Erste manipted his clones to use the second technique he created to deal with the Gods, [Mana String.]


    Multiple strings created from mana dancing through the fingertips, these strings were almost unbreakable as long as the caster has enough mana it will never break. The clones waved their hands as if they were conducting an orchestra.


    The Mana Strings wrapped around the Old Gods and they were squeezed to death. Unlike God yer which had a high mana cost but high attack power, Mana String had a lower mana cost but higher requirements for control.


    Despite killing so many Gods Erste''s strength was no longer increasing much even after piging the abilities of these Gods. It was at this point Erste was slowly realizing that the old way of getting stronger was no longer needed and he was actually growing stronger even without doing anything.


    It took Erste several hours to finally kill most of the Gods now only one remained. Unlike the other Gods who were panicking or were in a state of rage, this one did not have any kind of emotional fluctuation. The unknown God who did not show his true form slowly approached Erste.


    "That was an amazing sight, killing so many Gods like that. I really do envy you, humans. You were created by the father of all the ORIGIN the one who created my own creator, an Ancient God. Not only were you created by the ORIGIN but you also hold a majority of the ORIGIN''s affection."


    "I think I heard the other Gods say the same thing, and like I told them I don''t even know who the f*ck the ORIGIN is. The only thing I understand is that you Gods are just whiny babies that just want to be noticed."


    "As expected of a human, not even understanding how blessed he truly is."


    "Hmph, I might not understand what kind of blessing I have, but I do understand that you''re not only a whiny baby but a jealous one as well."


    "Hehehe, you have be an arrogant little human. Is it because you think you''re strong since you have defeated some weaklings?"


    "Not really, I''ve always been like this, and I''m not arrogant, I''m only telling the truth."


    "You really are an interesting human. You are strong, brave, determined, and based on what I''ve heard extremely lucky. On top of all of that, you have the privilege to be loved by the ORIGIN. Among all the humans I have seen you are the most blessed. Which is why you are the one I hate the most."


    Thest words the Old God spoke sounded different as if there was the sound of a cat scratching on the wall, the sound of something ringing, the sound of wailing, the sound of despair. It was an ufortable sound that could not just be heard but it even affected one''s soul.


    "Now human I will show you true despair. I''m not the same as the Gods you have killed, I am one of the oldest among the Old Gods, created by the very first Ancient God. I represent his endless jealousy, his envy."


    The human-shaped Old God started to transform and unlike the other Old Gods what he was transforming into was not a gigantic humanoid version it was something else entirely. The Old God was turning into a mass of what seemed to be sawn flesh and scales, he had long bat-like wings and tentacles all over. The Old God didn''t look like it had eyes instead it had thousands of mouths with different shaped teeth inside. The surrounding light seems to be eaten by the monstrosity standing before Erste.


    At this moment seeing the true form of the Old God, Erste actually felt his head aching, and his heart started beating faster, he was feeling cold and had difficulty breathing while sweating profusely with a slight tremble in his hand.


    "Oh, you''re still able to keep your sanity despite witnessing my true form. You are even better than most Old Gods who would be driven mad merely being in my presence."


    The voice of the Old God was a mixture of different disturbing things. It was an unpleasant voice if you could even call it that. In response to his current situation that would bring despair and madness to almost any other human, Erste continued to smile that vicious smile of his as he pointed his sword at the Old God.

 Chapter 693 Drown in madness and fear

    Chapter 693 Drown in madness and fear


    Erste has been smiling that vicious smile of his ever since he learned of the world that had Gods hunting them. Each time he had faced insurmountable odds he would smile that vicious smile of his and like magic all of his fears at the moment would disappear.


    Erste had overwritten his fear with excitement and the thrill of battle filled him with courage. Yet now despite still smiling that vicious-looking smile of his, it did not make all the fear go away.


    Even those weaker incarnations of him simply watching it as a video were affected by the aura of the Old God and were also in a state of minor fear.


    It was a good thing that the Old God in front of him was not moving only observing him. It took Erste a great deal of resolve simply to lift his sword and point it at the Old God.


    "How curious, not only do you not show signs of drowning in fear or being consumed by madness, but I also can''t seem to read your mind."


    The voice that came out of the Old God''s multiple mouths made Erste feel a myriad of negative emotions. The sound of the voice was a mixture of different things that made Erste''s head hurt as if it was about to burst open just by listening to it, but he continued to smile as he looked at the Old God.


    "Can you truly not feel it, the fear crushing upon you, the madness trying to engulf you?... Hmm, I wonder how much fear and madness you can withstand before breaking down? Since I can''t read your thoughts how about I take them out."


    Some sort of gas was starting toe out of the many mouths of the Old God. Erste who was in an abnormal state could not avoid the gas, not that it mattered since even if he could move his body he would still be unable to avoid it.


    The gas entered Erste''s system and at first, he could not sense anything different but then within the darkness, he saw something appear. The thing that appeared before him was a person and not just any person but the one Erste had been looking for.


    The familiar cute face, that familiar ck hair tied into a twintail, small in stature with knee-high socks, this could not be anyone else but his childhood friend Elena. Seeing her for the first time in a long time Erste was both afraid and excited. As he was about to approach Erste suddenly noticed something was wrong.


    Elena''s body which used to be clean and beautiful was full of wounds, not only that there seemed to be some sort of infection spreading throughout her body. She was stretching out her hand towards Erste who was running towards her at full speed but no matter how fast he was running no matter how long he could not reach her.


    Elena did not say anything nor did she scream in pain the only thing she did was hold out her hand while giving Erste a look as if telling him it was all right. Seeing this scene Erste gritted his teeth and used all the power he could muster to run faster than he had ever run before. Erste was using all the authority he had stolen that could help him move faster, yet he still could not get close to her.


    It would have been better if he saw Elena screaming or crying, begging him to help her so that he would feel that what was in front of him wasn''t real but the way she was acting made it so real. Erste then saw that Elena was being dragged into the darkness, as she looked at him sighing.


    [Thanks Erste, you fool, better live your life to the fullest.]


    Erste could not hear her voice he could read her lips, and what she said was exactly something she would say to him in this situation. Erste even forgot that he was standing before an Old God as all of his focus was on rescuing Elena.


    Erste continued to run but this time even though it was nonsensical he also started attacking the darkness that seemed to be trying to devour Elena. Erste used various long-range attacks that he could use at the moment but no matter what he threw at the darkness it just kept devouring it.


    Still, Erste kept on doing whatever he could to reach Elena, he did not know how long it took but Erste''s hand was about to reach her, it was just a little bit just a tiny bit more, but his hands could not reach as the darkness fully devoured her.


    Seeing Elena being devoured by the darkness Erste was about to fall into anger and madness but nothing but his willpower kept his sanity. Erste then saw the scenery change he was now in a familiar street right in front of a familiar house, he could hear the voices of two very familiar people talking inside.


    "What are you doing just standing there like an idiot?" The one who speaking was Erste''s father.


    "Don''t call him an idiot you idiot!" Erste''s mother smacked his father''s head. The scene before him was something he had seen numerous times, but instead of feeling happy and nostalgic, all Erste at the moment was fear and dread.


    "What is that?"


    Erste''s father and mother who bickered before suddenly pointed at the sky. Erste looked up and saw a crack opening and what came down were numerous Gods. Those Gods did not even say a word as they started massacring everyone in sight. The humans had no way of fighting back as they ran and screamed.


    "Mom, Dad get behind me!"


    Erste stood in front of his parents and blocked an iing beam of light. Erste easily blocked the attack but as he turned around he saw that despite blocking the beam of light his parents were on the ground their bodies were in mes, they were still alive but they were screaming in pain.


    Erste tried everything to make the mes go away, but even his authority to control fire did not work to stop the mes.


    "I''m sorry son, but please make the pain stop!"


    Despite the one''s being in so much pain, the first thing that his parents told him was sorry. Erste who could not extinguish the mes only knew one other way to make the pain stop for his parents. Erste shook his head as tears rolled down his eyes.


    "No no no no, please I don''t want to do this. There must be another way, there has to be."


    ...


    The incarnations watching within the soul realm were once again surprised to see the original incarnation act in such a way. Some of them have known the original incarnation for eons now but that was the first time they have ever seen him cry.


    They then looked at the original incarnation who was watching but saw that there was no fluctuation in his current mood as he simply continued to watch.


    ...


    Erste continued to block attack after attacking his way as his parents were screaming in agony but they no longer begged him to make the pain stop. Erste, on the other hand, captured a few Gods and demanded they save his parents, but none of them could. In the end, Erste gnashed his teeth as he looked at his parents crying and screaming. Seeing the look on Erste''s face his parents knew what he was going to do next.


    "I''m so sorry son." Those were thest words of his parents as he killed them both.

 Chapter 694 Smile beyond the fear

    Chapter 694 Smile beyond the fear


    The scene before Erste changed again and this time he was in the HQ of the Rebellion. Erste looked around and the sound of fighting could be heard everywhere. The ground was littered with the bodies of Gods and humans.


    Despite their best efforts, the humans were losing, in the distance he could see Gratz alongside the other generals fighting the Old Gods. They kept on fighting despite the inevitability of losing.


    "It has been an honor fighting side by side with all of you."


    "Heh, that it was old man, that it was."


    "You two stinky men... (sigh)I guess it was indeed quite fun to have known you guys..."


    "Hahaha, who knew that in the end, I could get to hear Sayaka''s tsundere line."


    "Who are you calling a tsundere?!!!"


    "I''m d that I get to die with you guys."


    "It''s time to sing for our requiem."


    "No need to get so gloomy. I still want to have a drink with you guys after this battle."


    The generals looked at each other a smile showing brightly on each of their faces. The generals continued to fight the Old Gods with a disy of perfect cooperation but no matter how hard they tried, in the end, they were unable to turn the tide as they fell one by one.


    Erste could not do anything but watch as many people die before his very eyes. Despite wanting to save them he could not move a single muscle. All Erste could do now was watch as they bravely fought, as they screamed in pain and terror, as they said their goodbyes, and he could not do a single damn thing.


    As he watched each general fall he saw the top gigantic bodies of the dead Old Gods a person moving at incredible speeds. This was none other than the leader of the Rebellion, Frieda. Among all the humans present except for Erste she was the strongest.


    Every time she killed a God she grew stronger and faster, but the damage she was umting was not healing properly, there was also the fact that her stamina also had a limit. Eventually, despite her overwhelming speed Frieda was slowing down, and the damage she was receiving kept on rising.


    Frieda finally stopped moving as she breathed profusely, the speed she was so proud of was slowly failing her. She looked at the many Gods before her and smiled as she shouted at them.


    "Even if you kill us all here, this REBELLION will never be over! Humanity will be free from you f*cking evil beings that im to be Gods!"


    Frieda screamed at the top of her lungs as she burst out with thest bit of her strength, the speed she achieved at this moment had surpassed everything. In that single strike where she poured everything she had killed several Old Gods.


    Frieda wanted to make another move but her legs finally gave out, her prideful legs could no longer move. Frieda wanted to face her death with a smile but she couldn''t as she started crying.


    "Damn, I really wanted to see the Rebellion seed." Even though tears were falling down her face she smiled a very brilliant smile. The attacks of the Old Gods fell down upon her and she died without a single speck of her body remaining.


    When every single human except for Erste was dead the Gods left the HQ, the very second they left Erste was finally able to move his body. Erste looked around and saw many of the bodies had been ripped to shreds, the lucky ones had a bit of their faces left.


    The heads of children were made into a throne, there was even a throne made of the reproductive organ. It was obvious that the Gods did not treat this as a war but as a game, as a joke.


    Erste continued to look around and finally saw the faces of the two people he knew beforeing to this ce, they were Miguel and T. Erste sighed as he looked at the two who at least died with full bodies.


    Erste then started to dig their graves and one by one buried the bodies he could find. Erste didn''t use any spell or ability as he dug each grave with respect and dedication.


    ...


    The Old God observed Erste''s changing expression and was intrigued. Normally at this point in time, his prey would have already gone mad from fear, but surprisingly he could sense the fear from Erste but that was all, there was no madness. It was a normal amount of fear that any living being could have.


    The Old God wasn''t sure what was happening inside Erste''s mind since he somehow could not read this mortal''s mind, but he was sure that Erste was seeing his worst nightmarese to life.


    The Old God continued to wait as he was curious as to what was going to happen next. The Old God continued to observe Erste and noticed that the scent of fear from Erste was lessening.


    This was the first time the Old God had encountered such a thing since Erste was supposed to be seeing his fears getting progressively worse. Seeing what was happening before him the Old God thought that this would be the best time to kill Erste while he was unable to fight back, since if ever Erste was able to somehow ovee his primal fears then he wouldn''t be able to win.


    Among the Old Gods, the first generation created by the strongest Ancient God was quite powerful not because of their physical prowess but because of their special abilities. They were able to use the negative emotions of other beings as their source of power, they can even inflict other beings with something akin to a curse simply with their presence.


    Once you remove their special abilities these first-generation Old Gods were just slightly stronger Old Gods.


    ...


    Despite knowing the consequences of not killing Erste now, the Old God continued to observe and not do anything else. Time had passed and for normal humans, it would have been a long time but to an Old God, it was just a blink of an eye. The distress in Erste''s face disappeared and what reced it was that familiar vicious smile of his. It was a smile that made even the Old God feel a chill.


    The Old God already knew that Erste was about to wake up and the next thing that would happen to him could only be death. Still, the Old God waited patiently as he wanted to ask Erste a question, and once it was answered the Old God felt that it didn''t really matter if he died or not.

 Chapter 695 Why do you fight?

    Chapter 695 Why do you fight?


    Despite knowing that Erste would wake up no matter what, the Old God increased the strength of his ability.


    "Since this is going to be myst battle, let''s go all out for once. I Agares speak my true name and will show you endless, boundless horrors!"


    At this moment the horrors Erste faced had increased dramatically. If before when he saw the horrors in front of him he still retained his mighty strength but now all of that had disappeared and he had be a normal human within these nightmares.


    Still, even without any of his abilities, and the fear in his heart kept on growing, Erste continued to smile that fearless vicious-looking smile of his. Even though he continued to be afraid he was no longer drowning in the fear, he simply epted that it was there.


    So no matter what happened even when he was facing death right in the face, Erste simply smiled. Now no matter what kind of horror he was shown, no matter what kind of madness, no matter the despair, he just kept on going.


    ...


    Agares watched as Erste''s aura continuously increased the longer he was in his nightmares. It was just a matter of time before Erste would wake up from his almost never ending nightmares. As the time for Erste''s awakening wasing closer and closer, Agares was feeling something new.


    It was like Agares'' entire existence was being constricted, and his spirit was being shaken to his very core. Also even though there was no blood flowing through his veins and it was impossible to feel cold, he actually felt all of those things. This feeling of being crushed and deprived of breath was the first time he had ever held such a feeling.


    "Is this what those that have fallen by my hand had felt?" Agares felt not only fear but also excitement, or were fear and excitement the same thing, Agares had no way of knowing.


    Erste who had his eyes closed and had not been moving suddenly opened his eyes. The look in Erste''s eyes had changed drastically from the time before Agares used his ability on him. The look in Erste''s eyes was now firmer and the slight hesitation he had before was no longer there, it was as if he had aged centuries.


    "Oh it''s been a long time, I nearly forgot that you''re the reason for my endless death and rebirth in those nightmare-like worlds."


    Some of Agares'' abilities were not working on Erste so he could not know what kind of things Erste saw in those nightmares or how long he had been there, but based on what Erste was saying he should''ve been there for a couple of centuries.


    "It is indeed impressive that you have withstood facing the fear in your heart for a couple of centuries. Not only that but I was sure the moment you woke up from the nightmare you would immediately kill me, yet you did not do that and instead remain as calm as ever."


    "Hoh, so you have no idea what has been going on inside those nightmares. So since you don''t know how long I was in there, that means the passage of time was different here and there. I''m guessing only a few months or just a few years have passed here in reality... You think I simply stayed there for a few centuries, wrong, I was there for a few millennia. Dying, awakening, and witnessing a new horror, repeatedly for thousands of years. In the beginning, I really f*cking hated you, but after a couple of years in those horrors, I no longer resented you."


    "Why?"


    "Why indeed, I just don''t want to hate you, that''s all, it''s as simple as that. Also, I do feel quite grateful. You ced me in some sort of illusionary world that shows what I fear the most, and the time difference there is so great that I have experienced a couple of millennia but in reality, it has only been a few months or a few years at most. That was the best training I have ever been through. Not only did my technique improve, but even my mental strength has drastically improved. For that I am quite thankful, now I have enough power to deal with even Old Gods of your level. As thanks I''ll kill you as painlessly as possible."


    "You say that you don''t hate me, but you still say that you''re going to kill me."


    "What does hate have to do with me killing you?... I do admit that in the beginning there was some element of hate in killing you Gods, but that wasn''t the main point. The reason I''m killing you guys is because you threaten the survival of my race... Since you Gods are killing us, you Gods should have been ready for the retaliation of humanity, but of course, you guys never thought about it. You Gods see us, humans, as toys, of course, you never imagined a toy fighting back."


    "I see, so it''s for survival, so if we Gods stopped killing mortals, will you in turn stop killing us?"


    "I don''t know about the other humans but I would most likely stop killing you but I won''t stop fighting you guys."


    "... I see... Can you tell me why you smile?... Why is it that every time a greater nightmare appears the smile on your face keeps on bing more and more vicious looking?"


    "A person once told me that when you are afraid the best you can do is smile the fear away. Obviously, the fear you produced was something else entirely, but smiling helped me go beyond that fear. It''s not like I''m no longer afraid I simply epted the fear as a part of me."


    "... Is that so..."


    "Is that all you wanted to know, are you ready for death now?"


    "I have just onest question."


    "What is it?"


    There was a slight pause before Agares spoke again and asked his final question.


    "Why do you fight?"


    Hearing the question Erste showed a look of shock and then he started to chuckle which then evolved into a heartyugh.


    "I was wondering what kind of final question you were going to ask, but then you asked something like that. Why do I fight? The answer is nothing profound or meaningful, you might be disappointed to hear the answer, so are you sure that you want that to be your final question?"


    "Yes, please tell me."


    "Alright then, the answer to your question is, I fight for myself, nothing more nothing less. I fight simply because I wish to do so. My reason is no different from the reason you Gods hunt and kill humans, it''s simply because you wish to do so."


    "... Heh, it really was a disappointing answer, but at the same time it wasn''t..."


    "So are you ready?"


    "Yeah, thanks for answering all my questions." The chaotic voice that Agares had disappeared and was reced with a clear voice.


    "No problem... Goodbye."


    "Fare thee well, human... No... Erste."


    Even though Agares did not have a humanoid body or face, Erste could swear that he saw a smile on the other party''s face.


    ''Are you also smiling away the fear?'' Erste thought as he shed down at Agares killing the Old God.

 Chapter 696 What to do?

    Chapter 696 What to do?


    After killing Agares Erste knelt on the ground breathing heavily, but despite his current condition the smile on his face never disappeared.


    "Heh, I was lucky... If that guy wanted to kill me, he could have done it when I was in those nightmares, but... In the end that guy didn''t really want to kill me, he just wanted to see what was beyond the fear..."


    Erste sat down and looked at the crumbling dark dimension and sighed. Even though he knew the things he saw in the nightmare were not real, they were simply possibilities. They were visions of what could happen in the future.


    Erste might have be strong enough to deal with New and Old Gods with rtive ease, but he was sure that wasn''t enough to change the current situation. The New and Old Gods were almost as numerous as humans maybe even more so, Erste has too little information about them.


    Not to mention there are those beings that the Gods keep on mentioning, the Ancient Ones, and the one that seems to be above all else the ORIGIN.


    ''Based on their names alone I have some idea of how strong they are. The Old God said the Ancient ones seem to have created the Old Gods, based on that it should mean that these Ancient ones are leagues above the Old Gods. As for the one called the ORIGIN based on what I heard from various Gods, I guess the name is literal. The origin of all things, so basically the real God the creator of everything...''


    When Erste''s thoughts had reached this point there was a wry smile on his face as he shook his head andy down on the ground.


    ''The ORIGIN who is the most powerful being why even now hasn''t it done anything? All of these things that the Gods are doing are simr to when a child wants to get their parent''s attention. If only the ORIGIN will stop them from massacring humans... Is the ORIGIN someone who doesn''t interfere and only watches, or is the ORIGIN unable to interfere?...''


    Erste looked at the sky of this dimension cracking, but Erste was in no hurry to leave as he was still exhausted, and it''s not like the dimension would immediately be destroyed it would take some time before it fully broke.


    ''I better stop thinking about why the ORIGIN doesn''t do anything, I need to figure out a way to meet this so-called ORIGIN. As long as the Gods feel jealous of humanity then the hunt of theirs will never end.''


    Erste racked his brain for a few hours as the world around him was crumbling but no matter what he could not find a realistic solution to their problem.


    ''If I can''t find a solution myself then...''Erste sighed as he teleported away from the breaking-down dimension.


    ...


    The ORIGIN who was watching Erste using an avatar was amazed by the events transpiring before him. To the ORIGIN everything was an open book that he already read, but Erste was different. Every single action Erste was taking was something new and exciting for the ORIGIN.


    It was the first time in eternity that the ORIGIN had ever been so excited seeing so many new things and anticipating what would happen next.


    The ORIGIN who was being infected by the thoughts and feelings of his creations was not bothered by those negative thoughts and feelings since he was Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. The ORIGIN had no ws for those negative things to affect him, but now with the arrival of something beyond his power a small insignificant w was made.


    The negative things that could not get in had finally found a w, even the the ORIGIN did not notice the slight change in his heart. This was the first step into destruction.


    ...


    Erste headed back to the Rebellion''s HQ and even though it had been years since hest returned not much had changed. Erste didn''t bother looking around as he directly went towards the office of the leader.


    ...


    Frieda who was looking at the reports on her table felt a powerful presence approaching her. It was an incredible presence that almost drowned her in fear. Frieda quickly took out her weapon and got into a fighting stance.


    The very second that door to her room opens she willunch an attack with all her might. Frieda clenched her fist tightly as she gulped dryly. The sense of oppression she had felt from the iing being was like no other, even the Old God she had met before paled inparison.


    ''What is happening, why is such a being in here? What happened above ground, did everyone else-...''


    Frieda stopped that line of thinking as she didn''t even want to imagine such an ending. Now all she needed to do was focus on what was happening before her.


    Frieda saw the knob on her door turning, the very second the door was slightly opened Frieda no longer hesitated and attacked with everything she had. With a speed that surpassed time itself, Frieda unleashed the strongest and fastest attack she could muster. In this very moment, Frieda had surpassed herself and had full confidence she could bring down even an Old God.


    She was confident in her victory which made her greatly surprised to see that her attack didn''t connect and she was caught by the other party. Frieda felt an overwhelming sense of despair as she felt the power emanating from the other party. As she was getting ready for her demise she heard an extremely familiar voice speaking to her.


    "What are you doing?"


    Frieda who was still alive lifted her head and looked at the opponent she was facing and saw a familiar face, it was none other than Erste.


    "..." Frieda did not know what to say as she looked at Erste dumbfounded.


    "It was a good thing it was me you attacked, if anyone else in this base received such an attack they''ll explode into nothingness." Erste joked despite knowing full well why Frieda attacked. Seeing the smile on his face Frieda also guessed that releasing such pressure was deliberate.


    "A*shole." Frieda cursed as she pouted.

 Chapter 697 The generals

    Chapter 697 The generals


    "So that''s what I learned after hunting down those Gods."


    Frieda had a serious look on her face as she listened to the information Erste gathered. The more she listened the more her heart sunk. She had thought that she had already learned the truth long ago but it turned out that what she knew was nothing.


    The New Gods and even the Old Gods that they were fighting were just children of the true Gods. The Ancient ones and the ORIGIN the top of the top.


    "So what can we do, what''s the point of our resistance? No matter how many New and Old Gods we kill the Ancient Ones will just make more. Even if we want to attack the Ancient Ones which I doubt we can do, we don''t even know where to find them."


    Despite the words sounding like she was panicking the tone of Frieda''s voice was very indifferent.


    "How about you call in those trusted generals of yours and let''s brainstorm," Erste replied while shrugging his shoulders.


    "... Fine," Frieda answered while sighing.


    ...


    Several people had arrived in Frieda''s office, one of them was, of course, the old man Gratz. The others were the same as the people in Erste''s nightmares.


    ''Oh, were those truly prophetic dreams?''


    "Some of you might already know who this is, but allow me to introduce you this person is Erste and this meeting is about the information he acquired some time ago."


    The group of generals stared at Erste, they had heard many stories about this guy and even the rumor that he was considered to be the strongest among them all. Aside from Gratz who has seen how powerful Erste was the other generals were not so convinced.


    ''Hmph, is this the guy that I keep hearing about, he doesn''t look like he''s anything special.'' Was the thought of a tall beautiful girl with long silver hair, and golden eyes. She was not wearing any make-up but her natural beauty could make most men leave their mouths hanging. This was Sayaka the general of mes.


    ''The muscles on this guy are too small, it doesn''t seem like he has any meat in him. How can a person who hasn''t gained enough muscles be strong?'' Thergest man in the room his body bulging with muscles, looked at Erste confused. This was Jonathan the general of iron.


    ''Tsk, howe Sir Gratz keeps on praising this guy? He doesn''t look like he''s worth any praise at all. The mana fluctuating from his body is quite weak, and his posture is rather sloppy, there''s no elegance to be found.'' A man looking like a younger Gratz stared at Erste in his mind wanting to bite down on the other party, he could not wait to attack Erste, but despite his anger, he remained in an upright position with a rather calm look on his face. This was Kamael the general of ice.


    ''I see... So this is Erste the information I have on him seems to have underestimated the other party a bit too much. I guess relying on rumors, eyewitness reports and second guesses can only get you so far, seeing him in person truly is the way to go.'' The person with a cigarette in his mouth and smiling wryly was Scu the general of wisdom.


    These five were the strongest humans in the Rebellion and were known as the generals. They had power beyond a normal New God, and could easily defeat several New Gods.


    "Erste these five are-"


    "No need to introduce them I already know them." Erste showed a very mysterious smile as he approached the five generals. "Sayaka the general of mes, or should I call her the tsundere general?"


    "Who are you calling a tsundere you b*stard!" Hearing the nickname she hated the most Sayaka burst out, while the other generals were trying to hold in theirughter.


    "Jonathan the general of iron, also known as the general of muscles."


    "Hahaha, that''s a nice nickname general of muscles. I like you, kid, how about you and I train together, I''ll be sure to make you gain beautiful muscles." Jonathan started flexing his muscles as he spoke.


    "Maybe some other time," Erste responded and walked towards the next general.


    "Kamael the general of Ice, or should I call you Gratz''s fanboy?"


    "Are you trying to make fun of me, by saying that? Unfortunately for you, I do not care since I truly respect Sir Gratz from the bottom of my heart."


    "I was just stating a fact not trying to humiliate you, also can you please stop exuding that killing intent of yours?" When Kamael heard what Erste said he was surprised that Erste was able to detect that. The other generals and Frieda did not say anything since they already knew why Kamael was so upset.


    "Last but not least, Scu the general of wisdom."


    "Oh, is that it are you not going to give me a nickname like the others?" Scu sounded genuinely disappointed.


    "Fine, then I''ll call you the cunning b*stard or the guy who keeps on smiling, or maybe cunning smiling b*stard."


    "So that''s what you think of me, what an honor."


    "Howe you already know all the names of the generals, did Gratz tell you?" Frieda nced at Gratz who shook his head.


    "Not only do I know their names, I know a lot about them. In fact, I know them well enough that I can guess what they''re thinking and what they want to do next."


    When the others heard what Erste said except for Frieda and Gratz the four generals showed the same look of confusion.


    "Right now Sayaka should be thinking this f*cking b*stard called me tsundere, I need to teach him a lesson. Hmph, he doesn''t look like he has anything except for that sly mouth of his."


    Sayaka had her eyes wide open as those were the exact words that she was thinking. Seeing Sayaka''s reaction, the others could already guess that what Erste said was right.


    "Before you guys ask, I can''t read minds I just know you guys so well. Jonathan should be thinking of a good workout schedule for me."


    "Hoh that''s amazing, don''t worry Erste I''ll be sure to create the perfect workout for you."


    "Kamael should be thinking about why a guy like me is being praised by Gratz. He should also be thinking that he would want to pierce my chest and rip it apart."


    "Tsk," Kamael only responded by clicking his tongue.


    "As for the cunning b*stard Scu you should still be wondering if what I said was the truth or if I was lying and I truly have mind-reading abilities."


    "That''s amazing Sir Erste, still, now I believe you a little that you have no mind-reading abilities," Scu responded with a smile on his face.


    "Heh, sly b*stard you should be thinking about bad things. Well, now that you guys know how well I know you all. It shoulde as no surprise that I can guess what you four want to do next. You four want to fight me for different reasons, Sayaka would want to teach me a lesson, Jonathan would want to demonstrate the beauty of his muscles, Kamael wants to show Gratz I''m a liar and a loser who''s weak and not worthy of praise, as for Scu you should want to see what kind of power I have."


    "Since you already know that, surely you won''t back down," Kamael spoke already itching to attack Erste.


    "Nah, I would never deny a challenge, but I was just thinking if I should y with you guys one at a time or altogether. There''s also the option of not ying with you guys and just showing the four of you the difference in our strengths."


    Hearing what Erste said the four generals even the calm Scu felt a little angry. Erste was looking down at them a bit too much.


    "Hmph, you think that you can beat us all together? I doubt that you can even beat any of us one-on-one."


    "You misunderstood it''s not a question if I can beat you guys but a question if I should bother."


    Unable to hold it in any longer Sayaka''s mana burst out as she charged at Erste and kicked him. Erste easily blocked her attack with his pinky finger.


    "Yeah, I made my decision you guys are too weak to have fun ying with."


    After saying those words Erste released some kind of pressure attack that only affected the four generals. The four knelt on the ground unable to move or breathe. Despite their best efforts, they could not resist the unknown pressure that assaulted them. It was at this moment they finally understood what kind of horror was standing before them.

 Chapter 698 Let’s start the meeting without him

    <h4>Chapter 698 Let''s start the meeting without him</h4>


    The four generals were on the ground kneeling the pressure that Erste released was so precise that it could not be felt by Frieda and Gratz but they could guess what was happening. Knowing Erste and the power he wielded doing something like this should be no problem. This was a guy that had killed numerous Old Gods beings that they had thought were unbeatable.


    Frieda and Gratz simply watched as the generals struggled to get up, but no matter how hard they tried they could not move. Frieda started wondering how Erste was able to do such a precise technique.


    Jonathan who held the greatest physical power among the generals gritted his teeth as his prided muscles bulged out he stabilized his breathing and tried to circte his mana. Unlike the other humans who were trying to use mana to release powerful attacks, Jonathan practiced using mana to strengthen himself. Even though the other humans also use mana to strengthen their bodies, the way Jonathan does it is different.


    The way Jonathan uses mana wouldter be used to create the Spirit Aura which was entirely different from mana. Still, at this point in time, Jonathan was the best at strengthening and enhancing using mana.


    Jonathan roared like a beast but despite his best efforts, he could not even move a single centimeter. The other generals also did not give up as they used their own specialties in trying to resist.


    Both Sayaka and Kamael had the same thought of attacking Erste but every time they tried to release their mana outward they could not concentrate hard enough to be able to form any powerful kind of attack that could harm Erste.


    On the other hand, Scu was the only one among them who remained calm as he didn''t force himself to do anything while he analyzed what was happening before him.


    ''It''s obvious that the strength of each of our bodies is different, and right now I can see that the three of them especially Jonathan are using a lot of force but even he can''t escape. Even all of us are in the same kneeling position despite them resisting and me not. That means Erste is actually applying different amount of pressure on each of us just enough to make us kneel... Incredible, I can just wait here until he''s done with his demonstration but I do want to test something out."


    The smile on Scu''s face had a slight change no one except for Erste noticed that subtle change. In the world of nightmares that the Old God Agares. Every single time Scu showed that smile on his face the next thing he would do would be something unexpected.


    Erste was curious among those present here Scu was the only one he needed to be wary of. Even the more powerful Frieda was not as tricky to deal with as Scu.


    Erste who had learned how to use his mana to detect the slightest movement in the surrounding area felt Scu moving his fingers.


    ''Oh, so he ced traps in this room.'' Erste did not even turn his head as he caught the thin long needle that was aimed at his back. Erste pinched the needle with his two fingers.


    "That''s incredible so even that can''t take you by surprise," Scu spoke looking truly impressed. While he was speaking Scu was moving his fingers and several simr needles popped out of the walls which Erste easily evaded by swaying his body slightly. After evading those needles the others noticed what happened. Gratz was quite surprised that there were traps in the leader''s office, but Frieda was not surprised as she already knew about those traps. She really didn''t mind that Scu put them there.


    "Are you done?" Hearing Erste''s very dry question Scu chuckled.


    "Not yet, allow me one more trick."


    After he spoke the needles that Erste evaded started glowing and various runes were seen glowing from the needles.


    "Unlike the others who studied strengthening themselves using mana or trying to release mana as a weapon, I''ve studied the rune magic that the New Gods like using. I also learned that runes can not only be used to strengthen weapons, items, buildings, and the like but they can also be used to create a formation to create an attack greater than one''s own power."


    Once he was done speaking the glowing needles with runes suddenly turned into one could call a magic array. Large circr magic circles with various runes spinning around them were created. A burst of lighting came out of the magic circles hitting Erste. The power of the attack surprised even Frieda, but what surprised her even more was that she saw Erste not evading. The speed of the lightning strike was fast but not fast enough since she could easily dodge such an attack which should mean Erste could too yet the guy didn''t do so.


    Seeing the pressure that was pressing down on him had not dissipated meant that Erste was still conscious.


    "So are you done now?" Everyone especially Scu was amazed by what he saw that attack which he thought would knock Erste out or even severely damage the other party did absolutely nothing.


    "Heh, yeah I got nothing left." After saying those words Scu truly gave up and Erste released the pressure on him.


    "How about you three, are you going to quiet down or are you going to continue fighting back?"


    "..." Sayaka did not say anything at first as she simply red at Erste. She then sighed and finally spoke. "Fine, you win." Erste then released Sayaka from the pressure. Now there were only two people left who seemed unconvinced.


    "This is amazing, this is the greatest exercise I can think of! Come on roar my muscles let''s keep it up, let''s get stronger, my beautiful muscles!" Jonathan shouted as he continued to resist with a hearty smile on his face. Erste also released Jonathan from the pressure.


    "Hey, what happened?! Come Erste put that pressure on me again, I want to continue resisting it!" Jonathan tried to grab hold of Erste but the other party evaded.


    "Maybe next time. So how about you, do you concede or do you want to kiss the floor?" Erste''s attention was now on thest general Kamael.


    "Huh? Concede to you, hmph, I would never. I would rather kiss the floor than concede to you."


    "Alright then."


    The pressure on Kamael suddenly increased as he could no longer kneel and his face hit the ground making him literally kiss the floor. Kamael who was not lying t on the ground tried to resist but it was to no avail.


    "So do you concede now?!" Erste lightened the pressure so that Kamael could respond.


    "Never!"


    "Very well, let''s have the meeting without Kamael. So first let me tell you about the information I gained." Erste started talking to the others while continuously putting that invisible pressure on Kamael.

 Chapter 699 Dragons

    <h4>Chapter 699 Dragons</h4>


    Once they were done listening to Erste''s information the generals felt the pressure of the truth had overwhelmed them more so than when Erste was pushing them down. Since unlike the pressure Erste was releasing they still had the courage to resist, and the tenacity to achieve victory, but this... What they had learned made them feel despair like no other.


    Erste who had gained the ability to sense despair and fear, could sense those feelings strongly being emanated by them but despite feeling those things their expressions did not show what they were feeling. It was simr to Frieda who had a look of indifference when she learned the truth.


    "So basically what we''ve been fighting were just some weaker Gods that can be continuously created. The true enemies are those Ancient Ones, but we haven''t seen one and we haven''t heard any news about them except for now. Then there''s that creator of all the ORIGIN." Scu sighed but the smile on his face didn''t disappear as he blocked his mouth with his hand.


    "So there are stronger enemies out there, heh I''m getting excited I need to build up more muscles!" Jonathan suddenly started doing push-ups with his thumb.


    "Yes, that''s right even knowing this truth the objective remains the same, only the enemy we have to face has changed," Gratz spoke aloud seemingly trying to encourage his peers but Erste could see it was more than that. "Even if they''re stronger than us we shall fight until the end and we will die gloriously and honorably as humans!"


    Everyone present was quite surprised to hear the old man''s voice getting louder and louder but hearing what he said made the others grin unconsciously.


    "Hmph, I''m surrounded by optimistic fools, but I guess that''s alright as well." Sayaka chimed in with a charming smile on her face. "So what should we do next?" Even though she still sounded rather arrogant there was also a look of pure determination. The others then looked at Erste.


    "I don''t know what to do next, which is why I came to you guys so that we can all think and despair together. So do you guys have any ideas?"


    The room suddenly became quiet even the groaning Kamael who was kissing the floor did not make a single sound. They didn''t know how long the silencested but then someone spoke.


    "Dragons."


    Everyone present shifted their attention to the person who spoke which was the general of wisdom Scu. Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to say the next thing Scu turned around facing the opposite direction and the smile on his face grew wider.


    "What is it Scu, what about dragons?" Gratz asked.


    "Come on don''t keep as hanging."


    "Why did you stop speaking Scu?! Are you alright Scu?" Jonathan approached Shu and started shaking the other party. "Hello, can you hear me?!"


    "Yes I can hear you, John, so please stop shaking me."


    "That''s good to hear." Jonathan stopped shaking Scu who sighed.


    "About the dragons, you guys know they exist right?"


    "Yeah, several of our men have seen dragons before, what about it?"


    "I remember one of those reports stating that a Dragon killed a New God. Aside from us, it seems that Dragons are powerful enough to defeat the Gods. Also unlike those Ancient Ones who we have no idea where they are, we have seen Dragons every now and then."


    "Alright so you want to talk to some Dragons, how are you sure that they even have the ability tomunicate with us?" Sayak asked sounding skeptical.


    "Hmm, that is true, but given our situation, we should try anything we can right?" Gratz gave his opinion.


    "This feels simr to a normal person asking for help from a jaguar hoping to kill a lion. Are we not sure that the jaguar will eat us first before the lion?" Frieda also gave her opinion about the matter. "Still, this might truly be the only way we can do something about the Ancient Ones."


    "How about you, are you finally willing to talk like a civilized human being?" Erste asked Kamael as he released the pressure pressing down on the other party. Kamael who was released from the intense pressure could only look up and re at Erste.


    "Well, I guess you don''t have any opinions. So our next n is talking to some Dragons, so who will be the one to talk with the Dragon?"


    "The person who should talk with the Dragon should be powerful enough that he won''t die even if things turn out bad, he should be charismatic enough to negotiate an alliance, and he should be smart enough to know what to say."


    "Of course, it should be me, right? My muscles will be able to charm those Dragons into submission." Jonathan once again started flexing his muscles. The others ignored Jonathan and asked the question.


    "So who will do it?"


    "A powerful, charismatic, and smart person, who else but Sir Gratz could do it." Kamael who has recovered a bit spoke.


    "I don''t think I''m the right man for this job."


    "Sir Gratz is right, none of the generals will be able to do this mission." Scu gave affirmation which made the other generals frown. "In the first ce, the power to fight a dragon and survive you would need to at least have enough power to fight an Old God, and in here there are only two people who have enough power to be able to do just that."


    "So it has to be either Erste or me. Hmm, what do you think Erste do you want to negotiate with Dragons?" Frieda pointed at Erste and then at herself.


    "Not really, I would rather fight with the Dragons than negotiate and talk with them."


    Hearing Erste''s response those who did not know him well enough showed shocked expressions while the others could only sigh.


    "Heh, I guess that is something that you would do. So it''s going to be me that talks with the Dragons."


    "No, Leader I actually want you and and Erste to go together to meet the Dragons." After Scu said those words the cunning smile on his face made the other generals feel slightly ufortable.

 Chapter 700 The meeting with a Dragon

    Chapter 700 The meeting with a Dragon


    In the middle of a distorted area in space, a gigantic being was floating in it asleep. The size of this being had already surpassed the size of a normal star, its beating heart could be heard even in the vacuum of space. It had obsidian scales that shone brightly like the night sky. It hadrge bat-like wings that could cover severals which were folded on its back. It had a head that of a gigantic serpent but with razor-sharp fangs. It had four legs which had terrifying-looking ws which resembled that of an eagle. It had a tail that wrapped around its body as it slept.


    This being was none other than a mighty prideful Dragon and this is where he rests. This was one of the few Adult Dragons. Normally even if the area where the Dragon slept was bombarded by a power strong enough to destroy a gxy he would not bother to even open his eyes and continue to sleep for a few millennia, but at this moment he could not.


    The constant hunting of humans done by the Gods has him feeling mildly irritated, not because he pitied the humans being hunted but because one of their hunting grounds was near the area he was in. The constant battles between them were creating abnormalities in his nest which not to mention his hatred for the Gods made the Dragon who was unable to sleep feel infuriated.


    The Dragon had already killed and eaten a few Gods in the area but it did not make his situation better. The Dragon was so annoyed he roared as it opened its wings and flew towards the hunting ground of the nearby God that had displeased him.


    The Dragon used his dragon speech to open up a portal so that he could swiftly dispose of the annoying God. Upon arrival, the Dragon saw quite the ridiculous sight. Several Gods were there but instead of the usual sight of which the hateful Gods were ughtering humans, what was happening was different. Each God was in their true form but despite that, there was a single human being standing above them as theyy on the ground.


    The Dragon was amazed by the sight as he circled around waiting to see what the human would do next, but instead of doing anything to the Gods, the human looked upward towards him.


    [Human I will not do anything to you so you can continue to do whatever it is you are doing.]


    "Heh, that''s interesting you''re talking directly in my mind. Well, it''s not like you''re the first one to do so, but unlike those Old Gods your way seems slightly different."


    When the Dragon heard what the human said he could not help but roar angrily making the entire hunting ground rumble and even start to crack.


    [Human I do not care what you do to those Gods, I do not care if you kill or spheme against them but neverpare me to them!] After shouting in the human''s mind the Dragon spat out a small ball of me as punishment for the nder.


    Even though it was considered a small ball of me by the Dragon, it was still pretty powerful, since that small ball of me could easily melt a New God and greatly injure an Old God.


    The Dragon didn''t want to kill the human but just punish him a little, so he used enough power he thought was sufficient for the punishment. The so-called small ball of me descended burning away the weaker Gods but as it was about to envelope the human it was suddenly sliced into many pieces and then disappeared.


    "Hoh, I guess you are stronger than most Gods. Still, I didn''t reallye here to fight I came here to talk to you."


    The Dragon looked at the sword that suddenly appeared in the smiling human''s hands. This was a sword that could cut mana apart, which made the disappearance of his me understandable.


    [Human you have piqued my interest, but as a Dragon I do not have conversations with those whom I do not deem worthy. If you wish to have a discussion with me then you must prove your worth through battle!]


    "Hah, now that''s what I''m talking about! Ever since I saw you pping above my head I wanted to fight!" The smile on the human''s face became vicious-looking.


    [Very well human state your name.]


    "I''m called Erste."


    [Erste I Tema of the ck Dragon n ept your challenge. Show me your worth as a warrior!]


    Tema roared louder than ever before, it shook the very souls of the Gods present that were still alive. Tema then started speaking not in the mind of Erste but in his real voice.


    "Rwnnerw qaqa griieebbiigr zziissxxiiggzz gojjaago ozaao."


    The Dragon started speaking in anguage that Erste could not understand, but he felt that a mixture of mana and the energy from the void was forming above his head. Lighting then descended onto the ground. It was as if a sh of light devoured everything in sight, the Gods on the ground could not withstand the attack and immediately perished, on the other hand, Erste used the mana-negating sword to slice open a path for himself.


    Still, even with the effect of the mana-negating sword, it could not cut through the lighting as easily as Erste hoped as it had also a mix of the chaotic energy with the void. Erste who was able to open a path was running upward towards the Dragon Tema.


    Tema opened its mouth and a burst of mes came spraying out of its gigantic mouth. This me was pure energy and unlike the small ball of me form before this one was able to cover the entire dimension in mes.


    In Tema''s eyes, Erste was devoured by his mes. Seeing that scene Erste had felt a pang of disappointment. Yet at that moment when he thought it was all over Tenma suddenly felt the energy from the void and then he heard the sound ofughter.


    "HAHAHA!!! Incredible this really great!!! Alright then Tenma, I will show you my worth!!!"


    As the mes from his breath subsided Tenma saw Erste whose body was scorched and was now holding a different de. This de seems to be a manifestation of his very soul that was intertwined with mana and the chaotic energy from the void.

 Chapter 701: Battling a Dragon

    "Ithquant gralikic."


    Erste was able to tell that there was a change in the way Tema spoke but at this point, he could not tell what was different. As he was charging toward Tema several silver-white chains appeared that wanted to entangle him, but Erste used his newly formed soul de to deflect the iing chains.


    The Chains were only able to dy him for a short moment but that was enough for a distraction as the tail that could wrap around the sr system swiped towards Erste who had no time to dodge.


    So instead of dodging or defending Erste decided to attack. Erste pulled back his hand holding the de and with a swift motion pierced forward. The forward pierce had umted a lot of power which was rupturing everything in its path.


    This was one of the techniques he created to fight against the-sized Godsm which he named [Heaven Piercer].


    The Dragon Tema''s tail whip and Erste''s [Heaven Piercer] collided with each other causing the dimension they were in to instantly break and they were now floating in the space in between dimensions. The confrontation between their attacks ended in a draw as neither was able to deal any damage to the other.


    The two of them then arrived in another dimension where they bothnded on arge piece ofnd.


    "Sgnneebbuaasg."


    Once the Dragon Tenma finished speaking Erste found that the gravity had increased pushing his entire body downward and destroying the ground beneath his feet. Despite the gravity had increased to a terrifying degree Erste continued to smile that vicious smile of his as he raised his soul sword upward pointing towards the heavens and swung downward.


    This was Erste''s technique [Godyer] that releases a powerful energy at the opponent.


    The technique was able to hit the Dragon Tenma but unlike the Gods that were hit by the same technique and died the scales of the Dragon Tenma were only slightly damaged. Seeing that his technique was ineffective didn''t dampen Erste''s spirit in fact it made him even more excited.


    "HAHAHA!!! This is the best!"


    Erste changed his stance as he once again took out a different sword that was on his waist and positioned it behind him. The reason he took out this sword instead of continuing to use the soul sword was because the next technique he was going to use needed a physical sword.


    The sword in Erste''s hand was enveloped by a bright light that extended outward creating a sword that was nearly as big as Tenma. This was Erste''s new technique which he named [Star Breaker].


    Erste swung his sword upward easily cleaving the ground he was standing on. It was a good thing that he was not standing on a with a core since his technique [Star Breaker] would easily slice the in half which would be bad.


    Unlike [Godyer] the Dragon Tenma actually felt some threat from this attack. As a Dragon, Tenma had a physique that could nullify most mana-based attacks, and even most physical attacks were useless against him, so he usually wouldn''t bother defending or avoiding an attack but this time he felt he needed to do so.


    "Eligne ve de levnim!"


    Severalyers of a crystal-like barrier surrounded the Dragon Tenma. This was a draconic spell of protection that could even affect causality. Under normal circumstances, this spell would make any attack miss the target. It''s not because of any outside force it is because it''s the fate of the attack itself or so the Dragons believe.


    Tenma who believed that Erste''s attack would deviate from its course was surprised to see that it did not do so.


    If Erste and the Dragon had fought before Erste defeated his first Old God then this trick of Tenma''s would''ve worked, but now that Erste had surpassed Fate such a defense that relied on the effects of causality will no longer work on him.


    Still, even if the effect of the spell was not able to achieve its desired effect the defensive qualities of this spell were still better than most spells. Erste who hit the crystal-like barrier stopped but then the attack was slowly cutting through.


    "Nice, but I''m not done yet!" Erste roared even louder as he released more of the energy that was hidden within him. The sword light sliced upward going through the crystal-like barrier, Tenma was then forced to evade the attack.


    Even though his attack had missed and was sweating while panting a little, the vicious smile on Erste''s face grew wider. Tenma who had evaded the strike felt his pride had been damaged so he roared angrily as he pounced at Erste.


    Seeing the gigantic Dragon Tenma with its open maw pouncing at him Ersteughed heartily as he took out the mana-destroying sword in one hand and resummoned his soul sword in the other.


    Tenma swiped his ws at Erste who blocked it with both his swords and then tried to push the w away. While Erste was trying hard to push back Tenma gathered mes into his belly and expelled the mes at Erste.


    Tenma knew that this was not enough to do anything to Erste so he stopped expelling the mes and as expected Erste was able to survive the mes. Since Erste can disrupt attacks of causality and his mana-destroying sword can slice through any spell, Tenma decided to do things the old way which was attacking physically.


    Tenma used his tail ws and even his mouth to attack Erste who was so much smallerpared to him. It was as if arge was fighting against an ant. After several exchanges Erste was finally able to damage the scales of the Dragon, as he was about to continue his assault the voice of the Dragon echoed in his mind.


    {You have proven your strength, I shall now listen to what you have to say.}


    "You want to end this fight now?..."


    Erste spoke looking at the Dragon confused. It took several seconds for Erste who was in a battle state to understand what was just said. There was a pause but in the end, despite hearing what the Dragon Tenma said Erste wanted to continue fighting but then Scu spoke in the device that was ced inside of Erste''s ears.


    "Sir Erste, I heard that the Dragon wanted to stop fighting. I know you''re thinking about continuing the fight but I hope that you''ll be able to hold yourself back. If you do something that offends the other party we might not be able to get another chance."


    Scu and the others were watching the fight back in HQ. This was possible because of the two devices they gave to Erste. One was amunicator that was installed in Erste''s ear, and the other was a camera installed in Erste''s eyes. Both of these equipment were created using abination of rune spells and technology.


    The group had been watching Erste''s interaction with the Dragon, and despite not hearing the Dragon''s voice they could guess what was said by listening to Erste''s responses.


    Upon hearing what Scu had to say he gnashed his teeth and after a while sighed. It took Erste more effort trying to stop himself from attacking than when he was actually battling the Dragon.


    "Alright, then let''s talk."

 Chapter 702: Seeing the Mother of all Dragons

    "Since you have deemed me worthy to have a conversation with you, then can I allow someone else to speak on my behalf?"


    The Dragon Tenma did not respond immediately as there was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds.


    {Very well, so who shall speak with me?}


    After that was confirmed Erste told the others and a portal appeared beside Erste. The person who came out was none other than the leader of the Rebellion Frieda.


    "I shall be the one to converse with you."


    {Hoh, it seems that you aren''t weak either. You are also eligible to take up the challenge, but you had other people do it for you.}


    "I too wanted to fight but this guy insisted on doing it himself. If you want I can do the challenge as well."


    {There is no need, yourpanion has already proven his worth. If he has chosen you to speak for him, then you too are worthy.}


    "Thank you, then I''ll get right to the point."


    {A moment before we continue talking.} The gigantic Dragon that was bigger than severals suddenly started burning a bright light and then the body of the Dragon shrunk until he became the same size as Erste and Frieda.


    A handsome face with golden eyes, dark brown skin, and deep ck hair flowing downward. This was Tenma''s humanoid form. Only powerful Dragons know this spell since it lowers one''s abilities greatly, those weaker Dragons will not want to learn such a spell.


    "Ahem, Ha he ho hu, alright, now we can converse properly." This time Tenma spoke the humannguage using his own voice not telepathically.


    "So you guys can do something like this, amazing." Erste looked at Tenma truly surprised.


    "Not all Dragons can use the spell of transformation only powerful dragons like me can do it," Tenma said with a rather smug look on his face. Unlike when he was a dragon were you can''t tell what he was thinking seeing the different expressions on his human face made it easier to read him.


    "So you''re among the more powerful Dragons."


    "Yes, are you impressed?"


    Seeing Tenma suddenly act like this the majesty he had before seemed to be lost. ''Does transforming into a human change a person''s personality or was he always like this?'' So in response both Erste and Frieda simply nodded their heads.


    "Alright then, tell me human what is it you want to talk about?"


    "I wish to gain an alliance with the Dragon race to help us battle with the Gods."


    When Tenma heard Frieda''s proposal he looked at the other party dumbfounded, but after a short pause Tenma suddenlyughed heartily.


    "Kukuhahaha!!! That''s interesting, if you asked for my help alone I might have agreed to fight alongside you to defeat those Gods but if you want the entirety of the Dragon race to fight with you I cannot make such a decision."


    "Then who can make that decision?"


    "The only one that can make such a decision for the entire prideful Dragon race is our mother, the mother of all dragons."


    "Can we meet her?"


    "You wish to meet mother?"


    "Is it not possible?"


    "Hmm... It is possible for you two to meet Mother but you need to remove those devices that you''re using for yourpanions use to listen and record this conversation. Also, only you two cane to meet with her, any more and it will be rather difficult."


    "That''s fine, so when can we meet?"


    "Just wait a moment." Tenma stood in ce with his eyes closed. After several minutes Tenma continued to keep his eyes closed.


    "What do you think he''s doing?" Frieda who had already sat on the ground asked Erste.


    "He should bemunicating with someone maybe with the so-called mother of dragons. I wonder what kind of being this mother of all dragons is."


    "The mother of all dragons based on that title alone she should be the origin of all dragons, the first dragon so to say."


    "Since she''s the origin of all dragons and most likely the oldest dragon I wonder how strong she is, or how big she is. Tenma here is already the size of severals stuck together, so she should berger than that. What do you think?"


    "Who knows, she might be asrge as a gxy or evenrger than that. As for how powerful she would I''m guessing stronger than everything we had seen before. We know almost nothing about the Dragon n except that they seem to hate Gods and that they are absurdly powerful."


    While Frieda and Erste were talking, Tenmamunicated with his mother, and after exining what the humans wanted to do his mother agreed to meet them.


    "My mother is willing to speak with you two right now."


    "Good then, let''s go."


    "Before we head there I need to warn you, that there is a possibility that you may be killed."


    "Huh, why? Is your mother going to kill us?" Frieda asked as he looked at Tenma warily.


    "It''s not that my mother will actively kill you but her sheer presence alone may kill you even some of her children have difficulty standing before her presence. Even though we will talk to her at a distance of millions of lightyears you might still be affected."


    "Wait, what? We''ll be talking with the distance of millions of lightyears?"


    "Oh don''t worry my mother will be able to hear you talk even in that distance. Also, before we head there, I need to cast some protective spells on you two. Rechan acht astahi protection de l''gra kagh intimidation. rechan acht astahi sosalir ekess gahri jalr."


    After he was done talking both Erste and Frieda glowed a little and that was it, they didn''t feel anything different.


    "Alright then, are you two ready?"


    "As ready as I can be," Frieda replied while sighing.


    "I was ready ages ago," Erste responded in his usual style. Seeing that the two humans were ready Tenma opened a portal. The three entered the portal and what Frieda and Erste saw on the other side of that portal was something they would never forget.


    On the other side of the portal they were standing, no they were floating in the middle of outer space. At the distance surrounded by gxies was a serpent-like creature, its body looked like it was made of stars and gxies. The eyes of the creature were burning blue, along its long snake-like body had several ws. Its tail was wrapped around hundreds of gxies.


    The creature that should be the mother of all dragons was not doing anything but just as Tenma said simply being in her presence had already made Frieada''s legs tremble, if it weren''t for the protective spells ced on her she might have already fainted.


    Erste on the other hand, was feeling excited as he wanted to go and battle the incredible creature before him. Still, he knew what he needed to be done so he just sighed and tried to calm himself down.


    The blue burning stars for the eyes of the mother of all dragons looked directly at the two humans. Even though they were light years apart both Erste and Frieda could feel the heat of that gaze both literally and figuratively.

 Chapter 703: Conversation

    {Children of man, I am the mother of all dragons Mitera the evesting. My child has told me that you wish to speak to me.} The voice that spoke in Erste and Frieda''s minds was so majestic and powerful that it almost made the two want to genuflect.


    "Oh great mother of Dragons I on behalf of humanity seek your aid in fighting against our oppressors the Gods."


    {Child of man, do you understand what you are asking of us? Why should I agree to such a thing? There is nothing we can gain by battling the Gods.}


    Frieda already expected that answer from Mitera, so she wasn''t that rattled and already had a reply in mind.


    "I see, I apologize if I have offended you with such a biased offer. Asking you to fight with us without offering anything in exchange was bad. I hope that the mother of all dragons can forgive me."


    {Child there''s no need for apologies. I understand why you have acted in such a way.}


    "Thank you, I understand that you won''t help us if we don''t give something in return. I will once again apologize for my ignorance so please tell me what we can offer so that you may help us in our battle against the Gods."


    {I already told you child there''s no need for continuous apologies. If you keep on apologizing then the act itself bes meaningless.}


    "I see..."


    {Now to answer your question, I don''t think there is anything humanity can give that can convince me to join your war against the Gods. We might be a prideful and powerful race but that doesn''t mean we are fools. Even though an adult dragon can easily kill several Old Gods, to fight against the Ancient Ones only the most powerful of my children can fight against them.


    As for the strongest of the Ancient Ones only I am capable of fighting him. A war against the Gods even if won will only lead to many deaths of my children, not to mention that I''m not in peak form.}


    Frieda gritted her teeth, she knew that this negotiation was going to be very difficult as she knew almost nothing about the Dragon race. Since the beginning, she knew that this negotiation was doomed to fail but still, this was something she needed to at least try. It was at this moment she remembered what Scu said before they lostmunication.


    ...


    "Leader after you try your best and you cannot convince the other party to join our cause, then how about you let Erste handle the negotiations?"


    "Huh, you want this guy who uses force most of the time to handle negotiations?"


    "I''m with Frieda on this one I don''t think you want me to do any talking."


    "Don''t worry Erste trust me you''ll do fine."


    "... Alright, so what do you want me to say?"


    "Oh, you misunderstood Erste, I don''t have any lines to give you."


    "Then what do I say?"


    "Say whatever you want, do whatever you want."


    "Wait a minute! Are you sure about this Scu?"


    "Trust me, leader, this is a good bet. Also if the dragons don''t help us we will lose eventually, so even if we piss them off it just changes who''s going to kill us from Gods to the Dragons."


    Hearing that response Frieda could only sigh as she mostly agreed with what Scu said. She just hoped that it wouldn''t get to that point.


    ...


    ''I guess it''s do or die now.'' After remembering that conversation with Scu, Frieda had a firmer resolve as he looked at Erste and gave him a signal. Seeing the signal Erste was at first surprised then he showed that vicious smile on his face.


    "So that''s it what a disappointment. Prideful Dragons? That has to be a joke right, all I can see are cowardly snakes."


    The very second Erste finished his words a suffocating killing intent had locked itself on him. A pressure like no other wanted to make Erste kiss the ground, this was the same move he used on the generals but was way more powerful. Still, despite such powerful pressure and killing intent aimed at him Erste did not kneel and the vicious smile on his face never faded.


    "Heh, it might be a good thing for us that you''re not willing to help. If I trust my back to such cowardly snakes I might not know what killed me. The Dragons in my imagination are better than you guys. Humans have imagined you guys to be this powerful, prideful race that would never spout such weak sentiments.


    You''re avoiding war against the Gods because they''re just an annoyance to you right now, but tell me what do you think those Gods will do once they get bored of hunting down humans?"


    {Child do not be presumptuous. You seem to think that I do not understand what those Gods are thinking. I have lived for eons, I have existed since the birth of the prime universe. Aside from the ORIGIN, I am the oldest living being in existence. Do you think that I have not already foreseen the ending that even a child like you can see?}


    "Hoh, well that''s interesting so you have seen the ending but you still choose to do nothing?"


    {Sometimes child, doing nothing is the best option.} Even though there was still this majestic feeling in her voice there was also a hint of sadness that affected even Erste''s soul.


    "So you gave up?"


    {I did not give up child, I simply epted what was toe.}


    "That''s the very definition of giving up! Isn''t it better to fight than to just wait for the end toe?! Mother of All Dragons I won''t promise you victory or anything extravagant like that, but I can promise you a worthy death if you join us in battle."


    Mitera did not respond but her zing eyes were always on Erste. Even though she was staying here in the area close to the sea of chaos, she had observed humans, Dragons, and Gods but the human before was different from all she had seen. Despite the rude exterior and the obvious warlike presence, there was something in him that inspired others into battle.


    Even her child Tenma seems to be affected by what Erste is saying.


    {Very well, Child, if you''re able toplete one task for me I and the entire Dragon Race will fight alongside you, be it to victory or eternal demise.}


    When Frieda heard Mitera''s reply she looked at Erste dumbfounded. She could not understand how Erste was able to convince the Mother of All Dragons, despite insulting and antagonizing the other party. How did that foul-mouthed guy convince such an ancient being?


    "Heh, that''s what I''m talking about. So what task do you want me to aplish?"


    {Ages ago before you humans were even created when I was still at my peak I was ambushed by several Ancient Ones. The battle we hadsted for millennia but in the end I had killed half of them while they managed to steal one of my hearts. After that battle due to my missing heart, I could no longer use all my power. So the task I wish for you to aplish is to retrieve my stolen heart.}

 Chapter 704: Two more dragons

    "Retrieve one of your stolen hearts. So you''re asking me to hunt down a powerful Ancient one who I don''t know where he is, steal back the heart of the mother of all dragons, and escape while most likely being chased by numerous Gods and most possibly other Ancient Ones. Sounds easy enough consider it done."


    {Child I understand your reluctance.}


    ''Huh, did I sound reluctant?'' Erste thought confused as he had meant every word he said before. Still, for now, he remained silent to see what Mitera had to say.


    {I do not n to make you do this task alone. Three of my most powerful children will apany you to fulfill this task. They''ll help you locate and fight the Ancient One. Of course, they will retreat if they find that their life is at risk. Is that alright with you?}


    ''I would have wanted to just know where the Ancient One is located.'' Even though those were his real thoughts Erste decided to simply nod his head.


    {Are you reluctant to bring my own children? Do not worry I won''t force them to go if they do not wish to and like I said they will leave once their lives are at risk. So in the end, thepletion of the task will still fall into your hands.}


    "I already said that I would do the task, it doesn''t matter if your children are there or not." Erste was finally getting slightly annoyed.


    {You''re an interesting child, tell me your name.} The mother of all Dragons with her majestic voice and presence actually sounded amused as she spoke.


    "I don''t know why you''re asking this now, but my name is Erste."


    {Courageous human warrior Erste, I the Dragon of the beginning, the walker in the sea of chaos, the mother of all dragons acknowledge your bravery. Now without further ado, these are the children whom I wish to apany you on your journey.}


    Two portals that were the same size as Tenma''s dragon form appeared beside the mother of all Dragons Mitera. What came out of the portals were two massive dragons that were of equal size to Tenma''s dragon form.


    One of the Dragon was golden shining brightly and the other was crimson red as if its entire body was dyed in blood. The two dragons upon arriving bowed their heads in front of the mother of all dragons.


    {My children you shall apany this human to their of the Ancient One who took my heart.}


    {Mother are you finally willing to do battle with the Gods?!} The crimson-red dragon roared excitedly as his fighting spirit rose. {Mother if you wish to take back your heart why do we need a human for that?}


    {My child you seem to misunderstood this is a task I gave to Erste. This is his mission and all you need to do is help him on this journey. Of course, if you feel that you''re life is threatened you may retreat.}


    When the two dragons heard their mother''s reply they were stunned into silence. Their mother, the origin of all dragons, had called a human child with his own name. If that wasn''t surprising enough their mother actually tasked this human being to go and get back her heart from an Ancient one.


    {Mother, why?}


    The Mother of all Dragons started exining the situation to his two children and the more they heard the more surprised they became.


    {Erste these are the three who will apany you. Since you already know who Tenma is I''ll skip his introduction, now for these two. The Golden Dragon,} Before the mother of all Dragons could finish the introduction the Golden Dragon spoke first.


    {Mother please allow us to introduce ourselves.}


    {Very well.}


    The two gigantic dragons nodded at each other and transformed into human forms as they approached Erste and Frieda. The two were as handsome as Tenma in his human form and they were rather tall as well.


    One of the two transformed dragons had long golden hair tied into a ponytail, and his eyes were scarlet red, despite his young handsome appearance he had an aura that made him feel like a dignified old person.


    The other Dragon had short spiky red hair, his eyes were a mix of golden and blue, and unlike the golden-haired one, the red-haired one had an aura of wildness as if he was ready to attack anyone who dared mess with him.


    "Since our mother has called you by name that means you are an honorable human, so I shall respect you as such. Erste, my name is Skatt, the one who shines golden in the sea of stars. The one who upholds justice above all, that is who I am."


    "Hmph, more like the one who nags a lot." Hearing the Red-haired one speak, Skatt red at the other party but said nothing. "It''s my turn to introduce myself, the name''s Blod, the one who bathes in crimson. The one who adores battle, that''s me." Blod pointed at himself with a confident smile on his face.


    "The one who adores battle is it, I think you and I will get along splendidly."


    "Hoh, Is that so." The two of them were smiling at each other.


    "Hey, wait a minute howe you two have such cooler introductions now? What the f*ck is the one who shines golden in the sea of stars, and the one who bathes crimson?"


    "Oh those were added a few thousand years ago, the Gods seem to call us by those nicknames since they don''t know our real names," Skatt answered.


    "Wait does that mean I too have a cool nickname, I just didn''t hear about it?" Hearing Tenma''s question both Skatt and Blod looked at each other and hesitated to answer. "Hey, you two why aren''t you answering?"


    The two Dragons once again looked at each othermunicating through telepathy and finally, it was Blod who spoke.


    "Fine, I''ll tell him. The nickname the Gods gave you is ck Dragon."


    "ck Dragon what?"


    "That''s it, the nickname they gave you is simply ck Dragon."


    It took several seconds for Tenma to understand what was just said and when he realized what it meant he felt downhearted.

 Chapter 705: Learning more about the Ancient Ones

    After the two new Dragons and Erste''s group had properly introduced each other they left the domain of the Mother of all Dragons and headed to the appointed dimension where the other generals were waiting for Erste and Frieda.


    Upon arriving at the designated location the three dragons noticed the humans or theck of them. There were only several human beings in this entire ne, upon seeing this the three dragons obviously understood what was happening.


    "Heh, you humans talk about cooperation but you clearly don''t trust us." Blod sneered as his aura was bing more violent.


    "Heh, you''re one to talk, it was you guys who didn''t trust us first. Even now you''re giving us some kind of test because you don''t trust us." Kamael responded his aura also bing a little violent.


    "Calm down you two, now is not the time for that. I give you my word once we have finished this mission and have established our alliance then I will personally show you three throughout our HQ." Frieda stepped in between the two before they started fighting since their fighting would only lead to bad results.


    "She''s right, no need to be so hostile Blod, they have the right to be on guard, since among the intelligent races they are the weakest." Despite not meaning any harm in what he said, Skatt just made the humans frown in displeasure.


    "First, we need to introduce ourselves to these new human friends." Skatt showed a bright shiny smile at the humans present, who were still frowning after his earlierment. "Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Skatt, the one who shines golden in the sea of stars, the one who upholds justice above all."


    With Skatt taking the lead after some hesitation the others started introducing themselves to one another once that was done, Erste and Frieda exined what happened in the dimension of the mother of all Dragons. The other generals were quite surprised by the test that was given to them since it sounded impossible, it was a good thing the Mother of all Dragons sent three of her strongest children.


    After the initial shock, the group started talking about the target.


    "So who''s the Ancient One that took your mother''s heart no in fact what are the Ancient Ones?" Scu asked the question every human present had.


    "... The Ancient Ones are the first sentient beings created by the ORIGIN." As Skatt was trying to exin things about the Ancient Ones, Scu once again raised his hand, so Skatt stopped first and gestured at Scu to speak.


    "Who is the ORIGIN?"


    "... Wait, how much do you guys know about the Gods?" Skatt could not help but ask, even though he already knew the answer.


    "Let''s just say we know practically nothing." The very second Scu said those words some of the generals wanted to retort but Shu raised his hand stopping the others from talking. "Yeah, we know next to nothing about the ORIGIN and the Gods."


    "Fine, I will exin from the beginning. The ORIGIN as the name implies is the origin of all, he created the endless universes and dimensions within. I won''t go too deep into who the ORIGIN is, all you need to know is that he is basically the creator of all, directly or indirectly."


    "What do you mean by that?" Hearing Kamael''s question Skatt sighed as he answered.


    "Not all things were directly created by the ORIGIN, there are beings like my mother and the Old Gods who were created indirectly. My mother was created by the first universe the ORIGIN created, the Old Gods were created by the Ancient Ones, making the two things indirect creations of the ORIGIN.


    So anyway, that''s all you need to know about the ORIGIN right now, so let''s get back to the main topic the Ancient Ones."


    Everyone present came closer to Skatt not wanting to miss a single detail that was about to be said.


    "The first sentient beings ever to be created directly are the Ancient Ones or the so-called Ancient Gods. Of course, the first sentient being of the original universe was our mother, but that''s another thing.


    The Ancient Ones were created to be perfect creations that would help the ORIGIN with his loneliness and boredom, but unfortunately despite their power being the very concepts that help govern and stabilize the universes, they were not able to achieve the purpose of their creation."


    "So they''re failed creations?" Sayaka could not help but ask.


    "Yes in a sense they are failed creations, since their primary objective was to relieve the ORIGIN of his loneliness and boredom, but they were unable to relieve either of those two things. Still, they had other uses like the stabilization of the endless universe."


    "So if we kill an Ancient One will there be some kind of great repercussions?"


    "Well, the Ancient Ones each embody an aspect of the universe like death, life, time, and so on, if one of them dies their core bes the raw power of what they embodied in life so even after losing their sense of self so to say what they represent will not fade away, instead other beings that are strong enough could potentially take those things away from them.


    The same thing happened when my mother Killed several Ancient Ones before, upon death my mother took over their authorities, of course not all of them since even our mother is not strong enough to contain too much of those authorities especially after she lost one of her hearts."


    The more the group of humans learned the more desperate some of them felt. The enemy that they already imagined to be powerful was even more absurdly powerful than they could ever imagine.


    "Later on, upon the creation of humanity, the Ancient Ones who used to have a form of neutrality started having negative and positive thoughts and emotions, which they wanted to expel that was what gave birth to the Old Gods. Those Old Gods that were created had two factions the Evil Old Gods and the supposed Righteous Old Gods."


    "Wait, wait, wait! There are actual Good Old Gods, are those the kind that won''t kill humans?"


    "Well in a way they are in a sense Good Old Gods if you consider that don''t kill humans, in fact, they don''t do anything at all, not wanting to hurt anything or anybody, they remain motionless in corners of hidden dimensions that are very hard to find.


    If you''re thinking about asking those Gods to help you fight then forget about it, they would not dare do anything at all, they might talk to you but they will never agree to help you do anything violent like battle."


    Hearing what Skatt said about the Good Old Gods, Scu had a sly look on his face as his thoughts started spinning faster and faster.


    "Still, despite expelling those unwanted emotions by creating the Old Gods, those emotions kept oning back and the negativity was getting stronger. Due to those negative emotions, some of the Ancient Ones had the bright idea of attacking our mother. It''s still unclear why they stole our mother''s heart but it must be for something heinous."


    "Alright then, which Ancient One has the mother of all Dragon''s heart?"


    "The strongest of the Ancient Ones that attacked our mother was the Ancient One who governs Death."

 Chapter 706: Death

    "The Ancient One who stole your mother''s heart is the Death?!" Sayaka could not help but shout out loud.


    "That is correct."


    "So is he the Death God depicted by various people in our world as a skeleton with a scythe?" Jonathan asked while making a swinging motion like he was holding a scythe.


    "That''s only half correct, the Ancient One who governs over Death does have a scythe but it''s not a skeleton, it''s just darkness with no true shape or form."


    "So what are the abilities of this Death?"


    "The Ancient One who governs over Death has of course the main ability to control one''s soul."


    "What does that mean?" It was Scu who questioned Skatt.


    "What did you not understand? I already said it so clearly, he can manipte your soul."


    "No that''s what I want to know, what is a soul. Is it something simr to a ghost?"


    "You humans really know nothing but even then you have defeated Gods beyond your abilities how astonishing... Very well, I will exin it to the best of my abilities. Let''s see, Dragons, Gods, and humans have a body that is in the physical ne of existence, and they also have a soul that is in the astral ne.


    Now unlike the body in the physical ne that could get hurt, get broken, and even die, the soul in the astral ne is timeless, and is extremely hard to damage the soul."


    "NOOO!!! What will happen to my beautiful muscles if I be a soul?! I don''t want to imagine such a thing!" Jonathan screamed as he looked at his muscles.


    "So even if my physical body dies I can still exist as a soul?" Scu ignored the screaming Jonathan and asked his question.


    "Yes as long as your soul is there, you can revive but every time you do so it seems that the soul in the astral ne weakens."


    "Wait revive? You sound like we have been revived numerous times already."


    "Hmm, based on what I heard from Mother you humans and the worlds you''ve been living in have been through something called a reset numerous times. I already know what you''re going to ask you want to ask about the reset, but that''s going to take a long time to exin so I''ll just exin it to you guys after we take back my mother''s heart."


    "Come on now, who knows if we''ll die in the uing mission I at least want to know the truth." The other generals nodded in agreement to what was said.


    "Well then, let''s just use this as motivation for you guys to try your best and survive." Skatt smiled in such a way that made the others think he would not budge. "So let''s get back to the main topic how do you guys n to steal back my mother''s heart from the thief Death."


    "Can you tell me as Death can he just kill us if he wanted to?"


    "If Death could do that then my mother would''ve lost in that ambush. So the answer to your question is no, even though the Ancient One governs over Death he cannot use his authority to kill others since that will break the bnce. Even those Ancient Ones with great power are also restricted by invisible rules because of that same power.


    So at most, the attacks he uses are different from his authority of death, even without those he is a very formidable opponent. There''s also the fact that once you die and your soul is captured by that Ancient One then you''ll experience something far worse than death."


    "Then can we even hurt him?"


    "Like I said before the Ancient Ones might govern the very concepts of the universes but they are not unkible. Mana-based attacks can do harm to the Ancient Ones, but those are only like scratches to them so if you really want to damage them you need to at least have the power thates from the sea of chaos."


    "So how can we ess the power from the sea of chaos?"


    "Mother has already given permission for the duration of this mission so you could borrow power from the sea of chaos." Skatt then started speaking in Dragon''s tongue and all the humans present started to glow as an unknown power flowed through them.


    "Alright once you''re done familiarizing yourself with this new power let''s go and meet the Ancient One who governs over Death."


    ...


    In a universe with mostly souls roaming around, there was only one living being and this was the Ancient One who governs over Death and this universe was his kingdom of death.


    The Ancient One who governs over Death had no permanent shape or form, he was simply a shadowy figure that changes form every five seconds, but the forms he changes into were still humanoid. Sometimes the Ancient One would look like a young man and then suddenly an old man, but it was always in a shadowy form.


    The Ancient One who governs over Death was looking at the beating Dragon''s heart that was several timesrger than a star. The beating Dragon''s heart was the only noise in his kingdom of death but it was a soothing sound.


    It has been eons since the Ancient One who governs over death has been in a state of madness but after gaining the Dragon''s heart he no longer felt much and he could focus on his job as the one who governs over death. Not only did the Dragon''s heart help him break free from the madness but it also gave the Ancient One who governs over Death more power.


    The souls in his kingdom of death were the souls of all the dead who were removed from the astral ne. The souls of humans that arrive in his kingdom of death will wait here until the time the other Gods decide to reset the humans again in which case he will guide the human souls back to the astral ne.


    While Death was admiring the sight of his kingdom he felt something was wrong, it felt like a new batch of souls had arrived but there was something different.

 Chapter 707: Telling what we feel

    The Ancient One who governs over Death was a little curious about that feeling he just had upon the arrival of the new batch of human souls, since it wasn''t just human souls that arrived but even the souls of Dragons hade. It had been a few millennia since the soul of a Dragon came to his kingdom.


    ''Hmm, it is quite interesting I might as well check it outter.''


    ...


    While The Ancient One who governs over Death was rxing, Erste''s group had safely arrived in his kingdom.


    "What I did should be able to fool Death for a while, but he should get curious because there were Dragon souls that have entered his domain. So we need to hurry in our preparations before he gets here," Skatt warned the others.


    "Half of us need to fight against Death, and the other half would steal back the Heart of the Mother of all Dragons." Scu reminded the others about what they were going to do.


    "Yeah, we know, Erste, Frieda, Blod, and Tenma will distract Death, while everyone else will try to locate and steal back the heart of the Mother of All Dragons," Sayaka spoke confirming that she understood the n.


    "You guys just need to distract him long enough for us to find the heart, and once we locate and steal it, I will inform you via telepathy."


    "Alright then, if you guys have anything else to say you better say it now or you might not get the chance to say itter." Tenma who had been quiet finally spoke and what he said felt rather ominous to the humans but not to the Dragons.


    "Even though what my brother said sounds very rude and ominous, what he is saying rings true. Even us Dragons might die in this mission despite our mother telling us to flee if we are in danger."Seeing the expressions on the faces of the humans Skatt quickly defended his brother Tenma.


    "Hmph, deathes to all is that it? Well, since we are facing the actual Death then I guess even Dragons may fall." Kamael who was frowning lightened up a bit as he spoke.


    "Since this may be thest time we get to speak to each other allow me to say a few words." Gratz took a step forward and the others all looked at him.


    "I have fought this battle for several centuries, I have fought filled with thoughts of honor and dedication, I have fought many Gods and I have seen many humans fall. The faces of those young men and women have been on my mind for centuries, I remember all their names and how they died. I have told many that they had died honorable and worthy deaths, but..."


    Gratz paused for a while and looked at each of hispanions he then closed his eyes and sighed before continuing to speak.


    "Even though I always convinced others and even myself that their deaths were honorable and they were worthy, deep down I always felt like those were just lies I kept on telling myself to numb the pain of their loss... I am a survivor, I have outlived all of my friends and loved ones who were in my era, and I have seen the sacrifices the young ones have made.


    I thought this battle would go on until we all die an honorable death for the sake of humanity, but now I have actually seen a chance of us winning and ending this battle against the Gods."


    Gratz''s voice became louder and louder as he continued to speak and he raised his hand and clenched his fist.


    "I don''t know what the future may hold, the only thing I know is I will always do things with elegance and honor. I have luckily survived up to this day, and if today is the day I fall then so be it, at least I learned that there can be a better future for humanity.


    Lastly, I just want to tell you all that it has been a great pleasure working with you all." Gratz ced his hand on his chest and did a gentleman''s bow.The other generals became quiet as they watched the oldest human bow his head.


    "Alright, are there others who wish to say their piece before we start the operation?"


    "I have something to say," Sayaka spoke out loud. "I know that we''re going to seed like we always do, but just in case something does happen to me, I have a single request. To whomever survives please take care of my little brother for me."


    "I promise if I''m the one to survive then I will take care of him." With Gratz being the first to speak up the others followed. After Sayaka was done telling what she wanted to say this time Jonathan spoke out.


    "I... I don''t have much to say, I don''t have as high aspirations as Gratz, and I don''t have any rtives left to worry about. All the family I have are you guys, and if this is truly the final ride then I want to tell you all how grateful I am that I have met you all, and as Gratz said, what an honor it has been fighting alongside you guys."


    Once Jonathan was done speaking the other humans present had a dumbfounded look on their faces. They couldn''t believe that the man who kept on talking about muscles was the one speaking now.


    "Well, that was surprising, still, since everyone is telling me what they want I guess I should do the same." Kamael shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. "As you may all know I have great respect for Sir Gratz''s way of life, and I have tried my best to conduct myself with elegance and do things with honor and without fear. Still, truth be told I''m actually always f*cking afraid.


    I always hide my fear through my hard mouth and touch act, but since this might be the end, I''m just going to throw out the elegance for now and speak the truth... I... I just wanted everyone to know that even now I''m very near to sh*tting my pants, and every now and then I keep on screaming in my mind that I want to run away, but... Even if...


    Even if I''m afraid I cannot even dream of leaving you guys."


    ...


    After Kamael''s confession, Frieda, Scu, and even Erste said a few words, but unlike the ones before them, they only said that they were lucky to have met each other.

 Chapter 708: Meeting Death

    While Death was rxing he suddenly felt several soulsing towards him, and they were not normal souls but the souls of two dragons and two powerful human souls.


    ''I see so that weird feeling I had before... Still, I understand why the Dragons are here but why did they bring humans?''


    Death opened a small pocket dimension and hid the heart of the mother of all Dragons in it so that he could properly greet his guests.


    ...


    ''Death is moving I''ll signal you guys once we have him distracted.'' Tenma spoke to Skatt through Telepathy.


    "Everyone get ready he''s about to appear before us." Blod who was in human form shouted at the others.


    Frieda took out some gauntlets that had been enhanced by rune magic as well as the power of Dragons. On the other hand, Erste kept his equipment the same as before and took out the sword he used to y numerous Gods.


    "Troth udoka de whedabra," Tenma spoke using thenguage of Dragons creating a sphere of light surrounding the bodies of him and hispanions. The very second he was done the entire ce became dark, the only thing the four of them could see was each other''s light.


    It wasn''t just darkness, right now they felt a frigid sensation throughout their bodies. While the three tensed up, Erste was getting excited. This unknown feeling that was mixed with dread and excitement was more intense than the time he faced the Old God who represented fear.


    "Hello visitors, wee to my kingdom. I wonder what are living people like you doing here?"


    The voice that spoke felt wrong to hear, the two humans could understand every word said but there was still something wrong, the voice was neither male nor female, it sounded something else entirely.


    "You should know why we''re here you thief!" Blod who was in human form roared.


    "Well has it been a millennia already? No, it has only been a century or two since thest time any Dragon came to try and take what is mine."


    When the two Dragons heard what Death said even in their human forms they roared menacingly and angrily at Death.


    "Oh, another surprise usually after I say those words you Dragons would pounce at me like wild beasts. Even more surprising than that is that you prideful creature whose strength is only second to us Ancients would actually cooperate with humans."


    "Are you like those other b*stard Gods that think we''re prey to be hunted?" Frieda was holding back her anger as she spoke.


    "You misunderstood me human, if it was before I would not look down on you but instead felt a little jealous of you humans, but now after expelling those things and strengthening myself with the heart of the Mother of all Dragons, I have no opinions about you humans at all. Still, it is a fact that among the three intelligent races you humans are considerably weaker.


    So to see the prideful Dragons asking help from those weaker than them is truly surprising."


    The very second Death was done speaking someoneughed everyone looked at the person who suddenly left and it was none other than Erste.


    "HAHAHAHA!!! That''s hrious you call us a weak race? I have killed hundreds of the so-called Gods and I don''t think that they''re anything special."


    "The Gods that you have killed were nothing much, by your standards they should only be children that haven''t even be adults so in some sense what you have killed are all children."


    "... Is that so?... Then after I kill you, that should prove that humans aren''t so weak." The battle intent of Erste was rising as he was trying so hard to not attack at this moment.


    Even the darkness had no eyes Erste could feel that Death was staring right at him, he was staring so intensely.


    "Hmm... I see... You do have the qualifications to speak like that, but even if you do somehow kill me it doesn''t prove anything. Humans will still be a weak race and you''ll just be one of the few anomalies of the race called human."


    "Enough words, are you going to give back our Mother''s heart or not?!" Blod interrupted the conversation between the two as he once again roared.


    "Why should I give back what is already mine?"


    "Alright then since he doesn''t want to give it back peacefully, then we need to take it back by force!" Erste no longer held back as his aura burst out with a mix of mana and the power from the sea of chaos. "Allow me to show you a new technique I created to deal with you Gods! This was one I hadn''t named yet so let''s call it [nameless]!"


    Erste shuttled upward and when he was above his threepanions a huge amount of mana and the power from the sea of chaos merged with each other which Erste poured into his weapon. Normally with the properties of the sword that cuts at mana, the mana Erste pours would weaken but with the power of the sea of chaos, there was no such side effect.


    Once Erste had gathered enough power he swung his sword in a way that made it look like he was dancing with it.


    Frieda and even the Dragons were captivated by Erste''s dance and once he was done the darkness surrounding them had visible sh marks and then it burst out. The darkness had dissipated for a few seconds but then returned like nothing happened.


    "Heh, so even shing at every corner can''t destroy you."


    "That was impressive human, still, if you want to kill me you need to at least have the power to destroy this entire kingdom of mine. For as long as my kingdom stands I am eternal."


    Erste gripped his sword even tighter as a vicious smile appeared on his face. It was then the power from the void once again entered Erste who summoned the de formed from his very soul.


    "Then I''ll destroy you and your entire kingdom of Death!"

 Chapter 709: Assault on Death

    The once-silent kingdom of death had be noisy the sound of battle could be felt throughout the entire kingdom. Blod and Tenma had turned into their true Dragon forms as they battled against Death, the destruction the two Dragons brought was huge. Just the breath of the two had destroyed arge portion of Death''s kingdom.


    In the midst of a battle between giants bigger thans were two human-sized ants who also attacked the darkness. This was, of course, Frieda and Erste who despite their sizes were able also to cause significant damage.


    "You four truly are powerful even in my own kingdom were my power is at its highest you four are still able to fight." Even though Death had been continuously attacked and destroyed he just kept oning back.


    [We have distracted him, you guys go and get back the heart!] Tenmamunicated with Skatt through telepathy.


    [Alright brother, try not to die.]


    [You too.]


    ...


    "Even if you destroy a portion of my kingdom it will quickly regrow and even expand. My Kingdom houses the souls of living beings throughout the infinite multiverse, so it will grow as endlessly as the infinite multiverse. Since I can exist as long as my kingdom exists, and since my kingdom is endless, then that means I am endless. So there is no point in fighting me since you cannot win."


    "You keep on saying the same thing over and over again, why do I think you''re hiding something? I think that there are other ways to destroy you and you''re just misleading us." Frieda who was speeding through the darkness spoke.


    "I really did underestimate you humans a bit too much. Well, it is true that there are other ways to kill me other than destroying my kingdom but I doubt you''ll be able to do it. Not even the powerful Dragon n would be able to kill me, even if the mother of all Dragonses to my domain it''s not sure who will win and who will lose."


    "Are you also underestimating us Dragons a bit too much!" Blod in his true dragon form roared as he unleashed another powerful attack.


    "Why are you so mad? I have faced hundreds of Dragons for eons and I know your strengths and weaknesses so well. Why do you think that your mother has never tried to get her heart from me, it''s because she can''t."


    "NO!!! It''s because of you disgraceful Gods that ambushed her. If it was just you then my mother would''ve destroyed you long ago! Since my mother can''te here herself, then I her child will take back what is rightfully hers!"


    Blod attacked more fiercely than before. Unlike his other brother who uses the Dragonnguage for spells to attack, Blod likes using his teeth and ws for attacking. Even when he fights in his humanoid form he attacks like a wild beast.


    The more excited Blod became the more powerful his attacks he no longer dodged Death''s attacks as he continued on his berserker state. The attacks Death did not only damage the body but also the soul, it was a good thing Blod was one of the stronger Dragons, and both his body and soul were above most beings so he was able to withstand multiple attacks by Death.


    Following his brother Tenma also started getting serious as he spoke thenguage of the Dragons cing buffs on his teammates, and healing their injuries, not only that but every chance he saw he would also attack.


    Frieda also ramped up her speed, as she now had multiple spells ced on her increasing her overall abilities she had entered a mysterious realm of speed. This was a speed she could never reach by herself, in this world she felt like she was beyond everything, but then she clearly saw everyone''s fight and was surprised.


    If it was before she reached this level of speed what she saw was just a simple fight, but the real fight was happening at such a speed that she could not perceive before. Frieda could finally see the true fight that was happening which was much more intense than what she was seeing before. It would seem that everyone was moving at such high speeds after learning this Frieda was dejected.


    ''Even though I already knew it from before but... It turns out I really was the weakest...'' Frieda showed a mocking smile on her face but then she shook her head and concentrated even more. ''In the end, it doesn''t really matter, all I need to do is what I can do.''


    On the other hand, the other human Erste also felt the buffs applied to him, but he felt only a little bit stronger. Still, Erste who had been shing everything in sight was finding the entire fight a little boring.


    ''Able to control one''s soul, has attacks that can damage the soul directly, if I were to be hit once it might be over for me. There''s also the fact that this Ancient One has some pseudo-immortality, by all means, this should be an awesome fight but it''s turning out to be disappointing.


    This Ancient One is not fighting properly he''s just letting us attack him without defending, and sometimes he will attack if he sees a chance. It''s pretty obvious he just wants to tire us out before finishing us, what a boring strategy.''


    Erste could only sigh as he wished that the others would quickly find the heart so that he could end this boring fight. While he was getting more and more disappointed, Erste suddenly heard a familiar voice that he hadn''t heard in years. It was the voice of the person he had been looking for, it was a voice that he could never forget.


    [Erste?]


    That was Elena''s voice, the very second Erste came to that conclusion he also came to another one, a fact that he wished wasn''t true. If the voice he was hearing truly was Elena''s and he was now in the kingdom of death then... For the first time in his entire life, Erste''s courage faltered as he didn''t want to turn around to see the truth.

 Chapter 710: Elena

    "Erste I understand why you don''t want to look at me, you fear that once you see me the reality that you''re trying very hard to deny right now wille true."


    That nostalgic voice, it has been years since he heard the real one if it were any other circumstance Erste would have rushed over and hugged the other party but now he doesn''t want to acknowledge what he was hearing.


    "Phew, even though you try to deny it deep in your heart you already know the truth and no matter what you do it cannot change what has alreadye to pass."


    Erste still did not respond and kept quiet as he had his back turned and his eyes were closed shut.


    "I guess you are no longer the Erste I knew since the Erste I knew wasn''t such a coward like this. Are you going to keep on acting like this or are you going to be the Erste I know, you f*cking d*ckhead!"


    "Hehhehahahaha! Yeah, that''s how you would talk right, so this is not one of those nightmares."


    Erste sighed as he turned around and looked at Elena, even though it had been a long time the Elena in his memories was the same as the person in front of him, which made Erste once again doubt his sight for a second.


    "So you''re finally admitting my existence is it."


    "I almost forgot about that sassy mouth of yours, in my nightmares you were more of a noble figure."


    "Are you saying that I''m normally not a noble figure?"


    The two looked at each other for several seconds without saying a word then they suddenly startedughing. While the two wereughing Erste stopped as he stared at Elena.


    "... It''s nice to see you again."


    "You too, it''s been quite some time Erste."


    "I already know the answer but I''ll ask anyway. Elena, are you dead?"


    "Yeah, I died long ago."


    "... Who killed you?"


    Erste''s demeanor had another change, his body was shaking slightly, it seemed that he was trying his hardest to hold back but one could feel the intense anger oozing out of him. The current Erste was so powerful that even a slight change in his mood was affecting the world around him.


    "Well, the truth is my death was kind of embarrassing. I had escaped from the hunting game of the Gods, and while I was escaping I fell into a different dimension. The dimension I entered had nothing in it, I tried my hardest to survive for as long as I could but I failed to leave that dimension and ended up dying."


    When Erste heard those words he found it amazing at the same timeughable. He had always assumed that Elena was fighting the hardest, and was giving the Gods a headache, which was why he thought Elena was the leader of the rebellion but it turns out all of that was nothing more than his imagination.


    "I can already guess what you were thinking after seeing that look. Yeah, I didn''t die in a battle against a God, I did not fall while facing an unknown evil, I did not lose trying to trick some ancient being, it was just an unfortunate death, nothing more nothing less."


    "So then, what''s the point of this little meet-up?"


    "Hmph, I know that if you don''t see the proof of me being dead you would never give up on finding me. Which is why youing here to the kingdom of Death was fortunate for me."


    "... I see... You really know me so well."


    "So now that you know that I''m dead and all that, let''s talk about you fighting Death. Right now, this conversation of ours is happening in your mind which is like a dream and your physical body is asleep while yourpanions are battling Death himself."


    "I already knew this was happening in a dream-like state which is why I thought it was a nightmare at first, so is that all you wanted to say?"


    "It''s always amazing to see how fast you adapt to a situation. I almost thought you would cry when you saw me."


    "Crying never solved anything, isn''t that right crybaby Elena."


    "Heh, it''s been so long since I heard that nickname... I did say that once a long time ago." Elena looked off in the distance as she spoke. "Before I tell you about how to beat Death can-"


    "Wait! You know how to defeat the Ancient One?!"


    "Yes, I''ve been here for years trying to figure out a way to revive myself, unfortunately, it was to no avail, there was no way to revive my body, but instead I found a way to kill the king of this kingdom."


    "If you could have killed him why didn''t you try to do it? I know you of all people should be able to see that it is possible that killing Death might help you resurrect."


    "...Yeah... I, of course, saw that as well, but..." Elena pursed her lips as she hesitated for a little while before sighing. "This is wanted to tell you since a while ago, Erste right now I''m scared, I''m f*cking scared! I know that I said that crying doesn''t help but I can''t stop it from flowing!"


    Elena suddenly shouted as tears flowed down her face. Thest time Erste had seen Elena show such an expression was when they were seven years old and had been in an ident. That was the time Elena spoke the words saying that crying doesn''t do anything. From that day onward Elena became a different person and grew so strong.


    This day had brought Erste endless surprises but seeing Elena cry like that was the most surprising of all.


    "Elena if you want to say something, even if my body outside is torn asunder I will listen to you as much as you want," Erste spoke so resolutely that it made Elena look at him dumbfounded as a smile appeared on her face while tears continue to flow.


    "Erste I''m afraid, I''m f*cking frightened. What if Death disappears will all our souls also disappear? Or even if we defeat Death my state won''t change in fact, it could get worse. I heard from the older souls that we will eventually be reset and will remember nothing, and we might even change depending on the whims of the Gods.


    I don''t want any of that, no matter what it seems like each option is getting worse and worse."


    Erste grabbed hold of Elena''s hands, it was no longer warm, even though she looked alive it was clear that she wasn''t.


    "Elena, I promise you that none of those things will ever happen to you. I promise that a bright future will await you once we defeat Death."


    "How can you be sure?"


    "I can''t exin to you clearly, but I need you to trust me, I will make it so that you''re future is bright. So do you trust me?"


    "Of course! I trust no one more than you."


    "Then Elena, will you tell me how to defeat Death."


    "Yeah, I will," Elena told Erste the secret of defeating Death, all he needed to do was find Death''s core and destroy it. Elena told the location of the core which was hidden in this kingdom. Once she was done as Erste was going to wake up she asked herst question.


    "Erste in the future you''ll make for me, will we see each other again?"


    "Definitely," Erste nodded his head.

 Chapter 711: Clone of Death

    Erste woke up from his dream-like state and noticed that hispanions had surrounded him creating a wall to protect him. Every member now had multiple wounds on their bodies and their mana had weakened greatly.


    "You''re finally awake sleeping beauty." Frieda who was breathing heavily smiled as he looked at Erste.


    "Hmph, I don''t know who you were talking with but it had better be f*cking important." Blod who had the most woundsined.


    "Sorry I just had a chat with an old friend, and she told me how to defeat this Ancient One."


    They were allmunicating using telepathy so that the Ancient One could not listen to their conversation.


    "Alright, so you want to try and change the n from distraction to killing? I don''t know who you talked to but you better be sure that whatever information you got is urate." Tenma warned Erste.


    "Trust me, I will kill Death itself and fulfill my promise. So how long before the others take the heart of the Mother of all Dragons?"


    "The heart is hidden in a pocket dimension hidden within this universe, Skatt is already prying it open but it might take a while. Also, I''m sure that Death might have noticed what they''re doing already."


    "Then we need to create a bigger ruckus to get most of Death''s attention, as for how to kill him I''ll do it myself so don''t worry about that."


    That vicious smile on Erste''s face appeared as the power emanating from his body was released outwards causing the very space he was in to fluctuate.


    "Well, this is interesting, unlike the others it seems that you are a real threat to me." Death appeared with a scythe at hand, and unlike the hazy form before this one looked a little moreplete, also unlike the other forms of Death this one felt more powerful than the others.


    "Come on Deathe and y with me!"


    ...


    Before Erste awoke from his sleep the other team was trying to crack open the pocket dimension where the heart of the mother of all dragons was hidden. Skatt was doing his best to crack it open but it was taking longer than he expected.


    "What do we have here some naughty little thieves have sneaked in. How disappointing, I never expected the proud Dragons to sneak around like mice. I thought you would go in an upfront manner and take what you want with overwhelming might. It seems that over the years your prideful nature has changed greatly."


    Skatt did not bother to answer as he was concentrating on breaking through the pocket dimension, on the other hand, the generals went into a defensive formation. Each of the generals knew what was facing them now was something they could never hope to defeat, but even so, they were ready to fight.


    "How surprising the weak humans are going to defend a Dragon. Today is a day full of surprises."


    The five generals had fought many battles most of them had already seen Old Gods, and in the past years, they were able to kill a few Old Gods as a team with Frieda. So they felt that they had grown incredibly strong and could take on any God, but after seeing the Ancient One who governs over death, they found out how foolish they were.


    Just standing in front of the being called an Ancient One was causing them to see a few hallucinations, their five senses were not working properly. The group then used the power from the sea of chaos borrowed from the mother of all dragons and enveloped it around them.


    The effects of the Ancient One''s presence became bearable but there were still some effects on them, still, it was not enough to cause problems in battle.


    The five then looked at each other without even speaking just by eye contact and a few subtle gestures they understood what they wanted to say to each other.


    "The power from the sea of chaos? You humans have been approved by the mother of all dragons."


    After he spoke Death created four clones of himself and was about to fight each general one on one but then the other clones disappeared only leaving one and the size grew smaller.


    "I apologize it seems that one of your fellow humans needs most of my attention, so for now, I need to focus on him, but I will at least leave one of my clones with you." Once Death was done talking the aura emanating from him weakened greatly but it was still powerful enough to handle the five generals.


    Death''s clone had a scythe at hand, but it didn''t have the same effect as the one held by the original. Now with a scythe at hand Death swung at Skatt, but the attack was intercepted by Jonathan who used a new technique that increased his muscle mass to the maximum making him grow into a giant.


    Even though he was still smaller than the clone of Death he was able to sessfully stop the attack and grabbed hold of the scythe.


    The other generals used this chance to initiate an attack, but as soon as they got close they felt something eroding their very souls, it wasn''t a problem for now, but they knew the longer they stayed close to Death the more their souls would be eroded and they were not sure what will happen if their souls are fully eroded.


    Still, the generals did not stop and continued their assault on Death, but despite using their most powerful attacks while enveloping their weapons with power from the sea of chaos, they were not able to do any significant damage to Death.


    Jonathan could no longer hold onto the scythe and was pushed away by Death, and now there was a huge wound on Jonathan''s chest. If it was any other general they would have died from that wound, but Jonathan''s prided muscles were able to diminish the damage he took.


    Still, all that did was dy his death, Jonathan could already feel that he was nearing his end and he could not stop the blood from flowing out of his body, so he used everyst bit of strength he could gather and charged at Death while roaring.


    Death once again shed at Jonathan, but the other party did not block or evade instead he took the hit and continued charging at Death. Jonathan tackled Death and stuck to Death without letting go as he gathered all the power he had and focused it on his core.


    "It was an honor to have fought with all of you, may our glorious rebellion seed!" With onest shout, Jonathan exploded with a power great enough to destroy an entire gxy but concentrated into one single area.


    The generals quickly used every means they had to defend themselves and Skatt from the explosion. It was a good thing that Jonathan pushed Death farther away if they were closer to them it would have been difficult to fully defend themselves.


    Seeing that one of them just died the remaining generals had no time to mourn as they were not sure if that explosion was able to defeat the clone of Death. Scu who was looking at his surroundings shouted at Sayaka.


    "DODGE!"


    Sayaka who heard Scu''smand was about to dodge but it was toote, the de of the scythe had pierced her abdomen. Death''s clone had survived the explosion and had sessfully sneaked behind Sayaka.

 Chapter 712: For the youth

    The de of the scythe almost fully prated Sayaka''s abdomen but before it went deeper Gratz shed by and saved her. There was so much blood flowing out but as long as she was still breathing, and her soul wasn''t damaged too much such a wound was still something they could heal.


    While Gratz was moving he was helping Sayaka heal, Kamael and Scu stuck to Skatt''s side protecting him. The Clone of Death did not chase after them as his main focus was Skatt also because most of his power was focused on Erste, the clone can only go so far.


    Scu was able to notice that little detail, not only was the Clone of Death unable to go too far from the heart but the further he was from the area where the pocket dimension was hidden the weaker the clone became.


    Scu then told everyone through telepathy what he learned, yet even upon knowing the weakness of the clone they had no hope of winning, but now they can dy better.


    ...


    Kamael was about to charge at the clone hoping to push it farther away from them, but Gratz who had finished healing Sayaka appeared in front of Kamael and stopped him.


    "Sir Gratz, what are you doing?"


    "Kamael, you, Sayaka, and Scu stay here and protect the Dragon. I''ll face off against the clone of Death myself."


    "Wait, wait, wait, you can''t do that, even with all of us together it was hard to keep up!" Kamael''s face distorted as he shouted at his idol Gratz.


    "There''s no need to worry if it''s just distracting and pushing him farther away from here I can do it."


    "Sir Gratz, if anyone should do such a task I should do it." Kamael did not back down as he wanted to be the one to do this task as he knew it was a suicide mission.


    "Please Kamael allow this old man to do this."


    "Why?! Come on guys tell him that he can''t do this." Kamael looked at his twopanions who protecting Skatt side by side.


    "Sorry Kamael, as a strategist Sir Gratz doing this task is our best bet for survival, and as a warrior how can I dishonor the oldest warrior of the rebellion by not honoring his final wishes."


    "Thank you young Scu." Gratz did not turn around as he continued to stare at the unmoving clone of Death while speaking his words of gratitude.


    "I also support Sir Gratz in his decision." Sayaka who was still recovering from her previous injuries also gave her opinion.


    "Thank you as well young Sayaka."


    "Are you guys crazy?! You''re allowing Sir Gratz to march to his death! No, no, no, I cannot allow that! I-"


    "YOUNG KAMAEL!"


    Gratz suddenly shouted making Kaamael shut up as he looked at the back of his idol.


    "I understand that you wish to do this in my stead, but please allow me to protect you young ones. I cannot bear to watch you young ones fall before this old man." The image of Jonathan exploding shes in Gratz''s mind. "Please allow me to die an honorable and elegant death."


    "..." Kamael opened his mouth wanting to say something but no words came out, he pursed his lips, and finally he spoke. "It was an honor to have met you, Sir Gratz." Kamael did a knight''s salute as taught to him by Gratz, Scu, and Sayaka followed suit and also saluted.


    "It has also been my honor to have taught you three and to have fought beside all of you... Be well..." During the entire conversation not once did Gratz look back as he went forward to face the final battle in his life.


    "Oh, are you guys done with your strategizing? Don''t worry I did not eavesdrop on your conversation."


    "Thank you for patiently waiting."


    "So are you the only one going to face me?"


    "Yes, please allow me the honor of battling you in a duel."


    "That''s interesting, very well."


    "Thank you for this honor." Gratz got into a fighting stance and so did the Clone of Death. The two looked at each other and in the blink of an eye, the two disappeared from their initial positions.


    The clone of death appeared behind Gratz and shed at him but Gratz deflected the attack while barely evading it. The clone then continued his assault while Gratz continued to evade, deflect, and defend.


    Gratz was focusing his senses to the extreme, he was pushing his body beyond its limits, and he needed to do his best just to survive the next second. Just defending for a few seconds was already making Gratz''s body scream in pain, but the old man did not bother listening to it as he kept on pushing himself.


    As he fought against memories of the past kept flooding his mind, the deaths of hisrades, his friends, his students, his past lovers, and even his children. Every battle he had someone died and he kept on living. He survived until he no longer had any living rtives.


    In the beginning, he hated his strength and his weakness, he hated that he was strong enough to survive but too weak to protect what was important to him.


    "I''m grateful to you Ancient One who governs over death!" Gratz suddenly shouted as he evaded another sh.


    "Hoh, why is that?"


    "You have given me a chance to make up for my regrets."


    "Is that so," The clone continued his attacks but unlike before Gratz did not block, deflect, or evade instead he grabbed hold of a part of the scythe''s handle as the de plunged into his side. The clone was quite surprised by what happened, and then he heard Gratz''s chuckle while coughing out blood.


    "I''m truly grateful, you have also given me a chance to have the death I so wished. As expected of the one who governs over death, you have given me the chance to die elegantly and honorably."


    Gratz then roared as he pierced the clone with his rapier and then pushed him farther and farther away. The clone tried to pull out his scythe from Gratz''s body while trying to stop himself from being pushed back but he was unable to do both.


    As the clone was getting farther and farther away from the heart he could feel that his body was disappearing, but instead of feeling any sense of dread, the clone chuckled.


    "That was a fun fight, but unfortunately I won''t be able to apany you to the end. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay in my kingdom." With those parting words, the clone disappeared.


    Gratz whose consciousness was fading could not hear what the clone said, but he saw the clone''s body disappearing. As his body was dying, Gratz had a smile on his face.


    ''So this is what death feels like. Heh, it''s been a long journey, but this is the end of this one... I wonder if the next journey would be just as exciting... I guess... I will find out... Now that I think about it are all my past wives in the kingdom of death?...


    Hehehe, well it''s going to be a... chaotic... reunion...''


    Those were thest thoughts Gratz had before his body died.

 Chapter 713: Ractocpictan

    Erste and Death were fighting while Blod, Tenma, and Frieda were watching on the sidelines since Erste said he would fight alone. Of course, Blod didn''t want to listen to Erste''s request at first, but Tenma was able to convince him.


    Erste who had grown more and more powerful as he continued to fight was able to match Death in battle despite the other party''s abilities to control souls being a little troublesome.


    Erste noticed that as long as Death was able to touch a single part of his body he could not use any spiritual power for a period of time, depending on how long he was touched and which part of his body was touched changes the time in which he could not use spiritual power.


    There was also that scythe, Erste hadn''t been cut yet but he had seen the two dragons receive numerous cuts, and based on what he had observed each cut had greatly diminished their mana supply, which meant that thing was cutting down not only their bodies but also their souls. The powerful soul of a Dragon could withstand numerous cuts, but what about a human?


    ''I don''t know what will happen but I better not get hit by that scythe.''


    Erste evaded another attack and countered with a powerful sh that destroyed Death''s body, but within seconds a new one appeared. As long as his core isn''t destroyed he will always be able toe back, but Erste also noticed that every time Death recreates his body he was getting slightly weaker, and the time to recreate his body was getting a little longer.


    As Erste and Death shed again, Death suddenly backed away which confused Erste greatly.


    "I apologize, it seems that I can no longer y with you. I need to deal with your little friends first."


    "Are you sure you want to leave now when I already guessed where you''re core is?"


    The very second Erste mentioned his core Death''s demeanor changed the yful aura disappeared. When he felt the oppressive aura of Death, Erste was getting even more excited. The kingdom of Death that was shining with souls suddenly dimmed and an icy frost spread around them.


    For the first time since Erste came into contact with the Ancient One who Governs Over Death, the other party finally felt like actual Death. Cold and indifferent to all, this was what Erste imagined Death to be.


    "Are you threatening me? Human I have indulged you for so long since you have been entertaining but do not mistake that for weakness."


    "Well, I guess I am threatening you, what of it?"


    ...


    While Erste was talking to Death, he was also simultaneouslymunicating with hispanions via telepathy.


    [Guys the three of you should flee towards Skatt and the others, once you regroup escape from here while you can.]


    [I have already done much more than I''m willing and now you''re asking me to flee?! I cannot ept that no way am I leaving!]


    [... Tenma can you at least bring Frieda to the others and tell them to escape the very second you get the heart?]


    [Very well, I will do just that.]


    [Thank you Tenma.]


    [Hey Erste... Are you nning to die?] Frieda who had been quiet suddenly spoke.


    [The f*ck you saying, what''s with the heavy atmosphere and that question am I nning to die?]


    [Huh?] Frieda was dumbfounded by Erste''s reaction even the two dragons had the same reaction.


    [Of course, I n to win. Which is why I''m warning you now once everyone is out of this so-called kingdom of Death I''m going to go all out. When I do you are certain to die Blod.]


    [Are you insulting me!!!]


    [Even though I do want to continue this conversation of ours, we don''t have time for this. That guy is about to get serious as well, so you guys better go now. I know this might seem like an insult to you, but warrior-to-warrior I promise you I''m saying is the truth.


    Not only will you die if you stay but you''ll also get in my way.] Erst turned his head a little his eyes looking directly at Blod''s eyes.


    [... I believe you... Fine, I will leave I hope to hear of your victory.] Blod roared as he left the area.


    [Are you sure you won''t die?]


    [I already told you, I don''t n to die, I n to win.]


    [... Alright then... Good luck.]


    [Tenma once you leave unlink me from your telepathy since I need to focus on this fight.]


    [Very well, good luck Erste.] Tenma took Frieda and left as well, Erste could also the link he had with the others was gone.


    ...


    "You made yourpanions leave, you truly looking down on me."


    "Quite the opposite in fact, I''m doing all this because I''m taking you very seriously."


    "Hmph, despite your numerous transgressions I acknowledge your courage. So human speak your name and I shall tell you mine."


    "I''m the human Erste."


    "Erste, you shall be remembered. I''m the Ancient One who Governs over Death, my true name cannot be heard by others, but in your human words you can call me Ractocpictan, he who waits at the end. I shall grant you true death."


    "True death is it? Heh, I don''t think you can do it but you can certainly try. I, on the other hand, am going to take something from you, I''m taking your authority over death."


    "So you wish to rece me? If it were any other human what you said would have beenughable and foolish but after meeting you it sounds different. Still, it doesn''t matter since you shall no longer exist after this."


    Ractocpictan''s form changed as his body shrunk into a size simr to Erste''s body. Ractocpictan no longer showed different forms instead half his body became a skeleton figure and the other half was that of a decaying man, then the darkness that surrounded them turned into a robe that he wore over his body.


    The scythe in Ractocpictan''s hand emitted an icy glow just by looking at it one could feel their body growing cold.

 Chapter 714: How?

    Once Ractopictan changed his form it was like fighting an entirely different opponent. The rhythm of Ractopictan''s attacks waspletely different from before and it took some time for Erste to get used to it, which almost got him into trouble.


    This was the first time since defeating the New God that he first fought that Erste felt his life was in danger. Even when he fought the powerful Old God Agares he had not felt such danger. This feeling of being in a life-and-death situation had made Erste both afraid and excited at the same time.


    Despite the opponent being of simr size to himself, Erste found it surprisingly difficult to fight more so than normal. He had been so used to fighting opponents that were the size ofs and most of his new techniques were meant for such opponents, which is why it took him some time to get back into proper fighting form.


    After a while, Erste''s attacks were bing sharper as he started having fewer excess movements.


    ''Now this is getting even more fun.''


    ...


    While Erste and Ractopictan''s battle was getting even more intense a third party was looking at them from beyond their reality. This was of course the being that created almost everything directly or indirectly the ORIGIN, also known to the Ancient Ones as the Almighty.


    The ORIGIN had been observing Erste ever since he broke through the confines of destiny. The ORIGIN who has seen what has been and what will be throughout infinity was having the time of its life watching Erste. As long as youe into contact with Erste their fates change and for a few moments, they would be able to escape the ORIGIN''s sight which pleased the ORIGIN greatly.


    The ORIGIN was like a child watching his favorite story unfold before his very eyes.


    This was the charm of the unknown, as a being that had no equal this was the only source of entertainment he had.


    What the ORIGIN was most curious about now was of course Erste. Even now the ORIGIN could not figure out how Erste was able to break out from the confines of destiny. It was possible to break out of the ORIGIN''s irvoyance if the other party was as strong or stronger than the ORIGIN himself, but Erste was nowhere near that level of power.


    Despite Erste growing quickly Erste''s current raw power was only slightly above some Ancient Ones. Still, the ORIGIN believed that it was just a matter of time before he would surpass all and be at the same level as the mother of all dragons.


    Of course, even if he did reach that level that was nowhere near enough to be as powerful as the ORIGIN. So what other means could Erste have to break out of the confines of destiny was one of the things that filled the ORIGIN''s thoughts. Even though the ORIGIN could easily figure out such a thing if he used his abilities, doing it like a normal human was also quite the experience.


    So now the ORIGIN continued to observe Erste learning more every second he looked. The process of learning was also a little joy the ORIGIN had.


    The ORIGIN knew that the minor authorities and powers Erste gained from the new and old Gods were actually affecting his growth. If he did not have those authorities he would have grown stronger faster and his purity and strength would be in another dimension.


    ''I wonder if he would be able to reach my state one day. Now that would be a sight to behold. Hmm, maybe I could give him a little push.'' The ORIGIN had a sudden thought and acted upon it.


    ...


    Unaware that they were being watched Erste and Ractopictan''s fight had reached a climax. Despite Erste growing rapidly while he was fighting, Ractopictan was far above him in every aspect and, even with the power borrowed from the sea of chaos was not able to close that gap. There were also the abilities that Ractopictan possessed which made it hard to use anything mana rted.


    Also, it was quite troublesome that the other party had needed only to touch him long enough to win. Not to mention that Erste needed to suppress Ractopictan in this position so that his allies could flee with the heart of the mother of all dragons.


    Yet despite his precarious situation the smile on Erste''s face didn''t disappear instead, it looked even fiercer than before. While he was defending himself Erste noticed that the power from the void that he used to defeat his first Old God was flowing into his body, not only was the power of the void flowing now, but even information on the basics of how to control it flooded his mind.


    It was weird obviously somebody was interfering with his fight which slightly irritated Erste, but he was also a little interested in this new knowledge he acquired. The power from the void was several tiers higher than the power he borrowed from the sea of chaos, not only can it destroy it can also create.


    Erste tried it out and created a simr scythe to Ractopictan''s but his scythe didn''t have the same abilities it just looked very simr, but even though it didn''t have any abilities it was imbued with the power from the void.


    When Ractopictan saw how Erste conjured up his scythe he could not believe it, he sensed the power within that scythe and it was a very familiar power. It was the power that had created him and his siblings.


    "How did you obtain power?! No, how are you still alive after gaining that power?!" Ractopictan backed away from Erste and was looking around trying to find something or someone.


    "Do you know of this power? Based on your reaction I''m guessing that this is a very special power."


    "It doesn''t matter how you got that power, I will prove to him, I will prove to Father that I am worthy of his love!" Ractopictan didn''t hear what Erste said and started rambling to himself and then he shouted in the air. Ractopictan once again changed forms and his body became fog-like while the darkness covered him.


    Unlike the previous forms this form didn''t look as dangerous as the previous forms, but Erste sensed that this should be Ractopictan''s true form.

 Chapter 715: Lunch - Honey II

    Honey was something I paid special attention to because unlike the food that was being served around us, it had more uses than just being used to sweeten food and drink, and in this truck''s case, their top-selling waffles.


    It wasmon knowledge that honey came from bees but there''s a little more to it than that.


    Before the world ended, we would always pick up a jar or a few packets to take home for a spread or to be mixed in with tea, and most of the time, they were just regrmercialized honey that had gone through several processes which, unfortunately, made it lose some of its special properties.


    Raw, unfiltered honey that came from certain nts like tea trees, ck locusts trees, dandelion, sage, buckwheat, eucalyptus, and some others had properties that made them more expensive and sought after by the right people looking for something more.


    It could range from being able to help or treat coughs, wounds, burns, and much, much more, and even have anti-inmmatory, antibiotic, antibacterial properties, and etc. However, it would all depend on the type of honey it was.


    With that said, I could partially recognize a few on the disy, due to the color it had and mostly due to thebels put on it, but there were a few I had no fucking idea about.


    One of them was the one ced on arge mason jar while the other was the one that I thought looked like a potion. The one on the huge mason jar looked like regr honey but it was priced a few vouchers higher than the regr asking price while the other was almost deep red when the sun shone on it and it was the most expensive one out of all the ones on disy.


    And the moment I asked about them to the olderdy tending the counter, her eyes just lit up before she wore a bright smile.


    "Oh? You''re interested in more than just our waffles, eh? Come, meet me here at the back so I could tell you all about them."


    "Ah¨C I do still need the waffles¨C"


    "Don''t worry, young man. I''ll have your waffles sent over to your table. Your blonde friend there caused quite a stir, it''ll be impossible if we didn''t notice you. You''re even sitting with Queenie¡­ that''s a first."


    "A first?"


    "Hahaha, that''s a long story, young man. Come,e, I''ve been standing for a while, I need to take a short break."


    "O-Okay, then¡­"


    I followed the olderdy toward another table that was cleared by her people, and when we sat down, we were served freshly made waffles but the honey and the butter were ced in a separate cup.


    They weren''t thered or poured over like the ones they served, and I was just collecting my thoughts when we were also served a cup of freshly brewed coffee by a younger woman wearing an apron and an awkward smile.


    She wasn''t particrly standing out among the girls I''ve met here but she was easy on the eyes and non-threatening.


    "E-Enjoy¡­"


    "Thanks¡­"


    "Edith, why don''t you sit with us?"


    "H-Huh? Umm¨C"


    "You need to learn to talk to people. We''ll start by introducing each other, I''ll go first. Just follow after me, okay? Young man, my name''s Sally¨C you can call me Sal, and this is my niece¡­ Now go," The olderdy said before nudging Edith over.


    "U-Umm¡­ M-My name''s E-E-Edith a-and u-umm it''s nice¨C n-nice to m-meet you¡­ y-you¡­ umm¨C"


    I just let out a faint smile because I used to be like her, "Sky. My name''s Sky. Nice to meet you too, Edith¨C And you too Mrs. Sally."


    Sally turned to me with an amused expression, "Ain''t gonna shake her hand, at least?"


    I faintly smiled once more, "I think Edith''s still ufortable with that, I''m fine with an upwards nod."


    As soon as I said that, Edith never looked surprised while the smile Sally was wearing grew even wider.


    "Hah! I''m starting to like you, boy! Almost every fucking guy here that buys waffles from my truck would always try to brush her hand when she''s serving them. Here I am offering you to shake her hand and you t out disagree with it!" Sally already threw her ''formalness'' out the window


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "It''s not really your choice who she shakes hands with, right?"


    Sally instantly scoffed, "A white knight, eh? You''re absolutely right but some people need a little nudge in the head sometimes. And my niece here? In this environment? Needs a few extra nudges! Hard nudges!"


    Edith just looked down in embarrassment, "S-Sorry Aunt Sally¡­"


    "Stop saying sorry! You should be telling me to shove it! All those other guys too! If anyone ever tries to do something funny to you, kick their balls and break their jaw! You don''t fucking shrink down and wait for help!"


    "S-Sorry¨C"


    "I told you to stop saying sorry!"


    ''I thought we''re here to talk about honey¡­''


    I waved them off before the conversation took longer, "U-Umm, I think it''s better for you two to talk about this in private instead of in front of a stranger, and also¡­ the waffles are getting cold¡­ I''d like to try them warm¡­"


    As soon as I said that Edith just turned to me but didn''t say anything while Sally never looked so annoyed. With that said, she just scratched her head before sighing heavily, eventually letting us have a short snack. Edith joined us too but she''d only take nibbles from her aunt''s te.


    "Haaaa~ Sorry about that¨C"


    I cut her off, "Fuck off."


    "Haaah?!"


    "Fuck off."


    "The fuck¨C"


    "See, Edith? It wasn''t so hard telling your aunt to fuck off, right? Just two simple words."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    She was so fucking shocked I cursed at her in front of everybody and her niece, she was stunlocked for a few seconds before she burst outughing. With that said, I caught Edith letting out a faint smile while her aunt was losing it, and I just continued to enjoy the waffle that was in front of me.


    To be honest, the waffle by itself was already in a league of its own but adding even a drop of honey to it was elevating it by several levels.


    I finished my serving while they were still halfway in eating theirs, and it just brought a smile to their faces, making them serve me another one that was freshly made. However, a different kind of honey was served with it and it had a darker color, theplete opposite of the first one that was lighter than normal.


    Without further ado, I poured a portion on one side of the waffle before I took a piece and put it in my mouth.


    Both of them were watching me eat though Sally was expectantly waiting for my reaction.


    "So, what do you think?"


    "They''re different but they''re still the same, right?"


    Sally gave an approving look, "Uh-huh¡­ How so? Is that just a lucky guess?"


    "Umm~ at a nce¡­ they''re totally different color-wise¨C but the aroma and the mellowness are the same or almost the same. I haven''t had much of this kind but I think they''re honey made from sage?"


    "Oh~ You know your honey, huh? Okay, but can you guess what species of sage is which? ck Button? White Sage? Or Purple Sage? Your orders will be free if you answer correctly."


    "And if I answer wrong?"


    "Not confident, are we?"


    "Eh~ I just wanna know what''s at stake before I give you my answer."


    "Hmm~ How about you take a 2-hour shift working here and you apany my niece here? Teach her a thing or two so she knows better? How about that?"


    "Oh. I would love to work here for a bit but my schedule is a little tight. I''d like to check each ce out before the wedding starts. And I also know the correct answer, I''ve read about it once before."


    "Cheeky brat. Give the answer then!"


    "Heh. ck Button and White Sage produce lighter tones while Purple Sage produces darker tones. The names could confuse people but I''m sure that that''s the correct answer. Also¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Looking at your disy, it''s safe to say you have controlled or isted gardens or greenhouses at your ce since you could farm different kinds. If everything''s at the same ce, you''d only have one type of honey avable. It''s either that or you have your beehives¨C or your honey supers at different locations."


    Sally chuckled, "You''re really impressing me, boy. Fine, you win. But how about a bonus question?"


    "Bonus question?"


    "If you could tell me what kind of nt my red honey came from, I''ll give you one for free and a little extra bonus."


    "Ah¨C I really have no idea what it¨C"


    "Oh, how about if I let you smell it then?"


    "It''ll be difficult to discern it just from the smell but¨C"


    "How about a drop? Don''t put it on the waffle¨C"


    Edith suddenly interjected, "A-Aunt Sally! Isn''t¨C"


    "Shh~ He''ll be able to figure it out¡­"


    "B-But¡­"


    "It''s just a drop, don''t worry."


    "..."


    Most people would assume that Edith spoke up because giving away a potion bottle''s worth of their expensive red honey would be ridiculous, but her concerned expression gave me a subtle hint. I''ve read a lot of random shit in my free time, but the main reason I figured out that the honey they gave me earlier was made from sage was because I tasted them before.


    This time, I''d only go from the information I''ve read about and not actual physical data.

 Chapter 716: Drug Honey? - Counting Cards

    I started to sift through the information in my head while Sally ced the bottle containing red-golden honey in front of me with a small teaspoon, and as we discussed, I could have this bottle for free¨C and an extra bonus if I could guess what nt it came from AND what it was actually called.


    She also gave me an option of tasting a drop of it, but due to Edith''s reaction, it may be a bad idea.


    However, my curiosity and my interest were already piqued and I wouldn''t say no to free stuff¨C especially expensive and rare items I''ve little to no idea about.


    ''Hmm, as far as I know, honey could always be consumed without a limit but Edith hinted that I shouldn''t take more than a drop or a serving from this teaspoon in front of me¡­ So¡­ does that mean that it has hallucinogenic properties? What are they made of? Poppy flowers? Hmm¡­ It could be another trick question though¨C Wait¡­ Hah! Brain st!


    The fuck am I doing with my life, that''s so fucking cringe¨C but is it really that thing though? It''s the only one as far as I could remember¡­ Fuck it.''


    The two were just waiting for what I would do next but the next thing they saw was that I was already pouring a small dab on the teaspoon in front of me.


    I watched the drop glisten through the sunshine and I could already catch a whiff of how sweet it was. However, I was still 90% sure of the correct answer, and to bridge the 10%, I would have to taste it.


    "Here goes nothing¡­"


    The moment the drop of the red-golden honey touched the tip of my tongue, I instantly tasted sweetness with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. It was almost like fruity dark chocte but I''m sure that this was the first time I''ve tasted such a thing.


    I was about to pour another drop on the teaspoon because it easily dissolved on my tongue but then it happened.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    All of a sudden, my tongue started feeling numb while my vision got blurry, and it was almost like I suddenly got drunk while I continued to lose control of my motor functions. However, my body suddenly switched to feeling hot and itchy, and I had the urge to drink the whole thing in one sitting.


    It''s like I grew tired and got a burst of energy at the same time, and it was fucking ridiculous.


    With that said, the feeling onlysted for a minute or two¨C maybe longer, but I just found myself staring at the teaspoon in my hands.


    "Is that teaspoon that fascinating, young man?"


    "Wha¨C"


    "A-Are you okay? Are you still dizzy?"


    "I¨C"


    "Here, drink some water."


    I just took the ss of water that was ced on my hands, and ice-cold water never tasted so good. I had to request another ss because my mouth seemed to be covered with the stuff, and I just noticed the two looking at me. Sally was wearing an amused expression while Edith was wearing an expression of concern.


    Sally chuckled, "It''s always funny the first time someone tastes it. So, do you have an answer or not?"


    I just stared at them for a few moments before I opened my mouth, "That''s Mad Honey.


    Made from a certain species of Rhododendrons or ''Rose Trees'' that had certain toxins present in their nectar or pollen¡­ This thing should be taken in small fucking amounts or it''ll be a bad fucking adventure¡­ And if I remember correctly, it was also used in war and it debilitated the soldiers who ate it, leaving them open to an attack¡­ Also¡­"


    Words after words, sentences after sentences, I continued to cite from different sources from where I''ve read or heard about this type of honey, and reading them from an article or seeing them from a video was apletely different experiencepared to having a very minute serving.


    However, I didn''t notice Sally looking at me nkly while Edith had already dropped her jaw.


    They should be the ones exining to me all about it, but it seemed like I knew more than them¨C or they were just surprised that a random dude that was not in the business knew a lot about their product and just never had the chance to taste it.


    With that said, Sally''s smile couldn''t be wider and the same could be said for Edith.


    "Here, young man, you earned it. Edith, give him a bag of the other stuff too."


    "Y-Yes, right away!"


    Sally gave me an approving look as she officially gave me the small bottle of Mad Honey, and the bonus was a bag that contained all of their types of honey in a medium-sized jar, except for their wildflower and forest honey that had bigger containers.


    I eventually said thanks and they waved me goodbye, and the moment I got back over to Quinn and Tatiana, another serving of waffles was brought over. Tatiana didn''t say much because she was busy stuffing her face with food but Quinn was looking at me, smiling faintly.


    I called her out, "What?"


    "I guess you passed."


    "Passed?"


    "You fucking numbnut, she wouldn''t give you free shit if you didn''t pass. Check that bag thoroughly, she might''ve given you something more."


    Hearing that, I pulled out the jars of honey I won and checked the bag inside out, and on one of the smaller pockets, I found a ''business card'' that had three sets of numbers that¨C after looking at them carefully, seemed to be Sat Phone numbers and coordinates to a certain location.


    However, looking at thebel on the jars saved me a lot of time.


    ''They drove all this way, huh?''


    Sally and Edith were living by the edges of Batangas, nearing Cavite, and they lived fartherpared to Quinn and herpany who were stationed near the City of Lipa.


    I was starting to find out more and more about the people Mr. Cuervo was involved with, and truth be told, if I only met with the ones that were in charge and high up, I would''ve mistaken them for just business people.


    Not everyone from the lower brackets were dumb meatheads but those types were always the ones to stick out. It might ruin someone''s perception of the whole picture but there was amon saying that puts an emphasis on that.


    However, it''s not always the ones in the lower brackets that werecking because sometimes, a few at the top were rotten too. They were just as worse as the ones below but the only difference was that they could get away if they did something wrong.


    With that said, the three of us eventually finished eating lunch, and with Tatiana in tow, Quinn led us into another interesting area that we could partake in.


    However, after ying a few games, we were about to get kicked out after cleaning out several tables because the ce Quinn led us was a casino-style enclosure.


    It had almost all of the custom tables and games avable to sink our vouchers in, and there was even a corner where slot machines were getting powered by a gas-operated generator. There were even obscure games that were a little too dangerous, but the reason we were about to get kicked out was that I was used of cheating.


    I obviously sat on a table where I could use my memory as an edge, but it was reported that I was using some sort of device to count their cards.


    I was now in front of an ''official'' and he was asking me to stop putting down bets.


    "I''m sorry, sir. Even if you''re a proud owner of Mr. Cuervo''s coins, cheating is strictly prohibited. As a result, we''d have to confiscate all of your winnings and you''ll be banned from sitting on tables and cing other bets."


    "Who said I was cheating?"


    "Ah¨C I was told you were using something to count cards and¨C"


    "I am using something."


    "T-Then you understand that¨C"


    "No. You''re the one who doesn''t understand. The ''device'' I''m using is my head."


    "E-Excuse me?"


    "I''m just using my head. Is it illegal to think now?"


    "N-N-No... Wait a second, sir. I''ll contact¨C"


    The ''official'' I was talking to was just about to call for his superiors when someone I could vaguely remember cut him off. He was a guy that was sitting two chairs away from me while I was ying some ckjack earlier, and he had fat stacks of vouchers that he lost in a blink of an eye.


    "He''s fucking cheating! I swear! He¨C"


    Quinn cut him off, "Mason, better stop now or you''re gonna embarrass yourself. My guest here didn''t cheat."


    "BULLSHIT! HE WAS WEARING THAT EARPIECE THE WHOLE TIME! HE''S DEFINITELY CHEATING!"


    A crowd was starting to gather around us but I wished I was just against a bunch of dumb grease monkeys instead of a stupid entitled prick. However, I still had ways to prove my integrity and I kinda wanted to p this prick in the face.


    "How about this? Let''s make a bet if I could really remember the cards or not."


    "Hmph! What are you suggesting?"


    "How many decks of cards are in that holder? Around five to six?"


    "I dunno, you''re the cheater. You tell me."


    I chuckled, "Then open it up and shuffle it. Let me see the order once and we''ll let a neutral party hold it opposite me, facing you. Each time I get a card wrong, you can p me in the face. However¨C"


    "Hah! Deal!"

 Chapter 717: Couldve, Wouldve, Shouldve - A bets a fucking bet.

    I wasn''t even halfway done with my exnation when this Mason guy cut me off, but the crowd around us already made bets of their own. In this ce, as long as betting was involved, you''d attract arge crowd and you''d walk away with bulging pockets if you were ever on the winning side.


    However, the mistake the guy in front of me made will probably cost him his cheeks falling off.


    But to make sure he''s in for something he asked for, I still tried to finish exining the rules of our bet.


    "Let me finish. You get to p me if I''m wrong but¨C"


    "I get it, I get it! I get to p you when you''re fucking wrong¨C and you''re obviously gonna be wrong without that earpiece, and you get to p me when you''re right¨C which will never fucking happen."


    "That''s about right. However¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Why don''t we up the ante a little bit?"


    "Are you stalling? Just spit it out so we could get it over with!"


    "Let''s also bet everything on our person. You know, after we tally the score."


    "On our person?"


    "Yeah. I get to keep everything that''s on you right now. All your newly exchanged vouchers, your clothes, your jewelry, your gear, everything."


    "Hmph! No deal. My shit''s too expensive to¨C"


    "Are you saying that you''ll lose?"


    "N-No! I''m saying¨C"


    "Imagine me scurrying back to look for clothes¨C and my truck is a couple of enclosures away. That''ll be fucking humiliating. If you''re so sure that you''d win why¨C"


    "Fuck it! I want to change a rule though."


    "Do tell."


    "No pping until we tally the score! It''s obvious that you will remember the first 3-5 cards from the deck and just guess the rest, so no pping until¨C"


    "You''re pretty smart. I''d rather do it the other way but I''ll give you that. No taking a break after the pping starts though."


    "Deal."


    "Deal."


    With that said, we shook hands to finalize the bet and he was wearing a cheeky smile as he ordered one of the dealers to fetch us ten fresh decks where he''d get to shuffle half of them while I''d get to use the other half to match him after looking at the shuffled order once.


    At this point, the whole crowd became the judge and the jury for what would happen next, and Quinn volunteered to be the one to make sure no one would try any funny business.


    On the other hand, Tatiana already lost interest because she knew the final oue, but she stayed behind to make sure Mason wouldn''t try to run from the scene. She was the only one here that knew about my Photographic Memory while Quinn was just excited to see it in action, whether it was real or not.


    I even took off the earpiece that I was supposedly using to ''cheat'', and he eventually shuffled the decks in front of us after rolling both of his sleeves up.


    The whole crowd just patiently watched him shuffle the decks and he just ced each of them in front of me after he was done.


    Mason was looking me straight in the eye as I picked up the first one, but I just let out a faint smile as I looked at each card.


    ''Two of Diamonds, Three of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Six of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Seven of Clubs, Nine of Hearts, Two of Spades, Four of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Three of Hearts, King of Clubs, Seven of Hearts¡­''


    It was just too fucking easy.


    Several ''screenshots'' were popping into my head in a chronological manner, and the moment I ced down the deck of cards back on the table, I could already y it in my head as many times as I wanted.


    I just repeated the same process with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th deck, and after that, everyone just watched me rearrange the five decks on my side.


    The quiet was almost deafening as I took my sweet time restacking the cards on top of one another, and I could already see how slightly nervous Mason looked when I was doing it confidently. A bead of sweat was dropping down on the side of his head when I gave him a smirk, yet he was still trying to put up a brave face while making sure I wasn''t doing anything funny.


    ''Look all you want but you''ll find nothing because there''s nothing to find¡­''


    However, like the topic we talked about with Quinn, it was easier to do something nicepared to totally humiliating people you were working with.


    I eventually finished ''stacking'' the decks and I ced them opposite of the decks Mason shuffled.


    Quinn spoke up, "Shall I?"


    "Yeah."


    "Go ahead."


    With that said, Quinn asked Tatiana to flip the cards at the same time as her while the official I was talking to earlier was in charge of counting the cards I ''guessed'' right.


    One by one, Quinn and Tatiana started to flip the cards over in front of everyone present and if anyone would just look at the cards being flipped over, it was like a mirror image. Apuse and gasps weed us with the first few cards but the moment thest card was flipped over, there wasplete and total silence.


    "Fif¡­ F-Fifty-two c-correct answers¡­ P-Perfect score¡­"


    The look on everyone''s faces told me that they thought that it was all over but I quickly cut them off before they started throwing Mason jeering looks.


    "Everyone, stop. There are four more decks to go¨C"


    Quinn cut me off, "Seriously? After that disy? Mason should be¨C"


    "Please, flip the cards over until thest one."


    "..."


    "Please?"


    "Fine¡­"


    Quinn and some of the crowd were already unwilling to let this farce continue but Tatiana already knew I was up to something. She just beckoned Quinn to follow my directions and they flipped the first card on the 2nd deck.


    "What the¨C"


    The look on Mason''s face when the cards from the 2nd deck they flipped were actually different from one another was fucking priceless.


    He couldn''t understand what was happening as he was just directly looking in my direction, and the look of shock and confusion on his face didn''t change when the official dered the score.


    "Ze¡­ Z-Zero correct answers¡­ It''s f-fifty-two to fifty-two¡­"


    Instead of cheers and apuse, mumbles and chattering echoed until the third set was revealed.


    "Fif¡­ Fifty-two correct answers¡­ It''s one hundred four to fifty-two¡­"


    And to the fourth set.


    "I-It''s a t-tie again¡­ One hundred four points on both sides¡­"


    Mason didn''t know what to do while I was just casually smiling back at him, but Quinn was already rolling her eyes exasperatedly. She already knew what I was up to the moment they revealed the 2nd deck, but I did a little something for thest one.


    ''Well, I did something to the ''losing'' decks too¡­''


    Everyone thought I''d be winning for fifty-two points because I was perfectly winning and perfectly losing, but I made it as tight as possible. I alternated winning and losing decks for the first four rounds but I alternated winning and losing cards for thest one.


    "One hundred thirty to one hundred and thirty¡­ It''s a t-tie¡­"


    I could''ve easily won all sets but I didn''t.


    I could''ve easily taken all of his belongings but I didn''t.


    I could''ve easily humiliated him in front of everyone but I didn''t.


    Well, I kinda humiliated him slightly by setting both of us up, but it was a thousand times better than winning all of the rounds, taking all of his shit, and making him scurry back to his hole naked.


    Mason was still looking me in the eye but he picked up the decks I lost to.


    ''He noticed, huh? I guess he wasn''t aplete idiot¡­''


    He gathered them nicely before he lined them up in reverse order. One by one, the crowd started losing their heads because they thought I simply threw those rounds, but in actuality, I just stacked them in reverse order. Furthermore, I did the same thing with thest deck though it was a tad moreplicated than the 2nd and the 4th one.


    With that said, Mason just shook his head before he chuckled, and after that, his chuckle turned toughter.


    He keptughing even if everyone was fucking quiet, but the next thing we knew, he was already undressing in front of everyone while he was throwing his vouchers, his jewelry, and his gear over the pile of cards on the table where we just conducted our bet.


    I saw a couple of knuckle dusters, a huge-ass bowie knife, and an engraved 10mm pistol among other stuff he threw over, but the most eye-catching was the thick, golden Cuban ne he took off from his neck.


    It made a dull thud when it hit the table and the sound in itself told me it was a few kilograms.


    Quinn spoke up, "Mason. You don''t have to¨C"


    Mason snapped at Quinn before turning to me, "Fuck off. p me, you bitch-ass. A bet''s a fucking bet. You think I couldn''t take it?"

 Chapter 718: Wheres everyone?

    I was just about to exin to Mason that the final result was still a tie and I didn''t have to p him in front of everyone, but he was already halfway in flipping through mid-air because Quinn smacked him across the face.


    It was almostical the way his body spun and was upside down for a moment, feet in the air, andid dick not knowing where to correctly flop over.


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?! SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE, YOU DUMB FUCK!"


    "UrgHHh¡­" was all that came out of Mason.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING LISTENING TO ME?! D''YOU WANT ANOTHER¨C"


    Quinn was about to stomp on his balls and send him to Valha, but luckily enough, Tatiana and I managed to hold her back. At the same time, everyone else was already several feet away from her and we were the only ones trying to diffuse the situation.


    With that said, all we could hear from the poor dude below us was a pained and drawn-out groan that was slowly turning into noiseless heaving.


    "Hey! Hey! Hey! You just knocked him down! Ten-second rule! Ten-second rule!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Can''t you even see him right now?! A fucking toddler could beat his ass! Calm your tits, Quinn!"


    "YOU¨C"


    Tatiana quipped, "Good luck finding a pair that could calm hers down. They look so fucking heavy, it''s a miracle they''re standing up like this."


    Having heard Tatiana say that, I was ready to jump in between them because of Quinn''s short fuse but it actually almost made Quinnugh. However, she quickly bottled up that amusement before she angrily pointed at Mason.


    "YOU THINK YOU COULD TALK DOWN TO ME JUST BECAUSE YOUR SISTER OWNS THIS TENT-CASINO?! YOUR SISTER''S THE OWNER, NOT YOU! FUCKING REMEMBER THAT! WHERE''S MARY?! I''LL TELL HER ALL ABOUT THE LOSSES YOU INCURRED JUST NOW! I BET SHE''LL BAN YOU FROM ENTERING THIS PLACE AND YOU''LL ONLY GET TO EAT WATER AND CRACKERS!"


    ''Mary? Isn''t she¨C We''ll just know if it''s her when we see her¡­''


    Quinn didn''t stop telling Mason off but he just looked like a bruised hotdog that had arms and legs as he was unmoving on the ground. But since Quinn caused a ruckus, we were asked to leave the premises by the same official that tallied the score.


    Despite that, my winnings from earlier plus my winnings from Mason were given to me without issue, and the only thing I didn''t take was Mason''s clothes. Quinn wanted to rip them apart but she was too busy kicking dirt on his face while we were trying to pull her away.


    ''She''s definitely more than a handful¡­''


    I inspected that bag I was carrying and even if it had enough room to carry all of the stuff I was given and awarded, walking around with a huge-ass bag with produce made me look like I just came from a farmer''s market or was a gopher for thedies with me.


    I''d rather go around carrying my rifle instead of encumbering myself with a bag that was wearing down on me from one side. I could easily tuck in stacks of vouchers in my pockets, but there was nothingfortable about lugging around jars of honey I currently didn''t have a use for.


    ''Better drop this off first¡­''


    With that said, I asked Quinn to follow us back to Mr. Cuervo''s ce first because our vehicles were parked there with the rest of our belongings. Granted we were already given a room or two toy our heads in or secure some of our important items, but there were just certain items in our vehicles we couldn''t casually move or bring out in the open.


    It didn''t take long before weid our eyes on our vehicles but the only ones guarding them were Ibarra and Natasha.


    I assumed that Jared would be there¨C because he''d always stay put, but it seemed like he went exploring with the rest of our team.


    ''He''ll be fine though¨C He even brought his SCAR with him¡­''


    With that said, Ibarra and Natasha saw us approaching them from the crowds of people passing by or having a good time, but their gazended on Quinn who was a foot taller than us. There was an immediate awkward silence when the two were staring at her a little too much, but I just introduced them to our new acquaintance.


    "Quinn, that''s Ibarra and Natasha. Ibarra and Natasha, this is Quinn."


    Natasha sprang up, "Hi! Nice to meet you, I''m  Natasha¡­ W-We saw you earlier but¨C nevermind that, hello~"


    Ibarra was trying so hard to maintain eye level, "Hello¡­ I''m Ibarra¡­"


    Quinn just gave them a simple nod, seemingly slightly disinterested, "Hmm."


    "Okay¡­ so, do you two know where the others went?"


    Natasha answered, "Umm~ Kaley and Cynthia were in this big house a while ago but they went out to look for Tatiana in the cage thingy, was it? They met up with that couple earlier but they were already away for a while. Marina and Igor went with Ilya and the rest while Mikhail¨C"


    Tatiana cut her off, "We know where Mikhail is."


    "Oh, then~ let''s see¡­ Hey, Jared left with Jose, right?" Natasha said as she turned to Ibarra.


    Ibarra nodded, "Yeah, I think they came with this Jerry guy that waved over them. I think Jared remembers him."


    I nodded a few times, "Ah, Ben and Jerry, we''ve met them before. And the others?"


    Natasha answered once more, "This was a while but Artem and Katya came looking for Mikhail a few minutes before we saw Quinn walk past us. If I remember correctly, he seemed to have found Kuzma''s stuff. Is that true?"


    I nodded before I turned to Quinn, "That reminds me, do you have any idea with that?"


    Quinn gave a look of confusion as she squinted, "With what?"


    "The HuNovelBinee we won from you. Have you met with the guy who used to own it?"


    Natasha and Tatiana were waiting for Quinn''s answer with concern and anticipation, and she eventually opened her mouth after pondering for a moment.


    "I haven''t met the guy but I was there when they brought that Humvee back. It looked like it was in an ident but the guys traded one of the cars for it¨C Dave''s car. Well, that was Dave''s car right until you won it from him but¨C"


    Natasha cut her off, "W-Wait, ident?! Tell us about that please!"


    Quinn scratched the back of her head, slightly revealing opening up her coat, "It would be best if you ask Dave''s crew who were there but what I know was that they encountered this foreigner with that sick ride¨C to me, it looked like a ride that needed a lot of fixing but nevermind that¨C From what I heard, the guy was injured and in a hurry and he just offered everything he had on that Humvee just to get a ride to go somewhere."


    "Did they ask where he was going?"


    "I don''t know about that part but what I know is that Dave''s crew was just about to leave but they caught a glimpse of his gear that was left inside the wreck the guy was trying to trade for a car.


    I don''t know about you guys but aside from pimping out cars, my crew of grease monkeys loves guns, especially the ones that are full auto since most of the shit we got are either shotguns or huge-ass pistols."


    I chuckled, "StoPpInG pOwEr~"


    Quinn shook her head,ughing, "We got rifles too but they''re either semi-auto or just too fucking illegal to casually bring out. Long story short, they exchanged keys and Dave''s crew just called for a trailer to get picked up. Trust me, those guys had the fun of their lives because they brought back those guns without any ammo while wearing huge smiles on their faces.


    Granted they made that area safer but I doubt they made efficient use of their resources. Dave almost lost his shit when he discovered that his car was exchanged for that heap of junk but they worked on it until it was road-worthy. However, what happened, happened so¡­ it is what it is. Better ask them for more info¨C"


    "Are they number 34, 68, 419, 16, 223, and 41?"


    Quinn and everyone else never looked so confused, "What?"


    "They''re still part of your crew overall, right? You should know their numbers?"


    "Huh? Fuck, no. I can''t even remember half of their names! Well- I can remember their faces though¨C but not all of them. I get the numbered tattoos are cool when we started but when it got to three digits, it just got fucking awful! Also, who fucking told the guys to shave their heads?!


    It''s a fucking fiasco, I tell ya."


    Tatiana chuckled, "What happens if someone dies or quits? Do their numbers get taken or¨C"


    "Don''t get started about that again!"


    "Again?"


    "Some dumb guy suggested moving the numbers every time someone leaves or dies but imagine spending money to get your tattooser removed just to get a new one? What if someone dies or leaves every other day? See what I mean? I''ll be mostly fine since I''m number four but what about the others below me?


    Imagine number 100 or something getting promoted every single day until he reached number 10 or something!"


    When the realization hit, everyone else just chuckled or let out amused expressions with their gang''s predicament, and we were lucky that the only thing that could partially identify us together was the pin or patch we were wearing to remember Kristoff.

 Chapter 719: The Bazaar - Look! Its you!

    Everyone else was talking to each other when I finally turned on my radio and tried to contact Kaley. She probably thought my radio was still off so she didn''t bother to try to reach out and just tried to look for me by going around the enclosures.


    I walked a few feet away from everybody before I spoke to the receiver.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Kaley?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmph! Look who decided to call?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sorry, you''re with Cynthia, right? Where are you guys? I''lle to you."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where are we? We''re looking for you, you doofus! Tatiana too!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah¨C Tatiana''s with me. Quinn too."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! Quinn too?! W-Where are you guys?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re by Mr. Cuervo''s parking area but we''d like to meet up with you since I still wanted to explore. Right, do you need some vouchers to spend on anything? I just won lots fairly recently, I guess I could give them all to you."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Oh, you do? We''ll meet at the Bazaar then! That''s just perfect timing!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Okay, then. See you there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You too!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as I put my radio down, one of the ck SUVs I saw earlier parked on the opposite end of Mr. Cuervo''s parking area while the other turned left and parked on a house where two other SUVs were parked for a time.


    To my surprise, the ones that came out from the SUV that parked on Mr. Cuervo''s parking area were wearing fancy suits and tucked earpieces, totally different from the rest of the people in this ce and the surrounding enclosures.


    Furthermore, thest person that came out was as dapper as Mr. Cuervo because aside from having the fanciest ck suit with gold embroidery while wearing a purple shirt made with silk inside, he was also carrying a cane that had what seemed to be arge diamond right on top of it.


    With that said, he had more rings than his fingers and he was sporting arge Cuban chain on his neck, getting highlighted even more because of the way his shirt was unbuttoned on the top, exposing his chest muscles.


    Despite all that, he looked like he was putting on the years because anyone that saw him for the first time could mistake him for Mr. Cuervo''s older brother or even his father.


    It was because even if he had a toned body, it would be difficult to hide the wrinkled parts of his face and the streaks of his white hair invading the sides of his head. However, those features weren''t the things that made me stare at him a little too much but it was because of the amount of pressure he exuded once he stepped out of his vehicle.


    Comparing him to myself, he seemed to be subconsciously releasing copious amounts of pressure when he was out in the open but I doubt he had a way topletely turn it off.


    I''m sure it would lower at one point and the only reason hispanions seemed unfazed was that they couldn''t feel it or were justpletely used to it.


    ''That guy''s definitely a big fish¡­''


    With that said, when I finally turned around to face Quinn, the look of uneasiness was on her face but she caught me looking at her. It instantly prompted an annoyed re but aside from myself, Tatiana saw the expression she was wearing earlier.


    "What are you looking at?"


    "Nothing," scratching the side of my face, "Anyway, Kaley and Cynthia seemed to be heading or already at the Bazaar so, wanna lead the way?"


    "The Bazaar, figures. C''mon, I''ll lead you there. Who else ising?"


    Tatiana instantly walked forward but we heard Ibarra''s voice.


    "Come with them, I''ll be fine here."


    "I don''t even have anything to buy with¨C"


    Ibarra turned to me, "Hey, can we open a tab with you, boss? We''ll pay you back once we get home."


    I nodded, "Sure. Is there anything you''d like us to bring back?"


    "Nah, I''m cool. Just please buy anything Natasha picks up¨C"


    Tatiana joked, "How about a supporter? Or a splint? Do they made things for those¨C"


    Natasha growled, "SHUT UP! LET''S GO ALREADY!"


    Quinn turned to me, "What was that about?"


    Natasha was already pulling on Tatiana''s arm but Quinn wanted an answer. However, Ibarra was already shrinking by the second.


    "Just an inside joke, long story, no subtitles."


    "Fine, fine¡­ but I''d like to hear itter."


    "Eh~ If you still remember to ask for it, sure¡­"


    "Alright, then."


    With that said, Quinn led the way and the other two had to catch up to us because they went the opposite way, but to my surprise, the Bazaar was actually a separate enclosure of its own.


    Furthermore, it was thergest enclosure by far and it had more peoplepared to the enclosure of food trucks we just ate from.


    The ce had almost everything for sale and even Quinn''s group had a stall that offered pimped-out cars, spare parts, repair or maintenance work, and even a custom job for the vehicles that would be brought up to them. Even the people stationed at their tent looked a bit more civilized than the ones Mikhail and I beat up, but I honestly doubt it even mattered.


    To the first stall on the left, there was an assortment of items like hiking boots, soft armor, simple clothes, hats, etc. while the first stall to my right had almost the exact same items but everything was made with leather.


    I found their hiking boots to be of great quality but I doubt the leather ''armor'' they were selling could defend against a sharp or a pointed weapon. Granted a dull de wouldn''t cut them open but someone trained to deliver precise cuts or a deadhead with their unrestrained strength would be able to get through.


    Moving forward, the sets of stalls we passed through were selling items for downtime.


    "JUST ONE VOUCHER EACH! JUST ONE VOUCHER EACH! WE''RE ALSO DOING A SALE OF BUY FIVE TAKE ONE, AND I GUARANTEE NONE OF YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!"


    "SAME THING HERE! BUT BETTER QUALITY! WE HAVE XXX MAGAZINES TOO IF THE GIRLS AT THE PINK HOUSE ARE TOO ''FILLED'' FOR YOUR TASTES AND YOU CAN''T AFFORD FUCKING A FRESH ONE, SO COME ON RIGHT UP, AND WE''LL SERVE YA!"


    "HAH! STOP RIGHT THERE MY FINE GUESTS BECAUSE THAT GUY DIDN''T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HE WAS TALKING ABOUT! D''YOU KNOW THE SIMILARITIES OF MY MAGAZINES AND THE FINE, FINE WOMEN AT THE PINK HOUSE?"


    "What?" A random passerby stopped.


    "YOU CAN WASH THESE FLAPS AND USE THEM AGAIN!"


    "What the fu¨C"


    "AHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! WATERPROOF MAGS HERE EVERYONE! YOU CAN WASH IT IF YOU JIZZED ON IT! MY PRICES ARE A LITTLE HIGHER BUT THE GUARANTEED REPEATED USE IS TO DIE FOR!"


    Tatiana was dyingughing from the salespeople but we continued deeper into the Bazaar to meet up with Kaley and Cynthia. However, the ce was just too big and crowded to ce a marker to quickly meet up.


    With that said, we came upon another stall that was selling phallic toys, and each of them was disyed from smallest torgest.


    I was about to speedrun this segment but Tatiana picked up two dildos with a mischievous smile.


    Natasha instantly got embarrassed, "What are you doing, Tatiana?!"


    Tatiana raised them up, "How big''s Ibarra? This one on the right, or this one on the left?"


    Quinn hurriedly joined in, "Tatiana."


    "Hmm?"


    "Where''s Mikhail over here?"


    Tatiana crossed her arms while still holding the dildos, "Hmm~ probably that one but a little leaner. Natasha, what do you think?"


    Natasha never looked so embarrassed, "W-Wha¨C That''s not¨C"


    "Really? How about this one?" Tatiana pointed to another one that was almost as big as a loaf of smi.


    "That''s not what I was saying!"


    The three were actually having a good time but the shopkeeper pulled me aside, "Are you the Mikhail guy?"


    I never shook my head so fast, "N-No man¡­ they''re talking about a half-giant in my crew¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Tell me, you ever made sales? You seemed to still have a full stock."


    "Hah! I''m bussin'', honestly. Although most of them were delivered discreetly. None of them just pick up a dildo and wave them around like your group here¡­"


    "They''re a little special¡­ sorry¡­"


    "No, no¨C It''s my pleasure, and theirs. Heh."


    The two of us were busy conversing when Tatiana ran up to me with another dildo.


    "Look! It''s you!"


    Natasha piled on, "That''s shockingly urate."


    Quinn nodded a few times, "True, how much is that?"


    The shopkeeper was fucking shocked, "NO FUCKING WAY THAT''S YOU! LIES! LIES, I TELL YOU! AND HOW THE FUCK DID YOU THREE KNOW?!"


    Quinn suddenly snapped, "ARE YOU CALLING US LIARS?!"


    "EEK~! N-NO! I''M VERY SORRY! I''M VERY SORRY! PLEASE! TAKE ONE FOR FREE!"


    I pulled out several vouchers from my pockets, "N-No¡­ Sorry about them¡­ here¡­"


    The shopkeeper took the vouchers then ced his hand over my shoulder, "Tell me, does your dick fucking hit the water when you pee in the toilet?"


    "And~ We''re moving on!"


    Tatiana was trying so hard to contain herughter, "B-But¨C"


    "WE''RE MOVING ON!"


    With that said, we passed by a few stalls but another stall that caught my eye was selling ded and blunt weapons, either in their original state or in their customized counterpart.


    The popr ones were obviously machetes or metal baseball bats but small fixed-de knives or butterfly knives were also popr. However, I couldn''t help but notice a few knock-off katanas or ninjatos, barbed baseball bats, and even huge-ass machined des that were too heavy to wield properly.


    Granted we have a few that could only be wielded by half-giants, it had special functions aside from clobbering the dead and turning them into rotten meat paste.


    ''I wonder what Quinn''s weapons of choice though? I''ll ask herter¡­''


    As I browsed around, I even found machetes that were shaped like a kukri though the whole de was the same width. A typical kukri would be a little wider on the folded end but the way these items were tapered was a mix of a bolo and a kukri.


    With that said, I was lightly chuckling at this ''katana'' that was almost ten times the price of a regr machete on disy, but the one looking after the shop called me out.


    "What''s so funny, foo? Are you poking fun at my shit?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry. I was just surprised at how expensive that one is."


    "Cheh. You''re wearing the same thing, you should know."


    "Hah! Trust me, I''m not wearing the same thing."


    "Bah~ I could buy that shit for 100 vouchers, maybe 75."


    As soon as this motherfucker said that, I just startedughing before everything else went freezingly cold.


    I directed every bit of killing intent into his direction and I imagined cutting him in half, but the ones close to me still felt the brunt of it.


    Tatiana, Quinn, and Natasha instinctively took a step back but the guy I was face to face was unable to move a muscle. However, it onlysted for a few moments before he fell on his ass, and he just started screaming incessantly while he was shakily touching his face.


    I never actually did anything but he was acting like I peeled off the skin from his face.


    "HE CUT ME! HE CUT ME! HELP! HELP! HE CUT ME!"


    It took him a while before he realized that it was all in his head but he was still shaking uncontrobly while his body was covered in sweat, mostly. I was fucking sure that he started pissing himself when his body rxed, but I just chuckled as I stared him down.


    "Trust me, ''foo'', this shit''s priceless."

 Chapter 720: Hamon: Edge Pattern or Christmas Ham?

    The guy that was screaming for his life caught the attention of the other shopkeepers, and once they saw the yellow puddle under him, all of them just startedughing. I almost felt sorry for the guy since he embarrassedly scampered away but another guy who I thought was a person just browsing around took his ce.


    He was shaking his head, wearing an annoyed look, while ashes from his lit cigar were dropping down on their merch, but he first kicked some dirt on the puddle hispanion made before he ced the cigar between his fingers and sighed at me.


    "Tsk. D''you know I just came out of my shift? You gotta buy something here at least!"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Sorry about that. I didn''t think he''d piss himself¨C"


    "Hah! That was fucking funny though¨C But what the fuck did you just do? I thought Mr. Cuervo was here for an instant. But yeah, at least buy a knife or two so he wouldn''t give me shitter."


    ''He could feel it, huh?''


    "Okay¨C"


    "Wait, before I scam you¨C Err, I mean scam other people, how''d you know that this shit''s fake?" the guy said, mouth-pointing at the expensive ''katana'' in front of us.


    "Hmm~ If you give me a discount, I''ll increase your knowledge on the matter. That way, you''ll have more words to throw around when making a sale. Deal?"


    He threw me a nod and a smile, "Deal."


    I pulled out my katana which was still in the scabbard and ced it side by side with their own, "Take a look between the two. What''s the first thing you''d notice?"


    He turned his head sideways, "Eh~ I don''t¨C"


    "C''mon, just say the first thing thates to mind."


    "Hmm~ Yours definitely look more¡­ expensive. Just the details alone are night and day. How much does that cost?"


    I shook my head, chuckling, "Didn''t you hear me the first time? This shit''s priceless."


    "Ah¡­ Right¡­ B-But if you''d put a price on it. How much¨C"


    "Trust me, even I don''t know. Probably everything in this Bazaar. Heh, just kidding. Let''s check these two things again. You said the details are different, right? What do you mean by that?


    Any specifics?"


    "Right, if I really~ look at yours closely, there are certain engravings or designs that aren''t present in ours, but aside from that, even the sheathe ispletely different in quality. Ours wasn''t even shaped properly¨C I mean, there is unevenness in some parts unlike yours. Oh! And ours is a little scratched up, the wood is showing¡­"


    I nodded approvingly, "Those are great points but to add to that, you gotta look at the handle."


    "The handle?"


    "If you''d just look at mine, you''d notice that the way it was wrapped was tighter¨C and proper, and the materials used were different. Yours doesn''t even have the ornament between the ray skin and the silk wrappings. And speaking of ray skin, real ones are supposed to be real bumpy and uneven, unlike yours that looks like pressed mini-Orbeez."


    "I doubt ours even used ray skin or silk. But what do you mean by tighter?"


    "Put your finger where the wrappings intersect and try moving it around."


    "Like this? Why is it giving way? Is it not supposed to do that?"


    "Yeah, it''s not supposed to move. If you''re handling something as sharp, it''s better to have the tightest grip on it because even a millimeter of divergence when it slips your hand is a fucking recipe for disaster.


    My katana¨C well, authentic katanas are ductile enough to retain their shape from performing a wrong swing but if you miss with a longsword and the edge alignment is skewed and hit something hard, chances are, there''ll be a chip or something simr. There are a lot more things to consider besides that, but there''s always a trade-off with longswords being more versatile. Oh!


    We have to consider what type of longsword it is too¨C"


    He started to wave me off, "Now you fucking lost me. When did we start talking about longswords?"


    "Ah¨C I got carried away but let''s just move on."


    "Okay~ I got some info about the handle down, I think. What''s next?"


    "Why don''t we pull it out at the same time?"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "That sounded so different in my head¡­"


    Natasha bumped her, "Shh! This is interesting, don''t disturb them!"


    The two started a short argument of their own but Quinn was on the opposite side, listening intently. I noticed a few others were dropping in into our conversation but most of them would lose interest in a few moments or so.


    With that said, I drew my katana at the same time as the guy in front of me and we held them side by side.


    ''That one''s definitely a fake¡­''


    I didn''t even need to ask the guy to take a closer look while we had them side by side, but the first thing he did was to pick up the ridiculous price tag they had on it before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into their trash can.


    His eyebrows would scrunch up if he would notice something different, and it took him a few moments before he turned to me.


    I just smiled back, "What do you think? Sight-wise."


    "I¡­ I don''t even know the right words for it but the difference in quality is fucking obvious."


    "At which part?"


    "T-The de obviously but there''s a lot of unevenness and roughness going on. Ours doesn''t even have the little engraving by the back and honestly, I wouldn''t even try to brush my fingers on the edge of your de. It just looks too fucking sharp."


    I nodded approvingly once more, "Nice, but do you know what a Hamon is?"


    "Hamon? Isn''t that Christmas Ham?"


    I chuckled, "Ah¨C that''s true too but the one I''m talking about is the sharpened section of the de that forms this wavy-like or me-like pattern due to the hardening process. Can you see it? It''s better if you move it around against the light."


    "Eh~ I think I see it?" The guy leaned over to inspect the edges closely.


    "Do you see it or not?"


    The guy scratched his head, "I can definitely see the wavy part in yours but the one in mine is a little too jagged-y or rough. Is it still a Hamon?"


    "It''s not a natural one, unfortunately. You see, a Hamon or the direct trantion: "Edge Pattern" doesn''t actually do muchbat-wise, but it''s a way to see if the katana you''re buying or holding is authentic and made with the original forging processes or not. Furthermore, just the aesthetic of it adds a lot of dor signs to it.


    That''s why some des such as this were made to look like it has one to increase its value but the one who made that one wouldn''t even go through regr weebs."


    "What''s the right way to do it then?"


    "That''ll be a different conversation but how about this? You told me yours is a little rough, right? Some ways to synthetically produce one are to acid etch it, wire brush it, or even sandst it, but the one done here was with the use of an angle grinder. Can I?" I said as I motioned to borrow his de.


    "S-Sure..."


    I picked it up and I brushed the edges with my fingers. Almost immediately, I felt the roughness of it and I doubt the one who made it look like it had a Hamon was in a fucking hurry. And after that, I grabbed the handle and tried to wiggle it off.


    "W-What are you doing?!"


    "Rx. A grinder was definitely used here. At least the handle is a tight fit with the de¡­ I thought it would give after a bit of pressure."


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "But yeah," I said as I handed back his de and sheathed my katana, "If you want to burden yourself making a ''believable'' Hamon, why don''t you put the effort into making a real one? It''s¨C"


    "Well, the way you put it earlier made me think that it''s fucking difficult. I believe only des like yours¨C the real ones, have them."


    "That''s true¡­ Most of the des here¨C well, most of the des all around the world don''t have the natural edge pattern katanas have because of their own forging techniques. There are a dozen ways to make katanas¨C especially the ones that would take months or years to make, but if you''re just gonna make the simplest one, it''ll boil down in the hardening process.


    In short, to exin differential hardening with katanas, you gotta make the edge hard while making the spine or the back soft."


    "I think you''re losing me again¡­"


    "I''m just giving you a bit of the other conversation I talked about earlier but yeah, if you make steel too fucking hard, it''ll be sharp but it''ll be brittle, so you just have to have a portion of it not as hard to absorb the shock by a degree¨C so it''ll be more inclined to bend instead if something ever goes wrong.


    You just have to find the right bnce between hardness and softness though and there''s a lot more I haven''t told you yet."


    "¡­"


    "And yeah, your de bending doesn''t sound too great but it''s betterpared to your de snapping in two. However, a katana bending is a rare urrence because unless you''re using it to chop huge-ass trees, it''ll be fine. It''s not as flexible as a longsword but it''s fucking ductile."


    "U-Uhh¡­ yeah¡­ right. Thanks for the info¡­"


    "Ah¨C Did I rattle on too much?"


    "N-No, it''s good¡­ it just takes time for me to process all that info. S-So¡­ what do you have your eyes on?"


    "Let''s see¡­"


    With that said, I just picked out a couple of those old bushmaster "Rambo" knives that had thosepasses in the butt of the handle, which we could also twist off to reveal a small cylindrical space in the handle, where we could put a stack of matches or anything that would fit in it.


    Furthermore, I also bought several conceble knives that almost looked like corkscrews, and I threw a piece to Tatiana and Natasha which they promptly epted.


    I offered one to Quinn but she just looked at me like I''m an idiot and quickly rejected the present.


    "I''m not carrying that with me."


    "Okay, sorry. But tell me, what do you use though?"


    "Huh?"


    "You don''t just kill everything with your heels, right?"


    "Oh. I have a Desert Eagle in my car. I rarely get to use it so I would always leave it there."


    "That''s it?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "How about for something up close and personal? You don''t carry a rake or a pitchfork around, do you?"


    "You fucker, you think I have the time to bash heads in?"


    "Bash heads in? You got something blunt then?"


    "Hmm, something like that. I machined one from my shop but I never got to use it. It''s kinda encumbering too so I took it apart and put it in my trunk."


    "But, w-what is it?"


    Quinn was just about to answer me when she turned her head and looked past me, but someone just jumped and grabbed on me from the back. I first tried to stabilize my footing because it was a little sudden, but I already knew who it was.


    Just the fragrance that invaded my nose was enough for me to figure out that it was Kaley, and I just grabbed on her legs so she''d put less pressure on my neck.


    "Hey, Kaley. You found us. Been here for a while?"


    "We''re looking all over for you and you''re just shopping for knives!"


    Then I heard Cynthia''s voice, "I''m here too~!"


    I turned around and saw Cynthia pouting. She was holding a bit of air in one side of her cheek while she was crossing both of her arms together.


    "Hey. What are you guys up to?"


    Cynthia was about to answer but Quinn cut her off.


    "You two didn''t lie, he fucks. He fucks good, I''m impressed."


    ''Uh-oh.''


    "Ah¨C"


    "WHAT?! Y-YOU GUYS¨C W-WHEN?! HOW?!"


    Kaley was just stunned in ce but Cynthia was fucking shocked. She almost blurted what Quinn and I did inside her tent, but she was able to calm herself down. However, what concerned me was that Kaley jumped down from me and she was pouting almost the same way as Cynthia earlier.

 Chapter 721: Shopping, Making a Killing, and Scamming

    I was already bracing myself for a would-be outburst but it didn''t happen. However, I didn''t expect such words toe out of Kaley''s mouth, but before that, she cutely stared me down before grabbing onto my arms and pulling me close.


    "H-Hngh¡­ Y-You c-cuntblock! Did you know that we were d-doing something w-when Mr. Cuervo called for her help?! I was r-really close t-too¡­"


    I chuckled before I put my hands up, "I d-didn''t do it on purpose, Quinn''s crew looked for trouble and it just escted and escted¨C Wait, Cynthia was also there, right? Why''d¨C"


    "It''s not the same, alright?! Quinn being there and Cynthia being there are two different things!"


    Cynthia added, "Y-Yeah! I was also really close while I was watching them but it got ruined when I heard my bro¨C Mr. Cuervo''s voice!"


    "Then~ can''t you two just¨C"


    The two exploded, "It''s not the same, alright?!"


    A few heads turned in our direction but Quinn just startedughing. At the same time, Tatiana was just amusedly watching the two while Natasha looked like she was feeling out of ce.


    It was because she used to be part of our inner circle but it changed when she hooked up with Ibarra.


    Granted she still joined in when Ibarra was still healing because of a certain incident, but we made sure that the parties involved would understand the updated arrangements once it was over. Nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with staying friends and the only difference between our dynamics was that we don''t get to have sex.


    The only reason an arrangement like ours would never work was if the boundaries and limitations weren''t set properly and followed.


    Sure, it would take a bit of time to get used to it¨C and it varies from person to person, but as long as propermunication was established and understanding between the people involved was built, there would be no problems whether they moved on or stayed behind.


    With that said, it seemed like I owed the two ''reparations'' for cuntblocking them, but since I was already here to buy them anything that they wanted, everything would end peacefully.


    Or so I thought.


    We weren''t even a foot away from the stall that sold handheld weapons when Tatiana pulled ''me'' out.


    "Hey, Kaley! Look at what I found!"


    "Hmm?"


    ''Oh no¡­''


    "What the¨C"


    It instantly cast a long and girthy shadow above their heads and Tatiana raised it like she just pulled out Excalibur. The only thing missing was the glorious music that would follow and the immediate crowning once the legendary sword was pulled out of the sword-cut rock.


    With that said, Kaley and Cynthia''s eyes almost popped out of their sockets while their faces had a mix of colorful reactions.


    "T-That''s too fucking real! H-How?! That''s literally him!"


    "Tatiana! W-Where did you get this?!"


    "It''s a long story, hahaha! Trust me, it surprised us too!"


    I just shrunk down from having beauties talking about my dick in the open but then our ''rocket'' shopkeeper passed by at the right fucking moment. I thought he didn''t hear what the girls were talking about but his satellite ears heard every single fucking thing.


    "AW, HELL NAW~! HOW MANY GIRLS HAVE SEEN YOUR DICK?! DID YOU PAY THEM TO SAY THAT?! SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU REALLY FUCKING ASIAN OR ARE YOU FUCKING HALF-HORSE?!"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN THE SAME THING!"


    "WELL, YOU''RE NOT FUCKING BLACK, RIGHT?!"


    "WHY DO I HAVE TO BE BLACK?!"


    "WELL, I GUESS YOU HAVEN''T SEEN THE VIDEOS I''VE BEEN WATCHING! DON''T BE FOOLED, MICHAEL JACKSON''S BLACK TOO¨C OW! THE FUCK DID YOU HIT ME FOR?!"


    "DO YOU WANT TO GET FUCKING CANCE¨C ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS?!"


    "CANCE¨CWHAT?! IT''S THE FUCKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY¨C OW! STOP FUCKING HITTING ME!"


    "YOU GOTTA LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD MORE, YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU''RE THE EXPERT ON FUCKING DILDOS BUT YOU KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT THE REAL THING! COME WITH ME!"


    "WHA¨C WHERE ARE WE GOING?!"


    "I''LL SHOW YOU MIKHAIL''S DICK¨C OW! KALEY?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?! YOU''RE GONNA RUN UP TO MIKHAIL AND SAY, "HEY MIKHAIL, CAN YOU SHOW THIS GUY YOUR DICK? AND OH¨C HE SELLS DILDOS FOR A LIVING.", IS THAT WHAT YOU''RE GONNA SAY TO HIM?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"


    "Yeah? AHHHHHHH! NO! DON''T HIT ME WITH MYSELF!"


    "WHY AM I GETTING ATTACKED TOO?!"


    "YOU TWO ASKED FOR IT!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Long story short, the dildo guy and I got beaten up by Kaley using ''me'' as a weapon, and it was just a fucking fiasco.


    None of the other girls even helped me from getting pped in the face with the 9-inch rubber smi, and if this was the past, someone would''ve already gotten some footage and sent it to Worldstar Hip-Hop or TMZ.


    In any case, everything just eventually blew over and we spent an hour and a half shopping for clothes, shoes, trinkets, jewelry, and other types of shit.


    Quinn, Tatiana, and I were already tapping out when we were still in the half-hour mark of their shopping spree but Kaley, Cynthia, and even Natasha were so full of fucking energy. With that said, good thing there was a stall that sold copsible chairs, and the three of us bought one for each of us to survive each stall the other three went for.


    It almost got deadly when a random passerby offered Quinn a bra but overall, it was a well-bnced trip considering the circumstances.


    Let''s just say I couldn''t believe we walked out of the Bazaar with piles upon piles of items the three picked out, but me having two golden coins, our stack of vouchers from killing it in the casino, and Cynthia''s rep for being Mr. Cuervo''s daughter-but-not-really was enough to get everything they wanted plus extra.


    However, the moment we went back to Ibarra''s spot, his face lost all color when he discovered that the third of the items we brought were Natasha''s.


    "B-Boss, h-how much is Nat¨C I m-mean¨C"


    I just shook my head and waved him off, "Don''t worry about it. We had fun and you stayed here, that''s enough."


    "W-Wait¡­ fun? You don''t mean¨C"


    "Wha¨C N-No, not that kind. We already had that talk, remember? Besides, you''re doing us a favor by keeping Natasha out of everyone''s safety and¨C"


    "B-Boss, please! Let''s stop talking about that incident!"


    "Dude, I got chased around and got beaten up by a dildo that''s almost an exact replica of my dick, take another bullet for me."


    "Huh?! B-But¨C"


    "Then that''s the payment for everything that Natasha bought."


    "What?! That''s¨C *sigh* Fine¡­ Do you need help with that?"


    "Yep."


    With that said, Ibarra helped me secure the items we brought to the room provided for us but after our fifth trip of hauling the bags and the boxes they were put in, we just saw Jared and Jose chatting happily with Kaley and the rest. They seemed to have made a killing of their own because they were lugging around unfamiliar weapons cases and several ammo cans.


    "Bro! Bro! Come here! Look at what we got! Where were you?! You should''vee with us!"


    "Easy now, what did you guys win?"


    "Feast your eyes!"


    The two theatrically opened up the weapons cases they won and it revealed an assortment of guns that almost brought tears to my eyes.


    "We won four M16s, an M4 Carbine, two AR-15s, an SKS, two AK47s, an MP5 clone, two M70s, an M24, two Remmington 870s, a TAC-12(Benelli M4 Clone), four Glock 19s, an M1911, a .38 Special, and a motherfucking Colt Python!"


    I chuckled while shaking my head, "And the ammo cans?"


    "Heh, they''re filled with all sorts of ammo we scooped up from the pool."


    "Pool?"


    "You really haven''t been to the shooting area?"


    "Nope, not even close."


    "Then let me tell you a bit about it and what happened when we''re there."


    Jared told me about the shooting area which was the farthest enclosure from Cuervo Heights, opposite from the area where Drag Races and Off-Road Races were held. The events held there was pretty much a test of speed and uracy, and it was a ce where only guns and ammo were the main currency.


    Vouchers could still be used to get in or buy guns and ammo, but the event Jared joined required their own guns to be put on the table.


    In short, it was apetition for pink slips but with guns.


    With that said, Jared had an FN SCAR-H and a Sig Sauer P320, and it made several people join with fervor. It made the entire pot overflow because the people that wanted to participate had to match the value of the highest loadout, and most of them just topped the remainder with ammo.


    To add insult to injury, Jose made the betting pool for the watchers even bigger because he put all of his gear into one bet. A kitted M16 and a kitted Glock 19 weren''t that easy to sneeze at because of the quality of the essories put on it, so the rest had to fork out even more.


    I really thought Jared would have to drag Jose back because he''d be too out of his mind, but he was actually of sound mind despite the few kiss marks on his neck and his alcohol breath.


    "Wait a sec, why the fuck did you win shotguns and pistols if it''s a shooting match? Don''t tell me they used that against your rifle?"


    "Ah¨C Those were the top-ups and since some of them still wanted topete, we even epted vouchers and we even got this," Jared said before he tried to reach for something in his pocket, "Catch, bro!"


    Jared just tossed a gold coin in my direction and I caught it with my hand.


    "I FORFEIT! I FORFEIT! I FORFEIT! YOU WIN, BRO! YOU WIN!"


    "What?"


    "Well, you k-know, tossing someone a coin and catching it prompts a match. I just surrendered quickly so you''d have it without breaking the rules!"


    "Heh, smart. You''re really giving this to me?"


    "Yep!"


    "Thanks!"


    "That''s payment for my SCAR! You''re wee, bro!"


    "WHAT?! HOLD ON A FUCKING SECOND!"

 Chapter 722: Nothing Special - Can it take a .50?

    I already gave Jared my SCAR-H long ago, but my own abandonment issues made me jump up defensively. It was triggered by him trying to buy it off of me with the gold coin he just won, and I just don''t want to make it official-official.


    To be fair, there are other ways I could obtain a gold coin, and exchanging it for something I deem much more valuable would just prompt a reaction.


    Jared put his hands up, "C''mon, bro! I thought you already gave this thing to me! Just lemme give you something for it!"


    "Fine, fine¡­ but before we forgot, don''t mix the ammo you won with ours."


    Quinn interjected, "Why''s that? They''re all the same, right?"


    I scratched my head before I looked at everybody, "It''s u-umm, different."


    "Different?"


    "I''m sure they work but I don''t want to risk it."


    Quinn just squinted her eyes as she just stared at me while folding her arms together, "You''re hiding something, aren''t you? Is your ammo a little special? I already told you that ''I know'', right? You can tell me."


    I chuckled, "On the contrary, what''s special about it is that there''s nothing special about it."


    ''Except for the higher-caliber loads¡­ If you want to hit where you want it or sub-sub-MOA, it should be a custom load¡­''


    Quinn never looked so confused, "Are you messing with me now? I''ll grab your balls and crush them if you are."


    I quipped, "Is that an invitation?"


    "You!" Quinn suddenly lunged forward.


    I jumped back before she managed to grab hold of me, "Easy now. I''ll tell you but you gotta tell me one of your secrets."


    "Secrets? Is it that important?"


    "Kinda. And yeah, the secret you gotta tell me should be something special that your group could do aside from building engines and pimping out anything that moves. If you can tell me something like a~ you know, a trade secret of your group, I''d tell you something about mine and possibly share it."


    Quinn and I just stared at each other while everyone else was just watching us, but after a few moments, she eventually sighed before opening her mouth.


    "Trade secrets, huh? Is being able to engineer our own engines not enough? I''m pretty sure it''s moreplicated than manufacturing your own bullets. However special your bullets are, it''s still limited to how it is utilized by the shooter. If your shooter is shit, your ''special'' bullet is wasted."


    I threw Quinn an approving look, "You''re right but I already told you, what''s special about my bullets is that they''re not special. Yeah, I made them myself¨C with the help of some people, but that doesn''t necessarily mean you''ll get headshots 100% of the time."


    "Then what''s special about them?"


    "I already told you¨C"


    Quinn never looked so annoyed, "Then what makes them not special?!"


    "Now, you''re asking the right questions. Good job!"


    "You fucker¡­ I''m this close to shoving my fist up your ass. Just answer me!"


    I just chuckled once more before I put my hands up, "To bepletely honest, I''m partly messing with you ''cause it''s funny, but here''s the real answer: The reason I''m saying that they''re not special is that they''re all just made the same way with the same exact quality.


    Special bullets have different attributes: tungsten core, stic tips, extra powder, etc., but mine''s regr old ammo as regr old ammo goes."


    As soon as I said that, Quinn was breathing like she was trying to contain her anger but she was partly squinting, trying to figure out what I was trying to say, "You''re not making any sense. Then how''s that different from the ammo in that pile? Those are also regr old ammo, right?!"


    "You''re really not getting me," I said before I turned to Ibarra, "Dude, can you pick out a bunch of 9mms from those ammo cans?"


    "O-Okay?" Ibarra replied before he did as he was told and picked up a bunch from the ammo cans present. He took a few moments since everything was mixed together but he eventually ced them between me and Quinn.


    Before anyone said anything, I spoke up, "Okay, everyone from my crew, pull out a 9mm from your sidearms. And after that, ce them right next to the pile of 9mms Ibarra picked out."


    Everyone listened to me and did as they were told, and once we made a small pile of our 9mms on our own, the difference was fucking uncanny.


    My crew never said a word because they already knew what was up but Quinn was slowly taking in what she was seeing. I already knew that she had an eye for detail because she knew how to build engines, but I''m pretty sure that her knowledge about guns wasn''t as deeppared to mine.


    However, she already noticed that our pile looked like all the 9mms came from a fresh box or a single magazine, because as I said earlier, everything was the fucking same.


    On the other hand, the bullets Ibarra picked up not only had different casings, some of them were FMJs, Hollow Points, or even those crazy RIP Rounds that looked like a drill bit. Granted some of them looked almost the same but I''d only let my crew use them if we ran out of our own stock.


    Sometimes, it was not about how special a single bullet was, it was about how the same or consistent a magazine or a clip of bullets could be. Consistency never sounded specialpared to Armor Pration or Larger Wound Cavity, but it was the very reason it was special to me even though it wasn''t.


    A lot of questions seemed to be clouding over Quinn''s head right now but I broke the silence.


    "As you said earlier, if the shooter was shit, the bullet is pointless. But you see, there are more things to consider when someone fires a gun. A few examples are the shooter''s technique, the gun itself, and the bullet used, but if you have a bullet that does the exact same thing over and over, you''d have fewer things to worry about."


    "..."


    "We''ve all heard it, it''s the gun''s fault, the bullet''s fault, I held it wrong, my hand slipped, etc., but if you remove one thing to me, you''d have a higher percentage to solve your fucking problem. You can perform proper maintenance on your weapon and hone your technique too, but to take it a step further, you make batches and batches of ammo that''s the same fucking thing.


    Some people could almost do the same by doingrge batches but I could make the exact same thing I madest week,st month, andst year. They''ll have all the same ballistics and shit and it''s more consistent than any match-grade ammo you''ll find on the market. That''s the secret."


    "Hmph. And you''re the only one that could do that?"


    "The proper term is that I''m the only one crazy enough to do it. Sure, there could still be differences between each bullet but it''s so fucking minuscule to fucking matter. And if I notice something amiss because it''s so obvious, I''d take it apart and make it again from scratch. I guess my own trade secret is that I''m borderline psychotic to do shit some people are too fuckingzy enough to do."


    Quinn finally let out a smile, "Is that so?"


    "It''s my OCD talking but yeah, passable is not enough for me... bullets-wise. Well, to be fair, the word ''passable'' is different for me. Passable for other people is just straight-up trash to me and the word perfect should be fucking absolute. I love things when they''re perfect but I rarely get to call something like that wholeheartedly.


    Imperfections couldn''t be avoided 100% but every time an imperfection was cast out was music to my ears."


    Quinn was just looking at me with the same smile on her face but she eventually sighed before she pointed at the ck SUV that I saw earlier, "See that Escde? We made that."


    Everyone else looked confused but she continued, "To be specific, we worked on that thing and the other SUVs parked by that house. Mr. Cuervo had a vehicle or two that we handled, specifically his Range Rovers at the back, but all of them¨C even the HuNovelBinee you took from us, it''s all armored¡­ professionally."


    My interest was immediately piqued, "Armored how?"


    "Not as much as APCs because they''re made to look unassuming but that thing could withstand high-powered rifles and even a grenade st. Every single thing was swapped with the materials sent to us and even the windows, the battery, the gas tank, etc. are armored and protected."


    "So, you mean to say you just refit them with the¨C"


    "Don''t misunderstand, we do just refit them but we still have to machine the parts they sent to us. They always send us extra and we are free to use them however we wish as long as we get the job done."


    "Hmm, something doesn''t sound right."


    Quinn instantly scrunched her brows, showing displeasure, "What? Are you telling me that I''m lying to you?!"


    "Not exactly."


    "Then what are you saying?"


    "Your DB9."


    Quinn instantly shook her head, "That''s true. Why does someone who armor vehicles for a living have a DB9 that''s not armored?"


    "Exactly."


    "Those are still the original parts before your friend wrecked them¨C"


    "You also did."


    "Irrelevant. It''s already wrecked so my doing doesn''t matter."


    "Sure¡­"


    "As I was saying, yes, those are still the original parts and I don''t want to just throw them away but the windows are already bulletproof with the gas tank and the battery armored. I''m just looking for the right time to rece them but¨C remember Jackie?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, Number 2. The guy you shot for killing Number 1."


    "Yeah, that guy. He''s a fucking asshole but he''s kinda like you in a way. He was the one supposed to machine the parts to rece the hood and the other parts of my DB9 since he''s the best out of everyone in my crew, but he gotta go. It''s a damn shame but I guess you could do much better... much, much better."


    I faintly smiled, "Hmm, I get it now. Armored stuff, huh?"


    "Yeah. Interested now?"


    "One more thing."


    "What now?"


    "Can it take a .50?"


    "Wut?"


    "Did I stutter? It''s armored, right? Can it take a shot from a .50?"


    Quinn never looked so confused from my question but it just so happened that Ibarra tripped over an ammo can and spilled several shotgun shells right as I asked my question. The gunshots that followed almost perfected the intro, but Quinn was looking at everyone''s expression, thinking that I was cracking another joke.


    However, I just pulled my Barrett out of its case to show Quinn that I was actually serious.

 Chapter 723: Agreement - Start?

    I already knew the answer to my previous question but I just had to show-off one of my toys to Quinn¨C who after revealing that their group could armor up any vehicle that they wanted, was getting a little smug. Doing this was in no way an attempt to make fun of her, but in the case we start negotiating stuff, I''d like to keep her in check.


    It was because of how things were looking, we might stay here for more than what we intended. And since I was already nning to drop by their Main HQ and possibly learn their trade and fix her car¨C even if they already had the means to, I wanted every leverage I could get my hands on.


    Having something that could easily punch through their best work would be bad news for them¨C negotiations-wise, and even if revealing one of my cards to them this early could prove to be a bad decision, I wanted to know if they were still hiding cards of their own.


    With that said, my Barrett M107A1 was still the fucking menace as it was and I just had to rack the charging handle a few times to assert dominance.


    The sound it made while doing that was just music to my ears and every gun nut around me looked like they were smelling a freshly cooked steak. Some of them even looked like they were having an orgasm but to spare them the humiliation, I wouldn''t name them¡­ this time.


    Quinn''s interest was instantly directed towards my gun, "W-Wow, that''s fucking big¡­ What do you call it? It''s a Barrett or something, right?"


    I looked at Quinn approvingly, "It''s a Barrett M107A1 but it''smonly referred to as the ''Goodbye Motherfucker!'' or if they''re a little excited, they''ll refer to it as the ''Goodbye Madafaka!''. I rarely get to use this one but if I do, I make the best out of it."


    "You''re telling me you have a gun like that and you don''t bring it out as much as you could? That''s impossible," Quinn shook her head before she crossed her arms.


    I chuckled, "It''s not like we face tanks on a day-to-day basis and it''ll be a waste to use this on a regr deadhead. I could make ammo as long as I got the materials for it but I still have my moments when I can be a cheap-ass. I use my de as much as I can and if a .22 LR is enough, it''s enough."


    "That''s fair, can I shoot it though?"


    "Nope," I replied tly.


    Quinn never looked so confused, "No?"


    "Not right now¡­ I might need the bullets for this one since I only brought a few. After everything is over, sure, I''ll let you use part of what''s left."


    Quinn just stared at me before sighing, "Fine."


    With that said, time passed as they should, and aside from everyone else converging on the same spot as we were, they came back with their own winnings and their own set of useful info. Granted some of them were a little buzzed or a little bruised from going at it at the Cages, we either patched them up or let them get their rest while everything was ryed on me by the ones that just spectated.


    It''s just that Quinn had already said goodbye and had gone for her tent before Mikhail came back with Artem and Katya, but I guess it would be for the better if the two don''t meet for now.


    Luckily enough, aside from Artem winning a couple of coins himself, Mikhail bore no resentment with me but he did offer his coin to me so he could shoot for another shot with the one he let slip away. However, I left him with the same words I said to the people who wanted to have a shot with the people in my inner circle of ''friends''.


    "Go ahead, I''ll yield for as much as I can but if she doesn''t want to, she doesn''t want to. You get what I''m saying, right?"


    Mikhail nodded weakly, "Yeah¡­"


    "If you two hit it off and be exclusive, we''ll respect that but if something else happens¨C even if it''s not the oue that you wanted, you should still respect it as much as we respect it if it doesn''t go our way either. And yeah, it''s cool that you wanted to talk about it but you don''t need to offer me your coin.


    It just sounds like you''re trying to buy Quinn off of me even though I don''t havemand or ownership over her, and that''s kinda weird. Don''t you think so?"


    Mikhail nodded once more, "Y-Yeah, you''re right¡­ but¡­ do you still think I have a chance? After that fuck up and all?"


    I chuckled, "Seriously, man? It''s the first time I''ve seen you like this but yeah, let''s just say that she still might be interested because something was inquired in a specific stall in the Bazaar and body-wise, the two of you arepatible but¡­"


    "B-But what? And what did you say? Inquired? W-What are you talking about?!"


    "Heh. That''s something you gotta figure out on your own."


    "Wha¨C C-C''mon! Just finish your sentence, at least!"


    "Nah. I already helped you as much as I wanted and you gotta do the work yourself at this point. I''m not gonna get in your way but I''m not gonna be your wingman either because she''ll definitely fuck me up if I try again. To bepletely honest, I kinda enjoyed my time with her and whatever happens, happens. Can we at least agree on that?" I said as I offered my hand for a gentleman''s handshake.


    Mikhail looked at me for a moment before epting, "Fine, whatever happens, happens," then he smiled and chuckled, "Fucking weeb."


    "Heh. Fucking normie."


    At the same time this was happening, the area from the entrance up to the main ''y'' area was being cleared of anything that might impede the games Mr. Cuervo would hostter. It was being set almost the same wayst time but on a bigger scale. I thought they should''ve done this in the morning but the people he assigned to it were fucking efficient.


    Everything was going swimmingly and they''ll be done before the sun even sets.


    Aside from the cameras and the sound system getting checked, multiple guards were being spread around the viewing area they put around Mr. Cuervo''s gatedmunity, and all of them were fucking armed to the teeth. They were also d with full-on body armor and they were also wearing earpieces for closedmunications with each other.


    ''He''s definitely going all-out. I wonder what the games would be like?''


    With that said, I discovered that the enclosures around us had their own viewing area¨C for the people that were tasked to guard their belongings so that the one here wouldn''t be too crowded with random people.


    As of now, the seats were getting filled even if the games haven''t started yet but tension and excitement were slowly filling the air.


    However, it was at this moment when therge screen behind us shed at the same time therge speakers sted music, and they yed several highlights from the games that were recorded, and some were even before the outbreak started.


    I could barely recognize some of them but I did see Luis briefly, getting knocked out multiple times by the supposed champions. However, before I saw his clip where he won, several more champions were shown and it didn''t take long before a rough footage of me hacking down a thousand deadheads was revealed.


    Cheers just erupted over and over but the one that followed after me was Niks, followed by Ilya, Alexei, and Bob who Mikhail just won a coin from. A few more followed before I saw Luis winning a mud fight between a randompetitor, but when the next footage disyed, I couldn''t believe my eyes.


    ''No fucking way¡­''


    Our serial macho dancer who only wears red underwear and a red bandana actually participated and won a championship himself. I really thought he was here just to dance his ass off, but the motherfucker got moves of his own.


    The people watching would cringe each time his heel would find its way to his opponent''s jaw and it was already decided the moment it connected.


    From watching the fights, it seemed like the final round was always a tournament with a bracket system, and the only difference was my case because I ended everything while the seeds were still being figured out. However, I was more excited about the initial stages and the games prepared for Tatiana, Cynthia, Quinn, Elena, and the rest of the femalepetitors.


    It was because the games prepared for them were always fun¨C even though a lot of fan service was involved but aside from that, I had an inkling that they wouldn''t be involved in just a single game.


    If Mr. Cuervo wanted this day to be memorable, he had to fucking bring it not only with the showmanship and the entertainment, but also with the games he prepared for everyone. Granted the participants had to y a part as well but it''ll all boil down or rely on the one hosting it entirely.


    After a few more minutes, the highlight reel waspleted but it yed a few more times before everything went dark and quiet.


    However, it was only after a few moments when smoke billowed out and the lights that turned on focused on a lone figure on the stage.

 Chapter 724: Grand Entrance

    The figure was just standing still for a few moments before the bass crept in and started to thump and reverberate all around. Slowly, we could see the blurry silhouette moving as restrained as it could before more and more figures started to appear on stage. However, right as the music reached its highest point, a synchronized show of lights came in and matched each beat.


    [ARE YOU REAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYY~!!!]


    All of a sudden, fireworks wereunched and the same figure at the center was also being disyed on the huge screen behind us. Ricardo used to be the intermission number from Mr. Cuervo''s games but now he''s the fucking opener.


    His oiled skin, his rippling muscles, and the fucking attitude to bare almost everything in front of the crowd while only wearing arge C-String garnered immediate cheers and apuse.


    Granted the beauties dancing around him were in a league of their own but our boy took the fucking show.


    After a short pause, lights red and smoke billowed on the viewing tforms, and several dancers appeared and danced at the same time. All of them were almost wearing nothing and I could definitely say that some of them were leaving nothing to the imagination.


    The one closest to us only had band-aids covering her slit and her tiny nipples¨C and her asshole had a small plug that had lights, while the one a few others were ogling at was someone only ''wearing'' a tail and cat ears. Almost every fetish known to man was getting honored but to make it fair, male exotic dancers were in the mix.


    Surprisingly enough, they were the ones that were getting a lot of attention from the crowd because a few olderdies were pulled off of them by the guards present. In the end, it was all in good fun because the opening was some sort of way to advertise Mr. Cuervo''s goods, and a good number of them on the viewing tforms were ''rented'' on the spot for their time.


    With that said, the music just fucking pped, and right when the first song ended and bridged to the second one, Ricardo was reced with two beauties that made a significant portion of the guys on the viewing tforms go wild.


    The two beauties were identical twins and they were dressed in skimpy schoolgirl outfits, but instead of moving in unison with the backup dancers, they faced each other and moved like they were standing in front of a mirror.


    It was mesmerizing in a way because even if the backup dancers were present, it felt like they were the only ones there.


    Both of them had long flowing hair, tender bodies, and petite figures yet they were blessed in the front and in the back. It was not to the point that it looked too much but justparing it to their slim waist and their long legs, everyone who would be with them would be able to get a nice handful.


    I turned to Cynthia, "Do you know them?"


    "N-No¡­ they''re definitely new¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You got reced, huh?"


    "Hmph, it''s not like I care¡­" Cynthia trailed as she slightly pouted.


    Kaley waved her over, "Oh, c''mon~ Technically¨C"


    Cynthia cut her off, "I-I know, I just like the attention s-sometimes¡­"


    We got to conversing while we were watching the show but we were interrupted by a dancer wearing a bunny headband, a choker, spiked bracelets, fiss, and stilettos. Furthermore, she was also wearing a plug that was round and fluffy on one end, and her whole niche was probably being a slutty bunny.


    Everything else was free for our eyes to wander off but she leaned over to me before licking her lips and whispering something in my ear.


    "Hey, baby¡­ I''m feeling a little cold¡­ Wanna warm me up a bit? I''m a little expensive but I''ll do everything you want~ Mmh¡­"


    The bunnydy never broke eye contact but she almost fell off when I opened my mouth.


    "Ah¨C C-Can you move? I''m watching a show here with my friends¡­ sorry¡­"


    Kaley and Tatiana were trying so hard to contain theirughter but Cynthia had to give the finishing blow.


    "You must be new, huh?"


    The bunnydy never looked so shocked when she saw Cynthia sitting with our group, and looking at her like she was a pest. Her cheeks just flushed red with embarrassment but right as she turned around and tried to scamper away, she bumped into a tall amazonian figure that was carrying a metal suitcase.


    Quinn instantly loomed over the poor girl, "The fuck? Are you watching where you''re going?! Move!"


    "S-Sorry!!!"


    Thedy just stumbled away from view but Quinn was wearing a smirk when she met eyes with us. In any case, her whole getup was different but she still had her fur coat draped over her shoulders.


    Quinn was now wearing an all-ck bodysuit made with stretchable and breathable material that was cut above her knees and her elbows, covering her huge assetspletely with a turtleneck-like neckline. With that said, she paired it up with these white running shoes but I could still vividly see her naked body even if she covered herself up.


    It was like she didn''t wear clothes at all because her attire just fit her so perfectly, it highlighted her muscles and curves.


    Tatiana instantly quipped, "So, you wearing a bra under there?"


    Quinn shook her head, chuckling, "Fuck you, I threw one on but it''s kinda tighter than I remember. I guess I grew again¡­ Well, it''s been a while since I wore one, I have to have a couple tailor-made again."


    "Or just don''t wear any."


    "Heh. In a perfect world, sure. It''s times like these where I need to keep them in ce while I''m moving."


    Kaley interjected, "True¡­ I want to befortable but it gets in the way when I''m running¡­"


    Quinn chuckled, "And when it gets so hot? Ugh! Sometimes, I had to apply some antiperspirant in my underboob¨C"


    "Wha¨C M-Me too!"


    Tatiana muttered, "C-Can''t rte¡­"


    Cynthia interjected, "M-Me too¡­"


    "Shaddap, you''re still growing¡­ You never know¡­"


    "I hope..."


    ''WHAT''S GOING ON?!''


    I didn''t know how I got myself into this position because a few moments earlier, I was watching a show with great production value but right now, I was in between girls talking about bras and boob sweat. As I turned my head to the side, everyone else in my group was either ring at me with jealousy,pletely indifferent, orughing at my predicament.


    However, my attention was once more directed to the stage when mes suddenly jutted out from its four corners.


    Furthermore, mes even jutted out near the viewing tforms and it sent out bursts that led to the main entrance before it quickly drew back to the stage.


    The next thing we knew, we saw Mr. Cuervo in all his glory¨C rising from below the stage, without his coat on¨C and the first few buttons on his shirt were undone, exposing his chest, while he was tidying his slick mustache. However, the dancers behind him suddenly pulled on his shirt and revealed his ripped upper body that was covered with tattoos, and the whole crowd just went wild.


    After that, the twins we saw earlier walked up to him and offered two rapiers that were resting on separate pillows.


    ''...''


    While everyone else was wondering what he would do next, the gates to the main entrance just opened up and burst into mes before dozens and dozens of deadheads poured in and caught fire. However, they didn''t stop even if their rotten flesh started to get crispy and it''ll only take a matter of seconds before they bridge the distance.


    It was just that Mr. Cuervo pulled the des off of the twins'' grasp before he leaped in the air and took the ming deadheads head-on.


    ''This motherfucker¨C I knew it!''


    I could clearly see how Mr. Cuervo was wearing a devilish smile before he licked his lips and jumped straight to the threat with reckless abandon and what''s more, everyone lost it when the earpieces of the guards buzzed at the same time, and all of them turned away from the person they were supposed to protect with their lives.


    If Mr. Cuervo gets as much as a scratch, this night, this ce, and our whole n would be fucking over.


    However, there was just this feeling that made everyone do nothing but watch with bated breath as to what would happen next.


    The music sting from the speakers became awfully quiet the moment Mr. Cuervo appeared on stage but it just suddenly sted at full volume the moment he made first with his victim.


    His thin des just lopped off heads one after the other, and the motherfucker had the time to fix his hair before he sunk both of his rapiers into a ming deadhead''s eye sockets and eviscerated itpletely.


    I never thought that he could move and fight in such a way¨C as if he was dancing with them, because I for sure thought he''de out with a huge b of metal and light it on fire before swinging it around to crush his victims.


    Well, I was told before that Cynthia was taught various subjects and trained in different disciplines, but I never thought that Mr. Cuervo was the one who taught her how to use a rapier¨C in his case, two of them.


    I thought he was just an avid collector but who knew he was able to use them so well.


    With that said, the moment he took care of thest one, the mesing from the first victim he took down just died out, and he casually lit a cigar he took from his pockets before wearing an earpiece.

 Chapter 725: The Six Main Families

    Everyone else was eagerly waiting for what Mr. Cuervo was about to say but I just started chuckling and shaking my head in disbelief when his words entered my ears.


    [Phew¡­ See that, Hermano? I can do it too, nothing special!]


    I could see the smugness in his face from the way he was looking through the lens of the camera, and he was definitely trying to prompt a reaction from me.


    With that said, it only took a short moment before I felt different gazesnding on me, and to my surprise, a camera was already pointing at me and my face was now on the big screen.


    I was now the center of attention but the bunny girl that tried to sell her body to me earlier was back, and she was embarrassedly holding out an earpiece with both hands.


    "I-I-It''s for you¡­ P-Please t-take it¡­"


    "Thanks," I said after picking it up and recing the one in my ear.


    After that, I heard a small beep and a short static but then I saw the big screen disying my face alongside Mr. Cuervo''s.


    [Can you hear me, Hermano?]


    "Damn, this is crisp. Loud and clear, Mr. Cuervo."


    My voice got transmitted in therge speakers and I couldn''t believe the overall quality of his sound system. However, I had to jab at him a little bit just to return his jab earlier. He was just about to say something to me when I cut him off.


    [Hermano¨C]


    "Oh yeah, I knew you could do it. Of course, you can. However, I wish you brought more than a thousand deadheads because if you''re free to dual-wield, I''ll fucking dual-wield too. I''d hate to end your show early likest time."


    As soon as I said that, it prompted a mix of reactions from the crowd but Mr. Cuervo couldn''t hide the smile on his face. He startedughing through his earpiece and it reverberated throughout thepound. With that said, he soon looked at the camera with a faint smile and a sharp expression before he spoke in his earpiece.


    [Hahaha, I got that covered, Hermano. Anyway, I digress¨C we''ll take a short break after this but this night is so special in many ways¡­]


    At this moment, the big screen only disyed Mr. Cuervo''s figure once more but he was now holding his rapiers by the handle on one hand while he was taking a puff from his cigar. However, the twins had already made their way toward him and he handed his weapons to the one on the right while the other helped him wear his shirt without buttoning it.


    It just pped as the cold wind blew but Mr. Cuervo continued with his speech.


    [I say special because not only all of our families are present, but also there will be two families¨C old and new, joining us tonight!]


    Cheers erupted once again but a few were confused by Mr. Cuervo''s statement.


    [I see confusion in your faces but listen to me, the de Leon and the Rivas Family will be one after this night but the vacant spot will be filled by the person you just saw earlier. Some of you were there that particr night or you might have interacted with him earlier when they arrived¨C while some might''ve heard of him from whispers or have heard tales of his feats in passing.


    But I fucking assure you¡­ his family may be small but they''ve proven themselves that they''ve got what it takes and they share the principle these events of mine have to offer¡­]


    Mr. Cuervo paused for a moment before he pointed over in our direction.


    [Everybody! You''ve seen Ilya, you''ve seen Niks, and you''ve seen Alexei dominate the games as soon as they arrived in our haven, but they haven''t signed in to any of The Six Main Families, and it''s for one good reason¡­]


    The cameras were pointing at us at one point but it just zoomed into my figure.


    [It''s because they''re already in a family of their own¨C a family led by one man who just appeared one night that only had the purpose to partake in the festivities, but left opening everyone''s eyes and my own when he took the stage.


    He may look young as he is but like me, he came from the very bottom¨C in the pits of despair, from mind-numbing hopelessness, from an unfathomable tragedy¨C but he fucking wed his way out of that fucking situation and made himself what he is today!


    Ladies and gentlemen¨C I should''ve done this much, much earlier but I''d like you to wee the head of our newest family¨C The Ishiyama Family, SKY ISHIYAMAAA~!]


    ''This isn''t in the fucking ns¡­ Well, fuck it¡­ Whatever it takes to point everything at me¡­'' I tried to maintain a stoic expression as much as I could while everyone else close to me couldn''t help but try to make me chortle, but I felt a tap from behind.


    The bunny girl was actually just staying behind us and she prompted me to stand up and show myself to everyone. And as soon as I did, cheers and apuse weed me, and my own highlights were once again disyed on the screen. However, it was soon followed by Ilya, Niks, and Alexei''s own highlights before two different clips from different POVs yed alongside each other.


    One of them was the pping match between Mikhail and Bob while the other was Artem piling bodies on top of bodies in the Cages.


    Shock and awe were the first few reactions I''ve heard from the people sitting close to our group but the screen went back to showing Mr. Cuervo''s figure that now had his missing coat draped over his shoulders. He was now back on the stage with the twins now wearing short gowns, and he once again took to the mic to say his piece.


    [As you can all see, the moment my Hermano came back, he brought two other extraordinary men that beat past champions all on their own¨C without even knowing the full extent of what owning one of my coins entailed¡­]


    Jared nudged me, "Bro, he skipped me¡­ He skipped me, right?"


    "Yeah¡­ Maybe because you gave yours to me¡­ It''s probably for the best though¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ G-Good thing¡­"


    "Don''t mind it that much. If things go south, I''m gonna need you and Kaley watching our backs. Besides, the people present when you won that coin you gave me will still remember."


    "True¡­"


    Jared and I had a talk for a short moment but Mr. Cuervo was still talking to the whole crowd.


    [The coins I''ve given to the Champions are tokens of the highest honor and those coins will give you ess to all of my facilities but with certain obvious exceptions and limitations.


    However, the most important thing it could give you is the power to influence a vote within our internal meetings and the more you have at your family''s disposal, the more you could affect The Six Families'' final decision. It doesn''t matter how many you have now but it will matter after everything''s over.


    Ah¨C I digressed once again but before we take this short break, I''d like to introduce everyone properly! To my left-hand side~~~ THE ALVAREZ FAMILY~!!!]


    The lights and the cameras panned to the area Mr. Cuervo pointed to and it showed a group of people that numbered a few hundred that suddenly threw poses of their own. Their head was actually the guy who I thought was Mr. Cuervo''s rtive who had the same taste in clothes like him and almost the same aura he was subconsciously letting out.


    With that said, he was given the same introduction as I was and the Champions on his side were also introduced promptly.


    However, the Champions themselves were men with a few words¨C a huge contrast from their supporters at the back who were cheering their name as loud as they could. It''s just that all of them were dressed in formal clothes though one of them was looking straight at me¨C even from a distance. I wasn''t entirely sure of his intentions but I just let out a faint smile before I ignored himpletely.


    I thought the break woulde sooner but it took a good 30 minutes before everyone else was properly introduced.


    After that, we were made aware of the whole Cuervo Family, the Alvarez Family, the Garcia Family, of which the couple we''ve met before who owned the casino were the heads, the Rivas Family, of which Sally was the head, and the de Leon Family, of which Quinn was a part of, but thest one was the Castillo Family.


    For a moment, I thought they were the Rivas Family because of their few numbers on the viewing tforms, but to my surprise, they had thergest number of people that attended. When their turn came up, the wholepound almost shook and even the enclosure they were stationed on had enough people present for their own cheers to almost act as an echo from the cheers their people inside Mr.


    Cuervo''spound were shouting out.


    Their head was an older dude that was on the skinnier side but the aura he was projecting was enough to be a match with Mr. Cuervo and the rest of the heads present. He had this look that would tell from a nce that he had seen the world for what it was from different eras or generations but he was still ready to outlive the current generation.


    ''Hmm¡­''

 Chapter 726: Weirdest Scavenger Hunt

    I was just staring at the older dude¨C Mr. Castillo, as he was casually looking at everyone with a faint smile but I almost choked on my spit when his eyes suddenly darted in my direction. We had a brief moment of just simply staring at each other but he just tipped his fedora before turning to one of the people next to him.


    I wished I have my own fedora with me to reply back but it was just far toote¨C and fucking weird, to acquire one and stare at him to hopefully get another interaction. It''s just that I would''ve preferred to meet each head before the events started but I''ve only got to talk with a few of them.


    With that said, I''m feeling something different from Mr. Castillo but I just couldn''t put it into words.


    ''Weird old man¡­''


    In which case, Mr. Cuervo finally announced the 15-minute break and he just went back to his ce before the music took over.


    At the same time, refreshments were made avable at the back of the viewing tforms though there were vendors pushing carts or carrying food trays around to get to customers faster.


    It was pretty obvious as to who in my crew instantly called for several vendors at the same time, and I had to switch seats with her so Kaley, Quinn, and I wouldn''t keep passing her ordered food to her side.


    I was now sitting between Kaley and Cynthia but since our ''family'' was small in numbers, a mix of people was sitting behind us. However, when I turned around to look back, a great number of them were the people from Quinn''s crew that Mikhail and I recently beat up.


    I turned to them and smiled cheekily, "''Sup?"


    I thought all would''ve been forgiven but perhaps it wasn''t.


    "''SUP?! DID HE JUST¡ª"


    "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING SHITFACE!!! I BROKE TWO RIBS¡ª"


    "I''LL FUCK YOU UP WHEN I HAVE THE CHANCE¡ª"


    "IT ISN''T OVER YET, YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    "I''LL SMASH ALL OF YOUR TEETH IN TOO!!!"


    All of them just started talking on top of one another and I barely understood a word they said, but the moment I raised my hand to brush my hair to the side, almost all of them suddenly flinched.


    It prompted theughter of their group that just watched them get beaten up, and Quinn wasn''t even that interested to join in the conversation.


    With that said, the 15 minutes quickly came to an end but Mr. Cuervo didn''t appear on stage.


    Instead, the twins came up while holding cute identical microphones and they greeted everyone before introducing themselves.


    [HI, EVERYONE~! I''M RURU!]


    [AND I''M RIRI~!]


    [AND WE''RE HERE TO HOST THE FIRST PART OF THE EVENTS!]


    [As you can see on the viewing tforms, we have our beautiful sisters and our handsome brothers that would stop at nothing to give their customers whatever they need. However, it seemed like we might''ve switched essories on the way here¡­]


    [Oh, no~! What are we gonna do now?!]


    [Don''t worry, Ruru! It''s just a couple of buttplugs, it''s very easy to find them, right?]


    [B-But Riri! Ours almost look the same as theirs and the only way to find the difference is to pull it out and check the initials! Won''t it be too¡ª]


    [Too what? Pleasurable? I kinda wish I put in the one left to us so the ones that would being for us would pull it out¡­ Mmh¡­]


    [RIRI! You''re being too horny! It''s not even thatte yet!]


    [Hngh¡­ I just love butt stuff so¡ª]


    [RIRI~! Please stop or you''re gonna make me horny too!]


    ''What the fu¡ª''


    [A-Anyway¡­ the rules for the first game are simple!]


    [The person who brings our plugs here in the fastest time will win a HUGEEE~~~ REWARD!!!]


    [B-B-BUT~~~! HOLD YOUR HORSES! TO AVOID A STAMPEDE, ONLY TWO MEMBERS OF EACH FAMILY WILL BE ALLOWED TO PARTAKE¡ª]


    [AND NO EXCESSIVE HARM SHOULD BEFALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS! UNLESS THEY WANTED IT!!!]


    [YOU CAN FIGHT AMONGST YOURSELVES AND EVEN STEAL THEIR ACQUIRED BUTT PLUG¡ª]


    [BUT THE ONLY PEOPLE WE''D COUNT TO BE THE WINNERS ARE THE ONES WHO BROUGHT THEM HERE!]


    [OH!]


    [WE ALMOST FORGOT!]


    [BONUS POINTS IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE''S WHICH!]


    [YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO DECIDE YOUR MEMBERS!]


    [DECIDE NOW!]


    [TEN!!!]


    [NINE!!!]


    [EIGHT!!!]


    I was still shaking my head from the rules of the first game but I discovered that everyone in my group was looking at me. I didn''t know why they were looking at me like we were in a time crunch but even Kaley was nudging me to hurry up.


    "What?!"


    "Decide on the participants, doofus!"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Tatiana interjected, "I''m already going! Quinn''s participating and I could care less about the other one!"


    [SEVEN!!!]


    [SIX!!!]


    [FIVE!!!]


    "We need someone quick and someone gentle!"


    "Why would we need someone gentle?!"


    "We''re pulling out plugs from their assholes, right?!"


    "And?!"


    "We''re not supposed to hurt them, remember?!"


    "What?! They''d probably like it, just pull it out! It''s probably lubed already!"


    "That''s why I stood up immediately. My hands are still oily from the food I¨C"


    "Hurry up and decide on thest member!"


    [FOUR!!!]


    [THREE!!!]


    "Fuck it, anyone will do!"


    "You''re not going?!"


    "I''m not pulling out plugs and getting surprised if they don''t clean properly!"


    "Don''t worry about it! They''re all prepped before going up here!"


    "How did you know that?!"


    "Irrelevant!"


    "So who''s going?!"


    [TWO!!!]


    "Fine, I''ll go."


    "Are you serious?"


    "Haa¡­ yeah¡­ no one else wants to do it so¡­"


    [ONE!!!]


    [READY~~~!]


    [SET~~~!]


    [GO~~~!!!]


    To our surprise, Katya actually stood up and cracked her knuckles but before we even discovered who Quinn''s partner was, all of the entertainers just rushed through the safety rails and vaulted over them.


    I fucking thought all of them had a death wish but to surprise us for the second time, safety cushions were already ced below without our notice and all of themnded safely.


    However, this game''s difficulty just bumped up a notch.


    I thought they would all just stay put and it''ll be the weirdest game of scavenger hunt but this ce continued to surprise me. Good thing cameras were installed all around and even drones were flying to provide ample footage.


    With that said, Tatiana and Katya quickly followed after the crowd of entertainers wearing buttplugs before the rest of the participants in the other families had time to think.


    Even Quinn was bbergasted when dozens and dozens of dancers ran past her but she was already making her way down with a guy numbered "10", and they seemed to have a particr target in mind.


    It only took a second before our team caught the same bunnydy that tried to sell to me earlier, and once her fluffy plug was pulled out, a fucking moaning sound effect came from the speakers.


    [AAAHHNNNN~~~]


    I didn''t know what type of cameras were used but we could clearly see her gaping hole plop open the moment her plug was pulled out of her.


    However, the plug that was pulled was only shiny and didn''t have any inscriptions on it, but Tatiana shoved it back to confuse the other participants. I was nodding at her tactical decision approvingly but at the same time, I was being entertained and dying fromughter.


    ''Who fucking thought of this game?! Hah!''


    Even Kaley was dying fromughter when the sound effects woulde through to the speakers but it was actually an intense match.


    This game wouldn''t only test their strength and speed from catching the entertainers, but it would also test their memorization skills to leave out the entertainers who they''ve already pulled a plug from.


    It didn''t help when the entertainers would just run in different directions so there should be some strategy involved.


    Intuition might alsoe into y but it was more likely based on luck if the people wearing them didn''t know it was the plugs that needed to be uncovered. However, the more entertainers you catch, the more your chances of finding where the plugs in question were.


    At this point, two minutes had passed but it was still as chaotic as it started.


    Looking at Quinn at her partner, they didn''t employ the same tactics as Tatiana and Katya, but they''ve already collected a lot of plugs that had the color scheme enough to fill two Infinity Gauntlets.


    I guess they deemed it would be too much work to plug it back in the entertainer that was trying to wiggle away, so they just kept their plug as a souvenir.


    It would''ve been easier to separate them from the ones that didn''t have a plug on but some of them were just too th to ascertain if they were wearing something or not. It would take catching them and spreading their cheeks open just to be sure and it would take a bit of time, but the majority of the people in the viewing tforms were fucking satisfied.


    However, while we were still watching the event unfold, someone from the Rivas family ran up to the stage and handed over a golden plug with the inscription "RR" on it. Their team was just under the radar the whole time but once a quick rey of what they did was shown on the screen, it couldn''t be more obvious why they were so quick to find the first one.


    There was a huge difference between the male and female entertainers and they opted for the most logical choice.


    [CONGRATS TO THE RIVAS TEAM FOR FINDING THE FIRST ONE! ARE YOU GONNA TRY AND GUESS WHICH ONE THIS BELONGS TO?!]

 Chapter 727: Not as they seemed?

    The state of y paused for a moment when the Rivas Family found one of the ''hidden'' plugs but everyone was waiting for their answer to the question. However, the pair from the Rivas Family was too embarrassed when they were face to face with the twins, and they couldn''t give a proper response.


    ''It''s 50-50, usually¡­''


    They even huddled to formte a proper answer but the crowd and the other yers were just yelling at them to say the first thing that came to mind.


    [U-Umm¡­ Is this R-Riri''s?]


    Everything went quiet for a moment before the twins looked at each other and chuckled, but they soon let out disappointed sighs as they waved their index fingers left and right.


    [Sorry, Rivas Family but your answer is wrong!]


    [So~ So~ Close! Right, Riri?]


    [Yes, Ruru! They were so~ so~ close!]


    [HOWEVER! The Rivas Family got a point for finding the first one!]


    [CONGRATULATIONS!]


    [WOOHOO~~~!]


    [BUT!]


    [BEFORE THE GAME RESUMES~~~!]


    [THEY''RE STILL FREE TO LOOK FOR THE OTHER ONE AND PERHAPS CORRECTLY GIVE THE ANSWER THIS TIME!]


    ''Huh? Isn''t it already obvious¡ª Oh~''


    The other participants were just about toin about the Rivas Family being able to join the match even though they had already found one of the plugs, but the twins had already started doing another countdown for the game''s continuance.


    [THREE!]


    [TWO!]


    [ONE!]


    [GOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!]


    Katya and Tatiana had already resumed the chase¡ª same with the Rivas Family, de Leon Family, and the others, but the Alvares Family had other ns.


    Their participants were only made up of two burly guys and instead of chasing around people with butt plugs on, they opted for a steal.


    Doing this would sound scummy and shrewd but there was no mention that it was against the rules. To be fair, I might''ve done the same thing if I was a participant but it was just too fucking early to do that type of shit. The only reason I''d do this early was if I was fucking tired or if all the targets were too fast, but I wasn''t here to give out judgment.


    Everyone had their own method of ying and the ones not involved should just enjoy the show.


    However, one particr member of the Cuervo Family didn''t agree with their methods, and everyone on the viewing tforms could see what he was about to do.


    Kaley instantly nudged me, "Isn''t that¡ª"


    "Yep. That''s Luis."


    "W-What is he¡ª"


    Kaley wasn''t even able to finish her sentence when we saw him sneak around the stage and pull his dick out, and he just started pissing on one of the Alvarez Family''s representatives.


    The guy was a foot taller than him and it only took a moment before the huge guy felt the warm trickle on his back.


    Luis quickly leaned back to dodge the backhand but he was still in mid-piss so his dick flopped wildly and it also reached the other guy right next to them. The sound got barely picked up because they weren''t wearing any microphones but everyone could already assume the words that were being exchanged¡­ if there were words to be exchanged, that is.


    Almost immediately, Luis started running for his life as he weaved through almost naked entertainers while the two guys that were waiting for an easy steal were running after him.


    With that said, the search for thest plug was still ongoing amidst the chaos but everyone was more focused on the chase that was going on concurrently.


    Surprisingly enough, Luis was like an eel dipped in butter as he tried to run from the two guys chasing after him, but no one thought that he would fight back.


    When the first game started, the participants for each team were decided in ten seconds and everyone was more focused on the entertainers that were running around, I doubt each participant could actually remember what their opponents looked like.


    Sure, some of them¡ª Tatiana and Katya were still wearing theirbat attire without the war belt and the chest rig, but what Luis¡ª and especially what his partner was wearing right now was fucking camouge at this game.


    I only discovered who Luis'' partner was because of the familiar bangles she was wearing and Luis was already making his way toward her.


    ''That''s definitely Elena¡­''


    And once Luis ran past her and tapped her back¡ª making it look like she shoved her amidst the chaos, Elena turned around and threw fistfuls of sand right at the exact fucking moment.


    All the burly guys saw was a fucking smokescreen before the first guy''s face got smashed in by Luis who quickly turned around and performed a jumping knee while Elena drove her steel-toed boot toward the other guy''s chin.


    Everything happened in an instant and the two guys that wanted to have it easy fell down before the sand attack settled.


    However, they weren''t knocked outpletely because they were just writhing in pain, but it was enough to take them out ofmission for a good time.


    With that said, cheers erupted¡ª even from the Alvarez Family''s corner, and the game continued as is. It''s just that half of the plugs were already pulled off from the targets though some of them were still running around to confuse the yers.


    Furthermore, it was safe to assume that the plug everyone was looking for would be in a female entertainer but just to be extra safe, the male entertainers that were already few in number had no plug unpulled.


    None of the participants were chasing after them now after the fact, but there seemed to be a small problem.


    It only took a few minutes topletely unplug all of the plugs in the entertainers'' back doors, but the plug in question was still missing.


    Even from thoroughly checking the ones that were left on the ground, none of them was a match from the first plug that was discovered by the Rivas Family. Not only did it sow confusion among the yers and the people on the viewing tform, but the look of confusion from the twins was also present.


    ''They didn''t know either¡­''


    I thought there would be some trick involved but the look on their faces said otherwise.


    Obviously enough, Quinn ran up to the stage and loomed over the twins with a sour expression.


    [ARE YOU TWO FUCKING WITH ME?! I DIDN''T RUN AROUND THE PLAY AREA FOR BAD PRODUCTION, RIGHT?!]


    [W-Wait, Quinn! W-W-We¡ª]


    [ANSWER ME OR I''LL SHOVE MY FIST UP YOUR ASSES!]


    [HIIIIIII~!]


    [W-W-W-We r-really didn''t know what happened!]


    [Please! Believe us!]


    [THEN WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW, HUH?!]


    [W-W-We c-can just r-restart with the one that was found¡ª]


    [THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! AFTER ALL THAT?! WE''RE GONNA¡ª]


    [P-Please c-calm down!]


    [I AM CALM!!!]


    The twins were about to get a piece out of Quinn and I could already see Mr. Cuervo sprinting from his house to diffuse the situation, but everyone''s jaw just dropped when Tatiana and Katya checked the back of her knees and made her lose bnce.


    [Calm down, Quinn.]


    [Yeah, calm down. Why are you so¡ª]


    [WHAT?! WHO ARE YOU¡ª]


    [We said to calm down, we just won. See?]


    [HUH¡ª]


    [WHA¡ª]


    [HUHHHHHH?!]


    The twins, Quinn, and the rest of the participants were fucking shocked when Tatiana casually pulled out the missing plug from her pockets and handed it over to one of them, and I was probably the only one that saw Mr. Cuervo trip and fall before quickly scurrying back to his mansion.


    With that said, even the people from the viewing tforms were confused because everyone spent a good time searching for the missing plug without finding a single trace of it, but lo and behold, my team had it all along.


    At this point, the whole ce was fucking quiet and Tatiana had to grope one of the twins for a response.


    [A-Ahn~! W-Wha¡ª]


    [Are you gonna announce us the winners or are you gonna make me reach lower?]


    [Y-Yes¡­]


    [You didn''t answer the question¡­ Hmm? You''re still¡ª]


    [W-W-Wait! Shh~!] Riri instantly pulled away from Tatiana''s hold while she was red through her neck.


    [R-Riri! Are you okay?!] Ruru quickly went to her sister''s side before looking cautiously at Tatiana and Katya.


    [I''m fine, R-Ruru¡­ A-Anyway¡­ c-congrats to the Ishiyama Family for finding thest¡ª]


    [Wait a sec, Riri! We should¡ª]


    Quinn interjected, [No. You two wait a sec,] then she turned to the other two, [Hey, what did you two do? Howe the plug is in your hands all along?]


    Tatiana chuckled, [Irrelevant.]


    [YOU¡ª]


    [We don''t need to exin ourselves. Besides, you could figure out what we did if you think about it so there''s no point exining.] Tatiana chuckled once more as she put her hands up.


    [Don''t tell me¡ª]


    Katya shook her head before speaking up, [You''re just dragging it, it''s not like there''s a round two or anything. We already had it the first minute in and we just waited until thest second to reveal ours.]


    Quinn''s partner spoke up as well, [I-I-I already know that but why¡ª Oh~!]


    Katya just chuckled, [For the bonus points and to avoid wasting energy from an altercation.]


    Tatiana continued, [But it''s not over yet. We''re still skeptical of the right answer.]


    Katya nodded, [Right.]


    As soon as my team said that, I was nodding approvingly because the twins gave a subtle hint earlier.


    The obvious answer was that the plug that was first given to the twins should''ve belonged to Ruru, but if they worded their statement earlier that finding the second plug meant just a chance to give another answer, things might be not what they seemed.

 Chapter 728: The Prize - Game 2?

    As of right now, everyone from the viewing tforms and every participant in the y area had a mix of reactions, but aside from me and a few that already figured out the small trick, the twins were also wearing a cheeky smile.


    ''I knew it¡­''


    Even if they didn''t confirm nor deny my team''s theory about the correct answer, the looks they were giving us were already more of a give-away.


    Furthermore, it was like they weren''t the scaredy-cats that were trying to get away from Quinn''s wrath earlier, but instead, their excited and ''showman'' expressions were on disy for everyone to see.


    In any case, Ruru kept the plugs inside a cute little case while Riri ced her mic towards Tatiana and Katya.


    [So~ What is your answer?]


    The two just looked at each other before Katya shrugged her shoulders as Tatiana leaned over to the mic.


    [They belong to each of you, correct?]


    [Ding! Ding! Ding!]


    [Your answer is correct~!]


    [Not only did the Ishiyama Family get a point in their belt, but they also won the bonus for guessing who owned our plugs¡ª which we will reveal now!]


    At this moment, jolly music apanied the twins as they talked, but in my opinion, the prizes for winning the first game weren''t as useful as I thought. But free stuff was free stuff so I shouldn''tin as much.


    [The prizes are as follows:]


    [Since the Rivas Family and the Ishiyama Family won, starting tomorrow, they would each receive 5% of the proceeds from the Pink House!]


    [Isn''t that great?!]


    [FURTHERMORE!!!]


    [We all know that the golden coins from Mr. Cuervo had certain ''benefits'' or tititing ''rewards'' when ites to our ce of work, but fret not! The head of each respective family that won will be given the opportunity to grant two other people¡ªand themselves¡ªtheir very own VIP Pass!]


    [That means~ the people holding those passes will be serviced by the Pink House for as much as they wanted, and you''ll be able to take home an ''entertainer'' of your choice for a week! But, if you took too long to get them back, your passes will be revoked and you''ll have to pay them extra for each hour they aren''t in our house!]


    With that said, if the winner was living in Mr. Cuervo''s residence or somewhere close, it would''ve been perfect but I wasn''t. Sure, Ilya and the rest were living here and Irene and her group were only a short drive away from this ce, but the people or the groups who were stationed a ways away would be at a little disadvantage.


    ''Giving away shares of the proceeds of one of his businesses is great and all but it would still benefit Mr. Cuervo in the long run¡­ If more people were to stay here and or closeby to have ess to his facilities¡ª due to the way he''s growing his empire, the 10% would be negligible¡­''


    Everyone else had a mix of reactions to the rewards but the twins turned to Katya and Tatiana.


    The music was reced with something appropriate while my team gulped in anticipation, then the twins leaned even closer to the two before opening their mouths.


    [And the bonus reward¡­]


    [Here!]


    [Huh? Aren''t these¡ª]


    [Yup!]


    [You own us now!]


    [Wut?]


    [HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH?!]


    What happened was the twins handed over the cute little case where their plugs were stored before they leaped onto Katya and Tatiana''s arms and gave them a peck on their lips.


    Almost immediately, the crowd went wild as soon as it happened but two different things happened on the stage.


    While Tatiana was already shoving her tongue down Ruru''s throat, Katya was shaking off Riri from her arms like an unwanted pest. At the same time, everyone felt the pressure that Artem just let out and it prompted the ones close to him to back away.


    ''Uh-oh.''


    I was afraid to say that the pressure he released was more than the time Kristoff fell but it fucking was. He was just sitting quietly in his spot but no one even dared to enter his personal space for fear of getting involved.


    In any case, he began to calm down when Katya draped Riri over Tatiana''s back, but our side of the viewing tform got even more crowded.


    Not only did Quinne back with my team while she was running her mouth off, but the twins were also closely following behind them and sat on the same spot. Our ce had once again be the main attraction and it seemed like I was the only one feeling the piercing stares from all around.


    I could only sigh and drop my head low to attempt to be a little inconspicuous but Tatiana casually threw the case of plugs on myp.


    ''Hah! I''m in danger¡­''


    It only took a second before the twins threw themselves onto me but not only Kaley¡ª but also Cynthia didn''t budge. Let''s just say Riri got t-out rejected for the second time in a row while Ruru got her first one.


    The twins almost threw tantrums on the spot but luckily enough, Quinn was also there to keep them in ce.


    I didn''t have the time to fool around right now because the second game was being prepared at this moment.


    At this point, all we were seeing were kegs of beer being loaded on one side of the stage while different colored gs were being nted on the same spot. However, the first intersection by the entrance was opened uppletely before the same set of gs were nted, and it seemed that more than two members would be needed from each group.


    After a bit of time,rge beer mugs along with foldable tables were brought in and arge guy wearing a nice suit came up from the bottom of the stage.


    I have never seen this man before but he was dapper as dapper goes.


    However, what I didn''t expect were the cheers that erupted the moment his face was disyed on the big screen.


    Like Mr. Cuervo and most of the heads, his hair was slicked back while strands of white invaded the side of his head, but instead of having a thin mustache, he was sporting a well-trimmed chinstrap that could almost hide the scar on his neck.


    Furthermore, he was almost always looking slightly down¡ª almost as if he was trying to hide the long gash below his chin, but despite all that, the smile he was wearing was genuine.


    He cheerfully waved and bowed to each of the heads on the viewing tform¡ªincluding me¡ªand he even gave me a short congrattions for ''winning'' the twins from the first game.


    ''I hope he''s not this game''s bonus prize¡­''


    With that said, he seemed to be listening to something from his earpiece but he just nodded a few times before he faced the cameras.


    [HAHAHA! WELCOME EVERYONE TO THE SECOND GAME DESIGNED BY YOURS TRULY AND IF YOU DON''T KNOW WHO I AM YET, I''M JUST THE FUCKING GUY THAT MADE OUR SPECIALTY BEER! JIMMY''S CERVEZAS!]


    Cheers erupted for the second time but our fucking guy continued.


    [I KNOW, I KNOW, I JUST TOOK OVER THE BREWERY CLOSE BY BUT THE RECIPE I''M USING IS MY OWN! And u-uh¡­ if you know someone who could change the design so it doesn''t say SMB every single time would be great¡ª Ah, MOVING ON!]


    [I''LL LEAVE THE REWARDS FOR LATER BUT THIS GAME WOULD NEED FIVE MEMBERS FROM EACH FAMILY! I GUESS THE SHARP ONES AMONG YOU COULD PROBABLY GUESS THE NEXT GAME BUT BEFORE I EXPLAIN THE RULES, I NEED THE FIVE MEMBERS RIGHT FUCKING NOW! I''LL COUNT TO FIVE!]


    At this point, I didn''t even need to assign participants because almost everybody volunteered as tribute.


    The first one who stood up was Mikhail, followed by Bogdan, then Ilya, and to my surprise, Artem. I thought Niks or Alexei would decide between themselves as to who would be the fifth member but they both sat down when Jose stood up with a huge smile across his face.


    It was almost unsettling the way he was eyeing the kegs of beer below but one of Quinn''s crew grabbed his shoulder.


    "Bro, they already went down. Where are you going?"


    Jose never looked so confused, "Hah?"


    "Aren''t you¡ª Holy fucking shit, I thought you were one of us!"


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As soon as that happened, Jose looked like he was about to kill me because I talked him into getting multiple tattoos to ''blend'' in. However, he did blend in a little too much because he would always get mistaken to be a member of the de Leon Family.


    With that said, my group eventually made their way with the other groups and they were made to wear colored bandanas with the same pattern as the gs.


    Looking at each of them, it seemed like everyone got the memo because only huge guys that could hold their own were the ones that joined except for Quinn that was towering over some of them. Her partner wasn''t even included in the second game but if drinking was involved, I doubt Quinn would''ve passed it up.


    ''If only drinking was the game¡­ I''ve seen a version of this in Texas¡­''


    With that said, the Jimmy guy couldn''t hide his excitement when the participants were waiting for his orders, and he just smiled brightly before speaking on the microphone. It crackled shortly before a screeching feedback resounded but it was immediately fixed by the sound guys.


    [Alright, what we''re doing is the Cuervo Heights Beer Ry!]

 Chapter 729: Keep it a buck. - Broken Spirits

    As soon as the second game was announced, a set of lights that trailed around the wholepound lit up and it was connected to the lightsing from the central y area and the main entrance. Furthermore, more gs were nted in this ce''s cardinal and intercardinal directions and there were cameras ced near them to provide ample footage.


    With that said, our Jimmy guy waited for the cheers to die down before he cleared his throat and spoke on the mic.


    [Alright~ The rules are very ''simple'':]


    [I already mentioned that this is a ry but not only would each family race around thepound, but the kegs of beer we''ve prepared for you wille into y!]


    [As you can see, each family is given four kegs of beer¡ªmade with my recipe, of course¡ªand the goal is to finish them all and have each participant run at least ap. Why, you ask? It''s because for a participant to be allowed to run around the track for a singlep, they should have drunk a single mug, B-B-BUT!


    If a runner is too full to drink in theter rounds, their teammates will be allowed to cover them but at the cost of two full mugs!]


    ''Hmm¡­''


    [ALSO!]


    [Just a word of warning, you can have a person or two stay back and drink their hearts out for their teammate, but do remember to drink moderately or to pace yourselves. They''re still required to run a singlep at the minimum and running with a full belly of beer will be trouble, just saying.]


    [And remember, only two members from each family are allowed to run at the same time¡ªsince it''s still a ry¡­ kinda¡ªbut the ones at their respective table could continue drinking and add up to the number of runs avable to them. Oh, and spige will be deducted from your time so don''t even think about cutting corners or doing something shady.


    Let''s keep it a buck and enjoy the free beer by yours truly.]


    ''How many times is he gonna say that he made the beer¡­''


    [Other than that, everything is open to interpretation, and please enjoy the most amazing and most delicious¡ª JIMMY''S CERVEZAS!!!]


    ''...''


    At the same time the rules were being exined, a case of the same beer¡ªbut in bottled form¡ªwas served to each of the heads, but I just opened one and took a small sip before I just held it in my hands and offered the rest of my team the remaining bottles.


    ''It''s really good though¡­''


    "You guys want some? Just don''t drink too¡ª"


    The twins instantly cut me off, "Ooh! We''ll take one, thanks~!"


    "Sure¡­ Be careful of¡ª"


    "Ah!"


    As ''luck'' would have it, and in some sort of way how twins would sometimes be a little too in sync, the moment they twisted the caps of the bottles I handed over to them, the contents just spilled out into their short gowns and drenched their bodies.


    "Ah, you two okay?"


    Their clothes were already fitted but the beer just made it stick to their bodies more, highlighting their features.


    With that said, the rowdy crew of grease monkeys behind us couldn''t help but ogle and catcall, but my group was already there for the rescue. Even if the twins were in a certain line of work, they never looked so embarrassed the moment the beer spilled onto their clothes.


    However, at this point, the game was about to start so I had to hurry up and nip it in the bud.


    I just casually turned around and faced them before I opened my mouth, "Hey, the game''s about to start and I don''t want to miss a second of it. Since almost all of you are injured, it''s gonna take me about five minutes to beat up half of you before the other half surrenders or gets rescued by Quinn so¡­ How about we ''keep it a buck'' and act like this wasn''t the first time we saw twodies get wet?"


    But as usual, threats don''t usually work on dumb people.


    "HAH!"


    "YOU GUYS HEARING THIS?!"


    "FUCKING WHITE KNIGHT, I TELL YA!"


    "THAT''S SO FUCKING CRINGE!"


    "WHAT''S SO BAD ABOUT WHAT WE''RE DOING IF YOU''RE JUST GONNA FUCK THEIR HOLES LATER?!"


    "FUCKING HYPOCRITE!"


    "YEAH!"


    "YOUR BIG BODYGUARD''S NOT HERE! YOU THINK YOU COULD TAKE US ALL ON?!"


    "D-Don''t push it man¡­"


    "R-Right¡­ Right¡­ ANYWAY! FUCK YOU, MAN! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!"


    I was this fucking close to grabbing one of them and throwing them over to the other side but it was at this moment when the twins stood up and broke their spirits.


    "YEAH! HE''S GONNA FUCK OUR HOLES LATER BUT GUESS WHAT?!"


    "HE''LL REACH US DEEPER THAN WHATEVER YOUR MICRODICKS ARE LIKE AND HE''LL AT LEAST MAKE US CUM!"


    Tatiana joined in, "YEAH!"


    "Tatiana?! Why are you¡ª"


    "They''re speaking facts. What are you on about?"


    "..."


    Despite that, the twins continued their onught.


    "YOU WITH THE NOSE RING!"


    "M-ME?!"


    "YES, YOU!"


    "ALL THE GIRLS ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW YOUR DICK AND BALLS FUCKING SMELL SO FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD, LEARN TO USE A FUCKING SOAP!"


    "AND YOU WITH THE FAKE EYEDROP TATTOO!"


    "YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR TOUGH BUT EVERYONE IN THE PINK HOUSE KNOWS YOU CRY EVERY TIME YOU CUM!"


    "WHA¡ª WHA¡ª WHA¡ª THAT''S NOT TRUE!"


    "IT FUCKING IS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME YOU WASTE BY REQUESTING TO GET HELD AND CUDDLED! TOO FUCKING MUCH! YOU EVEN USE A SEPARATE VOUCHER FOR IT!"


    "AND YOU! THE BIG GUY AT THE BACK WITH A HOTDOG!"


    "WE KNOW YOU ALWAYS REQUEST TO GET FISTED BY ALMA BUT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, LEARN TO WASH THE INSIDE OF YOUR FUCKING ASS! WE DO THE PREP WORK SO YOU SHOULD DO IT TOO! YOU EVEN LEAVE THE PINK PANTIES YOU USED TO WEAR WHEN YOU WANTED TO GET DOMINATED! IT''S SO FUCKING DISGUSTING, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!"


    ''I guess this works too¡­ a little too much¡­ Emo~tional~ Da~mage~''


    The twins kept pointing out specific people from their minds that did something to them and their co-workers, but I was more surprised at how much information they could retain and how detailed they were.


    However, since I heard them as well, everything they said would be ingrained in my head. Even if I acquired bullets those people couldn''t dodge, the image of the acts they had partaken in would forever live with me.


    With that said, our side of the viewing tform couldn''t be quieter because almost all of the people behind us looked like they aged several dozen years.


    But on our side, it was a little sudden earlier but we officially weed the two in our fold.


    After a few moments of the twins iming victory over Quinn''s crew, they eventually excused themselves to get a change of clothes.


    The race had already started its initial phase when they came back wearing workout clothes, but nothing too mind-blowing happened while they were gone.


    In which case, the moment the ry started, everyone picked up a full mug of beer and drank it at the same time, and the first two who finished their mugs from each family first ran like the wind.


    Everyone from each family did the same thing though Quinn''s group and the Alvarez Family continued to drink mug after mug, and it prompted each family to do the same after a few moments of deliberation.


    ''Pacing oneself is the logical choice but there was more to it than that¡­ It''s still a race but as our host said, the ones left unsaid are open to interpretation¡­ and that''s the key. This will be a game to test both sides of the most obvious approaches¡­''


    With that said, my crew had a slight advantage in speed among the runners that first made use of the track, but unless I saw everyone do their time, the winners couldn''t be decided at this stage. However, there was one particr participant in the Castillo family that caught my eye.


    The dude was a guy on the shorter side but he was definitely barrel-sized.


    Furthermore, he had this overgrown beard and long braided hair, and if he was holding an axe and a shield, I would mistake him for a fucking dwarven warrior. But that was not what caught my eye and it was the amount of beer he was taking in his huge belly.


    It was like he wasn''t breathing as he kept slurping everything up like a vacuum, and he only stopped because his beard got into his mouth. At one point, he actually asked for a boba straw to make slurping easier for him, and to everyone''s surprise, he started running the moment their teammate got back.


    ''They know what''s up.''


    They were on the slower side of the race but if he could continue to drink beer like there''s no tomorrow, they''ll end up with fewerps to run around.

 Chapter 730: The Best Alcoholic and Shameless Baldies

    As the race continued, everyone was beginning to empty out the first keg but there were certain groups that had just started on their second one. The first in line was the Castillo family followed by the de Leon Family and then the Alvarez Family. My own team and the rest were more or less even at the back and likest time, the Garcia family always remained almost invisible.


    The standings at the front were as such because even if the Castillo Family had a beer ''tank'' of their own, everyone else had something simr.


    Quinn was still the center of attention among our beer drinkers¡ªeven if she was trailing behind our dwarven warrior guy¡ªand in my group, there was Mikhail and Bogdan. However, I wasn''t entirely sure why they weren''t trying to down as much beer as they could since all of them were keeping a moderate pace, even Jose.


    I wouldn''t particrly count Artem in thisparison because even if I witnessed him survive Oscar''s moonshine and whatever the fuck he put in his drinkst time, tolerance and capacity were different things.


    Despite that, his weapon this time¡ªthe same as Ilya¡ªwas fucking speed.


    The two of them had the highest number ofpspleted and everyone else was more focused on running as fewerps as possible.


    It might even sound like a blunder on our part but the number of times a team was allowed to sprint across the track needed to be burned as well as the beer that was already inside their bodies.


    However, that didn''t mean sweating the alcohol from the beer out because our liver does almost all of the work. Granted beer had only a small percentage of alcohol but sometimes, doing strenuous work to try and get rid of it quickly might make it worse.


    In any case, they were sweating out parts of it that weren''t alcohol and it didn''t take long before someone had to pee where there was moderate cover. Truth be told, this was the only disadvantage Quinn had among the male participants because even with her size, she could run as fast as the rest of them.


    With that said, Artem and Ilya just finished their seventhp and they tagged out with Mikhail and Bogdan. Jose was still finishing the beer in his mug but it seemed like he would be running with Artem right after since Ilya had to conserve a bit of his energy.


    ''It''s a hit or miss with the games they''ve prepared since it would be difficult to formte a proper min/maxing strategy with each of them since they''re announced at the spot.


    However, since each participant just needed to run a singlep at the minimum to qualify, having the stomach capacity for liquids such as beer might be the answer¡­ Heck, if they could finish four kegs as fast as they could, each of them could just walk thep each of them is required to do¡­ but there''s always a catch¡­''


    "DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!"


    "FUCKING DRINK ALL OF IT!"


    "RUN! RUN! RUN!"


    Well, after a solid 30 minutes of watching each participant gobble mugs and mugs of beer and run around the track with a pained expression, to my surprise, nothing special fucking happened.


    It was simply a battle of whichever team had thergest stomach, nothing more.


    Sure, it might be exciting and fun for the people watching but the yers wanted to fucking die when they were on the third keg. In the end, there was no point in formting a proper strategy because it all boiled down to a down and dirty mud-fight as to who was the better alcoholic.


    In a sense, my team had the better end of the stick¡ªand the rest of the participants from the other families¡ªfor pacing themselves even though they lost and didn''t get a single point.


    The Castillo Family did win the first prize followed by the de Leon Family and then the Alvarez Family, but they weren''t too happy with the prizes¡ª especially the participants who almost threw up from drinking too much beer.


    [CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FAMILY THAT WON AND THE FIRST PRIZE IS A JIMMY''S CERVEZAS TANK TRUCK!!! IT CONTAINS 10,000 LITERS OF JIMMY''S CERVEZAS AND THE SECOND AND THE THIRD PLACER WILL RECEIVE 1,000 AND 500 LITERS OF JIMMY''S CERVEZAS RESPECTIVELY!!!]


    [WITH THAT SAID, THE REST WILL RECEIVE A CONSOLATION PRIZE OF JIMMY''S CERVEZAS BEER KEGS AND¡ª]


    Jimmy was still in the middle of congratting everyone when he was cut off by one of the participants from the Castillo Family''s side.


    "THAT''S IT?! JUST BEER¡ª NO SHARES¡ª NOTHING?!"


    [A-Ah¡­ You see¡ª]


    "THAT''S BULLSHIT!!!"


    "YEAH!!!"


    "THE ISHIYAMA FAMILY GOT THE TWINS AND WE GOT BEER?!"


    "WE CAN''T FUCK BEER!!!"


    "YEAH!!!"


    [B-But that''s still a lot of beerpared to¡ª]


    "LISTEN HERE, YOU¡ª"


    The guyining was about to start a riot but the dwarven warrior guy grabbed him from the back and performed a suplex, knocking him outpletely by smashing his head on the ground. Furthermore, his hype guy was also knocked the fuck out because they were causing too much trouble. After that, he walked forward and gave an apologetic look before he spoke in his deep and gravelly voice.


    "I''m sorry for my junior here. We dly ept the prize."


    [Ah¡ª Is that so? R-Right¡ª Anyway¡­ Oh! Hold up, one second¡­]


    Jimmy seemed to have received some sort of order from his earpiece and he just nodded a few times before he let out a faint smile towards the Castillo Family, specifically the head of the Castillo Family who was sitting on their spot and seemed to be talking to his right-hand man.


    [Mr. Castillo, apologies¡­ Mr. Cuervo said there was a slight oversight with the prizes in this game but he invites you to a private meeting right after the games are concluded. He said he would be wee to discuss arrangements if¡ª]


    At this point, both the faces of Jimmy and Mr. Castillo were on the big screen but Mr. Castillo suddenly cut him off. He was wearing this stoic expression at first but even I felt pressure when he frowned momentarily.


    [There would be no need. The oversight was on my part and for that, I apologize. I didn''t think I''d have such disrespectful children within my fold and they''ll ''apologize'' profusely once they wake up. Other than that, I apud Javier for carrying the team¡ª and the rest for support. A huge percentage of this game''s winnings will belong only to him and a generous amount will also be given to his party.


    Good job.]


    [A-Ah, that''s Mr. Castillo, everyone! PLEASE GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE AND THE REST OF THE TEAMS WHO WON!!! WE''LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK AFTER THIS!!!]


    As soon as Jimmy stopped speaking, the cheers followed but it only reached a high point after a few seconds of build-up. Music reced it right after but my eyes were glued to the two people that Mr. Castillo branded as ''disrespectful children''.


    They were carried away from the area but instead of bringing them back to the viewing tforms, they were brought outside thepound. Furthermore, the person Mr. Castillo was talking to promptly followed and his face was just devoid of emotion, and I could see how the people he was about toe across give way with a wary gaze.


    ''...''


    I watched him disappear to the exit but my attention was ced on my team that just came up on our side of the viewing tforms.


    "Nice try, nice try~"


    "Eh~ We still lost¡­"


    Bogdan put his hands up, "The beer was fucking delicious but it''s just too much at one sitting! We would''ve won 3rd ce if Artem and Ilya continued drinking!"


    Jose interjected, "No, that was a good choice."


    "W-Well, kinda but¡ª"


    Ilya chuckled, "I would''ve continued if we got the numbers but Mr. Cuervo wasn''t even hosting the games yet. Trust me, it''ll be difficult to win every single one of them if you''re already about to tap out on the warmups."


    Niks added from the side, "And if we want to be on our ''best''ter, we should be like the Garcia Family. They barely put up any effort since the prizes aren''t said before the game starts."


    Alexei casually replied, "Yep¡­"


    Kaley leaned back to look at Niks, "What do you mean?"


    "There''s no betting pool¡­ yet."


    "Oh, right¡­" Kaley just nodded with a pensive look.


    Niks continued, "The Garcia family is a calcted bunch. They won''t easily put their best efforts into a ''mystery box'' of sorts. They''ll only put all of their chips when it''s an assured win or the chances are extremely high or if the prize is too good to pass up. If it was me, I''dy low until the right game pops up for us. Everyone else has the luxury to send more members but we don''t. If we¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    Niks just paused mid-sentence while everyone was just looking at him, but he turned his head to the side to look at the numbered baldies behind us.


    "What''s up with you guys? Hadn''t had enough?"


    "A-Ah¡ª"


    "We don''t know what you''re t-talking about¡­"


    "Ooh! Is that a bird?"


    "That''s a fly¡­"


    "..."


    All of them were definitely listening in to our conversation and the face they made when Niks caught them in the middle of the act was fucking priceless. In a sense, these guys couldn''t act for shit¡ª even if their life depended on it, and they definitely caught some knuckles when Quinn came up at the right time.


    "YOU DUMB FUCKS NEVER KNOW SHAME?! W-Well, what are you guys talking a-about?" Quinn coughed before turning the other way.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."

 Chapter 731: "Quick" Quickie

    It was pretty obvious to say that Niks, Ilya, and Alexei knew more about each family''s way of doing things¡ª In this case, how the Garcia family was being cautious, because they were here for more times than my original group and the bunch of guys listening to our conversation from behind.


    Sure, some of them might''ve attended once or twice before the end of the world happened or they might''ve been here more times than the three, but I doubt they were paying attention to what every family''s tactics were. In a sense, most of them were here to have fun instead of trying to win as much as possible in a methodical way.


    At this point, I ryed what we talked about to Quinn and we allowed the rest of the baldies to listen in. Some of them even had inputs that proved useful and confirmed Niks'' statement so we just shared a bit of info as the short break went on.


    "You see now?"


    Quinn just nodded pensively, "Well, the Garcia Family didn''t have a casino business for nothing¡­ Just think of these games as bonus points to top off the ones that wouldeter. The betting pool went over my head because there''s just a whole lot in attendance."


    "True."


    "So, I''m kinda wet. Wanna take five and ''wipe'' me off?"


    "Ah¡ª M-Maybe not this¡ª"


    "Hah! I''m just joking, I''m not as buzzed as you think I am. Besides¡ª"


    Cynthia suddenly cut her off, "Hey! You had your turn earlier! One-on-one too!"


    Quinn chuckled, "Oh? Is there a schedule I''m unaware of?"


    "N-Not exactly but¡ª"


    The twins interjected as well, "So, when''s our turning up? You can take us both if you want¡ª"


    I tried to fight for my dick, "Wait a freakin'' second¡ª"


    But Marina joined in as well, "I hadn''t had my turn in a while so¡ª"


    "Wait a freakin'' second!"


    "How long is the break even?"


    "I dunno¡­"


    "We could make the best out of it though¡ª"


    "Guys, stop."


    Kaley''s voice suddenly resounded.


    It instantly put the quibble to a stop and even if she didn''t project her voice, everyone close heard it loud and clear. However, she suddenly turned to me and put her hands around my neck before she nted a huge kiss on my mouth. Moreso, she sat in front of me while we continued to make out, and she even made me ce my hands on her hip and on her ass.


    Doing this in public instantly garnered a lot of reactions but Kaley didn''t even care. Well, some people were already doing it around the viewing tforms so we were just going in with the vibe. Right now, I was just wondering how far Kaley would take it.


    She continued to press her body against me as her embrace became tighter, and even her legs were starting to wrap around my back.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    As the break continued, the people serving the refreshments had already started going around with a different variety of food and drinkpared to earlier, and some of them even changed costumes. Even the bunny girl that was assigned to us earlier was now wearing a different furry costume.


    However, in my case, I was being served a different meal and it wasn''t something I could easily say no to.


    Kaley''s lips never tasted so sweet and each time I breathe in, her intoxicating scent would just make my head a little fuzzy, making me think of doing her right here and now. Furthermore, it didn''t take long before I got hard and Kaley took it upon herself to grind her hips on top of ''me'' while we were continuing to make out.


    At this point, Kaley was already letting out short and muffled moans with each breath and I fucking know that it''ll only take a little bit more before ''it'' happens.


    Before it did, I quickly pulled off from her because I didn''t want the people behind to see the expression she was about to let out, among other things. Granted some of the girls here have already seen it, I wanted it to remain inside closed doors.


    However, Kaley never looked so distraught when I stopped her at the right moment because she was longingly staring at me while she was biting her lip and taking deep breaths. Looking around, Cynthia and the twins wanted a piece of that action but they had to wait a little more.


    It''s just that Kaley wasn''t willing to.


    She didn''t let go of me as she continued to press her body against me while grinding her crotch against my shaft, but her eyes wandered to the side before a smile got stered across her face.


    I wasn''t sure what she saw from the distance but she quickly hopped off of me before she took my hand and pulled me along.


    "W-Where are we going?"


    "There!" Kaley pointed to a few ''stations'' made with stic and colored blue.


    "Ah¡ª"


    From the distance¡ª at the furthest part of the viewing tforms, tens of feet away from the stands where refreshments were sold, and at the very back were medium-sized porta-potties that had one or two vacancies.


    We quickly made our way inside one of them and Kaley was already unzipping her pants the moment we closed the door.


    "A-Are you sure about this, Kaley?"


    "H-Hngh¡­ P-Please? I''m gonna start t-touching myself on the spot if we d-don''t¡ª Hngh!"


    I really couldn''t say no to the woman in front of me so I started by touching her sweet spot below while I initiated another kiss. Funnily enough, Kaley and I could hear the same activities happening from the other stalls, and we were just one of few that needed a quick break that needed a little bit of privacy.


    "You''re already this wet? My finger just slides right in¡ª"


    "D-Don''t talk about it too much! I b-bet you''re r-really hard, right now¡­"


    "Why don''t you check and find out?"


    At this moment, my finger was already going in and out of her little hole between her puffy lips and I got to insert another one before she managed to pull my dick out. Both of us were pleasing each other with our hands but I pulled her shirt up so I could suck on her nipples.


    "Mmh! D-Don''t pull them out so¡ª Ahn! Mmh! T-They''re too s-sensitive! Ah! Ah!


    Mmh!"


    All Kaley could do was keep a tight grip around my cock as I was sucking on her tits and ying with her pussy, and her juices were just overflowing and dripping down her thighs. With that said, it didn''t take long before she came hard with just my fingers and she dropped down on her knees while she was panting.


    "Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Ha¡­ That was¡­ Haa¡­ so quick¡­ I¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­ I¡ª Hmmfp!"


    I only gave her a short breather before I shoved my dick down her throat, and I was holding her head with clumps of hair as I was thrusting my hips forward.


    Kaley would almost gag at the first few thrusts but it didn''t take long before she was the one pulling on my hips so she could take me even deeper. I almost came the moment we made eye contact but sheid off for a bit so I wouldn''t cum too fast. However, the way her tongue was coiling around my shaft was fucking indescribable and I was losing my head with each passing second.


    After a few moments, I was about ready to explode in her mouth when Kaley pulled away at thest second and looked at me with a mischievous smile.


    "Kaley?"


    "This is payback for earlier!"


    "W-What?"


    "Just kidding! As much as I love your cum, we''d be here a while so cum in any of these holes instead!"


    I was still in shock when I heard the word payback but Kaley had already turned around and bent over, showing me her perfect ass and her puffy pussy. Well, I didn''t spend much time thinking about which hole to pick because, at this point, I was already thinking with my penis so I just picked whichever and shoved it as deep as I could.


    "H-HNGH! THAT''S MY¡ª AH! AHN! MMH!"


    By that reaction, I already knew which hole I bored my way into but I stretched it as far as I could while pushing it in and pulling it out over and over.


    I was holding onto Kaley''s hip with one hand and her tit with the other and even if I came within a few thrusts, I continued on and it just made sliding it in much, much easier. Furthermore, Kaley started squirting multiple times once I reached her deepest parts and kept hitting it, and I released it all inside for the second time in a span of a few minutes.


    We rarely got to do stuff like this in a time-constrained manner so we went on as fast as we could before the third game was announced.


    It''s just that when I pulled out and saw Kaley''s gaping asshole oozing with my cum, Kaley had to turn around and look me directly in the eye.


    "H-How about this one?"


    Kaley propped her ass a little higher so I could see her pink little slit being spread out with her fingers. Long story short, I turned her around and picked her up before I fucked her until she gave out, but truth be told, the two of us were never more rxed once we made our way back to our spot.

 Chapter 732: Jericho - Shocking Bracelet

    As Kaley and I took our spot, the rest couldn''t help but give us knowing nces but a select few¡ªCynthia and the twins¡ªwere about to take off and make do with my rubber counterpart that Tatiana was already regarding as a national treasure. However, Kaley was still a little frisky after our short time with ourselves, and she was sticking to me even closer than before.


    I didn''t mind Kaley leaning against me with all her weight but it''s just that the next game piqued my interest, and this time, I had to participate.


    With that said, the third game was hosted by a younger guy¡ª maybe around the same age as me, and he had long silver hair on a ponytail and a darker skin tone. Instead of wearing something fancy like everyone else who hosted the games, he was simply wearing baggy shorts, a messy tank top, and metal-ted boots that were high-cut.


    Furthermore, the watch-like device on his right wrist seemed to be custom-made and even the earpiece he was wearing was different.


    But judging from the crowd''s reaction, like me¡ª no one seemed to know who the fuck this guy was.


    However, he still looked at the camera with a forced smile before speaking at a lower volume.


    [Tsk¡ª I didn''t want to do this but¡ª Fuck, I''m not supposed to say that¡ª Ah. Apologies, Mr. Cuervo¡ª Y-Yes, I''m sorry! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!]


    ''...''


    The whole ce was quiet but everyone grimaced when a screeching feedback assaulted our ears, and it seemed to be caused by the different earpiece our host was wearing. With that said, another person wheeled in a cart that had the same watch-like devices on his arm but I couldn''t tell how much they were because they were piled on top of one another.


    [S-Sorry about that¡ª Anyway, I''m Jericho and I''ll be the host for the third game¡ª *cough* *cough* To begin, umm~ I''m gonna need umm~ How many did I¡ª Right¡­ I made around thirty right here but to give the family with the fewer numbers¡ª Ishi¡ª Ishigaki, Izanagi¡ª Ah! Ishiyama! That''s it, u-umm¡ª We''ll let them decide how many members they want to participate.


    After that, since everyone else had a bunch of peoplee, we''ll keep it as even as possible. So, Ishiyama Family, how many are participating?]


    At this point, everyone''s eyes were on me but I nced at my group briefly before I let out a chuckle.


    "One. Just me¡ª"


    [Huh?! A-Are you sure?!]


    "Yep."


    [A-Alright¡­ fine¡­ Very well¡­]


    My group wasn''t even able to react when I dered that I would be the only one participating blindly in the third game, and it was already toote when Niks spoke up.


    "Wha¡ª Are you serious?! By yourself?!"


    Cynthia added, "Y-Yeah! You should''ve said two or three at least!"


    "I wanted to go with you¡­"


    "Me too!"


    "Me as well!"


    "You gotta be kidding me, bro¡­"


    "Well, Niks said we need to conserve our strength, right? Trust me."


    "..."


    All sorts of worries andints assaulted my ears but my attention was shifted to Quinn when she decided not to participate. She let Number 8¡ª Dave, pick out their team members and she casually took a bottle of Jimmy''s Cervezas and a couple of tacos and started snacking right next to us.


    "You''re not going?"


    "Nope. Fuck that kid."


    "You know him?"


    "Yeah¡­ he used to be a prospect but Mr. Cuervo took him in. He''s¡­ He''s¡­ Let''s just say he''s a little special while being a little fucked in the head."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "Hah! You''ll see soon."


    I was still trying to figure out what Quinn was trying to say before Jericho''s words came out of the speakers once again. At this point, the other families were still in the middle of choosing which member toe down but he started to exin a few things.


    [U-Umm, if you''re done choosing your members, I''ll have them gather by the stage so we could fit them with my bracelets, and ah¡ª just to be on the safe side, please choose members without heart problems or something¡­]


    As soon as he said that, I immediately stopped in my tracks¡ª the same with everyone else on the viewing tforms, but Quinn was already grinning like I''m gonna be going through the nine circles of hell. However, even if I was given a little surprise, that was actually a hint about the game we were about to y.


    [Right¡­ Where is Enrique by the way? He told me he''d help me with my¡ª hey¡­ can you please call for him¡ª Ah¡ª Right, he could hear me from the speakers¡­ Enrique~ C''mere for a bit so I could exin the rules.]


    I only took a few moments to get inside the y area and be right next to the stage with the other participants but when Enrique appeared on stage, no one expected him to be bound by ropes. To top it off, he was pleading for his life and between cries of help, he managed to say a verse or two to Tatiana which was obviously picked up by the microphones.


    However, he never got so quiet when the ''bracelet'' was attached to him and Jericho smiled genuinely.


    [Hehehe¡­ Nice and tight¡­ Anyway, I didn''t have much time to prepare a unique game so why don''t we just y something really easy? Oh! Right~ I gotta show you guys how the bracelet works¡ª]


    Everyone else was casually watching Jericho stumble his way into a proper exnation of the rules when it happened.


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKKKK~!!!"


    It only took a couple of seconds but Enrique suddenly jolted up like he got electrocuted by a yellow pocket monster or a green-haired baby from hell. Well, he literally was fucking lit up by a dozen or so voltages of electricity and everyone else that joined unconsciously took a step back.


    [Enrique, calm down~ calm¡ª]


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?! YOU FUCKIN LIT ME UP AND YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?!"


    [Enrique~ You''re not letting me finish¡­ The more you are agitated, the stronger the electricity would be. I''m wearing the same thing, right? Watch.]


    As soon as he said that, we heard a very short crackle that came from Jericho''s bracelet, but on the contrary, it only made him flinch before his expression turned to normal. However, right when he finished his own demonstration, he turned to Enrique with the same smile.


    [See? Let''s try again.]


    "WHAT?! TRY WHAT AGAIN¡ª"


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHAT THE FUCK?! I''M GONNA SMACK YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"


    [See? It''s lower actually¡ª]


    "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! I''M GONNA¡ª"


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHY''D YOU TURN IT ON AGAIN?!"


    [I told you to calm down, didn''t I? It actually went a little higher! If you get really, really, really agitated, it might kill ya. Be careful.]


    Like me and the rest of the participants, everyone from the viewing tforms was fucking speechless, and I fucking swear Enrique was starting to smell like cooked bacon. However, he kept shouting at the top of his lungs as he was getting electrocuted and it surprised and amazed me how high the output of the bracelets were even after several dozen electrocutions.


    It''s just that Quinn''s cryptic message was confirmed in the best/worst way possible, whichever wau I might look at it.


    With that said, Enrique was eventually sent off almost lifeless and even I felt the chill when Jericho turned to us sacrifices¡ª err, yers.


    [Alright, now that you know how the bracelets work, it''s time to put them on! Don''t worry, it won''t work until the game starts so you won''t get cooked while I''m exining the rules¡­ I think. Let''s start with the Ishiyama Family. Ooh! Nice tats. Come on up and receive your bracelet please!]


    As I came up on stage, the whole ce was still eerily quiet because everyone else was fucking afraid of the guy in front of me. Looking at his expression, he seemed like he had a few screws loose but to bepletely honest, the bracelet was a fine piece of work. He was the one who picked up a bracelet from the pile and put it on me, and he never looked so proud when it went ''online''.


    [There you go! Fully charged and ready for action!]


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    [Next!]


    In all honesty., I was a little terrified when the bracelet was put on me but when he started exining the rules, a smile formed on my face and it was getting wider and wider with each passing second.


    [The game we will be ying is my version of Red Light, Green Light but aside from wearing those bracelets, I added a few more twists.]


    [The first one is that I''m gonna be a little~ tricky and the other one will be maddening¡­ forrger members. You''ll find that out once we start, heh.]


    The host in front of me was one crazy motherfucker but he was starting to grow on me.

 Chapter 733: Shouldnt =/= Couldnt

    After everything was said, technically, all he did was tell us the game we would be ying but the twists he said that he would be adding into it were kept secret. All we knew was that we''d be ying a game of Red Light Green Light with modded bracelets that could produce electricity but the voltage released would be depending on how agitated the person was.


    Jericho made a small demonstration with it beforehand but there were still a few questions that were floating in my mind.


    Despite that, all I''d need to do was y and enjoy the game because sometimes, part of the fun was not knowing or even trying to know things like ''magicians'' performing their tricks.


    [Alright, alright, everyone''s hooked up! Now, I''ll request each of you to make your way towards the entrance and once you do, we will begin shortly. Remember, the prompts will be ryed using the big screen behind me and the speakers all around so¡­ keep an eye and an ear out! The first person to cross the line over here wins the secret prize!]


    Compared to earlier, Jericho was more excited about hosting his very own game though he seemed more focused on how his devices would work.


    As I made my way to the main entrance, there were a few familiar faces among the participants though some of them I still haven''t talked to personally and had a bad run with.


    They were Number 68¡ª the guy we saw half-naked and waspletely minding his own business when Mikhail and I walked by their turf, Mason¡ª the guy who used me of cheating when in actuality I was just using my head, and Mr. Castillo''s right hand¡ª the guy who followed after the ''disrespectful children'' from their family.


    However, Mr. Castillo''s right hand was exuding trace amounts of bloodlust and I could already imagine what happened to the two he visited.


    ''They''re either dead or beaten up to the point they''d be useless for a while. Either way, his teammates aren''t even keeping a safe distance away from him. It''s probably a usual urrence over on their side¡­''


    At this moment, every participant was mostly standing side by side, allowing each family to have a member or two at the front¡ª making the rest of their team stand behind but in my case, a few participants were standing behind me because I was the only one in my group.


    With that said, the huge screen behind the stage was still pure white¡ªalmost acting like a shbang¡ªbut the moment it turned green as a short beep resounded, everyone instantly reacted and dashed forward.


    Everyone else had made five to seven steps at this point but the speakers suddenly let out the same beep, and it made everyone else stop in their tracks.


    However, the screen behind Jericho was still fucking green and everyone was fucking divided on what to do. Even I didn''t dare to move a single muscle, thinking it was an error in production, but once a few people walked a couple of steps forward and nothing happened, I couldn''t help but shake my head in amusement.


    After a short bit, the screen turned red and the beeping sound followed and Jericho never looked so amused at our reactions.


    ''This motherfucker¡­''


    After that, the same beep resounded as the light turned green once more, but before anyone else could take a single step, it suddenly turned to red catching a few yers off-guard.


    "FU¡ª"


    "YOU DUMB¡ª"


    "SHI¡ª"


    [Hehe¡­]


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    It only took a fraction of a second before electricity traveled through their bodies but to everyone''s surprise, their teammates were also electrocuted. Moreso, the ones that were more panicked got a higher voltagepared to the ones that made a mistake, and their screams resounded throughout thepound.


    Some of them even tried to pry off the bracelets in their arms but all it did was send another voltage of electricity through their bodies. As soon as that happened, the ones that were just about to try and remove their bracelets stopped any notion of doing so, but the teammates of the ones that tried were also involved in the shocking punishment.


    At this point, when the light turned green for a few seconds, no one from even the groups who were safe took a single step forward.


    Everyone was feeling dread from the punishment that woulde from a single mistake and I thanked the nine divines for participating solo. Having arge number of people could increase one''s chances of winning a game but this game was theplete fucking opposite.


    [Cool, huh?]


    Jericho''s voice resounded from the speakers but once his mocking face was shown on the screen, everyone didn''t know whether tough or cry. However, a few guys that got pissed off wanted to smack his face so hard stepped forward¡ªeven though the light was still red¡ªhad the shock of their lives because they were so fucking pissed off, the voltage that came out was even higher than what hit Enrique.


    It''s just that they managed to get ahead of the pack even though they suffered from walking when they shouldn''t.


    ''Wait¡­''


    I was deep in my thoughts when the lights turned green for a second but a smile was slowly forming on my face.


    ''That''s the key¡­''


    At this point, the ones that trailed behind me at the start overtook me for a few steps but I was already trying to brace myself for what I was about to do. If everything that I thought of was right, I might''ve found the right way to cheese this game.


    ''Red light means I shouldn''t¡­ not couldn''t¡­''


    I never breathed as slow as I could and while doing this, I was clearing my head of anything negative and was just filling it with what a certain person in Nevend could allow him to fly.


    ''Rainfall, the smell of fresh-cut grass, being with Kaley¡ª wait, that''s doing the opposite¡­ clean dishes, clean room, clean sheets, clean guns, clean katana, sorted ammo, coffee, new books, Zeus when he''s a puppy¡­''


    I didn''t even know I was smiling like an idiot as I casually walked forward, and even when the light turned red, I continued on while thinking thoughts that would either calm me down or make peace with myself. In doing so, I easily overtook the ones that overtook me earlier and I was leading the pack by a good ten steps or so.


    The electricity was still there and I could somehow tolerate it, but it prompted a set of reactions from everyone else including the ones on the viewing tforms.


    "WHAT?! WHAT''S HAPPENING?! IS HE CHEATING?!"


    "H-HOW?!"


    "HE''S GONNA WIN! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"


    Step by step, I was making my way to the halfway point but I suddenly felt a couple of presences behind me. With how cautious I was, I stopped in my tracks right before the red light reced the green one because my trick could only work with no interference whatsoever.


    There were no said rules about keeping other yers pinned and the way how things went here, that key point would be exploited. This would be the time when ying solo would prove disadvantageous but I won''t fall to that exploit easily.


    Right at this moment, I turned around and faced the two peopleing from behind me before I chuckled and poised for an attack and it just caught them off-guard.


    One of them was this close to grabbing onto my clothes and making me stay behind but before he was able to do anything, I suddenly pulled on his arm before I struck his throat with the tip of my fingers. He instantly started choking but I kicked the side of his knee before I followed it by kicking straight at his shin, and he fell down and got lit up.


    Luckily enough, the other one that was right behind him was also his teammate so he also got electrocuted with the rest of his team. Well, I still flinched for a good second or two when I also got hit with the same thing because moving that way needs a bit of exertion.


    I was leading the group with a wide margin and to continue using my trick to get ahead, the solution couldn''t be simpler.


    Doing my trick didn''t even require me to look at the screen anyway so I continued facing the rest of the participants while walking step by step backward. If things went as it was going, I''d easily take the win but the other families had no intention of giving up that easily.


    Number 68 was looking at me approvingly while Mr. Castillo''s right hand was just looking at me without any expression.


    It only took a switch from the red screen to the green screen before they both dashed forward, but none of them knew they''d do it at the same time. Both of them were gunning straight for me so the surprise when they almost collided with each other was present.


    However, it seemed that Mr. Castillo''s right hand wanted to solo me so he struck the back of the head of Number 68.


    It''s just that Number 68 leaned forward at the right moment to avoid the blow, and his heel was already making its way to his opponent''s nape. It was done in one quick motion by leaning forward and twisting his body to deliver his heel in the angle but Mr. Castillo''s right hand also blocked it.


    They were about to start a fight on their own and I didn''te here to watch them so I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to jog backward.

 Chapter 734: Taste of His Own Fucking Medicine

    As soon as I did, the look of shock couldn''t be hidden from the pack I was starting to leave behind but the two were still going at it even if they were receiving strong electric shocks. However, they could only take so much at a time so they would stop when the light was red but would race as to who would strike first when the light was green.


    From watching the two, Number 68 had a familiar moveset from a character I used to y in a fighting game where all I''d need to do to win was mash two buttons over and over while Mr. Castillo''s right hand was mostly using a mix of moves¡ª though he would almost always opt for illegal strikes if they were in an official match.


    Eye-gouging, hits to the back of the head, and even shots to the groin were his primary moveset and it was making his opponent pissed off more and more.


    At the right fucking moment, Mr. Castillo''s right hand motioned for another kick to Number 68''s groin area, and as soon as Number 68 tried to block by cing both of his hands near his crotch to receive the blow, the kick suddenly came for his chin.


    The change in trajectory was performed by folding his knee, barely missing as he came near his opponent''s groin, and extending it once again in one quick motion.


    It would lose a bit of power and would strain the user but in the right conditions, it could deliver a clean blow.


    Almost immediately, Number 68''s head blew back from the impact but before he could even try to stabilize himself, his face was met with a vicious heel that came in the form of an axe kick, and it definitely broke his nose.


    Blood spluttered for a short bit before the light turned red and Number 68 received a shock of electricity along with his teammates while Mr. Castillo''s right hand kept still as his leg was still suspended in the air.


    After a short bit, cheers suddenly erupted all throughout the viewing tforms but the rest of Number 68''s teammates were already gunning for Mr. Castillo''s right hand. However, their target also had teammates of his own so a brawl between the two parties started.


    But once again, I didn''t need to get involved so I continued with my slow back-jog.


    "YOU DUMBFUCKS! HE''S ABOUT TO WIN!"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL FIGHTING FOR?!"


    "JUST DASH FORWARD AND TRY TO HOLD HIM DOWN!"


    "THROW SOMETHING, DAMMIT!"


    "STOP HOLDING EACH OTHER BACK, AIM FOR THE TOP SPOT YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!"


    "I''LL BET A PACK OF CIGARS THE CASTILLO FAMILY WILL BEAT UP THE LOT OF THE DE LEON FAMILY OVER THERE?!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "I''LL TAKE YOU ON!"


    "I''LL BET A CASE OF ALCOHOL THEN!"


    "AREN''T YOU GUYS CONCERNED ABOUT THE RACE?!"


    "FUCK IT, WHY CAN''T WE DO BOTH?!"


    "I''LL BET A BJ FROM MY GIRL THAT HE''LL CATCH UP TO THE NEW KID!"


    "HE''S THE NEW HEAD, YOU DUMBFUCK! D''YOU WANT TO GET DA''D?!"


    "HAH! HE''LL SLICE YOU IN TWO IF YOU EVER PISS HIM OFF!"


    "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! I''M SORRY MR. HEAD! HIT ME UP IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR DICK SUCKED!"


    "THAT SOUNDED SO WRONG DUDE!"


    "AH¡ª MY GIRL IS¡ª YOU KNOW THE DEAL! I''M SORRY AGAIN~!"


    The people shouting from the viewing tforms were just pure chaos but while everyone thought that Mr. Castillo''s right hand would eventually gun for me, he didn''t. The trace amounts of bloodlust I felt from him earlier suddenly doubled before it turned toplete killing intent.


    His eyes suddenly turned as red as they could and everyone just watched him stomp on Number 68''s right shin, breaking his bones and making him scream out in pain. All the guy could do was wriggle in ce but our aggressor kept putting his weight on the injured area, making it discolor and making the injury even more severe.


    The whole ce had never been so quiet but right when he was about to break his other leg, a shoe just clocked him in the noggin.


    Well, that was my shoe.


    Yep, I threw it.


    If the already quiet ce could be any quieter, everyone was experiencing it right now.


    Mr. Castillo''s right hand stopped dead in his tracks and turned to my shoe which was only a few feet away from him, and it only took him a moment to realize he drew blood and it was now covering part of his face and trickling down on the ground.


    Still, Number 68''s condition was much worse, and even if we had no affiliation whatsoever, I couldn''t just ignore the guy. If I let things as they should, he probably would''ve ended up as an invalid.


    Sure, Mr. Castillo''s right hand didn''t do anything wrong as per this ce''s rules but there''s nothing wrong with what I did either. There was no rule of saving someone''s hide and if they wanted to sue me for it, I could easily say that I just wanted to hit him in the end but he was a little too far.


    With that said, Mr. Castillo''s right hand was now deathly staring at me but I guess he couldn''t see properly with his left side because my other shoe clocked him once again.


    I had to throw it for everything to be bnced because I''d rather walk barefoot than walk funny.


    And again, if the ce could be quieter, it was fucking happening right now.


    However, Jericho''s voice resounded from the speakers.


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU DUMBFUCK! YOU DIDN''T FUCKING SEE THAT?! HAHAHAHAHA! YOU''RE ALREADY PRETTY FUCKING STUPID FOR GETTING HIT WITH A SHOE AND YOU GOT HIT AGAIN?! HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE?!


    MAN, IT''S ALREADY DIFFICULT TO GET HIT WITH LIGHTNING TWICE BUT YOU''D PROBABLY BE A LIGHTNING ROD FOR SHOES! GOOD THING HE''S ONLY WEARING A PAIR OR ELSE HE''D CLOCK YOU FOR THE THIRD TIME! HAHAHAHAHA!!!]


    Jericho was the only one dyingughing at the moment but Mr. Castillo''s right hand already rushed for me even if his whole face was covered in blood.


    I only caught a short glimpse of Number 68 looking at me thankfully¡ªbut still with a pained expression¡ªbecause I now had to take care of the problem right in front of me. I could''ve run a bit more to increase our distance from each other but I''m not gonna turn my back on this psycho that likes to y with his food.


    ''If he''s their best fighter, I''ll have¡ª everyone will have an easier timeter on.''


    Right as we were in striking distance, his hand suddenly lunged out to aim for my eyes but I sidestepped before I got even closer, delivering a knee straight to his abdomen. However, his head suddenly jerked down and collided with my own before he stumbled back a few steps.


    ''This motherfucker!''


    I could barely open my right eye due to the pain but I already had to guard against his rush of attacks that were aimed at my body.


    He sent knees, punches, kicks, and elbows all over the ce but I only guarded the areas that were critical. However, I started to notice that he was concentrating blows on the lower part of my body and was totally avoiding hitting my head. Sure, getting clean hits to my body would make me slower to a degree but if he was what I think he was, he''d just go in for the kill.


    Judging by his actions, I already knew what he was up to and I just had to figure out the time he''d do it¡­ or just make him do it on my bidding.


    It was done by simply leaving an opening that wasn''t too good to pass up because if he fucking noticed that I was baiting him, he''d never go for it. With that said, after I blocked a kick from my left leg, I ''grimaced'' in pain, partially closing my eyes and slightly bending to the side.


    Furthermore, my arms were down because I was te'' in blocking his attack and it was almost like the same situation with Number 68 earlier.


    ''3¡­ 2¡ª''


    Like fucking clockwork, his hand sliced through the air to gouge my eye out and I only had a fraction of a second to react.


    From my peripheral vision, his arm moved in a wide arc¡ªalmost like performing a hook¡ªso I figured the best way to deal with it was to perform a morepact version of his attack. What I did was copy his movements like I was a mirror and drive my arm at a much shorter arc¡ª to divert his attack trajectory and make him taste his own fucking medicine.


    After a split second, both of us drew blood and the side of my cheek was bleeding but he just lost the chance to see 3D movies.


    Mr. Castillo''s right hand was now a bloody mess and was writhing in pain as his left eye was now dangling from its socket.

 Chapter 735: A Brick and a Pip-what?

    Globe Luxation.


    That was the medical term used when referring to an eyeball when it ''pops'' out of its socket that could ur due to a rare condition or a sudden head or eye trauma. Those rare conditions could be from Floppy Eyelid Syndrome, Thyroid Eye Disease, etc., but nevertheless¡ªas soon as it happens¡ªit would be considered a medical emergency and it should be treated immediately.


    Well, in our case, it was a little more than Globe Luxation because I put in a little too much force, it caused the skin to the side of his eye to break open a few centimeters straight through the skin of his temple.


    Blood was just dripping down on the ground and I''m not sure whether it came from his recent or recent-recent injury.


    At this point, no one had received electric shocks for the longest time so I just assumed that Jericho could manually turn it on and off instead of it being programmed to run randomly.


    Everyone else that was trailing could''ve made some proper headway but my fight with Mr. Castillo''s right hand stopped them in their tracks. However, the person in front of me was already posing for another attack¡ªeven if his whole body was shaking¡ªbut I managed to make him flinch just by simply moving my hand that I used to gouge his eye out.


    I chuckled as I looked at his working eye, "I''ll let you forfeit now so you could get your eye looked at. Trust me, you don''t wanna have a go with me now that your vision''s impaired. If you''re lucky, you''ll still get your eyesight back with minimal damage but¡ª"


    "I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU¡ª"


    The guy shouted at the top of his lungs while releasing copious amounts of killing intent but I simply shook my head as I moved back half a step.


    It only took a fraction of a second before he shakily lunged at me but I gave him a taste of his own fucking medicine¡ªfor the second time¡ªas my foot made its way between his crotch.


    I didn''t even hold back as I drove my foot up as hard as I could and I even followed it all the way through.


    The sound it made almost made every person with a dick close their legs subconsciously though his past victims were already cheering me on.


    But after that, I only needed to push him with minimal force as he tumbled down on the floor while clutching his balls and bleeding from his head and his right eye. He couldn''t even breathe normally as he was only using his mouth to gasp for air, but he was still trying to crawl in my direction.


    I could only imagine the pain he was going through but he couldn''t tell me I didn''t warn him.


    In a sense, I could''ve gone easier but in this case, you need to have a bigger stick than everyone else present. However, it was all just pure violence and everyone was here to witness it, whether it was inflicted on a friend or foe.


    With that said, a mix of reactions came from the viewing tforms as I casually made my way to Jericho''s side.


    No one even dared to try and get past me because almost all of the participants stood in their ce while the rest of the De Leon Family forfeited to get Number 68 help.


    Even Mr. Castillo''s right hand was escorted out of the y area but they made sure that he''d be far from his earlier opponent. However, I doubt he''d do something stupid while he''s close to being blind in one eye.


    At this point, the bracelet I was wearing lost its grip on my arm, and Jericho¡ªwho was giving me an approving look¡ªcasually took it from me before giving everyone else onest surge of electricity.


    "AHHHH¡ª"


    "FUCK!"


    "JERICHOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    "MOTHERFUCK¡ª"


    "HNGH!!!"


    "SHIT!"


    "I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER¡ª"


    I didn''t think he would actually do that but he was just cackling the whole time while the rest of the participants were this close to tackling him down.


    After that, it didn''t take long before their bracelets finally loosened and each of them threw the bracelets at the stage as a protest. Theynded on different spots but they were built sturdy enough to sustain damage while being in working condition.


    ''That''s rare. Most things built before the world ended had a fuck ton of features but only a few of them could survive a drop¡­ It''s great to have something built that could take a bit of violence¡­''


    With that said, one member of the De Leon Family brought back my shoes and she promptly thanked me before returning to her group.


    I slowly put on my shoes after dusting off my socks and Jericho took a bit of time picking his bracelets up before speaking to his earpiece.


    [C''mon~ C''mon~ It''s funny, right?! Haha! You guys are too serious! You''re bashing heads outside and you all go crazy for a broken bone and a poked eye?! Hah! Ah¡ª Right!


    The winner~ The Ishiyama Family~! Congrats, bro! You''ll be in for a treat!]


    ''He''s calling me ''bro'' now, huh? I wonder what''s the prize¡ª''


    [Here ya go!]


    Before I could even finish speaking to myself, Jericho just handed me a brick of cocaine.


    I would''ve lost bnce the moment I saw the brick fall on my hands but I was lucky I was still in the process of putting on my shoes. Good thing I had to wipe the blood off of them or else I would''ve lostposure.


    It''s just that I was still speechless from seeing something like that thrown like it was nothing.


    "Ah¡ª"


    [Don''t snort it in one sitting, alright?]


    "Umm¡ª"


    [Hmm? Something wrong?]


    "N-Not exactly¡­"


    [Ah¡ª Do you want 1000 pills of ecstasy instead? Oh! I can bump it up to 1300 pills. Wanna have a deal? They''re very rare now so that''s from my stock! If you have something else in mind, let me know!]


    At this fucking moment, I never tried so hard to keep a straight face but Jericho was waiting for my answer. He was patiently looking at me with an easygoing expression but I pointed to the bracelets we wore instead.


    "As much as I love to have a good time, I had a bad experience with this stuff. Why don''t I get your expertise instead?"


    Jericho was taken aback, [M-My expertise?]


    "I want you to make something for me. I''ll even give back this brick as payment," I said as I motioned to return my prize.


    However, the moment I said that, Jericho seemed to have turned off his earpiece before he spoke to me at the same volume. He never looked so excited that someone took interest in his work and he was willing to hear my pitch.


    "Alright, what do you want me to make?"


    "You probably made more bracelets that had different functions, right?"


    "Maybe. If you have some rowdy prisoners, I could make something that does more than shock the shit out of them."


    "What? Really?"


    "Yeah. I can make something to chop their arm off, release poison, burn, cut off cirction¡ª"


    "Not like that¡ª"


    "Oh. Non-lethal? Something like sending you their location or making loud noises when they go too far? Isn''t that how some clothing tags work? That''ll be too fucking easy. I can do that in five minutes and for a pint of beer."


    I shook my head, "If you''re talking about that, I could make it too. I''m something of an engineer myself."


    Jericho snorted, "You? Hah! That''s what people that don''t know shit always say."


    I chuckled as I put my hands up in defeat, "I got my own ce to run, I can also have my people do it but they''re busy doing something else¡ª"


    "Really~~~? I''m kinda special, I could do some things other people can''t."


    "I was told that you are. You probably even made a Pip-Boi for yourself. D''you know what those are?"


    "Hah! A Pip-Boi! Oh my fucking god! Hahaha! I''m neither confirming nor denying the¡ª"


    "Jericho, I want something like that."


    "HAH?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! Tell me, you have ''that'' armor stashed somewhere else? Do we have more than zombies to face now? You''re gonna tell me these things, right? Right?"


    I chuckled as I finally stood up, "I hope not but they''re changing¡ªas slow as it''s happening¡ªthey are turning into something else, something more than what a regr deadhead could aplish. Heck, something a regr human is capable of."


    Jericho shook his head, "Cheh. And you think my bracelets are the solution?"


    "Hah! Fuck no! It''ll help but¡ª you can''t even fix the feedback on your own earpiece!"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "FUCK! I''LL GET YOU BACK LATER, HAHAHAHA!!!"


    The two of us looked at each other before we started dyingughing but Jericho seemed to have received a message from Mr. Cuervo. I could barely hear what Mr. Cuervo was saying through Jericho''s earpiece but Jericho just kept nodding with each instruction given to him.

 Chapter 736: Demons

    I was waiting for the two to finish their call while I was still holding the brick of coke in my hands, but Jericho suddenly turned to me with a solemn expression before trying to fix his posture and appear decent. He even dusted off whatever was on his clothes and he cleared his throat for some reason.


    He stared at me for a good five seconds without saying anything but he then let out a forced smile before opening his mouth.


    "We''ll meetter, Mr. Ishiyama. I hope I can show you my work again¡­"


    ''Mister?''


    I replied promptly, "Yeah¡­ but stop being formal."


    "What?"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "It doesn''t suit ya, just go as you normally would."


    Jericho drooped his head low with a faint smile, "Ah¡ª Ahaha¡­ I guess¡­" then he scratched the side of his cheek, "B-But yeah, your prize is your prize, you get to keep it and do whatever you want with it."


    "But our arrangement?"


    "Hah! Dude, everyone here is only interested in getting pussy, getting piss-drunk, doing drugs, who''s the better one at hitting and getting hit, and these games every now and then. I got ya," Jericho then stood on the spot where he came up, "If you''re really something like an engineer,e see me and we''ll trade notes."


    At this point, the two of us were just exchanging nces but he turned on his earpiece as he was slowly descending down the stage.


    [Right, before I forgot. Mr. Cuervo said that the requests for the Blood Fights were denied. He said that if you want some payback because the yers you sent out lost, do it in the final game. No interruptions will be permitted because we''re on a tight schedule.]


    Almost immediately, a huge uproar came from the Castillo and the De Leon Family''s side of the viewing tforms, and I could probably guess what ''Blood Fight'' meant.


    With that said, it never felt so weirding back to my group because almost everyone from Quinn''s crew was standing at attention. They were all looking at me like the girl from their crew who picked up my shoes, and there was a hint of newfound respect.


    It''s just that they all suddenly bowed at the same time and I had to sink my knuckles to the nearest one.


    "YEOWCH! WHAT THE FUCK?! WE''RE GIVING YOU RESPECT AND YOU¡ª"


    "RESPECT?! D''YOU ALL WANNA FUCKING BLIND ME?!"


    "WHA¡ª BLIND YOU?! WE''RE BOWING¡ª"


    "DID YOU FUCKING FORGET ALL OF YOU LOOK LIKE A GROUP OF ROLL-ON DEODORANTS?! I WOULD''VE BEEN BLIND IN BOTH EYES IF I LOOKED A SECOND LONGER!"


    "OH, COME ON! WE''RE NOT THAT¡ª"


    "TRY IT THEN! POINT YOUR HEADS OVER TO QUINN! SEE HER REACTION!"


    "WAI¡ª"


    "YOU''RE NOT GONNA? FUCKING PUSSY¡ª"


    "BET!"


    "BET!"


    "BET, BITCH!"


    "ALRIGHT, GUYS! HERE WE GO¡ª"


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKERS DOING?! DO YOU WANT ME TO SKIN YOUR HEADS, YOU FUCKERS?! I''LL KILL ALL OF YOU HERE AND NOW!"


    "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~! WE''RE SORRY! HE TOLD US TO DO IT!"


    "AND YOU FUCKING FOLLOWED HIM?! COME HERE YOU¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "HELP! HELP ME~!"


    "I THINK YOUR EYEBROWS NEED TO GO!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! THAT''S THE ONLY HAIR I GOT LEFT!"


    Long story short, there was nary a peaceful moment on our side of the viewing tforms and Kaley took the time to clean my wound and she covered it up with an adhesive bandage as the break continued on.


    After each game, a short break will be held but it seemed like we had visitors.


    And as luck would have it, they came from the Castillo Family.


    Quinn''s group was itching to take a piece of them but they knew that taking it out on these people would cause arger disturbance and probably dy the events even more. So, they just kept quiet while almost trying to stare them down but I doubt it was working one bit.


    There were three people in total¡ªall of them wearing semi-formal attire¡ªthough the one leading the pack couldn''t be more obvious.


    ''The two are probably her bodyguards or something¡­''


    She had curly hair that was loosely tied into a ponytail but she had a pair of uneven bangs hanging on each side. With that said, she had a light brown skin tone and an athletic figure but judging from the discoloration of the skin of her fingers, she either had a weird birthmark or she used to smoke¡ª or was still a smoker to this day.


    As I tried to take a closer look, she caught me looking at it for a brief moment and she quickly ced her hand in her pockets to hide them.


    Well, I couldn''t care less about the reason she was hiding them because I was more concerned as to why they came here.


    Thedy in front greeted me with a short bow, "Hello, I''m Annie Castillo."


    "Sky Ishiyama. Are you okay though?"


    Her left eyebrow twitched as she instantly frowned, "Funny."


    "Tough crowd¡­ So, what do I owe the visit?"


    "I wanna talk about my cousin, Benjie¡ª Benjamin."


    I tilted my head slightly, "And your cousin is~? Oh. What about him? As far as this ce goes, I did nothing wrong."


    "True, but I have a request."


    "A request?"


    "I doubt my cousin will stay put even if he lost an eye so I''m just requesting that if you get to face him one way or another¡­ please¡­ just knock him out quick and take it easy. He''s been going in this downward spiraltely and he''s¡ª"


    "Annie."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "No one could go easy on a person like that. The more I hold back, the greater the risk I put on myself. Besides, why don''t you just knock him out till morninges? Mr. Cuervo''s doctors probably have some sort of paralytic for this sort of thing if a bullet to the head is not the answer. And if they don''t, I may have one vial stashed somewhere close."


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "And if all else fails, chain him up on his bed and have someone bonk him with a lead pipe if he tries to move. Oh! I recall Jericho had more bracelets with non-lethal functions, you should ask him too¡­"


    At this point, I trailed on myst sentence because Annie''s mouth was just agape from the words that wereing out of my mouth. However, she quickly got her bearings beforeposing herself and exining things.


    "I''m not sure about the b-bonking thing but any sort of drugs or something simr has failed to work on him. Be it anesthetics, narcotics, even alcohol, or those paralytics you spoke of, his body doesn''t respond to them. Right now, I''m pretty sure he''s already tied up on a table¡ªthe doctors just waiting for him to calm down¡ªso they can operate."


    "Seriously?"


    "Seriously. It''s been a lot of trouble when he was young but at this point in his life, he rarely even gets injuries but when it happens¡ª"


    "Here''s the deal. The best course of action with your cousin is for him to get proper treatment and avoid strenuous work or else something bad is gonna happen to him. He needs to understand that. But, if he manages to get out there and continue to have fun breaking bones and shit, he''ll get what''sing for him sooner orter.


    You can''t ask me to abstain from something your cousin is trying to do, I just gave him a taste of his own medicine."


    "B-But¡ª"


    "Let me finish."


    "..."


    "I don''t get where you''reing from¡ªtrying to defend him and shit¡ªbut if he dares to fuckingy a hand on me or my group here, I''ll fucking retaliate, whether he''s going through something or not. Cheh. I''M going through something, you don''t see me going around visiting his opponents to tell them to take it easy on me.


    If you don''t want him to get hurt, the answer is simple: keep him in his bed, wait until he''s good, and probably try and stop him if he tries something stupid¡ª"


    Annie suddenly cut me off with an unwilling look, "You don''t get it¡­ you¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "I don''t get it? I think YOU don''t get it."


    "I''m d-doing this for your own g-good¡­"


    My ears suddenly perked up, "What did you just say?"


    Annie looked down as she clenched her fists as tight as she could, "Benji¡­ He¡­ He has ''demons'' living inside his head¡­ and I think it''s best you don''t wake them up¡­ or else¡­"


    I kept my mouth shut as I let her continue.


    "He always gets up¡ª h-he always stands up, and h-he alwayses back¡­ I''m just here to tell you this warning¡­ He''s out for now but¡ª"


    "Annie."


    "Stop cutting me off and¡ª"


    I let out the tiniest bit of pressure as I looked at her dead in the eyes, "Everyone has demons inside their heads¡­ It''s only a matter of whether you got to know them or not¡­"

 Chapter 737: Im going. - A simple—

    The moment I finished my sentence, Annie just looked at me with a slight tinge of unwillingness before she stopped herself from giving me ''advice''. Her eyes then showed a mix of sadness and bitterness and she just sighed heavily before turning around and trying to make their way back.


    However, she stopped after a few or so steps then she turned back to me and looked me in the eyes.


    "P-Please¡­ do think about what I just said¡­ It''s really important to me¡­"


    "Sure¡­ depends¡­" I half-heartedly said after I lightly sighed.


    "..."


    "..."


    At this point, the two of us just momentarily exchanged nces before we used the time remaining from the break.


    As it went on, more food, beverages, and ''services'' were sold or rendered though some were trying to figure out the next game from the things being built up in the y area.


    However, I couldn''t help but notice that almost everyone behind me¡ªthe people from Quinn''s group¡ªhavepletely stopped giving snarkyments towards me and my group¡ª even towards the twins, and it wasn''t because I saved one of their own.


    Saving one of them earned me their respect but the method I used to achieve it earned me something else.


    No one was actively showing it but each time I tried to move my hands, the ones close to me would flinch or get stunned in ce¡ª unsure of what to do. Furthermore, I noticed how they tried to properly carry themselves around me but it was a hrious sight.


    ''They thought I gouge eyes out on a daily basis but fuck it, I''ll enjoy the street cred for as long as it wouldst.''


    It didn''t take long before some of them tried to get into my good side.


    "S-Sir¡­ can I offer you some beer?"


    "I''m fine for now, thanks."


    "S-Sir¡­ can we offer you some tacos? It''s freshly made?"


    "I''m fine¡ª"


    "How about a burrito, sir?"


    "I¡ª"


    "Some Jimmy''s Cervezas?"


    "My girl?"


    "Hah?"


    "She gives good head¡ª"


    "How about some burgers, sir?"


    "How about a massage, sir?"


    "How about a car wash, sir?"


    "How about some tuning, sir?"


    "Do you need some oil change, sir?"


    "How about a conversion?"


    "Do you need some brake fluid?"


    "I got a new set of wrenches here so¡ª"


    I casually waved them off, "Guys, stop. I''m fine, okay?"


    "...!"


    "...!"


    "...!"


    "Ah¡­ I''m really fine¡­"


    "..."


    I didn''t think they''d flinch after that casual wave but I was trying my best to appear harmless and approachable.


    But at this point, it had never been so quiet as they just stared at me in silence but I couldn''t believe that I''d prefer their nagging over the rest of the girls leering at me with a specific activity in mind.


    It was because Kaley and I did a little something on the porta-potties so the rest of them wanted a quick one as well.


    Cynthia and the twins were the ones that couldn''t hide it as much and I''m sure they''d cream from the simplest touch. However, I still needed a short break from trying to endure the pain of getting electrocuted and having a match with someone that gouges eyes out for fun.


    With that said, I simply enjoyed the refreshments handed to me as the y area was finally set.


    The host for this game wasn''t hadn''t evene out yet but everyone''s eyes were locked onto the shipping containers that were ced by the entrance.


    The entrance allowed two shipping containers to be ced side by side but four more shipping containers were stacked on each of them¡ª making it a total of ten shipping containers filled with deadheads.


    However, another ten were ced right behind them, making it a grand total of twenty shipping containers filled with god knows how many biters. They were separated by an extended door but once the crew above them pulled it out, there was a shortmotion before it kinda died down.


    Well, we weren''t exactly sure that they contained just regr deadheads but from the constant banging and dull thudsing from them, I guess it would be safe to assume our little theory.


    ''We gotta bring ''them'' out now¡­ I wonder what the other families'' have on their end?''


    With that said, it''s just that there was a huge-ass vault right by the stage, and from the looks of it, it did more than just get pulled by two Chargers in a certain movie franchise that got a little out of hand.


    The vault was almost the same size but the number of dents, scratches, and bullet holes it sustained was enough for me to specte it was hiding a secret. However,pared to the shipping containers stacked on top of one another, this vault was nary making a sound.


    It was just sitting there like it was taking a small nap but nobody in this ce thought it was there just for decoration.


    ''It''s gotta be something¡­''


    After a few more minutes of checking the y area, no sort of announcer or host took to the stage but the huge screen just behind it disyed wordsrge enough for everybody to see:


    [Hello everyone.]


    After that short message, each letter was deleted one by one and the next set of words was typed in one by one as well.


    [The host for the fourth game has gone missing but the show must go on.]


    [Before I exin the rules for this game, I require two participants from each team¡ª but to increase their chances of survival, I require them to bring some sort of protection from the biters¡ª but to ensure the safety of the ones on the viewing tforms, firearms are prohibited.]


    [Yes, this game wouldn''t be like the first three and the chances of death are high¡ªif you''re a weak-ass punk who only killed four biters in his fucking miserable life¡ª]


    At this moment, the typing stopped and thest part of the message was deleted before it continued.


    [Yes, this game wouldn''t be like the first three and the chances of death are high so if you want the team members you sent out toe back, send your best ones out there. Equip them with the best equipment you got and anything goes as long as they send out projectiles that could harm the crowd.]


    [And these are the rules:]


    [All of the yers will start at the outer ring¡ª the opposite side of where the shipping containers are, and the moment I give the signal, it will be a race to whoever manages to get to the vault and open it.]


    [What''s in the vault(box), might you ask?]


    [It could be anything.]


    [Just make sure to put whatever you find on the podium¡ªthat will be sent up the moment the game starts¡ªand the pair that manages to do it wins.]


    [Simple enough?]


    [Right. It''s already obvious as to what is inside those shipping containers so I''ll give five minutes for each group to get ready and then we''ll start.]


    [5:00]


    [4:59]


    [4:58]


    ''Wait¡­''


    [4:57]


    ''That''s it?''


    [4:56]


    ''Where the fuck do we get the code for the vault?''


    At this point, I was still confused by theck of direction from the fourth game but I noticed that everyone in my group was either staring at me by turning their heads or leaning forward to get a good look.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Alright, alright¡­ I''ll go with the fucking normie, Mik¡ª"


    Tatiana cut me off, "No, you''re not. I''m going."


    Mikhail tried to interject, "But¡ª"


    "I''m going. I don''t care who I''m with but I''m going."


    "Tatiana¡ª"


    "Come on! I''m sitting on my butt here for two games already! I gotta burn off the food I ate! What''s even the problem?!"


    "Well¡­ Hmm. There''s no problem, fuck it. Use your axe though."


    "Wha¡ª Why?! It''s a fucking bitch to clean! Can I just use my¡ª"


    "YOU DON''T EVEN CLEAN IT! YOU JUST LEAVE IT OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR ME TO SEE IT!"


    "Ah, right. I''ll use it then!"


    "..."


    At this point, I felt like banging my head into a wall as Tatiana fetched her own version of our axes that could rapidly inject gas or co2 into its target, but Kaley had already pulled out my wakizashi and handed it over to me, handle first.


    "Use that too or I''ll melt it in a vat of acid," Kaley said menacingly as she stared at me dead in the eyes.


    "Ahaha¡­ Sure, sure¡­"


    "Mm-Hmm."


    "I doubt I''ll get to use it but¡ª"


    "No buts, take it."


    "R-Right¡­"


    As I was fastening my wakizashi to my belt with my katana, a glint of metal caught my eye and I saw Quinn donning a pair of gloves that looked like a mix of the As Gauntlets and the Fist of Tebigong.


    They reached past her elbow and the only thing I could describe it right now was it was cool as fuck.


    It had several mechanical parts to support hand and finger movement besides the obvious protection it could provide¡ª but my eyes got glued to the long metal case that was brought up to her.


    ''If she pulls out that hammer, I''m gonna fucking shit myself.''


    Well, let''s just say that my pants wouldn''t be brown this time because she actually pulled out a halberd/poleaxe variant that was a foot taller than her that had an axe, hammer, and spear sides on one end while having a blunt counterweight on one end.


    And her partner had a simple crowbar.


    ''...''

 Chapter 738: We take the left, you take the right?

    I was a little speechless at first but looking at it a little closer, the guy wasn''t using it because he had no other options but because it was his weapon of choice.


    ''Number 24, huh?''


    His crowbar was a 72-inch chunk of metal that had a chisel edge at the end and it had portions where it was wrapped crudely by leather and duct tape.


    Furthermore, it looked like it had definitely seen some action because the blue-orange paint on the ends was already chipped off. Still, the guy lookedfortable wielding it with two hands and we''ll probably see how he''ll fare once the game starts.


    With that said, once everyone gathered at the starting point, I got to see what everyone else''s weapon choice was.


    It had a mix of modern, martial, and crafted weapons and a small number of them were standing out.


    ''Well, it''s how effective you could use it¡­''


    But looking at it the other way, like us, everyone had decent tomendable protective gear covering their bodies and if any rational person would be given the choice, they''d opt to protect themselves rather than to deal more damage.


    Obviously enough, Quinn''s equipment was the most eye-catching out of the pack but everyone couldn''t help but give a curious nce toward Tatiana''s weapon.


    It was made jointly from the time we were trying to upgrade our gear but instead of having a huge-ass b of metal to wave around, Tatiana opted for a more conservative approach.


    The variant she requested was essentially based on a fire axe she used before¡ªalbeit slightlyrger by a small percentage¡ªand the injection system was ced on the opposite side of the axe head, where the pointy end was located. It had 2-4 times the capacity of the small canisters we used and a simple button would allow the sudden release of the gas inside them.


    However, that axe was simply fastened on the back of her hips and her sword was still her main go-to.


    At this point, Tatiana and I were just clumped with Quinn and her partner while the others were pretty much doing the same on other spots. Everyone was talking amongst themselves but they were speaking at a volume that would make it for someone trying to listen in understand what they were saying.


    Quinn leaned over to me, "We take the left, you take the right?"


    "Is it okay to team up with other families?"


    "Hah? This isn''t teaming up. What do you mean?"


    "You said¡ª"


    "If anything, we''re just trying to avoid each other."


    "True, but before that, d''you have any idea how the other participants are?"


    Number 24 chimed in, "In terms of what?"


    "In this setting, obviously."


    "Just as good as anyone, I guess. If anything, they''re trying to avoid bumping into you."


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, "Uh-huh¡­ but hear me out, instead of choosing who goes right or left, we should think about who''s going in the front and bringing the backside."


    "Huh?"


    "Look at those shipping containers. If they''re packed to the brim, there will probably be hundreds¡ª if not, more than a thousand deadheads inside of them. If we rush in as they are released, they''d being from three points before we know it."


    "Wait, three points?"


    "The intersection. They''ll being from the shipping containers, the inner y area, and the other side of the outer ring once they start pouring out."


    Quinn interjected after wearing a pensive expression, "Wait, it''s gonna be four if the other side gets overwhelmed."


    "Sure, if they took the roundabout route. But yeah, it''ll be impossible to get inside the inner y area as they get released¡ªto make them onlye from one side and to make things easier¡ª so, the best course of action is to wait here and let theme to spread them thin and then¡ª"


    As I was exining to the group, an unfamiliar pair¡ªa male and a female¡ªcame up to me and they let out the faintest of smiles after a short bow.


    They were wearing decent gear and the handheld weapons they were wielding had slightly longer reach than a regr machete but the slight wear on the handle told me they weren''t used as much. However, that wasn''t the issue now because we were more concerned about their intentions.


    Quinn spoke up, "We''re busy here. The fuck do you two want?"


    Thedy just let out another smile, "Hello, Mr. Ishiyama¡­ Mrs. De Leon¡­ We''re from the Garcia Family and we''d like to propose a three-way partnership."


    ''Partnership?''


    I chuckled, "We got a minute or so before the game starts so make it quick. What do you got?"


    Thedy nodded promptly, "Yes, this game was said to be a little dangerous so we need bodies we could rely on to increase our chances of surviving, and if we do win, we''ll only take 15% of the winnings if¡­"


    "If?"


    "If u-umm you''d return¡ª I mean, give us Mr. Mason''s chain and his 10mm pistol, you can keep the rest of what you got from him because you rightfully won them in your bet. He requests only for those two things in exchange for our family to receive a smaller cut if we do win in this game."


    "But if we lose?"


    "Then¡­ Then we hope you''re open to negotiating with us in regards to taking them back."


    I turned to Quinn, "What do you think?"


    "Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "What do I think? What do YOU think? We''ll win more either way since you need to return that crybaby''s shit so you decide."


    "Fair enough," I chuckled as I looked at the two from the Garcia Family, "Huddle up, here''s what we''re gonna do¡­"


    [0:03]


    [0:02]


    [0:01]


    Like fucking clockwork, loud music reced the ticking sound, and at the same time, therge doors of the shipping containers were actually blown off with some sort of explosive charge and the dead just started pouring out one after the other.


    We could hear the dull thuds¡ªfrom the ones on the shipping containers a few levels above the ground¡ªas each of them made contact with the floor, and it was mixing with the low snarls and growls they were also letting out.


    It only took a second before a small mountain was formed but it also took a second before the ones that got a pretty goodnding literally hit the ground running.


    The sound was all too familiar.


    It was a constant rhythm of some sort of moist object splotching around in quick session but in reality, it was the sound of dozens and dozens of sprinters or ferals making their way towards us¡ª without regard for the outeryer of their soles or their palms getting decimated at the speed that they were going.


    If their shoes didn''t survive, how could their leathery flesh do better?


    The faster ones that were smart or lucky enough to figure out or stumble upon the fact that we were all chilling in the outer ring were the ones we first made direct eye contact with. With that said, everyone else was still in the same position and we were just waiting for them to enter our bubble before we start to carpet the y area with their bodies.


    Yes, none of us¡ªeven the pairs who didn''t team up with us¡ªdidn''t just rush forward to their deaths because the trick to fighting arge number of deadheads was to try and spread them evenly like making a nice sandwich.


    At this point, the first victim was a fucking deadhead that made use of a great racing line to reach us but his head already flew several feet before its body recognized it was already dead-dead.


    Quinn''s reach with her weapon was almost cheating because I''m pretty sure she would be able to hunt ducks with a long enough rake.


    She could cut, pierce, and smash with her weapon but from the sounds we were hearing, she preferred the sound of coconuts breaking open.


    With that said, each of us gave the necessary space to each other so that we could all move freely and receive each deadhead that came our way but the tricky part was keeping a proper footing amidst the dead bodies. Furthermore, awareness of our surroundings was also key because deadheads would alsoe from behind us.


    I was a few steps ahead from everybody else while I was hugging the outermost edge of the outer ring, and it gave me five or so steps I could retreat to. Tatiana was on the opposite spot¡ªeven though I said we said at first that we''d be on the same side¡ªbut since the other participants did the same thing as us, we can''t just trust our backs onplete strangers.


    Almost everyone did the same thing and it was kinda paying off for the most part... I think...


    ''Hmm¡­''

 Chapter 739: The Great Wall

    I just looked back to check on everyone''s situation after lopping off a rotting head but since I was a little too forwardpared to everyone else, something caught my eye.


    It could be just a failure in production or something simr but among the doors of the shipping containers that were blown off, one of them¡ªspecifically the one on the top to the right¡ªwas still sealed shut.


    The problem that mighte up was that the ones inside it could be on a dyed release but due to the number of lights around the whole area, I could clearly see that the shipping container in question had a hole in the bottom and whatever''s inside it had probably plopped down already.


    I could only think of such things a few moments at a time because another fucker was gunning for me.


    The dumb shit was running on all fours, discolored eyes looking directly at me while its spinal column had already torn through the skin of its back, but the concerning thing was the jagged ws that reced the rest of its fingers.


    Well, it was still its digits but I''d prefer less pointy things that could break open my skin.


    Despite that, the proper way to take on such variants was to wait until the moment they strike because that would be the time they''d be the most defenseless.


    More times than normal, as soon as they were in striking range, they''d just leap into the air and try to take a chunk off of my neck.


    And this time, it was the same exact thing.


    The dumb shit tunnel-visioned on my presence as it picked up speed but since no one had the ability to double-jump, I could just calcte where they''dnd so I could either jump back at the same time or just sidestep so I could carve a part of their head so they''d stop moving.


    My de was already stained when I entered the top of its head and left through the side of its jaw but I had to skirt through its side to cut through the back of the head of another deadhead.


    It came at the right time as Quinn overswung to make head patties but me saving her was all for naught.


    I had to duck at thest second because she used the momentum of swinging her huge-ass weapon to deliver a nasty quick towards the one that tried to nk her. Take note, she also changed into high-cut, steel-toed boots that seemed to be also custom-made, so that overhead kick she just did was probably worse than getting kicked by a horse wearing steel horseshoes.


    "HAHAHA! SAVING ME SO YOU COULD GET SOME LATER?! YOU WISH!"


    I quipped before I pulled away, "I guess you were in and out that time because someone got a lot more than they bargained for and that wasn''t me!"


    "WHA¡ª FUCK YOU!"


    At this point, I turned around once more to see our partners from the Garcia Family doing some honest work by staying between the groups and making sure that the bodies littering the ground were moved elsewhere. Well, all they were doing was simply making another pile of the dead but in our cramped space, it was doing wonders.


    However, right when a deadhead ''slipped'' past through the gaps between the Alvarez and the Castillo Family''s side, the guy from the Garcia family just casually pulled out what seemed to be a set of throwing knives before making one fly with a flick of his fingers.


    The knife quickly found its way to the deadhead''s eye socket but the guy just red at the backs of the two families that made a deadhead slip past their defenses before his partner made sure that their first kill in this game wouldn''t stand up.


    The two just looked at each other then they took a deep breath, and they just continued to act as the support for everyone else in this game.


    ''Hmm¡­ I''ll stay out of that¡­''


    After retreating a few steps back, I noticed that the groups opposite us were making much more headwaypared to our group, but I didn''t take it to heart.


    No one knew how much was still left on the other side and to bepletely fair, they had more bodies taking down deadheads and even Tatiana was doing work on their side. On our side, only me, Quinn, and Number 24 were doing work because the pair from the Garcia Family was busy cleaning up after everyone else.


    It''s just that there was one reason to take into ount and that there was a huge blockage by the midpoint.


    I was still holding just my katana as I advanced a little too forward and I saw five huge bloaters that were acting like they needed the magic flute to be woken up. Granted they were advancing with their little stubby legs, but their fat that had already drooped down and stretched whatever skin they had left made it look like they were wearing the most fucked up dress one could wear.


    A couple of them were even stepping onto themselves¡ªmaking their advance slower¡ªbut there were a few gaps the deadheads behind them could use with a certain toll.


    Right when one managed to squeeze through them by pushing through and wing out whatever fucked up curtain they were up against, one of the bloaters suddenly lowered itself and grabbed onto the trespasser before tearing it from limb to limb.


    If grabbing onto it didn''t reduce its vicle into powder, the strength the bloater exhibited was almostparable to the hulker that killed one of our own.


    However, the only thing it could surpass a hulker was its fucking appetite because it didn''t take long for it to shove a whole fucking leg in its mouth before throwing in the other one like it was nothing. It wasn''t even chewing it as it simply took in everything in one gulp but everyone grimaced when it started feeding on its torso.


    Like a fucking oversized burrito, the motherfucker squeezed it until it was ''bite-worthy''¡ªcrushing its bones and forcing its flesh to make it look like a fucked up sausage¡ªbefore shoving it in its mouth and digesting it with its bottomless stomach.


    Well, ''bottomless'' was a poor choice of words because the one in the center just started to have an ident as its stomach just burst open and everything inside it just spilled out.


    The digested parts, torn limbs, and whatever the fuck came out with this viscous fluid that made everything look like it had this chunky film made it even worse than the smell that just wafted over.


    At this point, with the help of Quinn and Number 24, we bumped our gears a notch and we started to do the opposite of receiving the deadheadsing for us.


    I made use of the wide angle of the curve to see everything much more clearly and we still have a couple of dozen deadheads or so to go through before trying to face up with the great wall.


    Despite that, I still opted to just using my katana to prove a point because even if I drew my wakizashi, what I wanted more out of my weapons was the range¡ª and the tool that could do that job was the one I was using currently.


    After flicking my katana to the side to get rid of some of the blood staining it, I took two huge steps to slice down and open up a deadhead''s skull before I pulled back and stabbed forward to take care of the one right behind it.


    However, two more deadheads wereing from my left and right so I had to twist my de before making it exit my flesh scabbard''s head and driving it to the left¡ªto behead the one on that side¡ªthen quickly using the butt of my handle to redirect my de quickly to the right.


    At this moment, the one in front of me still hadn''t fallen but its obstruction was just coteral damage.


    Its head gotpletely lopped off even though it wasn''t already involved but the one I cut down from my left fell faster than its head that bounced and rolled over. Furthermore, as I followed through, my de just easily entered the side of the head to the one on my right, and its milky eye got cut in half before its nose got a new exit hole.


    I took down three more deadheads that came after me but to my surprise, one of the bloaters in the midpoint threw its food at me.


    What I ducked down to dodge was a forearm missing all its fingers but the shoulder on the other end was still intact. It bounced on the screen behind me before it fell over so I took a few steps back to look forward.


    "Jesus fucking christ¡­"

 Chapter 740: Breach

    I thought of handling themst because they were slow but if they were gonna y with their food and throw it at me, that''s a different fucking story.


    At this point, the initial advance of the faster deadheads had already dwindled down to a few that could be taken care of by a single person. Part of the reason was that these bloaters acted as a stopper for the ones that were a littlete to the uptake but they were more trouble than I imagined.


    Other than trying to get to me with their own version of throwable goods, they were also increasing the number of deadheads we''ll face once they were taken care of.


    Time waits for no man so I advanced further than everyone else.


    "What are you¡ª"


    "It''s safer here, actually!"


    "What¡ª"


    I didn''t even hear thest part of Quinn''s sentence as I dashed forward and hacked up a couple more sprinters that were just actually jogging, and a few inches from my de was enough to stop them from moving. Well, their primary weakness was still their turning radius so doing aplete 180 for them was like chasing a bee with a 10-ton truck.


    With that said, more than half of the length of my katana was still free from their nasty bits and viscous fluids but it didn''t take long before I was face to face with the great wall.


    However, right as I was about to carve their bodies off the face of the earth, the ones in the inner corner started to regurgitate everything that they''d swallowed whole and I had to take a jump back and roll to avoid it.


    The one in the center wanted to do it as well but since its stomach had already burst, all it could do was dry heave while thest two in the outer corner were still chilling. I doubt they''ll do that forever but the only reason I could think of as to why they didn''t do shit was that I was a little too far and their projectile vomit had a short range.


    It''s just that the smell was so fucking horrible, covering my mouth or wearing a mask wouldn''t do it.


    At this point, all I could do was run to the outer corner so that thest two would use up their ''ammo'', but the chances of me getting through easily were nil.


    ''Unless¡­''


    I quickly ran back to our earlier position to check on things but to cut the story short, I found out the other side was having the same problem and they were still trying to figure out a way to handle it. However, I huddled my group together and said a few things before everyone else¡ªexcept Tatiana¡ªlooked at me like I''m an idiot.


    Quinn piped up, "D''you forget the fucking reason we all waited at the same spot from the very start?!"


    "Well¡ª"


    "Are you trying to get us killed?!"


    "Listen. Before that¡ª Tatiana."


    "Hmm?"


    "You''lle with, right?"


    Tatiana finally looked at me like I''m an idiot, "Of course, you dumb?"


    I chuckled as I turned to Quinn, "All we''ll need is a boost."


    Quinn started to scratch her head, "Hmrgh¡­ Fuck it, I can''t just wait here and do nothing."


    "Heh. Don''t worry, as soon as it''s clear, we''ll open up a way for you¡ª"


    Thedy from the Garcia Family spoke up, "Can''t we just take care of the big ones first? Martin here can use his knives pretty well¡ª"


    I cut her off, "We could but we''re wasting enough time as is. We''re still gonna take care of the ones behind them and I want to get my hands on that thing first."


    Everyone turned to me, confused, "That thing?"


    I just chuckled as I gave a cryptic reply, "There were only nine explosions."


    As soon as I said that, there was a moment of silence before they all nodded pensively. We eventually advanced forward to try out our own n but we had to take care of a few that managed to get through.


    With that said, I made the two from the Garcia Family take the front for once and the only thing I could say was that they didn''t have unnecessary movements to take down the dead and they finished things as soon as possible.


    The guy, ''Martin'', would use his long de in sync with his partner but every time he threw his knives, it would alwaysnd where he wanted. Well, a few in my group could do the same¡ªeven I could do something simr¡ªbut our knives were reserved for something else.


    In turn, I changed our n at thest minute and we began our attack by him taking down the one in the innermost corner.


    All we heard was a quick whizz in the air before his knife made its way to the bloater''s ear canal and it quickly opened the floodgates of deadheads trying to climb their way through the blob that tried to nourish itself with itsrades.


    Doing that opened up a particr corner Tatiana and I could ''safely'' boost through but the Garcia Family and Number 24 needed to hold down the fort for a few seconds.


    "You two are fucking crazy!"


    "D''you wanna win or do you wanna twiddle your thumbs like the other group?!"


    "Don''t me me if I throw you too far!"


    "I will!"


    "You fucker¡ª 3, 2¡ª GO!"


    Right at this moment, the three of us were by the bloater at the outer corner and I just ran up to Quinn so she could boost me over the small opening we made for ourselves. To bepletely honest, I doubt two people would fitfortably so I needed to make a lot of room the moment Inded.


    With that said, Quinn just used the right amount of force to vault me over and due to the opening on the other side of this ''wall'' almost every deadhead was turned the other way, and several heads rolled the moment I swung horizontally.


    At this point, I was now holding my katana with two hands but I kicked forward to create some space and the deadheads just ahead fell backward like dominoes. However, it prompted the other deadheads¡ªwho were in a frenzy and trying to get into the opening we made¡ªto go for me instead, but Tatiana just came in at the right time with a mandatory three-pointnding.


    It only took a moment before the two of us locked eyes and smiled devilishly, and even if we were backed into a small corner, the advantage and the disadvantage were theplete fucking opposite.


    I shortly exhaled before I pulled out my wakizashi from my scabbard and it only took a short moment before I saw several points of entry and each one of them was just as fucked up as the other.


    My first sh cleaved through a deadhead''s shoulder right to its hip and the second one went to another deadhead''s ear and out the other.


    Both attacks were done at the same time and it was as if my arms were controlled by different entities.


    One came like a flowing river while one just crashed in like thunder but the result was still death on multiple ounts.


    I didn''t even take a single step back to regroup or assess the situation because I''m not receiving attacks this time, they''re the ones that were supposed to take it. The sensation I felt at this moment was like the time I cked out while only using my wakizashi but this time, I was fully awake and I know what I''m fucking doing.


    ''Too far¡­ Lop its arm off first¡ª no, just the hands will do¡­ upward swing, from the armpit and out the neck and just a quick chop and pull before I¡ª''


    Right at this moment, I let out a short chuckle as Ipletely stopped moving but it was only for the purpose of tripping up a deadhead that was on all fours that tried to time my dash forward.


    It was a sitting duck when itnded a step short and my de just lopped off parts of its head where it only left its lower jaw.


    After that, I had an inkling that Tatiana was just right behind me but I had juste out of the thickest part of the second wave so I had to turn around to see how everyone else was faring.


    There was just a carpet of corpses in the area I just went through but the inner corner was also close to being in the same state.


    Quinn and the rest took care of the ones that spilled right in¡ªbeforepletely ignoring the four bloaters behind them¡ªand they helped Tatiana with catching up to me and getting even closer to the main entrance. However, it was at this moment when we heard a scream from the other side of the outer ring and it only meant one thing for sure.

 Chapter 741: The mind was willing but the flesh was weak.

    Our little band of survivors was quite close to the intersection where the main entrance and the road where I took down a thousand deadheadsst time, and it allowed me to catch some footage from the big screen.


    It showed that one bloater on the other side of the ring had broken through their formation¡ªthough it was now on its stomach¡ªbut it now had fresh meat from the menu.


    The person it was feasting on was crushed under its sheer weight and no one from their own circle could save him because the deadheads had already poured over them and caused some sort of stampede.


    From our side, we could see the number of deadheads moving onto their side because it had a leak but there were still moreing from the road toward the stage. Almost all of them didn''t know where to go because they hit a dead-end, and since our group was much, much closer, they opted to attack us instead.


    I would''ve preferred to help the group in trouble but right now, our hands were also tied.


    Furthermore, there was something not quite right about this wave we were about to take on so I stopped going on the extreme offensive. At this point, I sheathed my wakizashi but the look on everyone''s face when I turned tail and ran after killing a dozen or so deadheads was fucking priceless.


    Quinn was the first one to react, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING¡ª"


    "KNIFE!"


    "WHAT¡ª"


    "NOT YOU, MAR¡ª THE FUCK WAS YOUR NAME?! FUCK IT, KNIFE BOY! LEMME BORROW TWO! AH! MARTIN, RIGHT?! QUICK!


    JUST THROW IT OVERHEAD!"


    "O-Okay!"


    I was still running at a moderate speed when Martin threw a couple of his knives over my head and I couldn''t help but smile when he threw the first one at the exact spot while he threw the other a little forward to time my movement. I caught both of them like a fucking runningback¡ªtruth be told, my nose got a little pointier doing this¡ªbut I didn''t expect Martin to throw another one.


    "HERE''S ONE MORE!"


    "Wha¡ª"


    I wasn''t ready to catch another one as I was going inside the gentle curve but Martin made it so that it would bounce off of the poles where one of the cameras was mounted.


    To catch that fucking curveball, I had to cut to the outer curve and somehow 50/50 it so it wouldn''t cut straight to my hand but as luck would have it, it directly swam down the perforated bowel of a deadhead I cut in half and it now had this nice coating of bile and blood.


    If I didn''t mention the smell for the nth time this time around, imagine what it would be like touching it and having the most fuck up shit stay in your hands.


    At this point, my clothes already had specks of everything that came out of them so I just pulled it out by using my index finger and my thumb before I threw it at one of the bloaters my group left alive.


    I aimed it at the one that fell on its back and had its whole lower stomach ripped open because the top of its head was just the one closest to me. Almost immediately, its slow waddling to try and get up instantly stopped while the other three were still trying to turn their huge bodies towards me.


    The reason I asked for two throwing knives was to space out the bloaters by killing the ones in the middle of the four that were left, but since I was granted another one, this cleanup process would be smoother as I thought.


    It only took a second before the knives in my hand whiffed through the air and sunk into the other two bloater''s faces, and I quickly ran forward to take care of thest one.


    With my katana in hand, I weaved to its side before carving off its left knee cap and shing its shoulder off¡ªand since it wasn''t like a mingo¡ªits weight just made thest leg it was standing on shatter and copse on itself, and it was easy enough to take care of a target that had no defenses.


    At this point, I could already see a few people that bailed on the one that got caught on their side but their face was a little too distraught about losing someone in their own group.


    Everyone here had lost someone and dealt with a number of deadheads at one point and this panicked look they were wearing was kinda over the top. However, once I saw the fucking thing that was chasing after them, I had to blink twice nkly to see if I was hallucinating but lo and behold, this was the rarest of sprinters¡ªa sprinting bloater.


    The motherfucker was too fucking quick and agile for its own good because not only it was crashing to anything that it ran through, but its own body was also getting scratched up and losing chunks due to the damage it was taking.


    Well, part of the reason it was losing chunks out of its own body was that a few tears on itself had turned into hugecerations due to the way it was moving.


    It was like holding some jiggly cake or jello up in the air and waving it around, sooner orter, what''s left of it would be less than half of what it was.


    However, that wasn''t the only reason everyone was trying to get away from it.


    Due to its size and what''s left of whatever the fuck it was, it looked like Pudge and Gluttony had a love child and the end product was like the most fucked up iron maiden made with rotting flesh and bones. Furthermore, some of its bones that were sticking out didn''t even belong to itself because it was from the deadheads it ate for dinner.


    Not only did it serve as satiation for its hunger, but it also served as anotheryer of defense.


    Right now, it was more dangerous than facing a wild boar head-on because it had more "tusks" to pin us down, and we''ll be the freshest kebab right after.


    With that said, one of the unspoken rules to survive in the apocalypse was that it was always okay to run when in danger or when faced with an unknown, but gathering as much information while trying to stay alive was also a must.


    Despite that, we all know that every deadhead''s weakness¡ªexcept for the hollowed ones¡ªwas its head, but the problem right now was how to get ess to it.


    I easily used the earlier bloaters'' size against them but this one was a littleplicated.


    It was like its body wasn''t weighing it down at all and it was agile enough to do aplete turn and smack down anything that tried to slip past it.


    At this point, the other participants ran past me as they tried to get away but I was still watching this deadhead''s movements.


    It was moving like a bull where someone was riding its back and that "someone" was a human cactus or a human torch that was continuously giving it grief. It was thrashing all around the y area and it seemed that it had no target in mind. However, it only took a second before it saw me and tried to go for a m.


    ''Heh, let''s try it then¡­''


    Much to everyone''s surprise, I didn''t meet it with the edge of my de but I just jumped to the side and continued to cut in tight directions as I was watching it move.


    I still had my weapon drawn for the remnants that would try to interfere but it was easy enough to cut them down and dodge this huge b of meat that wanted to take a bite out of me.


    In a sense, I was like a matador ying with a bull while iling a red piece of cloth but that piece of cloth was my flesh and bones.


    As I kept ducking, diving, dipping, and dodging its body with a huge allowance, I noticed that it had begun to slow down by a considerable amount, and I wasn''t exerting myself as much as I was earlier.


    Despite that, the fucker still looked terrifying as fuck but I was starting to face more and more interruptions that came from the other side of the circle. I even drew my wakizashi to use as some sort of stick to push them away before I dealt the killing blow because even if I could do it as easily as snapping my fingers, my focus still needed to be on this special bloater/sprinter.


    Well, I still needed to do both at the same time so I just ran around killing some dregs before continuing to watch how it would fare in the long run, but long story short, all I could say was that its ''mind'' was still willing but its flesh was weak.

 Chapter 742: S-Seriously?!

    Right at this moment, I saw the bloater/sprinter that was chasing after me tumble¡ªlike a person wearing high-heels do that shake shit¡ªbefore it copsed on the floor. I saw its right shin break inward before the other broke to the side, causing the bones to tear open its leg, making any movement impossible.


    Despite that, its short bby arms were still trying to reach for me but I quickly shed them off before sinking my de into its skull.


    Its flesh and bones¡ªlike the rest of the bloaters I took down earlier¡ªfelt a little denser than an average human body but it was still farpared to the hulker we encountered. The hulker felt like cutting through ker while using a rusted butter knife while this one felt like digging through ice cream with a flimsy spoon.


    ''One more thing to do¡­''


    Before this night ends, I''m sure more bodies would drop to the floor but even if we''d be the cause for some of them, the ones that would be left should know who''d be looking after and who''d be in charge after them.


    I quickly turned my body to face the outer ring where the others had run from and aside from taking care of the deadheads that tried to bite my face off, I wanted to retrieve the body of the participant who fell to one of the bloaters so he''d at least have more or less a whole body instead of something that needed to be pieced together.


    Obviously enough, there was also a carpet of rotting corpses on this side but it seemed like they pulled out the shorter end of the stick.


    A lot more deadheads were present and to make matters worse, there were three more bloaters present even if there were already five that were taken down.


    They were taken down methodically at first but the trouble started when they reached the midpoint. Looking at the state of the bodies on this side, they also tried to receive them like we normally would but once the dominoes started falling down, there was no choice but to retreat.


    Luckily for me, almost half of what was left turned to the other side and was being taken care of by my group and the others that joined them, and all I needed to watch out for was my footing and positioning.


    In my head, I was making sure that my foot would step outside the dozens of dozens of chalk outlines that were already there and would be once I flicked my wrist and shed down with my swords.


    My body never felt so light and warm around these cold and moving bodies, but it didn''t take long before I reached my short pit stop.


    The person I was looking for had already breathed hisst¡ªand half of his body was already eaten or crushed¡ªthough he still hadn''t turned and his face was still recognizable.


    I quickly swung down to take care of the bloater on top of him but I still had to take care of a bunch that was made aware of my presence.


    Bodies just dropped as heads rolled and it only got easier when I caught a glimpse of the group from the other side. They were busy taking down the business I left for them and once I started to face deadheads that were looking the other way, I almost felt sorry for the free kill.


    Unless they could twist their heads like an owl or bend their joints the other way like it was nothing, they had no way to defend themselves.


    From this point on, the rest of the encounter was easy because we''ve already dealt with the ones that had a higher challenge ratingpared to the regr mobs but it still wasn''t over.


    The way to win this game was to find a way to get whatever the fuck was inside the vault and ce it on the podium on the stage¡ª and I just might have the way to do it.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the others started to lynch the vault in question¡ªeven prompting to steal Number 24''s crowbar so that they''d have a prying tool¡ªbut the look on their faces when I pped what looked like an explosive charge on the vault door was fucking priceless.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!"


    "THEY SAID NO GUNS¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ That''s not a gun¡­"


    "BUT STILL!"


    As I said earlier, there were only nine explosions but if what I found on the tenth shipping container while the rest were busy doing caveman shit was really an explosive charge, it''d be impossible to use it without the detonator.


    Furthermore, shooting it wouldn''t do shit because we were not even allowed to use guns, and unless what I found was a batch of Tannerite, it would take a lot more to get through this door and the explosion after would be dangerous.


    In any case, this "explosive charge" was actually a disguised thermite charge.


    There were four bricks of "C4" in total but after cutting one up, it revealed fine powder that had different colors. Furthermore, the device that was used to "arm" them was actually a battery-powered firestarter to light up the sulfur powder so that the rest of the materials mixed along with it would light up as well, causing a fire and probably enough heat to melt through a vault door.


    At this point, the game would''ve been already over but there was one more problem.


    I turned to the group of people that wasn''t in our party and I casually wiped the blood off my de that had the remnants of what they ran from. Furthermore, I released the tiniest bit of pressure¡ª but to my surprise, they quickly took a step back so I withdrew it almost immediately.


    I sighed before I looked them in the eye, "All I needed to do is to push that button there to light it up and the vault door would just melt. After that, I''ll just pick up whatever the fuck is inside it and then we''ll win. Problem?"


    "..."


    "If all of you are gonna try to interfere, our pair teamed up with the De Leon and the Garcia Family and we could do this right now¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ You can take it¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "I''m just happy I survived¡­"


    "No problem here¡­"


    At this point, the realization just struck.


    The reason I couldn''t recognize them and the reason they probably ran from the threat while their tail was tucked between their legs was that they were simply just pawns.


    Before the games even started, we saw a highlight reel of everyone who became champions¡ª or the winners of Mr. Cuervo''s events but none of them were even here. Sure, they had some fighting ability to some extent but everyone already had it.


    Having the biggest balls to swing around was much harder to find than people who could stick a knife to a head or break a skull with a bat, and it seemed I was with thetter.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I lit up the vault, and everyone that hadn''t seen how a thermite charge works were struck with wonder.


    It only took a few seconds before I finally had ess to the vault but I couldn''t believe my eyes when I saw what was inside it.


    ''Seriously?''


    Quinn and Tatiana were hawking from behind but they were as confused as they saw me pull out a velvet case that had a pair of rings inside them. Furthermore, it also had an old knife that had engravings that were almost unreadable though the words ''one'', ''forever'', and ''unity'' could be read perfectly.


    At this point, I simply walked up to the stage and ced the velvet case on the podium but I almost got surprised when wedding music suddenly resounded.


    ''S-Seriously?!''


    I didn''t know what to fucking do at this point but once Mr. Cuervo, a priest, the bride, and the groom were brought up from below, I was still fucking confused. Furthermore, it was as if everyone knew this was gonna happen because almost everyone from the viewing tforms stood up and shouted cheers and teased alike.


    ''Seriously¡­ Right here? In this pile of corpses¡ª Nevermind¡­''


    I looked like I was trying to look right and left at the same time but Mr. Cuervo pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. While this was happening, Tatiana and the rest were also confused as fuck but they also stood in line while being covered in the same shit I was.


    "Cool, huh?"


    I whispered back, "Seriously? I thought I was weird. How about the games?"


    "Heh. The games will continue after this, don''t worry. They''re just too impatient to just watch from the screen and they kinda dig this atmosphere. It seems a little crass¡ªeven for my tastes¡ªbut it has some aesthetic to it. Tell me, it''s kinda fitting in this time, no?"


    "I guess they have a bit inmon, at least."


    "Are you kidding me? They have a lot inmon. They''re getting married, remember?"


    "Huh? Isn''t this just political or something?"


    "Yeah¡ª but, you''ll understandter. Fuck, we should be quiet. It''s starting¡­"


    "...sure."


    Never in my life that I thought I''d attend a wedding where I''d be surrounded by cartel members, dead bodies, prostitutes, a giantess, bald grease monkeys, friends, and whatever the fuck while being covered in blood because I had just taken down a few hundred deadheads in a quick and brutal fashion.


    It was the weirdest fucking feeling¡ªand that wasing from me¡ªbut I guess the wedding is about to start.

 Chapter 743: Confused AF - Yo.

    As the wedding continued, I never tried so hard to contain my shock and awe from everything that was happening around us.


    The lights were turned to a different shade, rtively ''fitting'' decorations were suddenly put up, and most importantly, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids showed up in matching outfits¡ªwhich were the entertainers earlier¡ªthough the best man and the maid of honor were from each respective family.


    To my surprise, Edith was the maid of honor and she kinda looked like the bride with a few differences.


    ''Probably rted or something simr¡­''


    On the other hand, the groom and the best man were unfamiliar to me but the numbers 3 and 5 could be clearly seen even from wearing their suits, and the look of annoyance on Quinn''s face could be assumed as such.


    At this point, it would only be fair to use my judgemental self on the ''priest'' that was also brought up, but the way he was jacked could already mean a lot of things. He could''ve been just a regr old priest fond of gyms, an entertainer dressing up to do a role, or whatever the fucking reason it was¡ª I was still confused as to what was happening.


    He could be hiding a double-barreled shotgun or a bowie machete under his robes, we''ll never fucking know.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo had the courtesy to offer me a clean piece of cloth to somehow tidy myself but it wasn''t enough to go around all of the participants. Well, I''m still a boy scout if anything so the look of shock when they saw me pull out a pack of wet wipes from one of my pockets was fucking priceless.


    I even pulled out an extra pair of gloves to rece my bloodied one but the rest of my gear needed some cleanup.


    ''Later¡­ this should do for now¡­''


    Right this moment, the music slowly died down until it could almost be unnoticeable and the priest cleared his throat to give his opening statement.


    "Yo. Ah¡ª FUCK! Let me start again¡ª Ahem! Ahem!"


    I was fucking dead.


    This part was the most fucking difficult thing I went through, and I didn''t know keeping a straight fucking face would take everything from me. Even Mr. Cuervo had to fake-cough and turn away for a moment topose himself. However, Quinn was just dyingughing with Tatiana while Number 24 was trying¡ª trying to do something to stop the two but utterly failing.


    But after a short exchange of murderous nces and "I don''t care what the fuck you think" stares, the ''ceremony'' continued.


    "A-Ahem¡­ My friends, my colleagues, my brethren¡­ Tonight¡­ Tonight is a good night to celebrate. We thank you and wee you for being present on this joyous asion¡ª the asion where not only two people will be one but two families being together. Tonight, with the stars and everyone as their witness, Mauro, and Elsa¡ªfrom the De Leon and the Rivas Family¡ªwill be married as one."


    "This ceremony, this asion, this¡­ rite, this sacrament is a significant part from all walks of life and even in this time when everything had changed, being able to take part and most importantly, be the pair to share the love they have and show it to all of this people is something truly beautiful¡­ fascinating¡­ admirable¡ª and being the one in front of you two to make it happen is truly¡­ truly a blessing¡­"


    Even after those words, the ''Yo.'' earlier was still fresh on my mind and it just added to the list of things of what I think this priest''s real upation was. But despite that, he was starting to look more and more like the real thing because his acting was on point and I could spot a few people from the viewing tforms that were starting to bawl their eyes out.


    However, this priest still had some gangbanger inside him, whatever we may call it.


    "Before I forgot, if any of you here have some objections, you should''ve given the challenge before this shit started or you''d be gunned down at any point that you try to interfere with this sacred asion. Get me? Yeah? So don''t have any ideas or I''ll pop the trunk o'' my car and I''ll¡ª you know what I mean."


    "..."


    "A-Anyway, Mauro¡­ Elsa¡­ I just have a few questions to ask you¡­ Despite all the rumors and the whispers, have the two of youe to offer yourselves to each other, freely, and without reservation?"


    "We do."


    "We do."


    "You guys for real now? You''d let her drive your Maserati and you''d let him touch your kitchen knives?"


    "Of, course. We do."


    "W-We do¡ª"


    "Aha! Did you just fucking hesitate?!"


    "N-No! I was just surprised, that''s all! I swear!"


    "Mm-Hmm~"


    "T-Trust me! I swear I''ll let her use my ride! I promise!"


    "If you say so~ Onto the next question¡­ Will you love and honor¡ª This is too basic, aside from loving and honoring each other, will you two keep it chill? Except for you-know-where, of course."


    "We will."


    "We will," Elsa answered a secondter and she was still smiling though she was starting to release some hostile aura.


    "Good! For thest one, will both of you continue to honor our traditions, teach your future children our ways, continue to be an asset to our families, and be the start of something strong and beautiful? With everyone here standing witness, what say you two?"


    This time, the two smiled at each other first before they answered, "Fuck yeah! Of course, we will!"


    "Good! GOOD! Before you put on these rings, do you have something to say to each other?"


    Mauro cleared his throat before he spoke up and turned to his soon-to-be wife, "Elsa Rivas, I, Mauro De Leon, take you as my wife. I really do promise that I''ll let you drive my Maserati but do remember you crashed itst time and it would be difficult to acquire spare parts now.


    Nevertheless, if it weren''t for that crash, we wouldn''t spend so much time together in the hospital because that simple drive led to this happening. Well, we almost caused a gang war but it''s all good now, right?


    Anyway, I promise to be as chill as much as I possibly could but the only thing I''ll make sure of is I''ll ride you as much as I ride my cars and I''ll make sure that you''re always in tip-top shape!"


    As soon as he said that, cheers andughs erupted but it eventually quieted down when it was Elsa''s turn.


    "You''re fucking stupid, aren''t you? Well, that''s what I like about you sometimes. To clear out the crash, it''s not entirely my fault, I shouldn''t even be driving because I was wearing high heels but this idiot kept slowing down and catching these monsters on his phone and he made me drive faster because we might miss this ultra-rare one he didn''t even catch!


    Anyway, I digress¡­ I, Elsa Rivas, really soon-to-be Elsa Rivas-De Leon, solemnly swear that I''ll love you and honor you with all my heart but if you ever say that my cooking is bad, I''ll serve you to our guests, okay? Also, I''ll let you touch my knives but if you ever break them in any way, I''ll chop your dick off, capiche?"


    At this point, their exchange of vows wasn''t anything like I had ever seen but it was the most entertaining exchange out of all the weddings I''ve been part of. There was none of this ufortable formalness that existed in each one and it was like what everyone around us¡ªexcept for the hundreds of corpses¡ªwas like, being around family.


    After that, the priest gave his generic but quirky response as the witness to the exchange of vows, and it soon came to the exchange of rings.


    This part went on as what it should normally, but right after they put it on, Mauro took the knife from the velvet case before he cut his finger.


    The cut wasn''t deep enough to cause a serious injury, but it was enough to draw blood and use it to sign the papers brought up to them. With that said, Elsa did the same thing as well but as soon as they signed the binding papers, they brought their fingers next to each other, as if performing a blood pact.


    From my point of view, it was just one way to somehow get an infection but I guess it was more of a symbol than anything.


    Right when they joined their fingers like in E.T., cheers and apuse resounded but it went even wilder when the groom finally kissed the bride. I couldn''t even hear the priest''s prompt to do it but right now, something more than a normal kiss was happening. They were on each other like no one was watching them but it seemed we were forgetting something very, very~ important.

 Chapter 744: I still get my day rate, right? - Cleaning up?

    I was slightly side-eyeing Mr. Cuervo but it seemed like he was in a celebratory mood more than anything. However, this game we''ve just yed was the one I exerted myself the most and it seemed like the reward for it was forgotten.


    It''s just that asking for it now was a little too much on my part¡ªbut regarding how things were ying out¡ªeverything that was urring was a little too fast.


    But I had to poke the bear a little bit.


    I hovered a few centimeters right next to Mr. Cuervo as I whispered, "So¡­ I still get my day rate for this, righ¡ª Ack!"


    Mr. Cuervo managed to sneakily elbow me on my side with an amused expression but the look on his face when his suit got stained was fucking priceless. He never looked so panicked that his jacket now had tiny bits and pieces of rotting corpse meat, and all he could do was to take it off, turn the sleeve the opposite way, before hanging it on his arm.


    With that said, the newlyweds were still sucking each other''s faces off and they only stopped when the ''priest'' looked at them weirdly.


    "AND THAT SETTLES IT! LET''S ALL WELCOME OUR NEW MARRIED COUPLE! MAURO AND ELSA~!!!"


    As soon as the priest shouted at the top of his lungs, the already noisy crowd took it another step higher andpletely drowned out the music sting through the speakers.


    The uproar continued for tens of seconds and to my surprise, the ce where the shipping containers were ced was now reced with an elevated tform¡ªa little bit higher than the ones already put up¡ªand I assumed it would be the ce where the newlyweds would sit.


    ''The production value is insane¡­ who''re his workers?! They''re fast as fuck!''


    At this point, the couple was made to face and give thanks to everyone that attended their wedding but as of right now, a multitude of gifts was being brought onto the tform built for them.


    They gave everyone a bow and a wave before they were escorted to their spot but Mr. Cuervo made the rest of us stay put while he put on his earpiece.


    We waited for a few moments before the couple was sitting pretty and that was when Mr. Cuervo took the stage once more.


    [This is really a monumental day! I''m so happy! I''m so happy but we weren''t even done! Once again, a round of apuse for Mauro and Elsa!]


    I didn''t know how many times they would be apuded at this point but Mr. Cuervo soon got to the part I was waiting for.


    [Thank you, everyone! But before we continue, let''s not forget what rewards await the Ishiyama Family! I''ve noticed that they''ve formed groups but I''ll let them decide how to split it all up! Behold!]


    Right at this moment, I heard the whirring of the machine below the stage¡ªthat was responsible to bring anyone or anything up¡ªbut the item¡ª or should I say items that were brought up, was something that I tried to break into earlier.


    Tall and wide, big and small,pact but sturdy, the items that were brought up were a multitude of safes where a couple of them I was using back home.


    ''That''s why the pair with us wanted a small cut¡­ I guess Mason''s bling is more important¡­''


    I was deep in my thought but Mr. Cuervo spoke up once more.


    [If you don''t already know, the one responsible for thest game was the Garcia Family! You can''t run a sessful casino without a proper ce to store your winnings, yeah? Was the vault obvious or nah? I know, I know, they should be the ones presenting the rewards but their representative is a little shy, you see?


    Can''t even show her¡ª umm t-their face on the screen *cough* *cough* but yeah, I kinda miss seeing your ugly mugs, so here I am!]


    Mr. Cuervo got severalughs and he continued.


    [Anyway, aside from the safes here, they''d also provide the entertainment they have¡ªthe ones where luck and balls are involved¡ªto any ce of your choosing. Essentially, they''ll put up the equipment and the people you''ve seen like in the mini-casino outside and put it anywhere you want on your turf.


    Don''t worry, they won''t take a cut from the house''s winnings¡ªmeans your house, kid¡ªbut do take care of their workers, yeah? They''ll be living with you indefinitely, kid.]


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "You announce me as a head and you still call me ''kid'', Mr. Cuervo?"


    [Hah! My bad, hermano. You know, it sticks sometimes but it''s cool sometimes, no? Like Billy the Kid, Kid Rock, umm¡­ Kid Omega? The works¡­ Anyway, I digress. We''ll take a long break this time¡ª maybe an hour?


    Since you know, as cool as this disy is, we can''t start the main thing if they''re gonna be in the way, right? Don''t worry, once we start, we''ll probably see more bodies hitting the floor!]


    "Sure."


    [So, rest up, clean up, and eat up! The food and the drinks that we''ll be served after this will be free, courtesy of Mauro and Elsa! Another round of apuse for them, everybody! If you have gifts you haven''t given them yet, just add them to the growing pile on their side, we''ll see you allter, everyone!]


    Another wave of cheers erupted but this time, the music that followed after didn''t get drowned out. It even prompted a few that were in a celebratory mood to just dance and show off their moves while some of Mr. Cuervo''s staff were doing their assigned tasks.


    I just assumed that they''d properly take care of the one that fell from the previous game but while Tatiana and I were walking back to our spot with Quinn and Number 24, we had another pair tailing us.


    "What?" I quickly turned around to face the two from the Garcia Family.


    Martin spoke up but he was looking at his partner, "Elise, I told you we should wait¡ª"


    "We really can''t! You know how Mason gets when he''s pissed off!" Thedy said before she turned to me, "I know you guys are busy but can we check something quick off our list? Mason really needs his¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Right. Come with me then."


    Since my goal in going back to our spot was to tell Kaley that I''d clean up for a bit, I just radioed her to tell her that I''d be away for a while. Tatiana was still following after me¡ªthough she was faintly smiling for some reason¡ªbut to my surprise, Quinn was also trailing behind


    "Umm¡ª"


    "What?" Quinn instantly snapped back.


    "Nothing¡ª Where''s your Halberd/Poleaxe thingy?"


    "Ah, I made Coby take it back. He looks that way but he''s good at cleaning up."


    "Oh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Well, the way to our rides was a little awkward but it didn''t stop there when we came upon Ibarra and Natasha doing the dance with no pants inside my fucking Raptor. If it wasn''t for Mason''s things under the seat they were getting it on, I would''ve let them do it for hours.


    I was just about to knock softly but Quinn and Tatiana started to bang on the window.


    "HEYYY~! GETTING COMFY THERE, I SEE~!"


    "SAVE SOME FOR THE AFTERPARTY! WHY ARE YOU TWO CHECKING THIS RIDE''S SUSPENSION AT THIS HOUR?! HAHAHAHA!!!"


    The look on their faces was fucking priceless but the nail in their fucking coffin was when I handed Ibarra a couple of popsicle sticks.


    "Huh? What''s this for?"


    "Dick Splint."


    "Dick¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! I SAID WE DON''T TALK ABOUT IT!!!"


    "THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING~!!! I''M SORRY, ALRIGHT?!"


    We got another moment of chaos thanks to yours truly but it didn''t take long before I fished out the 10mm and the chain I took from Mason. I gave them to the pair from the Garcia family and they promptly thanked us before excusing themselves.


    With that said, I was told that my change of clothes was already in the room prepared for us, so we left Ibarra and Natasha to their own devices.


    "Wipe the seats after you two are done, okay~?"


    "J-JUST GO, OKAY?! WE KNOW! WE KNOW!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    At this point, Tatiana was the one who led the way to our room but Quinn was still following behind us. I was giving her side nces from time to time but she would just stare me down while shaking her head. However, she finally had her limit when I was about to open my mouth.


    "I GOT A ROOM HERE TOO, OKAY?! I''M NOT GONNA WALK BACK TO OUR ENCLOSURE SO I COULD GRAB A CHANGE OF CLOTHES!!! YOU THINK I WANNA BONE YOU WHILE I''M COVERED IN SHIT?! YOU JUST CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD LAST TIME, OKAY?!"


    Tatiana quipped, "So, I get to do him alone? We still got 50 minutes or so."


    I almost tripped on the floor, "Wut?"


    Quinn was surprisingly out of words, "I¡ª Ah¡ª THAT''S NOT WHAT I¡ª"


    ''Can I just clean up somewhere peacefully?!''

 Chapter 745: Tension and Release

    Quinn was a good foot taller than the two of us but Tatiana seemed to be in control of the situation. She was just cheekily smiling as she was walking backward to our room while Quinn was still trying to figure out the words to talk back with.


    With that said, Tatiana pulled me inside and just closed the door without locking it, and she was already undressing without a care in the world.


    "Umm¡ª"


    Tatiana looked at me confused, "What?"


    "You just¡ª"


    "It''s just us here, you''ve done more than see me naked¡­"


    "Right¡­"


    "And I don''t want to stain our bags. It''s better to do this, correct?"


    "It sounds kinda w-wrong but you''re right¡­" I shook my head as I faintly smiled.


    "Yes, I''m right," Tatiana let out a short chuckle as she pulled down on her ck panties, "You''re not just gonna stare at me, right? We gotta clean ourselves quick so I can have more time with you."


    "Time?"


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, "You''re really dense sometimes, you know? Quinn will barge in here in a matter of minutes and the only way you''ll survive is if you bring me to my knees first."


    "In less than 50 minutes? We''ve gone for a few hours once¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled once more, "Oh. Right, let''s just say I want to make the most of our time together before other people join in. Are you up for it?"


    I drooped my head low first before I looked her in the eyes, "Fine. But I want a 15-minute nap after!"


    "Hahaha! I''m down but I gotta eat a bit after!"


    We gave each other augh and it didn''t take long before the two of us were in the shower. Well, we haven''t done anything but wash the blood off our bodies but it wasn''t even five minutes when a towering giantess kicked open our door.


    Take note, we didn''t even bother to close the bathroom door since the door to our room was already closed¡ªand we doubt anyone had the balls to try something funny¡ªbut Quinn was another story.


    Right when Quinn saw us just casually showering as our bloody clothes were justying on the floor, she just harrumphed but her ears were red as she closed and locked the door behind her.


    Tatiana was a little somber but she quipped, "Come in, the door''s open."


    Quinn started seething from annoyance, "Fuck you! There''s no water in my room so¡ª"


    Tatiana cut her off, "And you didn''t bother to check the other rooms?"


    "Well¡ª"


    "Just say you wanna fuck, a little bit of honesty goes a long way~"


    "I¡ª THERE''S REALLY NO WATER IN MY¡ª"


    "The shower''s full, you can wash yourself in the sink¡ª"


    "IN THE SINK¡ª YOU WASH YOURSELF IN THE SINK! I CAN BARELY FIT¡ª"


    "We''re fucking right after we clean ourselves, we''re gonna take a while¡ª"


    "THEN LET ME WASH UP FIRST THEN!"


    "Firste, first served~ Like I said, if you''re just here to ''wash'', there are a lot of rooms avable¡­ However¡­ If you just say what you came here for¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING BITCH! I''M GONNA SHOVE MY FIST UP YOUR ASS, YOU''RE GONNA FUCKING CALL ME MOMMY!"


    "THAT''S THE SPIRIT! COME ON IN!"


    "F-FUCK YOU!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    ''What have I gotten myself into¡­''


    I thought for sure that they''d already gotten along earlier but it was like trying to cross a road while a bear and a wolf were at each other''s throats. However, something different was building up when Quinn eventually undressed and joined us in the shower.


    It was like a different kind of heaven.


    I was in between two alpha beauties with well-toned bodies and the three of us were quietly showering while sneakily stealing nces at each other. We three had scars and distinct tattoos covering parts of our bodies and each one could probably tell a tale or two about our past. However, that wasn''t the main point right now because we now had to wash our backs.


    For the record, I''m flexible enough to do it on my own but I wouldn''t decline help from these two or the other way around if they request it.


    But something else happened.


    Tatiana moved over to Quinn who was still soaping up her huge breasts, "Want me to wash your back? I''m just teasing you earlier, sorry."


    "I can do fine on my¡ª S-Sure¡­"


    I thought Quinn would decline the offer for sure¡ªwhich she almost did¡ªbut at this point, Tatiana was using a soaped-up towel to run it across Quinn''s back while Quinn continued to soap up her armpits and her chest area.


    "Nice tats."


    "T-Thanks, you too."


    "Are you religious or something?"


    "Umm¡­ N-Not really¡­"


    "Oh, why''d you¡ª"


    "An old friend used to have it¡­"


    "Oh¡­ cool."


    "Ain''t gonna tell me where yours came from?!"


    "Oh, ahaha... Mine''s not as pretty as it is now but I got mine in prison. If you''d ignore thedy here and focus on the other ones, it''s kinda symbolic too, I suppose¡­"


    "I see¡­" then Quinn turned to me, "How about you? It''s a little¡­ different¡­"


    "Oh, thanks. Got mine in Japan."


    "That''s it?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Just Japan? No small snippets or anything?"


    "Fine. I got this at the same time I got my tachi, katana, wakizashi, and my tanto. Let''s just say it''s a package deal of some sort and it was the most troublesome way to get it as opposed to using money to buy a decent set and hire some professional to ink you. But in the end, it''s all worth it. They''re priceless treasures I was lucky enough to have¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    There was a short moment of silence but Quinn looked at me a few angles lower and got annoyed.


    "Seriously?"


    I never looked so confused, "Hmm?"


    "That''s just insulting."


    "What do you¡ª"


    Tatiana cut me off, "For once, I agree with you."


    "Totally. Two naked women are in front of you and you aren''t even hard."


    "Won''t I just look like a creep when I have a hard-on while we''re cleaning ourselves up?"


    "Be half-hard, at least!"


    "Yeah!"


    "Wha¡ª I gotta get in the mood, too! I can''t just get hard onmand, that''s fucking insane! Besides, we''re just talking about things close to us and you want me to get hard from that?! You two are impossible¡­"


    "Hahahaha! True, true¡­"


    Quinn said with an eyebrow raised, "Well¡­ what do you want us to do then?"


    "Hmm? You mean¡ª"


    "D''you want me to wash your back while you wash hers? What do you think?"


    "Sure¡­"


    "I agree with that! You can ''wash'' me as far as you can reach¡­"


    At this point, it became quiet again as I was washing Tatiana''s back with the towel she used to wash Quinn with but Quinn was using something substantial on my back.


    "How does it feel?"


    "Mmh¡­"


    Quinn''s gigantic tits were on my back, pressed hard, and going up and down while Tatiana''s ass was slowly grinding on my dick as I was washing her back. However, Tatiana made me grab her perky tits and touch her pussy as my half-hard member was in between her buttcheeks. It was just going up and down¡ªalmost at the same time as Quinn''s cowtits¡ªand it didn''t take long before I got hard.


    The three of us were soaped up in the right ces but Quinn wanted a little bit more action happening.


    Right, when Tatiana bent over and ced her hands against the bathroom walls, Quinn grabbed my dick and pointed it in Tatiana''s pussy before she pushed behind me and made me shove my dick right until the base.


    It was so fucking sudden that Tatiana trembled before letting out a sharp gasp but Quinn grabbed onto her ass¡ªwhile still behind me¡ªand spread her cheeks apart.


    The two of us could see Tatiana''s puffy asshole while my dick was still inside her, and she just jammed her thumbs inside it and tried to spread it apart as she made me thrust my hips over and over.


    "H-HNGH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT FEELS SO FUCKING GOOD¡ª AH! AH!


    IT''S HITTING MY¡ª SPREAD MY ASSHOLE MORE! AH! FUCK!"


    Tatiana''s legs were already quivering while her holes were getting yed at the same time, and she was getting tighter and tighter as the moment passed. However, I pulled out right before she came as I jammed it in her asshole, and Tatiana just squirted uncontrobly on the bathroom floor.


    At this moment, Quinn moved in front to shove three fingers up Tatiana''s pussy and all Tatiana could do was take it.


    Quinn never looked so excited having Tatiana just melt into the pleasure and she just shoved her fingers which were in Tatiana''s pussy into Tatiana''s mouth. Right after that, she started to smother Tatiana with her huge tits but I was already about to cum inside Tatiana''s ass.


    I was staring at Quinn''s eyes while Tatiana''s face was between her breasts as I came hard but another spray from below followed right when Tatiana was already losing air.


    Quinn was wearing a victorious smile as she thought she won over Tatiana but the look on her face when she flipped in mid-air while buck naked was fucking priceless.


    Tatiana was already on the attack right after cumming several times and she easily swept Quinn on her feet and made hernd on her ass. I, for one, knew that it gotta hurt somehow but since everyone was fucking on heat, pain was a secondary thing.


    "You like fisting people, huh? How about taking it for a change?"

 Chapter 746: Should I say thanks? - Boning?

    Quinn''s face had a mix of surprise, anger, and embarrassment from what had just happened, but right when I thought she''d explode and fight back, she shrunk down before she slowly spread her thick legs in front of Tatiana.


    Her fat, unshaven pussy was staring right at us as her puffy asshole was winking at intervals, and it was one of the things I''d remember forever. She was also half-covering her face but we could clearly see that she was red through her neck and hard of breathing.


    However, just when I thought Tatiana would actually fist Quinn right then and there, Tatiana stopped before she even put the tip of her finger inside Quinn''s pink hole.


    She let out a cheeky smile as she stood up and walked toward the bed.


    "You giant slut, you wanna do that there? It''s so cramped! I got something much, much better though."


    Quinn just realized she got yed with, "Y-YOU! I¡ª!"


    "Juste over here! We''re just here for a short time, you''re gonna have a hard timeter if I shove my fist inside any of your holes."


    "YOU''RE GONNA¡ª"


    "Shh! Let''s just try this! I''ve been meaning to use it if it feels like the real thing!" Tatiana chuckled as she pulled out my ''clone'' and beckoned Quinn over.


    Quinn was still red in the face but she was purposefully getting strung along with Tatiana''s whims. There was a look of desperation in her eye and her breath was still as heavy, but the juices running down her thighs were another story.


    I didn''t even notice how fucking wet Quinn was¡ªwell, both of them were and we were technically still soaped-up¡ªand I got to dine on both of them while everyone else outside was eating something mediocre.


    But at this point, the two just started roughly making out as their tongues went in each other''s mouths and I had the best view as it was all happening. After that, it didn''t take long before they started touching each other''s bodies where Quinn was grabbing Tatiana''s ass while Tatiana was groping Quinn''s breasts.


    "Mmh! Hngh¡­ M-Mmh!"


    "Fuck¡­ Pinch them h-harder¡­"


    They totally forgot about the 9-inch dildo Tatiana pulled out earlier because right now, their legs were tangled up as they were violently rubbing their pussies against each other. Neither one of them was giving the other the upper hand as they were continuing to grind their hips forward while their hands were at the back, acting as support.


    The sounds they were making from moaning, panting, and squishing their pussies together were music to my ears, and I didn''t even care if I was slowly stroking myself while watching them.


    However, Tatiana was still a little sensitive from cumming multiple times earlier so Quinn got the upper hand and managed to push her down. This was when Quinn grabbed one of Tatiana''s thighs as she thrust her hips over and over while continuing to push her down.


    Our bed was so fucking soft to the point that Tatiana was almost buried in the covers but Quinn was still going at it with fervor.


    "WHERE''S YOUR LOUD MOUTH NOW?! YOU JUST SHUT UP WHEN YOUR MEATY PUSSY''S GETTING POUNDED?! YOU FUCKING HOE, I''LL MAKE YOU CUM WITHOUT MY FINGERS!"


    At this point, Tatiana''s eyes were rolling backward as she started cumming violently and all we could hear was her quick panting while their pussies were still getting squished together.


    I thought Quinn would go on until she came herself but she slowly let up before she turned her head towards me.


    "You, you''re next."


    ''Uh-oh.''


    It only took a second before I found myself lying on the bed before Quinn started stroking and sucking on my dick, and I almost lost it when she slid my dick between her tits while doing those other things.


    My dick was getting smothered by huge, firm tits while the tip was getting sucked and licked like a lollipop, but she began to suck me deeper and deeper until my dick was punching her throat.


    She almost choked when she continued right until the base of my cock but right as I was about to cum inside her mouth, she suddenly pulled off before she got on top of me and rode me as violently as Tatiana earlier.


    I had no fucking way to defend myself from this because Quinn was still jumping up and down as I was still cumming inside of her tight cunt, and the way her gigantic tits were bouncing around was enough for me to cum a third time.


    I was losing my fucking mind from the sensitivity but the look of victory on Quinn''s face would be her downfall if she thought this was the extent of what Tatiana and I could do.


    "YOU CAME THAT FAST?! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BULLY ME LIKE YOU DID EARLIER?! IF YOU GO SOFT ON ME, I''LL FUCKING FIST YOUR ASS AND LET KALEY WATCH BEFORE SHE PEGS YOU!"


    Quinn was still on top of me but she now had leaned over as she was just moving her hips, but now she was also making me suck on her nipple while pinching the other.


    Her tits were definitely bigger than my head and I''m all for it, so I just grabbed onto her hips with my free hand as I started to thrust upward.


    "You got your bearings, huh?! Let''s see how far you can¡ª H-HNGH! WHAT ARE YOU¡ª"


    I didn''t see what exactly happened because two watermelons were right in my face but Tatiana definitely got her second wind.


    All I felt was that Quinn''s vaginal walls got tighter and tighter and it seemed like ''mini-me'' just joined the fray. Right when I felt someone was pushing Quinn from behind, I knew that Tatiana used her toy as a strap-on before she pushed it all the way inside Quinn''s puffy asshole.


    "H-HNGH! I-IT''S TOO MUCH¡ª ANH! MMH! I''M TOO FULL¡ª"


    "What''s the matter~? Can''t handle two dicks at once?"


    "S-SHUT UP¡ª AH! I THOUGHT YOU WERE STILL¡ª"


    "Still what? I''m fucking you with him now."


    "F-FUCK! IT FEELS SO¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S GOING IN MY¡ª AHN!


    MMH! MMH! SHIT!"


    Quinn was still on top of me but Tatiana and I just straight up vited her holes as we pushed and pulled over and over even after Quinn''s body was just pressing on me. Quinn put up a good fight for the first few minutes but the moment she came for the first time, it was all downhill from then on.


    I didn''t mind getting used as a bed by a body like Quinn''s but I turned her over so we could have fun before we take a little break.


    Quinn was still trembling all over as I pushed my dick down her throat and I was pinching her nipples hard while Tatiana was eating my cum out of her pussy. She was still putting up a little bit of a fight but she just started squirting non-stop when I held her hands down and went rougher and rougher.


    I''d only let her breathe after a couple dozen of thrusts but it seemed like she preferred my dick over actual air. She even pulled on my hips so I could stay in her mouth and she swallowed everything I let out, and she even made out with Tatiana who just took in my cum that came out of her pussy.


    Quinn was seemingly out of the count after that but Tatiana wasn''t.


    Before I got my 15 minutes of rest, Tatiana went on top of me while I was pushing her dildo up her ass, and Quinn, seeing that, wanted one more round to top it off. In the end, I justid on my back as she sucked my dick off while Tatiana fingered her butt while pushing the dildo up her pussy.


    The two justid next to me after we were done but Quinn still got embarrassed when I tried to hug her body.


    She tried to push me off a couple of times but when Tatiana and I sandwiched her, she chose to bury my head in her breast and put her leg on my torso. It wasn''t a particrlyfortable position to sleep in but it was also fucking heaven.


    After some time, Quinn and I woke up seeing Tatiana eating a tray of food she probably snagged somewhere but to my surprise, she also cleaned my des along with her own.


    "You cleaned them? Thanks!"


    "No problem, I didn''t get a lot of sleep so¡ª want a steak? That one''s medium, that one''s rare, and that one''s¡ª no that''s mine."


    Quinn chuckled as she stretched her body, "Are you sure you wanna share?"


    Tatiana quipped, "I shared him with you, so?"


    "Hahahahaha! Should I say thanks?"


    "Nah, thank Kaley for that. She''s cool with it¡ª but you gotta see them fuck! Makes me horny every time."


    I tried to get in between them, "Can we stop talking about boning while we''re eating?!"


    Tatiana''s eyes suddenly lit up, "Right! I was waiting on a T-Bone Steak! I''ll be right back!"


    "..."


    "..."

 Chapter 747: Did you eat him?

    Tatiana just sprinted out of the room before Quinn and I just looked at each other and startedughing, and I wasn''t sure how much food she had already eaten when the pre-games started.


    ''Don''t forget about the food she took in at noon¡­''


    Her bottomless stomach was something I was kinda jealous of because technically, I was ''fluffy'' for more than half of my life.


    In any case, I noticed Quinn had only taken nibbles from our food as she nced at me at random intervals. She seemed to be deep in thought for some reason but I suddenly pped aloud to get her attention.


    "What?" Quinn turned to me with a spaced expression.


    "Don''t ''what'' me, what''s with you? Is there a problem?"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "It''s nothing¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Quinn was just looking at her food as I was looking straight at her face but the silence grew to be a little bit ufortable. With that said, Tatiana seemed to be taking her time to get another wallop of food so I tried to break the silence with casual conversation.


    "Okay¡­ So~ That old friend of yours¡­ What''s he/she like?"


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ You know, the dude who inked me¡ªI know you''re tall and all¡ªbut he''d still probably tower over you. I b-bet he could grab my whole head with his hand and lift me up but he''s still able to make priceless works of art that only a handful of people could get their hands on."


    "I see¡­"


    ''At least she''s talking¡­''


    I scratched the side of my cheek as I opened my mouth once more, "So¡­ if you don''t like the food, I could fill you up with something else if you just bend over¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    ''She''s definitely not listening¡­ She would''ve exploded by now¡­''


    I''ve never seen Quinn like this¡ªand this could be just me overreacting¡ªbut she was acting way~ suspicious right now. She was like Kaley on her ''off'' days but I highly doubt that both of them acted the same way during that ''period''¡ª and I''m pretty sure she wasn''t having one now.


    Take note, the two of us were still partly clothed so I''d fucking know.


    However, the moment she looked me straight in the eye with a somber expression and opened her mouth, I partly understood.


    "After this¡­ You''re really gonna stay at my ce for a few days, right?"


    I stared at her nkly for a moment, "..."


    "R-Right?"


    I faintly smiled as I looked at her, "Of course, a deal''s a deal. Some of us might go back early but I''d definitely stay longer than I thought."


    "R-Right¡­ You guys are gonna look for that Kuzma guy¡­"


    "Yeah, I might have a solid idea as to where he went and Alexander is also pretty close by. Also¡­ Hmm¡­" I trailed as I looked away for a moment.


    ''Fuck it.''


    "Also what?"


    I just shrugged my shoulders as I shook my head, "I''ll trust you with this, please don''t tell anyone¡ª"


    "Wait, you''re still suspicious of me?!"


    "W-Well, not exactly¡ª"


    "What the fuck?! You''ve practically seen every inch of me and¡ª You know what? Don''t bother. Keep your secrets."


    "That''s rich," I said as I chuckled.


    "The fuck did you just say?!"


    "You heard me. Earlier, I just revealed some important bits of my life and you can''t even be bothered to share who''s that old ''friend'' of yours. I can''t be the only one telling you things, that''s not how a conversation works¡ª AND! I was just about to tell you another thing important to me and you just blew up and told me to shut it. Who''s the fucker now?"


    "..."


    Quinn''s face was red from anger and her chest was heaving up and down, but she couldn''t find the words to rebut my statement. She slowly looked down as she pursed her lips for a moment and she eventually calmed down.


    Then I heard a small peep.


    "S-Sorry¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I''m s-sorry¡­"


    "Hah~? I can''t hear you¡ª"


    "I SAID I''M SORRY! DO YOU WANT ME TO SUCK YOUR DICK TOO?!"


    "Won''t that just favor you then? You like sucking my¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! YOU''RE FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!"


    Quinn was this fucking close to strangling me on the spot but she eventually caught on when I startedughing. She couldn''t hide the embarrassment on her face when she folded her arms together but it eventually became quiet again. However, I didn''t need to break the silence this time because she did.


    "Let me be honest¡ª"


    "So you''ve been lying to me this whole¡ª"


    "SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!"


    "That''s thest time, heh. Go on¡­"


    "..."


    "Go on¡­ I promise I''ll listen¡­"


    Quinn was just staring me down for a few moments before she sighed heavily and opened her mouth, "You see¡­ Umm¡­ I''m¡­ I''m happy today¡­ Like¡ª Like real happy, genuinely happy. It''s been a long time since that happened¡­ ever since I lost my ''friend''¡­"


    "..."


    "I used to hateing to this ce because of the weird shit that''s been going on: the games, the drugs, the sex, etc. but I slowly grew ustomed to it and I would go once a month for an¡­ an escape. I¡­ I would even partake¡­ sometimes¡­ with psychedelics to¡­ to feel something but the lows after that are just too much for me¡­"


    "..."


    "So¡­ I just kept busy for a while and would only concoct my own poison, letting in a random stranger or two to do what we just did¡ªthough we already did it twice which had never happened¡ªand everything just went on like that even after the world ended. To be honest, nothing has changed much ever since that and it was like I''m stuck in a weird loop or something¡­"


    "That happened to me once or twice¡­ you never know it sucked until you''re out of it or you''ve been there long enough¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    At this point, the only thing we were missing from this conversation was a case of beer to pair it with but seeing Quinn this open and vulnerable¡ªtaking out sex in the equation¡ªwas something else.


    With that said, I thought I would need to probe a little more to know this friend of hers but she pulled out an old crumpled picture from her bag and showed it to me.


    "What the¡ª"


    "You see, now?"


    Just from seeing this old photo of Quinn and her ''friend'', all I could say was that the resemnce was fucking uncanny.


    The photo could be 10 years old or more but let''s just say that if Mikhail had ck hair and lost a bit of his muscle, I would mistake him for the man in the picture. Furthermore, Quinn in this picture wasn''t a ''wheyfu'' as she was today and she even had long flowing hair up to her lower back.


    I had to fucking do it.


    "Did you eat him? Am I next¡ª"


    "YOU''RE SUCH A FUCKING ASSHOLE! OF COURSE, I DIDN''T EAT HIM! YOU¡ª FUCK!"


    I was justughing my ass off as I was getting beaten to a pulp but it was all fucking worth it. The look on Quinn''s face as I said those words were fucking priceless, to say the least, and I''d do it again even if I knew I''d get smothered to death.


    After a short bit, Quinn didn''t know whether tough or cry but as things calmed down, Quinn was just waiting for my response.


    "He looks foreign, British?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?!"


    "The DB9 you own? It''s just a guess but you know, I thought you had more things to remember him by than just that tattoo alone¡­ You two dated at least?"


    "I told you¡­ we''re just f-friends¡­"


    "Roight~ Roight~"


    "What does that mean?!"


    "It''s British for ''Right~ Right~''. I thought you should know that¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Nevermind¡­ this was a long time ago¡­ forget it¡­"


    "Heh. Quinn, this head never forgets. Also, it seems you didn''t forget too¡­ Is that why you pushed off Mikhail? It''s gonna be weird to say the least, right?"


    "Yeah¡­ I don''t know if weird is even the right way to describe it¡­ I don''t think it would be fair for the other guy if I were with him because he reminds me of someone I used to be with¡­ Besides, I got you now."


    "Wut?"


    "We''re ''friends'' now, too. You fucked me twice already, why stop there?"


    "Umm¡­ B-Because I have a loving wife?"


    "Hah! Thanks for reminding me! I''m still not done with your ''wife'', I''ll fuck her too after everything here is over!"


    ''At least she''s back¡­''


    I just put my hands up in defeat, "Fine~ Fine~ As long as Kaley''s fine with it and you stay away from my backside, we''ll be ''friends''. Just take note that Kaley and I want some alone time with just us sometimes, we don''t always do things like this with our ''friends''..."


    "And how many other ''friends'' do you two have?"


    "Ahaha¡­ Please don''t ask¡­"


    Quinn''s eyes had never been more curious, "How many?! Answer me!"

 Chapter 748: Gifts

    For the life of me, I couldn''t believe that this question would be asked of me multiple times and it was just a running gag at this point. I wasn''t even the one that started it but I may have a small involvement in making it get to this state. But luckily enough, Tatiana finally came back with her food¡ªalong with a few extras¡ªbefore I got to answer.


    Well, Quinn didn''t even bother to push me because my reaction was probably enough of an answer. And after that, it didn''t take long before we ate for a short bit and got ready to go outside.


    Once we stepped foot out of Mr. Cuervo''s mansion, the crew was already in the process of finishing up though the celebration was still going as hard as it began. Food was still being served, drinks were still being handed, dancers were still unting their bodies, and there was nary a frown on anyone''s face.


    However, a woman wearing a frilly maid outfit approached and greeted me with a bright smile.


    "Mr. Ishiyama, we''ve been waiting for you!"


    "We?"


    "Oh! Mr. Mauro and Mrs. Elsa¡ª the newlyweds are expecting to meet with you! They''re particrly interested in the catalog you sent them!"


    Quinn interjected, "You gave them a fucking catalog¡ª"


    "Chill, I don''t know what the two want so what better way to do it is to give them the choice of what to receive. Mr. Cuervo thought he could slide the car I made for him straight to theirps but he''s dead wrong. As always, everything is ounted for."


    "But what are the things avable in that catalog?"


    "I have different ones ready but the couple seemed to like cars and knives so I got them those. However, I can''t give them what they picked out of the lot as of this moment because I can''t possibly bring everything I have over here so they have to wait a little bit of time to get their present."


    Tatiana chuckled, "I thought presents are supposed to be a surprise?"


    "Hah! If you already forgot, I hate fucking surprises¡ªI know they''re sometimes good¡ªbut I''m worried about the bad ones. There''sfort in certainty, right?"


    At this point, the three of us gave a shortugh as our maid escort gave a slight chuckle, and we were soon led to the elevated tform the newlyweds were in. To my surprise, Mr. Cuervo, Sally, Kaley, Edith, Dave, Mason, and a few others were present and they all turned around to look at us when they arrived.


    Kaley quickly took to my side as she gave me a knowing look but I just fastened my wakizashi on her hip after stealing a kiss.


    Sally was the first one to speak up, "Took you long enough. Had a little fun, eh?"


    I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, "Yeah, I took a nap."


    "Nap, my ass¡­" Kaley whispered with augh.


    "GHAHAHA! You little fucker,e on over here, we''re just talking about the gift you brought. A fucking catalog, eh? That''s new. If¡ª"


    Elsa interjected, "Aunt Sal, I quite like the disy here. Mauro, what do you think?"


    Mauro nodded as he was still looking at one particr page in the catalog, "Yeah¡­ I''m torn between five¡ª no, six items¡­ Are you sure I can only get one? It''s my wedding and all?"


    I pretended to ponder for a bit before I gave my answer, "I''ll let you pick out five items if you name your firstborn after me¡ª"


    "Deal¡ª Gackk!"


    It didn''t even take a full second before Kaley and Elsa simultaneously elbowed the two of us and a series ofughter just followed. The two of us were still recoiling from the immediate pain but Elsa walked up to me with shining eyes.


    "This Jian and this longsword interest me but I''d like to know what would it take to have that on your hip?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    Quinn instantly quipped, "Aren''t you married already, Elsa?"


    "Hah?"


    "Why''d you need two dicks¡ª"


    "I''M TALKING ABOUT HIS KATANA, QUINN! SHUT UP!!!"


    "Roight~ Roight~ His katana, sure¡­"


    The two were about to have an unofficial fight but my words cut them off.


    "I''m sorry, these are mine and they''re not for sale. It''s possible to have something made for you but it''ll take a few years¡ªand in our current situation¡ªmaybe more."


    "..."


    My words led Elsa to look me deeply in the eye but she soon nodded a few times as she stretched her hands out.


    "Can I touch it for a moment, at least?"


    And Quinn just had to.


    "Again, why''d you need another¡ª"


    "I SAID, SHUT UP!!!"


    It didn''t take long before I pulled my katana out with its scabbard and handed it to Elsa, and everyone just watched her pull it out in wonder and amusement. She looked like a kid that just got her first toy but to my surprise and everyone else''s, she cut herself at the same spot she cut herself earlier and blood just dripped from the tip of her finger down to her palms.


    Edith was the first one to react as she put pressure on the wound with a clean cloth and Sally was just shaking her head in disbelief.


    However, Elsa was smiling brightly as she looked at the edge of the de that she cut herself with before she turned to me and handed my sword back.


    "That''s sharp. I barely put it against my skin¡­ Seriously, what would it take to have something like that?"


    I scratched my head as I looked at everyone, "Trust me, the trouble of¡ª"


    "No. I want something like that. I''ll do anything to have something of my own."


    "Something of your own, then? You''re not just gonna steal this off my corpse?"


    At this moment, a thin film of tension filled the air but Elsa just let out a short chuckle before smiling faintly.


    "I have my own reasons."


    I stared at her deeply before giving my reply, "Fine, but I can only take you to the man who made it. I can''t force him to make something he doesn''t want to make and also, he decides what to make for you¡­ be it a fork, a spat, or a butter knife. And that''s on the premise that you pass in his eyes and I hope to fucking god or whatever thing you worship, he''s still alive."


    As the words left my mouth, not only Elsa but everyone else that was listening grew curious and interested in the prospect of meeting this mysterious fellow that made the de on my hips. However, Elsa''s interest in the topic far surpassed anybody and she was listening to my every word.


    "So, when will we go?"


    "You just got married, right? How about you¡ª"


    "Two weeks? A month?"


    "No. Let''s say a year at the earliest."


    "A fucking year?!"


    "Let''s just say that he''s in a different country that is in a much worse state than ours and I still have my own turf to worry about."


    "..."


    "In the meantime, I do apologize but all I could say right now is that you''d have to do with whatever''s in the catalog. Well, all of them are still fine works but I can''t lie and say that they''re of the same quality as the ones I got on my wife and me. They''re one of a kind and if you really want something for yourself, you gotta go to extreme lengths to earn it."


    There was a moment of silence as everyone was just looking at me deeply¡ªsome of them thinking I was fibbing or something¡ªbut the people who knew me for a while and Elsa knew that I wasn''t kidding one bit. However, one of the people who aren''t as interested, Mason, piped up while looking through the catalog in Mauro''s hand.


    "Oi! Do you really have an R34 in storage?"


    "Yeah, among other things."


    "How much?"


    "Hmm~ A 10mm and a chain would do¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "I''m kidding, heh. We could talk shopter after Mauro picks his gift."


    "Fine, I''ll take you up on that."


    "Sure."


    After a short while, we agreed upon the Jian and the SRT-10 in my catalog and I promised to deliver it to them after a week or so. They even gave me their contact information and the ce they''d be staying at though Mauro had a few requests to beef up his gift.


    I took a mental note of all the performance upgrades he wanted to be done on it and we all shook hands before our attention was drawn back to the stage.


    None of us noticed that Mr. Cuervo snuck out of the tform and went straight to the stage, and even his face was stered on the huge screen at the back. Everyone knew what was about toe and the building tension was getting apanied by the music that was getting louder and louder.


    At the right fucking moment, everything became deathly quiet before the music ramped up to the highest volume.

 Chapter 749: Threats and Danger

    It only took a second before everything felt overwhelming because aside from the loud music, the lights were also going wild and ring along with fire blowing up wildly on the stage, and some fireworks¡ªand even guns¡ªwere firing off at almost the same time.


    There was no system of some sort to the way they went up but somehow, it just blends it all together.


    However, right at this fucking moment, while everything was focused on the disy, I felt a set of eyes staring me down and a surge of killing intent washed over me though I was able to shrug it off just as quickly.


    And right when I turned to its source, I saw a familiar-looking person that had bandages covering one side of his face¡ªmainly his eye¡ªand he was making his way towards us on the viewing tform.


    It''s just that no one besides me saw himing so I released copious amounts of killing intent to get everybody''s attention.


    Like clockwork, everyone else''s gazended on me but once they followed my line of sight, the realization came quickly as their expression changed.


    Sally was the first one to speak up, "What are you doing here, kid? With that injury of yours, you need to rest up¡ª"


    Benjamin cut her off before momentarily ncing at me and then turning to the newlywed couple, "I came here bearing gifts¡ª"


    Mauro suddenly cut him off as he looked at him with a dark expression, "If you came here with a salve to fix broken bones, put it in the pile but if not, you should distance yourself away from me as far as possible."


    As soon as he said that, the air around us just felt a little heavier but all Benjamin did was look at Mauro without saying anything.


    Mauro continued, "You went too far. I know what you did to my men¡ªespecially my guy you crippled¡ªdoesn''t equate to a death sentence and is allowed in the rules of this ce but as I said, you went too fucking far. We rough each other a bit in these games but you know you''re a fucking asshole if you did something permanent."


    Benjamin let out a faint smirk, "Then my eye¡ª"


    "I DON''T CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING EYE! YOU FUCKED SOMEONE UP AND YOU GOT FUCKED TOO! MISERABLY! YOU''RE FUCKING LUCKY I''M ON THIS PLATFORM RIGHT NOW OR I''LL FUCKING SEND A BLOOD FIGHT AND SOME FLOWERS YOUR WAY!!! I¡ª"


    "Hey, calm down. This night was supposed to be fun and memorable," Elsa interjected as she turned to Benjamin, "As for you, we dly thank you for the gift you brought but it seemed that your presence here is making my husband upset. Please, you can just leave it where you are standing right now and we''ll put it on the pile, thank you."


    At this point, no one was speaking a word as we were all just staring at Benjamin but he just let out another smirk as he took out a small box from his coat and ced it in front of his feet. After that, he just turned around and started to walk back but he stopped and nced at me from the side.


    "Right¡­ Don''t ever think I forgot about you, we have some unfinished business."


    As soon as he said that, everyone that heard it became quiet but I didn''t know why I found this threat so fucking amusing.


    I identally let out a short chuckle but it did relieve the bit of tension surrounding everyone.


    "Youugh? Keep underestimating people and you''ll end up¡ª"


    I cut him off, "End up what? Like you? First of all, you underestimated me when you went for me earlier and furthermore, you kept overestimating yourself. And you''re gonna try to get even with one eye. As Mrs. Sally said, you need to fucking rest up or¡ª let''s just leave it at that."


    At this moment, I thought the conversation was over but Benjaminpletely turned around before he ripped off the bandages covering his face.


    The covered part of his face was still bloodied and swollen and it seemed like his eye was about to pop out because of the weird stitches on the side. However, his breathing still looked normal after the fact, and if what Annie said earlier was true, he was getting through his injury with willpower alone because any sort of medicine to somehow reduce the pain doesn''t work on him.


    ''Or he''s already used to it¡­''


    For a moment there, I thought he was about to summon ck mes and burn me alive as he cried blood but all he did was a poor attempt¡ª well, let''s say a ''decent'' attempt at intimidation, for normal folks


    "Who said I only had one eye? Look, I can see you perfectly," Benjamin snickered as he threw the bandages over the railing and stared at me for a few seconds.


    He eventually made his way back to his spot when he was about to receive a mouthful from Mrs. Sally, and it was at this moment when the opening for the main event concluded.


    It seemed like Mr. Cuervo knew what was happening on our side but he couldn''t do much because he was on the stage below. However, it suddenly caused a frenzy¡ªespecially among the men¡ªwhen a familiar little guy was brought up the stage.


    The little guy looked like the piglet that got oiled before but I doubt it was still the same one because chances are, it was already one of its sessors.


    Tatiana was already shaking her head in amusement while Quinn was already rolling her eyes over her head.


    "He brought that shitty game again?!"


    "What are you talking about? That game''s fun! I met Cynthia there."


    "Uh-huh. I''m sitting this one out."


    There was already a mix of reactions from everyone on the tforms but I saw a faint smirk hidden on Mr. Cuervo''s face.


    [Not so fast, you fucking hornballs. I know that your blood will rush to something else when the game starts but I''ll make sure you also clench your fucking asscheeks for this. You thought we''d do the same thing over and over?]


    Everyone was a little confused at this point but it only took a few seconds before something much more dangerous was brought up from the podium and even I would be very~ careful when in front of such a beast.


    The creature was also a being that could provide such high-quality meat but it would be a pain in the ass to fucking catch it.


    With that said, some of the women who were already changing into their skimpy outfits paused because this fucker''s tusks could kill a grown man in fucking seconds.


    [Let me tell you a story. I have this family of pigs that had a certain tradition of participating in one of the games so they could be hugged by beautiful women but there was a certain incident that almost made them extinct¡­]


    ''The Tatiana incident¡­''


    [In which case, for the sake of this game''s continuity, I employed¡­ let''s say a bodyguard of some sorts to protect their ''legacy'' and in return, they would once again give us the entertainment that we lost long ago but back with more¡­ wildness.]


    At this moment, a cute little piglet with a bell tied to its neck was being apanied by a huge-ass boar with bloody tusks on each end of its mouth, and the two of them were walking at the center of the y area side by side.


    However, there was one element that was reced with another.


    Last time, the piglet and everyone else that participated was covered in oil but this time, since the y area got too bloody with the previous game, the flooring was now covered in mud and there were certain areas where little puddles formed and areas that had an uneven footing.


    Furthermore, sprinklers were being turned on at certain intervals, designed to either distract the participants or even muddy up the ying field.


    At this point, the number of yers that wanted to participate decreased by more than half but a scan of what seemed to be the bodyguard was disyed on the screen. There seemed to be a few items stuck in its stomach and I could already guess what they were based on the shape.


    [If you can''t see properly, let''s just say that boar''s diet had three gold coins this morning and among the pot that we would all put wagers on¡ªafter the main house takes it cut, of course¡ªI''ll also add in 250 kilograms each of Pig and Wild Boar meat packed and ready for whichever purpose it may serve for as long as you win the game.]


    [And how do you win?]


    Mr. Cuervo took a long pause as he lit a cigar that he took from his coat pocket and he snickered amusedly before he looked at the camera.


    [Easy, just bring them to me, and yeah, don''t die.]

 Chapter 750: Mayhem

    Excitement instantly appeared in the faces of the people that knew the coin''s worth¡ªwell, everyone¡ªbut a question popped into my head.


    If the bodyguard was worth three coins, how much more would the little piglet¡ªthe main target¡ªwould be worth?


    If anything, the games we''ve yed had certain things left out for the participants to figure out or discoverter; chances are, the team that wouldnd on the little piggy would be in for a huge payout.


    With that said, the number of participants increased again but another rule was put on the table.


    [If you weren''t aware, this game used to be yed as a battle royale of sorts¡ªwhere only one person would be the winner¡ªbut this time, not only would I require the participants to pair up, I''d also allow pairing up with people from the other families. The yers from the previous game already did it so I''ll also let you guys split the rewards if you do pair up outside of the family.]


    [However, be fucking quick so I''d only allow 50 people and they''d only get to join if they managed to get the tags on the¡ª]


    Thest part of Mr. Cuervo''s sentence wasn''t able to travel through the speakers because as the wearable tags were waved around by some of his entertainers on the viewing tforms, all hell just broke loose.


    It was almost like a repeat of the first game where plugs were involved and it was like watching fifty football matches urring at the same time where the ball got fumbled.


    Clothes were ripped off, a buttcheek or a boob got groped, faces got bruised, and for the life of me, I can''t figure out how someone got pegged with a banana.


    ''From everything that had happened at this point, I guess I shouldn''t be surprised any longer¡­''


    In some weird way, it actually made pairing up with different families ur more and more since no one wanted to let go of the tag they got for themselves. It was because not only would the family benefit from the pot, but the sole participant would also receive great rewards.


    It''s just that on our end, our ''family'' managed to acquire five tags and the owners were Tatiana, Cynthia, Bogdan, Ruru, and Riri.


    Kaley and I weren''t able to secure one because we were right next to the newlywed couple but the reason why Tatiana got a tag for herself was because of the faces she stepped on. I, for one, thought they''d be angrier but they looked like they wanted more, but I couldn''t say the same for the ones that Quinn stepped over¡ªno, they were the same fucking way.


    Tears dropping on one side of their cheek, nipple or penis half or fully erect, and most importantly, the longing and horny gaze towards the one that did them in.


    ''This ce is really~ fucking weird¡­''


    We still had a few minutes before the game starts because of the wagers being put on the pile but on my case, I already instructed Mr. Cuervo to put everything we brought in.


    It''ll be a risky fucking y, to say the least, but aside from achieving our goals by the end of this day, I would also like to rake in some profits in the process.


    However, right as I was about to take a tag from either of the twins, a whisper in my ear just made me sit down and decide to enjoy the show instead.


    We had a short discussion before the game starts and even Niks was fucking confident about the twins'' little secret. Furthermore, even Cynthia wanted me to sit this one out because she too, in fact, knew they had this in the bag¡­ if everything went smoothly.


    "Alrighty then, give ''em hell!"


    "We will!" The twins shouted at the same time.


    "How about me?!" Cynthia tugged on my clothes.


    "You too, of course¡­"


    "Why do I feel so out of ce¡­" Bogdan trailed from behind.


    "You dumbass, if you didn''t body block everyone here, we''d all have a tag! It''s your fault! You''re lucky you''re paired with Cynthia! Tatiana on the other hand¡ª oh, shit¡­"


    It was pretty obvious that the twins were paired together while Cynthia and Bogdannded on each other but to everyone''s shock, Tatiana paired up with Quinn. The bottoms and the pig''s entire family were shaking in their boots and it didn''t take long before it started.


    As thest rule, all they could bring were wooden sticks for weapons though they all vary in length.


    Once it did, each and every participant just vaulted over the viewing tforms and started the chase but all of a sudden, a flock of chickens, five bulls, two dozen goats, and a goose holding a knife with its mouth entered the y area to cause fucking mayhem.


    Furthermore, a pair of weirdos wearing a gimp costume were running on all fours while pulling a cart rode in from the entrance, and I was just BSOD''ing from everything happening all at once.


    Despite all that, everyone was just fucking losing it and I quickly tried to find where my team was.


    Tatiana and Quinn were already piling bodies on top of one another while Cynthia was trying to run away from the goose as Bogdan was locked in a pushing match with a bull.


    On the other hand, the twins seemed to be on good terms with the rest of the animals because they werepletely ignored¡ªif not, wanted to get petted¡ªby the ones they ran past, and I already assumed they were probably in charge of taking care of them at one point.


    It''s just that the boar and the little piglet wouldn''t let them win just as easily. It would just cause amotion and it would end up on the two getting roasted for their meat.


    However, I couldn''t believe how fucking fast and nimble the little piglet was because even if it wasn''t covered in oil, itpletely dodged and outran everyone that came after it and they were easily taken care of by its huge-ass bodyguard.


    To my surprise, the wild boar was able to hold back some of its strength, and most of the time, it was just using its huge body to push away everything that came close to its young master.


    It''s just that one fucking idiot tried to take it on and he was fucking lucky to be alive but with several ribs broken.


    He tried to take out the boar this early for the easy three coins it would award and it ended in a horrible fashion. Everyone saw him smack the boar on its head with the wooden sticks provided but all it did was make the boar pissed as hell.


    The boar only needed a few meters as a charge up to ram the guy and the stupid fuck thought it could guard the blow by cing his stick in front. Long story short, the boar easily snapped the stick in half and it made contact with the guy''s torso.


    The guy folded like a piece of paper on the y area but we finally found the purpose of the guys in the gimp suits.


    They just ran over to the guy as fast as they could before they put him on the cart and it didn''t take long before they disappeared out of sight, straight to the medical bay.


    ''Unbelievable...''


    I was still in the process of losing my mind but the show was still in the early stages.


    After a short moment, the sprinklers suddenly turned on, bathing everyone with water and it made the clothes the participants were wearing a little see-through. Well, almost everyone here probably saw almost every participant naked at some point but there was a certain ''charm'' with wet clothes sticking to a person''s body.


    In which case, a bit of water added a lot of difficulties because it slowed the participants down but it was just one facet of the whole thing put together.


    At this point, it almost became an all-out brawl on one side while having a mud chase on the other side because not only was Bogdan in a fist fight with one of the goats, Tatiana and Quinn were slowly gathering followers after beating them up.


    They now had two bulls in their control but for some reason, their balls were bruised and swollen, but it seemed like they were blocking people for them.


    ''PETA would''ve called foul but I guess¡ª Nevermind¡­''


    On the other side of the y area, Cynthia finally lost the goose that was chasing after her but the pair closest to the main target were still the twins. However, I could clearly see from our side that another pair was about to pounce on them after that curve they were running from but all my worries were for naught.


    I''ve never seen the twins throw hands but I guess this time, I would.

 Chapter 751: Mayhem II - A Hero Emerges

    It would only take a few milliseconds before both parties woulde in contact but my attention was stolen by one of the members of the De Leon Family.


    The guy just fucking sneezed so fucking hard and loud, I thought he''d sneeze his brain out but Ipletely missed what happened to the twins and their assants. However, I saw how everyone else just grimaced and was taken aback, and it was right after the dull sound of hard objects hitting flesh resounded.


    ''What the fuck did just¡ª''


    The moment when I turned my head back to the y area, all I saw was the pair about to jump Ruru and Riri were now face down on the dirt while the sprinkler next to them was just wetting their backs.


    I was just about to ask Kaley what just happened in the brief moment I turned away but cheers just erupted before an instant rey was shown on the huge screen.


    What happened was that right after the twins cleared the curve, the pair waiting for them aimed for a high and low sweep but the twins just dove head-first into the gap at the middle while simultaneously sending an attack from an impossible angle.


    The way their bodies just twisted in mid-air as they swung their wooden sticks with deadly precision right into the throat of the one in front and the ballsack of the other was enough for everyone that witnessed it to get chills.


    In a matter of seconds, the twins just ended the two''s ability to sing and have children.


    To bepletely honest, I thought their shy move wouldn''t have much strength put into it¡ªand I figured it really didn''t¡ªbut the way their attack was already in motion the moment they dove in and how precise they hit their targets was enough to cause some serious damage.


    At this point, the twins continued their pursuit but on the other side of the y area, something else was happening.


    Bogdan was currently getting ganged up on by two participants because he discovered something else that wasn''t disclosed earlier.


    Aside from the piglet and the boar, the flock of chickens, the five bulls, the two dozen goats, and the goose were also hiding¡ªwell, not all of them¡ªa gold coin on their bodies.


    The only reason Bogdan managed to discover the secret was after diverting the bull he was on a pushing match earlier straight into a wall, he picked up a shining object that fell off the bull''s balls. It seemed to be tied up by some sort of string but questioning how it got there wasn''t the question that was supposed to be asked.


    Which animal also had a hidden coin on them?


    We already witnessed Tatiana and Quinn taming two bulls by using their balls as punching bags and if they had a normal set of eyes, they wouldn''t miss a shining gold coin hidden in those jewels.


    With that said, Bogdan was still fighting them off to the best of his abilities but another pair just discovered the secret and acted as a third party.


    Right now, two pairs were trying to get the coin off of Bogdan''s hand and the bnce was quickly shifting to the other side with numbers.


    This game was supposed to be an opener of some sort to titite the senses but like what almost every game had resorted to, it just became a fight to determine the stronger one.


    Bogdan was faring well when he was still up against two opponents but right now, he was trying to get away in the hopes of another team interfering. It''s just that since he was still in possession of a coin that was held in great value in this ce, he might just bury himself even deeper.


    Looking around, Cynthia was nowhere in sight though the goose chasing after had already found a different target.


    Bogdan only had himself to rely on but chances were, he''d have to let go of his discovery if he didn''t want to get escorted out of the field by the guys wearing gimp outfits.


    However, right when the future looked bleak, a hero emerged at thest second.


    The red bandana, the US speedos, the chin strap, and the oiled body just swooped in at the right time to receive the finishing blow headed for Bogdan, and right when our teammate looked up, all he saw was just thick quads and a glorified taint that would haunt him forever.


    However, that figure saved him from the impending doom, and let''s just say that this fight was far from over.


    And I don''t know how, but for some reason, someone could read lips really fucking well because, from the disy we could see from the screen, someone was typing fucking subtitles for everyone watching on the tforms.


    ''What the fuck¡ª''


    [You¡ª Why did you save me?]


    [You don''t want me to?]


    [But your teammate?]


    [His time had already passed¡­ I was about to forfeit but I saw you from a distance¡­ I can''t just leave someone like that¡­]


    [You¡­]


    [Stand up, grab my hand¡­]


    And for some other reason, dramatic music just yed right when Ricardo helped Bogdan up and the two just looked at each other deeply before looking at their opponents that didn''t attack them during the long transition.


    [I''m Ricardo.]


    [Bogdan, nice to meet you.]


    [Shall we?]


    [After you.]


    I just muttered fromplete shock and confusion, "The fuck is happening?!"


    "It''s beautiful¡­" Kaley muttered with shining eyes.


    ''I don''t even know what''s going on at this point¡­''


    With that said, it only took a moment before Bogdan ripped up his shirt and used it as a makeshift bandana before the music changed back to the way it was.


    The new pair that formed in the y area eerily looked too simr in physique and it seemed they would be the only contender that could match up against Quinn and Tatiana.


    It only took a moment before Ricardo mmed the palm side of his closed fists right on the ears of the guy closest to him before he lifted him up and smacked him down in the most inhumane way possible.


    The guy was still dazed from the attack from nowhere but he justnded on his balls because Ricardo took a knee as he brought the guy down, and it quickly dissolved the fighting spirit of the three that were behind him.


    I don''t know why balls were always the target of attacks this time around but I guess a quota of some sort needed to be fulfilled.


    With that said, Bogdan took the opportunity to dash forward and smash his fist down on the other guy''s shoulder before he sent an elbow straight to his temple. His attack missed by a few centimeters because his target swayed but his elbow managed to cut open his opponent''s eyebrow.


    Blood started to gush out almost immediately but Bogdan palmed the guy''s face before tripping him down and smashing him onto the ground.


    The two versus four fight quickly became a two versus two in a matter of seconds, and even if it sounds like an even match on paper, the difference in strength and momentum was practically insurmountable.


    Moreso, the crowd was basically chanting their names and even though that might not actually affect their battle power, it would definitely be discouraging to put up arms when you were on the opposite side of the chants.


    "FUCK ''EM UP!!!"


    "THEY GOT WHAT''S COMING TO THEM!!!"


    "THE GIMPS ARE ALREADY ON STANDBY HAHAHAHA!!!"


    "GET ''EM!!!"


    "RICARDO!"


    "BOGDAN!"


    "FUCK ''EM REAL GOOD!!!"


    At this point, the pairs inbat were locked in a short staredown but one of their remaining opponents wearing cargo shorts and a tank top just held his stick tight before going on the offensive. However, the battle was already lost when his teammate turned tail and ran, and what awaited him was a deserved beatdown.


    Bogdan easily caught the stick that was aimed at his head and he just broke it with his forearm before returning it with a full-blown headbutt. He even held the back of the guy''s head to avoid some sort of whish or unnecessary bending but the two coconuts had to have one winner.


    Surprisingly enough, the guy was still conscious after the first hit but he quickly fainted once Ricardo stepped in to french kiss his ass.


    The guy was foaming at his mouth as he fell over and everyone just witnessed the guy that turned tail and ran get rammed by one of the remaining bulls. He actually flipped in mid-air twice beforending on his neck and I was sure he would have fared better if he just took the beating like his teammate.


    Needless to say, the gimps came in with impable timing to fetch the dregs out of the y area but as far as this game goes, the winner was still undecided.

 Chapter 752: Mayhem III - Trouble

    The chase for the piglet and the boar continued as is but looking through the feed from the cameras strewn around the y area, there was more fighting than chasing their targets.


    The only ones still chasing after the main targets were the twins though they were derailed a few times because they had to defend themselves.


    Well, they didn''t always throw down or try to knock their opponents out because it would be difficult to fight and run at the same time, and taking their eyes off their target just might cost them the win.


    The most that they did was to fight for a few seconds before continuing the chase and they would always seed in throwing off their pursuers because they thought the twins would dig deep and fight until either side was down.


    But to their disbelief, the twins would just run like they wouldn''t give as much EXP when they defeated them and the twins would already be several feet away before their ''fight'' even heated up.


    The twins had the biggest advantage out of all the participants in the game¡ªbecause they took care of these animals and probably knew some of their mannerisms¡ªbut I noticed something about the two after watching them for a while.


    ''Interesting¡­''


    The game had already been going on for quite a while but the two were still running with their foot straight down the pedal and on full cylinders. Granted, anyone on my crew could keep up with their pace but it was a different story when chasing someone¡ªor in this case, a little piglet that could easily sprint forward and even change directions.


    Furthermore, the terrain wasn''t exactly 100-meter dash material and the water on their clothes was an additional factor to take into ount.


    At some point, anyone should already be catching their breaths but the twins weren''t.


    Sure, they didn''t look like they were chilling but they didn''t look like they were hard of breathing either.


    With that said, the two still moved as gracefully as they should and I even saw a shadow of how Cynthia moved in this game thest time we were here. The two were sometimes moving inplete unison, which added more charm or something simr when watching them and a question just popped into my head.


    ''What sort of training is Mr. Cuervo making her girls do?''


    Speaking of girls that trained under Mr. Cuervo''s tutge, Cynthia seemed to be doing something entirely different.


    I saw her on one corner of the screen chasing after a guy wearing tight clothing and she looked fucking pissed. From the time Cynthia spent with us in our own ce, I''ve never seen her like that and the only thing I could think of right now was that the other party must''ve said or done something.


    At one point, the main target and the twins passed by Cynthia, and she didn''t even look the other way. Her eyes were dead set on the man right in front of her and she wouldn''t stop until she got what she wanted.


    Too bad the subtitle guy wasn''t able to do the same thing for whatever happened to the two but I guess we''d just see how it would go.


    From my perspective, the guy seemed to be just going around in circles while asionally looking back to piss Cynthia even more, but it seemed like he had a good awareness of his surroundings.


    Never did he get stopped by any sort of blockade, animal, or altercation, and he was just keeping the right amount of distance between him and Cynthia.


    In turn, Cynthia got even more agitated at the fact that she couldn''t bridge the distance between this guy and all she could do was tire herself out. At one point, she looked like she was about to cry but she just wound her hair and her clothes tighter before pursuing her own target.


    I turned to Niks, "Do you know that guy?"


    Niks looked at me with a stoic expression, "Who?"


    "The one Cynthia''s chasing after¡ª"


    Alexei interjected, "Ah~ that guy. Remember what happened a few games back? The one that came from the Alvarez¡ª"


    Niks suddenly frowned before he said, "Ah, fuck. He''s bad news."


    Ilya added, "That''s Ramil¡ª Fuck, did he forget that Cynthia is Mr. Cuervo''s¡ª"


    Ilya wasn''t even able to finish his sentence but just judging from the difficult expression he and Alexei were wearing, let''s just say that it was as Niks said, "bad news". Kaley and I just looked at each other before we formed our own thoughts as to what this guy just did to make Cynthia fall to that state and I guess it couldn''t be more obvious.


    Well, if the guy turning around and facing Cynthia with an amused expression while smelling his fingers wasn''t enough of a description, the way he just looked at Cynthia with those ''type'' of eyes might be enough of a tell.


    At this point, Kaley was also fuming mad but we couldn''t do shit at the moment.


    Anything goes in this ce¡ªespecially at this hour¡ªand as long as that motherfucker didn''t snap Cynthia''s neck in two, no action would be held against him.


    The guy was literally a piece of shit but still, several girls were cheering for him.


    However, like Mauro and the rest of the De Leon Family about to jump on Benjamin for injuring one of their own, it was totally allowed to bear malice and wait for the right time for revenge.


    It''s just that it was painful to watch someone¡ªespecially the victim¡ªtry and chase after her assant that was just basically ying with her. I already saw her almost burst into tears and I could only imagine what was going through her head right now.


    At the end of the day, scum would take advantage of anyone as long as they could and get away with it and sometimes, the victim couldn''t do shit on their own.


    At this point, my focus was now on the Ramil guy and I believe I saw him in the highlight reel earlier.


    The guy had a decent build like the rest of the champions though his best feature¡ªaside from his height¡ªwas his lower half. Let''s just say that he was one of those dudes that probably did twice the reps on leg day or every day was just leg day to him.


    He could reach farther distances with each stride because of his long legs and I bet it would hit worse than a 2-inch diameter whip if he went for a nasty slice.


    Furthermore, he didn''t look like he was in a hurry or was trying to win the game and it seemed like he just joined this one to specifically fuck with Cynthia. He was basically running circles around her and anyone that tried to interfere just got shut down in an instant.


    We saw him send a goat several feet into the air with just his kicking power alone and the other participant he kicked straight on the chest had never gotten up and was just picked up by the medical staff.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Several scenarios popped into my head as I was watching him but it suddenly faded when I saw him stop in his tracks and looked toward a corner before licking his lips and adjusting the bulge inside his shorts.


    I don''t know why but he started to scratch his balls amidst the game and he even sniffed his fingers in front of the cameras hovering above him.


    It''s just that when I looked over the corner his eyes locked into for a moment, I didn''t know whether I''d be worried or d he set his eyes on those two people.


    Tatiana and Quinn were busy beating down another unfortunate pair that came across their way and the creep was fast approaching. However, a loose brick came flying into the air and almostnded on the head of the motherfucker and that made him stop in his tracks.


    If he walked one more step, it would''ve caused serious damage and his tune instantly changed as he turned around. He looked like he was about to kill the person that threw the brick but his expression slightly wavered when he discovered that Cynthia was the one that actually threw it in his direction.


    Like a miracle, subtitle-kun emerged from the shadows.


    [You got a fucking death wish, sweetie?]


    [Hmph! I almost got you¡ª]


    [Hah! You''re a fucking whore, right? Why are you mad for getting felt up? I said I''ll pay youter.]


    [You''ll pay for something alright¡­]


    [Nice threats! You can''t even keep up with me! I even slowed down so I could see your tits jiggle about, or do I have to pay extra for that also? Trust me, I''m this close to smashing your face in and if you don''t promise to suck my dick for free, your mouth will be out ofmission for a while. So, what are you gonna do?]

 Chapter 753: Mayhem?

    Almost everyone on the viewing tforms was tuned in to the fight that was about to start but to everyone''s surprise, Cynthia was the one to make the first move.


    In all honesty, there was a stark difference between Cynthia and Ramil''s physiques and even if there were rare urrences in which a person could bridge the gap and somehow win the fight with such a disadvantage, the "how" would be the part we should focus on.


    With that said, everyone saw Cynthia dash forward with her wooden stick in hand while all Ramil did was smirk as he shook his head.


    At the right moment, Cynthia swung with her whole body to deliver an overhead strike to Ramil''s head but it only took an instant before we saw the stick on Cynthia''s hand get broken in half.


    ''...''


    What Ramil did was he simply turned his body slightly to its side before kicking upwards, meeting the stick with his shin, hitting it in such a way that it would break into two pieces.


    However, it seemed like Cynthia already assumed that a thing would happen because she followed through with her attack, making contact with Ramil''s leg with the now jagged end of the stick she was holding.


    Ramil''s leg was still raised and stretched as far as it could and Cynthia''s stick just dug into his skin and went down.


    "That''s gotta hurt¡ª"


    It only took one¡ª maybe two seconds for the pain to register in Ramil''s head because right now, his right leg had multiplecerations from his calf right to his thigh.


    His leg was bleeding profusely from the multiple cuts it sustained and we saw the snark smile on his face turning upside down.


    [YOU FUCKING BITCH¡ª]


    Right after that, we saw him send a left p to Cynthia''s face but as soon as he connected, his screams resounded for a second time.


    Cynthia''s hair came loose and was now covering her face but once we looked a few inches down, we saw both her hands gripping what''s left of the stick she was holding which was now a few inches deep inside Ramil''s other leg.


    I doubt those cuts would be fatal¡ªunless it actually hit a major artery¡ªbut I fucking know getting stabbed and scraped up with a jagged end of a stick would still fucking hurt.


    After that, Cynthia wasn''t even able to pull it out before a right hook came straight for her temple and made her stumble back a few feet.


    There was a mix of reactions from the people on the viewing tforms but Kaley and I were this close to intervening and making our team forfeit the match. However, we still had people below that could do the job for us and they just noticed what just happened when the noise around them quieted for a few seconds.


    What they saw was Cynthia sprawled on the muddy ground while Ramil was pulling out the stake off his leg while wearing a murderous expression.


    [TCH! WANNA STAB PEOPLE WITH STICKS, HUH?! THAT''S WHAT YOU''RE GOOD AT?! I''LL STAB THIS STICK HERE INSIDE YOU ALRIGHT¡ª]


    [You''re awful loud for someone about to kill someone with a raging hard-on~]


    ''Nani the fuck¡ª''


    At this moment, Cynthia was still groggily trying to get herself up but once her bruised face looked forward, she was met with a bizarre sight.


    Long story short, two little balls were now being held hostage but in order to get the whole picture¡ªthough the whole picture just spanned a few seconds¡ªlet''s just say that there was a repeat right after this simr game was concluded thest time we were here.


    Tatiana and Quinn a few seconds were still in the process of eliminating the total number of participants as the twins did their thing but Tatiana saw what had just gone down on Cynthia''s side and ran toward them to intervene.


    With that said, what happened was Tatiana bridged the distance in a second and the first thing she got her hands on was Ramil''s family jewels.


    Her whole hand was now deep inside his shorts and clutching his balls and let me just say that no matter how fucking tough or ''roided up a guy was, if his balls were in danger¡ªlet''s say a mosquitonded on it for example¡ªthat guy would always choose the peaceful option.


    It''s just that our guy at this time used his dick to think instead of his head.


    [Oh? Giving me a handy right now without paying for it? That''s new¡ª Grrck!]


    [Giving me lip? I for sure thought all tall guys have long ones?]


    [F-Fuck you! I''ll¡ª AHHHHHH!]


    Before Ramil screamed at the top of his lungs, everyone looking at the huge screen saw how Tatiana''s hands twisted for several degrees while clutching his balls as hard as she could. In turn, Ramil''s face twisted even worse but the moment every guy in the vicinity tucked their balls inside was when Tatiana''s hand started¡­ pulling... with a closed fist.


    Everyone that had experience touching their balls or had the experience of touching a pair knows that it stretched to a degree and one of the few reasons a pair could stretch as far as what we just saw was if the owner of said balls was an old geezer.


    As I said earlier, something simr happened the time we were here before but aside from a champion getting his jewels stretched to the maximum, he was suddenly met with an RKO from nowhere as Quinn arrived at thest moment before grabbing his head and mming his face in the mud.


    Long story short, the guy had no way to defend himself because that simple head-grab quickly turned into a headlock.


    Ramil tried his hardest to get away from Quinn''s grasp but this time, I could say that Quinn''s physique had the advantage. Granted a male''s body was different from its female counterpart, Quinn''s body wasn''t the usual female counterpart either.


    Well, there was a chance that he would''ve broken through her grasp but Tatiana was just sitting there waiting as a backup.


    It didn''t take long before Ramil was down for the count and the medical staff wearing gimp suits arrived at the scene shortly. They brought his unconscious body out of the y area but they did check on Cynthia''s condition, and luckily enough, all she sustained was some bruises.


    However, it looked like Cynthia was in no mood to talk because right when Tatiana tried to approach her, Cynthia pped her hand off and ran away.


    Tatiana could just only look at her helplessly as she disappeared into a corner but the show must go on.


    At this point, there were only a few pairs remaining that were still in fighting condition and the game was slowlying to a close. Tatiana and Quinn kept reducing the number of participants at a steady pace while the twins continued to wear down their targets by pursuing them relentlessly and Bogdan and Ricardo¡­ umm¡­ they seemed to be in a dance battle with another pair that was almost naked.


    Everyone thought the winner was already decided at thest few minutes of thepetition but it took a nasty turn when Cynthia popped up at thest second.


    The twins just managed to corner the little piglet after tiring out the boar protecting him but right when they were about to pick it up and im the victory, Cynthia just appeared behind them and struck the two out of nowhere. The twins weren''t able to react properly because since we were technically on the same side, friendly fire shouldn''t happen.


    With that said, the piglet dropped to the ground but the other end of Cynthia''s stick that was kicked off by Ramil struck it in the abdomen and started bleeding out helplessly. Needless to say, everyone saw how Cynthia carved its poor body out while it was still alive and she just left it for dead after obtaining the coins hidden inside its body.


    Of course, once the game was over, the animals involved would be butchered and eaten sooner orter but there was a proper way ofying them to rest.


    The conclusion of a game that was supposed to be met with cheers just got drowned out with music while a mix of reactions was on the viewing tforms as Cynthia imed the win for our "family". Even Mr. Cuervo was speechless once he got a look at Cynthia''s face as she handed over just part of the piglet''s corpse to serve as proof of "catching" it.


    After that, Mr. Cuervo just forced out an awkward smile after dering Cynthia the winner and he just showcased the rewards we would receive as quickly as he could.


    As that was happening, we saw Cynthia quickly leave the stage, and Kaley and I quickly went down to chase after her. However, Kaley looked to the side before stopping in her tracks and she turned to me with a solemn expression.


    "I''ll follow after her, talk to the twins."

 Chapter 754: Whos Better?

    I wasn''t even able to reply as Kaley gradually increased the distance between us. She gave me a faint smile before shepletely turned around and went after Cynthia while I took a step back and made my way toward the ce the twins were probably headed.


    ''They will just probably need some ice or something¡­''


    It wasn''t difficult to traverse what wasn''t made to be the y area because almost all of the people present were either on the viewing tforms or the enclosures outside.


    Well, it wasn''t entirely smooth sailing because I couldn''t believe how much the people here like to fuck in the open and I even graciously declined when I was offered to try out their girl or join in and plug all the holes of the one on receiving end until it was airtight.


    To be fair, Kaley and I did something simr on the porta-potties provided though I doubt we''d actually do it with a live audience watching and casually inviting a passerby.


    ''Found them.''


    After passing another non-descript house with familiar ''noises''ing out from it, I saw the twins justing out of the med-bay of sorts holding an ice pack against themselves. Ruru was holding hers against her left side while Riri was holding hers against her right cheek.


    Both of them never looked so down but I saw their quick switch to a smile the moment they saw me walking towards them.


    "Oh, hi! You came for us?!"


    "How sweet! We''re fine though~"


    I feigned to not see them change expressions, "You two got hurt, it''s normal to¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª You really didn''t have to!"


    "We''re really okay and¡ª"


    The moment I was within striking distance, I quickly¡ª but lightly poked where they were hit and the two instantly grimaced from the pain. They were fucking lucky that that was all they got from the sudden attack but the bruising they sustained wasn''t normal.


    Cynthia would seem like a mid-bottom fighter in our ranks but I could still remember the time she dragged Kaley and Tatiana away when she was drunk.


    I believe that she had some sort of control over it but when someone''s fucking mad, control wasn''t the first thing that woulde to mind.


    With that said, the twins still tried to put up a faint smile but they got taken aback when I bowed in front of them and apologized.


    "Wha¡ª What are you doing?!"


    "You''re not¡ª"


    "I know my apology isn''t much but trust me, I''ll¡ª well, Kaley followed after Cynthia to find out what''s going on but that doesn''t excuse her hitting you two. That was totally uncalled for and again, I''m sorry."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two were silent for a moment but Riri spoke, "I-It''s okay, r-really¡­"


    Ruru added, "Y-Yeah¡­ It''s kinda our f-fault¡­"


    "Huh? What do you mean? You two did nothing, right?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "N-Not exactly did something¡­ you know¡ª like on purpose b-but¡ª"


    "Did you two shit talk her or any in my group?"


    "N-NO!"


    "Gave her weird looks? Made her feel left out?"


    "WE WOULD NEVER!"


    "Did you spoil the manga she''s reading? There''s a limited number we could read right now and that''ll make her go over the edge¡ª"


    "ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! WE WOULD BE SHOT ON THE SPOT!"


    "Hmm¡­ must be something else¡­"


    Ruru sighed dejectedly, "I was about to tell you but you cut me off¡­"


    "Oh, right. C''mon, tell me everything in our truck. I hope Ibarra and Natasha are done¡­"


    "What?"


    "What do you mean?"


    I ignored their looks of confusion as I replied, "Yeah~ Those two maybe have been going at it for a while¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ Why''d we have to do it in your truck?"


    "Yeah, we could do it in our¡ª"


    "What are you two talking about? I''m confused."


    "Huh?"


    "W-Well, what are you talking about?"


    "I''m really confused. I mean, you could tell me the whole thing while we''re in our truck so¡ª"


    "You aren''t asking for sex?" Ruru said as she turned to her sister, "He was asking for sex, right?"


    Riri nodded a few times, "Yep, I thought he was too!"


    I quickly pped my forehead as I sighed loudly, "No! How is that asking for sex?! We''re not¡ª Haaa~ I have some Aloe Gel in our kit, it''ll help with that after you iced them for 10 minutes or so¡­"


    "Are you talking about lube now?"


    "He is, definitely¡­"


    "I''m not¡ª AHHHH!"


    "HAHAHAHA!!!"


    "WE''RE JUST FUCKING WITH YOU! LIGHTEN UP!"


    "What?"


    For the life of me, I couldn''t understand these two''s humor but I guess I''m relieved they were doing okay for the most part. Some fences needed to be mended before it grew worse but I guess I''d have another chance to probe into their headster.


    Luckily enough, once we made our way to our truck, Ibarra and Natasha were just chilling on the roof of our truck though they looked at the twins solemnly.


    They probably saw what happened on the screen and they didn''t know how to react.


    However, the silence was broken when the twins just casually took off their tops and looked at me like they were expecting to receive something. They even moved closer to the point that their breasts were squeezing against my arms and they side-eyed the two behind us before turning to me.


    "So¡­"


    "Are we doing it here?"


    Ibarra and Natasha instantly took off, "Okay, boss! Call us when you''re done! We''ll catch up with the crew!"


    "No! Wait! Don''t go! We''re not¡ª"


    The two just disappeared from view like a certain deity when the ck gue hit and I was left with two young women, without their tops off, snickering and giggling from my expression.


    "You two¡­"


    Riri chuckled as she moved even closer, "C''mon! It''s funny, right? Besides, you''d have to put the gel you said on us earlier¡ª"


    "You have your bruise on your cheek! And you! Your top doesn''t even obstruct your side, why''d you take it all off?!"


    Ruru chuckled the same way as Riri before she looked me straight in the eye, "I want you to see my tits, problem?"


    Riri added, "Me too! Me too! They look great, right?!"


    The two wereing at me strongerpared to when Tatiana first came into our fold and to bepletely honest, some part of my head was saying that this was their way ofmunicating that what happened didn''t matter as much but if I really wanted to make it up to them, I had to do it their way.


    Besides, talking about feelings between twoplete strangers that were somehow given to us as a prize right after they sustained bruises from their new ''team'' was something a little hard to wrap our heads into.


    I needed to learn a little more about the two but I can''t say that I wasn''t shocked by some of the things I discovered.


    But before that, I just shook my head and faintly smiled before I yed along.


    "Fine, they do look good¡­"


    "Really?!"


    "Touch mine! Touch mine! Mine''s better¡ª"


    Ruru interjected, "How is yours better?! We''re basically twins¡ª"


    "It''s just is!"


    "You''re not making any sense!"


    "Fine! He''ll tell us!"


    "Maybe he''ll think mine''s better!"


    "We''ll see about that!"


    All of a sudden, the twins let go of my arms before they grabbed my hands and ced them between their perky sets. They even squeezed their boobs together so I could feel the softness and firmness of each one but truth be told, I couldn''t say which one was better.


    It was like I was with a pretty girl that summoned aplete exact clone from thin air and made me figure out if there were any discrepancies.


    If the two didn''t have the bruises they had now, I couldn''t figure out who was who.


    That was the level we were ying at but I got to touch some tits so I didn''t know if I was winning or losing. Call me whatever the fuck you want but I took my sweet fucking time touching each of them very, very thoroughly.


    And when I looked up, I couldn''t exin what I saw at the moment.


    The two who were a little chatty were now mmed up, faces flushed through their neck, biting their lower lip while looking at me with their big puppy eyes. They already stopped squeezing their tits a moment ago and their hands were just on their backs while they were puffing their chest out so I could have free reign over them.


    "M-M-Mine''s b-better, right¡­? Mmh¡­"


    "N-No¡­ M-Mine''s b-b-better¡­ Nmh¡­"


    At this point, their pink little nipples were already hard and sticking out but without any prompt from me, the two twin sisters just started kissing each other.


    I couldn''t believe what I was seeing but I couldn''t look away.


    Since I was still fondling their breasts which were on the far side, they were just leaning on each other using one side of their body. And their breasts which were closer to each other got mushed on their own, nipples slightly rubbing on each other.


    Their breaths were getting harder and harder by the second but they suddenly stopped before looking at me with a mix of lust and embarrassment.


    "Y-You can''te up with an answer, huh?"


    "T-To which one''s b-better¡­"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Well, w-we couldn''t either¡­"


    "We tried on our own¡­ lots of times¡­"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "H-How about this? If y-you don''t mind¡­"


    "W-We try kissing next a-and see w-where we go? W-We could find out who is b-better at what¡­"

 Chapter 755: I guess this works too...

    I was staring right at the two when they mentioned that they explored themselves on their own, and I couldn''t help but let out a small reaction. It took me a bit to process what they said because my mind was somewhere else and my hands at the time were still fondling their tits.


    The twins probably saw my face twitch for a short moment but like what I did earlier, they feigned ignorance as to what they saw and they just waited for what I would do next.


    It''s just that my hands were now just over their perky puppies, not moving as much due to the realization.


    ''Are they really¡­ I don''t know if I should¡­ hmm¡­''


    There was this thin gray area where some people liked to step onto just to see what it was like to be slightly bordering on the other side, but with the times we were in now, this gray area was starting to get wider and wider.


    We''d lose a little bit of humanity each time we took down something that was once alive but aside from our humanity slowly taking another form, the boundaries of our morality were starting to blur out, forming something that didn''t care about what we would''ve taken as forbidden or taboo¡ªsometimes even illegal¡ªbefore the world ended.


    I couldn''t say that my ledger was clean and free of creases from the time I spent with other people aside from Kaley because, at this moment, those kinds of thoughts didn''t even cross my mind.


    All I knew was that I was in front of two gorgeous women looking for a good time, and I was being tasked to find out things that were different about them even though they weren''t that different at all.


    They''ve probably been on top of one another more times than I could count so it''d be difficult to find something they didn''t in the time we had right now.


    In any case, we just found ourselves in the backseat of my truck and I was in the middle of them as Ruru was on my left, taking off my shirt while Riri was on my right, unbuckling my pants.


    It didn''t take long before Ruru took the initiative and nted her sweet lips on mine, and she wrapped her arms around me before she let her tongue out and shed with mine. On the other hand, I felt Riri taking my huge cock out but I broke away from Ruru''s kiss before I turned to her sister.


    "I thought we''re gonna start with kissing?"


    Riri''s hand was just wrapped around my shaft and she was just about to suck the tip when she looked up while red through her neck, "U-Umm¡­ I-I-I¡ª"


    Riri wasn''t even able to answer when I heard a short gasp from Ruru, "W-W-Wait¡­ t-that''s you?!"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "Y-You''re b¡ª You''re t-too big!"


    "You tell me, sis!" Riri chuckled lightly as she started to slowly jerk me off, "I got so hot when I saw it, I just wanted to suck it then and there!"


    I shook my head as I pulled them even closer, "Enough about that, isn''t it unfair that my dick''s already out and you two only got your tops off? Can''t we just kiss and touch each other first before sucking me off? I want to taste your lips when I kiss you, not my cum."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this point, there was a moment of silence but the two just covered their mouths and started giggling before they scooted over for a short bit and took off their tight shorts. Like their perky tits, their ass was fucking juicy and jiggly at the same time though I still couldn''t tell a fucking difference between the two.


    However, I saw something else other than their soaked panties when they leaned over to the front seats and ced their shorts by the dashboard. And yeah, it was something right in the ce where I was supposed to see a tiny slit right next to their little backdoor.


    "Umm, what is that?" I pointed at the flesh-colored material stered on their crotch.


    "Ah¡ª"


    "We forgot to take it off!"


    "Take off? What is that?"


    "I-It''s just some tape for our pussies¡ª"


    "So our customers won''t forget."


    "Tape? What? Wouldn''t forget what?"


    I was hit with terms I didn''t think should be in the same sentence and it got me more and more confused. My boner was slowly losing its potency by the second and it might be one of the few times that a woman saw me soft when we were naked together.


    "H-How do we exin this¡­"


    "C-Can we just go back to what we were doing earlier and exinter?"


    I waved them off, "I don''t think so, it''ll be in my head even after you remove them¡­"


    "Okay¡­ Will you tell him, Ruru?"


    "Me? It was your idea! You said¡ª Fine¡­ It''s so our customers would only do anal with us¡­"


    "Oh. So you two just like doing it in the buttpared to¡ª"


    "W-Well¡­ we can''t really decide if we like it in the butt more¡­"


    "S-Since we haven''t done it in our puss¡ª We touch them and eat them when it''s just the two of us but w-we never p-put things i-in them¡­ yet¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "It''s umm¡­ kinda weird to hear an ''entertainer'' say this but¡­"


    "Technically¡­ we''re still virgins¡­"


    "..."


    "In our pussies¡­"


    "That is¡­"


    "..."


    "We''ve done almost everything¡­"


    "B-But not yet in t-there¡­"


    "..."


    "We were given the c-choice to who w-we could give it to¡­"


    "A-And who knows? I-It might be s-someone here w-with us¡­"


    "Huh."


    At this point, I thought I''d already lost my boner but it came back raging hard even before I saw the two peel off those flesh-colored tapes they had on their pussies and made me feel them up.


    I can''t believe how fucking wet they were even before I started touching them and I definitely saw them grimace when my fingers went a little too far.


    "O-Ow! T-Too far!"


    "You purposefully went deeper, didn''t you?! You''re cruel¡­"


    "Ah¡ª Sorry¡ª I thought¡ª Sorry¡­"


    "If we wanted to lose our V-Card with a finger, we would''ve done that already! S-So please¡­ be a little you know¡­ gentler¡­"


    "Since you know¡­ you''re definitely bigger than your f-fingers¡­"


    I was losing my fucking head even though we haven''t done anything much but to ''punish'' me for doubting that their hymens were still intact, I received the Ruru and Riri Special.


    They made me sit while my arms were stretched on either side¡ªbasically doing a T-Pose while sitting down though they were resting on the top part of the seats¡ªwhile they each rode my thigh as they were touching each part of their bodies.


    However, my raging boner waspletely left out and all it did was twitch in pain as they shove their tongues in each other''s throats while groping their breasts and pinching their nipples.


    They were basically using me as a fucking human body pillow though they were using my thighs to grind their pussies on.


    I could feel how they push down to have some more contact but it was doing nothing for my cock that was just oozing precum from watching them. I was this close to reneging on my punishment and just having my way with them but right when I was about to voice out aint, Riri just broke from their kiss and kissed me.


    Ruru suddenly grabbed the tip of my dick and squeezed hard, "Wha¡ª Not fair! I wasn''t done kissing him earlier!"


    The sudden contact almost made me cum but Ruru yanked my head forcefully and stole me from her sister. I tasted her sweet lips once again but to bepletely honest, their salivas had already mixed and the difference was little to nonexistent.


    "D-Don''t be so rough on him! W-We don''t know what he likes yet!"


    Ruru suddenly stopped forcing her lips on me and the grip she had on my dick lessened, "Ah¡ª I-I forgot¡­"


    I joked to lessen the sudden awkwardness, "I don''t mind getting roughed up by two beauties but I guess kissing is out of the picture¡­ I could barely taste the difference now and both your techniques are the exact same. Unless¡­"


    "Unless?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, if you two don''t mind¡­ We could change the kiss'' location?"


    "..."


    "..."


    No words were exchanged after that but the way the two looked at me when I offered them oral was fucking priceless. It was hard to move into an optimal position for eating pussy in this cramped space but we made it work with somepromisation and some flexibility.


    Since I could only eat one at a time, we decided that one of them could start sucking my dick while I ate their sister out.


    At this point, Ruru was down on the vehicle''s flooring, hands wrapped around my dick and just sucking the tip of my cock while I was sitting down, and Riri was bent over, feet on the seat I was sitting on, hands on the headrest of the seats in front as her virgin pussy was pushing right on my face.


    I can barely get a breather due to the way she was backing up on my face but the taste of her sweet juices was fucking incredible.


    "W-Why is it when y-you''re using your tongue a-and you''re that d-deep, it just so fucking g-good?! MMmh! R-Right there! A l-little d-deeper! Ahn!"


    Riri was already at her wit''s end but Ruru was enjoying every bit of my body.


    At one point, her hands just ran through every bit of me she could get her hands on while she took my dick as far as she could. My dick kept hitting her throat once she got into it but I can''t believe how her tongue coiled around my shaft and almost jerked me off.


    "S-S-Shit! I''m¡ª"


    "BlrGhmMmmfFFf!!!"


    It didn''t take long before I blew my load inside her mouth but instead of swallowing it like I thought she would, she waited for Riri to sit on myp before they shared my cum inside their mouths.


    Once again, they started kissing each other while using me as a pillow but I suddenly felt my dick getting pointed at Riri''s asshole.


    "I-It''s already hard?!"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Ready?"


    Riri then spread her legs and made me grab her tits but that was when I saw Ruru kneel down on the flooring.


    And what I thought was gonna happen, happened.


    Once Riri lowered herself for several inches, I felt my dick getting strangled by the tightness of her asshole. I thought it''d be a little loosened by now but no it fucking wasn''t. However, it suddenly got even tighter when Ruru started to eat Riri''s pussy while I was fucking her ass.


    ''I thought I''d go the other way but I guess this works too¡­''

 Chapter 756: The Difference

    Pained moans, deep grunts, and slurping sounds were the only things that could be heard inside my truck, and I just noticed that Riri was having a hard time going down on thest few inches of my cock.


    Riri was clutching hard at Ruru''s hair while the other was almost wing at my arm while I kept groping her nice tits and pinching her nipples between my fingers.


    Her body would tense and slightly tremble each time she tried to lower herself even more but she would twitch each time Ruru''s tongue hit a specific spot in her pure flower. With that said, I could hear the sounds Ruru''s pussy made since she was also touching herself while she was eating her own sister.


    "MmMh! Mmh! Ah! I-Is it¡ª D-Did I t-take it all i-in?"


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ A l-little more s-sis¡­ Do you want me to¡ª"


    "P-Please!"


    All of a sudden, Riri pulled out and stood up on the seats we were on¡ªmaking me see her gaping asshole¡ªbut before I even realized what was going on, Ruru started to sloppily suck my dick off that was just inside her twin sister''s asshole.


    She made sure tother me up with her spit¡ªall the way to the base, and the moment she was done, she just looked up at her sister, waiting for her to lower herself down so she could once again taste the pink hole she was dining on earlier.


    Riri chuckled at Ruru''s expression, "How''d I taste, sis?"


    Ruru just bit her lip before touching her breasts, "His dick tastes much better than your ass bute down now so I could get on with eating my favorite¡­"


    "You pervert!"


    "Says the one who sniffs my panties while I''m taking a shower! Don''t lie! I saw you lick it too, why don''t you just ask for the real thing!"


    "Wha¡ª I saw you sucking the dildo I just used on my ass when you thought I was napping! You even dildoed your ass in front of me and almost squirted in my face!"


    "You¡ª You did that too!"


    "Well¡ª You did the one I did, too!"


    At this point, the two were basically having a small spat right in the middle of having sex though I couldn''tin because Ruru made sure that her hands were wrapped around my penis. She kept stroking it with one hand while the other squeezed the head and rubbed the little opening it could offer but it didn''t take long before they finally came up with a weird way to end their argument.


    "We''re really the same, huh?"


    "Yeah¡­ we still haven''t done that one thing though¡­"


    "D''you want to finally do it here?"


    "You''re asking me? I thought you wanted it to be special? We''re doing it in a truck?"


    "We got a special guy here¡­ I guess that works?"


    "Maybe¡ª No, if we''re gonna do it, I wanna do it while we''re together. More fun that way, right?"


    "Yeah. Can I go first?"


    "Sure! I know you''ll want to experience it first anyway~"


    "..."


    "..."


    With that said, the twins just looked at each other for a short moment before Riri turned around and faced me while Ruru sat down right next to me. The two gave each other a short kiss first before they held hands, and Riri just looked at me with a different expression while maintaining eye contact.


    "You''re gonna take my first, alright? You don''t mind me going down on you?"


    "Not at all, just don''t move abruptly once it goes inside¡­ get used to it for a bit, okay?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    Ruru smiled from the side, "You''re really nice, I like you."


    "He really is," Riri nodded before turning to me once again, "Can I do it now?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    Right at this moment, Ruru and I watched as Riri pointed my dick at her pussy before she lowered herself and put the tip in.


    "H-Hngh¡ª"


    "Slowly¡­"


    "It''s¡ª"


    "Breathe¡­"


    "No, I¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Riri''s eyes just went to the back of her head before she bit her lip, and a devilish smile formed on her face. She was still grabbing hard onto her sister''s hand but she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and suddenly brought herself down and took me all the way in.


    "IT''S SO FUCKING GOOD~!!!"


    Without even taking time to get used to my huge cock, Riri started to move her hips violently while hugging me as tight as she could.


    On my end, Riri''s pussy was so fucking tight¡ªit almost hurt the way she suddenly went down¡ªbut she continued to go up and down on me while her sister was watching her dumbfounded.


    "YOU''RE TELLING ME¡ª THIS IS WHAT A DICK IN MY PUSSY FEELS LIKE?! IT''S SO¡ª MMH! MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!


    IT KINDA HURT BUT IT''S JUST SO FUCKING GOOOD~!!!"


    As I peeked at Ruru on my left, I saw her looking at her sister''s face melt into pleasure and she couldn''t help but touch herself while watching the two of us fuck each other. However, she couldn''t help but steal my hand so I could finger her little asshole while she wasying on her side and rubbing her clit.


    And like the twins they were, Riri also requested her asshole to be fingered even though she was already losing her mind from losing her virginity but what I didn''t expect was that the two came at the same time.


    I just felt a warm spray on my lower half for a moment before Ruru sprayed her juices on the two of us, and the two of them were just shaking violently as the little andst spurts came out.


    At this point, Riri was just pressing her whole weight against my body because she lost all strength after cumming the hardest she could. However, I didn''t expect her to caress my hair and whisper into my ear something that almost got her raw pussy destroyed.


    "C-Can you c-cum in me, t-too? I wanna feel what it''s like inside¡­"


    To be fair, I was fairly close¡ªthough I could''ve gone on and didn''t give her a break¡ªbut I gently thrust inside her for close to a minute before I blew my load inside of her. Riri was just looking at me the whole time and she just started to kiss me right after I let everything out inside her.


    Both of us were still catching our breaths and Riri just suddenly had this glow on her.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Thank you¡­"


    "You''re wee, I guess. You okay though?"


    "Y-Yeah, I feel amazing¡ª"


    Ruru suddenly interjected, "YOU TWO ARE JUST GONNA TALK AND IGNORE ME AFTER THAT?! IT''S MY TURN NEXT, RIGHT?!"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Can you give me a few more seconds, sis? Trust me, you''ll love it¡ª"


    "Then get off so I could make him hard again¡ª"


    "Sis, he still is."


    "W-WHAT?!"


    "I wanna do it again so bad¡­ but I really do need to catch my breath¡­"


    At this point, Riri just looked like she was about to fall asleep while Ruru couldn''t hide the desire on her face. She was already breathing heavily from cumming alongside us but she also needed the real thing. Well, we did take a short moment to clean up the bits of our juices and the little bit of blood that came out, but it didn''t take long before Ruru was the one on top of me.


    She was slightly trembling as she was slowly lowering herself while looking at my cock, and she even rubbed the tip of my dick against her pussy before trying to put the tip in. But following in her sister''s footsteps and taking it a step further, she suddenly went all the way down to the base.


    It''s just that Ruru''s reaction waspletely fucking differentpared to Riri''s.


    "IT FUCKING HURTS~!!! OH MY¡ª HNGH!!! S-SHOULD I P-PULL OUT?! RIRI, YOU FUCKING LIAR! IT HURTS SO FUCKING BAD!!!"


    "W-What?! I¡ª"


    "S-SHUT UP!!!"


    Right now, Ruru was trembling all over from the pain while Riri was just dumbfounded at her sister''s reaction. Moreso, her nails had dug into my back while she was almost pulling my hair out with her other hand.


    For the life of me, out of all the things I could find different about them, what they would feel about their hymen tearing was further down the line.


    "Ok, Ruru. Listen to me¡ª"


    "YOU SHUT UP TOO!!! WHY''S YOUR DICK THIS FUCKING BIG?! IT''S LIKE FUCKING A BASEBALL BAT! HNGH!!! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!"


    "I''m sorry, okay? Now, breathe¡­ breathe¡­"


    "HaaA! Haa..! Haaa¡ª MmMhH! IT''S NOT HELPING!!!"


    "Okay, okay¡­ rx¡­ just rx¡­ it''s gonna be hard¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, IT''S FUCKING HARD!!! YOUR FUCKING 9-INCH DICK IS INSIDE ME!!! CAN YOU FUCK WITH A LIMP PENIS?!"


    "Okay, okay¡­ I''m with you on this¡­ You can dig deeper on my back with your nails or you could pull on my hair even more¡­ I won''t stop you if it''s the only thing working, okay? You just need to get used to it and you will, eventually¡­"


    "Wai¡ª Am I hurting you?! S-SORRY! It''s just¡ª"


    "It''s fine¡­ It''s fine¡­"


    "I''m so sorry¡ª W-Wait¡­ I think¡­ I think it''s¡­ w-wow¡­" Ruru slowly closed her eyes before slightly biting her lower lip, "I think it''s starting to¡­ yeah¡­ Mmm¡­ D-Don''t move yet, o-okay?"


    "Yeah, just take your time¡­"


    RIri on the side was just watching her sister intently but she started to smile when Ruru started to move her hips ever so slowly. She would still grimace a couple of times when she pulled back a little quicker but she would just breathe deeply before letting out the softest moan.


    "Ah¡­ Mmh¡­ Nn¡­ Wait¡­ This is¡­ Mmm¡­"


    "You okay now?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I think¡­"


    "Great¡­"


    "C-Can you s-suck on my tits? B-Both of you?"


    "Sure."


    "Sure, sis!"


    At this point, Ruru was still moving her hips albeit slowly while Riri and I were licking and slightly biting her small nipples. She kept letting out these small moans that would just drive RIri and me insane, and it didn''t take long before she would pull out right before the tip and slowly bring it down over and over.


    I didn''t even notice the tears in her eyes right until I got a good look at her face but they just shone brightly when she let out a faint smile.


    "C-Can we go f-faster now?"


    "It''s up to you, do you want to?"


    "I-I''ll try¡­"


    To my surprise, Ruru nted her feet right next to my thighs before she squatted down and started to ride me that way. She was still going way slowerpared to what Riri did earlier but the way she was gripping my dick with her pussy was even tighter than her sister''s.


    It didn''t take long before she had her long-awaited orgasm but before we even tried to go for round 2, there was a sudden knock on the door.

 Chapter 757: Reason - Whoomp! There it is!

    Ruru and Riri barely noticed the knock because they were focused on our steamy activity but I turned my head to the side to check who had juste knocking.


    I couldn''t readily identify the person because of her unfamiliar features and because of the lighting in our area. Still, after a few more moments of just staring at the person''s face, I discovered that it was Elena.


    Elena was the hot chick that basically threw herself at me when I got her partner''s coin but she relented after Tatiana sat her down and by avoiding her and Luis like the gue.


    I''d like a piece of her any given day if it wasn''t for her partner trying to get tangled up with me at the same time. I don''t mind other guys preferring to be on the receiving end or both in their own rtionship but to me, it''s just a huge no-no at the moment.


    With that said, another knock followed from her which eventually got the twin''s attention.


    Ruru still had her arms wrapped around me as she turned her head but Riri huffed before going over to the other side and pressing the button for the window to go down.


    "What?! We''re kinda busy here!"


    Elena chuckled before she rested her arms by the window and leaned ever so slightly, "I know. I heard the noise when I was passing¡ª Wait, you two?! With him¡ª Wow¡­" then she chuckled once again before teasing RIri, "How''s it feel, hmm?"


    "Wha¡ª W-Well, i-it''s amazing¡­ though¡ª"


    "I told you, right?! If you''re already cumming hard from getting fucking in the ass how much more when you''re getting fucked in your cunt?! Well, I liked to get fucked in the ass from time to time but¡ª"


    "W-Why are you here though? We''re still¡ª"


    "Just checkin'' up themotion¡­"


    From the moment the two were conversing, Ruru just sighed heavily before she got off of me and reached for the wipes Riri used beforehand. She was trying topose herself by trying to control her breathing though I couldn''t help but notice Elena staring right into my junk.


    "Umm¡­" Elena was wide-eyed as she maintained direct eye contact with my dick as if it had eyes.


    "Hello~? Earth to Elena? Are you still there?" Riri yfully chuckled the moment she noticed that Elena was already looking at ''me''.


    Elena gulped before she threw me a smile, "I don''t know why but I just fucking knew it. Can I get on that now or did you three just finish? You got room for one more, right?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    There was a moment of silence where the three of us were just nkly staring at Elena''s face but Riri took it upon herself to press on the button once again to shut her out.


    Elena tried to tiptoe and extend her neck to see us, even to the point of trying to pull the window down by holding onto it, "Wait! Wait! Wait! What are you¡ª"


    "We''re conducting some family business! Outsiders from the Cuervo Family are to leave the premises!" RIri chuckled as the windowpletely closed.


    Elena started to knock on our door once again but with more force, "Wha¡ª That''s a load of bull! You two were Cuervo Family a minute ago!"


    "If you want a piece of the Patriarch''s dick, we''ll ept applications tomorrow!"


    "Argh! You two are so greedy! For the record, I saw him first!"


    "Hah! You should''ve done something when you had the chance! Now''s our turn! Just bug him out tomorrow!"


    It took a few moments before Elena gave up but once she left us to our own devices, the truck they just lost their first time to had never been so quiet. It''s just that Riri was just making sure that Elena wouldn''te back.


    "So, wanna go again?"


    "Umm¡ª" I almost stopped midway from wiping myself.


    "You two go on ahead¡­ I''ll just watch¡­ It felt good at the end but I thought I was gonna get ripped in half the moment it went in¡­" Ruru quietly waved us off.


    "Fine then! I''ll¡ª"


    I stopped Riri from going on top of me, "We could do moreter but first, tell me why it''s kinda your fault that Cynthia got mad."


    The moment I brought up that topic, their expression instantly turned solemn but Ruru slightly exhaled before opening her mouth, "Right¡­ about that."


    "Let''s hear it."


    "Yeah, we''re not entirely sure that it''s the real reason but I think she got mad at us because we took her spot. And there''s¡ª"


    "Her spot?"


    "You know, before you took her with you guys, she was literally the star of the show and we''re practically invisible. But when she left, the fight as to who''s gonna be the number 1 girl in this ce started and the two of us took the number 1 and the number 2 spot after a lot of hard work. It came with a lot of benefits but¡ª"


    "Wait, you two know that she really isn''t¡ª"


    "Oh, we know."


    Riri added, "Everybody in the Pink House knows."


    "Then why¡ª"


    Ruru slightly pouted, "You keep cutting me off when I was about to say something important! It''splicated¡ªthis issue with being the number one girl¡ªbut if you''re telling me that she really isn''t the number 1 girl because she never really went through with the deed, you''re dead wrong. It''s¡­ really, really more than that."


    Riri nodded, "It''s more than just sex, alright? It''s like the most basic thing any whore¡ªdy of the night could do. Before that, you gotta be connected with your customer, know what they like, who they hate, what they want you to be, etc. And yeah, being good in bed is one thing but the number of people who kept requesting Cynthia while she was still here just to talk was fucking crazy.


    We know she hates it but she does a damn good job of it¡­"


    ''I guess they don''t know she likes watching them right after¡­''


    "I see that happening¡­ She''s really easy to talk to¡­ But is that just the reason? She seemed pretty happy with staying with us when she came with us¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "That¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, since we basically got Cynthia''s spot, one of the benefits was that we could impose a few rules on top of the conditions we signed on from taking this job¡­"


    "The two of us were not originally living in this ce at the start you see¡­ We got a simple room provided for us in the Pink House. So, Mr. Cuervo offered us Cynthia''s room instead of living with the rest of the other girls in the Pink House the moment we took the top spot. I''m so fucking happy we''re out of that ce¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ Is it really that bad?"


    "Depends. There are some nice customers sometimes¡­"


    Ruru instantly shook her head, "Are you crazy, RIri? It''s gotten worse ever since we got an influx of new girls. I believe the other families have their own ''Pink Houses'' but ours were a little too popr¡­"


    "How so?"


    "Aside from this ce is the central spot? Well, we were lucky enough to be roommates with a few girls who clean up after themselves but let''s just say the walls are a little too thin and the boundaries we were trying to uphold are barely getting followed.


    I know it''s a whorehouse for fuck''s sake but I don''t want a cum-soaked dick getting pushed inside my mouth or getting fingered without lube while I''m trying to sleep! God! Some customers are disgusting, you know?!"


    "True¡­ some of them don''t even shower and it just stinks the whole ce up¡­ There''s a difference between being sweaty and actual BO¡­ Great¡­ I lost the mood after remembering that¡­ Well, it''s a relief they got reprimanded for doing stupid shit like that but it gets to the same thing again¡ª even worse, when the games are held¡­ People from other families just wanted to push their luck sometimes¡­ I believe the Garcia Family is doing something much better than the other Pink Houses¡­"


    "Wait a sec, before that¡ª You said Mr. Cuervo gave you Cynthia''s room?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Yep, he did."


    "Then¡­ wait¡ª what happened to the rest of her things? She still left a lot of things behind when she came with us¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "That''s what we think the problem is¡­"


    "D-Did you throw them away?"


    "What?! No!"


    "We wouldn''t!"


    "Then¡ª"


    "We put them all in separate boxes and we stored them in her closet. It''s just that her room didn''t look as it was before and you know¡­"


    "We never thought it would hurt her that much but¡ª"


    "It''s like telling her that she doesn''t have a ce toe back here anymore¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "That''s right¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "B-But, you gotta understand¡ª"


    "W-We never intended for that to be implied or anything¡ª"


    "N-No, you two did nothing wrong, Mr. Cuervo, too. But I think Mr. Cuervo''s underestimating what feelings his little sister still had for this ce¡ª"


    Ruru suddenly tilted her head sideways, "Wait¡­"


    But Riri exploded, "LITTLE SISTER?! CYNTHIA IS MR. CUERVO''S¡ª"


    It took a short moment before I spilled the beans on my two new members and I managed to grab ahold of Riri and cover her mouth before she announced Mr. Cuervo and Cynthia''s secret in a 10-kilometer radius.


    I''m not entirely sure but maybe only a handful of people knew that secret and I carelessly told two people I just met and had sex with.


    ''I''m fucked¡­''

 Chapter 758: I guess my odds are so-so...

    Ruru''s mouth was agape¡ªand her eyes were almost as wide¡ªwhen I identally spilled the beans about Cynthia''s actual rtionship with Mr. Cuervo but when I nced at the person I was holding down, things were a little different.


    "Forgot to tell you¡­ Riri likes getting held down¡­ Well¡ª I do too but¡ª"


    Hearing that, my grip on Riri''s mouth loosened and she managed to breathe in some air after struggling for a short bit.


    "BUWAAH! You didn''t have to tell him that! He''s supposed to find that out on his own!"


    Ruru rolled her eyes as she looked at her twin sister, "If you weren''t that red in the neck, nipples that hard, or creaming that much below¡­ I''d believe you¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª W-Wait! This is from earlier!"


    "Lies! Did you forget that we''re twins?! We could practically tell what each other''s thinking about!"


    I interjected, "Wait, you two could really do that?"


    Riri nodded with a mischievous smile, "Yep! Right now, sis is thinking about being held down by you instead of me earlier¡ª"


    "I AM NOT! YOU''RE LYING AGAIN!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! BUSTED~!"


    I waved them off, "Okay, okay, I''ve heard and seen videos about this but haven''t seen it in person so¡­ can you two humor me? Can you two really tell what the other is thinking?"


    Once I said that, Ruru and Riri momentarily nced at each other before they let out a faint smile.


    "Sure."


    "But we get to do this with us again, okay?" Riri leaned over with a suggestive look.


    "Ah¡­ Sure, I guess."


    "Don''t guess!"


    "Say that you wanted to do it with us again¡ª like, you know, in length! We''ve heard rumors, you know?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Yeah! With Kaley, too! And Cynthia!"


    "And Tatiana! Fuck it, with everyone involved, at least once!"


    "What have I gotten myself into¡­ Alright, we''re probably gonna do it if all goes well so take care of me when the timees. I might need some help from you two."


    "Nope!"


    "We''re not helping you!"


    "Haaaaaah?"


    "Hmph! What did you even do here, huh?"


    "You basically sat down and made us do all of the work!"


    "Oh~! So you two are saying that I''m basically a stickshift, huh? Something that''s just there that you happened to ride butt-naked."


    "Your words!"


    "Not ours!"


    "Okay, I''ll just return you two to Mr. Cuervo and¡ª"


    "W-W-Wait! We''re just¡ª"


    "We''re just messing with you! Don''t send us back!"


    I pretended not to hear them, "All I have to do is just return your plugs and I could pick another pair, right?"


    As soon as I said that, the two got really close while pressing their bodies against me.


    "We''re really just joking! Please!"


    "You were really amazing! You''re so gentle and you were¡ª"


    I started chuckling after seeing the two in panic mode, "Heh, I was just kidding too."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "You~!"


    "What? You two can mess with me and I can''t mess with you two back?! The audacity!"


    "Well¡­ to be fair¡­"


    "You messed up something pretty delicate that we''re keeping regr guys away from¡­"


    "This talk, again? I just ''sat down'', remember?"


    "Listen to this guy!"


    "First he denies it and now he¡ª"


    "Listen to you two! Do you always finish each other''s sentences?"


    "Wha¡ª You did not just say that!" The two eximed at the same time.


    "Oh, you could do some sort of musical too¡­ I''m learning a lot, thanks!"


    "You''re so¡ª Grr¡­"


    "We''re gonna make you regret that! You''ll see!"


    "Heh, bring it on! I''m all for it! Heh, kidding aside, it''s really a surprise that you two are prizes we won¡ªdon''t get me wrong, both of you are totally wee in my fold but I''m giving you two freedom of whatever you want to do with your lives. Whether you two actuallye with us or not, I''ll respect it¡ª"


    Their expression suddenly turned solemn with a hint of confusion.


    "Wait, what are you talking about?"


    "Did you really think that we don''t want toe with you?"


    I shook my head slightly, "I''m not saying that, I''m saying¡­ hmm¡­ treat it like when Dobby got the sock, you know?"


    "Dobby?"


    "Sock?"


    "Oh my fucking god, you two actually don''t know what I''m talking about?! Fuck it, I take it back. You two areing back with us and I''m giving you proper education¡ª"


    "Hahahaha!"


    "You fell for it again!"


    "Huh? Wait¡ª"


    "Of course, we knew! It''s not like we only kept Cynthia''s stuff! We watched a bit of them too!"


    "We''re just messing with you again and right when we thought you got the read on us¡­"


    "Jesus fucking¡­ Alright, you got me. Wait till you actually have a chat with Kaley though¡­ But yeah, I meant what I said earlier, and don''t think of it as me throwing you guys away right after¡­ you know, what we just did¡­ It''s just to let you know that I run things a little differently than Mr. Cuervo.


    Granted I have a facility much like the Pink House at home but trust me, I don''t know how the Garcia Family runs their Pink House but let''s just say that my standards are several notches uppared to this ce."


    "Hmmm¡­ You''re saying we could choose what ''work'' we want to do in your ce?"


    "You know, stop spreading our legs for anyone and maybe just take care of animals or something?"


    "Sure, but no cking off! I''m still pretty strict, you know. And yeah, if you still want to continue the ''entertainment'' business, I''m all for it as well."


    "We''ll think about that¡­ Well~ We haven''t seen that strict side of you yet."


    "Are you gonna spank us if we jack you off¡ª I mean, ck off?" Riri let out a mischievous smile.


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, "I think I should stop exining before we go on more tangents, you''ll see when you get there¡­ or not, if you choose to stay at this ce."


    "What? Nuh-uh, we''reing with you!"


    "Besides, we just decided on what we want to do¡­ if you approve of it, that is¡­"


    "Oh? Do tell."


    "Hahaha! Nope!"


    "You''ll see when we get there!"


    "Hah! Funny. Anyway, wanna see if Kaley and Cynthia are back? We''ve been here for a while, they might be back already."


    "Okay!"


    "Sure!"


    "Alright."


    ''That was a longer talk than I expected¡­ Anyway, I had some fun while doing it and I guess I''m pretty rested just chilling at the back¡­ They''d always try to turn serious talks into funny ones but I guess we''re still working on it¡­''


    The three of us took a moment to clean up and get dressed up but when we made our way to our spot, we discovered that Kaley and Cynthia were still not back. Tatiana and Quinn threw a meaningful stare when they saw mee back with the twins but I didn''t give it much thought as I pulled out my radio and tried to contact the other two.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, you two okay? Want me toe over?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And I was met with a brutal response.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nope. Stay there.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Okay¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t interrupt us, we''re still talking! I''ll contact you when we''re done!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I said I''ll contact you! Shut up!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I was about to try and talk one more time to tick Kaley off but I sustained more emotional damage from getting tossed off than I thought. Everyone else was just looking at me amusedly but I just sighed and swiped a beer before I slumped on my spot. Nevertheless, I''m hopeful about Kaleying after Cynthia because if anyone here could talk to her and possibly make it okay, it''s her.


    With that said, I couldn''t help but notice the curious disy in the y area because all we were seeing was a table propped up on the stage but Mr. Cuervo came up with two new beautiful assistants wearing skimpy gowns and stilettos holding a decent-sized box in their arms.


    It didn''t take long before his assistants opened them up but when they dumped the contents on the table, it was an assortment of revolvers with dozens and dozens of loose ammo.


    ''Wait¡­''


    After that, Mr. Cuervo walked over to the table right after lighting a cigar before he casually picked up a revolver chambered in .44 magnum before he loaded it with a single bullet inside, and spun the wheel.


    However, before anyone could react, the motherfucker pointed it on the side of his head before he pulled the trigger in quick session.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*


    Those clicks that came one after the other sucked in the breaths of everyone watching and everyone was just fucking speechless for a good 15 seconds.


    With that said, everyone could see Mr. Cuervo''s face on the huge screen but not only was he smiling from ear to ear, but his breathing was also hastened due to the rush and adrenaline he could feel in his body right now.


    [I guess my odds are so-so, who wants to try next?]

 Chapter 759: Mr. Cuervos Roulette

    Mr. Cuervo''s voice was easily picked up by his mic and was sessfully delivered through the speakers, but everyone else was still speechless from the stunt he just pulled. If any of those three trigger pulls made the hammer make contact with the primer of the bullet he loaded into that revolver, we wouldn''t have to worry about him turning if got infected or not.


    Parts of his brain would''ve sprayed onto the table, the stage, and to the beauty standing on his left, and there would be utter chaos in Cuervo Heights because there would be no one to take his ce if he clocked out.


    He''d be leaving behind his beautiful wife and his two charming kids but I doubt they''dst long without Mr. Cuervo holding the reins. It was because it felt like they wanted nothing to do with this event or Mr. Cuervo purposefully made them stay inside their rooms when the games were being held¡ªthough we saw them after everything was overst time.


    In any case, since Mr. Cuervo was still alive and kicking, the show went on as one after the other, cheers andughter erupted from the viewing tforms.


    "HAH! YOU SICK FUCK! YOU''RE DOING THAT SHIT AT YOUR AGE?!"


    "I''VE NEVER CLENCHED MY ASS THIS HARD, FOO!"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I JUST SIGNED WITH THE CUERVO FAMILY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS PLACE IS INSANE!"


    "IS THIS THE NEXT GAME?! IS IT?!"


    "OH, HELL NO! I''M NOT JOINING THAT SHIT!!!"


    "NO BALLS!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    The lively atmosphere was back in an instant but it quickly died down when Mr. Cuervo''s security detail came, herding a bunch of people that were chained on their feet, hands, and their necks.


    The clinking of their chains could be heard with each unsynchronized step and aside from them looking like they were fed scraps for days, their bodies were bruised and bloodied, almost as if they were treated as punching bags.


    Almost all of them had lifeless eyes except for two-to-three people that had more injuries than everyone present, and it looked like they would pounce on Mr. Cuervo if given the chance. However, one prisoner that was well built but had a burned back dragged the four other ''prisoners'' in their chain link before we heard the oh, so familiar sound.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *BOOM*


    The guy had only advanced for a few steps before a gaping hole appeared on his forehead and continued straight to the back of his head.


    A pool of blood started to make an outline of his body as he fell face first, but bits and pieces of his skull and gray matter showered the paledy behind him. At this point, thedy just started to piss on herself while the other two behind her were trying to crawl back but ultimately failed to do so.


    However, after all themotion, Mr. Cuervo just turned to the table before picking up another bullet and loading it into his revolver. And as soon as he did, he spun the wheel once more but this time, he gave some sort of signal to one of his security detail before holding the revolver the opposite way.


    Everyone was just watching how the scene would unfold but what happened next was that the security detail that Mr. Cuervo turned to pull out a set of keys from his pocket before he walked toward the paledy and released her.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Thedy didn''t know what was about to happen when she was still in chains and she was still bathing in the pool of urine she made herself once she was let go.


    However, it didn''t take long before the person that freed her grabbed her by the hair and dragged her on top of the stage. She started to scream and ask for help from anyone sheid her eyes on but all her pleas were justnding on deaf ears.


    I never felt so confused as to why the next event was just a straight-up execution, but it all made sense when Mr. Cuervo opened his mouth.


    [I''m pretty sure that almost all of you are fucking confused right now but I''m here to assure you that this is part of the program. You see, I hate doing this type of shit because it''s bad for business, but there''s so much a man could take¡­ If you know who I am, you should know that I let a lot~ of things slide if you''re under me.]


    [Did you eat, drink, or fuck too much? Big deal, there''s a lot more where that came from. Did you total your ride, came too fast, or identally shot your mother? We could fix that! But going back on your word and making me lose face? Ooh~ Little darling, a man can have all the riches and women he could think of but he''s still worth as much as his word and his reputation.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo crouched down to look thedy in the eye before he pushed the revolver into her hands. Thedy never looked so confused but Mr. Cuervo smiled at her before standing up and looking into the cameras.


    [However, since this is a special day¡­ I decided to make it a little~ interesting. Based on what you fucking did, I''ll give you a number and that would be the amount of times you''d pull the trigger while that gun is pointed at your head. If you do as I said and you live, congrats!


    You''re free to go and return to your job with a clean te, but if you point that gun aside from yourself or wait for more than 10 seconds before doing anything, I''ll kill you where you stand.]


    Mr. Cuervo was emitting a lot of killing intent in the final part of his speech but it quickly dissipated once each of the head''s faces was on the big screen.


    [Don''t worry, I didn''t forget all of you. To make a killing off of this event, simply ce your bets on the escort that will approach you at any moment, and they''ll have the list of the odds for each category. Will the prisoner die from the first shot? The second? The third? Will they puss out?


    Survive? Or get gunned down in an unbelievable fashion? And if you''re not a part of any family yet, the betting spots for you fools are by the stairs. Do we wanna get started or what?]


    At this point, it didn''t take long before people crowded the betting tables that were erected after thest game concluded, but it seemed like the escort assigned to me was the same bunny girl from the earlier games.


    She approached me with a tremble in her step but the twins couldn''t hide their amusement when she almost tripped on herself the moment she handed me the list. However, I was still looking at the list she gave me when Mr. Cuervo''s voice resounded once again.


    [Alright, I keep getting a lot of questions so here''s the gist: Her name''s Ang Marcelo. You know her by the name of "Angel" and she worked at the Pink House for a day before she bit her customer''s dick off¡ª]


    The moment Mr. Cuervo said that, the crowd just erupted inughter and it took a bit of time to calm them down.


    [What you don''t know is that when she came to me and asked for work, she was the one who chose sex work in exchange for sending food to her camp every week. But now, since she did what she did, I''m now beingbeled a trafficker and I need to find a recement for that customer''s cock. Tell me, where could I buy a fucking cock right now?! Huh?! Shit!


    It''s funny as hell but I''m the one being held responsible for her actions. So, since you didn''t actually chomp it off but still left deep bite marks that would probably heal in a month or two, why don''t we start off with just one trigger pull?]


    The crowd was just loving what was revealed to them but it got pretty quiet when the sentence was given. There was a one-in-six chance that she''d blow her brains out but it wasn''t as simple as that.


    Just a few moments earlier, she witnessed the death of the person chained in front of her after six trigger pulls, and not only was she unresponsive to everything that was happening right now, but also the ten-second limit was about to pass.


    If she doesn''t do anything within the time limit, it would be no different than ying Russian Roulette with a pistol using a mag or using a one-shot derringer.


    However, everyone could see the visible frown on Mr. Cuervo''s face but it was happening at the same time Quinn was leaning over my assigned escort. I didn''t know what she was doing at first but I noticed that she was holding onto the bunny girl''s earpiece.


    Quinn said loud enough for everyone close to hear, "Didn''t you hear me? I said I like her. I''ll buy her for a gold coin."


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo and Quinn were having a conversation¡ª err, an argument but it wasn''t being broadcasted on the speakers. I could partly hear what they were saying since my escort was right next to me and Quinn was as loud as she could ever be. However, as the two were talking back and forth, I saw thedy press the gun on her temple before pulling the trigger.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* *BOOM*

 Chapter 760: Theatrics

    I was already up from my seat as I heard the first two clicks but everything happened in an instant. However, what happened to the paledy wasn''t as everyone thought. Most of them either sucked in their breaths or clenched their assholes, but a select few were rolling their eyes with theck of¡­ something.


    The whole ce was fucking quiet but everyone''s eyes were on the stage.


    It was because the moment "Angel" started pulling the trigger, the beauties right next to Mr. Cuervo acted on the third click.


    Angel was now face down on the stage, ear blown off, blood gushing out from her ear as her arm was bent and dislocated. She still kept on pulling the trigger even if she was down but it didn''t take long before one of the beauties snatched the gun from her hands.


    Some of Mr. Cuervo''s security detail rushed right after but Mr. Cuervo waved them off when they tried to finish the job.


    [Go back to your stations. Can''t you see we''re still in the middle of a game?]


    Then Mr. Cuervo wore a wide smile before crouching down and looking Angel in the eye.


    [But as for you¡­ Roxanne, Melina, let her go. She won, didn''t you see? I would''ve let her kill herself if I said more than one pull but she doesn''t get to decide that. But nice job, girls.]


    The two girls that were holding Angel down never looked so confused but they looked at each other for a moment before they stood up and went back to Mr. Cuervo''s side, and just let Angel stand up on her own.


    When Angel groggily stood up with a mix of expressions, Mr. Cuervo started to apud her in front of everybody before speaking once more.


    [Alright, I said one pull but you did way~ more than I told you. However, that takes balls. Serious balls. With that said, I''ll send your camp five times the number of resources we send them per week, plus a little extra cause you almost bit the dust, but¡­ you''d still need to finish a month''s worth of work because that was what it took to appease the guy you bit the dick off.


    But yeah, you''ll be doing a different type of work in the meantime because I''m 99.99% sure no one would request you after that.]


    It took a moment before the pain finally registered on Angel''s face but Mr. Cuervo''s medical staff already escorted her somece to get treated.


    After that, the betting tables had never been so busy but since I was too focused on the show, I failed to seize the chance to increase my riches. However, from the corner of my mind, after seeing the odds of each oue, it sounded like a total rip-off.


    ''Doubling your winnings if you bet on whether they live or die¡­ It''s like choosing between ck and red¡­ Well, the returns get progressivelyrger with more trigger pulls but we could stack bets on the ones that had more chance of happening, and wouldn''t contradict each other, but still¡­ The main currency here is the vouchers that could be used in the Pink House and you''d never know how much your item''s worth right until you get it appraised¡­ and that''s the bottleneck¡­ Things would''ve gone a bit smoother if people could appraise items in advance or if there was a standard of measure the appraisers follow¡­ Wait¡ª Why am I even thinking about that now?''


    I was deep in my thoughts for a moment but when I went back to reality, I thought I was deaf for a moment.


    Everyone else was wearing a mix of emotions as they stared at the new ''contestant'' on the stage but not one was making a fucking sound. I''d probably hear someone getting fucked in the ass for the first time in the Pink House but it didn''t take long before this ''contestant'' shouted at the top of his lungs.


    [ARE YOU FUCKING MESSING WITH ME?! SIX PULLS?! WITH THAT FUCKING GUN?! THAT''S A GUARANTEED DEATH! IF YOU WANTED TO KILL ME FROM THE GET-GO, YOU SHOULD''VE¡ª]


    [But where''s the fun in that? Noa, don''t you fucking forget, you killed three of my own and set up your own brother to take the me. Starving you, beating you up, and tying you down to get used every night isn''t gonna cut it¡ª not for a few years, at least¡­ You see, even now¡­ you don''t seem like you had an ounce of regret for your actions.


    If you could at least give me the real reason why you did what you did, I might give you a chance¡­ What do you think?]


    At this moment, this Noa guy started to waver from Mr. Cuervo''s words but he shook his head and gritted his teeth before he picked up the gun Mr. Cuervo threw in front of him. But to my surprise, it was a 5-shot revolver. Even if he somehow survived going through the wheel, he''d still gamble his life all over again.


    His body was shaking all over as he pushed the gun to the side of his head, but before he could even pull the trigger, Mr. Cuervo put a bullet in his head with cold eyes.


    [The ten seconds were up¡­ next.]


    Mr. Cuervo holstered his gun to the inside of his jacket before lighting his cigar once more but everyone else was more preupied with confirming their bets.


    "HEY! HE DIED, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! I STILL WIN?!"


    "BULLSHIT! THAT SHOULD''VE BEEN INVALID! MR. CUERVO KILLED HIM, HE DIDN''T OFF HIMSELF!"


    "YOU FUCKING NIMROD, DIDN''T YOU GO THROUGH THE WHOLE LIST?!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "YOU DUMBFUCK, IT''S EVEN IN THE FIRST ROW! THERE''S A CATEGORY FOR WAITING TOO LONG! SHIT, I WOULD''VE WON MORE IF I¡ª FUCK!"


    "DAMMIT! ME TOO! I''LL BET SOMEONE''S GONNA LIVE THIS TIME! THE NEXT ONE LOOKED LIKE HE COULDN''T HURT A FLY!"


    "SHIT! YOU''RE RIGHT! I''LL BET ON THAT TOO!"


    "WHA¡ª THAT''S¡ª FUCK IT, I''LL DOUBLE DOWN AND ADD THAT HE''LL PISS HIMSELF!"


    "ALL OF YOU ARE WASTING SHIT, JUST BET ON WHETHER THEY LIVE OR DIE AND GET ON WITH IT!"


    "YOU FUCKING BORING-ASS WIMP, GET OUTTA HERE!"


    "FUCK YOU! I NEVER LOST A BET AND I''VE ALREADY TRIPLED MY MONEY!"


    "WHAT?!"


    Aside from being next to Quinn, there wasn''t ack of people that had their volumes raised all the way up because we were being surrounded by the Rivas Family. To be honest, being with loud people wasn''t my cup of tea but at least they''d be upfront if they wanted to murder you instead of plotting it from the shadows.


    With that said, I already missed cing bets for the second time but even if the next person looked like he justmitted something minor, I just waved off putting a single dime to add to the betting pool. Granted Mr. Cuervo and I had some under-the-table deal going on, I can''t just bet something on chance.


    However, everyone from the Rivas Family lost their minds when the next contestant''s crime was revealed to Cuervo Heights and its people.


    [Castro Castillo, matricide. You slit your mother''s throat and stabbed her multiple times before you deliberately tried to do the same thing to your sisters after drugging them¡­]


    ''What? Castillo? Hmm¡­''


    [If your cousin didn''t get up that time¡ª]


    [Enough talk. I know what I did. Cheh, I don''t care how much you love these bullshit theatrics so much but it''s just dying the inevitable, Mr. Cuervo. Everyone''s a sinner and everyone should pay for their sins, but before I couldy judgment on those around me, I should start with my own backyard first. It''s¡ª What''s so funny?!]


    Mr. Cuervo never looked so pissed but he forced out a smile. It caught the attention of this Castro guy and they both stopped for a moment and just stared at each other but Mr. Cuervo shook his head and looked at Castro with a bitter smile.


    [Castro¡­ You''ve fucking lost it, you know that? Your mother¡ª]


    [What about my mother?! WHAT?! She''s¡ª She''s a fucking¡ª]


    [She''s a fucking what?! Huh?! Can you even remember, you fucking¡ª]


    [Heh. Ahaha¡­ She¡ª Ahahahah! Eheheh¡­ Shit, why am Iughing so much?! It''s just so¡ª Fuck, it''s too funny¡­ She thought¡­ She thought she could get me¡ª AHahah¡­ Hahah¡­ She thought she''d¡ª She thought¡­ Wait¡­ Where am I again?]


    [You''re so lost, child¡­]


    [Right. I remember now. I''m here because you think you''re doing the right thing but you''re not. You think I''m the one who did wrong but you never heard my side¡ª]


    [WHAT SIDE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT, CASTRO?! YOU FUCKING LOST IT, PUTO! YOU¡ª You¡­ You¡ª]


    [Why are you taking so fucking long?! JUST SHOOT ME FOR FUCK''S SAKE! ARE YOU GONNA WAIT BEFORE I GROW A BEARD?! You''re a fucking clown for thinking that organizing this shit solves all our problems! You''re just fooling yourself into thinking that¡ª that¡­ Fuck, I''m getting dizzy¡­ This is too much¡­ IS THIS WHAT IT''S LIKE TALKING TO A FUCKING IMBECILE?! HUH?!


    SHOOT ME IF YOU DARE¡ª]


    It only took a second before Mr. Cuervo wound his arm and threw a right hook at Castro''s face. However, his punchpletely dislodged Castro''s jaw but the motherfucker''s eyes looked like they curled up to a smile.


    Castro lost feeling in his legs before he copsed and let out unintelligible moans but Mr. Cuervo called over his medic team to patch him up. He was sent to a different area as Mr. Cuervo tried to regain hisposure but he shook his head as he looked at the two people that died in this game before he looked at the cameras with a smile.


    [It appears I''ve lost myself there. Why don''t we do it like this? I''ll challenge anyone from the viewing tforms to do the same things these contestants did on the stage, and depending on your results, you could walk away a rich and happy man.]


    At this moment, the deafening silence was reced with roaring cheers and apuse, and a line was already forming below the stage. With that said, the prisoners that were brought in were escorted out of sight but my eyes trailed to the seat of the Castillo Family''s head.

 Chapter 761: Devils Luck

    To my surprise, Mr. Castillo was also out of sight but I did see Annie and Benjie in a bad mood, a few feet away from their patriarch''s spot.


    Two of Annie''s bodyguards seemed to be keeping Benjie from going somece else but I doubt they could do shit if he actually willed it. The only reason I could think of was that Benjie listens to Annie''s words but I was too far away to even hear what they were talking about.


    With that said, the new challenger had just walked up on stage and Mr. Cuervo presented him to everybody.


    [Ah~! Trying to take the easy route, eh? Before you begin, introduce yourself to everyone. At least with that, you''d have the assurance that someone might remember you.]


    [Seriously, Mr. Cuervo?]


    [You could die, you know that?]


    [We''ll see about that.]


    The guy looked to be in his 30s and he had a buff figure disyed proudly because he was only wearing shorts and flip-flops. Furthermore, he only had tattoos on his triceps and on both sides of his neck.


    [Alright, if you don''t already know, I''m Zack, Cuervo Family. I have a ton of debt but I''m not going down for it, and I''m not paying for it¡­ the regr way. Right, I cany pipe better than your boyfriend, your lover, or your husband, and¡ª]


    This Zack guy was about to do an ad-read about himself but he stopped when everyone else from the line started snickering from hisst statement. He was about to throw down with the people closest to him but he noticed that all of them were looking past him.


    Once he turned around, Roxanne and Melina were making faces behind his back and they didn''t even bother to hide it quickly.


    I actually thought he''d boast about himself a lot more but he shrunk down in embarrassment before he turned to Mr. Cuervo. With that said, Mr. Cuervo just shook his head amusedly before cing down a loaded revolver in front of him.


    [Alright, Zack. One''s in the wheel and you have a maximum of five pulls, obviously. I''ll clear your debt if you survive after one pull but I won''t tell you what you get with additional ones. Just remember that there''s a fine line between being brave and actual stupidity¡ª]


    [I got it, Mr. Cuervo. Watch this.]


    Once Zack picked up the revolver, the music''s volume lowered to the point it could barely be heard. The big screen only had his face right now and we saw him spin the wheel before pointing it at the side of his head.


    There was maybe a couple¡ª no, a second of silence before we saw the hammer cock back as he pressed on the trigger, and the motherfucker didn''t even flinch when we heard the familiar click.


    He was smiling¡ªbrimming with confidence¡ªas he was staring right at Roxanne and Melina but he winked at the two before pulling the trigger three more times.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*


    Cheers just erupted once he dropped the revolver on the floor and he turned around and faced the crowd before he bowed in front of everyone. He was wearing a smug look as he passed the next person in line but Mr. Cuervo called him over.


    [Oi, ain''t gonna wait for me to tell you what you won?]


    [Nah, I''ll exchange those for what I want.]


    [Heh, you do you. Great job, amigo. See youter.]


    Zack just went back to his spot and had a petite girl sit on hisp. It didn''t take long before his hands wandered elsewhere but everyone''s focusnded on the next guy to try his luck.


    However, the next dude was like a 90% copy of the Zack fellow.


    They almost had the same build but his face was ashen and he didn''t even have an ounce of confidence that Zack had. He slowly made his way to the stage but before Mr. Cuervo could even present him to the crowd, he mumbled something before turning around and walking away.


    ''Wut?''


    [Ah¡ª Cody, you''re sure?]


    [Y-Yeah¡­ I think I''m good. Maybe next time¡­]


    [Sure¡­]


    This time,ughs and boos erupted but this Cody guy never gave a fuck. He walked back to his spot,pletely walking past Zack¡ªwho I assumed was his brother or something¡ªand almost erased his presence. If it wasn''t for his build, I believe it would be entirely possible. However, the disappointment in Mr. Cuervo''s eyes couldn''t be hidden.


    The third guy after them looked like he didn''t want toe up but the threats getting thrown at him made him walk up due to fear or peer pressure.


    With that said, a few had already opted out without much issue because they were in the middle or in the backline. Almost no one noticed them moonwalk back to their spot and Mr. Cuervo was already presenting the next contestant.


    [My friend, I wouldn''t me you if you walk out but you could feel the pressure, am I right?]


    [Y-Yeah¡­]


    [It''s up to you now¡­ but mind introducing yourself first?]


    [Sure, I''m Archie, Garcia Family¡­ I¡­ I only did this because¡ª Wait, no¡­ let''s get it on. I''m ready.]


    [Very well, heh. Good luck.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo loaded another revolver before cing it in front of our contestant, and once again, the contestant''s face was now on the big screen.


    Everyone watched him pick up the gun before spinning the wheel a few times, but once he pointed it at his head, everyone besides him already knew the fucking oue.


    It was because this time, the camera pointed at him was at an angle, zoomed close enough to see on the screen that the fucking bullet was at the kill position. Despite that, Mr. Cuervo and the two beauties behind him kept a straight face as they watched Archie pull the trigger.


    *CLICK*


    ''What? Wait¡­ Oh¡ª''


    Archie flinched so fucking hard the first time but the look of surprise on Mr. Cuervo and everyone else was much worse. It was because the guy should''ve been decorating the stage with his brain matter but to everyone''s surprise, he was still going for another trigger pull.


    *CLICK*


    And another.


    *CLICK*


    However, just as he was about to put the gun down, it happened.


    The gun just exploded into pieces, causing Archie''s hand to take the brunt of it though a few shards reached Mr. Cuervo''s face. His ear and the right side of his face was bleeding and the two behind him werete from pulling him away.


    Despite that, almost everyone present didn''t know what the fuck just happened but I couldn''t believe the luck Archie had.


    He wouldn''t be able to use his hand for a while but he literally cheated death from having the luck of the devil.


    What happened was the bullet loaded into the revolver was faulty, causing it to hangfire. Meaning, that instead of the primer igniting to light up all the gunpowder for spontaneousbustion, it¡­ "hanged" for a while or fizzled before doing the job it was intended to do.


    However, there should''ve been no difference in the oue if it weren''t for Archie pulling the trigger twice after.


    Pulling the trigger twice on the gun he used made the wheel of the revolver spin right at the point¡ªwhile the bullet that was still hanging, to discharge not straight to the barrel, but to the other parts of the gun¡ªprobably the frame close to the cylinder¡ªthat blocked its exit path.


    There was also a chance for the bullet to spiral around and hit someone else if Archie just pulled the trigger once¡ªafter the first one¡ªbecause there was enough space for the bullet to exit that way.


    It''s just that even if he lived, a gun exploding in your hands would still fucking hurt, and seeing the medical team check on Mr. Cuervo first would''ve been rage-inducing. Despite that, he calmly tried to steady his breathing and he waited for Mr. Cuervo to shoo off the medical team and go for him instead while his hand was mangled and bleeding profusely.


    [You guys¡­ we need to have a meeting as to who gets the priority. I just scratched my face and you all went for me. My wife could do worse in bed, heh, just kidding. But anyway, Archie, that''s some luck.]


    [Thanks, I guess¡­]


    [You good?]


    [It fucking hurts but it''s better than fucking dying, no?]


    [True. With that said, I''ll grant you the privilege of throwing your dick around anywhere where my influence holds for a few days, and by doing something near impossible, I''d grant you something within my power.]


    [Right, I should be fucking happy right now but I think I''m about to pass out.]


    [Oh¡­ you''re losing blood.]


    [I know, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [Heh, we''ll talkter. Get patched up, better start practicing how to be a southpaw for a while.]


    [Uh-huh¡­]


    There was a short moment of apuse then he fainted.

 Chapter 762: V.V.V.I.F.P.

    As soon as Archie''s head hit the floor, there was a second¡ª no, three seconds of silence before everyone on the viewing tforms startedughing nonstop. He waster escorted out of the premises but theughter was still ongoing.


    I thought the atmosphere for this game would be serious and tense but since nobody had actually died yet, and thest one went off in such a way, the atmosphere was theplete fucking opposite.


    However, Mr. Cuervo decided to up the ante by loading two bullets into the wheel¡ªalso in random spots¡ªbefore cing it in front of the new challenger.


    [Don''t worry, hermano. I''ll double the price for this one.]


    The new challenger had already introduced himself beforehand but he looked like he was about to back out even if Mr. Cuervo doubled the prize for a single trigger pull. It was because even if he could take home twice the prize for a single attempt, it meant nothing if his head ate lead for the first shot.


    Furthermore, it felt like the first contestants have used all the luck that this game could offer and he would probably be the one to kick things off with an organic firework.


    [Mr. Cuervo, I''m sorry¡ª]


    [Pick it up, Mando.]


    The guy was just about to back out but Mr. Cuervo just let out copious amounts of pressure and it all descended to the guy on the hot seat. Cold sweat just appeared on this Mando guy''s forehead and he wasn''t able to take a single step back.


    The look in Mr. Cuervo''s eyes looked like he wanted to see blood and seeing more and more people from the line back out ticked him off. He would always award machismo with gold and women but it felt like his advocacies were being yed with.


    There was only one edict in Mr. Cuervo''s being and it was to live as a man and die as one.


    I had my own way of living my life but Mr. Cuervo was definitely living his life the way he wanted to.


    With that said, the Mando guy eventually picked up the revolver, spun the wheel, and pointed it at the side of his with his eyes closed shut.


    The cameras were pointed right at his face and we saw how he deeply exhaled before he pulled the trigger.


    *CLICK*


    There was a moment of silence for a few seconds but no one knew how to react. Even Mando who survived the forced participation Mr. Cuervo put on him wasn''t even celebrating that he lived or won twice the prizes for one attempt, and he was just looking nervously at Mr. Cuervo.


    But as everyone thought Mr. Cuervo would fly off the handle and make him pull the trigger one more time, he never looked so ted as he raised Mando''s arm up in the air.


    [Hah! We got another winner! Holy shit, everyone''s so lucky, huh? Mando, I''m sorry I put you through that but you never felt so alive, right?!]


    [Uh¡ª Uh-huh¡­]


    [No need to be so timid! But yeah, you''ll receive your reward shortly after so enjoy your win with your family. Congrattions!]


    At this moment, the De Leon Family weed their own with cheers and apuse and Mando got instantly surrounded by liquor and women. He looked like he was still in disbelief that he was alive but his expression quickly changed when one of Mr. Cuervo''s entertainers stuck her tongue down his throat.


    No one had still died at this point but it came sooner thanter.


    There were still a few dozen challengers left and the next one came from the Alvarez Family.


    He looked like a typical grunt but the bruises on his body told me that he was in a desperate situation. He barely managed to walk up to the stage and Mr. Cuervo was looking with a bit of concern at the state he was in.


    [Rough night?]


    [Something like that, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [Alright, you know how it goes.]


    The contestant eventually introduced himself to everybody but when it was his turn to pull the trigger, he didn''t even bother to spin the wheel as much¡ªand to top it all off, he pulled the trigger of that revolver as if he had eaten a couple of green mushrooms.


    The revolver he had on his hand just went click after click before the one that followed bored a hole in his head and went through the other end. He wouldn''t need to worry about his problems anymore but everyone else in the Alvarez Family cheered far harder than anyone else.


    It didn''t sound like they were cheering because they were enjoying the show¡ªwell, they do¡ªbut their cheers were celebrating the death of thest contestant. Although it was true that a few of them looked like they were just pping to avoid sticking out, I''m fucking sure that they weren''t happy with their family''s actions toward that certain individual.


    With that said, I began to closely watch the reaction of the family that the following contestants belong to whether they live or die.


    It wasn''t a surefire way to get a deeper look at their situation but getting a short glimpse wouldn''t hurt.


    From the surface, it looked like the Alvarez Family was sending their own people for shits and giggles, the Castillo Family were sending their "sinners" for some sort of "adjudication", the people from the Garcia Family were doing it for bets or wagers within their own circle, the members of the De Leon Family were doing it for whatever reason, and the Cuervo Family were using it topletely erase their debts or show-off.


    But like the Rivas Family, none of our own participated in the event. Sure, we ced some courtesy bets among others but actually participating or sending a sacrificialmb for entertainment was fucking out of the picture. Besides, aside from us that numbered only a few dozen, the Rivas Family had the lowest attendance.


    I''m sure that they probably had more people in their own territory but that doesn''t equate to using their people to test someone''s luck.


    The thought to me was just asinine.


    On that note, if any one of my members tried to join in, I''d break their legs and send them back to our vessel. Well, I''m notpletely sure if my Russian friends were cringing at the thought that Mr. Cuervo hosted a game that originated in their homnd, but they seemed to be enjoying the show.


    Like clockwork, Tatiana tapped me a couple of times, "You look serious, are you thinking of more loopholes to exploit?"


    I shook my head, smiling, "Not at the moment, no."


    Tatiana chuckled, "What? Is their pussy so good that you can''t stop thinking about it? Unless I''m reading things wrong, you fucked them, right?"


    The twins eximed at the same time, "We''re right here, you know?! We can hear you!"


    Quinn chuckled from the side, "Mr. Chocte Milk was the one to take it, huh? Figures."


    Everyone else close except me who was listening to the conversation turned to Quinn, "Who?"


    Quinn''s face contorted as she roared, "WHO FUCKING TOLD THE REST OF YA TO LISTEN IN?! NO ONE''S STOPPING YOU BUT SHUT UP WHEN YOU''RE NOT IN THE CONVO! But yeah, as I was saying¡ª"


    I let out a small chuckle, "You don''t want to get started giving each other nicknames, Quinn. I don''t have a lot to lose in regards to that¡­"


    "THEN SAY IT! I FUCKING DARE YOU!"


    Tatiana and the twins tilted their heads, "Say what?"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Nothing¡­"


    "THAT''S RIGHT¡ª"


    "...yet."


    "YOU¡ª"


    Quinn was this close to giving me a rear naked choke but we heard another gunshot and our attention was brought back to the stage. This time, a woman from the Garcia Family tried to push her luck a little too hard so a .357 lead bullet pushed against her head and went through the other side of her skull.


    There were exactly nine bodies that were just left by the stage at the moment but a portion of their heads was still on the stage''s floor.


    This time, looking at the side of the Garcia Family, a good half of them were distraught while the other half looked like they won the lottery. It was almost the same urrence whether the result was positive or negative and it felt like this "game" was just a game to them.


    Granted some of them¡ªlike the ones we partnered with on the previous games¡ªwere just there to survive, but we couldn''t say the same for the rest of their group.


    It didn''t take long before the rest of the willing participants were only a handful but everyone saw Cynthia walking straight to the stage.


    I was just about to look as to where Kaley was but I felt a familiar butt scooting in between me and Ruru.


    "Looking for me?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask but before I could even ask one of them, Cynthia just straight up sent a right hook to Mr. Cuervo''s face before tripping him and pushing him down.


    Everyone was so fucking shocked¡ªwe could hear a fucking pin drop¡ªthough Kaley was the only one shaking her head with amusement. Even the guards of Mr. Cuervo didn''t know what to fucking do because Cynthia was a V.V.V.I.F.P. of this fucking ce, but then Cynthia shouted at the top of her lungs as she pointed down at Mr. Cuervo.


    [GIVE ME MY FUCKING ROOM BACK!]

 Chapter 763: Banned

    Cynthia''s words just echoed throughout the whole area and the silence went on for a few more seconds.


    Everyone else who was not in the know was confused as fuck since the only people who were on the other side of the spectrum were me, Kaley, Ruru, Riri, Cynthia, and Mr. Cuervo. With that said, Kaley and I were just mere shoulders to cry on while the victims were Cynthia and the twins, technically speaking.


    Mr. Cuervo was the sole "culprit" of the rift that formed between the three but I doubt that he intentionally tried to cause it.


    But in my eyes, Cynthia still had to apologize to the two¡ª and probably to Mr. Cuervo as well because she flew off the handle and struck them instead of talking it out like we used to if we had some problems.


    However, it felt like Kaley knew something else about Cynthia¡ªfrom their talk¡ªthat the twins and I didn''t know about, but as of this moment, talking like we were in some sort of therapy session would have to wait tillter.


    Mr. Cuervo had just got up from his ass but he looked more pissed than confused. He didn''t even bother to fix his suit,b his hair, or check his face if it left a mark. Roxanne and Melina tried to approach him but he waved them off before getting up on Cynthia''s face.


    [Do you even understand what you''re doing right now?!]


    [YOU DON''T FUCKING GET IT! THAT''S MY¡ª]


    [Cynthia! I''m not hearing any of it now! You''re making a mistake and¡ª]


    [AM I NOT EVEN WELCOME HERE ANYMORE?!]


    [Cynthia. You''re here, right? I''m telling you¡ª]


    [YOU DON''T UNDERSTAND!]


    [You''re acting like a brat¡ª Wait a sec¡ª]


    Right at this moment, Mr. Cuervo pulled out his earpiece and turned it off,pletely muting their conversation. The only ones that could hear them were probably Roxanne and Melina plus the handful of the contestants that were left.


    With that said, we just saw them argue in front of everybody but Mr. Cuervo handed his earpiece to Roxanne and made her continue the remainder of the show.


    The game continued on as it should but there was a slight awkwardness that Roxanne and Melina powered through. While that was happening, Mr. Cuervo led Cynthia down the stage and they walked somece private because Cynthia wasn''t budging even a millimeter.


    Even if she was technically living at my ce and calling it home, Cuervo Heights could also be considered the same thing. Besides, she spent almost all of her life inside this ce until we came along, so she had more memories of this ce even though her "normal" life here couldn''t be considered to be one.


    To be fair, I thought acting like the best prostitute in this ce couldn''t be considered to be a fond memory but there were probably more that she treasured here¡ªlike spending time with her actual family¡ªand Mr. Cuervo underestimated that.


    As time went on, the Russian Roulette game was concluded but Cynthia and Mr. Cuervo still weren''t back.


    Well, Roxanne just announced the bodies to be cleaned up so there were probably 20-30 minutes before the next game starts. I would start worrying if they weren''t back in that time frame¡ªbecause we had a schedule to follow¡ªbut Kaley looked like she wasn''t worried a single bit.


    With that said, she momentarily nced at Ruru and Riri before a smile slowly formed on her face. In turn, the other two smiled at her awkwardly but Kaley just shook her head as she linked her arm with mine.


    "You''re having an awful lot of fun, huh?" Kaley chuckled before she leaned closer.


    "They could hear you¡ª"


    "Yeah, and I can smell their scent from you. I could barely tell them apart¡­"


    Riri interjected, "H-How did¡ª"


    "How did I know? I just know. Don''t worry, I don''t mind."


    I interjected, "Just tell them that you''re psychic¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª How many times do I have¡ª I''m not psychic! I just get the feeling¡ª"


    Ruru chuckled from the side, "Psychic. Definitely psychic."


    "Hey! I just chose the wrong words, alright?! It''s just¡­ you know¡­ you two looked a little prettier because there''s this glow on your skin. Also, you two were looking at him differently and sticking to him a lot morepared to just watching the games. Be honest, it was totally different from what you thought it was gonna be, right?"


    As soon as Kaley said that, the twins just blushed at the same time, turningpletely silent though they nodded ever so slightly. In turn, Kaley couldn''t hide the amusement on her face and she huddled over the two, whispering something I couldn''t hear before she rested her head on my shoulder.


    The twins just said at the same time, "Kaley. You''re pretty cool, you know that?"


    "I thought I was psychic?"


    Riri chuckled, "How about a cool psychic?"


    Ruru shook her head, "Ugh, that joke''s some¡­ I can''t believe you thought of that¡­"


    "That was kinda funny though."


    "Right?!"


    At this point, the girls were just conversing with each other though I could feel daggers piercing my back because I was surrounded by several beauties. Granted there were a lot more avable for purchase but the way I ''acquired'' the ones surrounding me wasn''t as easy as coughing out a stack of vouchers.


    But to everyone''s surprise, I turned to Quinn who was right behind me and arge step above the area Kaley and I were sitting on.


    "Hey, can you spread your legs?"


    "HAH?! THE FUCK¡ª"


    "I''m¡ª that came out wrong. I need to take another nap."


    "THEN WHY WOULD YOU¡ª"


    "I need to rest my back on an even surface. Your calves are cool and all but I don''t want to have back problems."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Please?"


    "..."


    Quinn didn''t know whether tough or cry but she reluctantly gave me a bit of space as she spread her legs a little bit, and I just scooted a bit backward before I beckoned Kaley to sit in front of me.


    "W-Why?"


    "Please?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    ''I can''t believe that worked twice in a row¡­''


    With that said, I began to close my eyes after I wrapped my arms around her. It was still quite noisy but knowing that Kaley was right in front of me helped out a lot.


    From the time we got here, I had sex with different women, fought off Quinn''s bald army, participated in various games, ran away from a couple trying to have their way with me, etc. which all required a ton of energy and stamina. Granted I still had plenty in store, I wanted to make the best use of my time.


    At one point, I even felt Kaley leaning on to me but I just hugged her even tighter as we both tried to sleep. To my surprise, she fell asleep earlier than I did but I followed soon after. However, the time we took to rest felt like an instant because as soon as I lost consciousness, the feeling of someone trying to wake me up resurfaced in my head.


    "Hey, the next game''s about to start! Wake up!"


    Kaley''s voice rang in my head and the moment I opened my eyes, Cynthia was already sitting with us. Her eyes were a little red but just judging from the vibes she was letting out, she seemed to have made up with the twins and Mr. Cuervo. She was even hiding this smile but ultimately failing, telling me that somethingpletely went her way and then some.


    With that said, I scooted forward after thanking Quinn who was looking at me like I owed her a ton, but I didn''t put it to mind as I nced at the y area.


    "Wait, how long was I asleep?"


    Kaley answered, "Close to an hour?"


    "R-Really? Damn¡­ What''s Mr. Cuervo nning now?"


    "Can''t you tell? I believe you participatedst time."


    "Wait. Right, I see now."


    It took me a short bit to understand but the next game was the one I became famous for.


    However, since Mr. Cuervo was the one hosting it, there would definitely be some hidden twists to trip up the participants. I was already scanning around to see if some would be quickly spotted but all I saw was that there were more shipping containers stacked on key spots instead of just being by the entrance.


    If someone pulled an "All of them" card, it''d be more than a thousand. Furthermore, it wasn''t gonna be just in old deadheads anymore because we already faced mutated ones from the earlier games. If someone got cursed and drew a dozen Ferals or a fucking Hulker, I''d already be preparing some bread and coffee for his funeral.


    With that said, I''d be lying if I wasn''t excited but the moment I secured my katana on my belt, Mr. Cuervo had to ruin it.


    [Right. Kid, you''re fucking banned from this game.]

 Chapter 764: Finale? - Tight Fit

    As soon as those words entered my ears and went straight to my head, I almost felt my soul, life essence, ki, chakra, intent, nen, shinsoo, plot armor, sanity, and everything else intangible leave my body.


    Kaley had to catch me as I struggled to stand up and everyone in the know was already dyingughing.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo couldn''t hide the smug smile on his face but he wasn''t joking one bit. My face had a huge X mark, along with clips from thest time I was here, was on the big screen, making sure I wouldn''t make my way down the y area.


    "THIS IS SOME FUCKING BULLSHIT, MR. CUERVO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    [HAHAHA! I kid you not, Hermano! This is for the best, no? I can''t have you taking away the fun from everybody! We all know you''re good but we gotta shine the spotlight on someone else too! Listen, take a break, embrace your girl or whatever, take a sip of beer, and enjoy the show!


    See what the others have to offer¡­]


    ''I see¡­''


    At this point, I just shook my head in slight defiance but I understood Mr. Cuervo''s intentions. To give the gist of it, everyone knew what I was capable of while I only knew a small bit about everyone else or none at all.


    Heeding his words, the first thing I did was sit back in the same spot while I pulled Kaley close. I wrapped my arms around her body¡ªjust below her huge chest¡ªas I rested my chin on her right shoulder, looking over the people that would participate in this game.


    Some of them were slightly familiar though there were some who just came down for the first time. The weapons on their person didn''t particrly stand out but it would always boil down to the person who was wielding them.


    However, cheers erupted from our side when two from the De Leon Family came down and they were number 69 and number 420. Their numbers were tattooed on the back of their necks and they were like celebrities fromnding on those numbers.


    I thought they were fucking memeing but number 69 was wielding a pair of curved, steampunk-style swords while number 420 was just hauling a huge blunt weapon made with scrap materials that were just welded together.


    With that said, the game was made to be yed with pairs, either from the same family or not, with a 50-yer limit. However, it was rmended to have at least a pair from each family participate so our group went with another pair of siblings¡ªwhich were definitely not the kissing each other or the ''Sweet Home, bama'' kind¡ªNiks and Mikhail.


    Niks was wielding the good ol'' machete and knifebo while Mikhail was equipped with his upgraded King''s Weapon. And yeah, it still doesn''te back if thrown but it could now inject gas and open up a wound cavity asrge as a basketball.


    As each pair came down and got listed, some people from other families or groups tried to pair up with some of us but got politely declined. Tatiana and Cynthia were the popr ones among the girls¡ªthe twins included¡ªwhile Artem and Ilya were the popr ones among the boys. Granted Alexei was also a hot pick but like Jared, he''d shine more if there were more games with guns involved.


    ''Gun games are kinda cool but I guess people wanted to see more blood and gristle from up close¡­''


    I turned to my group, "We''re just gonna send in Niks and Mikhail? How about you, Ilya? Jose? Boggy?"


    Bogdan almost fell off the viewing tform, "Boggy? Are you talking about me?! Please, don''t call me that¡ª"


    Marina interjected, "Boggy sounds cute."


    "R-Really? You know, you can alwayse to me when¡ª"


    Marina rolled her eyes, "I said it''s cute, that''s all."


    "Why are you so mean to me?!"


    "What? I''m not. I just don''t want to give you the wrong idea, that''s all."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ W-Well¡­ Marina sounds hot though?"


    "Hah! Are you saying or asking? Nice try though, Boggy¡ª"


    "Don''t call me Boggy!"


    "You don''t wanna be cute?"


    "I¡ª You¡ª I''m sorry, alright?!"


    Ilya tried to cut in, "I sense something happened between you two¡ª"


    "Shut up, Ilya!"


    Marina chuckled, "Nothing happened, literally."


    I whispered to Kaley, "When did we get to this part of the conversation?"


    Kaley chuckled as she whispered back, "Shh, this is news to me¡­ I feel like there''s more to this¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    Kaley was just side-eyeing them with a faint smile as I watched the roster get full but to my surprise, Katya actually paired up with Quinn. I thought for sure that we''d see the Tatiana and Quinnbo again but Tatiana opted out and decided to stuff her face with food.


    In the end, Artem also went down and brought Ilya with him while wearing a disgruntled face so we had a total of five participants from our family.


    ''Let''s see what this game''s about¡­''


    [And we''re set! We have 50 participants in total and we''re closing the registration! Truth be told, I really wanted the kid to participate but it is time to show him what the rest of y''all are capable of. However! I know you''re wondering why I required you to form pairs if you''re trying to show what you can do, but the reason is already in front of you.]


    Footage of the shipping containers was shown on the screen as Mr. Cuervo continued.


    [If any of you haven''t noticed already, those shipping containers are filled with fucking Muertos and their number exceeds all of us. Our main advantage over them is our capabilities to use tools and our heads while theirs is just sheer number and unending stamina.]


    [Granted all of us here could take down one of them just as easily, seeing their numbers meant that the majority of the poption had another story. But this is it, it''s time we¡ªyou 50 people¡ªprove that you''re there not because of some dumb luck but because you fought hard to survive and this game is all about fighting hard¡­ for the most part.]


    [Again, in those shipping containers are Muertos that numbered a lot more than the head of the Ishiyama Family took down on his debut, making him established in this particr game and that''s why I forbade him from participating. But this time, all of you will face the same challenge but all at the same time.]


    [Once I give the signal, all thetches will be blown off those doors, opening the floodgates to thergest horde anyone has ever seen. The only rule of this game is to survive but you and your partner could always puss out and climb out of the y area. But to be proimed the winner of this game, you and your partner should be standing on a mountain of corpses and unharmed, obviously.


    But if your partner puss''d out, died, or climbed over the fence, it''s an automatic loss even if you were the only one left standing.]


    [This game isn''t about just surviving and proiming that you deserved to be here but also proving that you could protect your own. And on a side note, just to add in a bit of excitement, I will also be participating with Roxanne and Melina.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo''s swords were brought up with the two''s handheld weapons, and I saw them fix themselves so they could move much more freely. Well, Mr. Cuervo only had to remove his coat and fold his sleeves inward beforebing his hair while the other two had a full-on change of clothes. Their hairs were tied up tightly as they held what seemed to be a mix of a rapier and a cuss.


    They weren''t as decorated as what Mr. Cuervo was holding in his hands but they looked like they had seen a lot of action.


    With that said, everyone was eagerly waiting for the doors to blow up and they just came right off the moment the music ying in the background reached its peak.


    Almost immediately, bits and pieces of discolored flesh flew outward with the metal bits before their repugnant smell wafted all over the ce. I don''t know what the fuck those shipping containers were made of but they managed to contain the smell of these fucking deadheads.


    As it should, the people selling food lost all their customers and even Tatiana had to stop eating.


    The cold wind blowing helped a little bit but it felt like a corpse was picking our nose with its chewed-up and rotting finger. The smell wouldn''t fucking go away but it didn''t take long before the walking corpses from the shipping containers ced several stacks high started falling on top of one another.


    ''Is Mr. Cuervo sure this isn''t the finale?''


    The shipping containers kept vomiting out corpses after corpses but everyone saw a long fucking tongue hook a deadhead in freefall before it brought it over to itself. Furthermore, the sounds of wet stomping, deep growls, and high-pitched screams echoed all around¡ªalmost overpowering the music¡ªas more and more deadheads came down andnded on their own brethren.


    At this moment, I thought a few would''ve already forfeited but they couldn''t hide the excitement on their face. It could be that the adrenaline junkies had started to participate or Mr. Cuervo''s words fired all of them up.


    With that said, everyone from the viewing tforms could see how each participant gave each other space as they prepared to receive a horde numbering a few thousand. I don''t know how they would manage the space provided for them but it''ll be more than a fucking tight fit.

 Chapter 765: First Wave

    From the fucking get-go, a handful of quadruped humanoids made their way to the central y area, but since every participant was in a moon-shaped formation, they almost got to the center before they shed ws and swords with the one in front of them.


    The first feral just dove in with both jagged ws in front before someone from the Alvarez Family cleaved the top of its head off with a wide swing of his de. He quickly took the first kill of this game but that was barely a dent to the total they were supposed to bring down to zero.


    With that said, everyone received their first foe like it was nothing and it looked like most of them had already faced the same specials we encounter day-to-day.


    ''It kinda makes sense because their main HQ is scattered around¡­ not all of them are living near Mr. Cuervo''s territory¡­''


    At this moment, a majority of the ferals were in front¡ªfollowed by a handful of sprinters¡ªand the boundary between the dead and the living was slowly getting established.


    There was a line of blood, guts, and corpses marking each side''s territory but it was increasing and decreasing at an unsteady pace.


    Mr. Cuervo and his girls were still at the back but my team was just about to receive their first serving. They were situated a bit to the back¡ªthe third row if I had to visualize a seating arrangement¡ªand the first two rows in front of them were still chewing their food.


    Five to seven ferals broke through the ones in front as they went for Mikhail and Niks, and it felt like everyone was looking to see what was so special about Mikhail''s axe.


    I wanted to fucking say that it was just too big to be called an axe. Too big, too thick, and too rough. More like a huge chunk of iron but it wasn''t. It was made for the sole purpose of cleaving deadheads in half¡ªwhatever type they may be¡ªand like the de in my hip, the weapon suited the wielder.


    Mikhail just swung in angle before his axe went through the underside of a feral''s forearm as it continued to cleave straight to its chest and shoulders, lopping the upper half of its torso off with its head and then swinging down with an abrupt flourish, crushing its skull to pieces and killing the one behind it that wasn''t even involved.


    The first encounter was over in a few seconds though Niks killed a couple more than his brother.


    Niks'' movements weren''t as shy or eye-catching but they were textbook and efficient.


    The moment the crooked feral lunged at him, he just half-stepped to the side, sinking his knife to its left earlobe before pushing it forward and using it as a shield as he swung down with his machete. The other feral behind it was a couple of inches short of scratching Niks'' arms but his machete had enough reach to chop off part of its skull.


    With that said, Niks made use of the small funnel¡ªthe space each participant made with each other¡ªto properly position himself between the dead and the living, and he just easily took another couple down as Mikhail was just on his third execution.


    The rest of my team hadn''t had a turn yet because these brothers were basically two Gandalfs facing a handful of human-sized Balrogs.


    They couldn''t fucking pass.


    The brothers'' clothes were now sporting a shade of red and nasty chunks but everyone suddenly heard rapid gunfire.


    Everyone got fucking surprised but we soon discovered that it came from Mr. Cuervo''s guards that took down a few deadheads that tried to climb out of the y area. It was a little unnerving to see bullet traces from overhead but the guards could fucking shoot. Granted they couldn''t kill every deserter with one shot, they made sure that they wouldn''t get back up.


    However, those few seconds of interruption cost a few lives in the process because the moment I turned back to the participants, a few had a momentarypse of concentration.


    One of them was literally spilling out her guts while another had his face torn off.


    I don''t know how the ferals here couldpare to our ce but it was known that their hands and their legs had some sort of enhancement, giving extra attack power and mobility.


    Even from the De Leon Family, a numbered pair got scratched in the process but instead of losing spirit, they stepped forward and took down as much as they could with their dying breaths.


    Number 69 and Number 420, especially Number 4¡ªwho was Quinn¡ªcould only shake their heads and wear solemn expressions as they watched two of their own die.


    At this point, the ones behind the pair in the first row got reced by the ones from the second row, but my group overextended and took the ce of the ones that should''ve belonged to the ones beside them. Instead of my group forming a single row, they spread out so they could get in on the action.


    I would''ve strongly advised against it since this was a game of survival but taking down the threats faster was also a viable strategy.


    ''Their stamina could definitely hold up¡­ They''d also have a little bit of control of the situation since they could dictate the flow on their side¡­''


    With that said, my group made quick work of the ones that got close but a smile formed on my face when they decided to use two pairs of people in front instead of three.


    Doing that would not only give the ones in front more space to move on, but the ones behind could also drag the bodies away from the group fighting in front. Furthermore, they would be able to swap out members if the one in front was feeling a little tired and a few moments of rest could do wonders.


    This action elicited strange looks from the other participants and viewers but Quinn ordered the ones from her family to do the same thing.


    A select group would be the vanguard while the ones in the back would be the backup or the ones in charge of dragging the cleared bodies further back, stacking them on top of each other so we''d have a lot of space to move or run to.


    Slowly but surely, everyone came to the realization that space to move around was also vital to survival, and the ones from the Rivas and Garcia Families¡ªsome from the Cuervo Family¡ªdecided to join my team''s formation.


    The onught of ferals and sprinters became child''s y for a group of individuals that survived a better part of the year with these abominations but the same couldn''t be said from the other side.


    The pairs from the Alvarez and the Castillo Family¡ªand the other half from the Cuervo Family¡ªjust took on the horde dead-on, without using simple tactics to make their life easier.


    I couldn''t say that they were faring worse because everyone from the viewing tforms were loving their disy so much more.


    Their battlefield was fucking chaos but it was being controlled in a way¡ªa brute and garish way¡ªand it was somehow working to a degree. Their side had no leadership, tactics, or even direction but they were surviving in a way that was so fucking simple, anyone could fucking do it.


    It was just straight violence. Extreme and direct violence.


    Each and every one of them just picked a target and took it down as fast as they could¡ªin a brutal fashion¡ªbefore doing the same thing to the next thing theyid their eyes on.


    The first guy I saw from the Alvarez Family was barely recognizable due to the ''Carrie'' skin he had going on and his partner was almost the exact same copy. Probably the handle of their weapons retained the original color scheme because they looked worsepared to when I was done taking down my own thousand.


    With that said, the pairs from the Castillo and the other half of the Cuervo Family were doing the same thing as they both piled bodies on top of one another.


    I didn''t even notice that Benjamin was present and he had a pile only by using a dagger in one hand. However, he just looked bored while taking down deadhead after deadhead, theplete opposite of what he was like when he was right on my face. Well, his fucked up eye was still giving off murderous vibes but his movements in this game in a word was ''contained''.


    He was weaving in and out of encounters like he had no presence but I had no idea where his partner was.


    They could''ve died already or were forced to stay back to keep themselves alive because if he somehow DQ''d Benjamin, he''d have already signed his death warrant.


    With that said, the game continued on but their messy way of doing things might''ve just caused them for the second wave that wasing.

 Chapter 766: Second Wave

    After the wave of ferals and sprinters came the second wave where the regr deadheads were at their highest.


    Almost all of them were marching forward as their rotting bodies were literally side-by-side, worse than riding a bus while the person next to you was jerking off. It was like seeing deranged shoppers at an opening of a ck Friday Sale, pushing and squeezing against each other just so they could get to their targets first.


    From a select few, their bodies had almost congealed to each other probably due to being in a confined space for far too long while some got their bodies chewed up by the ones they chewed up as well.


    This was the only time where I''ve seen beings consume more than half of their body weight and lose more than half their body weight as well.


    It was because all they ate had just passed through their ruptured digestive system, beating any sort of dietary program. In some fucked up way, their ''program'' allowed them to be able to live forever¡ªunless killed directly¡ªand it was far better than any food or drug that offered longevity.


    With that said, the side of the living was also eager toe to blows with the walking corpses stinking the ce, and another type of massacre began. Some people at the back switched with the people in front and they were this close to just jumping in and going wild.


    Before the DJ switched to the next song, a burly guy from the Castillo Family just shoved a 15-feet pole to the deadheads in front of him¡ªimpaling more than five bodies¡ªbefore he flexed his whole body and threw them behind him.


    The five deadheads were easily flung with the use of that guy''s long pole and the ones behind him just ttened them in a matter of seconds.


    ''That''s some arm strength¡­''


    The guy easily pulled out his weapon from those mangled bodies before he swung down from overhead over and over, crushing skulls with the weight of his weapon instead. I could only imagine the stress on his arms right now because my katana only weighed less than a few kilos.


    Well, some weapons needed the extra weight to be able to bash heads in with a single strike but this pole¡ªmuch like the blunt side of Mikhail''s weapon¡ªwas overkill for a regr person. Everyone could almost hear that satisfying crunch each time a skull gets shattered to pieces before the sound of brain matter getting squashed followed.


    Looking at the other participants, most of them were like Niks but the movements werepletely different. Everyone else had their own way of sinking a few inches of their de in a small opening or just straight up making their own cavity to shove their des into.


    One of them would just lead a deadhead straight to the tip of his de while another was doing the good ol'' chop and pull.


    Their rewards were a bisected eyeball and a few cups of brain matter and it seemed to be their only order.


    These regr deadheads had no chance with people that knew what they were doing and their numbers dwindled at an unbelievable rate.


    At this point, the other families who weren''t in the same formation as ours were starting to move a little forward because they were running out of space. Furthermore, some of them even blocked our team''s killing crew, hogging all of the kills for themselves.


    However, a huge bloater miraculously made its way to the front and it started giving boosts to the deadheads in front of it. What I meant was it started grabbing scalps that it could reach before it threw them onto the people reducing their poption.


    They just came crashing down one after the other and the problem was their nasty bits and fluids flying all over the ce. Even my team''s formation got broken in some parts because they had to dodge the iing body while making sure that they got their eyes or other orifices mped shut.


    It would''ve been a fucking headache to deal with but a fucking javelin just flew straight to its bby cheek and went through the back of its head. Its movementpletely stopped and when it fell down, the javelin in its head got pushed further in, making the extra length that got pushed out decorated with clumpy bits of forbidden chili.


    A few deadheads tripped on itsrge body and one of them fell on the protruding javelin head first, puncturing its left eye socket.


    I couldn''t believe how the camera work was done in this game because we were seeing a live broadcast even from the deadheads'' side. Well, some of the cameras they mounted were already covered by goop but they were soon removed from the footage they were switching to every 10-20 seconds.


    With that said, once the footage came back to the thick of the fight, everyone just saw the guy with the long pole lose his living privileges.


    His main weapon was now stuck between six bodies but the one in front had already wrapped its tentacle-like tongue around his torso and it just started to give him the deepest french kiss he ever had.


    No one fucking saw one of those specials mix in with the crowd and now three feet of its tongue was already rummaging the guy''s insides.


    Its tongue then came out of the guy''s ear before it entered his right eye socket, and as it got a proper hold of the guy''s head, it just as easily twisted the guy''s neck beforepletely tearing his head off his torso.


    And before anyone could react, its tongue quickly retracted before piercing three more bodies, not decapitating them but infecting those people with its fluids, making them think if they should still fight for the same side.


    Take note, those three people were still alive but it was only a matter of time before they started chewing off flesh from the living.


    At this point, those three people were still staring in shock at the ''tentacle'' that went through their bodies but the one in front just gritted his teeth before he tried to tear it off of his body. However, the tongue itself was slimy and slippery so after he held it with both hands, he started to chew it off with a maniacal expression before the tongue retracted with a huge chunk missing.


    Well, that didn''t dishearten the three that were already dead so they just rushed forward and tore the living shit out of the special that took them out. While doing so, they rushed ahead and took down as much as they could while their bodies were bleeding out from the wound they just sustained.


    Like the ones before them, it was something else to see people fight when their death warrants were already signed because there was no fear of death any longer.


    All they had to do was stay awake in the little time they had left and sink their des into their targets. They were already dead but I bet they never felt so much alive being to throw out any worry they had to preserve what they had just lost.


    In this ce, sometimes, people were remembered not by how they lived but by how they died.


    It''s just that sometimes, thatst burst of life could easily be put out.


    Once those three had carved a path on the thick of the deadheads, it only took an instant before the deadhead in front of them raised its hand and pped the guy in front. Well, a ''p'' was what it really did but the guy who tried to chew off the other special''s tongue was now in two ces at once.


    His head had now flown out and bounced off the y area but the rest of its body didn''t even know what just happened. It was still standing upright with arge hole in its chest and it just fell down when it finally ran out of juice.


    Almost immediately, everyone from my crew¡ªespecially Tatiana¡ªtensed up when we saw a deadhead that was fully intact, exerting the same amount of pressure as thest one we saw like it, butpletely looking like a regr joe. Granted its skin was already far from a person that had that healthy pinkish glow, but its gray-greenish hue almost blended with itsrades.


    Thest one we met was huge in size¡ªgranting it the name "Hulker"¡ªbut this one seemed to just have some of its attributes.


    Cheers just erupted from the viewing tforms as they saw someone breathe hisst but Tatiana and I had already gone down with our weapons in hand. We wouldn''t actually interrupt the game while it was still in progress but we went down to make sure to step in when it was the right time.


    Even Kaley went into position with Jared¡ªalso telling Alexei to pick up his rifle¡ªbut no one else besides us seemed to be caring that much.


    To them, it was still part of the game but to us, it was something entirely different.

 Chapter 767: Cold and Hot-blooded

    Tatiana and I were perched on the fences like we were about to wipe a certain n before Mr. Cuervo noticed us. He was excitedly looking at this slim Hulker slowly dismantling the other two that were left at first, but his attention was directed to us when Roxanne and Melina turned around after hearing the fences rattling.


    "What the¡ª What are you doing here, Hermano?"


    "I''m giving you two choices, Mr. Cuervo¡­ you let me join in on the fight or I''ll join without permission¡ª"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head almost immediately, "You''re gonna get shot down even if you''re a family head, kid. Rules are rules¡ª"


    "Everyone here will die with those rules¡ª"


    "Then you''re underestimating us¡ª"


    "Underestimate? You could be overestimating your¡ª"


    "I''m serious, Hermano. Listen to me, you could stay perched on that fence or go back to your seat but you''re not stepping foot¡ªthat includes you, Tatiana¡ªin this y area."


    "Cheh. I''m telling you now that I could nail that thing from a couple of miles away. Just saying, you''re lucky it still isn''t rushing here and¡ª"


    "Sure, go ahead. As long as it went over the y area, you could fucking shoot it. For some reason, I know you could¡­"


    At this point, the fight between the regr deadheads in front was still ongoing but only a fraction of the participants had noticed what happened a few dozen feet ahead. They didn''t actually care that much because the undead were known for their strength but the ones with somemon sense were now wearing pensive looks.


    With that said, most of the people that saw it were the ones further behind¡ªincluding my team and the rest that formed a formation with them.


    My group in the y area, especially the ones who went toe to toe with it, were wearing an expression with a mix of nervousness and excitement because this would be one of the few times they''d be able to try out our injection system. Granted it was mostly due to taking down anything that resembled Kristoff''s killer but the end result would be the same thing.


    It''s just that I noticed something peculiar when I looked ahead.


    I for sure thought that the other two that were left to fend with this hulker were already dead but this particr special seemed to like ying with its food. But not only that, this particr deadhead seemed to only be an orthodox fighter due to the way it was fighting the other two.


    It was because it was keeping the other guy in ce by holding him down on his shoulder¡ªfingers digging through his flesh and crushing his shoulder des and scap¡ªwhile barely being able to chip off the other guy who was giving hisst hurrah.


    Its left hand already made contact with the other guy''s de and body but not only did it not kill the other guy outright, but it barely tore off the guy''s limbs and fend for itself.


    ''It''s taking damage just as easily? How¡ª''


    Thest guy from the three who advanced was actually chipping off the hulker''s left arm bit by bit¡ªand if he had a much sharper weapon¡ªhe could''ve lopped it off from its shoulder. However, it didn''t take long before the other deadheads in the vicinity ganged up on him and took him piece by piece, biting off chunks of his flesh from his back or tearing off his toned muscles from constant training.


    He already lost a lot of blood but a small puff of red would just appear each time those deadheads nicked an important blood vessel. The spray would just give their grayish bodies a little bit of color to spice things up a little.


    Despite that, he managed to sink his de into three more rotting coconuts before he sumbed to his injuries.


    I turned to Tatiana, "Did you see that?"


    Tatiana nodded but before she could speak, Mr. Cuervo turned around to look at me with a scrunched brow.


    "See what? Are you two really gonna perch there?"


    "Are you gonna let us in or not?"


    "Not a chance¡ª"


    "Then we have nothing to share with you."


    "Y-You¡­ You wanna take all the glory for yourself eh?"


    "Cheh. This is not about me taking all the glory, Mr. Cuervo. Though I should be the one asking you that."


    "..."


    "Fuck it, if you wanna take all the credits¡­ listen carefully. That''s not the same as the one we facedst time¡­ Well.. notpletely¡­ It''s not even the same size and even though it somehow exerts the same pressure¡­ just avoid its right side and you''ll be fine."


    Once I said that, Roxanne and Melina were also looking at me but I saw another javelin from the corner of my eye heading straight for the hulker in question.


    It quickly tore through the air with speed but all we saw after that was a grown man getting flung around with one arm¡ªgetting used as a pincushion¡ªonly making the hulker lose its bnce for a few seconds. However, it quickly brought its arm back in the same position,pletely tearing the person it was holding onto by his shoulders, only leaving a handful in its grasp.


    The guy it flung twice was already dead the moment it collided with a few deadheads in the vicinity, and he got feasted on when he got delivered onto theirps.


    This action elicited almost all of the participants that they were facing something much stronger than a regr deadhead and they needed to be extremely careful with dealing with it.


    But the first one to tell himself, "I''m dealing with that right now," was Mr. Castillo''s right hand, Benjamin.


    I was lucky to see his side profile among the number of participants in front and he never looked so excited for the new challenger that dropped a quarter from the other side of the arcade. His face looked the same when he was challenging me to a fight and his smile almost tore through his cheeks.


    He easily pushed down the regr joe in front of him before stabbing the one behind it once below the chin and twice on its left earlobe. After that, he pushed that deadhead to the side with his dagger before sinking it into another deadhead that was blocking his way.


    Benjie was already overextending to the point that if he got surrounded by deadheads, it would''ve been already over, but even if one of his eyes weren''t in 100% working condition, it felt like he had a third one on the back of his head.


    There was a point where he almost got wed from behind but he swung his dagger in a wide arc¡ªstabbing the poor deadhead on its temple¡ªbefore pulling it out, kicking the one on his right, and stabbing the one on his left.


    He''d kill a regr deadhead every two seconds and it didn''t take long before he was face-to-face with his target.


    He was the first one to attack but his target''s right shoulder twitched a fraction of a secondter.


    The next few seconds had never been so quiet but cheers erupted from the stands all around us.


    What happened was the hulker was aiming for a simultaneous hit while Benjie was trying to kill it in one blow, but he stopped himself midway and changed his attack trajectory.


    Everyone saw him twist his head to avoid the hulker''s arm from grazing him even by a tiny bit but in the same motion, he dislodged the hulker''s right knee and sunk his dagger right by the webbing of its pinky, tearing it by a few inches and making it p with the wind.


    He was holding himself up with one leg as he threw that low kick and followed its arm with his dagger, and the hulker just recoiled in "pain" as it tried to bitch-p him with its backhand.


    It''s just that Benjie rolled to the side and decided to retreat while making more space between them.


    Benjie lookedprehensive as he put down a couple of deadheads like it was nothing while looking at the hulker that survived his attack.


    The hulker in question was now limping as one of its legs was disabled but no other people close besides Benjie were willing to take a shot at it. Losing a significant part of its movement brought its fighting capacity to some degree but the way its right arm just ps down as fast as one of this ce''s top fighters was something to still be wary of.


    It could still behead anyone that was stupid enough toe close without a proper n to take it on.


    But while everyone''s focus was on Benjie and the hulker, another special had just finished its preparations. Most of the participants in front had almost made their way to Benjie''s position but it only took a second before they realized that paving their way with dozens and dozens of corpses was a bad move, a fatal one.


    The next thing they knew, a few deadheads that they already took down moved in unison, either scratching their exposed legs with their bony ws or taking a small bite of their ankles.


    It only took a second for everything to register and the look on their faces was indescribable.


    The first thing they did was to smash every bit of the dead deadhead that removed their living privileges before they found the source of their misery.


    It was a tailor that was buried in a pile of corpses that like theirrades who tried to take down as many as they could before dying, did the same fucking thing.


    The deadheads that were supposed to be cleared were all around it and had a particr body part that got invaded by a not-so-foreign entity before it took control of it as a meat puppet. Granted these puppets only moved for a few seconds before its strings were cut off, the damage was done, and to make matters worse, they didn''t even get to light up for onest time.


    Benjie just made his way over them and slit their throats before they could even react.

 Chapter 768: Demons arent supposed to be controlled...

    The ce had never been so quiet but to my surprise, cheers erupted abruptly as the few seconds of shock passed by. Well, to be fair, not the same number of people pped their hands and shouted at the top of their lungs, but it was still a different sight to see some people rejoice even if they''ve just lost their own.


    To those people, a scratched or a bitten individual who still had a few moments to do good or shine onest time was as worthless as a referee in a WWE match or a lifeguard in a swimmingpetition.


    Granted theirst moments were used for entertainment, a sick one, I''d rather cheer for one of my own taking down a regr deadhead in hisst moments than see them like that.


    Sure, Benjie was the one who disabled this "partial" hulker on his own¡ªand Imend him for that¡ªbut the action that followed after that was just rage-inducing. Even Mr. Cuervo was shaking his head because some of the people that Benjie took out were also from his fold, and he''d rather see them go out like the first ones who fell, fighting until their dying breaths.


    Despite that, technically speaking, those people were also as good as dead and he technically didn''t break the rules of this ce.


    And if he actually did, he would''ve been pumped full of lead the moment his dagger swiped cleanly through the neck of his first victim.


    But at this point, since no one fucking dared to get close to him¡ªeven if they weren''t infected¡ªBenjie was actually soloing all of the deadheads that were trying to take over their spot. Granted he was still making space so he could maneuver around his actual opponent, but he could only fight it head-on without interruptions for a few seconds.


    He''d have to clone himself to be able to fight toe to toe with that being while taking down these rotting obstacles¡ªor to give him something I think he''d never do, actually make use of and cooperate with the people around him.


    With that said, right after the deaths of the ones that got sneaked up on by the hidden tailor, everyone from the other team started to drag the bodies to the opposite side of the y area. The other party didn''t actually join our group and it was justmon sense to do that.


    At the same time, Benjie was still trying to take down the injured hulker but his first run-in with the being actually made him cautious.


    Not only did he try to make space to move around, but he also started to observe its movements.


    At this moment, it was just down on one knee, right arm readied and focused on one certain individual. To be honest, it looked like a cornered rat but anyone would have a hard fucking time if it retaliated. However, it suddenly swung its right arm in a wide arc, making it lose its bnce as it only hit air.


    ''What?''


    Almost everyone thought that it was just its way of trying to preserve its ''life'', simr to any being or perhaps a human waving their weapon to deter anyone froming close.


    But to a select few who were close enough to feel ''it'', it was actually Benjie''s doing.


    He actually found a way to prompt a reaction just by staying in ce and it was done by directing killing intent to a specific individual. Well, before actually ''directing'' it, it should be first released and that was why I surmised that that swipe was a reaction to something rather than what most people thought.


    It''s just that I didn''t think that an undead being would be able to feel it but to keep it on the safe side, I''d say it was a good 70%-80% probability that it was the actual cause.


    But just to make sure, I slowly exhaled before I released copious amounts of killing intent¡ªeven more than thest time we talked, disrupting the game and all of the participants involved. I only did it for a second but the participants who were closer to me instinctively jumped away from my direction¡ªMr. Cuervo and the two other girls included.


    Tatiana seemed to have slightly gotten used to it but I lightly chuckled as I saw her grab onto the fences tightly¡ªpulling them together as they bent out of sheer force.


    This was when my team noticed that we were actually behind them but Mr. Cuervo was already this close to kicking me out of my position. Well, I didn''t technically step foot in the y area but my presence did. However, my eyes were locked on the injured hulker which was my actual target, and what it did confirmed my suspicions.


    It actually tried to cover its face with both arms once my wave of killing intent passed through it, but another person reacted to it much differently than I thought.


    Benjamin "Benjie" Castillo suddenly twisted his body as he turned in my direction, and he was wearing that same maniacal smile he did thest time we talked. He even licked his lips before hepletely disregarded his original target, and he just started to sprint back in my direction.


    ''Oh, boy¡­''


    It left everybody speechless, especially Mr. Cuervo, and everyone else decided to take a ''receiving'' approach in regard to the deadheads that were still marching ahead. Well, the injured hulker was still in the same spot but my team decided to observe it more thoroughly before taking action.


    With that said, Benjie walked past everyone¡ªeven my team and Mr. Cuervo¡ªand once he was right below me, he jumped up the fence and perched a few inches close to me. He was looking at me like how I look at a freshly cooked medium-rare steak with a wallop of butter melting on top, slowly flowing down, mixing with the steak''s juices.


    His gaze almost felt dirty and even when I shook the fence to make him fall down, he kept his bnce and kept staring at me with the same expression.


    "Nice try."


    "Heh."


    I had to do something about it because I felt more danger almost as close when Kaley was looking at my butthole.


    "What?"


    "I like you."


    "WHAT?!" I eximed at the top of my lungs though Tatiana, Roxanne, and Melina were dumbstruck.


    "You have it, same as me."


    I thought for a while before I replied, "Demons?"


    "Ahaha¡­ I knew it. You know¡­ it''s been a while since I felt something like that¡­"


    "I remember showing it to youst time¡ª"


    "No, that was weak¡ªit didn''t even count. Thest one, the recent one, felt really~ familiar¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "What''s more¡­ I think you could really control it¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    "So?"


    Benjie suddenly red at me, "You don''t get it, do you?"


    "I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    "You''re limiting yourself¡­ Demons aren''t supposed to be controlled¡­ they''re supposed to be unleashed. If you keep doing that, they''ll get weak and I''ll barely have any fun when I start carving you piece by piece¡ª WHAT''S SO FUNNY?!"


    I was lightly chuckling as I stared him dead in the eye, "The way you''re talking, it''s funny. But yeah, I speak like that sometimes. When I do it, it''s cool. But when I hear other people say it, it''s kinda cringe."


    "I''m just giving you advice. You should listen to it."


    "Heh. Don''t tell me what to do with my demons, we''re vibing just fine. You don''t know my demons like I do. They don''t run my life like yours do¡­"


    ''Well, not anymore¡­''


    "Hmph, boring shit. Everyone''s always the same¡­"


    "Tell me something¡­ you can''t even control them, can you? And if you could¡ªby some chance¡ªit''s only for a few moments."


    "..."


    "Hah! I could give you lessons but I''m not cheap¡ª"


    At this moment, Benjie just jumped over the fence and forfeited the game with a dark expression. I saw his partner climb the fence as soon as Benjiended on the other side and he never looked so relieved. He hurriedly scurried away from Benjie''s path as he made his own way back to their spot.


    Benjie just disappeared from view so I ced my attention on the problem at hand.


    The hulker¡ªeven injured, could still pack a punch. And from the time Benjie and I had a little talk, no one had still taken it down. It was because its shields were still up and anyone who came close would get bludgeoned to death. Furthermore, some participants tried to use long-reaching weapons and they just got bent before making an actual dent.


    At this point, only Benjie had done some serious damage to it and I''d never seen one in a defensive position.


    I doubt it would take an active stance any time soon but we all saw a tailor slither behind it before it abruptly turned and smashed it in one blow. A handful of deadheads further in just dropped like their strings were cut and we all saw it turn back the same way and assume the same stance.

 Chapter 769: In a matter of seconds

    The total number of deadheads left¡ªregr or special¡ªwas about half of what it originally was. Almost all of them were still advancing forward but a select few were either feeding on their own or just staying in ce.


    Well, the bloaters would just feed on anything that moves while the tailor would feed on the regr ones first before increasing its own little army, and the only one staying still was the hulker with a bad knee.


    At this point, everyone else was just waiting for the ones behind it to advance but not everyone was designed to sit still.


    A group of people started to hug the fence to the left and right to be out of its reach before they started to move forward and leave the hulker behind. Doing this type of thing was extremely dangerous but since most of them were from Mr. Cuervo''s fold, in their heads, the show must go on.


    With that said, they cleaved through a few dozen deadheads but another group was also responsible for dragging the bodies away. No one wanted a repeat of what just happened earlier but the rate of dragging corpses back versus the rate of putting them down had arge difference.


    No one wanted to get too close to the hulker who was staring everyone down in a defensive position, but its mere presence was the bottleneck to get a bnce between the two tasks the participants were performing.


    However, while everyone else was focused on the yers in front, no one noticed that Artem was discussing something with the rest of his team.


    They were huddled in a small circle but it seemed like he was this close to getting pummeled by Katya and Quinn. From the way the two were holding their weapons, it seemed like Artem wanted them to lend theirs to Niks and Ilya.


    Tatiana and I could see them bickering from the fence we were perched on but I tried to wave over Mr. Cuervo once more.


    "Mr. Cuervo¡ª"


    "No! You''re not allowed to¡ª"


    "I''m not joining¡ª"


    "I told you no! You''re¡ª Huh? You''re not gonna try to¡ª"


    "Listen. I know we can''t join but can we throw something over?"


    Mr. Cuervo looked over curiously, "Hmm? What is it?"


    I pointed at Tatiana''s axe, "That one."


    "What''s so special about that?"


    "Let my team use it and you''ll find out."


    "You¡ª"


    Before Mr. Cuervo and I could finish our conversation, my team just moved ahead with Artem in the front. I thought for sure that Mikhail would be the one to start it but Artem was walking forward at a moderate pace, injection axe in one hand and gripping it tightly.


    However, Katya and Quinn still kept their own weapons but the ones who had the same injection system¡ªKatya and Mikhail¡ªwere on the farthest left and right from Artem''s position.


    Ilya and Niks were right behind their leader while Quinn was the one further back.


    To be honest, Quinn would be an excellent choice for any team but this time, Artem made use of people that he knew better.


    With that said, the people who noticed that they weren''t trying to scoot to the side gave them ample space as they slowly fanned to surround the hulker on one knee. The music was still sting at full volume but it felt like it was just tiny background noise as Artem took the first step.


    I could see how his back rose for a little bit before it went down as he exhaled but the veins on his right arm protruded violently before he swung at the hulker who was already about to meet his blow.


    However, just as almost everyone thought that doing that was just a farce, the next thing they know, the hulker was right behind Artem,ying t on its back, pinned in ce, its right forearm broken in two ces and the beard of Artem''s axe buried deep in its rigid muscles, and most importantly¡­ it was confused as fuck.


    But to everyone''s surprise, the hulker suddenly lifted itself up¡ªalmost performing a handstand¡ªeven with the broken arm but Katya moved in and bisected its torso diagonally.


    ''Right at the softer bits¡­''


    Her huge axe just cleaved straight through its left shoulder¡ªcutting its left arm off¡ªbefore it went straight towards its chest cavity and dug even deeper until it left its right hip.


    Its bottom half was already in freefall as it tried to squirm violently but Mikhail came down and swung the hammer side of his weapon on the hulker''s head, over and over until a small crater formed.


    Each swing would just make the hulker squirm a little less violently until it became like one of those battery-powered fish that would plop with a little bit of sound.


    Everyone close could hear that fucking crunch and he didn''t stop even if hisrge muscles were already screaming in pain. Even Artem who looked like his n deviated somewhat just looked at Mikhail solemnly before he unhooked his axe from the mangled carcass.


    Shit, Mikhail didn''t even need the injection system to break into its outeryer because of how much he swung down on the motherfucker.


    The injection system we developed could probably kill it in one blow but what Mikhail did works too.


    It''s not like the force of his blows wasn''t transferring over to the softer side of its head.


    He only stopped when he had enough and cheers just erupted the moment he spat and pissed on the hulker''s little grave.


    At this point, everyone''s focus was now on Mikhail but only a select few saw and understood what Artem did before that. The degree of control and finesse he showed the moment his axe collided with the hulker''s arm was fucking immacte. Those few seconds he used to redirect the strength of the hulker and use it against itself was something only a handful of people could do.


    ''He basically provoked an attack and changed trajectory mid-swing like Benjie but he used the strength of the hulker to bury the heel of his axe on its forearm. However, that would take a lot of strength just to hold his weapon tight but he didn''t take it head-on and as long.


    He did it just enough so that its rigid flesh could hold onto the beard of his axe before he spun around with it and pinned it in ce¡­''


    ''The only thing left is to have someone else do the finishing touches but it would be impossible to do it if he didn''t do what he did earlier¡­ And yeah¡­ if it could feel fear it could feel something else too¡­''


    No one else noticed but a few of Artem''s fingers got dislocated but he just as easily snapped them in ce as he exhaled slowly. He started to check his arm and even spun his right shoulder around to see if he had any injuries but luckily, his right arm will just be sore for an extended amount of time.


    With that said, he handed his axe to Ilya, who was shaking his head in amusement and just exchanged it with his own machete before Ilya advanced with Niks. I couldn''t hear the short exchange Artem had with Quinn but judging by Katya''s reaction, a joking offer was given to have "drinks".


    And again, Mikhail was present in that moment and he could only cry his heart out as he joined Ilya and Niks who were cleaning up the fray.


    The rest of the game continued on for a while but the highlight was a close match between what Benjie did and what Mikhail did.


    To bepletely fair, Benjie also did a lot by taking on the hulker solo and injuring it in the process but his achievements got overshadowed because he forfeited. But in my opinion, the actual MVP was Artem and I think that he could''ve also gone toe-to-toe with it alone because it wasn''t the same one we faced before and there were weak spots we could exploit.


    ''Let''s just say I''m fucking d one of them is on my team, heh.''


    I was just about to hop off from the fence I was perched on but I heard Mr. Cuervo''s voice.


    "You got a good team there, Hermano. And their weapons, how are they special? Did I see it and didn''t notice?"


    "Hmm, I could show youter since they just used the sheer weight of them¡ª"


    "Do you think our des could pierce through those things'' skin?"


    "Just the skin¡ª"


    "Just answer my question, kid. You know what I mean."


    "Heh. Mine could. I dunno about yours. Maybe it could too?"


    Once I said that, Tatiana just nced at me momentarily before she hopped down and shook her head. Mr. Cuervo looked like he was deep in thought so I just followed after Tatiana who was already a few steps ahead.


    "Hey."


    "What?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "Can your de really do it?"


    I chuckled gently, "We would''ve known if we were let in¡ª"


    "Just answer."


    I just looked Tatiana in the eye before I faintly smiled, "Yes and no."


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "Huh?"


    "Heh, that''s for you to figure out," I said as I started to walk past her.


    "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

 Chapter 770: Blood Fights - Bankai?

    Tatiana wouldn''t let me take a single step from our spot because she actually wanted a real answer. She was right up in my face, looking me straight in the eye, and clutching the fabric of my shirt.


    "Please, I wanted to know¡­"


    I tried to dodge it one more time, "Isn''t having those injection axes enough¡ª"


    "That''s not what we are talking about. I''m¡ª"


    "What are we talking about?"


    "Don''t y dumb! I''m asking if you could do it or not?! Is that hard to answer?! I''m not¡ª I''m not asking if your katana could do it¡­ I wanted to know if YOU could do it. Can you just answer that?"


    "..."


    "Please, I really wanted to k-know¡­"


    I sighed ever so slightly before I looked at her solemnly, "Answer me one thing first."


    "Anything."


    "Will you me me for something if I said yes?"


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "W-What are you talking about?"


    I pointed at the smiley pin on my vest before I answered, "Are you gonna me me for this?"


    Right at that moment, a solid p justnded on my face before a backhandnded on the other side. After that, Tatiana''s grip on my shirt tightened even more as she tried to push on me.


    "No one fucking mes you for that! I''m just asking you because I''m genuinely curious! What''s up with you?! Bringing Kristoff out of the blue?! Out of everyone present when that happened, I thought you would be the one who would have a rational understanding of it! Something unexpected happened and we lost someone!


    End of story!"


    "I could''ve done something¡ª"


    "The time for that has passed! Are you still thinking about that even now?!"


    "Sometimes, I do. Especially now since we just encountered something simr to that thing¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Tatiana started to scratch her head, "I can''t believe you¡­ The mood was pretty great earlier and I feel like shit right now."


    "Sorry, I thought¡­ I started overthinking when you asked me that question and we got sidetracked¡­ too sidetracked¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­" Tatiana trailed as she finally let go of me.


    "My bad¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You didn''t admit it directly but you could really do it, huh?"


    I almost banged my head on the closest rock as Tatiana asked the same question that got us on a tangent but I shook my head as I finally gave her an honest answer, "It''s gonna fucking suck but I think could do it."


    ''I might dislocate more than my fingers if I go about it carelessly though¡­''


    "You finally¡ª Wait, now why is it gonna fucking suck?" Tatiana went up in my face again.


    I started to briskly walk ahead of her, "Not gonna answer that, you only get one question a day~"


    "YOU~!!! YOU JUST¡ª DON''T ANSWER A QUESTION AND SAY SOMETHING THAT''S GONNA LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS!!! ARGH!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAH~!!!"


    Tatiana and I eventually made it back to our spot and the awards for this game were already being given to the winners while the piles and piles of corpses were being cleared out. It took them a while but there was a special reward for the person that killed the most deadheads.


    If it wasn''t already obvious, Mikhail rushing to the fray when he heard Quinn asking Artem for "drinks" looked like a max-level warlord joined in a skirmish with all level 1 mobs. He basically took down a minimum of 3 walkers per swing and his kill count just left the others in the dust.


    With that said, he was entitled to three coins, a vehicle of his choice, permanent boarding in Cuervo Heights, a "Golden Ticket" for the Pink House, an expensive bottle of alcohol, jewelry, a tailored suit that would be given to him in the following days, and an assortment of guns and ammo.


    But to my surprise, Mr. Cuervo also gave himmand of a 5-person squad to help with whatever task they were currently in and they weren''t themon rabble.


    This squad would be a huge help with finding the rest of Artem''s team because even if Niks and the rest had already located one of them and had a clue as to where thest one wasst seen, they''d need more people that knows the area and could offer more than just an extra pair of hands.


    At this point in time, it was already way past midnight but everyone was still going at it like it was still 9 PM. The amount of food and drinks served on this game night/wedding was crazy and it felt like it could go on for several days. No one was feeling tired or sleepy one bit but it didn''t take long before thest event was announced.


    But before that, several grievances were to be addressed.


    Everyone knew that the final event would be a tournament-style fight until the victor was decided but now was the time to settle "differences" between each family. The term for it was coined a few chapters¡ª err, a few hours ago and it was called a blood fight.


    Essentially, a blood fight entailed a challenge to be issued to a certain individual the challenger had a grievance with and it could end with a few simple bruises or the name of the loser carved on a tombstone.


    There were a few exceptions in regards to challenging someone to a fight to the death, mostly, but most of the time, people have done it purely for duking it out with someone and not with any other intent.


    It was because it was a little too expensive¡ªmost of the time¡ªto challenge someone since the price to pay was a gold coin or something close to its value.


    It could be anywhere from a fancy vehicle, a brick of coke, to a beautiful virgin, but to put some numbers to it, it could be close to 10,000 vouchers since the winner would take it all¡ªsince both parties have to put up¡ªexcept for the small cut the house would receive.


    But sometimes, it could be anywhere from a case of beer to a pack of cigars if both parties wanted to have a go with each other that badly.


    However, the person that was challenged could still decline the invite but their reputation would take a huge hit. To my knowledge, a few people had declined but it was because they were too injured or the reason for challenging them was just too fucking stupid.


    And yeah, some people could just easily bypass the blood fight by going outside and stabbing each other to death.


    In a sense, a blood fight is just a way Mr. Cuervo could bend his own rules and profit from it.


    With that said, it seemed like a flood of challenges was being sent to the main house, and Mr. Cuervo''s left eyebrow couldn''t stop twitching. I saw him turn in my direction as he gave a long sigh and he helplessly spoke on the mic.


    [Alright¡­ let''s get this first one over with¡­ Number~ 123? Is that right? Uh-huh¡­ you''re issuing a challenge to the kid¡ª The head of the Ishiyama Family, is that it? What''s your reason?]


    At this point, if Quinn''s gaze could kill, the guy she was staring down would''ve breathed hisst already but to my surprise, it was the guy who lost almost all of his teeth when he deepthroated my boot. It was the same guy who tried to swindle us when Mikhail and I tried to retrieve Kuzma''s vehicle and he was still probably pissed from that incident.


    One of Mr. Cuervo''s entertainers approached the guy with a mic to speak on and his gummy mouth almost made everyone close to himugh.


    "THAT FUCKER DID THIS TO ME AND I WANT TO DO THE SAME THING TO HIM! MY GIRL KEPT LAUGHING AT ME WHEN I TRY TO MAKE OUT WITH HER AND ITS FUCKING HELL! ALSO, HE TOOK MY TRUCK WITH THE HARPOONS ON IT AND I WANT IT BACK!"


    Mr. Cuervo was trying so hard not tough, the same as me and everyone else.


    [Alright 123, do you have a coin or¡ª]


    "I ONLY HAVE 200 VOUCHERS HERE, 2 GLOCKS, 50 ROUNDS OF AMMO, MY GIRL''S NUDES, OUR VIDEOS, MY ROLEX¡ª STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!!! AND UHH¡­ I ALSO HAVE MY OTHER TRUCK WHICH IS A D-MAX! THAT''S ALL I HAVE BUT IF YOU DECLINE ME, YOU''RE A FUCKING PUSSY!"


    Mr. Cuervo, Roxanne, and Melina couldn''t look more confused and depressed at the same time from hearing Number 123''s words, but another series ofughter followed. Even the ones from his fold wereughing at his ass because not only was his reason stupid as hell, the items he wagered weren''t enough to make anyone from the opposite side agree to the fight.


    [You know, challenging a head is a whole different matter¡­ you know that, right? It''s also ten times more expensive. I appreciate the fervor but¡ª]


    I cut Mr. Cuervo off as I turned to Number 123, "I''ll fight him but you''ll die before you get my girl''s nudes though. And no offense, I don''t wanna see your ugly ass fucking and I don''t wanna waste five seconds of my life watching that."


    "WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT YOUR GIRL?! I JUST WANNA STICK MY FOOT DOWN YOUR THROAT SO WE''LL BE EVEN AND THEN SOME!!! ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT ME OR WHAT?!"


    I don''t know why but the vibe of the whole ce changed after that short exchange and it didn''t take long before the two of us were in the center of the y area. The fight he issued wasn''t to the death but the motherfucker dared me to bring my katana so the fight would be "even".


    I''m even thinking that he already forgot that Mikhail and I trashed their crew barehanded and he wanted to face me with a weapon.


    With that said, once the signal was given, I drew my de ever so slowly before I uttered the word in each syble¡­


    "Ban. Kai¡ª"


    The guy just suddenly dropped his axe and put his hands up, "Fuck that. I give up."


    "..."


    Silence. Complete and total fucking silence.

 Chapter 771: Blood Fights II

    It only took a few seconds before the newly cleaned y area got littered with whatever the audience was holding. And for some reason, I even got pelted with a pineapple, a watermelon, a coconut, and several fruits so I had to leave the scene while making a fruit tter.


    That elicited more people to throw fruit in my direction but no one¡ªaside from the first few sneak attacks¡ªmanaged to reach my body.


    I didn''t even look back at the dumbass who challenged me to a fight but he looked like one of those "modern" paintings that would fetch a million dors when he came back on his spot.


    With that said, the items he wagered easily fell on myp though I quickly threw the phone that had all his girl''s nudes and their videos in a random direction. To my surprise, some people fought for them because his girl was actually decent. Well, I have someone that could be called more than decent and I don''t want the image of another man''s dick ingrained in my memory for the foreseeable future.


    Once things calmed down, Mr. Cuervo spoke into his mic to announce the next fight.


    [Alright¡­ The next fight will be between¡ª Hmm? Jericho and Enrique¡­ Enrique is the challenger and¡ª]


    Mr. Cuervo wasn''t even done speaking when Enrique cut him off. Furthermore, he seemed to have managed to acquire a mic of his own and he started shouting at the top of his lungs.


    [COME OUT HERE, YOU PSYCHO! I''M GONNA GIVE YOU A FEW ONE-TWOS FOR THE THINGS YOU PUT ME THROUGH! I''M GONNA¡ª]


    Then a familiar voice came from nowhere.


    [Nope. You still owe me,b rat.]


    [YOU¡ª]


    [And the fight''s declined! Settle down, Enrique! I said you got declined! *clears throat* Alright, for the next one¡­ Oh~ This is gonna be spicy~ Hah! Kaley Ishiyama is challenged by Elena Cristobal¡­ Elena, where are you so my attendants can approach you? Here we go~ y nice, eh?]


    Once again, Mr. Cuervo''s gazended in my direction but like Kaley, I was confused as fuck as to why Elena challenged her. I was 100% that they had no grievances with each other and if there was one person to challenge, Tatiana would be that person since something already happened between the two and it could be just a form of payback.


    ''I guess we''ll see why.''


    It didn''t take long before their faces were on the huge screen and it felt like the two were talking face to face even though they were so far from each other.


    [Let me set this straight, I had no grievances with her but I would like to know if the woman of the guy I wanted to fuck so badly is more than just a pretty face. That''s all. You two could use me all you want for a night if you win but I get to use him all I want if I win. Simple, right?]


    At this moment, cheers just erupted from all sides, and for the first time, all eyes were on Kaley. I would''ve preferred that she stay in the shadows but her simple response just made her stand out even more.


    [I''m so sorry, Elena. I''m not as good of a fighter as everyone here but if you want him that badly, all you have to do is just ask¡­]


    Cheers just erupted once again¡ªeven more from the hornballs¡ªand Elena''s face just lit up with lust and expectation. She almost ran up to our side for a moment but she calmed herself down before she spoke on the mic once again.


    [I''ll¡­ I''ll really take you up on that, Kaley! Fine, I''ll withdraw my challenge then! Sorry for the intrusion!]


    I didn''t know whether tough or cry but I''m already thinking of taking something to make mest through the "gauntlet" Kaley would be putting me through after all this was over. However, it didn''t take long before the intermission took a serious turn because Mr. Cuervo''s face turned solemn when he received information about the next challenge.


    [Hmm. I was just informed that Benjamin Castillo is challenged by the majority of the De Leon Family. I''m sorry to say this but if we try to facilitate all of you to fight him, it would just take too long. However, I''ll allow three of you to fight him¡ªif he agrees to it¡ªin whatever way you see fit. How about that?]


    The moment Mr. Cuervo gave his suggestion, most of the people from Quinn''s group were against it because their n involved tiring him out with numbers and then dealing the final blow with the lucky person that would happen to go against him.


    I appreciate the lengths they would go to for one of their own but if it was Benjie we were talking about, they''d have a lot of casualties just to avenge a single person for the injury they sustained. However, this was the De Leon Family we were talking about and I have no right to voice my opinion.


    With that said, after a moment of discussion, the three people were selected though the first two fights wouldn''t be to the death.


    I could somehow recognize them¡ªNumber 420 and Number 69¡ªthough 420 would be the first one to fight while 69 would be thest one. And to my surprise, Number 8¡ªDave, would be the one to fight Benjie for their second bout and he looked more solemn than aloof. Later did I know that Number 69 and Number 68 were close rtives so they were aiming to take down Benjie or somehow injure him.


    To be honest, I would''ve liked to have a serious go with the crazy psycho but if they managed to take him down, I would have no qualms about it.


    It''s just that even with their numbers advantage, things wouldn''t go as they nned.


    To make the matters worse, Benjie actually requested a lot of expensive and rare items to be added to the pot¡ªthough I assumed one of their elders made him do it, and he was basically bleeding them dry. All the De Leon Family could do was pull some of their resources just to have a reckless go with their nemesis.


    Once the first fight started, 420''s goal was to grab hold of Benjie to punish him over and over.


    It''s just that Benjie never looked so bored.


    The moment 420 grabbed onto his cor, Benjie''s nails just dug into his forearms, making long and crookedcerations through his wrists, making him bleed profusely. His face just contorted from the pain but he didn''t fucking let go. He just gritted his teeth as he tried to push Benjie down with his weight but his eyes just widened when he saw his elbows bending the opposite way.


    It only took a second but everyone watching the fight saw Benjie grabbing his wrist tightly before sending a knee from an impossible angle, snapping his elbow and making it bend horribly.


    The weight 420 used just backfired on himself because all it did was make his injury worse.


    He tried to do the same opening with his other arm but Benjie had already taken control of the situation.


    Benjie was this fucking close to poking his eye out but that was when a bullet whizzed past his face that made him stop. All of a sudden, his face contorted to controlled rage but the shot was actually fired by one of Mr. Cuervo''s security guards.


    It was actually a signal to stop the fight because the De Leon Family threw the towel.


    Since their fight wasn''t to the death, these forfeits were avable and if Benjie tried to do something funny, he would be instantly emunicated.


    He could only shake his head as the medical crew took 420 away and he was rolling his eyes when Dave came into his view. He looked even more disinterested when heid his eyes on his new opponent and he even looked away when Dave opened up with a simple jab.


    His bloody nails were alreadying for Dave''s arm but he never looked so confused when he was airborne and upside down.


    ''Nani the fuck?''


    Benjie had just started falling from getting flipped in the air with a sudden sweep when Dave''s heel made contact with his abdomen. He easily flew several feet away but Dave wasn''t happy one bit.


    Almost everyone thought it was a direct and clean hit but right now, Dave''s ankle was bleeding.


    The motherfucker managed to receive the blow and lessen the damage while inflicting some on his opponent while caught off-guard. Only a few people saw what actually happened and confused cheers just followed when they saw the state of Dave''s foot. However, Dave suddenly kicked up some dirt to blind Benjie and it came with a few droplets of blood from his injured ankle.


    Everything happened while Benjie was still in the process of getting up and to everyone''s surprise¡ªespecially me, Dave actually kicked off his shoe and it was already making its way to its target.

 Chapter 772: Blood Fights III - Blunder

    Coming from someone who loved every advantage he could get, Dave doubled¡ª no, tripled-down just to obstruct Benjie''s vision. And with the psycho already extra aware of a flying shoe due to me, instead of blocking them with his arms, he instantly tried to jump back as he backpedaled. However, Dave jumped forward at the same time and hended on Benjie''s right foot.


    And almost at the same instance, he finally clocked Benjie''s face with a solid right hook because the guy was momentarily pinned in ce.


    Benjie''s whole body buckled as his face got jolted but he had already wound up his left arm to send apact hook on Dave''s jaw. The punch made him dazed for a second and it was all that Benjie needed to get his foot from under him.


    And to Dave''s surprise, Benjie was falling forward but what came after him was his right heel from a sudden front flip. He took Benjie''s full weight with his head before he got dazed a second longer and his face was red from the pain.


    Most people would''ve lost consciousness from their brains getting shaken over and over but Dave just held on.


    He tried to kick Benjie who rolled to the side as hended but all it did was send more dirt his way.


    The two were far apart once again but it didn''t take long before both of them tried to bridge the distance in an instant.


    This time, Benjie was a tad faster and Dave''s left calf just received a solid low kick though it looked like it didn''t do much damage. However, a low kick wasn''t a finishing move that was supposed to take down their opponent in a single strike but it was more like having shots with your friends.


    The first few wouldn''t knock you out¡ªthough sometimes they may sting or burn¡ªbut once you reached your limit, you would hit the floor faster than a sack of bricks.


    With that said, I was surprised Benjie didn''t opt for more illegal moves while Dave was doing his best to acquire whatever advantage he could get his hands on. To be fair, this wasn''t an "official" fight where rules needed to be followed¡ªaside from not killing each other in this setting, but Dave''s mistake was using illegal moves on a person that would almost always opt for illegal moves.


    Benjie knew where to strike where it would hurt the most and he also knew to defend where it hurt the most.


    He wasn''t part of the n that could almost see in a third-person view to dodge or redirect everything so he''d just take a few hits where he could take it. However, he started to look annoyed when he kept defending himself from the attacks he was supposed to be dishing out so he went with a simultaneous hit when the opportunity presented itself.


    Dave was aware that Benjie was a tad faster than him so like the low kicks he was receiving, he also sent body blows to slow his opponent down.


    It''s just that when he connected with a solid punch, Benjie''s thumb had also dug deep into his sides.


    Benjie aimed for the spot right below Dave''s ribcage and blood just spurted out when he pulled his thumb out.


    It caused an uproar among the audience but Mr. Cuervo''s guards didn''t do a thing because Dave was far from dead. Granted he started to breathe heavily by the second, but he still continued his rush toward the opponent he was trying to take down. However, a bullet whizzed past between them when he tried to catch his breath and he found out that the De Leon Family threw the towel for the second time.


    Dave never looked so infuriated but once he saw the amount of blood he was losing from the big screen, he just sighed heavily before his gazended back on Benjie.


    With that said, Benjie had a few bruises from getting caught off-guard but the thing that sucked was that Benjie wasn''t even out of breath. Sure, he was breathing a little faster than normal but it didn''t take long before his breathing returned to normal once again.


    He even yawned as he walked closer to his family''s spot to signal someone from the viewing tform and everyone saw one of his goons throw his dagger over to him.


    Dave was getting looked at by the medical team that arrived but Benjie was already gearing up for his next fight.


    And this time, he looked a little excited as he drew his newly cleaned dagger from its sheath.


    He was already exuding faint amounts of killing intent and I decided it was time to give my two cents to Quinn.


    "Once Dave is carried out of there and Number 69 enters the y area, you can''t throw any more towels¡­ Better quit now because your guys barely did anything to him¡­"


    "..."


    "I don''t wanna say that your guy''s weak but¡ª"


    Quinn instantly cut me off, "Shut up."


    "I''m just saying¡­"


    "You don''t understand¡ª"


    "I do. It''s pride and stubbornness talking for all of you¡ª"


    "Then why don''t you challenge him, huh?! If you''re that good¡ª"


    "I did, actually."


    "Wai¡ª Huh?! You did? When?!"


    "When Mr. Cuervo looked at me, right before your guy challenged me earlier. Did you think I''m gonna wait for the final stage to get to him? He''s unstable and dangerous. You don''t make them swing their dick around like they could do whatever they want. I would''ve done something already in Jericho''s game if I wouldn''t get a bullet in the head for it¡­"


    "..."


    "But as luck would have it, all of your requests came first¡­"


    "Shit¡­"


    Quinn''s face just looked somber but she didn''t do anything about the situation. No, more like she couldn''t do anything because even if she forbade Number 69 to walk inside the y area, she''d just getpletely disregarded. And the same thing would happen even if their head would ask for the same thing.


    Getting the chance for payback was something almost everyone would never pass up and some people were willing to risk their lives for it.


    With that said, the audience was getting riled up once Number 69 and Benjie were face to face because everyone wanted to see blood. Number 69 was holding his two curved, steampunk-style swords while Benjie was casually holding his short dagger.


    From a normal or conventional point of view, reach was something to take into ount¡ªeven in barehanded fights¡ªbecause even a katana wielder had to be a few dans above a spear wielder for it to be an even fight.


    It''s just that this match wasn''t normal or even conventional.


    Everyone had already seen Benjie move and he didn''t even look fazed about his opponent''s swords.


    There were these few seconds of weird silence¡ªeven when the background music was building up¡ªbefore the two met at a single point.


    However, unlike the first two fights we just witnessed, the third fight was the shortest one.


    There was this instant when metal shed against metal and the next thing we knew, blood was just spraying out of Number 69''s neck. A huge gash enough to fit an oven mitt was present from where his Adam''s apple was located right up to his nape. And unlike a certain someone who nicked his jugr vein from firing faulty ammo, he couldn''t plug it with his thumb.


    The wound was far too wide and visceral to do anything about it and the best thing to do was topletely end his suffering.


    At this point, the big screen disyed the few seconds Number 69 was still twitching before Benjie sunk his de into his temple.


    It prompted cheers and apuse from the stands but it was totally different from our side.


    Quinn was just shaking her head as the rest of her crew was this fucking close to jumping over the railing and lynching Benjie but their family would cease to exist once they did. Some of them even tried to send more challenges to Benjie but Mr. Cuervo wouldn''t ept the challenge from the same family anymore.


    They had three chances to avenge their own but they lost even more while achieving next to nothing. Granted Davended a few solid hits, but those can easily be remedied by ice.


    I didn''t even dare to tell the De Leon Family that I warned them because I''m 100% sure they knew full well about this blunder. Not even taking into ount the loss they incurred from losing three times, two more injured individuals and the death of arade was something anyone would have a hard time bouncing back from.


    But right at this moment, something seemed to have happened to the Castillo Family''s side because their cheers suddenly stopped like a machine was plugged off.


    Each and every one of them was standing like statues and Mr. Cuervo was the one who broke the news since he forgot to mute his mic.


    [WHAT?! MR. CASTILLO IS DEAD?! HE WHAT?!]

 Chapter 773: Complicated - Gaslit

    The whole ce had never been so quiet and everyone had to double-take just to make sure that they heard things correctly. Everyone knew that killing someone inside Mr. Cuervo''s residence¡ªespecially a head¡ªwould grant the perpetrator the same fate and no one was stupid enough to break that rule.


    It''s just that someone actually did and everything just ground to a halt.


    And to make things clear or a little meta, I didn''t order such an assassination or anything of the sort because our n didn''t involve something like this at all. With this happening, I didn''t even know if we could still go through with the n because it changed a lot of things significantly.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo had already given the order to make everyone on the viewing tforms stay put¡ªespecially the Castillo Family¡ªwhile his security suddenly tripled in presence. Most people were surprised to see a lot of the same people carrying high-powered rifles though some were more concerned to get to the bottom of things.


    If I remember things right¡ªwhich I always would¡ªMr. Castillo left his seat when one of his family members, Castro, was escorted back to their cells when Mr. Cuervo concluded one of his games. Granted I wasn''t particrly tracking his movements, but I was certain that he was away for a while and he probably visited his grandson.


    ''He wouldn''t¡­ right?''


    At this point, the huge screen had now several sections that disyed footage from all the security cameras ced all over though one of them got picked and disyed in full view.


    ''No way¡­''


    At this moment, this grandson of his was now bound by ropes, filled with bruises, and being dragged onto the stage by Zack¡ªone of the participants from the same game earlier though he looked like he was just waiting for Mr. Cuervo''s signal to snap his neck.


    I didn''t notice that he had also sustained some wounds but to everyone''s surprise, Benjie had already bridged the distance and he was aiming for Castro.


    Benjie''s eyes were bloodshot and the killing intent he was emitting was reaching even the people on the viewing tforms. The air must''ve been heavier in Benjie''s general vicinity but another surge just suddenly stopped him in his tracks.


    ''There it is¡­''


    All of a sudden, Mr. Cuervo''s presence just suddenly doubled and Benjie''s killing intent almost instantly wavered. Mr. Cuervo wasn''t necessarily releasing copious amounts of killing intent¡ªthough it was still greatly present¡ªbut it was something intangible only a person of his standing could possess.


    [Hold on now, Benjie¡­ we don''t know the full story¡ª]


    [THE FULL STORY?! ISN''T IT ALREADY CLEAR?! HE KILLED HIM! HE DEFINITELY KILLED HIM!]


    [I know that he did but¡ª]


    [THEN WHY IS HE STILL BREATHING?! YOU¡ª]


    [Let me finish¡­ It''s moreplicated than we thought¡­]


    Benjie had never looked so confused because the one simple rule to not kill was broken and capital punishment should''ve been given the moment the sin had happened. Rather than seeing Casto dead with a hole in his head dripping blood and brain matter, he was just beaten up, bound, and brought to everyone present.


    However, it didn''t take long before the footage from when Mr. Castillo visited Castro was shown on screen.


    It showed Mr. Castillo with a set of keys and he unlocked the cell Castro was put in along with his handcuffs and legcuffs. Furthermore, he even gave him some food and water but Castro didn''t touch or even look at them.


    Casto just sat there in dead silence, wondering about the actions of his grandfather that suddenly paid him a visit.


    The whole ce was quiet when Mr. Castillo''s voice was heard from the speakers.


    [Castro, my grandchild¡­ I¡­ I don''t know the words to say to you right now but I''m sorry for putting you through this¡­ Sending you to this ce¡­ You¡­ I can''t¡­ You should know how difficult this is for me¡­]


    [...]


    [I thought of it for how many times¡­ Many times that I asked myself as to what I should''ve done better to avoid that¡­ that incident¡­ I know I can''t turn back time but there were many sleepless nights that I''ve¡ª]


    [Hah! What YOU should''ve done?! You''ve done nothing from the first ce! I¡ª that''s so riching from you¡­ If this is your sorry attempt to feel good about yourself, don''t. It''s all your fault I lost everything and there''s nothing you can say to change my mind.]


    [I didn''t think¡ª]


    [THINK WHAT?! THAT YOUR DAUGHTER¡ª MY MOM IS FUCKED IN THE HEAD?! THAT IT RUNS IN THE WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY?! I ALREADY GAVE YOU THE FAVOR OF KILLING HER IN HER SLEEP AND¡ª]


    [YOU HAD NO FUCKING RIGHT TO DO THAT! NO FUCKING RIGHT!]


    [Wow! I didn''t know you had it in you, gramps! No fucking right? NO FUCKING RIGHT?! WHO ASKED HER AND MY SISTERS TO DRUG MY¡ª you fucking pieces of shit¡­ WHO ASKED THEM TO DRUG MY GIRLFRIEND AND TURN HER INTO A PIECE OF ''ART''?! She''s¡­ C-Casey¡­ SHE''S FUCKING PREGNANT, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!


    YOU LET THEM DISSECT HER PIECE BY PIECE FOR WHAT?! THEY''RE TOO INTIMIDATED BY HER?! IS THAT IT?! OR DO THEY NOT HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO DO?! WHAT IS IT?!]


    [Castro¡­]


    [FUCKING ANSWER ME!]


    [Castro¡­ your mother¡­ your mother¡ª]


    [SHE''S NOT MY FUCKING MOM!]


    [Your mother¡­ and your sisters¡­ had nothing to do with it¡­]


    [WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING ABOUT¡ª]


    [Castro¡­ that was all you¡­ you¡­ you did all of that¡­]


    [YOU¡ª What? I¡­ I did what?]


    [You¡­ You were the one who drugged your lover, made her overdose because you gave her too much, and to remove all sorts of evidence¡­ you chopped her up into pieces with your unborn child¡­ We could''ve easily made her disappear with our influence but you thought everyone was gonna rat on you¡­ You got to paranoid to the point that when your mom and your sisters knew about it¡­ you¡­ you tried to silence them¡­]


    [No¡­ you''re fucking lying¡­ t-that''s not how it goes! THAT''S NOT HOW IT GOES!]


    [Would I dare lie to you right now? Castro¡­ I love you just as much as your parents would and I need you to snap out of it so you we can all go home¡­]


    [Home?]


    [Yes¡­ home¡­]


    [N-N-No¡­ You''re fucking lying¡­ YOU''RE FUCKING LYING! THIS IS WHAT YOU DO! YOU TELL EVERYONE LIES AND THEY JUST BELIEVE YOU! YOU''RE FUCKING LYING TO ME!]


    [I''m telling the truth Castro¡­ Please, listen to me¡­]


    [N-N-NO! I''M NOT GONNA BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD YOU SAY! YOU''RE FUCKING LYING TO ME! YOU ALWAYS LIE TO ME! YOU''LL SEE! EVERYONE WILL SEE HOW MUCH OF A FUCKING LIAR YOU ARE ONCE I LEAVE THIS PLACE!


    ALL I NEED TO DO IS FIND SOMEWAY TO GET OUT AND I''LL EXPOSE YOU! That''s right¡­ I''LL FUCKING EXPOSE YOU! YOU LYING SACK OF SHIT! I''LL FUCKING EXPOSE YOU TO EVERYONE¡ª]


    I was having a hard time listening to their exchange but once I was almost convinced that Castro was in fact losing his mind, that happened.


    Mr. Castillo''s face just turned dark¡ªtheplete opposite of the serene, caring, and gentle expression he was wearing the whole time. And after that, he just let out this blood-curdling smile before he crouched down and looked Castro in the eye.


    [Heh¡­ Hahaha¡­ HAHAHA! You? Expose me? Who would believe you though? Your sisters? You tried to kill them, remember?


    Benjie? That boy? He''d listen to everything I say. Who else? Your dad? Your girlfriend?


    Who? Anyone that got your back is already dead! YOU''RE FUCKING ALONE, YOU''RE DONE! I DOUBT YOU''D EVEN SURVIVE THIS NIGHT! LEMME TELL YOU AGAIN, YOU''RE FUCKING DONE! DONE!


    NO ONE''S GONNA BELIEVE YOU! NO ONE''S GONNA¡ª]


    Mr. Castillo was still in mid-sentence when Castro just lunged at him and bit off a huge chunk from his neck. He was still in the middle of looking shocked when he started gurgling his blood but Castro started to smash his head on the floor over and over.


    Castro''s face had only one emotion and it was wrath.


    His face had contorted to the point he was shaking all over but tears were falling from his face as he was wailing. He looked like he was in so much pain and the sudden realization just released all of his pent-up anger in one stroke.


    With that said, themotion attracted the guards who were in charge of watching them, and they were caught in the crossfire.


    Three guards had already died while two were critical when Zack happened to pass by¡ªa new chick in tow¡ªand pin him down after receiving a few blows that weren''t even intended for him. Castro just let loose and Mr. Castillo was just too dead to receive any more of it. His size yed a huge role but Castro being at his breaking point was the deciding factor.


    Zack didn''t know what to do after that so he tried to call Mr. Cuervo who was at the time still unaware of what had just transpired.


    At this point in time, the whole ce was just too fucking quiet and the footage we just watched was barely sinking in. However, the one most affected by it was Benjie because he suddenly turned pale before he vomited on the spot.


    The copious amount of killing intent he released earlier disappeared quickly and he looked like he was losing his mind.


    Then Mr. Cuervo spoke up once more with a solemn expression.


    [I told you it was a littleplicated, no?]

 Chapter 774: Blood Fights IV???

    At this point, no one knew what to do but Benjie managed to get on his bearings before slowly but surely, released what felt like thick tendrils made of pure hate though it cannot be actually seen by the naked eye. His body started to shake all over while his injured eye started to draw blood and it didn''t take long before he took his first step toward Castro.


    But Mr. Cuervo stood between the two.


    [I''m not allowing this¡ª]


    Benjie spat on the ground as he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    [I, BENJAMIN CASTILLO CHALLENGE CASTRO CASTILLO TO A BLOOD FIGHT! I''LL PAY WHATEVER AMOUNT TO FIGHT HIM THIS INSTANT OR I''LL KEEP SENDING CHALLENGES UNTIL YOUR PEOPLE''S EARS BLEED!]


    [Benjie! Didn''t you understand what just happened?!]


    [WHAT IS IT TO YOU?! WHATEVER HAPPENS IN OUR FOLD, YOU DON''T GOT A SAY IN IT! WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING IS ALLOWING ME TO KILL HIM RIGHT NOW! THIS CHALLENGE IS JUST A COURTESY!]


    [CAN''T YOU JUST SIT STILL FOR A MOMENT?! THINK ABOUT IT!]


    [THERE''S NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT! HE KILLED MR. CASTILLO AND HE NEEDS TO PAY FOR IT!]


    [DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING FROM THE FOOTAGE AT ALL?!]


    Mr. Cuervo and Benjie had started a shouting match but I was already on the phone with my new friend named Jericho. Everything right now was just a mess but if there was something that most people would''ve missed, it was the food and drink Mr. Castillo brought Castro.


    Basically, I asked him to retrieve those two things and examine them because if Mr. Castillo was nning to break Castro''s mind even more, one way was to put something in his system that would make the process a little bit easier.


    And even if he found nothing, Mr. Castillo''s "Change of Heart" was already some sort of evidence. That slip of the tongue as he thought that no one was monitoring them was a huge mistake.


    Furthermore, since we still haven''t found the person that made the disturbing "Art Piece" in Irene''s ce, all we needed to find was a few samples from the Castillo Family. It was just too much of a coincidence to brush off and all I needed to do was y my cards right.


    With that said, as Jericho and I finished our conversation, there was an interesting development below.


    Castro was now unbound and right next to Mr. Cuervo, wearing a determined expression.


    [I''ll fight you Benjie, no problem, but¡­ you need to do one thing for me¡­]


    [YOU DON''T HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK¡ª]


    [I know this ce''s rules but Mr. Cuervo is kind enough to bend them for someone like me. Listen, I know you owe my grandfather a lot¡ª Annie too, she''s innocent by the way¡­ But once you kill me, go to Vanessa''s room and you''ll find this centerpiece statue¡­ The angel with six wings and broken arms¡­]


    [W-What are you talking about?!]


    [That''s¡­ That''s Casey and our s-son¡­ Their souls won''t be released while they''re still kept inside that statue so I want you to break it and set them free¡­ Have them blessed by our priest¡ª Father Samuel before they get cremated or buried and I have no qualms whatever you do to me¡­ Have your revenge or whatever but that''s one thing I have to do¡­ I need to set that only thing right before everything else¡­]


    Benjie was this fucking close to agreeing and instantly reneging on that promise when Annie managed to reach him at the right moment. Well, Annie was also this fucking close to losing her eye because springing from behind her psycho cousin was a huge no-no.


    It took them a bit to discuss things without the mics picking up their conversation but I could partially read their lips since they were still on the big screen.


    Essentially, Annie was saying that their family was now at a breaking point without proper leadership, and his actions were furthering the rift apart.


    If there was anyone that could bring their family together¡ªeven though shakily¡ªit was Castro.


    To be fair, I don''t know much about the power dynamics in their ce but to keep the bloodshed to the minimum, Benjie had to step back and make things whole for a little bit before he shook things up again.


    If anything, Benjie wasn''t fit to lead because he was more like a gun or a knife that Mr. Castillo would point at something to make it disappear. Also, it seemed like the rest of their blood rtives¡ªincluding the Vanessa that was mentioned¡ªweren''t present.


    Well, those blood rtives of them were now in scalding water because if what Mr. Castillo revealed to everybody was true, they''d lose all of their followers. And even if it wasn''t, their reputation or their name had already been smeared with a dark and viscous substance. If their family dared to do disturbing shit to one of their own, what could they do if it was just them?


    To my surprise, Benjie actually heeded Annie''s words but he did clock Castro on the jaw before he left the y area.


    Castro just wiped his bleeding mouth before Mr. Cuervo helped him up and they had a few words to share with the Castillo Family.


    [Alright, first of all, I need to give my utmost apology to this person right here for thinking that he had gone off the deep end when in actuality, he was the one we should''ve listened to all along. I''ve never made such a huge blunder but I promise you that you have my support in you leading your own¡ª]


    [Mr. Cuervo, you don''t understand¡­ I might''vee out of this alive but all I want is for my¡ª]


    [Castro. I know what you want. I''ll see to it with my own eyes that your wish is granted but you need to lead your people. You''ve already done it briefly and I know you''ll be great at it. Your family''s name might''ve been tainted but it''s now time to rebuild it from the ground up, and on your own terms. Do something with it that your "real" family would be proud of.]


    Castro just stared at Mr. Cuervo for a few moments before he took a deep breath and looked at his people.


    [Alright¡­ it''ll be ugly but my first order of business is to surrender all yourmunication devices to the Cuervo Family. I want no one from¡­ from home to know what had just happened and if they already knew, we should give them false info. They''ll still be fucking rattled but once everything here is over, we''ll all go home and "redecorate".


    Trust me, if they dared to do that to my girl, they wouldn''t even blink if they decided to do it to your family¡­ Believe me, they''re the scum of the earth and they get off from just thinking of what to do with whatever fresh "material" they get their hands on¡­]


    ''My thoughts exactly¡­''


    [Secondly, if what you witnessed here ced a damper on your rtionship with my family, I''ll allow you to leave my fold and join another family as you see fit. I won''t force you to obey mymands but I''ll greatly appreciate and remember if you stay. And thirdly¡­]


    Everyone''s eyes were on him when he turned in my direction.


    [I don''t know the whole story between you and Benjie but please, I ask you to withdraw your challenge to him. And Benjie, I want you to do the same. If any of you can''t fulfill this wish of mine, I just wish you two don''t actually kill each other. Right, I deeply apologize for this disy at such a wedding but I hope for Mr.


    Cuervo and our newlyweds'' sake, the two of you just stop short of causing something permanent.]


    At that point, I didn''t think that someone that looked so out of it earlier could speak in such a concise and clear manner. He even spoke with such serene eyes though he was breathing a little too hurriedly because his heart seemed to be on fire with happiness and excitement. He managed to turn around a situation only a few people could get out of and he would soon taste the sweetness of revenge.


    We''d always hear that revenge wasn''t the answer but they''d always forget that it could somehow dampen the pain for a little bit.


    With that said, the Castillo Family followed his orders but a small percentage bade him goodbye. It was because he told them that they could leave on their ord and that was what they did. The split between the OG Families was almost too even and even a few wanted to join us. However, some went independent though they stayed to watch the show.


    Everything else was just about concluded when Mr. Cuervo spoke on the mic.


    [Heh. The timing of this, eh? Alright, the next fight is Sky from the Ishiyama Family versus Benjie from the Castillo Family! How about it, Hermano? Is it to the death or not?]

 Chapter 775: Blood - Pain

    Everyone''s eyes were on me after Mr. Cuervo''s deration but I let out a smirk as I took my wakizashi from Kaley''s belt. I fastened it right next to my katana before I spoke on my earpiece, my voice traveling through the speakers.


    [I can stay alive.]


    [Oh? What''s that supposed to mean, Hermano?]


    [Castro, if I don''t kill Benjie¡­ you''re gonna owe me big time¡ª]


    I wasn''t even finished with my sentence when Benjie cut me off.


    [JUST GET DOWN HERE SO WE COULD SETTLE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!]


    The people from the viewing tforms were already getting hyped up but I still kept eye contact with the person I was speaking to earlier. All Benjie could do was spout insult after insult but Mr. Cuervo ordered Benjie''s mic to be muted remotely.


    At this point, Castro was looking straight at me with a solemn expression before he took a deep breath once again, speaking on the mic with a normal tone.


    [I will owe you a favor, Annie too. I give you my word on that.]


    [Then it''s settled, the match will be decided when either person gives up or is unable to fight. He could try to kill me for all I care and I''ll try to keep him¡­ intact. Ready your medical team if possible¡ª]


    [STOP SPEWING BULLSHIT AND GET DOWN HERE! YOU¡ª]


    For some reason, Benjie managed to grab ahold of another earpiece though Mr. Cuervo''s team was quick enough to mute it before everyone listening burst their eardrums.


    It''s just that Quinn and her group couldn''t believe I agreed to such a deal because they incurred losses just trying to take him down. I even already mentioned that I was gonna take care of him but I just instantly took it back the minute I was offered a favor from a new head.


    Quinn shook her head as I double-checked my gear, "Do you even know what you''re doing?"


    "I just had a feeling¡­ I dunno."


    "..."


    Eventually, I made my way back to the y area and the atmosphere had never felt so heavy and dense.


    I could feel the heating from the spotlights though the pressureing from Benjie was much more apparent.


    He was like a deranged mutt from his screaming earlier but he suddenly mmed up once I was only a few feet away from him. He even started to change his breathing pattern as he held his dagger but he never looked so infuriated when I didn''t pull out either of my des.


    Instead, I pulled out an extra K-Bar knife I had on my belt and watched the edge gleam from the spotlight.


    "What the fuck are you doing?"


    "Offering a fair fight?"


    "You''re gonna regret that¡ª"


    "We''ll see about that."


    To everyone''s surprise, Benjie tore the shirt he was wearing and exposed his skinny-muscr body that was filled with cuts, burns, scars, and bruises. Some of them were fairly new but the one that still stood out the most was his fucked up eye that I was the one responsible for.


    In turn, I also took off my shirt and even gingerly folded and put it to the side to tick him off even more.


    In all honesty, I thought he''d lunged at me the moment my eyes were obstructed by my shirt for an instant but it seemed like he knew cheap tricks wouldn''t work on me.


    With that said, the crowd just grew wild but everyone could see the difference between our physiques.


    To keep it simple, Benjie looked like a car that just came from a Demolition Derby while I looked like a car that was newly refurbished. Granted I had old scars too but it was covered by my tattoo sleeve and the one in my eyebrow looked like I just shaved it for some street cred.


    It only took a few seconds before everyone gave us the count down and I had lightly exhaled before Benjie almost disappeared from view.


    Right from the fucking get-go, killing intent just filled the air before heunched himself forward and attempted to cut my carotid artery in one swipe. His eyes never looked so deranged once I caught a glimpse of them in close proximity, and I received his knife with my own.


    Our des just cried out once they made direct contact and I could feel the weight from his blow. He used his full body tounch himself instantaneously but it wasn''t enough to end the match in one exchange. However, he never looked so surprised when he saw a small cut on his wrist and he immediately turned to face me.


    I let out a smirk as I said, "That''s twice you''ve done that¡­"


    As soon as I said that, arge vein just appeared on his forehead¡ªalmost bursting from how red his face had gotten, but he held his dagger in the opposite way before sending it straight to my left shoulder. However, I also saw him nting his left foot deeply while his right leg was slowly curling up.


    He was aiming to carve off my shoulder before sending in a knee to my sr plexus but all I did was to circle to his right to avoid those attackspletely. However, he quickly spun as he changed trajectory with his dagger but I hit the back of his knee with my left foot before I sent my right knee straight to his torso.


    Benjie''s form had already deviated from losing his bnce but his body buckled when I probably cracked a rib or two of his.


    There was only so much a dagger can go when swung to the back while your opponent was on your right side, more so if he was swinging with so much strength.


    Despite that, it was like any other day for Benjie because he just gritted his teeth as he tried to send his left foot on my temple.


    I tried to dodge by leaning backward but his fingers were already this close to poking my eye out.


    All I could do was lean even more but I put power in my toes when I saw a smirk forming in his lips. Like clockwork, his dagger suddenly tore through the air as he tried to rip up my insides but I grabbed hold of his arm and jumped, performing a flying arm bar.


    My whole weight was already bringing him down to his knees but when I noticed his wrist holding his dagger moving in to cut my face, I just dislocated it without thinking twice.


    Benjie''s face just contorted from pain as he let go of his dagger but he started to hammer my head with his other hand in which I quickly let go. He was this close to jabbing his fingers in my body but his immediate reaction was to send me punches.


    His wrist was just twisted the opposite way¡ªalong with his elbow, and he just picked up his dagger with his other hand while he tried to catch his breath. To my surprise, he just punched hard in the air to set them back but I''m 100% sure his joints were burning from pain right now.


    One sign of pain was that he didn''t bring his dagger back to his dominant hand and the second sign was that he was actually keeping his distance.


    From the start of our fight, he only managed to send me a few punches while I had already cut his wrist, cracked his rib, and dislocated his arm.


    I said earlier that I could stay alive but if things continue as is, I might win without much effort.


    To be fair, he already wasn''t at his 100% but not everyone could have a fair fight all the time. He was already bruised and battered while I had already taken a long rest. I have fully recovered from the games I participated in while he just came from three fights aimed to take him down.


    Furthermore, discovering that his patriarch had just died and knowing that he was an actual scumbag was taxing on his psyche so he wasn''t performing in his best.


    I thought he''d fall down with one more push but I remembered Annie''s words from earlier:


    ''He''d always gets up¡­ He alwayses back¡­''


    I instinctively ced my hand on the handle of my katana when I saw Benjie wound himself.


    Everyone was aghast when Benjie''s dagger made a cut from his stomach diagonally going up to his chest, but he didn''t stop there as he reached for his back and dug deep with his own nails.


    Blood was just flowing out of his wounds and something told me that most of the wounds he sustained wasn''t from fighting others but from his own doing. But to my surprise, Benjie looked like he was having a fucking orgasm as his eyes had already rolled over his head while he was wearing this euphoric smile.


    Pain was something almost everyone tried to not experience but for someone that was bathed in it all his life, it could turn into something else.

 Chapter 776: Invincible - A Glimpse

    Right at this moment, the way Benjie breathed changed once again and it felt like he was a different person. His dagger not only had blood on the de from wounding himself but also on the handle from digging through his back with his fingers. However, he saw my knife that I tossed from performing an arm bar on him and he picked it up with a deranged smile on his face.


    ''...''


    "Tch, tch, tch¡­ Now you''ve done it¡­ I''m gonna take a long-ass time killing you and have fun with it¡­ ahaha¡­"


    All of a sudden, the killing intent he was releasing felt like it was materializing once again and it was different being close to it rather than being on the viewing tforms.


    Benjie licked the blood off his dagger before inching towards me, "Hey¡­ You still not gonna do it? Hmm?! Are you gonna keep it in check or are you gonna bring it out?! I''m giving you a chance right now! I''m¡ª"


    The fucking psycho didn''t even finish his sentence as he abruptly kicked dirt in the air before rushing in with an erratic pattern. I''ve seen him go from point A to point B in the quickest manner possible but this time, he was shuffling his steps and going circles around me to try and make me give up an opening.


    Granted it was a little too difficult to read but it would''ve been better if he just increased his speed instead of trying to make me lose focus.


    He suddenly swung in a wide arc in which I avoided by the skin of my teeth but he used the momentum to spin around and wind for a heel kick using the same route his dagger took.


    I first leaned backward before I jumped back to avoid his kick but he threw my knife back at me as I was about tond.


    But to his surprise, I suddenly flicked with my thumb and hit my katana''s handguard¡ªafter making it dig into my scabbard momentarily¡ªto make my katana jump from its sheathe a few inches. It was done for it to collide with my dagger¡ªthat Benjie threw, that was aiming for my left arm.


    He never looked so ecstatic that I fended off his surprise attack but my body went lower as Inded, quickly pushing my katana back in with my right hand.


    I was already in my draw stance but Benjie tried to meet me halfway.


    ''This fucking psycho¡­''


    Like meeting someone''s punch by moving closer so that it loses power, he tried to do the same thing with something that could easily cut his body in half. He definitely had balls of steel because the normal course of action was to jump back and create some distance.


    With that said, I''d be in a precarious situation if things continued as is but the veins on my left hand protruded violently as well with my right hand.


    I was still in the middle of my first step of my quick draw but my de had already exited my scabbard with more speed than it should.


    The purpose of drawing my de from its scabbard was to use the resistance to make my de go faster and with more power¡ªlike flicking your fingers by making your middle finger take resistance with your thumb before releasing¡ªbut this time, I had to do a little bit of improvisation.


    Instead of just pulling my de out with my right hand, I also pulled the scabbard the opposite way with my left. The method was to do it with the same force all at the same time or else my de will still be inside my scabbard after I hastened my draw.


    This move would need a lot of explosive strength and a bit of precision but what''s a little bit of painpared to getting shanked with a fucking psycho?


    It took a lot out of me not to cut Benjie in half¡ªeven though it would''ve ended things much easier, but let''s just say it was nice to have someone not die from the first exchange.


    Well, it was because I specifically aimed for his dagger that was going at the same arc my de would¡ªthough from the opposite side¡ªand he would''ve lost part of his shoulder and his neck if he didn''t grip his dagger hard enough.


    His muscles just bulged from defending from that one attack and it made his body stagger after the blow, almost knocking him over.


    "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT¡ª"


    Benjie''s eyes were on my de when I sent my foot straight to the spot where his ribs had cracked and it was getting more and more bruised by the second. However, he just hissed before he struck the same spot with his own fist but I tried to slice his arm off as I let out my own brand of killing intent.


    ''He''s gonna bite¡ª''


    The motherfucker didn''t miss the moment my own ''demon'' tried to take his arm as he quickly drew back with a half-step. Despite that, I still cut open part of his arm which was what I was actually aiming for.


    I knew he''d react that way from recognizing a familiar feeling but he didn''t even care about me cutting his arm. It seemed like I just furthered his insanity because he almost tore his cheeks from smiling from ear to ear.


    "Can''t resist, can you?! SHOW ME MORE! I WANT TO SEE IT! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Blood, sweat, and dirt was on Benjie''s body right now but it''ll only be a matter of time before he suffers from blood loss. His wounds, both from me and himself were still bleeding each time his heart cycled and his erratic breathing wasn''t helping his case.


    Granted he was smiling like a maniac right now but the look of frustration from not being able tond a proper hit on me was starting to show in his face.


    With that said, he started to take a more aggressive approach just to get his dagger to pierce my skin but to give the same analogy I gavest time, the knife wielder should be a few degrees above the sword wielder for it to be an even match.


    And with my katana in my hand, unless my opponent was holding a gun, I''m practically invincible.


    I wasn''t overly bragging or anything but I was just telling the truth.


    This match was a mismatch from the get-go.


    Benjie sustained more and more cuts than he could imagine and the deranged look on his face was slowly fading. I don''t know if it was because of the small percentage of blood that he had already lost or if it was just dawning on him that I could back up my ims that he so strongly rebuked.


    The only thing he managed to cut was himself and his erratic breathing was turning to a heaving huff from being out of breath. His eyes even looked hazy and it seemed like he was starting to get light-headed.


    "This isn''t fucking fun anymore¡­ FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME FOR REAL!!!"


    I shook my head as I let out a smile, "You''re gonna die if I do that¡ª"


    "FIGHT ME! FUCKING FIGHT ME! WE''RE THE SAME! WE''RE THE FUCKING¡ª"


    "We''re not, Benjie. You''re just a mutt without a leash, without an owner¡­ Trust me, you can only go so far if you keep going like that. You''ll¡ª"


    Benjie had once again lunged forward to try and take a stab at my abdomen but his movements right now could be easily read by a toddler.


    I easily disarmed him by striking his arm with the spine of my katana before I struck his torso with the same part of my de. Two indents were left at the spots I struck and he just spat out a mouthful of blood as he was rolling over in pain.


    He already had more than a dozen cuts¡ª34 to be exact¡ªand they were more outlets for his blood to escape his system.


    I was honestly surprised that Castro wasn''t throwing the towel yet but instead, making Benjie decide if he had enough.


    My opponent right now was the most excited of this fight¡ªbecause he thought he''d see my demon, but he had never been so disappointed from being finessed with someone such as me. Everyone thought they''d see the fight of the century but the victor was already apparent in the first minute.


    However, I can''t believe I was doing this but¡ªI kinda felt bad for the guy.


    I picked up his dagger and threw it just by his face before I also drew my wakizashi and held it alongside my katana. I began to change my breathing in a much different way than Benjie did and it was all for the sake of letting him see a glimpse of what "it" really was like.


    "Get up. I''ll give you five seconds."

 Chapter 777: Five Seconds

    I patiently waited for Benjie to get up but once he picked up his dagger and assumed a stance, I reached a certain point in my breathing before I looked like I was about to fall t on my face.


    It was at the point where my body felt the lightest¡ªalmost feeling like I''ve given up all control, but when I was at the perfect angle, my whole body tensed up as everything felt freezing cold then scalding hot in an instant.


    Every bit of negative emotion rushed into my head and Benjie looking like that certain someone with a dagger on his hand didn''t help him one bit. Even the deranged smile he was wearing earlier looked a little too familiar and it made it easy to draw from those.


    Benjie who was several feet away was suddenly in front of me but it wasn''t because he was the one who bridged the distance.


    My legs were screaming in pain but the whole ordeal was already getting transferred into my arms.


    The mutt was already maxed out to react as my wakizashi bit the tip of his dagger''s handguard and made him grasp it as hard as he could. But before that, part of his index finger came along with it and it took everything for him to not make it fly out of his hand.


    Once again, his wounds bled out even more as he spat out a mouthful of blood but I had already wound up my katana to swing down for as hard as I could.


    It only took a short exhale to prepare my attack but Benjie read it and he was already bracing for it by raising his dagger and holding it with both hands¡ªdull side of the de ced firmly on his left palm.


    However, blocking just came to bite him in the ass.


    I wasn''t sure if he wasn''t able to move properly anymore but blocking was the worst decision he could''ve ever made.


    Once my de made contact with his dagger, the dull side of his de just easily carved into his left palm, making him grimace in pain and scream unintelligibly. His eyes had darted to several different directions and it didn''t help when I swung the second time.


    Benjie didn''t know what to fucking do as his dagger which he used to carve several people up was now digging deep into his palm. Not only that, but the force I put into my swing and the way he kept putting his arms up most definitely have done damage to his joints, bones, and tendons, and it would require more than a few weeks to even partially recover.


    Well, it''s not like he just stood there and took everything, it was more like everything happened in quick session and his body was working way past its limit to try and keep up.


    I did promise Castro that I''d keep him alive but the keyword was to keep him intact. Sure, a part of his index finger already left him but it was probably negligible.


    From that second swing, close to four seconds have passed but Benjie had only seen a fraction of "it" outside. Well, I did say that I''d just show him a glimpse but for myst swing, I made sure he would learn a lesson that he''d never forget.


    I swung down with my whole body, snapping his de in half, and next thing he knew, his left hand was torn almost beyond repair while the wound he gave himself¡ªcutting from his abdomen up to his shoulder¡ªmore than doubled in size.


    Only the tip of my katana had his blood on it because if I moved in a centimeter or an inch more, I would''ve easily went through his vicle, then his ribcage, his spine, his ribcage again, all the way through without much resistance.


    Later did I discover that Benjie had already lost consciousness but he was frozen in ce when I stared him dead in the eyes.


    It was only from an instant but before myst swing, I showed him what my "demon" looked like and it proved to him that we were never the same.


    He kept going on and on about our demons earlier¡ªmaking it look like it was something mystical or extraordinary, but I already knew that my demon was myself.


    It wasn''t particrly extraordinary but just an extension of my negative emotions. It could give me a few things here and there but I had to live through everything once again. The price to pay used to be so steep but as time went on, it was starting to be bearable.


    At this point, Benjie was already down on the ground with a gaping wound on his torso but Mr. Cuervo''s medical team were already standing by. It didn''t take long before they ced him on a stretcher but Zack came with them for good measure. However, I was sure that they wouldn''t need his assistance because from the injuries he sustained, he''d be out for more than a day.


    The whole ce had never been so quiet but it was only for an instant before deafening "cheers" erupted from the viewing tforms.


    "HE WON! HE FUCKING WON! HE FUCKING DID IT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! PAY UP, YOU ASSHOLES! PAY UP!"


    "YOU JUST MADE ME LOSE MY TRUCK, FUCKING FUCKFACE!"


    "THE FIRST TIME BENJIE LOST, HOLY FUCK!"


    "GIVE US THE REPLAY! THE REPLAY!"


    I was doubting whether they were real cheers because in my end, it looked like a one-sided match.


    Some people rejoiced, some wept, some cursed, and some found what they were looking for because at the end of the day, these blood fights were still a show¡­ whatever the result was. It had its purpose to settle disputes between the families and it was much, much better than having all-out wars between each other.


    At this point, I just sheathed my des as I picked up my shirt and my extra knife before I walked back to the stage.


    I just left Benjie''s dagger in the middle of the y area because I had no use for such a tool and it was already broken. He''d have to find another weapon to satisfy his cravings though he should spend his time recovering.


    When I stepped foot on the stage, Mr. Cuervo, Castro, and the girls were still speechless from what they''ve witnessed and I just had to break the ice.


    "Yo, anything on my face?" I casually mentioned as I pulled out a handkerchief.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You¡­" Castro trailed as he shook his head.


    "What? I didn''t kill him. Did you actually want me to? Was that a test? I could try again? I''ll need less than five seconds too!"


    "Wha¡ª No! You''re¡ª"


    "What?"


    "You''re totally different there cpared to you here¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "I¡­ I can''t exin it but¡ª"


    "Like this?"


    All of a sudden, cold air just filled the air and only Mr. Cuervo was able to assume a fighting stance. However, he was covered in sweat while the three had already lost their footing.


    I, for sure thought Castro would be able to resist it but a lot had already happened before we got to this moment. He was already physically exhausted and I wouldn''t even dare to think about his psyche.


    It was just that I tried turning it on and off again a couple of times and Mr. Cuervo had to intervene.


    "STOP THAT SHIT, HERMANO! I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!"


    "Oh."


    After a short moment,ter did I realize that I actually bet all of our gold coins for my match against Benjie. However, the amount Mr. Cuervo gave me was more than double because part of it was Castro and Annie''s thanks for keeping him alive, and they''d still owe me after that.


    I now have 24 coins in total and I''m still not exactly sure about what to do with them.


    With that said, I just kept all of them while I bathed in the cheers of the crowd, and I made my way back to my spot like I just went for a short walk.


    Kaley instantly checked my bruises but Quinn was this close to taking me then and there.


    Granted I didn''t kill Benjie as per their goal, but Benjie would be out ofmission for a time and the injuries I gave him was for them. Truth be told, I wanted to get rid of Benjie because he waspletely unstable but I didn''t realize that the respect the De Leon Family had for me shot up even more from that fight.


    The other families were looking at me in a different light too but it wasn''tparable to the De Leon Family.


    They almost "blinded" me for the second time and some officers were already offering free things or services I might be into.


    If I wasn''t careful, there would be another wedding right then and there and it wouldn''t be with Kaley. Sure, Quinn was probably not the wedding type but the looks I was getting from her was starting to make me ufortable. I had to position myself between Kaley and Tatiana or else I''d be forced against my will.

 Chapter 778: Keycards - Safeword?

    I was still regaling from my win but I saw Annie walking towards me with the same people she came with. Her face was solemn and she wasn''t in a hurry, but I noticed a faint smile on her face the moment she arrived.


    While this was happening, at the same time, the blood fights were still ongoing and the next participants were being called on the y area. Almost everyone was still watching the show but now my focus was on the person in front of me.


    I casually greeted her with a smile, "Yo, I guess I managed to hold back."


    Annie chuckled as she slightly shook her head, "I would''ve preferred if you held back a little more but I''m still grateful for not killing him¡­ And also, Mr. Cuervo''s doctors are already working on him and I''m relieved that they said that once they are done, he''s gonna be out for a few days. Let me tell you, that would be the longest time he''s been asleep since forever¡ª"


    "You''re a little chatty now, huh?"


    "Ah¡ª I mean¡­ I was just¡ª"


    I waved her off jokingly, "Just messing with ya. Anyway, to what do I owe the visit?"


    Annie brushed her curly bangs to the side before she opened her mouth, "I¡­ I really just want to thank you. I owe you a lot just from that."


    "Well, the people thate across your cousin¡­ they hit him and he gets back up. But when I do it, he stays down¡­ for a time."


    One of Annie''s eyebrows rose slightly as she let out another smile, "Mm-hmm¡­ did you think of that line just now? I like that¡ª"


    "Nope. Frank Castle said it."


    "Huh? Who?"


    "Oh, my fucking god¡­"


    "What~?"


    "Frank Castle? You don''t know who the Punisher is? It''s from a show! Do you live under a rock?! Castillo means castle, right?! Don''t you get it?!


    Frank Castle¡­ Castillo¡­ That was supposed to be ay-up, Annie! I''m fucking disappointed! Fuck!"


    "WHA¡ª Excuse me! I''m sorry," Annie huffed sarcastically, "I don''t¡ª"


    "Have an interesting life?"


    "You!" Annie''s face was starting to redden.


    "Hey! Stop it! That''s rude!" Kaley interjected as she nudged me with her elbow.


    "Thanks, Kaley¡­" Annie said dejectedly as she turned to her for a moment, "A-Anyway¡­ I''ve already said my thanks but I need to give you something¡­"


    Annie turned around for a moment to receive a small wooden box from her bodyguard and she turned back to me and presented it with both hands, "Please¡­"


    I received it promptly and I smiled as I said, "I always wanted a box¡­"


    "N-No¡­ Open. It. Please," Annie stumbled with gritted teeth as her patience was about to run out.


    Looking at Annie''s face, she was this close to breaking the box on my head so I opened it and found a few items inside: an old and worn rosary made with simple materials, five small vials with different colored liquids, a thumb drive hidden in the cross pendant of a silver ne, a golden ring with fading inscriptions, a handkerchief, a dried flower, and a keycard that had Mr.


    Cuervo''s brand on it.


    I grew curious with the contents of the thumb drive but Annie got suspiciously quiet when I picked up a keycard and looked at her with a tilted head. Furthermore, her bodyguards'' eyes bulged before they looked at each other, turning away when they caught a glimpse of me looking at them.


    Quinn suddenly cackled as she saw what was in my hands, "Hah! Annie, if that means what I think it means, you gotta fall in line."


    Annie looked away, letting her bangs cover half her face, "I-I-I don''t know what you''re t-talking about¡­ That''s for¡­ for¡­ if he wanted to d-discuss something with me¡­ This ce is p-pretty loud¡­ W-We''d need somece q-quiet¡­"


    From some stroke of miracle, I quickly caught on but Cynthia dove between us and she handed me a keycard with the same branding but it had a diamond-like essory hanging from the small hole in the upper-right corner.


    Looking at both of the keycards on my hand, Annie''s keycard looked like it was of the normal variety while Cynthia''s looked like a unique SSSR version.


    My Japanese side¡ªspecifically the part where we really~ like cards and had one for every asion¡ªwas delighted but I for sure wasn''t told about their existence. It seemed like only a handful existed and it was probably given to people with high status.


    ''I''m a head, right? Shouldn''t I have one of these?''


    And just as I was about to ask Mr. Cuervo for one, Cynthia pulled out another card, a jet ck card that would reveal a dragon pattern once it was looked at a certain angle.


    "This was supposed to be a surprise¡ª Well, I was told Jericho fucked up a little in making that but it''s all okay now! Just tap it on the thingy in the elevator and it''ll take us to your room!" Cynthia eximed excitedly.


    "Room? I thought we¡ª And what do yours do?"


    "It''s to take us to MY room! Ours are right next to each other so¡­ I was surprised too¡ªKaley included, but my br¡ª Mr. Cuervo''s been pretty busy while we''re away and there were a lot of developments."


    I turned to Annie, "And the one you gave me?"


    "It''s one of the secure rooms in the house provided for us¡­"


    "Huh¡­" I trailed as I turned to Quinn, "Wait¡ª"


    Quinn cut me off, "I didn''t want it. I gave mine to Dave."


    "W-Why?"


    "Look at me. I don''t wear a fucking bra and I live in a tent. Do you really fucking believe I''d want to stay inside one of those rooms?!"


    "Uh-huh. Sure¡­"


    ''I don''t get that logic one bit but I''m not gonna fight her on that¡­''


    At this point, I didn''t even care who was fighting who at the y area because my eyes were fixated on this nice little present Mr. Cuervo hid from me. Well, Annie''s gift was cool too but I wanted to check my room as soon as possible.


    Kaley chuckled as she patted my shoulder, "Go, check it out. Take Cynthia with you, so you don''t get lost."


    "How about you?"


    Kaley gave me a knowing smile, "I''m good. I''ll stay here so if anyone gets a bruise or a cut, I can take care of it so they shouldn''t crowd the medical bay. Don''t worry, I''ll contact you two once the final event is about to start."


    Cynthia looked like she couldn''t control herself but she gave Kaley a big hug. With that said, a few "people" were just about to follow behind us but Kaley just gave them a nce and they instantly stayed put. Annie, on the other hand, promptly excused herself but her eyes didn''t even have an ounce of giving up. She still pushed her keycard onto my palm before she turned around and walked back.


    As the two of us were making our way to Mr. Cuervo''s mansion, cheers or curses would resound in a few intervals and it looked like the current match was pretty fucking close.


    It didn''t take long before Cynthia and I were in the elevator but it had never been so quiet.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two of us were just staring at our reflection and Cynthia was the one to speak up.


    "H-Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "The k-keycard¡­"


    "Oh¡ª Right¡­"


    I didn''t even notice that the numpad before was reced with a different apparatus, and it definitely looked custom-made. I believe Mr. Cuervo''s engineers had made their own whatchamacallits and they were implementing it to the whole ce.


    ''I just ce it here then?''


    Once I did, the new apparatus lit up and it sent us several levels below the ground. However, the trip was a little shorterpared to the trip I made with Mr. Cuervo so I assumed our floor was in between the main floor and Mr. Cuervo''s man cave.


    But once the elevator door opened up, all I saw was a single door with the same apparatus I could ce my card on.


    I turned to Cynthia, "I thought my room''s¡ª"


    "Shh, we can''t just tell theyout to everybody listening in, right? We have a whole floor to us, our cards just open the same one¡­"


    "I see¡­"


    Cynthia and I walked towards the door but it just becamepletely quiet again. Neither was speaking a word for a few seconds but Cynthia was once again the one to break the silence.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Kaley gave us the go signal, right? Are you fine with that?"


    I lightly chuckled, "That''s nice of you to ask me if I''m okay with it. And for the record, I''m more than okay with it."


    "Right¡­" Cynthia trailed as she looked away, slightly ufortable.


    "Cynthia?"


    "Umm¡­ I''m gonna ask you for something¡ª You can say no, but¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "No. Not the sleeping thing¡­ Something like that but a little more¡­ different¡­"


    "Like what?"


    "It¡­ umm¡­ how do I say this¡­ I want us to do a bit of acting¡­"


    "Like roley? I''m down. What do you¡ª"


    "L-Let me f-finish¡­ It involves you to be a little r-rougher¡­ with me¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "A l-little f-forceful¡­"


    "Umm¡­"


    "I¡­ I want to feel good b-but I want a l-little bit of p-pain too¡­"


    "A bit of BDSM?"


    "A f-form of it¡­"


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''m gonna say ''No'' a lot but I want you to keep¡­ g-going¡­ even if I cry¡­"


    "..."


    "I-I''ll try to get a-away but I want you to pin me d-down¡­"


    "..."


    "D-Do you know where I''m getting a-at?"


    "..."


    "Hey?"


    "A-Are you really telling me to do ''that''?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Do you really know what ''that'' means?"


    "It''s CNC, r-right?"


    "You don''t sound too sure."


    "It''s CNC! Consensual Non-Consent. I''ve been thinking about it for a while and I r-really want to experience it with you even if it''s for a single time. I totally trust you and you''re the perfect one for it! I have even thought of my safeword! You should have one too in case you feel r-really ufortable.


    Like I said, you can say no but¡­ in the form of a safeword¡­ So? Are you up for it?"


    "..."


    "Please?"


    I really thought Cynthia and I would just have a quick one before going back but it turned into something like this. We haven''t even done the first one she mentioned she''d like to do and we were already jumping into something extreme.


    With that said, I couldn''t say that the thought of doing something like this turned me on for a little bit, but Cynthia already rubbing my crotch through my pants wasn''t helping. However, I pped her arms off and looked her in the eye before opening my mouth.


    "Pineapples. My safe word is pineapples."


    Cynthia never looked so excited, "Alright, mine''s grapefruits."

 Chapter 779: CNC I

    Once Cynthia and I exchanged our other word for "No", both of us lightly chuckled before she pulled me close and gave me a deep kiss and a tight hug. She was starting to press onto me but I broke off from our kiss and said my safeword.


    "Pineapples."


    As soon as that word entered Cynthia''s ears, she faintly smiled before she ced her hands to her side and stepped back, respecting it.


    After that, I was the one to approach her and pin her on the wall. I began to grope her perky tits but once my other hand started to travel down her pants, she also said her safeword.


    "G-Grapefruits¡­"


    In turn, Ipletely backed away, letting her know that I acknowledged her using her safeword though there were still a few things to discuss.


    CNC y was something a little controversial because doing something like that without a proper discussion beforehand could lead to something that could even end the rtionship between couples. Trust and respect should go hand in hand and if the participants wouldn''t acknowledge the use of a safeword, they shouldn''t be doing something like this in the first ce.


    And to add to that, doing it with aplete stranger was like disarming andmine with a hammer so people who were interested in doing it should do it with a person they trust wholeheartedly.


    With that said, Cynthia and I talked for a few minutes before we let ourselves in.


    ''This ce looks fucking crisp~''


    My eyes were just overwhelmed by the state of the "room" or should I say "floor" that Mr. Cuervo gave to us, and I started to look around. The decor, the facilities, and the amenities were fucking luxurious and I even noticed that the bags we ced inside our first room were already transferred over.


    We had marble flooring, modern furniture, a bar, a stocked kitchen, a great entertainment system, arge jacuzzi, a stage, a stripper pole, a pool table, a small library, several rooms where a few people could be a little more private at a time, and arge pad where "fun" with a lot of people could be conducted.


    I was just fiddling with themunication system in one corner of the kitchen when I saw Cynthia walk inside our bathroom.


    ''Alright¡­ here we go¡­''


    I removed all of my gear and ced them in the room where all of my other stuff were before I slowly made my way to where Cynthia was.


    I could already hear the shower from the other side of the door and I slowly turned the knob so it wouldn''t make a sound. My heart was beating so fast when I finally turned the knob all the way and the more I pushed the door open, the more the sound of running water entered my ears.


    Eventually, the door was fully open and I could partially see Cynthia''s naked figure because of the steam fogging the ss partition of the shower area. She was soaping herself nicely as her back was facing me but instead of joining her, I made my way to the pile of clothes in the basket next to the shower.


    I started rummaging through her clothes but I first picked up her shirt that was a little sweaty.


    I instantly buried my face between the fabric and her sweet scent invaded my senses.


    It didn''t take long before I found her panties but before I buried my nose in it and got a huge whiff, I noticed that her gray cottony panties were soaked through and through. I could already smell her womanly scent from a few inches away and my dick was already hard when I tried to lick her juices off of it.


    I began to stroke my cock while I was sniffing and licking her panties and that was when the door to her shower opened.


    Cynthia came out fully naked, water dripping down her body, looking shocked, and covering her tits and her pussy.


    "Wha¡ª W-What are you doing here?! Is that my¡ª Why is your¡ª You¡­ HELP¡ª"


    Cynthia instantly turned around and went out the door but her feet being wet made her a little slower. She almost slipped a few times while avoiding the furniture and she was already heading for the door that would lead to the elevator. However, I managed to grab on her hair and pull her back, dragging her to the nearest couch.


    "PLEASE! NO! NO! I THOUGHT YOU AND KALEY WERE¡ª"


    My huge cock was right in her face but she kept pushing me away so I pped her.


    Cynthia''s head whipped to the side but her nails started to dig into my arms once I started to touch her. Her whole body was just squirming with each touch and she mped her legs shut so I wouldn''t have ess to her precious little holes. If I tried to pry it open, she would have better control with her arms and she''d do her best to get me off of her.


    It''s just that when I caught a glimpse of her ass from the back, she was already creaming and dripping down to her thighs, the total opposite of her current disy.


    "N-NOO~!!! PLEASE! STOP! I T-THOUGHT WE W-WERE FRIENDS! YOU SHOULDN''T BE DOING THIS! PLEASE!


    SOMEONE HELP ME~!"


    ''Well, I''ll be damned¡­''


    Tears started to fall from Cynthia''s face as she was shaking all over but I grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her with a bit of pressure. I even let out a little bit of killing intent as I stared her dead in the eyes..


    "Are you gonna spread those legs or do you want me to break them for you?"


    "P-Please~ N-Nooo¡­ I¡­ Please¡­ J-Just let me go¡ªGrchk! Krch! ArcrRck!"


    Ever so slightly, Cynthia started to spread her legs apart but I suddenly plunged three fingers in her pink little hole.


    Cynthia started to grimace in "pain" but I never had such a smoother and slicker entry.

 Chapter 780: CNC II - Wanna go again?

    Cynthia was squirming from my grasp but my fingers were alreadythered and creamed up by her juices. I could feel her walls contracting over and over but I stopped at the right moment. For the first time in our y, she genuinely looked disappointed but I made her taste herself by shoving my fingers in her mouth.


    She even tried to turn and twist her head to avoid it but her tongue was wrapping around my fingers like she was sucking my cock. Her hands were trying to pull my hand away but my throbbing dick reced my fingers when I forced open her mouth.


    "GrcllK! Gack! Gahwk! GlChKK!"


    Cynthia was now lying on her back, head in the perfect position for me to fuck her throat. I was pushing every inch of me down to her warm little mouth and my balls would just p her face once I pushed myself up to the base.


    I was grabbing onto her perky tits while I was thrusting forward but to my surprise, Cynthia just started to shake all over as she started to have an explosive orgasm. Her eyes just rolled over as she grabbed onto my arms and a warm spurt of liquid just sprayed from her little hole.


    She was having a hard time breathing so I pulled my dick out but I continued our y with a little bit of dialogue.


    "Fuck. You loved that, huh? You weren''t really that innocent after all¡­"


    "H-Huh? N-No¡­ I''m¡ª It was just a¡ª I''m r-really scared¡­ W-Why are you doing this?! I p-promise you, I won''t tell anyone! J-Just let me go! Please¡ª"


    "Are you fucking serious? Let you go? Can''t you see my dick''s still fucking hard?! This is your fault!"


    "W-Why?! Please, stop! Kaley would be so sad if she knew¡ª I-It''s not my fault! It''s not!"


    "Are you threatening me?! ARE YOU FUCKING THREATENING ME?!" I grabbed her by her hair and pped her once again.


    "N-No! I-I¡ª I would never! Why are you like this?! Please! Let''s stop¡ª"


    "I''ll stop when I''m done."


    I gave Cynthia''s body one up-down look and she was already a mess. Her hair was wet and tangled, her face was red and it had a little spot from where I pped her, but her nipples were fucking hard and her pussy was still quivering from earlier.


    "Please¡ª"


    "Grab it," I said as I took her hand and ced it around my cock.


    "What are you¡ª"


    I pped her again as I said, "Jerk me off. Hold it tighter¡­ Do it with both hands¡­"


    Once I gave her instructions, Cynthia began to follow me but her expression and her actions were still defiant. She was giving me the most beginner handjob I ever had and she looked like she had never seen a penis in her life. However, her eyes were glued to my cock and she was squeezing her thighs together


    "You fucking suck, turn around. I''ll do it myself. TURN AROUND!"


    Cynthia got startled when I screamed at her face and I had to flip her around myself because she started "sobbing".


    "Please, don''t do this! I''m saving myself for¡ªAHHHHHH! WHY DID YOU¡ª IT''S IN MY¡ª"


    Without any warning, I plunged my huge dick up her ass and she involuntarily squirted for the second time. Cynthia''s little asshole was so fucking tight but I kept pushing myself in while I was pulling her hair with one hand and smacking her ass with the other.


    Across the couch we were in was a huge mirror and we could see what we were doing, and we just gave each other a momentary knowing nce before we continued on.


    "IT HURTS! IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP! IT''S TEARING ME IN HALF¡ª YOU''RE SO B-BIG, i CAN''T T-TAKE IT!"


    "SHUT UP! DO YOU WANT ME TO FUCK YOU IN YOUR PUSSY INSTEAD?!"


    "WAI¡ª NO! N-NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT¡ª"


    It didn''t take long before I reached my limit and I started cumming inside Cynthia''s asshole. I held her tight as I spurted ropes and ropes of cum inside while she was squirting on the couch''s cushion.


    As per usual, I was still fucking hard so I quickly pulled my dick out of her ass before I plunged it deep inside her pink hole.


    "HNNGH! Y-YOU SAID¡ª NOOO~!!!"


    I left Cynthia''s ass with a gaping hole but I plugged it with my thumb as I continued to fuck her "against" her will.


    However, it didn''t take long before we had enough of fooling around because after I cummed inside her holes, she sat me down and went on top of me.


    Cynthia chuckled as she gave me a kiss, "Remember this?"


    "Hmm?"


    "This is the same couch we first did it in!"


    "Oh! R-Right¡­"


    I was now losing my head because I was still sensitive but Cynthia was grinding on me like her life depended on it. She was moving her hips wildly as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and we were deep into each other''s mouths when we came at the same time.


    I filled Cynthia''s insides once again but we continued to kiss each other while I was still deep inside her. At one point, we went for round 4 with the same position though she strongly suggested I finger her ass while we were doing so.


    After that, I picked her up and carried her gently to ourrge tub for some good ol'' aftercare.


    Cynthia was just red in the face as I took care of her and she was just wearing a huge smile on her face while weid down in one of the beds for a minute.


    "You look happy."


    "Very!"


    "That''s great to hear."


    "Did you enjoy yourself though?"


    "Of course, I got nervous at some points but once I knew you were a superb actress, I had to pull out all the stops!"


    "Heh. You were great too! You could''ve pped me harder, just saying~"


    "Really? I''m really afraid of actually hurting you though¡­"


    "You''re so sweet! Wanna go again?"


    "Again?! I can''t¡ª"


    "Lies! Just one more. You know, the regr stuff. I''ll let you lick my armpits and I''ll sit on your face?"


    "Son of a bitch, I''m in."

 Chapter 781: Cynthia VS Madison

    Cynthia and I were once again tangled with each other and even if I still was the one in control, I made sure it was only pleasure she''d feel until it was over. We had to clean up for a second time¡ªwhich prompted a second "overtime"¡ªand the fatigue I got from facing off with Benjie was basically non-existent.


    I just felt loose and rxed though I did opt for an energy drink and a protein bar.


    With that said, I almost spat up my drink when I saw Cynthia easily throating a whole banana but the next thing I saw drenched my shirtpletely. It was because when she saw me looking at her with concern, she pulled the whole banana back from her throat like it was nothing.


    "What?" Cynthia asked with nonchnce.


    "No, no, no¡­ Don''t do that like it''s nothing! That''s a whole banana for fuck''s sake!"


    "Eh? You''re bigger though? This is nothing!"


    "That''s not the point! Learn to chew!"


    "What? Wouldn''t that hurt you?"


    "Huh?"


    "I mean, if I bite your cock¡ª"


    "I meant the banana! Chew the banana! Not my dick!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! I''M JUST MESSING WITH YOU! TATIANA DID THAT LAST TIME AND RIN ALMOST CHOKED TO DEATH! YOU SHOULD''VE SEEN HER FACE!"


    "You fucking¡ª Dammit! Fine, you got me¡­ You got me! Can we eat normally now? And don''t start something about ''eating'' just because I said it!"


    "Oh, man! I was just about to do it too!"


    I shook my head as I finished my snack, "Alright, wanna head up?"


    Cynthia nodded after throwing out her banana peel, "Sure!"


    Before we went back to Kaley and the rest, I left the box Annie gave me with the rest of my belongings. However, I did pick up the thumb drive that was inside it and handed it over to Natasha.


    She was still guarding our vehicles with Ibarra and since she''s probably chafing by now, I asked her to nce through what was inside it. I would''ve done it myself but I still had one more event to focus on.


    The final event was a tournament-style fight between all of the champions in each family and this time, from what I''ve heard, Mr. Cuervo gave the women champions a better representation though the fight between men champions would still be the final-final show.


    And the truth of the matter was people would prefer watching the NBApared to the WNBA.


    But to bepletely fair,paring basketball to a sport of beating each other up wasn''t exactly right. If you''d want to see more technique being used rather than just raw power, watching women fight was the way to go.


    Granted there were technical people in the men''s division and powerful people in the women''s division, but the ratio between those types and the predominant ones made each division distinct.


    With that said, while Cynthia and I were walking back to our spot, the two of us were fucking oblivious as to what was going on.


    I first thought we were having that Inception-thingy when everyone else was just fucking staring at you, but when we finally sat down and looked at the big screen, it was actually Cynthia''s turn.


    Her opponent was already in the y area while the two of us took our sweet fucking time. I couldn''t even imagine what Mr. Cuervo''s face was right now because his own sister was dying his show.


    "Wait, what?! Why?!"


    Ruru and Riri eximed, "You''re a champion, right?! You''re supposed to be there!"


    "Ah¡ª O-Ok!"


    Well, Cynthia didn''t waste time as she easily ran down and vaulted off the railing, and she gracefullynded with a smile on her face. Everyone cheered when she was face to face with the other champion but her opponent was fucking pissed.


    The woman she was facing was introduced as "Madison" and I was chuckling to myself because of a small revtion.


    ''She''s MAD-ison¡­ heh¡­''


    Madison was from the Alvarez Family and the first thing you''d notice was her legs.


    She was tall and had a petite frame but her thighs looked like they got swapped with someone else identally, well, the rest of her lower body that is. They were almost as thick as Tatiana''s and one kick from her could probably fell a banana tree.


    It''s just that Cynthia wasn''t fazed at all and she just slightly leaned back when the signal was given.


    Right from the fucking get-go, Madison just lifted from air as her left foot kicked up¡ªperforming a perfect split while mid-air¡ªfollowing it with the same kick from her right foot. The power behind those made Cynthia''s hair blow crazy but those kicks only hit air.


    It seemed like Cynthia knew Madison''s moves because after leaning back, she kicked with the back of her heel to jump back,pletely avoiding a spinning heel kick that Madisonunched after shended. However, another side of Cynthia that would only show when she was drunk appeared when shetched on Madison''s ankle and swept her foot that was nted on the floor.


    While Madison was in mid-air, Cynthia instantly pulled her toward her and let go of her ankle before punching down¡ªwith all of her weight¡ªstraight down to Madison''s throat.


    Everything just happened in an instant and Cynthia just turned around when Madison''s head bounced off the ground. Madison was already having a hard time breathing and she was rolling in pain while clutching her neck, and I actually felt sorry for her.


    I can''t fucking believe Cynthia just went ham on apletely stranger butter did I know that Madison was the partner of the guy that groped her. Even from that, I still didn''t think such a brutal method was supposed to be delivered to that someone''s partner but it seemed like that words were exchanged beforehand and Madison was making Cynthia to be the one at fault.


    ''Well, looked fucking awesome though¡­''


    With that said, I decided to stay away from that drama as I just congratted her from winning the fight.

 Chapter 782: Tatiana VS Elena

    Cynthia just smiled brightly as she took the seat next to me but Tatiana was already winding her right shoulder as she stood up. Turns out, she was next in line and she would be facing someone she had a brief "acquaintance" with.


    Cheers just erupted once Tatiana''s face was shown on stage but Elena''s followers managed to stand their ground.


    This ce had no shortage of beauties that could also squish our heads like they were watermelons, and everyone was all up for it.


    With that said, the two just exchanged pleasantries before an insurmountable pressure was felt from them, and it only took a second before they exchanged blows.


    Tatiana was a fraction of a second faster than Elena but Elenanded the first clean hit.


    What happened was Tatiana opened up with her favorite move: the jump spinning hook kick, but Elena countered with a variation of one of Kaley''s kicks that was a jump spinning wheel kick.


    Tatiana just exploded as she lifted from the air but she missed Elene by just a breadth as she ate her foot with her temple. Any normal person would''ve been knocked the fuck out by getting hit cleanly with that move but Tatiana wasn''t any normal person to begin with. However, she still took a bit of time to get up as she shook her head and Elena was courteous enough to wait for her to recover.


    [You should''ve finished me off¡­]


    [I should''ve, but what''s the fun in that?]


    [Heh, I love that answer¡ª]


    The two just exchanged knowing nces after that but a rain of kicks were exchanged in a matter of seconds. From watching the earlier games, I''ve seen that Elena was also a capable fighter but not to this degree.


    Not only was she nimble and quick on her feet, her body''s flexibility was almost close to Tatiana''s. However, her strength lies in reading what her opponent''s next move would be from closely watching their bodies.


    It''s the same concept when predicting someone''s punch by their shoulder movement but there were a lot of variables if the whole body was involved.


    I was following the same concept when I''m in a fight with someone else and it was delightful to see other people do the same thing I could. But the crux of such a skill falls on knowledge of how different muscles function and reaction time.


    The work-around for the first one was to wear clothing that covered certain parts of your body¡ªlike the gi Aikido practitioners use¡ªwhile the workaround for someone''s reaction time was you know, be faster¡ªor to opt for something more doable, feints or purposefully opening up yourself to an attack for the chance to counter-counter.


    And Tatiana could definitely do both¡ªbe faster and to anchor Elena to making a specific move.


    It''s just that Tatiana was built to act first than to react.


    She had gained some weight ever since her incident¡ªthough most of it got turned to muscle already¡ªbut it would still take some time to get used to the new hardware.


    At this point, Tatiana still had the initiative but Elena was slowly piling damage to Tatiana''s body. Aside from the first hit she received, she also received multiple low kicks to her legs and each of those was like a shot of Tequ. It would sting and burn the first few times but a few more would make you touch the ground faster than you thought.


    But despite that, Tatiana looked like she was enjoying the fight and it only took a few more hits before it happened.


    Elena had just perfectly timed a counter for Tatiana''s high kick but she suddenly groaned in pain and pulled back when she saw that her shin collided with Tatiana''s shin. She had never looked so confused in her life but before she could even react, the next thing she saw was Tatiana standing sideways¡ªwell, everything sideways¡ªbecause she had already hit the ground.


    What basically happened was Tatiana dyed her high kick for a fraction of a second to bait Elena for the same counter she was receiving over and over.


    Tatiana kept exploding with power as she delivered her blows and the timing of each strike got ingrained in Elena''s head. However, it made her reaction to each attack robotic and once Tatiana shifted her knee to turn that high kick to a low blow, it confused Elena.


    The damage Elena took was secondary but the full second of confusion was huge.


    It made Elena pay special attention to Tatiana''s right leg,pletely disregarding the other.


    And yeah, Tatiana took a page from my book because she shifted her weight from her front foot¡ªher left leg¡ªto her back foot¡ªher right leg, to deliver the same blow that knocked her out when we first met.


    From my point of view, I could still see a little~ bit of movement from shifting the weight from one foot into the other but this was the first time Elena encountered such an abnormal kick. The tip of her chin easily ate the tip of Tatiana''s foot and it rattled her head so much, making her lose bnce and fall down.


    With that said, she tried to get up as fast as she could but Tatiana had already mounted her and was poised to give her the good ol'' ground and pound.


    Elena would''ve eaten several elbows and punches to the face but this time, Tatiana gave her the same courtesy fromst time.


    [What do you want to happen?]


    [...]


    [No answer? I''m gonna kiss you¡ª if you resist, I''ll punch that pretty face of yours if not, you admit your loss.]


    [What if I''m the one to kiss you though? Do you lose?]


    [Hah! It just makes me a little bit horny but you''ve lost that game when we arrived. How about it?]


    At this point, let''s just say the next scene that happened after that made the crowd go wild while our group had now two wins on our belt.

 Chapter 783: Quinn VS Edith

    Tatiana and Elena just disappeared somewhere else for 15 minutes or so and when they came back all loose and rxed, two more fights between female champions had concluded.


    The one that came after their fight was a match between an athletic woman from the Cuervo Family and a gori¡ª no, a female neander¡ª no, a human female from the Alvarez family.


    I thought my eyes were ying with me for a second but after taking a closer look, I figured out that we were from the same species¡­ I think. However, I saw Javier from the Castillo Family holding up banners¡ªlike Enrique every time Tatiana went up on stage¡ªfor support.


    The guy was basically smitten and it was much, much worsepared to when Mikhail firstid his eyes on Quinn.


    ''As long as you''re happy, no qualms about that¡­''


    With that said, their match ended with the champion from the Alvarez Family managing to grab onto her opponent''s arm. She definitely took a lot more damage before achieving that but the participant from the Cuervo Family was smart enough to know when to give up.


    She came out with an L on her belt but the injuries she sustained were negligiblepared to what she dealt.


    It''s just that in this ce, a win was more important but like I said, she knew when to cut her losses.


    If she struggled and tried to fight it out with someone far stronger than her¡ªwhile being held in ce and less than 5% chance of getting out, not only would she receive the same L but she would take a longer time for recovery.


    Not everyone here was upholding the machismo shit Mr. Cuervo advocated for and it was a breath of fresh air.


    What followed after that fight was a fight between the champions from the same family, the Garcia Family.


    I for sure thought that with their calcted nature, they''d probably choose who was the stronger one and let them proceed while the other forfeits to save some energy. However, theplete opposite happened because it was worsepared to some of the blood fights we witnessed but it was the most "eye-catching" cat fight of all.


    I don''t fucking know their history but they were already at each other''s throats from the get-go. They threw punches, kicks, elbows, and knees but it slowly turned to hair-pulling, cat-scratching, butt-spankings, angry kissing, etc.


    It just turned really weird when somehow, they dragged themselves into a puddle of mud and somehow-somehow, their clothes were slowly pulled off of their smoking bodies.


    I really thought I''d see a technical fight but I couldn''t look away.


    I''m a simple man. I see boobs, Ipletely ingrain it into my head with my photographic memory enough to make a 3D model out of it once I get home or use it as "material" if I got really desperate.


    On that note, the winner was eventually decided but the actual winner was the crowd.


    Mr. Cuervo was disappointingly shaking his head all throughout this match but the one controlling the cameras went above and beyond for everyone.


    That guy was the real MVP.


    He recorded every nook and angle that was important and he''d probably make a killing once he edits the footage.


    With that said, the mood of the female finals changed a lot but I couldn''t believe my eyes when I read the names of the people who would fight next.


    Quinn De Leon VS Edith Rivas


    ''No fucking way¡­''


    I instantly turned to Quinn who had already stood up, wearing a serious expression, and she actually looked a little nervous when Edith''s name appeared on stage.


    "Hey, Quinn¡ª"


    "Shut up. You didn''t notice, did you?"


    "I thought¡ª"


    "Thought what? That she''s a sheltered little virgin that hides under Sal''s skirt?"


    "Not exactly¡ª"


    "Well, she''s probably still a virgin¡ªsheltered too, but if I don''t take her seriously, it''ll be bad news."


    "She''s that good?"


    "Didn''t I already tell you that she''s a vir¡ª Oh, wait. Fuck. Yeah, she''s decent. I thought you meant something else¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    At this point, Quinn was actually stretching her whole body in preparation to facing Edith while more than half of the people present were wondering who the fuck Edith was even if she was crowned champion.


    For the life of me, I still couldn''t believe Edith passed through my radar but if Kaley was actually with me when I first met her, she''d probably notice something off. However, fighting prowess doesn''t always equate to a wild personality though they were the more dangerous ones in my book.


    It was for the same reason I''d dly fight a drunk, 7-foot, 300-pound oafpared to an old dude that was one cough away from puffing into smoke and dropping whatever he had on his person.


    And once Edith came down wearing her battle attire¡ªtheplete opposite of her server uniform with the frilly apron¡ªher body really looked decent. It wasn''t particrly jacked or eye-catching but she looked more athletic than I thought. Furthermore, her back and leg muscles were nothing to sneeze at but you''d need to pay a little more attention to see the hidden striations.


    To bepletely honest, I doubt she''d win a contest of strength against Quinn, Katya, or Tatiana¡ªeven Kaley, but if Quinn was a little nervous about facing her, she probably had a few tricks up her sleeve.


    It''s just that I was still half-doubting Quinn''s words when the two came face to face because Edith definitely flinched when Quinn hovered over her. She looked like Quinn could pick her up with one hand and have her way with her but her eyes just changed when the signal was given.


    To everyone''s fucking surprise, Quinn actually jumped back to put some distance between them but I saw Edith''s hand twitch momentarily before cancelling whatever she was about to do.


    She was slowly inching her way towards Quinn''s location but Quinn was making it hard for her by circling around and moving back at the same time.


    Edith was actually the one trying to initiate contact while Quinn was taking the conservative approach. Some people were fucking confused and it even looked like Quinn was ready to throw the fucking towel. However, to my eyes, she looked like she was just gathering data, just making sure she could handle the cold once she dove right in the freezing pond.


    It was actually surprising to see Quinn take a calctive approach but her face just warped when Edith opened her mouth.


    [U-Umm¡­ Y-You didn''t bring your gloves? I m-might h-hurt you¡­]


    And Quinn instantly exploded.


    [THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE BITCH?! GLOVES?! THOSE ARE MY GAUNTLETS, YOU FUCKING¡ª JUST SHUT UP AND FIGHT ME, EDITH!]


    Tears were fucking close to fall from Edith''s eyes, [I-I''m sorry! I d-didn''t mean to! It''s just¡ª]


    With Quinn fuming from anger, she suddenly lunged and bridged the distance in an instant¡ªleft arm already wound up to send a huge p to Edith''s face.


    The gust of wind she took with her was enough to blow a candle from the next door neighbor''s birthday cake but it felt like a drop of water when it got close to Edith''s zone.


    From my perspective, it looked like Quinn gifted her palm to Edith before Edith turned it clockwise with her left hand. After that, she looked like she slowly ced her right hand on Quinn''s left elbow and applied a bit of pressure, turning it the opposite way before Quinn fell on her knees.


    Everything happened in an instant but it looked so slow from the cameras.


    ''...''


    Quinn''s face was just red from pain and her attempts to get out of Edith''s zone was just backfiring. Edith would just move her arm a certain way before piercing pain would reverberate through Quinn''s whole body.


    [EDITH, YOU FUCKING SUCK!]


    [Wha¡ª I was just¡ª P-Please stop moving o-or surrender! I-I don''t want to hurt you!]


    [THEN FUCKING LET GO!]


    [I-I can''t! Aunt Sally would¡ª]


    [FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!]


    [I s-said, don''t move! Y-You''ll hurt yourself!]


    [I''M NOT HURTING MYSELF! YOU''RE HURTING ME! LET FUCKING GO!]


    [I-I-I really can''t!]


    [Then you have to fucking break it¡­]


    [H-Huh?]


    All of a sudden, Quinn''s demeanor just changed as her face looked maniacal. She forced her way to get out of Edith''s grasp but the way her face contorted while her arm changed color concerned me. I don''t know how much strength Edith had but from the looks of it, she could easily break Quinn''s elbow.


    However, she let go right at the critical moment before she received a huge p from her opponent.


    Edith just flipped over and tumbled down while Quinn looked pissed and disappointed.


    [I told you to fucking break it¡­]


    [B-But¡ª]


    [You still have a lot to learn, Edith¡­]


    Quinn was this close to actually mounting Edith and sending her punches but Sal from the Rivas Family had already thrown the towel.

 Chapter 784: Lotion - Jesus?

    The end of Quinn and Edith''s match was a little anticlimactic but we''d need to take ount of their rtionship. They didn''t need to go on each other''s throats and attempt to end the other''s life but to just put on a good show, and teach a thing or two.


    Quinn learned that raw power wasn''t the end-all while Edith learned¡­ learned a few things necessary for her to stand on her own feet.


    She learned that tight-knit rtionships could still be unwoven, she learned that simply cornering someone by a move of hers wasn''t the end of the fight, she learned that some people would sacrifice part of themselves just to win a fight, she learned the consequences of holding back, and most of all, she learned that Quinn was just teaching her how to be tough.


    That full-powered p was a lesson she''d never forget though there was more to it than that.


    Eventually, Quinn helped her up though she almost sunk to the ground when Quinn patted her head. I could only guess the words exchanged by the two but they still shook hands and exchanged smiles when they went back to their own spot.


    Quinn was winding her shoulder over and over when she sat down with us but this time, I was the one who took a look at her. Tatiana and Kaley presented themselves as well but I wanted to learn the extent of the damage she took.


    I grabbed Quinn''s arm and turned it a few times before she hissed and tried to pull away. But to her surprise, I held her like a vice and she could just mutter curses with a grimace.


    "Ah¡ª What are you¡ª"


    "It hurts when I do this, huh?"


    "IT DOES! SO STOP FUCKING DOING IT!"


    "Hmm¡ª"


    "I SAID STOP MOVING IT!"


    "Lotion¡­"


    "Huh? What did you just say?!"


    "Hmm? Lotion?"


    "The fuck are you talking about now?! Ah¡ª I said¡ª"


    I eventually let go of her arm, "I''m done, I''m done¡­ Some of your joints were about to stretch to the limit so you''d need to ice them, like right now. It would''ve already snapped if you didn''t stretch beforehand¡­"


    Quinn was still looking at me while her head was tilted sideways, "..."


    "What?"


    "Hold on, don''t fucking change the subject! I know what to do with my arm but why did you say lotion out of the blue?!"


    "Oh. Look," I said as I held out my palm in front of her.


    Quinn started to look annoyed, "I''m gonna give you one more chance to exin properly or I''ll crush your head with my thighs."


    I chuckled as I put both my hands up, "Easy~ now~ Well¡­ that''s not a bad way to go¡­"


    "JUST ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"


    "Alright, alright, fine¡­ See my hands? No calluses, right?"


    Quinn didn''t look impressed, "Uh-huh, so you don''t jerk off a lot. Lucky you."


    "No! I mean¡­ That''s not the point! I tried to remember what Edith''s hands looked like before and they were as smooth as mine. She had exquisite technique but in order to pull that off, you''d have to have some crazy grip strength. She did hold you down despite your size¡ª I mean, strength¡­ Yeah, let''s go with that¡­"


    "That''s it, you''re speaking gibberish. Between my thighs you go¡ª"


    "Wait! Let me finish! Why do I have such perfect hands¡­ I can''t exin shit with them this perfect!"


    "..." everyone else.


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fuck you. So, it''s all lotion then? Is that all?"


    "Hmm¡­ You see, I started to learn karate when I was a kid but as I grew older, the demand for having tough hands increased. There''s a specific type of training for that but long story short, I grew tons of calluses on the back of my hands¡ªespecially on my knuckles and the tip of my fingers. I got rid of them by applying lotion every single day¡­"


    "And? What about Edith? You think she''s doing the same?"


    "In Edith''s case, this is just a guess but what she''s practicing requires her to grab onto things, not strike them. So, the calluses she developed should be on her palms. I refused to shake her hand that one time but I definitely saw none on hers.


    I can''t say for certain as to why she was ufortable shaking my hand too but part of it could be that she''s not confident in her lotion-applying capabilities. She might be really shy but she might be afraid I''d notice her calluses that were practically nonexistent¡­"


    Kaley interjected, "Isn''t that a lot to take into ount?"


    Tatiana added, "Correct¡­ That''s a little too¡ª"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Hmm~ If it''s Edith, you might be right on the money."


    "I am?"


    "Yeah, but why do you hate calluses so much? I kinda like them. For character, I mean¡­"


    "Oh. I did grip training once when my calluses were at their peak and let''s just say the weight I put on the bar I was lifting was a little too heavy and it ripped my calluses clean off right along with my skin. There was so much fucking blood and¡ª"


    "STOP! STOP! I GET IT! DON''T SAY ANY MORE! JESUS!"


    A guy numbered 777 interjected, "Hmm? What is it?"


    "NOT YOU! I JUST EXCLAIMED¡ª I''M NOT TALKING TO YOU! SHUT UP!"


    "B-But¡­ you called me¡­"


    "I DIDN''T! FIND YOUR DISCIPLES OR WHATEVER AND TALK TO THEM! HELL, LOOK FOR JUDAS AND GET EVEN!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    After some time, Quinn asked us to also check on Edith but Sally was on top of things. The side of Edith''s face was already iced when we checked on them and lo and behold, after a brief talk, I discovered that we were using the same brand lotion.


    Kaley and Sally''s face were twitching non stop when Edith and I started talking for the majority of the matches about moisturizing and lotion-applying skills. She even rmended some honey to add to the mixture we had and Kaley had to drag me away because we need to watch the next match.

 Chapter 785: Play nice.

    I didn''t know why the crowd was getting rowdier by the second but once I noticed that the identical sisters who were always trying to grab onto my arm were in the y area, I also had to lean forward to see what was about to happen next. I almost forgot that those two were also champions in their own right and their names were right on the big screen for everybody to see.


    Ruth "Ruru" Sandoval VS Risa "Riri" Sandoval


    The two beauties were now face to face, almost looking like a single person staring at herself in the mirror.


    With that said, I don''t know how this fight would turn out because if the two could actually tell what the other one was thinking, how the fuck would theynd a hit? They could''ve easily avoided each "telegraphed" blow and even if we looked at it from the physical aspect, there was little to no difference between their bodies.


    They had one particr difference only I knew of but I doubt it would be critical in this situation.


    ''Unless¡­''


    I was still in my head when the two faced the crowd apologetically, and what they said next confirmed my suspicion.


    [U-Umm¡­ We''re sorry for this but I''ll withdraw and let Riri continue.]


    [U-Umm¡­ We''re sorry for this but Ruru''ll withdraw and I''ll continue.]


    And the crowd went wild for a whole different reason.


    "WHAT?!"


    "WE''VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!"


    "WHY?!"


    "YOUR LAST MATCH WAS UNFORGETTABLE!"


    "PLEASE! JUST ONE MORE FIGHT!"


    At this point, snippets from theirst match were being shown on screen and I already knew what they were doing from the get-go.


    ''A show is a show¡­''


    The twins have actually fought several times and it was the closest match I''ve ever seen. Strikes would either be dodged at thest second or received at the most critical moment as their cadence would increase with each passing second. Their fight would look like an intense match from the start but it was nothing more than a demonstration if I''ve ever seen one.


    It''s just that I didn''t forbid them from doing the same thing¡ªhell, I even wanted to see it because it would be entertaining, but their aim was something far more higher than to entertain the crowd.


    The Championship.


    If it wasn''t already obvious, the favorite for the final match would be between Quinn and Tatiana.


    It was because their opponents either got choked non-erotically or pounded to the ground, but there were a smart few that decided to forfeit the match when they discovered who they were up against. I actually wanted to see more technical fights but with these two involved, I''d just bet my chances to see one in my division.


    However, there were still a few that hadn''t given up and the two were among them.


    Not only would they conserve their energy from one of them giving way, they seem to have a hidden card up their sleeve. I don''t know what that actually was yet but the two were confident that they could snatch the title from these two favorites.


    With that said, the disappointment couldn''t be hidden from the faces of the people shouting, "REFUND!", but their expressions warped differently when they saw the uing fight.


    Risa "Riri" Sandoval VS Cynthia Cuervo


    "LET''S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    "OH~ SHIT!"


    "IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!"


    "THEY''RE FIGHTING! THEY''RE FIGHTING!"


    "CYNTHIA! CYNTHIA! CYNTHIA!"


    "WE LOVE YOU, RIRI!"


    "THE LOSER GETS FUCKED IN THE ASS! PLEASE! JUST THIS ONCE!"


    The crowd had already forgotten about the twins'' transgression but I could hardly breathe from my position. Ruru was justing up when she made eye contact with Cynthia and it was as if Cynthia was sending over the pressure she was exuding to Riri via her twin sister. I''m pretty sure that they''ve buried the hatchet but a dog must''ve wandered and started to dig it up once again.


    Kaley instantly went between the two, "Alright,e on now. y nice."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two didn''t say a word to each other as Ruru took Cynthia''s spot while Cynthia slowly walked down the stairs.


    It didn''t take long before Cynthia and Riri were face to face and it also didn''t take long before the signal was given.


    The big screen had zoomed on Cynthia and Riri''s face but their eyes instantly changed as they blurred away from their position. They were suddenly a few millimeters from each other but Cynthia was a millisecond faster.


    She would definitely hit Riri''s cheek with her right fist but Riri''s head bobbed forward and twisted to the side, making Cynthia''s fist just scrape the side of her cheek, mitigating most of the damage. Furthermore, bobbing her head forward included leaning her body as well so Riri''s fist also elerated straight to its target.


    But when Riri made contact, she suddenly grimaced in pain and drew her fist back because like her, Cynthia anticipated the blow and bobbed her head forward.


    It''s just that Cynthia didn''t make Riri''s fist scratch the side of her cheek but made it m against her forehead.


    Hitting something hard like someone''s skull got to fucking hurt but Riri gritted her teeth before twisting the same fist forward, adding more force by moving forward half-step, bringing all the weight she could take with her with the smallest of wind-ups.


    It almost looked like a 1-inch punch¡ªeven though the wind-up was a 5-incher, and it hit Cynthia square in the nose.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    Slowly but surely, blood was dripping from Cynthia''s small airways but she had already gotten hold of Riri''s arm and was winding a punch of her own.


    Cynthia was smiling maniacally as Riri struggled to get out of her grasp, but Cynthia didn''t evene close to hitting Riri''s face. Well, the distance was only a few inches but Riri had ways to avoid the blowpletely, even if she was held with a vice grip.


    And it involved her long legs.

 Chapter 786: PRECIOUS?!

    Everyone could see each and every angle from the huge screen and everyone saw how Riri quickly nestled her toes just between Cynthia''s vicle and the anterior part of her shoulder before she straightened her long legs.


    Her slender thighs and calves acted as a stopper or a long stick that made Cynthia''s punch misspletely as she got pushed back a few inches.


    However, Cynthia didn''t give up as she grabbed hold of the fabric of Riri''s shorts, pulling it in her direction.


    All of the fucking hornballs'' eyes grew wide in anticipation for a possible pantsing but they got disappointed when Cynthia''s arms wrapped around Riri''s leg and ced it down between her legs.


    Cynthia''s aiming for a takedown but Riri had a lot of options.


    Riri could either send punches, elbows, knees, or even just push Cynthia''s head away but she aimed for something different. I saw her hesitate from seeing Cynthia''s blood¡ªfrom her nose¡ªsmearing the side of her leg so she circled away by jumping with her free leg while keeping bnce.


    It''s just that on herst jump, she was about tond a little too forward and was now almost in freefall, but her free leg went even deeper¡ªbehind Cynthia''s legs and tripped her down, grabbing her right ankle and performing an inverted heel hook.


    ''Damn~''


    It took Riri''s legs being grabbed to reversing it with a scissor takedown and now, Cynthia was in fucking trouble.


    All Riri had to do was apply pressure on Cynthia''s heel and Cynthia would''ve needed to surrender. If not, it risked tearing her foot''s tendons and ligaments and she would have more than trouble walking.


    At that point, Riri was already applying pressure on Cynthia''s heel but Cynthia was trying her best to get out of it. She was being told multiple times to surrender but Cynthia had an inkling that Riri wouldn''t actually injure her foot.


    Despite that, her heel being locked and twisted in the opposite way still fucking hurt¡ªand still carried the risk of injury¡ªso she needed to find a solution or I''ll throw in the towel for her safety.


    ''5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡ª''


    I was counting in my head the limit I gave her and right when I was about to contact Mr. Cuervo, Cynthia managed to lift her upper body with her arms, rotate by moving her hips clockwise, gain ess to her other foot, rotate again, before using her free foot to wedge it between Riri''s legs.


    Cynthia''s thick thighs just as easily spread Riri''s legs apart and she managed to rotate even more to get out of her predicament.


    There were a few more ways to get out of that lock¡ªrolling for example, but the way Cynthia handled herself was just too fucking beautiful.


    The two of them eventually stood up and even Riri was smiling and offered to touch their imaginary gloves.


    ''Respect.''


    They were once again back to square one but only a fraction of the participants understood what just happened. Getting caught in a lock was already dangerous¡ªeven more so if you were trying to get away, but in a real fight, you can''t just tap out and start from the top.


    But to be fair, if Cynthia was facing someone else, the fight would''ve gone much, much different.


    If I was in the same situation and it was life or death, I wouldn''t even wait for my opponent to tap out.


    I''d just break their foot and finish them off.


    Anyway, there were a lot of what-ifs in this conversation but only the result mattered and this time, Cynthia won that exchange. It''s just that their fight was far from over and Cynthia was actually on the losing side.


    Looking at them closely, Riri just looked out of breath¡ªwell, Cynthia as well but she couldn''t move as well because her foot was still overstretched and sore.


    The two were agile fighters and losing one''s main foundation was critical.


    It only took a few low and oblique kicks from Riri before Cynthia decided to give up. I thought she would look dejected once the victor was decided but she was actually smiling. It took me a few seconds to look at the next match-up and Tatiana only had to win two more times before she''s matched with Riri.


    Unless something else happened, Riri would get a real taste of what Tatiana was like in the ring.


    But before that, Quinn was once again called to the y area and she was matched with the "female" from the Alvarez Family.


    Quinn de Leon VS Precious de Armas


    ''The fu¨C Precious?! That¡ª thing¡ª I mean, woman??? PRECIOUS?!''


    The two were actually squaring-up like they were posing for the cameras in a pre-match interview, and they couldn''t wait for the signal to start. They were already pushing against each other even before the bell rang and once punches were thrown, the person giving the signal just gave up and just rang the bell just to say that he did it.


    With that said, the scene had never looked so familiar because like Mikhail and Bob''s pping match, the two were giving each other a free punch, not even bothering to dodge or block what wasing to them, only bracing to take the hit.


    ''And~ we''re back to the contest of strength¡­''


    The more Quinn gets punched in the face, the more her face twisted with a maniacal smile. At one point, she even let Precious punch her a few more times before she suddenly delivered a murderous right hook to her jaw.


    Precious took the hit without bracing herself properly and it looked like her neck got twisted and overextended.


    Her fake teeth just flew out of her mouth andnded on the ground before her.


    Cheers just erupted all throughout the area¡ªthough maniacalughter was in the mix¡ªand Quinn easily took the W.


    Well, I actually thought that Quinn killed her with that punch but Precious regained consciousness after Quinn kicked her a few times. She was sturdier than I thought and I guess the truck would be the one to get Isekai''d if they somehow got involved in an ident.

 Chapter 787: Briberies and Threats

    As the fights went on, the ones close to us would get tended by Kaley but most of the time, all they''d need was just ice. It was totally differentpared to the blood fights because no one was willing to die just to be called the champion of champions¡ªwell, except for a select few.


    But despite that, these people were 100% willing toy their lives just to settle a grudge.


    ''Well, that includes me¡­ sometimes¡­''


    I was still watching the fights that followed, but an unfamiliar voice went through the earpiece that Mr. Cuervo gave me.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mr. Ishiyama?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Great. I''m one of the representatives of the Garcia Family. My name''s Bertrandt, good sir. Would it be possible to take a few moments of your time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re doing it right now, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I deeply apologize¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Don''t apologize, I can watch the fights and talk to you without any problems."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Splendid! Very well, I''ll be brief.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Weird name¡­ I thought your name was Bertrandt but ok¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­ I don''t follow¡ª Ah! Such crass, but a splendid joke nheless! That tickled me from a few seats away! Ahaha¡­ Anyway, back on topic¡­ Our family''s wondering if you''d be interested in a luxurious suite in our abode?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "A suite?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes! A luxurious one!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Why the generosity?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Oh! I''m afraid it''s not free. Everythinges at a price, no?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It depends, but yeah. How much is it? Not like I''m gonna buy it or anything¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah! You wouldn''t have to do much! All we request is for one of your fighters to¡­ somehow¡­ Umm~ How do I put this nicely¡­ We''d like for one of them to uhh¡­ allow one of ours to advance? But we''d like it to be a little convincing¡­ A few punches here and there but a believable hit in the end before they surrender.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-What do you think, sir? Mr. Ishiyama? Hello? Did the connection cut off?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I can hear you just fine, Bertrandt."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Splendid! I was worried for a second there! So, what do you¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It was nice talking to you, Bertrandt¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It is nice talking¡ª Sir? Do you mean¡ª It''s just one loss? It doesn''t guarantee the¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bertrandt."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­ But sir¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We could also offer more amenities and such if you reconsider¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m sorry. But for thest time, no. I''m ending this¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Your wife is beautiful, no?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Excuse me?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Got your attention, huh? Good sir, there''s something you don''t realize¡­ You see, this championship of whatever looks simple on the surface but no¡­ there''s more to it than that¡­ One of our yers need to get a high standing or else¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bertrandt¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good sir, it is best if you let me finish¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No. YOU fucking let me finish. Yes or no, are you fucking threatening me or what?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I know that our conversation hasn''t ended. Are you threatening me or what?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good sir, you don''t understand the gravity of the situation¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hah. I bet you don''t understand either¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    The Garcia Family''s spot was a little far from us but I didn''t fucking care.


    I stood up from my spot, much to the surprise of everyone, even though they already heard me arguing with someone in my earpiece, but I didn''t even notice that I was leaking out killing intent because of how pissed off I was.


    In my head, the audacity of that motherfucker astounded me to the point I was actuallyughing even though my face was a little red, and I quickly made my way to look for that motherfucking sales representative.


    I didn''t even know what that asshole fucking looked like but even though it sounds bad, I could probably profile that motherfucker from his voice alone.


    ''Probably a 4-foot monopoly-guy looking ass that had the face that embodied the Ugly Bastard tag¡­''


    From several feet away, I saw the antichrist and I beelined my way over to him in which he tried to get away.


    At this point, a lot of people had already felt my killing intent and just the head of a family making his way over to another one''s territory would garner a lot of attention. However, they all knew some shit was about to go down and they all wanted to see the shitshow.


    I easily grabbed the bastard by his cor and I was repulsed at how sweaty it was.


    However, the reason I came over was to see if he''d say those shit right in front of my face because the guy seemed to have a death wish. This ce abhorred killing¡ªunless sanctioned¡ªbut I would actually do something that was the exact opposite.


    Killing people was too easy, leaving them in pain was much, much more satisfying.


    With that said, I just tightened my grip onto his cor until he was getting asphyxiated, and I stared him dead in the eye and asked the same question.


    "Are you threatening me or what?"


    His bby little arms were trying to pry my hand away from his cor but I waited for a few more seconds before I let go so he could answer.


    "G-Good sir, I jest! I jest! I was only joking! I was¡ª Grchkkk! CkhhCkk! kKRck!"


    "Fucking lie to me one more time and you''ll eat with a straw for the rest of your life!"


    This time, I actually grabbed onto his neck and started choking him but another representative ced their hand over me and spoke in a soft but hurried tone.


    "S-Sir Ishiyama! P-Please! Whatever Bertrandt had done to offend you, the Garcia Family would make amends! So please! All we''d request is for you to unhand him so we could get a better understanding of the situation! Please understand, his mouth runs a little too wild when negotiating so¡ª"


    I quipped with an annoyed tone, "Hah! Wanna trade ces with this motherfucker?!"

 Chapter 788: Fear of Distribution

    From that point on, I just assumed the person that interrupted me was just another annoying representative or whatever¡ªand I was this close to choking them as well¡ªbut once I turned my head around to face them¡ªher, I had to double-take. Her face tickled a little part of my brain but it eventually decided that it wasn''t the same person.


    ''I thought she was Mary¡­''


    Mary was the wife of Brian, the head of the Garcia Family¡ªbut in essence, the two were running the show. With that said, I also met Mason earlier¡ªwho was Mary''s brother¡ªbut I didn''t think that she''d also have a sister, a much younger one.


    This person actually showed concern over Bertrandt''s well-being but I couldn''t give much of a fuck.


    There were only a few things that could tick me off and this motherfucker went to the very top of my list. I''d probably be done with him after a quick beating but if Matthew ever heard what he said, he would''ve blown his head off without a care of Mr. Cuervo''s rules.


    Technically speaking, Bertrandt STILL hadn''t done a damn thing that was illegal in this ce but choking him out without actually killing him wasn''t illegal either.


    It''s just that there were some unspoken rules that were super obvious and one of them was not to mess with a head''s wife.


    In the machismo world¡ªor should I say Mr. Cuervo''s world, if you want to prove yourself, take the problem head-on and don''t rely on cheap tricks. Doing that would justnd you in deep waters or in his case, my hand around his throat.


    With that said, I still had a firm grip on his neck when another person tried to interfere.


    It was the middle-aged ex-military guy who I fought before. To give a short recap, I managed to knock him out with one of my signature moves before¡ªthe snapping front kick after the weight shift¡ªand I just left him confused before I won that match-up. But this time, I didn''t think he''d be affiliated with the Garcia Family and he was trying to defuse the situation.


    "Please, kid. Please let go of¡ª"


    "I remember you," I cut him off as I dropped Bertrandt on his seat.


    Bertrandt was still trying hard to get his breathing to normal but the only one who came to check on him was Mary''s sister. The guy I was speaking to just came for the purpose of asking me to let go of one of their own and he quickly lost interest in his well-being right after I did.


    He let out a faint smile, "Likewise. I still remember our fight, kid¡ªI mean, Mr. Ishiyama? Forgive me, I go by Daniel. Dan for short."


    "I''m kinda used to old people calling me that, no worries. You remember our fight? Did you figure it out though?"


    Dan chuckled bitterly, "Honestly? I might have to eat another one of those to make sure."


    "That''s a step in the right direction¡ª"


    Bertrandt exploded, "YOU¡ª YOU''VE DONE IT! NOW, YOU''VE DONE IT! YOU''RE GONNA¡ª"


    Kaley''s words suddenly entered our ears, "He''s done what?"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Stop yelling. You''re disgusting enough as is, don''t make me hate hearing you."


    To my surprise, Kaley also looked pissed and I''ve only seen her that mad for only a handful of times. She was slightly releasing pressure that was making Bertrandt sweat even more bullets and her eyes had dimmed to the point where I could barely recognize them. They used to be so bright and full of life but now it looked like I was looking at my own.


    She was slowly inching towards Bertrandt but I ced my hand on her shoulder and pulled her close. Almost instantly, her eyes returned to normal when she was looking at me but she still threw a hateful re towards Bertrandt.


    At this point, I realized that Kaley and Iing here was garnering more attentionpared to the fight that was going on so I just quickly looked around before I crouched in front of the motherfucker.


    "Listen here, you dumb fuck, learn to take no for answer. You don''t threaten me, you don''t threaten her, you don''t threaten anyone in my group just because you can''t get what you want. If you want your representative to win, get fucking good. You''re proving nothing just by going under the table and negotiating for a convincing loss."


    "Y-You really don''t understand¡ª"


    I almost smacked the motherfucker but I didn''t, "I don''t think I need to¡ª"


    "I''M GONNA DIE IF¡ª"


    "I DON''T FUCKING CARE!"


    "Good answer."


    My eyes were still glued to Bertrandt when I heard another voice but Bertrandt''s face just contorted when his gaze shifted to the person that just joined the party, Mason.


    "Time''s up, old fart."


    "HEY, HEY, HEY! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE!"


    Mason chuckled loudly, "No, you don''t. Do you even know who our champion''s fighting up against? Her name''s Tatiana, she''s gonna be my woman soon¡ª"


    Kaley and I suddenly interjected, "Hold up¡ª"


    Mason turned to me with a neutral expression, "Hey, thanks for returning my stuff¡ª"


    "Hold on a second, let''s rewind a few sentences. Tatiana''s gonna be your woman?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Uh-huh. How?"


    "Isn''t it obvious? You were there."


    "I don''t think so."


    "You were."


    "I would''ve remembered¡ª"


    "The bet we did? I don''t know about you but we got that connection going on¡ª"


    "Dude, I''m telling you as a courtesy¡­ you''re wrong."


    "I think you''re gaslighting me. How can you be so sure?"


    "Ask her then," I said as I radioed Tatiana.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, Tatiana."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Are you guys done yet? I got a fresh batch of tacos here? You should try it.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re good. I just wanna ask you something. Remember Mason?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Who?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mason, the guy I had a bet with earlier. Lost all his clothes and shit, remember?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, that dumbass. Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "He just told me you two had a connection¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ew, what? The only connection we''ll have is my foot down his throat! C''mon! He isn''t even half your size!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I wasn''t even done talking to Tatiana when Enrique suddenly appeared out of nowhere and took Mason drinking. I had never seen a man with such confidence crumble in a matter of seconds but our Betrandt situation was far from over.


    There were still a lot of questions to be answered though I wasn''t sure that I needed to hear them.


    With that said, Mason eventually came back¡ªlooking like he aged a few years¡ªand he shone light to Bertrandt''s actions.


    "I still fucking hate you but I''d advise you to not bother with his affairs."


    "Sure¡ª"


    "The suite and the other shit he was promising you? That''s all lies. He just lost it this morning and he was trying to con people into betting shit without putting out. He''s actually been so lucky but that just made him dumber. He just couldn''t stop when he actually broke even so he bet everything once again. He''s a gambling addict, he just can''t fucking stop himself."


    "Wait. So what was it about him running out of time?"


    "You''re smart, right? Think. What would you bet if you had nothing to your name? Not even the clothes you have on yourself? So you could, you know¡­ win it all back and then some?"


    "Oh."


    "That''s right. It''s not always fun and games in the real world. Some people in our fold need something only another person could give but sometimes, that something cannot be given so easily. Well, I''m reluctant that they''d ept anything from him but we can''t be picky now, can we?"


    Out of all the things someone could be in knee-deep shit with, it''s with a criminal organization.


    Well, I was half-surprised that the guy actually used himself as a token and when he realized that he was gonna get "distributed" to other people, he had gotten so desperate that he had to y his games on me.


    I admired his bravery but Iughed at his execution.


    ''Not everyone deserves a helping hand even if they are suffering from something¡­ Sure, they could get a few more chances than normal but there are people that aren''t worth saving¡­ Especially guys like this, they should just face the music though the tune he''d face was a little too permanent¡­''


    At this point, Bertrandt was given the courtesy to see the fight where he''d lose everything, and he was boxed in¡ªsurrounded by Mason''s guys so he wouldn''t try and run away. Furthermore, Mason had a dose of what I assumed was a paralytic of some sort so their "goods" wouldn''t get damaged.


    The only person that felt sorry for him was Mary''s sister, and she was desperately trying to convince the "higher-ups" to give him another chance.


    I don''t know what''s going on between the two but the two names were eventually shown on screen.


    Tatiana Smirnova VS Sharon de Fuentes

 Chapter 789: Masons Troubles - Tatiana VS Riri I

    Tatiana and her opponent walked inside the y area without any clue about Bertrandt''s situation, and even if Bertrandt had never cheered so hard in his life, it amounted to nothing. His fighter didn''t evenst a minute as Tatiana rushed Sharon¡ªeasily breaking through her defense¡ªand Bertrandt''s eyes never looked so lifeless once she was escorted by the medical staff away.


    "What are you two still doing here? Wanna talk to my sister or something?" Mason mentioned as he ordered his men to bring Bertrandt to their enclosure outside.


    I was just about to reply when I saw a ping for my face.


    That p actually surprised me, not because it was unexpected or too fast¡ªbecause I easily caught it by grabbing onto her arm, but because the person that sent it thought she''d actually hit me. Even Kaley saw it from a mile away and she didn''t even bother to move a muscle. She knew the only way that that p would connect was if I actually requested for it.


    Mason took a second to react, "Mari! That''s enough! Don''t bring more shame to our¡ª"


    "Shame?! SHAME?! That''s all you care about?! He saved my life and you don''t even¡ª"


    *SLAP*


    I had already let go of her but Mason pped her across the face. He never looked so disappointed toward his sister and he was shaking his head as he looked at her.


    "First of all, you got duped. Like everything he has ever done, it was all for making his life easier. He took the credit for ''saving'' your life¡ªand got a nice suite for it¡ªheck, you even fell for the guy but it all stops now. Mari, have some self-respect. You¡ª"


    Mason wasn''t even done speaking when he received a p from his sister. He was this close to pping her again but she just took off and tried to follow her "lover". However, Mason contacted his people to take care of it and he was shaking his head when he took a seat.


    "Still here?"


    "You got some problems, eh?"


    "Cheh, everyone does."


    Mason offered me a seat as Kaley already went back to our spot, and cheers just resounded after another match concluded. It seemed like he wanted to say something though when I looked around their spot, Mary and Brian were nowhere to be seen.


    "They''re probably getting shitfaced, don''t worry about them."


    "At this hour?"


    "Heh, coke''s one hell of a drug. You''ll see them tomorrow. I''m in charge, for now¡­ Well, Mari is supposed to be doing it with me but she''s just so fucking stupid¡ªmore stupid than me and I''m left to do every little thing that they should be doing."


    "I see. So, what do you want to talk about?"


    "Right, right. Are you interested in a suite¡ª"


    "PFFT! Hah! The luxurious one?"


    Mason let out a genuine smile, "Yep, that one. As of now, it''s free real estate."


    "As long as it doesn''t involve fixing matches, I might be interested. How much?"


    "Tatiana¡ª"


    "I don''t deal people either¡ª"


    "No, I want to have another chance. I wanna try again."


    "That''s it?"


    "That''s it."


    "Are you sure? Your chances are less than 1%, honestly speaking¡­"


    "Hey, forgot who''s in charge of my family''s affairs? I can do what I want."


    "She''ll beat you up, I promise you."


    "But I''ll live. If it''s Quinn, I''ll definitely die¡­ No matter how good it felt¡­"


    "What?"


    "What?"


    "You mean¡­"


    "I like strong girls. So what?"


    We unconsciously gave each other a bro handshake.


    "You know, me too¡­ me too¡­ Hey¡ª"


    "Gotcha, bitch! I''m gonna break your¡ª AH! AH! AH! Why are you so fucking strong! I''m bigger than you!


    I GIVE! I GIVE! Dammit, man! That fucking hurts!"


    "Big doesn''t mean strong, dude. Remember that¡­"


    "Well~ Sometimes, it does¡­"


    "Hmm, true¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You tapping that ass?"


    "..."


    "C''mon, man! Just tell me! It stays between us, I promise?"


    "Haaa¡­ Whose ass are we talking about¡ª"


    "Oh~ Shit! You fucking dog! How''d your wife take it?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "That bad, huh? d you two are still toget¡ª"


    "No, she''s the one who suggested it¡­"


    "..."


    "Mason?"


    "You know what? I wanna punch you so bad but I wanna fucking shake your hand¡­ Like, for real this time¡­ You''re like the man among men."


    "Sure?"


    "So¡­ Who do you like better¡ª"


    "And~ I''m going back."


    "What?! We''re just getting started!"


    "I don''t kiss and tell as much, Mason. Especially if¡ª no, I''m not gonna even mention that¡­"


    "C''mon, man! Just give me a few tips to score!"


    "Heh. You''d have an easier chance going to the Pink House."


    "That''s super easy! I want a challenge!"


    "Fine."


    "For real?! You''re giving me tips?!"


    "Heh. Clench your jaw."


    "Wait¡ª what?"


    "See youter, Mason¡­"


    "What do you¡ª Fine! I don''t need your help anyway!"


    "Uh-huh."


    I didn''t anticipate Mason to be "okay" after our first meeting but yeah, he seemed decent. We still had a few things we disagreed on but that''s how things almost always go.


    With that said, I didn''t think that there were only a few people left and the time had finallye.


    Tatiana Smirnova VS Risa "Riri" Sandoval


    There was a lot of tension when I went back to my spot because not only was the twins taking it seriously, it seemed like Tatiana was being cautious as well. Most of the matches she was in were pretty much andslide, and there were only a few that gave her trouble. However, there was something different about the way the twins were acting.


    Riri just gave Ruru a nod before she went down with Tatiana, and Ruru looked to be paying special attention.


    She wasn''t even conversing with us¡ªas her eyes were just glued to the two and it even looked like she was also participating in the match.


    ''Wait a second¡­''


    It didn''t take long before the signal was given and like clockwork, Tatiana made the first move. Her leg just tore through the air with great velocity and it was for the purpose of ending the match in one go.

 Chapter 790: Tatiana VS Riri - I love you

    Tatiana opened up with one of her deadly moves and her heel was already this close to hitting Riri''s jaw. Everything happened in an instant¡ªand it was supposed to be over from the get-go¡ªbut Riri predicted what Tatiana would do and took a half-step in the right direction.


    Her hair just blew wildly because of the wind that came with Tatiana''s kick but she wasn''t aware of the following kick from the same move.


    The kick that Tatiana performed was almost the same thing that I used to take down Artem but the second one woulde a fraction of a secondter.


    And since Riri moved forward-right to avoid the blow, her head was turned the opposite way from where the kick wasing. I was already bracing myself to see the impact from Tatiana''s foot hitting the back of Riri''s head, but to everyone''s surprise, Riri avoided the blowpletely.


    "WHAT?!" Quinn eximed from the side.


    It was like Riri knew that Tatiana would follow up the first kick with another but even if she was directly looking at how Tatiana''s muscles contracted, it would''ve been a next to impossible feat to avoid the blow in her perspective.


    With that said, Riri easily sunk a left hook to Tatiana''s torso when shended and she managed to follow it up with a snapping low kick because Tatiana was still confused as fuck.


    All Tatiana could do was jump back and stare at Riri in disbelief, and Riri was acting like she had it in the bag. Despite that, Tatiana wore a devilish smile on her face and she licked her lips before diving in head-first once again.


    Once they were in punching distance, Tatiana sent apact hook to Riri''s face but Riri leaned back and snuck in an oblique kick to Tatiana''s quads. However, Tatiana quickly retracted her left fist before sending it back with a snappy jab¡ªwhich Riri also avoided, but once Tatiana retracted it once again and sent it back, a cut appeared on Riri''s cheek.


    "Oh¡­" Ruru muttered quietly before touching her cheek as if it was the one that got injured.


    A few others haven''t realized it yet but the reason Tatiana managed to connect was not because she sent a faster jab, but the attack she sent that made Riri bleed was technically a jab but with an open palm. It was almost like a mix of the movements of a jab and an eye-gouge¡ªthough with the use of the length of her fingers and her nails, it made Riri misjudge the distance.


    However, right when Tatiana was about to step on her foot, Riri slid her foot sideways before sending a middle kick towards the same spot that she sent her bodyblow.


    I doubt Riri knew that Tatiana used to be injured in that spot but for the life of me, it was as if she had an extra pair of eyes somewhere. Granted there was a recent hit that she wasn''t able to avoid, but she shouldn''t have noticed Tatiana aiming to pin her down with that foot stomp.


    ''Unless¡­''


    My eyes wandered somece else and itnded on the person that looked like exactly the one in the y area. She was still looking attentively at the two fighting but I really felt something off. To my surprise, Kaley was also looking at the same person and once we looked at each other, like what I assumed the twins were doing, Kaley and I shared a thought without speaking a word.


    ''They''re speaking to each other!''


    Twins doing this sort of thing doesn''t actually have solid proof or evidence but there was anecdotal evidence that supported it.


    With that said, if the two could actually ry to each other what they were thinking, seeing, or feeling, Tatiana would be at a great disadvantage. Granted Tatiana could probably take on three-to-five people at once, something about this didn''t sit right with me.


    It would''ve been different if they tried to fight Tatiana together in which Tatiana knew what was going on but this was a little too sneaky or underhanded in my opinion. Just the psychological effects of seeing an opponent avoid a strike that would''ve been impossible to dodge was a great blow to one''s psyche.


    I just turned to Kaley to "telepathically" ask for permission and she quickly gave me one in which I acted on it.


    Ruru was still focused on "watching" the match when I held her hand and turned her head to face me.


    "Hey."


    "H-Huh? What¡ª"


    "I love you," I said as I looked her straight in the eye.


    Almost immediately, Ruru''s face turned red like a tomato and she was BSOD''ing at an rming rate. Furthermore, I gave her the finishing blow when I pushed her down for a kiss, her hand still held tight, while my free hand wrapped around her body.


    Ruru didn''t know what to do for the first few seconds but she melted away as cheers erupted from the whole area.


    I didn''t even know if I evened the odds against Tatiana by doing this but I''m fucking sure that Ruru''s focus was on something else. It took her a few seconds to return my kiss but she never looked so disappointed when I broke it off. She looked like she was ready to mount me then and there but the moment she realized I discovered what they were doing, her gaze immediately shifted to the y area.


    All we saw was Tatiana helping Riri off the ground but once the instant rey was shown on the big screen, it seemed like what I did was a little too effective.


    What happened was that moment I did what I did to Ruru, Riri''s face went just as red¡ªbut in the middle of the match, and she ate a kick that could''ve been easily avoided.


    Tatiana was still as confused as everyone who was watching but sheughed her ass off once Kaley and I exined what happened. It''s just that a few people¡ªCynthia and Riri¡ªwanted to hear what I said to Ruru to be addressed to them as well.


    "C''mon! Just say it! Say it to me!"


    "Even if it''s a lie, I''ll believe it! Whisper it to me and kiss me too!"

 Chapter 791: Suicide with Extra Steps

    Like a "man" like me would do, I negated their advances by hiding behind Kaley and using her as a shield. Even if Kaley''s humongous warheads weren''t the reason I was with her, they easily acted as a deterrent for Cynthia and Riri''s smaller¡ªbut still fitted nicely in my hands¡ªkind.


    Well, I thought themotion was already over but Tatiana went ahead and grabbed Ruru''s tits while Riri''s back was turned against them.


    Ruru could only stifle a short reaction from being touched, "Ah¡ª"


    "Shh~ Hey, Riri! Don''t turn around! Which puppy am I touching right now?"


    "What are you¡ª" Riri was about to turn around but Tatiana cut her off once again.


    "Don''t turn around! I''m serious!"


    "W-Well, you''re touching b-both! Why are you¡ª Ah! Mmh!"


    To my surprise, Cynthia actually joined in and dove right under Riri''s tights and god knows which part she was ying with at the moment.


    "Well?" Cynthia turned to Ruru who couldn''t see what was happening under Riri''s "underbelly".


    "W-Well, what?!"


    "Which one?"


    "H-Huh?!"


    "Front or the back?"


    "F-Front¡­"


    "How many fingers?"


    "J-Just one¡­"


    "Wow, they''re like linked together even though they''re separate¡­ I¡ª I dunno the right word for it but it''s really awesome! Do you two cum at the same time?"


    "Y-Yes! Please! N-Not here! We''re really¡ª"


    "Oh. Right. Sorry~!"


    ''Oh, that''s why¡­''


    Tatiana and Cynthia were ying with the twin''s bodies like they found new toys but weirdly enough, even though the twins were embarrassed from being groped in public¡ªas everyone else was looking at them¡ªthey seemed to be enjoying it as much as the other two did.


    With that said, the twins took shelter in Kaley''s arms but I didn''t give away my position. I was hugging Kaley from the back¡ªlike I was doing earlier¡ªbut their perky tits were obviously "identally" rubbing on my arms. In some weird way, it actually felt cozy having the twins'' warmth together with Kaley''s and we just stayed in the same position for a while.


    After a short bit, we watched another match end with a draw but it didn''t take long before Quinn took to the stage once again.


    However, just as we were preparing ourselves to see another one-sided, one-move knockout, the champion from the other side actually forfeited.


    ''Well, that means¡­''


    Slowly but surely, our eyesnded onto Tatiana and she dusted her pants before wearing a solemn expression. Well, she gave me a smile when we made eye-contact but she paused and thought for a bit.


    She seemed to be thinking of something mischievous¡ªbecause I saw a small smirk forming to the side of her lips, but it eventually disappeared as she made her way to the y area.


    At this point, the crowd just couldn''t contain themselves because the two people they were looking at right now were the best fighters in the league and these fighters were about to decide who was the better one.


    ''This fight is almost like the time I fought Mikhail¡­ Granted there were a lot more differences but size-wise, Tatiana needed to be quick and smart about it. I can''t help but imagine being between those two¡ªwell, I already did but, the fuck am I thinking about right now? A-Anyway¡­ Hmm~ I just hope they don''t hurt themselves too much¡ª''


    But right as I was deep in my thoughts, Tatiana raised her hand and said something that made the jazz music stop.


    [Umm, yeah¡­ I quit. I''ll dly take second ce.]


    "WHAT?!"


    [WHAT?!]


    ''DAFUQ?!''


    As soon as Tatiana said that, there wasplete silence for a whole minute but Mr. Cuervo was having none of it. Even if his hair got disheveled, his clothes got crumpled, and his confidence was shattered, he wouldn''t let the final match end in such a way.


    [No, no, no! You can forfeit matches, yes, but no one is allowed to forfeit at the final match! It''s the final match, Hermosa! Please! Just give everyone a good show!]


    [Did you make up that rule just now?]


    [Well, yes¡ª but! Please, it''s just downright cruel to do this to me! J-Just duke it or something!]


    [Right¡­ Hey, umm¡­ I''m thinking of forfeiting t-too¡­ Sorry, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [WHAT?! QUINN?! NO! NO! NO! PLEASE, YOU TWO!


    DON''T DO THIS TO ME! I''M AGING RAPIDLY AS IS! CONDUCTING THESE FIGHTS INVIGORATES ME! PLEASE! JUST DO SOMETHING!]


    At this point, the tension from expecting Quinn and Tatiana to fight waspletely gone and some people were already dyingughing from Mr. Cuervo''s predicament. Not to mention, the cut that the Cuervo Family would probably receive from the enormous wagers and bets being passed around would bepletely gone and sent back ordingly.


    With that said, I could probably guess the reason Tatiana wanted to forfeit¡ªno, it''s not because of our certain activityter, fucking hornballs¡ªbut I couldn''t guess the reason Quinn had for doing the same thing.


    Above all else, the main task I have for Tatiana was to protect Kaley at all costs and if she get banged¡ªnot the sexual way, of course¡ªshe wouldn''t be able to perform appropriately.


    It was because if she aimed for the championship, she''d have to go against Quinn¡ªwhich was what was actually happening now, and the two top fighters wouldn''t get out of it unscathed.


    Their match wouldn''t be the one-sided beatdowns we saw a lot of times because honestly speaking, the two were almost equal in battle-power though their attributes were totally different from each other.


    To give a much simpler exnation, it was like squishing together two M&Ms and the result would be neither M&M budging an inch or theplete opposite, both M&Ms getting crushed at the same time.


    But at this point, Mr. Cuervo was already promising more than twice the rewards he would be giving to the Champion of Champions but his assistants had another idea.


    Roxanne and Melina whispered into Mr. Cuervo''s ear, and Mr. Cuervo actually let them take the reins.


    [Alright. If you two don''t want to fight, how about you fight us?]


    ''Pfft!''


    Cheers just erupted from the viewing tforms but I couldn''t help but stifle augh.


    ''There''s just no way¡­ no fucking way¡­''


    It just sounded too bizarre that Roxanne and Melina wanted to do a tag-team match with Quinn and Tatiana. If it was modeling or something that involved "femininity", they would''ve won 100% of the time but actual balls to the wall, straight-up 2v2 against those monsters?


    That was just suicide with extra steps.


    Despite that, the two actually looked serious about their offer but Quinn and Tatiana wanted to sweeten the pot a little more. The two forfeiting gave them the chance to bleed Mr. Cuervo dry but they didn''t stop there and wanted a slice of Roxanne and Melina as well.


    [Well, what do you two suggest?]


    [Anything we want.]


    [Yes, anything you want¡ª]


    [No, you don''t understand. I meant, "Anything we want." If we beat you two in a fight, we could make you do anything we want and you don''t have a say in it.]


    [That''s¡­]


    [Just for a few days, not much¡­]


    [F-Few days?! That''s too much!]


    [Don''t worry, we won''t tell you to do anything nasty¡ªwell, some of them are, but I promise you''d beg for an extension.]


    [...]


    [So?]


    [F-Fine! But we don''t go bare-handed!]


    [Go ahead, no worries.]


    It didn''t take long before the participants for the final match were handed appropriate weapons¡ªtwo medium-length sticks each for Roxanne and Melina, a medium-length stick for Tatiana, and a long, long stick for Quinn¡ªand they met in the central part of the y area.


    I already had the ending in my head but I''m still not sure how it would get to that.


    With that said, once the signal was given, the pressure that Quinn and Tatiana released easily swallowed Roxanne and Melina, but the two didn''t bridge the distance from the get-go. However, it made Roxanne and Melina take a few steps back while Quinn was the only one who took a step forward after them.


    It''s just that Quinn was holding her 6-foot pole a little differently.


    She was holding it with one hand gripped tightly on one end as the whole length was behind her.


    I thought for sure that the two would rush their opponents right from the get-go but Tatiana was just resting her weapon on her shoulder with a smile on her face.


    Doing that made Roxanne and Melina a little disheartened¡ªbecause they were being taken too lightly, but all of a sudden, a wooden pop echoed before Melina was rolling on the ground.


    ''Wait¡­''


    Even the person in charge of giving the instant rey was confused as fuck but it didn''t take long before the same sound echoed, and this time, Roxanne was on her knees, wooden sticks dropped on the floor, and clutching her forehead.


    ''Jesus fucking christ¡­''


    Before this match even started, I thought the one that was likely to use moves with finesse between Quinn and Tatiana was thetter, but what I saw just now wasn''t something I''d expect from Quinn.

 Chapter 792: Strength & Finesse

    What happened was: first, Quinn took a sideways stance where her back would be against her 6-foot staff, same hand still in the same position, but her free hand was now almost at the other end of the stick¡ªthough it wasn''t visible from Roxanne and Melina''s POVs. Furthermore, the way the stick was positioned was rtive to how each of them was looking at the end of it.


    To give a much simpler exnation, Quinn looked like she was doing some sort of trick shot while ying billiards while the two could only see the "circle" of the end of the stick, a fraction of a second before they got hit.


    With that said, after Quinn took that stance, she rxed her grip on the end of her stick before she used her free hand to violently push it all the way, then retracting it back after making contact as if nothing happened. However, what exactly happened after that was leave a perfect circr imprint on Roxanne and Melina''s foreheads that hurt more than a simple finger flick could do.


    The two were on their knees or rolling around in pain was proof of that but I didn''t even notice the majority of the de Leon family shivering in fear.


    They looked like they were reliving some nightmare hidden beneath the depths of their psyche and that wooden pop was the trigger for them to remember it with their bodies. They even instinctively touched the ce they got struck and it was all just headshots.


    ''So that''s how she got her practice¡­''


    I was actually surprised that Quinn could do such a maneuver because her weapon of choice was different from that long, long pole. If anything, she wouldn''t be able to do the same technique with her main weapon because of the shape it had.


    ''Well, unless she decides not to attach it¡ª wait, that''s totally it¡­''


    Granted her halberd-hybrid could do a lot more damage than a simple metal staff, the worst thing you could get hit by was something nigh unavoidable.


    In essence, that move was simply a thrust but it had levels to it.


    I taught a simr ss before and the way to do it was to go from point A to point B as quickly as possible, without changing directions¡ªakin to a straight punch. But this time, what Quinn added was to align her staff with the way her opponent was looking at her and her weapon.


    I''ve said it earlier but in Melina or Roxanne''s POV, they barely saw the "circle" grow in size¡ªpossibly a few millimeters¡ªbefore they got hit in the forehead.


    If it got swung to the side or got thrust at a slightly different angle, they would''ve seen it easier and would have had a higher chance to avoid it but Quinn did it with so much finesse, even I would have a hard time dodging it if I was in the same position.


    ''Imagine if it had a sharpened end¡­''


    From this point on, the whole ce just ground to a stop and if Quinn and Tatiana deemed it, they could end the match and be crowned the Champions of Champions and take the enhanced reward with them plus the two they wiped the floor with. However, Quinn took a step back with a smirk as she switched ces with Tatiana.


    ''Right¡­ this was supposed to be a tag-team match¡­''


    As Roxanne and Melina eventually got to their feet, all they saw was Tatiana wearing a maniacal smile.


    Tatiana was looking at the two like wet puppies that wandered into her yard and there was a momentary pause before she looked like she was gonna tear them apart.


    It only took a second before Tatiana disappeared from their view and quickly appeared in front of Melina, but instead of swinging her stick down, her right arm was posed for a chop. At the same time, Melina managed to raise her two sticks to block but they just broke in half like they were fucking twigs.


    Melina was just waiting to get hit at this point, because her eyes were already closed, but Tatiana went ahead and switched to Roxanne who was about to back Melina up.


    Like Melina, Roxanne was sporting this red circr spot on their foreheads¡ªthat made it a nice little target¡ªbut Tatiana had other ns.


    As Roxanne made the first swing, Tatiana lifted up in the air and kicked each of Roxanne''s hands¡ªmaking her grimace in pain and let go of her sticks¡ªbefore she flicked her wrist and hit Roxanne right on her forehead, leaving a red and swollensh.


    If the first circr spot didn''t hurt, this 3-inchsh-like spot would make it feel like a motherfucker.


    Roxanne was once again on her knees, clutching her forehead, but Melina was just about to open her eyes and see what had just happened.


    What she saw was Tatiana and Quinn towering above her like this particrmpshade while she was this particr letter "I" about to receive that particr stomping.


    It''s just that unless she was about to get double-teamed by these monsters, sexually, she should be dering her loss at that moment.


    But she didn''t.


    After a short while, let''s just say the two monsters had some "creative" way of branding the other two''s foreheads because instead of just tea-bagging them, they received the Tatiana and Quinn Dick and Balls Special that required them to get hit a few more times.


    And even if we did get to see a finals fight for the women''s division, it was still a one-sided beatdown.


    Mr. Cuervo had a little bit of hope when his assistants took the reins but he looked like he aged a few years, bled from all of his orifices, and lost a million dors from this fight''s conclusion.


    But to be fair, it was still an entertaining fight to see that didn''t leave any permanent injuries¡ªbut yeah, those brands on Roxanne and Melina''s foreheads would stay for a short bit.

 Chapter 793: Oops.

    And what came after that fight were the rewards.


    Without any question, Tatiana and Quinn both took the 1st ce spot¡ªleaving Riri the 3rd ce spot because no one dared to fight against her¡ªand their rewards were even more jackedpared to what Mikhail received.


    Tatiana and Quinn would each receive five coins, a tuned and custom vehicle of their choosing plus a driver if they request it, a "secure" room in Cuervo Heights, a "Golden Ticket" for the Pink House and the Brown House, five bottles of whatever alcohol they prefer, a full set of jewelry, a tailored dress, an assortment of weapons, and a chance to have a "night" to whoever was crowned the Champion of Champions in the men''s division.


    And yeah, Mikhail received a team that could aid him with finding their allies but the two would also receive a team that could cater to their every need.


    Sure, Roxanne and Melina might fill that role but this team was more focused on let''s say¡­ the champion''s fitness and well-being.


    It was a package to receive the ultimate edition of whatever Mr. Cuervo''s female fighters and the girls from the Pink House were being put on to make them look young, fit, strong, and attractive.


    ''I''d still prefer Mikhail''s team though¡­ Just look at the two¡­ do they even need it?''


    Well, I couldn''t say much because sometimes, someone needs some pampering every now and then just to look and feel good.


    Anyway, Riri received a little lesspared to the two but she didn''t care as much because she was already receiving the treatments, programs, or whatever the fuck they awarded the two.


    Kaley turned to Ruru, "So, what''s the package like?"


    Ruru''s eyes lit up, "Oh! It''s so~ good! We get a real nice facial¡ª"


    I instantly interjected, "Hold up¡ª"


    "Not that kind of facial!"


    "Oh¡­"


    "Stop cutting her off! Please, continue¡­"


    "Right. Aside from facials, we could have anything from a mani-pedi, a full-body massage, a few different sses here and there¡ª"


    "What kinds of sses?"


    "It''s really different. There''s one for meditation and stuff, one forbat training, pleasing your partner in different ways, cooking, physical fitness, gun training, animal husbandry, hand-to-hand, and probably everything you could think of. It gets pretty boring here when it''s not festive like this so we almost always opt for something new to learn while we pass the time.


    Trust me, it gets boring after the nth customer says sorry for cumming too fast¡­ and it''s the same customer for the whole day¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Never happened to me¡ª Ack! Kaley!"


    "Shut up, you show-off¡­ Anyway, thanks for answering that¡­ and adding¡­ that¡­"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "Aren''t some of the things you said a little too personal?"


    "Hah! I wouldn''t be embarrassed just from that! I used to¡ª Well, Riri and I used to be embarrassed at first but who cares? It''s just less bullets to throw at us in the future, right?"


    Kaley faintly smiled, "I see¡­ You got a point. It''s just sometimes, I get a little caught up and¡ª"


    Ruru cut her off, "Didn''t you two just have sex on that PortaPotty over there?"


    "Yeah¡­ but I was really horny at that time¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter~ You did what you wanted, right? That''s what matters. Not if it''s embarrassing or not¡­ Well, that sounded cooler in my head but yeah, we sometimes do stuff we''re not cool with but it gets better with time. Once you find that special something¡­ or someone¡­ do whatever the fuck you two want even if it''s embarrassing and everyone''s looking¡­"


    I interjected, "Why does it sounds like you just want us to fuck while everyone''s watching?"


    "Umm¡­ yeah¡ª Wait, it really does sound cooler in my head! That''s one of the things I want to say but I can''t just a-articte well¡ª"


    I waved her off, "I kinda get the point you''re trying to get across but yeah, there''s also something special about doing something intimate where you and your partner were the only ones present. Sure, a few others might join in but that ce where all of you could let loose and be yourselves is something else too."


    Kaley added, "There''s also a difference between not feeling embarrassed about what you''re doing and feeling safe to be yourself and do whatever you want."


    Ruru was looking at us attentively, "I see. It''s kinda like the first time Riri and I did it with each other¡­ It felt so different and special¡­"


    I actually thought Kaley would give an adverse reaction¡ªmuch like the few who were listening in to our conversation¡ªbut like always, she looked at Ruru with epting eyes that had no judgment of any sort.


    I dunno how we got to this topic but Riri eventually came up with Quinn and Tatiana and the first thing she said was:


    "Hmm? Why do you keep thinking of whether you should kiss Kaley or not, sis? Shouldn''t you ask her if she wanted a kiss or not?"


    "WHA¡ª RIRI! Don''t say our thoughts out loud!"


    "OUR?! That''s all you, sis! Well, I wouldn''t mind having a peck or two¡­"


    I started to hold Kaley even tighter, "Hold up¡ª"


    Riri and Ruru started talking at the same time, "It''s just a kiss? You''ve done worse!"


    "Worse?! I just fucking sat down!"


    "..." Kaley tried to say a word but she kept her mouth shut.


    The twins sighed heavily, "Typical of a guy to do that¡­"


    We just started another back and forth but little did I know that the champions from the men''s division were being introduced one by one. Our banter was getting more and more heated by the second and at the same time I stood up and shouted at the top of my lungs, Mr. Cuervo actually asked me to stand up and say a little something for the otherpetitors.


    And this was what came out:


    "HAH! I''LL FUCK ALL OF YOU WITHOUT ISSUE! FUCKING TRY ME THEN!"


    [Huh?] Mr. Cuervo looked fucking surprised.


    Then the retaliation started.


    [THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!]


    [HE''S TALKING TO ME, RIGHT?!]


    [JUST BECAUSE YOU BEAT BENJIE DOESN''T MEAN YOU''D GET OFF SCOT-FREE!]


    [COME AT ME THEN!]


    [LET''S BET EVERYTHING ON THE LINE, MOTHERFUCKER!]


    [YOU''RE JUST STRONG WITH YOUR SWORD, PUTO!]


    [BEING A HEAD MADE THIS BITCH TOO COCKY!]


    [COME AT ME THEN, PRETTY FACE!]


    [PAPI CHULO HAS GONE PAPI COCKY, EH?!]


    [BET, BITCH!]


    [BENJIE WAS JUST TIRED WHEN YOU FOUGHT HIM, DUMBASS!]


    [FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT!]


    [WALK THE WALK, DUMB KID!]


    ''What the fuck did I do?''

 Chapter 794: Finals

    If I didn''t sign up for a beating already, I didn''t even notice how the final-final event would be conducted. I was 100% sure that it''d be the same tournament-styledder match but the one I was reading on the big screen was 100% different.


    [King of the Hill: Battle Royale! All or Nothing!]


    I wasn''t sure if it was done to save time¡ªbecause it was really close to sunrise¡ªbut as long as we wouldn''t get dropped on an ind to scavenge weapons and avoid the storm, I''d be happy to take part in it.


    ''Not to throw shade at Mr. Cuervo but this arc¡ª err, game night is too fucking long! Almost 100 chapters¡ª err, I mean, if it''s a novel, it would probably take about that long to conclude¡­ right¡­ that''s it¡­ right¡­''


    It''s just that after my little outburst, I had an inkling that everyone else would start gunning for me, but I have a few allies that might have had my back: Ilya, Niks, and Alexei.


    From the time I''ve been here up to this point, I never did dictate what they can or cannot do because their actual CO, Artem, was present. However, Artem didn''t do as much CO''ing as I thought he would as well and left the three to their own devices¡ªaside from a few games.


    And now since they were required to join the final game, if they wanted it, they could gang up on me as well.


    I wouldn''t take it against them¡ªbecause it was all within the scope of the rules¡ªbut I''m sure as hell wouldn''t let them off as easily.


    But surprisingly enough, the three approached me to discuss strategy.


    Niks spoke up, "Hey. Ilya and I decided to hover a few feet in front of you to receive the initial wave while Alexei acts as your backup. You''re good in a fight as anyone but you''ll tire out faster than you can imagine. So, we three decided to act as your shield so you could conserve your energy for the stronger ones but I''m sure a few would slip past us."


    Ilya continued, "From what you said earlier, everyone will definitely be gunning for you¡ªespecially the ones from the Castillo and the Alvarez Family, but I couldn''t say for the other participants. You seem to have made a good impression on them. I was actually worried about Benjie but since you took him out, we''ll have less trouble with his followers."


    Alexei sighed heavily, "I''ll be honest here. I''ve been too cold for far too long and I''m only gonna be a little help¡­ I shouldn''t have won thatst game¡­ being a champion is too troublesome."


    Ilya scoffed, "Shut up. Aren''t you the one who keeps requesting girls that looks like Vera¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! MICHELLE?! KAORI?! KATE?!"


    "Everyone, dude. Everyone told on ya¡­ you''re weirding them out."


    Riri and Ruru suddenly had a realization, "Oh~ So, you''re that guy? Really weird, dude¡­"


    "WHA¡ª FUCK ALL OF YOU! CAN''T WE JUST FUCK ''EM ALL UP?! THIS PLAN WOULD JUST FLY OUT THE WINDOW THE MOMENT WE GET HIT!"


    I finally joined in, "I agree with that, actually."


    "Huh?"


    "HUH?!"


    "Told ya, two. He gets it."


    "I''m getting pretty tired, actually. I wanna end this as quickly as I can. If we win, cool. But if we lose, that''s cool too. But if any of us are in thest batch, either tap out or fight with all you got, because I will."


    From that point on, the three were actually in agreement in my decision because at the end of the day, the games were just a means to have some fun¡ªbashing heads and cracking bones kind of fun.


    It didn''t take long before every male champion in existence¡ªexcept for Benjie and a few others that were too injured¡ªwere now inside the y area, and the majority was looking directly at me.


    And to pour some jet fuel into the ze, I smirked before I threw them double-birds in the air for everyone to see.


    [WE''RE TAKING HIM DOWN FIRST, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!]


    [HE''S DEFINITELY GOING DOWN!]


    [FUCK IT, LET''S BRING THE STRONGEST GUY DOWN!]


    [HE''S NOT THE FUCKING STRONGEST! I AM!]


    [WHA¡ª FUCK YOU! I BEAT YOU LAST TIME!]


    [SHADDAP! I CAN BEAT ALL OF YOU WITH ONE HAND! NO HOMO!]


    [WHAT THE FUCK¡ª ARE WE FUCKING HIM OR NOT?!]


    [Dude¡­ That sounds so wrong¡­]


    [WANNA FUCKING PIECE OF ME?! LET''S FUCKING GO RIGHT NOW?!]


    ''The fuck is going on?''


    For the life of me, I can''t believe how some of these folks became champions but I''ve seen footage from way, way back. It could be a case of being in the right ce and in the right time though there were still a handful I was wary of.


    Them being the head of the Alvarez Family and the de Leon Family, Mr. Ongkiko Alvarez and Mr. Mauro "No. 3" de Leon.


    ''It''ll be on him to get injured on his wedding day¡­''


    I actually thought that I was the only head that participated in the games but it seemed that these two were champions in their own right. Granted the footage of them iming their title was probably non-existent or wasn''t recorded, their fists would probably do the talking.


    It''s just that it felt weird imagining a budget or should I say another Mr. Cuervo and a male version of Quinn¡ªbut a little shorter¡ªhaving a fist fight with me.


    With that said, the moment the signal was given, the majority just rushed at us four and it almost felt like the three martial artists who fended off this axe gang from this certain movie. But much to my team''s surprise, I actually advanced and flicked my body forward to receive the first few offerings and the rush was just unbelievable.


    The first one went head-first into my knee while the second one ate a right and left hook with his jaw.


    I didn''t even care if I knocked them out or not because the downpour was almost like getting surrounded by ferals left, right, and center.


    My main focus in this skirmish was to be in a position where I could slip in and out while giving knockout blows and a bunch of people that were red in the face, bodies ''roided up, and eager to send a punch to my face weren''t exactly the ones that could easily work together.


    This was almost like the same scenario with me and Mikhail on the de Leon Family''s turn but this time, the blows that I might receive could actually end me.


    However, the most effective way in handling a swarm of people was a direct showing of overwhelming brute force.


    Not everyone was actually aiming for me¡ªlike the Garcia Family and the Cuervo Family sneaking in shots toward distracted participants but the ones that did were now thinking of backing out.


    What happened was after I took down my first two victims, I then grabbed onto a poor champion''s arm before twisting it and pushing it forward a certain way, making his elbow and shoulder pop from its socket in session.


    The guy was just screaming in pain, trying his best to get out of my hold but before I did, I sent the ''wrong'' kick to the one that was about to perform a rear-naked choke from behind me¡ªlucky for him because I was still wearing my shoe, but it still left a deep and bruised mark on his torso.


    I actually felt one of his ribs cracking but I was too caught up by everyone else as I dislodged his jaw by a quick change-up kick by using my other foot.


    All I had to do was nestle my right foot into his torso for a second longer as I used it as a steppingdder, lifting myself up in the air and hitting the left side of his jaw.


    Yes, keeping low in the ground to stay mobile was the best course of action in fighting a bunch of people but doing that made everyone else grimace and stop in their tracks.


    Everyone knew the pain of getting an injury and it also equaled not getting a lot of work or "action", so it made everyone else question if going against me was even fucking worth it? At the end of this event, after whoever was crowned the Champion of Champions, everyone that survived was expected to have a good time, but what could they say about the injured fighters?


    At most, the only good thing that they''d experience was probably the quietness of the infirmary, probably a dose of morphine, and if they''re lucky, have a nurse give them a little "hand", but the afterparty was actually the wildest thing I''ve ever witnessed and I wasn''t even part of itst time.


    And to actually send my point across, another victim came at the right time and I kicked his dick and balls like I was aiming for a field goal.

 Chapter 795: Finals2

    It only took a second¡ªno, a fraction of it for everyone close to instinctively mp their thighs shut but I had already lifted up in the air to kick another champion''s head that got into my range.


    I easily twisted my body clockwise while I was in the air, and my right foot just made direct contact with the side of his face before he coughed out his fake teeth.


    His fake teeth were made of gold so it didn''t matter if it got stepped on, but he should count himself lucky because he''d have arger airway to breathe from because my other foot that was alsoing for his face changed trajectory¡ªdeviated from the curve and just went under and straight for his nose.


    That move was the variation of the kick I used to take down Artem and let''s be honest, one of my top fighters took it head on and fell, how could this measly champion with fake teeth and beer bellypare?


    With that said, I quickly ran to a more open area once the guy fell on his back because there were still a lot more people gunning for me.


    I could see my group busy with a few people that went for them instead, and the ones I was wary of were in the same predicament.


    Mauro was in a full-on brawl with one of the bigger guys while Mr. Alvarez was receiving any open challenges he would get from the other families. Granted the two were surrounded by some of their people, they were only present to make sure that their head finishes their 1-on-1 fight cleanly.


    I, on the other hand, was like a certain bard that bedded each woman of the people that were chasing after me, and they were here to take revenge.


    However, I was like that certain guy that kept one-hit pping each and every one of his family members from their gathering because none of them came close to taking revenge.


    I even opted for more showy moves to clear out the dregs because sometimes, throwing an overhead punch or a double spinning kick was awesome.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the fools realized that they were acting on impulse by going for me first, so they tried to slow it down for a short bit. It''s just that once they decided to do that, I took the initiative instead of just receiving them so in essence, nothing much has changed for them.


    At that point, my knuckles and my boots were stained with different blood samples but I eventually bumped into one of the legit champions from the Cuervo Family, Zack.


    He looked like he had juste out of an intense workout but the only thing he was wearing was the same old trunks he was wearing earlier. His huge frame along with his huge muscles were rippling with his sweat and this was what Mikhail would look like if he tried to get to single-digit body fat.


    ''Mikhail''s still taller though¡­''


    Everyone else that tried to have a piece of me backed off, the same with the other people that were challenging him.


    "Yo, I thought you were smaller in person. The name''s Zack, by the way."


    "Heh, the name''s Sky. Wanna fight?"


    "Yep."


    "Alright¡ª"


    Right from the get-go, it looked like Zack shrunk several inches but he actually lowered his stance as he tried to grab onto my legs. Furthermore, the way that he ducked down and lunged at me was just too fucking fast for his size, and he didn''t even care when I was about to receive him with my right knee.


    Anyone else would just stop mid-way to save their face from being caved-in but this motherfucker felt like he could take it.


    "BRING IT!"


    It only took a second before his head collided with my right knee but the guy wore a smirk as he took it and managed to get ahold of my pants. Furthermore, his sheer weight was about to push us down to the ground and like what it looked like was gonna happen, happened.


    I wasn''t able to stop him from taking me to the ground but to everyone''s surprise, I just got up as easily while Zack was lying t on his face.


    "WHAT?!"


    [WHAT?!]


    "DAFUQ DID JUST HAPPEN?!"


    Everyone was still trying to figure out what I did but I was already picking out my next victim. Zack was still lying on his face when I left him but I was pretty sure that he would be able to get up in a few more seconds.


    However, being knocked out for even just a bit would count as a loss¡ªespecially if everyone witnessed the knockout¡ªand it basically means that Zack was already out of thepetition.


    Well, what actually happened was the moment we made contact, my right knee wasn''t the only thing that made contact with his head.


    I made sure that he''d only focus on my knee, that he felt so sure he could take head-on, but there was more to it than that. I mmed both of his ears and part of his temple with my hands¡ªhitting it with closed fists but on the palm side, like that monkey toy that would ng its cymbals¡ªat the same moment my knee made contact with his forehead.


    He could probably survive that blow but he''d have to sleep for a few seconds.


    Rattling your brain was a huge no-no but yeah, it would take a couple of seconds for it to take effect.


    "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!"


    "WHY ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING LIKE THAT?!"


    I was chasing down one of Mason''s underlings that was actually a champion but I caught a glimpse of Zack looking at me as he climbed off the y area. He looked a bit dejected from losing this early but it felt like this wasn''t gonna be thest time that we''d cross fists.

 Chapter 796: New Finals

    I just ced the thought in the back of my mind because the guy I was chasing down turned around and decided to barter with me. He had his arms stretched out like he was trying to conjure an energy ball and I only stopped to give him a bit of respect from doing that.


    "Hey! Hey! Let''s make a deal!"


    "Nope!"


    "Wha¡ª"


    I just clocked the guy on his jaw before I left him with a tooth missing and I just went on my merry way.


    The crowd just started dyingughing from that very short interaction but some of them were tuned in to the other fights.


    My group was doing particrly well, given the circumstances, but Alexei had already dropped out when he was about to get mobbed. Niks and Ilya had each other''s back, for the most part, and they were piling bodies on their own side of the y area.


    I can''t believe thest event would be reduced to such chaos but the people from the viewing tforms were loving it.


    They''ve already seen intense fights from the women''s division and since this was thest event, it was time for them to see something on the side of entertainment. Granted we could have seen the same fights on our end, it was interesting to see if the participants could make something out of it.


    With that said, I eventually bumped with Dan, the middle-aged dude that signed with the Garcia Family, and he opened up a proposal I was willing to partake in.


    "No kicks?"


    "No kicks."


    "Hmm~"


    "That''s the only way for this match to be fair."


    "Heh. What''s in it for me?"


    "Ah¡ª Well~ You get to humor an old guy''s wish."


    "Alright. But I call you Lieutenant Dan if you lose."


    "Huh?"


    "Just agree!"


    "Sure¡­"


    Ignoring Mason and co.''s curses from the viewing tform because I made a deal with future Lt. Dan, I actually assumed a boxing stance to fight fairly. I was lightly bouncing from my orthodox stance while he kept his feet nted on the ground.


    We were slowly inching towards each other¡ªright until we were in punching range¡ªbut I got hit with a crisp jab when I caught him about to send a frontal kick.


    I wiped my bloody nose with a devilish smile, "You motherfucker¡ª"


    "I didn''t kick you, right? I just feigned kicking you¡ª"


    Much to his surprise, I licked my lips as I ducked down and lunged at him¡ªalmost copying Zack''s movements¡ªand he was toote to shuffle back as I grabbed hold of his right ankle.


    "Fooled me once¡­"


    "Shit¡ª"


    ''No kicking still¡­ I just grabbed him¡­''


    Dan was still moving backward as I mped on his heel, but I suddenly tripped him down by pulling hard with my left arm. However, I still had a firm grasp on his ankle and I pulled him even more before I mounted him fully.


    "Hey, kid! Wait a second¡ª"


    "Ice your face after this, yeah?"


    "Fuck¡ª"


    It only took a second before I sent punches and elbows straight to his wrinkled face and he''d probably look better if he got stung by a swarm of bees. I died a little inside because I thought he was still a straight-shooter but being in this ce for so long could change his behavior.


    Despite that, he epted his loss honorably and he offered a fistbump before climbing off the y area.


    To my surprise, there were fewer people than I thought and Mr. Alvarez was just staring at me with the rest of his crew. He looked he just went for a short jog but even his hair was still slicked back and looked cool as fuck. However, on the other side of the y area, Mauro looked like he actually went for a brawl because aside from his bleeding nose, his left eye was bruised and half-shut.


    It''s just that Mauro took down more people¡ªalmost all at the same time¡ªwhile Mr. Alvarez had strict rules with his own mano y mano use.


    With that said, what I saw next was Niks and Ilya, splitting off and heading to each of the heads'' turfs in the y area before issuing a challenge.


    Niks went straight for Mr. Alvarez while Ilya just threw a "Yo! Let''s fight" to Mauro.


    Funnily enough, the rest of Mr. Alvarez''s crew gave way while Mauro was the one to approach Ilya. Mr. Alvarez was waiting inside the circle of dirt they made themselves while Mauro was about to meet Ilya halfway.


    Once each pair was face to face, Mr. Alvarez and Niks properly introduced themselves before assuming a boxing stance but Mauro and Ilya just threw whatever sh move that came to mind.


    Almost instantly, Mr. Alvarez and Niks'' fight got overshadowed by Mauro and Ilya, and their match was now on the big screen.


    Even I disappeared from their view because no one else dared to square up against me and I was just sitting pretty in one portion of the y area.


    With that said, Ilya''s fighting style changed drastically because from thest time I met him, his movements were explosive yetpact but this time, a bit of showmanship was involved. He was even rallying the crowd at one point but Mauro''s clout was just bigger than his.


    The de Leon Family was just chanting Mauro''s name and they went wild when he went for a simultaneous hit. He could''ve easily avoided Ilya''s telegraphed hook but he wanted a taste to make sure he was squaring up with someone worthy.


    However, his face just contorted from pain when he noticed that Ilya''s fist was now reced with a foot because Ilya actually threw his head backward¡ªfrom their simultaneous hit¡ªand used the momentum to spin forward and send a kick from an impossible angle.


    ''That''s almost like Eddy''s movements¡­''


    Mauro just exhaled hard and grabbed hold of Ilya''s cor but to everyone''s surprise, Ilya did the same even with the height disadvantage.

 Chapter 797: New Fucking Final

    Without even blinking, the two just gave each other a devilish smile before they smashed each other''s face alternatingly. Unlike Mikhail and Bob, Mauro and Ilya were giving each other closed-fist punches with full power. I would''ve preferred kiting my enemy and not getting a single hit but this was their fight, not mine.


    With each hit, their heads would just blow back from the impact but since they were holding onto each other''s cor, they were actually keeping each other stable. They took each hit head-on, only gritting their teeth before impact, but it didn''t take long before it became a bloody mess.


    The left side of Ilya''s face was already getting bruised while Mauro''s left eye waspletely shut.


    Looking at it normally, it would look like they were just giving each other a free hit but looking at it closely, Ilya had the slight advantage. Granted Mauro was basically punching down on the left side of Ilya''s face, but Ilya was only aiming for his left eye.


    It''s just that Mauro''s fist¡ªgranted his size¡ªwas fucking huge, it was almost the size of Ilya''s head. But not only that, almost all of the time, a huge fucking frame equals huge fucking constitution and if Ilya doesn''t finish it quicker, he''d run out of lifepoints soon.


    Their match-up was basically a David VS Goliath but this time, Goliath was about toe out on top.


    With that said, my eyes were glued to their fight but I suddenly felt a surge of killing intent that made me turn my head to the side.


    ''Who''s this motherfucker¡ª''


    Just as I was about to tell that guy off from disturbing my viewing pleasure, I had to tilt my head sideways to avoid a sudden eye-gouge. I fucking thought that Benjie rose from the dead for a moment, but turns out, it was one of his puppies looking to take revenge.


    The way the motherfucker carried himself was just too much of a fucking giveaway, and I just abruptly grabbed his neck before I tried to throw him on the ground.


    "Lie. The fuck. Down!"


    For a split second, he tried to turn it around by performing a flying arm bar but I smashed his head on the ground first before he even managed to straighten my arm. Granted I didn''te out unscathed¡ªsince some of his nails dug into my arm¡ªbut like Benjie, he''d probably be out for the remainder of this event.


    But to everyone''s surprise, I kicked the unconscious motherfucker on his torso, probably breaking a rib or two.


    ''Double-tap¡­ Always¡­''


    I was happy that I ended my match with him as fast as possible but I was disappointed when I tuned back to Ilya and Mauro''s match. I had an inkling that Ilya had a chance to turn it around but this time, the size difference decided the match.


    Ilya was already being helped off the stage by Mauro''s underlings but when I turned to the big screen, luckily enough, an instant rey was shown.


    It showed the final moment when Ilya eventually opted to purposefully throw his head back to reduce the damage, but Mauro didn''t care, he received one more solid hit to his left eye but hisst punch caught Ilya off-guard. The punch just came at an off-beat tempo¡ªtotally different from the punches he threw earlier¡ªmaking Ilya miss the timing and eat the punch with his mouth.


    Ilya''s head actually blew back without theatrics but he didn''t hit the ground because Mauro still kept a tight hold on his cor.


    He could''ve piled on more punches to double or triple-tap but he knew when to stop.


    At this point, he was actually looking at me with his only working eye, but Ipletely snubbed him as I turned to Niks and Mr. Alvarez''s match.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    ''I''m not missing another match¡­''


    But to add insult to injury, I shouted back at the top of my lungs, "REST, DUMB FUCK! I''M NOT GONNA HEAR THE I WAS ALREADY TIRED EXCUSE WHEN I BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    "BITCH! FUCKING TRY ME¡ª"


    "I''M NOT GONNA HEAR THE I ONLY HAD ONE EYE EXCUSE TOO! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO BENJIE, YOU COULD CALL IT QUITS NOW SO YOU''D HAVE A GREAT NIGHT¡ª ERR, MORNING WITH YOUR WIFE! CONGRATS BY THE WAY¡ª"


    Turns out, I just spilled some jet fuel to the fire and the huge ze wasing straight at me. He looked like a chiseled refrigerator that grew legs but I positioned myself in a way so ''that'' would happen.


    ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­''


    "GRCHHKKK!"


    What happened was Benjie''s puppy who was lying unconscious got stepped on by the rampaging gori, and Mr. Cuervo''s medical team had to run for his help. I guess they were also too focused on watching the match¡ªmissing the guypletely¡ªbut only a few people cared about that motherfucker.


    With that said, I eventually stopped messing around because my body was already cold from the brief encounters and Mauro''s body was still pumped full of adrenaline. Steam was almosting out of his body and his mere aura was enough to engulf anyone that was frail to stand in his presence.


    But that wouldn''t work on me.


    It only took a second before I released pressure that shed with his own, but to preserve my own existence, I had to aim for his weak spots.


    Mauro''s left eye was swollen andpletely shut and I just disappeared from his view when I entered his blindspot. Doing that definitely messed with his charge but to my surprise, he swung wildly and threw a left hook that was enough to break a tree in half. Despite that, all he hit was air but if I somehow got grazed with that, the final match would be between him and Mr. Alvarez.


    Dodging it at thest second made me forget to throw a middle kick to his torso but once I opted for a low kick instead, another gust of wind came barreling when he threw another punch without looking.

 Chapter 798: New Fucking Fuck Final 2

    Mauro''s first Hail Mary Punch actually almost hit me square in the head but the second one almost did the same thing¡ªbut with more uracy. I momentarily thought that Mauro might be hiding a twin somewhere, dictating my location, but that was just too much of a coincidence to happen.


    If anything, he might just have something that I also have.


    ''One way to know¡­''


    The moment I dodged his second punch from the skin of my teeth, I backed away and moved to his blindspot before I kicked my right shoe off, toward the same spot I kicked him.


    *WHOOOOOSH*


    Like clockwork, even in a different orientation, the path that Mauro''s punch took would''ve hit me square in the head¡ªinstantly knocking me out. But this time, I sent him my version of the substitution jutsu to discover one of his hidden talents, which was something I was also in control of.


    Spatial awareness.


    Just from judging from where he got hit andbining it with how tall I was, he easily figured out the location of where my body¡ªmy head would be. Some factors might be from how my body would be posed after performing such a move¡ªfrom watching me multiple times, and it was a deadly technique to have if used correctly.


    ''Or I could just be overthinking¡ª''


    I was still in the middle of my thoughts when Mauro came in for another rush, and he was hiding a smirk as he threw his first punch.


    Each of his punches didn''t contain an ounce of holding back because each of them carried a gust of wind that could blow a person''s skirt off. However, all it did was cool me down because I kept dodging him at angles his huge body cannot just as easily send a punch to.


    ''Is he aware he has excellent spatial awareness though?''


    He had great constitution and strength with his size but there were also disadvantages that came with it.


    With that said, my first priority was to kick my other shoe off to bnce my footing but Mauro''s rush wasing close to a minute. It sounded short but even 30 seconds of sending full power shots to thin air could exhaust someone. Moreso, if they had been on a brutal part of a battle royal.


    Despite that, Mauro didn''t even look tired but he grimaced when I timed my right elbow with his right hook.


    My counter definitely stopped him in his tracks because not only he got hurt from hitting something harder than his knuckles, I aimed for his little¡ªwell, big pinky and made it bend horribly.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    Mauro was still in mid-cursing when I finally managed to loosen the shoce from my left shoe and kicked it straight to his face.


    "I''M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"


    I watched as Mauro''s face got redder and redder and the motherfucker actually lifted up in the air and sent me a jumping spinning kick of his own. It definitely wasn''t graceful but if it hits, I''m gonna be roommates with the psycho I fucked up.


    With that said, I also jumped in the air and nestled my hands on his right leg but the force behind it just made me tumble and roll a few times on the ground as I flew.


    Mauronded safely¡ªbut with a dust cloud¡ªand he didn''t even try to catch his breath as he came for me again.


    "BREATHE, YOU MEATHEAD! DO YOU HAVE FOUR SETS OF LUNGS?!"


    "FUCK YOU! YOU''RE THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING SHIT I''VE FOUGHT!"


    "WHY, THANK YOU!"


    "THAT''S NOT A FUCKING COMPLIMENT! JUST GET HIT!"


    "NOPE!"


    At this point, not only was Mauro at the disadvantage because of his eye, but also because of his nose because it was now bleeding from the small surprise it got. Bleeding through your nose could actually affect someone''s breathing and if you''re a huge guy who was exerting himself nonstop, it would prove difficult to continue such a rush.


    I can actually see Mauro have a hard time breathing but if I didn''t see his finishing punch from the big screen, I would''ve opted for a big move already.


    Because from the very start of our fight, I was partially monitoring the cadence of his attacks and it was all partly simr. I couldn''t figure out his actual cadence unless I was his sparring partner for a time, and one rey¡ªwhile actually dodging lethal attacks head-on¡ªwould make analyzing and processing his movements difficult.


    However, the only thing I noticed was that his rush was getting slower and slower and the power behind them was getting weaker and weaker.


    I wasn''t exactly sure if he was feigning weakness but the one thing I was 100% sure of was that I was tiring him out.


    My provocations and my slimy and slick dodges were slowly whittling him away and to everyone''s fucking surprise, he actually stopped before shouting at the top of his lungs.


    "RAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! FUCK THIS SHIT!!! I''M FUCKING TIRED! I''M OUT!"


    "Really?"


    "SHUT UP! YOU''RE NOT FIGHTING ME SO I''M FUCKING OUT! HAVE FUN WITH WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU''RE DOING!"


    "I could let you hit me once?"


    "YOU LITTLE¡ª Really?"


    "Nope."


    "..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''M¡ª I''m so fucking done with you¡­"


    With ast act of defiance, Mauro actually picked up my boots¡ªand when I thought he was gonna hand them to me¡ªhe spun them around and threw them in different directions like the certain balls that would fly off after the wishes were granted. In turn, he got thestugh while I was stunned in ce.


    "My¡­ My boots¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK FOR THEM FOR ALL I CARE! ANYONE WHO FINDS THEM AND HIDES THEM WILL GET A REWARD FROM ME!"


    "W-WHAT?! THAT''S NOT¡ª"


    "SHADDAP! PLAYING WITH ME ON MY WEDDING DAY¡ª"


    "Actually, that was yesterday¡ª"


    "I SAID, SHADDAP! YOU FUCKING SMART-ASS, THIS ISN''T OVER! WE WILL FIGHT AGAIN FAIR AND SQUARE, NO FUCKING TRICKS! YOUR TEAMMATE HAD THE GREAT IDEA! WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"


    "Again, no. That just favors you¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    Eventually, Mauro just left the y area with his underlings and I turned to what was happening between Mr. Alvarez and Niks.

 Chapter 799: Mr. Alvarez - Untouchable

    I''ve only been gone for a few minutes but it was safe to say that Niks looked like he ran a marathon. His sweat was dripping down from his body¡ªafter the majority had already soaked his clothes but not only that, his speed had slowed considerably and he was hard of breathing.


    However, those were not the things that mainly caught my attention because like I said earlier, Niks just looked like he ran a marathon, not participated in a boxing match.


    Niks'' face was clear of any bruises or swelling and not even a small cut was present. He just looked like he did a 10-minute HIIT workout with Mr. Alvarez but the same couldn''t be said from thetter.


    From the other side of their human ring, Mr. Alvarez looked the same as earlier but his eyes werepletely glued to his opponent. His lead shoulder was the only thing protecting his face but to my surprise, he looked like he didn''t get hit either. Sure, his slicked-back hair looked a little frazzled but it didn''t take long before I realized what was happening.


    Niks was a solid fighter but if certain restrictions were ced, he could easily be led around like a puppy.


    After he caught his breathing, he slowly inched closer before exploding in an instant¡ªbridging the distance between him and Mr. Alvarez to mere inches¡ªbefore sending in a rush of punches.


    However, Mr. Alvarez just stepped in with his lead shoulder¡ªwithout bothering to put up any guard¡ªwalking into each of Niks'' punches but avoiding them within a fraction of a second.


    This was gonna sound weird for some people but Mr. Alvarez''s head game was too fucking high level.


    Niks'' punches would either misspletely, brush off to side of his opponent''s temple, or in some cases, slip off and get redirected by Mr. Alvarez''s shoulder.


    It was as if Mr. Alvarez could read a second into the future because none of the punches Niks threw managed tond cleanly¡ªor even barely.


    I was actually surprised by this high-level disy because if we''re talking about machismo shit, it would almost always involve giving the hardest punches while taking them head-on.


    Mr. Alvarez''s fighting style was simr to the boxing champ he shared the samest name with¡ªCanelo Alvarez, a tinge of Joe Frazier, maybe also a smidge of Mayweather, but if I was gonna pick a single one, it would be none other than:


    Nicolino Lhe, The Untouchable.


    Before the world ended, I''ve seen a lot of older clips from Lhe though at first, it was apanied by meme-like music because of the way he fights. It was almostical from the way his opponents would almost always miss their mark¡ªas if the whole fight was choreographed.


    But once I had a better understanding of the Hall of Famer, I realized how frightening¡ªand incredibly frustrating to be on the other side of the ring.


    And if I remember correctly, one of his opponents actually refused to fight him in the 10th round not only because of exhaustion from constantly hitting air but also frustration.


    Granted we could say that I did the same thing while fighting Mauro but I would sneak in hits when I have the chance.


    Mr. Alvarez on the other hand was in his own world, ying with his food as long as he fancied them. I know that he put down bodies from his matches but it was always from a single punch¡ªwhen his opponent waspletely tired and had no way of fighting back.


    With that said, the two were still going at it for a while and Mr. Alvarez''s face showed approval towards Niks'' stamina and fighting spirit. Most of his opponents have probably retired much, much earlier but the one he was facing now was still firing on all cylinders even though he was close to running out of juice.


    At one point, I thought Niks would opt to use more than just punches but he stuck to the restrictions ced on him before they started.


    Slowly but surely, Niks lost the breath that he collected and Mr. Alvarez gave him this certain look as he finally took his own step forward.


    I could see the way Mr. Alvarez''s eyes changed as he took one final look at his opponent, and the veins on his arms just protruded before they disappeared from view.


    ''That''s one fast one-two¡­ ''


    The next thing we saw, Niks was on his ass but he was very much conscious. His chest was heaving up and down but he tensed when Mr. Alvarez walked up to him. He thought Mr. Alvarez would give him another blow but he offered his hand so that he could stand up.


    Once Niks was helped up, he still looked a little pissed off but Mr. Alvarez had a huge smile on his face and he even patted his head¡ªwhich made Niks frustrated a little more¡ªfor a job well done.


    He could''ve done a lot more¡ªor even won if he didn''t adhere to Mr. Alvarez''s restrictions but a loss was still a loss.


    The crowd gave him cheers forsting that long but despite his efforts, Mr. Alvarez still looked like a shredded middle-aged man, wearing only half of his suit, and sporting a slick haircut.


    Well, it didn''t take long before his gazended onto me, and he wore a bright smile as he beckoned me over.


    I slowly made my way over to their ring and I greeted him with a simple bow, "Nice fight. I''m d I watched you for a bit."


    "Is that so? I hope you''ve rested enough."


    "How about you?"


    "I''m still warming up. Those guys barely counted as a workout."


    "Same."


    Mauro shouted from the viewing tforms, "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU FUCKING EEL?!"


    It didn''t take long before Mauro got shushed by Elsa but Mr. Alvarez and I audibly shared augh. However, there was a few seconds of silence before Mr. Alvarez''s expression turned solemn.


    "Alright. I''ll tell you the same thing I said to anyone that wanted to face me¡ª"


    "Only boxing?"


    "Hah! Something like that. Well, I won''t forbid you from using your whole arsenal but if you want to beat me, you''d have to beat me where I''m good at."


    I chuckled as I scratched my head, "By limiting myself? Don''t you want to fight me at my best too?"


    Mr. Alvarez stifled augh, "Kid, I''ve watched you fight. You''re at your best when you''re holding your de, you''re already limiting yourself. But me? I''m old. You could definitely beat me if you start throwing kicks but how fun would it be¡ªfor me, to humor my request?"


    "Hmmm~"


    "I promise you this: If you follow my rules and you knock me down, I''ll give you the win and everyone in my party here will leave with me. They''re just here to, you know, remove all the distractions. Oh! I''ll have to thank you for not interrupting my fight with your soldier earlier. I appreciate that. So, what''s it gonna be?"


    I looked at Mr. Alvarez for a brief moment before I answered, "Alright. Fine."


    "Great¡ª"


    "But answer me this first."


    "Hmm?"


    "Who''s your family''s best fighter?"


    Mr. Alvarez looked at me like I endorsed a pyramiding scheme to him, "Huh? Me? Is that even a question?"


    "Aside from you."


    "Oh! My wife, she''s the only one that could get me on my knees¡ª"


    I chortled, "You motherfucker, in this human ring of yours, who''s your golden goose?"


    "Ah¡­"


    Once I finally set all of the parameters right, Mr. Alvarez turned to his constituents before beckoning one of them toe closer.


    "Oi¡­e over here for a sec¡­"


    "..."


    The guy he beckoned over was still wearing a full suit and he was slightly looking down on me because of his height. He was a couple of inches taller than me and he had a bnced physique¡ªdifferentpared to the rest of Mr. Alvarez''s entourage.


    However, it eventually urred to me that he had no intention whatsoever of throwing down because the reason I asked for him was to challenge him to a match first, so that his boss could rest a little, but there wasn''t any desire in his eyes.


    ''Bummer¡­ Everyone else looked like they wanted a piece of me¡­''


    Mr. Alvarez then spoke behind me, bringing me back to reality, "So? What else do you want?"


    I sighed as I shook my head, turning back to Mr. Alvarez, "I guess I won''t let you take a rest, he doesn''t want to fight me."


    Mr. Alvarez''s eyes suddenly showed delight, "Oh? You can tell? Good, good¡­ Perhaps¡ª No, that''ll be for another day."


    "Hmm?"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored me, "Alright, boys¡­ We''re gonna start. There''s a few more stragglers but keep them away. Here we go¡ª"


    He was still in mid-sentence when his demeanorpletely changed, but the feeling I got from facing him was totally different from all of the people I''ve fought.


    I felt like I was a little kid that was ying hero and monster with his dad. Like those times when I would just put on a cape and hold whatever stick or toy as a sword to defeat the monster that was my dad, who would just pretend to die when I gave him the final blow.


    With that said, Mr. Alvarez''s whole body looked like it was just too full of fucking openings, my body almost moved on its own. With the distance we have between us, I was fucking sure that I''d be able to smack his face but at the same time, just from watching him toy around with Niks, he''d be able to dodge it just as easily.


    ''Hmm...''


    "What are you waiting for, kid? Move!"

 Chapter 800: PUNCH ME!

    Just the way Mr. Alvarez was looking at me was ticking me off. It was as if he already knew that I would miss every punch that I would throw at him and the ending result would be the same for each champion that he took down. But to my fucking surprise, the motherfucker just threw a sudden one-two that hit me square in the face.


    Luckily enough, it didn''t affect my eyes or nose as much because a swollen eye or a bleeding nose were bad news at the start of the fight.


    "I told you to move, didn''t I?"


    ''I can''t believe I fucking fell for that¡­''


    I just shook my head as I dashed forward, closing in the distance between me and Mr. Alvarez because even if I still don''t have a solid n to take him down, doing it from a few feet away wouldn''t solve it either.


    With that said, I tested the waters by sending a snappy one-two of my own but he easily avoided it by turning his head clockwise then stepping in to press me with his lead shoulder. Doing that brought us even closer but his face felt like it was still a ways away.


    Despite that, his body was still in close proximity with my fists and I just ced pressure on my toes so I could twist my whole body and give him apact bodyblow.


    It''s just that he turned the other side of his body a quarter of the way in to push me with his hips, simply making my punch slide to his oblique abdominal muscles and lose power.


    "Oh-ho~ Aiming for my body, eh? You''re not as stupid as everyone else who kept aiming for my head! But that''s not enough!"


    With a grin, Mr. Alvarez twisted his own hips the opposite way to send a body shot of his own. I easily blocked it with my arm but he wound it back again to send a left hook to my jaw.


    I thought it was the most basic ofbos but as soon as I avoided it with a headslip, his other fist was already close to hitting my face. Instead of a double hook that would start from the body then to the head, it was actually a triple hook where thest one woulde from my blindspot.


    Despite that, Mr. Alvarez still hit air as I ducked a few inches and tried to send a weird angled upper to his chin, which he casually avoided by stepping back.


    "Wow~ You''re really good, kid! Try hitting me again!"


    Mr. Alvarez just had a huge smile on his face as he presented his face forward though he was just goading me for an attack. Despite his overconfident approach, his eyes were focused on my whole body, anticipating anything that mighte inside his circle.


    It was thebination of that plus his insane reflexes as to how he could dodge attacks like he could see one second into the future.


    He had every right to be a champion and be this yful because he could back it up with his skills. In a sense, being slightly cocky was working out for him because it would make the majority of his opponents send one mindless attack after one mindless attack.


    I, on the other hand, was cooking up ways tond a clean hit to his face because I still needed to pay him back for that sudden one-two earlier.


    The moment the bead of sweat on my forehead fell to the ground, I suddenly stepped in with my left foot, ducked in and moved forward before I propelled myself up, sending a left hook in a wide arc¡ªwaiting for his reaction.


    I used more power from my lower bodypared to my upper body because the move was a variation of a gazelle punch, but this time, it was an experiment of mine to produce a certain chemical reaction.


    From the way Mr. Alvarez was standing, he looked slightly confused and disappointed from my choice of attack but as soon as he ducked down and stepped in, I twisted my shoulder inward to change the trajectory of my punch mid-swing.


    "Wha¡ª"


    It actually caught him off-guard for once but he was still able to put up a one-arm guard to protect his face. However, the amount of power I produced to send that blow almost made the arm he used to guard to smack his face and he actually lostposure for once.


    It''s just that once I drew back my arm, Ipletely rxed it before sending a flicker jab which he barely avoided.


    The crowd had never been so noisy because no one had ever been so close to hitting him in the face, but I was far from done with mybo.


    Right when my fist slipped past his temple, he brushed it off to the side to throw a simple punch to gain some distance and get his footing back in order. He was trying to normalize his breathing but this time, I stepped in with my right foot and sent a couple of right-handed jabs before sending in another flicker jab that woulde from below.


    "You little¡ª"


    With each punch, I was getting closer and closer to hitting him square in the face but I stepped in with my left foot again to send apact upper.


    Mr. Alvarez tried to block it with his arm once more, but this time, I broke through his arm guard but he still managed to tilt his head to avoid the blow. It just scraped the side of his cheek before I tried to throw a straight punch but he tried to throw a counter by using a left cross.


    Doing that would make my right straight deviate from its trajectory but I gritted my teeth and put pressure on my toes, twisting my whole body once more and half-stepping with my right foot topletely overpower this older gentleman.


    To his fucking surprise, my right straight was now a right hook aiming for his face because since he changed the direction my initial punch was headed, all I needed to do was to curve it back¡ªturning the straight into a hook¡ªcoiling my right arm around his left before leaning even forward and putting more pressure on my toes.


    In essence, it was almost like an overhead punch¡ªa dragonfish blow to be specific¡ªbut since I was taller than him by a few centimeters, it was still a right hook that had the power from my toes and my back muscles behind it.


    I was so into hitting Mr. Alvarez just once¡ªI made sure the one time I would hit him would fucking count¡ªbut I ended up putting a lot of power into it and it almost broke his neck and dislodged his jaw.


    When my fist collided with his face, it didn''t even feel real because he tried to make it brush against his cheek but I followed it through and he paid for it.


    Mr. Alvarez took an actual solid punch for the first time in a while but not getting hit as much had its downsides. He didn''t even think that he''d get hit and when it did, he didn''t even try to grit his teeth or brace his head for impact. He even lifted up in the air momentarily before sprawling on the ground and there wasplete fucking silence for several seconds.


    But despite that, Mr. Alvarez was fucking far from unconscious but if we would refer to his rules, he''d dere his loss if I knocked him down.


    ''People here doesn''t get knocked out in one punch, huh...''


    It''s just that this old motherfucker didn''t think he''d ever lose so he stood up before spitting out a mouthful of blood, "That wasn''t the full 10 seconds."


    "Seriously?"


    "Boxing rules! If I get up in less than 10 seconds¡ª"


    "No way, you said ''Knock down'', not ''Knockout''! D''you want to see a rey of¡ª"


    "I misspoke! I meant knockout!"


    "Are you really gonna do this?"


    "The fuck¡ª Of course, I fucking will! You didn''t tell me you could use both fists!"


    "Seriously? Am I supposed to tell you I''m ambidextrous?"


    ''Not naturally, I mean...''


    "Well¡ª No! But¡ª FUCK!"


    "Word of advice, Mr. Alvarez¡­ you should stop now."


    "Huh? W-Why?!"


    "Your knees are still shaking, I''m sorry. I put too much power¡ª"


    "TOO MUCH POWER?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! PUNCH ME AGAIN! I WON''T DODGE THIS TIME!"


    "Huh?"


    "PUNCH ME AGAIN! LET''S SEE WHO PUT TOO MUCH FUCKING POWER!"


    "I''ll definitely knock you out, Mr. Alvarez¡ª"


    "ARE YOU A FUCKING PUSSY OR WHAT?! PUNCH ME!"


    Then I actually punched the old motherfucker.


    With that said, he severely underestimated the damage he took and let''s just say the championship for the male division had never been so anticlimactic. The rest of his cohorts carried him to the medical bay and the stragglers watching us had already climbed off to forfeit.


    Mr. Cuervo on the other hand didn''t know whether tough or cry and his hair was visibly turning white by the second but a very familiar figure was perched on the fence of the y area.

 Chapter 801: Champion of Champions

    Like a fucking deranged mutt who was about to turn into a zombie but stopped 3% of the way in, Benjie was stealing my pose that I stole from a certain person from the Uchiha n. In some sort of fucked up way, he was doing a better job than me because if his eye stopped healing for not staying put and resting, he''d be halfway to what happened to the character I was referring to.


    But with that said, he looked like he had no intention of fighting because he could just drop down now because the finals was over, but I''d make fucking sure he wouldn''t be able to stand on two legs.


    There were a lot of people here that could still stand back up even after I was done with them but even if it sounded like I got weaker, it meant something entirely different in my head.


    ''It just means that there are people still alive that could give me a better challenge¡­''


    Granted I still beat all of them, given time, they''de back stronger unless they bit the dust. It was because there were only a handful of people that I''d be wary of fighting with my current self and if these people here could still improve, I could use them as whetstones to get even better.


    But yeah, I tried to poke the mutt with a stick.


    "Yo, haven''t you had enough? I could still go if you want?"


    "..."


    "Ignoring me now?"


    I was about to push him a bit more but it didn''t take long before I realized several red dots hovering around his body. After that, I noticed that Mr. Cuervo was beckoning me toe up to the stage so that we could finally end this event that was going on for hours and hours.


    With that said, I just faintly smiled before I slowly made my way over to them, but I threw Benjie some words that only the people in close proximity could hear, before I took the final step to the stage.


    "Dude. Rest. I''m tired¡­ and I guess you are too. There are a lot of things going on over at your side and fighting me to the death wouldn''t solve that. If you wanted to kill yourself so much, drop inside and let Mr. Cuervo''s goons finish you.


    If not, walk back to your bed and have some sleep. I''m not dying any time soon so you can shoot me a challenge if you feel like you''re forgetting the taste of blood in your mouth."


    "..."


    "Seriously? I took your eye out, not your tongue. If you¡ª"


    I was still in mid-sentence when Benjie audibly exhaled through his nose but he just red at me onest time before he jumped back and disappeared from view.


    The whole ce was quiet for a short moment but the DJ was so on point, the music took the crowd once again even if everybody was about to drop down from being sleepy. It just sted at full volume, timing my steps when I finally stepped onto the stage and made my way to the very center.


    At this point, Mr. Cuervo gave me his flowery words of congrattions while Roxanne and Melina each gave me a kiss, got a little too close to me, and sneak-touched me all over. I wasn''t even able to react properly because my tiredness was slowly setting in and the touch of two beautiful women was totally different from the strikes that could end me in one blow.


    I was just basking in the ambience before Mr. Cuervo''s words entered our ears.


    [Again, let''s give another round of apuse for our Champion of Champions!]


    The cheers erupted all over again but Mr. Cuervo continued once they calmed down.


    [At this point in time, I was supposed to give the reward and tell everyone what it is but this time, I figured that a little bit of mystery is in order. What do I mean? Hmm~ It means exactly what it means. Only the Champion of Champions gets to witness his reward but it''s up to him if he''ll tell all of you or not.


    Of course, his people would obviously know it sooner orter but I assure all of you, everything you''ve seen me reward the winners is nothing but a drop to what our winner here will receive.]


    Once Mr. Cuervo said that, the crowd was left speechless but a lot of them still showed excitement about the development. Not only was the reward Mr. Cuervo promised was the best among the best, but it was also something only the person who proved himself could see. And even if the person to receive it could share what it was, there was something to receiving something coveted yet unknown.


    Then Mr. Cuervo continued.


    [With the nature of the final reward, it could change depending on the circumstances but it will only be given once a year. As you all know, we kept on continuing the tradition of doing these events¡ªand yeah, we''ll still keep on doing them but the title given on this day wouldst for a year before it can be contested on the same soil.


    But do know this, if something happened to the Head of the Ishiyama Family¡ªgod forbid, he''ll take the title to his grave. But yeah, I will stille up with another simr title to rece it but his record of being unbeatable in these grounds will be carved in stone. You can only take off his crown if everyone present here witnesses it.]


    For some reason, I felt like Mr. Cuervo said that just to give me ayer of protection or something but to everyone here that was present, it meant something much, much more.


    I didn''t think thating into this ce by chance would lead to this point but my world definitely opened up even if our current one had already ended.

 Chapter 802: Afterparty I

    To my surprise, one by one, each person from the viewing tform stood up and gave me another round of apuse¡ªbut so much more solemn, ceremonial even¡ªto the point that I didn''t think this ce was capable of.


    I thought for sure that this ce was rowdy as rowdy goes but they could still give credit when credit was due.


    With that said, the apuse died down after a few seconds and it didn''t take long before the food and beverages being sold were given to everyone for free.


    Furthermore, every entertainer from the Pink and Brown House began entertaining whoever wanted to get entertained, and it just became a full blown party for the conclusion of Mr. Cuervo''s games and Mauro and Elsa''s wedding.


    Roxanne and Melina were getting bolder and bolder with the way they were keeping close to me but I turned to Mr. Cuervo if we would still continue on with our n.


    Mr. Cuervo just shook his head, "Hermano, you know full well that it would have to wait a little bit more. There''s another path to take, no?"


    "I guess so¡­ but¡ª"


    "Hmm, why don''t you follow the same advice you gave to Benjie. We''ll discuss everything the next day. Don''t worry, everyone will still be present after that. Have some fun with your wife and the others¡­ Roxanne and Melina might join you too if you y your cards right¡ª Well, who am I kidding? Anyone here would just spread their legs for you even without asking them. Just stay away from my wife, yeah?"


    I quipped back, "Stay away from mine too."


    As soon as I said that, Mr. Cuervo and I just stared at each other for a couple of seconds before bursting intoughter. On the other hand, it seemed like the time for Roxanne and Melina to be Mr. Cuervo''s assistants were over and they were back to doing entertainment.


    Mr. Cuervo eventually excused himself as the two were this close to sucking me off on the stage but I waved them off before I opened my mouth.


    "Calm down, you two. I''m gonna introduce you to Kaley first and if she gives you two thumbs up, we can be somece private where we could do everything we wanted. If not¡ª"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! What''s taking you so long?! We''ve already walked back to the mansion and you''re still on the stage! Right, bring them with you! They look like they wanted to have some fun!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''I guess that answers the question¡­''


    Melina stifled augh, "Whaddaya know? Your wife''s cooler than I thought."


    "Can we go now? Hmm?" Roxanne added.


    "You two really sure¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, WE''RE SURE!"


    Melina nudged Roxanne after she shouted, "Elena kept talking about how big you are, we wanted to see¡ªtest it if it''s real. She saw you fucking the twins'' brains out so¡­ we got really curious¡­"


    "Fine. One more question though."


    "Hmm?"


    "Riri and Ruru are the ones holding the number 1 spot in the Pink House so where do you two fall in?"


    "Technically speaking? I''m number 3 and Roxanne''s number 4 since the twins'' hold the number 1 and number 2 spot."


    "Oh?"


    "Yep. We''re that good."


    Roxanne added, "Interested now?"


    "Maybe."


    "Wow. I''ve never been denied before."


    "Listen here, Mr. Champion. You hold your pretty titles given by Mr. Cuervo but us girls will be the ones left standing after everything is over. You either try too hard and fail miserably or prove you have what it takes. So, are we fucking or not?"


    At that point, Melina and I were in a casual staredown but I was just smiling inwardly when I eventually walked past them. I beckoned them over when they weren''t following behind and they just gave this involuntary gulp when I released a miniscule amount of pressure directed at them.


    I had never been so quiet when we were in front of the elevator with everybody and it even made Kaley slightly worried.


    "Something wrong?"


    Despite that, I didn''t say a word as I walked inside the elevator first but to their surprise, I released copious amounts of killing intent that could debilitate a person. Everyone else just tensed almost instantly and only Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn didn''t fall to their knees,


    On the other hand, Cynthia, Ruru, Riri, Marina, Roxanne, Melina, Elena, and Annie were sitting on their asses, either sweating bullets or shaking in fear, and I let the threee inside before I stared at the rest.


    "We''re going ahead. Don''t take too long, okay?"


    They weren''t able to say a word when the door closed on them but I''m sure they''d still be able to get in because Cynthia had the same keycard.


    With that said, the look of relief on Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn''s faces were so fucking priceless because they only managed to get inside before they lost feeling in their legs.


    Kaley shouted at the top of her lungs, "What''s wrong with you?!"


    Tatiana added, "That¡­ That was stronger¡­ Quinn? Are you okay?"


    Quinn answered half-absentmindedly, "H-Huh?"


    "A-Are you okay?"


    "Wai¡ª OH! Fuck, that was too much¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah¡ª"


    Quinn continued, "I fucking came but I peed a little¡­"


    "Huh?!"


    "Hmm?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As soon as we startedughing, the tension waspletely gone and Kaley and I were already making out while Quinn and Tatiana were doing the same.


    I barely managed to fish out my keycard to our own private floor but before things went further, I went straight to the shower to clean myselfpletely while the three did the same. However, Kaley was helping me clean myself in other ways by jerking me off and soaping me with her huge breasts from behind.


    And at the same time, Quinn was looking straight at me while Tatiana was eating her from behind and she was ying with her tits while sucking her fingers. I could barely see Tatiana from behind Quinn''srge frame but we could definitely hear her pushing her fingers inside herself.


    We had barely started with each other when we heard the door opening from the front.

 Chapter 803: Afterparty II

    Right from the get-go, Cynthia and the twins sprinted to where we were and they simultaneously shouted at the top of their lungs, "Y-YOU''RE SO MEAN! YOU¡ª"


    Before they could utter another word, Kaley stopped what she was doing as she leaned and bent over the ss partition, turning to me with an insatiable look and presenting her nice and juicy ass for entry.


    Furthermore, aside from the soap and water, her own juices were running down her thick thighs but my eyes were more focused on her little holes where I was the only man who could vite.


    Once I stood behind her, the three could only look in anticipation and they were stunned in ce¡ªlooking at Kaley''s expression¡ªwhen I slid my huge cock in her pussy right up to the base.


    "H-Hngh¡­ If you''re not g-gonna move¡­ I will¡­"


    I had only invaded Kaley''s tight fucking hole but she was already squeezing me as hard as she could. Her walls were even pulsating and twitching at some point but once I pulled out and shoved it back in, her body was shaking all over so I grabbed on her huge udders so I could hold her in ce.


    At the same time, I could hear Quinn moaning louder and louder while Cynthia and twins were already touching themselves, but I kept shoving my huge dick inside Kaley''s perfect little hole and she was getting louder and louder with each thrust.


    "YES! YES! YES! SHOVE THAT FUCKING DICK INSIDE ME¡ª MMH! MH! ANH!


    DON''T! FUCKING! STOP! IT''S! SO! FUCKING!


    GOOD!"


    Kaley''s hands were on the ss partition to support herself but she was slowly losing hold by the second. But despite that, I still had a full cup with each of her huge milkers and her pink nipples were getting squeezed between my fingers.


    It was fucking heaven shoving my dick into her deepest and tightest parts even though I had to work to keeping it in and pulling it out. I imagine that if I stuck my fingers with our rings inside her, she would be able to pull them clean off because of the way she could control her vaginal walls.


    It didn''t take long before we came at the same time and I just poured everything inside while Kaley squirted hard. We were on our knees as we were catching our breaths but the three were already partially undressing and anticipating their turn.


    Their perky tits were out while either of their hands were down their pants, and I bet I could hear that heavenly squelch if I moved a bit closer.


    However, I had already thought of going for Kaley''s ass next but I felt that the ce we were in would be too cramped if more people decided to join in.


    With that said, I helped Kaley up and kissed her before I led her to the living room while her cream and my cum was still flowing down her thighs. But to my surprise, we had one more neer that decided to join in.


    ''Edith¡­''


    Roxanne and Melina on the other hand were still sipping wine with Elena and Marina¡ªwho were side-eyeing me¡ªbut Annie and Edith''s eyes bulged when they saw my third leg and how perfect Kaley''s body was. I''ve seen that look of jealousy or insecurity multiple times but that was a worry forter.


    I just casually greeted them, "Yo, no clothes allowed at this hour."


    As soon as I said that, I got a few chuckles but without question, almost all of them quickly undressed though Edith was a little ufortable. All she managed to do was remove her top off and reveal her smooth skin though her cute pink bra was still on along with the rest of her clothes below.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley and I pieced it together and she just let out a smile before pulling me close, "Hey, why don''t you take care of her first? You know, somewhere more private¡­"


    To bepletely honest, I''d rather fuck Kaley''s brains out but I didn''t think I''d get to have another virgin in such a ce. With that said, I need to take really good care of another person''s first time, moreso if it''s the niece of another family head.


    I walked up to Edith though my huge dick was still erect and twitching in front of her face, "I didn''t think I''d see you here."


    Edith could barely keep eye contact, "I¡­ I didn''t think I''d see myself here e-either¡­"


    I faintly chuckled, "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of you. Do you want to do it here or something more private? You know, to loosen you up a little before we decide to join everyone."


    "That''d be too imposing¡ª"


    "It''s up to you. Do you wanna do it while everyone here''s watching or do you wanna do it where you''re morefortable? If you''re done after we are¡­ done¡­ you can decide to take a rest too and that''s okay."


    "..."


    Everyone else was just waiting for Edith''s answer but it didn''t take long before the two of us were alone in one of the rooms and I was on top of her, kissing her gently while holding her hands. She was already out of breath from deep kissing for a minute but she momentarily nced at her cute bra before looking at me.


    "Do you want me to take them off?"


    "..." Edith just nodded.


    "I want you to say it¡­"


    Edith bit her lip slightly, "Y-Yes¡­ But d-don''tugh¡­ okay?"


    "Hmm? Why?"


    "J-Just take them off¡­"


    Edith was looking away as she said it but once I unhooked her bra from the front, I just got even harder. Her tits were actually a little bigger than normal but her pink nipples were inverted. Well, they were partially sticking out now because she was getting turned on but I just sucked on one of them while pinching the other.


    "Mmh! You''re¡ª Ah! Ahn! You''re s-sucking them!"


    Edith''s nipples just tasted so good and a little sweet but it was also probably the first time someone sucked on them. It didn''t take long before they were fully erect but I wanted to taste something even sweeter.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Did it feel good?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ It felt r-really g-good¡­"


    "Wanna feel something better?"


    "Oh¡­ Do you wanna lick me down there?"


    "Yeah, that would be great."


    "I''ve seen that in p-porn¡­ I-I''m not as innocent as y-you think, you know?"


    "Oh? Is this not your first time?"


    "..."


    "Edith?"


    "I s-said I''ve watched some porn¡­ not d-did it with anyone!"


    I let out a chuckle, "You''re really cute like that."


    "D-Don''t t-tease me¡­ but t-thanks¡­ you''re pretty g-good looking too¡­"


    "Thanks! Do you want me to lick you down there now?"


    "C-Can I try sucking your d-dick first?"


    "Do you want to? By all means."


    By a turn of events, I was nowying on my back while Edith was staring at my cock as if she was in a trance. She hadn''t even held it in her hands but her eyes were following where the head would move when it twitches. Nevertheless, just her warm breath felt good in a way and I sharply exhaled when she suddenly put the tip in her mouth.


    Edith suddenly stopped, "A-Are you okay?!"


    I waved her off, "That felt really good, just continue."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    It felt awkward at some points but Edith got really into it though she could only suck me a few centimeters below the tip. However, both her hands were moving in unison to stroke me off and her tongue was showing a bit of technique.


    It''s just that a bit of teeth would sometimes get involved so she just opted to lick me like a lollipop.


    Funnily enough, Edith''s eyes were almost crossed as her whole focus was just on the tip of my dick and she went on for a while. She wasn''t even ying with herself as she was sucking me off because she was too engrossed in her current activity. However, she started to stroke me even faster¡ªbut with a confused look on her face after a while¡ªbefore she broke her trance and turned to me.


    "W-When does it ce out?"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-The white s-stuff¡­"


    "Well~"


    "Ah¡ª Oh."


    It only took a second for the realization to set in but Edith looked down for a moment before standing up. Her body was trembling for a bit but she just exhaled deeply before unbuttoning her jeans. After that, she slowly pulled down her pants in front of me but to her own surprise, she didn''t realize how wet she was because her pink frilly panties were soaked through and through.


    Edith just looked so embarrassed when she turned to me but I assured her that seeing her like that turned me on a lot. However, when I watched her pull her panties down, I got even harder because not only were her nipples inverted, but she got an innie as well. It wasn''t as puffy as I was used to but the sight of it was just pulling me in.


    ''This ce just keeps on giving¡­''

 Chapter 804: Afterparty III

    At that point, I wasn''t able to hold myself as I threw her on the bed and buried my face between her legs, and I kept slurping and licking off the sweet, sweet juices of her virgin cunt. I had my arms around her legs¡ªkeeping them apart, because nothing''s gonna stop me from eating her out.


    "W-Wait! Wait! You''re going too¡ª Mmh! AH! AHH! Your tongue is¡ª HNGH!


    I-It''sing out! It''s cing out! I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    It wasn''t even 30 seconds when Edith squirted on my face but I didn''t stop until she came two more times. Edith''s chest was heaving up and down when I finally let up but now she was biting her lips while her eyes were full of lust.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You¡­ That was so¡­ Ha¡­ C-Can you¡­ you know¡­ d-do it n-now?"


    Part of the bed we were using was now soaked with her squirt but Edith just spread her legs and yed with her clit as she was looking at me intensely. After that, she even spread her pink lips apart, showing me her still intact hymen and she didn''t even care if she looked like a mess.


    With that said, I slowly went on top of her as she looked in anticipation and she gave me another kiss before she even guided my dick to her tight fucking entrance.


    "Please¡­ I can''t take it anymore!"


    I was still prodding the surface with the tip but once I slid it in, Edith''s eyes just rolled to the back of her head. However, as I pushed it inch by inch, she was letting out sharp exhales as she was trembling all over. At that point, I stopped movingpletely so she could get used to it but she opened her eyes and looked at me.


    "Haa¡­ I-Is¡­ Haa¡­ Is it all in? I can''t¡ª"


    "H-Halfway¡­"


    "Halfway?! I-I''m so full! I don''t think I can take in any more!"


    "We''ll take our time, don''t worry about it¡­"


    "I¡­ T-Thanks¡­ F-Feels really good though¡­ Doesn''t h-hurt as much as I thought it would be¡­"


    "That''s great¡­ Do you want me to move now?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    Edith and I were looking into each other''s eyes but when I would push another inch in, she would wince and cause me to stop. However, we took our sweet time until we got it all the way in and to my surprise, my back was free of scratches. It was because Edith''s arms were just wrapped around my neck and she would just hold me tighter if it hurt her.


    With that said, I was just about to pull back for a bit and push in when Edith''s words almost made me lose my mind.


    "Fuck¡­ That''s so¡­ You''re so big¡­ I''m so full¡­ I imagine it would also f-feel so good in my ass¡­"


    "W-Wanna try anal after?"


    Edith''s face just turned even redder, "Y-You heard that? Umm¡ª S-Sure¡­ If I could still move after this¡­"


    "Alright¡­ I''m gonna move now, okay?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Once Edith gave me the signal, I just moved as slowly as I could before I gradually increased my speed. With each thrust, Edith would just moan softly but I was trying my best not to do it too fast. Without question, Edith''s pussy was just too fucking tight, I would''ve cummed from a few thrusts.


    Add to that that she was a pure maiden slowly learning the pleasures of sex, though her mind was filled with curiosity and experimentation.


    It didn''t take long before I was thrusting at a moderate speed but I suddenly sped up when I felt that she was about to cum.


    "AH! AH! AH! YES! FUCK! ME!


    AH! HNGH! I''M CUMM¡ª AH! MMH! IT''S COMING AGAIN! AH!


    AH! AHHHHH~!!!"


    And despite all of that, Edith didn''t even think of wing my back like the twins did but it was overall a great experience.


    Edith''s grip on my cock was just too fucking hard, I had to have a release of my own. She was still cumming hard when I released everything inside her tight pussy and her eyes just rolled over once again when she felt the warmth inside her.


    I just stopped momentarily as I looked at her face and this time, Edith gave me a beautiful smile instead of looking away.


    She gave me another kiss when we were catching our breaths but to our fucking surprise, this private room wasn''t as private as we thought.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! She''s gonna fall in love with you if you do more! Why don''t you twoe out here so we could do more than just watch?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as Edith heard that, she looked like she wanted to grab onto the nearest thing that could cover her but she stopped midway and forgot about it. Her face was still red when she turned to me but she pulled me close as she whispered in my ear.


    "Thank you¡­ Maybe you can f-fuck my ass while everyone''s watching¡­ Well, everyone''s watching the whole time but it was still special¡­ I might get to taste itter too, right?"


    "Yeah, thanks for picking me to be your first."


    "No, I should be thanking you!"


    "Alright, want some help cleaning up? Can you stand?"


    "I can¡ª Wait¡­ Umm¡­"


    "I can carry you to the showers? You know, until the feelinges back¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    With that said, I carried her in my arms and funnily enough, Edith was back to being her shy self and it didn''t help when everyone gave her a round of apuse when we walked out of the room we were in. She just buried her face in my chest while I red at everyone for spying on her when she lost her virginity.


    I didn''t think that there''d be hidden cameras in the room and probably Cynthia was the only one who knew about them. She must''ve done that for revenge for leaving them for a short bit but I 100% knew that it was just to satisfy her own kinks. I knew full well that she liked to watch people but little did I know that this floor was specifically built for her.


    It didn''t take long before I helped Edith with cleaning up and having another shower myself, but the sexual tension when we walked into the living room was just fucking insane.


    I felt like I was in full control when I was with Edith but this time, it felt like I was about to be devoured whole.


    Each and everyone of the beauties inside this floor was fully naked, a little tipsy, and dripping down to the side of their thighs, and they all had one thing in mind.


    Without further ado, I was dragged away from Edith and sat down in the middle of thergest couch and the twins sat on each of my sides while Roxanne and Melina were the first ones to kneel in front of me.


    "Fuck¡­ It IS big¡­"


    "Didn''t you see it on the TV?"


    "I''m talking about when it''s right in your face, shit¡­ I''m gonna have a taste now¡ª Rox! That''s¡ª Ugh!"


    I just watched the two almost fight when Roxanne was the first one to take me in her mouth, but Melina fought by tilting her head to the side and licking the side of my shaft. Both of their tongues were working my dick along with their mouths but the twins had other ns in mind.


    I saw Kaley bring Edith and Annie to the kitchen bar while Tatiana and the rest disappeared somewhere, but the twins took each of my hands and ced them in their wet spots.


    "Who''s who? Can you still tell?" Ruru and Riri asked simultaneously.


    I shook my head, "Riri''s on the right, Ruru''s on the left."


    "You¡ª How?!"


    "I ain''t telling you how, I just know! Ah¡ª" I suddenly felt teeth on my dick and I had to look down.


    Melina was ring at me while Roxanne was still busy sucking the tip of my dick.


    "Look at me while I''m sucking you off, Mr. Champion. That''s rude."


    At this point, I didn''t know whether Melina was this much of a tight-ass but I had fucking enough. If I didn''t put her in her ce right now, she''d continue to step on me like I liked it.


    "Didn''t take the hint earlier, eh?"


    "Hmph! You¡ª"


    I let out a tiny bit of pressure, "Shut up."


    To Melina''s surprise, I grabbed her throat and lifted her up in the air with one hand and choked her in the air for a few seconds. She was squirming as she was trying to get away from my grasp but Iid her down when she was about to pass out. However, I still kept a tight grip on her neck before I started fucking her throat and I didn''t let up until she was squirting over and over.


    Tears were falling down her face as her mascara was running the opposite way, but I didn''t even give her the satisfaction of tasting my cum after putting her through that punishment.


    I turned to Roxanne who was just watching her partner get roughed up before I propped up her legs and shoved my dick inside her little asshole. It only took a few thrust before I let everything inside but I kept fucking her inside out while all Melina could do was watch. Granted she had a release of her own but she actually was craving for the white stuff my cock could only provide.


    It''s just that I felt like she was intentionally irking me to get tossed around like a ragdoll.

 Chapter 805: Afterparty IV

    Each and every person had different kinks but in my book, if you just wanted to get fucked hard, all you had to do was fucking ask. There was no fucking need for cruel words or actions to get a violent reaction, but in some fucked up way, that was the only way she could get off harder than usual.


    In a sense, I gave her what she wanted but my focus was on Roxanne right now.


    Like Melina and the majority of the girls from the Pink House, almost all of them had sexy-athletic bodies and the only difference they had was through gics. They were trained in the same way, ate the same food, but how big their tits, how round their asses, or how creamy they got were entirely up to the individual.


    I had just came from hate-fucking Melina''s throat and Roxanne''s ass was also getting punished for it. I left a gaping hole after I calmed down and came to my senses but it seemed like she wanted more. However, the twins had enough of watching and they decided to join in the action.


    As my cum was still dripping out of Roxanne''s gaping asshole, Riri knelt down in front of her and started eating her ass and my essence. But at the same time, Ruru sat on Roxanne''s face, making Roxanne eat her pussy while she was prodding the surface of her asshole.


    I thought I had to find a new hole to fuck but Riri was waving her ass from below, presenting her own.


    "You could pick either one, but you should cum in each of them, okay?"


    "Understood."


    I didn''t even need to think as I shoved my dick inside Riri''s cunt while I tried to spread open her little asshole with my thumbs. Since her pussy had only been fucked once, she''d still moan in pain but the pleasure far outweighed the pain she was feeling.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S SO DIFFERENT FROM MY ASS! UGH¡­ IT''S JUST SO DIFFERENT THAT¡ª MMH! IT''S HITTING SOMETHING INSIDE THAT MAKES ME¡ª MMH!


    THERE! AGAIN! AGAIN! HIT THAT SPOT! HIT THAT SPOT!"


    It wasn''t even a full minute when Riri squirted on the spot and Ruru instantly followed right after. Riri squirted on the carpet while Ruru squirted on Roxanne''s face and I thrust it in a few more times before I suddenly switched to her puffy asshole.


    "YOU¡ª"


    I wasn''t in a particr hurry but Tatiana, Quinn, Cynthia, Marina, and Elena disappearing the moment I came to the living room doesn''t bode well in my head though I could be overthinking like I always do.


    ''Well, I could only do so much at a time¡­''


    With that said, Riri was now using Roxanne''s body as a pillow as I fucked her ass while Ruru had gone ahead and was now having fun with Melina''s butt. When I turned to the kitchen bar, I saw Kaley alternately making out with Edith and Annie though their fingers were exploring each other''s pink openings.


    ''Wait a second¡­''


    I stopped what I was doing and looked for a certain remote but Riri pointed at the one that was sitting by the table so I could continue fucking her.


    With one push of a button, the huge TV screen disyed the other five tangled with each other''s bodies though Tatiana was wearing my silicone incarnate while Quinn was equipped with the same thing but proportioned to the rest of her body.


    Well, it didn''t take long before Cynthia and Marina got up and picked up a strapon, and Elena''s face couldn''t hide the excitement she was feeling.


    It didn''t take long before Elena took the biggest dildo in her pussy, two in her ass, and a thick one in her mouth all at the same time. For a moment there I thought she wouldn''t be able to take the one Quinn was wearing halfway but she took it in like a fucking champ.


    Even Kaley was staring in shock from what she saw and I couldn''t even exin Edith''s expression when she saw such a scene happening. However, Annie''s interest was piqued and she quickly changed locations and left the two to get filled up.


    "Hey¡­ don''t neglect me¡­" Riri''s soft voice entered my ears.


    Once I looked down, all I saw was Riri ying with her clit while my dick was still inside her ass, and at the same time, Roxanne was tightly squeezing RIri''s tits. I got too engrossed from what I saw at one point but I made it up to her by lifting her up and fucking her with the help of gravity.


    Each time I lifted her up, I''d just let her fall down and get impaled in her asshole, and I made sure that her asshole grew three sizes before I switched to her twin sister.


    In Ruru''s case, she wanted to get both of her holes filled up but the closest thing we had in the immediate vicinity was my dick and a wine bottle, and Riri helped her get off in a matter of seconds.


    At this point, I was already done with everyone in the living room plus the kitchen so I went ahead and went inside the room Tatiana and the rest disappeared to.


    The moment I opened the door, loud moans and squelching sounds were all I could hear and this time, Annie''s asshole was getting destroyed by Quinn''s dildo. She was squirting each time Quinn shoved it all the way in but she was beckoning me over so we could spit roast her.


    It''s just that I literally went behind their backs and opted for Quinn''s asshole instead, shoving it in after moving the straps to the side.


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª"


    "Do you want me to stop?"


    "..."


    "I guess not."


    Quinn''s asshole kept getting stretched by my huge cock and she was having a hard time giving and receiving at the same time. She was even just dragging along Annie at one point, but what made everyone in the room stop what they were doing, was when I snatched Quinn''s strapon off and I lifted her up, spreading her legs while fucking her ass.


    "YOU IDIOT¡ª YOU''RE¡ª"


    I didn''t give a fuck if she never felt so exposed but a couple of deep thrusts inside her made her cover her face in embarrassment. Seeing Quinn like that especially made Annie, Elena, Cynthia, and probably even Edith surprised because she could also see what was happening from the living room.


    It was because Quinn had always been the Alpha-Bitch and seeing her getting dominated and instantly giving up was very uncharacteristic of her. Well, my biceps would be fucking soreter but it was well worth it.


    At one point, I pinned Quinn to the wall before I switched to her meaty pussy but I felt something approaching my butt so I quickly put a stop to that madness.


    "No, you don''t."


    "W-Why?"


    "Because I said so."


    I discovered that it was actually Annie¡ªnot Elena¡ªwho tried to dominate me instead, but that was a mistake she shouldn''t have thought of doing in the first ce.


    Let''s just say that it only took a second before Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and Cynthia filled her holes until she passed out because she wanted something forbidden. Well, it seemed like Elena wanted to receive what Annie got but she asked for it nicely.


    After a few more hours or so, I just woke up aching all over and I couldn''t even remember whose pussy, ass, or mouth I camest because I was waking up in between with different girls riding me while I was passing in and out of consciousness. And luckily enough, Kaley made sure my chastity was safe in their care but the person in question wasn''t among the naked women sleeping next to me.


    ''Where is she? Edith too¡­ Oh.''


    After fumbling through Tatiana and the rests'' sleeping bodies, I came upon the restroom where Edith was actually fucking Kaley with a strapless dildo.


    They were both looking at each other through the mirror but it didn''t take long before their gazended on me, and a smile slowly formed on their faces.


    "Good morning~"


    "''Morning¡­"


    "Wanna join us?"


    "You two haven''t slept yet?"


    "No, we just woke up. Edith asked to, you know¡­"


    Edith added, "And you still haven''t¡­ you know¡­"


    "Oh. Right¡­ Wanna do it now?"


    "R-Really?! Can we do what you, Quinn, and Annie did? Before the¡­ you know¡­ the exorcism?"


    "Exorcism? Hah! That''s a nice way to call it."


    Kaley chuckled, "Well, it sounded like it. So, Edith''s gonna fuck me in the ass while you do the same to her?"


    "I guess?"


    Edith had never been so excited, "Let''s do it!"


    Long story short, I took all of Edith''s "firsts" while Kaley did the same. Granted they were with Annie when Edith got her first girl-on-girl experience but all they did was kiss and touch each other before Kaley did the whole she-bang as a girl.

 Chapter 806: Bweakfast and Summons

    After a short bit, we three eventually finished and cleaned up before we decided to make some breakfast¡ªfood, for everyone. I didn''t even know what time it was because my watch was in the pile of clothes we left on the floor and yeah, we were just wearing aprons on top of our naked bodies.


    With that said, I noticed that Edith was actually adept at cooking and she led Kaley and me to prepare an energizing and filling meal.


    Edithmented, "Your knife work is insane! How did you learn to do that?"


    "I dabble a bit but I guess a bit of kenjutsu trantes to knife work."


    "Huh?"


    "Oh, right. It''s just an umbre term for swordsmanship in Japan. But yeah, it''s actually easier to cut down humans than to¡ªwait, I haven''t even thought of how to properly butcher a person when¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "Can you stop thinking like that while we''re preparing food?!"


    Edith followed, "That¡­ that''s actually scary¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "Right¡­ sorry¡­"


    Then we heard a voice from behind.


    "Nothing like some good food first thing in the morning~ Need some help? Tasting, I mean¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "Is it even still morning, Tatiana?"


    "Oh. Right, it''s probably noon or something¡­"


    One by one, everyone else woke up and followed the smell of food though we strictly made them take a shower first to clean themselves. However, some of them couldn''t help but "revisit" what we did earlier as they had a quick one with themselves in the bathroom.


    With that said, once everyone was ready, we ate at the same time and their eyes just lit up once their tongues had a taste of Edith''s cooking.


    "Wow! This is good!"


    "You cooked this, right? Cook for me again when you go to my ce."


    "Actually, that''s all Edith¡ª"


    "Wait! No! Everyone helped! I''m a little clumsy so all I had to do was¡ª"


    "Hah! Still can''t ept apliment, huh?"


    "Well¡­ Is it really good?"


    "Yep, you''ll make a great housewife¡ª"


    "HOUSEWIFE?!"


    "Hey! W-What about me?! I did good, right?! Don''t lie, alright?! I''ll know!"


    "Oof! Jealousy this early in the morning?"


    "Again, isn''t it noon or something already?"


    "Hahahaha!"


    "Where''d my crispy bacon go? You! Food thief!"


    "You weren''t eating it! I thought you hated it!"


    "I WAS SAVING IT FOR LATER!"


    "T-There''s more in the oven! D-Don''t fight!"


    "The ones in the oven? I already ate them¡­"


    "TATIANA!"


    "What? No one was touching them¡­"


    "I swear to fucking god, I''ll stuff with all the dildos I could get my hands on¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t talk like that while we''re eating!"


    "Says the one who could fit several at the same time!"


    "Jokes on you I''m still tight as fuck! I can probably skin a dick if I mp hard enough¡ª"


    "GUYS! PLEASE! WE''RE EATING!"


    "Right, sorry¡ª"


    "Speaking about dicks, can we go again? You were pretty tired yesterday and I still¡ª"


    "CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT DICKS WHILE I''M EATING THIS FUCKING SAUSAGE?!"


    "Eat a dick, Rox!"


    "Did you just¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "That was actually on point, I''m impressed¡­"


    "I give up¡­"


    Long story short, brunch was pure chaos but I did spend some alone time with Kaley while the rest had already said their goodbyes. While we''re still here, some of us still had responsibilities in this ce and it didn''t take long before I received a summoning. I thought it wouldn''t be held until the next day but I guess we were doing it now.


    There was a single telephone by the kitchen and it rang the moment Kaley and I were ready to head out and check on everybody.


    [Hermano. 15 minutes. You can use your ess card to get to floor C-2. You can wait by the lobby and¡ª]


    "Can I bring Kaley?"


    [What? Why?]


    Kaley was giving me a look of concern but I gave her a knowing look before she nodded solemnly, "Is Benjieing?"


    [Yeah¡­]


    "Elsa?"


    [Uh-huh¡­ Quinn too. That reminds me¡­ you''re with her, right?]


    "I''m not her mom, no. I don''t know where she is now. Is Mr. Alvarez''s right hand alsoing?"


    [Alright, kid. I get it. You can bring her, I see no problem.]


    "Heh, see you soon."


    [Yeah¡­]


    Like a decent human being, Kaley and I went down to Floor C-2 10 minutes before the appointed time. However, we were the only ones there though a bit of refreshments were on the small table by this other door. I thought we''d actually have the meeting on Mr. Cuervo''s personal floor but I guess he had made some recent renovations.


    *10 minutester*


    "Are we on the right floor?"


    "Maybe everyone''s running a littlete¡­"


    *15 minutester*


    "Yep¡­ we''re in C-2¡­ checked the floor number thrice¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    *20 minutester*


    "Shouldn''t we check-in and see if we''re¡ª"


    "I''m gonna give them a nice~ talking to once they all arrive here¡­"


    And like fucking clockwork, we finally heard a soft ding before the elevator door opened up. I had already written a fucking speech to reprimand everyone from beingte but I stopped in my tracks when I saw Benjie''s ugly mug.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Benjie was the first one to crack, "Edgelord, no one''s here yet?"


    "Edgelord?"


    "You''re not the only one who could give fucking nicknames."


    "Fair. We''ve been here a while, mutt. So, to answer your question¡ª"


    "Fucking pieces of shit, EVERYONE''S ALWAYS FUCKING LATE AND I ACCOUNTED FOR THEIR LATENESS! HOW CAN THEY FUCKING DO THIS EVERY FUCKING TIME!"


    I actually thought that Benjie would fucking trash the whole lobby but he just sat on the farthest stool and just grumbled to himself. For a moment, I thought he was putting a curse on everyone who was fuckingte but our attention was directed to the soft ding of the elevator.


    It only took a short moment before we saw Mr. Alvarez walk out of the elevator¡ªwith his personal bodyguard¡ªbut he gave me, Kaley, and Benjie one look before pinching his be and sighing heavily.


    "I guess we''re early this time, we''lle backter¡ª"


    "Wait a fucking minute! Where the fuck''s everyone?! We''ve been here for almost an hour!"


    Mr. Alvarez let out a chuckle, "Hah! First time?"


    "You can''t be serious¡­"


    Benjie grumbled from the furthest part of the room, "Everyone''s fuckingte and if I leave, I get chastised¡­ Fucking pieces of shit, handing out summons and being fuckingte those fucking¡­"


    Mr. Alvarez scratched the side of his cheek, "That kid''s got a point. Don''t worry, they''ll all be here soon. I actually thought we''ll hold this tomorrow but I got the call from my drinking buddy, so here we are! People here can''t adjust that fast to change in ns, it''s pitiful! Pitiful, I tell ya!"


    "There should be a rule or something to shave the mustache or leave a bald spot in someone''s head when they''re fuckingte¡­"


    "Hah! That reminds me, how many gold coins do you have in total? You can totally make that rule if it passes!"


    "Seriously?"


    "Seriously! It''s just too stupid of a rule to pass but I guess it could do wonders if it''s implemented, no?"


    "But¡­ how does that work?"


    "The what?"


    "Passing rules? Honestly, no one has briefed me on all of their usages."


    "Ah. I see, I see. Hmm~ It has been a while since we got a fresh new head but if we''re talking about passing absolute rules¡­ our whole organization could pass up to ten in total. We follow them to the dot but it gets expensive depending on the situation."


    "Can you give an example?"


    "Hmmrghmm~ I''ll give the easiest one. You remember the number 1 rule here?"


    "No killing while inside the premises?"


    "That''s the one. If you want to abolish that and rece it with another¡ª Hmm, can you give a guess as to how much it would cost? Just for fun?"


    "Hmm, 10,000 coins or something?"


    "Hah! How about a million!"


    "A million? Seriously?! How many coins do you have to win to get to that point?"


    "Heh. Don''t forget our guy''s the one who introduced that system way, way~ before we grew to this size. So, he got that first rule for free. And since everyone was in agreement to that rule, each head supported it and decided on that value. Cool, huh?"


    "Is anyone even close to a million coins?"


    "Hah! No one''s even close to 10,000, kid. Think of it as disying something like an~ umm¡­ a diamond-studded rolex in a shop but your shop is in the slums. You could definitely try to buy it if you have the cash but you''ll soon find out that it''s actually not for sale."


    "I don''t understand."


    "If someone wanted to overwrite a rule, other heads could also oppose it. Let''s say, I wanted to abolish the don''t mess with my car rule for 1,000 coins, someone or a collective could match it or give more to the house to keep it instead, further increasing the amount of coins to try and rewrite it."


    "I see¡­ Wait, is that rule real or is that just an example?"


    "What? That''s the first rule I put down! No one''s fucking touching Eleanor!"

 Chapter 807: GT500s - Shall we?

    Once I heard that familiar name, it didn''t even take a second for a 1967 gray Shelby GT500 with ck stripes to appear in my head. I could still vividly remember that film from Mr. Nick Cage but some older folks or movie enthusiasts would definitely bring up the much earlier one.


    With that said, Mr. Alvarez and I shared one look before we became brothers in arms¡ªcars, and he lost his mind when he discovered that I was the one who made Mr. Cuervo''s new custom ride.


    "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait a fucking second! You really made that?!"


    "Yep. With some help, of course."


    "FUUUU~~~ Do you have a shop like Quinn''s?"


    "No, but we have the right tools and people for it."


    "That''s already better than hers!"


    "Really?"


    "Shit, if it''s Quinn or whatever the fuck those cueball fuckheads we''re talking about, it''s either keeping the "original" or pimping it out Mad Max Style! Her own ride wasn''t even keeping true to its original release! They can do custom work but they charge so fucking much!"


    "Ah. I see¡­"


    "Hmm? You don''t sound too interested."


    "No, no. I was just thinking that if you''re gonna hire me to make that Shelby into a lowrider, I''ll just find another car to¡ª"


    "Hold up! Kid, if my ride got turned to a lowrider, I''ll fucking shave my head and my beautiful mustache. I''m not interested in a lowrider right now but I''m more interested in your¡­ style, so to speak."


    "I see, but¡­ I believe I didn''t see any semnce of an "Eleanor" on your spot when you and your guys drove in. Is it at home?"


    "Actually, it''s at Quinn''s¡­ I left it there for a little upgrade."


    "Oh?"


    "Yep. Wanna see pictures?"


    "You still have your phone like me, huh¡ª"


    "Hah?"


    "..."


    Once Mr. Alvarez pulled out a proid picture from his suit, I didn''t know whether to bang my head on the counter or pull all my hair out because I didn''t assume he meant physical pictures. Hell, even pictures printed on photo paper were almost nonexistent but the motherfucker had something even older.


    However, I just fucking lost it when "Eleanor" wasn''t actually an Eleanor, it was a fucking Ellen or an Elizabeth.


    It wasn''t a fucking 1967 Shelby GT500 but a fucking 2014 Shelby GT500!


    And even if it had the same color scheme, it was more than fucking decades apart!


    "Mr. Alvarez¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''re pulling my leg, aren''t you?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "That''s a 2014 model¡­ not a ''67¡­"


    "Are you kidding me?! Where the fuck can I find a fucking ''67 model?! I''m fucking loaded but I can''t just throw money in the air and make it appear like magic! I''m just calling it Eleanor for nostalgia''s sake!"


    "Alright, alright¡­ I get it. Haaa¡­ but this¡­ this actually works in your favor."


    "Hmm? How?"


    "But tell me first, what little upgrade did you get from Quinn?"


    "Some engine-car thingy she sold me a while back. She said she''s gonna do something to it to remove that annoying whine. But what works for me?"


    "From some unfortunate ident, we dented her car¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING WHAT?! HOW ARE YOU STILL FUCKING ALIVE?! YOUR ASSHOLE SHOULD BE FUCKING YAY~ BIG RIGHT NOW!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "I guess I got lucky. Anyway, I promised her I''d fix it and since I''ll machine her a new body for her car, I could do the same for you."


    "Wait a sec. There''s nothing wrong with the body of my car."


    "Do you want to have a ''67 or not?"


    "What do you¡ª Oh!"


    "Yep. While Quinn''s working on your engine, I could make a custom body for your 2014 model to look like the ''67 model. It wouldn''t be the exact same but really~ fucking close to it. Just imagine it a little wider ''67 with suave-looking res from the side."


    "Looking like a ''67 but still had the features of the 2014, right?"


    "Exactly."


    At this point, Mr. Alvarez looked exactly like Mr. Cuervo the first time I showed him his lowrider but we were still deciding the specifics of his build. Granted it was simr to just buying some recement body kits but custom work like this¡ªespecially if there would be personal touches from the owner and the people building it¡ªin the old world, it would''ve cost more than a pretty penny.


    In some way, the two of us found a way to pass the time and one by one, each of the family heads arrived.


    The first one to follow after us were Mauro and Elsa, followed by Castro who was now the head of the Castillo Family, in casual conversation with Sal and Edith. Mary and Brian on the other hand were a little busy critiquing the decor but they did acknowledge everyone''s presence by dropping in and out of conversations.


    It''s just that the only ones who fully joined in the conversation between me and Mr. Alvarez were Quinn and Mauro. Everyone else had their own conversation going on but once I looked around to Benjie''s spot, he was actually in some sort of conversation with Kaley.


    I was this fucking close to going between the two but Quinn held my shoulder and whispered, "Trust your wife a bit more, yeah? She''s not an idiot."


    "I trust my wife but I don''t trust Benjie, conversation over."


    I tried to brush her arm off but Mauro also held me down by putting his hand over my other shoulder.


    "Chill, bro. I don''t like the guy either but he''s not stupid. He''s a fucking wilding but he follows our rules to the dot. No one''s touching our wives without reason or provocation and just to add this bit, it''s not his style. He''d rather fight you right now but I''ll opt to go first. I hate other people fighting my battles for me."


    "..."


    Mr. Alvarez joked, "Honestly, I''m more afraid of your wife."


    I eventually sat back down but for the life of me, I don''t know what came into Kaley''s head by trying to talk to the guy that tried to kill me multiple times by using yesterday night''s games as an excuse, because if I remember correctly, she''d kill for me as much as I would kill for her.


    She even almost shot Arthur from back home after that certain incident and now I''m wondering why she looked like she wanted to know about that dog¡ª mutt¡ª person.


    After a few more ufortable minutes of trying to talk to the three while side-eyeing Kaley and Benjie, the motherfucking schmuck who arranged this meeting finally revealed himself.


    ''You gotta be kidding me.''


    Mr. Cuervo was actually already on the other side of the door where the refreshments were ced and he was just casually waiting for everyone to arrive. He beckoned us over after making Roxanne and Melina open the door, and right behind him were Zack and Cody.


    This time, the two were wearing formal attire and they were definitely custom-made for their sizes.


    With that said, there was a round table in the middle of the room we were in and there were seven chairs¡ªone of which was where Mr. Cuervo was already seated, though there were extra seats for the plus ones or plus twos located further back.


    I for sure thought that the fucking wait was over but there was an issue with the seating arrangements¡ªthe one where the head of the de Leon Family was supposed to sit, and Quinn and Mauro were tightly gripping each side of the chair in question.


    "Didn''t you marry into the Rivas Family? Fucking let go! This is my seat!"


    "I can be married to the Rivas Family and still lead my own!"


    "That''s too much work! Just give the seat to me already and stand behind Sal! Your wife is also there, getfy!"


    "Hah! Then why don''t you fucking stand behind the head of the Ishiyama Family because you''ve been spending a whole lot of time with them!"


    "You''re gonna go that route?! D''you want me to reveal every bitch¡ª"


    "Enough," Sal said just loud enough for everyone to hear but it definitely made the two shut their traps.


    "..."


    "..."


    Mr. Alvarez added, "No, no. Continue. If anything, it''s on brand with the Lion Family!"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "Don''t start."


    "What? I''m just stating the obvious."


    "I already said enough. My sleep schedule is already ruined as is. We should finish this as fast as possible. Quinn. Please, just for this moment, humor me and let the boy take his seat."


    "I''m not a boy¡ª"


    "To my eyes, you still are."


    Quinn let out a chuckle as she sat next to Kaley and Edith, "Maybe this is for the best. Kidding. I''ll let off, for now."


    The three older folks had already defused the situation but in a sense, like me and Castro, Mauro was somewhat of a newer head. Sure, he was probably leading their family for a while but our ages weren''t that far from each other.


    "Let''s start, shall we?" Mr. Cuervo said after clearing his throat.

 Chapter 808: TIFU - Is this still a meeting?

    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo just looked to his right where Mr. Alvarez was and Mr. Alvarez just shrugged his shoulders before standing up. After that, he fixed himself for a short bit: made sure his suit had no creases, his hair was perfectly slicked back, and his mustache perfectly parted and pointy at the end.


    I didn''t know what he was gonna do next but he cleared his throat before he opened his mouth.


    "Alright, I''m Ongkiko Alvarez¡­ Head of the Alvarez Family since it was established and~ you know what I do: a bit of real estate, a bit of muscle, and especially¡­ well¨C mostly, collections. And I have a 9-inch cock¡ª"


    Mauro started dyingughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Are we still fucking doing that?! IT''S BEEN SOOOO FUCKING LONG!"


    Mr. Cuervo, "..."


    Sal, "..."


    Mary, "Pfft¡­"


    Castro, "..."


    Everyone else, "..."


    Mr. Alvarez turned to Castro, "Heh. Tough crowd, right? You''re next."


    "M-Me?"


    "Just a brief intro. It''s just a formality."


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Haaa~? Fuck it, just follow after Mauro. Mauro, you''re up!"


    Mauro shook his head as he stood up, "Alright, Mauro de Leon. 2nd Head of the de Leon Family. We do anything that gets us from Point A to Point B, we do custom jobs, andstly, we do storage and transportation of cargo. Also, I have a 10¡ª"


    Elsa interjected from the back, "You say something more than that, I''ll slice your dick off."


    Mr. Alvarez rolled his eyes, "Party-pooper~"


    ''Is Mr. Alvarez drunk? He''s more unhinged than I thought he was¡­''


    Elsa snapped at Mr. Alvarez, "Lying won''t also get you anywhere. 9-incher my ass¡­ I doubt you could even get it up¡ª"


    "OI! THAT''S¡ª"


    Sal cut them off, "ENOUGH! We shouldn''t have started this meeting today. Everyone is acting like kids!"


    Mary added, "True¡­ How can we tell them our cock sizes if we don''t have any? Can I mention Brian''s instead?"


    "MARY! THAT''S OUR SECRET!" Brian eximed from the back.


    Sal sighed heavily, "Let''s just get on with it so we can finish faster. The name''s Sally Rivas, you should all refer to me as Sal. I''m still the Head of the Rivas Family and we''re in charge of producing some of the organic materials needed and half of the production."


    Mary followed, "Mary Garcia, co-head of the Garcia Family. We''re in charge of distribution. That''s it."


    "I guess I''m next?" Castro said after he noticed I wasn''t going next, "Castro Castillo, appointed head of the long-standing Castillo Family. From what I know, my family is also in charge of distribution and production but what I know for sure is that we''re tasked to clean up messes. Either quietly or as loudly as possible¡­ But¡­ that will definitely change once I get home.


    I don''t know what we''ll be after that but we won''t be the same I assure all of you."


    After Castro gave his introduction, everyone let out different expressions but after that, everyone was waiting for me to say my piece. It seemed like Mr. Cuervo was tasked to gost and quite frankly, all I know about myself was pretty simple.


    I cleared my throat as I stood up, "Yo, I''m Sky Ishiyama¡­ Head of the newly-established Ishiyama Family and umm¡­ I sell rice for a living¡­"


    If Mr. Alvarez saying his unhinged intro earlier prompted a fair moment of silence, my own intro was justplete and total silence for a few minutes. Everyone that didn''t know me personally thought I was pulling their legs and the scene was starting to get more and more ufortable by the second.


    And to break the tension, I just had to say it¡­


    "Oh, I have a 9-incher as well¡­ girthy too¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I thought my follow-uppletely backfired but it didn''t take long before the two 9-year olds¡ªMr. Alvarez and Mauro¡ªto burstughing while Kaley, Quinn, Edith, Melina, and Roxanne were trying their best to hide their expressions. Moreso, I saw Mr. Cuervo and Castro''s expressions crack for a short bit¡ªeven Mary, but Sal was already rolling her eyes because she already had enough times saying enough.


    Sal sighed heavily, "Seriously?"


    "I''m not lying one bit."


    "..." Sal was looking at my expression to see if I was fibbing or not.


    It''s just that my next words was enough to be in the subreddit of r/TIFU or "Today, I fucked up."


    I added, "Ask Edith, she knows."


    "...!" Edith suddenly went beet-red as she tried to cover her face in front of everyone.


    Ny-nine percent of the people thought she got embarrassed but Sal thought theplete opposite.


    "You¡ª Wait, you?! YOU!" Sal didn''t even need to piece things together¡ªeven if she first thought I was referring to me selling rice, and she was this close to climbing the table and strangling me to death.


    Mr. Alvarez added jet fuel to the raging ze, "Good job, Hermano. Heh."


    Sal shouted at the top of her lungs, "YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER?! YOU''RE MARRIED, RIGHT?! HOW COULD YOU?!"


    "Wait a sec¡ª"


    "I''M GONNA KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! I DON''T CARE IF I DIE¡ª"


    Kaley stood up from her seat, "Mrs. Rivas, you misunderstand¡ª"


    "WHAT''S THERE TO MISUNDERSTAND?!"


    "I¡­ This is gonna sound really weird but I¡­ we¡­ I was also there¡ª"


    "HUH?!"


    "We were¡ª"


    "YOU''RE A MAN?! YOU''RE¡ª YOU HAVE A DICK TUCKED IN THERE?!"


    Kaley didn''t know whether tough or cry, "NO! I HAVE A VAGINA! PLEASE LET ME FINISH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    At this point, I didn''t even know why I was nervous at first when I attended this meeting but this was actually more¡­ fun than I thought. It took a good 30 minutes before we finally calmed Sal down but it didn''t help when it got revealed that I was with 90% of the women present in this meeting.


    However, half of the guys couldn''t help but give me a hidden double-thumbs up while the other half were either shielding their wives from my grasp or sending me death threats for being so lucky.


    "C-Can I start again?"


    "Sure¡­" Mr. Cuervo replied weakly.


    "I''m Sky Ishiyama¡­"


    Mauro instantly added, "The Pimp Daddy."


    Mr. Alvarez piled on, "Owner of the 9-inch Dickscalibur."


    Quinn couldn''t help but to interject, "Lover of multiple women and chocte milk."


    "Edgelord¡­ The horny edgelord¡­"


    "The Dragon of Draggin'' his nuts on their faces!"


    "The creator of the 69999999999 position!"


    More nicknames came after the other but in some way, the tension in the room lessened after making me go through their own version of a hazing process.


    Even if some of them looked a bit hungover, their overall mood seemed to be better than the time they entered this room because even if we all did have a fun time yesterday, we were supposed to be back to being adults and facing some end of the world problems.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo didn''t borate much on his introduction but he basically said he was in charge of everyone even though he mentioned that he was a retired pro. And after that, he kicked off the meeting by sharing his own report.


    "I could¡ª We could definitely say that yesterday was a huge sess, no? Most importantly, no brawls urred after that because everyone was too fucking drunk and tired to cause trouble. However, I''m sure that my girls have worked over-overtime and our cleaners have done almost the same thing."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "These events definitely helped all of us but it can only do so much. This Muerto thing is great and all but I''d still prefer the old world."


    Sal raised an eyebrow, "Getting mopey there, aren''t ya?"


    "It just isn''t the same and my people are feeling the brunt of that."


    "Didn''t you all raid everything from the town you were in and did almost the same thing to the surrounding areas?"


    "Hmph. I guess having everything couldn''t stop people from offing themselves. Trust me, drugs can also do so much too¡­ even worse once it wears off. And yeah, we had all the drugs in the world too because no one''s buying them. Who''s left to use them? Us."


    Sal sighed heavily, "I¡­ I didn''t think I''d say this but I couldn''t agree more. With the majority of the poption being lifeless hunks of flesh and the rest of the lifers living with what''s left of the old world, it''s bound to get¡­ monotonous. It''s not even funny, I first thought it would be fun but it gets really slow at times."


    Mauro let out a chuckle, "Old folksining about how boring it gets? Doesn''t that mean the three of you are just boring people? Hah!"


    Mr. Cuervo was the first one to rebut, "Excuse me? Are you calling ME boring?"


    "Well, it''s boring if I lose¡­"


    Mr. Alvarez chuckled, "Then don''t embody the number "3" on your body. Win on your fucking wedding day!"


    "You only got second because you took your sweet time! I took down more bodies than you!"


    "And you still fucking got 3rd, pathetic."


    "WANNA GO NOW?!"

 Chapter 809: Meeting I - Give me something I dont have.

    Mr. Alvarez and Mauro were this fucking close to climbing on top of the table and having a fistfight but Roxanne and Melina managed to calm them down before Zack and Cody tried to use a bit of force. At this moment, the two girls were now beside Mr. Alvarez while Elsa was casually holding a knife pointed right at Mauro''s crotch.


    In my honest opinion, it was a band-aid attempt to keep the two away from each other but we just needed this meeting to move along so we could go about our ways.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo anchored the conversation to where west left it.


    "Alright, I''m not entirely in the know as to how everyone in my fold is mental-wise but I do try my best to keep everyone busy, happy, or¡­ decent for the most part. To me, taking one''s own is the coward''s route and if I hadplete control over their lives, I''d rather keep my people clinging to life rather than seeing them reduced to a pile of meat chunks."


    He continued, "I''ve seen my people do it a number of ways: a shotgun in the mouth, overdose, riding out into the sunset, or the good ol'' viking way to get to Valha. We see more of thetter if my games are held but more often than not, it''s almost always death by OD''ing while one of my girls still has their mouth around their cocks."


    Mary and Mr. Alvarez nodded.


    "Same here."


    "Mine too."


    Sal spoke up, "I¡­ That''s really unfortunate but it''s their lives. We shouldn''t call them cowards by choosing how they¡­ move on. Everyone''s different and in a way, it''s better than getting torn to shreds while finding the next meal after running out."


    Mauro chuckled, "You, Sal? You''re not particrlycking in the food department."


    "I''m just giving an example. Besides, I''m not what I used to be. If I was in my prime, I could take down that kid''s¡ª What''s her name again? Ah! Tatiana, right? I could probably fare well against her in a fair fight.


    Maybe even Quinn too."


    Quinn quipped from the side, "Keep dreaming, Sal."


    "Heh. You''ll get older too, I promise ya."


    "Hmph."


    It got quiet for a few moments but Castro spoke up after making sure no one was continuing the conversation.


    "Excuse me. I don''t want to bring this up this early but if I don''t say this now, I don''t I would be able to."


    Mr. Cuervo''s eyebrows rose up, "What do you mean? What is it?"


    Castro looked down for a moment before facing everyone, "I''m grateful for this early summons because if you all don''t already know, I''ll be restructuring my family from the ground up. I''m gonna get a lot of resistance but since the majority of my people finally witnessed my¡­ that person''s¡ª and my¡ª that family''s real nature, I''ll also have a lot of support."


    "Have you done something already?"


    "Well, I''ve sent a portion of my people back already but it''s to make sure that everyone involved is put in the cers below our mansion."


    Mr. Alvarez shook his head, "Wait a fucking second, you should''vee back with full force! What are you even doing here?!"


    "I trust those people and most importantly, Benjie''s here. He''s the only person capable of stopping them because most of my family members can''t hold an assistant for too long. They''ll just end up as a piece of furniture or an artwork like¡­ you know what I mean."


    Everyone kept silent but Sal turned to him with a concerned expression.


    "Kid, I don''t know what''s going on in your head right now but you should end things quickly once you get home. I know you''ve suffered a whole lot but you shouldn''t stoop to their level¡ª"


    Castro bitterly shook his head, "Sal¡­ With all due respect, it''s my fucking life. Mine, my wife''s, and my kid. I''ll get even before I think about doing it quickly."


    After that response, Sal just looked at him solemnly before turning to me, "You''re awfully quiet. Care to weigh in?"


    "Sure."


    "Good¡ª"


    "Have fun."


    Sal couldn''t believe what she heard, "What?!"


    Castro let out a chuckle as he turned to me, "I sense something¡­ a connection. Did something¡ª Were you in a simr situation before?"


    "Something like that."


    "I see. And having fun is what you rmend?"


    "That''s what I did. It still sucked after I got more than even but I was content that I did something."


    Our eyes shared the same shade as we were looking at each other. The other heads besides Sal were just watching us¡ªthe new heads, speak to each other on the same level. However, only a couple of people in this room knew what my story was and the person I was sharing my experience to was just beginning a path of revenge.


    I wouldn''t rmend what I did to any other people but if you still kept on after you lost everything, you deserve to get more than even aftering on top of it.


    With that said, there was another moment of silence after that but it seemed like it was my turn to bring up another topic.


    "Hermano. Before we get to the good stuff, what''s your n moving on?"


    "Aside from wiping the floor with everyone and winning by andslide?"


    Mr. Cuervo chuckled as he looked at Mr. Alvarez, Mauro, and Benjie let out a short bout of killing intent, "Heh. Yeah, besides that."


    "I''ll be around but I think I''ll split my team since the two people we''re looking for are in different directions. Quinn''s people¡ª I mean, Mauro''s people¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "You''re right the first time."


    Mauro red at the two of us but said nothing.


    I shook my head as I continued, "The de Leon Family actually met one of them and exchanged vehicles while the other one was now a member of a different faction located much deeper in the provinces. And since I still have a promise to uphold, I''ll bring some of us to Quinn''s ce to repair her car and¡ª"


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "And fabricating a body for Eleanor, too!"


    "Right, that as well. But while that''s happening, Artem will lead the other group to the opposite side."


    Mary interjected, "That reminds me. You brought a small ship over here, right?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "You won something from us, remember? I''ll do this now since we''ll be leaving soon but you can do whatever you want about the equipment in our tent, the people too. It''ll be a pain to bring all of them back so just take what you want and have fun with it, okay?"


    "Okay¡­"


    Mr. Cuervo cleared his throat, "Hermano, you could use my ce as a resting spot between you and your team''s trips but I''ll ept anything you might find between them. I have a few requests that my people can''t find in this area."


    "Sure, give me a list. I''ll keep an eye out for anything."


    "Yeah, that''ll be nice. That reminds me, now that we''re speaking about exchanges, what do we have for today?"


    Sal sighed lightly, "Finally. I''ll go first. Yield has been abundant but despite that, the wedding and the free stuff we gave away made us take a small hit. We''ll need to ease a bit on the celebrations after that but we can still provide produce as usual. Besides, this ce is very self-sufficient, it''s the second best ce in a zombie apocalypse."


    Mr. Alvarez scoffed, "Are you telling me my fortress is just third?"


    "No. Yours is deadst."


    "What?!"


    "Please. Everyone here had started to produce their own food after going through a quarter of our reserves. Only you and your people are still raiding huge warehouses and therger towns to feed yourselves. You work in real estate, right? Turn one into a huge farm for fuck''s sake!"


    "Hey! We have farms, alright?! The de Leon Family only had theirs because of you!"


    "And you still have nothing!"


    "I said we have a couple, alright?!"


    "And what do you nt in them?"


    "W-Weed, lettuce, and tomatoes¡­"


    "See my point?" Sal turned to me, "Kid, I forgot to ask, what can you put on the table? Do you have a farm of some sort? Don''t tell me you two got close because you''re doing the same thing? All that knowledge and nothing to show for it."


    I chuckled lightly, "I have a little bit of everything but I don''t have the means to produce quality honey such as yours."


    "Oh? You''re not half bad then. The samples were good, huh? Wanna start a farm yourself or do you want a shipment every other month? We could strike a deal right now."


    "Do you have a mushroom farm?"


    "What kind? Real mushrooms or "mushroom" mushrooms?"


    "Heh. The kind where you don''t see arge penis cutting your hair."


    Sal chuckled as she got the reference, "We have both, actually. Give me something I don''t have."

 Chapter 810: Meeting II - Im old.

    In that moment, as Sal finished her sentence, it felt like more of a probe than a simple question. Everyone here possibly have been to each other''s turf to see what the other family could offer but since I was the furthest one among the people present¡ªand I was a new addition to their "team", I was a new artifact that needed some identification.


    I replied without a change of expression, "Like I said earlier, I have a little bit of everything but what Ick are specialty products. To make it easier for me, why don''t you tell me what you don''t have?"


    Sal replied without a bat in her eye, "A spouse?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "PFFT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    "I''M DEAD! FUCK THIS SHIT! HAHAHAHA!"


    "WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING?!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK, SAL?!"


    "FUCK YOU, QUINN! I''M OLD BUT I COULD STILL GET IT GOING, YOU KNOW?!"


    "THAT''S TOO MUCH INFORMATION!"


    It took a while before things calmed down and even if a certain loud-mouthed oaf came to mind, I''m pretty sure that he already had something going on with someone else.


    ''Yep, I''m still not checking what they put in their boxes¡­''


    Sal eventually gave me a proper answer, "What Icked before were people but since *looking at Mauro momentarily* our families merged, that problem''s pretty much solved. Well, I gotta train those grease monkey''s how to use a trowel instead of a wrench but I trust their skills."


    "Really?"


    Quinn interjected from the back. "Hey! They still get the job done! That''s what matters!"


    Sal chuckled, "Well, for the first few weeks I''ll feed them our produce but they gotta make their own food after that so they more or less should take care of what''s growing in our farms. If not, they''ll be eating scraps until they produce a decent batch."


    Mauro nodded, "That''s fair."


    "Foraging is out of the question too because I already have a group for that. The mountains belong to us and we know every nook and cranny of it. It''ll take a miracle for them to find any good spot or any spot at all to get their bellies full."


    I interjected, "If I were in their shoes, I''d set up something like a hydroponic or a simple irrigation system but nothing could beat a human''s touch. There''s so much a machine could do but on the other hand, there are also a lot of things a machine could aplish.


    It''s a matter of whether you want to have a handful of top-shelf produce or a decent amount of produce enough to feed hundreds of people. But yeah, you can always do both and bridge the bnce¡­"


    Sal looked at me approvingly, "That''s what we''re actually doing, kid. We ce the fledgelings in the same spot and if one or two manage to stand out, they''ll be tasked with things that are a little moreplicated. But yeah, even with automatic farms, a few pieces are still high-quality but it''s a dice roll. If you want to have top shit consistently, you gotta do it right."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "But we''re not after quality right now, yes?"


    Sal instantly rolled her eyes, "If you''re like you who''s about to run out of food, yes."


    "Oi! Don''t start with me again!"


    "I''m just saying¡­ We''re surviving in this shitty world that has gotten even shittier but we got to live too, right?"


    "..."


    Mr. Cuervo let out a smile, "My thoughts exactly."


    "Anyways, to answer your question," Sal said as she turned to me, "I''ll take any able-bodied person you could spare but I''d like a few things that could make my ce a little more liveable."


    "Hmm, I could just give you what I won from the Garcia Family. No offense to you guys but I''m not particrly a huge fan of gambling. It could provide great entertainment but if left unchecked, it could be a detriment."


    Sal shrugged her shoulders with a tinge of disappointment, "That could work, I guess. But what would you like on my end?"


    I thought for a bit before I answered, "I want a¡­ some sort of starter kit to start a bee farm. I''d probably need a nuc or two and¡ª Oh! I have a few books at home for reference but I''d like to acquire a bee hive as well. Possibly the moremon ones like a Langstroth."


    Sal was smiling faintly, "What else?"


    "Hmm? Well~ Every other additional equipment we''d need but I''d like to borrow an Apiary to show my people the ropes for a month or two."


    "You''re that interested in honey, huh?"


    "I''m not THAT interested as you think but the multitude of applications honey is capable of is nothing to sneeze at. But yeah, having it as a sweetener or a dip for some houses is already a good alternative for regr old sugar. It''s not like I have a sugar cane farm back home where I could produce them in perpetuity."


    Sal nodded slightly as she looked at Mr. Cuervo, "See that? That''s the way to do it. You think you could buy a bunch of nucs and it''ll do all the work for you?"


    Mr. Cuervo was about to respond but Mr. Alvarez got there first.


    "Hold up, what the fuck are these nucs you''re talking about?!"


    "You won''t get it, don''t bother¡­"


    "Just tell me!"


    "They''re Nuclear Colonies! Nucs for short¡­ It means that they''re a group of bees that are already producing honey and the queen is already¡ª"


    "Forget I asked¡­"


    "Haa¡­ Told ya¡­ You were about to say something?" Sal said as she turned to Mr. Cuervo.


    Mr. Cuervo cleared his throat, "Sal, you must understand. I don''t have the space and the people to maintain them. I let a few of my girls take care of them and they wouldn''t get a single customer afterward because they got stung all over! You didn''t tell me they needed those protective suits!"


    "You didn''t ask! I thought you''d have everything ready beforehand!"


    "I didn''t!"


    "That''s not my fault!"


    Mr. Cuervo was shaking his head in disbelief but Sal turned to me and continued.


    "Anyway, I guess I could provide you with a couple of those starter kits you mentioned but sending you an Apiary is gonna cost ya. Starting a farm like that sounds easy on paper but there''s more to it than that."


    "Alright, what''s it gonna take?"


    "Not much, actually."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "I''ll send you one mine so send me one of yours. I''d like¡ª"


    "No."


    "Hmm?"


    "You heard me. I''ll take whatever you deem fit for the items I won from the Garcia Family¡ªplus the dealers it woulde with, but I don''t put my people in my deals."


    ''Not with these people anyways¡­''


    "Hah! You''re fine epting people but you''re not willing to let go of them? That''s funny."


    "That''s the way I do business. I can move them around as I please¡ªin the confines of my ownnd, but they''re not exchanging hands."


    "And why is that?"


    "I don''t own them. That''s my simple answer. But if you want the slightly longer one¡­"


    "Do tell, I''m curious."


    "Unfortunately, I don''t have a long answer. I just don''t trade people like they''re objects. Besides, if we quantify a life, they value pretty high up, no?"


    "Hmph. Fine, that''s your own rules. Shame, Edith would''ve liked it at your ce¡ª"


    Edith almost fell from her seat, "AUNT S-SAL! D-DON''T SAY S-STUFF LIKE THAT!!!"


    "I''m old, I can''t shelter you for long. You already had fun with the kid, do something about it. Besides, you''re the second best Apiary after me. You''ll do well somece else without me. You can''t lead my turf, can ya? I''m sorry but you''d have to grow some balls for that but you''d have to grow a dick too."


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "But what?! I told all of ya, I need a spouse. A strong one at that. I want to be held against a wall and fucked like I want to¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, THAT''S GETTING A LITTLE TMI AGAIN! CUT IT OUT, SAL!"


    "Heh, I''m just sayin''¡­ Not to brag but my ce is pretty sweet. If that someone ys their cards right, they could get the whole thing when I pass. But don''t misunderstand. I''m not nning on clocking out anytime soon. I have a couple more decades in the tank and I''m gonna use it till thest drop. And yeah, someone keeping mepany would make it tolerable."


    ''I guess she''s pretty lonely¡­''


    At that point, everyone got a pretty good glimpse of what''s inside Sal''s mind but a few couldn''t help but rte to what she''s been going through. With that said, I just anchored the conversation back to our deal and since I still have a lot of time before I pay a visit to their ce, I asked for more time.


    "Fine. I''ll try and find a "bachelor" for you but it''s up to Edith whether she goes back with us or not. Does that sound fair?"


    "What? You want me to go with ya? Aren''t I a little too old for that?"


    "I''m not¡ª I was just¡ª"


    "Sheesh, I made thed stutter. Goes to show I still got it, no?" Sal chuckled as she turned to everybody.


    "..."


    It took a bit for Sal to stop teasing me but she dropped the bomb on her closing statement.


    "It''s gonna take a few days to make our usual deliveries but everything''s packed and ready to go. However, aside from the food and all, who''s got the pockets to hold 500 pounds of pure, uncut H? It''s gotta go somewhere, right?"

 Chapter 811: Meeting III - Yeah, about that...

    I thought Sal saying that would prompt a reaction from everyone else present but it was just akin to telling your roommates if they wanted regr-ass food. It took a lot to maintain a stoic expression¡ªeven Kaley, but the first one to crack was Mr. Alvarez.


    "Shit¡­ Fine. I''ll take 50¡ªwait, you said pounds, right? Do you have them in kilos?"


    Sal rolled her eyes, "Do you want me to repack them for you?"


    "It would be nice to¡ª"


    "I was being fucking sarcastic. They came in pounds when I started, they''ll stille in fucking pounds when nearing its end. I''m not fucking changing anything."


    "Jesus fucking christ, you don''t have to be so hostile about it. I changed my mind, I''ll just have 20."


    "Twenty?! You said fifty!"


    "I said I changed my mind. We can''t have too much at one time. Weed''s been pretty much holding my guys together but that shit''s dangerous if you have them regrly."


    "Fine. How about you?" Sal sighed softly before turning to Mr. Cuervo.


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "Pass. Stock''s been dwindling as ofte but H has been pretty much untouched."


    "Really? It''s post-games week, you''d probably need a pound or two for the ones that got a little too beat up."


    "You''re right but they can take it. More alcohol and pussy has been doing the trick for my people these days."


    ''They know at least that, huh?''


    "Fine," Sal replied before looking over at Mary.


    Mary''s eyebrows rose momentarily, "Hmm? Oh, right. We''ll take a hundred as usual."


    ''...!''


    Sal let out a bright smile, "That''s what I''m fucking talking about!"


    "Wait¡ª"


    "Hey, no backsies! I already lost sales from¡ª"


    "Make it 200."


    "HUH?!"


    "Mary?! You cool?"


    "Brian, you''re hearing that, right?"


    I thought a hundred pounds was already too much for a single family but Mary actually doubled-down to have the biggest purchase in this meeting. I''m pretty sure that the couple couldn''t possibly use it all so I was guessing they have some other purpose for it.


    Mary just chuckled as she waved everyone down, "Hey now, we''re STILL in charge of distribution. We still have our clients giving us a visit for the sole purpose of buying anything to make them forget. And yeah, with this end of the world thing going on, that''s all they pretty much do so we''re squeezing them dry as this thing goes on."


    Brian added, "Not exactly, no. We aren''t even squeezing them, they''re basically dependent on it to the point that our scavenging groups have it easy. Especially H, once you gain tolerance, you''d have to take a lot more to get the same feeling. Only a tenth of our machines are turned on for our regr patrons since most of them visit just to buy those stuff."


    ''Are they holed up in a casino? Which one though?''


    At this point, half the heads have made their purchase, leaving only me, Castro, and Mauro to transact with the rest of that merchandise.


    Mauro purchased 25 pounds¡ªwhere Quinn was strongly against¡ªwhile Castro purchased nothing. It was because Benjie informed him that they also had a lot of stock left at home so purchasing even a little bit was ill-advised. On the other hand, much to the surprise of Kaley, Quinn, Edith, and Mr. Cuervo, I purchased a pound for a specific reason.


    That reason could eithernd me behind a barrel of a gun but regarding the circumstances, this was one of the ways to move forward.


    ''I need to have it tested first.''


    Heroin still had its medical uses but the downside was just it was too fucking addictive. Well, that could apply to several drugs but if strictly regted and carefully administered, it could still relieve a lot of pain and even save a life. Only a few people could get on with enduring whatever they were feeling but in my honest opinion, there should be other ways to deal with it.


    It''s just that I need to have another option just in case something unexpected pops up and even if I despise drugs in the bottom of my heart, like I said earlier, it had its uses.


    Sal thought I was joking, "Kid? Just one? Are you pulling my leg now? You should be buying ten at least!"


    "I just need to test them¡ª"


    "Test? If you''re gonna check if Iced them with Fentanyl¡ª"


    I jokingly asked, "Did you?"


    Sal instantly red at me, "Kid, if I wanted to kill every client I have, I would''ve. But that''s not how I work. You can trust my goods just as much as you could trust the quality of my food. I know you''re just joking but I''m just putting it out there. So, just one?"


    "Just one."


    "Fine, but I''ll be expecting more next time."


    "We''ll see."


    After that, a few more talks were exchanged but Mr. Cuervo brought up another subject as he turned to Mauro.


    "Tell us about the Philippine Military Academy. The one in Cavite."


    ''...?''


    "Academy? Isn''t it better to call it a Military Base now? It''s one of the biggest DDR Camps out there but it''s not fair to call it that, no?"


    "Sure, but tell us about it."


    Mauro tidied himself before he scooted a bit forward, "Well, it was as imprable as fuck but like us, this apocalypse is slowly getting to them."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "What do you mean by was?"


    "I''m getting to it."


    "Fine, go ahead."


    "Alright, I have several groups tasked with scavenging, scouting, taking back cars, etc. outside and one of my groups came upon one of their groups. It seems like they''re also outside for a supply run and it became a little heated."


    "And?"


    "It obviously became a stand off because of the way we looked but the officer that came with them offered an agreement of some sort."


    "What kind?"


    "Can you stop fucking asking questions and let me finish?!"


    "..."


    "Great¡ª"


    "Go ahead¡ª"


    "You!"


    "I didn''t ask a question, did I¡ª I didn''t ask a question. Continue!"


    "Fuck you. Anyway, this agreement really favored us because they''re offering military vehicles and parts¡ªwell, that''s what we requested¡ªin exchange for biter heads which they requested to be alive¡ªyou know, still moving. I couldn''t care less about what they''re doing with them but they''re holding up their end of the deal.


    We gave them a dump truck full of heads once and they gave us a jeep in perfect working condition."


    Quinn interjected, "They removed the gun though."


    "Yeah, unfortunately. In any case, we believe that they''re in close contact with this huge-ass university which is only a few kilometers away from their base. Trust me, when I say huge-ass, I mean fucking huge-ass. Like a huge-ass trunk of a Cadic or something.


    That ce is probably their source of food because not that I know what''s inside their base, I highly doubt they could produce as much food¡ªyou know, given the circumstances. So, I''m thinking they have some sort of deal like ours."


    "Probably¡­"


    "I had one of my teams drive-by once to exchange our services for food but they just took one look at us and turned us away. Get this, I had a different teame back that looked "decent" and they gave them a deal. I hate to fucking say it but their produce is slightly better than what Sal''s peddling."


    Sal turned menacingly to Mauro, "The fuck did you just say?"


    "L-Listen, Sal. I''m just being honest, alright? I thought they''d have at least a few meat products but they fucking don''t. They have these veggie meat recements or whatever that doesn''t taste like whatever the fuck they''re trying to imitate. However, the lettuce and the tomatoes that came back were fucking crisp and juicy, I could eat it on its own."


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    Elsa casually added with the same look as Sal, "Uh-huh."


    "Hey, I was just¡ª"


    "Uh-huh."


    "C-C''mon! D''you want me to lie on your faces?!"


    Mauro was already sweating bullets from the way the two¡ªthree were looking at him, Edith included but I couldn''t help but let out a reaction when they started to talk about this "huge-ass" university.


    I didn''t even think that we were this close to that ce and out of all the ces to make it, that one along with that academy survived. It brought a few memories¡ªgood and bad¡ªin my head and even Kaley noticed I was acting weird.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo knew that something was up and he brought the attention to me.


    "Hermano, something wrong? You''re looking a little ufortable there?"


    "I''m good¡­"


    "Hangover or something?"


    "No¡­"


    "Then what is it?"


    I turned to Mauro, "Hey, that university¡­ Does it also have a huge-ass gate?"


    "Hmm? A huge-ass¡­ Yep, has one."


    "Long metal fencing that spans a kilometer or two?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Religious songs running in the background, uptight people: judgy eyes, air of arrogance, and a stick up their butt? Also, do they have these soy drinks and carrot juices on sale with their veggie burgers and mushroom steaks?"


    "Wait a fucking second¡­"


    "Yeah, about that¡­ I''m an alumni¡­"

 Chapter 812: Meeting IV - Imagine that.

    The moment the word "Alumni" left my mouth, there wasplete silence for a straight minute. Everyone else couldn''t believe their ears and if I mentioned that I also graduated with honors¡ªfuck it, Valedictorian with several awards, they would''ve bled from all of their orifices.


    However, what I wouldn''t mention to them was that Jared used to be a 3rd-year student at PMA or the Philippine Military Academy and he would''ve graduated this year if some things didn''t prevent him from doing so.


    Telling them that I went to that school was already too much information about myself, telling them that they might also have an "in" into thergest DDR Camp in the area could spell a lot of trouble for me and my group. It would''ve been a different case if we''re working together but that term was stillpletely fuzzy at this point.


    Mr. Alvarez stood up from his seat and pointed at me, "Wait a fucking second¡­ You¡­ You went there?"


    "Yeah."


    "You," Mr. Alvarez as he waved his index finger around me¡ªtrying to encircle me wholly, "You''re a college graduate? You studied and shit?"


    "Is something wrong with that? Isn''t that prettymon?"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored my questions, "And you also have a 9-incher?"


    "...sure."


    "Fucking shit, just take everything, will you? If you have my good looks, you''d be fucking perfect! Well, grow a mustache like mine and you''d probably be passable."


    "Uh¡­ Uh-huh¡­"


    Mauro interjected, "Hold up, you said those people got sticks up their butt? How?"


    I lightly sighed, "Not everyone but most of them are, especially the ones that lived inside their walls their whole lives. But to give a brief exnation, imagine arge group of people that are mildly Republican but downright despise guns. Religion is the biggest thing for them and they''d fight you tooth and nail just to shove their beliefs down your throat."


    "Hmm, so you''re a religious one?"


    "Not anymore," I said as I chuckled, "Look around, does it look like¡ª"


    Castro suddenly cut me off, "And this shall be the gue where the Lord will strike all the people that waged war against Jerusalem¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut him off as well, "Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. I know that verse, Castro. I have a few more in my head if you want but I don''t want to start something like this right now."


    Castro let out a smile, "I''m just saying. I don''t care about your beliefs but after what happened to me, seeing the Devil just made me believe that God exists even more."


    I bluntly replied with a smirk, "And how''s that going for ya?"


    Castro sent me a deathly re, "Don''t. Start."


    "I didn''t, you did. If the being you''re talking about is all-knowing and all-powerful, this shit wouldn''t have started in the first ce. And if this was just a fucking test? He would''ve known the end result without putting us through so much shit.


    If anything, if he''s real, it just told me that he''s a fucking psycho that''s just too bored and decided to have some fun¡ªwith us to provide his entertainment."


    "A-And what if this is actually another thing like the flood?"


    "So, are you telling me that he made a mistake? Is that why he''s trying to erase everyone in existence? Can''t he just snap his fingers again and make¡ª"


    "Enough!" Sal mmed the table as she looked at us, "I''m not hearing another word of this."


    "..."


    "..."


    "We''re here to talk shop, not disparage each other''s beliefs. Not one of you had irrefutable proof to back up your ims and all it''s doing right now is creating a divide. I know both of you are new and as hard for me to say this, our organization was just a shell of what it once was, we need to be more united than ever if we want to get through this."


    I sighed as I shrugged my shoulders, turning to Castro, "Sorry. It''s just that in my experience, suffering shit didn''t make me believe more in your god, it''s theplete opposite. I''m not gonna say more because it''s definitely gonna piss you off but I''ll just say that working in mysterious ways doesn''t excuse the fact that it did more harm than good."


    At this moment, Castro listened to every word I said and he let out a heavy sigh as he lightly shook his head.


    "I understand what you''re trying to say and it''s the¡­ logical¡­ route¡­ but I''m gonna follow what my gut is telling me. Believing led me to this point and it proved that He hasn''t failed me. I¡ª"


    "I''m really sorry for this but you can fucking hear yourself, right?"


    "Pardon me?"


    "Tell me if I got this right, you, Castro Castillo was born into your family just to have your love of your life toyed with while each and every truth was bent against you right until your patriarch proved that he''s too fucking old to understand technology because that was what made him slip up.


    After that, you were finally free from your curse and set on the path to vengeance and the lesson you learned from that was that you realized that your god existed even more because of it."


    "And? What''s wrong¡ª"


    "My guy. Every bit of wrong is present from that. Imagine being created for the purpose of making you recognize your creator even more. I know you still have a lot on your te but try to apply what I said to every person you could think of. Imagine how fucked up it is if your book is just a couple of pages long because that''s the way it should be."


    "..."


    "Is that tooplicated? Imagine me, being born into this world to have a belief such as mine. If he''s real and he made me this way, won''t I just go straight to hell and burn for all of eternity once this is all over? Imagine that. But yeah, what do I know? I don''t have irrefutable proof of my ims as Sal said but I do think about it a whole lot instead of just believing in it because they said so."


    "..."


    After that, it becamepletely quiet again and the silence was broken when Mauro let out a yawn. But before that, Castro couldn''t find the words to reply to me and even Sal started to think to herself. The only person that looked me straight in the eye was Benjie and it wasn''t because he was still mad at me but it was because it felt like my words were getting through to him somehow.


    "You guys done? Can we move this shit along now?"


    I replied as I nced over Castro, "We''re done, right?"


    "For now, yeah," Castro added as he looked down.


    "Alright, back on topic. Where were we again? Right, the university. Whitewood University. It''s still quite a ways from the Philippine Military Academy but those two ces are working together. You said they despise guns but let''s just say that for this time, they decided to make an exception.


    Praying can only do so much, no? Ahaha¡­ bad joke¡­ Anyway~ the good news is that both camps are open to people: they trade food, information, services, etc., but it''s more¡­ PGpared to ours. I don''t believe they know of this ce yet but if we do it right, we could open up a channel between them and ours.


    We''ve been at odds since forever but unless they try to pick a fight with us, I don''t see any harm in working together."


    Mary interjected, "I agree with what you said but I still don''t get why they''re collecting heads."


    ''True. I''ve been sending them different samples but I never heard of them collecting heads aside from this one other group that we took care of. I doubt they''re even the same thing¡­''


    Mauro replied, "Does it matter? They''re giving us free shit for it and it clears the streets. Win-Win in my book."


    Mr. Cuervo chimed in, "We just need to be careful while collecting information. They must know more than we do but we shouldn''t bite more than what we can chew. Kid, I hate to do this to you but since you''re dropping by the De Leon Family''s turf, why don''t you drop by your old Alma Mater and say hi?


    They might give you more information if you know some of the people inside and we''d pay you for the information."


    I waved him off, "No need for that. I''ll tell you what I find out but they shouldn''t know I''m part of this group. If they ever do, they''ll shut us out because of obvious reasons."


    Mauro scratched the back of his head, "Yeah¡­ that''s why I send some of my decent-looking prospects over so everything goes smoothly when we trade shit. But on the other side, all they want is just results. Anyone could talk to them as long as it''s not either of the old heads that are a little too high profile."


    Mr. Alvarez nodded, "Fair enough. But what could you give us now?"


    I turned to him, "What do you mean?"


    "Deets, kid. Deets. I wanna hear more."


    "Hmm~ I said most of what''s important but if we''re talking about food, they got it. Well, I dunno about it now because it''s been a while but the folks from the other side wouldn''t give them protection if they don''t have anything to offer."


    "Interesting¡­"

 Chapter 813: Meeting V - I should return these...

    Mr. Alvarez''sst statement ended with him stroking his chin with aplex expression but I waved him over before he tried to do something stupid.


    "Hey, the n is to try and work with them. If you stir shit now while everything''s going swimmingly with the de Leon Family and that group, I won''t¡ª"


    He scoffed, "Won''t what? Who do you think you are?"


    For the first time in this meeting, Mr. Alvarez felt like a stranger, and even if we did have a short moment from talking shop, he was still a person that held a lot of power. He might be buddy-buddy with me for a short bit, but I still don''t know the guy fully.


    At this point, the atmosphere was getting a little heavy but I need to hold my ground.


    "I''m the person who put you down, bitch. And if you want to return the fucking favor, wise up and think for once. You say you have a fortress but guess what? They have one too. Nigh impregnable too, ording to the person you''re trying to get killed¡ª"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored my provocations, "Whoa! Whoa! I''m not trying to get him killed¡ª"


    "Who do you think they''re gonnae after if something ever happened to them? They''re not fucking stupid. They''ll piece it all together and they''ll be like animals in heat once they found a new challenger. The random shamblers on the streets wouldn''t be as exciting to them."


    "So, you''re saying we''re gonna lose?"


    I shook my head in derision, "Both sides will but as previously stated, aren''t you all losing people on a regr basis? Is going to war with the government the solution? You know, to stop them from killing themselves? Or¡­ since they''re gonna die anyway, are you gonna use suicide tactics to cause massive amounts of damage? Is that it? Thest hurrah or some shit?"


    "..."


    "If you''re that desperate for food that you have to attack somece that could easily send several tanks and attack helicopters your way, why don''t you have someone in your fold take Sal''s hand or you could do that yourself¡ª"


    "PUUUUUUU!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"


    "I HAVE A FUCKING WIFE!"


    "Should we tell him?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I''M DEAD!"


    "Fuck, that''s the most amazing thing that came out of you, holy fucking shit¡­"


    "Yep, we''re all gonna die today¡­"


    "I''m¡­ I''m gonna stay away from this one¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    I''ve never been so confused, "Is there¡­ Is there something I said?"


    At this point, even Sal was dyingughing from my earlier statement but Mr. Alvarez was this fucking close to choking me out. I definitely stepped on some toes but I guess I''d find out more stuff about these people.


    Sal wiped her tears fromughing as she turned to me, "Kid, I''m basically his step-sister but that was long, long~ ago."


    "WHAT?!"


    She added, "We''re not rted in any way but let''s just say that when ourte parents separated¡ª hmm, how should I put this in words you can understand? I maybe got stuck once or twice in the washer¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "STOP, SAL! DON''T SAY ANYMORE!"


    "I''M NOT HEARING THIS! I''M NOT HEARING THIS!"


    Hearing that, I didn''t know whether tough or shut the fuck up because Mr. Alvarez was staring daggers at everyone who so much show their teeth from trying to hide theirughter.


    I guess it was safe to say that their rtionship didn''t work out but they cannot erase the history between them. It''s just that Sal was pretty much over it while it was like an old wound that opened for Mr. Alvarez.


    Mr. Cuervo eventually anchored the conversation, "As stated earlier, since the kid will be dropping by the de Leon Family''s turf for a few days, he''ll be on the mission to gather info on his old Alma Mater. I strongly advise against stirring up shit while the kid is doing recon and even if he isn''t, it''ll do more harm than good for everyone here."


    "Agreed."


    "Agreed¡­"


    "That works for me."


    "Me as well¡­"


    "Fine. To keep it a hundred, I wasn''t actually thinking of doing it. My people are much, much more important now. I can''t just rece them and train themon rabble because we don''t have much of those anymore. But yeah, it''s another story if theye for us."


    "What do you mean?"


    "When it started, like the Castillos, we flipped our town and the ones surrounding it upside down, iming everything for ourselves, the DDR Camps included. It cost a lot of people and bullets but we absorbed everyone that didn''t fight back. It''s just that it''s taking its toll now since we''re always low on food."


    Mary sighed, "I told you so many times. Increasing your territory and the number of people on your payroll without making sure you can handle it will spell all sorts of trouble. You''re lucky that your only problem is food."


    Mr. Alvarez replied, "We have other problems too but that''s just the most troublesome at this moment. But yeah, I''ll take care of it once we get back. I''m thinking of downsizing and re-assigning other people to more helpful shit."


    Sal chuckled, "Good luck with that."


    "Hey! I''m not that good at managing shit but we still get it done! It''s not like I''m the only one that has that problem. Mauro and I¡ª"


    Mauro interjected, "Nope. Not anymore. Elsa will be handling some of the stuff back home¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the back, "Finally¡­"


    "What do you mean by that?!"


    "There''s only so much I could do and I''m always busy so having another capable woman at the shop will do us wonders."


    "Hey! I''m¡ª"


    "What? Half the time you spend on managing is fixing the mistakes that should not have been there in the first ce! Dave handles some of the shit back home but everyone else keeps fucking it up. It still amazes me how we survived until now. I was about to start another chapter by myself if things continued as is."


    "Stop with the jokes, you''re not leaving even if I force you out."


    "Heh, true. Anyway, are we done here? There''s too much talking and I can only handle a little bit more," Quinn said as she turned to Mr. Cuervo.


    "Then a little bit more," Mr. Cuervo replied with a smile.


    After that, more topics were brought up but they were mostly concerns that were easily solved bymon sense or with the help of the other family. And surprisingly enough, aside from the casual mention of drugs and some other illegal shit like prostitution or straight-up bloody murder, their organization functions like any other organization in the "legal" world.


    Everyone needed the basic stuff to live and some other things though it would''ve been wildly different if it wasn''t the end of the world.


    Right now, everyone else was more focused on surviving, and somehow, cooperating with their long-term archnemesis didn''t sound like a god-awful n. And yeah, trying to live with these people didn''t sound too bad either.


    The original n was to wipe half of the families in question and take care of the dregster¡ªbecause the head of the snake was more important¡ªbut like the substance that Sal peddled to each of us earlier, it all boiled down to how you use a certain substance in order for it to do good or bad.


    That statement would''ve made my parents turn in their graves but I''ve already done a lot of things that would''ve prompted the same reaction.


    I''ve killed and tortured people, turned away from the ''creator'', and much, much worse. In short, my ledger was as bloody as it could get but it was done to achieve certain results that didn''t betray myselfpletely.


    Yes, psychedelics were the root cause of my parents'' demise and I would''ve achievedplete vengeance after putting a bullet in each head of the people in this ce but somehow, I felt that I should do something else entirely. It sounded cringe but for a higher cause, I could ce the thought of vengeance in the deepest part of my head and only bring it back if I was wrong.


    It sounded conceited and stupid but I could always raze this ce to the ground¡ªand each of their territories if I wanted to, but I wanted to see if my dream of everyone getting along could work now that we all share amon goal.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the meeting was adjourned but Mr. Cuervo waved me over and handed me a set of keys and another keycard with the familiar dragon crest that was on the keycard Cynthia gave me.


    At this point, everyone else had already left and only the two of us were in the meeting room.


    "What are these for?"


    "It''s for the third house to the left of my mansion. You have your personalized floors here but you gotta have a house, your family''s house. And yeah, you''re gonna be busy today."


    "Hmm? Why?"


    Then Mr. Cuervo pulled out a live feed from the house he just gave to me, "See all those people lining outside? There are still some people that want to join your family even though you turned all of them away. Hear them out, you might find a few diamonds among the rough. Trust me, they''ll line up on that spot all week if you don''t see what they have to offer."


    "I see¡ª"


    "Right, before I forget¡­ I should return these¡­" Mr. Cuervo said as he ced the detonators for the stic explosives that were mounted on the viewing tforms for the Castillo, Alvarez, and the Garcia Family.

 Chapter 814: What Couldve Happened - IM NOT PSYCHIC!

    I looked at the rugged detonators Mr. Cuervo ced on the table and if things went as they should, there would''ve been three less seats surrounding the round table. Truth be told, every head in Mr. Cuervo''s organization seemed like they were friends for a long time but if we''re talking about their deep history with each other, they have enough reason to slit each other''s throats given the chance.


    From the top of my head, I know that Mauro and Sal knew of the n¡ªeven though I had no idea they were the heads of their families¡ªbut they too had to have a person or two to confide in: Quinn and Elsa respectively, as far as I know.


    At first, I actually didn''t care who the fuck was gonna survive but Mr. Cuervo actually made the right decision of choosing allies if he had to let go of a few to move forward. If I was in his shoes, I would''ve done the same thing and to have a political/genuine wedding to merge the other two families that would be left was a great choice.


    It was because with the nature of the other three families'' business model, they had to fucking go.


    First and foremost, Mr. Castillo and 99% of his blood rtives were just fucking psychos and they had an army¡ªmuch like the Alvarez family¡ªto mobilize at the drop of a hat.


    Secondly, the Alvarez Family was pretty much the same thing and since they had also reimed the town they were in and the surrounding areas around it by using violent means, they had the highest heat levelpared to everyone else''s.


    Andstly, the Garcia Family¡ªeven though they were kinda peaceful in nature¡ªstill had to go because from what Mr. Cuervo told me, Mary and Brian seemed to have the goal to rece him in the future but not by regr means. The Garcia Family had connections that Mr.


    Cuervo didn''t even have an ounce of an idea about and knowing that they also deal in organs¡ªeven after the world ended¡ªdidn''t sit well with me.


    If Mason didn''t tell me that one of their guys would be "harvested" because of incurring a ton of debt, I would''ve considered letting them live.


    But since our original n had gone to shit, we were gonna do it the long and difficult way.


    It was supposed to be a hostile takeover of some sort but much like what Castro was trying to do with his own family, we''d slowly restructure this organization into something "passable" in the president''s eyes.


    Mauro and Sal knew of our n but they have zero clue I was connected to the president of this country. Mr. Cuervo eventually knew of this fact but he had zero clue that I could''ve easily had this ce burned to the ground.


    I''ve seen it happen once when I was in Iskoh''s territory and I''m pretty sure that was just a taste of what the president could call upon. However, the president had zero clue I was connected to this organization¡ªand have a pretty high standing¡ªand Jose was the only one of the officers who knew the real story aftering with us.


    From what I told Morales, Ferdinand, and a few other officers back home, I was ying the "cold game" of sorts¡ªwhich was technically true¡ªto find out more about this ce that had a "few" narcotics circting around.


    But since I downyed most of what this ce was, they assumed I could eventually take care of it or this ce would eventually just run out of resources, and it was just a waste to have it reported to the president who had better things to do.


    Furthermore, if pushes to shove, Morales and his soldiers owed me a ton for taking in the majority of their family members, and since the president didn''t send over their able-bodied family members and conscripted them as his soldiers, it made a small damper on their rtionship.


    I was the guy supposed to be transparent about all this but if this blew up in my face, I would be in serious fucking shit.


    But to bepletely fair, I had no intention of being a family head or a government''s dog but it was required to bridge the two factions together.


    This fucking shit would be over at the earliest if these two parties just focused on what''s fucking important, and I was willing to y a dangerous game just to get back to the olden days. It was a decent but a little idealistic goal in my head but the payoff will be tremendous if I managed to seed.


    "Hermano?"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''ve been quiet for a while there, something wrong?"


    "Oh, I was inner monologuing, don''t worry about it."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Yep," I replied as I motioned to walk towards the exit.


    "Wait, you aren''t gonna take them?"


    "Nope. Keep the C4 too¡ªwell, hand them over to Jericho. I''m sure he''d like what I have nned for those."


    "Alright, he''d probably wake up in an hour or so but don''t forget to tell me when you''re about to leave."


    "Sure."


    At this point, Mr. Cuervo and I just shared a nce before I turned around and exited the room, but I did see him breathe a sigh of relief once everything was over¡­ for now. Even if I did say that all of them had some bad blood with each other, some good was mixed in it as well.


    It was safe to say that Mr. Cuervo was actually more than just acquaintances with the other family heads, and even if he witnessed allies and enemies go¡ªfrom the time he was active, it was also safe to say that it would''ve been difficult for him if half of them disappeared in a single night.


    Once I closed the door behind me, I walked inside the elevator and it didn''t take long before I was brought to the surface.


    I thought I would start finding everyone else again but Kaley, Quinn, and Edith were actually waiting for me.


    Quinn let out a sigh, "Took you long enough. Right, Edith here has something to say to you."


    "Hmm?"


    Edith slowly inched closer with an embarrassed look, "About t-taking me in¡­"


    I waved her off, "You don''t have to if you don''t¡ª"


    "I¡ª I want to though! B-But¡­ all of my stuff is still back home¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "You coulde with us or Sal. You''re not gonna take a few days just to pack your things, right?"


    Edith looked a little dejected, "N-No¡­ It wouldn''t take as long but I have to hand over my responsibilities to a few people so that Aunt Sally wouldn''t take them all. T-That''s why we''re here, I''m asking if you could wait a few days so I could¡ª"


    "That''s no problem at all. We''d probably spend a week at most at Quinn''s ce and we''ll just pick you up if you''re ready."


    "Huh?! You''re only gonna spend a week at my ce?!"


    Kaley let out a chuckle, "Why? Gonna miss us that much?"


    "I''m n-not saying that¡­ I¡­ I just want to make sure you thoroughly f-fix my car¡ª Right! You''re gonna fabricate a Shelby''s body too, right?! Won''t that take longer?!"


    I shook my head as I let out my show-off face, "Quinn, Quinn, Quinn¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "What? What? What?"


    "I can do both in a day and it''s up to your machines if they could keep up with me. I can do that in three days or so but I added a few more days because I wanted to drop by my old uni. But yeah¡­" I trailed as I turned to Edith, "Is a week enough for you?"


    Edith nodded, "That''s m-more than enough but I have one more favor to ask."


    "Sure, anything."


    "If¡­ If you decide to ce by here again¡­ I''d like to visit Aunt Sally if possible. I know that Elsa would keep herpany but I want to do the same thing too¡­"


    "That''s not a problem but it''s gonna be between a month or a couple of months at a time. We''ll be opening up a trading route and you could ride the ship with an escort."


    "That works!"


    "Great."


    "S-So¡­ What are you guys up to now?"


    Quinn replied, "My guys are still packing shit. It might take a while and since I don''t have a working car, I''m gonna ride with these two lovebirds so they won''t take a detour."


    Edith turned to Kaley and me, "How about you two?"


    I held Kaley''s shoulder and pulled her close, "Kaley''s gonna do some psychic shit."


    "A what?" Quinn and Edith said at the same time.


    "Eh~ You''ll find out soon. It seems like the line is still outside the house Mr. Cuervo gave us so I''ll let Kaley hold the reign for that part. She''s psychic, have I told you two before?"


    "I''M NOT PSYCHIC!"

 Chapter 815: Forget the list. He goes to the block.

    Kaley eximed as she was kinda yfully ring at me¡ªbecause I used to joke about her being an actual psychic, and making another attempt to spread her "skills" was getting a little too out of hand. But despite that, Quinn and Edith took it as a joke but it was only a matter of time before they thought differently.


    To bepletely honest, I also regard it as a running joke between us but the way Kaley could filter out people¡ªthough not at 100% uracy¡ªwas still outstanding.


    It didn''t take long before the four of us made our way to the line in question and I was surprised to see a few dozen people waiting to pledge to our house.


    "Oi! He''s here! He''s here! Line up! Line up!"


    "Line up properly!"


    "That''s the new head?"


    "Hah?? Where were you yesterday?"


    "I was already out since 7 PM, woke up in my vomit and shit¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Can we really get in?"


    "One way to find out, no?"


    "He rejected everyonest time¡­"


    "Persistence has some merits, we just gotta show him we''re serious."


    "Sister in christ, we''re both fucking whores, how can we¡ª"


    "Shut up! I just wanna see him up close¡­"


    "Can you evenpete with his wife? She''s so pretty¡­"


    "Edith is over there too, she''s totally my type."


    "How about Quinn? She''s mommy, right?"


    "I¡­ I can''t keep up¡­ So he''s¡­ probably¡­ that good as Rox and Mel say¡­"


    "Oh?"


    I could only shake my head at the chatter I was hearing while we were making our way and to my surprise, Tatiana, Cynthia, and the twins were the ones keeping them in order. They had a table with a few refreshments on it but Riri was holding the list of the aspiring candidates.


    Her face lit up when we met eyes and she approached me with a jaunt in her step as she handed me the clipboard.


    "Here! Fifty-two people in total!"


    ''This is just a list of names¡­ They should''ve gotten a bit more info out of them¡­''


    I turned to Tatiana first, "Where''s Artem and the rest? Did they leave already?"


    Tatiana nodded after swallowing a mouthful of food, "Yeah, he brought Katya, Mikhail, Bogdan, Niks, and Alexei with the crew Mr. Cuervo gave them. If you''re looking for the others, they''re probably around here somewhere but I did tell them to inform me if they''re gonna head out."


    "I see, thanks¡­" I trailed as I looked at the clipboard and Riri who was looking to receive apliment. "Riri¡­ It''s nice of you to get their names but you should''ve gotten more given the time they were here¡­"


    Riri had the shock of her life, "Ah¡ª You''re¡ª I thought¡ª"


    "It''s fine¡ª"


    "Wait! I know everybody here! We could just tell you!" Riri eximed as she nced at Ruru.


    Ruru nodded, "Yes, we do actually."


    I nodded with a faint smile, "Alright, one of you bring one of them up while the other writes their info on a piece of paper. It''s impressive to know you know each of them personally but I''ll need a CV of sorts for proper record-keeping."


    "We''re sorry, we''ll do good next time¡­"


    Ruru turned to the people in the line, "Alright! Come over here! You! You''re~ Ang, right?" then she turned to me, "She''s Ang, 26 years of age, from the Cuervo Family, a member of the Pink House¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t tell him that!"


    I cut them off, "I''m gonna need every bit of info, sorry. Don''t worry, I won''t judge you in any way but that doesn''t mean I''ll just ept anybody that tries to get into my camp."


    Ruru nodded with a faint smile, "He''s great, right? Anyway, Ang also works as a line cook when she''s on her day off and she keeps her room really clean! However~ she''s kind of a picky eater and she OPENS UP a little too much when she''s drunk."


    Tatiana interjected, "You mean physically or¡­"


    Ang shouted while her face was beet-red, "THE OTHER ONE! I JUST DON''T HAVE A FILTER WHEN I''M DRUNK, OKAY?!"


    "Ah¡­ I wouldn''t mind if you''re both, personally," Tatiana chuckled while she didn''t break eye contact with Ang.


    At that moment, the sexual tension between the two was concerning so I had to swipe one of her burritos to distract her.


    "Hey! That''s mine!"


    "Uh-huh, I thought you''d have her for a meal so you wouldn''t mind this one. Anyway," I said as I turned to Ang, "I''m not the one to interview all of you even if I''m the head of my family but everyone, meet my wife, Kaley. She''s the one to decide if we''ll keep you or not."


    "..."


    Everyone was silent as Kaley gave them a short nod¡ªafter releasing a little bit of pressure, but I gave her a short introduction for them to know that she was not here to mess around.


    "Don''t let the pretty face and perfect body fool all of you, alright? I trained her personally and the only thing I haven''t taught her was to hold back."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ just kidding~ She knows how to, she just prefers not to do it. Can we start again?"


    Kaley sighed exasperatedly as she beckoned Ang to speak, "Don''t mind him, he''s just trying to scare all of you but anyway~ I don''t mind you giving an introduction of your own. You know yourself best, right? I think it''s better for you to do it yourself rather than another person. And to add to that, Ruru did a good job just listing their names because this is actually how I want to do things."


    "..!"


    After Kaley said that, it seemed like she captured almost all of everyone''s hearts instead of intimidating everyone to the point of canceling their tryout spot. However, her methods seemed to be too effective because it didn''t take long before Ang started opening up, and she was already in tears while she haven''t had a sip of alcohol.


    "It''s just that I don''t know *sniffs* if I''m really doing the right thing *sniffs* by going here but *sniffs* y-you''re really cool, you know that?! *sniffs* I made a lot of friends in this line of work but I really j-just want to pursue being a cook!


    It *sniffs* It used to be my dream but money was really tight before and I had to *sniffs* sell pictures of my feet to strangers at this *sniffs* shady *sniffs* website. I just¡­ *sniffs* It was just so lucrative and I couldn''t believe how much *sniffs* money I made and it just devolved to me *sniffs* doing other stuff¡­"


    "I¡­ I see¡­"


    "B-But you know what?! *sniffs* Even if some part of me disappears every time I *sniffs* do it? It still empowers me in a way¡­ Am I crazy?!"


    ''Yep¡­''


    Kaley kicked my shin as if she heard what I was speaking in my head, "Y-You''re not! You''re just following what your heart wants! Sometimes¡­ You might do something that you don''t like for the sake of something that keeps you¡­ happy but if you discover that the something you hate or used to hate empowers you, isn''t that a good thing?"


    "D-Do you really think *sniffs* so?"


    ''Why did this turn into a¡ª nevermind¡­ it''s entertaining at least¡­ But yeah, they should be speaking about this topic somewhere more private¡­''


    With that said, Ang eventually decided to pursue a new(?) passion of hers while remaining in the Cuervo Family but the next person after wanted toe to our fold for a different reason.


    "So, your name is Belle?"


    "Yeah~"


    "And can you tell me your reason for trying to join our¡ª"


    "Dick."


    "H-Huh?"


    "I need more dick."


    "Care to e-borate?"


    "I''ve sucked every fucking dick in this ce and it''s starting to get¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, but our lodgings for ourdies of the night are limited. I love the enthusiasm but we''ll give you a call if we ever have an open spot¡­"


    "R-Really? Man~ fine¡­ that''s too bad. But hit me up, yeah? And also, I know what I am, you don''t have to sugarcoat it."


    "Oh. Sure¡­ alright."


    Two aspirers were gone in a blink of an eye but the next one that was called up have some serious, serious issues.


    I dunno how he was fucking awake right now because he seemed to have partied way too hard yesterday or even the week before, but what surprised everyone was that he came in and pulled his pants down with an absent look on his face.


    "Umm¡ª"


    We thought the nightmare had already reached its peak but something that smelled like ammonia but looked like it had a tinge of blood came out from hisid penis. He started pissing in front of everyone with the same expression but for some reason, everyone waited for him to finish before he got beat up and dragged away.


    I turned to Ruru and Riri, "Who¡­ Who the fuck was that?"


    Ruru almost didn''t reply from the shock, "That''s¡­ I d-dunno¡­"


    Riri added, "He''s not on the list¡­ What should we do?"


    I said with a straight face, "Forget the list. He goes to the block."

 Chapter 816: Isaac - Sensei?

    After I said that, I could only shake my head in disappointment because none of them got it¡ªincluding Cynthia¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the mess the previous guy made was cleaned up, and the next person was brought in front of us. The guy looked like a regr ol'' joe with sses but it looked like he was more interested in talking to me than Kaley.


    "Hello, my name''s Isaac," the person said while looking straight at me, "I''m¡­ I''m not from any family¡ªactually, I haven''t pledged to any family yet but I have purchased a few months'' worth of residence here in this ce just to have a chance to meet you."


    Kaley interjected, "So¡­ you wanna join us? Can you tell us a reason why?"


    Isaac turned to Kaley for a moment and nodded at her before turning to me again, "I''m¡­ this is embarrassing but I also practice the same¡ªwell, not the same technically¡­ but I''m from the Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts. I was enrolled for two years and I''m a 2nd-Dan practitioner before¡­ you know¡ª"


    ''Fierce God-Dragon, no way. Not in a million years this kid is a student of that ce. Besides, they don''t have "School of Martial Arts" at the end of their sign¡­''


    "Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts?" I asked with a faint smile.


    "You¡ª You know my school?"


    "No¡ª It kinda rings a bell but I doubt there would be an actual branch or any other branch here."


    Isaac looked a little offended, "Do you know all of the branches¡ª"


    "I do, actually. Everything from the AJKF(All-Japan Kendo Federation) to the old, old schools you probably haven''t heard of."


    "C-Can I ask which school you learned from?"


    "Yeah, no. You probably haven''t heard of it even if I tell you."


    ''Ours isn''t as cool sounding¡­ so, no¡­''


    "..."


    From his silence, I thought it was over and as I was about to turn to Kaley so she could continue her interview, Isaac cut her off.


    "Can¡­ Can you tell me and take me in if I score a point off you?"


    A few raised their eyebrows as they turned in Isaac''s direction though most of them didn''t know what Isaac was talking about.


    "A point?"


    "Basketball?"


    "What are they talking about again?"


    I chuckled as I stood up from my seat, "I ept the challenge if and only if you''d run 10ps around this ce naked if I score a point off you first."


    Isaac was a little taken aback but a look of excitement reced his expression before he nodded several times.


    At this point, the interview process had taken a pause but I guess it was better than seeing another person''s dick while everyone was still fucking tired and a little hungover. To my surprise, the twins had brought over actual shinais or bamboo swords we could spar with but Isaac was in the process of wearing his full kendo gear.


    "Dude. Seriously?"


    "Ah¡ª You didn''t bring yours?"


    I instantly facepalmed, "D''you seriously think I''d bring my¡ª"


    "O-Of course, I''d let you borrow my spare¡ª"


    "You have a spare too?! No. I''m fine as is."


    "B-But what if you get hit?"


    "I''ll take some painkillers."


    "F-Fine¡­"


    Looking at the guy, I had no clue as to how he ended up in this ce but seeing another "practitioner" in the flesh was a breath of fresh air. It didn''t take long before he donned his helmet and approached me in the circle-like stage I drew on the dirt though his whole demeanor changed when he raised his shinai¡ªholding it with both hands¡ªand assumed his stance.


    But on the other hand, I was just so fucking casual, I was resting my shinai on my shoulders while my whole body was rxed.


    I would always do this type of thing to irk my opponent just to get a small reaction or to throw off their game by a little bit, but all I received was a short exhale as Isaac continued to concentrate.


    And the moment the signal was given, his shinai just suddenly looked like a round, white object heading for me as he opened up with a quick thrust.


    The motherfucker was actually aiming for my throat and even if it was in the confines of the actual rules, it was still fucking dangerous.


    But yeah, this kid got some balls on him.


    It''s just that much to his surprise, I easily knocked the tip of his shinai with the butt of my owning from my original stance of resting my shinai on my shoulders¡ªbefore I blew his helmet off with a sudden switch mid-swing.


    I could''ve done it with a simple flick of the wrist but I decided to use my freehand to help change the trajectory of my strike by cing it right at the end of the handle, and an attack made with both hands would 100% of the time be stronger than an attack with a single one. Good thing I did it at an angle away from his head or he''d have several concussions.


    Our match was over in a matter of seconds and he was just looking at me stunned but it wasn''t for disappointment but for amazement and awe. However, it was only for a few seconds that the realization struck that he had to run 10ps around Cuervo Heights nude.


    The look of horror and dread on his face was just so fucking priceless and even if he turned to me for mercy, I just chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders.


    "Why are you looking at me like that? A bet is a bet, no? And yeah, if you won''t do at least that, I won''t fucking take you in."


    "I¡­ T-Thanks for the match! I''llplete the 10ps while thinking of you, sensei!"


    "Ah¡ª N-No, I''ll fucking kill you if you do that."


    "Yes, sensei!"


    "And don''t call me sensei."


    "Shishou?"


    "No."


    "Daimyo?"


    "No."


    "Onii-chan?"


    "You''re fucking with me, aren''t you?"


    "No?"


    "I''ll count to three and if you''re not¡ª"


    "I''M GOING! I''M GOING! I''M GOING!"


    Without further ado, Isaac just started to sprint away while chucking out pieces of his clothing. But while that was happening, Kaley was looking at me amusedly but I just shook my head and sighed heavily before I turned to the twins.


    "Can I get some more info on that guy?"


    Ruru nodded, "Yeah, he came here a few months ago but he was probably present the first time you came here. He mostly just watched anything that''s happening around here but he would sometimes rent some "entertainment" from time to time. He mostly keeps to his room but we''d also see him exercise in the gym or runps around in the morning."


    Riri added, "Oh! He hadn''t been with us, before you ask."


    I lightly chuckled, "I see no problem with that even if he already has."


    Ruru pouted, "It would''ve been nice if you cared a little¡­"


    Riri chuckled, "Anyway, that''s because he has a little preference¡­ We''ll just leave it at that to give him a little bit of privacy."


    Quinn joined in, "Hah! That''s funnying from you two since you gave away every bit of info from my crew."


    "W-Well they''re rude but he''s nice. There''s a difference."


    With that said, as things went on, Kaley managed to interview a few more people but a couple of people¡ªQuinn and Tatiana, were getting a little too bored so they proposed something to move things along.


    "Alright, listen up! If you don''t have anything to offer except muscle,e over on that side and we''ll be the ones to test you. If not, just act like you heard nothing but we do wee challengers."


    Almost immediately, half of the people in the line walked over to the side where Quinn and Tatiana drew a line and it didn''t take long before screams of pain and horror came from their side. However, it did make Kaley''s job a little easier and she discovered a few more interesting ones among the bunch she was interviewing.


    We found a personal trainer, an ex-cop, a desmith, a "Marital Aid" manufacturer, a watchmaker, and a circus performer.


    Each of them had their own stories to tell and as much as I would''ve liked to have an actual desmith in my fold, I doubt that he''d pass my over-the-top standards. However, not everyone had the opportunity to wield a priceless treasure like mine and witness a grandmaster cksmith do his work, so having regr old des that were readily avable to the public was a plus in my book.


    ''As long as it could cut open heads and chop off limbs without breaking or bending, it''s good. Sometimes, quantity is better than quality¡­''


    With that said, I was still listening to their replies to Kaley''s question but my attention was caught by another dick pping in the wind.


    "ONII-SAN! I FINISHED THE TEN LAPS! ONII¡ª OW! WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME?! AH! AHHHHH~!


    HELP! HE''S FUCKING CRAZY!"

 Chapter 817: Temporary Farewells and Road Trips

    I didn''t know why, my hand holding my shinai just moved on its own and started beating Isaac up but something told me that he was enjoying every second of it. Even when he realized he had to run around the area nude, it felt like the notion of getting seen naked by different people stirred something inside him even though he was utterly embarrassed by it.


    ''Great¡­ a nudist-masochist with a humiliation kink¡­ Why is it that the most normal-looking people have them? Fuck it¡­ one of the many reasons why he ended up in this ce¡­''


    With that said, Kaley was still talking to the people that wanted to join our fold but my radio started buzzing.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid. This is the captain speaking, are you guys done?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, a little change of ns. We''ll be here for more than a week."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What?! Why?! We can''t just stay here and wait for you guys to finish!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm? Did something happen?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [No,plete opposite. Well, we''ve started going through the other ships here but they''re all picked clean¡ªaside from spare parts we could use and the ship itself¡ªso we could probably have them all as donors or have another one sea-ready.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s great, actually. I''ll leave it to you but have any of you gone around the area yet?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, the other kids you brought can''t sit still for more than a few hours. They''ve gone around and looted the areas in the immediate vicinity while the others fished. They haven''t found much but they did find some things we could make a use for.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm~ Alright, just don''t let them wander too far and alone. The zombie poption here isn''t as muchpared to our ce but they shouldn''t let their guards down or y around too much."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I know, but time-wise how much longer do you think we''d be here?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Maximum of a month. And even if you get another ship ready, I''d still need you to be holding the fort for us. I can''t trust that to anyone else."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I understand. I''ll give my wife another call.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Thank you. Just give me a call whenever."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    After that call, it only took a few more minutes for Kaley to finish her interview and we got a total of 17 new people wearing the imaginary Ishiyama family crest.


    It was because aside from Isaac and the few others we found interesting, the ones that stayed behind genuinely wanted to join my crew and they were fine with making the house Mr. Cuervo gave me their new home¡ªmuch to the surprise of Isaac¡ªeven if they were technically still living in Cuervo Heights.


    Furthermore, the two sex workers Kaley let in¡ªAng and Belle¡ªwanted to have a change of scenery though the definition of the word differed for both of them.


    Ang wanted her main job to be the house''s cook and her "entertainment" job to be the one on the side while Belle really just wanted to suck and feel a different cock with a passion.


    All of them will be in charge of maintaining the house and taking whatever side quests Mr. Cuervo would put them on so they''d have an influx of vouchers to maintain the upkeep. Security wasn''t the main issue but since this house will also be Niks, Alexei, and Ilya''s house, I doubt no one would mess with them when we go back to our main HQ.


    After I gave them the run-down of what I expected them to do, it was at the same time Quinn was informed that their crew was ready to go back. They''d obviously leave some people to maintain their enclosure and keep their shop at the Bazaar open but some of them still had business in their actual spot.


    And lo and behold, Mr. Alvarez came up behind me with a huge smile on his face.


    "We''re finally heading back eh?"


    "We?"


    "Didn''t you forget? I need to see it with¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off, "Are you riding with us?"


    "Yeah?"


    "No. We''re fucking in the car. I don''t want your dirty and cringe mustache near it."


    Mr. Alvarez had the shock of his life, "No fucking way you''re fucking the whole three hours. Just no fucking way¡ª and my mustache is the best there is. You''re just fucking jealous you can''t grow one, end of story."


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, tell yourself that. Either you follow behind us or I''ll send the car to your home after we''re done with a little scratch I wouldn''t tell you where."


    "Fuck, no! Don''t do that! Fine! Fine! I''ll ride way~ in front though, you better leave no scratches on that or I''ll request a full refund!"


    After that, I sorted a few things with Mr. Cuervo, Jericho, and Jared before I left Cuervo Heights with Kaley, Tatiana, Jose, Isaac, and Quinn with the majority of her crew. Mauro was supposed toe with us but he decided it would be best to spend more time in Sal''s ce with his wife for a lot of reasons he didn''t tell me.


    With that said, I would''ve preferred Jared toe with me but he needs to learn a bit of leadership and what better way to start it than with a rowdy group of whores and gangbangers that were pretty much unpredictable. Furthermore, Ibarra and a few others like Ilya, Marina, and Natasha were left to hold the fort down, and I also briefed them on what to do while we were away.


    The only ones that didn''t like to be left behind were the twins because if Tatiana didn''t pry them off my legs, they would''vee even if they looked ridiculous.


    "Come quick¡ª I mean, don''t take too long, okay?"


    "Sis, I think he wouldn''t mix the two up¡­"


    "I was just trying to rify! Well, he never mixes us up¡­"


    "True, stay safe! Be ready for us when youe back!"


    "Alright, heh. Anyway, you know what to do. See youter!"


    We eventually drove away with my Raptor, merging with the convoy of vehiclesing from the de Leon Family enclosure, but for one obvious reason, the girls made Isaac and Jose ride the truckbed while the four of us were seated inside. I didn''t even have the chance to inspect Isaac''s gear when Quinn pulled my cock out of my pants and started sucking me off.


    "Woah, woah, woah¡ª"


    As I looked in front, Tatiana was the one driving while Kaley was riding shotgun but it seemed like they nned this from the start. The rear-view mirror was pointed directly at us while each of their hands was either down their pants or on top of their tight shirt. And if I''m reading this correctly, they''re gonna touch themselves while Quinn and I fuck each other''s brains out.


    Quinn stopped momentarily to jerk me off, "C''mon, you know I wanted more fromst night. Besides, I know you could fuck better since you did me better in my tent."


    I tried my best to keep myself from groaning, "I thought we''re not supposed to talk a-about that."


    "Feeling it already? Good, you gotta fuck me like you mean it because we''re gonna be real~ busy once we get home. If I''m not satisfied, I''m just gonna pull you whenever and I''ll ride you till I''m done."


    At this point, Quinn had already removed her coat and her ginormous breasts were right in front of my face. They were jiggling from the way she was jerking me off and it didn''t take long before I waspletely rock-hard. Seeing me like that brought a smile to her face and she leaned even closer before giving me a kiss.


    She was kissing me as hard as she was gripping my cock, and she ced my left hand over one of her huge tits and made me squeeze them hard.


    "Mmh~ Nnhm¡­ MnH!"


    Quinn''s body was fucking something else. Aside from being more than 7ft tall, she had muscle and fat in all of the right ces. Furthermore, I could be rougher at handling her but it just gives her more pleasure than pain.


    With that said, I switched from her huge udders to her meaty cunt located between her thick thighs, and they were just as wet as I could''ve imagined. She had to spread her legs a little bit so I could gain enough ess and it didn''t take long before we were giving each other a "handshake".


    But once she broke off from our kiss to breathe, I leaned closer to kiss her neck and eventually her chest right until I was biting and sucking on her hard nipples.


    "FUCK! MmH! M-Mnh! H-Harder! B-Bite them¡ª NnH! MMH!


    Shit! Shit! SHIT!"


    At this point, Quinn had already let go of my cock as she had her arms behind her head, but I continued to suck on her tits while I was starting to pull on her tight pants. With her weight, it became a little difficult but she raised her butt momentarily so she could pull it off herself.


    However, as her pants were right on her knees, I suddenly pushed her down and turned her over before I fingered her cunt and tongue-fucked her asshole.


    I thought for sure that she''d resist and try to turn the tables on me but all I saw was her hands spreading her cheeks apart so I could have better entry.


    ''These three hours will definitely be a bumpy ride¡­''

 Chapter 818: Bumpy Road Trips - Entrance

    From my point of view, Quinn''s perfect behind and her other perfect "behind" were right in front of me, and the pink meaty bits from her wet cunt and her winking little asshole were just asking to be vited. But since Quinn''s th thighs were mped shut because her tighttex pants were almost tied around her knees, the hole I''m choosing couldn''t be more obvious.


    I just grabbed her tits from behind and plunged a thumb in her asshole before I shoved my huge dick inside her tight fucking cunt.


    "YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE¡ª AH! MMH! FUCK! IT''S SCRAPING INSIDE MY¡ª MMH! SHIT!


    I''M SO FUCKING FULL! KEEP PINCHING MY NIPPLES! FUCK! HARDER! HARDER! HARDER!


    AH! FUCK! YOUR THUMB''S MOVING INSIDE MY¡ª AH! AH! FUCK!"


    At this point, it was taking everything not to cum from the first two pumps because Quinn''s pussy was just so fucking tight even if she was soaking wet. I had to push it in with much force just to keep it inside because it would start to push me out the moment her walls would tighten.


    Also, It''s just that Quinn was just so fucking loud I had to cover her mouth with my hands, but it just made her even tighter. She even made me choke her for as hard as I could and at the moment she lost air, she started squirting nonstop.


    Quinn''s muffled moans were just enough to make Kaley cum from her seat¡ªas she was fingering herself and watching us, though Tatiana made sure that our tinted windows were up and the music from the radio was on full st.


    However, due to the way I was pumping Quinn''s insides, it looked like my Raptor had the same suspension as a lowrider. The body was definitely moving side to side but the road was bumpy enough that the ones following behind had to be watching us closely¡ªwhich they definitely were.


    ''That''s all they could do though¡­ watch.''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I was now seated nicely while Quinn was riding me fully naked like there was no tomorrow. At the same time, she was smothering me with her gigantic tits while I kept fingering her untouched¡ªfor now, asshole.


    "YOU LIKE FINGERING MY ASS, HUH?! YOU DO? YOU WISH YOU WERE FUCKING IT RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF MY TIGHT PUSSY, HUH?! YEAH~ MMH¡­ FUCK~ NO FUCKING MY ASS UNTIL YOU CUM INSIDE MY PUSSY¡ª AH! LIKE THAT! YEAH~ FILL ME UP WITH YOUR WARM CUM!


    SHIT! SHIT! I''M GONNA CUM AGAIN!"


    I could clearly see how Quinn''s eyes rolled to the back of her head as she leaned back from cumming, and I had to support her back so she wouldn''t fall over. However, seeing her body while her tight pussy was gripping me like a vice was enough for me to explode inside her though I kept thrusting hard from below.


    Her hands were now tightly grabbing my arms but all she could do was squeeze on them while her tits were jiggling nonstop from the way she was moving up and down due to our position.


    At one point, she looked like she was tapping out but she kept cumming and cumming because the tip of my dick was rubbing against the most sensitive spot inside her. Looking down, my huge dick was just covered in our juices though most of it had already dripped down the flooring, making it a nightmare to clean up after it was all over.


    After I finally slowed down, Quinn managed to have a short breather but Kaley couldn''t take it anymore.


    Kaley moved to our side and easily spun Quinn and shoved my dick in Quinn''s ass before she started eating the cum out of Quinn''s pussy.


    I was still in my seated position though I was keeping Quinn''s legs spread apart so they wouldn''t mp on Kaley''s head. I barely got to thrust inside Quinn''s little asshole but hearing Kaley''s fingers going in and out of her own pussy almost made me go over the edge.


    However, I''ve done it once before but to Quinn''s surprise for the second time, I started lifting her with just arm strength alone and I used her body like a fleshlight.


    Quinn didn''t know how to react but her body just tightened as it had another release of its own.


    On the other hand, Kaley got drenched with Quinn''s juices so she had to take off all her clothes and opted to shove three fingers inside Quinn''s pussy while sucking on her tits. All Quinn could do was take it as she just squirted over and over and over. Kaley and I only stopped when Quinn had already melted from the pleasure and she was almost unresponsive from what we put her through.


    "Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Who needs f-fucking drugs if the sex is this good¡­ Ha¡­ Mmh¡­"


    For a short bit, we cleaned up including the Raptor''s interior though Quinn had to relieve Tatiana''s post so Tatiana could relieve herself¡ªwith the help of yours truly and Kaley, of course.


    With that said, we didn''t go at it for the whole three hours but Quinn''s sex drive at this moment was just insatiable. There was a point where she came back to her spot and was just sucking me off while giving me a titjob just for the hell of it, and with Kaley''s guidance, Quinn could now decently give me one and make me cum within a few minutes.


    "Was that really better?"


    "You have no idea¡­"


    "Hmm, I didn''t think servicing you like this would be this¡­ I don''t know what to call it¡ªsatisfying for me as well?"


    "What? You''ve gone all this time just receiving everything?"


    Quinn thought to herself for a bit, "Well~ Not exactly like that but yeah¡ªWait, no¡­ I just like doing it to you."


    Tatiana quipped from the driver''s seat, "How about us? Hmm?"


    Quinn chuckled, "I always service girls but for guys? He''s the only one in a good, good while¡­ Never felt like doing it to other guys I''ve been with but yeah, I could see how the twins and Edith decided to lose their V cards to you. Props to Kaley too, if we were together, I wouldn''t fucking share you with anyone else, just saying¡­"


    Kaley shook her head while smiling, "Can I get a thanks, at least?"


    "Not taking him for myself not enough? Remember, you''re going to my ce, I could do whatever the fuck I want there," Quinn said yfully.


    I interjected, "Where''s my say in this conversation?"


    Quinn scoffed, "Please, you''d lick my asshole every day if I ask you."


    I scoffed as well, "Hah! Just saying, if anything happens to Kaley, all manner of sex will stop and I''d just live off by smelling her clothes."


    Kaley was happily surprised, "You''d really do that?"


    "Maybe? Who knows? But I''ll make sure you''ll be with me always."


    "Aww~"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "How sweet, I''m gonna barf."


    Tatiana instantly joined in, "Whoa, whoa! What about me?! Why am I getting left out?! What are you gonna do if something happens to me?!"


    I joked, "We''ll bury you and make some matching pins?"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! KIDDING! KIDDING! Hmm~ I don''t really know the answer but I''m definitely gonna be sad. I''ve known you for a while and you''re one of my special friends even if we take the sex out of the picture."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What? You asked the question, right?"


    Quinn shook her head, "Wow~ Way to bring down the atmosphere~"


    Kaley added, "I was expecting a wittyeback¡­"


    Tatiana nodded, "Yeah¡­ I was expecting for you to say you''d fuck my corpse one more time before¡ª"


    "Hold up, we''re not bringing up fucking necrophilia in the¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! That was a good one, wasn''t it?!"


    Kaley was at a loss for words, "Tatiana¡­"


    Quinn was in the same situation, "Jesus fucking christ that came out of nowhere¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    It became quiet again but my fucked up sense of humor had to react to it.


    "Pfft¡­ yeah, that was fucking funny¡­ Shit, hahahaha!"


    Tatiana''s face started to lighten up, "I told you it was funny!"


    Kaley shook her head, "Sure¡­"


    "How long¡ª"


    Quinn was still in mid-sentence when gunshots suddenly erupted from the front, and the straight line of vehicles we were in turned into a scattered mess¡ªlike a line of ants going in different directions. Furthermore, some vehicles even went off-road and started to drive in erratic patterns but to my surprise, Quinn wasn''t fazed at all.


    But since Tatiana was the one behind the wheel, she couldn''t help but shout at Quinn to get some insight as to what was going on.


    "QUINN, WHAT THE FUCK IS¡ª"


    "Chill. We''re just announcing that we''re here."


    I interjected, "Wait. We''re still a town away¡ª"


    "Exactly."


    "That didn''t make sense at all."


    "Don''t worry. It''ll be clear soon enough."


    Hearing Quinn''s words, I just took in everything that was happening at once and it didn''t take long before I realized that the gunshots had some sort of pattern. Furthermore, the ones that went off-road were the ones speaking through their frequency over and over, but they were speaking in terms I could barely understand.


    However, right as we drove into the town before the de Leon Family''s territory, I noticed several survivors perched on the roof or lurking in the alleyways.


    I assumed that they were not affiliated with Quinn''s crew but they were no way in hell gonna try to intercept us. I even noticed some roadblocks that were abruptly moved away and our convoy of vehicles just zoomed past everything at full speed, upying each street, road, or entryway like they owned it.

 Chapter 819: Parks and Malls - 4s

    This unique entrance was just the de Leon Family''s way to make their presence known and it seemed like it had the effect that they desired. To me, if I had these people close, I would''ve absorbed them¡ªafter an interview, of course¡ªin my fold to bolster my numbers. It''s just that with the zombie poption around these parts, there were certain groups that could afford to survive on their own.


    And just like that, it only took a few short moments before we passed this ce''s roadblocks and we were now on the short route to reach the town where the de Leon Family''s HQ was located.


    It was only a few kilometers away and it didn''t even take 30 minutes to reach our destination.


    ''Huh.''


    The de Leon Family''s main base of operations was actually in an industrial park that had everything they needed for making their own type of vehicle or anything they might consider, but something''s telling me that it was recently obtained from not-so-legal means.


    ''Yep¡­ the original logo of these buildings definitely got sprayed over¡­ Wait, is this actually their HQ?''


    Quinn chuckled as she saw my expression, "What? Who would''ve thought they''d just leave these buildings for us with all of the equipment and the materials avable? Quite homely, no?"


    I shook my head as I turned to her, "Homely?"


    "Haha! Just kidding, my ce is not as big but it''s definitely cozier."


    With that said, some vehicles drove inside the other buildings we just saw but Quinn instructed Tatiana to drive a little further, following a couple of vehicles that didn''t follow the majority.


    After a few minutes or so, we drove into amercial area for this medium-sized town that they imed for themselves, and we came upon a tall gate of what seemed to be a barricaded strip mall.


    And since the vehicle at the forefront was a truck that had a trailer carrying Quinn''s ride, no words were exchanged between the driver and the one guarding the gate as it just opened automatically after a short beep.


    Well, there were a few words when the guard¡ªa man in his 30''s with the usual getup for Quinn''s crew¡ªsaw the state of Quinn''s DB9.


    "Holy fucking shit, who''s the genius who did that? Probably dead?"


    "Hah! Long fucking story, my guy. Long fucking story. You''ll shit your pants once I tell you¡ª"


    Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs, "HEY! ARE YOU GONNA DRIVE IN OR WHAT?!"


    "SORRY! WE''RE GOING, WE''RE GOING!"


    The moment we drove in, I was expecting something like a much more chaotic clone of their enclosure in Cuervo Heights: several baldies walking around with a girl or a bottle in their hand, pimped-out vehicles that were one ident away from causing an outbreak, hard rock sting fromrge speakers, or a tent in the middle for their highness but it was not.


    Surprisingly, the strip mall was only manned by a dozen or so people¡ªmaybe more on the inside, and it was the cleanest ce I''ve seen.


    It looked totally metal from the outside but it was like a you-could-lick-the-floor type of situation on the inside. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the way they repurposed their huge parking area, and making half of it into farms was a plus in my book.


    I could only guess what they turned the other sections of the strip mall into but the parking area also had an open gym, a "pimping" station, a repair station, a salvage station, and a¡­ umm¡­ a spot to actually park other cars.


    But despite all that, the huge garage located somewhat in the middle of the strip mall with several luxury vehicles in front must be our stop.


    We were eventually led to a space where we could park our Raptor close to Quinn''s main garage and I couldn''t hide my excitement from seeing this strip mall turned into a small fortress of sorts¡­ but it seemed like we have forgotten someone.


    And like clockwork, my radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid, you seeing this ce?! This ce is huge! Look at all the vehicles they''re working on! Look at the engine on that Bronco! It''s fucking huge!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''Bronco? I don''t see a Bronco anywhere in this¡ª''


    I was this close to replying to Mr. Alvarez but Quinn grabbed my hand and signaled to not answer him for the moment.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid? You there? Wait a minute, where''s your Raptor? I can''t¡ª Is that it? On the other building? My eyes can''t see that well.


    Kid? Can you hear me? OOH~ Is that a Five-Ton?! HAHAHAHA! Kid! You won''t believe this shit!


    Fuck it, call me when you see me! I''m taking that shit for a spin!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "Let him have his fun. He''ll find this ce soon enough."


    "Sure. Tell me: this is your own ce, right? The industrial park must be Mauro''s."


    "Yep, kinda. Well, he still owns a garage like mine but he relocated. I still prefer my own. Besides, that ce gets noisy with the number of people and the equipment running almost 24/7. C''mon, I''ll show you guys around," Quinn said as she stepped out of the vehicle, stretching for a few seconds.


    ''Wait¡­ 24/7?''


    I was still in deep thought as Kaley and Tatiana followed after her but I felt Jose''s arm grabbing my shoulder the moment I was about to follow suit. He never looked so ufortable and for some reason, he was having a hard time looking me straight in the eye.


    "Where the fuck did you take me now?!" he said in a whisper.


    "Oh. I forgot you two were with us."


    "C''mon, man! I look like I blend in with everybody but I don''t!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I don''t have their number thingy on me! I''m just clean shaven and I''m covered with tattoos! I know I look awesome and all but I don''t want to do their version of stolen valor here!"


    I startedughing, "Hah! I guess you can say that. It''s never toote to pledge to this family!"


    "Don''t joke like that, man! I try to avoid them but some of them are already buddy-buddy with me!"


    "Isn''t that a good thing?"


    "They were shit-faced when they met me! The ones here are all sober, some of them are already giving me weird looks¡ª"


    Isaac added, "Nii-chan, I don''t handle new ces t-that well¡­ And we totally heard nothing on the trip here¡­ j-just saying¡­"


    I let out the tiniest bit of killing intent, "Isaac, call me ''nii-chan'' one more time and I''ll lop your head off."


    "Ah¡ª Big bro, my bad. It''s just a force of habit¡­"


    "Uh-huh. Let''s keep it that way¡ª"


    Quinn''s voice suddenly boomed, "THE FUCK ARE YOU THREE STILL DOING THERE?! COME OVER HERE! I''LL INTRODUCE YOU TO EVERYONE FIRST! WE''RE WAITING!"


    After a short bit, we all gathered in front of the main garage and even the dude guarding the gate was present. He had the number 441 tattooed on his left arm but looking at everyone else¡ªthese 40-something people, half of them didn''t look the type. Well, a good number of them were suspiciously looking at Jose and it didn''t take long before his appearance was questioned.


    A well-built woman wearing coveralls and the number 44 spoke up, "Who''s that? New prospect?"


    Quinn turned to 44 before turning to Jose, "Naw, unless he wants to? Anyway, everyone, that''s everyone and everyone, that''s everyone. Done and done. Can someone brief me on the things I leftst time? *cracks neck* I''m itching to work again. Where are my work clothes?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Quinn looked at us weirdly after her "introduction", "What?"


    Kaley actually stepped up, "That''s not how you introduce people¡­ Anyway~ I''m Kaley, this is Sky, that''s Tatiana¡­" she started to introduce everyone from our side, giving a short description for everyone and making sure that the other side was paying attention.


    And for some reason, her "assets" were already gettingpared to Quinn''s just from the way everyone else was looking at her and Quinn back and forth.


    ''I''m gonna give these people a piece of my mindter¡­''


    After a short bit, Kaley finished introducing us and since Quinn didn''t care much about properly doing it the second time, the woman numbered 44 started to introduce herself first and copied what Kaley did.


    As I thought, some of the people here were from Sal''s family to take care of the farms while the other decent-looking people were "prospects" as number 44¡ªZyra, mentioned. They were survivors from this town that managed to pique Quinn''s interest while the rest were sent over to the industrial park to do pretty much the same thing.


    However, one thing''s for sure, Quinn had this as-long-as-it-had-the-number-4 thing going on because it was tantly obvious that the ones in here that belonged to their family had her number in their¡­ number.


    I''m not sure if that was a bright move on her part¡ªdeciding who to take in just for something as trivial as that¡ªbut we would see soon enough if it was an actual blunder.

 Chapter 820: Zyra - Measurements

    Right when everyone was properly introduced, Quinn just turned around and went straight to the main garage, leaving everyone with nk or confused faces. I was pretty sure she mentioned that she''d show us around, but considering that she didn''t even try to introduce us properly, I''m assuming that this was her version of it.


    The guard named Junie slowly inched back, "We''re¡­ We''re good to go, right? I can go back to my spot?"


    Zyra nodded at him with a sigh, "Yeah¡­ I think so. She always does this, remember? I can¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Excuse me, Zyra was it?"


    "Hmm? What''s up, young head¡ª I mean, sir."


    "Sky''s fine, no worries. Where~ Umm¡­ Where are we supposed to put our stuff? We were supposed to be shown around this ce and I pretty much need to be shown around for obvious reasons."


    Zyra facepalmed, "Dammit~ I guess it''s up to me. Would you like to do it now or do you want to¡ª but before that, you guys fucked, right?"


    I''ve never been so confused, "I¡ª"


    "Just answer. Your lodging depends on whether she had sex with you or not and if it''s still a thing."


    "..."


    "Well? I don''t have all day. It''s almost sunset too¡­"


    I sighed as I nodded and pointed at Kaley and Tatiana, "Yeah, we three did¡­ and we''re still probably a thing, whatever that means¡­"


    Zyra nodded with a smile before she pointed at Jose and Isaac, "How about the prospect and sses?"


    The two quickly shook their heads before I answered, "Just us, so?"


    "Alright, you three can bring your bags to her room on the second floor of the garage while the two of you can sleep wherever. But prospect¡­" Zyra trailed as she gave Jose an up-down look, "You can bunk with me if you want?"


    Jose was slightly taken aback but pleasantly surprised, "With me?"


    "You don''t want to?"


    "N-No¡ª I''d very much like to!"


    Zyra let out a faint smile, "Good. sses, I''m sorry but you''d need to hit the gym a few more times before you get a chance with me."


    Isaac quickly waved her over, "Yeah¡­ I''m good, I''m good¡­"


    With that said, I eventually noticed that Isaac was also carrying a katana that looked to be a few centimeters shorter than mine. Still, from looking at it initially, it looked like an entry-level katana that was suitable for beginners.


    ''I''ll take a closer lookter¡­''


    At this point, Zyra showed us around while everyone else went back to their posts. She rolled her sleeves and wiped herself with a slightly dirty towel but it looked like Jose wouldn''t mind being the towel instead.


    "Okay, here''s obviously the main garage that Quinn and a few others only had ess to, and on the second floor is where her room is located. It gets freaky at times but if you''re into what she''s into, you''ll have a very~ good time¡­ I''ve been there plenty of times and let''s just say¡­ you know what? If you know, you know¡­"


    "What''s the next section here?"


    "That ce is basically our kitchen and mess hall, it used to be this fast food ce along with a few others but we kept this one and turned the others into storage areas or just a ce where we couldy our heads on. We used to sleep on the roof for obvious reasons but the roof was now the ce we erected all of the sr panels we found.


    It could run the ce when it counts but we have several backup generators when it''s rainy or if we need to have that extra pump of electricity. And that ce¡­"


    Long story short, Quinn''s ce had almost all of the essentials needed to survive, but in my opinion, some facilities needed to optimized so she could make use of this ce with 100% efficiency.


    Quinn had a decently sized armory, stocked storage areas for various food items, water, gas, and mechanical parts, a small clinic capable of giving first-aid or basic treatments, sturdy walls and gates, two bars located in her floor and in the mess hall, a decent crew, several machines for machining her own parts, and the other things we discovered earlier.


    "Okay, that''s pretty much it. What do you think?"


    "It''s decent but you need to have more guards present. I know you have cameras installed but that could only do so much. You need someone on the roof with a rifle or so¡ª"


    "That¡­ We can''t do that."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "It''s kinda embarrassing but none of us are good shooters. We can pull the trigger but shooting long distances are not our forte."


    "Oh. We can start¡ª"


    "But yeah, we have a workaround for that and it pretty much solves the issue."


    "Oh?"


    Zyra led us back to Junie''s post and made him show a different POV from much farther cameras.


    "You see those spots?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Since this town is pretty much ours and everyone else is staying in the industrial parks, we''ve booby-trapped those spots for good measure. What happens is that when something wanders on that spot, it''ll just trigger and we''ll get a signal that it went off. After that, we''ll just see if it worked or not, and we''ll just decide whates after."


    "How about hordes? How do you take care of them?"


    "We used to have a kill zone¡ª Well, it still exists but since Mauro started to collect heads and he can''t be bothered to collect scraps from the ones that would wander around, he made that thing to collect heads a little easier. Can you flip to that screen, Junie?"


    Right as Zyra pointed to a different screen, we watched as the feed switched to a street that looked like an unfinished construction project, though the most notable thing that was scattered around were long and wide strips of metal rebars made to have deadheads get their feet stuck on it and spiked barricades to either guide them to the rebars or have them stuck in the same manner but by trapping them in ce by piercing through their flesh.


    At this moment, a few were already caught in the traps but from one corner was a pile of headless corpses waiting to get burned to cinders. With that said, a dump truck was parked right next to it and I can already imagine what were wriggling inside it.


    "Nice. You''ve pretty much automated everything except for the collection process."


    "Yeah, it would''ve been nice if we have a machine that could lop their heads off but we don''t want to damage the goods because their height varies."


    "I see. But yeah, it doesn''t hurt to practice shooting from time to time. Kaley and I¡ª Jose could even give you lessons while we''re here."


    Zyra chuckled, "I''m sure we''ll teach each other some stuff."


    "Right. Thanks for showing us around and can you point me to a free CNC Machine where I could make a new body for the Shelby?"


    "The Shelby? I thought it only needed some tweaks? Alright, we have one here and it''s not being used but I think you need to take a closer look at the car first. You can''t just punch in the measurements even if you did it before because each car had small differences."


    "Oh. I have already."


    "Already what?"


    "Looked at the car?"


    "Closely?"


    "Yeah. Closely."


    "When?"


    "Earlier?"


    "..."


    "Zyra?"


    "You''re messing with me, aren''t you? You can''t just look at something and¡ª"


    "34D-24-38."


    "What¡ª"


    "You''re 5''6" probably 190-200 pounds, 24% body fat while the rest is muscle. Also, it seems like you''re right-handed but for some reason, you use your left hand for everything. It''s either you had a bicep injury or you''re trying to be ambidextrous. And from the way your hair is tightly wound, it''s probably up to your butt and you''re¡ª"


    "Alright, stop! What the fuck?!" Zyra eximed as she looked at everyone else.


    Junie let out a chuckle, "34D, huh? Who would''ve thought¡ª"


    "SHUT UP!"


    At this point, Jose looked like he was about to cry and he just let out a long sigh before cing his hand over my shoulder.


    "Alright, you can have her too¡­ I''ll just bunk with Isaac and¡ª"


    "Huh? The fuck are you talking about?"


    "Look at her, man! Even I''M impressed! Even if she stays with me, she''ll probably think of you while I''m getting lucky! Couldn''t you have told me that first so I could''ve left a good impression?!"


    Junie added, "True~ At least you get lucky¡ª"


    "I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP! YOU! HOW DID¡ª DO I KNOW YOU?!"


    "I''m Sky¡ª"


    "NOT WHAT I MEANT!"


    "So¡­ The CNC Machine¡­ I want to get it up and running now so it''ll be done by tomorrow¡­"


    "..."


    "Zyra?"


    "Y-You¡ª F-Follow me¡­"


    With that said, Zyra led me to the machine I was looking for and she was staring at me like a ghost the whole time I was putting in the numbers through theputer. She was still in shock as she was trailing behind us, and even if we were carrying out bags to Quinn''s floor, she was making sure I was a few feet in front of her, keeping her distance.


    I waved over Jose and whispered, "See? She looked more scared than impressed."


    "Uh-huh¡­ she looks a lion stalking her prey. I wanna hate you but I can''t. I need to learn that shit, quick."


    "I beg to differ. Just try again and I''m gonna be a bro for once. I still have a lot to do and I can''t progress quickly if another onees running for me."


    "Fuck you! Suffering from sess much?!"


    "I¡ª"


    "What?! You didn''t choose the pimp life, the pimp life chose you?!"


    "Why are you so mad? Do you want me to bed her then?"


    "Wha¡ª I''m not saying that! Go away! I have to act fast while she''s still in shock! You''re gonna see how I do work¡ª ISAAC?!"


    I was just about to leave him to his own devices but we just saw Isaac leaving with Zyra while he had a firm grip on her waist.


    "Damn~ You can''t catch a break, can you?"


    "SHUT UP! I''M GETTING LAID TONIGHT!"


    "Uh-huh, see youter!"


    "FUCK YOU, MAN!"

 Chapter 821: BDD - PEDs

    I was about to leave Jose to find someone else to be with tonight but for some reason, he followed after Isaac and Zyra. I''m not entirely sure as to why he did that because he already conceded the first time when I was involved, why was Isaac any different?


    In any case, I just shrugged my shoulders and found Quinn who was still working on more than the engine of Mr. Alvarez''s vehicle, but it seemed like she doesn''t want to talk. She looked that focused on her work and I wouldn''t want to catch a wrench with my head if I somehow disturb her.


    ''Better leave her alone and find Kaley and Tatiana¡­''


    Reaching the 2nd floor of the garage, I found the two unpacking because, to my surprise, Quinn''s floor and her private room were as clean as they could get.


    Kaley saw me from the corner of her eye, "Oh? I thought you were hanging out with Jose and Isaac?"


    "Yeah¡­" I chuckled as I gave them the story.


    "Hahaha! Well~ Zyra seemed cool, I wouldn''t mind if she joined us sometime¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Quinn''s already a handful, I''m afraid of more people like her trying to wear me like a bracelet. Have you seen everyone here? Everyone''s jacked to fuck, especially the women¡­"


    "What''s wrong with that? Aren''t you jacked? We''re also kinda¡ª"


    "Kaley, our bodies¡ªTatiana included¡ªare achieved naturally. Quinn might have the rare .001% gics to achieve a body like that but I''m telling you, some of them must be on something. It could be GH, HRT, SARMS, or fuck it, let''s say some ''roids but the dosage must be kept to the minimum. Even so, it still shows."


    "Again, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Nothing in particr but whatever they''re taking will soon run out. But yeah, some of them could also be naturally gifted¡ªlike you, but for the ones who aren''t, their mental is gonna take a hit."


    Kaleypletely ignored mypliment, "Wait, how?"


    Tatiana moved over to the bar and inspected the liquor cabs, "Yeah, how?"


    I sat down on the couch as I let out a bitter chuckle, "The two of you had perfect bodies from the start but like me who had to work hard¡ªno, harder to get in shape, I know the feeling all too well. But yeah, now, the feeling of it doesn''t affect me as much but¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Are you talking about Body Dysmorphia?"


    "Exactly."


    Tatiana took a swig of Vodka from the bar, "What now?"


    I answered, "Hmm~ The short exnation is if you look in the mirror and what you see or perceive is different from what you actually look like. I''m not talking about a fat guy thinking that he looks like Chris Bumstead, Ronnie Coleman, or Arnold Schwarzenneger in the mirror but theplete opposite.


    It''s generally seeing every w¡ªeven nonexistent ones that affects your head that it even interferes with our ability to function."


    Tatiana faintly nodded, "Hmm~ Well, it do be like that sometimes¡­ I used to feel like that too."


    Kaley turned to Tatiana, "''It do be like that?'' Are you drunk already?" then she turned to me, "I still feel that way sometimes too, it''s not just the people here, you know? It happens to everyone."


    "Ah¡ª right, I''m sorry. I just assumed it never happened to you two but I guess it''s kinda different for people who actually used PEDs or had cosmetic surgeries to ''correct'' whatever w they have?"


    "Hmm~ I didn''t think of it that way¡­ Huh."


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, I didn''t think we''ve talked about this topic before¡­ Especially in this type of environment¡­"


    "C''mon, keeping our bodies in peak condition is one of the most important things in the apocalypse. Strength and fitness are on the list but looking good has some merits too. We need to feel good about how we look sometimes, no?"


    "True¡­"


    Tatiana suddenly spoke, "What''s this green stuff? Absinthe¡ª"


    Quinn''s voice suddenly boomed from the first floor, "NO ONE''S FUCKING TOUCHING THAT WHILE I''M NOT THERE!"


    Tatiana picked up the bottle and rested her arms on the railing, "What''s this stuff? I haven''t had this yet. And yeah, your ears are something else, huh?"


    "We''re just in arge room, hard to not hear everything you''re saying. But yeah, I agree with what you three are talking about."


    "Which one?"


    "That I have an awesome body. However, I dabbled on gear when Mi¡ª yeah, I dabbled on gear before but I stopped five years ago. I already have a hard time finding clothes¡ªlet alone a bra, I shouldn''t get bigger as is."


    I walked over the railing and rested my arms on it as well, "Really? I thought you were 100% natural. How long have you used PEDs? I''m guessing only for a year or two?"


    "How can you fucking tell?!"


    "Well~ You''re voice isn''t as deep and your clit isn''t that big either¡ª"


    "YOU! STOP TALKING ABOUT MY CLIT! IT ISN''T THAT BIG!"


    "That''s what I was saying! It''s kinda big but it''s proportional to the rest of your body!"


    Kaley eventually joined us by the railing, "Is having a big clit signify PED use?"


    "Not exactly because there are a few people that have bigger clits than normal but yeah, it''s one of the symptoms along with having a deeper voice for women¡ªeven growing facial hair in some cases. It''s different for whatever you''re taking."


    Quinn took off her gloves and stood up from her seat, "You have a lot of knowledge on this thing for someone that ims that they''re natural."


    I let out a chuckle, "Honestly? I thought of doing it before but I''m not joining anypetitions of any sort. And yeah, I still want to be able to scratch my back and not bother who I''d be sitting next to in an airne. I''m happy with where I''m currently at right now.


    Besides, I''m still BIG down there, it would''ve shrunk if I started using gear, totally opposite from what you guys might encounter if you get on the juice."


    Quinn suddenly had an epiphany, "Yeah, don''t use it. A lot''s riding on it! LITERALLY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "DON''T FUCKING LAUGH! IT''S HARD TO FIND A PERSON LIKE YOU WITH A DICK THAT HUGE! DILDOS CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH! I STILL PRETTY MUCH PREFER THE REAL THING!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! A NATTY AND A NUTTY DICK!"


    "PFFT! FUCK THIS SHIT, I''M GOING BACK TO WORK! DON''T DRINK MY ABSINTHE! HAVE ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THAT!"


    For some reason, the talk we just had made the three of us want to lift some weights but I strongly advised Tatiana against it because she already had a few drinks of alcohol. With that said, the lights for the open gym were already turned on and a few people were already working out.


    It was only a few minutes past 6 PM and I assumed this was some people''s free time.


    But to my surprise, Isaac and Jose were present in the gym and Jose was putting Isaac through a beginner''s workout.


    ''I thought they were¡ª Lemme just ask them¡­''


    "Yo," I came up to the two who were on one of the t benches.


    Jose turned to me with a bitter expression, "Don''t ask."


    Isaac rested the bar on the bench before sitting up, "I told you, we shouldn''t do that."


    Tatiana asked, "Do what?"


    Isaac proudly puffed his chest out, "As a member of the NoFapmunity and a follower of the knight''s code¡ª"


    I quickly left the scene, "Alright, I''m out. I''ll head over the squat rack over there~"


    Kaley followed, "Your disciple''s¡­ unique¡­"


    "He''s not my disciple¡­"


    Tatiana quickly caught up, "That guy''s funny. He actually just tucked Zyra into her bed and did nothing. Holy fuck, hahaha! That''s fucking rare, I tell ya."


    With that said, the three of us made our way to an open squat rack and we were greeted by one of Quinn''s mechanics¡ªColeen, who was using the nearby Smith Machine with two tes on each side. She had the same physique as Zyra but her quads and her ass were more prominent.


    "Doing squats too?"


    "Just us two, Tatiana''s just here to watch."


    Tatiana quickly asked, "Are you natural?"


    Coleen let out a chuckle, "My tits or~?"


    I interjected, "Sorry, she had a few drinks before she came here and we were just talking about gear earlier¡ª"


    "No problem, what do you think though?"


    I let out a faint smile, "Your tits or~?"


    "Hah! Anything you''re looking at~"


    "Well~"


    Before I got to answer, the one in charge of their logistics¡ªAnne, came up and loaded two more tes on the machine Coleen was using. Each te weighed 45 lbs(20.4 kg) and now it had 6 tes in total, weighing 270 lbs(122.7 kg).


    Anne turned to us, "Hey, getting a warmup in too?"


    Kaley shook her head, "Warmup? That''s way~ past my working set¡­"


    Tatiana scoffed, "I think I could do that¡ª"


    I quickly grabbed her tipsy ass, "NO!"

 Chapter 822: Strength =/= Big Muscles

    I don''t know how much alcohol Tatiana had but if she thought that she could squat 6 tes without a warmup, I''d choke her out until she passes out because that was just suicide with extra steps. Granted I was sure that she could do it with a 1 rep max, with maybe even more weight but if alcohol was involved¡ªeven a little bit, I''d rather receive her ire.


    Tatiana pouted as she leaned over, "You think I can''t do it?!"


    "You could, but you''re tipsy. I should be tucking you in with Zyra."


    Anne gave me an approving nod before she turned to Tatiana, "Yeah¡­ he''s right¡­ Sorry but no lifting if you had some alcohol¡­ I''m sure you could do it but we don''t have the capacity to treat you if a lifting ident urred."


    Coleen added, "That''s true¡­ I used to do 8 tes and a bit more before but I''m watching out for myself because a doctor isn''t readily avable. Besides, lifting a little too heavy increases the chance of injury by a whole lot especially if you''re not careful."


    I gave the two an approving look as well, "Huh. Color me impressed."


    "Hmm?"


    "Sorry, I''m really off my game today and I assumed everyone here are meatheads that''ll just keep stacking weight until they break their knees. I didn''t think that safety will be your number 1 priority."


    Anne chuckled, "Well~ You''re not wrong, per se¡­"


    Coleen nodded slowly, "We used to be like that¡ªtotally, but yeah, some guys here are still ''meatheads'' as you said and abusing gear, but Anne and I¡ªeven Zyra and a few others are slowly getting off the stuff. If you haven''t already noticed, my thighs couldn''t be this thick without outside help.


    I can''t just stop immediately because I''m not used to them getting slender even if they still looked thick as is. I''m sure you know where I''m getting at¡­"


    Anne added, "And since the ''stuff'' we have on hand are low now, it''s best to just slowly lower the dosage and eventually get off it. It''s really hard to see myself lose the progress I worked hard for but it''s for the best. I''m thinking of doing calisthenics if I shave off a few more pounds."


    I checked out her figure momentarily before I said, "Yeah, that''s great actually but you could still do strength training because big muscles doesn''t always equal to strength. Well~ some big powerlifters or strongmen would argue a bit and would even say that more fat could even help but since you''re going the calisthenics route, I doubt you''d want more fat in your body.


    Just remember to don''t push it too far, too low body fat would actually make you weaker even if your remaining muscles would look more defined with the striations and other stuff."


    The two were listening intently then Anne said, "Yeah, I added a lot more cardio in my training to lose more fat but I noticed I was getting progressively weaker."


    "Hmm~ I actually think you don''t need to lose more fat though¡­ I think you wouldn''t want to hear this but you still have a lot of muscle in your body, like a whole lot. I''m gonna suggest doing lower-intensity cardio and see how it feels first but getting off the stuff is the priority. It''s gonna be a bitch but you''re still gonna get weaker as you get smaller.


    But despite that, a different world will open for you because you''re gonna get lighter¡ªespecially if you retain most of the strength you have now."


    "What do you mean?"


    "These machines are screwed deep, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Okay, here are a few examples."


    I just easily jumped and hung on the protruding handles on top of the smith machine, and I started to pull-ups with perfect form.


    "Is¡­ Is that it?"


    "I was just getting started¡­"


    After that, I pulled myself up by keeping my arms straight, forming a ''7'' with my body but I brought myself down to slowly perform ache¡ªswinging forward then throwing myself back even more as the ''7'' looked like it turned counter clock-wise. After that, I engaged my core even more as I tried to ''walk'' as I brought myself down, doing everything smoothly without breaking a sweat.


    I even ''walked'' backward and sideways¡ªmuch to their amazement¡ªbut once I was back to my original hanging position, I started to pull myself up with one hand, then four fingers, three fingers, two fingers, andstly, my middle finger which actually made me strain and sweat a little.


    They were already shaking their heads at my disy but I then did it with my non-dominant hand just to prove a point.


    I would''ve also done the g and a few more power moves but Anne and Coleen had already removed the two extra tes they loaded on the machine they were using.


    "Alright, you''ve made your point. I''m impressed and it''s giving me the push to switch to something else. I might just get off the stuff faster from seeing that."


    I added, "Not only that, but when you''re lighter, it''d be easier to move around and you''d reach farther distances without tiring easily. And since you''re already doing cardio, you''d be able to do so much more. I think I don''t need to say what happens if you abuse PEDs too much, right?"


    "Yeah, our hearts could only take so much if we get even bigger. That''s one of the reasons Quinn got off earlier than us."


    Kaley interjected, "Does Quinn have heart problems?"


    The two looked at each other first before Coleen answered, "I''m not sure if you''ve seen Quinn before but she was already big before she started using PEDs. Add to that the other things she abused¡ªdrugs and alcohol, even before the world ended."


    ''She''s much leaner from the picture she showed me before though¡­''


    She continued, "We''re not sure of the exact details but I think it would be better if you ask her herself. She seemed pretty chill with you guys but we don''t talk much about it because she might go back to that point again if she hears us¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly appeared from nowhere, "Go back to what?!"


    "Ah¡ª We didn''t mean to talk about¡ª"


    "About Michael?! You damn well shouldn''t! WHO TOLD YOU TO GOSSIP ABOUT ME!"


    Tatiana''s ears suddenly perked up but didn''t say anything.


    "W-Were sorry¡­"


    Kaley stood between them, "I''m sorry, Quinn. I''m the one that should apologize, not them. I''m the one who meddled with your business¡ª"


    "AND THEY ANSWERED WITHOUT KNOWING THE FULL THING!"


    I stepped up and ced my hand over Quinn''s shoulder which was a little above my head, "Hey, calm down. They''re just looking out for you and besides, I can tell you that they never said anything about him. They actually told us that it would be better if we ask you ourselves.


    They haven''t done anything for you to get angry like that so you should be the one to apologize because you''re the one who hulked up without knowing the full thing."


    "..."


    I added, "Are you sure you''re off the juice?"


    "HAAAH?! DIDN''T I TELL YOU THAT ALREADY?!"


    "Well~ I''m just saying¡­ That could be remnant ''roid-rage or something, we don''t fully know¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly grabbed my arm, "YOU¡ª hnGH! HOW¡ª"


    I chuckled since my arm never budged, "Big muscles doesn''t always equal to strength, did you know that? It usually does but this is an exception, no? Don''t forget, I lifted you off the ground¡­ twice."


    At this point, everyone else present was looking at the two of us but Quinn''s demeanor was slowly wavering to the point she was starting to look embarrassed. In this ce, she might be the Queen or the fucking Alpha-Bitch but it seemed like she met someone that could take her down a peg.


    She might be equal to Tatiana but the only thing she won against me was drinking that cursed green spirit that she liked a little too much.


    With that said, a few words came out of Quinn''s mouth that made her crew''s jaws drop to the floor.


    "F-Fine¡­ Coleen, Anne¡­ I''m sorry."


    "WHAT?!"


    "SHE APOLOGIZED!"


    "DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?!"


    "I''M DEFINITELY DREAMING, PINCH ME!"


    "NO FUCKING WAY SHE SAID SORRY!"


    "NO WAY¡­"


    "CAN YOU DROP THAT PLATE ON MY FOOT SO I''D WAKE UP?!"


    I didn''t think Quinn saying that she was sorry would cause this much of an uproar among her crew but it was definitely a wee sight. Seeing Quinn blush embarrassedly while swinging a 20.4 kg Olympic bar at everyone teasing her was fun in its own right. It slightly broke this invisible wall she put up against her crew but it wasn''t a bad thing at all.


    Keeping authority among your people was one thing but seeing them as friends couldn''t be sneezed at either.


    It took a while for things to calm down but I spent most of my time lecturing and giving a new training n to those who were interested to switch to a much better alternative to what they were doing.

 Chapter 823: Inevitable - Youre different.

    "Listen, I''m not saying that calisthenics is the god of all exercises or training regimens because it''s not, I still lift weights from time to time. The best exercise is whatever works for you because it should be something you enjoy and can do for the rest of your life.


    You can still stick to bodybuilding, powerlifting, or whatever you''re doing right now, but what I''m saying is that eventually¡­ if longevity is something you''re aiming for, you gotta get off the juice. If not, just disregard everything that I said and do what you''ve been doing before.


    I''m not your coach, I''m not your mom, and I''m not your patriarch to tell or force you to stop whatever it is that you''re doing."


    I thought our discussion was already over but a big dude named Myke¡ªyes, it was spelled with a y and numbered 444¡ªthat was obviously on gear came up to me as we were about to head for dinner.


    Myke, from what I was told, was nicknamed in this ce as the "Human Jack" because if a jack wasn''t readily avable and it was an emergency, he''d just lift one side of the vehicle and have the others fix whatever needed fixing.


    He didn''t look too thrilled by my response, "I get what you''re fucking saying but I''m happy with the size and the strength that I have right now. However, like everyone here, we''re close to running out of the stuff we''re using. I could probably go on for six to seven months if I lower my dosage but that''s gonna be it."


    "Then what are we even arguing about? Is there something wrong with what I said?"


    Myke sighed heavily as he wiped his face with his hands, "I¡­ I still want to remain this way. Is there a way to do it without PEDs?"


    I scratched my head as I looked at him bitterly, "I think you know the answer to that, no?"


    "..."


    "Let me put it this way¡­ Let''s say Coleen, Anne, and the rest stops using now and you trade with them something valuable of yours to prolong the inevitable."


    "Inevitable?"


    "Can you still get them anywhere else?"


    "No¡­"


    "Exactly. If you''re gonna do just that, go ahead, I won''t stop you as I said earlier. But my only advice to you is that¡­ as hard as it may sound, you gotta start epting the fact that it''s gonna happen sooner orter. We can say that it''s just dying the inevitable but we could also say that you might just need more time to process things. Everyone''s different in that regard."


    "..."


    "But yeah, think about this¡­ If you have a normal working car, you can upgrade it by swapping out the internals, fabricating a new body or other attachments, or everything else, right?"


    "Yeah, like what we do here obviously."


    "Yep, like what you do here. We can take it as ourselves working out in the gym, taking natural supplements, and some other stuff¡­ But therees a point where you hit a limit, right? A car or our bodies'' natural limit¡ªour gic limit¡ªdo you understand where I''m getting at? And doing what you''re doing is just excess."


    "..."


    "Myke, there''s a bnce about things we should follow and what do you think would happen if we put a V8 in those ride-ons kids use or a jet engine in a beetle? It''s probably gonna be fucking awesome for a few seconds but it''s gonna be fucking bad news to whoever''s using it. Can''t we be happy with our bodies the same way we upgrade our vehicles?


    Granted this ce is a little extra but there are just some things you don''t put in your car. We could rece the parts or the machine we broke but we can''t just as easily swap our hearts if it stops working when it had too much."


    "..."


    "Your huge muscles are great and all¡ªand you''d probably win a few titles if you join apetition or two but *ces thumb on chest* if this stops, it''s game over. No de-load or rest day could possibly remedy that. And in your case, you shouldn''t think of it as a bad thing but a good thing.


    If you kept sting whatever it is you''re sting, it might kill you faster than the things walking around outside."


    "..."


    "So¡­ Can we have some dinner now?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''re the only ones here¡­"


    "Myke."


    "Hmm?"


    "While I''m still here, we can talk as much as you want but remember that the only person that could solve your problem is yourself. Trust me, being natural isn''t so bad and you mighte to like it. Besides, how many calories do you eat in a day? Six thousand? Eight?


    No wonder the Rivas Family had to send reinforcements¡­ I know nt-based protein isn''t as good as meat-based protein but sheesh~ How much do you eat? Five times your lean body mass?"


    "..."


    "Myke, that¡­ that was a joke¡­"


    "Uh-huh. I know."


    "And you shouldugh after one, if I remember correctly."


    "If I remember correctly, a joke should be funny first."


    "Hah! That was a good one, ahaha¡­ haha¡­ I guess that was a little too technical¡­"


    "..."


    "You don''tugh much, do you?"


    "I''m having a crisis here and you want me to fuckingugh about it?"


    "It could help?"


    "Not with this one, no."


    "..."


    "..."


    "How about we eat? That could¡ª"


    "Yeah, that could help. I''m hungry."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Should we¡ª"


    "After you."


    "Uh-huh."


    "Yeah."


    "..."


    "..."


    After a short bit, the two of us followed after everyone to their mess hall but a certain someone was smiling from ear to ear because of the food served on the tables. It was because not only we were having a bulking fiesta of sorts, the one in charge of cooking fucking knew his stuff.


    Tatiana quickly waved me over, "Hey! Get over here already! We aren''t allowed to eat unless everyone''s present!"


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, we saved a seat for you!"


    "Wait a¡ª" I was about to invite Myke to our table but as I turned to my side, he had already taken his seat among the others.


    I didn''t put it to mind as much because we didn''t hit it off as I thought I would, and our dinner was concluded in less than 15 minutes. I was caught off-guard at how fast everyone just wharfed down their meals but no one can fucking beat Tatiana in this regard. As usual, she gained some fans and admirers from her disy though Kaley looked like she wasn''t faring well.


    Only a few people remained in the mess hall and Kaley and I were just chilling for a short bit.


    "You good?"


    "I¡­ I need to take a minute¡­"


    I chuckled as I rubbed her back, "Why''d you eat that much though?"


    "I dunno¡­ I just¡­ I kinda liked what everyone looked so bulking up a bit wouldn''t hurt, right? I''ve seen you look at Quinn and a few others, I want¡ª ah! Why''d you pinch me?!"


    "Kaley, you know that you can just say the word and we can stop whatever it is we''re doing with other people, right? You know that I only have eyes for you¡­ I can look here and there and admire but you know where I''m at, right?"


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    Kaley was staring weirdly at me for a few seconds but it didn''t take long before she let out a small chuckle, "I know about that, doofus¡­ My point is that we might''ve found something we like so we should pursue it to spice it up a little bit more¡­ I''ve been training with Tatiana ever since she came to our fold but you wouldn''t mind if I put on a bit more muscle, right?"


    "If done the right and natural way, I wouldn''t mind. Also, if you don''t mind getting heavier¡­ Hmm?"


    "Did you just¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "Er?!"


    "Haah?"


    "You just called me heavy!"


    "I did."


    "...!" Kaley had never looked so shocked.


    I stood my fucking ground, "Kaley. Your fucking tits are heavy, imagine adding the rest of your body to it."


    "You¡ª"


    "Hey! I called you heavy, not fat! And I could still carry you in my arms if I want to!"


    "Why would you even carry me?!"


    "After we got married for real?"


    "You¡ª You''re just¡ª Ahh! That''s not fair! I''m not letting you get away with it! I''m gonna¡ª HlrRfGhhrrFrHA!"


    "Kaley?"


    Looking at Kaley''s expression, it looked like she bit off more than her stomach could handle and I helped her get to the nearest restroom so that she could throw up. In any case, her little re-up with me quickly ended though I had to apologize to the chef because some of his cooking had gone down the toilet.


    "She good?" Chef Ng¡ªNumber 104, approached me.


    "In a bit, yeah¡­"


    "Is she pregnant perchance?"


    I instantly shot him down, "No!"


    "You sure?"


    "Very!"


    "Heh, just messin'' with you. I saw what she ate, she was trying to bulk the wrong way. You can''t just up the volume of your food intake that much. Looking at you two, you''re probably eating around 2000 calories a day. She ate more than double that. But you, you held yourself well.


    Good on ya."


    "Yeah¡­ I used to be fat. I can handle a little bit of volume from time to time."


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I don''t know how to say this but I''m gonna say it anyway¡­ You''re different."


    "Umm¡­ thanks?"


    Chef Ng chuckled, "I''m sorry, it came out wrong but while we''re on the topic of apologizing, what you made Quinn do, no one has ever achieved that. Ever."


    "Not even herte¡ª"


    "Yeah. Not even Mike."


    "Myke? Number 444?"


    "Huh? Oh, no. I meant Michael¡ª Mike with an ''i'', hahaha¡­ damn¡­ it brings back memories, that one¡­"


    "Care to borate?"


    "Well, you know... Quinn''s been Quinn ever since time immemorial but yeah¡­ ever since we lost him, she''s been¡­ not Quinn. But when you''re talking with her, she''s¡­ you know, Quinn again."


    I nodded a few times, "I''ve¡­ She kinda told me something like that¡­ yeah¡­"


    "Hmm. Kid, I don''t know you as well but I can tell that you have an effect on people, the good kind. I have something like that when ites to preparing them food but all I''ll say for now is that it''s been a while since Quinn ate with everybody. And I want to thank you for that."


    "I¡­ I don''t know what to say¡­ I''m¡ª"


    "You don''t have to say anything. It''s just a simple thanks from an old man. Anyway, your wife needs you over there."


    "Ah¡ª See youter, thanks for the food!"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, I handed Kaley a clean handkerchief and we excused ourselves and went back to the garage''s 2nd floor. And for some reason, Quinn and Tatiana were somewhere else but Isaac was waiting for me to arrive.

 Chapter 824: Heh, no you wont.

    This time, Isaac looked like he wasn''t there to fool around or crack jokes because he was wearing a solemn expression. Furthermore, he changed into slightly formal wear and once we met eyes, he approached me and knelt on the floor before cing his katana in front of me.


    At this moment, I didn''t know what he was getting at but at the same time, Kaley slowly backed away and went to Quinn''s room on the same floor.


    Kaley mouthed as she bid me farewell, "I''ll leave you two for a bit, I need to lie down¡­"


    I nodded before I turned back to Isaac, "What''s this for?"


    "..."


    "If you''re not gonna answer¡ª"


    Isaac suddenly mmed his head on the floor, "Sir Ishiyama! I want to formally ask you to be my sensei! I''m still pretty wet behind the ears but I''ll do everything you ask of me! I¡ª"


    "Didn''t I already give you a training program?"


    Isaac rose his head slightly, "What?"


    "The training program. Didn''t I already give you one? Before you answer, stand up. We''ll talk at that bar."


    "..."


    Isaac looked a little disappointed by my reply but he picked up his katana and followed behind me. After that, I stood on the other side of the bar and poured us a shot of whiskey. He was waiting for what I would say next but I motioned him to take the shot with me. As I did, he quickly followed suit but it looked like he didn''t like the taste of liquor.


    He tried his best to hide his grimace but I just nodded before I brought us to our earlier conversation.


    "That training program I gave you¡­ You need to follow that for six months while progressively overloading as a start and¡ª"


    "But t-that''s not swordsmanship¡ª"


    "I thought you''d do everything I ask of you?"


    "..."


    "Well?"


    "But still, I wanted to continue my training¡­ not just¡ª"


    "Do you think that working on your body is not that important?"


    "I mean¡­ it''s important but I want to learn what you¡ª"


    "What I know? Is that what you''re saying?"


    "..."


    "What I know is that you need to build a better foundation first. Learning swordsmanship from me is something that you want, not something that you need. Only a small percentage of people here use katanas and as hard as it is for me to admit, it''s not the ultimate weapon. I can arm myself with just about anything and I''ll probably go about and survive without a hitch."


    Isaac sighed before he nodded, "I know that it all boils down to who''s wielding what but this is the path I want to walk into. And seeing you once wielding your de cemented my desire even more. I can''t learn that from anywhere else and that''s why I''m here asking you to be my teacher."


    "And we''re back to square one."


    "Huh?"


    "The training program I gave you."


    "..."


    "Listen to me, Isaac. The ce I''ve learned my stuff might be old school but they won''t even take a look at you if you don''t have a proper foundation. And we''re not even talking about if you have the talent, potential, or even¡­ the discipline to learn what they taught me.


    I''m pretty sure what you''re holding at the tip of your tongue is that you should just need to train the body part required for swordsmanship¡ªand you might be right in some instances, but that''s not the way it goes in my book. It''s gonna be physically and mentally demanding and you might be better off learning from your old school. I can teach you some stuff but you won''t get very far."


    Isaac shook his head, "I was just trying to¡ª"


    I stared him dead in the eyes, "I told you to listen, didn''t I? Listen. I fool around and troll people but I don''t half-ass things when ites to what''s on my hip. I even killed someone in cold blood because the fucking dumbass insulted something very precious to me. You were there when it happened, right?"


    "..." Isaac just nodded.


    "What I''m trying to say is if you really want to study under me, you need to learn to fucking listen. Your training has already started and you don''t even fucking know it. The training program I gave you¡ª"


    "STOP FUCKING MESSING WITH ME!!!" Isaac was on the verge of tears.


    I let out a sliver of killing intent, "Excuse me? Are you that fucking entitled?"


    Isaac mmed a piece of paper on the bar, "THIS ISN''T A TRAINING PROGRAM, THIS IS SAITAMA''S BULLSHIT ROUTINE! EVEN I KNOW THAT''S FROM A FUCKING ANIMATION!!! IT''S NOT BALANCED! HOW CAN I BUILD A STRONG FOUNDATION FROM THIS?!"


    "Wut?"


    "DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I''D FALL FOR THIS?! I HAVE A KATANA FOR FUCK''S SAKE! I''M A FUCKING WEEB, I KNOW YOU''RE FUCKING MESSING WITH ME!"


    "Hold on¡ª"


    "I CAME HERE READY TO OFFER YOU MY SWORD AND YOU GIVE ME THIS BULLSHIT GATEKEEPING STORY THAT I''M NOT FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH¡ª"


    Isaac was still in mid-sentence when I smacked his face.


    "WHY''D YOU FUCKING SMACK ME?!"


    "That''s not my fucking handwriting."


    "Wut?"


    "That looked like a fucking chicken having a panic attack wrote whatever the fuck that is. I''m surprised you can even read that. I wrote everyone a tailored program to¡ª"


    Isaac had a sudden epiphany as he let out his own sliver of killing intent, "Jose¡­"


    I facepalmed, "Ah¡­" then I turned back to him chuckling, "He got you fucking good¡­"


    "Nii-chan¡­ I''m gonnamit bloody fucking murder for a bit, I''lle backter¡­" Isaac slowly stood up while unsheathing his katana.


    I grabbed his cor and pulled him back to his seat, "No, you''re not doing shit. You take the L and move on¡­"


    "But¡ª You see what he just did, right?! I should¡ª"


    "Listen. You take the fucking L. I''m not gonna repeat myself."


    "...fine."


    Isaac still looked like he wanted to cut Jose a thousand times before pouring a bucket of alcohol over him but I waved him off as I wrote the actual training program I intended for him. Once I handed it over to him, his eyes lit up and his angerpletely subsided.


    He even looked like he wanted to start it right now, even though his whole body was already sore, but he folded it up and made sure he wouldn''t lose it.


    I chuckled, "Revengeester but we don''t do anything permanent to our people. You kinda messed with him when you tucked Zyra to bed and¡ª"


    Isaac couldn''t believe his ears, "She was in shock¡ªfrom you, no less. I can''t just¡ª"


    "Do you really think Jose would take advantage of her in that situation?"


    "..."


    "He wouldn''t, trust me. I''d lop off his head if he ever did. But yeah, like what you do by prompting a reaction from calling me ''Nii-chan'', we mess with each other from time to time. I know learning from me is a big deal to you, and I''m honored, but we aren''t like the six main families you''vee to live with these past few months.


    You might''ve seen a lot of shit when from the time you''ve lived with them but we don''t kill people on a whim."


    "Didn''t you just kill someone from insulting¡ª"


    "Point. But that was a different matter entirely. In your case, it''s just a hazing process everyone goes through when they''re new while Mr. Cuervo''s guy shat on something I deeply care for."


    "That''s fair but I really do want to learn from you and it almost didn''t happen if I didn''t show you that fucking page. I''m pretty d I kept receipts even though the one I kept was fake."


    "Understandable. But yeah, I want you to treat that as a brutal prank for me."


    "Already did."


    "Good, However, you need to get him back in the same fashion. Not by bloody fucking murder, got me? That''s how this works. You don''t go over the top, just a little bit more brutal than what he did."


    "Yes, sensei!"


    "And don''t call me sensei or whatever the fuck you''re thinking of in your head. I can teach people but I''m still learning myself."


    "Alright, alright¡­ one more thing though¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "That tattoo of yours and your katana¡ªeven the wakizashi Kaley''s using, what''s the story behind that? Can you tell me that, at least?"


    "Sure, we need to drink though. One paragraph for a shot."


    "Oh, fuck."


    "And here''s the first one!"


    With that said, I gave Isaac the same story I told Kaley and the rest¡ªomitting a few important parts in regards to Aoi¡ªbut he looked like he already had multiple orgasms by the time I told him I perfectly copied the most basic technique from our school when I was still a kid. To be honest, it do be like that sometimes as Tatiana said before but the guy can''t handle his fucking liquor.


    Isaac was already woozy from the 5th shot but Quinn and Tatiana came back at the worst possible time. Both of them were just as buzzed as me but I never drew my de as fast as I could when I heard the first sentence that came out of her mouth.


    "Fuck, I really need to fuck a guy tonight."


    "Hmm? He''s pretty much ready over there¡ª"


    "No, not that kind. The other way around. I love you three and all but I gotta have my fix."


    "You know I''m gonna fight you if¡ª"


    "Hmm? Who''s that?"


    "Haa? That''s Isaiah or something¡­ I can''t remember."


    Quinn just let out an evil grin, "He''ll do."


    Isaac sprang up groggily, "What? Are you talking about me?"


    Quinn chuckled, "Wanna fuck?"


    "Haah?! With me? Sure¡ª"


    I stood between the two, "Quinn. He''s fucking drunk."


    "So am I!"


    Isaac interjected, "You go Queen! You don''t need a man to tell ya what to do! I''m pretty inexperienced but I''ll try my best!"


    ''Fuck! I''m trying to save his fucking life here and¡ª''


    I was still thinking to myself when Quinn dropped her coat and showed Isaac the goods.


    "I''m pretty sure you''re a virgin but I can help you with that."


    Isaac looked offended, "I''M NOT A FUCKING VIRGIN! I''LL PROVE IT TO YOU! HIC! I''LL BEND YOU DOWN AND FUCK YOU SO HARD, YOU''LL CALL ME ONII-CHAN TOMORROW!"


    At this point, I was just trying to save my new student but if he wanted to poke the lioness, I wouldn''t be responsible for what would happen next. Even Tatiana looked like she was concerned for Isaac''s well-being but Isaac just kept digging his grave over and over.


    Quinn just shook her head amusedly as she easily pushed me aside and held Isaac by his cor.


    "Heh, no you won''t."

 Chapter 825: "That"

    At this point in time, Quinn had already dragged Isaac inside her room¡ªobviously kicking out Kaley who was still oblivious as to what happened in the past few minutes, and I "totally" would''ve tried harder for his sake¡­ totally. Still, it would''ve been my ass in the line if I somehow seeded.


    However, it wasn''t even a couple of minutes when Isaac got thrown butt-naked, and Quinn came out looking extremely frustrated while wearing a thick fucking strap-on that could probably go through anyone''s skull.


    Isaac was the first one to protest, "FUCK! AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?! I OFFERED MY FUCKING ASS ON A SILVER PLATTER AND YOU FUCKING KICK ME OUT?! WHAT IN FUCKING HELL IS THAT ABOUT¡ª"


    Quinn instantly bridged the distance between them and grabbed his neck, "YOU! YOU DON''T FUCKING YELL AT ME, YOU DON''T FUCKING COMPLAIN AT ME, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOU SOUNDED TOO EAGER TO GET PEGGED AND THAT FUCKING TURNED ME OFF! FUCK OUTTA HERE!"


    "B-But Mommy¡ª HGCK! GRCK! KCK!"


    Quinn choked him even harder, "GET OUT! CALL ME MOMMY ONE MORE FUCKING TIME AND I''LL CRUSH YOUR HEAD WITH A FUCKING VICE!"


    Isaac could only crawl down with the lump of clothes he had on him as Quinn put him down, and he just disappeared from view, leaving me to fend off this insatiable woman.


    But from our side, Tatiana was losing her shit from the situation while Kaley was just figuring out why her little nap was disturbed. The two couldn''t hide their amusement but I was the only one there trying to erase my presence. I wondered if things have gone differently if I didn''t offer Isaac some alcohol because that was another side of him I didn''t know about.


    Granted there were some instances that hinted he might be into that shit but right now, I was just trying to keep a buzzed Alpha-Bitch from seeing me.


    And luckily enough, it only took one nce from Kaley for Quinn topletely disregard my presence while Tatiana stood up andpletely took off her clothes.


    ''Side note: this ce''s lighting brings out everyone''s best features¡­''


    Tatiana stretched her arms out before calling out to Quinn, "Hey! We still haven''t done "that", correct? I''ll do you if you do me."


    Quinn let out an evil smile, "You have no idea what you just got yourself into¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Tatiana just lunged at Quinn and tripped her, bringing her to the ground before they started to wrestle and figure out who woulde out on top. In a simple contest of strength, Quinn would win 100% of the time but since alcohol was involved, it was anyone''s game.


    However, it looked like Tatiana wanted to be on the receiving side first so she just pretended to put up a fight before she was pinned down¡ªprone and thick ass sticking out. It didn''t take long before Quinn jammed the huge-ass dildo into Tatiana''s little asshole¡ªafter dipping it in a bowl of lube, and she was pushing in the whole length without regard to Tatiana''s movements and expression.


    From our side, I was starting to get hard but Kaley''s eyes were glued to the two who werepletely disregarding us and having fun on their own.


    The two of us could clearly see how rough Quinn was fucking Tatiana''s brains out but her gaze shifted to me, and she went even harder. I could already imagine what was going in her head right now but she suddenly pulled out¡ªleaving a huge gaping hole on Tatiana''s ass, before she plunged her whole fist inside her.


    "HNGH! YOU¡ª"


    Tatiana was biting her lip with a smile earlier but her eyes just rolled to the back of her head with a slight grimace.


    Quinn turned back to Tatiana, "THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANT, RIGHT?! NO GOING BACK ON YOUR WORD NOW!"


    If Quinn desired to, she could''ve started a puppet show right from the get-go but she made Tatiana squeal from pain and pleasure by shoving her fist in and out of her stretched hole over and over. Tears were welling from Tatiana''s eyes while saliva was dripping on the side of her mouth as she was clenching her teeth hard, but despite all that, she was taking it like a champ while hiding a smirk.


    Seeing her in that state stirred something in me and Kaley but Tatiana started squirting when Quinn sat her up and pinched her clit hard while still wrist-deep in her ass.


    At this point, Kaley and I had the perfect view of Tatiana''s ass gripping Quinn''s wrist each time she would pull out but it was also tantalizing to see it take it all in after a sudden push. However, Quinn just pulled it out without warning and jammed her huge dildo up Tatiana''s pussy before she brought her up and down without issue.


    She definitely copied a certain someone and was curious to perform the same move but Kaley¡ªlike thest time we were in this situation¡ªcouldn''t take it anymore.


    Simply watching while passively touching herself could only do so much so she pulled my cock out of my pants before she sat on top of me and leaned back, feeling my whole length with her asshole.


    "Fuck! F-Fuck! FUCK! I¡­ I wanted to try that so bad but I''m already this f-full with you! AH! MmH!


    Shit!"


    At this moment, Kaley was just moving her hips, grinding on top of me while I was balls-deep inside her back hole but our eyes were still glued to the two vixens putting on a show for us. Currently, Quinn was still inside Tatiana''s pussy but Tatiana was now the one on top¡ªriding her, while her altered butthole was on disy.


    It only took a few squats before Tatiana came for the second time but from the looks of things, it was now Quinn''s turn to be on the receiving end. Tatiana was hiding a smirk as she got off Quinn''s body and she just stood up like her holes didn''t take a solid pounding.

 Chapter 826: BET!

    "You can still move after that?"


    "Don''t underestimate me, bend over and show me that ass!"


    Quinn chuckled as she bent over after taking off her strap-on, "Hmph! I''ll fucking choke you if you do some vani shit¡ª HNGH! FUCK!"


    Right from the get-go, Tatiana shoved her fist inside Quinn''s meaty cunt before she lowered her head down and started tongue-fucking her puffy asshole. At that same exact moment, Quinn''s eyes just rolled to the back of her head while she was biting her lip, but she wanted even more.


    "I wanna get filled, bitch! That''s just half what you promised me!"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Shove that other fist in my ass too¡ª FUCK! YOU WENT TOO S-SUDDEN! HNGh! fUck! MMH! MMH!


    Deeper! DEEPER!"


    At this point, Tatiana''s arms were more than wrist-deep inside Quinn''s holes while Quinn was just melting from pain and pleasure. She was drooling on the floor with a euphoric look on her face while Tatiana looked more than eager to shove it even deeper. However, Quinn still had her limits because she grabbed Tatiana''s arm when she tried to go elbow-deep in her ass.


    "N-Not that far¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­"


    "How about this then?" Tatiana suddenly twisted her wrist while still inside Quinn''s asshole and at the same time, her other arm kept going in and out of Quinn''s other hole.


    "HnGH! AH! MMH! FUCK! I can''t¡ª AH! FUCK!


    FUCK! FUCK!"


    At this point, it didn''t take long before Quinn squirted nonstop and she copsed on the floor while breathing heavily. She only came once from that encounter but it was so intense that she had to tap out and take a breather. However, Tatiana still wanted to do more and her gaze shifted to us who were using them as visual aids to get off.


    Kaley had never looked so panicked when Tatiana walked over while licking the back of her palm, and she had to stop moving her hips while I was still inside her.


    "Tatiana¡­ I can''t do that¡ª"


    "Nu-uh. I still haven''t had enough. Put on that strap-on and fuck both my holes at the same time," Tatiana said as she pointed to the huge-ass dildo that was inside her a few minutes ago.


    With that said, let''s just say that all I had to do was sit down while Tatiana riding me but at the same time, Kaley was fucking her ass while groping her tits from behind. The two switched ces after a while and Quinn joined in after a little bit but fisting was already out of the picture. Well, Kaley tried a few times but all she could take in was three and a half fingers.


    It would take some training to fit a whole fist in and I was just there doing a little extra so that my dick wouldn''t get obsolete.


    Quinn let out a chuckle when she noticed, "Don''t worry too much. Your dick¡ªwell, you¡­ you are something else and I won''t get tired of it even if I wanted to. I just want to get extra stretched and roughed up sometimes¡­"


    Tatiana added, "And you can''t fit your fist in your mouth."


    "Hah! That''s true¡­ If you haven''t already noticed, I love your dick punching and sliding in my throat, and your cum tastes the best!"


    I shook my head, "Lies!"


    Kaley interjected, "Hey! She''s not lying!"


    Tatiana added, "True¡­"


    Quinn red at me, "See?! Thanks, Kaley! And the amount? Fuck¡­ It''s one thing to like someone''s cum but it''s the best when they cum lots! Yours is probably half my required protein intake! I can''t believe you got that much even if you''re fucking more than once a day.


    If I suck you off now, you''ll still fill my mouth, right?"


    "Can we just lie down and rest for a bit? I know you need your protein but there are tastier options avable! I have a few bars in my pack or you could have Chef Ng cook you a b of meat¡­"


    "Hmph! As if that''ll satisfy me¡­" then Quinn turned to Kaley, "Hey."


    "Hmm?"


    "Tell me, how much do you suck him off in a day?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I don''t count them but at least once¡­ We always have this thing we do when we wake up and we¡­ you know¡­ take care of it¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "As if you just suck him off in the morning¡­"


    Quinn''s ears perked up, "Oh? Do tell¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Kaley, "Can I tell her?"


    Kaley yfully rolled her eyes, "You ask permission now?"


    "Alright, sometimes¡­ when I sleep with them¡­ I''d just wake up either of them doing more than oral even if the other person''s asleep. It''s their rm of sorts and I just end up touching myself from watching them. Cynthia kinda does the same thing but it''s annoying because she does it in the middle of the night."


    Quinn didn''t look too amused, "Ah, fuck that. I love my sleep. If I ever wake up and see either one of you licking my clit, fucking me, or sucking my tits, I''ll fucking break your neck," then she turned to me, "But can I suck you off when I wake up and see ''you'' up?"


    I facepalmed, "That''s not how it works! It''s a give-and-take thing, alright? But yeah, I''ll allow it."


    Kaley chortled, "That''s the most confusing way I heard someone say yes¡­"


    Quinn added, "Can I y with your¡ª"


    "Nope!"


    "I haven''t even said it yet!"


    "No one''s touching my ass! It''s sacred ground!"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re missing out, I''m telling ya¡­"


    "Let''s just say that I''m a giving person, alright? I''ll be happy to dick you down but you''ll regret it when you try to even poke it with your finger."


    "Oh~ I''m scared~ What will you do? Hmm?"


    "I''ll never get hard in front of you EVER again."


    "Pfft! I can get you hard whenever I want! Is that a joke?!"


    "Try it then."


    "What?"


    "Make me hard."


    "..."


    "If you seed, I''ll let you peg me right now. If not, you''ll never bring this topic again."


    "BET!"


    "Bet."

 Chapter 827: Broken Spirits and Water Filters

    After we established the parameters of our wager, Quinn wasted no time bringing up all of her moves and using them on me¡ªwithout going to "that" ce, of course¡ªbut let''s just say that when morning came, she never looked so lifeless and out of it when I discovered her sulking in a corner.


    It looked like she didn''t have a wink of sleep because the emotional damage she took was just too much, and for some reason, Kaley and Tatiana were wary of experiencing the same fate.


    But on the other hand, I never felt so safe while in the presence of these women who were pressuring me to give up my chastity, and even if I didn''t receive my morning "present" from Kaley, it was all fucking worth it.


    With that said, I just took a shower on my own, rubbed one out myself, put on a fresh set of clothes, and went down from Quinn''s garage victorious.


    The first thing I noticed was that the folks from Sal''s ce were already up and taking care of their responsibilities while only a few from Quinn''s crew were awake. Obviously, almost all of them were also doing their own tasks though the smelling from their mess hall made me check it out.


    Chef Ng was already busy preparing the food with a couple of helpers but his eyes lit up when he saw me walk through the doors.


    "Oi! Woke up early, huh? I thought you''d wake up at around noon based on the soundsing from the garage!"


    I shook my head, "We''re that loud, huh? Need some help though?"


    "You know how to use a knife?"


    "I dabble."


    "Fuck me, unlimited stamina and can fucking cook¡­ Jesus fucking christ, I need that b cut up into equal parts, those potatoes peeled and diced, that pot stirred, and that speaker louder! GET ON IT!"


    I let out a small chuckle before I yelled, "YES, CHEF!"


    Chef Ng threw me an approving look before he gave me a sharp knife and an apron, and we just worked on all cylinders until it was time to ring the dinner bell. This morning, we had an even bigger disy of foodpared tost night, and helping with the food made me work up an appetite.


    But funnily enough, when everyone gathered and started eating, Quinn still looked like she was out of it because she barely touched her food but Tatiana still wharfed down anything she touched while Kaley had a small increase of what she usually ate. I thought the two would still be wary of me but they looked like they already stored it as a fun memory.


    ''I guess doing that was just super effective, heh.''


    I just smiled faintly as I ate with everyone though the ones who were also at our table noticed Quinn''s weird disy. Like what Quinn tried to do to me, they tried everything they can to prompt even a small reaction but all they received was nothing, not even a change in expression or a small quiver.


    Anne even had the audacity to smear food on her face but all she got was a deep sigh.


    Then she turned to me, "What did you fucking do to her?"


    I promptly replied after swallowing a mouthful of food, "Nothing."


    "Nothing? You definitely¡ª"


    Tatiana cut her off, "That''s literally it. He did nothing. They had this wager of sorts and¡­"


    As Tatiana told them the story, they were in utter disbelief that what I did was possible but seeing Quinn in that state made Anne more curious.


    "Wait, so she tried everything yesterday and you didn''t even get hard?"


    "Yep."


    "Not even a little bit?"


    "Yep."


    "How''s that possible?!"


    "Can we talk about that some other time? We''re eating, no?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Does that mean you can get hard onmand?"


    "..."


    "Can you at least answer that?"


    "Nope. Why are you so curious? It''s not like you wanna witness it in person¡ª"


    "I do, actually. Can I?"


    "Wanna end up like Quinn?"


    "Nope. But I wanna experience the other side of it. It''s pretty obvious you can do that since you know¡­ you''re the only guy up there and they don''t seem to be looking elsewhere¡­ So as I was saying~ Can we do that when you''re free?"


    I shook my head, "First, you need to ask Kaley for that¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Sure."


    I continued after rolling my eyes, "That was quick. Anyway~ Second, I''ll be a bit busy so¡ª"


    "What else is on your to-do list today?"


    "Hmm~ I''m gonna need to check the body I was running on the CNC Machine first and foremost then I''ll probably start on a few improvements to this ce."


    "Improvements?"


    "Well~ Since you''re kinda in charge of this ce when Quinn''s out of the picture¡­ the first thing thates to mind is your water."


    "Our water?"


    "You don''t have ake or something to get it from, right?"


    "Everything''s stilling from the tap though we have a lot on storage."


    "Exactly."


    "This region didn''t cut off your water supply which is great but¡­ how long can you keep this ce running once it runs out. I know of a few ces close where you can get fresh water but you gotta have something even closer, right?"


    "Are you talking about rain collectors? As you can see, the roof is¡ª"


    "Full with your sr panels and whatnot? Look here, I''m not saying to liberate this whole town and the one close to it but can''t you just make use of the buildings and houses around you? It''s very easy to set up a tarp and a container atop the roofs around you and even if one of them gets destroyed or something simr, it wouldn''t be that hard to rece it with a new one.


    Besides, it''s very easy to lock the doors that could lead to the roof, no?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "And yeah, if you think about it¡­ you don''t have water filters or purifiers either. It''s pretty easy to make one¡ª"


    "But I don''t know how to¡ª"


    I let out a faint smile as I chuckled, "That''s why I''m here. We''ll get started once we finish eating."

 Chapter 828: Filtering =/= Purifying

    Anyhow, since everyone present could eat likepetitive eaters, it didn''t take long before Anne apanied me to check the body I was machining for Mr. Alvarez. With that said, even if I left it running overnight, it didn''t mean that the whole thing would be finished by the time I checked on it.


    I just punched in the measurements for the main body but the other parts such as the doors, the hood, the logo, a few artistic liberties, and even the wheels needed to be done at a different set.


    Anne was shaking her head when she saw the finished body¡ªthe main body, "You did this by eye?"


    "Yep," I answered as I punched in the measurements for the hood.


    "You aren''t even checking the one you just made?"


    "Already did, it''s not as perfect as I wanted it to be but it''ll do."


    "..."


    "What? We can''t do it now, we still have a lot to¡ª"


    "I''m not thinking about that! I j-just have nothing to say!"


    "Ah, I see. Wanna start working on your stuff?"


    "My stuff¡ª Don''t say it like that! Say we should start working on the thing we talked about earlier?"


    "But¡­ we also talked about that earlier¡ª"


    Anne let out a yful chuckle, "Ugh! You''re so annoying! I don''t know if you really wanna do it now or what! I''m talking about the filters and the rain collectors we talked about!"


    "Ah~ I see, I see¡­ Anyway, the rain collectors are pretty easy to do without a guide but do take note that filtering water and purifying it are a little different, okay? We might use it interchangeably¡ªwhich often gets people confused but there''s more to it than that. Up for a short one?"


    "A s-short one?"


    "A lesson, I mean¡­ Sorry for confusing you¡ª"


    "I swear you''re doing it on purpose!"


    "I dunno what you''re talking about. You''re the one confusing what I meant with other things."


    "Yeah, yeah, sure~" Anne shook her head, "Anyway~ do tell me about the difference between the two."


    "Alright, I said filtering and purifying but what I think is the more understandable way to¡­ you know, understand it is just to know what kind of things we filter from the water so it''s safe to drink."


    "So¡­ can''t we just stick to saying the word filtering instead of purifying?"


    "Again, it gets really confusing because ''filtering'' water is a process to remove contaminants from our drinking water but it''s mostly just sediments or otherrger stuff. But ''purifying'', on the other hand, also removes contaminants¡ªlike the filtering process, but it also removes¡­ bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants."


    "I see¡­ so purifying is just like an advanced form of filtering."


    "Oh! Right, that''s one way to look at it, yes. But do know that purifying water can be done in a number of ways like distilling water or by using a reverse osmosis machine that could be used on salt water to make it drinkable. But don''t forget about the tried and true method of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Most of the time, that''s all you would need but you can''t be sure every single time.


    But yeah, boiling water or drinking it through a lifestraw or something simr might be betterpared to just getting them from the tap."


    "I heard some tablets or chemicals also work."


    "Yeah, water-purifying tablets work but they should be treated as luxuries. We don''t have a lot of them now and if we''re talking about iodine, bleach, or something simr, it does leave a nasty aftertaste so there''s that."


    "Hmm~ These options are out of my range and I dunno¡ª"


    "You don''t have to stress about it right now because there''s already a solution for that. In fact, I''ve seen a few of those still sitting pretty outside with no one bothering to take them inside."


    "Huh? I don''t remember there being filters outside except for those ones that had some sand or something in those 5-gallon jugs. We already took some of them but it''s easier to use the tap."


    I waved her off, "Not those ones. Well, they could also help filter your water but we''re talking about filtration/purification machines at the moment. From the time we entered this town and got inside this ce, I''ve seen eight stores that have them."


    "You''ve seen eight stores that sell them? Really?"


    "No, not sell. They have it for the purpose of selling what goes through them. Do you¡ª"


    "Oh! The ces that sell mineral water! I get it now!"


    "Right. They might have different brands of bottled mineral water but the machine they use is almost always the same. And don''t worry, it''s not that hard to use those machines to filter your water because most of the time, you''d just have to turn it on and it does the work for you. I can help you with that once we bring a few of those over here."


    Anne nodded with a smile, "That''ll be great! I''ll tell¡ª Wait, what else are you hiding in that head of yours?"


    I was slightly taken aback, "Hiding?"


    "I mean¡­ Do you have more ideas to help me improve this ce?"


    I chuckled, "There''s a few more like making gym equipment for doing pull-ups or dips¡ªyou know, bodyweight stuff, but we can''t do everything at once, right? Besides, I just took in a new disciple so I have to see what he got, your crew too."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "C''mon being strong does not equal being good in a fight. It''s a requirement, sure, but there''s more to it than that."


    Anne just had a realization, "I just remembered. They told me you beat Benjie¡ªeven Mauro. Talking to you like this made me think that you''re just like me but you''re pretty strong in a fight too. You''re the Champions of Champions or whatever¡­ Hmm~"


    "Something wrong about that?"


    "Not really but¡­ I do need to ask for a favor."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''ve never beaten Quinn in a fight¡ª Heck,nding even a clean hit is out of the picture. Can you help me with that? I''ll do anything you ask for a day."


    "You mean I can''t already do that? Huh. I thought I already impressed you."


    Anne cutely rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Hah! You wish! Well~ You''re not too far off. You have 15 minutes though, we can go over that corner before you go out¡­"


    "Good enough for me."


    "C''mon! I can''t wait!"


    With that said, Anne and I sneaked away for a short bit to have some fun but by the end of those 15 minutes, I had to carry her to her room. She never looked so embarrassed when everyone saw her in my arm but she hammered her fists on my back when I carried her like a sack of potatoes.


    Shepletely denied my help when I tried to clean her up so but I waited for the feeling in her legs toe back before I gathered half of my crew and a few others for the small retrieval mission. Surprisingly enough, Myke and Coleen came with us and they brought another guy¡ªJoe, Number 466, who helped me hook up a trailer to my Raptor.

 Chapter 829: Errands for the Queen

    Our small crew was made up of six people: Me, Isaac, Jose, and the three others, though Myke and Joe decided to bring out another pickup that had big winches installed on the front and back of their vehicle. Furthermore, it had an extended tbed that could be used to carry vehicles but with our current mission in mind, it would be used to hold something else.


    Isaac turned to me, "Are we nning to bring all of them back?"


    "I guess we are now," I replied as I stared at him for a little bit.


    "What? Are you thinking of bringing more people?"


    "No, nevermind."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck¡­ you''re thinking aboutst night¡­"


    "Kinda, but I''m not judging. Do whatever that makes you happy¡ª"


    Jose and Coleen asked at the same time, "What are you two talking about?"


    Coleen added with a chuckle, "Did more things happen after that ''noise''st night?"


    ''More like before¡­''


    Isaac tried to dodge the question, "Let''s just say I almost joined them¡ª"


    Coleen scoffed, "Really? I''m pretty sure you got thrown out."


    "I said, ''almost'', right? I almost¡ª"


    "Almost worn as a bracelet. I''m sorry, but you don''t look like someone that Quinn''s gonna spread her legs for or bend over."


    "Hey! I''m kinda lean but I got some muscle too, alright?!"


    "How much do you weigh again?"


    I cut them off, "Alright, we''re gonna head out now and we don''t need distractions. The outside is pretty clear but never let your guard down. I just met you guys and I don''t want your blood on my hands¡ª"


    Myke shouted from their vehicle, "ARE WE GOING OR WHAT?!"


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, just about to. Use your radio."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HURRY UP!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the gate was opened for us, and to Coleen''s surprise, I waspletely evading the traps theyid for the deadheads outside without her guidance. The reason she sat with us was to point them out but seeing them once through the monitors etched them in my memory.


    The first two stops were fairly close¡ªand just in front of each other, but we parked closely because Myke and Joe didn''t know how to properly move them. However, they only needed to see it once and they discovered that it was more finicky than needing a lot of muscle. Granted a few of them needed more than a wrench or a screwdriver, we pretty much brought anything to do the job.


    "Myke, you can ce thoserger ones in your truck while we take the ones that could easily fall off or break."


    "Do I need to secure them with the straps?"


    "Of course, I even brought some padding and some foam for the important ones here¡ª"


    "Zeds!" Isaac eximed, taking a few steps back.


    Hearing that, we turned our heads and saw a handful of deadheads that were hobbling from dozens of meters away, and I''m pretty sure I could overtake them even when I''m limping. However, right as Jose was about to shoot them down, a fucking 5-ton came out of nowhere and run them over.


    Their remains turned to paste either spread unevenly on the pavement or stuck nicely on therge tires of the huge-ass murder weapon.


    Like clockwork, Mr. Alvarez''s voice boomed from the distance and it was actually him driving the 5-ton with a huge smile on his face.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW IS THIS THING SO FUCKING FAST?! IT DRIVES LIKE SHIT BUT ITS FUCKING FAST! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OI!!!


    KID~!!! IS THAT YOU?!"


    I just gave him a wave and he quickly bridged the distance between us.


    "Heh, I knew you were up to something¡ªdisappearing like that. But yeah, what''s the timeframe on my ride?"


    "The main body isplete and it wouldn''t take long to finish the others but it still needs to be fitted, painted, etc. So~ As I said before, around three days before you can drive it out of here."


    Mr. Alvarez scratched his head as he grumbled, "Hmmrghmm¡­"


    "Is there a problem? That''s already the fastest I could work¡ª"


    "No, it''s not you. It''s me. I need to be home today. I love messing around like this from time to time but I still got responsibilities, no? Fuck it, I''ll just leave you the vehicle and you drive it back to my ce when it''s done. Deal?"


    "No deal."


    "What?! Why?!"


    "I have responsibilities too, no?"


    "Fuck~ I know, I know¡­ I really want you to see my ce so you could tell me a few things to change or improve upon¡ªlike what you''re doing right now¡ªso I could have more time to mess around. Remind me, what is it you guys are doing here anyway?"


    "I thought you already knew from the way you were speaking earlier."


    "Really? I can''t help it, my charisma just exudes naturally, it gives people the wrong impression sometimes¡ª"


    "Sure. Anyway, this machine we just took apart can be used to clean drinking water¡ª"


    "Hah? Kid, just boil it for a bit."


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Yeah, I know that method too. But using this machine¡ªeven though it also needs energy to run, doesn''t reduce the amount of water you''d have after it''s done doing what it''s supposed to do. There are different methods for different scenarios so we''ll just stick with this one for now."


    "Huh. Alright~ Alright~ Whatever floats your boat. Anyway, I guess this is goodbye for now. I''ll be taking this 5-ton as coteral, even though the turning radius for this fucking this is just too fucking awful, we''ll have some fun with it."


    "Oh! You''re heading out already?"


    "Yeah, I should''ve been on the road a few hours ago. I just dropped by to say goodbye. I would''ve liked to hang out more but I just need to take care of things back home."


    I suddenly had a thought, "Can I ask what''s your problem at home?"


    "Sure."


    "..."


    "..." Mr. Alvarez just kept staring at me.


    I finally got it, "You¡ª What''s the problem at your ce? You know, aside from food."


    Mr. Alvarez let out a bitter smile, "Why don''t you worry about this ce first before you worry about me. Besides, you''re already doing enough by fulfilling a selfish request of mine, no?"


    "Alright then. Safe travels."


    "Hmm," Mr. Alvarez just gave me a nod.


    At that point, he soon drove off with his huge-ass and loud-ass truck but we had only gone to two of our eight checkpoints. While we were talking, Joe and Myke had already taken care of the other shop though I would''ve preferred them to be a little more careful about handling them.


    Sure, we might be able to learn to make something like those in the future but I wouldn''t waste something that was already in front of us.


    With that said, we eventually made our way to the third spot which was located right next to a medium-sized gym¡ªthat was picked clean, obviously¡ªand a barbershop/parlor of sorts though the area had several rotting corpses that weren''t taken care of. Aside from maggots wriggling in and out of their bodies, just the fucking smell was enough to make all of us grimace a certain way.


    "Alright, before we do anything, we pile them in one corner and burn them."


    "Wait, why?" Myke said while covering his nose with a wet towel.


    "They make our stomachs turn for a reason. We can get diseases from decaying corpses out in the open like this. They were probably stewing here for several months way~ before Mauro decided to collect heads for that other group. Also, I don''t think I need to tell you about that special that can make use of these corpses."


    "Yeah, I get it. I''ll fetch my gloves."


    "C''mon, I''ll help you guys. It ain''t much but it''s honest work."


    However, right as we started, Isaac just threw up after he de-gloved a corpse''s arms off as the rest of its congealed organs¡ªwhich were mostly just ck goop¡ªspilled onto the floor because its discolored skin just ripped off from the slightest pressure.


    It wouldn''t have mattered to everyone else but Isaac was wearing a mask and his vomit just essentially spilled out from the small openings. Furthermore, he can''t just take off his mask because his hands were a little preupied with the pping gloves made up of greenish and ckish skin, and the first person he asked for help was me.


    Isaac tried his best to speak despite his vomit still in his mouth, "Nii¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking talk. Drop those gloves and lean a little bit forward¡­"


    It didn''t take long before he managed to clean himself up but just that happening to him made him look like he was defeated. It made everyone agree for him to take a short break but he kept on helping us make the most fucked up pile of corpses to burn. The pile looked worse than what two certain brothers created after sacrificing one''s whole body and a leg.

 Chapter 830: Isnt it obvious? - That... was my penis.

    Taking care of the corpses in the immediate vicinity took close to an hour¡ªincluding burning them¡ªthough we did find a few more either partially intact or just looking like a slime that wore clothes. It really gave the term, "it was falling off its bone" its literal and much chilling side, but not all of them were exactly in that state.


    Anyhow, if we didn''t have more ces to goter, I would''ve brought a pressure washer to clean up the smudgy bits.


    With that said, Myke and Joe had already started to dismantle the purifying machine while Jose and I kept a lookout with our guns. On a side note, the two of us were the only ones carrying high-powered rifles while the others were using handhelds as a primary and a simple sidearm for emergencies, including Isaac.


    He actually had a double-stack 1911¡ªthe one on the cheaper side¡ªbut he didn''t have a proper holster for it or extra magazines if he ever ran out. Heck, I doubt that it was even full, and if by some chance¡ªa high chance that he knows jack shit about guns, his left asscheek will have an emergency if he ever needed to draw his gun for emergencies.


    I was just about to bring up that topic when Myke called out from behind, "Hey! We have a problem."


    "Hmm?"


    He slowly approached me while wiping his hands with a dirty towel, "When we''re moving one of the storage tanks, the one that receives water from the tap is leaking. It has this small hole or something and not only that, one of those identical filter thingies has cracks on them. Do we still take them or do we just move on to the other ces?"


    "We take everything. We might be able to repair it ourselves when we get back. And besides, we haven''t even tested the ones we have here and if they can''t be repaired, we''ll just make use of the other working parts as donors. You know, mix and match to see what works."


    He nodded, "Alright, can I ask one more thing though?"


    "Sure."


    He gave me a long stare before he sighed, "Why are we the only ones doing the hard work? You helped us once but that''s it."


    As soon as he said that, Isaac and Jose threw him a nce¡ªColeen included but not Joe¡ªand it made the atmosphere a little tense and awkward. However, I just kept my cool and gave him a small jab¡ªa factual jab with my words.


    I kept a straight face, "Isn''t that obvious though?"


    Myke instantly walked up to me and loomed over, "Haah?! Did you just¡ª"


    I stood my ground, "Don''t misunderstand, I''m making you do all the work because you''re gonna be the one doing it¡ªand teaching the others when we''re gone. We''re not gonna stay here forever and be in charge of your drinking water."


    Myke shook his head with a scowl, "You¡ª Why didn''t you say that from the start? Asshole."


    "Asshole? Uh-huh¡­ Listen here, Myke with a ''Y'', I dunno what I did wrong for you to be so hostile against me but if you want help, just ask. And if you have something to say to me, say it straight-up, don''t beat around the fucking bush. And yeah, if you''re gonna give me some lip, expect to take a few."


    "I was just¡ª"


    "I''m not done talking. Shut up. I know you are frustrated about your PEDs running out and if you want to take it out on someone, I''m also up for that."


    Myke''s eyes suddenly lit up, "Hmm!"


    I added, "You see, it''s far down the priority line but your gym is mixing a fucking octagon. Who cares if you have big fucking muscles but you got nowhere to let off some steam? I can easily drop anyone in my weight ss and I''m looking to throw hands with big guys like you to give myself a little challenge."


    "I like that sound of¡ª"


    "However, we don''t do that shit now. We''re still working."


    "..."


    "Jose can lend you a hand with lifting stuff but I''m gonna stay here with my rifle and watch out for emergencies. I have a pretty great view of everyone here and I''m not just sitting on my ass andzing around. If you wanna have a shot at me, let''s finish everything quickly so we could go home. I''lly your ass out after that."


    At that point, it waspletely quiet for a few moments but Myke just burst outughing while Coleen and Isaac didn''t know what to do. The two of them were already losing their shit from the idea of Myke and Iing to blows outside but it easily got resolved by agreeing toe to blowster.


    Jose chuckled after Myke and Joe went back to the store, "Hah! I don''t know how you do it but you fucking did it. Tell me, have you considered working in a suicide hotline or the ones where you hold a megaphone and prevent the other guy from jumping?"


    I shook my head smiling, "What''s the difference between those two examples?"


    "Distance?"


    "Hah! I got it from my dad, diffusing a situation¡­ He''s pretty much chill while my mother''s the exact opposite. They do be like that but if you see them firsthand, you''ll expect one from the other."


    "Do be like that? Since when did you talk like that?"


    "Long story, no subtitles. Tatiana started it and it caught on with me."


    "Ah¡­"


    While the two of us were talking, I was ncing at Coleen and Isaac who were trying to fan a little outward and they tried to get into this boutique that still had a few goodsying around. Smelling rot and decay even for a few seconds was vomit-inducing so a whiff of some fragrant soap or essential oil seemed to be their go-to solution at the moment.


    With that said, the two came back with these fancy gift baskets that had a myriad of items that smell nice and Myke didn''t even care because he already had a particr goal in mind.


    ''Why do people always opt for sneakers instead of soap?''


    As I nced at the items he brought over, the storage tank and the carbon filter had some external damage but were easily fixable. All we needed to do was patch the hole in the storage tank while we only needed to print out an exact copy for the filter''s sticponent.


    But as I said earlier, we can just have them in storage and just be used as donor parts because we didn''t need to have all of the purifying machines on at the same time.


    "Shall we?"


    "Yeah, we could go in either direction because it''s the same distance."


    "Lead the way then."


    After a few more hours, we finally got back to Quinn''s ce after a sessful run without incidents but it was an hour or so after noon. Everyone had already eaten though Chef Ng and Kaley made sure to leave us some food. For some reason, Quinn was present while Kaley was handing us our portions but she was still so out of it.


    Well, she could now give simple responses by nodding or shaking her head slightly and it was just the funniest shit to me¡ªthe exact opposite from her crew.


    Kaley whispered to me while I was eating, "Hey¡­ Can''t you just¡­ you know? Cheer her up a bit? She was spacing out all day and it''s starting to scare a few people¡­"


    "Nuh-uh."


    "W-Why?"


    "I''m gonna do some delicate shit after and I don''t want her destroying things once she awakens and revives."


    "But¡­ you kinda broke her¡­ her self-esteem I mean¡­ If that happened to me¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Rx, I wouldn''t do that to you. If anything, I''ll do the exact opposite!"


    "You¡­ You can actually do that? And please¡­ don''t do whatever you did to Quinn to me¡­"


    "Of course. And to answer your question, I can do it but¡­ it''s better to do it the regr way, no? I canst until you''re satisfied, why should I go to lengths that''ll put a strain on me? But yeah, unless you want to, I''ll do it no questions asked."


    "Uh-huh¡­ but you really need to cheer her up."


    "Why? It hasn''t even been six or seven chapters¡ª I mean, it''s too soon!"


    "Hah? You can just¡ª"


    We were still in conversation when I saw Quinn''s left eyebrow twitch momentarily and it just gave me chills like I never had before. The mixture of killing intent, anger, lust, and frustration culminated in this invisible film that was forming around her, and my head was already telling me to run. However, I would very much like to finish my food so I made a distraction.


    *thump*


    *thump* *thump*


    It made everyone present confused.


    "Huh?"


    "What was that?"


    "Where''s that knockinging from?"


    I chuckled as I produced another thump, "That¡­ was my penis."


    Quinn''s awakening halted as she snorted, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As soon as the realization came from everyone present, chaos ensued as each person just died fromughter or choked on their food. Even Joe who was keeping quiet this whole time facepalmed before letting out a strained snicker that turned into hysteria.


    I couldn''t believe everyone fell from that because as much as I would''ve wanted to be genuine, I''m not gonna fucking get hard and bang my cock under from under the table. Unless it was life or death, I''ll stick with my knees for the meantime.

 Chapter 831: Bouldering - Logan

    Ourte lunch concluded after everything died down and Anne approached me with Zyra to tell me about what they aplished while we were away.


    "Let''s see¡­ I kept some watch on the CNC Machine in case anything broke down or malfunctioned, and since you wrote down what I should make on it next, it is now milling a few iterations of the logo. And yeah, Zyra here came up on me while I was assigning people to make bodyweight equipment and she suggested making use of one part of the wall to make some sort of a bouldering wall."


    "Oh! That''s great, actually."


    Kaley nudged me, "Bouldering?"


    "Kinda like rock climbing but the distance is much shorter and you''d only need your shoes and a crash pad," then I turned to Anne and Zyra, "Going all in, huh? You know, a simple pull-up or dip machine can already work wonders given enough time."


    "But we need more variety, no?"


    "That is true but is there a ce where you can get holds? Is a bouldering gym nearby?"


    Zyra answered, "We can make them the same way we''re making the body for Mr. Alvarez''s car, even manually if ites to it."


    "Oh? You have some experience then?"


    She added, "I used to work part-time in a store that sells training equipment and they had a portion of their store for bouldering. I can probably put up V3s or even V5s but we''ll start with easier ones and with bigger holds because everyone here''s a beginner. Also, when I was 50 pounds lighter, I feel like I could floatpared to now¡ªthis thing really excites me!"


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s awesome but I''m gonna need a slot for your 3D printer as well. Some of the enclosures for the filters we brought back have some significant damage and patching them up with duct tape wouldn''t work."


    Anne waved me off, "You can use them now since we aren''t using them at the moment."


    "I see, thanks!" then I turned to Kaley and Tatiana, "What did you two do while we''re away?"


    Kaley shook her head, "Aside from taking care of the mess you made?"


    Quinn interjected, "I''m a ''mess'', now? How far I''ve fallen¡­"


    "Don''t start! I tried giving everyone here part of a medical exam but they always keep telling me to check on you first!"


    "Haven''t you seen what I''ve gone through?!"


    "Well, it''s not like you''re the only one who got demoralized."


    "Who else?"


    Zyra raised her hand, "Me, but not to the extent you experienced."


    Quinn turned to Kaley, "See? I''m the only one!"


    "Fair. Anyway, this ce is pretty chill for the most part but I kinda wanna see the industrial park¡ªwhere everyone else is. I wanna gain some more medical experience even a little bit. Dirt and spit can only do so much and trying to endure it could make it worse. I patched up some cuts and some bruises but¡ª"


    While Kaley was still in mid-sentence, the roar of several engines coupled with hard rock sting from the distance caught our attention. I was 100% sure it was one of Quinn''s no¡ª the De Leon Family''s members but I was wondering why they needed to pay this ce a visit.


    Granted they could probably drop by and check in on each other, looking at Quinn''s annoyed face right now, our visitors weren''t exactly wee.


    I turned to Quinn, "Who''sing?"


    "No, they''re about to leave right about now."


    "Huh?"


    "Well, I''m kicking them out¡ª FUCKING HELL! WHO OPENED THE GATE FOR THEM?!"


    At this point, Quinn just took off with Tatiana while Kaley nudged me to go after them¡ªas she took care of our tes with Anne. But as soon as I saw the crowd of people with the familiar getup and with the more Mad-Maxed vehicles, I assumed the one in front that was almost as tall as Quinn but had a much wider frame¡ªbut still packed with muscles¡ªwas a high-ranking officer.


    The guy was just wearing a smug smile as Quinn was shouting at the top of her lungs¡ªbeckoning him to turn around and leave¡ªbut the moment we met eyes, he threw me a wide smile before getting clocked the fuck out.


    "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"


    Quinn never looked so pissed as she sent a middle kick to the guy''s torso, as he was still covering his face, but after taking two attacks head-on from our enraged giantess, he still kept his cool as he turned to Quinn with the same smile.


    "You don''t understand. Mauro asked me to take the reigns for the¡ª"


    "TAKE THE REIGNS FOR WHAT?!"


    As Quinn cut him off, she was already sending another hook straight to his face but this time, he dodged by tilting his head back. However, right as he was about to bring his head to the same position, Quinn wound back and threw the same fist as a backhand, cutting up the guy''s left eyebrow and making it bleed.


    "LEAVE!"


    The guy just touched his eyebrow and wore a bitter smile as he saw the blood on his fingers, "Why are you so angry at me?"


    "YOU KNOW PRETTY DAMN WELL THAT I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS!"


    "Hah! But I hate yours more! You got him killed, right¡ª"


    "HAAAH?!"


    Right at this moment, Quinn just snapped and charged at the guy, throwing everything from punches to kicks and elbows to knees, and since those attacks would do a lot more than just cut up his eyebrow, the dude started to guard and dodge though he still took some solid hits here and there.


    However, I just don''t get as to why he never fought back and it made Tatiana and I interfere before things get worse.


    It''s just that when Tatiana managed to hold Quinn back as I stood in front of them, I felt a surge of killing intent and I instinctively ducked.


    *WHOOOOOOOSH*


    Just as my fingers barely touched the ground, I felt a huge gust of wind pass over my head but once again, I instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the motherfucker''s thick quads that almost decapitated and squashed me.


    Looking at his face, his smile had already turned upside down but I caught him by surprise when the temperature went down several degrees.


    He instinctively covered his face by crossing his arms but my foot still made its way to his chin before his whole body buckled. I thought he''d be on his ass after that but he threw a full-body hook with his right fist.


    However, I let it slip by my face but just from the way his body was positioned, I definitely felt an elbow lurking somewhere so the head slip turned into a close-contact doumawashi where my left heel found its way to the back of his head.


    It would''vended on his face if he didn''t follow through with his blow but since he was so eager to give something that had his full weight on it, I opted to do the same.


    Both of usnded on the ground but I was the only one that was able to stand up.


    It was then that I noticed he had the Number 9 on the same spot my heelnded but Quinn was this close to stomping on that poor motherfucker. I managed to stop her at thest second but I heard a soft groan from the person that I justid out.


    "Fuck¡­ How long was I out?"


    ''He''s fucking tough, I''ll give him that.''


    "LEAVE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I FUCKING HAVE TO TELL YOU¡ª"


    "Wait a sec," I waved her off as I waited for him to get up, "What did Mauro tell you?"


    "I''m Logan by the way~ How many times do I have to repeat myself? He told me that since Quinn has guestsing over, I''ll be acting deputy for the time being. I¡ª"


    Kaley suddenly came up from behind, "If we call him now will he say the same thing?"


    Logan rolled his eyes before he scoffed, "Go ahead, I don''t care."


    I was just about to give Mauro a call when Quinn stopped me, "Don''t bother, he''s fucking lying as always." then she turned to him, "I can''t even contact Mauro at this moment, why the fuck would he give the reigns to you?! Besides, he''ll give the reigns to Dave first before he thinks of your sorry ass."


    "Quinn! C''mon! We were having such a great time before that jackass interrupted our little dance! I was just beginning to feel it, do you feel the same way? And by the way, Dave''s dead. That''s actually why I came here."


    "WHAT?!"


    "HAH! You believed that?! I was lying, of course! But yeah, he looked like a corpse when you all got back! He was so beaten up he wouldn''t even drink with me! Almost shot me too when I tried to wake him up!"


    ''This guy''s a little¡­''


    "THAT''S IT! I''VE HAD ENOUGH! I''M GONNA COUNT TO FUCKING TEN AND IF YOU''RE NOT OUT HERE BY THAT, I''LL FUCKING DROP YOU AND TELL MAURO YOU CROSSED THE FUCKING LINE! WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD COME HERE, HUH?!"


    At this point, Quinn was already in her third boiling point while I was still confused as hell. I can''t fucking believe they''d have an officer like that and a single-digit position to boot. If anything, I''d rank him among the three digits but there seemed to be more to their story as I thought.

 Chapter 832: Crossed Line

    Quinn balled up her fists once more, "D''YOU WANT ME TO THROW YOU IN THE PIT?!"


    Logan started tough hysterically, "The Pit?! Hah! I thought you were so against that?! Am I hearing things or what?!" then he turned to his crew who looked like they smoked a joint or snorted an 8-ball, "Guys! Queenie said she wanted to¡ª GRCK!"


    As if the beating he received wasn''t already enough, he had to call Quinn "that" so a fucking wrench just flew straight to his face. For some reason, getting hit by Quinn was waking something from inside of him and I quickly opted to refrain from looking down below his belt.


    However, it seemed like the mention of this "Pit" ticked Quinn for the fourth time, and her right leg was already up in the air, aiming at Logan''s head for a brutal axe kick.


    *WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH*


    The moment Quinn brought her tree trunk-like leg down, it just ruptured the air before it almost broke Logan''s vicle.


    If he didn''t guard at the right time and moved a bit to the side, it would''ve definitely crushed his skull¡ªeven disabling his right side¡ªbut despite all that, the fucking dickhead was smiling from ear to ear.


    However, on the brief second that Quinn''s leg was resting on Logan''s shoulder, she suddenly lifted up from the air, twisted her body, and then fucking sent her other leg to the other side of his head. The horrifying sound it produced the moment it made contact made everyone grimace or cringe, and he definitely lost several core memories.


    Logan had no fucking chance of guarding against that and he just copsed on the ground while his left ear was bleeding.


    I thought I already did a lot more than he could''ve handled but this time, the motherfucker wasn''t waking up.


    ''He''s still breathing though¡­ that''s good¡­ I think?''


    But the moment Quinn got up from knocking Logan out, she looked at his nearest cohort before sending copious amounts of killing intent.


    "PICK HIM UP AND LEAVE!!! IF I DON''T SEE HIM LOCKED UP IN THE BOX WHEN I PAY YOUR PLACE A VISIT LATER, I''LL SHOVE YOUR HEADS IN EACH OF YOUR FUCKING ASSHOLES BEFORE I THROW YOU IN THE FUCKING FURNACE!!!"


    "Y-YES! ABSOLUTELY!"


    "RUN! RUNNNN~!"


    "SOMEBODY PICK HIM UP!"


    At that point, Logan''s crew just scrambled to get the fuck out of dodge but only a few people saw the single tear that Quinn quickly wiped off her face. However, her eyes were still red while her whole body was trembling but everyone else thought she was just really enraged. I doubt everyone here would''ve thought that it was also due to some other emotion.


    I had never seen her in that state before but if there would be something that could cause her to be like that, it would always be herte lover, Michael.


    Kaley tried to approach her, "Quinn¡ª"


    "DON''T TOUCH ME! NO ONE GOES UP IN MY ROOM!"


    "..."


    Then she suddenly turned to me, "NOT EVEN YOU!"


    ''I didn''t even say anything¡­''


    With that said, Quinn just stomped her way back to her garage while everyone just gave each other simple nces. It seemed like her whole crew knew part or even the whole story but decided to keep quiet¡­ except for one person.


    Chef Ng scratched the back of his head as he sighed, "That¡­ That was really unfortunate¡­ that time¡­"


    "That time?"


    "Wait, you don''t know? Ah¡­ it''s better if you ask her¡ª"


    "I think she''s not in speaking terms right about now. However, if I could get more context, I might be able to help her situation a little bit. Besides, everyone seemed to know already¡­ I think one or three more persons knowing it wouldn''t hurt."


    "..."


    I sighed as Chef Ng just kept looking at me, "But it''s also fine if¡ª"


    "No. I''ll tell ya. But whatever Quinn does to you after knowing shit like that, you gotta fucking take it. Understand?"


    "As long as it doesn''t involve getting my ass be on the receiving side, I''ll even take the same kick Logan did."


    "Hah! That''s good to hear. Come with me. You two too, you''re friends, right?" Chef Ng chuckled as he turned to Kaley and Tatiana.


    With that said, Chef Ng brought us over to the second floor of their mess hall which had a few partitions turned into living quarters. However, his room was the separate former main office of the facility, and once he opened the door for us, surprisingly, it didn''t have much on it besides the essentials.


    Tatiana joked, "I''m sorry but I''m not into older men. Besides, these two only have eyes for other girls¡ª"


    "TATIANA!"


    "HAHAHAHA! Funny one, are ya? Just to put it out there, I only date women my age. You look too young for my tastes, sorry."


    "I was just joking but good to know. Anyway, who''s the other guy in that picture?"


    Once Tatiana said that, Kaley and I turned to an old picture that was taped on the wall mirror that had a few other pictures with somewhat familiar faces. However, the picture in question sported a much younger Chef Ng who was smiling brightly and had one of his arms over the other guy''s shoulder who was much, much younger but had a sharp look.


    Chef Ng''s eyes dimmed for a short bit before he turned to us, "Ah¡­ That''s my son, Jackie."


    My eyes just widened from shock, "WAIT¡ª"


    He turned to me, "So you knew?"


    "No¡­ Not exactly, is he Number¡ª"


    "Number 2, yes. He''s the one who shot Michael and in turn got¡­ retaliated by Quinn¡­"


    "..."


    "It''s¡­ It''s a series of unfortunate events but if those kids just talked normally¡­ things would''ve been avoided¡­ As I said¡­ Everything that happened that time was really¡­ unfortunate¡­"


    As Chef Ng was talking, everyone could sense the bitterness in his words¡ªespecially Kaley, but it didn''t take long before he offered us to sit down so he could shed some light to our current situation with Quinn.

 Chapter 833: Unfortunate

    "Well¡­ How do I start this? Hmm~ I think it''s pretty obvious to you three that everyone here is kind of a gym rat and most importantly, everyone here is on gear. I still am at the moment, I take 300mg of Test a week just to retain my muscles since I''m old and once you''re past 45, you''d lose a percentage every year¡­"


    ''Weird start to a story but okay¡­''


    "Anyway, I told you guys that bit because it''s actually relevant. Mike¡ª Michael, Quinn''s old lover loved the way he looks more than he loved his old DB9. He used topete way~ back then and he was using as much¡ªmaybe even more¡ªthan hispetition. However, without proper coaching and guidance, things just turned for the worse. Granted he knows his shit but men could be fucking dumbasses at times."


    "What happened?"


    "Trust me, the guy''s gics is well above average but he keeps wanting to get bigger and bigger. However, sometimes, judges would favor definition more than size. What did he do? He amped the volume of his exercise and upped whatever the fuck he''s taking¡ªeven taking Insulin¡ª"


    Tatiana was taken aback, "Insulin? Isn''t that for¡ª"


    "Diabetics? Yeah, but it also works for bodybuilding."


    I added, "I''ve read about that but it''s totally different from Test, the dosage should be fucking perfect or¡ª Is that what happened? He made a mistake on the¡ª"


    Chef Ng shook his head, "Honestly, no one the fuck knows. It could be anything from whatever the fuck he''s doing to his body. But yeah, the guy''s pretty strong and he survived his mistake. It''s just that his body is not the same anymore. Quinn, Mauro, and especially my son tried so~ many times to make him stop even before he upped his dosage but the guy''s deaf when ites to that talk."


    Kaley said, "That mistake¡­ what actually happened to his body?"


    Chef Ng shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t know the exact details but he had some sort of stroke and he lost some feeling in his right leg and a few motor functions. He could barely walk after that and the body he was so fucking proud of became the darndest thing he ever possessed. And to top it all off, this fucking apocalypse happened.


    He was throwing money at everything that could possibly bring his old body back but losing 90% of the fucking poption made it impossible."


    "..."


    "And that''s when he had enough."


    "Wait, I thought Jackie killed¡ª"


    Chef Ng chuckled bitterly, "He did but¡­ Michael asked him to. It was unfortunate¡­ really¡­ Michael and Jackie? They''re fucking closer than brothers, I might add but things happened too fast for anyone to react. Let''s just say when Michael had enough of everything, he asked¡ªno, begged my son for him to end it for him.


    I was cooking everyone their dinner when it happened and after that one loud bang, chaos just ensued."


    "But why did Quinn¡ª"


    "She didn''t know."


    "What do you mean?"


    "She was supposed to be on our other outpost with Lucy and Jordan but¡­ she was right fucking there when it happened. I don''t know what was exactly going through their minds at that time but knowing my son, he would''ve been broken if he had to end his brother''s life. It''s just that something also broke in Quinn''s head when she saw what just went down and she did what she did.


    No one was able to stop her when she charged at my son and from what everybody present told me at the time, my son¡­ my son never¡ª no, didn''t put up a fight. He chose not to. He knew what wasing to him and he took everything that Quinn threw at him¡­"


    At this point, Chef Ng just looked down in frustration just from remembering what happened and he was silent for a couple of minutes before he looked up.


    "A-Anyway¡­ no one fucking knew what to do but luckily enough, Mauro fucking stepped the fuck up. He was the only one who managed to pin her down and he gave her a few good punches to make her realize what she had done. However, the fact that the two kept it between themselves what they were about to do¡­ especially making sure that Quinn was away¡ªthough she was not¡ªwas devastating to her.


    Quinn was the most level-headed person before that happened but something just broke inside her. She did every drug imaginable and drank herself to sleep every single night but she still stopped taking whatever the fuck caused Michael to be like that."


    "..."


    "It didn''t make much sense but the weirdest thing was that she stood up on her own. Trust me, knowing that she killed my son made me want to take revenge but what would that aplish? I assumed she would just kill herself for what she was doing before but seeing her change on her own¡­ in some weird way¡­ made me forgive her.


    Again, I''ve had plenty of chances¡­ a lot of chances where she knew what I was about to do but like my s-son¡­ she didn''t bother to put up a fight. She knows what she did and she was willing to die for it. She knows her mistake and she was more than willing to make amends. Just¡­ Just knowing that made me forgive her.


    She killed my son but she, Michael, Mauro¡­ I treat them as my children¡ªwell, everyone here that''s younger than me¡­ even you three. I take care of everyone as my own."


    "..."


    "It''s just¡­ really unfortunate¡­ what happened¡­ but¡­ but yeah¡­ I don''t know what you''re gonna do with that information but my advice to you is you just keep doing what you''re doing."


    "Hmm?"


    "I said that she managed to stand up on her own but when I saw here back with you three, it''s one of the few times I''ve seen her genuinely happy. Well, I did hear about that other incident where I actually grew worried but whatever the fuck you''re doing is working. Keep doing that."

 Chapter 834: A Simple Hug - Is it working?

    Looking at Mr. Ng as a father rather than a chef at the moment, the expression he was giving was something I''ve seen plenty of times in my life. He looked to be someone that had a momentary breather from carrying the world on his back because as messed up as this would sound, the father figure was always the one presumed to put up with some heavy shit without the need to talk to others about it.


    Granted that there were always exceptions, let''s just say that Mr. Ng''s situation was also¡­ an exception.


    It''s not everyday I could talk to a person that forgave his son''s killer and if I was in the same situation, I was not 100% sure that I would be able to do the same thing that he did¡ªeven if I knew Quinn beforehand.


    He had been walking on different shoes that I myself haven''t been able to walk on yet though if ever the timees that I had to be in the same situation as him, I wish I would be able to think clearly and not act rashly.


    At this point, the room had never been so quiet but Mr. Ng let out a faint smile before he pped hisp and stood up, "Alright, we''ve spent too much time here. I''ll see what I could do to make our next meal a little special while the three of you walk to the lion''s¡ª no, lioness'' den."


    Kaley scratched the side of her face as she chuckled, "Actually¡­" then she turned to me, "Why don''t you just go instead? I feel like you''d do a better job than if we threee together."


    "Me?"


    Tatiana added, "Yeah~ I dunno about you two but I don''t do emotions that well. I''d just tell Quinn to have a good fuck or get piss-drunk and I doubt that''s what she needed after hearing that. Besides, she doesn''t look it but I think she''d listen to you more than anyone else."


    Mr. Ng nodded, "That sounds about right actually. I''ve never seen her listen to anybody besides you. Just do it, kid."


    I shook my head as I sighed, "Alright¡­ I''ll do what I can."


    With that said, I parted ways with the group before I made my way to Quinn''s garage, but to my surprise, she closed itpletely¡ªlocking all the doors and rolling down the roll-ups. However, I dabbled in a little bit of burry myself but I chose the most difficult route to get inside.


    I found myself some rope and a makeshift grappling hook and the look on everyone''s faces when I was jauntily making my way to the roof was fucking priceless. Kaley and Tatiana were used to my shenanigans but Anne followed after me because I took the grappling hook from their armory.


    "Uh¡­ What are you doing with that again?"


    "Have you seen Mission: Not Possible?"


    "Don''t tell me¡ª"


    "Yeah, I wanna try it at least once in my life¡ª"


    "She''s gonna kill you."


    "But it''s gonna be funny! It''s gonna cheer her up, I''m sure of it!"


    "..."


    "Anne?"


    "You know what? Imma grab some ice just in case¡­"


    "Thanks!"


    At that point, I had already secured the grappling hook to a pipe and easily opened the skylight window right above Quinn''s domicile. The preparation stage had never been so easy because Quinn was sting music at full volume while she was drinking every bit of alcohol from her collection.


    She looked like she wanted to be alone to organize her thoughts but I know full well that doing it with alcohol involved wasn''t gonna do shit. So, I securely tied the rope on myself and slowly lowered myself right above her.


    ''Slowly but surely¡­''


    I was inching closer and closer above her head, and for the life of me, I just realized that I could''ve just easily gained ess to this ce if I used my lockpicking tools. However, I was already in too deep¡ªand only a few inches away from her head¡ªbut the moment she raised her bottle of Absinthe to take a huge swig, I plucked it away from her hands.


    "That''s enough, youngdy¡ª"


    "PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!" Quinn spat out everything on my face.


    "AH! MY EYES! IT BURNS!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Quinn was screaming at the top of her lungs and for some reason, she had several backup bottles, and just from pure reflex, she smashed two fucking thick-ass bottles on my head. Just the look on her face¡ªfilled with pure terror and fright, sent her over the edge, calling over her strength from other dimensions.


    Those fucking bottles could definitely survive a drop or two but they easily shattered when they came into direct contact with my head because of the amount of force she used and my primordial-grade skull taking direct impact.


    I had no fucking way to dodge them and I just felt my consciousness drifting away.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    -


    -


    -


    For fuck knows how long, I was awoken with a mind-numbing headache but once I got to open my eyes, I saw Quinn above me with tears flowing down her cheeks and trying her hardest to shake or p me awake. I definitely felt both my cheeks stinging for some reason but once she saw me open my eyes, she quickly wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug.


    A strong fucking hug.


    "Ah! Ah! AH! YOU''RE GONNA SNAP ME IN HALF! STOP!"


    "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! WHY''D YOU COME FROM ABOVE?!"


    "Because the doors are locked¡ª GRCK! AHHH! STOP! STOP! MY BONES ARE CRACKING!"


    At this point, Quinn had already let go of me but she didn''t know what to do. She was still partially drunk while she just had the greatest scare of her life but this time, I needed to do what I came here for. The music was still going at full st but we could perfectly hear each other.


    I slowly reached out to her and wiped the tears from her eyes before I slowly leaned over and gave her the warmest hug I could give at the moment.


    "W-What are you doing?"


    "I''m sorry¡­"


    "F-For what?"


    "For scaring you? And¡ª"


    "I¡­ I thought¡­ I thought I killed you¡­ I¡­ It was¡­ I was just¡ª"


    "Nah, it''s all my fault."


    "..."


    "You did nothing wrong. Not today, not ever¡­"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "Did¡­ Did they tell you? About¡ª"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "..."


    "Are you mad?"


    "..."


    "Sorry, I made them tell me¡ªKaley and Tatiana too. I just wanted to¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ Also¡­ You did all of this bullshit to what? Cheer me up?"


    "But is it working?"


    "It''s not¡ª"


    I hugged her even a little tighter, "How about now?"


    "You fucking¡ª A drink and a good fuck would''ve worked for me, you know?"


    "That''s what Tatiana said, actually."


    "Hah! But yeah, this feels nice¡­ besides theing from the ceiling part¡­ That was just pure dumbassery. I peed myself, did you know that?"


    "Oh~ You peed yourself. Is that it? Poor you, I think I might have a concussion or two but yeah¡ª"


    "AND WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT?! HMMM?!"


    "Shhh~ Calm down, calm down~ Just feel how nice this hug is¡ª"


    "I''m already bored with this hug, I want something else¡ª"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah, I want¡ª"


    "Two hugs?! Quinn, you''re so greedy! But yeah, here ya go~" I gave her another hug while snuggling between her gigantic breasts.


    "Godammit! You''re so fucking stupid¡ª Oh! It is nicer, I''ll give you that¡­ Mmm¡­ Mhm¡­ Ah¡­"


    "You like that?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ But I need more¡­ A LOT more¡­ You have a lot of shit to make up to me¡­ I still haven''t forgiven you for that¡ª And don''t you dare fucking do it again!"


    "But how about now?" I loomed over her as I momentarily looked down on my emerging bulge.


    Quinn let out the most seductive smile as she ced her hand on my crotch, "That''s better."


    At this point, Quinn was about to push me down and assume control but Ipletely stopped her. Instead, I overpowered her in the softest way possible by grabbing her arms, slowly pushing her back, and pinning her down with her arms above her head. She was trying her best to fight back at first but once I kissed her neck and moved on to her lips, she gave meplete control over her.


    Quinn was always outspoken or just straight up needing soap with the words that woulde out of her mouth but this time, she waspletely different.


    "Make¡­ Make me yours¡­ I know that you already have Kaley but¡­ but while we''re alone here¡­ can you just think of me?"


    "I¡­ Of course¡ª"


    "Promise me!"


    "I promise."


    With Quinn hearing me say that, a faint smile appeared on her face before she started to move from under me. She was moving her hips just to have my huge bulge somehow brush against her crotch but her eyes werepletely fixated on me. Despite that, I continued to be on top of her as I tasted her sweet lips over and over but the area we were in wasn''t that entirelyfortable.


    "Can we¡ª"


    "Move to the bed?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "But you gotta carry me¡ª Wah¡ª Not like this!"

 Chapter 835: Fuck you.

    To Quinn''s surprise and annoyance, I carried her like a sack of potatoes instead of holding her in my arms. She struggled for a short bit right until I threw her on the bed, and she was lightly shaking her head as she watched me take my top off.


    Looking at her now, her face was still red due to the alcohol and from crying her eyes out but the tears that remained in her eyes made them sparkle.


    Her body was almost always the first thing anyone would take notice but with the right setting, she''s also drop-dead gorgeous.


    "Did you really have to do that?"


    "We don''t want a bicep tear, no?"


    "Hmph! Lose the pants too, you''ve been kissing me far too much."


    "But I like kissing you and want to move way~ lower."


    "Oh?" Quinn gave me a smile as she spread her legs while still clothed, "You mean this spot?"


    I stared right at her as I also dropped my pants and started to stroke myself, "You take them off or I''ll rip them¡ª"


    "Hah! I''d like to see you try¡ª Wai¡ª"


    To her surprise, I lunged at her as I actually tried to rip hertex leggings apart but I had a nice little idea when she convinced me to just pull them off instead. Her tight leggings were right on her knees when I stopped pulling them off but it all had the important parts in the open.


    "What are you¡ª Oh~"


    "Turn over."


    "Like this?" Quinn went face down and ass up while her knees were still held by her clothes, entuating her th quads and her ginormous ass.


    I would''ve loved to stick my dick in each of her winking orifices but I had to savor the appetizers before I go straight to the main course.


    Without further ado, I gave each hole a good sniff before I buried my tongue in her glossy and gushing cunt. Quinn was just squirming as I reached each fold and slurped her cream from her pulsating walls but she started to squirt when my tongue started to bury itself in her little asshole.


    "Already?"


    "S-Shut up!"


    "Do you want me to put it in now?"


    "W-Why are you even asking? I want you¡ª"


    "Not like this, look at me."


    "W-Wait, I''m s-still sens¡ª Mmh!"


    As Quinn was still trembling from the orgasm, I turned her over again andpletely pulled her pants off before I went on top of her. However, I was just grinding my dick against her meaty cunt while I was kneading her boobs and looking her straight in the face.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Say that you want me."


    "I¡­ It''s so¡ª"


    "Say it."


    "I¡­ I want you¡­ I want you in me¡ª I want you so fucking bad I''m going¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Right when Quinn was still in mid-sentence, I suddenly plunged my dick inside her tight fucking pussy before I mmed it over and over. I''d give her my whole length before I''d pull out right by the tip, and I would just vite her insides as I pleased.


    At the same time, Quinn had her arms and her legs wrapped around me¡ªsuffocating me with her tits and shouting out my name as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, but I broke free from her grasp and pinned her arms above her head.


    From my point of view, I could see her orgasmic face and her perfect body and it didn''t take long before I released everything inside her.


    I was trembling all over but Quinn kept a firm grasp on me with her legs¡ªtelling me to keep on going and just keep pushing on even with the mind-numbing sensitivity. With that said, I kept thrusting my hips forward even if I was still pumping her full of cum, and I could feel how her walls would tighten and suck me in, as if it was trying to get every single drop.


    But after several mindless thrusts, Quinn had another orgasm but all she could do was struggle from my grasp and push her hips upward. She just started spraying her juices mixed with my cum but I tried my best to keep them inside by plugging her gushing hole until her squirting subsided.


    It obviously did jack shit but I was too fucking busy sucking on her tits for it to matter.


    Both of her diabolical jugs were covered in my saliva but each of her pink puffy nipples were getting swollen due to how I was biting and pinching each one.


    "Harder! HARDER! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?! MMMMMH! OW! OW!


    MMH¡ª FUCK! CUMMING~!!!"


    She started to cum over and over because I haven''t stopped burying my dick inside her meaty fuckhole, but once I pulled out and tried to go for her back door, she stopped me as she got up and grabbed the bottle of lube.


    "W-Wait, I want you to do something¡­"


    My eyes lit up in excitement, "Want me to fist you?"


    "Not exactly¡­" she said as she squirted a handful of lube on my hand, "I want that," then she did the same to my dick, "And that at the same time."


    "Oh. You want me to fuck your pussy while¡ª"


    "No, I want you to fist and fuck my ass," she said as she offered her ass in front of me, "Understand?"


    At this point, I was still BSOD''ing from thebination of words that entered my ears, but I gotta im this fine piece of ass in front of me.


    And afterposing myself so as to not cum from hearing that choice of words, I slowly pushed my fist right into her tight fucking asshole before I plugged my huge fucking dick right after. I would''ve had a lot of trouble if Quinn wasn''t spreading her fat asscheeks apart but pushing my whole length still proved difficult because there was barely any room inside.


    But once I pushed it right up until the base, Quinn had a small trickle flow down her thighs before she started squirting uncontrobly.


    "F-F-F-FUUUUCKKKKKK~!!!"


    I barely moved my hips because my position was a littlepromised but once I got the motions right, I began to thrust my whole length inside while my whole hand was still inside her. Basically, I was jerking myself inside her now gaping asshole and she lost feeling in her legs so now she was on her side while I was pushing my dick inside.


    Quinn could barely form any sentences as she was melting away but just the sight of her made me have my second release quicker than I thought. However, that didn''t stop me from making my free hand have the same experience with her free hole.


    It''s just that she pulled my hand that was in her asshole and started licking it clean while I was fucking her ass and fisting her pussy. Everything just seemed so surreal at this point and our bodies just moved on their own for the better part of an hour.


    We came multiple times in between¡ªsometimes at the same time, but I couldn''t believe she still stayed so fucking tight even when just my dick was inside her. That was just some superb muscle control and I was all for it. With that said, we were justying side to side exhausted after that session and she was staring right into my eyes as I was holding her in my arms.


    "Yeah?"


    "Fuck you," Quinn said with a chuckle.


    "What?"


    "You heard me. This is your damn fault, remember that."


    I shook my head, confused, "What did I do now?"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    She gave me a kiss before she answered, "I want us to agree on something."


    "Agree on something?"


    "Yep."


    "What is it? Can I hear it first?"


    "Just say yes! This favors you, extremely, I might add, so~ How about it?"


    "Nope, I really do wanna hear it first."


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "Fine, I haven''t thought of it that much yet because this just came to mind but I''m gonna stop seeing other guys from now on. Your dick will be the only thing I''ll be sucking and fucking from this point onwards!"


    "What?" I couldn''t help but let out a chuckle.


    "C''mon! Like what you and Kaley are doing! I wanna do that as well! You wouldn''t mind me fooling around with Anne and the others, right?"


    "Sure, but¡­ why do you want to¡ª"


    "Remember what I said before we fucked? You delivered so¡­ congrattions, you got a 7-foot muscle mommy with huge fucking tits and a th ass that''ll do whatever you want. Besides, I don''t think anyone could top whatever you just did. And also, it''s only been a few days but you basically ruined any chance a guy has to satisfy me. Happy now?"


    "Okay?"


    "What do you mean, ''Okay?'' this should be an honor to you!"


    "It is, it is. But what''s the catch?"

 Chapter 836: Confession - Strap up.

    From my conversations with Quinn, I thought our post-sex talk right now was just some weird banter but this time, she seemedpletely genuine. I was waiting for her answer as I was staring right into her eyes but she went on top of me and gave me the most sensual kiss I received from her.


    She wrapped her arms around my neck as we continued to mix our spit together but once she went up for a little bit of air, she was looking at me differently while her face was getting redder and redder.


    "For¡­ Forget about it¡­"


    "Haaah? After all that? You''re gonna say¡ª"


    "I-I-I mean¡ª Forget about the catch! Because there isn''t!"


    "..."


    "Just¡­ Just don''t be a stranger when you move back¡­ Give me a call or something or v-visit in a month or t-two¡­ I''ll¡­ I''ll miss you¡­"


    I turned her over and now I was the one on top, "Or~ You could also visit me¡ª better yet,e with Edith when we go back. She''s gonna need a familiar face beside us, you know? I dunno about you but you''ve known her far longer than we did."


    Quinn''s face turned somber, "That''s¡­ I can''t just leave, you know? Besides¡­ it''s gonna be bad if I ever do that¡­"


    "Hmm? What do you mean? I''m not telling you to stay, alright? You know, just chill for a few weeks thene back."


    "I know that but the other thing¡­ D-Do I need to spell it out for you?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Umm~ Please do, I''m really oblivious at important moments."


    "..." Quinn waspletely silent but she looked like she had this nagging thought to hit me.


    "Quinn?"


    She took a deep breath before she looked me straight in the eye, "I''m¡­ This is gonna sound so fucking stupid but¡ª I also don''t want to hurt Kaley¡ª"


    "Huh? Are you¡ª"


    "Wait, let me finish. I don''t mean physically but I don''t want a rift to form between us. You really, really love her, right?"


    "Of course," I answered promptly.


    "Of course, you do¡ª she''s amazing, after all. But here''s the thing: at the pace we''re going, it''s¡­ it''s dangerous¡­"


    "Dangerous? What are you talking about¡ª"


    "I''M FALLING FOR YOU, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!!! THERE!!! I SAID IT!!! HAPPY NOW?! GOT YOUR LITTLE EGO BOOST?! I¡ª"


    Quinn was shouting at the top of her lungs while her face was beet-red but shut her up by nting a huge kiss on her mouth thatsted for several seconds. After that, she didn''t know what to say or think but the moment she was about to jump me and go for another round, she stopped herself when she saw my expression.


    "Hey¡­ you okay?"


    I sighed deeply, "Of course, who wouldn''t want every woman he meets to throw themselves at him?"


    Quinn looked a little puzzled, "You''re not fucking okay, talk. We got all the time in the world."


    "You''re gonna listen, for once?" I said as my eyes were wide from shock.


    "You fucking¡ª Why are you looking at me like that?! Just talk! I don''t do this every single day, you know?"


    I gave a bitter chuckle as I sat upright, "Well¡­ I have this small, little problem with the dynamics of my rtionship with Kaley¡­ You see¡­" I gave her a small rundown from the beginning then proceeded to tell her when we started to open up our rtionship to other women.


    Quinn listened to every word I said but she didn''t have the best of inputs I was expecting, "So¡­ You''re just fucking bragging about your sess? How is your dick not falling off? It''s more of an achievement, no?"


    "I''m leaving¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! What''s the problem you were talking about again? I''ll try to understand your point of view, I promise!"


    "I''ll say it just for one more time, alright?"


    "Yeah, yeah! I''m not a shrink, you know? I''m gonna understand at my pace."


    "Right, sorry. I thought I wasn''t having a problem but turns out I do have one. You see, this inherited harem of sorts has a ton of fucking advantages especially towards me because I''m the only guy involved but no matter how many times we paint it as an ''It''s always love for us and simply lust for them'' is kinda¡ªfor theck of a better term, impossible."


    "Go on¡­"


    "I always say that I''d only have eyes or feelings for Kaley¡ªand I think I do, but¡­ it''s pretty hard if I get to know other people: Tatiana, Cynthia, you, and the others on a much, much deeper level. I try to ignore it but like you¡­ feelings develop and it gets dangerous¡­ When do we draw the line, you know?"


    "..."


    "Tatiana seemed kinda cool with it, Cynthia is kinda blurring the lines, and now¡­ since you kinda confessed to me¡ª"


    "It IS a confession but I know my limits."


    "Right! Thank you! That''s the problem, I appreciate everyone involved respecting our¡ªKaley and I, I mean¡ªour rtionship together, and backing off when told to, but sometimes¡­ I can''t help but feel guilty or some other weird feeling I don''t know the word for when I can''t return the feelings they have for me even if I''m¡­ developing feelings for them as well¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "Like I said, I try to ignore it but it doesn''t mean that it''s gone, right? But yeah, I can''t say that it''s the same for everyone we''ve been with but there are a few where I think¡­ you know? Different than a normal fling or something."


    Quinn scratched the back of her head, "Jesus, that''s a lot to think about¡­ Have you two talked about this yet?"


    "We do sometimes, and it helps somewhat but it doesn''t disappear like that *snaps fingers*, right? Treat it like an awkward memory that would pop up every time you were about to fall asleep."


    "Ugh, I know the feeling¡­"


    "So, any advice?"


    Quinn loudly exhaled with her nose, "Nope!"


    "Then what''s the point of this shit?!"


    "I already told you! I''m not a fucking shrink! I just listen, I don''t even know what to do about it and I''m fucking involved! Shit happens! Wait, Kaley''s kinda a shrink, right?"


    "Psychic would be a better term¡­"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Then talk again. See where you guys at and figure it out from there. You see, there''s a reason I don''t have sex with the same people all that much in a span of a few days¡­"


    "Oh, so you just fall in love¡ª"


    "Fuck you! It''s not like that! Well~ let''s meet halfway but you''re special. That''s why I''m trying to stay away for a bit and sort things out on my own. In the end, you and Kaley are the ones in a serious(?) rtionship while I''m the third¡ª I dunno which number of wheel I am but you get the point.


    What''s working with your other ''crew members'' might not work for me so I''m gonna figure out things while you guys are away and you two should definitely have the conversation we''re having right now."


    "Huh."


    "Huh?"


    "You gave me some good advice, that''s surprising¡ª"


    "WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"


    "It means you are a good fr¡ª Hmm~ How do we call¡­ ''us''? If you don''t mind me asking¡­ Since you confessed and all, I don''t want to¡ª"


    "''Friend'' still sounds good, for now¡­ Don''t think too deeply about it."


    "Oh, that''s good."


    "Yeah."


    "Uh-huh."


    "..."


    "..."


    "So¡­ Wanna clean up¡ª"


    "If you''ll carry me to the bath¡ª Wah¡ª Not this shit again!"


    "Thanks! Wanna let me clean you up as well? Get pampered for once?"


    "You''re really making this hard for me¡­"


    "But we still haven''t left? What''s the problem?"


    "You know what?" Quinn let out a bright smile as she shook her head, "Let''s make the best of it! Clean me up!"


    "Yes, your highness!"


    "Naw, that''s too much, dial it back a bit~ Can''t you call me ''Mommy'' for once?"


    "Do you have a kid I don''t know about¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "Then no, I''ll stick to something else for now."


    Quinn mumbled, "I wish you stick it in again while we''re¡ª"


    "Did you just say something?"


    "Nope!"


    "Huh. I was sure I heard something¡­"


    With that said, we cleaned up¡ªwell, mostly just me giving Quinn the best aftercare but once we got dressed, she suddenly donned her mechanical gauntlets and pulled out and assembled her huge-ass halberd/polearm.


    I thought there was something wrong about the way she dressed ''conservatively'' this time around but she looked like she was going out for a fucking crusade.


    She was just looking at me with a smile on her face as she pointed at my gear sitting in one corner of her room, "Strap up."


    "It''s almost sunset¡ª"


    "I don''t fucking care, strap up."


    I shook my head in confusion, "Where are we going though?"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "We''re gonna piss Mauro off."


    "Huh?"


    "We''re cleaning the Pit."

 Chapter 837: The Pit - Shes there, right?

    Hearing the word "Pit" from Quinn''s mouth and piecing together in my head¡ªfor a short moment¡ªeverything I''ve heard in conversation made me realize that they, the De Leon Family, was doing somethingmonly done that would''ve surprised any regr vani person that read or watched something in this scenario.


    "No fucking way," I muttered as I shook my head.


    ''Unlimited power with using deadheads to run generators¡­''


    Quinn looked at me like I was an idiot, "You realized just now? I don''t like the noise¡ª"


    "No, had a small inkling but how many¡ª"


    "Stop asking questions, you''ll see when we get there," then she had a thought, "You can bring Kaley and the rest or not but we''ll meet at the gate in a few minutes."


    "Wait, where are you going?"


    She rested her weapon over her shoulder as she brought her right hand up and closed and opened her palm, making her mechanical gauntlets make that peculiar sound, "You''ll see in a bit¡­"


    At this point, Quinn had already left the room and disappeared somewhere so I had to quickly strap up as I informed Kaley and the rest about the situation. They couldn''t believe their ears at first but since they were with a few people that could give them a little bit of context, it didn''t take long before we were about to ride out a couple of hours before sunset.


    However, I couldn''t help but drool a little when I saw Quinne up wearing a custom-made mechanical "exoskeleton" that supported her upper back, neck, shoulders, and arms¡ªbasically her upper body but it stops right below her chest.


    ''Slightly different to her gauntlets though¡­''


    To bepletely fair, it was bare bones and still a work in progress¡ªlooking like an over-the-top brace of some sort, but I assumed it was made with light materials because Quinn wasn''t having a hard time wearing it or she was just being a freak of fucking nature. It''s just that it looked like it had some pieces that were just added on or just looking off but I assumed the worst as always.


    "We''re not facing Deathws, right?"


    Quinn turned to me with a confused expression, "Haa?"


    "Nevermind, that was a weird thing to ask¡ª"


    She sighed, "Before you ask more stupid questions, this was Jericho''s old project he tossed when he joined Mr. Cuervo. He was supposed to make a full set for Mike but¡­ you know¡­ shit happened. I was in the process of making something simr¡ªputting my own spin on it¡ªbut the kid''s gifted, I''m just building on his work to make it easier for me."


    "But¡­ But where''s the rest of it?"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "It didn''t fit me, alright?! My legs are too fucking long! HAPPY?! IT BARELY FITS MY TORSO!"


    "Ah¡­ My bad, my bad¡­"


    "Besides, everything''s too fucking heavy with the power supply by the waist support, I took it apart and made adjustments to it. With this, it wouldn''t need power for it to function. It could offer a lot of support and a bit of protection. Can we go?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    ''I guess it''ll be hard for her to find body armor like ours that fits her size¡­ this is her solution¡­ I''m gonna change that when we get back though¡­ I''ll make sure I find something her size¡­''


    To bepletely honest, I would''ve busted a nut if she rolled in with a fucking Power Armor but her "armor" now looked like a lesser version from this other film that had these pods that could cure almost anything.


    It''s just that when we started driving outside, Quinn couldn''t hide the look on her face when we made her stand behind on the truckbed because her frame was too fucking big to fit everyone inside. She was staring daggers at our backs but it just made all of us inside let out a small chuckle while the two with her: Isaac and Jose were walking on eggshells.


    She should''ve just brought it with her and worn it when we arrive but she was just too deep into it, she didn''t want to take it off.


    After a short drive, we eventually came upon their industrial park but since it was nearing sunset, almost everyone was either lounging around or just straight partying like it was thest day on Earth.


    Music was sting on each of therge facilities they took for themselves but Quinn didn''t mind the ruckus as she made us drive to the central area where this loud cranking noise was getting louder and louder the more we got closer.


    Quinn hopped off our truck, "We''re here. I''m surprised a lot of you came but we''ll only need a few people. Some of you should stay and keep watch over our vehicles and any interruptions that may ur. We can only do this since Mauro''s away but a lot of people would also get pissed if we take away their source of electricity."


    Surprisingly enough, Myke walked forward and shook his head, "Nah, Quinn, I''m all for free shit but this is just in wrong. I''d rather rely on other means or push the bar myself."


    ''That''s good to know¡­''


    Quinn let out a smile after a short exhale, "That''s good to hear but you''re guarding the door with the others."


    "WHAT?! I CAME HERE TO¡ª"


    "Trust me, Myke, it''s the best job I could give you at the moment. I doubt we''ll be able to clear everything but we should be quick enough to do the most amount of damage. Once one of the buildings loses power, they''ll definitely check this ce out and they''ll swarm here to ask what the fuck we''re doing. Don''t let anyone fucking pass.


    But yeah, don''t go too rough on them, I don''t want more of us down there¡­"


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, Quinn came down with me, Kaley, and Jose while the rest were stationed to stand by the door.


    We were traversing this hallway that had several graffitis but the moment we reached the level where the supposed deadhead-powered generators were, not only were a few people present with Dave standing in front of another metal door with steel grates, the graffitis on the wall became like some weird math problem.


    ''Wait a second¡ª''


    I was still in mid-sentence when I realized that the numbers on the walls were probably their crew who were now working a different job but Dave''s clear voice entered our ears despite the cranking noise.


    "You shouldn''t be here, Quinn."


    Quinn scoffed, "Aren''t you recovering? You shouldn''t be here either. Logan said you were sleep¡ª"


    "Yeah, I should be sleeping but I had an inkling that you''ll sneak here when everyone''s away. And here you are¡­" Dave shook his head as he walked a few steps forward.


    "Dave. You know fucking well that she''s there, right?"


    "..."


    "And you''re letting her rot in there instead of resting her¡ª"


    Dave shouted at the top of his lungs for the first time, "SHE AGREED TO IT, QUINN! EVERYONE DID! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO FUCKING¡ª"


    "NOT EVERYONE WANTED TO BE IN THERE! IT WASN''T A CHOICE! THE MAJORITY SPOKE FOR EVERYONE! EITHER YOU STEP ASIDE OR¡ª"


    "OR WHAT?! YOU''LL SNAP MY NECK TOO?! CAN YOU REALLY DO IT?! YOU DID IT ONCE, RIGHT?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF MAURO COMES BACK AND HE SEES THAT EVERYONE''S A PILE OF ASHES INSTEAD OF GIVING US LIGHT?! HE''LL FUCKING KICK YOU OUT!"


    "SO FUCKING WHAT?! IS HAVING ELECTRICITY WORTH VIOLATING THEIR BODIES LIKE THAT?!"


    "ARE YOU FUCKING HEARING YOURSELF?! IS THAT GUY''S DICK WORTH MORE THAN EVERYTHING WE''VE EVER WORKED FOR?!"


    "HEARING MYSELF?! YOU FUCKING HEAR YOURSELF FIRST! A CURE''S NOT COMING, DAVE! NOT ANYTIME SOON! IF IT EVER DID, YOUR SISTER WOULD''VE TURNED TO GOO ALREADY¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING KNOW, HUH?! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING KNOW?! HOW CAN¡ª"


    Right at this fucking moment, the soundsing from the door behind them changed slightly before several loud thumps came from the door itself. The thumps became loud pounding before the door''s hinges started to creak and whine but before everyone here gets killed by this sudden cutscene, I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    "RUNNNNNNN~!!!"


    Everyone else was still slightly confused before I pulled out a couple of grenades from my pouch and as soon as I bit the pins off, everyone else started running back.


    Fear was great motivation but I was already walking backward while waiting for the first deadhead to break through that door. I wouldn''t make their work easier for them but the moment I saw several discolored arms bent the door after their rotting digits got degloved by trying to get out, I threw the first grenade in the small gap they provided for me.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOM*


    The grenade exploded inside after a few seconds but I had to throw the second one almost immediately when a deadhead peeked out of the same hole while only having its jaw as its head.

 Chapter 838: Small Gap - Peekers Advantage

    After the second explosion, more pulp and dismembered pieces were regurgitated from the door that was barely hanging on, but it didn''t take long before several rms red one after the other. Coupled with their rotating orange lights which were also present in the hallway that we were in, our attempt to sneakily shave off their numbers had gone to shit.


    But at this point, I already had my rifle ready but Dave and Quinn were still arguing a few steps above me.


    Dave eximed, "WHAT THE FUCK''S WRONG WITH YOU ALL?! THAT WAS ONLY A COUPLE OF ZOMBS, YOU DON''T HAVE TO BLOW THE PLACE UP?! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE REPAIRS¡ª"


    Quinn almost smacked the shit out of him, "REPAIRS?! THAT''S WHAT YOU''RE WORRYING ABOUT?! CAN YOU EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN AS TO HOW YOUR SURE-FIRE WAY TO KEEP THEM IN PLACE GOT BYPASSED?! THAT''S MORE THAN A COUPLE THAT GOT FREE, RIGHT?!"


    "N-NO! T-THEY SHOULD BE FUCKING BEHEADED IF THEY EVER TRY TO¡ª"


    I cut them off, "WELL BOO FUCKING HOO! ARGUE ALL YOU WANT BUT WE GOTTA TAKE CARE OF YOUR CREW FOR THE SECOND TIME! EITHER START ORGANIZING THE ONES THAT ARE ALIVE OUTSIDE OR WE''LL HAVE UNNECESSARY CASUALTIES, AND I''M NOT PLANNING ON WASTING MORE GAS TONIGHT!"


    Right as I finished my sentence, twonky deadheads crawled from the small opening of the door,cerating their bodies with the metal parts sticking out but like the partly headless one that I saw earlier, these two also had some form of damage in regards to their heads.


    The first one that came out had its head degloved¡ªor should I say "dehelmeted" because its skin, along with its lips, nose, ears, and its eyelids seemed to be scraped off roughly with some sort of tool while the second one had all manner of its brain exposed.


    Two shots from my rifle quickly put them down but since there would be moreing, Kaley and Jose had already taken their stance from behind me. With that said, Kaley only had to see a silhouette before she fired at the figures still squirming inside while Jose was giving a quick rundown via radio to our people above.


    I doubt we would be able to clear all of them from this narrow space but we gotta put down as much as we could before we move on to above ground.


    Then I had a thought, "HEY! IS THIS THE ONLY ENTRANCE?!"


    Quinn turned around as she barely heard me because she was speaking through her radio, "WHAT?"


    "IS THIS THE ONLY FUCKING ENTRANCE¡ª"


    "FUCK! NO, IT''S NOT! GOTTA INFORM EVERYONE!"


    "HAVE EVERYONE BARRICADE THE ENTRANCES SO THIS WILL BE THE ONLY ONE! HOW MANY ARE INSIDE THE GEN ROOM?!"


    "I DON''T FUCKING KNOW! HUNDREDS! IT''S NOT JUST OUR CREW WHO WAS INSIDE THEM!"


    I shook my head bitterly as I threw them a hateful nce, "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MESS WITH THE DEAD! YOU DON''T PLAY WITH THEM AND EXPECT FREE SHIT! THEY EVOLVE FOR FUCK''S SAKE AND¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "HEY! STOP ARGUING AND START SHOOTING! WE¡ª"


    I also cut her off as I turned back to Quinn, "YOU STILL HAVE OTHER MEANS TO GET LIGHTS, RIGHT?! MAKE EVERYONE FORM A CIRCLE AROUND THE ENTRANCE ABOVE SO WE''LL HAVE GOOD VISIBILITY! CAR LIGHTS OR FLOOD LIGHTS WOULD DO! MAKE THEM GIVE US A BIT OF SPACE TO MOVE AROUND! WE''LL TAKE IT UPSTAIRS IF WE CAN''T HOLD IT DOWN HERE!"


    "GOT IT!"


    Quinn went back to barking orders through her radio while Kaley had already sent round after round to the small gap provided for her. The bodies she put down on the other side of the door have definitely slowed down their advance but god knows how many we still need to take out.


    However, Quinn and Dave''s radios started to blow up with several reports telling them that the deadheads behind the doors they barricaded were getting more and more aggressive to the point that they were about to break in.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY?! BLOCK IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ON AND DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE TO HAVE ANYTHING GO THROUGH IT!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Dave was also shouting the same things through his radio but I felt like something was off.


    Kaley know full well that she could fire at will but there had already been several seconds where she was just looking through her scope. Even Jose who had his rifle up had already put it down while wearing a distraught expression.


    I was pretty sure that they had only taken down a few dozen deadheads which were way~ too far from the number that Quinn mentioned, but for some reason, I felt like walking toward the door that they were shooting through.


    Kaley instantly called out to me, "W-What are you doing?!"


    "Just watch my back¡ª no, you get the idea¡­"


    As I was making my way to the beat-up door, I quickly double-tapped the two deadheads that managed toe in with my pistol, but the moment I peeked through the gaps Kaley and Jose were shooting through, I suddenly jumped back from what I saw.


    From the other side of the door, some lights were still on and rotating like the ones we have on our side but it only took me a few seconds to notice that almost all of the deadheads in the immediate vicinity were standing upright, facing the door I peeked at while their heads were mangled to shit.


    The reason I jumped back was that almost all of them suddenly twitched and move a step forward when they "sensed" my presence but now that I was far from their radius, they stopped moving altogether.


    I was kinda familiar with this situation but other clusters aiming for the other entrances told me that there were others that could ignore its influence.


    But since moving close to the door was the signal for their dinner bell, I moved back to the same spot with my rifle raised.


    And once I did, the deadheads having more than a headache got a lethal dose of 5.56s and I quickly dropped 30 of them before I had to switch to my secondary and drop 18 with 9mms.


    You don''t fucking bring zombies to a gunfight and even if they still had the numbers advantage, I could just easily reload ande back for more.


    With that said, I came out of their view and reloaded my guns but when I peeked back, I could barely see any deadheads waiting to get their heads popped.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    This definitely made the clearing process a little harder because the ones in control inside were trying to divide us and/or lure us in.


    We had no idea which deadheads are trying to break into the barricades of the other entrances but it was either a sentry or a stitcher/slurper that was trying to y mind games with me.


    It was because the moment they tried to get out, they were shut down immediately so they opted to make use of the other entrances avable to them. But since the other entrances were also taken care of, some of themy in wait, waiting for us to make one false move to try and break out while the others continued to make the same ruckus on the barricaded areas.


    It''s just that their rotting bodies had no chance to defend against fast-moving projectiles and I''m gonna assume they would try a bit harder to break through one of the entrances they were denied on.


    ''The itch to just break in and be done with it increases though¡­''


    I didn''t think we''d face a few with intelligence around this area but before I make another decision, I needed to learn more about this ce.


    But as I was just about to head back to where Dave was to ask for more information, the sound of several bodies dropping from an elevated position came one after the other. It sounded like two¡ª no, three floors high but some of them sounded like they were thrown down rather than dropped freely.


    At this point, I quickly made quick work of the ones I could see but I did throw in a third grenade when I heard loud thumping that seemed to be getting closer and closer. The thumping sound immediately stopped but the random noises that were making me feel uneasy were still present.


    It had this remix of someone stirring mac and cheese with a fork, someone getting locked inside of a freezer, someone slurping a bowl of ramen, random deadhead chatter, gennies still cranking but at a much slower tempo, etc.


    With that said, this beat-up door was the only thing separating me from the hundreds of deadheads waiting to pounce on me, but it became a battle of attrition of sorts challenging as to which side would carelessly walk into each other''s territory.

 Chapter 839: Lying in Wait - You didnt know?

    With each second or two, I''d catch a short break by seeing a head peek at an off-angle but I''d quickly make it hit the floor before it can do whatever it was trying to aplish. Just with the number of deadheads on the other side of the door, I assumed not all of them were being manipted one way or another but the fewer deadheads we''d face the better.


    ''Let''s see who runs out of patience¡ª''


    "Hey! What are you doing all the way here?"


    "I thought we''re supposed to keep a fair distance!"


    I still had my rifle at the ready but I almost jumped out of my skin when Kaley and Jose came up from behind. Funnily enough, it also gave them a fright but I quickly shook my head before I looked through the same spot that has gone quiet for several seconds.


    Kaley slowly nudged me, "I called Tatiana, Isaac is bringing over one of our drones and he can actually fly one. Wanna send one in first before trying anything else?"


    Jose added, "We gotta do something different, if worsees to worst, either those barricades fall or they''re all just regrouping silently to surprise where the actual barricade is that shabby door. I know that you can outshoot anyone but we need more barrels facing that door if we''re gonna try and make a stand here."


    I nodded pensively, "That makes a lot of sense, we actually have the "high ground" but we shouldn''t be aggressive even if we could afford it. I was this close to kicking that door open and going crazy."


    Kaley shook her head, "Don''t worry too much about the other entrances though,st I''ve heard¡­ They were welding thick sheets of metal to the entrances, even the soundsing from behind were getting dull. I doubt the infected could figure that their efforts will be for nothing but we just have to be patient.


    Dave''s also making several people encircle this ce so we could wait it out and figure the next steps¡­"


    Hearing that, a little bit of tension had left my shoulders so I made Kaley and Jose walk back a few paces with me as we slowly rejoined Quinn and the others.


    It didn''t take long before Isaac came running down while shakily holding my drone in his hands so I took it from him and decided to fly it myself. Kaley and Jose had once again pointed their rifles at the gaps provided for them but Isaac still looked like a wet shaking puppy that fell on a vat of water on a cold winter night.


    ''Well, it has ''that'' in it¡­''


    So I gave him the family special.


    "Turn around."


    "H-Huh?"


    "Turn around," I repeated myself as I widened my eyes.


    "O-OkaYYYYYYYYYYY~!!! FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"


    I just mmed my palms across his back and I let out a short chuckle, "Better?"


    "W-WHAT?!"


    "I''d rather you be mad than shaking. Also, hands off your pistol before you shoot anyone here."


    "..."


    With that said, Isaac calmed down a little while I slowly made my drone hover in the air before sending it inside with a burst of speed. The goal wasn''t to scour the ce for as much information as we could but to have several glimpses in a few seconds because we could always rey the footage and we''d have a higher chance for our drone toe back in one piece.


    As I did, I was paying attention not only to the drone''s positioning but to the sounds I was hearing from its microphone.


    I spent maybe 10¡ª no, 20 seconds inside before I turned the drone around and tried to send it back to me but I had another fright when I discovered that more than a dozen slurpers/stitchers were hanging by their tongues and had stuck themselves¡ªwith a few pieces of deadheads they had on them¡ªright on the wall past the shabby door I was just looking through earlier.


    ''The fuck¡ª''


    I almost bumped the drone when it was justing back to me and I sure as hell was relieved that I didn''t go in guns zing. If I did, I''d be the one on the receiving end in one of those ''educational'' animations I used to watch and it wouldn''t be as pleasurable as it was portrayed.


    Since I wasn''t the only one who saw the damn feed, it made everyone take a few steps up the staircase but those motherfuckers that were lying in wait knew that the jig was up.


    One after the other, several deadheads just straight-up sprinted and bolted straight through the door, and Kaley and Jose only managed to pick off a few before one of them mmed with all of its momenta, throwing its bloody juices to the other side while decimating its frail body.


    However, it made the shabby door blocking it violently shake and jiggle, chipping off whatever was left of its HP closer to 0.


    And right after that, a few more tried to bust down the door but several tongue-tentacles slithered from above and tried to sneak in, but my drone had already flown past them before turning abruptly and dive-bombing the spot where the majority of them had clustered together.


    The drone in question had a small explosive charge in it¡ªwhich was one of the reasons Isaac was shaking when he delivered it to me, and it definitely obtained the ability to send several nukes because it had more than a 30-kill streak after exploding at the cluster of slurpers, also liberating the regr deadheads from their control.


    And funnily enough, the shockwave from the explosion was the one that made the doore loose and slowly swing open but it opened up a lot more angles for us to abuse.


    Disregarding the pulp and the mix of burnt and juicy rotting meat by the door, we had an easier time picking off the regr deadheads from the distance but it still wasn''t the time to rx. We weren''t exactly sure that we took care of all of them because if we really need to make sure that the ringleaders were ounted for and if it was safe, we still needed to go inside and verify.


    It''s just that we needed to thin down their numbers as much as possible before doing anything because the gen room wasrger than I thought and we probably have just taken care of a fifth or optimistically speaking, a third of the poption.


    Kaley eximed, "MAGS!"


    I was slightly confused because we''re using different caliber rifles, "We don''t¡ª"


    She suddenly reached in and pulled out one of my extra mags for our Maxim 9s, "I''m talking about this one, you doofus!"


    Looking at Kaley''s chest rig, she had already gone through three magazines for her rifle chambered in .308s but she switched to her secondary to kinda "save up" the bigger bullets for the bigger surprises. At this range, a 9mm was enough and even a .22 LR could do wonders in bullet economy.


    Knowing that, I sent Isaac back to the surface to fetch more magazines from our vehicle¡ªincluding a couple for Jose''s M16 and my custom BCM rifle. Like Quinn and Dave, Isaac had no way of helping us three with our current task but the other two were busy rying orders while keeping close in case of emergencies.


    Dave had his punk''d 870 at the ready while Quinn had her Deagle tightly tucked behind her belt, and a 1-ounce slug and a .50 AE bullet were fucking devastating on close range. Sure, they weren''t helping us at the current moment but I''ll make sure that Quinn will reimburse me for the bullets we used because as stated by one of her crew members, they weren''t that good at shooting over long distances.


    That means that their rifle rounds were probably collecting dust and I had free reign over them.


    But after a short while, the zerg rush of sorts eventually slowed down, and listening to the reports from Quinn and Dave''s radios, the thumping behind the barricades had also lessened.


    That could only mean that we have probably taken down another third of the deadheads that managed to get out of their "sure-fire" way to keep them in ce because if we take into ount the ones that were still on the generators¡ªdue to the cranking sounds still present¡ªit''d probably check out.


    However, I still would advise against going inside and finishing the current mishap because I still had one more drone to scout the inside, but this time, on a much slower approach.


    With that said, Isaac eventually arrived with one of our bags that had an assortment of magazines with loose ammo¡ªincluding thest drone we brought for our trip.


    It''s just that he was shaking even more than thest time he came down, and he was keeping safe distance when I was trying to give him another family special.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "You¡ª You didn''t tell me that there was an explosive charge in there!"


    "You didn''t know?"


    "YOU¡ª I DIDN''T KNOW!"


    "Huh."

 Chapter 840: Fried - No. Just no...

    In the grand scheme of things, he should not have been this hysterical because the moment he sat his ass on my truck, it had enough firepower and explosives to take down a few hordes. Discovering a small explosive charge in one of our drones wasn''t a cause for concern because it wasn''t as vtile as he thought it would be.


    With that said, I quickly opened the bag he brought with him and I looked for the magazines that would fit Kaley''s "Reaper" first before I replenished my own mags and Jose''s. And almost at the same time, I handed Isaac our empty mags and ordered him to fill them up with the appropriate bullets.


    "You at least know which bullet fits which mag, right?"


    "I do, actually!"


    "Great! Refill the .308 mags first, then the 5.56s, and the 9mmsst!"


    Kaley suddenly turned to me and threw another empty .308 mag, "Here too!"


    "O-Okay! I''ll get on that too¡ª"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!"


    While Isaac was still in mid-sentence, Quinn''s voice just boomed through the passage we were in before we heard the voice from the other side of the radio repeat himself.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THEY''RE GOING THROUGH THE VENTS! THEY''RE VENTING! THEY''RE VENTING!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this moment, it was taking everything from me to not reference a certain something because, in all honesty, this wasn''t aughing matter. We were so focused on barricading and watching through "human-sized" hallways or should I say "walk"-ways¡ªwe forgot about the slurpers'' ability to make use of their tongues to reach harder-to-reach ces.


    However, Quinn just had this "lightbulb" moment and she almost had the same look when she was thinking about viting my ass.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "REDIRECT THE CURRENT TO THE VENTS AND BARRICADES AND FRY THEIR ASSES!!! THEY HAD NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''Yep, she was thinking something close to that¡­''


    At this point, I was slightly at a loss because I wasn''t familiar with their whole setup and all I could do at the moment was point my rifle at the same gap we were staring at for quite a while and pick off anything that moves. But that doesn''t even matter right now because everyone was doing their part and now it was her moment to shine and prove herself.


    ''It''s her domain after all¡­''


    Quinn started to bark more orders through her radio but it didn''t take long before we heard that familiar buzzing "electric" sound that ran for close to 20 seconds.


    In my own experience, I''d usually hear it for a moment before someone would either be screaming in pain or just be straight-up dead, but 20 fucking seconds of god knows how fucking much electricity going through your body was fucking overkill.


    A regr-sized fish would be dead in a second with a small shock in close proximity.


    I can''t even imagine being electrocuted for more than a couple of seconds because if even a fraction of the stored energy this ce produced suddenly passed through me, the only way I''d survive is if I''d somehow learn Uncle Iroh''s lightning redirection technique on the spot.


    It''s just that I was stunned in ce when I heard the following wordse out of Quinn''s mouth:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Again."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Like a sick fuck ying with her food, she actually ordered her version of "double-tapping" zeds, and the people on the other side of the radio could onlyply¡­ but definitely shared the same sentiment.


    It didn''t take long before we heard an encore of sorts but Quinn had already grown tired of speaking through her radio and spoke through it onest time:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright,st order of the night: tear those barricades down and kill anything that moves. We''ll be going in from this side. If I catch any of you not following orders, I''LL FUCKING STRAP ALL OF YOU TO THESE GENNIES AND YOU''LL SPIN THEM YOURSELVES!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, the speakers of Quinn and Dave''s radios almost broke down from everyone cheering and screaming with all they had from the other side¡ªwhich could also be heard from above¡ªand Isaac fucking beat me to it.


    "Was it just me or did anyone else get horny from that?"


    As soon as he said that, Kaley facepalmed while Jose and I let out a chuckle but I did pull him aside because Quinn had the right to walk inside this gen room first and make it her bitch.


    To my delight, Tatiana had already made her way down, wearing a huge smile on her face and I just beckoned her over as I followed right behind my giantess, and no one had any fucking worries whatsoever. And since I could trust our backs to Kaley and Jose while they were holding their rifles, I slowly pulled out my katana from my hip and stole my wakizashi from Kaley''s.


    And right from the fucking get-go, Quinn just held her huge-ass weapon with both hands and rushed forward, creating several servings of meat paste with chunky bits while I circled to the right side and Tatiana the other.


    The familiar sounds from Kaley and Jose''s rifles rang out but there was now more to the mix because Dave and his buddies had also started firing.


    To my surprise, Isaac was trailing behind me, following a smaller radiuspared to mine but he lost all chances of keeping up after a short exhale.


    The moment my breath left my mouth, I shifted up more times than he could imagine and lopped heads with each swing if not, an arm or a whole torso.


    And at one point, I quickly sheathed my katana instead of my wakizashi¡ªbecause its scabbard wasn''t on my hip¡ªbefore I drew my pistol and shot three fucking deadheads that were about to blindside her highness. And looking back at my "disciple", he was looking a bit too overwhelmed so I thinned the herd he was currently facing with the rest of the bullets in my mag.


    But there was some protest.


    "I CAN HANDLE IT, YOU DIDN''T HAVE TO DO THAT!!!"


    I shouted back, "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS, I''D RATHER SHOOT THOSE DOZEN FUCKERS INSTEAD OF YOU WHEN YOU GET SCRATCHED!"


    "I SAID I CAN HANDLE IT!"


    "THEN DON''T LOOK LIKE A SHIVERING GOAT THAT WAS ABOUT TO FALL OFF HIS SAND CASTLE!"


    "THAT DIDN''T MAKE ANY SENSE!"


    "THAT''S WHY I FUCKING HELPED YOU! YOU''RE FUCKING WELCOME!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! ORA! ORAH! ORAHHHHHHHH!" Isaac just went berserk while I was cringing from hearing those wordse out of his mouth.


    ''No. Just no¡­''

 Chapter 841: ADHD? - Im just looking out for you.

    After advancing a few steps forward, it didn''t take long before we heard gunshots erupting from the other passages we haven''t been to yet, and since Quinn and Tatiana were advancing at a faster pace, I reloaded my pistol and took down the ones that were still tied to the several generators present¡ªthat had different sizes¡ªwith thick metal wires.


    The wires in question were connected to a device simr to the noose-like apparatus that was used the first time we attended Mr. Cuervo''s games, and to give my semi-professional opinion and giving what happened to this ce as an example, these devices weren''t a sure-fire way to solve their problems.


    As time would pass, these devices should be checked regrly to see if some of them hade loose, but since the ones wearing them were too fucking dangerous and were moving around constantly¡ªplus their huge numbers to boot¡ªit was a herculean task to maintain and I doubt the De Leon Family would be that meticulous.


    ''Even I would have a hard time maintaining this kind of setup¡­''


    With that said, as I eventually let everyone else take care of the dregs, I happen toe upon a huge-ass corpse that rivaled a Hulker.


    Take note, almost every single carcass present was huge as hell but this one looked and exuded the same pressure as the one we faced before. However, this one was chock full of holes, eyeballs and bowels missingpletely, and judging by the long-ass appendage that was just hanging by its ear, it was probably being controlled by the sussy ones earlier.


    It definitely brought shivers through my spine because if we somehow face a Hulker that would always get up no matter how much damage it took¡ªeven to the point of decapitating its head off¡ªthat would be the time that I''d do everything, I mean everything I can to disable or stop it.


    ''We''re fucking lucky we took down the one controlling it¡­''


    From the time we''ve faced a handful of them, the ongoing protocol was to take away its mobility first before attempting to crack or puncture its head open with the use of the injection systems we made or with high-caliber rifle rounds.


    Isaac eventually caught up to me, "Woah, the fuck is that thing?"


    I turned to him with a solemn expression, "If you ever see one of these things outside, do everything you can to get away from it as fast and far as possible. You don''t try to fight it head-on, you don''t try to shoot it, and you don''t try to y mind games with it. This thing will kill you in less than a fucking second if it ever gets ahold of you and¡ª"


    While I was still in mid-sentence, Isaac just straight up pulled out his gun and shot its mangled head with a .45-caliber pistol.


    Without even looking at how far his measly round pierced through its ker-like skin, I grabbed Isaac''s cor and looked him straight in the eye.


    It was fucking obvious that he had the shock of his life seeing a bullet sink to the outermostyer of its skin and stop almost immediately¡ªslightly deforming in the process, but I had never seen a fucking ''disciple'' listen halfway and move based on instinct right after.


    I let out an ample amount of killing intent and directed everything at him, "Isaac¡­ I''ll ask you one fucking question and I mean it as respectfully as possible¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Do you have ADHD?"


    "What?"


    "You have trouble paying attention, you almost always react or actpulsively, and¡ª you know what? Before all this started, are you on some sort of medication?"


    "I-I''m not entirely s-sure¡­ B-But I do get in trouble more often than I can control when I was a kid¡­ You know, I see something and I just move¡­ I dunno¡­"


    I sighed as I let go of him, "Right, I forgive you¡­ But do try and listen¡ª no, let me finish what I''m saying first before doing anything, alright?"


    "S-Sure?"


    "Good. That''s good for now. However, we''ll try and get you something for that because when we''re outside like this, you''re not just gonnand yourself in trouble if it acts up, it''ll get US in trouble depending on the circumstances.


    I hope you''ll keep in mind that I want my people to follow me to the dot and I''ll almost always get angry if something doesn''te my way but in the end, I''m just like that for all of you. That''s how I look out for all of you."


    "..."


    "We good¡ª Isaac?"


    To my surprise, tears formed on the corners of his eyes and he didn''t even know it himself. He was so confused as to what was happening while he was trying to hide his tears by wiping them with his sleeves but when he tried to wipe them with his hands, I kicked his shin for good measure.


    "W-WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"


    I sighed as I pointed at his hands, "Stick to your sleeves. Your hands are bloody."


    "AH¡­"


    "As I said, I''m just looking out for you. And yeah, you can be mad at me too. Getting kicked in the shin hurts¡­ I''ll always do shit like this but remember¡ª"


    "You''re just looking out for me¡­"


    "Exactly."


    At this point, Isaac looked like he was rebooting or something because he was slowly nodding in ce while looking at nothing. However, right as he finished his own thing, the motherfucker straight up took a knee and offered his sword to me, garnering the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity.


    "The fuck is that guy doing?"


    "We''re clearing corpses and he''s kneeling like an idiot¡­"


    "He''s giving me the creeps¡­"


    "Is he trying to get knighted?"


    "What?"


    "Huh?"


    "This is too weird, man¡­ I''ll help in the other sectors¡­"


    Despite all that we''re hearing, Isaac was still doing his own thing and I had to wave him over.


    "We don''t do that over here¡ª"


    "I do!"


    "I don''t!"


    "I insist you do! I''m getting tired here¡ª"


    "No one''s telling you to do that shit¡ª"


    "C''mon, man! Just knight me!"


    "I''m not a¡ª"


    "JUST KNIGHT ME! OW! WHY''D YOU HIT ME?!"


    "I''m just looking out for you¡ª"


    "NO, YOU''RE NOT!"


    "Yep, no I''m not¡ª"


    "A-HA! YOU''RE JUST AVOIDING¡ª"


    "I''m looking out for myself at the moment¡­ Our lives aren''t in danger but my street cred''s already going downhill from what you''re doing¡­"


    "FUCK! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT! CAN WE JUST DO THIS IN PRIVATE?!"


    "No. Just no¡ª I''m leaving¡­"


    "C''MON! YOU''RE JUST GONNA STAND UP AND I''LL BE ON MY KNEES AGAIN!"


    "DON''T FUCKING SAY THAT OUT LOUD! PEOPLE ARE GONNA GET THE WRONG IDEA!!!"

 Chapter 842: Clean Up - Davina

    After that exchange, it made everyone else let out a mix of reactions but it was moreplex than that because of the partial markings on the bodies that we put down. Not every carcass here was part of their crew but a considerable number of them were once part of their merry band.


    With that said, I discovered that Dave was now in a different sector¡ªprobably tending to his deceased sister, but I didn''t have the means to make it better for him because we weren''t that buddy-buddy and that wasn''t my fucking business. For aplete stranger, giving him space for the moment was the best thing I could do.


    Then I felt a tap on my back.


    "Wanna head out now?"


    "What? Now?"


    As I turned around, Quinn had almost an indifferent¡ªthough a little bit somber¡ªlook on her face but I couldn''t believe that she''d suggest leaving at this moment. We had barely cleaned up the mess we made and there were a lot more things to take care of than the bodies scattered around this huge-ass basement.


    Granted it was a boring-ass process to most people but after something like this happens, I made it a habit to check each person for injuries or infections, tally all the ammunition, explosives, and other materials expended, have a group or two survey the surroundings because of the noise we made, etc.


    In this case, we would also have to check the extent of the damage we did to the generators and perform repairs needed, rece the ventspletely, make new sturdy entrances for the gen room¡ªfortifications involved, and figure out their new source of power.


    Quinn looked at me confused, "Why are you looking at me like that? It''ste, we should¡ª"


    "No. Before we drive back to your ce, we take care of everything¡ª"


    "They already know what to do¡ª"


    "Mistakes could happen. We''re here to ensure¡ª"


    "They got it¡ª"


    "Uh-huh," I shook my head as I pointed at their ''sure-fire'' way to keep the deadheads at bay, "I have my reasons for doing some quality assurance."


    "...fine."


    Looking at Quinn¡ªno, everyone else''s expression, it seemed like they had already decided to just clean up the corpses and figure things out tomorrow. But since she reluctantly took my side, they had no choice but to follow through with it, but I quickly noticed a small problem.


    Four out of the five people that passed by me wafted over the scent of liquor, and by quickly working out the pros and cons of doing some work this evening, I had to somewhat work out apromise.


    I grabbed Quinn''s arm as she was about to walk away, "Wait."


    "Hmm?"


    "We can forgo checking the generators and attempting to repair them but we need to burn all of the corpses tonight plus the ones in the vents. Also, the ones that are too hammered to do some actual work should get checked first for any unforeseen injuries, and if there are any that need ''immediate attention'', you should be with Kaley to pass on judgment."


    "What are you¡ª Oh. That''s¡­ much better. So, I''ll leave everyone here to you?"


    "If you''d grant me some authority, we can go home faster¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly took in air before she turned to everyone, "LISTEN UP!"


    The moment Quinn''s voice boomed and echoed, everyone else just turned to our direction in attention. She began to update the orders she gave them¡ªwhich originally came from me¡ªand even if it was still a lot, a little bit less was extremely wee.


    Surprisingly enough, once they were told to follow my orders to the dot, the resistance wasn''t even that apparent because my reputation points in this joint were high as fuck.


    I wasn''t sure if it was because they knew about my performance on the first-ever game I joined beforehand, I was crowned the Champion of Champions, standing side-to-side with the 7-foot muscle mommy without getting pegged to death, or due to what I did in the short span of time I was here, but all I know was that in this ce, very much like Mr. Cuervo''s, strengthmands respect.


    ''And getting endorsed by Quinn of all people was already too much.''


    As time passed, the only thing that proved a little difficult was reaching the vent systems that were in different ces and at different heights. Granted some parts were still usable but we can''t just push out the corpses inside them like squeezing a bottle of toothpaste or cleaning out chicken guts.


    It''d be far easier¡ªbut a little more wasteful¡ªto just clip all of them off and either rece or deep clean the ones that didn''t receive a lot of damage instead of trying to take care of them while they were all hanging on different levels above and below ground.


    Completely flushing them out of the nasty bits that could possibly infect a person just from a single drop was worth more than anything at this moment.


    Then one of the residents approached me.


    "Yo, everything''s taken care of down here¡ªwe''ll just check the gennies tomorrow morning¡ªbut we still have one problem¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    The guy scratched the back of his head as he looked down for a moment, "It''s Dave, yo. We''re burning everyone in a huge pile above but he''s still refusing to toss¡ªyou know, his sister in¡­"


    "..."


    "I know it''s his sister and all but my brothers are already in that pile, dude. It''s stupid¡ª"


    Another guy tapped the person I was talking to, "Yo, don''t talk about Dave like that. Dave''s sister is pretty cool, remember?"


    "I know but¡­ he let her body do all this shit here but he''s refusing to let her rest¡ª"


    "You can''t say that. We''ve all talked about it before and we took a vote. Everyone''s just following everybody''s dying wishes."


    I shook my head as I turned to the two, "Did they also wish to break out and cause this scene? Possibly taking all of you out in the process? Hmm?"


    "Hey, man. We didn''t know that that''s gonna happen¡ª"


    "Seriously? Then why did you tie their heads in a noose?"


    "Ah¡ª I didn''t¡ª"


    "I was talking about the whole collective. I guess some of you didn''t know¡­ You just reaped the benefits and whatnot while turning a blind eye. Listen, I''m not here to argue but there are certain risks involved with ying with something we shouldn''t.


    Yes, it benefited all of you to the point that you could continue running your machines at full power, providing you with anything you can produce out of them but~ what would''ve happened if Quinn didn''t decide toe here while all of you are drunk out of your minds? I guess you''ll have more bodies to run the gennies, huh?"


    "..."


    "Personally, I wouldn''t do this kind of setup but since this ce is reliant on it, you should be more responsible with it. How many more parts or whatever the fuck are you trying to manufacture here? There should be some limit, no?"


    "..."


    Looking at their expressions, it seemed like I should be talking about this stuff to either Quinn, Mauro, or Dave so I bid them goodbye before I headed upstairs.


    If anyone would see what I was looking at right now, it looked like everyone was having a huge bonfire¡ªand about to sing some "Kumbaya" at any second. However, it didn''t take long before my eyesnded onto Dave who was sitting on the dirty ground,pletely ignoring everyone while a mangled corpse was lying in front of him.


    As I said earlier, I was aplete stranger and I should mind my fucking business but I had to do something.


    I tried to approach him as slowly as I could, "Hey¡ª"


    "Back off."


    I stopped where I was but I still tried to open up a conversation, "Your sister¡­ Your buddies said that she was pretty cool¡­ Can you tell me her name?"


    "..."


    "Her number at least¡ª"


    "She''s dead and there''s no fucking reception, why would she have¡ª Oh."


    "..."


    "..."


    I awkwardly scratched the side of my cheek, "Rough night, huh?"


    "What do you want, huh? Can''t a guy just mourn for a bit more? I''m not a fucking idiot, I''ll burn her myself and sweep her ashes¡ªprobably look for an urn or something¡­"


    "Just trying to offer a bit of help¡­"


    "Help?"


    "You know, do you have anything to remember her by? If you have pictures or something¡ª"


    "Pictures?"


    "Yeah, if they''re ruined or old or something, I have a way to bring it back to li¡ª you know, do some retouches to make it brand new¡­ Or if you have them in a broken down phone orputer¡ª"


    "I have plenty of those, I just need to be left alone¡­ but yeah, thanks for trying¡ª"


    "Right. I can do at least this¡­ Give me your hand¡­" I said as I walked over to him.


    "I said¡ª The fuck is this?"


    "That one''s Ibuprofen the other one is Mtonin. I can''t do shit for your sister but I know full well your fucking sore so¡­ That''s what you need right now¡­ Something for the pain and something to help you sleep¡­"


    Dave scoffed as he let out a small chuckle, "Can''t beer just do all those things?"


    "Beer? Really? Do you know how many fucking calories beer is? And are you gonna pass out with just one? Are you a fucking lightweight? You know, I could make some fucking beer myself if I wanted to but I can''t make those two tablets in your hands!


    I probably find someone but¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright! Stop talking too much! My head''s still ringing¡­ Thanks though¡­"


    "Alright¡­ See you¡ª"


    "Her name''s Davina¡­ And she didn''t have a number because she was still a prospect when she joined¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "..."


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Did your mom or your dad hate her or something? Or did they just run out of ideas? Davina¡­ So fucking original¡­"


    "Haah?"


    "Dave''s pretty decent but they didn''t even try¡ª"


    "HEY! THAT''S MY DEAD SISTER''S NAME WE''RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU GOT A FUCKING PROBLEM?!"


    "Chill, bro¡­ I''m just saying~ Davina¡­ Pfft¡ª"


    "DO YOU WANNA FUCKING GO, YOU SON OF A BITCH?!"

 Chapter 843: EVERYONE, STRIP!

    Poking the tiger with a stick, also known as: pissing off Dave in his special moment almostnded me a beating but it did bring him out of his slump. He was out of his breath when he tried to chase after me but we just circled around and eventuallynded on the same spot.


    "You motherf-fucker¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­ I''m just fucking warming up! I''ll¡ª"


    "Good. Are you gonna carry her by yourself or are you gonna let me help you?"


    "..."


    "C''mon~ Bob is still at Mr. Cuervo''s ce, you can''t order him to do stuff for you always."


    At this point, Dave just stared me down for a few moments before he closed his eyes and let out a long~ deep, sigh, "Fuck it, you grab that side, I''ll grab that side¡­"


    "Got it!"


    "..."


    "So¡­ Does she have any nicknames or something you call her¡ª"


    "You¡ª Fuckin'' ass¡­"


    "You''re siblings right? She probably calls you D or Abe, you know? D''you call her Dana or Vi, or something?"


    "Vi?"


    "You know, remove the ''Dana'' from her first name and vo~ Vi¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That actually sounds cooler¡­ I used to call her Dani¡­"


    "Ah~ I guess that kinda works too¡­"


    "M-Hm."


    Right as we walked closer to the fire, Dave paused for a few moments and thought for a bit before he motioned for us to toss his sister into the fire and mes. We watched his sister burn for a few seconds but looking at his expression now, he really needed his moment to be alone.


    With that said, I briefly checked on everyone else in my crew before I eventually found myself in this ce''s infirmary of sorts.


    Surprisingly enough, each building had its own infirmary or small clinic to tend to their injuries or wounds but like Quinn''s ce, I doubt this ce had people that could performplex¡ªno, even intermediate or advanced procedures. Granted this ce had ample stock of various medicinal goods and equipment, but I''m guessing that they could only utilize a good 30% of them.


    ''If I can''t convince my old alma mater to offer these people medical help that these people can''t tend to themselves, wait¡ª Mr. Cuervo still has his own doctors and whatnot¡­ I''ll think about bringing them to my ce when the timees¡­ That''ll be a different can of worms¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I echolocated where Quinn and Kaley were.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKIN'' AT, HUH?! NEVER SEEN HUGE TITS BEFORE?!"


    "Quinn¡­"


    "I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF ANY OF YOU COMES OVER HERE WITH A PITCHED TENT, I''LL CUT IT OFF!"


    "Quinn¡­ It''s totally okay¡ª"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, YOU''RE ALMOST ALWAYS SEEING MINE SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL AND ONCE A NEW CHICK POPPED UP, ALL OF YOU SUDDENLY GET FUCKING INJURED! HAH! LEMME TELL ALL OF YOU, THE GUY SHE''S WITH CAN OUTFUCK ANY ONE OF YOU AND HE''S THE FUCKING HEAD OF THE ISHIYAMA FAMILY! IF HE CATCHES WIND OF THIS ALL OF YOU ARE GONNA GET¡ª Oh! You''re here!"


    The moment Quinn switched to using lowercase letters, the sea of people in front of me just parted in half like the red sea. Almost all of them thought I was gonnamit bloody murder but Quinn almost choked on herself when I let out the most unthreatening expression.


    "Hi~ How''s everyone doing? Is everyone well? I can also do basic check-ups, if we could form another line here~"


    As soon as I said that, the crowd of people in the infirmary got filtered once more though the people¡ªthe guys¡ªthat were already in the line for Kaley felt some sort of murderous intent when all of the muscle babes in this joint wanted to get ''examined'' by me.


    "Is that really him?"


    "Does he have a twin?"


    "No, the other guy is just a basic nerd¡­ but why does he look so different?"


    "He''s still hot though, you should''ve seen him in the games!"


    "Can you evenpete with those jugs?"


    "Fuck you! I lost mine when I started lifting weights!"


    "That''s a no, then~"


    "Shut up! But here''s the thing though, I heard that they''re you know¡­ epting applications and whatnot for some fun, and even Quinn''s in on it¡­ D''you think we can fill up an application of some sort?"


    At this point, I just ignored all of their whispers as I asked the first one in line to walk to our little partition which was a curtain that could provide ample cover. However, the first chick that came over instantly took off all her clothes and exposed herself to me, face down and ass up.


    "Umm¡­"


    She chuckled, "Do I cough now? Hmm? Or should I do something else?"


    "..."


    "Hello? Can you hear me?"


    Without batting an eye, I quickly walked out of the partition and waved Quinn over, asking for a little bit of assistance.


    "Hey."


    "What?"


    "There''s a patient in my partitionpletely naked."


    "Lucky you."


    "That''s not what I¡ª"


    "What do you want me to do, huh? Aren''t we supposed to give all of them a check-up? This was your idea, remember?"


    "But¡ª"


    Quinn let out a hidden smirk, "Then ''check'' her out! We can''t be here all night, no?"


    "..."


    "Why are you looking at me like that? You want some quality assurance, right? I know jack shit about that. Why don''t you show me some examples and I''ll learn from that?"


    "You''re messing with me, aren''t ya?"


    "Messing with you? You''ll know when I''m messing with you."


    "Oh, really?"


    "Wanna fucking bet on that? Fine. LISTEN UP! EVERYONE, STRIP!"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT FOR?! I SAID STRIP!"


    For the fucking nth time, Quinn just had to say the words and everyone else in her domain would fucking follow. One by one, everyone, I mean EVERYONE in this ce besides the three of us stripped down naked and no one bothered to cover their junk with their hands.


    Some of them even looked morefortable without any clothes on though some of them were using Metapod''s signature move in certain areas of their body.


    As that was happening, I was cursing Quinn because this image will forever be ingrained in my head while Kaley had already turned around and tried to give Quinn a kick or two for the sudden nude-athon.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU KICKING ME FOR?! WON''T THIS MAKE SHIT FASTER?!"


    "THAT''S NOT THE POINT!"


    "C''MON, KALEY! YOU''RE NOT GONNA GET GANGBANGED BY THOSE SHRIMPDICKS¡ª"


    At that moment, I was still BSOD-ing from trying to erase unerasable images that were forming in my head but when I heard the word ''gangbang'', even if the proper context was given, as long as that word and Kaley was in the mix, I wouldn''t be able to think straight.


    Almost immediately, killing intent filled the room and the temperature dropped several degrees¡ªmuch colder than the evening breeze this night and much more intense in closer proximity.


    Some women broke out in tears, fell to their knees, or started pissing themselves while some of the men were stuck in ce, inverted their dicks subconsciously, or just straight up tried to make themselves scarce.


    It was only for a few seconds but the moment when I regained control of myself, everyone present was giving me the look that Quinn was expecting when she announced my presence. It''s just that a small percentage of people were into that and they managed to get ahead of the line and were waiting for me expectantly.


    But I consciously let out the same pressure the moment I opened my mouth, "Listen. This is how we''re gonna do things: I''m gonna make you do something and then you''re gonna do it. After that, depending on what you did, you''re either gonna wear your clothes again or stay here¡ªthen after we do what we''re supposed to do, the three of us will head home. Nod if you understand."


    Everyone nodded silently while some of them either took deep breaths or quickly gulped.


    "Alright. Check yourselves all over. See if you have any scratches or any injuries you might''ve missed and don''t fucking lie to yourself or the three of us because we''ll fucking know.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...."


    "Done? Again."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Good."


    "..."


    "To those who''ve seen nothing, congrattions. You can wear your clothes and head back. But to those who''ve seen something, stay back and we''ll provide medical care."


    At that point, my voice was just echoing through the silence but after a few moments of almost everyone shuffling for their clothes, a handful of people were left behind. All of them looked terrified but after we gave them a much thorough checking, as luck would have it, no one was fucking infected.


    .


    .


    .


    Except for one.


    It was one of thedies who pissed herself when I almost went berserk and the infection in question was an obvious bitemark on the area between her heel and her calves, and not only was the blooding out of it had a tinge of ck and green mixed with pus, but the area around it was also getting more and more discolored as time passed.


    Quinn, much like the rest of the people we checked were wearing solemn expressions but it turned to bitterness when the person in front of us started to break down.


    "S-S-So t-this is it, h-huh?"


    "..."


    "C-C''mon! Someone answer me! T-This is myst night, I g-get a wish, right?! Not that being tied up in the gen room''s not an option¡­"


    Quinn sighed heavily before she opened her mouth, "Alright. Chelsea, what do you want?"

 Chapter 844: Not Having the Right - My time has come...

    Pretty much like every woman in this area, Chelsea looked like she had some Trenbolone Sarmswiches for breakfast paired with some high-stim coffee that had a dash of peptides and some GH.


    She had bigger arms than Isaac¡ª Heck, even Jose and a few other guys I know but despite all of that, it failed to protect her from a set of rotting teeth that contained whatever the fuck reduced the world poption.


    With that said, Quinn''s previous words didn''t reach her ears because it looked like her memories were shing before her eyes even before she was a walking corpse.


    Quinn waved her over, "Chelsea, can you hear me?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "I''m sorry to say this but this is it¡ª"


    "C-Can we d-do anything about it?! Y-You know c-cut it off or¡ª"


    I interjected, "I''m sorry but we don''t even know when you got the bite."


    "W-What does that mean?"


    "If we''re talking about cutting part of your leg to try and stop the spread, whatever that has gotten into you through that bite had probably gone through different cycles around your body. And even if we do try and cut it off, it''s just more pain and suffering for the inevitable¡­ What we could only do for you right now is make it¡­ you know, quick and painless."


    "..." Chelsea was just looking at all of us, grasping at straws if we have any other ideas that involved her not receiving a bullet to the head.


    I continued, "But aside from that, do you have family? You know, aside from this one?"


    "I¡­ I have my boyfriend¡­"


    "We should be calling him over right now to have one final talk and if you have any special belongings that you want to hand over to a certain someone, we can also make it happen¡ªand if by some chance they''re not here, we can hand it over as well¡­"


    At this point, Chelsea broke down crying once more but it didn''t take long before a well-built guy came over, and lo and behold, it was the guy that approached me earlier. He wasn''t here before because he was one of the fellows who didn''t get shitfaced and was tasked with more jobs, but he had never been confused about the situation we presented to him.


    However, like Chelsea earlier, our words were just going through his ear and out the other as he was just dumbfoundedly staring at the bite on Chelsea''s body.


    "W-What''s going on?! SHE''S BIT?! HOW?! FUCKING HOW?! WE WERE JUST¡ª I THOUGHT YOU WERE ASLEEP AND¡ª FUCKING HOW?! ANSWER ME!!!"


    "I-I-I DIDN''T KNOW! I WAS JUST CALLED HERE A-AND WHEN WE C-CHECKED O-OURSELVES FOR W-WOUNDS OR SOMETHING, I-I-I J-JUST FOUND THAT I HAD T-THIS ONE ON MY¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP¡ª HOW COULD YOU NOT FUCKING KNOW?! IT''S A F-FUCKING BITE FOR FUCK''S SAKE! HOW FAR GONE WERE YOU?! WHO FUCKING TOOK YOU DRINKING, HUH?!


    WHO?!"


    "I-I-I¡ª"


    "YOU DON''T EVEN REMEMBER THAT?! FUCKING SHIT, CHELSEA! I KNOW YOU''RE A FUCKING DRUNK BUT¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly stepped between the two, "Asher, now''s not the time to argue. Do you want yourst talk to be like this? Fighting? We''ll give you the room so you two could talk about whatever but no more fighting, understand?"


    To my surprise, it seemed like Quinn didn''t have to yell at the top of her lungs to make her people obey hermands but what happened afterward was something that boggled my low-EQ head for a good while right until we were burning two more corpses that should''ve been just one.


    We were now in front of the huge bonfire that was still burning brightly but I turned to Quinn who was wearing a solemn expression. I didn''t n on saying anything though she was the first one to speak up.


    "That''s their decision, you have no say in that. Ever."


    "I know, but¡ª"


    "Didn''t hear what I just said? I said you have no fucking say in that. Whatever the fuck they did¡ªno matter how fucking stupid¡ªit''s their right, we should just leave it at that. Trust me, more people did worse things when they tried to end themselves. They didn''t hurt anyone in the process, unlike a few knuckleheads I could remember vividly¡­"


    ''I thought that''s what they were trying to prevent from happening¡­''


    After hearing that, I just took to myself because even now, I didn''t think that Asher and Chelsea would also make love onest time before offing themselves, bringing back a certain instance that happened in my ce only a few days when the apocalypse started.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we drove back to Quinn''s domicile but even though it was close to midnight, Mr. Ng left us a feast, fulfilling his promise to make dinner special.


    What happened to the two put a little damper on our moods but we aplished something monumental¡ªclearing the gen room of deadheads¡ªwith little to no n¡ªno, actually no n at all. If we took everything into ount, we lost a couple of people but we prevented more from happening if we didn''t drive all the way at that hour.


    It''s just that seeing people choose death as an actual choice didn''t sit that well with me even though I''ve had brushed with that choice once in my life.


    I almost forgot that death was always a recurring urrence in this joint¡ªeven before the world ended¡ªand I was just lucky to experience so little of it in my fold.


    Chef Ng brought a few more trays of food, "Eat up, alright! I wish you all were here earlier but I didn''t even think that shit would happen. Easy on the dessert, alright? It''s prettyte and¡ª you know what? You''re all adults, I don''t need to tell you shit. But yeah, clean up for me.


    I''m going to sleep~"


    Tatiana gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks, old fox!"


    "Don''t¡­ Don''t call me that¡­ Anyway! I''ll be hitting the sack!"


    I turned to the tray he brought fresh from the oven, ''Even dessert? Mr. Ng pulled out all the stops, heh. I guess a brownie or two wouldn''t hurt¡­ It''s probably made with some protein powder too¡­''


    As we were eating, Tatiana was obviously the one wharfing down bite after bite but there was an instance where Quinn was just staring at the tray of brownies Chef Ng brought over. She looked like she wanted to address something but she just rolled her eyes and saw me looking at her.


    "What?"


    "Nothing¡ª"


    She let out a chuckle, "Eat for now, you can eat meter¡ª"


    Kaley instantly red at her with a panicked expression, "Quinn! Not here¡ª"


    "What? They already heard us fucking, what''s the point of hiding it?"


    Myke interjected, "C-Can I join¡ª"


    Quinn instantly shot him down, "No. Stick to your hand."


    Coleen interjected, "He''s that great, huh?"


    "Ask Anne," Quinn let out a chuckle as she turned to me, "Fill up, yeah? It''s been so long since I wanted to clear that ce. I''m fucking celebrating!"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! DON''T GIVE ME THAT LOOK! Fuck it, you alwayse through¡­ We''ll just keep everything that we''re gonna doter in our little circle. Also, we have some space for one or two more, right?" Quinn chuckled as she turned to Kaley.


    "Of course!" Kaley promptly responded as she brushed her foot on my calves, whispering to me, "Do me first, okay?"


    I whispered back, "I can do only you and just let them watch in envy¡­"


    "Hahaha¡­ As hot as that sounds, I also have some ns¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "You''ll seeter¡­"


    Quinn waved the two of us, "Hey! No whispering!"


    "It''s a surprise though, you''ll like it!"


    "Hmm~ I''ll be the judge of that."


    "Hey! Tatiana! That''s mine!"


    "What? You guys keep talking, I thought you weren''t gonna eat it!"


    "Hey! Where did my brownie go?"


    "Ah¡­ I also ate it. My bad, Kaley¡­"


    "I-It''s fine¡­"


    With that said, we continued eating but after we had our fill, everyone else did their own thing: either jumping straight to their beds or finishing up whatever work they left behind. However, after a good 30 minutes or so, something felt really~ off.


    I was 100% sure that I didn''t have a lick of alcohol because Quinn would definitely serve us some upstairs but I''m feeling a little buzzed and a little sluggish. And to add to that, the paint job on some of the cars and the random graffiti on the walls seemed so vivid and the soundsing from all around seemed a little¡­ louder.


    ''What the fuck is going on¡­''


    And for some reason, I felt like having some chips or anything to munch on even though I was quite full but it didn''t take long before I almost put two and two together when Kaley ran up to me in a panic.


    "H-Hey! A-Are you okay?!"


    "Huuuuhh~? What do you mean¡ª"


    "Oh god, oh god! I''m so s-sorry! I thought¡ª D''you remember the brownies that Mr. Ng gave us?"


    "Yeaahhh? The one Tatiana stole from you¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah! The one that¡ª That''s besides the point!"


    "Why are you sooooooo worried? It''s just brownies¡ª"


    "No! It''s not just brownies! It''s POT brownies!"


    "Wut? He cooked them in a pooooot? I thought he used an oven¡­"


    "You¡ª Oh god, how many did you eat?"


    "Eat what? Ah! I had two servings of rice, 400 grams of grilled chicken breasts, some mashed¡ª"


    "Not that! The brownies! How much did you eat?!"


    "I was getting to it, Kaley! Wait¡ª Pot brownies as in¡ª Uh-oh. My time hase¡­"

 Chapter 845: Devils Grass I

    Given my history with psychedelics, I was predisposed to actively avoid them but tonight was one of those few days I made a fatal error in judgment. But luckily enough, it wasn''t one of those that would make me streak the whole neighborhood or keep scratching the walls for some reason.


    However, I still felt a little bit of panic and fear because I was in unknown territory but I felt Kaley''s hand on my side before she draped my arm over her shoulder.


    "It''s gonna be okay, it''s gonna be okay¡­ I''ll tell everyone about what happened and I''ll stay with you all night¡ª or right until it goes away¡­"


    "T-Thanks¡­ Woah~ Kaley¡­ Why are your eyes so pretty¡ª prettier than normal? I could stare at them all day~"


    As soon as I said that, Kaley''s face seemed redder than usual.


    "S-Stop! That''s the weed t-talking! C''mon, I''ll bring you up the stairs!"


    "We''re gonna climb some stairs? Can''t we justy down for a minute¡ª"


    "No! Did you forget about the couch that Quinn had on her floor? It was real~fy, right? She had a lot of snacks too!"


    "Oh¡­ You''re right, you''re right¡­"


    "So¡­ Do you wannay down here or do you wannae with me upstairs?"


    I let out a goofy smile as I leaned on Kaley with all of my weight, "You''re right, you''re right~ I love you~ You''re so nice to me, I''m so happy that we''re together~"


    "Hnghmm~! I''d be kissing you so hard right now if you weren''t t-this high! And don''t lean on me that much! We''re gonna fall!"


    "Ah, sorry¡­ I''m not that tall, alright?! I wish I was, you know? Do you like tall guys, Kaley? I''m a little taller than you but¡ª"


    "You''re perfect! What are you babbling about right now?!"


    "Aww~ She said I''m perfect~ Kaley! Kaley! Kaley! Kaley said I''m perfect, did you hear that Kaley? You said I''m¡ª Oh, fuck¡­ I almost tripped was that a rock or a cockroach? It''s moving but it doesn''t have any legs¡­ Are you seeing that, Kaley?"


    "D-Don''t move your head around too much, we''re almost there!"


    At this point, I didn''t even know how much time had passed and how much energy Kaley used to bring me up the stairs, but she seemed to have left me momentarily to talk to the few figures just a few feet away from us.


    I could somehow hear their conversations but it looked like one of them was waving at me so I waved back with a huge smile on my face.


    "See? He''s doing good¡ª"


    "Doing good?! You call that doing good?! He''s high as a kite!"


    "He kinda looks cute and innocent when he''s smiling like that though."


    "Guys, I know you''re all itching to bone him but now''s not the time¡ª"


    "We''re kinda high too! Albeit identally but I didn''t think he''d be like this with a couple of brownies! You should smoke one with me so you don''t miss out!"


    "I have to pass, sorry. I need to take care of him. Please, just give him a break this night? And where''s Tatiana?"


    "Ah¡­ She was giggling in the bathroom earlier but she passed out in the tub. Don''t worry, we drained the water and she''s hugging a tub of chocte fudge."


    "Do you guys do this on the regr?"


    "Not regrly, it''s just a means to celebrate something, no?"


    "I get it but I''m telling all of you, he''s gonna be pissed tomorrow. Mr. Ng doesn''t know but I''ll talk to him first thing and I''ll exin things."


    "Why?"


    "It''s a very~ long story, it''d be nice if he forgets about this but I''m pretty sure he''ll remember everything."


    "But Kaley, I think you''re worrying about nothing. He''ll be off it in a couple of hours and I guess we could still have fun when we''re sober¡ª though I''ll still be drinking after and having fun with the girls."


    I could hear some of their conversations¡ªthough their voices seemed to contain an echo of some sort, but I cut them off when I felt like I was being neglected.


    "Kaley! Kaley! Kaley~!"


    "Wha¡ª Y-Yes? Are you okay? D''you need some water?"


    "Hug!" I eximed as I stretched my arms out.


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, I''ll be right with you¡ª"


    "Can I have it now, please?"


    "I''ll do it if she won''t¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh! Stay away for now! I''m really sorry guys! We''ll stay on the couch while you can have your fun in Quinn''s¡ª"


    "You''re just trying to take him all for yourself, huh?"


    "I-It''s not like that! Do you guys think he''d be able to ''do'' all of us while he''s in that state?"


    "Well~ You got a point. Fine. You can have him for a couple of hours but I WILL check on you twoter. If he''s good to fucking go, he''s good to fucking go. We have the replica but I pretty much want the real thing."


    "S-Sure¡­"


    At that moment, I saw the figures go somewhere else but as I was trying to follow them with my drooping eyes, I felt some weight on myp and I discovered that Kaley was already in the process of giving me a hug.


    With that said, I slowly wrapped my arms around her soft body, and smelling her hair in the process made me feel warm and cozy. She was giving me quick pecks on my cheeks from time to time but our lips touched when I turned my head slightly.


    Kaley was a little surprised but she just gave me a smile as she hugged me even tighter, "Ah¡ª Are you okay? Do you need anything else?"


    "I have everything I need right here. I''m looking at her¡­"


    "Hngh¡­ You''re really making this hard for me¡­"


    "Huh? Did I say something wrong?"


    "N-No¡­ You''ve been really great¡­ I just don''t want to take advantage of you while you''re high¡­"


    "What? You won''t do anything bad to me, I trust you¡­"


    "Right! And that''s why we''re just sticking to hugging and kissing¡­"


    "Whaaaaat? You won''t even let me lick your pussy? I''m craving it right now, Kaley. Like really, really bad¡­"


    "But you''re¡ª"


    "Please~? Even for a little bit¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "Kaley, please~"


    "I mean¡ª"


    "I''ll be really~ good at it! I''ll even do it on your butt! At the same time even!"


    "Hngh¡­ B-But you won''t get mad, alright?"


    "Of course!"


    "And I want to do the same thing to you!"


    "Fine, fine. But I want to go first¡­"


    "Wha¡ª A-Alright¡­ Don''t b-me me forck of t-trying¡­"


    Right from the get-go, our light pecking suddenly turned into intense and passionate kissing, and for some reason, it felt twice or maybe even thrice as good at the moment. We both had our eyes closed, just feeling everything with our bodies, and I found myself caressing and gently squeezing Kaley''s butt while I was tasting her sweet lips.


    But at the same time, her hips were moving ever so slowly, grinding herself on top of me, but I managed to get ahold of her shirt and pull it away from her.


    Kaley wasn''t even wearing a bra at this point, and her smooth and fair skin was just on disy, and through my eyes, she looked like she was glowing. Also with her jet-ck silky hair, her bright and shining eyes of the same color, and even her pink puffy nipples had never looked so vivid, I had to have a taste of thetter.


    "MmH! Ah¡­ Mnh! T-They''re so s-sensitive! Ah! You''re sucking too¡ª Mmh!"


    She was twitching from getting her nipples sucked and with each yful bite I would give them but she stopped me momentarily so she could smother me with the whole package. My face was now in between her huge fucking jugs and I just got a good whiff of her even though I was losing air.


    Everything else just seemed better but I managed to break away from her embrace before I gave her another kiss. Our tongues just invaded each other''s open mouths but Kaley was pressing onto me more and more. And right when I gave her ass a huge p from above her jeans, her body just buckled before she started to shake uncontrobly.


    I took it as a chance for us to swap ces but I was still kissing her when I sat her on the couch. However, she still had her arms wrapped around me but I just snaked one of my free hands inside her jeans.


    "MmH! MMH! MmMmH! Hngh! MMh!"


    Kaley didn''t know what to do when my fingers brushed on her clit but I couldn''t believe that she was already soaking through her jeans. It already had a wet spot that had probably gone through her panties but I went a little deeper to reach the tiny little hole where her juices came from.


    And as I thought, it was wet and as silky to the touch but one of Kaley''s hands had already unbuttoned my pants and was about to whip my dick out.

 Chapter 846: Devils Grass II - Lowered Inhibitions

    On any given day, I would''ve let her give me the same pleasure I was giving her but this time, I felt a different kind of craving from Kaley''s whole being so I grabbed ahold of her wrist with my other hand before I ced her arm over her head.


    At the same time, my other hand was switching between going in and out of her soaking insides and brushing and pinching her little nub just above her opening.


    I was just looking straight at Kaley''s face and her reactions but she pulled me close to go for another kiss before I went a little bit lower and started to kiss her neck.


    "MmH! Mmn¡­ Your hands are¡ª Mmh! MmnH! Your breath¡­ it''s¡­ Ah! Anh! I''m about to¡ª Ah!


    Ah! aNHnmmMH!"


    As I slowly tasted each part of her perfect body, it didn''t take long before I started licking her smooth armpits before I went back topping her huge tits and sucking on her aching pink nipples. Her other hand was just holding tightly to my other wrist as my fingers were parting her insides and feeling up each fold and fleshy texture it could offer as it went deeper.


    I only had two fingers going in and out of her but if I was wearing a ring in each of them, she could''ve pulled them right off.


    Kaley had ways to control how her inner walls would move or contract and she could basically jerk me off with no hands or make me cum without moving her hips. However, I did promise her a little something so I let go of her for a short moment before I pulled her pants offpletely.


    I didn''t even count how many times she came up to this point but after I''m done with her, it''ll probably be twice or thrice the amount.


    With that said, the moment I saw Kaley''s fat innie drenched with her cream and sweet juices, I didn''t need to be told what to do as I instantly knelt down and parted her meaty lips with my tongue.


    I waspping each part of her pink little flower while I would lick and suck on her sensitive little clit at the same time, but I started to once again push two fingers inside her pink hole while I was licking thetter.


    "Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUCK! MMMMMH!!! SHIT~!


    I''M¡ª HNGH! MMH! AHHH! AH! AH! I''M CUMMING!


    I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMM¡ª MMMH!"


    Kaley could only mp her thick thighs on my head as I was going down on her but I grabbed tightly onto one of them before I pushed the two fingers in her pussy into her puffy little asshole.


    "HNGH! A-A-AH! MMH! MMh! FUUUUCK!"


    With only using her juices as lube, her tight little ass offered some resistance but the sudden fingers up her butt made her squirt harderpared to earlier. With the state I''m in right now, everything just tasted and felt so fucking good, so I drank and licked off everything that came out of her and was aiming to get more.


    Kaley''s face was just a mess at this point, and her legs had already lost the strength to crush my head so I propped them up before my tongue started to rece my fingers in her asshole.


    From the way I fingered her ass, it was gaping a little bit¡ªenough to see her forbidden pink insides, but I stuck my tongue in there for as deep as I could while I watched her pretty eyes roll to the back of her head.


    She could only receive everything at this point but I didn''t even notice the amount of precum that was leaking from my junk.


    Even calling it precum was an understatement because since the tip was already peeking out of my boxers, it had already made a mess of my pants because it looked like I let out ropes of cum on it¡ªand Kaley was the first one to notice.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You''re¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You''re d-dick is¡­ W-Wanna switch p-ces now? I think I''ll p-pass out if I c-cum one more time¡­ I n-need a little breather¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "D-Don''t worry¡­ I''ll help you out¡­ e-ease you into it¡­"


    If this was any other day, I would''ve been so fucking against it but my inhibitions lowered a whole lot in this state and if it was gonna happen, I should do it with someone I really trust. Besides, we weren''t exactly gonna do the real thing but more like some things you do before you get to do it¡ªyou know, just to get a feel for it.


    Kaley helped me take off my pants and she sat me down before she knelt in front of me, then she started to slowly stroke my cock as she looked me straight in the eye.


    "I''m¡­ I''m gonna suck you off first, o-okay?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "I''ll t-tell you when I''m about to do it¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "A-And you can tell me if you want to s-stop¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Despite all that, Kaley looked like she was about to cum just from the anticipation but she took a deep breath before she lowered her mouth to my cock.


    "MMh¡­ Mmh¡­ Mm¡­"


    I felt her warm breath before her tongue started to coil around the tip, and she continued to stroke me with her hand as she started to y with my balls. We were keeping eye contact the whole time she was sucking the tip of my cock but she eventually let go of me and closed her eyes before she took my whole length with her throat.


    At that point, I felt like bursting right then and there but Kaley kept a tight grip on my balls before she drew back and licked the base of my cock right up to the tip, slobbering on one side before going to the other, taking me in once again with her warm mouth, and then pushing the tip to the inside of her cheek.


    Kaley was touching herself and caressing her whole body as she was sucking me dry, but it didn''t take long before she started to run her hands on my torso, then onto my quads, and then to my calves.


    She was watching my every reaction¡ªmaking sure I was stillfortable with what she was doing but her breathing started to change when she ced her hands under my thighs and looked at me with her big, puppy eyes.


    "I''m¡­ I''m g-gonna do it now¡­. O-Okay?"


    With that said, I just looked at her for a moment before I answered with a nod and she slowly pulled me just by the edge of the couch before she slowly raised my legs up, exposing myself to her.


    At this point, a ton of things were running through my head but she gave me another nce before I nodded in response.


    Kaley let out the brightest smile as her face flushed even redder, "I love you so much¡­"


    Before I closed my eyes, I saw Kaley lowering her head but her tongue and lips were aiming for something much lower. I felt her warm breath once more as her tongue brushed on my perineum and as her lips gave it a kiss, but it didn''t take long before the tip of her tongue started to glide against the opening of my asshole.


    To bepletely honest, it felt as weird as it felt pleasurable but her hands went and grabbed hold of my cock and balls¡ªstroking and gently squeezing them¡ªas she continued to lick and kiss my puckered ass.


    I didn''t even know what to do at this point but just letting go and receiving what Kaley was giving to me was making everything for her. I still couldn''t imagine how she could have an orgasm even though she was the one on the giving end but these new sensations I was feeling were starting to pile on top of one another.


    I could feel the pleasure quickly building up, but right as I was about to explode, Kaley pushed the tip of her finger in and I just fucking cked out for a few seconds.


    I didn''t know if this was the weed talking or what Kaley just did to me but this was the most intense orgasm I had ever felt.


    When I opened my eyes, my stomach had ropes and ropes of my cum on it and the look on Kaley''s face was fucking indescribable. She looked proud, happy, flushed, horny, excited, out of breath, and most importantly, this fucking close to going all the way with me but she actually controlled herself and gave me a hug.


    After that, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek before we kissed each other but there was this look on her face that rivaled the insatiable look Quinn would give me.


    "Hey¡­ You''re still¡­ good to go, right?"


    "Good to go?"


    "I mean¡­ Not what we just did¡ªunless you want to do it again, but¡­ Wanna head over to Quinn''s room and have more fun?"

 Chapter 847: Devils Grass III - Happy now?

    As she was staring right into my eyes while she was lightly biting her lip, she was also sneaking in my cum¡ªthat was on my stomach¡ªright into her mouth by tracing it with her fingers and then licking them off. Well, most of it was also on her body as well¡ªbecause she was hugging me, but we eventually wiped them off before we went to Quinn''s room for Round 2.


    And right from the fucking get-go, as we opened the door, we saw Anne and Coleen rubbing their meaty cunts together while Zyra was getting lifted up and down by Quinn who was wearing a huge-ass strapless dildo.


    Anne and Coleen were mutually receiving and giving pleasure to each other but in thetter''s case, Zyra was on the receiving end. But even though Quinn was on the giving end, just being the one holding power was enough to get her off and enjoy it as much as her current partner.


    However, it was pretty obvious that Zyra was nearing her limit but Quinn was the first one to notice us and she beckoned me over.


    "I knew you''de! C''mon! There''s one more hole to plug this horny bitch!" Quinn chuckled as she spread Zyra''s asscheeks, exposing her winking asshole.


    Zyra interjected in a weak and shaky voice, "Q-Quinn¡­ I''m¡ª Shit¡­ I can''t think straight¡­ I was cumming for 10 minutes s-straight¡ª"


    "You''re fucking wee. Do you want to stop now or do you wanna get dicked down by that thick cock?"


    "I¡­ I-I-I need a breather¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "You can do me? Better yet, you can do me while he does you?"


    Quinn let out a devilish smile, "You have no idea what you''ve signed up for~"


    At that point, Quinnid down Zyra to the side of the bed while Kaleyid right next to her, and Kaley just spread her legs as Quinn went on top of her, pointing the silicone dildo in her cunt.


    Their huge tits were just rubbing against each other¡ªeven prompting Anna and Coleen to stop momentarily and admire the view¡ªbut Quinn didn''t even wait for me to position myself behind her as she started to move her hips and fuck Kaley''s brains out.


    "AH! AH! AH! FUCK! YOU''RE GOING TOO FAST! YOU''RE HITTING MY¡ª MMH!


    FUCK! SHIT!"


    "YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! YOU LIKE THAT?! I''LL FUCKING FUCK YOU EVEN IF YOU BEG ME TO STOP AND¡ª A-A-AH! F-F-FUCK! WHAT ARE YOU¡ª THAT''S NOT MY¡ª"


    Quinn had a good ten pumps inside Kaley''s tight pussy but once I grabbed hold of her thick waist, instead of pushing my dick inside her little asshole, I invaded the space where the other end of her strapless dildo was inside, and it was her fat, meaty cunt that was already soaked with her juices.


    To my surprise, it was actually vibrating to the highest level possible and it was transferring over to my cock and to the other end of the dildo that was inside Kaley''s pink hole.


    At this moment, Quinn had a hard time moving her hips back and forth but she lost it even more when I pushed my thumb inside her asshole.


    It was a difficult task to lift her off and fuck her at the same time but using her as a cock sleeve to fuck my darling wife was easy as fucking pie. With each of my hip thrusts and how she was tightly gripping the short end of the dildo inside her, it was like I was the one fucking Kaley with the rubber toy and I had the perfect view out of everyone.


    Just seeing Anne and Coleen glued to what we were doing and even Zyra who tapped out just straight up fingering herself while seeing me fuck two big-titted beauties was a great fucking¡ªliterally¡ªaplishment.


    Each of them looked like they wanted the next slot to get their pink slit vited, and it didn''t take long for the two toe over.


    I was standing by the edge of the bed as Anne and Coleen walked over, Anne quickly pulling my thumb out of Quinn''s asshole and sucking it while Coleen grabbing my hand on Quinn''s waist and making it explore her instead. I still kept thrusting inside Quinn''s meaty cunt but it didn''t take long before she took over.


    As the two were supporting my body, Quinn was moving her hips forward to get deep inside Kaley and moving it back to get me deeper inside herself. However, her little asshole was obviously neglected but Anne reciprocated by shoving three of her fingers inside. It somehow did the trick but Coleen added two more for good measure, and Quinn just started to squirt violently on top of Kaley.


    But as luck would have it, Kaley also squirted at the same time as her, and I almost followed just from what I saw.


    It was because the strapless dildo Quinn was wearing popped out when she came¡ªalso pushing my dick out, and I could clearly see how the inside of her pussy contracted and almost prpsed at that moment. And at the same time, Kaley just kept a tight grip on the long end of the dildo inside her as she came, though she still had multiples due to the strong vibrations.


    Quinn just fell on top of Kaley and her body would twitch involuntarily, but I still had a few more holes to satisfy before the night is over. But yeah, the usual stuff was to cum in each avable hole before trying to sleep so I''ll be back fucking Kaley and Quinnter.


    Coleen whispered in my ear, "It''s our turn, right?"


    Anne chuckled, "I''ll let you go first. You''ll finally know why he was carrying me back to my roomst time¡­"


    "Hmph! I can handle dick even though it''s fucking big¡­"


    "Your funeral~"


    At this point, Coleen wanted me to fuck her doggy while she would eat Anne''s pussy so I obliged. However, Zyra finally managed to get her second wind though she just sat behind Anne and yed with her tits and rubbed her clit.


    It was one thing to fuck multiple women at the same time but it was fucking indescribable fucking multiple muscle women while fucking high. Sure, it wasn''t everyone''s cup of tea but I couldn''t deny that all of their fucking holes were super tight. It needed more effort to break open their little tight holes but it was fucking heaven when I''m inside them.


    At one point, I was drilling Anne''s ass while I was fingering the other two but when it came to Zyra''s turn, she just requested in ''ol missionary but it was kinda funny when she asked to be fucked in the ass. She made it sound like it was her first time but once she took my full length in, she just straight up revealed that she was an anal slut.


    It was because she came twice as fast and as hard when I was fucking her little hole and it didn''t take long before Kaley and Quinn joined the fray.


    But this time, Kaley was wearing Quinn''s strapless dildo, and the three were ordered to pick the same thing from the closet and wear it because the Queen wants to get fuckingid.


    With that said, we continued the night where I wasying on my back and was Quinn on top of me while Kaley was fucking her ass from behind, and at the same time, the three were standing right next to her, two of them getting jerked off like they had real cocks while thest one getting sucked off like there''s no tomorrow.


    Even though she was on the receiving end, there was no question that she still was in full control of the situation.


    We went on for quite a while¡ªeven though our highs had already subsided, but a certain blonde glutton that almost had the same appetite for food and sex barged in when we were about to fall asleep.


    "Wha¡ª You guys are already done?! I just came to! C''mon! You can squeeze one or two more, right?!"


    I shook my head while trying to ignore the creeping headache, "I''m sorry, no. And for now, I''ll ignore the chocte mustache you have¡­"


    Tatiana had the shock of her life, "Chocte mus¡ª The fuck?! I was saving it forter?"


    "It''s alreadyter, Tatiana¡­ the brownies had weed¡­ It''s gonna be the problem we need to address tomorrow, but it was an ident. He didn''t know¡­"


    Kaley nudged me with her face, "Who are you talking to? I wanna sleep¡­"


    "It''s Tatiana¡­"


    "Huh? Oh, hi~"


    "Hi, my ass! You guys are so unfair! Why didn''t you wake me up?!"


    Anne interjected, "We tried, I promise you¡­"


    Quinn added, "Hngh~ You guys better shut up or I''ll make you walk to your rooms. It''s cramped as it is and I need to get some sleep¡­"


    "C''mon, guys! I can''t just rub one out myself?!"


    "You can, you totally can¡­ Try it¡­"


    "That''s what we''re gonna do, huh?"


    "Whaddya mean¡ª"


    At that point, I didn''t know what possessed Tatiana¡ªthough I partially do¡ªbut she did start rubbing herself and it didn''t help make us sleep when it started to sound like someone was scraping a bowl of mac and cheese with a fork.


    Furthermore, hardcore porn at full volume while trying to sleep couldn''t rece whale or rain sounds so we¡ªno, I was kicked out of the bed and had to literally fuck her to sleep to make her stop.


    "Happy now?"


    "Shh¡­ I''m sleepy now¡­"


    "..."

 Chapter 848: What projects are you working on?

    After an unknown amount of hours, I woke up on the couch outside Quinn''s room¡ªgetting spooned by Tatiana, but I soon discovered a familiar goddess instructing another familiar giantess to help herself with the morning wood I was currently sporting.


    Quinn had already grasped me with one hand and was about to put me in her mouth when I did it again and got soft onmand.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    However, I timed it wrong¡ªgetting hard inmand almost immediately¡ªand I almost poked her fucking eye out.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?! STOP MESSING WITH ME!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    Not only did I get punched in the nuts, Tatiana almost choked me out from the sudden movements in front of her and it was chaos for a full 30 seconds before everyone else woke up from our night of debauchery. It''s just that I still had my cock at the ready so we were kindate for breakfast because we spent some time in the shower.


    And as soon as we walked into the cafeteria, almost everyone had already finished eating and some of them just greeted us briefly before doing their usual routine. Our small group eventually sat down with a small spread but Kaley nudged me to approach Mr. Ng who was still cleaning up in the kitchen.


    Tatiana turned to us, "Where are you two going?"


    Kaley replied, "Just gonna talk to Mr. Ng for a bit¡­"


    Quinn looked at us momentarily before she sighed and gave us her "blessing", "Sure, go ahead¡­"


    When we made our way to the kitchen, there were a few helpers present but Mr. Ng knew that something was up so he asked them to give us some space.


    He wiped his hands on his apron before takin a seat, "Is there any problem?"


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah, about the brownies¡ª"


    "Oh! D''you want some moreter?"


    "No¡­ you should''ve told us¡­"


    I nodded, "Yeah, that wasn''t cool."


    He never looked so confused, "What? From what I''ve heardst night¡ª"


    "That''s not important right now. You should''ve at least told us¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "It might''ve given them the usual results but I was lucky that my share was eaten by Tatiana. I¡­ Marijuana¡­ Doesn''t work that well for me. Some people might feel good about it but it''s the total opposite for me. I get really anxious for some reason and I even get depressive, to say the least¡­"


    ''What? I didn''t know that¡­''


    Mr. Ng wiped his forehead and the back of his head with the same towel before he answered, "I¡­ I sincerely apologize. I didn''t know¡ª No, I should''ve definitely asked. I''ll do better next time¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Thank you¡­"


    "Is¡­ I-Is that it? You''re not gonna punish me or a-anything? N-Not that I''m asking for it but¡ª"


    Kaley waved him off, "No, that''s it¡­ No punishments."


    "Huh. Well~" Mr. Ng trailed as he scratched his chin, "The food today isn''tced with anything¡ªjust to put it out there, you know~ But yeah, do you have anything simr to that?"


    "Simr to what?"


    "Not that stuff per se but do you have any allergies or adverse reactions to other foods I don''t know about? I''m a chef. My job''s to know that shit and it seems to me that I''m fucking cking off in that department."


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No¡­ But thank you for asking," then he turned to me, "And you?"


    "I''m the same. I eat pretty much anything but I do eat weirdly sometimes."


    "Ah~ I see, I see. Can I do something for you guys though? Considering that I didn''t get my ass kicked for doing that."


    "Nah, the food''s already great. We''ll join the others now, bye!"


    "Alright, kid. See you allter."


    At this point, we joined the others for breakfast and after that, I continued my work on "Eleanor" and the water purifiers. I obviously called Myke over so he''d know how to properly operate and maintain them and surprisingly enough, I was able to leave him alone finicking and tinkering with the apparatus so that I could sneak in to print a simple enclosure for one of the broken filters.


    ''We could''ve used a donor part but it''s good to have the dimensions nailed this early so we wouldn''t have problems in the future.''


    With that said, the dimensions weren''t that difficult to copy but when I checked the engine that Quinn was working on, I had to rub my eyes for a little bit because it now had a huge-ass blower right on top of it.


    "Umm¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned to me, "What? Oh, it''s you. Looks fucking badass, eh?"


    "Uh-huh¡­ It does¡­ but¡­ Why did you stray from the design? I thought you were just gonna remove the whine or something¡ª"


    "Hah? I did say that I''m gonna remove the whiny sound but that doesn''t mean that I''m gonna keep it as is."


    "But¡ª"


    "I just have a burst of inspiration, that''s all. Besides, you said it looked badass, right? Oh! The hood! I forgot about the hood¡ª Wait, nah~ I''ll just cut a hole for it, my bad."


    "..."


    Hearing that, I was at a loss for words for a few moments but I got totally stunlocked when she just picked up an angle grinder and straight up murdered the hood I fabricated without batting an eye. She didn''t even draw lines with a pencil but to my surprise, it actually worked quite well, but I would definitely polish the edges for a little bit.


    However, the audacity of this bitch to look so impressed with herself after lucking out ticked me off to an unbelievable degree.


    "What?! You''re staring at me again and not saying anything! What did I do this time?!"


    "You¡ª N-Nevermind, I''ll just fix it myself¡­"


    "You''re so fucking like Jackie, tell me what''s wrong! I''m legit asking!"


    "Fine¡­ It''s¡­"


    As I told her about her mistakes, she actually listened for once and tried a more gentle handling of the angle grinder to smooth out and polish the rough edges. She would''ve been doing less work if she didn''t go all ham on it the first time but all in all, it was a good thing to learn and impart a few techniques to an expert.


    At the same time this was happening, Kaley and Jose took the time to teach a ss about properly handling guns. We could hear gunshots erupting here and there but since the area was pretty much clear of deadheads, the only danger we''d face was outside sources.


    ''Really~ loud though, I definitely know if Kaley or Jose is firing their rifles¡­''


    It was because from looking at their armory before, they didn''t have many avable attachments¡ªmuch less suppressors¡ªand the only thing they could do on them was pimp them out, literally making them look like they used cosmetic game skins.


    However, they do have DIY weapons that couldn''t be found anywhere else or picked up from the ground¡ªunless we picked it off from a fallen member or made one ourselves¡ªbut as long as it could punch through the skull of an undead, it could be used to save or protect someone.


    With that said, it took several hours for us to finish our work while Kaley and Jose''s ss concluded much earlier, but right as Quinn and I sat down by the stairs to catch a small break, Anne came running while holding a long-distance radio.


    Just from her expression told me that she got chewed up by the higher-ups and since there was only one above Quinn that was away, I already assumed the identity of the caller.


    But Quinn just picked it up with a devious smile.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What? Looking for tips to satisfy your wife? I got the best one to ask right here¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GEN ROOM?! WHAT''S POWERING THE PLACE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Stop fucking screaming at me, I should be the one telling you ''I told you so.'', you dumbass."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BUT LOGAN SAID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "LOGAN SAID WHAT, HUH?! IF HE''S TALKING ABOUT ME YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT HE''LL TALK OUT OF HIS ASS! HOW DID HE EVEN MANAGE TO TALK TO YOU?! I GOT HIM LOCKED UP FOR BARGING IN HERE YESTERDAY!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [SHIT! FUCK! YOU¡ª You do know that because of that, we''ll be fucking behind on our projects, right?! Can''t we just¡ªfor now, use a smaller number of¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Continue that sentence and I''ll blow up your entire joint. It''s your fucking fault for taking in too many projects at once and relying on a power source that''s a fucking time bomb. You''re fucking lucky I did what I did or else you woulde back to your ce with nothing with recements for your precious gen room."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, the two decided to talk normally but when Quinn finally put the radio down, I nudged her before I opened my mouth.


    "What projects are you working on?"

 Chapter 849: Ethanol - Who are you people?

    As soon as I asked Quinn that question, she just looked at me like I''m an idiot but she leaned back and rested her elbows by the steps¡ªsticking her chest out¡ªbefore she gave me an answer.


    Well, another question to be exact.


    "Look at me and this ce. What screams at you the most?"


    "Huh?"


    Quinn partly unzipped her overalls, revealing her cleavage that was fucking bigger than most women''s full tits, "Just answer the first thing thates to mind."


    "Well~ We have a top-ss rough mechanic with huge tits and hard muscles that can build engines and customize anything with wheels so¡­ Is that it?"


    "That''s barely an answer. And you didn''t have to add "rough" on my title, let''s just call it an acquired aesthetic, no?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Really though, that''s my answer. This ce screams Mad Max and Mr. Olympia had a love child."


    Quinn started to scratch her head but Anne was also getting confused at her line of questioning.


    "Fuck it, I''ll just tell you. There''s another reason that the other families had no idea about why Mauro and Elsa tied the knot. Wait¡ª Nah, Ongkiko might''ve caught a glimpse of it but I doubt he noticed what we''re making over there at the industrial park."


    "And that is?"


    "You''re the genius here, right? How can you not figure this shit out?"


    I almost pinched her nipples off as I gave her a weird look, "I thought you''d just tell me?"


    "I changed my mind. Hmm~ I can give you another clue though but you have to answer me one question honestly. I''ll break your ass open if you don''t."


    "Fine¡­ but¡­" I trailed as I looked over to Anne, "Is she¡­"


    Anne suddenly turned red, "Ah¡ª Shouldn''t I have been here? I-I-I was just waiting for the radio¡ª"


    Quinn cut her off, "Stay here, Anne," then she turned back to me, "I tell and trust her with everything, and what I''m about to ask you after I gave you the clue, she can hear. Just don''t get pissed off that much when you hear my question."


    "Now you''re making it sound like getting that clue is a bad idea¡­"


    "It''s an honest ident though, wanna hear the clue?"


    I stared at them for a moment before I eventually nodded, "Fine. Hit me."


    "Great! What can someone who can build engines and a farmer do in the apocalypse after a year or so? Not just anything rted to their own field but something that they''d need each other for¡ª"


    I suddenly had my lightbulb moment, "Holy fucking shit¡ª Why didn''t I piece it together?! Sal''s making ethanol?! And¡ª And¡ª And you''re making engines that could run them without any problems! There are different mixtures¡­ E10s, E85s, etc. but if you make something simr to those engines that could run them pure, that''ll solve a lot of things! THAT''S IT, RIGHT?!"


    As soon as I gave her my answer, Quinn just looked like she wanted to devour me whole but she put her arm over my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. I didn''t mind her huge boob against my face but the sweat and the oil mixed together were a little ufortable.


    "Good job, genius. But we''re not done here¡ª"


    "Ah."


    "Right, my question," Quinn was looking me directly in the eye as she said to Anne, "Tell him."


    Anne suddenly flinched, "M-Me?! W-Why me?!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she turned to her, "You''re the one who told me, right? So, you should¡ª Ahh~ Fuck it," then she turned back to me again, "Anne here performs maintenance checks on all of the vehicles we have inside this ce but since she isn''t sure what kind of fuel you''re using, she siphoned a bit just to be 100% sure. You know where I''m getting at, right?"


    I tried to deflect, "Was that the question just now?"


    "Don''t try me. That fuel''s fucking fresh. Where the fuck did you get that? There should be more, right? We''re willing to trade our services for that and it''ll solve our current problem now since our production of our custom engines ground to a halt.


    YOU know and I know that we could just use vehicles manufactured at thetest to remove some of the problems of ethanol use but we have vehicles we hold dear. And 99% of them wasn''t manufactured after 2003."


    "..."


    "Are you gonna answer me or not?"


    "..."


    "Or is it that you still don''t trust me?"


    "..."


    Quinn had never looked so disappointed, "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    "I get it from the same ce this country has been getting it from."


    This time, as soon as Quinn heard my answer, a ton of things were probably running through her head because she was quiet for some time while Anne and I were just looking at her. However, she seemed like she pieced two and two together but before she could even say a word, Kaley walked in with Tatiana carrying a pouch of spent casings.


    "..."


    "..."


    Kaley noticed the abnormal quietness, "Something wrong? We went out for a bit to collect these casings but we dide back to this ce Isaac mentioned that had soap¡ª"


    Quinn eventually dropped the bomb, "Who are you people?"


    Tatiana kept silent but Kaley responded, "H-Huh? What are you talking about?"


    Quinn shook her head as she frowned, "See here, a lot of things didn''t make sense but this is the fucking end of the world and the dead shouldn''t be moving so I let go most of it.


    The power couple that could shoot guns and wields their fancy des like crazy, the Russian chick that''s always by their side and can do the same thing, even that bald prospect¡ª I don''t even know what he is but he''s not a fucking gangbanger. His movements are too¡­ military¡ªand trust me, I''ve seen my fair share of them and he moves just like them. Shoots like them too.


    That copycat of yours seemed like someone you picked up as aic relief but he seemed to be hiding something as well."


    "Quinn¡ª"


    "Again, who are you people? And don''t fucking lie to me."


    This would''ve been a conversation for another time but Quinn was starting to get paranoid about a small little thing she found in our vehicle. However, she had every right to be suspicious of us because I dide knocking on a certain residence and suddenly turned out to be one of the newest and youngest heads to date.


    To be fair, even Mr. Cuervo partly knew of my real standing with the president and vice versa, so someone like Quinn¡ªwho was considered to be the vice-head of the De Leon Family shouldn''t even know this information. But yeah, she hit some pretty solid points and it was my responsibility to answer her.


    I took a deep breath before I looked her in the eye, "We are who we are but I''m neither a bootlicker nor a gangbanger. I''ve made¡­ connections that benefited me and the parties I''m involved with¡ªas you can clearly see now¡ªand like you told mest time, not everyone chose the life we live in.


    I make choices after heavily weighing the pros and cons of it but do know that my crosshair and the edge of my de are pointed¡ªand will continue to be¡ªat the undead outside and the ones who made them like that."


    "..."


    "I''ll dly hold an angel and a demon''s hand just to watch Saturday morning cartoons with my cousins like the old days but do know that I''ll destroy anyone that tries to prolong that from happening. I just want the old world back."


    Everyone was silent for a moment but Quinn loudly exhaled before she spoke, "That''s just telling me that you haven''t picked a side¡ª"


    "Quinn. That is what''s fucking wrong with everybody here. We shouldn''t be picking sides in the first ce and the options we are choosing to side with shouldn''t be the options we should be picking from. Can we at least agree on that? You said you weren''t given a choice but why are you so bent on defending something that you''re¡ª"


    "BUT THIS IS MY FAMILY NOW, CAN''T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!"


    I motioned for her to calm down, "Shout at me all you want but that''s not gonna solve anything. You''ve struck a deal with the Military Academy and my University, right? In the grand scheme of things, that''s something I want everyone here to strive for. We have differences but we should learn how to work with each other. And the end of the world shouldn''t be the trigger for us to start that.


    That''s just what I''m trying to say. It''ll be fucking difficult to achieve that but imagine if it did¡­ I can''t believe I''m saying the same speech I did before but here we are¡­ I should make a t-shirt or some merch outta this¡­"


    ''We really should''ve talked about this sooner though...''


    After I said that, Quinn just leaned back again with her eyes closed and everyone was just waiting for her reaction. It took her a full ten minutes to process her thoughts but she came up with something I thought she was totally against from ourst talk.


    "Stop saying stupid things."


    "I''m serious¡ª"


    "I know, but¡­ Fuck it, once everything is done here, I''lle with you and pick up Edith or whoever''s gonnae with us and see for myself¡ª"


    "See for yourself what?"


    "Your ce. You invited me toe, remember?"


    "I did, but what''s that got to do with¡ª"


    "Everything. It''s got to do with everything."

 Chapter 850: Clearing a Misunderstanding and Consciously Pissing Someone Off

    Hearing Quinn''s words right now, there was an invisible partition forming between us so I pped my knees and got up, looked for my phone for "receipts", and then told her what she wanted to hear.


    Well, most of it.


    And somehow, it sounded simr to the first time I tried to kidnap¡ªerr¡­ recruit Rin into my fold. But this time, I was showing her a little presentation through my phone to basically back up my ims so that another instance of her doubting me wouldn''t happen again.


    "Okay~ You''ve be suspicious of me after finding fresh fuel in our tank so I''ll give you a proper introduction. I''m Sky Ishiyama¡ªI didn''t change my name or anything¡ªI actually own a few shops where I mainly sell rice for a living but my certain hobbies kept me and my family alive¡ªeven enabling me to get to where I''m at.


    In the grand scheme of things, I''m good at making reasonable and forgiving deals with everyone but I can still be a shrewd businessman if I so wanted¡­ or if the people from the other side were fucking asking for it."


    "You love saying, "In the grand scheme of things", huh?"


    I lightly puffed my cheeks as I ignored her remark, "I''m actively maintaining five towns spread apart though I have several more that''s reimed and waiting to be turned apocalypse-worthy¡­ You know, self-sustaining without the gennies-run-by-deadheads part.


    Furthermore, I''ve made allies with themon people, like-minded people, the government, and you guys¡ªonly disclosing information that could only benefit us but wouldn''t spark conflict because as I said earlier, I wanted all of us to work together as one group."


    "Hmm."


    "I''m gonna tell you straight, discovering that you''re producing engines that could run Ethanol 100% and Sal making said Ethanol is something I so wanted to fucking do but didn''t have the means to do so. In my book, as shady as this would sound, I''m gonna make you a deal you wouldn''t be able to refuse."


    Quinn lightly shook her head as she was now smiling at me, "Dork¡­"


    I brought up the ent plus the fingers up together like I was trying to ask for food, "Whaat? I was just e-exining me-self~"


    Kaley added, "Doofus¡­"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "You didn''t have to exin yourself the second time, I just said that I wanted to see your ce for some random reason because I didn''t want to argue anymore. It''s my fault. I know it''s only been a few days but I know when someone''s genuine."


    Tatiana interjected, "How about us? Also, didn''t you say that you think that Isaac''s hiding something?"


    Anne nodded a few times, "Yeah, I heard that too! What''s he hiding?"


    Quinn waved them off, "One at a time, okay? For the power couple, I think you two still have something to talk about¡­ And you, Russian chick, I dunno why but you seem like a spy¡ª"


    Kaley and I instantly chuckled but Tatiana was having none of it, "Not this shit again! I''m not a spy, alright?! It''s the movies you''ve been seeing!"


    Quinn cackled, "I know! My bad, my bad¡­ but yeah, Is Jose really military as I guessed?"


    I nodded quietly, "Yeah, but we trust him with our lives¡ª and you can also do the same¡ª"


    "I trust you, I do¡­ but what''s gonna happen if he makes contact with the Military Academy? They won''t just burn this ce to the ground, right?"


    "You''re just being paranoid again. Did you forget that you''re already dealing with them¡ª"


    "Mauro''s dealing with them, not me."


    "That''s basically the same but yeah, all you need to do is keep it tight with each other but do they know anything about the engines you''re making?"


    "No. Just you guys, everyone here, and Sal''s group."


    "Not even Mr. Cuervo?"


    "Did you hear me mention his name?"


    "Chill your tits, damn. Is this a recent project or are you trying to do something under the¡ª"


    "Hey. He''s the one who brought us all together but we don''t need to report every little thing we do to him. The Garcia Family''s proof of that. But yeah, whatever the fuck they''re doing is not something of the same magnitude we were trying to aplish. But since you two are kinda suddenly buddy-buddy, he probably told you that."


    I nodded, "Yeah, something like that. But yeah, just in case¡­ if something were to erupt between you guys and the military academy, contact me as soon as possible."


    "Hmm? You have the power to stop them?"


    "Not exactly but I''m your best shot¡ª"


    "We can always fight back¡ª"


    "And I want your groups to work together, not kill each other. Keep the status quo and your rtionship with each other would be more than just exchanging heads for military vehicles."


    "Fine. But you better answer at the first ring or else."


    "Sure, but always keep a phone close to you, not have Anna always scrambling to look for you when hers rings."


    "Deal."


    "Deal. Are we good now?"


    "Wanna make up for some bad shit you did? You know, almost poking my eye out?"


    "C''mon, that was funny as shit. I made it up on the spot!"


    "Fucking¡­ I''m gonna have a wash. Can''t have this oil and sweat dry on my skin. Besides, we''ll be going outside."


    "Where?"


    At this point, it was almost at the same time when Quinn decided to pay the industrial park a visit, and since we were pretty much free of our responsibilities, she brought us over again. However, I made sure to refill our ammunition with her own stock because one, we used it to help her clean up her territory and two, they were barely using it.


    Well, I doubt we''d get to fight the same number of deadheads this time though my knuckles were itching for a certain asshole that brought unnecessary trouble.


    ''He was probably let go, that''s why Mauro managed to talk to him¡­ Who though¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long for us to drive back to Mauro''s Industrial Park and the ce had never been so busypared to before. Almost all of the people inside were sweating through their overalls and it looked like none of them had even taken a break.


    It''s just that it was pretty obvious that only a couple of buildings were running on full cylinders and I''m pretty sure the ones "powering" them up had several scoops of pre-workout and then some.


    ''That''ll be an insane workout though¡­ not that effective but still downright insane¡­''


    And just before we could drive inside one of the buildings, our custom Raptor which was actually sticking out like a sore thumb amidst these ''customized'' vehicles was instantly recognized. Almost immediately, everyone gave us a mix of reactions but it''s more along the lines of, "I thought we were ALL supposed to work on this ce''s problems first thing in the morning?"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT? HUH?!" Quinn instantly exploded at one of the three-digit members we parked by.


    "I-I-I WASN''T¡ª"


    "WHERE''S DAVE?! AND WHERE THE FUCK''S LOGAN?! WHO FUCKING LET HIM LOOSE?!"


    With Quinn''s voice thundering around like Zeus hit his shin on an ottoman, the people she was looking for turned up only after a few moments. However, Dave looked like he was abruptly woken up from his afternoon nap while Logan looked like he received a sudden booty call.


    And almost immediately, Quinn talked to Dave about businesspletely ignoring Logan''s advances and the guy didn''t seem to be getting annoyed that he was being treated like dirt.


    It''s just that when Quinn waved me over to join in the conversation, his face just darkened before he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    "THE FUCK?! WHY IS HE INVOLVED?! YOU KEEP IGNORING ME ALL THIS TIME AND THAT BITCH-ASS HEAD GETS SPECIAL TREATMENT?! I KNOW YOU''RE JUST FUCKING OTHER GUYS TO MAKE ME JEALOUS BUT THIS DOESN''T SEEM FAIR! FUCK IT, I''LL FUCK WHOEVER HIS GIRL IS TO PROVE A POINT BUT I''LL BREAK THAT FUCKING SLUT''S HEAD OPEN IF SHE''S UGLY AS FUCK¡ª"


    With great respect to this ce''s tradition and how they follow rank, Ipletely ignored the first part of his sentence but thest part was something I should remove a tooth or two from him for.


    I abruptly released killing intent as I turned around to face him but he had already jumped back and was holding arge bowie knife that had a bone handle. And trust me, I would''ve stopped if I saw fear in his eyes but this time, he was consciously trying to piss me off.


    The motherfucker was smiling from ear to ear when he saw my expression and I barely heard Quinn and Jose when I grasped the hilt of my de.


    Fuck it, anyone could tell me that this was my greatest weakness¡ªbeing overly protective of Kaley and getting consumed with anger if she gets disrespected¡ªbut everyone should fucking know by now that you don''t fucking poke a dragon with a stick and get out fucking unscathed with it.

 Chapter 851: Deeper? - No. 7

    Once my hand was on my katana and my face looks how it looks right fucking now, it was the fucking signal for everyone else that hadn''t written a will yet to get the fuck away from me because I''d fucking cut up anyone within my range¡ªeven if they weren''t fucking involved.


    However, there was a particr motherfucker that fucked around and wanted to find out so I''ll give him the special treatment he so fucking deserved to have.


    A short exhale was all that could be heard the moment a glint appeared for a short second.


    Logan was still cheekily holding his bowie knife with a reverse grip¡ªde pointed downward¡ªbut he never looks so confused when its pommel¡ªa carved skull at the end of its handle¡ªlooked like it was momentarily floating a few centimeters away from his knife.


    Heck, even everyone else couldn''t exin that instance but there would be more instances like that that would instantly follow.


    And right at this moment, Logan''s skin from his elbow, his wrist, the side of his palm, and the little p just by his pinky split open.


    And immediately after that, the tip of his nose, a little bit of his left eyelid, his left eyebrow, and the left side of his forehead did the same exact thing before blood leaked out, and pain and even more confusion registered on his face.


    It looked like a shallow strike but the way the pommel on his knife¡ªdue the way he was holding it¡ªwas closer to his neck, I purposefully gave him a "flesh wound" AND a little warning that I can give him a shallow or a deep wound¡ªfuck it, a quick beheading if I so wanted.


    I could''ve dug my de deep into his elbow, cut into his forearm, and made him lose half of his hand, purposefully avoid his knife to prevent damaging my de, cut back in straight to his cheek, his nose, his eye, his ear, ande out the side of his skull in one quick sh, and have more than enough time to sheathe my de right after.


    With that said, no one had the fucking chance to react and no one even dared to move¡ªeven Logan¡ªand when they only heard the quiet clink when I sheathed my de was the time everyone else present managed to take in a breath.


    It''s just that Logan was still bleeding from his wounds and even he didn''t know if he was allowed to move or not.


    Well, the knife he put up earlier to defend against me had already fallen on the ground and was getting bled on by his own wounds but despite all that, he was still in the same position¡ªstill had his arm raised up¡ªbut he looked like I was actively sucking his soul out his body.


    I sighed as I turned to Kaley, "Hey, can you patch him up?"


    It took Kaley a moment to respond, "Y-Yes, w-why''d you have to cut him in the first ce?!"


    At this moment, everyone was still partly stunned but Kaley had already pulled out her kit and started to sit down Logan so she could treat him. However, I took a few steps forward and crouched in front of him to make sure he actually got the message.


    "Hey, tough guy. This here''s my wife, yeah? She''s the best in the world and I don''t fucking like people like you saying shit to her just to tick me off. But yeah, I IMPLORE you to try anything funny so we''d just waste a few cups of gas and some matches for you. Have some self¡ª"


    Kaley turned to me, "He got it, alright?! Besides, I''ve heard plenty of insults in my life, I can take some without flying off the handle¡­" then she turned back to Logan, "You''re lucky that you''re only gonna need stitches, everything''s almost superficial¡­ Can you press this cloth here? A little harder. He even avoided your eye¡­"


    "..."


    At this point, Logan miraculously found his mute button and he was just following each of Kaley''s words. But when I turned around, it was the usual thing for Tatiana and Jose¡ªtheplete opposite of Quinn and Dave, while Isaac looked like he just had an orgasm.


    "H-How did you fucking do that, sen¡ª bro?!"


    "It''s just a simple draw¡ª"


    "Simple draw my ass! Ah¡ª I was just¡ª That''s more than a simple draw! I''m not an idiot! It¡ª It looked like it but it w-went deep o-or something! That''s impossible¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Why''d you hold back? You could''ve just killed him¡ª"


    Dave suddenly got in between us as he red at Quinn, "Hey! He''s a fucking asshole but killing''s off the table!" then he turned to me, "Isn''t that too much? What you did?"


    I was taken aback, "Too much? What if he said shit about your sister, huh? What would¡ª"


    Dave quickly answered, "Ah¡ª Yeah, I would''ve shot him dead¡ª"


    Kaley shouted from behind us, "Hey! What are you all talking about?! He''s RIGHT here! Someone help me bring him to the infirmary! You''re all insane!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she pointed at me, "What if it''s him, huh? What would you do, hmm? If you know, something bad happens to him?"


    Kaley''s face suddenly went dark, "Insults, we can manage but if it''s the other thing¡­" she trailed as she looked in a particr corner inside her kit and let out an eerie smile, "I''ll cross the bridge when I get there¡­" then she turned back to Logan, "You wouldn''t do something stupid as that, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­" Logan had never looked so demure as he gulped.


    With that said, everyone else actually apanied Logan to the closest infirmary and the people inside set up a small section where Quinn and Dave could continue to talk about business. Well, it was mostly progress reports on the repairs and the state of the engines they were manufacturing but I couldn''t help but get annoyed due to how Logan and Isaac were looking at me a little too much.


    "What?!" I shouted as I flicked a peanut right in the middle of each of their foreheads.


    I absolutely thought that some kind of chaos would ensue but the two dumbasses didn''t even have the reflexes to dodge them. Isaac got hit squarely but even though the same thing happened to Logan, it bounced off his head andnded on Kaley''s face, instantly prompting her to snap her neck towards me and give me a vicious re.


    "My bad¡­ my bad¡­"


    "Stop messing around! I''m focusing here!" then she turned back to Logan, "Are you sure you''re okay without taking some sort of anesthetic?"


    Logan responded weakly, "Yeah¡­ I''ve never felt so numb¡­"


    "Really?"


    "I¡­ I still can''t believe I''m alive¡­ I thought my torso was the one floating in the air instead of my pommel¡­"


    "He¡­ He does that sometimes¡­ When he''s really mad¡­ Just a tip though: there are other ways to get people''s attention aside from doing what you''re doing¡­"


    "But¡ª"


    "I''m not done. This could''ve ended really~ badly. Tell me, are you always¡­ like that?"


    "Well¡­ when I was younger I think something happened then¡­"


    "Can you tell me more about it?"


    Quinn interjected, "The fuck are you two getting buddy-buddy for? You should be the one fucking mad right now¡ª"


    I quietly waved Quinn off and mouthed, "Shh! Let her cook¡­ Let her cook¡­"


    At that point, Quinn had never been so confused but after a good 15 minutes or so, Logan was pouring his heart and soul into everyone present¡ªcrying nonstop, apologizing, and offering everyone a hug¡ªthough he knew when to back away when he tried to do the same thing to Quinn and me.


    And to my surprise, he just looked for an open bed and fainted right when his head hit the pillow and I actually thought he had done everything he wanted in the world and was ready to pass on.


    I chuckled, "No fucking way he could sleep just like that."


    Dave shook his head, "That''s his¡­ talent. He could just lie down anywhere and fall asleep any second. I''m fucking jealous of it because he takes Tren and it doesn''t affect his sleep whatsoever¡­" then he turned to Kaley, "But what did you do to him?"


    Kaley answered, "Hmm? I just talked to him? Why?"


    "I''m kinda scared of you now, honestly¡­"


    "Why? Can we talk about it? Also, I heard you mentioned your sister¡­ Can you share some details¡ª"


    "No. NO! We''re not doing this! I''M NOT FALLING FOR THIS CRAP¡ª"


    After another 15 minutes, Kaley was wearing a victorious smile while I was tasked with tucking Dave right next to Logan. No one could look her in the eye right now but Quinn stifled augh after stretching her body.


    Tatiana turned to her, "What''s so funny?"


    "Nothing, really. It''s just that they will need that sleep so much right now."


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, Jesus ising."


    "Wut? Jesus?"


    "Oh, right¡­ No. 7, Jesus ising. It''s pronounced as ''Hey-soos'', alright? Don''t get the two mixed up."

 Chapter 852: Impreza - Jesus

    Hearing that, I thought I''d literally meet my so-called "Maker" but I found out that this Jesus dude was the guy they''d send out for scouting missions or extended expeditions. He had a team of his own to help him and he''d just pop up here and there once or twice a month if he needed to take a break.


    Quinn added, "He''s basically a Nomad. He''d prefer the outside but he drops by¡ªlike what he''s doing now."


    "I see. When is he arriving though?"


    "Dave said he called this morning. He''d probably arriveter this night or tomorrow morning¡ª Hold up,e with me. I need to show you something."


    "Hmm?"


    "Just follow me! Don''t ask too much questions!"


    At this point, Quinn led what was left of us to the biggest building in this industrial park which coincidentally was one of the two buildings that still had power and was also where Mauro''s room/office was located.


    It had four floors and two basements in total¡ªlooking like a fortress on its own¡ªbut there was this corner where several finished vehicles were lined up like in a car show.


    "We''re going to that area."


    "To?"


    "Shut up and you''ll see! C''mon, slowpokes! Walk faster!"


    "..."


    Ignoring how catty Quinn was being at this moment, she never looked so excited to show us their collection of vehicles that they managed to put their own branding on. Granted some of them had her own style: almost close to the original, there were two particr vehicles that were covered by a dusty cloth.


    From my perspective, I could see an outline of a muscle car and a tuner but before I could even figure them out, Quinn beat me to it by pulling off the cloth and identally giving everyone a coughing fit.


    "FUCK! KAH¡ª *cough* *cough* SHIT! MY BAD! MY BAD!"


    "Holy Moly~"


    Despite all that, I had the shock of my life when I saw a silver ''70s Dodge Charger R/T and a ck Subaru Impreza WRX STI that looked like they haven''t been used for quite a while.


    Seeing them in their unique state felt like visiting an old vacation home that collected dust but I didn''t even care as much about it as I approached them and ran my hands on each of them. But funnily enough, Kaley and the rest thought I would touch the muscle car more but I almost tried to break into the tuner car.


    "They aren''t locked, you FUCKING DUMBASS! PUT THAT CROWBAR¡ª WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET THAT?!"


    "Ah¡­"


    Kaley mumbled from the side, "Whew, at least it''s not a helicopter¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned to her, "A what?"


    Tatiana chuckled, "Oof, don''t remind me of that¡ª And~ He''s already inside¡­"


    As they tried to initiate another conversation, I easily found the keys in the glovebox and I didn''t bother to ask Quinn if I could start it or not. Because if she wanted to show me these cars, she would obviously allow me to y around with them. However, she quickly made her way to the driver''s side window and leaned over with a confused expression.


    "I thought you''d go for the Charger? What gives?"


    "I like this one more? I''m like a Twinkie sometimes but this car''s special to me."


    "A Twinkie?"


    "Yellow on the outside, white on the inside?"


    "You¡ª"


    "C''mon! At least let me run a few donuts outside! I''d even let you ride shotgun! How much do you weigh again? Around two hundred and¡ª"


    "L-Let''s stop there!"


    Isaac interjected, "I''ll ride shotgun!"


    Tatiana chuckled-scoffed, "Trust me, you can''t."


    Jose walked over to the back, "I think I can do it? Why don''t we boys have some fun for once?"


    Kaley eerily chuckled from the side, "Hah! Have fun~"


    "Why is she doing that? I heard you can fucking drive but why is she smiling like that? I¡ª"


    Before he could utter another word, the girls just pushed his ass inside the car with Isaac, and I locked all of the doors and windows before Iunched us out of the building. The whole area had a huge space for any car to run wild but I imagined an outline in my head¡ªputting it over therge open space¡ªmaking it look like I was driving on aplicated drift track.


    With that said, this car would need a lot more work from the driver for it to be able to be drifted but I had an inkling that its internals had more work donepared to the outside.


    Like Quinn''s "stock" car, this one, much like the other one I was driving probably had more performance upgrades than their outward appearance, and scratch the word probably, it had more things done on the inside than on the outside because I can feel how much I could push it right from the first corner.


    However, I had already forgotten that I had a couple of passengers and surprisingly enough, I didn''t think that Isaac would be the one left conscious.


    "HAHAHA~!!! THIS IS SO FUCKING LIT¡ª HOW CAN YOU FUCKING DO THIS?! GO THERE! GO THERE! GO THERE!"


    Jose had already passed out when I lightly tapped this blue container¡ªto realign it with its friends¡ªwith the rear bumper and looked like I almost crashed into several cars when I weaved through the parking area at full speed.


    He was screaming at the top of his lungs a few seconds earlier and it was just cut off in the middle as he got continuously rag-dolled at the back.


    Things were fun after a couple more turns but I had to look at the rear-view mirror twice when I saw an old-ass station wagon following behind me. It looked to be a Benz Station Wagon from the ''70s or ''80s but the amount of parts that were switched out of it had me confused. However, the driver behind it was fucking god-like to keep up with me so I had to look at Isaac and give him a few words:


    "You better put your seatbelt on¡­"


    "What?"


    "Grab on that handle too¡ª"


    "Why¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    Before Isaac let out the blood-curdling scream that woke up Jose and instantly made him pass out in the same second, I let out a short exhale to figure out who was this fucking driver that could keep up with me. I''m not a drift king per se but the motherfucker was going parallel with me and withdrawing at the right moments.


    The dude was sticking right behind me like a fucking parasite¡ªonly deviating from copying me when the space I went in was too tight¡ªnot allowing him to go parallel with me when we were drifting side to side.


    I wanted to test him a little bit more but I wanted to see for myself who the fuck was this driver that they were hiding all this time.


    After a few more turns, I drove back to the building we came from and parked in front of it¡ªthe same car still copying what I was doing.


    However, right as I stepped out of my vehicle, the guy in the station wagon straight-up jumped at me and was bawling his fucking eyes out.


    ''Jesus fucking christ, it''s really him¡ª''


    "JACKIEEEEEE~!!!"


    I''m gonna be fucking honest, it was already too much of a fucking coincidence to have the Number 7 guy be named Jesus, but almost looking like the same person¡ªexcept for the clothes¡ªwas fucking uncanny. But yeah, the muscles helped me differentiate him between the two.


    I tried to get him off of me, "Dude! Stop! I''m not Jackie! I''m not¡ª"


    Then realization struck for the dumbass, "Wha¡ª You''re¡ª GET AWAY FROM ME!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO JUMPED ON ME!"


    "I THOUGHT YOU WERE JACKIE!"


    "I ALREADY TOLD YOU I WASN''T! AND WASN''T HE¡­ You know, not here anymore?"


    As soon as I said that, the fucking messiah broke down crying once again though another person stepped out of his station wagon.


    It was a woman who actually looked "normal" forck of a better term but she still looked fitter than 90% of the poption before the world ended.


    I already prepared myself to get jumped on but the woman who came out just looked at me like she had seen a ghost. And after that, she took a long hard look at the car I just drove and there was a tinge of sadness in her expression.


    The silence was starting to be unbearable for a short moment so I had to ask the question.


    "This¡­ This car¡­ Was it Jackie''s perchance?"


    The two just nodded in ce before Quinn and the others came up to us.


    "Wee back, Jes''. Got you excited for a bit, huh?"


    Jesus instantly got up, "QUINN! WHO''S THIS GUY?! WHY IS HE DRIVING JACKIE''S RIDE?! WHY DOES HE DRIVE LIKE HIM TOO?! IS HE SINGLE?! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!


    YOU SAID¡ª"


    "ONE AT A TIME, JES''! ONE AT A FUCKING TIME!"


    "Right. Is he single though¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT THE FUCKING QUESTION YOU SHOULD BE ASKING RIGHT NOW!"

 Chapter 853: Forbidden Rope Candies

    After that exchange, everyone just started dyingughing but Jesus was having none of it. He actually looked dead serious in his question and he was still waiting for me to give an answer.


    I chuckled as I pointed at Kaley, "That''s my wife, Kaley. I''m Sky, by the way."


    Jesus looked so sullen as he turned to the woman right next to him, "I''m sorry, Meg. I guess you''ll be single for the rest of your fucking life¡ª ACKK! DON''T PULL ON MY HAIR! I JUST SHAMPOO''D IT!"


    "Stop screwing with me!"


    At this point, these two people¡ªwhom I don''t know what exactly their rtionship was¡ªcontinued to bicker but the rest of their team eventually followed with their own vehicles. They parked somewhat close but they couldn''t hide the same expression the two had when they saw the Impreza out in the open.


    It''s just that that look of excitement quickly faded because they knew full well that their Number 2 guy, Jackie, had already passed away.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before they approached us as Quinn got in between the two, and their eyes eventuallynded on me and my group¡ªthe unfamiliar faces. And obviously enough, their eyes stayed longer on me because they perhaps saw me as the one that came out of the Impreza or the one that Jesus jumped on.


    And to avoid any more awkwardness, I introduced myself and my crew¡ªan action that already went over Quinn''s head.


    After that, they also introduced themselves¡ªsix more people in total¡ªand it unbelievably got quiet for a few seconds¡­


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Until Quinn rolled her eyes and woke everyone up by mming her palms together and shouting at the top of her lungs.


    "SO?! ARE WE GONNA DO MORE OF THOSE MOMENTS OF SILENCE SHIT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR TRIP, JES''?! Jesus, am I the only one that cringed from that?!"


    Jesus answered, "Well¡ª"


    "Not what I meant¡ª Fuck, haaa~ Why don''t we alle inside first so you all can have a short break. How long has it been? Two weeks? A month¡ª"


    Meg answered, "Two months and twelve days¡ª"


    A woman from Jesus'' crew named Michelle interjected, "We were gone for that long? Huh."


    Then a guy named Brix added, "Well, it was ''that''s'' fault, remember?"


    "Ugh¡­"


    "What was it?"


    "We''ll tell you once we get inside¡­"


    At this point, even I got curious but I saw Jesus hobbling back to their station wagon and picking up what seemed to be two coolers covered by a fewyers of tarp.


    I already felt something unnerving just from the way he was looking at them and I never took my eyes off those coolers right until he ced them by the coffee table on the roof we just walked a few flights of stairs on.


    On a side note, the top of this building was particrly cleaner than the rest of the buildings in this industrial park but still looked like an aftermath of a frat party that turned into an orgy so, ''clean-er'' was the word I used.


    ''Yep, I''m not sitting on that couch¡­''


    Yet Jesus almost dived into it and put his feet up by the same coffee table that had several empty bottles and cigarette butts.


    "Can I have some beer?"


    Quinn answered, "It''s not as cold though."


    "Huh?"


    "You dumb fuck, look around. Noticed anything different?"


    "Eh? Not really?"


    Meg shook her head, "A fourth of the crew is gone, and only two¡ª or three(?) buildings are working. I guess it finally happened, huh?"


    "What happened?" Jesus asked again before realization struck, "Oh, shit! Fuck¡­ How many people did we lose? A fourth, right? That''s¡­ Shit¡­"


    Quinn let out augh as she momentarily looked at me, "Actually? Just two."


    Jesus, Meg, and their crew couldn''t believe their ears, "T-TWO?! JUST TWO?!"


    "OH? SO YOU WANT MORE OF US TO DIE, HUH?! IS THAT IT?!"


    Jesus tried to push away Quinn''s looming presence with a stick he just found, "I-I''m not saying that, but just two¡ª B-But why is a fourth of us gone?! Mauro, Dave, and Logan are gone too. Where did they¡ª"


    "Okay, here''s the rundown: Mauro''s at Sal''s ce while the other two are sound asleep. But yeah, the gen room is being run by the fourth of our crew that''s ''missing'', everything happened yesterday."


    "B-But¡­ how?! How did¡ª"


    At this point, Quinn turned to me and made me ry everything much better than she could but they kept noticing my nces toward the two coolers still unopened and sitting pretty by the coffee table at the center. However, they didn''t even address it and just let me finish giving them a recap of everything that happened before they arrived.


    But yeah, they lost their minds when they discovered that I was actually a new head for their organization of sorts and I beat Benjie who was a little more than infamous for crippling or killing his opponents "legally".


    Jesus started to scratch his head after tying his hair into a messy ponytail, "Shit, we just arrived and this infodump''s making me want to drive away again¡ª"


    "Again?"


    "N-No, not like that but you know, all this is a lot to take in."


    "I see. I''m sorry but what''s inside those coolers for you to bring them with you? I''ve seen that station wagon of yours is full of random stuff but you took those coolers with you specifically."


    "Ah¡­" Jesus trailed as he turned to Quinn, "Can I?"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "The fuck are you looking at me for?"


    "M-Mauro''s not here so¡­"


    "That''s not my business. Show him if you want, I don''t fucking care."


    "Really?" then Jesus turned to me and chuckled before he picked up one of the coolers, "Alright~ Here we go~"


    Just from the way those coolers made me uneasy made me think of the worst but let''s just say that from the things I''ve seen ever since it started, what he revealed to us was a little tame even though it was something I didn''t expect.


    The "tame" things in question were ps of skin that had different numbers¡ªbut all in the same fonts their family was using¡ªbut they were wrapped around a finger or two, covered in blood and starting to discolor. Furthermore, the cooler also had ice cubes in them but since I doubt they were trying to preserve the fingers and the skin ps, I found them to be a little wasteful.


    I shook my head, "Ever heard of Ziplock bags?"


    Meg chuckled form the side, "Hah! I''m starting to like you¡ª"


    Jesus cut her off, "He''s married, Meg, Jesus¡ª"


    Dave suddenly popped up from behind with Logan, "You found them, huh?"


    Jesus'' eyes lit up, "Hey, dude! Slept together, huh? That''s nice but yeah, I only found most of them. I still have a few names to check off my list."


    Logan leaned over to the ps of skin and pulled out one that had the number ''991'' on it with a finger missing a nail, "Oh! You found this bitch! Thanks, man! Mauro''ll be happy when he gets back!"


    I asked, "What did she do?"


    "..."


    "Logan?"


    I thought for sure that Logan was trying to ignore me but he threw me an expression I haven''t seen before¡ªsimr to Niks'' creepy smile¡ªand it made my skin crawl as he answered, "Ah. Yes, bro-man-dude, still getting used to seeing you and not crapping my pants but yeah, this bitch just joined to get close to Mauro so she could sell her own drugs from a different supplier.


    Weird shit, I know¡ª they should''ve known we had our own sources and we''re not gonna make a 3-digit be a middleman for a rival gang."


    "That''s it?"


    Logan shook his head, "You don''t understand, she made a few of ours peddle stepped-on shit and it ruined our name for quite a while. We made her stay after making her stop and a brutal DA but she kept on doing that shit on our other outpost before everything you know, ended."


    I nodded pensively, "I see," then I turned back to Jesus, "So, that other one¡­"


    "You''re really nosy, huh?"


    "Yep."


    "Hah! Straight to the point, I like it," Jesus said as he lifted the other cooler, "Don''t puke though."


    At this point, Jesus lifted up the lid but he was looking me straight in the eye as he did it. However, right as my eyesnded on whatever the fuck was inside that cooler, I should''ve paid more attention to his advice.


    What''s inside was actually a head of a Sentry that started growing more irises in one of its eyeballs but I got the shock of my life when Jesus lifted up its cracked-open head and revealed more mini eyeballs that were tethered together with fibrous tissue¡ªpacking them inside the eye socket¡ªlooking like a fucked-up version of those Nerds rope candies when he tried to untangle them.


    It''s just that the "untangled" parts started to slither back to their brethren before they pulsed a few times and then looked like they were chillin''.

 Chapter 854: Deals - Woody

    Seeing another mutation for the first time in a while made the jolly atmosphere somber for a minute but Jesus was the first one to put on a smile before throwing the head back into the cooler.


    Doing that could''ve damaged the new specimen¡ªbecause of its cracked head and all¡ªbut that thing surviving Jesus'' driving probably meant that their group uncovering it was aplete ident.


    They could''ve picked it up after a brush-in with a weird horde but I wouldn''t be sure unless we know the whole story.


    ''It could also be a Stitcher''s pawn but that in itself is a special¡­''


    I was still in my thoughts when Jesus spoke up.


    "Enough about that shit. Mauro will deal with that when he¡ª"


    I cut him off, "How much?"


    "What?" Jesus turned to me, much like everyone else who heard my voice.


    "That head, how much would you sell it for?"


    Jesus turned to Quinn before looking back at me, "Are you for real? What are you gonna do with it?"


    I kept a straight face, "I''m gonna be honest with all of you¡­"


    ''Partially¡­''


    I continued, "I''m not collecting heads per se but I also have some sort of deal going on with a smaller DDR Camp that''s close to mine. They have a small team that''s working on this¡­ this thing and they need all the specimens they could get their hands on¡­ especially¡­ you know, these specials that are starting to turn into something else."


    "..."


    "And if you don''t mind me asking, where did youe upon that thing?"


    "..."


    "Jesus?"


    "..."


    I scratched the back of my head, "Do I need to give you some offerings to answer or¡ª"


    "N-N-No¡­ It''s just¡­" Once again, Jesus turned to Quinn before looking back at me but it seemed like he didn''t have much say in the decision-making process in regard to the head he procured himself.


    However, Quinn just shook her head as she turned to me and said, "You really want that head?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. I''ll pay something that''s¡ª"


    "Take it. It''s free."


    "WHAT?!" Everyone else eximed.


    I thought for sure that Logan would eventually get in between us but Dave was the one who stood up.


    "Quinn. He''s willing to pay for it and need I remind you what the other camp''s offering for this kind of find. Also, we should also consult Mauro first before making a decision like this because he''s already pissed as is about the gen room, he''s¡ª"


    "I don''t care one bit about how he feels about it! Need I remind you all that that project of his almost cost everyone here their lives?! YOUR SISTER''S THERE TOO, WEREN''T YOU SO AGAINST IT?!"


    Dave couldn''t hide the anger on his face, "That''s not fair. We''re talking about the whole thing here¡ª"


    "And I said, he should have it for free! Do you have any idea what he did for this ce already?! I''m in charge while Mauro''s away and you all should just follow it! He was the one¡ª"


    I cut her off as I poked him with the same stick Jesus found, "Hey, settle down. I already said I''ll pay for it. Besides, we shouldn''t go behind Mauro''s back just because he''s away¡ª"


    "Why do you all keep poking me with that stick?! I''ll break it in half and shove it in your asses if you don''t stop!"


    Jesusmented from the side, "Jesus, I didn''t even see him take it¡­"


    Logan started chuckling from the same position, "He said the thing, he said the thing¡­ kukuku¡­"


    I anchored us back to the main point, "As I was saying, I''m not in agreement with the way the gen room was handled but it still set back this ce because of what we did. I know it doesn''t make a lot of sense¡ªgoing against myself¡ªbut we still need to give Mauro some face because he''s the one actually in charge of your family.


    That was a bad judgment call but we shouldn''t go against his back just because he did something bad or if we just feel like it."


    Quinn shook her head, "First time I see someone deny free shit."


    I waved her off, "I would have just taken it if it was any other day but this is different. How about this? You guys keep it for now and if we managed to get ahold of Mauro, I''ll talk to him instead and offer a deal. If he doesn''t agree, I''ll respect it but if he agrees, I''ll just send over whatever we made a deal on¡ªplus their wedding gifts¡ªonce Quinn gets back¡ª"


    Logan''s ears perked up, "Hold up, when she gets back? Where is she going?"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    "I do, actually¡­ Can Ie¡ª"


    "No."


    "..."


    There was a weird moment of silence but I continued.


    "Anyway~ Dave, what''s the DDR Camp you''re in contact with offering for that head?"


    Dave turned to me just as he lit up a cigarette, "We''ve been able to get jeeps or trucks for the most part¡ªplus a few parts we seeying around but they did promise us an APC or even a working tank if we find something special."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah."


    I scratched my chin, "I get it if they''re giving you a tank¡ª Heck, I even want one in my ce but in regards to APCs, can''t you just make one? Besides, if I remember correctly, we received a few from different countries but the one we made ourselves are MX-8s and they''re produced in consideration of trekking jungles.


    I dunno about you all but with our fuel starting to get past the expiration date, shouldn''t you ask for something else?"


    Logan interjected, "Like what though?"


    "Why don''t you tell me what you need and I''ll see what I can do about it?"


    Dave scoffed, "You''re dodging the question. We''re in possession of something you want and the oh-so-generous DDR Camp covets. Why don''t you tell me what you could offer so that we can decide ourselves who to make a deal with?"


    "Oh? You wanna go that route eh?"


    "You started it, so spill."


    I chuckled, "I have everything though, that''s why I''m asking what you wanted¡ª"


    Logan interjected, "Bullshit, you just said you don''t have a tank!"


    "Oh? You want me to reveal the fucking firepower I possess? Funny. Just saying, I came here in a helicopter the first time and the boat for the second time. Think, what else I don''t have? Do you want me toe in a convoy next?


    Kinda wasteful though don''t you think?"


    As soon as I said that, Dave and Logan were at a loss for words but Jesus had a glint in his eye before he leaned close.


    "Do¡­ Do you have a Woody?"


    Everyone else gave us weird looks but Jesus being the station wagon dude made me get it the first time.


    I let out a smile, "The Woody Wagon?"


    He never looked so excited, "Yes!"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Ha!"


    "But I have the means so you''d be able to make one."


    "Huh?"


    "Ask Quinn, she''ll tell you."


    Quinn shook her head, "What now? Oh!" she turned to Jesus while nodding, "This guy fucking machined a ''67 body for Ongkiko''s 2014 model for the GT500."


    "Everyone can do that with the right measurements¡ª"


    "Let me finish, he freestyled that shit with one look. I bet he could do the same thing with enough pictures or something. The car you''re asking for is rarer than the ''67 GT500 but if you''re gonna settle for a replica¡ªbut made by your own hands? He''s your guy."


    "..."


    Once again, the whole ce had gone silent but everyone from the De Leon Family looked like they were imagining their dream car being built by their own hands and driving it in the sunset or whatever time of day they preferred. Even the two who were so against me at this moment¡ªDave and Logan¡ªwere smiling like idiots as they were deep in their heads with the same thought.


    It''s just that the one single person that already had their dream ride mmed her palms together and brought them back to reality.


    "HEY! Way to wear your poker faces! Having second thoughts now, huh?"


    Hearing Quinn''s words, it seemed like I found something that would make each of them readily agree to our deal but since Dave wanted to y the game with me, I had to make him¡ªwell, everyone else sweat for a little bit and aim the target at his head.


    "You see, since we''re all basically friends¡­ I would''ve just given you a ''blueprint'' of sorts for free, you know¡­ but since a certain someone *cough* *cough* Dave *cough* *cough* excuse me, went that route with me, I HAVE to negotiate a certain price for my designs¡­"


    It didn''t even take for everyone to stare Dave down and Jesus was the first one to crack. He was this fucking close to offering me the cooler with everything else in his possession because with these gearheads, having their dream car was literally their dream.


    "Yo~ Buddy~ W-What would it t-take for the d-design for the W-Woody?"


    I answered with a straight face, "Salvation?"


    "Wut? Fuck it, how many salvations do you want?! Two?! Four?! I''ll give as much as you need!" Jesus started to get hysterical from my joke because he took it a little too seriously.


    "I was just joking, man¡ª"


    "I''LL SUCK YOUR DICK!"


    "Haaah?!"


    Everyone tried to pull him away from me, "Jesus, no!"

 Chapter 855: Deals II - Black Powder

    It was chaos for a few seconds but once everything calmed down, it was decided to actually wait for Mauro''s decision once contact has been made. However, Jesus was still too excited to be able to build a Woody with his own two hands, he was trailing behind me like how a deranged junkie would follow a dealer that had a bag of dope with holes in them.


    ''I thought Isaac following behind me was already creepy¡­ Tatiana did too at first but they weren''t looking at me like this¡­''


    In any case, it was totally understandable because aside from a few exceptions, most of the dream cars people wanted were still obtainable by simply liberating an auto shop, driving into a rich neighborhood, or like what I did, fashioning a body that would somehow make it look like the car they wanted.


    For example, lowriders had a certain niche in a particr culture but station wagons¡ªespecially a Woody¡ªhad a¡­ a¡­ for ack of a better term, a more particr niche amongst car enthusiasts.


    It''s within a niche of another niche so even though the Woody was famous in its own right, the number of people that love them¡ªmuch less own them, was much lower than the people that adore lowriders or something simr. Not to mention the insane price tag an original Woody would have, owning one just for shits and giggles was fucking impossible.


    In my case, I had almost an equal love for muscle cars and tuners but the number of people that had the same sentiment as me was more than twice¡ªfuck it, ten times the actual number of Woody enthusiasts.


    But to get out of this rabbit hole, let''s just say that Jesus'' taste for cars was unique among his family.


    Isaac eventually nudged me, "Bro, that guy''s still following behind us¡­"


    "You''re not included?"


    "Huh?"


    "I''m just trying to see the view and you''re trailing me like you''d get some insights just from me walking!"


    "I was just¡ª"


    Jesus interjected while he was rubbing his palms together like a shady businessman, "My guy, is there any chance you''d trade the Woody''s blueprints for something else?"


    "I already told everyone: no head, no blueprints¡ª"


    "I ALREADY SAID THAT I''LL SUCK YOUR DICK, WHAT''S THE MATTER WITH¡ª"


    I suddenly had the urge to kick his shin and I acted upon it, "DIFFERENT KIND OF HEAD!"


    To my surprise, Jesus not only endured the paining from his shin, but he also kept a straight face as he tried to argue with me.


    "C''mon, my guy! I''m not the one in charge here! But do know that I''ll swing the vote in your favor if it everes to that! Well, you already had Quinn''s favor so that''s half the battle already but I have more pull because I was the one who actually found it¡ª"


    "By the way, you haven''t answered me."


    "Hmm?"


    "Where did you actually find it?"


    Jesus was about to answer quickly but he had a thought, "How did you and Quinn happen though? Does your wife know?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Are you gonna answer my question or are you gonna answer with another question?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Fuck it, I''ll give that one to you. We fucked and we liked it. There. Are you gonna answer mine now?"


    Jesus'' eyes had never been so round, "R-Really? You two¡­"


    "Yep."


    "Huh. B-But how¡ª before that, you know? You should''ve done something?"


    "And~ I''m getting duped, see yater¡ª"


    "W-Wait! I''ll answer! I''ll answer! We came upon it in this hot spring we used to frequent¡­ It''s actually the owner of the ce¡ªhe was¡­ it was still intact¡ªthe body''s still whole among other things, I mean¡ªwhen we came upon it and we had to redirect arge horde away from it and put up a trap to burn them somece else."


    "Again, where?"


    Jesus looked at me weirdly before realization struck, "Oh! I see, I see¡­ It''s actually close to this huge-ass university in Cavite wait¡ª I think it''s more in Tagaytay¡­ we had to drive down this narrow up-and-down passage, you know.


    It''s one of those natural hot springs that aren''t that famous to begin with and only a few people know about¡ªand the family who owned it didn''t even bother to get the word out and was just satisfied with their customers and shit¡­"


    As he tried to continue his story, I tried to pinpoint the exact location with an internal map in my head¡ªplus my own experience being close to the area while I was still in college¡ªbut unfortunately, the ce was something even I have heard of or ventured to. I even tried to remember if I saw some signs in passing but there was never a match urring in my head.


    I would have to have been a local in that certain barangay or a tourist that wanted to experience everything in that area but unfortunately, I was neither of those and honestly, I wasn''t that keen on going out at that time in my life.


    With that said, it seemed like Jesus was telling me the whole truth just for me to give in to his requests because I have something that he could only dream of having. But as luck would have it, it seemed like the ce was a little isted so I instantly thought of something that Jesus and I could somehow work a deal on.


    I cut him off as he tried to provide more random information, "Jesus."


    "Yes, child?"


    Isaac almost choked from the sudden response, "KeK¡ª Fucker¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Good one, Father. Anyway, you said that it''s a natural hot spring, right?"


    "Yeah? What about it?"


    "Is it the only one there or are there any other natural hot springs that are closer?"


    Jesus started to think as he rubbed his chin, "Hmmrgh~ Well~ There are a few but they''re a little too much, you know? The smoke from those yellow stuff would sometimes make my eyes watery but the ones we frequent have them just right. Oh!


    There are a few spots where it''s kinda irritating but it''s still tolerable¡ª and only a few peoplee and go so it isn''t much trouble, we just avoid it and pick the best spot."


    ''Well, we should start somewhere¡­''


    I let out a faint smile, "Great, can you take us there tomorrow? You''re not busy or anything, aren''t you¡ª"


    "N-No! I''m free all week! I''ll bring the whole crew so you and your guys will be safe¡ª Ah, I''m not saying that you can''t protect yourselves, you know¡­ Ahaha¡­ I''m just saying that we know the area quite well and that''s a huge advantage, right?"


    "Right. It''ll be perfect since we''ll be visiting somewhere close and I''ll need a proper tour guide."


    "It''s perfect! We just cleared the area and there won''t be that many zombies around. I''ll be the best tour guide you ever had and I''ll make sure that you and your crew will be able to rx for the whole day without any interruptions!"


    I waved him off, "That''s great. But we won''t be there the whole day though¡ª"


    "Right! I forgot, you can''t just soak in for the whole day without passing out, hahaha¡­ A-Anyway, I rmend us to drive outside maybe around 4 in the morning so we''ll be there around 5 or 6. It''s really great around that time, trust me."


    "Alright."


    "Great! Will that equal the blueprint perchance?"


    I let out a wicked smile, "We''ll see¡ª"


    "C''mon, my guy! Argh! You got me by my balls here! What else can I give you?!"


    At this point, our conversation had once again gone back to him begging me for the Woody''s blueprints but little did I know that someone close was listening in. For a group of gearheads and gym rats, I didn''t even think that one of them knew what I was actually going for.


    And it was none other than the Queen herself.


    "Looking to get some sulfur on the down low, huh? Why don''t you just go for the volcano close by?"


    Jesus turned around to see Quinn who had her hands on her waist, "Sulfur? What?"


    Quinnpletely ignored Jesus as she stared right back at me, "What? Cat got your tongue? You''ve worked Jesus pretty well, giving you valuable info like that, but luckily I wanted to get my pussy licked and I was just about to get you and here we are!"


    I waved her off, "It''s not like that¡ª"


    "Then tell me. Are you making what I think you''re making or do you really wanna just soak for a bit and cool off¡ª I mean¡­ not cool off but you know what I mean, right?"


    Jesus interjected, "Alright, what the fuck are you two talking about?"


    At this point, a few were already wondering why we were huddled away from them so I just shook my head as I gave Jesus an answer:


    "We''re making gun¡ª no, just straight-up ck powder."

 Chapter 856: Side Glances and Chocolate Milk

    To be a little transparent, I doubt we''d be worrying about raw materials for ammunition¡ªeven though it has been quite a while since the world ended¡ªbut it''s always a given to secure key points such as the source for obtaining sulfur among other things.


    And yeah, ck powder isn''t strong enoughpared to smokeless gunpowder we use in our current guns but there''s always another way to make use of them¡ªand yeah, muzzleloaders were still a thing.


    ''Also, in my honest opinion, who''d fucking give away the chance to fire a fucking cannon at a deadhead?''


    Going back to our current conversation with Quinn and Jesus, our giantess looked like she expected a different answer while Jesus looked at me like I was¡ªfor theck of a better term, Him.


    "You can make that shit, my guy?! That''s incredible¡ª"


    I quickly waved him off, "I KNOW how to make that shit but I haven''t actually TRIED making said shit¡­ Let''s not get ahead of ourselves. It''d take a lot of trial and error and I won''t just offer my fingers as a tribute for the chance to make them."


    Quinn interjected, "Did you just say ck powder? I thought it was called gunpowder. Is there any difference between the two?"


    "Depends, actually¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    For the sake of saving time and my sanity, I brought them over to the main group and started a ss then and there. It''s just that 90% of the attendees had already fallen asleep after a couple of sentences they didn''t understand. But yeah, gunpowder and ck powder could still be used interchangeably but smokeless gunpowder was totally different.


    It was because it had another ingredient aside from the OGs: saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur¡ªand even though it was called "smokeless", it still produced smoke but not to the same extent as its predecessor. Furthermore, smokeless gunpowder had three different sses¡ªording to their chemicalposition¡ªbut again, let''s not get ahead of ourselves.


    And after I finished that short ss, I informed the ones who were awake about the n to drive out at 4 in the morning.


    Quinn instantly protested, "Four?! Who fucking wakes up at four?! I thought you two were kidding that time!"


    Kaley sheepishly interjected, "Do we need to prepare anything else?"


    Yes, they were the only ones awake.


    I turned to Kaley, "Just the usual stuff," then I turned to Quinn, "You''reing with us?"


    "Of course, I''ming! That hot spring''s legendary! It''s like our own personal spot! But four?! Why do we have to wake up¡ª"


    "No, we should be DRIVING out at 4¡ª"


    "WHAT?! Then we''re gonna wake up at 3 at least! FUCK! We should be heading back like right fucking now! C''mon! We''re burning precious hours here!"


    At this point, Quinn was about to drag us back to our vehicle but I managed to hold onto Tatiana''s hand and wake her up. She groggily opened her eyes but she quickly followed behind us and left Jose and Isaac to fend for themselves against the wolves. However, right as we were about to board my Raptor, Quinn looked at me weirdly before pointing at the Impreza I had driven earlier.


    "You, take that back."


    I had never looked so confused, "To the same spot with the Charger?"


    "No, dumbass. You drive that back with us. Trust me, our chef would love to see that being driven after everything that has happened."


    "Oh¡­ right."


    "Yeah."


    With that said, Kaley drove shotgun with me and Iunched the car out of the industrial park,pletely leaving Quinn and Tatiana in the dust. I already knew the way back but it was a sight to see even Quinn''s people lose their shit when the No. 2''s ride pulled up in front of them.


    And yeah, the look on Mr. Ng''s face was fucking priceless and he lost his shit even more when Kaley gave her seat for him. I drove him around right until Quinn almost crashed the gate because of us leaving them, but her expression softened when she saw Mr. Ng smiling brightly for once.


    To bepletely honest with the old dude, I don''t see him as my father figure but in the case that he sees me as a shadow of his son¡ªdue to a few mannerisms and my driving style¡ªI wouldn''t mind it as much.


    Making someone happy just by being myself was rewarding in its own right.


    And speaking on that same topic, I was about to be supper happy from these three people just being themselves in this certain garage¡ªspecifically on the 2nd floor. I already knew that something was up when they weren''t present when Mr.


    Ng handed me another quarter to drive him around the strip mall again, so I expected to experience something heavenly the moment I ascended the stairs, and I wasn''t even talking about the sex yet.


    Not only was our gear already prepared for tomorrow, but we also had another feast cooked for us apanied by our drink of choice be it absinthe, vodka, wine, or just good ol'' chocte milk.


    I instantly turned to Kaley, "You should''ve waited for me so I could''ve helped you!"


    Kaley let out a bright smile as she chuckled, "It''s fine¡ª"


    Quinn and Tatiana protested at the same time, "We''re here too, you know?!


    Tatiana added, "I carried all the food here!"


    "Oh. Thanks too, I guess¡ª"


    Quinn looked like she wanted to receive some praise as well, "I¡­ I prepared the drink, dumbass! Thank me too¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, from picking it up from that fridge a few steps away¡ª"


    "DO YOU WANNA FIGHT OR WHAT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I''m kidding! I''m kidding! Thanks! This is really great!"


    "HMPH!"


    Without further ado, we easily devoured our meal in under 15 minutes but Quinn still couldn''t believe herself when I opted for this soy chocte milk drink instead of an ice-cold beer. But yeah, I didn''t think they''d even have this drink avable so I easily helped myself with it.


    However, it didn''t take long before a certain silence filled the air as we were just briefly giving each other side nces.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    After a minute or so, a smile slowly crept up our faces then Kaley sat on top of me and nted a huge kiss on my mouth. To my delight, her wine choice blended well with my drink and we tasted each other''s lips until the taste was almost nonexistent.


    We were still clothed at this point but I could see Kaley''s deep cleavage if I look down, but when I nced to the side, I saw Quinn and Tatiana still with their drinks and watching us with a certain look in their eyes. They weren''t even touching themselves¡ªand they weren''t even right next to each other, but they were enjoying the show as much as I was relishing my tasty dessert.


    With that said, Kaley''s lips were the only ones I have direct contact with but her gigantic tits were pressing against my chest while the huge outline of my dick was poking her from below.


    I could feel her hips moving ever so slightly while trying to get as much contact as possible, but it was almost impossible to get a release due to the thick fabric between us. But despite that, we craved that tinge of pleasure we''d feel if we hit the right spot.


    But to everyone''s surprise¡ªespecially me¡ªI felt a warm and wet spot right where the tip of my dick was rubbing against her crotch, and Kaley just started to convulse and twitch, breaking off our kiss so she could breathe easy.


    However, I kissed her cheek and moved on to her neck, eventuallynding on her deep cleavage that smelled like thebination of her natural sweet scent plus a bit of sweat.


    I couldn''t help but take in a huge whiff while I was giving her kisses and it just made my dick throb even more. Even if Kaley had already orgasmed, she still tried to move her hips¡ªbut she was slightly inching back because of the sensitivity. In turn, I grabbed her big juicy butt and pulled her even closer while she still had a tight grip on the sofa with one hand and my shoulder with the other.


    And as I started to move my hips against her, her cute little moans started to get louder and louder right until she covered her mouth.


    It''s just that I pulled her hand off her face to see her helpless expression but she got too embarrassed and buried her face on my shoulder.


    I dunno why, but Kaley was being super cute at this moment, it was starting to get too much for me. So, I stopped pulling her ass against me and went under her shirt from behind her, and just started to undo her bra that was holding her goodies.


    And right when I seeded, I felt them drop down for a teensy bit¡ªreleasing her cow tits¡ªand I pulled it off her before I tried to reach for them in my position.


    They''re as firm as they were soft and they were slightly warm to the touch. I had to pull Kaley off of me so I could have a good look, and I had the urge to suck on her pink puffy nipples because they were already fucking hard.


    And on that note, I sucked on the right one as I pinched the other and it didn''t take long before Kaley let out a sharp gasp as our lower extremities had once again felt wet and warmer.

 Chapter 857: Round-Robin

    This time, the feeling of wetness was even stronger and Kaley was shaking more intensely. It was a well-known fact that she could cum just from kissing but she would cum even harder just from nipple stimtion. I had never been with someone that was this sensitive¡ªeven more when she was with me¡ªand I was a lucky bastard if I say so myself.


    And in a span of a few minutes, Kaley had already orgasmed twice but for some reason, Quinn and Tatiana were keeping count.


    "That''s twice already~" Quinn said with a voice in a higher register before chuckling with Tatiana.


    The two still had their eyes on us the whole time but Kaley looked like she was out of luck. She was grumbling a little bit as I continued to y with her huge breasts, but she let out an abrupt sigh¡ªlooking unsatisfied¡ªbeforeing off me.


    However, she pulled out a small tie from her pocket, holding it in her mouth for a moment before fixing her hair, eventually kneeling in front of me as her hands were already reaching for my zipper.


    "There we go~" Quinnughingly quipped as she stared right at me.


    Kaley grumbled as she pulled my dick out, "S-Shut up¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-It''s not your t-turn yet¡­"


    "I''m next though?"


    "..."


    At this point, Kaley ended the quick banter with Quinn as she locked eyes with me before lowering her head into my cock.


    I instantly felt her warm breath from the tip of my cock before she licked off the precum from the same spot, but it didn''t take long before she took me to the depths of her throat. My knees instantly buckled from the sudden burst of sensations but she reached for my hand and intertwined it with hers.


    But after that, she made me hold her hair with the other as she started to bob her head up and down¡ªcoiling her tongue around me at the same time¡ªalmost urging me to use her head like a fuck toy.


    And yeah, all it took was a sudden squeeze from her hand¡ªtelling me to do just that¡ªas I forced her head down and pulled it right back up, giving her almost no chance to breathe as my dick was clogging her throat.


    "MmH! GlcK! gLk! GAK! GlcKK! AglCkK!"


    I had no fucking idea what the other two were doing right now but Kaley was still maintaining eye contact with me even though her eyes were already red and watery from fucking her throat.


    I could''vested much longer if I so wanted but due to the way she was squeezing my hand and due to the way her body was sending me signals, she was this fucking close to cumming so I tried my best to cum at the same time¡ªor anywhere near closer¡ªshe would.


    Without further fucking ado, my whole body just tensed as I exploded right before she was about to go deep, so my cum just poured inside her mouth, filling it to the brim while a few ropes were dripping to the side of her lips and then to her chin.


    Kaley tried her best to take everything in her mouth but I just came too fucking much, I still had a few spurts that werending on her breasts. Even Kaley found it ridiculous¡ªme cumming a bucketload¡ªbut Quinn had already got up and was sticking her tongue down Kaley''s throat.


    Quinn looked like she wanted to steal what Kaley just worked hard for so I grabbed on her head and made her clean me up like the cum-loving vixen she was. She surprisingly didn''t mind sucking my dick instead but Kaley had already gotten up and sat down on Quinn''s spot.


    Kaley still looked like she wanted more and once she was about to put her hand inside her pants, Tatiana threw her a nce and stopped her.


    "That''s not what you said we''d do, correct?"


    "Hnngh¡­"


    At that moment, Kaley stopped what she was about to do but she was still squeezing her thighs together¡ªwhile breathing heavily, trying to get as much stimtion as possible.


    With that said, I didn''t even care why they wanted to do that in the first ce and I had no qualms because my dick was being sucked by the Queen herself. And to her delight, my dick was still fucking hard, so once she cleaned me up nicely, she threw me at the same spot I was in before she rode me hard.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT WENT IN JUST LIKE THAT! SHIT! IT''S SCRAPING AGAINST MY¡ª AH!


    AH! AH! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! SUCK ON MY FUCKING T-TITS! AH! ANH!


    MMH! YEAH! YEAH! FUCK! JUST LIKE THAT!"


    At this moment, Quinn''s whole weight was just crashing down on me while she was smothering me with her tits almost twice the size of Kaley''s udders. I was definitely losing air from the way she was almost titfucking my head but if you''d ask anyone, it felt like one of the best ways to die.


    However, it seemed like Quinn wanted to make full use of me until it was Tatiana''s turn because she let off for a bit before grabbing my hands.


    She screamed as she looked me in the eye while still moving her hips, "WHY AREN''T YOU PLAYING WITH MY BUTTHOLE, HUH?! D''YOU WANT ME TO PLAY WITH YOURS INSTEAD?! I''LL FUCKING DO IT! I''LL FUCKING¡ª"


    And while she was still in mid-sentence, I pushed in as many fingers as I can inside her little butthole before I stretched them open and tried to sink them in a little more. It definitely made her stop fucking talking for a fucking second but boy~ was I fucking wrong.


    Quinn just grumbled that she wanted it to go deeper before she stood up and turned around and bent over, presenting to me her huge ass and gaping holes¡ªand without fucking warning, she shoved my huge dick back inside her meaty cunt before she guided my right hand inside her budding asshole.


    "FUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK~!!!"


    The moment my fist entered her ass, she barely moved her hips before she squirted uncontrobly, almost losing her footing from her bent position.


    I swear I''m a fucking tits guy but the view from her behind almost made me cum then and there. But yeah, feeling my dick slide in her tight cunt with my fist that was just on the other side was fucking nuts when Quinn managed to move her hips up and down.


    I had never thought that this huntress would fall prey to me and my dick, and she was now making me push in my left hand to where my right was currently in¡ªand if I managed to, I sure as hell would use her ass as a close-grip handle instead of her hips if I wanted to push my dick in even deeper.


    And even though I have some reservations about the pain she might feel if I tried to as I was told, it was just secondary right now because pleasure had already taken over. She said it before, she could take much, much rougher treatment than any woman on the, so I shoved my fist at the same spot without any lubrication.


    At this moment, Quinn''s ass was stretched to its limits but she kept moving her hips so my dick could continue to impale her.


    She was letting out helpless moans as she melted into the pleasure, and she eventually lost her footing as she was now down on her knees¡ªhead down and ass up¡ªboth holes gaping wide, so I had no choice but to stand above her and plug her hole that wasn''t squirting for the second time.


    And despite my fists up in there a few seconds ago, Quinn just gave me easy ess before she gripped me tight, choking my dick and squeezing off the cream that was from her pussy also a few seconds ago.


    Her screams were muffled by the carpet her head was smushed in but I grabbed her short hair as I was thrusting my hips below her. And once I pulled on them and brought her up on all fours, I started smacking her huge round ass as hard as I could, making it resound all around her garage.


    With that said, even though she came for the third time, Tatiana let me explode in her mouth, letting her slurp and drink all ourbined juices, but unlike Kaley, Quinn managed to take everything in. Her eyes were as red and as teary as Kaley''s when she was cleaning me with her tongue and her mouth, but when Tatiana''s voice entered our ears, it had never made the two so fucking happy.


    "Fuck this round-robin shit, you three are fucking me until I fucking pass out! Clear?"


    And to make the long story short, Kaley was the first one to put on a strapless dildo¡ªalmost making herself cum from doing so¡ªwhile Quinn followed after a short bit, and we fucked Tatiana''s brains out until she passed out on the couch, trembling.


    It didn''t take long before Quinn passed out as well after Kaley and I double-teamed her, but I did prate Kaley''s holes at the same time by fucking her pussy with my dick and shoving the huge-ass dildo in her little asshole. And yeah, I did let her toss my sd for the second time when we cleaned up in the shower and she respected my notion to deny any insertion.


    With that said, the two of us slept soundly on Quinn''s bed while the two passed out in the living room of sorts.


    Then morning came up.

 Chapter 858: Its just a prank, bro!

    There was one thing that we forgot despite trying to prepare everything beforehand and it was to set a proper rm. However, that didn''t mean that Jesus and his crew did not, so let''s just say that the four of us were literally met with a rude awakening.


    A resounding explosion just came out of nowhere and screaming instantly followed.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, JESUS?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "I''M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"


    The sudden explosion jolted Kaley and me awake but Quinn screaming at the top of her lungs made us jump from our bed. But right as we were about to rush outside, it only took a fraction of a second before the door to this room swung open, and several smoking packets were thrown inside. And almost immediately, a putrid fucking smell assaulted our noses, and the fucking door was also closed shut.


    A few seconds had just passed but our eyes were watery while we were trying so fucking hard not to throw up, but I pulled on the nket we had and gathered the corners, making a makeshift pouch.


    "Kaley! T-Throw them here!"


    "WHAT?! JUST BUST THE DOOR OPEN!"


    "WE DON''T KNOW WHAT''S OUT THERE!"


    "F-FUCK IT, BLEUUGHH!!! BLEG¡ª I''M RUNNING OUTSIDE!!!"


    "KALEY, NO!!!"


    My original n was to gather the packets and throw them inside the shower room¡ªand somehow douse them with water¡ªbut everything was thrown out the window when Kaley rushed for the door. And yeah, simply running inside the showers and waiting it out was also an option but just the fucking smell from those packets made us think irrationally.


    There was something about using stink as weapons and it was working its fucking wonders.


    However, all of the rms in my head were ringing when Kaley easily opened the door¡ªand something was definitely wrong when Kaley saw the scene from the other side.


    Not only did she backpedal almost immediately, but she also turned to me with an expression I had never seen before.


    If we were home and just messing around, I would''ve run faster than her but even if this ce was Quinn''s domain, it was still unfamiliar territory. Seeing Kaley scared for her life triggered my fight-or-flight response, and Iunched myself outside after grabbing the closest thing I could use as a weapon.


    The first thing I saw was this huge hole where a brick wall with several picture frames was supposed to be, but Quinn was inside several rolls of yoga mats¡ªgetting tightened by resistance bands while Tatiana was fucking missing. Furthermore, Jesus and his crew were all present with a deranged look on their faces, and they all turned to me slowly, looking like they''d eat me alive.


    "FRESH MEAT, BOIS¡ª"


    "WHY''S HIS DICK OUT¡ª"


    "WHAT''S THAT ON HIS HANDS?!"


    But before they had the chance to do anything to me, I dashed and got between everyone and aimed for the ringleader as I smashed a 24-inch dildo with a 10-inch diameter on his fucking face.


    "FUCK¡ª"


    Jesus had no fucking way to dodge because I released every bit of killing intent I had and contained it in the circle where everyone else is present, making them fall to their knees or freeze in ce.


    At that point, he flipped in the air due to a huge fucking fake penis and I aimed for the one next to him even if he was already pissing his pants.


    I didn''t even notice that my fingers had already dug into the blunt weapon I was holding, and it ripped from my hand due to how hard I was gripping it, and due to how hard I smacked the living shit out of my immobilized targets.


    In a couple of seconds, I took down their savior plus a little extra but when I turned around to fuck up thest four, two of them managed to snap out of it and were about to jump me from the air while the other two were about to go for my legs. However, I quickly backpedaled like Kaley before I rushed back when the two who were about to perform a jumping attacknded on their feet.


    "SHIT¡ª"


    "WHY''S HE STILL FUCKING HARD?!"


    I was this fucking close to fucking them up but Ipletely forgot that I was still in the nude¡ªsporting a huge fucking morning wood¡ªswinging it around as I took down two of them. It made me stop in my tracks but they took it as the chance to get back at me.


    However, Tatiana just came from the huge hole in the wall and I didn''t even know how she fucking did it, and boy I''m gonna tell all of you that she had never looked so pissed.


    Dust and debris were present on her hair and face; by the looks of it, she looked like she went through hell and back just for this little "prank" they put us on. However, I just noticed that her fists were already bruised¡ªmeaning that she probably took down Meg who was also missing.


    ''Shit. This is gonna get out of hand real quick¡ª''


    But before we did anything that could cause permanent damage, I slipped, slid, and dodged the iing attacks towards me, and I got in between them¡ªrevealing Tatiana''s presence and current intention. Because if looks could literally kill, everyone present would have been dead already.


    It''s just that Tatiana was really aiming to do just that so I held her down and tried to calm her down.


    "Easy, now¡ª"


    "THEY PULLED ME OUT OF THE BUILDING!!!"


    "Huh?"


    "THEY TIED ME TO THE COUCH WHILE I WAS SLEEPING AND THEY BLEW THE WALL THEN PULLED ME OUT WITH IT!"


    "Oh."


    "IS THAT ALL YOU''RE GONNA FUCKING SAY?!"


    And at this point, I chuckled as I kept my boner and cracked my knuckles and my neck.


    "Yeah~ Fuck it, let''s just break a few unneeded bones so we get to punish them moreter."


    Tatiana cracked her knuckles as well as she began to release her own brand of killing intent, "Agreed."


    "Uh-oh," the four just gulped at the same time before a look of dread appeared on their faces.


    Long story short, we didn''t actually go hard on our would-be tour guides that we actually offended for not waking up at the right time, but let''s just say that we found flesh sheathes for Quinn''s huge-ass toy collection.

 Chapter 859: [Bonus chapter] Responsibility - Youre all seeing that shit, right?

    At 6:30 in the morning, the gate eventually opened for us and we drove out using our Raptor¡ªtrailing behind Jesus and his crew¡ªwho had the station wagon at the front followed by random-ass sedan and SUV. I couldn''t even identify the base model of their vehicles at this point because they were customized to the point that they were basically franken-cars.


    With that said, themunications channel we were in had never been used because we still had a slight headache due to smelling something so fucking foul while they were still sore due to taking in something so fucking big.


    But yeah, Jose and Isaac were a little worse than us because it seemed like they were dragged into this huge weing party for Jesus and his crew and they barely had a wink of sleep.


    "Ughhh¡­ Never again¡­" Isaac groaned from the back.


    "Tough night?"


    "Bro¡­ Those guys¡­ Those guys can fucking drink, I tell ya¡­ And you HAVE to pass out LIKE fucking pass out before they leave you alone¡­"


    "How''d you two survive?"


    Jose answered, "We hid in Jesus'' station wagon, covered ourselves with¡ª Ughh¡­ Fuck my head¡­ we uhh¡­ We covered ourselves with this shitty nket and we had to endure hearing him and Meg having wild sex in the front seat and boy they made fucking use of the gear shift¡ª"


    Isaac interjected after taking a pill for his headache, "Brooo¡­ you should''ve heard her moans¡ª Fuck~ It was so¡ª"


    I tried to wave him off, "That''s enough, dude. Both of you: get some sleep while we''re on the road, I''ll wake you up when we arrive."


    "Really?"


    "Yep."


    "Fuckin'' A, thanks!"


    At that moment, it didn''t even take a second before the two copsed on the back, and even if the four of us had the vehicle to ourselves once again, no one tried to do anything because our noses were basically sniffing the fuck out of the perfume Kaley brought.


    However, it didn''t take long before we drove into this small town of sorts¡ªthe first of the few stops we had to go through¡ªthat had a small crew that belong to the De Leon Family.


    They were inside this radio station of sorts that had decent walls and a nice vantage point provided by the tall antenna tower. It didn''t look like it was self-sustainable but due to how close it was to their main HQ, a simple resupply or run back was very easy to do.


    With that said, Jesus nonchntly used his horn to try and announce our presence and they returned with a few beeps of their horn before a couple of people started to approach the gate. And once they met eyes with Jesus'' crew and our group, their eyes just grew wide when they saw Quinn step out of my vehicle.


    "Ah¡ª Mornin''! W-Wanna have some coffee¡ª"


    Quinn quickly shut the person down, "We''re good," then she turned to Jesus, "What are we doing here again?"


    Jesus answered while he was already holding a box of various supplies, "We''rete. Might as well do this on the way. At the rate we''re going, we''ll probably reach the springs in four¡ªmaybe five hours."


    "Cheh," Quinn rolled her eyes but didn''t say much.


    Jesus handed over the box to the person they were speaking to, "Here ya go. Anyway, anything we should be careful of?"


    The guy chuckled at the question, "Dude, it''s only been half a day since you stopped by."


    "So?"


    "Huh?"


    "A lot can happen in that timeframe."


    I nodded inwardly, ''True.''


    The guy eventually scratched his head, "Well~ The cameras haven''t picked up on anything, and the traps we set still weren''t triggered yet so it''ll probably be quiet in this front until you know, something happens further out."


    "I see¡ª"


    "Oh! Wait, there IS something."


    "Hmm? What is¡ª"


    "Why the fuck do you look like you got a stick up your ass? Like literally! You look¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At that moment, Jesus tried to shut him up by covering his mouth but Quinn just straight up started dyingughing as everyone else from Jesus'' crew looked like they puckered their butts and failed because of thesting damage that we did.


    I thought we''d lounge around for a bit more but Jesus quickly drove ahead of us to save some face. But after a few miles or so, the same guy started to broadcast what he uncovered to the channels avable, and it was the first time I noticed that Jesus failed to shift properly.


    But looking at the road we were driving currently, it seemed like the dead were nonexistent but each town we''d pass by looked like a ghost town due to the number of people living in them. We drove into a few more outposts¡ªpretty much in the same state as the first one¡ªbut we did have to stop for a bit in one of them because a few of their crew had medical problems we could solve and remedy.


    And to add to that, Jesus looked more and more responsible than he looked cause he made sure everyone had a fair cut of the supplies they brought, everyone was fucking healthy, their vehicles were in working condition, the threat outside was minimal, etc.


    ''Was Quinn just leading by pure tyranny? I mean, the engines she''s building could save everyone a lot of trouble in the future but the pedestal I put her in was starting to get lower and lower¡­''


    I just shook my head from creating that train of thought because even Logan was a fucking single digit. I haven''t met this Jordan guy and that Lucy chick too but I''m thinking that they had a lot of responsibility on their shoulders because they''re probably running a much more important outpost than the ones we stopped by.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before our peaceful ride¡ªrtively speaking¡ªturned into something disturbing when we stopped by one of those rest stops along the road where people on long bus rides can kick it off for a bit or something simr.


    Jesus'' voice was heard on the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re all seeing that shit, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 860: Irregular Rest Stop - Remember, no Russian.

    Just a bit of a refresher: if I ever go out with my crew to do whatever, we make sure to take down any forming hordes, infestations, and the like¡ªeven picking off any stragglers we''de across. And if we''re blessed with the time and some extra gasoline, we''d pile them on top of one another then we''d light them up so they''d turn into cinders.


    But bringing it back to our current situation, it looked like Jesus and his crew hade across this rest stop before.


    It''s just that in this instance, I was thankful that they didn''t clear it of deadheads or so I thought.


    Kaley was the first one to speak up amidst the slight confusion, "They''re¡­ They''re dead, right?"


    At this point, Tatiana and Quinn just silently nodded but we heard Jesus'' voice from the radio a second time.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yo, you guys hearing me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We do, we do. What the fuck is that ce?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A rest stop?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You fucking¡ª Good one, I''ll give you that. But what the fuck are they doing?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Being¡­ normal, I guess? It''s fuckin'' weird, I know. We came across this ce a lot of times and the ones who wander in start to do what the freakin'' Romans inside do.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    No one said another word after that but what we''re seeing was far from the word "normal".


    We''ve seen deadheads do irregr behavior but we''ve never seen such a huge group well, for theck of a better term, act "normal".


    It was because the rest stop in question had deadheads in a line "waiting" for the next bus, "watching" the shops they were in, "sitting" on the tables with their orders, "wiping" the ss panes with their tools, "squatting" in a corner and "chatting" amongst themselves, "peeing" in a random private-ish wall, etc.


    The ce looked like any regr rest stop anyone would drive by but they were totally inhabited by rotting corpses that weren''t even trying to find their next meal.


    What''s disturbing was that even if their motor functions weren''t all there, anyone could see that they were somehow emting what they were doing from their past lives.


    Anyhow, we were still a good distance away from the rest stop in question so we went outside our vehicles without turning off our engines. Furthermore, I fetched thest drone I had on hand while Tatiana and Kaley went ahead and set up a small perimeter for us. Granted every deadhead in the immediate vicinity was already inside the rest stop, it wouldn''t hurt to be extra careful.


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''ll fly it around once to get some footage¡­"


    "Oh? Take your time then," Jesus said as he was about to light his used cigarette.


    Luckily enough, the rest stop wasn''t enclosed in a single roof so I had easy ess navigating my drone around it. And like how it looked from our perspective, there were deadheads around that were either employees or people that were doing the same thing in the other facilities further in.


    However, right as I flew around the 2nd floor of this fast food joint that had ss windows, every deadhead inside took notice of my drone and they all just stood up and stood side by side¡ªheads turning in the same direction my drone was flying to.


    It made the next few seconds a little disturbing but they eventually came back to their stations because they didn''t even care about my drone flying around for the second time. Furthermore, only that particr ce took notice of my drone taking a stroll and gathering footage because everything else inside their little territory was busy "functioning" as usual.


    So once I got enough footage, I brought my drone back and turned to Jesus as I was putting it back in the case, "Since when has that ce been¡­ like that?"


    Jesus shrugged, "I''m not entirely sure but it''s been a few months at least."


    Tatiana interjected, "Have you tried going near them or shooting them?"


    "We¡­ We went near to try and lure them out but they never leave that ce for whatever reason. We''ve encountered deadheads that hunker down in a specific ce like that but they rush you the moment they get near, not the other way around."


    I nodded, "Yeah, we''ve encountered a nest of sprinters like that pretty early on¡­"


    "Sprinters? Fuck, you guys must be pretty experienced with them, getting away¡ª"


    "Getting away? No, we cleared that ce and discovered a dead toddler that could say words¡­"


    "Don''t¡­ Stop. I can handle regr zombs just fine but if they''re that young, I can''t even imagine¡­"


    "My bad, my bad¡­"


    At that point, Jesus shared a few bits of stories from their travels while I was reviewing the footage I just caught. It involved some of the weirdest and most disturbing shit I''ve heard to the most fucked up and dumb shit we''ve also encountered.


    Being on the road pretty much their whole lives was pretty difficult in this scenario because practically living in your vehicle was already hard even before the world ended, imagine living the "Van Life" when pretty much anything that walked outside was a potential flesh eater.


    Jesus flicked off his cigarette butt, "So, what''s your n for that thing?"


    "It looks to me that it''s like an irregr infestation of sorts but looking at the disy on some of the stands and the state of some of the vehicles present¡ªas obvious as this would sound, it was formed after some time."


    "Haa?"


    I scratched the back of my head, "I mean¡ªI''m just saying, people have probably picked that ce clean or even used it as a base of sorts but my bet is that a special deadhead was making them act like that. It''s just that its main purpose wasn''t to infect the uninfected but to do as is, like what they were doing before."


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "It''s always a given that zombie was programmed to attack the living¡ªspecial or not¡ªbut the question is, where''s the deadhead that''s responsible? The obvious answer is that it''s probably inside their zone but how sure are we that they''re not gonna pounce on us the moment we enter it? You said that you guys tried to lure them out but you never told me if you tried to drive inside."


    "That''s true¡ª"


    Quinn interjected after rolling her eyes, "The question should be, do you want to clear that ce or not? Acting normal or some shit they aren''t supposed to, they''re still the undead. They shouldn''t be ''living'' in the first ce, right?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "So? Are we gonna shoot first or drive out? We''re burning precious daylight here!"


    At that point, Quinn''s words rang true because even if the deadheads we were witnessing right now were moving like normal humans, they were still meat bags that should be put down andid to rest.


    It was the only form of respect we could give to these things because if we try and leave them alone just because of things that shouldn''t matter, it could be another sort of problem we have to fix in the future that we should''ve fixed at this moment.


    With that said, Kaley and I brought our rifles out¡ªafter driving at a much safer distance¡ªso we could pick some of them off and see how would they react. But yeah, Jesus and his crew looked like they doubted we could pop heads this far but we didn''t say much and let our rifles do the talking.


    Then Kaley tapped me, "Shouldn''t we wake Jose up too?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I-I''m awake, what are we doing again?"


    "Terrorism."


    "Hah?"


    "Remember, no Russian."


    Tatiana added to the confusion, "Wut¡ª Nevermind, I''m not gonna even ask¡­"


    We waited for Jose to get ready but there was a certain quietness when the three of us were lining our shots. And yeah, it didn''t take long before each of us sent a lead projectile through a deadhead''s skull but the reactions we received weren''t from shooting from this distance but because of how everyone else in the rest stop reacted from losing three of their own.


    I thought for sure that the defensive mechanism of the one controlling them would make everyone else rush to our direction but they fucking didn''t.


    We can see through our scopes how the ones closest to the victims duck down for cover, run away, crouch to a fetal position, etc., while everyone else tried to get out of dodge. But yeah, the ones wandering outside their zone instantly hobbled to our direction but the ones who identally walked into their circle of influence abruptly turned and tried to take cover.


    Kaley and Jose wasted no time to pick off anything that shouldn''t be moving but I once again reached for my drone to get some precious footage. I could''ve asked Isaac¡ªwho just woke up¡ªto drive it for me but I won''t trust myst drone to someone who might just crash it the moment I gave him the controller.

 Chapter 861: Feeling like the bad guy for once

    My drone had only flown a few feet above the air as I saw Kaley turn her head and scan around for unwanted stragglers, and she basically made everyone else involuntarily take cover in fear of being gged. It was one thing to get gged by a random gun barrel but it was fucking something else if you somehow got gged by a gun barrel that rarely missed its shot.


    ''I guess shooting well above 100 meters is already godly for them¡­ But yeah, it is impressive though¡­''


    And at that point, we only heard a short exhale before three suppressed shots came one after the other, and I didn''t even need to check if the victims were alive.


    But the same couldn''t be said for Jose''s case because the ones he was aiming at had already ducked for cover¡ªthough he still made some shot that either hit or made him curse in his breath.


    I decided to give him a little bone, "Green dumpster. The ck bag with a straw poking out."


    Jesus turned to me confused, "Huh?"


    "Do you see it or not?"


    "I do, but¡ª"


    "Shoot the bag¡ª"


    I thought we''d have to go back and forth for a bit but I was cut off mid-sentence as Jose pulled the trigger and shot through the bag and the cowering deadhead behind it. It seemed like the degree of trust he had in me increased a little bit more because any sane person that didn''t know me as well would almost always question my actions¡ªor in this case, my order.


    With that said, I was the only one who saw a stter made up of fast-food and grey matter that was obviously in various states of decay, but it didn''t take long before I pointed out a few more spots that he could use a wall hack¡ªme and my drone¡ªto do terrorism.


    "Fruit stand that had the banana logo¡ª"


    "You nailed it."


    "Public bathroom door that''s ajar by the¡ª"


    "Hold right¡ª you got it."


    "The butt part of that inting thingamajig that would il around¡ª"


    "You got that? Good on ya¡ª"


    Jose turned to me briefly while trying to hide a smirk, "Where else?"


    "Getting cocky now, huh?" I chuckled as I said, "Alright, 2nd window to the right of that chewed-up holiday tree¡ª"


    Right as I was cut off in the middle of my sentence again, I for sure thought that Jose would nail the target but the sound I heard at that moment didn''te from his rifle. Turns out, Kaley had run out of targets to put down without aiming upwards, so she started to join in our little activity.


    Kaley had a faster time locating the spots I was pointing out but I suddenly stopped rying information when I saw the ones we put downe back to life. Not necessarilye back to life likee back to life but like¡ª you know, you probably got the picture.


    My group had already encountered this bunch before so we didn''t say much as we packed up and got ready to storm the capitol.


    I was happy that my group caught on to what I was trying to do because looking at Jesus, Quinn, and their crew''s reactions, it seemed like it was the first time they saw a group of deadheads that needed more than a long-range lobotomy.


    Granted they probably did already¡ªunbeknownst to them¡ªbecause the Stitcher/Slurper would almost always be close and be put down immediately or the body would almost always get ripped to shreds, rendering it unable to move, they never had the chance to see them get picked off from afar and be given the time to activate the effects of the green mushroom.


    Jesus'' eyes lit up, "We''re finally leaving?"


    "Nope."


    "Then¡ª"


    "We''re going in. Our bullets can only do so much if we''re facing that type so it would be better to dismember a few limbs so anyone that passes by that ce is safe. You guys could probably help us with that, right?"


    Meg spoke up and tried to protest, "Hey! It''s not like¡ª"


    But Quinn cut her off, "That''s much better. It''s getting old watching someone shoot something I can''t even fucking see. I''ll have a great workout before I soak in the springs."


    I waved them off, "Alright, alright¡­ Here''s how we deal with them¡­"


    After a brief exnation, we drove only a few meters away from the main entrance of the rest stop before Tatiana jumped down with me. Kaley and Jose will still be required to hold their rifles and watch out for outside interference while I ordered Isaac to man the drone and be our eyes from above.


    Quinn obviously will being with us with Jesus and some of his crew, leaving a few people to watch their cars. This time, we all turned off our engines because no one was allowed to leave this ce until everyone inside this stop wasid to rest.


    ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡ª''


    Right from the get-go, I rushed in with my de drawn and I liberated a zombie of its head and its right shoulder¡ªalong with its right arm¡ªbefore I lopped off what was left of its counterpart, and everything else that came with it.


    It was in the process of turning around when I came down on it so right when its upper body fell to the floor, I had enough time for a third sh to bisect what was left of its torso and separate its legs.


    With that said, my de easily passed through its creaky bones and tainted bits though I had to pull straight instead of redirecting the flow back or else I''d hit the concrete floor. However, I used the same pulling motion to ready my body for a lunging thrust that was aimed at thisnky deadhead that was trying to get away.


    In a split second, I was several feet away from my original position but as I moved from one ce to the other, I twisted my hand that was holding my de to perform a change-up from a thrust to the back of its head to a low chop aimed just above its right knee.


    It was because even if it wasn''t one of the deadheads that stood up after taking a shot to the head, I''m pretty sure it would still get up even if I lopped its head off. So, I opted to disable everything and everyone I''d face inside this area, and chopping off 90% of its right leg made it stumble and fall down.


    At this point, this deadhead was a sitting duck but I drew my .22 pistol and shot its head while it was trying to cover its face with its arms. I should''ve aimed for the back of its head to disable its movement for a few seconds earlier but we''d just chalk it up to experience.


    But yeah, it had never felt so off to off a deadhead that looked like it was begging for its life¡ªnasty fluids leaking out, skin rotten and discolored, and random organs missing from its body.


    Furthermore, I didn''t think that I''d ever cut down deadheads that were trying to get away from me because most of the time, their chewed-up fingers and their fucked up teeth were racing to get a little pinch or nibble out of me, and we all were practically looking like the bad guys after this initial advance.


    It didn''t take long before Tatiana offered to dismember the bodies with her axe because Quinn and I were already doing most of the grunt work. I was clearing bodies in a methodical manner while Quinn was basically wreaking havoc with her rush.


    Even Jesus opted out of our advance and he insisted on just collecting the limbs and torso we left on the ground so he could make the most cursed bonfire with flesh logs and sticks.


    But right as I turned the first corner, I saw more deadheads trying to get inside the buildings that they had ess to¡ªeven if their bodies were getting sliced up by the broken ss shards or getting caught up between the barricaded entrances¡ªbut to our surprise, there were actually deadheads that tried to stand up against us.


    ''Oh?''


    Those deadheads were actually the few who were wearing ragged security uniforms¡ªthough there were also a handful who looked fairly "decent" or the ones who were wearing the pants in the family¡ªbut they were still regr ol'' deadheads as regr deadheads go, so they just made our job easier for us, even though this situation was still weirding me the fuck out.


    But yeah, Quinn couldn''t give much of a fuck about the dead as she swung her huge-ass weapon at full force, be it something that was trying to take her down or something that was trying to block her way toward an entrance because like we said before, they were already dead.

 Chapter 862: Special-Special - The Tacoma Stigma

    Since everything that shouldn''t be moving outside was either dismembered or had gone into hiding, Quinn went full "Redrum" and almost shouted the phrase that was meme''d to shit whenever someone was trying to forcefully break a door open.


    And since every deadhead inside didn''t bother to put up a fight, everything else was just so fucking one-sided, I jokingly thought of changing teams to tick her off.


    But yeah, joking aside, I kept close with my gun in hand because, at the end of the day, all it''ll take was a lucky deadhead to somehow get a hit in and Quinn would be permanently changing uniforms.


    It''s just that when we were halfway into clearing the 3rd building Quinn busted into, the deadheads left inside who were "cowering" in fear suddenly dropped down like puppets who got their strings cut.


    "Huh?" Quinn looked at me confused after she forcefully stopped her swing.


    I didn''t answer as I pulled up my radio and contacted our group outside.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, did any of you nail it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nail what?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The ones controlling them. Did anyone nail it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re the only ones picking them off.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re also busy here stacking these things up.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Something wrong?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What happened over there?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is it just this building or did every deadhead in this rest stop suddenly drop dead? We sure as hell didn''t kill the Stitcher, Sentry, or whatever the fuck''s controlling them so that''s why I''m asking everybody if they just nailed it or what."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that moment, no one replied as they seemed to have started to check out everything that Quinn and I haven''t been to though Quinn started to chop up the now lifeless corpses in front of us. She stopped at thest one because she thought that we should''ve dismembered them outside¡ªfor easier transportation¡ªbut I told her that it was fine because what if the dead spring back to life again?


    Quinn nodded pensively, "That''s¡­ Yeah, that makes sense."


    "That''s what I would do if I was one of them."


    "Huh?"


    "You know, confuse them by turning the shit off then turning it back on thatst second then boom! Meat''s back on the menu bois~ You know¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    She eventually shook her head, "I''m surprised at myself that I understood that¡­ Yeah¡­ I''m breaking new ground today."


    "Heh."


    With that said, we were informed that each and every deadhead in this zone was no longer a threat but their ringleader of sorts was fucking missing. We spent the better part of a couple of hours clearing each building and making sure that no stone was left unturned but there were no signs of a co-star of a hentai flick or a pineapple that held dominion over corpses.


    It didn''t take long before we set alight the flesh bonfire Jesus and the rest put up, but he approached me after making sure it had enough gas to burn them to cinders.


    "Hey man, we still haven''t found whatever it is that''s making them do stuff, right?"


    "Yeah. Why do you ask?"


    "W-Well, it''s either the eye one or the tongue one but is there a chance that it could be both? You know, since some of them still stood up after taking them down while some stragglers that probably didn''t have contact with this group were influenced to do the same thing that they were doing."


    I nodded a few times as I nced at him, "Like a two-for-one deal?"


    "Yeah, something like that¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Or they could be a pair working together."


    Jesus and I nodded as he said, "That could also work¡­"


    Isaac came up from behind, "But where could it be hiding? Is it even in here? I was flying the drone from above and there''s no way I could''ve missed it¡ª Kaley too! There''s no way she could not have seen a deadhead scampering away unless it chose a route that''s on her blindside¡ªbut again, the drone could''ve seen it!"


    Jose added, "Yeah, unless it''s just a head that''s buried somewhere¡ª"


    I waved him off, "No, a Sentry should see a living target first before it sends the deadheads in its influence to it."


    "We aren''t even sure if that''s the extent of what it could do."


    "Ah¡ª That is true but we''re just ying off what we know about them. But yeah, it''s either two specials working together or just special-special that had the Sentry and the Stitcher''s attributes¡­ Plus and/or teleportation or invisibility¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd. Anyway, we''ll chalk it up as a mystery for now but we all should keep an eye out."


    "Sure."


    "Agreed."


    With that said, we did try tob the ce for anything that we might have a use for and we actually found 3 packs of AA batteries, two shlights, loose ammo, spent casings, some water, assorted canned goods, different kinds of toiletries, etc. along with bags that had more random stuff like a change of clothes, pocket knives, or other means of identification.


    And yeah, since we were already at a rest stop and it was fairly close to noon, we thought of catching a small break and having some bite to eat.


    We obviously brought our own food but Chef Ng packed us some lunch that was filling and it was gone after only a few minutes of everyone else sitting down around it. Our group was already driving away from the rest stop we just cleared after 15 minutes of rest, and even though some shots were fired, we didn''t encounter a lot of stragglers that got attracted by it.


    Then Tatiana tapped me from behind, "Are we there yet?"


    "Hmm? Oh, I''m kinda familiar with the area but let''s just say we''re halfway there."


    "Oh."


    "Probably 3 or so hours if we don''t make emergency stops¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Hold up, what''s that spot over there?"


    Everyone in our vehicle was just about to turn to where Quinn was referring to but our radio buzzed at the exact same moment.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t. That truck that had those shiny rims that looked like it had a lot of supplies at the back?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s just 15 minutes of disappointment. Trust me.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Quinn replied instead of me.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Like what Meg''s been saying each time she had sex with you?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ask the two dumbasses at the back of my station wagonst night. They heard everything Meg¡ª Ack! Ow! Meg! Stop hitting me! I''m the one fucking driving¡ª YOU FUCKING ENJOYED YOURSELF!


    THE FUCK ARE YOU¡ª DON''T HIT MY NUTS!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, Quinn just started dyingughing while Jose and Isaac couldn''t disagree with Jesus'' earlier statement, but I think we were missing the point.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "But Jesus, that''s a fairly new truck, right? We can¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s a fucking Ta, who would want that?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ I would?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haaah?! You must be kidding, right?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s actually one of the prizes we won from winning the gamesst time¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHA!!! IT WAS?! OH MY FUCKING GOD, A TACOMA OUT OF ALL¡ª Damn~ Mr. Cuervo''s probably drunk when he did that. But yeah, you like what you like.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So¡­ Aren''t we gonna try and take a look? We have some gas and we could hotwire it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You serious?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If it runs, it can run? We can trade it for more shit if we stop by the university or the DDR Campter¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I guess we''re making another stop. Oi! Brix! Michelle! We''re bringing the Ta with us!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAAAAAH?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Will it still fucking work?! I shot at it a couple of times when we passed by it!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [IT WOULD COZ'' YOU PROBABLY MISSED!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, we turned around and drove close to this Ta that was abandoned by this small farmhouse of sorts, and we performed the necessary procedures before trying to jump the car.


    I easily cleared the small trail of zombies following us from behind while the others circled around the farmhouse for any surprises.


    With that said, we eventually discovered that the vehicle we were trying to take with us sustained a bit of external damage but it could still run okay. And surprisingly enough, the biggest issue we had to face was who the fuck would drive this vehicle because everyone else in Jesus'' crew was fucking against it.


    Jesus suggested the most obvious solution, "Quinn. You''re the one who led us to it, drive it!"


    "Hah? I just asked what it was but *pointing at me* he was the one who suggested we take it back!"


    Isaac raised his hand, "I can drive it?"


    Everyone else looked at him, "You will?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You poor soul¡ª"


    At this point, the problem would have already been solved but Jesus walked up to him with a solemn expression before giving him a prayer. It almost made Isaac back out of fear but Jose eventually relented and decided to apany him.

 Chapter 863: Cruz, Jim, and the Steep Hill

    Our four-vehicle convoy had now be a five-vehicle one but we had an agreement with Jesus'' group that the Ta should be driving at the back for everyone''s safety. At that moment, I remembered a huge recall of Tas having issues but almost all of them arose from high-mileage ones.


    ''But yeah¡­ the total''s more than the average for mid-sized trucks¡­ But it''s still fairly new though¡­''


    I began having second thoughts about the vehicle we repossessed but I made up my mind about trading it in for something better or of equal valueter.


    With that said, aside from picking off stray deadheads we''d encounter, the road we were traversing was rtively safe until we reached towns that had survivors that weren''t affiliated with the De Leon Family.


    However, Jesus pretty much knew these people because they were all around the area¡ªvisiting them much morepared to their rtives even before the world ended¡ªand he knew what to do on their "tollgates".


    And after passing through most of them without issue, we came across a small town that had a small group of survivors we could easily take down with our numbers if they tried something funny. But since we were literally letting Jesus take the wheel, we found out that¡ªlike in the real world¡ªwe''d have more use for people if we let them live as long as we knew what they needed.


    I know that it''s the apocalypse and all but I was inclined with Jesus'' methods.


    Jesus jauntily stepped out of his station wagon and greeted the "guards" who were basically holding a checkpoint with mid weapons, "Hello~ Is Mr. Cruz here? We''ve brought some things you might like or need so we''d like to sweeten the pot if you''d let us have ''safer'' passage, if you know what I mean?"


    ''Safer?''


    The short and stout guy wiped his face shakily before replying, "H-He''s here but what are you trading? Y-You got some ''spice'' in there?"


    Jesus shook his head, "Not today, sorry. The stock''s a little¡­ tight. But yeah, we have that Ta at the back up for grabs plus some random shit we managed to liberate from this rest stop you told us about before¡­ Is Mr. Cruz sleeping or do we need to¡ª"


    "I can call himter but the toll will be double if you don''t have anything to¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Fine. I''ll check my stash again but I''m telling you to stop taking, it''s bad for your¡ª"


    "D-Don''t tell me what I should and s-shouldn''t take! I-I-I can take it alright?!"


    "Easy, easy~ I just might have the right one for ya¡­ Calm down, okay?"


    At that moment, Jesus turned around with a bitter expression but instead of checking his ''stash'' like he told the guy he was speaking to, he made his way to me.


    "Hey man. I hate to ask you but do you have something that you know¡­ can make it easier for a bit then make it fucking shitty the moment it fades?"


    I replied, "Drugs?"


    "They call it ''spice'' over here. It could be anything, really."


    "I thought you have a stash of some sort? Why are you asking me? D''you think I have drugs on me?"


    Jesus was a little taken aback, "N-No man, I was just¡ª I''m saving myst batch of weed and it''s a little¡­ you know? I know a ce where I could get some but I dunno when I''m gonna need it so I''m looking for more options. Can you help a brother out?"


    I shook my head as I looked back at Jesus, "I have a small bottle of Morphine and a tincture''s worth of Mad Honey."


    "Morphine? You still have those?! Wait, what''s Mad Honey?"


    "I only have a bottle of Morphine and we need it for emergencies so I''m leaning on giving you the Mad Honey. And yeah, Mad Honey is¡­ honey that could make you numb and hallucinate if you take more than a tablespoon¡ª"


    "We''ll take the honey! They probably don''t know what the fuck it was so they''ll be fucking curious! And you''re right, we''ll need the morphine for medical emergencies¡­ We can''t just find them lying around anywhere¡­ Don''t worry, I''ll pay it back with whatever you''d want for the Woody''s blueprint! I give you my word!"


    With that said, I handed over the small bottle of Mad Honey Sal gave to me while Jesus exchanged it with an IOU, but once he presented the ''spice'' to the troll guarding the passage, he was sent away to offer more. I thought for sure that junkies would do anything for something unknown but the guy wanted a dash more of whipped cream on his supposed dessert.


    I was about ready to give a handful of painkillers¡ªor the bottle of Morphine¡ªjust to get it over with but Jesus didn''te back to me and just took out hisst batch of Marijuana, and handed it over to the guard.


    The guy was failing at hiding this smirk on his face as he took the offerings, but the moment Jesus and his crew were let in, the same fucking guy stood in front of my Raptor while wearing a nasty look on his face.


    "Who the fuck are ya guys? I know Jesus over there but you''re definitely new. If you don''t know¡ª"


    Jesus quickly stepped out of his station wagon, "Hey! They''re with us! The fuck are you doing that for¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! MOVE ALONG OR WE''LL WASTE YA! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT I''M¡ª GCKH! WHAT THE¡ª ARGCHK! ACK! FAK!


    GRCK!"


    "WASTE WHO, SHORT BITCH?!" Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs as she was already beating the guy senselessly.


    To be honest, I would''ve done the same thing for the tant audacity of that bitch, but Quinn was just a fraction of a second faster than me. I know that this ce was their territory and all but I wouldn''t ept getting bled dry by a 4''9'''' midget that wasn''t even this ce''s head honcho.


    And yeah, I waited a good 20 seconds before breaking up the fight¡ªor should I say the one-sided beatdown, and we were granted safe passage plus the items he took from us. It was because the guy''s partner had to call it in and summon their leader of sorts that definitely looked so fed up with the hobbit''s antics.


    Jesus still tried to apologize in Quinn''s stead, "Hey, sorry about that. We didn''t know that he was just ying and¡ª"


    The ''Cruz'' guy waved him off, "No, no. It''s all good. It''s his own damn fault for that beating, he''ll be back to shoveling horse shit after that. Anyway, we can offer you guys free lodging or something if you ever drop by again but I''m sorry, we''re not taking the Ta."


    "Huh? Why? It''s pretty much brand-new. You guys could use another vehicle, right?"


    "No, we''re good. Thanks anyway. Don''t you guys have somewhere to go?"


    "Kicking us out so soon? How''s Diane and the kids?"


    The Cruz guy shook his head, "Same as thest time you asked."


    "Ah¡­"


    "Jesus, I know you mean well and I appreciate it but I''m tired and still have so much to do. We''ll catch up properly next time, alright? Don''t worry about Jim, it''s his own fault for pissing off Quinn. He''s just too fucking dumb to realize who he was talking to."


    "Alright, man. Keep safe, and I promise I''ll bring some beer next time we stay for the night!"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    After a few minutes, we were back on the road after leaving that small town but Jesus quickly spoke on the radio after we were a fair distance away.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re so fucking lucky Cruz is in a good mood.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "He''s in a good mood?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yep. That guy''s a psycho when he gets a good night''s sleep. He would''ve hacked Jim to death if he wasn''t tired.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anyway~ Just don''t actually take his offer of staying the night. I''m just being courteous but the guy''s fucking scary. I don''t mess with scary unless I have to.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Noted."


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we continued the drive with the wonderful view despite the rotting corpsesying by the side of the road or totaled wrecks that had bodies that shouldn''t be moving or parts that should be attached somewhere. We still drove into towns that were either empty or had people that wanted to do nothing with us, but as we continued on, the area was getting more and more familiar.


    The road in these parts was starting to get narrow and narrow but it didn''t take long before we started to ascent a steep road that was ten times more dangerous. The number of wrecked cars and ttened corpses at the bottom were already a red g but Jesus and his crew just strolled in like it was a normal Tuesday.

 Chapter 864: Ligaya Rd. - Seb and Company

    In less than a minute, we were on a steep climb with our vehicles on Ligaya Road¡ªthat meant Happiness Road in English¡ªbut considering what happened around this area, it was theplete and total opposite.


    The immediate vicinity looked like an aftermath of a protest or a rally. And instead of garbage or whatever signage they brought littering the ground, it was reced with headless corpses that were either getting feasted on by flies and maggots or slowly turning into the most fucked up jerky due to the heat of the sun.


    Despite that, the view on this climb could still be immacte if we looked to our left because the Taal Volcano and itske were still present in all its glory. I even went there once in one of the field trips we had at school but that was a story for another time.


    ''It''s one of the few things left untouched though¡­ Still beautiful¡­''


    With that said, our ascent had been pretty much uneventful but seeing the ce we''d end up in if we''re careless could already get our hearts racing. It was because the road up this hill wasn''t just a steep climb, but it also came with tight corners and uneven passages where one mistake could be fatal.


    But yeah, there was only one thing more dangerous than climbing this hill and it was descending it.


    ''And those heads rolling down are¡ª Huh?! Why is¡ª''


    While I was still trying to monologue, close to a hundred heads just started rolling from a tight curve and down into the ravine, though a few managed to get bumped randomly, roll safely, or something that can''t be exined properly and somehow "survived". However, what came after those heads were a small group that looked like they were between the ages of 16-25.


    They were frantically trying to save every single head that was still in the process of rolling down, but they had the same look I had when I dropped an overloaded stuffed-crust pizza, an XXXL chocte shake, and a bucket of fries on the floor on my "bulking" days.


    Then our radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Geez, those cadets are fucked.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You know them?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Not personally but I know the military has their own clearing group roaming the streets and they also have the collecting group¡ªwhich is mostlyposed of cadets¡ªto gather the spoils for them. And as I said earlier, they''re fucked. Literally and figuratively.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is there anything we can do to help? We''re stopping by their ceter, I should try and get some reputation points while we''re at it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! You''re too fucking honest, you know that? Can''t you just say that we''re gonna help them from the goodness of our hearts and just think what you said earlier to ourselves?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nah, it worked better for me being an honest douche most of the time. Anyway, what''s the protocol here? Can we just approach them? They won''t just shoot, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, just a sec. Lemme remember the thing they do¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that point, Jesus repositioned his vehicle in a way that it''d be facing the group of people trying to collect what was left of their collection.


    After that, he started to flick the lights on and off¡ªpressing on his horn when the light was beaming on them¡ªand it didn''t take long before the group took notice and sent back the same signal with their shlights, but without the horn sound since they have nothing on hand.


    ''Three long and four quick? Hmm¡­''


    With that said, Jesus beckoned us to drive over to the group, and surprise, surprise, Jesus was actually recognized.


    One of the younger cadets greeted him, "Yo~! You''re Jesus, right? I''ve heard a lot about you! The name''s Kevin, nice to finally meet ya!"


    "Nice to meet you too¡ª"


    "I''m Alexa! That one''s Billy!"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I''m Cole! Nice hair, bro!"


    "I was¡ª"


    "The name''s Anthony, but please call me Antho¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright! One at a time, yeah? Anyway, we''ve seen those heads rolling down the ravine and I''m pretty sure you guys are fucked. So¡­ we''re offering some help if you guys wanted and¡ª"


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "YOU''LL HELP US?!"


    "THANKS, MAN! THAT''S SOLID!"


    Jesus shook his head, "Yeah¡­ I''m not the one that decided on that¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "It''s that gorgeous man over there with the harem of ravishing beauties left, right, and center. The god among men, the bringer of light and darkness, the unshakeable¡ª Ow! What the fuck¡ª How''d you throw this rock from over there?!"


    I stared him down as I stepped out of my vehicle, "Physics¡ª No, because I can."


    The moment I approached the group, they looked a little wary of me even though I looked to be in their age group. It could be because I was carrying a much, much, different loadoutpared to theirs or I was the one that looked to be in charge of this small convoy and the guy they were revering.


    I continued, "Hey, I''m Sky Ishiyama, I was a local here a few years back and since you guys are in a little bit of a pickle, why don''t we offer some help and you''d just owe me a small favor?"


    "..."


    "Hello?"


    "..."


    "You guys hearing me?"


    "..."


    "No? Alright then, I guess you guys aren''t as fucked as Jesus mentioned¡ª"


    One of the cadets who seemed to be their leader of sorts cut me off, "Wait. Our group''s listed for 300 heads a week and we probably lost half of our quota from this mishap¡­ We''d need all the help we can get but I want this ''small'' favor to be concrete."


    I chuckled as I looked him in the eye, "I haven''t caught your name yet but do you have the luxury to negotiate right now?"


    "..."


    "The silent treatment again? C''mon, it''s just¡ª"


    He cut me off again, "It''s Seb and no, we don''t have the luxury to negotiate. But, at least give us the courtesy of knowing the shit we have to do for you instead of making us guess. No offense, but you guys don''t look like the goody-two-shoes type. I don''t want to get fucked for the rest of my life if I could survive this day. It''s kind of a respect thing, you know?"


    Hearing that, I was happily taken aback but I took some mental notes about this Seb guy.


    I briefly smiled as I sighed, "Bruh, you''re too fucking deep in the juice, lighten up a little bit."


    "Excuse me?"


    "I''m just saying not to worry too much about it. But since you insist, I need some lore¡ª you know, POVs from the people who are in these parts since it all started¡­ and you can tell me an hour''s worth of lore each and I''ll take it as the ''small'' favor. With that said, I''ll help you gather¡ª what was it? Three hundred, no¡ª 150 heads by the end of the day. Deal?"


    At this point in time, Seb looked to be mulling over the deal I handed over to him while everyone else in his group seemed to be checking me out. At first, they were checking out my facial features and the small bit of my tattoo that was sticking out then they started to check my gear from afar, drawing their own conclusions.


    And almost immediately, I found a weeb among their group, and it was either a "That''s so freakin'' cool!" dude or an "Actually, a katana is h, h, h¡­" moron.


    It''s just that the glint in his eyes already revealed his true nature but Seb cut him off before he tried to strike up a conversation.


    "Alright, that''s a good deal as any but where do you suggest we get more heads?"


    "You''re the guys down here, right? You should know where we can¡ª"


    "We''re not equipped to take down infestations the size of hordes! We can''t¡ª"


    "YOU guys can''t. WE can. I would''ve pointed you to a rest stop we cleared pretty recently but we burned all of their remains to cinders, and you probably won''t ept charcoal¡ª So, you either point us to where we can help you the easy way or I have climbing gear in my truck and we could do things the hard way."


    At this point, the order of which we should''ve followed had already gone to shit but the hot spring we had to visit first wouldn''t go anywhere. It''s much better to form rtionships with the locals¡ªeven though they probably have zero power in theirmunity¡ªbecause if they had nowhere else to go, we pretty much have extra space to take people in.


    Besides, the information they have on the inside was fucking valuable and if worstes to worst, I could easily contact the head, head honcho and get everything straightened out.


    With that said, Seb, for the first time, turned to his group to discuss some things concerning their quotas but a quick eavesdrop told me that he was leading his group with an iron fist.

 Chapter 865: Filling in the Quota I

    On the surface, Seb looked like an army brat trying to impress his parents but if his parents have some pull in the army with their ranks or something simr, why would he be in charge of a group of kids doing odd jobs such as this?


    Granted I''ll be doing the same job as them because of our deal but with my familiarity of how the world worked in these parts, he should be doing something much better.


    ''We''ll seeter though¡­''


    After a short bit, Seb turned to me and said, "I think we should head down."


    "Down?"


    "Yes," he nodded.


    "Why?"


    "I thought you were gonna help us?"


    "Not blindly. Tell me the reason for your decision because I''m going to assure you that we''d probably find more heads if we drove into Tagaytay City or even Sta. Rosa City than heading back to where we came from."


    Seb nodded pensively, "That''s true but we''re not the only group collecting heads in these parts. However, everything below this hill is open season though cadets like us couldn''t just drive down there. Except now."


    "Because of us?"


    "Yeah, because of you guys."


    "Hmm."


    "I don''t know much about the deal we had with you guys but I do know we''re not allowed to venture down that hill. Unless we''re with a high-ranking officer or if we gained permission from you guys beforehand, we''d be lit up before we could try and fire back."


    I turned to Jesus, "Is that true¡ª"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    Seb cut us off, "Why would I lie to your faces?"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "You really like to cut people off, huh? You see, it''s not about you lying to us, it''s about the chance that your officers are lying to you. They could be telling you another thing about the deal you guys made while conveniently omitting parts that aren''t relevant to you. I''m asking Jesus because he''s the 7th guy in the De Leon Family."


    Seb got quiet for a moment, "I understand. But which number are you?"


    "Me?" I asked as I shrugged my shoulders, "Probably number 1 or 0, if I think about it¡­"


    He instantly frowned, "Ass. Stop lying and have a decent conversation for once."


    Jesus interjected, "He''s not lying¡­ technically."


    Seb and his group''s ears perked up, "Hmm?" Seb asked, "Is he the new head or something?"


    "Again¡­ Technically~ yes."


    "How¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I already told you my name, right?"


    "But¡ª"


    "Listen, we''re burning precious daylight here and we have more stops than you can imagine. If we double back to the ces we''ve been, we''d probably get 50-60 heads from the deadheads we took down that we didn''t burn into cinders but we''d be back to your camp way past sunset."


    "That''s¡­"


    "I''m not done. We could also try driving into the ces we haven''t been yet but that''s aplete gamble. We could probably have more than enough orpletely nothing, but if you tell me where KNOWN infestations are located, we''d be going back to your ce in a couple of hours¡­ plenty of time for us to head to our destination after."


    "..."


    At this point, Seb just thought to himself for a bit,pletely ignoring his team''s remarks but once he looked like he managed to follow someone''s order for once, we packed up and drove with their 4-wheeler dropside truck and their new-ish Hilux.


    I discovered that they had three more people waiting in their vehicles¡ªbut also in the same age range¡ªbut the one that caught my attention was the way they were transporting their heads.


    Like fucking coconuts, they were bundled up in 50kg sacks usually used for rice but the majority that fell and dropped to the ravine were contained in this fishing that had a huge hole in it.


    ''That''s why¡­''


    Putting that aside, Seb decided to lead us to the West side of Tagaytay City, way past the city''s attractions and expensive residential areas. I could already tell that these ces were looted and picked apart, but there was still the presence of the dead somewhat, telling me that even though they had arge group capable of clearing hordes, they weren''t clearing them on a regr basis.


    Furthermore, I thought we''d encounter some of their groups doing the same thing as them but the drive was as if everything in the lobby got disconnected.


    On that note, it didn''t take long before it became tantly obvious that Seb was leading us to the ce where arge group of the undead was present because the smell was a very good indicator. Also, just the way he slowed down once we reached the street that would lead us to the local wet market was a dead giveaway.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re here. We should park our vehicles here where it''s safe and we go in to pick them off one by one. I don''t know about a couple of hours but we should take what we could and drive to a different area to get more heads.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I appreciate you looking out for us but I''ll take over. Just focus on collecting the heads after we''re done, yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Seb? You hearing me? Fuck it, just don''t interfere and watch us work, alright?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, I made my drone fly overhead the area but I also asked Jesus to drive inside with his station wagon to draw everything out in the open. It was because we don''t have the time to systematically locate each deadhead inside the wet market and I''ve been to this ce before.


    I''m 100% sure that with Jesus'' driving skills, he could just stroll in and get out without any issue and he did just that in under ten minutes.


    I confirmed that there were around a couple of hundred deadheads in the wet market so we met up with Jesus'' station wagon after I asked him to herd them around with hisst loop around.

 Chapter 866: Filling in the Quota II

    To give a small image of what the wet market looked like, it was shaped like a sunflower seed of sorts where the tip and pointy of the seed was at the far end¡ªthat ends with a tall wall on one side and other shops on the other also separated by walls¡ªwhile the other end was the open entrance where the parking area was also located.


    Some parts of the wet market had second floors¡ªeven third floors on some parts¡ªbut it was all a huge jumble of small shops packed together in one ce.


    With that said, the way we met with Jesus'' station wagon was when the herd following after him was bisected right at the far end of the market¡ªwhere they were forming an upside-down ''V''.


    On that note, I meant "we" as the people in my Raptor because everyone else would being for the deadheads'' backs from the other side.


    This was a n made in haste but I''m sure everyone from the other side would have it a little easier.


    It''s just that Jesus and Meg couldn''t believe their eyes when Tatiana and I jumped from my Raptor to face the hundred or so deadheads trailing behind them while Quinn was left in the driver''s seat and Kaley was on sniper duty.


    Gunfire already erupted from the other side of the wet market but Tatiana and I started with the sounds of partial heads and limbs falling on wet concrete. But yeah, we didn''t n on going melee the whole time because we had our des in one hand and our pistols in the other, picking off deadheads much quicker while making sure that we had enough space for the both of us.


    This time, Tatiana was using a suppressed 9mm pistol¡ªbut not the same one Kaley and I were using¡ªthough I noticed that she would empty out the whole magazine before reloading and putting it back in its holster. For some reason, Tatiana was inclined to use her de with both hands to dismember the dead in front of her while I continued to use my katana and my Maxim 9 at the same time.


    But yeah, it would be easier to apply more force in our swings if use both hands and we''d end up with more "alive" heads than "dead" heads in the process. I wasn''t entirely sure what the DDR Camp in this ce required but I''m in the assumption that the ones that are still alive provided more value.


    In any case, these slow shamblers'' only threat was their numbers but it didn''t take long before Kaley started firing at the deadheads further in. I even heard Jose''s rifle firing from the other side and it meant there were faster shamblers or just straight-up sprinters in the mix.


    However, their speed meant shit when they were in the middle of the group and them trying to force their way into us would just make them an easy target.


    There was nothing easier than picking off a deadhead that was sticking out like a sore thumb, and it was even easier with a person that could shoot sub-MOA at great distances.


    Kaley stopped firing after seven shots but I noticed that Jose flicked his happy switch on.


    Hearing quick bursts after quick bursts of suppressed rifle rounds was music to my ears, but I focused on the task at hand because the way the horde got bisected wasn''t as even as I hoped it would be.


    How I wish the horde could''ve split to give us a hundred each but since the group from the other side made noise first, a few dozen more came to their side.


    ''They could probably handle it¡­''


    I would''ve worried if I let Seb and his group take care of the other half of the horde we were facing but the people on the other side have been on the road far longer than we have, and they also have Jose who could pretty much be a group leader¡ªand actually was back home¡ªfor his skills.


    With that said, Tatiana and I kept hacking down anything that woulde forward but we were actually taking a step back¡ªmaking the dead copse on their own¡ªto provide more space and a clear path to escape if anything went wrong.


    However, it didn''t take long before Quinn joined the fray¡ªafter shouting at Meg to drive the Raptor in her stead¡ªand our little advance but backwards have gotten a little easier with three people in front.


    And yeah, in less than 30 minutes, we cleared our portion and cut into the other side to help them with the dregs though we opted to use our guns at an angle. And luckily enough, we didn''t have any surprises from inside the wet market because ten minutes of Jesus driving around to draw all of them out was plenty.


    After 10 more minutes, the wet market was now cleared of deadheads and the look on Seb and his group''s faces was fucking priceless.


    I''m pretty sure that they''d be able to do the same thing if they had more experience but it seemed to me that they were ming their equipment.


    On that note, we still helped them collect all of the heads avable¡ªeven if he insisted they do it themselves¡ªbut again, we were pressed for time and I had other ces to be in. With that said, the wet market had sturdier fishs avable though I broke-in the mouths of the "alive" heads we had on hand to keep them from making new holes in their temporary container.


    "What''s the total?"


    Seb turned to me as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Two hundred fifty-seven heads. Ny-three alive but we have a bit past four hundred right now. We might receive a bonus if we put it all in or we could have a note to reduce our weekly quota by a hundred heads¡­ Thank you, guys¡­"


    I chuckled, "Don''t thank us that much¡­ We have a deal, remember?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "We''ll do thatter, can we go now?"

 Chapter 867: Checkpoint - Bribe?

    After a little bit of prep work and a post-cleanup routine¡ªhauling the heads to our vehicles and burning the rest of their bodies in a huge pile¡ªwe made our way to Seb andpany''s Main HQ a.k.a The Philippine Military Academy. It was supposedly the biggest one and the most well-equipped DDR Camp in this area or even this ind group¡ªthough Seb and his group''s gear said otherwise.


    It was because they only had pistol rounds and shotgun shells on their loadout, not to mention the mismatched machetes they had with their K-Bar knives.


    With that said, the drive would take about close to two hours because it was farther than the private hot spring we were supposed to head to first.


    We were now in a new frequency with our new acquaintances but it was easy enough to switch back to our previous channel, and for them to do the same¡ªif they ever had a channel for their group, division, or even as a whole.


    Helping them with their head problem gave us some brownie points with their group but the same couldn''t be same for their ce as a collective. However, knowing that the De Leon Family already made contact with this group and have an ongoing deal with them told me they wouldn''t be stupidly hostile and if worstes to worst, I have a couple of things in my goodie bag.


    ''And that''s assuming that this DDR Camp is still on the president''s side and has not gone secretly AWOL¡­''


    With that in mind, we drove for around 20 minutes before we spotted a couple of military jeeps holding a checkpoint of sorts, and the vehicles Seb''s group slowed down as we approached it.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ll do the talking, alright? I forgot to tell you that we shouldn''t be driving together like this but it''s a special circumstance.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Quinn instantly rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "And he tells us that now? Sounds bull to me."


    I said, "You don''t know if it''s real or not?"


    "I haven''t been to this ce in a while and it''s either Jesus or Dave who talks to them¡ªprobably Mauro or Logan too but the whole thing sounds stupid."


    With that said, we saw Seb step out of their vehicle before Jesus followed, but one of the soldiers at the checkpoint walked past them and walked over to us with his rifle pointing down. And from the way he was looking at Jesus'' crew, he seemed to be familiar with them and that left us to be the unknown variable.


    However, the moment he walked to my window and asked me to roll it down, I tried to hand him my license and registration with a 100 peso bill underneath it.


    "H-Huh? What¡ª Cheh, hahahaha! Shiiiit, it''s the first time Iughed in a while, what''s up? New prospects or something?"


    "Not exactly. I used to be a local around these parts and I just wanted to pay a small visit."


    "Oh. I see, I see. Some interesting connections you have here being a local¡­"


    I chuckled, "It kept me alive though, you''ll know more soon¡­"


    The soldier threw me a curious nce, "Hmm? What are you¡ª"


    Another soldier''s voice resounded from the checkpoint, "Saludario! Stop dallying there and let them pass¡ª You''ve checked them all, right?!"


    The Saludario guy turned to the other soldier and saluted, "YES, SIR! I MEAN¡ª JUST ONE MORE¡ª"


    "GET ON IT THEN!"


    "YES, SIR!"


    At this point, the guy just gave me a quick bow before proceeding over to Jose and Isaac''s side, but I didn''t take my eyes off him because of one particr reason.


    ''Jose might not be a movie star but he directly reports to the president¡­''


    Well, it was safe to say that Jose directly reports to me too¡ªand would prefer to do it for personal reasons¡ªbut that issue was irrelevant right now.


    It was because I''m pining on the fact that this Saludario dude might recognize Jose once their eyes met but there was also the chance that he might not because of Jose''s drastic makeover. Furthermore, who would fucking think that an officer that reports to the president would turn up tatted-up with a haircut simr to the local brand of detergent soap?


    However, there was also the issue of the president''s soldiers¡ªeven officers¡ªjoining the other side or straight-up deserting their post, so if things start to getplicated, it would be better to straighten things out.


    Thest thing I''d want would be a false tip into the wrong ears and that''d be a mess I wasn''t even willing to think about.


    It''s just that I saw something peculiar when the two finally met eyes.


    Saludario had his back facing me while Jose had his elbow resting by the door, but the moment Saludario tried to raise his right arm¡ªfor a salute or something simr, I guess¡ªJose quickly stopped him by diverting his attention to his own rifle.


    "Woah! Your safety''s off, dude! Do you leave them off, always?"


    "Wha¡ª I¡ª"


    "Be careful when running with that. Even though it''s pointed down, one wrong bounce and you might hit someone! Your dust cover too, flip it up!"


    "Y-Yes, si¡ª"


    "Fuck! I shouldn''t be telling you shit because you know better but know that it''s better to have things ''under control'', eh? Surprises are good but not negligent discharges! Hah! Get it?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    At this point, the guy just gave Jose a quick nod before they let us on our way, but I didn''t get why Jose had to be so secretive about it. There was no fucking way that things could''ve gone South if he let it be known that he was under the same banner as them, and if we were a little luckier, they could''ve sent a special convoy to apany us.


    But yeah, it''s in his own discretion to be discreet but it''s also in my discretion to ask questionster.


    ''Let''s see where we''re at right now¡­''

 Chapter 868: PMA - Off to a bad start

    Looking around, I figured that we were only less than an hour away because I didn''t take into ount that there would be zero traffic earlier. Even the surrounding areas were clear of corpses and I couldn''t even see a burn pile by the sidewalks.


    It was night and daypared to the area outside this checkpoint but it was still a ghost town because the only people we''ve seen up to this point were the soldiers in the checkpoint we just drove from.


    With that said, Seb and his crew kept the same speed driving to their ce and there were never any problems for the whole drive.


    ''It''s been a while since I''ve seen this ce¡­''


    The Philippine Military Academy was close to 400 hectares in size and it had different buildings, departments, and facilities for various reasons. I actually don''t know much about this ce¡ªexcept for the things that Jared told me¡ªand how I wish he told me more about the ce he had a love/hate rtionship with.


    With that said, it was drastically differentpared to thest time Iid my eyes on it because the front was apocalypse-proofed to the point that it was a little intimidating.


    Not only were several belt-fed machineguns resting above and below their walls, but also the number of active soldiers stationed everywhere with their automatic rifles, high-caliber sniper rifles, and a couple of spots where a mortar was sitting quietly would make anyone that would like to try anything funny forget the thoughtpletely.


    On that note, I noticed that the "visitors" would be given an inspection while the ones with them would be let it without issue, but it was totally different in our case. The guards stationed by the gate just motioned for us to follow Seb''s convoy and like the Saludario dude, they gave Jose a quick nod before going on with their business.


    It seemed that our arrival was already ryed to everyone in this ce because they let us in without so much as another inspection, much to the surprise of Seb and his group.


    ''Again¡­ Why try the secrecy route and do something suspicious like this? They should''ve pretended to inspect our vehicles at the very least¡­''


    The moment we parked in this huge field of sorts, we gathered enough attention that a small crowd was watching us from a safe distance before who seemed like their Brigade Commander a.k.a. their "Baron", the highest ranking cadet, approached us with a few officers¡ªtwo males and one female¡ªthat were actually soldiers on active duty.


    I could only shake my head with the way they were doing things but the inspection I was looking for came after all.


    The Baron in question quickly ordered Seb and his group to unload the heads they collected while one of the officers that came with him asked us to vacate our vehicle. It was pretty easy toply at that point but things quickly heated up when one of the male officers tried to give Kaley a "patdown" by cing his arms on her waist and trying to trace his hands upward.


    It happened so suddenly as it made Kaley flinch while I was already a fraction of a second from lopping this guy''s head off, but Jose quickly dove between us and tackled the motherfucker.


    "GET OFF ME! WHO DO YOU THINK¡ª"


    "I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! YOU KNOW WE''RE FUCKING COMING AND YOU PULL THAT SHIT?!"


    "WHAT ARE YOU¡ª WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! PUT THOSE THINGS DOWN! WHAT¡ª"


    At this point in time, Kaley and I were actually the ones holding Tatiana, Quinn, and Isaac frommitting bloody murder while Jose was trying his best to shield one of his own to jump straight to his death.


    I appreciated everyone''s actions for what just fucking happened but this was still unfamiliar territory and it would be better to stay our hands even though it was taking everything from me to do just that.


    Out of all the ces I could think of, I didn''t think that this ce would be the first one to follow through with what they were thinking in their heads. Sure, Kaley''s body is something to die for but it would be a gruesome and drawn-out death multiple times over if they were lucky.


    With that said, the two other officers also tried to diffuse the situation while Seb, the Baron, and everyone else was left confused. It seemed like they were only told that a known officer from the president''s side wasing but they weren''t informed about the special group that he was now working with or should I say, serving under.


    But yeah, that didn''t excuse that officer''s actions but he was quickly escorted away to avoid more trouble.


    "We''re sorry about that, it wouldn''t happen again," the female officer mentioned with an off-beat tone and a deadpan expression.


    ''Really?''


    The other officer added with the same tone, "Seriously, it''s been a while since he saw fresh¡ª new people to you know¡­ so forgive him¡­ I''ll talk to himter."


    I chuckled bitterly, "Oh, so he fucking touches my wife and you just escort him out then ''talk'' to him? Is that it?"


    "Yeah."


    "That simple, huh?"


    The female officer responded, "It happens more than you think."


    "What? Your people crossing the line without issue or you guys protecting your own uniform even though they''re the ones in the wrong?" I looked them in the eye before I nced at the patches on their uniforms.


    ''Diaz and Mari.''


    Mari, the male officer rolled his eyes, "What do you want then? Lopez might be a sleazebag but he''s needed over here. We''re already giving you special treatment for escorting him away but that''s the best we can do for you. Besides, it''s not like he touched anywhere important and¡ª"


    "Then why don''t you bring him back so I could beat him up instead of your sorry fucking ass?" I said as I walked up to him and stared him dead in the eyes, trying to contain every bit of murderous intent from taking over.

 Chapter 869: Major Perez - Counteroffer

    Before the world ended, I met countless people that could put a smile on my face with the simplest things or could sour my mood with a simple word that they said. But currently, the people I''m interacting with were in the most extreme of thetter and I wasn''t even one of the cadets they get to boss around for more than two weeks prior to their enrollment.


    They could say I wasn''t exactly wearing the same uniform as theirs but I was granted special authority within their ranks, and I''m basically like the special unit created by The Monstrous Bird of Qin.


    It''s just that it felt so wrong to have someone that was supposed to be on the "good" sidemit to such an act that was supposed to "happen more than I thought" because everyone else from the "bad" side had only thrown harsh words to Kaley andpletely respected authority.


    But yeah, saying that it happens more than I thought was technically correct because again, even before the world ended, such things happening were brought to light and even had the chance to be put on the news and then some.


    However, seeing how things were happening right now, it seemed like people abusing their power was still a thing and the only difference was that it was more prevalent than ever¡ªand no one still had any way to fucking stop it so they just let them slide, or even join eventually¡­ except for now.


    I don''t know who and what the fuck was that motherfucker was contributing to this ce but I''m gonna make him fucking obsolete after giving him a good thrashing.


    At this point, I was ready to pick a fight with the people I should be trying to get along with but Jesus quickly squeezed his way between us to avoid more conflict.


    "Easy now, brothers¡­ We''re not here to start a fight, alright? We should¡ª"


    "I didn''t start shit and don''t get up in my face¡ª" the Mari dude tried to shove Jesus away but Jesus never budged an inch and I never felt any push transfer, "Listen¡­" he sighed heavily as he looked at me, "As I said earlier, not much happened and you''re trying to blow things out of proportion¡ª"


    I cut him off as I stepped back and nced at each and every cadet, soldier, and current officers watching us, "You hearing that? Tell me, which of you guys and girls HAD ''mUcH HaPpeNed'' prior toing here? Weren''t you supposed to be trained as soldiers to defend and serve the people not be used for quick relief?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Silence. Completely and total fucking silence.


    I continued with a bitter chuckle, "Fuck, I''d understand if you applied to be a sex worker¡ªbecause it usuallyes with the job¡ªthe higher-ups testing the goods, I mean¡­ but some of them could still say no and move on with their lives. I know it''s the end of the fucking world but¡ª"


    Diaz, the female officer, suddenly came up to me while a vein was about to pop in her forehead, "YOU FUCKING SHUT YOUR MOUTH! DON''T DARE SULLY THE NAME OF¡ª"


    I shouted back, "SULLY WHAT?! ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE TOUCHED MY WIFE AND I DON''T GET TO SAY ANYTHING?! HOW FUCKED IN THE HEAD ARE ALL OF YA?!"


    "NOT EVERYONE IS LIKE¡ª"


    "BUT EVERYONE''S HERE FUCKING READY TO DEFEND A PIECE OF SHIT TOOTH AND NAIL JUST BECAUSE YOU''RE WEARING THE SAME UNIFORM! HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT?! I''VE SEEN CROOKS WITH MORE HONOR THAN THIS SHIT!"


    "WE ALREADY HAD HIM ESCORTED OUT AND¡ª"


    "AND WHAT?! PROBABLY FUCKING A CADET THAT''S TOO FUCKING SCARED TO SAY NO?! WHY DOES HE GET A FUCKING TIMEOUT AND STILL GET WHAT HE FUCKING WANTS WHILE WE''RE THE ONES FUCKING TRYING TO KEEP IT IN?! IS HE THAT FUCKING IMPORTANT OR ARE ALL OF YOU USED TO GET FUCKING ABUSED?!"


    "...!"


    At this point, Diaz was trying hard to refute everything that I said but that certain look in her eyes told me a bitter story that shouldn''t even be shared with strangers but unfortunately¡­ it was a story that plenty of people¡ªnot all¡ªin this fold have experienced. In any case, I shouldn''t be directing my hate towards her but the perpetrator himself.


    Furthermore, a spoilt batch still had some edible parts on it and I should try to surgically separate the bad side from the good.


    I just sighed briefly before I said, "Listen, I don''t know how much you had to endure to get to where you are but you gotta feel and know where we''reing from¡­"


    She red at me while shaking her head, "Then what do you fucking want, huh?!"


    I put my hands up jokingly as I smirked, "You didn''t hear me the first time? I want that Lopez guy back here so I can beat his ass. You don''t have to tie him up or anything because I want him to be able to fight back and shit just to keep things fair. Something he doesn''t fucking deserve but he''ll learn soon anyways¡­"


    ''And I doubt he''d even get to get to use fairness to his advantage¡­''


    Mari shook his head from hearing the same thing twice, "What would that aplish though?"


    Iughed in his face, "Absolutely nothing!"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "In the short term, I''d feel good about punching him once or twice because he seemed so important that I can''t just put a bullet in his head but in the long term¡­ I just want this ce to learn that they could reasonably fight back against authority because even if the ones in power could dictate what''s right and wrong, it''s still not what''s right AND what''s wrong.


    Trust me, I want to rebuild this ce from the ground up but I have more problems to take care of and I think just by the way things currently are, you wouldn''t let a stranger do just that."


    "..."


    "It''s deeply rooted in this ce but I wish you guys the best of luck. Now where''s the fucker at?"


    At this point, it had never been so silent but a thunderousugh came out of nowhere and broke the silence. I almost thought that a giant just happened to pass by but it was actually one of their highest-ranking officers that caught wind of what was going on.


    Diaz and Mari instantly took a step back before they lowered their heads and muttered:


    "M-Major¡­"


    With a quick look, the guy didn''t look like one of these uptight officers but more like one of Quinn''s brethren that happened to pick up a service coat and draped it over his wide, boulder shoulders.


    ''Major Perez, huh?''


    Yeah, this major that popped out from nowhere was fucking jacked to fuck even though he looked to be in his 50s, but he approached me with an amused expression before he checked me out top to bottom while puffing a cigar with his left hand.


    He chuckled as he leaned even closer, "You''re the fucking ''kid'', huh?"


    Everyone gave a mix of expressions but I turned to him and did the same thing he did before I replied:


    "You run this ce?"


    "You could say that," he answered with a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow.


    "You don''t look the type."


    "Hah! You don''t look like the type either."


    "Type to what, exactly?"


    He shook his head as he snickered, "Kid, I know who you fucking are. These dumbasses don''t so cut them some ck. However, I''ll fucking acknowledge something I heard on my way here but you gotta stop cutting so deep."


    "Hmm?"


    "Let''s just say that there''s an easy solution to one of this ce''s problems but with my current alliances, we can''t possibly do that¡­ you know, in the open. I should also inform you that it''s not as bad as you imagined but yeah, it''s still bad if you think about it because we''re not doing anything to stop it¡ªBUT it''s also not always like that.


    It''s sometimes a ''you scratch my back I scratch yours'' kind of thing, you know?"


    "..."


    "However, with YOUR current alliances, you might be able to just help this ce with that problem and in turn, I''ll let you give Lopez a piece of your mind or two."


    ''Ah¡­''


    "You do know that if he did that shit in my ce, getting his arms chopped off is the lightest sentence I could give him, you know?"


    He let out a chuckle as he puffed his cigar one more time, "I know. But this ce here is not your ce~ It''s mine. So¡­ I''ll let you y around with him and I''ll just tell you to stop when I think you''ve done enough."


    "I still think I''m getting screwed over though."


    "Hah! You are, you fucking are. But what can you do though? It''s the best I could offer."


    "Then you''re gonna fucking love what I could offer."


    "Hmm?"

 Chapter 870: Payback I

    At this point in time, it wouldn''t even take 30 minutes for the sun to go down but the sky already had that red hue in a few ces. And to tie that statement to the current situation, the words exchanged earlier prompted a few who heard it to let out pained expressions or just straight up break down crying.


    Most of them were female cadets that had dark circles around their eyes and had this hunched posture with their arms crossed together, but I''m pretty sure they weren''t like that in the first ce. Granted not everyone that were victimized looked like that because some people that looked like they were keeping it together couldn''t hide the expression in their eyes.


    With that said, going back to our current situation, I didn''t inform everyone about my counteroffer because I walked up to Major Perez and spoke with a hushed tone.


    From the outside, everyone could only see my lips moving and Major Perez''s expression changing¡ªmore on his thick eyebrows¡ªas he learned more and more of what he could aplish with me around.


    He chuckled as I finally took a step back, "Hmph. You drive a hard bargain, kid."


    I chuckle-scoffed, "Seriously? You won''t get a deal like that anywhere right now. And it''s only for today."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''m saying that the offer only stands till sundown."


    "Sundown?! What¡ª"


    "That''s how a deal works. If I''m the only one to give you shit, that''s just fucking charity work or extortion. And yeah, I''m keen to know what the fuck this ce is trying to do with the heads you''re all collecting but you''re potentially gonna lose one of your suppliers if you take too long in agreeing."


    At this moment, Quinn threw me a nce because she thought their ongoing deal with this ce would get affected, but I almost stifled augh when she rolled her eyes. Because earlier, she was ready to throw whatever rtionship they had with this ce because of Kaley, why not let me handle that shit and get something more?


    In the grand scheme of things, this ce has already wronged us and it was all the leverage we needed to get the bigger slice of the pie.


    Besides, the military vehicles they were offering weren''t worth two cents if all they were offering were their jeeps and their trucks, and the only way it would sting a little was if they were offering the .50 cals that were supposed to be mounted on those jeeps, one of their APCs, one of their tanks, or even one of their helicopters or whatever aircraft they had avable.


    Major Perez stared at me for a few moments before he let out a deep sigh, "Fucking¡­ I was told this was gonna happen¡­"


    "Hmm? What¡ª"


    "I''m a fucking dumbass if I don''t agree to your terms. However, I do need Lopez alive so¡ª"


    I chortled, "I''m not gonna fucking kill him if that''s what you''re worried about. That''s an easy way out if you ask me, so¡­"


    "..."


    "Clock''s ticking, Major."


    "..."


    "I''m¡ª"


    "Dammit, oi! Bring him back and don''t tell him shit, alright?!"


    I was just about to pile on but Major Perez turned to the two other officers¡ªDiaz and Mari¡ªthat was with the motherfucker¡ªLopez¡ªearlier, and they had to fucking follow their orders because their ranks said so. The look on their faces was just fucking priceless but even though I was ted for a short moment, I was still pissed as hell.


    I could only imagine what was going on Kaley''s mind right now because at this moment, she looked like she was ying poker with everyone. However, that light in her eyes never disappeared and as cliche as it may sound, that light was burning brighter and brighter.


    She even gave me a faint smile when our eyes met but I knew that motherfucker was present when she looked past me and ayer of killing intent covered her body.


    At this moment, Lopez was brought back by Diaz and Mari but the crowd around as had significantly grownrger. Word of mouth definitely had its involvement in this situation but I couldn''t care less because the more eyes that see whatever happens next, the better.


    And yeah, the motherfucker had no fucking clue about what was about to go down.


    He was still wearing a smug look as he jauntily walked over to us, throwing me a dirty look before he turned to Major Perez, "Took you long enough. So¡ª"


    Major Perez cut him off, "Shut up and grit your teeth, your about to get punched."


    "Huh¡ª"


    Before he could fucking react, I made my way to his back before I clocked the motherfucker. He had no fucking chance to react to a sucker punch and his head blew back before his ass touched the ground. Everyone else watching didn''t know whether to sing praises or shut the fuck up because this could be a revolution or a short spark of a dud.


    At the moment, blood was flowing from his nose as he could barely open both of his eyes¡ªand his expression was a mix of confusion and anger, but Major Perez''s mocking voice rang out:


    "Oof, that''s dirty."


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"


    "I told you to grit your teeth, didn''t I? See what happened¡ª"


    I cut them off, "That''s for my wife, bitch. Stand up, let''s see how you do if one of your victims tries to fight back."


    Lopez spat out a mouthful of spit and blood before he stood up, "LET''S FUCKING SEE HOW THAT PRETTY FACE OF YOURS WOULD LOOK LIKE AFTER I''M DONE WITH YA!"


    Major Lopez cackle from the side, "Kid, you got till sunset."


    ''More than enough¡­''


    At that moment, Lopez''s gaze turned to Major Perez for a second after hearing that but he assumed a fighting stance before he took a huge breath and lunged at me. His fists were covering most of his face but his deathly re was locked onto me, but I let out every bit of killing intent and devoured him whole.

 Chapter 871: Payback II

    There was no stopping a raging bull but Lopez and all of the rage he was directing at me puffed out like a candle as he lost sight of what to do for a solid second. Fear just enveloped his whole body as his footsteps staggered, making his temple vulnerable to a full-wound elbow.


    The moment it fucking connected, everyone present just grimaced when they saw an open wound between Lopez''s left eyebrow and temple, and blood just poured over his left eye and then some.


    However, the pain must''ve brought him back to reality as he threw the same elbow¡ªheaded for my face¡ªbut I met it with my forehead.


    "AHHCK!"


    This time, the pain registered on his tiny head but instead of trying to get even with me, he once again turned to Major Perez with a furious look.


    "CAN''T YOU SEE WHAT HE''S DOING TO ME?! ARE YOU GONNA LET THIS GO¡ª"


    But Major Perez cackled for the second time as he said:


    "Eyes on your opponent, dumb shit."


    "WHAT¡ª"


    As Major Perez stated, Lopez should''ve kept his eyes on me because waiting for him to stand up earlier was the only moment of respite I have for him. At this moment, I had already lifted up from the ground and spun once with my whole body as my heel was headed for his vicle instead of his head.


    Getting hit with a doumawashi in the head was sure to knock someone out but getting hit in the corbone was another story.


    The look on his face after we both hear that little crunch was fucking priceless, and Major Perez was already regretting giving me more than 30 seconds to y around with his guy. The only thing I promised him was that I wouldn''t kill this guy and there were no promises about leaving him in a wheelchair or a stretcher.


    But on that note, we both fell to the ground and he managed to keep a tight hold on my right ankle.


    I would''ve been in trouble if this was any other day but he already had three injuries on top of one another and his most recent one was making it impossible to hold onto me for long. He had to fight through the pain just to keep my ankle in the same ce but his face just lost color when he tried to put me in a lock.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! DON''T FUCKING MOVE¡ª"


    Much to his surprise, I just rolled into the direction he was trying to lock me in and even if he tried to roll at the same time, we''d just roll on and on until his willpower gave out. It was like moping your courtyard while there was heavy rainfall, and him looking embarrassed was the least of his worries.


    In a real fight, you don''t go for ankle locks, you break fucking bones.


    He was still in the process of trying to put me in a lock when his big toe had twisted more than it should have. There was a moment of confusion when he looked at its current state but his face turned even redder before he had to let go of me and scream at the top of his lungs.


    I could''ve broken something much more valuable but we still had enough time.


    As of this moment, Lopez was rolling in pain but I was already up on my feet, looking for another opportunity to break him just right. But yeah, there was a clear divide among the spectators and the more their rank skewed upward, the more they were pissed off.


    However, the ones on the other side were still walking on eggshells because if they were seen supporting someone outside beating one of their officers, they would be the punching bag after this shit was over.


    But yeah, Lopez was taking his sweet time rolling on the ground and I had to kick some dirt toward him to embarrass him even more.


    "What? Are you gonnay there forever?"


    "FUCK YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"


    "Hah! You''re really great at that, you know? It''s just that there''s nothing you can say to me that I didn''t say to myself in front of a mirror before, but say something about my wife¡ªI fucking dare you, I''ll fucking cave your teeth in with my knee you''d be sucking dick for the rest of your life for some protein!"


    "..."


    "What? Cat got your tongue now? It''s so easy to do shit when they''re not fighting back, huh? How''s it feel to be on the other side?! STILL HADN''T HAD ENOUGH REST?! STAND THE FUCK UP!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I lobbed over a grenade with the pin still on.


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING¡ª"


    When everyone saw the grenade up in the air, I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea¡ªthough a few quickly discovered the ruse¡ªbut in this instance, I had a particr bitch I had to chase after.


    Lopez had never stood up so fast in his life and this time, I grabbed hold of his torso from behind before I lifted him up in the air and brought him down using my right knee as thending pad with the little prick between his legs.


    "Fighting" this guy was like a random dude in the practice mode of a fighting game that I get to bully for as long as I''d like because he had nevernded a solid hit, besides the sucky attempts at a counter.


    At this point, I could practically do anything to him within the time limit, but I grabbed onto his hair and lifted him up before turning to everybody:


    "Now''s your time, you have till sunset."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "It''s your one shot, one opportunity. I''ll hold him up while anyone who wanted to give him a piece of your mind can walk up¡ªand trust me when I say that I''ll take fucking responsibility. Or have things stay the way they are."

 Chapter 872: Kaleys Payback

    As soon as I said that, I for sure thought I''d be like that kid who brought some gum to ss but it was theplete opposite. Even the people I thought who would step up were either looking down at the groundpletely trying to avoid eye contact¡ªor still had hesitation in their eyes for the possible blowback even if I did say that I''d take full responsibility.


    It was because unless I take them with me or stay in this ce to keep Lopez in check, they would definitely get abused even more even if they had a shot of making their grievances known.


    However, right as I was about to give them another push, Kaley had already made her way towards us and she took off her right glove before sending a resounding p to Lopez''s already swollen cheek.


    The pain she transferred over was substantial but it was secondary¡ª it was more on standing up to someone that held and abused power.


    If given the chance, Kaley looked like she wanted to be the one to fight him earlier but I sure as hell wouldn''t permit it¡ªnot because there was a chance that she''d lose but because I''d definitely put her opponent six feet down the concrete if he managed to get a minuscule of a hit in.


    But yeah, Kaley didn''t stop with that p because, like me, she made sure that his fucker wouldn''t be able to produce any spawns. It was because she held onto his shoulders before sending her knee¡ªwhile still wearing her thick kneepads¡ªover to his already beaten-up dick and balls for good measure.


    And once again, Lopez couldn''t muster the strength to stand up with what he was going through for the second time this day so I just let gravity take him and let him roll around for a little bit.


    Then right as I was about to check everyone else if they had a change of heart, Kaley''s voice came in just loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Listen here you sorry excuse of a man¡ªwhich is a word I don''t think should describe you: What we''ve done to you¡­ physically¡­ can be said to be over the toppared to you just touching a little bit above my waist but mentally, that''s something that could cause more damage than a bandaid or a dose of painkillers could fix.


    I''m lucky I''ve experienced worst things than that¡ªwell, you were stopped before things went further¡ªbut that''s beside the point."


    "..."


    "I have the best support system anyone could ask for and I could say that I''ve be stronger¡ªmentally, than I used to but that doesn''t mean I could brush things off just because I can take it without breaking down crying, shutting myself down, ming myself even though I did nothing wrong, or some bullshit reason I shouldn''t even be giving examples now."


    "..."


    "The point is: you''re the fucking scum of society and you probably resort to this awful behavior because as much as I don''t want to say this: no one fucking likes you for who you are and the only women who have touched your tiny little dick are the ones you forced your disgusting self into or the ones you paid ten times their regr rate because you''re that much of an ick and they had to have some money leftover because you''re probably such a bad fuckingy, they''d need therapy right after."


    "You f-fucking bitch¡ª"


    "Tell me, when you''re having sex¡ª no, abusing someone else, do they tell you it''s fucking good or all you''ve heard is just the usual for you like: no, please stop, why did I deserve this? Oh! Or is it just radio silent for you because you either put them to sleep first or you gag them with your stinky drawers? Is that it, huh?! That''s probably it, right?! That''s¡ª"


    At this point, Kaley started to get even more emotional¡ªwhich waspletely understandable given the circumstances, but she took a deep breath and partly nced at me which somehow calmed her down. After that, she took another breath before turning back at Lopez who was keeping quiet the whole time, and she crouched down to whisper something only the three of us could hear:


    "Listen here and listen well: from a quick nce at you, I already figured out that you have a loving wife and daughter that''s probably¡ª no, definitely clueless about your scummy behavior and I''m pretty sure they''re staying at the university next door¡ª"


    Lopez never looked so agitated, "How did you¡ª"


    Kaley let out the tiniest bit of killing intent directed right at Lopez, "Shut up, I''m trying to talk to you."


    "...!"


    "Good. This is how it''s gonna go because I know your frickin'' type all too well. See this here? We have video proof of the shit you just did to me and with everyone here as our witnesses, we can just stroll over to the other side and tell them what a loving husband you are¡ª"


    "Heh¡­"


    Kaley''s left eyebrow rose slightly, "You think they wouldn''t believe us, huh?"


    "You don''t know them as much as I do and you''re better off requesting something from this ce for reparations because I know full well that whatever I did, at the end of the day, they''ll both forgive me. That''s how devoted they are. Besides, did you forget? I''m THAT important here and you''re only able to do this because the General is out.


    Trust me, this thing wouldn''t fly if he saw what you''re doing to me right now."


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah. You can bet your sweet ass on it, sweetheart."


    "We''d hate to do this to you but you forced our hands."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "You wanted the nuclear option, right? We''ll fucking give you the nuclear option."


    "And what is that?"


    At this moment, Kaley could only let out this devilish smile as she nced at me before looking at Lopez like she had him dancing in the palm of her hand.


    "I¡ª no, we''ll fucking seduce your wife and your daughter. I hope to god they aren''t as ugly as you."


    As soon as Lopez heard that, the look on his face was fucking indescribable but I was also wearing the same indescribable expression. I didn''t even think Kaley could say the first part of her rant to someone else and I sure as hell didn''t think that herst statement would conclude like this.


    However, I know that Kaley knew that saying that was the best way to get under Lopez''s skin and it definitely worked wonders.


    "SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME YOU BITCH¡ª"


    Lopez tried to lunge at Kaley not to touch her, but to actually hurt her but I easily tripped him down and stepped on his head so he could only struggle from moving just for a little bit. And to add insult to injury, Kaley had never moved a single step and she was just looking at him amusedly like she was having her first viin moment.


    ''Is it wrong that I''m horny right now¡ª the fuck am I thinking about?! Fuck it¡ª''


    And as I was still in mid-thought, Kaley just simply doubled down with herst statement, "Right, you shouldn''t worry we''d do anything bad. Besides, you''re gonna learn what consent means and you''re wife''s gonna know what having an orgasm feels like. But your daughter?


    Hmm~ She''ll definitely know more than that and I''m pretty sure you''re fucking mad not because it''s gonna be a disgrace but because one of the reasons you''re doing what you are doing is because there''s a line you couldn''t dare to cross and this is one of the ways you could cope with it. Am I right?"


    "...! Y-You¡­ Who the fuck are you?! HUH?! DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE¡ª"


    Kaley started to chuckle, "I hit the nail dead-on, huh? Are you finally ready to listen? You see, all I want you to do to prevent that from happening is to apologize to every single person you''ve wronged here¡ªsincerely, if I might add¡ªand you''d add a favor on top of that PLUS they had to have a person witnessing that you did just that."


    "You¡ª"


    "I''m not done. And yeah, I''ll keep a fucking list of those people and if you missed a single one, you know what''sing to ya."


    "..."


    From this point on, it was safe to say that Kaley had Lopez by his balls, and the assumption that she was a frickin'' witch-psychic solidified even more. And yeah, I added the witch part just now.


    Lopez right now was just slumped on the ground wearing a difficult expression and even though it was already past the deadline and no one followed after Kaley, the number of things he had to make up for wasn''t worth what he did earlier. He just had this defeated look in his eyes because like he did with me, Kaley figured out his weaknesses and leveraged the shit out of him.


    But yeah, we still don''t know how was he so fucking important and the convoy that just arrived could probably provide some context.

 Chapter 873: The General

    Looking at my watch, it was 6:13 PM¡ªor should I say it was 1813 if we were gonna be a little location-urate with it.


    With that said, we definitely had all the eyes on us while we were tearing Lopez a new asshole but judging from everyone''s reactions, more shit was about to go down. However, Major Perez couldn''t hide the twinkle in his eyes when he briefly nced at me though he did order medical staff to take care of Lopez''s injuries.


    "You guys are f-fucked¡­" the bitch-ass let out before hissing because the medical staff assigned to him just tried to wipe his face with a clean piece of cloth.


    I let out a chuckle, "Bitch, you speak one more fucking word I''ll make sure to fucking cuck you by the end of the night."


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    The moment I said that, Major Perez just startedughing but his face slowly turned solemn as he leaned over, "Kid, you handled that prick nicely but this here''s the real shit. If you swear to your fucking life that you''re gonna do what you''re gonna do, I''ll back you up."


    "Uh-huh. Mr. In-charge, my ass. I wasn''t informed of any general and¡ª"


    "You didn''t ask. Besides, I DO run this ce when he''s out and I''m doing a pretty good job at it."


    I scoffed, "Really? Sure."


    "Hey, you wouldn''t be able to do what you just did to that bitch-ass if he''s here. And he''s about to hear about what you did so you better have someone like me in your corner."


    I thought for a moment before I replied, "Hmph. What''s his name though?"


    "The general?"


    "You¡ª Who are we even talking about in the first ce?! Of course, the fucking general!"


    "Jesus. Easy now, alright? Cheh, he''s General McArthur III but he goes by ''General'' usually¡­ he prefers it that way."


    "Just General, huh?"


    "Yep."


    "And before you ask, no. He''s not rted to ''that'' McArthur even though they had the same surname."


    "But he dide back to this ce¡­ multiple times, I imagine¡­"


    "Heh. You got some jokes, huh?"


    As Major Perez and I were talking, I didn''t even realize that Lopez was just stewing and waiting for the right moment to get his "revenge", but once the General came in with his entourage, hepletely ignored everyone else and went for someone I didn''t think should be in this particr scene.


    The General went straight for the highest-ranking cadet, the Baron, and wore a soft expression before opening his mouth:


    "Jameson Prome¡ª"


    The Baron kid flinched after hearing what I assumed was part of his name, "General¡ª"


    "You know our deal, son. Once it''s sunset, you call me Dad and I can call you by your real name. You used to like it when you were a kid, right? Jameson Prometheus Mcarthur IV¡ª"


    "Dad¡ª Ugh, I go by JP. Is that hard to understand?!"


    I thought to myself, ''Well, this is an interesting development¡­''


    In any case, for the next five minutes was the most¡ªdepending on the person seeing it¡ªwas the most heartwarming/cringe-worthy father-son scene I''ve seen in a while.


    It started with a quick hug that turned into the exchange of, "So how did your day go?" then ended with the, "I''m proud of you, son." that the Baron¡ª or should I say "JP" was definitely trying his hardest not to cringe and push his dad away who was trying to give him another heartfelt hug any loving father could give to his son.


    However, like how I could get hard and soft onmand, the General just straight up turned from the loving dad back to the highest-ranking officer in this ce that no one should dare speak against.


    It took him one nce for everything else to feel suffocating but the bitch-ass I almost tried to hug on the neck with a rope didn''t give a single fuck as he instantly tried to make himself the center of attention.


    "GENERAL! G-GENERAL! T-THAT JUVENILE! THAT FUCKING KID W-WITH THAT SAMURAI! HE¡ª THEY¡ª I WAS JUST¡ª THEY ATTACKED ME! I WAS JUST TRYING TO¡ª G-GENERAL!!!


    CAN YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?! GENERAL!!! CAN YOU¡ª"


    "Hmm?"


    "G-General¡­"


    From Lopez''s original outburst, the General''s concise response¡ªbut mostly the way he looked at him¡ªmade him consider what he was doing. He was trembling as he was biting his lower lip and I could clearly see how he had both his fists clenched¡ªalmost hard enough to pierce into his palms, but the look in his eyes told me that he wasn''t as important as the person the General was speaking to.


    The General briefly nced at me before turning to Lopez, "Lopez¡­ You do know that I just came back, right?"


    "Y-Yes, General¡­ R-Right¡­ I do a-apologize¡­"


    "Hmph," the General almost rolled his eyes as he turned to me once again, "You''re here now, huh? Right when I arrived¡­ and you''re running with ''that'' group¡­ Interesting¡­"


    I had the audacity to chuckle as I pointed at Lopez, "And you''re running with that bitch."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this fucking moment, the whole Academy had never been so quiet but it only took a few seconds before Major Perez fell down on his knees, shaking uncontrobly from trying to contain hisughter.


    ''This guy¡ª Nevermind¡­''


    Furthermore, a select few had to turn around¡ªbut I could see their shoulders moving up and down though Lopez''s mouth was wider than an asshole altered by several girthy 9-inchers.


    He didn''t think I''d still run my mouth in front of the guy he thought that would make me voluntarily shut up but he had no clue that I already ran my mouth to someone higher than this dude in front of us. But yeah, running my mouth only prompted an eyebrow twitch from the General himself but the Baron looked like he saw me in a new light.


    ''Yep, a kid''s still a kid. Heh.''


    In any case, the General and I were just staring at each down for a few seconds before he shook his head and sighed. However, the moment he turned to his kid momentarily and then looked back at me, I knew that he was up to something.


    "Jameson¡ª"


    The Baron quickly cut him off, "JP."


    The General scratched the side of his cheek, "Right¡­ JP¡­ If you''re looking for a teacher that''s not me, he could do it for you."


    ''Wut?''


    "General¡ª"


    The General cut him off while making his eyes wider and wider, "Dad."


    The Baron sighed and rolled his eyes, "Dad, a teacher? He can teach me what?"


    The General chuckled as he pointed at Lopez who was now on his feet but have ice packs on both sides of his cheeks, "That. He can teach you that."


    JP slowly looked more and more upset, "I can do that too but you wouldn''t allow me."


    "Exactly."


    "Haah? Dad¡ª You''re not making any sense right now. What are you¡ª"


    The General suddenly turned to me, "Hey, kid. C''mere."


    "Sure¡­" I looked at him weirdly as I added him to one of the people who call me by that cursed title.


    "Punch me."


    "What?" I had to do a double take, much like everyone else that heard him.


    "I want you to ball your fist, aim at my left cheek, and punch me hard."


    "You sure?"


    "I''m sure¡ª GRCK!"


    Without batting a fucking eye, I did as I was told but it seemed like I caught him off-guard because he didn''t even manage to clench his teeth to somehow mitigate some of the damage. His knees buckled as he tried his hardest just to keep himself from falling down on one knee, but everyone else was just so fucking shocked, it took them a few seconds to point their guns at me.


    At this point, all he had to do was say "Open Fire!" and I''d be riddled with holes and this story¡ª err, my life''s story would be over. Heck, even JP was raring to give me a piece of his mind but the General recovered and waved everyone down.


    "Put them down¡­ Fuck¡­ I didn''t think that¡ª Nevermind. Ahh~ That hurts¡ª It fucking hurts! That was solid, yeah¡­ really solid¡­"


    JP seemed to couldn''t believe the choice of words his dad was using, "D-Dad? You okay?"


    "Huh? I feel great, son! Anyway, he''ll teach you stuff while he''s here and¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Ah¡­ That''s not gonna happen."


    "Huh? Y-You what?"


    "We were supposed to be out of this ce two hours ago. We''re not staying here especially with that ''important'' bitch hanging around."


    "W-W-Wait, I''m about to offer you food and lodging in exchange for teaching my kid while you''re here. Why are you going out at sunset? Stay the night at least! Or the morning after! Do you guys have a ce nearby or are you driving through the dark?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    ''Is¡­ Is this the¡ª Is this the real shit Perez''s has been talking about? Umm¡ª''


    I was in mid-sentence and mid-thought as I turned to Major Perez and to my surprise, he was surprised as I am for seeing the General act this way around me. I didn''t know whether I had a special affinity or the "Rizz" to soften-up old-timers and what-not, but I was pretty sure the back-up he told me he would provide wasn''t needed.


    And yeah, even Lopez couldn''t believe what he was seeing¡ªmuch like everyone else who didn''t know who I was¡ªbecause I was being given special attention by the most special man in this ce.


    The General continued, "C''mon! Humor an old man. Why don''t you and your people stay here for a week as my guests!"


    "I really can''t¡ª"


    "What''s holding you down? Do you have prior arrangements? Can I make something happen?"


    "Mr. Mc¡ª I mean, General¡­ With all due respect, you''reing a little strong and my schedule''s choking me as it is. I doubt I could teach much to your kid even if we stay the whole week and¡ª"


    "What if you take him with you?"


    "Wut?"


    "DAD! Wha¡ª"


    "What? It''s for your own good. You''ll learn a lot!"


    ''Why does everyone leave me their child, niece, or whatever¡­ It''s¡­ ugh¡­''

 Chapter 874: The Night in the Academy I

    After hearing another proposal of taking another person under my wing, I decided to not give a definite answer at the moment. But after 30 minutes or so, we still found ourselves in theirrge mess hall that definitely followed a set of strict rules to either make everyone work extra hard or just straight-up know who was fucking in charge.


    Our group was seated on an extra table provided for us¡ªwhich was right next to the Baron''s table¡ªand the first thing I noticed was that not everyone was eating the same meal.


    The high-ranking officers had something more than decent but the ones further down, especially the cadets'' meals had something that barely fulfilled one''s caloric and nutritional intake.


    With that said, our group had a generous serving of rice, a slice of what appeared to be beef in crispy breading, some nice hot soup, mixed vegetables, coffee, and a small piece of dessert to keep everything rounded.


    But since I was ''that'' kid and I have something that the General wanted, I had this extra thick slice of meat that everyone else in my group didn''t have in their trays.


    Furthermore, the only one that had something better than I did was the General''s son and when I found where Seb and his team were sitting, I discovered that they had a slightly better meal¡ªwhich was the ''extra'' cup of coffee they had¡ªthan the ones sitting further back.


    Because the ones further back only had a cup of rice, a small chunk of meat which I assumed to be those rigid cube steaks, the same soup but not as much, and the same serving of mixed vegetables with no coffee or dessert to wash it down right after.


    ''These people¡­''


    In my ce, I do give special rewards for people that gave a little extra or that can do something other people can''t, but as much as possible¡­ when everyone was eating together, I''d make it so that everyone was eating the same thing.


    Even before the world ended, when I buy some takeout, it was a given to buy EVERYONE living in the same house the same thing so you all could enjoy that meal together, and in turn, they''ll do the same when they buy food from outside. There were some exceptions sometimes like when someone else didn''t have the budget or the money for it but this ce sure as hell wasn''tcking in that regard.


    But yeah, we were living in different times right now, and doing this could be the only thing they could do¡­ but this didn''t sit well with me.


    Right after one of their officers said ame excuse for "grace", I quickly divvied up the extra slice of beef cutlet that was given to me before equally distributing it on our table. Tatiana easily tried to pick out the biggest piece while Quinn tried to take my own separate slice for her protein needs, but Jesus and his crew just said thanks as Kaley and the rest did the same.


    Doing that instantly garnered the attention of a few others¡ªespecially JP¡ªand I saw him shake his head before eating his food without a care for the ones at the back who looked sick eating the same shit over and over.


    ''I''m pretty sure that this ce isn''t short of supplies especially since they''re working closely with my university but doing this type of shit is fucking nuts¡­''


    And yeah, seeing Lopez happily engorging on his mountain of a meal fucking pissed me off but I couldn''t believe my eyes when Jesus stood up and handed over his portion of meat to the ones in the back wearing bitter expressions¡ªnot because he did such a thing but because the people he tried to give them to t-out rejected him.


    Jesus tried for a second time, "Hey. Thises with no strings attached, alright? Just take it, we have some food anyway¡ª"


    One of the thinner-looking cadets replied, "Thank you, but we can''t. It''s the rule here."


    Another one of them added, "We eat what we contributed, it''s thew. Aren''t you familiar with that already?"


    Jesus shook his head, "I''m not bound by this ce''s rules. What if I identally drop these pieces on your tes and you somehow didn''t want to waste some good fucking food?"


    "Umm¡­ what?"


    "I''m serious, alright?"


    One of the cadets who I assumed was a leader of their squad interjected, "I know you mean well, Jesus¡­ but we earn our keep. We barely got our quotas in and this is the result. We''ll be sure to do better tomorrow and make up for the loss of two of our members."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as that cadet mentioned the loss of two of their members, their side of the table instantly got quiet but he continued to eat his food, eventually making others to take a deep breath and do the same.


    It seemed like a lot was going on in this "fortress" Mr. Cuervo didn''t dare screw over but to me, even if it looked imprable from the outside, it looked fragile on the inside. There were a lot of things I could as easily use to bring this ce to its knees but my main goal was these separate camps working together.


    Building or creating something was fucking hard than just destroying it but let''s just say that I''d like a challenge.


    With that said, Jesus could only shake his head and go back to his seat but hell almost broke loose when he discovered that not only did Tatiana take a portion of his meal, Quinn was already digesting arge portion of his food as well.


    In any case, we did bring some food for ourselves so it wasn''t an issue and it only took everyone in this ce 10 minutes to finish their meals, leaving the lowest-contributing cadets to clean up after them.


    But much to my surprise, not only did JP stay behind but Seb also let the group he was leading to move on ahead and waited patiently for us to finish eating.

 Chapter 875: The Night in the Academy II

    If I was alone, I''d probably take 10 minutes to find a good show to watch while I was eating and just spend five minutes to finish my food but if I was eating with other people, it''d take around 30 minutes to an hour.


    It was because some people liked to talk while eating with their friends or family but in this case, it was fucking awkward to get stared at while we were eating the meals provided for us and Quinn was the first one to snap at the two.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO STARING AT?! HUH?!"


    The two almost jumped at their seats and Seb was just about to speak when JP did it first:


    "Apologies. I didn''t think you would take this long¡ª I mean, umm¡­ apologies¡­"


    "..." Seb could only lower his head as he looked away.


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Haven''t heard of chewing, huh?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Jesus fucking Christ, I''m talking to a fucking noble¡ª"


    Jesus interjected, "Hey! It was a one-time thing, alright? I was drunk then too!"


    Quinn almost choked on her food, "Pfft¡­ Asshole."


    "Works every time, heh."


    "Anyway, the fuck are you two waiting for us? OR are you waiting for him? That''s it, huh?"


    JP nodded, "Yes, I was instructed by the General¡ª I mean, my father to wait for the leader of the Special Unit, Mr. Ishiyama¡ª Apologies, I''m not too sure of the title or rank given to you by the President¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Listen, you either call me by my name or call me ''Kid'' like every old dude I met. Oh! Boss works too if you''re at my ce. Drop the ''Mr.'' too, I''m not that old."


    "Y-Yes, sir!"


    I looked at JP with a defeated expression, "Fine. Call me whatever you want, I should''ve given up on that a long~ time ago."


    "P-Pardon?"


    "That''s not important. Anyway, I can kinda guess why you''re here," I replied to JP but then I turned the other side to look at Seb, "But why are you here?"


    Seb took a deep breath before replying, "P-Pardon¡ª ACk!"


    Quinn blew up right after throwing a spoon right at his head, "Enough of this ''pardon'', shit! CAN ANY OF YOU TALK NORMALLY?! WE''RE NOT IN A FUCKING NOVEL OR WRITING A LEGAL DOCUMENT, JUST TALK CASUALLY FOR FUCK''S SAKE!"


    Jesus cut in the middle of them as he tried to defuse the situation, "You guys probably¡ª no, you probably don''t know but they''re rted, kinda."


    "Kinda?"


    JP nodded, "Dad was great friends with histe parents and he basically took him in."


    Tatiana interjected, "So you two are kinda like step-brothers?"


    The two nodded, "You can say that."


    Then Tatiana chuckled, "But unfortunately the wrong¡ª Hmm, nevermind that¡­ Still possible¡­"


    As soon as Tatiana went there, I was apuding her in my head but the two had no fucking clue what the fuck we were talking about. In any case, we eventually discovered that the General told the two to follow us¡ªI mean, me¡ªfor the duration of our stay to "learn", but what was stewing in my head at the moment was if he''d also include Seb in the deluxe package he was trying to hand over to me.


    ''Let''s just not ask them to be safe¡­ But they''re gonna learn something alright¡­''


    Once we finished our meals, we cleared our tables and handed them over to the cadets washing the dishes though we did offer to help them clear the other tables which they obviously declined.


    However, I learned that the General had set up a private space where I could "teach" the two something only that I could, and the two actually had this sparkle in their eyes that they were trying so hard to contain.


    Honestly, any normal kid would love to learn to use the de in my hip¡ªor whatever it is the General was so cryptic about because I could pretty much teach these two anything in my wheelhouse. And as luck would have it, they had a "senior" that could probably teach them the basics in regards to Japanese sword-fighting.


    It''s just that the person who I thought respected authority was the first one to voice out his opinion.


    "Sir, with all due respect¡­ We''re here to learn from you and not from¡­ from¡­ the other person you''re here with," he said before turning to Isaac, "Apologies¡­"


    And Isaac had the audacity to side with them, "N-None taken actually¡­ I actually forced him to teach me too. I''m just as bad as you guys! Ah¡ª probably, right? I dunno much about you two but¡ª"


    I cut him off before he dug himself a bigger hole, "Isaac, just stop."


    "A-Alright sen¡ª bro¡ª sir¡ª you know how it is¡­"


    I shook my head as I sighed deeply, "Alright, this is how it''s gonna go: I''m not exactly sure what your dad is making me teach you but the setup here is he wants me to teach you kenjutsu or something that involved fucking the shit off somebody. But yeah, I dunno where to start with you two so how about you two fight it out and we''ll see where it goes?"


    "P-Pardon?" the two asked at the same time.


    "I already gave Isaac things he should work on based on how I assessed him myself but you two are basically ongoing books I had to decipher to know where to start."


    JP raised his hand, "Wouldn''t it be better if you assessed us one at a time instead of us fighting each other?"


    I quickly answered, "Yep, that would be better. Much more urate too¡­"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "No reason. I just don''t feel like teaching at the moment¡­"


    The moment I said that, I instantly sensed how upset JP was getting while Seb just took a deep breath and avoided eye contact. But other than that, what I quickly realized was how Seb was acting while JP was around because he wasn''t as passive when we first met him.


    I could only assume that something was going on between the two and what better way to bring out their grievances was for them to taste each other''s fists from the get-go.


    And yeah, I also didn''t feel like exining too much so I just added more fuel to the fire.


    "We gave you food, we gave you lodging, we gave you¡ª"


    "Before you pile on Mr. Baron, I don''t think your fragile ego would take it if I beat you two without breaking a sweat. I could definitely do that much without my de here, what do you think would happen if I hold it now?"

 Chapter 876: The Night in the Academy III

    Saying that, I was half-expecting for him to lunge at me¡ªbecause I was expecting some pride and entitlement since he was the General''s son¡ªbut he just put up a frown and let the remark slide, telling me he was as "special" as he thought he was and simple provocations wouldn''t work on him.


    However, since Seb also kept to himself, didn''t that defeat the purpose of being special because there were already two of them in the same room that did the same thing?


    At this point in time, there was still a handful of hours before it reached midnight but what better way to hit several birds with a stone was this scene that wasid out for me.


    From my understanding, these three people in front of me needed a teacher where one was here solely for swordsmanship while the other two were here for god''s knows what but if we left everything to my discretion and their own understanding, they''d just learn how I deal with things on a regr basis.


    Besides, I had a new-found ability that I haven''t had the chance to expand upon so in my point of view, I had three little guinea pigs I could do everything I want on¡­ but in a more research-like and not the Lopez-like way.


    And yeah, let''s not talk about theplicated rtionship the other two¡ªJP and Seb¡ªhave with each other but instead of having them beat each other up to vent their frustrations, they''d now have to find somemon ground¡ªIsaac included¡ªso they''d survive the night I had nned just now for the three of them.


    So, what better way to start our "lesson" than to call out the one that had everything handed to him on a silver tter.


    On a side note, this ce had several "Bastons" a.k.a. the sticks used for Arnis so the two half-brothers already had one on each hand like Isaac and I were because we didn''t have anything better. I would''ve preferred the ones Isaac brought over before but it seemed like he left everything on ourst temporary residence.


    I pointed to JP and beckoned him over, "You. C''mere."


    "Hmm?"


    "You wanna learn from me, right?"


    "I''m not exactly sure what you''re ying at¡ª"


    "You and me both, Mr. Baron¡­ but, this thing here is the first thing that popped into my mind so I''m gonna give you a taste regardless of whether this was what your father wanted me to teach you or not."


    JP still stood in ce after pondering for a bit, "What exactly are you gonna teach me though?"


    I let out a chuckle, "I''m gonna hit you with this stick and if you manage to block it, we''re done."


    "..."


    "Okay?"


    "..."


    "I''m gonna start now¡ª"


    "Wait."


    "Hmm?"


    "That''s it?"


    "Yep."


    "That''s too¡ª"


    Before JP had the chance to finish his sentence, I let out a short chuckle before I flicked my wrist and right as he thought I aimed for his left shouldering from a downward-right sh from his side¡ªit actually came from an upward-left sh that lightly tapped his right shoulder.


    The look on his fucking face was fucking~ indescribable and the way he had his guard on the opposite side of where my attack was supposed to be not only confused him but also the other two that would''ve done the same thing if they were in his shoes.


    "What the¡ª"


    "No fucking way¡­"


    "I was sure that¡ª"


    I chuckled at their reactions, "What? That''s just the practice swing. The next one''s the real thing."


    "Wha¡ª"


    And again, before any of them could respond or finish their sentence, I let out a gargantuan amount of killing intent and directed it to the same ce, thinking only of one thing: making this blunt stick to fucking ravage and eviscerate through JP''s flesh and bones and the other two even though they weren''t involved.


    I was still a fraction of a second to acting out my thoughts but before I could send out the real attack, JP had already lost color on his face and control of his body, bringing him to his knees faster than his training stick could fall.


    Furthermore, Isaac and Seb who were behind him looked like their entire search history was made public because they looked like their cold sweat permeated their clothes including their change of clothes for the next week.


    At this moment, the quiet andck of movement were definitely concerning so I broke the ice by awkwardly muttering, "So¡­ that''s a little too much, huh? Wanna do basics instead?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "A-Anyone?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ guys?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I did thep-tapping thingy before trying to say goodbye, "Okay, I think we''re done¡ª"


    Isaac was the first one to snap back to reality, "Woah! Hold up!"


    Seb followed, "You gotta wait for us to recover from that!"


    And finally, the Baron shakily stood up with a pale face, "Wait. We''re n-not done here¡­"


    I chuckled as I looked at him, "You sure?"


    "I''m sure¡ª"


    So, for thest time¡ªI hope, I tried to cover the whole area with my murderous intent but before I could think of what to do with these wet puppies that were left out in the cold, JP''s knees buckled as he vomited on the floor while the other two were just as close to doing the same thing as they fell on their asses.


    But for some reason, the three figures in front of me momentarily looked like corpses¡ªnot the ones that we were supposed to take down outside, but the ones that would look like after I''m done with them.


    I had to do a double-take for sure, and I doubt the three even noticed I shook my head and blinked a few times. And when things looked normal, the look of fear and confusion were on their faces but the look of morbid curiosity was starting to well up as well. However, what actually surprised me was that tears fell down Isaac''s face that he himself couldn''t exin why it was happening.


    For the record, JP was the one that looked like he''d shit his pants from going through that whole ordeal but the reason for Isaac''s tears seemed to be stemming from something deeper. I''m not a shrink per se but I''m pretty sure Isaac''s tears were from pity and sadness though he started to wipe them off with his palms with a confused expression.


    "W-What? I was just¡ª ah, fuck¡­ It''s not s-stopping¡ª I¡ª I t-think that¡ª"


    I cut him off as I looked at him solemnly, "Breathe."


    "H-Huh? O-Okay¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ F-Fuck¡­ This is e-embarrassing¡­"


    I chuckled, "Really? I feel great though¡­"


    "Uh-huh. You didn''t experience what we went through¡ª"


    "Hah! That''s where you''re wrong now. You thought I was the only one that could do this?" I said as I did it again.


    "FUCKING ASSHOLE! STOP! CAN''T YOU SEE I''M THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD TALK HERE?!"


    As I turned to the two, they were one sneeze away from fainting but all I could do for them was throw them a bar of chocte each and hope for the best. But in the meantime, I dragged over Isaac so we could clean up the ce we just used because let''s be real here, with the state they were on, I doubt they could do much physical activity.


    But yeah, I was surprised that Isaac could help me clean¡ªmuch less stand up¡ªthough there were plenty of times when I saw him almost lose his footing. However, it didn''t take long before he looked like he wanted to hear more of the subject we quickly nced over though I was already about to head to where Kaley and the others were.


    I sighed before I turned around to face him, "Alright. I''ll answer some questions that I want to but when I ask you questions of my own, you have to answer them whether you want to or not."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I know it''s not fair, to say the least, but that''s just the way it goes and I don''t want to talk about those people to someone I just met a few days ago."


    Isaac began to scratch his head with a dejected expression, "Fine, you win. Ask me everything you want now so we don''t have this silly back-and-forth game where we try to juggle two conversations at the same time."


    "Why don''t you just split your consciousness into two?"


    "HUH?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! BRO¡ª"


    I cackled as I snorted, "I was kidding you numbnut. Anyway, Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts¡­"


    "You talking about the ce I studied kendo?"


    "Yep."


    "What about it?"


    "Who''s the owner?"


    "Hmm? Why do you ask?"


    I almost beat the shit out of this idiot, "You said you''d answer¡ª Nevermind, I''m going to sleep¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! I''m sorry! His name''s Kenji Sato¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Hmm? What?"


    "No fucking way that the owner of that ce''s name is Kenji Sato¡­"


    "Wait, why?"


    "Does he look like a Kenji Sato? That''s like the mostmon Japanese name if you Google that shit."


    "Really? Huh. I thought it was weird at first too but no one''s saying anything so I went along with it."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well~ First of all¡­ he''s white¡ª"


    I almost choked on my spit and died then and there, "No fucking way¡­"


    "Oh! For some reason, he talks in this weird ent too¡­"


    "Uh-huh."


    "He always likes to listen to Drive, Wonderwall, and even Scars at times but I thought I disassociated when he told me that our dojo''s actually Chinese. And yeah! Can you believe that his favorite "anime" was Mn? Ah¡ª S-Sensei? You okay? You look¡ª BRO!


    WHAT ARE YOU¡ª SOMEONE CALL 911¡ª 117!!!"

 Chapter 877: Dojo? - Dojo.

    Hearing sphemous after sphemous statement one after the other, I almost went into shock and the only reason I was still barely conscious was that the mention of dubs being superior to subs¡ªor either way¡ªwasn''t said or the best DBZ fight this "Kenji Sato" guy witnessed was from the MC versus the one named like the woodwind instrument.


    In any case, the two half-brothers eventually found their bearings and even though they were still physically able to continue our training, they were mentally and/or even spiritually drained to function as usual.


    The chocte I gave them could only do so much and I doubt they''d wish to plunge into something that put them in that state after taking it in fully or perhaps trying to ready or prepare themselves beforehand.


    With that said, the only person I needed to get off my back was Isaac but I need to somehow satisfy him with my answers even if the deal we had about them was skewed in my favor.


    "S-So¡­ he''s a fake, huh?"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Not exactly. You have some of the basics down¡ªand that thrust of yours is somewhat decent¡ªand in the grand scheme of things, it''s just a me problem if I have something to say about white guys with Japanese names teaching a ss such as that."


    Isaac scratched the back of his head with aplex expression, "Sounds like you''re trying to avoid getting canceled or something. It''s the end of the world, no? Who gives a fuck nowadays?"


    "True. But it still feels weird, right? I spent most of my life with this certain mindset and suddenly, there was this number of years that you have to immediately think and act a certain way¡ªwhich almost always contradicts as to how I was raised¡ªbut yeah, I can understand and agree with some of those points but¡­ Hmm~ Let''s just say I really don''t have a side at this point.


    I always go with ''my'' side."


    "Hmm."


    "It''s like what I''m doing right now. It''s hard to pick a side because good things and bad thingse from either corner but if we look at them using both lenses, what''s right and what''s wrong bes subjective."


    "Umm.. how did we get to this part of the conversation again?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ my bad, my bad¡­ It''s the ''cancel'' thing¡ª"


    "Right, right¡ª I started it, sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "Anyway, if you don''t have any¡ª"


    "Actually, this has been on my mind for a while and I really need you to answer this one honestly¡­ It''s about how you managed to afford rent on Mr. Cuervo''s ce for months, I might add, while you have that¡­ umm¡­ ''starter'' de on ya.


    If you can afford a room for yourself and some ''entertainment'' on the side without signing up to his family, I assumed you''d have something on your hips that at least have a $1000 price tag."


    "..."


    "Isaac?"


    "..."


    "I''m just saying¡­ People that are loaded tend to buy things for themselves and since you value learning from me that much, having something that could at least put a smile on your face on a daily basis should''ve been a given."


    "..."


    He was looking away for a moment but he sighed deeply once he turned back to me because I was staring at him straight in the eyes waiting for a proper answer, "Alright¡­ G-Give me a moment¡­ Fuck¡­ To think you''d think of t-that¡ª"


    JP suddenly interjected with a douchey look on his face, "What are you two talking about?"


    Isaac almost turned his head violently from the sudden interruption, "Hah?! Didn''t we send you two away?! Follow Seb over there, half of him is already out the goddamn door!"


    "You! Don''t think you can do whatever you want here just because he can¡ª Ugh¡­ I''m so fucking tired, I''ll deal with this tomorrow¡­" JP said with a heavy sigh before turning to me, "Kindly turn off the lights and lock the doors when you two are done here, alright? I''m going to sleep¡ª"


    Isaac muttered as JP turned his back, "For someone who respects authority that much, this is a ''pleasant'' way to talk to your senior, no?"


    JP stopped in his tracks as he turned back with a frown, "What did you just say to me?"


    Seb called from the double doors, "Baron, we should¡ª"


    JP exploded, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! DID I FUCKING TALK TO YOU, PLEB?!"


    ''And one of his maskses out¡­''


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT ME FOR?!"


    "I apologize, I''m heading out," Seb looked down momentarily before giving me a nce andpletely walking out the door.


    "Cheh, that''s what I thought," JP scoffed as he watched Seb disappear from view but then he turned back to Isaac with the same expression, "You¡ª"


    But I shut shit down before things escted.


    "Jameson Prometheus McArthur IV. Have some fuckingmon sense. The way things are between you three, by order of seniority, Isaac here''s your senior¡ªand that reminds me, Seb''s your senior too."


    "What?!"


    I wore a deadpan expression, "I met this guy first, then Seb, then you. That''s how it works. You might be above them in military standards but you''re the lowest of the bunch. And yeah, don''t fucking run your mouth while your dad''s away because if you haven''t forgotten, we record everything with our cameras here *pointing at the almost invisible lens by one of the straps on my vest*, see?


    You don''t wanna see him disappointed in you now, are we?"


    "..."


    "Also, if your dad hasn''t told you yet, I run a special unit that''s approved by THE president himself, and I dunno about you¡ª but Imand more people¡ªmilitary and otherwise¡ªthan the cadets who were here for more than they should''ve stayed. In short, without the university right next to ya, I''d probably have more people under mymand AND connections where I can call upon favor without issue."


    "...!"


    "Furthermore, everyone else in my crew can move on their own¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªand I don''t answer to your dad, and my crew doesn''t also. We do our own thing to an extent. But we, as a collective, give each other respect and courtesy anyone should give to another person¡­ your dad included, unlike you.


    Trust me, holding on to your title that was probably given to you wouldn''tst long unless you earn it properly."


    "What does that even mean?"


    I almostughed in his face, "That''s¡­ That''s something you should figure out yourself."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At that moment, JP could only stare at me while he tried to figure out what I just said to him but Isaac and I wouldn''t speak a word until JP walked out those doors. He already interrupted something that could allow me to shed some light on and I wouldn''t allow him a breakthrough or an epiphany after pulling that shit in front of me.


    With that said, he eventually turned around and mmed the door behind him but to my surprise, Seb came in from the other entrance wearing an embarrassed expression.


    "Can¡­ Can I hang for a bit? S-Seniors?"


    "Of course, you can! Come here, junior!" Isaac quickly replied with an idiotic smile on his face.


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    "You were snooping, huh? I would''ve kicked your ass if it was any other day but your fucking brother is nuts! What a fucking hypocrite!"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "What are you acting like that for?! You weren''t like this earlier! Bro, I''m right, right?! The vibe''s totally off with when he''s present!" Isaac eximed as he turned to me.


    I nodded as I positioned myself so I''m facing them at equal proportions, "I noticed that too. Care to borate on that?"


    Seb scratched the side of his face as he replied, "Can uh¡­ C-Can the senior tell his story first? Isn''t that how it goes? Mine''s a littleplicated so¡ª"


    Isaac cut him off, "Mine''splicated too, so¡ª"


    And then I cut them off, "Stop with the senior and ''it''splicated'' bullshit. I hate pulling rank just to prove a point but that''s the best thing to deal with that kid. I don''t mind being the one inmand but we gotta act like bros too, you know?"


    Isaac squinted his eyes as he looked at me, "Mm-hmm~"


    "What?"


    "Well¡­ it''s just funny to hear that while I''m forced to answer everything honestly! Don''t you think so?!"


    "Oh~~~ You haven''t heard of a hypocrite, I see¡ª"


    "C''mon, bro! Don''t admit to what you''re doing like that while looking like you''d dump my body in acid! I just wanted to know what''s the name of your dojo, okay?! Just answer me that and I''ll tell you everything you wanted to¡ª"


    "Dojo¡­"


    "Wut?"


    "Dojo."


    "You mean¡­ just¡­ dojo?"


    "Dojo¡­"


    "Dojo¡­ Like Dojo-Jojo¡ª"


    "D''you want me to smack you in the head?! Can''t you fucking figure out why I don''t wanna tell it to Mr. Kishin-Ryuu-School-of-Martial-Arts-Student?! HMMM?!"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yep¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "Well, that was anti-climactic¡­ And honestly¡­ I''m a little disappointed¡ª no, underwhelmed¡­"


    "You think?"


    "W-Well¡­ You know¡­ I thought¡ª"


    "Ours is atop a mountain though¡­"


    "WHAT?! FOR REAL?!"


    "A mountain that we own¡­"


    "BRO, STOP KIDDING ME!!!"


    I started bbering after hearing a bit of encouragement and interest after the dojo fiasco, "Our founder and head teacher, who''s also my adoptive grandpa is the one who forged my des and he''s a 7-foot demon that even I don''t know how old¡ªbut yeah, our naming sense sucks so I better stop there¡ª"


    "C''MON BRO, I JUST GOT HARD! CONTINUE¡ª"


    "And~ I''m definitely putting a stop to this shit after hearing that¡­"


    Seb interjected after a while, "Way to go, senior¡­"


    "DON''T PUT THIS ON ME! YOU FUCKING GOT HARD TOO! WHO WOULDN''T¡ª HEY! BRO! WHY ARE YOU HEADING OUT?! WE JUST STARTED AND¡ª PLEASE!


    I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! COME BACK!"


    Long story short, it was chaos for several minutes but since we still had plenty of time, I deemed that it was probably fine to head back a little bitter to properly hear their stories. However,pared to how jolly and chaotic the atmosphere was earlier, it just became downright depressing and infuriating once I heard about what happened to these two people before we met.

 Chapter 878: Raptor > Log Cabin I

    At this point in time, I was walking toward this log cabin prepared for us¡ªwhere we also parked our vehicles¡ªbut to my surprise, Kaley was waiting by the porch with a dimly litntern and what seemed to be a mosquito coil that almost burned itself from its little metal stand it usually came with.


    Once our eyes met, the solemn expression I was wearing waspletely melted by the bright smile she let out as she waved me over, motioning for me to sit beside her so we could at least have someone to bear the cold with.


    I gave her a kiss before I put my arm above her shoulders, "Have you been waiting all this time? Shouldn''t you be morefortable inside?"


    She shook her head and chuckled before she scooted even closer, "I am and I would be but I needed some alone time to think. I¡ª You¡ª We handled things "appropriately" but that doesn''t mean we could just function like normal, right?"


    I was taken aback by that statement and the feeling of guilt suddenly welled up inside me, "I should''ve¡ª"


    But Kaley shut that shit down before I tried to me myself, "You doofus, I love that you think that way but being alone sometimes with my thoughts could sometimes help me a lot. You did good by¡ª Wait a second, why are you looking that way before I waved you over?"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yeah, why do you look like that earlier?"


    "It''s... It''splicated¡ª"


    "I excel at handlingplicated stuff. Besides, I''m your wife¡­ kinda¡ª wait, I am without that certificate and other legal stuff, so you can tell me anything and I can help you. Did something happen with your disciples or whatever you call them? I see that Isaac didn''te back with you, did he find somece else to stay?"


    "..."


    "Hey? You can tell me every¡ª"


    I looked Kaley in her eyes before I sighed deeply and said, "I¡­ Hmm¡­ It''s a little¡ª no, I should tell you¡­ Fuck¡ª"


    "Just tell me!"


    "I''ll trust you with this, alright? Haaa¡­ I¡­ Hmm¡­ Why is this hard? It should be fucking easy to tell you everything but¡ª Can we do it somewhere private? I''m notfortable rying this to you while we''re on this porch¡­ Can we go inside?"


    Kaley immediately tried to hold me down as she looked into my eyes, "We can''t. Nope, I''m sorry¡­"


    "Hmm? Why¡ª"


    "There''s an ongoing orgy inside and¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "Before you ask, Quinn and Tatiana locked themselves up in one of the rooms avable but they are going at it ever since you took some time to teach the General''s kid. I would''ve joined them if it was any other day but you know¡­ things happened and I wanted some time alone¡­"


    "So Jesus and his crew¡ª"


    "Yep."


    "Ah¡­ Aren''t there windows we can climb¡ª"


    "Nope. I picked our room for that reason and it backfired¡­ We can''t bypass the activity in the living room because they''ll definitely make us join¡­ And no, I''ll ept "tacos" but not "sausages" in our rtionship¡­ Unless you''d let in¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "I mean trans-tacos but sure, I''ll always respect your decision on that."


    "T-Thanks, I guess?"


    Kaley chuckled before she gave me a light tap with her elbow, "We''ll go on our pace, alright? Hmm~ It really is getting colder but there''s no signs of them stopping anytime soon¡­"


    I suddenly had an idea, "We have spare nkets in our Raptor, we could spend the night there if they go at it for the whole night?"


    She let out a smile, "That sounds cozy, actually¡­ I can have you all to myself too. Quinn''s awesome but I want some US time, you know?"


    "You took the words out of my mouth. Shall we?"


    "Let''s."


    After a short bit, Kaley and I made ourselvesfortable in the backseat of my prized vehicle but she just had to ask about the things that weren''t answered before I had the chance to meet her lips with mine.


    "Can''t I just tell you tomorrow?"


    "Nope. You seem troubled by it, the best I can do is share the burden with you because I''m sure that with your memory and the way you are, you''d think about it deep into the night. And if we do "it", I want you just thinking of me, not the other thing that'' bugging you."


    "..."


    "Am I right or what?"


    "Psychic¡­"


    "Hmph. I''m not gonna react to that now."


    "Fine¡­ What do you wanna hear first?"


    "You choose, I''ll just listen¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fine. I''ll tell you about Isaac."


    "Great."


    "Haa¡­ I wouldn''t go into much detail¡ª"


    "Nope. Go into all of the details you can. Please."


    "..."


    "We don''t have all night?"


    "Why are you so snappy tonight¡ª"


    "Don''t change the subject! I''m waiting~"


    "Fine¡­ Hmm¡­ Isaac''s story is pretty much like everyone else''s though¡­"


    "Would be nice to learn something instead of dancing around it¡­"


    "I was just about to¡ª Anyway, he''s pretty much like a regr Joe like me¡ª you know, a little weeb-like and some other shit but he realized one of his hobbies by enrolling into this school¡ª"


    "The uh¡­ Umm¡­ Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts?"


    "Yep. You remembered, huh."


    "You were agitated when you remembered, I took note of it."


    "Huh. Anyway, it''s not as important right now¡ª well, it kinda is because when shit went down, he was attending a ss in that school. But since any kind of electronic ormunication devices were put away or were in a different room, they''d only taken notice when all hell broke loose."


    "Right around the first emergency broadcast?"


    "A little bitter than that because they thought that there was just a fire somewhere far because of all the sirens going off."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Anyway, Isaac said that the first thing they did was fish out their phones from their lockers while their teacher rushed to turn the TV on because their dojo¡ªor should I say their studio¡ªwas also his home.


    He mentioned that his teacher then realized that his live-in partner was still outside, working in a call center or something, so his teacher quickly fished for his keys and ordered what''s left of his students to vacate the premises immediately."


    "What? Really?"


    "Yeah, well he said that there really weren''t many of them left in the studio because everyone else just scrambled to get to their families, but since Isaac didn''t have a car of his own, he asked his teacher if he coulde with him and just drop him off when he''s close."


    "What did his teacher say?"


    "Oh, well¡­ it''s a no-brainer because they just took off with his teacher''s fancy-ass pickup and drove like madmen."


    "Did they bring¡ª"


    I almost stifled augh, "Right. There''s one piece of information I forgot to tell you."


    "Hmm?"


    "His teacher''s white."


    "And?"


    "His name''s Kenji Sato¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "Anyway~ To answer your question, yep. They brought their own katanas with them but Mr. Sato had a fully-automatic M16 and ssic 1911 at the backseat of his vehicle. Luckily for Isaac, the ce where his teacher''s gf was working at was pretty close to his home but¡­ but that''s the only time he lucked out."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    I let out a long sigh before I answered, "Well¡­ Remember when I told you when they fished their phones out from their lockers?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Well~ Isaac''s folks didn''t answer when he tried to contact them but when he was about to ask his teacher to pull over for a bit so he could jump out, his phone rang¡­"


    Kaley recognized my glum tone, "A-And?"


    "He umm¡­ he said that he was pretty ecstatic and d they managed to call him but when he answered it¡­ umm¡­ all he heard from the other side was his mom sobbing, telling him to get to safety and she loves him while she was bleeding out from the bites she sustained.


    He uhh¡­ he said that his first instinct was to still go back home¡ªespecially when he heard the sobs turn to screams¡ªbut his teacher gave him a good punch and gave him a good talking to."


    "..."


    "Mr. Sato kept telling him that after they''d let loose on those sons of bitches and the moment they secured his girl, they''d drive straight to his home so they could put his family''s spirits to rest."


    "What did Isaac say?"


    "He told me that he actually said nothing at that point but he told me that he never held his de so hard that the wraps were making that stretching noise. And once they made it to the call center, he was the first one to jump out of the vehicle and started cutting down anything that shouldn''t be moving¡­ and¡­ and the ones threatening to steal their vehicle."


    "Oh¡­ That''s¡­ That''s understandable, r-right?"


    I let out a bitter smile, "Yeah, I would''ve done the same thing but there''s a reason why we didn''te out for a time the moment it started. To avoid that. We resorted to that stuff but not that early¡­ and without a single loss to our belt¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Oh¡­ What happened to his teacher then?"

 Chapter 879: Raptor > Log Cabin II

    At this point in time, it was still cozy being with Kaley under a nket but I would very much prefer a soft bed where both of us couldy down and stretch our feet.


    However, there was still an ongoing activity in the living room and the only way we could get into the bedroom where Tatiana and Quinn were was to drill a fucking hole in the wall or simply wait for everyone else to finish¡ªwhich would take a little bit of time.


    In any case, I just sighed deeply before giving Kaley an answer to her question.


    "His teacher¡­ umm¡­ Mr. Sato¡ªas Isaac told me¡ªobviously went out guns zing and attracted a herd so that he could make Isaac head inside the call center''s fire exit without issue."


    Kaley looked surprised, "Really? Wow."


    "Yeah. Right, before he did, he handed Isaac his 1911 for ''emergencies'' because a gun in one''s hand could be more persuasive than a katana."


    "I agree¡­"


    "Anyway, Isaac then told me that it really made all the difference because all he had to do once he reached the fire exit was to point it at anyone that wanted toe with them. And yeah, he easily found Mr. Sato''s wife because a petite Asian girl that had several ''enhancements'' would stick out in a crowd."


    Kaley almost rolled her eyes after discovering the way I described Mr. Sato''s partner, "Ah¡­"


    "However, since we''re talking about the people he pointed a gun to, there was a guy in the crowd that made himself known to be Mrs. Sato''s¡ªwait, that''s not even her real surname, what was it again? Uhh~ Right, Ann! It was Ann''s side hustle¡­ you know, the one that made himself known."


    "Oh no¡­"


    I nodded as Kaley shook her head from hearing another person in the picture, "Yep. And when Isaac tried to shoo him away, the guy was stupid enough toe forward with a gun pointed at him to plead to this Ann chick toe with him instead and he loves her h, h, h~ But at the exact fucking moment, Mr.


    Sato rolled in with his bloody pickup before shouting at Ann and Isaac to fucking get in. And guess what happens next?"


    Kaley thought for a moment before she answered, "Side bf still tried to get a word in?"


    I nodded bitterly, "Yep. He got a word in before Mr. Sato popped his kneecap much to everyone''s surprise."


    "...!" Kaley had no words to say at this point but I saw her widen her eyes as she waited for me to continue the story.


    "At that point, Ann just started to scream in horror but Isaac took it to himself to stuff her back in the truck. He did his best to hold her down to stop her from hitting Mr. Sato while Mr. Sato was mowing down anyone and anything¡ªand he didn''t even dare to ask his teacher about the deal they made earlier.


    It was aplete mess of events but they did make it back to their studio/home which was still locked up tight and in one piece."


    I continued because Kaley was just staring at me, "Once they secured the vehicle in the garage and rolled down the roll-ups, the couple just started fighting because of what both of them did¡ªarguing about two different things at the same time¡ªabout Ann supposed cheating and Mr. Sato shooting the guy. Isaac told me that all he could do was stay quiet and he couldn''t do anything when Mr.


    Sato had enough of getting hit by his partner and decided to give her a solid p to the face."


    "That''s¡­ I wouldn''t know what to do in that situation¡­ They should be just¡ªugh¡­ what happened then?"


    "After that, he told me it just became deathly quiet and Mr. Sato just shouted at Ann and told her to get cleaned up and bring out all of their supplies while they barricade all the entrances for the time being. He did tell me that Ann was just sobbing even though she followed Mr. Sato''s words and they survived in that home for a good three weeks before it started going downhill."


    "Did they start running low on food?"


    I shook my head bitterly, "That could easily be remedied."


    "Then what¡ª"


    "Isaac told me that Ann started to show ''interest'' though we very much know what would happen if he ever tried to dip his toes on that, right?"


    Kaley couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What did he do though?"


    I tried to scratch the back of my head before I continued, "Well~ It''s actually moreplicated than that because before the ''interest'' started, Ann caught him with one of her dirty underwear while jerking off¡­ yep, he told us. It took him a bit to confess to me and Seb but he did nheless¡­"


    "...!"


    Seeing Kaley''s reaction, the best course of action was just to continue the story, "Yeah, and since you mentioned they started to run low on food, it really did happen. The two of them¡ªIsaac and Mr.


    Sato¡ªused toe out to gather supplies but since there was an incident of other people trying to break into their home, another guy had to stay behind to protect their house and guard the only woman in the vicinity¡­"


    "Then Isaac was the one¡ª"


    "They alternated actually and as he told me, he did try to push her away when she tried toe on him but he could only do so much given the situation. He eventually gave in and started to have an affair but as they said, an affair''s greatest enemy is unpredictability."


    Kaley nodded a few times as she looked at me again, waiting for me to continue, "W-What happened then?"


    "Yeah¡­ they did it for as much as they can while Mr. Sato is away but they were eventually caught in the act because after driving away, Mr. Sato walked back and got into one of the entrances he left open. At that point, Isaac was already anticipating a bullet between his eyes but what happened was that Mr.


    Sato calmly asked for Ann to follow him to his room before Isaac was asked to retrieve the only vehicle they had that was only a block away¡­"


    "..."


    "With that said, Isaac told me that nothing happened after that¡ªand his activities with Ann continued even when Mr. Sato was in their home¡ªthough he was the only one who went outside to gather supplies for three more weeks before it happened."


    "W-What happened?"


    "Remember the guy Mr. Sato shot in the knee?"


    "Wai¡ª Did he bring a group over?!"


    "Nope. Getting shot in the knee was hisst appearance¡ª"


    "YOU! STOP MESSING WITH ME! W-WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!"


    "Easy~ Don''t yell, we''re the only ones here! Sheesh~ Anyway, what actually happened in those three weeks was that they came across a couple who were seeking shelter for the night but when Isaac was about to turn them away, Mr. Sato epted the two even though the ones who tried to get in before were either shooed away or taken care of."


    "What?"


    "Yeah, but after giving everyone introductions over a simple meal, Isaac told me that Mr. Sato suddenly brought out booze and got everyone drunk¡ªespecially him and the guy from the couple they just took in.


    He said that he really felt weird that time so he would just put in his mouth the shot given to him before spitting it into the empty beer bottle he had¡ªthen emptying the contents in the bathroom every time he excused himself to ''pee''."


    "Oh¡­ that''s actually smart."


    "Yeah¡­ he said everyone thought he was just using the beer as a chaser to the liquor but as time went on, everyone else had gotten more drunk while the other guy waspletely passed out. There were jokes being passed around that he was a lightweight while Mr. Sato only looked tipsy but Isaac said that rms started ringing in his head when Mr.


    Sato offered to put the guy in another room to sleep so everyone could continue drinking¡ªand at the same time, the amount of liquor poured in his ss was getting higher and higher¡­"


    "Did he still try to¡ª"


    "Well~ They''ve drunk before so Mr. Sato had an inkling of his limit so he had to excuse himself onest time to get the 1911 in his bag. However, he told me he almost shit his pants when he discovered that Mr. Sato was following behind him with the 1911 he was just about to use to protect himself.


    Turns out, the guy he helped to his room had already sustained multiple stab wounds and he was the next one to die by his hands."


    "Then¡ª"


    "By some sort of coincidence, Ann also found it weird to have her partner take in random people and propose heavy drinking so she faked getting drunk and watched her partner very~ carefully. Long story short, Mr. Sato had their sharpest kitchen knife dug into his back before he shot down Ann in the process and Isaac had to finish him off by making his head roll on their stained carpet¡­"


    "..."


    "He said that his body just moved and even though he knew deep down that they caused everything that happened that night, he had to stay alive himself and continue from then on. What happened after that was that he cleared the house of all the supplies and valuables¡ªincluding the expensive des Mr.


    Sato owned plus a few other guns stored in his room¡ªbefore he dropped off the woman that survived in a DDR Camp in another city over."


    "..."


    "Right. Isaac did find the walking bodies of his family still locked in their old house and he took care of them before hitting the road. He was going through DDR Camp after DDR Camp to search for his other rtives right until he stumbled upon Cuervo Heights at the same time we stumbled upon it. He hadn''t had much luck finding existing rtives but he found us."


    "..."


    "And yeah, my good impression of him did falter from hearing his story but everyone has a bloody ledger, right? Kaley? Y-You okay?"

 Chapter 880: Raptor > Log Cabin III

    Kaley wasn''t speaking for a good while as we were talking and when I saw that she was wearing a difficult expression, I caressed her arms¡ªas I was hugging her¡ªwhile I Iooked at her with a gentle expression. She didn''t reply immediately as she kept quiet for a few more moments but once she let out a deep sigh, she held my hand and looked me in the eyes before opening her mouth.


    "I''m¡­ T-This story about Isaac made me r-remember what I didst time¡­"


    "Huh? What¡ª"


    "Y-You know, when I kissed Tatiana while¡ª"


    I almost smacked her head as I rolled my eyes, "Kaley. That was ages ago¡ª"


    "I know! It just¡­ It just surfaced in my head a-and thinking about it¡­ We found something else to address our¡ª m-my problem though I''d always feel bad when I hear stories such as this."


    "..."


    "You know, Isaac and Mr. Sato''s wife did way~ more than what I did but just attempting it¡ªnot the magnitude of the cheating done¡ªshould already be grounds for a break-up, separation, divorce, or whatever may the world call it."


    "..."


    "Look¡­ I''m not saying we do those things because we already talked about it but¡­ Hmm¡­ I d-don''t even know where I''m going with this b-but let me just say that I promise you that I wouldn''t do anything to hurt you like that again. And even if you didn''t look hurt¡ªaside from the chilling look you gave us the moment it happened¡ªI''ve never felt bad about doing something stupid."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Y-You listening?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I was just waiting for you to finish."


    "Ah¡­ D-Did I dig too much from the past? I¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Nah, it''s okay. But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Let me say this too: Kaley, everyone else in the world would and could call me names after saying this but no matter what you do to hurt me or anything else in that manner¡­ I''ll¡­ I''ll do my best to get over it and forgive you because you''re¡­ you''re the person that I chose to be with, you''re all I ever wanted, and even with our current situation with everyone else, you''re all I ever need to be happy."


    "..."


    "But yeah, I still do have my limits but that''s beside the point. Telling you this does not mean that you shouldmit more mistakes since I''ll always find a way to forgive you nor should it be the type of situation that since I do this for you, you should do the same for me because it''s not.


    That''s not the type of rtionship I wanted to be in though I did reference that because a show I watched mentioned it in the ending."


    "..."


    "What I want to happen though is first and foremost: we should ALWAYSmunicate like this not just to address problems of any sort but because it''s the way any couple should do things. We don''t send signals, hints, or any of that bullshit if we want the other one to know about something really important because if it is really important, we should talk about it like adults."


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah¡­ I agree."


    "Yep."


    "I gotta ask¡­ where did you¡ª"


    "Reddit."


    "Wut¡ª"


    I instantly changed subjects, "That''s not important. Anyway~ I believe that thest story for the day shoulde the other day or else it''d bring more trouble so¡ª"


    "Wait. Why''s¡ª"


    "Kaley. Do you want me to eat your pussy while I try to finger your ass or do you want another story you''d eventually hear in¡ª"


    "You! I was¡ª"


    "You wanna just sleep?"


    Kaley didn''t know whether she wouldugh or cry but I almostughed my ass off when she ''begrudgingly'' unzipped and took off her pants, sitting backfortably with her legs spread wide, while her grey cotton panties already had a wet spot forming right above this soft juicy mound that I couldn''t wait to bury my face into.


    "Go¡­ G-Go on then¡­"


    I looked her straight in the eyes as I kneeled down in front of her, caressing her thick thighs before giving them a gentle squeeze. With that said, she looked like she was already dying from anticipation but I simply leaned close where my nose was just about to make contact before doing a huge inhale.


    And as soon as I did that, Kaley just had to move her hips slightly upward just to make a little bit of contact but much to her surprise, I dove in and tried to take in as much as I could even when she still had her panties on.


    "Hngh! Y-You s-should take them¡ª AH! MmH! You¡ª MmM~ Ah! T-Take them¡ª Ah! It''s¡ª MmmMMm!


    Oh~ Hngh! MMmH!"


    To bepletely honest, I would rather prefer the taste of her skin and her juices than the taste of fabric, but I wanted her to want more as my tongue tried to make do with the dribbles through the soaked part of her thin underwear. However, I did make some contact with her skin when I tried to lick the whole area because there was only so much it could cover.


    And at the same time, Kaley had already leaned as far as she could while she was trying her best to keep her legs spread wide, though her hands were either pulling on my hair or pushing my head even deeper.


    I was already pushing my tongue as hard as I could against the fabric of her tiny piece of clothing just to get to her clit but it didn''t take long before Kaley tried to take the matter into her own hands.


    "Let me just¡ª"


    As soon as she tried to pull her panties to the side, I grabbed both her hands and pinned them down before doing what she wanted to do in a more inefficient manner. It involved using my teeth to almost tear through the soft piece of cloth and ending up using my tongue to somehow push them to the side but somehow being feral about how I did it made Kaley gush even more.


    My tongue was always wet but it got even wetter when it finally made contact with her fucking cunt, and I began parting her fat meaty lips while slurping anything that came out of inside her. I could barely contain myself with Kaley''s scent and juices because my raging hard cock was about to burst out of my pants and my precum was starting to dribble out over and over.


    But before I could do anything to myself, Kaley''s legs suddenly mped on my head before she started squirting hard, and I wasn''t able to drink all of them as they drenched my shirt. However, I continued top her meaty lips and suck on her tiny aching clit before I pushed a finger into her asshole.


    "F-Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! I''M C-CUMMING AGAIN¡ª S-Shit! MMH! Ahn!


    F-FUCK! Y-YOU''RE STILL¡ª Y-YOU''RE STILL¡ª AHHHH! SHIT! SHIT! MMMmMmhHHH!"


    At this point, Kaley''s face was a mess while my finger up her ass could feel how her whole body was contracting but I only stopped fingering her and eating her out until she was about to cum for the third time.


    "W-What? I was about to¡ª"


    Before she could say more, I just stood up and tried to slowly unzip my pants but Kaley hurriedly tried to pull them off and slobbered on my knob with fervor. She was doing it with such enthusiasm before she pleaded for me to impale her¡ªand just with the anticipation and with the first insertion, Kaley flooded the backseat of my truck as she dug her nails into my back.


    Kaley was just gasping for air as I was inside her though I began to kiss her as I slowly pulled back and thrust forward, giving her a little break from the sensitivity.


    With that said, Kaley was just looking at me a certain way as she would give me gentle kisses all over all the while she had her legs wrapped around my back and her arms still at the same spot. We shared the same exact words at the same time, giving us both a surprise and a quickugh.


    "W-Wanna switch ces?"


    "Let''s."


    At that moment, Kaley and I were still mostly clothed so we eventually took off all our clothes before I sat down and she went on top of me.


    I didn''t have to ask her to shove one of her boobs on my face as she made me fondle the other, and she was slowly riding me while I was using the same finger to prod the surface of her little asshole.


    Needless to say, I started cumming right then and there when she started calling out my name while she was moaning loudly, and she kept riding me over and over even though my eyes were already at the back of my head and my hands were grabbing her roughly.


    Kaley had no intention of switching ces in our cramped space and we only did stop when Jesus came out to light a cigarette.


    It seemed like their nightly ritual was done or they were taking a small break but Kaley and I had never tried so hard to mask our presence when Quinn popped out a little bitter, obviously looking for the two of us who were missing the majority of our own ritual.


    It''s just that it has been a while since Kaley and I did things alone but when Quinn nced in our direction and just stared at us for a while, we knew we were fucked.


    However, she just rolled her eyes and chuckled before stealing Jesus'' cigarette¡ªthough doing nothing with it¡ªand heading back, leaving us to our own devices.


    "Heeeey~! That''s my only smoke for the week! Give it back!"


    Quinn instantaneously roared loud enough for even us outside to hear, heck, even everyone else in the immediate vicinity to hear, "I''LL STICK THIS LITTLE CANCER STICK UP YOUR BUTT IF YOU TRY TO LIGHT IT ONE MORE TIME!"


    "JOKE''S ON YOU, I''M INTO THAT SHIT!"


    In any case, Kaley and I just chuckled for a bit before we went on a few more rounds and we were woken up by everyone else in the morning when they were tapping on the ss windows.

 Chapter 881: NICE COCK, BRO! - WE WANT YOU!

    The moment I opened my eyes, I almost reached for my gun because of the way everyone was looking at me. It was because not only Tatiana and Quinn were grinning from ear to ear, everyone else including Jesus and his crew looked like they busted their roommate jerking off or were speaking to their pets in that cutesy way they''d never do to normal people.


    And at the same fucking moment, I thought for sure that Kaley and I woke up at the same time but to my fucking horror, Kaley was under our nket¡ªbobbing her head up and down¡ªand had no idea that everyone else was watching us.


    I would''ve let everyone else watch if ''everyone else'' were the people we were involved with but this was an entirely different matter.


    But yeah, I should''ve immediately stopped what Kaley was doing but god fucking dammit morning head from her feels so fucking good.


    Not to mention, she definitely slobbered and engorged on my huge fucking knob the moment she discovered that I woke up but for some fucking reason, she didn''t hear the tapping on the ss windows.


    It could be that she thought it was just Quinn and Tatiana trying to y a joke on us¡ªand they''d have a little bit of a hard time seeing what was actually happening¡ªbut just the smile they were throwing at me told me that they fucking knew what was going on.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley went for the kill by doing the thing where she stops sucking me off and slowly stroked me with her hands, moving up from her position so she could mount me and finish together.


    ''No, no, no¡ª''


    I was this fucking close to pushing her down to make her finish what she started without discovering our audience, but I knew everything was lost when she pulled off the nket covering us.


    And it was .000001 seconds before chaos fucking ensued.


    "GOOD MORNING, YOU TWO!"


    "NICE TECHNIQUE¡ª WOAH! NICE COCK, BRO!"


    "LOOK AT HER FUCKING TITS!"


    Those three phrases came out muffled from our side but I definitely burst my eardrums when Kaley screamed for her life and took cover.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHA¡ª G-GET AWAY!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    Kaley tried so hard to pull up the covers by our feet as she tried to bury her face on my body and everyone else just startedughing and cheering from the spectacle. However, the pleasure I received earlier was entirely reced by pain as Kaley started to pinch my skin and hammer her fist on my body, ming me for everything.


    "AH¡ª OW! KALEY! IT HURTS! STOP!"


    "W-WHY DIDN''T YOU TELL ME THAT THEY''RE¡ª UGH!"


    "I JUST WOKE UP! I DIDN''T THINK YOU''D BLOW ME IN¡ª Nevermind that, it''s gonna be fine¡ª"


    "NEVERMIND?! REALLY?! NEVERMIND?! EVERYONE SAW US¡ª SAW ME¡ª AND YOU''RE TELLING ME THAT IT''S GONNA BE FINE?!"


    "YES! I REALLY THINK SO! DIDN''T YOU SEE THEM GO AT IT YESTERDAY?!"


    "B-BUT IT''S D-DIFFERENT!"


    "We''re going to a hot springter¡ª It''s probably a mixed bath too so¡ª"


    "I TOLD YOU IT''S DIFFERENT!"


    "At least you showed good technique!"


    "HOW DOES THAT MAKE IT BETTER?!"


    "I''M TRYING HARD HERE, ALRIGHT?! CAN''T WE JUST ACCEPT THE COMPLIMENTS?!"


    "HNGH~~~ C-CAN''T WE JUST COOK BREAKFAST FOR OURSELVES THIS TIME?!"


    "It''d be rude to¡ª"


    "PLEASE?!"


    "We can''t¡ª"


    "P-Please?"


    "Nope. It''s our mess, we deal with it."


    "Hngh¡­ F-Fine¡­ I''ll w-walk behind you though¡­ I''m still very embarrassed, alright?!"


    "I am too! I''m trying hard here so we''d be able to go out with everyone."


    "C-Can you f-find my clothes?"


    "Sure."


    With that said, we eventually got dressed before heading to the mess hall with everybody else but it didn''t take long before my mood was soured by the same exact thing they did with the breakfast portions.


    As usual, the ones who contributed less and were lower ranked got scraps while the ones who contributed a lot and were higher ranked got avish meal. And unfortunately, we were being given special treatment just because I was tasked to take JP as an apprentice.


    With the way things were, I wouldn''t be able to change this system but goddammit I''m gonna ruffle some fucking feathers.


    It didn''t take long before we finished eating so I quickly made my way to their assembly hall where each group''s daily tasks were being assigned to them. And luckily enough, no one from the cadets has driven out yet so I had a small window to proceed with my n.


    JP was by the stage with one of his cohorts who was barking at everyone to fall in line so I quickly made my way and made myself known.


    I simply gave JP an eerie smile before turning to his right-hand(?) man, "Gimme."


    [Huh?]


    I almost kicked the motherfucker''s shin, "You jackass, stop using the megaphone so close! Gimme!"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yes! That one!"


    As everyone else saw what was going on, the guy refused to give me the megaphone and instead turned to his Baron, but the people in the immediate vicinity heard a short clink before they heard someone¡ªI mean, me¡ªclearing my throat and speaking to the megaphone that had its strap cut off.


    [Morning, people! I know it''s gonna be a busy morning again collecting heads and whatnot but I have a small proposition for all of you. I''m only gonna say this once so you better fucking listen up! Can anyone hear me?]


    Saying that, I obviously garnered enough attention¡ªeven from the high-ranking officials and the regr joes who already finished their studies in this ce¡ªbut I didn''t expect all the cadets to stop whatever it was they were doing and listen to me attentively.


    Even JP who was still in the process of giving another cadet their set of tasks and the right hand who was still trying to get the megaphone off of me were perplexed by the respect given to me by their supposed pawns.


    I chuckled before I continued.


    [Alright. As much as I want to beat up Lopez for theing days, I''ll be leaving with JP and Seb for a little field trip. However, even if we ''bonded'' yesterday night, I don''t want them to feel out of ce so I''m thinking of bringing in a few more people with a particr set of skills¡ª no, what I wanted to say was that I want to bring a few more people that had a certain skill¡ª Get it? Singr.


    A single skill that they think that when it''s tested against everybody else here, they knew that they wouldn''t be bested.]


    [It could be anything. But the more obscure or weird it is, the better your chances ofing with me and my crew¡ª]


    One of the cadets with no particr features that were standing out raised his hand, "What do you mean by obscure?"


    [Good question, random citizen! What I mean by that is since all of you here are trained to do soldier shit, it would probably take a bit of time to find your best shooter, fighter, etc. So, if you have something¡­ something that you would shine on just by yourself, no matter how stupid or random it is, sign up and we''ll see if I''ll bring you with me or not.]


    Another random NPC raised his hand, "How many are you gonna take though?"


    [Another good question, random citizen 2! The answer to that question is I don''t fucking know.]


    "Huh?"


    [Why don''t all of you just worry about finding what sets you apart from that group you are in that''s trained to do a specific type of thing before you branch out to something that also does a specific type of thing? I''ll be the one to worry about the number of people I''ll be taking but let me tell you all that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.


    I don''t wanna throw shade in this ce but I promise you''d have a good time with me.]


    [And don''t worry about leaving this ce for a while. The General is sending his son away for a bit, why would he care if he sends out a handful more?]


    JP finally made his way to my back, "What the fuck are you doing?"


    I turned off the megaphone for a bit, "What do you think I''m doing? Am I not being that obvious?"


    "Everyone here has some shit to do and you''re disrupting the¡ª"


    I suddenly threw him the look as I shoved his right hand away, "Why don''t you start packing up Mr. Baron before I tell your dad what''s going on between you and Seb?"


    JP''s eyes suddenly went wide as he tried to look for Seb in the crowd, "What are you¡ª"


    "Let''s just say that I fucking know. And yeah, I''m gonna straight up tell you that you''re still fucking confused and you need to get that fucking head out the gutter or you''ll hurt more people than you think. You love being in a position of power and telling you that you''re notst night gave me an inkling."


    He gave me that same look when he yelled at Sebst night, "If you fucking¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking look at me like that. I fucking have you by the balls right now and let''s just say I''m gonna fucking whip you up to shape and your dad will probably let me keep you for a few more months. That repressed feelings of yours? I''m gonna give you a chance to let it all out while you''re on a vacation with us and trust me, you''ll probably beg your dad to stay with my group too."

 Chapter 882: Royal Blood? - WE WANT YOU TOO(II)!

    In regards to my earlier announcement, only a handful of people noticed the way how JP looked like he was this close tomitting bloody murder while I looked like the most rxed stoner that had just received enlightenment. But before things went further between us, the number of cadets that tried to showcase their unique abilities at this moment was staggering.


    I forgot that I didn''t give them the means to audition and a good number of them had already made their way to the stage, making it wobble.


    [HOLD UP! HOLD UP! DO YOU WANT US TO DIE?! FORM A FUCKING LINE¡ª NO, GRAB A PIECE OF PAPER AND WRITE YOUR NAME ON IT AND A BRIEF INTRO¡ªINCLUDING YOUR TALENT¡ªTHEN GIVE TO UHH¡­ Umm¡ª What''s his name? AH¡ª GIVE TO RANDOM CITIZEN #1!]


    "M-ME?!"


    [YES, YOU! IT''S YOUR LUCKY DAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A COMPUTER¡ª OF COURSE, YOU CAN¡­ RIGHT?]


    "I DO ACTUALLY! WANT ME TO ORGANIZE THEM!"


    [EXACTLY! I''LL GIVE YOU SOME EXTRA POINTS IF YOU DO GOOD ON THAT JOB! ANYWAY~ I''LL GIVE ALL OF YOU TEN MINUTES¡ª NO, FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GET EVERYTHING DONE AND WHILE WE''RE WAITING, I NEED A FEW MORE SEATS FOR ME AND MY GROUP AND PROBABLY A LONGER TABLE¡ª]


    Random Citizen #2 interjected, "D''YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE TABLE FROM THE CAFETERIA?!"


    [YES! THAT COULD WORK!]


    "THE NAME''S JAMES, BY THE WAY! RC #1''S NAME IS JAMES TOO!"


    [HAA?!]


    "I SAID¡ª"


    [YOU''RE GONNA MAKE ME EVEN MORE CONFUSED, I''LL STICK TO #1 AND #2¡ª SORRY YOU GOT THE WORST ONE!]


    "WHAT? OH! AH, FUCK! I''LL JUST GET THAT TABLE FOR YA!"


    With that said, a quick look at the few bulletin boards that have several tasks¡ªmuch like a guild would¡ªI discovered that this ce assigned either the most menial or should I say the most beginner-worthy task for the cadets and it just slowly ramps up until one was of higher rank.


    It looked game-like from the way different requests were strewn about by random papers but there was arge and continuous request¡ªthat involved all of the cadets¡ªfor turning in heads that were cleared by their group or the ones above them.


    The whole premise looked a little wonky for me at first but I realized that some groups were assigned nearby¡ªlike the ones maintaining a checkpoint¡ªor assigned to tasks that would take a few or more days like liberating an area for threat-reduction or supplies.


    JP had thisrge map of the city and the ones around it with various-looking pins but I noticed that he had more than half of the higher-performing groups working way~ further than what I would assign my people on. It could be the way he does things or it could be a way to have the ones underperforming have a chance to shine while the others go for a high-risk, high-return scenario.


    ''Did his dad leave him all the work for this? Or is JP just copying someone''s homework? In any case, I would''ve opted for a different approach and I can''t just have them change things out of the blue¡­''


    As I was thinking to myself, I noticed that JP was still ring at me from behind while his right hand was doing the same thing from a farther distance. I could only shake my head and scoff at the way he took things so I turned to him and looked him in the eye before I opened my mouth.


    "Listen¡ª"


    "No. You listen! If my dad¡ª"


    "Shut the fuck up, bitch. You fucking listen."


    "..."


    "Good. A lot of things are probably going through your head right now but in the grand scheme of things, I''m fucking helping you. You''re like a sheltered, religious, conservative military brat that identally discovered how his dick works and you''re confused about why it functions that way."


    "You¡ª"


    "You have some very troubling problems, huh? It''s the zombie apocalypse and all and you''re having 1st world problems. You see, you think I''m gonna do what you think your dad''s gonna do when he discovered you swing differently but it''s the total opposite¡­ kinda.


    In short, I''m gonna let you loose for the duration you''re with me but we''re gonna do about something about how you get poop on your dick so it''s a good time for anyone you''re with. Deal?"


    "What?! I''m not¡ª"


    "Stop fucking lying to me and yourself. Why don''t you join the audition too so I could see what else you can offer on the table?"


    "Wait. What?"


    I rolled my eyes as I fished out a nk piece of paper from their table, "Tell me what else you can do. Are you a tank, healer, mage, thief, or whatever, write it down. You don''t have to write that you have some Lopez-like qualities but do make it pretty. Make your right hand do the same and talk to me once you''re done."


    "W-Where are you going?"


    "Me? I''m gonna look and stay with Seb for the moment so he''d feel safe while you''re around. And yeah, no one else knows about your little secret aside from me and Isaac so you should learn to respect your seniors quickly before we spread it like a pyramid scam. If that ever happens, your dad will probably enroll you next door and I promise you that you don''t fucking want that.


    Those people will try to expel the g¡ª the ''happiness'' away from you, trust me."


    JP suddenly had a thought pop up inside his head, "Wait. Are you¡ª"


    "An Alumni? Yep."


    "No. I meant, are you¡ª no way¡­ Do you go both ways¡ª Ack! THAT''S MY SHIN, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"


    I leaned in and whisper with ''that'' look, "Labels go both ways, alright? I also dislike being called what I''m not but yeah, people make mistakes. I can''t cancel you so that kick''s the penalty. Weird time we live in, huh?"


    "F-Fine! I''m sorry¡ª"


    "But seriously though, why''d Lopez big-dicking around here like he owns the ce? Tell me¡­ he''s not immune or something¡­ is he?"


    "..."


    "No fucking way¡ª"


    "He''s not! He''s¡­ He''s really important¡ª"


    "I know that part already but why? If anything¡ª"


    "It''s because of me."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s my blood. I have¡ª"


    "Oh! Do you have Royal Blood¡ª Wait, I got it backwards¡ªfucking dumbass, do you have O- blood?"


    JP looked surprised, "Yeah¡­ I do. And Lopez is the same. So¡­ you get why he''s so important now? That''s why he could do what he does and eat what he wants here because dad wanted me to¡ª Wha¡ª Why are you looking at me like that?"


    "You''re telling me¡­ that if I manage to find you another person with the same blood type¡­ I can break his neck?"


    "What¡ª"


    "You know, we can also harvest all his organs and whatnot before¡ª"


    "Wait a second¡ª"


    "JP. He touched my wife."


    "..."


    "The world had gone to shit and so did its people¡ªincluding me¡ªbut nobody touches my wife unless she wanted to. Thanks for the info, I''ll even let you pick the music on our road trip."


    At that point, JP was looking at me with fear, worry, and confusion but I left him on his own for a moment to look for his half-brother.


    Looking around, I easily spotted Seb sitting with his own group, helping them increase the chances of getting picked by telling them a few quirks I might somehow like from the small time we''ve spent together. Furthermore, unlike the majority of the cadets present, he looked like he was the only one who doesn''t want to go¡ªunless, of course, I took his whole group with me.


    From what I heard yesterday, he was in a weird power dynamic with JP but in regards to the activity they were partaking in, he''d prefer if there was no power dynamic at all and if JP would be more honest with his feelings. It didn''te much of a surprise that he goes both ways in regard to this topic but I was more surprised that he was chill about the whole scenario.


    I would''ve lost my shit and instantly went for the nuclear option because, from the way JP acted if I somehow tell his secret to his dad, he''d lose in that exchange in any shape or form.


    ''This shit is tooplicated¡­ Too~ Fucking~ Complicated~''


    In any case, I''ve made myself known to the group and Seb just simply gave me a nce but all eyes were suddenly put on us when they saw us acting like we knew each other¡ªwhich was already apparent if they saw use back with them yesterday.


    "''Sup. How''s the CVing along?"


    "You still remember us, huh? You still know our names, at least?" One of the guys named Alexa remarked with a snarky smile.


    "Wanna bet that I do? How about 1000 pushups?"


    "Wha¡ª Fuck, no. A-Anyway, umm¡­ my talent''s really weird. Would you care to just hear about it? I can''t do an audition with what he have here¡­"


    "Huh? What is it though?"

 Chapter 883: Eyedropper Tool - Yep.

    Hearing that Alexa''s unique talent couldn''t be performed on the stage with theck of tools or props to use, it made me more curious as to what it was even though¡ªfrom the top of my head¡ªthere would be a lot of things that couldn''t be done here in the first ce.


    Anyhow, there was still a stark difference between a unique talent and a useful talent so at the end of the day, I was looking for something that could do both.


    "Alexa?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Right. I''m basically the Eyedropper Tool."


    Everyone else present muttered, "The what tool?"


    But I was pleasantly surprised, "Shit. For real?"


    Alexa replied with a faint smile, "Yep. I can grab a bit of paint over on the workshop to show you but using it aside from marking important ces or covering scratched-up panels is a no-no."


    "That''s fucking amazing if it''s real¡ªand I''m sure you wouldn''t lie about that¡ª"


    "Yep."


    "So¡ª W-Why are you¡ª"


    Alexa slowly looked somber as she replied, "Enrolled in the Academy? What do you think? Just the benefits alone could¡ª"


    I never felt more stupid, "I understand thatpletely. It''s just¡ª"


    Quinn who was actually behind me suddenly chimed in, "Eyedropper what? What good does that do?"


    My eyes lit up when I turned around and saw her, "Perfect! You''re here, I can give a good example."


    Quinn looked a little happy from my reaction before she asked, "A what now? You still haven''t answered what¡ª"


    "I''m getting to it! Okay¡­ Quinn¡­ With the nature of your work, your crew almost always deals with vehicr scratches, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Tell me, what''s the protocol for dealing with that?"


    Quinn looked up for a moment as she scratched her head before she turned back to us, "Well~ I don''t do it myself but it depends on the scratch. Most of the time, simply buffing it or using some kits would do the trick but deep, deep scratches would need a new paint job after fixing dents or whatnot if the car was involved in a collision, had some damage from debris, or something simr¡­"


    "Right. But let''s go to the paint job part. You guys have some samples like those strips with different color palettes in some kind of ring binder, right? Usually, you''d ce it near the color you want to copy andpare¡ª or just ask the client to pick from those and you have a machine tobine the colors for you."


    She nodded a few times, "Something like that."


    "Great. So¡­ what if somehow someone lost that binder and you have no way of printing a new one¡ªand you need to get the job done as soon as possible."


    "Easy. I''ll beat up and fire the one who lost the binder first¡ª"


    I almost chortled, "Ah¡ª But w-what would you do now?"


    "Shit~ I didn''t expect a quiz this early but I''ll probably do it by eye or ask the client to pick a new or simr color since he''s getting a new paint job anyway. The tricky part is if the client wants something exactly like the one they had before¡ªeven if it didn''t have to be matching against the other panels.


    But usually, they just opt to repaint the whole thing to save time and whatnot¡­ Does that answer your question?"


    "Yep. But here''s another one. What if youe across a person that could urately identify what exactly the color she''s looking at by eye and mix it herself?"


    Quinn didn''t even need a second to think, "Hmph. That''s easy, I''ll hire her on the spot with a high sry. I''ll probably even throw her a car in my collection if she could really do what you said."


    I chuckled as I pointed at Alexa, "Hire her then."


    Quinn threw Alexa a quick up-down look, "Hmm? For real? I mean¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Alexa eximed as everybody else did.


    I chuckled at their reactions, "That''s what an Eyedropper Tool does¡ª Well, technically~ it can identify whatever color you use it on, and in Photoshop, you''d be able to use that color afterward¡ª"


    Alexa interjected while shaking her head and looking at Quinn a certain way, "W-W-Wait, I''m just t-trying toe with Seb not¡ª"


    Quinn instantly exploded, "NOT WHAT, HUH?! THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO¡ª DID YOU JUST FUCKING HIT ME?!"


    I quickly waved her off after retreating several steps, "Easy~ That jab''s like an egg hitting a rock, alright?! Won''t you reconsider¡ª"


    "RECONSIDER?! She''s not even interested in joining! I have strict requirements too!"


    "Hah? Really? What are they?"


    Quinn snapped her head to Alexa as she started to stare her down, "You."


    "Y-Y-Yes?"


    "How much can you bench?"


    "Ah¡ª S-Seventy?"


    Quinn never looked so confused, "Seventy-what? In each side or as a warm-up? Pounds or Kilos? That better be Kilos at the very least or I''ll be fucking disappointed."


    "Umm¡­ Is it r-really that important?"


    "..."


    "H-Hello?"


    I sneakily joined in the interview process, "T-That doesn''t matter in the position she''s applying for¡ª"


    "Shut up! I''m not talking to you! Doing 225 lbs for 15 like it''s nothing doesn''t matter for you¡ª"


    "I lifted you like it''s nothing though¡­"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"


    In a matter of seconds, our whole conversation went into several tangents but we soon went back on the topic of Quinn considering taking Alexa to her fold.


    Essentially, the reason I''m doing this Academy''s Got Talent bullshit was to somehow bridge the gap between factions through connections formed and somehow save a few Tetris pieces that were getting shaved down to a shape to fit in something they shouldn''t be in the first ce.


    In Alexa''s case, she could be in a totally different ce right now if she didn''t enroll in the academy because of money troubles though it did save her life nevertheless.


    This point of thinking could go on a deep, deep hole but what''s important right now was that a new road opened up for her. She could try walking on a different path¡ªor both¡ªbut in her case and the ones that were in the same boat as her, they should really think hard about making the choice because a chance like this one could onlye once or a few times if they were extremely lucky.


    I''m not implying that they''d have it better or easier in either of our wings because following your dreams or going for something you were made for wasn''t exactly a sure thing.


    Some people had everything handed to them on a silver tter but they were neither doing their dream jobs nor walking on the path they were made for.


    And again, this line of thinking could go on a deep, deep hole but what''s important was if the person was happy and content with what they have and achieved.


    ''It''s different for each person but to me, it''s always about bnce in the end¡­''


    In any case, before I go into another tangent myself, my attention was caught by Kaley wearing a sun visor and a face mask, making her way towards me with Tatiana who was trying her hardest to not stifle augh. But yeah, Ipletely threw whatever n she had by throwing that out the window as I pulled her mask down and gave her a kiss when she was close enough.


    And yeah, itsted several Mississippis before we stopped and Seb andpany were looking at us like it was the first time they saw a couple kiss.


    Then Tatiana broke the ice, "No one''s teaching sex ed here? Is that why Lopez is doing shit to everybody?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Too soon?"


    "Tatiana¡ª"


    "What? It happened to me when I was young, I could talk about it¡ª"


    "That''s not¡ª"


    "What?"


    "Don''t make valid points, alright?! But yeah, I found our ace in the hole. They won''t have that Lopez problem sooner than they think."


    Seb interjected, "What do you mean?"


    I let out an eerie smile, "It means what it means."


    Seb couldn''t believe what he just heard, "You won''t just take him out the moment we''re out of this ce''s influence, right? We can''t just leave him on the road for scraps, The General wouldn''t take that lightly."


    "Don''t worry, we probably have one next door and¡ª Wait, what do you mean leave him on the road for scraps?"


    He looked at me like I''m an idiot, "He''s¡­ Lopez¡­ He''sing with us¡­ right?"


    "Are you asking me or telling me?"


    Alexa joined in, "Lopez and JP, they''re¡­ they''re required to be in close proximity at all times just in case anything happens and if there was ever a time either one of them goes out¡ªmostly JP¡ªthe other is required to follow. It''s the golden rule, they''d probably send us a few bags of Lopez''s blood just in case too.


    The only exception was yesterday when you beat him up because his injuries needed to be taken care of."


    "Huh."


    "Yep."


    I took a deep breath before I let it out, "Fuck it, then he''ll probably see me cuck him in person then."


    "Yep¡ª HUH?!"

 Chapter 884: Academys Got Talent - Wood

    As much as I would''ve wanted to hit the road for a good while, our next stop was only a 15-minute drive. It was toward my old school, The Three Angels'' Message University¡ªsomece where I had a lot of good and bad memories from the three and a half years I was there. So all in all, it was a well-bnced part of my life.


    On that note, actually cucking Lopez was just a side quest while the main ones were to actually find out what was up and somehow form more connections with people that were surviving the end of the world¡ªand possibly see old friends other than Ken.


    It''s not like I would be able to fuse or summon something powerful from forming these connections but what I learnedte in my life was that social connections were just as important as actual skills to move up in life.


    ''Either of the two could be used to achieve one''s goals but having both in one''s arsenal was like~ me¡ªyou know, in an apocalypse setting and yes, I fucking said it [insertughing emojis or the good ''ol XD]¡ªnot because I couldn''t think of a more fitting example¡­ fuck it, I couldn''t think of a better example and I''m not going through anything right now¡­ Yep, that''s it¡­ totally¡­''


    In any case, #1 and #2 had already prepared the table and the seating arrangement, and surprisingly enough, Major Perez popped up with a few officers to watch the show. Jesus and his crew also found their way to us along with Jose and Isaac though I haven''t caught a glimpse of Lopez and The General in the open aside from the short moment in the cafeteria.


    Major Perez and I shared a short conversation before the Academy''s Got Talent began and the first contestant who came up was a guy I saw who was eating at the same table as JPst time, and he briefly introduced himself.


    "My name''s Ryan Crisanto. I''m 19 years old, I was born and raised in Puting Kahoy, and I''m #8 on the board for the number of confirmed zombie kills¡ªa total of 1,455¡ªthough the number should''ve been much higher if I wasn''t assigned to a leadership/management position.


    I prefer to be up close and personal in regard to dealing with the dead and my talent is that I could hold my breath for more than five minutes¡­"


    As this Ryan dude was speaking on and on, sad music slowly welled up from behind us and his "brief" intro was turning into a sob story that could easily hook the sheeple or normies that watched these talent shows.


    And funnily enough, #1 and #2 were the fucking perpetrators but Major Perez and the officers he had with him were fucking eating it up. And from our side, Quinn was this close to either beating up the contestant or the two producers but I started losing my shit when this Ryan dude started Fortnite dancing.


    He did fucking everything.


    And not only that, the motherfucker had a pre-recording that said that he also wished to be a part of that dance crew wearing masks, and this was his only time to somehow get an audition out. I tried my fucking best not tough at his face but seeing Isaac and Jose this fucking close to bursting out the vein in their foreheads made me choke on my spit.


    ''This will be the fucking death of me¡­''


    But despite all that, the show must go on for the motherfucker and I easily identified his friends among the crowd because they were the only ones that pped after he finished his dance number.


    And yeah, we didn''t even get to confirm whether he could really hold his breath for more than five minutes because the five minutes we gave him was the only five minutes he''d get because those five minutes of our life couldn''t be taken back.


    I used my microphone to address him and everyone else:


    [Alright¡­ That''s¡­ That''s great? I mean¡ª great! Anyway~ I''d hate to do this but since we need to be out of this ce as soon as possible, I''d prefer each audition to be a maximum of two minutes¡ªnot including the short interview we''d give them. Alright? Next one is~ Manuel Rivera? Pleasee on up, Manuel Rivera¡ª]


    "HERE!"


    [Great! Hurry up!]


    "ALRIGHT! HELLO EVERYBODY! I''M MANUEL RIVERA¡­"


    ''Why''s he shouting so much¡­''


    "I''M 20 YEARS OLD AND MY TALENT IS THAT I CAN DO THE ''OH-AH-AH-AH-AH!'' FROM DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS PERFECTLY!"


    ''...''


    "HERE I GO! *INHALES LOUDLY* OH¡ª Wait a sec, can we get the backtrack first?"


    #1 and #2 shouted at the same time, "YOU DIDN''T GIVE US SHIT! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO PLAY IT?!"


    "YOU DON''T HAVE DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS ON HAND?! BULLSHIT!"


    In any case, it was another fiasco and my hopes of finding another diamond in the rough were getting slimmer and slimmer. It became apparent that some of the kids who enrolled in the academy had this frustration with their given talent because none of them would be here if it worked out in the real world.


    Heck, I had my fair share of nurses who had other dreams or aspirations but sometimes, real life would just hit hard like a sack of bricks.


    But yeah, we all had those moments when we had a co-worker suddenly belt out a difficult song or just sit down in front of a piano and set fire to the keys like it''s fucking nothing.


    Though it didn''t take long before we uncovered another diamond¡ªwell~ let''s be a little conservative right now and say it''s an unidentified gemstone because its value was still unknown and its actual usefulness will be up to us in the end.


    It was when we had screened a dozen or so applicants when a guy just barely meeting the height requirement for being epted into the academy came up on stage with three wooden baseball bats and five bs of stone which were an inch thick. He was a little on the muscr side but the first thing I noticed were his callused hands with more emphasis on his knuckles.


    After giving us a quick bow, he put the baseball bats to the side as he stacked the bs on top of one another¡ªwith a little bit of allowance¡ªbefore he suddenly mmed his head down the center, going in with reckless abandon, right until his head hit the stage floor.


    The guy hadn''t even introduced himself to us yet as he went into performance mode and the next thing he did was break the bats with his arm, his shin, and his forehead yet again.


    ''Jesus fucking christ, that''s gotta hurt¡­''


    Aside from the shocked gasp and the whispered curses, it was too fucking quiet, to say the least, but he finished by giving us another bow while blood was slowly trickling from his forehead.


    [Uhh¡­ You okay there? You''re bleeding, you know?]


    "I''M NOT, SIR!"


    [You are, we can see the blood¡ª]


    "IT DOESN''T HURT, SIR!"


    [Ah¡­ I see¡­ That''s good¡­]


    "I CAN BREAK MORE THINGS, SIR! BUT I''M GONNA BE OUT OF POINTS TO SPEND IF I BREAK ANY MORE BATS, SIR! I CAN USE 4X4s BUT IT DOESN''T LOOK TOO IMPRESSIVE, SIR!"


    [I see, I see¡­ Care to tell us your name, first?]


    "..."


    [Hello?]


    "SIR!"


    [Your name¡ª]


    He never looked so panicked, "I TOTALLY FORGOT, SIR! MY NAME''S RUBEN PADILLA, SIR!"


    [C-Can you tone it down a bit? Wait a sec¡ª Are you rted to¡ª]


    "No, sir! Myte family thought it would be funny, sir!"


    [Ah¡­ I see, is that your talent? Breaking bs and bats without feeling pain?]


    "Yes, sir! I believe no one can beat me in that regard, sir! I''m very resilient, sir! I can take much more damage than the regr person and the only time I felt pain was when I punched myself, sir!"


    [Uh-huh¡­ Well~ That''s a pretty fascinating¡ª]


    "Sir! Before you set me aside, I''m just gonna say that I hit myself with the bats made of Narra, Mve, and Acacia, sir! They''re all premium timber used for furniture¡ªsome of them even used for support beams for mines¡ªbut I made them myself to make sure that they''re extra sturdy though my body could easily take them¡ª"


    I tried to wave him off, much to his dismay, [Wait a sec¡ª]


    "Sir! I-I''m not done! I-If you''re not impressed, I''m still saving a Kamagong trunk for my own weapon¡ªwhich is much, much harder than the three I listed above but¡ª"


    I let out a little bit of killing intent before I spoke through the mic, [Ruben. Stop talking for one fucking second.]


    "..."


    As soon as I said that, he looked like he wanted to say more but he kept his mouth shut as he was tightly balling his fists together. From the look on his face, he was desperate to get out of this ce but his expression changed when these few simple words came out of my mouth:


    [Pack up. You''re in.]

 Chapter 885: Academys Got Talent II - Embrace the Confusion

    It was quiet for a few seconds before my words registered in Ruben''s head¡ªand the crowd watching¡ªthough once it did, he just straight up ran down the stage before quickly running back up, giving me another deep bow, before eventually making his way back to their dormitories.


    And the murmurs and gossip started from the small group right in front of the stage.


    "W-Wait a sec¡­ He got epted on the get-go, right?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "That means everyone before he got on stage was already rejected!"


    "What?!"


    "NO WAY!"


    "N-No¡­ It''s basically just the golden buzzer, right?"


    "Oh!"


    "OHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    "But then again¡­ Is he just looking for tough dudes or short dudes? Or just dudes?"


    "Definitely not someone with your analytical skills¡­"


    "The fuck did you just say?!"


    "He probably has his own criteria but Ruben''s not the first one to get epted¡­"


    "HUH?!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Alexa from Seb''s group was already epted even before the audition started."


    "Huh? Isn''t she just Seb''s girl? Of course, he had to bring her in."


    "Does that mean J''s gonna get in too?"


    "Pfft! You don''t know anything, huh?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "They cut it off a week ago, I believe he''s dating Megan now. For sure."


    "Megan?! I thought she was into girls?"


    "Not anymore, I guess."


    "Man~ Being the Baron has its perks, huh?"


    JP suddenly spoke to the group that was talking at a volume loud enough for everyone to hear but stupid enough to notice that the subject of their conversation was right fucking behind them. In which case, I didn''t perceive what JP told them but they quickly shrank down and made themselves scarce.


    To be fair, they didn''t actually badmouth him but it''s totally different when the person who knows his secret could hear what that group was saying out loud.


    Isaac gave me a quick nudge as he whispered while looking directly at the crowd, "Saw that, bro?"


    "Yep. Just keep quiet, I''ll handle it."


    "Handle what?" Kaley and Quinn turned their heads to me at the same time.


    "Some guy stuff, not important¡­ for now¡­"


    As I said that, Quinn just fixed the way she was sitting on her chair and continued looking disinterested about the whole talent show while Kaley was definitely using her fucking psychic powers to somehow read my mind or connect the dots. And yeah, if she figured the whole thing just with that, I''ll 100% believe she had some actual powers.


    But going back to our current situation, we actually had two more people that woulde with JP and Seb¡ªAlexa and Ruben¡ªand I''m probably gonna need a couple more to even the numbers.


    I wasn''t with myplete group even if I had "recements", so I''m gonna make use of the added numbers to make up for theck of familiarity¡ªnot quality. I''ve uncovered some pretty dark shit or history about these people but we need more time together in order for me to use them like extended limbs.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before #1 came up on stage and introduced himself.


    "Yo, I''m James Chu¡ªand yeah, I''m Filipino-Chinese¡­ I grew up here most of my life and I''m turning 20 this year. I don''t have any unique skills to bepletely honest but I was thest man standing when Major Perez made us run around the academy when one of us fucked up."


    I turned to Major Perez, "For real?"


    He nodded a few times before he answered, "Yeah. He ran twops more than everybody before he realized everyone tapped out."


    Isaac interjected, "How about that guy who can hold his breath for more than five minutes¡ª"


    Major Perez scoffed, "Hah! I don''t even remember that other kid getting close, to be honest. It''s impressive he could hold his breath like that but it''s a different ball game when you''re doing something strenuous. It''s a mix between jogging and running but you understand where I''m getting at, right?"


    I nodded as I turned to #1 with an approving look, [Large VO2 Max Capacity, nice.]


    "What?"


    [Let''s just say you''re really~ great at cardio, something a certain family I know should do more of¡­]


    As soon as I said that, Quinn gave me a "gentle" nudge with her elbow though I kept a straight face right until we saw #1 off the stage. I didn''t ept him like I did with Ruben but he had the top spot just for having Rule #1 of Zombind down to a T.


    Because in Ruben''s case, it was more to his knowledge about trees that had good-quality or even premium-quality lumber because this far in the apocalypse, we can''t just rely on the warehouses we were cleaning up for building materials.


    Sooner thanter, we''d have to start chopping our own trees¡ªlike our main goal for visiting the hot springs: acquiring a sample of its sulfur to analyze it to have a source in the future.


    And right after #1 came #2.


    "Greetings, the name''s James Tiu¡ª"


    [Hold up, you two also have the samest name? I thought¡ª]


    "No, no, no, James''st name is spelled as C-H-U while mine''s spelled as T-I-U."


    [Ahh¡­]


    He chuckled as he gave me a smile, "Confusing, huh? We get that a lot. You can stick to #1 and #2 if it''s easier."


    [I will do that¡ª]


    Tatiana interjected, [But how do the other people call you two? Do they call one of you James and the other one theirst name just to avoid confusion or something?]


    "Great question! The answer is: no. We just embrace the confusion and move on. Every day has been boringtely so that few seconds of confusion is a lot."


    [Hah! Can we take this kid? He''s kinda funny.]


    I chuckled before I turned to #2 again, [You''re already getting some favors from my group, huh? But before we get into that, what can you put on the table? Your talent, I mean. Because on your sheet of paper here, you wrote that you''re the guy to call if anyone wants to have a good time. How true is that?]


    "Well~ It''s because I could really check the vibe or read the room really well¡ª And since we''re going on a road trip, I got a good mix of tunes in my drive but if you''re gonna put me in the back, I can hand out snacks and shit and refill them when you''re about to run out. Also! I''m kind of an insomniac so if we ever drove at night, you can fucking trust me that I''ll be awake the whole time.


    Just don''t freak out if you woke up and mistake me for your paralysis demon, I have no control over that¡­ happened to my friend once, it''s crazy~"


    [Ah¡­]


    "Wait! Wait! Wait! I''m not done!"


    [Go ahead, your two minutes are still going¡ª]


    "Right! I''m also a great ''trip''-sitter, if you know, you know~ I can do yourundry, cook your meals, take point, clean the car, etc. but the one thing I''ll never do is listen to fucking bullshit. Trust me, if I ever smell a whiff of that shit, I''ll fucking call you out! And I''m talking to fucking everybody here! *turns around to face everyone* You know who you are!


    That''s why I fucking stopped talking to you, you need a fucking father figure, not a fucking ''daddy'' to call you babygirl¡ª Blech~ I''m not your fucking step-dad but I''m gonna be your fucking dad who stepped up!"


    At this point, it couldn''t be more quiet because #2 started going on a rant that we didn''t think would air out some dirtyundry about his peers.


    However, my group was already egging me on to press the golden buzzer because sometimes, apanion like #2 was what anyone would need even if they''re ''already set'', and like #1, I put #2 on the waitlist¡ªmaking my preferred number of people to take with meplete.


    I could easily say that the audition was already over but I still have tens of cadets to go through, and I was just making sure that I sorted through all of them before heading out.


    But yeah, a quick nce through the list didn''t awaken something in me or made me excited because the majority of the talents left were something we already had or didn''t need. However, it didn''t take long before someone with an impressive resume came up but I sure as hell was already bent on pressing the red buzzers the moment we met eyes.


    It was JP''s right hand who fought tooth and nail just to deny me his megaphone, but right now, he looked like he''d suck dick and sell one of his kidneys so that I''d let him apany the Baron.


    "G-Greetings! I''m Lucas, 21 years old, #2 on the kill rankings with 2,212 confirmed zed kills. I''m adept at using rifles and handguns, and I hold the top 5 record for stripping our M4s and putting them back together blindfolded¡ªthe same with our 1911s. And with our shooting drills, I''m only second to the Baron and I''m 3rd on CQC. I can¡ª"


    [Lucas.]


    "Sir?"


    [Look around you, everyone can do that. My instruction to all of you is to put something that sets you apart from the rest AND at the same time, it should be something that''s totally unrted to what you''re doing here. Do you only listen to JP or do you have a hard time listening to instructions?]


    "I-I''m¡ª"


    [I''ll give you 30 seconds, give me something that''ll make you ride with us.]

 Chapter 886: End of the Auditions - Donor Change?

    When I y games that had dialogue choices, I would always opt for something that wouldn''t hurt the other character but the kid in front of me needed to learn a thing or two about properly listening to instructions and knowing what''s best for him. However, my choice of words also affected the crowd and it was just dead silent from then on.


    Everyone was just waiting for him to respond and after he calmed himself and took a deep breath, he stared me dead in the eyes before he answered:


    "This is all I have, sir. I can''t dance, I can''t sing, nor can I do something else other than this¡­ thing that I wanted to do all my life. I''m not even the greatest at what I do but I surround myself with people that do so that I could, you know¡­ like how that saying goes¡­ In any case, this is what I could offer and I hope you give me the chance to apany the Baron."


    I nodded pensively, [I see. Come here.]


    "S-Sir?"


    [You can''t even walk a few steps forward?]


    "C-Coming, sir! I was just¡ª"


    [Hurry up, hurry up~]


    At this point, I turned off the mic I was speaking to so not everyone could hear what I was about to say to him next. However, Lucas looked just like Ruben when he thought I wasn''t gonna ept him, and yes, I''m nning on taking the right hand with me.


    "Listen, I appreciate the honesty and making me look like an asshole¡ª"


    "I a-apologize¡ª"


    "No, don''t apologize. This is just the way I talk, see? Anyway, if I''m gonna take you with me you''d have to follow a set of rules."


    "Anything, sir."


    "Great. First and foremost: if I ask for your megaphone, you fucking hand it to me. Alright?"


    He nodded with a face filled with a little bit of dread, "O-Of course, sir. I actually thought I died that time."


    I chuckled, "Hmph. Secondly, you don''te with us and have just JP as your priority. Everyone in your group is a priority."


    "B-But, sir¡ª"


    "What? He''s the son of the General? True, I guess. But what would you feel if I left you for dead because I already had my wife secured¡ªor even JP secured? Would you like that?"


    "..."


    "No? See, I run things differently. What''s important about you guys is the mission but you gotta understand that my ''mission'' doesn''t involve getting fuck-all about everyone else just to finish it. It''s harder, sure, but it''s easier at the same time."


    "I don''t understand¡ª"


    "What I''m saying is: your life shouldn''t revolve around the Baron and maybe, just maybe, you might pick up a hobby or two while we''re on the road that you could possibly perform when I do one of these auditions again."


    Once I gave him my piece, he was just nkly staring at me for a few seconds but he started to slowly nod his head before he stared at me for a few seconds. After that, I told him to wait for the actual results like #1 and #2, because as much would like them to start packing so we''d save some time, I''m probably gonna need one more person on the trip so that we''d have an even number.


    Then Jesus waved me over from their side, "Hey."


    "Hmm?"


    "You do know our fencing kits could only cover so much, right?"


    "Fencing kits?"


    "Oh, you don''t know? I guess it''s not much trouble if we upy a ce before taking breaks at night. ''Cause from the looks of it, the group you''re bringing probably needs a vehicle or two with them."


    "We''ll manage, don''t worry."


    "Alright."


    "You''ll provide, right?"


    "Hah! Fucking asshole."


    With that said, the auditions continued on for a couple more hours and even though we did find a few more rare ones among the bunch, they weren''t epic rank or even legendary rank to rece what I was already nning to have on my roster.


    However, just to keep the number even, I did pick out this Megan chick toe with us¡ªnot only because it was highly rmended by JP and Lucas¡ªbut because she had that look in her eyes that she wouldn''t give a single fuck if I shot Lopez between his eyes though she would definitely watch me do it.


    In any case, as I was ordering everyone to pack up, The General and The Bitch¡ª I mean, Lopez finally popped out and Lopez was looking a little pale. And as I nced at one of his arms, it had a small bandaid with a small ball of cotton nestled between it and his skin, and what looked to be some betadine had soaked in it.


    ''He probably had his blood taken¡­''


    The General took my attention, "I heard you held an audition of sorts?"


    "Something like that."


    "Shame. I would''ve loved to see my kid y the violin¡ª"


    I never looked so surprised, "WHAT?! JP ys the¡ª No fucking way!"


    "He does, he does. What did he do though?"


    "Ah~ I asked him to join but he and Seb were too embarrassed to perform in front of everyone."


    "Hah! Those two are like brothers in that regard. Anyway, I heard you''re gonna leave at noon?"


    "Yeah. JP had to pass on some of the responsibilities to the other cadets on top of packing up some of his stuff. And yeah¡­ I''d hate to ask this but¡­"


    "Something on your mind?"


    "I''m actually bringing eight people in total¡ª"


    "I was told. No worries¡ª"


    "It''s not that. I''d hate to ask this but if you could lend us a truck or a¡ª"


    "Oh! That''s not a problem at all! I gave Jameson one of the Raycolts when he became the Baron though it has the M60 instead of the K12 on top."


    "Jesus fucking christ. You really love your kid, huh?"


    "Hah! Of course! And if hees back a man, I''ll let you have one of them too. With the M60 and everything."


    "For real?! Shiiit~"


    He gave a heartyugh to my response but his expression suddenly changed, "But listen here, young man. I know you and Lopez have your differences and he offended you in ways that a friendship couldn''t be possible, but do look out for him on your trip. We¡­ my son needs his ''services'' more than anything if something ever¡ªGod forbid¡ªever happens to him."


    "I understand."


    Then his expression slowly turned back the same way earlier, "Also, I know I''m a doting father and I''m spoiling my son so please teach him what I couldn''t. I was really amused by what you taught him yesterday, he thought I''d reprimand you when he told on me."


    I briefly nced at JP who was trying his hardest to attain invisibility, "Oh? He did that, did he? General, I promise you that I''ll take real~ good care of your boy¡ªthe VIP treatment, if you will¡ªif you give me that Raycolt with a K4 or an MK19 instead of an M60."


    He just gave me a faint smile, "Hmph! We''ll see about that¡ª" then he turned to Lopez who looked like he''d stumble and fall with a gentle breeze, "Lopez. I''d advise you to pack up and get a good rest after eating and make sure to stay out of trouble. As I told youst night, you bit more than what you can chew when I was away and the ''freedom'' I''m giving you has limits.


    Don''t forget about your family that''s livingfortably on the other side."


    Lopez replied weakly, "Y-Yes, sir¡­" then he turned to me, "I¡­ I apologize about yesterday¡­ Deeply¡­"


    I brushed him off, "Uh-huh. Tell that to my wife."


    After that, we saw Lopez and the others off but once they were out of earshot, I turned to the General with my proposition.


    "General, I''d have to ask you something."


    "Hmm?"


    "I know that JP and Lopez have O- Blood¡ª"


    "And?"


    "If by some chance I found another person or two with the same characteristic, I''m asking permission to have JP¡­ change donors¡­"


    The moment I said that, the General just started to release unbelievable pressure that could make any other cadet have difficulty breathing but I stood my ground and brushed it off, not even pretending that I had faced far worse than him in my younger days.


    It was definitely heavy but that''s just a warm-uppared to other people withplete control over them.


    In any case, he still looked offended by my request so I had to give him an offer he couldn''t refuse.


    "If I may, I have respect for your authority but the dumbass touched my wife. And from what I recently discovered, he''s probably touched the majority of the female cadets in this joint and you''re letting him do it. I appreciate you reprimanding him in front of me but what if I give you the spoils after I''m done with him?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "He donates his blood, right?" I asked like an innocent angel before my expression turned dark, "What if I hand over his organs in perfect condition after I break him to pieces? Will that work?"

 Chapter 887: Deals and Permissions

    From what I could surmise from the deal Lopez had with the General, he was free to have his way with a few people at the time in exchange for his blood and organs, but with how protective this ce was of JP''s well-being, he''d only have to donate his blood a few times and reap all the benefits their deal have to offer.


    However, it was only a matter of time before everyone else had enough and the security the Academy could offer was one of the few things keeping them from moving on.


    It was a messed up way to make a person be epting of what was being done to them and at the same time, it was also¡ªno, had already affected Lopez'' view of reality. The power given to him definitely corrupted his head and he was trying to get away with everything he could instead of just doing the right thing without anything in exchange.


    Blood was just blood and the things he did were nowing back to rip his head off.


    At this moment, the General still couldn''t believe his ears but I doubled down as the temperature around us slowly started to drop.


    "General¡­ Unless you make full use of what he has to offer, you''d eventually need to kill the guy. At most, he could probably hand over one of his kidneys or part of his liver¡ªmaybe even his skin¡ªand don''t get me started about organ rejection. They have the same type of blood but that doesn''t mean that they''repatible in that regard, no?"


    "..."


    "What I''m saying is: it''s better to have more backups than a douche that''s one day gonna turn everyone else against you because you let him y around with the people that''s keeping this ce running. One day, they''re gonna point the me to you and after that, your son."


    "..."


    "Trust me, you''re doing what you think is best for him now but even the most forgiving people could only take so much. He can''t even say shit on the matter because he''s benefitting from it but those bags of blood and his organs wouldn''t do shit if he gets mauled to death¡ª"


    "ENOUGH!"


    If looks could kill, I would''ve died several times over but this was the first time I''ve seen him so fucking mad. It was a good thing no one had heard us but I held my ground and kept a straight face as his breathing hurried up and his face reddened. He was wearing such a difficult expression but it only took a few seconds before he tried to calm his breathing andpose himself.


    "You¡ª"


    "I just stated the truth. I think it''s better you hear it¡ª"


    "No, you''re right. This thing is a whole mess and I wouldn''t be able to keep up if it goes on. I should''ve done better."


    I almost rolled my eyes, "Words can only do so much too. But yeah, you have a lot on your te. Why don''t you just give the go signal and I''ll take care of this problem for you. You wouldn''t even need to owe me one because¡ª"


    "No. We''re doing it MY way."


    "..."


    "Listen here: Lopez is a valuable resource and even though hees with a set of problems, he''s been keeping his end of the deal for the most part. However¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "If¡­ and only if someone can find more than a single recement for the donor my son currently has¡­ I''ll probably have more chances to get swayed to change my choice on the matter. If not¡ª"


    I''m starting to get pissed off, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is¡ª"


    "Exactly. My point. Did you even see the state he''s in? For me to give you the green light, I''d need a constant supply of blood to fill at least a normal-sized refrigerator, and don''t talk to me like I don''t know about transnt procedures¡­ The reason I always make Lopez be in close proximity to my son is the time frame for each organ if an ident ever urs.


    The most important ones only range for a few hours while the less important ones only range for a day and a bit. Well preserved or not, it needs to be in a living host instead of being put inside a cooler¡­"


    ''So, he knows¡­''


    I let out a faint, bitter smile, "But you do know that Lopez isn''t exactly matching JP''s frame? It''s also one of the things to consider¡ª"


    He shook his head with a somber expression, "I know but he''s all we got. At the end of the day, I''m a father and you''re not. You wouldn''t understand. I''m prepared to abandon everything just to know that my son will be alright and you can''t fault me for that. You can say the same for your wife, no?"


    I had to give it to him, "True. But you''re treating him like he''s an ident waiting to happen."


    "I do. It''s a sad way of looking at things but that''s what a parent is supposed to do forever, worry. Even making him go with you is a very huge deal and if the president didn''t vouch for you highly, we wouldn''t be having this conversation.


    I want him to be able to stand up for himself¡ªeven without the titles and whatnot given to him¡ªbut the sad thing is, with the way I am¡­ I couldn''t do that for him."


    I felt something off, "What¡ª You sound like you''re about to kick the bucket."


    He almost smacked the shit out of me, "What? No! NO! Why would you think that?! Are you insane?!"


    "Oh. My bad, continue on¡ª"


    "You fucking¡ª Haa¡­ I was talking about how I treat him above everyone else. I don''t want him to get hurt but he needs to be¡­ needs to be¡ª umm¡­"


    "Tempered?"


    "Right! That''s the word I''m looking for, tempered."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You see¡­ he''s my kid but I''ve neverid a hand on him, not even once. Even our good book advises on doing so¡ª"


    "Spare the rod, spoil the child. Right."


    "Yeah, that. I actually didn''t know what to do when he came to my roomst night saying that you tried to kill him but it was refreshing to see him like that. Truth be told, I couldn''t do that to him even if I tried but you did knowing who we were."


    "Why would that matter?"


    "Exactly. That''s one of the reasons I want him toe with you. He respects authority too much and he needs to learn what umm¡­ that what we sometimes do isn''t ''right'' even though we''re the ''good'' guys, and sometimes, the ''bad'' guys could also do something that''s not ''wrong''. Do you understand what I''m saying?"


    "..."


    "Young man?"


    I let out a chuckle, "You know, I didn''t think we''d have this sort of conversation in the middle of the fucking academy while the sun is fucking ring. We should be having this type of talk in the middle of the night with a cold beer on our hands."


    "You were busy trying to kill my son, remember?"


    "Hah! Good one! But yeah, I understand what you''re saying," I replied as I nodded, "I''ll apologize to you about not telling the whole truth¡ª"


    "You mean, lying?"


    "Yeah. Lying to you about that so forgive me for beating up the bitch-ass who touched my wife¡ª"


    "No, you did a good job on that. He''ll learn to keep his hands to himself for the time being with that. Especially since he''sing with you. I doubt he''ll have any unless you let him¡ª"


    "Oh. My n was to actually bring him to this ce like Vegas¡ª let him have the time of his life before I drain his blood and harvest his organs. And after a few days or so, we''de back here and I''ll drop him off in a cooler¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª You really nned it that much, huh?"


    "Imagine what I could do if you give me more than a day."


    "..."


    "But yeah, I''ll keep him alive but our deal''s rock solid, yeah? If I ever find a proper recement¡ª"


    He nodded, "Recements. Plural."


    "Riiiiight~ Plural. Wanna shake on it? Make it official?"


    "Alright, you have a deal."


    At that moment, we even spat on our palms before shaking on it and the General gave me a vice of a handshake. He thought that I''d let out at least the tiniest of winces but I actually gave him a bright smile before I showed him my grip strength. He immediately tried to shake things off when he felt his bones screaming but he did jab my stomach and caught me off-guard.


    He whispered, "At least let me win a few things, you fucking kid. I thought the president was lying about you¡­"


    I chuckled, "Hey, I could''ve easily killed Lopez and made it an ident. I let you win by asking permission."

 Chapter 888: Senior Cass - Same old, same old

    As soon as I said those words, the two of us just looked at each other before we shared a simple nod and a chuckle. We actually came to terms like adults and even though the terms we came to weren''t exactly civil or normal in the old world, heck, speaking like adults anding to a solution was even rare back then.


    In any case, the General called over what looked to be an assistant of his¡ªwho was actually waiting a good distance away with her clipboard¡ªthen gave us a brief introduction.


    "Cass, this is Sky Ishiyama¡ªthe one the president called to us about¡ªwho created the spectacle just as we arrived and young man, this is Cass, basically my assistant or something close."


    I offered a simple handshake, "Nice to meet you."


    She gave me an up-down look as she returned the handshake, "The ''Kid'' they always talk about in meetings."


    "Yeah, that kid who upied Valenzu, right next to Man."


    I interjected, "Well, parts of it."


    She chuckled, "Uh-huh. Weren''t you the one responsible for helping Mayor Iskoh and Jose''s CO get set up? What''s his name again? Morales? It''s Morales, right? What are they up to right now?"


    "Sir Morales started to cut inside the city between what the mayor and I upied though most of his forces were still in the harbor. There are plenty of things to do aside from taking care of the dead but still up to this day, that''s the job everyone''s tasked with."


    "Right. I gotta ask¡­ You have¡ª what''s her name? The Russian¡­ Is it Vera? Who''s in charge of thismunications room back in your ce? I appreciate the variety of shows we could listen to but don''t you think you should assign someone¡­ local?"


    I looked at her a certain way, "I don''t see that problem. Communication between me and the mayor works fine with her in charge and besides, the ces Sir Morales and Ferdinand upy are manned by your people. Furthermore, she has insights and ways that¡ª"


    She cut me off with a faint-mocking smile as she half-rolled her eyes, "I was just giving you a suggestion, no need to be so defensive. I''m sure she''s pretty talented¡­"


    The General threw her a look, "Aren''t you supposed to give me the report¡ª"


    I cut the General off as I looked this Cass chick in the eye, "I''m sorry but do you wanna start something with me?"


    "Excuse me?"


    "You see, I have a lot of pent-up stress because of Lopez and I had something else that''s EVEN MORE pent-up because we got interrupted this morning so if you wanna start something with me, just say it outright. I know you have some fucking issues but let me know what you fucking need from me so I could help you. I just met you five seconds ago and I don''t need more drama in my life.


    Just fucking say what you want and fuck off."


    "..."


    "..."


    At that fucking moment, the way she threw shade at me just ticked me off so bad I had to blow up at her, but the way the General was this close to burstingughing while this Cass bitch had her jaw almost hitting the floor made me realize that something was off.


    It was the first time I saw the General let out such a face and it also seemed like the first time this assistant had someone talk back to her.


    With a quick nce, she seemed to only be a few years older than me but she couldn''t even clear above my shoulders though she did look like she was physically fit. However, it only took me a few seconds before realization struck and made me realize that she wasn''t from this ce but next door, where my Alma Mater is.


    ''She actually had our old pin on her cor but hers is dated in 2012¡­ Cass doesn''t ring a bell though¡­''


    For the life of me, I didn''t think that my old school would have people working in this ce because I only thought that the Academy would be the only one sending people over to the other side.


    I actually berated my supposed senior but seniority doesn''t mean shit in my book if they were the first ones to show disrespect.


    And I tried to poke the little bear a little more, "What? You think you''re a fucking eight? You''re barely five feet, for fuck''s sake!"


    "I-I''m five-foot-three! The fuck do you think you are?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "First off, you probably knew who I am yesterday¡ªunless 5 PM is your fucking bedtime, and secondly, you SHOULD fucking know who I am because I have a fucking statue in our fucking Multipurpose Hall!"


    "You¡ª Wai¡ªWHAT?! S-STATUE?! Who are you, really¡ª"


    "Jesus fucking christ, I''m so sorry¡ªwith your height¡ªyou probably couldn''t see the te where our names were written but I''m the valedictorian for the ss of 2014 and the first awardee of The Solomon''s Wisdom Award¡ª"


    "No¡ª"


    "Yes, bitch. I''m the one who received ''that'' tinum pin, the fancy que, the handwritten bible, the cash award, and one of the small plots ofnd only given to the people who gave the school much, MUCH fame and recognition. I''m that fucking guy you tried to call a fucking imbecile."


    "I..."


    "And yeah, I''m also that guy you all made aughingstock off when I sent the university proof of the world ending."


    "...!"


    "Oh~ You received it too?! It''s funny, right? For you guys who were preparing for the seconding, you seem to forget that the world has to end first before that ever happens."


    At this moment, Cass looked like she had seen a ghost because she was just so fucking gobsmacked of me revealing trap cards one after the other. In any case, what I did wasn''t a little poke and I can kinda understand one of the reasons I blew up at her in the first ce. Though at the same time, the General was looking at me curiously while he kept silent through most of it.


    ''This is not like me¡­ Why did the bad memories start toe out first instead of the good ones?''


    Realizing that I shouldn''t pour everything into a single person, I calmed myself down before I offered an apology.


    "Shit, I apologize for being an asshole but even though I mostly am to people who were asshole-like to me, like what you did earlier, I should not have said those things to you in the first ce. For that, I''ll owe you a bottle of either those soya beverages or that carrot juice we have at the cafeteria plus whatever vegan meal you want. Is that okay? And yeah, is Mimi still around?"


    "..."


    For a good minute or two, Cass was just staring at me like a dumbass and I didn''t even notice the General slipping out of the awkward conversation along with the report that was supposed to be in Cass'' hands.


    I saw the General on a random bench reading through each page carefully and since the person I was talking to wasn''t even responding one bit, I decided to leave her alone and look for Kaley and the rest.


    ''Probably back at the log cabin¡­''


    But to my annoyance, the midget¡ªnot actually¡ªwas following close behind me with the same expression: eyebrows knotted, nose scrunched, and ears billowing smoke due to how hard she was trying to figure out if I was really the person she thought she was thinking of.


    I stopped walking and faced her, "What?"


    "..."


    "If you aren''t gonna talk¡ª"


    "There''s¡­ There''s just no way that you''re¡­"


    "Why? I got tall, ripped, and had this tattoo sleeve that''s supposed to be sin?"


    "Yeah¡ª but that''s not what I''m¡ª"


    "Then what are you trying to say?"


    She took a deep breath before she looked me in the eye, "Look¡­ We ce off on the wrong foot so c-could we start over?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure, I''d ept a quick breakdown of what''s the current situation over at our old school as an apology."


    "Wait¡ª I said we should start over and now you''re trying to ask for something in return¡ª"


    "Fine. Then just tell me just because you wanted to. Is that okay?"


    "You¡­ S-Sure¡­ But d-do you have any news around the area of Bataan? I know it''s a shot in the dark but¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, no¡­"


    "Ah¡­ I understand¡ª"


    "Wait. I remember something."


    "P-Please¡ª"


    "I''m not sure if you wanna hear this though¡ª"


    "Please! Just tell me!"


    "Alright~ It''s not actually news about that ce per se but a group ambushed us way, way~ back and the ones who we spared decided to go there. I''m pretty sure that they managed to reach the ce¡ªbecause we left a tracker in one of the radios I gave them, but that only proves that the radio is in that ce, not them¡ªtechnically speaking.


    And before you ask, the signal was gone after a month or so, so we haven''t had much info on the group since¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Is that so¡­"


    "You have family over there?"


    "Something like that¡­"


    "I see. So, what''s the situation over on our side?"


    She let out a bitter smile as she chuckled, "Would you believe me if I told you that it''s pretty much the same except for the soldiers present? Heck, we still even have the prayer schedules and our mass¡ªand have I told you that we still have sses ongoing? From primary to tertiary, even for people taking their master''s degree and doctorate?"


    "No fucking way¡ª"


    "Yes fucking way! Wanna bet on it?!"

 Chapter 889: OH, COME ON—

    Like a dog presented with a nice juicy steak, my senior¡ªCass¡ªhad never looked so excited with the thought of making one of her juniorse back to our ce of origin rather than actually winning a bet. However, I couldn''t hide the excitement myself because my old school was one of the ces I thought of hunkering over the moment a single zombie popped up.


    That piece ofnd that I was given? I actuallymissioned to have someone build a regr house on top of it¡ªand had one of my older colleagues live on it for free, as long as they kept it clean and had a room set aside for me on the chance I came to visit¡ªbut it wasn''t apocalypse-worthy like the one Oscar and I built up from scratch.


    In any case, I wanted to know more about the ce I spent a few years of my life at, and we were now having a pleasant conversation on our way to the log cabin.


    "W-Wait a second, everything''s still the way it is? Even our decades-old walls that should''ve been¡ª"


    "I thought you''d be more surprised we have sses but the walls were obviously built up and have several guards patrolling 24/7."


    I chuckled, "With the way a huge chunk of ournd was smack dab in the road, that''s a given."


    She looked at me like I was an idiot, "Did you forget about everything else from the other side? You know that we only had 4-foot log posts with three wires separating us from thend we didn''t own. Imagine the rush to build the same type of wall to keep the dead away."


    "Oh! You mean from the Food Factory!"


    She let out a cheeky smile, "How long has it been since yourst visit? It''s Factories now¡ªplural."


    "I guess that''s one thing you and the General have inmon, you two like plural shit¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Not important. Anyway¡ª" I stopped as I looked around the log cabin, "I thought they''d be here. Helloooooo~"


    I was just about to start knocking because everyone else was missing but it didn''t take long before a huge shadow loomed over us and Cass almost broke her neck from looking up.


    Yes, Quinn just came out the door looking bored as fuck.


    Cass pointed up with dread, "W-What¡­ W-What is that?!"


    "THE FUCK AM I?! ARE YOU LOST, KID?! TODDLERS AREN''T SUPPOSED TO BE IN¡ª"


    "I''m in my 30s, excuse me! Y-You''re s-so tall!"


    "WHAT?! FUCK OUTTA HERE, JAILBAIT¡ª" Quinn roared before she turned to me, "Hey, where did you pick this one up? Also, wanna have a quick one? I was really~ hoping for a hot soak but this trip has gone to shit and I really want some release¡ª I know you need one too after that¡ª"


    Cass couldn''t believe her ears as her face turned bright red, "W-Wait, you''re having an a-affair with this¡­ t-this one¡ª"


    "You fucking shrimp, I''m gonna let that slide onest time¡ª"


    "I thought you were a decent guy, but this?!"


    Quinn never looked so confused, "The fuck are you crying about?! I''d even let you in after a couple more years but you''re fucking weird, you know that?"


    "N-No! He''s married, right?!"


    ''Riiiiiight¡­''


    Before Ipletely forgot, almost everyone else from that ce had this holier-than-though view when it came to this kind of stuff and even though a good chunk of them still had this rebellious side, it wouldn''te as a surprise if having an open rtionship¡ªheck, even talking about sex out loud was a huge no-no for them.


    Even I struggled to get it out of my system but it would be rare to find someone that broke out of that ce''s teachings if they were living inside¡ªor in Cass'' case, probably the same thing but let''s just say that she''s a frequent visitor.


    On that note, I didn''t think I''d exin to another poor soul about theplicated rtionship I had with Kaley andpany, and she just looked like it was the first time she read a book that contained smut or even ankle pictures. And yeah, she was fucking stunned for a good minute once again, but Quinn dragged her with us when we discovered that Kaley and the rest were in the shooting range.


    ''She''s ripping it with the Reaper, that''s the fucking sound of it¡­''


    To my surprise, the shooting range definitely had a crowd surrounding my group and the people I''ll be bringing with me but the biggest surprise was Major Perez holding his ground with Kaley using his beat-up AR-10 chambered in .308.


    It was a rifle from PSA that only had a simple sling, a 20-inch barrel, no foregrips, no muzzle brakes, no nothing, but the thing that caught my eye was the scope he was using. His scope alone was worth more than everything else he had on his person and it was even one of the brands I was using.


    ''Better to have a legendary-rank scope and a rare-rank gun than a legendary-rank gun and a rare-rank scope¡­''


    When we first met, I 100% assumed that he''d be a Shotgun Schmuck¡ªlike someone else we know¡ªor even a Lever-action Larry, but he''s actually one of my close brethren. Sure and AR-15 was still different from and AR-10 but it still sported the same tform so it was pretty close.


    On that note, both of them were dinging the metal te that was nted a good 400 yards away, and the small moment of silence right after the shot was fired and then the small ding that would follow would just make everyone else either shake their heads from disbelief or grimace from the sheer ridiculousness of what they were witnessing.


    And yeah, it''s not because they were hitting the target that far out¡ªthough they were¡ªbut it was more because of the rhythmic sounds they were producing from each shot. Even a DJ could work on it and start making a sick beat if the crowd weren''t that loud with their reactions in the first ce.


    But it didn''t take long before JP approached me, looking annoyed as fuck while holding a brand-new, ''tactical'' AR-15 with all the bells and whistles you could put on it.


    "This is ridiculous!"


    I instantly rolled my eyes, "What about that''s ridiculous?"


    "Kaley¡ª your wife offered us to help zero our guns but it just¡­ t-turned into that shooting debacle! Wasting all that ammo¡­"


    "You can''t zero your gun yourself?"


    JP looked like he''d smack the shit out of me but he knew full well that he''d gonna need more than Lopez''s blood if he did so he just frowned and protested, "I can zero my gun, of course! But how can I do it if everyone''s there trying to disturb us! I had the highest kill count on the board! This is just a new gun I borrowed for the trip! They should be doing the jobs I assigned to them!


    Even the officers are cking off, dad will be hearing of thister¡ª"


    "Oh? Like you told on me for ''trying'' to kill you?"


    "I-I-I was upset, alright?! And for the record, I actually thought you would¡­"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Fair enough¡ª"


    The Quinn cut me off, "Wait a second, you''re forgetting something you promised me you''d let me do!"


    I quickly tried to wave her off, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Not here and I don''t remember anything¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! I''M TALKING ABOUT FIRING THE .50 CAL¡ª THE BARRETT OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU MAY CALL IT!"


    The moment the word ''Barrett'' was spread in the open air, everyone else suddenly turned in our direction with bloodshot eyes and even Major Perez missed, giving Kaley the victory, and I was swarmed with all these fucking gun nuts like I was the only one that brought paper for the test. However, Quinn managed to quickly disperse the crowd as she swung Cass around like a ragdoll.


    ''That''s a relief, we only brought so much .50 BMGs and I''m not gonna waste it on target practice!''


    "WAIT¡ª WHY AM I HERE¡ª BLEGRHH! STOP THROWING ME AROUND! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "You''re pretty light¡ª Well, of course, with that size it''s pretty much a given¡­"


    "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! SOMEBODY HELP!"


    After that short bout of chaos, I fulfilled my promise to Quinn by letting her have her way with my Barrett M107A1¡ªwith a full magazine, to boot¡ªand everyone else could only look with envy. However, seeing Quinn make it look like a regr-sized rifle in her hands was fucking shocking to me but the look on her face the moment she fired the first shot was fucking priceless.


    Her whole body jolted the moment she pulled the trigger and how I wish I had a slow-motion camera on hand, but I''d stick with photographic memory to remember everything that¡­ jiggled.


    Quinn was smiling from ear to ear as she turned to me like she''d devour me whole, "WHEW! I like this gun, like shit¡­ I really~ like this gun¡­ Can I have¡ª"


    "Nope! Not in a million years!"


    "OH, COME ON¡ª"


    Ipletely ignored her as I turned to my group, "We''re burning precious daylight here, hurry it up!"

 Chapter 890: Quick Stop and Accessorize - Three Angels Message University I

    In any case, I started helping our trainees to zero their new guns because to appease the General''s mind, not only did he give his son a new toy to y with, but he also gave everyone else a new set of pew-pews and stabby-stabs just to make sure they had the means to protect themselves¡ªbut most importantly, to protect his treasured son.


    ''Why don''t hee himself if he''s this worried?''


    They had 4 AR-15s, 2 M70s, and 2 Remmington 870s with 4 Glock 17s and 4 M1911s paired with a fresh K-Bar knife, a utility belt, and a chest rig. Furthermore, they were also given a fresh set of gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, and military boots¡ªand a ''tacticool'' helmet that had every random shit on it.


    JP was the only one that looked familiar with their gear and everyone else looked like they were wearing someone else''s skin.


    I walked over to Ruben who was having a hard time wearing his helmet that had NVGs strapped at the front, "The sun''s out, my guy¡­ You can¡ª"


    He turned to me like I was about to steal his toy, "I-It''s the first time I''ve w-worn things like these! It''s weirdly falling in front, but¡ª"


    I stole it from his head, "Ah, you should add some weight at the back here¡­ But yeah, it''s good to familiarize yourself with your new gear but using NVGs should be way~ down on the priority list."


    "I-I see¡­" he nodded as he leaned close, "Hey, w-would it be too bad to ask for that kind of scope to be ced in my shotgun?"


    "..."


    "Sir?"


    "You''re talking about that 4x scope on Alexa''s M70?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Ruben¡­"


    "Sir?"


    "Where are you on that list everyone on top''s been bragging about?"


    "What list? Oh! That list! I''m pretty low on that since I always use an axe¡ªI hold our positions outside too¡ªthe vehicle we have, I mean¡ªso I rarely engage in front."


    "Uh-huh. Can you at least tell me what shotgun loads you have on you?"


    "00 Buckshots and Breaching loads¡ª Sir, I''m gonna be honest. I''m not the best shooter but I really think that kind of scope will be able to help me."


    "You sweet summer child¡­"


    "S-Sir?"


    Hearing those wordse out of his mouth, I was this close to making him unpack but the reason I took him in was entirely different. He could be pretty useless from abat standpoint but I''d be able to verify his skills soon once we made our way to the Rivas Family or even my old Alma Mater.


    But yeah, I gave him a crash course about Oscar''s favorite boomstick though hexa-loading¡ªheck, and even quad-loading was out of the picture. He''d have to master the basics first to learn advanced shit but he''s clearlycking fundamentals and was mistakenly trying to rely on essories to ovee it.


    And with the other guys, I needed to do some micro-managing for some quality-of-life improvements.


    Namely: I made the new guys zero their rifles ording to our customs because if by some chance I had to call some shots, I''d be able to do so without converting shit on the spot because even a tenth of a second was important.


    It was because I discovered that JP had his rifle zeroed at 100 meters while Seb was at 100 yards.


    Some could say that it would be detrimental to change things up right before they go outside but it''d be better in the long run. Sometimes, it would be better to stick to one thing instead of having a lot of options. But since my group was also using 100 meters as our starting point, Seb and the few others were the ones that had to adjust.


    But yeah, I did let them use some of our time to somehow familiarize themselves with the slight adjustments plus some of the calls we''d give that were different from this ce.


    It also gave me a general idea of what they can do but they obviously didn''t expect Tatiana to wipe the floor with each of them. Their brand-new equipment was covered in dust the moment we were done but there was a single fucking problem I forgot to address:


    Lopez.


    The motherfucker didn''t show himself until the final minute but as he was about to ride on the Raycolt with JP and the rest, I pulled on hisrge rucksack and looked him dead in the eye, "You''ll be riding with me."


    "What?! W-Why?!"


    Obviously enough, Quinn and the others protested but I took it as a necessary sacrifice to mix up the people riding on our vehicles.


    I definitely had Kaley riding shotgun as I would be the one driving but I had JP sitting behind with Quinn and Tatiana while Lopez was on the truck bed with Lucas. And on that note, I made Seb lead the rest of their group with Isaac and Jose riding with them and yes, I definitely pawned off the Ta we found in exchange for more gas, ammo, food, water, and a few more resources.


    And after onest goodbye, we drove off from the Philippine Military Academy but it wasn''t even 15 minutes before we reached our next destination.


    Seeing it up close flooded me with more memories but I didn''t expect Cass''s voice from the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mic check, mic check~ Is this thing working? Can anyone hear me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What. are. you. doing. here?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I rode with Jesus, silly! You''ll need a tour guide of sorts so I volunteered myself¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Stop sounding so disappointed! They won''t even let you in¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Even with my old ID and my alumni card?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Pfft! Hah! You still have those?! Sure, go ahead! I was supposed to do something here anyways and I just caught a ride but I guess you won''t be needing me¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Again, just say that you wanted toe with us and I''ll let you for the time being."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Really?! If you say so~ Right. I know where Mimi''s working right now, we should¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hold up, she''s still alive?! You didn''t tell me that¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [More driving, less talking~ Go on ahead, I bet they''ll recognize your IDs if you present it to them¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, once I drove my Raptor to one of their checkpoints, they took one nce at the Raycolt and let us move on straight to the huge gate that my university had. The General probably gave them a call, telling them that we''d be arriving soon with a group that this ce doesn''t usually let inside.


    However, I had my first wave of nostalgia when I handed my IDs to the confused guard looking at me sideways.


    "Wait¡ª aren''t you¡ª DUDE!"


    I gave the guard a casual smile and wave, "What''s up, Andy?"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª HOW''D¡ª"


    "Can we go in? It''s about time for lunch, right?"


    "Y-YOU¡ª W-WE SHOULD FUCKING TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! I''M GONNA RADIO EVERYONE! I MEAN EVERYONE! GET IN, YOU FUCK!"


    "Thanks!"


    "RIGHT! I''m also living in your house! Ben''s still alive and kicking, don''t worry! We''re all fine here! Jesus, I can''t believe this is happening¡ª OH SHIT! WE¡ª WE REALLY GOT TO TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?!


    DON''T FORGET ABOUT ME!"


    "Sure, sure. Nice to see you, dude. Like, for real."


    "AM I GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW?! THE FUCK ARE YOU SO CHILL FOR?! DUDE¡ª A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE AWAY! WE DON''T EVEN KNOW WHERE KEN WAS¡ª"


    "He''s with me¡ª"


    "WHAT?! WHERE¡ª"


    "I mean back home, you know¡­"


    He was stunned for a moment before his excitement quickly dissipated, "Right¡­ About that¡ª"


    "Don''t worry about it, dude. I''d hate to say this a second time but can we get in¡ª"


    "Fuck! Right! Right! H-Here we go¡ª We''ll talkter, alright?!"


    "Yeah!"


    As Andy pressed the buttons to lower the barriers to the ground, he still looked like he couldn''t believe he was seeing me in the flesh as he couldn''t contain himself. He was smiling like an idiot as he was speaking through his radio but the second wave of nostalgia happened when the familiar tune rang out from the speakers.


    Everyone else was still admiring the scenery inside but I was already cringing all over.


    [OH, HAPPY DAY~]


    [Oh! Happy day!]


    [WHEN JESUS COMES~]


    [When Jesuses~]


    It was the same tune that would ring out the moment the clock struck noon but the scenery took me out of it.


    The inside still looked like fucking paradise.


    It was like the Garden of Eden just from the trees, flowers, and other nts wereid out, and the first thing that everyone would see to the left was this hospital¡ªfor obvious reasons¡ªthat was right next to thisrge gazebo, separating it with a flowery walkway that would lead to our huge-ass church.


    There was a small building behind it that had a few ssrooms and more gardens but that was a story for another day.


    Nothing had fucking changedpared to thest time I went here and I got a third wave of nostalgia when I finally saw some students wearing our uniform.


    It didn''t look fancy at all: just a simple white blouse and a ck skirt for women and a white polo and ck pants for men, almost making it look like office wearbined with the ''proper'' haircut and enforced shoes for both uniforms.


    Kaley was the first one to see me squirming in ce but she relieved most of the tension when she opened her mouth:


    "Do you think they could sell me one of those uniforms my size?"

 Chapter 891: Three Angels Message University II - Food Selections

    For the life of me, I didn''t know how we didn''t crash and die then and there, because I managed to keep a straight face while I was side-eyeing JP¡ªas a signal to Kaley¡ªbecause he was in the vehicle with us. However, Kaley just rolled her eyes and chuckled before she adjusted her sitting posture and doubled down:


    "I said what I said, I just thought it''d look good on me¡­"


    Quinn was the first one to speak from behind, "Hah! I''ll probably take one too if there''s something to fit me!"


    Tatiana added, "Me too, imagine the sex when¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Hellooo?? We. Have. A. Passenger! Sit.


    Ting. Right. There!"


    Quinn chuckled-scoffed, "This kid here? Trust me, it''s like the first time he saw tits because he was frozen the whole way~ I first thought he''d even try to cop a feel but his hands are tucked between his legs. How boring~"


    Tatiana was looking at me via the rear-view mirror with an amused expression, "Imagine what he''d do if we start having sex on the ride¡ª"


    JP suddenly spoke up, "You¡ª This is highly inappropriate! I should be driving the Raycolt my dad sent me but I''m getting hazed¡ª"


    Quinn ced her arm over his shoulders and started to lightly choke him to death, "Exactly. But you should be thanking us we''re sitting with you. We wanted to do something carnal and a little violent but you''re here and stopping us from doing so¡ª"


    "You can just stop the truck and let me¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh. I take great pleasure teasing uptight boys like you and you''re riding with us until it''s not fun anymore. And right now, seeing you like that is fun and¡ª"


    JP cut her off as he red at me through the rear-view mirror, "Did you put them up to this?! You did¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Nope. I let you sit with us because of one particr reason and it''s not because so that Quinn could have some fun with you."


    "Lies! It was just¡ª Stop spouting nonsense! Just let me drive my ride!"


    The whole time JP blew up, Kaley was watching him the whole time and was dEfINiTelY using her psychic powers to some degree. However, she still hasn''t spoken a word ever since she broke the ice so I continued to calm down our angsty Baron who had his most important thing taken away: control.


    ''And sitting between the biggest Alpha-Bitches I''ve known is definitely ufortable for the aLphA that he is¡­ Heh.''


    I shrugged my shoulders as I struggled to contain myself because of the 5mph speed limit, "You can believe me or not but I''m doing what''s best for you. We can¡ª"


    "You just want me to admit whatever the fuck I''m doing to these w-women, right?! You want me to embarrass myself in front of them, is that it?! Is that what it would take to drive my own vehicle?! HUH?!"


    "Woah, calm down there~"


    Tatiana turned to me, "What''s he talking about?"


    Quinn added, "Yeah, this feels different."


    "..." Kaley still kept quiet while keeping a close watch on our golden egg.


    How I wish I could just m on the brakes and make him fly through the windshield but at the speed we''re going, I doubt making him have a sore neck was possible. But yeah, as I was still figuring out how to actually make JP be okay with himself, Kaley made Quinn and Tatiana sit with the other two on the truckbed before she sat with him and stared him in the eyes:


    "Okay, you can tell me what''s wrong. I won''t judge you or anything¡ª I''m just here to listen, alright? What''s bothering you?"


    "W-What¡ª I was¡­ I¡­ I was just¡­"


    "It''s alright, take your time. It''s just us here, tell me what''s on your mind¡­"


    "I¡­ I-I don''t actually mean to d-do that¡­"


    "Do what, exactly?"


    "It''s¡­ Umm¡­ It''s umm¡­"


    "JP, we''re just here to help¡­ For that to work, you should just tell us¡­ We won''t tell anyone else¡­ We promise you¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ I trust you¡­ Thanks for kicking those two out¡­"


    "Yes, you can trust me, right?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    ''Here we go~''


    We weren''t even halfway to the cafeteria when JP was bawling his eyes out but I was more impressed with Kaley from the way she kept herself together when JP told her his biggest secret with Seb.


    She actually gave him sound advice though I felt a little bad for listening in to their session because there were a lot of times he could''ve said the truth instantly if he wasn''t afraid of me¡ªor anyone else¡ªgiving him looks or straight up judging his actions.


    The biggest point in their entire conversation was it''s not actually about him doing stuff with the same sex, it was about being in the same corrupted mindset as Lopez. Well, it was actually a little bit of both¡ªhonestly speaking, but if there was something we needed to ''cure'', it was his usage of the power given to him with his titles.


    But in his case, he was only using the Baron buff to make Seb bend to his will but if he only knew that Seb was actually letting him do what he wants, it''d be an entirely different conversation.


    ''I''d hate to say it but Seb should be present next time¡­''


    In any case, who would''ve thought one of our problems could easily be solved by passing it to someone else more qualified to solve it, and I actually felt lighter because that''s one more issue leaving my te.


    And yeah, Kaley made a promise to JP that they''ll have this talk every now and again but I almost burst outughing when I saw Quinn and Tatiana trying so hard to read their lips from the ss window behind.


    With that said, reaching the cafeteria took longer than it should because we''d only have to drive past a small rotonda¡ªor a roundabout, a parking area that had gravel flooring, and a small bend past a few old Mve trees.


    It would''ve taken me 20 minutes to walk from the gate to the cafeteria but it almost took the same time with my Raptor because of the speed limit and a few more reasons.


    But yeah, once we reached the ce and saw the hundreds of students slowly falling in line to get in, I instantly thought of going somece else but Cass had already exited Jesus'' station wagon and waved us to follow behind her.


    "C''mon! Use your ID! They have a separate seating arrangement for alumni like us! Wait a sec¡ª do you still have caf load on that?"


    I nodded after cringing because of the wave of nostalgia that followed after hearing that choice of words, "I probably still have around 20k of credits loaded¡ª"


    Before I could finish my sentence, Cass just rushed at me and tried to cover my mouth but I held her in ce with my hand on her head. She never looked so distraught from hearing that I still had a boatload of unspent credits¡ªbecause I''d rather just cook for myself or eat outside¡ªbut I never would''ve thought such credits would prompt a reaction from her.


    Turns out, it was the currency this ce kept on using as the world ended and even a thousand credits was enough to make waves around the campus.


    "I d-don''t know if you''re lying to me but don''t say that you have that out loud!"


    "You''re the one who asked me¡ª"


    "Not important! K-Keep your ID safe at all times and¡­ ugh¡­ just¡ª d-don''t lose that, okay?!"


    I actually didn''t care about garnering attention because our getup and the vehicles we used to drive in were attention-grabbing enough as is. Heck, just Quinn and her 7-foot frame were enough to turn several bottoms male or female.


    And yeah, we were the center of attention when we walked through the alumni section¡ªwhich only had half the tables filled up¡ªbut the look on Quinn, Tatiana, Jesus, and his crew''spany when they saw the menu was fucking priceless.


    They knew fucking well that this ce didn''t serve any meat but seeing them in person instantly made them lose appetite.


    Sure, there are a lot of delicious and delicious-looking vegan or vegetarian foods but let me tell you with 100% certainty that in this ce¡ªespecially in the apocalypse¡ªthose two terms had no chance of existing whatsoever.


    What we have on the menu except for actual vegetables that were cooked in the simplest way like boiling them or just cutting them up to look nice were meat recements called gluten-meat, vege-meat, vege-tapa, etc. And yeah, there were some familiar meals in the mix but the ones that should have meat were reced by the ones I mentioned above or with tofu and beans.


    In the first few months I''ve studied here, I actually found all of them pleasant but it didn''t take long before everything else started to taste the same.


    And once again, I wasn''t saying that these types of foods taste bad¡ªit''s just that I wished that they were cooked and prepared a different way or they should just change the menu once in a while. Furthermore, we were in the fucking Alumni Section¡ªthe selection here should be a little bit better than what the students were having.


    But yeah, it only took a single phrase before we garnered more attention¡ªbecause Cass didn''t brief us on how dire the situation here was on food selection¡ªas Quinn spoke out the forbidden words:


    "Can''t we just eat what we brought over? I remember we still have some strip steaks and a bit of fried chicken left, right?"


    And all hell broke loose.

 Chapter 892: Three Angels Message University III - Small World

    Before I could even attempt to do to Quinn what Cass attempted to do to me, every meat-eating student who heard Quinn''s little slip looked like deadheads who were trying to bust through the ss partition while every carnivorous alumni in our section either had their stomachs grumble or mouths water from the possibility of meat touching their lips again.


    "Uh-oh."


    "She¡­ She said steak, right?"


    "S-Strip steaks¡­"


    "With g-gravy and mash, perhaps?"


    "W-We have gravy and m-mash here though¡ª"


    "Not with strip steaks¡­"


    "A-And some fried chicken¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Steak¡­"


    "And chicken¡­"


    In a matter of seconds, the line that was supposed to be for the cafeteria''s food section broke off as they crowded over to us looking like deranged pitbulls that never had their rabies shot.


    Even Quinn''s intimidating presence was nothing to the chance to eat something with vor so I had to bust out my signature move and clear out the area.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    These poor students who had never had a life-or-death experience had no fucking way of resisting a fifth of the murderous intent I sent over to them, and the ones closest either lost feeling in their legs or looked like they were about to pass out.


    I said loud enough the moment the pressure subsided, "We''re just trying to have lunch here, would you guys please give us some privacy? Besides, the university doesn''t allow the consumption of meat whatsoever, right? Do you all want to get in trouble¡ª"


    I wasn''t even able to finish my sentence before realization struck for them, but I definitely came out with some ammunition¡ªmeat¡ªto use in case I wanted a favor of some sort.


    They all looked disappointed when they went back to their seats or fell back into the line, but a few persistent bastards wanted to strike a deal with me.


    One of them sat opposite me and facing away as he shoot his shot, "Yo, I''ve got something you might be interested in if you''re willing to trade in uh¡­ some real protein, you know what I mean?"


    "Uh-huh. Not interested¡ª"


    "C''mon, man~ Just give a brother some love here¡ª You know what? How about a freebie?"


    To my amusement, he faced me and motioned for a handshake where he had a small, rolled-up blunt that looked nice and tidy. The way he looked at me told me that he thought he piqued my interest but weed was something I''d avoid at all costs at the moment because thest time I identally took some, Kaley put a finger up my¡ª somewhere where the sun doesn''t shine.


    But to my fucking surprise, Jesus¡ªof all people¡ªchortled as he pulled out a blunt that could be used as a blunt weapon because it was big as a baby''s arm and one hit from that was enough to make even Snoop Dogg a little high.


    In any case, his little blunt was all he could offer so the next one in line tried to offer something that the previous one couldn''t offer, herself.


    From a quick nce, she looked like the typical sorority girl that tasted the whole football team but in this fucking ce, we didn''t have sororities¡ªwell, I mean the ones recognized by the school and had their own house¡ªor a football team, or any sports team for that matter.


    Well, we still do have PE ss and whatnot but our school doesn''tpete in sportspetitions outside our school and it was, well¡­ sad.


    And Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn shut her down before she embarrassed herself even more.


    But yeah, thest one showed a lot of promise.


    Thest guy was hiding a smirk as he looked me in the eye, "Wazzzzaap~"


    "..." I kept quiet as I tried my best not to respond and reveal how old I was.


    He chuckled, "No? Alright~ Yeah, sure. Anyway, what those dumbasses offered could easily be procured outside so I''ll offer something you probably don''t have at the moment."


    "And what is that exactly?"


    "I have some insider info, ya dig?"


    "Oh?"


    "I know everybody inside, I know their roles, their schedules, their secrets, their everything, and whatnot. I can also give you a ce toy your heads on¡ªis this all of you?"


    "Yep."


    He nodded with a smile, "I can handle that, sure. And yeah, if you need to know everything about this ce, I''m your guy."


    As this was happening, I was side-eyeing Cass who never looked so confused but I continued my dealings with Dealer #3.


    "Oh? That''s wonderful, actually. I do need one particr piece of information right now."


    "Uh-huh. What''s that?"


    "There''s this regr ol'' house by this water tank way~ past the greenhouse and the halfcourt where the¡ª"


    "Oh! The one close by this other house that had avocados year-round? The one with this very, very~ handsome caretaker that had a huge, huge~ cock. Much, much bigger than the actual owner of the house? That one?"


    I almost burst outughing as I looked him in the eye, "Sure, that one. Yeah."


    "Don''tugh! C''mon, everyone''s been talking about his ginormous penis and¡ª"


    I finally broke, "Cut it out, dude. Andy called you, huh?"


    He started cackling as he motioned for a bro-hug, "Hehehe~ What''s up, dude¡ª"


    Right as he thought I''d give him a hug¡ªwhich I actually did, the guy was still smiling brightly before I lifted him up in the air and mmed him on the table we were sitting on. That definitely took the air out of him but the look on his face when he saw me about to bodym his ass was fucking priceless.


    The scene that had gone quite quiet started kicking it up again as several of the onlookers thought thest dealer picked a fight with me and was paying for it.


    Well, there was a truth to that statement, to say the least, but everyone else in my group was also confused as hell as to what was going on.


    The guy was tapping on my arm incessantly as I was trying to choke him out, "Dude¡ª DUDE! YOU KNOW IT''S ME, RIGHT?! IT''S A-ME, BEN¡ª"


    "Yeah, I know."


    "Then¡ª DUDE! What the f-fuck¡ª GCK!"


    I lessened my hold on his neck, "It''s been a year, fucking asshole!"


    "Asshole?! What did I¡ª"


    "You let Ken go by himself?! Prick!"


    "Ken¡ª H-He arrived and he''s s-safe, right?!"


    "Of course, he''s safe! Why didn''t you contact me?! Huh?! I thought you were fucking dead!"


    "Fucking¡ª You know the Inte got cut out¡ª"


    "Inte?! Bro¡ª I left you a fucking HAM Radio and¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ I¡­ I sold that¡­"


    "WHAT?! TO WHO?!"


    "I dunno! S-Some hippies or whatever you may call them! They bought it for $200, bro! It''s a steal!"


    "A steal for them! That''s $500, you fucking dumbass!"


    "Huh. You know¡­ money''s pretty much worthless now, if you ask me¡ª GCKK! CHK! BRO! DUDE! BRO!


    I GIVE! I¡ª"


    With that said, a crowd had once again formed around us¡ªbut with arger diameter¡ªbut I actually choked one of my good friends here, Benedict "Ben" Romualdez who looked like a budget Jessie Pinkman, before I carried him like a sack of potatoes and threw him at the back of my Raptor.


    And by the way, we still haven''t had our lunch in the cafeteria¡ªand I don''t think that we ever will, after that¡ªso we went back to our vehicles and drove much, much further into the residential areas of this campus where I had a house built.


    As I said before, it was a regr two-story house with a white picket fence, six bedrooms, a living room, a dining area, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a storage area, a basement, and a small backyard that had a garden and a little shed with a few tools in it.


    It was one of the ces that would get picked clean in the first few weeks of the zombie apocalypse or a simple starter house a basic character would wake up in.


    In any case, Ben kept flipping me off from the truckbed¡ªthe whole way through¡ªbut I kept brake-checking him and trying to make him fall off as I aimed for the potholes and stepped on the gas when we were about to roll over a speed bump. Doing that definitely pissed off everyone who was riding with me but I had a lot of anger and frustrations I had to make him feel with his body.


    But in all honesty, I was relieved that he was still alive but I got another shock of my life when he gave Cass a warm hug and a 5-Mississipi kiss as he saw her exit the station wagon.


    ''Ohhh~ That''s why¡­ Whaddayouknow?''


    I was this close to doing the FBI joke but he stared me down before he fished out the keys to the house from hisrge jacket.


    I asked as he finally opened the door, "Who else lives here?"


    "Me, Cass, Andy, Ron, Allyssa, and Mimi¡ª"


    I turned to Cass, "Uh-huh. You could''ve made things easier, you know?"


    Cass chuckled as she gave me a cheeky smile, "What? I said I know where she works, you could''ve asked where she lived¡ª"


    "And you''re living in MY house. Perfect."


    "Hey! We kept it clean, you know? I just didn''t think you were the actual guy. You look totally different from the pictures."


    "Sure~ But Mimi, where is she though?"


    Ben answered, "Right, you guys drove past her."


    "What?!"


    "I mean. Dude, she''s a nurse now and she''s working for that MILF in the emergency room. What''s her name again? Cass, you know, right? Cass?"


    At that moment, Cass was shaking her head with an amused expression but the moment she nced at Lopez and then turned to me, I discovered that the phrase, "It''s a small world, after all." made a lot of fucking sense.


    "Doctor Sandara Lopez, it''s his¡ª Lopez''s wife."

 Chapter 893: Three Angels Message University IV - Mimi

    At this point in time, I had already run out of facial expressions to use with each piece of news I''d discover or every bit of nostalgia that would wash over so I put my hands up in defeat and entered my house to finally have some lunch. And lo and behold, the interior was definitely squeaky clean but there was no semnce of food whatsoever.


    And yeah, my ''good'' friend Ben knew what we had stashed in our cars so he wouldn''t even let me open the MY fridge to prepare us light food for once. However, I noticed that Lopez was the only one who didn''te in because he looked like he wanted to double back and check on his wife ASAP.


    He looked desperate for once, "I¡­ I need permission to visit my wife and¡ª"


    "No."


    "Wai¡ª Why?! You think I''d try to escape?"


    "Not really, I think you need to have some food first."


    He shook his head furiously, "I''ve already eaten a lot because they took my blood when¡ª"


    "Right. Go ahead, I already put a tracker in you anyway¡ª"


    "YOU WHAT?! HOW?!"


    "D''you know that you talk in your sleep? Of course, I''m fucking kidding! Numb-nut. But yeah, I wouldn''t let you out of my sight without a chaperone or two so you''d still have to wait for two of us to finish eating so they coulde with you. If not¡ª"


    "I''lle with him," JP suddenly raised his hand.


    "Me too! I''lle too!" Lucas followed like a loyal dog.


    When that happened, Lopez looked at the two approvingly but his face still turned solemn as he turned to me. I could only sigh because I didn''t know what JP and Lucas were trying to do but since I could easily call Andy and tell him to not let them drive away when they''re not with us, I just let them go because we did have some packed lunches stashed away.


    It''s just that it was he awkward when we saw them off but just for a little insurance, I made them leave their gear before they hiked their way towards the hospital.


    In any case, I still tried to look for fresh vegetables in MY pantry but Ben blocked me like his life depended on it.


    "C''mon, dudeee~ You know the food situation over here! The vegetables are fresh and crisp but I gotta have some meat, alright?!"


    Cass butted in, "I brought you some sausages from the Academy yesterday¡ª"


    Ben''s eyes had never been so round as he stared Cass down, "It was two little pieces, Cass¡ª"


    "Hmph! Then I''ll have what I brought today for myself because I definitely would appreciate not just the quantity but the thought¡ª"


    "It''s not like that, Cass¡ª I sincerely thank you for that but meat''s meat, alright?"


    Cass had never looked so confused, "I¡­ I don''t even understand what that meant."


    I cut in, "Where''s everyone else though? Won''t theye back here for lunch?"


    Ben chuckled, "Really, dude? You do know that it''s a long walk to here from the clinic? I''m not even sure why those three decided to walk it off. Mimi''s definitely gonna have lunch over there while everyone will do the same in their stations."


    "Sure. But something''s bugging me."


    "Hmm?"


    "What do YOU do for work around here?"


    Cass added while looking at Ben in a certain not-so-friendly way, "Yeah, what do YOU do around here? Huh?"


    The dumbass spread his arms out like that statue in Brazil, "The fuck are you guys on about? Can''t you see how this ce looks? I''m the perfect stay-at-home husband out there! The ce is clean, theundry''s already washed and folded, our pantry''s stocked¡ª"


    "Yet you still don''t want me to take some¡ª"


    "I WANT MEAT TODAY, DUDE! MEAT! C''MON!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before he relented because I asked someone to pull out some of the meat products we brought with us, then Ben and I put on our aprons and prepared food for everyone.


    While we were doing that, everyone else either walked around outside or just chatted with each other but it was at the 30-minute mark when #1 and #2 brought in what they thought was a youngss who got lost.


    The "youngss" was standing at 4''10'''', had a petite frame, bright round eyes, clear but now had a smudged face, almost out of breath, wearing a dirtied nurse uniform, had scraped both her knees and an elbow, and was on the fucking verge of crying her eyes out.


    It took her one second to spot me from the crowd of people in their home¡ªwhich was technically mine¡ªand she started to slowly approach me with her arms forward as she ugly-cried once she hugged me.


    At this point, Cass and Ben actually shed a tear for seeing Mimi like this¡ªeven causing Kaley and the others to do the same¡ªbut the awkward thing was that everyone was motioning for me to hug her back but I can''t because my hands were tied with a dead fucking chicken that I just beheaded using a huge-ass cleaver.


    It was one of the most awkward scenes I''ve been in¡ªand Quinn wasughing her ass out she had to walk outside¡ªbut it didn''t stop when Mimi tried to speak while bawling her eyes out.


    Trust me, it was one incoherent sentence after the other but Kaley and Cass were kind enough to detach her from my body and take care of her wounds as I tried to finish preparing lunch for everyone else.


    ''I guess the three couldn''t give much of a fuck when they saw her running over here¡­ Or Mimi used a different route and didn''t see them¡­''


    With that said, Mimi eventually came out of their room wearing a fresh set of clothes but she was still teary-eyed when I turned around to greet her:


    "Yo."


    In a blink of an eye, Mimi started to bawl her eyes even worse than earlier but they didn''t have to detach her from me this time because I finally returned her hug as I patted her head. But yeah, the girls in my circle¡ªespecially Kaley¡ªwere looking at me a certain way but I rolled my eyes and shrugged them off as I introduced Mimi to everyone.


    "Okay, you weirdoes~ This is Mimi, the first friend I made in this university and people could say that we''re like brother and sister, in a sense¡ª but she''s older than me by a couple of years so she''s technically my older sister if you think about it¡­ She''s a really kind and gentle friend and¡­"


    I continued to sing her praises as I gave her a brief introduction about everybody in my crew, but for some reason, her eyes looked dead when I told her that Kaley was my wife. And for some other reason, everyone else was looking at me a certain way but I couldn''t quite figure out the reason why.


    ''Did I say something wrong? Did I praise her too much? Was that it?''


    Even when we started eating, she took bites like she didn''t just run the whole way here and she was even sighing at points that was grabbing everyone''s attention.


    But yeah, I eventually put two and two together¡ªwith a little bit of nudge from Kaley¡ªbecause it seemed like my denseness had started to act up again. I can actually pick up social cues or simple signs if it was ever thrown at me so I decided to remedy the situation by giving Mimi another slice of our strip steaks.


    "We know you cannot grow taller anymore but you gotta beef up! Put some muscle in ya, y''know?"


    She never looked so confused as she turned her head to me, "W-What?"


    "..." everyone else.


    I turned to Kaley instead, "Should I have given her more potatoes?"


    Everyone exploded, "NO! YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT SHE HAS FEELINGS FOR YOU?!"


    I chortled as I waved everyone off, "Whaaat? No way, heh. We''re just really good friends¡ªbest friends, if you will¡ªright, Mimi? Besides, I did say we''re like brother and sister so it''s gonna be weird if¡ª"


    Mimi cut me off, "Y-Yeah¡­ d-don''t get the wrong i-idea guys¡­ We''re¡­ We''re just¡ª I just really missed him and I thought¡­ yeah¡­ t-that''s it¡­ yep¡­"


    I turned to everyone with a smug smile, "See? I was¡ª"


    Before I got to finish my sentence, Mimi just straight up left the table and headed straight for the door and I had to get beat up by Kaley and the Alpha Bitches to finally understand what was going on.


    I was ordered to hurry up and run after her but let''s be fucking real here, she wouldn''t reach far with her legs and I actually caught up to her in less than a minute. But yeah, she tried to p my hand off her arm but she really should''ve eaten more because I felt fucking nothing.


    Though joking aside, we sat down under this huge tree that was just a small sapling when I was still studying here and we started to talk for real this time.


    I was just about to apologize to the things I''ve done and said but she took me by surprise and apologized first.


    "I-I''m sorry for c-causing a scene¡­ It was just¡­ A-All the emotionsing together a-and¡­ you know, seeing you after a-all this was too much and I-I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "Mimi."


    "W-What?"


    I gave her a faint smile, "Breathe, alright?"


    "R-Right¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ Haa¡­ Yeah, I think I''m okay now¡ª"


    "See¡ª"


    Then she suddenly blew up, "Y-YOU B-BIG GOOF! YOU GOT M-MARRIED?! WHAT¡ª I CAN''T¡ª WAS SHE¡ª YOU¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 894: Three Angels Message University V - Catching Up

    In the three¡ªno, close to four years Mimi and I have known each other, never¡ªI mean NEVER have I seen her raise her voice like this except, of course, when a rogue cockroach was flying in the air or someone identally mmed the door too hard.


    But yeah, it has been a while since west saw each other so it could be attributed to that¡­ or to be more realistic about the situation¡­ It''s about what happened a few moments ago.


    I slowly waved her down, "Alright, alright¡­ breathe~ Kaley''s my wife, of course, but technically speaking~ we didn''t actually get married¡­ you know¡­ officially. We have rings though, see¡ª"


    "B-But¡ª I know what living together meant but¡­ b-but¡ª huh? Y''know we''re not supposed to wear rings, right?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Right! Yeah, I backslid years ago¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?! I CAN KINDA LOOK OVER THE TATTOOS A-AND THE E-EVERYTHING THAT''S GOING ON HERE BUT I-ISN''T THAT GOING TOO FAR?!"


    I awkwardly scratched the side of my face, "Listen. It''s been a while since we''ve seen each other and a lot¡­ a whole lot has happened to me¡ªeven before the end of the world started¡ªbut¡­ you gotta understand that people change, right?"


    Mimi was wearing a difficult expression, "I-I-I can''t¡ª"


    "Hey. You were supposed to be a history teacher, right? I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "T-That example is w-way~ too different than what we''re tackling here! It''s¡­ I can''t¡­ This is not even backsliding¡­ I-It''s like you''re a totally different person! And I¡­ I fear for you¡­"


    "I''m doing just fine," I said as I sighed heavily.


    "I''m not talking about¡ª"


    "I know what you''re talking about, Mimi. It''s just¡­ I know you mean well and you always do but it''s kinda what you said¡­ I''m different from who I was those years ago but I''m still me. It''s just that I''ve chosen to question and doubt¡ªyou know, figure it out for myself instead of¡­ just¡­ simply believing. Simple as that¡­"


    "..." Mimi didn''t say a word but she did look concerned about certain choices in my life.


    "C-Can we change the subject? I don''t want to rant about that topic because I just did a few days ago and I don''t wanna start something with you right after our little reunion and¡ª"


    Mimi forced out a smile, "O-Okay, I understand¡­"


    I nodded awkwardly, "So¡­ H-How''s the weather?"


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡­ It''s¡­ It''s pretty nice actually¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yep¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled nervously, "We''re getting nowhere with this so I''m just gonna rip out the bandaid¡­"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    And the bandaid I ripped, "Why me?"


    She never looked so confused, "Huh??"


    "You know¡­ The long teary hug¡­ The dead eyes when I mentioned that Kaley was my wife¡­ this ''I''m running away!'' scenario¡­ you know¡­ did you uhh¡ª Why is this so weird to ask? Haha¡­ Ha¡­ D-Do you really have umm¡­ Do you really have something¡­ f-feelings for me¡ª not like brotherly love or anything but you know¡­ the real thing¡­"


    Mimi slowly started to turn red as she couldn''t look me in the eye, "I-I-I¡ª"


    I continued, "Have I been that dense the whole time or was this just a¡­ a recent thing?"


    "I¡­ I don''t¡ª"


    "You know me¡ªwe spent a lot of time together, I wouldn''t notice a ''sign'' unless it was on a freakin'' billboard and you should know I''m like an NPC because I wouldn''t talk to people unless they talk to me first or something simr¡­ but yeah, I just really wanted to know if¡ª"


    Mimi turned to me with the same forced smile, "It¡­ It doesn''t matter what I feel now, right? Because¡­ B-Because she seems¡ªno, she''s really great¡­ I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "Alright, stop. Your feelings matter too because¡ª Hmm~ How do I put this? Even though it wasn''t totally my fault¡ªor yours¡ªthat I missed whatever it is you sent me¡ª if you actually did, of course¡­ What I''m trying to say is umm¡­ I feel bad and I''m sorry for putting you through that and making you feel this way and I wish I could''ve done better so that¡ª"


    "No, no, no¡­ I s-should''ve been more direct and h-honest with my feelings b-but I was just¡­ just¡­ a-afraid that¡ª *sniffles*"


    At this moment, Mimi wasn''t able to finish her sentence because her eyes became incredibly watery, eventually curling into a ball¡ªlike the first time I saw her¡ªby tucking her knees and elbows in while her head was down. She started to sniffle again before she actually started crying and all I could do was scoot a little closer as I gently rubbed her back.


    I didn''t say anything for a couple of minutes just to let her cry everything out but I had to let her know of a few things just to fully rip the bandaid off.


    Once she calmed down, I told her everything that happened¡ªwell, the important ones¡ªthe moment I stepped foot out of this ce to where we are now.


    As expected, there were a few false heart attacks and several moments when she had to take a few minutes to process things, but all-in-all, with the way Mimi was, she actually took it better than I thought she would. And yeah, we took close to three hours of just talking under this tree but it offered enough shade for the two of us.


    On her side of things, she ryed to me that she shifted when she found a generous sponsor¡ªbecause she used to be a working student¡ªand no, it wasn''t me and yes, I actually tried to pay for her studies but she respectfully declined me.


    And her reason for epting a random sponsor and not me? She told me that it felt really weird at the time but sheter realized that she''d be able to help more people earlier¡ªand possibly pay them back faster¡ªif she took the money and used it and not take more than twice the time to finish on her own.


    But yeah, she did mention she was too shy to ask me for that same offer she declined but we both know full well that I''d be happy to help her with anything if she just asked.


    It''s always just a matter ofmunicating properly.


    Other than that, her life was pretty much studying at this school then graduating and working at the same ce, and one of the few excitements she had in life was working in the emergency room with various patients and moving in with the crew after much convincing.


    And in regards to the MILF¡ª I mean, Doctor she was working under, she easily spilled all the things she know about her when I mentioned Dr. Sandara''s significant other''s unhealthy hobby.


    Though adorably enough, she asked too many questions when I talked about Zeus, the rabbits, and the other animals we were taking care of but she got quiet, TOO quiet when we were discussing about the type of rtionship I have with Kaley and the rest. She looked like she wanted to ask some questions but she was more inclined to listen to what I had to say and form her own hypotheses about it.


    But on a side note, Lopez, Lucas, and JP still hadn''t returned and when I asked Mimi about them, she told me she cut into all of the shortcuts avable and that''s why her knees and elbow had scrapes and bruises, she actually didn''t encounter the three on her way here.


    ''I guess they weren''t actuallyplete assholes but we''ll never know what would they have done because¡ª nevermind¡­''


    In any case, we hugged it out after she had a good cry, and turns out, the people at my house also broke bread and shared their own stories with each other but I was mostly the topic of conversation because I was the link between all of them.


    With that said, Mimi and I joined the conversation and time passed too quickly because my other two friends¡ªAllyssa and Ron¡ªcame into our house so fucking confused not only because of the armada of vehicles outside but by the number of people present.


    And once again, we had to make everyone catch up with a condensed version of our stories and it was already way~ past sunset when Lucas and JP came back without Lopez.


    JP approached me the moment we met eyes, "Umm¡­ Lopez stayed in the hospital with his wife and¡ª"


    I waved him off, "No worries, I understand."


    "You d-do?"


    "Yeah~ He won''t leave that ce because his wife is basically sleeping there and¡ª by the way, where did you two guys go?"


    Lucas answered while raising his smartphone, "I dunno if you''ll believe us but it''s the first time we explored this campus! It''s too huge! We''ve only gone to the hospital and softball field thest time we were here but we got to explore maybe 20% of the whole campus! We got pictures!"


    Megan was the first to react, "What?! Lemme see!"


    "You should''ve told us!"


    "We could''vee with you guys!"


    "Maaaan~ That''s not cool¡­"


    "Woah! What''s that thing over there?!"


    "Is that THE statue?!"


    "Bro¡­"


    "Lemme see! Lemme see!"


    At this point, Lucas had never been so proud of the pictures they took while JP was just too fucking embarrassed about the attention but I started chuckling when I met eyes with my old friends who know where the actual tourists spots were, and I''d hate to break it to the two but half the best spots to take pictures from could only be taken after sundown.


    I turned to Ben, "There''s still a curfew, right¡ª"


    "Bitch. We fucking graduated. The curfew doesn''t apply to us! Besides, they''ll give us more credits for patrolling in the night too, and that''s where I break the game."


    Everyone else asked, "The game?"


    "The fuck y''all think I''m lounging around in the morning when I could earn much more in the night?"

 Chapter 895: Three Angels Message University VI - Peace and Quiet

    Ben was just wearing a smirk before he pped hisp and stood up, giving Cass a pinch on the cheek before he went to their room trying to look as mysterious as he could. But yeah, it made everyone else who wasn''t familiar with his work extremely curious but we had more questions than answers when he went outside.


    The motherfucker came out wearing fullbat gear with NVGs, but aside from his sidearm that looked to be a Glock 26, he had the same type of baston¡ªthe eskrima sticks I used on JP and Seb''s first ''training'' session¡ªtucked in his right pit.


    Furthermore, he pulled out a set of batteries and reced it with the one in his shlight but once he turned it on, it gave out this purple-ckish sheen and I had to say something.


    "What¡­ Are you going on an exorcism or something?"


    "Huh?"


    "Did you also bring EMF Readers, an Ouija board, and some other shit¡ª"


    "No! Bro, you do know that the dorms are still segregated to this day, right? And you do know that we''re aware of certain ces couples might you know¡­ sneak out and y rub the smi or deconstruct the taco, right?"


    "Ah¡­ Then why do you keep bringing the ck shlight if you know where they could be¡ª"


    "They get creative, man¡­ trust me. God¡­ just yesterday, I found ''traces'' all over that oak tree you and Mimi were sitting on¡ª"


    "WHAT?! THE FUCK DIDN''T YOU SAY ANYTHING?! WE WERE SITTING THERE FOR THREE FUCKING HOURS!"


    Kaley tried to wave me down, "W-What are you guys talking about?"


    Mimi knowing jack shit of what we were talking about followed, "Traces of what?"


    Ben answered tly, "Bodily fluids¡ª fuck it, semen, ejacte, or whatever it is thates out after fucking. Would you guys believe me that I also found traces from under the stove¡ª UNDER THE FUCKING STOVE! Who fucking does that?!"


    As soon as he said that, chaos just fucking ensued and there was almost a shooting when I stole the shlight from his hands and tried to shine it in their room.


    #2 chimed in, "So your job here is to look for semen¡ª"


    Ben quickly cut him off, "Hey! I just met you today but no wisecracks until we shared some drinks, alright?! That''s the bare minimum, got it?! But yeah, the university hires people like me to make sure that no one''s ''sinning'' on their holynd of sorts but we could only do so much without the inte, right?"


    I was trying my best to hold myughter, "Of course, they pull this shit. Aren''t they aware that their precious students could still have sex inside the dorms and without their biological counterparts?"


    Ben chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t know and don''t care but what I do care about is that I earn twice the amount of credits at night and I get bonuses if I make discoveries and shit with definite proof provided. I can''t just pull them off each other, right? I''ve fought someone with a boner before, that shit broke me the longer it went on¡­"


    In any case, most of us were still game for a little sightseeing though we were going out in two groups: Ben''s group that would actually work to look for ''sinners'' and to do night patrol, and my group that would actually see some sights.


    I didn''t actually need to see the same sights I''ve seen before but Kaley seemed excited to see the ce I studied in so I was obviously gonna be the tour guide.


    In some twisted way, our groups were actually segregated because all of the guys were in Ben''s group while I was stuck with all of the girls wanting to take a walk. Even Mimi decided toe with us even though she was also familiar with the sights but the group on Ben''s side had differing reasons as to why they wanted to help him earn credits.


    It ranged from being able to use NVGs to the obvious reason which was to catch poor couples in the act.


    In any case, we brought a few snacks for the walk and a loadout just enough for emergency situations. This ce was practically safe but even Ben had to bring a sidearm for safety. But yeah, we wouldn''t walk around with our primary weapons slung on our bodies but I did leave our keys to the ones that would stay behind like Jesus and a few others for a quick pickup.


    Our group went further up on the part of the university that was still a little undeveloped where we were walking on a trail that was barely visible.


    The herbs, trees, and bushes were obviously spread apart unlike the central part of the campus, but it didn''t take long before we reached a clearing that would be perfect for a pic at a time when the moon wasn''t our only natural source of light.


    Kaley looked around, "What is this ce?"


    Mimi nudged her gently while wearing a smile, "Just wait for it, it''s about time¡ª"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Nah, there''s a better way than waiting for the right time. Everybody p!"


    "Huh¡ª"


    Before Mimi could finish her question, everybody else pped in unison and the whole area just glowed with the gentle lighting from hundreds¡ªmaybe thousands of fireflies. They appeared from the bushes and the trees surrounding us, starting in the area we were in and slowly pulsing out, giving us a light show like no other.


    ''Man, it still feels surreal every time I see it¡­''


    Once I looked at everybody, all of them were just gobsmacked from what they just witnessed, and even Mimi who was supposed to know of this campus'' secret couldn''t believe her eyes.


    At the moment, I wanted to pull a prank so bad but I held myself and wanted them to enjoy the short moment that could only be seen once a day.


    I held Kaley''s hand and she turned to me with a bright smile before looking back at the disy, and as cheesy as it would sound, the sight of her smiling like that was something I''d always get caught off-guard and fall in love with her even more.


    But funnily enough, Quinn was the one that got most entranced by the disy and she pped loudly after it was over, making everyone follow after her, though only a few fireflies came out and glowed momentarily.


    I chuckled, "It''s only once a night, Quinn¡ªand that''s when we''re lucky."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "It means¡ª"


    Megan grumbled, "I should''ve taken a video or something¡­ that was¡ª"


    Alexa interjected, "Hey. Sometimes it''s best to just enjoy the moment. Even if you recorded it, it wouldn''t be as good experiencing it first-hand."


    Megan nodded pensively, "True¡­ Oh! Can we carve something on the trees?"


    Everyone else got excited, "That''s a great idea¡ª"


    I panicked and waved all of them off, "Trust me, that''s a bad idea¡­"


    "W-Why?!"


    "If we don''t carve it the whole way around, it should be fine, right?"


    I shook my head as I tried to get beat up in the middle of this clearing, "Trust me, you don''t¡ª"


    Then Kaley saw this other shlight in my hand, "Wait¡­ Can I¡ª"


    Once Kaley shone the other shlight on a few trees up front, let''s just say that some trees shouldn''t be glowing that way unless they were bioluminescent or covered with glow-in-the-dark paint.


    "Are those¡­"


    I nodded, "Yep¡­ The ''traces'' Ben was talking about¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


    "I had to hold onto one of those earlier¡ª"


    "Good thing I brought my axe, I''m chopping all of them down¡­"


    "That''ll take all night, Tatiana!"


    "It''s fucking worth it¡­"


    "Sanitizer! Where''s my hand sanitizer!"


    "I''m gonna be sick¡­"


    "IF I FUCKING DISCOVER WHO FUCKED IN THESE TREES, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL STICK THEM ON WITH DUCT TAPE BEFORE I SET THE FUCKING TREE ON FIRE!"


    "T-That''s arson or something, Quinn¡­ L-Let''s go to this other spot¡­ And yeah, avoid touching the trees as much as possible¡­ or shine some cklight on it first¡­"


    Megan grumbled once again, "I kinda wanna go back¡­ The mood''s really soured after that¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "How about you guys? There''s a few more that¡ª"


    Mimi''s face suddenly lights up, "Wait! We should take them to ''that'' spot! It''s k-kinda far from here but it''ll be worth it! I promise!"


    "Well¡­ alright! Is it the best one?"


    "Y-Yes! It''s probably not to some people but it''s best one¡ªa-aside from knowing that we can p on that c-clearing and¡ª"


    Megan let out a smile as she waved Mimi off, "You''re making it worse! C''mon, let''s go! Where is it?"


    I chuckled awkwardly, "We''d probably need to walk a little more than an hour¡­"


    "H-HOW BIG IS THIS PLACE?!"


    "C''mon! You guys were living pretty close to this ce¡ª"


    "Did you forget that we barely had any time to lounge around?!"


    "Ah. Well, we could lounge around now. C''mon, it''ll be fun! Trust."


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, we made our way to ''that'' ce and instead of hiking up on a slope, we were now walking in a decline towards this campsite that had this beautifulke under the moonlight.


    For some reason, the moon and stars felt a little closer here than normal and the way they were reflected by theke was also a sight to behold. And luckily, we were blessed with clear skies and the only thing we were missing was a case of beer.


    Obviously enough, the campsite still had people up, and an older couple had a fire going in front of their cabin, and they were surprised to see a group of people suddenly emerging from the darkness. However, once they saw Mimi''s face, their guarded reaction softened before we introduced ourselves.


    "Y-You''re that kid!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am¡­ that''s me¡­"


    "He''s the one with the statue?!"


    "Yep¡­ That''s¡­ That''s me¡­"


    "You look so different now! Anyway~ Feel free to use theke but I''d advise against swimming now because it''s so, so cold¡ª"


    "Dear, that youngss could swim there just fine¡­"


    "She''s still there? Did she start a fire¡ª"


    "Of course, hon¡­ You''re the one who helped her¡­"


    "Right! Right, I did¡­ Where was I? Oh! Right~ If you young ones want to spend some time by theke and watch the stars and the moon or something¡­ feel free to do so but don''t stay up toote, alright? Remind thatss for me too, if you may so kindly¡­"


    ''Who are they talking about¡ª''


    I didn''t know who thisss they were talking about but it really was a small world when Mimi recognized the person who was drying herself by the small fire.


    Mimi leaned to me and whispered, "That''s¡­ That''s the doctor''s daughter¡­ Chloe..."

 Chapter 896: Chloe Mae Lopez - Watch my stuff, yeah?

    Mimi actually talked a little about her before.


    Chloe Mae Lopez was the only daughter of the motherfucker I wanted to turn into a statistic and the supposed MILF that inhabited the emergency room of the hospital, and thank the fucking nine divines for making her take after her mother¡ªeven though I haven''t seen her personally¡ªbecause she does not look like Lopez one fucking bit.


    With that said, a quick nce revealed her natural(?) dirty blonde hair up to her shoulders, her green eyes, and her swimmer''s body. And yeah, she was wearing the university''s swimming uniform which was a one-piece navy blue suit that had three white strips on each side though she was wearing shorts on top of it.


    I replied to Mimi, "Chloe? As in Dr. Sandara''s¡ª"


    "Yep, she''s¡ª"


    Chloe suddenly turned in our direction, "Are you guys talking about me?!"


    "Ah. We were just¡ª sorry, Mimi here just introduced you."


    "Mimi? Oh! Mimi¡ª but w-who are you guys?"


    I gave ourselves a brief introduction before I mentioned her father, "...and we actually came with your dad, Sir Gibson Lopez."


    ''Weird calling that bitch "sir", but okay¡­''


    "He¡ª oh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise earlier, this Chloe person actually heard us from a distance and even though it actually wasn''t that far to not hear anything, people minding their own business tend to be in their own world while thinking deeply about something in their mind.


    However, mentioning her dad''s name definitely prompted a reaction from her face because she got even more guarded when she was about to rx after discovering that Mimi''s with us.


    But yeah, after she reluctantly offered to share the fire with us, I had to feel her out a bit in regards to what she knew about the whole situation and perhaps get a nce of how school life while the world has ended been doing to her.


    Trust me, it was one thing to study in this ce but to top it all off with everything that''s been going on, it should be taxing for a college student¡ªwell, everybody else to be honest.


    With that said, she fed the fire with more firewood that one of the older couple prepared for her, but seeing that there was still an awkwardness in the air, I had to break the ice with my supposed junior. But yeah, she was still trying to dry her hair with the fire but I noticed that she actually had a few bruises and scratches on her body that was barely visible.


    "You''re on the swim club, huh?"


    Chloe shook her head, "Ah¡ª No."


    I pointed at her uniform, "I thought¡ª"


    "Got kicked off the team¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Why though? Sir Sanchez still giving everyone a hard time?"


    Her ears just perked up, "You know Sir Sanchez?"


    I chuckled, "Alumni, remember?"


    "Ah¡ª right¡­ but no, not because of Sir Sanchez¡ª well, not technically but¡­"


    Tatiana cut in from the side who was trying to sharpen a stick she found, "Sounds juicy, spill."


    "U-Umm¡­"


    Megan followed, "Please, let us have something to talk about. We walked all the way here after discovering we touched a bunch of trees that had bodily fluids so please¡ª"


    Chloe let out a smile as she chuckled, "Did you guys go to the softball field?"


    "No."


    "Serfield?"


    "Nope!"


    "Huh. The Lovers'' Bridge?"


    "No¡ª wait, what''s that ce?"


    "Ugh, it''s the bridge that separates the male dorms from the female dorms¡­ It''s by the cafeteria¡­"


    Kaley nudged me, "Why didn''t you take us there?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Trust me, that bridge will fucking glow if we ever shine the cklight on that¡ª"


    Chloe interjected, "Oh~ So you guys are on patrol?"


    "Not exactly. My friend is the one on patrol and I just happened to bring the same shlight."


    "Ah¡ª I see¡­"


    Tatiana asked again, "So why''d you get kicked off the team?"


    Mimi interjected, "I don''t think we should force her¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "Nah, it''s fine¡­ I don''t care anymore¡ª I mean, anyways¡­ Our vice-captain has a huge crush on Sir Sanchez and for some unknown reason, rumors suddenly spread that I was trying to get¡­ umm¡­ get uhh¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "Just say that they thought you wanted to hop on your teacher''s dick! It''s that easy~"


    "U-Umm yeah¡­ s-something like that.


    So¡­ jealous and insecure people tend to do stupid things and long story short, we got into a fight, she was sent to the ER because of a broken nose, and I was the one found at fault because of our ''credible'' witnesses¡­ It''s so~ funny when they don''t even try to get both sides of the story¡­ even¡­ even my m-mom didn''t think about asking me what happened because the parents of the girl I got into a fight with got so mad and they attempted to get her fired or demoted¡ªI dunno the exact wording but if she wasn''t the head of the ER and Cardiology Department and the world isn''t what it is¡­ she could be starting from the ground up thanks to ''me''...


    so stupid¡­"


    "When did this happen?"


    "A f-few days ago¡ª no, it''s been a week, I think. Yeah, it''s been exactly a week since."


    Kaley asked, "And you two still haven''t talked about?"


    "With whom?"


    "Your mom, you two should¡ª"


    Chloe let out a bitter smile, "Hah! How would we?! She never leaves the hospital and I haven''t been to our house since!"


    "B-But why¡ª"


    "Well¡ª I''m neighbors with the bitch and this is the only ce I could swim¡­ Do you have any idea how hard that was?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m sorry¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I¡­ N-No *sniffles* W-Why am I venting to you guys¡­ I b-barely know all of you¡ª Well, Mimi''s¡ª"


    Mimi waved her off, "N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ For the record, I believe you too and I''ve been trying to exin to Dr. Lopez¡ª I mean, your mom what actually happened¡­ she''s actually beginning to see your side of the story¡­ It''s just that she''s too caught up in the moment¡ª"


    "Just keeping up appearances, right?! That''s all she do¡­"


    "That''s not¡ª I''m sorry, I''m sure you two will work it out soon¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    It got unbelievably quiet for a few moments but everyone just got shocked to fuck when Tatiana started taking off her clothes.


    "What are you¡ª Tatiana!"


    "What? I don''t have a swimsuit and I don''t wanna get wet this way so¡ª"


    Chloe tried to warn her, "U-Umm, it''s really cold¡ª"


    Despite her warnings, Tatiana just rolled her eyes before diving into thekepletely fucking naked¡ªthough with perfect form¡ªand she stayed underwater for a few seconds before she popped up tens of feet away.


    She even did the hair thing where you''d whip your hair as you pop up and she shouted at the top of her lungs to everyone else who was still stunned from what she did:


    "C''mon! The water''s not that cold¡ª there we go!"


    To my surprise, Megan actually followed after her but she only undressed to her underwear before diving in. She wasn''t able to bridge the same distance Tatiana did but she quickly made her way to Tatiana who was just waddling at the middle.


    Tatiana cackled, "Hah! You should''ve taken it all off! What are you gonna do if it gets lost¡ª"


    "It won''t¡ª Oh, shit!"


    "I just told you!"


    "N-No! It a-almost came off!"


    "Get closer, I''ll help you with that!"


    "Oh, thanks¡ª O-Oh! T-That''s¡ª OH! AH¡ª O-OH!"


    Quinn shouted from our side, "What are you guys doing there, huh?!"


    Megan shouted back, "I-It''s just c-c-cold¡ª"


    "Sure, it is~ Fuck it, a cold bath''s much better anyway~"


    On that note, if Tatiana''s body hadn''t already stunned everyone else, imagine seeing a 7-foot Amazonian with all the sliders maxed out in all her glory, running on this almost creaky but not too ramshackled pier before jumping with all her might andnding like a cannonball.


    *WHOOOOOOOSH*


    If it wasn''t already obvious, throwing a rock half Quinn''s weight would''ve already made a ssh so imagine everyone''s shock about the amount of damage Quinn did to thiske. But surprisingly enough, she easily made her way to the other two who seemed to be doing some funny business but it didn''t take long before Alexa followed after them.


    But like Megan, she didn''t take all off her clothes but when her body sunk into the water, she quickly tried to swim ashore.


    "W-W-W-WHY IS IT SO COLD?! I THOUGHT¡ª"


    "Chloe already warned you guys and¡ª" I said as I turned to Chloe, "I''m sorry, but do you have a nket, towel, or something?"


    Chloe was slightly chuckling as she waved Alexa over, "Come with me. There''s hot water in the ce I''m staying and you can also bring your clothes."


    "T-T-Thank you¡­"


    As soon as the two made their way to one of the cabins, I turned to Mimi and Kaley with a cheeky smile, "So, you two gonna test the waters or what?"


    Mimi shook her head immediately, "N-No¡­ We''re fine, right?"


    Kaley nodded, "Are you crazy? Who would¡ª"


    I cut her off as I started to undress up to my boxers, "Alright. Watch my stuff, yeah?"

 Chapter 897: Night Swimming Troubles

    I basically used Kaley as a coat hanger and even though I''m 100% sure that she wouldn''t mind, she was just stuck in ce for a few moments¡ªwearing this cutesy-re expression¡ªwhile Mimi was just red through her neck.


    I could see how she was just looking at me with her big round eyes while also not moving a muscle but it was a surprise for me because I was also certain that she would just scream and/or look away from past experience.


    But yeah, I didn''t put it to mind as much before I took to the small wooden dock running and then diving into theke with the smallest ssh possible.


    ''Jesus fucking¡ª it''s as cold as I remembered¡­''


    In any case, I swam straight to where the three women were before I popped from behind Quinn and wrapped my arms around her neck.


    "Hey! Woah!"


    "It''s just me, just me~ Don''t yank on my boxers! What if they sink down?!"


    She chuckled as she just let me use her as a life buoy, "You just dove in, right? You''re fast!"


    Megan chuckled, "That''s what s-she said~! Well, boys always are¡ª AH¡ª W-WAIT!"


    As Megan made the joke, Tatiana copied me and did the same thing to Megan but she didn''t hold onto her as much because Megan was actually struggling¡ªnot from waddling in ce but from the actual coldness of theke.


    Tatiana gently nudged her as she chuckled, "Not him, no. Trust me. I''ll bet you for anything that you''ll tap out even before he starts to fuck you for real."


    I sshed some water onto them, "I''m here, you know?"


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, "And where''s my thanks, huh? This is basically free advertising¡ª"


    Megan shook her head as she waddled closer to Tatiana, "I''m more inclined to do it with you though¡­"


    "Hah! I''m part of the package, actually¡­ We both are," Tatiana said as she pointed to Quinn with her lips.


    She gave all of us a certain look, "I kinda had an inkling to that, actually¡­"


    Quinn scoffed as she looked at Megan, "It''s whatever but just don''t be a fucking starfish and we''ll be good. You''d have to ask Kaley first but I''m pretty sure she''ll be okay with it even if it''s spontaneous. Just have to tell her after¡­"


    Megan was a little surprised about how nonchnt we were about this topic, "So¡­ you guys just do this on a regr basis?"


    Quinn replied, "We do¡ªthough the ''husband'' and ''wife'' require alone time sometimes¡ªbut I''m the newest addition. But yeah, I heard in the grapevine that you''re with the Balrog or whatever¡ª"


    I cut in, "Baron."


    "I said whatever¡ª Anyway, I heard you''re with that uptight kid so why you''re trying to get in with Tatiana?"


    Megan sunk momentarily before she held onto Tatiana for a bit, "JP? Umm¡­ Let''s just say that he''s¡­ he''s a little confused about what he wants and he put himself on a pedestal that no one cares about more than himself. I don''t wanna say too much but¡ª"


    Quinn interjected as she tried to nce at me, "I think I get it. Is that why you made us sit at the back earlier? About the ''confusion'' that''s going on?"


    I waved them off as I broke off from Quinn and started to float, "Well~ Let''s just say that there''s more to it than that but Kaley''s taking care of it. I''ll try toe in a little bitter but let''s just say a bit of progress has already been made¡­ Probably just taking him away from the ce that''s causing that would do wonders¡­"


    Megan was surprised, "For real? Is Kaley a¡ª"


    "Psychic? Yes," The three of us said at the same time.


    "Ahaha¡­ I was about to say shrink but that kinda works. Sure¡­ I-It''s really cold though, how can you guys take it like it''s n-nothing?"


    "Russian."


    "Because I can?"


    "I take ice baths once in a while¡ªwe''re still talking about the cold, right?"


    "Pfft¡­ HAHAHA! You guys are too much! To be honest, I was a little¡ªno, very intimidated when you guys came in the academy and everything that came after that but so far¡­ It''s been really fun in a way a-and you guys make sure that everyone''s¡­fortable? Is that even the right word for what I''m trying to say?


    Ugh¡­ I dunno, you guys try to keep everyone included but you also let them do their own thing within reason, of course¡­"


    I chuckled, "It''s like holding a bird."


    "Wut?"


    "You know¡­ squeeze too hard it bursts, too soft it flies away, but if you hold it just right¡­ It''s umm¡­ it''ll be okay? Then if it goes on for a while¡­ it''ll also be okay to just let it rest on your palm¡­ Something like that."


    Quinn chortled, "Did you just pull that out of your ass?"


    "Kinda works, actually¡ª A-Ah¡ª I-I-I think I''m h-having cramps¡ª m-my leg¡ª Help¡ª" Megan was smiling faintly before her expression turned to panic as she started to sink down.


    Before Megan''s head fully submerged, I leaned my head back from my position and then dove in the water so I could grab her from below, and good thing Tatiana had already grabbed onto one of her arms so she wouldn''t sink further.


    With that said, I was holding her head up with one hand while supporting her back with the other¡ªavoiding skin contact as much as possible¡ªas I tried to kick back to the closest shore.


    Tatiana assisted me by trying to keep Megan''s leg straight while her toes were being pointed to her shin to stretch the muscles, but Megan seemed to not be in too much pain for someone who suddenly had cramped muscles.


    And once we made it into this shallow part of theke that had a few shrubs and bushes, which was also coincidentally on the opposite side of where we came from, I offered to carry her back or ask her to lean on my shoulder but Megan just started to walk like it''s nothing.


    ''Ah¡­''


    At this point, I''d be an idiot if I didn''t know what was going on and the sly vixen was giving me thate hither look before Tatiana came up from behind her.


    "You little¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª I w-was just¡ª Mmh! You! Ahh! That''s¡­ MMh! Y-Yes¡ª"


    As Megan was already squirming for dear life as Tatiana had already pulled up her bra and revealed her tits and was massaging them while her other hand was already rubbing more than her little piece of meat underneath, Quinn came up to me and pushed me against this huge rock before pulling down my boxers.


    "Let''s see how much you''re pent up ever since this morning¡ª"


    Without further ado, Quinn just got on her knees before I felt her warm mouth envelop my semi-erect cock, but once it left her mouth and came back in, it was ready for action as it punched the back of her throat before going even deeper.


    And at the same time this was happening, she was pulling and squeezing her tits all over while pinching her nipples as the other two were simply watching from a few feet behind.


    As Quinn took a small breath, Megan finally had a proper nce at my cock and I''m gonna be honest and say that seeing their eyes go wide with shock every time this happens would always feed my ego.


    "H-Holy shit¡­ That''s¡­ W-Wow¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You''re shocked now but imagine when that goes inside you¡­"


    "C-Can I¡ª MmH! Can I r-really?"


    "Of course, but after Quinn gets the first pop¡­ You''re already this wet, get on all fours so I could taste you. Do you y with your cute butt as well?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Even better¡­"


    As Tatiana started to dine on Megan''s Y and O, Quinn continued to suck my cock while maintaining eye contact and coiling her tongue around the tip, my whole body just buckled before I gave her mouthfuls and mouthfuls of my cum.


    She wasn''t able to drink and swallow everything as some dripped from her mouth and fell on her huge rack, but she continued sucking me off even though my eyes were rolling in the back of my head.


    I can''t believe being pent up this morning would prompt this kind of release and sensitivity, but I''m all for it and was about to return the favor.


    Quinn turned to the two as I had toy on the ground panting, "He''s ready for you guys now though I''ll sit on his face¡­" then she turned to me, "Wanna see it go in first? I bet she''ll be pretty tight, look at her body¡­"


    I chuckled as I panted, "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You know how to wait? You''re dripping already though¡ª"


    "S-Shut up! Are you guys¡ª"


    Tatiana guided Megan over to us, "She''s ready. You can eat her out too or just do it now, your choice¡­ But from the way she''s looking at it¡­ Hmm~ I''ll just let her decide¡­"


    As Tatiana said that, Megan just gulped as she looked at "me" in a daze. She was a little out of breath as her underwear was barely covering her important parts, but she held it gently first before turning to me.


    "C-Can I suck it for a little bit?"


    At that point, I just nodded before she gave me a little taste and the other two were just watching her struggle to take even half of my size in her mouth. Despite that, she was doing pretty well because there was enthusiasm and there were no teeth, but it didn''t take long before shepletely mounted me with her fit body.


    "O-O-OH FUCK! It''s so¡ª Hngh! Shit! A-Ah¡­ I-It''s going in¡ª It''s s-still going in and¡ª MMh! Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ S-Shit¡ª"


    ''That''s fucking tight!''


    As soon as she took me all the way up to the base, Quinn immediately sat on me while facing Megan, rubbing her fat cunt against my face while spreading her cheeks apart, giving me a clear view of her wet slit and her puffy asshole.


    "Ah, fuck~ That''s the spot¡ª MMh! Oh shit, Kaley and the rest are looking at us¡ª"


    "W-What?! Wait¡ª Mmh! Shit! I¡ª It''s too¡ª F-Fuck! I-I can''t stop m-moving my hips! Yes!


    YES! F-Finger my b-butt too! Ah, fuck¡ª Hngh! S-SHIT!"


    Tatiana chuckled from somewhere, "Of course, you''ll take it from the ass too. No worries, we have plenty of time¡­ I doubt they could even see what we''re doing clearly¡­"


    Quinn moaned as she put more weight on me, "Kaley probably knows though¡­"


    ''That''s for sure¡­''


    While I could only hear everything from the three, I would''ve bust a nut a second time if Quinn didn''t suck the life out of me earlier. But yeah, never did I think that I''d get to fuck these beauties in my old alma mater that would definitely expel me if they ever discover me in such a position.


    But while I was in my thoughts, Quinn stood up and turned around before making Megan and me eat her pussy and ass at the same time though it didn''t take long before she squirted hard on my face.


    I almost ran out of air because she couldn''t get off me as her whole body was convulsing but to be honest, it was one of the perfect ways to clock out. But luckily enough, I managed to lift her off from one side and also lift off Megan¡ªwho was still riding me¡ªand pinned her to the wall and fucked her until she gave out.


    She didn''t know what wasing for her but her opinion about boys cumming too fast would change. It was because I made her cum multiple times without cumming even once inside her, and I''m gonna assume her ego would take a little hit after that, but in a good way.


    I would''ve fucked her in the ass as well but Tatiana was already waiting so her saying we still had plenty of time was for theing days we''d spend together. In any case, I did fill one of her holes after she had her way with me, but we had to swim back not only to wash but also because Kaley was shining her shlight at us in intervals, somewhat giving us a small signal of sorts.


    It was definitely awkward seeing Mimi red through her neck with several thoughts in her head while the three who came with me never looked so rxed, but Kaley piled on as she shook her head with a slight pout:


    "Can''t wait for us to go back, huh? It would''ve been morefortable on a bed with everyone present¡­"


    And if Mimi''s reaction wasn''t already awkward to begin with, the look Chloe gave us after she put two and two together was fucking priceless.


    "W-W-Wait! Y-You all are¡ª No¡­ How can¡ª Y-You''re joking, right?! Right?! It''s¡­ wow¡­ that''s¡­ Uh-huh¡­ Yep¡ª"


    Alexa was the first to respond as she panickedly nced at Megan, "U-Umm¡­ I''m not i-involved, if t-that helps¡­"


    Megan rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Geez, why don''t you try some good, good~ dick for once instead of waiting for that ''perfect'' one that barely gives you proper attention."


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    And right on cue, there wasplete and total fucking silence for a few moments before tears welled in Alexa''s eyes and Megan realized what she just said. Alexa had already started to walk back on her own and Megan tried to follow after her after barely putting on some of her clothes.


    "''Lex, w-wait! I was just trying to say¡ª I''m sorry, I was just¡ª I want to say that¡ª"


    "What''s there to say, huh?!"

 Chapter 898: Bro Advice

    Megan''s yful jab towards Alexa that prompted that reaction told me that she was probably a second-hand victim of theplicated rtionship JP and Seb have with each other, and even though Megan didn''t mean for this to happen, feelings were hurt and it was extremely important to mend the wound and not let it fester.


    In any case, I quickly jumped in between the two to try and help clear out the misunderstanding but we suddenly had visitors¡ªBen andpany¡ªwho would either make the situation better or worse, depending on how it ys out.


    ''This is worse than trying to walk on eggshells¡­''


    Ben was the first one to get to where the three of us were standing and he greeted us with a huge smile on his face, "Yoo~ Some dudes told us you were around these parts¡ªdude, you did not just swim in theke! Wai¡ª Ahh~ I get it, I get it¡­ All of you are crazy and it''s not my business though but¡­"


    He trailed when he saw that Alexa''s eyes were a little red but he then nced at me before looking over at Quinn and Tatiana who luckily have covered their most important bits¡ªthough I doubt they''d care one bit. And as he turned his head in my direction, I assumed he partly knew that something was up so he quickly turned around to keep the rest of the boys from descending down the campsite.


    "Nothin'' to see here, boys~ We''re turning back¡ª"


    Ruben eximed, "Woah! Is that ake?! It looks cool!"


    #1 ran ahead of everyone, "I''m jumping innn~!"


    #2 followed, "Why''s no one taking off their clothes?! It''s gonna be fun at the moment but imagine walking back with wet¡ª Don''t say I didn''t warn all of ya!"


    Seb, JP, and Lucas were the ones who didn''t jump in theke though Seb was looking at Alexa, trying to figure out why she was in tears while JP looked like he didn''t want to look that outgoing, and in Lucas'' case, he looked like he wanted to jump in but he had to stay close to the Balrog''s¡ª I mean, the Baron''s side.


    In any case, it was an awkward scene for a few moments but I nced at Ben to take Lucas away before I called over Kaley and Chloe.


    JP was the first one to say something, "What''s going on?"


    I replied, "A total misunderstanding. That''s what''s going on¡ª"


    "Then why am I here?"


    "You''ll know soon enough," I replied as I turned to Chloe, "Hey, the ce you''re staying at¡­ Can we use it for a bit? Do you have other people living with you?"


    Chloe was a little confused but she answered, "Only a few people stay around these parts because of the trouble of ascending every single time so I have the cabin to myself¡ª Ah. Right, you can use the cabin over there with the flowers and the ribbons on the door. H-Here''s the keys¡­"


    After a short bit, Kaley and I were sitting right next to each other while the other four: Alexa, Seb, Megan, and JP were opposite us, sitting on a single couch in that same order and they were just looking at us, either confused about the whole situation or had a feeling that we were trying to get them to forgive each other with a little bit of unsolicited nudges.


    Seb raised his hand, "Umm¡­ W-What''s going on here, exactly?"


    JP followed while looking directly at me, "Yeah, and what''s the misunderstanding you were talking about earlier?"


    I nced at Kaley momentarily before sighing and looking them in the eye, "You see, I hate to see this kind of stuff happening, and even though we''ve just started on our journey and we''ve only vibed for a short bit¡­ we gotta address some deep andplicated stuff you should probably tell to a counselor or something simr.


    In any case, Kaley here is the closest one we have and before we start anything else, I''m gonna assure all of you that whatever that''s said here will only stay here and never spoken anywhere else¡­"


    Kaley nodded as she followed after me, "We''ll make sure we hold our end on that but you''d also have to do your part as well¡ª"


    JP cut her off with a guarded stance, "I don''t understand. What has this got to do with¡ª"


    Kaley shut him down with a re, "It has got to do with what''s happening over there right now. But what we need to understand here is that we''re not here toy me on anyone but instead, we should know that sometimes, our actions and decisions can somehow affect other people indirectly.


    And for the sake of everyone else in this room, I think I should preface that what we say right now should be inplete honesty because as much as I hate to say this personally, I have my own ways of knowing if someone''s trying to curve around the answer¡­"


    ''She admitted it! Fuck, now''s not the time¡­''


    She continued after giving me a side nce, "However, this is also not an interrogation¡ªeven though it sounds that way as I said it¡ªour goal here is to bring it all out from everyone''s perspective and then the actual truth, so we can understand the how''s and the why''s for everything that happened at this point.


    I know it feels forced and kinda cringe for some of you but trust me when I say that it''s much, much worse¡ªand you''d rather have the cringe than whatever you''d about to feel if¡ªno, WHEN it all crashes down."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Things were quiet for a few moments but Seb raised his hand again to ask the same question, "U-Umm¡­ B-But what happened here exactly?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other before I answered, "You see¡­"


    I started to ry EVERYTHING that happened the moment we reached the campsite all they to when some of us swam in theke and had some fun by the shorepletely baring everything¡ªright until what we thought was supposed to be an edgy back and forth turned into instant drama no one didn''t expect.


    It wasn''t that hard exining this part of our therapy session but the moment I started to skirt around JP and Seb''splicated rtionship that involved a gross power dynamic, the person to get most ufortable was the alleged aggressor.


    JP couldn''t sit still in his seat as I tried to exin to their "girlfriends" what the actual fuck was going on between the two, but even though Megan had already said she kinda knew about what was going on between these two people, she looked as conflicted as Alexa who only discovered the reason for the words that triggered her earlier.


    Kaley and I had to intervene a few times because their side of the couch got so fucking heated, and even though JP got chastised the most by the two women, Seb also caught strays for being a little too passive in his own right.


    It was already a heck of a thing to let a supposed abuser do their shit, but it was also another thing for both of them to involve two other people¡ªone romantically inclined and one there just for the hell of it¡ªto act as smoke and mirrors to continue whatever they were doing with each other.


    Any other person would''ve involved Judge Judy, Dr. Phil, or that guy on Youtube¡ª Dr. K to somehow unravel this pube-like tangled mess that shouldn''t have existed in the first ce if they were just honest with each other, but to bepletely fair, a ton of outside influence affected them to act this way.


    For example: let''s just say that being attracted to a person that had the same shit between your legs and being in a partnership with a religious school and a military-like school that had almost the same "values" that werepletely against their whole being, wouldn''t mix well and was more than a tricky situation.


    And yeah, this line of thought doesn''t evenpletely¡ª I mean, it kinda goes to that PC or woke-ish territory, but at the end of the day, as long as everyone''s happy and no one else was affected by whatever the fuck they were doing, I support them fully.


    But in our case, this thing with Seb and JP hurt someone¡ªthough indirectly¡ªwho shouldn''t be hurt in the first ce so that''s where I draw the line.


    With that said, Kaley and I spent close to four hours simply talking to the four, and even though it was severely taxing and exhausting while I wasn''t the one in the hot seat, I tried my best to keep myself out of the conversation and instead focus in helping Kaley work around the issues all of them had.


    However, it became difficult when I was asked what I should do in that situation because as the two reminded me, I was supposed to teach them shit that I know. It should be about them and not about me but to bepletely fair to them and to myself, I was only approaching myte-20s and I was still figuring shit out as well.


    I scratched the side of my cheek as I faced them, "You see¡­ I''m not equipped to talk about this in the first ce and the only reason I''m here is that I know about the real situation between you two and I did promise to teach you my ways or something but¡­ The way you guys were doing ''it'' is not it at all¡­"


    "We¡­ W-We know that¡ª"


    "That''s why we''re asking you¡­"


    "L-Let me finish, at least¡­ I''d really hate to say this but¡­ The first thing all of you should do is break it up with each other¡ªwhether it''s official or not¡ªbecause that''s fucking ridiculous. You''re with us now so whoever you bend down, dick down, lick up, suck up, up-up, down-down, left-right, left-right, B, A, Start, or whatever, news sh: we don''t fucking care! No one does!


    Sure, we''re deep in the mouth of the group that involves themselves in things that don''t apply to them, so what? We''ll be driving away from this ce anyway, what can they do? Worstes to worst I''ll take all of you in my fold, no cap¡ªis that what you guys say nowadays?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd. But anyway~ It all boils down to whether what''s more important to you: your own happiness or the happiness of the ones who shouldn''t even give a flying fuck about. Megan!"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Bro advice here: Break it off with JP and just do what you''re doing but learn to read the room if we''re throwing out jabs, alright?"


    "That''s it? I mean¡ª Y-Yes, sir! I understand!"


    "JP!"


    "W-What?"


    "Here''s another bro advice: Break it off with Megan and figure out what you actually want to happen with Seb. It''s technically not an alpha move if he lets you dip in his shit hole but that''s a different problem in its entirety! Be honest with yourself first and try to see things from his perspective and you might surprise yourself. If it doesn''t work, we''ll try a different way!


    We got lots of fucking time! Don''t care about what your dad or anyone thinks for now, and focus on what you should be doing to not turn like Lopez! That''s the most important part!"


    "Y-Yes, bro¡­ sir¡­ bro-sir?"


    "Good enough! Seb!"


    "S-Sir?"


    "You know what''sing, right? Give Alexa some fucking respect and break it off with her if you''re into being the one on the receiving end! Ah¡ª Something I don''t wanna talk about right now is also possible but unless you''re nning to do both of them which is something I highly advise against because it would work from the looks of it, talk with¡ª no, don''t¡ª like for real, don''t even try.


    It could happen in the future but not for now. All of you need time away from each other but not in the literal sense since we''re on a road trip of sorts."


    "I-I see¡­"


    Then I finally turned to thest one on the chair, "Alexa¡­"


    "Sir¡­"


    "I''m really sorry this happened to you but my advice to you is also to break it off with the one you really like because right now, it''s a hot mess that needs to be cooled down before you attempt to even touch it again."


    "Yes, sir..."


    I continued as she looked down, "It''s gonna be hard and it''s gonna be weird because you''ll still see them the next day and the day after that but it''s better than trying hard for something you''re not even sure that could reciprocate back genuinely. It should still hurt and WILL hurt for some time because I''m sure your feelings for Seb are genuine.


    But do know that Kaley and I can still sit down and talk to you if you want, and that also applies to the three of you. But as of this moment, I''ll advise the four of you to just be friends for the time being and only try to resume whatever it is you started if you''re actually sure of what to go for."


    Kaley was just about to add to what I said but I touched her arm and had to say onest thing:


    "This is not an order, I repeat, this is not an order¡ªBut my fucking order to all of you is don''t be fucking assholes to each other, it''s pretty simple. Right? Is that hard?," I scoffed as I chuckled, "I should''ve started with that in the first ce because I''m really tired now¡­ Kaley?"


    Kaley lightly shook her head as she smiled at me, "I was just about to say something along those lines but why don''t we leave it at that for now? What do you guys think? Everyone''s probably bored out of their minds or had already gone back from how long we''re talking¡­"


    At that moment, each of them let out the faintest of smiles, and even though their bodynguage told me that what we tackled and tried to do today went well, I could only imagine what was happening inside their heads right now. But yeah, everyone genuinely apologized to each other with the matching five-Mississippi hug and we received the same hug with a genuine thank you for what we tried.

 Chapter 899: The Night Before Departure I

    As we left Chloe''s small cabin, we discovered that everyone else wasn''t actually bored out of their minds but actually having a nice moment by the even bigger campfire, but Jesus and everyone else that stayed behind¡ªexcept for my three other friends, Cass, Ron, and Allyssa¡ªdrove to this ce with all of our vehicles and actually set up camp.


    But also, Ben had to go back because Cass was back home and needed some cuddles.


    At this moment, several tents were put up a few feet away from the campfire and we could hearughter, singing, and strums of a slightly out-of-tune guitar from the distance.


    ''Well, this IS a campsite¡­''


    Kaley held my hand before she nudged everyone else toe over to the group, "Come on! I guess we''re staying here for the night!"


    Once we joined the group, we discovered that the house I owned had received a fewints regarding "noise" and our neighbors alsoined about the satanic-looking vehicles we had with one of them having a very dangerous-looking "machinegun" that was being used to intimidate everyone else in the immediate vicinity.


    Furthermore, they were sent an angry letter about using the temple of the holy spirit a.k.a. our own fucking bodies as canvasses that depicted nonsense or further satanic crap.


    Quinn wasughing as she heard the story again, "I should''ve shown them the cross on my back and know what they think, no?"


    Meg, Jesus'' olddy cut in, "Wouldn''t they send anotherint for nudity or trying to seduce their husband or something?"


    Megan followed, "Or for seducing their wives or both."


    Quinn chuckled as she nced at Megan, "Slow your roll, alright? You barely had a taste, I don''t want you to form an addiction¡­"


    Almost instantly, everyone else started asking questions.


    "What?"


    "What''s she talking about? Meg?"


    "Which Meg? Our Meg or their Meg?"


    "We never call Megan Meg."


    "I do call Megan Meg and she calls me ''Lex!"


    "That''s confusing¡­ Are we gonna start calling them #1 and #2 too?"


    "Please¡­ It''s confusing as is¡­ stop¡­"


    "Our biographies would be so fucking weird with these names¡­"


    "The fuck are you talking about? Megan and James are prettymon names, it''s probable that we got a few in our group¡­"


    "That''s true¡­"


    "Can we just stick to Meg for Jesus'' olddy and Megan to u-umm¡ª JP''s¡ª"


    JP suddenly cut in as he nced at Megan, "Uhh¡­ Guys¡­ This is a little sudden to spring on everyone but it''s been a while since Megan and I decided to cool things off for a bit¡­ You know, try to figure things out. It''s just that we don''t want anyone talking so we just pretended for a while¡­ So¡­ If you''re worried about whatever happened between her and Quinn, it''s cool."


    Megan nodded, "And it ended mutually but it''s awkward enough for us as it is for you guys so the sooner we move on from this, the sooner the awkwardness fades. But for now, let''s say I''m back in the market and I''m also looking around¡­"


    Quinn jabbed, "Aren''t you sore?"


    "Wut?"


    "You just had a 9-inch destroyer split you in half¡ª"


    "OKAAAAY~ We''re changing the subject!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! DON''T TURN RED, YOU TOOK IT PRETTY WELL!"


    It was chaos for quite a bit but to be perfectly honest, for once, I felt really at peace despite everything that happened beforehand. I knew full well that this was only a fleeting instance but it wouldn''t hurt to enjoy these little moments as much as we could. However, it became chaotic once again when Jesus and co.


    started pulling out a few bottles and started a Filipino drinking custom which involved a single shot ss, going around in a roulette of sorts, until we cleared the bottles or everyone else had passed out.


    Even Chloe and Mimi participated, surprisingly enough, and I had to remind them that they didn''t have to drink if they didn''t want to.


    Chloe was the first one to protest, "Hey! I drink! And you''ve used my cabin for hours and some of you would probably use themter too! Consider this as payment!"


    "Okay? Just take it easy, alright? This is the strong stuff¡­"


    "Yeah~ Yeah~ I can handle myself~"


    Then I turned to Mimi who seemed to be just people-watching but would still down the shot nheless¡ªbut with a little bit of difficulty, "And you?"


    "I c-can do it¡­ I d-drink sometimes, you know? I''m not as¡ª I''m not that b-boring as you t-think!"


    "I never said that though?"


    "H-Hmph! Don''t act so c-concerned¡­ I-I''m fine¡­ hcK!"


    ''That''s only her second shot¡­''


    I could only chuckle from their responses but it didn''t take long before Tatiana and I had to be the babysitters once again because people under the influence¡ªeven if slightly¡ªand ake deep enough for everyone to drown in was a recipe for disaster. But yeah, we didn''t have to worry about ourselves and Jesus and co.


    because we can handle our liquor just fine and a few bottles wouldn''t be enough to knock us out.


    I whispered to Tatiana, "If one of the kids wobbles, they go to the cabin, alright?"


    "I know, I know¡­ Just let them have fun for a bit more¡­"


    In any case, our camping session started with light drinking to sharing more stories and then having deep conversations, but it didn''t take long before certain couples or groups looked for their own space to either rest or to "rest" together before having some shut-eye.


    But yeah, the boys who didn''t have partners¡ªwhich was all of them¡ªstarted daring each other to jump in theke again so Tatiana and I let them drown for a little bit before actually saving them.


    I didn''t think that they''d jump for a few more times to see if the water had gotten any warmer but they eventually found something hot when Quinn got so pissed about the noise they were making and chased and beat them with a burning log.


    It didn''t take long before it kinda got quiet by the campfire¡ªexcept for the moans and grunts escaping in random directions¡ªand it was making what''s left of us either chuckle or get even redder from trying to ignore what they were hearing.


    Then Quinn said something that jolted everyone awake:


    "I dunno about you guys but I gotta get off before I sleep or else I''ll have a headache tomorrow. It''s either we do something now or I''ll jump one of you at random."


    Megan shook her head, "Y-You guys really do this more than a regr basis¡­"


    Kaley sighed, "Haven''t you had your turns already? If you join in now, it''ll be noon when we''re done!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "So it''ll be you, Mimi, and Chloe''s turn then? How about Alexa?"


    Chloe and Mimi eximed at the same time, "W-WHAT?! WE¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in, "Alexa''s already tapped out¡­ She''s already sleeping alone in one of the tents¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Fine¡­ It''ll be just the four of them¡ª"


    Mimi cut her off while red through her neck, "W-Wait, I d-didn''t sign up for this¡ª"


    Quinn looked surprised, "You don''t want to?"


    She never looked so panicked, "I-It''s not like¡ª"


    "Then that means you want to! Don''t lie to yourself and have some fun¡ª Wait, how about you?" Quinn said as she turned to Chloe.


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "OHMYFUCKINGGOD! JUST KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ALREADY! Don''t wait for something to fall on yourp! You both want it and he probably won''t say no, so what''s the problem?! You don''t even have to go all the way but I highly rmend it!"


    Mimi tried her best to keep eye contact, "I-It''s not that simple¡­"


    "Of course, it is! We''re leaving tomorrow, so¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "Wait, you guys are leaving tomorrow?! W-Why?! You just got here, right?!"


    Mimi turned to me and held my arm, "Is it true?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. It was a delight seeing you guys again but we have a lot of shit to do. So¡ª"


    "I-Is it r-really okay?" Mimi said with a tremble in her lip as she looked at Kaley.


    Kaley gave her a smile as she nodded, "Of course, he''ll take really good care of you¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly had a realization, "Ohh~ Fuck, lucky you¡­ Lucky, lucky you¡­"


    Chloe''s head turned slightly, "What do you mean?"


    Quinn startedughing, "Hah! You too?! Mannn~ Two in one night, huh?"


    Chloe figured out what Quinn was trying to imply, "Wai¡ª I''m not¡ª Well~ Technically¡ª I have experience, alright?! And what''s wrong without having one?!"


    "Nothing at all~ I''ll just say: Wee to the club! Go on, now~ Midnight''s a burning¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    As weird as it sounds, once Quinn gave(?) us her blessing of sorts, the four of us found ourselves in Chloe''s bedroom, and even though it was dimly lit and had a small fan powered by batteries, the moonlight and the cold breeze outside was enough for the special asion.


    We started with Kaley and me kissing in front of the two, gently touching each other over our clothes while strongly keeping ourselves from going at it from the get-go.


    And after a short bit, we broke off our kiss as Kaley turned to the two, asking them a question:


    "Have you kissed someone yet?"


    Chloe answered first, "O-Of course¡­ but not like that¡­"


    "That''s fine and you?"


    Mimi lightly shook her head as she was slightly out of breath, "N-No¡­"


    "I see¡­ He''ll teach you," Kaley said before turning to Chloe, "How about kissing a girl? Is that okay with you?"


    "I-I don''t mind¡­"


    At that moment, Chloe was the one who actually initiated the kiss with Kaley while I slowly approached Mimi who was trembling from the lightest touch. Despite that, she still kept eye contact right until I gave her her first kiss, and it was all lips at first before I slowly used my tongue.


    Mimi''s lips were soft and supple and even with the presence of alcohol, they still tasted a little sweet. And after that, she slowly wrapped her arms around my neck as I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, gently squeezing her soft and small body over her clothes.


    But before we went further, I felt a tap on my shoulder and Chloe switched ces with Mimi, and she was an enthusiastic kisser.


    Chloe was already pressing her body against me while our tongues were intertwined, but she had to double-take when her hand snaked over my shorts. She stopped momentarily, giving me the chance to take over as I discovered that Kaley and Mimi were just watching us both.


    ''Mimi probably still has a light aversion to kissing girls¡­''


    Whether it''s true or not, her eyes were glued to everything that was going on and we could clearly see that she was squeezing her thighs together while stealing nces at Kaley''s body.


    Kaley stopped us for a bit as she looked at me, "Why don''t we get a little morefortable?"


    I didn''t think much of it as I took off my clothes and was down to my boxers but Chloe and Mimi were a little hesitant when they saw Kaley''s huge rack quake as she lifted up her shirt and let them drop. Without question, even if the twobined their sizes together, they wouldn''t be able to fill half of Kaley''s bra.


    But yeah, Kaley was so supportive and assuring, Chloe eventually showed us her perky set though Mimi needed a little encouragement from me.


    It''s not like Mimi and Chloe was also that far apart in their cup sizes, it''s just that Kaley''s was so fucking big, she got a little insecure and intimidated.


    I looked her in the eye, "Mimi¡­ I want to see yours too¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    Chloe added, "I do too!"


    Kaley assured her once more, "What do you say?"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    Once Mimi took a deep breath, she slowly raised her shirt and revealed her cute tits that just perfectly matched her frame. Even her ares and her pink nipples were proportionate to her size, but everyone noticed that her nipples were already fucking hard, and the two couldn''t help themselves but touch them.


    "A-Ah! That''s¡ª" Mimi sharply gasped as her body trembled.


    "You okay?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ Just surprised¡­"


    "You can touch mine if you want?"


    "C-Can I touch them too?!"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "W-Wow¡­ They''re so big a-and they''re soft and h-heavy¡­"


    "W-Wow¡­"


    I was actually surprised that Mimi touched and squeeze Kaley''s breasts but I guess her curiosity got the better of her, and the two just kept on fondling each boob until Kaley suddenly had a release.


    "A-Ah! S-Shit¡­ I¡­"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her eyes, "No¡­ Did you just?!"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I''m very sensitive¡ª Ah! S-Stop for a bit¡­ I don''t wanna get ahead of you guys¡­"


    Mimi was breathing heavily as she was looking at Kaley, "W-Wow¡­ Just¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    At this point, seeing the three made me unbelievably hard and Kaley was the first one to notice. But yeah, we barely had begun anything but it looked like we would be skipping a few steps.


    "Mimi¡­ have you¡­ umm¡­ had an orgasm yet? Like, ever?"


    "..." Mimi lightly shook her head.


    Kaley understood, "Why don''t we remedy that first?"


    "W-What are y-you gonna do?"


    "Why don''t YOU lose those panties first and WE will see what we can do?"

 Chapter 900: The Night Before Departure II

    As soon as Kaley said that, Mimi just nced at me before she slowly peeled her panties off but she still kept her legs together, barely able to look at any of us in the eye. However, Kaley let out a smile as she gave her a peck on the cheek before pulling her wet panties off, eventually prompting Chloe to do the same.


    At this point, all of them were buck naked though the room''s shadows were partly covering the important bits while the moonlight was barely revealing most of what I wanted to see.


    But not to be this crass, I could probably¡ªno, definitely paint or draw Kaley''s body at any angle or position blindfolded, with all the details included, yet I''m still lusting and eager to see what lies underneath the shadows.


    Then I heard her voice, "Excuse me? Are you gonna keep wearing those boxers or do you want me to pull them off?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Kaley suddenly chuckled as she saw my reaction, "We want to see you too, no? It''s only fair¡­"


    And as I started, they were keeping eye contact right until my hand touched the lining of my boxers and I watched their gaze lower, expressions full of anticipation and excitement before it quickly turned to shock, awe, fear, and delight as Chloe''s bed had three more wet spots we''d need to take care of once everything''s over.


    Kaley knew what wasing but the other two couldn''t help but gulp and keep direct eye contact with the "one-eyed snake" that was twitching in front of their eyes.


    "Uh-oh¡­ T-That''s not¡ª Q-Quinn w-wasn''t joking around¡­" there was a tinge of panic in Chloe''s voice as her breathing went a tad faster.


    Mimi was also in the same state, "Umm¡­ I-I don''t think I-I''m ready for that yet¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "Silly~ Don''t worry, we won''t do that yet¡­ We''re gonna focus on you first and if you really want thatter, he''ll oblige, alright?"


    "B-But what a-are you gonna do o-other than¡ª"


    Kaley waved her over, "Come here andy your back to me¡­ I wanted to taste you first but I think it''s better if he does it¡ª"


    "T-Taste?"


    Chloe cut in, "W-What am I gonna do while¡ª Should I¡ª"


    Kaley lightly waved her off, "Come on, we''re not in a hurry¡­ Are we?"


    "N-No, but¡­"


    "Let''s just watch for now¡­ I know a friend who really gets off on that. Why don''t we try it first? Don''t worry, you''re next after this¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    At this point, Kaley was motioning for me to get the first taste of Mimi''s untouched little slit but to this day and this moment, we could only catch a glimpse of it because Mimi still had her legs together. However, as soon as Mimiid on Kaley''s body, Kaley wrapped her arms around her body and gently touched her small handfuls before whispering in her ear.


    Mimi was looking straight at me as Kaley was touching her and it didn''t take long before she slowly spread her legs and gave us a clear view of what was underneath.


    Her puffy little pussy was neatly trimmed, following after a "Bermuda Triangle" but with Mimi''s size, it looked to be more like a "Martini ss", if anything. The sides of her crotch were clear and unblemished¡ªeven down to her tiny little asshole¡ªbut to give a shorter description, it was the cutest and the tiniest innie I''ve ever seen.


    It had enough "meat" and "fat" that could allow it to jiggle when flicked but I was more focused on how it was already leaking juices for easier entry.


    "D-Don''t s-stare at it t-too much¡­ I-It''s embarrassing¡­"


    "I-I''m gonna do it now, alright?"


    "D-Do what¡ª MmH! Wha¡ª Ah! MMmMHHhH! That''s¡ª T-That''s my¡ª O-OHhHHH! S-Shi¡ª Ah! Your¡ª It''s¡ª MmMMh!


    NnNh~ Ah¡­ Wow¡­ MmmHH! Hgnhh¡­"


    I could barely contain myself after I had the taste, and I hadn''t even started about how intoxicating the smell was. She always kept herself clean and tidy but there was something different about an untouched piece of meat I had to lick her deep and all over until I was satisfied.


    However, it wasn''t even a couple of minutes when Mimi tried to push me off her body but I knew full well about what was about to happen.


    "W-W-WAIT! AH! WAIT! S-SOMETHING''S C-COMING¡ª I''M ABOUT TO¡ª HGNH! S-STOP! I''M A-ABOUT TO¡ª A-ABOUT TO¡ª A-A-H¡ª I T-THINK I''M ABOUT TO¡ª H-H-HNGH!


    AHH! AH! S-SHIII¡ª AH!"


    I just grabbed hold of her thighs as I continued to bury my face in her cunt, pushing my tongue against her folds to reach her tiny hidden clit that was making her tremble. I just did it over and over and over until she violently orgasmed in front of everybody.


    At the moment, I didn''t even realize that Chloe was already touching herself as she was watching me eat Mimi''s pussy but as I was about to give Mimi her second release, I felt Kaley''s hand on my shoulder and she looked a little surprised when I nced at her.


    "O-Okay, g-give her a break for a moment¡­"


    "W-Why?"


    She pointed with her eyes to look at Mimi, "S-She passed out¡­"


    "What¡ª Ah¡ª"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this moment, Mimi''s small body was still lying on Kaley, and even though her body was still trembling a little, she definitely passed out after getting eaten by yours truly. There was a single tear in her eyes and saliva dripping on the side of her mouth, and it took a bit before she slowly opened her eyes.


    "W-What happened?"


    "Umm¡­"


    As we began to exin to her what happened in thest few minutes, she definitely remembered midway through our exnation because she couldn''t hide the embarrassment in her expression though I found it really cute and endearing.


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "N-No!" I tried to wave her over, "T-That''s pretty hot, actually¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, it''s¡ª"


    But Chloe suddenly cut in looking like an animal in heat, "U-Umm¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I''m sorry to i-interrupt but I-I want t-that and¡­ Ha¡­ i-if y-you can¡ª please¡­ I-I''m about to go crazy if¡ª"


    As Chloe was begging to be touched, she was already rubbing one of her erect nipples and her throbbing clit in her cleanly shaven twat that showed a little pink slit hiding inside her pale skin.


    And on that note, I took it upon myself to push her down and shove my tongue in her pink insides, and she just cried out in pleasure as her strong legs mped on my head. However, it didn''t stop me from tasting her sweet insides¡ªeven though I could easily pry her legs open¡ªbut this time, Kaley came over to join in.


    "W-What¡ª MmH! W-Wow¡­ Your lips are soft¡ª"


    "Yours too¡­"


    "Ah! Hngh! Y-You really know where to touch¡ª MmH! M-Mimi?!"


    "A-Am I d-doing it right?"


    "I d-dunno but keep d-doing it¡­"


    Turns out, as Kaley was kissing Chloe and fondling her breasts, Mimi took it upon herself to cutely suck and lick on one of Chloe''s pink puffy nipples, and if I ever raise my head for a moment, I''d be able to see Kaley and Mimi''s behinds and be free to touch them. However, my sole focus was to get Chloe off as hard as possible and the secret was a little aggression, consistency, and timing.


    Once I felt she was really close, I didn''t switch it up and just continued to press my tongue against her clit with a lot more pressure until it was over.


    "AH¡ª AH¡ª I-I¡ª I''M C-CUMMING~!!! AH! HNNNNNNN!"


    And as she did, I pried her legs open before I pulled her even closer, licking, sucking, and tasting her quivering cunt all over before warm liquid shot at my face.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WHAT''S GOING¡ª AH! AHhHHH! HA!


    HNGH! I¡ª I CAN''T STOP IT¡ªHNNNNNN~!!!"


    Right after her first violent orgasm, she didn''t think I''d try to make her cum again, and not only did thate as a surprise, her squirting on my face seemed to be a first as well. At first, it was a quick squirt that surprised everybody but it slowly turned into a waterfall that drenched a part of her bed, and she looked like she was wishing she''d pass out right now.


    Chloe couldn''t even cover her face from the embarrassment because of how it made her so exhausted but like Mimi, I assured her that it was one of the hottest things I''d seen and it was more of a great aplishment, if anything.


    But yeah, there was still a person who hadn''t had a release yet and the moment he was pushed down by every beauty in the room, he knew that he''d be blown away¡ªliterally and figuratively speaking.


    I''m talking about me, of course.


    Because once Chloe got her bearings back, she was still a little out of breath but she couldn''t stop herself from smiling before she gave me a kiss and began touching my junk.


    It was at this moment when Kaley followed and pushed me down with Mimi, making me watch them do their work while my 9-inch cock was right in front of their faces.


    "Do you guys know what to do?"


    "..." Mimi was the first one to shake her head.


    "We l-lick it? I''ve seen some¡ª"


    "Better to show you first then¡­"


    Once Kaley tucked one side of her hair on her ear, I tried my best to not cum at the fucking moment I felt her tongue and her warm mouth, and she wasn''t even using her huge tits because she was teaching the two how to properly suck cock.


    In any case, I basically lost my mind when Kaley was slobbering on my knob but it was also a different experience to see inexperienced beauties to try and copy what Kaley just did to me.


    Chloe''s enthusiasm was her greatest selling point aside from the idental teeth scrapes while Mimi trying to take all of me while making sure she wouldn''t make the same mistakes was adorable in itself, but in the end, it was Kaley who made me cum.


    I thought for sure that she''d swallow everything but she kept some of it in her mouth and shared it with the other two.


    I''d give points to Mimi for trying but Chloe would be getting higher marks because she sucked my dick right after to look for seconds. But yeah, it was Mimi who pointed out something that was prettymon knowledge in our circle while Chloe took it for granted.


    "Y-You¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''re still¡­ H-Hard¡­"


    Chloe just realized, "Right! And you already did it with¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "I said we have lots of time but who wants to go first?"


    The two looked at her, "First?"


    "You know, actually doing it¡­ Some PIV stuff, if you know what I mean¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Kaley backpedaled, "Of course, it''s also totally fine if you''re not up to it yet but what I''m saying is that I usually gost because we go a little u-umm¡­ longer?"


    Chloe asked, "H-How long perchance?"


    "A c-couple, at least?"


    "M-Minutes?"


    "H-Hours¡­"


    "A-At least?! You said at least, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    At that moment, Chloe and Mimi just nced at each other and it looked like Chloe decided herself to finally lose her virginity. She did ask to be on top which I actually rmend for first-timers, and it didn''t take long before sat on top of me, slowly rubbing her young college pussy against my whole length while keeping direct eye contact.


    The other two were just watching as Chloe ready herself mentally and once she reached around and pointed the tip in her very small opening, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pushing down with her hips.


    "A-Ah¡ª Ah¡ª It''s¡ª"


    She barely took the tip in.


    "Breathe¡­ You don''t need to take it all in at once¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ It''s just¡­ W-Wow¡­ It''s¡ª"


    After she took another deep breath, she pushed herself down even more, managing to put three full inches inside her vagina, tearing her precious hymen open, and very much looking like she was in pain as she was clutching for dear life on our interlocked hands.


    I just can''t believe how fucking tight she was and as I thought she''d pull out from the pain, she suddenly pushed down even more¡ªdefinitely getting more than halfway there, before winding back and pushing even harder right until she was only an inch away from the base.


    And as I was about to remind her to breathe, she wound up again and mmed her full weight onto me as her body trembled all over.


    At this point, it was highly rmended to get used to it inside you but no, something just switched off inside Chloe''s head as she looked at me a certain way while biting her lip, and moving closer.


    "I-I''m gonna move now, a-alright?"


    I wasn''t even able to give her an answer as she rode me like she lost her mind because it was an understatement to say that the whole fucking bed was creaking, and I could only imagine what Kaley and Mimi looked like at the moment. Furthermore, Chloe had great control of her body as she just wildly moved her hips and started giving me kisses.


    Then she broke off kissing for a moment with a huge smile on her face, "I. CAN''T. BELIEVE. THAT. IT. FEELS.


    THIS¡ª IT. HURTS. AND. FEELS. GOOD. AT.


    THE. SAME. TIME. AND. I. CAN''T.


    STOP. I''M. L-LOSING. MY F-FUCKING. MIND!"


    As Chloe was riding me, she leaned back and continued to fuck my cock while rubbing her clit but she sat right up again so I could y with her boobs. She didn''t know what to do but she kept on moving her hips even though I already felt her orgasm a few times, but all of that was in a span of ten minutes, and she didn''t show signs of stopping any time soon.


    But yeah, once I told her that I was about to cum, I almost burstughing when she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE PULL OUT! I KNOW WHERE MOM HAS HER PILLS! AH! AH! AH! AHNNNNNNNN~!"


    And once again, Chloe squirted while she was on top of me but I pumped her pussy full of cum as she finally copsed from sheer exhaustion. She didn''t faint like Mimi but I had to roll her off me after a while because she looked like she ran a marathon and she couldn''t even feel her legs.


    I did offer some aftercare while I gave her kisses and Kaley helped clean her up in the shower while Mimi and I were the only ones in the room.


    And yeah, calling Mimi nervous was an understatement because she knew full well that she''s next but I calmed her down by "calming down" and giving her a hug.


    "Hey. As we said earlier, if you don''t feel ready¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I a-am¡ª I think¡­ It''s just¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "H-How¡­ How long will y-you be gone¡ª I mean, w-when will you be back?"


    "If all goes well?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "Probably a couple of weeks and if not¡­ I dunno¡­"


    "Why don''t you know?"


    "I''m probably dead¡ª No! Mimi! I was just joking! Don''t cry, don''t cry! It was just a joke! I''ll never die, alright?!


    It was just¡ª OW!"


    "Y-YOU IDIOT! DON''T JOKE LIKE THAT! YOU GOTTA COME BACK! PROMISE ME!"


    "O-Okay?"


    "SAY IT SERIOUSLY!"


    "Alright. I''ll definitelye back, I promise."


    "Good! B-But for i-insurance¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    "I-I''m still n-nervous¡ª"


    "Mimi¡ª"


    "Let me finish! I s-said I''m still n-nervous l-losing my v-virginity to you but¡­"


    "But?"


    "If youe back in a couple of weeks¡­ I think I''ll be r-ready¡­"


    "That''s also okay¡ª"


    "I''m not finished!"


    "G-Go on¡­"


    "If you don''t mind¡­ I-If you don''t mind u-using the other one¡­"


    "O-Other one?"


    "D-D''you really want me t-to say it?!"


    "S-Say what?"


    "My¡­"


    "Your¡­?"


    "I-If you don''t m-mind putting it i-in my b-butt¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Oh! OHHH!"


    "D-Don''t light up like that, you pervert!"


    "Pervert?! You''re the one suggesting anal for your first time, who''s the pervert now?!"


    "S-SHUT UP! J-JUST PUT IT IN MY BUTT INSTEAD OF M-MY PUSSY!"

 Chapter 901: The Night Before Departure III - Glowing?!

    At this fucking moment, Mimi was looming over me because she was standing on the bed but just as she broadcasted to the whole fucking world for me to fuck her ass, Kaley and Chloe just came back from the washroom.


    Kaley was obviously in full-support mode but Chloe was shocked to fuck hearing such vulgar wordse out of Mimi''s mouth, she had to drag Kaley away with her after she slowly closed the door.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª I didn''t mean to¡ª I-IT''S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Mimi crumbled down as she tried to bury her face in embarrassment.


    "W-What¡ª"


    "I-I don''t know what y-you''re doing to m-me! I-I d-didn''t even think I''d say that a-and even d-do those stuff with you and e-everybody but¡ª S-Somehow¡­ I-I just want to¡­ A-Am I g-gonna be in trouble¡ª Ah¡ª I-I don''t even know what I''m saying and¡ª"


    Mimi was this close to having a full-on nervous breakdown but I held her tight and whispered in her ear:


    "Listen¡­ I can''t tell you what to do because, at the end of the day, I''ll leave it to the person to make their own decisions and to pursue their own happiness¡­ With that said, I do have my own opinions and beliefs and it''s vastly different from the ones drilled to us ever since we were born¡ªmore so when we both went to this ce¡ªbut do know that I''m still me¡ª"


    "Y-You already said that e-earlier¡­"


    "Oh, yeah. I did, didn''t I?"


    "B-But what are you trying to say though?"


    "Well, I just wanted to remind you that if you wish to stop what you just proposed, we can¡­ even the one you promised once we came back. But since you did promise me something THAT important to you, I''ll promise you something that''s ALSO important to me¡­"


    "And that is?"


    "This ce is amazing¡­ right?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "And it''s safe, right?


    You don''t have any problems with the dead, you have high walls, you''re well fed, and you could probably live till the end of your natural life here as long as you continue to either have perfect attendance in church, sses, or your jobs or contribute yourself to the university while doing a little extra from time to time, and a lot more other stuff we talked about earlier¡­ I''m really grateful that this ce kept you and our other friends here safe and¡ª"


    "I¡­ I don''t know where you''re getting at¡­"


    "What I''m trying to say is that once wee back here, you know, after a couple of weeks or whatever time we manage to do whatever it is we needed to do¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "I''ll once again extend a hand¡ªan offer for you, Ben, Andy, Cass, Ron, and Allyssa¡­ toe live with me and¡ª"


    "W-Wait¡ª"


    "Please let me finish¡­ It''s the same offer where I made myself sound like a raving lunatic to everyone here those years ago¡ª"


    "That''s not¡ª"


    "Well, not anymore, right?


    *chuckles dryly* But yeah, you''re right next to the Academy and they have soldiers stationed at this ce but in mine¡­ Look, you know what it is and it''s a pretty big step for you and everyone else because you also have friends here and patients you''ve got to take care of and visit on a daily basis but I''m gonna be selfish to ask you to¡­ be a little selfish as well¡ªif that ever means anything¡ªto choose toe with me and move into my home¡­"


    "..." Mimi wasn''t saying anything but she kept direct eye contact with me all throughout this conversation.


    "It''s¡­ It''s gonna be one of the only ways I''d be sure that all my friends and families are safe and if something ever happens, I''d be able to just *snap fingers* make sure that everything''s taken care of even if I''m present or not¡­ It''s been a st reuniting with all of you again and it''ll be a huge weight off my shoulders to¡ª"


    Mimi cut me off as she let out a smile, "Hey¡­ You don''t have to say anymore¡­ Don''t you remember? You''ve been there for me when no one could even spare a nce or stop by to see¡ª"


    I suddenly cut in, "Mimi, you''re half your size at the time and you''re hiding under a bush, no wonder no one spotted you¡ª"


    "T-THAT''S NOT THE POINT! HGNH! YOU¡ª UGH! WHAT I''M SAYING IS¡ª W-What I''m saying is¡­ I''ll go with you¡­ even if no one else doesn''t¡­ B-Besides, two weeks is just the right time to drop my two-week notice to Dr. Lopez, right?"


    I let out a smile, "You''re really serious?"


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t I? We''re supposed to move in with you the moment it started so¡ª"


    Before Mimi could even finish her sentence, I gave her a huge kiss as I embraced her even tighter and she tried to return my kiss as much as she could though I stopped for a moment when I thought she was getting overwhelmed.


    It was because she had tears in her eyes as her hug felt like she didn''t want to let go but turns out she was just happy that I offered for them to stay with me again and I bore no resentment whatsoever.


    As Iid her on her back, my huge throbbing member was just nestled on her stomach¡ªthe tip just sitting a little bit further than her cute belly button¡ªand I would just rub myself against her lower lips as we continued kissing each other. And at the same time, I was fondling and cupping her cute little breasts, eventually kissing her all over until she whispered shakily in my ear:


    "Y-You can p-put it in n-now¡­ I-I''m ready¡­ W-We don''t have to w-wait¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ there¡­ t-take me¡­"


    Hearing that, I slowly got into position as I rubbed the tip just by her very tiny opening, and looking at Mimi''s face, she still looked a little scared but there was now a mix of anticipation as she was waiting for me to take her virginity.


    And as I pushed the tip in, I heard an audible gasp but the look on her face told me that she wanted to keep going, and once we reached the halfway mark, let''s just say I was so fucking lucky Mimi tend to keep her nails short, because even with their length, all of them dug deep in my back.


    And this time, I made sure to let her get used to my size before I kept going but she traced her hands to my lower back, motioning for me to push it even more.


    This was all Mimi could do at the moment because she couldn''t utter a word from the pain, but to my surprise, she even wrapped her legs around me to nudge me to just rip off her hymen and split her in half.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª AH¡ª H-Ngh¡ª"


    "A-Are you okay?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ I-It''s all the way i-in¡­ Ow¡­ I feel so f-full and¡­ Oh my¡­ My head''s s-spinning¡­ It h-hurts and it''s a little i-itchy but i-it''s s-so g-g-good¡­"


    To bepletely fair, we still had a couple of inches to go but I didn''t need to tell her that at the moment. I began moving after a few moments but my dick was literally getting choked by Mimi''s tight vaginal walls but it wasn''t the time toin because I could only imagine what she was going through.


    But despite that, Mimi was still smiling brightly with tears in her eyes, and she would try and give me a kiss when I would be a little closer. Her tiny cute moans made it hard for me to move my hips slowly and I almost started to fuck, fuck her when she was calling out my name.


    Since it''s her first time coupled with her small frame, I was extra careful to make it hurt less and instead make it much more enjoyable because she wasn''t like Quinn or Tatiana¡ªheck, even Kaley who can take it rough and rowdy and sometimes ask for more.


    But yeah, she had a little bit of muscture in her lower body because of all the walking every single day, and just the distance to the hospital from our house was more than enough cardio and steps for a single person or two.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I felt Mimi''s insides tighten even more while her nails found another spot in my back to dig into.


    It was the only moment I decided to go faster and faster so we could cum at the same time, and she definitely made sure I''d cum inside as she hugged me tight and begged me not to let go. I was pumping her small pussy full of cum while she was trembling all over, and I onlyid next to her after a few moments of letting the sensitivity pass.


    Both of us were out of breath at this point but she wrapped her arms around me as sheid her head on my chest. It only took a few moments before I saw tears flowing from her eyes again so I decided to check on her.


    "Are you okay? Do you need¡ª"


    She chuckled as she shook her head, "N-No¡­ I''m fine¡ªno, more than fine. Did you forget that I''m an easy crier? I''m just so happy¡­ Besides, it''s amazing¡­ y-you''re amazing¡­ r-really¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "Yeah¡­ I¡­ I really wish I could''ve done this s-sooner with you¡­"


    "Ah¡ª You won''t, trust me¡­ I''m not as great¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter¡­ You taught me that it''s better to do something about what you want rather than to wait for it to fall on yourp a-and even though it took a r-really long time before this happened¡­ I''m really happy¡­"


    "But y-you know¡­ You still waited and something good came out of it, I guess? I''m not a prize per se¡ª"


    Mimi''s round eyes lit up for a moment as she snuggled even closer, "Y-You''re right¡­ Yeah¡­"


    At this point, it was peaceful and quiet for a few moments then we heard a soft knock on the door. After that, it slowly opened before Kaley''s head slowly popped in looking like she was casing a joint.


    I shook my head as I addressed her, "Where were you guys?"


    "Ah¡ª U-Umm¡­ I had to lose Chloe when she dragged me away but I brought some lube and a douche if Mimi''ll still need it?"


    "You brought those over¡ª"


    Kaley then let herself in as she eximed, "Hey! If you don''t want surprise poop in surprise anal, you always bring these with you! So! Do you¡ª" then Kaley had a realization from examining the scene, "Wait¡ª Oh! Mimi~! I''m so happy for you!


    A-Are you okay? Do you need anything? Want me to heat up some water?"


    Mimi was surprised about how Kaley was like that, "I-It''s okay, I''m fine¡ª It''s just I need to rest for a bit more because my legs are still n-numb¡­"


    "Oh, okay¡ª"


    "A-And Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Thank you¡­ for y-you know¡­"


    Kaley just gave her a smile, "No worries..."


    I jokingly had enough, "Oh,e on! Why does everyone thank you and not me?! I bet Chloe thanked you too, huh?! Did she?!"


    Kaley instantly understood what I was going for and pped back, "Hey! I can''t help it if they did! If I took their firsts with my strapon, they''ll still probably thank me instead of you! Everyone''s dancing on the palm of my hands and you can''t do anything about it~"


    I rolled my eyes, "Oh really~ Riiiiight~"


    She jokingly scoffed, "You really wanna do this?"


    "Do what?"


    At this point, Kaley looked like she dug up everything there is to know about me and was about to bring it up to light in court, but she nced at Mimi before she looked me in the eye and opened her mouth:


    "You forgot that we''re a couple, no?"


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Really?"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Select. You forgot, Select."


    Mimi and I said at the same time, "What?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she dropped the bomb on me, "If we''re a couple, it''s supposed to be Up-Up, Down-Down, Left-Right, Left-Right, B, A, Select, Start. Calling himself a ''Gamer'', what a joke!"


    "Huh??" Mimi was the only one to react.


    But at this moment, I never felt so defeated and disappointed in myself but I''ve never been so fucking hard at the same time so let''s just say that for the purpose of brevity, Mimi witnessed how Kaley and I actually fucked, like how we really fucked, and she wasn''t even able to join in not just because she couldn''t feel her legs or she was already exhausted, but her eyes were glued to whatever it was we were doing and even when Chloe came back looking for Kaley, she had to put her excitement aside and take notes.


    For a couple of inexperienced beauties that just lost their virginities to me a few hours ago, we pretty much had a good time, but in the grand scheme of things, they couldn''tpare to someone I had greatpatibility with and was a 10 out of 10y each and every single time we were together.


    Morning eventually came and we met up with everyone but Megan caused chaos once again by saying an innocentpliment:


    "Hey! Morning! You guys are glowing!"


    "What?"


    "GLOWING! YOU GUYS ARE GLOWING!"


    "WHAT?!"


    ''Oh no...''

 Chapter 902: Morning! - First-world Problems

    Glowing was supposed to be a greatpliment at any time of day but the word had apletely different meaning yesterday so it prompted such a reaction. However, it didn''t take long before things cleared up and everyone just shared a heartyugh this early in the morning.


    But yeah, aside from the older couple we met earlier who were probably a little hard of hearing, some of the folks who were also staying at the campsite were giving us a mix of looks, but the most prevalent one was with a mix of hate because we weren''t exactly that quiet doing that special type of activity.


    And to quickly remedy the situation, we offered all of them some goods, either meat or vegetable products¡ªwhich they jovially epted¡ªfor the trouble we caused then they continued on with their lives.


    "Hey~! Good Morning and God bless! Do you kids want to have some coffee?" The older guy waved us over.


    "S-Sure¡ª"


    "We got pancakes or waffles too¡ªwhichever you may want! Can you hear me?! We have some grilled cheese too!"


    At this point, we realized replying verbally was a mistake so we just signaled with our hands which he quickly understood.


    "Great! I''ll tell my wife you''reing! That''s the YMCA, right? I was there when it was first aired¡­ Honey~! HONEY! HONEY¡ª"


    "WHAAAT?! Don''t shout so early in the morning! It was so quietst night everybody must still be sleeping!"


    In a short bit, all of us were crowding inside their cozy cabin as they kept sharing stories one after the other with huge smiles on their faces. But as they continued on to their more recent topics, we discovered that they had no idea that the dead hade back to life.


    Everyone couldn''t be more confused by the sudden revtion but everyone who wasn''t a resident was giving me, Mimi, and Chloe a certain look.


    ''Oh,e on¡­''


    I was living in this university for close to four years but that doesn''t mean that I knew everybody.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mimi knew something about these two and she took over the conversation from then on.


    "Umm¡­ Mr. and Mrs. Flores¡­ Is umm¡­ Can I ask who''s the nursing assistant that tasked for you¡ª"


    Mrs. Flores waved her off, "Oh, no! Honey, we''re fine as we are and we don''t need anyone taking care of us¡ª Well, the delivery of groceries and whatnot are a huge help but it seems like they''re pushing more and more local products our way. Not that we mind but you know~ It would be nice to have some variety, right?"


    "O-Of course¡­"


    Then her eyes lit up as she turned to me, "Oh yeah! I love how you packaged the ground beef you gave us! You ttened them with a rolling pin, right?! I used to hate having them in big lumps and that really solved the problem!"


    I nodded awkwardly, "Yeah, they did¡­ Doing that really helps with thawing them faster and you know, easier to store them¡­"


    ''That''s Chef Ng for ya¡­''


    In any case, we finished breakfast and thanked them before we drove back to my house¡ªwith Chloe tagging along¡ªand gave apologies to the neighbors we caused "distress" by means of gifts like food or entertainment like some movies,ic books, or anything that could easily be copied and passed on.


    I have my fair share of experience with these kinds of people but almost all of them wouldn''t turn away gifts and I wouldn''t mind giving a few away just to make them shut up for one more day.


    With that said, I was lucky to catch all of my friends in one spot because Andy juste back from his shift, Ben and Cass had the day off, and Allyssa and Ron were still preparing to head out so I told them the same thing I did Mimi, but I did get a mix of reactions.


    First and foremost, since Ben was in a rtionship with Cass and Cass was working at the Academy, the only way that Ben would leave was if I could find a way to convince the General to let her go because this was the reason he didn''t drive to my ce with Ken the first time.


    And in Andy''s case, he easily made his decision toe with me the moment I promised him a set of firearms and meat at least once a day.


    I had to confirm one more time, "Andy, you sure that''s all you want?"


    "Of course! The fuck¡ª Do you know how pathetic I look holding this nightstick while all the other soldiers were¡ª" he nced at the cadets I brought with me and Jose, "No offense, alright?"


    Jose nodded, "None taken¡­ I''m actually on your side¡­"


    "See? They understand. And bro¡­ some of the directors here and some elders just have tons of meat lying around in their homes! Fucking hypocrites, right?! Well¡ª Not all of them but if they''re gonna have some, we should have a little bit, right? Besides, I could''vee with Ken when I had the chance but you know¡­ things happened and¡ª We should really talk man, I have a lot of fucking shit to unpack¡­"


    I chuckled, "You tell me, heh. Anyway, I have something for youter¡­ I''ll make sure to catch you before we leave."


    "Alright~ Alright, I got you bro¡­"


    But yeah, in Allyssa and Ron''s case, they were totally against the idea ofing back with us because of the danger of going outside and from what I thought would be Mimi''s greatest obstacle, leaving behind friends and their students they''ve made in this ce. Sure, we were still friends to bepletely honest but not everyone retains the same friendship they had with everybody.


    "I hope you understand our situation¡­"


    I waved them off, "No worries¡­ At least you two could maintain the house and whatnot? And you''ll have the whole ce to yourselves! Who knows? You might have kids¡ª"


    Allyssa cut in as she shook her head, "No-no¡­ No kids while this¡­ You know, this thing is still¡­ happening¡­ For now, we''ll just focus on our jobs and umting credits for more benefits, right?"


    Ron nodded, "Yeah¡­"


    "What benefits are you talking about?"


    Allyssa sighed, "It''splicated stuff. We''re aiming to be the heads of our departments but you gotta have a lot of pull to do that and I do, of course, but we''d need actual funds to make significant changes around here while everything''s going on."


    "I don''t get it¡ª"


    "Of course¡ªAh, sorry for sounding rude¡­ I''m under a lot of stress right now¡ª"


    I chuckled, "You''re always stressed. It''s cool. But yeah, tell me a simple way¡ªlike what are some of the things you''d need¡ª"


    Allyssa waved me off, "Oh, you don''t have to do that. This house is¡ª"


    "Just think of it as a parting gift or something. We''ll be back in two weeks but the third time we''ll be here is a huge question mark. We''re still friends, right?"


    "..." Allyssa didn''t know how to react.


    Ron nudged Allyssa, "Asking for someone''s help does not make you weak, alright? He''s offering as a friend, not one of your sneaky colleagues¡ª"


    Allyssa harrumphed as she nced at Ron, "You''re lucky you''re in the agriculture department¡­ It''s hell in¡ª Ah, shit¡ª I''m sorry¡­ I always¡­"


    Ron just made his eyes bigger as he nodded, "I know, WE all know! Sheesh, just tell him what you need, alright?"


    Allyssa took a deep breath as she looked me in the eye, "This is gonna sound mean but u-umm I don''t know what you can actually do for me but anything that you think could help the university in any way is great¡ª"


    "How about some books?"


    "B-Books? Oh, right! Books! D-Do you have any¡ª"


    "About all of them, I think?"


    Allyssa was looking at me like I''m an idiot, "I¡­ I don''t follow¡­"


    I chuckled, "You see, we''ve been outside around 90% of the time ever since it started and I¡ª you know that I''ve been somewhat of a hoarder."


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Let''s cut to the chase, I have several drives'' worth of books in my collection but I only have a few terabytes of random files with me at the moment. But yeah, it''ll definitely expand the collection here and you won''t be able to get them anywhere else though most of it is¡ª"


    "H-How?"


    "I made sure to scan each page of a book from cover to cover¡ª"


    "I mean, how did you collect¡ª"


    "Are you even listening? I said we''ve been outside and even though schools and other universities were the difficult ones to clear in a single day, it''s one of the most rewarding ones, and the books are almost always left untouched¡ªyou know, unless they''re used as kindling or something simr.


    And yeah, we''ve been to several schools and a few BIG universities so¡ª oh yeah, I know a guy who cleared the National Library too and he gave me copies of the books and other things they managed to save. And whaddayouknow? The ce was basically empty and almost all of the important books were still preserved."


    Ron was a little confused, "W-Who''s the guy you¡ª"


    "Oh. Mayor Iskoh. You know him, right?"


    "NO FUCKING WAY!"


    "Yep, and they''re expecting a baby anytime soon too¡ª"


    "Dude! Why didn''t you tell us this yesterday?!"


    "First of all, you two werete¡­ We had to give you the shortened version and¡ª"


    Allyssa cut in once again, "T-That''s great and all but h-how can you send over all of the files you have? It''ll be a huge contribution to the academy but you said¡ª"


    "That''s some greed you have there, heh. But yeah, I have my ways¡­"


    "W-What exactly?"


    I chuckled as I turned to Andy, "Can you get me to one of the closest cell sites? You know, the private ones? You can still power them, right?"


    "O-Of course, as long as you''ll provide some gas."


    "Then consider it done," I said as I turned to Allyssa.


    Allyssa looked like she wasn''t convinced one bit, "O-Okay? I still don''t get half of what you''re saying but the books are really a good addition. God knows how much credit it would cost for a group to bring even a truck full, and convincing them would be the hardest part! I''d do it nevertheless but there are other things I need to use our credits for¡­"


    Cass nced at me weirdly before I had a realization.


    "Hey¡­ How much credit would it take to send an¡­ an expedition? Is that what you call it over here?"


    Allyssa sighed once again but she asked Andy to exin for her.


    Andy just shrugged his shoulder as he looked at the ceiling for a moment, "For a single day? Around 10 credits per person but they''ll take less if you share whatever they procured but they always skim from their actual takes and¡ª you know, since none of them are interested in procuring books, they almost always opt for just taking the full price for that kind of errand.


    And it''s not even sure they''ll be able to take back anything¡­"


    "What?"


    "It''s for the attempt, not the actual goal¡­"


    "Like Evil Knievil¡­"


    "Exactly!"


    Allyssa sighed once again, "See my problems?"


    "I see," I nodded as I turned to JP, "The ones who do these expeditions are¡ª"


    He instantly cut me off, "Most of them are from our ce but there are other people around besides us, alright?"


    Allyssa turned to me, "You see, I''ll be able to use the credits I''ve saved up for other goals here or for other¡­ more inclined-to-produce-some-results expeditions but generally¡­ more credits would solve a lot of problems for me¡­"


    "Then how much have you saved up?"


    "A-Around a thousand? I''ll be paid in a few days so I''ll maybe have twice that but it''ll all sink down to my other projects I''m working on. Ron''s saving up too but his savings are used for our general expenses¡­ food and water, gas, etc. I''ll probably need around twice¡ª no, thrice that amount so they''ll recognize me and give me a shot for the next quarterly meeting¡­"


    "Oh! Then problem solved! Here ya go~" I said as I threw her my ID.


    She never looked so confused, "What¡ª"


    "Right! Wait! Throw it back to me¡ª"


    Ron took my ID from Allyssa''sp and flicked it back to me, "Catch!"


    Cass was already losing her mind by the sudden exchange, "You¡ª What the hell are you doing?! BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!"


    "I''m sorry?" Ron and a few others were confused by Cass'' reaction.


    I rolled my eyes, "What? I gotta replenish a bit of our stuff before we drive, alright? I''ll give Allyssa everything that''s left after!"


    Cass grumbled under her breath, "She has no fucking idea¡ª"


    Allyssa turned to Cass, "What did you say? What¡ª"


    "I said you have no fucking idea! Stocking up their vehicles to the brim will probably cost 200+ credits at the maximum¡ª"


    "Wait, how much do you still have on your ID?!" Allyssa suddenly had an inkling as she was eyeing my ID suspiciously.


    I chuckled as I had a thought, "Around 2k. Right, Cass?"

 Chapter 903: A Nobodys Pursuit To Change

    I thought it wouldn''t hurt to y a joke on Allyssa who was so strung up about something only 1% of the whole poption was worrying about, but it seemed that saying that I had a couple thousand credits on my ID didn''t match Cass'' reaction.


    But yeah, since Ron conveniently flicked my ID back to me, all izz well and I still had the means to have the upper hand in this conversation if I so desired to.


    Though Allyssa didn''t want to be kept in the dark.


    "Y-You two are hiding something! Tell me! How much¡ª"


    I cut her off as I chuckled, "Who fucking cares? I still haven''t¡ª"


    "I do! It''s really important to me! I''ll¡ª"


    "Hah! You went from refusing any help to downright demanding it as if I owe you, huh?"


    "That''s¡ª" Allyssa stopped herself momentarily before taking a deep breath, "I¡­ I apologize¡­ It''s just that this matter is that important to me and knowing that I''ll be able to catch a little break for once got the better of my emotions¡­"


    Kaley remarked after a short bit, "You''re horribly self-aware, you know that?"


    Allyssa was startled by that statement, "Ah¡ª I-I guess so¡­ It''s that bad, huh?"


    "Not exactly. There are good and bad points being that way though it mostly aligns itself with the good points. Tell me, why do you want to be a department head so bad, you''re willing to put yourself under this much stress to yourself and¡ª yeah, let''s just talk about yourself first. Why do you wanna do it?"


    "U-U-Umm¡­ This question is, u-umm¡­"


    Kaley looked at Allyssa solemnly, "I''m sorry but you have to be able to answer a question like this if you wanna impress and most importantly, convince, your colleagues at your next quarterly meeting. We''re basically nobodies in front of you so that much should be nothing, right? I''m not trying to be mean, I just¡ª"


    "I-I¡­ First, all of you are trying to help me so you''re not nobodies but my benefactors¡­ A-And if we''re talking about the reason why I wanted to do this¡­ It''s¡­ It''s umm¡­ It''s to save this school from crumbling by itself because everyone''s pretending that there''s nothing wrong and continuing as is even though what''s happening right now is just the beginning of the end times."


    "Pretending? What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­ It''s a show of strength to continue as is¡­ continuing sses, the worships, etc. but that doesn''t mean we ignore everything that''s happening outside.


    A good majority of the people that were here even before the world ended are¡­ As much as I hate to say this are damned f-frogs that jumped into the well and purposefully isted themselves from the rest of the world just because this ce could function on its ''own'' as it has been doing for decades and even now¡­"


    "..."


    "Even I''m guilty of this. Myte parents studied here and met one year after, getting together, graduating at the same time, and continuing on with their master''s and then their doctorates until they conceived me and led me on this path.


    I''ve been here since preschool and I''ve barely gone out even when I have the freedom to do so and most of my friends outside of this circle were the same and to bepletely honest with you¡­" Allyssa turned to me as she looked a little ashamed of what she was about to say next.


    "Go on, I''m already over it¡­" I said as I chuckled.


    She continued after looking down for a moment, "I¡­ I wasughing at your back and looking down on you when you decided to continue your life outside the campus because I thought that there was no ce better than here, and when you sent us that email? I thought for sure that you''ve lost your damn mind¡­ But when everything as you''ve said h-happened and shook the world to its core?


    I''ve never felt so much like an idiot but I felt so much worse when the university that I was so fucking proud of just raised its walls even more and continued like nothing''s happening¡­ I thought some changes were about to happen but nothing¡­"


    "..."


    "You see, the Academy extending its help and the university deciding to work together with them was already a surprise in itself but the changes I was hoping for ended with that. Don''t get me wrong, this ce has kept everyone safe since day one but it seems like what we''re trying to do was just to stay alive and continue on until He arrives to save us all. It''s the end times, right?


    He should be arriving soon and taking care of everything as He promised¡­"


    I was 100% prepared to gloat and start a different conversation but I stopped myself because it would just strain whatever we have further. Besides, they knew full well about the point I would be trying to get across so it''ll be better to listen for now.


    She continued though she looked more somber, "B-But enough about that¡­ The reason¡­ The reason I wanted to do this is to promote change for the better of everyone here¡­ E-Even if it''ll be so, so difficult¡­ incredibly difficult to convince our directors and elders to do something about our problem¡­ I just¡­ I just want to be proud of this ce once again and the reason I''m doing what I''m doing is it''s a shout into the abyss if I try to voice what I wanted to them out while being a nobody¡ªI mean, at least to their eyes¡­"


    With that said, Allyssa needed to take a minute topose herself while each of my friends in this circle looked a little conflicted.


    It''s not like they''ve given up on this ce was the reason they''ve epted my invitation but seeing Allyssa fight for something she had a low chance of achieving was plucking on their heartstrings.


    What Allyssa was trying to aplish was admirable in its own right but not to bring up more issues and topics that should''ve been non-existent the moment the world ended, a woman trying to get a major foothold in a university whose core values and beliefs were inclined to be on the other team she wasn''t on¡ªin the context of leadership or something simr¡ªwas as she said earlier, a shout in the deep, dark abyss even if she became a diamond under all that pressure.


    Sometimes¡ªno, almost always, people''s own beliefs¡ªmore so when it''s a huge collective¡ªcouldn''t be changed even if the world had ended, and said beliefs would be even more strengthened as time went on. It could both be a detriment or a boon depending on the circumstances but it''s obviously the former in my case and Allyssa''s.


    And to further support my statement, I didn''t even try to do anything drastic the moment we arrived here because even if I tried to attempt what Allyssa was trying to do, it''d be the same thing that happened when I gotughed at by the whole university.


    But yeah, Allyssa was definitely dead set on her decision to stay and fight it out to the bitter end, and what better way to support my friend and milk this ce for whatever it was worth was to give her something that could make waves and somehow disrupt the flow of things or even break the ce''s economy which was alsopletely useless anywhere else.


    To bepletely honest, the credit stored on my ID was just a bonus aside from discovering that all my friends who were here were still alive and we''ll see what she could do with that after we''re gone.


    I eventually let out a short exhale as I stood up and looked at Allyssa who looked like she had more weight on her shoulders, "Look, we''ll do it this way: I promise you that we''ll just go shopping for a bit and whatever''s left in this ID will be yours but do know that my offer for you and Ron still stands until we get back.


    We don''t have a prestigious university like this in our control but my people will be more epting of you and we most definitely need someone of your level if we were to keep everyone well-educated for, you know, if we''re talking about university standards because back home, our teachings are more of the practical side than the philosophical or even the theological side."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Sure, we trickle a bit here and there but the overall structure is not present. In this ce, you''re gonna struggle hard¡ªharder than everyone else to be noticed by the head of the dragon while in my ce¡­ You could well possibly be the head of a Koi¡ªwait, no, that''s too bad aparison¡­ How about we use dragons in the Western setting?"


    "..."


    "Yep! Let''s do that. This ce is like an ancient dragon and you''re at the very end of it, not even sure if it''s going to budge but in my ce, it''ll be like in between an actual fully fledged dragon and a wyvern and you could be the one leading the pack to full evolution. I know I''m mixing up lore and fantasy mechanics and shit but you do get where I''m getting at, right?"


    Allyssa let out a dry chuckle, "Unfortunately, yes¡­"


    "Good enough! So yeah, before we leave, I''ll transfer what''s left of the twenty-thousand¡ª"


    Andy straight up lost his mind, "WHAT?! TWENTY¡ª YOU SAID, TWENTY¡­ AND THOUSAND?! TWENTY-THOUSAND?! BRO! CAN YOU GIVE A THOUSAND¡ª NO, FIVE HUNDRED WILL BE REAL NICE AND I''LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE WHEN YOU TAKE ME IN!"


    I replied with a straight face, "Oh? Really? Then you don''t want one of our spare guns? Alright¡ª"


    Then Andy just straight-up fainted on the spot while foaming in the mouth and having a seizure or an epileptic episode before springing back to life in a few seconds like nothing happened.


    It was a bizarre sight as any but looking back at Allyssa, she looked like the other option I gave her was another ton of worries to consider because it''s as good an option as any and those two choices were life-altering.


    Everyone who knew her knew that she''dmit to anything she set her sights on 100% but she was also a realist in the sense that she was able to step back and think about things more thoroughly and had the courage to stoppletely or find other ways about the objectives she was working on.


    But it''s just that before we came in, she only had one path to take and it''s life-or-death and now, her confidence and convictions were wavering and she waspletely aware of that going on in real time.


    ''Now, what will you do?''

 Chapter 904: Risk and Rizz

    At this moment, Allyssa was at a loss about which path to take from the fork I presented to her but I broke off the tension when I pointed at the clock which was 15 minutes to 7:30 AM.


    "Earliest ss is quite close, no? Or they changed the time¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª It''s that time already?! Where''s my¡ª ARGH! I''ll eat on the way! Ron get me my¡ª Thanks! I need to take a quick shower before¡ª"


    It was a littleical to see Allyssa scramble for her things but she stopped in her tracks when she was about to run past me by the door.


    "Umm¡­"


    I just let out a faint smile as I took another sip of coffee, "You got plenty of time, alright? Always trust your gut."


    She looked at me momentarily before looking on the ground and eventually walking past me as she muttered, "I-I know¡­ I''ll have an answer by then."


    "Great."


    With that said, we have a few hours to kill before departure and I chose to divvy up a few tasks among the crew so they get to sightsee for a bit if they wanted to take some pictures like Lucas and JP. However, in order for some of the tasks to bepleted, an ID like mine was required so I also asked my friends to apany them because they pretty much had nothing else to do.


    But aside from Andy who was even willing to go to lengths just to get his own firearm, Ben and Cass looked a little miffed because it seemed like this was one of the few days off they had to be together.


    I rolled my eyes at the two who looked like they definitely fucked the whole night away, "Can''t you just give me your IDs?! I can transfer a few hundred in each of them so my guys could go for errands."


    Cass looked a little worried, "Who''s gonna hold mine? Once you apply to transfer your credits over to ours, word wille out that you have thousands upon thousands of credits and it''ll be crazy¡ª"


    "We''ll be fine, don''t worry¡ª"


    "It''s not you we are worried about, it''s us! Word will definitely spread that I have hundreds of credits in my ID and I''ll be hounded by people for scraps and whatnot! Some might even steal it from me!"


    I waved her off, "Don''t worry, I''ll handle it. As long as they''re not the president, the elders, or the directors, I''ll be able to work a deal around them. Besides, I can just send them some too like shush credits or something. Right?"


    Cass shook her head as she let out a sigh, "You rich people and your ways to spend them¡­"


    "So, can I borrow yours?"


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, our first stop was one of the oldest buildings in the university and its main purpose was to process students'' enrollments, billing, transfers, etc. though some rooms were still used as ssrooms or offices for tutoring, meetings, and some club activities.


    It was pretty obvious that we caused quite amotion when we drove in with our convoy but I didn''t pay them much of a mind when I fell in line at the window that processes students'' credits with four IDs in hand.


    I was right next to this freshman-looking kid who for some reason was shaking in his boots but I just gave him a faint smile as Kaley and Andy caught up to me.


    "Why''d you go here on your own? You said you''d show me around more, right? This building looks old¡­ and smells old¡­"


    "Ah. Sorry, I''m so used to walking around alone here that I just went straight for the¡ª"


    Andy cut in, "Dude, I love the attention we''re getting but this is crazy! Everyone''s looking at you, dude! You''re like a rockstar over here!"


    "Really? I didn''t notice¡­"


    "I didn''t notice, my ass¡ª you''re always like this, you know? Always oblivious about the best parts of youth!"


    Kaley scoffed in agreement, "Trust me, he seems to be not that oblivious but the Mimi thing happened and it started all over again¡­"


    "Hah! I was told, I was told¡­ You two¡­ You''re together, right? Maaan~ I love Mimi to death but you two, you two are just like *chefs kiss* I dunno the right word but it works! Really~ really~ works!"


    ''I guess he wasn''t told about the rest that happened after that¡­ goodness gracious¡­''


    Kaley let out a smile, "Thank you! That''s really nice to say!"


    Andy scratched the back of his head, "Maaan~ I guess everyone''s looking over at you too, huh? You model or something? Ah¡ª I don''t wanna sound like I''m hitting on you or anything it''s just I just say what''s on my mind¡ª"


    Kaley started chuckling, "No worries, I''ll take that as apliment."


    In any case, it didn''t take long before it was our turn in the line and as it usually was, a working student would be manning this station and they''d always look so grateful the first year then would look like a certain squid that was a cashier in a fast food joint who knows how to y a r, mostly.


    And at this moment, it looked like we were being served by a sophomore who looked like she still had more life than most working students.


    She looked surprised from seeing me, "U-Umm¡­ H-How can I help you?"


    I let out a smile to ease some of the tension, "Hi, I''m an alumnus but I still have leftover credits from when I used to be here¡ª"


    "Oh! No worries, we get that every time. What year?" Her eyes had a certain twinkle in them as she looked at me.


    "2014."


    "2014?! Wow~ That''s a¡­ No worries, the university guarantees that it''s still possible to use them even if it''s from the 90s, the 80s, or whichever year we were established. So¡­ are you nning to use them for something right now or¡ª"


    I cut her off as I leaned close, "You see¡­ Umm¡­ I may have a few more credits than normal, as I was told¡­ so¡­ c-can I please¡­ please ask you to remain calm and keep this transaction a little discreet and if you do¡­ I''ll be d to share some of them with you¡­ Is that fine?"


    She suddenly looked over her shoulder before looking back at me, "U-Umm¡ª"


    I leaned even closer as I looked her straight in the eye, "Can I ask what''s your name?"


    "U-U-Ummm¡­ My name¡­ I-It''s Gabrie¡­ B-But you can call me G-Gab or E-E¡­"


    As this was happening, Andy had already moved out of the line tough his ass out while Kaley was giving me love taps with her elbow because it seemed like I was rizzing the fuck out of this attendant. However, if that was what it would take for her to keep quiet, I''d go along with it for as long as it would take despite the cringe going through my whole body.


    I smiled brightly as I kept direct eye contact, "How about Gabby? That sounds cuter, right?"


    "Y-You saying I''m cute?" She blushed for a short bit as she cutely made her long eyelids flutter.


    ''Oh god, the fuck am I doing with my life? Fuck it¡­''


    I chuckled, "Maybe? I can''t stop looking at those eyes of yours¡­"


    Gabby just started to get redder and redder, "U-U-Umm¡­ A-About that ID of yours¡ª"


    "Oh! Right! I almost forgot¡­ I would very much like your assistance in transferring 30% of my remaining bnce evenly to these other IDs. I have the letters required for the two of them and one of the owners is here with me to confirm. Is that okay?"


    She calmed down for a little bit, "Oh! If you''re the owner of the ID that we''d take from, you don''t need the other IDs present. Only the other way around¡ª"


    "Oh~ I see! I didn''t know that! Thanks!"


    "Y-You''re very much w-wee¡­" Gabby smiled as she started to twirl her side bangs as she kept on stealing nces at me, "Oh! But I''ll n-need your ID first so¡ª"


    "Here," I smiled as I handed it over to her.


    "Thank you, M-Mr. Ishi¡ª You''re Sky Ishiyama?! YOU¡ª"


    Before Gabby started to get even more hysterical, I probably morphed my face to try and tell her to keep it down. I probably got close to beating Jim Carrey with the number of facial contractions I tried to get my point across and luckily enough, we only got weird looks due to me looking like I was begging for scraps from their point of view.


    But yeah, it took her a few moments to calm herself down but she almost had a heart attack when she swiped my ID on their scanner and saw the numbers on her monitor.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª"


    I tried to remind her about our deal once again, "Keep it on the down low, alright?"


    Gabby was shaking as she muttered under her breath, "F-Fifty¡ª"


    I thought I heard wrong as I leaned over and whispered, "Fif¡ª You mean around t-twenty, right?"


    Then she twisted her small monitor and showed me the number 5 right next to four other random numbers, "T-Then what am I seeing r-right now?!"


    "What the fu¡ª"


    "You have no idea you have this much on your¡ª"


    At this point, it seemed like we garnered more attention than I would''ve because one of the older employees who was also a teacher of some sort approached with the oh-so-evesting Karen persona:


    "Why''s this transaction taking too long?! You''re¡ª" then she stoppedpletely when she saw what I had on the monitor, "A-Ah¡ª Stay right there, I''m calling the director¡­ Hannes! Hannes! DIAL THE DIRECTOR IMMEDIATELY!"


    ''Fuck!''

 Chapter 905: Director Celestre - Apologies

    For some reason, I very much felt like I was in trouble even though Gabby did mention that they''d still ept the processing of credits we had even before the world ended but yeah, I had more than double the actual credits I thought I had in my ount.


    However, I know full well that I haven''t done anything wrong so I confidently followed thedy with Gabby to the Director''s office.


    The office was just as I remembered back then though the Director''s name that was carved in the marble thingamajig on the table was now different.


    ''It would''ve been easier if it was the one I knew¡­''


    In any case, Gabby looked like she was this close to having a panic attack while the Karen¡ªnot her real name yet¡ªwas eyeing me like I hacked their system and funneled funds into my ount like a fucking idiot.


    It was because this Hannes guy gave her a printout of some sort and it seemed like it contained multiple transactions of different people on the campus, whether they were students, faculty, or even just residents, giving me random donations all throughout the year.


    I shook my head in disbelief, "Excuse me, but I just arrived here yesterday and¡ª"


    "QUIET! We''ll wait for the director and¡ª"


    "No. YOU shut the fuck up," I said in the politest way I could.


    "E-Excuse me?! You dare¡ª"


    "Bitch, you do know I can fucking lop your head off or empty the whole mag of my pistol in your empty fucking head if I so wanted so don''t use me of shit I didn''t do."


    "...!"


    ''Damn, that felt so~ fucking good¡­''


    I continued as I released the tiniest bit of pressure to envelop the whole office, "If you want receipts, I have receipts. I made copies of everything as I could the moment I could use a scanner and I can assure you I have more or less twenty-thousand credits in my ount!"


    She smirked like she caught me in a lie, "Then why do you have fifty¡ª"


    "That was what I was about to exin to you before you cut me off, you budget Mrs. Jennifer Coolidge!"


    She was just so fucking confused, "W-What Mrs¡ª Don''t talk to me like that! Don''t you have any manners?!"


    It took everything for me to not break her head open on the table, "Manners? Why? Just because you''re older than me? For the record, I do have them but it should go both ways. You made me walk into this office and start to piece in your head that I did something wrong even without checking out the facts and gathering evidence like you''re supposed to. Why?


    Is it the tattoos? The gun? My katana? What is it, huh?"


    Before I could say anymore, the new Director came in and took his seat and Washboard Bimbo#1 hurriedly gave him the ''evidence'' against me.


    But yeah, it looked like Gabby was the one who did something wrong because she had shrunk down and was covered in sweat while I was mad-dogging the fuck out of the new challenger.


    He didn''t seem to pay much of a mind as to what I was doing to him because he was more focused on checking the pages and pages of my transaction history.


    "Hmm¡­"


    "D-Director?" The bitch incarnate tried to call out to him.


    "..."


    "U-Umm¡­ Director?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "E-Excuse me, Director¡ª"


    The Director suddenly ced the evidence down before taking off his sses, "Jillian, can you please take Ms. Gabrie with you and¡ª"


    Her face suddenly lit up as she cut in, "S-So did he really hack into the system? This rude¡ª"


    He suddenly cut her off with a re, "Jillian. I''m asking you a simple favor so I can talk with our Guest of Honor¡­ Can you do something as simple as that?!"


    She couldn''t believe what she was hearing, "B-But Director¡ª"


    "Out! Don''t embarrass me any more than you did by calling off¡ª ugh¡­ just get out¡­"


    At this moment, I couldn''t believe the bitch-ass would be the one receiving the talking to but I had to protect my new acquaintance because I''m pretty sure she''d get reprimanded for doing nothing as well.


    I cut in, "Excuse me?"


    The Director turned to me with a certain level of attentiveness and with a totally different expression, "Yes, young man?"


    "Can Gabby¡ª I mean Gabrie stay for the moment so she won''t get yelled out when they go out and can I call you Mr. Celestre?"


    He nodded in kind as he smiled, "Alright. She can stay and you can call me whatever you want," then he nced momentarily at this Jillian fellow before mouthing, "Out."


    As soon as the door closed behind her, she started yelling at the poor Hannes fellow before it slowly faded and it didn''t take long before Mr. Celestre was just looking at me as a whole(?) if that ever meant anything.


    It was quiet for a minute or two but I had to break the ice because I had ces to go.


    "I''m sorry but if we''re just gonna try and read each others'' minds¡ª"


    Mr. Celestre chuckled as he waved me down, "I''m sorry, I didn''t actually think it was you."


    "You know me?"


    "Yeah¡ª We all do in name, but¡ª" he cut himself off before he looked like he was trying to choose his words carefully, "You see¡­"


    "Mr. Celestre, I''d appreciate it more if you''d be straight and blunt with me, even add a curse here and there¡­ Because I find those people more trustworthy and honest¡­ no offense if you want to keep kissing your mother with that mouth."


    He tried to hold in aughter as he smiled, "Alright, I''ll try to be cool? Is that even the word for it? We''ll go with that, shall we? In any case, it seemed like our clerks were a little surprised about the amount of credits stored in your ount but upon further inspection from yours truly, everything checks out."


    "Huh? It should''ve¡ª"


    "You don''t understand¡ª"


    I tried to prompt a reaction, "Then enlighten me."


    He just let out the same smile, "Very well¡­ As not to waste your precious time anymore, let''s just say that these transfers were all legit to the point that if we dragged all of them here to confirm whether they sent five credits to you or a hundred, they''ll probably send you more if they see you in the flesh."


    "And why is that?"


    "To put it in a single word: guilt."


    "Guilt?"


    "Yes¡­ and to find another word for it¡­ It''s for an apology¡­ I''m pretty sure the only receiver of the Solomon''s Wisdom Award can still remember that awful thing the university did to a certain individual who just wanted to warn everybody of the end of times yet everyone denounced him as one would a false prophet im they were a son of God or God himself."


    "..."


    "Mr. Ishiyama?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Still, thirty-thousand credits were still a bit much, no? Isn''t a thousand or so credits enough to send waves around campus?"


    "Ah¡­ Well, it didn''te evenly from everybody, I might say¡­ a-and for what it''s worth, the President, Dr. Ganoba, personally sent you¡ª no, doubled your credits because we had no way of sending our apology over to where you were at the time. We do know a credit or two is enough to live for a day but the life given to us by The Almighty is more important than that.


    If it wasn''t for you, more lives would''ve been lost and taken away by the enemy. For that, anyone who wanted to say their thanks and apologies did it in the form of sending you whatever they could at the time, and by God''s grace, He made it so that you''d be able to see it when you miraculously found your way back to us and¡ª"


    I tried my best not to roll my eyes and go on a spiel in case they take it all away if they knew about my current rtionship with his holiness, "I would love to hear more about that some other time but what I wanted to know right now is if I can still use ALL of them and if Gabby here can transfer some of them to my friends?"


    He nodded with a smile, "O-Of course! Then¡ª"


    I returned his smile before I stood up, "Then we''re done here, right?"


    "O-Of course," he nodded again before he turned to Gabby, "Ms. Gabrie, kindly guide Mr. Ishiyama to your station, and if you may do so with a little expedience, help him with his concerns the best way you can. Understood?"


    Gabby shakily nodded as she stood up and bowed to Mr. Celestre, "O-Of course, Director¡ª"


    "Oh. I''m also concerned about what Jillian might do to you so why don''t you take the rest of the day off or whatever and transfer a couple hundred of credits to your ount."


    "D-Director?!"


    "Take it from mine, no worries."


    "U-Umm¡ª T-Thank you, Director!"


    He let out another smile, "You''re very much wee! Go on then~"


    ''Well that was easy¡­''


    I was just about to open the door in front of us but Mr. Celestre left me some final words:


    "Mr. Ishiyama¡­ We¡­ We really are sorry for what we did to you¡­ If there''s anything¡ª"


    I cut him off before it became too sappy for my taste, "Yeah? You sure about that? Well~ Let''s just say that if another one like me tries to ruffle some feathers or suggest some changes and whatnot¡­ Why don''t you hear them out for once or check out or examine what they can do for the better of the university so there''s no repeat of what happenedst time?"


    "..."


    "Not everything''s a good idea but shutting everything down like what one of your clerks did to me even without knowing the full story is not up to the university''s standards, no?"


    "Of course¡ª" He was about to let out one of his smiles but I cut him off once again.


    "I know that it''s disrespectful to tell someone else how to do their job but they also got to stop and think why the other person risked offending someone by doing that, no? They could simply be an asshole like 90% of the time but what if the actual system is failing and some changes are needed to be done?


    Trust me¡ª no, trust myte parents who were guilty of the fact that they blindly trusted something that was working for decades and counting and they only realizedte and lost a few things that are important."


    "May I ask¡ª"


    "No, sorry. You''re grown adults, you gotta experience it firsthand or should be aware of it years ago."

 Chapter 906: Some Final Shit To Get Over With - Not the Biggus Dickus!

    As soon as I said that, I left the Director''s room and walked back with Gabby to where Kaley and Andy were leaning on. It was the window where Gabby was stationed though the people were in a different window now because it opened another one to cater to them unlike certain fast food joints or certain stores that only had one cashier open to serve their customers.


    But as we were about to wave at the two, I felt someone jumping on my back and I kind of confirmed who it was through the color of the hair strands that went past my peripheral vision.


    "Hi~! So, what are you guys up to?"


    "Chloe? I thought you said you''d attend sses after we drop you off¡ª"


    "Eh~ Ran out of uniforms¡ªI mean, clean uniforms to wear. I tossed all of them to the washing machine tho, they''ll be done in a bit."


    "Huh."


    "What are they gonna do? Deduct some credits? I have plenty!"


    Then Mimi joined the fray. She came from the other side and stood by Kaley and Andy so I walked over to them while Chloe was still clinging on my back.


    Mimi looked at me as she smiled, "Hey, I''m back! Jesus just drove me from the hospital to get my things¡ª"


    I smiled as I put my hand out, "Great! C''mon, hand your ID over," then I tried to look at Chloe who still refused to climb down, "You too! I just caught a windfall, I''ll be treating you two as well."


    Mimi looked at me sideways, "Why? I''ming with you when youe back, right?"


    I chuckled as I insisted, "You know some good people over here that needs a little pick-me-up, right? I couldn''t possibly meet them all and talk all day so why don''t you do the honors for me?"


    "T-That''s very nice of you, actually¡­" Mimi smiled as she was already tearing up, "Okay! I-I''ll do my best to try and give everyone what they need!"


    Then Chloe cut in, "And you''re giving me some, too?"


    "Yeah? You can buy anything you want¡ª"


    She climbed down from me and looked away, "I-I''m sick of all the things here¡­"


    "Ah¡ª Then¡­ Do you want something from the outside? It''s not a guarantee but we''ll keep an eye out if¡ª"


    "R-Really?! Then c-can you look for some nice clothes?! Oh! Wait¡ª"


    Kaley cut in while pointing at Gabby who was just standing behind me, "Guys, we can talk about thatter¡­ Ms. Gabby''s been waiting for us the whole time¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª N-No! It''s alright, actually¡­ I was gifted a lot of credits and a day off so don''t mind me," Gabby said as she waved us off.


    In any case, I still collected Mimi and Chloe''s IDs¡ªjust so Gabby could see what ID Number she''d put the credits in¡ªthen I asked her to put exactly two thousand credits in the five IDs I gave her. Furthermore, I also gave her five hundred credits¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªjust because.


    Gabby couldn''t hide how happy she was and after all the transfers were done, she promptly returned all of our IDs and gave us a bow as we said our goodbyes.


    At this moment, it was time to divvy up the errands I would like everyone to run and they were divided as such:


    First and foremost, I gave Andy his ID back so he could procure some gas and some time to rent a generator and one of the privately owned cell sites in the residential areas. It was so he could install and power up one of our upgraded rys that had a direct connection to na, our resident hacker.


    na could easily ess one of my public servers at home to transfer all of the books we collected so far but it would still take a bit of time because it was still not as fastpared to the speed we had before the world ended.


    And yeah, I could''ve made Andy''s life easier by making him go through the university''smunications station and buy some time for use of their towers, but powering it up would need more juice and I don''t want the people here to know of na''s existence yet.


    Furthermore, I don''t want Allyssa getting showed up by the people stationed at the station by getting around Andy and procuring their own copies, so in the end, it was much better to be a little discreet about the situation.


    Secondly, I gave Seb Cass'' ID so he could take the rest of the cadets to the university''s general store which had anything from vegan food products, clothes, and farm tools¡ªI mean, it''s a general store so pretty much anything and everything was in it aside from ''sinful'' items like alcohol, drugs, firearms, meat, caffeine, etc.


    I asked them to pick up food items that wouldst a bit of time than normal¡ªand some seasonings if they ever had any¡ªand water to fill up our containers,stly, if they saw anything they took an interest in, they''d be free to buy it with the ID I gave them. But yeah, if the total did go over two thousand, they should contact me first and wait for me to add more credits to the ID I gave them.


    Ruben was scratching his head as I was giving them instructions, "U-Umm¡­"


    "Problem?"


    "Ah¡ª Not exactly but everything in here is supposed to be fresh, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "So, at most¡­ the ones in their store wouldst only a few days¡ª"


    "Not exactly. They do have dried fruits and vegetables¡ªI personally rmend the dried mangoes, and yeah," I said as I turned to Mimi, "We still have vegan jerky, right?"


    Mimi nodded as she was amused by the cadets'' confusion, "Of course¡ª Oh! I''d rmend the vege-tapa jerky if they have some in stock and if you''re looking for good seasonings look for the packs of mushroom powder at the bottom shelf or I''d rmend the university''s allspice though they always are sold out."


    Megan chimed in, "Can we also try the carrot juice and the soy drinks?"


    Mimi''s eyes lit up, "They''re really good for you! You should try them!"


    I nodded, "If you''re not that picky about the taste but just buy enough for today¡­ It wouldn''tst long on the road."


    "O-Okay! Everyone set?"


    "Let''s go~"


    "Guys, I promise you, there''s this huge pair of penguin statues by that store! We just forgot to take a picture with it!"


    "Yeah, yeah~"


    With that said, the final ID to be handed over was given to Jesus and his crew and the task I was meaning to give them was a little special and a little personal.


    It wouldn''t mean as much to any other person at the moment but if they were sessful in getting that special something for me, I''d definitely be fucking grateful.


    Jesus thought I was punking him, "You¡­ You want me to get this?"


    I nodded with delight, "Yep!"


    "Dude, we have tons of this in¡ª"


    "Nope! Not that one. I really~ really~ want you to bring that one in particr by the school entrance. Bonus points if you manage to convince the owner toe with you."


    "Okay?"


    "You should probably bring Jose and Isaac with you as a front man¡ªno offense coz you know, tattoos and shit¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it¡­ But where are you guys going?"


    "Umm¡­" I nced at Kaley and the rest momentarily before he cut me off.


    "Forget I asked, see yater~" Jesus just shook his head as he chuckled before he led his group away.


    With that said, my goal was to head to the hospital and somehow get a general idea of their current situation and finally unburden Mrs. Lopez with Mr. Lopez because from what Mimi told me and what Chloe added to her statement, their situation was more than fucking spicy and I couldn''t wait to see Lopez''s reaction when we drove in with his daughter.


    But yeah, we took a detour for some more personal reasons, and we ended up in a ce where certain types of machines were running in bursts after small adjustments.


    Mimi was confused as fuck as to why we drove into this ce while Chloe didn''t take long for her to realize what Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn were smiling about.


    Chloe leaned in from the back, "It''s a sex thing, right?"


    I didn''t even try to lie, "Yep. It''s their idea though, not mine..."


    "Sure~ Oh! Do you want me to wear mine, next time?"


    "Next time?"


    "Yeah! Once you guys... you know..."


    Mimi cut in, "Why would you need clothes for having s-sex?"


    Quinn cackled as loud as she could, "You''re so innocent, it''s adorable~"


    "I-I''m not! It''s an h-honest question, alright?!"


    Tatiana added, "You see, Mimi, asking that question is already proof. Don''t worry, you''ll learn more soon enough¡­"


    Mimi tried to go down swinging, "I-I know more than what you think, alright?! I even know about b-blowjobs and a-anal¡­"


    "HAH! SHE SAID¡ª AS IF THAT''S¡ª HAHAHAHA!"


    "MIMI, STOP! YOU''RE GONNA MAKE ME WANT TO EAT YOU UP!"


    "U-Umm¡ª" Mimi never looked so panicked as she turned to us, "H-Help?"


    Kaley waved the two down, "Don''t tease her, alright? She was really great yesterday¡­" then Kaley turned to me, "So¡­ Do we just go in or do we have to¡ª"


    Mimi answered while she was pouting cutely, "W-We can just go in¡­"


    Chloe tried to cheer her up as she turned to Kaley, "You can tailor our professors'' clothing here too since they also have the standard uniforms on disy.


    Don''t worry about the sizes¡­ They have ready-made ones but they can do customs after checking your measurements first¡­ Because you know¡­" she trailed as she nced at Quinn for a moment, "P-Peoplee here w-with big¡­ h-huge¡­ r-ridiculous s-sizes¡­ and they''d make youfortable with it and they do it pretty fast!"


    Quinn smiled even more, "That''s what I''m talking about! I barely have enough clothes that fit! Tailor-made is the way to go unless I want to air them out in the open¡­"


    Chloe then asked something she''d lose a few years of her life, "Quinn¡­ I-If you don''t mind me asking¡­ H-How¡­ U-Umm¡­ B-Big are they? I-If you don''t mind?"


    Quinn scratched the side of her cheek as she gave herself a squeeze, "I''m not really sure¡­ It''s been a while since I''ve checked¡­"


    "Ah¡­ But¡ª"


    Quinn squeezed herself another time, "But yeah, thest time I measured them¡­ I was around 46KK but now it feels like I''m 48NN¡­ somewhere around that ballpark¡­"


    ''Probably where she got her nickname¡­''


    Hearing that thought in my head made me do it, "Ah, so that''s why you don''t call yourself Quikk but Quinn¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­."


    "Thanks, Tatiana! You''re the breast¡ª I mean, best¡ª Ah! Ow! WHY¡ª Help! HAAALP! NOT THE JEWELS!


    NOT THE JEWELS! I STILL WANT TO HAVE KIDS! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! STOP! MY SCAPULA! MY BIGGUS DICKUS¡ª AHHHHH!!!"


    In any case, let''s just say I got beat up for saying the worst dad jokes I could think of at the moment and I was tasked with guarding the truck while thedies went in and got their clothes made for them.


    I had to down a painkiller or two because they somehow hit harder than usual but it was well deserved and well fucking worth it.

 Chapter 907: Chloe and Dr. Lopez

    Only a few minutes had passed when I saw Chloe jauntily skipping away as she made her way towards the vehicle. And since the windows were a little tinted, she had to lean in by the passenger''s side window first to see where I was. But before she could even knock, I unlocked the door for her which she excitedly opened, and she let herself in and closed the door before looking at me a certain way.


    Turns out, she asked Kaley for permission to keep me ''entertained'' while they were busy getting their clothes tailored so we quickly made our way to the backseat as we ''entertained'' each other.


    But yeah, she didn''t know what she signed up for after she had her way with me because when I had my way with her, let''s just say she needed a change of underwear and probably some water and electrolytes¡ªmaybe even a full meal¡ªto replenish herself.


    Furthermore, it was pretty obvious she lost feeling in her legs but the way she was smiling as we were making our way to the hospital was making everyone else a little regretful they stayed the whole hour inside the tailoring shop.


    Mimi turned to Chloe before we exited the vehicle, "C-Comb your hair! You don''t want your mom to notice¡ª"


    Chloe shook her head but still pulled out ab from her pocket, "I doubt she will, but alright~"


    Mimi handed over her hair tie to Chloe then turned to us four, "Before I forget, the hospital doesn''t allow deadly weapons of any kind inside so you can either leave them here or by the guards. It''s your choice."


    Quinn and Tatiana spoke up at the same time, "I''ll stay here./I''m not going in there¡­"


    I nced at the two as I removed the visible deadly weapons from my war belt though Ipletely removed my chest rig, "Take care of these, alright?" then I turned to Kaley, "Youing?"


    "Yep," Kaley nodded as she began to remove the same things I did.


    On any other day, I would''ve left my hidden knives in my belt, my shoes, etc. but seeing the guards were only using a piece of a drumstick to check everyone''s bags and whatnot, I decided to bring them with me just in case. They had this scanner thingamajigs by the entrances but I guess other things had more priority when ites to electricity.


    However, once Kaley pulled the hidden knife on her belt and the ones hidden in the heels of her shoes, Mimi gave me this particr re that made me droop my head low, making me unarm myself while looking at Kaley a certain way.


    And yeah, the look on Kaley''s face told me that she definitely fucked up and was definitely embarrassed but I just shook my head and dryly chuckled as I smacked her butt and went on a few steps ahead of everybody.


    The university''s hospital had seven floors and two basement floors in total, andpared to the other buildings the university had, it looked to be the most brand-new and where more of the funds were directed at because it was right next to our huge-ass gate where the two could act as ''covers'' because let''s face it, almost everyone judges a book by its cover.


    But yeah, the apocalypse hadn''t been kind to our hospital as well¡ªthe offline scanners, for example¡ªbut I noticed that the cameras were still working though the little devil in my headughed at the thought of what could''ve happened on the patients on life support.


    It was one of the darkest jokes I''ve thought of in a while but I''m pretty sure that whatever was the decision made for them, the ones who kept them alive were either loaded with credits or were being bled dry every single day.


    In any case, getting inside wasn''t an issue¡ªbecause ady guard was present to check Kaley, Mimi, Chloe, and the other women that would enter¡ªbut I was still given judgy looks when they saw the tattoo sleeve on my arm.


    But Kaley nudged me almost immediately, wearing a faint smile, "Don''t worry about them, want me to get a small one just to spite them next time?"


    Mimi followed, "I-I''d have one too but I''m scared of n-needles poking my skin¡­"


    Then Chloe came in and whispered, "You took something much bigger, no?"


    "B-Bigger? What¡ª Oh¡ª OH! Chloeee~! Nooo~ we don''t talk about that here! S-Stop teasing me!"


    At that moment, Mimi was once again red through her neck as she tried to bury her face in my sides, but right as everyone was having a good time, Chloe wentpletely silent as she nced at a familiar figure by the waiting area. Furthermore, she put up the hoodie she was wearing as she stood behind me, and she motioned for us to use a different passage that would bypass the waiting area.


    I took one look at the person annoying one of the hospital staff and discovered that it was Lopez, and as much as I wanted him to lose his head just from seeing us walk in with Chloe, I figured it was a bad move at this point and judging by Chloe''s reaction from seeing him, it was a really, really bad move at this point.


    Mimi looked concerned, "What''s wrong? Oh, it''s just your dad, right? He''s just here to see you¡ª"


    Chloe replied with apletely dismissive tone, "I don''t wanna see him right now, no. C-Can we just¡ª We can walk inside the emergency room since Mimi''s with us then there''s a door there that would lead to my Mom''s office¡ª W-What are we doing here again?"


    I replied, "We''re here to see your mom actually¡ª"


    "Wait, why?"


    I just shook my head as I held her arm with one hand and ced my arm on Mimi''s shoulder then moved forward, "We''ll talk on the way, your bitch-ass dad looked like he hasn''t slept a wink¡­ If I could just leave him here I would but there''s consequences¡ª"


    Kaley followed while she was covering Chloe''s frame with her body, "Quick! Quick! He almost saw us!"


    In any case, we quickly made our way to the emergency room and we were easily let in because they saw Mimi with us, and we easily passed two more doors before we were in the clear and in one of the main wings of the hospital.


    It seemed to not be as busy as I thought it would but Chloe quickly made her way to one of the nurses she recognized and I could hear most of their conversation.


    "H-Hi! I''m¡ª"


    "Chloe, what are you doing here? Looking for your mom, Dr. Lopez?"


    Chloe had never looked so demure, "Yes, actually¡­ I-Is she busy or¡ª"


    "You''re in luck, she just finished her rounds and is probably in her office."


    "G-Great! Oh, has she eaten yet? She''s pretty tired, right? H-How much are those cinnamon rolls and¡ª"


    The nurse just smiled at her gently, "Just get one for you and your mom, no worries. Mrs. Edna baked them, a little stale but it''s still pretty good! You can heat them in the microwave in her office."


    "C-Can I make her s-some coffee too¡ª Wait, she should sleep¡­ Can I make her some tea or some hot milk or something first?"


    "Of course, dear. I hate to leave you on your own but I gotta see this patient¡ª"


    "O-Oh! No worries! I''m with my friends! T-Thank you!"


    "Oh? Alright, then. See youter, Chloe. Bye~"


    At this point, we eventually loomed over her and helped ourselves to the "free" food offered to us but I started to ruffle her hair as I was smiling at her. But yeah, she instantly tried to move away from me but since her hands were full, some of the strands were covering her face as she was cutely ring at me.


    "W-Why''d you do that for?!" she eximed as she tried to fix her hair by blowing on it helplessly.


    I chuckled, "You really love your mom, huh?"


    "N-No, I don''t¡­"


    "If you say so~ Just don''t get mad for too long. You only have one mom in your life, remember that¡­" I said solemnly.


    "O¡­ O-Okay¡­"


    At that moment, Chloe was a little taken aback by my words and my expression but she motioned us to follow behind her while she was carrying a te of pastries and a warm cup of milk. She looked rather happy that her mom finally had some time to rest and she even peeked through the small ss partition before trying to open the door with her butt.


    In any case, I took it upon myself to open the door as slowly as possible, and from the way Chloe and Mimi were acting, it seemed like the person sleeping soundly on the sofa was Dr. Lopez, Chloe''s Mom.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    But yeah, it had never been quiet at this point because now, we were just watching Chloe''s Mom sleep and it was bordering on being¡ªno, it''s super creepy. And I did have some business with her but I''m pretty sure that not only Chloe and Mimi but also Kaley would get mad at me if I tried to wake her up.


    So we ended up watching her sleep for several minutes.


    ''Chloe definitely got her looks from her Mom though¡­ Thank the fucking divines¡­''


    However, it didn''t take long before her pager jolted her awake, and she almost fell t on her face as she tried to look for it, but she turned it off after looking at the small message it had. It looked to be something minor, judging from her expression, but everyone could see the tiredness in her eyes and after that, she tried to massage her back as much as she could reach by her shoulder.


    ''Why''s no one speaking?'' I thought to myself as I nced at Chloe and the rest.


    But at that point, Dr. Lopez got up and slowly stretched without noticing us and she walked over to her table and pulled out a "device", a certain device made of silicone that was powered by batteries for "massages" and some "probing". But once she licked the tip of it, turned it on, and was about to go "downtown", all hell broke loose.


    Chloe was red through her neck and eyes so fucking wide as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "MOM! STOP! W-WE''RE HERE!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 908: Chaos - I just laid down...

    In a matter of FUCKING seconds, security guards busted open Dr. Lopez''s door but all they saw was a group of people staring at each other, shocked to fuck, but my attention was somece else.


    You see, as Dr. Lopez screamed for her dear life, her little¡ªno, her moderately-sized "device" flew up in the air and got stuck in the ceiling¡ªwobbling and shit¡ªand god knows how much longer it would be there because of the weight of said "device".


    And if it fell, it would most definitelynd either on the table or on Dr. Lopez''s head, and it was just a bloody concussion waiting to happen.


    One of the guards finally spoke up after the brief silence, "W-What''s going on here?! Dr. Lopez, are you okay?! We heard a scream and¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez quickly snapped back to reality as she red at the guards and shooed them away, "I-It''s nothing! I was just s-surprised by my d-daughter and her friends! W-We''re fine! We''re totally fine! Carry on!


    Carry on!"


    "O-Okay, d-doctor¡­" the guard said as he turned to his colleagues, "False rm, get back to your stations¡­"


    As the guards gave us a brief look before they excused themselves, we were once again back in an intense and awkward staredown but it got even worse when the fucking dildo dropped down and miraculouslynded on the table like a weird fucking version of the bottle flip challenge.


    It was so fucking hard to keep a straight face as Dr. Lopez looked like she was about to kill us while the dildo was wobbling left to right like a metronome, but it didn''t end there when Lopez¡ªthe one I fucking hate¡ªbust through the door and knelt down.


    "HONEY! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME! I''M SO SORRY¡ª WHA¡ª WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"


    As I saw Lopez''s reaction, I felt like I burst a vein somewhere in my head because I wanted to fuckingugh so bad but I couldn''t. It was just one unbelievable thing after the other but what seemed like another fight between the husband and wife ensued.


    "WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?! DIDN''T I TELL YOU THAT I WOULDN''T LISTEN TO YOUR LIES ANYMORE?!"


    Lopez didn''t know which topic to tackle first as he turned to his wife with a difficult expression, "H-HONEY! YOU GOTTA UNDERSTAND¡ª"


    "OH! UNDERSTAND?! I UNDERSTOOD PLENTY! AND WHAT GOOD DOES A 50-YEAR-OLD WOMAN IS TO YOU ANYWAY?! YOU WERE HAVING SO MUCH FUN NEXT DOOR, RIGHT?! WHY''D YOU EVEN COME HERE TO TALK?!"


    "H-HONEY¡ª"


    "DIDN''T I ALREADY SENT YOU AWAY WITH THE GUARDS YESTERDAY?! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN?!" Dr. Lopez nced in our direction and probably had the same question for us but she turned right back to her husband, "DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL THE GUARDS AGAIN OR¡ª"


    Then Lopez tried to redirect the conversation towards me, "I-I''M GONNA LEAVE B-BUT WHAT IS HE EVEN DOING HERE A-ANYWAY?! And that¡­ that¡­ W-Why do y-you have that¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez red up even more, "THAT''S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS! GET OUT! OUT!"


    "H-HONEY, I¡ª"


    "GUARDS! GUAAAARDS! HE''S HERE AGAIN! T-TAKE HIM AWAY!"


    At that point, the guards were pretty close to hearing whatever just happened and they took him away and Lopez didn''t put up much of a fight at the start. However, his eyes widened when he realized that the person wearing her hoodie over her head was Chloe but all he could do was shout a few words when he was being escorted away.


    "L-LITTLE PRINCESS! IT''S DADDY! CAN YOU RECOGNIZE ME?! I DIDN''T SEE YOU¡ª HEY! STOP PUSHING ME! P-PRINCESS!


    IT''S¡ª DADDY LOVES YOU! I''M TRYING TO SPEAK TO MY DAUGHTER¡ª WE''LL TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! I''M GONNA BE WAITING BY THE DOOR!"


    Hearing that, I was already cringing enough as is but when I saw Chloe in tears as she rushed to hug her mom, I quickly pieced two and two together as my blood boiled.


    Even Dr. Lopez seemed like she had forgotten everything that happened before her husband barged in and she was trying her best to calm her daughter down. It took Chloe a few minutes to finallypose herself and she wiped her eyes and gave us a smile before introducing everyone.


    "U-Umm¡­ M-Mom, t-they are m-my friends! You know Mimi, of course. That super pretty girl is Kaley and that s-super h-handsome guy is Sky! E-Everyone this is my mom¡­ she''s s-super hardworking and very, very smart but she doesn''t know h-how b-beautiful she still is¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez instantly rolled her eyes as she sighed, "Enough with the jokes¡ª"


    Chloe chuckled as she turned to us, "See? Completely clueless!"


    "Ma''am, in all honesty, you look like you''re just in your 40s¡ª no, maybe evente or mid-30s! You look amazing for fifty! Right?" Kaley said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "I-I agree¡­ You don''t look like you''re in your 50s at all¡­"


    Mimi chuckled from the side, "You can keep telling her that but she''ll never believe you¡­ Believe me, we tried¡­"


    Dr. Lopez cleared her throat with a slight blush as she quickly hid her "device" away, "A-Again, enough with the jokes but why do I owe the visit? And Mimi, you just straight-up ran in the middle of your rounds yesterday! What happened?"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    I raised my hand slowly, "I¡­ I think I''m the reason for that¡­"


    "Oh?"


    On that note, I gave her the TL;DR version of our brief but chaotic stay on our campus, but I did leave out some very important bits about what happened between me and Chloe''s¡­ bits, forck of a better term.


    But yeah, we did touch on the misunderstanding that happened between them to straighten up the stories she heard and to hear Chloe''s side of things. And yeah, lemme tell you all that BOY~~~ she was so fucking pissed at those¡ªDr.


    Lopez''s own words¡ªdamn ugly-ass bitches, but the problem right now was that Chloe was already off the team while her supposed teacher who should also be dealt the same "punishment" was still their fucking manager, which was totally weird.


    Furthermore, Chloe had already be the university''s ck sheep of sorts and her "violent" tendencies were something really difficult to turn over even if it had only been a week since the incident happened, and because there were no other witnesses present at the time and it was her word against the whole swim team.


    And we can''t just drop Kaley between them all and tell them that Chloe was telling the truth because that would just make us look more like lunatics trying to bend their own version.


    Dr. Lopez was shaking her head as she was trying to figure out a way for her daughter, "This is really inexcusable and I''m also to me for this¡­ Dammit¡­ We need to convince them to re-open the investigation and¡ª"


    Chloe cut her off, "I-I don''t really care anymore, mom¡ª"


    "Don''t say that, you love swimming! You have the fastest record in¡ª"


    "Mom, we don''t evenpete with other schools and even though that''s a pretty pointless example now, it''s almost meaningless if I''m the only one in the ''team'' even if the truthes out and they somehow take me back¡­ I still have theke to swim around and I''ll find another thing to focus on¡ª"


    "Chloe¡­ We at least need to clear your name¡ª"


    Chloe suddenly looked ticked off, "Why? So you don''t get in trouble¡ª"


    "Chloe that''s not¡ª" Dr. Lopez''s chest heaved up as her face flushed but she took a deep breath andposed herself, "Listen¡­ I know that I''ve made a lot of mistakes as your mom and it''s totally understandable that you''re pissed at me but¡­ Y-You''re the only one I got¡­"


    "...!" Chloe nced at me momentarily before she turned back to Dr. Lopez.


    "I know I should not have taken the job of two people¡ªhonestly, it feels like a job for four people at this point, but¡­ I''m asking a lot of you to understand what I needed to do to keep us afloat and to have our needs met. I shouldn''tin but it has been difficult ever since your dad¡ª"


    "W-Wasn''t he supposed to help you¡ª"


    Dr.


    Lopez wore a difficult expression, "He is but¡­ I think you have an inkling as to what he''s been doing on the other side and even though him being there¡ªbecause of the agreement the Academy had with this university¡ªgives us some funds, I can''t bear to use them for our sake so I¡­ I use the credits we receive to purchase what it could as a uhh¡­ a top-off¡­ specifically for the girls he uhh¡­ you know, had his way with¡ª"


    I cut in with a bit of anger in my tone, "W-Wait, are you saying you''re paying them off to¡ª"


    "N-No! NO! I wouldn''t¡ª I-It looks like that a-and it is like that t-technically but t-that''s all I can do¡­ I know it''s bad, really bad¡ªwhat he''s doing, but the General holds him in high regard and I can''t do anything about it¡­" then she turned to Kaley, "And I also a-apologize for what happened to you¡­ No words or gifts can excuse what he did¡­"


    Kaley waved her off, "You shouldn''t be the one apologizing for it¡­ Besides, we''ve pretty much got more than even with him¡­ technically speaking¡­"


    I calmed down a fair bit, "Haaa¡­ Anyway, we are still stuck with him until we find more people with the same blood¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez''s ears perked up, "You''re looking for people with O- blood? Why?"


    "Its¡­"


    It was then that I told her part of the reason he was traveling with us but I made sure not to mention my revenge n against her husband because even though she hates his guts, casually dropping that I''d have his husband''s organs removed after torture was something she shouldn''t hear besides her daughter.


    I''ve gone on the deep end several times but this mother and daughter were sheltered in this ce like everybody else in it, and I didn''t think we were that close and/or they hated Lopez enough to hear my ns for him.


    Dr. Lopez was a little skeptical about what she just heard from me, "So, you''re saying that if we find more people¡ªno, two people that have the same blood as him that could also be in what''s his name? JP? As long as we have those people by his side, they can rece Gibson? He actually agreed to that?"


    "Exactly that. But you know, they should preferably be more¡­ hands-off."


    She nodded a few times, "My daughter''s definitely out of the picture, she''s not staying in that ce or following around another kid as a spare tire. But you know what? I''ll check the hospital records to see if there''s someone that fits the picture and would be willing to take the job but it''ll take a while."


    ''I guess I didn''t have to ask her...''


    I nodded approvingly, "Alright, I guess I''ll leave you up to that but we''ll still keep an eye out but don''t forget to check the records of peopleing in from the outside just to use the facilities¡ª"


    "I know, but I must ask something really, really important¡­"


    I tilted my head sideways slightly, "What is it?"


    All of a sudden, Dr. Lopez released an oppressive aura I''ve only ever felt from Marisha, Kaley''s Mom. It made Chloe and Mimi take in a deep breath and Dr. Lopez stood in front of me and leaned very close as she looked me in the eye:


    "What did you do to my daughter?"


    Chloe tried to cut in, "M-Mom! It''s none of your¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez red at Chloe with an eerie smile, "I''m not talking to you," then she turned back to me, "And I''m talking to you. I asked you a question. Do you want me to repeat myself?"


    "Dr. Lopez¡­ T-To be honest¡ª"


    "HMM?!"


    "I didn''t do anything at all¡­"


    "I''M GONNA ASK YOU TO REPHRASE THAT AND IF YOU LIE TO ME ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    "I really didn''t!"


    "LIAR¡ª"


    "Chloe did most of the work! I justid down¡­"


    "YOU¡ª Wut?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

 Chapter 909: Almost - Petty Revenge

    For the life of me, I dunno how Dr. Lopez figured out what happened between me and her daughter, Chloe, all the while our lie about her husband went over her head. If she was somehow psychic like Kaley and Marisha, I''d probably get it, but she wasn''t even in the same medical field as them.


    But yeah, people did say that honesty''s the best policy so I fucking said what I said.


    From her initial reaction, I 100% thought she''d strangle me to death or carve my heart out without surgical tools, but she just sat back down on her sofa wearing a difficult expression. Furthermore, it looked like I didn''t need to exin to her the kind of rtionship Kaley and I have, but it was stillplicated to not be able to get it 100% right from the first guess.


    "And you, you''re okay with that?" Dr. Lopez asked as she turned to Kaley.


    Kaley nodded with a smile, "Of course, we made sure to discuss things before we did everything else¡ª"


    "Wait¡­ Did you just say ''we''?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    Dr. Lopez couldn''t believe her ears, "So you mean¡ª Y-Yesterday night, you three did¡­ together¡­ while¡ª ugh¡­ I can''t believe I''m saying this¡­ You three did t-that together? Is what I''m hearing right?"


    Kaley nodded again, "Y-Yes, us three and him¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez had a minor heart attack, "Hold up¡ª"


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    At this point, Dr. Lopez was slowly unraveling what I thought was a nigh-unravble connection close to a cartel-like organization, but no one fucking expected what she said next:


    "W-Wow¡­ I''m actually happy for you, Mimi¡­ I''m surprised I thought for one that you''d grow old and lonely like me¡ª"


    Mimi couldn''t believe her ears as she was about to cry, "H-Hey! W-What was that for?! How do I r-respond to that?!"


    And Chloe instantly followed looking like she was about to throw down with her mom, "Y-Yeah! What the fuck?! Y-You get mad at me and you''re happy for her?! That doesn''t seem fair!"


    Dr. Lopez waspletely surprised by their reactions, "That''s not¡ª I was just¡ª It''s because you''re not even in your 20s¡ª"


    Mimi cut in with the cutest pout I''ve ever seen, "T-Then you''re saying it''s ok for me b-because I''m old?! Is that it?!"


    "N-No! NO! That''s not it at all, my goodness¡­ I was just¡ª Ugh¡­ The first time in a while that I managed to catch a break and this happens¡­ Haa¡­ Chloe, please listen¡­ It''s not that I''m mad at you because at the end of the day, since you''re already of age, it''s up to you about what you wanna do and¡­ you know¡­ "do". And this ce is just different so I worry that more rumors would spread about you¡ª"


    "Mom¡ª"


    "I''m not done. Listen, what I''d like for you to also understand is that I''m your mom and one of my jobs is to worry. Not just about the u-umm¡­ ''activity'' you have just partaken in but I worry a lot because that''s just what moms do, alright?"


    Chloe took a deep breath, "..."


    "Trust me, it could''ve gone way, way worse if the reason you did it with someone random¡ªnot them, before you ask¡ªwas just to spite me or act out because of what happened to you, but u-umm¡­ how do I say this¡­ But if the whole¡­ gang(?) is here and since it feels like they took great care of you and you''re already that close with them¡ªeven more than your friends¡ªno, your¡ª you know what I meant¡­ after just a day?


    And to add to that, Mimi''s on board a-and he¡­ he''s that boy with the statue and the awards¡ª I guess¡­ I guess it''s not that bad because I''ve made way~ worse choices when I was your age and that''s also one of the reasons I worry¡­ Like, a lot¡­ I keep repeating myself and I''m sorry


    "Mom¡­"


    "Look, they''ll be leaving in a few and I still need to catch a nap¡ªthank you for the cinnamon rolls and the cup of milk, by the way¡ªso I think you should spend your time with them a little bit more BUT I''ll promise you that I''ll take the night off so the two of us can make dinner for ourselves and be in our pajamas so we could watch one of MY favorite shows. Deal?"


    Chloe stifled augh, "Why are we watching Grey''s Anatomy again¡ª"


    "Ah-ah-ah! We''re watching all of it¡ªor whatever random season we have on myptop¡ªbecause you already had your fun and I was so rudely interrupted earlier. Is that clear?"


    "Y-Yes, mom¡­ C-Can I get a hug though?"


    Dr. Lopez chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "Nope."


    "But Moooom~"


    "You can hug me all you wantter but you should hug your new ''friends'' more because as I said earlier, they''ll be gone in a bit¡ª"


    I cut in as I gave her an offer she couldn''t refuse, "If you let her hug you right now, I''ll give you clear HD copies from Season 1 to Season 15¡ª everything before the world had gone to shit¡ª Woah! WOAH! WOAH! I SAID HUG HER! HUG CHLOE¡ª NOT ME! HEEELP!


    Wait... This feels nice actually¡­"


    "H-Hey! T-That''s my mom¡ª THAT''S SO WEIRD, STOP! STOOOP!"


    "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! ALL FIFTEEN SEASONS?!"


    At that point, Dr. Lopez just straight-up leaped onto me and almost broke the chair I was sitting on as she wrapped her arms around me and excitedly gave me pecks on my cheeks. I didn''t know¡ªwell, I do know to bepletely honest¡ªthat having copies of a certain show someone liked would be simr to having a golden ticket, the cure to cancer, or something simr.


    In any case, I was happy to make another person smile¡ªand it was an added bonus because it was Chloe''s mother¡ªand I could say that we were both scratching each other''s backs because she already volunteered for the favor I was about to ask her and I gave her one of the small things in life that she could enjoy and has a strong connection to.


    However, it was pretty obvious that being pampered by hugs and kisses by such a beauty¡ªdespite her age¡ªgot me a little excited, and I shit you not that I knew that she knew what was going on yet she stayed on me far longer than I thought any regr person would when they noticed I had a huge fucking erection.


    This would sound so fucking crass but that particr acronym going around in my head was definitely true in this regard.


    But before things went further, my radio buzzed and I heard Jesus'' voice telling me that they''d secured the package and the owner came with them by the entrance.


    Hearing that made me jump up from my seat and carry Dr. Lopez with me but I gentlyid her down as I replied to the MVP.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You really managed to convince him to let go of his ride?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It was pretty easy, actually. He never gets to drive outside anymore and it''s much better to walk around the campus than waste credits on gasoline. Anyway, what''s so special about this Adventure?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''ll see very soon¡ª I''ming out, won''t be long."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, even Kaley had the faintest idea about what was going on but I just looked so ecstatic about Jesus acquiring that vehicle, they weren''t able to stop me when I excused myself and left the hospital without them.


    But yeah, Lopez spotted me when I walked through the hospital doors but all his curses just went over my head as I walked back to my Raptor and fished out my trusty ol'' sledgehammer.


    ''Where''s Quinn and Tatiana? Oh, they''re already over there¡­''


    Lopez had the shock of his life when he saw me smiling devilishly while holding my sledgie, "Woah! Woah! I''m just asking you what are you doing in my wife''s¡ª"


    Ipletely dismissed him as I chuckled, "Don''t worry~ I didn''t fuck your wife if that''s what you''re really asking¡­"


    ''Didn''t lie¡­ technically¡­ as long as he didn''t ask about his daughter...''


    He looked relieved for a moment, "G-Good¡ª I mean, w-what are you doing there a-anyway? And did my daughter talk about me? Is she okay? She seemed to be avoiding me¡ª"


    I didn''t let him ruin my fun as I cut him off onest time, "Listen. I don''t want to meddle in your family''s business so why don''t you ask them yourself? Besides, I''m kinda busy here. Bother me one more time and I''ll see how far your head will fly if I hit you with this."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, chill man¡­"


    "Great! Leave me the fuck alone but don''t go too far because we''re leaving in a few..."


    "A-Alright, I''ll try getting in again to exin... Shit''s soplicated..."


    ''That''s your own fucking fault, dumbass... Cheating while you have that? Fucking idiot...''


    On that note, I jauntily made my way over to the group but to my disappointment, the owner I was looking for wasn''t the owner Jesus took with them even if the vehicle in front of me was the same Adventure I have in my memories.


    The "owner" looked a little nervous when he saw me stroll in with my sledgehammer, "U-Umm¡ª"


    I put my sledgehammer down and leaned on it as I looked him in the eye, "Who the fuck are you?"


    Then everyone else looked at the poor kid.


    "U-Umm¡­ Richard? Richard Sobito... J-Jr.?"


    "Ahh, fuck¡­ Where''s your dad?"


    "A-At work? L-Listen, they s-said they''d give me 100 credits on top of the 500 if Ie with them with my ride¡ª"


    "Really? This is YOUR ride? Your dad actually gave his prized vehicle to you?"


    "I-I got the keys and everything, alright? W-Who are you anyway?"


    I chuckled as I released copious amounts of murderous intent before retracting it almost immediately, "I''m the guy who''d give you an even 1000 right now if you run to your dad at this fucking moment and tell him that this is the fucking promised day and he''d better run here with all he got or else he''d need more than just a fucking paint job!"


    "Y-YES, SIR!"


    As soon as he shouted at the top of his lungs, he straight-up sprinted to where the College of Business was, the building where the IT Department was located, but one of the guards who heard the whole conversation had a better idea.


    "My guy, you''re the friend Andy has been talking about, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "I got you, bro¡­ Just need to make a PSA."


    "For real? How much¡ª"


    "Fuck that, I fucking hate the guy too¡ª Free of charge!"


    As soon as he walked back to the guardhouse of sorts, he made a public announcement that Richard Sobito Sr.''s Adventure was being towed for illegal parking and he only had a few minutes to appear and exin himself or else he''d be fined for hundreds of credits, and a tiny little scratch will be put on his "LDY KLLR" license te.


    Hearing that, I was already dying fromughter and as soon as I saw the motherfucker running for dear life while his son was following right behind, I made sure his eyes were on me as I swung my sledgehammer in full force, breaking the driver''s side window.


    After doing that, I could hear the faint "NOOOOO~" from several meters away but I wound up my sledgehammer for the second time and broke the windshield.


    ss shards were either on the ground or inside his rickety-ass vehicle but memories of me getting verbally abused, smacked in the head, and pinched in the ear for correcting him¡ªand almost getting run over because I was walking too slowly flooded my head.


    There was also a time when I was publicly humiliated for speaking against his shitty idea of bringing back into the curriculum programming sses that were already outdated just so that we''d have a general idea of what they experienced before in their time and what they went through.


    It probably sounded like a novel idea in his tiny little head but in the real world, doing that was just like shooting ourselves in the foot before running a marathon.


    In any case, I did as much damage as I could while using my sledgehammer¡ªand they still haven''t reached us due to the incline¡ªbut the look on his face when he saw me throw in a lit match on his prized vehicle after dousing it with gasoline was fucking priceless.

 Chapter 910: Money(Credit) Talks

    The moment the match made contact with the vehicle, it only took a second before it was engulfed in mes. The bastard whom I promised to return everything he did to me tenfold couldn''t believe his eyes for a moment as he fell on his knees and screamed every curse, slur, and hatefulment in my direction.


    At the same time, his son could only watch in horror while being several feet away from his father. He didn''t know what to do because he was basically stuck on this campus, and trying to make a run for it would be the stupidest decision he''d make except for pretending to be the owner of Sobito Sr.''s vehicle and selling it to Jesus andpany.


    But yeah, Sobito Sr. started shaking from anger as his face turned red and arge vein protruded from his forehead.


    It didn''t take long for him before he recognized who I was, but the group behind me and the way I was carrying myself in front of him¡ªtotally different from how I was before¡ªwas giving him enough reason to not attack me from the get-go.


    But I know full well that he''d rather let his son get hit by a car than have his shitty-ass Adventure get so much as a scratch so I gave him a little nudge that pushed him over the edge:


    "You''re not gonna hit me now, sir? I have the credits to buy that heap of junk, I have more to pay for your hospital bills several times over¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT¡ª"


    The dumbass actually lunged at me and chose an overhead punch to bury my face in, but to everyone''s surprise, he actually ''connected'' and sent me flying a few feet.


    "W-What¡ª" Even the fucking "LDY KLLR" couldn''t believe his eyes.


    At this point, I ''staggered'' as I tried to get up¡ªeven spitting out a mouthful of blood in the process¡ªbut with the number of guards present and my group actually about tomit bloody murder, my old fucking teacher was tackled to the ground by the guard that offered me a free announcement while the rest of his guard friends did everything they could to keep my group ''at bay''.


    "WHY ARE YOU CUFFING ME, HUH?! DIDN''T YOU SEE WHAT HE DID TO MY BABY?! CAN''T YOU SEE¡ª"


    "SIR! I''M AFRAID YOU''RE GRAVELY MISTAKEN¡ª"


    "MISTAKEN?! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT''S MY FUCKING ADVENTURE?! WHO''S FUCKING MISTAKEN HERE?! DO YOU NEED TO GET YOUR EYES CHECKED?! WHY''S NO ONE TRYING TO PUT OUT THE FIRE?! IT''S¡ª IT''S RUINED¡ª IT''S¡ª STOP!


    YOU''RE HURTING ME¡ª"


    "SIR! IT''S ANOTHER ISSUE TO SET FIRE TO YOUR OWN VEHICLE AND MAKE A MESS WITHIN CAMPUS GROUNDS BUT ASSAULT RESULTING IN BODILY HARM IS EXTREMELY FROWNED UPON¡ª"


    "D-DID YOU JUST SAY THAT¡ª WAIT A FUCKING SECOND¡ª" Sobito Sr. violently turned his whole body to look at his son who didn''t know what to do, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"


    "D-DAD! I CAN EXPLAIN¡ª"


    "THEN BETTER GET TO EXPLAINING! IF YOU DON''T EXPLAIN SHIT TO THEM NOW, YOU''D HAVE TO FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO LIVE, YOU FUCKING IMBECILE! TELL THEM THAT THIS CAR''S MINE!"


    I chuckled as I cut in, "Not anymore, it''s not! Your son just sold it to me for six hundred¡ªno, five hundred credits plus another thousand for bringing you here to witness this¡ª"


    "YOU CAN''T FUCKING DO THIS! THEY CAN''T FUCKING DO THIS, RIGHT?! THE CAR''S IN MY NAME! THE TRANSACTION SHOULD BE INVALID! WE DIDN''T SIGN UP ON ANYTHING! YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ME BACK FOR EVERYTHING¡ª"


    "Oh? Is that so?"


    "DON''T PLAY FUCKING DUMB! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE IN CUFFS, NOT ME!"


    I chortled, "Is everyone hearing this shit? Yeah? If anything, I was made to believe that your son was the proud owner of that vehicle and we paid for it in full¡ªwell, not the thousand I''ll be giving himter because that payment is for a different reason like the floating hundred that was supposed to be for you¡ªbut Mr. Security Guard, wasn''t that fraud or something simr?


    Should you arrest his son, too? I know the world has gone to shit along with itsws but am I being set up here? Is that what''s happening?"


    Sobito Jr. couldn''t believe his ears as he instantly tried to defend himself, "W-Wait! I can exin¡ª"


    Sobito Sr. tried to lunge at his son this time, "YOU LITTLE FUCKING SHIT¡ª HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU FUCK UP IN A SINGLE DAY?! COULD YOU EVEN TIE YOUR FUCKING SHOES, YOU DUMB FUCK?!"


    It was safe to say that Sobito Sr. was justpletely overwhelmed with anger and confusion¡ªhe''d snap at anything and everything while having a hard time making sense of all of it¡ªthough with more and more randoms popping up to see his disy, his image within the university was rapidly declining.


    In any case, seeing him like this already made me happy in a sense, so I ''tried'' to smooth over the situation given the amount of credits I have on myself:


    "Alright, this is muddy waters right now¡ªwith thews and shit¡ªbut why don''t I pay for the repairs¡ª"


    "REPAIRS?! YOU TORCHED IT! YOU FUCKING TORCHED IT! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING REPAIR THAT?!"


    I tried to look as non-threatening and angelic as possible, "Calm down, sir. That''s my bad, my apologies. My friends have dozens and dozens of this piece of crap¡ª"


    "PIECE OF CRAP?! THAT''S THE FIRST OF ITS KIND WHEN THEY FIRST IMPORTED¡ª UGH¡ª I KEPT IT MAINTAINED AND¡ª DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I SPENT ON IT?!"


    "That''s why I offered 500 credits for that junker¡ª"


    "CALL MY BABY A PIECE OF SHIT ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    "I said it was a junker, not a piece of¡ª"


    "YOU''RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! I KNOW YOU''RE DOING IT ON PURPOSE!"


    I rolled my eyes as I scoffed, "What else do you want from me? I thought I bought this donor car from your son in good faith and I should be able to do whatever I want to it because I thought it was mine, but turns out, it''s not and you stroll over here to punch me in the face and you kept calling me fuck all while I''m trying to remedy the situation. What am I supposed to do with that?"


    "T-THAT''S¡ª T-THIS IS ALL PREMEDIATED! I JUST KNOW IT! T-THE PSA! T-THAT''S MY PROOF! T-THIS IS ALL A FUCKING SETUP TO GET BACK AT ME FOR¡ª"


    I then cut in as the temperature in the immediate vicinity suddenly lowered, "Finally! That''s where I''ve been trying to get to! Exactly! Finish that sentence as to why I''m ''setting'' you up! Enlighten everyone¡ª"


    "T-THEN YOU ADMIT TO¡ª"


    "I''ll admit to buying stolen goods but don''t you think that there should at least be a reason as to why this sequence of unbelievable proportions happened to you randomly? Right? There should be a fucking reason!"


    "Y-You motherfucker¡­ You''ll pay for this¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Sure. How much? I can even buy your fucking house and kick you out on the same day if I wanted to. But yeah, I''ll stop our feud with me destroying your ''precious'' ride but if you want to go down swinging, I''ll ask our guard to uncuff you and we can have a go until one of us can''t fucking continue.


    Do remember that I won''t pay for your hospital bills after that and this time, I''ll fucking hit back until you''re on life support."


    "..."


    With the number of times I was sessful in making a rise out of him, I thought for sure that he''d take on the chance for us to throw down¡ªwell, get one-sidedly beaten by me¡ªbut he actually kept quiet but his whole body was still shaking in anger.


    I didn''t think I''d be this sessful with this petty revenge of sorts¡ªright when we were about to drive away¡ªbut I''ll take everything I could while ticking off a number of things from my bucket list.


    In a span of a single day, I was able to confirm that my friends in my old Alma Mater were still alive, had a solution for the donor situation, made new connections, discreetly installed a ry so na could have arger sphere of influence, and paid back my abusive college professor for all the shit he did to me when I was here.


    But yeah, Sobito Sr. was eventually taken away while I was simply fined for littering but I did pay his son a thousand dors plus extra because he''d definitely get kicked out once his dad was out of their ''prison'' of sorts.


    ''He''ll be out in the afternoon, probably¡­''


    Sobito Jr. just looked so drained at this point, but it was up to him if he''d make full use of the two thousand credits in his ount. He still looked like he was pissed at me for everything he caught strays from but even at the end of the world, money talks so I made him another offer he can''t refuse.


    "It''s gonna be hard to find another ce to stay¡ª"


    "No shit¡ª"


    "Says the one with two thousand credits on his ount. It''ll be so fucking easy, trust me. You can easily apply for free lodging in the dorms and if you have perfect attendance and you do some work, you won''t even need to spend a single credit I gave ya."


    "That''s true, but..."


    "I have one more job for you though¡ª"


    "Enough, dude¡ª"


    "I''ll add another thousand to your ount: five hundred now and the other five hundred if you do a good job when wee back and before you ask, we''re leaving in a few¡ª"


    "Anything, dude. Anything, just¡ª"


    "Keep an eye on your dad for me. Being an idiot as he is, he''ll definitely try to do anything to my friends while we''re away so, if you see him doing shady shit and whatnot, I''m gonna ask you to run interference and report to the guards any suspicious behavior.


    He won''t be able to do anything to you because punching me is definitely a stain on his record so all you need to do is have some fucking balls to stand up to your father and you''ll be a hero of sorts for trying to stop him with whatever means possible."


    "That''s¡­"


    "Seriously? You sold his car behind his back and you don''t wanna do some spy shit?"


    He looked away and thought for a moment before he turned to me, "Y-You''re not from here, r-right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "C-Can you get me out?"


    "What are you trying to say? This ce is¡ª"


    "Horrible, this ce is horrible. I''m willing to give back everything you sent to me if you get me out."


    "Pfft¡­"


    "What''s so funny?"


    "Nothing¡­ Why don''t you do the job I assigned to you first and we''ll see after that? Deal?"


    "Deal."

 Chapter 911: Back On The Road I

    After an hour or so, everyone had finally gathered by the gate where I torched a certain professor''s precious ride¡ªbut just to himself¡ªthough the friends I''d be leaving in the meantime were present except for a select few: Chloe, Dr. Lopez, Ron, and Allyssa.


    The first two had solid reasons for not sending us off but we did a proper goodbye when Dr. Lopez treated the few scratches I sustained from throwing myself on the ground. And for the other two, they had their own issues to deal with but I did leave my school ID to Mimi which she clutched like her life depended on it.


    She was in tears as I was saying goodbye, "S-Stay safe, a-alright? Y-You bettere back! You promised!"


    I smiled as I ruffled her hair, "Yep! Just don''t forget about the things I just told you about, alright? If anything happens, give me a call¡ªbut if I don''t answer, call the numbers on the sat phone I gave you, and don''t hand it over to Ben because he''ll definitely sell it for a slice of cheese¡ª"


    Ben cut in while shaking his head, "C''mon, dude~ You''re not gonna let me live that down, huh?"


    Cass added, "Cut him some ck, alright?"


    "Nope! Well~ This is it, yeah? These goodbyes are pretty stupid because we''ll definitely see each other in a couple of weeks¡ªor maybe even earlier, so just be ready to drop anything and everything in a drop of a hat, alright?"


    But as we were about to set off, Andy creepily slithered in and whispered like he was dealing drugs, "Bro¡­"


    "What?"


    "The thing uh¡­ You know, the thing you promised me?"


    "What thing?"


    He couldn''t believe what I was saying, "Y-You know! T-The thing!"


    "Ah~ Right. Clean your fucking mess of a room!"


    "W-Wut?"


    I rolled my eyes as he didn''t get it the first time, "Clean. Your. Mess. Of. A. Room.


    And. You. May. Find. Some. THING.


    Over. There! Get it?!"


    "Oh¡ª OHHHH! LOVEYADUDESEEYOULATERBYE~!"


    Completely ignoring how Andy beat Eminem or Ez Mil for a second there, I gave everyone a farewell upward nod as I waved them goodbye before I rolled up my windows and asked the guards to open the gates for us.


    And as they did, the guard who assisted me earlier gave me a subtle nod as well but I bet he''ll be shitting his pants when he discovered that I gave a sneaky deposit into his ount.


    With that said, Jesus and his crew were the first ones to head out before we followed, and we all adjusted our radios to the same frequency as each other''s.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mic check, mic check¡­ Everyone on Channel 777?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [C''mon, are you making fun of me or what?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey! I''m honoring you, don''t you like this number? You had it tattooed on ya!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! Jesus, just admit that¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! 777 is another one of ours! I''m just number 7, alright?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Don''t you believe in the Holy Trinity?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [The what now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Fuck you, I wanna be mad but that''s clever.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What are you two talkin'' about? Are you not hearing me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You know, the father, the son, and the holy spirit¡ª Read the fucking bible if you want to learn¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where would I even find one?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Dude, we just came from a school that probably has a million copies of them! You could''ve tripped on one the moment we got in!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ha. Ha. Funny, dude.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If you really wanna know I still have the whole thing memorized like that movie. Alright: In the beginning¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Stop! Stop! The hymnals are still ringing in my head! Stop this madness!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU GUYS SHOULD''VE SEEN HOW MEG RECOILED WHEN SHE HEARD YOU¡ª STOP! OW! IT''S FUNNY! NOTHING TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Is this how everyone does things on the road?! Please, if you''re gonna mess around, let me drive in front¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haaa¡­ The moment he gets on his pwetty whittle Waycowt~ Boo fucking hoo! We know how to multitask and make things fun, Mr. Bilbo!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What did you just call me?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jesus, it''s Balrog! Not Bingbong¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I heard it''s bblblblbblblblbl¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright! I get it! I''ll shut up!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAAAAAAAAAAAAA! THEN HE GETS MAD! LIGHTEN BADA-BING BADA-BOOM! You''ll have plenty of time to assert dominance! Just not here! HAHAHAHAHAHA!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, I could only imagine what''s it like inside JP''s Raycolt right now because I''m pretty sure that his passengers were definitely walking on eggshells. But yeah, we were back on our current seating arrangement in my Raptor though Meg was sitting on the back with Isaac and Jose.


    She was sharing some of the things they managed to buy from the general store and it did have a few interesting items that people pawned off in exchange for credits.


    But yeah, we still spent ten or so minutes driving down a steep road just to be a good distance away from the university because it was a fuckingrge area, it was akin to a small or medium-sized city without the required poption count for it to be ssified as one.


    I could''ve spent more time in it to make sure that my old professor hate his fucking life, but I got plenty of shit to do than to satisfy myself with petty revenge.


    And after driving close to an hour, we passed by two abandoned strip malls, several auto shops, and arge factory that produces a variety of sodas but we didn''t even bother checking them out because almost all of them were picked clean by the soldiers on patrol and random survivors we passed by where some of which were actually living in them.


    It was not in our ns to strike up a conversation with these groups living in these parts but the way they were guarded from seeing us told me that they didn''t feel particrly friendly towards the De Leon Family or the military.


    And since we looked like a culmination of both, we weren''t gonna waste our time poking a beehive for a couple of cans of soda.


    But after passing through an exit/entryway for an expressway, it became pretty obvious that we''d be exploring the PVE or maybe even the PVP area of sorts because of the smell that was beginning to get stronger and stronger.


    I didn''t think that being in the university wouldpletely erase that smell from our noses but the scent of decaying corpses had been the norm for a while so in a sense, it was more our speed.


    Then Jesus gave us one of hismandments:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright: Listen up! The dead are the dead but the living are the ones we should be wary about. Most of them won''t bother us if we don''t bother them but if someone''s trying to rush in with a brick or a Molotov cocktail, we either speed off or shoot them on the spot. The ce we''re strolling in is a little hostile but with our numbers and the little bit of rep we have, they just might let us go.


    If not, better safe than sorry.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ve sent some of my men in these parts and they''ll probably recognize me once I switch over to our designated frequencies¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I believe you, Baron, I do. But sometimes, some of your soldiers do interpret your orders differently and in a different radio frequency than what you told them. I know we''re cool with some of them but vignce at its highest, alright?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A-Alright¡­ I''ll keep that in mind¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we drove into this small township of sorts where its biggest highlight was a huge mall that was barricaded to shit where some people were standing above wooden tforms to see over their deterrents.


    Some of them were even present on the roof but we can see another group searching corpses for supplies and whatnot while another was lounging atop a couple of buses where music was sting from a crappy stereo.


    It looked to be an area upied by mostly civilians but luckily enough, they just watched us drive past them without any issue.


    In any case, after going a few blocks forward, we passed by several bus stations and smaller general stores but the undead we were seeing were the only ones stuck among the barricades or under crashed vehicles.


    I could clearly see Jose scanning around with his rifle in hand at the back, while Kaley and Tatiana were ready to roll down each of their windows in case anyone tried to get the jump on us.


    ''Seems chill, so far¡­''


    But yeah, for some reason, the public markets were always the source of infestations and in regard to this area, their public market had two stations for public transportation vehicles namely: for jeepneys and for tricycles.


    I didn''t mention that particr detail without reason because since these stations needed a lot of space to operate, it made the public market a much bigger area to contain the dead. Not to mention, they were located further in and there was now a ramp-like wall of undead keeping most of them in, trickling a few here and there to bother the survivors in the immediate vicinity.


    If I was living close to such a den of potential specials, I would''ve mobilized several groups for this disaster waiting to happen but I''m guessing they weren''t as armed as us to clear the whole area. However, JP''s voice had once again echoed through our radios and he sounded more pissed than usual.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [These fuckers¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What got your panties in a bunch this time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ve sent groups to clear this ce before and I was told it was done but¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s gotten worse?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Y-Yeah¡­ I''ve given them rewards too and¡ª I gotta send a report to my dad¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You could do that now or WE can do itter."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What do you mean?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡­ It''s a few hundred zombies¡ª700 tops. We can do it in an hour or so if we don''t burn them but if you''re so inclined to tell your father about the mess you made¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mess I made? Excuse me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re in charge of the people who told you that this ce is clear and if you handed them the rewards without definite proof, that''s also on you. I know how your ce works. But wouldn''t it be better to send two reports of what you discovered and what you did to take care of the mess?"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 912: Back On The Road II - Got a match, bro?

    In a few minutes, we positioned our vehicles in a way to upy a small part of the concrete walls¡ªmaking it our safe zone of sorts¡ªbut we did have my Raptor in between everything and hugging said wall so we could bypass the walls of flesh that would probably need something close to an hour to clear off.


    At the same time, this formation allowed the cadets to be at the truckbed for reload duty while everyone else not in charge of jumping down and invading the dead''s space would be in charge of maintaining our safe zone and keeping the live ones away.


    Well, JP''s Raycolt seemed to be doing that job for us just fine but Tatiana, Quinn, and Isaac were ready to follow after me the moment I jumped.


    And so I did.


    The moment my boots hit the floor, Kaley and Jose made my job easier for me as they gave me a ton of space by shooting down the undead that weren''t in my peripheral vision. Though the ones that were in it had already fallen down with a fucked up little bowl made with their bloody rotting dome.


    With that said, the undead had definitely noticed their intruders as their heads turned in our direction, but I had already advanced several feet and was cutting down their allies one by one.


    In any case, I figured that Quinn was a little closer to me because literal heads flying like it was a normal thing was probably her handiwork.


    But yeah, I could hear the sound of des cutting through flesh and bone but the oh-so-familiar tap dancing could be heard from the distance.


    It was the telltale signs that a group of sprinters were making their way towards us but Kaley and Jose didn''t waste time to thin them out as much as possible.


    However, from their vantage point, the waiting sheds and a few stalls would be blocking their view, so I jumped back a few steps and drew my pistol before I aimed at thenky bodies running like an infamous pirate who defeated his ex-wife in court before pulling the trigger.


    In regards to these sprinters, the initial shock of seeing theming at you with speed could instill fear and make anyone else freeze from doing anything but the way its movement pattern was so predictable¡ªthey literally run straight at ya, unless there were irregrs in the mix¡ªit was just a matter of properly lining our sights to the heads of the targets before getting mauled to death.


    We didn''t have to predict where they''d turn abruptlypared to the damn annoying ferals so I easily put three down before I holstered my pistol and beheaded thest one Kaley left for me. But before it hit the floor, I flicked my wrist and made another bloody bowl from its head as my de easily cut through it.


    But yeah, we were quickly piling bodies left and right so Isaac took it upon himself to make the cadets do the dirty work.


    "EI~! CAN''T YOU SEE WE''RE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE?! PEE-PEE AND POO-POO, JUMP DOWN AND CLEAR THE FLOOR!"


    "T-That''s us, right?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    Quinn abruptly turned her head after cleaving two deadheads in half before shouting at the top of her lungs, "JUMP DOWN OR I''LL DRAG BOTH OF YA!"


    "Y-YES, MA''AM!"


    "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!!"


    "You guys are so useless!"


    To my surprise, it looked like Megan was the first one to jump down with thick gloves on but to make things a little easier for the group, I began to advance a little forward while Kaley and Jose tried aiming for the dead that were a little further in.


    It was to somehow draw their attention to different points because if every single one of them swarmed us by the entrance we made for ourselves, we''d have to climb back to start over or it was a definite game over.


    In conjunction, Quinn did the same thing but in a more barbarous manner while Tatiana and Isaac fanned inside to make sure that the cadets were well taken care of.


    But yeah, I made sure I was only a few feet away from Quinn though I yelled at the other two to slowly whittle away the dead that was close to the flesh wall so that they''d have fewer blindspots to guard from and a more central area to gather the corpses.


    On my side of things, I was trying to put one down with a single stroke but with the majority of them had their chewed-up arms stretched out, they''d need two to three shes in total for my own safety.


    I''d usually need one stroke to lop off their arm, sidestep, and then go for the kill, but with the way they were side by side, I''d have to be a little extra careful about the direction I''m going.


    However, a sudden thrust with the right opening and distance would always drop them while leaving a coin hole that could fit a few quarters in their foreheads though Quinn would just eviscerate everything in her path.


    It''s one of the reasons I was a few feet away from her because her huge poleaxe/halberd hybrid needed some space to swing around and it would be difficult to fight side by sidepared to when I''d do it with Tatiana.


    In any case, her kill count at the moment was bigger than mine but her energy expenditure was also more than double mine. With her frame, her weapons of choice, and the way she was moving would definitely make any regr person fatigued or exhausted, and even though she looked like she could go on for hours, a little tweak here and there would do wonders.


    It''s just a matter of having a safe space to teach her stuff and most importantly, if she didn''t turn any time that we were alone to jump on me, I could''ve started going on with this idea much sooner.


    "MOVE!"


    "What¡ª"


    "FUCK IT!"


    Before I had the chance to react, Quinn''s muscles bulged before she swung in a wide arc and bisected every deadhead in the immediate vicinity and then some. All I could do was jump back to keep myself intact but I still felt a violent breeze after it was over.


    However, amidst the sounds of metal tearing through flesh and suppressed gunshots, Jose let loose a 40mm Low-Velocity, High-Explosive Shell from the M203 attached under his rifle, causing a row of small connected shops to copse onto itself.


    And following after, Kaley''s firing rhythm suddenly changed¡ªand if it did, it usually meant that there was something over there that we should be wary about, but that something didn''t expect an explosive shell to greet it this mid-morning.


    But yeah, that something definitely had some friends on the inside and this something¡ªwell, parts of it that remained intact¡ªwas eventually revealed after the smoke cleared.


    It was this¡­ u-umm¡­ Buddha-like blob without its head and the main upper parts of its body but what''s left of it and its copsed lower half seemed to have something inside of them that a certain angry chef would definitely be angry for.


    I had only caught a glimpse because I still had dregs to take care of, but those thick fucking intestines squiggling around like they shouldn''t were probably either from the victims it ate or the ones that got stuck inside its huge frame.


    Trust me, it was bigger than those influencers who demanded free seats in an airne and I was pretty surprised I didn''t spot them when they were that fucking huge.


    It''s like the most fucked up version of a kangaroo''s pouch where instead of its young being the only one that coulde and go, it was like an open house of sorts where a maximum of six to eight people coulde and check out the ce.


    In any case, it seemed to be dead aside from its tenants but Kaley and Jose now had another thing to keep an eye on instead of us.


    We were still in the driveway and the parking area of sorts so as long as we didn''t try to get inside the main area of the public market, we''d be rtively okay because I fucking doubt their legs would be able to support their body.


    It''s just that there was this deep growling/croaking sounding from the inside and it was making everyone else a little uneasy.


    However, there was always a modern solution for modern problems but if this solution was presented before the world ended, we''d be charged with several felonies or something simr.


    Yeah¡­ it was arson.


    Before I even had the chance to give an order, Brix, one of Jesus'' crew members jumped down with two jerry cans and a satchel of stic bottles filled to the fucking brim with the same shit, and he made his way toward me with this eerie grin:


    "Got a match, bro?"

 Chapter 913: Back On The Road III - Weapons Of Mass Destruction

    On any other day, I would''ve been totally against torching an area that could possibly contain loot or any other essential items, but we were on a schedule and the return for investing a few hours to sift through their bodies and gunk wasn''t worth it.


    This would soundpletely contradictory to my hoarding mentality but everything a public market could possibly have, we already have¡ªor have the means to make whatever they were ourselves.


    But yeah, we have one major problem because Brix the fucking dumbass was so excited tomit a felony, we were still several feet away from where Kaley and Jose nuked that bloater or whatever it was, AND the same dumbass dropped everything in his person to carry as much gasoline as possible.


    The motherfucker didn''t even have a screwdriver to defend himself and he was now stuck behind me like he was a fucking trailer where I needed to change up my movement pattern so he''d fucking survive.


    "B-Bro! Did you hear me?!! Do you have a fucking match?!"


    "I heard you just fine! Can you stop getting in the way first?! I appreciate the initiative but you''re like the human embodiment of a premature ejaction! Can''t youe a littleter?! We''re still busy here!"


    "That''s oddly specific, don''t ya think? So about that light¡ª"


    "DUCK DOWN!"


    "WOAH! WOAH! WATCH THE MOHAWK! WATCH THE FUCKING MOHAWK!"


    "DOES YOUR BRAIN STOP FUNCTIONING WHEN YOU''RE OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE?!"


    "Ah¡ª I kinda do, yeah¡­ Not gonna lie¡ª Woah! That''s a big one¡ª Jesus fucking Christ, your girl can fucking shoot! Don''t you shit yourself when those bullets fly past your head?! Jeez¡ª"


    "HAVEN''T YOU FOUND THE TIME TO RUN BACK, YET?!"


    "HUH?! I STILL NEED TO BRING THESE OVER THERE, RIGHT?!"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª EVER HEARD OF THROWING?!"


    "W-What if I miss?"


    It took everything, I mean EVERYTHING for me to reply to that, "YOU KNOW THAT FIRE SPREADS, RIGHT?!"


    "Ah¡ª Oh. OHHH! THAT''S WHY YOUR GROUP WAS LOOKING AT ME WEIRD! Sorry man, I saw you hackin'' and shin'' I got too excited and jumped down¡ª"


    "JUST FUCKING THROW THEM OVERHEAD!"


    "R-RIGHT! RIGHT! FIRE IN THE HOLE! HAH! I''VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THAT¡ª GCK!"


    "YOU FUCKIN'' DUMBASS!"


    To my surprise, Tatiana had already made her way over to us and she pulled Brix from behind right before she pped his face with the handle of a worn-out machete.


    And from the way his face lit up, the machete seemed to belong to him and it was thrown over by the guys on the other side of the wall¡ªthen delivered by Tatiana¡ªfor him to somehow take down a few bodies for the fuck up he justmitted.


    "Now we''re fuckin'' talkin''!"


    Before I told him what to do, the guy just straight-up hacked an unsuspecting biter''s head off. But since his machete needed a whetstone or aplete recement, he swung down thrice on its neck and then wound for a bigger swing before he managed to seed.


    However, he knew full well that his machete''s underperforming¡ªbut there was an inkling he just wanted to copy me for some reason¡ªso he resorted to aiming at the spot just above their ears before pulling out and moving onto another victim.


    Sometimes, all a dull de needed was a lot more force or just to be used as a blunt weapon, because metal was still metal and with enough weight and momentum, it could still crack open a skull to do enough damage.


    In any case, we heard another deep growl from inside the public market so Kaley and Jose took it upon themselves to light up the unknown by shooting the jerry cans Brix threw overhead a few moments ago.


    All it needed was a small spark and it only took a few seconds before the fire caught onto the mmable materials that most of the stalls in the public market were made of.


    But on another rted note, fire needed a bit of time to do enough damage to kill a walker or render it immobilepared to bullets, so imagine everyone''s faces when another batch of sprinters¡ªwhich were now burning¡ªcame from the public market like a fucked up entrance of a football team where''d they run through a fire instead of their team banner.


    At this point, it seemed like our arsonist route came back to bite us in the ass, and I didn''t even have to yell at Brix to turn tail and run.


    However, everyone else who jumped down still had their sidearms plus everyone else from above who had ess to their primary weapons¡ªincluding Kaley and Jose, of course¡ªso our attempt to save a lot of time cost us using more fuel and more bullets than necessary because going toe to toe with a ming group of sprinters would make us sustain only burns if we were extremely lucky.


    But yeah, on a darker note, it''d save everyone else a bit of time if somehow someone got bitten because the one that took them out took the time to burn themselves right after.


    In any case, I was more frightened at the fact that the cadets who just got their brand-new firearms pretty recently were shooting above my head because the only person I''d allow to do that was Kaley¡ªprobably even Jared or Lawrence but they weren''t here.


    This would sound a bit contradictory and a little controversial but between two random people that I''d have to trust my life to, I''d choose the one with the worn-out gun instead of the sparkly one with the mall ninja vibe.


    Kaley wasn''t using a worn-out rifle by any means but she definitely had worn out several barrels, firing pins, and many other internal parts of her rifles so I trust her with my life.


    Those fucking kids? No offense but I''d rather see them use those rifles as clubs than to shoot over my head or god forbid, a few centimeters away from me.


    But after clearing the surprise min'' hot runners and then some, the rest of the dregs became a breeze despite that warm feeling on our skin due to the fire we just made. That ze wouldn''t die anytime soon but I took onest look at the corpses on our feet before I wiped my de and climbed over the wall to the other side.


    And to be perfectly honest, it was actually harder to pull Quinn up than talking to Brix or clearing that horde, but my work on my poker face saved me because I would''ve received a beating if Quinn saw my lifting face when I was pulling her up.


    ''Do I have to be fucking her to lift her without issue??? This is madness¡­''


    In any case, after a skirmish such as this, I made it a point to pick up all our spent casings, reload everyone''s mags, wipe down our equipment, check ourselves for scratches and whatnot for everyone''s safety, etc.


    Thankfully no one was hurt and was now enjoying a celebratory chocte bar or shot of strong alcohol, but the one deep in the dumps was JP.


    It was because after the dust had settled, he began to contact his father to give a proper report, and to my surprise, an actual apology and ountability for his actions, taking most, if not, all of the me for the mess his men made that we had to clean up ourselves.


    And after that, he looked to be so fucking distraught because he had been at it since day one so if his men would lie about this shit, what else did they lie to him about?


    He could probably check the ones pretty close by but what about the people he sent on expeditions far out? How many of them were doing their jobs properly or cking off and just taking the rewards whileughing at his back?


    Even in the old world, that shit was literally disobeying a direct order and grounds for punishment or severe disciplinary action but now, all he could do was send a report because he was ordered toe with me for an apprenticeship of sorts.


    He did look like he wanted to drive back to straighten things out but just the general vibe around him right now also told me he lost a bit of that air of authority and pride around him.


    That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the context or situation but as I said earlier, currently, that was not his job though this discovery could be a can of worms on the General''s te.


    I nudged him with my elbow, "Do you at least know the people you sent here?"


    He sighed deeply, "I need to check my logbook back home because I rotate them once in a while to avoid shit like this but when did they start colluding to get free shit?"


    "I''d hate to ask this but how many times did you order your people over to this ce?"


    "I¡­ I''m not exactly sure but it''s plenty of times because the zeds don''t just stay in one ce so there are plenty of times where I''d have to send a bunch of people to ces such as this to clear them out and report back. It''s just that¡­ It''s just that¡ª"


    "They just closed it off with those corpses and called it a day¡­"


    "Exactly."


    "What did your father say though?"


    "He¡ª He sounded disappointed at first but he kinda calmed down when I told him you guys took care of it.


    He started praising me, basically giving me all the glory for what you guys did, but I cut him off and told him I just reloaded mags and shot fifteen of them, and then he became quiet¡­ But yeah, he said he''d look into the matter because I gave him copies of my reports and I hate to say this but I''m relieved we aren''t there because if The General gets quiet like that, he''s fucking pissed.


    Everyone will take the fucking me if no one would step for it¡­"


    "I see¡­" then I pulled out two candy bars from my pockets, "Alright, want some Kit Kats or a Klondike?"


    "The fuck¡ª"


    "I rmend the Kit Kats but both have already melted but it''s either this or you wallow in your self-pity a bit more. Again, I''d choose the former from the choices but you do you. A stain in your record is a stain on your record, you either let that get to you or get more stars so that they can''t say shit when it''s all over, and this time, I''d choose thetter option."


    "..."


    "JP?"


    "..."


    "Fuck it, Jameson Prometheus¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it! Don''t you have any Warheads?!"


    "Oh! The candy or¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, THE CANDY!"


    "Ah, I could''ve shown you my weapons of mass destruction¡ª"


    "YOU HAVE A FUCKING NUKE¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, NOT! I WANTED TO BUT I CAN''T BUY IT IN A DICK''S SPORTING GOODS, CAN I?! YOU DON''T HAVE TO SHOVE IT IN MY FACE, YOU KNOW?! I''m already on several watch lists for googling that¡­"


    "..." JP could only nkly stare at me as he was so fucking bewildered from that exchange.


    Then I went back like it was nothing, "Oh! We have Yakees! Milder than Warheads and it kinda dyes your tongue in different colors and you can also¡ªwait, no¡­ you can''t swallow the gum after¡­ I''m pretty sure."


    This time, it seemed like something fizzled inside his head because one of his eyes started twitching for no reason.

 Chapter 914: Back On The Road IV - Mysterious Ways

    Seeing JP BSOD''ing in front of me was fucking hrious but we heard something copse from behind us, and it was some of the support beams inside the public market that was keeping it together.


    It sustained enough damage for it to copse on its own but what we didn''t think would happen after that was a much bigger ming blob plopping down the stairs and rolling over its minions that tried to protect itself.


    But yeah, due to the damage it also sustained, it broke open and scattered like a snowball that wasn''t pressed together hard enough, and more than a dozen assorted limbs poured out in every direction.


    ''Was it hanging by the roof?''


    However, it didn''t take long before we spotted a few deadheads¡ªthat were inside the blob¡ªthat survived the mes and the digestive fluids as they tried to move in whichever direction they could with what was left of them.


    I wasn''t sure that they''d reach far with those rotting stumps so anyone who didn''t barf at the sight pulled out their guns and put them out of their misery.


    In any case, JP was still sulking as I turned back to him and I thought he was contemting whether he was worthy of eating the sour candy I gave to him. This one blunder totally took out whatever his title gave him away but I couldn''t help but feel a little bit of sympathy because I was exactly like this¡ªbut not totally¡ªbefore.


    "Listen, I know what you''re fucking feeling and it fucking sucks¡­ Trust me, I know¡ªlike, I really know¡­ I''m the biggest perfectionist there was but I learned that even though the idea of everything being perfect was supposed to be the end-all, it could do more harm than good."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Well, look at you."


    "What¡ª"


    "You made one mistake¡ª"


    "A HUGE mistake¡ª"


    "It still counts as one! Get it? It still counts¡ª Nevermind, I''ll deal with that other issueter¡ª But what I''ve learned is that I should''ve focused more on what I can still do correctly instead of what I did wrong."


    "Didn''t you just say the same thing earlier?"


    "Yeah, something like that¡ª"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Because I felt like it wasn''t getting through to you."


    "...!"


    "Did that one get through?"


    "..."


    "It did, huh? That''s a start¡­ Look, as much as I''d hate to admit it, we''re simr in this sense. Trust me, it took me more than words for things to get through my thick skull and it wasn''t worth it. It''s hard to listen to advice when you''re set on your own path but that''s just how it is sometimes.


    I''m not telling you to follow every word I say¡ªthough it''s highly rmended, but yeah, following your own path doesn''t mean that the path everyone else took was wrong and you have to be different every step of the way."


    JP started to nod a few times before he stood up in front of everyone:


    "U-Umm¡­ Excuse me, everyone¡­ I need to say something but it''s more inclined to my¡ªno, more inclined to the group of cadets I''m traveling with. Listen up¡ªno, please listen to me: I fucked up and I''m sorry. That''s all," JP mentioned before giving them a bow.


    "Umm..."


    "..."


    "Sure..."


    "Ha..."


    "..."


    "You''ve done nothing wrong, Baron¡ª"


    JP cut Lucas off, "Please, don''t call me that too. As of now, I''m relinquishing my title and I''m starting over. And to prove that I''m fucking serious, I''m gonna hand over the keys to the Raycolt to the person who contributed the most from our side: Megan!


    Megan tilted her head sideways, "Me? Are you sure?"


    "You were the first one to jump and everyone followed after you. You didn''t kill as much of the deadpared to the other two who jumped down but you followed orders to the dot and¡ª"


    James #1 protested, "W-W-Wait, she wasn''t even ordered to jump down!"


    James #2 followed, "Yeah! We were!"


    Megan rolled her eyes, "And you two were staring at each other people thought you were gonna fucking kiss!"


    The two eximed at the same time, "We weren''t¡ª"


    Seb cut in after shaking his head, "Just let Megan have it. I didn''t think we''d go about the ownership of the Raycolt this way but it''s fun. I like it."


    Ruben followed, "Who''s the Baron now, though?"


    Almost everyone from their group answered, "No one!"


    JP nodded, "Yeah, we have to figure out a new way to¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled/scoffed from the side and said mockingly, "Aww~ You guys are so cute, adorable~ Can we fucking move on now because it''s already noon and there''s huge fucking fire right behind us AND WHY THE FUCK ARE WE HAVING A HEART TO HEART IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS FUCKING SHIT HOLE?! CAN''T WE FIND A QUIET AND COOL PLACE TO TAKE A BREAK?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "N-Noted¡­"


    I chuckled as I ordered everyone to get ready to move out, "Two minutes tops, alright? We still have plenty of time before sundown but we should be on the move five minutes ago."


    In any case, it was a little heartwarming to see them like that but in all ounts, Quinn was right. Not only did we have to change locations for what she mentioned earlier, but we also caused quite amotion and as much as our armed convoy was a deterrent to hostile groups, there were some suicidal dumbasses or desperate people out there that we should be wary of.


    We could probably take care of them but it would be better if there was no fight at all.


    Taking care of the dead was one thing but raiders or something simr was a whole different story.


    On that note, Jesus and his crew led the way as everyone else followed but I soon discovered that the roads they were using weren''t as straightforward as I thought.


    If anyone used the same path as us, we''d receive multipleints or usations that we were lost because it''d be way easier to follow a GPS instead of what Jesus and his crew were doing.


    But yeah, it sounds funny but we literally let Jesus take the wheel because he knew more about the roadspared to ours, and he''d give mementary for each detour or abrupt turn he''d use. It was the weirdest tour I''ve been on but it was the smoothest ride we''ve been on, rtively speaking.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sorry, my children¡­ Heh¡­ We could''ve saved 30 minutes if we used that road but lemme tell ya, crazies over there and they''d literally drop boulders on your cars just to get your attention. Been there once and never again. D''you know how rare paint is these days?! They''re lucky we''re trying to pull a steampunk/ragged/Mad Max motif or we''d have smoked their asses!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right! Tell them about the bar, dude! Tell them about the bar! The titty bar!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah~! The bar! I remember! That was insane! It''s on a different route, unfortunately, but that''s the only ce I''d return to if I could! Best service hands down!


    Got apdance, a blowjob, a titjob, a rimjob, and all kinds of jobs plus anal for the low, low price of a six-pack! It''s kinda weird that the one who sucked me took off her dentures first but it was amazing¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BLECH!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [EWWW~!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [JESUS, WHAT THE FUCK?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HEY! HEY! DON''T KNOCK IT TILL YOU TRY IT! NOT ONLY THAT MY PUBES ARE SAFE BECAUSE THEY DON''T GET PULLED OUT BY THEIR TEETH, BUT I''D RATHER HAVE NO TEETH THAN TEETH WITH BRACES BECAUSE I DAMN NEAR LOST MY DICK WHEN I WAS BLOWN BY HER DAUGHTER! NOT AGAIN! NOPE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That ce is insane! C-Can we d-drop by¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOOOOOOOOOO! HAVE SOME SELF-RESPECT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Well, fuck you kids! I share some intimate shit and you do this to me! I didn''t even tell you about this ce where they have bound zombies you could stick your dick in¡ª I never did it, before you sick fucks asked, but that ce is fuckin'' wild~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "And~ All of that''s gonna be burned inside my head. Thanks, Jesus¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anytime! I got more, if you want¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh! Better space them out, you know¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right, right¡ª Oh! Here we are! Just to our left, it''s a pretty safe space but we''d need to leave a few people guarding our cars. We have 30 minutes or so¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What is this ce?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Well, used to be a cockpit arena but they ran out of cocks so they''re making people fight each other. Kinda like Mr. Cuervo''s pad but a little less regted. Don''t worry, I know all of them.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, Jesus took us to a ce that looked like a budget version of the Roman Colosseum, and the whole ce didn''t even have a fence and there were several groups of people parked in clusters all around it.


    Some of them were doing drugs, having sex, keeping watch, or just patiently waiting for a deadhead to stumble upon them so they could blow its brains out while jealously hearing the cheers from the inside.


    We definitely garnered a lot of attention when we rolled up but a good majority of the people outside were ecstatic to discover Jesus was leading our armed convoy. Out of all the ces we could take a short break, I didn''t even think this ce was the "Cool and Quiet" Quinn mentioned, and she definitely wasn''t pleased when I nced at her in the rear-view mirror.


    ''What is Jesus up to?''

 Chapter 915: Cockpit Arena - Jonathan

    We parked in a rtively safe area but some people were already approaching us weirdly. I specifically chose that word because not only were some of them walking like they were out to mug us, but some of them even had their weapons at the ready in case shit went south.


    It was obviously pretty tense inside our vehicles but Jesus and his crew were greeted as I thought they would¡ªwhen they came out of their vehicles¡ªexcept for us.


    Everyone else was definitely fresh meat in their eyes, especially the cadets, and the "goons" were posturing in an intimidating way, to say the least.


    If this was any other day, I''d assume that they were posing for a music video of some sort, but one of the burlier, tattooed gentlemen approached me without blinking an eye. He was giving off this vibe that he probably shoots his gun sideways, he only does arms if he ever works out, and most importantly, he was pretty much thinking that everyone else here was a bitch except for him.


    He got up and stared me dead in the eyes without saying anything, but he somehow felt disrespected when I momentarily nced at Jesus to somehow get a sense of what was going on:


    "What''cha lookin'' at him for? Huh?!"


    I faintly smiled as I replied, "I''m just tryin'' to see if Jesus there is your friend¡ª"


    "Who fuggin'' cares who I''m friends with?! I''m talkin'' to you and you look somece else?! Foo, that''s one step closer to seeing the reaper¡ª"


    I kept smiling as I maintained direct eye contact, "Oh, really? You''ve seen the guy?"


    He nodded a few times with a fake smile, "Oh? You think you''re funny, huh? You''ve got some jokes to throw in my turf? Is that it?"


    "Your turf? This¡­ raggedy-ass parking lot that''s one hypodermic needle away from an outbreak? I didn''t think valets in this joint owned shit like this¡ª"


    And as usual, before I got to finish my sentence, I heard a short chuckle before the dumbass used his whole body to wound up and throw a punch at me. However, the next thing everyone saw was the same fool folding like a ragdoll before hitting his head on the dirty parking space.


    It had never been so easy to nick the tip of his chin with a quick andpact hook, but everyone else from his group couldn''t believe their eyes.


    They even thought I shot him with a suppressed gun or stabbed him with a knife, but once they saw his chest move up and down while no blood was leaking out of his body, more confusion added to their expressions.


    But once again, I nced at Jesus momentarily and saw that he knew that this would happen, and I just assumed that this was his way of introducing us to this new group or collection of people who needed more than just a simple handshake.


    ''Is this it?''


    For a moment there, I thought everyone else from this guy''s camp would lunge at me¡ªand I was definitely prepared to throw down¡ªbut our little moment was disrupted by more cheersing from the cockpit arena.


    And with that, the guy I knocked out began to slowly regain consciousness but Jesus finally decided to cut the crap:


    "Had enough fun, you freakin'' assholes? It''s one thing to mess with the new faces but out of all the people you wanted to mess with, you mess with THE Kid? He beat everyone else in Mr. Cuervo''stest event, why the fuck do y''all think he couldn''t drop anyone in this dump?"


    The guy I knocked down slowly got up and backed away a few steps as he wiped his mouth, "W-Who? Cuervo''s¡ª Wait, you mean¡ª"


    A guy at the back who was smoking a joint had a lightbulb moment, "OHH! Jack, you fuckin'' dumbass! That''s t-the k-kid, you know?!"


    "What fucking kid are y''all talkin'' about? I don''t¡ª"


    "Dude! Remember those guys who drove by here a few days ago who kept talkin'' about this new head and whatevs who won the whole thing?!"


    "Huh¡ª Wait, what?! He''s that kid¡ª FUCK! Jesus! Couldn''t you have said something sooner¡ª"


    "Would you have listened to me?"


    "No¡ª But that''s not the point! A little warning¡ª The fuck are ya doing here anyways?!" then he quickly turned to me looking all apologetic, "S-Sorry man, I thought I could snag a few cigs off ya and¡ª"


    I cut him off as I turned to Jesus, "Yeah, what are we doing here anyway?"


    As soon as I said that, cheers had once again erupted from the cockpit arena and Jesus turned his head to the direction of the noise before he turned back to me:


    "I thought we could take a short break here but I have a few words with the owner of this ce. I''d prefer if youe with me with a few gifts to please the guy or you could put on a brief show and entertain him by beating the shit out of all his best fighters. Trust me, it''s important that we meet the guy."


    I shook my head as I nced briefly at my truck, "I''m not in the mood to have mud fights right now so what does he like for starters?"


    With that said, after a short bit, Jesus and I found our way inside the cockpit arena while bearing gifts, leaving everyone in our treasured vehicles. It wasn''t because they didn''t want to check what was going on inside, it was more that they needed to take a bite and they couldn''t afford to get pickpocketed while enduring the humid sticky feeling inside.


    ''This ce needs some fucking venttion, after a serious deep cleaning, of course¡­''


    On that note, I was basically following after Jesus but his holiness was fucking stopping every moment or so to greet each and every one who''d wave at him or offer him a drink. It was eerily simr when my mom would stop at a grocery aisle when they bumped into one of their friends but in our case, his friends were like the row of trainers from that certain pocket monster game.


    I could only follow him while wearing a fake smile but I must admit that his fucking social skills were bar none.


    In any case, it took us close to ten minutes to get to the balcony room of sorts which thankfully was closed off and had airconditioning, but the sight that weed us was this petite chick with nipple piercings getting fingered and eaten out by the person we were looking for.


    The guy looked to be the same age as Mr. Cuervo or Mr. Alvarez but let''s just say that he was morefortable showing off his rippling muscles instead of wearing a fancy suit and tie.


    With the way things were going, I thought that Jesus would pull his cock out and fill the chick''s mouth but thankfully and unbearably enough, we just had to wait for her to squirt uncontrobly while the same guy drank all of her juices.


    I even doubt the 30 minutes Jesus told me about was enough because we were probably at the halfway mark and we barely made any progress with this ce whatsoever.


    However, after the girl''s orgasm faded, the guy just straight-up pushed her by the edge of the table before sitting down and greeting us with a bright smile.


    "Jesus! You''vee to visit! It''s always a delight to see you but who''s your friend over there¡ª Wait! I kinda have a very great inkling so should we test him out¡ª"


    Jesus waved him off as he faintly smiled, "I''m sorry Jonathan, we''re on a very tight schedule right now because we need to be somece else but he brought some gifts! Would you care to see them?"


    His face lit up, "Oh? Gifts, you say? You know I love gifts! C''mon, ''Kid'', grace me with your presence!"


    On that note, I approached the guy with the gifts I brought but the girl he was eating out earlier was licking her lips as she was looking at me. But yeah, I gently ced a duffel bag on his table before I gave him a brief nod and slowly moved back to where Jesus was standing.


    With that said, the bag contained goodies such as: an ounce of weed, a pack of cigarettes, one of our newer spare K-Bar knives, a 1911 with two unloaded magazines, a box of .45 ACPs, a yboy magazine, a tactical shlight, a pack of jerky, a bar of soap, razors, shampoo, a can of shaving cream, an empty pill case of Viagra, and a small rock with googly eyes.


    I was fairly confident about the gifts I prepared for this guy but honest to the fucking god, I didn''t put in the empty pill case of Viagra and the motherfucking pet rock that had uneven eyes.


    But to my fucking surprise, the guy was shocked to fuck when he pulled out thosest two items but he started dyingughing before he rushed the both of us and gave us a hug.

 Chapter 916: Everythings Fucking Connected!

    Those two items were probably symbolic for this Jonathan fellow because an empty pill case and a rock with googly eyes looked like misceneous items to me. But as my initial shock subsided after lightly patting on his back when he hugged us, he gave me another shock by excitedly running over to the chick he was just pleasuring a few moments ago¡ªwith pet rock in hand¡ªand said:


    "Here you go, Allie! Nothing but the best for my daughter!"


    "Thanks, Daddy~! I''ll let you do ''that'' thing you so wanted since you found me my lost pet! I love you~!"


    "Heh! Anything for you, my dear!"


    Hearing that, it took everything for me to not let out a certain reaction but the other side of me¡ªthe fun side¡ªwas already looking for a banjo and ying that certain theme song.


    And to be perfectly honest, I felt a little conflicted about my thoughts because I had a certain interaction with the twins¡ªRuru and Riri, so I just put my judgment aside and carried on like Jesus who looked like he was way~ over it.


    However, Jonathan''s daughter was already looking at me ''that'' way but I was already nning my revenge for Jesus who was the one who sneaked in those two items in the duffel bag. But yeah, it seemed like the guy didn''t mind sharing his daughter with me but at this point, I''d push aside that te for the next time.


    Yet there''s still one mystery left unsolved: the empty prescription for people who were having a hard time getting and maintaining an erection.


    On that note, Jonathan went back to his seat with the pill case still in his hands, but all he did with it was to stash it in one of his drawers before he discovered I was waiting for what he would do with it.


    "You curious with that, kid? Wanna know why it''s empty?"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I replied, "Sure, if you don''t mind¡ª"


    "It''s because I don''t need it full! Or partially, get it?! HAHAHAHA~!!!"


    "Oh~ Pfft¡­"


    We all shared augh for a brief moment before it slowly became quiet. The rest of the items I''d given to him were still on the table but this Allie chick was still engrossed with the pet rock she was gifted and she didn''t have a care in the world that she was butt naked in front of two other people.


    Jesus tried to get on with the conversation, "Jonathan¡­ You know why we''re here."


    Jonathan nodded a few times, "I do, yes. I do. But these gifts¡­"


    "They aren''t enough? Are you kidding¡ª"


    "N-No, no. Don''t get me wrong, the ones in front of me are already a bonus because I only wanted my daughter''s pet rock but¡­ you see¡ª"


    "Then tell me! Don''t beat around the bush, Jon. I dragged my group to the other side of this region to find that very specific rock and those very specific googly eyes for our deal and you look like you''re gonna add more in the mix! Does that seem fair to you?"


    Allie nodded from the side, "That really doesn''t seem like it''s fair, Daddy¡­ You should give them the car back¡­"


    Jonathan wore a difficult smile as he turned to his daughter, "Listen, Baby¡­ Let Daddy talk with the grown-ups for a bit, alright?"


    "B-But I''m a grown-up! Aren''t we already doing grown-up s-stuff¡ª"


    I slightly grimaced as I turned to Jesus, "Car? What car?"


    Jesus was confused about my question, "Quinn didn''t tell you¡ª No, she probably wasn''t aware."


    "Aware about what?"


    "Dave''s car. Brix swore that he saw it parked on the other side of this ce when we dropped by for a quick chat but we weren''t even aware it was possessed by one of your guys. You know where I''m getting at, right?"


    Hearing that, it took me a few moments to dig a little deeper inside my head and once I put two and two together, I was suddenly invested because finding Dave''s car is almost equals to finding one of Tatiana''s missingrades, Kuzma.


    One of the reasons we decided to prolong our stay in this region was to look for Kuzma, who was around these parts, and Alexander, who was already spotted by Niks and needed some talking to by Artem.


    These Russian soldiers were very far away from home and keeping them together was the best thing I could do for them not only for their battle prowess but also for how close I''d gotten to them.


    I''ve formed different groups here and there but theirs was the most effective and the ones who could actually keep up with me and my antics, so it''s best to be with a group that we could mesh well together or put my trust in even if I send them on dangerous missions alone and/or with another local person to guide them.


    In any case, I wish Jesus could''ve told me sooner because if this was at stake, I would''ve tried more to get Jonathan''s favor. But yeah, I was definitely making a profile in my head¡ªfrom what I''ve seen¡ªto do just that, but for now, it was better to listen to him speak.


    "Jesus¡­ listen¡­ I know that you finding my daughter''s beloved treasure is the best thing that has ever happened to me¡ª I mean, us two but¡­ You gotta understand¡­ You think your name doesn''t pull weight around here but it does, it really does! I promise you! So, I''m pretty sure that if you talk to my buddy¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Mr. Cuervo''s not your buddy, Jon. And I''m not your messenger. If you want to fix things with him, you should go there yourself and apologize. Maybe even drop him a gift or two like we did."


    "T-That''s the thing! It''s all c-connected, y''know! Look at this ce! It''s almost the same exact thing over there and even though the fighters I sentst time didn''t do as good with that fucking Russian who came out of nowhere¡ª"


    "Where are you going with this, man? I¡ª"


    "I''m getting to it! Listen, alright? You see, I forgot what''s his name or whatever¡ªsounded like my daughter''s name¡ª"


    I cut in, "You mean Ilya?"


    Jonathan sped his hands together before pointing at me, "Yeah! That''s the one! He strolled in a few months ago and¡ªI haven''t even heard of you since then but that guy trashed everyone! I mean, everyone! I''m not clear about the particr details but I guess even our national team does imports from time to time but c''mon!


    I heard more popped out so I guess they were the jam but I was already banned froming to Cuervo Heights because of one tiny mistake!"


    "W-Wait a second, what did you do anyway?"


    He looked a little conflicted before speaking, "Well~ I kinda told Cuervo that we should host an all-Filipino event next time because these foreigners and those pesky half-breeds are ruining everything then he kicked me and everyone out!"


    "S-Seriously?"


    "I swear to fucking God or whatever! How could I know he''s half-Mexican or something?! Don''t we just look the same?!"


    I tried my best not to smack his head with the nearest chair, "I''m half-Japanese, by the way¡­"


    Then his eyes lit up, "See?! How can we tell the fucking difference?! You look handsome, I kinda look handsome-er¡ª Is that even the word? All I wanted to happen is just¡ª" then the dumbass had a revtion, "Ohhhhhhhh~ That''s what I did wrong¡­"


    Jesus could only roll his eyes as he scratched the side of his cheek, "Look, I''m mixed too and that''s not the point but what I''m trying to say is that I did my part of the deal and you should honor it¡ª"


    "Aren''t I getting to that? Look, I''m giving you the car back, don''t worry¡ª"


    "Then you should''ve said so from the beginning!"


    "What? Can''t I propose another deal while one was about to finish?"


    "You didn''t make it sound like it, you asshole!"


    Jonathan rolled his eyes, "You''re confusing me, you know that? Anyway¡ª Oh! That''s right! About the Russians, before I forget¡­"


    Jesus rolled his eyes even harder, "Here we go~"


    "Listen, man! Just listen! I did say that''s it all connected, right?! You see, I had an inkling that that car was Dave''s but another guy was driving it but lo and behold, he was bald!"


    "What?" Jesus and I said at the same time while looking confused as fuck.


    "Bald! You know, like he doesn''t have any hair on his head! Isn''t that funny?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ You''re bald too, Daddy!"


    I was so fucking done with this conversation but the dumbass actually turned it around. I actually thought he had something for foreigners, mixed-breeds, and bald people, but in his own way and to our benefit, it all actually made sense.


    Hearing it firsthand, I know that the majority of the De Leon Family were bald or clean-shaven people but as he told us multiple times, it was all fucking connected.


    "Aren''t you guys getting it?! I thought he was another schmo or some shit that Dave send for an errand but the guy''s actually Russian! I knew that he was because he kinda looked like the same guy that beat my guys but I took him under my wing and he''s my secret fighter that''s about to blow Cuervo''s mind! Just you see!"


    I was once again shocked to fuck by hearing this important piece of news but before I almost beat this dumbass to death, cheers had once again erupted as they started chanting that fucking person''s name:


    "KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA!


    KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA!"

 Chapter 917: Kuzma - WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!

    Hearing that name getting chanted with fervor over and over, I was still in great disbelief about everything that urred up to this point, but the phenomenon where someone would find something they were looking for when they weren''t looking for it was ringing true.


    Sure, there could probably be a couple more Kuzmas here and there but all of Jonathan''s points¡ªwhere half was fucking confusing¡ªpointed to the guy we were still in the process of looking for.


    ''Another process was to make our moms look for that missing item but that''s impossible for me at the moment¡­''


    Once I nced over the ss windows, I saw a well-built man who was covered in scars¡ªeither from stab or bullet wounds¡ªonly wearing short trunks and some sort of makeshift cloth wraps that acted as his gloves, ankle supports, elbow pads, and knee pads.


    However, I noticed a particr shining object that was sticking out from his elbow pads and his ankle supports¡ªand considering where we were currently, it totally made a lot of sense.


    ''Running out of fighting cocks didn''t mean they had to stop using those¡­''


    The object I was talking about were these "Tari/s" that were basically a karambit for chickens used for cockfighting, and they were generally wrapped around by the chicken''s ws or ankles to deal more significant damage to its opponent or in some cases,pletely tear its opponent apart, saving the loser some money for butchering it for meatter.


    But yeah, the tari Kuzma and his opponent had on themselves were basically karambits or shoddy knives that were purposefully bent or curved to fit the bill. But yeah, it was still dangerous to the user even if it was properly secured but their safety wasn''t the main concern in this joint.


    Everything was made for fun and entertainment.


    I nced momentarily at Jonathan who was waiting for my reaction, "You''re one crazy motherfucker, if that didn''t cause too many fatalities, Mr. Cuervo would definitely have this in his shows¡ª"


    "Right?! For everyone to have fun, a lot of risks need to be involved!"


    With that said, the chanting eventually died down as Kuzma went to the "Meron" side while his opponent was already on the "W" side. Those two words basically meant "There is/There is none" in English but the bestparison for it would be our good ol'' blue and red corners.


    But before the fight even started, I had to p my forehead because if Kuzma died on that match then and there, Tatiana would definitely be fucking furious and the rtionship I had with Artem and the rest would fucking fall down the drain.


    However, I know that these fucking Russians¡ªno offense¡ªwere hardy as fuck, and his fucking opponent looked like he was down on hisst quarters. I very much know the look on people''s faces but Kuzma looked like he had a lot of shit going on as well.


    ''So¡­ I just let the other one die? Is that it?''


    To bepletely honest, I couldn''t give much of a fuck for the other guy because everyone else in this joint probablymitted multiple crimes or felonies, went to jail for a year or so, or even still on the run and got lucky when the world ended.


    I wasn''t saying that everyone who decided to spend their days in a DDR Camp or in this shit hole were good and bad respectively but c''mon, a little bit of being judgmental could go a long way.


    And after a few more moments, the bell suddenly rang and the two rushed at each other at the same time.


    But as they were only an arm''s length away, Kuzma''s opponent jumped and wound up his elbow, performing a Superman Punch with a¡­ an elbow, of course, to somehow get the first hit in.


    However, as Kuzma was still leaning forward when he rushed in, I saw his leg muscles tense abruptly before he jumped forward in a fraction of a second¡ªhis elbow also wounded to the side before they collided.


    It definitely looked like a cockfight with humans instead of chickens but after that exchange, Kuzma''s right eyebrow had a deepceration while his opponent''s right cheek was pping by its jaw.


    Blood was definitely drawn from both sides, but I clearly saw how Kuzma''s stance changed into what Artem and Niks would use while we were sparring. It totally turned defensivepared to his zero-defense Hail Mary earlier, but due to the knives in his elbows, it looked like he was posing to strike first.


    But yeah, due to how injured his opponent waspared to him, the guy on the opposing side rushed in once again with a flurry of blows that turned into a flurry of misses, making him sustain more cuts andcerations on his arms.


    It was because Kuzma used his elbows defensively to block, dodge, and weave around his opponent, and to bring back another point of reference that he had knives on his elbows, he was basically a pterodactyl or some sort winged animal that had talons or ws built into their upper body.


    Attacking Kuzma in that way did him more harm than good and he was definitely running on willpower alone. Anyone else would''ve tapped out or surrendered but there were definitely circumstances preventing him from doing so.


    But as cheers for Kuzma''s name continued to get louder and louder, the guy just snapped and resolved to fight dirty just to win by any means necessary.


    The most obvious choice was to use the sand flooring to kick it up on Kuzma''s eyes but the motherfucker doubled down¡ªno, tripled down to use blood and spit for added measure.


    If this were done to me, my first step would be to somehow jump back to avoid itpletely or turn my head away¡ªor even just close my eyes first¡ªbut Kuzma had his own way of doing things.


    Attacking right then and there was definitely the first course of action the moment anyone seeded in blinding their opponent, but the only thing Kuzma''s opponent seeded in was throwing shit on his face.


    He was this close to shing Kuzma''s throat but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Kuzma still had his eyes open wide¡ªwith all the sand, blood, and spit he threw at him¡ªthough definitely bloodshot, and before he could even retreat, there was a brief glint of metal before blood spurted from his neck.


    "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIT!"


    "DID ANYONE SEE THAT?! FUCK! DID ANYONE FUCKING SEE THAT?!"


    "HAHAHA! I''M RICH! I''M FUUUUUCKIN'' RICH!"


    "GREAT! TIME TO PAY YOUR¡ª OI! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING¡ª"


    "FUCK ALL OF YOU, YOU TOLD ME ANDREI''S A SURE WIN!"


    "JUST CRY OVER THERE, BITCH BOY!"


    "MAAAAN, STOP BICKERING AND JUST ENJOY THIS SHIT!"


    "WOOHOO! KUZMA FOR THE WIN!"


    "KUZMAAAAA! WARM UP MY BED FOR ME! I''LL LEAVE THE DOOR UNLOCKED!"


    "BITCH, IT''S ALWAYS UNLOCKED! EVERYONE HERE HAD GONE THROUGH TO YOU¡ª OW!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS CRAZY!"


    The conclusion was so fucking metal even I made a face because even I needed goggles to keep my eyes open underwater for extended periods. All I could do in that situation was avoid it or prevent it from happening but the motherfucker powered through that shit for the brief second it could give him to deliver the final blow.


    ''Doing that needed more than fucking willpower and grit¡­''


    But on that note, another round of betting had already started, and while the body was getting dragged away to be dumped somewhere else, I caught a reflection of Allie putting on an equivalent of a slutty nurse uniform.


    She never looked so excited as she put a few things in her medical bag, but before she went out the door, Jonathan stopped her.


    "Baby, you don''t need to go down. I''ll call him up¡ª"


    "Really, Daddy? Don''t you get jealous when I let him touch me when I nurse him?"


    ''Aaaand~ We are back to this weirdness¡­''


    Jonathan scratched his head as he looked at his daughter, "Baby, can you resist the urge for a minute because our guests need to meet our best fighter!" then he turned to me, "Isn''t that right, Mr. Champion of Champions?"


    I nodded dismissively, "Sure¡­"


    "I bet you''d like to fight him next time, so¡ª" then he suddenly spoke on his radio, "Hey! Tell Kuzma toe on up! Allie will patch him here and tell him to look a little decent! We have guests!"


    I chuckled as I waved him off, "Don''t worry about him looking decent, I just want to meet the guy," then I turned to Allie, "Excuse me, Allie¡­ But are you really a nurse? No offense¡ª"


    Allie''s eyes lit up, "Wouldn''t you like to know~?"


    Jesus chimed in, "She is, actually¡­ despite all that¡­ sparkle and enthusiasm."


    I nodded approvingly, "I see¡­ but Jesus¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "We really need to make Tatianae up as well. We should¡ª"


    Jesus looked at me a certain way, "You think that''s a good idea?"


    I thought for a moment and understood his nce, "Right. It''s better to just introduce him to the ''crew''ter. He should be patched up and not be disturbed further."


    At this point, it only took a few moments before we heard a knock on the door and once Jonathan let Kuzmae in, he barely nced at me when he abruptly came up to my face with bloodshot eyes ready tomit blood murder, staring directly at the smiley pin on my bulletproof vest.


    "You¡­ Where did¡ª Who the fuck are you?! ANSWER ME?!"

 Chapter 918: YOU DID WHAT?!

    Out of all the things I would forget to take into ount, it was the replica of the bloody smiley pin on my vest used tomemorate one of our fallenrades, Kristoff. It had been there ever since I put it on and as unbelievable as that would sound, I fucking forgot about it.


    But yeah, Kuzma seeing it on me was like an activation codeword for a secret spy of sorts because he lunged at me and demanded an answer right this instant.


    Jesus wanted us to be a little discreet with my connection to him from Jonathan but I guess that n went out the shitter.


    And the man himself, Jonathan, who surprisingly had some say in his actions tried to wave him down, "Kuzma! That''s our dear guest! Get off him!"


    Kuzma let go of me but kept staring me down as he replied to Jonathan, "B-But that pin¡ª"


    "What''s a bloody pin good for?! Huh?! A pin''s a pin! Unless¡ª"


    Allie cut in, "Daddy! I think K-Kuzma recognized it from somewhere!"


    Jonathan rubbed his chin as he stared at me, "Curious¡­ Well, I don''t want to beat around the bush anymore because I''m curious so can either of you enlighten us?"


    "..."


    "..."


    The two of us didn''t say a word while our eyes were still in a deadlock but Jonathan ran out of patience as he mmed on the table.


    "KUZMA! YOU OWE ME YOUR FUCKING LIFE SO ''FESS UP! WHAT''S THE DEAL WITH THE STUPID FUCKING PIN?!"


    It took everything for Kuzma to turn his head to Jonathan but then he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down before speaking in a respectful manner, "I-I''m sorry¡­ sir. That pin¡ªno, I''m not even sure if that''s the exact one but I have a friend¡ª"


    Then Jonathan''s eyes lit up for the wrong reasons, "Another Russian friend, perhaps?! That''s amazing! That''s¡ª Kuzma, stop confusing me! Does that kid even look a semnce of your heritage to you¡ª"


    I cut in before I jumped over this overlook, "It''s aplicated but long story short, we have a¡­ mutual¡­ friend that wears a smiley pin just like this on his vest¡ª"


    Then Kuzma turned back to me with a totally opposite expression from earlier, "I FUCKING KNEW IT! T-Then¡­ Are they here?! K-Kristoff and the rest¡­ a-are they here?!"


    At this point, I decided to carefully choose my words because the smallest of details about hisrade prompted such a reaction, what more could have happened if I told him that the specific person he was looking for was already dead?


    But yeah, I figured that it would be better to show him instead of telling him so I led him along with the father and daughter over to my group who were either in the process of eating lunch or just chilling inside their vehicles.


    Surprisingly enough, Tatiana who I thought would be neck-deep in food was actually sleeping and it was probably one of the reasons she wasn''t able to hear the chants of Kuzma''s name earlier.


    Everyone else was just looking over the three people I brought over but I took it upon myself to knock on the window to wake up Tatiana.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "Hey! Sin of Gluttony, wake up!"


    No response.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "I know you''re not a deep sleeper,e on outside!"


    There was no response once again, but I did see her move slightly.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "TATIANA! KUZMA''S HERE¡ª"


    Then all hell broke loose.


    "WHAT?! KUZMA?!/THAT''S TATIANA?!" The two shouted at the same fucking time.


    Before I almost got hit by my Raptor''s door, I managed to jump back and avoid the bloody swing as Tatiana got out¡ªthough a little groggy¡ªas she stared down at the figure of Kuzma who was also doing the same thing to her.


    Both of them weren''t saying anything for several seconds, the same as everyone else around them, but we were just waiting for one of them to move.


    And right on cue, Tatiana''s eyebrows furrowed before she uttered, "You''re bald?"


    Kuzma couldn''t believe his ears, "Wut?"


    Then Jonathan cut in excitedly, "I TOLD Y''ALL, HE''S BALD! I KNEW IT!"


    ''That''s¡­ Nevermind¡­''


    This was the weirdest reunion I''ve seen in a while but the two eventually hugged it out as Kuzma involuntarily shed tears while Tatiana had never smiled so brightly. But to my surprise, Jonathan was the one bawling his fucking eyes out while his daughter Allie was the one trying to calm him down.


    "It''s okay, Daddy~ It''s okay~"


    "But this is just so *sniffles* touching!"


    Then Tatiana chuckled as she let go of Kuzma and took a good look at him, "You''re bleeding! The fuck¡ª"


    Allie and Kaley cut in at the same time, "Right! I forgot¡ª/I''ll take care of that¡ª"


    And again, "Ah¡ª/You¡ª"


    And again, "You should¡ª/Do you want me to¡ª"


    And again, "O-Okay!/I¡ª I''ll take care of it, no biggie!"


    At this point, it seemed like our 30-minute stay had been extended but there were still a lot of things both parties didn''t know about.


    If I heard things correctly, it seemed like Kuzma owed Jonathan his life, tying him to this ce, and in our case, let''s just say that there was a lot more that we had to unpack, a bit of tl;dr-ing, skips, or montages of people speaking without sound was in order.


    But first and foremost, Kaley cleaned the area of Kuzma''s most recent wound while Tatiana handed him a small bottle of vodka.


    Let''s just say that Kuzma had never smiled so wide as he downed it in a few chugs and he''d rather have one more than receive some anesthetic before Kaley tried to stitch his wound close.


    Kuzma needed a total of six stitches by his eyebrow but in all honesty, he very much needed a hot shower first because as much as I didn''t want to be rude, he fucking needs one, and his other injuries needed a second set of eyes and a clean environment so he doesn''t get an infection.


    All of this was happening while Tatiana and Kuzma were catching up¡ªthe happy times, initially¡ªbut I took it upon myself to give them a bit of space as I took Jonathan and Allie aside for negotiations.


    "Jonathan, Allie¡­ I''m prepared to fix the rift between you and Mr. Cuervo¡ª"


    "Hold on a second, I know where you''re getting at but you do know he owes me his fucking life. I don''t mind letting go of him eventually¡ª"


    "No. Not eventually, he goes with us today. That''s the reason I took both of you aside¡ª"


    Allie cut in with a smile, "Thanks for considering me!"


    "Y-Yeah, you''re part of the team. No worries. But as I was about to say, Kuzma and Tatiana, they belong to a special ''Russian'' group that''s under me, so it''s safe to say that he''s my subordinate. And before you say anything, someone''s life is always deemed to be priceless but we gotta be realistic about the situation."


    "Go on¡­"


    "As I said, I''m gonna mediate between you two and Mr. Cuervo¡ªgranted you sincerely apologize for what you did¡ªand I''ll give you twice¡ªno, thrice the gifts I had on the duffel bag¡ªexcept for the empty pill case and pet rock, of course¡ªand I''ll talk to him about incorporating what we just witnessed earlier to one of his event nights."


    "..."


    "Jonathan?"


    "Oh. You''re done?"


    I chuckled dryly, "You actually want more?"


    "Well, yeah? Of course, I want more! Incorporating the sport I created into his event will be nice but how are you gonna rece my fighter? Honestly speaking, he''s the best one I got, and if I give him away, I''ll only have one of the games to my name but I don''t have a participant! That doesn''t seem fair, don''t you think? A life''s a life but he''s worth more than one, no?


    Realistically speaking."


    "..."


    "Kid? Are you still there?"


    I scratched the back of my head before I tried to dig for more info, "How did he owe you his life anyway?"


    "Hah! Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    "I do, actually. If you''d like to do so, kindly¡ª"


    "HAH! KINDLY, HE SAYS!" Jonathan roared inughter before smacking me by my shoulder a few times, "Kid, listen. I''m just yin'' with you and you''re earlier offer''s enough."


    "What? Seriously?"


    "I just wanted a shot and for the first time since the world fucking ended, a young boy such as you could bend Cuervo''s will and change his mind on things. Fuck it, you were even crowned the new head, right?! You see, that''s my dream right there but those fucking bastards wouldn''t even take a second look at me because¡­ b-because of plenty of fucking reasons but anyway! How about this?


    I know you''ll be back to Cuervo Heights soon enough so could you let Kuzma enter the games under me a few times or until he snags a win so I could make that bastard''s silly mustache quiver for just a little bit?"


    I chuckled as I held out my hand, "Shake on it?"


    "FUCK YEAH! Ah¡ª Wait a sec¡ª"


    "What is it now?!"


    Jonathan couldn''t look me straight in the eye, "U-Umm¡­ It''s about D-Dave''s car¡­ S-Shit¡­ H-He''s gonna fucking kill me if he knew what h-happened to it¡­"


    Allie cut in, "Ooh~ We totally forgot about that, Daddy! It''s gonna be worsepared to me pegging you!"


    ''Wut???''


    But Jonathan nodded seriously, "I agree¡­ What¡ª"


    "W-What did you do to it anyway?" I leaned in because he was trying to make himself smaller and smaller.


    Jonathan looked at me like he was about to tell me he ran over my dog but his mouth opened when he ced his hand over my shoulder, "W-We¡­ I¡­ I cut it in half and turned it into a sofa¡ª"


    "YOU DID WHAT?! JONATHAN! DAVE''S GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?! D-DID YOU SAVE THE ENGINE AT LEAST?!" Jesus roared in shock as he was about to have a heart attack.


    Jonathan shook his head, "I-I have no more u-use for it so I threw it away¡ª"


    "YOU DID WHAT?!" Quinn suddenly popped out of nowhere ready tomit bloody fucking murder.

 Chapter 919: My Honest Offer

    The De Leon family were a mix of Gearheads and/or Gymrats, and the single digits among us¡ªJesus and Quinn¡ªwere ready tomit bloody murder for Jonathan basically murdering Dave''s baby. And as I recently discovered, it was one of the rarer vehicles, a 1st Generation Toyota MR2 which was a 2-seater, mid-lined engine sports car.


    Itster generations were also rare but like my old professor''s adventure, the 1st Generations are much, much rarer.


    Cutting it in half, and throwing out the engine that Quinn probably worked on was a death sentence.


    In any case, it was one of the few times I saw Jesus and Quinn emotional because once they saw the car/sofa looking like the most hideous furniture in the father and daughter''s private room, they just knelt on the flooring and started to cry while cursing Jonathan''s actions.


    "WHERE DID YOU THROW IT AWAY?!"


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "T-THE ENGINE, DUMBASS! WHERE DID YOU DISPOSE OF IT?!"


    "I-I don''t know! Outside? I-It''s been a fucking while so I''m not sure if it''ll still work b-because it was probably rained on and shit¡ªI even remember shooting at it when we threw it out¡ª"


    "Y-YOUUU!"


    It was a nigh-impossible feat to stop Quinn when she was like this but if we consider the technical process of ownership, Jonathan did nothing wrong. He was the current owner of Dave''s vehicle at that point so even if what he did was basically treason, he was well in his rights to do so.


    After a few moments, the two just huffed and shook their head as they went back to the group while I was still with Jonathan and Allie. The guy never felt so bad for his actions while his daughter kept rubbing his back tofort him.


    "It''s okay, Daddy! You did nothing wrong, right?" Allie said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "Technically speaking¡­ Yeah¡­ But it''s like finding a fighter such as Kuzma and making him work as a janitor¡­"


    Jonathan was looking down as he kept shaking his head, "I should''ve known, alright?! It looked really old and dented when it came here, even though it''s Dave''s car, I thought he parted with it due to its condition! I fucked up real~ bad."


    I dryly chuckled as I waved him off, "Listen. They''ll be probably mad for a good while¡ªno, a long while but they''ll get over it. It''ll be great if you find the same thing out there in the wild but your chances are slim."


    "..."


    "But¡­ Can we move it a bit?"


    "W-Why?"


    "I just needed to take some pictures¡ª"


    "C-C''mon, man! It''s bad enough that I did this, it''ll be a whole other thing if Dave saw the pictures!"


    I chuckled, "It''s not for ckmail or proof, don''t worry. Let''s just say that if worsees to worst, Dave would need to get on with a fabricated body. It''s just that in this vehicle, the selling point¡ªI don''t even know if it''s the right word¡ªis the engine being in the center of the vehicle, so it''ll be more difficult if we try to make a replica.


    I probably have pictures of this MR2 back home but I need to see what minuscule additions Dave did with the exterior."


    "What? You can make an¡ª"


    "Not exactly. I''m only good with copying the outside, not the inside. But yeah, the De Leon family has the perfect ce to make anything from scratch as long as they have the blueprints for it."


    Jonathan let out a sigh of relief, "That''s¡­ That turned out better than expected¡­ You literally saved my life¡ª"


    My ears suddenly perked up, "What did you just say?"


    He suddenly had a realization and tried to y dumb, "U-Umm¡­ I said it t-turned out better than e-expected?"


    "You said that too but what came after that? Hmm?"


    Allie started chuckling from behind him, "Oh~ You''re fucked, Daddy! You shouldn''t have said that!"


    Jonathan just let out a heavy sigh as he dryly chuckled, "FUCK! D-Does that mean w-we''re even¡ª"


    "No. I''ll still hold up the deal we had earlier but you owe me just about now. You''re pretty much everyone else from the De Leon Family because of my little trick so, you''re in the same boat as them."


    "Right¡­ I don''t mind owing you for some reason but all I''ll ask is some understanding. This ce is not like Cuervo''s or Mauro''s but we could hold on just fine."


    "Don''t worry, I won''t ask something dangerous of you but you should startworking if you don''t mind working with another person. Let me tell you, it''s kinda rare to see an independent ce such as this that doesn''t seem to be having problems despite the different visitors.


    You can either work with the De Leon Family to turn this ce into an outpost or move over to Cuervo Heights and be one of Mr. Cuervo''s hosts. You''ll do great with either, honestly¡­"


    Jonathan scratched the back of his head, "I¡­ I don''t know about that¡­ Working under¡ª"


    "I meant no offense but there''s this question that goes like this: Would you rather be the head of a chicken¡ªpun(?) intended¡ªor the tail of a dragon? In your case, you can probably move up with your abilities but I''m not explicitly telling you to throw everything that you''ve worked hard for."


    He let out another sigh, "How about joining you? As you already know, my rtionship with both families is a little strained, and since you''re a new head, this ce could be the tail of a dragon, no? Since you have that cool tattoo over there¡­"


    I nodded a few times, "You see, I just recently formed a group to stay inside Cuervo Heights and do any kind of work to increase our reputation or whatever, but with that, you''d probably have a better start than anyone else trying to move up in that carteldder, and he''d be more convinced to forgive you if you work under me.


    I''m gonna be honest with you and say that I won''t be in that ce as much as I would''ve liked so if you prove to that group that you can lead, the seat''s all yours."


    "T-That''s really tempting¡­ But no offense, w-working under someone is a little¡­ you know¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Then no harm, no foul. I just had an idea and it didn''t work for both parties so that''s that. Besides, we''ve barely known each other and no offense, it''s a huge risk for me to ask a random person to lead my group over at Mr. Cuervo''s ce. And at the same time, it''s also a very huge risk for you to trust on someone that recently popped into your life¡­"


    "That''s true¡ª"


    Allie cut in, "But Daddy! Don''t you think that he''s leagues away from the people you tried to work with? All of them are dum-dums and he''s the only decent one! Do you remember that guy who tried to sell magic rocks¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "A-Allie! T-That was years ago! It was a bad decision, I admit¡ª"


    "How about the one where we almost lost all of our savings because he said that the money we''ll put up will double overnight?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And the auntie who''s selling love potions¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "And the one who told you he''d sell his fighting cock but turns out it was a mother hen¡ª"


    "S-Stop¡ª"


    "And these dozens of fighting chickens but you''d have to wait a while because they haven''t hatched¡ª"


    "A-Allie! T-That''s enough! We get it¡ª I get it, I made a lot of bad decisions, alright?! B-But you can''t mistake me now for not having experience! Those times were just whetstones for me so I''d be this sharp businessman/entertainer that''ll rock the world someday! Don''t keep telling my faults without telling my achievements too!


    That''s just bad marketing!"


    Allie gave me a look as she turned to Jonathan with a bright smile, "Alright, Daddy! If you say so~"


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    ''These two¡­''


    In any case, since Kuzma needed to take care of a few things before we drove away, the three of us talked for a bit more despite the noise and I did leave him the additional bonuses of our earlier deal plus a long-range radio so I could drop by and check on them from time to time.


    I wouldn''t take a second look at this ce if I''m being totally honest but Jesus proved to me that knowing a lot of people¡ªwhether they''d be a good investment or not¡ªcould sometimes hit the jackpot once in a while, and it was a bad way to look at or judge people based on what they could put on the table.


    But yeah, as small as this ce waspared to the other ces we''ve been in, it was the perfect size for the number of soldiers he had to properly protect and run it without something bad going on.


    I didn''t even notice at first that some of them were even strapped with automatic rifles and just above were a few mounted machine guns that were ready to bore holes in anything that wanted to disturb the peace.


    ''He did have the means to save Kuzma''s life with this firepower¡­''


    However, I soon learned the reason they were armed to the teeth was also Kuzma''s doing because he was tasked with taking down DDR Camps that had gone AWOL and he had seeded on a majority of them around this area except for the one he hit a snag.


    "We can''t just leave those guns lying around, can we?" Jonathan said with a smug smile.

 Chapter 920: Calling Card - Chicken?

    Hearing Jonathan say that, it slowly formed a chink in the way I was looking at him. It was because I pegged him as a 2nd-rate gangster trying to y a family head but the way he delivered that statement plus the weight or pressure I felt after that told me he had the makings of Mr. Alvarez or Mauro¡ªnot Mr.


    Cuervo¡ªand he either needed a bit of time to get to where they were or he needed a push in the right direction.


    ''He''s basically a person who started from the bottom and is still in the process of getting there¡­ It''s just that only a handful of people could get there and the rest¡­ not so much¡­''


    But yeah, it could all have been a fluke but with the way I am, I''ll keep a watching eye out.


    In any case, we eventually shook hands and said our goodbyes but as I was about to close the door behind me, Allie caught up to me with a knowing smile before handing me a card.


    "What¡ª"


    "Don''t lose it, okay?"


    "You¡ª"


    I didn''t even get to check what it said before she gave me a peck on the cheek, ran back, and closed the door in front of me.


    "..."


    And as I finally looked at the card, a few things made sense and a few things also became muddy because the card said "GARCIA FAMILY" in bold capital letters and then "Special Services" in a smaller and curvy font, and right behind it was their address and contact info¡ªwhere it specifically had their three numbers for their satellite phones and their exact coordinates that could be easily typed in a GPS.


    I was just standing in ce for a few moments before I decided to pocket the card this "Allie" gave me then I walked back the same way to my group and found Kuzma in somewhat decent gear, familiarizing himself with Tatiana''s AK.


    It seemed like he had gone through a couple of mags but when Tatiana saw me eyeing Kuzma weirdly, she approached me and lightly tapped my chest.


    "So, do you have any questions about him? Like, at all?"


    I lightly shook my head as I kept staring at Kuzma, "That''s your¡ª"


    "Yeah, I let him borrow it."


    "But¡ª"


    "You do know it''s already cumbersome lugging around an axe and a sword, do you also require me to lug around my AK and my Benelli M4?"


    "..."


    "Hey! You can answer me, for once!"


    "Right¡­ My bad¡ª it''s totally okay, but¡ª"


    "But what? You kept looking at him weird¡ª"


    "Oh! He did it! He did it! Did you see that?! He did¡ª"


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "What¡­ What are you¡ª"


    I then turned to Tatiana with a sense of relief, "He did the thing!"


    "W-What thing?"


    "T-The thing! The thing where you guys ''tactically'' rack the charging handle back without letting go of the pistol grip¡­ The reach-around thingy? You didn''t recognize him from the get-go earlier so I thought he was a spy so that''s one thing to prove that¡ª Tatiana?"


    "..."


    "Y-You okay?"


    "Geniuses do be crazy sometimes¡­" she trailed as she walked back to the group.


    "Wha¡ª Where did you even learn that phrase?!"


    "I''m not even replying to that, gonna wait for the crazy to fade a little bit¡­"


    "Oh,e on! Tatiana~!"


    On that note, since Tatiana and Kuzma still had a lot to catch up on, they sat at the back of the Raptor and shuffled our seating arrangement once again to give them a little bit of privacy as we were back on the road.


    And since I was the only one besides Jesus who hadn''t eaten lunch, I helped myself to some grub as I listened to radio chatter.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, Alright, Alright~ Another warm wee to our new friend, Kuzma! I believe he''s been doing good work over here and once he retired or some shit, he uhh~ turned to prize cockfighting¡ªbing the ce''s Reaper of sorts to the people who did wrong or just owed a lot of debt!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Woohoo!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Please, no woohoos are allowed while I''m deliberating but I do wee apuse!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BooooOOooOO~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s strike one, Isaac! A-Anyway~ as you can all notice, we''re starting to see some undead presence in the immediate vicinity but at the speed we''re going, they''ll barely be able to keep up unless it''s a¡ª Holy fuck! Who took that shot?! Was that Kaley?! Jesus¡ª Huh?


    I''m not talking to you, you really should rename it to Jes'' or something because there are a lot of curses that¡ª Nevermind that, our cap''n is still eating so I need to entertain you all in his absence. But yeah, it''ll be a few more hours until we reach the edge of the Rivas'' Household, and a bit of bumpyness due to the terrain once we get there is expected¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    The trip continued on for another half hour or so until the ones driving ahead began to decrease their speed, so we had no choice but to follow after them.


    Turns out, Meg intercepted chatter from different frequencies that an armed convoy would reach this particr area by this mall in ten minutes or so, so we needed to slow down and park somewhere to discuss our n going forward.


    Jesus walked over to me with a map and said, "As surprising as this would sound, I don''t know who those people are and their intentions, but it''ll be way~ past sunset if we turn around and use another road besides that¡ªor we could do some offroading and figure it out from there."


    I turned to Meg, "What else did you hear besides that?"


    Meg shook her head, "Not much, unfortunately. But whatever it is, they''ll be expecting us."


    "Have you tried contacting them? You know, to see if¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ That''s not advisable at the moment but I can give it a shot."


    "Hmm, they did say we''d reach some sort of mall in ten minutes, right? Do you know of any mall we''d reach in ten minutes?"


    The crew pondered for a bit but Jesus answered, "The closest one is Robinson''s Mall but we''ll reach that ce in a couple of minutes with our speed¡­ But¡­ Hmm~ The next one that kinda fits the bill¡ªaround 12 minutes to reach it, the SM Mall is probably¡ª"


    I cut him off as I said, "Then if we use that as a base and work our way backwards¡­ I think the scout or scouts who spotted us are around this warehouse or that electronics store above that fast food joint¡ª"


    Kuzma cut in, "If you''re gonna try and locate their scouts, you''ll have a hard time due to the size of our group and they could easily split and give the others a warning if they see us driving back. They probably know the are too well and they could slip in and out on foot or just a bicycle¡­ Just saying¡­"


    I nodded as I sighed, "That is true¡­ Fine, then there''s only one choice."


    "And that is?" Jesus asked.


    I chuckled dryly, "You already said it right before we discovered the infestation in the public market way back. It''s not our fault if they get shot or blown up the second they try to risk their lives to take what''s ours, it''s on them. We move as is."


    "Alright. Where''s my hair tie¡ª"


    But I called over Meg for onest order, "Do announce that we''reing and we know that they know that we are, and everything that happens if they try anything funny wouldn''t be the least bit chuckle-worthy if something funny did happen. Got that?"


    Meg lightly shook her head, "I''ll just tell them beware. Less confusing."


    "Sure¡­"


    On that note, we continued to drive on the same road Jesus chose for us but everyone else was keeping a close watch on our surroundings while having a firm grip on our weapons.


    Furthermore, we spaced our vehicles¡ªand drove as much as we could in twos¡ªin a way that the ones behind the wheel would be able to react in case things go awry though I specifically ordered the ones in the Raycolt to get the machinegun ready while we readied something of our own.


    This time, I was riding behind Tatiana, Kuzma, and Jose, and the quiet was just fucking deafening.


    It''s like waiting for the surprise of a wind-up toy, both exciting and ufortable at the same time, but in our case, it was a wind-up toy that went on for a good 15 minutes before a group of people were blocking the road like they were a certain movement that was evolving backwards appeared.


    We saw them from a good distance away but to our surprise, Jesus and his crew cranked it up and sped up like they were making sure they didn''t have to reverse on them if they somehow survived being run over.

 Chapter 921: Confusion - Another Armed Convoy?

    Before anything else, I think I''m a good guy¡ªwell, I try to be most of the time, but in this case, even if those people blocking us were victims and being used as bait, the risk of trying to find out and resolve things like sensible adults was just too fucking much, the only choice we had for them except for moving out the way was get hit by our cars or get shot.


    Even if they didn''t have evil intentions, they should''ve replied to our announcement, because they havemunications equipment, and/or they should''ve just minded their own business, but they chose neither.


    Since Quinn was driving my Raptor, it wasn''t a question of whether she''d follow with Jesus and his crew but I did have to radio into whoever''s driving the Raycolt to floor the gas pedal.


    They weren''t even the ones that would make direct contact, but it was all so that they wouldn''t get left behind.


    And in a matter of seconds, bodies just flew up several feet beforending somewhere close by, but since I was outside with some of my people, we heard that horrifying crunch that signified bones breaking into several ces and pieces and that dull thud that followed after they hit the ground.


    At this point, my eyes were scanning around the general vicinity for pursuers and whatnot but what confused me was that we never heard a cry or scream from these people and there weren''t any vehicles that followed us right after we ran over a bunch of people.


    ''The ones we didn''t hit kept standing like it''s nothing too¡­''


    The next few minutes were still pretty tense but as we got further and further, we got more confused than guarded because of the whole situation.


    I''ve killed people before, we all did, but in this case, the reason for it was a little muddier than what I expected because every single time I pull the trigger or flick my wrist with the intent to kill, the reason for going through with it was clear as day.


    Sure, there were already a lot of warning signs in going through this road but standing over there just to get killed didn''t make a lot of sense either.


    It was like they called the suicide hotline and we were the service that did it for them.


    But after driving a couple of miles after leaving that particr town, we drove by this coffee shop of sorts that was right next to a building that offered notaries and custom-made cupcakes. Its parking space was enough to fit all of our vehicles so we could check the ones that made contact with those certain roadblocks for damages.


    We had just turned off our engines when dozens of deadheads poured out from the notary public, and I was shocked to fuck that they woulde out of there instead of the coffee shop or the cupcake factory.


    Even so, Kuzma was the first one to jump down and make quick work of the ones in front before everyone else either joined him or widened the perimeter.


    He had this certain way of using "Fatality" as if he heard the words "Finish Him" in his head because more often than not, I''d see him swing more than twice¡ªor even more than thrice on a single deadhead even though it wasn''t already moving or he already lopped its head off.


    I kind of assumed he had encounters with the stitchers/slurpers before but digging his machete into the dead''s torso wouldn''t do shit unless there was an undead baby moving its dead mother from the womb.


    In our case, our go-to was always to separate its limbs for good measure because his way of double-tapping them wasn''t supposed to work on those fuckers.


    What he''s doing didn''t technically cause any problems but since he''s the newer guy and he had this fighting style, almost all eyes were on him except for the ones cleaning the blood off their vehicles.


    "Something wrong?" Kuzma asked as he noticed some of us staring at him.


    "N-No?"


    "N-Nuthin''..."


    *immediately looks away*


    "Nope!"


    "..."


    I had to ask for the cadets, "Actually, we''re just curious as to why¡ª"


    He cut me off as he pointed to some of the bodies with our spare machete, "Oh. About those ones?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. Why the extra steps?"


    He looked like he didn''t know the answer for a moment, "Ah, I''m sorry. It''s been a while since I''ve held a sharp de. Completely forgot the feeling."


    I chuckled, "I see. So a few months in Jonathan''s care, huh?"


    "Yeah¡­ Right¡ª Before I forget, I wanna say thank you for getting me out and u-umm¡­ *points to the gear he''s wearing* and for this¡­ Also, I''m sorry for blowing up¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Don''t worry about that one, it''s just instincts kicking in."


    "Right¡­ So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Tatiana said I''m thest one from our group because they found Alexander before."


    "That''s true."


    "And she also said you beat everyone else, including Ilya and Artem¡­"


    "Yeah, since that''s what everyone else meant. Sure¡­"


    "So, you think you can beat me too?"


    I finally got where this conversation was going, "We''ll never know until we try."


    He chuckled, "You''re up for it?"


    "Yeah, if we have a much safer space¡­ Ask me anytime¡­"


    "I see. But I must warn you, I''m totally different from everyone."


    "How so?"


    "Umm~ I can''t exin exactly but I can beat them now if we ever fight again because I''m different now."


    "Don''t be too confident though¡­"


    "What did you say?"


    "All of them had grown too. Sure, they may not be fighting to the death every step of the way as you do, but you''ll see a stark differencepared to¡ªwell, I can''t say for sure what you know about them but in my case, they''repletely differentpared to when I first fought them."


    He let out a faint smile, "That''s good¡­ That''s good¡­ Can''t wait to meet them¡ª"


    "Yeah, in two weeks or so¡ª"


    "Two weeks?! Why?!"


    "Dude, it''s just two weeks. If we didn''t have our chance meet up, you could''ve been in the same ce sporting more cuts thanst time."


    He shook his head, "I get it, I get it. But those cuts and this most recent is because we needed to get hit at the same time because that''s what fighting cocks do as Jonathan says¡­"


    "Oh~ That''s why¡­"


    With that said, after Jesus and his crew did a thorough check on their vehicles, they discovered that there were only a few dents and scratches that could be easily fixed though they most definitely were the ones most confused about what happened earlier.


    In any case, I assumed that they''ve run people over in the past but I doubt they ran over people that stood still and didn''t even react to shit.


    They were like sentries in a sense, but wearing human skin, but Jesus and the rest weren''t even sure if they were staring at them for some reason because they focused on the spot that had fewer people.


    Furthermore, they''d probably have more things they were looking at instead of their eyes, but we''d probably know more, hopefully, if we checked the cameras on our vehicles once we arrived at the Rivas Family''s territory.


    And on that note, we were nearing the address Sal left for me, and it became pretty obvious that we were once again driving in a rural area rather than an urban one. It depends on the route we were taking but around this region, we''d drive on farnd, suburban areas, townships, and city-like areas alternately.


    We can possibly see a ransacked 7-Eleven in some ces and there could be areas where there was just farnd for miles.


    But yeah, Sal''s territory was in between a vast farnd in the ins and a foot of a mountain¡ªprobably the biggestnd any family head has owned¡ªbut ever since the world ended, their control over it shrunk¡ªmore so with theirck of farmhands or just people, though very recently, they had several recruits from Mr. Cuervo''sst event.


    In any case, I was excited to see Edith and Sal once again, but I was looking forward to Quinn and Mauro squaring off because of the incident in their generator room powered by deadheads.


    But yeah, I couldn''t help but feel bad for the guy because it was still technically his honeymoon with Elsa.


    Other than that, I''d like to have some samples of Sal''s very own line of Ethanol because if it is as good as Quinn made it out to be and if Quinn''s engine could run them without issue, it would be something that''ll get us ces in the future in case we run out of gas or diesel.


    However, we were just safely driving for an hour before we came across another armed convoy with a couple of trucks carrying what seemed to be fresh produce and other stuff.

 Chapter 922: Sally Rivas Estate - One Hell Of A Butler

    We were still a decent distance away from each other but we all stopped less than a car''s length away and parked in the middle of the road like moms would when they bump into someone they know in a supermarket. And if it wasn''t already obvious, the convoy on the other side were people from the Rivas Family and they recognized Jesus'' station wagon and decided to say hi.


    "Yo~ Jesus! We were just about to deliver to your¡ª Woah~ It''s the Kid and¡ª oh shit~ Quinn''s with you lot, huh?" the guy said as he snickered, "Good thing we''re already out here because lemme tell you, Mauro''s super fucking pissed and it almost ruined their honeymoon¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Jules, you guys are using the direct road by Sta. Rosa, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Just a word of warning, some weird shit happened to us earlier and¡­" Jesus leaned in and continued to tell the story as more from the Rivas Family jumped down from their vehicles and decided to touch base.


    The Jules guy couldn''t believe his ears, "Fugg~ Shi¡ª"


    "We''re pretty much close to your ce so why don''t some of my guyse with¡ª"


    "Nah, nah¡ª We''re cool. We got beefed up real good by the Castillos, so¡­"


    "I see. Any news about them though?"


    "About who?"


    "The Castillos?"


    The guy clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry man, they''ve been radio silent ever since the incident, and Castro''s probably still busy clearing house, if you know what I mean¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ Alright¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Why you bringin'' two trucks though? Isn''t the usual order¡ª"


    "Oh! We''re headin'' straight to Cuervo Heights too. The games might be over but people got to eat, right? More and more people are flocking in too so it''s good business¡­" he trailed before he gave me an awkward smile.


    I addressed it with an awkward smile of my own, "Yeah?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I hate to do this right now but since you''re going the other w-way¡­ C-Can I get a picture with you and can you s-sign my shirt?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I relented after a few seconds of unbearable quietness, "S-Sure¡­"


    "Great! Quinn¡ª No, Jesus, can you hold this please?"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    With that said, we took a few pictures with everyone else and I had to sign all of their shirts and someone''s forehead and a few boobs¡ªboth from men and women¡ªbut it''s all in good fun. After that, we drove past each other, and since an armed convoy like ours had recently gone through the road we''d be using, we only had to clear a small herd that followed after the noise they produced.


    And once we got closer and closer to the Rivas Family''s area of influence, the air seemed to be getting cleaner and cleaner and the temperature seemed to be getting cooler and cooler.


    Truth be told, there could still be a lot of ces like my old university but this area¡ªcoupled with howrge it was even though it supposedly "shrunk"¡ªwas unbelievable to me because we weren''t even in their Hacienda of sorts and we were already seeing stark changes in this partspared to the outside.


    But yeah, we weren''t technically "inside" or "outside" because the Rivas Family''s version of Cuervo Heights was a little different.


    From what I''ve been told, Sal''s Hacienda was pretty vast on its own but when her business started booming, she used all of her profits to buy off as muchnd as she could¡ªwhether it was from the local farmers or corporations that wanted to do a little something in that particrly remote area.


    But yeah, she did have an easy time doing that because money fucking talks, and the only trouble she had with negotiating was the tribes located up in the mountain.


    Those people had a hard time selling theirnd because they didn''t need money as much and they could pretty much live on their own, but do remember that Sal was still a family head of a drug cartel.


    Sal didn''t say it specifically but as much as she looked like she hated pure, unbridled violence, there were a ton of ways to get what she wanted.


    It could be from using a different channel¡ªlike bypassing the tribe chieftain or something simr¡ªto "legally" put her name on thend the government gave to those people, bribing the whole tribe with anything that they couldn''t forage or grow themselves from the mountain likefortable clothes or just basic amenities that would cost a lot of money for them, or just straight-up get everyone else addicted to one of the products she can''t sell willy-nilly in the public market.


    In any case, that''s just a brief description of the things I''ve heard from the Rivas Family head who already had the tough but lovable aunt schtick going on, but all-in-all, she seemed pretty much a saint if we ask Edith or some other person.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re finally~ here!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s with the excitement, Jesus?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nothin'' much, but it''s the food.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Food?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [As much as I love Ng''s cooking and the freshness of vegetables in your ce, this ce had the greatestbination of meat and vegetables on God''s green earth! I always love it when wee to visit!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Right¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ll introduce you all to their main cook, Lisa! She''s great!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Heh, never heard you this excited before¡ªexcept for the time I told you that you could make your own Woody¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s¡­ *clears throat* U-Uh-huh¡­ We''ll get there soon¡­ E-Eyes on the road.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You just told us that we''re here¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [D-Did I?! R-Right¡­ Right¡­ W-Well waddayaknow? W-We''re here, alright¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Dude, I''ll admit it for you, alright? Jesus has the hots for Lisa but Lisa''s as dense as a fucking brick¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! Don''t badmouth her like that!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [See what I mean?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Jesus, I thought you were with¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [With me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, Meg, I thought you two are¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nonmital, no problemo~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Can we stop talking about my problems here? There''s the butler, Sebastian, he''s expecting us. Didn''t think he''de all this way to open the gates¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH, COME ON!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What are you so mad about?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Seriously?! We got two James'' and Megs¡­ Now we got two Sebastians too?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [G-Guys¡­ You call me S-Seb, right? It''s not like I go by Sebastian¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Shut up, Seb-astian! You''re adding to the confusion!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! MY HEAD FUCKING HURTS BUT I''M SURE IT''S WORSE FOR YOU GUYS, HAH!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, we were let inside the gate by this one hell of a butler, and after driving for a few minutes or so, we eventuallyid our eyes on this beautiful English-Style Country House a.k.a. Sal''s Hacienda that looked like it''d be a perfect ce to shoot a movie or house aristocratic nobles or some shit.


    It even had this huge-ass fountain with a huge-ass statue sitting on top of it with water spurting from different directions, and the way the flowers and trees were ced was just pleasing to my eyes because they were as bterally symmetrical as the mansion itself.


    However, we were made to drive another path to where the guests could park their vehicles but there was just this way the butler instructed us to "hose" ourselves properly before stepping foot on their beloved property.


    "Dear guests, I''ll advise you all to clean yourselves thoroughly and make sure to remove all the dirt and blood you umted on your travels¡ªespecially your dirty boots¡ªso no marks will be left on the floor our hospitable cleaners just finished waxing for the night¡­"


    Jesus responded, "Thanks, Sebastian. It''s great to see you!"


    Sebastian just let out a forced smile before nodding slightly, "Likewise¡­ Anyway, I apologize because your visit is a little¡­ sudden¡­ So it''ll take a while to prepare each of your rooms tonight. If I may ask, who among you are couples or should I say¡­ willing to¡ªforgive the term¡­ bunk¡­ with another person or two¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off as she rolled her eyes, "Doucheface, you''re aware of howrge Sal''s mansion is, y''know?"


    He let out a dry chuckle, "Again, I do apologize. With our maids being given the afternoon off and your Patriarch and our Lady: Ser Mauro and Madam Elsa, reserving the whole West Wing to themselves, I believe that we''re gonna be in a little bit of a pickle.


    I''ll be personally doing some of the cleaning but if you require a room for each one of you, I''ll do my best but do expect for it to take some time¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off again as she pointed to me, Kaley, and Tatiana, "I get it, I get it. Just give me, that guy, that brte, and that blonde over the room next to Edith''s and let everyone figure out the rest for themselves¡ª"


    Sebastian never looked so offended, "That''s preposterous! I''m sorry but even if you''re our guests, I just can''t allow a man to be that close to Lady Edith''s room! Don''t you have any idea how¡­ h-how¡ª I hate to say the word but thedy''s not prepared for that nor she would befortable to¡ª"


    And right before Sebastian could finish his sentence, from several feet away came a figure wearing a Bee Suit running straight at us before the figure pushed him away like it was nothing before they jump-tackled me for a hug.


    I only recognized who the person was after I felt "those" press against my chest, and she was still in the process of cutely shaking away the headdress just by using her head but to no avail, so she just kept jumping excitedly while hugging me tighter and tighter. But when I pulled the headdress off her head, she let out the brightest smile before eximing at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU CAME! YOU REALLY CAME! ALL OF YOU! I''M SO HAPPY! MY GOD, I''M SO, SO~ HAPPY!"


    At that moment, Edith was already moving in for a kiss but the motherfucking butler couldn''t believe his eyes as he shouted like he was against a particr wedding:


    "L-LADY EDITH?! NOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

 Chapter 923: Nem-Nem, Mie-My, and Nancy

    Since we''ve been out on the road for quite a while not having brushed my teeth¡ªor even taken a simple breath mint, and to avoid a little bit of feather-ruffling this early in the Rivas Family Estate, I grabbed onto Edith''s head like I would palm a basketball but she was still trying hard to press her lips against mine.


    It elicited a couple of reactions but Sebastian couldn''t be more relieved from seeing me deny thedy''s kiss.


    But yeah, just to not leave Edith hanging, Tatiana came in and turned her around before sticking her tongue down her throat and the reaction I was trying to avoid happened then and there.


    Sebastian couldn''t believe his eyes but before he tried to pry Tatiana off Edith, Quinn just stared him down and tried to shoo him away¡ªbut of course, the hell of a butler''s drive to keep thedy''s image upheld was as high as Tatiana''s drive to make Edith orgasm just from kissing.


    However, we did have to pry Tatiana off Edith because we can''t just wait around in this garage forever, and we have a lot of stuff to unpack.


    The Rivas Family''s Mansion was already big from the outside but the inside felt like it was twice the size.


    Some parts of the East Wing were given to us and luckily enough, Edith''s room was on the 3rd floor of the same section¡ªso we wouldn''t have to worry about disrupting the newlyweds honeymoon phase.


    We didn''t have to bring everything from our Raptor to our designated rooms¡ªexcept for the perishables, of course¡ªbut we took several bags and cases over to Edith''s room before the room next to hers was still being prepared.


    But yeah, Edith offered to us to just stay in her room instead but we insisted on giving her a little bit of privacy and to avoid the butler from checking in on us every two fucking minutes.


    Kaley eximed, "Wow~ Edith, this is your room?! It''s like a room of a Disney princess or something¡ª"


    "D-Don''t say that! I-It''s j-just simple decor I picked m-myself¡­"


    Quinn and Tatiana rolled their eyes at the same time, "Riiight~"


    Then I found a portrait where Edith and Elsa were sitting next to arge dog that seemed to be a St. Bernard, "Wait¡ª The dog¡ª A dog! You have a dog! W-Where is he/she? I-Is he still alive?!"


    Edith startedughing at my outburst, "That''s Nemie¡­ Unfortunately, she passed away years ago but she did have babies! Aunt Sal sold almost all of them but we kept two!"


    My right foot was already out the door, "W-Where exactly?!"


    "Pfft¡­ They''re always following after Aunt Sal everywhere she goes so if we find her, we''ll find them. I just dunno where she''s at right now, she could be in any of the farms but she''ll definitely be back before dinner¡ª W-What are you doing, Tatiana?"


    As we turned our heads to the side, we saw Tatiana riffling through Edith''s fancy drawers and cabs and she seemed to be looking for something in particr. But yeah, the m''fer just gave us a devilish smile before opening her mouth:


    "Dildos, vibrators, electric toothbrushes, you know¡ª"


    Edith had never been so red, "W-What?! I-I don''t have¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "Lies~ I''ve seen one or two before¡ª"


    "I-I REALLY DON''T HAVE¡ª"


    "SHUT UP, EDITH! CUCUMBERS AND EGGPLANTS COUNT! THERE''S A REASON YOU GROW THEM SO FUCKING BIG¡ª"


    Edith didn''t know what to fucking do, "KEEP IT DOWN! K-KEEP IT DOWN, QUINN!"


    Tatiana cackled as she added, "Everything''s a dildo if you''re brave enough~"


    "W-Wha¡ª I¡ª P-Please¡ª"


    Kaley added nonchntly, "True~ It could be a bedpost, a corner of that end table¡ª Oh! We forgot a regr ol'' banana¡ª"


    Quinn pped her thighs as sheughed out loud, "Right! I forgot about that! The curve sometimes does it but if you squeeze too hard it breaks¡ª"


    Tatiana startedughing as well, "Just use unripe ones. They''re firmer but don''t forget to put them in a condom¡­ You never know what might happen if you''re not careful¡­"


    "G-Guys~ P-Please¡­ I¡ª Pfft¡­ HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Edith was trying so hard to keep the conversation civil but she soon broke and startedughing, causing everyone to follow after her. However, the door suddenly swung open before two huge-ass St. Bernards came in a few steps and sat attentively. After that, the head honcho herself walked in with a huge-ass bottle gourd in her arms.


    Sal said with a deranged look, "Amateurs! FUCKING AMATEURS! IF IT WAS ME, I''D USE THIS SHIT IN MY FRONT AND MY BACK!"


    "AUNTIEEE~ NOOOOOOOOO~"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SAL, YOU CRAZY BITCH! WERE YOU OUTSIDE ALL THIS TIME?!"


    "HAH! No, no¡­ I just heard a bit and I just happen to have brought this with me," then she turned to me, "What''s up, kid? Whaddaya think of my ce?"


    I greeted her promptly, "It''s amazing, actually. Can''t wait to see the whole thing¡ª a-and by the way¡­ C-Can I pet them?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Hah! Stay there! Nem-Nem, Mie-My! Greet our guy over there!


    Give him kisses!"


    "Woof!/Arf!"


    At that point, the two dogs who were attentively sitting right next to Sal stood up tails wagging before they ran over to me and jumped like excited dogs who were greeting their owner after a long day at work. But yeah, it was a little difficult to stand up straight with their weight bearing down on me, but I leaned my butt on one of the tables before I petted them and let them lick my face.


    I didn''t think that they''d be this excited for a stranger but their affection seemed to be genuine. I guess even after all this while, they could sense that I had Zeus at home and they didn''t feel threatened by me whatsoever. However, as I nced over at Edith, she couldn''t believe how the two were acting towards me and she was wearing an expression of shock and jealousy.


    "W-Wha¡ª T-That''s not fair! W-Why are they that clingy to you! They don''t even bothering up to me even though I feed them almost every day!"


    Sal startedughing at Edith, "Hah! It''s because they like him more! Alright, that''s enough¡­ get off him now¡­ Nem-Nem? Mie-My? G-Get off¡­ GET OFF HIM! NOW!


    NEM¡ª FUCKIN'' GET OFF¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    In a few fucking moments, I was out on the field running with Nem-Nem and Mie-My¡ªying frisbee and catch¡ªwhile Edith and Sal had never looked so lifeless and betrayed by their two pets.


    With that said, I spent the rest of my time with these dogs before dinner because a little cardio session with the girls is fine and all but sometimes, I just wanna chill and have some peace and quiet.


    I came back all muddy and sweaty from all the running while lugging these huge-ass dogs on my shoulders after, and adorably enough, they brought over their water bowls and pointed over to me where the cold water was so they could have a drink.


    But to my surprise, it seemed like Edith was preparing a feast for us because the maids who I thought we were given the rest of the day off were present because they helping Edith with her endeavor. But yeah, they didn''t seem that pissed about it because it''s the end of the fucking world, what else can they do, and where else could they go?


    In any case, I gave them a greeting and introduced themselves before one of the younger maids who was a redhead that had pigtails asked for my dirty clothes so she could run them in the washer.


    I waved her off, "It''s okay, I can wash my own¡ª"


    "I¡ª U-Umm, we insist! You''re our guests! Lady Edith''s guests! It''s nothing! My name''s Nancy, by the way~"


    "Okay? Thank you, Nancy¡­"


    "Mm-Hmm!" she nodded as she maintained eye contact while holding her hand out.


    "Wait¡ª"


    "Oh! I should take it now so¡ª"


    "Now? You serious?"


    "Yep! We brought you one of our shirts we made ourselves! You should try it! It''s really soft~"


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    At that point, it felt a little weird but I took off my sweaty shirt and handed it over to Nancy who was definitely checking me out. Her face was just glued to my body as her face was flushed red, seemingly in a daze from what she just witnessed.


    "U-Umm¡­ Nancy?"


    "Y-Yes, Master¡ª I mean, sir! Oh! I-I''ll take that off you¡ª I-If you don''t mind¡­ I can help y-you with a quick bath right now so I could also clean your pants and under¡­ u-undergarments¡­"


    I tilted my head sideways, "H-Help me how?"


    Her face got even redder, "I-I mean the h-hot¡ª you''re hot¡ª I mean, the hot w-water, y-you might not be f-familiar with the controls so¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "Ah¡­" I chuckled as I waved her off, "D-Don''t tell me you also have pants and the rest avable?"


    Her face lit up, "Y-Yes, we do! It''s made from pineapple fibers and cotton we grew! I just didn''t bring them here because y-you know and¡ª b-but it''s already prepared in y-your room with the h-hot bath¡­"


    "Ah¡­ That''s great."


    "So¡­ S-Shall we?"


    I chuckled before I took her aside, "Look¡­ I know where this is going and I''m gonna assume you''ve heard something about me¡ªand you are pretty attractive, is this your real hair color?"


    She nodded slowly with a dejected expression, "S-So¡­ W-What''s the problem then?"


    "No problem at all but¡­ I just came from a run and I''m a little tired and peckish¡ªI don''t wanna disappoint you¡ª"


    Her face lightened up a little as she leaned closer, "You¡­ You don''t know how m-maids work¡­ D-Do you?"


    "I do, actually¡­ It''s just that from the way you came at me, you seem to be looking to be tossed around, fucked for hours, and left on the bathroom floor. Am I wrong?"


    "..."


    "Nancy?"


    "Y-You''re not wrong but¡ª"


    "But we have less than 30 minutes before dinner starts, right?"


    "Y-You''re making this s-so hard for me, sir¡­ I-I just wanna be of service to you¡­"


    "Again. I''m not denying you but are you okay with our given time¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! C-C''mon, m-master¡­ I''ll help you get cleaned up!"

 Chapter 924: Nancy and Megans Troubles

    I''ve yed the "game" with a few women before but this thing with Nancy was a fucking speedrun.


    As we were making our way to the East Wing, she was walking in front of me with a certain pep in her steps, and I was just beginning to notice how her maid outfit was a little different than the rest of the maids I saw earlier.


    It was frilly but short in all of the right ces and she had these thigh-high socks on that were just squishing the right amount of fat on her thighs, held up by a garter with flowery designs.


    In any case, I couldn''t see much further because she was barely 5 feet tall and we were walking on a level surface¡ªbut when she started to guide me up the stairs, she made sure I was walking behind her to see her cute butt barely covered by the cotton panties she was wearing.


    On that note, I could definitely see a wet spot in that particr area and if her underwear wasn''t absorbent enough, some liquids would have been dripping the side of her this whole time.


    "W-We''re here¡­ M-Master¡­"


    To bepletely honest, this type of roley wasn''t my first go-to when I''d try to flog my log but fuck it, there weren''t any ces around where I could get bathed and "serviced" at the same time so I will most definitely take it.


    And the moment I closed the door behind us, Nancy looked like she flicked a switch in her head because she didn''t even take a piece of her clothing off before she threw herself at me, standing on her tippy-toes just to barely reach my lips and basically snuggling all over my sweaty body so she could get a whiff and a taste.


    Nancy''s like a bitch in heat as she almost resorted to cleaning me up by licking my sweat all over, and she never looked so disappointed when I stopped her and pointed at the washroom.


    "M-Master¡­ Y-You''re so cruel¡­ I-I was just getting started¡­"


    I could barely contain myself when she was looking like she was begging for scraps but it was then that I began to notice she was hiding some of her cute freckles with makeup. To me, it looked very attractive¡ªespecially on her¡ªand I was beginning to wonder is the carpet actually matched the drapes.


    On that note, I began to carry her in my arms¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªbut she kept eye contact as Iid her on the counter.


    That was when I began to move in with a kiss that she so enthusiastically reciprocated as she was running her hands on my whole body. But yeah, when she reached the huge fucking bulge where my cock was located, she didn''t waste a second as she hurriedly pulled it out to see the whole thing.


    Nancy''s eyes had never been so wide, "W-Wha¡ª Oh, fuck¡­ T-This is¡ª S-Shit¡­ I doubt it''s¡ª"


    I began to loosen the top of her uniform, "Doubt what?"


    "U-Umm¡­ Y-You know¡­ F-Fit¡­"


    "Fit? Wait¡ª"


    She looked more nervous than excited for once, "I-It''s my f-first time¡­ M-Master¡­ L-Lady Edith r-rmended that y-you''re the best p-person to l-lose it on a-and¡ª"


    "E-Edith put you up to this?"


    She shakily nodded while keeping a gentle hold on my cock, "Y-Yes¡­ Oh¡ª S-She didn''t force me to but s-she couldn''t stop t-talking about you when she got back a-and I-I was one of the few people she told¡­ I¡­ I got so h-horny thinking about it a-and knowing that y-you''re here now¡­ I¡­ I had to shoot my shot and h-here we are¡­ D-Don''t worry¡­ Y-You can p-put t-this a-anywhere, m-master¡­ O-Only my f-fingers have gone up b-both of them¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I leaned closer to cup her nice b cups, "You think you can really take it, huh?"


    "I-I''ll try my best, m-master¡­ p-please be a l-little gentle t-though¡­"


    "Then let''s get you ready first¡­" I gave her a kiss before I removed the rest of her uniform.


    At this point, Nancy was just wearing her thigh-high socks, her frilly cor, and her soaking wet panties¡ªand as I slipped her knickers off, she had anding strip that confirmed my question earlier.


    But yeah, her skin was so smooth and clear of blemishes and they were supple to the touch¡ªand she had a very juice innie and a very inviting pink butthole that''d make her quiver from the lightest touch.


    Just me looking at them was making Nancy wetter and wetter and parting her lips for a little bit revealed her very pink insides.


    Without further ado, I grabbed hold of her thighs as I buried my face in her wet hole, and her back just arched as my tongue made contact with her clit.


    I didn''t have to get her to build up because she looked like she was already about to have a release, so now was just my way to make her have a sensory overload¡ªessentially topletely overwhelm her mind and body until she sumbs to everything that''s going on.


    "HNGH¡ª AH! ANH! MMH! YOU''RE¡ª AH~ MMH! MASTER! M-MASTER!


    I''M¡ª AH! AH! HNGH! IT''S¡ª M-MASTER~ I-I-I¡ª AHH! AH! AHH!


    O-OH FUCK¡ª O-OH SHIT, M-MASTER¡ª I LOVE¡ª MMH!"


    And before I could even push a thumb in her little asshole, she began squirting hard as she was clutching clumps of my hair¡ªbut I kept munching on her fat beaver as I was keeping her legs spread open.


    Nancy''s face was just a mess from her first orgasm but when I started to move onto her butt and pinch her clit, it didn''t take long before she had another violent orgasm.


    "M-MASTER! MASTER! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO M-ME?! I-I CAN''T STOP C-CUMMING AND¡ª AH! AHH! MMH!


    MHHMMmHHhhHH! FUUUUUCK~!!! IT''S C-COMING OUT! I-IT''S COMING OUT A-AGAINNNnnNnNNNnn~!!!"


    At this point, it''s safe to say that Nancy gave me a hot shower in a way but my dick was still throbbing while she wasying on the counter almost lifeless and out of breath just from those two orgasms. It didn''t feel right tearing her hymen or resizing her little butthole like this but luckily enough, I heard a knock on the door.


    To my surprise, it was actually Megan and she didn''t know what to do when I opened up the door with a raging boner peeking out from my pants.


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "Yeah?"


    Megan shook her head as she pped her face with both hands lightly before wearing a solemn expression, "I-I''m sorry for bothering whatever it is you''re d-doing with¡ª whatever. I don''t care who you''re with right now but all I''m gonna say is that I''m feeling left out."


    "Huh?"


    "Let me finish! I loved the time we spent on thatke and I wished there could''ve been more but I just wanna say that leaving me out while you guys get this room feels like I''m just a nobody you threw after having sex once! And to be honest, it doesn''t sit right with me¡ª"


    "Megan¡ª"


    "J-Just let me let it all out, alright?! You said we needed tomunicate properly so this is my way of doing it! If you don''t want to have sex with me anymore, fine. I get it. But, don''t push me away like this and please just say it to my face. It''s much, much better than¡ª"


    "Megan¡ª"


    "I said¡ª"


    "We''re not throwing you out."


    "H-Huh?"


    "It''s Quinn''s way of telling you that you don''t have to stick with us every single time. You''re free to have fun with anyone else but since they had this particr exclusivity thing with me going on, we stick together. So, if you want to stick with us a bit more¡­ all you have to do is you know¡­ ask."


    Megan looked more relieved than confused this time, "Huh. F-For real?"


    "Yep. And I''m so lucky you knocked¡­" I trailed as I looked at my huge erection.


    "Oh¡­" she trailed as she finally understood the assignment.


    "So,munication! We don''t have a lot of time but do you wanna fuck? Like right now¡ª"


    She pulled me in for a kiss before she smiled brightly, "Argh! I''m so stupid! Fuck yes!"


    On that note, I dragged Megan inside and she was already climbing on me as she barely took off her clothes, but she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Nancy looking like I left her in a fuck machine for several hours¡ªbut she got even hornier when she discovered that I got her to that state just by doing oral.


    In any case, we made full use of the 10 or so minutes remaining until dinner¡ªand even if Nancy recovered after a few minutes while I was fucking Megan''s brains out, she wasn''t able to lose her virginity because Megan wouldn''t let me go.


    However, it was then decided that they''d spend the night with uster but I almost spanked or punished Nancy then and there when I discovered the type of clothes I''d be wearing at the dinner.


    "What, master? You look dashing, no?"


    Megan chuckled from the side, "Sure~ Real dashing~ You only live once~ Embrace it!"


    "Oh! We prepared the same clothes for everyone! You should be wearing yours too! Lady Quinn and Tatiana were also adamant about wearing theirs but they knew the Master would see them so they relented! Quite quickly, I might add! They''re all in the fitting room below!"


    "What?! I''m not wearing something like that¡ª"


    I started directing a crushing pressure towards Megan, "You only live once, right?! C''mon! I''ll help you!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

 Chapter 925: Everyone, this is Rush E.

    With the little bit of time left for us, I helped abduct Megan and threw her to thedies'' fitting room¡ªwhich for some reason, I was barred from entering, but since the clothes that I was supposed to wear were already prepared upstairs, I just put them on after fixing myself a little bit.


    Luckily enough, it wasn''t one of those clothes a certain Witcher needed to wear in one of those earlier quests but I did feel like I was about to attend a fancy ball or g with the fancy-ass clothes I''m wearing.


    ''Even these white gloves cover my tattoo¡­ Will I get to throw them at someone and start something? Heh¡­''


    In any case, all hell just broke loose when I met up with the guys who looked so fucking ufortable¡ªexcept for JP and Jesus, of course¡ªand to be frickin'' honest, they looked like they were made for this shit, and I don''t fucking know where Jesus pulled out that fancy-ass cane he was carrying around.


    Isaac nudged me while trying to scratch this certain part in his neck, "Dude! How''re you pullin'' this off?! I''m itchy as heck! And shouldn''t we be carrying rapiers or something? I''m practically naked without my gear."


    I chuckled as I leaned close, "I have four knives and two concealed guns on me¡­ Shh¡­"


    "Wha¡ª A-Alright, bro¡­ Dibs on one of those if shit goes down¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    Then I suddenly felt two huge hands ced over my shoulders then a deep hoarse voice followed:


    "We meet again! Fancy meetin'' ya here, fuckface!" Mauro eximed as he let out a smile baring all of his teeth.


    I gave him a strong handshake as I turned around, "What''s up, Mauro? Marriage looks good on ya¡­"


    "Heh. Thanks!"


    "I heard you''ve been fuckin'' ever since you came here¡ª"


    "HAH! I JUST FUCKING KNEW YOU''D SAY THAT! But yeah, don''t tell anybody else but I''ve been trying to keep up with my wife! She looks pretty normal but she can¡ª Whew~ I''ve never seen a chick ride so hard and long and keep up with my schlong¡ª"


    "That''s what our 9-incher does for us¡ª"


    Sebastian suddenly cut in from behind, "Excuse me, gentlemen¡­ But I do hope we choose our words wisely when thedies arrive¡ª"


    Mauro rolled his eyes as he cut him off, "Piss off, man. Haven''t you heard Sal talk?! She''s worse than all of usbined! So cut it off, will you?!"


    I waved them off as I nudged Sebastian yfully, "Sorry, man¡­ We do talk like Irishmen sometimes but it''s all love, alright? Don''t worry, we usually stop when we''re eating so~"


    Sebastian forced out another smile before he excused himself, "Very well~ I''ll leave you all to it, thedies wille a littleter¡­"


    In any case, I began to introduce Mauro to those who don''t know him but I made sure to rub in his face that I beat him along with Mr. Alvarez, and I''m 100% sure a brawl would''ve urred if Ongkiko was present but it''s funny enough to see Mauro hold it in while crushing several furniture into powder or bending nearby metals like they''re fucking ydoh.


    Mauro found Kuzma already partaking in alcohol but wasn''t saying anything, "Who''s that?"


    "The one who traded the HuNovelBinee for Dave''s ride¡ª"


    "He''s the guy?! Hah! Yo, Kuzma! C''mere for a sec!"


    "Huh?" Kuzma just realized we were talking about him.


    "We got more alcohol over here! Talk to us for a bit¡ª"


    "I don''t understand¡ª"


    "Oh, look! Vodka¡ª"


    "Now, I understand! What''s up, Komrads?!"


    "THERE WE FUCKIN'' GO!"


    At this point, only us guys were present with some of the maids and other butlers handing out drinks and appetizers, but our attention was put somewhere else when the music changed and the girls walked in with all the shit and kaboodle.


    "Holy shit¡ª"


    "Should''ve worn tighter underwear¡ª"


    "Is that Alexa?! She looks way~ different!"


    "You guys blind?! Tatiana''s smoking¡ª No offense, bro¡ª I don''t mean anything by that, just stating the facts¡­ But Quinn too¡ª How do they fucking stay there?!"


    "HOLY FUCK, THAT''S KALEY?! WHAT¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA!!! Why do both Meg and Megan look so ufortable?!"


    In any case, this dinner was supposed to have a certain theme but Tatiana and Quinn''s dresses threw it out the window. Both of them were wearing risque strapless dresses that entuated their assets and their tattoos while everyone else was wearing something appropriate for the asion.


    However, it was pretty obvious that I was like a statue¡ªnot because I was hard, wait¡ª no, I am, partially¡ª but what I meant to say was I was totally starstruck seeing Kaley in a beautiful ck dress thatplimented the clothes I was wearing.


    Kaley''s dress was a long gown that had a high slit up to her left thigh but the upper portion was like a sleeveless turtleneck of sorts where itpletely hides her deep cleavage but reveals everything from her shoulder, her sideboobs, up to her waist.


    She was even wearingplimentary jewelry and makeup, of course¡ªas everyone else did¡ªand she started smiling brightly when she saw me like a fat fuck just served the juiciest of steaks.


    But yeah, thest people who came in were Sal, Elsa, and Edith, and the dresses they were wearing could make anybody feel all sorts of ways though one of them was already way~ past my preferred age range and one was fucking off-limits because she was recently married.


    At this point, Edith quickly made her way towards me before she giggled and spun around for me to see her in this beautiful attire.


    "W-What do you think?!"


    "You look amazing, Edith!"


    "R-Really?! Aww¡ª"


    "Definitely much better than that Bee Suit¡ª"


    "Pfft! Hah! You''re so funny! A-Anyway, did Nancy take care of you?"


    "Hmm?"


    "She looked pretty exhausted when you guys threw Megan over to us¡ª Do you know we were having a hard time finding Megan earlier, good thing you found her!"


    "Ah¡ª I just got lucky¡ª"


    Before we could continue our conversation, Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn joined in with drinks in their hands though Tatiana and Quinn''s drink was a fucking bottle, and they seemed to be fishingpliments from yours truly. I obviously went above and beyond for my darling wife but the other two needed a different kind ofpliment.


    Let''s just say they needed to get close and grab me by my crotch to see if they prompted the right reaction¡ªand once they found what they were looking for, they just let out a smile before continuing where we left off. But yeah, these four beautifuldies were chatting with me before Megan came in and nudged my sides with her elbow.


    "You¡­ You''ll get itter¡ª"


    I chuckled as I pinched her cheek, "What? You look great, you should be thanking me¡ª"


    "Stop¡ª"


    Kaley and Edith added, "You do look great, Megan!/Right! You look really pretty!"


    There was a visible blush on Megan''s cheek, "I-I''ll let it slide¡ª W-Well, t-thanks¡­ Y-You guys l-look pretty too¡­"


    I never felt so betrayed, "Hey! What about me?!"


    "I said you''re ALL pretty! Just ept thepliment¡ª"


    Quinn cackled as she cut her off, "He probably wants to hear you say that he makes you wet."


    Tatiana nodded as she chuckled, "That sounds about right. That''s more of an actualpliment for me too!"


    "R-Really?"


    Megan was about to be dragged by these two''s weird but brutally honest antics but I found this Steinway piano sitting by itself¡ªand before anyone else asked, I couldn''t read music but I could definitely watch other people do their thing, but it seemed like I garnered a small crowd asking me to y a little something because they assumed I could y just because I was standing in front of it.


    But yeah, I was just about to decline when Edith excitedly sat me down before sitting right next to me, giving me more reason to just go with and somehow wing it for her sake.


    She nudged me while ying a few keys, "So¡­ What do you wanna y?"


    I immediately confessed, "I actually don''t know how to y¡ª"


    But she got the wrong impression, "Oh, you! Stop fibbing! I just know you do by looking at you! C''mon, anything elsees to mind?"


    ''Then fuck it, it is¡­''


    I pulled out my phone and showed her a video from Sheet Music Boss, "Can we y this?"


    "..."


    "Edith¡ª"


    "D-Do we even have enough hands for this?! Are you crazy?!"


    "A little, yes. But we crash and burn together, wanna give it a go?"


    Edith was staring at me for a moment¡ªtrying to figure out whether I was serious¡ªbut she eventually relented as she tried to give it a few practice runs. And with howplicated this piece was, it obviously needed a minimum of three people but we decided to go along with it with passion and guts.


    In any case, everyone else seemed to be waiting for us to actually y for real but as I said earlier, the goal wasn''t to y well but to just have fun with it so the two of us downed a ss of wine before cracking our knuckled and letting out a silent but long exhale.


    With the way everyone else was looking at us, they looked like they were expecting something from Bach or Mozart but the piece Edith and I will be ying was something these fucking normies haven''t heard before.


    I turned to everyone for a moment, "Everyone, this is Rush E."

 Chapter 926: Speak Lightly Or Else... - Guests Arrive

    For theplete normies out there or for the people who didn''t visit the YT Channel I mentioned before, Rush E was basically¡ªno, it was an amalgamation that started from a meme from one of the OG Youtubers, "Markiplier", who was also extremely popr for doing a smash or pass on the OG Gen 1 Pocket Monsters.


    But yeah, there was a meme that circted from his face being put on a certain short character from the movie depicting a green ogre thatter evolved to parody meme songs using the "E" key, then having a Russian version hence the "Rush", and finally another YT''er actually making a song out of it because of ol'' inte pressure.


    With that said, since Edith and I were attempting to y this piece with just the two of us, I reckoned she be the one sitting on the chair while I was right behind her, ready to react and y whatever was left or necessary.


    "Ready?"


    "R-Ready¡­"


    At this point, Edith started it with a slow kinda off-beat start¡ªwhich the song actually had¡ªbefore it started to pick up and pick up and pick up until it was just chaos incarnate when we started juggling the keys together.


    And as it was said many times, the ongoing quote for ying this song was, "I bought 88 keys of this fucking piano, I damn well using all of them!" but if I''d give out a hot take, it was likebining Canon, Flying the Bumblebee, and Through the Fire and mes in one song¡ªif that ever made sense.


    But surprisingly enough, as impossible as it may sound, Edith and I yed it with little to no mistakes and with little to no preparation or practice. Duos would usually y together¡ªwith an easy song as a start¡ªto get a feel for each other''s rhythm and whatnot but we just winged it and fucking lucked out.


    In any case, the moment we finished the song, like the start of the song itself, the apuse came from a single person¡ªsurprisingly enough, from Sebastian¡ªbefore it picked up and picked up until everyone was cheering us on and requesting an encore.


    However, it was pretty obvious that it took quite a bit from Edith to y a difficult song but surprising me for a second time, Sebastian took over and yed something close to the song''s tempo until it mellowed and mellowed until it was fit for tonight''s happenings.


    ''One hell of a butler alright¡­''


    Then I felt a stinging p to my back.


    Salughed out loud as wore a cheeky smile, "That''s one way to start the night, kid!"


    I smiled and thanked her, "I guess so¡ª are we waiting for anyone else?"


    "How''d ya know? They''ll be here soon¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "If you''re the only ones in this huge estate, I''d be a little¡ª"


    "What''s wrong with that?! Our maids and butlers are already part of the family but we do need to have people in our other houses¡ªIt''s just that it was a little short notice to send the invites since you just came. Also, did you think the Rivas Family is the only one that survived around here? We still got neighbors, ya know?"


    "Ah¡­ I see, but¡­ all this for us?"


    "Yeah. Why?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "Kid. You''re the newest family head, you deserve this much¡­ Much more for what you did to my niece¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "She''s smilin'' more¡­ Edith¡­ She''ll be a lot happier when she''s wit'' you¡ª"


    "C''mon, don''t say that¡ª"


    "Hah?! I can''t fuck my own niece, can''t I¡ª"


    I almost smacked the dumbass, "Don''t say that out loud! Are you fucking crazy?! People''ll get the wrong idea¡ª"


    "What?! Isn''t that what happened?! You split her open and she began smilin'' again¡ª"


    I settled for a light kick in her shin, "There''s more to that, alright?! K-Keep it down¡ª"


    Sal chuckled like an idiot as she rubbed her shin with her other foot, "Kekeke, gotchu, didn''t I?! But yeah, as much as I''d hate to admit it, she''s happy with you guys and I can only hope you keep it that way. You know I hate violence but I''m not afraid to use it when necessary, alright?"


    I chuckled, "But why give me your most valuable hostage if¡ª"


    "Hoh! Haha¡ª Hoh! That''s rich, kid¡­ I love those cajones of yours but don''t joke around with family¡ª"


    "What?! If I can''t joke with them, what''s the point?"


    Sal shook her head as she gave a long nce, "Haaa~ You''re right, you''re right¡­ Anyway, they''lle sooner orter so don''t disappear¡ªI mean, if you''re gonna disappear, be within earshot, alright?! They gotta know who''s to not mess with ''round ''ere. Well, some of them¡­"


    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing, "What are you talking about?"


    "Haaa~ Guess I should tell you¡­ People around here still believe in superstition and some old-world bullshit¡ªeven this thing we''re facing, it''s either a curse from the gods or something and we should offer sacrifices and some shit atop the mountains¡­ you know, some stupid tribe shit that they decided totch on because the world still hadn''t figured this thing out."


    "Tribe shit, you mean¡ª"


    "The ones I paid off. Those ones. You do know I hate violence, right? So, after paying them off, they need to settle somewhere so they either work under me now or find somece else to live. Some of them¡­ they didn''t go that far but with the money I gave them, they''re rtively sessfulpared to their old selves living in nipa huts and whatnot."


    "I see¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian continued to grace us with his music but if our other guests wouldn''t arrive anytime soon, they''d probably be left with scraps aside from the main course and desserts that weren''t served yet because Tatiana was making several trips with Kuzma, Quinn, Jesus, and surprisingly enough, Kaley and Alexa.


    It seemed it was still bulking season and the food was just that good but it didn''t take long before Edith came back after freshening up.


    That was Sal''s cue to check on other things as she left me with her but this time, Nancy was trailing behind Edith and wearing a cute dress of her own.


    They greeted me at the same time, "Hi, did I take long?/Hiii~ You look really great out there! Both of you!"


    "Thanks, thanks¡ª"


    Nancy cut me off as she nudged closer, "I hope it will still be all kinds of fun when we move in with you!"


    I turned to Edith, "Is she¡ª"


    Edith nodded with a smile, "Of course, she''lle with us. You see, we''re basically raised at the same time like sisters but our roles started to be different as we grew older. However, that didn''t stop us from being friends and whatever j-joyous asion or experience I was in¡­ Y-You know¡­ I try to let her experience the same thing as much as possible¡­"


    "I see¡­ So¡­ Those people that areing¡­"


    Nancy answered, "I guess they''re¡­ okay? They were kinda mean a few months back but you know¡­ after they came back with all those people, they''ve been pretty quiet¡­ Probably because they''re scared of what Lady S-Sally might do to them¡­"


    I slowly put two and two together, "So this dinner is basically a show of force?"


    "A-Auntie didn''t tell you?"


    "Not that part¡­"


    Edith bitterly smiled as she sighed, "We''d hate to do it this way but it''s better to posture up while another family head is present¡ªWell, there''s three of you now but they don''t know you yet so¡­"


    I waved her off, "Don''t worry, I understand¡­ But do remember that hating violence doesn''t mean you should never act on it. I''m the same way too¡ªwell, sometimes but¡­ do understand that sometimes it IS the answer even after weighing all of the options¡­"


    Edith nodded a few times as she plucked a ss from one of the serving trays, "I understand that¡­ I do¡­ but¡ª"


    I lightly chuckled, "Hey, violence doesn''t always mean killing or murder. Sometimes, it''s just inflicting the right amount of pain to get to a pleasant conclusion¡­ A little bit of pain for a little bit of pleasure¡ª"


    Nancy was weirdly squinting her eyes as she interjected, "Why did that sound a little dirty?"


    I rolled my eyes as I nudged her with my elbow, "How would you know? You can barely keep yourself upright after all that grandstanding¡ª"


    She had never been so red, "Y-You! It wasn''t my fault! T-That M-Megan w-wouldn''t get off of you even though she could see that¡ª"


    I patted her head which surprisingly made her calm down, "She did you right in a way, contrary to popr belief, anyone''s first time should be special. Anyone who said otherwise didn''t have a good time on their first¡­ But yeah, I can''t speak for everyone but that''s what I feel about it¡­"


    "R-Really? You think I should wait?"


    "It''s totally up to you but if you still want to do it with me, we''lly off a bit on forey¡ª"


    Edith cut in, "I-If you don''t mind me a-asking¡­ Was your f-first time with Kaley?"


    "Unfortunately, no. And her first time wasn''t with me either¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "But that''s not a problem at all because we always have an amazing time together and even if we both know what we want, we''re still discovering more and more things about each other. It''s special in its own way and¡ª"


    Nancy cut in once again, "B-But¡­ H-How long should one''s first time be?"


    I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, "It depends. I''d rmend at least two hours if you want to experience at least the usual stuff at your own pace¡ª"


    "H-How long was your first?"


    "Noment."


    "Wha¡ª Why?!"


    "Because it''s embarrassing?"


    "You disappointed her, huh?"


    "W-Wha¡ª No one''s a fucking sex god the first time but¡ª"


    "Hmm? But what?"


    "Let''s just say as fast as I did my first time, I was as quick from recovering for several more roundster¡­ It was also the same night I discovered it was a mind thing¡­ I can get hard as fast as I can cum¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­" Edith turned around to contain herughter but Nancy just straight up lost it.


    "BWAHAHAHA! YOU DIDN''T JUST SAY THAT! NOT A SEX GOD, HE SAYS¡ª Oops¡­"


    At this point, everyone heard Nancy''sst outburst but the way Sebastian pressed the wrong key on the piano sent shivers through her spine. It looked like she was so fucking afraid of pissing Sebastion off, she started running for her life before Sebastian promptly finished the current song and gave chase.


    In any case, they came back after 5 or so minutes and Nancy was back to her maid uniform but some of the guests had just arrived.

 Chapter 927: Vidal Family - What invitations?

    With the way the music was ying, I didn''t even realize that a few vehicles had strolled in¡ªand more seemed to being at the moment and muchter¡ªthough the ones who had just walked into the main hall were a family of four followed by a 3-man group that seemed to be their security detail.


    And if it wasn''t already obvious, they all looked to be a little tense¡ªeven more when Sal approached them and offered her greetings.


    But yeah, Sal didn''t need to disy the reinforcements she had to these people at this very moment though she quickly walked them over to Elsa and Mauro who were having a pretty nice and sweet chat by themselves.


    We could barely hear what they were talking about earlier but seeing Mauro''s facial expression change when they were disturbed was enough for this poor family and their bodyguards to shake on their boots.


    However, it didn''t stop there when I saw them making their way towards me and Edith¡ªand to my surprise, Edith locked arms with me and caressed my face before attempting to give me a peck on the lips which was interrupted by Sal and this family arriving at the most inopportune moment.


    ''I guess we''ll be improvising a lot this time¡­''


    Sal cleared her throat before smiling at us two then turning to the family she came with, "Mr. and Mrs. Vidal, this here is our guest of honor, Mr. Ishiyama. He''s one of our¡ª one of the newest family heads in existence and one of the most ruthless businessmen I''ve butt heads with.


    Don''t let his appearance fool you though, those guards of yours would''ve been useful guarding your home instead of following you around¡­"


    As soon as she said that, the Vidal Family''s guards were definitely ticked off but the head of the family dryly chuckled as he waved them off:


    "Funny as always, Sal¡­ I did hear of a new family head in the grapevine and it''s so nice to finally meet you. I''m George Vidal, this is my wife Cindy, my eldest Erica, and my youngest, Gregory¡­"


    I faintly nodded as I smiled and offered a handshake, "Pleasure to meet you all¡­ I would''ve apologized for this party''s very~te notice but I suppose the Vidal Family were not only quick on their feet but also punctual to be the first ones here and appear well-dressed as everybody present¡­"


    "Haha¡­ It might seem so but we are prettyte and we could''ve dressed more appropriately for such an asion¡­"


    I chuckled, "Just from me visiting? C''mon, you probably have something going on at your household and you were caught off-guard by this invitation and had to rush here."


    "A-Ah¡ª That''s¡ª"


    "For that, I apologize¡­ sincerely¡­"


    "T-That''s not a problem at all¡­ There''s no need for an apology since all we wish for all our families is a harmonious rtionship with everyone."


    Sal cut in with a smug face, "Harmonious, eh? You''re funny too, George¡­ Anyway, let''s leave these two¡ª Oh! If you want, you can let your daughter chat with people her age for the time being as I introduce you to everyone and little Gregory here could have a juice or a snack prepared by Edith here¡­ They''re really good! You should try them too!"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    At this point, a few more guests had arrived and Sal made sure to introduce them as much as she could though on our side of things, Erica was awkwardly sipping on her ss of wine as we tried to maintain a casual conversation.


    From the looks of it, she had a general idea of what her parents dipped their toes into and she was basically trapped to y the good daughter theyid out for her.


    However, the alcohol in her system couldn''t help with the fear she was feeling right now because she was paying attention to where Sal was taking her parents and what the maids were feeding her younger brother. All she''d reply to us with were simple responses or an apology quickly followed by a request to repeat the question.


    "S-So, Erica¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! Yes, Lady Edith?"


    "Haha¡­ Don''t be nervous¡ª"


    "W-Why wouldn''t I be¡ª I-I mean, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize! Please don''t¡ª I know it''s scary for you but it shouldn''t be, alright?"


    "R-Really? I-I know what my parents d-did before and I d-don''t have any power to¡ª"


    "Erica, listen¡­ We''re not out here to hurt any of you or whatever you''re thinking right now because Aunt Sal just wanted things the way they were. That''s it."


    "I-I-I get that, Edith¡­ I do b-but I''m still having a hard time believing that because ever since you came back with all those p-people m-mon and d-dad were just frightened out of their minds a-and even some of our g-guards w-were thinking of leaving o-or swearing fealty to M-Madam Rivas¡­"


    I had to get more context so I joined the conversation, "I''d hate to ask this while you''re freaking out but what did your parents do, actually?"


    Erica had to double-take as she nced at me, "W-What?"


    "I said what did your parents do?"


    "Ah¡ª O-Oh¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­ I was just¡ª"


    I chuckled as I waved her down, "Breathe¡­"


    "R-Right¡­ Huuu~ Haaa~ O-Okay¡­ W-Well¡­ I''m not particrly p-proud of saying this b-but once news that the Rivas Family was slowly losing their hold in this a-area¡­ The other families and/or survivors started to s-steal from her farms or s-straight-up im some of hernd¡­"


    "What?"


    "You s-see¡­ Thend the Rivas Family owned was just too big for all of their people to properly monitor and maintain at that time so¡­"


    Edith continued with a sigh, "Also, since some of our workers used to own thends they''re tending to, they''ve begun iming it as their own and they refused to give the harvest they owed Aunt Sal. She ownednd way~ past the walls of this mansion and the whole estate, and even though our harvests were still plentiful, it couldn''t bepared to what we can do if we''re running on all cylinders¡­"


    "I think I get it now¡­"


    Erica shook her head, "I-It didn''t end there exactly¡­ Since Madam Rivas knew of the problem, she asked us and all the otherndowners for help¡ªeven though she knew we were stealing from her, and the deal was partial to future ownership of thend that''s right next to ours in exchange for a generous cut of 70-30 favoring us for the produce we harvested from hernd."


    I couldn''t believe my ears, "Are you serious? That''s a fucking steal¡ª"


    Erica never looked more apologetic and afraid, "I-I''m sorry, I had no power¡ª"


    "It''s not your fault though, don''t worry¡­"


    Edith added as she nodded at my statement, "In the future, thend Aunt Sal will have left will just be the walled areas around this estate and everything else will belong to our neighbors or the dead¡­ It gave Auntie plenty of problems because we couldn''t do much because we lost most of our workforce and took ournd with them¡­ And if we tried negotiating, they''ll either ask for more or just destroy what they''ve worked on for years¡­ It''s really sad it came to that¡­"


    "Came to what?"


    "Y-You know¡­ violence¡­ it''s not like we only broughtborers over, right? They''ve exhausted all the options and it''se to that¡­ You see, having enough is not enough¡­ It''s supposed to but they''ve taken more than a mile from the inch¡ªno, inches Aunt gave them¡­"


    "..."


    Edith continued, "B-But you see, Aunt Sal did nothing of that sort to the families around us¡­ only to our past workers that refused to apologize and go back to where things were¡­ With that said, this party is to¡­ you know¡­ to bridge the gap andmunicate once more so we''d get back to¡ª"


    Then Erica almost dropped down to her knees as she started crying.


    But since the main hall was starting to get crowded and as the chatter and music were overpowering almost everything, no one noticed this young woman bawling her eyes out and asking for forgiveness for something she didn''t even do.


    However, as much as Edith and I tried to stop her from making a ruckus, she couldn''t stop the tears from flowing so we brought her over to one of the empty balconies and closed the ss doors behind us.


    It was then that she broke down to her knees crying, begging Edith to forgive her parents'' transgressions:


    "P-Please L-Lady Edith¡­ I-I beg you, d-don''t h-hurt us a-and G-Gregory¡­ M-My l-little brother, I-I''ll do anything you ask¡ª A-Anything! A-As long as y-you don''t h-hurt him a-and¡ª"


    "Erica!" Edith eximed as tears were also forming in her eyes.


    "I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY¡ª"


    "Erica! Listen! I''m not¡ª We''re not here to hurt you, alright?! I promise you! We won''t do such a thing!"


    "B-But the i-invitations! T-The invitations! T-They''re¡ª I saw! T-They''re¡ª T-The invitations a-are¡ª"


    "What invitations?" Edith and I asked at the same time.

 Chapter 928: Bonding Over Murderous Tendencies

    All this time, I thought Edith knew about the shit that Sal was pulling but it seemed like she was also kept out of the loop and was made to y a role like I do. However, technically speaking, hating violence didn''t mean she didn''t act on it¡ªbecause she already did¡ªand Erica here who was afraid for her life after seeing this "invitation" was probably proof of it.


    And she kept shaking in fear so I pped her awake to ask the same question:


    "Erica. Listen to me. What invitation are you talking about?"


    At this point, the shaking stopped for a little bit because her head was now focused on the pain but before she had the chance to answer, the ss doors of the balcony adjacent to ours just shattered into pieces because a burly guy just went through it before hitting the stone railing.


    Both Edith and I didn''t know what the fuck just happened but we saw Sebastian stepping out of the adjacent balcony with an expression that could kill the guy several times over.


    "W-W-WAIT! I APOLOGIZE, ALRIGHT?! I APOLO¡ª GCRK! GACKH!"


    All of a sudden, Sebastian grabbed him by his cor and mmed his head on the same stone railing he hit his back on before saying something that I didn''t think could''ve been said at that moment:


    "I''ll say it again: take your dirty boots off and lick them clean before I do something permanent."


    That sentence didn''t make a lot of sense at the moment because once I nced at the crowd inside the main hall, everyone else was also shocked to fuck about the situation but I did see Nancy with a few maids carrying mops and was rushing to get through the entrance.


    But yeah, the guy Sebastian threw was still bleeding in several ces but he shakily took off his boots and licked them clean though smidges of blood were recing the dirt he licked off because his mouth was also bleeding from his head getting mmed on the stone railing.


    And at the same time, Sebastian was watching him like a fucking hawk but to his surprise, I jumped on their side of the balcony because I was umm¡­ nosy.


    I crouched down at the same railing before smiling, "Yo, what happened over here?"


    He had to nce at the distance I just jumped before he cleared his throat, "Mr. Ishiyama, don''t you think it''s dangerous to jump such a distance? You could''ve walked¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut him off, "I could jump farther but you still haven''t answered my question."


    "Haaa~ Very well, this man is one of the Roxas Family''s¡­ Umm¡­ Friends? I guess, and not only did he let himself in without the Roxas Family Head, but he also dared to make a mess of the whole mansion walking in those boots purposefully covered with dirt, mud, and manure. Truly disgusting behavior¡­"


    I nodded a few times, "Ah, I see¡­ Y''know, you could''ve just thrown him off this balcony?"


    For the first time, I saw him let out a smirk as he looked me in the eye, "I apologize Mr. Ishiyama but my aim''s not as good this time of the night¡­"


    "Hah! But isn''t he just trespassing right about now? I don''t know about the rules and regtions in this household but if someone uninvited so much crossed his damn pinky in my fold, they get shot, no warning or throwing them here and making them clean up after their mess. I could do the honors if you want¡ª"


    "The two of you, stop."


    At this point, Sebastian and I just bonded over our murderous tendencies but Sal came in and had to ruin it while our uninvited "guest" was still bleeding out as he was cleaning his shoe like one would lick the whisk end of a mixer.


    But yeah, Sal threw me a nce that indicated that she wasn''t pissed at all about what just urred because this was the type of thing she was looking for to get back to the way things were and then some.


    With that said, it was more than safe to say that the guests we have on the main hall were just as terrified as the man who was kneeling in between me and Sebastian, but Sal threw him an olive branch by sending him away to get treated.


    And just like that, the party continued with an initial set of awkwardughs and nces but that scene definitely didn''t help with Erica''s situation. With great advisement from Sebastian, he guided me to the same ce I jumped from and he eventually discovered what Edith and I were dealing with.


    However, he just let out a smile as he tried to calm Erica down and it seemed to give the right reaction.


    "Lady Erica, you needn''t worry¡­ Our Madam would do no such thing and as I''ve been informed earlier, your parents and the Madam had alreadye to terms very much like some of the attendees she just talked to."


    "R-Really?"


    "Of course, I swear on it¡­ And if you wouldn''t mind, tears like that are only allowed if it is a truly sad asion or extreme happiness¡­ Please¡­" Sebastian said as he offered Erica a nice and fancy handkerchief.


    "T-Thank you, Sebastian¡ª" then she turned to us, "I-I''m sorry for causing a f-fuss too¡­ I-I should''ve believed you the f-first time¡­"


    Edith just smiled as she waved her off, "T-That''s alright¡­"


    I followed, "Just remember that Sal''s that generous. If you need something, just ask."


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    Sebastian politely cut in, "Mydy, if you''d be so kind, I believe your little brother needs some assistance at the¡ª"


    "Oh my God! Gregory spilled on his¡ª I-I''m sorry, I''ll tend to him quick¡ªgood thing I brought him a change of clothes, I-I''ll be back! Excuse me!"


    At that moment, the three of us saw her off but just as Sebastian was about to excuse himself to take care of the mess he made on the adjacent balcony, Edith stopped him to thank him personally.


    "Thanks for that, Sebastian¡­ You''ve done more than what''s required of you all these years¡­"


    Sebastian let out a genuine smile, "Mydy, I thank you for those kind words but I''m still verycking¡­"


    "Nonsense!"


    "M-Mydy¡ª"


    "Honest to God, Sebastian! If you weren''t here, we''d be¡­ we''d be¡­ God knows where we could''ve ended up just by the number of times you saved our lives! It''s just really unfortunate you''re noting with us¡­"


    Sebastian let out a bitter smile, "I apologize, mydy, but I think I''d be more useful by the Madam''s side¡­ and beside Lady Elsa too, I suppose¡­"


    "T-That''s true, I guess¡­ But promise you''ll visit me once in a while, alright?! I-I''ll visit too¡ª as much as possible! I''ll miss you, Sebastian¡­ got it?!"


    "O-Of course, mydy¡­ I promise¡­ So, if you''ll excuse me¡­"


    "O-Oh, please don''t let us hold you for long! B-Be careful though!"


    "I will, mydy¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian''s goodbye was a little awkward because he was only gonna be on the balcony next to us. But since he didn''t want a lot of attention, he closed the curtain behind him¡ªwhere we were the only ones who could see him work, though he did a mighty fine job of removing all of the ss shards and blocking the entryway to avoid any idents.


    But yeah, so he could show off like me for a little bit, he jumped the same distance I did back to where we were because this one hell of a butler blocked his only entrance to the main hall.


    And I threw back the words he said to me earlier, "Sebastian, don''t you think it''s dangerous to jump such a distance? You could''ve walked, you know?"


    He chuckled while covering his mouth, "I apologize, Mr. Ishiyama but it appears that I''ve fully locked my only entrance back. Forgive the careless disy¡­"


    "I know, I know~"


    "Then if you''ll excuse me once more¡ª"


    "If you aren''t that busy tomorrow, would you mind giving us a tour?"


    "Hmm? Of course¡­"


    "Somece where we could give each other pointers will be good too."


    "..."


    "Sebastian?"


    He let out a sigh before giving me a smile, "Of course, my lord¡­ After I''m done assigning tasks to the household''s maids and butlers, I''ll get back to you¡ªno, how about doing the tour after breakfast?"


    "That''s great, really great¡­"


    "Very well, enjoy your night with thedy¡­ Just give me a call if you need further assistance¡­"


    "Sebastian."


    "Mr lord?"


    "Do you at least know how to swear?"


    "Swear? You mean¡­"


    "Yes. Swear."


    "Oh¡­ I¡­ I swear I''ll give you a tour¡ª"


    "No, I mean that is technically¡ª do you know how to fucking curse?"


    "Pardon? I don''t understand¡ª I mean, I''m afraid my Latin''s a little rusty¡­"


    "..."


    "My lord?"


    "..."


    "..."


    After that brief silence, Edith didn''t know what to do but the two of us just startedughing¡ªthough I''m on the more maniacal side¡ªgenuinely. He looked to be a guy who had a stick up his butt but he''s starting to grow on me.


    ''What are the chances I''ll be able to poach him away?''

 Chapter 929: Zero to a 100 because I just wanna get shit done

    On that note, it seemed like our presence was needed by Sal once again, but from the earlier disy, all I needed to do was smile and wave. I was pretty sure that these people had only dipped their toes in the dark side when the world ended while Sal was soaking in it for quite a time.


    But yeah, there were a few people who wanted to use this as an opportunity to get ahead of the pack that was recently stomped on.


    We were by one of the unupied tables near this huge disy of food with this pyramid thingy of champagne sses, and I was like a dealer who was listening to these people''s problems and offering a solution.


    I have talked to several people almost offering the same shit they did with Sal but the next one that followed thought I was a greenhorn who didn''t know better. He tried to make himself as non-threatening as possible but I was watching everyone that approached me or was just looking around and this guy thought he caught an easy break.


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama, I would like to introduce myself¡ª My name is Augustin and I have a proposition that''ll benefit us greatly¡­"


    "Alright, I''ll bite¡ª"


    "Very well! You see, we have 30 hectares ofnd that''s very rich and¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, I''m not interested innd right now¡­"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "You see, I can easily get my hands on 30 hectares ofnd. It''ll be better for you to offer them to Sal as well¡ª"


    "B-But thisnd is something you wouldn''t need to lift a finger on. Aside from the rustic manor, trees and crops are nted and we''re just waiting for the harvest season¡ª"


    "Then why are you offering it to me? What''s the catch?"


    "N-No catch at all. It''s just wasn''t being used and we''d like your expertise on the matter¡­"


    ''Trying to put a wedge between me and Sal? Pfft¡­''


    "That''s a lie. You don''t just offer a manor and a huge plot ofnd for nothing. If you want to negotiate a deal¡ª no, fuck this shit¡­ I don''t wanna do this shit while my date''s made herself this beautiful¡­ C''mon, Edith¡­"


    "W-Where are we¡ª"


    I smiled as I offered a hand, "We''re dancing!"


    "O-Okay!"


    And before we could even take a single step to the dance floor, the same dumbass grabbed on my shoulder for a hail mary.


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama, wait a second¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking touch me¡ª"


    "I was just¡ª"


    But before he could utter another word, he found himself several feet in the air before he discovered how hard the flooring was with his body. It was hrious to see his dyed reaction to the whole scenario but Edith and I were the first ones on the dance floor who started dancing, and Sebastian was kind enough to provide the music for us.


    People didn''t know whether to pay attention to the dumbass or the couple who started dancing right after that, but a portion of my group joining us to do the waltz was already an answer to that question.


    Though Edith was still a nervous wreck.


    "T-This is embarrassing¡­"


    "Dancing with me?"


    "N-No! N-Not that! I-It''s just I''ve n-never danced in front of people b-before¡­"


    "Only when Sebastian taught you?"


    "Wha¡ª How did you know?"


    "Seems pretty obvious to me¡­"


    "Oh¡­ He''s really great¡ª I mean, pretty patient with me¡­ no matter how many times I stepped on his feet¡­"


    "You did a couple of times, actually¡ª"


    "W-What?! I¡ª"


    "No worries, haha¡­"


    "T-This is really embarrassing¡­ I thought I was doing r-really well¡­"


    "You are, you are¡­ You said you''ve never danced in front of people, right? This is already a huge steppared to that¡­"


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before Kaley and Tatiana "identally" bumped into us so Kaley could swoop in and steal me away, but to their surprise, I ended up with Tatiana who funnily enough just went with it. But yeah, seeing Kaley pouting cutely was one of the highlights of this dance session though we did end up dancing with each other after Tatiana saw a whole pig roasted to perfection.


    To this moment, I still haven''t seen this Lisa person who Jesus had fallen for but Jesus was definitely gone for some time¡ªprobably helping with the rest of the food preparation.


    "H-Hey¡­ You''re dancing with me now¡­ W-What are you thinking of?"


    "Ah¡ª Can''t you just read my mind and find out?"


    "You! You know I can''t do that!"


    "I knew you were a fake~"


    "You doofus¡­"


    "I''m just kidding, sorry¡­ It''s just I need to look away for a few¡­"


    "Hmm? Why?"


    "Have you looked in a mirror? You know I can''t pop a boner with all these people?!"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re an idiot¡­"


    "Haha¡­ Yeah¡­ I just didn''t think we could still do this kind of thing in the middle of you know¡­ this¡­"


    "There''s a lot of things I didn''t think was possible other than this, you know?"


    "Well~ You got me there¡­ Did anything happen while¡ª"


    "While Edith''s hogging you all to herself? Maybe."


    "Oh, c''mon¡­"


    "I''m not jealous, maybe a little¡ª I''m just wondering how you''d make it up to me¡­ After all, I made myself look this pretty for you and you spend your night with her the most¡­ Also¡­ she asked me of something earlier and I just had to say yes to that, y''know?"


    "What do you mean?"


    Kaley cutely rolled her eyes, "What do you think? She asked for a bit of time alone with you and her maid¡ªNancy was it? To you know¡­ make it a little special¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Don''t worry¡ªno, you should worry because we''re waiting for you after that¡­ We''ll do you if you can''t do us right after, got it?"


    "K-Kaley? You¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ I''m joking, of course¡­ I don''t mind at all but yeah¡­ you''ll be missing out on something¡­ very¡­ very¡­ hot¡­"


    At that moment, Kaley embraced me a little closer and tighter as she kept eye contact, and from our position, we were almost kissing as we could feel each other''s breaths but the way Kaley was just looking at me was making me feel all sorts of ways.


    "Oh,e on~ You do know that I''ll drop anything and everything for you, don''t do me like that¡­"


    "Shh¡­ I know you will but¡­ It''s just so hot seeing youe back after those two beauties and wanting more from me¡­ Just me¡­ E-Either way¡­ I''ve been seeing how those other women have been looking at you and it''s just a t-turn on, to say the least¡­ You''ve no idea how much they want to sleep with you tonight¡­"


    Seeing Kaley like this, I shook my head and gave her a deep kiss in front of everyone as I held her even closer:


    "You do know I don''t care a single bit, right? You''ve no idea how much I want to sleep with just you tonight¡ªno¡­ Every. Single. Night. If it matters¡­"


    As soon as I said that, I had a thought that we''d just fuck in front of everybody but our little moment was interrupted by the champagne tower crashing under itself due to an "ident". But to my surprise, Lopez, who I thought who was keeping his head low for most of our trip seemed to be the perpetrator.


    But yeah, even I could tell that his face was telling everyone that he didn''t do it, and he was trying his hardest to look for a person among the crowd of strangers close to him but to no avail.


    To my surprise, even if he had no choice, he took the me for himself, "I-I¡ª I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DISTURBANCE! I-I''LL HELP CLEAN RIGHT AWAY!"


    At that point, the first person to react was Sebastian, who was already making his way toward the scene of the crime while Nancy and the rest were carrying the same mops as earlier while shooting daggers through Lopez''s back. I didn''t think I''d feel sorry for the guy for all he has done but owning up to something that he wasn''t even responsible for was a step in the right direction.


    However, that still didn''t excuse all the shit he had done but what came after that embarrassing disy was something I didn''t expect from this crowd of people.


    Lopez was actually helping clean up the mess that was thrown at him but several whispers were being thrown around at a volume loud enough for everybody present to hear them clearly.


    "Goodness gracious¡­ That''s so embarrassing¡­"


    "Wasn''t he from the Ishiyama Family?"


    "He looks like a creep¡­"


    "Why''s Sebastian doing nothing to that guy?"


    "Favoritism, I think¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "He''s with those people, figures¡­"


    "Just a way for them to exert their authority¡­"


    "What a way to kick us down just because they had more people¡­"


    "What can we do? We''re just lowly families serving under them¡­"


    "Don''t speak too loud they might hear you¡­"


    As we heard more and more shit being thrown at us, instead of being pissed off, I startedughing at the top of my lungs because if this was their way to retaliate against me, Sal, or even Mauro, they deserve all the shit that''sing for them.


    One''s name might be important to Sal and Mauro but I''ve said it once and I''ll say it again: There''s nothing they can say to me that I haven''t told myself in front of a mirror.


    So, to properly send the message Sal was trying to say to them all this while, I decided to do a little less posturing and a lot more hitting with a closed fist. And to do just that, I ordered the maids and butlers to send the kids and minors off to a different room before I gave my group one simple order:


    "No one passes through those doors."


    But as soon as I said that, the first one to react was this dumbass, Augustin, who basically tried to sell me some snake oil and he was wearing a totally different expressionpared to earlier. Furthermore, he had a group of people behind him ready to throw hands and he shouted at me like everything they''d seen prior to this was just an act.


    "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! HUH¡ª"


    I would''ve listened to his speech if he had given me a good deal but I dislodged his jaw with a right hook and jumped into this encirclement of rich-ass nobles who never worked a day in their life and wreaked havoc.


    What I''m doing right now was ramping everything to a 100 but I''m sick and tired of people sending hints and whatnot just to get their point across.


    If you want people to be afraid of you, just beat them to a pulp and start from there.


    Five seconds had only passed but there was already a set of loose teeth on the floor plus two numbnuts, and this was just the moment Mauro startedughing his ass off and was so fucking amped to join in.


    Furthermore, two bitches just tried to go for Kaley but they were soon lying in a pool of their own piss when Kaley prevented me frommitting bloody murder because I wouldn''t care if it was a 90-year-old bimbo, if anyone tries anything with my wife, they''re already perceived as a threat.


    "Why''d you have to do your thingy?! I got it, alright? WATCH OUT¡ª"

 Chapter 930: BECAUSE I HAVE THE FUCKING GUN, YOU DIPSHIT!

    I was lucky enough to be staring at Kaley''s eyes to see the reflection of a barrel-chested fellow about to throw a right hook to the back of my head, but I twisted my body and met his fist with my elbow before I sent my knee to his balls, finishing him off with the same elbow the moment he dropped to his knees.


    But yeah, hits to the back of the head was a huge fucking no-no¡ªbecause it''s literally fatal and banned from several sportspetitions¡ªso I stomped on his right arm and shattered it into pieces like his knuckles that collided with my elbow.


    I could hear the audible gasps and screams that came from the crowd but it didn''t end there when Mauro fully sent another "noble" straight out the balcony and beyond.


    My first thought was to nce at Sebastian who was probably having a migraine because of the damage we were causing on this mansion but the motherfucker became a fucking conductor and was guiding the rest of the people ying background music to match the fucking vibes.


    In any case, the vibe right now was "Fuck Shit Up!" and this party became a brawl.


    At this point, the dance floor became the octagon but as I was worrying about what might happen to Kaley since she was right next to me, all my fears ceased when I saw what she was hiding underneath that slit in her dress.


    I might not be that confident in her in close quarters but she was nigh-impossible to get close to with a gun.


    Then we heard a shout from the guy who caused trouble the first time:


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DUMBASSES DOING?! WE DIDN''T TAKE YOU IN JUST TO STAND BY AND WATCH! WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF THOSE THREE PEOPLE?! I DON''T EVEN CARE IF THAT BITCH¡ª"


    Before this "friend" of the Roxas Family could say more, he should''ve paid attention to his surroundings because the two Alpha-Bitches were standing right behind him.


    He would''ve been the first fatality of the night but the two were kind enough to let Kaley fight her own battles because let''s be honest here, she needed to rack some street cred to avoid being the target of most insults and provocation.


    It''s not like she can''t do it herself but I would almost always interfere like Quinn and Tatiana hence she wasn''t able to do it herself most of the time.


    ''It''s just a matter of throwing the chick off the nest so to speak¡­''


    In any case, I figured it would be better for my own sanity and her development to focus on my current opponent because I''m pretty sure just me looking over that dumbass was giving Kaley an unbelievable advantage. Worstes to worst, the two could intervene because Mauro and I had already imed this dancefloor.


    On that note, Mauro and I made sure not to damage¡ªkinda¡ªmore furniture, especially the tables with food and drinks but we had little to no control of what these henchmen were about to do.


    It didn''t take long before they picked up forks and knives to make themselves appear like the bigger threat, but I quickly made their attempts for naught because they quickly asked for a fair fight once I started pulling out my hidden knives and the couple of guns in my person.


    "C''MON, MAN! WHAT CAN THIS BUTTERKNIFE DO AGAINST THAT GLOCK?!"


    "THEN FUCKING PUT IT DOWN AND I''LL THINK ABOUT IT!"


    "WHY WOULD WE PUT OURS DOWN FIRST?!"


    "BECAUSE I HAVE THE FUCKING GUN, YOU DIPSHIT! WANNA KNOW HOW A 9MM FEELS LIKE?!"


    "THERE! I THREW IT! I THREW IT! L-LET''S JUST FIGHT LIKE NORMAL, AYE?"


    "YOU MEAN GETTING BEAT UP SENSELESSLY?! SURE!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    It''s just that even without weapons and even if their numbers doubled, looking intimidating was fucking nothing against looking intimidating and actually knowing how to fucking fight.


    Just to make myself the bigger person, I prompted to knock the ones who fought fair in one blow while the ones who used dirty tactics donated their teeth to the dance floor and increased the number of bones in their body due to fractures.


    On the other hand, Mauro seemed like he built up his stamina and strength even more with his honeymoon phase with Elsa because people were just flying left and right and we have some of them hanging from the chandelier. But most importantly, his attacks have gotten sharper and morepact despite the barbaric disy of caving one''s face in.


    ''Definitely deterred more henchmen froming at us¡­''


    I''ve seen him clip a guy''s chin surgically¡ªand that would''ve been the end of that dude¡ªbut he picked him up and mmed him face-first onto the solid flooring before kicking his head like a ser ball.


    And after that, he made another poor fellow flip in the air with a fucking clothesline before stomping on his face and breaking his jaw.


    These people didn''t know who to fight anymore but they owed their bosses something so they had to rush to their deaths regardless.


    The fight would''ve been over then and there¡ªand it was pretty obvious these people wouldn''t stand a chance against us two, but I figured the right way to go about this was what I''d been thinking to do with Sebastian earlier.


    Right as one of these poor security detail lunged at me, I met his face with my knee before grabbing his cor and lifting him up in the air.


    With his weight and how tight his clothes were, it''ll be a matter of time before it choked him to death but I said loud enough for everyone to hear on this dancefloor:


    "I''ll let you switch sides if you want~ Just drag them here and beat them up for me and we''ll double whatever it is they''re paying you plus extra. How''s that sound?"


    "KchK¡ªCHkK W-W¡ª GckKK!"


    "Right, you''re choking¡ª"


    As soon as I dropped him down, everyone else who was trying to get the jump on us didn''t know what to do just yet because I could be putting them in a bad position against their master and then betray them right after. If that happens, they''d have nowhere else to go so I had to influence people that were already on our side.


    I turned to the Vidal Family first and foremost with a smile:


    "The offer also extends to you, George, you can have your security detail bring one of the offending families here and you''ll definitely have a top-off with whatever deal you had with Sal. That also applies to the rest of you people who just stood by and watched."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone was just deathly quiet but I chuckled as I piled on:


    "It''s not like we needed the help¡ªyou see, Mauro there is still beating the shit out of that guy but we have other things to do and that''s one of the reasons we need more people on our side.


    Sal''s the most generous person in this area¡ªyou''ll never find another one¡ªwho you stole from and approached you to forget about it and form¡ª I''ll stop exining because you rich folks already know what she did¡­"


    At this point, all they needed was one single push and this one single push I gave them:


    "I''d hate to do this but you do know what happened to Sal''s workers who betrayed her, right? She gave them one more chance and let me tell all of you¡­ this is yourst fucking chance¡­ The ones that didn''te to this party? They''ll have half of a chance if we start visiting them¡­ So, for all of you¡ª"


    Before I even managed to finish my spiel, fists just started flying along with bones breaking as I put the attention from us two to the people going against us. And yeah, these rich folk''s workers even turned on their bosses as each head was dragged into the center of the dancefloor with more than just bruises¡ªthough there were some who surrendered before the beating came for them.


    But in regards to the friend of the Roxas household, it was safe to say that procreation would be out of his wheelhouse and the ability to eat through a straw was recently added to his ability pool.


    It seemed like Kaley did a number on the guy and her being in her bulking phase made hernd heavier kicks and punches.


    She was now back with my group guarding the entrances and exits and it was pretty obvious they took down a few more people because they thought going through them would be a tad easier. I wasn''t able to witness how Kuzma fought without his particr attachments but there was plenty of time given the aftermath of this "joyous" asion.


    With that said, I eventually gave Sal back the spotlight and she couldn''t hide the smile on her face as she stood in front of these people with several injuries:


    "Maaan~ I really should''ve brought the kid way, way~ earlier¡­ Mauro too, for what it''s worth¡­ This turned out better than expected but you know what? You dumbasses will be able to see my dungeon. It hasn''t been used in a while but this will be thest time you see sunlight¡ª I mean moonlight, heh.


    We''ll hold you there until the rest of your family members cooperate with us but do hope they don''t pull some shit like this again because¡ª no, you''ll just see what happens after that¡­ I''ve been really~ kind to all of you but I have my limits too¡­"

 Chapter 931: Agreement or Coercion?

    Truth be told, this night could''ve gone a little~ bit better if wemunicated beforehand or nned more together, but both of us had other stuff to do and this was the best we could''ve managed given the situation. We can''t just stop time and figure out the best way possible out of any circumstance such as this but ain''t no fucking way these dumbasses would''vee out on top of this.


    Not to give them any ideas, if they''re gonna try and steal from a Family Head of a drug cartel, they better go all the fucking~ way because payback will always be brought upon those who did them wrong. Sal was kind enough to give them plenty of chances which they botched several times over.


    In any case, I didn''t think that Sal would have a dungeon in this fancy-ass mansion but thinking about it, this was probably one of those old, old houses that existed from where we were still under Spanish colonial rule, though a lot had changed given the time, but certain facilities were kept and maintained¡ªpossibly restored or refurbished.


    But yeah, if I had an underground space like this, I could''ve turned it into the most kickass man cave or you know, a huge-ass basement like we have back home.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before a mix of Sal and Mauro''s people¡ªnot the ones in hospitality services¡ªcame in as they took away the ones we had a sincere talking to despite their pleas and requests for one more chance.


    However, there was still the issue of these people''s kids where some of them could think on their own but still not of age, but instead of throwing them into the same ce their parents were, they were simply held into a much more pleasant area but were not allowed to leave.


    But yeah, the ones like the Vidal Family who sided with Sal were reunited with their loved ones¡ªmuch to the relief of Erica and others¡ªbut their family heads were escorted into another room with Sal and Sebastian to further discuss the specifics of their new rtionship or partnership.


    At this point, I thought I had already fulfilled the role I was given but like Mauro, we were soon approached and told that we were required to attend the meeting after making ourselves a little more presentable.


    Though Mauro just scoffed and asked me to simplye with him.


    "Fuck that shit, we''d get the better end of the deal with blood on our clothes, no?"


    I nodded, "True¡­ but I think the intimidation part is already over and done with¡ª"


    "That''s where you''re wrong, this is the time when we need to press them even more¡ª"


    I shook my head as I took off my frilly coat, "Nah, I think this is the time where we show them we could be reasoned with. Fear is a great motivator but adding a bit of respect to it could go a long way. You gotta give them a little bit too if you want return customers¡­ Gotta meet in the middle a little bit but it''s so where we are a little bit ahead¡­ That''s the sweet spot¡­"


    "Ha¡­ I get it, I get it¡­ It would be easier if we just do it my way though¡­"


    "Easier doesn''t mean better, no?"


    "I said I get it, man! D''you know how big this mansion is?! All my clothes are in the West Wing!"


    "Mine''s in the East Wing, you don''t see meining~"


    "Fuck it, meet here in five?"


    "Sure~"


    As I went back to my room, I found a fancy suit and tie that was probably prepared for me beforehand so I just washed my hands and wiped myself as quickly but as thoroughly as possible before heading back to the same spot with my katana.


    But funnily enough, Mauro came back almost wearing the same exact thing¡ªbut in his sizes, of course¡ªbut he was lugging around this huge-ass steampunk-style club which suspiciously enough, was missing a couple of things attached to it.


    "Hah! I knew you''d bring that katana with you!"


    "You brought your own, looks metal as fuck!"


    "Heh, anything you carry will look good with a suit. Not with those fancy-ass noble outfits¡­"


    "True~ True~ They have their own aesthetic but a suit matches my katana more¡­ Where are we heading again?"


    "Follow me."


    As Mauro fixed his tie, he led me to this set of doors that revealed a space that was only a quarter of the size of the main hall but it provided enough seats for everyone present.


    The tension could already be cut with a knife when we entered but it didn''t help them one bit when they met eyes with the two people who made a mess of the henchmen their "colleagues" purchased¡ªwhich coincidentally they could acquire with their funds but was ultimately useless when their services were called on.


    In any case, it seemed like they were waiting for us toe by but Sebastian beckoned us to sit with Sal who was right in front of everybody. This butler just gave us this smile as he stood behind his employer but it seemed like his presence was slowly disappearing the moment we took our seats.


    Despite that, I could clearly see him if I turned in his direction but it was a different case when he was out of my cone of vision.


    Sal then cleared her throat and spoke in a voice loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Alright, this meeting won''t take long but here''s the gist of it: As luck would have it, I didn''t need to y the long game with those dumbasses but I hope you''re not ying the long game with me too. What I''m proposing is now a 50-50 deal with all of the harvests and possessions from those fucker''snds while I take a measly 20% from yours. Furthermore¡ª"


    One of the lesser family heads raised his hand, "I''m sorry¡ª W-Which f-fuckers? Excuse thenguage¡­"


    Sal cackled as she scoffed, "Thenguage is as good as it gets! Good question though, Erickson! The fuckers I''m implying are the fucking fuckers in my dungeon. You see, I wouldn''t need much from yournd right now since a whole lot opened up because of those dumbasses so count it as a fucking blessing.


    I''ll only be taking 20% from yournd¡ªand thend we''re talking about is thend you own PLUS thend you''ve taken away from me. Let''s be honest here, ALL OF YOU FUCKING STOLE FROM ME¡ª but I''m still the generous Madam youe to know and love.


    On that note, you''ll be in charge of cultivating thatnd plus the ones who are adjacent to you¡ªwe''ll talk about thister¡ªfrom our fucker''s association of dumbasses, so there''s that. Any questions?"


    "..."


    "No? Very well, I''ll continue¡­ Aside from the division ofnd, I rmend you open up a few rooms because you''ll have guests living with you¡ªthat will also help with keeping everything running, and I''m talking about the family members those family heads will be leaving after they''re situated well in my basement.


    Don''t worry about them retaliating against you because WE''LL fucking make sure they follow the protocol though we''ll talk to them about leading their own family under me. It''s a meeting for another day but I don''t have to talk about that to all of ya. You just need to do what we agreed on before and everything will be spick and span.


    It''s a little messy right now but we''ll all figure it out soon enough¡­"


    Another family head raised her hand with a fearful look in her eyes, "W-What about the ones who d-didn''t attend this party?"


    "Don''t worry about them Rosie, they''ll be well taken care of¡ª right¡­ You''re right next to the Roxas Family Estate, right? Good for you, aside from the rare flowers you cultivate, you''ll have some space for more essential crops and other shit. You get the whole she-bang like a few of you will¡­ congrats.


    Oh right, if their sons keep their heads down when my people visit themter, they''ll probably help your people get ustomed to their ce but if not, I guess their servants will suffice. However, my dungeon could only take so many people even if feeding them wouldn''t be an issue but some people will be used as fertilizer if you know what I mean¡­"


    Another family head raised his hand, "W-Wait¡­ You''re visiting them tonight?"


    "Of course, wouldn''t want them to go elsewhere, no? On that note, I strongly advise all of you to enjoy the party until it''s all over so that you won''t get disturbed by the¡ª umm¡­ noise¡­ that''ll emanate from theirnd. Don''t worry if your little ones can''t stay up all night because we have rooms avable and all of you can spend the night when you get tired.


    We''ll even have breakfast prepared for tomorrow and even lunch if you so desire. So, what''ll it be?"

 Chapter 932: Brand

    At this point in time, it was practically suicide to go against the victors because not only were they confined in a single space where we could easily take them out, but their precious family members were just outside and our people outside could also do the same.


    But yeah, that was just a hypothetical because as much as possible, given thend we now possess, we''d need more hands to take care of them for the future.


    It''s just now a matter of whether this arrangement could seed or fail because anything could look good on paper, actually putting it into motion was the hard part.


    But right as I thought we''d shake hands and sing Kumbayah, it was then that Sebastian walked over to the firece several feet behind us and lit a fire. It looked harmless at first but it didn''t take long before he pulled out and unveiled a branding iron that had the Rivas Family Ranch logo.


    ''Oh, shit¡­''


    Sal was just looking at her new partners with a smile but everyone else looked way, way~ worse.


    Just the realization that they have to get branded like cattle for their family to survive was taking a toll on their psyche but in the grand scheme of things, I''d say it was a better price to pay than being hunted down and getting everything taken from you by the people they stole from.


    "I''m sorry to do this to all of you but I gotta have some assurances, no?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "S-Sal¡­ Y-You know w-we''re not gonna do it again, alright?! T-This is totally u-unnecessary¡ª"


    "Rosie."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Why don''t you *ms the fucking table* SHUT THE FUCK UP! UNNECESSARY?! HUH?! THIS WHOLE THING COULD''VE BEEN AVOIDED IF YOU GREEDY FUCKS JUST MADE THAT DEAL WITH ME! ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE SIX FEET IN THE GROUND RIGHT NOW AND YOU''RE SCARED OF SEARING IRON TOUCHING YOUR SKIN?! THINK, ROSIE!


    THINK! YOU FUCKED WITH ME AND YOU ALL LOST! DID YOU SEE ME BEGGING YOU FUCKS WHEN YOU TOOK SHIT FROM ME?! NO! I PLAYED THE GAME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DID AND CAME BACK! SEBASTIAN!"


    "Yes, Madam?"


    "Darling Rosie here will go first¡­"


    "S-Sal, p-please¡ª"


    "Then choose."


    "W-What?"


    "If you don''t want a brand, you can choose between losing two fingers, an eye, your family, yournd, or everything after I put a bullet between your fucking eyes. Your choice."


    "...!"


    "Seems an easy choice, no? Trust me, it''ll only hurt for a second¡­ I think," then she turned to everyone else, "Anyone else having second thoughts? It''s all here. I''m pretty sure our boys here could take care of the other stuff but I''d rmend a spoon if you want to get your eyes¡ª I mean an eye taken out."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Nothing? Let''s start. Sebastian."


    "Yes, Madam¡­" then he turned to Rosie of the Villegas Family, "Please. I suggest it on the back or thine ankles but the decision is yours¡­"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "Please¡­ if the iron cools down, we''ll have to do it again so decide immediately."


    "A-A-Alright¡­ I-I j-just g-gotta breathe for a m-moment¡­"


    At this point, Mrs. Rosie was almost hyperventting as she was trying to regte her breathing but Sal got fed up and ordered Sebastian to just stick it on her back and be done with it. However, to make a clean brand, the one receiving it shouldn''t be moving an inch yet Mrs. Rosie was having a seizure-like event the moment the searing iron made contact with her skin.


    ''That couldn''t have gone any worse¡­ Should''ve just kept still¡­''


    Mauro and I had to hold her down so the process could be over and done with but after multiple attempts, because she kept moving regardless, she just lost consciousness and was carried to one corner of the room while the next family head took the stage.


    We had a little more than a dozen lesser family heads in this room¡ªwhere three were older women¡ªbut it was safe to say that everyone chose to have a branding among all of the choices given to them. The most popr choice among the older gentlemen were on their shoulder or on their forearm though the otherdies chose to have it on their ankles.


    But yeah, branding all of them felt like a day had passed but looking at my watch told me that the whole process took less than 30 minutes.


    However, everyone was shocked to fuck when Sal ordered Sebastian to stick it on her vicle for god knows what reason. Even Sebastian hesitated to follow her orders but it seemed like Sal wanted to send another point across by not reacting at all when the hot iron burned her skin.


    "Fucking pussies," was all that came out of her mouth as she put back her coat and sat back on her chair.


    And at that moment, the new deal the Rivas Family had with all of these people was officially done¡ªsigned and sealed by everyone else involved¡ªand they shared a ss of strong alcohol before joining everybody.


    The look of relief was present on their loved ones'' faces but they were a little bit frightened when they discovered that they were now branded like livestock. However, I''ll say it again, it was a small price to paypared to total annihtion because they get to enjoy thisvish meal instead of a hail of bullets.


    In any case, the party had kicked off after a few moments of awkwardness but it was more due to the fact that everyone else was taking in more alcohol than usual.


    ''It does help with the nerves¡­''


    These people were so fucking used to paying people to do shit for them, they forgot how it was when they started. Sure, some of them could''ve started their lives with a silver spoon in their mouths but they could''ve at least have had a hands-on approach from time to time to get a gist of how shit works.


    After a while, another batch of freshly cooked food arrived and we were finally graced with the presence of the head chef, Lisa, who came with Jesus wearing a fancy outfit.


    The two literally looked like they were made for each other but Jesus was getting nailed on the cross every single time Lisa mentioned they were just "friends".


    However, Jesus kept a strong front as he tried to y everything off but he lost his fucking marbles the moment he discovered what happened when he was away.


    "I just fucking missed all of that?!"


    "Well~ You can try to follow some of Mauro''s guys who came knockin'' on their doors¡­"


    "Haa~ That''s not my thing. I guess it''s deserved but I could''ve pulled them to our side if I had more time. Right¡ª Everyone have a taste of Lisa''s Terrine! It''s made with all of the Rivas Family''s grown vegetables and it''s just *chefs kiss* perfection! And after that, have a serving of her beef wellington and her seafood soup! There''s a lot more like the¡ª"


    Lisa cut him off with a smile, "Jesus, why don''t you let them decide what to eat? They can only eat so much¡ª"


    Quinn and Tatiana cut in at the same time, "That''s where you''re wrong!"


    "O-Okay? P-Please, enjoy!"


    Truth be told, one bite of her food told me where Edith got her cooking skills from but getting it from the master herself was fucking sublime. I didn''t think the whole spread could match with each other so well and we fucking destroyed everything on our table and then some.


    And yeah, even the wine selection worked so well from beginning to end and I thought the ones we got from earlier were already top-shelf.


    It''s just a little weird to me when we were back to enjoying this food after everything that''s happened before we came through their gates, but it''s something we had no control over at the moment. I''m a "Fuck fate!" type of guy but sometimes, living the best life¡ªor should I say, enjoying the little things for as long as we could was sometimes the go-to in this type of situation.


    I eventually had my fill of food, drinks, and socializing but it didn''t take long before Edith and Nancy took me somewhere private despite the chaos happening outside their estate.


    Edith already had a few sses of wine but still looking fine while Nancy only had a ss but was already a little tipsy. To be fair, she needed to be somewhere on that ballpark because a little less would make her a nervous wreck for what was about toe and a little more would be a case of assault against me if we ever go through with it while she''s drunk.


    In any case, it was justplete and total silence when we were finally alone in Edith''s room but Edith excused herself to change to something morefortable while Nancy and I were just staring at each other in silence.

 Chapter 933: Slow Burn

    Nancy and I already had a little run-in earlier though we didn''t go all the way but she looked liked she was in heat from the way her breathing was hurried and how her cute cheeks were flushed red. She even had her right fist right up on her chest like she was having a heart attack but it was just all the nerves going through her head and her body right now.


    On the other hand, I was just trying to look as non-threatening as possible but each movement I made seemed to be startling her.


    I lightly chuckled, "W-Would you like another drink?"


    "W-What?"


    "You know, to calm yourself down a little bit? Not a whole ss per se but~ just a little sip to¡ª"


    "A-Alright, I''ll get¡ª"


    I waved her off, "No, stay there. I''ll get it for you¡­"


    In any case, I left my de and my coat on the chair I was sitting on and Nancy was just watching me make my way to the serving tray that had the bottle of wine and sses, pour us a drink, and make my way to her side to sit down.


    We were on the edge of Edith''s bed with very little lighting but I could still see how her light blue eyes gleam from the smallmpshade.


    "Were you wearing contacts earlier? I didn''t seem to notice your eye color¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I-I''m sorry, I can put¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ They''re beautiful, I''d love to see you more like this¡ª and with these freckles too! They''re pretty! Don''t hide them, w-well, unless you have an issue with them or s-something¡­ In any case¡ª"


    She looked at me with her puppy eyes, "D-Do you think they''re r-really pretty?"


    "Yep!"


    "J-Just my eyes and my freckles¡ª Ah!"


    I suddenly pinched her cheeks much to her surprise, "You know what I meant, heh¡­ Don''t twist my words, alright? I wouldn''t¡­ you know¡­ do this with you and Edith if I didn''t find you attractive¡ª And don''t get started on just doing it just with your looks: You ARE pretty but we just met and I gotta know more about you if you''re gonna turn this conversation THAT way¡­"


    Nancy lightly rubbed her cheeks as she looked back at me, "I-I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it l-like that¡­ Y-You''re r-really attractive too¡ª M-More like h-hot a-and¡­ Oh. S-Should I still c-call you m-master while E-Edith''s here?"


    "Want my honest opinion?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "I don''t mind either way but I wouldn''t stop you if that''s what gets you off¡­ Sometimes, I wanna be the one on the opposite end of the act but I love conversations like these¡­ It''s best to talk about boundaries first, you know?"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah."


    "So, you don''t juste in and plow me then leave me leaking after¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Hold up, Nancy! I didn''t think those words woulde out of your mouth but to answer your question, no. Unless you want me to do that, I''ll always take care of you after, no questions asked. But yeah¡­ Pfft¡­ That fuckin'' got me¡ª"


    Then Edith came up from behind us freshly showered and wearing a see-through night gown and some sexy lingerie.


    "Got you what? Oh, I just finished showering¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut her off, "You know, we could''ve showered together? Saved some time?"


    "Hmph! T-Then you would''ve already seen me naked! I wanna surprise you wearing this, you know! Thanks for thepliment, by the way~"


    I scratched the back of my head as I chuckled, "I''m sorry, you look good¡­"


    "That doesn''t sound too convincing!"


    "Yeah¡­ Lingerie does only a little bit for me¡ª"


    "What?! You could''ve said so! I feel silly now!"


    "No, no! I''m sorry for telling you that now but¡ª"


    "S-Shut it! Go shower with Nancy right now and by the time you two are done, I''ll figure it out! Better yet¡ª no, I wouldn''t tell you anything! I''ll surprise ya! Go! GO!"


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    "C''mon now! I''m not mad, a little¡ª but that''s my fault for not asking Kaley¡ª J-Just go!"


    With that said, Edith looked adorably cute as she was shooing us away but we did see her leave the room after putting on a long coat before we closed the door to the bathroom. As soon as that happened, Nancy and I looked at each other before we shared augh then we began soaping up each other, making sure we could eat off each other''s butts¡ªnot exactly that, but you get the point.


    But yeah, it''s safe to say that Nancy''s nervousness was already gone though she was starting to get friskier and friskier as she ran her hands on my body.


    At one point, she was soaping me up with her perky little tits and her cute little innie but Ipletely stopped her when she was about to have an orgasm. Sure, it was cruel in a sense but we wouldn''t want her tapping out just as we were beginning to do the deed.


    "B-But¡ª"


    "I''m sorry but we shouldn''t get ahead while Edith''s waiting for us, should we?"


    "O-Okay¡­ B-But¡­ I-It''s too t-tingly r-right now¡­ I-It''s really¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡­ H-Hngh¡­"


    "You just have to hold it a little more, okay?"


    "Haa¡­ O-Okay¡­"


    Nancy''s mouth was still agape as she was panting¡ªalmost as if she was losing air, but we quickly finished our shower when we heard the door to Edith''s room open and close.


    And to my surprise and to my delight, Edith was now wearing a loose, oversized shirt that was down to her thighs, and whether she was wearing anything underneath was irrelevant because I was more focused on the outline her figure was producing as she was against the light.


    I didn''t even think I''m into this type of shit but god fucking dammit it''s better to me than fucking lingerie.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before she showed me a small tease, where she was wearing grey cotton panties that were a little tighter¡ªalmost like thigh highs that would pinch a little bit of fat on her quads¡ªbut this time, it was highlighting her round butt even more along with her fat pussy.


    I couldn''t see Edith''s nipples through her clothes because hers was inverted but I could very well see the shape of her fat cameltoe I wanted to bury my face in.


    "H-How''s this? K-Kaley said¡ª Oh¡­" Edith trailed as she looked at my erection, "I''ll be taking more notes for the f-future¡­ You two wanna join me? It''s quite cold alone in this bed¡­"


    In any case, the three of us found ourselves in Edith''s bed but it seemed like the whole focus was Nancy''s first time because all of my attempts to touch Edith''s body was her grabbing my hand and putting it on Nancy''s young and petite frame. But yeah, she''d just give me a smile as she would continue to stroke my dick while Nancy was just on the receiving side of things from the two of us.


    However, Edithpletely underestimated as to how close Nancy was to having an orgasm because the moment the tip of my fingers brushed against her clit, her body just jolted as her eyes went to the back of her head, holding onto us tightly while liquid was spurting out from her pink pussy.


    From Edith''s actions, I thought she''d be surprised¡ªand she actually was from a totally different thing. Nancy was still fighting against the tremors but Edith wore a smile as she continued to stimte Nancy''s hard nipples.


    "Hmm~ I didn''t think you''d cum this fast¡­ Totally different when we''re together, no?"


    "L-Lady Edith¡­ T-That doesn''t¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, we''re both experimenting but it''s totally different when he''s here, right?"


    I just had to ask, "You two do stuff?"


    Edith chuckled, "Of course, why wouldn''t we? Well~ Mostly hand stuff but we eat each other from time to time¡ª And we''ve only put fingers in our butts¡ª D-Did your d-dick just twitch?!"


    "Hey! It''s hot, alright?! Who wouldn''t get turned on from hearing that?"


    Edith rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "I know a guy but we shouldn''t talk about him at the moment¡­"


    "You''re¡­ You''re really different thest time we were together¡­"


    She was suddenly caught off-guard by that statement, "Wha¡ª O-Of course, not! I-I''m still the same b-but you know¡­ a-after that¡­ I-It just¡­ Y-You know¡­ W-Woke up s-something in me¡­ D-Did you know I''m always having thoughts about you¡­ D-Dirty thoughts about you a-and I''d always just find myself touching down there every single time? B-But enough about t-that¡­ N-Nancy, d-do you wanna do it now? Or¡­"


    "I-I need a-a little break¡­ Ha¡­ I¡­ I was r-really holding that f-for a while¡­ I almost cked out¡­"


    "Alright¡­" then she turned to me, "Why don''t you lie down first? Nancy and I will s-suck you off at the same time¡­"


    "Fine¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    "But you do it this way¡­" I said as I motioned with my hands.

 Chapter 934: Body Heat w/ Surprise Butt Seggs

    After a few moments, Nancy and Edith were licking the tip of my cock as they were lying on their sides while their cute/rounds butts were facing my way. Edith was mostly teaching Nancy how to avoid using her teeth but god fucking dammit the girl knows how to fucking use her tongue.


    And after a few moments or so, they''d look back at me with their puppy eyes¡ªas if they were asking me if they were doing a good job¡ªthough they''d go back to licking my balls or slurping the tip of my dick.


    I could watch the two all day but my gaze was alternating between theirher regions and even though Edith was still clothed in a sense, I could see the wet spot in her panties which I was poking with my fingers.


    On the other hand¡ªquite literally¡ªI was pushing my thumb inside Nancy''s little asshole causing her to grab me a little tighter with her small hands while every poke toward Edith would prompt a little moan.


    It didn''t take long before Edith tried to swallow me whole but she was only halfway in when her gag reflex would kick in. I would''ve taught her to go about in a different position but since Nancy was also doing her best to lick and kiss what Edith couldn''t take, I figured it''d be best to enjoy the view while fingering or prodding their tiny little holes.


    The only thing missing was the constant eye contact but this time, Edith decided to actually try and make me cum with her mouth because thest time she tried, she failed in the attempt.


    And in doing so, she started to bob her head up and down my shaft as she pushed her panties to the side¡ªso I''d have an unobstructed view of her holes¡ªand each time she went down, she''d get a little closer to the base. However, she still couldn''t quite get down to my whole length but I didn''t even think she''d cum from sucking my dick while her clit was being pinched between my fingers.


    "Ah¡ª A-Ah¡ª AH! F-Fuck! I-I''m c-cumminggg~!"


    Edith had never held me so tight as she was squirming in ce while all Nancy could do was watch as she was partly touching herself. Their fluids were obviously running down their thighs at this point but Edith had to give up as sheid on her back.


    She was panting as her chest was heaving up and down but to our surprise, Nancy went on top of her and on all fours, waving her cute little butt towards me as she gave Edith a few kisses.


    "C-Can¡­ Can we d-do it this way?" Nancy asked as she raised Edith''s top, revealing her breasts.


    "Are you sure? It''s better if you go on top of me¡­"


    "I-It''s fine, I-I wanted it to be this w-way¡­"


    "Alright¡­"


    At this point, Nancy started to y with Edith''s boobs while licking her nipples and puffy ares but Edith took it upon herself to bring Nancy up to the right position as she spread her cheeks apart. Nancy let out a gasp as her sensitive spots were touched but both of her holes were winking as if waiting for something to punch through them.


    With Nancy''s paleplexion, her pink insides were so entuated along with her pink little asshole but I just rubbed the tip against her holes as I went into position.


    "A-Are you g-gonna put it i-in now?"


    "Yeah¡­ Just rx, alright? Breathe¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡ª"


    With that said, I barely pushed the tip in before Nancy''s whole body tensed as she clutched the covers, but I gave her a few more seconds to breathe before I pushed more inches deeper.


    "AH! AH! I-ITS¡ª MMH! S-Shit¡­ HNGH! I-IT''S GOING IN ME¡ª I-IT HURTSsSsss¡­ MMh¡­ HhA! HAA!


    Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    Nancy''s insides were so fucking tight¡ªthey were almost pushing me out¡ªbut losing her virginity didn''t mean she''d need to take my whole length and have a huge bulge on her stomach.


    I was barely halfway in before I decided to stop pushing it in even more, and I just stayed in ce until she got used to that size or until she asked for more. In any case, Edith was the only one who could see Nancy''s facial expressions but she threw me a gentle smile when our eyes met.


    It seemed like this was Nancy''s limit for the moment and going further would just hurt her even more. And yeah, Edith kept rubbing her back while giving her kisses, but Nancy was still getting used to the pain and my dick invading one of her tiny openings.


    However, I''d feel her pushing back but she''d almost immediately retreat from doing so, so I caressed her back gently telling her to not rush it because we have plenty of time.


    "Breathe, alright?"


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-Is it all in yet? I f-feel so f-full¡­"


    "Kinda¡­ But you''re doing great. Are you okay?"


    "I-It still hurts a l-little b-but s-shouldn''t you start m-moving?"


    "Do you want me to? We''ll try a little¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Y-Yeah¡ª O-Ow¡­ Ha¡­ Y-Yes¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    At this point, I began to thrust at a slow pace while making sure not to go any deeper and I was beginning to notice just the tightness of her pussy without the squeezing involved. It didn''t make a lot of sense because she was still gripping me tightly but as I thrust back and forth more and more, she seemed to be quite enjoying it instead of just anticipating the pain.


    "W-Wait a sec¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Hmm? Want me to go slower?"


    "N-No¡­ C-Can I see it?"


    "T-There''s a little blood, are you okay with that? I can wipe you off a little bit before¡ª"


    "I-It''s okay, I just r-really wanna see it¡­"


    In any case, there really wasn''t a lot of blood that came out but when she got off Edith and saw her blood and cream just halfway on my dick, she looked a little disappointed with herself for a moment.


    It was dissipated when Edith came in for a hug and basically told her that she was a woman now as they kissed in front of me and smiled at each other genuinely. However, that just lit a fire in her ass as she asked me toy on my back because this time, she''d follow my earlier rmendation.


    But yeah, we did wipe off for a little bit before she tried to get on top of me but I wasn''t able to see the whole thing because Edith couldn''t help but sit on my face.


    I just felt a tight grip on my dick before the same sensation enveloped it further and further, and just as I thought, they could''ve gone a little further if they used the correct positions.


    To their surprise, Nancy took my whole length just by being on top but she still took a bit of time to readjust to my full size, but I just fucking lost it when she started moving her hips while I was still inside her.


    "H-Hngh! I-It''s in m-me¡­ A-All of it''s in m-me¡­ Haa¡­ W-Wow¡­ I-It''s so big¡­ s-so t-thick and¡ª Hngh! I-It''s hitting my¡­ Ow¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    It wasn''t the same thing as putting it back and forth while doing doggy earlier but it was more like this circr hip movement where she''d grind on top of me while my dick was getting choked and was stirring inside her.


    Needless to say, I exploded in her tiny little hole which prompted her to have her first PIV orgasm, but from the way she was squeezing me and how little the space inside her womb was, everything else just overflowed outside.


    "W-Wow¡­ Haa¡­ T-That''s¡­ Ha¡­ A-A lot c-came out¡­ S-So tired¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I''m¡­ Ha¡­"


    "You guys~ I''m so¡ª W-Wait¡ª MmH! Shit¡­ I''m gonna cum just from w-watching¡ª MMH! HNGH! AH! AHH! HA¡ª HNGHH~!!!"


    Luckily enough, Edith lost bnce when she started cumming and I could clearly see Nancy''s face before she copsed on my chest, and she was still shaking all over while her eyes had once again gone to the back of her head. However, she did pass out after cumming only twice but after a few moments, Edith woke her up by pushing a finger up her asshole.


    "Hngh! W-Wait¡ª D-Did you just¡ª L-Lady Edith?!"


    I tried to wave Edith off seeing her wearing a strapless dildo, "Wait, hold up¡ª"


    But she looked like lust had overtaken everything from her as she was looking at Nancy''s exposed little butthole:


    "C-Can I take this one? Please? I-I just came but I-I could take it a-anymore! I s-so wanted to do this, they let me b-borrow it f-for this o-assion¡­ C-Can we? Y-You can use it o-on me lter if you want b-but I just wanna take your f-first i-in this o-one¡­"


    And Nancy added fuel to the fire:


    "O-Okay¡­ J-Just do it a l-little¡ª HNGH! A-AH¡ª WHA¡ª"

 Chapter 935: Surprise Butt Seggs II - A little talk with the Devil

    To Nancy''s surprise, Edith just jammed the whole length of her strapless dildo straight into Nancy''s virgin asshole, and Edith just went fucking ham on it¡ªthrusting hard and fast over and over like an animal in heat. Needless to say, Nancy looked like a fucking mess as her small body was taking a pounding while my huge cock was still inside her pussy.


    She was gritting her teeth as her mouth was drooling all at the same time while her blue eyes were crossing from the pain and pleasure.


    On the other hand, Edith looked like she lost control of herself as she was violently moving her hips¡ªdrawing it back fully before mming it back in Nancy''s little asshole as she had this crazed look on her face.


    "YOU LIKE THIS, HUH?! YOUR LADY FUCKING YOU IN THE ASS?! FEELS BETTER THAN OUR FINGERS, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! OH MY GOD! HAA!


    HA! FUCK! WHY DOES THIS FEEL SO GOOD?! CAN YOU FEEL IT?! CAN YOU FEEL IT ALL INSIDE YOU?! I TOOK YOUR ASS''S VIRGINITY WITH THIS DILDO A-AND F-FUCK I-I THINK I''M C-CUMM¡ª HNGH!


    S-SHIT! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Edith even started to pull on Nancy''s pigtails while giving her cute little butt a spanking, but since she was wearing a strapless dildo, she could also feel what she was doing to herself. And it gave Nancy a moment to breathe when she started cumming on her own.


    However, it didn''t even take a second before I felt Nancy''s insides contracting and tightening even more as she came hard from her back hole getting vited.


    At this point, some tears were falling from Nancy''s flushed face and she was out of breath and close to passing out once again.


    I barely moved when Edith was fucking her ass¡ªbut I was still rock hard¡ªand this time, I felt like giving Edith a well-deserved punishment because not only did she make Kaley and I think she never had any experience with girls, but also the first time she actually got to fuck one, she went a little too violent with it¡ªeven if the one on the receiving end did have a release from such actions.


    Even with two people on top of me, I easily moved them aside before I moved on top of Edith, and to her surprise, I plunged my dick into her puffy cunt that still had the other end of the strapless dildo inside her.


    "W-WAIT¡ª"


    Her orgasm was still in the process of receding the moment I held her hands just above her head, but I kept them in ce with one hand and shut her mouth with the other before I moved my hips even more violently and with more fervor.


    I guess this was punishment in a sense because overstimting someone who just came could both be heaven and hell at the same fucking time.


    At this point, all we could hear was her muffled grunts and moans along with her pussy squelching from each thrust but it didn''t take long before the other end of the dildo inside her slipped out which gave her a little breather. However, it just gave me more room andplete control over what goes in and out of her meaty fucking hole.


    With each violent pump, her huge breasts would jiggle all over the ce but she began to clutch my hair when I let go of her hands and started biting and pinching her nipples. They had already protruded long ago, and they needed some tough love before they went back again, though they''d be rough and sore the moment I was done with them.


    And the moment I finally let go of her mouth to hardly squeeze both her breasts, she let out this loud, orgasmic moan as she started cumming over and over:


    "H-H-HnHGnnhGHHH~ F-FucK! FUCK AhHHHhHNNnH! SHIT! SHIiIIiiT! MORE! M-MORE!


    AH!"


    Edith was squirting nonstop as I continued hitting her deepest parts but shepletely lost it when I pulled out and shoved it in her unsuspecting asshole.


    With semen and their juices as lube, I easily made her anal cavity several sizes bigger but she sought help and support from Nancy who was already on the brink of passing out. She didn''t have much stamina to endure losing both of her hole''s virginity in one night¡ªand in a most violent way too¡ªand all they could do was hold hands while Edith was screaming my name and for dear life.


    But yeah, it wasn''t even an hour before the two were passed out on their bed though Edith was leaking cum from her two little¡ªwell, gaping holes now, and they were just sopletely tapped out, they weren''t able to respond when I asked them to go to the shower with me to clean up.


    In any case, I just wiped them clean with a warm cloth before cing them on the cleaner parts of the bed and then putting a nket over them before leaving the room.


    And unfortunately, with the type of sex life I have with Kaley and the rest, I still have a lot in my tank so I was pretty much hiding a boner in my pants. I thought the quick fix would be to head to the next room but Kaley and the rest weren''t there.


    It''s just that it was a little awkward when Sebastian just popped out of nowhere wearing a faint smile.


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª I should fucking introduce you to Jude, I bet you two will hit it off¡­"


    "Apologies for startling you, my lord, but did you give thedy and Nancy a good time¡ª"


    I almost had another heart attack, "W-Wut?"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ That''s something that should be kept private, no? And yeah, why the sudden change of heart? You were so against kissing earlier then¡ª"


    He waved me off with a chuckle, "Apologies for that as well. Let''s just say I''m a little too protective with thedy but in the end, what I''m after is their happiness¡­ A little suggestion though?"


    I was a little taken aback, "Sure? You got tips for having inter¡ª"


    He tried to hold in a chuckle, "Gods, no¡­ I believe you''re very proficient with that activity just from the noises I heard¡­ That''s one of the reasons I rushed here because I though¡ª N-Nevermind¡­ A-Anyway¡­ If¡­ If thedy happens to find someone else¡­ I do hope you''d be the one to keep a clear boundary, if I may be honest with you, my lord¡­"


    I shook my head with a smile, "I''ll do that in exchange for something."


    "Anything, my lord."


    "Can you drop the ''My Lord'' thing with me?"


    "H-Huh? But¡ª"


    "You didn''t call me that earlier, right? It just¡­ you know, popped up suddenly¡­"


    "Umm¡­ I-Is that the condition, my¡ª *tilts head sideways* sir? Is calling you sir more appropriate? Or would you ept Mr. Ishiyama?"


    "Hmm~ Would you be up to it if you start all of our conversations by saying, ''Yo, what''s up?'', in a deep gangster voice?"


    Hesitation instantly appeared on Sebastian''s face, "T-That''s¡­ alright, for thedy¡ª"


    I waved him offughing, "I''m kidding, Sebastian. You''re free to call me anything and I''ll respect whatever decision she''ll make in the future by making clear boundaries with each other. I''ll also make sure that I''ll take her happiness into ount like you though I always do that with everybody I know. Just do know that I''ll always put my wife first before anyone else and Edith also knows that¡­"


    Hearing that, Sebastian just looked at me for a few moments without saying anything before he let out a sigh of relief, "That''s¡­ That''s the best I could''ve asked for. From the bottom of my heart, I do thank you."


    "O-Okay? But do you know where Kaley and the rest are? I can''t seem to¡ª Well, I haven''t searched the whole mansion yet but¡ª"


    "Ah, I believe they''re still in the main hall though I did see Miss Kaley drop by for a moment because thedy called for her. Would you like me to apany you?"


    "Sure. Would you be willing to answer a few simple questions though? While we''re walking?"


    "Of course, I''ll answer them to the best of my ability."


    "Alright. How long have you been serving the Rivas Family?"


    "Three decades, I suppose¡ª"


    "Three¡ª How old are you, Sebastian?"


    "Umm¡­ I''m not at liberty to say¡­"


    "Wha¡ª Fine, I get it¡­ Are you a devil or an immortal, perchance? You gotta tell me, right?"


    "Hahaha¡­ Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "How many of the maids have you fucked¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ As you said¡­ Some things are best kept privately, no?" he evaded once more with a chuckle.


    I began to walk a little faster, "This conversation is pointless, I''ll walk alone¡ª"


    "Please, you just have to ask the right questions and I''ll answer them truthfully¡­"


    "Fine, fine~ Do you know any martial arts?"


    "Yes, I do actually..."


    "Can you tell me what they are?"


    "Hmm~ I started with Taekwondo but I''ve branched out ever since¡­ I know enough to defend myself, thedies, and the madam but I currently training my cardiovascr endurance¡­"


    "Oh~ That''s great. Know how to use guns?"


    He chuckled while covering his mouth, "I do but probably not as good as you all are¡­ And the choices of firearms is a little bit¡­ non-traditional¡ª no, actually traditional, if you catch my drift¡­"


    "So, flintlocks and shit?"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "Heh, just kidding¡­ How about knives or other des?"


    "That''s¡­ I''m quite fond of them, actually¡­"


    "Oh? What kind¡ª"


    "I studied under Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial¡ª"


    I dead-ass stopped in my tracks, "Hold up¡ª No fucking¡ª"


    He startedughing while covering his mouth, "Hah! I got you, my lord! I heard it from Sir Isaac earlier, I love small knives but not like Lady Elsa who loves everything that''s sharp. I do believe she''s waiting for a gift from you, no?"


    "Right, right~ remind me of that before we leave¡­"


    "Very well, I''ll make it so via a letter¡­ Any more questions, my lord? We''re quite close¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m still thinking of one but¡ª Oh! Why haven''t you participated in Mr. Cuervo''s games? You''d be a champion in a heartbeat, no?"

 Chapter 936: Aftermath - Trophies

    As soon as I said that, Sebastian just gave me a smile before replying:


    "My lord, that might be true but my purpose is not to win games for the madam but to help keep and maintain the estate. Any sort of activity that might hinder me from doing my assigned tasks is unnecessary. I apologize¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Makes sense."


    "Hmm? For a moment there I thought you''d convince me or do something to make me participate¡ª"


    "I could probably figure out a way for that to happen but your job is your job. Besides, you did agree to exchange at least ten moves tomorrow so there''s that."


    "That''s right, I suppose¡­"


    "And do you have any idea how long those games go for? It goes for way~ too long sometimes and I''ve only been in two! If I wanted to get pointers from someone, there are several ways to do it without all the loud EDM sting with all the theatrics."


    He chuckled, "That''s something we can agree on¡­"


    "Oh? You''ve been present a few times at least?"


    "Of course, but with our recent circumstances I had to stay back. It''s okay though, a few problems off the madam''s back means a job well done."


    "True~ True~"


    In any case, only a door separated us from the main hall and he opened the door for me. After that, he let me walk in first as he closed the door behind him, and he just found his way to Sal while I made my way over to Kaley and the rest. Funnily enough, everyone in our inner circle was present in the balcony Edith and I were in earlier.


    Tatiana was the first one to notice mee in, "That was fast."


    Quinn chuckled, "Honestly, I was surprised those twosted that long. Edith does some exercises but that little brat with her couldn''t jog a few miles to save her life."


    Then Kaley came in for an embrace, "How are you though? Had fun?"


    I gave her a peck on the cheek but she stole a kiss on the lips from me, "You¡ª It was¡­ Yeah, I had fun?"


    "What happened?"


    "Well¡­"


    I then began to tell them what happened with Edith and Nancy earlier and the three were just amused while Megan felt like she should''ve barged in when she got the chance. She was one of the newest additions to our group and they seemed to have their own dynamics in ce though it was a free-for-all if they had the chance to get with me alone¡ªlike what happened a few hours earlier.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Kaley figured out what I needed but since we were still in a semi-public ce, we had to be really~ discreet about it.


    However, with how Kaley''s dress was designed, it was easy enough to slip it in after we got into a more obscured position. I knew full well that Kaley had this thing with doing things in these kinds of ces where we''d still be hidden though there''s a chance that we''ll get caught or the other alternative¡ªdoing it somece where everyone could hear BUT not see us.


    It was because there were other people present on the adjacent balcony behind us though Megan and Tatiana took it upon themselves to sit by that railing to obscure their view while Quinn barred anyone froming in after slightly lowering the curtains to our advantage.


    At this point, I was right behind Kaley thrusting with one to two inches of clearance¡ªbecause that''s the most we could do without anyone noticing¡ªbut Kaley was carrying the team with her muscle control. Because even if I didn''t move a single time, she''d be able to make us both orgasm with herplete control of her vaginal muscles.


    But since the balcony in front of us was closed shut and the next one after it was further away, I already had my hands inside her dress, and squeezing the living milk out of her huge udders I couldn''t get enough off.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You d-doofus¡­ D-Do you want me to s-scream out l-loud?"


    "Is this y-your way of telling me to squeeze them harder or to hold your mouth shut?"


    "Y-You¡­ H-Hnghh¡­ I-I''m¡ª A-Ah¡­ S-Shiiiit¡­ I-I''m¡ª"


    Easily enough, Kaley had a sudden and hard, shaking orgasm either by PIV or nipple stimtion¡ªheck, or just by the thought of fucking in public pushed her over the edge.


    I had to hold her mouth shut before I began to fuck her harder and harder, but doing that just made her orgasm two more times before I finally exploded inside of her.


    With that said, Megan happily volunteered to clean Kaley off with her tongue while Quinn was already kneeling down to give me fetio. However, she suddenly lifted me up and sat me on the railing before she sucked me off while giving me a titfuck,pletely set on getting herself a mouthful after getting a taste of what was left in the pipe.


    It''s just that she couldn''t care less about the people who saw her doing it¡ªand it actually had the opposite effect¡ªbecause the ones who saw us immediately made themselves scarce so she could focus on the task at hand.


    At one point, we justpletely brought the curtains down so they could all get their turns plus extra but there were still a few onlookers who wanted to be on the receiving end of what I''m giving these four women a few times over.


    But with all things considered, it was still a quickie in a sense, but I was a little more satisfiedpared to just being with Edith and Nancy. Not to throw them shade in any way, but sometimes, it''s much, much better to have more experienced people with you or on the same wavelengthpared to amateurs or a straight-up virgin.


    There was still merit in them, in a sense, but that''s just me.


    And to prove a little bit of my point, Megan was out of breathepared to the three who looked totally fine from our quick session.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Fuck¡­ I d-dunno how you all do this¡­ E-Especially you¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "To be honest with you, I''m barely keeping up. Kaley''s the goat but no one''s beating him in that regard¡­ He''s not infallible but I tapped out more times than I could countpared to him calling it a night¡­"


    Quinn and Megan responded at the same time, "For real?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "And there was still one thing one of ours, Cynthia, was trying to ask of me. It''s an experiment of sorts but even I shudder at the thought¡­"


    "W-What is it?"


    "Imagine giving him a blue pill¡ª"


    And Quinn just straight up lost it, "HAH! WE SHOULD FUCKING DO IT! ONCE EVERYONE''S PRESENT!"


    "E-Everyone?"


    Tatiana startedughing, "Hmm~ If we include everyone here plus the girls in Cuervo Heights, his old school, and the ones back home¡­ it''ll be the day¡­"


    Kaley was already shaking her head, "Please, no¡­ I love doing it with all of you but there''s a limit, alright? I can''t just watch all night or make do with a strap-on¡­ The real thing''s just different no matter how Tatiana''s ''treasure'' looks exactly like it¡­"


    I had to jokingly interject as I scoffed, "And no one''s asking for my opinion, eh? Women~"


    "Pfft¡­ We''re sorry, alright?! I bet you''ll love all of the attention¡­"


    "I bet you''ll be shooting nks¡ªno, I still highly doubt that part¡­"


    "You can probably repopte the whole world by yourself¡­ You''re like that turtle in the news a few years ago!"


    "T-Turtle?"


    "Hah! Out of all the things to describe him! Even turtle-dragon sounds weird!"


    "True~"


    "C-C''mon guys! Not like this¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, we were just chatting for a few more minutes when a few of the Rivas and De Leon Family''s men came back.


    We could clearly see everything from where we were but we saw Sal and Sebastian approach them and check this bloody sack that probably contained "trophies" or proof of confirmed kills, then she just sent them off again while Sebastian was tasked with carrying the sack elsewhere.


    It seemed a few people from the lesser families on the other balconies saw what happened as well, and there was just a mix of relief and fear in their expressions.


    They could''ve been one of those trophies inside that sack right about now but they were fortunate enough to ept this short notice of an invitation. I didn''t mention it earlier but faint gunshots could be heard from the distance and it''s safe to say that the Rivas Family had once again taken over this whole area with the help of the De Leon Family and quite frankly, the Ishiyama Family.


    If anyone would tell me that this was what I would be doing in the near future, I''d justugh in their face and boot up my old N64 to y some Goldeneye.


    It''s just that in this instance, the "bad" guys just retaliated against the "good" guys for doing something they shouldn''t have done in the first ce and if I was even in the same shoes as Sal, I would''ve done the same thing, either much better or more brutal.


    I tend to return favors twofold and revenge tenfold.


    But yeah, with Sal''s ability to produce Ethanol and Quinn''s ability to produce engines that could run them with little to no issue, anyone would''ve done way, way~ worse just to suck up to them to get their favor.

 Chapter 937: A Drunks Ramblings?

    In any case, the night was still young but I could certainly guarantee that only a small percentage of us had or was having fun. Well, it was also true that if we counted all of Sal and Mauro''s men who were wreaking havoc outside, the percentage would change¡ªand if that''s the case, you''re certainly correct¡ªbut the ones in the equation only involved the people inside this mansion.


    But yeah, among these lesser families who dodged a bullet, there were ones who were celebrating convivially because they had thick skin and could easily switch sides or recognize that they''d already lost but god fucking dammit being on the other side was cool too.


    One example was thisnky couple, the heads of the Aballe Family, who simply produced general crops that could be found anywhere else.


    They didn''t even have a particr specialty like rare flowers and the like. Still, staples shouldn''t be sneezed at because there''s a reason rice, corn, and potatoes didn''t need much advertising or special requirements to produce or farm like chicken, ducks, and even cows or water buffalos.


    It was basically a given to be able to produce such crops or poultry and meat products when starting a farm in this region.


    Back home, we can sustain ourselves and have some extra for storage but it couldn''t bepared to how abundant this region was in regards to food. Thend they owned just for farming or taking care of animals was almost as big as some barangays though the issue I had with these ranches or farnds was that they couldn''t fully envelop their territory with solid, nigh-impregnable walls.


    Sure, Sal had the whole area around her mansion plus extra covered with such walls but she couldn''t possibly cover her whole territory plus the ones she had on the mountainside.


    That''s one of the reasons people took advantage of hernd because even if she put up fences around them to mark her territory, it''s just a freakin'' pole with thin wire any kid could easily go through or jump over. She was probably working on them now given the apocalypse but she still couldn''t focus her whole attention on that the whole fucking time.


    So what better way to go about it than to give the thieves what they fucking wanted at first then take them for all their worth¡ªin the survivor''s cases, half their worth¡ªand reap the benefits.


    I portrayed it in a different way than what actually happened but that''s what basically happened if you wanted to exin in a sentence or two.


    With that said, as we eventually joined everyone in the main hall who were either awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact or looking for the sign-up sheet for the 3rd batch to Poundtown, I was approached by this kid who looked to be barely in his 20s and could also barely handle the liquor in the fruit punch.


    Him approaching me actually brought a lot of attention but I decided to cut the kid some ck because I''ve been that young and drunk once, and he was just staring at me nkly for a few seconds.


    "What''s up, dude? Need something?"


    "Hmm? Ah¡ª No! I-I don''t need anything¡­"


    Quinn chuckled under her breath, "Well, that was easy¡­"


    I then waved him off, "Alright then, see you¡ª"


    "W-Wait! I-I think I have to introduce myself¡­ I-I''m T-Terry, v-very nice to m-meet you, s-sir¡­"


    I chuckled as I offered a handshake, "Nice to meet you too, Terry. I''m Sky Ishiyama¡ª"


    "Maaan~ That''s a cool fuckin'' name~ I wish my name was like that¡ª Hey, c-can I t-touch your sword? J-Just a l-little bit¡­ I w-won''t b-break it, I promishhhss¡­"


    "I''m sorry, no. You might hurt someone if¡ª"


    "Hah! That''s good¡­ That''s good¡­ Y-You''re totally right¡­ I-I shouldn''t o-operate l-legendary a-arma¡­ arm¡­a-armaments while¡ª you know how the saying goes¡­ A-Anyway¡­" then he proceeds to scoot in a little closer, motioning to whisper, "Man¡­ S-Sir¡­ I-I gotta tell you s-something¡­ S-Something I-I shouldn''t t-tell anyone¡­"


    "Hmm? Then shouldn''t you not tell me as well?"


    "Shit! Right¡­ Y-You''re totally right¡­ Yea¡­ W-Wait! Wait! B-But¡­ Y-You''re different m-my guy¡­ I-I think I c-can t-trust you¡­ I-If it''s you¡­ I-I''m sure y-you''ll l-listen to me a-at least¡­ N-No one f-fucking listens to me¡­"


    "W-What is it then?"


    Taking everything into ount, he could just be drunk and out of his mind but there was still the .0001% chance that there''s a grain of truth in what he''s about to say. Besides, I''ve listened to probably 90% of the conspiracy theories out there and I came out on top after filtering everything out so what can one more do?


    Worst case scenario, I''d have one more idea to make my co-conspirators¡ªOscar, it''s just Oscar¡ªblow everything out of proportion just to prove or disprove it or waste a few minutes of my life listening to a drunk man''s ramblings.


    Then his eyes widened before leaning even closer and the only thing missing was a shlight shining from below his face toplete the look:


    "D-Dude¡­ I-I tried t-telling everyone but t-they d-don''t b-believe me¡­ I-I''mma tell you s-straight up¡­ T-There''s a w-witch i-in the m-mountains and s-she''s doing s-some shady s-shit a-all over t-the area¡­ S-She''s been doing t-these fucked up r-rituals w-with the dead t-to gain t-their p-powers a-and I¡­ I-I think s-she seeded¡­"


    "Powers? You mean immortality?"


    I didn''t even notice the three had already joined the others but I was already deep in the conversation, it''d be rude to cut it midway. Also, refer to my earlier statements.


    Terry nodded menacingly, "T-That''s right bro¡­ I-I thought s-sshe was a f-fuckin z-zombie b-because t-those things a-act like s-she''s o-one of them b-but I-I saw her pick up a-a frog o-on the ground and p-put it in her pouch one time b-before a goose followed her up t-the mountains¡ª"


    It took everything from me to not burstughing as I tried to ease on the brake pedal, "You at least got proof to back that up?"


    "It¡ª I-I was there maaaan~"


    "That''s¡­"


    "C-C''mon! I-I thought you were a s-straight shootah'' but y-you''re just like everybody e-else¡­"


    "Well, w-were there any instances aside from that?"


    "Uhmm¡­ Let''s see¡­ E-Everybody here t-thinks that she''s just an o-old woman l-living in the mountains b-but I-I saw what I f-fuckin'' saw¡­ I-It was in b-broad daylight too and I n-never had a s-sip of light beer¡ª"


    "Beer makes you drunk?"


    "Hmm?"


    "N-Nevermind, continue¡­"


    He scratched his head a few times while looking at the ceiling, "T-That''s the only time I s-saw her do s-something weird that c-close b-but she used to be this h-healer of sorts¡ª"


    "A witch doctor?"


    "Y-Yeah one of those freaks¡­ B-But anyway¡­ T-Their numbers d-dwindled when *leans even closer* t-this family took c-care of them s-several years back¡­ Shh¡­ Don''t tell them I t-told you¡­"


    "I¡­ I kinda know about that, actually¡ª"


    "See?! T-That''s proof!"


    "Wut?"


    "W-We finally formed a connection! S-Shit¡­ I think i-it''s also safe to say t-that that fucking w-witch started this whole thing¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ I don''t think so¡­"


    "Haah?! Ya got proof of that?!"


    I almost smacked the shit out of him when he threw my words back at me but I always bring my trusty phone with me, even if its only use was to y music and videos or to capture and look at photos. But yeah, the vids I made Terry watch blew his mind even more but he had once again staring at the ceiling as if he was looking at his mind pce.


    Then he turned back to me as I was about to leave him alone:


    "So¡­ You''re telling me that that fucking witch¡ª"


    "You think it''s best for you to curse her out?"


    "Right! RIGHT! G-Great catch, I love ya, man¡­ B-But¡­ Y-You''re telling me they''re working together?"


    I couldn''t even imagine the face I was wearing right now, "Working with who?"


    He looked around for a moment before leaning close once again, "T-The I-Illumi¡ª Sorry, bro¡­ I don''t even feel safe saying it out loud¡­"


    "Riiight¡­ So~ Nice to meet you, Terry¡­ See you tomorrow when you''re sober¡­"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did I talk to much? Shit¡ª A-Anyway, t-thanks for listenin'' bro~ Toodles!"


    ''Toodles? Really?''


    In any case, meeting this kid was just so random but a few bits from his revtions would actually be harrowing if proved to be true. However, the only way to get the dead''s powers a.k.a. their immortality was through infection or simply dying themselves.


    And if we''re gonna go at it by using the WWZ route, that "witch doctor" could''ve developed a sickness of some sort, that way the dead were avoiding her, but there were a lot more variables that didn''t meet that criteria.


    However, as I was making my way to Kaley, I heard Terry scream for dear life but all I saw was Sal holding adle and serving herself the same fruit punch he was taking.


    "THE WITCH! THE WITCH IS HERE! OW! WHAT THE¡ª THAT HURTS! SOMEONE HELP!"


    And I''ve never seen someone get beat up by a freakin''dle in record time.

 Chapter 938: Bweakfast! - Start of the Tour

    What Terry told me could''ve been just an imaginative version of what took ce or as I said before, a rambling of a drunk kid¡ªbut one thing stuck to my mind:


    What fucking experiments was this witch in the mountains was doing to gain the dead''s powers?


    Sure, it was as nonsensical as his other statements but one thing''s for sure, the bitch¡ª I mean, the witch probably experimented on live people as much as she did on the dead to somehow understand them.


    But still, I highly doubt someone who based their healing magic on the "dark arts" or realistically speaking, something they just came up on the fly for a few pesos would be able to understand something that killed off more than 90% of the world''s poption.


    There''s a small, small chance that she could stumble upon it like the chances of a chimp typing randomly at a keyboard and somehow producing a famousposer''s magnum opus.


    In any case, I ryed to the group Terry''s confessions and there was a mix of reactions.


    The ones who were like me simply chuckled and shook their heads while the ones who were on the religious or spiritual side of things were a little perturbed.


    "W-We¡­ We should check it out right?"


    "Yeah¡­ How long are we staying here anyway?"


    "A week at most¡­ could be shorter¡­"


    "Then what?"


    "I''m debating going to another ce much closer that''s unfamiliar or something farther that''s familiar to me."


    "And where is that exactly?"


    "To the Garcia Family or to the rural province of Quezon which is on the other side of the map from Cuervo Heights. I kinda need to check up on my other Uncle''s ce. They''re probably safe-ish out there but some people do be crazy and I''m one of those people¡­"


    "Huh¡­ A-Anyway¡­ That''s probably just hokum, right?"


    "What is?"


    "The story of the witch?"


    "I mean, it wouldn''t hurt to check it out¡ª"


    "We really should¡­ Like first thing tomorrow¡­"


    "I don''t care either way but I''d like to hike up a mountain¡­ There''s probably a trail that would lead us to the witch¡­ or signs of her presence if she''s actually real."


    "We''ll talk to Terry tomorrow once he sobers up and we''ll take it from there."


    "Alright."


    "Who''s Terry again?"


    "That dude with the curly hair about to get¡ª yep, that guy. He needs to effin'' sleep."


    On that note, it was nearing midnight and most of our guests weren''t allowed to go back to their estates but were very wee to stay the night.


    Their rooms were already assigned to them but there was still fear in their eyes when they discovered that a maid or a butler would "attend" to any of their requests and would stay outside their door for the duration of their stay.


    If I were in their shoes, my greatest fear would be waking up with a de pressed against my throat and discovering that everyone else was dead before it pressed past the point of no return.


    I can understand what they''re feeling right now but they also have to understand that if Sal wanted them dead, she wouldn''t go to these lengths because the ones she deemed to be irredeemable were in the sack¡ªtheir heads at least¡ªtheir henchmen brought earlier, and in the ones still pending delivery.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we went back into our own rooms and continued where we left off.


    Let''s just say we didn''t go ham on it like Edith did with Nancy and morning came in the blink of an eye.


    With that said, we were woken up by the smell of coffee that Nancy brought over but I did catch her eyeing "me" suspiciously just as I was about topletely open my eyes.


    "G-Good morning! L-Lady Edith asked me to bring you all some coffee and this here''s our special brew¡ª"


    And as expected, the coffee was as amazing as waking up with four nakeddies staring at my hard-on, and they definitely opted for the "cream" before taking the coffeepletely ck.


    We did enjoy the coffee briefly as Nancy told us that our guests were safely escorted to their homes plus their new housemates.


    To my surprise, it was still 7 in the morning but it seemed like everyone in this region wakes up way early¡ªaround 5 in the morning¡ªand they were already served breakfast and briefed once again for their new arrangements.


    ''There goes asking Terry for more info¡­''


    But yeah, Sal made sure to show thepleted deliveries of sacks I mentioned pending, further increasing this imaginary hold she had on their necks.


    In any case, breakfast was already prepared for us and we were sent down to their actual dining hall which was a floor below the main hall fromst night. Despite its smaller size, it had a better view of the flowers outside and it was morefortable eating sitting down at a long family table with everyone.


    Sal obviously upied one end of the table while Edith and Elsa were to her left and right, then it was just me sitting right next to Edith and Mauro next to Elsa. And of course, Kaley was sitting to my left though I didn''t care much who was sitting where after that.


    Then Sal nced at me and Mauro before opening her mouth, "Kid, I won''t mind the tardiness since you and your crew are new but Mauro, you better wake up earlier than this, alright?! We''re living around farms, so waking up at five should be normal! If you fuckte in the night you''ll wake upte in the morning!"


    Elsa interjected, "Auntie, we''re just about to eat, can this talk about our honeymoon activities goter?"


    "Haah?! Elsa, eggs, sausages, eggnts, and cucumbers are in front of me, what would I think about?! And who''s fucking sipping coffee like that?! Be a little quieter!"


    Quinn raised her hand, "Pfft¡­ That''s me, my bad¡­"


    Sal rolled her eyes, "At least that cup''s getting more action than me¡ª"


    Edith and Elsa said at the same time, "Auntie~ Please, stop!"


    "HAH! Just messin'' with y''all. Anyways, fuck grace, let''s eat!"


    With that said, everyone dug into the breakfast Lisa and the other chefs made for us and it was as amazingpared to the dinnerst night¡ªbut I''m gonna say breakfast was better because breakfast foods were just more appetizing and appealing to me for some reason. But yeah, anyone could eat everything for breakfast since it''s just a matter of choice.


    We finished eating breakfast in an hour but as soon as we did, Sebastian strolled in wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, work trousers with suspenders, a straw hat with bugs for his face, safety boots, and a multitool belt. He also had cut-resistant gloves hanging by his pockets and the only thing missing from his getup was a fucking pitchfork.


    Furthermore, he was resting a break-open shotgun on his shoulder, and slightly camouged by his belt was another strap full of shotgun shells that appeared to be 00 buckshot.


    "Ah¡­ It appears I woke up too early for the tour¡­ I''ll wait outside¡­"


    ''Didn''t we decide on the timest night?''


    Sebastian left almost as soon as he came in but Sal couldn''t hold herughter for too long as she mmed her fist on the table.


    "BAHAHAH! You kids need to apologize to himter¡­ He did wake up at 4 in the morning to prepare everything for the tour but all of you were still asleep when he was ready. He IS totally out of his mind to do it in the early morning because you''d only see shit but it''s been a while since we had a lot of guests. He doesn''t show it but he''s excited¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Yeah! So¡­ *p hands loudly* get on it and let the maids clean this up! Don''t go too far and bring plenty of water¡ª Oh! Bring some of our homemade ranch too so you can dip the lettuce on it when you get to that ce! It''s the first one after the flower garden!"


    In any case, once we got back to our rooms, we discovered that we almost had the same clothes prepared but the most surprising thing was that there was a shirt for Quinn''s size. She almost beat me up when Iid down on the bed and used it as a nket but the bigger surprise from that was instead of Elsa, Mauro was much more excited joining this tour because let''s face it, the man had his limits.


    However, Jesus decided to stay back and spend his time with Lisa but that wasn''t our business.


    But as Sal stated, after walking past the flower garden and then some, we came across these four huge greenhouses running a hydroponics system where one of them had a fuck ton of lettuce growing in several floorsyers of pipes that easily beat what we have at home.


    Sebastian turned to us with a smile, "Please. Try it without the ranch first¡­"

 Chapter 939: Lettuce, Mushroom, and the Dodgy Butler

    As I took the first bite, I was going into it and expecting a burst ofplex vors but as it turned out, lettuce is just fucking lettuce. Sure, I could taste the freshness of it and was amazed at its size and color but we just had a heavy breakfast, this should''ve been the first one we had when we woke up.


    It''s just that some of the cadets started to have a fear of this one hell of a butler so the kiss-assing started as they threw him praises and even¡ªI kid you not, moaned in pleasure from the first bite. And yes, it was #2 who did it.


    But Sebastian didn''t look the least bit amused by those reactions.


    "That''s¡­ interesting¡­ Didn''t think I''d get that reaction from a leaf¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Silence. Complete and total fuking silence while Kaley and I were trying so hard to contain ourughter.


    In any case, Sebastian just shook his head and pointed at the jars of the homemade ranch that we brought.


    "Please¡­ Try it with the ranch¡­"


    And yeah, right as we all took a bite from the "leaf" dipped in their ranch, everyone''s faces just lit up from the creamy-herby goodness but a few dumbasses tried to double-dip out of reflex. However, Tatiana was one of those people and she instantly locked horns with Quinn who had a tight grip on her wrists with the leafy vegetable and our "inner circle" jar.


    "What¡ª Quinn! The fuck¡ª"


    "Double-dipping?! Really?! Just eat that one first and just dip the other!"


    "Why''d you care about something like that?! I''ve put worse things in my mouth¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?!"


    "Not worse, but¡ª I can eat this leaf after a quick drizzle of water but you need more than that for your ass¡ª"


    "BAHAHAHAHA! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, TATIANA! STOP SPEAKING THE TRUTH FOR ONCE!"


    Hearing that, Quinn didn''t know whether to continue resisting or just let it go because her face was so red fromughing, and everyone else was also dyingughing from the sudden face-off between the two. Even Sebastian wasughing so hard, he forgot to cover his mouth and some of the girls in our group, especially Alexa, found it incredibly charming.


    But yeah, since the newlyweds came with us, I couldn''t help but notice Elsa staring at either my katana or my wakizashi on Kaley''s hips.


    I did promise her my jian back at home¡ªbut it''ll take a bit of time¡ªso I let her hold my wakizashi for a bit because Kaley didn''t mind and because she was lugging around one of the cadet''s M70s because going all "tacticool" with her Reaper didn''t match the farmgirl aesthetic.


    Though some of the cadets still brought their war belts or even their primary with them while most of us simply opted for our ded weapons or a sidearm in a concealed holster.


    Then Ruben raised his hands:


    "Uncle Sebastian¡ª"


    Sebastian momentarily released a deathly aura, "Uncle?"


    "A-Ah¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "Sebastian''s fine, don''t worry about it. Are you trying to ask a question perchance?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Go ahead, then."


    "Right! What''s in the other greenhouses? Can we also check them?"


    "We''ll visit all of them, don''t worry. It''s part of the tour. We''ll go as soon as everyone''s finished eating¡­"


    "We''re done!"


    "Done here, too!"


    "Tatiana! Don''t eat all of the ranch! We''re on station one! We got a lot more ces to go!"


    "Hmm? We have plenty, correct?"


    "W-Wait, this is my jar!"


    "This is mine too!"


    "No, that is OUR jar."


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    For a moment there, I was expecting the theme song but the next greenhouse we went in was a ce for cultivating different kinds of mushrooms.


    Some of them were growing from the fruiting bags we have at home though some were growing naturally on arge piece of wood. However, this ce also had those kinds of "mushrooms" that upied a quarter of this greenhouse separated by metal fencing with a door that needed more than keys.


    And #2 had to shoot his shot, "Sebastian?"


    "Yes?"


    "C-Can we¡­ y''know? Have a bit¡ª"


    "Absolutely not!"


    "Oh¡­"


    "On the way back, maybe¡­"


    "Oh!"


    "We''ve barely started the tour, we wouldn''t wanna see you chasing pink elephants or the witch of the mountains, no?"


    "Right~ Right¡ª Wait, witch of the¡ª does she really exist?"


    "Ah¡­ There were a lot of them before¡ªmostly quacks and whatnot, but there''s a handful of them who were rumored to actually possess the dark arts."


    "Oh, fuck¡­"


    "Then again, rumors are just rumors but the ones I''ve met were actually healers who had a deep knowledge of herbalism. The poultices they made worked really well when I got injured in the mountains once. I was already familiar with what the Rivas Family grew but wild herbs in the mountains used to look the same to me."


    Alexa interjected, "So, they taught you?"


    He let out a smile, "For a price, of course¡­"


    "A-And that is?"


    Sebastian said with a straight face, "My firstborn¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    Then it turned back to a bright smile, "I was only fibbing, don''t worry about it! In any case, we have a few mushrooms here that could be eaten raw like these white mushrooms or those portabellos, would you like me to cut some for all of you¡ª"


    "YES, PLEASE!"


    "The fuck do you mean by some?! Give me that whole log!"


    "I''m afraid the log is not edible except for the bark but it''s something I also don''t rmend¡­ Some of them are grown on coffee grounds but¡ª"


    "HAH! Fuckin'' dumbass got ya, huh?"


    In any case, I was beginning to appreciate these mushroomspared to the lettuce earlier, not just because of the dip, but because the fatty food aftertaste in my mouth had already disappeared. I''m sure it could''ve gone either way but we eventually found ourselves in thest two greenhouses that had a variety of fruits, vegetables, or herbal stuff.


    ''I guess Sal like lettuce and mushrooms for some reason¡­''


    With that said, in a span of an hour, we tasted varieties of kale, broli, carrots, figs, lemons, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce, but we were still in the mushroom greenhouse when we ran out of their homemade ranch.


    Fortunately, Nancy came running with a jar of the stuff¡ªalong with other blends¡ªjust as we sampled a bit of the produce. She was definitely out of breath from running this short distance, once again proving Quinn''s statement of the girlcking stamina.


    However, everyone fucking lost it when Quinn ended up carrying Nancy on her shoulders like a little child because it would be better for her toe with us than copse on the way back.


    Tatiana started teasing the giantess, "Actually suits you, surprising."


    Nancy chuckled from above, "Yeah, though I doubt she''d be a traditional mom¡ª"


    "BUST ON MY CHOPS ONE MORE TIME, NANCY AND I''LL FUCKING THROW YOU LIKE A SHOTPUT!"


    "W-What did I say?!"


    "Excuse me, but I''ll be a great fucking mom! Look at my fucking tits! They''re gonna grow bigger too, if I start having one¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You''d really have one? Like for real?"


    "I don''t mind either way but how about you? I''m sure Elsa and Mauro there''s been trying even before they got married, she''ll probably pop one out soon enough¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t say it like that! You can''t just squeeze¡ª Well~ Technically, I would¡­ yea¡­"


    "Pfft¡­" then Tatiana shook her head, "I couldn''t even imagine¡­ I''ll be one of those cool aunts though? Probably like Sal but taller¡­"


    Edith cut in, "You think Aunt Sally''s cool?"


    Tatiana couldn''t believe what she heard from Edith, "Are you kidding? Your Aunt''s cool as fuck. I imagine her leading a biker gang if she wasn''t in this¡­" she stopped as she nced at Edith and Elsa, "Why are you two looking at me like that? Wait¡­ Don''t tell me¡ª"


    The two answered at the same time, "W-When she was little¡ªno, younger¡­ when she was younger¡­ she did¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone was justpletely silent from shock but Sebastian broke the silence.


    "Ah, I do remember that¡ª The madam was truly young, back then¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª"


    "IT''S THE DARK ARTS! THE DARK ARTS!"


    "Hmm?"


    "SEBASTIAN KNOWS THE DARK ARTS! HE''S IMMORTAL!"


    "I would certainly assure all of you that I''m not¡ª"


    "THE HOW FUCKING OLD ARE YOU?!"


    "Excuse me, the right question to ask is how young am I! Not the other way¡ª"


    "THEN ANSWER THE QUESTION! HOW''D YOU KNOW THAT¡ª WHY''D YOU SAY IT LIKE YOU WERE THERE WHEN SAL WAS STILL IN HER 20S?!"


    "Ah¡­" then he broke eye contact, "After this area, we''d be entering the fields, hence the boots¡ª"


    "HE''S AVOIDING THE QUESTION! HE''S A DEMON! HE''S EVIIIIIIIL!"


    "RUBEN! STOP YELLING SO MUCH! DID YA TAKE SOME OF THE FORBIDDEN MUSHROOMS?!"


    Sebastian cut in, "That''s probably the case¡­"


    "STOP LYING AND COMING IN WHEN THE CONVERSATION''S TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!"


    "Ah¡­ If you''d look over there, a few miles out would be the¡ª"


    "STOP DODGING THE QUESTIONS!"

 Chapter 940: A Swing And A Miss

    In any case, we spent a bit more time in the greenhouses before we went into the fields that had different crops or seeds nted which were in different stages of growth¡ªthough there were a few plots that looked recently harvested.


    It was one thing to see a specific type of thing in a greenhouse or a variety of nts in it, but seeing a whole field with farmers and water buffaloes just hits differently with me.


    It reminded me of the rice fields we''d pass by en route to the provinces of Quezon but there was one thing that''s much more amazing was the rice terraces we had in one of the provinces in Baguio City.


    Basically, it was a man-made structure to carve out portions of a mountain to have parts of it where we could nt rice, wheat, or anything else in that regard.


    It also had its challenges because the farmers wouldn''t be able to use tractors or those fancy machines to help them but hardbor was a normal thing on those parts.


    Furthermore, scaling up and down the mountain was an everyday thing for them so their cardio was through the fucking roof, and I didn''t even mention they''d sometimes carry heavy bags¡ªsometimes even bnced on their heads¡ªwithout issue.


    ''I''ve also been hearing interesting stories about that ce¡­''


    With that said, in regards to this ce, it''s safe to say that Sal''s territory was still way~ too fucking big to protect each side and corner at all times but since havingplete control of the farmer''s association and with the number of the dead in this location even fewerpared to Cuervo Heights, it just might work.


    Granted there were still a few variables she''d still have to take into ount, but it was also safe to say that almost everything was under control.


    In any case, as much as we''d love to munch on fruits and vegetables, it didn''t take long before we made our way to their ranch which had an abundance of farm animals.


    But yeah, it was pretty obvious that everyone''s nose puckered as their eyebrows scrunched because there was also thisrgeposting area right next to it that collected all of the farm waste in severalrge vats.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Really? You''d prefer rotting corpses from this?"


    "IT STILL STINKS!"


    "But you can wash them and cook them forter! Think Lucas, think!"


    "And no jokes about my nickname here, alright? Trust me, I KNOW!"


    "B-But¡ª"


    "SHUT IT, I KNOW THERE''S A HIDDEN ''T'' OVER THERE!"


    "Hah! I didn''t even think of that!"


    But yeah, after walking a safe distance away from theposting area and after getting used to the animal smell, one particr glutton with blonde hair and a particr giant whom I''d refrain theparing to one of the animals present sniffed out the smoke house of sorts and sprinted away carrying almost all of our dipping sauces.


    "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP~"


    Surprisingly enough, Quinn carried Nancy in her arms before sprinting away because whish was a thing and I doubt Nancy would get off scot-free falling 7 feet or getting dragged along with her frame.


    Sebastian shook his head, "They''re already going to the¡ª *sigh* That was supposed to be thest part of this area but anyway~ Here''s the way to the ughterhouse¡ª"


    "Wut?"


    "C-Can we skip that?"


    "Please, no¡­"


    "S-Shouldn''t we go to the barn or one of those stables first?"


    He never looked so disappointed, "Excuse me? V-Very well, we''ll skip the ughterhouse so you all could y with the animals first. Any takers though? Anyone? Please?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled as I nudged him with my elbow, "I''m afraid you won''t be able to show them how to butcher a whole cow, huh?"


    His ears perked up, "How''d you know?"


    "I had an inkling but I''m also a little sad I wouldn''t be able to show you what I can do with my katana."


    "Oh? Can you perhaps cut them in half?"


    "In one swoop, sure. Though I could still it cut surgically, but it couldn''t bepared to wielding a very sharp and flexible knife."


    "That is true¡­"


    "It''s so satisfying cutting through all that bone without resistance¡­"


    "Oh? That is some technique, I would really love to see that¡ª"


    To our surprise, there was one particr person who was very much interested in what we were talking about, and she¡ªElsa¡ªquickly dragged us into the ughterhouse while everyone else¡ªincluding Mauro¡ªpeeled off to y with the animals. Furthermore, even Isaac who I 100% thought woulde with us was more interested in seeing a horse up close.


    Sal''s ranch had horses, sheep, goats, chickens, quail, ducks, rabbits, cows, etc., basically almost every farm animal plus extra but I did see a huge-ass bull running solo in its own enclosure.


    Mauro was eyeing it a little suspiciously as the doors were closed behind us but as the outside of Sally''s estate looked rural as rural goes, the inside of this ughterhouse looked like a fuckingboratory. Everything was just white and so, so clean, and the smell of the animals was reced by strong cleaning products.


    "This ce is¡­ wow¡­"


    Elsa pulled on us even more, "Stop admiring the scenery, we have to go further in!"


    "L-Lady Elsa, my shirt¡­"


    "What about it?"


    "S-Stain¡­"


    "Oh, Jesus fucking Christ! Get over it!"


    In any case, Elsa led us to one of the storage spaces where whole cows were hanging by hooks and there was a moment where I thought we''d be training with them like this certain guy that had a semnce to a bell pepper and kept saying, "Adrian~ Adrian~" over and over again.


    "I thought this ce would be you know¡­ freezing?"


    "Are you serious? We have ethanol but we can''t run the freezers 24/7¡­ it''s stupid¡­ We store them here for a bit and we either smoke them or dry-age them so they''dst longer."


    "You guys know how to make Pemmican?"


    Sebastian and Elsa tilted their heads sideways at the same time, "A what?"


    "Basically a way to prepare dried meat and depending on the recipe, it couldst years."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yep."


    "I would very much like to learn from you after this. I''ll rece the knowledge with several of our finest cuts of meat."


    "You don''t have to do that, it''s very easy¡ª"


    "Yeah, Sebastian! He''s doing it for free, why''d you offer¡ª"


    "Then we''ll take it from my own collection¡ª"


    I shook my head, chuckling, "I already said¡ª"


    Elsa cut in, "Hold up, since when did you have your own collection?"


    Sebastian let out an innocent smile, "Since time immemorial, mydy. But enough about that, shall we?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Fine! But before that, c-can I borrow yours first? I-I really want to try swinging it on a whole cow¡ª"


    Sebastian interjected, "Mydy, that''s a treasured de, if I recall correctly¡­ One chip and¡ª"


    I waved them off, "No worries, as long as you don''t strike hard on that hook, it''ll be fine."


    "See?" Elsa turned to Sebastian gloatingly.


    "V-Very well¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian put some covers on the flooring first before he pulled a whole, skinned cow in the middle of this room so we could do some practice swinging. It usually involved bamboo but thisdy of ours was too excited to be able to y with a real authentic de made by a grandmaster cksmith.


    But yeah, she looked so giddy when I pulled my katana out of its scabbard and handed it to her, handle first, and she quickly assumed a stance as she stood in front of the hooked cow.


    To my surprise, she didn''t strike at the huge b of meat from the get-go because she regted her breathing first before striking diagonally¡ªholding the katana with both hands¡ªwith her whole body.


    "HAAT!"


    And to her delight, half of the cow''s body fell to the stic covers and Sebastian was already apuding her for the amazing feat.


    It wasn''t easy to cleave a cow in half with one strike, especially with its size¡ªand if it was a regr deadhead, I assumed that any regr human would still find it difficult but a whole cow was a whole different story. However, I stopped her from jumping in celebration as I flicked her forehead, grinding the celebration to a halt and prompting a serious reaction from the butler.


    He wasn''t too happy for me "attacking" herdy in broad daylight but he couldn''t believe his eyes when I showed him Elsa''s right hand.


    "T-That''s¡ª"


    It wasn''t apparent from the first look but it was now tender and starting to get more and more swollen. Furthermore, it appears that the injury also affected her forearm.


    "Does this hurt, too?" I asked as I pressed on some spots on her forearm.


    "O-O¡­"


    "You understand why I flicked your forehead now?"


    "I-I don''t¡ª"


    "You know some techniques but you still forced it. You''re lucky it doesn''t look like you broke your arm. Still, we need to get this checked out."


    Sebastian looked apologetic as he turned to me, "Please, follow me¡­"

 Chapter 941: Shots Fired

    Getting injured in your hand, part of your wrist, or in your forearms wasn''t exactly an emergencypared to getting stabbed in your vital organs, but it was still painful though it wasn''t as evident on Elsa''s face¡ªexcept for her forehead vein sticking out like a sore thumb or a¡­ you know, a vein.


    And to my surprise, a modified electronic car that was "highered" and that could go off-road was already present by the exit.


    Though Elsa blew up, "Why''d you have to call a car over, Sebastian?! The clinic''s just over there! I can¡ª We all can see it!"


    "But you''re hurt, mydy, and yourfort''s our priority."


    She turned to me with an annoyed look, "See what I deal with on a regr basis¡ª"


    I scoffed-chuckled, "If you were Kaley and you acted this way after getting hurt, I would''ve chopped the back of your head already so you''d pass out so we could get on with it¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    I turned to Sebastian, "I''ll do it if you won''t¡ª"


    Sebastian was at a loss, "Deary me¡­"


    "Sebastian! You''re not considering that, are you?! F-Fine! If that''ll make you two shut up!"


    In any case, a little bit of harmless intimidation could do wonders but us driving past the petting area garnered a bit of attention. Still, I made sure to call over the two, maybe three people that would need to know what just happened so they''d be present.


    I pushed to roll down the windows before I shouted at the top of my lungs, "KALEY! EDITH! MAURO! ELSA HURT HER HAND! WE''RE GOING OVER TO THE CLINIC OVER THERE!"


    And Elsa instantly kicked the back of my seat, "Why''d you have to tell them?! It''s just a sprain or something, you don''t have to be so dramatic about it! This happens all the time!"


    "For real?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Unfortunately, it''s true¡­ But that doesn''t mean we should treat it like it''s nothing, no?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, what if you died?"


    "Ugh¡­ Wait¡ª what?!"


    "Just an example¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN IN THE SAME DEGREE OF¡ª You''re insane¡­"


    "You just noticed? I wanted to get tested but it''s just so apparent, you know?"


    Elsa was instantly caught off-guard, "Pfft¡­ Dammit, now you''re making meugh, truly insane¡­"


    The driver finally spoke up, "W-We''re hear, mydy¡­ Take it easy on the way down¡ª"


    "I''m not pregnant, alright¡ª"


    Sebastian and I said at the same time, "You might be¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! Thanks, Rory but you two, help me get down!"


    It didn''t take long before the resident "Doctor" weed us briefly but before he could even take Elsa in for an X-ray, the whole crew just popped in and crowded the whole veterinary clinic. That made Elsa annoyed even more but it was fun to see her interact with her sister and her husband because it was fucking night and day.


    She essentially made sure that Edith didn''t worry too much about her while Mauro had toically take all of the me and then some.


    "What happened here again? If I may ask, mydy?" The doctor asked as he put on some prescription sses.


    "Umm¡­"


    Elsa began to tell her story from her point of view but what actually happened was as I said, she forced it.


    To give a clearer image of what happened, she swung my de to the cow''s spine but as it went through its ribcage, it offered more resistance and areas that could make my de change direction in the tiniest of ways.


    If that happens while the person wielding it swung with her whole body and kept on guiding the de in the same direction in full force while the edge alignment was off, the best way to inversely exin it was rowing a boat while the paddle was aligned the right way.


    And if that didn''t make sense, imagine cutting into arge b of meat and bones while the edge was tilted even the tiniest bit on either side, but instead of correcting it mid-way by following the new path the de was facing, you put all of your strength into the same path and make the de follow you.


    In some cases, I did resort to doing that¡ªand Elsa did achieve her goal of cutting the cow in half¡ªbut if your hand, wrist, and forearms weren''t warmed up enough or strong enough, they tend to break, give out, or hopefully in Elsa''s case, get strained but not to the point of having a permanent injury.


    Isaac was the first one to say something, "Oof~ That happened to me plenty of times. Yours doesn''t look broken though, you''re lucky."


    Elsa looked a little relieved from hearing that, "For real?"


    The doctor shook his head as he beckoned Elsa toe with him, "Looks like it but we need to be very sure. Why don''t you all wait here for a while, we won''t be long¡­ I do believe I have some ice packs here somewhere¡­"


    In any case, the receiving area was quiet for a few moments but I''ve only realized that Mauro seemed to have sustained a few more injuriespared to Elsa. He had a busted lip, bruises in a few ces, and his right side seemed to be bleeding.


    "The fuck happened to you?"


    He answered simply, "Bull."


    "Ah¡­"


    Then he eyed me and Sebastian with a little bit of hostility, "So, why''d you two let that happen?"


    I was this close to smack him silly but Sebastian instantly took all of the me and looked genuinely apologetic.


    "It''s all my fault, should''ve picked a different cow¡­"


    "Why? You think she wouldn''t be able to cut it¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Oh, please~ Stop with that white knight shit."


    "You fucking serious?! I''m just trying to get to the bottom of things!"


    "You did. I told you everything that happened earlier. She technically did what she wanted to do but if she took some pointers from the biggest guy in the room instead of just doing straight cardio¡ª"


    "Oh! You''re an asshole, ain''t ya? You tryin'' to spin this on me?"


    I chuckled, "You tried to spin this on us the first chance you get. You just waited for your wife to be away so she wouldn''t merk ya."


    "You¡ª"


    "Can you just be fucking happy that she didn''t break her hand? She wouldn''t be able toin as much if she''s hurt that badly and you should fucking chill and get checked out coz honestly? You look way~ fucking worse¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­" Mauro chuckled as he shook his head while looking at me.


    "What?"


    "You''re alright. Scratch that, you''re really like Jackie¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "I''m sure he''s a great dude but I''m me, alright? You don''t hear me calling you the Asian Ronnie Coleman¡ª"


    "Hah! Why don''t you?! That''s just the dream, man¡ª"


    "It''s because your calves looked a little small¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO MY CALVES?! LOOK, MAN! LOOK! IT''S BIGGER THAN YOURS! YOU¡ª"


    Quinn eventually snapped, "YOU GOT MORE UPSET WHEN YOU WERE TOLD YOUR CALVES LOOK SMALL COMPARED TO WHEN YOUR WIFE GETS HURT?! FUCKING DUMBASS!"


    "STOP CALLING ME A FUCKING DUMBASS, YOU''RE THE REASON OUR GEN ROOM LOST ALL ITS FREE POWER!"


    "THAT AGAIN?! HOW MANY TIMES WOULD I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT IF WE DIDN''T COME THERE AT THAT EXACT SAME TIME, THE WHOLE INDUSTRIAL PARK WILL BE FULL OF YOUR ''FREE'' POWER!"


    "YOU COULD''VE JUST TAKEN CARE OF THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY! NOT TORCH THE WHOLE THING!"


    "HAAH?! DO YOU JUST REMOVE THE HAIR YOU FIND IN YOUR SOUP AND CONTINUE EATING?! EVERYTHING''S FUCKED! WE HAD TO ACT FAST! YOU WEREN''T THERE!"


    "HAIR IS JUST HAIR! AND YEAH! IT WOULD''VE BEEN DIFFERENT IF I WAS THERE!"


    "YOU WOULDN''T GIVE UP, HUH?!"


    "WHY THE FUCK WOULD I?!"


    "IF YOU ASKED ELSA TO GIVE YOU HANDJOBS FROM TIME TO TIME, SHE''D HAVE THE MUSCLE TO NOT BE INJURED!"


    "WHAT¡ª YOU WANNA FUCKING GO, QUINN?!"


    "I''D GLADLY BUT YOU''LL DEFINITELY BLAME THE BULL IF I TOSS YOU AROUND! YOU''RE A FUCKING PUNCH AWAY FROM FAINTING!"


    "TRY ME THEN, BITCH!"


    "BET, BITCH BOY!"


    "BET!"


    "THEN¡ª"


    Then a paperweight flew in the fucking air and clocked Mauro in the head, knocking him out. Right after that, we saw Elsa red in the face and so fucking pissed off while an icepack was resting on her right hand.


    She was definitely the one that threw the paperweight on Mauro''s head but Quinn wouldn''t give it up from just that so she picked it up and dropped it on his balls for good measure.


    "Quinn! Why''d¡ª You know we''re trying to make a¡ª ugh¡­ nevermind¡­"


    "Oops¡­ My bad, my bad¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    We ran through a rollercoaster of emotions while Elsa was gone but the only one who wasn''tughing was the doctor because he was obliged to check on Mauro''s head and his injuries. Elsa might''vee out unscathed but Mauro would probably worry about losing a few sperm and brain cells.


    Then I turned to her with a grin, "Wanna see how it''s really done though?"

 Chapter 942: Chopping Session

    Without batting an eye, Elsa just nodded her head vehemently like an 8-year-old since my offer was like the candy kids would receive after a visit to a doctor which she technically did. In any case, we left Mauro to the doc while a few came back with us to the ughterhouse or went back to the petting area or to the smokehouse.


    When we arrived, half of the cow was still hanging in the same ce but I asked my "disciples" to examine the cut Elsa made.


    JP made the firstment, "How''s your de?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "No chips, bends, or anything?"


    I chuckled, "I would already be hauling my ass back to Japan if that ever happens. It''ll take a lot more than chopping that cow in half but you gotta have the arm strength for it because after it takes on the force you put on it, it''ll transfer back almost the same thing when it meets ample resistance. That''s why even though the technique is important, you gotta be able to handle it too¡­"


    Elsa cut in sarcastically, "Well, I''m sorry for being weak¡­"


    "I''m not saying that¡ª"


    "You actually did, back at the vet clinic¡­"


    "Yes, I did¡­ But now, upon closer inspection¡­ it''s half and half and you were a little bit unlucky¡­"


    "Hmm?" Everyone else said as they turned to me.


    "Oh,e on! As much as I love hearing the sound of my own voice, you gotta figure some shit out on your own!"


    As I said that, my disciples went back to examining the scene of the crime along with Sebastian, Elsa, Kaley, and Megan but our butler was the one who gave the correct answer.


    "I think¡­ Hmm~ I think thedy pulled her hand inward and aimed at an inopportune angle."


    I threw Sebastian an approving look, "Ten points to Slytherin! Adding what I said in the clinic and what you said is probably it."


    JP and a few others scrunched their brows, "How so?"


    "Well~ all of you weren''t here when it happened but as I remembered, Elsa was standing¡ª yeah, before that¡­ Where do you think she was standing?"


    Isaac answered, "Just from looking at the angle of the first cut, probably between the right(?) side of the cow and its spine?"


    JP nodded, "I''m thinking of the same thing too."


    Seb followed, "I''m thinking a little bitterally but it wouldn''t make much of a difference¡ª"


    "Actually¡­ every degree of adjustment would make a LOT of difference. You three are about the same height but Elsa here is a few inches lower than¡ª"


    Isaac looked at me weirdly, "Bro, we''re the same¡ª"


    "Heels, bro, heels¡­ Even wearing that made her posture a little bit more forward than normal. It''s not stilettos but as I said earlier a little bit could change a lot of things, especially at the angles we''reing from."


    "I see¡­"


    "But to answer the question she was standing at this spot earlier," I said as I pointed at the right side of the cow, "Her aim earlier was to cut into the spine and run it straight through its ribcage but if you all could bend a little and see those little nubs of bone sticking out¡ªthat weren''t cut clean¡ªthat''s the ce where Elsa got injured¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    Then I turned to Elsa, "Tell me, you haven''t used an actual katana in your life, right? Probably rapiers or thin-ded stuff that Mr. Cuervo had¡­ That''s why you opted for the Jian¡­"


    Elsa nodded a few times with amazement, "Y-Yeah¡­ How''d you know?"


    "I just do, heh."


    "That didn''t exin a whole lot¡­"


    "It''s just from seeing the technique you''re using. You had the right intentions and the posture of a proper sh, but your actual discipline took over at thest second. It''s difficult to switch techniques as if you''re flipping a switch but you actually did well on your first try."


    "F-For real?! You serious?!"


    "Yep. But if you did this," I said as I casually sliced a thin piece of the meat with one hand and without injuring myself, "It would be much, much better."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Because what you did is this," I said again as I casually copied her "mistake" but got out scot-free also with one hand, "Wait, why doesn''t it hurt? Let me try¡ª"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "There! I felt a slight tweak there¡­ If you did that, it''ll be really~ bad as what happened right now but if you did what I did earlier, it''ll be¡ª"


    Elsa cut in while wearing a mix of emotions, "Y-You¡­ You''re messing with me now, aren''t you?"


    "What? I''m not, this is an actual lesson now and I''m being genuine here¡ª"


    "B-But you didn''t even cut it using both hands! How''s that a lesson?!"


    "Right. Just a sec¡ª"


    Within a matter of seconds, we had several perfectly cut "beef" chops on the floor covers and it looked like Elsa was about to quit learning the sword then and there. However, Isaac and the rest couldn''t believe their eyes while Sebastian was already rolling in a fresh cow that needed to be taught a lesson.


    "What''s that for?"


    "Please¡­ We''d save a lot of gas if you just cut this from nose to tail¡­"


    "Sure," I casually shrugged my shoulders as I walked in front of it and cut it in half, lengthwise, not diagonally.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    For some reason, I was always met with silence every time I did that but Sebastian took it upon himself to roll over the whole cows that weren''t cut in half or in any other pieces yet so that theirbor force could focus their attention elsewhere.


    I didn''t even think that I was hoodwinked into doing manualbor but I enjoyed cutting things cleanly as much as the next guy but everyone else''s mouth was agape for the continuous cutting session.


    And sure a full carcass or a half-carcass could still be dry-aged but it''s a fucking bitch to transport them without the proper tools.


    But yeah, my disciples were given their turns but none of them came close to doing what Elsa did. Sure, Isaac easily cut into the meat halfway through but he knows when and where to bail out to avoid any injury.


    Because what''s the point of going that far if that''s thest ce you could go to?


    In any case, another fight almost started when Elsa knelt in front of me to ask for her to be my disciple and Mauro came in at the wrong angle¡ªobviously thinking that his wife was sucking me off in front of all these people¡ªbut Elsa shut it down because she took down Mauro with a paperweight, how much more can she do with actual des?


    "I-I''m sorry¡­ Jumping to conclusions is a bad habit of mine¡­"


    "You think?"


    "I said, I''m sorry¡­"


    Then Elsa turned to me after rolling her eyes at her husband, "So, what do you think I should do for my body to take such force? Just my forearms?"


    I thought for a bit while looking at her physique, "Hmm~ I''m actually a fan of training your whole body at least twice a week but aside from that and daily cardio, this is gonna sound dumb but you can either practice the movement swing with a weighted stick or you know¡­ just chop wood."


    "C-Chop wood?"


    Mauro interjected, "That''s a novel idea, actually¡­"


    "Actually though¡­ do you guys have a gym here?"


    Sebastian answered, "Unfortunately we don''t¡­ But farm work and you know¡­ chopping wood is enough for almost everybody¡­"


    Mauro then had a thought, "FUCK!"


    "What is it now?"


    "I should''ve asked you guys to bring my power rack, a couple of bars, my yoke, and a few dozen tes at least¡­ I can''t believe I fucking forgot about that¡­ Doing just bodyweight exercises is too boring for me¡­"


    "Can''t you just deadlift a car?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Then stick a couple of metal rods in ''em and go ham. Elevate them a bit if you want to do some heavy shoulder presses."


    "Dude¡­ Where have you been all my life? Jackie''s the one who''s¡ª no, just thanks man¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "You can also pour cement on a mold but it chips when you m them down so I''d prefer for you to do the former¡­"


    "Right¡­ Right¡­ I''mma give someone a call real quick¡­"


    Then I turned to Sebastian, "That reminds me, it would be a pleasure of mine to help around while we''re here and the cadets, especially my disciples here would greatly appreciate it if you''d give them most of the heavy work to give your workers a little bit of a break."


    "Are you sure about that?" Sebastian was holding back his reaction from hearing that statement.


    "Yep. Give ''em hell¡­"


    "Very well¡­"


    As soon as we shook hands, the two of us just shared a wicked smile that sent shivers down their spines but after everything was resolved, Kaley pulled me to where the others were.

 Chapter 943: Its just a bull—

    At this point, my disciples were still shocked by what I did, but seeing several goats chewing on their clothes was funny as they were staring into nothingness. From my perspective, it was just a regr sh on a Tuesday morning but they probably won''t be able to replicate what I did unless they put all their heart and soul into training.


    Sure, I was acting like what I did was nothing but mastery over an art or a discipline couldn''t bepared to reaching a peak but falling into a deep pit you couldn''t get out of.


    Once you''re in there, it was impossible to forget it or regress even if you''re a fucking dumbass but I still wouldn''t consider myself a master under those circumstances.


    There were still a lot of things I still wanted to haveplete control and mastery over but some people would''ve stopped learning more if they reached where I''m at¡ªnot throwing shade at them or anything in that regard.


    But yeah, there was a time when I''d need to practice a specific cut a thousand times a day at the minimum just to get it right but there also came a time when I could easily perform it without so much as a warm-up.


    But yeah, going back to our current setting, Kaley was proudly unting her ability to attract chicks, piglets, calves, and any other animal in their early stages of life, and they were marching right behind her as she was walking in circles around me.


    "You seeing this?! You''re seeing this, right?! Aren''t they adorable?!" Kaley couldn''t hide the smile on her face.


    I chuckled as I smiled back, "They do, they do, especially you¡­"


    Then Kaley cutely red at me while keeping a bit of air in one of her cheeks, "You doofus! W-We''re talking about the animals here¡­"


    "Well¡­ Technically~"


    "I know, I know!" then she walked up to me and leaned close, "Here''s for that sweetpliment¡­"


    Kaley obviously went for a kiss which I obviously reciprocated but we weren''t even a few seconds in when I heard this snort of derision which I thought came from Quinn or Mauro, but to my fucking surprise and Mauro''s, it came from the bull that gave him all of those injuries.


    Mauro grumbled as he walked over to me, "Don''t let that fucker get to you¡­ He''s been mad-dogging me the moment I got here but he''s juiced to fuck¡ª" then his head snapped in the bull''s direction, "FUCK YOU, YA BULLSHIT BULL!"


    I chuckled, "Take it easy, alright? It''s just a bull¡ª"


    But Kaley said something that poured fuel to the fire, "No, no¡­ Mauro''s right¡­ That bull''s giving me weird looks while he had his ''rocket-thingy'' sticking out¡­ I guess mating season''s close but¡ª"


    I never let out such a contained and condensed murderous intent with a fucking smile, "Then he has to fucking die¡ª"


    Mauro and Kaley tried to stop me:


    "It''s not worth it, man¡­ I''m telling you¡ª"


    "H-He''s right, it''s just a b-bull, right?"


    I shook my head as I took off my shirt like one of those boss battles from the Yakuza series, "Nope, that''s lunch and dinner."


    The moment I did that, there was no stopping me from giving this bull a piece of my mind, and even though they actually couldn''t see red, I''m seeing fucking ck and there was a reason I took my shirt off.


    As poprized by matadors, they''d put on shows while waving a red g to make a bull angry and charge at them but in actuality, it''s the pping of the cape''s movement, not its color.


    I easily vaulted over the metal fencing it was in and even though everyone thought I was already crazy, another level was added to that when they discovered I didn''t bring my guns with me.


    And Isaac was already shouting at the top of his lungs, "BRO! D''YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH WISH?! AT LEAST PASS ON ALL OF YOUR TECHNIQUES TO ME BEFORE DOING THAT OR JUST LET A TRUCK HIT YA!"


    Edith followed, "W-Why''s no one stopping him?!"


    Quinn and Tatiana answered, "It''s just a bull¡­/He''ll be fine¡­ I think."


    Kaley followed, "Worstes to worst, I''ll shoot it before anything happens¡­"


    "What if you hit him?!"


    "I won''t. Done it plenty of times¡­"


    Mauro added, "D''YOU WANT ME THERE OR NOT?! I CAN HOLD HIM DOWN FOR A FEW SECS OR I CAN THROW SEBASTIAN THERE FOR A DISTRACTION!"


    Sebastian couldn''t believe his ears, "Throw me? What a preposterous proposition, I''ll jump down willingly if I say so myself¡­ This may sound dad-ish but that bull and I have some¡­ beef¡­ we gotta remedy too¡ª"


    "Did you just?"


    "Yes, I did."


    "..."


    "..."


    "That''s so bad¡­"


    But yeah, I didn''t respond to his shouts and everyone else''sments as I started to wave my shirt around to rile the bull staring me dead in the eyes.


    It was this hulk of a bull if I say so myself, just two-thousand pounds of pure fucking muscle and it was already scraping the ground with its hoof, preparing for a charge to hit me either with its huge-ass head or one of its sharp horns.


    This fucking bull acted like its the king of this fucking ranch¡ªand it does deserve that title in a way¡ªbut he showed his fucking dick to my wife and as stupid a reason as it was, it was good enough reason to test myself against something several times stronger than me.


    Then it happened.


    "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!"


    The moment it rushed towards me, I just went into a drawing stance and everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as I let out a short breath.


    However, as much as I''d hate to admit it, standing still in front of a charging bull was just suicide with extra steps but as soon as I saw it wind its head to the side, my whole body just tensed as my hands grabbed tight on my de while my feet dug into the ground.


    In a swift exchange, I found myself several feet from where I was while the bull couldn''t believe he had a huge cut on his face¡ªwhich actually looked fucking metal by the way¡ªthough he lost an eye and one of his prized horns was missing.


    To his shock and anger, he found his horn in the same ce we made contact with our weapons but for the first time in his life, he knew what fucking fear was like.


    He can destroy me in a pulling match, he can trample me on the ground, he could bump me and kill five more people who weren''t even involved, and he could also disy my guts for everyone to see with one swipe of his horns¡ªbut now, it seemed like he forgot how to take a step forward.


    And once again, he discovered how to take a step back as his face was fucking bleeding and he knew full well that if I actually wanted to kill him for lunch, I could very well could. Because even if we had pressure cookers, I''d still prefer beef on the softer side of things and in some weird and twisted way, his offspring tasted so~ fucking good.


    He''s probably the reason all the cows in the barn were well taken care of but I should stop right about now because this line of thought was already weird as it was.


    In any case, I still wanted to assert dominance so I started chasing the motherfucker with a deranged look on my face and the only thing missing was a boar''s head for a mask and twin katanas that were chipped to fuck with a rock.


    The first thing I noticed while running around was Mauro''s fucking face before everyone else''s and it was just so fucking priceless, to say the least. He couldn''t believe I tamed the beast that brought him such injuries but he was a fucking dumbass for trying to fight a bull with muscle strength alone.


    ''But it''s impressive that he actually lived despite that¡­''


    It only took a fewps around the fencing before he submitted to me by propping his belly towards me, but it seemed like we made a contract with each other when I found some strong horse glue and put his horn back.


    Cows had soulful eyes ording to a deranged physicist that looked like a human C-3PO but I didn''t think that murderous rampaging bulls could do them too.


    He was actually following behind me when I walked back to the audience but he started to mad-dog Mauro the moment they met each other''s gaze. He had this schtick that he only submitted to this particr human a.k.a. me, but Sebastian had a wonderful idea.


    "My lord, if I may, this bull still hasn''t been named so why don''t you give it one?"

 Chapter 944: Layers To A Name - Jerky and Textiles

    Funnily enough, I discovered that this bull had the same situation as my dojo because all the years he''s been living on this ranch, he was just referred to as the "Bull", nothing more. Both of them had a reputation for what they could do, but how I wished they were named something appropriate or cool-sounding.


    In any case, I turned to the beast in question because how many times could a living being had a say in what they were being named or called in their lifetime?


    Even the nickname "Kid" got stuck with me and I''d probably get called that by people older than me for the foreseeable future or in the worst-case scenario, have it also carved in my tombstone.


    "Alright, buddy~ You cool with me naming you?"


    He snorted but in a more enthusiastic way, "Hmrghfhh!"


    "Great!"


    Mauro suddenly cut in, "You can speak to animals?"


    I waved him off, "Mauro, we''re busy here. Git."


    "The fuck¡ª"


    Then I quickly turned back to my new friend, "Alright, how about~ Chicago? Like Chicago Bulls?"


    There was an evident disappointment in his snort followed by a shaking of his head. No one had noticed yet but the bleeding on his face already stopped for some reason.


    "Hmm~ Gyudon?"


    *snort of confusion*


    "Horns? No, horn?"


    *snort of sadness*


    "E10?"


    *head tilt with visible confusion*


    "E10 deez¡ª nope, you won''t get it¡­ Hmm~ BITA? Like Bull in the Apoca¡ª no¡­ too meta¡­"


    Megan interjected, "His fur is Red? How about¡ª"


    I instantly shut that down, "Wanna call him Redb¡ª You wanna get sued?! Think, Megan! Think!"


    "R-Right¡­ I was thinking of just Red¡­"


    Then James#2 cut in, "How about Ram?"


    JP shook his head, "He''s a bull, don''t call him another animal¡ª"


    "I meant that action of¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly loomed over the cadets, "Hey! Heeey! The fuck are y''all giving names out for?! He tamed it, he names it!"


    But yeah, I didn''t think that naming a bull would take this much deliberation but after a few back-and-forths with the crew and the bull himself we eventually decided on something I received the coveted snort of approval.


    It was slightly skirting around dad jokes and copyrightws but you''ll get it after saying it aloud a few times.


    "Rogue? Really?" Elsa asked as she tilted her head the same as everyone else did.


    "Bull-Rogue? I don''t get it," Quinn followed.


    Then Isaac had a lightbulb moment, "OHHHH! I GET IT NOW! HAH! THAT''S CLEVER!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at him, "Ten points to Hufflepuff!"


    "C''mon, bro! Give me Ravenw or something¡ª Wait, that''s you. You''re totally Ravenw."


    Then Kaley came up to me with a scrunched eyebrow, "C-Can you exin? I still¡ª"


    "Really?"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Bull-Rogue¡­ Balrog¡­ You know, the ming demon with horns¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Isn''t that JP''s old bullshit title?!"


    Isaac chortled once again, "Maaan~ That''s so many fuckingyers~"


    Then Megan got it, "Ohh! You incorporated the red fur too with the mes instead! Sheesh~"


    After that, more and more people eventually got the reference and Rogue snorted once again to ask me to pet his head that probably hadn''t been petted all his life. He looked so excited about the name given to him he was nudging me with his body like a cat would and I definitely felt sorry for him when we had to say goodbye.


    We''ve barely explored the whole of the Rivas Family Estate and even though he was obedient to me, the same couldn''t be said for everyone.


    Rogue might act up from the smallest things and I''d hate to have him put down because of it. But yeah, I promised him that I''d stop by tomorrow and I wrapped a piece of the face towel I brought to his horn that I cut so he''d have the least bit of assurance.


    It''s just that Edith and Elsa were looking at me with squinted eyes.


    "What?"


    They answered at the same time, "You''ve taken another one of us¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "First the dogs, now the bull¡­/I''ll give you Rogue but give me back Nem-Nem and Mie-My!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "I''ve never taken anyone!" then I tried to change the subject as I turned to Elsa, "How''s the hand though?"


    "Eh~ Doctor said to ice it once we get back home but it feels fine now, luckily¡­"


    Sebastian followed, "Mydy, I think it might be best to follow the doctor''s orders¡­"


    "Sure, sure~ You''d still bring ice even if I say no anyway~"


    "But it''s for a different thing this time, no?"


    Elsa and Mauro''s eyes suddenly bulged, "YOU¡ª/MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ That''s my bad¡­"


    "AYO? WHAT THE FUCK¡ª"


    "So ice can be used for sex, huh?"


    "Stop talking about it!"


    "Can we tryter?"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "STOP. TALKING. ABOUT. IT!"


    "So what do you do with it? You put it in?"


    "You can just use the cold for added sensitivity but if you put it in a cup with some water and dip your fingers in it¡­ It was said to maintain erections for longer periods of time¡ª"


    "WHY ARE ALL OF YOU STILL TALKING ABOUT IT! AND YOU, WHY''D YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN ALL THAT, HUH?! YOU PROBABLY DO IT A LOT WITH ALL YOUR PARTNERS, HUH?!"


    "Nope. Don''t need it, ask them. But you two probably¡ª"


    "HAH!"


    "Well, that backfired¡­"


    "AYOOOOOOO~"


    After a bit of walking, we did stop by the smokehouse to grab a little snack but obviously enough, a certain pair were barred from entering because they did eat a little too much, and smoked meat was just a luxury even if this ce had an abundance of them.


    It was more to the point that their day''s work was wharfed down in a matter of minutes, and if they did nothing about it, their daily quotas would be affected.


    But yeah, Sebastian assured them that everything would be ounted for and their sries¡ªwhatever it may be now¡ªwould still be given appropriately to the amount of work they''ve done.


    ''Some good spices on these jerky though¡­ That streamer AsmonAu would love these¡­ Bet he''s still kickin'' with his two-hander on hand¡ª I mean, hands¡­''


    As we moved forward, I discovered that the farms were set up in a way that a cluster would be reserved for the crops that needed the same type of requirements in order for them to grow but after all this walking, I still haven''t found the spot where Sal had poppy flowers.


    Furthermore, there weren''t a lot of bees¡ªor any, for that matter¡ªin sight, and it was just a testament to howrge Sal''snd was.


    I just started to assume that it wasn''t this huge glob on the map that dictated her ownership but there were probably sectors where a portion of the area was heavily guarded or secluded because of the illegal or valuable items that could be found or looted.


    Furthermore, discovering the electric car that could go off-road told me that some ces would need more than just a simple walk in a span of a few hours.


    ''Even Edith wasn''t wearing her suit¡­ Probably further out or on the opposite side¡­''


    But yeah, the next ce we visited was two buildings dedicated to making fabric from nt material or from animal skins or hide.


    One of my uncles worked in a textile factory but it couldn''t bepared to the size and efficiency these two buildings could offer. And yes, one of them was running through the use of arge generator while the other one was running on elbow grease with a little bit of sophistication and meticulousness.


    Take the clothes we were wearing for example: Nancy mentioned that one of them was made from pineapples but the shirt I''m wearing now was probably made from cotton and the boots were from tanned leather. Not only were they sofortable to wear and elegant looking, it felt like they were tailor-made specifically to our sizes.


    It was a little creepy if you think a little deeper about it but it''s not like a sizerge shirt and a US size 10 boots were umon.


    In any case, the gist of one of these buildings was to make these huge-ass rolls of fabric or natural leather while the other one transforms them into something wearable or functional like rugs, towels, etc.


    This was something we didn''t have a lot going on at home, aside from raiding Unc Conrad''s old workce, several malls, clothing stores, and then some but in the near future, I''d want to be able to produce such items from raw materials and turn them into what we were wearing today. If not, since we were now allied with the Rivas Family, a trading situation was also possible.


    It''s not like our clothes back home wouldst a millennium so we''d need recements from time to time plus a bit for new people or for uniforms.


    Though Quinn never looked so excited.


    "HEY! GIVE ME ALL YOUR COMFY UNDERWEAR IN MY SIZES AND YOUR MAJESTY WILL PAY FOR ALL OF THEM!"


    "M-Majesty?"


    "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT! GET ON IT!"

 Chapter 945: Clyde Leatherworks

    As Quinn was terrorizing the Rivas Family''s workers, I saw Mauro from the corner of my eye making his way to an older gentleman working silently on a corner. He began to approach him slowly and respectfully as he tried to get the older man''s attention, and once he did, he let out a faint smile and motioned a small salute using two of his fingers.


    I couldn''t quite see the older gentleman''s facial features but they exchanged a few words before Mauro''s face lit up from excitement.


    He looked like a kid who was offered a ride on a tank, and he couldn''t stand still when the older fe excused himself for a bit to get something from storage.


    However, Quinn managed to follow my line of sight for a moment, and once she saw the old mane out with a medium-sized box, she looked like a bolt of lightning struck her body as she quickly made her way to the two. And being as how nosy I was, I quickly followed after her which she didn''t even notice.


    It was barely a few seconds when we reached the two but once I met eyes with the old man, he let out a warm smile as he beckoned us over.


    But Mauro was prepared to fight tooth and nail as to what was inside the box.


    "Hey! HEY! QUINN!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "BACK OFF, NOW! I GOT THEM MADE FOR ME! ME! YOU''RE NOT ALLOWED TO SWIPE THEM THIS TIME!"


    "OH YEAH?! YOU''RE GONNA STOP ME!"


    "YOU KNOW I''M FUCKING STRONGER THAN YOU!"


    "NOT TODAY, YOU''RE NOT! YOU''RE SPENT, YOU DUMBSHIT!"


    ''What''s in that box anyway?''


    As I was thinking to myself while the two were about to throw hands, the older gentleman let out a heartyugh as he uncovered the lid of the box he brought over.


    "Hohoho! Don''t fight now, kids¡­ I actually made plenty! You three can share. There''s plenty to go around¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned behind her, "Three¡ª Oh, you followed me."


    "What''s in those¡ª"


    "Take a look, you can''t get those anywhere."


    To my surprise, the box contained several dozen pairs of lifting straps and eight thick lifting belts made with premium leather though the belts were missing the leverponent. The lever was made with metal but I assume that the two had their own personal levers with them or back home. It was only a matter of screwing them into these belts to be able to use them.


    Mauro was touched and annoyed as fuck as he looked inside the box, "Dammit, Clyde! Why''d you have to overwork yourself again?! This is a lot! I just asked for a pair!"


    Quinn followed, "Yeah, Clyde! This is good for a few years, at least!"


    "Hoho! I just got some free time but young man I''ve never seen before, I''m afraid your waist is too small for these belt''s sizes¡­ I can probably make one for you in¡ª"


    I instantly waved him off, "Ah¡ª That''s¡ª I-It''s okay, Mr. Clyde! Really! I''m Sky Ishiyama, by the way¡­ Nice to meet you, sir!"


    "Ah! A proper one, aren''t ya? Wait a minute¡ª Ah! I believe you''re the new family head, aren''t ya? They said you were young but not that young! How old are ya?


    17?"


    Mauro and Quinn almost choked on their spit but I scratched my head and chuckled as I answered:


    "Almost twenty-seven now, actually¡­"


    "Hoho! Apologies, you''re almost the same age as Mauro here but he looked way~ older, don''t ya think?! I believe it''s the special juice they''re taking, am I right? If you''re a real man, natural''s the way to go! I can probably take ''im if I was ten years younger¡­"


    Mauro couldn''t believe what he just heard, "Wha¡ª Hey! I''m right here!"


    "HOH! I''m just kidding, kidding!" then he turned back to me and nced at my right arm, "You like dragons, huh?"


    I nodded politely, "Of course, they''re cool."


    "Hmm~ Then how about you humor an old man?"


    "What do you suggest?"


    "I''ll make you custom belts and straps and¡ª"


    Clyde wasn''t even able to finish his sentence when the two¡ªMauro and Quinn¡ªblew up and almost threw me overhead.


    "Come on, Clyde! What about me?!"


    "YEAH! THAT''S UNFAIR! YOU JUST MET HIM! I LIKE HI¡ª YOU JUST MET HIM!"


    Clyde chuckled as he waved them off, "I can hear just fine, Quinn¡­ And I''m talking to the young man, want me to give you those straps which I swore to never make again or not? If so, let me finish talking to him."


    "..."


    "..."


    Then he let out a smile as he turned back to me, "Young man, for some reason these things I''ve made, made them far stronger in their lifts than what''s humanly possible¡ªand that involved PEDs, obviously¡ªand it made them pursue things that put their well-being at extreme risk¡­ I know that it''s not these items'' fault but it''s sad to say that there''s still an indirect corrtion with it¡­"


    I nodded a few times as I said solemnly, "Are you talking about Mike?"


    "You know him?"


    "Not personally, no. I heard him and Jackie in passing¡­ great dudes¡­"


    This time, Clyde was still smiling but his eyes were not, "He''s one of them but there are many more who aren''t even as big as him pursued size and strength like they''re crazed¡ª"


    I then cut him off, "Clyde¡­ I think I know where you''re getting at right about now but even without these items, they''ll continue whatever it is they''re doing. We can say all we want and try a few things to get the point across but sometimes, some people are just too stubborn for their own good."


    "..."


    "But yeah, after whatever they''re taking runs out, they''ll probably look for the next best thing and then to the other until theynd back on external essories such as these straps or these belts. Then it''s your job to make sure that they''re of top quality."


    "I-I guess¡­"


    The old dude was starting to get more and more disheartened so I tried to change the subject a little bit.


    "So¡­ How custom are we talking about here? And what''s the deal you''re about to propose when I cut you off?"


    "Ah! Hoho¡­ It''s nothing really but I can make embroideries by sewing some thread on that leather to make it a little more a-appealing besides its quality. But on my proposal, since you''re the one here that looks¡­ normal? Forgive thenguage but you know where I''m getting at, right?"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Physically, sure¡­"


    "B-But yeah¡­ I just want you to give them one of those friendly taps when you notice them getting too deep on that pool once again, that''s it. Quinn mentioned that she stopped months ago but she just looks happier now, not smaller!"


    "Pfft¡­/Kek¡­" Mauro and I chortled at the same time.


    "WANT ME TO BURY THREE OF YA, HAH?! I am happy though¡­"


    Clyde chuckled as he nced at me for a bit, "I could kinda understand why¡­ but yeah, I promise to make you a full set with custom designs, and even if you wouldn''t use it regrly, I hope you at least break it open and rip some shit up like Mike would say when he hits PRs¡­"


    Mauro and Quinn cut in, "U-Us too, please! Put in something wicked!/ Y-Yeah! Us too! I''d like a cross on mine!"


    "Sure, sure~ Anyway, you can take the box with you but don''t forget toe back in a few days for the custom ones."


    Mauro took the box before giving Clyde a fistbump, "Gotcha. Just don''t overdo it, alright?"


    "I could say the same thing to you! Go on now, git!"


    "Wha¡ª That''s the second time¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    In any case, we went back to everyone else who was trying on different kinds of clothes while Quinn was trying out the straps on her hands and she just looked so happy.


    To those who don''t know, straps and belts could help increase one''s maximum lifts aside from the support it would give them, and straps were known to provide extra grip if they''recking while belts were known to help with bracing and back support. But yeah, depending on what you''re using to lift, straps could give about a 2%-5% increase on their maximum while belts could give 5%-10%.


    That''s not even including other essories like sleeves for knees and elbows, the proper shoes, a lifting suit, etc. but the essories one''s wearing should also be dependent on the type of lift involved.


    You''d beughed off the gym if you ever wear a lifting belt while doing curls or abs but please, don''t get me started about lifting gloves. They''re in the same league as the foam/pool noodle used to help cushion the barbell for squatting and even if they do help in a way, they''re just one of those things people avoid unless they don''t want calluses appearing on their body.

 Chapter 946: RIPPIN IT

    Since it was already a few hours past noon, we decided to stay inside this tailoring workshop for its shade but since the workers seemed eager to make everyone form-fitting clothes and custom leather boots, it was a no-brainer. I did say that we''d stay in this ce for more or less a week and we shouldn''t explore the whole area in one go.


    Furthermore, the way Sebastian was talking with the cadets told me he already had ns for the few days we''d be staying here.


    But right as everyone received their new set of clothes, Mauro received a call from his radio that not only brought a smile to his face but also Quinn''s right after he told her the news.


    "QUINN! THEY''RE HERE!"


    "SHUT YOUR TRAP, FOR REAL?!"


    "YEAH! THEY BROUGHT THE STUFF!"


    "THE FUCK ARE WE DOING HERE FOR? LET''S GO!"


    "THEY''RE STILL SETTING UP BY THE GARAGE BUT THEY''LL BE FINISHED THE MOMENT WE ARRIVE!"


    These two had never given out so much sibling energy because they were about tomit bloody homicide just from those straps Clyde made for them and now, they never looked so excited from being able to use them together.


    As I was told a little bitter, #9 Logan, was ordered by Mauro to bring some of his training equipment but the guy knowing that Quinn was in this ce, tossed everything aside to get from point A to point B. He did bring a few people with him for security purposes and whatnot but from what Mauro told me, they also rushed to get in here for the chance of trying out Clyde''s leatherworks.


    ''I guess I''m gonna give it a go too¡­ Haven''t tried my one rep max in forever¡­''


    To my surprise, Sebastian also showed excitement from knowing that someone brought over some gym equipment as he turned to the cadets, but it was for a different reason:


    "This will be splendid¡­ I can fine-tune the work you will all be doing tomorrow¡­"


    #2 James chimed in, "If we''re talking about raw strength, Ruben''s gonnae out on top. He has lumberjack genes."


    "Oh? You don''t say? That''s good¡­"


    Ruben never looked so distraught, "W-What are you gonna make me d-do?"


    "What else? Lumberjack stuff."


    "And us?"


    Sebastian let out a weird chuckle, "I already said too much¡­ Let''s see what you do now before I reveal it tomorrow. Don''t forget, everyone should be awake and ready before 5 AM. I mean it this time."


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we made our way back to the back of the mansion where the garage was.


    Logan and his crew had already finished setting up all of the equipment they brought and he was just wiping them down when we arrived. But yeah, I was just about to head back to our room to change into more appropriate clothes but Mauro and Quinn just took off the unnecessary stuff and went about it barefoot.


    A few others had already joined in their warmup but as much as I wanted to get involved, I turned my head around to get a change of clothes and something close to actual lifting shoes.


    However, as I was about to do just that, Sebastian approached me with a grin on his face:


    "I believe something appropriate was already prepared for all of you in your rooms, Quinn''s included¡­ I doubt she''d bother to pick it up but we have some Clyde Taylors in her size up there with yours. It''s not as good as actual lifting shoes but it''s of the same quality as the ones that had a star logo¡­"


    I chuckled, "You never miss a beat, huh?"


    "Well, that''s my job¡­ but this time, I''ll join in on the lifting session¡­ to provide an example¡­"


    "Oh? We shouldn''t dally here then¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I got back with Kaley and the rest wearing appropriate equipment but Quinn and Mauro were still warming up with four fucking tes on each side.


    Quinn was obviously squatting with a pause at the bottom¡ªto make things more harder, to activate the glutes even more, and most importantly, to make it fucking impressive¡ªwhile Mauro was doing the same thing on the bench.


    Quinn was just using her new lifting belt¡ªwith her own lever attached to it, of course, plus her knee sleeves¡ªwhile Mauro was just wearing the straps without using them on his lifts though he had elbow sleeves on.


    But once Quinn was done with her warm-up set, I threw over her pair of Clyde Taylors and she just discovered that almost everyone was watching them lift. And unlike dumb fitness influencers who kept getting dunked on by certain "Swole" guy for getting angry by people ncing at them doing shit for the whole world to see, she didn''t mind the looks she was getting as she beckoned me over.


    "Hey! Logan just put more pads on the tform over there, wanna pull with me?"


    "Aren''t you gonna put on those shoes¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "Let me rephrase. Put the fucking shoes on!"


    "Oho~ Beat my PR first then I''ll think about it."


    "That doesn''t seem fair, don''t you think?"


    "Why? Because you''re a man and I''m a woman? Fuck outta here¡ª"


    "It adds to the equation but my reason for that is because you got at least 100 pounds on me¡ª"


    "HEY! I''M NOT 100 POUNDS¡ª I''m not 100 pounds heavier than you¡­ M-More like 80¡­"


    "My point exactly. And I haven''t pulled my one rep max in years. I don''t even know what it is right now."


    "What was it before?"


    "Two hundred twenty-five pounds(102 kgs)?"


    Quinn never tried so hard to contain herughter, "Two tes? No fucking way that''s your PR! You have at least four tes from what I''ve seen. Pull at least that and I''ll put on those shoes."


    "Fuck it."


    "Then it''s on¡ª"


    But before any of us had the chance to react, Sebastian, who had been missing for a few minutes suddenly dropped in wearing a top-of-the-line powerlifting suit, shoes, belt, straps, etc. from Clyde''s leatherworks obviously, and casually took the bar with four tes on Quinn''s rack before bringing it over to the deadlift tform like it was nothing.


    Everyone was just shocked to fuck, especially the people from the De Leon Family, and the only wish I had at this moment was Sebastian wearing a janitor''s uniform instead and kept saying sorry andughing goofily. Instead, he kept a straight face with a faint smile¡ªas he always did¡ªbefore ncing at everyone with a wider grin.


    As of right now, Sebastian just lit a fire on everyone''s asses but I was staring directly at his body.


    I couldn''t see much from his torso but because he was always wearing something covering his whole body, just seeing his arms and legs was enough to tell me that he went through some type of shit or hellhole to achieve what he had today.


    Despite being pale enough to mistake him for a beacon or a vampire, his "sleeper" build was nothing to scoff at even if he had scars that made him look like he jumped into a wood chipper. It didn''t make a lot of sense at all because his face and hands looked like he had a fabulous skincare routine while the rest of his body only received detergent and muddy water.


    But yeah, Logan was the first one to challenge him to a deadliftingpetition but I heard Quinn mutter something under her breath:


    "Shit¡­ Who riled up this fucker out of retirement¡­"


    "Retirement?"


    "Heh¡­ Haven''t seen enough from that?"


    At this moment, Logan pushed Sebastian aside before he took to the tform barefoot and raw. He performed a ritual of sorts where he''d spread his arms wide before taking a deep breath and bracing his core then he hinged down in the conventional position and grabbed onto the bar with a mixed grip and let it all fucking rip.


    *BANG*


    Without issue, Logan cleared a total of eight tes plus the bar, 405 pounds(184 kgs) in one swift movement before mming it down the tform, making everyone''s ears numb from the noise.


    "AHHHHHHHHHH! FUCK YEAH!"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "That is impressive¡­ yes¡­"


    Doing that wasn''t a simple feat by all means but Logan''s confidence was shattered when Sebastian almost copied the same exact movements but from the moment he lifted the bar and put it down, all it produced was this tiny clink that everyone wasn''t expecting.


    Everyone thought it''d be as noisy as what Logan did but no one thought that the quietness would be music to our ears.


    It was one thing to lift the weight in one go but it was much, much different when it''s controlled both in the ascent and in the descent in one smooth motion. It couldn''t be characterized as a normal deadlift or even an RDL in that regard but one thing''s for sure, Sebastian knew how to rip shit up and sew it back.

 Chapter 947: Lifting Session I

    "Wanna add more tes or do you wanna go for more reps?" Sebastian casually turned to Logan while pping his arms around for blood to circte in them.


    Logan justughed out loud, "Fuck it! Let''s go five tes each!"


    "Very well¡­ I suggest wearing at least a belt though¡ª"


    "Belt?! Who fuckin'' wears a¡ª"


    "I help run this estate on a daily basis, I can''t get injured. I believe the two higher than you do too¡­ but don''t say I didn''t warn you if you get a debilitating injury¡ª"


    Logan turned to everybody else, "He''s trying to get into my head, right? He''s trying to¡ª Fuck it, where did I throw it¡­"


    With that said, Logan was convinced to take a safer approach in regards to lifting because one injury with the weights they were trying to pull could potentially render him unable to perform basic tasks for months at the minimum.


    He was taking a little bit longer to find his own personal belt but my attention was ced over Quinn who was teaching the girls about properly squatting. However, her teaching methodology was a little~ bit different but it seemed to get the point across somehow.


    "Listen, a pretty face, a kind heart, or a bangin'' body could be enough for some guys or girls out there but if you wanna take control of the bedroom, this is the way to go.


    Benching or simply working out will actually reduce your boob size¡ªeven if a few of us here are quite gifted¡ªbut this shit could grow your ass, your thighs, your calves, your hamstrings¡ªbasically your whole lower body in one go. It does work your upper body and core in some way but squats focus more on our legs, got it?"


    Megan raised her hand, "We''ve only been doing bodyweight squats in the academy though, is that enough?"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "If you always go for as many reps as possible, sure, but if you wanna build muscle and strength instead of just endurance, you gotta add some weight to that, alright? Don''t worry, I''ll teach all of you how to get a fucking ass like mine. If you have one of these, they don''t fuck you, you fuck them. It''s that simple."


    Nancy raised her hand, "I-I can''t even lift t-ten kilos¡­ that bar''s over twenty, right?"


    Quinn nodded, "Twenty point four to be precise but you gotta start somewhere. Why don''t you show me a simple bodyweight squat first?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    Surprisingly enough, Nancy had the ability to go ass to grass¡ªbasically squatting with her knees well over her toes and her glutes to her ankles¡ªbut what she needed right now wasn''t tips on technique but more time spent on the gym and enough protein.


    Further along the line, she could start using dumbbells for goblet squats and once she could do that easily would be the time she''d progress over to the bar and eventually add some weight to it.


    Quinn brilliantly exined what I just said to Nancy to the same extent but once she got to teaching Megan and Alexa the basics with Tatiana and Kaley, Logan came back wearing his lifting belt, wrist straps, and knee sleeves, and he also brought over some chalk for added grip.


    My attention was once again brought over to that part of this garage gym and even Mauro who was busy benching four tes joined in with a huge smile on his face:


    "Why don''t we up the ante?"


    "Hmm?/What do you suggest?" Logan and Sebastian answered at the same time.


    "Loser has to¡ª Wait a sec, where''s¡ª Oi! What are you doing over there?! Come here!" Mauro shouted as he waved me over.


    At that point, I was ready to disappoint all of them by declining because even if I do have the tendency to show off, I''d only do so when it was a sure thing and if my well-being wouldn''t be put at risk. However, my dumb disciples already dragged me over to the other three and there was just this crowd of supporters from my side and the De Leon Family''s side.


    The only one who didn''t have direct supporters was Sebastian but he definitely earned some respect from being a stone-cold lifter.


    But yeah, the bar in front of us still had four tes loaded on each side so Mauro easily took his turn first before he beckoned me to follow.


    He chuckled as he looked at me, "Are you actually kidding me? Why are you so nervous?"


    I instantly came clean, "The best I''ve done before is two tes. I need to work on that first before I can even try to attempt this."


    As soon as I said that, Logan threw me a mocking nce while Mauro couldn''t believe what I just said, but Sebastian took it upon himself to take two tes off one side of the bar as he asked me to do the same on the other end.


    And as I did, Sebastian said loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "The first rule in the gym is to leave your ego at the door. The lord waspletely vulnerable and honest by saying that so he should be met with respect, not ridicule. I heard he beat both of you senseless so why don''t we give him the benefit of the doubt."


    The gym had never been so quiet after that but I threw him a nce and mouthed "Thank you" before I stepped an inch before the bar with two tes loaded on each side.


    At this point, I let out a short exhale before I shut out everything around me.


    I had my feet shoulder-width apart as I took another breath and braced my core¡ªfilling it up with air all around it, not just the front¡ªbefore I hinged down and grabbed onto the bar using a hook grip.


    It was done by performing something simr to an overhand grip but the difference was to wrap my index and middle finger right around my thumb.


    With that said, I tugged on the bar a little bit to remove the ck and once I pulled on my shoulders and activated myts, the whole thing just lifted up from the floor like it was nothing and it surprised me.


    I had never been so nervous before I lifted the bar but it felt like I could do this for a lot of reps or add a te or two.


    But right before I lowered the bar, Sebastian gave me some sound advice:


    "My lord, brace your core again, and instead of mming it like a buffoon, perform the entric part of an RDL to essentially perform both lifts in one rep. Trust me."


    Logan wasn''t amused by that remark but I did as I was told, and as easy as pie, there was nary a sound when the tes touched the tform. However, as excited as I was, I let out a short exhale as I braced my core for the third time, performing another rep, and another, and another, and another, and another¡­


    ''This is starting to get fun¡­''


    I didn''t even think that such a thing was possible because one of the reasons I stopped deadlifting altogether was the noise it produced¡ªand before anyone says anything, I fucking know that noise was part of the whole she-bang but what I''m trying to say was that it wasn''t for me.


    Besides, I hadt pulldowns or simply pull-ups with me¡ªwhich weren''t as prone to injury¡ªso deadlifts weren''t that coveted to me even if it was one of the three big lifts.


    And after ten repetitions of this custom deadlift Sebastian taught me, he and Mauro threw me an approving look while Logan just looked annoyed that they haven''t moved on to five tes yet.


    But Mauro instantly threw him a smack in the head.


    "What was that for?!"


    "Are you blind, you jealous fuck?"


    "What?"


    "That''s perfect form in all ten reps and he just learned it like that *snaps fingers* you gotta give that some respect."


    "Sure..."


    "Thanks," I threw a nod at Mauro.


    He just rolled his eyes as he replied, "Wanna go for four now or do you wanna do it slowly?"


    I looked over to Sebastian whom I now designated my lifting coach, "What do you think, coach? I''m all ears."


    Sebastian didn''t know whether tough or cry or be proud of his new title, "U-Umm¡­ Uh-huh¡­ You lifted that pretty easily so why don''t we try three tes each?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    But he suddenly cut me off, "Wait a sec. Before that, do you always go conventional or can you also do sumo?"


    Logan cut in, "Isn''t sumo cheating?"


    Mauro looked like he''dmit bloody murder from hearing that statement, "Say that one more time, and I''ll end ya."


    Sebastian chuckled, "It IS in some way though¡­ Some people find it easier but with the way my body''s formed, conventional works best for me. But how about you? Have you tried it yet?"

 Chapter 948: Lifting Session II - Welcome To The Club

    To give aparison, the Conventional VS Sumo debate was like the ever-long rivalry between ARs VS AKs, Katanas VS Longswords, Tits VS Ass, Graymane VS Battleborn, Blondes VS Brtes, etc.


    The list could go on and on but at the end of the day, it was as Sebastian said earlier, it could be easier or harder depending on your body''sposition, and in my case, I achieved my former PR using the sumo technique.


    Yes, it was akin to a sumo wrestler''s stance where his feet would be way~ spread apart than shoulder width but in regards to lifting, other than foot cement, the arms would be in-between the legs instead of outside, and different muscles would be used¡ªor should I say, more focused on.


    With that said, since I''ve currently achieved way~ more than my old PR using the conventional technique, I took it upon myself to add one more te on each side of the bar now totaling 315 pounds(143 kilos).


    However, much to the surprise of Sebastian and Mauro, I still used the conventional technique before doing another ten reps with perfect form. Because for some reason, I was polishing this "perfect" technique and form I had with more practice and repetitions and god fucking knows how far I''d reach without using my favored technique plus the external essories.


    I was as excited as my disciples who were also itching to lift themselves but they wouldn''t let this opportunity to watch elites do their thing pass them by.


    Though Logan started to look at me suspiciously as I loaded a te on each side, now totaling 405 pounds(184 kilos) with the bar.


    "This is starting to sound and look like you''re hustlin'' us¡­"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "You serious?"


    "I''m just sayin'' I''ve never seen anyone almost double their PR like that. Never. That''s not even your one rep max¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I controlled my breathing, "I don''t know what to tell you. You can ask Quinn or some of the people who saw me work out in her ce and I''ve mostly done calisthenics."


    He rolled his eyes, "I don''t have time for that. Besides, if you''re hustlin'' us, you''re just gonna tire yourself out¡­"


    Sebastian interjected, "That is also true but it''s also a way of getting a proper warmup¡­" then he turned to me, "You''re breathing technique¡­ It''s¡­ Different¡­"


    Mauro tilted his head, "Hah? Don''t he brace like normal? I don''t understand¡­"


    Sebastian shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t understand either but yeah¡­ it is different¡­ somehow¡­"


    I chuckled as I waved them off, "Hey. You have your secrets, I have my own¡ª That reminds me, what are we betting anyway?"


    Mauro then had a burst of energy, "SHIT! I almost forgot about that! So, you''re joining?"


    I chuckled again, "Fuck it, sure. I have a vast collection of old-world shit like games, movies, music, porn¡ª and if that''s not enough, I have a catalog that I''ve shown Mauro and Elsa at their wedding that contains vehicles, melee weapons, guns, etc. that you could pick an item out of.


    You won''t be able to get it now but what you see is what you get¡­ And for you gearheads, you probably have dream rides too so I''ll offer the same shit I gave Jesus, custom body kits you could print in your own home¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as I gave my offer, I thought it''d be a heated exchange of sorts but I was met with dead silence as the three of them were staring at me.


    "Guys?"


    Mauro was the first one to react, "Jeez, I thought a free punch or a p on the face would suffice but you''re going all out here. Lemme think for a bit¡­"


    Logan followed, "Will you give me one night with Quinn¡ª"


    I quickly shut that down, "No. And I''m not the one to ask but you''re lucky they''re all busy over there or you''d be out thepetition."


    "I was just askin''..."


    Then Sebastian answered, "I don''t actually have much to offer since I can only move a certain distance outside the estate but anything I can do in my domain¡ªas long as you beat me, I''ll do it with the best of my ability¡­"


    "Alright then, how about we all reduce it to just a favor from the three who got beat?"


    "Bet!"


    "Bet!"


    "Bet¡­"


    To just get it out of the way and to start conserving my strength, I pulled what was on the tform with my full concentration, and even though it was just for one rep and I didn''t need to do the entric part of the RDL where I''d have to lower it as slow as five seconds or so, I still did it to set a standard because I''m not actually trying to win this between us but to win against myself several times over.


    ''Sometimes, it''s not about the weight pulled but how well was the lift performed¡­''


    And to my delight, I nced momentarily at the squat rack where Quinn who was supposed to be joining us in this lifting meet, had already put on the shoes I threw over to her and she just rolled her eyes¡ªprompting Kaley and Tatiana to chuckle¡ªwhen we made eye contact.


    With that said, the bar was eventually loaded with one more te on each side, totaling 495 pounds(225 kilos) including the bar¡ªand now, our setup was that Logan goes first, followed by Sebastian, then Mauro, and finally me.


    But as expected of Logan, he ripped that shit up like it was nothing¡ªwith the help of his belt and other essories obviously¡ªthough he still mmed the weights on the tform to make that loud nging sound of metal.


    After that, Logan just pulled on the lever on his belt to release it before shouting at the top of his lungs, adding to the noise he produced earlier.


    That was obviously jarring to me, Sebastian, and everyone else who was new to this scene, but it is what it is.


    And as loud as he was, Sebastian was still as quiet as he possibly could be when he took his turn and I was watching his every movement from chalking up his fingers to releasing his lever buckle. I didn''t even think that you could have the word "elegant" work in conjunction with powerlifting but this hellish butler was doing exactly that.


    However, when it came to Mauro''s turn, the guy pulled that shit without so much as a dab of chalk on his fingers, much less a belt or his shoes because like what he was probably doing to Elsa every night, the motherfucker was going at it raw.


    Granted there was already chalk on the bar making it not as raw as I said, the shit''s still impressive to me and everyone else watching the show.


    But yeah, he did make a bit of noise when he mmed the bar down but instead of shouting like Logan did, he just huffed out a long and drawn-out exhale before beckoning me to follow after him.


    "No excuses now."


    "Heh. I already doubled my PR, beating all of you here is just icing on the cake¡­"


    "Hmph. Say shit when you make me put everything on¡ª"


    Logan cut in, "I''ve never seen you in full gear. Even in those meets¡ª"


    "S-SHUT UP! IT''S A METAPHOR!"


    "Oh¡­ My bad¡­"


    "Heh¡­"


    In any case, ten tes total was a serious fucking jump from four tes total, but I''ve already cleared eight tes total and found it fairly challenging so I''m not saying that this would be a breeze but if I ripped this shit as clean as I could, that would just be five pounds shy of lifting 500 pounds(227 kilos) total.


    But yeah, I was now wearing all the bells and whistles plus some chalk, and once I braced my core and felt my belt pushing against me, I hinged down and grabbed the bar with my hookers before ripping it up by pushing my pits to my pockets and pressing the ground below me with my feet.


    Barely a second had passed when I found myself locking it cleanly in ce so I quickly focused and braced myself for the second time before I lowered the bar in this time, around four seconds.


    "Whew~"


    After that, I unhooked my belt and grinned at mypetitors but everyone in this garage gym couldn''t believe their eyes. It might be because I''m breaking expectations by lowering the hypothetical bar on myself before it even started but even I was losing my head about the whole situation.


    But yeah, I already assumed that Logan would be bringing out two more tes to ce on each end of the bar we were using but he actually brought out 2.5-pound(1.14 kilo) tes that confused the onlookers.


    Though the ones in the know just nodded in approval.


    In any case, he threw me the other one and we both ced it in the bar before he offered a fistbump.


    "Lift this¡ª no, wee to the five-hundred-pound club in advance. You deserve it, dude."

 Chapter 949: Lifting Session III - Trump Card #1

    If we''d take the world into ount, the number of people that could even properly bench, squat, and deadlift a te on each side of the bar for reps was a small percentage¡ªand the only reason it felt like a small aplishment was social media.


    The people we''ve seen on those apps¡ªwho could do five tes each or more than that¡ªwere the best of the best for a reason, and as sad as this may sound, regr people also post their stuff over there but they barely, if that was even the right word, get views or recognition.


    Granted there were a few that got lucky or got through with doing more than just lifting like adding skits, a day in the life stuff, QnAs, cobs, etc., but in my personal preference, it''s always the personality and the vibes that made me stick with them.


    But yeah, in the lifting scene, joining the 500-pound club¡ªwhatever lift it may be¡ªwas a big fucking deal and even Logan who was being an asshole all this time dropped the bullshit and paid respect.


    In that regard, it would''ve been much better for me if I rested for a few minutes but my excitement was through the roof and I lifted 495 just as fast as my other lifts, so I simply assumed the position and cranked it out like another rep before I gave some props to the guy by mming the bar down and shouting at the top of my lungs.


    "FUCK YEAH! AHHHHHH!"


    Logan and the other two had to join as they each gave me this high-five enough to cook a raw chicken, but everything became serious all of a sudden.


    At first, Sebastian was looking out for me like a kid lost in the woods but once they discovered that I was here to y some serious fucking ball, there was this tension in the air that I couldn''t ce quite clearly. It wasn''t intangible in a sense but it was more like the feeling of picking up your prom date but three other dudes popped up at the same time.


    But yeah, after we took off the baby tes and reced them with 45-pound(20.4-kilo) tes on each side, Logan was already geared to shit while Mauro had just started fastening the straps on his wrists we got from Clyde. However, he wasn''t wearing it like the three of us were, or should I say, he wasn''t wearing or using it like most people do.


    The way it usually went was to make a left and right version of the straps by inserting the ends on the loop on the other ends oppositely, securing them by the webbing of our thumbs and index fingers, and then wrapping them around the bar or any other handle two-to-four times before doing the lift.


    From what I''ve seen, Logan and I seemed to be doing the same exact textbook thing while Sebastian would only wrap the strap around the bar a single time, but in Mauro''s case, he wouldn''t secure the straps on his webbings at all and he''d criss-cross the wraps on the handle before doing the lift.


    So, I had to ask:


    "Hey, can you tell me why you do it that way?"


    "Hmm?"


    "The wraps while you''re practicing¡­ Is that some special¡ª"


    Heughed in my face, "I''m not telling you now, are you crazy?! Aren''t wepeting?!"


    Sebastian cut in, "It''s because of his big hands and it''s a strongman thing."


    "SEBASTIAN! WHY''D YOU¡ª"


    "We''repeting, aren''t we?"


    "You fucker¡­"


    Logan followed, "Well, it''s not like he can change techniques¡ª wait, he can¡­ You''re fucked, Mauro¡­"


    Sebastian shook his head, "Again, the technique doesn''t matter if it doesn''t suit you¡ª"


    "WHAT IF IT SUITS HIM?! DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?!"


    Sebastian was looking straight into Mauro''s eyes for a moment before he answered, "Huh. Actually, no."


    "THEN IT''S YOUR FAULT WHEN HE COMES ON TOP OF THIS! WE NEED AN ADDITIONAL RULES TO OUR BET NOW!"


    "Hmm? What do you suggest?"


    "Simple. Three fails and you''re fucking out! No questions asked. That''s more than enough tried to try my technique out."


    Logan nodded, "That''s fair, that''s fair~ Oh! Wait! I brought some ammonia! It''s cool to use it, right?!"


    Mauro''s eyes lit up, "You did?! Fuck yeah! With Clyde''s shit and everything, this is perfect! New PR for sure!"


    Sebastian shook his head and crossed his arms, "That''s¡­ go ahead but I''m not partaking¡­ It''s not for me¡­" then he turned to me, "How about you?"


    "I have my ways to trigger the same effects without inhaling piss¡ª"


    Logan looked at me like I talked about bigfoot, "Huh? Piss isn''t ammonia¡ª"


    The three of us cut him off at the same time, "It is. It actually is./ That''s why I detest it./ Dude, you should do actual science from bro science from time to time¡­"


    He just shrugged his shoulders from the response he got, "Huh. Okay, that''s why I kinda like smelling it even without lifting¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What''s wrong?"


    I ced my hand over his shoulder, "It''s okay from time to time but prolonged use can actually damage your body. Be careful."


    "Y-You''re not getting into my head, are you¡ª"


    "Not at all. I''m being genuine here. But yeah, do remember to only do it on PR attempts or yourst top set, not every other set to be on the safe side."


    "A-Alright¡­"


    In any case, with six tes on each side plus the bar weighing a total of 585 pounds(265.9 kilos), Logan stood in front of it after brushing the excess chalk off and putting a newyer on his hands.


    But this time, I''m not sure if he heeded my warnings or if this was his actual top set or PR attempt because he took a big ''ol whiff of the small container of ammonia before he tried to lift the bar off of the ground.


    As he did, his whole face had gone red as veins popped up from his body but once the bar went past his knees, there were signs of a struggle.


    Mauro shouted at the top of his lungs, "UP! UP! UPPPPP! UP¡ª"


    *BANG*


    Logan mmed the bar shortly after but it was after he locked it in with his hips first and looking maniacal.


    And this time, he wasn''t able to shout at the top of his lungs as he took a seat by the side to regte his breathing. He looked so spent from lifting 12 tes with all his might but he was definitely eyeing the two 5-pound tes along with the 2.5 tes we used earlier for an attempt to pull 600 pounds once everyone was done.


    But yeah, this impromptu session was no joke because there should at least be a little bit of programming to attempt one rep maxes but the notion of lifting something heavy and putting them down just made everyone else say "Fuck it!" and go along without any preparation.


    However, as I gave Logan a fist bump, Sebastian casually walked in front of the bar before letting out this silent, drawn-out exhale before suddenly taking in air to brace his core. And right after he checked all of his cues, he lifted the bar with a deadpan expression before lowering it at a much faster pace than what he had done earlier.


    There was only so much our lower back could take and a conventional lifting technique takes something from our back muscles toopared to sumo lifting which mostly takes the quads and the rest of our lower body.


    Despite that, he was still cool as a cucumber when he unhooked his belt and Mauro just took over like it''s nothing.


    Logan muttered, "They''re not letting me rest, huh?"


    I chuckled, "They aren''t but you can rest on your turn¡­ It''s just gonna make you look like a pussy."


    He shook his head as he grinned, "I know, I know¡­ So take your fuckin'' turn before making me think you''re feeling sorry for me."


    "Heh. Gotcha."


    With that said, my aim was to go as far as I could with the conventional stance before switching to the sumo stance¡ªammonia far back into my options¡ªbut unveiling my trump cards before even failing was a no-no, and I''d only pull out all the stops when I was about to strike out.


    However, this was still unexplored territory and it wasn''t in me to scope it out without assurances so when I breathed in to brace my core, the stuffy air from this garage-turned-gym started to get reced by something entirely different¡ªand everyone took a step back when I ripped the bar off the ground.


    I didn''t know what my expression looked like but Logan definitely did more than take a step back when I didn''t even try to lower the bar slowly. I just dropped it in front of me the moment I locked it in ce but Sebastian was smiling from ear to ear when I saw him.


    "Now, you''re teaching me something else too¡­ interesting¡­"

 Chapter 950: Lifting Session IV - All in.

    This trump card of mine could only be called upon when I''m feeling extreme rage or anger¡ªmaybe even murderous towards a certain individual¡ªbut recently, I''ve been able to call upon it with a simple thought, and with some added effects if certain prerequisites were met.


    I''m not 100% sure about what it actually does to my body but what I''m totally certain of was if there was a problem, it''d solve it.


    But yeah, taking it with a grain of salt in conjunction with smelling salts¡ªyes, pun intended¡ªit had a simr effect to an extent and it didn''t involve smelling something putrid, not to kink-shame or anything.


    At this moment, Sebastian looked like he was ready to pull 14 tes right from the get-go, but before I could even check up on what the girls were doing, I felt something small hit me on my shoulder and I learned that it was a pack of sour gummy worms.


    Logan gave me an upwards nod before saying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Alright. Everyone take five¡ª"


    Hearing that, Sebastian and I chuckled but Mauro rolled his eyes and instantly pped back:


    "Pussy-ass bitch."


    "Shaddap! I''m not like you!"


    "Fine! Give me some of that¡ª"


    "Fuck no! We''repeting, right?! Honestly speaking, you''re the one to beat here coz you got more than 100 pounds on everyone! Even I''m not even close to being in your weight ss!"


    "You fuckin'' ass¡ª The bet''s here to determine total weight pulled not who''s stronger pound-by-pound!"


    "I know! I KNOW! That''s why I''m choosing who to give my gummies to! I only have a few packets left¡ª" then he was shocked to fuck when he saw me sharing the packet he gave me to the girls, "HEY! THAT''S¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    With that said, the packet he gave me only had enough gummy worms for a few of us: me, Kaley, Quinn, Tatiana, Megan, and Alexa, but luckily enough, Nancy and Edith didn''t want one because they already tapped out from the weight Quinn and the rest were squatting and they were just here to mingle and enjoy the show.


    In the girls'' case, Tatiana could easily clear three tes on each side of the bar for five to seven reps while Kaley was still doing two tes each with Megan and Alexa for as many effective, slow, and paused reps as possible.


    But yeah, in the corner of my eye, I discovered that Kuzma was going at it alone on the bench Mauro was in earlier, and he had two tes on each side, doing paused reps with proper form.


    He didn''t seem too interested in our one-rep maxpetition or watching the girls learn from Quinn like everyone else, but he''d talk either with the cadets or the De Leon Family goons when he''s taking a short break.


    And once the five-minute break turned into a fifteen-minute break was up, instead of piling in a te on each side¡ªwhich Sebastian very much preferred¡ªLogan decided to ease into it and get a total of 600 pounds(272.72 kilos) to be pulled including the bar.


    These small increments went on and on until we reached the 675-pound mark¡ªwhere Logan failed twice but seeded on the third try, where Sebastian seeded on the first try with two reps but decided to call it quits, where Mauro pulled wearing the belt he got from Clyde, and where I failed on the first try but seeded on my second by doing the sumo stance¡ªmy second trump card.


    Logan was just out of breath:


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You fucker¡­ Y-You''re already doing that¡ª Ha¡­ T-That weird shit and you pull sumo?! God fucking dammit!"


    "Then pull fucking sumo!"


    "Nuh-uh! I''ll die on this fucking hill! Conventional is the way to go!"


    Mauro scoffed, "Then die on that hill yourself. Wanna do more increments or do you wanna go straight for 700 pounds? It''s just a 25-pound increase, no biggie¡­"


    Sebastian cut in, "Please, let me do the honors¡­ I would''ve loved to pull with you all but I have duties tomorrow¡­"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ fuck it, let''s do 700! I can''t PR but if I hit it, I''ll match it. Doing this for fun anyway¡ª"


    "Excuses now? Fuck outta here~ Just put those clips on there so it''ll be 701 pounds, at least."


    "Ah, fuck¡ª Yeah, yeah include those!"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before everyone else in the gym was shouting at the top of their lungs so that Logan could clear thest few centimeters of his final lift to lock it out, and once he actually did it, cheers erupted from all sides but his nose suddenly bled and he almost passed out.


    However, Mauro was quick enough to grab onto his neck before sitting him down and Kaley quickly responded¡ªthough all Logan needed right now was some air and a cloth or some tissues for his nose.


    In any case, Mauro didn''t miss a fucking beat as he quickly cleared the same shit Logan did a few seconds ago, and he was looking me straight in the eyes as he unhooked his belt.


    It was now up to me whether I could beat him or not but I''d already gotten into the 500-pound club and the 600-pound club in a single session, everything that came after that was just a huge bonus. But yeah, not to shit on Logan but ever since I''ve used the sumo stance, everything felt 20% lighter.


    I ripped that shit off the ground with a little bit of skin off my thumbs and it was on the 750-pound(340.1 kilos) mark¡ªalmost 16 tes total including the bar¡ªwhere I had to resort to using myst trump card for the night.


    Mauro had already cleared 750 pounds and was just waiting for me to take my turn but I went over to Kaley who was leaning onto my Raptor and whispered into her ear.


    "A-Are you serious?!"


    "Yep."


    "H-HERE?!"


    "Yep."


    "RIGHT NOW?! D-Don''t you know t-that I''m sweaty right now¡­"


    "Do you wanna see me pull 750 or not?"


    Mypetitors and a few others were curious as to what I said to my Kaley but it seemed like Quinn and Tatiana heard what I said and they were offering themselves as tribute while dyingughing.


    In any case, I didn''t want Mauro and everyone else to wait that long so as soon as Kaley agreed to my suggestion, I lifted her off the ground before I took a long and drawn-out whiff from her crotch after burying my nose in her fat mound, that made everyone shocked to fuck while Kaley was just red through her neck.


    Needless to say, I had something much, much better than smelling salts and pairing it with my first trump card, I was basically double-dosing for this one rep max.


    Mauro, Sebastian, and Logan just couldn''t believe what I just did and they were more surprised by thatpared to me lifting off 750 pounds like child''s y.


    Elsa, who was just simply watching throughout thispetition was staring daggers at Mauro when he looked like he wanted to do the same thing to her.


    "Don''t even¡ª"


    "I-I WASN''T SAYING ANYTHING! AT LEAST, NOT YET!"


    "AT THE BEDROOM, SURE! HERE?! NOT A FUCKING CHANCE!"


    "DIDN''T YOU SEE HOW EFFECTIVE IT WAS?! I MIGHT BE ABLE TO CLEAR A THOUSAND POUNDS FROM THAT! THAT''S THE FUCKING DREAM, ELSA!"


    "I''D RATHER YOU POUND ME A THOUSAND TIMES INSTEAD! THAT''S THE DREAM! BUT IT SEEMS LIKE I''M THE ONE DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING! PROBABLY THE SAME THING TONIGHT!"


    "DON''T SAY IT LIKE THAT! YOU KNOW I''M CUTTING, RIGHT?!"


    "THEN FUCKING BULK AGAIN! I''LL FEED YOU A WHOLE COW IF I HAVE TO!"


    Then Mauro did a 180, "You do know I get hard when you scream at me like that, right?"


    Elsa had never rolled her eyes this hard, "THEN THAT''S GOOD ENOUGH, SMELL YOUR BUTTHOLE IF YOU HAVE TO!"


    As the two were fighting, Kaley and I¡ªmuch like everyone else was enjoying the show with someplimentary popcorn but I was trying to rest as much as possible. It was very easy at two tes each first but now, even a pound of increment felt like a ton of bricks and I''d have to be very careful so that I won''t get injured.


    ''If I recall correctly, our brain takes around 20+ minutes to recover from lifting uber heavy yet we''ve been doing 5-minute rests¡ª 15 minutes if we''re lucky¡­''


    Though long story short, for the sake of brevity, my final score was 16 tes total, and adding the bar into ount, it was a grand total of 765 pounds(347.72 kilos) while Mauro cleared 20 tes total, and with the bar, it was 945 pounds(429.5 kilos) in total¡ªthough I''m pretty sure that if we do six weeks of programming, we could''ve achieved a higher number.


    But yeah, it''s safe to say that both of us were fucking close to passing out, and once we get back to our own rooms, it''ll be a different type of life-or-death¡­ but in a good way.

 Chapter 951: Sneaky X Sneaky

    Since Sal seemed to be busy with something else, it was left to us whether we''d have supper with everyone else who could do so at the dining table or just pick them up in the kitchen, or as Mauro and Elsa did, have it all delivered at their wing. It was pretty obvious we chose thetter because I''d probably pass out while eating though Kaley probably had a whole other reason.


    It was already weird when she didn''t even try to get frisky with me while we were showering but to add on top of that, Quinn and Tatiana were our current roommates while Edith and Nancy were our neighbors, and all of them were AWOL including Megan.


    The two of us were wearingfy clothes¡ªI was just in my boxers while she was wearing a loose tank top and short shorts¡ªand we were both snacking at the small round table side by side¡­ though Kaley was definitely enjoying the strawberry cake Lisa probably prepared just for her.


    Our food was still being prepared but a few strips of jerky, some sweets, and a protein shake were also fine before a full meal.


    "Hmm¡­ Wow~ So good¡­ Mmh¡­ Nnn¡­"


    "K-Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Are you eating that or are you EATING that?"


    "W-Wha¡ª What do you mean?!"


    "You''re moaning''s a little¡ª"


    She chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "It''s just so good~ You should try it!"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    To her surprise, I gave her a kiss on her lips coated with icing but to retaliate in the worst(best) way possible, she "identally" dropped a small piece down in her deep cleavage, and she was just staring at me with puppy eyes, begging for me to fix her mistake.


    "Oh no¡­ What shall I do~?" Then the over-the-top acting started.


    But I shut that shit down, "You do know I''ll lick you all over without icing. You know that, right?"


    "Pfft¡ª I was just getting you in the mood,you know?"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "I was already halfway there when you started moaning out of the blue and you do know it''s disrespectful to not finish the meal prepared for us?"


    Kaley then wiped a few bits off her chest and licked it before looking back at me, "We''ll eat it after we''re done, like a post-lovemaking meal, you know? Also, this is just snacks, it doesn''t even count as a meal¡­"


    "Right, right¡­ You sure you''ll be awake to eat after a round though? I''m getting sleepy as is¡­ Where''s Tatiana and the others anyway? They didn''t even shower with us. I''m notining per se but you know, just curious¡ª"


    As I was in the middle of my sentence, the door to our room swung open and the first one I saw was Quinn in a veryrge pullover wheeling in what seemed like an actual whole roasted cow before Tatiana wearing almost the same clothes followed with several sauces and other stuff like jams, cheese, and alcohol.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    But yeah, rice was also brought over, cooked in different ways, though I''d stick with in ol'' white rice because the roasted cow would probably be the juiciest and most calorie-packed meal I''d have in this ce.


    It was glistening from its juices and the smell¡ªoh my fucking god, the fucking smell was so immacte, it brought us to our feet to join everyone¡­ plus another person who they invited tonight: Alexa.


    She just gave me a warm greeting as she closed the door behind her after everyone else had walked in, "Hi! I can''t believe you lifted all that weight earlier! That''s awesome!"


    I smiled gently before quickly grabbing my nearest shirt and putting it on, "Thanks! You should''ve told us you''d being, I''m not exactly decent¡­ sorry."


    She waved me off, "I-It''s okay¡­ You w-wouldn''t mind me here, would you?"


    I briefly nced at the group behind me and discovered they were sneakily leering at us but I shook my head and smiled, "You''re very much wee here, don''t worry. How about Sebastian though?"


    "Hmm? Which one?"


    Megan audibly sighed, "We don''t call Seb Sebastian, Alexa! You know who he''s talking about! The hot butler!"


    "O-Oh¡­ That ship sunk on the bottom of the ocean¡­ Haha¡­ I got t-out rejected¡­ Apparently¡­ I''m too young for him¡­ Ahaha¡­ Even though I''m already over 18¡­ I guess he prefers mature w-women¡­"


    "Oh¡­ That sucks¡­ sorry¡ª"


    Then Quinn egged on, "Nope! You''re secretly happy, aren''t ya?! Well~ Sorry to burst your bubble but you''re the second choice!"


    I turned to Quinn with a silly face, "I don'' gib a pak!(I don''t give a fuck!)"


    And Alexa realized what Quinn was hinting at, "A-Ah¡ª T-That''s not it a-at all! P-Please don''t t-think of it t-that way¡­ I''m not saying y-you''re less than¡ª"


    I waved her off, "It''s cool, alright? You don''t need to exin yourself. It''s chill."


    At this point, I was just trying to remedy the situation in case she blew up again, but it definitely felt weird and awkward when Alexa straight-up told us what her objectives were.


    "But b-before I s-show you my b-boobs¡­ Please know t-that I-I''m just here to u-umm¡­ just know what it''s like and I''m n-not interested in pursuing anything romantic of the sort t-though the prospect of b-being friends i-isn''t out of the picture! I-I just can''t stand the boys m-messing around in the room n-next to mine while I''m cpletely a-alone, i-is that fine?!


    I''m willing to try everything b-but please stop when I say so!"


    "Sure?"


    "Good! Shall I take off my clothes now?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as she said all that, it was fucking quiet for a good while before the silence was broken by Quinn snickering and Tatiana trying to hold herughter but as I assumed that Alexa would backpedal and run away crying, her eyebrows flipped upward as her expression turned into this cutesy-angry face with her mouth keeping in a lot of air¡ªblowing up her cheeks¡ªwhile her hands were on each side of her waist.


    "W-WHAT''S SO FUNNY?!"


    Quinn chuckled a little more, "Before I show you my boobs, she said¡­ Pff¡­"


    Tatiana followed, "Quinn¡­ stop¡­ pfft¡­ I dunno why that was so funny but it made me forget about food for a second¡­"


    "W-WHAT''S WRONG ABOUT IT?!"


    I waved her off as I put my hand over her shoulder, "Alexa¡­ I think you''re a little nervous but before ''that'', can we eat first? I dunno about you but I''m starving¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ R-Right¡­ I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize¡­ You did make themugh so that''s a start¡­"


    "S-Start of what?"


    I chuckled, "You sweet summer child¡­ W-Why don''t you grab a te and we''ll teach you a few thingster, alright? Try to not let everything stew inside your head¡­ Just rx for a bit¡­ It''s not as crazy as you might think¡­"


    With that said, the food was even more amazing than I thought but I was actually worried about our guest because she looked overwhelmed from anticipating what was about to happenter. But yeah, that wasn''t a little bit of alcohol and supportive friends couldn''t fix.


    However, after a full day of walking around doing shit, working out intensely right after, then finally having a big meal and some alcohol to close the day, we all slept together like logs just piled on the bed knocked out of our minds.


    And after an unknown amount of hours, I woke up in the center of the bed with a couple of warm and soft bodies pressed against me though with the use of my nose and obviously enough, my sense of touch, I figured that Kaley was on my right while Edith was on my left. Both of them had sandwiched my arms between their huge breasts while each of their knees was either on my leg or on my torso.


    They were using my body as a¡­ you know, a body pillow but before my arms went numb, I sessfully managed to ce my arms over them as I pulled them closer though that particr maneuver woke Kaley up.


    I saw her nce around for a bit before her eyesnded on mine and I gave her a kiss on the forehead before I whispered that I was sorry, but she just faintly smiled and snuggled her head on my chest even more as I assumed she tried getting back to sleep.


    However, right as I closed my eyes, I felt a familiar hand snake down until she reached my boxers and went further. And from the angle and side the hand came from, I knew full well that it was Kaley gently "massaging" my cock but it didn''t take long before I pitched a tent below her.


    And as I opened my eyes, I saw Kaley staring directly at me while smiling and biting her lip, giving me this very slow, sensual, and sneaky massage the world has to offer.

 Chapter 952: Sneak 100 to Destruction 100

    At this moment, in the middle of the fucking night, while we were surrounded by everyone else, Kaley decided to jerk me off with probably the most evil intention she had. She wanted me to juggle between suffering and pleasure while staying inplete silence because she know full well how to manipte my cock.


    But yeah, I could easily break free from this entanglement and have my way with her in the bathroom but where''s the fun in that?


    In any case, Kaley made sure to stroke the whole shaft for as slow as possible, and either caressing the tip or ying with my balls whenever she saw fit. However, I suddenly felt her fingers touch my perineal area followed by grazing and prodding what was a few centimeters lower.


    To her surprise, I didn''t even try to stop her¡ªwhich made her eyebrows rise¡ªbut she didn''t continue further as she went back to grabbing my manhood gently and sliding her hand up and down.


    And of course, more than half of my dick was out of my boxers while Kaley maintained eye contact with the same cheeky smile.


    I slowly began to pull her within eye level and who knew that her right jug was the perfect ce to hold onto. But after that particr maneuver, we felt some movement from behind her¡ªso we remainedpletely still for a moment¡ªbut when the bed calmed down and there were no movements for a few dozen seconds, Kaley continued what she was doing to my cock before our lips touched.


    And this time, my right arm was back to its previous position and my fingers were now inside her shorts as they found their way to her fat mound, gently parting her outer lips to get to her sensitive little clit.


    "A-Ahn¡­ MmMMm¡­ Ah¡­"


    "Shh¡­"


    "B-But¡­ MmMm¡­"


    We were still trying to be as quiet as possible but it proved a little difficult with the breathing, lip-smacking, tongue-fighting, bean-flicking, etc., but I continued to stick my tongue down her throat because if she continued moaning like a few seconds earlier, our little session would end and it would be a free-for-all like we did to our dear cow earlier.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley started getting greedy by slightly moving her hips so she''d get more contact but I slid in two fingers into her wet hole and pulled her in to keep her in ce while I stared her down¡ªbut it seemed to have the opposite effect as I saw how her eyes rolled to the back of her head while her grip on me tightened and her insides contracted over and over.


    Kaley was about to wake everyone else in this bed so I went to do damage control by suddenly removing my arm from Edith then using it to cover Kaley''s mouth and muffle her moans.


    And that certain maneuver woke Edith up because as Kaley''s orgasm subsided, I felt another hand grip the tip of my cock and was squeezing it over and over.


    No words were needed to be exchanged as I turned around to see her smiling at me¡ªthough still looking a little sleepy¡ªbut I pulled my right arm off Kaley''s before I made Edith lick my fingers off.


    And as I offered to do the same thing I did to Kaley to her, she shook her head as she moved up even higher so I could suck on her tits and y with her backside with the way my left arm was currently ced in.


    But yeah, as I was trying to keep the rest of them asleep, Kaley decided it was time to shake the bed as violently as possible.


    With enough legroom since Edith moved up, Kaley went on top of me while Edith''s breasts were still on my face but since Edith couldn''t jerk me off anymore, she decided it was better to sit on my face before anyone else who woke up did it first.


    I''ve never seen the two work this seamlessly because as Kaley pushed my dick up to the base, my tongue was now inside Edith''s pussy while my nose was this close to her little asshole. Furthermore, they both started moving their hips at the same time while my hands were being sandwiched between theirrge bosoms.


    It didn''t take long before I violently came but Kaley wanted fucking more.


    As soon as I pumped my first load inside her cunt, she pulled out for a moment before I was shoved inside something much, much tighter.


    "A-AH! I-IT''S IN! SHIT! F-FUCK! I-IT''S IN MY ASS! HA!


    HAH! AHH! HNGH! I FEEL SO FUCKING FULL! AH! AH!


    AH! SHIT! HIS CUM''S LEAKING OUT OF ME BUT¡ª HNGH! IT''S IN SO FUCKING DEEP! YES! YES!


    YESSS!"


    ''Well, fuck¡­''


    Right after Kaley lost her mind, I definitely felt more people moving around us and guess who was the first one to react.


    "What the f¡ª DID WE ALL FELL ASLEEP?!"


    "I think so, yeah¡­"


    "HOW LONG WERE YOU THREE FUCKING?!"


    Edith answered weakly, "I-I woke up after them d-doing hand stuff¡­ W-We just started actually¡­"


    "SHIT! I CAN''T WAIT THAT LONG! WHERE''S THE¡ª"


    "HERE! FOUND IT!"


    "W-What''s happening?"


    "WAKE THE FUCK UP! WE''RE FUCKING! WHO WANTS TO EAT ME FIRST?! IF YOU MAKE ME CUM, I''LL BE GENTLE WITH YOU AFTER!"


    From my perspective, I couldn''t see shit because of the darkness and Edith''s ass in front of me and as luck would have it, someone pulled Edith off me but I soon discovered that Kaley would be in for a rude awakening.


    Quinn was standing by Kaley''s side and making her suck off the strapless dildo she was wearing while Megan was kneeling behind her and eating her ass. And at the same time, Tatiana was licking off the cum that was leaking out of Kaley''s pussy while Alexa was nervously fingering Tatiana''s holes.


    And to my surprise, it was Nancy who pulled off Edith from my face and she was the one on top of her, grinding their meaty cunts together.


    We went from sneaking around handjobs to a full-on orgy in a few moments but it didn''t take long before Quinn went behind Kaley and pulled on her hair, pushing in her rubber dick inside the same ce where my dick was.


    "Q-QUINN! IT''S¡ª A-AH! F-FUCK! I-I''M CUMMING¡ª"


    Before I shut shit down, Kaley started squirting though Tatiana was the one who got soaked most, but since Kaley seemed to be enjoying what was going on, I went along with it while thrusting very slowly.


    Quinn was just a whole other being after being woken up from this stupor of sorts and she was definitely resizing Kaley''s asshole with this one.


    In any case, I was here to enjoy the view so I wouldn''t want anyone sitting on my face so now, I was watching Tatiana get it on with Megan and Alexa while Nancy finally put on a strap-on and started fucking herdy.


    But yeah, Kaley was definitely losing her mind even more when I pulled out of her and pushed both of them down, fucking Quinn in her ass while Quinn was fucking hers.


    I said it once and I''ll say it again, I''m not a fan of another dick sharing the hole I''m in, even if it was rubber or not, and even though I let it slide a few times¡ªpun intended¡ªit just wasn''t for me.


    In any case, as I had a very nice view of Quinn''s back, I was making sure to not push on them because Kaley was already taking on a lot of weight.


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª WE''RE SUPPOSED TO TRAIN HER ASS SO IT''D GET USED¡ª MMH! SHIT! AHN! S-S-SO IT''S GET USED TO MY FIST! AH! SHIT!


    YOU WOULDN''T LET ME TALK, WOULD YOU?!"


    "THERE ARE PROCESSES TO THAT, QUINN!"


    "C''MON! SHE LIKED IT, RIGHT?!"


    "BUT WHAT IF SHE DIDN''T?! HUH?!"


    "OH, PLEASE¡ª W-WAIT¡ª SHIT! THAT''S¡ª"


    To her surprise and to my own, I switched holes not to feel as much pleasure but to punish her in a way but it seemed like all of my actions were giving an opposite effect. Quinn started squirting nonstop and it took everything from her not to justy on top of Kaley when I eventually filled her to the brim and then some.


    And yeah, I made sure to stick my thumb inside her gaping ass for good measure but she just lost it when I went back to that same ce to finish in some unfinished business.


    Needless to say, Quinn''s submissive moans towards me were just making everyone else feel a certain way but ncing at Alexa who was now servicing Megan''s cunt looked like she was ready to back out.


    It could be from seeing my dick or seeing me go ham on Quinn''s fucking holes but her face was saying one thing but her pussy was saying another.


    It''s just that before she had the chance with me, Tatiana was already wearing her most prized treasure.

 Chapter 953: Breaking Alexa Open

    Tatiana just smiled wickedly as she went behind Alexa''s plump ass and whispered close, "Take this as something close to the real thing but yeah, I just want to break you open first¡­ Who knew you were hiding such a round butt¡­"


    "U-Umm¡­" Alexa was a little startled but everyone saw her reach back and spread her asscheeks apart, revealing her cute little butthole and her pink dripping pussy, "I-Is this okay?"


    At that point, no words were needed to be exchanged as Tatiana pushed Alexa''s head down on Megan''s pussy even more as she jammed her rubber dick inside her pussy hole. With each thrust, Alexa''s ass would bounce and p but we heard an audible gasp when Tatiana pushed a thumb in her asshole.


    "W-Wait! That''s¡ª"


    Tatiana instantly stopped what she was doing, "Problem?"


    "I-I haven''t put a-anything in t-there¡­"


    "But you said you cleaned it, right?"


    "Y-Yes, but¡­ W-What if it h-hurts?"


    Tatiana just smiled as she continued to prod and rub Alexa''s asshole, "Does it hurt now though? Or does it feel good?"


    "It¡­ It feels o-okay?"


    Tatiana chuckled, "Seriously?" then she once again pushed a thumb inside but slower, "How about now?"


    "That''s¡­ Mmm¡­ I-It''s¡ª"


    "And now?" Tatiana said as she began to push it in and out while slowly moving her hips back and forth.


    "W-Wow¡­ I didn''t think¡ª Mmm¡­ Yeah¡­ Ah¡­ Hah¡­ Ha¡­"


    As that was happening, Megan was thoroughly enjoying the view but she eventually muffled Alexa''s soft moans as she pulled her head onto her cunt once more. I wasn''t exactly sure if Alexa was licking Megan''s pussy from this angle but Megan was definitely using her face as a loofah.


    She was timing the times Tatiana would push her hips forward¡ªmaking Alexa get mushed on her cunt even more¡ªas she would slightly move her hips upward so that it''ll have the most contact with her fatty upper pubic area.


    And after a few more indirect thrusts from Tatiana, Megan began topletely lie on her back before her whole body started shaking and as Alexa saw what was happening in front of her, it didn''t take long before she had a release of her own. They almost came at the exact same time but it seemed like Nancy and Edith did so a little bit earlier.


    I wasn''t paying much attention to the two but it was a different sight to see such a small body try and hammer away against herdy''s body.


    Though now, as Nancy had already copsed on top of Edith whilepletely out of breath¡ªeven if she came or not¡ªshe looked happy to see Edith''s body tremble in front of her. At the same time, Edith was just petting her head like a good girl but after they managed to take a breather and then some, Nancy was at theplete mercy of Edith the moment they switched possession of the wearable toy.


    Because once again, Edith was making Nancy''s cute little asshole remember what she did to herst time.


    "HMNFG! UGH! AH! AH! MY LADY! Y-YOU''RE¡ª A-AH!


    AH! K-KEEP GOING~! YES! YES! YES! YES!


    AH! MMH! AHN! MMNH! UGH! UGH!


    AH! AH! S-SHI¡ª MMMH! OH MY¡ª IT''S¡ª YES! YES! YES!"


    In any case, I was now back to filling in Kaley''s holes while Quinn was making her eat the cum out of hers after sitting in her face, but it didn''t take long before Tatiana beckoned me to switch ces with Megan so I could get my dick sucked by Alexa.


    And as I did, it was a little funny seeing Alexa''s eyes cross the moment I sat in front of her but Megan took it upon herself to jerk me off from behind before pulling in Alexa''s face for a thorough mouth and throat inspection.


    "O-Oh god¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ It''s bigger u-up close¡­"


    Megan chuckled from behind as she beckoned her, "Come on now, if you don''t start sucking it, I''ll dly do it¡­"


    "W-Wait¡­ I-I''ll¡­ Ha¡­ I''ll do it¡­"


    Since Tatiana was still fucking Alexa from behind, it proved a little difficult for her so Tatiana decided to slow down the thrust so Alexa''s focus would be solely on me first before we do something simr to the Eiffel Tower. And yeah, the moment Alexa put the tip and then some in her mouth, with the way everyone''s body was different, it was a unique and pleasurable sensation at the same time.


    However, she couldn''t go past the halfway mark without triggering her gag reflex but since it was her first time with us, Tatiana and I had an affirming nce that meant: if she wanted to get roughed up from the get-go, just fucking say so.


    But yeah, getting herfortable and in on it was the way to go at the moment but to bepletely honest, I was getting more turned on by the way her eyes were rounded and almost crossing from staring directly at my dick instead of her actual head technique.


    It''s always about enthusiasm at the end of the day but just her look of wonder and amazement for my cock was enough for the moment.


    And yeah, as Alexa began to be more and morefortable, Tatiana started to thrust faster and harder which made Alexa take my cock in further and further. I still haven''t started to fuck her throat but she seemed to be thinking about something else while slobbering on my knob.


    "Do you want me to fuck you now?"


    "That''s¡­ I was just¡­ Ha¡­ I wanna t-taste m-more of your¡­ y-you know but I-I also w-want you to fuck me r-right after¡­ I-I just don''t know if¡ª"


    Tatiana and Megan cut in at the same time, "Greedy slut¡­/We still haven''t taken our turns, you know?"


    "I-I was just thinking of w-what to choose¡ª"


    I chuckled as I held her hair with one hand, "Both can be arranged, actually¡­"


    In any case, I was already close even before my dick entered her mouth, and as I gave her mouthfuls and mouthfuls of cum, she wasn''t able to take it all so Tatiana and Megan had already started to lick off and swallow the dribbles from her lips, cheeks, and chin. But funnily enough, Alexa was more upset by the two stealing her rewards instead of choking a few seconds from guzzling mouthfuls of cum.


    But yeah, when it was my turn on her holes, Tatiana made sure to make Alexa lick off her juices from her dildo before turning to Megan who was already itching to get fucked.


    Though this time, it seemed like Alexa was in a daze when she asked me to deflower her virgin asshole to which I very much obliged.


    "G-Go slow¡­ a-alright?"


    "Of course¡­"


    Despite her advice, I easily pushed in a few inches as she let out this orgasmic moan but with each inch going inside her, it definitely became tighter and tighter. Though to keep her a little distracted and little bit rxed, I was reaching around for her little bean and rubbing it from time to time but she suddenly grabbed my hand when I went past halfway.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡ª W-Wait¡­ S-Stop¡ª I-Is it close?"


    "Close how?"


    "I-Is it a-all i-in?"


    "W-Were a little over halfway¡ª"


    "Really? Fuck¡­ O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ P-Push it in m-more¡­"


    I simply chuckled as I pulled back instead, "That''s not how this works, alright? Breathe a little bit more and just let me take over¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, all Alexa needed to aplish was to rx a bit more and get used to my size, and after a few more tries with the help of some lube and a mix of gentleness and roughness, she managed to take me in her ass up to the base. Furthermore, she looked like she''d cum any moment and she turned around and gave me this look to basically abuse her.


    So the moment I grabbed hold of her tiny waist, I pulled back right at the tip before mming it back in, repeating the same motion over and over even if she started to violently shake all over.


    I didn''t let up even if she was clutching the sheets as hard as she could and she wasn''t even able to stay on all fours, but I kept fucking her while she was prone. However, all she could let out was muffled moans because her head was also buried in the bed, but when I pulled on her hair, she was basically screaming out my name and begging me not to stop.


    And when I leaned on her even more to wrap my arm around her neck, that was when she started squirting for the first time.


    Alexa didn''t know what to do with the embarrassment at this point, but all she could do right now was take the pounding over and over with a huge smile on her pretty face.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before panic showed on her face because after filling her mouth and her ass¡ªas she had already cummed multiple times over¡ªI flipped her over and pushed her ankles by her head before I started to push it inside her now exposed and creaming pink flower.

 Chapter 954: DROP BEARS?!

    As I had my way with Alexa, we pretty much copsed on the bed while trying to ignore a few wet spots but with some sort of voodoo shit going on, we all woke up with enough time to clean ourselves and prepare this early morning.


    It was just a bitch to fit everyone in the same shower¡ªeven if Edith and Nancy offered some of us to join them in their room instead, but despite all that, it was a weird bonding moment to wash each other''s back with only a few inches of clearance.


    Megan was starting to get irritated because she was getting waterboarded by Quinn''s tits, "Seriously, if the biggest one here joined Edith and Nancy, we would be just fine~"


    "Say that to my face again, Megan! Wanna wear my fist with your ass?!"


    Alexa cut in, "Guys, stop! Megan''s always cranky in the morning¡­ You''ll get used to it¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled as she basked in the chaos, "Mm-hmm~ Seems like we got another angel over here~"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Oh, more of those please¡­ Megan can''t bepared to you two but Edith switches up when she''s really into it¡­ Kinda scary, if you ask me¡­ but in a good way."


    I scoffed as I chuckled, "Seriously?"


    "What?"


    "That''s like¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "What?! Say it!"


    "Fine~ I was about to say that you''re kinda the same but the way Edith switches up is that she gets more dominant¡­ especially towards Nancy¡­ With you, everything just ramps up but it''s different from time to time¡­"


    Kaley nodded pensively, "Oh¡­ That''s spot on, actually¡­"


    Then Quinn cut in while pointing to herself, "What about me? Have you noticed anything in particr?"


    Tatiana chuckled from the side, "There she goes~"


    And before Quinn could react to what Tatiana said, Megan and Alexa joined in as they both turned to me, "Us too! Tell me something!/ Yeah! W-What do you think?"


    I just scratched the side of my cheek as I tried to ignore their soaped-up bodies, "Well~ I don''t have enough¡­ data for the two of you but if we''re talking about Quinn¡­ Even though she''s one of the Alpha-Bitches here, there''s also something different when she gets soft and mushy¡ª"


    "HOLD UP! WHEN DID I GET SOFT AND MUSHY, HUH?!"


    Megan and Alexa also couldn''t believe their ears, "She gets soft and mushy?/ No way¡­ Just¡­ No¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Kaley with a weird smile, "She doesn''t know herself, huh?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Unfortunately¡­"


    "NOT YOU TWO, TOO! WHEN DID I GET SOFT AND MUSHY?! SINCE WHEN?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, we didn''t give her a definite answer though I''m sure she already knew the answer to that question¡ªbut she just didn''t want to admit it herself.


    After a few more minutes of banter and messing around, we found ourselves in the dining area served with a breakfast staple of pandesal and coffee though eggs, several slices of meat, and a side of freshly cut vegetables were also present.


    And funnily enough, Sebastian was all smiles while he was eating with us but for some reason, I felt like he was nning something arduous for my disciples and/or the rest of the cadets.


    Though Sal broke the silence as she addressed Sebastian from the way he was looking at my group:


    "What are you nning this time, huh? You do know that almost half of the people who joined usst time had to take a few days off because of what you put them through. You won''t be doing the same thing, right?"


    As soon as she said that, the cadets looked a little perturbed but they didn''t try to voice their opinions out.


    And Sebastian just let out an embarrassed smile, for some reason, "Ah¡­ That was an honest mistake on my part, madam. I just assumed that since they thought they were better than us ''mere'' farmers, I thought they could do twice the work we''re doing on a regr basis."


    Sal let out an amused expression, "Haha¡­ I do remember that¡­ That''s a lot of puke, we ran out of buckets¡­ but do take it easy on the kids, alright? They haven''t slighted us in the¡­ you know¡­ slightest¡­ pfft¡­ so at least make them able to walk back for dinner, agreed?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Agreed, madam¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we finished breakfast but since I wanted to know what Sebastian was nning for Isaac and rest, I decided toe with them and as you would obviously know, everyone else came¡ªyep, even Mauro and Elsa who was supposed to be "making" their child.


    This time, Sebastian was still wearing and carrying the same gear he had on yesterday but the cadets were now wearing more sensible clothing. And since they didn''t bring their primaries with them, we decided to bring ours for good measure. However, it seemed like I figured out what we were about to do¡ªwith the number of axes and other tools Sebastian was handing out¡ªso, the only question was where?


    Though it also didn''t take long before I figured that out.


    ''Oh, fuck¡­''


    After walking out of the safety of the walls of the estate, we walked onto this dirt path for close to an hour that ended by the foot of the mountain.


    Then Sebastian turned around and sped his hands together with a smile:


    "Alright! Today, until 4:00 PM, we''re gonna try and make a clear view¡ªkinda, from this dirt road up to that cabin up in the mountains. Is that clear?"


    Ruben raised his hand, "What cabin?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Exactly. We used to have a clear path from here to the cabin years and years ago but constant neglect resulted in that¡ª"


    "Those are fully grown trees, how old are you¡ª"


    "Ah! What great eyes you have, Ruben¡­ In any case, they''re far younger than the ones to the side¡ªthough we might have to cut a few that were damaged or just too old¡ªso we could make the overgrowth subside and have more room for other nts to grow.


    However, don''t worry as much, if we discover saplings or bushes that could be rented elsewhere, we will do so¡­ unlike the first batch of crude workers we had¡­"


    Mauro cut in, "Hey! They''re mechanics, they don''t know how shit in here works, alright?!"


    Sebastian let out a menacing smile, "I apologize, my lord¡­ But I didn''t think that they''d fumble if I pointed at the trees that should and shouldn''t be cut down¡­ Again, I apologize for that¡­"


    "T-That''s¡­"


    Sebastian waved him off, "In any case¡­ not all of us would be able to cut trees at the same time so some people will be tasked with guarding everyone, foraging for herbs and mushrooms¡ªif you have the talent for it, clearing bushes and the like¡ªyou know, to make it easier for everyone, etc. Be wary of Drop Bears though because it seemed like we also have them in this area¡ª"


    Hearing that particr term and seeing Sebastian''s smile, I had to y the part, not only would it make everyone else on high alert and make everyone safer, but it would also provide ample entertainment for us in the know, including Kaley, Mauro, Elsa, Edith, and Nancy.


    "Woah! Woah! Woah! Sebastian! You have Drop Bears here?! I thought they only have those in Australia?!"


    Alexa and Ruben were definitely more anxious than everyone else:


    "W-What are D-Drop Bears?!"


    "I-I-I haven''t heard of that! W-What are those?!"


    Mauro nodded menacingly, "Yeah, that''s kinda Sal''s fault¡ªone of the reasons this ce got neglected¡­"


    Elsa continued, "Basically, they''re bears who live atop one of those trees and they attack anyone unsuspectingly and it''s¡­ it''s just a¡­ it''s just an unfortunate thing¡­ Sebastian here was brave enough to hunt them from time to time but I''m afraid that they''ve reproduced and upied the mountains¡­"


    Alexa asked, "H-How big are they?"


    Megan had to cut in though she looked anxious as well, "They''re bears, right?! They should¡ª"


    Seb interjected, "I dunno¡­ They should be a little smaller if they can live on top of trees¡­"


    JP nodded, "I agree¡­ Also, Ko''s are also called Ko BEARS, don''t you think¡ª"


    James #1 brought them back to the delusion, "No, no¡­ If they got the name DROP Bears, they should be at least between the sizes of a Ko and an actual bear¡­"


    James #2 nced at everyone else before he said, "So¡­ at least enough weight to bring a normal human down?"


    Lucas interjected, "No, no¡­ it should be quite small. Even five pounds is dangerous if it falls high enough¡­"


    Isaac started losing his shit, "Shit! Then the guards should be looking way~ up then?!"


    Sebastian then ced his arm over Jose, "Don''t worry, we''ll both take careful watch along with the lords¡­ Just focus on the task at hand."


    "Are you sure?!"


    "Yes, we''ll guarantee your safety¡­ Luckily, it seems that your lord has knowledge with them¡­ Coupled with my experience, just think of them as nonexistent¡­"


    As soon as the sighs of relief followed, Kaley had to pinch my sides in order for me to not startughing.


    ''Man¡­ Sebastian''s really gonna work them physically AND mentally¡­ I guess he had to make his own entertainment sometimes¡­''

 Chapter 955: Felling 101

    In any case, the first thing Sebastian made them do was put on safety equipment like goggles, gloves, and the like before he approached a smaller, but rotten tree, to give a short demonstration.


    "Alright, as you can see now, I''m wearing my goggles, my gloves, my shin guards, and everything else but before we start chopping this tree down, the first order of business is to check your surroundings¡ª"


    Ruben cut in, "F-For Drop Bears, right?!"


    "Y-Yes, that too¡ª"


    "There''s more?!"


    Sebastian was trying his best not to stifle augh, "I''m talking about in an environmental sense¡­ You see, we''re still on a very gentle slope but as we go higher and higher, it''ll affect our clearing process.


    So yeah, the first thing to do is get a good look around you: make sure that the area around the tree you''re about to cut is free of anything your axe might get caught on like rocks, smallrge branches, other trees, a drop bear, etc., and make sure that the tree isn''t tangled or the ce it might fall wouldn''t hit phone lines, other trees, etc., but if it does, go to me first because what I''m teaching you today is the basics."


    "A-Alright¡­"


    "Though the gist of it is to make sure there''s always an area you can run to and the best direction for that is the exact opposite of where the tree is about to fall on¡ª Oh! Before that, it''s customary around here to do several bump checks because we can''t urately see what''s the situation up top unless we climb on it or use a drone.


    It''s a good measure of safety because sometimes if a tree is rotten up top and we start shaking it by chopping it from below, a huge part of it might just fall on our heads and kill us. I''ve seen it a few times and those are actually called widowmakers back then¡­"


    Isaac raised his hand, "W-What''s a bump check?"


    As soon as Isaac finished his question, Sebastian just removed the sheathe on his personal cutting axe before turning it the opposite way and smashing the t side against the tree in front of him.


    *THUD*


    And as he did with full force, the tree shook, and a few leaves fell gently but he bump-checked the tree six more times before he nodded his head and looked satisfied.


    "That''s a bump check," he said as he rested his axe on his shoulders, "So, once everything''s ounted for¡­ It''s now time to cut the tree down¡ªbefore anyone of you says anything, there are plenty of ways to cut them, of course, but it''s customary around here to shave off the bark first so we''d have a better view of where we are gonna sink our axe on.


    And yes, it''s also helpful to know that it gets rid of the dirt, moss, grime, etc. present on it because sometimes, it dulls the de and who knows what other foreign object¡ªthough a small, small chance¡ªwould be present on it. Take it as another precautionary measure aside from actually seeing if the tree is dead or something simr.


    One good indicator is that you can easily pick off the bark with our fingers like this¡­"


    As Sebastian exined more and more stuff¡ªwhich actually was a learning experience, even for me¡ªhe then finished clearing off the bark around the tree before he started his swinging motion by slightly hinging his hips as if he was getting ready to perform a deadlift.


    Doing that, instead of swinging to the actual level of his hips, made the path the axe traveled a little lower but either way could''ve worked¡ªdepending on the person doing it.


    He then continued his exnation while swinging with moderate force, "What I''m making right now is called the notch. It''s where I''m trying to make the tree fall¡ª"


    JP suddenly cut in, "Wait. Is there a reason you''re trying to make it fall that way instead of down this slope?"


    Sebastian then stopped cutting the tree for a moment, "I don''t understand the question¡­"


    Seb followed, "Yeah, I was wondering that too¡­ Wouldn''t it be easier if we make it fall that way too?"


    ''True¡ª Wait, unless¡­''


    As I figured out why Sebastian couldn''t understand basic distribution of workload, he just said it loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "My dear guests, it seemed like you thought we''d be bringing these trees to the estate."


    JP and Seb nodded at the same time, "Aren''t we?/ That''s what I''m thinking too¡ª"


    Then Sebastian finally started chuckling before it became a full-onugh, "This is just so hrious! HAHAHAHA! A-Ah¡­ Excuse theughter but the estate doesn''t need these trees for now, the log cabin does. I did say it was neglected for a number of years¡ª"


    Megan cut in, "Wait! I do remember you telling us that the PATH to the cabin was neglected, not both!"


    "Ah¡­ Then it is an honest mistake, apologies¡­ In any case, don''t worry as much because we have the easy route, it won''t be much trouble bringing all of these up there and the cabin isn''t that far¡­ We''ve actually started a few days ago¡ªthough I''ve been doing the clearing with a few of my personal workers who were now assisting the other people from the other side¡ªand even if we won''t be able to finish the whole thing in two weeks, just the help we''d receive plus the transformation your bodies will undergo will be enough for me¡­ It''s thepany I was actually looking forward to¡­"


    Then James#2 thought of an easy way out:


    "Umm¡­ Mr. Sebastian?"


    "Sebastian is fine, dear guest¡­"


    "Right, haha¡­ I''d hate to say this after giving us a brilliant demonstration but wouldn''t we be able to aplish more if we use chainsaws and the like?"


    Sebastian looked apologetic once again, "Apologies¡­ But as I said earlier¡­ There''s another group working on the opposite end where we''d like to clear a path and unfortunately, all of our chainsaws are being used at the moment¡­ Besides, how can we maintain our bodies if we just haul the logs up?


    And again¡­ With the way we chop trees sideways, it also works our oblique muscles, and it''s just a waste to not make use of the gentle slope we have¡­ That''s part of the reason I gave all the chainsaws away so that they wouldn''t be that disheartened by working in such a steep, steep~ slope unlike ours¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ I-Is that so?"


    "Then shall we?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "Drop Bear!"


    "W-WHERE?!"


    "Just kidding¡­ Ahaha¡­ Stay alert, alright?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    ''He''s¡­ He''s worse than Oscar¡­''


    In any case, as soon as Sebastian finished up the notch he was making¡ªwhich took up arge percentage of the diameter of the tree because of its smaller size¡ªall he had to do after that was make a smaller notch on the opposite side then push a little after shouting, "TIMBERRR~", at the top of his lungs.


    After that, he began to remove all of the branches it had and put them into a separate pile before cutting up the whole log at arm''s length, and then putting it into another pile.


    Cutting this tree on the smaller side didn''t take a lot of time, but it didn''t end there when he pulled out a pickaxe, a shovel, and a rusty-looking axe topletely remove the stump and cover it with some dirtter.


    Looking ahead at the number of marked trees for cutting down, it looked like the cadets had more than their work cut out for them, but they just couldn''t refuse because of the lengths Sebastian took to exin all of this shit to them and to be able to achieve a smidge of what Sebastian, Mauro, Logan, and I showed themst night.


    Even for me, it looked like a daunting task with our numbers but this felt more like training than actual work to me.


    But yeah, it was eventually decided to form three separate groups that would operate at the same time but well within each other''s earshot¡ªno vision, but as we broke off with a few others, Sebastian took an interest in the Injector Axe that was on Tatiana''s back. He thought it was simply a custom axe at first but he quickly made his way towards us when Tatiana made it hiss for a few times.


    "Ms. Tatiana? C-Can I please examine your axe for a bit? It caught my eye, it''s a curious one, isn''t it?"


    Tatiana nced at me but I couldn''t care less so she just handed it over, "Here ya go¡ª"


    "Ah~! This is heavier than it looks! I see the holes here and this particr button, can I know their exact purpose?"


    Since this was still a little bit of a sore subject for Tatiana, I took it upon myself to tell Sebastian a bit of context and his face just darkened when I mentioned a hulking zombie that was able to take several bullets to the head.

 Chapter 956: Its only fair. - Youre safe until you arent.

    As strong as Sebastian was, without prior experience with the real thing, it''d be an arduous task to be able toe out of it alive by himself or to be able to protect Sal and her nieces. Sure, I haven''t seen his full capabilities but I was just simply judging from what I''ve seen because again¡­ as strong as he was, their estate needed more quality fighters, not more grunts to do gruntwork.


    ''Well~ There''s also his "personal" workers I haven''t seen so¡­ maybe? Just maybe¡­''


    In any case, his concern for his employers was genuine because I''ve never seen him this anxious. However, the notion of having a tool that could potentially solve his new-found problem at the same exact time was extremely lucky and unlucky.


    "So¡­ If I managed to sink this axe on its head and press this button right after, it''ll do it?"


    "Yeah, hopefully..."


    "But isn''t sinking the de to its head enough? I mean¡ª"


    "I think you must''ve forgotten about its head withstanding rifle rounds."


    "What rifle rounds, exactly?"


    "5.56s and 7.62s¡ª even a straight slug was caught in its skin that''s like the most gnarly jerky you''ve ever chewed on."


    "Then how did you exactly kill it? You don''t have it that time, no?"


    "Well~ I meant by withstanding bullets as being alive after getting shot because usually¡ªno, almost always, they die with a single shot to the head but that Hulker took plenty."


    "Ah, I see¡­"


    "But to answer your question, we tried disabling its movement first¡ªmaking one of its knees give out¡ªto get more shots in its head, and after a while, like a tough piece of meat, it''ll eventually give out given enough pressure."


    He let out a bitter smile as he chuckled, "I appreciate you trying to rte to me by using those references but is using this axe the only way to take it down?"


    "It''s currently the easiest way because Artem managed to test it on a partial Hulker like the one we fought on Mr. Cuervo''s games¡ªthough he haven''t actually used the injection system on thetter¡ªbut as I said, enough damage will put it down. The gas it injects into the small cracks from the damage it sustained straight to its head can be the deciding blow if you got close enough."


    "Close enough?"


    "You see, we''ve only faced one fully-formed Hulker and it hits harder than a truck AND you don''t get Isekai''d after. I''d actually rmend fighting it from afar if you have enough sharpshooters and enough firepower or just simply running away from it, but if worsees to worst, having one of those axes will save you¡ª"


    Sebastian''s eyes lit up, "So¡­ You have more of these?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "So¡ª"


    "Unfortunately, that''s the only one we have right now¡­ the rest of them are on the opposite side from Cuervo Heights¡­ We haven''t really tested if .308s could work on it but with Kaley here, we''ll just see how fewer bullets we''d use to take it down if we ever see one¡­ It''s just that they''re as rare as rare goes¡­"


    He nodded a few times, "I see¡­ I see¡­ In any case, may I please ask what would it take tomission¡ª"


    I instantly waved him off, "After you send off Edith and Nancy when we go back, I''ll give that to you plus a few more when I send over Elsa and Mauro''s wedding gifts. My folks back home are trying to improve them bit by bit¡­ if you don''t mind a prototype like this, it''s only fair to¡ª"


    "Are you serious, my lord?!"


    I chuckled as I leaned close for a whisper, "As serious as to your will to keep on scaring the cadets of those drop bears you speak of¡­"


    "Ah~! It is entertaining, no?"


    "It is, and I don''t mind it ''cuz it makes them safer in a way though indirectly."


    With that said, Sebastian returned Tatiana''s axe before walking back to his group which was now in the process of chopping down a medium-sized tree while my group was more focused on foraging, clearing out small branches and other obstacles, and watching out for threats.


    On the other hand, Mauro''s group was also chopping down arger tree further out, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Nancy huddled down on an exposed root of arge tree we weren''t supposed to cut.


    So, I approached her because everyone else was busy doing their own thing.


    "Hey."


    "Ah¡ª I wasn''t doing anything!"


    I chuckled from looking at her shocked to fuck expression, "I didn''t say you were, what are you doing over there? We''re not far out but you''re not supposed to venture out alone, right?"


    Nancy nodded a few times before pointing at a bunch of pinkish flowers on the ground, "I-I just found some Red C-Clovers¡­ W-We actually have some growing back h-home but I just wanna r-remember this spot just in case¡­"


    "Oh?" I was surprised at her find but I had to look into an empty space as I essed my mind pce, "Hmmrhgh¡­ Wait a sec, do you have osteoporosis?"


    Nancy cutely tilted her head, "What?"


    "Bone disease?"


    "W-What?! No! At least I don''t think so! Do I?!"


    "I think you''re just short¡­ How about high cholesterol?"


    Her face reddened as her mouth agape, "D-Do I look like I''m fat?! You¡ª"


    I tilted my head before I shrugged my shoulders, "So, menopause?"


    "IT''S FOR MY COUGHS AND ASTHMA!!!"


    As soon as I said the forbidden word, Nancy''s face just warped from embarrassment toplete disbelief and it only took a few seconds before she tried to climb on top of me and make me take back what I said to her.


    To bepletely fair, Red Clovers were being used to treat the first three that I said but it''s just that I haven''t gotten to coughs and asthma yet.


    But yeah, it had more uses than treating those we''ve mentioned above but with a small shovel in hand, Nancy took it upon herself to take a few from the bunch we saw and rent them a few feet away. That way, it would have the chance to at least multiply the next time she came here though I thought their supply from their estate should be enough on their own.


    It''s just that I didn''t think that Nancy had coughs or even asthma because I''ve never seen the symptoms, but at this moment, I''m gonna be a little more watchful over her and know more about her condition from Edith, Elsa, or Sal. All I know was that shecked stamina but that doesn''t mean to quit exercising altogether.


    She could also be suffering from a very mild case of those things but a few precautions while we were outside shouldn''t hurt.


    ''And Edith should definitely take it easy on her knowing that¡­''


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we heard "TIMBER~!" back-to-back followed by a couple of loud thuds when the trees hit the ground. After that, it was followed by constant chopping from clearing out the branches and cutting up the tree into logs and then carrying them over into the same pile before uprooting the stump and filling it up with soil.


    The group kept doing the same thing over and over until one got tired, but all they''d do was change up the tasks that person was doing then continuing on with the workload.


    As we cut a dozen trees or so, I noticed that even if Sebastian''s group had cut down a veryrge tree that seemed to be at least 20+ years old, we''d been doing "easy" trees that had no curvature and the like, and we were skipping a few trees that were definitely marked for cutting down.


    I just assumed that Sebastian deemed it to be either too dangerous for a novice group or he''d like us to skip a few so that the view or path to the log cabin would be clearer.


    But yeah, for some reason, Nancy kept spotting usable or edible weeds and flowers on the ground like pigweeds, purne, and even a wild raspberry bush. It didn''t have a single fruit yet but Nancy said¡ªand confirmed by my mind pce¡ªthat it was one. However, I almost had to smack her noggin'' because more often than not, she''d just wander around like a lost kid when she discovered something.


    With her small frame, it''ll be very easy to lose sight of her in the woods but I didn''t think I''d have to use a rope to tie us together because she was acting like we were still inside their estate.


    "T-This¡­"


    "You keep running away, that''s why."


    "But it''s safe¡ª"


    "Sure. Until it isn''t. You gotta understand, even without drop bears, deadheads, or the like, you might venture further than you think and sprain an ankle or god forbid, hit your fucking head in a log, and it''ll be a pain to find you. I''m just looking out for you so I don''t actually look out for you, got it?"

 Chapter 957: Safety First - Easier Ones First

    Nancy was pouting like a little child getting reprimanded for her actions but after that, she slowly nodded from understanding what she did wrong but our attention was caught by Alexa screaming for dear life.


    In a split second, I carried Nancy on my left side before dashing to where the scream came from but luckily enough, it wasn''t as serious as I thought it was. However, even a few from the other groups sprinted here as fast as they could but all we saw was Megan on her ass while Alexa was already in tears.


    "WHAT HAPPENED?!"


    Megan was a little red from embarrassment, "I''M FINE, EVERYONE! I''M FINE! I JUST SLIPPED, OKAY?!"


    Alexa shook her head, "B-BUT YOUR LEG! I SAW¡ª"


    "I WAS WEARING THE SHIN GUARDS, ALEXA! I SLIPPED WHEN I SWUNG AND I¡ª"


    Kaley got in between them, "Alright, let''s all take a good, deep~ breath first¡­"


    And as they did, Kaley turned back to Megan who was still on her ass:


    "You still slipped, you okay? No sprains or anything?"


    Megan nodded, "Yes, of course. I¡ª Hngh! O-Oww¡­ Shit! Definitely a sprain or something¡­"


    As I took a closer look, the bottom of Megan''s right boot had a bit of mud and this shredded leaf¡ªwhich was probably the main cause for her slipping¡ªbut what everyone saw first was this huge tear on the shin guard''s leather padding.


    But as safety first saved the day, she wore the shin guards provided and it was the one who caught the blow when her axe missed its intended target. Because if she didn''t, she''d be lucky toe out of this with her left leg intact though she was even luckier because she came out of this with a sprained ankle.


    I haven''t actually seen a person chop their own leg off¡ªeven identally¡ªin real life, but I''ve seen plenty of leaked footage out there and since most of them were doing it alone, it was gnarly as gnarly goes and it would almost always result in death if they weren''t able to get past the initial shock.


    In any case, Megan was definitely out ofmission for now, but since she most definitely needed to get it checked out plus I didn''t wanna get tied down to Nancy who kept wandering alone, I took it upon myself to bring both of them back.


    "Y-You''re also taking me back?! Why?!" Nancy eximed as she started tugging on our rope.


    "Because you have to keep Meganpany! Why are you so feisty outside? You''re not like this inside the estate, right?"


    "I-I dunno! I just l-love exploring and finding things that people don''t find normally¡­"


    Megan interjected as I was carrying her on my back, "You better have some spicy stories for me or I get to punish ya!"


    "P-Punish? Why?!"


    "Not actually punish but you do have some, don''t you?"


    "I-I don''t follow¡­"


    "I mean¡­ Have you caught Sebastian doing something naughty with the other maids?"


    "W-What?! That''s¡ª"


    "Something like that, I want something like that¡­"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "He sure is popr, huh?"


    Megan almost headbutted me, "Not as popr as you but I''m just curious, you know? ''Cause he''s all mysterious like that¡­"


    "If I notice a wet spot on my back, I''m dropping you on the ground¡ª"


    "Oh,e on! Nancy! Sebastian''s hot, right?!"


    "W-Well¡­ His smiles a-are really nice b-but I a-actually find him a l-little scary¡­"


    "Doesn''t that add to it?"


    "A-Add to what?"


    "The whole thing? I might be speaking for myself but I like them a little¡­ you know¡­ dangerous¡ª though I still actually wanna feel safe at the same time¡­"


    I rolled my eyes as I readjusted my grip on her legs, "That¡­ That''s something I can''t understand¡­"


    "It''s¡ª Hmm~ How do I say this¡­ It''s like you know they can hurt you if they wanted to but they do the exact opposite¡ª a-and they sometimes kinda tease you into it which is really hot and they never go the full way¡­"


    "Okay~ I''m making you walk¡ª"


    "What?! I''m not soak¡ª"


    "If I stick my fingers in your vag right now, it wouldn''t slide right in?"


    "Pfft¡­ If you put it like that~ I might just lie and let you do more than just finger me¡­ This is what I''m talking about, you know? You can drop me down anytime but I''m sure you won''t¡­"


    "..."


    "What? Silent treatment right now? Seriously?!"


    Nancy interjected, "You''re really that h-horny, huh?"


    Megan chuckled, "You don''t know what it''s like for me alright? I''ve been with a guy who only wanted anal which I had to beg him to just took my first but once this guy whopletely went quiet came, and you know, CAME, a lot of my frustrations were solved."


    "Oh¡­ I think I might''ve a few stories like that¡­ I think I''ll be able to keep youpany¡­"


    "For real?! We''ll be really~ close at the end of the day then!"


    "Yeah!"


    I finally butted in, "Alright, Nancy can probably takeover from here¡ª"


    The two quickly reacted, "W-What?! We''re barely halfway back! I can''t even carry half of her!/Wait, wait, wait! Is there something I said?"


    I just chuckled as I waved them off, "Nah~ I just didn''t know what to reply back then so it''se to this¡­ But yeah, I like the way you''re that honest with your feelings. Not a lot of people are like that."


    "Wha¡ª Don''t suddenly go that deep on me!"


    "That¡­ That sounded dirtier than I thought, I''mma just keep quiet the whole way back¡ª"


    "NOOOOO~!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, I''d be happy to announce that all Megan needed was some ice and some painkillers and it didn''t take long before I bid the two goodbye and went back to where the others were.


    In any case, Kaley was the first one to run up to me and ask how Megan and Nancy were doing before we continued our slow ascent to this log cabin that still seemed to be nowhere in sight.


    Though morbidly enough, with how Sebastian was, I wouldn''t be surprised that if we finally cut down all these trees and managed to bring all of them up in two weeks time, he''d just say that the cabin was missing and we''d just have to build us one.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I got bored of just watching over the group so I switched ces with one of them to cut a tree by myself. And of course, it wasn''t difficult to find a willing sub¡ªwho was Seb, if any of that mattered¡ªbecause he get to hold my rifle and look cool with it while taking a short break.


    Though it also didn''t take long before a few noticed we were being led to avoid cutting down trees that weren''t easy mode.


    JP walked up to Sebastian and asked the same question:


    "C-Can I ask the reason as to why we''re avoiding those ones? They''re clearly marked, right?"


    Sebastian simply nodded after wiping sweat off his brow, "Ah~ Someone finally noticed. It''s not a secret per se but that''s just how I do things.


    But if you want me to expand on that, the reason being is the trees we''re cutting down now are predictable or easily manipted to fall down a certain way while those ones that had curvatures¡ªor in tree lingo, "Banana-Shaped Trees" are very tricky to manage."


    "Tricky how?"


    "Hmm~" then Sebastian randomly pulled out a fucking banana from his pocket, "Let me give an example then¡ª"


    "Where in the hell did you pull that from¡ª"


    "That''s not important now, right?" then he beckoned JP over a tter surface before cing the banana on one end, "Watch how it falls down, alright?"


    As Sebastian let go of the fruit, it followed a straight line down at first but after its curvature was introduced to the ground, it started to shift and turn beforepletelyying t on its side.


    "You see now? Imagine if that banana was as huge as the trees we''re cutting. Sure, we can cut them at any time but what I''m trying to make us do was to clear the easier ones and give more space for those curved trees because, at the end of the day, we''re here to train your bodies and to avoid those trees tangling up in case they fall a certain way¡­"


    JP nodded a few times, "I see now. Thank you for exining that."


    "No problem at all¡ª"


    "Would you mind answering a few more questions?"


    "As long as it''s not too personal, I''ll answer to the best of my ability¡­"


    In any case, JP just asked more about helpful tips for swinging an axe while I focused on how each and every swing of this axe lent to me would hit deeply on its target. It was a totally different feelingpared to using my katana or my wakizashi but if I did have to use an Injector Axe in the future, simply gettingfortable with a regr one wouldn''t hurt.

 Chapter 958: Felling Trees To Whittling

    It didn''t take long before noon came and the Philippine version of rice balls after a workout such as this just hits differently.


    Tatiana and Kuzma eximed in surprise from the first bite, "Woah! I''ve never had this! Why don''t we ever have this?! This is insanely good!/ God, I''m gonna get big from the amount of food I''m eating ever since I joined you guys¡­"


    To give a brief description, these rice balls of ours could be made in any number of ways but the gist would be to at least have a¡­ you know, a ball of rice with any type of viand on it, then be wrapped into a ball or any shape with banana leaves.


    It''smonly sold by small shops or vendors that would walk around the area to sell them though their shelf life isn''t that long.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "We never had these because it''s not eatenmonly in the cities¡­ It''s more of a staple around these areas and even though it is delicious, it''s probably the hunger talking¡­"


    "What''s in this anyway? So good¡­"


    Edith answered with a Duchenne smile, "You''re praising me too much! A-Anyway, it''s just like Adobo but I shredded the chicken so it could mush nicely with the rice¡­ Hope you don''t mind the added spiciness¡ª"


    A few others then gave morepliments:


    "Naw! This is good Miss Edith!"


    "I''d love one a tad spicier and with more garlic too!"


    "Aren''t you being a little too ungrateful?"


    "I''m not, I was just¡ª"


    "D-Don''t fight, I just didn''t know what you all like so I brought a few spices here¡ª"


    "Dibs on the chili kes!"


    "WOAH! You thought this far ahead?! You''re a godsend!"


    "T-Thank you!"


    Then Ruben turned to Sebastian, "H-Hey¡­ How close are we a-anyway?"


    Sebastian looked a little surprised from the question, "Hmm~ I''d say we''re kind of friends right now but I don''t want to assume¡ª"


    "PFFT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Ruben was shaking his head as he replied, "I-I meant the log cabin¡­ H-How far are we¡ª"


    "Oh~ I see now, apologies. I''m not exactly sure but it should take us close to two hours if we hike up normally but probably more now because we lost the direct path.


    On top of watching out for threats, we''d also have to make our own route and it isn''t advisable to just visit it because the view would be obscured by the trees, unfortunately¡­ It used to have this perfect view of the farnd and the mansion too, I might add¡­"


    "Then shouldn''t we work double-time for that?! I love a good workout but experiencing something like that even once is awesome, even more if we worked really hard for it!"


    "That''s really admirable, young sir, but it''s rather best to not overexert yourselves¡­ A certain key that almost everyone in the powerlifting, bodybuilding, or any other strength or fitness-rted industry forgets is avoiding injury and being as patient as possible.


    A little bit of ego is good but being unable to do what you want and love is more heartbreaking than not being able to achieve your goals in the time you think you should''ve achieved them¡­ Just my two cents¡­"


    "I-Is that so? If you say so, I-I guess¡­"


    As Ruben and a few others nodded pensively, I turned to Quinn and surprisingly enough, she turned to me at the exact same time before she got startled and looked away in a far corner.


    ''Pfft¡­''


    And after a short bit, we topped off our meal with some fresh water and then rested for a bit before we went back to choppin''.


    With doing the same work over and over, I tend tond myself in a trance and work and work and work without pause but this time, for some reason, I started to get bored after felling more than a dozen small trees, a handful of medium ones, and one big-ass tree that was at least a couple of decades old.


    It might be because I discovered the trick to cut in as deeply and as precisely as I could with my axe or one other reason was that Sebastian started giving me looks when I was progressing faster than we could''ve and making it easy for the cadets who were supposed to be training.


    In any case, I can''t just seem to sit still so after cutting down mystrge tree for the day, I picked up a few smaller logs and found myself on the exposed root I found Nancy in earlier. After that, I just pulled out a pocket knife I borrowed from Kuzma before I started whittling.


    And this time, it finally hit the spot as I decided to start carving out Nem-Nem, Mie-My, and Rogue. The wood I chose and the pocket knife could''ve been a little nicer but I''ll use what I could.


    I should''ve been guarding the cadets and everyone else but there''s no denying that Kaley''s almost unstoppable with a high-powered rifle. Besides, chances were, most of the threats would head over to the other side of the log cabin because of the noise chainsaws were making all day.


    In any case, I only have a couple of hours and then some before our time limit for the day but the moment I entered the zone, time passed like a snap of a finger and I was also brought back from hearing the same metaphor.


    Funnily enough, the first thing I saw was Kaley leaning and looking down on me with a huge smile on her face but there seemed to be a few people fighting behind her.


    "You started something again, you should fix it¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "What now?"


    "Just look behind me¡­"


    Turns out, I did more than just carve out my newly-tamed pets, and Elsa, Edith, Alexa, Quinn, Ruben, Isaac, and even Kuzma were having a fight as to who gets what.


    Alexa was pleading for dear life, "You two already got the dogs, why can''t I have this tiny wittle chick?!"


    Elsa put her put down, "First off, it''s Nem-Nem and Mie-My and secondly, can''t you understand how cute that is?! YOU BASICALLY ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION!"


    Quinn just exploded and raised my carvings up in the air so no one could reach them, "FUCK ALL YOU ALL! I DON''T CARE WHO GETS WHAT BUT I''M KEEPING ROGUE AND ROGUE JR.! I''LL BREAK YOUR NECK IF I HAVE TO!"


    And Kuzma was doing almost the same thing, "GIVE ME ROGUE JR. AT LEAST! I PROVIDED HIM WITH THE KNIFE! I SHOULD GET SOMETHING! HEY! WHO STOLE THE COW I HAVE ON THIS PILE?!


    HUH?!"


    Edith pouted, "B-But I¡­ I r-really wanted it¡­"


    Sebastian cut in, "My guest, I would do everything in my power to give you anything in exchange for thedy''s desire. How about a banana?"


    "WHAT?! THAT''S NOT EVEN A REAL BANANA!"


    "I apologize¡­ I''ve already eaten the one I brought but this is just to show that I can do a little bit of carving if I say so myself¡­"


    Then Ruben got into it as well, "Can I please~ have the axe head?! It''s gonna look so cool if I use it as a pendant! Wha¡ª For real?! Thanks Sebastian!"


    "No worries, now convince Kuzma toy off on thedy¡ª"


    "We''re not even in the same unit¡ª We are now but I''ve seen him fight, he''ll kill me!"


    "Ruben, young sir, need I remind you that I can alsomit atrocities and if thedy wishes something, she shall have it!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! JUST TAKE THE AXE HEAD BACK, I DON''T WANT IT ANYMORE~!!! TAKE IT, ISAAC!"


    "HAAAH?! I DON''T WANT YOUR CURSED AXE HEAD! I''M ALREADY FINE WITH THIS LEAF! I''LL WANT ANYTHING THE SENSEI PROVIDED!"


    "PROVIDED?! ARE YOU GUYS INSANE?! NONE OF YOU ASKED HIM IF THEY''LL GIVE IT TO Y''ALL AND Y''ALL JUST TOOK IT WITHOUT PERMISSION!"


    Seeing the mess I made¡ªno they made for themselves, I was a little afraid to show them myst work for the day¡ªwhich was a five-leaf clover¡ªbut I threw it a good distance away as a distraction so Kaley and I could get ahead of everybody. Because if they knew that I already "woke up", I would be barraged with different requests and that''s something I would not have wanted to do at the moment.


    With that said, five days went on just like this without incident but it didn''t take long before the people from the other side reached the log cabin before us. Granted it was fairly obvious they''d achieve that with their equipment and their numbers, but Sebastian eventually deemed it that the rest of our time in this ce shouldn''t be spent on chopping wood manually.


    We''ve already established that lifting heavy circles wasn''t the only way to get stronger but everyone still wanted to see the view they were longing for.


    But to achieve the best way to see such a view, we would need to spend the sixth day hiking up and reaching the log cabin we still hadn''t seen, doing some intense spring cleaning, tons of repairs, and then sleeping there for the night to get the perfect view tomorrow morning.

 Chapter 959: Cabin In The Mountains - Spill.

    When the early morning came, I was the first to wake up in our group, and I sneakily woke Kaley up so we could have some alone time together and it wouldn''t be as cramped in the shower. Showering with beauties left and right could be the dream for some but it was as dangerous as dropping a soap in prison when their switches were turned on.


    "We''re gonna do this from now on, huh?"


    "When can I get some alone time with you then?"


    "Now?"


    "Exactly."


    "Then let''s stop wasting time and start making use of it, hmm?"


    "I thought you''d never ask¡ª"


    "Shh¡ª MmM! C-Close the door¡ª Ah! W-Wait¡ª There, we can do whatever we¡ª Ah! Hngh¡­ MmMh!"


    In any case, the reason we were able to sneak around was because we''ve recently discovered that sleeping by the edges of the bed could give us this small window and we have been doing it ever since everyone else decided to pile on together after our nightly activities.


    But yeah, in regards to our morning activities, I''ve seen from the mirror that even I had put on some muscle¡ªthough a portion of it was also fat¡ªdue to the amount of food we were consuming plus the arduous work every morning and night: chopping wood in the morning, powerlifting before dinner, and "cardio" before nighttime.


    After a while, everyone¡ªincluding Megan and Nancy¡ªwas now hiking up the mountain to finally see this log cabin Sebastian was holding in high regard.


    Sure enough, we were met with arger group of people just having breakfast in the early morning but only a few nods and invitations to eat were exchanged before three gentlemen who looked to be the same age as me made their way toward Sebastian.


    And upon closer inspection, I discovered that the one on the left had a huge gash on his left eye and the color on his left iris was different while the one on the right had what seemed to be a cleft lip but in actuality was also a 3-inch wound, and the one in the middle didn''t seem to have any outstanding scars.


    In any case, they all bowed their heads and greeted us at the same time, "Good morning, dear guests, our lords anddies, head butler¡­/ Have you all eaten yet? We have some rice porridge topped with shredded chicken, green onions, and eggs¡­ /Would you all care to try a bowl?"


    Sebastian answered, "Thank you, but we''ve all eaten beforeing here¡­ I believe I can leave this portion to you three?"


    The one in the middle replied, "Ah, so you''re heading for the cabin, I''m assuming?"


    "Yes, actually."


    Then the one on the right nodded, "We still insist on cleaning it ourselves but we leave it to you, sir. I hope it''s as liberating as the first time weid our eyes on the horizon¡­"


    The one on the left followed, "I agree¡­ Luckily enough it doesn''t need a lot of repairs but I hope you''d be happy to see it once again¡­"


    Sebastian then waved them off, "Please, no spoilers¡­ In any case, we''ll be moving on up. See you all soon."


    "Of course!/ Yes, sir!/ We''ll get there as fast as we can!"


    Hearing the three, it once again covered Sebastian in this veil of mysteriousness but instead of asking the most slippery guy I''ve met, I guess it would be better to just see the ce for myself.


    In any case, we spent a little more than an hour to reach this medium-sized cabin¡ªridden with branches, roots, and moss¡ªthat was built on top of this huge-ass rock that acted as an overlook on this side of the mountain.


    And even if the sun had already risen and there were still a lot of tall trees blocking the view, I was stunned by seeing this "obscured" view for a few seconds just like everybody else.


    However, to my surprise, Sebastian had never looked more emotional and perfect for a profile photo because from the lights and the angle he was standing on, it was akin to the short emotional scene with orchestral music ying right before the credits rolled.


    But yeah, as soon as he noticed me staring at him, he quickly took control of his emotions and facial expression like a snap of a finger before heading to the cabin and walking up to the porch.


    "No one step on here yet, I''m checking for its structural integrity¡­"


    As he said that, he was just staring at the wooden door and its rusted handle for a good while so I took it upon myself to sneak just a few feet behind him before I took in a deep breathe and mmed my right foot down and shouted at the top of my lungs as I performed a basic horse stance:


    "HAH!"


    To everyone''s fucking surprise, as the whole cabin shook, Sebastian was just so shocked to fuck as he twisted his body unnaturally and sent an overhead strike using three of his fingers¡ªmiddle, index, and thumb¡ªstraight at my head.


    It was the first time I saw fear and rage in his eyes but I easily used his force and his unbnced footing against him as I grabbed his hand, stepped in, twisted my body the same way, and then threw him on the porch before holding him down until he recognized who I was.


    Everything happened in a matter of seconds but a good note in the future was to avoid startling Sebastian when he was having his moment.


    "HAA¡ª HAAAhhHH¡­ hHAA¡ª"


    "SEBASTIAN! IT''S ME! IT''S ME! IT''S OKAY! IT''S OKAY! IT''S JUST ME!


    I JUST CAME UP FROM BEHIND YOU! I''M SORRY! SEBASTIAN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"


    "HAA¡ª H-HAA¡­ HAA¡ª HHAAAAA¡­ HA¡ª HAaa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "You okay, dude? Can I let go of you now?"


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-What¡­ I¡­ Where¡ª"


    "We''re in the cabin now, right? You said you were gonna check for structural integrity but you took too fucking long so I u-umm¡­ surprised you and then this happened¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I-I apologize¡ª"


    "No, no! It''s my bad, actually¡­ I should apologize¡­ Want me to let go, now?"


    "P-Please¡­ I would very much like that¡­"


    With that said, let''s just say that I had something more potent than coffee this fucking morning and Sebastian needed a few minutes to gather himself from what went on. Luckily enough, he let Kaley talk to him for a little bit while everyone else was still confused as to what just went on.


    Then Edith and Elsa sneakily approached me, "What happened?/ W-What did you do?"


    I shook my head as I looked at the two, "I should be the one asking you that. What happened over here? He''s never like that."


    Edith answered first, "W-We¡ª I have no idea, sis?"


    Elsa shook her head, "It''s the first time we''ve seen him like that too¡­ He''s always like you know, like you but in a more posh or gentlemanly way."


    I nced momentarily at Sebastian before I turned back to the two, "What''s the deal with this cabin, anyway?"


    The two answered at the same time, "Hmm?/This cabin?"


    I looked at them, bewildered, "You¡­ You own a cabin in the mountains, right?"


    The two answered with confusion in their faces:


    "We do¡­ a few, actually¡­"


    "B-But not this one¡­"


    "What?"


    "We could''ve owned this too, maybe¡­"


    "But this one is too¡­ you know¡­ too old¡­"


    Hearing the two, I once again visited the fact that Sebastian might be a spawn or the devil himself and there were only a few context clues in my arsenal.


    One of them was that he''s older than he looks and even if he tried to get evasive or deny it outright, I remember Quinn saying that he came out of retirement¡ªand even though it could also mean that he quit earlier than actual retirement age, even if Quinn was only a little bit older than us or Tatiana, Sebastian should very well be older than the two for at least a decade.


    Secondly, the scars I''ve seen on his arms and on his legs werepletely unnatural, and the way his three personal workers addressed and talked to him earlier told me that they were hinting about something from the past but with the ages of some of the trees we cut down, it was also hinting at something further back and something terrible.


    Andstly, just the way he reacted from getting surprised from looking at this old but sturdy cabin corrtes with what I''ve said above but at the end of the day, we could only know the truth if we asked the person himself. But yeah, the way he was, I doubt he''d even open up toplete strangers or even Kaley after the fact.


    However, this was one of the few times a STR and CON characternded a critical on a nigh-impossible INT check.


    "Spill," Mauro said as he loomed over Sebastian.


    "Pardon?"


    "I said spill. You know I still haven''t cashed in my favor from you three, right? So, spill."

 Chapter 960: Crumbs

    The moment Mauro said those words, Sebastian just nced at him before taking a deep breath while Kaley looked like she didn''t like the way Mauro chose to enforce the bet between gentlemen.


    Sure, a bet''s a bet and there wasn''t any specific ruling as to what should and shouldn''t be requested beforehand, but in all fairness, making use of it to forcefully dig into someone''s personal life wasn''t gentlemanly at all.


    But yeah, Mauro doubled down as he repeated himself:


    "Hey, did you even hear me? I said spill. Don''t give me that look unless¡ª"


    Sebastian cut him off after a short exhale, "I apologize but¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking apologize. All you have to do is¡ª"


    "Please, my lord. Let me finish. What happened here isn''t entirely a secret but it was just a story forgotten by time. If you all want to hear the story, I could tell you all over dinner but if you want to waste calling in a favor, my lord, I''ll dly do so¡­"


    Kaley interjected, "Sebastian¡­ A-Are you sure about that?"


    Sebastian chuckled, "Of course, mydy, it is a tad depressing but I''m here now so it probably has a good ending, no?"


    "I-If you say so¡­"


    "I do have to thank you for thefort and the kind words, it truly helped me calm down. In any case, why don''t I give you a tour of the ce I ''lived'' in for years?"


    With that said, everyone was satisfied with the crumbs he was feeding us but it was hrious to see such a strong powerlifter struggle to open the door which was apparently, not unlocked. Eventually, all it took was a solid front kick to bust it open but the bugs, dust, and debris that came out almost wiped half the group off the porch.


    In all honesty, I was expecting at least a few ritualistic sacrifices and a couple of pentagrams drawn on the walls but it was¡­ as normal as normal gets.


    The first thing we saw was like a regr old shack that had an antique stove of sorts, wooden furniture for almost everything which was covered in dust, a few books by this end table, a discarded antler as a disy piece,mps powered by oil, etc.


    And making our way to the partial(?) second floor¡ªforck of a better term¡ªthat was the bedroom of sorts which we could see below was also as simple as simple gets as it only had this dusty old bed with this mattress that had its own ecosystem, a broken old mirror, and this dresser which was missing half of its door and all of its supposed dresses.


    In any case, I was expecting way, way~ worse than a hoarder''s den we needed to clear out but I would''ve preferred it honestly right after Sebastian kicked down the dresser and revealed a narrow passage before us.


    "This¡­"


    Sebastian let out a faint smile, "That¡­ Beyond that is the ce I¡ª no, we lived in¡­ And again, I''ll go on ahead for everyone''s safety but please¡­ if you''re gonna sneak up behind me again, no jumpscares, okay?"


    "You were really scared that time?"


    "You can''t even imagine, my lord¡­"


    "Hah¡­ If I get scared, I either scream or scurry away like a cockroach, notmit bloody murder¡­"


    "Haha¡­ Old habits, I guess¡­ A-Anyway, to those who''re not gonna follow after me, I suggest starting with the living room¡­ Leave the kitchen to me because I swear to all things living that the sink and the cupboards will be a tad diabolic¡­ Tread lightly¡­"


    On that note, only Mauro, Elsa, and Megan followed after me as Sebastian disappeared inside the passage though Mauro was having a hard time walking down the creaky steps because of his wide frame.


    He had to be behind everyone else and almost had to resort to walking sideways but after a couple of turns and a few more careful steps, we had to use our shlights because there was no chance in hell we could see in pitch darkness.


    "Home sweet home, I guess¡­" Sebastian joked as he turned around to face us.


    Pointing my shlight around, and with the help of the others'' light sources, I was able to deduce that this was simply an old and musty room that had been left for ages, but everything that we could identify was just pure rubbish or junk.


    Granted there were unknown mushrooms that I would strongly advise to not pick up and eat or in our case, we shouldn''t be casually inhaling the spores as we should''ve gone down here with respirators on.


    Megan remarked, "Y-You''ve lived in this ce alone for years?"


    "Hmm? Well, not alone but it''s safe to say we could only see each other when we get our nightly visits¡­"


    "N-Nightly visits?"


    "I¡­ I should be telling this over¡ª hmm~ maybe after dinner would be more appropriate but since you all came down with me, I''ll grant you the privilege of hearing a few tidbits¡­" Sebastian trailed as he pointed his shlight to the farthest corner of the room where four rusted metal rods were sticking out, "There¡­ That''s the ce I slept, ate, drank, pissed, shat, and did everything for a number of years as I thought it was the norm¡­"


    "W-What?"


    "I used to be all alone here until~ I dunno the exact time actually because I wasn''t even aware of that concept but what I thought were more visitors were actually my new roommates, I believe you''ve seen them a little bit earlier¡­ Shame I forgot to introduce them properly¡­"


    "W-What were their names?"


    "Well, I guess it''s safe to say that all of ourst names are one and the same: Rivas¡­ Pff¡­ Which we''re all very thankful for but the one in the middle without any visible scars was Gerald, the one with the scar on his eye was Chris Irvine, and the one with the scar on his lip was Keith.


    Let''s just say that even though we aren''t rted by blood, we''ve bonded over some¡ª no a lot of things over the years. There was actually more of us but you know¡­ We''re not actually sure if they''re still out there or not but once we got out of this ce, we were the only ones that are left¡­"


    "What¡­ What actually happened here?"


    "Hah¡­ A lot of things that I''ll dly tell you after dinner possibly with a cheese board, some jerky, and a bottle of wine¡­ Wouldn''t you all agree?"


    Elsa chuckled, "I''d love that¡­ I hate to say this but I think we should¡­ somehow¡­ air this ce for a little bit before staying longer¡­ I dunno how but we should¡­ right?"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "Of course, my apologies¡­ We should head above ground for now because as I said earlier¡­ I might have a little shortcut for that¡­"


    "What now?"


    As Sebastian stated earlier, he did ask to leave the kitchen area to him for some reason but everything became clear once he ripped off what was left of the kitchen sink and counter before starting to chop down on the moldy and mushroom floor below it.


    And as the hole got bigger and bigger, it was revealed that the sink had a direct line to the basement instead of a drain or something simr and everyone''s faces went sullen when they pieced together that not only was Sebastian living in that damp basement inplete darkness, but he was also probably being fed with all the food wastes plopping down at indeterminate intervals.


    "W-What''s that ce?!"


    "Home?"


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I haven''t aired it for years, apologies¡­ It''s the only way to do it now¡­"


    "W-What''s that growing over there¡­"


    "Hmm~ Even I with my extensive knowledge of herbalism couldn''t identify what are they exactly. It might be a new cross-species or something but I''ll advise everyone to open up all of the windows before everything else¡­ We should also work on the outside first while we''re letting the sun do its thing over here¡­"


    "It''s only shining on that hole¡ª"


    "And it''s either that or tearing this whole floor down¡­ Part of me just want to burn this cabin to the ground¡­ If it weren''t for the view¡­"


    "S-Seriously?"


    "Yep."


    "Did you just talk informally, for once?"


    "I did, didn''t I? Huh¡­ That was¡­ I don''t even know what to call it¡­"


    With that said, I was just dying to know how he got, lived, and escaped from this area to turn into this one hell of a butler who somehow found powerlifting as a hobby while being able to still smile or joke around given what he went through.


    There was only so much a normal person could take and I imagine that even assuming the worst couldn''t have cut it.


    Because as bad as this would sound, sometimes, people with the most fucked up past could smile the brightest or have the most fucked up sense of humor¡ªeven using what they went through as the weapon or the armor that could push them forward with what regr folks call "adversity".

 Chapter 961: Glider? - Where the fucks Lopez?!

    At this point, it was safe to say that the entire mood or atmosphere had soured but to kick things back into action, since we were cleaning and all, I had to pull out a bit that I used when my group was in the City of Man.


    I grabbed onto this long brush with a mop handle before I started cleaning, "It''s a hard knock life¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I was already getting weird stares but I continued on, "It''s a hard knock life, for us~"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­"


    Then Nancy joined me with a huge smile on her face, "IT''S A HARD KNOCK LIFE, FOR US!/ IT''S A HARD KNOCK LIFE~ FOR US!"


    *KNOCK*


    *KNOCK*


    But before I get hit with something that shouldn''t have existed in this setting, imagine half of the group evolving into this routine sing and dance from the 80s while the other half couldn''t understand what the fuck we were doing but did it anyway for solidarity.


    In any case, it brought the vibes back up to where it was optimal but it ramped up way too hard when Sebastian straight-up set the cabin aze.


    With the amount of burnable materials in and out of that cabin, it was very easy to light it up even with a perfectly aligned water bottle and sunlight. But yeah, he should''ve told us he was gonna burn it in the end or this was just a decision at the veryst second.


    "WHA¡ª"


    "SEBASTIAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"


    "I do apologize for wasting everyone''s time but I''ll make sure to make up for itter. I just thought I''d be able to do something with this ce but it should be better if we burn it from the ground up first."


    "That¡ª That food you promisedter should be top-notch, goddammit!"


    "YEAH!"


    "Of course, even the wine too¡ª I''ll bring out something from my own collection¡­"


    "Again, it''s the first time I''ve heard of this collection of yours!"


    With that said, I would''ve put my foot down any other day from burning down a rustic cabin in the woods but I wouldn''t want to be a fucking hypocrite because I also burned down something¡ªmy old professor''s Adventure¡ªin the heat of the moment.


    But yeah, it only took a few moments before the three Gerald, Chris Irvine, and Keith came running with the same sullen expression Sebastian was wearing at the moment.


    They couldn''t stop watching it burn down in front of their eyes but they started to tear up before maniacallyughing side by side.


    Honestly, it was a little unnerving watching them do that but I''m just gonna assume it was their way to put that chapter in their lives to a close.


    And yeah, Sebastian would probably tell us the whole storyter but I doubt it could fully express what they went through together. Even I pride myself as a pretty decent storyteller but I doubt I could fully put into words what I experienced when I lost my parents because I even needed to seek help from Marisha to remember one of the important parts of it.


    Then Sebastian made his way towards me:


    "Excuse me, my lord¡­ what do you think though?"


    I tilted my head sideways, "Think of what?"


    "Ah¡ª I mean, this location¡­ Ites with a great view, solid stone basement that''s currently missing a house, right next to farm fresh produce¡­ what do you think? Restoration-wise, I mean."


    "W-Who''s gonna live here anyway?"


    "Umm~ Just take it as a vacation house if ever I was given a day-off or a weekend-off¡­"


    "Are you serious right now?"


    "Of course, my lord¡­ I''m open to hear any ideas off the top of your head."


    "Alright then¡­ Well~ the first thing I''ll do is clear the area around a bit more, some solid fencing, an rm system, a straight path to Sal''s estate, and aside from building a house to your own specifications¡ªwhich I could also give some input on, why don''t you make the basement a panic room of sorts?"


    "A panic room?"


    "You know, a ce where you have everything you''ll need to hunker down and be able to defend yourself because I dunno about as to why you''d want to live in istion from time to time but living alone in the woods up in the mountains is kinda scary. I''m a loner too but with the apocalypse still going on, you gotta stick with people¡­"


    "Hah¡­ Kinda ironic to build the ce I so wanted to get out of into a ce no one besides myself can get in¡­"


    "Eh~ You can look at it that way but it''s making use of what gave you nightmares, nightmares to those who wanted to fuck around with you, in a bad way¡­"


    Sebastian chuckled once again, "That is true¡­"


    "And speaking of a straight path to Sal''s estate¡­ this is gonna sound fucking dumb but since we''re this high up¡­ how about a zipline?"


    "A-A zipline?"


    "You know, if there''s an emergency, as fast as we can run downhill, nothing beats a zipline or sliding down using arge turtle shell, right?"


    "..."


    "But yeah, you also have to think about where the zipline will take you because if it goes straight to Sal''s mansion, it has to be guarded or really fucking hard to get to. I can''t imagine some randoms popping in and using it now, can we?"


    "Hmm~ It does pose a great deal of vulnerability, I''m afraid¡­"


    "So¡­ A glider then?"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "A glider? You know, those things that look like paper airnes but way~ big, like¡ª"


    "M-My lord, I-I do know what a glider is¡­ I-I was just surprised by the sudden jump¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA! YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH! YOU WENT THERE, HUH?!"


    "I HAD TO MY LORD, I HAD TO!"


    In any case, Sebastian and I shared a quick moment while everyone either chuckled or shook their heads at what we were talking about.


    But if you think about it, the overlook provided in this area was the perfect jump-off to get to Sal''s mansion if there was an emergency, and aside from making or acquiring the glider itself, the only thing that was left was an emergency parachute.


    I''m 100% sure we were sounding like people who just escaped a mental asylum but you gotta have a little bit of excitement in your life at least once.


    And yeah, as we were still discussing the specifics of Sebastian''s vacation home, he formally introduced his three personal workers or should I say his blood brothers who walked up to us seeing me talk to their eldest casually.


    Gerald was the first one to speak after the brief introduction, "My lord, it seems like our head butler has taken a fancy to you, huh?"


    "I do think so too./That sounds about right," Chris Irvine and Keith followed.


    Sebastian chuckled, "I do, actually¡­ He has something simr to us and I highly rmend you three toe back to the estate tomorrow¡ªat your earliest convenience, of course¡ªto¡­ you know¡­ trade pointers. So far, we''ve only traded lifting techniques and I''m just building myself up for that¡ª"


    I cut in as I shook my head, "Seriously? You needed a bit of programming for a spar? That''s ridiculous¡ª"


    "My lord, as much as I try to hide it, I am¡­ not as young as I used to be so a little bit of preparation is needed to give you a challenge¡­ And as evidence to that, you did beat me in a short bout earlier¡ª"


    The three couldn''t believe their ears, "HUH?!/ NO WAY?!/ SINCE WHEN DO YOU LOSE?!"


    Sebastian just chuckled as he waved them off, "I''ve lost several times against other people. But you three? Never in a million years¡­ And to go back to our previous subject, I''d like you three to also face the lord to see things from a different perspective though to be a little honest, I just want you to tire him out to the best of your measly abilities¡­"


    I interjected while the three looked like they were about to ignore the order of seniority:


    "That doesn''t seem fair. Why don''t I bring out a few of my boys in the mix?"


    "Oh? You mean, Sir Isaac, JP, and Seb?"


    "Huh? No. I mean Jose, Kuzma, and Mauro¡ª"


    "Kuku¡­ Now that doesn''t seem fair on my side, my lord! And I don''t think the lord, Mauro, would appreciate you calling him your boy¡­"


    "Eh~ He beat me in powerlifting, I beat him in the ring, potato, potato~"


    With that said, the five of us shared a maniacalugh with each other but our time here in the mountains made me forget of someone I should be paying very~ close attention to. Even if he should''ve been keeping a low profile as he should, I didn''t think he''d slip past my radar the past few days.


    Thinking about Lopez made me let out a weird expression and Sebastian instantly knew what was up when I started looking around:


    "You''re looking for Mr. Lopez? Don''t worry, he''s spending quality time with the madam every single day¡­"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 962: A Visitor - Phantom Limb Syndrome?

    As a select few from my group were shocked to fuck from the breaking news, the ones who weren''t in the know were confused about two consenting adults getting it on while I, on the other hand, didn''t know whether Lopez had an actual deathwish or he was having a taste of his own medicine.


    Besides, I already thought he was into girls half¡ªor even more than half his age, maybe even around the same age as his daughter, Chloe.


    But yeah, this could be a step in the right direction for him but unless he was that sex deprived and fucked in the head¡ªno offense to Sal, you don''t simply spend some "quality time" with one of the heads of a drug cartel and expect no blowback.


    Granted Sal might''ve been just missing the warmth of a "man" but if their thing blossoms into something more permanent, it''s going to be a whole lot of trouble because not only Lopez had a wife and a daughter back at my alma mater, but he also had responsibilities as a donor to one of my disciples, JP.


    And again, no offense to Sal, but in order for her to live a peaceful life with Lopez if ever, they had to "make" his recements which I doubt she had the ability to do.


    Furthermore, I was still torn between tearing his head off with a rusty saw or letting him turn over a new leaf, so let''s just say that I''ll cross the bridge when I get there.


    Then as we were pondering about what to do next, we heard a ghastly scream from a few meters above us:


    "YOUUU¡ª! YOU DARE BURN THIS OLD, OLD HOUSE?! ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR MINDS?! THIS IS THE¡ª THIS IS¡ª THIS IS A PIECE OF OUR ANCESTRY! IT''S A PIECE OF¡ª GCHK!!!"


    I only managed to get a brief nce at this hooded figure when I heard Sebastian''s shotgun fire two rounds at almost the exact same time.


    The figure managed to avoid getting its head blown off but Sebastian''s younger blood brothers had already dashed and made their way. I never thought I''d feel such dense killing intent from those three, even more from Sebastian himself, and I might be a little out of base here but the figure they shot must be one of those bitches¡ª I mean, witches in the woods.


    But yeah, everything just happened too briefly and too quickly but as this "ancestral" cabin was still burning down, the three dragged down the hooded figure and presented it in front of Sebastian.


    "Take her cloak off," Sebastian coldly said as he popped off the spent casings from his gun and loaded fresh ones.


    "Right away," Keith answered as he pulled on the cloak of the figure still screeching and squirming from pain but it was safe to say that if we wanted to eat some lunch, the cloak should''ve stayed on.


    Right from the get-go, the rancid smell of BO, piss, shit, and whatever the fuck was rotting and mixing inside her assaulted our noses but I''m 100% sure that maggots were feeding off her rotting arm.


    I wasn''t even sure how she was alive and talking right now but I''m sure she didn''t have long because Sebastian blew most of her left shoulder off which seemingly had this very tight tourniquet wrapped around it. Unless this person was nning to cut off her arm any time soon, I doubt putting one there had any purpose to my knowledge.


    "Listen¡­ I don''t care who you are or where you came from because the only thing that matters now is if you want to die easily or if you want to die in the worst way your kind knows how to. Trust me, we have plenty of firewood in storage and I''ll even dly burn you with a magnifying ss if I wanted to¡­ So¡­ are you gonna tell me what I want or do you wanna make me repeat your options?"


    "Kugh! Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I''ll curse all of you when I die¡­ your loved ones¡­ your children¡­ everything! If you don''t¡ª"


    "Don''t what?! HUH?! TELL ME, YOU FUCKING WITCH! IF I DON''T WHAT?! As all¨Cpowerful as you are, you''re pretty fragile from taking in two¡ªno, a shotgun shell to your stinking shoulder! Newssh, they don''t work¡­ they never do¡­"


    "W-Who the fuck a-are you¡­?"


    As everyone was still trying to process what the fuck was going on, Sebastian started maniacallyughing by himself before he slowly took off the shirt he was wearing.


    And let me tell you this: I was more surprised that Sebastian was living and breathing right nowpared to him pulling more than 600 pounds of weight. Because as I said before, akin to a person jumping to a woodchipper, it seemed like my metaphor wasn''t as farfetched as I thought.


    Not only was Sebastian''s torso riddled with countless scars, as crass or slightly funny as this might sound, but he was missing both his nipples, parts of his skin were patched up by "donated" skin from god knows where, and if I was seeing things clearly, he also had a pair of ribs missing.


    Those were the only things I could see from the surface but it might be safe to assume that probably some of his organs were missing or swapped out.


    Fuck the "sleeper" build I mentionedst time, Sebastian might get a goodugh out of this but the "Frankenstein" build or the "One foot in the grave" build might just exin his actual physique.


    In any case, the "witch" in front of us couldn''t believe her eyes but instead of reacting like a normal person would, her face warped into this unnerving smile that almost ripped her cheeks off¡ªbut it ticked off Sebastian even more as he kicked her t on her back before swinging his axe straight down her ravaged shoulder.


    Almost immediately, another blood-curdling scream came out of this stranger and Sebastian just twisted on the handle to separate the limb from the whole body¡ªand it just rolled once to the side before another scream followed.


    Doing that would''ve definitely prevented the rot from going further but it''ll only be a matter of seconds before shepletely bled out.


    But as Sebastian was about to continue his interrogation, the woman gagged and regurgitated this slimy pit viper, then it sank its fangs to the first person it saw, our butler.


    "SEBASTIAN!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!"


    However, just as the witch threw him a mocking smile, Sebastian just smiled the same way as he pulled the snake off his body and bit its head off and¡­ you know, chewed. Even his three younger brothers stifled augh from the bitch''sst hurrah as Sebastian crouched down and looked her in the eye.


    "Shame¡­ I thought I''d at least feel something from that so I let it bit me¡­ Shame¡­ Just a shame, to be honest¡­"


    "H-How are¡ª Ha¡­ H-How are you still¡ª Kah! Hahck! KkCK!"


    "I thought you''d have what I want but your final gift here? I''ve had way~ worse¡­ Try harder next time¡­"


    And as soon as Sebastian said that, he reached for her messy head of hair that had its own ecosystem before dragging her by the burning house. But to everyone''s surprise, Sebastian simply smashed both her kneecaps before partly cing her body into the fire¡ªstarting with her feet.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! NO! NOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    I could only imagine the heat they were both enduring at the same time but I''m 100% sure that burning my body, feet first, was way worse than simply chucking me into the fire. I''d probably die in the first few seconds but it''spletely different if it was done this way.


    But yeah, Sebastian just maintained eye contact as the woman screamed for dear life until she was more than well done.


    As unnerving as it looked, he used a long branch to slowly push her as she was getting cooked and no one present even tried to stop him from doing so.


    Because again, I still have no idea what Sebastian had gone through but if this was his way to get over that, fuck it, not only does he deserve the gratification but the person receiving it fucking deserved it too.


    At that point, I''m pretty sure everyone else present added a few more points to how scary Sebastian was but I''m gonna assume Megan and a few others added some points somewhere else. Because yeah, as long as they didn''t have a cabin in the woods and tortured young souls, they should probably be fine.


    And as Sebastian made his way back towards us while literally smoking hot, he was smiling at first but once he saw everyone else''s reactions, his smile slowly turned sullen.


    ''Dumbasses¡­''


    But yeah, he had his younger brothers with him but I walked over and decided to disturb the waters:


    "So¡­ Ever heard of phantom limb syndrome?"


    "Yes?"


    I nodded as I nced at his nonexistent nipples, "So¡­ Umm~ Do they still get you know what when it''s cold or nah?"


    Sebastian followed my line of sight for a moment before realization struck, "Pfft¡­ HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 963: A Full Meal

    After that incident, even if it ended on a lighter note, from the looks a select few were exchanging, I assumed that they were having second thoughts about wanting to hear the whole story¡ªbecause they already had more than an inkling about it, and it was enough¡ªor they wanted to know more than everything¡­ including the behind the scenes footage and the director''smentary.


    But yeah, there were a few changes to our ns and one of them was to explore more of the areas we haven''t been to.


    Though with the time we had left before sundown, we only managed to visit a couple of their production nts that processed their produce to either dried goods or these varieties of juices packaged in colorful juiceboxes.


    I''m not sure as to why they still needed to put them in those colorful packaging but hey, it does make me a little more thirsty seeing them in vibrant colorspared to an old cardboard box.


    ''I guess they still have a lot those printed out and yeah¡­ their customer base is a little¡­ umm¡­ bleak at the moment¡­ They''re probably good for a while and they could just keep some for disy¡ª Who am I kidding¡­ Who are they using these disys for¡­''


    In any case, we did stop by the ranch to visit Rogue and a few other animals and to pick up our custom leather boots and clothes¡ªbut most importantly, I was there to pick up my very own custom lifting belt from Clyde.


    I''ve only used what was avablest time but the difference of usingmercially-made productspared to his had at least a 5%-10% difference¡ªand I was just talking about the lifting straps.


    I put up some numbers before¡ªin regards to how each essory could increase our total lifting capacity¡ªand I''m more than fucking excited to see what I could put up with something that''smercially supposed to give me a 10%-20% increase in my total.


    Realistically speaking, I''m expecting to get close to stepping my foot onto the 800-pound club but as Sebastian advised, I just need to be a little bit patient when ites to producing results.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we all headed back and for some fucking reason, Sebastian decided to do "story-time" behind the garage where we were supposed to work out, and he even set up log chairs around a campfire PLUS the food and drinks he promised us.


    In all fairness, it IS cozy and toasty as fuck but let''s just say it was a setup for what he was about to say¡ªand yeah, his younger blood brothers also showed up right before he started:


    "Alright, everyone settled in? Everyone good? Everyone okay? This is a very~ good time to tell this tale from way, way~ back¡ª no, not as way~ back¡ªthough it is¡ªbut¡­ let me restart. This is a very, very~ good time to retell this story from my childhood because of what everyone helped us achieve today¡­"


    Then he leaned over and assumed a pose, "You see¡­ these eyes of mine used to be so¡­ so used to the dark because contrary to that certain book, in MY beginning, there was no light¡­ Well~ There is from time to time and I only discovered that it was only at nighttime, when she visits, because she¡­ even if she needed light on the way down to my ''room'', she also needed them on the way up and to move around upstairs because there was absence of it¡­"


    And as Sebastian continued, he told us that the four metal rods sticking out of the corner in the basement was the ce he was chained down¡ªthough he could move a few feet around¡ªwhich enabled him to have an area of the room to excrete or expel waste, sleep, and to eat.


    "Before any of you asks as to why I get visits even though I already have everything in the world? Well¡­ I did say I was taught herbalism to a degree and I''m an expert in it¡­ But yeah, some of the ''food'' dropped down to me contained everything she could collect and process in the mountains, and she needed to examine not only me but my waste to see what the effects were to my body.


    However, call it a blessing or a curse, it didn''t take long before I got used to what she was giving me so aside from upping the dosage, she brought a control group to have a umm¡­ fresh ''perspective'' on her concoctions¡­"


    "Wait¡­" JP trailed as he seemed to be thinking deeply of something, "I''m sorry but¡­"


    "Go on¡­ You can ask me anything you want¡­"


    "It''s just¡­ s-seeing your body earlier and this story d-doesn''t add up as much¡­ Sure, she fed you poison or simply just vile concoctions but¡ª"


    "Ah! Why does my torso look like it was ripped open by a bear?"


    "Y-Your words but¡­ sure."


    Sebastian chuckled, "Well¡­ for some reason, even when I was still by myself, she knew the times when I was about to die¡ªeither by my own hands or by her concoctions, and she had every trick in the book to bring me back every single time.


    Honestly speaking, it got harder to do it when I gotpany because the ones before them would scream or yell if something was wrong with me, just me, not the others. I did say there were more of us but other than me, everyone''s free to get out of that hell by their own means. I guess I''m special in a way¡­ I am her son, after all¡­"


    "...!"


    Hearing that piece of news made everyone shocked to fuck but Sebastian just said it so casually like the term mother and son didn''t mean a lick in his vocabry. But yeah, he added more gruesome details as to why his body looked like that because as proud as his "mother" was of him for being able to stomach all her concoctions, he became an ingredient himself.


    "Yeah, of course, she opened me up to see how I was able to survive that long.


    And again, call it a blessing or a curse but as I obtained immunity to certain poisons and venoms, I lost part of my liver among other things and I didn''t even know that my pee was actually ck¡ªwhich was something I only discovered when I got out¡­ I don''t even wanna call it lucky but as it stands now, I was also very lucky to not be carrying around a colostomy bag¡­ no offense to those who had them but I wouldn''t be able to perform my duties as properly if I had something like that on me¡­"


    Alexa interjected, "B-But you''re as strong as¡ª"


    Sebastian cut her off, "As strong as I am, it wasn''t because of what was done to me. On the contrary, several doctors told me that I should''ve been dead long ago and wouldn''t be able to live as a normal person but here I am now¡­ Technically I wasn''t living as a normal person now but it''s a tad better than a normal person would, in my opinion, don''t you think so?"


    "H-How did you get out though? How did you all escape?"


    "Ah¡­ I dislike saying it multiple times in a single day but call it a blessing or a curse, having these immunities came with a set of responsibilities¡­"


    "Responsibilities?"


    "You see, we weren''t exactly sure as to how we got out before¡ªeven now¡ªbut us four concluded it to her mishandling of her instruments."


    "What?"


    "Umm~ How do I put this¡­ Oh! If you get bitten by a snake or something simr, it is rmended by yours truly to keep or trap whatever it was that bit you or poisoned you because that''ll give you the highest chance to make something to counter or make an antivenom of whatever it was inside you because doctors have to know exactly what ailed you to make a proper response to it.


    Sure, just remembering the shape and color of the snake is fine but if you can catch it, why not?"


    "Wait¡­ so mishandling¡­ she identally poisoned herself with¡ª"


    "Yes. One day she just rushed down the stairs in a panic but to us, it''s an open invitation to retaliate. A chance like that doesn''te very often or at all but it was safe to say that it was more than a monumental task because four barely kept alive, chained kids versus a grown woman who just happened to be poisoned with all her tools was still a mismatch.


    You see, as close as we are now, we still fought over who gets fed that day but it also became a crutch at the most critical moment¡­"


    "H-How so?"


    "I hope this next bit of information doesn''t change your perception of me but at that time¡ªno, ever since I woke up in that ce, I was always hungry¡­ So¡­ Let''s just say that after an unknown amount of time, we finally had a full meal¡­"

 Chapter 964: Bread, Blood, and a Campfire

    As Sebastian dropped another bomb on our feet, I thought I had already run out of reactions for a possible thumbnail, but everyone else definitely thought that something was fucking off when his three blood brothers: Gerald, Chris Irvine, and Keith were also shocked to fuck at the revtion.


    Quinn was the first one to react, "HOLD UP, SOMETHING''S NOT RIGHT HERE!"


    Sebastian had never looked so confused, "Pardon?"


    She pointed at the three right beside him, "THEY WERE THERE, RIGHT?!"


    "Yes? And?"


    "AND?! THAT''S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?! AND?! WHY ARE THEY AS SURPRISED AS US?!"


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    "DON''T FOLLOW?! WHAT IS THERE NOT TO FOLLOW?! YOU SUDDENLY BRING UP EATING YOUR MOTHER FOR DINNER AND YOUR ACCOMPLICES CAN''T SEEM TO REMEMBER A DAMN THING?! THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT?!"


    As Quinn was ranting at the top of her lungs, the three were also nodding in kind because it did really seem like Sebastian was once again pulling the wool over our eyes. However, it only took a few seconds for Sebastian''s brain to process what Quinn had just said before his face warped into this look of disgust and difort.


    "W-Wait, I didn''t say any of that!"


    "HAAAAH?! YOU JUST ALLUDED TO IT BY SAYING YOU FINALLY HAD A FULL MEAL! AM I BEING GASLIT BY THIS FUCKER?! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD SEBASTIAN THAT I''LL SHAVE YOUR FUCKING HEAD IF¡ª"


    Sebastian cut in as he waved her off, "H-Hold on, I did say we finally had a full meal but I didn''t mean my mother! The full meal I meant was the bread and water in the kitchen above! N-Not¡ª T-That''s revolting to even think of that! Is that how all of your minds work?! T-That''s horrible!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "My dear g-guests? My lords?"


    Honest to fucking god, it was fucking quiet for several seconds as everyone was thinking as to how Sebastian was this so fucking good at making people misunderstand them, him, and each other, one or all at the same time. I assumed it was his way of talking eloquently but this night might very well be his own fucking demise.


    As strong as he was, he wasn''t able to keep several people from holding him down and bonking him a couple of times.


    In any case, he spent more time tidying himself up again andbing his hair back before going back to his seat though everyone else deserved a short breather from the things we heard earlier. But yeah, it was still sad to hear that young kid''s first "full" meal of his life was stale bread and a ss of water butpared to what he consumed before, it was definitely the best one by far.


    ''Maybe one of the reasons he acquired such a taste for good food and delectable wine¡­ He can''t just go back to whatever it was he was eating before¡­''


    Then Sebastian audibly cleared his throat as he gathered everyone''s attention:


    "Alright, alright¡­ I apologize for the dy and the¡­ misunderstanding I''ve caused but shall I continue where I left off? Okay? Here we go¡ª Where was I again? Oh!


    The full meal¡­ Haha¡­ Ha¡­ A-Alright, as we left my mother''s corpse in the basement, we made our way to the same passage we took¡ªuntil we reached the kitchen and found some bread¡ªthough the inside was totally different from what I''ve remembered¡­"


    "How so?"


    "It did have the necessities for a woman to live alone in the mountains but it definitely had jars, vials, and different kinds of containers that¡­ contained her hobbies¡­ I was¡ª I mean, part of me was in some of them too but I didn''t even care about that because I just remember that my head just got flooded with new things I haven''t seen before but I still can''t forget the first time I chomped on that piece of bread¡­ All of these delicacies from my collection but nothing could ever top that¡­ Part of me wishes to taste the same thing again but I''d have to recreate the whole environment and the same exact situation but I might just die this time¡­"


    ''Ah¡­ It''s the opposite way then¡­''


    Sebastian continued, "But yeah, as funny as this may sound, when I had the chance to take a proper look at them," he chuckled as he pointed to his brothers, "The first thing I told them was that¡ªpardon thenguage¡ªthey looked like shit, smelled like shit, and was probably eating shit from the moment they were born but these three justughed at my face and made me look into this item they called a mirror!


    I obviously knew what it was now but I just have to mention that was the first time I felt like I almost jumped out of my skin!"


    Mauro joked, "Wait, wait¡­ pfft¡­ how are you so scared of seeing your face if you''ve been seeing your mother''s face every single day¡ª"


    Sebastian didn''t take it to heart as he chuckled, "As atrocious my mother was to me, she didn''t look the type to do those at all. Besides, I dunno who my father was but you can at least tell where I got my face from. Curious eh?"


    "That''s¡­"


    Ruben interjected, "B-But how did you know that she''s actually your mother?"


    Then everyone else looked at Ruben weirdly.


    "I don''t understand the question, dear sir¡­"


    "I mean¡­ She could still look like you and vice versa but that doesn''t mean that she''s actually your mom, right? She could just be a distant rtive too!"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "Well~ There is a small chance of that but I don''t wanna bet on the chance that my real mother could still be out there in this world that now had turned to this nigh-impossible to live on unless you''re part of the 1%..."


    Ruben shook his head as he wore a difficult expression, "It''s just¡­ O-Our mothers shouldn''t do that to t-their sons¡­ o-or their daughters in that regard¡­"


    There was a moment of silence there for a moment but Sebastian wore a gentle smile as he turned to everyone:


    "As difficult as my ''childhood'' waspared to everybody¡ªor most people that grew up with loving and caring mothers¡­ do know that I agree with that statement 100%. And yeah, growing up seeing kids my age not just with their mothers but also their fathers put me in a difficult position because as much as I would hate to admit it¡­ the feeling of envy was ever-present¡­"


    "..."


    "But yeah, as crude as this may sound to the madam¡­ I, for one, consider her as my mother figure while I consider Sir Clyde as my father figure.


    Only a handful of people here know what they did not only for me but for them as well to get back on our own two feet¡­ And yeah¡­ Sal did work us hard enough to vomit our breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a daily basis, and it might even be considered involuntary childbor of some sort but now¡­ I can put on this very nice uniform, serve guests such as yourselves, pursue a hobby, hunt down my enemies on my own time, and much, much more¡­"


    "..."


    "What I''m trying to say is that¡­ It''s already cliche at this point but sometimes, blood doesn''t determine whether you are their actual mother, brother, or anything else in that regard¡­ Simple as that¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian shared more details of his past as the other three added on for more context or other perspectives but as the subject became more and more sappy for our tastes, we just decided to kick it up a notch.


    And as one of a hell butler should do, he pulled out a tuned guitar, some graham crackers, marshmallows, and a lot of chocte for everyone to make smores, but a fight almost broke out as to who would get to first y the guitar.


    "Gimme!"


    "D''you even know how to y?!"


    "I know Stairway to Hea¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "Then what are you gonna y?!"


    "Drive by Incubus?"


    "Alright, alright¡ª"


    "I~~~~ Wish you were here¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN THE RIGHT ONE! DRIVE BY INCUBUS MY ASS! GIVE THAT TO ME!"


    "Watch how his fingers tangle¡­"


    "Then you y it then!"


    "Alright! ALRIGHT! I''m not gonna y some pop shit, alright?!"


    "You''re saying alright too many times!"


    "SHUT UP! Here''s a song by Imagine Dragons¡ª"


    "HAAAA?! WANT A KICK IN THE HEAD?!"


    "BRING IT!"


    "C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! WITH THE C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! WE CAN''T HELP IT IF YOU JUST SING ALONG~~~"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING ACAPELLA FOR?!"


    "OH-AH-AH-AH-AH!"


    "NOT YOU TOO?!"


    "I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE AIR TONIGHT~~~ OH LORD~~!"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHO SPIKED THE WINE?! NO ONE SHOULD BE THIS FUCKING DRUNK!"


    But as everyone else was having fun, I did remember a question I should''ve asked Sebastian when he was answering everything honestly:


    ''What was it that he wanted to acquire from the quack witch earlier?''

 Chapter 965: Hyperspermia? - Challenge Accepted

    Putting that thought aside for the moment because it wasn''t exactly my business to begin with, it was now time to tie up some loose ends before we started going back on the road again. However, Edith requested a couple more days in preparation so it was just about enough time to figure out some things and manage things within my control.


    As our little story time with Sebastian ended, we went back to our rooms but the first thing I did was ask Nancy for a pencil and some paper.


    "O-Okay!"


    "Thank you," I said as I waved her off.


    It didn''t take long before she came back with the items I asked for so while everyone else was busy doing their own thing, I decided to sketch the witch we met in the mountain to show it to Terry¡ªthe drunk dude at the partyst time¡ªtomorrow.


    I figured it wouldn''t hurt driving around the other estates the Rivas Family now had some ownership of, and meeting the same person without alcohol in his system had more meritpared to an overly honest drunk who''d tell you just about anything thates to mind.


    However, I didn''t even notice that Nancy was watching me the whole time and she couldn''t believe what I did on the piece of paper that she gave me.


    "W-Whoa¡­" Nancy muttered while wide-eyed and fascinated.


    "Ah¡ª"


    Then she looked up at me with puppy eyes, "C-C-Can you d-draw me too?!"


    "Sure?"


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "Ah¡ª A-Are you d-done with that though? I-I don''t want to d-disturb¡ª"


    "Oh! D''you want me to draw you now? I can finish this one upter¡ª"


    "C-Can you do it in my n-notebook?! Please?"


    "Okay, no problem with that¡ª"


    "YAY~! I-I WILL BE BACK! D-DON''T GO ANYWHERE!"


    In any case, it seemed like Nancy was taking her time finding her notebook so I quickly finished my sketch¡ªbut with themotion she made from seeing me draw, it attracted the attention of thedies behind me who were trying on some make-up that surprisingly enough, was also made from the Rivas Family''s products AND was a product line from Elsa herself who for some reason was present at the moment.


    I was shocked to fuck, "W-What are you doing here?!"


    She couldn''t believe her ears, "Haah?! It''s your room but this is still my home! Can''t wait to have all these girls to yourself?!"


    I chortled, "Don''t change the subject! Again, why are you here and not at the opposite end of the mansion where Mauro''s supposed to be pinning you to a wall or the ceiling?!"


    "Ceiling? We could do that? I guess we can try¡ª"


    "Think, Elsa! Think! I was just trying to make a joke!"


    "Ha-Ha. Funny! Do you know what''s really funny though? It''s bold of you to assume he does the fucking while I''m the one who does the actual heavy lifting from day one! Powerlifter my ass¡ª what a joke!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Where is he anyway?"


    She rolled her eyes as she huffed, "He took off with Logan the moment they heard there was this barn find in one¡ª"


    I cut in excitedly, "W-What did they find?!"


    "MEN! Why are you all so excited about that?! Ugh¡ª I do understand the reason but we should be busy doing our thing right about now!"


    "Hey. I''m not an expert but sometimes, you two need toy off for a bit so that the sperm count¡ª"


    "Hah! Don''t tell me about his sperm count¡­ You won''t believe the amount he lets out every single time!"


    I tried my best to get the picture of another guy ejacting out of my head before I answered, "Trust me, I do know about that¡­ If that''s what we''re talking about¡­"


    "Huh?"


    Then everyone else confirmed it for me, "He''s not lying./ Correct./ It''s true!/ Trust me, there''s no way I''m not overflowing every time he cums in me¡­/ I can prove it to you?/ Tastes really good too, will re-order again, kek¡­"


    I then waved them all off as gged down Elsa, "Again, I''m not an expert but Mauro might''ve something called Hyperspermia. I''m not entirely sure about its causes but from what I''ve read, it could be from taking ''certain'' medications, eating a lot of protein-rich foods, etc. but the two I''ve mentioned represent Mauro''s case really well."


    "So¡­ You also have it?"


    "Well~ I do have symptoms of it¡ªas everyone else proved in this circle¡ªbut I''m not on the juice and I eat a very bnced diet. No infections in my prostate nor do I have pain, dizziness, or dys when I¡­ you know, so chances are, I might just have both the volume and sperm count¡­ And I''ve seen mine multiple times, it''s still white in color¡ª I''d hate to ask but¡ª"


    "Sometimes, it is, yes¡­ W-What was it again? Hyperspermia?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª If his condition''s predisposed to release a lot of it, why am I still not pregnant?"


    "That''s the thing. Volume doesn''t always mean high sperm count. A cotton candy might look like it''s a lot but if youpare it to a jawbreaker with the same size¡­ You get what I mean?"


    "So¡­ Can you tell me more about it?"


    "Well~ I shouldn''t be the one telling this to you because I''m not a doctor¡ª"


    "Just tell me!"


    "Fine. There''s a lower risk of pregnancy if you''re with someone that has the condition and even if you do, there''s a higher chance of having a miscarriage¡­" then I paused as I saw Elsa''s face getting somber, "Hold on¡­ Hold that tear, alright?"


    "You just told me that I''m not gonna get pregnant! How''s that¡ª"


    Kaleyforted her from the side, "Just listen to him for a bit, alright? He knows his stuff¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    I cleared my throat before I continued, "Alright¡­ What I''ve said is true but that doesn''t mean the chances of you getting pregnant is zero. A doctor¡ªwhich we have at home¡ªcan simply extract your eggs and Mauro''s semen from his grande serving cup, fertilize it, then put it back to you, and vo! You''re fucking pregnant!


    That''s a sure-fire way to do it but if you wanna do it the old-fashioned way, you gottay off for at least a week before doing it again but do expect extra, extra servings because he''ll be backed the fuck up¡­ just saying¡­ NNN works for some people but I straight-up almost died from that so I do the exact opposite of that¡­"


    "W-What''s NNN¡ª"


    ''No-Nut November, Non-Stop Nut November is the way to go!''


    I shook the thought from my head as I replied, "N-Not important, but anyway, don''t get too mad when he gets back because if that barn find is actually gold, he''ll definitely fuck you even if you tap out."


    Elsa then let out a smile before she chuckled, "I''ll be the judge of that! But yeah, thanks for the info. I guess we''ll pay your ce a visit too? When''s the earliest we coulde? I don''t want to put all of the me on him because there''s also the chance that I could be the one at fault¡ª"


    "It''s not anyone''s fault, alright? But yeah, you can join us on the trip back and¡ª"


    Then Nancy finally came in with her notebook, "FOUND IT!!! H-Huh? What did I miss?"


    Quinn answered, "Where were you? We just finished fucking and even Elsa joined us!"


    "WHAT?! HOW LONG WAS I¡ª"


    "I''M JOKING! But we were just talking about semen. I didn''t think I''d be this invested but care to weigh in?"


    Nancy never looked so confused, "I-I-I was just about to g-get drawn¡­ I don''t¡­ I-It''s a g-good reward, I guess?"


    "BAHAHAHA! I COULDN''T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF!"


    I any case, it didn''t take long before everyone remembered that I promised that I''d draw Nancy tonight but she was in tears because they dragged her a few feet away so she''d have proper make-up on for her portrait.


    I tried to g them down, "G-Guys¡­ It''s just a simple sketch¡ª"


    Elsa roared for the first time, "SHADDAP! SIMPLE SKETCH OR NOT, SHE NEEDS TO LOOK AT HER BEST!"


    "I actually like her looking like¡ª"


    "LOOKING LIKE WHAT, HUH¡ª"


    Nancy managed to cut in, "Y-You can do m-my eyes b-but please don''t cover my f-freckles! H-He said i-it looks cute so p-please leave them on!"


    "Shi~ Are you sure, Nancy? I thought you hated them?"


    "N-Not anymore, I guess? I stopped wearing contacts too¡ª"


    "Then that''s great! We''ve been telling you a lot of times that you''re pretty but all it takes is Mr. Lucky over there to convince you, huh?"


    "I-I guess so? He''s really nice but he''s not as scary as Sebastian¡­"


    I then cut in while making the roompletely ice-cold, "Is that so? Challenge epted."


    "STOP! YOU DOOFUS!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    For the sake of brevity, let''s just say I was beaten because of reading the room wrong and I discovered that their makeup also covered bruises really well¡­

 Chapter 966: "Screenshots" - Rare Flowers

    Joking aside, as I finally got Nancy to afortable position for her portrait, I discovered that her notebook of sorts was like a diary, botany book, dream journal, etc. mushed together.


    To my surprise, she could also draw pretty well¡ªbecause she had full pages of herbs and the like in her notebook with notes on several things it could do, but she almost jumped me when she thought I was reading her innermost thoughts put on paper.


    "H-Hey! That''s¡ª P-Please don''t flip them around!"


    "Ah¡ª My bad, my bad¡­ I identally nced at some passages but you can also draw, huh?"


    "N-Not as good as you are!"


    "Art is subjective, alright? Anyway, would you mind me taking photos of your drawings and the notes at the bottom to add to my collection¡ª before you ask, they''re not hand drawn by me but you have interesting findings here that aren''t on the botany books I have at home."


    "R-Really? I-I''m not sure if they''re actual facts t-though¡­"


    "It doesn''t matter to me even if it''s anecdotal. What you found about these nts could be unique only to you or a select group of people so it''s better to have notes on them just in case they needed a different form of treatment. Your findings here could maybe help someone in need in the future, you never know¡­"


    "Oh~ I-I see¡­ Oh! I-I hate to ask this but d-do I have to staypletely still the whole time?"


    "Hmm?"


    "I mean¡ª I know I''m just sitting on this sofa but¡ª"


    "Are you happy with that position though?"


    "I-I guess¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Don''t guess, heh. Be really sure about what you want."


    "Umm~ Okay! I''m happy with this one! W-Wait! I don''t think I can hold my smile for this long!"


    "Don''t worry! I gotchu! Unlike other artists¡ªthough I don''t consider myself one¡ªI''ll give you the honor of watching me draw you like you did earlier."


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    I then realized she didn''t know I have a photographic memory, "Ah¡ª I basically ''screenshotted'' you and will now draw you from memory. Neat little trick, amirite?"


    "F-For real?! That''s so cool~!"


    In any case, I spent a good 30 minutes drawing Nancy in her notebook and she couldn''t help but let out happy noises while she watched ite all together. I did bonk her head once because she grabbed on my drawing arm when she got too excited but little did I know that I''d be stuck drawing everyone past midnight.


    Even Elsa wouldn''t nudge an inch until I drew her even if Mauro already came back with Logan, looking like they struck gold.


    "C''mon Elsa, can''t you see I''m this excited?! He''s already drawing it from memory, why''d you have to watch it get finished?!"


    "Shaddap! Because I want to! We wouldn''t be here if you didn''t haul ass to a nasty old barn instead of doing me, right?! Have your well-deserved break, Mr. Cotton Candy! Go hang out with Mr.


    Sour Gummy Worms over there until we''re done!"


    "Cotton¡ª HUH?! The fuck¡ª I dunno if you care but we just bagged a 356! Can you believe it?!"


    I cut in, "A 356-what? Porche?"


    "YEAH!"


    I nodded as I kept drawing Elsa''s portrait, "Sick. That''s actually sick¡ª"


    Elsa rolled her eyes, "Yadda, yadda~ C-Can you make my eyes a little bigger?"


    Mauro cut in, "Dude. I''ll give it to you for free if you draw her forehead a few centimeters higher¡ª"


    "GET OUT OF HERE, MAURO! AND YOU! DON''T GET ANY IDEAS!"


    With that said, I eventually finished drawing everyone''s self-portraits including Logan and Mauro''s, and as they left, we closed the night off with an activity that involved cardio and a lot of hip thrusting. This time, Nancy took special care of me so Kaley and I decided to include her with our private time before everyone else woke up.


    In any case, we had two days left before departure so I let everyone do their own thing as I drove over to the Villegas'' Family Estate led by Rosemarie "Rosie" Villegas¡ªwho was housing her darling Nephew whom I was looking for, Terry.


    I did bring Kaley with me, but surprisingly enough, Nancy also asked toe with us for some reason, and to make our mixture of stows even more random, Logan, Kuzma, and Seb wanted toe with us, so they did.


    "I actually wanted a tour guide but wouldn''t Edith need your assistance, Nancy?"


    "Hmm? Oh! I''m deathly allergic to bees a-actually so I can''t follow her over there¡­"


    "Ah~ Thanks for guiding us then¡ª How about you three? What gives?"


    Logan answered first, "I''m actually a greatpany, mind you. As much as I wanted to spend more time with Quinn and increase my chances with her, I wanted to know why she wanted to spend more time with you."


    Kaley chuckled, "She''s not here though? Didn''t that contradict your statement?"


    Logan rolled his eyes, "Exactly. She always takes what she wants but she lets you two go off on your own. She never does that. I guess I''m trying to learn from you both, it''s weird, even for me."


    I chuckled, "Suit yourself then, how about you Kuzma? I thought you''d spend more time with Tatiana? Have you talked to Artem, at least?"


    He simply nodded, "I did, thanks to you. I''m here because he ordered me to keep you safe at all times. Especially now that Tatiana''s having a day off."


    "Oh. Thanks, I guess? How about you Seb?"


    "Ah~ I dunno¡­ I don''t mind horsing around with the guys or even casually hanging around with Alexa but¡­ Haa¡­ I dunno? Just a change of pace, I guess?


    It''s been pretty chill but it''s still kinda weird¡­ I heard you guys are going into another ce that has rare flowers so if I can afford one, I might get one for Alexa¡ª And before you say anything, I know¡­ She''s been smiling more these few days and can''t a friend give another friend flowers?"


    Nancy cut in with a huge smile on her face, "Normal ones? Sure! But the ones at Mrs. Rosie''s ce? That''s a little too¡­ you know, serious. Well~ There are normal ones too, of course, but you should''ve gone to our garden instead.


    You could''ve gotten them for free¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Do you have an idea of how much are her flowers sold for?"


    "I do¡ª"


    Logan cut in, "What are you even gonna pay for them?"


    "I-I just wanna get an estimate¡­ or pay in a day''s work or two or something¡­ Might be worth it to check it out¡ª"


    I waved them off, "I think they''ll give us one or two for free¡­ If not, I gotcha¡­ Don''t worry about it¡­"


    "Really?"


    "Yeah."


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we reached the front gate of the Villegas Family but I didn''t think that a couple of Mauro''s men would open it up for us. They were just as surprised to see me with Logan though it seemed like there were more of them inside.


    In any case, the sweet smell of flowers instantly came into our noses and it had a more distinct fragrancepared to the ones in front of Sal''s mansion. Sure, it could be the way the flowers were arranged close to the entrance but it was definitely a nice touch.


    However, just as much fun as we had in Sal''s estate, Kaley and I could already sense how the events fromst time affected the lesser families.


    It shouldn''t havee as a surprise but when Mrs. Rosie weed us, she couldn''t hide the fear in her eyes, especially towards me.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I felt some hate and animosity from a few people whom I''ve never seen before. I didn''t think we''d be met with hostility right as we entered their doors but it didn''t take long before I discovered that the ones staring daggers at us were from the Roxas Family who didn''t attend the party.


    And yeah, Terry¡ªwho came at the right moment straight up told me who they were as he shooed them away.


    Though he was definitely more annoying sober than drunk.


    "GO ON THEN! GIT! YOUR HEADS WOULD''VE ROLLED IF ANYONE ELSE CAME! COUNT YOURSELVES LUCKY! FUCKING DUMBASSES, SERIOUSLY!" then he quickly snapped back to me, "I-I''m really sorry, bro. They shouldn''t have done that, seriously!


    I''m gonna tell the guards living with us to deal with themter¡ª"


    Logan then cut in as he cracked his knuckles, "No need to tell my bros. I''ll handle it myself¡ª"


    I quickly gged him down, "There''s really no need for that. They lost their homes, what do you expect?"


    "Seriously? They act that way and you let it go?! They should be put in their ce before they think they can do shit like that again."


    I shook my head, "Well~ That''s true in a sense¡ª"


    "So what the hell are we standing here for?! It''s better than shopping for flowers, right?!"


    "Nah~ There''s a more fun and proper way to go about it. But before that," I said as I turned to Mrs. Rosie who was patiently waiting for us, "Are they giving you problems?"


    She shook her head, "N-Not always because of the guards you sent here but all t-they do is just s-stare like t-that¡­ N-Nothing too serious¡­"


    "I see¡­" then I turned to Terry, "Can you¡­ please call them back? I mean, everyone involved? Don''t worry, as easy as it is for me to lop their heads off, we should just all get along, right?"


    "S-Sure but¡­ W-What are you gonna do?"

 Chapter 967: Posture Up - Juliet Rose?

    Hearing Terry''s curious nce that had a twinge of excitement, I just stared at him without saying anything before he eventually got the message and fetched the people who were staring me daggers earlier. It didn''t take long before the same five people walked in slowly¡ªtotally different from what they were earlier¡ªand funnily enough, they couldn''t even maintain eye contact.


    However, even without eye contact, I could clearly see some of them clenching their fists, gritting their teeth, etc., a few ways to tell me nonverbally that they weren''t happy with their current arrangement.


    In all honesty, I was just here to talk to Terry about my sketch and ask Rosie for a deal with her flowers, and as thuggish as this may sound, if these people couldn''t ept their loss, pay what they were due, and still act out against the people who were feeding them and keeping them alive, they should be taught a valuable lesson.


    I said loud enough for everybody in the hall to hear:


    "Look at me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Met with silence coupled with not following what I said, I just gave them another chance as I repeated myself:


    "You five kept on leering at me earlier, look at me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Last chance."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this moment, Logan, and even Kuzma were ready to break some fingers to prove a point, but they were lucky enough to see Kaley pull Nancy and Rosie for cover as I suddenly threw a stun grenade right in the middle of the five who were still looking away.


    *BANG*


    If they heeded my words, they should''ve seen iting to protect themselves somewhat because the moment I opened my eyes and unclogged my ears, all of them had never looked so miserable as they were on the ground, eyes shut tight, and covering their ears¡ªthough one was already bleeding through them.


    In our case, Kaley and the rest were safe and sound and the same could be said for Seb and Terry, rtively speaking, because they were brought to cover by Logan and Kuzma. Granted a shbang or a stun grenade was non-lethal, but it could still cause blindness or deafness¡ªeven injuries in worst cases¡ªand they didn''t even know what I threw over¡ªso the best bet was to always take cover.


    But yeah, hurling a light grenade over to these five gave me the reception I wanted as a couple of them were definitely staring daggers straight at me, but they never expected me to bridge the distance in the blink of an eye as I enveloped them with murderous intent.


    From the outside perspective, it might look like I was simply crouched down and mad-dogging one of the guys in his mid-20s with my chilling visage, but I already had enough control of it to encase a small area and condense it to the point that anyone inside it would be hard not only of breathing but also moving.


    In any case, I gave this kid a faint smile before speaking in a normal tone:


    "When I tell you fucks to look at me, you look at me. Understand?"


    "K-Kch..! H-Ha¡ª Ha¡­ Hah K-KUk¡ª Hnnk!"


    The kid couldn''t even let out a proper word as he struggled to breathe.


    But yeah, I withdrew whatever I had on them so we could finally have a normal conversation, but thedy to the right straight-up peed herself as tears streamed down her face. She wasn''t able to move a single muscle earlier and the moment she was finally able to breathe, everything just rxed all at the same time.


    The other girl with them took a deep breath before trying to appeal to my good side:


    "P-Please sir, w-we apologize¡­ I-If I-I can just take her to the w-washroom and g-give her a c-change of clothes¡ªa-after mopping up this floor too, w-we would be more presentable to talk in your p-presence¡ª"


    I shook my head as I stared her down, "Then who''s fucking fault was it that she pissed herself, huh?!"


    "I-I¡ª"


    "Was looking at me that hard?! Isn''t the normal way to talk to people to look them in the eye?! You fucks were ring at me earlier, right?! Where did the fucking angst go?!"


    "W-We sincerely apologize! W-WE¡ª"


    "Your name''s Shirley, right?"


    "A-Ah¡ª Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "So, Shirley¡­ do you talk for them or not?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Was the question that difficult? Do you talk for them or not? I know I''m kind of a genius and geniuses could probably count up to five but aside from you and this dude who could only speak thenguage of getting a dick stuck in his throat, no one seems to be speaking their mind!"


    "I¡­"


    "Newssh! I called you here so we can talk! You''ll never get this chance again! Do you wanna spend your precious time airing your grievances or do you want to help her clean up instead?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    "You''re good, Shirley, but I''m talking to them now," then I turned to the three¡ªno four, who still hadn''t spoken a single word, "If none of you fucks reply in five seconds, she''ll be the ones speaking for all of you at this time moving forward. Five¡­ Four¡­ Three¡ª"


    Then the three guys stood upright and spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "W-We apologize, s-sir!/ S-She doesn''t speak for me, sir!/ I-I can speak for myself, sir! Apologies¡­"


    "..." I simply gave them a dissatisfied look before turning to the girl who peed her uniform:


    "How about you? Are you gonna join Dumb, Dum-Dum, and Dumber or are you gonna let Shirley speak for you? Again, you are wasting my precious time, and if you wanna spend that time cleaning up while Shirley cooks up a deal for you, be my guest. So, how''s it gonna be?"


    Then this girl named Tania spoke for the first time, "J-Just¡­ Just kill me¡ª"


    But Iughed at her face as I threw one of my knives in front of her, "Wanna die? Why don''t you do it yourself?"


    "...!"


    "I''ve killed a lot of people but I don''t do it by whim, it''s eitherplicatedly calcted that they needed to die or in most cases, self-defense. If you want to die so much, you can do it yourself or to take an example in my book, grab that knife and try to kill me for real, I''ll give you the honors and lop your head cleanly¡­ The same goes for all of you actually, fuck around and find out."


    ''Or talk¡­ Like what I''ve been saying multiple times¡­''


    At that moment, there was an unbelievable tension in the air as the three dudes looked like they were deciding to take the plunge and take me out to at least have some form of revenge but the nicknames I gave them would be the ones etched on their gravestones if they actually acted upon it.


    However, the person with whom I intended to use the knife just stared at it before bawling even more, not knowing what to do in this situation.


    There were a lot of people who told me to end them or they wanted to end themselves but 99% of the time, it was just something they said out of emotion while the 1% wouldn''t even tell me stuff and simply handled it on their own.


    But yeah, it seemed like Dicksucker or Dum-Dum wouldn''t be their spokesperson because Shirley picked the knife up and handed it back to me gently:


    "Sir¡­ There''s no need for this¡­ We do apologize for the earlier offense and we''ll dly take punishment for it but with all due respect¡­ I-I''m asking f-for a little bit of understanding for Tania''s cpromised position¡­ I-If you''d just g-give me five minutes, w-we''ll m-meet up with you over the gazebo in the gardens with some tea and b-biscuits¡­ I-I''ll guarantee that it w-won''t be poisoned in a-any way a-and we''ll be more presentable¡­"


    With that said, she looked sincere and surprisingly enough, firm on her stance, for the most part, and since all they''ve done at this point was look at me and not look at me while I lobbed a stun grenade at them and put their psyche in unbelievable pressure, I gave them a short break.


    "T-THANK YOU, SIR! W-WE WON''T TAKE LONG!"


    "I''ll be keeping track," then I turned to Rosie and Terry, "I''m sorry, but, where''s the gazebo again?"


    As I said that, Rosie was still in shock while Terry couldn''t contain himself:


    "R-Right this way, brother! Follow me! Everyone too! Please! Right this way!"


    In any case, as we followed after Terry who was basically skipping away, I slowed down to let Rosie keep up because it seemed like she was still enduring the pain from the branding on her ankle she receivedst time. She did look apologetic when she realized I was deliberately slowing down for her but she made it easy for me when she offered me one of the things I came for:


    "My dear guest, I know the Rivas Family had a greater variety of flowerspared to mine but would you care for a flower from my collection for your wife? She did save me from the explosion¡­"


    ''That''s¡­ I''ll just roll with it¡­''


    I chuckled, "A flower for saving your life? Isn''t that a bit¡ª"


    She suddenly looked flustered, "A-Apologies¡­ What I mean to say is that I''ll dly show you my collection and whatever thedy touches, it''ll be hers. I do have unique ones I spliced myself but there are ones I also dyed¡ªbut if you''re considering ones that you could admire for longer, there are ones we encased in resin¡­"


    Then I went for the kill:


    "Oh? Can I have a bouquet of Juliet Roses?"

 Chapter 968: Care Package - You lost.

    To anyone who didn''t know what a Juliet Rose was, to give a brief description, it was this apricot-colored, fully-cupped rose that had this peachy smell that was sold for $15.8 million in 2006 because of the time and care it took¡ªwhich umted 15 years¡ªto produce such a flower.


    And before the world ended, it was sold around 5-10 times as muchpared to a regr rose in retail but even to a non-flower guy like myself, it actually caught my eye and made me read about it for a bit.


    I actually thought I was gonna catch Rosie off-guard but she gave me a gentle smile before suggesting something much better:


    "Dear lord, that request is inherently easy but would you mind an arrangement of mine for thedy''s taste coupled with the bouquet of Juliet Roses?"


    I nodded with a smile, "That''s great actually¡ª but could you humor one of my students here, Seb, for a friend of his as well? You can put it on my tab, no worries¡ª"


    "My lord, as I stated¡ª Well, I stated something different but a bouquet of flowers means nothing¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Don''t say that. This is your life''s work, be proud of it a little, yeah? I''ll let you treat us with your flowers but you gotta give me a quotation for everything else we''d find interesting. You have something other than flowers, right?"


    A genuine smile crept on her face, "Very well, my lord¡­ I''ll have one of my people fetch some of our products in the gazebo and thedy and Miss Nancy could take a look at them¡­"


    "Alright, then¡­"


    Surprisingly enough, a normal person could mistake Rosie''s garden of flowers for Edith''s but there are slight differences in how they were arranged and there was a gazebo in the middle of Rosie''s garden which had this walkway made with bs of differently-sized stones.


    Furthermore, there were already a couple of maidservants waiting for us with some refreshments though Kuzma walked up to them and stared them down before ordering them to take a sip of the tea and the random biscuit he picked up.


    "S-Sir?/ W-What''s this about¡ª"


    "Just do what I said," then he turned to Rosie, "You too¡ª"


    But I quickly gged him down, "It''s okay, Kuzma. I know when someone''s trying to kill me."


    He never looked so confused, "What?"


    I smiled as I released the tiniest bit of killing intent, "I''m pretty sure you know what it''s like. You''d feel something like this¡ª *then casually turns it off* Some people do this involuntarily while a select few like myself haveplete control over it. That''s also why I went a little overboard with those people from the Roxas Family¡­"


    He almost rolled his eyes, "That''s not 100% urate. The most dangerous ones are the ones who can do it without¡ª"


    "Oh~ trust me, I know those people. I''m one of them, as a matter of fact¡­"


    ''One of those fucked in the head¡­''


    In any case, my reply only received awkward silence but Rosie took it upon herself to drink the tea and bit a small piece of the biscuits first so Kuzma could have his peace of mind. But yeah, the time limit I gave to the five was close to running out and it didn''t take long before we saw them running for dear life in our direction.


    And as they reached the walkway, they immediately slowed down so as not to kick the rocks around and damage the flowers but boy were they out of breath. I know that they scrambled to change clothes and all but they honestly looked the samepared to the aftermath of lobbing a stun grenade at them.


    ''I wonder who patched up his ear¡­''


    "WE MADE IT! HAA~ HA!"


    "I''m so~ not used to running¡­"


    "My knees¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­"


    "G-Guys, shut up! Just try to control your breathing¡­ Phew¡­"


    "E-Easy for you to say¡­"


    And as we met eyes, they stood straight and maintained eye contact¡ªthough not all the time, because that would be weird¡ªwithout the hate or animosity I felt earlier but another group of maidservants came with the Villegas Family''s specialty products.


    I just mouthed at them, "Stay there for a while¡­"


    Since this ce''s main thing was flowers, other than selling them as is, in a bundle, or inside a resin mold, they had them made into soaps, perfumes, creams, bookmarks, bath salts/bombs/, sprays, makeup, etc.


    "Ooh~"


    "Wow¡­ T-This smells really nice, don''t you think?"


    "Yeah!"


    It definitely made Kaley more interestedpared to simply picking out flowers from the bunch because I had this small inkling that she didn''t favor them as much as I thought she would. But yeah, it wasn''t like she hated them or anything but she was more interested in the bath products and the perfumes that had a lighter scentpared to the more overpowering ones.


    And as I turned to Seb who was eyeing one of the flowers in a resin mold, he picked up a smaller one before turning to Rosie:


    "U-Umm¡­ Excuse me, some of these aren''t real flowers, right?"


    Rosie nodded approvingly, "Good eye. As you can see, as much as I''d love to use fresh flowers, they''d just rot inside and they wouldn''t be as vibrant if we used dried-up ones so the next best thing was to replicate them with synthetic materials so as to imitate the vibrant colors of a real one¡­"


    "I-I see¡­ Can I have this one then? I think I could make this into a nice keychain¡­"


    "Splendid idea, I apologize that we haven''t thought that far ahead but we can give you a care package for thedy that would receive such a gift?"


    "R-Really? Thank you, then. I appreciate that¡­"


    In any case, we spent a bit of time perusing their disy and purchasing different items¡ªin a tab, of course¡ªbecause Rosie reminded me that they weren''t allowed to have firearms and the like for safety purposes but everything else was free game.


    However, I still couldn''t believe how valuable entertainment was because her face instantly lit up when I mentioned I could give her a terabyte''s worth of movies, TV shows, and music.


    Terry couldn''t hide his excitement as well but as Rosie and a few of her maidservants excused themselves so they could work on our flower arrangements, I decided it was time to talk to the five to straighten things out.


    At this point, they were still in the same position, patiently waiting for me to beckon them over, but the guy who could speak thenguage of cocksuckers already looked ufortable and a little bit pissed off from the time limit they needed to meet but was then tossed aside for close to an hour.


    To add to that, the spot he was standing on only provided shade for half of his head while the other half was directly in front of the sunlight, making him squint.


    But to be fair, I didn''t tell them to stand in one spot but just to stay put for a while being able to move around, so I''ll just consider it as a misunderstanding.


    "Alright, I''m sorry for the dy¡ªyou dide here in a hurry, but let''s talk. Come here, all of you."


    As I said that, they looked at each other first before walking into the gazebo and standing in front of us at attention.


    They were now maintaining eye contact with a little bit of respect but as much as I wanted to show Kuzma how psychopaths work, as we''ve established earlier, it would just go over their heads because sometimes, it would be simply done on a whim without a lick of killing intent involved¡ªakin to a person simply squishing an ant just because.


    So I first went with the route everyone could understand.


    "Alright, now''s your chance to talk freely but before that¡­ Has¡­ Has everything that happened not sunk in yet? Even if you didn''t have direct involvement with whoever from the Roxas Family¡ªand any other families who tried to mess with the Rivas Family, this is how it goes. They¡ª no, you guys lost. End of story."


    "..."


    "It fucking sucks, I know. But unless you have a way to turn things around, causing trouble and ring at me for god knows what reason isn''t helping your case. Whether you want it or not, the five of you are now under the Villegas Family who is now under the Rivas Family who is allied with me and a few other much, much bigger families who definitely have zero tolerance for rich brats like you."


    "..."


    "Any one of you could be now working as a prostitute, a target for a shooting range, a crash test dummy, or if worstes to worst, one of the corpses pushing their lifeless bodies around to power up a generator from this *pointing at Logan* handsome guy''s ce.


    I''d hate to say this but you''re still one of the lucky ones who could y as maids or butlers and have three full meals each day, a room to sleep in, and not be used for sexual release, but we here could talk to Sal and change it for you, if you want. Plenty¡ª and I mean, PLENTY of people would definitely kill to trade ces with you lot, just saying..."


    "..."


    "And yeah, that''s my piece so now it''s time to hear yours."


    At that point, I was genuinely interested to hear what they were about to say but a good five minutes have passed and no one had said a goddamn word. I was this close to lobbing another stun grenade but one of them walked up and looked at me with dead eyes before opening their mouth.

 Chapter 969: Maid Work or Sex Work?

    Obviously enough, it was Tania, the one who asked me to end her to which I denied butpared to what she looked like earlier¡ªwhen they were running to meet the time limit¡ªshe looked just so fucking done about everything that was going and one more push and she''d join the 1% I mentioned earlier.


    "Good sir, t-this position m-might be considered ''lucky'' for most people b-but you gotta understand t-that what happened to us w-wasn''t even that long¡ªand yes, it hasn''t sunk in that all of our loved ones are either dead or sent somewhere else doing God knows what s-so we r-reacted that way¡­ A-And for that¡­ I, for one, apologize for my actions¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    "However¡­ I¡­ I-I''ll dly give up my spot as to whoever would f-fucking kill for it because I''m done¡­ sir."


    Kaley spoke my mind before I could reply, "You didn''t look like you were done when we saw you run here with everybody?"


    Tania shook her head before she looked down, "That''s¡­ That''s because they''ll be held responsible if I didn''te and since I was the reason for that also¡ªso I could change and all, I¡­ I just wanted to be in a position where I could decide for m-myself and not b-bring harm to them¡ª"


    Shirley suddenly cut in from the back, "W-What are you talking about?! W-We¡ª I thought we talked about this earlier?! You¡ª We don''t give up! We see things through and¡ª"


    I cut her off, "I don''t care what you talked about when you were changing clothes earlier or when you were crying yourselves to sleep after all that''s happened. She decides for herself and you have no say about¡ª"


    "B-But that d-doesn''t make sense! S-Sir! I-If s-she''s gonna die a-anyway, why don''t you j-just¡­ just give her to us?! T-That''ll benefit b-both parties and¡ª"


    "I''m sorry but that''s not how it works. Why the hell would you get to decide where she goes?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    Then I turned back to Tania with a dark expression, "And you, I told you earlier¡ª Fuck it, you know the drill, *pulls out the same knife and stabbed it on the table in front of everybody* I''m not gonna waste effort in ending your life. If you really wanna die, do it yourself. It''s either that or jump anyone of us and we''ll see from there."


    Tania shook her head before looking at the knife in front of her, "I''m also powerless to do that, sir.


    With all due respect, I didn''t think you''d hesitate to kill a nobody like me but the ironic thing is that I can''t do that to myself either¡­ However, I also couldn''t bring myself to serve this family who we thought were our beloved neighbors and I''d rather be sent somewhere else, even in much poorer living conditions."


    As she said that, Terry shook his head as he muttered, "Unbelievable¡­" but as Tania was looking at the ground, waiting for me to grant her request, Shirley at the back had never looked so desperate as she was looking straight at me and waiting for me to acknowledge her and break a deal somehow.


    In any case, I almostughed at her face for the second time because even if it looked like we were around the same age, I couldn''t believe how rich brats like her were this out of touch with the reality of the situation because she''d rather live in "much poorer" living conditions than to live in a fucking mansion and work as a maid.


    So, just to see how much she was willing to take it, I decided to test her like what I did with a certain high school brat from way, way~ back.


    "Are you really sure about what you''re trying to get into? I''m giving you a final chance because I did tell all of you to speak freely. Once we leave this ce, there''s no going back."


    She looked at me puzzledly before answering, "Y-Yes, sir¡ª"


    "Alright. Then strip," I said casually much to the shock of almost everyone present.


    And the bitch couldn''t believe her ears, "S-Sir?!"


    "I''m not kidding when I told you that you could be working as a prostitute. Trust me, a rich brat like you with that face and that body? You''ll be fucking busy for the first few weeks on the job. But yeah, we gotta make sure you don''t have any skin conditions or the like, right?"


    "N-No¡­ I don''t have any¡ª"


    "Not that it matters, actually¡­ You see, your patrons on your first day will vary from tallnky dudes to short stocky dudes who probably hadn''t showered for days¡ª no, weeks! If you''re lucky, and they''ll have their way with you for a good 2-3 hours before another one or arge groupes knocking. And yes, you can''t say no to any of them as long as you''re employed in the Pink House."


    "W-What?"


    "Don''t worry though, they''ll probably inject you with all sorts of drugs if you''re that nervous so you''ll probably forget about it, but the more you take to forget their ugly faces, their bad breath, their poopy assholes, their stinking dick covered in smegma, etc., then congrattions! You''re now addicted to that shit and you''ll probably take drugs in payment instead of¡ª who are we kidding?


    They''ll pay you in vouchers actually, though you''d still have free food and lodging for the most part¡­ But you''ll be roomies with wannabe prostitutes as yourself and don''t get me started about that¡­"


    "A-About what?"


    "Ah~ Interested, are we? That''s good, that''s good¡­ I like the initiative! You see, the prostitutes over there had this ranking system of sorts and you''ll be treated like a celebrity if you''re in the top 10 or even top 20 but if you''re unranked¡ªespecially because you''re new, you''ll be doing all sorts of things like joining a fraternity just to get on their good side.


    And if you caught a disease from fucking all those guys and girls unprotected, that''s aplete disqualification for their ranking system so you gotta be careful¡­"


    "B-But how can I avoid¡ª"


    "I''m still talking, aren''t I? Shut up. Where was I? Ah~ STDs, right? But as a newbie, you need customers too though, so it''s up to you¡ª wait, where was I again?


    Oh, right¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that familiar with their rules because I''m not a regr and I don''t peruse entitled rich brats but yeah¡­ I did say that you can''t say no to customers but the proper wording should be that you ''shouldn''t'' say no to customers."


    "W-Why is that?"


    I chuckled, "Good question! Are you the customer or are you the fucking hole to fuck?! Think Tania, think! What worth does a lowly prostitute like you would have if you''re gonna be picky about your customers? You gotta be at least the top rankers to have that privilege, you know?


    But yeah, their prices are a little too high for the ones who were ridden with all sorts of diseases so it evens out in a way and somehow protects them. But you? Better pray that your RNG is that good or¡ª Hmm~ There is one way though¡ª Wait... Two ways, actually but a sure-fire way is that¡­ Nah~ I doubt¡ª"


    "P-Please just tell me, sir! I¡ª"


    "THEN FUCKING STRIP, DAMMIT! ARE YOU GONNA LISTEN TO THE SINGLE FUCKING THING THAT I ASKED FOR OR ARE YOU GONNA KEEP ASKING DUMB FUCKING QUESTIONS?! NO ONE WANTS A HOLE TO FUCK THAT KEEPS SAYING NO AND WIGGLING AROUND IT, YOU DUMB FUCK! THE ONLY WAY YOU''D BE A PRIZE IN THE PINK HOUSE IS IF YOUR FUCKING HYMEN''S INTACT BUT LOOKING AT THE BITCH YOU ARE, YOU''VE PROBABLY FUCKED EVERYONE ON SIGHT!


    THAT''S THE REASON YOU WANTED TO BE A PROSTITUTE, BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ARE ONE¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"


    At that moment, something inside Tania''s head snapped as she tried to lunge for the knife on the table, but I kicked the same table and made it m against her gut, causing her to bend like a folder before hitting her head on it. And before she could put her hand around the knife and do god knows fucking what to it, I pulled on the table once again before breaking it in half.


    It did make my right elbow numb for a short bit¡ªsince now was not the time to tell you it still hurt¡ªbut now we were left with Tania on the flooring of the gazebo breaking down in tears once again.


    Anyone could''ve been affected by a young girl''s tears but it meant jack shit to someone like me.


    But yeah, I crouched down in front of her before she heard something her probably dead parents had never told her before:


    "I''m sorry but no. You''re not gonna get what you want, you''re not gonna get transferred somewhere else even though you''d fetch a high price because you''re still a virgin, and you''re not gonna act like a spoilt fucking brat because now, you''re Tania the fucking maid of the Villegas Family."


    "I-I just wanna go home¡ª"


    "Man~ You''d be great at roleying too, shame~ But yeah, trust me, you''d thank meter that I kept you in here because chances are, you''d be shot on the head on your first day at the Pink House while a sick fuck would still fuck your warm corpse. You''ve barelysted a week in here, how do you think you''re gonna fare outside?


    Why don''t you swallow that pride¡ª no, that notion that things will go your way once you''ve cried hard enough because again, you fuckers lost, you gotta deal with it OUR way, not yours."

 Chapter 970: Job Change? - Rude Awakening

    At this point, not only Tania was the one wearing a difficult and bitter expression because the words I''ve said cut deep enough for the realization of their current situation to actually "sink" inside their heads.


    It was a difficult position to be in their shoes because they were still livingvishly even if the world had already ended, and their lives flipped upside down just because they haven''t attended a fucking weing party.


    However, it didn''t take long before Shirley had another realization of sorts because not only did I prevent her "friend" from offering herself to random people just to not see their neighbor''s faces, but I also made Tania think twice about harming herself because that pain I inflicted to her would definitely be memorable for quite a bit of time.


    It''s not like I didn''t hear her pleas to just "give" her friend to her because she''s gonna die anyway but I did it MY way, not hers.


    To be fair with them, their life and way of living waspletely different from mine where I needed to put on my big boy pants at a much earlier age¡ªand furthermore, we didn''t have hectares ofnd and servants to order around, so my take on their situation would be contradictory to what they thought they deserve should have or allowed to possess.


    But in the grand scheme of things, especially now, they needed to adapt to the situation as fast as they could and take advantage of their current starting point, or else what I told Tania to scare her off switching jobs would actually be her reality.


    What I was doing right now was to give them a little~ bit more of a fighting chance but I then turned to the four as Tania continued to sob while clutching her stomach:


    "We still have time to talk until Rosiees back with our flower arrangements. After that, we''ll go back and probably see you guys never so talk while we still have the time."


    Shirley immediately walked forward, "S-Sir¡­ I don''t know how to say this but I''d like to¡­ T-Thank you for your decision to let Tania stay with us. Words aren''t enough to¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Enough with the flowery bullshit. How else can I be of service? Time''s ticking, alright?"


    "Ah¡ª Y-Yes sir¡­ But this¡­ This is gonna sound¡ª"


    "Again, enough of the flowery bullshit. I did say you all could speak freely, right?"


    She took a deep breath before saying out loud, "I-I''d l-like to request a p-proper burial for my parents, sir!"


    I was a little taken aback, "A burial, huh?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "You do know that an actual ''burial'' is phased out and a cremation is the norm nowadays?"


    "W-What?"


    Hearing that, I couldn''t believe the current knowledge they had about the undead, and I just had to give them a quick refresher course because these people seemed to have never gone out even once¡ªand probably never taken down a single deadhead¡ªwanted their "rights" given back to them.


    They''ll die on the first week¡ªno, on the first day out in the wild and they could only me themselves for their ignorance.


    But yeah, in regards to Shirley''s request, there was only one way to make that possible though I had a few questions first:


    "Do you have any idea where their ''bodies'' are?"


    As I asked that question, I made sure to watch out for the changes in their expression¡ªabrupt or subtle¡ªbecause I knew that there were sacks of heads delivered to Sal that fateful day but I wasn''t sure if they knew what I knew.


    I''m not even sure who among them were the actual children of the Roxas Family because all Terry told me that they came from that joint but I''ll know soon enough given the situation.


    Shirley shook her head after a deep breath, "From what you said earlier, sir¡­ That could only mean that my¡­ t-they were c-cremated somewhere else¡ª"


    "I''m gonna be honest with you and say that they were probably burned on top of one another¡­"


    "..."


    ''They didn''t know, huh? Makes it a little easier¡­''


    I sighed as I waved her over, "But I''m gonna be a little more honest with you again. If you weren''t aware, certain¡­ ''trophies'' were delivered on the same night they died and I''m not sure how you honor your dead but if you want to make it as ''proper'' as possible, you''ll need to have those trophies turned to ashes too.


    That means¡­ with your current predicament, the only way to achieve that is not to only get in Sal''s good graces, but also to prove your worth in a way that she''ll grant you a favor such as that. You understand where I''m getting at?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "That means doing nothing close to what you did earlier because let''s be honest here again, Sal or any of the other family heads beside me would''ve done way~ worse than what I did to you guys and they wouldn''t even hear you out like what we''re doing right now."


    "W-We understand, sir¡­"


    Then I looked at the three who looked a tad ufortable for standing that long:


    "Dumb, Dum-Dum, and Dumber¡ª no, Jay, Richmond, and Mark, anything else to say?"


    They looked at each other first before the one I stared down earlier, Dum-Dum, a.k.a. Richmond took a step forward:


    "We¡­ W-We umm¡­ We''d like to see if we could be employed as¡ª no, trained as soldiers¡ª"


    I wasn''t able to hold in a chuckle, "Pff¡­ After all that talk, you three still haven''t understood a single thing?"


    "W-We were just¡ª It''s¡­ I know it''s presumptuous but I, for one, think that I-I''m better suited for w-work outside¡­ A-And seeing you in action, s-sir¡­ Learning from you is¡ª"


    "I''m gonna stop you right there."


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    "Haa~ Answer these series of questions honestly before I even think of taking you in as a gopher. Jay and Mark, why don''t you answer too? First, how many deadheads have you killed?"


    "Dead¡ª Ah, thirt¡ª no, a t-total of three, sir¡ª"


    "F-Five¡­"


    "One¡­"


    I almost rolled my eyes, "Seriously? Alright¡­ How many people have you killed? Be honest, alright?"


    "Zero¡­"


    "N-None¡­"


    "T-Two, sir¡­"


    "Oh? You''re a little serial killer in the making, aren''t ya? This following question is only for you, Mark: Why did you kill them?"


    "T-They tried to k-kill me, sir¡­ I-I had no choice on the matter¡­"


    I nodded ''approvingly'' at Mark, "Ah~ Self-defense, is it? I get it, I get it," then I looked at the three once again while shaking my head, "This is really~ awkward, ain''t it?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Any disciplines or martial arts you used to study under before?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Any of you know how to use guns?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck~ What were your jobs before the world ended?"


    "I t-traded stocks¡­"


    "S-Still a college student s-studying business administration¡­"


    "I-I''m a student too but I have a schrship for ying basketball¡­"


    I nodded at Mark once again, "Oh? That''s promising, at least. A varsity yer, eh?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I sighed heavily while looking at the three, "Alright, this is how it''s gonna go. It''s pretty obvious that only Mark there has a slight chance of keeping himself alive out there because of cardio from ying basketball but I wanna be a little fair here.


    If any of you are still standing after three minutes with my actual student over there, Seb, I''ll ask Sal to give you a change of careers and if you actually win against him, I''ll poach you on the spot."


    The three didn''t know how to react to that statement but Seb instantly got up and asked to talk to me to the side:


    "Y-You¡­"


    "Hmm? What''s wrong?"


    "Fighting those three¡ª"


    "You don''t think that you''re gonna lose, are ya?"


    "No¡ª"


    "So, what''s the problem?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know how to properly hold back¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    Hearing Seb say that, I''ve never been more excited to see him in action because, from the time I was his instructor, I''ve only beaten him senselessly and trained him to the point of vomiting without actually making them spar with each other.


    Sure, they probably did in their own time but our nice little gazebo had now be the octagon for Seb and the three stooges to show what they were made of, and I didn''t even care when one of Rosie''s maidservants told us that the flower arrangements were done.


    Funnily enough, the three decided to decide who would go first via rock-papers-scissors and their little BSBA was up.


    Jay had never looked so nervous as Seb was sizing him up but once I gave them the signal, Seb''s whole demeanor just changed as he lunged at his opponent.


    He was postured very low from the start which I assumed he''d aim for a takedown but the moment his opponent swung a hail mary to stop him in his tracks, Seb had already stopped an inch short from the arc Jay''s fist would travel, and it was already over right then and there when Seb took him down and mounted him for a pounding.

 Chapter 971: "Advantage"

    Before Seb fully mounted him¡ªwhere Jay would be lying t on his back as Seb was sitting down on him with all of his weight¡ªhe took him down by grabbing hold of his right ankle, pulling it towards him while using his other hand to push on his torso.


    It was all done in a quick but forceful motion, probably even making his opponent have a small concussion due to hitting his head when his feet left the floor.


    There was a difference between hitting your head in those wobbly or shaky mats from the WWE or something simr to hitting your head in solid rock or concrete, because if wrestlers from that show performed those stunts on stone or solid concrete, they''d need more than ice or Ibuprofen to remedy that.


    In any case, it didn''t take that long before a rain of punches came from above, and even though I should''ve probably stopped the fight when Jay was fully mounted to keep him from sustaining more injuries, I still needed to see what he would do to defend himself and when the odds were stacked against him.


    However, I already pulled Seb from him when Seb came down on him with an elbow, knocked him unconscious, and cut a wound on his left eyebrow.


    Before doing that, I thought Seb would offer at least a little bit of resistance because he did say he had a problem from "Holding Back", so as I patched Jay up after waking him up, I turned to the other two who were already split from taking on my student.


    "I''m not fighting that guy, Mark! Didn''t you see what just happened?! I''m not¡ª"


    "I''m not asking you to get beat up, I''m just asking you to try and tire him out!"


    "Aren''t you being too shameless from doing that?!"


    "Fuck being honorable! This is a fucking fight! I''ll do anything to get us out of this ce!"


    "Us? You sure about that? And you''re willing to use me as a padding, huh? Why don''t you get beat up yourself and¡ª"


    Seb suddenly cut in with a dark expression, "I was ordered to fight three people, not two. I don''t care if you''re backing out but I''ll do what I was told."


    Richmond couldn''t belive his ears, "You prick, I''m making it easier for you and¡ª"


    "It''s not about making it easy for me or not. Orders are orders. If you want, why don''t you twoe at once?"


    ''Is that his problem? Overconfidence?''


    Mark couldn''t believe his ears either, "The fuck did you just say?!"


    Seb scoffed with a chuckle, "I said what I said. Better yet, if your guy there could get up on his own, add him to the pile. I''m walking out of here with my taskspleted either way."


    "T-This fucker¡­"


    "He''s riling us up but this is better for us. If we beat him, he''ll be forced to take us both."


    "You''re not backing down?"


    "What do you think, dumbass?"


    At this point, both sides were getting more and more heated but I had to step in to rify something:


    "Do remember that eye-gouges, kicks in the balls, hits to the back of the head, etc. are illegal."


    Richmond was about to protest about giving Seb special treatment but he couldn''t be more wrong.


    I rolled my eyes as I turned to him and Mark, "I''m not talking to you two. I''m reminding Seb of what not to do."


    Seb followed with a respectful answer towards me, "Yes, sir. I understand."


    "W-What?!"


    "Are you fucking serious? We have the numbers advantage here, dammit!"


    "Uh-huh. Sure, sure~"


    Nodding "respectfully" at their words, technically, what they said wasn''t wrong but two fucking eggs still wouldn''t do shit to a rock.


    Granted theparison was uncalled for or was a little too skewed but if I was in Seb''s shoes, my first go-to would be to use any of the "illegal" moves to quickly bring down one of them¡ªor even disable one of them in a few seconds¡ªso I could perhaps have a one-on-one fight, end it quickly¡ª or if the other one was about to recover, CC my current opponent to fuck, switch targets, rinse and repeat until both of them keels over.


    Fighting multiple opponents has different ways to tackle them¡ªpun intended¡ªbut since this was just an entrance exam of sorts to be a "soldier", we shouldn''t go too far for our aspiring trainees.


    Besides, I''ve already given them the guarantee that I would stop the fight if things were already decided so they''d be free to fuck shit up¡ªbut again, not as much.


    In any case, I almost burstughing when I gave the signal because the two dumbasses, where one had already killed two people, decided to do this posturing thing where they''d bait for a reaction and then react to it instead of rushing Seb like they were supposed to.


    ''They already alluded to being dishonorable so they should just use their numbers "advantage" to you know, get a fucking advantage for crying out loud!''


    And yeah, Logan started cackling when Richmond watched Seb''s boot reach his jaw¡ªinstantly taking him out of the picture¡ªbut even I was surprised when Mark decided to use it to his "advantage".


    What happened was the moment Seb connected with Richmond with his right foot, Mark came in and invaded his right side to throw a left hook to Seb''s temple, but before his fist even reached the halfway mark, Seb braced his core and his left foot before he drove his right leg back and hooked it on Mark''s arm, then leaning back and using his weight to bring both of them on the floor rolling, taking Mark''s left arm as hostage.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAI¡ª AGHHh~!!!"


    Seb didn''t even hesitate to stretch and bend Mark''s arm way~ past its suggested breaking point, but I managed to jump in at the right time to prevent any serious injuries from happening.


    And again, I was a little confused as to how Seb was having difficulty from holding back because every time I chose to interfere, he''s just let me and stop what he was doing on the spot.


    However, right as we thought that my earlier point that these kids would die in the first five minutes outside, Dumber, a.k.a. Mark decided to throw a cheap shot when Seb offered him a hand to get up.


    The dumbass thought he''d get a hit in but at this point forward, all bets were off and I wasn''t gonna stop Seb from doing what he was about to do.


    Right as he tried to pull him in to do god knows what, he didn''t think that Seb would hinge down and bend his knees to counteract the pulling motion.


    I simply said in passing, "Leave him breathing without any bones broken¡­ But his teeth are fair game."


    "Yes, sir," Seb casually nodded before his eyes almost lost color.


    "W-W-WAIT! WAIT! I WAS JUST¡ª"


    Before he could spout more excuses, the moment he stopped pulling Seb down with him, Seb sent a kick to Mark''s torso, causing Mark to let go of him, and putting him in a very easy position to half-mount.


    However, fully mounted or not, I did say his bones shouldn''t be broken¡­ but not dislocated.


    I thought for sure that Seb would start pounding Mark''s figurative ass from the get-go after mounting him like Jay, but as he already had taken control of his hand, he easily went back to where they left off and popped Mark''s shoulder off its socket.


    A few people definitely heard that dreaded pop before Mark screamed at the top of his lungs but this time, no one was there to help him¡ªas even his only friends who were awake: Shirley and Tania, looked away when he was looking for someone to turn to.


    And right as he did that, I was a little unnerved by how Seb just looked at me to see if I was gonna stop him, but seeing that I wasn''t stepping in like the first three times, he did eventually got on top of Mark''s torso before making him spit out a handful of his teeth.


    It was already difficult defending from a ground-and-pound being fully mounted, how much more it would be if he could only use one of his arms?


    But yeah, I did step in when Mark eventually lost consciousness because even if he did his best defending himself and trying to stay awake, he could only take so much hits to the head and not umte damage.


    At this point, Rosie''s maidservants took it upon themselves to call their very own "doctor" but Kaley and I were just about done treating the three when this stumpy old dude walked in with a terrified look on his face. He didn''t think that the very people who put these kids in that state would be the ones to treat them also.


    But let this be a lesson for people to stay in their fuckingne unless it really, really, really calls for it.

 Chapter 972: Duck, Duck, Goose?!

    It had been more or less a year since the world ended and it baffled me as to why I still came across people like these.


    From the shows I''ve watched or read, the government should''ve already abandoned their people, random strangers wouldn''t even dare to have a normal conversation with another stranger, and¡ª sure, there could be another type of 1% like these dumb shits, but it was still an experience seeing it in person.


    What Seb did and I let happen could be a bit too much for these people but then again, even if his actual intentions weren''t to do harm, how the fuck could we know that?


    It takes less than a second to kill or even seriously maim someone so we wouldn''t take the chance to figure out his real intention regarding the matter. They''ve just been in a fight where there was a chance that Seb could be the one injured instead so it was his own damn fault for waking up a sleeping bear, poking a tiger with a stick, or in a less figurative sense, fucking around and finding out.


    With that said, they were eventually sent to this ce''s clinic of sorts, and as Rosie''s attendant thought we''d finally follow her, I instead pulled out the sketch I drew and showed it to Terry.


    "Hmm? What''s this¡ª Oh? Is this a gift? Thank you¡ª"


    I almost smacked the shit out of the motherfucker, "Look closely at the figure. I tried my best to draw her and this is a slim chance, but is she anything like the figure you sawst time?"


    "Last time?"


    "You know, when you were drunk as fuck and told me about this witch¡ª"


    "OHHH! I see now, yeah¡ª Wait¡ª Hmm~ I didn''t actually see her face b-but I guess the clothes they were wearing was kind of the same?"


    Logan cut in, "Really? A hood over rags? Kinda unique, I guess~ Shii¡­"


    Terry apologetically scratched his head as he turned back to me, "U-Umm, how about the frog a-and the goose? Y-You found them, at least?"


    I facepalmed as I remembered that specific detail, "N-No¡­ No frogs or geese¡­ Just a pit viper¡ª"


    "A pit viper?! A-A snake, you mean?!"


    "Yeah, sure¡ª"


    "Hmmrgh¡­" Terry grumbled as he looked up, as if he was trying to remember something, "Umm~ I''m not exactly s-sure but t-the one you found was p-probably a different one¡­ Sorry¡­ We used to have a lot of them¡ªeven travelling ones¡ªaround these parts so it could be anyone¡­ I-I doubt all of them survived though but be really careful though, they''re not as kind as they were portrayed in movies¡­"


    Nancy tilted her head from hearing that statement, "What kind of movies are you watching?"


    "Hmm?"


    "N-Nevermind¡­"


    I then nodded a few times, "Sebastian did say he learned from different¡ª"


    ''Wait¡­ Something doesn''t add up¡­ No¡­ It kinda does¡­ I guess "learning" could mean a few things if it came from Sebastian¡­.''


    I was slightly deep in thought because I did remember Sebastian telling me that he "learned" from more than one witch, mountain doctor, healer, or whatever term best described them, but I figured that other than his first time¡ªwhere everything was either fed, injected, or directly put in him, he learned their tricks of the trade one way or the other¡­ like the weirdest version of the Honey Trap scam.


    ''So¡­ So, so, much easier when people used to tell me shit straight¡­''


    "D-Dude?"


    "What? Ah¡ª N-Nevermind¡­"


    "Sure¡­" Terry just looked at me a little puzzledly because I did space out for a shot bit after cutting my sentence short.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we sorted everything out in this ce like thanking the Villegas Family for their hospitality and giving the people from the De Leon Family stationed here a few "goodies" for some brownie points.


    However, right as we drove outside their gates, I saw this white speck from the distance that crossed the street¡ªand it was actually this weirdly shaped goose whose neck looked more like an elbow.


    ''Is that¡ª No fucking way¡­''


    It had this weird bump of sorts that was making it position its head lower but it quickly made its way into the woods as we were about toe closer.


    I wasn''t the only one who saw it actually but as weird as that instance was, the general consensus was to just leave it alone because, from our current affairs, it wasn''t our business and peace was still an option.


    Besides, who in their right minds would chase a goose down¡ªif it was even the right one¡ªin unfamiliar territory and possiblynd themselves in the same situation Sebastian experienced before?


    But yeah, as we put that thought behind our minds, I noticed that Seb was just looking out the window like he was filming a sad music video.


    I was this close to cracking a joke but our peace was disturbed when Kuzma and Logan started knocking loudly from the back:


    "HEY! HEY! WE GOT A SITUATION OVER HERE!/ THEY ARE POURING FROM WHERE THAT DUCK RAN IN! DO WE ENGAGE OR NOT?!"


    Right as I looked at the side mirror, a horde just seemingly popped out of nowhere, and faint gunshots could be heard from the direction of the Villegas Family estate. They obviously came from Mauro''s men but the issue here wasn''t their walls keeping up¡ªwhich I assume they will, but a horde should be cleared or thinned out as much as possible.


    I instantly stepped on the brakes and barked orders loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "KALEY! HOP ON THE BACK WITH KUZMA AND SEB WITH YOUR RIFLES WHILE LOGAN DRIVES THE RAPTOR¡ª"


    "GOT IT! I''LL HANDLE THE RUNNERS! DON''T MIND THE NOISE, KUZMA! WE NEED SOME OF THEM GOING FOR US TOO!"


    "UNDERSTOOD!"


    "WHY DO I GOTTA DRIVE?!"


    "I KNOW HOW THEY SHOOT BUT NOT YOU! YOU ONLY BROUGHT YOUR SIDEARM, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT DO?!"


    "FUCK IT, BUT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"


    I waved him off as I jumped to the back with Nancy, "JUST DO AS YOU''RE TOLD BUT I''M CALLING FOR BACKUP!"


    "WE HAVE PEOPLE MUCH CLOSER TOO!"


    "THEN CALL THEM AS WELL! BUT WE GOTTA HAVE AN ESCAPE ROUTE!"


    "GOT IT! GOT IT! WHERE''S MY¡ª HEY, YO! WE GOT SHUFFLERS OVER HERE! A WHOLE HORDE AND SHIT! BRING EVERYONE!"


    Logan managed to call his men a little faster than me because I had to exin shit to him and assure Nancy who was already scared to death, but it didn''t take long before I connected with Jose.


    He instantly understood our situation as he dropped the call after hearing the word "Horde", and I left my radio with Nancy as I stepped out of my Raptor with my rifle.


    From my perspective, I was seeing dozens and dozens of the dead that already invaded the road and smelled like the worst kind of Rafflesia but there were still moreing from the woods where the goose ran in.


    And as I turned around, there weren''t anying from the opposite direction but if worstes to worst, our escape route would be to drive into this open area¡ªor the most optimal route which was to drive over blood and ashes after everything was over.


    In any case, the AK Kuzma was using was ripping shit and making the most noise, but he did waste a full magazine just to attract almost half of the stragglers to our direction.


    But yeah, Kaley was already making quick work of the ones that broke free from the herd with a lead bullet to their skull while Seb was taking careful shots to not waste any ammo. At the same time, Logan positioned our vehicle in a way that he could see both sides of the road while still barking endlessly at his own radio.


    "I''LL CUT IN FROM THE FAR LEFT! KUZMA AND SEB! COME WITH ME! BRING ALL OF THE MAGS YOU COULD AND SOMETHING FUCKING SHARP!"


    "UNDERSTOOD!/ Y-YES SIR!"


    As it stood, we were facing a herd of regr deadheads with a mix of sprinters, so I decided to not burn through our ammo as much and let Kaley act as our backup. It was easy and safe to take them down from a distance but in an economic standpoint, it would be better to go through our pistol rounds first or take down as many as we could with our melee weapons.


    On that note, I had already made my way to the far left as Kuzma and Seb took the middle road, but I still used my pistol to shoot "inside" the horde to attract their attention. Furthermore, it would benefit me if I had more room to move around so the more space I take without corpses lying around, the better.


    And yeah, I just had the urge to use one of my fragmentation grenades to where they were most concentrated¡ªwhich was to the far right¡ªso I lobbed it in the right ce, cut down three unfortunate souls, before rotting body parts flew out after the explosion.

 Chapter 973: Frog, Frog, Toads?!

    It was a little difficult to get a whole view of the situation while I was at the front but since Kaley was on top of my Raptor while clearing zeds with movement speed buffs, I was relying on herms. and her surgical shots to make it easier for me. However, we were missing one crucial part of our factory line and it was someone to reload spent mags for everyone.


    There were two¡ª no, three options depending on the situation.


    The first option was to make Logan pick up the duty while keeping a lookout on the road at the same time so he could easily maneuver our truck when the time called for it.


    Secondly, I could make Seb run back to the truck while I make Kuzma move a little to the left so we could work together instead¡ªand Seb could still shoot a few rounds from the trucks after loading appropriate mags since he was taking careful shots from the get-go.


    Besides, Kuzma and I would need mags as well and we''d need a runner to throw us a bunch so we wouldn''t have to run back and fetch it ourselves.


    And the third one, I doubt it would be that difficult to reload mags but Nancy could take up the spot, though this option was far-fetched considering her reaction earlier.


    In any case, the most logical choice was to call over Kuzma to my side as Seb retreated, but he only did so after using up two magazines of his pistol. I would''ve wished he put more deadheads down with all that noise but uracy severely drops for some people if they start to fire rapidly.


    Once he made his way back, I was a little assured that Kaley would have someone right next to her just in case, but I was safer in my spot when Kuzma came in and made a lot of space by sinking his axe on this taller deadhead then kicking it back, knocking down the ones behind it.


    The axe he was using was actually the injector axe that belonged to Tatiana but it wasn''t as bloody as my katana due to its hidden feature.


    With a push of a button, it could expel gas to expand the wound cavity it created but it could also be used to somehow clear out the grime and other shit stuck in its tubes¡ªwhere in the case of Tatiana''s axe, it had eight in total and six of them weren''t right on its edge.


    They were located a few centimeters back¡ªwhich was still by the edge¡ªand it took a lot of tries to copy the edge pattern from one of those knives or even cleavers that had this particr bevel to make pulling it out much, much easier.


    Like cutting trees, a lot of shit could affect the cutting process if the axe had tons of other foreign shit on it so aside from wiping it with a rag or a clean cloth, expelling gas from its holes could get rid of its problems akin to me flicking my wrist to remove the excess blood on my katana.


    Kuzma could press it a total of ten times for a quick burst of air but he could pretty much hold onto the button to expel everything out¡ªit if ever punctured inside a Hulker''s head¡ªbut it would be considered a regr axe at that moment because reloading the gas canister would take longer, and he couldn''t simply do it on the spot without help.


    But yeah, it didn''t even take that long before backup came from the other side of the road.


    "BEEP! BEEP! MADAFACKAZZZ~!!!"


    "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! BIG DICKS, COMING THROUGH~!!!"


    Kuzma and I had to take a step back and get out of dodge once I heard the roar of engines followed by the incessant re of their horns, but even Logan suddenly backed up our vehicle out of the road because two pickup trucks straight-up rammed into the walking corpses from the other side and went straight through.


    And to our fucking delight, they cleared¡ªdebilitated or dismembered if not, almost 90% of the deadheads stomping their feet on the asphalt because their trucks were not only equipped with almost the same bumper we had, but they also had these spiked, thorn-like rods sticking out of their wheels like war chariots to rip out the legs, torsos, or whatever the fuck it came contact with¡ªand with the speed that they came in, let''s also add kic energy into the picture.


    Granted some of them were still "alive", but the whole process became easier because we''d only have to aim a rod to their heads like people who picked up garbage formunity service would do.


    However, once I saw the trucks slow down and perform a U-turn, I simply wiped my de, put it back in my sheathe, then picked up my rifle because the only problem we had left was the ones stilling from the woods that fucking goose went into.


    Their spiked wheels still did some of the work but the weight of their vehicles made this musical of sorts that sounded like an ASMR clip¡ªto make it a little PG¡ªof several watermelons getting crushed into pieces, but the visual aspect of it was just way, way~ worse.


    With that said, we took it upon ourselves to finish off the ones that were pushed out of the road, but with our limited space, I was the one to go forward while Kuzma slightly fanned the side to finish off the dismembered ones with a knife to the head.


    I didn''t even notice that our group eventually caught up to us and Ipletely forgot to rescind my call for backup because these two trucks that came in were the MVPs today.


    Furthermore, the onesing from the woods ground to a halt once I reached the halfway mark of the meat paste on the road, but that fucking elbow-necked goose was still nowhere in sight.


    I would''ve shot it or run it over when I had the chance because even if causation wasn''t equal to corrtion, the motherfucker must''ve done something. And yeah, if I see any fucking frogs hopping around, I would fucking murder it on the spot.


    ''We''ve spent so much time horsing around about anything else would make me trigger happy¡­''


    In any case, the look on everyone else''s faces¡ªthe ones who camete¡ªwas fucking priceless when we started the clearing process where we''d gather the corpses in one spot, pile them on top of one another before burning them, picking up spent casings, etc.


    but as we were gathering assorted body parts from one ce to the other, not only did I, but a few others noticed that a good quarter of them seemed to be strewn together¡ªnot in the stitcher kind of way¡ªbut like an actual human put them together with a needle and some thread.


    Looking at the one I found closely, its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth were sewn shut, but its torso was also stitched up for some reason, and a few things seemed to be out of ce.


    It definitely made me curious to the point that I pulled out my dagger and attempted to open up the ones I found, but before I even had the chance to do so, James #2 did first but he vomited on the spot after he discovered a stack of fingers jammed inside its mouth while several dozen eyeballs had reced its digestive system.


    His vomit dropping onto its torso which was now acting as a fucked up bowl for those eyes that were also the most fucked up bundle Orbeez I''ve seen so far didn''t help his case.


    Even some others who saw it had to look away but I''ve just noticed that the torso of my corpse twitched momentarily at one spot so I had to back away for a moment before sinking my dagger at the spot I saw multiple times until it stopped twitching..


    I said loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Hey! Gather the ones you found in another spot and make sure that there aren''t any living creatures inside them. It''s a shame but stab their stomachs a few¡ªno, several times for good measure first¡­"


    As they did, I eventually tried to open up mine to discover the surprise and it was actually this discolored toad that looked to be a little poisonous but it also had small but dead animals inside like rats, birds, and the like, making it seem like this toad I stabbed multiple times was on itsst legs.


    Because from what I''d experienced so far, animals wouldn''tst long if whatever was making these corpsese back from the dead made its way inside their system, and it was a good thing we haven''t hunted anything to eat this far in our journey so chances of us eating a carrier were slim to none.


    ''But what''s the point of this though?''

 Chapter 974: Dragons Breath - Is that a duck?

    I''ve seen more than my fair share of weird shit even before the world ended like a specific order of how you should move in items into your new home, spilling the first shot of an alcohol bottle on the ground in a drinking session, etc.


    but yeah, they were more regarded as customs in a specific culture¡ªFilipino culture¡ªbut it takes a specific type of being fucked in the head and the obscure "arts" to do shit like this.


    And god fucking knows what the purpose of this was other than an intimidation/scare tactic or cause people to straight-up question if they should be free to walk among us or should WE be free to shoot them in the head if we came across such people.


    Heck, they were featured on the news multiple times in the past trying to "cure" various diseases with their spit, getting possessed by their customer''s loved ones so they could talk to them, selling fucked up concoctions as a fucking cure-all, getting rid of curses and figuring out who did them with the formation of melted candles dropped on water¡ªand as a fucking norm for a small number of people in the world, selling trinkets that could somehow alter their destiny and rid of bad juju, mojo, or whatever the fuck they may call it.


    I was so sick and fucking tired of this specific character ss surviving in the apocalypse and doing shit like this because more often than not¡ªno, like 99.99% of the time, they would do more harm than good.


    But yeah, I had this new friend I had who definitely shared the same sentiment, and he, Sebastian, was ready to fucking set the whole fucking mountain aze just by the look on his fucking face.


    He turned to me after softening his expression, "My lord, I''m afraid I''m gonna have to ask you for another favor¡­ This will only be possible with a group of capable fighters such as yourselves."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I¡­ It shouldn''te as a surprise but the Rivas Family is severelycking of capable soldiers and it was one of the reasons we joined hands with the De Leon Family¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I mean, what do you need?"


    ''I keep forgetting he does this shit¡­''


    "Ah¡­ My ongoing n was to hunt down their remnants and purge the mountain of their filth but I could only do so in my free time. As you can see, this mountain is as big as a few put together but if we follow the trail the undead used to get here, we might just catch ourselves another break."


    Logan interjected, "And the goose. That fucking goose."


    Sebastian never looked so confused, "P-Pardon?"


    "Hah? You don''t know? Before this herd dropped in, we saw a fucking goose cross the road and head to the direction they came in¡ªand one of those brats from the mansion we came from swore he saw another one of those bitches you put downst time. Catch my drift?"


    "Curious¡­ In any case, the group''s safety would still be my priority¡ªhence the reason for a bigger group toe¡ªand if it starts to be too precarious, I wouldn''t mind going back and pursuing the matter at my own time."


    I nodded approvingly, "You thought about this already, huh?"


    "Of course, my lord¡ª"


    Logan rolled his eyes, "h~ h~ h~ If you''d hand me a proper boomstick, I''ll alsoe with ya. Since ya know, my sidearm''s probably not good enough."


    I chuckled, "Then what''s your weapon of choice?"


    "Pff¡ª I can pretty much use anything!"


    "Any tform?"


    "Sure."


    "ARs?"


    "Too basic."


    "AKs too?"


    "Fuck yeah, I said anything, didn''t I?! Even shotties¡ª"


    "How about an RPG? A methrower? A minigun¡ª"


    "I SAID¡ª Excuse me, wut?"


    I acted like thest few seconds didn''t happen, "How about an M4 clone?"


    "H-Hah?! M¡ª Wait¡ª How¡ª"


    "You said you can handle shotguns too, right? Kuzma''s already using Tatiana''s AK so she''s now back to using her Benelli M4 but I can''t give that to you so what we have closest to that is a Tac-12 from Sulun Arms. Basically Benelli M4 but made locally."


    "..."


    "L-Logan?"


    As I said that, Logan was just looking at me puzzledly while Sebastian was hiding augh behind his signature faint smile.


    I wasn''t sure if he had several Windows updates going on in his head right now but he eventually shook his head as he caught up to me now checking our equipment, reloading our mags, and handing over to Sebastian a few special shotgun loads because he was firm on sticking to his own weapon:


    "H-Hey! You fuckers left me there spacing out! Where''s¡ª WOAH! How many fucking guns do you have in here?! Bro¡ª That''s the sniper I always use in COD! Can I use that instead?!"


    I turned to Logan with a weird look on my face, "You''re gonna use that, in a forest, with limited view due to shrubs and shit? I''m even hesitating to use my AR for this and switch to a lever-action but¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it, alright? I-I just got too excited¡­"


    And it didn''t take long before Quinn dropped in after checking in with her people who drove the trucks earlier:


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO ACTING BUDDY-BUDDY FOR?! I WAS EXPECTING YOU TO MAKE THE WOUND ON HIS FACE A LITTLE DEEPER ONCE YOU TWO GOT BACK, BUT THIS?!"


    At that exact same moment, Logan hit her with the "You wouldn''t understand us men" quote before he almost was rendered incapable of joining us in our little trip to the woods. But yeah, since the whole gang was here, we ventured into the woods while leaving a few people to watch our vehicles¡ªJesus and his crew¡ªbecause they were more suited on the road than the gentle slope up the mountain.


    In any case, Sebastian and I were leading the pack but Logan chose to hike close with us while Tatiana was in the middle with Kaley as Kuzma was bringing the rear with Quinn. Everyone else was either in the middle or in the back of the pack but we were walking in four sections so as to give space to each other when troublees.


    With that said, it was fairly easy to follow the trail the dead left behind but this side of the mountain wasn''t as properly maintainedpared to the one by Sal''s estate because the overgrowth was greatly apparent.


    And even though it was giving us a lot of shade, it was causing the other nts and even the much smaller trees under the taller trees to lose out on their much-needed sunlight for them to grow properly.


    Furthermore, the amount of dead leaves and rotten bark and branches were strewn all across the area, and they could cause unfortunate idents when one was trying to run away from a¡ªan example, Jason Voorhees or arge dude dual-wielding chainsaws.


    But yeah, as we continued following the trail, I started to hear a faint noise of running water which I assume came from a small river or even a waterfall.


    I tapped on Sebastian who was looking at an angle where I couldn''t, "You hear that?"


    "I do, yes¡­"


    Logan interjected, "Hear what?"


    We answered at the same time, "Water."


    Logan turned to Sebastian, "Aren''t you familiar with this ce?"


    Sebastian looked sullen, "On this side of the mountain, not so much. It''s been a while since I was allowed to explore freely like this¡­ Memory''s a little different and nature evolves at a slow but steady pace¡­ That little bud there could be a towering tree given enough time and a little bit of luck¡­"


    "Just say you forgot, fancy-ass words just go over my head¡ªyou''ve no idea¡­ Hold up, is that a wasp nest?"


    Sebastian and I looked at the direction Logan pointed and it was indeed a veryrge wasp nest right under this branch of this old tree.


    "Good eye, Sir Logan¡ª"


    I cut in as I pointed at the shell holder I gave Sebastian, "You can use one of those on them if you want."


    Logan couldn''t believe his eyes, "Bro, you gave him Dragon''s Breath and never bothered to ask me if I wanted one?!"


    "I¡ª I gave you some pepper spray, they could still light up because they use propents¡ª"


    "It''s not the fucking same, alright?! Do you have any more¡ª"


    Sebastian gracefully handed Logan a handful, "My good sir, you can have half of them if you want. I''ll even give you the honors if you''re so inclined to use them¡­"


    Logan immediately snatched the shells from Sebastian''s grasp, "That''s what I''m talking about! Alright, everybody stand back!"


    Isaac shouted from the back, "We can hear you three all the way here! Because we''re the only ones in this damned woods!"


    Megan piled on, "Oh, shut up you guys! What if they hear us¡ª is that a duck?"


    "WHERE?!"

 Chapter 975: Traps and Blockages

    In a blink of an eye, the three of us at the front followed Megan''s line of sight before a bunch of feathers puffed into the air, but unfortunately, it was a browned-feather duck that had a very short neck.


    We could''ve salvaged its meat if it didn''t take too much damage but a 1-oz slug, a 5.56x45mm cartridge, and a Dragon''s Breath shotgun load were way~ more than "too much", because not only was it blown to bits, but it was also roasted to fucking imperfection.


    But yeah, a few including me stifled augh while Sebastian and a few others sighed from the scare before Logan loaded another Dragon''s Breath on his Tac-12 and shot the wasp nest.


    It looked like he was doing a fireworks show due to the shade provided for us¡ªand the specific shotshell used, of course, but we were careful to wait and check if we caused idental fires around.


    With the amount of dried leaves and twigs lying around, one could simply throw a lit cigarette butt and start a forest fire, but even though it had a chance of smoking this other witch out, we wouldn''t actually sacrifice a mountain and all of its resources for that.


    There were plenty of ways to make her a little bit useful by making her nutrients for the soil, and we were still in the process of doing just that.


    And as we hiked on and followed the trail, the sound of moving water became increasingly stronger.


    We had already been walking for more than 30 minutes on an incline but we were met with a fork in the road¡ª mountain¡ª woods¡ª pathway, that could lead us in a steeper incline or following this gentle slope we were in earlier:


    "Ah, shit¡­ What now?" Logan sighed as he turned to us.


    Sebastian examined both paths briefly before shaking his head, "There''s no way of discerning which way is which¡ª"


    Logan''s ears perked up, "Which way is what?"


    I answered for Sebastian, "Which way those stitched-up ones came from. From the looks of it, they either converged at this particr spot and kept going until they reached the road."


    "Then the goose¡ª"


    I chuckled, "The goose probably had nothing to do with it. I''m a bit superstitious at times but that goose and the horde popping up suddenly was more likely a coincidence than a¡ª"


    Sebastian cut in, "You really think so, my lord?"


    I looked at Sebastian puzzledly before I had a realization, "Ah¡ª I forgot you''re also a powerlifter¡ª but yeah, we should probably decide now though it''s gonna be a coin flip¡ª"


    Megan cut in at the right time once again as she pointed at a familiar creature casually waddling up the steeper incline, "Isn''t that the goose you were looking for¡ª"


    Everyone collectively shouted, especially Sebastian and Logan, "IT''S GOTTA BE THERE!/LET''S FOLLOW IT!/ WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! LET''S GO!"


    ''...''


    I was dumbstruck from the instant the decision was made but I couldn''t care less because I''d go either way at this point. However, the noises these jackasses made, made the goose haul fucking ass, making the cadets limber up before trying to catch up to it.


    But before James #1, James #2, Ruben, and Lucas reached far as they tried to race for it, I aimed at the tree a few feet further to make them stop in their tracks.


    "WOAH!/ WHAT GIVES?!/ DON''T SHOOT! WE''RE MEDIA!/ THE FUCK?!"


    I was pissed as fuck for them running off and I made sure to give each of them a bonk to the head because even if that could cause loss of a few brain cells, it seemed like they weren''t even using it.


    The goal of our trip here wasn''t to catch that fucking goose but to figure out where those modified deadheads came from, so that it would lead us to probably another cabin in the woods or something simr.


    Furthermore, superstition or not¡ªand not even taking into ount the exposed roots camouged by dried leaves and shit¡ªthere were things that could debilitate a person that didn''t include the hunter present.


    I was talking about traps.


    Witch or not, the bitch had some way to obtain her test subjects and I doubt she''d had the strength to drag them back to herir or the charisma to seduce her way to invite strangers to her pad.


    The only thing I could think of from the top of my head was by the use of traps or something simr, and running headfirst into unknown territory greatly increases the chances of getting caught on them.


    Then again, with the mention of strength, the traps sheid could probably be a little closer to home, or in some cases, since medical aid was far out of reach in these parts, she probably offered medical assistance in her home though that only applied to the living.


    What''s there to say that she didn''t use the same traps on the deadheads themselves because let''s be fucking honest here, who would fucking hike in the mountains at this point in time?


    Andstly, my first instinct was to shoot that goose on sight, the only reason I haven''t was because these jackasses hit the ground running and tried to win a Darwin award for it. That animal could be here in another coincidence but even if it was trained to do that shit, following it still wasn''t the answer.


    ''And we still have the trail for us to follow¡­''


    With that said, I spent a bit of time lecturing the cadets who aren''t in my discipleship program or in my inner circle though they seemed to understand my actions and recognize what they did wrong.


    "Again, the worst thing we can do in unknown territory is do shit at their pace, and even if that goose wasn''t a familiar or not¡ªeven if it could rm the witch in hiding or not, your lives are more important. Understand? Even Sebastian said it before we decided toe here."


    "W-We apologize, sir."


    "M-Me too¡­"


    "I, as well, sir¡­"


    "We won''t do it again. Sir."


    Then I brought up a family tradition:


    "Now that we understand each other, lift your shirt from the back, and don''t scream as loud."


    "S-Sir?"


    "Huh?"


    "Wut?"


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    For the sake of brevity, the four were enduring the pain of being pped at 60% power from the back as we continued to follow the trail, but unfortunately, the goose really left us in the dust.


    However, it didn''t take long before we finally came across this stream of clear water that came from this set of cascading waterfall-like water formations that were 5-10 feet in height, and the trail abruptly ended there.


    Anyone else were both appreciating the view and wondering where the dead could''vee from because even at the other side of this stream of sorts, the trail definitely ended by the shallow water that was barely up to our knees.


    In any case, Sebastian was in deep thought as he was looking around for clues¡ªanything to make sense out of the situation.


    JP gave a suggestion, "Could they have been washed over by the stream?"


    Logan looked at him like an idiot, "This shit isn''t that deep¡ª"


    "It doesn''t stay that way forever, does it?"


    "Ah¡ª True¡­"


    Seb looked over at the path the water wasing from, "So¡­ We''d have to follow the water? Where does it start?"


    Ruben nodded, "Would that even lead us to the ce we''re looking for?"


    Then everyone else followed:


    "What if we chose the wrong path?"


    "We''re gonna double back then?"


    "Oh man, I didn''t bring my pack."


    "I didn''t bring mine too¡­"


    "We rushed here, remember?"


    "It''s also almost noon¡­ We gotta have lunch¡­"


    "D-Don''t remind me¡­"


    Hearing these cadets go at it again, I was this close to giving them another talking to but Sebastian spoke up in an apologetic tone:


    "Apologies my guests for bringing you all the way here for nothing but with the way things are now, I guess it should be our stopping point¡­ I do apologize for the trouble but I''ll make sure to make up for it once we get back¡ª What¡­"


    As Sebastian stopped mid-sentence, seemingly looking at something from the distance, I followed his line of sight to discover that the clear water was slowly turning sewage-like starting from the 8-foot "waterfall" from the "floor" above us.


    "What¡­"


    Even the fucking smell that we should''ve been used to made everyone grimace but it suddenly regurgitated what looked like a huge fucking blockage for god knows what reason. It looked like a giant was backed up for ages and it finally had its release and again, the god-awful smell it produced was enough to make everyone else forget about lunch and maybe even dinner.


    However, this "blockage" rolled for a bit and then crumbled into pieces¡ªand as each piece got a partial washdown from the water flowing from the floors above, it revealed the very thing we were looking for.

 Chapter 976: Brief Encounter w/ A Failed Revenge Plot?

    These figures looked as if terracotta warriors and descendants of Frankenstein made dozens and dozens of babies before bathing in a hot steaming poop bath, though I took advantage of their cinematic sequence as I cheesed their entry with my .22 pistol.


    The distance between us and them was very short and since their earlier batch had already walked the same path, bridging the distance in an instant would definitely not spring any traps.


    And since Kaley was the only one who had the same suppressed .22 pistol that I had which was a Taurus TX22, she was the only one I didn''t stop when everyone else tried toe in guns zing.


    It was because we might very well be by the entrance of the witch''sir that was located behind this waterfall¡ªwhich tickled me as a gamer¡ªso we needed to be as quiet as much as possible even if we fired off a few rounds in the distance and made a lot of noise by the road earlier.


    But yeah, I saw Kuzma and Tatiana jump over the other side from the "floor" or level we were in as a catch-all for stragglers though a couple of cadets followed after them while the rest either secured the path we came in or were ready to fuck shit up when things didn''t go our way.


    In any case, with the words of Mr. Devito¡ªor should I say, Mr. Frank Reynolds, "So anyway, I started stin''."


    Kaley and I picked a side¡ªthe right or the left¡ªto start with, and so that we wouldn''t identally aim at the same walking corpse, but it went even easier than we initially thought.


    These fucked up deadheads were already having a hard time with their motor skills, how much could they freely move around while they were also covered in shit, dirt, and y?


    The answer was that there were actually a select few that we chose to avoid because their heads were still covered in thick dirt or they were still encased from that huge blockage and needed more water to rinse them from the substance.


    However, it didn''t take long before another "blockage" popped out of the same hole, but instead of the smell of just decay and rot, it also now had a mix of rotten eggs andpost.


    ''I''m beginning to doubt that this is the ce¡­''


    With that happening, the ones we were picking off got pushed to the level below, but everyone else took it upon themselves to end their misery with their axe, machete, or the melee weapon they brought with them.


    We were still following the protocol of being mostly quiet and what Kaley and I did was just switch our targets to the ones who were still in the process of separating from their brethren and struggling from the added weight to their bodies.


    And yes, I''ve said plenty of times before, even a suppressed .22 LR round was loud even without wearing ear protection but there was a stark difference to itpared to firing a shotgun load or an unsuppressed rifle round.


    It wasn''t exactly "silencing" it or suppressing it but the person that would hear the sound would have a harder time figuring out the exact distance or location it came from.


    And in much simpler terms, imagine ying Marco Polo with someone who was deliberately altering the volume of their responses.


    But yeah, as much as I''d hate to do this¡ªand since I''m on myst mag on my TX22¡ªI pulled out my katana while Kaley switched to our Maxim 9 which to those of you who forgot was an internally suppressed pistol chambered in 9mm.


    "Just shoot them when they''re clumping up, alright?"


    "Yeah! I''ll watch the above levels too!"


    With that said, my whole approach to the dead in front of me was slightly different because instead of bringing them down with one flowing sh after the other, I opted for angled thrusts that avoided whatever the fuck they were covered with.


    My de was fucking ductile and I don''t mind it getting grime-y but I sure as hell tend to avoid dipping it in feces.


    But yeah, the one I pulled up could''ve been a famous influencer if the shit on its face was reced with makeup because god fucking dammit they were as thick as humanly possible.


    I had to move to its side before I plunged the tip of my de into its exposed earlobe before pulling out and stabbing the one next to it right under its chin. And right after that, the next entrance I made use of was its eye socket but I just had enough when I had to push through that thickyer of dirt they had just to get on their only weakness.


    I would very much prefer lopping their head off but the ones who were left that were literally covered in shit who somehow managed to stand up? I either poked/pushed them with my scabbard or kicked them back on the stream with my boot because there''s no fucking way I''m touching that shit again.


    Cynthia and her rapier would''ve flourished in this situation but looking over at the other side, Tatiana and Kuzma were doing more than fine.


    I apud their candor for not giving a fuck whether the sword or the axe they were using was getting super dirty or some of it was getting on their clothes or their skin because if the deadheads¡ªgod forbid didn''t get them, fucking E. Coli will.


    Hearing myself say this was making it sound like I had a problem with getting dirty¡ªwhich I honestly do¡ªso I was just d to high heavens that my de was long enough to avoid most of the stter or the blowback from making contact with them.


    It didn''t take long before we put all of them down but the most difficult thing to do was drag all of their bodies from the stream to a few feet away so that we could examine them and then let them dry off for a while and possibly have other people visit and burn them in the future.


    But yeah, it was pretty obvious that almost all of them were experimented on¡ªnot only by putting things in their bodies or attaching limbs that weren''t their own¡ªbut also by harvesting from them what was "useful" or any other bullshit purpose they could serve.


    Because not everything that came from the "blockage" was whole or even an undead.


    Furthermore, if we somehow performed a proper autopsy on all of them, it would be like buying several sets of puzzles only discovering that more than a quarter of the pieces were missing or even the frame we''d assemble them on was also MIA. There were spare parts, to put it bluntly, and it would be a heyday for a stitcher toe upon these.


    ''One could mistake that the Garcia Family did this too instead of a witch doctor¡­''


    "Hmm¡­" Sebastian let out a long sigh after looking closely at one of the corpses.


    "Something wrong?"


    He pointed at a patch of skin that had what seemed to be a tribal tattoo, "Look at that, my lord. Seems familiar to me¡­ Most of them had it, even the ones that are separated¡­"


    JP cut in, "Isn''t that a normal thing for people nowadays?"


    A few others nodded but Sebastian shook his head before he replied:


    "Sir JP, I''m aware that tattoos are prettymonce as you''ve stated but you have to understand that there are specific tattoos that belong to particr tribes in this area. However, I''m not well-versed in all of them so I could only identify a few. It''s just that some of them were from the tribesfolk the Madam unleashed her wrath upon¡­"


    JP tilted his head, "And that means?"


    Sebastian shook his head, "This¡­ I don''t know the exact reason but a tribe''s healer isn''t supposed to cause harm to their own."


    I interjected, "Didn''t you also say that there are tattoos from different tribes?"


    "Ah. There are exceptions such as that but who would make an enemy out of all the mountain people just to further their research?"


    "Eh~ It could be a different thing altogether too."


    "W-What do you mean, my lord?"


    "Well, they have their own set of beliefs but they do be crazy sometimes. What if they did it to themselves or made their only doctor find a way to take revenge? Not all of these witches live alone, right? They do in a way but they belong to an org or something¡­"


    "I guess so but I-I don''t follow the revenge part¡­"


    I pointed at some of the corpses I examined, "See those bullet holes? Those aren''t fresh."


    "That''s¡ª"


    I nodded as I looked straight at Sebastian, "I dunno about you but the unleashed wrath you spoke of must''ve been a little sloppy. I doubt that the people Sal used to raze this mountain took into ount every one that they''ve shot down so this must''ve been a few corpses a survivor of them made use of in order to get back at us.


    You''ve also said that you''re not familiar with this side of the mountain so how could Mauro''s people do better than you?"


    "That''s true..."


    "Also, there could still be survivors from what Sal did and they could be hiding in a cave system and this was one of the exit holes, literally. I doubt we''d find anything useful if we go inside nature''s butthole but it could lead to where some of them are¡­ or aren''t anymore¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Because it looks to me that their revenge was cut short."


    Sebastian''s ears perked, "My lord?"

 Chapter 977: Speculations And Relaxation

    Looking around, not only was Sebastian looking at me curiously, but everyone else either had their head tilted to the side or had this particr look where their eyes were opened wide¡ªmaking their eyebrows rise at the same time¡ªas they were in full attention. In any case, I would be speaking out of my ass right now but with Nature''s Butthole over there, I guess I won''t be too far off the subject.


    I started as I took a short breath, "If we have some time, we should start exploring those other levels or at least a short radius around this area. You see, cave systems usually don''t work that way unless there''s a mudslide of sorts or something simr."


    JP interjected, "A mudslide inside a cave?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Call it a cave copsing unto itself, it doesn''t matter, but it did follow a hole, tunnel, or a cave, sure, that led to that huge turd popping out like that. Twice. And yeah, we''re not even sure that that''s a cave¡­ you know, initially. I thought it was at first but aside from calling it Nature''s Butthole, Nature''s Garbage Chute could also fit perfectly well¡­"


    "Because?"


    I looked at everyone else puzzledly but weirdly at JP, "You do know¡ª I mean, you fucking know how buttholes and garbage chutes work, right?"


    "..." he looked like he was this close to punching my throat.


    "In simpler terms, they''re an exit channel. And yeah, before you fucking freaks mention anal, there! I did it all for you, sheesh¡­ Remember what I said about them possibly hiding inside a cave or a cave system instead of a home?


    This could be proof or evidence of it but since mudslides and the like only travel downwards, the ce we''re looking for could be a few levels up or further up this steep path."


    Isaac interjected, "So, we''re close?"


    I turned to Sebastian, "How long does it take to climb this mountain?"


    "Hmm~ We did so before but it took us three¡ª no, about four days in total. The Madam was with us, bless her heart, but if I was alone or with my colleagues, I''d say we''d reach the peak in two to three days. Nice view, I might add¡­"


    Hearing that, there was a mix of reactions because, with the time we had left before departure, we should''ve at least spent some of the days we were here to reach the peak.


    And even though we could probably do it right now, we weren''t equipped to do such a thing, and watching out for traps and the like while looking out for an indented area or another cave entrance would most definitely slow us down.


    On the other hand, I thought Sebastian would look disappointed from this failed(?) run but he didn''t look disappointed at all.


    He looked like he was deep in thought for a few seconds before he turned to us with a smile:


    "My lords, it''s still a little early but I think that this is a good stopping point. I believe we''ve done all that we can and doing more would be more wandering at areas that looked the same."


    "Are you sure, Sebastian? We still have a few more hours."


    "I do, my lord. I''ve ticked out more checkboxes from the list of things I have to do to aplish my goals than I could imagine in these few days with you all. If I was alone, it would''ve taken me months to reach this point, and even though¡ª Hmm~ You know what? I shouldn''t talk about my affairs at this time.


    But what I am about to promise on yourst day¡ªtomorrow, is a day of pampering for all the hard work you''ve done. Take it as a spa day of sorts."


    ''This guy really~ has a lot of secrets, doesn''t he?''


    I joked, "Then what''s the n for the afternoon?"


    "Ah¡ª I apologize but I do have other responsibilities to consider and since I was allowed toe here due to an emergency, I would have to catch up to those I''ve left before rushing. And oh! I apologize once again my lord but I guess our spar and the friendly match with my¡­ my brothers with your disciples would also be postponed¡­ Again, apologies¡­"


    I was a tad disappointed, "Really? Oh man, sure¡­ I understand. Will you still lift weights with uster though?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m afraid that too will be a negatory on my part¡­ Again, I¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Don''t apologize. It''s cool, no worries."


    "So, shall we head back?"


    "Yeah, lead the way."


    With that said, we eventually made our way back to Jesus and his crew without any incident, and Nancy instantly ran up to us with a basket of food she ordered Jesus to get from Lisa after driving back alone. They thought we''d take longer so Jesus brought more than the basket prepared for us though they already had eaten their share while watching the rest of the corpses turn to cinders.


    Tatiana epted the basket as I turned to Nancy:


    "You could''ve just gone home, you know?"


    "W-Why? Someone''s gotta take care of them! *points at Jesus and his crew* Do you have any idea how messy their interiors were?! Disgusting!"


    Meg snapped, "Hey! Do you have any idea how can I easily wrap my hands around your neck and squeeze?!"


    Jesus got in between the two, "Rx~ Rx~ Chill, alright? Nancy did do a good job while we made sure she didn''t wander around¡ª"


    Meg rolled her eyes, "Easy for you to say since you''re not the one who watched her! I had to tie her to my ankle and she kept pulling at it like a fish!"


    "I-I did not! I-I just found something cool over there and you wouldn''t follow¡­"


    "I''m not doing that again with you! You said it was close and we were already inside the woods! I thought you were gonna pee but you kept going and brought freakin'' mushrooms back!"


    "B-But you liked them!"


    "I-I did¡ª but that''s not the point!"


    "BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before everyone else took their seat as we drove back but let me just say that it was real~~~ awkward when Seb handed over the gift for his "friend", Alexa. Not only did Alexa turn to me right before epting the gift with a weird expression, but some of the cadets who didn''t know what was going on definitely knew what was going on right after that interaction.


    Granted Megan couldn''t care less about the situation but Alexa couldn''t even look at us in the eye when I drove back only with my "inner circle" of "friends".


    But any normal guy would, they looked at me with reverie, hate, admiration, jealousy, and whatever the fuck was between those examples. I didn''t even bother passing it off like it was nothing or like it was an achievement because that would just open a can of worms I tend to avoid.


    I was in a weird situation where I was kinda suffering from sess though I''d rather have this topic only mentioned in the "safe zone" as Cynthia coined before because there were different connotations¡ªgood and bad¡ªthate out of it.


    With that said, the drive back to Sal''s estate was without any incident though everyone was itching to get into the shower.


    I forgot to mention the face Nancy made when she got a whiff of us once we were all huddled up in my Raptor, and even if it was only for a few moments, we felt embarrassed because everyone wasn''t only stinky from the sweat but also the forbidden particles that got onto us from taking care of the corpses.


    But yeah, showering with a bunch of women in a cramped space would be trouble¡ªeven if it was in a good way¡ªbut this time, I would love to take my time soaking in a tub alone or just with Kaley by my side.


    There was just this awful way the smell of shit and whatever the fuck it was stuck in our skin that a simple bar of soap and water couldn''t easily fix.


    Though funnily enough, everyone else from our "group" had their priorities in order so Kaley and I had the bathroom to ourselves as everyone else did their own thing from the other vacant rooms.


    Kaley and I were just soaking in the tub with this fragrant bath bomb she tossed in while music was ying on my phone:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Alexa told me she''d try things out with Seb again¡­"


    "For real? That''s good¡ª"


    "Hold that thought. She mentioned it when I told them you wanted to just bathe with me but the thing is that she still wants to you know¡­ do things with us. And get this¡­ she said she wanted no sex with Seb for a good while first as we were still doing things with her¡­"


    "But is Seb okay with that?"


    "I don''t know¡­ She''s gonna tell himter¡­"


    "Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I do like to gossip a bit but I wanna rx now, don''t you?"


    "Ah¡ª I was really caught off-guard from what she said but at least it''s better now because they''re talking¡ª Ah, I did it again¡­ Sorry¡­"


    "Don''t be, I still love hearing your voice though¡­ Can we talk about something else? Like how useless all that makeup is to you because you already look good without them?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ I do put a little at a time, okay? But sure, we can talk about something else but how about we do ''this'' too?"

 Chapter 978: W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did way~ more…

    Kaley and I were in this tub just perfect for two peopleying their backsfortably on each end, but now, she invaded my personal space and grabbed "me" hostage with this cheeky look on her face. She was almost on all fours¡ªbecause her other hand was obviously elsewhere¡ªbut not only the view from the front but also seeing part of her firm cheeks slightly protruding from the water turned me on.


    She was keeping eye contact while her hand was moving ever so slightly with a gentle grasp but as she leaned in to give me a peck on my lips, she looked like she was about to ask for a huge, huge favor.


    Not only were her eyes round and puppy-like, but her lips were pouted slightly as both her hands were now gently massaging my thighs.


    "K-Kaley?"


    "..."


    "Hey¡ª"


    "Y-You that night lst time?"


    "Which one?"


    "W-When we first slept with e-everybody here¡­ T-That night when I¡ª"


    "Ah¡­"


    "A-And you¡ª"


    "Yeah?"


    "W-When you¡­ Y-You know¡­ C-Can I d-do it¡­ F-For a little bit? P-Please?"


    "..."


    "S-Sky?"


    "..."


    Kaley had never looked so somber even for a short moment as she forced a smile, "O-Okay¡­ I unders¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª F-Fuck it, let''s do it¡ª"


    "N-No! You don''t have to¡ª"


    "If it''s you, I''ll do anything¡ª W-Well, not anything per so but¡­ y-you know what I mean¡­"


    "F-For real?!" She never looked so happy.


    I nodded, "Y-Yeah, just don''t tell a-anyone, alright¡ª"


    Kaley looked jokingly offended, "You think I''d tell them about this?"


    "N-No, but¡­ W-What should I do? Do I¡ª"


    Kaley gave me another kiss, "Nothing at all¡­ But, I want you to just rx, look at me, and possibly enjoy it. Is that okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "Great¡­ Just tell me if you feel ufortable and we''ll stop *snaps fingers* like that."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Though we''ll ease into it first, okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    She giggled cutely while her face was turning redder and redder, "R-Rx, alright? H-Here we go¡­"


    As I let myself be on the receiving end of things at this moment, Kaley started by holding my hand and wrapping her arm around me before giving me this deep and passionate kiss that put my mind at ease and my body at this rxed but still aroused state.


    She didn''t even try touching "me" at that point because she was just so focused on making me that much morefortable with her and what was toe.


    After a while, she began to touch every single part of my body except for what we usually go for, and that just made me lose my mind as my stiff rod was just twitching from under the water''s surface blurred by the bath bomb we used earlier.


    Still, it was a different but pleasant and hot feeling as we kept eye contact¡ªand I didn''t even notice how fast I was breathingpared to earlier.


    I was trying to breathe normally and I was trying to rx as she said but I was slowly getting hotter by the second and I had this anticipation of sorts that was equal parts I was excited and scared of.


    And as she finally began to wrap her hand around my shaft, she began kissing me once again as she let me touch her wherever.


    I was still very much fighting the nervousness by just gently touching her boobs¡ªor any part of her body¡ªas she continued this sensual way of touching me, but it didn''t take long before her hands started to caress my thighs and my calves again, asking me to ce either or both my legs over the edge of the tub we were in.


    "N-Now?"


    She nodded with a faint smile, "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "I love you so much¡­"


    "I-I love you too¡­"


    With that said, for the sake of symmetry and to make it easier for Kaley to do her thing, I opted to ce both legs over the edge¡ªmuch to her surprise and delight.


    On a slight note, we could barely see each other beyond the water''s surface but I never felt so exposed and embarrassed. My cheeks and my ears were definitely red and as a guy, this was the first time I did this for anyone.


    Kaley gave me anything and everything plus extra and some more so in my head, even if this had a few negative connotations from a traditional point of view, I just figured that if I would ever do something like this, it would only be for her.


    ''W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did way~ more¡­''


    In any case, I was bombarding my head with such thoughts but surprisingly enough, Kaley definitely eased me into it by giving me another kiss before holding "me" with one hand and simply cing her fingers just by the surface of it.


    Kaley was paying full attention to my reactions as she started to stroke me as slowly as she could, especially when she started to move her fingers around and on the surface. I was letting out short breaths at intervals as she continued to do the same thing with a set rhythm, but it didn''t take long before she gave me a look and slowly pushed a finger inside me.


    Let''s be fair here, she did it once when we were baked as fuck but all she did now before going into the act to make me feel this type of pleasure was crazy.


    And let''s be honest too, it did feel kinda "unstraight" in the traditional sense but god fucking dammit, I kinda get it now.


    I didn''t want to get into all the science and the anatomy behind it because aside from that, Kaley knew what she was doing. I don''t know how she was doing but I''m definitely feeling it.


    At this point, I was letting out grunts that were making Kaley feel all sorts of ways as well but as she started moving her finger in and out ever so slowly, there was a point where she was barely jerking me off. Her hand was just wrapped around the tip as she was squeezing it gently over and over, but it didn''t take long before I felt like I was about to cum.


    And right on cue, Kaley knew I was about to but instead of going ham on both ends, she just stuck it as far as her finger could before jerking me off as fast and hard as she could until she watched me cum hard from her hands.


    My body was hot, tense, and shaking all over but Kaley looked like she was over the edge as she watched me be like this in front of her.


    But yeah, as I was expecting the feeling of shame to follow, it didn''t.


    All these assurances and making mefortable probably did the trick but she still couldn''t help herself to let go of my shaft and keep her finger in, as she leaned in to give me this huge kiss that also prompted an orgasm from her side.


    Kaley could cum just from a kiss from me, I knew that, but it wasn''t this quick or hardpared to the several times she did when we were together. It was a slow build-up until it got more and more intense but this time, she barely had a taste of my lips before she looked almost like me a few seconds ago.


    I don''t know what was going through her head right now but the simplest touch was making her go over the edge.


    "D-Did you like it?"


    "D-Do you have to ask?"


    "C-Can you just answer me? Please?"


    "Sure¡­"


    "Sure what?"


    "Sure, I really liked it¡­"


    "And?"


    "Thank you?"


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    "Pfft¡­ I''ll take the thank you, doofus¡­"


    "W-What did I do?"


    "Don''t worry about it, you''re amazing¡­ I love you¡­"


    She continued kissing me as I touched her all over but it didn''t take long before I carried her up the tub and made her stand in front of the mirror, before making her ce her arms on the counter so that I could feel a little more manly, forck of a better term, as I im both her holes.


    Needless to say, we were gonna go from soothing jazz to heavy metal, and even if we didn''te from the tub or she wasn''t as wet as she was, I''d be going in even if it was dry.


    We''ve spent too much time getting mefortable so I think it was now time we do something we were both used to.


    Kaley was still maintaining eye contact by using the mirrors, and she looked like she was the happiest person in the world while looking like she couldn''t wait for her holes to get a few sizes bigger.


    She was waving her bubble butt around while winking her cute little asshole but as I lubed myself up with her juices, I jammed it in as far and as deep as I could before I grabbed on the back of her thighs and lifted her off the ground.

 Chapter 979: Tangled and Interlocked

    As I did, I thought Kaley would lean back so she could watch my huge cock go in and out of her little asshole but she thought I''d just do her from behind as I made her put her arms by the counter.


    She was in this weird pose¡ªthough I didn''t stop going in and out of her, albeit slowly¡ªbut since Kaley had gotten more flexible, I reached for her neck, sped my hands together, and put her into a full Nelson hold.


    "W-What¡ª Ohmigod¡ª SHIT! YOU"RE¡ª MmMMhH!!! AH! Ah! AHn! Ah!


    MMm! Mnhhh! Hngh~!!!"


    Kaley had never been so red as she saw herself in the mirror, and from the way she was trying, but failing, to get out of it by closing her legs, she never felt so exposed with her huge fucking tits getting squeezed by my forearms, her tight puffy innie slightly pushing out her pink insides, and her tiny little asshole fighting for dear life as it was getting gaped from my fat cock going in and out from the tip right to the base in quick session.


    And as I slightly hinged so both of us would get a better view of her perfect body, Kaley started to squirt hard¡ªand I mean, HARD¡ªas she sprayed the mirror in front of us before everything else got onto the counter, the sink, and the floor.


    Kaley''s face was a fucking mess as she was taking me in while letting all of her juices spill out, and there was a moment where her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she kept calling out my name. She came more than once, and right after the other, and she''d definitely pass out if I didn''t stop and let her take a breather. Unfortunately, I still haven''t filled her ass but who keeps count?


    At this point, Kaley''s weight was just pressing on me as she lost all strength in her body so I sat her on the counter for a moment but she quickly turned around and gave me a tight and warm hug.


    "Ha... Haa¡­ I love you so much¡­ Y-You''re the only one that could d-do this to me¡­ Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ I-I''m losing my mind¡ª I love you, really¡­"


    I gave her a peck on the cheek, "I love you too, Kaley¡­ Always will, and I''ll always try and make you happy¡ª"


    She suddenly gave me a peck on my lips, "I am, I am¡­ and I love you for that¡­ But~ I don''t want to make this that soapy¡ªeven though I love it¡ªso, why don''t we continue this on the bed?"


    "Saying sweet nothings to each other?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­"


    With that said, we just nced at each other for a moment before our lips touched and our tongues interlocked, and I carried her to the bed doing just that before Iid her on her back and looked at her.


    Kaley knew everything that would make me lose my mind because sheid there with her arms behind her head¡ªmaking her huge chest push out and exposing her smooth armpits¡ª while her legs were spread wide, giving free rein to her wet-ass, creamy pussy, and her gaping asshole.


    This time, I chose the former and made her see how far my dick could reach her as I ced it over her crotch and reached past her belly button.


    "D-Don''t tease me like t-that¡­ P-Put it in and ce over here¡­"


    As Kaley gave me this pleading look with the same puppy eyes, I just lost control as I leaned forward and pushed my whole length inside her pink hole before I groped her tits and licked her all over.


    I was hitting her deepest parts over and over and it''d make her twitch and gasp in response, but most importantly, Kaley had never gripped me from the inside this hard, but I was forcing my way in and out of her with her creamy juices.


    "SHIT! FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! IT''S IN¡ª YOU''RE SO BIG! I FEEL SO FULL¡ª MMH!


    YOU''RE¡ª AH! YOU''RE BITING MY¡ª MMH! SHIIIIT! I''M CUMMING ALREADY! H-H-HNGH! MMMMMMH~!!!


    AAH!"


    Kaley had already lost control of herself when I began pinching her hard, pink nipples while switching between licking her armpits and her neck, and I waspletely high not only from the pleasure but from her taste and her scent.


    There was definitely something different about Kaleypared to everyone else and when I started filling her with loads of my warm cum, my hips just kept moving and she wouldn''t let me go.


    She already had her legs wrapped around my back the moment I pushed my dick inside of her, and there was no way she''d fucking let me go¡ªeven if everyone else came¡ªuntil she was leaking from both her holes.


    "FUCKKK! I-IT''S SO H-HOT! SHIIIIT!!! FILL ME UP MORE! MORE! PLEASE!


    MMH! CUM IN ME LOTS! UGH! U-UGH! MMMh! HNhhNh!!!


    FILL MY LITTLE HOLES!!!"


    And as this whole thing was happening, unless I was licking her all over, her eyes were rolling to the back of her head, or we were making out, we kept eye contact most of the time and each orgasm was definitely stronger. I''ve onlye twice inside Kaley at this point while Kaley had multiples over multiples.


    However, as I tried to attempt for my third, Kaley grabbed hold of me before rolling so she could be on top.


    And right from the get-go, Kaley was moving her hips like there was no tomorrow and she was smothering me with her huge tits at the same time. Our bodies were pping against each other while we were covered in sweat and our fluids, and as I was trying to suck on one of her nipples, I reached around her back hole before I pushed two fingers in and caused her to cum.


    "F-F-FUCK¡­ W-WHY DO I ALWAYS CUM W-WHEN YOU D-DO THAT¡­ I LOVE IT WHEN YOU FINGER MY ASSHOLE!"


    At that point, Kaley''s momentum halted for a moment as she was shaking all over but since I already got a good hold on her, I began thrusting from below right as Tatiana and Quinn came after their bath and for their clothes.


    Though I never stopped.


    "What do we have here, hmm? You fuckers love to sneak around, huh?"


    "I knew they''re gonna do this but~ fuck it, Kaley looks about done¡ª"


    "N-NO! NO! MMH! H-HE STILL HAVEN''T CUMMED I-IN MY ASS¡ª MMH! AH! AH!


    AHHN!"


    "Hah! There''s more to it than just dick, alright? I''ll¡ª"


    "Enough talking, I''ll sit on his face, you eat her pussy after that round."


    "How¡ª"


    "Kaley could just flip around as she rides him."


    "Fuck it, hah! We''ll just shower againter."


    With that said, Kaley looked a little pissed that people crashed the party but she got even fucking tighter, almost cutting my blood cirction right then and there. However, I thrust it in even harder as I fingered her tiny little asshole before she pressed her whole weight on me and gave me a sloppy kiss.


    She was holding her moans as she had another orgasm but it didn''t take long before I followed as I suddenly held her tight.


    Kaley''s walls started contracting over and over, but I kept thrusting my hips as I released everything inside her though I could definitely feel some of it leaking out because I filled her way~ past the brim.


    She was already full from the first one, the second one and this third one could''ve gone to her ass or her mouth but she herself told me before that it was a different feeling getting cummed inside multiple times.


    In any case, she begrudgingly flipped around to follow our game n, but her frown didn''t take long to turn upside-down when I was several inches inside her ass while Quinn was eating my cum out of her pussy.


    At the same time, Tatiana looked like she was in heat when she finally had more time with me¡ªas her juices were already running down her thighs¡ªbecause let''s be honest here, she was mostly giving me assists with the girls by wearing her strap-on.


    Even if I did make sure she got off once or twice, it waspletely different when she was having her way with me by doing her favorite thing¡ªaside from sucking me off¡ªwhich was sitting on my face.


    Kaley''s fat innie was bar none but Tatiana rubbing her exposedbia on my face and me getting to lick and suck on it at times was also something else.


    "Fuckkk¡­ It''s been a while~"


    Furthermore, Tatiana bulked unbelievably well at this point because not only she had muscles in the right ces and had grown thick and ther, but her breasts had also gone up another size, making me a very happy man.


    Tatiana''s face when she noticed I was paying more attention on her chest even though the other two behind her had significantly more volumepared to her was fucking priceless, and it was waking up her rarely seen submissive side.

 Chapter 980: Soapy As Shit

    Tatiana was just looking down at me a certain way before she suddenly took in a breath as her body jolted, making her cheeks flush red before smiling and getting off of me. She was slightly out of breath but she looked more surprised from what just happened, then she leaned in from the side before touching my face gently and giving me a kiss.


    It felt a little out of character from her but in a good way because ever since Quinn came into the picture, from my point of view, I felt like she was trying to juggle between matching her energy and being her own self.


    I''ve always referred to them as the Alpha Bitches but let''s be honest here, even if Quinn was Quinn and Tatiana was Tatiana, the former was a little more Alpha-er for theck of a better word¡ªbut both of them had their own moments where they admittedly took off or straight-up lost their crown.


    I didn''t even know how I got to this train of thought while having sex with them but Tatiana acting like this was something only a few people¡ªor even only I¡ªhave experienced or seen.


    Being this deep with Kaley and hearing her moans was fucking hot but Tatiana opting for a kiss instead of riding my face was something else too. It was fucking heavy metal on the lower part of my body while smooth jazz was slowly starting to take over from the waist up, and I was all for it.


    Everything just started building up more and more and when I reached the breaking point, I exploded inside Kaley''s ass as I also held Tatiana tight¡ªbut I was only three spurts in when Quinn took over and slobbered on my knob.


    Kaley had no chance to grip on me as she was squirting at the same time but it seemed like Quinn was doing us both by sucking me off and fingering Kaley''s holes at the same time.


    At one point, Quinn stopped sucking me off after she swallowed everything I let out but she jerked me off instead before eating Kaley''s ass and my cum out of it. Kaley and I could only moan or grunt from the sensitivity but as Quinn cleaned us up and started to ride me, Tatiana still wouldn''t stop switching spit with me though my fingers were already exploring her sensitive parts.


    Quinn couldn''t care less¡ªaside from grabbing my free hand and shoving it on her huge udders¡ªbut as Kaley recovered from the intense pleasure, she broke off my kiss with Tatiana and then kissed her instead.


    ''Holy fuck¡­''


    I''ve seen them kiss multiple times but doing it right in front of me while I was reaching Quinn''s deepest parts¡ªtits jiggling and now sucking on my fingers¡ªwas making me lose my mind.


    It didn''t stop as she leaned over and we had this four-way makeout session while she was moving her hips nonstop¡ªand since they were getting a taste of me and themselves without batting an eye, that specific thought that shoulde from a guy had long disappeared from my usual aversions.


    Though Quinn started to move her hips faster and grip me tighter:


    "WHAT''S WITH YOUR FUCKING D-DICK?! I-IT ALWAYS H-HITS THIS SPOT A-AND¡ª ANNDDD I-IT''SSSSS¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! I-I''M ALREADY¡ª SHIT!


    D-DON''T JUST L-LAY THERE! F-FUCK ME! FUCK ME HARD¡ª"


    My hands were exploring Kaley and Tatiana at the same time but the prompt from Quinn made me grab her hips and start thrusting hard from below. I could barely breathe and see anything because Quinn had already lost strength and was bearing down on me, but I continued to push my 9-inch cock into her meaty cunt even if she was squirting and shaking nonstop.


    Quinn''s body was soft and hard at the right ces but seeing her o-face that was also out of character for her was something else.


    In her case, I felt like she felt the need to always be the one at the forefront¡ªespecially with the girls, but once she waspletely vulnerable and melting into the pleasure, I''m gonna do fucking everything to see her like that for as long as possible.


    Since thrusting from below with her weight bearing down on me would tire me morepared to being the one at the top, I flipped her over so I could also get a good look at her face.


    "What¡ª"


    I propped her legs up to her head and mounted her at the same spot, "I''m not quite done."


    Quinn could barely look me in the eyes, "Shit¡ª"


    As I started pounding her meaty cunt, I didn''t even notice that Kaley was about to give me an assist because she already reached for her strapless dildo while Tatiana was patiently waiting for her turn as she was just looking at me¡ªbut lo and behold, everyone else from "our" group came in one after the other or all at the same time.


    Then again, I didn''t stop what I was doing as I watched Quinn get redder and redder from the pleasure and embarrassment of being put in such a position but I was cooking up a huge reward for her.


    I began to thrust faster and faster as I let go of her ankles, but the moment she wrapped them around my back, it was the telltale sign that she wanted me to cum inside her.


    Quinn was barely holding on as she was trying to maintain eye contact but as soon as I pumped her pussy full cum, she straight-up rolled her eyes, pulled me between her breasts, and came hard right after.


    Both of us were shaking all over as she was suffocating me with her huge udders, but as I found a pocket of air and had a short breather, I was aiming to please Tatiana but she straight-up chose food over sex.


    Obviously enough, Nancy and Edith came with a couple of carts of food and one of the dishes they prepared was a pirozhki that Tatiana would fucking kill for a bite.


    However, who said that we couldn''t eat food and have sex so the rest of the night had once again turned into this session thatsted till morning because it was ourst day, and if we wished to, we could just have food brought over to us and continue where we left off.


    But yeah, only Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn were the only ones that could still go for a few more because Nancy already passed out from the first couple of hours while the rest dropped like flies¡ªespecially Edith because she looked way~ tired already¡ªwhen Kaley and the Alpha Bitches donned their rubber toys and focused on the rest of the squad with me.


    Quinn was smiling nonstop as we four showered:


    "Ahh~ I thought I''d be tired but why am I so full of energy? It feels like I had a runner''s high but for fucking!"


    Kaley chuckled, "It''s the food you ate in between."


    "Fuck, hope I didn''t get too fat from that¡ª"


    I cut in as I tried soaping her from the front, "We definitely burned all those calories and we''re probably in a deficit."


    Tatianaughed, "Good thing I don''t have to worry about that¡­ I tried, trust me, I tried getting big but there''s a limit as to how I could get fat."


    Kaley was pouting as she was putting on some shampoo, "That''s some insane gics. I don''t get as fat too but everything goes either in my boobs or my ass, but mostly my boobs¡ª"


    Quinn cut in with a smirk, "Same!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You sure it also didn''t go to your whole body? You''re well-proportioned and blessed by your assets but you don''t grow like that without insane gics too. I''m probably the worst of the bunch because I always have to watch what I eat¡­"


    The three werepletely silent as they looked at me like I was an idiot:


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "Says the guy with the 9-inch destroyer¡­ Everyone knows you''re big but do you have any idea how thick that is?! You''re that BIG! I''ve said many times!"


    "Those abs too¡­"


    "Abs? He has muscle in everything! Pretty good-looking too¡­"


    "Guys¡ª"


    "Stamina too, that''s the best part¡­"


    "Nah, it''splete control over his body¡­ He always brags about that¡­"


    "True¡­ Can get hard and soft onmand¡­"


    "What¡ª"


    "Oh, shut up! Stop being so down while we''re bringing you up! Just take the fuckingpliment!"


    "Yeah! You still have good gics even if you used to be fat and you''re much better than me because you worked really hard for it and maintaining it!"


    "True! We didn''t mean to brag but despite all that, we all came for you, that''s how amazing you are."


    "..."


    "Getting quiet now? Pfft¡­"


    "Nah, he''s in his mind pce now¡­ Wait for it¡­"


    "Wait for what?"


    I simply chuckled as I shook my head, "Man~ That was soapy as shit but I love you guys, thanks!"

 Chapter 981: Rest Day Before Going Home

    The four of us shared a moment and another "moment" in the shower but their big talk about being so full of energy meant jack shit when their heads touched the pillows.


    It was because a hot shower and some warm "milk" from yours truly would definitely knock anyone out¡ªand joking aside, kinda, our bodies needed sleep as much as a bnced diet and exercise and unless a new release of a game or a DLC would being out, everyone should sleep as much as they needed.


    And yeah, that applies to taking watch on guard duty or other more important matters in these times but the trick was not to overdo it.


    In any case, I was tucking them in right before everyone else started waking up, but Nancy was about to run for the kitchen when she discovered what time it was.


    "Oh, no~! It''s alreadyte! It''s already 6:00¡ª"


    Megan and Alexa eximed, "PM?!"


    "Huh? AM! I always wake up at 4:00 AM! The Madam''s gonna punish me¡ª"


    Edith chuckled as she waved her off, "Don''t worry, she''ll understand," then she turned to me, "You guys just came from the shower, right? Were you just done¡ª"


    I nodded embarrassedly but as Megan and Alexa continued to sleep, Tatiana was actually still awake and answered for me:


    "Correct! You guys missed out but means more for us¡­ Why are my eyes so heavy¡­ Zzz¡­"


    Edith chuckled once again as she turned to me with a more serious expression, "Hey¡­ We''re leaving tomorrow, right?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "A little¡­"


    "What can I do?"


    "Alright¡­ You guys came from a ship of sorts, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And how long did it take to reach Mr. Cuervo''s¡ª no, if we start here, drop by your old school, the Academy(?), drive to Quinn''s ce, back to Mr. Cuervo''s, and then your ce¡­ How long would it take? And do you have any other things to do before going back?


    I heard that part of your group drove the opposite side to find another one like Kuzma¡­ I''m just worried about the travel time because it''ll be bad for the bees if locked up for too long."


    I slowly had the realization, "Right¡­ That''s an issue¡­"


    "You see, if traveling long distances, it would be much better to just buy a new nuc and start over but we can''t do that anymore¡ª"


    "I guess we have to leave you here¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Edith looked like she was about to cry.


    I quickly waved her off, "N-No! Not leave you like forgot about the whole thing but even Sal would approve of this because it''ll be safer for you and Nancy if we pick you up either in the early morning or at night once we get back to my ce."


    "How¡ª"


    "I''ll pick you up with my helicopter and we airlift the nucs you prepared."


    "..."


    "Just make sure they''re locked up tight with some venttion¡ª"


    Edith looked relieved but she suddenly pouted and red at me, "I know how bees work, y''know?!"


    "Ah¡ª you''re right, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "But I''m gonna miss out on a lot of things! Car sex, seeing your school, ship sex, everything!"


    "Pfft¡­ Aren''t you more concerned about the sex more than anything?"


    "You¡ª You have no idea what you did to me!"


    "Umm¡­ You''re wee?"


    Edith cutely red at me before leaning too close, "Hngh~ Y-You don''t understand! I-It''s like a whole new world opened up for me! I-I didn''t think it could be m-much more fun! It''s crazy! Kaley said it''s pretty normal to feel like this but I''m always thinking of it ever since!"


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, "It''s a day or two at most without us but driving back is actually and still dangerous. I don''t wanna say this but you and Nancy will be much, much safer¡ªand the bees, of course¡ªif you go by air."


    She nodded as she looked somber once again, "S-Sebastian did teach me how to use a g-gun but I d-don''t think I''ll be brave enough to face them outside¡­ I''m sorry¡­"


    I looked her in the eye as I tried to console her, "Look, I wouldn''t say that there''s nothing wrong about it and it''s not your fault but since we''re living in a difficult time, learning to defend yourself is a necessity. However, there''s a time and a ce for that and you being here wouldn''t help you be that ''brave'' person you''re trying to be¡­"


    "..."


    "Don''t look so down. After we secure your bees and get you and Nancy settled with everyone else, Tatiana and I will give you the same training regimen we put Kaley through. We''ll build you from the ground up again then we''ll give you first-hand experience as to what''s it like outside and facing them.


    You just need those things even if we don''t exactly sign you up as a soldier but it''s definitely badass seeing a cute beekeeper able to handle herself."


    Saying that, Edith''s face started to look brighter and determined but as she gave me a hug, Nancy suddenly cut in:


    "H-How about me?! I wanna be like Kaley too! I saw her shooting yesterday and she never missed! Not once! She looked so cool¡­"


    I patted her head as I pinched her cheek, "That''s the spirit but it''s also good to know our own limits, alright? You know you have a condition and it''s a disadvantage for you but as much as it sucks, it''s what you''re dealing with and it''s your responsibility even if other people could offer you help. Do you understand that?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "With that said, it''s a little cliche but you really gotta put in the effort¡ªdouble the effort, because you have a respiratory condition¡ªand trust me, it''ll pay off in the end and when you need it the most."


    Edith interjected, "Also, you might be able tost longer than a couple of you know what?"


    Nancy tilted her head as she turned to Edith, "Last longer in what? Ah¡­ You mean¡­ Oh! OHHH! I get it now! Will it really?! REALLY?!"


    I facepalmed but I nodded nheless, "Sure. I didn''t think it''d go there but it''ll definitely help¡ª"


    "Ooh~ Is that also why youst really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really long~~~?"


    "Sure¡­ Let''s say that¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! MAN~ I WAS GONNA SLEEP BUT THIS IS TOO FUCKING FUNNY!"


    "QUINN?!"


    "DON''T QUINN ME! WE''RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE AND YOU FUCKS KEEP YAPPING ABOUT! WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?!"


    At that point, we discovered that everyone else was awake and was listening in but we didn''t put it to heart as I slept in with Kaley and the rest for a few more hours while everyone else did their own thing.


    This was our rest day of sorts, as Sebastian mentioned, but the moment we joined everyone to get pampered and shit, I straight-up lost it when I saw Mauro, of all people, wearing only a bathrobe, a facial mask, and a fucking towel over his bald head while several maids were taking care of each of his hands and giving him a foot bath and massage.


    The motherfucker had more attendees than his wife, Elsa, and he was definitely ticked off when he saw meughing my ass off.


    "WHAT''S WRONG, HUH?! YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?! WANNA END UP LIKE LOGAN AND THE REST?!"


    Looking around, Logan and a few of the cadets were in one corner and sporting a ck eye, probably due to doing what I did, but if push came to shove, I wouldn''t dare fight a huge guy¡ªeven though I beat him before and still could¡ªthat could easily get disrobed and have his member flopping around.


    I can take kicks and punches to a degree but a dick to the face was where I draw the line.


    So, I tried to weasel my way out of the situation:


    "You know you''re bald, right? What''s the point of that towel¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª I''M NOT EXACTLY BALD! I HAVE HAIR! LOOK!"


    As soon as he said that, Mauro snatched one of the nail files the maids were using and ced it over his head and LO AND FUCKING BEHOLD, it was floating!


    "SEE?!"


    Before you say anything, it was actually "floating" due to the minuscule hairs he probably hadn''t shaved yet but I still fuckingughed my ass off and almost caused another rumble.


    In any case, I surrendered myself to our attendants but surprisingly enough, Tatiana kicked more of a fuss when Kaley dragged her to have a foot massage while Quinn was already having her nails done while drinking from a bottle of alcohol.


    My favorite part was when the masseuse came and made my body crack like a freakin'' glowstick and my only disappointment from the whole thing was that I didn''t glow. But yeah, time passed rather quickly while having fun and it didn''t take long before the next day came and everyone else was prepared for the drive home.


    ''As much as I love going out¡ª fuck that soapy bullshit, I wanna go home and sleep in my own bed so much¡­''

 Chapter 982: PINEAPPLES!

    Our vehicles were lined up in the same order they did before¡ªafter careful maintenance and whatnot with the addition of Logan andpany¡ªand before we got in and put our keys in the ignition, Sal, Edith, Nancy, Elsa, Mauro, Sebastian, Clyde, Lisa, and even Rogue who was surprisingly behaving like a puppy with Nem-Nem and Mie-My, were nning to send us off with a few words, mostly:


    Sal started looking a few years younger, "Kid. Have a safe trip, alright?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "And that helicopter of yours. I won''t trust anyone else to fly it but YOU. If any other motherfucker swooped in to pick my niece and Nancy up, I''ll check if they''re hot first before doing away with them, GOT IT?!"


    "Wut¡ª S-Sure, I guess¡­"


    Then she nced at the Raycolt where Lopez was, "And yeah, I''m not sure about your situation with that fucking guy but do remind him that I fucking own his ass from time to time. He got issues but he got his uses, remind yourself that too if you ever want to put a bullet in his head¡ª"


    "I''m good in ''that'' department though¡ª"


    Then Sal leaned in suddenly with a whisper, "This is gonna sound dirty¡ª"


    "Again, I''m good¡ª"


    "Listen here, you little fuck, listen! You already dipped your toe over to my side and you did well considering you didn''t let the power that dapper fe, Cuervo, gave you get over your head but there are times you need people like that emaciated cuck to do some dirty work for ya.


    That''s one of the few ways you take some targets off your back and keep your ledger a little cleaner even though we all know that ours are already pretty bloody. You get what I''m saying?"


    I looked at her solemnly before I nodded, "I do¡­ Nice reference though¡ª"


    "Cheh. Talk soon, alright? And also, marry Kaley already and whoever the fuck''s next in line so that Edith here could have a kid from you¡ª"


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!/ AUNTIE!!!/ HAAAH?!" Everyone else that was too many to put in eximed upon hearing that statement.


    "Look, we gotta repopte sooner orter and Elsa and Mauro ''ere are doing just that. iF you two ''husband'' and ''wife'' take too long, I''mma request for a sample! Edith''s getting pregnant one way or another¡ª HEY! WHO FUCKING THREW THAT ACORN AT ME?! WANNA FUCKING DIE?!"


    Sebastian who totally~ wasn''t the one who threw it at Sal answered, "We don''t know what you''re talking about Madam¡­ However, everyone else wanted to say a few things too so I''m graciously asking if¡ª"


    "BLAH~ BLAH~ BLAH~ I''m done! Who''s next?"


    At that point, Rogue understood the assignment and just gave me a gently nudge and a loud snort before Nem-Nem and Mie-My almost did the same thing. After that, Rogue, started to walk back by himself before Edith and Nancy approached us.


    They almost said the same thing asst time we spoke, as well as Elsa and Mauro when they reminded me to send over their wedding gifts¡ªespecially now since they didn''t have to wait for the ship toe back because I''ll be hovering in a couple or a few days.


    Clyde did so as well but he prepared the same custom gear for Kaley and everyone else and his only request to me was to send a letter or give him a call if we reached new PRs.


    But yeah, thest one to approach me was Sebastian because Lisa just gave us some more food before walking over to Jesus, and he looked a little mncholic after he gave me a respectful bow:


    "My lord, you''ve helped me in ways you couldn''t even begin to understand and I''ll be forever grateful. I''ll await your next visit and the ones that will hopefully follow after that. I''m a little sad I wouldn''t be able to briefly travel with all of you since thedy would be picked up at ater date but I do hope for the ones that would try to harm you a painful death."


    Tatiana cackled from the back, "Can''t you just wish us a safe trip?"


    Sebastian shook his head with a chuckle, "I doubt you all would be in danger even if you wanted to."


    "That''s true, I guess¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Right¡­"


    At that point, we finally exchanged goodbyes and farewells before their guards opened the gate for us. We drove out one after the other at the same speed and as always, Jesus was leading the pack because he had several optimal routes nned out yesterday.


    For the days we were here, the situation outside could stay the same or change drastically at any given point, but with his connections at several points of interest, he could lead us to the safest route possible or if he was trying to lose a tail, he could bring them to a ce overrun with zeds ande out unscathed.


    In any case, the first few miles went swimmingly well even when we passed by the area where this human blockade was present before, and it seemed that the rest of their group was either eradicated from the map or they willingly chose not to mess with us.


    Meg radioed in to tell us that she wasn''t intercepting any chatter even when we passed by the same spot asst time, but what was inherently apparent was the number of burned-down buildings that weren''t in a single spot or area. Furthermore, we barely saw a deadhead skipping around or the like and it was making me a little curious.


    Fire usually starts in one spot and then spreads around until it gets bigger and bigger but the buildings we passed by were too far apart and too contained to be idental so something must''ve happened here in a specific order in order for those things to make sense.


    "Could be a kill zone? Gather as much as you could in one spot before burning the ce down then rinse and repeat," Quinn mentioned.


    Tatiana nodded, "I guess some people were still doing good in the world besides us."


    Kaley turned around to look at Tatiana who was sitting at the back, "Not everyone''s turned to the dark side but they did try to monitor usst time."


    I chimed in, "They''re probably just doing their own share of keeping the dead off the streets¡­ In their own way¡­"


    With that said, the drive continued on until we reached our first stop of the long drive¡ªJonathan and Allie''s ce, the Cockfighting Arena¡ªthat still looked the same as it was with the same thugs lounging around outside and mad-dogging anyone new thates in.


    But this time, the Jack fellow who tried to stir some shit with me gave me the red carpet treatment.


    However, his great introduction to me was instantly swallowed by the loud cheering that came from the inside and I figured that this ce was working hard this early.


    I figured it wouldn''t hurt to check what was going on because they did lose Kuzma, but god fucking dammit the guy knows how to fucking excite and entertain the crowd in the most bizarre of ways.


    Because as soon as we stepped inside, two individuals were fighting for dear life in this tug-of-war of sorts with a wall of the dead surrounding their already cramped space.


    The smellbined with the humidity was a paragraph for another day but their options were severely limited not only by the dead chomping on their backs if they pulled too far but also the fucking bear traps spread around the floor mixed with a bunch of sharp caltrops.


    I could only imagine the debt they incurred to Jonathan to put on a show like this because it looked like it was designed for neither of them to survive, much lesse out unscathed.


    But yeah, it was definitely entertaining if you were the one watching the show and betting on different odds but as soon as I opened the door to Jonathan''s office, I had to close it almost immediately and almost resorted to plucking out my eyeballs and rinsing them with bleach or alcohol.


    "WHAT THE¡ª"


    "DADDY! IT''S HIM! THEY CAME BACK!"


    "WHY''D YOU CLOSE THE DOOR AS SOON AS YOU CAME IN! IT''S UNLOCKED FOR A REASON, KID!"


    "THERE''S ALSO ANOTHER REASON WHY LOCKS FUCKING EXISTS!"


    "WHAAAAT? WE''RE JUST PLAYING DOCTOR AND I JUST HAPPENED TO BE THE PATIENT WHEN YOU GOT HERE!"


    "UH-HUH! I''VE SEEN PLENTY AND YOU DIDN''T NEED TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"


    "OHHH~ NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN! I''M SURE YOU''RE ALSO INTO SOME PRETTY WEIRD SHIT, DON''T KINKSHAME ME, ALRIGHT?! JUST GET IN HERE SO WE COULD TALK!"


    "FUCKING WHERE?! THIS GODDAMN UNLOCKED DOOR OR YOUR GAPING ASSHOLE?! WHO FUCKING PUTS A PINEAPPLE IN THERE?!"


    "I DO! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR RUINING THE MOOD! Allie, dear¡­ can you please pull it OUT¡ª NOT THAT QUICK! JESUS!"


    "K! THX! I''VE SEEN ENOUGH! WE''RE MOVING ON!"

 Chapter 983: Supercars And Premium Leather

    I didn''t even think that we needed to stop by this ce because we could simply talk through the radio I gave them and I was deeply regretting my decision to pay them a short visit because of the horrors I just witnessed. However, as I was only a step away down their stairs, Allie managed to catch up with me and made me stop in my tracks by saying:


    "We''ve found a recement for Dave''s car! You need a mid-engine car, right?!"


    I turned back and looked at Allie who was just wearing a doctor''s robe and surgical gloves before I said, "I''m not going in there unless you and your ''dad'' get your shit together¡ª"


    Allie harrumphed cutely, "He''s not my dad! He''s my Daddy~! There''s a difference, alright?! D-Don''t be weird¡­"


    I chortled as I rolled my eyes, "You know what? The car''s probably outside so I''ll wait for you two by my Raptor¡­"


    "O-Okay, cutie~! See you in a bit! Mwah~! Kisses!"


    "Uh-huh¡­ I''mma head out¡­"


    With that said, I did watch the remainder of the show below and it ended as it was designed¡ªas brutal and as gore-filled as possible¡ªbecause the one who won the tug-of-war pulled too hard and got eaten by the freaks behind him while the other one caught more bear traps than his body could take and it ripped through his flesh and bone, either killing him from the shock or losing too much blood.


    The crowd definitely loved every single moment of it but a few ''entertainers'' had already spotted me and were offering their services for a very, very cheap price of a can of food, a bottle of water, or a handful of ammo.


    Anything and everything here could be traded for goods and services though the rates vary from person to person.


    "I''ll blow you for a smoke, baby~ What do you think?"


    I respectfully waved her off after seeing her teeth, "I''m doing good, thanks anyway¡ª"


    "How about me, handsome? You can do anything to me right here right now as long as you shit in my mouth¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ I''m doing really good, thanks for the offers¡ª"


    "HEY! YOU BITCH! WHY''D YOU OFFER HIM THAT AND NOT ME?! I''VE BEEN ASKING ALL WEEK AND YOU''RE CHARGING ME A WEEK''S RENT FOR THAT! THE FUCK?!"


    "ME TOO! WHO THE FUCK''S THIS GUY ANYWAY¡ª"


    "SETTLE DOWN, DUDE! HE''S THE KID! THE KID! DON''T YOU RECOGNIZE ''IM?! WORD IS, HE HAS FREE REIGN IN CUERVO HEIGHTS AND HE COULD KILL ANYONE WITHOUT REPERCUSSIONS!"


    "THAT''S HIM?! Why am I getting so wet¡­"


    "SHADDAP CANDICE! Wait a sec, can''t all family heads kill whenever?"


    "That''s a rumor, you dumb shit. T-They can, I think, but only for good reason. And none of them do it themselves even if they have the power to. There are other ways to do that¡­"


    "Well you do know a lot about how shit works there, huh? I''ll believe you, surely you''re not lying to my face you pizza face motherfucka!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "I SAID WHAT I SAID! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!"


    "HEY! IF YOU''RE GONNA FIGHT, DO IT IN THE RING! I''LL EARN SOME CASH WITH IT AT LEAST, NOT A FUCKING HEADACHE!"


    "DO IT, PUSSY!"


    "DO IT!"


    "YEAH! DO IT!"


    I really had to leave the premises before I got sucked in from how rowdy and wide the ce was this early in the morning, but it didn''t take long before the father and daughter joined us¡ªthough I didn''t think that Logan wasn''t aware of what happened to Dave''s M32 so I had to stop him frommitting bloody murder while making Jonathan "owe" me once again for saving his life.


    "What''s the car, anyway? You said it''s a mid-engine, right?" Logan asked.


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Follow me at the back¡­ I-It''s in the warehouse¡­"


    As Jonathan and Allie made their way, only Quinn, Jesus, and Logan followed after me, but little did I know that the warehouse he was talking about was this outdoor rental storage unit they used as a you know¡­ a warehouse of sorts and their housing units for their people and their guests.


    Its tall fencing was perfect for keeping the dead out and simply stabbing them with a fork through the fencing line, and it was secluded and cramped enough to not let a horde breakthrough it easily with their numbers.


    Furthermore, it seemed like they secured a couple of blocks around the area so their Cockpit Arena was the centerpiece of sorts while everything else acted as supplementation or for utility''s sake.


    "Here we are¡­"


    As we were let in, a section of the storage units was pretty much everything that Jonathan owned and as he ordered one of his men to open up one of the rollups, it revealed a fucking Audi R8 that looked fresh from the fucking dealership.


    I was already impressed as fuck that they managed to find one in the few days we were away but the three behind me were the exact opposite.


    Quinn looked totally indifferent while Jesus and Logan were already shaking their head in disappointment.


    At that point, Jonathan started to sweat nervously from their reactions but Allie nudged him before they went all car salesman mode:


    Jonathan figuratively pped the roof of the R8, "C''mon now! Don''t give us that look! It''s a brand-new R8 we found just collecting dust in a dealership nearby a-and¡­ and¡­ y-y''know¡­" then he quickly nudged Allie for support, "B-Baby¡­ A l-little help here¡­"


    Allie chuckled before she shook her head, "They''re car guys, Daddy~ We don''t need to tell them anything! We just let them look at it for a while and if they want to, I could give them a ''hand'' while we''re inside!"


    "Right! RIGHT! Feast your eyes fes, I tell you¡­ There''s nothing like that out there anymore¡­ I''m pretty sure¡ªnot really, but y''know¡­ It''s gotta be pretty rare!"


    "D-Daddy¡­ S-Stop¡­"


    "Uh¡­ R-Right¡­"


    Logan started, "I dunno~ Could be a simple refurbish¡­"


    Jesus followed, nodding, "Yeah, why would it be left there if it''s a great catch? I would''ve taken this one if I wasn''t inclined to my own station wagon¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "You guys are fucking idiots¡­"


    "Don''t butt in, Quinn. We''re doing our thing here¡­/ Yeah, let the men speak with another great man here¡­"


    "Whatever¡­"


    Hearing that, it took me a second before the two were just doing the thing where they actpletely disinterested about the fucking car they were trying to buy but I had another realization that all this shit was fucking pointless.


    ''IF JONATHAN''S GONNA GIVE IT TO THEM FOR FREE, SO WHY ALL THE THEATRICS?!''


    The head shake, the teeth sucking, and even tongue clicks were used to jack the price of anything way, way~ down for handshake deals, but I took it upon myself to look around and see if there was anything noteworthy while they do their own thing.


    Even Quinn followed after me because her sole responsibility was the car''s engines and she had nothing to do with the bullshit deal until it reached her garage.


    Whatever it was that came into her domain¡ªeven if it was from a junker or a supercar¡ªher goal was to bring it up to its best or optimum condition or even make it several levels better than how it came out of the box.


    But yeah, supercars and the like¡ªespecially if you''re driving on roads such as ours¡ªwouldn''t need a lot of power, so to speak, and in most cases, they needed a downgrade rather than an upgrade.


    It''s because we don''t have straight roads that could span miles and miles like where Oscar came from but like Japan, especially the mountains, our roads were curved and squiggly, making us need something different than raw power.


    Though it was the same shit for Quinn every single day because her goal wasn''t exactly to maximize output but to make sure what the car was using was the best for the road it was driving on.


    In any case, we had free rein to open up any storage units that had the specialbel on them but the first one we opened up made me try and close it at the same exact time but Quinn stopped me with this scary, lecherous look on her face because what we saw was kinda simr to what Clyde used to work on but in a more¡­ freaky way.


    It''s all fucking leather¡ªin other words: it''s liketex suits for dominatrixes but rece the shiny squeaky material with premium fucking leather.


    I never clenched my butt this hard when Quinn was already drooling from this find while holding a leather whip, and the thought of doing shit like this in the future had already crossed my mind, but if it was Quinn we were talking about, it''s a different fucking story.


    Kaley was akin to baby steps while Quinn would be like a storm giant having a tantrum.


    ''Why does Jonathan have stuff like this¡ª Wait, nevermind¡­''

 Chapter 984: How about me? - Jonathan VS Logan

    Looking at this section, I didn''t find anything that I''d find useful but Quinn was dead set on taking home the leather whip she picked up¡ªand I''m gonna be a little honest here¡ªI was both scared and aroused from hearing the whip break the sound barrier multiple times as Quinn was practice-swinging it.


    She was making the whole thing look so easy but I did need a few tries to perfect it and remember the sensation when she made me take a crack at it.


    "Oh? You learn quick, huh?"


    "Kaley does too, but our heads are still wired differently."


    "Pfft¡­ That''s pretty obvious, but what do you think? Do you want me to give you an intro to chains and whips in the bedroom? I''ll be gentle¡­ at first¡­"


    I chuckled and shook my head as I moved a step away, "We could but if we start ball-busting, I''m fucking out."


    "What?! That''s the best part! For me, at least¡­"


    "I still wanna have kids and getting my balls crushed in a vice or under your feet doesn''t sound like a good time¡­ Some people are into it but I''m not."


    "Hmm~ I get it, sure. But what while we''re on the subject, how about me?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    Quinn looked away for a moment before turning back to me with a slight blush, "I''m pretty sure you''re gonna make lots with Kaley but what about me? You know, Sal did say we had to repopte one way or a-another and umm¡­ that d-doesn''t necessarily mean it shoulde from a random guy¡­ You get what I''m saying? I don''t wanna cut in line or a-anything but I came first before Edith at least, right?"


    "You mean¡ª"


    She rolled her eyes before she red at me cutely, "Yeah! That''s what I mean! I don''t know what Kaley''s gonna say but I wanna have a kid or two, y''know?! And I''m older than all of you, what if I lose the ability to¡ª"


    "You can have your eggs frozen¡ª"


    "Dipshit, why don''t you just whip out your cock and we do it the normal way?! That''s way~ fucking easier! And way~ more fun too! C''mon! W-What do you think?! Y-You like me t-too, right?!"


    ''She looks so fucking cute¡­''


    I tried to maintain a stoic expression as I scratched the side of my cheek, "That''s¡­"


    "Fine! Forget I said anything¡ª"


    "Quinn. I''m not entirely against it and I''m very, very, very much ttered by considering me but we should have an open discussion for this¡ª"


    "h~ h~ h~ Hearing you say that you''re not against it is already good for me! As soon as all the shit I''m supposed to do at the moment is done, trust me, you''d look worse than Mauro every time Elsa had her way with him¡­"


    I jokingly rolled my eyes, "That''s some big words there¡­ Sure~ Tell me those words again every time you looked so panicked when I still haven''t had enough¡ª"


    Then Quinn suddenly leaned in with a threatening aura, "Bitch, I barely do any cardio! What do you think''s gonna happen when I started doing that plus us having sex every single night we could?!"


    "Won''t your tits sag and you''d look like a dried¡ª"


    "YOU SON OF A BITCH¡ª I WAS JUST¡ª ARGH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! EASY! EASY! I WAS JUST JOKING¡ª"


    "JOKING MY ASS! One of these days I''ll fucking bend you down and make you call me mommy while I''m fucking your little ass!"


    "Again~ Those are some big wordsing from¡ª And how could you get pregnant from that? I''m not a fucking seahorse! You see, contrary to the norm, male seahorses are¡ª"


    "YOU! I KNOW HOW SEASHORSES WORK! YOU DO KNOW THAT YOU''RE THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD TALK THIS WAY TO ME, RIGHT?! DON''T TALK TO ME LIKE I''M AN IDIOT!"


    "I''m not, I''m not~ And I''ll take advantage of it as much as I can~ Wanna check the other storage units?"


    "ARGH! F-Fine¡­"


    With that said, we perused everything we could while the others continued to haggle about something that was already free¡ªbut we did find a few items worthy of making a proper purchase¡ªand we brought all of them to Jonathan who was somehow giving the two more free shit besides the luxury supercar.


    "Hold on, hold¡ª I said HOLD ON! I''m already giving this car basically for free and you also want that differential, that set of tires, that subwoofer, and that old radio?! C''mon guys! Don''t bleed me dry¡ª" then he stopped his spiel as he turned to us, "Oh? You picked that stuff? You can have them for free¡ª"


    Logan instantly erupted, "WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?! WE''VE BEEN AT IT FOR 30 MINUTES AND THEY JUST DROPPED IN AND YOU GIVE THEM SHIT FOR FREE?! WHAT GIVES?!"


    Jonathan looked at Logan like an idiot, "First of all, you almost killed me but he saved me. Secondly, I owed him big, big~ time even before you came here, and third: I don''t wanna bring this up but did you forget the time when you joined the Cock-Arena of Time?!"


    I had to do a double-take, "The wut?"


    Jesus was losing his shit as he gave me an answer, "That''s what he calls the game we sawst time¡­ You know, with Kuzma? Cockfighting and shit? He calls it that¡­ The Legend of Kuzma: Cock-Arena of Time¡­ Current champion gets the naming rights¡­ Probably still Kuzma at this point¡­"


    Logan waved us off, "Hold on, hold on, I won that shit before! What''s fucking¡ª"


    "YOU CHEATED, YOU CHEATER! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BLOW EACH OTHER¡ª I MEAN, EXCHANGE BLOWS IN THE BEGINNING! YOU STRAIGHT-UP BLEW THE GUY¡ª I MEAN, STRUCK FIRST WITHOUT GETTING BLOWN¡ª I MEAN, GET HIT! DO YOU REMEMBER?!"


    ''I swear he''s fucking doing it on purpose¡­''


    Logan was about tomit bloody murder again from the nder, "YOU''RE DOING THAT SHIT ON PURPOSE! FUCK IT, HOW MUCH IS ALL OF THOSE SHIT ANYWAY?! I''LL PAY WHATEVER THE FUCK IT IS AND MOVE ON!"


    "Three-fiddy?"


    "THREE-FIDDY WHAT?! CASH DON''T WORK ANYMORE, THAT SHIT COULD BE ANYTHING!"


    Quinn interjected, "It''s always gas. Is that it? D''you want 350 gallons of fuel?"


    Jonathan nodded vehemently, "YES! But everything shoulde out from HIS pocket! That''s the deal! Three-fiddy gallons of fuel or¡ª"


    "Or we just let Dave drop in for a bit¡ª"


    "Hah! You think I''m scared of him?! W-Well, I do, but¡­ I''ll die on this fucking hill¡ª storage unit, whatever if I''m gonna let that guy get the best of me! Deal or no deal!"


    I drooped my head low before I looked at them exasperatedly, "This¡­ This is what you''ve been going back and forth on for thirty minutes?"


    Allie answered from the table behind, swinging her feet, "Yep! It''s still funny tho!"


    Logan just about had it, "Fine! I don''t have that much on my truck but I''ll give you 500 total but you have to pick it up or wait for Jesus to visit again¡ª"


    Jonathan never smiled so wide, "I''ll be in the next game night of Mr. Cuervo," then he turned to me, "Right?"


    I nodded, "Consider yourself a VIP."


    "Fuck it!" Logan rolled his eyes as he spat on his palm, "Shake on it!"


    Jonathan did the same thing and sealed the deal with a tight handshake while wearing an evil smirk, "My hands were in my ass earlier¡ª"


    "EW! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "LET GO, YOU FUCKING PERVERT! STOP SMOOSHING IT IN! I''LL FUCKING KILL YA!"


    "THANKS FOR THE PURCHASE~!"


    "I SAID LET GO!"


    Eventually, Allie gave Logan the key to the R8 while the rest of us knew Logan got swindled to fuck.


    It was basically the "Pretty Woman" effect or something simr when a person would get denied a sale of something they could easily afford before the same person woulde back with a grudge and buy more items than what they usually came for, making them feel good about themselves but ultimately benefitting the store.


    But yeah, Logan''s calvary didn''t end there when we realized he had to drive in a very tight spot that required precise handling, and the only way to have a perfect run was to move all of the obstacles away which would pretty much take a lot of time.


    We already made our way back when the two were finalizing some shit and we just heard a loud yell of despair when he realized the traps Jonathanid out for him.


    In any case, he simply called the rest of his crew to move the obstacles away but he had to toss all his anger on this particr trash can because as annoying and repulsive as I found Jonathan in those instances, especially in his office upstairs, he definitely got Logan good and then some.


    After a short bit, we eventually ended our short stay and bid our goodbyes though Logan went ahead and burned some rubber to let off steam a bit more.

 Chapter 985: Spill - There it is...

    As we continued our drive, Tatiana started to look through the bag of random items we brought over, and even Kaley''s interest was piqued. The first one they took out was the leather whip Quinn found for herself but they soon lost interest when they continuously pulled out assorted collectibles like toys, board games, miniatures,ic books, vinyl records, etc. that weren''t in my possession.


    Tatiana remarked, "It took you guys that long for this?"


    I chuckled, "Hey! That''s all for free and we weren''t the ones who took all of our time, Logan did. But yeah, they''re probably useless to you but to me¡ªmore so now, they''re as valuable as ever. Priceless even."


    "Ah¡ª I didn''t mean it that way, I did love ying D&Dst time¡­ I just never had the chance to pursue hobbies that are of this nature¡­"


    "Don''t worry about it. I didn''t have that much money growing up¡ªand even when I caught a windfall or earned some for things like these, I tried to keep a bnce of what''s useful and what could make me remember the times I so wanted to have them. Besides, I can''t y all of them even when I have the time because most of it''s just nostalgia¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "Eh~ I loved cars ever since and it just somehow turned into job¡­"


    Kaley turned around with a smirk, "Really?"


    "Why are you looking at me like that?"


    "Nothing¡­ I just had a mental image of you ying with dolls and whatnot¡ªnot like there''s something wrong with them¡ªbecause I grew up with dolls back then, Olivia, my sister, too but y''know¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled, "We have different kinds of dolls back home but they''re not as fun when they kept going on and on and on~"


    "What¡ª Oh! I get it, I get it~"


    Quinn was looking away for a moment before she had a thought, "Hmm~ Oh! I didn''t have a doll per se but I remember my dad made me something like that from the shop rag and I fucking hated it and just stuck it down a muffler. Heh, I got into so much trouble from that¡­"


    I joined in, "So¡­ Did you take from your dad or from your mom?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Where did you get that¡ª"


    "Ah! I get what you meant. A little bit of both, actually. Both gearheads and tall as fuck, but I definitely outgrew both of them¡­"


    "Are they¡­"


    "I have no fucking idea."


    Kaley interjected, "You don''t know where they are?"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Left home after graduating high school. I thought I could be something else other than them but look where it got me? A little funny, right? But yeah, didn''t care as much as the years went by but chances are, they''re already dead."


    "You don''t miss them or anything?"


    "It''s a love-hate rtionship, mostly hate before I left home because I''m in my rebel years but they''d probably be against what I''m doing right now."


    I couldn''t believe my ears as I cut in, "Why? You''re making custom engines and living as you are, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Shut it. You know what I was referring to. Can''t we just fuck our brains out instead of talking like this?"


    Kaley chuckled, "As much as I would love that, I''d love to get to know you more like this. It''s fun too, no?"


    "Eh~ Then why am I the only one talking?! Spill, you three!"


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, "What do you wanna know?"


    "EVERYTHING! I SAID SPILL! BIG DICK, YOU START!"


    "Are you sure about that?"


    "WHA¡ª W-Why?"


    With that said, we shared more details of our lives with Quinn on our rtively safe journey and she definitely needed more than a minute to get everything sorted inside her head.


    That caused her to share more details about her life because she felt like what we knew wasn''t enough but I was just watching out the moment she''d drop the bomb on Kaley because talks about having kids shouldn''t be had in a moving vehicle, especially when the original couple hadn''t even tried themselves yet.


    But yeah, she knew where to talk about such a topic and I had more time to focus on the road than on the subject at hand.


    We definitely deviated from the original route we took after leaving Jonathan''s domain¡ªthough some of it could be attributed to Logan speeding away from everyone¡ªbut he''d drop in our frequency to tell us what''s what before Jesus would adjust the route ordingly.


    Though obviously enough, we definitely avoided dirt roads¡ªnot like we drove on themst time¡ªand roads that had a lot of speed bumps, not because the R8 was lowered to fuck but because Logan just didn''t want to slow down.


    However, it didn''t take long before the motherfucker attracted unwanted attention because we suddenly saw him speeding back up to us with a trail of ferals and sprinters¡ªand he would''ve rammed them to shit if he wasn''t using Dave''s recement car or if he had the same attachments to his vehicle tobat them.


    Kaley and Tatiana were ready to climb their way to the back of the vehicle to pop some shots to thin their numbers but the cadets already had an idea in mind when they radioed in to our frequency:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WE HAVE TO USE IT SOMEHOW, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    And I couldn''t agree more as I replied:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FUCK IT! MAKE WAY FOR THE RAYCOLT!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH FUCK! OH FUCK! OH FUCK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Before Logan drove past behind us, everyone else in the way of the Raycolt''s mounted machine gun moved out of the fucking way before Megan was given the honors and popped out from the roof hole.


    Everyone else was ready to pick off the stragglers with their own weapons but Megan didn''t even miss even if she didn''t even aim at each of the fucking bastards since all of them were running in a straight line.


    Megan just made sure to aim in at one spot and at an angle to dismember and ravage anything that crossed the firing line, because even if the deadheading was a professional limbo yer, there was no chance in hell that they''de out of it unscathed.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before the fuckers switched their targets onto us but to reiterate Sebastian''s words, we wouldn''t be in danger even if we tried looking for it.


    However, as much as I wanted him to be right, there was a reason we alwayse out of shit untouched and that was theck of arrogance and taking everything¡ªeven a single deadhead, like we would a horde of a hundred or more units marching with each other.


    I already made Megan stop firing as I ran towards the closest one with my de drawn and I sliced half of its face horizontally before I bisected the other one that followed after it.


    Kaley was making sure that I was only facing one at a time as she was already firing from atop the Raptor while Tatiana had already fanned to my right to make our jobs a little easier.


    She could probably go toe to toe with a feral right now but she wouldn''t take the chance at the moment as she crippled every single one that came at her with buckshots to their knees before finishing them off with the same load to the head.


    Agility was the selling point of a feral instead of just speed like a sprinter and taking their mobility was the sure-fire way of taking them out without having to panic as they''d juke out or try to dodge the barrel of our guns or even our attacks with our handheld weapons.


    It was the tinge of unpredictability that made them dangerous, aside from their lowered stance, but humanity didn''t survive this long to sumb to something that only existed for a year at most.


    With that said, Quinn and everyone else tried to follow after us but we didn''t need a lot of instruction to be able to move on our own because we''ve been doing this a while and we can more or less react to what the other person was doing.


    They then resorted to double-tapping the corpses Megan mowed down while Quinn stood behind Kaley as her bodyguard.


    I didn''t know where and how Logan attracted such a group from the town before us but it didn''t take long before we saw the main herd that wasposed of regr old deadheads akin to goblins in an MMO.


    This time, we took our time clearing the flesh litter on the road as I made the cadets take care of our new problem but it should be obvious enough that I didn''t make them use our trump card¡ªmaking everyone from their group who so wanted to use itin.


    Even I wanted to let it rip for a few seconds but I sure as hell wouldn''t use it on regr dregs.


    Unless a weird one, of course, would show up.


    In which case they did¡­


    ''Oh, fuck no...''

 Chapter 986: Creases - It wont be long now...

    I didn''t know whether to feel unsettled or disgusted by the figures marching toward us but these few days of sunshine and rainbows made me forget that we were living in hell. Among the medium-sized herd Logan brought to us were three abnormally looking figures and the first one reminded me of the days when I used to frequent conventions.


    It was this plumpy deadhead¡ªthat seemed to be a stitcher¡ªwho was walking on all fours which had its freakin'' tongue wrapped around its neck like a noose while the end was wrapped tightly on the arm of this tall, headless figure behind it, "walking" it like a dog.


    The second one was this huge blob that probably did mukbangs in its previous life without throwing everything it ate right after and same as the first one, it was "walking" nine undead toddlers¡ªstill attached to its umbilical cords¡ªfrom its ripped-open stomach.


    With each step, bile and several other fluids were spilling out but most of it was "pieces" it wasn''t able to digest¡ªno, it could still probably break down someponents with its stomach acid but it sure as hell wouldn''t provide nutrients and do much to a rotting corpse.


    But yeah, the third one was a little tricky because I wasn''t sure if they were a pair or if there was a main body because it was this figure giving another one of them a piggyback ride though I couldn''t see much of their facial features due to their messy unkempt hair blocking the view.


    However, I could definitely see the extra set of feet and arms from the first one''s torso not only because I had a clearer view from the chest down but because the ce where its core and the rest of its internal organs should be was dangling down on its thighs while the extra set of limbs was sitting pretty on its "waist".


    And as much as I love to look at them, Kaley took down the one with the leash by punching in a lead projectile through its skull with her rifle but we were in for a surprise when she took down the biggest target right after.


    At any time of day, we''d always opt for the easiest shots¡ªand actually, snipers do as well¡ªbecause taking them down was the goal instead of making the shot as hard as possible by doing tricks and whatnot.


    "Uh-oh."


    I didn''t actually think that aiming for the huge plumper was the issue¡ªmuch less the thought of it losing its head first than its chunky knees¡ªbut as soon as it rolled to the ground, its fucking babies lost all sense of control.


    And I wasn''t talking about the headless stitcher-walker that dropped down after its host got shot down, it was more like identally letting go of a husky while the first time they went out.


    "I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY, I''M¡ª"


    "DON''T APOLOGIZE, JUST SHOOT!"


    Right from the fucking get-go, the blob''s babies either straight-up ran headfirst and ripped the umbilical cord off their stomachs¡ªrupturing their insides¡ªas they sprinted at top speed or they tried to chew them off first with their gums, ultimately just ripping them off with the tiny bones jutting out from their little fingers.


    But as fast as they looked, they haven''t bridged the distance between us with their tiny legs, but their fucking heads were wobbling all over.


    And yeah, Tatiana took it upon herself to once again rely on her Benelli M4 loaded with buckshot because she just needed to aim at the area where their heads would be before pulling the trigger and switching targets. Kaley and I did nail a few with her rifle and my pistol but it was like aiming at the most fucked up bobble-head we''d ever seen.


    The little buggers never came close but it was always a different thing when babies or even dogs were in the mix.


    In any case, the third one didn''t put up much of a fight once Kaley put her sights on it because its brain needed to be as small as it could if it was gonna try to survive a shot to the head to somehow miss its Achilles heel. It simply fell the same way as the rest of the dregs did when the rest of our crew marched on them though we did clean up and did our usual routine every encounter.


    This usually takes 30 minutes to an hour but unless we were running out of time, we shouldn''t be driving into the town where this herd came from with an empty mag or an unchambered barrel.


    It was akin to warming up and cooling down before and after a workout to reduce the risk of injury¡ªand in our current situation, it was to 99.9% of the time forgo mishaps or those so-called scripted deaths¡ªbecause god knows how stupid or unlucky people could be at any given moment.


    And even though the most prepared and most armed could still get into trouble, I''d rather fail doing just that instead of failing because of not doing something that could''ve taken a bit of our time.


    Ruben and James #2 then approached me while wiping their hands, "Everything''s ounted for, sir!/ They''ll all burn soon, shall we go now?"


    "And the casings?"


    James #1 answered, "All ounted for too, sir!"


    Seb followed, "All guns are locked and loaded and our handhelds were wiped clean¡­ sir."


    I nodded before I turned to Megan, "The belt links, did you pick all of them up?"


    She nodded as well, "Yep. Every single one as you ordered¡­"


    "You don''t sound too happy?"


    "Ugh¡­ As fun as it was to fire it, I didn''t think I''d have to pick up all of the spent casings and the belt links it needs¡­"


    JP chimed from the back, "You already said what they are¡­ They''re ''needed'' for the gun to work¡ª"


    "Why are you so fussy?! You told me I should fire it, why are you¡ª"


    "It''s not that, I''m just realizing I have to tackle the problems I created for myself when we get back."


    Lucas interjected, "What problems?"


    "Remember the public market we cleared? That problem."


    "Ah~ crap, I did forget about that¡­"


    JP looked more and more fatigued from the way he was thinking of all the shit he had to do, "I''d have to check each one of them, make sure they did the job I assigned them, and give out appropriate punishments for¡ª"


    I cut in, "Nah~ You''re probably gonna do it once or twice¡ªmaybe thrice if you haven''t set a proper example."


    "What do you mean?"


    I chuckled, "I''ve had plenty ofzy workers before. There''s azy but effective way to deal with them. You do know how to make your bed or put a cover over the dining tables, right?"


    JP shook his head, "Again¡­ What do you mean? Sir."


    "What I mean to say is: if there''s a crease somewhere, you don''t remove the whole sheet or cover and start over but instead, as I said earlier, you pull on the edges once or twice¡ªmaybe even thrice if it called for it¡ªand there you go.


    The initial crease will straighten out, followed by the minor ones that were negligible but let me add one more thing¡­ the moment you pull on it, pull it in a way that sends the message across the other tables or beds. Got it?"


    "..."


    "JP? Jameson Prometheus¡ª"


    "You¡ª I got it, sir. That just made more sense than I thought so it took me a bit to answer¡­"


    "Alright then, shall we?"


    With that said, we finally drove into this town that surprisingly enough, had a group of survivors who were actually sending a distress call. Luckily for them, Meg intercepted the message and Jesus made Logan drive by the herd and lure them out, making us take care of the problem and making this town a safer ce to live.


    They did offer many thanks and a few goods and "services" in exchange but it became an IOU of sorts because we couldn''t just take advantage of these people even if we did just save their lives.


    On the contrary, we left them a few items to get going and to remain in contact with our group but since Jesus would be the best chance they had out here, he gave them an offer that unfortunately split their group.


    What Jesus offered was for them to either find their way to the De Leon Family or to my old university because even though some of them could live on their own, they needed to join a bigger group while those bigger groups needed more hands to keep the status quo. Either ce depending on their preferences could be heaven or hell but there were still a few who wanted to stay in their hometown.


    We ultimately left the decision to them but half of their group was already packing their bags, but as much as we wanted to help other people, these randoms needed to get to their destinations their own way, and the best chance they had was if they go as a whole¡­ or simply continue what they were doing and live as a smaller group in this area.


    It didn''t take long before we connected to the route we usedst time but seeing the same public market we burned down in the same state asst time¡ªthough probably still picked clean of scraps¡ªwas making even me a little mad.


    ''JP will definitely bring the hammer down those assholes¡­ It won''t be long now¡­''

 Chapter 987: Disrespect - Faith

    It was very obvious that the people from the mall a few blocks away from this public market greatly benefited due to us clearing the dead for them because once we drove past them and the other folks chilling outside, they gave us a faint smile, a nod, a wave, or even a quick boob sh for our efforts.


    But yeah, I couldn''t care less about them at this moment because instead of going to my old alma mater to prolong their vacation for a few more hours, it was decided to head straight for the Academy.


    One other reason for that was the General was about to head out once again, and since JP radioed in to tell them that we were less than an hour away, his loving father decided to dy their trip for as long as he wanted to.


    In any case, Logan and Jesus along with their crews decided to just stay outside because we would only take a couple hours or so inside, but it was more for the purpose ofworking to see if there were particr soldiers that would bite for something less monotonous and more exciting.


    The soldiers stationed outside didn''t even bother to check our vehicles but the General himself¡ªand Major Perez, obviously¡ªwere already waiting by the parking area to wee us back.


    The General instantly bear-hugged JP, "Jameson¡ª I mean¡ª JP! d to see you safe and sound and¡ª Oh? I don''t know what it is but you do look differentpared tost time¡ª"


    JP shook his head as he wiggled off his dad''s embrace, "Cut the bullshit, Dad. I''ve left a mess when I left and I need to take care of it right now¡ª"


    He waved his son off, "I received your call and I already took care of it¡ª"


    "WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"


    "I don''t understand and I don''t like your tone. You''re away and someone needed to¡ª"


    JP scoffed, "I''m sorry about that, General, but I should be the one to fix my mistakes or no one will fucking respect me! They''ll obviously listen to your orders but it just made things worse for me! W-Where¡ª What did you do to them anyway?!"


    "Again, I don''t like that tone¡ª"


    "FUCK THE TONE! I''LL SPEAK HOWEVER THE FUCK I WANT! DON''T TELL ME THEY''RE JUST ON DISHWASHING DUTY OR SOME BULLSHIT PUNISHMENT TO ''KEEP THEM IN LINE''! I''M SICK AND TIRED OF OUR SOLDIERS GETTING AWAY¡ª"


    All of a sudden, The General''s whole demeanor changed before he sunk his fist into JP''s gut and mmed him onto the Raycolt''s body:


    "Again, I don''t like that fucking tone you''re using to address me¡­ Baron¡­ and who said that they got away with dishwashing duty?"


    JP never looked so surprised seeing his dad hitting him, "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Listen¡­ I''m a little surprised you talked to me that way but no one disrespects a McArthur, even if we share the same name. No one. I''ll understand and let it slide if I was somehow in the wrong but this time, I''m in the right and you should''ve tried to listen a bit more before blowing up in my face. Those vagrants who took our name to the dirt?


    The Major and I took care of them personally and let''s just say we saved a bit of food because no one could eat in the cafeteria for several days besides a select few¡­ Do you understand?"


    "..."


    "Baron! Jameson Prometheus McArthur IV! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"


    "Y-Yes, General¡­"


    "Repeat it with a lighter tone and look me in the eye as we''re talking."


    "Yes¡­ General¡­ I do understand¡­"


    "And?"


    "I apologize for my earlier outburst, it won''t happen again¡­"


    "Good. Then where were we? Ah~ Right! Wee back, everyone! d to see that you''re all safe! You all just didn''t get tanned on a beach, right?


    I''m jealous~ Any souvenirs, perhaps?"


    At this point, I just felt bad for JP because even if his heart was in the right ce, he went a little overboard with trying to correct his wrongs and even if I would''ve done the same thing as him, in this ce, his dad always had the final say and as he mentioned earlier, he was also in the right¡­ mostly.


    To be fair, The General should''ve waited and seen how his son could fix his own mistakes instead of always doing it for him because if he really wanted to see how his son would grow, doing that and then chastising him in front of everybody wasn''t the right way to go about it.


    He could''ve tried to talk it out calmly first¡ªif he really hated the tone they were speaking in¡ªthen talk to him privately right after.


    But yeah, it seemed like the lessons¡ªalthough not enough and in very short bursts¡ªI taught JP and the rest could''ve somehow helped them once I gave them back, it felt like JP was back to square one because of what just happened.


    However, speaking of things going back to square one, there was a particr individual who started growing his fucking horns back after keeping off of my radar.


    Lopez never looked so happy on familiar soil, more so because I haven''t made his life miserable enough¡ªbut to Seb and Alexa''s horror, the motherfucker was wearing a huge smile on his face as he was looking at the cadet''s leaderboard.


    I was still in mid-conversation with The General and Major Perez when Lopez threw Alexa a look before things went fucking south.


    We were barely in the Academy for 15 minutes before a body hit the floor.


    Everyone just heard a gunshot before Lopez''s lifeless body dropped dead with blood leaking out of his forehead, and once everyone''s eyes gathered on the perpetrator, it was actually JP who was holding the smoking gun.


    "WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DOOOOOO?!" The General just couldn''t believe his eyes.


    JP answered coldly, "I told you, dad¡­ I''m sick and tired of people getting away with shit," then he pointed at Lopez''s corpse, "This motherfucker just got here and found out Seb and his group are at the bottom of the list because they were away and he was already nning to have his way with her."


    "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT YOU DID?! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"


    "You said it yourself, dad¡­ No one fucks with a McArthur but to me, it applies to every single one of my friends, people, soldiers, and whatnot because if you fucking with any of them in any other way, that''ll happen to you. Besides, who fucking said I''m gonna get hurt? And I''m gonna get parts from that disgusting fuck? Honestly, I''d rather die."


    "YOU¡­ Meet me in my office, that''s an order¡­ soldier¡­ SOMEONE BRING THAT BODY TO THE UNIVERSITY QUICK! SEE IF THEY CAN MAKE USE OF IT SOMEHOW! BLOOD OR ORGANS, IT DOESN''T MATTER!"


    "..."


    "THE FUCK ARE Y''ALL STARING AT ME?! THIS IS AN ORDER, MOVE! MR. ISHIYAMA, WE''LL TALK FUCKING LATER! DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT BUT WE''RE GONNA HAVE A TALK!"


    I simply answered respectfully while hiding the delight from my expression, "Alright, I''ll take the body back to school. I''ll be back here in a few hours."


    The General just red at me, "Make sure youe back here or we''re gonna have a problem."


    I had to let out a chuckle, "Why would we have a problem? I didn''t do anything wrong, right? I''m even helping you¡ª"


    "THEN GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! I NEED TO TALK TO MY SON!"


    "Alright, then~" I nodded as I nced at JP who like Seb, Alexa, and the rest of the cadets were also looking at me, "See you allter, alright? I''ll be back soon."


    Saying that, the General just turned around after ring at JP to follow behind him but JP and the rest acknowledged me first before I pulled out a bodybag and threw Lopez''s body inside it.


    I actually didn''t think that things would go this way but all the talk Sal mentioned about making use of another person didn''t have a ce in my book because even if I would appreciate outside help, if I wanted to do something, I''d just do it myself¡­ especially if it was someone who had this kind of track record.


    However, the problem right now was that bringing Lopez''s body to the ce where his wife¡ªDr. Sandara Lopez¡ªwould definitely be in could be the biggest thing I''ve done for her or the worst.


    Dr. Lopez and especially Chloe¡ªno, both of them probably had never been outside the university''s walls so the topic of murder probably hadn''t crossed their minds even though the motherfucker rightfully deserved it. I''m not entirely sure as to how they''d react to knowing that the person they regarded as their husband or father was killed by the person he was supposed to protect.


    But yeah, this was one of the few times I''ll have faith on those two people but I really didn''t think this would happen in the first ce.


    ''Though I''m not particrlyining¡­''

 Chapter 988: Grab my wrists...

    It didn''t take long for my group to reach TAMU, Three Angel''s Message University, and once again, the guards didn''t even bother checking our shit because it seemed like I built a small reputation from myst visit.


    Furthermore, though not as apparent, the vibe was a little different too but I was happy they didn''t check our "baggage" because it''ll definitely go down the moment they discover we recently witnessed a murder.


    ''Eh~ They''ll probably wouldn''t mind if they know the whole story but there''s no need to tell everyone about everything¡­''


    This time, Logan and Jesus drove in¡ªbut they went ahead and headed straight for theke because my house wasn''t technically mine anymore and to just further avoidints from our neighbors. Besides, everyone else in this area was just one call away and it was a little unfortunate that Andy wasn''t in the gate to wee us.


    But yeah, I couldn''t quite exin the emotions running through my head right now when I drove in the emergency bay because the first person that came out was Dr. Sandara Lopez.


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ Here we go~''


    And yeah, she never looked so happy when we met eyes but she quickly noticed my change in demeanor, "Hi~! Wee¡ª What¡­ What''s wrong?"


    I nced at my truckbed before sitting her down, "Are you the only one on call?"


    She followed my line of sight earlier before looking back at me, "I¡ª We have a few other p-people but they''re doing something and I''m already h-here¡­ W-What''s wrong? You''re scaring me¡ª"


    "Alright, I''m gonna need you to grab on my wrists¡­"


    "What?"


    "Please¡­ I''d like you to really grab them you can squeeze them like you''re trying to break them in two¡ª"


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "We have a body at the truck¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "It belongs to a 50-year old male, Asian, medium to stocky build, used to be in charge of the ROTC program in this university¡­"


    "...!" Dr. Lopez''s grip on me started to tighten.


    "But when the world ended, he wasmissioned to apany the General''s son, the current Baron because of his blood type and so that he could be a donor in case something went wrong but this time¡­ something did go wrong¡­"


    "O-Oh my God¡­ W-What happened to¡ª"


    "He was too far on the deep end¡­ I thought he''d try to change his ways as I loomed behind him but the moment we set foot back on the Academy, one of the cadets that came with us¡­ he uhh¡­ he¡­"


    "Oh God¡­ Why would he¡­"


    "Technically¡­ He hadn''t done anything yet but once he saw that she was at the bottom of the rankings, the look he gave her implied that he''ll have his way with her one way or another¡­"


    Dr. Lopez''s whole body was shaking as she was looking me straight in the eye, "D-Did you? W-Were you the one that¡ª"


    I shook my head, "As much as I didn''t want you to hear me say this, no, unfortunately¡­ I would''ve wanted to be the one to put him down but¡ª"


    "T-Then who?"


    "JP¡ª I mean, the Baron¡­ the General''s son¡­"


    "W-What?"


    "Yeah¡­ I didn''t need to tell you this but he was kinda doing the same thing to one of the cadets¡ªbut that also didn''t excuse his behavior and it wasn''t technically the same reason¡ªbut he more or less woke up from that stupid notion that power could give him anything and for once, he did something he thought was right."


    "..."


    "D-Dr. Lopez?"


    "I-I need a s-second¡­ This¡­"


    At that point, Dr. Lopez was on the verge of tears as she kept a tight grip on my arms though now she was looking down and was still shaking all over, but one of the medical students came out of the doors she came from and saw what was going on.


    "U-Umm¡­ Do you need help?"


    I nced briefly at Dr. Lopez before looking back at the guy, "Yeah¡­ We have a fresh body that came from the Academy and the General ordered¡­ ordered us to¡­"


    As I was trying to speak to this medical student, Dr. Lopez''s hold on me tightened even more before her voice entered my ears:


    "W-What did the General order? Please, tell me¡­"


    "Ha¡­ He ordered us to h-harvest¡ª I mean, make use of his body for whatever reason because¡ª"


    Then the medical student cut in, "T-That''s great! Mrs. Prisci, Dr. Marteno, and a few others are in need of¡ª"


    I cut him off with a re, "Then you should move fucking fast, right?! Grab another doctor in charge so you can save those people!"


    "B-But Dr. Lopez¡ª"


    "HER HUSBAND''S THE VICTIM! CAN''T YOU FUCKING PIECE THAT TOGETHER?! WHY WOULD SHE BREAK DOWN LIKE THIS, HUH?! THINK, DUDE! THINK!"


    "A-AH¡ª I APOLOGIZE, DR. LOPEZ! I''LL GET ON IT QUICK! I''LL ALSO CALL MIMI ON THE WAY! SHE''S ON HER BREAK BUT¡ª"


    "STOP TALKING AND START WALKING, DUDE! GET ON WITH IT! WE FORGIVE YOU!"


    "Y-YES, SIR-DUDE? SIR!"


    With that said, the guy took off running and almost hit his head on the way in but it only took a short bit before more people came out to retrieve Lopez''s corpse while Mimi didn''t know what to do exactly because she was extremely happy that we were back but her soul was crushed from seeing Dr. Lopez in this state.


    However, we just exchanged nces before she politely asked if Dr. Lopez would want us to walk her to her office, but there was also another person who wasn''t aware of the news and it was Chloe.


    But at this point, Dr. Lopez excused herself to go to the bathroom in her office while I was sitting on the couch with Mimi and Kaley. Kaley didn''t look too worried about Dr. Lopez''s mental state but Mimi couldn''t help but steal nces at the open bathroom where the Dr. was.


    I tried to get her attention, "Where''s Chloe anyway?"


    Mimi answered, "Her suspension period is over, she''s attending sses once again¡­ A-Anyway, wee back¡­"


    I pulled her in and put her under my arms as I ruffled her hair, "Easy shift today, huh? You don''t look too haggard¡ª"


    "You¡ª I spent an hour fixing my hair¡ª"


    Then Kaley smacked both our foreheads, "You two! Now''s not the time alright?!"


    "We''re sorry¡­"


    At that point, we heard Dr. Lopez vomiting from the bathroom but the moment Mimi was about to provide some assistance, the same dude came knocking on our door.


    "E-Excuse me, sir! I-Is Dr. Lopez here, by chance?"


    "She''s in the bathroom, why do you ask?"


    "Dr. Av''s just wondering if she wanted to see her husband onest time before¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez exploded from the back:


    "WHY WOULD I WANNA SEE THAT SORRY PIECE OF SHIT?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE DID TO ME AND MY DAUGHTER?! HUH?! I''D RATHER DIE THAN SEE THAT DISGUSTING, LYING, ABUSING, PATHETIC BASTARD! TELL DR. AVILA TO CHECK IF HE HAS ANY DISEASES FIRST!


    BETTER YET, JUST SEND THAT BASTARD IN THE INCENERATOR FOR ALL I CARE!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am! I-I''ll get on it right away! And again, I''m sorry for¡ª"


    "JUST LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE! GET ON IT!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am~!!!"


    At this point, the room was quiet except for Dr. Lopez trying to catch her breath as her chest was heaving up and down, but she nced at me momentarily before wiping her mouth with bits of vomit and then slumping down on her chair with a difficult expression. She looked like she was thinking hard about something but then she turned to Mimi:


    "Mimi¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "C-Can you please go to the medical director and tell him I''m going to take a few days off?"


    "F-Few days?!"


    "What¡ª"


    "Take a few weeks at the least! He might be a bad person but you lost someone that was still a part of your life and¡ª"


    "Mimi. I''m sorry but can you please do what I asked? I can''t take a week off because of my responsibilities but a couple days or two might just help¡­"


    "H-How about Chloe?"


    "Don''t worry about her, I''ll pick her up¡ª W-What time is it again?"


    "It''s 10:30¡ª"


    "So she''s probably in Biology, the building''s a ways off¡ª"


    I cut in, "Let me drive you there and drive you both home¡­ It''s the least we can do¡­"


    Kaley added, "Mrs. Lopez¡­ I-I don''t want to intrude as much but i-if you want to have someone else other than your daughter to talk to¡­ I''ll¡ª We''ll be here for as long as possible¡­"


    Dr. Lopez looked at Kaley with a gentle smile, "Thank you, I''ve been meaning to go to my therapist but she''s the mother of the lying bitch my daughter beat up¡­ I''ll actually put you up to that¡­ I''ll take anyone at this point¡­"


    Kaley smiled gently as well, "I may not be as good as my mom but I''ll definitely give it my all! I can talk with you for hours on end!"


    "Hmph! We''ll see about that. D''you like Grey''s Anatomy?"


    "Of course!"


    "Then let''s go! Let''s rip one more bandaid after picking up my daughter and I''ll put you to the test!"

 Chapter 989: Oh no, you dont...

    With that said, it only took a moment before Dr. Lopez realized that her breath was a little off, so she jumped up and rushed back to the bathroom to take care of it. She never looked so embarrassed when she stepped back and gave us this signal that she''d need a few minutes but Mimi took it upon herself to excuse herself so she''d be able to ask for Dr. Lopez''s immediate leave to the medical director.


    "D-Don''t leave without me, o-okay?!"


    I waved her off, "Of course, we won''t¡­ unless~"


    "W-What do you mean?! I-I''ll just give her a call¡ª"


    Kaley sent an elbow to my side as she turned to Mimi, "Don''t worry about him, he''s just messing with you. Go! We''ll wait for you, definitely!"


    In any case, Dr. Lopez did finish up quickly before she started to pack some things in her bag, but she turned to us a little weirdly when she was about to reach for her drawer. Kaley and I instantly knew why she looked suspicious so we just pretended to look away to save her a bit of embarrassment.


    ''She wasn''t as embarrassed that other time though¡­''


    But yeah, she had finished packing her items as Mimi came in with several forms for her to sign and she just squiggled them on before beckoning us to the door.


    It''s just that a lot of people were right outside to give her condolences and some words to ease her pain, but she just forced out a bitter smile before asking for some space. Everyone definitely understood what that meant so they gave her just that.


    We then used the exit to the emergency bay because we left Quinn and Tatiana over there, but the two weren''t too happy from the looks they were getting because Quinn was a foot or a couple of feet taller than everybody while Tatiana''s left arm covered with a tattoo sleeve was disyed in the open.


    They were so used to gettingpliments from their outward appearance but receiving the exact opposite waspletely off base for them.


    Quinn red at me when she saw mee out with Kaley and the rest, "Took you guys long enough! I kinda know the pipsqueak but isn''t she the doctor earlier?"


    Tatiana followed right as Mimi was about to react from getting called a pipsqueak:


    "Is sheing with us?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, she''s Lopez''s wife¡ª ex-wife now, I guess. She''s Dr. Sandara Lo¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez suddenly cut me off, "It''s Nichols, now¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    She nced at me briefly before she repeated herself, "It''s Sandara Nichols now¡­ I-I don''t wanna associate myself with that name anymore¡­ Chloe will be happy too but it''s gonna be a pain in the registrar''s office¡­ Gotta wait a bit but I''ll go by my maiden''s name unofficially¡­"


    Quinn chuckled as she loomed over her, "You adjusted that fast, huh? You were about to cry earlier¡ª"


    Dr. "Nichols" stood her ground, "I did cry, briefly. He was my husband after all but now he''s not. That''s about it."


    "Oh? Then we''ll get along just fine~ Where are headed now? Are we going to theke or¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Just hop in. We''ll pick up Chloe on the way but I can drop you off theke if you wanna have a swim¡ª"


    "Fuck that, you fucks have something nned and I''m not gonna miss the world for it!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she got in my Raptor, "It''s not what you think, Quinn. We''ll be having fun but not in the way you think¡­"


    "We can do both, right? Right? I mean, I''ll just join if we''re about to¡ª"


    Everyone who already got in shouted at her, "Get in, Quinn! We don''t have all day!"


    "Jeez~ I thought you guys wanted to talk all day?! Isn''t that what we''re doing?!"


    "GET IN!"


    With that said, as we drove to the building where Chloe was attending her ss, I didn''t bother trying to contact her using the radio I gave her, but instead, Dr. Nichols made her way to the specific ssroom to talk to the teacher.


    Funnily enough, Chloe thought she was in trouble but she never looked so happy when she saw me and Kaley waving at her from behind her mom. However, she got a little scared when her teacher started crying before hugging her mom, and to skip a few details, we made our way to their house that was a little bigger than the one that was given to me.


    It had a couple of cars that belonged to each of them but both definitely looked unused for quite some time, but as soon as we parked at the avable spot, Dr. Nichols fished out the keys from her bag and opened the door for us.


    "Come in~ Come in~ It''s a little messy¡ª Woah! Who cleaned this ce?"


    Chloe rolled her eyes, "I did! Always did!"


    "I-I thought you were living by theke?"


    "I am when you''re not home¡­ b-but this is my home too¡­"


    "Aww¡­ I love you, Chloe, thanks for doing this."


    "D-Don''t make it like it''s a huge thing, alright? I-It''s pretty normal for me to take care of you too¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Tatiana raided their fridge while Quinn slumped down on the sofa. Kaley and I wanted to smack each of them but in case they took it other than a form of punishment, we just decided against it. But yeah, as Chloe was about to join us after changing into a morefy attire, Dr. Nichols took it upon herself to tell her the news privately.


    They just locked the door to one of their rooms as each of us shared a nce, but since it was already almost lunchtime, I decided to prepare some food for us and keep Tatiana away from eating all of the important ingredients.


    The General did say that I should be back in a couple or so hours but I doubt the discussion he''ll have with his son would be that short. As unfortunate as it may be, we could be here for a day or two at the maximum, but since I would be bringing Mimi and my other friends with me and Ron and Allyssa wouldn''te, I guess recing them with two other people wouldn''t hurt as much.


    ''A great doctor and a ck sheep in this university¡­ they''ll have a better time at home if I manage to convince them¡­ Question is how¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I heard someone crying from the room where Chloe and Mrs. Sandara were, but Kaley just decided to increase the volume of the show they were watching to give them a bit of privacy by doing just that.


    Even in thefort of their own homes, crying could be a little difficult if they had nosy neighbors or guests so a little bit of random chatter from the television could drown out or cloud the noises a bit.


    But yeah, the first one toe out of their room was Chloe whose eyes were a little red but they shone brightly with her pearly teeth when she met eyes with me and discovered I cooked them some lunch.


    "W-What?! You can cook? Waaah~ It''s smells so fucking good~ W-What do you call it?!"


    "I dunno, it''s just a stir-fry of vegetables with thinly sliced beef strips and a light vegetable soup. I also have a cinnamon roll cooking by the oven and it''ll pair well with the ice cream you have in your freezer¡ª"


    "Wow~!!! You did all that?! A-Are they almost done?!"


    "U-Umm¡­ Give me around 30 minutes¡­"


    "Thirty minutes?! What¡ª"


    Then Dr. Nichols cut in, "You ungrateful brat, he''s already cooking for us and¡ª" then she turned to me, "D-Do you need any help?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ This stove here sticks a bit and it doesn''t turn on all the way?"


    "Ah¡­ Here''s what you do¡­"


    At this point, Mrs. Sandara decided to lend me a hand while Chloe and Tatiana were just leering at us to quickly finish the food but god fucking dammit they were so fucking annoying. I can''t fucking break thews of physics to somehow make the food cook quicker and turning the burners and the oven to max will just fucking burn them.


    But yeah, a piece of cheese distracted them for a short bit, so the two of us were given a bit of peace and quiet when they joined the others.


    However, I caught Dr. Nichols staring at me like she was in a daze before catching herself doing the same thing and abruptly looking away.


    "Dr. Lo¡ª I mean, Dr. Nichols?"


    "Y-Yeah?" She replied without looking at me.


    "Were you¡ª"


    She cut in as she finally looked at me with a flushed expression, "C-Can you just call me Mrs. Sandy or just S-Sandy while we''re here?"


    "S-Sure¡­ Mrs. Sandy¡­"


    She briefly smiled as she looked away, "I don''t wanna impose on you but getting called doctor all the time makes me feel old¡­"


    "Really? To me, it just sounds professional and dignified. And again, you''re not that old and you don''t even look your age¡­"


    "T-Thanks for thepliment but I dunno about dignified¡­" she trailed as she returned her gaze back to me, "You know¡­ I¡­ I¡­ F-Forget about it¡­"


    "Is there something wrong? You can tell me anything?"


    "R-Really?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    Then she suddenly leaned in to me while staring directly into my eyes, "Then was thest time I ''felt'' real or not? Was that because of me?"


    "What¡ª"


    Then she nced momentarily at everyone and after confirming they were busy watching the show, she put her hand directly onto my crotch before she watched my reaction.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    At this point, she leaned even more to my side as she pressed her huge chest onto me and showed me her deep cleavage while massaging the area around my crotch, and the moment she felt a twitch as I gradually got harder, she tried to hide her smirk but she suddenly let go of me as she tried to do the dishes.


    ''Oh no, you don''t¡­''

 Chapter 990: Cinnamon Rolls and Claiming Dr. Sandara Nichols

    At this point, we had a great view of everyone else in the living room still tuned in to the show, but I wasn''t exactly sure if Dr. Nic¡ª Mrs. Sandy wanted me to straight-up bend her down the sink and fuck her from behind or continue this current game we were ying because we have less than 30 minutes to get shit done.


    But yeah, as much as I wanted to have a taste of this beautiful, mature woman who definitely still took care of herself, I wouldn''t want to bepared to herte husband who''d just have his way every single time.


    In which, case I stood behind her, nestled my erection between her plump cheeks, and offered some assistance as I held her hands as we washed the dishes together:


    "Wow¡­ I didn''t think you''d have such soft hands¡­ nary a wrinkle too¡­" I whispered in her ear as I slightly pushed my hips in and pulled back as she let out a silent gasp.


    "W-What are you d-doing, young m-man?"


    "I just thought you needed some help¡­"


    "I¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I can do it by m-myself¡­"


    "Don''t you ever get lonely?"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "You know¡­ Doing it by yourself¡­"


    "A-Are we still talking about the d-dishes¡ª"


    "And to answer your earlier question¡­" I trailed as I pressed my hips on her even more, "Yeah¡­ You did this¡­ You''re responsible¡­"


    "W-Why would you get interested in an old woman like¡ª"


    "You keep saying old woman this, old woman that¡­ All I see is a woman in her prime who''s always being taken for granted¡­ I''d never do something like that to a beautiful, hardworking, and brilliant doctor such as yourself¡ª"


    "There you go again with calling me ''doctor''... Ha¡­ You know how I feel about¡ª"


    "Then I apologize, but do know it''s a form of praise to me¡­ But what can I do to make up for it?" I said as I leaned even closer that we were cheek-to-cheek as we were washing the same te for a couple of minutes.


    Furthermore, I have a great view of her deep cleavage from above and I was slightly focusing on this pink little mole on her left breast. Her breathing right now was a little hurriedpared to earlier and at the same time, she was slightly moving her hips to get a better feel of me from behind.


    But yeah, I started to feel her huge breasts from behind¡ªand even though they were hanging for a little bit, it didn''t matter to me because they were the softest ones I''ve touched and my fingers would just sink on them if I squeeze a little bit harder.


    Mrs. Sandy''s breathing started to get faster and faster but as I tried to trace my hand to her crotch, she grabbed my hand and stopped me. I decided to not push it that far but she reached around and started to touch me over my pants as she let me just grope her breasts from behind.


    I didn''t even care if my pants were getting soaked through her soapy hands but she hesitated once again when I tried to put my hands inside of her blouse.


    "That¡­ C-Chloe is¡ª"


    "What about her?"


    "S-She''s my¡ª A-And she''ll be hurt if she saw us¡ª"


    "I dunno about that¡­ It''d be a little weird if she saw us, sure, but I''m definite that she''ll understand¡­ happy even¡­"


    "H-Happy? What¡ª"


    "I thought she wants the best for you? Your happiness also counts towards that, right?"


    "D-Don''t be that cocky¡­"


    "Cocky? Sure, whatever you say but you at least wanted this in some way¡­ You wouldn''t have initiated if¡ª"


    "Initiated?"


    "Don''t gaslit me now¡­ You know what you did¡­"


    "..."


    "Look¡­ we have less than 20 minutes to go before the timer on those cinnamon rolls ring and I could definitely get off if I wanted to but it wouldn''t be right if I don''t do something for you¡­"


    "L-Like what?"


    "Whatever you want, I''ll do it."


    "N-No¡­ T-Tell me w-what you wanna d-do to m-me¡­ I-In detail¡­"


    "Well¡­ Even though right now I just wanted to lift your skirt and push my dick inside one of your holes, I''ll get on my knees first and lick your pussy and all your juices before I push a finger in and switch to licking your ass¡­"


    "...!"


    "With the volume on that show, they wouldn''t even hear me slurping everything that''ll flow down my fingers that are inside you, but I''ll start ying with your clit as I alternate licking your holes even if you start squirting in my mouth¡­ Trust me, I''ll drink all of it and watch you buckle to your knees, but I''ll prop you up with my dick as I¡ª"


    Before I had to say more, Mrs. Sandy just turned around with the same dazed expression as earlier before she licked her lips and gave me a sudden peck on the lips as she pulled down on my pants and knelt down.


    "W-What the¡ª I t-thought that¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    Mrs. Nichols eyes were so wide as she was face to face with my rock-hard dick, and her breathing just got harder and harder before she grabbed on my hips and swallowed me whole.


    ''FUCK!''


    I almost came from reaching deep down her throat as I felt her tongue still coiling around me, but it didn''t end there when she maintained eye contact before pulling down her blouse and revealing her breasts.


    And let me fucking tell you, they were as big¡ªno, a little bit bigger than Kaley''s and she had a few stretch marks on them due to how heavy they were, but I didn''t think for a moment that they''d mostly retain their shape even if they were slightly hanging from their original spot.


    However, I couldn''t care less because I was fighting for my life when I saw her big ares and her huge, puffy, and pink nipples which I thought would give me a cup of milk if she so gently squeezed them.


    All I was doing right now was keeping her hair from covering her face so I''d have a better view of her assets, but she flipped us around where I''d be leaning on the counter so she could put my dick between her tits and smother it while giving me head at the same time.


    I didn''t even think that she could do shit like this¡ªmuch less take me deep in her throat¡ªbut I''m all fucking for it as I gave her my first load in her mouth.


    "HmPH! MMpfh!! MmHhmMP!!!"


    But right as I was pumping her mouth full of cum, I noticed that she only swallowed the first two pumps before reaching behind me¡ªand I was shocked to fuck when I discovered that it was the bowl of maple ze I prepared for our cinnamon rolls.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ It''s a little weird but they''ll understand us¡­ right?"


    At that moment, my cum was flowing out of her mouth and my dick to the bowl of maple syrup, milk, and powdered sugar, but she couldn''t believe the amount that was still pumping out of my dick after she swallowed two mouthfuls earlier.


    But yeah, she was now looking at me a certain way as she had this victorious smile stered on her face¡ªand it definitely turned into panic when she noticed that I wasn''t getting soft from having an orgasm. It was as hard as she left it and it was still twitching in her hands waiting for a poor soul to get used for pleasure.


    "You¡ª"


    I brought her up as we went back to our original position before I whispered in her ear, "You know I''m also gonna eat that, right?"


    "Ah¡ª I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "And again¡­ You''re responsible for this¡­"


    "I-I-I am? Then..."


    "What are you gonna do to make up for it?"


    At this point, Mrs. Sandy didn''t know what to do but the moment I tried to touch her crotch over her panties again, she didn''t stop me. Furthermore, I wasn''t sure if she was this fucking wet earlier but if I pulled her panties off now and squeezed the contents in a cup, I could probably fill it halfway due to how fucking soaked they were.


    But yeah, since she ruined the maple ze for our cinnamon rolls for me, I think it was a fitting punishment to ze her asshole.


    "W-Wait¡­ T-There?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "N-No but¡­"


    "Then tell me¡­ You know, in detail¡­"


    "I haven''t been¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "E-Except for my d-dildo¡­ a-and my fingers¡­"


    "Then ready for the real thing?"


    "I-I don''t know if i-it''ll¡­ fit¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Then do you want me just in your pussy? I would''ve preferred to fuck your ass while I''m ying with your pussy and your tits at the same time¡­"


    "W-Well¡­ I-I didn''t say n-no¡­"


    "You''re an amazing woman Mrs¡ª no, Sandy¡­ I would''ve loved it if you were in my ce¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "You''ll be the head in your own department and your daughter can do whatever the fuck she wants and have real friends¡ª"


    "T-Then¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Then w-we''ll see h-how you do here and I-I''ll t-think about it¡­"


    Before she had the chance to think of what she just said, I turned her around and gave her a deep kiss as I lifted one of her legs and pushed my huge cock in her pretty cunt. And after that, I started biting and sucking on her nipples as I reached around with my other hand to finger-fuck her little asshole, making her let out an audible gasp and alerting everybody.

 Chapter 991: Cinnamon Rolls II

    From our current position, I saw how everyone else turned their heads to discover that Dr. Nichols and I were tangled together, but I had a glimpse of Chloe''s genuine reaction before they all turned their heads back and pretended like nothing had happened.


    I was still moving my hips¡ªmaking her feel the whole length before pulling just below the tip then pushing it back in slowly¡ªprodding the surface of her butthole and pushing it in slightly.


    But yeah, she saw me nce at their direction but she was too embarrassed to follow my line of sight:


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ D-Did they¡ª"


    "N-No¡ª" I cut myself off as I looked her in the eye, "T-They did but they''re letting us do our thing¡ª"


    "Then C-Chloe¡ª"


    "D-Don''t worry¡­ Shepletely gets it¡­"


    ''Looked a little jealous but it''s her mom''s time for now¡­''


    "A-Are you sure?"


    "Do you want to stop a-and ask her?"


    She suddenly pinched my back as she was holding me, "You¡ª N-No¡­ But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You''re d-doing too much at t-the same time¡ª I-It feels g-good but s-since we''re not in a h-hurry a-anymore¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can we f-focus on f-fewer things?"


    Then I slowed my roll and looked her straight in the eye, "Then tell me what to do and what not to and I''ll do just that¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "T-Then¡­"


    For some reason, she sounded a little apprehensive when I told her to lead me on what she wasfortable doing, but she looked so relieved and happy that I was following her lead even though she was on the receiving end. I somehow knew the reason for her being this way but I put the thought of that person to the back of my mind while I made sure that Mrs. Sandy''s needs were met.


    It seemed like she was touched-deprived yet still remained faithful to that lying, cheating, and abusing bastard, and this was the first time she felt another human''s touch in a long while.


    If it was me, I''d be hammering away if I was that deprived but she wanted to savor everything that was happening between us in her own way.


    She pulled herself up from the kitchen counter¡ªsneaking a nce at everybody who was still facing the opposite direction¡ªbefore shepletely removed her bra and panties, except for her thin-strapped blouse and her short frilly skirt.


    However, her huge breasts and her cleanly-shaven and pretty-looking cunt were now on disy, but as much as I wanted to have a taste of her lower lips, she beckoned me toe closer for a warm embrace.


    "C-Come here¡­"


    And as I did, she wrapped her arms around me and pressed her plump chest between us before she started giving me a passionate kiss before breaking away:


    "C-Can you p-pin me on that fridge while carrying me and¡ª"


    Before she managed to finish her sentence, I grabbed on her legs as I pinned her to the fridge in the opposite direction but I almost chuckled from the way she held me so fucking tight, afraid of falling off.


    I looked her in the eye as she managed to catch her breath, "You mean like this?"


    "Y-Yeah but d-don''t be so r-rough¡­ yet¡­ C-Can you c-carry me until¡ª"


    "You know Quinn, right?"


    "T-The really tall and buff one?"


    "Yeah. She''ll deny it but she loves it when I fuck her in this position¡­"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Yeah. If I can do that to her until she gives out¡­ you know where I''m getting at, right?"


    "B-But what does Chl¡ª K-Kaley like¡ª"


    "If you keep stalling for time, I''ll push my dick in your ass and gape it enough you could fit your fist in it¡­"


    "...! I-I was just¡ª"


    "Just what?"


    "I-I was just nervous b-because I r-really want you to put it i-in my ass after m-my v-vagina¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I gave her a peck on the lips, "Is that it? Again, you can tell me to do anything and I''ll do it for you¡­"


    "T-Then¡­ I-I want you to f-fill b-both my h-holes and I-I still w-wanna suck you a-after¡­"


    "You do know that as soon as I start, I won''t stop until¡ª"


    "Yes... I-I don''t want you to¡­ For now, m-make me forget about everything¡­"


    As soon as she said that, we sealed it with a kiss before the fridge behind her started creaking and wobbling like a fucking headboard. But with how hard I was thrusting my hips onto Mrs. Nichols, we managed to push it to the point that it was nestled in a tight nook as I fucked her harder and harder.


    "W-What¡­ F-FUckKk! MMmM! MmhH! S-Shit! W-Why d-does it f-feel so¡ª MmMh!!! Shiit!


    SHIT! S-ShhiiiiT!!!!"


    At this point, not only she was holding on to me tight, but her nails were also digging into my back as I was denting the door of their old fridge with each thrust. She never felt this much bliss as she melted from the pleasure but she suddenly tried to bury her face in my chest as her insides tightened.


    "T-They¡­ T-They''re looking¡ª S-Stop¡ª"


    "They can''t help it. Seeing a gorgeous woman like you getting railed¡ª"


    "MmHm! S-Stop! N-No¡ª W-WHY¡ª I-I''M CUM¡ª I-I''M CUMMING! I-I''M C-CUMMINGGG~!!!"


    I didn''t know what to do at one point because she told me the words stop and no, but the way she was still clinging to me, much less, looking at mepletely contradictory to her words¡ªmade me go faster and faster even if she started looking like a mess.


    It didn''t take long before I ejacted inside her very tight womb though I did give her a few seconds to breathe before I pulled out and plunged it in her ass.


    "HNGH! O-OH GOD! WHY DID I¡ª MMH! AH! HA¡ª MMH! I-I-I¡ª I HAVEN''T STOPPED C-CUMMING FROM¡ª MMH!


    MMNN! I-IT''S¡ª I-IT''S C-COMING A-AGAIN¡ª AH! AHHH! MMMMHH!!!"


    Dr. Nichols was barely holding onto me when I invaded her little asshole but it was now getting stretched and stretched even morepared to when she''d try to use her little rubber toy to fuck.


    For some reason, fucking the lights out of this beautiful mature woman whose daughter I also fucked was right behind us and probably watching sent me over the edge as I came inside her ass faster than I thought.


    But yeah, her feeling my warm seed fill her up a second time made her squirt for god knows how many times right now and make a mess of the kitchen floor, and she wasn''t even able to suck me off right after like she promised.


    However, I wouldn''t put that against her because she looked like she ran a fucking marathon, but I took it upon myself to carry her to the bathroom to clean her up with some well-deserved aftercare. And before that, I gave Kaley and Mimi some instructions on how to finish up the meals I was cooking and I asked Chloe for some towels and her mom''s change of clothes.


    Chloe did run up to one of their rooms to fetch what I asked of her but she kissed me while wearing aplex expression.


    "T-Thank you¡­ S-She needed that¡­"


    "Umm¡­ You don''t feel weird at all?"


    "A-A little but¡­ Y-You know¡­ I-I''m old enough to u-understand things like these¡­"


    "You mean mature?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Of course, you are. If you don''t mind, I need to help your mom in the¡ª"


    "O-Oh! R-Right! Right¡­ T-Talk to youter, I guess¡­"


    With that said, as soon as I went back to the bathroom to check on Mrs. Nichols, she already retained the feeling in her legs and she fucking jumped me and pulled the clothes off my body like she had a fucking second wind. And who am I to fucking decline an invitation like this, so she tried to squeeze out more from my endless reserve but it didn''t take long before I once again came out victorious.


    She looked a little disappointed she wasn''t able to take me down but her biggest challenge at the moment was getting out of the bathroom we were in.


    "Y-You go first¡­"


    "You said they already saw you, right? What''s the¡ª"


    "B-Because! I can''t walk out just like that!"


    "Actually, you can. And I''m gonna assume they could probably hear us right now¡­"


    "D-Don''t you think I d-didn''t know that?!"


    "Then¡ª"


    Kaley shouted from the other side, "Guys~ The food''s done! C''mon! Let''s eat together~"


    I turned to Mrs. Nichols, "See? They don''t mind."


    "But I still do!"


    "This is your home, right? Why would you¡ª"


    "B-Because! W-What would C-Chloe think¡ª"


    I suddenly headbutted her very~ lightly, "You think I didn''t see your shadow from under this door when Chloe handed me those clothes you''re wearing?"


    Mrs. Nichols cutely red at me as she tried to rub her forehead, "Y-You¡ª"


    Then Chloe gave her the final blow, "I-It''s nothing to be embarrassed about, Mom! Kinda weird, sure~ But I''m really hungry and I won''t eat until you twoe out! So please¡ª HEY! MOM! QUINN AND TATIANA ARE ALREADY EATING! WE WON''T HAVE ANY LEFT IF YOU TAKE TOO LONG!"


    "I-I need a few¡ª"


    In any case, I decided to open the door for us and drag her with me¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªbut not gonna lie, seeing her shrink down while the two motherfuckers¡ªQuinn and Tatiana¡ªwere smiling at her while moving their brows up and down was the funniest shit ever before Kaley and Mimi tried to kick their shins but Mimi was too fucking short to reach across the table.


    But yeah, all her worries faded when she got a bite of my food but I almost choked on my stir-fry when Chloe reached for a cinnamon roll.

 Chapter 992: Cinnamon Rolls III - Serious Talk

    I still had a vivid memory of Mrs. Nichols making me cum into that bowl of ze which was now poured on top of the cinnamon rolls we had on the round dining table¡ªand out of all the people who get to eat it first¡ªI didn''t think Chloe would be the one to reach for it.


    Additionally, the same could be said for my partner in crime because her eyes went wide the moment she realized the "mistake" she had done.


    Then Chloe took a big ''ol whiff of it first¡ªbecause cinnamon rolls definitely smelled heavenly¡ªbefore taking a huge bite of it, taking in most of the ze in her mouth while a smidge smudged on her lips.


    ''Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck¡ª''


    "Mmh! THIS IS SO GOOD!"


    Mrs. Sandy and I dumbfoundedly said at the same time, "Y-Yeah?/ It is?"


    Chloe nodded vehemently before taking another bite, "Mmm-hmm! Yea! I-I like that it''s not too sweet and it has this¡ª hmm~ What do you call it? Umm~ T-The icing? I thought it would be overwhelmingly sugary but i-it has parts that are *licks her lips and fingers* a little salty but it''s just so good!"


    Hearing her say that, I was absolutely terrified while doing my best to hide my fucking boner from my cotton shorts while Mrs. Sandy just got so fucking red, everyone else except for Mimi knew why the ze was a little "salty" and imed a piece of their own.


    Kaley, Quinn, and Tatiana only needed a bite to figure out the hidden ingredient but when Mimi took a bite while wearing a suspicious look on her face, she still couldn''t figure out what was wrong or what was making this particr cinnamon roll so fucking good to them.


    Then Mimi turned to me, "I-I don''t get it¡­ I-It''s good but I dunno¡ª"


    Kaley followed with a cheeky smile, "Why aren''t you having one, huh? It''s really~ good, you should try it."


    "Ahaha¡­ I-I''m still not done with my¡ª"


    Quinn cut in with the same look as Kaley, "Everyone loves it so~ much, you should take a bite at least¡­"


    Chloe tilted her head as she interjected, "Everyone? Mom hasn''t taken a bite of hers yet¡­"


    Tatiana looked at her as she chuckled, "Trust me, she probably had way~ more than what we had¡ª"


    "What?! Mom! That''s unfair!"


    Quinn and Tatiana chuckled from the side, "Tell me about it~ X2"


    At this point, Mrs. Nichols was definitely dying from embarrassment but it didn''t take long before Mimi had a realization that made her as red as her senior while looking at the zed cinnamon roll in her hand.


    And once Kaley leaned in to Chloe to tell her what they were snickering about, she got just as red but I almost lost it when she straight-up licked the ze while looking me straight in the eye.


    Mrs. Sandy didn''t know what to do seeing her daughter act like that in front of us, but she did way worse a few minutes earlier and if it wasn''t for her, they wouldn''t be enjoying such a delectable dessert in front of them.


    But yeah, as a guy, there was just something inexplicable when beautiful women were enjoying the white stuff that came out of us and let''s just say that after we had our meal, I was graciously thanked by them taking turns getting the "ze" straight from the source.


    We didn''t have a full-on reverse gangbang of any sort but it was this casual head under the nket type of situation as we were watching a show.


    Weirdly enough, Chloe was the first one to suck me off while her mom was in the living room¡ªbackpletely turned against us butpletely aware of the shenanigans¡ªbefore Mimi, Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn followed after.


    And right as I thought that everyone was done, Mrs. Nichols squeezed in for thest time while barely making eye contact with her daughter on one of the couches. It was already weird having both mother and daughter whom I fucked in the same room, how much more could it get when they were taking turns just sucking me off while the other one was well within earshot?


    However, as Dr. Nichols got under the covers, Chloe was sneaking nces at me while wearing a flushed expression. At this point, Quinn and Tatiana were already doing something in the bathroom while Kaley was teasing Mimi on the other couch but Chloe was straight-up touching herself while looking at me get sucked off by Dr. Nichols.


    I wasn''t entirely sure because they also had nkets on theirps but the familiar hand movement was all so familiar.


    ''This is¡­''


    I didn''t know the whole fucking deal between them or was this a new thing they were discovering themselves, but I was already part of something simr because of the twins from Cuervo Heights, Ruru and Riri.


    Chloe and Mrs. Sandara haven''t done anything to each other to my knowledge but looking at them now, the curiosity was kind of present as I was the link bridging them together.


    Don''t get me wrong here, I wouldn''t try to coerce both of them to partake in such acts but if they were willing to go for it, I wouldn''t stop them either way because there was 0% chance of them creating a fucked up spawn with three mouths and two noses. After all, biologically speaking, it just wasn''t possible.


    But in regards to morality and whatnot, it was kinda fucked up in a sense but as times go by while we were living at the end of times, morality was a concept that was getting blurred and blurred. But if we look at it the other way, as long as no one else was getting hurt and both of them were consenting adults who had no chance to create children, it shouldn''t be too much of a problem.


    I could be speaking out of my ass right now because one of them was blowing me from under this nket but I said what I said and it was somewhat of a case-by-case basis even if there was a universal truth going around this particr topic of rted people within the same sex or the opposite.


    And again, being the only guy in this situation and not rted to them in any way, with my fucked up mind, it was kinda hot. Let''s be fucking honest here: I''ve seen and used such material for academic purposes way, way~ back but experiencing it in real life was fucking entirely different.


    Wifing Kaley was already unbelievable to me, how much more unbelievable could it get with our ever-growing inner circle where more than half of them had me as the only guy in the mix? I didn''t forbid them in any way but it is what it is since the only thing I cared about while we were doing these activities with them was that I was the only guy present.


    They could get tangled up with other guys without my presence as much as they could but if they were with me and Kaley, the thing I mentioned above was the golden rule.


    In any case, as soon as Dr. Nichols and I were done, she asked me to sit by the dining table before beckoning Chloe over for a proper discussion of their futures:


    "Okay, we''ve all had our fills¡ª"


    Chloe jokingly quipped, "Only you~"


    "Chloe¡ª Just¡ª Hear me out for a second, I''ll let you do everything you want with himter but we gotta discuss something very important¡ª" then she turned to me, "Should Kaley be here? If we''re gonna talk about moving¡ª"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What?! You''re kidding! Really?! I''m so happy¡ª"


    "Settle down, alright? We are moving but we gotta finalize some things first," then she turned to me again, "Kaley¡ª"


    "I heard my name, what''s up?" Kaley came in from behind with Mimi.


    I pulled up a chair for them, "Since Mimi is also moving in with us¡ª"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her ears once again, "What?! You''re¡ª You didn''t tell me!"


    Mimi was a little startled, "I think I did? At the cabin?"


    "What¡ª I''m not¡ª Did you really?!"


    Dr. Nichols cleared her throat, "Chloe, I know you''re really excited but you gotta tone it down a bit¡­"


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay¡­"


    Then Dr. Nichols turned to me after letting out a long sigh, "To be honest with you, suddenly springing to me about moving in with you was a shock and a little scummy when you did it while we were having sex... but I think it''s the right move regarding the situation. However, I have to make sure that our living conditions would be close, if not, much better than what we currently have¡ª"


    "Trust me¡ª"


    "I will trust you in time, but I need assurances for my daughter. It''s been really hard for her to go back to ss and a new scene greatly benefits her, but above all else, her education shouldn''t becking in any way. Do we at least agree on that?"

 Chapter 993: Serious Talk II - Some Finalization Shit

    At this point, I wasn''t talking to Mrs. Sandy who was a loving mother but to Dr. Sandara Nichols¡ªwho was still a loving mother¡ªbut a medical professional who was highly regarded in her field and would put aside everything else to give the best for her loved ones even though she was the one suffering for it.


    This was the type of person I''d give everything for because they so deserved it and I believe anyone''s hard work should be recognized in one way or another.


    But as much as she wanted everything to be perfect, we should meet halfway because she was talking to me.


    Not to brag in any way or to metaphorically swing my big dick around, I''m the fucking Nerd in the Apocalypse who has a wide range of skills, several "titles", plenty of achievements, and insane connections to the regr folk, the government, and the criminal underworld when the world fucking ended¡ªand I have more fucking pull than the Head of the Cardiology and the ER Department.


    I didn''t mean to shit in her in any way¡ªbecause anyone would be fucking lucky and should be grateful to have her in their fold¡ªbut even if she was part of the 1% of the top rankers in her field, her particr repertoire was too specialized to be able to live on her own.


    To be honest, I was somewhat like her with my particr set of skills but going into the real world before the world ended made me realize I needed to expand my skillset as much as I could while forming connections with other people¡ªespecially with people like her in this instance.


    As bad as this may sound, I need her value as a medical practitioner more than anything else she could offer because I only know what I''ve read in books about what she could do¡ªor honestly speaking,pletely jack shit¡ªwhile the same thing could be said about her if we wereparing each other¡ªand that''s what was beautiful about forming connections with people.


    ''It''s a you scratch my back, I scratch yours type of situation¡­''


    Though I still answered her with respect, "Dr. Nichols¡­ I agree on that, I do, but you have to understand that even though I upy a few universities and know people who also upy a few universities in their territories, Ick the professors and the teachers to give Chloe a full-on college education but¡ª"


    She cut in while looking displeased, "Then¡ª"


    "Let me finish, please. Ick the means to give Chloe the college education she deserves but¡ª she''s also studying to be a doctor while being a varsity in swimming, right? But let''s be honest here, if you''d take a look at this ce''s current curriculum in medicine, how much do you think we should take off the list?


    When you studied here for a decade plus extra, how many things in that damned curriculum did you think was a fucking waste of time and money?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ Dr. Nichols, I didn''t want to say this but I''m not barring you from speaking¡ª"


    She suddenly threw me a cutesy re, "Hold on! I''m thinking!"


    "Ah¡­ M-My bad¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "As an example, I studied Information Technology in this ce, and at least half of the things we studied were dated and most of the things that led me to have a job when I graduated were things I taught myself¡ª"


    She let out a sigh as she looked at me pensively, "Agreed, there''s a lot to shave off and I do understand your point but you can''t just teach yourself things from the medical field¡ª"


    "But you and our doctors can."


    "What do you mean?"


    I chuckled, "You''re probably the best doctor in your field, so who''s gonna teach her better shit, you or the professors they have in this ce who mostly throw around theory and philosophy for shits and giggles? She''ll get lessons from you in a few years but why wait that long?


    She''ll just get bombarded with tons of fluff mixed in with the important stuff so why don''t you streamline her education and have her have real-life experiences at the same time? I''m not saying make her a resident just like that but watching someone do their thing and having a lesson after also does wonders, don''t you think?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "Other than that, my ce can teach her just about everything she needs to be independent or self-sufficient. Like she could be taught how to take care of and maintain her vehicle, grow and cook her food, train her body, and learn to protect herself with martial arts, with CQC, and with guns¡­"


    Chloe never looked so excited, "Martial arts?! Y-You''re gonna teach me, right?!"


    I nodded, "I do teach sses in the afternoon or evenings, yeah. But you''ll have to take the lead in swimming."


    "Great! I g-got you on that!" then she turned to her mom, "Mom, what do you think?"


    Dr. Nichols still had a few walls put up, "That''s admirable but how about our living conditions?"


    Kaley answered, "Right now, there''s only Rin and Zeus living in our house but Tatiana and Cynthia also live with us at the moment.


    We started¡ª well, they started with a hugepound with high walls but we''ve upied several barangays from our main city and the ones right next to it, enough to call it a city of the new world of sorts, but we do have allies located nearby with the same mindset as us."


    Chloe asked, "Zeus? Who''s Rin and Cynthia? And what do you mean they started? Aren''t you guys together from the beginning?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other before we trailed at the same time, "Well¡­"


    At this point, we gave them a brief rundown of what happened in the beginning and even though Mimi already heard the gist of it when we were herest time, she couldn''t help but smile and get shocked at the same time as the other two when they heard it from the first time.


    In any case, Quinn and Tatiana eventually joined us but they were just listening in while giving inputs from their perspective. The three didn''t know if Quinn was joking about being part of an "organization" that the government was supposed to take care of but they''ll know soon enough once they travel with us.


    Tatiana added in one of her favorite parts of living with us, "The nights go wild at times but if you wanna have the most fun, it''s better to stay in the same house as us¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "No! As much as I enjoyed our time, I wanna have my daughter have more tonic friends and I don''t wanna get looked at like a shameless older woman who shacks in with the ce''s head honcho the moment they moved in¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Why are youughing?!"


    "It''s just funny how you say it, carry on¡­"


    I waved them off, "Again, Mimi included, you three could decide where you want to stay¡ªwhether rooming in with a few people or iming a house of your own and I''ll help you get settled in¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols cut me off, "Wait, you mentioned this Oscar fellow who''s living alone in his own house. Can''t we just live with him?"


    "He always has his friends over like Kaley''s dad but umm¡ª"


    She cutely rolled her eyes as she cut me off, "What? You want all of us to yourself, is that it?"


    "Not exactly but it''s his house and you should ask him if he''d let you. Trust me, the old man''s fucking messy and you don''t want any of that. He''s also seeing someone right now and he probably won''t allow another female or two in the house while he''s at it but again, there are plenty of houses to choose from though I rmend something closer to the hospital for work and whatnot."


    "..."


    "Thinking again?"


    "Yeah, s-shut up¡­"


    "But before I forget, what about our little arrangement?"


    "What arrangement?"


    "I don''t really like to bring this up now, but since our ''donor'' kicked the bucket, do we have a recement¡ª"


    "Pssh. Don''t even worry about it. I found more than ten people and four of them are around the same age as that kid. They''re fairly active too so that''s a plus, so if the General calls you over for a chat, just tell him that and he''ll shut up. He only cares about his kid besides his real job but most parents are like that.


    That''s a few things off my back just from that but I''m only regretting not being able to give more things to the ones he¡ª"


    "You didn''t do anything wrong and you shouldn''t be the one paying for his sins. Even if he''s not here anymore and somehow paid for it in his own way, I''m gonna assume you don''t think that it''s quite enough but what are you gonna do with this house and your cars? If you know, you decided to actually switch bases¡­"


    "Bold of you to assume we''d drive off to the sunset with you¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Don''t lie, you''ve already decided, and bold of you to deny such an invitation with all the benefits thate along with it. But yeah, if you really want to give them onest payoff, you could pawn this house and your cars¡ªbecause you''ll ride with me anyway for your and Chloe''s safety¡ªand give them the credits they''ll need while shaving a few off the patients you''d be leaving.


    Don''t worry, we''ll provide you with anything you''d need¡ªeven another car¡ªeven though the hospital is within walking distance, and you''ll only have to prepare your personal items plus extra."


    Chloe cut in, "W-When are we l-leaving anyway? I-I do take some time packing¡­"


    "Today."


    "Today?!"


    "The sooner the better but we''ll probably spend the night in Quinn''s ce before setting off to Cuervo Heights and using the ship to get home. I''m gonna tell you straight-up that those ces are way~ different from this holynd of sorts but you''re with me so you don''t have anything to worry about.


    Though I''ll advise you not to leave my side or any in my group just to be safe because some people do be crazy around those parts¡­"


    Mimi added, "A-Also¡­ I a-assumed this was gonna happen one way or another so I prepared all of the forms needed and y-you only need to sign them¡­ Once you do, I''ll just have to give them to the director a-and that''s that¡­"


    Dr. Nichols couldn''t believe her ears, "You little¡ª Haa¡­ fine, you all got me. How much time do we have left?"


    "I''m waiting for the summons right now but I''ll advise you two to pack up your bags and head over to Ron and Allyssa''s¡ª do you know them perchance?"


    She nodded, "I know Allyssa. She approached me a few times regarding the changes she wanted to implement here and even though I agree with her, it''s gonna be impossible with these people, realistically speaking. It will be better if shees with us."


    "I agree, but she probably set on doing things her way. But if shees with us, I''ll still take them both, no questions asked."


    "Then that''s a conversation for another day. Do we drive over to their house after?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "And then what?"


    "If the General takes too long, we''ll drive over there and finish whatever he wants to talk to me about before going our own way. We''ll be back on the road once again and hopefully, we reach Quinn''s ce before sunset."


    With that said, the two asked a few more questions before we bid goodbye for the moment, but I still needed to finalize a few more things with my friends and a certain someone who wanted to be set free from his father''s grasp.


    But yeah, the easiest way to make contact with all of them was through Andy so I picked up my radio to try to reach him first.

 Chapter 994: Transfer - Mustve been the wind...

    Luckily enough, Andy replied almost immediately and told me that he was at the house with Ben, Cass, and Ron while Allyssa still hadn''te back for lunch and probably had some takeout from the cafeteria. For some reason, he sounded too happy from hearing my voice but it didn''t take long before we reached my soon-to-be-not-my-house, and parked on the driveway.


    We briefly exchanged greetings and a few mindless stories before I dropped a few bombs that included Lopez''s death.


    Cass couldn''t believe her ears, "WHAT?! No way! How¡ª"


    "I just told you¡ª"


    "JP shot¡ª BUT HOW?!"


    "Let''s just say he had a change of heart from the time he was with us and he decided to do the right thing for once¡ªthough he did fuck up the first time he tried to."


    And I quickly went back to a few important topics, "First off, have you finally decided¡ª"


    Andy answered first, "Dude! I aming with you with Mimi but I gotta find some way to spend the credits I earned from the shit your group sent over!"


    My ears perked up, "From the books?"


    "Nah! I gave all the books to Allyssa but once I got into contact with Ken and An¡ªmostly Ken¡ªhe sent me a bunch of stuff to trade with the guys in the dormitories and I''m fucking swimming with credits among other things! I used to pirate porn but they''re worth a fortune over here!"


    Ben interjected after briefly ncing at me, "Dude. I''ve been telling you, be a good friend and just take off with all the random shit they gave you and leave the credits to us."


    I turned to Ben, "You''re noting then? You and Cass?"


    The two nodded as Ben answered, "Sorry, dude. I would''ve wanted to¡ª"


    Cass suddenly cut in, "Wait¡­ I think we shoulde¡­"


    Ben couldn''t believe his ears, "What¡ª I thought you¡ª"


    "I-It''s a different story now¡­ I dunno how mad the General is right now but I assure you that you don''t wanna be in close proximity when he is," she said as she turned to me, "You said you''re gonna drive there anyway and get on with it but I strongly suggest you at least let a day pass¡­"


    I replied, "We are in a little bit of a time crunch and I really wanna sleep on my bed but the General''s not mad at me but at his son¡ªno, he can''t be mad at JP but he''s definitely mad at what JP did, if that makes any sense."


    She let out a sigh, "Don''t you think he might mention that you put things in his head that made him do that?"


    "What? Making his kid a fucking badass that knows what''s right from wrong? I do skirt around the rules sometimes but the thing with Lopez didn''t fly with me since day 1. You touch my wife you get knife''d. Trust me, I''m not the only one who wants to murder him in cold blood but Dr. Nichols has the silver bullet to calm him down."


    "Nichols?"


    "Ah¡­ It''s Dr. Sandara Lopez a.k.a. Dr. Nichols, Gibson Lopez''s wife¡ª I mean ex-wife. She changed names¡ª"


    "Right! I know, I know¡ª Jeez, how many people are you gonna take with you? Will there be enough space?"


    "It will, don''t worry," then I looked at the two, "So, you guysing or what?"


    Ben and Cass just looked at each other for a moment but like Dr. Nichols, Cass had a few questions of her own:


    "Both of us don''t want to be burdens so what are we gonna do about jobs?"


    "Ben could continue doing patrols then branch on it while you could also do the same job you''re doing but for different people."


    "You mean working for you instead?"


    "Ah¡­ I already have Rin, one of my friends, back home to do the same thing you''re doing but you could be a great asset for either of the main DDR Camps we upy. It''s either serving under Sir Ferdinand who''s much closer or Sir Morales who''s further¡ª"


    Ben cut in as he looked at Cass, "You''re taking the closest one, right Cass?"


    She chuckled as she shook her head, "I will, I will~ Don''t worry¡­"


    Ron let out a sigh from the couch, "So you''d all leave, huh? This ce will be quiet at longst¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Like them, you could still change your mind?"


    He shook his head, "Nah, bro¡­ I''ll be on Allyssa''s side every step of the way. But we''ll require an emergency airlift in case things go wrong here. You''d give us at least that, right?"


    I rolled my eyes because their problem could be solved if they just moved in with us, "Sure, sure¡­ It''ll take at least 30 minutes to an hour but you wouldn''t have to change locations because we''ll just reim this ce for ourselves if both this university and the academy go down¡ª"


    "Woah! WOAH! Don''t jinx it, alright?! I love this ce too! I still have high hopes for it!"


    "Then find a way for not just Allyssa to obtain power through her contributions and whatnot but also from you as well. I don''t wanna tell you how kind of passive you are even if you''re that supportive but¡­ in this ce, as much as I hate to say it, you have a higher chance of being heard here because you''re a guy. No offense to anyone else."


    Ben let out a bitter smile, "That''s true but I''m not that guy, alright? I heard the same thing from Allyssa''s mouth but she also understood where I wasing from. Our way of doings this is being heard slowly and she just doesn''t wanna let go of something she''s determined to fix, you know what I''m saying?"


    I put my hands up as I gave in, "Alright, dude. Just keep that radio close but hope to fuck you don''t get to use my airlift services. I''m in a love-hate rtionship with this ce but I also don''t want this ce to go under."


    "Agreed, thanks."


    With that said, Ben and Cass got on to packing their bags while Andy was already sitting pretty and ready to move out at a moment''s notice. But yeah, it didn''t take long before we heard a knock on the door and Richard Sobito Jr. was the visitor. Andy let him in once I told him I was expecting him but the kid was both nervous to fuck and excited from seeing my face.


    "What''s up? Those credits I sent you treating you nicely?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ B-But I spent almost all of it because I really wanted to get out¡­ Keeping some wouldn''t do me good¡­"


    "Alright, let''s talk¡­"


    Long story short, we''d give him a lift to probably be a prospect in Quinn''s ce or do fuck all in Cuervo Heights but he sure as hell wouldn''t being with me to my headquarters. But yeah, he''d find a ce on his own though he looked to be interested in working with Quinn though he''d be disappointed that she''d be away from her garage.


    Quinn could probably attract a crowd of submissive guys just by looking at them and an extra pair of hands was an extra pair of hands.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before it was 2 in the afternoon¡ªthe time limit I set before heading back to the academy¡ªso since everyone was already present and a few things on the back end were already ounted for, we drove out with a few additional people for a quick stop-by to the Academy.


    However, I was a little surprised and confused when all of the cadets¡ªincluding the ones from Seb''s group except for JP¡ªwere standing outside the gates with the Raycolt they used on our short vacation and a military jeep.


    ''Wait a sec¡­''


    I was prepared to have another full-on conversation about what happened and what should''ve been done but I already had an inkling as to what went on when Seb approached me with aplex expression but with a mix of a lighter undertone.


    "Can we talk?"


    "Sure," I said as I nodded and stepped out of my vehicle, "What happened?"


    "About that¡­ We all uhh¡­ We''re being transferred¡­"


    "Ah, shit¡­ How¡ª Where? And JP?"


    "JP''s grounded in a sense but as the General said, we could go anywhere as long as it''s not here¡­ And in his own words: tell that fucking kid he had some fucking balls on him but we''re not on talking terms right now¡ª"


    I chortled, "He did, huh?"


    "A-And he also wanted me to uhh¡­" Seb trailed as he leaned close, "He told me to thank you but don''t ever fucking do that shit again¡­ His words, not mine¡­"


    "Hah! What did I do wrong though?"


    Seb chuckled as well as he scratched the side of his cheek, "Again, this is his words, not mine¡­ It seems that we''ve been influenced too much from the time we spent with you¡ªand this is my words now¡­ But this influence is something that we really needed and he just couldn''t admit to himself that we were right.


    I didn''t wanna say it out loud but I would''ve shot Lopez myself if JP didn''t do it¡­ Alexa said the same thing too much like everyone else from our group, even Lucas¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "So good luck on your own¡ª"


    "P-Please¡ª D-Don''t even joke about this, we really need you to take us in¡­"


    "I don''t do charity work though, you''ll have to work for your¡ª"


    "Anything, sir. It''s probably night and day if you ept us into your fold¡­"


    "That''s true, that''s true¡­" then I had a sinister thought as I pressed the button to lower the windows to the back, "Before I forget, they''re alsoing with us¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "That''s Mimi, you''ve seen herest time but that''s Chloe and Dr. Nichols."


    Seb was a little taken aback by the sudden introductions of new people, "A-Ah¡­ Is that so? V-Very nice to meet you a-all¡ª"


    "That''s Lopez''s daughter and ex-wife¡ª"


    "Huh? C-Can you repeat¡ª I must''ve heard wrong, I think it''s the wind¡ª"


    "They''re his family. They''reing with us. Say hi¡ª"


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

 Chapter 995: YOOO~ WASSUP??! IT’S YA BOI—

    It was pure chaos when Seb discovered that the ex-wife and daughter of the bitch we were casually talking about merk''ing were present. He didn''t know what to fucking do from the initial introduction but it was universal truth that no one fucking liked the guy and the world would be a better ce without him.


    Granted we could argue that the General valued him as such, it was only for his son, not how special Lopez was because of his blood.


    But yeah, any other person would''ve left with our time crunch in consideration but we''re already fucking here and I wouldn''t leave with one of my fucking disciples and then some, so I picked up my radio and dialed the General who probably wanted to be left alone.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "YOOO~ WASSUP??! IT''S YA BOI¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHATT¡ª HAVEN''T I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?! WE''RE NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS RIGHT NOW AND YOU SHOULD GET ON WITH IT WHILE I STILL HAVE THE PATIENCE TO NOT FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT WITH THE PRESIDENT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wow~ That was a weird way to say you''re happy that I solved several of your problems."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You fucking¡ª WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I ALREADY HANDED THE RAYCOLT AND AN EXTRA JEEP¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s just a bonus because what I''m after are my disciples but I''m gonna need two more things before I leave you the fuck alone. Care to hear me out?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anything to shut you up¡­ go ahead¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "First. I''ll need Major Perez and some of his personal crew toe with us¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-Why?! I''m gonna need him¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Listen you Tsundere General, your son solved your Lopez problem but there are definitely budding Lopezes in your midst if you don''t take care of their sexual needs and frustrations. The reason I need Major Perez toe with me is for him to have a taste of what the "dark" side could offer and so that you''d have a proper connection with the gang¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re seriously making me cooperate with the cartel¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You already are with the De Leon Family, why not go for the whole she-bang? Well, not the whole thing because some of them are fucking crazy but I''ll introduce you to the good guys¡­ rtively speaking¡­ It''s better to have amunication line with people where you could work on a deal and a mutual understanding rather than to always keep guessing on what they''re gonna do next.


    Trust me, I''ve wanted to do thetter all my life but the former makes more fucking sense because we have amon enemy and you uptight motherfuckers need to loosen the belt for one."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Fine¡­ I''ll postpone my trip for a few days¡­ But what''s the second thing you want?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Oh, you''re actually listening? That''s good, that''s good¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t drag this out, I don''t have a lot of time¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Then do you know that a lion throws his cub off a cliff to make them stronger?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What? Is that even real¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Trust, bro. Trust. But do you know where I''m getting at?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Again, don''t drag this out because I don''t have a lot of time¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, I''m one disciple short and I don''t do trial runs on my disciple-ship program¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOT A FUCKING CHANCE BECAUSE HE''S GROUNDED¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not a fucking chance you believe those words you just fucking spouted. You''re sending the rest of his friends with me including his fuckingckey, what do you think''s gonna happen between you and him?


    It''s just gonna make a rift between you two and he''ll fucking hate you for the rest of his life and the only thing to avoid that is to throw him off the fucking cliff and watch him fucking exceed your fucking expectations. Do you want a caged lion that''s bound to rip your insides the moment he gets his chance? Keep grounding him for all I care!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ General, I know we''re ying the waiting game over here but we are in a little bit of a time crunch so I''m gonna need you to stop inner-monologuing and make a decision¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU FUCKING KID, CAN''T YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME THAT?! AND I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''M GONNA FIND OUT IF THAT LION QUOTE IS FUCKING TRUE OR NOT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So¡­ Is that a yes?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCK YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! BUT YEAH! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''M GONNA GO AFTER YOU IF SOMETHING EVER HAPPENS TO MY KID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Can''t you stop threatening me? Or at least say something I never heard before?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [CAN''T I JUST THREATEN YOU AFTER ALL THAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Where''s JP and Major Perez anyway¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THAT''S WHY I''M THREATENING YOU, YOU FUCKING RASCAL! THE MOTHERFUCKERS ALREADY HAD A BAG PACKED AND MAKING THEIR WAY! WHY DO YOU THINK I''M SO FUCKING MAD?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Oof¡­ He didn''t kiss you goodbye, huh?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NUH-UH! NO! YOU''RE WRONG! HE HUGGED ME AND KISSED ME! NO GOODBYE BUT IT''S THE BEST THING THAT''S EVER HAPPENED TO ME, YOU SICK FUCK! THERE!


    ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY IT OUT LOUD?! THANK YOU BUT FUCK YOU! I''M OUT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "K."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as we ended the call, everyone else around me just started dyingughing while all of the cadets celebrated when they saw JP rushing out of the Academy''s gates to meet with them. Seb even ran up to him so they''d do this collision thing where they''ll jump and hit each other in the air but Lucas was in fucking tears because he didn''t want to be away from his supreme leader.


    But yeah, Major Perez dide alone¡ªthough geared as fucked¡ªand he approached me after taking off his shades and loosening his uniform.


    "You crazy fuck, that was the craziest shit I''ve seen all week!"


    "Hah! Just this week?"


    "You little shit, no one¡ª I mean, NO ONE yed the General like that but you''re like this fucking eel that''s lubed to fuck and everything! Where are we going anyway?"


    "You''ll see, you''ll see. Hop on one of the vehicles and don''t be afraid to ask for anything."


    "Heh. Is that so? If you top what just happened a few minutes ago, I might consider having a transfer too¡ª"


    "Then fucking ready your forms and shit because I''ll fucking poach you from the General too! I''ll introduce you to the old man and hispany and you''ll never want to go back to this ce."


    "Hah! Slow your roll, alright? I may look like I''m easily swayed but I''m a tough motherfucker."


    "We''ll see¡­ We''ll see¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we took to the road and we didn''t even need to be inspected at the several checkpoints around these parts because the Major rode with Jesus at the front and he was basically their RFID sticker for the gate thingy to rise up. They''d even offer an escort service of sorts for much safer passage but we''d justugh it off and let them do their own thing.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we reached the area where we met Seb and his group for the first time, where we witnessed several severed heads rolling down the hill, and the one question left unanswered to me was what were they actually doing with it?


    They weren''t in a cult¡ªto my knowledge¡ªand I''ve probably spotted a few telltale signs of something going on and I''m sure as hell their neighbors wouldn''t let that slide or else there would be a crusade of sorts to get the evil ones out of their holynd.


    But yeah, I didn''t have a lot of time to observe both camps in detail but if they really wanted an easier way to keep tabs of their soldier''s kill counts, a pair of ears a finger, or even a nose would''ve done the trick.


    ''Some of them were ''alive'' too, I might add¡­''


    But yeah, with the Major by my side for a few days or so, I''ll probably make him spill all of the details regarding their weird collection process because he was basically the right-hand man of JP''s Dad and he knows the ins and outs of the Academy''s shenanigans.


    However, I might not even lift a finger because even if I was as silvery-tongued as the greatest bard who ever lived, the old man could probably just do it within a barrel or two of his homemade liquor.


    There was just something that was telling that these two would be like best friends who never met in their life and they''ll be drinking till morning while exchanging war stories.


    ''It''s been a couple of weeks or so but I do miss the old man¡­ Everyone else too¡­ And my bed¡­ My fucking bed¡­ I can''t fucking wait¡­''

 Chapter 996: Getting Closer

    I didn''t think I''d say the same thing in my head over and over again in regards to everyone else back home and my bed¡ªand even though I have several beds I own in other ces, they couldn''t evene close to the one I''m very familiar with. It''s like the off feeling when you poop in someone else''s toilet or I could be just a crazy fellow living in my world.


    With that said, as we continued to drive onto the same path we took,paring it to the days we were herest time, it seemed like a portion of the dead respawned in a sense.


    ''This rest stop''s still having customers, eh?''


    It wasn''t like we didn''t make a lot of noise when we were herest time but it was bad news for their new customers because they were served lead projectiles, cold steel, or straight-up blunt-force trauma.


    The only way to fully clear or stop the dead from appearing again in a building or a block was topletely close it off or the dead would just find their way to upy it like squatters, rats, or squirrels trying to find a way to hide their precious acorns. We were doing just that in our Main HQ by house or building and then by block but it was an arduous process that would take a lot of time.


    But yeah, we can''t just wall off the whole country because one, even if it''s possible technically, it''s too fucking dumb¡ª and secondly, I''d rather have them as daily quests for us or newer peoplepared to facing them in unfamiliar territory if safety was our greatest concern.


    I wasn''t against exploring new ces I''ve never been on because it offered a lot of opportunities but now''s the time to trace our steps back, have a little bit of a reset, and then decide from there.


    In our case, we haven''t evenpletely traced our steps back yet because we did venture a lot farther than I thought we would and I haven''t had the chance to visit my other uncle who was on the other side of the map.


    I guess that would be a trip for another day and we''ll probably sail by Mr. Cuervo''s area if that time everes because that ce was also near the waters though a proper pier that we could use to dock the ship we had was non-existent.


    ''We''ll cross the bridge when we get there or just use our avable options depending on the situation¡ª''


    Then I heard Kaley''s voice:


    "What are you thinking about now? You''ve been awfully quiet¡­er."


    "Ah¡ª Yeah¡­ Just thinking about stuff."


    "Pfft¡­ Care to talk about it with us?"


    "Eh~ It''s just this thing that I''ll do to you once we''re alone in our bed¡ª"


    "You''re lying! I know! Stop joking around!"


    Kaley cut me off while her face was a little red but a little intrigued, but the three at the back were still a little embarrassed about our current arrangement with each other so they just pretended that they didn''t exist while Kaley and I bantered for a moment.


    It did make them a little relieved we weren''t just cold-blooded killers like what they saw we did a few times outside but it was another conversation for another day¡ªand with time, they''ll get used to seeing stuff like this because they really should¡­


    ''It''s been a fucking year¡­ They''re lucky and unlucky at the same time¡­''


    But yeah, Kaley didn''t mind talking about stuff like that with the people who were in our inner circle but she''d definitely shrink down when other people could hear us if they weren''t involved.


    On another note, our back and forth could''ve gone longer if Tatiana and Quinn were with us but they were busy doing their own thing from the truckbed, and from a nce, they seemed to be in a deep conversation while surveying the areas we were driving on.


    ''We''re getting closer though¡­''


    In any case, we had to stop a few times to clear more stragglers or small herds, loot a few buildings, and offer help to a few roaming survivors and connected encampments but it didn''t take long before we arrived at our destination.


    Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs, "FINALLY! GOD! JUNIE! THE FUCKING GATE! LET US IN!"


    "WHA¡ª YOU¡ª ON IT! ON IT! GUYS! THEY''RE HERE!"


    Obviously enough, Logan and his crew still weren''t allowed inside Quinn''s personal garage, so we just gave each other an upward nod before they split off with Jesus'' crew¡ªincluding Major Perez and Richard Jr.¡ªto head to Mauro''s Industrial Park. I didn''t mind Major Perez shooting shit with them because I''m pretty sure he''ll get along with them just fine while Richard Jr.


    should probably fit in with them as long as he shared a few stories or a beer with everyone.


    Looking at my watch, it was actually close to 7:00 PM when we touched down but it was just the right time to have some dinner.


    Chef Ng among others weed us warmly though Quinn introduced Alexa to her crew like she would be their new prospect instead of Richard Jr.


    It''s just that Alexa actually thought I''d ship her off to Quinn''s side while Quinn actually thought she could take her from me just like that. A few people might forget that Alexa has a very discerning eye when ites to colors and I won''t just let go of her just because Quinn said so.


    Seb wanted to voice out his opinion as well but he sure as hell knows that he has no power over here.


    So I shut that shit down Quickly when they were thinking of thebination of numbers to tattoo her:


    "She''s with me, Quinn. Don''t just take her like¡ª"


    "HAAH?! I thought you already handed her over to me?!"


    "I-I don''t want to be a-away from my friends¡­" Alexa whimpered as she looked at me with teary eyes.


    Quinn tried to use the friend card, "But I''m your friend too! Imagine the work you''ll be doing here¡ª" then she turned to me, "And also! We gave you the fucking Impreza! That''s Jackie''s! At least give us something!"


    "A person for a car?! Are you guys nuts?! I know all of you are a little insane but I remember that car being given to me without any strings attached! If that''s the case, I''ll give it back!"


    "ARGH! You''re impossible! She''ll be perfect here! I''m already thinking of making her do a custom detailing job on Mr. Alvarez''s car before shipping it off!"


    I rolled my eyes, "That''s cool and all but will she be happy though? Did you think about that?"


    Quinn was definitely taken aback, "YOU¡ª I can''t take in all of her friends! Probably Megan but¡ª"


    Megan instantly cut in, "Umm~ I like you, Quinn. You''re cool but *nces at me briefly* I''m staying with him¡ª I mean, them¡­ S-Sorry..."


    "SHIT! Why do you sound like you''re breaking up with me?!"


    "J-Just because! Our group almost got separated! Don''t do this, alright?! Why don''t youe join us instead?"


    "HAAAH?! Are you nuts?! I''lle with you, of course, but I''m not staying long! I have responsibilities and shit! WAIT¡ª FUCK IT! WE''RE GONNA HAVE A DEAL, RIGHT HERE!


    RIGHT NOW!"


    "What is it now? And stop yelling! We''re the only ones here!" I said as I rolled my eyes and ate another spoonful of the grilled chicken on my te.


    "I''M NOT YELL¡ª FUCK! It''s a part of me, alright?! But before we leave tomorrow morning, let''s have an all-nighter!"


    "All-nighter?"


    "YOU¡ª We''re fucking after we''re done, sure! But Alexa needs to hand-paint a custom design for MY car, YOUR car, and Ongkiko''s car! I don''t care what she do in yours but I wanna have mine turn heads if they ever saw it cruising!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I can easily plop one of your dildos on top and it''ll still turn heads¡ª"


    "NOT WHAT I MEANT!"


    "I thought you like to keep things stock?"


    "NOT THE PAINT! AND I DO CHANGE MY MIND AT TIMES, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Again, stop yelling! We''re the only ones here! Your whole crew could probably hear you outside!"


    "UGH¡ª"


    Then I chuckled, "But yeah, that does sound nice. I an probably do mine while Alexa could do her own thing¡ª" then I turned to Alexa, "What do you think? Up for an all-nighter?"


    Alexa was a little scared at first but she nodded with a little bit of excitement, "D-Do I really have free reign on the d-designs?"


    Quinn and I nodded at the same time, "YEP!/ Of course!"


    In any case, the three of us decided on an activity that could go till morning but little did we know that everyone who wanted to have an amorous night with us was staring daggers at our backs but still ultimately decided to do their own thing or decided to offer any help we or the other residents needed.


    ''Right! Dr. Nichols is a heart doctor¡ª''

 Chapter 997: Downtime I - Drifting > Drag Race

    Before we finished our meal, I gave Dr. Nichols a brief description of this ce''s PED use and she was more than wee to give all of them an impromptu doctor''s appointment because this ce severely needed one. That made her take Chloe and Mimi with her to learn some things on the job, but I pushed Kaley with them so she wouldn''t mope about being left out.


    Dr. Nichols let out a knowing smile, "Oh? You were supposed to be a nurse like Mimi?"


    Kaley embarrassedly scratched the side of her cheek, "Y-Yeah¡­ About that¡ª"


    She chuckled, "Oh~ A little over-achiever, are we? Leave some for the rest of us, alright? But yeah,e with us. I''ll try to teach you a few things but it''s not as exciting as what you do. Literally. Unless someone suddenly gets a heart attack and we have to resuscitate them."


    "T-That happens on a regr basis?"


    "Pfft¡­ Hopefully not¡­ Mostly elevated blood pressure is the best we get but this will be a good experience for me because I haven''t had this many people doing drugs that enhance their muscle-building ability. Their hearts should be given a check-up like he said but I dunno if we have the right tools¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "What other tools do you need? We have that thing you put your ears on?"


    Dr. Nichols tried not to stifle augh, "A stethoscope? I brought mine, actually, but I''ll need an X-ray machine, an Electrocardiogram Machine, and an Echocardiogram Machine, or if we''re being fancy, throw in an MRI Machine as well."


    Quinn never looked so somber, "Fuck¡­ We''re missing all of that, huh? Well, except for this portable X-Ray we have¡­ I wish we have an MRI so I could urately check my bodyposition since it''s been a while¡ª"


    I cut in, "We have one at home, remember? But if we''re checking for body fat percentage, you''re probably in the 30s¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!" Quinn shrieked at the top of her lungs before everyone else tried to avoid myser eyes.


    I held my ground, "You¡ª Have you seen your tits and your ass?! You''d be 20% body fat if you lose just those! You''re fucking shredded while having fat in all of the right ces but it''s still fat!"


    "BUT 30% IS STILL¡ª"


    "Who fucking cares?!"


    "I DO!"


    "I DON''T! YOU''RE PERFECT!"


    "...!"


    "What?!"


    Quinn had never been so red from her anger turning to embarrassment, "D-Don''t say it like t-that¡­"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ She''s too cute like this¡­''


    Hearing that, I didn''t think I''d summon this side of Quinn in front of everybody else but fucking everybody else blew up and tried to fish the samepliment out of me.


    "WHAT ABOUT ME, HUH?! I''M YOUR WIFE!"


    "I''ll pile on, pfft¡­ Compliment me too!"


    "And me! I''ve heard some sweet nothing from you but not perfect~ That''s a little¡­"


    "It''s because my tits are too small, huh?! Is that it?!"


    "I''M SORRY I WASN''T GIFTED!"


    "I-I''M STILL GROWING, ALRIGHT?!"


    In any case, all I had to do to not dig myself into an even deeper grave was to shut everyone out and skip away to have a change of clothes. It was easy enough to find overalls that would fit but as the rest were doing their own things, I found out that Tatiana would be putting all of the cadets in a brutal workout.


    It wasn''t advisable to out-exercise what they just ate but it seemed like Tatiana was bent on establishing the pecking order by making them beg for their lives as their muscles would be put on the verge of tearing.


    But yeah, the music Quinn put on st in her garage drowned out their cries as the three of us started doing our own thing to our cars.


    Honestly, I still couldn''t believe that they''d just hand me this Impreza that belonged to one of their top dogs¡ªJackie, the #2 guy¡ªbut I found a little surprise inside that wasn''t present on it thest time I drove it, or to the best that I could remember.


    It was this little¡ªno, big canister of sorts that had the propensity to increase the car''s horsepower by a whole lot and at the same time, had the propensity to blow the engine with one mishap.


    I waved Quinn over who was busy tinkering with her DB9, "Quinn? A moment?"


    She looked at me annoyed, "Already?"


    "Huh?"


    "We''ve barely started and you already want me to blow you¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­" Alexa chuckled from the back who was still mixing paint for Mr. Alvarez''s car.


    I rolled my eyes, "I appreciate that¡ªand for the record, I''ll ask to eat you first¡ªbut why is there NOS on my car?"


    She looked at me like I was a fool, "You don''t want it? I made the gang put it in for you! If you don''t want it, you can just take it out¡ª"


    I cut her off, "No, thank you. It''s just that I won''t get to use it as much."


    "Seriously?"


    "What?"


    Quinn chuckled as she wiped the sweat off her brow, "I thought you were the in-case-of-emergency guy? I''m not asking you to drag race, that''s just for a little boost in case of an emergency. Or you know, if you want to ram a motherfucker and you just wanna make sure they find their remains on the other side of the globe."


    I chuckled, "Ah, you''re right, you''re right¡­ Drag''s boring anyway¡ª"


    Quinn''s eyes never rounded this much, "YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK! DRAG''S FUCKING AWESOME! IT''S A BATTLE OF PRECISION, TIMING, AND STRAIGHT-UP POWER! WHY''D YOU HATE IT?! PSH! YOU''RE THE SAME AS JESUS, HUH?!


    ALL MOBILITY AND NO POWER¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Aside from being the in-case-of-emergency guy and the Drift King, I''m also the Shift King and the only thing that''ll hinder me in a drag race is a faulty machine. That''s why it''s fucking boring to me. Do you understand? If everything''s right, I fucking know how the race will end because shifting at the right time was never an RNG thing for me. I''m that robotic but in a good way."

 Chapter 998: Downtime II - Paintjobs and What-jobs?!

    With Quinn hearing me say that, she nodded pensively as she understood it from my point of view then she just let out this sigh of sorts while looking at me with pity:


    "Ah, fuck. That really sucks. Like really fucking sucks! Well, for you, anyway¡ª OH! You haven''t done drag in Mr. Cuervo''s games, right?!"


    "I haven''t, no. And don''t look at me like that, it''s totally not like you."


    "S-Shut up! I can''t just offer blowing you all the time but that''s it! The next time he holds another major event, we''ll race for pink slips and make a fucking killing! We''ll split it 100-0 but in a good way!"


    "Hah?! How''d that even work?! 100-0?!"


    "Yeah! In favor of me, of course!"


    "I''m heading back¡ª"


    "Huh? C''mon! I''ll build you the car and you''ll be the one behind the wheel! With each car you win me, that''s how many times I''ll let you do me no questions asked! See?! Isn''t that the best thing in the world?


    Kinda hot too, if you ask me~"


    I rolled my eyes as I nced at her huge-ass cleavage smeared with a bit of oil, "Aren''t I already able to do that for free¡ª"


    "YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! Y-You just always catch me a-at the right time, is all¡­"


    "Suuuuure~"


    "T-Then what do you want in exchange? Wanna split the cars? Won''t they be a pain for transport?"


    I had an idea, "How about an engine for a car?"


    "Hmm?"


    "You know? The one you make that runspletely fine on Ethanol."


    "Hah?! I''m already sending a few your way but that doesn''t seem fair¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª You get a whole fucking car and I get an engine¡ª What about that doesn''t seem fair to you?!"


    "Well, you took out the sex from all of it! It just sounds too boring now!"


    "We can have sex anytime we want! Why''d you want it to be transactional?"


    "It''s just r-roley, alright?! And we haven''t had sex in the Raptor! What gives?!"


    "YOU. ARE. IN. THE. TRUCKBED! HOW IN THE WELL COULD WE DO THAT?!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WITH THE HUGE DICK! YOU CAN PROBABLY FUCK ME HERE WHILE YOU''RE ON THE 2ND FLOOR¡ª"


    Alexa then burst outughing as she cut in, "Guys! Guys! Stop! I-I''m mixing this paint in a small container and my whole body''s shaking from lughing! K-Kukuk¡­ Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, my back and forth with Quinn stopped as I walked over to Alexa''s side to check on her¡ªbecause doing something like an artsy design on a ssic car would be difficult to pull off since a dark gray coat with ck racing stripes was already painted on Mr. Alvarez''s custom GT500.


    However, I was plenty surprised about her decision to make a simple pattern on the ck stripes themselves that wouldn''t steal as much attention but would definitely draw you in to take a closer look once you noticed it.


    It was this reverse painting of sorts where she''d just draw the shadows or highlights to make these curvy fleur de lis-like designs pop out from one of the ck stripes while making the second stripe have these American-Latino-like symbolism also reverse painted on it.


    She already drew the initial design on paper but she''ll freestyle all the way to the back, and I think she might be biting off more than she could chew.


    "That''s a tall order right there¡­"


    "We have all night, right?"


    "Need any help?"


    "I''ll be fine, thank you¡­"


    "You sure?"


    "Yep! I work really fast!"


    "Okay, just give me a heads-up if you¡ª"


    She suddenly red at me in a cutesy way, "Nuh-uh! How about you? Do you need any help? I can think of a design for you and you can just follow the outline?"


    "Ah¡­ I haven''t actually thought of one yet but I''ll mess around with it until¡ª"


    "Then do you want to hear an idea of mine?"


    "Shoot."


    "I''m thinking off~ Either go the easy route by outlining a dragon of sorts on one side of the car or go all out and do a two-tone! ck-Gray or ck-White like a yin-yang! And we''ll go ham with the designs! What do you think?! Oh! OH!


    Or better yet, we could continue with the outline of the dragon to the side but we''ll do sakura leaves on the other, slightly taking the shape of another dragon or something! It''s up to you!"


    I joked, "Alexa, if you continue giving me great ideas like that I might just drag you in the back of my car and have my way with you¡ª"


    But Alexa didn''t take it like a joke, "W-W-Wha¡ª R-Right now?! I-I''m¡ª I-I don''t look as good like this a-and¡ª b-but I c-could s-suck you off i-if you really want to?"


    So, I retracted my previous statement, "I¡­ I was joking¡­ I''m sorry, you''re still not used to me doing shit like that but I love the designs you cooked up¡­ However, I think I''m going with the first one because it''s gonna be more slick that way. I don''t want it to be that out in the open type of thing too so that works perfectly fine."


    "Oh¡­ So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "So¡­ No head?"


    "Huh?"


    "Y-You know¡­ Like *casually bobs her head up and down while holding her hand up like she had a 9-inch destroyer in it* head?"


    I tried my best not to let out a reaction, "M-Maybeter¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Maybe you''re not that used to me doing things like these too, huh? I''m not as prude as you think I am¡­ Well, not after I''ve had my time with you all¡­ It just opened up a lot of doors¡­ So, anything for you¡­"


    Quinn cackled from the back, "ALEXA! I SHIT YOU NOT YOU''LL FUCKING FIT IN HERE JUST FINE! AFTER YOU HAVE YOUR FUN WITH HIM AND ALL IN HIS OWN DAMN PLACE, I''M STILL GONNA STEAL YOU ONCE IN A WHILE TO DO CUSTOM PAINT JOBS! IT''S EITHER THAT OR I''LL BRING THE CARS TO YOU! GOT IT?!"

 Chapter 999: A Scoop! - Why are they all here?!

    Hearing Quinn say that, I first turned to Alexa to see her reaction but this time, she looked like she wasn''t against it in a way because as she was right now¡ªto bepletely honest, she looked like she was having a lot of fun.


    It was totally different from their previous day-to-day activity where they''d need to reach a certain quote or else a fucking bastard would start breathing on their backs for a punishment.


    I haven''t exactly established what they''d do back in my ce but it would be the same thing they were doing before except for the threat of getting used for sex. Granted there will be a lot of other work, hobbies, or activities they could branch out to but after some time, if she decided to help Quinn out, I wouldn''t be against it even if Seb decided to follow after her.


    ''They shouldn''t feel the need to stick together as a group all of the time¡­''


    Their "rtionship" was still a little weird at the moment because she was still involved with me, Kaley, and everyone else in our circle of sorts. Still, in my opinion, they should figure out what they really wanted to do first before getting back again potentially or doing some other thing that was also out of the norm.


    Some couples had this particr kink that I wouldn''t name at the moment but unless it were life or death, I sure as hell wouldn''t participate even if I would fill in the role which was named after a certain animal.


    In any case, I couldn''t believe how bold she was because she decided to free-hand her design all the fucking way like a person would answer crossword puzzles with a fucking pen.


    I thought she''d put in tapes to catch her mistakes¡ªassuming from the personality I thought she had¡ªbut yeah, I didn''t even think she was a prude that corrtes to being extra careful or a little shy because I was kind of the same thing about different aspects of life or in the way I do things.


    ''Jumping in solo to a horde with just my katana? Sure! Cracking a joke to Kaley while she''s on her period? Absolute not! Calling for a doctor''s appointment? Prolly need to prepare for three days to do just that¡­''


    With that said, I didn''t even realize time passing in a blink of an eye because once I saw Kaleying down from the second floor with some coffee, I looked at my watch and discovered it was already a little bit past midnight.


    ''What the¡ª''


    "You three need a break! Seriously!" Kaley eximed as she waved us off and shoved a ss in each of our hands.


    I gave her a quick kiss before I tried to scare her with my paintbrush, "I didn''t even notice you guysing up."


    Alexa couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw the time, "What?! I-I''m barely done!"


    Quinn followed after taking a sip, "Eh? There''s some alcohol in this¡­ Fuck it. Do you have any idea how long I went without working on my ce? I''m not sure if told y''all but this here really calms me down. Not as much as gettingid but you get the gist."


    Then Kaley turned to us with a knowing grin:


    "Guys¡­ Mrs. Sandy and I got to talking earlier and~ I got a little scoop¡ª"


    ''She looks a little tipsy but she did go down the stairs without a hitch while carrying a tray¡­''


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Gossip? At this hour? Greaaat~"


    Alexa was a little excited though:


    "A-About what?! Tell me!"


    Then Kaley turned to me, "How about you? Wanna hear it? It''s really spicy!"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "You''re gonna tell us anyway so¡ª"


    Then she cut me off, "You remember her telling us that she''s in her 50s while we kept telling her she doesn''t look it at all?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Guess what? She slipped! She''s not in her 50s at all!"


    Alexa had the shock of her life, "Wait¡ª No way she''s in her 50s! Not even early 50s¡ª HOW?!"


    Quinn followed, "She slipped in what? In a time machine?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "No, silly doofus! You see, I asked her when she gave birth to Chloe and it was inte 2001 but she made ament about giving birth in her early 20s was hard for her so don''t you think that the Math''s off by at least 5 or even 10 years?! That''s a lot! Shh!"


    Then I began to get invested as well, "If she''s not actually 50 and let''s say she gave birth to Chloe at 20, wouldn''t that mean she''s¡ª Oh fuck¡ª"


    Then Quinn cut in, "Then she''s in her 40s? That would make more sense we''re almost the same age but why would she tell you she''s in her 50s?"


    Kaley shrugged her shoulders as she leaned on me with her cup, "That''s what I wanted to know! Chloe and Mimi told us two *pointing to me and herself*st time that she was in her 50s and she also confirmed that¡ª but why would she tell me she had Chloe in her 20s¡ª"


    I cut in, "Were you guys drinking?"


    "Yeah! She''s not as drunk when we were chatting but she''s knocked out now¡­ Everyone''s asleep except for Tatiana who''s taking her time in the shower if you know what I mean¡­"


    "She could''ve just made a mistake?"


    Alexa interjected, "Or a slip of the tongue as Kaley said?"


    Kaley nodded vehemently, "Right?!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes again, "I couldn''t care less. She''s a fucking MILF, that''s what matters. Wanna have my way with her too when we all¡­ you know?"


    Alexa interjected, "But how about Chloe? She''s also¡­ you know¡­ right?"


    Kaley meekly replied, "Umm¡­ That''s maybe a story for another day¡­ It''s a gray area too, if you know what I mean¡­ She fell asleep before I had the chance to probe a little into that topic¡­ But it seemed pretty recent¡­ Something must''ve happened when we drove away¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Oh?! What?!"


    I waved all of them off, "Guys¡­ Stop, alright? I dunno what''s making all of you this fucking obsessed with Chloe, Dr. Nichols, and her past but she probably has her reasons for allegedly hiding her age and whatnot.


    Remember, she used to hold a major position in the hospital of my old university¡ªtwo, actually¡­ and d''you think they''d just make her a department head if she somehow had an early pregnancy on top of being a woman? Trust me, those people would pick at anything to bring her down even if it''s something irrelevant to her position."


    Kaley looked at me sideways, "Early pregnancy in her twenties?"


    I joked, "Would you have a kid with me now?"


    Alexa almost spat out her drink while Quinn looked like she wanted to bring the subject now but Kaley had already sprayed the floor when I asked the question as she was taking a sip:


    "What?! That''s too¡ª"


    I wiped her face as I said the phrase, "You see what I mean? You''re one of the most understanding and progressive person I know but even that''s too early for you. Imagine what it looks like for them. They might not show how judgemental they are on the surface but you''ll definitely feel it even if you''re EQ''s like mine if you''re in there long enough.


    And that''s the worst type of people to me than the ones calling you out in the open and telling you things that wouldn''t help her case nevertheless."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I continued, "So~ What we should do about that information right now is to keep it to ourselves unless she brings it up and if she ever did, we just look a little more relieved because looking like that in her 50s is fucking insane, even for a guy."


    ''It''s a slim chance but it''ll be less weird if she didn''t actually have Chloe herself¡­''


    Kaley chuckled, "True¡­ Would you still look at me like this even if I''m in my¡ª"


    I cut her off almost immediately, "There''s another trap question I''ll graciously avoid~ I''m off to work again, see yater~"


    "B-But!"


    "Pfft¡­/ HAH!" Alexa and Quinn started chucklingughing from the side.


    Though I did give her an answer as I picked up my paintbrush, "Even if we''re in our 90s, I''ll still look at you the same way though I''m not exactly sure if our eyesight''s gonna be that good¡ª"


    "T-Then how about in our 100s?!"


    "Kaley¡ª You''ve drank a bit much, sleep that off!"


    "J-Just give me an answer!"


    "I''m probably dead or would want to be dead if I hit that age because I probably wouldn''t be able to move like I used to¡ª but yeah! You know the fucking answer to it and you should stop asking them because of that!"


    With that said, I thought Kaley would just ask more random questions¡ªthat actually help us because it was keeping us awake other than the coffee¡ªbut I just felt her hugging me from behind before she kept giving me kisses while being too giddy and whatnot because she still had a bit of alcohol in her system.


    I thought it''d eventually turn into one of those nights with her but I just found her sleeping soundly a couple of minutester.


    But yeah, once I tucked her in bed, it did turn into one of those nights with just Quinn and Alexa. Let me tell you, we tested all of the cars'' suspensions for short bursts before we actually finished our work but it was a job well done, to say the least.


    I didn''t think everyone else¡ªespecially Tatiana¡ªwouldn''t wake up from the noise we were making because we picked up right where we left off and turned the short bursts into a full-on all-nighter from the back of my Raptor.


    And yeah, once everything was all ounted for, we had breakfast and said our goodbyes to Quinn''s group¡ªespecially Mr. Ng¡ªbut we were up two vehicles because I was now driving Jackie''s Impreza while Quinn was back to driving her DB9.


    Jesus and his crew still led the way straight to Mr. Cuervo''s domain though we were in for a bit of a surprise the moment we arrived safely.


    ''The fuck¡ª Why are they all here?!''

 Chapter 1000: Smorgasbord - Subic Bay?

    Not only did I see my workers like Mark making some barbecue with my trainees like Marvin¡ª or even Brian, who coincidentally came from the same ce the cadets did, even Johnny out of all the people was wearing Hawaiian clothes, a straw hat, and funky sunsses while sipping from his "ss" of pi?a cda made from the bottom half of a pineapple.


    I''m pretty sure that I gave them precise instructions to keep our vessel safe and secured but I was jumped by Cynthia and the twins the moment I got out of my car. They instantly pressed their bodies against me as they gave me a hug and tons of kisses:


    "YOU''RE BACK!/ DID YOU MISS US?!/ NICE CAR! IS THIS YOURS?!"


    To my surprise, Cynthia had aplete makeover where her hair was now deep purple in color wrapped tightly in a ponytail and both the top of her ears had wicked piercings¡ªeven her bellybutton¡ªjust from looking at her while she was partly clothed. And right now, she was sporting a nice tan with a warmer undertone except for the ces where her bikini and her short jean shorts were covering.


    On the other hand, the twins had minor stuff done on them¡ªthough they still looked strikingly simr and just as pretty and cute¡ªbut they were leering at me whether if I could still tell them apart.


    In any case, I just chuckled as I rolled my eyes before I pointed at Ruru, "You''re Ruru," then to Riri, "And you''re Riri. I always know, alright¡ª"


    They both eximed though they were smiling as they jokingly gritted their teeth, "HOW ARE YOU DOING IT?!"


    Then Cynthia cut in, "H-How about me?! Noticed anything¡ª"


    I tried to jokingly ruffle her hair as I looked straight at her, "Seriously? You want me to address the humongous purple elephant in the room? And the piercings?"


    She chuckled as she leaned close, "I have a few more for your eyes only though¡­"


    I politely waved her off, "Oh? That''s¡­ Uh-huh¡­ Why don''t I introduce you to everybody first and I''ll get to the problem at hand."


    "W-What problem?"


    With that said, I brought everyone together to get the introductions in ce but the atmosphere started to get tense when Brian and one other of our trainees named Cyrus met eyes with JP specifically. They seemed to have a brief history of sorts and with the two gettingbeled as the ck sheep when they were sent to my ce was part of the reason they were staring each other down.


    And yeah, don''t let me get started when Cynthia and the twins noticed how Alexa, Megan, Chloe, and Mimi were acting towards me because even without Dr. Nichols in the mix, these girls do be territorial at times and there seemed to be a pecking order of sorts going on between the people in our circle.


    However, my biggest concern was Johnny lounging around like he was on vacation because let''s be honest here, he''d probably head back to our ce first given the chance. Right now, his actions werepletely off what I pegged him to be because he was as uptight as uptight goes and I would ce him in the same spot the people in my alma mater were.


    "Speak your guts, kid. Why are you looking at me like that?"


    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing, "Umm¡­ The ship?"


    He waved me off, "The ship''s fine. Lawrence is there with our other workers and your Russian friends are using your homemade¡ª I mean, shipmade, heh. Get it? They''re using the shipmade gym of sorts to make the guy they came back with to¡ªtheir words: to remember. Whatever that means."


    "What?"


    "Beats me¡ª heh, I''m in a fucking roll today! You trust them so I trust them but I actually thought they''d just say some codeword and he''ll fucking reset¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in after rolling her eyes, "They brought back Alexander then? How long?"


    Johnny replied, "HmM~ Around a week or so? Right. Mikhail and Alexei took a few pistol rounds but they''ll be a''ight."


    I almost blew my lid, "A''ight?! How long have you been here, Cap?!"


    "Cap? I like that more than Captain¡ª"


    Then Kuzma cut in, "They got shot? How?"


    Johnny shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno exactly but they obviously got shot at, that''s why they got shot but it probably has something to do with the camp that''s keeping one of your guys hostage. I''m sorry, I had a bit of a drink so¡ª"


    I cut in again, "So, they''re both fine at least?"


    "Of course, they''re fine! You drunk?! I would''ve said they were dead if that''s the case ain''t it?"


    Tatiana and Kuzma almost kicked the legs off the chair he was sitting on from the way he was casually speaking about one of theirs getting shot but I turned to the two with the keys to my Impreza:


    "Here. We''d only be here a few hours at most so get in with Artem to do your reunion of sorts and get all the details of what went down. You can bring Dr. Nichols with you to check on the two¡ªno, on everyone because the others might''ve sustained other injuries."


    Dr. Nichols nced at me briefly from giving her orders but she just faintly smiled as she took her bag from my Raptor, "I''ll need Mimi with me and¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "I-I wanna stay here for a bit, mom¡­"


    Dr. Nichols continued, "I know you would. Stay close to Kaley alright and we''ll meet you soon."


    "Thanks, Mom! See you soon!"


    On that note, the four went on their way to the pier further back¡ªthough Jesus insisted to apany them so that he could introduce himself to the rest of my crew, and that''s just icing on the cake so I let him do what he wanted.


    However, Johnny still looked off but extremely happy for some reason so I needed to fish some more info on our captain, and taking the alcohol from his grasp was the first step.


    "Wha¡ª What gives?! I was drinking that, kid!"


    "We''re leaving soon, Captain. Tell me, did something happen back home?"


    He let out this weird, toothy grin, "Not at home per se¡ª didn''t Oscar tell you? He''s been keeping in touch, right?"


    "I checked in a week ago but he said nothing about¡ª"


    "Ah~ That''s why, that''s why¡­"


    "Then what happened back home?"


    "It''s not what happened back home, it''s a ways away from home, kid. You know Subic Bay, right kid?"


    "Subic¡ª You mean¡ª Oh. Oh! OHHHHH! OH SHIT! WE GOTTA GET HOME! EVERYONE PACK YOUR FUCKING BAGS OR WE''LL LEAVE YOU!"

 Chapter 1001: Lightning Round - What else?

    To give a brief history lesson on Subic Bay, it used to be called the US Naval Base Subic Bay, a major ship-repair, supply, etc. used by the navy of Spain and America way, way~ back. Furthermore, it also used to be thergest overseas military instation of the USAF right until one of its bases closed in 1991.


    It was approximately 100 kilometers (62~ miles) northwest of Man Bay and was the size of Singapore.


    And in the year 1992, it was turned into the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, amercial area of sorts when the ownership was returned to us. But unlike Man Bay, it was shared by several towns that turned it into a tourist spot of sorts but even though the ownership changed this past few decades, there was still a Marine base present even though its size wasn''t the same as before.


    But that was not all there was in regards to my excitement.


    Having Oscar as my inside man in the military, he''d get trickles of news from the grapevine, and adding Johnny into the mix just confirmed a rumor of Oscar''s that as of right now, proved to be somewhat true.


    The rumor was that the US would be officially repurchasing part of the ownership of the Freeport Zone about two to three years from now but a lot of things were moving up, and let''s just say that friends and especially, family, from their side had just paid our country a visit¡ªboth for business and pleasure.


    I''m not entirely sure how these new yers would y into the mix, but with the way Johnny was acting, everything was as he expected. On the other hand, I was still a little apprehensive about this news but before I tried to call Oscar or dig up more information from Johnny, Mr. Cuervo popped up from behind.


    "Hermano! I thought you''d be longer! How was your trip¡ª I mean, trips?!" He eximed as he went in for a big hug.


    "Good, great! Actually¡ª"


    "Why don''t we talk in my house? The kids would love to see you or even y a game¡ª"


    "We could do that but unfortunately, I wouldn''t be able to stay for long¡­"


    "Eh?! Por que¡ª Why?!"


    "I''ll tell you as much as I could in your home¡­"


    With that said, I would''ve really wanted to stay for at least half a day to catch up with everyone but the news of Mikhail and Alexei getting shot and getting yers from Oscar''s side into the mix not only filled my te to the brim, but added extra tes, bowls, or cups into the whole smorgasbord.


    But yeah, I''ll need Johnny to be a little more sober before he takesmand of his ship so I''ll spare a couple or a few hours to catch up with Mr. Cuervo and follow on some promises and deals I put my word on some people.


    And the moment we got into his home, he led me to his basement once again so we could talk privately.


    "Alright, Hermano¡­ We could talk now, give me everything."


    "Alright this is gonna be a bit of a lightning round so just tell me if you fell off¡ª"


    "Just give me, just gimme¡ª start with the bad ones first! I want this shit to end in a high note!"


    "A-Alright¡­ Here I go: There''s this guy named Jonathan¡ª"


    "WHAT?! *UNINTELLIGIBLE MEXICAN NOISES* HOW''D YOU MEET UP WITH THAT MUCHACHO?! HUH?! THAT¡ª WHY WOULD YOU START WITH THAT?!"


    "YOU JUST TOLD ME TO START WITH THE BAD ONES!!"


    "Aiiii~ Alright, alright¡­ I''m assuming he wants to lick my boots and work as an exotic dancer¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Close. But not quite."


    "Dammit¡­ He wants a spot in my games and for me to forgive him, huh?"


    I chuckled, "So, you already knew?"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ I actually thought he was just fucking lying because your name has spread around¡­ He called me a week or so ago after meeting you. He told me you fucking owe him but I don''t want that so I said that I''ll give him what he wants contingent on the fact that you actually spoke with him. B-But what do you think about the De Leon Family and the Rivas''s People?! They''re good, right?!


    Compared to everyone else? We can work out a deal with them if they''re faced with that initially, right?"


    "Slow your roll, Mr. Cuervo. We''ve talked about this before but I have Major Perez with me, he''s not the top dog of the Academy per se but he''s #2¡ªbut only in that ce. The president will be a fucking idiot if he denies working with you, Mauro, and Sal but the goal is to do the same thing with the Castillos, the Alvarezs, and the Garcias, right?"


    "Right. That''s what I asked of you before. Not everyone could be saved, I know, but that''s the premise¡­"


    ''Did he assume I went to all of the families'' territories? I''ll tell himter¡­''


    "You see, we can''t just put you in the same room together and have a discussion like this so the best start in my opinion is to have Major Perez have a taste of what this ce has to offer but the trick is to just let him dip his toes before plunging him into your pool of¡­ of¡­ you know, entertainment, fun, and debauchery. Trust me, that ce has problems of its own and it can only be fixed here."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because¡­" Then I told him about their ranking system and their punishments.


    "WHAT?! That wouldn''t fly here, hermano! It used to happen here before but it just ruins business! It just makes the merchandise extremely vtile and why would people pay for pussy or culo¡ª I mean, buttholes if they can just do what they want?!"


    ''At least he''s against it even in a different way¡­''


    I nodded, "Exactly. So, that''s why I''m gonna need you to work him a little bit after hees with us¡ª"


    "Hah? He''sing with you?! I thought¡ª"


    I started to annoyedly scratch my head, "Fuck, that''s true. If I take him with me to meet with Oscar and his other uniforms, it''ll take too much time and the General will eventually recall him. That''s a bummer¡­"


    "I heard from that American chulo with you that he has some important news, right? That''s why he came here with those kids and I let them upy your house of sorts."


    "Right, right¡­ That''s¡­ Oscar will probably be too busy to even shoot shit with the Major so I guess I''ll leave him in your hands for now¡­"


    "Great! You have more news, right? What were you young people up to?"

 Chapter 1002: Sleeper Agents? - Its armed!

    With that said, I didn''t think that I''d spend close to two hours condensing my two weeks plus of travel with the whole gang and telling it without pause to Mr. Cuervo who listened very intently to everything I said like an old grandpa would listen to their grandchild showing off.


    Granted it was a little wholesome how focused he was on my ventures but his expression turned somber when I mentioned I hadn''t been to the Garcia, Alvarez, and the Castillo''s domains.


    "Something wrong?"


    "Haa¡­ I actually thought you squeezed all that time to get to know everyone¡­ That''s why only Sal called me after you drove from them and also ryed Mauro''s message through her¡­"


    "Did you want me to visit everybody?"


    "Forget about it¡­ The Garcias are closerpared to the other two but it''s fine¡­ You''ll have the chance to visit them soon after but if we''re beingpletely honest here, I wanted you to see the ugly side of our organization so you could see it as a whole."


    "Makes sense..."


    "You said the academy and your university had ws but guess what? We have more. Way~ more. As much as I wanted to keep my friends and people I''ve known this long, I''ll admit that we''ve done more fucked up shit than we''d care to admit and we''re just looking for the good guys to fuck up once so that we could put them in the same level as us. Because at the end of the day, we''re still criminals.


    Through and through."


    "Right¡­"


    "I mean, I''m not trying to wash my hands of the deeds I''ve done because I''m probably not able to but¡ª"


    "I understand you, Mr. Cuervo. You''re doing the right thing right now, I think, and that''s what matters."


    Mr. Cuervo chuckled, "I dunno about that, hermano, but I am trying to do my best."


    "Uh-huh¡­ Kinda the same thing but okay. I still get this urge to lop someone''s head off when they''re abusing drugs but let''s just say I''m trying to be the better person whilst at the same time lying to myself about my feelings. It''s a littleplicated, sure, but not everything''s cut and dried¡­"


    "Hah¡­ That''s true¡ª Kinda deep too, y''know? But yeah~ Then what''s our n now? We already bailed on blowing up half the org so I''m assuming we''re gonna need to have a workaround that, y''know? Again, I would''ve loved for you to see everything in your eyes so that there won''t be any biasespared to when I just tell you the shit everyone else has been doing but when are you able toe back here?


    Realistically speaking?"


    "Honestly? I''m not exactly sure because we have new yers¡ª probably a while but aside from missing the hospitality of Mr. Alvarez, Mary, and Castro, I missed the chance to visit one of my uncles and his farm. He''s a few hours away but driving over there now will be a little impossible because of the ruckus caused by my group¡­"


    "Ah¡­ I''ve heard, is he perchance in that same town?"


    "No, a few more hours in but that''s the main road we''re talking about. We''re better off using the ship again depending on what went down on Artem''s end."


    "Hmm¡­ I''m not sure about the exact details but they kept saying that their guy''s mind has been fucked with and he just needed a few things to remember¡ª Don''t theye in with a codeword or something?"


    "Pfft¡­ You and Johnny watch too many movies¡ª"


    He cut me off as he leaned in with crazy eyes, "I''m just saying, hermano¡­ That side chick of yours might be a sleeper agent too and even she''s a champion in my games¡ª"


    "I''m a nobody, Mr. Cuervo¡ª why would they nt a whole gang of¡ª"


    "Cut that shit out! You''re YOU and I''m ME! Also! What if they''re also after me?! What if they just used you to get to me and I''ll just wake up one of these days with a knife to my throat! Hermano!


    We should be really careful!"


    "..."


    "Why are you so silent?! You''re supposed to be with me on this!"


    Then I had another sinister thought, "What if I''m the sleeper agent? Did you think about that?"


    "Hahaha¡ª You¡ª Tell me you''re joking¡ª Wait¡­ You''re fucking with me¡ª A-Are you? Is this how it ends?! Aiyaya~ Mi amor¡ª OW! WHAT THE FUCK, HERMANO?!"


    "You think I would just smack you in the head if I wanted to kill you?! Think, Mr. Cuervo, think!"


    "I am thinking! What if you''re just ying the long game and you''re just waiting for the perfect time to round us up and take us one by one?! Oh god, dios mio¡­"


    "I''m¡­ Ha¡­ I thought it''d be more fun than this but I think I''m gonna go¡­"


    "Wait! Give me an assurance that you''re not a government spy!"


    "..."


    "Hermano! Please! My wife and kids are out there! I should just lock you down here and take you down with me!"


    "Bitch¡ª My wife is out there too, d''you want me to stay with you until kingdome?! I''d kill myself first and bet on reincarnation! You try to make yourself look good but I''m not into dudes, alright?!"


    "HEY! I don''t try to look good, alright?! I look good ALL the FUCKING time! I just look good! ALWAYS! D''you wanna die?!"


    "Not with you! So, are you gonna ring us up or what?!"


    "Haa¡­ Fine¡­ You passed¡­ I can''t actually lock you here because you have the same permissions as my keycard."


    "Oh? That''s ttering?"


    "What if I lose mine? I can''t bother Jericho all the time!"


    "Oof. Alright, alright¡­ Where is he anyway? I believe I left him a project of sorts before we drove away?"


    "Ah, shit¡­ He never left his workshop ever since you guys went away. He''s probably still in there¡­ Come with me¡­"


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo brought us to the surface level before leading me to one of the doors shut tight in his basement gym. He started knocking on it profusely for quite some time, but once he gave me the go signal to use my thieving tools, the radios on our person buzzed before we heard Jericho''s voice:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BRO, I KNOW YOU CAN PICK THAT LOCK BUT THAT DOOR''S WIRED TO ''EXPLODE''! GIVE ME A~ TEN MINUTES¡ª NO, FIVE¡ª AHHHH! A MINUTE AND I''LL DISABLE IT! DON''T PUSH IT, ALRIGHT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHY''D YOU WIRE IT THEN?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Because I wanted to?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Fuck, I don''t have an answer to that¡­ Then get on it! We''ll wait for ya!"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 1003: Tech-Bros - Leave it to me.

    I don''t know what the fuck Jericho''s doing inside his workshop but I didn''t think the need to arm the fucking door with explosives was the way to go. But yeah, Mr. Cuervo and I almost beat the shit out of him when we discovered that it was just wired with a fart bomb but to bepletely fair, we shouldn''t underestimate stink in an enclosed space.


    "WHAT''S UP, BRO?!" Jericho, a.k.a. Ecko, came in for a huge hug before locking it in with a fist bump.


    "Great, great! Mr. Cuervo and I were just wondering about our little¡ª"


    "Little? You''re one funny dude, aren''t ya?"


    "Did you do it though?"


    "Heh. Arming a hundred drones with ''wacky'' putty? Arming it wasn''t an issue, controlling it¡ª well~ it wasn''t an issue too but it''s just a lot of fucking work, y''know? I had to make a program for each of their movements to go individually, by clusters of three, five, or ten, or like a big fucking unit once a target is locked on!


    You can control it manually too via a single controller or multiple ones if you wanna give your group the freedom to use them as they wish."


    Mr. Cuervo was a little unconvinced, "Really~?"


    I chuckled, "How lethal though?"


    Jericho rolled his eyes, "Dude. A bit of C4''s already too fucking much, why would you send a hundred or even a cluster of five against a single target? Ah¡ª Scratch that, that''s why you gave me the freedom to make them like that so you''d have the freedom to use them as you wish¡­ But anyway, you drained my workshop of all my mats so you gotta replenish them one way or another, alright?


    Making drones from scratch ain''t cheap! I had to DIY a lot of them too! Like 70%! And I haven''t even started on the PipBoi! The workload''s just too much!"


    "Can''t you just assign the easy stuff to other people¡ª"


    "Haah?! *imitates buzzer noise* Ain''t no way I''m trusting them with something this delicate and vtile! Wanna blow the whole area?!"


    "Okay, okay, I apologize for working you too hard but give me a rundown on how it works and how would we be able to deploy each one. And are they mobile? I mean, can we take it out on expeditions or is it just a home protection type of thing?"


    Jericho nced at me and for a moment, he looked like he wanted to choke the living shit out of me:


    "I''m sure YOU''LL find a way to take them out but it''s pretty hard to have a proper container for a hundred drones unless you''re fucking prepared to hitch a trailer with ya. I''d really rmend this for a scare tactic or thest hurrah for a home defense but if you''re taking this out, I''d rmend just a handful unless you''re trying to clear a mega horde of sorts¡ª Right!


    I forgot about the hover feature!"


    "Hover feature?"


    As soon as I asked that, Ecko dove back into his den, fished out a tracker of sorts, and stuck it into his forehead before going into an app from his phone. To our surprise, a small drone flew in silently and hovered around the tracker without making contact but Mr.


    Cuervo and I were several steps back because we could clearly see where the C4 was sticking out and one mistake would end our stories just like that.


    Jericho startedughing, "C''mon, guys! I haven''t even armed it! What are you two so scared of?"


    "How''d you think we would know that?!/ Yeah! And for the record, I believe I told you to work on this in the workshop in the basement! Not in this one! What if you blow up my kids?!"


    "Right! But our enemies shouldn''t know that they''re armed, right?!"


    "Sure¡­"


    Mr. Cuervo couldn''t believe he got ignored, "Did you even hear a word I said?!"


    "DiD I bLoW u uP??? HmmMMMM?!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "One of these days¡­"


    In any case, Jericho showed us more of this hover system of sorts, and right now, it was a pretty nk te for a surveince system. Because if we''re just talking about surveying each of our guy''s POVs, our body cams were already enough for that.


    However, this was a door to endless possibilities because one example was if the person "on the chair" needed to see more than the POV of the person the drone was hovering on, the drone could literally be the eyes to the back of its head, its temple, its crotch, etc.


    ''Like an extra set of eyes you can pluck out and survey thend or a fail-safe to a horde if you attach a sound system instead¡­ or both..''


    But yeah, modding our drones was definitely a story for another day but the two wouldn''t believe me when I let them keep the drones I requested for their use to bolster up this ce''s defenses.


    "A-Are you serious, Hermano?! This¡­"


    "Duuuude! I did several all-nighters just to get this done! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "Do you even have a regr sleep schedule?"


    "No¡ª Point taken. I''ll give you that¡ª"


    "Hah! See what I mean?"


    "Hermano, are you really sure you''ll leave us those¡ª"


    I waved them off, "The C4 will be a hit in my reserves but this is one of those things you''d wish to not use but be happy to have lying around. You get what I mean? Besides, as much as I love to keep the prototype, I do want to make all of them uniform¡ª"


    "HAAH?! YOU CRAZY, BRO?! WHAT WOULD THAT DO?!"


    "OCD, sorry¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ Of course, of course¡­ You''re really gonna let us keep them?"


    "For the nth time¡ª Yeah, I''m sure. Trust me, you need it more than I do."


    "Do you at least need the app or one of the trackers? It''s very easy to do but it''ll save you a bit of time if you base your designs on one of them?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Then Jericho plucked the tracker from his forehead and threw it over to me, "Just take it, alright?! I already feel guilty about taking back the brick of coke and now you gave me a fun project then gave me all the spoils! Have at least that!"


    "Okay, okay," I said as I pocketed the tracker he made before I stared him dead in the eyes, "If you start sending me weird shit because you''ll know my exact address once we get home, I''lle for you, alright?"


    "Prick! You think we''re not bros, huh?! I''lle for you too if you I don''t see my IGN in your prototypes!"


    I chuckled, "So, that''s what you''re after, huh?"


    "We''re building a legacy, alright?! WE! Don''t reinvent the wheel, make use of the tracker your buddy sent ya!"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "I thought we''d be square the moment you get back but it seems like I''m drowning in my debt to you¡­"


    "Don''t worry about it but yeah, I''d hate to say it but I guess I''m gonna leave Major Perez by your side and a few others to the family house. I''m thinking of splitting the cadets soon too but I''ll let them stick together for a while and let them decide after a few weeks on where they want to stay in. Can you help me with that?"


    "No problem, I''ll be taking good care of them and I''ll try to keep them out of trouble."


    "And do put them to work as you see fit, but let them know that they''re not untouchable. You can keep them out of trouble but there should be limits and standards to uphold if they''re gonna live here under my name."


    "Got it. So¡­ You''re probably leaving now?"


    "I guess so, yeah¡­"

 Chapter 1004: Delays - Blue Pills for the Major

    Once again, I would''ve loved to stay in this ce for at least a day or even half to have some fun but we''ve done a lot of that the past few days¡ªand even though there was still actual work in the mix, my presence was required back home and like the General, I should spend some time at my own ce once in a while.


    I then made my way to my group but it seemed like the world was trying to dy my return for as much as they could.


    Because I thought it was only the girls¡ªthe little immature ones¡ªin my inner circle were having an internal power struggle with the bullshit pecking order, the cadets and the trainees seemed to be having one as well¡ª no, just Brian and JP.


    ''Why can''t I catch a fucking break?!''


    I was in Mr. Cuervo''s mansion for more than two hours and when I came back, the two fucking dumbasses were not only covered in sweat and dirt but also full of scratches, cuts, and bruises.


    They seemed to be "resting" right now for some reason¡ªprobably on round 50 or something¡ªwhile everyone else was actually having a good time with a te of barbecue and a ss of a refreshing non-alcoholic drink from whichever faction they belonged in.


    I know for a fact that Brian''s a fucking meathead¡ªthat would very much fit into the De Leon Family just from that¡ªbut I didn''t think that JP would encourage the dumbass and also get hurt in the process.


    It''s just that no one seemed to care¡ªor not anymore¡ªas to why these two were fighting in a corner in the first ce, so I pped loud enough to get everyone''s attention:


    "What. in. the. actual. Fuck?!"


    My p attracted enough attention but they were like two ethereal beings that couldn''t be seen by the naked eye no matter how many times I was trying to bring the attention over to them.


    "Guys? Anyone?!"


    Then I heard a familiar voice:


    "We tried, bro~ We tried~ There seems to be some history going on between the two so we just let them deal with it on their own."


    I turned to where the voice came from and I saw my beloved shin-kicking, long-shooting cousin named Jared, who was sitting on the roof of our family house with Isaac, #1, #2, Seb, and Ruben.


    And Isaac followed, "Yeah, bro~ They''ve been at it since you left and they''ll just go at it again even if we break them up!"


    ''These two are buddy-buddy at least¡­''


    I chuckled as I turned back to Jared, "You good sitting your ass here for a couple of weeks? Didn''t get bored or anything?"


    He scoffed and chuckled, "Eh. So-so if you''re in amitted rtionship but I didn''t think you''d bring my underssmen over here. We''ve been catching up since you arrived and it''s TOTALLY differentpared to when I''ve left it. Just a side note: I would''ve done that shit too from the first day it happens!"


    Seb muttered, "The General¡ª JP''s dad would''ve put your head in a pike¡ª"


    "So?" then he pointed at me, "He''ll do something very sly to get away with it but he''ll do it too! I think that''s where you''re missing the point, pal. I''m not a white knight per se but it doesn''t matter who was it being done on, I''d snipe that motherfucker''s temple even if I had to endureying down on my own piss waiting for three days just to get the fucking shot!"


    Then all of the cadets on the roof, except for Seb who was now in deep thought, sneakily pointed at Chloe before copying me, "Right. That''s his daughter tho¡­"


    Jared tilted his head sideways, "Who?"


    "Lopez¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA! YOU THINK I''D CARE?! SHE PROBABLY DOESN''T TOO! HEY, CHLOE!"


    Chloe took a second to locate where the voice wasing from, "Hmm?"


    "REAL TALK, WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IT TOO?! YOU KNOW, MERK''ING YOUR DAD IF¡ª"


    Chloe nced at me for a moment before nodding and shouting at the top of her lungs, "YEAH! AND HE''S NOT MY DAD!"


    "WUT?! HE''S NOT YOUR¡ª"


    "WELL¡ª He is, technically, but¡ª DADS DON''T DO THAT SHIT!"


    Then Jared went for it as he pointed at me, "SO HE''S YOUR DADDY NOW, HUH?!"


    "WHAAAAAT?! THAT''S¡ª" Chloe didn''t know how to react as she buried her face in Kaley''s body.


    Then Kaley red at Jared and the cadets, "You fucks went too far! I''ll deal with you allter! GOT IT?!"


    "Y-YES, MA''AM!/ W-WHAT DID I DO?!"


    "YOU DIDN''T STOP THEM! DEAL WITH IT!"


    "FUCK!"


    "BRO! I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU, ACTUALLY! CAN WE CATCH UP¡ª"


    "I''d love to catch up with you too but tell everyone to pack up, again. We''ll be leaving shortly but I need to break these two up before they do serious damage to themselves¡ª"


    "I told you, bro. We''ve tried¡ª"


    "Well, I haven''t yet."


    "Ah, they''re fucked. Like fucked."


    But yeah, it''s as Jared said because it seemed like the two didn''t even notice meing. After all, after their break was over, they just mmed their tired bodies together before this awful mud-fight continued. And luckily for them, they''ll have a nice refreshing drink to go along with their scratch and bruises.


    It was then that I picked up the pitcher of ice-cold lemonade and sshed it on the two who were dead set on beating each other.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "IT STINGS! IT''S COLD AND IT STINGS! WHO¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "Have some more¡ª"


    "STOP! STOP! I¡ª AHHHH!!!"


    "MY EYES! MY EYES¡ª OW! EVERYTHING FUCKING HURTS, SIR!"


    "IT''S INTENDED TO HURT! FUCKING DUMBASSES!"


    Well, it didn''t end there when I pped each of their faces with a huge~ me-grilled rib-eye, which Mark, oh so cautiously prepared before threatening to add more seasoning by means of a canister of pepper spray:


    "Look. I would''ve loved to get into this drama of you two but we gotta fucking go. Like right now. BUT! You two ain''t leaving that fucking spot and getting a rinse unless you finish that fucking rib-eye. Understand?!"


    "Y-Yes, sir!" JP quickly responded as he chomped down on the steak.


    Though Brian had other thoughts, "Dude, why the fuck would you¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUUUUUCK?!"


    As soon as I heard his bitch-assining, my can of pepper spray was already locked and loaded but I didn''t unload everything in his eyes. After all this time, the motherfucker was still a motherfucker through and through but he was being true to himself so maybe there was some merit in that?


    But yeah, I didn''t think their slugfest wouldst this long¡ªmaking me a little curious because a normal onlysts a few moves¡ªbut I put the thought in the back of my mind because with the body cams I made them wear, I could simply check the footageter.


    Then Major Perez came up from behind me:


    "You fucks are leaving already? How about me?! You''d leave me here alone¡ª"


    Then Belle, one of the ''entertainers'' who joined my house cut in, "Ooh~ I didn''t see this cutie here! You''re so buff even with your age¡ª not that it matters¡­ I pretty much prefer older¡­ and more experienced menpared to those boys¡­ oh god¡­ Mmh¡­ Would you like me to fix you a drink¡ª"


    I interjected, "Sorry, Belle¡ª"


    Then Major Perez also interrupted me, "Yeah. Sorry, Belle¡­ *casually grabs a boob* I''mma need you to stay there for a bit before we get to the fun part," and he turned back to me, "As I was saying, can I expect to meet you here again before I get recalled? I may need to tell you something, personally."


    "Everyone''s trying to tell me shit when I''m about to head out! You can''t tell me now? Or by radio?"


    He just rolled his eyes, "Nah. It''s personal. Once you get back¡ª but it''s not as important so don''t be in a rush to get to me."


    I thanked the gods for that as I let out a sigh of relief, "That''s up to the General but my group will be making trips around here like once or twice a month to keep a trade spot moving on. But yeah, I''ll just drop by from time to time in the Academy. I''ll leave the jeep too so you''d have a ride back home just in case."


    He nodded, "I heard about the base in Subic, what''s that about?"


    "I''m still finding out about it, actually. But if the General doesn''t call you in a couple of days or so, would you mind one of my¡ª your guys from my ce picking you up? I''ll actually be in the area a little bitter, hopefully, but I wouldn''t be stopping in these parts unless it''s absolutely necessary."


    ''Have to pick up Edith and Nancy too¡­ Just do everything in one go before getting my deserved rest¡­ Though I have to ring them a little bitter so they could be ready to go once I arrive¡­''


    He chuckled as he turned to Belle, "After I have my fun, of course."


    "Hah¡­ Of course, no worries about that. Mr. Cuervo will talk to youter and get you situated but Belle over there could probably give you a gist of this ce¡ª"


    "Heh, I was actually just messing with you but your cousin over there gave me a brief. I actually know that fucker. Wonder why he disappeared on me suddenly¡ª I actually thought he went AWOL though that''s much better than being dead. Could''ve given me a call at least¡­"


    "Jared''s one of your students?"


    "Don''t get me started, he''s supposed to be one of the promising ones but keeps doing his own thing because of this phantom teacher¡­ Know where I''m getting at? So fucking weird how pieces fall together."


    "That''s a lot of words to just say it''s a ''coincidence'', no?"


    "I call that fate, kid. Even if I don''t believe in that stuff. So, is this it?"


    I chuckled as I offered a handshake, "I''m sorry that we''re in a rush but we''ve barely even started."


    "Hmph," he chuckled as he returned it with a firm grip, "See you soon, kid."


    "Yeah, I should really have you meet with the old man¡­ The vibes are just¡ª"


    Then Jared approached from behind, "Bro, everyone''s about ready now, and the group that will stay here already knows the drill. Shall we?"


    Major Perez answered instead, "Get going now, I ain''t gonna hold ya for longer."


    "See ya, Major! Here''s some viagra I won from betting against other people¡ª"


    Major Perez''s eyes had never been so fucking wide, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    I doubled down as I offered a bottle of painkiller ointment, Cialis, knee sleeves, and a dick pump, "Don''t take much at once or it''s bad for your heart¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU MOTHERFUCKING SHITS!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1005: Alexander - Trust me.

    As Major Perez chased us off with a tomahawk steak after actually KEEPING the gifts we gave him, I felt really good about making him be the temporary caretaker of our Family house¡ªmaybe even along with Jesus and his crew¡ªwhile being our guest of honor at the same time.


    I''d probably need morepetent people or just straight-up people I could trust that could stay in that ce but we were really in a fucking rush to do something about it.


    Temporarily closing this chapter in my life, it wouldn''t take long before this rush to get home embarked on its final stages.


    The drive to our ship wasn''t too much trouble or eventful because only a fucking idiot would try to stir up trouble with this armed convoy, especially if they knew that several of its passengers were high-profile individuals.


    But yeah, we saw Jesus and Meg waiting for us to arrive by their station wagon, and I got out of my Raptor before I asked my group to park our vehicles inside. But for some reason, the vehicle I won from Mr. Cuervost time¡ªthat Niks and co. were using¡ªplus another truck was also parked outside instead of being inside our ship since we''re leaving.


    ''The Impreza''s already inside though¡­''


    And as what would always happen while anyone''s in a rush, we hit a bit of a snag.


    Jesus then approached me as he offered a cigar which I politely pocketed for Oscar''s use instead:


    "This is it for now, huh?"


    "For now? I like that, heh¡ª"


    "A little advice on your friends though? Would you mind?"


    "Hmm?"


    Then his face turned solemn, "I know about the body''s ability to remember certain shit when inflicted pain but that Alexander guy''s been taking hits nonstop just to make him ''remember'' or some bullshit. He did look out of it but he prolly needs someone better than your wife to take care of this," he paused as he pointed at his temple.


    "I might need to check on them¡ª"


    "They''re fine, they''re fine¡­ for now, but¡ª Ah, it seems that ''most'' of them will be staying behind though. I''ll advice against that too¡­"


    I stopped in my tracks, "Most of them?"


    "Unfinished business, they said. But the big guy and the dude with the long hair? Mr. Cuervo''s doctors could take care of them AND have taken care of them when they got backst time but they need to be away for their sake.


    They''ll just rush right back because some type of shit started and¡ª scratch that, all of them should be away to stop shit from getting out of hand or else¡­ and that''s on you to make it happen. I do promise to check things out over there to see if I could do something but I said my piece, talk to your group to get the whole story from them. They aren''t telling me shit for some reason¡­"


    I nodded, "Alright. Thanks, Jesus. Don''t leave yet, we''ll talk in a bit."


    He nodded a few times as he tapped the roof of his car, "We''ll wait here, for sure. Have to talk to Quinn for a bit too¡­"


    "Sure, sure¡­"


    At this point, I was already thinking of postponing our trip for one more day¡ªand I agree with Jesus'' advice¡ªbut we should also be fair and try to take a look at this from their eyes.


    A group like them getting sent to a country they''ve probably never been to before and getting the worst treatment from the government and its people¡ªexcept for Tatiana¡ªwould be a different story for them especially if it involved one of their people.


    I wasn''t an expert on this type of thing but I know how being alone or isted feels like and if stress or something simr piles up, it might just turn into paranoia or schizophrenia.


    And as much as I loved a revenge story, two of them already got shot which means that it was a revenge plot that wasn''t thought of that thoroughly. Because if they wanted to bury people under their feet, the recipients should be begging for a quick death while all of them had nary a scratch.


    ''I said before, revenge should be returned ten-fold but it shouldn''t cost an arm or a leg¡­''


    But yeah, I still needed to get the full story of what happened¡ªand hopefully calm them down¡ªbecause as bad as this may sound, I justpleted the full set of what was left of them, and I wouldn''t want to lose any pieces from going at it without a proper n and in unfamiliar territory.


    In which case, the first person I saw from the group was Katya, who was leaning by the ship''s railing outside with a recently lit cigar, but once we met eyes, she beckoned me to follow after her.


    I stopped her for a moment, "Do I need to know anything before we go in?"


    She looked at my hand on her shoulder but didn''t particrly mind though I still retracted my hand:


    "Hmm? Oh. Alexander''s fucking tough so we''ve been going at it for a while but he got fucked in the head because he''s the one who shot Mikhail and Alexei¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª He¡ª"


    "He''s the one who shot them. Crazy and unbelievably stupid, I know¡ª"


    "What? Why?!"


    "That''s what we''re trying to figure out by beating it out of him. We paid a hefty sum to the group too and it was supposed to go well but I felt something really off and then that happened¡­"


    "Fuck, they should trust your gut more¡ª"


    "Eh. I didn''t say shit at the time so maybe I should trust mine more too and should''ve spoken out¡­ Good thing you''re here already because as much as we''re happy you found Kuzma, he might kill Alexander with your girl¡ª I mean, Tatiana. Just saying¡­"


    "Haa¡­ Let''s go¡­"


    "Why am I guiding you? You know the way¡­"


    "Right¡­"


    It was then that I saw this beat-up guy, "Alexander", who instead of my punching bag, had both hands tied to the noose from where it was hanging. Everyone else was present too¡ªincluding Dr. Nichols who was standing her ground about treating the person Kuzma and Tatiana were brutally sinking their fists in.


    Natasha was the one barring her from interfering with the two but it seemed like it was due to the fact that Dr. Nichols might get hurt because Alexander was still fighting back.


    ''Mimi''s probably still tending to Mikhail and Alexei''s wounds¡­''


    And yeah, I''ve never seen Tatiana like this except for the time that na revealed the name of her benefactor while Kuzma was back to his cock-fighting days, but the one person who looked like he''d murder everyone else once he got the chance was not even Artem, Bogdan, or Niks, but still Alexander himself.


    I instantly felt the intense killing intent the moment his gazended on me, but this dude was baring his fangs on someone he shouldn''t even dare look a certain way.


    ''That''s just a deration of war¡­''


    "Haa~"


    Even if Dr. Nichols was still in the midst, everyone just heard a short exhale before the room got increasingly cold but I was directing the whole brunt of it to thest piece of my nesting dolls.


    Only a few people could resist or remain standing while every bit of negative emotion was running through my head coupled with copious amounts of murderous intent and they either subconsciously jumped back or fell to their knees¡ªwhich right now, was only Dr. Nichols, who was further back than everyone else was.


    I didn''t have the time to throw her out of the room because this fucker wanted to take a bite out of everyone''s neck, despite his condition, but he was too fucking out of it to recognize his ce.


    His whole body was covered in cuts, scratches, and bruises¡ªand he''d probably need more than a dose of painkillers for the pain to go away.


    With that said, everyone else had to give way as I took a step forward but as I got closer and closer, he got even more feral as his heavy breathing looked more like a convulsion but the blood and spiting out of his mouth were making these nasty red foam and bubbles trickle down.


    Even his left eye which I could barely see due to the bruising was getting as bloodshot as the other one the more he tried to stare me down. And his wounds? Those that partially healed even started opening up and bled through his beat-up body as he tried to get out of his restraints.


    But I just had enough of it when I got into my draw stance, grabbed the handle of my de, and attempted to cut him "loose" by means of cutting through hists, his neck, and then straight through his shoulder and his arm despite everyone about to stop me from doing so:


    "Trust me¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1006: False-Slash - Snipped?

    To bepletely honest, these guys weren''t that far off from what to do with Alexander¡ªand even though I''m not an expert in dealing with rabid people¡ªI know a few ways to get them to calm the fuck down and one of them was to make them think that they''re dead.


    It''s just a little unfortunate everyone else who tried to step in got caught in the process.


    I had only drawn my de a few inches before Ipletely let go, continuing the sword path with only my arm, but the whole thing coupled with the intent to kill¡ªand everything else happening in a fraction of a second¡ªmade Alexander and everyone else thought that half their bodies separated andnded on the floor.


    It was akin to pretending to throw the ball for Zeus¡ªmaking him turn around confused¡ªor pretending to spill a bowl of hot soup to someone even though it was just water¡ªmaking them squirm and scream for their lives¡ªbut this was on a different level.


    Artem, Kuzma, Niks, and Bogdan were on the floor drenched in cold sweat while Alexander himself waspletely knocked out, simply hanging by his hands from where the punching bag was supposed to be¡ªbut I didn''t think that everyone else out of my range would be affected by making them draw their sidearms and pointing it at me.


    I removed the veil as I fully sheathed my de:


    *clink*


    "What¡­"


    "..."


    "I was sure¡­"


    "He¡­"


    "..."


    "Alexander''s¡­"


    I let out a gentle smile as I politely asked them to lower their weapons, "It''s just prank¡ª a trick, alright? I didn''t actually kill him¡­ so¡­ I dislike guns being pointed at me so please¡ª Guys?"


    Even at this moment, everyone was still at a loss from the moment they caught a glimpse of my de, and the mental thought of their bodies hitting the floor, but the first one I asked to help was Dr. Nichols.


    "Umm¡­ You can treat his wounds now¡ª"


    Artem just snapped out of it, "Wait! He still might wake¡ª"


    I cut in, "So help me hold him down so she could properly sedate then treat him, whichever works first. We''ll put him in the bed in the infirmary but we''ll still restrain him while he''s being treated but not this way¡­ Any one of you could easily get out of that knot if you''re thinking straight, he''s just so out of it he needs more help than¡­ this."


    "Alright¡­"


    With that said, I decided to finally cut him loose as I slowly drew my de to avoid any misconceptions, but Artem and Niks were the ones who carried him to the infirmary after making sure he wouldn''t be able to move a muscle.


    Because even if he''s still knocked out right now, we wouldn''t want our only official doctor to get injured and we all just rested easy when he was properly sedated and restrained as Dr. Nichols began her treatment.


    Though Mikhail and Alexei and also Mimi and Ilya who were watching over them didn''t know what the fuck just happened so I gave them a very, very, very brief exnation of what went down:


    "Oh. I tried to kill him¡ª"


    "WHAT?!" The three eximed at the same time.


    "YOU!" Mimi threw me a re before turning to Mikhail and Alexei, "Don''t move, I said! Your wounds are gonna open again! Stay on your beds!"


    Ilya just had the realization as Artem and Niks were shaking their heads, "What actually happened?"


    "I just said¡ª"


    "We''re gonna need the long version, chief. And are you guys leaving? Who''s gonna stay here besides me?"


    Artem threw him a nce, "Ilya? We''re gonna need to stick together as a team¡ª We''ll need you with us once everything settles¡ª"


    I cut in before they discussed without me, "That reminds me, except for Ilya who''s nowmitted to his wife, everyone''s going back."


    Niks shook his head, "At least let me stay with¡ª"


    "Before we say anything more, we need Alexander situated first and we''ll discuss who stays and who goes but as of right now, no one''s going back to that ce unless I say so¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "You gotta be kidding me?! We got¡ª"


    "Got what? Got shot by your own? As much as I hate to say this, you guys got fucked and you''re the best unit anyone could fucking ask for. We''ll get them back for this, I swear, but everyone''s gotta do it my way or else you''d be eating more than pistol rounds with nary a dent in their actual force."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Look¡­ if we all just calm down for a short bit, we''ll sort it all out with Jesus because he already got a n in his head but he won''t be able to use his connections against them if you''re all gonna be a looming threat to those people because what we''re avoiding is a straight-up war¡ª"


    Alexei shook his head, "We''re soldiers¡ª"


    "And I''m a fucking nerd that works in retail and guess where it got us! You gonna listen or what?!"


    He tried to get up from his bed, "Fuck you¡ª"


    Artem stared him down, "Listen to him, Alexei. Calm the fuck down."


    Hearing that, Alexei mouthed something under his breath before he red at me, "Fine! What''s your words of wisdom then?! Huh?! You¡ª"


    I cut him off and copied one of the women''s special moves, "Artem''s right. I''ll talk to you when you calm down¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª HNGH! A-AH¡ª Ow! You little¡ª n-nurse, why''d you hit me?!"


    Mimi got up right on his face, "HOW MANY TIME ARE WE GONNA TELL YOU TO LIE DOWN! YOU''RE BLEEDING AGAIN! D''you want a shot of what the doctor gave him?! You''ll be out for a day!"


    "A-A day?!"


    Dr. Nichols followed with a threatening re, "And stop screaming! This is a small room and we can hear everyone just fine! I''m not a urologist but I can snip your balls in your sleep if I wanted to!"


    "Ah¡ª S-Sorry, doctor¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    With that said, it got unbelievably quiet at this point because even I wouldn''t dare piss her off right now, and we just watched them work for a few minutes before we gathered at the main hall with most of us present.

 Chapter 1007: Sad Truth > False Assumption

    We should''ve been pulling up the anchors right about now but the next couple of hours became a civilized¡ªthough sometimes heated¡ªexchange between me, Jesus, Artem, etc. Everyone else was free to say their thoughts out loud too and we leaders made sure that they were heard and not just nodded at and their ideas swept under the rug.


    Obviously, almost all of Artem''s group wanted to get back at the same area to exact revenge but even if Kuzma, who was for the idea, and Tatiana, who was actually against the idea, joined them to fill in Mikhail and Alexei''s spots, a lot of things could go wrong if they followed the quote that told them to strike while the iron was hot.


    But yeah, Artem wasn''t that dumb for a suicide run and had ns of his own but what made the discussion far longer than it should''ve taken was Jesus telling them topromise and work around a way so that both parties wouldn''t shed as much blood.


    Because the full context was that Artem and his group finally convinced the group who had Alexander working for them as a soldier¡ªand even a captain of a small squad¡ªto be "returned" back to us in exchange for material things.


    So, Artem and his group won themselves a lot of those material possessions from the people who frequent Cuervo Heights and from the biggest game night I was a part of through betting everything on me¡ªand them, obviously¡ªall-in, every single fucking time.


    It included a couple of vehicles, weeks worth of food and water, guns, ammo, handheld weaponry, medicine, gas¡ªand whatever the fuck you could use or trade for in the apocalypse plus a few luxury items like sweets, tobo, and liquor.


    With that said, the deal went swimmingly well¡ªbut a little too well, as Katya mentioned and it was on their trip back that Alexander straight-up went berserk out of the fucking blue.


    Niks stated that Alexander just started shooting from the back, and Mikhail and Alexei got clipped a few times, and they had to quickly plug the bullet holes while trying to figure out what Alexander was actually aiming for. He then stated that Alexander was sleeping at the back before the whole thing started but there weren''t any particr details as to why he''d just react like that.


    But even before then, the first time they discovered him, he actually recognized hisrades¡ªdespite the refusal toe back with them¡ªwhich made them think he owed them his life or some sort like what happened with Ilya and Kuzma.


    However, it was totally different this time because not only he couldn''t recognize everyone else, but he was also acting like a deranged mutt who''d just attack anything itid its eyes on.


    It could''ve been PTSD or something simr that triggered him to do just that but we weren''t experts on the matter¡ªmaking Jesus'' advice to take him to a professional all the more important.


    And going back to the topic with Jesus, he did know some people around those parts and he was asking for a bit of time to get to know about the other side of the story because in his words:


    "I''m sorry but as much as I would hate to say this, that might be one of the ring reasons they let him go easily. They could''ve been working around him because he was that useful to them but they could only take so much and they just needed to cut their losses¡­"


    Jesus saying that struck a nerve among Artem''s group not because it was just hurtful but because it also had a grain of truth that most people wouldn''t want to admit or ept if it was being experienced by someone very close to them.


    Even I had a few things I found hard to ept from myself¡ªeven towards myte parents¡ªbut if what Jesus was saying were to be true, there wasn''t an actual need for a revenge plot for that matter but instead, a time¡ªforck of a better word¡ªto cut their losses and focus on healing then moving on.


    But yeah, everything''s contingent on his assumption and ours.


    If Jesus was actually right, it''d be best to avoid more bloodshed but if the worst thing came to be true, we should be prepared to deal with it as well¡ªfully prepared and the other side not knowing what hit them for the shit they put Alexander through and made him do.


    I''ll personally hash out a n to avenge someone I barely knew who tried to mad-dog me the first time we met but that''s on the premise we take down the actual bad guys that caused him to be like that. Thest thing I wanted to do was raze down a group of potential allies and sources of all kinds of resources then knowing they actually did nothing wrong.


    That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and one recent example was the people we mowed down while they were blocking the road.


    Granted they still posed a threat at that moment but in this case, we should be really safe than sorry. I''ve said it many times before¡ªquoting a particr bat covered in barbwire-wielding dude:


    "People are a resource."


    And yeah, we ended our talk on a good note and said our goodbyes but topromise a bit with Artem''s group regarding their situation, I let Niks stay with Ilya but Jose would also stay behind. Jose did request a change of pace because things were a little rough back home so he jumped on the first chance I gave him though he would be responsible for the actions of the two.


    Bogdan wanted to stay too for some reason but I wouldn''t let the so-called "Demolitions Expert" be with a group that had ess to explosives because I might just blink a few times and thismunity we were trying to bridge a connection with would just a be a huge-ass crater when wee back. It''ll only take one intrusive thought for Jericho to feed his own curiosity so that''s a fucking no-no.


    But yeah, after everything was said and done, mostly, I just plopped to our room and jumped in head first.


    ''I need a fucking break¡­ Zzzz¡­''

 Chapter 1008: Calling The Old Man

    At this point, I didn''t even notice that I dozed off for a few minutes until I was jolted awake by the ship''s horn, telling its intent to leave the port. We did say our goodbyes to the group we''d be leaving behind but I still walked out and saw them waving us goodbye before sailing off.


    It was still a few hours past noon so we''d probably reach home right after they had dinner so I tried to make use of our traveling time to radio in a few people.


    Obviously, the first person I tried to contact was the old man, Oscar, and he picked up on the first ring:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [KID! I heard you''re finally getting back! I have some news for ya!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Subic Bay?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Aww~ man! Johnny told you, huh?! It was supposed to be a surprise!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So what''s the n for going there¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Going? I''m already here, you dumbshit! We helped them clear the Marine base and everything! I''m helping them set up and all and I''ve taken a few dozen panels over here and they''re loving it!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jealous, huh? Things happen over there, things happen over here too, little shit! I would''ve loved to wee you back because the two weeks felt like two years but we''re still waiting for more¡­ uh¡­ guests¡­ to arrive.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "How about Irene''s package?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHA¡ª She sent something back too?! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I still got it, right?!RIGHT?! I''m~ the fuckin'' man¡ª But seriously, don''t even try to open that shit or I''ll chop your fuckin'' balls off! Ya hear?! I''m serious!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m not even gonna try, old man¡­ So, who else ising?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Figure it out, dumbass! Who do you think I''ll wait for besides other veterans like me? My ce would surely be crowded once I take them in but I always have a room set aside for her¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "OH FUCK! Jennifer''sing, huh?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HEH! You got that fuckin'' right! I guess she misses her old man still¡­ The carrier they''re on is getting crowded and crowded with the oh, so special peoples and as usual, they''ll just send the not-so-special ones to this ce or other much closer shit¡ªno offense to our archipgo but you know how my people think.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "But it works for us¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Whaddaya mean it works for us?! If I see you fuckin'' look at her a certain way, I''ll beat your fucking dick off!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not this shit again¡ª No homo but that sounds a little¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, YOU HEAR?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Chill, old man. Fine! I''ll try to stay away from her. I won''t even speak to her while¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHY?! IS SHE NOT GOOD ENOUGH?! SHE''S A FUCKING MARINE FOR GOD''S SAKE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bitch¡ª I dunno if you''re getting fucking senile but you have to get your stories straight! D''you want me to fuck her or not?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHH! STOP MAKING IT SO WEIRD!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re the one who brought up the topic! And what if she''s the one toe to me?! Or god forbid, she gets yed by a dumbass?! Are you gonna me me for that too?! Make up your mind, alright?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh. I didn''t think about it that way¡­ You''re making a lot of good points. I decided: I give you my blessing. I''m expecting a baby at your earliest convenience¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I was just talking in hypotheticals¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [But I wanna be a grandpa now, kid! I thought you''d put one in yours so I was kinda excited but you fucks keep waiting for the right fucking time! Ah¡ª You might have some problems though¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What are you on about now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I believe she''s a lesbian¡­ I believe that didn''t stop you before¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m hanging up, you dumbass¡­ Couldn''t you have started with that?! She might bemitted for all we know!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haah?! Be a little progressive, alright?! They can have babies too! Just need a proper donor¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Beeeeeep~ The number you''ve dialed is unattended, the number you dialed¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I KNOW IT''S STILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! ARE YOU GONNA GET HER PREGNANT OR WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You¡ª Be a little progressive too, then! It''s her choice after the fact, alright?! A-Anyway, do you need me there or something? A delivery or a resupply perchance? I''ll still be busy once we arrive but I''ll be ready first thing in the morning."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Of course, you''ll be fucking busy. I wonder how much pussy you''re bringing back this time¡­ Ha¡­ But yeah, we''re still figuring a lot of things out but I''ll give you a call if I ever need anything important¡­ I have¡ª no, we have people back home that could do shit for us¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Okay, old man. Stay safe, alright?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Heh. Thanks, kid. You too, wear condoms¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Asshole! WANT A BOX OF VIAGRA DELIVERED TO YA?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU CAN''T MAKE ME MAD WITH THAT!!! NOT ANYMORE!!! GET FUCKED, KID!!! BYEEEEE!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, I ended the call whileughing my ass out because talking with the old man was something I''ll never get tired of and I was d to know he wasn''t just moping around at his home and drinking alcohol but did something great and was now waiting for the arrival of his daughter.


    I would''ve loved to be at least part of the clearing group when they reimed the Marine base but I''m pretty sure that there was still a lot of work that needed to be done or wasn''t a priority yet, but we''ll get right on it once I pay a visit.


    But yeah, after that call, the person I tried to contact next was Honasan, one of our helicopter pilots I asked him if there was an avable helicopter for immediate use and the response was:


    "All of them, sir. Even the one on your roof."


    On that note, I asked him to prepare to apany me and attach a coupling mechanism for the cargo we would be taking from a certain farm and a few other items I promised our one hell of a butler. It wasn''t as drawn out of a conversationpared to the one I had with Oscar but the next one I tried to contact was Sebastian¡ª no, Edith so we''d be also straight to the point.

 Chapter 1009: Touchdown - Tension

    I know that it had only been a day since west left their ce but not only having Edith and Mimi to my fold was important, but also the bees that would being with them was something this ce needed.


    However, I''m not sure how they''d react to my ce which waspletely different from their beautiful estate but I''m sure they''ll appreciate the challenge it would bring to beautify it up in a way that could satisfy them.


    Also, I''ve said it many times before, Honey¡ªnot to mention Royal Jelly, Bee Pollen, and even Beeswax¡ªhas a lot of fucking uses, and just straight-up having bees to pollinate our nts was a huge plus.


    It was somethingmonly taken for granted but it was just the right time to bring them into mypound and the rest of our territories because aside from having nts or root crops we could eat, we had also begun growing flowers as a requirement for all of our households and the ones stationed in our greenhouses.


    Not only would that help the bees produce honey and whatnot, but it would also help the kids or anyone else interested in the matter to learn a little about that subject and somehow put a little color on our graying world.


    With that said, as I gave Edith the call, as much as she wanted to talk with me, I felt like she wanted to end the call as fast as possible so that she could get her stuff and the nucs ready, so we did just that.


    I can pretty much understand her excitement and I''d be a freaking dumbass if I couldn''t sense the tension that was slowly building up in the ship with me and everybody else in our circle, but Kaley had already royally decreed to not to do anything as of right now and just go wild once we get home.


    Long story short, we safely reached thepound by around 10 PM which was a little unfortunate because most of my friends and family were already asleep, but the ones who had never been so happy to see my ugly mug was none other than Zeus.


    He straight-up jumped into my arms as he burst out the door when he heard me call out his name, and he basically made me carry him back to our home¡ªtail wagging like a propeller and kissing me nonstop¡ªand made me fix him a little snack even if he had already eaten.


    And yeah, everyone couldn''t get enough of seeing him struggling between eating, wagging his tail, and running back at me to get petted, but Rin was shocked to fuck when she went down and discovered all of our guests.


    "U-Umm¡­ H-Hi?"


    I chuckled as I introduced her, "Everyone, that''s Rin. Rin, that''s everyone¡­ But yeah, that''s Mimi, Dr. Nichols, Riri, Ruru, Megan, Alexa¡­"


    Of course, she couldn''t wait to give Tatiana a hug but she started to call a bunch of people in regards to living arrangements. Obviously, JP and Brian shouldn''t be in the same house right now but some of the guys could go pretty much wherever, but in regards to the girls in our inner circle, it was decided for them to stay in my house for the night.


    Then again, the sexual tension once the boys left ramped up several degrees but Honasan almost got beaten to death when he awkwardly came down from the roof:


    "Ah¡ª S-Sir? The heli''s ready. Are we going now?"


    ''Everyone sleeping will definitely get woken up¡­''


    "Yeah¡ª"


    I answered him casually but I was almost overwhelmed by everyone else staring daggers at me for leaving just as we had arrived.


    "Rx, alright? We''ll be back before midnight with Edith and Nancy. We won''t be long."


    Honasan was still shaking in his boots, "S-S-Shall we, sir?"


    I nodded, "Yeah," then I turned to Kaley, "See youter, alright?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "Be safe, alright? We''ll start without you if you take too long¡ª"


    I joked, "That''ll be in my favor actually¡ª"


    "You doofus! J-Just go! Hmph! W-We''ll get ready so you better be ready when you get back¡­"


    I chuckled before leaning in as I kissed her, "Love ya."


    "I love you too¡ª"


    Honasan interjected,pletely oblivious, "G-Get ready for what, sir?"


    Everyone else shouted at the top of their lungs, "NOT YOUR BUSINESS! GET OUT!"


    "I-I''M SORRY~!!!!"


    With that said, Honasan and I took to the skies thiste at night, and let''s just say he couldn''t believe one of the areas we visited when wended the helicopter ways away from the Rivas Family''s precious flowers.


    ''Me too, bud¡­ Me too¡­''


    But yeah, Edith and Nancy straight-up dove inside my helicopter with their luggage after Sebastian secured the sealed nucs though he was still insisting that we stay a bit for supper which I unfortunately declined.


    However, his face lit up when I handed him five of our Injector Axes, the Jian I promised Elsa, a case of guns and ammo that contained a Remmington 870, a Benelli M4, and a few automatic rifles, andstly, a few devices formunication and a little bit of entertainment for this quiet neighborhood.


    "My lord, this is¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Mauro''s gift wille a little bitter. I can''t lift it with this heli. Maybe next time when we use our ship again¡­"


    "T-That''s not a problem, my lord¡­ I just wish you and thedy, and Nancy''s safe trip¡­ Including your co-pilot¡­"


    "Thank you, Sebastian. Talk to youter¡ª"


    And just as we were about to head out, Sal appeared from nowhere and shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU MAKE SURE EDITH''S PREGNANT WHEN SHE VISITS OR I''LL MILK YOUR DICK AND PUT ONE IN HER INSTEAD! GOT ME?!"


    "AUNTIE!!! STOP~!!!"


    "WHY WOULD I?! YOU MOUNT THAT SON OF A BITCH AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND¡ª OW! WHERE ARE THESE FUCKING ACORNS COMING FROM?! SEBASTIAN?! I KNEW IT WAS YOU!!!"


    "I''m deeply offended m-madam¡­ It might be from that tree¡ª"


    "WE''RE IN AN OPEN FIELD, YOU DUMBASS! GET ON IT! GIT! I''LL BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    On that note, we took to the air again as fast as wended and we had no trouble flying through the air while it was night. And even if we did somehow attract a few zeds in our direction, we''d just drag them right back because we used the same flight path.


    Anyhow, I did wake up some of my sleeping neighbors once we got back, and right after I attended to Zeus'' needs once again and thanked Honasan for a prompt assist, I let him go on his merry way with a few goodies though the atmosphere and the vibe in my house instantly changed¡ªeven making Zeus know what''s up as he left in a hurry.


    But yeah, it was still a little too chill at the moment because as I let Edith and Nancy ce their luggage in one of the rooms avable, everyone else was just chilling in my room wearing pajamas and had a nket covering one, a pair, or a cluster of them, watching a random movie and eating some popcorn.


    I did introduce the two to the others who haven''t known them yet but they all knew what was up with a single nce toward each other.

 Chapter 1010: Release I - Blankets Again?

    On that note, I didn''t want to say that I was suffering from sess because I actually am, but I was a little relieved that not everyone from our inner circle came down to visit. Because aside from Rin who looked totally intimidated from being in between Tatiana and Quinn, only Ms. M, or should I say, Micah, who looked veryfortable between Kaley and Dr. Nichols showed up.


    And again, there was an unbelievable tension from everyone else as they were kind of ''sizing'' each other up for some reason and these were some examples:


    First and foremost, I noticed this from Cynthia and the twins toward Chloe, Megan, Alexa, and even Mimi but since Mimi was so nice to them¡ªno, everyone, it just became a 3v3 thing because thetter group returned it one way or another.


    However, right as Mimi and Nancy''s eyes locked, again, for some reason, I noticed the same thing going on between just them.


    I would''ve added the same thing towards Quinn and Tatiana, Dr. Nichols and Micah, Dr. Nichols and Chloe, Edith and Kaley, Kaley and Mimi, etc. but those were either resolved or were just too one-sided to matter.


    But yeah, the girls didn''t even care if I showered or not as they quickly made me share a nket with Kaley while being right next to Tatiana who was sharing a nket with Rin and Quinn. And at the same time, Edith and Nancy briefly excused themselves so that they could change to something morefortable.


    On that note, everyone continued to watch the film on my TV¡ªand it was a romanticedy¡ªbut as I reached for the popcorn in the bowl that Kaley handed over to me, Tatiana had already switched nkets and invaded ours, pulled my cock out of my shorts, and started jerking me off from under the covers.


    Everyone already knew full well what was going on and they seemed to have already decided on whose turn was it and how everyone else should act at the moment.


    It was a little in the free-use category but I was free to do what I want to Tatiana who was now sucking my cock and to Kaley, to whom I was gently fondling her breasts while she was just watching the film like it was nothing¡ªeven though her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was a little heavy.


    But yeah, I then reached around to Tatiana''s fit body to first unbutton her cute PJ''s before rubbing her hard, pink nipples.


    She was letting out these muffled moans with each pinch while we could all hear how she was slobbering on my knob but she then grabbed my hand fondling her breasts before cing it right on her panties that was drenched in her juices. My fingers were ced right by her clit and I just started rubbing it in circles while alternating with rubbing her meaty folds.


    On that note, I could barely focus on the movie as Tatiana started to also alternate between sucking my dick up to the base and then licking and slurping the tip¡ªand it didn''t help when Edith and Nancy finally came in wearing a sexy silk pajama and a cute one with teddy prints all over it.


    They more or less knew what was going on but I had barely started pushing my finger in and out of Tatiana''s wet slit before the walls around my fingers started contracting.


    "MmM¡ª M-M-Mmmh! Hngh! MhMp! Mm¡­ Hmnph!"


    Tatiana started cumming while my dick was still deep in her throat but Kaley started cumming too when I pinched her nipples a certain way, causing me to fill Tatiana''s mouth with several pumps of cum. She had no intention of sharing them one bit as she swallowed and swallowed until the final drop, even giving it a tight squeeze for any remnants she could pull out.


    But yeah, as soon as her head popped out from under the covers with a huge smile after wiping her mouth, everyone else seemed to be expecting something from her which was very soon revealed as Tatiana looked like she had all the power in the world:


    "Hmmm~ Right, right~ What to do~ I''d like him to eat Kaley out while I''d like to get reamed by~ Hmm~ Let''s say Mimi! Crawl over here!"


    I was about to do as I was told but Mimi''s expression was just too much to pass up:


    "W-What''s that?" Mimi asked with an innocent and very embarrassed expression.


    Tatiana chuckled as she beckoned her, "Just go down on me and I''ll show you where to stick that tongue in¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    I didn''t know much about the rules right about now but even though there were someintsing from Quinn, Cynthia, and the twins, they just huffed and continued to watch or eat popcorn as I went under the covers and pulled just the bottom part of Kaley''s pajamas off.


    But yeah, Mimi did give me a little squeeze on my butt as she made her way towards Tatiana but it didn''t take long before I was making Kaley''s moans overpower the film they were watching from above.


    I tried pulling her down so I could just have my way with her before I dealt with everyone else but the general rule seemed to have at least their heads over the nket. But yeah, my dick was already leaking precum without getting any action though I continued pressing and pushing my tongue against Kaley''s wet hole as my fingers were going in and out of her soon-to-be-gaping asshole.


    Hearing myself say that, I did remember Mimi''s little promise to me from the time I took her virginity and since we were very close to each other, I tried testing the waters to see if she''d let me put a finger in her butt.


    And there it was.


    I wasn''t actually trying to hide what I was doing because everyone could figure out what we were doing from under the covers, but the moment the tip of my fingers grazed the little puckered butthole she was a little conscious of, she was just startled for a moment before she moved her butt towards me to ask for more.


    Then Tatiana chuckled before she enforced another one of their made-up rules:


    "Mimi~?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Wanna get punished?"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "You do know we could see what you''re doing¡ª"


    "A-Ah¡ª I-I''m sorry¡­ D-Do you also want a f-finger in¡ª"


    "God, yes! He can do whatever he wants but you shouldn''t offer yourself just like that¡­"


    "I-I did p-promise him s-something though¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Are you sure you wanna do that while everyone''s watching?"


    "I¡­ That''s¡­ A-As long as we''re under the c-covers¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ That just makes it even hotter¡­ It''ll be your turn next though so why don''t you keep doing what you''re doing and you can request it in your own b-nket¡ª O-Ooh¡­ Just like that¡­ Y-Yeah¡­ L-Lick my clit too¡­"


    At this point, I could still barely understand their made-up rules so I just continued to lick both Kaley''s holes and fondle and squeeze her huge breasts.


    I could''ve really just used a loophole and just made sure my head was under the covers so I could fuck her but I''ll continue to y their little game because I could basically stay in the same spot for hours and make Kaley cum for as much as she could.

 Chapter 1011: Release II - Mimis Promise

    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I learned one more of their silly rules and that was the moment the receiver¡ªthe one receiving the service while above the nket¡ªor in our current moment, the receivers: Kaley and Tatiana, had a release not in particr order, the round just stops and the givers: me and Mimi could each assign someone else¡ªbut not limited to one person¡ªto either continue giving or receiving pleasure or straight-up a refresh of the current yers.


    It was a very loosely made-up concept because it was just for fun and to avoid an unpleasant tangled mess because this particr group¡ªeven though we''ve had experience with each other, it didn''t mean that everyone else had experience with everyone else.


    Doing this was a little pre-run of sorts to slowly figure out everyone''s way of doing things while at the same time having the chance to open oneself to new things, but the two people I was worried about the most were still Dr. Nichols and Chloe.


    Both of them were present in the room but were on opposite sides of my bed¡ªChloe was on the left side sharing a nket with Megan and Alexa while Dr. Nichols was on the right sharing a nket with Micah¡ªand they both had a mix of nervousness and a little bit of excitement once I nced at them as I emerged from the covers.


    But yeah, Kaley was already half a mess when I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she had to take a short break before Mimi and I had to announce the next round because she was literally out of breath.


    Though Mimi was really determined to get her ass split open:


    "I-I want h-him to f-fuck me i-in the¡ª y-you know¡­ L-Like I promised you¡­ C-Can w-we have our heads above the c-covers now? I-I didn''t want to say a-anything but I-I was a little out of breath¡­"


    Tatiana replied, "Sure. Whatever¡­ Hotter to see the one eating me''s facial expression¡­" then she turned to me, "And you? What would you like to do? Aside from Mimi, of course¡­"


    I shook my head as I looked around in the room.


    Obviously, I''ll be fucking busy with Mimi for a short bit but I really wanted a side reel while I was resizing Mimi''s butthole so I remembered a little surprise that was supposedly for my eyes only:


    "Cynthia¡­ Why don''t you get out of the covers and show me your little surprise¡ª"


    She never looked so happy and horny as she got out of the covers, "Okay! I''ll¡ª"


    "But I wanna see you just looking at us while Chloe''s behind you and touching you all over and I don''t wanna see or hear anyints. Got it?"


    Cynthia nodded obediently while looking at me with puppy eyes, "Y-Yes, ''nii-chan¡­"


    ''Fuck¡­''


    Chloe got out of the covers as well, "D-Do you want me to take my c-clothes off too?"


    "Not yet¡­ I just want to see you make Cynthia cum¡­ Is that okay?"


    "I-I''ll try!" Chloe nodded as she went behind Cynthia but she did sneak a nce at Mrs. Sandy.


    However, Mrs. Sandy was still trying to focus on the film instead¡ªthough her cheeks were flushed¡ªand it was somehow due to the fact that Micah had already gone ahead and was touching her all over. I wasn''t sure if that was against the rule or not but it was just for a bit of fun and I couldn''t care as much right now because Mimi had alreadyid prone and was waiting for me to join her.


    On that note, I went on top of Mimi and tried to give her a gentle massage first to get her to rx but once I turned my gaze to the young girls in front of us, Chloe was already gently fondling Cynthia''s pierced nipples while Cynthia had her toned legs spread wide, showing off her meaty cunt and her tiny clit that also had a matching piercing as well.


    But yeah, both their eyes were focused on me as I continued to get Mimi to rx but I did have a principle to eat it before you fucking fuck it.


    To Mimi''s surprise, my tongue started to lick around the rim of her little asshole¡ªmaking her let out an audible gasp¡ªbut I couldn''t believe how pink and how enticing it smelled so I continued licking her until I started prodding it with my finger.


    However, it seemed like Mimi couldn''t wait a fucking second anymore as she was just spreading her tiny asscheeks apart, telling me to put more and more, so once I thought she was ready and I fully lubed up my huge shaft, I lifted her cute butt for a little bit before I pushed the tip inside.


    "HNGH! I-IT''S IN¡ª A-AH¡ª IT''S¡ª"


    "Breathe¡­ Rx, Mimi¡­ It''s just the tip¡ª"


    "J-JUST THE¡ª HNGH! T-THE TIP?! I-I TOLD YOU TO P-PUT IT A-ALL IN! WHY¡ª"


    "Breathe first¡ª"


    "B-BUT WHY¡ª HNGGGHHH!!! AH! AH! A-AH! FUCK! FUCK!


    O-OW! YES! Y-YES! W-WHY IS THAT SO¡ª MMMMMMMH~!"


    To her delight, I pushed my whole length in the moment she took in a deep breath and her body just shook all over. I didn''t expect this kind of reaction from Mimi but if that was what she wanted, that was what she was gonna get.


    Mimi was clutching the bedsheets as she was moving her hips towards me so I started to thrust as fast and as hard right from the fucking get-go, making the whole bed shake in ce while she was calling out my name.


    At the same time, not only were Chloe and Cynthia''s eyes on us but everyone else''s. Although, Cynthia''s arms were wrapped around Chloe''s neck from behind while Chloe was pinching her nipples and rubbing her clit at the same time.


    And yeah, I couldn''t believe how fucking tight Mimi''s little asshole was¡ªand it was just gripping me so fucking tight, I had to use a bit of force to push my way through¡ªbut the moment I felt warm liquid squirting from between her thighs, her screams also stopped as we discovered that she had once again fallen unconscious.


    However, I was also this fucking close to having a release so I figured that a few more pumps wouldn''t be too bad and of course, she wouldn''t fucking mind, but Cynthia being in the front row seeing that just sent her over the edge.


    "F-F-Fuckkk~! I''m cum¡ª I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    As Chloe was trying her best to pleasure her, Cynthia straight-up grabbed her hands and started to guide her to her special spot and made her hit it over and over furiously until she sprayed me and Mimi in the process.


    Not only was Cynthia out of breath but also Chloe from never moving her hands that fast and deep into someone else''s cunt, but going back to my current partner, she woke up a few secondster though she was still feeling the waves of her orgasms through cumming from her ass.


    Mimi turned her head around to try to give me a kiss but she could barely feel her legs, much less her whole body after that intense ordeal, so I just leaned in to kiss her as I slowly pulled out.


    "You okay?"


    "I-I passed out a-again, huh?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''ll work on it¡­"


    "It''s a little embarrassing¡­"


    "Nah, kinda hot too but know that you''re not alone¡­ I''m not gonna name them right now but it''s a great achievement for me."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, though I''ll know if someone fakes it and I wouldn''t mind not being able to do that to someone every single time¡­ It''s just a bonus for making them you know¡­"


    "T-Thank you though¡­ Y-You''re really a-amazing¡­"


    With that said, as I was letting Mimi rest, I noticed that Chloe and Cynthia were simply bonding over their little experience with each other because they were already straight-up making out with each other and ignoring the rules. But to bepletely honest, who gives a fuck at this point, because not only did Kaley join Dr.


    Nichols and Micah under their nket, Quinn was already having her way with Rin while Edith was already looking mischievously toward Nancy and Mimi.


    This now left me with Tatiana, Megan, Alexa, and the twins but these two cadets came up to the look-alikes with a proposition while Tatiana went over to check on Rin who was about to be vited as requested for the nth time.


    But yeah, I could very much pick anyone from this group and join in no questions asked but I felt a tug from below me who then looked at me with her round puppy eyes as she wiggled her little butt:


    "W-W-Wanna go a-again?"


    "Are you sure? Aren''t you a little sore?"


    "A little¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "So? I-I''m too h-horny to f-feel pain¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ If you keep talking to me like that¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ So what do you say? Wanna work on me a l-little more?"

 Chapter 1012: Release III - Why dont we just turn off the lights?

    With that said, Mimi''s gaping butthole was still oozing with my cum and I did establish myself as a¡ªforck of a better term¡ªa fucking double-dipper, so once I got my dick in ce and her clutch on the sheets locked in, I started hammering away at her poor little butt until she gave out.


    It wasn''t as tightpared to the first time obviously but with her small frame and size, she wouldn''t even need to grip me that tight to almost choke my dick out, and her cries from pleasure and pain were just getting me over the edge.


    But yeah, the moment I came in her for the second time was when Nancy cutely pushed me off Mimi because in her words, "She had enough!" But right as I thought she''d be the next sacrifice, she started to eat my cum out of her ass while Edith started to ram her ass from behind her.


    At this point, Chloe and Cynthia seemed to have established something as they were beckoning me over, but right as I was about to join the two, I was dragged into this Mommies'' Den of sorts which was arge nket where Kaley, Quinn, Dr. Nichols, and Micah were a part of.


    I thought Edith would be part of this group as well but it seemed she wascking a few qualities because aside from havingrge breasts, this section seemed to require the experience and the attitude.


    Tatiana would''ve also been in the mix because her body was growing graciously thertely but she was busy with Rin at the moment and I could barely handle Kaley and Quinn at once, I was already dreading what these four had in store for me as of right now.


    And ignoring Cynthia and Chloe''sints, I felt Kaley''s embrace from the back before her huge titsnded on the top of my head. I was just about to give them a gentle squeeze before I felt different sensations from my hands at the same time¡ªsoft and firm¡ªand it came from Dr. Nichols from the left and Micah from the right.


    My dick was happy as fuck they had their phones with their shlights on from under the bed so I could see each of them and their lustful expressions but it didn''t end there when my whole length was enveloped by Quinn''s huge milkers before she gave me this sassy look.


    To bepletely honest, I could probably ept my death at this moment in time because this was the fucking dream.


    Kaley''s perfect natural tits were the perfect size for me and my hand, Dr.


    Nichol''s MILF tits that were just as big¡ªbut even though they were hanging or sagging a bit¡ªher erged pink nipples and ares were just so hot to look at and nibble on, Micah''s round tits, though unnatural, were very well done and shaped so well it still looked like they were natural, and finally, Quinn''s humongous pair that was the literal motherlode of all the tits I''ve fucking seen that even though looked a bit much¡ªwhich wasn''t actually a concern¡ªknowing that it was proportional¡ªno, just a little bit biggerpared to the rest of her 7-foot frame was enough to make any tit-lover lose their heads.


    In any case, the moment Quinn cupped her breasts together to give me a titjob and lowered her head to suck me off at the same time, Kaley, Micah, and Dr. Nichols started rubbing their cunts¡ªmaking this wet splotchy sound from below. But yeah, Dr.


    Nichols and Micah were giving me direct eye contact while they were both moaning in pleasure but Kaley on the other hand was doing almost the same thing as she was pressing her milkers harder above my head.


    At one point, Dr. Nichols tried to breastfeed me when Micah also tried to suck on her tatas, but Kaley knew what to do as she angled her a bit so I could get a whiff of her smooth armpit and thank the heavens that Dr. Nichols didn''t mind¡ªsurprisingly enjoyed it¡ªand she even offered me to lick them.


    Obviously, Micah offered the same things Dr. Nichols did and I was happy as fuck to partake in them, but as I went over the edge and pumped Quinn''s mouth full of cum, she straight-up got rid of the nket covering us before she went on top of me and shared some of my seed into Kaley''s mouth as payment.


    Still, Dr. Nichols tried to partly cover herself when she saw Chloe looking directly at her but I was still struggling from the sensitivity when Quinn started moving her hips:


    "FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! WHY''S THIS DICK SO F-FUCKING GOOD! IT''S SCRAPING ALL THE¡ª HNGH! UGH!


    YEAH! SHIT! I CAN BARELY K-KEEP MY HEAD STRAIGHT WITH THIS¡ª MMH! HMM! MMH! F-FUCK!


    I-I''M CUMMING ALREADY! SHIIIIT!"


    If I didn''te from Quinn''s amazing titjob/blowjob earlier, I would''ve came from the sight of her jumping up and down with her huge tits shaking all around while wearing a deranged expression, because it was one thing to make a woman addicted to your junk and it was another thing to make Quinn out of all the people lose all proper decorum even while being on top.


    But yeah, Quinn kept riding me until I filled up her cunt but as that was still ongoing, Dr. Nichols was making me push my fingers in and out of her pussy hole while fondling her own tits¡ªand as long as Chloe didn''t have a direct vision of what she was doing¡ªshe was up for anything.


    However, it didn''t take long before Micah had her fill and it was now her turn. But as she went on top of me while still covering her back with her nket, Quinn had a very tempting proposition to fuck her ass at the same time:


    "That''s¡­" Dr. Nichols trailed as she was already slightly moving her hips.


    "Still shy?"


    "N-No¡­ It''s¡­ You know¡­" she trailed once again before briefly ncing at Chloe who was "busy" with a few others but was definitely stealing nces at her.


    Then Quinn had the most brilliant idea:


    "Why don''t we just turn off the lights?"

 Chapter 1013: Release IV - Excited for tomorrow

    The moment one of us reached for the lights, I just felt Dr. Nichols'' warm and soft body press onto me before an external force pressed on her even more, making it transfer over to me and get dispersed over my bed. Even with their phone''s shlights still being on, they could barely illuminate the whole area and what I could only see at the moment was the side of Dr.


    Nichols'' head grazing past my face as Quinn continued to plow her from behind.


    Taking out one of our primary senses would just greatly amplify the rest, and there was just something different about doing something naughty, especially adult stuff, while no one could see you.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before Dr. Nichols'' muffled moanspletely turned to cries of pleasure and it was akin to opening the floodgates as she had a mind-numbing orgasm after mind-numbing orgasm because the gaze she was trying to avoid hadpletely disappeared due to the dark.


    "Yes! YES! Y-YESSS! A-AH! I never thought t-that¡ª MmmMmHH! Oh god!


    OH GOD! OH MY F-FUCKING GOD! D-DON''T STOP! PLEASE! Y-YES! AHN!


    MMh! hNHNhh! hNGHGHnhh~~~!!!"


    Her cries just fueled me and Quinn even more as she continued to p her ass with her inner thighs over and over¡ªnot stopping even though she had an orgasm herself due to the little nub of the strapless dildo scraping her insides¡ªbut as soon as Dr. Nichols gave out, Kaley simply took her ce before Quinn and I just had a new hole to stretch a few sizes bigger.


    Of course, Kaley could take more punishmentpared to Dr. Nichols'' who had just recently ignited her sex life, and at one point when Kaley felt that Quinn''s thrusts had gotten slower, she straight-up pulled the strapless dildo from Quinn''s cunt just by clenching her butt before she pushed her down and fucked her instead.


    And right after that, she made me push my dick in her pussy¡ªwhere the smaller end of the strapless dildo was¡ªbefore she made me finger her gaping ass that Quinn worked so hard for.


    Kaley would sometimes be this aggressive before but it didn''t take long before I was doing all the work¡ªand even fucking Quinn through her¡ªbecause I think I didn''t need to repeat how Kaley''s body was so sensitive to my touch and following along with her requests was just making her cum faster and harder.


    But yeah, I was now just going mostly for my sense of hearing to get a gist of what was going on around me, but aside from my sense of touch, I didn''t think I''d get to use my sense of smell and taste to figure out who I was with the moment I filled both of Kaley''s holes.


    Before anyone says anything, it wasn''t anything off-putting or something along those lines because for some reason¡ªthough not 100% urate¡ªI could somehow identify whose fucking pussy, ass, or mouth was gripping or slobbering on my dick, and at the same time, I could also identify whose parts were those including a few extra ones belonged to when my tongue was gliding or deep inside them or right in contact with my nose.


    In short, even without my eyesight, I would have a 90% chance to know who the fuck was I fucking or vice versa given enough experience or data to extrapte on.


    Sounds weird, I know, but this was something I began to discover the more time I spent with other people doing this type of activity.


    And right now, I was pretty sure that Riri was riding my dick while Ruru was sitting on my face not just by feeling but also by the specific scent and taste Ruru had¡­ a gic fingerprint if you will, but for her delicious cunt.


    But yeah, as the twins were having their way with me, it only took a second before two other figures who I couldn''t figure out exactly went on each of their behinds to plunge one of our toys into their little asses. It was this Eiffel Tower 2.0, for ack of a better term, but I soon found out that it was Megan and Alexa who just recovered from the twins fucking their brains out earlier.


    "You like this, huh?! You like getting your asses fucked like this?!" Megan eximed only a few centimeters away from my head.


    Ruru eximed as she pushed her cunt on my face even more, "Y-Y-Yes! Harder! H-HARDER! YES!"


    Riri almost eximed at the same time, "D-Deeper too! H-He r-reaches deeper in my¡ª There! THERE! RIGHT FUCKING THERE! DON''T STOP! You''re¡ª M-MmmMMmH!


    Yes! Haa¡ª AH¡ª MmmmHHgmm!!!"


    I absolutely wished I could see what they were doing but their voices were already a good fuel in my head though I could''ve wished Alexa followed with that dirty talk but I guess being the one in control and talking at the same time wasn''t in her wheelhouse yet.


    But yeah, I could still feel how a good job she was doing because each of her thrusts would make Riri''s grip on me even tighter¡ªbut I forgot what that alluded as I was suddenly drowned from a torrential downpour.


    Because the moment Riri reached her breaking point, Ruru also reached hers.


    I was a little lucky that both of them didn''t shower me with their squirt but Megan just continued to break open Ruru''s ass and it just made her squeeze everything out with each of her violent thrusts.


    But yeah, I soon learned that she was also close as well, that''s why she suddenly went hard on Ruru, but I had to break up our little formation as I focused on Alexa who wanted to cum with them at the same time.


    I simply yanked off the toy in her pussy before I reced it with my huge fucking dick and she just buried her nails on my back because I sealed her lips with my own, muffling her moans.


    Then everyone heard Megan''s voice:


    "Fuck¡­ If it was this fucking good in your room, how much better could it get when we see the whole ce!"

 Chapter 1014: Panic! At the Poolside!

    Everyone hearing that just caused a few giggles but a roar ofughter from Quinn, of course, and it didn''t take long before I sessfully made the "rounds" through everybody else as I copsed on the bed right next to Kaley and Dr. Nichols.


    Unfortunately, I didn''t witness the biggest question mark of the night to happen¡ªor did it, perhaps(?) without our knowledge¡ªbut I sure as hell wouldn''t force an interaction if one or both of them were still ufortable or weren''t ready for it.


    Besides, this night was just a pre-run of what this current group would feel like together but overall, I think that everyone else had a great time.


    But once morning came, I remembered a certain person who''d alwayse knocking at the most inopportune time and if things weren''t already weird between Dr. Nichols and Chloe, how much more could it get when Marisha, Kaley''s mom came knocking and saw all of our new recruits.


    ''Of fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck¡ª''


    I literally jumped out of bed and woke Kaley in the process but it only took her one nce to figure out what I was so panicked about and the look of fear on her face was fucking priceless.


    However, I noticed that not only was Rin not in the pile of naked women sleeping with us, but also Edith, Nancy, Mimi, and thank the fucking divines, Dr. Nichols seemed to have woken up earlier than us and would probably soften the blow a little bit when Marisha doese knocking.


    Kaley whispered while still in a state of panic, "W-What time is it?!"


    I dove into our pile of clothes to look for my watch, "It''s already 9! We overslept!"


    "Fuck! W-Where are they a-anyway¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly cut in while stillying on the bed, "I can hear you two fuckers whispering! Quiet it down! I''m sleeping!"


    "FUCK!" Kaley and I mouthed to each other at the same time¡ªignoring the few groansing from the rest of them¡ªbefore we tried to fish out a change of clothes to head for the shower.


    And luckily, as we opened the door, it was pretty peaceful and quiet, and as I tried to peek my head to see what was up on the 1st floor, it was also fucking empty.


    "S-So?!" Kaley leaned in, afraid to even show a strand of hair that could be seen from below.


    "W-We''re good, I think¡­ They''re probably outside?"


    "Yeah¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haha¡­"


    "Ha¡­ Hahaha¡­"


    With that said, Kaley and I breathed a sigh of relief once more as we got into the shower and sat on the marble flooring. We were just looking at each other for a while as the water was trickling down our bodies before we shared augh for panicking for nothing.


    However, our little celebration was cut short when we walked into the pool area and discovered that Marisha was lounging at one of the tables with Dr. Nichols.


    And like Kaley knew what was in my head from just a simple nce, I somehow obtained their powers and knew the meaning behind the nce Marisha sent us when our eyes met¡ªor it was just too fucking obvious and I could tell what was wrong due to her emerging aura and how Kaley was already moonwalking out of sight.


    But yeah, I was about to grab her because I wouldn''t let her let me take the fall but she then bumped into Quinn who somehow got ready in that small span of time and followed after us.


    Obviously, just her height garnered a lot of attention but she was just so used to that reaction as she made her way to Dr. Nichols and casually introduced herself to Marisha:


    "Yo, wait¡ª are you Kaley''s mom?"


    Marisha just nodded with a smile, "Yes, I am¡­ Nice to meet you¡­?"


    "Quinn, not the royalty. Q-U-I-N-N. Would''ve loved to see youst night¡ª"


    "E-Excuse me?"


    At that point, even Dr. Nichols would''ve griddy''d the fuck out of dodge because I''m gonna assume that she probably talked a bit with Marisha and knew that she had a husband and then Quinn just straight-up hit on her the first time they met.


    However, before anything serious happened, the kids who were ying with Nancy saw Quinn towering above them¡ªeven though she was still seated¡ªand without much thought, they excitedly made their way towards her to introduce themselves.


    "Woaaaah~ Y-You''re really big!"


    "She''s like a fridge!"


    "Yeah! A coke dispenser!"


    "Uh-Huh! She is¡ª"


    "HAAA¡ª" Quinn was about to snap but she couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw the smol ones admiring her from below, "Ah¡ª The fuck¡ª I mean¡ª H-Hello?"


    Then one after the other, the kids opted for a handshake before they introduced themselves properly. And despite getting roasted, Quinn''s expression softened as she looked over them with a gentle smile.


    "Y-Yeah, nice to meet you all¡­ I''m Quinn¡ª"


    "WOAH! Did you guys hear that?!"


    "YEAH! Her name''s QUEEN!"


    Nancy tried to cut in, "That''s not¡ª"


    "That''s so coooool! Queen! I wish my name''s like that too!"


    "Me too!"


    "Yeah! Me too!"


    "I-I''ll go for King but I-I like the name m-mom gave m-me¡­"


    "I''m too old to be a King too, maybe prince or something, no?"


    "Yeah! And we could all be princes!"


    "And princesses! Yeah!"


    Then Zeus added, "Woof!"


    "Yeah! What Zeus said!"


    "Since when can you understand Zeus? Big Bro Sky''s the only one that could y''know?"


    "I just do!"


    "Then what did he say?!"


    "He just said woof! Didn''t you hear?!"


    "We all heard it! But what did he mean?!"


    "Alright, I was lying! I thought I had it all figured out! Sorry~!"


    "I knew it! What are we doing here again?"


    "Ah¡ª We''re supposed to be ying tag but Nancy kept asking for a timeout but¡ª Oh! Queen could y for her while she rests!"


    "HAAAH?!"


    The Quinn I know suddenly emerged but before she could fucking react, the kids just made Nancy tag her before all hell let loose.


    "YOU FUCKS¡ª I MEAN YOU DUCKS ARE GONNA FUCKING GET IT¡ª HOLD ON! THE FUCK ARE Y''ALL SO FAST?!"

 Chapter 1015: More PANIC! - Amelia?

    As Quinn struggled to chase down a few 8 to 12-year-olds in mypound, Kaley and I had already sat down by Marisha and Nancy¡ªwho somehow already knew where to procure a few snacks and prepared us some.


    She was the one who also told us that Edith and Rin were picked up by Charlotte and Chris and they were already in the process of setting up a few nucs¡ªour ce included¡ªand they were now in Amanda''s home, unsealing a couple of them to get them settled.


    But funnily enough, Nancy was instantly loved by my aunts and whatnot due to how cute and helpful she was¡ªespecially popping up in their kitchen at 4 in the morning to help¡ªwhile on Mimi''s case, she was already put on a pedestal of sorts because after she introduced herself, she walked straight to our hospital to volunteer.


    I would''ve preferred to give all of them a proper tour at the same time but some people were just busybodies and even though they weren''t required to work right then and there, it was just a force of habit and their bodies were looking for it.


    But yeah, I couldn''t exin how funnily ufortable Kaley was while Dr. Nichols was casually talking with Marisha like normal mature women would. It was like she could feel or sense something Marisha was releasing that was just going over my head though at the same time, Nancy wasn''t feeling anything to as she was just patiently waiting to refill our drinks with a smile.


    Then I heard a question being directed at me though I was too deep in my thoughts to hear it.


    I turned to Dr. Nichols who seemed to be the one to ask the question, "Ah¡ª Sorry, what was it again?"


    Dr. Nichols just smiled as repeated herself, "Chloe. Is she still asleep?"


    "Ah. Yes¡ª"


    "I would''ve liked to introduce her to Marisha right now and it''s such a nice day for her to start practicing swimming again but I guess we should let her sleep a bit more, huh?"


    Marisha then interjected, "Who else was sleeping upstairs then? Besides¡­ Quinn(?) and Dr. Sandara¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols cut in, "Please, remove the¡ª you know, we''re both doctors but¡ª"


    "Right, you asked me earlier¡­ I apologize," then she turned back to me, "Dear? Can you answer me? I would love to meet all of them and perhaps get a chance to talk to them one on one too but my schedule might be full if I wanna have a deep dive with Sandara."


    Dr. Nichols, a.k.a. Sandara chuckled, "Oh? Is that so?"


    Kaley had to cut in, "Mom? Are you¡ª"


    The two older women chuckled before Marisha looked at her daughter after rolling her eyes:


    "I know what you''re thinking, you doofus, but I''m still very much in love with your father. I''m talking about just simply making her unload everything from her personal and professional life because she just mentioned that she really needed a therapist but with my professional understanding, I think she just needed a friend who shared the same interests."


    Kaley tried to rebut, "We share the same interest¡ª"


    "In the same age bracket, is what I was trying to say," then she turned back to Dr. Nichols, "That reminds me, I believe you two didn''t have a ce to stay yet. Have you talked to Rin?"


    Dr. Nichols answered, "Ah¡­ Honestly, I usually just sleep in my office because of my workload and I just discoveredtely that it damaged my rtionship with my daughter but still, I wouldn''t mind a small home where I could be able to take care of her more."


    "Oh, I see. But she''s an adult now, no? She could probably take care of herself¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª You''re right, that''s not what I meant actually but what I wanted to say is that not take care but focus more on our strained rtionship. I''ve been trying to work on it but I¡­ I might''ve made a mistake and it has gotten umm¡­ Y-You see¡ª"


    Marisha definitely sensed something as she cut her off, "I''m sorry but I think I might need to stop you right there."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "It''s not like I don''t want you to vent but why don''t we continue this talk in my office which coincidentally is also my home¡­"


    "Oh! Right now? D-Do we need to drive¡ª"


    "No, it''s pretty close actually. I''ll also give you a brief tour along the way and before I forgot, we also have a pool! It''s not as big as this one but it gets the job done. Shall we?"


    Kaley interjected, "U-Umm, Mom¡­ Before you go¡­ Where''s Dad and Olivia? And y-you know¡­ Amelia? Is she¡ª"


    Marisha rolled her eyes from hearing the question but she eventually realized the little dilemma she was in because Dr. Nichols had just arrived in this ce, and if her brief tour included seeing Amelia''s state¡ªeven though she was already in rehabilitation¡ªit just might be too much of a shock to her.


    But Marisha took a deep breath for a moment before talking to Dr. Nichols inaudibly from our side.


    It took a few minutes before Dr. Nichols''s gaze snapped onto us and her expression was a mix of confusion, fear, and disbelief. Even Nancy couldn''t believe the little snippets she heard but as we discovered that Quinn was already listening in from behind, let''s just say that it was a small fucking world after all.


    As my gazended on her, the look of rage or just straight-up pure, unbridled wrath was stered all over her face as her shoulders were moving up and down due to how hard she was breathing.


    It obviously scared the kids off that were trying to climb on her but before I could try to somehow calm her down to exin the full situation, a single tear fell from her face as she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "WHO''S RESPONSIBLE?!"


    "Quinn¡ª"


    "GODDAMMIT, ANSWER ME! WHO''S THE FUCKER HANDLING THAT OP?!"

 Chapter 1016: CALM YO TITS! - Small World, Again

    Following that outburst, it took a great deal to calm her down because Kaley and Marisha''s words didn''t seem to enter her ears except for mine. I don''t know the extent of what Quinn knew about this "operation" as she coined it, but in order for me to know more about it and calm her down, I needed to dig deep into my mind pce.


    Because even though I do have perfect recall, it didn''t mean that I''d only need a fraction of a second to make it float above my head. Furthermore, doing that while trying to redirect her charge and making her stay in the same spot was making things a little bit difficult.


    But yeah, the moment a little spark ignited inside my head, it was just a chain of explosions that made me remember everything from that day:


    "QUINN, I SAID STOP!"


    "WHY ARE YOU HIDING¡ª"


    "LISTEN TO ME GODDAMMIT! I REMEMBER THE NAME ''POPS''! POPS! DOES THAT RING A BELL?!"


    "WHAT? WHO¡ª"


    And right as she gave me the smallest of openings, I tripped her down and made her ssh into the pool, hopefully calming down her hot-headedness with some cool water. I can''t believe she''d straight-up had an outburst like that from one of her darker core memories without even hearing our side.


    I wanted to be understanding for as much as I could but this was just in stupid and if it was any other person, she might''ve repeated the mistake she made on the person their whole family was likening to me.


    Obviously, we garnered enough attention for my people toe running and even though our meeting should''ve been a little joyous, it ended with me waving them off with a bitter smile because I already had things under control and things should''ve been a little more different.


    But yeah, as I tried to give Quinn a hand after she cooled down while standing perfectly straight on my pool, the motherfucker pulled me down and had the audacity to get mad at me:


    "WHY''D YOU THROW ME IN THE WATER?!"


    "WHY''D YOU JUMP THE GUN AGAIN?!"


    "CAN YOU BLAME ME?!"


    "OF COURSE, I CAN FUCKING BLAME YOU! YOU CAN FUCKING COOK A CHICKEN WITH A SLAP!"


    "NO, I FUCKING CAN''T!"


    "HAVE YOU TRIED?!"


    "YOU¡ª STOP CLIMBING ON ME!"


    "I''M SORRY, I''M NOT 7 FEET! YOU TRIED TO HIT ME, YOU BULL!"


    "BULL?! DON''T COMPARE ME TO A BULL!"


    "FINE! ROGUE''S MUCH BETTER THAN YOU! HE FUCKING KNOWS WHEN TO STOP!"


    "UGH! YOU KNOW I CAN''T STOP MYSELF WHEN I GET MAD!"


    "THEN YOU ARE A BULL!"


    "SO WHAT IF I AM?! HUH?! DO YOU FUCKING HATE ME NOW?! IS THAT IT?!"


    "I DON''T HATE YOU QUINN! IT''S THE REACT NOW THINK LATER''S WHAT I''M FUCKING MAD ABOUT! YOU''RE BETTER THAN THAT! DO YOU NOT FUCKING TRUST ME?!"


    "WE BARELY KNOW¡ª"


    "I KNOW ENOUGH! AND YOU DO TOO! SO CUT THE FUCKING CRAP AND CAN''T WE JUST TALK WITHOUT SHOUTING OR FIGHTING AT FIRST?!"


    "THEN GET OFF ME FIRST!"


    "Fine! This here''s my favorite shirt too¡­" I slowly got off her as I pulled myself out of the pool.


    Quinn was looking down for a moment before she got a glimpse of Kaley seriously pissed from her actions, "I¡­ I thought you like the anime ones Kaley''s wearing instead¡­ S-Sorry¡­ Sorry, I snapped¡­"


    I let out a brief sigh before I offered my hand again, "See? You do know me. But I swear to fucking god if you pull me again¡ª"


    "I said I''m sorry! Pull me up, please¡­"


    "Typical powerlifter, can''t even do a pull-up¡ª"


    Kaley and Quinn shouted at the same time, "YOU¡ª DON''T START, ALRIGHT?!"


    "What? I thought she knew me that much? Honestly, I''m disappointed¨C Ow! Kaley! I''m trying to pull her up!"


    "Stop joking around!"


    In any case, it came as a surprise to those who knew Quinn to start apologizing to everybody because of the ruckus she caused¡­ especially to the kids she frightened. After that, Marisha decided to also have a talk with us but she did bring Dr. Nichols first to their home while Kaley and I escorted Quinn back to our house so that she and I could have a change of clothes.


    It didn''t take long before we discovered that everyone else had already woken up due to Quinn''s screaming earlier and they were just waiting for the right moment to pop up before entering the scene but it ended before they could.


    But yeah, after everyone else got ready, we made our way to Marisha''s residence¡ªafter also giving them a brief tour along the way and introducing them to everybody we came across¡ªbut to our surprise, not only was Edith and Rin present with Nancy, but Mimi was also there and was already taking care of Amelia¡ªor Amy''s needs.


    It obviously came as a surprise to the rest of my group when they saw Amy''s condition¡ªmissing both her arms and legs¡ªbut from the time she was here and receiving proper rehabilitation and counseling, she now could walk by herself but not in the traditional sense.


    "Sky! Kaley~! I missed you two! Don''t go over here! I''ll walk over!" Amy eximed with a huge smile on her face.


    At this moment, Amy had this prosthesis that was only a few inches in height¡ªnot enough to be as proportional to the rest of her body or be as long as a regr teenager''s calves¡ªbut it was a way to help her get adjusted to walking once again until she could be fitted with something that would gradually get more and more matching to her bodyposition.


    It was something that she''d have to get used to for a span of months and even years¡ªdepending on her ability to adapt and get used to the adjustments¡ªbut seeing her walk right now was already a huge feat among all the people I''ve seen that had the same condition but from a different cause.


    And yeah, it almost prompted Quinn''s reaction from everybody else but it seemed like not only Quinn knew something about this stuff but also Cynthia and the twins.

 Chapter 1017: Doll Business

    Seeing their pained reaction from seeing Amy in this state¡ªas she was trying to give us a huge hug after waddling over¡ªmade me think that they must''ve seen someone like Amy in their time in the "business" but I doubt they were actually involved in this horrible way people¡ªno, monsters try to make money.


    In any case, they also couldn''t believe how Amy could still be this little ray of sunshine and she didn''t even mindplete strangers seeing her in her unusual state, as she kept the bright smile before looking up at me once I returned her warm hug:


    "D-Did you all just a-arrive? H-How was your trip? Was it okay? D-Did you guys eat well? How about sleep¡ª"


    I almost ruffled her hair as I cut her off with a smile, "We¡ª We had a st!"


    "That''s great!"


    "How about you, Amy? Anything happen while we''re away¡ª"


    "Huuuh?! You can''t notice any~thing~?" Amy said as she took a few steps back and pointed at her new legs.


    I then had a small realization, "Oh! You''ve gotten taller! Congrats!"


    "Yeah! I grew an inch! Heh. I-I can''t run with them yet but I could walk just fine, right?!"


    "Of course! That''s why I didn''t notice you had an upgrade because you were already used to them!"


    "Aww~ Gee, thanks! W-Who are t-they anyway?"


    "Let me introduce you¡­"


    As I mentioned earlier, the type of prosthesis Amy was wearing could be adjusted the more she got used to it and I didn''t even notice it at the moment because I was more preupied by how everyone else would react to seeing her like this.


    However, it was almost as I thought because no one could fucking believe that a person that had been through what Amy had been through could bounce back¡ª heck, even talk like she was talking right now from just a few months we''ve rescued her.


    Because essentially, she did most of the work since she was the one who saved herself.


    Anyone could be given the best counselor, technology, support system, or even top-of-the-line medication but if the person that was taking them didn''t want to get out of it themselves, all of those things would be akin to taking medical advice from a stranger and using sour candy as a cure-all.


    In any case, after I introduced her to everyone else, she gave them a small nod and the same bright smile before Mimi realized that this group here needed to talk about something serious.


    So, with the help of Nancy who was more than willing to help, they brought out Amy to "practice" walking around¡ªwith an emergency wheelchair, of course, the moment she got tired¡ªso we couldpare stories and get this mess that Quinn started sorted out.


    "Alright¡­ I didn''t think that this would be the first thing we''d do¡ª I-In the morning right as we woke up but it started when we drove to this area for a material run¡­"


    It was then that I retold the story of what happened from our side, discovering this unfinished construction project of sorts, encountering a few zeds, meeting "Pops", seeing "Pops" get killed with an arrow through his neck, and meeting with the perpetrators where one of them was the mother of the ones like Amy while one of them was the son of the officer who got killed from investigating this case.


    After that, I gave them a brief rundown about the people I mutted from Iskoh''s territory in Man before Marisha continued the story about her and a group of people who took care of Amy''s needs and made her into this bundle of hope and joy they didn''t even think was possible.


    It was obvious that some of the group got emotional and angry at the same time they heard Amy''s full story but it was now time for Quinn, Cynthia, and the twins to tell their side of the story to remove further doubt and suspicion on their part.


    Quinn started:


    "Haa¡­ Again, I''m sorry for what happened earlier but I didn''t think those fucks would still continue that fucking business¡ª"


    Megan cut in, "BUSINESS?! IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK¡ª"


    "Listen, ALRIGHT?! THAT''S WHAT THEY FUCKING CALLED IT, NOT ME! I CAN''T EVEN THINK OF THE RIGHT WORD TO USE SO I USED WHAT THEY WERE CALLED BEFORE! I''M SORRY, AGAIN, ALRIGHT?!"


    Kaley interjected, "Guys, I think we should let Quinn finish her story first before adding in or¡ª you know¡­ Please continue, Quinn¡­"


    Quinn made sure that Megan calmed down before she continued, "Haa¡­ As I was saying, this ''doll'' business before threw me in for a¡ª I can''t even begin to describe what I felt at that time when I discovered their existence but let me just say that when more people were made aware of them¡ªand of course, angered by such a way to treat people¡ªthe¡­ the uh¡­ the organization decided to cut off ties with that group, among others, but it seemed they still continued their operations because it''s that just lucrative¡­ More so when there are fewer ces to get them¡­ I couldn''t care less if grown adults decide to pursue sex work and do drugs just to live by but you shouldn''t do it to people against their will¡ªyoung or old¡ªperiod¡­ Fuck!


    It''s still making me so fucking mad I¡ª"


    I cut in, "Which group was it? Is it connected to the cartel or the triads¡ª"


    "I hate to say this but it''s more of a straight-up of who could provide them type of situation that caters to anything and everyone that seeks it and would protect them as well. You saw what would happen when they get discovered, you even did some of the punishment as well... You''ll know more if you get to talk to Mason¡ª"


    "Mason¡ª The Garcia Family?!"


    Then Quinn''s face darkened as she nodded, "Yeah. Jordan(#5) and Lucy(#6) were the ones to handle the transport of the ''goods'' at that time years ago because they gave argemission and whatnot, that''s why I discovered it in the first ce¡ªbecause they opened the package even though they shouldn''t¡ªbut who wouldn''t open it if it starts moving and screaming for dear life?"


    "W-Where are they exactly again?"


    "Which one?"


    "The Garcia Family''s HQ and the two people below you¡ª Jordan and Lucy, were they?"


    "It''s a drive to the West from the Rivas Family which is a 5-star Hotel, Resort, and Casino. Around five-to-six hours from thest time I remembered but Jordan and Lucy''s outpost is much closer but not by much. Mary and John''s people have been trying to get them to move inside but those two wouldn''t budge after discovering the other shit they''ve been doing besides the doll business¡­"

 Chapter 1018: Doll Business II - WE ARE CALM!

    As Quinn continued her story, it actually made sense that the Garcia Family was the one who handled the "op" before¡ªin regards to which Family was involved with Pops¡ªbecause not only did they deal in organs and copious amounts of narcotics, but they also deal actual people because Jonathan''s "daughter", Allie, and the card she handed over to me were a few examples.


    However, since their dealings were allegedly "cut off", as Quinn stated, years before we discovered Pops little basement, the people they were dealing with right now must''ve been the next destination Tracy, Mchi, and his crew went next.


    I haven''t talked to them in a good while but I just hope that that didn''t mean they actually failed.


    Because to bepletely honest, a group of college kids trying to topple an organization¡ªheck, even one family head''s rule was next to impossible. They could do some damage, sure, but it was the same thing over again when Artem and his group wanted to drive back to where they got Alexander and take revenge.


    I just wished they could''ve told me where they were going next so I could be of help.


    ''They might even doubt my allegiances with my current connections now too¡­''


    Additionally, they could slowly chip their forces down¡ªat least that''s what I would do if I were in their shoes¡ªbut not only was that extremely dangerous, but they were also threading a very thin line and one mistake would make them wish for a swift death.


    But yeah, never did I think that the two who I assumed were the most docile or demure among the family heads would be the most fucked up ones by arge margin. Granted the Castillos were hiding some pretty dark shit too, but if we were talking about how much suffering a person would go through, the Garcia Family takes the fucking cake.


    Simply put, murdering someone¡ªeven though still a sin¡ªunless tortured beforehand would just make their loved ones suffer emotionally from the tragic fate they received but turning someone into a "Doll" for pleasure and then making money out of them was a whole fucking special ce in the deepest parts of hell.


    It was just living a nightmare until they died because no life should belong to another person but theirs.


    I''ve taken some in my lifetime, sure, but it was a different case because it''s either life or death or those bastards definitely deserved it.


    And at this point, there''s no chance in hell that the Garcia Family would be shown mercy even though they allegedly stopped what they were doing. They simply crossed the fucking line and the only reason I could think of that they did it was that they had plenty of sources of ie it wouldn''t even make a dent in their savings.


    ''Still, but how? First and foremost¡­ I need to gather more info about them and make contact with Mchi and Tracy as soon as possible¡­ Oscar''s¡ª''


    As I was still in my train of thought, I noticed that Cynthia was just trying to get me to look at her from across the room without waving me over, and it seemed like she had something to say.


    So I put the spotlight on her:


    "Cynthia, what is it?"


    She bit her lip while still wearing a difficult expression before letting out a deep breath, "I¡­ I swear that the Cuervo Family¡ª that WE had nothing to do with this and it was also one of the reasons that my brother wanted to take a more passive role with the cartel¡­ He''s still the bridge between the two countries but he can only do so much in regards to each family head''s own businesses¡­ T-That''s why they came up with the universal rule to absolutely not mess w-with women or children b-but there are a few exceptions with the former as you''re already a-aware¡­"


    Marisha looked Cynthia directly in the eye, "What are those exceptions? I''m sorry, I''m not familiar with them."


    "I-It''s¡­ Y-You know, about sex work and stuff¡­ Guys are also wee to apply, just saying, but women just have the bigger market¡­ I promise that it was way worse before because people just keep doing what they were doing b-but it''s more regted now and¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols also cut in with a sharp re, "Have any proof of that? You know, concrete evidence?"


    At this point, Cynthia couldn''t bear the pressure the two were using to press on her but the twins answered for her with a straight tone:


    "We''re living proof. Tell them Ruru."


    "Yeah. We started right when we turned 18 and Mr. Cuervo wouldn''t let us join unless we provided some of our IDs and stuff and we got checked by his personal doctors."


    Marisha interjected, "I think there''s more to it than that. Please, enlighten us."


    The twins looked at each other before Riri answered:


    "Sure. Not everyone in the Pink House was at the proper age to do sex work but it was much, much better than trying to do it in the streets, forck of a better term."


    And Ruru added, "Our professions might not be that muchpared to yours but it''s the only way we could''ve lived. It''s either we do it for money or every single man who catches a glimpse of us would just have their way without so much as a thank you¡ª"


    Marisha cut them off, "I''m not saying that you''re less of a person doing sex work¡ª We do have the same type of thing going on in this ce but it''s heavily regted and each person partaking would be carefully checked¡ª"


    Riri eximed, "We are too! We''re not that careless and dumb!"


    "Again, I mean no offense and I didn''t say that in any shape or form¡ª"


    Ruru then followed with a frown, "Then what''s with this line of questioning?! Are we just talking or is this an interrogation?!"


    I tried to cut in, "Alright, if everyone could just calm down¡ª"


    But everyone eximed, "WE ARE CALM!"

 Chapter 1019: Doll Business III - Broken Goods

    For the record, I didn''t think the conversation would turn this way but it seemed like my first mistake of getting everyone''s ire was trying to tell everybody to calm down. No, actually, it was probably ignoring Kaley''s mention of just letting them finish their piece.


    And yeah, it would almost always have this kind of effect but telling them to blow up instead of calming down wouldn''t make them take it down a notch either.


    A little bit of misunderstanding goes hand in hand with new people interacting with each other and simply talking it out respectfully and in a calm manner would resolve it.


    I guess my role right now was just to listen until everyone else could say their piece¡ªbut not to be sexist or anything¡ªbut I should''ve expected this conversation to get into a few tangents here and there.


    But yeah, it was still a little in line with what we were talking about earlier but then again, it was better to talk about this type of thing right now than let people''s assumptions get the better of them.


    In any case, the situation right now was that the twins felt that Marisha was looking down on them or something but even though I didn''t feel or see it myself, who am I to tell them otherwise if I wasn''t seeing through their eyes?


    And so, Marisha took a deep breath and beckoned everyone else to do the same before she tried to clear the air:


    "Alright, I''ll start by apologizing to you two because my words and my actions hurt both of you¡ª but do understand that we are talking about a rather sensitive topic¡ªa highly sensitive one, if I may say so myself¡ªso once our emotions are running a tad higher than usual, some things could be said rather unpleasantly and taken wrongly."


    "..."


    "..."


    Dr. Nichols followed after the silence of the twins, "Then I''ll apologize too because I also had a part in our rather aggressive¡­ line of questioning and it wasn''t fair and very judgmental on my part.


    I wouldn''t say this as an excuse but I''m gotta be really honest here because seeing¡ª s-seeing a precious little kid in that¡­ s-state wasn''t something in the darkest corner of my imagination a-and it really took everything for me not to break down in front of her¡­ So once we all started talking, my state of mind wasn''t in the right ce and I apologize for that¡­"


    At this point, silence filled the room for a few minutes as everyone else was just looking on the floor but the twins soon opened their mouths to say what was on their mind:


    Ruru started, "Umm¡­ I guess we''ll have to apologize too."


    Riri nodded, "We should''ve been a little more thick-skinned¡ªand we normally are¡ªr-regarding this type of s-stuff¡­"


    "But you''re right¡­"


    "S-Seeing Amy like that was also a shock to us and it brought up a few things from our past."


    Then they looked at each other for a moment before they turned back to us:


    "W-We''re sorry for blowing up like this too but while we''re on the topic of honesty¡­"


    "We guess that we shoulde clean about Mr. Cuervo''s regtions regarding the Pink House¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Before you all worry, we ARE really clear of any STDs and whatnot, we assure you of that because we really did get checked but there was a lot of luck involved in that because if you''re just¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "If you''re a little new in the business¡­ You gotta work really hard and there are limited resources to get your blood work done among other things so it was pretty probable for some of us to get something contracted even if some of us were careful¡­"


    "We were a little lucky that our sales numbers are high because we are a two-for-one deal so we were able to have ess to health care and we were able to deny customers and have a few rules set up for our own safety and whatnot."


    ''I remember them telling me that¡­''


    They continued:


    "And yeah, we were out of that line of work right now¡ªthough we still have a lot of fun ourselves¡ªbut we''ll respect your choices to not have any sexual involvement with us at all but do keep in mind that our feelings still do get hurt if we get certain looks even if we are broken goods¡ª"


    Kaley then cut them off angrily, "DON''T. EVER. CALL. YOURSELVES. BROKEN. GOODS.


    PERIOD!"


    The two let out a bitter smile, "We were just¡ª"


    "I SAID EVER! DON''T EVER CALL YOURSELVES THAT! IF YOU''RE BROKEN GOODS THEN WHAT AM I?! HUH?!"


    At this point, tears were already falling from Kaley''s eyes and it was due to something that shouldn''t be put on paper. It was something that we talked about way, way~ back, in private, of course, and it definitely struck a nerve.


    But to give a brief exnation of it, it had something to do with her high sex drive that led to a few horrible things that happened to her from her past rtionships.


    With that said, I think I shouldn''t dig it up too much because clearly, Kaley was hurting because of it, and even I had to step in to stop this conversation from going too far off the subject because it definitely had, several back and forths ago.


    Kaley''s face was now buried on my shoulder as she was trying to calm herself down but the twins started to break down crying as well among others. It was a totally different scenepared to when we had just arrived and I just can''t stress enough for how much I hate to see her in such a state, even if it wasn''t my own doing.


    But yeah, after I made sure she was okay and had mostly calmed down, I decided to anchor back the conversation to what we should really be talking about:


    The Garcia Family''s involvement in the Doll Business.

 Chapter 1020: Doll Business IV - I guess we have that in common, huh?

    From my own understanding and from Quinn''s story¡ªcoupled with Cynthia and the twins'' testimonies¡ªthis was what we found:


    Pops was just one of the suppliers and also the manufacturers of the "Dolls" and the Garcia Family just happened to take on that business venture due to how lucrative it was and due to how much of a piece of shit they were.


    And the reason these two parties came into a partnership of sorts was that the Garcia Family had a lot of high-profile connections that even Mr. Cuervo wasn''t aware of and usually, sick fucks who had a lot of money to burn had the most depraved shit that they get off on.


    Cynthia''s kinks were already up there but purchasing a "Doll" just goes way, way~ beyond that.


    However, we weren''t even sure if the two parties actually worked together unless we got ahold of Mchi and he let me see his dad''s work.


    The notebook he had from his father could be the only thing that could lead us to all of the scum in hiding so that we could finally hug their necks with a rope and pull really hard.


    But despite all that, it was undeniable that the Garcias were involved in that type of business one way or another, even if they weren''t procuring their products from Pops himself.


    And it just fucking ured to me that they were already dealing in people, organs. and body parts, who''s to say that they weren''t making the dolls themselves?


    Furthermore, who''s to say that they''ve already stopped as per the absolute rules within the family heads?


    Mr. Cuervo already mentioned that they were dealing with other people he doesn''t know, who''s to trust the words of a fucking criminal? Granted I mentioned that they could have other sources of ie but I also mentioned that it was lucrative as fuck so who''s to say they weren''t still on it but doing it on the down low?


    Though Cynthia had some words to say against that:


    "I''m not sure if they''d be able to because not only does my brother have people on their resort looking over to what they were doing, the other family heads does too to make sure¡­"


    And Edith followed:


    "I do remember auntie discussing it with Sebastian too¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Jordan and Lucy might not be in the inside but if some highly valuable cargo needs to be sent elsewhere, they ask for their help and obviously, it''s contingent on the two checking the package before sending it off."


    Tatiana shook her head, "Aren''t they really rich? Like more than everyone else?"


    "So?"


    "I mean, can''t they just pay off the ones they sent over? And it''s not like your people could have eyes on all their activity all at the same time. Misdirection''s a thing too."


    I nodded, "Yeah, since Tatiana''s a spy¡ª"


    "Hey! Stop¡ª"


    "I''m kidding, of course! Chill. We''re just so fucking tense here, I need some breathing room. But yeah, knowing all this helps us a lot but before we do anything rash, we''d have to be really precise and absolutely fucking ready. We could start a few preparations regarding this issue but I can''t n something from start to finish without getting into contact with Mchi and Tracy.


    Meeting with them and making sure that they''re okay is key."


    Kaley then spoke after being quiet for quite a while, "W-What are we gonna do then?"


    "For now, I''ll need Vera and na to somehow get into contact with them and if possible, I''d like to have a talk with Jordan and Lucy too because they''ll have the most recent copy of what the Garcia Family''s HQ looks like from their heads and having a map and outline is crucial, along with a general idea of what the inside looks like and how the people inside moves a certain way or if they had any schedules and whatnot¡­"


    Quinn never looked so excited, "Fuck yeah! I''ll try to get in touch with them to get shit started but do we have a timeline on this?"


    I shook my head, "Unfortunately, no¡­ It could take days, weeks, or even months but if we gotta do something as big as this, we gotta do it right. If not, there''s a very easy and stupid way but it''ll cost a lot of blood from both sides and I don''t want that.


    Our best-case scenario is to have that ce under new management but the bottom line should be is that the ones working there as ''entertainers'' should be employed of their own free will and everyone that''s on Mchi''s notebook should be locked in with me in an enclosed space for a day or two¡­"


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Let''s just say that I''ll do some depraved shit on them too but not the way they thought¡ª"


    "FUCK THAT! WHY WOULD YOU HAVE ALL THE FUN?! THIS IS THE CLOSEST I''VE BEEN TO RIPPING THOSE FUCKS A NEW ASSHOLE AND YOU''RE NOT GONNA TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!"


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "Sure. But you get your own room."


    "Huh? Why?!"


    Seeing Quinn''s and a few others'' confusion, I simply smiled before subconsciously letting out a suffocating amount of killing intent, "Friendly fire, I''m trying to avoid that¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ Right¡­"


    "I like you very much and I don''t wanna see you¡ª Ow! What¡ª" I suddenly felt an elbow from Kaley and I noticed what I was doing so I easily retracted my invisible aura, "Yeah, I think I''ve gotten more used to the controls but I just don''t want any idents."


    Quinn then chuckled and let out a bitter smile that slowly turned to a faint one, "I guess we have that inmon, huh?"


    I then had the same realization as her because of her incident with Jackie, "Ah¡ª Sure do. Not just the tattoos and cars now, huh?"


    "Eh~ Losing control and awesome tats, sure. Cars? Not a fucking chance. If you kept that R8 I''d let you park close to my DB9¡­"


    I rolled my eyes once again, "I definitely parked somewhere much, much~ ''closer'' but what''s wrong with my Impreza?"


    She rolled her eyes too, "That doesn''t evene close."


    "I also have a Charger, just saying¡­"


    "Why do you have the fucking cars that remind me of Jackie and Mike?!"


    "First of all, you gave me the Impreza and I just happen toe across a Charger which was also given to me¡ª"


    "Don''t you have anything you bought yourself?"


    "I¡ª I have a Hayabusa?"


    "We''re talking about cars, you dumbshit!"


    "How about my Raptor?"


    "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"


    "I also have a boat and a jetski¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "An ambnce?"


    "LISTEN¡ª"


    "A fire truck?"


    "..."


    "A few helicopters?"


    "..."


    "An electric jeep?"


    "..."


    "Right! I also have a ship! You just rode on it! Ah¡ª Quinn?"


    At this point, Quinn had never been so quiet¡ªlike, ever¡ªwhile a huge vein was bulging and about to pop in her forehead, but at the same time, everyone else was just trying so hard not to fuckingugh except for Tatiana. She did try to contain it at first but she had to run outside andugh so fucking loud, we could hear the fucking echo from the inside.

 Chapter 1021: Do it the right way.

    Having a proper conversation about Amy''s condition should''ve been done with all of our new members present but since it came to this, I''m gonna trust that everybody else who was present in this moment to properly ry everything they''ve heard and just tell them to ask me instead if they had any further questions.


    Amy had been here for a few months and everybody else was already made aware of her condition, and doing just that would be much, much betterpared to hiding her in a lonely house because it wouldn''t be any different to her past life.


    Granted some people would still give her looks of pity and whatnot, Amy had been living with Marisha''s support all this time¡ªincluding having the most thoughtful friends she could ask for¡ªso even if some people would treat her an unpleasant or a dismissive way, she had the support system to make up for it.


    But yeah, the moment we finished the conversation and went outside, we found Amy sitting in her wheelchair while Mimi, Nancy, Zeus, and some of the kids were by her side though a little bit of misunderstanding seemed to be going on.


    "Hold on, hold on, hold on, ain''t no way you''re 26 and you''re 19! You''re definitely the same age as us! I-I''m even taller than you two!"


    I already knew where this line of questioning would lead to¡ªbecause I''ve been with Mimi for a few years and I''ve heard every single thing that was said about her frame¡ªbut aside from my college friends knowing how to properly conduct herself in front of a bunch of kids, Nancy seemed to have another method of establishing this new pecking order.


    "Y-Yeah, it was my fault that I was this small even though I''m 19, y''know?"


    "I knew it! You should''ve done something baaaad!"


    "W-What did you do though?"


    "Oh~ That¡­ I was a really bad kid and was really mean to my friends that''s why I n-never grew¡­ I''m really nice now and I always am but it seemed like the curse would allow me to grow¡ª"


    Hearing her say that was already making my internal eyes roll to the back of my head but this might just work for 8-year-old to 12-year-old kids who''d just believe about anything they heard from the grapevine.


    "W-What?! T-That''s crap! I-I never heard of t-that!"


    "I live in the mountains, alright?! I-I don''t wanna scare all of you but since you''ve already talked to me, we''re now sharing the curse¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?!"


    "YOU SHOULD''VE TOLD US!"


    "M-M-MOMMY!"


    "Ah¡ª I''m sorry! Don''t cry, don''t cry! This is still really good though!"


    "HUH?! You cursed us and you''re saying that it''s good?!"


    "W-What are we gonna do!"


    "H-How do we remove it, please!"


    Nancy let out this very evil smile as she leaned closer, "Here''s what I learned, okay? Sometimes, we just can''t help ourselves doing something bad like forgetting to make our bed or not helping our parents in the house¡ªor much worse, saying mean things to other people!"


    "Just tell us what to do!"


    "Don''t scream at her! You''ll be that height all your life!"


    "A-And?! W-What else is there?!"


    "So, to counter that, you need to do one good thing for every bad thing you do to you know, cancel it out¡­"


    ''This is gonna bite us in the ass¡ª''


    She continued, "BUT! Deliberately doing something bad then doing something good to fix it wouldn''t fly for the curse! The bad thing you do should be idental o-or something you didn''t mean to happen! Trust me, I thought I outsmarted them by doing just that but the curse knows!"


    "I-It''s that smart?!"


    "Noooo!"


    "T-That''s so scary!"


    "So, the real way to go is just to try and do as much good as possible because if we count the idental mistakes we make plus the ones we definitely did, we''ll be on the losing side! It won''t just bnce out and you''ll be the same as me!"


    ''She didn''t count the good things we also do "identally". Huh?''


    "S-So¡­ That''s it? W-We just try to do good things to cancel it out?"


    "P-Pretty much, yeah¡­"


    "Huh. Is that maybe why grandma''s short? She did a lot of bad things when¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª S-She could also be s-short from the start, no?"


    "Wait a second¡­ T-Then how do we know if we''re actually cursed or short from the start?!"


    ''And this is where she gets bite in the ass¡ª''


    Then Nancy threw a hail-mary, "That''s just it! You¡ª We never know! That''s why it''s a curse! What do you think would happen if you''re already short and you keep doing bad things?! What happens then¡ª"


    Then I had to cut in, "Guys¡­ There''s a very simple way for this, alright? Kenny."


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "What would you say or feel when I tell you that you''re good-looking and very, very good at parkour?"


    "Wait, really?! I''m good at parkour?! I''m so happy~!"


    I chuckled as I continued, "Pretty great, right? But what would you say or feel if I told you that I lied and said you look like Pinhio was turning into a real boy but stopped halfway there?"


    "WHAT?! Are you crazy?! I''ll be half-wood?! THAT''S EVEN MORE INSANE!"


    ''He''s too optimistic¡­''


    I tried to turn it the other way again, "You''re very happy, right? What if I told you that you really suck at parkour then?"


    He looked like he had the shock of his life, "T-Then¡­ I-I''m gonna work on it more! I''ll get better! Surely!"


    I almost facepalmed at my failed attempts to bring him down, "B-But you still felt upset from that, right?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I-It''s kinda t-true though¡­ B-Because if I do too much my f-fingies hurt¡­"


    "But you still felt kinda sad or something, right?"


    "Y-Yeah, I guess so¡­"


    "Then that''s what Nancy and Mimi felt when you told them that they''re really short."


    "H-Huh? It''s not the curse?"


    I just nced at Nancy and mouthed, "See what you did?" before turning back to Kenny:


    "We don''t know actually but you made them a little upset from that, no? Even if you didn''t mean to, you still hurt them. And yeah, you can''t control what anyone else could feel from our actions but it''s best to do something about it, no?"


    "W-What should I do t-then?"


    "We''ve done a lot about it earlier but you should say you''re sorry, like we mean it, right?"


    "Sorry? Oh. OH! Right! That works too!"


    In any case, Kenny and the rest of the kids offered a sincere apology to the two and Nancy just couldn''t believe how simple it was to simply get to the root of the issue and resolve it like normal people should. It was because she went on this long tirade of a "curse" affecting her instead of just telling them straight-up that they shouldn''t bully someone because of their appearance.


    Granted not all of the kids could be reasoned with like this, but they could, so it was a win-win for both parties.


    But yeah, we still had a bit of time before lunch so we decided to look for everyone else we came with for a smaller tour of what this ce could offer.

 Chapter 1022: Brief Tour - Metal

    Right now, we were only a few facilities and homes from the canal system and luckily for us, the cadets stayed at the same ce Artem and the rest were. They just didn''t know where to go at the moment but funnily enough, Kuzma came with them and was more excited for the tour than everybody else.


    Besides that, Mimi already told me that Ben and Cass met with her in this ce''s DDR Camp to take up some jobs though she did leave a little early because of our introduction to Amy. Furthermore, a few of our Russian friends were apanying Alexander in the hospital and they were just letting him sleep for the moment before Marisha dropped by.


    We can''t just start his therapy of sorts while he was still like a bruised hotdog, so it was better for him to get enough sleep and nutrients before anything else.


    In any case, we introduced the people with me to Amanda who was our resident mushroom farmer, Derek who was the guy who takes care of our animals, Juan who was our resident DJ from the radio station, Unc Zeidrick who just happened to be fishing in our fishing ponds and was just whatever about seeing me back, and a few more others along the way.


    But yeah, the cadets never looked so excited from seeing the covered court that we turned into a ce where we could do parkour, our indoor gun range that was behind it, and our recently built gym for the public''s use. We actually built a few gyms here and there but it would be much better to make the biggest one with the space provided so it could house a lot of exercise-minded people.


    I wouldn''t mind sharing my gym on the third floor but we can''t house a few thousand all at the same time even if we give them 2-hour timeslots.


    Besides, I need to be a little more selfish regarding my home because not everyone should juste in and work out if they wanted to. With friends and family, sure, no problem, but strangers that came in for the first time in my fold? Not a fucking chance because I would just tell them to do bodyweight exercises or runps around my territory.


    JP then turned to me, "The gun range¡­ Umm¡­ How many times in a day could we use it?"


    Chloe also followed excitedly, "I-I wanna know too! You said you''ll teach me, right?!"


    I chuckled, "Hmm~ You can use it pretty much once every single day but you''d have to be mindful of the bullets you''re using. Aside from picking up the cases not only from using the range but also from our runs outside, you''d also have to help out all around because even though I could make bullets, the materials for them are getting harder and harder to find.


    We still have a pretty good stock but even I go through a box of ammo like that *snaps fingers* if I get too into it."


    The cadets eximed at almost the same time, "You can make b-bullets?!/ WHAT?!/ For real?!"


    Rin interjected, "That reminds me, the president sent us more raw materials to process and a press they acquired for us to make our own casings but so far, I''ve only tumbled all of our used ones and asked Oscar to make the projectiles. Unfortunately, a few casings for our 9mms and .22 LRs are cracked so they couldn''t be used anymore¡­"


    I nodded pensively, "They finally sent us the press I asked for? Where is it?"


    "It''s still wrapped inside the workshop¡ª well, I wrapped it twice because Oscar tried to run it but he can''t seem to make a proper one without the uh¡­ ''Kid''s Magic'' as he said."


    "Alright, alright¡­ we''ll check it outter¡­ Oh! Let''s see if Faith''s awake."


    Quinn tilted her head, "Who?"


    "Before you say anything, no, she''s not ''acquainted'' with us but you''ll be in for a little surprise."


    "Oh?"


    "Yeah, let''s hope Daisy''s over there too."


    At this point, we made our way to the very end of the road where our canal system with a nice docking area was located, but our main purpose was the house the very first group I took in from the outside chose to live in.


    Funnily enough, Zeus called over Boxer, who was Jay''s dog from behind their gate to inform us of our arrival and it didn''t take long before a woman not only covered with tattoos but also had this freshly-dyed hair that had different hues of blue came up with a huge smile on her face:


    "Woah! You got a crowd here! Are you all trying to get tats?! It''s my day off tomorrow but you can all choose the designs for now or you can just give me the outline and I''ll work it in a way to fit where you want it put."


    I chuckled as I waved her off, "I dunno about them but we just dropped by because I wanna introduce our new people joining us today. They came from a faraway ce¡ª"


    "Aw~ shucks, for real?! That''s great!" Daisy eximed as she surprisingly just saw Quinn among the crowd, "WOAH! Didn''t see you there, I''m Daisy by the way¡ª Fuck, we shouldn''t be too loud because Faith''s still sleeping¡ªpreggy, sorry¡ªb-but it''s almost lunch, right? Can I eat at your ce?"


    I nodded, "Sure."


    Quinn muttered from behind, "She sounds fun. I probably need a few retouches too¡ª"


    Daisy then turned to her, "You got ink, ma?"


    "Did you just call me¡ª"


    "Ma? Yeah? You''re very momma-coded so¡ª Ah. I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Nah. I kinda like the sound of that. Less creepy than mommy."


    "Hah! Riiiight~" Daisy trailed as she nced at me for a moment, "Anyway, do you just want a retouch or do you want something new?"


    "What do you got though?"


    "Oh? I got a few portfolios but you can just look at me."


    At this point, Daisy just unzipped her hoody and showed them the rest of her vibrant tattoos that definitely made Chloe and Megan eager to have one done on their unblemished skin. However, I did promise Daisy that Kaley and I were supposed to have matching tattoos done by her and we pretty much avoided her advances to ink our bodies.


    Though Kuzma already thought of a design for himself:


    "Can you do wings on me?"


    Daisy turned to scan Kuzma''s whole body before nodding, "I haven''t seen you before but yeah, I can do wings. Just on your back or¡ª"


    "Can it start in my back and end by my wrists? Also, I don''t want feathers. Can you make them assorted des or just pieces of metal that form the wings instead?"

 Chapter 1023: Hospitality - The Troops Plus Extra?

    Hearing Kuzma''s suggestion, it made Daisy inspired and excited in a way before she suddenly ran back to their house and then came back with a few portfolios, but it was then that she pulled arge rolled-up piece of paper that seemed to be her current work in progress and showed it to us:


    "This is so sick! Did you know that I just started making this a week ago?!"


    Kuzma''s eyes just widened, "What. The. Fuck. This is what I had in mind!"


    In any case, even I was excited from such a design because instead of just a pair of wings that would start from his back and end on his wrists, there were two other smaller pairs where the first one would wrap around his abdominals while the other would go straight down and finish by his quads.


    It was a fucking metal tattoo that had literal metal instead of feathery wings and it was a little homage to Kuzma''s side job from the cockpit arena.


    For some reason, the rest of us were already being ignored but this was just too much of a coincidence to act like it was nothing.


    ''If something sparked between the two, it would be just icing on the cake¡­''


    Kuzma barely knew people from our fold and even though he was a solid member of Artem''s group, he needed more people to be acquainted with so he wouldn''t be as isted in the first few days or weeks for being the new kids in the block. However, it was also important to note to not force out interactions but what''s happening right now was just the right amount.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we made our way back to thepound because some of us literally missed breakfast, but for some reason, we didn''t feel that hungry. However, it was a prettymon custom in this country to prepare a little overboard with highly-ptable meals when we have visitors or in everyone else''s case, new people in our growingmunity.


    Tatiana was just gone in the blink of an eye the moment she saw the spread, and she already had two tes full of food when the kids just managed to hand us our utensils.


    And of course, we have Jpeno pepper bombs, deep-fried pork chops with extra gravy, cord greens, a vegetable medley, spaghetti with little cuts of hotdogs, chicken adobo with pineapples and potatoes, and most importantly, steaming hot and fragrant rice to eat everything with.


    As always, there was a little corner where chili oil, soy sauce, or any other condiments and seasonings could be used, and on the other side of the table was a jug of iced tea and ice-cold water.


    It was pretty obvious with our bites as to who hadn''t taken a bite yet ever since we woke up but Tatiana and Quinn among others just had no difference, except for the actual volume of food they were eating.


    But yeah, I took it upon myself to formally introduce everybody since most of them were present and I was d that some of them were already a little familiar or just a straight-up meeting with old friends.


    It was because Ken and An though not actually in the same friend group¡ªor should I say not in the same wavelength or particr closeness¡ªwith Ben, Cass, Andy, and Mimi, they were all my college friends and they also knew Chloe and Dr. Nichols from the same university.


    A lot of stories and catching up were absolutely in order but the thing I''m worried about the most regarding our new people was between JP and Brian.


    Their little mud fight at Cuervo Heights was just quickly swept under the rug and wrapped up because of our supposed rush to get here as quickly as possible but it seemed we should''ve taken a bit of our time because Oscar had already taken care of most of the important bits regarding our guests from the other side.


    On the other hand, most of the cadets and our trainees were gelling together pretty well¡ªIsaac included¡ªso I just decided to only interfere if they don''t sort out their, JP and Brian''s rtionship, like fucking adults should.


    Johnny then approached me with a ss of water, "Kid, are you gonna follow after Oscarter or what?"


    "Is that an offer for driving the ship again¡ª"


    "Hah?! We just got here and you wanna make me leave again?!"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "I thought so. But to answer your question, I gotta settle in a bit more and see Rin and everybody else''s reports before I organize a party to go over there. Have you talked to the old man, at least?"


    "Didn''t I tell you about itst time¡ª"


    "Last time? You mean the time you''re drunk on¡ª"


    "Ah, fuck. I forgot about that. I was just in a high that time and¡ª"


    "In a high or high¡ª"


    He loomed a little closer with a threatening aura, "Don''t make me beat you up with my prosthetic leg, you fuck.


    Haa¡­ But to get back to that subject, apparently¡­ not only did we have our retired troops'' boats, fishing vessels, and whatnot visit besides theing ship carrier but a few civilians found out about that base location and tried¡ªno, some of them already made it while a few are presumed to be trying to get to that ce.


    So, who''s to say we wouldn''t end up with more visitors messing up the roadmap if they docked elsewhere?"


    "Fuck¡­ That''s true¡­ It''s gonna create some friction for sure if they''re not that cooperative but why bet on a long cruise instead of just getting into a remote ind somewhere South of the US?"


    "Well, for starters, you two fucks¡ªno, wait¡­ we three fucks decided to live here and you do know about your people''s hospitality among foreigners."


    I nodded pensively, "That''s true too but time''s changed as ofte¡­ it''s not gonna be the same but there would still be a few people willing to lend a hand."


    "Who?" he asked earnestly.


    I looked at him like he was a fucking idiot, "Me? Who else? I lend a hand to you and your family and I got a captain, who wouldn''t want that?"


    "You¡ª"


    "And you just get headaches from talking to me from time to time, win-win, no?"


    "..."


    "Johnny?"


    "Nice talk. See youter, kid," Johnny just said with a deadpan expression though I did hear a small snicker once he thought I was out of earshot.

 Chapter 1024: Progress Report - Too Generous

    In any case, from the two weeks plus that we were away, a few things in my territory and other outposts changed.


    It didn''t take long before evening came as I gave everyone else a proper tour around the area but we would always gather around thepound for a meeting, especially now because not only was Oscar away, but I was gone for quite a while and I needed a recap of sorts as to what happened while we weren''t here.


    Rin took to the stage with a projector and her ownptop though she already gave me a copy of everything else as she started with a foreword and weed everyone else that came again.


    ''Let''s see here¡­''


    Starting from the distance between the harbor I owned and Iskoh''s, we could confidently say that, with 99% certainty that we could let a child walk that path without encountering a single deadhead, because not only were our soldiers and civilian fighters hard at work for keeping the threat outside that area to zero, several blockades made with shipping containers were sessfully ced to essentially close out the roads, only leaving a couple of areas where vehicles could pass through.


    It was the same thing that was ced all around Iskoh''s main area, due to the number of dead in that ce being significantly higher than mine, but since we were right next to the coast, we should take advantage of what it could offer instead of the high-rise cities that would take a lot of time, resources, and people to clean uppared to the ones near the water.


    But in regards tond where we nt our oh, so needed rice, right after the mission to clear out a road leading to both harbors, a portion of our soldiers was sent over to Mauricio''s HQ, where the intercity was, to beef up the rice fields for our farmers in Bcan.


    Furthermore, since we have visitorsing from Subic, it was just the natural decision to have more of our people on that side because driving further northwest would lead to where Subic was.


    But before that, it would tread on the part where one of our mutual business partners whom we met due to our fateful meeting with Mauricio, Jessica, where her HQ was located way~ past Bcan and a couple of municipalities deep in Pampanga.


    From ourst known news from her side, it was mentioned that she fought off a group that was led by a high-ranking officer of the Philippine Army that had gone AWOL, and it was partly due to the reinforcements and the equipment we sent her.


    Granted she offered me an airport to use, but we still haven''t been to that ce except for Oscar when he drove straight to Subic¡ªand of course, Mikhail, who was now incapacitated at the moment due to a gunshot wound.


    It has been a while since west spoke, so the moment we set off to follow after the old man, we should probably catch up briefly to maintain or even further increase the rtionship our groups had with each other.


    But yeah, speaking of rtionships, my eyebrow raised the moment I realized the number of guns, ammo, medicine, food, water, gas, vehicles¡ªessentially all of the fucking essentials he brought with him¡ªnot even including the people he sent over to help his folks get settled in that Marine base.


    And let me be honest, I was both a hoarding Scrooge and a generous god about our personal stock, and I''m particrly giving when ites to establishing connections with other people¡ªeven though it might sound like I''m buying their trust¡ªbut at the end of the day, it just speeds up the process and I can just stop sending them supply crates if the return in my investment wasn''t enough.


    Furthermore, Oscar out of all the people I know was the most stingy fuck when ites to his guns and he just straight-up sent a third of his own collection over¡ªnot including mine or our "emergency", "emergency-emergency", "emergency-emergency-emergency", "collected", "reimed", "repossessed", and "hidden" stocks¡ªto those people.


    "I can understand his desire and happiness to help the unfortunate ones and probably his brothers in arms but GOD FUCKING DAMMIT THEY''RE IN A MARINE BASE! DON''T THEY HAVE GUNS?! IT''S LIKE DONATING A CUP OF WATER TO A FUCKING OCEAN!!! Ah¡ª"


    I didn''t even notice that I was already thinking out loud from thest part while tightly clutching my hands and as a vein was protruding out of my forehead¡ªand right now, everyone else was just staring at me confused because Rin was still discussing about clearing out the space between the two harbors and it seemed like I may have read a bit too far in her report.


    But yeah, Quinn, Tatiana, and a few others startedughing from strategic points from the chairs we prepared for them and it just turned into a chain ofughter from one person to the next while my ears just burned from the embarrassment. Even Zeus had toy down and cover his face¡ªas if he was facepalming¡ªand he had the fucking audacity to let out a huff once we met eyes.


    Rin turned to me while trying to hold herughter, "U-Umm¡­ W-Wanna continue this instead?"


    I waved her off while trying not to look at the crowd who was stillughing at me, "N-No¡­ I''m sorry, you know how it is¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Yeah, I do¡­ I was surprised too but we''ll get to that¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Again, sorry¡­"


    "It''s okay, it''s okay~ Pfft¡­" then she turned back to the crowd with a smile, "Alright, as I was saying¡­"


    On that note, there was a lot of things to go through not only from what happened in this current time because of course, we had several projects running at the same time before and coincidentally, it just either progressed a good amount or straight-up got finished so they would be included in the report.


    ''Hmm~ Oh! This is¡­''

 Chapter 1025: Progress Report II - Marry us?

    Being a bookworm and all, I would just identally gaze at a line or a block of text and just read it in a matter of seconds as a force of habit, because also stemming from being an anime enthusiast as well¡ªespecially from watching action sequences¡ªeven if I can understand Japanese and read the characters, there was this small chance that the words they were saying and what was actually written as the subtitles would be different.


    And obviously, I can''t just look down and take my time reading the text while the characters were wailing at each other so I needed to be quick about it or rey the scene though that would ruin it for me.


    In any case, my attention was sent to the report that Morales, one of the officers the president sent over who had beef with Artem, started to dig into Quezon City instead of going with the flow of just clearing the areas around the coast.


    But yeah, I should mention that he set up an outpost right on the University of the East, which was on the opposite side of the love hotel and the other university we cleared outst time, where we also first discovered the slurpers/stitchers hanging by the train station.


    He was leading a group to try and make contact with the othermunities located in that city, especially the ones right next or maybe even at the news station where we encountered one of their helicopters fromst time but he also had an officer leading another group to slowly whittle down and clear out the train stations and the surrounding areas.


    He had other officers like Jose to whom he could give direct orders and leave important responsibilities but now that Jose was in Cuervo Heights with the Major, the one he assigned as a stand-in for Jose''s absence at the harbor might be up for a permanent spot or a promotion.


    ''I don''t mind him doing things on his own but he should''ve stuck with clearing the train stations further down the LRT Line 1 so we''d have another route to Iskoh''s address¡­ But yeah, it could be the president''s orders for all we know¡­''


    This was one of those times I let the president do his thing with his soldiers¡ªeven though they also almost always listen to my orders as well¡ªbut there should be something or someone really important around those parts if they''d make the executive decision to travel to those parts.


    Because if it was me, and since the president had a direct line with Oscar, he''d probably do the same thing Oscar did and build up rtions with our newest guests but he was probably growing tired of the guests he had on his turf because several representatives from different countries were sent to his direction.


    Thest thing he wanted now was more people to get into contact with or he probably just let me and Oscar handle this shit on our side of the map because that was what partnerships were for.


    But then again, it seemed like I''d read far too quickly and skipped a few things that didn''t matter to me as much because I didn''t even notice that Rin turned to me with a concern of sorts while everyone was looking at me once again. However, this time, An was standing at the front with Jenny holding hands, and they seemed to be asking me a very~ important fucking question.


    And I didn''t hear a lick of it.


    So, I had to pretend I was in shock:


    "Wha¡ª N-No way¡ª Tell that to me again one more time¡­"


    An absolutely fell for it as he repeated himself with a huge smile, "Dude! I''ve known you all my life¡ª Wait, that doesn''t sound right¡­ I''ve known you for years¡ª" then he turned to Jenny, "Is that better?"


    Jenny nodded and chuckled before she answered, "Sure~"


    Then An turned back to me again, "I''ve known you all these years dude and you''ve saved my life when I got stuck¡ª no, you saved our lives when we got stuck in the supermarket and instead of just leaving with me, you decided to save everyone else inside¡­ and for that, we thank you for the bottom of our hearts because doing that made us found each other¡­"


    ''Where is this going?''


    "We¡­ We know it''s a bad time but when''s a good time nowadays, you know? Even Jay didn''t pull out from Faith and now she''s pregnant¡ª Ow! Jenny, what the fuck?!"


    "You didn''t have to say that part! And they''re over there!"


    Looking at the back, Jay and Faith were instead dyingughing and it was just a testament due to how well they knew An all this time so An threw Jenny a smug look before taking a kick to his shin:


    "A-Alright, it''s my fault¡­ I''ll stop! A-Anyway, dude¡­ You just mean that much to us and we basically owe you our lives so what better way to go the whole circle than for you to marry us¡ª B-Before you say anything, I know how it is with you and the almighty but it''s just a simple wedding like you''re the judge of some sort a-and we just want you¡ª"


    I finally understood the assignment as I cut him off, "I''ll be honored dude, when?"


    "Now?"


    "WHAT?! NOW?!"


    An couldn''t believe his eyes, "Are you even listening dude?! I already said that when''s a good time to get married¡ª and I even wore a bow tie! You know it took me five hours to get it right?!"


    "HUH?! THAT''S A CLIP-ON YOU JUST HOOK ON YOUR SHIRT¡ª"


    "I GAVE UP ALRIGHT?! THERE! HAPPY?!"


    "THEN HOW DID YOU GET IT RIGHT?!"


    "BY GIVING UP! THAT''S HOW! ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY?!"


    "..."


    "SPEAK UP, DUDE! WHAT?!"


    "I give up¡­ You two really wanna do it now?" I turned to Jenny instead, "I''m actually ordained, if that matters."


    Jenny couldn''t be more happy, "Wait, for real?!"


    "Yeah, better to be ordained and not have to marry random people off the streets than to not be ordained and need to marry friends I met along the way, no?"

 Chapter 1026: Simple Wedding - Cohabitation and Boundaries

    As soon as I said that, everyone else couldn''t believe I snuck it in there and altered my favorite saying, but since I saw Nancy from the back just waiting for me with an officiant''s suit on hand, I just chuckled about the whole situation before going with the flow from everyone else''s.


    But yeah, a few others didn''t even think we''d have a surprise wedding from the get-go¡ªsince everyone was still wearing casual clothes¡ªbut An and Jenny didn''t want a grand wedding but a very simple one with all of our friends and family in one ce.


    It''s just that I had to improv a few lines from memory but aside from my "group" chuckling to themselves from discovering the references I made along the way, all that mattered was telling the groom to kiss the bride and enjoy the happenings as all hell let loose when their lips touched.


    And even if the venue wasn''t as grand, the food and drinks served were appropriate to the asion and it was probably why we had the meeting before dinner. But yeah, I didn''t even think that Quinn would fight for the fucking bouquet tossed by Jenny at one point, but none of the guys expected the women, even Quinn who already won, to fight for the garter as well.


    "WHAT¡ª THAT''S CHEATING!"


    "WHO SAID I WAS?! YOU''RE JUST FUCKING SALTY YOU CAN JUMP SO HIGH!"


    "YOU¡ª YOU DIDN''T EVEN JUMP! YOU JUST RAISED YOUR HAND AND CAUGHT IT!"


    "IF YOU''RE THAT PISSED, YOU LITTLE BITCH-BOY, WHY DON''T WE FIGHT FOR IT¡ª YOU¡ª DON''T LOOK THAT EXCITED IF I''M AIMING TO BEAT YOU UP! THAT''S DISGUSTING?!"


    "YOU¡ª HOW''D YOU KNOW I WAS GOING FOR THAT FROM THE START?!"


    "Ew. I''d rather see you¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "PLEASE! JUST CRUSH MY HEAD BETWEEN YOUR THIGHS¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ISAAC~ YOU''VE HAD ENOUGH, WE''RE SENDING YOU BACK~"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "D''YOU WANT TO GET SHOT BY RUBBER BULLETS?! THAT''S THE CUSTOM HERE, DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    Honestly, it was just a st and a wholesome moment for everyone else, especially the newlyweds, and it was also announced that they''d be moving out of thepound and living in a house just by themselves.


    They wouldn''t be as far from thepound because it was still within walking distance and they would still be the pair guarding ourpound during the day, but a few others were still teary especially their next-door neighbors who were Charlotte and Chris.


    But yeah, regarding that subject, the next pair that would upy their room was none other than Olivia, Kaley''s younger sister, and Lois, Jared''s younger brother.


    It was pretty obvious that there weren''t any problems from our side but we knew who was the only person that was upset about the whole situation. And yeah, that was the reason I didn''t even see the two, let alone Matthew, when we arrived because those three people joined Oscar''s expedition of sorts and Matthew would do anything to dy their cohabitation for as much as possible.


    That problem of his even probably made him forgot about our little fight before we sailed to Batangas¡ªincluding our arrival yesterday¡ªbut it was his problem to solve himself, not ours.


    Granted that our young couple wasn''t technically at the legal age to live by themselves and partake in such activities on their own, letting them live their lives while giving proper education and advice for such things was the lesser evil of them sneaking around whenever possible without the knowledge about the responsibilities they''d have to shoulder the moment they made a mistake.


    But yeah, now was just a different timepared to when the world hadn''t ended but in this ce, everyone else was still trying to live how they should for as much as possible.


    The horrors outside were another thing but the inside¡ªeven though not entirely without problems¡ªshould be a safe space for everybody else that was left in this world.


    ''Besides, both of them were only a few months before they were technically adults but the things they''ve experienced this year probably sped up the process because let''s be honest here, I''ve met far younger individuals who''ve had sexual experience and know jack shit about being an actual adult and there were also actual adults who also know squat about what adulting 101 should be, these two with the knowledge and experience they''ve gained the past year would fare far better than 70% of the people from the old world¡­''


    Sure, if they were leftpletely alone without the rest of us to support them, there should be some struggles at the start but I''m stillpletely sure that these two could handle once they found their own rhythm.


    In any case, I made sure to not drink too much because someone needs to be sober at these types of parties, but once we sent off An and Jenny with their very own car as a present, the night slowly died down though there was still plenty of hours before midnight.


    Most of the heavy drinkers were still present while small groups were either by our catwalk or some other spot chatting with each other, but with the way things were going, it seemed like Kaley enforced one of her decrees for us to be alone this night.


    However, that didn''t mean that the women in our circle couldn''t steal a round or two while Kaley still hadn''t brought me to our room but I wasn''t up for it.


    All of them were still very wee to sleep in the other rooms but this time, the moment the door to our room closes, Kaley and I should be the only ones inside.


    A few of them weren''t particrly happy with this type of arrangement but this was one of the boundaries we set and without following that, our arrangement with everybody else should be dissolved.


    I could probably handle it but with the surprise wedding and all, Kaley enforcing her absolute rules had some hidden meaning within it. Furthermore, we already spent time with everybody elsest night and I really wanted to sleep on my own bed just lying next to my one and only.


    So yeah, even though the night was still young, I pulled Kaley from the people she was chatting with and voiced my sincere intentions, and she just couldn''t hide the smile she was wearing when I took the initiative to get her.


    Let''s be honest, she was the one that would almost always initiate ande up with surprises and whatnot but this time, among a few times, I simply wanted to be with her.

 Chapter 1027: Alone, Finally - Domination

    At this point, Kaley and I were already rushing upstairs but as I was about to go for the door to our room, she was reaching for the bathroom door instead. I wanted to get right on it while she wanted to freshen up a little bit, but I simply gave her one look and she knew what I was going for.


    "You dirty little boy¡ª Ah! Don''t pull!"


    To her surprise, I pinned her by the door and started kissing her mouth, cheeks, and neck, and aside from tasting her sweet lips and hearing her cute moans, I was starting to get more and more enamored by the scenting out of her body that had a mix of her natural smell and a little bit of sweat.


    Take note, we had just finished the tour earlier and we walked all the way to the ces we could given the time frame, and right after that, we straight-up had our meeting without having the chance to freshen up as Kaley said.


    However, there was really something vastly different to how a woman''s sweat smelled like it took everything from me to not rip her clothes then and there.


    Kaley was just wearing a simple cotton shirt with a long-sleeved jacket and some stretchy jeans but my face was already buried by her armpit and taking huge whiffs while I was groping herrge tits over her clothes.


    At the same time, Kaley was trying to touch me all over while she was trying so hard to control her breathing, but she let out an audible gasp when she suddenly had an orgasm right then and there.


    "MmM-MmH! W-Wait! A-Ah~! I¡ª I-Its¡ª H-Ha¡­ H-Haa¡ª M-My pants! W-Wait!"


    To my surprise, I felt the sudden release from her crotch area since my thigh was just rubbing her from under there, and she never looked so embarrassed because she looked like she peed herself. However, her flushed face just fueled me even more as I finally opened the door to our room and shut it tight before I bent her down my table with a mirror and just pulled her pants down to her knees.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    At this moment, her big round ass was on disy along with her pink, puffy holes and they were just drenched with her juices because her cute panties and her pants hadn''t absorbed all of them yet.


    But yeah, I just knelt down and spread her buttcheeks open and started sniffing and licking her holes covered with her juices and sweat.


    "MmMmM! Ah! AnhN! Y-Yes! AmNmmNh! Ah!


    A-Ah! C-Cumming~!"


    I swear to fucking god I''ve never seen Kaley cum this fucking fast and from the lightest touch but I still haven''t had enough of her fat fucking cunt and her puffy little asshole.


    Aside from her moans and her calling out my name, the sound of me slurping and licking all of the nooks and crevices of her pink rim and her vaginal walls could offer, along with her excess juices plopping on the floor, were the only things that could be heard in our room.


    At this point, Kaley was basically begging for my cock once I pulled her pantspletely off, but I turned her around and took off the rest of her clothing before I took another whiff of her sweaty clothes.


    "W-Why don''t you s-smell t-this instead?" Kaley looked at me with helpless eyes as she raised both her arms to reveal her smooth, sweaty armpits.


    Hearing that, my huge boner was ready to rip my pants off and have my way with her but I simply plugged two of my fingers inside her wet pussy before I held both her arms which were already to the back of her head before I alternated between sniffing and licking her armpits while suckling on her huge fucking tits at the same time.


    Kaley was basically a godsent humoring me with all of my kinks and even though I still haven''t pulled out my cock from my pants, she was trying to give me a little bit of pleasure by also rubbing her thighs against my huge bulge from below. However, Kaley was just cumming over and over from my touch, and she could barely stand up from everything that she was receiving.


    We haven''t been to bed and she already came close to a dozen times, but I didn''t know if I should stop right now because even though she could barely stand, she was wearing this devilish smile while being out of breath.


    But yeah, as I gave her a kiss and let her taste everything else that came from her, it didn''t take long before she almost cut off the cirction from my fingers that were going in and out of her as she started cumming hard for the nth time.


    "H-HNGH! Y-Yess¡­ Ah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Why is it so¡ª Mmh! A-Again! I-I''m cumming a-again¡ª AhhhHnn! F-Fuckk¡­ H-How are you d-doing this to m-me¡ª MmH! Mmnn~!!!"


    At this point, I simply made her stand right by our bed as I made her watch me undress, but the moment she tried to kneel down to suck me off, I pulled her right back up before I sat by the edge and made her sit on top of me.


    I appreciate that she wanted to suck dick but at this point, I wanted my first load to be inside her pussy and we didn''t even need much lubrication as it slid right in.


    Furthermore, the moment she started moving her hips, I followed her movements as I reached around and put a finger in her little asshole while my other hand was supporting her lower back at the same time my face was buried between her chest.


    Kaley had never gripped me so tight as she moaned and moved like an animal in heat but we were only a few pumps in before I came inside her.


    However, she couldn''t give a fuck because of the number of times I made her cum and before I had the chance to recover, she managed to push me down and lean as we were face to face before she watched me lose my head when she moved her hips like there was no fucking tomorrow.

 Chapter 1028: Alone Finally II - Submission

    At this point, I could barely maintain eye contact as my eyes were already rolling to the back of my head due to the overloading of pleasure and my senses, but Kaley suddenly sent a p across my face before she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! YOU LOVE ME GRIPPING YOUR HUGE FUCKING COCK RIGHT AS YOU CUM IN MY LITTLE HOLE?!"


    "K-KALEY¡ª"


    "YOU LOVE HOW MY BIG FUCKING TITS ARE PRESSED AGAINST YOUR HUGE PECS WHILE I''M RUNNING MY HANDS ON YOUR HUGE FUCKING ARMS?! GOD! YOU MADE ME CUM SO MUCH! YOU MADE ME CUM SO FUCKING MUCH SO NOW I''M RETURNING THE FAVOR TENFOLD!"


    Kaley basically turned the table against me but there was one sure-fire way to get her shrivel up and slow her roll and I just stared her directly in the eye before I faintly smiled and said, "I love you, Kaley¡­"


    "W-WAIT! MMmmHM! T-That''s n-not f-fairRrr¡ª Mmh!"


    As soon as I said that, Kaley just went so fucking red through her neck and she never came so hard as her body jolted like she received a million volts of electricity.


    She was looking me right in the eye as she struggled to control her breath while letting out interrupted gasps but most importantly, the way her vaginal walls were contracting all over the ce also made me cum a second time just as fast, and I just held her tight as I could before the surges and waves pass.


    Even though I hadn''t cummed that hard, especially with Kaley at the same time, the two of us just started smiling at each other after a short bit before we were giggling like little idiots.


    "Caught you off-guard, didn''t I?"


    "You¡ª Of course, you did!"


    "And? I haven''t heard a reply yet, just saying~"


    "Of course, I love you too, you doofus¡­ B-But umm¡­"


    "Wanna go again?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ B-But I still wanna pleasure you¡­ I-If you know where I''m getting at¡­"


    "How about you tell me?"


    "W-Well¡­ I liked what you did to me on that table¡­ I-I¡­ I wanted to do the same t-thing to y-you¡­ I-If that''s¡ª"


    "Okay, sure."


    Kaley never looked so happy, "Wait¡ª R-Really?! Just tell me if you feel ufortable and I''ll stop, alright?!"


    "Pfft¡­ Okay. Do you wanna do it on the table?"


    Kaley thought for a bit but she shook her head, "This bed is just fine, you can just y-you know, by the edge¡­"


    "Okay¡­"


    And right as I sat by the edge of our bed after a quick trip to the bathroom, Kaley seemed to be waiting for me to do something else but once she discovered I had no idea what she was going for, she giggled cutely before pointing at me and moving her index finger in circles, asking me to turn over.


    "That''s¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus, you bent me over, right?"


    "R-Right¡ª"


    "God¡­ D-Don''t look at me like that¡­ D-Don''t worry¡­ I-I won''t do ''that'' until you tell me to¡­"


    With that said, I did as I was told and presented my behind to Kaley while my elbows were ced right by our bed, and Kaley didn''t waste any time as she grabbed my huge cock from between my legs and pulled it for as much I could take before I felt her tongue graze the tip, my whole length, my balls, and my taint, beforepletely licking my asshole.


    I could only go from feeling because Kaley was right behind me instead of the few times where I could see her face, but she started to slowly jerk me off with a reverse grip as she was giving me a rimjob.


    It was still pretty difficult for me topletely embrace the pleasure I was feeling, but Kaley was making sure that I was doing fine every single time I felt a little unsure. But yeah, even if this might seem transactional because she let me have my way with her earlier, I''m gonna say that it wasn''t all that bad because before this, she did ask and I agreed.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I heard sounds that weren''ting from me though I instantly figured out that Kaley was definitely touching herself and getting herself off from all of this.


    Kaley was even letting out moans while her tongue was busy elsewhere and her left hand was making wet sounds with my dick while the other was letting out squelches with her pink folds and her little bean.


    It didn''t take long before I felt the pleasure building up as my breath hurried while I let out a little groan, and Kaley took it upon herself to start jerking me off as fast as she could before using her other hand to reach for my prostate.


    "K-KALEY¡ª"


    I barely managed to call out her name as my whole body fucking shook from this violent orgasm, but contrary to our usual deal to keep going while the other one was still cumming, Kaley gently slowed her roll and let me catch my breath before she waited for me to turn over and get on the bed, greeting me with the brightest smile and showering me with kisses.


    Then again, the feeling of shame didn''te right as the little moment of rity arrived, but I took over once again and went for a few more rounds with Kaley as our arms were wrapped around each other.


    Granted she took charge again eventually by being on top, but sometime in the future, the things she always asked of me¡ªespecially that one other thing¡ªcould be a regr thing we do when we were together if she was this always respectful about how we progress and how she always made mefortable before, during, and after.


    "I love you, Kaley¡­"


    "I love you too¡­ So, so much¡­"


    "Sooooo¡­ again?"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus¡­ I can''t even feel my legs right now¡ª"


    I faked gasped as I looked at her like she said the dirtiest thing I''ve heard, "I was talking about kissing you, what are you on about?"


    "You¡ª G-Give me five minutes and your eyes will be rolling to the back of your head again¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "S-So what? Why are you looking at me like that?"


    I started to loom over her with a threatening smile, "So, I have free reign for you for the next five minutes¡ªmaybe even more if the feeling in your legs doesn''te back that fast¡ª"


    "Y-You! G-Give my lower body a b-break, alright?"


    "Who said we can''t do about the upper half? I did say I''ll kiss you, your funbags and your pits are still part of the deal, no?"


    "Y-You''re impossible¡­"


    "Heh. Too much?"


    "N-Not quite¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "I-I didn''t say no so¡­ s-surprise me¡ª Ah! F-Fuck! Pinching them a-already?! W-Wait¡ª I''m¡ª MmMmHHH! Y-Yes¡ª K-Kiss me a-and¡ª Mmh¡­ Mm¡­ NnH¡­"


    At this point, I did just focus on Kaley''s upper half¡ªthough it didn''t stop her from cumming¡ªbecause Kaley could cum just from kissing me, how much of an effect would touching her all over, especially with my cock sliding in and out of her boobs would do to her?


    But yeah, as soon as the five or so minutes were up, she definitely made not just mine¡ªbut also her eyes¡ªroll to the back of our heads after everything was over.


    After that, we justid on the bed panting while on our sides, looking at each other straight in the eye, smiling, but inplete silence.


    I didn''t know how much time we spent just staring at each other right after our little activity but once morning came and we opened both our eyes, we were in for a surprise to discover that we woke up at the same time.


    I let out a little chuckle before I looked at my morning wood and nced at her, "So¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus¡­"

 Chapter 1029: Aftermath Horrors - Mauser

    Condensing our 30-minute morning activity to a few sentences, let''s just say that we smashed, Kaley smashed, I ''mashed, and we two did the monster mash.


    In any case, as we were about to head for the shower, there was a pretty big situation because living with all these beautiful girls wasn''t always sex and being king of the castle, because Kaley and I just saw the aftermath of what happened when we excused ourselves and left everybody else to their own devices.


    It used to be simply just random underwear lying around, getting jumpscares by bumping into one of them wearing facemasks, or even sometimes, seeing a random person¡ªno, just Tatiana at 3 AM in the fucking morning crouched down on my refrigerator like a goblin and having ate,te~ snack.


    ''All those blocks of cheese missing¡­ Always her¡­ Always¡­''


    But yeah, this time was a little different and the first victim was Rin who barely got in her room and was sleeping next to her or someone else''s vomit spread on the floor like a Pollock painting.


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª"


    "I-I''ll open the door, she''s gonna hate it when she wakes up¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I''ll carry her¡ª"


    I was just about to carry her to the bathroom so she could clean herself up but as Kaley opened the door, Cynthia seemed to be duct taped on the toilet and probably took part in their free-use thing in their own time, but everyone else that was involved probably passed out and forgot to cut her out of the restraints so she had no choice but to fall asleep in her position.


    "..."


    "..."


    Ignoring Cynthia for the moment, I almost jumped out of my skin when I discovered the twins were not actually disemboweled by the shower but just covered with soggy pepperoni pizzas and several servings of spaghetti and meatballs with extra sauce.


    All I could do right now was simply wake the twins up by turning the shower to its coldest setting and hearing them scream before I slowly dipped Rin into the half-filled tub which luckily didn''t im a single victim.


    Doing that also woke up Cynthia whom I eventually freed of her captivity but I almost smacked her in the head when she got pissy that I didn''t avail of her services before cutting her loose.


    However, there were still a lot of yers missing but Kaley miraculously found Chloe safe and sound, sleeping on the top of the bunk bed in one of the rooms avable but it didn''t take long before I figured out Quinn had probably gotten ahold of some duct tape because I found Mimi and Nancy duct taped on the FUCKING CEILING OF ALL PLACES before I found Edith sleeping soundly in one of the closets.


    I had to take care of these two first and foremost as Kaley started to bathe Rin and keep the twins from getting the food on the bathroom floor even more, but our scavenger hunt of sorts didn''t end there because we still had the 1st floor, the 3rd floor, the roof, and the basement to look for missing people and that was contingent if everybody else got home before doing whatever the fuck they did while Kaley and I were alone.


    But yeah, I found Tatiana in our kitchen with an empty tub of ice cream and Quinn on the roof wearing only a duct tape bikini with an empty bottle of alcohol while Kaley found Megan and Alexa hugging each other in the basement because they thought they locked themselves in and had nowhere else to go.


    Then again, after looking all over the house, we eventually found Dr. Nichols talking with Marisha once again by the poolside and it was this weird Groundhog Day of sorts that we almost had to take a double-take on.


    I should''ve been preparing for the trip to Subic with a few groups in mind but we basically wasted a few hours taking care of everyone who definitely drank a little too much yesterday. I was confident that they wouldn''t go that hard considering the meeting we had but An and Jenny''s wedding put them in this festive mood and went ham on the celebration.


    But despite all that, there were a few reliable ones:


    Kaley was the first one of course, and even though Jared couldn''t be seen in thepound, I simply tried to give him a call and he answered in the first ring and told me he just crashed at Alex''s room. Furthermore, since I basically reced Ibarra with Jose from ourst trip, he was eager to get back in the saddle.


    These three were the main members of my scouting group before we went to Batangas, aside from Tatiana and Mikhail who were both incapacitated for very different reasons, but since I sessfully convinced Artem and his group off the warpath for the moment, his crew will definitelye with us.


    But to my fucking shock, the moment the kids ran off to tell everyone that breakfast was ready, Tatiana was the first one toe in like she didn''t get fucking wasted the day before:


    "What?"


    "N-Nothing¡­"


    With that said, more and more of our people came from the gate to have some breakfast and it gave me a general idea of who to take with me considering the circumstances.


    We wouldn''t be going into an unexplored territory per se¡ªsince Oscar already touched down over there with a few others¡ªbut aside from obviously bringing my Raptor, Tatiana''s HuNovelBinee, and my good ''ol business truck, I also decided to bring the Raycolt in which some of the cadets would be riding on plus some of the trainees who were suddenly interested to ride with us instead of going into their own missions.


    I already asked Rin to bring out the "general" stuff we''d use to give or trade with other people but as much as I would hate to do this and keep all of them in my domain, I decided to bring over something that Oscar wouldn''t even think of.


    It was one of Zeus'' younger siblings who already looked like a full-grown dog and the look of betrayal Zeus gave me when I put on a dog vest on "Mauser" and thought I was bringing anotherpanion instead of him was fucking priceless.


    But yeah, It was one thing to spring a puppy as a gift for the holidays but having a pet in your midst, especially at these times, was always an overlooked security requirement because of the responsibility it required.

 Chapter 1030: Unexpected Visitors - Complacency

    After a couple of hours or so, everyone and everything was geared up and ounted for, but the moment we were just about to drive past the gate through the highway, I mmed on my fucking brakes and almost caused a collision.


    And right after that, I suddenly bridged the distance between me and this couple of dudes merrily chatting with one of my "guards", JJ, who was supposed to be keeping a close watch as to whoes and goes in my territory.


    It was because these two fuckers weren''t even on the updated list of people who were epted in themunity that Rin gave mest night.


    "Boss, hey¡ª WAIT! WAIT! WAI¡ª"


    Before the guard who was supposed to do his job finished his sentence, one of the two fucks hit the ground due to a sudden front kick while the other was now on the verge of getting choked by his cor due to how I was raising him with one arm.


    So, in a matter of seconds, everyone else from my group ran up to them with weapons drawn and they would definitely shoot on sight the moment I gave the order.


    But the guard who was with them still tried to defend these visitors:


    "B-Boss! Please! T-They were just visiting a-and¡ª"


    "And you let them in, right?"


    "Y-Yes¡ª"


    "Did they have their passes?"


    "That''s..."


    "Did you inform one of the officers?"


    "B-But t-they''re here almost every single d-day¡ª"


    "Are you gonna fucking answer any of my fucking questions? I don''t fucking care if theye here to visit every single day, what I fucking asked you is if they have their passes on them and did you inform one of the officers of their visit?"


    "S-Sir¡ª"


    "Other than that, did you inform Rico, the CO of the DDR Camp in Meycauayan that there will be people from anothermunity near them, that these fucks will be driving over here and those other times? If that''s a fucking no again, you''ll be losing your job very, very soon¡ª"


    "B-But sir! A-All these protocols a-are just¡ª"


    I never looked so pissed hearing that shit and knowing what he meant even before he finished his answer, "Just what? Finish that fucking sentence and you''ll be leaving with these two right about now."


    "...! I-I was just¡ª"


    "Shut up," I said before I turned to Jared, "Those other guards gawking probably reported to Ferdinand right now but do call him just in case they haven''t yet. They should''ve done that the first time these two tried to weasel in¡­"


    Jared just nodded at me before pulling out his radio, "Yo, where''s¡ª we''re gonna need Sir Ferdinand here, real quick. Hmm? Someone''s¡ª a few people hadn''t been following proper protocol. Just get him here quick because he''s real~ pissed¡ª Who, you said? Supreme Leader is pissed, that''s who, Mr. Officer~"


    To give a bit of context, these two visitors of ours came from themunity where I picked up one of my high school friends, Darelle, and his GF, Trisha, but the reason I was this all up in arms about their sudden visit was because the leader of themunity they were from was Benjamin Crisologo.


    If any of you had already forgotten, it was the stupid fuck who demanded to leave half our guns right after we cleared the horde that was in their gatedmunity, but he had nothing else to hold us back so we just left without doing anything to please his highness.


    But yeah, all these months have passed and there was never a mention of their activity, but after confirming it with the guards and with his two minions who were visiting quite frequently these past few days while we were away, something''s definitely fucking off and I wouldn''t take another step around my territory if I don''t get everything straightened out.


    Furthermore, the biggest issue out of all of this wasn''t even with these two, it was one of the biggest things I''m afraid of but will eventually happen once a base like mine had gotten too fucking safe for our own good, and it was something calledcency.


    It was bound to happen sooner orter with the way I do things but this was just too fucking bad of a timing but a slight blessing in itself.


    Being a guard was a tough job if you''d have to defend from thousands upon thousands of the undead but forgoing security checks and letting visitors¡ªeven if they were visiting frequently¡ªwas a fucking no-no, and if I was in his shoes, I''d be more fucking alerted because they just popped out of the blue once the head honcho was gone and now they were visiting almost every single day and was already buddy-buddy with one of themon guards.


    In any case, I definitely stripped my "guard" off his badge and gun before letting him sit with the two he was so buddy-buddy with before I loomed over with a threatening aura. Because if Ferdinand would take his fucking time, I''ll also take my time getting information out of these fucks before they get saved by the bell because this is my ce they''re trying to wiggle into.


    "So, what''s the purpose of your visit? Since you know, JJ over there has been that nice to let you in without any passes and whatnot¡­ Trying to bypass things because your vehicle is parked outside?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "S-Sir, a-as I was saying¡ª"


    I threw JJ the ''if you fucking cut me off, I''ll cut you'' look, "You like talking when not prompted and you don''t want to answer shit when being asked, how the fuck did you be a guard?! Fine.


    Continue what you were about to say¡­ But if that answer doesn''t make any sense or are you just gonna make up more excuses of them being frequent visitors, I swear to my fucking life I''ll kill them both for trespassing and you for colluding with these fucks."


    Then the two finally had something to say.


    But with how their leader operates, it was pretty obvious that they operate with fighting fire with fire:


    "IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR GUESTS?!"


    "WE''RE JUST PASSING BY TALKING¡ª AND AFTER ALL THE GIFTS WE SENT OVER¡ª"


    Iughed at their face as I loomed over with my gun drawn, "So, you two admit to bribery too? Is that it? What fucking gifts are they and why aren''t they on the report Rin gave me with the tag such as that? Did you give them to me or did you give them to JJ or the other guards? And gee~ I''m sorry, I didn''t know you were such best buds for this gift-giving thing to happen.


    I also didn''t think giving gifts would be thrown at my face for this. As you know, giving a gift should be from the heart not for a transaction of sorts¡­ Did JJ give you anything or what? And why wasn''t I informed of that too?"


    Right as I said that, the expression they gave me was just of utter shock and disbelief but it seemed like trusting my gut once again prevented something like this from going on for too long.


    But it''s not over though, very far from it.

 Chapter 1031: Lockdown - Hazing?

    At this point, I could be jumping the fucking gun a little too much but I''d rather it be that than anything else right now because I''m so fucking pissed off, I was smiling from ear to ear just to not rip these dumbasses'' faces off:


    "You see, even a grain of rice shouldn''t get past me. So, are things going under the radar between you three or is there more to this than what''s going on? You do know we have 24-hour surveince and since we don''t have a lot of people that had ess to that, it''d be a fucking pain to check the footage since we were just about to drive away. If I don''t hear a fucking confession right now¡ª"


    Then JJ cut me off in desperation as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "T-THEY WERE JUST G-GIVING US C-CIGARS AND SOME A-ALCOHOL A-AND THEY''D SOMETIMES ROLL IN WITH A FEW GIRLS TO HAVE F-FUN IN THEIR CAR! A-AND I-IN EXCHANGE, I-I-I¡­ O-OH FUCK¡­ FUCK¡­ I-I''M DEAD, I''M DEAD, I''M DEAD¡ª I-I''M SORRY, ALRIGHT?!


    I-I WAS JUST C-CASUALLY TALKING ABOUT MY SCHEDULE AND WHATNOT SO WE COULD HANG A FEW TIMES A-AND I-IT''S BEEN REALLY FUN I-I''D EVEN CALL OVER TO S-SIR RICO''S CAMP T-TO LET THEM THROUGH S-SO¡ª F-FUCK, I-I''M REALLY DEAD, AREN''T I?!"


    He wasn''t even able to finish his sentence when one of the dudes tried to shut him up with a weak shoulder bump but after just hearing that short bit, I''d already heard enough as I let out a smile and pulled out my radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a fucking drill. Commence Project Lockdown in ten fucking seconds because there''s a fucking breach. If any of you are fucking involved with these three fucking clowns right now, ''fess up for a chance of me forgiving you¡ª but with a small punishment or else I''LL FUCKING HUNT YOU DOWN AND THREE GENERATIONS OF YOUR FAMILY!


    Right, bonus rewards for those who could point out the ones involved but we''ll fucking kick you out if we found out you lied¡ª so don''t even try getting something from this ''cause I''m way more than pissed off¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Right as I said that, it only took around five seconds before our emergency horn red and several vehicles came in from our side and the outside of the gate to block it off with anyone that would try to get out. Several reserved soldiers or fighters¡ªeven on their day off came running and manned the walls while the ones on patrol tripled because of my announcement.


    Other than that, I could see some soldiers escorting the civilians¡ªespecially the children and the elderly¡ªback to their homes, and each of our phones was blowing up with several calls at the same time.


    At this point, Ferdinand had juste in confused with several soldiers in tow¡ªbecause they were on the way the moment I called in the lockdown¡ªbut I couldn''t help but be a little pissed off from his tardiness because Johnny, who didn''t know that any of this was happening, came at the same time as him with Marco, Mark, and Dong, ready tomit bloody murder.


    And the three fucking clowns, JJ, "Bordz", and "Jomar" couldn''t even fathom what was going on¡ªespecially the other two¡ªbecause they were just attempting to case this ce out and the whole fucking cavalry descended upon them from just a simple call.


    Despite this guard''s shorings, everyone else''s response was still very eptable to my standards, but since we already set the stage and we had a veryrge audience, I beckoned the three to stand by the wall they were simply lounging about earlier while I was wearing an angelic smile:


    "Please? You caught me in a bad time so¡­ Before I change my mind and hack your limbs off with a rusty saw¡­ please."


    JJ immediately stood up but tumbled as he made his way to the wall before he knelt down and begged for his life, "P-Please~ sir! I-I-I didn''t really know¡ª I-I FUCKED UP, I KNOW! I-I''M REALLY SORRY! I-I JUST DIDN''T THINK AND¡ª AH! F-FUCK!"


    I cut him off by grazing his ear with a .22 cartridge, "Last fucking chance, JJ. You only talk when spoken to if you want me to keep missing. The next one will be on your dick and I''ll throw you out the gates and watch you bleed to death. Understand? Now, you can answer."


    "Y-Y-Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    At this point, JJ was just a fucking mess and one of the two was about to have a heart attack while the other looked like he was just waiting for a chance to speak but his knees couldn''t stop trembling regardless of what ace he had in his sleeves.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before seven dudes and a dudette came up from the side and looked nervous as fuck before they revealed themselves to be one of the guards who let these two fucks in like JJ without following proper protocol. Almost all of them had said the same thing as JJ did, but one of them had a different reason for doing what he did:


    "Ah¡ª I''m really s-sorry, sir¡ª a-and I''ll ept any p-punishment as long as you don''t throw me and my f-family out b-but you see¡­ W-We just g-got here a m-month ago t-through an interview w-with Ma''am Marisha a-and I just followed what everyone else here does an I thought i-it was a normal thing¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes as I cut him off, "So, you mean to tell me that if all the guards here started to take drugs while on duty or slice off a finger every time they''rete, you''d do it? Is that what you''re telling me?"


    "T-That''s¡­ I-I just didn''t want any trouble b-because I''m new and I-I should follow o-orders¡ª"


    "Hold up, orders? Did you just say orders?"


    "Y-Yes, sir?"


    "From who?"


    The guy shook his head, "I-I''m not exactly sure b-but¡ª"


    "What''s there to not be sure about? Was the person who ordered you to let them in wearing a mask? Was it a burning bush? What? Your name''s Mikey, right?


    You do know that I''m a very good friend and also a very terrifying enemy so let me help you here: You and your family''s safety now lies in your testimony¡ªcontingent on how urate it is¡ªand right now, I''m feeling that you''re getting pressured to omit some stuff. But here''s the deal: Who are you gonna side with? Me, or those fucks whonded you in this situation in the first ce?"

 Chapter 1032: So fucking angry I smiled and laughed.

    There was a reason I did this open interrogation of sorts in front of everybody else right as I announced the lockdown, and it was to cause chaos in their psyche so that they wouldn''t be able to think of proper excuses or match their stories because of the very small timeframe I gave them.


    Sure, seating them one by one would work as well but there were very few times that this tactic could work and be tried, and this was the perfect time to make them fight amongst each other.


    It''ll only need one whistleblower for everybody else to start digging up dirt and airing everyone else''s dirtyundry besides themselves, but in the end, I''d just have more information to work with. Furthermore, Kaley wouldn''t need to rely on her insight as much because people would almost always tell the truth when emotions were heightened and if their life and their families'' were on the line.


    And yeah, not only did Mikey reveal that JJ and two of the guards with him made him just do what the Romans do, but indirectly taking it from his statement, it seemed like our guards who should be on equal standing have their own pecking order and they were putting pressure on the newer ones just so that they could feed their inted ego among others.


    It was this hazing process of sorts but for all the dumb reasons.


    To be honest, that type of shit was bound to happen once we gave out important roles among different types of people¡ªand sometimes, it was a great thing¡ªbut in this case, it was like the human race started to evolve backwards.


    Having a power trip just to break rules that kept everyone safe was like not letting go of a smoldering pot and using a pot holder because they didn''t want to be called a bitch then getting 2nd-degree burns and no dinner in the process.


    At this point, more and more people''s names were being dragged into the dirt¡ªwho weren''t even in the group we were letting have a shouting match against each other¡ªbut we found out soon enough when the ones who were called out voluntarily walked in or rushed here to clear their name or was summoned or dragged in the same ce to prove their innocence.


    I just can''t believe more and more shit was getting brought up due to howx this ce waspared to the areas we''d send our scouts or our clearing groups, but I just found myselfughing out loud when I had enough.


    It was really funny to me that the moment I leave this ce, these fucking people who should be keeping things in order felt like the rules I set up were a chore.


    I didn''t set those rules up because I simply could but because it could actually make everyone from mypound safe, and not only that, it was also for them and their friends and families who were sharing the same roof as them and the same safe space as us.


    ''I swear to fucking god that it was in these types of situations where I''d have to agree with the viin''s point of view because sometimes, the only time people would learn was for a mistake to ur first¡­''


    I could keep telling or ordering everyone what to do in case so and so happens but unless they see for themselves how a little bit of carelessness could do, they wouldn''t be as passionate and reliable at their job like the ones who knew what it felt like.


    But as I continued tough like a maniac, everyone just stared at me and didn''t dare to move a fucking muscle, because I still had my pistol drawn though I''m not that careless to g anyone that didn''t deserve it.


    I chose those words specifically because I''m definitely pointing at each of these clowns with my gun, making them flinch each time I violently switch targets, but the moment I felt I should stop, I did so with an abrupt pause while keeping my facial muscles in the same position.


    Doing that made me look more like a deranged lunatic but it didn''t evenpare to the words I said next:


    "Here''s how this is gonna go: all of you here would be given a chance to redeem yourselves and you have the whole time we''d be away to make sure you''re the best guards this ce could ever ask for. Do you know why?


    Not only would you stand indefinitely on those walls for the whole duration, you''d have to know every person here, at Rico''s, at Morales'', the harbors, Isko''s, and Mauricio''s by heart, and know their names and current upation/responsibilities¡ªdon''t worry, Rin will give you a cheat sheet¡ªbut aside from that, for all of you to fucking know how serious you should fucking take your jobs¡­ As of right now, your families will start living outside these walls even if wee back¡ª"


    Then all hell broke loose:


    "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHY''D YOU HAVE TO DRAG MY FAMILY INTO THESE?!"


    "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME?!"


    "W-WHY DON''T YOU JUST SEND ME OUTSIDE?!"


    "PLEASE! MY MOM''S REALLY OLD! AND MY DAUGHTER GETS NIGHTMARES AT NIGHT!"


    "PLEASE, SIR! WE''RE REALLY SORRY!"


    At this point, not only was I trying to keep them down as I was trying to get to my point, but everyone else on my side was starting to get a little ufortable because these fucking clowns were about to kamikaze against a people who were armed to the teeth and much better at them at close quarters.


    It would be just blood to our name without aplishing anything but I let out copious amounts of killing intent as I grabbed hold of this "Bordz" head and ripped half of his face off by dragging his face against the concrete.


    He barely had time to react but I just broke his arms in several ces or mmed his head down when I felt some resistance and the whole ce had never been so quiet from the disy. They were so afraid of my gun earlier but they should be more afraid of me.


    Everyone definitely stopped from seeing that but I had a few more words I needed to say:


    "THEN WHAT''S THE FUCKING FUSS NOW, HUH?! I THOUGHT OUTSIDE THE WALLS WERE FUCKING SAFE?! YOU''RE EVEN LETTING STRANGERS CASE US OUT AND YOU CAN''T EVEN MAKE YOUR FAMILIES LIVE OUTSIDE?! WAS IT REALLY THAT FUCKING SAFE OR NOT?! WHAT IF THE NEXT TIME THESE TWO FUCKS CAME BEARING GIFTS, IT''LL BE A BULLET TO YOUR MOM''S HEAD OR A SHARP KNIFE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS THROAT?!


    DID ANY OF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT, HUH?! WAS THAT ALL THIS PLACE MEANT TO YOU?!"


    Then I spat on the ground seething while still wearing a deranged smile, "THIS PLACE HAS RULES FOR A REASON! YOUR FUCKING HEADS HAVE A BRAIN FOR A REASON! THESE FUCKS ARE HERE FOR A REASON! HOW CAN ANY OF YOU LET THIS FUCKING HAPPEN?! I CAN''T SWOOP IN AND SAVE ALL OF YOU SORRY FUCKS EVERY SINGLE TIME!


    I''M WORKING ON SOMETHING MUCH, MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN SIMPLY GUARDING THE WALLS AND YOU FUCKS FUCK IT UP?! WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN IF THESE FUCKS'' ATTEMPT SUCCEEDED?! D''YOU THINK YOU''D BE HAVING FREE CIGARS, BOOZE, AND PUSSY EVERY SINGLE TIME?! HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD LAST FOR?! THINK YOU FUCKS, THINK!


    WE HAVE ALL OF THOSE HERE¡ªEVEN BETTER QUALITY¡ªAND YOU SETTLE FOR WHAT THESE CLOWNS GIVE YOU JUST BECAUSE THEY BROUGHT IT TO YOU WHILE YOU''RE WORKING?! IS THAT WHAT IT FUCKING TOOK?! HUH?! YOU CAN''T FUCKING FOLLOW YOUR JOBS TO THE STANDARD I SET SO YOU RESORT TO THAT?!"

 Chapter 1033: Change of Plans

    I was still trying to figure out the right words to describe how fucking pissed off I was right about now though I just kept using the words I knew in quantity just to somehow keep the casualties to a minimum¡ªbetter yet, just exactly at two because as much as I would have liked to resolve this issue and breach of trust peacefully, I simply just can''t.


    Sure, at this moment in time, these two fucks and wherever the fuck they came from hadn''t done any damage yet but there was also a damn good reason they didn''t justunch an attack at this joint because one, like my answer earlier: they simply couldn''t and two, the very basic concept of attempting shit like this as they were starting was to gather information.


    It involved knowing their target''s total number of people, their main base and sub-base locations, effective firepower, response times in different situations, and so much more.


    Knowing one guard''s schedule was one of the few things they could use to figure out how to better understand how we do things, and the better they understand how we do things, the greater the chances of these people seeding in whatever it was they were attempting to aplish.


    I couldn''t stress enough how easy these guards of mine fell for the "Candy in the van" trick that was only supposed to work on kids whose brains haven''t developed fully and simply didn''t know better, but it seemed like these guards wanted a tight noose around their necks and that''s what I would be giving them plus making them see an exaggerated example of what it looked like if they kept doing as they were.


    My order to make their loved ones, whom they should be guarding against the threats outside, was not a fucking joke to just make a rise out of them because to avoid stupid shit like this from urring once again, I''d take the hate and resentment they''d feel for me just so that they''d be able to learn.


    The better and more brutal alternative was to make their families camp right outside the frontlines where we begin to see the undead beingse in droves but doing that might make thempletely fail on my other "punishment" for them to be better guards.


    And going back to our current situation, their faces told me that they already knew they fucked up, but I then turned to Ferdinand and the rest of the people¡ªa good distance away from our transgressors¡ªwho technically hadn''t done anything wrong before I opened my mouth:


    "I''ll keep them here, you have 20 minutes to gather everyone else at this very spot¡ªand don''t even take time to pack their stuff¡ªbecause their BOBs should always be ready to go in moments like these¡­ Those valuable shit we gave them shouldn''t be decorations and they should fucking know how to use them if these guards will be the ones watching them for the rest of their stay¡­ Do give them a brief exnation of what went down but I give you full authority to use necessary force to bring all of them here if they''re notplying with a simple summons¡ª"


    One of Ferdinand''s own officers, Marcel, interjected while wearing aplicated expression, "Sir, with all due respect, I believe in proper punishment but do we need to go this far to involve their loved ones¡ª"


    Johnny cut in with a frown as he looked at Marcel like an idiot, "Are you fucking serious right now?! You have to say involve?! You''re not gonna go far with that reasoning, kid, your COs already mobilizing the rest of ya over there!"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "Listen here: these fucks not doing their jobs properly involved everyone else that lived here. They should be the first line of defense from the threats outside and while the rest of us were so~ freaking confident in their ''skills'', this shit happens.


    And let me tell you, it''s already taking everything from me to not murder every single one of them in front of their family because the kid''s making it into a teachable moment¡ª"


    I cut Johnny off, "It''s what I''m trying but this is far from one.


    At most, their families will be camping outside for a few days but they don''t know that," then I turned to Marcel, "It''s now your job to keep a tight watch over them because not only did this fiasco costs us a lot of time, I''d have to cancel the trip altogether because I''ll be sitting those two fucks in separate rooms to have a nice little talk."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yeah. I don''t need to visit their ce to know every single about them because I just have to ask both of them nicely¡­ I''ll only need a few hours¡­"


    Then Artem came up from the side, "So, change of ns?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, be ready to head out at a moment''s notice though."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Depending on what I dig up about them, we''ll hit their ce today so inform the rest of your group back home to gear up," I replied before addressing Johnny, "I''ll also leave this ce to you with Marcel but can you get into contact with Mauricio to borrow some of our soldiers some timeter?


    Ask them to be battle-ready because we only have those few hours of me interrogating them before they feel suspicious¡­ JJ over there said that they just hang here right before sunset but we also need some time to mobilize everyone else and attack at the same time."


    "How many people are you bringing anyway, kid?"


    "Triple this group and thrice the firepower. I don''t wanna take any chances and I don''t wanna waste any more time fighting a battle of attrition, once I heard enough, we go just like that."


    With that said, Johnny and Artem nodded as they pulled up their radios to do as they were told before I found myself alone with Jomar because I needed Bordz with a little more health points before I started to talk to him nicely as well.

 Chapter 1034: I dont like your tone...

    As of this moment, Jomar and I were in the same ce I interrogated Tim and the rest of the crazy fucks who invaded Woonds, an annex of our main base that wasn''t a part of us before, but it wasn''t even a few seconds of intense eye contact when the motherfucker sang like a bird.


    He absolutely told me everything he could like his life¡ª no, because his life literally depended on it, and the most important bits were as follows:


    Benjamin Crisologo, their head honcho of sorts was actually presumed dead the moment the horde we cleared at their ce got in, but ever since then, he sessfully managed to get into contact with his friends right around the City of San Jose Del Monte¡ªa ce still part of Bcan located furthest east from Maro.


    And as he mentioned, Benjamin had very powerful friends before the world ended and a select few still survived to this day, and one of them was living in that same city and decided to lend him a hand.


    It made him bring back his property to its feet without the help of yours truly, unlike the othermunity where we found Roi''s belongings, but as the two touched base and started exchanging war stories, it seemed like I came up and the motherfucker was still harboring a grudge for not giving him half of my guns.


    However, what Benjamin Crisologo failed to tell his buddy was that the person he was trying to get information from was actually indebted to me.


    I obviously haven''t gotten into much detail about this particr bit of info from the past, but the two people we rescued from Benjamin''s grasp were Darelle and Trisha, who I put in charge of scouting ahead and getting into ces to gather all sorts of information¡ªvery simr to what Bordz and Jomar were doing¡ªbut the purpose was to make friends, not to figure out the weakness of the enemy.


    One of the reasons he was indebted to me was because I helped him and the DDR Camp located in their city with my troops and some of my supplies to build them back up though they did pay us back several times what we''ve given them because they had the monopoly of all the resources and other failed DDR Camps that ce had to offer.


    It was one of the better ROIs I''ve had up to date and Benjamin Crisologo wouldn''t see the shit that was about to blow up in his face in a few hours.


    And yeah, Jomar''s storypletely checked out.


    This powerful buddy of his was Christian Felix Garciano, a political figure from a neutral party before the world ended¡ªbut not on the same level as Iskoh¡ªand the reason he was helping Benjamin Crisologo was he owed him tons of cash when he was starting to climb the politicaldder, and it was one of those things where a bit of lying, guilt, and gaslighting was involved in order for him to be convinced to wage war with one of his enemies.


    But Jomar doesn''t know a single fucking thing about my connection to the guy because and neither did Benjamin.


    And right now, they were still in the information-gathering stage of their n while I was already nning on how to turn that piece of territory into something useful once I was done with that asshole.


    At this moment, Jomar who was sitting right in front of me never looked happy because I never looked happy myself once Mr. Garciano picked up the call for me because the number Jomar gave me worked.


    Furthermore, I was singing Jomar praises for finally bridging the connection between us because back then, we were just talking through a proxy and he really wanted to meet with the person who Darelle and Trisha were working with.


    But yeah, the moment we ended the call on a high note, Jomar breathed a sigh of relief as he started to apologize and tell me all sorts of things that could benefit "us" with our new partnership, but all the lights in his eyes dimmed down right when my knife went through our table while his right hand was right between them.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! W-WHAT¡ª F-FUCK! FUCK! W-WHAT DID I¡ª I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING! I-I FUCKING TOLD YOU EVERYTHING, D-DIDN''T I?! W-WHY¡ª W-WHY DID YOU¡ª"


    I cut him off with an eerie smile, "Put my knife through your hand?"


    "Y-YES! FUCK YOU¡ª NO, I-I¡ª W-WHY''D YOU HAVE TO DO THIS, YOU F¡ª AHHH! SHIT! D-DO I PULL IT OUT OR¡ª"


    "You''re being too loud Jomar, did you think you''de out of this unscathed?"


    "Y-YEAH¡ª I-I MEAN NO, B-BUT¡ª HNGH¡ª I-IT REALLY H-HURTS, MAN! FUCK! D-DO¡ª I-I CAN''T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT¡ª"


    "Hah! You can''t even think straight? For real?! I thought you weren''t thinking straight the moment you followed that fuck''s orders and tried to mess with me! We offered helping hands to everybody once we got the ball rolling! Aw, gee~ I''m sorry, we didn''t help you that time but who''s gonna help a fucking asshole that wanted to take half our shit the moment we lent them a hand, huh?!


    Can you fucking answer that for me, Jomar?!"


    "B-BUT I TRIED TO HELP YOU NOW, S-SIR! I-I¡ª"


    He stopped whatever he was trying to say when he saw me pull a bandaid from my medpack:


    "Here. I''m sorry for stabbing your hand but I''m gonna help you with this bandaid¡ª"


    "W-WHAT¡ª I-I¡ª"


    "Confused? I am too, Jomar, I''m confused too. You did make things a little bit easier for me but even without your help you fucks stood no chance against us. And to think that some of the resources we handed over to your powerful friendnded over to you guys fucking infuriates me.


    But yeah, aside from trespassing and bribery among other things you fucks slighted me with, we could probably add petty thievery or even grandrceny into the mix, huh?"


    "W-WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?! I-I DON''T HAVE THE F-FINAL SAY A-AND I''M JUST¡ª"


    "What do I want you to do? Quick question: do you wanna walk out of here alive or nah?"


    "W-WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I-I''M TRYING MY BEST HERE! C-CAN I GET THE KNIFE OUT O-OR WHAT?!"


    "Jomar, I don''t like your tone¡­ Better fix that up or I''ll have another knife buried in ya¡ª But listen: If you could pull your hand out of that knife without uttering a noise within a certain decibel, I''ll let you live. But if you try to pull the knife out, I''ll hammer it back in until you satisfy me. Do try to be fucking quick about it though because you''re bleeding¡­ Oh! The bandaid might help¡­"

 Chapter 1035: Mind Break

    As soon as I said that, Jomar looked at me like there was a .0001% chance that I''d be joking at this very moment because to give a clearer image of how I stabbed his fucking hand, it wasn''t parallel or adjacent to the webbing of his fingers butpletely sideways and stuck between his index and ring finger¡ªwhere his middle finger was definitely out of the picture.


    Furthermore, the only way he could pull his hand out of my knife was to pick a finger to further break, then ripping the rest of his hand even more, and hoping it hadn''t lost most of its function.


    But yeah, the guy might''ve grown himself a mustache for staring at me this long so I gave him a little preview of what''s toe by nudging the handle of my knife, burying it a millimeter deeper.


    "AHHHHH¡ª FUCK! F-FUCK! FUCK! HAA¡ª HAA¡­ HA¡­ F-FUCK! SHIT! W-WHY DO YOU HAVE TO D-DO THIS?!"


    I scoffed as I rolled my eyes, "I could say the same thing to you but if you can''t even do this much, we could stop wasting each other''s time and I''ll¡ª"


    "WAIT! W-WAIT! WAIT! I''LL DO IT! I-I''LL DO IT, ALRIGHT?! J-JUST¡ª F-FUCK!


    HAA¡ª F-FOO¡ª HAPFOO~ I-I''M GONNA DO IT! I-I''M¡ª"


    Right as he hyped himself up, the maniacal look on his face coupled with desperation was a little admirable, but as he tried to attempt how a knight moves in chess to get himself out of this tricky situation, all he managed to do from all his screaming was make him bleed even more without evenpletely breaking either of his index or ring finger.


    If I were in the same situation, I''d take a deep breath before using my free hand to violently push or pull my other arm on either side to do everything in one go. I wouldn''t even attempt a clean break because, at that point, my hand waspletely fucked and the only thing I could do for myself was to put all my energy into my first attempt than tire myself out.


    But yeah, it was only good on paper¡ªnot if I was actually in that situation¡ªbut Jomar was so fucking out of it, his first attempt was trying to make a bigger wound channel from pulling his whole body away opposite me and the knife as if he was trying to cut a piece of bread with the fucking handle.


    Hepletely wasted all that energy from screaming while he had this constant debuff of bleeding out¡ªbut he suddenly had this moment of brilliance when he discovered the knife I stabbed his hand with had his inch or two of a saw-like edge on the opposite side of the de, right by the handguard.


    Then again, this idea looked so fucking good on paper but in real fucking life, it''d be much, much easier to do my first idea than to saw his fucking hand off by moving his hand only a few centimeters up and down because he only had so much clearance.


    If he didn''t bleed out from this idea of his, I bet he''d pass out first either from the pain or simply from bleeding out.


    Though I did give him a little bit of help by pouring water from my canteen, but it was more so that I could have a clearer view¡ªlike surgeons would¡ªbecause there was definitely a lot of blood blocking this particr y.


    However, doing that after everything between me and Jomar was going on fucked something in his head as he never looked more thankful from that little gesture:


    "T-Thank you, s-sir! I-I''ll never forget this¡ª I-I believe I-I-I can do i-it much better now¡ª I-I won''t fail you! S-See?! I-I''m doing it! I-I''M DOING IT! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As he wasughing maniacally while moving his hand up and down my de, I felt a little unnerved to bepletely honest, but breaking his mind like this did get him out of this predicament though let''s just say he went a little too far.


    "S-See, sir?! See! I-I couldn''t d-do this w-without you! Y-You saved me! I-I''m finally out! I''M FINALLY OUT!


    WAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Jomar never looked so happy as he waved his hand around¡ªwhich was already missing three fingers¡ªbecause the motherfucker just went to fucking war and went ahead on sawing half his hand off instead of at least saving his pinky¡ªor even his ring finger by finagling-wiggling the knife at angles.


    He didn''t have topletely rip the dangling parts of his hand off but he just did so to "appease" me, but like Quinn in regards to her time dominating men, I find it very off-putting or I''d immediately lose interest when the person I''m trying to have the most difficult time of his life enjoy it.


    So the moment he tried to offer his free hand for a handshake to thank me, Jomar saw a brief glint of metal before his head slid off his neck.


    I expected a lot more blood spurting out but the blood on the table could probably fill two to three blood bags if we somehow found a way to gather them.


    In any case, I wiped my de and knife off his filth before requesting a team to somehow find some use for his remains but with the amount of alcohol, nicotine, and unprotected sex he was having, the best use we''d have for him was to nourish our soil.


    But yeah, at this point, I think that I didn''t have to waste any more time with Bordz because he was up next, and even though I would have loved to release some more of my anger and stress in the form of torturing the ones who wronged me, I felt like I should save a bit more of it to the actual perpetrator because he''ll have more than a knife through his hand the moment he discovered that today, out of all the times he could fuck up, he fucked up real bad by choosing this particr moment.

 Chapter 1036: Sad Revenge Plot

    But before everything would''ve been all said and done, Mr. Crisologo''s ce wasn''t all just bad guys and whatnot because a good majority of them wereplete civilians who were tasked to do hardbor among other "annoying" and "boring" things to do in the apocalypse.


    And as per my conversation with Mr. Garciano, he had some of his troops posted over in Mr. Crisologo''s base, and we''d only have to take care of a dozen or so soldiers and the head honcho that bore a grudge.


    This would be the most embarrassing and sad revenge story ever but despite all that, we were bringing a few cavalries to deal with these fucks.


    So, fast forward a couple of hours, I was looking at a few disys showing different POVs when our Killdozer made a fucking entrance like the Kool-Aid man from themercials. And before it even broke through that part of the wall, Mr. Crisologo''s men tried everything to take it down but to no avail.


    And to add insult to injury, I was already in the same frequency they were using tomunicate with each other and Mr. Garciano already gave me the reigns tomand his soldiers who were on the inside.


    Not only did they inform me of Mr. Crisologo''s exact location, but they also managed to gather almost everyone who was in cahoots with their temp leader in one ce, which coincidentally was the area where the Killdozer broke through.


    ''Giving those fucks automatic rifles made them feel invincible, eh?''


    Granted they probably wasted a few hundred rounds attempting to pierce through inches of concrete and solid metal, but I''d rather have them choose that inanimate object as their target instead of my people.


    Everything was over in less than 30 minutes and it was fucking funny to me because we spent more time preparing and calling over everyone to participate for the battle to end so one-sidedly because there was nothing more stupid than getting shot in the back of the head from the people you thought were theirrades.


    The Killdozer and the several drones flying overheadpletely distracted them from the actual threat and the ones who weren''t in the fray were already put down silently or violently either by the soldiers I was givenmand of or by the civilians who knew about our attack and tried to switch sides.


    It was pretty obvious that they wanted new leadership and would dly have anyone else besides that slimy fuck, but that woulde a littleter because the biggest surprise of this afternoon was for Mr. Crisologo himself.


    The reason I didn''t have the Killdozer breach their only gate was for a chance for him to escape and seek asylum with only a few of his trusted aides.


    Hepletely left his people to "die" by my hands and I have definite proof of this because not only was I hearing his distraught voice through my earpiece, it was also being broadcasted to the speakers we mounted at the back of the Killdozer so we could kill more than two birds with one stone:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FELIX! FELIX! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME, YOU FUCK! I DON''T KNOW HOW BUT WE''VE BEEN MADE¡ª FUCK! IT''S PROBABLY THOSE FUCKS I SENT OVER TO GET TO KNOW THOSE DUMB GUARDS!


    HOW COULD THEY FUCK THIS UP?! WE''RE HEADING OVER TO ONE OF YOUR CHECKPOINTS NOW! I''M GONNA NEED AN ESCORT! BE FUCKING QUICK ABOUT IT OR I''LL SMACK YOU AND YOUR WIFE YOU FUCK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Mr. Garciano''s voice came through the same channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t worry, alright¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DON''T WORRY?! YOU HAVEN''T SEEN THE FIREPOWER THAT KID HAS AND HE SENT OVER EVERYTHING! I LOST ALL MY GUARDS AND I''M SORRY YOUR GUARDS HAD TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES! IT''S JUST A SACRIFICE THAT I HAD TO MAKE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [And your people? How about them¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCK ''EM! I GAVE THEM ALL OF THAT SHIT AND NO ONE EVEN STOOD UP TO FIGHT FOR ME! I ONLY BROUGHT A COUPLE OF MY BITCHES HERE WITH ME AND FOR GIVING ME AN OUT, I''LL HAVE YA GET IN WITH ONE OF THEM¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m sorry but I am married¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHO FUCKIN'' CARES?! I CHEAT ON MY WIFE ALL THE TIME¡ª I think no one''s following us, I think we lost them¡ª HOW IS IT ON YOUR CHECKPOINT?! IS MY ESCORT READY?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I luckily have my ''best group'' closeby and I already ordered them to meet with you. They''ll probably arrive there shortly¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [TELL THEM TO HURRY THE FUCK UP THEN! DON''T THEY KNOW WHO I AM?! WE''RE REALLY CLOSE! WE WOULD''VE BEEN THERE IF THIS FUCKING DRIVER COULD DRIVE ANY FASTER!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s really unfortunate, don''t stress though. I just received word that they''re already there and my best guy out there is driving this really cool Raptor, I believe your very familiar with those trucks.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A FUCKING RAPTOR?! HAH! WHO FUCKING DRIVES THOSE NOWADAYS?! HAD TO OVERCOMPENSATE FOR SOMETHING, RIGHT¡ª Hold on¡­ Why¡ª Why does that look¡ª HOLD ON! HOLD ON! HEY, YOU FUCK!


    DRIVE BACK! DRIVE BACK! WHA¨C WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM?! FELIX! FELIX! YOU FUCK!


    HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! OUT OF ALL THE¡ª FELIX! FUCKING ANSWER ME YOU FUCK! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As Mr. Crisologo was losing his fucking mind, I was still at the back of my Raptor¡ªa different one from the one he saw us usest time¡ªbut it almost had the same attachments even if the paint waspletely different.


    It didn''t take him long to piece two and two together but it was already toote when he was ordering his driver to go back because Artem and Tatiana''s HuNovelBinees had already blocked their exit path, and as of this moment, I drove thest nail to his coffin as I spoke with a friendly tone through their supposed private call:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, the one driving that asshole''s piece of shit luxury car, if you switch sides right now, I''ll let everyone else besides that fuck live and I''ll let you have a punch in before you won''t be able to recognize him."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Though Mr. Crisologo answered, seething with rage:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I KNOW IT WAS YOU, YOU FUCK! REMEMBER ME?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU''RE MESSING WITH! YOU THINK THAT FELIX IS THE ONLY FRIEND¡ª NO, FUCK THAT! YOU THINK HE''S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH?! IF YOU LET ME GO RIGHT NOW, I PROMISE TO¡ª HEY!


    HEY! HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU ANSWER TO ME, YOU FUCK! I OWN YOU! Y-YOU FUCKING BITCHES, WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?!


    DO YOU WANNA DIE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    It only took a second before everyone that Mr. Crisologo took with him to safety turned against him because that''s the only way they''d survive though it was a little amusing to see their sedan criss-cross this narrow road without actually hitting anything while a scuffle inside ensued.


    However, it didn''t take long before the bitch himself was in front of me and on his knees¡ªwith several scratches and bruises¡ªstill eyeing me like he could somehow turn the tables around.

 Chapter 1037: Pause - Meeting Mr. Garciano

    I''ve never seen such a person to hold a grudge for this long but still be this fucking stupid to know his limits because if he had done his information gathering even before having the balls to finally go after me, he should''ve fucking known that even with his "buddy''s" help, Mr. Garciano, there was no chance in hell they''d be able toe out victorious.


    ''Unless¡­ There''s a valid reason for him being this so sure of himself¡­''


    But yeah, I could only shake my head from that thought because at this point, unless an almighty being descended to interfere, there was no chance in hell he''d get out of this situation.


    Though I am curious about the rest of his friends whom he was so vocal about:


    "Alright, you probably know how this goes but¡ª"


    The motherfucker suddenly spat on my face then grinned while a mix of blood and spit was flowing from his mouth that had recently lost a few pieces of his teeth, "I ain''t begging for my life, you smug fucking shit! YOU THINK YOU''RE ALL THAT?! YOU THINK FELIX''S THE ONLY ONE I''M FRIENDS WITH?! HUH?! THINK AGAIN! YOU DON''T HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I''M¡ª Huh?


    Is that my¡­ ear?"


    At that moment, I was politely listening to his little rant but the moment I finally wiped my face off his filth, I simply relocated his right ear from his head to the pavement with a quick draw¡ªand he only noticed what just happened when he felt the warm trickle of his blood flowing down on his neck, shoulder, and chest.


    Not to be a sexist degenerate but I''d take anything thates out from a woman except for blood, of course, but if I received blood that came from this mouthbreather''s loud hole that god knows where it had been? Losing an ear would''ve been the least of his worries.


    But yeah, I did give him a few seconds to scream and scramble to somehow stick his ear back to where it should be without any adhesive¡ªthough I''m slightly regretting my actions because I should''ve picked a different thing to slice off because I''d really need people to listen to me when I''m talking to them and doing this to him decreased his listening abilities by half if there was ever any.


    This type of person only knows how to talk and force orders onto other people who they think were lower than them but let''s just say I''m a very patient man when ites to dealing with such assholes and hearing them scream was just one of life''s greatest pleasures.


    However, right as I was about to continue our little talk, a small convoy rolled up from behind us before I heard a voice in my earpiece:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I hope I''m not thatte to the party, am I?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Hearing that, it didn''t take long before a man probably in his 50s came out from the SUV behind us and he was wearing casual clothing but with the appropriate protection like a vest, a helmet, and some thick military boots. He also had a war belt with a sidearm, a couple of magazines, a knife, etc on it but it seemed like he was more reliant on the soldiers who were protecting him from all sides.


    ''Is that Mr. Garciano?''


    This man didn''t seem to have any outstanding features besides this look of curiosity as he examined the scene before him but there was this thing where he looked so groomed and tidy with the freshly-cut hair, unblemished face, and this well-cut mustache¡ªbut even his skin even looked like they weren''t touched by the sun, only now, and his nails were trimmed at the right length.


    And from the corner of his war belt, I noticed this thing that appeared to be this hand sanitizer of sorts which said a lot because it gave me a general idea of what he was like. However, it seemed like he was profiling me in some way as well because we caught ourselves looking at each other for more than a few seconds which made me stifle augh.


    But our brief moment of judging each other ended when he let out a faint smile and spoke with a normal tone:


    "I believe you''re Mr. Ishiyama¡ª"


    But before he could finish his question, Mr. Crisologo mustered the strength to jump up from his position to rush the "traitor" but there just ain''t no fucking way he''d get past me as his temple got hit by my katana''s kashira¡ªpommel cap¡ªbefore he hit the ground unconscious.


    The side of his head just had this little indent from where I struck him but I turned to Ibarra to ask him to secure our little package forter:


    "Tie him up and bring his ear. I''m gonna use thatter¡­"


    He never looked so disturbed, "F-For what, exactly?"


    "What would you do if I cut off your dick and waved it in front of you while¡ª"


    "Stop. STOP! I get it! Of course, I''ll get mad!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at him, "Exactly!" then I turned to Kaley, "Catch up with everyone in Mr. Crisologo''s ce and see how they''re doing. Tell them to just follow the protocol and we''ll get back to them in a few."


    "Okay!"


    With that said, when I turned around to meet with the person who partially helped us make this rushed operation of sorts seed, considering his little quirk, I just gave him a respectful nod instead of offering a handshake:


    "Mr. Garciano? I''m Sky Ishiyama, it''s very nice to finally meet you."


    His smile then grew wider as he nodded the same way, "It''s very nice to finally meet you too! I''ve heard things, good and bad, amazing and terrifying from different people but never did I think that those two amazingly good and terrifyingly bad people were actually one and the same! I would''ve loved to shake your hand but¡ª"


    "I understand, I see no problem. But what do you think?"


    "A-About what?"


    "Am I that amazingly good or that terrifyingly bad?"


    "Hmm~ I don''t really want to damper our rtionship even more because I WAS that guy''s aplice, foolishly enough, but I''m gonna be honest and say that u-umm¡­ both."


    "Both?"


    "Yes, both. Both amazingly good and terrifyingly bad. I''d really, really not want you as an enemy."


    "Is that so?"


    "I really don''t want to make excuses now but if I didn''t owe Benjamin from the past and if I wasn''t that afraid of him, because of his connections, I would''ve shut him out and continued on with our own thing. Ah¡ª This ce is a little inconvenient to talk, would you mind relocating for a bit?"


    ''Because of his connections, huh? I guess we''ll find out more soon enough¡­''


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama?"


    "Sorry, I''m just with my thoughts for a moment there¡­"


    "Don''t apologize, rather, I should¡ª"


    "I think you shouldn''t either, at least for now¡­ But yeah, relocation~ How about this gatedmunity that just opened up? Like literally? I guess we could talk there and wee a few of our new people, no?"


    "Our?"


    "I don''t know about you but we''re in some sort of alliance now, no? I believe we are, even before this."

 Chapter 1038: Blame

    Hearing me say that, Mr. Garciano stifled augh before he nodded a few times and looked back at me. He seemed to be altering his initial thoughts of me just from this exchange but it didn''t take long before we made our way to Mr. Crisologo''s ex-property. From the looks of it, Mr. Garciano''s soldiers worked well with mine to ensure that all the civilians were made aware of the current situation.


    However, they couldn''t contain their anger and grief the moment they discovered that the one who caged them in this ce was still alive in the back of my truck though they were a little taken aback from seeing his injuries.


    I''m pretty sure that they all wanted a piece of Mr. Crisologo right now but I still had some business with him, to say the least, though I was surprised to see that a few civilians remembered me from myst visit months ago:


    "H-Hey! Y-You''re that kid! Y-You''re the one that¡ª"


    "I REMEMBER YOU! YOU''RE THE ONE WHO KILLED ALL THOSE ZOMBS BEFORE!"


    "YEAH! I REMEMBER NOW, TOO! H-He saved us again!"


    "B-But what''s gonna happen now?! A-Are you gonna leave us a-again?"


    "Please! We''ve suffered long enough! We need a¡ª"


    I waved them off before I spoke with a clear tone:


    "Alright, one at a time but before you say anything, as of right now, Mr. Crisologo and his minions won''t be leading this ce anymore. Instead, you''ll be given a few choices: First, you can leave now and go wherever the hell you want and we''re not gonna stop you. Second, You can sign up with me and live a new life¡ªand even though I''m not yet familiar with the things Mr.


    Crisologo put you through, I''m not a pushover and I''ll still put you to work to earn your keep. That''s just the way things go but third and final: you can sign up with Mr. Garciano¡ª Hmm? Why do you all look like that¡ª Ah¡­"


    ''Figures¡­''


    Hearing Mr. Garciano''s name, even if his soldiers did help them in their predicament, it was also true that they followed Mr. Crisologo''s orders to do whatever he wanted them to do so it was pretty obvious that they had this aversion to hearing his name and even interacting with his guards at the moment. However, to everyone''s surprise, Mr.


    Garciano stepped up and gave everyone a deep bow as he apologized:


    "First and foremost, I understand the reaction towards me because I did work with him for the past few months but like all of you here, I unfortunately owed him as such and I''m deathly afraid of the guy and his friends¡­ Not only in what they could do to me but what they could also do to my family.


    It was a coward''s choice, that I admit, but my familyes first every single time and I''d also advise all of you to work with this young man because he was also the reason I was back up to my feet¡­ Though unfortunately, it¡ª N-Nevermind that part¡­ I owed him a lot just as much as you all do but I''d be willing to help for as much as I could within my power¡­"


    ''Did he allude to me helping him also helped Mr. Crisologo''s revenge plot? It''s true in a sense but a sly way of hiding the truth¡­ Fuck it¡ª''


    As I decided to have the truthe out from me instead, even if it was superseding his choice to hide it, I noticed the faint smile on Mr. Garciano''s lips when he figured out what I was about to do.


    Though I ignored that particr choice of action before I addressed everyone once again:


    "Here''s the whole truth though before you all decide to do anything. Mr. Crisologo''s reign over you guys is over but there''s this little detail that you have to know before you decide to sign up with me: In an indirect way, my party''s also to me for what happened because as I helped Mr. Garciano back up to his feet, it indirectly helped Mr. Crisologo to have a much better noose around your necks.


    But ultimately, that fucker should''ve used the blessings he received for good, and with all of that said, don''t expect an apology from me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The crowd had never worn soplicated expressions but I continued:


    "I never intended for any of this to happen but¡ª"


    Then the first round of resistance never arrived so fast:


    "No intention and apologies?! Like at all?! D-DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WE BARELY S-SCRAPED BY B-BECAUSE YOUR GROUPS TOOK EVERYTHING?! WE BARELY HAD ANYTHING TO SCAVENGE!" this middle-aged woman screamed at the top of her lungs while in tears.


    Then her husband(?) tried to shush her, "B-Brenda! Now''s not the time and the ce!"


    "T-THEN WHEN''S THE RIGHT TIME?! T-THESE¡­ T-THESE PEOPLE WERE THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR SUFFERING AND HOW DIFFERENT WOULD IT BE IF THEY HAD PART OF THIS ALTOGETHER?! THINK, JOHN! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF¡ª"


    I suddenly cut her off with a clear voice, "Alright, mark those two off to be sent elsewhere. Mauricio might take them. If you''re gonna me me and everyone else that happened besides yourself, I don''t have time to argue with you."


    The John dude tried to salvage the situation, "W-WAIT, PLEASE¡ª"


    But the Brenda dudette had more opinions to throw around, "THEN WHO''S TO BLAME THEN?! WE DIDN''T WISH FOR ANY OF THIS?! WE DIDN''T¡ª"


    Then I argued:


    "Exactly, bitch! We didn''t wish for any of this to happen! Who would fucking want a zombie apocalypse to ur?! Who would want to babysit a whiner like you?! We''re out here working on a n to move forward from all of this and you start yapping about the first chance you got! Who''d fucking take you at this point?!


    HUH?! ANSWER!"


    "A-AN APOLOGY WOULD''VE BEEN NICE!"


    "Fine! If that''s what it takes! I''m so~ fucking sorry for everything that''s happened to you¡ª" then I turned to Vera with a simple report of this ce''s operations, "What did she do here again?"


    Vera answered promptly, "Grew vegetables."


    I almostughed out loud before I turned back to our little ''victim'', "Right! I''m sorry you had to grow fucking vegetables for months¡ª I thought you were actually scavenging outside as you said, but that was a lie, huh?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    "Just what, hmm?"


    "I-I was just g-giving an example, my husband is¡ª"


    Vera cut in, "He was tasked on runs outside with a few others¡­"


    I turned to this John guy, "Good shit, bro," then I turned back to Brenda, "Have you heard your husbandin? I think he''s quite grateful, no?"


    "That''s¡­"


    As I was about to answer, Kaley just gave me a look before I had a small realization:


    ''Right¡­ I need to calm the fuck down¡­''


    So, I let out a deep sigh before I continued, "Look, you''re frazzled just as much as the next guy because a lot of things have happened this couple of hours but it''s gonna be different, alright? And if you still think otherwise, pick option one, what''s the problem? I''d even give you two a vehicle and a starter pack for your trip."


    "..."


    "And yeah: I''ll apologize again, and much sincerely, because I really don''t have any idea about what you guys went through but you gotta have an idea of what we went through as well. It''s the only way for us to see eye to eye and the only way for us to move forward.


    But the thing is, we''ll be building up thismunity to something much better but if you don''t want any part of it, as I''ve said for the third time, you can go."

 Chapter 1039: Why dont you all take a look around?

    With how my brain works, I''d very much prefer to follow the n Iid out for the day than what we were currently doing but since the change was actually needed, I was now operating with a higher chance of blowing up due to minor inconveniences.


    The feeling was akin to thinking about the meal you were nning to eat once you get home but one of your friends or family members decided to eat it without saying anything.


    But yeah, my assumption with this group we saved was that they''d be all thankful for what we''ve done with them but since there were unforeseen circumstances that led to me and whatnot to get thrown around, I almost threw out actual victims by simply disagreeing with me.


    Sure, Brenda did make a few valid points in regards to the "free" items we''ve repossessed outside but it didn''t mean that those things belonged to her or everyone should be mindful of what they were taking.


    It would''ve been great, of course, but no one in their right mind in this type of setting would do just that, and it was like those helicopter parents that would me the school or their sportsmittee because their kid didn''t score as many points as the school''s MVP.


    There was no other way to put it because that was just how it goes but they also shouldn''t bite the hand that was about to feed them, because not only would they look like the most ungrateful human beings on this, but they''d also look like whiney little fucks that wanted everything to be handed to them in a silver tter just because they fucking grew vegetables for months.


    Then again, the only way to move forward was to move past my anger and for them to move past their victim mentality, or else we''d aplish nothing, and a slimy fuck like Mr. Crisologo would take up the reins again and continue his work.


    And that was what we just did.


    For a few minutes, we tried to clear the air for a little bit as everyone else tried to calm down and see the what-ifs now that the fucker missing an ear was tied on the back of my truck, and it didn''t take long before I addressed everyone else once again:


    "Here''s how it''s gonna go: the first thing we''d do in this ce is to redistribute all of the wealth Mr. Crisologo had to all of you but if you really want to be fair with everyone else¡ª"


    One of the civilians raised his hand so I stopped myself:


    "Yeah?"


    "I''m Justin, by the way¡ª"


    "What''s up, Justin?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I love the idea but shouldn''t we start on fixing up the w-wall? I-I don''t wanna be that guy but¡ª"


    "Hah! Be that guy, I love it. You see, I''m just waiting for one of you to address the elephant in the room and that''s right, I broke it, I''ll fix it. You don''t have to worry about that at all but I did break that particr wall for a reason."


    "F-For a reason?"


    "Yep. Having two entrances/exits would require more guards but this ce is too fucking big to just have one entrance for people toe and go. Furthermore, that particr area was one of this ce''s blindspot because it''s opposite your main gate and beyond that is tons of closed-up shops and whatnot that had those frilly or obstructing signs that made my Killdozer drop in as a surprise.


    Not that discovering it early would''ve done anything to it because it''s that you know¡­ tanky¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize, I''m starting to like you but yeah¡­ The bulk of our guards would usually be ced by the gates and having another one right on your blindspot is like having eyes on the back of your head. But in the future, it would do you good to have a group tear down those signs and have roadblocks to either slow down or divert the dead''s march toward your ce.


    Any more questions regarding the hole I made for you?"


    "N-No, sir. I''m good, thanks."


    I nodded, "Alright, before we discuss Mr. Crisologo''s wealth¡ª Vera, the¡ª thanks! I don''t wanna pile on more shit for you guys to get angry on that fucker, but aside from the supply he had on his truck that couldst him for months, he had a significant stash of canned goods, luxury items, medicine, not a lot of guns, water, gas, etc. in his fucking attic AND his basement.


    Seems like he''s holding out on all of you, huh? That shit couldst all of you several months with your number¡ª maybe even a year or so if you ration them properly¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "How¡ª Why didn''t we know of this?!"


    "THAT''S WHY THOSE GUARDS OF HIS NEVER LEAVE HIS SIDE!"


    "I-I''m¡­ I''m gonna cry¡­"


    "FUCK!"


    Obviously enough, these people who looked like they''d kill a man for a full meal were mad as fuck that Mr. Crisologo made them do all the heavy work while he lived avish life with security and bitches, but I''d still need to give everyone else the reality of the situation.


    I waited for everyone else to calm down before I opened my mouth:


    "Can I speak now? Yes? And here''s the thing: Once we redistribute all of Mr. Crisologo''s resources to all of you here, you''d probably eat like kings for five months or so but then what?"


    One of them who looked like a woman in her 40s responded, "W-What do you mean?"


    "I mean, I''m gonna help you fix this wall, provide security for a time but what are you gonna do while that''s happening? Again, I did say you''d have to earn your keep. I haven''t had your name yet¡ª"


    "Amanda. The name''s Amanda."


    "Oh? We also have an Amanda back home, a great agriculturalist, who grows these tasty mushrooms¡ª but anyway, I''d hate to say this but you''d have to continue what you were doing before but in a slightly different way. You catch my drift?"


    John asked, "C-Can you please borate?"


    "Sure! Why don''t you all take a look around?"

 Chapter 1040: What do you get out of this?

    As I asked all of them to look around in the ce they''d been for months, probably even longer if they were a long-time homeowner, they looked at me confused initially before the realization hit that the ce they''ve known to love and worked so hard for to call their own was just a smidge of what it used to be.


    This ce was essentially just a collection of fancy houses around this 14-foot concrete wall that only had a basketball court, tennis court, and a multipurpose hall to keep things "interesting".


    But now, it had random shit all around and everyone else''swn had turned into this hodge-podge of random crops nted asymmetrically with a few chickens or ducks running around with a dog or two.


    Even one of the houses was burned to the ground for some reason¡ªwhich we weren''t responsible for¡ªbut there were more that looked like a crack house of sorts due to the attacks it failed to fend for long ago.


    But yeah, the house that stood above the rest was definitely Mr. Crisologo''s because not only did it had a separate wall made of chain-linked fences with a tarp cover, but it also had the fancy stuff any survivor could ask for like sr panels, flood lights, and a fuck ton of resources my team recovered beforehand.


    It was safe to say that this ce needed more than its hole in the wall to be fixed but the gatedmunity as a whole.


    This would just be a ton of work and it would''ve been much, much better if they moved back to my ce, but somehow, I doubt that was ever going to happen. Above all else, these homeowners still had pride for the amount of work they put in to build or pay for their homes and that was one of the reasons they didn''t leave this ce the moment we cleared it off a few hundred zomb-fuckers.


    Even if a fucking dictator-dumbass were to lead them, they wouldn''t want to leave the ce they called home.


    But yeah, as they werementing the fact of what happened in the span of time they were living in tyranny, it obviously got emotional for them, but these people have stuck it all this time, they obviously wouldn''t stop now that they had the freedom to do what they want.


    "Had a good look? Yeah? Here''s what''ll happen, in the span of a month or two, I''ll have my builders, soldiers, and whatnot rebuild this ce from the ground up but if you have a particr set of skills that could help them, step the fuck up so it''d be much easier for us.


    Aside from turning that wall into a gate, we''d turn some of the vacant lots and houses to be dedicated facilities for farming, crafts, soldiers, fixing up vehicles,munications, etc. This ce will be one of my outposts and the requirement for that is it should be able to survive and live on its own."


    Mr. Garciano interjected, "I do look forward to this, can my soldiers stay for the time being?"


    I nodded, "Of course, they''ll be well-fed and taken care of as everyone else''s from now on, but that''s contingent they keep their bodies in tip-top shape as they could finish our trainee''s course every single day.


    And in regards to people like John over there who goes on runs, as this ce is getting built from the ground up, you can join one of my clearing or scouting groups to see how we do things and they''ll teach you a lot of stuff in killing deadheads and finding things in the weirdest of ces."


    "How about me?" Brenda, the one who grew vegetables, raised her hand.


    "Well, what did you do before the world ended?" I asked earnestly.


    "Sales."


    "In what?"


    "P-Pretty much anything. I do livestreams at home and just sell a bunch of stuff. Anything that''s trending that time, I''ll get my hands on it until it fades."


    "Hmm~ Here''s another question: What do YOU wanna do now?"


    "..."


    "Brenda. You work in sales, you gotta be able to sell yourself¡ª"


    She never looked so shocked, "WHAT?! I''M NOT¡ª"


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck! That''s not¡ª Wrong choice of words, but you know what I meant. It just came out wrong, alright?" then I turned to my group at the back, "Stopughing!


    I know it''s funny but¡ª Haa¡­" then I turned to Brenda again, "On an unrted note, we do have people working in that type of industry¡ªdefinitely consensual on their part and everyone''s getting tested the whole she-bang¡ªbut if you''re having trouble finding the right path, I''d suggest doing about everything else my camp has to offer and decide from there."


    "A-Aren''t there any jobs that require my expertise?"


    "Hmm~ At the moment? No. It''s because we have a fixed rate¡ªit varies still sometimes but very negligible¡ªfor trading goods with each of our outposts and allies, but it''s a different thing if our scouting groupes across a friend or neutral camp that has items for trade."


    "C-Can''t I juste with a scouting group?"


    "How many walkers have you killed?"


    "W-What?"


    "That''s probably zero. How many humans have you killed?"


    "That''s¡­ I don''t understand the connection."


    I sighed as I shook my head, "That''s the thing. You should be able to understand at least that for you to be eligible to travel with a scouting group outside. Ask your husband, he''s probably familiar with it. But other than that, you''d also have to pass our fitness test, and I don''t mean this in any other derogatory way but you and your husband had to fucking eat a bit more now that you''re with us.


    Not only will your bodies thank you but you''ll have a higher chance ofing back if you have proper nutrition and sleep. Don''t worry, we''ll take care of that as well¡­ you won''t be overworked as much."


    Then one of the guys who was the same age as them who kept quiet most of the time raised his hand:


    "Excuse me? Gary here¡­ I appreciate all you''ve done for us and I don''t wanna be pessimistic but what do you get out of this? This is a lot of investment for a group you didn''t even give a second look before."


    I nodded with a smile, "Of course, I''ll get something out of this. I ain''t doing this shit for free."


    He nodded with a bitter smile, "Of course¡­"


    "Let''s be realistic here. The reason I''m taking all of you in¡ªeven though I couldn''t give much of a fuckst time¡ªbecause right now, I can fucking do it. Last time? I was only managing the same 50-ish people in thepound I built with my old friend from scratch.


    And since now you probably signed up with me, you''re the newest addition to my few thousand loyal and happy individuals whom I take care of like family. I had a little spat with some of them earlier because some of you dared to case us out but we''re working on it.


    But to answer your question: I''ll give you all of these things and the only thing I''ll ask in return is a little cut and to not fuck this up. Can you all do that for me?"

 Chapter 1041: 30% - Can I be brutally honest?

    As I said that, everyone from this camp was more or less convinced to be under my wing though we did discuss the rest of the specifics while my builders started toe in droves. It was to patch up the hole in the wall for this afternoon and build its new solid gate then eventually mounting it first thing in the morning.


    Other than that, my old truck also came in driven by Unc Zardon and it carried a top-up of sorts for the items they''d need moving further.


    Granted I said that once we divvied up Mr. Crisologo''s stash, they''d have enough for five months to a year, but that doesn''t mean that they''d only need food to "live" like normal humans.


    To further supplement their supplies, we parted with some fruiting bags, different varieties of seedlings, a couple of vermposting bins, misceneous tools, toiletries, cleaning products, a few sets of clothing, footwear, a cage of rabbits, books, electronics, etc.


    But in addition to these people whom we had just taken in, I gave some goodie bags and minor upgrades¡ªin regards to their loadout¡ªto the soldiers that belonged to Mr. Garciano, who were on the inside when it all went down. Andst but not the least, I handed over Mr.


    Garciano a few boxes of specialty products that I thought he''d very much appreciate and I thought that he damn near lost his mind when he offered me a handshake.


    "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I DIDN''T THINK YOU''D HAVE THIS! I-IT''S INCREDIBLE!"


    Quinn had to chime in, "That¡­ moisturizer?"


    Mr. Garciano had never nodded so fast, "Yes! And this soap! This perfume! This aftershave! Everything!


    I''m a huge follower of this product line! I-It''s made with all-natural ingredients and it still baffles me to this day as to how they could grow a business this big with barely any advertisements at all! Well¡ª They''re not as big as the top brands but they could be bigger if they do it the right way!"


    ''The Rivas Family''s that good, huh?''


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Why''d you need advertising for if the product could speak for itself? Fuck themmercials if you already have top shelf¡ª"


    "You took the words out of my mouth! To be honest, I started saving up on all my products and had to supplement them with the riff-raff but this couldn''t havee at a better time! I really did wish they expanded so they''d have more of this stuff on the shelves in the malls but s, I''ll treasure these products until the lost drop¡­"


    Tatiana then came up from behind as she rested her elbow by my shoulders, "You gotta tell him now, correct?"


    Mr. Garciano turned to us while testing one of the moisturizers, "T-Tell me what?"


    Long story short, we further secured our rtionship with Mr. Garciano and we already brokered a deal with him on the spot.


    Because with the people we had just taken in, our deal was to take a 30% cut among their harvests and scavenged goods until they paid for the top-up we gave them, then it would lower down to a 10-15% in the months right after.


    However, they would now be required to learn various skills to survive these times and send daily, weekly, and monthly reports all the while a representative should be attending our meetings bi-weekly.


    In Mr. Garciano''s case, the deal we made was that aside from supplying him the same thing I gifted him from the Rivas Family''s product line among other necessities they might need and vice versa, his soldiers in thismunity would be required to stay with a few of my own to buff up this ce''s security.


    Furthermore, I''ll be sending another group of people over to their ce to further rtions with his group and mine.


    Like with Mauricio and the Intercity, they weren''t necessarily under my wing but we were more like business partners who had a mutual benefit with each other.


    ''My initial goal was to upy cities along the coast but the city he''s in is right next to the dam where na is so that''s a good thing still¡­ All that''s left is to upy the City of North Caloocan and we''d have a general hold of almost a third of the National Capital Region and a bit of the Central Region, Region III¡­''


    With that said, even if we had more things to talk about, we thought that it''d be best if we could also sit down with Mauricio since the two were closer to each other, location-wise, and introducing him to Iskoh, Oscar, Ferdinand, Morales, and even the president shoulde at ater date.


    "He''s¡­ He''s one of the merchants in the Intercity, right?"


    "You know him?"


    "Not personally, no¡­ but we purchase rice from the same ce"


    "What did you trade in then?"


    "We''re known for being the highly-urbanized city around our parts but we can''t just carry around houses, can''t we?"


    "Not with that attitude, no."


    "Hah! In any case, even now, we have a huge surplus of building materials from the several projects that got halted when you know¡­ all this started¡ªand I know, I should''ve told you before you sent people fixing everything already but it could be part of our deal too if you needed a lot of I-beams, cement, and whatnot."


    I shook my head, chuckling, as I decided to be blunt, "You have this habit of keeping some things left unsaid, huh?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Then I suddenly smacked his shoulder and startedughing, "Don''t look too shocked, alright? How could you have known that we work this fast? Don''t worry about it."


    "Ahaha¡­ You scared me there for a moment, truly¡­"


    "Just a friendly reminder though."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''d rather be hurt by the truth than to be lied to. Omitting some stuff doesn''t work that well with me too. Do you understand where I''m getting at?"


    He nodded solemnly, "I do understand that but I''m not like you."


    "Oh? Do tell."


    "Can I be brutally honest?"


    "Now we''re talking. Go ahead."

 Chapter 1042: T-Thats it? - "Talking" with Mr. Garciano

    Mr. Garciano let out a huge sigh before he opened his mouth, "I''m just a family man trying to live his best life with his family. That''s it¡­"


    I turned to him and discovered that that was really it, no second paragraph, no nothing. I thought for sure he''d have this chapter-long story about himself but even if I appreciated how concise he was, I''m gonna need a little more.


    "Umm¡­ Okay? Care to borate on that?"


    "Should I?"


    "Dude. I''m trying to live my best life with everyone else here too but I only have a wife¡­ I technically don''t fully understand what a ''family man'' is¡­ no offense."


    "Hmm¡­ That''s fair. It simply means that I''ll do anything for them¡­"


    "Oh¡­ And?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Don''t tell me that''s it?"


    "That''s¡­ I thought you''d be able to understand it from that¡ª"


    "Do you need a fucking Snicker? A Milk-Dud? A Redbull? Are you saving energy for something? We''re not gonna have a fistfight after this, alright? And all I have of you right now are assumptions.


    We''re officially working with each other now so it''s a given we''d need to know about each other a little more than you being a little germophobe and forck of a better word, somewhat of a little bitch."


    He suddenly let out a small chuckle, "That''s not true at all¡­"


    "Which one?"


    "I''m the biggest germophobe out there and I''m also the coward of the country."


    "Isn''t that a song?"


    "You know Kenny Rogers?! Hah! How old are ya? Really? Aren''t I double your age?"


    "People double my age always refer to me as the ''Kid'', you aren''t, so¡ª"


    "I''m 52, now actually. And I don''t want to make it like I''m looking down on you by calling you a child¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª No, you got it wrong, ''Kid'', not ''child''. It''s just their form of endearment or something and I really don''t mind. And you''re really 52? Jesus fucking christ, moisturizers and lotions really do their thing, huh? Is that why you''re pale as fuck?"


    "I think you''re referring to sunblock¡ª"


    "Aren''t they the same thing?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m gonna pretend I didn''t hear that¡­ They''re not the same thing! How could you even say that?!"


    "Pfft¡­ Apologies, my bad¡­ I do use lotion from time to time¡ªmostly my hands to remove the calluses¡­"


    "Riiiiight¡­"


    "You¡ª I would''ve said I use it on my dick from time to time but there''s lube now, don''t it?! Don''t look at me like that! And sometimes, I even dry-stroke it! There! Happy?!"


    Mr. Garciano had the shock of his life but his face just warped to absolute goblin-mode, "HAHAHAHAHA! I can''t believe I''m having this conversation with you! Oh my fucking god, this is so¡ª Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "Heh, you think I''m embarrassed by admitting it, huh?! It''s a very normal thing, alright?"


    "I know, I know~ I was your age before¡ª but yeah¡­" then his face turned solemn once again, "All those things you said about me are true and irrefutable but that''s because being a coward was the only thing I could do so that my family could survive.


    But somehow, my people still stuck with me, even the ones who didn''t support me in thest election, because it really was a toss coin most of the time¡­ It''s very hard to bnce the coin right in the middle or make itnd on its side¡­"


    "True¡ª"


    "And to my knowledge, you were trying to do the same thing as I but were very sessful in almost all of your endeavors¡­"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I don''t want this to be my identity but it seemed like in my pursuit to achieve bnce, I''ve taken an equal number of wins and losses throughout my life¡­ It was mostly losses when everything started but it slowly bnced out when one of your scouting groups managed toe upon our small encampment before. We''ve grown a lot since then and I have you thank for all of that¡­"


    "I just supplied you with a few pick-me-ups, don''t give me all the credit. Where are you going with this?"


    "Hmm? Nothing, I''m just venting to you because I need to look strong for my wife¡­ We still need a bit of support from time to time¡ªand I''m just a little envious of you with all your aplishments. Compared to me¡ª"


    I waved him off, "It''s because I''m very OP, alright?"


    "OP? What¡ª"


    "You never yed games at all? It''s short for overpowered. And don''t startparing me with you, that''s a bad way of thinking. If you''re gonnapare yourself to someone,pare yourself to yourself yesterday. Look¡­ you were working with a dumbass yesterday but look at you now! Isn''t it night and day?!


    You would''ve been evading gunfire right about now if¡ª that''s a joke, a joke! Don''t look at me like that!"


    "Then how should I react to that?!"


    "You fucked up, alright?! I''m allowed to joke about it! That''s just how I am!"


    "Suuure¡­."


    "Cool. B-But yeah¡­ granted a little bit ofpetition is healthy, but there are also bad side effects too, right? Look at being a coward, for example, it has this bad connotation thates with being called one but you used that to survive this long.


    But look at being brave, it had all the positives thate with being called one but it could alsoe hand in hand with being reckless, stupid, etc. and a good number of our brave soldiers died in battle. Who''s to say being brave is a good thing anymore? Is being a coward really all that bad?"


    "Well¡­ which one are you?"


    "Me? I''m a coward¡ª"


    "Don''t spout bullshit right now¡ª"


    "I''m not. Listen. I''m a coward at times and I''m brave as fuck sometimes too. If Kaley''s mad? I''m a fucking bitch but if you put me against a thousand deadheads? Easy as pie.


    We''re kinda opposite in that regard because as you said you try to look strong for your wife. I''m the exact opposite. She''s the only one I can be weak to. Weird, right?"


    "..."


    "The thing is, it''s like youparing yourself to me, it''s like apples to oranges, boobs to asses, blondes to brtes to redheads, flight to invisibility, etc. I don''t even know where I''m getting at right now but that''s the type of conversation we''re having if we tryparing ourselves to other people. There are definite truths, sure, but what''s the point?"


    "I could argue that it depends on the way I''m looking at it. Knowing some of the stuff that I can''t do could make me work harder on it or other stuff, right?"


    "That''s the way to go unless you really wanna feel worse about yourself¡ªbecause you''re a tad pessimistic, no offense, but that line of thinking is where everybody should be at. Not the other way around¡­"


    "So you''re saying that we should only look at the positive?"


    "Eh~ Depends on what you want to achieve, actually¡­ We''vepletely derailed this conversation¡ªno, Ipletely derailed us. My bad¡ª"


    "Hah! It made meugh, that''s gotta count for something¡­ but what now? It''s almost sunset and I need to head back. As much as I would love to continue this talk, I only have a few moments to distract myself¡­"


    "Right. We''ll keep in touch but I''m gonna let Mr. Crisologo heal up a little bit more before questioning him regarding his allies. And then we''ll see from that."


    "I see. Do believe that he has friends all around the country but a good majority of them would flip just like me given the chance. He''s not as powerful as he waspared to back then but there''s just this fear that he ced in our heads that lets him do whatever he wants."


    "Alright. Comparing again, are we? Thanks for the info and I''m assuming you exceeded your quota of handshakes for the day? I''d dly offer one but¡ª"


    He shook his head as he chuckled, "I''m d you understand, and even though you look decent¡­ There are just things we c-cannot see that drive me nuts. It''s not a you thing but¡ª It''s a you thing, sorry¡­"


    "Hah! A simple nod will do."


    "Alright."


    "Cool."


    With that said, Mr. Garciano eventually said his goodbyes while we finished up a few things here with my crew.

 Chapter 1043: Pimpin Bitches

    From the time everyone else had worked with me, they could pretty much make decisions on their own except for times when it was really important so then they would either decide on something that was easily fixed or just wait for me and hold on to that thought for as long as possible.


    Granted there were a few exceptions, but even though there would sometimes be something that could''ve been easily decided on paper, they operate on the notion of what I would do in their ce.


    It wasn''t like they knew what I would do every single time because they''d been inside my head, but my decisions on most things tend to usually favor everyone''s safety and well-being.


    With that said, while keeping Mr. Crisologo still loopy for the remainder of our stay in this ce, there were three individuals on whom I still needed to make a final decision.


    They were "Beth" and "Cece" a.k.a. Mr. Crisologo''s bitches and "Eduardo" a.k.a. the driver.


    It was pretty obvious that even though they helped in his capture, everyone else from their camp hated their guts for being favored by our hostage in the back of my truck because he did bring them with him in his "escape".


    But yeah, I did promise the driver his life for switching sides at thest moment but these lesser bitches¡ªas I was informed by a few of theirmunity members¡ªwere wrapped in the essence of the actual word: bitches, and I didn''t promise them anything.


    Eduardo stepped forward as it was now his turn, "S-Sir, you did p-promise me that y-you¡ª"


    Beth cut in, "Us too, right?! We did help!"


    Cece added, "Right?! We''re included in this deal!"


    I ignored the two as I maintained eye contact with Eduardo, "I did promise you your life and that''s the reason you''re still standing right now so¡­ What else do you want from me?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "That''s the deal, right? You probably had a lot of fun while that fucker was still swinging his dick around and I''m not gonna give you a fresh start from any of my outposts¡ªand it''s either you hit the road and find some shelter or you dig deep and earn some respect back even if it''s in the negatives. Those are your only options."


    "I¡­ I understand¡­ I-I''ll dig deep, sir."


    "Good answer."


    "..."


    Then Cece tried to get up in my face, "Hey! We gave you some time¡ª"


    And I suddenly gave her the Ol'' Pimp Backhand that shooketh everybody:


    "You gave me what?"


    "Did¡ª DID YOU JUST HIT ME?!"


    "I did¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Didn''t hurt as much? Take a guess why. If you can''t, I''ll hit you for real."


    "YOU DON''T JUST HIT A WOMAN''S FACE!"


    "Why?"


    "THAT''S¡ª BECAUSE!"


    "Bitch. With the amount of fucking makeup you have on, I can put your head in a bowl and have everyone use it as chalk in a powerlifting meet."


    "Wha¡ª WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"


    Ignoring Quinn''s cackle from the back, "Look, I dunno if you''re hormonal or anything but you don''t get up in someone''s face especially if you''re at their mercy. I promised the driver his life but I made no such thing to both of you. But despite that, I''ll also give you your lives as constion but you gotta earn your keep."


    "FINE!"


    "Good," then I turned to Beth, "And you?"


    "What else can I do then?!"


    "Uh-huh. Alright, since you two went up in the ranks by spreading your legs¡ª"


    "HOW DARE YOU?!"


    "Fine, you also used your hands and your mouths¡­ Anything that works, right?"


    "PIG! WE DID WHAT WE HAVE TO DO!"


    "Yeah. Apparently, you two acted like fucking queens while the ''king'' was still seated on his throne. You two didn''t give a fuck about what happens to everyone else as long as your tummies are fed and your holes filled. Listen here: I''m not considering building a facility here that could provide sexual release at the moment so you gotta have some other skills to do some other type of work¡ª"


    "Why the hell aren''t you building one yet?!"


    "How hard could a couple of discreet rooms be?! I can do it in my own room, for fuck''s sake!"


    "Oh? I thought you were so against getting called whores but now you''re even giving me the go-ahead and a couple of suggestions? Can you two pick a side and go with it?"


    "It doesn''t sound right said out loud, okay?!"


    "And everyone already hates us for sleeping with their partners, we don''t want to get looked down on even more!"


    "Alright, I apologize. But then again, what else can you do? I have a system back home that deals with this stuff but you can''t just fuck your way through every single thing. It''s either your main thing is sex work while you have a backup job or vice versa. Don''t forget the training we''ll put everyone through, I doubt your bodies could take that much pounding."


    Beth rolled her eyes as she looked at me with contempt, "How about you? Can you evenst long?"


    At that moment, Cece was about to pile on to look down on me but everyone from my inner circle and the ones who had a general idea of my ''situation'' couldn''t help butugh in their face. And from seeing their reactions, the two never looked so confused about what they were trying to imply but I just shook my head and moved on with the conversation:


    "Here''s what''s gonna happen: we''ll send a few people here to give EVERYONE medical exams and a few more tests and the only way you two could open up a branch here is contingent on you two passing with flying colors. It''s either that or you do that shit on the down low.


    I can''t control what you two do in your free time but everyone else that would avail your services should know what they''re getting into."


    "Are you saying that¡ª"


    "Yes. It''s just how it is. There are just some things that you can''t get rid of with a simple rinse."

 Chapter 1044: I already done torture today, anything else?

    At this moment, it was almost the same conversation we had with the twins but this was me being the businessman or the "good" pimp that worries more about everyone else''s rather than his merchandise because being clean was at the very top of the list when doing sex work.


    But yeah, the reason I also decreed for everyone to be tested was because being clean should go both ways and there should be clear boundaries on who could do things with whom.


    I wouldn''t get into the much finer details regarding that type of stuff because it should''ve been obvious from the get-go.


    With that said, after I finalized a few more things with everyone else we''d leave here for the night, our grand cavalry made its way home with casualties only from the other side.


    Everyone was still convivial from our little intercept with what would''ve been a future problem but the mood quickly died down when everyone else saw that the guards I was punishing were now outside the gate, standing in front of their families.


    They all turned their heads to give me this apologetic look mixed with begging and desperation, but I''m fucking serious about keeping my ce safe and what they did was just inexcusable. And if their puppy eyes would''ve worked on me, then what''s the point of handing out punishments in the first ce?


    And to that extent, I made it a point to not have a bite of dinner until I squeezed Benjamin with every bit of information he dared to threaten me with because we went straight to our main DDR Camp and put him in the same ce I murdered Jomar.


    The meds I gave him were slowly beginning to wear off, and the ''healing time'' I promised him didn''t give him any HP but just dyed the bleeding debuff I gave into him. Furthermore, it didn''t do shit to his ear but his still being high on his mind right now made it easier for me to put him in a position where he''d be real fortable'' with the series of questions I was about to ask him.


    And since Quinn was a little wasteful with our duct tape, I found some other way to keep him really~ glued to the fucking wall, like literally.


    This particr brand of super glue would only take a minute or so topletely dry but I did take a bit of time and a few other tools to keep him from falling off when I started, but the moment he was finally "awake", I gave him a bright smile as I pulled off the table he was standing on earlier.


    "HNGH!"


    Benjamin Crisologo let out arge grunt the moment he felt his whole weight pushing him down due to gravity, but the worst part of this was that I used a fuck ton of super glue because it seemed like his skin was more adhered to the wall than to the rest of his body.


    And not only was his back half irritated to the point of swelling and severe redness, but it was also threatening to rip off if I didn''t push back the table he was standing on.


    "WHAT THE¡ª WHERE¡ª WHAT¡ª YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! CAN¡ª AH! SHIT! WHAT''S¡ª WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! ANSWER ME!"


    "Can''t you see¡ª Right, you can''t. My bad. I glued you to the wall."


    "WHA¡ª HUH?! GLUE¡ª IS THAT''S WHAT''S PULLING ME¡ª"


    "Nah, fam. Your fucking weight is what''s pulling you down."


    Then his gaze turned to the bloody table I pulled off him, "BLOOD¡ª WHO''S BLOOD WAS THAT?! IS THAT MINE?! W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU PSYCHO!"


    "First of all, that''s Jomar''s blood¡ª"


    "W-WHO THE FUCK''S JOMNAR?!"


    "Seriously? You can''t even remember your minion''s name¡ª Why do I even try? But to answer your second question, I glued you to the wall. Nothing else."


    "GLUE¡ª W-WHY?! I-IT''S¡ª I-I D-DUNNO¡ª S-SOMETHING''S NOT RIGHT¡ª"


    "Yeah, a lot of things are not alright. But you can make it right though¡­"


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?!"


    "Names and everything I should know about your so-called ''friends''. I don''t have the time to case each neutralmunity out there so I''ll just go straight to you to get the right info¡ª"


    "W-What makes you t-think that I''m gonna tell you shit?! T-THIS IS NOTHING!"


    "Uh-huh. Your face and your skin say otherwise. It''s notparable to a deepceration but imagine ripping half your skin off¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING BUT Y-YOU HAVE TO PUT ME DOWN FIRST!"


    "That easy?"


    "Y-YEAH! JUST PUT ME DOWN!"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I pushed the table right under his feet, "There you go¡ª"


    "N-NOT LIKE THAT, YOU NUMBNUT! I MEAN PUT ME DOWN! ON THE GROUND! GET ME OFF THIS THING!"


    I asked with a tinge of worry, "Won''t your skin rip off? That''s gotta hurt¡ª"


    "THEN WHY DID YOU PUT ME IN THIS P-POSITION IN THE FIRST PLACE?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!"


    "I''m a psycho, remember? And yeah, did you even think that you''d get out of this alive? Nah, bro. The only way I''ll get you down is if I put you down and not the same meaning you used earlier."


    "THEN IF YOU''RE JUST GONNA KILL ME, I WON''T SAY SHIT! HOW ABOUT THAT?!"


    Iughed in his face as I pulled on the table once again, "Trust me, you''ll say some shit before this is over¡ª"


    The motherfuckerughed through the pain, "HAHAHAHAHHAHA! YOU THINK THIS IS GONNA MAKE ME TALK?! I''VE BEEN THROUGH FAR WORSE SHIT THAN YOU CAN THINK OF, KID! YOU DON''T KNOW WHERE I''VE BEEN TO! YOU¡ª W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT¡ª"


    To his confusion, I casually walked out the door before I rolled in Bordz who was heavily sedated and sleeping soundly on his bed. And obviously, if he couldn''t even remember their names, how the fuck could he recognize Bordz who was missing half his face? But yeah, I already tortured someone a few hours earlier so I''m gonna let Bordz do the interrogating himself.


    "What the fuck are you¡ª"


    "Think, dumbass. Think. Smile too, alright?"


    "Smile? What¡ª"


    "You''ll know soon enough¡­"


    It was because the room was already equipped with a camera and a few recording devices so before I bid Mr. Crisologo goodbye, I pulled out my knife and stabbed Bordz in his chest.


    Murdering someone had never been this easy.


    But yeah, Mr. Crisologo was still confused as fuck when I was by the door but I left him a few words because his little brain was too slow toprehend what was about to happen:


    "He''s gonna ''wake up'' in a few minutes or a few hours and if you don''t tell me what I want, he''ll have you for dinner. Alright? Bye~" I said as I waved off and closed the door behind me.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!


    C-COME BACK! I-I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I''LL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING, YOU FUCK! J-JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE! HEY! HEEEEEEEEEY!


    HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! GET ME OUT OF HERE!


    I-I DON''T WANNA DIE! I DON''T WANNA¡ª HE JUST MOVED! HE JUST MOVED! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!!!"

 Chapter 1045: Sad Reality - Strugglers I

    Ignoring Mr. Crisologo''s cries, I turned my attention to the party I brought with me: Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, Jared, and Ibarra who were still by our vehicle waiting¡ªthough Jared''s attention was watching the camera''s feed through one of our tablets¡ªbut it seemed like Mimi caught wind that we had just arrived and stayed put for a few minutes.


    I looked briefly at my watch as I turned to her, "It''s past eight, what are you still doing here?"


    "Dr. Lo¡ª Dr. Nichols is still here too, you know? We usually clock out way~ter in the university, sometimes even in the morning. We''re still getting used to things here too so the extra hours wouldn''t hurt. Besides, we''re used to this kind of stuff¡­"


    "Don''t push yourselves too hard¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­ U-Umm¡­" Mimi trailed as she was staring at the blood on my hands after briefly ncing at the door I came from.


    "..." I didn''t utter a word as I wiped the blood on my pants before I scratched the back of my head.


    She then took a deep breath before she opened her mouth, "D-Did you¡­ Did¡ª"


    "I killed three people today¡ª Two, technically speaking, but that''s why I have blood on my hands."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Then¡­ The ce you drove¡ª"


    "Right. Technically speaking, I didn''t kill more people but I still ordered a dozen or so deaths so it''s pretty much the same thing. Other than that, there are now 50-ish people who are free from their grasp but they''ll pretty much do the same thing but with higher incentives and better living conditions instead. I''ll tell you the bad stuff and I''ll tell you the good stuff.


    It''ll be in the reports or said in the meeting tomorrow but that''s just how this ce goes."


    "T-That''s great, I guess¡­" Mimi trailed once again as she looked at the floor solemnly.


    "Mimi¡ª Look, I already told you what''s happening outside the university and¡ª"


    She then waved me off with a different expression, "N-No¡ª I''m not¡ª H-Honestly, I-I''m not sure what to feel right now b-because it''s different hearing the stories from you than seeing things in person b-because since I''m new here¡­ I-I was one of the people who c-cleaned up¡­ y-you know, that room earlier.


    One of us was assigned to clean the table b-but it seemed like he wanted me to do it instead but I-I''m not a pushover¡­"


    "Name?"


    "W-What?"


    "Give me his name¡ª"


    "Huh?! Y-You''re not¡ª Just by not cleaning the table?!"


    I almost smacked this bish, "You¡ª What did you think I was gonna do to him, huh?!"


    "Y-You know¡­" Mimi trailed as she waved one of her hands around like it was a knife, "T-That¡­"


    At that moment, not only did I burstughing at her actions but everyone else from my group had to let out a chuckle like Ibarra or a straight-up cackle from Quinn. Anyone else from the old world would''ve thought we were deranged human beings fromughing at the thought of murder but it was downright funny now especially if it was a misunderstanding from a friend who lived in a well.


    Then I ruffled her hair for a moment before I answered, "I''m talking about a disciplinary action Mimi, not an execution. I won''t kill people just from that but it''s a bad look to me to see you get hazed a few days in¡ªespecially from your co-nurses. I thought it only happens in security detail or something simr¡­"


    But Mimi got ticked off as she got barely right up in my face due to her height, "I-I can take care of myself, alright?! You don''t have to always be there for me, ites with my frame that they think that they could bully me but I''m tougher than I look! And stop ruffling my hair! Argh! You did it again!"


    As she said that, I agree with all of her statements except for one thing:


    Mimi could be tough as nails mentally but the brutal truth was that even if she built up some endurance from walking to and from our home and the university hospital, a good majority of people could physically push her around if they wanted to. So, I''d rather be there for her when she needed it rather than¡ªyou know how the saying goes.


    I then grabbed the top of Mimi''s head, ruining her hair even more, as I looked at her seriously, "Look¡­ I know you''re tough in this little ol'' head of yours but you can''t even stop me from ruining your hair¡ª"


    "B-But it''s you, why would I¡ª"


    "What if that other guy starts doing it?"


    "T-Then I''ll kick his ass!"


    "Then what if he fights back?"


    "Then I''ll aim for his nuts?"


    "I''m serious here, Mimi. It''s great for you to not be a pushover and be tough but you gotta be smart too. I got bullied like you when I was in high school but even if I was a pushover then, I know how to fight back. It''s just that I didn''t. I''m notparing you to myself but what we both did was wrong. I should''ve fought back while you should put some safeties in ce."


    "I-I know the s-story¡­ K-Kaley helped you¡­"


    "Yes, that''s right. And right now, you have everybody here to help you if things go south. A little bit of hazing works to toughen some of you up but it''s bad when it goes too far. I won''t behead him if he keeps pushing work on you but the moment I see youe home with so much as a tiny little scratch, heads will roll. Do you understand that?"


    "I-I do¡­ Thanks¡ª"


    Jared suddenly jumped from the roof of my truck as he pushed the tablet on my face:


    "Bro! BRO! LOOK¡ª"


    "Don''t push it too far onto my face!"


    "But that fuck had already ripped his hand off! H-He''s bleeding a lot! Wait¡­ I thought the other guy already moved from y-you know¡­ Why''s he-it ''sleeping'' again?"

 Chapter 1046: Strugglers II

    My conversation with Mimi was suddenly cut off by Jared screaming into my ear and pushing the tablet right into my face, but it was for a very valid reason. The first one was to make Mr. Crisologo suffer and the other was¡ªeven if we were sessful or not¡ªto get the info and the dirt he had on his so-called friends.


    Because it was as Mr. Garciano stated: Mr. Crisologo referred to them as his ''friends'' but it was more like people who owed him a lot of money and favors.


    Sure, getting some dirt on his aces could help me establish a much better connection with them if we ever cross paths but I already have my own ways and I''ll only lead by fear if it was the final choice.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mr. Crisologo was already suffering since he ripped his right arm off the strong adhesive but he had to do it a few more times so he could free himself of the restraints.


    He was the type of person not to easily give up but one other reason he was fighting for his life was because I "forgot" to take out the knife I stabbed into Bordz''s chest and I was 100% sure that was the thing he was going for.


    Fighting us off and the rest of our battalion wasn''t even in his mind because right now, his current goal was to rip himself off the wall and obtain the knife he could somehow reposition from Bordz''s chest to Bordz''s head.


    And going back to Jared''s recent question, the reason Bordz moved earlier, as Mr. Crisologo stated, was due to his body shutting down from getting stabbed, and right now, we were in the waiting game that could take from a few minutes to hours¡ªand in some cases¡ªeven days for actual zombification to ur.


    This was the critical moment Mr. Crisologo was betting on because he''d take on bleeding out rather than getting eaten alive. Granted he''d bleed out all the same, but strugglers like him had a rather machismo way of driving off into the sunset.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we saw another twitch from Bordz which Mr. Crisologo definitely saw, and that gave him no choice but to rock his body back and forth, to attempt to rip half his skin off like the most fucked up version of the term ripping the bandaid off.


    "Wait a second. Why''s there no sound¡ª"


    "Fuck! There''s sound?! I was saving the battery and muted everything¡ª Here we go!"


    "..."


    And there we went as we watched Mr. Crisologo with sounds but for some reason, we could just peek through the small slits in the window but we didn''t.


    In any case, ignoring howpletely soundproof that room was nowpared to back them, we watched Mr. Crisologo sessfully give himself a receding headline that started from the back of his head but he still kept screaming curses and unintelligible words as he kept trying to shake himself loose.


    [YOU FUCK! I''LL CURSE YOU, YOU FUCK! ONCE I''M OUT OF THIS I''LL¡ª AHHHHHHHHHH! I''LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCK! HE MOVED! HE MOVED!


    CAN''T YOU ALL FUCKING SEE THAT?! HOW IS THIS AN INTERROGATION?! YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO BEAT ME UP AND ASK QUESTIONS! HOW FUCKED UP ARE YA?! GET BACK HERE A-AND I''LL¡ª AHHHH! SHIT!


    FUCK! CUNT! BITCH! ASS! SHIT! I''LL MURDER ALL OF YOU ONCE I¡ª FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!]


    As he filled every restaurant''s swear jar, he managed to tear half of his back off the wall but the pain he received became a little too much to bear. It was because I used most of the adhesive on his back while I was still trying to mount him up the wall.


    His arms, legs, and head were the easiest ones after Ipletely glued his back and he''d be lucky if he just ripped off his skin without a bit of meating off with it.


    But right at that moment, Bordz let out this noise as if he were choking on his blood before hepletely rolled off the table.


    It definitely gave Mr. Crisologo the second wind he desperately needed because, but instead of rocking himself forward once again, he twisted his body inward to release his right leg before screaming at the top of his lungs:


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHIIIIT! I''LL¡ª FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! STAY DOWN THERE YOU LITTLE BITCH OR I''LL¡ª AHHHHHHHHH!!!]


    And at that point, he tried to free his left arm but his incessant shouting not only drained his energy but somehow woke up Bordz who should''ve been pressing the snooze button due to the meds running through his system but he was already dead so that statement was probably moot at this point.


    However, right as Mr. Crisologo freed his left arm was when Bordz finally rose to his feet before violently twisting his neck to find where the noise wasing from.


    It didn''t take long before he started hobbling in Mr. Crisologo''s direction while Mr. Crisologo was still mounted on the wall.


    [STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY, I SAID! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU¡ª I''LL GET THE FUCK¡ª FUCK YOU!]


    By some stroke of luck, or this bitch losing one of his nine lives, Mr. Crisologo managed to push him off with his free foot as Bordz tried to bite his cock off. I didn''t mean for it to be that way but it was just the perfect height and zombies can''t be choosers in which part they should be chomping on.


    But yeah, a gentle push with a foot wouldn''t kill an undead so Mr. Crisologo had to luck out several times by pushing at just the right moment while trying to free himself, but at his third kick, hended a critical hit that made Bordz tumble back and loose his footing while he suddenly plopped on the floor with almost all the skin from his back ripped clean off.


    We couldn''t imagine how much he was bleeding due to the positioning of the camera but even Mr. Crisologo couldn''t give much of a fuck because now he actually had the chance to survive.


    [COME YOU FUCK! COME! I''LL BEAT YOUR FUCKING UGLY-ASSFACE BEFORE I FEED YOU TO THAT FUCKING IMBECILE! COME ON!]


    And using the table to his advantage, Mr. Crisologo had to run around a few times before he was in the right position to push it the right way to make Bordz fall t on his ass, giving him just the right time to get the knife and have his way with his head.


    He never looked so happy while wearing a maniacal smile and I could clearly see his gazend on the door as he gripped the knife so fucking hard.


    Adrenaline was definitely pumping through his veins right now because he really looked like he had the confidence toe out of this thing alive but I guess he wasn''t able to see to how still deep of a shit he was in because even I had a very small chance ofing out of this alive if I were in his shoes.


    Because I simply made my way to the window and threw in a shbang.


    [FUCK¡ª]

 Chapter 1047: Strugglers III

    I would''ve loved to see his reaction the moment his voice cut off, but I was already inside the door within .001 seconds of the shbang going off. Luckily for him, he jumped to the side to avoid tumbling into Bordz''s blood but unluckily for him, the side he chose was directly in front of me, and he received another concussion that ultimately knocked him out.


    However, his cavalry still wouldn''t end or get paused here because all we needed was to relocate next door and start over.


    That''s what we did word by word but I did turn to Mimi to ask for something:


    "Hey, can you ask one of the residents for an iron?"


    "A-A what?" Mimi responded shakily as she saw me dragging Mr. Crisologo''s ripped-up, bleeding body from the room she had just cleaned earlier.


    "I need something to stop the bleeding. Just tell them I''ll rece it tomorrow¡­"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    She was still looking at my nonchnt expression before she snapped out of it and nodded, "O-Okay¡­ I-I know a couple from¡ª I''ll get on it!"


    With that said, Mimi made her way back to one of the main wings of the hospital where some of our people were staying to retrieve an iron not to remove the creases from our clothes but to treat his wounds. Sure, there were a lot of other ways to treat his full-body injury but he was our fucking hostage, not our patient.


    On that note, it was easy enough toy him t on his stomach on the table whilepletely restraining him, and if he ever managed to get out of these ropes and handcuffs after waking up, I could just easily knock him out again and rinse and repeat.


    But yeah, Mimi had never looked so distraught the moment she handed me this pink-colored iron with several cutesy stickers but to me, it was the most fucked up thing ever because I''d rather die than get shot with an AK with the same decal and anime stickers on it.


    "W-Won''t you need more than that? H-He might d-die from the p-pain and shock¡­"


    I shook my head as I pulled out a small bottle of alcohol from my pack, "I''d hate to give him anything but this will do. He''ll probably even thank me for itpared to painkillers and whatnot¡­"


    "..."


    "You don''t have to stay, alright? You can go home or continue to work¡ª"


    "I-I''ll be at Dr. Nichols'' office¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    As she turned around and walked away, I turned to my group and all they could do was either shrug their shoulders orpletely do nothing like me because there really was nothing to be done at that point except for them topletely absorb and adjust to their surroundings.


    In hospitals, they should''ve been more ustomed to death among other people but usually, it was the sickness that consumed them rather than people like myself.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I moved the table Mr. Crisologo was on closer to the power socket before I started closing his wounds with this pink iron.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Ignoring the rancid smelling out of his body coupled with the sound of his flesh burning, the scream he let out that slowly turned into this high-pitched squeal almost sent me, but he quickly passed out from my first attempt to heal him by turning him like a panini.


    It''s just that I''d have to press this now fucked-up looking iron that had his bits and pieces sticking to the bottom a dozen more times because one, I fix what I broke and this was one way of doing it.


    But yeah, as funny as it may look seeing him wake up and then pass out from the pain, he was already in tears from the fourth press. I wondered if I might need another iron because even if I could scrape off his bits from under the thing, I just wanted to cover a lot of surface area.


    However, without so much as a prompt, the motherfucker finally sang his first tune:


    "STOP! STOP! STOP! PLEASE! I-I''M¡ª I''M B-BEGGING YOU! I¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "Stop my ass, it''s either this or you bleed out¡ª"


    "THEN WHO''S FUCKING FAULT WAS IT?!"


    "Wanna lose the other ear? Who fucking tried to case me?"


    "THAT''S¡ª IT''S PART OF THE GAME¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU MOTHERFUCKER! AHHHH! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!


    CAN YOU GIVE ME A BREAK AT LEAST?! I-I''LL TELL YOU ONE OF THEM! I''LL TELL YOU ONE OF THEM¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE¡ª I¡ª"


    "You tell me everything or I just might continue doing this even if you''re fully closed up. There''s also the matter of you lying through your teeth but either way, even if you have powerful friends, you think I don''t? Why would I be scared of you?"


    "I¡ª I JUST NEED A SECOND YOU FUCK!"


    "Sure."


    "WHA¡ª"


    "Time''s up¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I''M REALLY GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU! I SWEAR I¡ª"


    Then I pulled out my trump card, "Vodka? I''ll feed it to ya, if you turn the volume down a bit. We''re the only ones here, you know?"


    "YOU¡ª G-Give me! I¡ª"


    At this point, Mr. Crisologo was like the Hungry-Hungry Hippos but for Vodka because right now, it was the only thing he could grab on not just for the pain, but to also keep his mind intact because there was only so much a person could do¡ªeven if they were a struggler¡ªand everyone has their limits.


    And yeah, having a few gulps from the small bottle I had somehow calmed him down and I used it as the opportunity to ask some questions:


    "Alright, I''ll take one of your many friends. What''s his name and his current whereabouts? Is he part of amunity or is he leading one of them? Number of soldiers? Is he part of another group or just your very own circle? Tell me everything¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright¡­" he trailed before I noticed a hidden smirk, "One of them''s Christian Felix Garciano¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    At this point, I didn''t think he''d pull that shit but he didn''t think I''d clip one of his fingers off either.

 Chapter 1048: Still getting used to...

    And once again ignoring his screams, I continued to cauterize his wounds with the literal bloody iron as the little stub from his clipped-off digit was bleeding out, but it didn''t take long before I felt that he was nearing his limit.


    Even with adrenaline and pure fucking grit making him continue on, it''ll be a matter of time before his body breaks down and all we received from it was a fixer-upper.


    Granted the 50-ish people and the alliance with Mr. Garciano were a huge plus, but I''ve already invested a lot of time in this fuck, I''d really want a name or two before he kicks the bucket.


    ''He gave a vague description of a particr ce though¡­''


    But yeah, it was taking him longer and longer to rise up from his stupor with every press because sometimes, I could even be two presses in before he jumped up. Still, I think the right move going forward was to ease on breaking his body but break his mind instead.


    It was already past 10 PM when I finished closing him up but I left precise instructions to my soldiers that he''d prefer some death metal at max volume at midnight, and he''d need it to fall asleep. I know that two hours was barely enough time for him to recover but that was all he should get.


    Before going into this, I swore he wouldn''t even get to live another day but as much as I would''ve hated to say this, he was a tough son of a bitch. I could''ve probably broken him with a little more push, but this time, I think all we''d need was a bit more time.


    In any case, I dropped by Dr. Nichols'' office which was an appropriate distance between the emergency room and the cardiology department and I saw her face down on her desk while Mimi was nowhere to be found. I thought for sure that she''d be here with Mrs. Sandara though I just assumed she walked around the hospital once again to check on everyone''s needs.


    It was something Mimi used to do out of habit that made her liked by everyone in the university because even if it was simply her job, she treated everyone like family.


    I was just about to leave a note for her and Dr. Nichols but I almost bumped into her on my way out the door and I discovered that she was carrying a set of pillows and nkets.


    "Ah¡ª Y-You done?"


    "Yeah."


    "E-Excuse me¡ª"


    "Right¡­"


    I opened the door for her and let her ce what she was carrying on the sofa, but I stopped whatever it was she was trying to do before I woke up Dr. Nichols by knocking on her desk.


    "Wake up! Wake up¡ª"


    Mimi tried to stop me, "Hey! She''s¡ª"


    "Whaaat? Hmm?" Dr. Nicols lifted her head before she tried to figure out who I was, "Where¡ª Ah, fuck¡­ What time is it?"


    I motioned for her to get up, "Come one, it''s a little bit past 10¡ª"


    "I slept that long?! How''s it morning¡ª"


    I cut her off, "PM! PM! It''s a little bit past 10 PM! C''mon now! I know you''re both used to this but you gotta sleep on a proper bed. It''s gonna be a matter of time until you both have back problems."


    Dr. Nichols still looked a little groggy but she rolled her eyes as she nced at her chest then looked at me, "I already have back problems, at least I could use them as pillows¡­"


    Mimi interjected, "W-We really need to sleep here, what if we have patients to look after?"


    "We have doctors who are living here but you two don''t. Don''t let them get used to that. And you''ve been here since morning, take a break¡ª"


    "But¡ª"


    "No buts. I think you two probably noticed we don''t have a lot of patients that need urgent care or attendants to check on them by the minute¡­ We still have a few but most of them asked to be ''let go'' by themselves or their families while I decided on a few myself.


    I don''t know if it ever happened in the university but we already had a few incidents and we can''t just put them on life support or hospice care until they¡­ you know¡­ that''s just the way it goes around here."


    "..."


    "..."


    Mimi and Dr. Nichols were wearing a difficult andplex expression as they looked into my eyes, but it seemed like they were very familiar with this situation but they just didn''t want to talk about it.


    It was very true that they nary witnessed a murder or something along those lines but mercy-killing or euthanasia¡ªeven if it wasn''t legal in this country¡ªit was pretty obvious that hospitals all around had decided toe around that method.


    But yeah, it seemed to have gotten the mood down, but even though a little stupid, there was a sure-fire way to cheer them up:


    "I''m sorry, how about some ice cream and a movie?"


    Mimi chuckled, "Sure¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    But Dr. Nichols wanted more, "I want some alcohol in my bowl and the movie better have some ''you-know-what'' scenes on it. You did disrupt my sleep, I wanna have to think about something before I¡­ you know..."


    "Sure¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we reached our house and to my delight, Tatiana already asked Nancy if they could heat our meals for us. It was a little heavy to have some chili and cornbread thiste into the night but I really needed somefort food right now and topping it off with some ice cream that had a few shots of alcohol did the trick.


    But yeah, it seemed like we would be topping this night off with the usual but like Micah, a few people have decided to pass. I would usually wee that with open arms but one of them was Mimi who quickly told us goodnight before retreating to her bed to the next room.

 Chapter 1049: Are you afraid of me?

    I would''ve dismissed Mimi''s actions as what everyone else would when they weren''t feeling up to it, because even though I could probably get down with the whole neighborhood, I''d like to have a bed I could roll on after we were all done.


    However, with everything that happened today and her seeing another side of me, I was starting to assume the reason she didn''t want to sleep with us was due to that.


    But yeah, as always, Kaley read me like a book as she kissed me before pushing me out the bed:


    "Go on~ Talk to her before she falls asleep!"


    "H-How about¡ª"


    "We need to get ready, ice cream-stained PJs don''t sound too hot¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Oh please, even I''d eat ya if you''re just wearing yesterday''s newspaper¡ª"


    "Pfft!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Just go, go! Someone needs to bring down the bowls, okay? Wouldn''t want to step on themter!"


    "Yes, mom~"


    "Don''t! Alright, don''t!"


    "Hahahahaha!"


    In any case, I excused myself for a bit before I discovered that Mimi was really sleeping alone in the dark in one of our rooms, but I thought I heard something different and muffleding from the same direction. Furthermore, there was also this buzzing noise that would turn on and off at intervals which would almost always get followed by what seemed to be a suppressed gasp.


    ''Oh¡­ She just¡­ wanted to be alone?''


    After all this time, I''d be the biggest idiot if I didn''t figure out what was going on but as I was about to literally leave her to her own devices, she almost jumped out of bed but then screamed for dear life:


    "W-Who''s there?! Ha¡­ H-Ha¡­"


    I decided toe clean as I walked in and turned on the lights, "I-It''s me, me! G-Get it? Ahaha¡­ I just thought¡ª"


    She squinted for a moment before I noticed she was hiding the redness of her cheeks with her nket, "W-What? Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You¡ª I-I was s-sleepingg¡­ Mmn¡­"


    ''Sureeee¡­''


    "Is that right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "I''m sorry but can we talk?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "You know, after you turn your ''massager'' off¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª" Mimi had never been so red as she crawled inside her nket even more, "I-I was just¡ª" then she really took a few seconds to turn her vibrator off before ring back at me, "I-I really was just trying to sleep!"


    I waved her off with a smile, "It''s cool, it''s cool¡­ It''s pretty normal, I always do that¡ªnot literally that¡ªbefore I go to sleep but¡ª"


    "P-Peeking at me i-isn''t normal e-either!"


    "Ah¡ª Boundaries, right."


    "Y-Yeah! W-We''ve done t-things b-but that d-doesn''t mean that y-you know¡­"


    "I¡­ I''m really sorry but I''m not a creep who tried to peek at you and you should''ve locked the door¡ª"


    "T-Then where would Edith, Nancy, and C-Chloe sleep?!"


    "They also have duplicates but yeah¡­ I¡­ I¡ª Can we start over? We''ve really veered off the direction I wanted us to get to¡­"


    "..."


    "M-Mimi?"


    "F-Fine¡­ W-What do you wanna talk about?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s about you ummm¡­"


    "What? Just spit it out! Tell me!"


    "A-About you f-flying solo¡ª"


    "Then we didn''t veer off-course! It''s the same thing we''re talking about!"


    "W-Wait, look¡ª It''s kinda the same thing but it''s not, alright? I¡­ I don''t wanna sound like an asshole and make it sound like I''m the greatesty¡­ and it''s not like you were the only one who tagged out because Quinn and Dr. Nichols were the only ones to join me and Kaley but¡ª"


    "S-So what are you saying?"


    "You know¡­ you''ve seen a side of me¡ª no, you''ve seen¡­ just ''me''... do things earlier¡ªthat I''m gonna bepletely honest¡ªsomething I really enjoy when the person I''m doing it to had iting but¡­ I''m¡­ I''m just w-wondering if¡­ if part of the reason y-you''re here alone i-is because y-you''re afraid of me¡ª"


    "Huh¡ª No! T-That''s not it a-at all!" Mimi suddenly cut me off as she jumped out of bed and hugged me, only wearing the top part of her PJs unbuttoned halfway and her cotton panties which were slightly showing an imprint of her pussy, "I-I''m not afraid of you¡ªa little, sure¡ªb-but not in the way y-you''re thinking of!"


    "T-Then¡­"


    "I-If you want me to join you, I''ll¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s not about that¡ª sure, you can join anytime you want but I-I just want to know the particr reason you d-didn''t this time¡­ And I know I really shouldn''t ask such things but I''m just really worried that i-it''s because of me¡­"


    Then she looked up at me with her big round eyes before hugging me again, "I-It''s not about that, alright?


    The reason¡ª Haa¡­ The reason¡ªI can''t believe I''m saying this¡­ T-The reason I-I didn''t j-join you two or four i-is that I-I really wanna s-slow down¡­ I-It''s the b-best thing that''s ever happened to me and trust me, it''s always been on my m-mind, even at work when you still haven''t taken us here, b-but I w-wanna go at it a-at my own pace¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ K-Kaley and I t-talked and t-trust me, i-it was really awkward for me but Kaley''s just that confident and natural a-about it b-but don''t even let me get started when her mom, Marisha, had almost same talk with me. I-It''s like¡­ s-surreal at one point but¡­ t-this way of t-thinking that shows something like free love or something along those lines is still very new to me¡­"


    "But what do you think?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s reallyplicated a-and I''m neither fine nor against it b-but right now? I-I needed some more time to think but i-it just so happens that y-you know¡­ that¡­"


    "R-Really? Is that it?"


    "Yeah. Don''t get me wrong, I loved every single minute of it¡ª I¡ª I didn''t even think I-I could do all that b-but I really just wanna slow it down b-before I do too much. I think it''s great that it came to the point that it was all that I thought about but it sounds like I was addicted to it or something, right?"


    "True on both ounts."


    "See? It''s not like it''spletely off the table but as I said¡ª"


    "You just wanna go on your own pace."


    "Right."


    "So, what are you thinking about though¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª YOU DIDN''T JUST ASK ME THAT!" Mimitched off me as she took several steps away andpletely red way~ past her neck.


    "Any celebs? Stars? Crushes? Teachers? You know¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Me?"


    "YOU JUST CUT ME OFF! T-THAT''S UNFAIR! Y-YOU CAN JUST A-ASK ME THAT! I-I WAS JUST W-WATCHING SOMETHING!"


    "Your phone''s on the other side of the¡ª"


    "T-THEN WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT, HUH?! I-IT''S ONLY FAIR S-SINCE YOU ASKED FIRST!"


    "A little bit of everything, really, but ever since you know¡­ I haven''t had the chance to¡ª"


    "Y-You''re an ass¡­ B-But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "H-Have you t-thought of¡­ H-Have you t-though of m-me y-you know¡­ before?"


    I had to double-take, "W-What?"


    "H-Have you t-thought of me b-before w-when you were m-masturbating?! I-Is that hard to answer?!"


    "M-Mimi! W-We''re friends back then and¡ª"


    "I¡­ I thought of you¡­ you know¡­ m-many times¡­ I-I know i-it''s really weird b-but¡­ n-no matter what you do, I would never be afraid of you or look at you in that way, ever¡­ b-because¡­ I know t-that there''s no chance in hell that y-you''d do a-anything bad to me¡­ Unless¡­"


    As Mimi trailed her sentence, she began to fully unbutton her PJs and revealed her small but perky breasts before she pulled me to the edge of her bed where she sat down and looked me straight in the eye as I was standing over her. It was safe to say that I was starting to grow a raging boner but Mimi finished her sentence.


    "I¡­ I want you to do¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ something really bad to me¡­"


    "L-Like what?"


    "Whether you thought of me or not¡­ I¡­ Ha¡­ I want you to Haa¡­ I want you to p-pull out your b-big p-penis a-and I-I want you to l-look a-at me w-while you''re¡­ j-jerking i-it off and¡ª"


    As MImi struggled but somehow seeding in her dirty talk, I simply pulled my pants down and almost gave her an uppercut with my huge cock and she went cross-eyed for a moment when it swung between her big round eyes. It looked like she had forgotten everything that she wanted to say but she never took her eyes off it once I started to jerk it in front of her face.


    I could feel Mimi''s warm breath and the airing out of her little nose with each breath she took, and she began rubbing her little hard nipples as she made eye contact.


    At this point, precum was already leaking from the tip of my cock and she didn''t even care when I pressed it against her lips so she could have a little taste, but I pulled off and ced it between her tiny mounds of a chest which made her a little self-conscious.


    "T-That''s¡­ T-They''re really small for that¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter¡ª It made me cum back then when I was thinking of you¡­"


    "You¡ª"

 Chapter 1050: Insecurity?

    The moment I revealed my little secret to her, Mimi looked like she was about to orgasm as her whole body shuddered while I was using her little cleavage to jerk my cock up and down. And right after that, I started pushing her cute little tits together¡ªby partly grabbing hold of her upper torso¡ªso they could somehow cover at least half my cock.


    And to my delight, she already knew what to do from her observations because her hands were already on the back of her head, showing me her smooth, clean armpits.


    At this point, I was jabbing her chin and her mouth with each thrust because she was looking down at my cock against her small frame but she broke her trance for a moment as she looked up at me:


    "This¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Mmm¡­ W-We¡ª I r-really need to slow¡ª Mmh!"


    "Y-You were saying?"


    "M-My pace¡­ S-Slowing¡ª"


    "Do you want me to stop?"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    "N-No¡­"


    Mimi couldn''t stop looking back at my cock as it started to rub against her erect nipples instead, gliding around her small handfuls before making their way to her underarms which were on full disy.


    I could clearly see that she was a little ticklish when her elbows would buckle each time I rubbed my cock against her pits, but it was a little unfair to her that I was getting the full satisfaction while her upper body was the only one that was getting any contact.


    With that said, I moved a little forward before I ced my left foot right beside her as I grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and made my way to her soaking-wet panties with the other. At the same time, Mimi held my arm that was on the back of her head while she slightly spread her legs so I could have ess to her wet hole.


    It was then that I slowly pushed my cock inside her tiny little mouth as I watched her round eyes cross once again, but her hold on me instantly tightened when I managed to find her clit and pinch it at the same time.


    "Hgk! HmnG¡ª Haa¡ª MnGkK! MMnnnMm~ Ha¡ª Ah¡ª Hgck! Gack! Ha¡ª"


    I pulled out for a moment as I looked into her eyes, "Wannay down so you could take it all?"


    Mimi''s eyes were in a daze as she replied while her saliva was dripping the side of her lips, "H-How?"


    "Just turn around andy on your back¡­"


    "L-Like this?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    With Mimi''s limited experience, she was barely able to suck a few inches from the tip before she''d gag from it hitting the back of her throat. Not to mention her small mouth, with the position we were in earlier, it was just downright impossible. But yeah, right at this moment, I had a straight path down her throat but I wouldn''t be that bad as to shove it all the way in.


    I was barely halfway when I''d trigger her gag reflex and make her tear up even more, and the only reason we weren''t stopping from going further was Mimi kept moving her tongue inside while pulling me in with her hands.


    "M-More, more¡­ Haa¡­ D-Don''t¡ª HgcK! Gak! Hakch! Ha¡ª Mmn¡­ Nn¡­ Hgck¡­"


    In any case, I started to fondle her small boobs as she tried to take me in little by little but she ultimately hit her limit just by the entrance of her throat. I would''ve pushed it further if I was with Kaley or Tatiana who definitely had more experience but there was only so much eagerness could do in Mimi''s case.


    But yeah, it wasn''t like she had to take in my whole length in order for me to orgasm but Mimi still wanted to make it up for me.


    It was because she never looked so disappointed in herself the moment I pulled out of her¡ªnot because I couldn''t cum but because I wouldn''t wanna bruise her throat¡ªbut she thought of the former instead of thetter. I did try to exin to her what I meant by that but she had already gotten to all fours, face down, and ass spread wide.


    I now had the perfect view of her meaty pussy that was already dripping down the side of her thighs and her pink little asshole she was beckoning for me to vite.


    "Mimi¡ª"


    "P-Please, I-I''m sorry I wasn''t able to do it s-so y-you can put it all i-in my ass again¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ Sure¡ª"


    "W-What? S-Something wrong? I-I did clean myself before I fingered my a-ass earlier¡ª"


    It took everything to not just ravage her little asshole and be done with it, "N-No¡­ It wasn''t a big deal because I did cum hard but I¡­ I haven''t put it all in your ass t-that time either¡­"


    Mimi had to roll around and look at me, almost in tears, "R-Really?! W-What else can I¡ª"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ Now I know the other reason why¡­''


    At this point, I didn''t even notice that her insecurity was already through the roof so I just went on top of her and kissed her on her mouth. And at the same time, my huge cock was just rubbing against her cunt while I was fondling her little breasts, but I stopped for a moment to look into her eyes and reassure her:


    "Look¡­ I do have my preferences and if you can''t take all of me this night, who cares?"


    "I-I do¡ª"


    "I understand that but I could still count on one hand for how many times you had sex¡­ You can''t just be a pro or get carried by me throughout all this and there''s also basic physiology you''d have to take into ount."


    "..."


    "But can''t you feel it?"


    "W-What?"


    "Seriously? There''s a girthy 9-inch cock that''s rubbing against your cunt and you can''t feel it?"


    "I-I do¡­ I-It''s Ha.. Haa¡­ A-Also rubbing o-on my c-clit and i-it''s starting to f-feel good¡­"


    "Okay, so now close your eyes and just think about one thing¡­"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "Us. Nothing else¡­"

 Chapter 1051: Boundaries and Taboos

    At that moment, I began moving my hips as I continued to rub my huge cock against Mimi''s pussy, but instead of just invading her mouth with my tongue, I made sure to use it to appreciate every little nook and cranny of Mimi''s petite body.


    She did raise one of her arms so I could lick her smooth pits, so I followed with that, but I kissed even her non-erogenous zones to make her feel that I wanted every inch of her.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mimi very much preferred for my lips toe in contact with her neck and her ears, and it didn''t take long before her moans started to get louder and louder.


    "Mnn¡­ Ah¡­ Yes¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ahnmmn¡­ AH! MMH! Hnn¡­ HNGH! H-Hnn¡­. Ah¡­"


    At the same time, I couldn''t believe how wet she got doing all this and I could easily slide my dick up and down her cunt without external lubrication. As all this was happening, she even began to match my movement with her hips while she didn''t even notice how hard she was clutching my hair and how tight she was hugging me.


    But within a few minutes or so¡ªeven though the pleasure wasn''t that intense¡ªI began to feel that critical point that made me move faster and faster.


    And to my surprise, Mimi was feeling the same way but she held the side of my face with both hands to maintain eye contact before I exploded on her pussy, stomach, and on her face.


    "MIMI¡ª"


    "H-HNGH! MMH! C-CUMMING¡ª"


    Mimi had no time to react as she had an orgasm of her own, and she couldn''t even keep one of her eyes open as her body was jolting and shuddering from each wave she was feeling all over her body. However, I''d rather fill holes than dead air so the moment I managed to get on my bearings, I pushed my throbbing cock inside Mimi''s pussy which caused her to let out an audible gasp and another orgasm.


    I could still feel how her vaginal walls were contracting the moment I pushed in the whole length of my cock inside her, and it was almost pushing me out due to how fucking tight she was.


    But yeah, all Mimi could do at this point was look like the mess she was currently and take everything in while barely able to form any words.


    "H-HOW¡ª HNG¡ª AH! MY¡ª YES! SKY! PUSSY¡ª A-AHN! YES! F-FUCK¡ª AH!


    AH! AHN! CUMMING! CUM! FUCK! MY¡ª Y-YES!


    SHIT! AHN~ Y-YESSS~ AH! AH! AH! AH! F-FUCK!


    CUM¡ª C-CUMMING!"


    Both of us were still fighting through the sensitivity but Mimi had no chance to fight multiple orgasms after multiple orgasms as I fucked her cunt and kissed her neck, and all she could do was just moan loudly and shout my name while barely clinging to my head. Even before, she tried to avoid her nails digging into my back but I was already hitting her cervix, it was more than fairpensation.


    But the moment I filled her cunt and was about to push it in her ass, Mimi tapped me a few times and gave me a look which cause me to stop.


    It was because not only did she have to catch her breath, but she really was serious about slowing her roll with our nightly activities. I would''ve fucked her the whole night if she wanted to but I wanted to respect her wishes¡ªthough I did offer some aftercare which she graciously epted and offered as well.


    It''s just that it was a little awkward that I can''t just turn my dick off like usual because I was definitely punching her bellybutton with it while we were in the shower but it did make up for some interesting conversations.


    "That''s¡­ That''s really not normal, you know?"


    "But in a good way, right?"


    "Sure¡­ You''ve definitely pushed my IUD way~ deeper than it should¡­"


    "I could just wear condoms¡ª"


    "What? No! I¡­ I like the feeling when it y-you know¡­ w-when you c-cum inside¡­ i-it''s really warm and nice¡ª"


    "You''re not helping me get this down, you know? I''ll bend you down and fuck your ass if that''s what it takes¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª"


    "I''m joking, alright? I''ll work on it, it should also go down onmand, not just up¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I-I''ll work o-on my butt t-too¡­ a-and my gag¡ª"


    "Don''t stress about it¡ª"


    "You should! Because you''re helping me! You know I can''t just borrow Tatiana''s dildo¡ª you know¡­ the one that¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ Pfft¡­ Right, right¡­ Just not today, huh?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize. That''s the rule and boundary you set for yourself. The same as me not allowing any of you to touch my backdoor. It''s either you follow all that or the deal''s off¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Is it really that bad? I loved it even though it''s my first time back then, you know? Oh! Did you know, the male G-Spot is located in¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ Kaley and Quinn¡ª no almost everyone else had told me multiple times. Still a hard no."


    ''Except for Kaley, obviously¡­''


    "Hah! Of course, of course¡­ So¡­ See each other tomorrow?"


    "Yeah, we''ll meet at breakfast though we''ll finally drive to where we should''ve been tomorrow."


    "Oh! Right. Don''t take too long, okay?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    With that said, Mimi and I walked into different rooms where she was greeted by the same dark room while I was greeted by the three already tangled up with each other, but they sure as hell weed me back by spreading their legs though it was very obvious as to which one I''d always go for.


    I was deep in Kaley''s womb while my hands were busy pleasuring Quinn and Mrs. Sandy until we switched ces, but I noticed that Kaley wasn''t only wearing a wig simr to Chloe''s hairstyle, but she was also wearing colored contacts that were the same color as Mrs. Sandy''s.


    It was when Kaley went on top of me while Mrs. Sandy was right behind her with a strapon that I put two and two together.

 Chapter 1052: "Chloe"

    I was still recovering from the realization when Quinn decided to make use of my mouth but instead of sitting on my face, sheid by my side¡ªpressing her huge chest on me¡ªand started to kiss me while running her hands on my body.


    But yeah, I could stay hard for god knows how long but cumming violently or without myplete control would be due to what I was seeing in front of me and when my imaginations were running wild through my head.


    And seeing Kaley roleying as Chloe¡ªeven if their body types didn''t match¡ªjust sent me over the edge knowing that she was doing it for Mrs. Sandy''s fantasy, or hers, or both, or for everyone present in this room, and even Quinn was surprised that I had a release from briefly kissing her.


    "Wait¡ª Really?! Pfft¡ª You''re fucked now~"


    Quinn''s words had never rung truer because I would almost always go through with it even if we were fighting through the sensitivity, and since Kaley had just gotten on top of me¡ªeven though she cums fast with me¡ªthere was no chance in hell she''d let me catch a short break from that.


    But yeah, I caught a short glimpse of them still kneeling upright as Mrs. Sandy wrapped her arms around Kaley''s body before piling onto my little situation.


    I was barely moving my hips but I was feeling each time Kaley and Mrs. Sandy would move on their own, and this time, Quinn stopped kissing me so she could have a full view of my face, trying so fucking hard to keep it together post-orgasm. But yeah, she also couldn''t help but watch the two go at it as she began touching herself down there because Mrs.


    Sandy was really going all out to fuck the brains out of "Chloe" at this literal fucking moment.


    Not only was she moving her hips like there was no tomorrow, but the way she was tightly hugging Kaley''s perfect body while whispering something in her ear¡ªthat was inaudible to Quinn and me¡ªjust made my imagination do all the work the same as my eyes having the time of their lives seeing this taboo rtionship bore fruit at this moment.


    It was because despite all that Mrs.


    Sandy was doing, she still had her face buried by Kaley''s back and shoulder which made me think she was still embarrassed by what she was doing with her life¡ªbut let''s be honest here, except for maybe Cynthia, Kaley was the person to ask this type of favor because not only she''d be that epting of the situation, but she''d do everything she could just to satisfy one''s curiosity and make them asfortable as possible while AND after doing it.


    And Kaley just had to fucking do it:


    "Y-Yes! YES! J-Just like that, m-mommy! Y-You and step-bro f-fucking my¡ª MMnnNH! YES! Y-YESssSs¡­ Ha¡ª HA!


    AnmmH! D-Don''t stop! D-DOn''t s-stop mommy¡ª I-I''m really c-close¡ª I''m really close to¡ª MmMmHHH!!! CUMMING! FUCK! FUCK!


    FUCK! I-I''M CUM¡ª HNGH! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOM¡ª MMMMH!"


    Hearing those words just brought something out of not only just me and Mrs. Sandy but also Quinn who was violently flicking her bean while Mrs. Sandy and I were filling each of "Chloe''s" holes.


    The three of them just came at almost the exact same time, but the moment Kaley copsed to her back andid on Mrs. Sandy''s perfect MILF body, I went ahead and spread Quinn''s thick legs apart before I plunged my cock inside her, burying my face between her breasts and thrusting my hips as hard as I could.


    She had no way of fighting me at this point but Quinn didn''t even try to put up a fight because she just let me have my way with her as she smothered my head between her breasts even more while locking me in ce by wrapping her legs around my back.


    "YES! YES! YES! FUCK ME JUST LIKE THAT! LIKE THAT! MMH!


    YOU LOVE THESE HUGE FUCKING TITS, HUH?! YOU LOVE FUCKING THIS BODY THAT COULD TAKE MUCH MORE POUNDING THAN ANYONE?! YES! YES! DON''T FUCKING DARE STOP EVEN IF I¡ª I¡ª FUCK! THAT''S MY¡ª WAIT!


    WAIT! WAIT!"


    To Quinn''s surprise, I easily broke free from her grasp as I grabbed her ankles and pushed them by the side of her head before I continued to fuck her creamy little cunt because as much as Quinn would''ve loved to be in control, she didn''t even know herself that she loved getting dominated by yours truly, and that just made her squirt on her face as I filled her first hole and went into the other.


    My cum was just leaking out of her cunt and dripping either on her chest or on her face as I was resizing her asshole, but I didn''t even need to hold onto her legs anymore because now she was doing it for me. However, it was just all a trap so she could hook my legs with her feet and put me in the Amazon position where she''d be on top where my legs would be propped up by my head.


    "You thought you could just fuck me, huh? Sure~ Anytime¡ª but I want to fuck you like this way too¡­"


    I chuckled as I maintained eye contact, "Okay, Ma¡ª"


    "Now you''ve done it¡­" Quinn just let out this devilish smile before I saw all her muscles contract for the pounding I''d receive.


    Because right from the fucking get-go, while she was in the squatting position, she moved her whole body and just dropped her whole weight on me as I was still inside her ass before bringing herself up slightly and mming herself down again.


    Not only was her huge tits shaking from her movements, but our bed was creaking due to the force she was generating, but funnily enough, it didn''t stop Kaley and Mrs. Sandy from doing their own thing.


    We spent a few hours just switching who gets to be on top and I just woke up using Quinn''s body as a pillow while Kaley and Mrs. Sandy were still fast asleep.

 Chapter 1053: Early Morning Tomfoolery

    I wasn''t sure what time it was but as I snuggled closer to Quinn, I just felt her arm over me before I tried to get back to sleep. However, it only felt like a second when everybody was jolted awake¡ªand I finally knew what the exact time was¡ªdue to our rm for 4 AM. Kaley and Mrs. Sandy easily got up from their stupor while I was tasked with waking Quinn up.


    Obviously doing that would require a particr method but I did kill two birds with one stone because I was having this particr problem that needs taking care of every morning.


    "WHA¡ª"


    "Good morning¡­ Time to wake up¡ª"


    "WANNA FUCKING DIE¡ª Wait¡­ N-No¡­ That feels just¡ª Mnn¡­ Nevermind¡­ Stick it in right after, okay?"


    "Of course, Ma."


    "You¡ª Be careful with calling me that."


    "I thought calling you by your real name''s the only issue?"


    "Just shut up and eat me like a good boy¡­ I''m already cutting you some ck for waking me up¡­"


    "We could just leave you here for a few days if¡ª"


    "Shit¡ª Right, right¡­ Sorry¡­ Mnn¡­ C-Come on¡­ Put it in now¡­ Before we shower¡­"


    "Alright¡­ Just one round, alright?"


    "It''s the first one though, it''s more than enough¡­"


    "Here I go¡­"


    With that said, Quinn and I spent a few minutes together before we joined Kaley and Mrs. Nichols in the shower. And even if Kaley''s not wearing the wig and the contacts now, it was a little awkward for Mrs. Nichols to look us in the eye but Kaley gave me a rundown of what went onst night:


    "Hey, we don''t talk about what we didst night to everyone else, okay? Especially Chloe."


    I quickly nodded before giving her a kiss, "Sure."


    Mrs. Nichols just nced at me for a moment before she mouthed, "Thank you."


    Though Quinn followed, "I still don''t get the secrecy and whatnot but there''s no way in hell I''m not gettingid yesterday. We already skipped a day because of you two and a little roley''s not stopping me from getting what I want¡­"


    Kaley shook her head, "Just be quiet about it, okay?"


    Quinn waved her off as she reached for the shampoo, "It''s whatever but it was really~ hot¡­ not gonna lie¡­ For real though, I think the real one wouldn''t mind¡­ I actually thought she''d be in your ce instead of the other way around¡­ Didn''t think you had it in ya. Kaley rocked it but I don''t think I''d be able to y that role¡ª Oh! I could be you when she asks¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Quinn! I just said we don''t talk about it!"


    "I was just saying¡ª"


    Mrs. Nichols took a deep breath as she got in between the two, "It''s my fault, alright? I¡­ I didn''t even know what came over me but¡ª this is so messed up, I¡ª"


    I cut in, "You don''t need to exin everything but it''ll make us understand it more?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "You don''t have to tell the whole story now because we''re in a freakin'' shower but as Quinn said, it''s whatever¡­ A bit of a gray area if you ask me but I would''ve loved a bit of a heads up before going into it¡ª"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "No, no¡­ Don''t apologize. It''s fine and all and again¡­ as Quinn said, it was really hot and I, for one, enjoyed it though I''m just gonna assume that Kaley knew that I would like it¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "You loved it way~ too much, to be honest¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah, I loved it way, way~ too much than normal but it might be different for other people, okay? Just be careful around that¡ª but Riri and Ruru probably wouldn''t care¡­ A good number of us wouldn''t too but it''s better to be careful, alright?"


    "O-Okay, thank you¡­"


    "For what?"


    "You know¡­ to not be judging¡­"


    "Heh. On the contrary, I judged you pretty much. I did say I found it hot, right?"


    "Pfft¡­"


    As we continued our steamy shower, we were just about to squeeze in a few rounds before Chloe and Cynthia, the sudden best friends, barged in and took one nce at us before Cynthia nonchntly used the toilet while Chloe used the mirror to check out her new look.


    Contrary to the wig Kaley was wearing yesterday, Chloe''s hair now had this lock of vibrant pink on one side of her head and a few more earrings in each ear.


    Mrs. Nichols shook her head as she looked at the two, "No good morning, huh?"


    Cynthia quickly propped her head up while still peeing, "S-Sorry¡­ Riri and Ruru are on the first floor¡ª Good morninggg¡­"


    Chloe chuckled as she turned to us, "Sorry, Mom. We spent the night at Daisy''s and I thought I would''ve gotten inked but I just can''t decide on what to get!"


    Mrs. Nichols chuckled, "I told you it''s gonna be hard. Think about it carefully, okay? I allowed you a small one but it should have some meaning, at least¡­"


    "What a progressive mom~" Quinn teased from the side.


    Cynthia went back to business, "So¡­ Can we squeeze one in?"


    I waved them off, "Sorry¡­ I''ll need the energy¡ª"


    Chloe tilted her head sideways, "B-But why are you hard?"


    "Morning wood."


    "Oh. Isn''t that just wasteful?"


    "Preach~"


    "Alright. I''m gonna be honest, it''s already reserved. I would''ve loved to do you both but that''s gonna wait till wee back¡ª"


    "Not fair!/ You were already with them yesterday!"


    Quinn and Kaley followed, "It''s a first cum, first served basis./ Yeah, should''ve came sooner¡­"


    "Argh! It''s because of their tits!/ Of course, they are! Wait till you see us grow even more!"


    I facepalmed as I waved them off, "It''s not about that, okay?"


    "Then why¡ª"


    Mrs. Nichols had enough, "You¡ª You two are getting out of hand, you know that? Some punishment might be in order¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ That''s not scaring me away!/ Yeah! That just sounds like a good time!"


    Then Kaley used the Queen''s decree on them:


    "Is that so? Fine. You two aren''t allowed to have an orgasm for the duration of our trip outside and if I find out that you two did, how do I say this¡­ Hmm~ Oh! You''ll be off the team¡ª Wait, that sounds too harsh¡­ You''ll be suspended for a month!"


    "WHAT?!/ NOOOOOO!"


    "You two should learn to control yourselves alright?! These hoeing thing you two are doing is not healthy. I''ve been there and it''s not gonna end up well for you two if you continue hoeing on like that¡ª"


    "Is that even a real word¡ª"


    "Shut up! No cumming until we get back and trust me, I''ll fucking know if you two did and I''m serious as he is about punishments!"


    "A-Are you really serious?!/ How long would you be a-away?!"


    I joked, "A day, a week, or a month¡ª we''re not really sure~"


    "THAT''S TOO HARSH, KALEY!/ P-PLEASE, WE''RE SORRY!"


    Mrs. Nichols rolled her eyes, "Oh, please~ That was just every day for me when I was still with your¡ª y-you know¡­ A few days wouldn''t hurt you two."


    Then Kaley threw them the carrot, "There''s a reward if you two seed though¡­"

 Chapter 1054: New Light - New Fights

    Long story short, the four of us finally finished our shower peacefully and managed to finish each other off while the two were sent off to do this monumental task Kaley put up to them.


    It was this no-nut-while-we-were-away challenge of sorts and the reward was that the two could be alone with me for a night if they ever seeded but the punishment was no night with all of us for a month if they failed.


    I wasughing my ass off internally because we guys would always make shit up like that, and it was a thing for everyone in November.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we finally set off outside, and ignoring the guards and their families I was punishing for real, we did stop by our recently imed gatedmunity and checked on them.


    ''So far, so good¡­''


    There was only so much work they could do in the time we''d left them so after making sure that everything was fine and dandy, we continued our drive till we reached the Intercity.


    Compared to when we left it before, Mauricio was now the sole owner of the whole thing¡ªafter buying off everyone with their stocks¡ªbecause unless they had ongoing suppliesing in from the outside and farms to keep the ball rolling, it wouldn''t take long before they just had a huge storeroom with nothing on it.


    They could turn it into a trading hub or a servicing area but Mauricio also had his ws on that particr venture.


    That resulted in Mauricio not only giving him but also me, the biggest share out of the pot because they either had to sell everything outright or if they did have farms outside, they''d have to hire us for protection among other things.


    ''Unlimited rice~''


    Doing that didn''t mean we drove them away¡ªthough some found sce elsewhere¡ªbut they just downgraded from being business owners to our workers.


    But yeah, the reason I had arge share from Mauricio''s profits wasn''t only because the soldiers guarding the Intercity were more inclined to listen to me, but also¡ªbefore anyone else forgets¡ªwas because I helped in bringing back Catherine''s eyesight.


    It was a routine operation done on his wife that only needed a donor but in the zombie apocalypse, it was really hard to get an eye doctor of which I had two. Solving that problem of his and also taking care of his estranged family way back then put me in a position where I could simply ask him a favor and the answer would almost always be yes.


    With that said, Kaley and I were back in their same old room with the same old CD Radio ying the same songs from the same artist but now, Catherine, or "Cathy" was serving us a ss of lemonade with her new eyes¡ªstill wearing special sses though¡ªwhile we were ignoring the acid burns on her face.


    It actually didn''t matter if she had them or not because of the way she looked at everything curiously like Mimi was cute in a way, and to add some context, she didn''t want them fixed even though we had a doctor that could do stics as well.


    ''Looked metal as fuck though¡­ No one''s gonna mess with her with that face¡­''


    Mauricio then opened up the conversation:


    "You brought a lot of stuff. Your workers here still have plenty¡ª Or is that for the ce Oscar was rushing to?"


    "Thetter."


    "Ah. I heard you finally took care of that asshat. The ones I sent said they weren''t even needed¡­"


    "I don''t want it to be a close fight, no?"


    "Hah! That''s true¡­ Anyway, what''s the purpose of your visit?"


    "Do you know Mr. Christian Felix Garciano?"


    "I might''ve heard of him¡­ Why?"


    On that note, we spent an hour discussing specifics before deciding on an official date we''d sit with our new guy to discuss a more friendly partnership.


    I myself wouldn''t mind sharing some of the resources we had in exchange for construction materials because we had more than two sources of food and we were just stockpiling what we could and switching them around when their due date was about toe up.


    We eventually said our goodbyes before we drove further North and it didn''t take long before we were met with a familiar smell due to a bunch of zeds clumping up when left for too long.


    Aside from the obvious entrails exposed on the asphalt, it was pretty obvious that the circle that encapsted Mauricio''s domain with the others around the area had some holes or they were just feeling each other out as to who would do the heavy lifting.


    Because if they weren''t as proficient in fighting them up close and personal, clearing a horde or two required bullets, gas, or other building materials that would act as traps.


    But yeah, this type of thing was pretty normal with my crew and as soon as we left the cadets and the trainees with my six-wheeler, Artem and I just picked a side to wreak havoc with just our handheld weapons. Sure, Kaley and Jared would supplement our charge with their guns when it was really needed but it was barely 7 AM and we could be a little frugal with our bullet expenses.


    I obviously picked a side that could give me a lot of experience points and my first victim was a deadhead adhered to a bicycle before I imed the life of another that had a STOP sign driven straight to its stomach.


    It didn''t stop me from surgically cing the edge of my de by its right cheek and slicing up to carve off a fourth of its head before I simply chopped and pulled on the next one that saw me kill off their brethen wearing government property.


    I would''ve fanned to the side at this point but since Tatiana and Ibarra were right behind me, the ones I beheaded didn''t even hear meing because half of their heads slid just by their ears.

 Chapter 1055: Basic Loot & Run I

    We were still a few municipalities away from reaching Jessica''s ce, which was smack-dab in an airport where a good chunk of it was surrounded by the Sacobia and the Pasig-Potrero River, though they''ve already branched out to the useable farms in the area and the gatedmunity they reimed for themselves.


    They weren''t as far-reachingpared to me or evenpared to Mauricio but they were a tight-knit group of 300 or so people who were growing in power slowly but surely.


    In any case, their fighters should also be thinning the herd not only in their territories but all around the area to further reduce the oing threats because we were a city or so away and we were doing their jobs for them.


    But yeah, the ce we were in was technically closer to Mauricio''s area but it wouldn''t hurt to take care of their neighbor''s shit from time to time.


    It''s just that we couldn''t figure out which date these deadheads came to life because all of them were in varying stages of decay and some of them were even wearing their name tags from the ce they worked at or still had their things on them when they got infected¡ªlike this particr businessman whose hands were still tightly gripping on his bloody briefcase.


    After quickly ending its life, I didn''t even care what was on his briefcase but the next target I had to put down was a little special.


    Not only were its arms covered by thick books secured by duct tape, but it also had severalyers of clothing visible from the hunter''s vest it had on. However, it seemed to have sumbed to multiple gunshot wounds because even if it had bitemarks all over its face, there were circr marks of now-dried blood on these holes in its clothing where I assumed it bled to death.


    It was easy enough for my de to make its way through its head but I did have to mark off its particrly standing out "tacticool" backpack that even had all the stickers and patches on it.


    I would''ve loved to see its contents right now but we still had several dozen deadheads to go.


    But after a dozen minutes or so, I was ignoring the stares of the cadets and the trainees whom I tasked to clean up our mess while I was going through the same backpack and a few others.


    "FUCK YEAH!"


    The first thing I pulled out from its pack was a Glock 26 and a .38 Special revolver but from the box of 5.56s I also uncovered inside, it seemed like we were missing a rifle of some sort. However, his bag also had a good fixed-de knife, some MREs, a shlight, a fleshlight, a pair of socks, batteries, a two-way radio, and a few bottles of water.


    Aside from that, his bag was still in good condition though it should be run through the washer first and its bling should be taken off because it was that eye-catching.


    But yeah, it would spell trouble if the person who had it was traveling alone but a few stickers and whatnot wouldn''t matter from a group such as us. Of course, it was best to limit what sort of information another person could glean from our essories though it would always depend on the situation.


    ''If the person was trying to be bait by acting like an idiot for example¡­''


    In any case, there was never a shot fired but after a while, Marvin and Seb did manage to uncover a few hard drives from the LTO office by the corner while Brian and JP¡ªwho seemed to be cool at the moment¡ªmanaged to siphon a bit more fuel from the cars all around.


    Megan and Alexa did spot a few things that went by the boys which were a purse that contained a small snub-nosed revolver and a few working phones that just needed a charge.


    Carlo and Ruben scratched the side of their heads, "What good would phones do at this point?"


    ''Electronic parts are just as useful in the right hands¡­''


    Alexa answered, "Even now, people still carry their phones to get pictures or videos and we could gather a bit of info from those instead. People post anything to social media and this is just our way to find some juicy info¡ª"


    I cut in, "Be careful though¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Yeah¡­ Those points are valid but I''vee across a phone once that had hundreds of dick pics and with my photographic memory¡ª You know the rest¡ª Hey! Don''t drop it like that!"


    "You just said that you saw a lot of dick pics!"


    "Not that particr one!"


    "I-I don''t wanna risk it!"


    "Jeez, you found it, you search it. You can leave the phone to me but if I find some secret stash due to that, I''ll be taking most of the cut¡ª"


    Megan tried to swipe it off Alexa''s hands, "I''ll deal with it¡ª HEY!"


    "NUH-UH! THIS IS MINE! You already have the revolver!"


    Megan rolled her eyes as she turned to me, "What''s the protocol for finding guns?"


    "Depends on the person but you can either keep it or exchange it for something of equal or to less of value but with extra bullets or something. You can have it as a backup if you want?"


    "For real?"


    "Sure but as a backup, backup. You already have your primaries and your sidearm to spec but that one''s just a .22 revolver. A gun''s a gun but you already have a good set."


    "Hmm~ I do want to try out a revolver¡ª How about the one you found?" Megan let out a smirk as she leaned closer.


    I let out a smirk as well before I inched away, "What about it?"


    "Can I¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "I wasn''t even done with my sentence!"


    "Were you about to ask for it?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Then no."


    "Why?!"


    "Get used to your shit first. That''s one of the reasons the Academy¡ªno, probably why the whole military just let you stick to a set¡­ so you could master it first."


    "B-But where did our conversations of having a backup go?"


    "I''d be on the losing end if you trade that revolver for mine¡ª"


    "The purse had a couple of condoms inside it too though?"


    I almost choked from the sudden proposition, "You¡ª"


    Alexa then elbowed Megan, "Megan! No! That''s¡ª"


    Megan hissed at Alexa before looking at her like an idiot, "What? We''re just discussing options? How about it? See? Two¡ª Ah, no chance in hell these would fit¡ª"


    "Megan!"


    "What?! I''m right here and you keep shouting my name! Do you think these would fit his cock?! WE barely fit him! I pity this girl''s BF though or she just had a really shallow puss¡ª"


    "MEGAN!" Alexa shouted once again but this time, Kaley joined in as they were this close to beating her up.


    Ignoring Tatiana and Quinn''s cackle from my Raptor, I had to lightly smack Megan in the head¡ªfor being a little too horny while we were on the road¡ªand Tatiana whom she probably got the idea of being too open with her sexual advances.


    "What did I do?!"


    "You''re teaching a new generation of things that you always do to me! It''s your fault!"


    "Tsk! How is it wrong to ask for sex?!"


    "Not while working!"


    "Ah¡­"


    In any case, I did hand over the .38 special to her in exchange for the .22 revolver but since she didn''t have a proper holster for it and it really was supposed to be a backup gun, it simplynded in her pack which was jealously eyed by everyone else''s.


    For some reason, having an extra gun or simply finding it in the wild was like an achievement for everyone and almost all the boys were hitting their heads on the Raycolt for missing such a find.

 Chapter 1056: Basic Loot & Run II

    It didn''t take long before we were back on the road but as we made a turn to this budget 7-Eleven of sorts, we came across this cemetery that had this ramp of dead bodies from the inside which the dead could use to walk over and get to the main road.


    It was probably formed due to the design of the metal fences the cemetery had because I''m gonna assume that the survivors who used to protect this ce before used spears or something along those lines to thin the herd that formed inside.


    But yeah, we can''t just leave a potential flesh golem so as I made Artem and his group gather the walking dead over to the far end of the road using their vehicles, I made the cadets and the trainees use the fuel JP and Brian siphoned to light up the corpses even though they weren''t stacked up properly.


    We can''t just take the time to make a small mountain out of their rotting bodies but a little bit of extra fuel would probably get to them or most of them.


    I then radioed Artem:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll circle around to meet with you. You done with that batch?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Just finished. Found a rtively untouched vape shop here though, wanna loot the ce for tradingter?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure."


    *bzzt*


    -


    I wouldn''t pass on luxury items such as vapes because I categorized them at the same value or even more as cigars or cigarettes for the younger folks, but #2 was already a little too excited about getting his hands on one.


    However, one mention of the basic training I was putting them through made him pick out the vors that had no nicotine on them but I would still prefer for him to straight-up quit his vices.


    It was just a little hard to do it at the moment because as soon as we crossed this small-ish bridge to get to this gas station we saw from a distance, we encountered two more vape shops right next to a dental clinic.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Who told you fucks to park your Raycolt over there? We''re going for the gas station¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It''s for trading, sir! Trading!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh. One more shit like that and I''m gonna trade you for morepetent soldiers¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir! With all due respect, we are cadets and we''re still learning so we''re bound to make mistakes, and that gas station''s probably dry at this point in time. Wouldn''t it make more sense to head to a ce where we could actually grab a few things we can use¡ª I mean, trade?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [S-Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You were really about to convince me there but that slip-up just cost you and your team. We''re now heading over to that church to ask for forgiveness¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [T-That''s not even the same one in our¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Who fucking cares? We''re robbing the ce¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [S-SIR?! A CHURCH¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''d be surprised at the amount of shit they receive for free. I''ll bet you that bag of mods and vors in your pack we''re gonna score at least two cases of alcohol in that joint."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAH! FUCK IT! I''LL GIVE YOU MY WHOLE CUT IN EXCHANGE FOR ALCOHOL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You never get down, don''t ya?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Heh. You still gotta know me better, sir!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we definitely robbed this small-ish church that used to promote a not-so-well-known religion they invented themselves but the look on the cadets'' faces when we really did find a few cases of alcohol was fucking priceless.


    However, it wasmunion alcohol and didn''t taste as good as themercial ones but a bet''s a bet though I just made #2 owe me a favor instead of giving me his "cut" which was a huge, huge rookie mistake.


    I didn''t even think we''d get to loot as much stuff on the outside¡ªcontrary to Brenda''s statement of us taking everything¡ªbut I realized that it was a matter of couldn''t get to these items instead of not finding any items.


    We were definitely much better equipped evenpared to this country''s soldiers and add in a loot goblin like me that could probably sniff a loose round from a distance, the ratio of items we''d take back from each scavenging run would definitely be skewed in my favor.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we entered a residential area of sorts which nary had a shop we could loot and at this point, each house we decided to enter was just a mystery box of Christmas gifts or coal.


    However, one indicator of whether the ce was good to break into or not was to check out the vehicle or vehicles parked in their driveway and just seeing which model it was¡ªnot to mention the stickers it had on the back¡ªcould give us a general idea of what lives they were living before the world ended.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just pick five good houses before we get off this ce, alright? We don''t have all day!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Granted some of them were already broken into or burned to the ground, but just taking the vehicles themselves and finding out they had a gallon or two of gas was already a good find.


    It''s just that we found another Ta in very, very good condition and Quinn never looked so dead inside when I asked Ibarra to start it up for me.


    A good majority of the people we brought couldn''t understand Quinn''s aversion to a free truck because with the amount of free shit we were bringing in with us, we''d either need a trailer or a new vehicle to store them.


    Furthermore, it wouldn''t hurt to get into Jessica''s good graces even more because even if we give her gifts without expecting her to do the same, deep down, she''d bepelled to just agree to whatever favor we ask of herter.


    It wasn''t an attempt to guilt-trip her in any way but we can''t just roll up to her ce with a bunch of shiny things without giving her a small cut.


    ''We did procure them from her territory after all¡­''

 Chapter 1057: J&E Flight School- Uh-oh...

    Moving on from this municipality then to the next, the only ces we decided to stop by were this Alfa Mart where we procured a few tanks of gas and random knick-knacks, and this maternity clinic that still had a few boxes of medical supplies lying around. We had to break off from the main road we were using and use this particr backroad to get into a much "safer" area.


    We were still a bit far off the rk International Airport, where Jessica currently was, but it wouldn''t hurt to stop by this flight school where Eric and Jane seemed to have been living at for the past few months.


    However, it seemed that they might''ve forgotten to radio in to their people manning one of their checkpoints because all of them suddenly jumped to cover when they witnessed using in with several vehicles where a couple had mounted machine guns.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wait, stop. They don''t know we''reing. Someone ring up either Jane or Eric before we have to pay for their spilt coffee¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as I said that, our convoy fully stopped before we tried tomunicate that we came in peace, but even though we still couldn''t contact either of the two at the moment, Brian made contact with one of their own over here and the matter was quickly resolved.


    It was pretty obvious that a few of the guards manning the checkpoint were shaking, not only because they hadn''t had their cup of joe yet, but because their first course of action should''ve been to haul ass instead of standing their ground with their numbers.


    They could only buy so much time because they were that close to their outpost and it was much better for them to gather everyone and fight together rather than to jump behind their cars and get hot coffee spilled on their clothes.


    But yeah, I did hand over a few items we found along the way¡ªwhich they greatly appreciated¡ªand they did tell us to avoid using the most direct route to J&E''s ce because it was rigged with traps.


    "Really? That close to your outpost?"


    The older guy who had binocrs hanging by his neck answered, "Our defenses still have holes in ''em, that just a little surprise or the ones who managed to sneak in¡ª Oh! Don''t turn into the ridel St. too in case youe from the other side of the river because you know¡­"


    "Traps?"


    "Exactly. Thanks for the food and the refill, alright? If you have any more questions, you can ask Eric¡ª no, Moses directly, or better yet, one of the people you sent over here. They''ll tell ya everything."


    "Sure, sure¡­"


    With that said, we were then granted safe passage but I still felt like this location of the first checkpoint we came across was too near their outpost¡ªbesides the traps set all around¡ªbecause adding to the point I said earlier, if a group came and had hostile intentions, they should be able to call in the threat so that by the time that group arrives, they were already prepared to "receive" them.


    ''Just need to remind themter¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t even take a couple of songs before we reached this flight school, and looking at it as a whole, it wasn''t asrge¡ªor even an eight of the size of the NAIA airport¡ªwhere everything started from our point-of-view.


    This small-ish or medium-ish flight school could probably hold an airne or two at most in its hangars¡ªor its runway could be used for emergencyndings¡ªbut its main focus was on lighter aircraft used for flight training or something simr in which they had several parked out in the open.


    Still, aside from its main selling points, the people assigned to this ce used the free space to its full potential¡ªticking off all the essential facilities and whatnot¡ªwithout sacrificing what made a flight school a flight school just to have a meta base.


    Pilots coulde in clutch at the most important moment and even though they would almost always not get picked over doctors, their specific skillset should still be respected and recognized.


    ''I hope I could run one of those smaller nester¡­''


    But yeah, as we parked by and connected with one of Brian''s "bros" and this Moses fe which had a job simr to Rin, it didn''t take long before Jane and Eric came rushing with a panicked expression, scanning their eyes into the group beforending on mine.


    "Finally!" I joked as I ignored the obvious "creases" from their clothes.


    "WE''RE SORRY!"


    I waved them off with a smile, "Nice ce. Slept in, huh?"


    Jane looked away embarrassedly while Eric scratched the side of his cheek with a goofy smile, "Ahaha¡ª"


    Moses cut in while shaking his head, "Excuse me, sir. As I was saying, are you here for an inspection or something simr? It''s because I haven''t heard of a visit and we should''ve prepared this ce to wee you."


    Jane took a deep breath before she answered for me, "T-That''s my bad, Moses¡­ We should''ve told you¡ª Wait¡­" then she suddenly turned back to me, "Weren''t you guys supposed toe in yesterday?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, and I made Vera contact this ce and I believe Eric¡ª"


    "FUCK!" Eric eximed as he pped his forehead, "That''s totally on me, I''m sorry¡­"


    Moses shook his head once again, not even bothering to hide his displeasure, which was totally understandable, "I-In any case, I do apologize on behalf of these two but may I ask to what do we owe the visit?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "It''s more of a wellness check with a few umm~ tips¡ª but before that, we cleared up the neighborhood a bit and looted a few ces and whatnot so we just came here to give your cut. This is your territory, after all¡­"


    Eric and Jane interjected, "What?/ You really don''t have to¡ª"


    Moses followed, "You really don''t have to, sir¡­ After this embarrassment, we should be the ones giving you stuff, not the other way around."


    I waved them off, "It''s fine. I''m feeling a little generous today so we got you that truck and some of the shit that''s on there¡ª"


    "Sir, we really can''t ept those¡ª"


    "I insist, okay? Besides, I''m gonna ask for a small favor¡­"


    "Anything, sir! Anything within our power, we''ll be d to help you with one of your requests!"


    "Y-Yeah!/ We''ll help you dude¡ª sir, don''t worry about it!"


    "For real? Cool. Can I take one of those nes for a spin?"

 Chapter 1058: IM A RANGER, BABY~~~ 2 - Location, Location, Location

    Before I even had the chance to finish my sentence, Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, and funnily enough, Niks disappeared from view the moment I asked to borrow their nes for a bit while almost everyone present couldn''t understand why.


    Unc Zardon and some of my workers were chuckling because they were the ones who knew what was up but they never put on their seatbelts that fast or ever while the truck was turned off.


    But yeah, Moses couldn''t believe his eyes when he discovered I had a PPL(Private Pilot''s License) that allowed me to fly a helicopter and in this case, a single-engined ne like the Cessna 172 right next to this Cessna Skyhawk I was already eyeing the moment we parked.


    "C-Can I fly with you, sir?!"


    "Sure, since Kaley looks like¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "I''m flying with ya, too! Howe you never told me you could fly a ne?!"


    "I told you I could fly a heli, right? With a PPL, depending on my training¡ª"


    "How the fuck could I have known that?!"


    "True¡­" then I turned to my group, "There''s room for one more. Who''sing?"


    As we waited for thest sacrificialmb¡ªerr, I meant a uhh~ a passenger¡­ I discovered that this Moses fellow was enrolled and was saved in this very school by Jessica and the moment they decided to make this ce an outpost to be a supplement to their airport in Pampanga, the guy stood up to the te because this ce just meant that much to him.


    However, he desperately needed an instructor to continue his studies and even though they had an older gentleman who could do just that, they couldn''t just use the fuel for airnes just to practice because I already made the deal with Jessica for everything to belong to me.


    But since the stars aligned for him at this very moment, he wouldn''t pass up the chance to learn because the motherfucker almost brought a whole camera setup just to see me at work.


    "You can only bring one camera and you need to really, really, really secure it, okay?"


    "O-Okay?"


    "Good."


    With that said, Lucas won the rock-paper-scissor tournament to decide who gets to ride with me but Megan used her backup revolver not to shoot him but to trade for that very spot and it just worked for both of them.


    ''Unbelievable¡­''


    But yeah, I did mount a couple of cameras on the ne to get some footage from up above¡ªinstead of just having some quick fun¡ªand everything went swimmingly well just as we took off from the runway before all hell broke loose.


    "I''M A RANGER, BABY~~~!!!"


    "Huh¡ª Sir? Sir?! SIR!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU CRAZY FUCK! I''LL KILL YA WHEN WE GET DOWN! HNGH! YOU''RE SO FUCKING DEAD, YOU SON OF A BITCH! HAHAHAHA!!!"


    "THEN WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING THEN?! I ALREADY PEED MY PANTS!"


    "This ne is well-maintained, Moses. Good job! Everyone brace for the Gs!"


    "WHEN DID THEY TEACH YOU THIS IN FLIGHT SCHOOL?!"


    "ROLL THIS PLANE ONE MORE TIME AND I''LL¡ª I''M GONNA PUKE¡ª"


    "ARE WE FLYING UPSIDE DOWN?! HEEEEEEELP!!!"


    "ISN''T THIS FUN, GUYS¡ª Moses? Did you pass out?"


    "..."


    "HE ALREADY PASSED OUT FROM THE FIRST LOOP, I''M SO GONNA CHOKE YOU OUT TO DEATH WHEN WE GET DOWN!"


    "I-I-I SHOULD''VE KEPT THE GUN¡ª NO, I DON''T EVEN KNOW WHAT''S HAPPENING¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Just imagine a ne moving like the most hellish roller coaster you''ve ever been on but the ride''s going much, much faster and the more you scream, the faster it goes. It''s been a while ever since I''ve flown the helicopter that was on the top of my house but a ne like this was much more fun to maneuver.


    But yeah, after that 5-minute flight that felt like an hour to them, Moses had to go to the infirmary, Quinn was just waiting for the feeling in her legs toe back before murdering me, and Megan needed to have a change of clothes.


    Funnily enough, it didn''t deter the boys from asking me to fly them as well¡ªwhich I obliged¡ªand even if the second batch came out in a much worse state than the first one, the third batch still wanted to have a go.


    So once again, I established myself as the group''s psycho but it didn''t take long before Moses recovered so we could have a proper discussion:


    Obviously enough, I learned that Eric and Jane were the leaders in name for this outpost but Moses had the bulk of the responsibilities but half of the power. Everything he decided on needed to be run through either of the two leaders but I''m gonna be a little partial for the one mistake they did before our arrival.


    In any case, they were very receptive to my tips and suggestions but Moses got a little defensive when we got to the topic of the distance between their checkpoints and this outpost:


    "Sir, it looks like the distance is quite short but have you taken into ount the turns you''d have to make just to get to this ce? Furthermore, anyone that would try to attack us would definitely use the shorter route instead of the drawn-out one¡ª"


    "Moses. Look, that idea of yours is genius but the distance is still way~ too short. Was this ce even attacked? By people, I mean¡­ Jessica does have enemies¡­"


    "N-No¡­ sir. J-Just biters."


    "And how does Jessica do it over on their side? And how many checkpoints does she have before you reach the main base? I know you only have 50 or so people in this joint, and before you say anything about the Angat River as a natural barrier that covers two sides of your base, I''ve also taken it into ount because you should have more eyes further out so the people here would be safer¡­"


    "I¡­ I know the risks b-but I wouldn''t want them to get written off just so we could be safe¡­ T-They should be able to get here as fast as possible so we could defend together¡­"


    I let out a deep sigh, "Look, this is one of the harder decisions when you''re managing your camp and ites with putting your people in such situations."


    "But¡ª"


    "They fucked up by jumping into cover instead of abandoning their post but thates with the job. Again, it''s a case-by-case basis because there are cases where I could be right and could be wrong but aside from moving away your designated checkpoints, you''re already on the right track. All you have to do right now is to improve on it. Take a look at the traps youid out for example¡­"


    "W-What about them, sir?"


    "Since when did you change their cement? I''m talking about the blockades and the smaller ones too."


    "Location¡ª What? Why¡ª Oh. Oh! That''s¡­ I didn''t think of that!"


    "Are you beginning to notice the pattern?"


    "I-I do¡­"


    "You see¡­ The big traps could stay as is but even though it''s gonna be a pain for all of you, wouldn''t it be harder for people who''d try to case this ce out if you switch things once in a while?"

 Chapter 1059: Missed Opportunities - Killing Floor

    Doing what I suggested had pros and cons and the most advantageous thing about this setup was thatcency would just be thrown out the window because everyone else would be on their toes or in high alert¡ªnot to mention the discourse it would cause just from the forced misinformation from the enemies'' side¡ªbut the drawback was that aside from idents to ur, it would be mentally draining to be watching out and being mindful as to where they were currently ced at any given time.


    To be fair, this was one of those things that looked really good on paper and would totally work for a camp that had small numbers, but this would be next to impossible to pull off with my numbers at home.


    And with our aggressive campaign to clear groups of zombies and reim as much territory while boarding up the surplus, we even had to recall our "Killzones" where we ced automated traps or repositioned them much, much further to be feasible.


    In any case, we only talked for a bit more before we said our goodbyes because our goal was to reach the Marine base in Subic on or before sundown. Reaching Jessica by noon was also our goal but the number of stops we were making just to clear hordes and loot abandoned facilities were slowing us down.


    "Alright¡­ Good shit, Moses, but Jane and Eric, we don''t care whatever it is you do in your ''free time'' but keep your radios on, yeah?"


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡ª/ Y-Yeah¡­ sure¡­"


    "Goodbye again, sir!"


    With that said, we followed the road by the river and drove for a good 20 or so minutes before I slightly let off the pedal and nced at the entrance of JED''s Ind Resort which was a waterpark that existed even before I was born, but its poor state just made me go back to the pace we were in earlier.


    ''Now''s not the time¡­''


    Quinn was the first one to inquire about it:


    "What''s up with that ce?"


    "It''s a waterpark."


    "I could see that but why did you¡­ you know? Looked nostalgic and shit from seeing that¡­"


    "Eh~ It''s just been a custom for us to visit that ce with everyone back home and even though the decor could use some work, the luxury cars a bit further in¡ª"


    "What kind of cars?! Why didn''t you start with that?!"


    "We don''t have the time, alright? The ce''s probably infested and would take a day or two topletely clear. We''re not even sure if the cars are still there but from thest time we visited, there were a couple of Ferraris, a Porsche, a Lambo, and a Maserati among Benzs and Bentleys.


    The owner''s a casual collector and loves to show off his stuff but everything he had is probably stock and hadn''t been driven ever since they were in the huge disy case¡­"


    Quinn huffed, "Fucking dumbass¡­ He should''ve been firing it a few times a week at least¡­ Why bother collecting stuff if you''re not gonna y with it¡­ He should''ve just fabricated a body if he''s just gonna show it off¡­"


    "True~"


    After driving straight the main highway for 30 minutes and passing another municipality that had a moderate number of deadheads walking around, we reached the junction that would either lead us to Subic Bay if we drove for three more hours or to Jessica''s Airport which would only take 30 more minutes give or take.


    The answer was thetter obviously because this wasn''t the only road that would lead us to the Marine base though it was the shortest route given our current location.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we had to make a full stop because we couldn''t just ignore the undead we were driving past, and even if the cadets and trainees had free reign to shoot down the ones that were following behind, our convoy had once again attracted enough attention.


    We weren''t exactly trying to be quiet but just to make our lives a little harder now so it''ll be a little easierter, a few unsuppressed shots followed by the continuous thumping from one of our vehicles'' speakers gathered the undead from every direction.


    It was up to Artem and his group to advance as much as possible, so we would have at least a decent area to put them down one by one and so that we wouldn''t get boxed out, while the cadets and the trainees at the back would be in charge of blocking off another path with the bulk of cargo.


    This time, everyone was allowed to fire their guns because we already made a lot of noise, but I still rushed forward with only my de drawn because Kaley had my back.


    She was in charge of taking care of the ones on my blindspot while Jared was the one in charge of putting down anything that moved a little quicker than normal, and as always, Tatiana was our resident jungler that could pop out from anywhere needed.


    Furthermore, Quinn was the one I left behind the wheel and Ibarra was there to do the same job as Tatiana but in a more passive way and just the area between the six-wheeler and my Raptor.


    With that said, I was already hearing automatic fire from where Artem and the rest took a turn while the ones further behind me sounded like carefully ced shots that came from pistols.


    Being in the front deprived me from knowing what was happening from all sides but I was doing everything I could to gather information¡ªthe way everyone was firing their guns for example¡ªto figure out if they were in a pinch or if I could readjust the initial positions we took.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "RUBEN AND BRIAN! FOLLOW MY TRAIL AND START PULLING THE BODIES OFF THE ROAD! ARTEM! YOU CAN DRIVE FURTHER IN, RIGHT UNTIL YOU REACH THIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NAMED MAINPIS OR WHATEVER AND YOU CAN TURN LEFT TO THAT AND THEN LEFT AGAIN ONCE YOU REACH THE BREWERY SO YOU CAN LOOP AROUND! YOU DON''T HAVE TO SPRAY THEM WITH EVERYTHING! DO IT IN BURSTS AT LEAST!


    COPY?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [COPY!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [COPY TOO, SIR!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    After that quick exchange, I rushed to this cluster of 5 to 7 biters but they were already a cluster of four when I reached them because Kaley already bored a lead projectile into their skulls. That made pieces of their skull and what remained of their brains sprayed on the pavement though it only took almost the same shes before their bodies collectively hit the floor.

 Chapter 1060: Murderstroking? - We got it.

    I could already see from the corner of my eye Ruben and Brian several feet behind me, pulling the decapitated bodies to the sidewalk, but this fucking deadhead running on all fours took advantage of it to try to catch me off guard.


    But to its surprise, my boot had already made contact with its head the moment it tried to use its arms and legs to spring up from its lowered position, and it just had the craziest reverse whish it ever experienced.


    The force it used to propel itself toward me was enough to topple a grown man but even bullets traveling in high velocity could deviate and miss its target just by making brief contact with a leaf or a branch.


    Breaking its neck didn''t kill it outright but it made sinking the tip of my de right in its eye socket way~ easier.


    It looked like a transformer that stopped transforming halfway but instead of vehicle parts, its body was made up of rotting flesh with deepcerations due to the way it was moving further than it was supposed to.


    But after pulling out and then flicking the blood off my de, a bullet whizzed in front of me and took down another feral waiting for the perfect opportunity, so I just pulled the pin from one of my grenades and threw it straight through the little bakeshop theye from.


    I would''ve turned my back against it and posed at the right moment before the explosion, but we weren''t here to mess around, so I stepped back at the appropriate distance and aimed for the ones that weren''t caught by the explosion. Six bodies were confirmed and whatever the fuck was left inside that bakeshop but I simply holstered my TX22 before rushing in once again.


    Ignoring the broken ss and scattered debris with my boots, I opened my way into a cluster without Kaley''s help by Sparta-kicking a lone wanderer straight through this clump of congealed flesh. Right after that, I moved to their side and alternated between swinging on each of their heads like using a golf club and a normal horizontal swing for the party crashers.


    My de path became goofy as I tried to make it follow the swing arc of a different sport but I went back to the same style right when Tatiana came into view.


    She was now equipped with her bastard sword because Kuzma had taken ownership of her injector axe and hadn''t had the chance to get it reced yet, but the tip of her sword was still finding its way to violently inject itself straight through a deadhead''s skull without the help of CO2 gas to widen the wound channel.


    But yeah, there were just some times when she needed to get a little barbaric with her attacks because as she stepped back to wipe her de of the grime, she just had to grip her sword on the shard side with her bloody rag before swinging it on a biter''s head and breaking its skull with the crossguard.


    "Murderstroking, really? Just use your scabbard!"


    "Did you forget that mine''s made with leather, not wood? Yours even had a metal part just for that!"


    "Whatever! Still uses too much energy! And look what you did!"


    At this moment, Tatiana''s sword got stuck in this deadhead''s skull cavity and it just looked way~ worsepared to when she first wiped it. Another step backward could''ve saved her a bit of time to hold her sword properly but now the handle was also covered with the dead''s nasty bits.


    We had to pull out our sidearms to clear a small radius so she could pull her sword out safely, but she just left it there because she ran out of clean cloth. Furthermore, wiping our des haphazardly was okay in a pinch but it was a huge no-no when ites to our handles.


    Even with gloves, blood still had the chance to sip in and get into our callused or overworked hands, due to working out mostly, which could put us out ofmission forever.


    So yeah, Tatiana went old school and used the pistol and knifebo as I continued to just use my katana, but it has been a while since we heard a gunshot from Artem''s side. I know that I did remind them to not waste our bullets but it was a totally different thing to not fire them at all.


    I was just about to check in on them when I saw their ridee out of the street I instructed them to loop over, but it seemed like they came across one of Jessica''s clearing group who decided to help us as well.


    "We''ll take care of this¡ª"


    "We''ll all do it¡ª"


    "No, no¡ª We have a quota and we''re training neers. We had to do it, no sweat."


    Hearing their exnation to take over, the rest of us just decided to sheathe our des and holster our guns before putting on our thick gloves to move the dead-dead onto arge pile for a campfireter. Butpared to our new blood, their new recruits seemed to be from the camps further north that joined in with them and it just meant that their number had probably exceeded 300 long ago.


    It could be twice or thrice right now if they were just taking in people left and right like me, but I kept my gun and my de really~ close because that just meant we were working with people we technically had no rtions with.


    Granted it was true that they now belong in Jessica''s camp, but they don''t know us as much as we don''t know them so keeping our guards up wouldn''t hurt in the long run. But yeah, the pair we spoke to noticed the little tension in the air but they just let out a sigh and a chuckle before they offered to finish up:


    "Listen¡­ I know it''s a little weird right now but we got this, okay? Besides, Jessica''s already waiting for y''all¡­ That''s one of the reasons we came here. It won''t even be a 10-minute ride¡­"

 Chapter 1061: No, you dont. - Pretty much, yeah.

    The pair I spoke to, Lizzy and Brandon, felt like they used to be preschool teachers just from the way they spoke to us, but with a dozen or so deadheads in the immediate vicinity and around 50 more in the distance from where they came from, I showed them that we didn''t need any help at all.


    To their surprise, I drew my pistol¡ªwhich made them back off except for their trainees who were methodically clearing the dead¡ªbefore I whizzed each shot by them and stole the kills they were nning to steal from me.


    "What are you do¡ª"


    And before she could finish her sentence while I ignored their group''s curses from "almost" getting shot, I holstered my pistol then I pulled on my rifle''s strap¡ªunfastening it from my back¡ªbefore I cleared them from left to right, reloading once, and then finishing the rest with a few more bullets left in my magazine.


    "..."


    "..."


    The pair was still processing what just happened in front of their eyes¡ªincluding some of their trainees who barely stained their "weapons" to reach this quota¡ªbut I already flicked the safety on and flipped back the dust cover before I started picking up the casings that dropped on the floor.


    "Lizzy¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "How old are you?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "Nevermind. We''re probably the same age and I don''t appreciate people talking to me like that."


    "I¡ª"


    I waved her off with a smile, "It''s not rude¡ªit''s pleasant(?) if anything¡ªbut it just rubs me the wrong way somehow¡­"


    "S-Sorry¡­ I''m a preschool¡ª well¡­ I used to teach kids a-and the way I talk is just a force of habit¡ª"


    "I had an inkling to that actually but it''s not the way you talk, it''s the way you handled the situation."


    Brandon cut in, "Pardon?"


    I turned to Tatiana, "You felt it too, right?"


    Tatiana nodded, "Correct."


    Lizzy was still confused, "I-I don''t understand¡­"


    "Alright, let this be a learning opportunity¡­ The vibe waspletely off when you took over our jobs to fill your ''quota'' or whatever but while the tension''s running high between me and your group, you decided to break it off by sending us on our way."


    "I still don''t understand¡­"


    "Your first mistake is that even if you ''helped'' my group when you felt like they needed it, they ''got'' it as well as you said earlier. Even if it wasn''t your intention, that action will unequivocally put us in a position where we owe you some type of favor while barely doing anything to amount to that."


    Brandon cut in once again, "Wait, wait¡ª we didn''t mean to do that at all! We''re just¡ª"


    "Filling the quota, right? I''m not sure if you''ll understand this term but kill-stealing is extremely frowned upon in themunity I grew up in. You don''t juste in at thest second, killing off the boss¡ªor the dregs, in this case¡ªthen sharing the glory with us. Besides, how do you mark up your quota? Ears? Heads?


    Fingers? We got a few hundred here. Do you just take them all and get Jessica''s favor from it¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And your second mistake¡ª no, your third mistake¡ª"


    Lizzy then got pissed, "Hey! I don''t get where these usations areing from but we came here with the pure intention to help! I''m sorry that we don''t have the masculinity as fragile as yours but if you didn''t want our help, you could''ve just said so!"


    I chuckled, "There it is~ Big wordsing from you, huh? I thought the wokemunity were the ones representing all the dead folks by joining their kind on the first day, but to get down to your level, what do you call someone who ''forces'' themselves on¡ª well, you are a group so what do you call a ''group'' who forces themselves on another group that didn''t need it?


    Is that what to do when I get abused? Just tell them no because I could''ve said so?"


    "Don''t twist my words like that, you sick fuck! This is making me so ufortable!"


    "Yeah, #metoo¡­ We were doing so well before you fucks came and it''s all ruined. Look at what''s happening now. I haven''t even told you thest mistake you fucking did because you just made a whole lot more¡­"


    "Then what is it, huh?! Mr. High and Mighty?!"


    "Aside from you hiding as a total woke bitch, I could''ve cleared the air with your group because they''re getting dragged along to your whims. I used to send people off¡ªlike a few of my troops to this ce¡ªwhen they have an unresolvable conflict with another group of mine but you''re doing just that from a small spat. In the guise of Jessica expecting us even.


    It''s really weird that we suddenly had to work together but guess who showed up to do just that in the first ce?"


    "Oh! OH! Is that it?! Is that right?! We''re the ones at fault here, huh?!"


    "Pretty much, yeah¡ª"


    "OKAY¡ª"


    Brandon cut in for the third time, "Woah, woah, woah! Easy now, everyone, alright? We''re all on the same side here, right? W-We can go elsewhere if they don''t want us here¡ª"


    "If THEY don''t want us here?! Are you hearing yourself, Brandon?! This is our¡ª"


    Brandon suddenly sent a p across Lizzy''s face, "Listen, Lizzy! I''m not sure if you''ve seen what they could do, but besides that, he''s the one who helped Jessica do all this! He basically owns at least half of the gear we''re using and more!"


    I just had to do it:


    "Pretty much, yeah¡ª"


    Lizzy then red at me because it obviously worked, "Oh? Is that right? Just because you supplied what we needed you get to be l-like¡ª l-like that?!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Pretty much, yeah. If you still haven''t found an adjective, I go by asshole or psycho¡ª whichever one you choose¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Look, I don''t know how Jessica''s doing it¡ªby putting pairs into positions of power who mucks it up¡ªbut I hope to fucking god you''re just starting out as well. I get you''re short on staff but this is just nuts! Is the pay for being out here that good?!"

 Chapter 1062: Its been a while...

    I should''ve just de-escted the situation¡ªlike Brandon was doing¡ªto save some time and mental exhaustion by talking to this type of person, but it really has been a while since I''ve seen one, and her shady way of doing things just to get in some favors not only with Jessica but also with me by forcing in help when they weren''t needed was just something I wouldn''t let go.


    Different people had different ways to climb thedder even before the world ended but this was just nuts.


    First, I met with Eric and Jane who were supposed to be leading their group but were boning each other instead without the means of contacting them¡ªand I let that pass because someone else took the reins¡ªbut this pair was way worse even before the bitch revealed her true self.


    This whole situation with them was just too weird and shady from the get-go but clearing up our own mess before they took over was the right move. They came in with the guise of meaning well but it waster revealed that it was just for meeting their quota and the spoils we would be leaving behind.


    Their tactics could''ve worked on any other group but me being a loot goblin/hoarder prevented them from seeding on their sorry attempt to reap all the rewards with the littlest amount of work.


    ''It was like the Quiet Quitters but a level above¡­''


    But yeah, they could''vee with the full intention of just helping us and didn''t even realize what we were doing but a mistake was still a mistake, and getting pissed off about it by me telling it to their faces was another. Sure, I could''ve been nicer by I''m not a fucking preschool teacher.


    It''s just that our little encounter didn''t end there because as we made our way to Jessica''s camp after cleaning up, the same group had already made their way back¡ªprobably because of Lizzy¡ªno, it was definitely because of her¡ªand it seemed like she was dragging our name to the mud, the moment they got back, and was screaming off Jessica''s ear when she filed severalints.


    I could only imagine what Jessica was going through right now because I was told by one of their attendants that she had just arrived from another overnight run and was just about to sleep when Lizzy came back to call for the manager.


    But yeah, I already brought my presents and several receipts to metaphorically p that bitch''s face when I was finally told she could receive us in her office, which was the ATC(Air Traffic Controller) Area overlooking everything.


    To my delight, they were using it like our radio station back home, where a few people were receiving and sending messages to their troops in and out of their territory, but I was led in this little nook in the corner where a room with the blinds down was present, which was Jessica''s office and probably her bedroom at the current moment.


    "Sorry for the intrusion~"


    And as soon as I came in, I saw the tired look on Jessica''s face and Lizzy''s smug smile while sitting like a dumb bitch on one of the sofas.


    Jessica forced out a smile while trying hard to keep awake, "It''s been a while¡­"


    "That it is¡ª Sorry, Mikhail''s not here¡ª"


    "Oh¡ª"


    "He got shot¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    Lizzy had to but in at the worst possible time, "Excuse me?! We have something to talk about, right¡ª"


    Jessica instantly shut her down, "SHUT UP!" then she downed thest bit of coffee in her mug before she turned to me, "He shot show¡ª How?!"


    "You should be sleeping¡ª"


    "Yeah! I should!" she eximed as she red at Lizzy who was now confused and angry by getting ignored by the two of us.


    Then I put my presents and myptop on her desk before I reassured her, "It''s a long story but he''s good and will be able to visit really soon but besides theptop, all this here''s for you¡ªdon''t worry, I already gave your assistant their share."


    "W-What''s this?" Jessica confusedly looked at her gift basket while slightly relieved from hearing that Mikhail was doing okay.


    "Gifts?"


    "I-I know that they''re gifts but¡ª What''s with theptop?"


    "The full context. I heard this bitch has been saying nasty shit since she got back¡ªwithoutpleting their quota too¡ªand this is footage from my and Artem''s point of view. It''s raw footage so you could see it wasn''t tampered with in any way¡ª"


    Lizzy cut in, "I-I DON''T BELIEVE THIS!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You don''t believe in proof? Huh. You thought it was just gonna be your word against mine, huh?"


    "I''m so ufortable with this! Getting filmed without my consent?! I''M LEAVING¡ª"


    I then released copious amounts of killing intent as I shouted at the top of my lungs:


    "SIT THE FUCK DOWN, BITCH! WE''RE SEEING THIS ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND IF I DON''T RECEIVE AN APOLOGY AND YOU GET DEMOTED TO NOTHING, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª CONSENT?! REALLY?! WHO CONSENTED YOU TO FUCKING OFFER UNSOLICITED HELP?! WHO CONSENTED YOU TO BE A FUCKING SHADY-ASS BITCH?! WHO BROKE WHAT LAWS YOU''RE THROWING AT ME FIRST?!


    WHO?! HUH?! ALL YOU DO IS BE A FUCKING PARASITIC LEECH AND THE MOMENT YOU''RE GETTING CALLED OUT FOR IT YOU FUCKING BOUNCE?! UNCOMFORTABLE MY ASS! YOU FUCKING REVOLT ME AND I''M PUTTING UP WITH IT JUST TO PUT YOU IN YOUR FUCKING PLACE! AGAIN, SIT THE FUCK DOWN BEFORE I LOP YOUR HEAD OFF!"


    After that outburst, the room had never been so quiet but it didn''t take long before we heard a sigh from Jessica as she opened her mouth:


    "Lizzy¡­ You do know that I''ve been aware of what you''re doing and I''ve warned you multiple times not to do that because I''ve already received multipleints from the other groups¡­ The ones who started with you had already moved up by putting their head down and doing the work but you''re still stuck doing the same thing over and over¡­ What do you have to say to that?"

 Chapter 1063: No feelings?

    Hearing Jessica''s words, it further cemented how much of a shady-ass bitch Lizzy was this shit definitely had to stop. It''s just that from what I was seeing, even with themand of close to a thousand people, Jessica was still doing most of the heavy lifting.


    I wasn''t sure if she didn''t how to delegate to people or just couldn''t because of her limited options, but the stress of leading a group such as this would be enough to make anyone cave in without proper help.


    I already meddled with her affairs by demanding Lizzy to get demoted to a grunt or a straight-up civvy but this was the type of help that would greatly benefit both parties, unlike being a parasite like Lizzy was.


    But yeah, why was it that there were these kinds of people who didn''t know when to give up or realize their mistakes?


    "WHAT WOULD YOU WANT ME TO SAY THEN?! I DIDN''T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN! I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH MY JOB BEFORE THIS WHOLE BULLSHIT BLEW UP AND CHANGED EVERYONE''S LIVES AND NOW I HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE JUST TO SURVIVE?!"


    I had to cut in, "Excuse me, what?"


    Jessica rolled her eyes and facepalmed before she huffed, "Not this again¡­ THOSE PEOPLE ARE DEAD, LIZZY! AND WHY DOES THAT EXCUSE ALWAYS COMES UP, HUH?! IT NEVER MATTERS WHEN YOU''RE GETTING YOUR QUOTAS FILLED, WHY DOES IT MATTER NOW?!"


    "WHY ARE YOU TWO ATTACKING ME?!"


    Jessica threw herself back in her chair, "This conversation is once again going nowhere¡­"


    "AND NOW YOU AVOID THE CONVERSATION?! I STAYED HERE, DIDN''T I?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You''re one impossible bitch to talk to, huh?"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" then she turned to Jessica, "YOU HEARD WHAT HE SAID, RIGHT?! AS A WOMAN¡ª"


    "I''M A WOMAN TOO, LIZZY! AND YEAH, YOU''RE A FUCKING BITCH WHO ALWAYS BLAMES EVERYONE BUT HERSELF! DO YOU KNOW THE HEADACHES I GET FROM LISTENING TO YOUR COMPLAINTS ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE AND EVERYONE ELSE''S COMPLAINTS ABOUT YOU?! LOOK AROUND! THEY''RE NOT THE PROBLEM, YOU ARE!"


    I had to ask, "Why is she leading a group, anyway?"


    "BECAUSE I''M A CAPABLE¡ª"


    "Shut your fucking mouth! I didn''t ask you! If you don''t tone it down, I''ll be legally required to p you. Twice!"


    "Y-You can''t do that!"


    "You can''t be this out of touch either and survive this long! I know the dead don''t just eat brains but they''re somehow avoiding you!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    Before she could stand up and shout at my face again, I rocked her head with a huge p, followed by palming her nasty face to sit her ass back down, and then pping her again when she was about to berate me from hitting a "woman". This bitch definitely had a screw loose or her wholeputer box was missing because I was starting to regret humoring myself and talking to one of these crazies.


    I had some woke ideologies I sometimes follow too but this was on the deepest end of the spectrum.


    In the end, you can''t just make a person who didn''t want to listen understand in the first ce, so Jessica just decided to take off her badge and gun, remove all her responsibilities, and had her stay in their prison of sorts getting fed slop and murky water until she "admit" she was wrong.


    There were just people who were set in their ways or their beliefs but even though apromise was on the table, she just wouldn''t have it and wanted the ones running the whole ce to conform to her ideas instead.


    "Finally¡­ some peace and quiet¡­"


    Jessica rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "You tell me. I''m sorry but I swear not everyone here is like that¡­"


    "Really?"


    "Wait. What happened? Did something else¡ª"


    "Eric and Jane are forgetting their responsibilities¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ What did they do now?"


    "It''s fixed now, don''t worry¡­"


    "Shit¡­ I''m making a bad impression to you now the moment you decide to visit¡­ To think I impressed your old-timer¡­"


    "Oscar?"


    "Yeah. We cut a hole in the expressway so we didn''t have to circle around the winding path to get to it but they almost had a straight path without distractions to Subic. His group used it when they had to bring in more stuff."


    "Oh? That''s very handy."


    "It''s like what you''re doing with one of your group but instead of having the whole expressway clear, we reimed a segment of it and built sturdy gates to rece the part of the wall we destroyed."


    "Yeah¡­ Can I give you one more advice though?"


    "Please. Anything to make it easier¡­"


    "Heh. It never will but ites with assigning people jobs. Learning to delegate them is a sign of a good leader but you should delegate to the right people. Again, I''ve only seen two very bad examples so I don''t know the wholeyout of your workforce, but if someone''s already getting that manyints, you should change things up a little and see how it goes¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡ª It''s just¡ª There''s too much work right now and I''m getting overwhelmed¡­ I barely slept and I really need a moment to catch up."


    "I see what you mean."


    "You do? You don''t look like you have problems¡ª"


    "I have a few, actually¡­"


    "Like what?"


    "There''s this group who I sponsored way back who''s working with us¡ªthey''ve been really thriving at one point¡ªbut the management is starting to fall apart because their leader doesn''t want to take any breaks or change things up to see what works. She just kept pushing through with all she got. Even though it''s admirable, it is kinda stupid¡ª"


    "Wait. Now you''re messing with me! Asshole!"


    "Hey~ You used one of my pronouns! You remembered!"


    "You¡ª Pfft! I''ll give you that¡­ Dammit¡­ I really want to sleep right now but the coffee''s kicking in¡­"


    "Ah, that sucks¡ª I may have a tablet or two of mtonin in my pack if you want¡ª It''ll kick in around half an hour but it still depends because you have coffee¡­ Want some?"


    "..."


    "Jessica?"


    At this point, Jessica was just looking me in the eye without saying anything, but I''ve seen Kaley and several others throw me the same look when they needed to get physical. Granted having a "release" prompted me to sleep faster than taking sleep medication, I wouldn''t want to step on some toes if they had something going on.


    "What about Mikhail?"


    "He''s not here and we''re not exclusive. What about Kaley? I heard some things but I''m not sure about the specifics."


    "She definitely wouldn''t mind and might even join us but I feel that you wanted something quick."


    "I just really wanted to sleep but if you want me to reciprocate, I can do it when youe back. But now? I''ll let you cum in me at least once but I want you to keep going until I had enough. Can you do that at least? You don''t even need to stay behind. You can leave if I fall asleep or pass out."


    "There''s no problem in that department."


    "Good. But first things first: no kissing, no BJs, no calling me derogatory names, and most importantly, no feelings. I just want to fuck and I want it rough and hard. How about you?"


    "Can I lick¡ª"


    "Yes, please."


    "I''m talking about your pits."


    "I''m sweaty and I haven''t showered¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter."


    "Freak. But I''m intrigued, sure."


    "Creampies?"


    "Sure."


    "Anal?"


    "You''re really a freak. Do you have lube, at least?"


    "Always."


    "Okay, but fuck my pussy first."


    "On this desk?"


    "Where else?"


    "How about the people outside?"


    "I brought them in a few times. They''re probably jealous but wouldn''t mind."


    "I thought no feelings?"


    "Jealousy''s cool, not love. Besides, why''d you pick me over your wife? She''s hot. Any more questions?"


    "Last one."


    "Shoot."


    "Can I still go at it even if you pass out?"


    "Hmm~ You talk some big game, huh?"


    "Then take a look."


    "Oh, fuck¡ª I''m putting BJs back on the table¡ª You''re huge! You better have that lube or else¡ª Fuck¡­ W-Why am I getting so hot right now¡ª C-Come here! Pull them all the way down!"


    "Yes, ma''am¡­"


    "Shit¡­ That turns me on so much¡­"


    With that said, Jessica and I spent a good 30 minutes before she couldn''t take it anymore, but I kept using her unconscious body until I had enough, especially her unwashed pits that just sent me over to the edge.


    There was just something different about women''s sweat and body odor that drives me insane because even if they swore they fucking smelled, it was totally different when it enters my nose.


    But yeah, I still cleaned her up after I covered her all over with my semen though she woke up the moment I was done.


    "Sorry¡ª"


    "I¡­ I woke up a few minutes ago¡­ This is¡­ Thanks¡­ I really needed this¡­ C-Come back, alright?"


    "Sure."


    "..."

 Chapter 1064: Bizarre Behavior

    Jessica and I eventually said our farewells while she looked like sleep was catching up to her, because she only had a short nap when I was taking care of her AFTER I took "care" of her.


    But yeah, her shoulders were already slumped and her eyes were already droopy when I closed the door in front of me though she looked like I took off a ton of stress from her back, front, upper, lower, left, right, etc., and she could genuinely smile for once.


    It''s just that my supposed "Walk of Shame" out of the ATC Area became a triumphant one instead, because not only the guys were giving me the double thumbs up and the approving nod, but thedies looked like they were hot and looking for seconds.


    I just shook my head and chuckled as I went for the door because a little stroke for both my ego and my dick from time to time wasn''t a bad thing.


    In any case, while I was busy making Jessica "rx" my group had already taken it upon themselves to hand out some stuff we scavenged along the way and some things they brought themselves to score some brownie points.


    They were different from the items we also brought as gifts from the six-wheeler, and they came directly from their pockets to somehow remove the notion that we wereplete assholes which was technically true in some way.


    It was also true that our names were already cleared or should I say, not even tainted in the first ce¡ªbecause Lizzy''s name and "testimonies" didn''t mean shit because of her notoriety of being a bitch¡ªbut it really wouldn''t hurt to increase favorability by gift-giving.


    "You have people stationed over that gate of yours, right?" I asked "Tim", one of Jessica''s assistants who received us earlier.


    "Yes, sir. I''ve already called both ends and they''ll let you in and out without question," he replied.


    There were no outstanding features on his face besides the cool vest he was wearing but it seemed like he used to have a job as a public servant and he was making use of just that to make everyone''s life here a little easier.


    "Alright, thank you."


    "Thank you as well, sir. My kids loved the coloring books and the fancy crayons! Doing it digitally isn''t the same for them so, thanks!"


    "d to help," then I turned to my group, "Alright. Time''s up! Enough catching up with your old crew here, we''re this close to one of the best ces to take a vacation. Pack up and follow the same formation as earlier! Got it?!"


    Everyone responded, "Yes, sir!"


    At that point, we drove out from Jessica''s airport and made our way to this Korean town of sorts and this strip mall right next to a love hotel before we reached this shortcut gate which was also acting as a checkpoint.


    It was manned by a dozen or so people with a mounted machine gun on one of their vehicles because it was sitting at a perfect spot that could overlook several key points around the area.


    Though as we were being let in, one of the guards decided to give me a ticket as a joke, but everyone lost it when I took out a few peso bills from my wallet and handed it to him:


    "HOLY FUCK! HAH! YOU STILL HAVE THOSE?!"


    "Mostly for kindling but it got us out of this mess, huh?"


    "Dammit! Get in, sir! Get in! Never thought I''d see that day¡ª FUCK! HE GOT ME BOYS, HE GOT ME!"


    ''Some chill folks¡­ that''s good¡­''


    In any case, if we didn''t use this bypass of sorts, it would''ve taken us a few more hours to reach part of our destination because it only took us 20 minutes of smooth sailing to pass by several municipalities, a techno-farm, parks, and residential areas before we saw the other end of the line.


    We could''ve probably pushed in a bit more and used the actual expressway but we were informed that there was still a wreckage waiting to be cleared further in.


    Additionally, the other end of Jessica''s bypass was actually just tens of feet before the actual toll area, and we had to drive a bit off-road just to circle around this high school and avoid thisrge cemetery teeming with the undead.


    I wouldn''t get started with the smell it delivered when a strong wind passed by, but that was one of the reasons the guards here had a fire going to somehow mask the smell with the smoke. It was akin to lighting up a match while one was taking a huge dump but in all honesty, they should''ve gone with a bonfire instead.


    Don''t even get me started with the health implications of inhaling in rotting meat smell.


    I turned to everyone present, "There''s still a few hours before sunset, we can clear it now¡ª"


    One of the guys manning this gate cut me off, "Ah. If you''re gonna try it, kindly do it from the other side so they don''t migrate over here."


    "Not if we clear the whole ce, right?"


    "That''s¡­ For some reason, it replenishes day to day and¡ª"


    I had to do a double-take, "Replenishes? Exin¡­"


    He got startled by the sudden spotlight, "W-We are thinning them on a daily basis by use of trap set opposite our direction¡ªeven Sir Oscar brought arge group and caused chaos in the same ce twice¡ªb-but yeah, it seemed to be a gathering ce of the dead hence the replenishing on my part. We tried doing it ourselves with arge group too but nada, they keeping in."


    "Huh. What else did you do?"


    "Again, for another reason, it seemed to have a set number of upants(?) from our observation and if it reaches a certain number, the excess will just move on elsewhere and we''ll just take care of the ones whoe across here quietly. Wouldn''t want to attract a thousand or so of them here¡­"


    "Curious¡­"


    "T-That''s what Sir Oscar said too after his second attempt to clear this ce but he focused their firepower elsewhere and just told us to sit tight and wait for you to catch on. He said you might have some ideas. We also took footage as he said and covered a few stragglers with paint to see get a glimpse of their behavior.


    It is really bizarre but if it''s one of those specials, it should''ve been dead twice over if not, thrice from the times that ce was attacked by us and the ones before us¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ But technically~ Your group and Oscar didn''t clear the ''whole'' thing."


    One other dude popped up and said, "Uhh, yeah we did."


    "Umm, no you did not."


    "Yes, we did!"


    "I''m not ying this game¡ª Did you check the coffins or not?"


    "Pfft¡ª Ever heard of embalming¡ª"


    "First things first, not everyone buried in that ce gets embalmed¡ª"


    He nodded from the technicality, "That''s true but they should''ve been skeletons by now! That''s a different thing!"


    "You¡­ You ever heard of the term that says that you can hide a tree in a forest?"

 Chapter 1065: Different - Long-winding Route?

    As soon as I asked that question, he pondered for a moment if I was trying to catch him off-guard or was trying to wisecrack him but once he figured out that I was genuine, he simply dignified it with a proper response.


    "Yeah, sure. By what does that have to do with the conversation?"


    "Well, you can also hide bodies in a cemetery. Catch my drift?"


    "You mean¡ª Oh. Oh, fuck¡­"


    I nodded from his realization, "Now, you get it. I don''t wanna sully this ce''s great name for tourists and local tourists alike but it does have a dark side to it, covered by the fancy resorts and whatnot. The Man Bay always gets the k from illegal imports besides the floating garbage but this ce has them too.


    If you piece two and two together, a few syndicates or something simr had a system and it almost always involves making certain people go quiet and that cemetery was one of those ces they keep them hidden in in sight."


    "Fuck¡­ So what do we do?"


    "It''s gonna be the weirdest unboxing video you''ve ever seen, pal."


    "Uh, the name''s Paul."


    "Did you just¡ª"


    "I did. You catch on pretty quick, huh?"


    "Hah! That was perfect."


    "Thanks! So what do we do?"


    "You guys sit tight for a while because we can''t do this with the old man, but if his schedule is nothing but waiting till his daughteres, we''ll take a crack at it and then another crack at it and hope we don''t get haunted by their departed souls."


    "Ah, fuck¡­"


    At that point, the person I first talked to gave me some camera footage that was taken by a drone of theirs before I exchanged it with something that could help with their stress levels and overall mood for the duration of their stay.


    Because it seemed like their lodging was inside this expressway¡ªwhich wasn''t the safest area toy their heads on¡ªbut they do strict rotations between guard/watch duty.


    Hearing that, they greatly appreciated the top off of instant coffee, some sugar, and some creamer because we once again made use of the technique husbands/boyfriends would do whenever their significant other was feeling lonely or pissed off.


    This group wasn''t technically pissed off at us but aside from social workers¡ªjust a general thing, really¡ªwe should always be nice to people who''ve been nice to us except for obvious exceptions.


    ''What''s in the box though¡­ The coffins, I mean¡­ Is there even one or do we need an excavator to¡ª One at a time¡­ One at a time¡­''


    In any case, we continued our drive to the Freeport Zone here in Subic Bay and as we passed by the moderately-sized high school facility after going off-road, we were now driving in a residential that slightly gave the vibe that we were in the provinces because the there were just trees everywhere unlike the cities we came from.


    It felt like we were on an actual road trip to have some fun¡ªgranted we were¡ªbut it only just involved a bit of decapitation, looting, and a bit of gunpowder.


    Twenty more minutes into this ride, we only stopped twice to quickly get in and out of two barangay halls¡ªjust for their records¡ªbefore we had to stop right by this soda factory which was right next to a bus terminal, a delivery hub, and a small parish.


    Adding to that bit of information, the facilities across the street were just houses that had were just randomly built without any theme or direction, mostly due to having individual owners and we were still a bit off from the biggest residential which definitely had some rules to follow in regards to housing construction.


    But yeah, the reason we had to stop by this area was because if we cut into this yground and went off-road for a few meters, we''d be able to get into the Main Harbor, The Port of Subic Bay, which Oscar and everyone else should be much, much faster.


    However, I wasn''t exactly sure why the old man had to drive through the biggest residential area, then coast another medium-ish residential area right next to it which had another cemetery just by the edge of it, before looping back and using the farthest bridge to get to the ce they were supposed to meet up.


    The way I thought of was the easiest and the fastest way to get from point A to point B, and there must be some reason why he had to take the scenic route.


    So I tried calling him:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hello? Is this the hotline for lonely old men who are trying to get the approval of their estranged daughter? Hellooo?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m not even biting that, kid. Where you at? You were supposed to be here at lunch!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "By this soda factory right next to the bus terminal¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, you''re pretty close! Why bother calling, it''s only an hour if you follow the route we used.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Can''t we just cut into this yground and use the nearest¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nah, don''t go that way! A flour mill exploded in that part and there''s a wreck by the¡ª didn''t the people by the gate tell you that?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "They told me about the wreck, not the explosion."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right, they wouldn''t know about the explosion but there has been one pretty recently. Well, it happened before we got here but some schmuck probably tried to light a cigar inside and we know where that''s gonnand him, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Over there, over there, and up there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! You still remember! Anyway, if you have the time to clear debris and everything else from that side, feel free to drive to that spot. But if you''re already short on time which you are, use the longer detour because it''ll be faster. Don''t ask any questions. We''ve been trying to clear shit all around but the people around here don''t trust foreigners as much as they used to.


    Total night and day.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anyway, did you bring Irene''s package with ya?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The fuck are you on about?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BUT¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You said don''t touch it, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WELL¡ª WHERE IS IT THEN?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Man?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU LEFT IT AT THE SHIP?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Heh! That''s the reaction I''m going for, see you soon. Bye~"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [KID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then I abruptly ended the call. If this old-timer thought he could be cool and collected, he was dead fucking wrong.

 Chapter 1066: Confusion - A bit of Topography

    Despite multiple calls that the old man tried to reconnect with me, I kept turning it down because I was pretty sure he asked me to just put it inside his house. I wouldn''t be there to witness it but his head had definitely erupted several times like a volcano, and his immediate victims would be the ones right next to him.


    But yeah, without stopping for a single time, we eventually reached our destination but I almost blew my lid when this oh-so-great Marine Base they allegedly cleared for the past two weeks was really just the Main Harbor inhabited by a good number of Oscar''s¡ª or should I say Johnny''s people.


    ''Technically a Marine Base but¡ª Fuck¡­''


    While I was having an inner monologue, I just remembered that the actual Marine Base I was thinking of was on the opposite side of the Subic Bay, that would probably take a few more hours, which was something I would decide against regarding the time.


    I should''ve figured out that something was horribly off but this was just too fucking much of a blunder on our part.


    But yeah, we were just let in by Oscar himself who was with Matthew, Lois, and Olivia, and they weren''t expecting the frown on my face:


    "Holdup, why the long face, kid¡ª"


    "Cleared the ''Marine Base'', really?"


    The four looked at me like I was an idiot, "We did, numbnut. The fuck are you talking about?"


    "..."


    Lois followed, "Yeah, bro. We cleared it with everyone here and¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "I''m confused too, someone needs to exin things here or I might''ve taken something I shouldn''t have."


    I nodded, "Did you clear a Marine base or not?"


    They answered at the same time, "We did!/ Yeah!/ What are you talking about!/ We''re not lying!"


    I pointed to the other side of this bay, "But the real one is over that¡ª"


    Oscar cut me off, "Yeah! They''re cozy over there but we cleared this ce too! D''you think we''ll just sit on our asses waiting for your dumbass to do everything for us? C''mon, I''ll show y''all around¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Stop staring at me, alright?! Let''s get moving! Oh! Park your shit over there! AH¡ª Park the six-wheeler on that green warehouse, they''ll get it situated over there¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I said don''t look at me like that, alright?! You think this is everyone?! Think again!"


    Just from what I''ve seen so far, aside from the people Oscar brought over, there were around 100 or so people from all walks of life who looked more able-bodiedpared to retired veterans, but it was just a little prerequisite in establishing a second base or an outpost.


    I didn''t think that they would''ve been able to progress this much given their current circumstances but I actually didn''t know what their circumstances were and I just went with my assumptions.


    But yeah, if it was me, I would be solidifying my hold on a huge-ass base first before moving on reiming a great spot to turn into an outpost but then again, other people had other ways of doing things and this was one example.


    Furthermore, I had just arrived and I should probably just observe for the moment before being that one asshole that started barking what they should''ve been doing without an actual idea of their current status.


    People could say I held the most power in mypound but this ce''s situation was a little tricky.


    Granted we gave them a huge top-off from our reserves, but they shouldn''t be bending over backwards in any of our whims ormands.


    Furthermore, they do look thankful and respectful just from the way they were looking and speaking to Oscar and Matthew, but right now, they knew jack shit about me¡ªand not to be that guy¡ªaside from bringing a few civilians like Mark and Unc Zardon, I also brought several Russian soldiers, a giantess, and a bunch of cadets/trainees who hadn''t even finished their training with me.


    They look confused as I was when I arrived but as we were about to be introduced to this other old-timer who seemed to be running the show with them, let me give a small description about the whole she-bang:


    To start off, the Subic Bay was probably an eight of the size of Man Bay but to bepletely honest, it was more beautiful and there was less garbage floating around the waters. Probably due to it being a tourist spot, the budget for maintaining its appeal to foreigners and whatnot was bigger, and then again, it was easier to clean up a much smaller area.


    There were even areas further out where a huge floating bouncy castle was set up and people could safely swim on the waters without catching any diseases.


    But to be fair to Man Bay, it epasses several cities and municipalities¡ªeven extending to a different region¡ªand trying to make it keep up with Subic Bay would just make the government bleed out cash.


    Even so, most of the me could be the people''s irresponsibility in regards to their wastes, and don''t forget about the squatter areas around Man which had thergest number of informal dwellers in the country.


    That was a story for another day¡ªand Iskoh''s problem at the current moment¡ªbut going back to Subic Bay''s topography, think of the ce we were in, the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, as one of the three coves inside a cove which was Subic Bay.


    Among the three, the Freeport Zone was the most relevant because of itsmercial value and all the facilities it could offerpared to the two¡ªwhich were simply resorts or campsites¡ªwhich the Freeport Zone also has. Furthermore, aside from the Main Harbor we were in, a few notable facilities were a yacht club, the Subic Bay International Airport, several wharves, malls, delivery hubs, etc.


    Just imagine the harbors Iskoh and I owned but put them right next to amercial area and make the view much, much~ better.

 Chapter 1067: Mitch Davis - You havent told him yet?

    Then again, the ce I wanted to be in and where I thought we would be in the first ce, the Marine Base, wasn''t in any of the coves I listed¡ªand was just part of Subic Bay, nothing less¡ªbut aside from what a naval base could offer, it was also where a shipyard and this ce''s power grid.


    It was the only thing the US owned after they gave us everything they took, but yeah, they had now taken sce in what they had left plus extra.


    And going back to our current situation, Oscar just introduced me to this man named Mitch Davis. He looked to be a few years or a decade younger than the old man but he didn''t look like he was retired but more like¡­ tired. He was of average height, caucasian, short dark blonde hair, blue eyes, cool messy beard, but with a slight favor on his left leg as he was standing.


    "Here''s the kid I was talking about First Lieutenant¡ª err~ Mitch. Whatever works¡­"


    The dude gave me a slightly surprised look as he offered a handshake, "Ah~ Pleasure to meet you. I now understand the nickname, heh."


    I returned his tight grip with a smile, "Pleasure¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Strong grip, Jesus! I was just teasing, alright? I heard you''re working with the Colonel?"


    I chuckled as I pointed at Oscar, "This confusing-ass piece of shit?"


    Oscar had to cut in, "Woah! Woah! What''s with the sudden hostility?! We did clear the base, alright?! And you did see us where we told you to drive through."


    "Still misleading as fuck¡ª"


    Mitch chuckled, "Be gentle with the old folk, alright? It happens. Don''t even get me started with the Captain."


    "Who?"


    "Ah¡ª Captain Priest¡ª Umm, Stan D. Priest to be exact. He''s with everyone else in the Marine Base where you thought you''d being to¡­ I''ll apologize in Oscar''s stead for the confusion but we do need your help. Your old man says you''re great at that."


    "Great at what?" I replied as I nced at Oscar.


    Mitch waved his index finger around, "This¡­ This whole thing¡­ I have ns of my own but I want to see you work. We''ve only secured this Main Harbor but there''s much to be done since we just reimed this ce yesterday¡ª"


    "Excuse me, what?"


    "We¡ª We reimed this ce¡­ yesterday?"


    "Uh-huh," I answered with a fake smile as I was subconsciously letting out a murderous aura directed at Oscar.


    "Something wrong?"


    "N-Nothing¡­ Can you give me some info on what went down yesterday?"


    At that point, he asked us to talk in their office instead while I let my group help around the area. Not only would it make everyone else''s job easier, but my group could get a glean on things from their own perspective.


    And since this was a newly created outpost, there was lots of work to be donepared to the Marine base which was supposedly up and running "just fine" as Oscar and Mitch coined themselves.


    Matthew looked like he had a few things to say, but he decided to talk to his daughters first while Lois caught up with his brother, Jared.


    But yeah, as I was informed, they started their raid by closing off the bridge that would lead to this area from the big residential area we just passed through before heading straight to that other bridge where a flour mill supposedly had an ident.


    After that, they went straight for this ce, taking down anything and everything that shouldn''t be moving, and with the help of the gear Oscar gave them and the ones they uncovered from the Marine Base, they were already closing off the area, burning off the bodies, and looting all the other buildings closeby.


    They haven''t fully checked everything else in this area¡ªaside frompletely clearing it off dead people, outside the Main Harbor included¡ªand their current problem was creating a full inventory so they could go forward with much better fortification and move on with more exploration.


    "What about the Marine Base? Are there any issues on that end?"


    Mitch answered, "Well, to be honest, I''d prefer this harbor because you can just iste it¡ªlike what we''re doing with by closing off the bridges¡ªbut that ce has far more important facilities and our families are there. It does have high walls and we have people that could patrol all around but as I said earlier, I prefer this harborpared to the Marine Base.


    As long as we close off those bridges, our people could live in much nicer beds because of the beautiful hotels here instead of the bunkers that I''m very much used to."


    "How many people are there anyways?"


    "Well~ We''re around this number initially but more and more of us came at the same spot so we''re 500-ish strong, mostly. A good number of us are Marines, ex-Marines, able-bodied civilians and whatnot though we do have children and older folk we have to take care of.


    Some of them were not even rted to us but we were tasked to take care of them since most of us were still driving off the dead from our soil."


    "..."


    "I do believe that more of us will arrive in theing days because we''re sessful in setting up, but as soon as we''ve established a working system andmunity plus a good rtionship with our neighbors, some of us will go back to fight while bringing back some people¡­ depending on the circumstances."


    "What circumstances?"


    Mitch then turned to Oscar, "You haven''t told him yet?"


    "Told me what?"


    Oscar''s face was solemn as he looked at me, "I think it would be better if he hears it in person¡­"


    I had a bad feeling in my stomach, "Hear what, exactly?"


    Mitch let out a deep sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh man¡­ I didn''t think I''d be the one to tell you this but umm¡­ Yeah¡­ You guys had no fucking idea¡­"


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Everyone sent nukes¡ª"


    "Hold up, wait a fucking¡ª"


    "Kid. Let him finish, alright?" Oscar said with a somber tone.


    "As I was saying¡­ Everyone, the whole world, decided to send nukes to every major city or cities in the countries where we''ve lost radio contact for the past three months¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª"


    "That includes New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami¡­ Cali, many, many more but¡ª"


    I said with a dark tone, "Mitch."


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "What about Japan?"


    The motherfucker replied without a fucking clue, "Oh, that ce? It went down early on so we sent them a few just to be sure¡ª GACKKK!"


    "KID! KID! STOP¡ª GODDAMIT, KID! LET GO OF HIM!"

 Chapter 1068: Second Lieutenant - "BREAK IT UP!"

    This shit just wasn''t right¡ª no, almost everything I heard from this son of a bitch didn''t seem right at all. The grip test, acting like everything was fine and dandy, then suddenly telling that they sent nukes all around the world so fucking casually wasn''t fucking right at all.


    He could''ve at least alluded to the fact before I slowly got the realization but the motherfucker spoke like he would squash a cockroach using a slipper on a fucking Tuesday.


    Seeing him without any remorse at all just made something snap in my head, and I just found myself pinning him to a wall, choking his fragile neck with my right hand.


    The guy was already purple when I heard the old man''s voice ringing in my ear but I suddenly tumbled sideways as I felt a huge force strike me in my torso, and the next thing I saw was this huge fucking fist about to wee my face.


    "BARTOW, STOP!/KID, DON''T DO IT!"


    All I heard was the old man''s voice ovepping with Mitch''s but there''s no fucking way I''m eating a knuckle sandwich for lunch, so I met it with my forehead before I braced my whole body. However, that fucking punch was aimed to go through my face and straight through the wall just from the force behind it so I stumbled at an angle once again though I rolled to recover.


    At this moment, I saw a buff fucking dude who was the same size as Mikhail but his hands and forearms were a tad bigger and disproportional to the rest of his body.


    But yeah, who gives a fucking fuck, because the moment he threw me a smug smile¡ªjust because he threw me over this office twice¡ªI already bridged the distance between us as I aimed to return the favor.


    It did catch him off-guard and as he tried to block my oing attack using a cross-guard preemptively, Ipletely weed the challenge as I balled my fists with my middle finger''s proximal interphngeal joint nudged forward.


    I''m sure as hell pissed to high heavens but I''m not having a contest of strength against someone who screamed arm-day everyday and "natural" testosterone.


    With a quick and surgical reverse one-two, I aimed for the specific parts of his huge forearms before I drew my right fist, twisted it in ce, and balled it the regr way before I sent it straight to his now unguarded mug in full power.


    I definitely broke his nose and he should thank me for it because it was an improvement to his current situation, but he''ll definitely curse me for what wasing because I ain''t fucking done.


    As he reeled in from the pain, I already half-stepped and cocked my left elbow to make a huge indent in his temple but the motherfucker still hadn''t realized he needed a few more seconds before the feeling in his armse back.


    He now had more openings because he was the one about toe to me, but as I switched to my right fist to disengage his jaw, I saw a very familiar tool I''d always opt for to break fights but I had no fucking way to stop mid-swing because I already switched-up.


    ''Ah, fuck¡ª''


    Right at that moment, I saw a bright sh of light before a loud boom resounded in my ear¡ªslightly concussing me, but then I felt the cold touch of metal on my wrist as I was dragged away a few feet.


    I did try to fight initially but it didn''t take long before I realized the one dragging me was the old man, but as soon as I regained my vision, I discovered that this Bartow fellow and I were both cuffed on the opposite sides of this office while each of our "superiors" were shouting our ears off.


    Mitch started, "DIDN''T I TELL YOU TO STOP?! YOU DON''T KNOW WHO YOU JUST ATTACKED!"


    "BUT SIR! HE WAS¡ª"


    "HE DOESN''T KNOW, SECOND LIEUTENANT! HE DOESN''T KNOW!"


    Oscar followed, "ARE THOSE EARS JUST FOR DECORATION, YOU LITTLE SHIT?! I WOULD''VE SHOT YOU, YOU KNOW THAT¡ª HEY! I''M RIGHT HERE YOU NUMBNUT! GIMME THAT LOCKPICKING¡ª"


    *crack*


    "HEY! PUT THAT THUMB WHERE IT SHOULD BE AND NO DISLOCATIONS FOR THE NEXT MINUTE! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! I KNEW YOU''D ACT UP BUT THIS IS INSANE!"


    I shouted back as I put my thumb back to where it should be, "INSANE?! YOU CALL THIS INSANE?! YOU FUCKS NUKED THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD AND YOU CALL THIS INSANE?! YOU''VE ALREADY NUKED JAPAN TWICE AND YOU DECIDED TO SEND A FEW MORE?!"


    The Bartow dude who was still bleeding through his nose bellowed back, "YOU DON''T KNOW WHAT''S HAPPENING TO THE WORLD, HUH?! YOU''VE BEEN LIVING IT EASY FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS AND YOU THINK THAT WAS AN EASY DECISION?! THE CLOTHES ON MY BACK IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE LEFT! YOU THINK WE WANTED TO BOMB EVERYONE JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT?!"


    Mitch cut in, "I''m gonna need everyone to calm down, alright¡ª"


    Bartow continued still, "WHY''D YOU EVEN CUFF ME?! HE''S THE FUCKING PROBLEM! HE''S JUST A KID! THE FUCK DOES HE KNOW?!"


    Oscar shouted back, "Trust me, he knows more than all of ya, that''s for sure¡­"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU OLD COOT¡ª"


    I had to cut in as well, "CALL THIS OLD SON OF A BITCH AN OLD COOT ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    The motherfucking old man suddenly smacked me but I kicked his shin, "YOU FUCKING LITTLE¡ª AHHHH! YOU WANT ME TO GAS THIS PLACE?! I WILL! OH, I WILL IF YOU TWO FUCKS DON''T SETTLE DOWN! LET''S HEAR EACH OTHER FIRST ALRIGHT?! NOTHING''S GONNA HAPPEN HERE IF YOU TWO DON''T PIPE THE FUCK DOWN!


    SEE FROM EACH OTHER''S PERSPECTIVE, ALRIGHT?! THERE''S A FUCKING REASON THEY BOMBED JAPAN BUT THEY HAD TO, KID! THEY HAD TO, ALRIGHT?! THEY¡ª FUCK! THOSE THINGS¡ª Those things¡­ We really had it easy, kid¡­ Trust me¡­"


    I let out a huge and long, drawn-out sigh before I returned Oscar''s cuffs back to him, "Fine¡­ I apologize for my actions¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Why did I even try¡­"


    I turned to Mitch and Bartow as well, "I apologize to you two as well. I''ll let you choke me Mitch, if you want¡ª"


    Mitch quickly waved me off, "N-No¡­ That''s okay, I knew you''d react but not like that though¡­ I''ll ept some kid''s clothes for my six-year-old and nine-year-old¡ª"


    Bartow cut in as he red at me, "What about me, punk? You broke my¡ª"


    "Looks better, no? I have some painkillers for the pain if you want?"


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª MITCH! WHY AM I STILL CUFFED?!"

 Chapter 1069: George Bartow - "Lucky"

    Obviously, our little scuffle and Oscar throwing a shbang between me and Second Lieutenant George C. Bartow garnered everyone''s attention though it was a weird look from their perspective once they rushed in. It was because Mitch was wearing a hand imprint on his neck due to me choking his ass out while George was still bleeding through his nose due to my right straight.


    Granted he now had feeling back in his arms, but they had these two circr bruises that were made more apparent due to hisrge forearms.


    But yeah, to avoid another situation like this happening, we waved everyone who didn''t know off¡ªexcept for Jared and Kaley who already looked different from the information they were withholding¡ªand I took it upon myself to tell all of themter in a much, much better way to how I was informed.


    I just can''t believe that the old man and everyone else who came with him were holding such a piece of information, but at this point, who knows what and how much now?


    Even I was doubtful of Rod, our current president, because if this shit happened three fucking months ago, he should''ve at least informed me or like everyone else in this country, no one was fucking informed, including their foreign soldiers and diplomats.


    I thought I already had a lot on my collection of tes but I was a frog in a well as to what was happening beyond my realm. It fucking hurts to feel so fucking small despite the things I thought were great achievements and it just reminded me of how big the world was despite the small coincidences between people that made it seem small figuratively.


    And as Mitch divulged more and more information regarding the situation outside this country, I never felt so helpless until we went back to where we left of earlier:


    "Before that¡­ What cities were bombed in Japan?"


    Mitch looked at me with a forced smile, "Are you sure we could discuss that now?"


    "Depends, actually¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Kid! Enough!"


    "I''m just being honest, really. Who gave them the right to¡ª"


    Bartow cut in after a short exhale from his mouth, "The UN, punk."


    "I''m not talking to you, literal mouth-breather¡ª"


    "I''LL SHOW YOU WHO''S A MOUTH-BREATHER¡ª"


    Mitch spoke out loud for the first time, "AGAIN! ENOUGH!


    The UN decided on that after the CDC discovered that one critical problem of leaving the dead by themselves¡ªespecially in countries that went down¡ªis once they were in arge enough number and started to feed on themselves, it just elerates the mutation by multiple times and God knows what abilities would it have depending on the country of origin¡­"


    Bartow followed while being slightly dismissive, "That''s why you fucks are so lucky¡­ There''s no fucking chance a mega-horde would''ve formed here due to this ce''s poption including how fast you responded and listened to the government when it started¡­"


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "Some of that statement''s true but we just did ourselves and basically sheltered some of the government''s men. The guy up there still had the power but he would''ve lost this ind group if it weren''t for us and few others¡­ Not to brag but it''s mostly due to us. And the role I specifically yed, of course. Definitely."


    Bartow looked at Oscar a certain "funny" way, "Sure, great~ job, Colonel.


    But yeah, it''s one thing to stand up for yourselves and be able to do just that but it''s totally different to be one fucking stubborn, piece of fucking shit that didn''t even know how to use guns and decide to live by themselves and/or form several groups against the government¡­ Don''t even get me started on those illegal fucks that made things way~ fucking harder¡­ I swear if I see the fucker who made those Jumpers, I would''ve¡ª"


    I cut in, "Wait, Jumpers? As in¡ª They jump like really high? What specials do you guys have?"


    Mitch answered, "You call them specials, huh? We just call them mutations but other than the ones who could easily jump¡ªwith a running start, of course¡ªfifteen to thirty feet in the air, a good number of our regr walkers are believed to be nocturnal. I believe it was already shared with the worldst year but it was a split between that and their fear of the sun."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, it was actually weird because the sun does no damage to them whatsoever¡ªyet they still tend to avoid it at all costs¡ªbut my particr mutation I tend to hate were the Screamers."


    "Ah, because they attract everyone in the immediate vicinity?"


    "That too, of course, but some of them mutated once again to be able to mimic certain voices like a cry for help or amander giving orders.


    Sometimes, they''d even echo out what they hear outright or they''d just find the most obscure hole and shout the most horrendous things and if we can''t find it, it''ll just be an all-nighter¡­ My kids couldn''t sleep when they hear their shrieks so I really hate when one appears out of nowhere and scream their lungs out¡­"


    Bartow then turned to me, "I heard you have Tanks here, you know, the big sturdy ones that could take a hit."


    "You talking about the vehicle or¡ª"


    "What are we even talking about in the first ce?! Of course, I''m talking about the¡ª You have them right?! The Colonel already told us!"


    "Then why are you asking¡ª"


    "You¡ª We met a couple that could take a .50. What''s the difference here?"


    I had to lean back after hearing that "We¡­ We met a fully-formed one that was able to take 5.56s and 7.62s but the partial Hulkers we met were taken down by our Injectors. We have faced them but not as much as you think you guys did."


    "Lucky. You said Injectors? What''s that? We just use more .50s, napalm, or acid. Don''t tell me you fucks go toe-to-toe with them?"


    "We just had to. We met our first one several dozen floors up and we didn''t even have our Injectors there¡ªit''s just an enhancement to expel gas in the wound channel, making it bigger¡ªand it took several rounds of ammo while a couple of us kept it busy."


    "Hmm¡­ You''re crazier than I thought. The first one I met flipped a tank and wiped my toon and from then on I swore I''ll try and fight it with all I got from afar¡ª"


    "Wait. How did you survive?"


    "I was in the tank."


    "Ah¡­ Lucky."


    "You did not just call me that, you lucky punk."


    "Well, what do you want me to call you, Popeye, the bloody-nosed bitch?!"


    "ALRIGHT, THAT''S IT! THIS IS ROUND TWO¡ª"


    "THEN COME AT ME AND I''LL FUCK YOU UP AGAIN!"


    "YOU WERE SO LUCKY THEY STOPPED US OR ELSE¡ª"


    "OR ELSE WHAT?! YOU WERE THE ONE THAT HAD A NOSE JOB ON THE SPOT!"


    "LUCKY SHOT!"


    "STOP CALLING ME A LUCKY FUCK OR I''LL FUCKING DO WHAT I SHOULD''VE BEFORE THEY STOPPED US¡ª"


    "HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEY! I''LL FUCKING THROW SOMETHING LETHAL THIS TIME BEFORE I STICK A CLAYMORE UP YOUR ASSES, SO SIT THE FUCK DOWN WHILE YOU STILL HAVE ''EM! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, WHAT''S UP WITH YOU TWO?!"

 Chapter 1070: [DONT.]

    Due to how vtile Bartow and I would be in close proximity, it became difficult to have a proper conversation without either of us ticking each other off for the smallest of reasons. But for some reason, we would calm down much, much~ easier if we came into blows instead of our two superiors shouting us off.


    But yeah, all those forearms wouldn''t mean shit if he can''t fucking connect because the reason he managed to connect earlier was that I wasn''t aware of his shoulder tackle¡ªpartly because I just hade to after choking Mitch¡ªand I decided to take on his fist with my forehead.


    He had more fucking bruises each time we decided that our little round was over, but he was on par with Mikhail in regards to taking hits, though in all honesty, I felt that he had a tiny bit more power. It was obvious he had the same speed problem as Mikhail but it was a trade-off for his raw power.


    In any case, I still had more questions to ask Mitch and George "Popeye" Bartow, so I did just that:


    "Before I forget, which cities in Japan were hit?"


    Mitch then answered solemnly as he realized I had family over there:


    "Yeah¡­ uhh¡­ What was it¡ª Ah¡­ It''s¡ª We sent one each in Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka¡­"


    "...!" I lifted my head up to look at Mitch''s expression for a moment, "How about Sapporo, Kyoto, Osaka, and everything else? I thought you sent one in each city that¡ª"


    Bartow cut in again, "If you put in a request¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª You would''ve been dead by now if we weren''t just using our fists! You wouldn''t even be able toe close¡ª"


    "Parry my .45 then, fucking eel! I fucking dare you!"


    "No one has fucking seen me all-out, motherfucker! And guess what?! You haven''t been able to hit my face!"


    "I DID THE FIRST TIME, YOU FUCKER!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE I LET YOU! WHAT ABOUT AFTER, HUH?!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE YOU CAN''T FIGHT HEAD-ON!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE YOU CAN''T HIT FOR SHIT!"


    "OF COURSE I''D BE SLOWER, DIPSHIT! LOOK AT OUR SIZES!"


    "I STILL PROBABLY HAVE A BIGGER COCK THAN YOU, NO-HOMO!"


    "THAT''S WHERE YOU''RE WRONG, PAL!"


    "I''M NOT YOUR PAL, BUDDY!"


    "I''M NOT YOUR BUDDY¡ª"


    Mitch and Oscar just looked so sick of it before they had to cut in again, "AGAIN! THAT''S ENOUGH!/YOU TWO FUCKS ARE SO LUCKY I DIDN''T BRING MY RUBBER LOADS WITH ME¡ª"


    Bartow and I grimaced at the same time, "HUH?!/ That''s just weird, old man¡ª"


    "What¡ª WHAT?! I MEANT THE¡ª"


    Mitch took over again as he nudged Oscar outside to scream it out, "Okay, okay¡­ To answer your question before we got derailed for the nth time, it''s because we weren''t total monsters."


    I rolled my eyes as I huffed, "Riiight¡­"


    "It is true¡­ You see, Japan''s government went down early on but remnants of the JSDF and other retired soldiers from their side¡ªincluding capable civilians stepped up and began to fight back without the proper support. Sure, it was still ugly¡ªvery¡ªon their side but they''re doing what they can."


    "Then why did you bomb them in the first ce?"


    "Haaa¡­ One, they got rid of their nuclear weapons¡­ Two, we didn''t technically bomb ''them''... We bombed the densely popted cities that were radio silent and three, bombing Nagoya was also their request. We angled it a bit to the right because they have a group in Kyoto but we basically destroyed more than five cities with a push of a button. I-If I may ask, which city is your family from?"


    I red at Mitch momentarily before I answered, "They''re out of range from the cities you bombed and that''s all I can tell you at the moment."


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    Bartow scoffed, "That''s real nice, considering we told ya everything."


    "Oh, yeah? Can you tell me who started this thing?"


    "MOTHERFUCKER HAS JOKES HUH¡ª"


    Mitch dove in before it escted once again, "That''s¡­ That''s what we are trying to figure out still. The colonel mentioned that you have clues you obtained before it even started."


    "Sure. I can hand over the files we¡ª"


    The fucking moment I nced at my phone¡ªwhich I was already used to seeing without a signal bar¡ªsuddenly connected to a randomwork before I received a message:


    [DON''T.]


    Seeing that message which probably came from na, a lot of things went through my head again before I was cut off mid-thought by Bartow:


    "The fuck are you staring at your phone for?! You know that¡ª"


    Mitch looked me straight in the eyes, "You were saying?"


    I quickly pocketed my phone and kept a straight face, mostly, "Yeah, I, uhh¡­ I can hand over the files I collected before this shit happened but we gotta do something before that."


    Bartow stood up once again, "Punk¡ª You think we''re ying games here?!"


    I waved him off, "Bitch¡ª I mean, dude¡­ It''s already 6:47 and we haven''t even had lunch yet. Can we have at least that?"


    The two were dumbfounded:


    "Ah¡ª/It''s thatte, huh?"


    Oscar rolled his eyes as he nudged me with his elbow, "If you two fucks didn''t start a fight every two seconds we would''ve been done here! It is time for dinner though¡ªa little early¡ªbut I''m itching for something you''ll make, kid."


    Mitch''s eyes suddenly lit up, "You can cook?"


    "Yeah. But am I supposed to?"


    "Please. I haven''t had a proper meal ever since¡ª Well, the colonel provided some when they arrived but I barely had a bite."


    Oscar cackled, "Heh. Trust me, you fucks haven''t 1% of this kid''s power yet. Ah, shit¡ª Do we even have an oven over here?"


    Bartow chimed in, "We could just make a fire?"


    "That''s true," Mitch followed.


    I waved them off, "No, I want to be able to regte the fire. We brought a portable stove. If we could find a gas tank to hook it up on¡ª"


    Bartow volunteered, "I know where to find a few. I''ll get on it as long as you promise me some good food."


    "Bitch. You really don''t know who you''re talking to, huh?"

 Chapter 1071: Food Talks.

    At that point, cooking for 100-plus people was no joke so while Bartow went out with a few people to find more working stoves, cooking pots, a couple of woks, and some gas tanks, I took Kaley with me and asked for some volunteers to help with preparing the ingredients.


    From the time we four were in a meeting, everyone seemed to have been well-acquainted but almost everyone from Mitch''s side was still a little wary of me.


    They probably heard a bunch of stories from my group plus my little disy of fighting with two Marines, but it was just too bizarre for them to see me work seamlessly with a knife and do it twice as fast as everyone else like I was an actual chef instead of a fighter.


    ''Jack of all trades, baby~''


    But yeah, na''s brief message was still on my mind and Kaley obviously picked up on my behavior. I fucking hate keeping secrets unless it was really that important but I didpromise with her by sharing what I found not what she sent over to me. I believe it was just fair to do just that because suddenly shutting those two out¡ªespecially Mitch¡ªwould just make me that suspicious.


    It''s just that she never sent another message after that and each time I checked my phone, Kaley would just give me this weird look.


    I looked her in the eyes as I joked, "It''s those dumb fucks again¡­"


    She never looked so confused, "What?"


    "You know, it''s asking about my car''s extended warranty¡­"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Doofus¡­"


    "Heh. You probably know why, though¡­"


    "I do¡­ Have you asked about Tatiana''s you-know-what though?"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ I''ll askter while I''m showing them some of the files I have."


    "I see¡­ Are you okay though?"


    I let out a forced smile, "Umm¡­ Not here, Kaley. Please."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "Thanks¡­"


    I may have looked like I was doing okay while I was busy preparing everyone''s dinner but it was taking everything from me to not just go ham in the residential area above us and let off some fucking steam.


    Even arge bomb or a missile was something I''d decide against because of the sheer destruction it could create but a nuke was at the top of the fucking list I wouldn''t even dare think of using unless there was really no other choice.


    Then again, these motherfuckers weren''tplete monsters or idiots as they seemed and I understand that it wasn''t on a whim or they just finally decided to get rid of their nuclear weapons for good.


    But yeah, I was still d that the people from Japan still had survivors and most importantly, Okinawa wasn''t touched whatsoever.


    It was the ind way~ south of Japan where my other family was located but for some fucking reason, they still haven''t contacted me. Granted they had their own thing to worry about but god fucking dammit I left them all manner ofmunication devices and no one could even pick it up and contact me for a couple of seconds.


    I would''ve fetched them myself if I could but the more problems I take care of, the more problems rece them.


    I''d dare say it was like trying toplete radiant quest from a game I used to y because they were fucking never-ending andpletely random.


    ''Calm down, calm down¡­''


    With that said, I needed to be in a certain state of mind so that it wouldn''t transfer over to the food, so I just gently rested my head on Kaley''s shoulder for a moment before I continued on.


    "..."


    "..."


    "Thank you¡­"


    "Pff¡­ Anytime¡­"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we finished cutting up all the ingredients because what I decided to make was just a medley of meat and vegetables eaten over piping hot rice and a hearty soup from the meat''s bones.


    It was a meat bowl instead of simply just a beef bowl though I made sure to cook each type of meat separately first before mixing them all together with the savory-sweet sauce I made with the avable ingredients.


    The motherfuckers were already drooling from the smell wafting in their direction, but the food''s gotta cook and I wouldn''t offer free taste tests because we''d just run out of everything before we had to eat.


    But yeah, the hardest part we had to ovee was having everyone fall in line because I just had to slow-cook the meat, furthering their suffering just by a little bit more. A fight almost urred but I then decided to call each of them, one-by-one, by their names, which creeped the fuck out of everybody present.


    I did in an hour what my "guards" back home were supposed to do in a matter of days, and it didn''t take long before ordered everyone to dig in.


    "FINALLY¡ª WHAT THE FUCK?! THIS IS SO GOODMMMHH!!!"


    "THIS ISN''T HEAVEN, RIGHT?! SOMEBODY PINCH ME¡ª I SAID ME! NOT MY FOOD! HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"


    "I''m so fucking d we sailed here¡­"


    "Me too, bro¡­ Me too¡­"


    "ARE YOU CRYING?!"


    "WHY DO YOU FUCKING CARE?! I''M JUST HAPPY IS ALL!"


    These motherfuckers didn''t know I had a hidden trump card:


    "EVERYBODY CAN COME BACK FOR SECONDS! YOU CAN COME BACK FOR SECONDS! ONE BOWL EACH, ALRIGHT?! ONE BOWL¡ª"


    "BROOOOO! I''LL FOLLOW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!"


    "HEY! YOUR BOWL JUST HALF-FINISHED! FINISH IT FIRST!"


    "WHAT IF WE RAN OUT?! LOOK AT THAT RUSSIAN CHICK! SHE''S ON HER FOURTH BOWL!"


    "THAT BUFF CHICK''S ON HER FOURTH TOO!"


    "WHAT?! WHY ARE THEY GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT¡ª"


    "DUMBASS! WE''RE THE ONES GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT! CAN''T YOU SEE THIS FOOD WE''RE EATING?!"


    "YEAH! JUST BE THANKFUL! THEY''RE ALSO PART OF HIS CREW SO IT DOESN''T MATTER!"


    "You guys saw that he wiped the floor with Bartow, right?!"


    "Yeah, shit''s insane!"


    Then I cut off their ramblings with my coup de grace:


    "ALRIGHT! IF YOU GUYS FINISHED YOUR FOOD, WASHED THEM IN THAT SPOT, AND STACKED THEM IN THIS TABLE, YOU GET AN ICED-COLD BEER¡ª"


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"


    "WE''RE REALLY DEAD, AREN''T WE?!"


    "SHUT UP! I CAN''T DECIDE BETWEEN EATING MORE OR GETTING THAT BEER!"

 Chapter 1072: Talking with Kaley and Ilana

    Seeing everyone chomp down or straight-up inhale their food even if their tongues were getting burned in the process, would usually put a smile on my face, but I really just needed a moment to process everything that had happened. I asked Megan and Alexa to make sure everyone was well taken care of and only a bottle of beer for each person before I found an obscure corner and sat by myself.


    I did bring my bowl and bottle of ice-cold beer with me because I am hungry and I just found Kaley peeking at me from the corner.


    "Pfft¡­ Please don''t be like Cynthia¡­ You know I can see you, right?"


    "C-Can Ie over? So you know, we can eat together?"


    "Why would you need permission?"


    "You know, everyone needs their space and¡ª"


    "Not with you,e here. I''ll hold that¡ª you got it, you got it~"


    At this point, Kaley and I were sitting on this freezer of sorts covered by a thick tarp and she already took a few bites before me. It didn''t take long before she noticed I wasn''t touching my food even if my stomach was already making audible noises, but she took it upon herself to feed me a certain way.


    "Herees the airne~"


    "..."


    "This airne wouldn''t stop until you open that mouth~"


    "..."


    "Don''t make me bring out a speculum¡ª There we go~ Pfft¡­"


    I was chewing on my food as I red at her jokingly, "Awfhole(Asshole)."


    "Don''t talk with your mouth full, alright?"


    "One more."


    "Hmm?"


    "Ahh~ One more, I already swallowed it."


    "Ah¡ª Oh! Wait¡ª"


    "Give me some more rice, the ratio''s¡ª"


    "Okay, okay! Wait a second alright?! I''m not feeding you the whole way¡ª"


    I then turned the tables against her, "Open wide~"


    "You¡ª That''s a whole-ass cow! I ain''t putting that in my mouth!"


    "You''ve taken much bigger, open up~"


    Kaley briefly red at me from the sidement, "Don''t y with our food!"


    "You started it! Open wide~"


    "F-Fine~ *chomp* Mmh! It''s the best bite! The juices¡ª Wow, wow, wow!"


    "See?"


    "Thank you! Open up, check this bite if this is what you like."


    "Okay¡ª Mmh! Yep, that''s the¡ª hey! I''m still chewing! Stop! STOP!"


    "Hahaha! I miss your chubby cheeks! You look really cute like that!"


    "No, I''m not!"


    "Yes, you do! Please! Have one more bite!"


    "Kaley¡ª Fine¡­ Ahhh¡­"


    "There we go~ Pfft¡­"


    For a good moment, Kaley and I fed each other with our bowls of food before we shared our beer together. To my surprise, both of us actually took the vored ones because the people here would definitely avoid them like the gue but ultimately, there was more for us and plenty to go around.


    I was really nning to mope around for a good while before acting like it was nothing, but ever since I''ve been with Kaley, it was totally different.


    She knew that I wasn''t okay and she tried to cheer me up but even so, she still listened to what I had to say regarding the whole situation.


    People would sometimes end the interaction when the person had slightly forgotten about what was bothering them but cheering me up earlier was just her way of softening the blow or something along those lines when I had to talk about how everything I did from this point on felt insignificantpared to the whole picture.


    "Hmm~ You might be right but you did save me too. I''m¡­ I''m important to you, right?"


    "Well¡ª If you put it like that¡ª Of course, you''re important to me but why weren''t we informed that this happened three fucking months ago? They should''ve at least¡ª Haa¡­ This shit just makes me mad¡­"


    "What can we do though? I hate to say this but would there be any difference? We can only do so much, right?"


    "I know¡ª Ha¡­ Trust me, Kaley¡ª I''m mad that we weren''t told but I''m also mad that I''m this powerless¡­ I should''ve done something, ANYTHING, at least¡­ Were they given enough time to evacuate at least? What happened after the st? Why''s no one fucking telling us anything?! And what happens now?! Shit''s just so fucked up¡­ Man¡­ I''d like to have a pause button or something¡­"


    "C''mon, ce your head over here¡­ It''ll calm you down¡­"


    "Seriously? Ap-pillow?"


    "You can''t rest your head on my chest rig, can you?! Besides, no taking them off until we''re in a secure spot, right?" Kaley started to push my head down herp in a weird particr way I wouldn''t dare to borate more on.


    Though I did give in as Iid my head on herp and gotfortable, "I-I didn''t say no¡­ Ah¡­ You''re right, you''re right¡­ This really feels nice¡­"


    "See? You¡ª Stop sniffing my crotch! A-At least not here¡­ It''s kinda dirty¡­ The tarp I mean¡­ Since you know, it''s a little dusty¡­"


    "Heh¡­ Wouldn''t stop me¡­"


    Kaley then lightly pinched me, "Oh, I''ll stop you alright. We''ve done it in a public bathroom but not here¡­ Besides, you still have something to do, right?"


    "Yeah, I''m just teasin'' for the moment¡­ Sorry¡­"


    "Doofus¡­ Just enjoy the quiet before everyone''s done¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ I love you¡­"


    "Love you too, doofus¡­ Pff¡­"


    "Hah¡­ We should really do this more often¡­"


    "My turn next time¡­"


    "My thighs are not as soft¡ª"


    "I''ve taken in something much harder¡ª"


    "Hah! Dammit, that got me¡­"


    "Hehe¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "So¡­"


    At this moment, I was lying my head on Kaley''sp as she was stroking my hair gently and we talked a lot more until everyone finished up. The amount of favorability I received from everyone else just because of the food I prepared for them¡ªmostly the beer, which was 99% more likely¡ªwas fucking enormous, and even Bartow gave me an upwards nod when we met eyes once Kaley and I joined everyone.


    Once the time came and we were back to the same office Bartow and I trashed, I already had a prepared thumb drive for Mitch''s use instead of him sticking his USB stick to where it shouldn''t belong.


    It was a little preemptive move I thought of as I fetched myptop from my pack and at that moment, na and I had a "short" conversation that ticked me off but went like this:


    [Good.]


    I said out loud, "Can''t you be more borate on that?"


    [Busy.]


    "Is there something up with them or something?"


    [Not sure.]


    "Then why the warning earlier?"


    [Because.]


    "You''re back to single-word replies, huh?"


    [Yeah.]


    "Did you know about the nukes?"


    [...]


    "It''s a yes or no question, na¡­"


    [Kaley.]


    "Hmm? What about her?"


    [What she said.]


    "You''re not answering my question still¡­"


    [...]


    "I just need to know¡­"


    [Would you hate me?]


    "Bitch. You''re snooping on me 24/7, probably heard us fuck every single day, and you''re asking me if I''d be mad at you?"


    [Would you though?]


    "Yes! Of course! I''m not a saint, alright? But who wouldn''t?!"


    [Fair.]


    "It''s just¡­ I''m not mad now¡­ I''m okay, for the most part."


    [That''s good to hear.]


    "Uh-huh."


    [I do know¡­ About that¡­]


    "See? Wasn''t that easy to type?"


    [Fuck you! Wasn''t easy to keep it all in at the time.]


    "Should''ve told me. And congrats, you''ve evolved from a word per minute!"


    [ASSHOLE! I COULD TYPE MUCH FASTER THAN ANY OF YOU AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT TOOK TO KEEP IT TO MYSELF! EVERYONE DOESN''T NEED TO KNOW THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION! IT''LL JUST BREAK THEM! IT ALMOST BROKE ME FOR FUCK''S SAKE!]


    "You didn''t tell your bodyguards, huh?"


    [Ass. They can''t take it.]


    "You''re assuming things again. What if they can?"


    [You took it far better than I thought but then again, how would knowing help our current situation? It''s just more stress.]


    "So you''re saying that ignorance is bliss?"


    [Isn''t it?]


    "Eh. There''s two sides to that."


    [Yet now you''re dying to know more about what everyone''s been keeping from you.]


    "What do you mean? It''s not like I could just extract information forcibly, there''s a way we do things over here¡ª"


    [I don''t just listen to you, you know? Well¡ª I don''t have enough memory to store everyone''s conversations but I do keep a text file after running them through a voice-to-text program. It''s just a pain to go through them even if I filter them to certain keywords and such. Your life''s just interesting so I''m almost always tuned in to you.


    I have something to look forward to every night too¡­ since you''ve brought that topic up¡­]


    "It''d be better if you delete that."


    [See? What a fucking hypocrite. Sometimes, it''s better for not everyone to know everything. What did Frodo say?]


    "Don''t use that against me."


    [What did he say, Mr. Nerd in the Apocalypse?]


    "Fine. Keep your secrets!"


    [There we go~ See what I mean now? Did you have to know that bit of info or not? There''s a reason a little bit of secret-keeping or censorship could keep the world from plunging into chaos. Right. Wanna know if Mrs. Lopez¡ª I mean, Mrs.


    Nichols was really Chloe''s mother or not? I know.]


    "What. the. fuck. have. you. been.


    doing. with. all. your. free. time?!"


    [Wanna know or not?]


    "Doesn''t matter."


    [You''ll fuck ''em anyway, right? Looking forward to that.]


    "I''ll fuck you too when I have the chance."


    [Yes, please! I''m looking forward to that too. Honestly, missed my chancest time.]


    "Is that so?"


    [Pfft¡­ I''ll drop by soon enough but there''s a lot of responsibility to the power I hold, you know? Ites with a lot of stress but it does feed my curiosity. Wanna share the burden?]


    "No."


    [Are you sure?]


    "Not unless I really have to."


    [Heh. That''s good enough. See you soon?]

 Chapter 1073: The Common Cold

    As we put that other conversation off and get back to reality, Mitch was in the process of copying the files in my thumb drive into hisptop¡ªeven though I told him to keep it¡ªbut he started ying the short clips¡ªthat had finished transferring besides therger files¡ªI yed for everyone else from the first meeting I had with my group.


    The two thought I had definite proof from the digging I did even before it started but all of those were simply clues or allusions that could somehow corrte to what we were currently experiencing.


    "What are some of those images?" Bartow asked.


    "Some random newspaper clippings and the like that somehow alludes to the same thing."


    "That doesn''t help us much either¡­"


    Mitch nodded, "Aside from knowing it''s just as unravble as it''s confusing. It''s either we are against a super genius who was able to make different strands in one lifetime to cause chaos or a veryrge group doing pretty much the same thing."


    I chimed in, "It''s either of the two really but we could also say that it could just be one simple thing at first before it turned to what we''re facing right now."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I''m not a scientist, okay? I only have the basics down but take a cold for example, the moment we gain resistance to that particr strand, the only way we''d get a cold again is from a different strand but causing the same experience.


    Well¡ª there are some cases were you could reinfect yourself with the same cold¡ªthough it is very hard¡ªthe ''easy'' way to do it is having an immune system low enough for the antibodies we have for that particr cold to not kick in or lose its effect."


    Bartow was already smoking but Mitch was looking at me solemnly before he opened his mouth:


    "I do understand that but what does that have to do with this?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m still getting on it but are you also familiar with coinfection?"


    "In regards to colds?"


    "Yes."


    "I do. It means having two strands of different colds affecting us at the same time¡ª Are you talking about the mutations?"


    I nodded, "Something along those lines but building on that, there''s at least 100 different strands of the cold virus¡ªmaybe even more¡ªbecause it just changes and changes into different strands depending on its environment for example¡ª"


    Bartow cut in, "Wait. So, what we''re facing''s a fucking cold?!"


    Oscar, Mitch, and I answered at the same time, "No."


    "Then¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "We''re just talking about viruses in general and how they behave a certain way. We''re just on the topic of colds at the moment. It''s not the virus per se but there are certain aspects of it that we could corrte but not determine the actual causation of what happened here."


    I continued, "As I was saying, viruses could just evolve on their own when they replicate and have these errors as they say but it could also happen when they jump or cross to different species, making it a jumbled mess. There are limits, sure, but my guess right now is that it used to be this one thing that was let out many, many years ago andid dormant untilst year."


    Bartow''s eyes just went wide, "Hold up, hold up, hold up! Is that why I heard some say that we''re all infected?!"


    "Not 100% sure but that''s the premise we''re on. Unless someone actually isted themself from the world¡ªno, nature could''ve been contaminated as well¡­ This is really confusing, we''re trying to find the single connection among an unlimited number of possibilities as to what caused this thing.


    Finding it out by elimination would work but how long and how lucky could we be before we arrive at the right answer? Are we even alive by then?"


    "Why are we trying to find the cause again?"


    "Well, if we could figure out how it''s made, we could figure out how it''s cured. People do it on the daily without their notice, but in our case, taking them out by means of violence always works but it''s like a catch-all without solving the actual problem. It does help it in some way but that doesn''t mean that it''s done. At the end of the day, we just know how to kill it, not the way it works."


    "Is that a bad thing?"


    "Of course. If we know how it actually works, it opens the whole to almost the same number of possibilities. It''s gonna sound sci-fi-ish right now but imagine if we couldmand a horde with one look or¡ª"


    "Flip a tank like it''s nothing!"


    I chuckled, "That''s right. Or not even needing to sleep¡ª"


    Then Oscar interjected, "Or be immortal."


    Mitch looked a little taken aback, "That''s¡­ That''s promising actually, I would''ve loved to see my kids grow."


    I got taken aback as well from his statement, "You¡­ You will, right? You don''t look that old."


    "Hah! I mean¡­ You know, I''d like to see them grow up and have families of their own and see their families grow up and on and on¡­ I''ll jump on that chance the first time itnds on myp."


    "Eh. I would''ve loved that too so I could see the endings of the things I used to binge before the world ended but yeah, that sounds actually good too. I''d want an off switch though."


    Bartow''s ears perked, "Off-switch? What''s the point?"


    "Are you sure you wanna have this kind of conversation now?"


    "Fuck it, at least I could understand some of it now since we''re in fantasynd!"


    "Hah! Depends on the type of immortality. Do just not get even older or do we move bodies? Are we just moving our consciousness around or could we store them in a thumb drive like this? What if we lost an arm? Can we grow it back or better yet¡ª what if we''re just a head and got thrown at the bottom of the sea?


    Are we just stuck there forever?"


    "Alright, stop! Stop! Stop! You''re making me even more confused! One at a time, alright?!"

 Chapter 1074: Back-end Stuff - SHOWER!

    After that little detour from our conversation, I gave them theplete breakdown of what I uncovered and thought of¡ªexcluding the ones na handed me, of course¡ªbefore we went on about what we''d have to do in this harbor.


    And as a side note: the Marine Base across the bay was definitely much, muchrger than the Main Harbor but if we close off the rest of the facilities in this area by blocking off the three bridges avable, it''d be at least four times the size of the Marine Base they were upying.


    "Alright, securing a small perimeter is key in almost all of the situations but securing those three bridges and leaving us with a bigger outpostpared to your main HQ would be the way to go. Kinda confusing but it''s easier to hold those three points in the long run since you mentioned that there would be more peopleing.


    I''d suggest just moving everyone in this ce but the Marine Base has facilities we can''t just pass up on."


    Mitch nodded as he was looking at the map I drew, "I agree with all those points, and then what?"


    "Then~ Right. We''re gonna need a full inventory of not just the Marine Base but everyone thing else in this section of the Freeport Zone we''ll upy before we make more adjustments or improvements and there has to be someone or a group of people keeping everything in check.


    Everything thates in and out up to a single grain of rice should be recorded¡ªI know it''s tedious¡ªbut someone has to do that job to avoid future problems."


    Bartow suggested someone not here, "Hey! y and Marge can do those types of stuff, right? Maybe Janice or Maine too so we should call one or two of them over."


    Mitch nodded pensively, "Yeah¡ª y''s probably already doing that in the Marine Base so maybe Marge and Janice then? We have more stuff to go through over here."


    "Eh, bring Maine too so it''ll be easier¡ª"


    I cut in, "I do have a temte of what we''re using back home and I could just show them how to do it¡ªmaybe evenpare notes to what you have currently so you can decide on how you do things?"


    Oscar followed, "They''re better off using your thing, kid. Trust me."


    Mitch embarrassedly scratched the back of his head, "May I see it?"


    I chuckled as I pointed at one of the folders titled "Misc." from the files I sent over to him, "It''s over there. I included some other stuff in case you might need it. It even has someic books or coloring books for kids though you might want to acquire a printer and some crayons first."


    "This¡­ This is more than thinking ahead¡­"


    "It''s basically the same thing, heh."


    "Sure, but still a step higher and a little creepy, no offense."


    I chuckled, "None taken."


    Bartow shook his head, "Nah, who was that brat again? Angelica? She''ll love that."


    Mitch''s eyes smiled(?) as he chuckled, "That is true. Alright, what''s next on that list of yours?"


    I pondered for a bit, "There''s no actual list but since we already have basic security in ce for our territory, we still got to eat, right?"


    "Of course."


    "And we can''t just keep giving you stuff but we can teach you not just to fish but to farm as well."


    Bartow cut in, "Ain''t no way we''re growing anything in solid concrete, boy."


    "Hydroponics is one solution but if you wanna go with the ssic way of farming, we can do it over the surrounding area of the Marine Base instead. You might have to put up more fences and spread out security but it would be able to let you nt some crops and have animals running around.


    Cows and chickens would feel much, much better on soil, and it''ll save you some feed if they could graze or find some worms on it. It''s a small trade-off but those cows'' hooves will also thank you for it too."


    "Hmm¡­ We could assign some people for that."


    I continued, "But yeah, we did bring some fruiting bags and those box thingies where you could have a vertical farm of potatoes and we''d be more than happy to tell you how it works but it''s also included in the files I sent over."


    "At this point, I''m already out of things to say, really¡­"


    "We''re not yet done though¡­"


    "Heh¡­ Cool¡­ Lay it on me¡­"


    "Alright, I know we''re living at the end of the world right now but that doesn''t mean we have to live like savages. This one things ismonly forgotten in this type of situation but aside from everyone else appreciating for everyone else doing it, it also protects us from getting sick from the¡ªjust an example: amon cold or even diarrhea."


    "And¡­ And what is that thing?"


    "I''m not talking about any specific person in the room or anyone else in this ce but I''m just gonna be blunt and tell you fucks that some of you need to learn to regrly wash their hands, brush their teeth, and shower.


    I''m very familiar with the smell of a rude armpit since I have businesses in a public market but for the love of god and all things fucking holy, we shouldn''tpete with the smell of rot and decay outside. It''s not a way to live, okay?"


    Bartow suddenly got offended, "YOU TALKING ABOUT ME, YOU PUNK?!"


    "At least you can fucking smell yourself. There are people I''ve known throughout my life who can''t even tell the difference between the smell of nice candles and their stench. We can still fix you," then I turned to Mitch, "You''re good though."


    "Thanks, I guess?"


    Oscar followed, "How about me?"


    "You don''t have that old man smell yet, old man. It''s either you smell like gunpowder or straight-up whiskey. No fucking in between."


    "AM I GETTING SINGLED OUT HERE?!"


    The three of us said at the same time, "YES! TAKE A FUCKING SHOWER!"


    "FUCK ALL OF YOU, I''M OUT!"


    "If that''s to take a shower, then go right ahead!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1075: Theory & Application

    As we ended our meeting, we still had a few more hours before midnight and since this whole section of the Freeport Zone was blocked off, I decided to bring Kaley and a few others to this long-ass pier that looked more like a concrete driveway¡ªwhich was only a block or two away from the Main Harbor¡ªand parked the Raptor by the edge.


    To their surprise, even though some form of lodging was prepared for us, I decided to set up a couple of tents and a small campfire in this area instead.


    This pier wasn''t anything great or something besides the "Mabuhay and Wee to Subic Bay!" signage painted at the road itself to wee touristsing via boat or a ship, but what I was actually after was the privacy of being away from everyone else.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Why two tents instead of one? We can fit in one just fine, right? It''s trouble setting them up like that¡­"


    "Now you''re just sounding like my guards back home¡­"


    "That''s different! We''re just boning here while everyone else''s lives matter on their side!"


    Tatiana chimed in, "It''s probably just in case we break the first one¡­"


    Quinn cackled, "Hah! I love the sound of that, is that a challenge?!"


    I almost made the two set theirforters in the truckbed of my Raptor instead, "Please don''t destroy our belongings¡­"


    Then Megan nudged me from the side while Alexa was trying to shield the mes from the strong breeze that just blew:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "I¡­ I wanna say something to you¡­"


    "O¡­ Okay? Tell me."


    Megan looked away for a moment before she turned back with a genuine smile, "You''re awesome!"


    I was a little taken aback not from the statement because I''m not used to takingpliments out of the blue:


    "O-Okay? Thank you."


    Megan chuckled, "Yeah."


    "Is¡­ Is that all? You''re cool too if that matters¡­"


    "I know!" she said with a snap as she cutely moved her lips, "I just wanted to say that."


    Quinn quipped from the Raptor, "If you just wanna get dicked down, just say so. He''ll oblige either way¡ª"


    Megan shook her head as she turned to Quinn, "It''s not about that, alright?!"


    "That''s called catching feelings, sweety~"


    "No, it''s not! It''s¡­ It''splicated b-but I know how it is too! Don''t make it that weird~"


    "Hah! Don''t get so defensive, it''s pretty normal. He provides you with everything you need, makes you cum several times, cums on AND in you several times, what more can you ask for?"


    Kaley joined in, "Isn''t that already ''everything''? Why add those two again?"


    "Because! It''s as Megan said, it''splicated. Not in the literal sense because it''s just sex plus extra and lessplicated than feelings."


    Alexa joined in as well, "Would it be weird though?"


    "Weird what?"


    "You know¡­ I still have feelings for Seb and we''re taking it real slow while I''m here and you know¡­"


    I answered, "Very."


    "Ah¡ª"


    Kaley cut in before Alexa spun it differently from what I meant, "It''s weird in the ''normal'' way but our situation *pointing at me and herself* is weird too. You have romantic needs Seb provides while we provide the primal one. It''s very unconventional, sure, but aren''t all the parties involved okay with it? I think that at the end of the day, that''s what matters most."


    Alexa pondered for a bit, "But what if he''s just putting up with it just to be with me? I-Isn''t that emascting to him in a sense?"


    Kaley replied, "Hmm~ That''s the question that you should be asking him, not us. But if what you''re saying is true, it''s already breaking one of our rules so you should decide whether you want to continue whatever it is you''re doing with him or us for that matter. In turn, he could also decide for himself whether he wants to continue what he''s doing for you or find love somewhere else.


    You gotta have that honest conversation with him once again to clear your doubts or else that''s just gonna stew and lead to problems. We can all have a talk if you want since we''re involved, but this is a more you type of situation¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ Thank you¡­"


    "Just remember that it doesn''t always work out but I think it''s much better than trying to pretend that it is even though it''s not¡­ That will just get to the point that it''s unhealthy and toxic and if you think about it, it''s just a dyed result of the inevitable of that rtionship not working out¡­"


    Megan chimed in, "Kaley¡­ Umm¡­ Have you been in a lot of rtionships? Not to throw shade or anything but you seem very knowledgeable about this thing¡­"


    Kaley answered, "Yeah. The advice I''m giving you is from past experiences and from what my mom advised me on because I did have this ''phase'' where I just give about everything plus more just to please my current partner. It came to the point where I put up with everything without considering myself and it just resulted in the word I didn''t want the twins to use from that other conversation¡­"


    "B-Being damaged¡ª That one?"


    "Yeah. You can say it, don''t worry. I just don''t want those words pointed at any of us. It might''ve been true for me at one point in my life but that''s not something anyone should be referred to no matter what it is."


    I cut in, "Alright, if any of you makes Kaley look like that a second time, you''ll have a fate worse than death¡ª Ow! Kaley!"


    "I said it''s okay, alright? We''re just talking here¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Quinn couldn''t bear the quiet as she nudged me, "How about you?"


    "How about me what? Ah¡ª NGSB(No Girlfriend Since Birth)before I met Kaleyst year but I did have some experiences that almost came to that."


    "Ah~ Kinda the same thing with me and Mike."


    Tatiana finally chimed in, "No one''s gonna ask me, huh?"


    I rolled my eyes, "When did you learn to sulk?"


    Tatiana looked at me weirdly, "Huh? I already told you, right? When I was a kid, I was sold for¡ª"


    I cut her off, "No! Not that! I mean sulk! Like S-U-L-K sulk! But do add to the conversation if you please."


    "Pfft¡­ Yeah¡­ It''s pretty casual and sometimes freaky for me but for the ones who don''t know, it''s a littleplicated too."


    Megan and Alexa said at the same time, "We wanna know!/ We have the time!"


    Quinn interjected, "Maybe a bit of time, not a whole lot," then she turned to me, "We''re still fucking after this sappy shit, right?!"


    With that said, we spent a better part of an hour sharing precious parts of our lives though Megan and Alexa''s love life was pretty normal in a sense before they got tangled with Seb and JP. It''s just that the big surprise for them was that Alexa lost her "frontal" virginity much earlier than Megan even though she was the one who looked prudish than Megan who was a little out there.


    But yeah, everyone else couldn''t stop asking me questions about my first time with my older "sister", Aoi, the moment we talked about each other''s firsts.


    "Really?! In ten seconds you¡ª"


    "It''s my first time, alright?!"


    "Still¡­ I couldn''t believe that could happen to you, of all people¡ª"


    "I''ll do it to you, if you want¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª Don''t¡ª I mean¡­ It''d be kinda hot if you cum that fast with me¡­"


    "Wait! Then how did you two do it for hours if y-you know¡­"


    "If his dick''s already out?"


    "Yeah! That!"


    "Well¨C It''s not like I can''t do other stuff?


    At that time, I just don''t have the actual experience but I have a lot of knowledge regarding that other than porn¡­ She''ll definitely kill me if she heard me say this but she''s probably the hardest person I''ve made to orgasm¡­ I do know her ins and outs now though but the first time and those other times that followed took a few hours¡­ Probably one other reason for my increased stamina¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "And we owe her big time for that, pfft¡­ It''s always funny to me when I hear this story¡­"


    Alexa was still curious, "B-But why did it really take her that long though? Was she that nervous or something else?"


    "Hmm~ I''m not entirely sure¡ªmaybe a little bit along those lines¡ªbut to take the magic out, there''s a bit of a physiological issue at hand. She''s really gonna kill me for this¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "No, she won''t¡ª"


    "Yeah, she will. She almost seeded multiple times but in different circumstances¡­ But yeah, I''ve said that she''s a little ''withdrawn'' before but it''s because her nipples are inverted and she had a rather big clitoral hood over another hood inside her innie."


    Kaley added, "Imagine something like mine but there''s this bigger p of skin that covers it and once you uncover it, there''s another. A ''double-hood'' type of situation."


    Tatiana quipped, "Why are we suddenly having a biology ss?"


    Quinn added, "Can we get to the part where we''re shown a sex video like the poor students we are? I''m more of a visual learner, you know?"


    Kaley waved them off with a chuckle, "This is important stuff, alright? Everyone has different shapes and sizes but the most important way to do to get to a release is to experiment. Safely, of course, and within reason. It''s about finding what works best with you.


    The best way to do just that is to do it by yourself then if you ever had a partner with you, you just need tomunicate what needed to be done and then go from there¡­"


    Megan and Alexa nodded pensively, "Hmm¡­/ That makes sense¡ª"


    "But if you already have a partner and you''re both inexperienced, you can still follow my advice but you can also experiment by yourselves andmunicate while you''re doing it and after¡ªsometimes even before but it really depends on the individual and the couples doing it at the end."


    Megan raised her hand, "C-Can we ask more questions?"


    "Ask away~"


    "Umm¡­ I-I''ve seen you orgasm m-many times not just from o-our vag or our backdoor¡ªusually from getting your nipples touched or even just a straight-up kiss¡ªs-so how do you do that?"


    Alexa nodded, "I was gonna ask that too."


    "Oh! Umm~ I''m a little more sensitive than others but you gotta ask him how he could do that to me too. I''m still learning things about my body through him¡­ It''s a very pleasant experience¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That''s so¡­ Yeah¡­"


    Then Quinn finally had enough as she suddenly took off her pants and spread her legs while inside one of our tents:


    "Alright, let''s do an ''experiment''¡­ Use all that knowledge for this practical!"

 Chapter 1076: Throat Goats - You love pits, right?

    To our surprise¡ªno, it was still a surprise but not as much, Quinn''s crotch area, especially her firm pinkish folds between her meaty cunt was already dripping with her lubricating juices while her little asshole was already inviting us to dig in.


    To be fair, I was also partially aroused from hearing everyone''s experiences among other things we talked about, so we just got on it though from actual experience, Quinn''s other sensitive part was her mouth.


    She was already anticipating to get her pussy eaten and as Alexa got on all fours andpped up her cunt, I moved right behind Quinn before I pulled my pants off and nestled my cock over her face.


    "Mnh¡­ You really know me, huh?" Quinn said as she gave my shaft a little kiss.


    "The you I know would''ve already gone to position and had me reach your throat."


    "What if I want you to do it for me?"


    "Very well¡­"


    With that said, as Quinn was still leaning on her hands behind her, I slowlyid her on her back¡ªas Alexa continued to ''figure out'' Quinn''s pussy because Quinn would almost always just sit on anyone''s face¡ªbefore I basically ''sat'' on Quinn''s face as I pushed my huge cock inside her mouth.


    From the first few tries, she was using her tongue to cover me with her saliva but it didn''t take long before I began pushing deeper and deeper until my balls made contact with her upper lips and her nose.


    "MnNh¡­ Hck¡ª Gac¡ª Gawkc¡ª MmH! AgchkK! AcggGhH!"


    But yeah, as I looked past Alexa and the tent we were in, I saw Kaley went in the other one with Megan and Tatiana.


    I would''ve preferred if they also joined us but it was already a little cramped with the three of us and Quinn''s huge fucking boobs were in front of me and were getting neglected.


    Without further ado, I started kneading them with each handful I could grab as I slowly increased how hard I''d pinch her puffy nipples while Megan started to use her fingers to find Quinn''s G-Spot as she was sucking and licking Quinn''s erged clit.


    As everything was happening, I made sure to make Quinn struggle for air a little bit before I gave her a small window to take in as much air as she could before the cock went back in her fucking throat.


    It was something I discovered way~ back when I reversed our roles for the first time and I haven''t had the chance to perform erotic asphyxiation on her that much until now.


    But yeah, even though it was muddying how Alexa was trying to learn Quinn''s body, our goal for today was still to get everyone off, and it didn''t take long before she squirted on Alexa''s face.


    It happened right when I was just about to give her some air but even while her body was having the tremors, Quinn used her thick legs to wrap it around Alexa''s neck and force her to drink and swallow everything while proceeding to rub her cunt on her face.


    "HNGH! GGH! UGH! AGH! MMM¡ª MMH!"


    I could barely understand what wasing out of Quinn''s muffled moans because I was still busy fucking her throat but both of them seemed to bemunicating with their bodies and the premise was that Alexa shouldn''t stop from the first one.


    And on that note, I began to thrust even harder as I made her struggle for air longer¡ªall the while I was squeezing her breasts with a little more violence¡ªand it just brought Quinn to the edge in record time as she almost choked Alexa to death as her whole body shook.


    At the same time, I began pumping her mouth with my cum but as we began to have some spillover, I pulled out and sprayed the rest onto her big fat tits and some on Alexa''s face to give everyone a little breather.


    It''s just that as I got off Quinn and as Quinn finally let go of Alexa, Alexa just had this zed expression before she slowly crawled on top of Quinn''s body¡ªwhile eating and licking off all the cum Quinn wasn''t able to take in¡ªbefore the two traded spit and semen right in front of me.


    I would''ve started moving to where their wet little holes were but Alexa wanted topletely clean me off as she turned to me and then to my cock still dripping with my cum.


    "By all means¡­"


    At this point, Alexa and Quinn''s bodies were just pressed against each other while they were licking and sucking off my thick shaft like a lollipop, but I could already hear violent moans from the other tent.


    It didn''t take long before the twopletely cleaned themselves and me up with my white stuff, but Alexa wanted to get her throat resized to my girth while Quinn was already prodding her ass with her fingers.


    "Just grab my wrists if you want me to stop, alright?"


    "Yeah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ A-And don''t even dare stop until I r-really grabbed you¡­"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "Don''t regret thatter, okay? You have no idea¡ª"


    "I-I can do it!"


    Quinn then turned to me with a sinister smile, "The bitch wanted to get her throat fucked, so don''t fucking stop until it''s bruised and she can''t talk straight tomorrow, got it?!"


    Despite what Quinn said, Alexa looked like she really wanted to get manhandled and I just grabbed her head and got a good grip with clumps of her hair before I jammed my whole length in without letting her ease onto it.


    And right from the get-go, Alexa''s gag reflex was kicking in but she held her fucking ground and bore with it even though tears started to run down her face. Obviously, I started to slow down from seeing that but Alexa fucking meant what she meant because she threw me this fucking vicious re when she noticed I slightly let up.


    "Just fuck the bitch''s throat, alright?" Quinn let out a chuckle as she sent a resounding p onto Alexa''s bubble butt.


    "MMMH!"


    At that point, I was basically fucking Alexa''s throat while I felt my cock erge her neck all the while Quinn was making Alexa''s buttcheeks red from all the spanking. Quinn was enjoying something just from looking for once but it didn''t take long before Alexa had the most violent, toe-curling, convulsive, and mind-numbing orgasm she had.


    Because the moment I exploded in her mouth and kept thrusting in, it filled the whole space and some even had to exit through her nose, and Quinn this time took care of the spillover. That particr moment just sent her to the deepest edge she could''ve been on and she just came and squirted so hard, she fucking passed out for a few seconds.


    Quinn tried to clear her airways by stealing her reward for doing such a good job, and she was basically resuscitated after coughing out a few mouthfuls of my cum.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Why''s there so much¡­"


    "Just be thankful, alright? Sorry, I had to steal some off ya¡­"


    "I-It''s okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Mmm¡­ I-I think I-I''m still c-cumming¡­ I-I can''t feel¡ª Mmm¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Wanna keep going or do you want a break?"


    "G-Give me t-two minutes¡­"


    Then Quinn turned to me with a devilish smile, "It looks like it''s just you and me, huh?"


    I let out a chuckle, "How do you want it?"


    "No. You''ve done enough. How do YOU want it?"


    "I think you SHOULD know by now¡­"


    "Putting me in the spot now, are we? I wanted to try something though¡­ You game?"


    "As long as it doesn''t have anything to do with my ass, sure."


    "Hah! I''ll definitely get into THAT one of these days but no, this one¡­ I think you''ll like it¡­"


    "Then show me."


    "Alright. Lay down."


    "W-What are you gonna do to me?"


    Quinn never looked so taken aback, "YOU¡ª Don''t look at me like that¡ª I might end up not being able to control myself! B-But now that you asked¡­ Y-You love pits, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "I think you might''ve not done this thing yet¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "J-Justy down already!"


    "O-Okay!"


    At this point, as Iid on my back, Quinnid by my side and pressed her whole body against me where her huge tits were right by my chest and where I was using one of her arms as my pillow. I still wasn''t sure what she was nning to do at this point but she then lifted her left thigh and ced my throbbing dick right to that particr spot on the back of her knees.


    That ce was essentially the "knee pit" inyman''s terms but I just straight up lost it when she flexed her muscles and gave me a sudden tug.


    At that point, I''ve never been so scared and aroused but Quinn never looked so happy when she saw my reaction.


    "You''re in trouble now¡­"

 Chapter 1077: Let im cook!

    Without so much as a warning, Quinn started to grind and press her whole body against me like I was some body pillow with a dick, but feeling her warmth with her hard muscles and softer bits had already sent me over the edge.


    It was not only because she was jerking me off with the small tight space behind her knees, but she was also grinding her meaty cunt on my thighs and pressing her humongous tits against me.


    And while she was making mey my head on her right arm as a very firm pillow, she had her other hand either squeezing the tip of my dick or hugging me even tighter to dig my torso even more into hers.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ D-Do you like this?" Quinn said with ragged breath as she was this close to my face.


    "Y-Yes¡ª"


    "Louder!"


    "YES!"


    "You love feeling my calf and my thigh around your cock?! You love feeling my pussy and my tits grinding on you?! Answer me!"


    "Y-YES!"


    As I let go of any sort of control, Quinn let out this victorious chuckle as she began to flex even harder, moving more violently while heavily breathing on the side of my face.


    With my left arm acting as the pillow for her whole body, I could only fight back by pinching her left nipple with my right arm and trying to give her a kiss but she was determined to see my expression when I finally ejacted all over the ce.


    We were staring right into each other''s eyes as I slowly felt iting up and the moment my whole body tensed for the hard orgasm, Quinn just pressed our bodies even more whilepletely choking out my dick in the process.


    "You gonna cum? Cum! CUM! COME ALL OVER ME! All over my thick thighs, my whole body¡ª Yes! YES!


    MORE! MORE! DON''T YOU DARE FUCKING STOP! LET OUT ALL THOSE HOT FUCKING CUM FROM THAT BIG THROBBING DICK AND¡ª YES! Y-YES! MMH!


    YES! I''LL SQUEEZE EVERY LOST DROP OF YOU! IS THAT IT?! I KNOW THERE''S MORE IN THERE! FUCK IT! YOU STILL HAVE TO FILL MY PUSSY AND MY ASS ANYWAY¡ª"


    "QUINN¡ª"


    At that point, I was barely clinging on for dear life because I thought for a moment there that she would actually rip my dick off just from how much force she was using to squeeze me, but before I even had the chance to recover, Quinn had already got on top of me and held my hands above my head.


    Then she whispered in my ear with a devilish smile, "I won''t let you perform a reversal this time¡­"


    As she said that, Quinn just smothered me with her huge fucking tits before she moved her hips and squeezed her glutes so fucking hard, the little bit of semen left in the pipe got squeezed out as she was riding me. There was a pocket of air from my position given to me by her deep cleavage, but I so fucking wished that I could fondle and squeeze them or y with her little asshole.


    Nevertheless, Quinn looked so fucking feral as she was riding me, and looking me straight in the face as I struggled was just some sort of heaven I barely got to experience.


    At one point, Quinn held my wrists with one hand¡ªeven though I was letting her take the reigns¡ªbefore she used her free hand to shove a tit down my mouth as she just kept my whole length inside her while grinding her hips.


    I could feel how much her insides tighten and contract each time I''d brush against a particr spot, but even though I felt her cum multiple times¡ªwhere she was most vulnerable¡ªI still let her have her way with me until I blew my second load in her womb.


    Quinn was smiling from ear to ear as she pulled out and saw her pussy drip with my cum but she then sat on Alexa''s face while she was still catching her "two-minute" break, and made her eat my cum out of her cunt.


    They were basically in the 69 position though Quinn was just ying with Alexa''s cunt, but it didn''t take long before she turned around and beckoned for me to go behind her and finish my homework:


    "One more hole before Alexa gets her t-turn¡­"


    As she said that, Quinn''s body was still trembling due to multiple orgasms but she was still trying to look unfazed as I made my way behind her.


    Her meaty cunt was still oozing with my cum as Alexa was still licking her clean, but I spread her little asshole with my thumbs before I ate her little pink ring that was about to get a few sizesrger.


    "W-What are you¡ª Mmh! Fuck yeah! Lick that dirty ass clean before you put your dick in it! F-Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Shit! J-Just put it i-in alright?! I-I want¡ª MMH!


    FUCK!"


    At that moment, while we were using Alexa''s face as a drip tray for all of Quinn''s juices plus extra, I then grabbed on her tight hips before I shoved my whole length in her ass. Quinn''s body just buckled because I didn''t ease into it at all¡ªand my dick''s already well-lubricated¡ªbut I didn''t wait for her to tell me how to stir her insides as I made her huge asscheeks p with my thighs.


    "SHIT! SHIT! FUCK! H-HOLD ON! HOLD ON¡ª DID YOU JUST GET EVEN B-BIGGER?! NO¡ª MMH!


    F-FUCK! MMNnnNn¡ª Ah! AH! AHnnHn!!!"


    Quinn''s whole body would follow with each thrust, giving Alexa a little bit of air each time Quinn''s pussy would lift off her mouth, but Quinn grabbed one of my hands on her waist before cing it on one of her huge udders, and just let me squeeze as hard as I could while I thrust my hips over and over and over.


    It didn''t take long before Quinn started to squirt on Alexa''s face for the nth time, but I soon followed after when I saw Kaley looking straight at me while fucking Megan from behind while Tatiana was doing the same thing from right behind her.


    I just exploded deep inside Quinn''s zed butthole before I pulled out and let Alexa have some but she just straight up took in my cock with her mouth instead of just catching what drips down from Quinn''s ass and the tip of my huge member.


    But to our surprise and Alexa''s surprise as well, she started to squirt uncontrobly without so much as a touch from Quinn, but Quinn took it upon herself to get off Alexa''s face to further heighten Alexa''s orgasm by going down on her pussy and using her mouth and a finger in her ass.


    At the same time, I began thrusting my hips to basically fuck her throat while I was kneading her perky set, and her orgasms can''t seem to stop as we were viting her. All she could do was take everything in while letting out muffled moans due to my dick stuffing her throat, but there was a point when it became a little too much for her so she had to grab on my thighs to ask me to stop.


    I''m not an actual monster so I slowed my roll as I pulled out but it''s just one depraved thing from another at this night by the pier.


    Alexa let out with a rough tone as she looked me in the eye, "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ P-Please f-fuck me¡­"


    From then on, I started to push my dick in and out her holes and filled each one to the brim as Quinn continued to grind her cunt on her face. At some point, I was just about to offer some aftercare but Quinn wanted to do it with her mouth and Kaley was already beckoning me to join them since Megan was also down for the count.


    After some time, Megan and Alexa still tried to join in but Kaley, Quinn, and Tatiana kept up with each of us until everyone had their fill plus extra.


    I obviously ended our session with Kaley and me face to face with each other though one funny bit after that was finding a nearby shower to clean ourselves. The dumbasses were so fucking scared to see ghosts or some other ethereal being just because we were right next to a cemetery that Oscar and the rest used as the burn spot for all the deadheads they put down.


    But yeah, once morning came and we were doing another quick morning session as each of us eventually woke up, we almost opened fire at these two young-ish adults¡ªa boy and a girl¡ªwho came out of nowhere.


    "WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING! WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING!/ WE PROMISE WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING¡ª HOLY FUCK THAT THING''S HUGE¡ª"


    Quinn came out almost wearing nothing while holding her Deagle, "DON''T MOVE A FUCKING MUSCLE! GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND¡ª"


    "HOW''S THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!/ D''YOU WANT US TO MOVE OR NOT?!"


    "YOU¡ª WHO ARE YOU FUCKS ANYWAY?!"


    "W-WE''RE JUST ASKED TO HEAD HERE B-BY SIR BARTOW BECAUSE¡ª/ H-HE WANTED TO ASK T-THE ''PUNK'' IF HE''D LIKE TO COOK FOR EVERYONE AGAIN!"


    "HAAAH?! BITCH¡ª IT''S BARELY 5 AM!"


    "WE''RE SORRY! WE''RE SORRY!/ JEAN! STOP LOOKING AT HER¡ª WHY''S EVERYTHING SO¡ª"


    "WHY''S EVERYTHING SO WHAT?! SAY IT WITH YOUR CHEST¡ª"


    I eventually came out with my shorts on then waved Quinn down, "Jean and Tyrone, right?"


    "Y-Yeah!/ How did you know?!"


    "I''m that good. Anyway, did he tell you guys to let me cook?"

 Chapter 1078: Rice Porridge - Janice and Maine

    After a short bit of introductions, we discovered that the two were actually brother and sister¡ªJean being the older one¡ªand the rest of their family was in the Marine Base instead of the Main Harbor.


    In any case, we tidied up and gave them a lift so they wouldn''t walk all the way back but there was some unbelievable awkwardness in the air because the two couldn''t even look any of us in the eye for more than two seconds.


    But yeah, we can''t just force the weirdness away with a snap of our fingers so I just went ahead and cooked up a hearty rice porridge for breakfast after we dropped them off at the same location.


    It might sound like a very basic dish¡ªwhich it was¡ªthough the sides more than made up for it because it was the perfect vehicle to have a bite of abination of boiled eggs, fried garlic, green onions, slices of porkchop, ginger, etc. Despite being used as somewhat of a dish only served when someone was sick, this was usually a staple for breakfast in this country.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before more people from the Marine Base came in via a smaller boat they used to sail to this country¡ªbecause it''s much, much faster¡ªand a couple of them were these Maine and Janice dudettes¡ªa Private First ss and a Lance Corporal respectively¡ªwho looked to be on the same age as us.


    Mitch had already given them a brief run-through of their would-be responsibilities yesterday¡ªand a little bit more currently¡ªthough there was an audible stomach grumble when they got a whiff of the garlic I was frying on the pan.


    Maine tried to hide the fact that she hadn''t had breakfast yet, "This¡­ This is a lot¡­ *stomach grumbles* more than what y cooked up for sure, but I''d rather we use this¡­ Pretty intuitive too¡­ Fuck, this is so embarrassing¡­ Traded the protein bar for a pillow¡­ Haa¡­"


    Janice chuckled, "Who''s the cook? And why does Bartow look like he got in a car crash?"


    Mitch answered, "He''s the kid who made that temte and made Bartow look like that. I got some strays too but any normal person would''ve been heavily injured if it wasn''t him taking all those hits."


    "Jesus¡­"


    "I''m just d we could have some of what he''s cooking because we were woken up this early and there''s no breakfast till seven¡­"


    I then came at them and handed them a bowl that had an even distribution of toppings with steaming out of it:


    "Yo, have some breakfast first. That temte''s pretty easy to understand but the real challenge is the uracy of what you put in them and mark off. It''ll be up to you two if what''s in there actually reflects what you guys have in those warehouses and a minor discrepancy could cause a lot of problems¡ª"


    "Fuck!" Maine didn''t hear a lick of what I just said as she was busy slurping down and getting burned by our breakfast.


    "Maine! Keep it together! We''re¡ª I''m sorry," Janice said as she turned to me offering a fistbump, "She just needs to eat and she''ll be functioning, thanks for the food! I''m Janice!"


    I returned her fistbump with a chuckle, "Sky. Nice to meet you two. Anyway, I did say to have some breakfast first but other than what I told you two earlier¡­ Jotting down inventory can be pretty daunting but it''s better to start small before trying to do the whole thing.


    It would be less overwhelming if you start room by room though you should still keep an eye out or ask other people if they stored or took out some stuff from the room you just logged while you weren''t there. That''s pretty much it¡ª"


    "Fuck, dude! This is so good! Why''s the porkchop still crispy while still in this soup?!"


    "Maine!"


    "What? I heard everything he just said! You''re the one who kept on staring at his eyes!"


    "What?! I didn''t¡ª"


    "You''re cute but you''d be jumping on a lot of hoops for Mr. Popr here to notice ya¡ª"


    I cut in, "Mr. Popr? Where did thate from?"


    Maine looked at me while her face had a green onion sticking out by her cheek, "You aren''t? Huh. I swear a fewdies were looking at you differently. Especially that brte with the huge jugs."


    "Maine!"


    I almost facepalmed, "That''s¡­ That''s my wife¡­"


    "Oh. Oh! I see, I see~ You have good taste bud, anyway¡­ why do that blondie over there and that Amazonian freak look at you the same way?"


    "It''s¡­ It''splicated."


    ''That''s some good observation¡­''


    She then scoffed, "See? Mr. Popr. Not gonna lie, if you cook for me like this every single day too, I''ll start to like ya! Good shit bro, good shit."


    I chuckled, "Okay? Thanks. There are seconds though so stop stealing from Janice''s bowl¡ª"


    "MAINE!"


    "WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU AREN''T EATING IT?!"


    "I WAS SAVING THAT FOR LAST!"


    "He already said there are seconds! Just get another egg from that pile¡ª You! Give me back that porkchop or I swear to god¡ª"


    "Give me back the egg!"


    Mitch had to cut in, "Where''s Marge anyway? I thought she was supposed toe with you two?"


    Janice answered, "Ah¡ª Yeah, well¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "Mrs. Adams felt something snap on her back yesterday. She was trying to move this coffee table to the other side of the room by herself so¡­ But yeah, Marge''s been keeping an eye on her so that she won''t try anything stupid. We said she couldn''t move at the moment anyway but she said that Mrs. Adams with definitely try to wiggle out of that bed she''s in."


    I interjected, "Do you have doctors that came in with you?"


    Mitch nodded, "We do, fortunately, though we''re still building up a proper clinic for everyone else''s sake by looting around the area. It''ll be up in no time soon. Anyway, what''s your n for today? We have a few objectives to meet, right?"


    "Hmm~ I think we''ll try and clear the dead from that flour mill first."

 Chapter 1079: Across the East Bridge - Gorilla?

    We briefly discussed a few more things we needed to aplish before our breakfast ended. Still, while we''d be clearing a few blocks of the dead East of the Freeport Zone to make our drive back easier and possibly getting us ess to the techno-farm that had a hundred or so sr panels for the taking, Oscar will bring a group of people to deliver items offort over to the Marine Base.


    At the same time, Bartow would lead a group to further clear the streets northward and northwesternward.


    And as we used Basin Rd. to get to one of the bridges closed off, we were eventually given ess to go over to the other side where an extension of the yacht club was present.


    It was a straightaway of sorts that reached around 800 meters to the right and while most of the yachts were just floating by the small pier they have, some were still covered on these trailers parked on the driveway¡ªwhere some weren''t even hooked on and vehicle¡ªbut we took care of the dead around this area first so that the group that came with us could bring some of the boats here over to the yacht club in our side of the water.


    Another group stood by to watch over them so we moved on to this block ofrge warehouses where a few trucks were parked on each one.


    Across the street from it was a call center building and a bank which seemed to be unupied from the outside.


    Quinn then turned to me, "Where''s this flour mill we''re looking for again?"


    "It''s past that intersection. After that, it''s a little bit forward and then to the left. Following that road will lead us to the other side of the expressway we used yesterday."


    Jared chimed from the back, "What''s the n though, bro?"


    "d you asked¡­" I trailed as I pulled my radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Artem, bring your crew over to that intersection but turn left instead and it''ll be a 300-meter drive or so before you''d hook back to this ce that sells surplus parts then you''ll get to where the flour mill."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then the cadets/trainees radioed in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What about us?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, can wee with them?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m getting to that. JP you''ll be in charge of holding the intersection we''re about to go in while Marvin will be in charge of the smaller intersection Artem and his crew will pass through after that store I said. Conserve ammo as much as possible but don''t ever forget to double-tap even though it stopped moving. Artem and I will clear the flour mill from both sides."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Technically speaking, the flour mill was one of the two flour mills that exploded and they were in a block of other facilities that produced electronic appliances, coffee, shoes, and stics.


    However, the noise from the explosion just gathered almost every deadhead in its immediate vicinity, and viewing the road from where we stood, the dead were gathered way~ more in that spot than the area we were in.


    It was like that particr scene in this TV show where the MC got shocked to fuck after moving forward with his horse because he just left a street where a tumbleweed could pass and the next street was just fucking Zombind.


    But yeah, Artem and I timed our advance and went ballistic the moment I gave the signal. Because instead of going in quiet for taking down a horde of the undead covered in breading, we used our vehicles'' horns to split the dead and wake up some of them that were in deep slumber because there nothing would suck more than clearing hundreds of deadheads then getting bit on the ankle by a sleeper.


    In any case, it only took a few seconds before we heard the quiet groans turning to loud grunts as the wet splotches of feet turned to these dull marching sounds of rotting flesh hitting the pavement, and several dozen deadhead just split off the main group and rushed for us.


    "YOU FUCKS KNOW WHAT TO FUCKING DO!"


    Except for Quinn who was in charge of my Raptor, everyone else raised their rifles¡ªTatiana using a new AK instead of her Benelli M4, of course¡ªbefore we popped heads one after the other.


    I barely opened up an assault using my rifle by taking down close to three dozen deadheads in one burst, but I easily ran through my mag before switching it with a fresh one.


    It was when I felt the bolt lock to the rear so I quickly pressed the mag release¡ªhabitually closing off the dust cover¡ªthen took out the spent mag and pinched a fresh mag between my fingers, then jammed it in the mag well and pressed the bolt release after I reced each mag''s spot within seconds.


    I didn''t think I could still perform the movements seamlessly but I was already aiming at eye level before I let out a short exhale and watched these sprinters fall down the moment they got in contact with my sights.


    But yeah, Kaley used to be in charge of the normal dregs while Jared would aim for the more dangerous ones but since I was helping them with Tatiana and Ibarra, they aimed for the ones crawling on all fours or exhibiting some pretty bizarre behavior.


    And on that fucking note, I saw a huge Bartow-like deadhead with huge forearms barreling towards us like a gori using its arms to move. However, it only took a seconds before I realized that half of its body was already torn to shreds¡ªleaving only a piece of its spine sticking out beneath its torso¡ªbut god fucking dammit its forearms were even bigger than Quinn''s thighs.


    "TEN O''CLOCK!!!"


    "ALREADY SEEN IT¡ª FUCK! RELOAD!"


    Right as it crossed the wall of dead sprinters on the ground by jumping(?) with its hands, a bullet made its way to its face and its elbow joint that made it stagger on itsnding, but three more rifle rounds bored its way right on its exposed skull before it dropped on the ground.

 Chapter 1080: FIRE IN THE HOLE!

    With the gori-like deadhead in front of us, we didn''t even bother to double-tap it because it was already quadruple-tapped and an eight of its skull had littered the floor. But in which case, Tatiana took it upon herself to pull out her axe and dismember its huge arms by its shoulder joint.


    It was likely that we''d just burn all of them in one pileter but an upgrade or a minion like this for a random stitcher would be fucking trouble.


    But yeah, more and more disfigured deadheads came out of the woodwork and joined the horde we split in two with Artem who was on the other end of the street, but we were all shooting at an angle to avoid unnecessary strays hitting us from the crossfire.


    "KALEY! I''M GOING IN!"


    "GOTCHA! I''LL CALL OVER ONE OF THE CADETS FOR RELOADING MAGS!"


    "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! TATIANA, I''LL WAIT FOR YOU WITH IBARRA!"


    "JUST ABOUT DONE!"


    "ME TOO!"


    "CARE FOR THAT UPTURNED VAN BRO, ALRIGHT?!"


    "YEAH! YEAH! I''LL THROW A GRENADE AT IT IF WORST COMES TO WORST!"


    With that said, I pulled on the straps of my rifle to fasten it on my back¡ªafter pulling out fresh mags from our ammo cans and switching it with the depleted ones in my chest rig¡ªbefore I zoomed past the cluster of dead sprinters and hacked the dregs along the way.


    We''ve made enough noise to attract almost everything from the immediate vicinity but I was still hugging the wall to the left to not get grazed by a bulleting from the other side.


    I was absolutely confident in Kaley shooting from my back and sometimes whizzing it just by a few centimeters from my body but I wasn''t that sure from the other side, especially if the rifles they were using weren''t as uratepared to ours.


    Granted an AK tform could still be urate but there''s no chance in hell I''d let them shoot an apple on my head if they were always running it at full-auto.


    But yeah, I just saw a deadhead wearing what seemed to be a uniform of a fast food chain got sat down with a .308 that came from Kaley''s "Reaper" which punched through and destroyed the vicle of the one behind its target.


    They were still in the process of advancing in my general direction but before the victim of a second-hand homicide could react, I sliced its head open like those stic eggs that had candy inside them.


    However, what''s inside its dome wasn''t anything close to what sugar looked like but I already sent a huge kick to its torso so that I''d have more space and so that it could tumble down to the ones behind it.


    At this point, I already saw my people wielding a copsible spear and a new prototype of an injector axe join the fray as we continued to thin down what seemed like a few hundred deadheads who didn''t care about gluten.


    There were some instances where there would be a puff of white alongside the short puff of red the moment the bullet exited their heads and how I wish that flour mill could''ve been looted first before it exploded.


    In any case, the three of us: me, Tatiana, and Ibarra were in this diagonal line as I was the closest to the wall where we were like those huge trucks shoving the snow off the main road.


    The tricky part that I''d always like to emphasize on going melee with these fucks was the positioning needed to deliver a killing blow. Because like with shooting over long distances, a small discrepancy could mean hitting a few feet off the target or in our case, not delivering enough power or just sinking our des onto something that wouldn''t even one-hit kill like its shoulder.


    Sure, it could somehow impinge on its shoulder mobility but our aim was to put them down, not to prevent them from throwing a fastball.


    And right on cue, Tatiana swung at an off-angle and wasn''t able to reach her target because her axe came in from its left cheek and stopped right on its eyeball¡ªbarely missing its critical weakpoint¡ªbut she made use of our injector system to get that oomph she was looking for.


    I actually thought she''d just kick it off and just try again¡ªlike I would in that case¡ªbut she still needed to make sure if her new toy would work in critical situations such as these.


    It''s true that they were only reserved for an encounter with a Hulker but what''s the point of having them if she''d just lose everything from a bad swing?


    But yeah, using them on something that would break open from a normal impact was fucking messy because the coagted blood inside their heads just sprayed all over and most of them got onto Tatiana''s clothes and protective gear.


    Even though she was wearing a face mask and eye protection on top of her helmet, I took it upon myself to give her plenty of space to retreat by pulling out my pistol, hanging back, and then emptying the whole mag while taking down the deadheads in front of me one-handed.


    "IT''S JUST BLOOD!"


    "IT''S JUST BLOOD ALL OVER YOU! IT''LL TAKE JUST A MINUTE TO WIPE DOWN AND COME BACK! DON''T BE FUCKING STUBBORN¡ª"


    And as I was in mid-sentence, a bullet whizzed by my cheek as a smaller deadhead which seemed to be a kid that got its face bitten off copsed on its fragile knees¡ªas the lead projectile entered its forehead¡ªeven before getting to high school.


    I was focused on a lot of things to notice a very small target sneaking its baby teeth on me, but Tatiana and I got the hint as I focused on what''s in front of me while she sprinted back to not look like that character on that prom night covered in blood.


    Then Ibarra suddenly lobbed a grenade overhead:


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

 Chapter 1081: HEY! THIS ONE JUST MOVED—

    If blood getting all over our clothes and protective equipment was a problem, imagine getting bits and pieces of someone who died¡ªand turned into a living corpse and roamed a good part of a year under the sun¡ªget all over you.


    It was like those juices with pulp but fucking way, way~ worse.


    In any case, the reason Ibarra lobbed the grenade was that there was movement in the upturned van¡ª no, it''s because the van moved itself and we''re not fucking ying around to see whates out of the box.


    And right as itnded beside it, there were more chunks of meat and sinew that flew in the air than scrap metal.


    The van in question was just ruptured as a pig part of its interior was like one of those normal, everyday items that were actually cake but instead reced with human body parts.


    It just made me double-tap the van as I lobbed another grenade at its "entrance" before the two of us took a few more steps back.


    "What the fuck''s in there, sir?!"


    "At least it''s all over the ce now! On your right!"


    "Got it, thanks!"


    At that point, we were still in the middle of clearing a horde and while both of us still had some of our focus on the ones beyond our melee range, we still had blindspots from where our backs were turned. It was up to us to catch each other or straight-up focus on one thing when we were alone.


    But yeah, Ibarra easily juked the one I pointed out at him before he pulled out his sidearm instead of his rifle because the fucking crawler wearing an "I LOVE MEAT" shirt didn''t allow him to maneuver his M16 around and point the barrel at its temple.


    It was just the wrong equipment at the wrong time but his 9mm easily entered below its chin and made its way up to its victim''s dome after creating the most gnarly wound channel.


    And right after that, Kaley made several shots whizz over our heads as she took down the cluster that formed as our advance halted.


    She made sure she was conserving bullets in a way while keeping each deadhead''s space between each other just right for each of us to have a proper swing and/or enough clearance so that they wouldn''t be able to nk from both sides.


    It was something hard to pull off in the real world¡ªand usually, the space provided would onlyst for a few seconds¡ªbut we were making it work in a way and taking advantage of the opportunity presented to us.


    "I''M HERE YOU FUCKS, LET''S FUCKING GO!"


    "QUINN?! WHERE''S¡ª"


    "SHE''S NAKED FROM THE WAIST UP! DON''T ASK WHY! I ALSO AIN''T SITTING ON THAT LAME-ASS SEAT WHILE YOU GUYS HAVE FUN LIKE THIS¡ª"


    "WE''RE NOT PLAYING AROUND!"


    "WHY CAN''T IT BE BOTH?! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"


    To our surprise, Quinn came in with her huge-ass halberd/polearm hybrid and wreaked havoc with one swing. She took the initiative to be at the forefront while Ibarra and I supported her by fanning on either side where her weapon couldn''t reach us.


    Everytime Ibarra and I would move, we''d use the least amount of force necessary to put down our enemies to conserve stamina, but Quinn was just on the opposite end of the spectrum as if she was trying to instill fear onto these abominations that couldn''t receive certain mental status effects.


    But yeah, Quinn going all-out somehow made us amped up as we followed her advance.


    With Kaley and Jared making sure that no one would be surprising us from our blindspots, I almost took over the advance from the left as I split open three heads and beheaded four horse-looking deadheads in a few seconds.


    I didn''t even bother cutting up their chewed-up arms first¡ªlike my usually setup¡ªas I aimed just for their heads to meet with my de.


    From a flick of a wrist, a deadhead who looked like it needed a father figure got a good look at the asphalt as its head slid from its neck while my next victim figured out a way if it woulde across a fork in the road because I split its body in half.


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, WHO HURT YOU?!"


    "SHADDAP!"


    "FUCK YOU, DON''T SHOW ME UP THE MOMENT I ARRIVED!"


    On that note, I just saw Quinn charge up an attack by taking a split second more to wind up before swinging at a morbidly obese mukbanger and taking out three more that could fit in its back that weren''t even involved or an intended target.


    And right after that, she used the momentum of her swing to somehow flourish his 20kg plus weapon and smack down onto the head of this undead midget and then rolling it back again like it weighed nothing to thrust several times to a group that she couldn''t take out with a wide swing.


    Quinn''s weapon was the perfect choice for someone who didn''t want to stick to a single attack type or if they wanted a multi-tool imagined as a two-handed axe, spear, hammer, etc.


    She didn''t even break a sweat by swinging it like she was a gbearer except for the time when Kaley tried to whizz past a bullet through the gaps from her muscr body.


    "HEEEEEY! DON''T FUCKING DO THAT!"


    "QUINN, ON YOUR RIGHT¡ª"


    "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Ibarra followed as he stabbed anky motherfucker with the tip of his spear.


    At this point, we must''ve piled a couple hundred of rotting corpses with chicken breading so we called on a few reinforcements to drag the bodies to the side. We can''t just advance and advance because of the crossfire but while we were retreating at set intervals, our space to move around was getting smaller and smaller.


    So yeah, Ruben, #1, and #2 eventually showed up with their thick gloves to help move around the bodies we put down.


    "HEY! THIS ONE JUST MOVED¡ª"

 Chapter 1082: Breathing Fiasco

    Much to my shock, I thought we obliterated every single fucking thing in our path but it seemed like one made it out alive.


    James "#1" Chu screamed for dear life, "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME¡ª"


    Ruben Padi reacted faster than James "#2" Tiu, "JUST HOLD IT DOWN¡ª HOLD UP, ITS HEAD''S ALREADY GONE!"


    #2 cut in again as he let go of the carcass holding onto #1''s arms, "D-DON''T MOVE! I-I''LL CHOP ITS ARMS OFF¡ª"


    But yeah, Tatiana arrived at thest second by swinging down at the ruptured roadkill and chopping off all its limbs from its torso:


    "TOO FUCKING SLOW! DON''T FUCKING ANNOUNCE YOUR MOVES ALRIGHT?!"


    "I¡ª"


    "T-THANK YOU! F-FUCK! I-IF IT WEREN''T FOR THESE GLOVES AND YOU¡ª"


    "STOP YAPPING AND CONTINUE MOVING THE BODIES!"


    "HUH?! WHAT IF¡ª"


    Ruben cut in, "Y-YES, MA''AM!"


    But #1 still had something to say, "I-IT''S STILL MOVING! I-IT''S BREATHING!"


    "NO THE FUCK IT''S NOT¡ª"


    "IT IS! LOOK!"


    "BUT IT''S A GUY¡ª HOLY FUCK IT''S BREATHING!"


    Even I was getting curious but ultimately distracted from all that shouting so I shouted back to get to the task at hand:


    "JUST PULL IT ASIDE¡ª AWAY FROM THE REST OF THEM AND SOMEONE WATCH OVER IT! WE''RE LOSING SPACE HERE!"


    "R-ROGER!/ YES, SIR!/ WE''RE SORRY, SIR!"


    With that said, my curiosity was getting the better of me so I pulled out my TX22 and used my katana with one hand as my kill count increased exponentially. And even Quinn tried to do the same with her Deagle, it only holds a few bullets and she didn''t have a lot of mags to go through a hundred or so deadheads for it to make a particr dent other than her handheld weapon.


    But yeah, as soon as I ran out of bullets, I used a deadhead as a temporary scabbard for my de as I pulled out a fresh mag from my chest rig. After that, I switched it with the spent one before I bumped the slide release and pulled my de out of its flesh sheath and went to town once again.


    As I raised my left hand forward with a small bend for the recoil¡ªeven if its just a .22¡ªI quickly acquired my targets and squeezed the trigger with the padding of my fingers all the while holding my gun with a tight grip.


    And with each random deadhead kissing the pavement with its face, I was already acquiring another target right until I ran out of bullets once more.


    I would''ve stabbed another deadhead to use as a sword sheath but I only had a couple of mags avable on hand with this particr gun, so I quickly holstered it and switched to my Maxim 9.


    However, I only used one full mag before holstering it and using my katana with both hands because as much as I would''ve loved to dissect the "breathing" torso behind my back, conserving a bit more bullets was my priority.


    Granted I already wasted a bit more to save some time but it was one way to cope¡ªalbeit slightly¡ªrather than having the thought of hurrying up fill my mind.


    I then shouted at the top of my lungs:


    "IS IT STILL MOVING?!"


    #1''s voice echoed, "Y-YES, SIR!"


    "DID YOU TRY OPENING ITS STOMACH OR CHECKING IF IT''S REALLY A DUDE?!"


    "AH¡ª ONE SEC, SIR! WILL DO! WILL DO!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "SO?!"


    "AH¡ª FUCK!"


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "ITS CROTCH IS ALSO BITTEN OFF! BLEGHH!!!"


    "NOW''S NOT THE TIME TO PRACTICE DEATH METAL!!!"


    "I-I''M NOT! I-IT''S JUST¡ª UGHH! FUCK! THAT''S SO GNARLY!"


    "IS IT A DUDE OR NOT?!"


    "I ALREADY SAID THAT ITS CROTCH IS¡ª"


    "CHECK ITS TITS!"


    "IT''S FLAT!"


    "ADAM''S APPLE?!"


    "ALSO BLOWN OFF!"


    "FUCK!"


    "DON''T WE HAVE ONE LESS RIB THAN THE GIRLS?!"


    "DIFFERENT ADAM, ASSHOLE! THAT''S ONLY LIMITED EDITION! WE ALL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF RIBS!"


    "THEN WHAT CAN I DO?!"


    "CARVE ITS ASS AND CHECK IF IT HAS A PROSTATE¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! I''M NOT DOING THAT!"


    "THAT''S AN ORDER, YOU FUCK!"


    "I DON''T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!"


    "BUT DID YOU CUT OPEN ITS BELLY¡ª"


    "AH, FUCK! I FORGOT!"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª I''MMA D.A. YOU AFTER THIS!"


    "SURE! ANYTHING BESIDES¡ª WOAAAHHHH!!!"


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "I-IT HAS FUCKING TWINS! TWINS! UGH¡ª THE SMELL!"


    "THEN PROBLEM SOLVED! KILL IT!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "YOU KNOW THEY''RE DEAD, RIGHT?!"


    "AH¡ª SHIT! FUCK! I''M SORRY! *POP* *POP* *POP*"


    At that point, there was another¡ª no, there were two problems solved and it gave me a slight peace of mind to our current situation.


    I held my de tightly with both hands once again as I advanced further than Quinn who almost caught up to my total kill count this morning, but I was still a tad slower because I had to bisect a few non-conforming looking deadheads horizontally so we could avoid another "breathing" fiasco.


    But yeah, we could already see where the "split" was, between me and Artem''s team, and it didn''t take long before we were burning several piles of the undead at the same time.


    Additionally, I thoroughly checked #1''s arms and the rest of his fucking body for any scratches and whatnot¡ªthat made him deathly pale¡ªbut luckily enough, the thick gloves he wore that were almost up to his shoulders protected him.


    "A-Am I okay?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Physically? Sure. Mentally? A little questionable."


    "I-It just caught me off-guard, okay?! I thought I was gonna die!"


    "Sure, sure¡­ Our next training session will be a tad interesting for all of ya¡­"


    Ruben cut in with a glint in his eye, "W-What is it?!"


    Tatiana and I never looked like antagonists who actually kills the MC in a book:


    "You''ll see./ Don''t tease them, you fucks just hadn''t had enough life-or-death experiences. We''re gonna remedy that."


    "Ah, fuck¡­"


    But yeah, even though we were in a "short rest" phase of this expedition, it was obvious that stragglers were still popping up here and there so while I tasked some of us to go over the belongings of the undead or pick up casings, some of us were watching with their rifles at the ready.

 Chapter 1083: Unclogging Wreckages

    Once I refilled my mags and wiped down my equipment, I moved over to the pile of items my group collected from the dead¡ªbut while we were on the topic of piging items from the dead¡ªthere were a few things to look out for once we have a horde-sized group to pick from:


    The most obvious ones were obviously the bags they had on their person, secondly their pockets, then checking if they were wearing any jewelry, andstly, their shoes.


    We could uncover almost anything within the size of the bag we took from the person¡ªsame thing with their pockets, obviously¡ªand while the only advantage for jewelry is trading or for a chance of identifying another person if it was an engraved ring, checking their shoes was a different story.


    A good pair of military boots could go a long way but we can''t just sneeze at the mobility provided by sneakers or some other basketball shoes, but other than that, there were also people who''d sometimes sneak in a few items in their socks or just by their ankles.


    ''It''s almost always a lighter paired with a smoke or a very small knife tucked in for emergencies.''


    It''s just that the challenge for looting footwear from the dead was cleaning them and even if the person who used to wear them wore socks, it was still a fucking struggle to clean them and have the mindset to actually try them on.


    There were also cases where a shit was possible to be looted but they were mostly used as rags or cut into small patches to repair clothing.


    In any case, moving onto therger side of things to loot from, aside from the block where the two flour mills were located, we discovered three car dealerships, a Puregold branch, a Dutyfree branch, a small botique, a shoe store with the check logo, some other generic minimall, a hardware store, and a ce that sold sses.


    We''d have to explore more so I could fill up the internal map I had in my head but this ce used to be the central hub for ships so there should be more mills that produce things other than stic or electronics.


    ''There was a mention of a steel factory too¡­''


    Megan nudged me, "Where does that path lead?"


    "That''s to the other end of the expressway we usedst time and the road on the opposite end would still be the Freeport Zone though going a bit further would lead us to the airport. I would''ve tried and reimed an airport for our own use if it was any other day but we gotta clear up the path to the expressway first to save us a bit of time driving around the residential areas.


    There''s a lot of ces here suitable to be turned to farnd too but we don''t have enough people to go around. The trick is to always start small but this ce just¡ª it has so much potential¡­ an even better starting areapared to mypound if you have all the right tools¡­"


    Kaley chimed in, "Don''t get too far ahead, alright? You know what it does to your head."


    "Right¡­ Right¡­ Thanks."


    After some time, we began to form a perimeter around the exit of the expressway¡ªwhich was much closer to Artem''s side¡ªand then started to pull the wrecked cars to an open spot.


    Granted there were still deadheads either trapped inside their cars or the expressway itself, but it was easy enough to get them out of the way after getting their vehicles out of the way.


    It took us a few hours to fully clear the exit of all the cars we needed to either tow away or hotwire because they survived the wreck, but there was one side effect coffee could give to people, especially when they were right next to a vtile cemetery.


    "THAT''S THE LINE, BUDDY! ONE MORE STEP AND WE''LL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"


    "Don''t wanna shoot the guy that brought you coffee, alright?"


    "OH SHIT! IT''S HIM! HEY! PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN YOU FUCKS!"


    The guys from the other side were so wary of the noise we made earlier¡ªthey were up in arms the moment theyid their eyes on us¡ªbut they all breathed a sigh of relief the moment they saw my ugly mug.


    "Easy, alright? It''ll be a bit of work¡ªand the people here will help you¡ªbut do protect both entrances at all costs. This expressway is a godsent."


    "They cool people?"


    "We don''t have a lot of oil here, so probably yeah."


    "Huh?"


    "That''s¡­ You know¡ª Nevermind¡­ We allmitted atrocities either way so¡­"


    "I still don''t get it."


    "It''s fine, it''s fine¡­"


    "Need any help?"


    "Sure. We can share the loot and we could probably bring some of the vehicles here to act as temporary walls before making a proper gate for this exit."


    "Then we''ll get right on it! There would be coffee, right?"


    "Heh. Of course, of course."


    And this time, there was more loot to go around because this wreck was just unclogged at this moment and these ex-people in their cars didn''t even manage to use the items they brought for their survival.


    We found clean clothes of all sizes, assorted medicine, food that either expired or was still safe for eating, mineral water which was unfortunately stored incorrectly, a few camping tents, assorted de and blunt weapons, a crossbow and a few bolts, a slingshot, boxes upon boxes of ammo, seven handguns where two were revolvers, three rifles, and a shotgun.


    I just couldn''t believe these folks didn''t even try to go out of their way to loot some of the vehicles much closer but I guess they were just afraid to attract the horde right behind it if they made a lot of noise.


    In any case, we came back to camp an hour past lunch and again, I couldn''t believe no one even prepared some fucking lunch.


    "I''M NOT COOKING EVERY SINGLE TIME, ALRIGHT?!"

 Chapter 1084: We just needed a W.

    At this point in time, I wasn''t able to resist these sorry fucks'' puppy eyes but I did make everyone else prepare everything themselves without me touching a knife. Afterwards, I even assigned a random-ass citizen to make my own version of meat stew so they''d be able to make the meal without me.


    Granted there should be slight differences from one recipe to the next, but to take some of the magic out, anything and everything should taste the same as long as the same ingredients, procedures, etc were followed.


    Some say it was love but sometimes it was justrd.


    But yeah, the only group who didn''te back from our trip outside was Oscar''s but that was because it''d take several hours to go back and forth the Marine base and then to this one.


    Bartowmented, "They''ll probably get back here first thing in the morning."


    I turned to him, "How were things on your end though?"


    He just shrugged his shoulders, "Eh. Just killed anything that wasn''t supposed to be alive. We''ll send a crew to clean up¡ª"


    "Hold up. You just left the corpses there?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You''ve been here for at least two weeks, right?! You should''ve known what sneaks around these parts! You don''t just focus on one thing, you kill, you loot, you stack, you burn! That''s the way to go! You don''t just have fun and have your servants do the dirty work¡ª"


    "Don''t start again, you punk! We closed off the area, alright?! There are more bridges to close off¡ªseven of them in total¡ªand since you said you''d be opening up a new road, it''s fine, right?! We gotta eat too!"


    "Have you marked off the cleared buildings at least?"


    "What?"


    "That''s a no."


    "Mark off¡ª The fuck are you talking about?!"


    I closed my eyes before I deeply sighed, "Look. You''re not the only ones here and I''m surprised that we haven''t run into them yet. But the reason you mark off a cleared building and close it right after looting them or cataloging everything that''s inside was to keep the dead and the living from wandering in and restarting what you''ve worked hard for."


    "Why are you being this difficult?!"


    "I''m not! It''s standard procedure!"


    Mitch chimed in, "They did clear all of the dead inside that sector, right? Take it like how you make some coffee¡­ You can start with a tablespoon of coffee or a tablespoon of sugar but at the end, it still tastes the same alright? In this case, I would''ve been with you if the area they just cleared couldn''t be closed off but it is, right?


    There''s no way those sneaky ones you spoke of could''ve made it through¡ª"


    Then I turned to Bartow again as I cut Mitch off:


    "You checked the restrooms?"


    "Yeah."


    "The female restrooms?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "You sick fuck."


    "Haah?!"


    "Just kidding, did you take the tissues, napkins, and tampons from the dispenser?"


    "What? I told you we just cleared the dead, not loot¡ª"


    "Right. You mean to say if you find a gun on the pavement, you wouldn''t take it?"


    "Of course, I would! It''s a fucking gun¡ª"


    "But napkins aren''t a priority?"


    "DON''T FUCKING COMPARE IT TO A FUCKING GUN! A GUN''S A GUN!"


    "Eh. I just thought you Americans love tissues so fucking much. Gotten used to washing your ass with soap and water yet?"


    "I''M STILL EATING, YOU PUNK!"


    "Uh-huh. If you see a chunk of poop in there, you''d stop, right?"


    "THE FUCK''S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT''S WITH THIS LINE OF QUESTIONING?! ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE RESIDENTIAL AREA UP NORTH?!"


    "Now that you mention it, did you check the manholes? The ongoing construction site? The small prison from the precinct? The mall? The drainage channel? The schools?"


    "We checked everything, alright?! We''ve been attracting the dead in one spot and taking care of everything!"


    "..." I stopped talking as I looked at him with disappointment.


    "WHAT?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I thought you cleared everything?"


    "We did!"


    "Howe you cleared that space in a span of a day or two¡ª no, a day and a half at most? That''s just impossible. Did you really clear everything or just the streets and some interesting buildings? It''s because those are totally different things."


    Bartow then put his bowl down with a frown on his face, "Look here, punk. We know how to kill. That''s where I''m the fucking best at. I may not be good at everything else but if my superiors tell me to raze a ce to the ground I''ll fucking do it¡ª"


    "I''m not questioning how brutal you could ravage a sack of flesh, I''m questioning if you got all of them, not most of them."


    "The. Area. Is. Closed. Off."


    "Still. Doesn''t. Mean. Shit."


    "THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!"


    "Are you confident you could let a child y alone in that residential area without a biter chomping his head off?!"


    "Y¡ª I mean¡ª Why would you leave a child alone?!"


    "JUST ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION! IS IT THAT HARD?!"


    "FINE! I WON''T!"


    "FINALLY! SOME FUCKING HONESTY!"


    "YOU''RE REALLY FUCKING BENT ON MAKING ME LOOK BAD, HUH?!"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!"


    "YOU GOT A LUCKY SHOT YESTERDAY, ALRIGHT?!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO GOT A LUCKY SHOT! NO ONE COULD EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME WHEN I''M FOCUSING ON ONE THING! AND NO! YOU''RE THE ONE MAKING YOURSELF LOOK BAD! I WOULD''VE SUNG YOU FUCKING PRAISES IF YOU DID A JOB WELL DONE BUT YOU KEPT LYING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING ACCOMPLISHMENTS!"


    "YOU KNOW JACK SHIT! WE NEED A WIN!"


    "THEN FUCKING DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY! LYING ABOUT IT IS STILL NOT A WIN! CLOSING OFF AN AREA''S A WIN, LYING ABOUT CLEARING AN AREA ISN''T! WE OPENED UP A NEW PATH WHICH IS A WIN BUT WE DIDN''T EVEN SAY WE FULLY CLEARED THE AREA! IT''S JUST TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!"


    "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! WE''D CLEAR IT IF WE HAVE MORE TIME! IT''S JUST A MATTER OF¡ª"


    "THEN JUST FUCKING SAY SO, YOU NUMBNUT! WE COULD''VE HELPED YOU!"


    "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU EVEN HELP ME IF YOU''VE BEEN AGAINST ME SINCE DAY ONE?!"


    "IT''S NOT ABOUT YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! IT''S BECAUSE YOU JUST TOLD ME YOU NU¡ª BUT THAT DOESN''T MEAN WE COULDN''T HELP IN PICKING UP THE PIECES! WE CAN''T WORK TOGETHER IF WE''RE NOT ON THE SAME FUCKING PAGE!"


    "WE''RE ON THE SAME FUCKING PAGE! AREN''T WE?!"


    "ARE WE THOUGH?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT?!"


    "Y¡ª I DON''T FUCKING KNOW AT THIS POINT! WE JUST GOT HERE, YOU PUNK! BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE!"


    "WE SHOULD BE! BUT NOT THIS FUCKING WAY!"


    "..."


    "..."


    All of a sudden, the two of us just went quiet like everyone else listening in the conversation, but Bartow still angrily picked up his bowl and finished his meal while looking like he''d be the happiest guy alive if he got to choke me out.


    But yeah, to bepletely fair, both of our intentions were impossible at the moment because they really just couldn''t clear that whole sector in two days and we didn''t have enough wooden boards on hand topletely close off the buildings like we did near our territory.


    There was just some fucking reason we were so fucking pissed at each other and like potassium''s reaction in making contact with water¡ª fuck it, lobbing a grenade into a gas station, we''d just blow up and cause chaos every time we see each other.


    However, as we both set out for our own runs, we both used the North bridge we blocked so they could once again sweep the area with a fine-toothedb while my group made use of kitchen tables or liberated tables from the inside to blockade the entrances and the exits from a few smaller buildings.


    We can''t just chop off trees and turn them into sizable and uniform nks¡ªthough that would''ve been nice¡ªbut we were doing what we could at the moment.


    At one point, Bartow and I met at an intersection and I was surprised to see that he had a huge dump truck with a pile of random items he specifically didn''t touch so I could rifle through them.


    "Thanks."


    "Yeah."


    "Great job on sweeping the smaller buildings or houses first."


    "Thanks for double-checking them before closing them off."


    "Yeah. I''ll give the list of items we left behind here to either Maine or Janice."


    "Eh. Maine works better."


    "True."


    "..."


    "..."


    "We''re gonna go this way."


    "Us too."


    "Don''t fucking follow me, you punk."


    "Who the hell would want to follow you, Mr. Sailor-man?!"


    "DON''T START WITH ME WHILE WE''RE OUTSIDE, KID!"


    "I DO IT OUT OF NECESSITY BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO STRIKES!"


    "TWO?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO?!"


    "DO YOU WANT ME TO COUNT WAITING FOR ME TO COOK LUNCH?!"


    "YOU DID NOTHING!"


    "I HAVE A VERY GOOD ROLE MODEL!" I shouted while pointing right at him, "BUT AT LEAST I FINISHED WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO!"


    Then Kaley roughly nudged my torso while Quinn kicked Bartow''s calf:


    "NOT HERE, DOOFUS!/ ALRIGHT, THIS IS ENOUGH!"


    "WE''RE JUST TALKING!"


    "NO, YOU AREN''T!"

 Chapter 1085: Major Harper? - Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

    From the perspective of things, I could definitely beat Kaley in a physical fight¡ªwhich I did, multiple times during our spars¡ªbut strength-wise, Bartow had the slight advantage against Quinn but he''d lose against reach.


    Take note, Quinn was still a few inches taller than Mikhail¡ªor in this case, Bartow¡ªand with the almost same analogy with speed, strength doesn''t mean shit if he wouldn''t be able to connect.


    But yeah, I''m still a little biased in my observations because in all honesty, Quinn was a mechanical engineer/powerlifter while Bartow was a Marine/Asshole.


    I''d bet on Bartow''s win if they evere into blows¡ªthough I''ll definitely give my winnings to Quinn after to appease her¡ªbecause not to be sexist, even with Quinn''s physicality, there was a much higher chance for Bartow to emerge victorious.


    She could outdrink him, sure¡ªprobably everyone else in this ce too¡ªbut she''d just lose this battle with the spinach-eater.


    However, much to everyone''s shock, Bartow just nced at Quinn momentarily before he led his group to another smaller building where they could easily clean up.


    Because at this point, they had once again rtively "cleared" the streets 100% so they were doing the same thing of barricading the doors, windows, or some other entrance/exit of a reimed space so it wouldn''t be able to host infestations or intruders.


    But yeah, the "cleared" status of the streets could onlyst for so long because the ones that still needed to be put down¡ªwhich were inside one of these buildings or houses¡ªcould still walk out for some sun, and it''ll be an annoying problem all over again.


    That was one of the main reasons I wanted them to follow my procedures to the dot but the only saving grace for them was blocking off these sections like we did with the section that involved the Main Harbor.


    It was because this residential area wasposed of five municipalities stacked together but the section they closed off only involved three of them.


    Additionally, the road we used to loop around to get to the Main Harbor belonged to the two municipalities above us that couldn''t be closed off because it wasn''t this floating ind of sorts¡ªlike the ce we were in and upying¡ªconnected by bridges.


    But yeah, as we were about to continue what we were doing until the sun sets, my radio buzzed before I heard the old man''s voice:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid. Get your crew. The Major here wants to see ya.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Do you want us to get in one of those boats or do you want us to drive?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Eh. You can probably make it if you drive. Don''t worry, we cleaned up most of the dregs so it''s rtively safe. Didn''t burn them though... I kinda want you to see the coastline before getting here. A fresh set of eyes could give us better ideas.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, alright¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right. You''d save some time if you off-road once again. Just drive straight the Burgos St. past the shipyard and continue on until you reach this resort that had this mansion that''s shaped like a "W". After that, you''ll drive a little bit more off the road but do make sure to stay on the left of this high school and you''d reach the road that would lead to this ce.


    It''ll be 30 minutes or so once you reach the gate and I already notified the ones manning the checkpoint to just let you in. You''d probably get here at 7 or 8 depending on your pit stops.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You need anything else we could bring?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Eh. As long as you promise to not pin the Major to the wall like you did with Mitch, we''re good.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s his name anyway?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Harper.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Harbor? Quite fitting, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Harper! HARPER! H-A-R-P¨CE-R! HARPER! ERIC HARPER!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah. I see, I see. We''ll just stop by the Main Harbor for some stuff then we''ll drive straight over there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright. Stay safe, kid.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure."


    *bzzt*


    -


    As we ended the call, it took us about 15 minutes to get everything right though we only left with my Raptor, one other truck we brought, and Tatiana''s HuNovelBinee. We did leave Artem and a portion of the trainees and the cadets here with JP''s Raycolt¡ªwhich almost made him stay back¡ªbut Artem specifically asked Kuzma and Bogdan toe with us.


    They were driving the other truck we brought with us including theirrade''s Humvee while I had a couple of stowaways¡ªMegan and Alexa¡ªin my truck.


    "Lots of beaches and resorts here, huh?" Alexamented.


    I chuckled, "Well~ If you''re gonna do a business like that, this is one of the best ces to do it on, not a freakin'' volcano."


    "Not unless you''re going for a natural hot spring, no¡ª"


    "Fuck!"


    "What is it now?"


    I suddenly remembered one other thing I forgot to aplish on my trip to Batangas:


    "We¡ª I forgot about the sulfur deposit in one of the hot springs Quinn mentioned."


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "It''s not an actual deposit but you could probably find better ones in the volcano right next to it."


    Alexa cut in, "You guys talking about Taal Volcano?"


    I nodded, "Yeah¡­ It''s this hot spring without boating over to the other side¡­ I forgot about the whole thing coz of the ton of things that popped up. Well, we could alwayse back or get it straight from the source."


    "Ah¡­"


    With that said, we quickly zoomed past the resort we were talking about earlier before we stopped by one of these barangays just past this funeral home to get some valuable information regarding this ce''s residents either from their hard drives or their archives.


    Funnily enough, there was close to a 100% chance that it was always there because we were the only ones doing this shit though there was also close to a 100% chance that this ce''s armory was looted.


    ''Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose¡­''

 Chapter 1086: Quick Drive - The Marine Base I

    Additionally, there was also a gas station a few meters ahead, and even the annex where it sold groceries and other random items were already picked clean. However, a discerning eye like mine noticed this particr wiring sticking out and when I followed it to the back and saw several batteries attached to an inverter, I startedughing like a fucking idiot which unsettled mypatriots.


    "What''s so funny?" Kaley leaned in as she was wearing a weird face.


    "Eh. Not much. Just have some of the guys look for adder so they can get to the panels on the roof. There are probably more¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Wait. Why? Are we just gonna give everything to them?"


    "Oh. Good point. We can just point our findings to them since they''ll be the ones to use them. We still have a surplus of panels back home and other ces to get them so the ones here are just extra weight¡­"


    Tatiana followed, "It''s not a bad call to score some brownie points but we can''t just do everything for them. Besides, they''re all adults¡ªwell, most of them¡ªso they just needed some guidance instead of a handout."


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ I''ll just remember the ces they missed and point it to themter. Even if we don''t they''ll probably discover it sooner orter."


    "Correct."


    At that point, it didn''t take long before we drove over the 306 Bridge and cut into this public market of sorts filled with carcasses¡ªwhich slightly ticked me off because we really should be burning them¡ªbut we cut into this big parking lot and hotwired another truck in good condition before stopping by another barangay hall.


    This time, aside from finding the drives we could dig some dirt on this ce''s residents, we uncovered two sets of riot gear, three boxes of shotgun shells, and a canister of pepper spray.


    After this route, we would reach the bridge Oscar was talking about where we would start going off-road and we were basically cruising until we reached the resort he mentioned.


    It wasn''t because we were met by a dead-end but we were met with some deadheads that were recently washed over. Some of them were definitely bloated as fuck while some were just waterlogged, and to avoid their juices spilling over, I just asked Kaley and Jared to put them down from a distance before we drove our merry way.


    To my surprise, we were definitely shaving off a lot of time by using this road but once we went past that bridge, we hadn''te across any stores or ces to loot which was a little sad. It was one of the joys in life in the apocalypse but being able to live another day was one of them too.


    Then we came to another small problem.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is this river crossable?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Why would I fuckin'' ask you to drive over there if you can''t?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You do know that water rises, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, fuck. Didn''t think of that. Wait, how wide is it now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Maybe six meters?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Want a fuckin'' smack to the head?! How much is that in feet?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Unbelievable."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [JUST ANSWER ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ Around twenty, I guess?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah. You''re good, you''re good. Just drive through it. It''s the one with the red fishing boat, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, with this homemade motor?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s the one.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we ascended this shortcut of sorts while keeping to the left of the school Oscar mentioned¡ªalso noticing the track marks from their vehicles¡ªuntil we stopped by this ess road hugging part of a small hill.


    It had some smaller houses here and there made with lighter materials but we soon reached one of their checkpoints with a dozen or so people guarding it with guns.


    The dude in front suddenly dragged me into this staring contest of sorts while everyone else from his crew was staring at our convoy, but I broke our silence with the most random shit I could think of.


    "Yo."


    "..."


    "What''s better than a .45?"


    "..."


    "A .46¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª FUCK! Are you the fucking kid?! Dammit!"


    "You know why you guys have F-18s?"


    "Stop! Stop!"


    "Because F-17s are illegal!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! DON''T DO REVERSE MATH ON ME, YOU FUCK!"


    "Reverse math?! You mean subtraction?!"


    Then all hell just let loose:


    "HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HE GOT YOU, BOB!"


    "DAMMIT! HE GOT ME TOO!"


    I waved them off with a smile, "We''re going in, alright?"


    The Bob guy stopped us still, "I was told you only have three vehicles. I see four here."


    "We got one on the way. We''re trading it anyway, do you have anything for me?"


    He let out a knowing smile, "Look for Royo, alright? ck dude with a curly mustache. He''ll hook you up. You can hand over that truck to Thomas, his friend."


    "Cool," I gave him a fistbump before throwing over a pack of cigarettes, "Here. Just a wee gift."


    "Hah! We''ll get along just fine, kiddo. Carry on. Now who''s got a light?"


    I cut in before we drove off, "I have one. $100 though."


    "HAH! FUCKING DAMMIT! I KNEW THIS WAS COMING! Fuck off, heh. We''re just gonna start a fire on our own. Thanks anyway¡ª I got a match here."


    "Alright, alright, heh."


    After that short interaction, it was eventually a short and safe ride to where the Marine Base was, and not gonna lie, these fucks weren''t ying around once we entered their gates. Our group would''ve been taking it easy at this point in time but everyone was still hard at work while several floodlights were shining on their ongoing projects.


    Their priority was fortifying their walls and making them a tad higher while making a catwalk attached to the whole thing and building watchtowers at certain key points.


    But yeah, we were soon greeted by this young kid in his early 20s who was a simple private before he asked us to follow him to one of the bigger hangar-like buildings.


    "Please."

 Chapter 1087: Meet-ups - The Marine Base II

    As we were let inside, I was expecting an evacuation center type of situation where random civilians had these little enclosures of their own while a couple of soldiers were maintaining peace and whatnot but it looked more like a call center division that spontaneously dressed up as soldiers.


    The whole fucking space was set up with differentmunication devices and one part of it had this huge-ass map of the USA right next to other maps of countries like the Philippines for example.


    It was obvious that we were weed very differentlypared to the Main Harbor¡ªbecause they were all down on their noses, busy to whatever it was they were trying to do¡ªbut we kept following the footsteps of this young private until we reached a pitched-up tent inside this hanger for privacy''s purposes.


    The dude stopped by the entrance and beckoned us toe in without going inside:


    "Please."


    However, as everyone else from my group was about to follow, the dude stopped them with a difficult expression:


    "Umm¡ª Sir Ishiyama, you can only bring up to two people inside with you¡ª"


    I cut in, "Shouldn''t you have told me that before you made everyone follow after you?"


    "U-Umm¡ª A-Apologies¡­ I d-didn''t think that they''d all follow¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "For a ce that had all of this shit tomunicate, you''re having a hard time doing it, huh?"


    "A-Again¡­ Apologies¡­"


    Then I nced at his name patch, "Ah fuck, you''re Thomas, huh?"


    He was visibly surprised:


    "Sir? I¡ª"


    I waved him off, "I met with Bob at the checkpoint. He told me your friend Royo would hook us up with something special if I gave you the keys to that stock truck we brought over."


    Then his demeanor suddenly changed:


    "A-Ah¡ª A''ight. The white one with the stripes, right? Meet me at Building 34¡ªthe one further back away from everything else¡ªwhen you''re done here. If I''m not there, tell Royo that you met Bob and then me in that order, he''ll hook you up."


    "Alright."


    At that point, this Thomas dude quickly said his goodbye as he pocketed the keys to the truck but Kaley was already frazzled from that interaction:


    "D-Do you even know what you''ve gotten yourself into?"


    "Not a clue, why?"


    "What if¡ª You should''ve asked what they offer, at least!"


    "Well, we''ll know¡ª"


    As I was in mid-sentence, it seemed like the old man recognized my voice so his voice boomed from the tent to tell us toe in:


    "HEY! I HEARD YA, KID! FUCK THAT LITTLE BITCH, JUST BRING EVERYONE HERE!"


    Hearing that, everyone either stifled augh or let out a chuckle so we just let ourselves in and saw this McGyver-ish setup with severalputers stacked on top of one another disying several monitors from different angles. Three people seemed to be operating them while one was down on her nose with her headphones but I already spotted from afar who this Major Harper was.


    It was this well-built dude with a clean cut and a trimmed beard but his dignified look was destroyed by this leather eyepatch he was wearing for his right eye.


    He stood a good six feet tall, with dark brown hair, green eyes¡ª I mean, eye¡ª no¡ªthey should be¡ª fuck, just green eyes, a square jaw, and this fucking neck that would need three hands topletely envelop.


    But yeah, he also picked me from the crowd and watched mee up to him before he offered a handshake which would almost always mean a battle for grip strength.


    And the moment our hands took hold of each other, we were just stuck in a staredown where he was maintaining his stoic demeanor while I was keeping a faint smile despite our forearms suddenly working on all cylinders from all the stress it was suddenly put through.


    Though while this was happening, Oscar was already rolling his eyes but Major Harper had already decreased his assault even if I was 100% sure we could go on for longer:


    "USMC, Major Harper."


    "Sky "The Kid" Ishiyama."


    "The Kid, huh?"


    "I have plenty of nicknames but it''s very inappropriate in the workce."


    "No actual rank?"


    "Well~ I was given special authority by the president to do as I please within reason but I don''t wanna get mistaken for special forces because we''re a special unit."


    "And why is that?"


    "For starters, you people have a lot of respect for rank and since the old man here is a few steps above yours even though he''s retired, you respect his authority¡ªmaybe even more because he''s one of you guys."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah. I''m basically a nobody to you right now but I might strike a few nerve endings if I told you that I don''t answer to you or anyone for that matter. It''s just that my actions aligned with the president''s goals that''s why he lets me do as I please and not work under him or any other high-ranking officers for that matter."


    "Heh."


    "Something funny?"


    "You''re one special kid, alright¡­"


    "What does that mean?"


    "I hate that you fucking hit the nail on the assumptions you have of me but I also like you for it. You also made yourself to be out of the ranking system we''re so proud of but you didn''t throw it at my face from the get-go¡ªwell, not until you were asked¡ªbut I heard you caused quite a stir when you met with my officers."


    I rolled my eyes as I stared right at one of his, "Can you me me for that though?"


    "me your president for not telling you."


    "Heh. That''s good. You''re already driving a rift between us, eh?"


    He let out a chuckle, "Is it working though?"


    "It still stings a lot, to bepletely honest, but that just meant that I''m still not worth shit in his eyes, or yours. Even though I thought I was doing the almighty''s work over here but that''s just a blip in the grand scheme of thingspared to the ce you fucks are ying on."

 Chapter 1088: The Marine Base III - Shoot Shit

    As soon as I said that, Major Harper just looked at me for a few seconds, nced at Oscar, then looked back at me for a few more seconds before he straight-up cackled while palming his face with his huge hand. To my surprise, as this was happening, Oscar was giving me an approving look but all I did was spit out shit on the top of my head.


    Then I heard something I believe I heard only a few times in my life from this stranger I just met:


    "You''re horribly self-aware, huh?"


    "..."


    "Cat got your tongue now?"


    I shook my head, "Nah, I was just taken aback by that phrase. Only a few perceptive people have said that to me."


    "Mm-Hmm~ Is that right? I guess losing an eye made me more perceptive, huh?"


    "Hah¡­ I thought losing one or in your case, partially losing one of your senses heightens the other ones, not enhancing the same thing."


    "What if it''s just my mind''s eye that was heightened, hmm?"


    "Huh. Haven''t thought of that. What did you call me here for, anyway?"


    "We''re done shootin'' shit? Alright¡­ I don''t know how much Mitch has told you, but we''re aiming to turn this ce, among others, into our little safe haven while we''re trying to reim our soil. I think one of the first steps is to introduce me to one of your allies that''s on that other airport due Northeast but the colonel insisted that I go through you first."


    I waved him off, "Among others, where else have you guys docked at?"


    "Whichever one''s closer and hospitable, really. The rule''s one in each country to spread us around¡ªwe even nned to head straight for your president''s main ind but there''re just too many foreign diplomats over there from other countries we wanted something that''s already ours. Did you know that we were nning to buy this ce again?"


    "I do. Oscar mentioned that to me before."


    Major Harper momentarily nced at Oscar, "Telling government secrets to your nephew, huh?"


    Oscar scoffed in derision while picking his ears, "Shaddap, rookie. You fucks kept telling government secrets to a retired fuck like me too. Besides, all this shit wouldn''t be possible without us working together. The kid''s one of the main reasons we''re talking here."


    Major Harper shook his head, chuckling, "Fair, fair¡­"


    I cut in, "But yeah, aside from introducing you to Jessica, your main goal after establishing yourself in this base and the Freeport Zone is to connect with the local residents because they''re fucking cautious of you. We should''ve been hearing from them but there was nary a peep or an attempt to establish a connection."


    Major Harper sighed, "It''s probably because of the other fucks who followed after us. Not only did they dock somewhere else, but they were also telling them horror stories and whatnot, and a portion of my people here are trying just that to convince them otherwise. What we need right now is someone local so they''d believe us more."


    "That sounds about right¡­"


    "Also, our next main goal after clearing the Main Harbor is to liberate the Subic Bay International Airport so that we could have more of our troops deliver our people here to safety. Not everyone could just get here by boat, you see¡­ All the more reason that I think you should give me the chance to have a talk with that Jessica(?) fellow. I''ve also heard great things from her."


    I rolled my eyes, "Not to shit on her but our actions are on a lower scalepared to yours¡ª"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "Let me finish. Jessica would appreciate the brutal honesty more than ttery¡ªand the same thing could be said for me. Tell us straight-up what you need done and we''ll tell you what we also need from you and after that, we''ll work on the best solution."


    He then nced at the women standing behind me, "You know how to handle yourself around women, huh? You''re awfully familiar with how your ally of yours thinks too."


    I just dismissed him, "Sure. But that''s a story for another day. However, the way I think things are going, you''d need more people to run this ce, the Main Harbor, and the Airport all at once and it could be done either with a supplement from either of our troops or more from your side.


    I heard a carrier will arrive here soon but if Jessica gives you ess to her airport, you''d have more people to work with in theing days."


    He then cut in, "Mitch."


    "Hmm?"


    "Mitch will have more people to work with in theing days, not me."


    "What do you mean? Ah¡ª You mean?"


    "Yeah. He said he wanted toe back and fight but his family here wouldn''t let him and that includes me. I''ll be better off bringing more of my people here temporarily and fighting those undead fucks rather than sitting my ass here all day, and honestly, Mitch is the best man for the job.


    Once everything partly settles or when the carrieres in, I''ll give him all the reigns and his well-deserved promotion."


    Oscar cut in, "That reminds me, do we finally have an ETA for the carrier to arrive?"


    Major Harper nodded as he turned to the female soldier wearing headphones, "Rodriguez! Hey!"


    The Rodriguez dudette then took off her headphones, partly shocked due to the increase of people, "Sir?"


    "The carrier. The one where the colonel''s daughter is?"


    "Right¡­ Just a sec¡­ If I¡ª No¡­ This one¡­ Ah¡­ M-Maybe~ No¡­"


    "We just need an estimate Rodriguez¡ª"


    "I got it here! Around 6-8¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "DAYS?! WHAT?!"


    Rodriguez shook her head, "N-No, colonel, it''s¡ª"


    I cut in too, "No way, weeks?!"


    "No¡ª"


    Major Harper cut in as well, "MONTHS?! I THOUGHT THEY WERE CLOSE?!"


    Kaley then had enough, "LET HER FINISH TALKING! GOSH!"


    Rodriguez turned to Kaley thankfully before she looked at us, "Hours. They''ll be here in 6-8 hours."

 Chapter 1089: Passing Responsibilities - Not quite.

    Hearing Rodriguez say that, saying that Oscar looked shocked to fuck was an understatement. Because not only did he prove he was in no way Asian due to how roundly erged his eyes, the motherfucker couldn''t even squat with full depth as he had a panic attack-like event.


    I thought for sure that he''d be jumping for joy or unloading several birdshots¡ª err, buckshots in the fucking air, but the dumbass needed to sit down as he started to hyperventte.


    "K-KID! KID! KIDDDD! SHE''S COMING! S-SHE''S COMING!"


    I tried my best to contain myughter, "I heard, old man. She''s finally¡ª"


    "OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! SHE''S FINALLY COMING! WHERE''S SHE GONNA STAY?! OH FUCK!


    OH FUCK¡ª"


    "You have a house back home, alright?! Keep it together!"


    "OH~ BRUDDA~! WHAT IF SHE SAW THE MESS?! THE HOUSE HASN''T BEEN C-CLEANED IN WEEKS! S-SHE''S GONNA KILL ME, KID! W-WHAT DO I DO?!"


    "We''re gonna call Aunt Sharon and she''ll get it sorted, alright¡ª"


    "OH HELL NO! WHAT IF SHE TELLS ME I COULDN''T TAKE CARE OF MYSELF?! S-SHE''S GONNA LEAVE ME AGAIN, KID! I''M NOT PREPARED FOR THAT¡ª OWW! THE FUCK YOU HITTIN'' ME FOR, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"


    "GET YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU''RE A FUCKING MESS! I THOUGHT YOU''D BE HAPPY TO SEE HER! AREN''T YOU FUCKS TALKING?!"


    "DON''T CALL MY DAUGHTER A FUCK, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! SHE''S THE BEST!"


    "THEN WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING SCARED OF SEEING HER?!"


    "THAT''S THE FUCKING THING! WHY WON''T YOU FUCKING HELP MEEEEEE?!"


    I slowly approached the dumbass, "Alright¡­ Alright¡­ That''s totally my fault¡­ I''m gonna help you don''t worry¡­ C''mere old man¡­ Bring it in¡­"


    "Now you fucking get it! I TOLD YOU I NEED HELP, ALRIGHT¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ Settle down¡­ Settle down¡­ Turn around, turn around¡­"


    "What are you doi¡ª HNGH! GCK! HELP! GACK! HE''S CHOK¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ Shhh¡­ Sleep¡­ Sleep¡­ We can''t take eight more hours of this¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Major Harper had to cut in, "Did¡­ D-Did you just choke out the colonel?"


    I turned to him with an angelic smile, "Yes! Works pretty well, no?"


    "Ah..."


    "...?"


    At this point, even if the old man wouldn''t stay unconscious for the whole eight hours, one sure-fire to get anyone from a 100 to a 0 was to not only make their mouth stop moving, but also the rest of their body. Furthermore, I was slowly stacking the times this motherfucker spiked my drink for my "benefit" but this time, choking him out was also beneficial for everyone else.


    But yeah, it looked like Jenna Rodriguez, one of Major Harper''s Warrant Officer''s still had more to say before Oscar blew up, so I turned back my attention to her after cing Oscar in a rtively safe corner.


    "You were saying? You had more, right?"


    "I¡­" she was still in a little bit of a shock from what had just urred but she shook her head quickly before she resumed her game face, "Right! It is just a generous statement though but I''m confident that they wouldn''t take more than 24 hours to dock the carrier in this ce.


    We''ve already made ample space for them and the ones that would arrive but we''re expecting at least a thousand evacuees¡ªnot including the soldiers who''d sail in a few days after a short rest."


    "A thousand at least? And sailing in a few days?"


    "Yes. That''s one of the reasons the Major had Mitch take over that bigger ce across this small body of water¡­"


    Major Harper followed, "Yeah, I did say we''re just waiting for things to settle but we gotta meet in the middle here. The hospitality my troops and I received from all of you was more than weing and I hope you''d do the same for everyone else, within reason, of course. I''ll grant you some authority to throw your name with some weight around my men because it seems like a popr choice, no?"


    I lightly chuckled, "I appreciate the confidence and all but I thought Mitch would be the one doing most of YOUR work here. Right now, I think you''re trying to push more work on me without any sort of return."


    "Hmph! Gaining full control of my men and a thousand or so survivors isn''t enough? The world is your oyster, you can pretty much tell them to do fuck all and I was told specifically by the colonel that you prolly wouldn''t even need the special authority I''ll give ya to make them bend to your will."


    I shook my head, "It''s not about bending anyone to my will, it''s about finding what works for everybody¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªand moving on from there. We just gotta find the perfect bnce for it so everyone could¡ª"


    "I''m gonna stop you right there, kid. You should be telling all your secrets to Mitch, not me. Besides, can''t you see that we went to you and the old man directly instead of the president? We have our reasons, of course, but doesn''t this favor you greatly? I don''t wannapare apples to oranges but don''t tell me this shit isn''t tempting you?


    You can''t just pass up a few hundred soldiers from the Navy to anything the president has an excess of, right?"


    "That''s true in many cases¡ª"


    "So why do I think you''re about to say no?"


    "Then let me finish so we can see eyes to eye, alright? No offense."


    "Heh. Go on. I''m listening with my two good ears."


    "You''re basically asking me to babysit a "few" hundred Marines, a thousand or so random survivors, and look out for your escapees who are trying to smear your name. And for what? I do know that someone said that people are a resource but ites with a lot of fucking baggage and responsibility without any actual power."


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "I''m confident in my ability to lead people but each and everyone of you testing me every single time we shook hands just rubs me the wrong way."


    "So, what are you saying? You sayin'' no?"


    "Not quite."

 Chapter 1090: Passing Responsibilities II - Consider it done.

    At this point, Major Harper and everyone else in this tent were waiting for my proper response but it was also safe to say that I''m being a little fucking eel because I was still trying to weigh everything inside my head because I was just supposed to work with them, not have a 50% share ofmand with a Marine I almost choked to death.


    Furthermore, the USMC was something no one should fucking sneeze at but won''t they just leave me with the slim pickings the moment their best fighters leave everyone here to fight?


    I know that they were the best of the fucking best but there were still tier levels in their skillsets too, right?


    But yeah, this was just a change far too fucking fast for me¡ªand another overflowing smorgasbord in my cart¡ªbut then again, this was an opportunity I can''t just fucking pass up.


    So I had a few things in mind:


    "For this to work, I''m gonna need you to do a few things for me."


    "Again, I''m all ears."


    "Even if I''m working on a smaller scalepared to you fucks, I still have a full te and a ton of other things I want to aplish before I kick my shoes back and rx for once."


    "That means?"


    "Before you guys leave, I''m gonna need you to clear the airport, the techno farms due East, and a quick run through the road North right until you reach the East bridge of the area Mitch took over with Oscar. Add chopping down a bunch of trees so we have more materials to work with. And this ce severely needs some too."


    "Consider it done."


    "I''m not yet done though."


    He lightly shook his head, "Go ahead."


    "And right as you leave, I want you to give two other people the same authority over 100 Marines because I''ll send them over to their ce so they can offer their services and learn from each other. If you want, we''ll send some of their troops here too."


    "Who? Jessica? Who''s the other one?"


    "Iskoh. The Mayor of Man. He''s in a bay muchrger than this one and that''s where most of the fighting is."


    "That''s too many, let''s cut that in half."


    "In the premise of you sending 100 each of those evacuees that''sing. They could be non-fighters but we can''t just have you all in one ce. We gotta spread you around."


    "What about your ce?"


    "I thought I was leading this shit with Mitch? Don''t I basically own half of your troops when you leave?"


    Major Harper let out a smirk, "That''s right. Carry on."


    "I need to hear if my second idea is approved first."


    "I said carry on, it''s the same thing as saying that it''s done."


    "Andstly, we''re gonna need a monthly shipment of fuel enough to run the power grid and an F-18¡ª"


    "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT''S RICH! OH FUCK, I DIDN''T EXPECT¡ª HAH! GODDAMMIT, YOU''RE TOO FUCKING MUCH, YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    "What''s so funny? Your people need to live infort, no?"


    ''I''m gonna use the fuel for our vehicles though¡­ Those techno farms are literal farms of sr panels¡­''


    "HAH! I understand the need for fuel¡ªand we can have an arrangement for that¡ªbut an F-18?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, KID?! WHO''S GONNA¡ª CAN YOU EVEN FLY IT?!"


    "Do you gift someone a toy without batteries? Give me a pilot too!"


    "BWAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I''M DYING HERE! OH FUCK! THIS IS REALLY TOO FUCKING MUCH! WHEN DID OUR PILOTS BECOME BATTERIES?! I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST JET FUEL?!


    WHEN?!"


    "Look here, I''m not asking for the carrier or a B-2 Spirit. I just want a trump card of sorts for emergency situations¡­ And honestly, it''s a bucket list of mine, heh. Besides, much like your oil rigs¡ªwe do have one too¡ªbut I''m not just babysitting a thousand or so survivors, it''s gonna blow up sooner orter, right?


    Just fucking promise me that their numbers wouldn''t reach five digits within the year. Spread them around even if this is the best ce to take them in."


    "Hmm¡­"


    "No carry on or it''s done, huh?"


    "You think? I''m still thinking though¡­ But to be honest, I would''ve rejected this outright if it was a tall order but somehow¡­ It sounded like one but it isn''t."


    "One more question though."


    "Hmm?"


    "Can''t you just have the old man work with Mitch instead? This is an awful roundabout way to get me to work with ya."


    He shook his head, "No offense, kid. But he has always been one of us. We needed someone local¡ªlike your n earlier¡ªand you''re the perfect one for the job. You came highly rmended by the colonel AND the president. You think you''re moving small-scale but that''s some of the shit even I wouldn''t touch.


    Sending soldiers to their deaths to reim what was ours is easy, keeping everyone else alive in a foreignnd is that fucking difficult. Once everything here is over, all of the fucks you see outside here will fucking thank you."


    "Hmm."


    "I just threw you a fuckingpliment, you prick. Lighten the fuck up!"


    "Promise me one thing though?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Tell me when something like that''s about to go down¡­"


    "..."


    "I know I wouldn''t be able to do anything but I don''t wanna be kept in the dark either. I still hate all of you for doing that¡ªbecause it might cause something else along the line, I fear¡ªbut you gotta do what you gotta do with what you have¡­"


    "Hmm. You can count on that, kid. Rodriguez will answer everything for you."


    With that said, we talked more about minor stuff but it didn''t take long before the old fuck woke up and caused pandemonium:


    "GAAAAAAAH!!! KID! KID?! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YA?! I''MMA KILL YOU! CHOKING ME OUT¡ª"


    I cut in at the right fucking moment, "Hey! Jennifer''s right outside! She''s waiting for you!"


    "WHAT?! THEN¡ª Oh god¡­"


    Then the motherfucker passed right out.

 Chapter 1091: Amaryllis - Paella

    For some reason, as the old man''s daughter was just about to arrive, he was just the gift that keeps on fucking giving because everyone else was stunned for a good minute by his reaction before everyone else tried so fucking hard to contain theirughter.


    Oscar could be a retiredbat medic that had seen some shit, but deep down, there was still a part of him that was a nervous father meeting his daughter he hadn''t talked to for long.


    But yeah, the moment Oscar came to properly, he chased me out of the tent for a good ten minutes before he ran out of breath, before we were able to continue finalizing my part¡ªtechnically speaking, my 49% share with Mitch¡ªin "babysitting" their people.


    "You know what? You can just give Mitch the full authority while I work my way up since you said the old man is one of you, your people would understand spreading some of you guys out. You see, I already started warming up to the ones in the Main Harbor and getting a top-up like this just isn''t right."


    Major Harper shrugged his shoulders, "We could do that, sure, but that''ll just make things harder for ya."


    Oscar chimed in while ring at me, "Eh. He''s insane to even suggest that but won''t that work much better? What would you think if your Fleet Admiral introduced a random-ass kid you''ve never even heard of before and said you should follow his orders?"


    "That''s¡­"


    I chuckled, "See what I''m talking about? I could have all the achievements and whatnot but I still gotta earn the rep to being an honorary Marine or some shit. I know the old man''s in a different department but it''s kinda the same thing for him though, you know?


    You can sing me praises all you like and they could follow your rmendation because you guys are that tight but nothing beats starting from the bottom and then working my way up."


    "That is true¡­"


    "Besides, I did say I''m good with people, I handle this ''colonel'' who''s deathly afraid of his daughter, how hard could it get?"


    Oscar cut in, "Now you''re cutting a little too deep, alright?! Easy on the jabs, kid!"


    I chuckled, "Anyway, we shouldn''t finalize everything now because the people that areing are also involved so¡­ what time do you guys eat?"


    Jenna Rodriguez suddenly cut in, "Two hours¡­"


    I''ve never been so shocked, "You guys eat at 10:00 PM?!"


    Major Harper let out a sigh but Jenna continued:


    "N-No¡­ We should''ve eaten two hours ago¡­"


    "What¡ª"


    Major Harper answered, "If you haven''t noticed, we''re in a rush here so everything''s just spread so thin. We don''t have a proper rotation yet¡ª"


    "Fuck it, I''ll cook¡­ Again. Where''s your kitchen at? You guys eat everything, right?"


    "You don''t have to¡ª"


    "Eh. I''m hungry from all this talking, I have to. It''s either that or I risk getting mobbed by you people if I start cooking for just me and my crew."


    "Hmm! I guess we''ll be indebted to you again¡ª"


    "Eh~ Just add in a Chinook or a submarine on our deal and¡ª"


    "HAH! YOU REALLY HAVE JOKES, HUH?!"


    "I''m not joking though, heh. The joke is if I ask you about your spice levels. You fine with a little chili or just pepper¡ª"


    Jenna started rolling on the floor,ughing while Major Harper had never been so offended:


    "LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT¡ª JENNA! GET UP ON YOUR DESK OR I''LL FIRE YA! I CAN HANDLE MY SPICES, OKAY?! GIVE ME ALL YOU GOT THEN!"


    "Your funeral, heh."


    With that said, it seemed like my favorability in the Marine Base suddenly jumped because their meal times werepletely random and they didn''t have a proper chef to prepare their meals.


    However, with a couple of weeks on their belt, they had a good haul of fresh fish from our waters and a bunch of random ingredients they collected either from looting stores or from foraging the woods outside this area.


    But yeah, since the people I''d feed this time quadrupled, to say the least, I needed some help in preparing the ingredients so I sought help from my crew and the resting housewives who had a little break from taking care of their kids.


    I easily found Mitch''s wife, Amaryllis, among the crowd and she was more than happy to help us too.


    "What are we making?"


    "Hmm~ Something easy¡ª What about some Pae and we use the fish bones and the ms for some soup? I found some Saffron over there and some cheap wine¡ªwe''d probably need five or so stoves to cook everything at the same time."


    "T-That''s a tall order¡­"


    "It''s better to feed everyone at the same time, no? Food should be eaten with everybody."


    "That''s really nice¡­ To think you''re the one who u-umm¡­ put your hands on my husbands neck¡­"


    "You heard about that, huh?"


    "Unfortunately, yes¡­ But he did say you''re a great cook though, and he packed some breakfast earlier and sent it over here. Our kids loved it! Thank you!"


    "Ah~ That''s good, that''s good¡­ Shall we?"


    "We take care of the vegetables and you take care of the seafood?"


    "That''s the n."


    "You''re doing a lot¡ª Whoa! How are you that fast?! Let us keep up!"


    On that note, cooking some Pae wouldn''t take an hour but with the prep work and the number of people we needed to feed, it did take that much time¡ªand we made a spicy version too for Major Harper and the rest of us¡ªbut we didn''t even notice the crowd of people hovering over, waiting with their own tes and utensils.


    "WHOAAAAAA! THIS SHIT IS GOOD!"


    "MOM! MOM! YOU MADE THIS?! YOU CAN ACTUALLY COOK?!"


    "HEY! DON''T DISS YOUR MOM! SHE WAS JUST BUSY THOSE OTHER TIMES!"


    "THIS IS REALLY GREAT THOUGH, WHO COOKED IT?!"


    "IT''S THAT KID, RIGHT?! HEY, KID! THANKS FOR THE FOOD!"


    "WE HELPED TOO, YOU KNOW?!"


    "THEN WHY''D THE FOOD SUDDENLY GET GOOD?!"


    "HEY! WANT ME TO BOIL YOU ROCKS FOR BREAKFAST?!"


    "EASY DOWN, ALRIGHT?! HEY! THAT''S MINE YOU FREAK! GIVE IT BACK!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At this moment, I was eating a bowl of the food with Kaley and the rest and this time, the thought of these people''s government making that huge mistake was kinda out of my mind so I was enjoying the food with everyone.


    But yeah, it was funny to see Major Harper returning his bowl of food and exchanging it with the milder one because he talked a lot of shit and couldn''t even handle finishing half the bowl.

 Chapter 1092: Building 34 - Royo

    In any case, cooking this food made them take a small hit from their reserves but the morale and favorability boost was more than worth it because the people from this side were as hard at work as the people on the Main Harbor.


    Compared to us, once the sun went down, it was free time for everybody in mypound¡ªexcept for the essential duties like security and whatnot¡ªbut these people were still going out on runs even though it was dark outside.


    I barely made people go out in the dark because it was totally differentpared to when the world ended because they would only be the ones with a light source and that would make them serious targets for the ones lurking in the dark. However, they simply needed to take that risk, or else this ce would copse on its own due to limited resources.


    But yeah, they didn''t have a lot of issues in regards to food because they had great fishermen in their fold though fresh seafood could only do so much in the long run.


    I know that it was the fucking end of the world but people need variety and some vor to keep themselves happy, not just satiated, and a little ssh of salt goes a long way.


    ''Good thing they''d already started drying seawater¡­ It takes a while though¡­''


    Then Oscar nudged me:


    "Kid. I appreciate you cooking for them and all but my daughter''s gonnae in a few hours, right?"


    "Don''t worry, old man. We''ve cooked just enough for everybody here but I already prepped the ingredients needed once theye. They just needed to wait 30 minutes or so for everything to cook."


    "Oh!" then he leaned close, "I got some beer in the cooler of my H1, want someter? We haven''t had a proper talk."


    "Sure. Is it serious though?"


    "Eh. Just random bullshit to pass the time. I wanna hear about what happened on your trip. Must''ve been more insanepared tost time."


    "Not as insane as what happened those three months though."


    "Haaa¡­ Don''t bring that up too much. I''m surprised too. Just grab meter when you''re ready, alright?"


    "Sure, old man."


    With that said, we still had several hours to kill if we were just gonna wait for the carrier to arrive, so I made my way to this "Building 34" of sorts with some of my people¡ªno, the girls, it would almost always be with Kaley andpany.


    The Building 34 was one of the warehouses located at the further end of the Marine Base¡ªalmost at the foot of some hills¡ªwhere a campsite was located only a few kilometers out.


    It wasn''t the only building in this location, of course, but we definitely felt some shady vibes upon entering though Thomas was already present¡ªweing us with a more chill tone¡ªand introduced as to a few people including "Royo" who was face down with welding mask, working on a project of his.


    "Royo! ROYO! OI¡ª ROYOOO¡ª"


    "WHAT?! CAN''T YOU SEE I''M BUSY ''ERE?!"


    "We have guests! Bob sent them!"


    "Isn''t he the cook?"


    "The guest of honor too, he''s the kid the colonel''s been raving about."


    "Ah~" this Royo dude took off his gloves and mask then offered a handshake, "Wee, wee! Thanks for the food, yeah? Hadn''t had a proper meal since¡ª You know what? I''m ramblin'' Watchu lookin'' for, huh? I''ll hook you up with everything in B34."


    I returned his firm handshake with my own, "I dunno what to look for though, what do you offer?"


    "Strong grip, huh? Shiii~ Bob didn''t tell you, huh? Hmm~ Think of this ce as a legal ck market of sorts. We have anything and everything, we also do procurement jobs, fabrication jobs¡ªeven without a blueprint, just tell us what you want made and we''ll try our best, and yeah, we offer all sorts of services too."


    "Legal¡ª You mean Major Harper knows about this?"


    "He a customer, brother! It keeps things interesting, you see? It''s just that I''m surprised you''re here because I''m assuming you have all types of shit lying around but we''re also looking to buy more than your handsome donation. What''s it gotta be?"


    "I kinda wanna have a look at the full catalog though, you have some stuff that didn''te from here though, right?"


    "Of course, we do! Take that fancy-ass de on your hip, for example¡­ We have something like that too¡ª"


    "Trust me, you don''t have something like this."


    "Oooh~ Is it a treasured de or something?! Don''t get me excited now!"


    "..." I just kept silent as I was faintly smiling.


    "OHHH~ SHIT! IT IS ONE, HUH?! CAN I SEE?! BRANDON! HIT THE LIGHTS!"


    The Brandon dude from the back shouted back, "Which one?!"


    "ALL OF ''EM! I GOTTA SEE THAT SHIT REAL CLOSE! MAY I? PLEASE?!" then he shouted at the other dude eating a bag of corn chips, "HEEEEY! CHICAGO! BRING ALL OF ''EM HERE!


    WE GOTTA DO SOME COMPARISONS!"


    With how desperate this Royo guy to look at my de, I relented as I untied the knot on my warbelt, pulled the whole thing out with its scabbard, thenid it on the table.


    Funnily enough, the motherfucker had this loupe on like he was checking diamonds while the other guys were scrambling to bring a few crates of martial weapons they collected overtime.


    "Oh my¡ª OH MY LAWDDD~ GIVE ME THE STRENGTH! I HAVEN''T EVEN PULLED THE THING OUT AND THIS JUST SCREAMS PRICELESS!" then he violently turned his head to face me, "You samurai or somethin''?"


    I chuckled, "Something like that¡ª"


    "HOLD UP!" he then pointed at Kaley, "THAT''S THE SAME ONE TOO, RIGHT?! I noticed a simr dragon pattern! This is not some weeb shit, huh? This is the real~ fuckin''~ deal~ Am I right?!"


    Isaac then nudged me from behind, surprising me because I thought he was with Jared:


    "Bro¡­ Look at that other box¡­ It has the¡ª"


    "Oh, shit¡ª"

 Chapter 731: A part of the true form

    In the void where there was supposed to be nothing but now Erste had created many things. He has no idea how many years had passed, but in this void that used to have nothing, there was a small world.


    ''I wonder what''s happening to the war now. Does time even exist in this ce? It has been a long time since I came here but the one who brought me here hasn''t shown himself.''


    Erste began his routine of trying to strengthen his control over the void. In this area of his, he was the master of the world, he was practically a true god in his area.


    "I have created the elements that were simr to the ones outside of the void, and now I don''t need to surround my body with spiritual energy to survive. Still, how much longer are you going to make me stay here?"


    Erste would sometimes talk out loud like this in hopes that the ORIGIN would respond, but despite how much time had passed there was never an answer.


    ''Hmph, since you don''t want to answer and not give me a way out then I will create my own way out even if I need to break through here by force.''


    Erste started training and his focus was on understanding the power of the void. He needed to understand it better so that he could break out of this ce. So to do that, Erste decided to remove everything he created and once again delved into the darkness when he first arrived.


    ...


    In total darkness, Erste epted the void into him. In this ce where the concepts of time and space don''t seem to exist, it sometimes made him unsure if he too did not exist. Erste continued training like this until finally, he was able to understand the void a bit better.


    The void was very simr to humanity in that at first, it has nothing but that doesn''t mean it will always have nothing. The power of creation and the power of destruction born from the void were the core concepts within the void and those two concepts created the ORIGIN or so Erste thinks.


    ''The power of creation and destruction all stem from the void. The power of creation can create such concepts as time and space, while the power of destruction can create concepts like change and chaos...''


    As Erste understood more and more about the void he no longer needed to create light to be able to see as his senses were bing in tune with the environment he was in. It was at this moment that he reached a certain level he finally understood something and startedughing.


    "Hahahaha!!! The f*ck it turns out the person I''m looking for was here the whole time literally looking down on me in the palm of his hands. Isn''t that right ORIGIN did you enjoy watching me struggle for so long?!"


    ...


    The scene stopped there as the original incarnation showed a serious expression which he rarely showed to anyone.


    "The next scene is when the ORIGIN showed me a tiny portion of his true form. This might affect the weaker reincarnations, and even the stronger ones might have their minds affected. I will of course try my best to dilute the presence of the ORIGIN to the best I could, but even then you guys might immediately disappear if you''re not able to handle his presence.


    So I suggest those weaker reincarnations better enter a different space and I''ll call you back once the conversation with the ORIGIN is over."


    "You''re joking, right? You do understand though all of us may have different experiences, goals, abilities, and some differences in personalities, but the core of us is the same as you. We will never back down from a fight even if death is the consequence." One of those so called weak reincarnations spoke up.


    "Yeah, didn''t all of us die in battle, none of us truly got that happy ending we wanted. Do you think someone with our personalities like ours will back down from such a challenge? Of course not! If we did something like that could we have been called warriors!"


    "That''s right, I''ve never seen a reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul back down before."


    Hearing the response of his reincarnations a bright smile appeared on the original incarnation''s face.


    "Hehe, as expected of my reincarnations none of you are cowards. Since you guys have the chance to survive this ordeal and improve I''ll allow it."


    After the original incarnation agreed to the demands of his reincarnations he did his best to lower the effects of the ORIGIN''s presence as the next scene yed.


    ...


    That''s right the thing Erste was currently standing on was the palm of the ORIGIN a palm that doesn''t seem to have an end as if it was infinite. An eye-like thing appeared within the darkness Erste was unsure if it was near or so far that he could notprehend the distance.


    Despite not knowing the urate size of that eye, Erste felt that just that eye alone was bigger than even the mother of all dragons who was the size of several gxies.


    Erste who had improved greatly in using the power of the void felt an overwhelming power attacking both his physical and spiritual body, even his mental state was under heavy pressure. It seems just staying within the presence of the true body of the ORIGIN was a great ordeal.


    If he had seen the body of the ORIGIN back when he first noticed the ORIGIN, Erste would have probably exploded and not even a speck of his soul would''ve remained.


    ...


    The people watching the scene of a single eye of the ORIGIN appearing despite the original incarnation weakening its effect greatly, many of the reincarnations are having difficulty simply raising their heads to watch.


    Still, despite their situation, they did not give up they did not back down as a vicious smile appeared on every reincarnation''s face.


    "HAHAHA!!! So this is the kind of monster we''re trying to face!"


    "Now this is a worthy opponent to bet my entire existence on!"


    "Things are finally getting interesting again."


    The battle spirit of every reincarnation began to increase as they struggled to fight the powerful pressure a memory of the true body of the ORIGIN brought them.

 Chapter 1093: Upgrade?

    From my own collection, I have three pieces of priceless treasures¡ª namely: my katana, my wakizashi, and my tanto which were all made by a grandmaster cksmith named Kaiseki Yamamoto. However, that didn''t mean I didn''t peruse what else was avable on the market¡ªpurchasing a few along the way¡ªbut nothing could justpare to what I have right now that was made just for me.


    It''s just that the packaging of some of their merchandise looked to be from a desmithingpany that ships their works worldwide: deworks Limited.


    Sticking out from its signature box was also its signature velvet pouch where they would always ce their merchandise and it was sticking out from the pile¡ª no, aside from that, the length of this particr item for sale far exceeded the normal length of katanas and it just made this weeb and nerd in the apocalypse a little excited.


    But yeah, I wouldn''t just take my eyes off my de so I made Isaac get it for me before Royo asked for permission to draw my de.


    "Go ahead."


    "Mannn~ I''ve never been this nervous, here we go¡ª"


    As Royo pulled my de in its entirety, this was the first time I met him but he had never been this awestruck as he saw his crisp reflection from my de while trying to take in all of the work that was done on it.


    He just looked like he was in a trance-like statebined with a state of bliss as his eyes slowly scanned over each detail he could perceive, starting from the intricacies of the entirety of the handle and the handguard to how me-like yet ever-flowing like waves of water the genuine edge pattern a.k.a the "Hamon" was due to how it was made.


    Royo was one of the few folks who looked like he understood what was in front of him¡ªtotally different from the dudes from Cuervo Heights who wanted to sell me trash¡ªbut funnily enough, Thomas, Brandon, Chicago, and the rest of their group was looking at Royo like he lost himself.


    Thomas waved him off, "Yo. You okay there¡ª"


    "Shut up, man! This is the first time I''ve seen this shit¡ª" then he suddenly looked at me apologetically, "I didn''t mean it in a literal sense, man. You know what I meant, yeah?"


    "Of course, of course¡­ I understand."


    "Whew~ Almost got my head lopped off over here¡­ Heh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Royo!"


    "What?! I''m still lookin'' at it! Bugger off!" then he turned to me once again, "Can I look at it for five more minutes? I won''t run away with it, I promise. You can peruse my collection while you''re at it like your friends."


    "Eh. I''m good. It''s been a while since someone can differentiate what''s mademercially and once every few years, no?"


    "What?! It''s that special?! Hold fuck¡ª How manyyers is this one?! Was it made for a shogunate or something?!"


    "That¡­ That I cannot answer¡ª"


    "Fuck! I''m sorry, right. Master''s secrets¡­ I can''t even imagine what kind of steel runs in here. I could check but that''s just too fucking rude and could cost me my life!"


    I chuckled, "Hah! You really are different¡­"


    ''All I know is that it''s made with nineyers but the actualbination of the steel¡ªwhatever the fuck was used is still unknown to me. It''s some sort of alloy at this point but we never know with the old man¡­''


    With that said, I didn''t think that it''d be this amusing to see a huge fucking guy with a curly mustache get lost for five minutes just looking at my treasured de, and once he was done¡ªafter taking a few pictures and selfies, of course¡ªhe returned it back to me with a bow and both arms stretched towards me.


    "I''ll never forget this, my man. That''s something I hope to aplish in my life but the modern method just lost something along the way¡­"


    "You a cksmith or something?"


    "Nothing as grand to receive a title¡ª an amateur, if you will. But I do know proper forging but I usually opt for cutting out the form out from 1095s or just in sheet metal then working from there. I know how the temps work for the hardening process and all that jazz but working with a good ol'' hammer and anvil''s the dream."


    "You can still start by doing just that, no? Looking around, it looks like you don''t have the things you need from a modern forge as well."


    He then looked sullen as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Eh. It is what it is. I can''t afford to practice now since I''m supposed to make different types of shit every day and the old way just takes too fucking long, no offense."


    "None taken. It''s the price for such things, no? As long as it works though, right?"


    "Yeah~ That''s true, that''s true¡­ Oh! Looks like your sidekick found the tachi, huh?"


    This time, instead of the one I was speaking to, Isaac was now like a statue staring at the long-ass de in front of his eyes with longing and admiration while everyone else was just looking at him weirdly. However, I broke his trance the moment I took it from his hands, put it back in its sheathe, and then drew it back to get a good feel from it.


    And for some reason, Kaley and a few others didn''t give me the same look they did Isaac and my "sidekick" definitely got ticked off:


    "Hey! That''s not fair!"


    I turned to him, "What''s not fair?"


    "I saw them look at me like I''m some weeb before my mind drifted away but when you do it, they look like they''re creaming their pants right now¡ª Ow! Why''d you hit me, bro?"


    "First of all, don''t talk to them like that. And secondly, we''re both weebs. What''s the problem?"


    "Argh¡­ Would be nice to have someone¡ª Holdup, why are you putting it back? Don''t you like it?"


    "Doesn''t feel right, for some reason."


    "Oh. Can I have it instead?!"

 Chapter 1094: Whats the difference between a tachi and a katana?

    Not to sound too cocky or anything, but if Isaac were me, I''d just let him switch primaries like it was nothing but there were pros and cons to doing that.


    Sure, a tachi had more reach and power, akin to the advantages of a katana to a wakizashi, but there was this adjustment period of sorts when changing into something new, also akin to switching gun tforms¡ªAR to AK and vice versa¡ªand it just might be the thing that broke the camel''s back.


    Additionally, Isaac''s fighting style was geared towards just doing straight-up melee¡ªonly using his gun less than 1% of the time¡ªand on paper, having something to supplement your fighting style was key but in the real world, it could spring a lot of problems.


    But yeah, also in the real world, it wasn''t like he was only allowed to use one weapon because Tatiana was the most versatile in our crew, switching from a semi-auto shotgun and an AK to a bastard sword and an injector axe¡ªnot to mention the knives she''d pull out from time to time and her sidearm.


    I thought for a bit before I gave him an answer:


    "I''ll buy it for you but you can''t use it outside until you''ve swung it enough times."


    "For real?! Fuck yeah¡ª wait. How many times should I¡ª"


    "You know the basics I thought you, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And the dailies you need to aplish?"


    "A thousand swings on all directions each day including a thousand thrusts with a soaked bokken."


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s right. You''re doing the same thing with a longer bokken now but you''re doing it on top of the thing you''re already doing."


    "What¡ª That''s it?"


    "Yeah."


    Royo mentioned from the side, "That''s so fucking cool¡­"


    Isaac asked, "For how long though?"


    "What do you mean how long? You''ll be doing that for the rest of your life now."


    Isaac was a little taken aback but he slowly nodded his head, "That''s true¡­ I kinda get it¡ª"


    Thomas cut in, "How can you be sure he does everything you say? You keep watch over him or something?"


    Isaac answered while ring at Thomas, "I just do, okay?! It''s a trust thing!"


    "Riiiiight."


    I chuckled, "It''s true that I can''t watch over all their training but it just shows when we spar. It''s very little increments but hey, who suffers if they don''t do the shit they were supposed to do?"


    "Hmm. Makes sense, I guess¡­"


    Alexa interjected, "I''m not exactly familiar with Japanese weapons but what''s so different about them exactly that Isaac needs to do different sets of training for them?"


    I had never smiled so brightly from hearing that question:


    "That''s a very good question, Alexa! Everyone gather around~"


    Tatiana started, "Oh no¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "It''s been a while, let him have his moment¡­"


    Quinn turned to the two confused, "What''s going on?"


    Megan followed, "Yeah, what''s¡ª"


    Tatiana and Kaley answered at the same time, "Just¡ª Just follow along and don''t ever doze off, he''ll ignore you for a week¡­"


    "What? Sounds interesting though¡ª"


    I waved them off with the same smile I was wearing earlier, "Enough chattering¡ª" then I snapped my head over to Royo''s subordinates, "Oi! You fucks are included too! Sit the fuck down! Please?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Royo waved them over, "Sit down, you fucks. It''s an order."


    "Fine¡­"


    "Sure, I guess¡­"


    "Where''s he get the whiteboard?"


    I looked at all of them wearing a coat I pulled out from nowhere:


    "Alright! Time for another lesson! It''s really been a while, huh? But yeah, from an outside perspective, what differences can you see between a tachi and a katana? Anyone?"


    Alexa raised her hand, "Length?"


    "That''s right! You have a discerning eye, right? Look a little closer."


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡­ It''s umm¡­ C-Curved a little more?"


    "Ding! Ding! Ding! That''s right! It''s curved a little more but even though there are tachis that are less curved than katanas, they were originally designed that way because it''d be easier to draw one-handed while riding on horseback. Any idea what came first though?


    The tachi or the katana? Anyone from the Marine''s side? Chicago?"


    "Me? I-I dunno¡ª"


    "Just guess?"


    "The uh¡­ The katana, I guess?"


    "Can I ask why you guessed that?"


    "Well¡­ I heard that metal was pretty scarce back then and the quality was not as good so they probably made things shorter? Did I get it right?"


    I nodded a few times, "That''s a good line of reasoning but tachis were made first, unfortunately. Katanas were made in the warring period when numbers meant more-- meaning, more soldiers needed to fight on foot aside from horseback, and even though there are slight differences or inuracies from the history books, it was believed that uchi-katanas were made after tachis."


    "Uchi-what?"


    "It''s the actual name for this piece of art because simply ''katana'' was an umbre term like people use for longswords. It''s a small detail I wanted to add in so¡­ the more you know."


    "Oh¡­"


    Megan raised her hand, "Wait, I thought we were talking about their differences?"


    Alexamented, "We are in a way though, right?"


    "Eh. Megan''s right in a way but I just wanted to add a bit of history lesson for all of you. But yeah, aside from the length and the time they were created and used, what else is there?"


    As I asked the question, everyone else was looking at me for clues but I waved them off before they veered off the right path.


    "Holdup don''t look at me for clues because what I''m doing right now is different from how it''s usually done. Ah¡ª It''s a clue in a way but¡ª"


    Kaley joined in, "Is it the way you carry them?"


    I''ve never been so happy, "Bingo! There''s a very subtle difference but I do wear mine very differently, no?"


    "..." Everyone thought otherwise as they shook their heads.


    "Need aparison?" I turned to Isaac, "Hey, stand next to me."


    "How will that¡ª Oh!"

 Chapter 1095: Comfort and Cow bells-- what?

    A lot of things have changed over time but if we were talking about historical uracy, tachis were tied and hanging from a samurai''s waistband with the de facing down while katanas were simply inserted or tucked inside the waistband with the de facing up.


    Granted there were vast differences in how samurais wore them¡ªand in recent examples¡ªhow Isaac and I wore them, but let''s just say Isaac was wearing his katana in the traditional sense while I was doing a mix of both.


    It was because I had my katana tied tightly to my war belt, not hanging down, and the de was facing downward.


    There wasn''t any particr reason for the way I was doing it because I even used to wear my wakizashi¡ªthat was now on Kaley''s hips¡ªhorizontally on my back, and it was partly for coolness but more along the lines offort and just how it felt right.


    A few perceptive ones quickly noticed the difference as to how Isaac and I wore them differently but Isaac looked at me like he failed as my student.


    "S-Should I have done it that way?"


    "No, no¡­ It''s just that this way is morefortable for me and the techniques I''m using are¡ª"


    "But I''m under you, right?"


    "Yes, but you were my student for not that long ago. You''re still relearning everything but if you kept the same way of wearing it for some time while still under me, it wouldn''t matter as much as you think it would. This way just works for me and that way just works for you.


    But in the traditional sense, you kinda have to do it this way if you''re using a tachi though the de should be hanging from your hips. It''s weird, I know, and that''s why I''m trying to tell you to find your own style."


    "I see, I see¡­ I just need to find what works best for me, huh?"


    "Exactly. But yeah, that''s pretty much it because their main purpose was always for cutting down anything that stood in front of them but the funny thing is, wakizashis were always used alongside them for the user''s off-hand. You would think a tachi user would use a katana for their off-hand but they''d always opt for a wakizashi or just hold their des with both hands."


    "A-And why is that?"


    "Well, there was some rule back then that samurais had to carry two des¡ªusually a katana and a wakizashi¡ªbut it''s whatever now. I''m not technically a samurai, if anyone asks, but I should know a bit about this stuff since I''m wielding one of their weapons, no?"


    Alexa just had to do it, "W-What other weapons do s-samurais use?"


    "ALEXA!"


    "HE WAS JUST ABOUT DONE¡ª"


    "EXCELLENT QUESTION, ALEXA! Now that you mention it¡­ Hmm~ Oh! Right, there were chokutos at first¡ªdouble-ded shortswords¡ªeven before tachis but there were also naginatas¡ªa spear with a curved de at the end¡ªthe katana itself, a wakizashi like the one on Kaley''s hip, tantos¡ªwhich are basically daggers¡ªand yaris which are basically spears.


    But yeah, there are a lot more like odachis, nagamakis, bows and arrows, and yeah, even firearms that samurais used back in the day. Just know that if a country is at war, they''ll use everything in their arsenal to win."


    "Whew~ I thought we''d be here for an hour¡­"


    "Say something?"


    "N-No! I said that it was interesting! Ahaha¡­"


    "Yeah, we did take an hour or so, huh? But yeah, we''ll be here for a lot longer if we start to discuss each weapon''s history and how they were used back then. But now, what''s important is if they could work against the undead, nothing more, nothing less."


    Thomasmented, "Amen to that. I understand the niche, it IS cool, but not a lot of people could make them, right?"


    I nodded, "That''s very true. The only thing I could take away from this is that my des were custom-made for me and it just feels really good using them but in turn, I feel kinda off when I handle other weapons in the same category. It doesn''t happen with guns though, just these stuff. That''s one of the reasons I''m making Isaac get used to that tachi¡ª Anyway, how much is it?"


    Royo waved me off, "With the truck, the food, and the story? I still owe you. Look around, you might find some more things aside from ded weapons. There''s a cart over there on that side and we''ll see what you and your guys roll up in a little bitter."


    "Got something to do?"


    "Heh. A dumbass ordered a big-ass Rambo knife while one other dumbass¡ªno, a decent one ordered a shield. Don''t see a lot of folks asking to fabricate defensive shit¡ª well, he specifically requested spikes on it and it should be mountable on a jeep door, so there''s that too."


    "Alright, alright¡­ We''ll take a look around but we''re taking that tachi for sure."


    "Alright, brotha¡­ Just¡ª Just no sex on the building, alright?! I know it''s big and spacious but do your shit outside! I can''t keep cleaning the gunk people be leaving behind!"


    "You sound like you have other sets of problems, huh?"


    "Haaa~ Tell me about it. But yeah, I''ll dive in my project over ''ere while you guys do your thing, yeah?"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, aside from the firearms section that was locked tight in a sector with a passcode, it seemed like we were in a mall following a certain theme because it just had about a little bit of everything. Granted we can''t just spot Morningstars or steel-ted boots on disy on regr ones, but let''s just say that it was rtive to the time we were currently living in.


    But yeah, I easily found a couple of knives Megan and Alexa appreciated once they knew that I''ll purchase those for them, but finding a fucking bra that could fit Quinn''s humungous udders was fucking scary.


    "NO FUCKING WAY! QUINN! IT''S THE PERFECT SIZE! OW¡ª"


    "IT HAS COW PRINTS, YOU ASSHOLE!"


    "WHAT?! WHY DOES IT MATTER?! IT''S EVEN BETTER IF YOU ASK ME!"


    "THEN WHY DOES IT COME WITH THIS CHOKER WITH A LITTLE BELL, THESE HORNS, AND THAT PLUG?! THIS IS SOME FETISH TYPE SHIT!"


    "BITCH¡ª" I then whispered with intensity, "You can fit fists in your ass and you''re grossed out by a cow costume?!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    In any case, let''s just say that even though we didn''t have sex in the warehouse five minutes in, it did sound like it because I almost got beaten to death by Quinn who had never been so red in her life.

 Chapter 1096: Texas? - NRCH

    Joking aside, the motherfucker still kept the set for "emergencies" as she stated but we did find some things on disy that piqued our interest. I did call Building 34 some sort of mall but there was this section where it looked like a pawn shop with several memorabilia or random items hoarders like me would love to collect.


    "Oh, shit! This is sick!" I eximed.


    Kaley and Quinn looked over to me, "What is it?/ Did you find another costume?"


    "No! Heh, Royo has this box of tes from all 50 states and DC! The old man would love this! I can''t believe he hasn''t seen this yet¡ª"


    Then Quinn suddenly pried it off my hands, "Thank you, dibs."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I just said dibs, piss off!"


    "I found it first¡ª"


    "Did you say dibs?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Fine, keep it. There are three other boxes of the same thing over there¡ª"


    "Well, you should''ve said so! Still keeping this one though¡­ Looks¡­ cleaner¡­ and less rust¡­"


    Kaley turned to me, shaking her head, "Is Oscar collecting license tes?"


    I replied before I picked another box and ced it on the cart, "Yeah."


    "How far along is he though?"


    "Hmm~ Texas?"


    "Okay¡­"


    "..."


    "And? What else¡ª"


    "Ah. Just Texas¡ª Ow! Kaley!"


    "Is he collecting them or not?!" Kaley eximed as Quinn almost died fromughing.


    But yeah, we can''t just keep this gold mine to ourselves so we gave a call to everybody else with us. Granted I wasn''t sure that the truck, the food, and the story I gave Royo could cover up all the expenses, but he gave me a breath of relief when he said that he could just put it in my tab.


    Because right now, he needs vehicle parts and different power tools more than anything aside from the usual tradeable items.


    However, I think that Building 34 should be relocated over to the Main Harbor because this ce was their main base of operations.


    Not anyone should be allowed inside unless absolutely necessary and the Main Harbor was already themercial spot for hangouts and whatnot. It wouldn''t be too much trouble for it to double as a trading spot for survivors who woulde visit and it was just counterproductive to ce it in a location further in their territory.


    ''Should be in front or something by the entrance¡­ Well~ It''s supposed to be a ck market though¡­ and a legal one at that¡­ whatever¡­''


    In any case, almost everyone just opted for a set of clothes and some sort of memorabilia but Jared damn near lost his shit when he spotted a stock FN SCAR with a 20-inch barrel hanging from Building 34''s firearms section.


    "B-Bro, bro! Look! LOOK! C-Can we take a loot at that?! You got the hook-up, right?"


    "You talking about that SCAR?"


    "What else?!"


    "What''s wrong with what you have on ya?"


    "Nothing! I just wanna look at that one! It''s navy blue! Well, parts of it! Don''t see them in that color as much, no?"


    "I can wrap yours if you want¡ª"


    "Please, bro! Can you ask the big dude¡ª look! He''s drinking some water! He''s on a break, right?!"


    "Fine¡­"


    "FUCK YEAH! THANKS BRO!"


    With that said, to prevent Jared from making more of a ruckus, I politely asked Royo if we could take a look at that particr SCAR on disy and he didn''t even need to ponder about it as he opened the door for us.


    However, he did only let me and Jared in this particr section¡ªalbeit apologetically¡ªbecause it was one of Major Harper''s imposed rules but the crew didn''t seem to mind because they would still get their turn and they were still busy looking around.


    "This one, right?"


    "YES! I mean¡ª Yeah¡­"


    Royo just had a glint in his eye, "Fancy SCARS, huh? This one''s from my personal collection but you can convince me to let go of it before the night ends."


    Jared nced at me momentarily before he turned back to Royo, "I-I thought we could put it in his *pointing at me a few times* tab?"


    "Hah! I did say that but those are for the items that are on disy outside. The ones here are difference, especially the ones that don''t look stock. You catch my drift?"


    I cut in, "How long have you had it for?"


    "Hmm~ Seven years, I think?"


    "That''s a long time."


    "And it''s still in tip-top shape. Had to rece a few parts for the thousands upon thousands of rounds I run through this baby because the best thing about this is that handle''s non-reciprocating. The bigger trigger guard helps too if you''re wearing gloves like that but''s it''s just a normal SCAR without the annoying things we marksmen had to bear while using this particr gun."


    Jared never looked so shocked, "What the fuck¡ª FOR REAL?! This is gonna be like¡ª A thousand dors more expensive! My thumb used to get murdered with the reciprocating handle when I was just getting used to mine!"


    "Sucks, right? But this thing solves that problem¡­"


    "Maaan~ I''ll pay top dor for this one¡­"


    "That''s what I''d like to hear~"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ He isn''t helping his case one bit¡­''


    Royo threw us a bit of a bone, "That''s true on all ounts but the scope you have on plus all the other bling you have on yours is just about the same price as this one."


    Jared cut in, "But it''s stock!"


    "That''s true too, heh. Well, aside from the paint it has."


    "Which probably costs more¡ª"


    I had to step in again, "But yeah¡ª Wait, why''d you take off all the bling though?"


    Jared followed, "What are you currently running?"


    Royo forced a smile, "Do I have to tell you, gentlemen? Why''d you think I''m working on projects instead of going on runs?"


    I quipped, "Because you''re a great engineer?"


    "HAH! DAMMIT! I TRIED GOING FOR THE SOB STORY BUT IT BACKFIRED! Fuck it! No particr reason, just moved on to belt-fed shit when I partially lost my vision in both eyes. It''s not as bad as you think¡ªI can still shoot sub-MOA, if any of that matters¡ªthough there are better people for the job."


    "..."


    "..."


    "And no one here could use a welder''s torch better than me and all the shit you can see that could make things spark. Anyway, enough of that, what are you gonna give me for this? Take note, I''ll only be this generous until midnight which is coincidentally only a few hours away."


    "How about we bling it up, first?"

 Chapter 1097: A dil- WHAT?! - Im not leaving my post twice.

    "No," Royo replied without even thinking about it.


    "Why?!" Jared protested.


    "Look around! It''s the middle of the night!"


    I nodded, "That''s true¡­"


    Unfortunately, we just caught Royo on his break and it was in the middle of the night¡ªand even with the help of NVGs¡ªwe''d just look like dumbasses trying to zero a shelved gun without proper targets to acquire from afar. However, the only way that we could actually benefit from this trade was not to fucking rush it and actually take our time to fully examine the gun and weigh our options.


    Jared cut in, "I-I-I thought we''re gonna bling it up and shit, bro?!"


    I waved him off as I turned to Royo who was looking at his watch, "Hey, you up for a deal though?"


    Royo looked taken aback for a moment before he let out a chuckle, "A dildo? What¡ª I thought we were talking about guns ''ere? I don''t have any in stock but if you could supply me with some, it''ll be great."


    I snorted, "Dumbass. I said if you''re¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "Hah! Gotcha, huh?! What sort of deal are we talking about?"


    My smile slowly turned to a more serious expression, "Look, I''m not telling you that you''re a crook but I''ve been burned a few times when I was dealing with used guns with the old man, and I learned a few things from him. But among those things I''ve learned, a rush to sell to a person who''s that interested in procuring a gun and buying it as brand-new is a huge red g for me, sorry."


    Royo nodded a few times, "But where else could you find this thing? There''s a lot from where I came from, sure, but it''s a different story in this ce, no?"


    Jared tried to butt in again, "Bro¡ª"


    I palmed his face and pushed him aside, "However, I might have a deal¡ª I mean, a proposition that could even the odds for me even for a little bit. Maybe even put me in a slight advantage."


    Royo''s eyebrow raised, "Curious. What do you suggest?"


    "Alright. I''m gonna risk you not being that generous after that clock strike past midnight because I''m gonna need to have a more thorough look at this gun before I could offer a proper trade on it."


    "Understandable¡­"


    "But¡­ do know that this thing I''m offering you is contingent on a few things."


    "Just tell me, man."


    "Alright. The easy route is to trade SCAR for SCAR with us adding anything to match that SCAR''s value¡ªafter thoroughly checking it first¡ªbut I''ll dly add anything else for that matter because my cousin here just really~ wanted to have it."


    "Hmm~ Sounds fair. The most basic concept in trading actually¡ª"


    "But this here''s the hard route¡ª and boy~ I''m sure as hell that this is gonna be a thinker on your part because it''s definitely gonna be heavy."


    "Ah¡ª You want this deal or not? And why would I ept something that sounds like it wouldn''t benefit me?"


    I looked him straight in the eye, "I know you''ve found your thing to continue serving your country and its people but¡ª"


    "What are you fuckin'' on now¡ª"


    "Let me finish, man. This is my fucking pitch¡ª don''t cut in while I''m doing this."


    "..."


    "Thank you. But yeah, you have the ability to make all sorts of shit and still continue to shoot sub-MOA¡ªas you''ve said, of course¡ªand it''s a great thing that you can only do but wouldn''t you prefer to be able to fight on equal ground¡ª no, even greater heights once you''re tiny~ little~ problem gets solved?"


    "..." Royo didn''t say a word but he know full well that I was talking about his partially lost vision.


    "You see¡ªpun unintended¡ªI had a chance encounter with a very nice woman who was, unfortunately, got sshed with acid from a jealous lover, and she had something much, much worse than you. However, with some things I''m gonna skip over, we solved her problems and we made a little fireworks show the moment she recovered."


    "..."


    "What I''m saying is¡­ Full disclosure: I''m not a doctor. BUT! I know you''re fucking busy too but you should at least get that looked at by a couple of professionals and if there''s a chance¡­ there''s a chance, right? What do you think?"


    "..."


    "Ah¡ª You can talk now, sorry about that."


    Royo took a deep breath before opening his mouth, "Look¡­ I can''t."


    "Why?"


    "This shit *motioned to the entirety of Building 34* needs to keep on going. I can''t just leave my fucking post twice."


    "But you''re gonnae back even better. Besides, Thomas can be the head for a bit while I send a few of my engineers over and I''ll dly share some of my tools and the blueprint for one of our patented axes. It''s¡ª"


    "This is going too fast, kid. H-How long would I be o-out anyway?"


    "Realistically speaking¡ª No. It depends on what kind of treatment you''re getting. And take note: we can only do it for so many people so it''s just on a firste, first served basis¡ª"


    He shook his head, "Now you''re the one rushing me, huh?"


    I wanted to look cocky but I maintained a respectful expression, "I am in a way but yeah, realistically speaking, you''d be out ofmission for 3-4 months."


    "That''s¡ª"


    "Meaning¡­ no fabrication work or anything simr to that but you can still give pointers and handle some logistics if you really have an itch for it. It may even be faster depending on your recovery but I''m gonna advise you right now to not fucking rush it or it just might make things worst for you.


    But yeah, 3-4 months or even half a year is nothingpared to doing what you actually want for the rest of your life, no?"


    Royo then looked down, "Dammit¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "N-No¡­ Fuck¡­ You fucking got me, kid¡­ There''s no way I could have an answer to that¡­"


    "It''s a yes or no question, Royo¡ª"


    "ASSHOLE! I MEANT IN A¡ª AHHHHH! WHAT ELSE CAN I TELL YOU?! NO?! I''LL BE THE BIGGEST FUCKING DUMBASS IF I DON''T SAY YES TO THAT!"


    "Is it a yes though¡ª"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! OF COURSE, IT''S A YES! HAVE THE GOLDEN BUZZER TOO IF YA WANT! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! WHEN CAN WE SCHEDULE THE APPOINTMENT?!"


    "As soon as you want but we could do it in a few days right as the Major leaves."


    "FOR REAL?! C''MERE, ASSHOLE!"


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''M HUGGING YOUR UGLY-ASS AS THANKS!"


    "I-I''d rather have one of those drones you fucks use to spy on people¡ª AHHHHH! MY BONES ARE SCREAMING, YOU ASSHOLE! LEMME GO!"


    "NOT A FUCKING CHANCE! YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING FROM MY COLLECTION! FUCK IT, I''LL ALLOW YOU TO SAY THE N-WORD TOO!"


    I quickly waved him off, "N-No¡­ I have a "brother" friend who gave me one of those cards too but that''s a trap, I tell ya¡­ I know a beating when I see one¡ª AHHHHHH! THE FUCK ARE YOU SO STRONG FOR?! WANT ME TO JUST GO WITH THE EASY ROUTE?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! NOT A CHANCE BRO, NOT A CHANCE!"

 Chapter 1098: Safest Spot? - Vale Tudo

    In any case, after that short interaction with Royo, I still declined his offer to have ess to all of his guns but he did increase my credit limit to Building 34 and handed over his FN SCAR with a 20-inch barrel and a non-reciprocating charging handle. It was both a sign of respect and trust to both parties, but acquiring one of their drones was found to be a little more difficult.


    "I-It''s yours, right?"


    "Technically, yes, but¡ª"


    "So, what''s the problem?"


    "Gonna have to ask the Major for permission first. We don''t have a lot of these though they don''t get used muchpared to before, honestly speaking¡­"


    "Because the people you spy from are already dead, no?"


    "That''s¡­ sure."


    "Heh. I''ll trade them with the F-18 he promised me¡ª"


    "WHAT?! HE PROMISED YOU AN F-18?! HOW?!"


    "Hmm~ You''ll know once he makes the official announcement¡­"


    "Jesus, who are you really?"


    "I''m me. Can I look at some of the other stuff?"


    "Sure! Anything!"


    After some time, Royo eventually went back to working on his projects after he took care of a few more of our purchases from his armory like different kinds of explosives¡ªwhich Bogdan was on cloud nine for¡ª and assorted ammo for our guns.


    Everyone else didn''t actually need new firearms¡ªeven Jared who just wanted an upgrade but it was all good¡ªbut it''s just fun to look at stuff hidden behind a gate with a passcode or something simr.


    But yeah, we eventually said our goodbyes to the people in Building 34 but we had just discovered that not everyone else was sleeping in the Marine Base, technically.


    It should''ve been obvious and pretty much logical because a good number of the civilians¡ªand a small portion of the Marines¡ªwere still sleeping in their ships or in their smaller boats. Not only did it provide this natural rocking of water to lull them to sleep, but it was actually much safer because there wasn''t any report of deadheads that could swim on water.


    Anchoring somewhere just bumps up their safety without the use of firearms, sturdy walls, guards, etc.


    In any case, we were eventually told that our lodgings were already prepared for us¡ªso we moved our vehicles over there¡ªand it was at the same hangar given to Oscar and the people he brought with himst time. It was just this big open area with "cubicles" made with cloth separating each one, but we were given soft mattresses, pillows, and nkets.


    It did have the essential amenities but think of it as a painting that just had the outlines drawn.


    ''To be fair, two weeks is not a lot of time¡­''


    Then Jared nudged me while still hugging his new FN SCAR like an idiot:


    "Bro, bro, you brought your tools, right?! Right?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Can''t you wait till tomorrow?! You''re worse than Isaac!"


    Then he pointed at Isaac at one corner swinging his new tachi like an idiot, "It''s not fair, bro! He can just use it as is and I have to wait a few goddamn hours just to set it up! I''m just gonna transfer over everything I have on this SCAR to that SCAR! It wouldn''t even take an hour!"


    "You and your SCAR addiction¡­ I understand the charging handle not reciprocating but is it really worth the three extra inches?"


    Jared rolled his eyes, "What if it''s you? Kaley and I pretty much have the same job but I''m in charge of the big and special-er ones, right? Unless you''re using your BCM, Kaley''s in charge of thinning the horde which is equally important for everyone''s safety."


    "Special-er?"


    "You know what I meant!"


    I chuckled, "Sure, sure¡­ But yeah, wait a few more hours. It just saves you the frustrationter."


    "Haa¡­ Fine¡­ I''m gonna try and catch some sleep though¡­ Are we still supposed to do some watch duty?"


    JP interjected from the side, "Kuzma and Ruben already volunteered. They''re doing the rounds with a few people from this side."


    I nodded, "Thanks. Have you seen the old man though?"


    "The colonel? I believe he went back to where Miss Jenna was for updates on the carrier."


    "Alright, so take of your clothes¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?!" JP had never been so fucking red while the women in my circle had never misunderstood my intentions this fucking much.


    "Ah¡ª I mean, take those off and wear somethingfortable. We''re going one-on-one."


    "T-THAT STILL DOESN''T HELP! W-WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!"


    "Umm¡­ Sparring? We just drove most of the time, I still have a lot left in my tank. Besides, if you want to have your title back, you gottae out on top."


    "JUST SAY IT FROM THE GET¨CGO, ASSHOLE!"


    I facepalmed as I finally had the realization, "Dude. With all due respect and all, I don''t swing for the other team¡­ Heh. But yeah, you''ll be a fucking bottom while we''re going at it though¡ª"


    "YOUR WORDS¡ª Haaa¡­ I''mma hit that fucking face of yours so much, we''ll see who bottoms!"


    "Hah! We''ll see, we''ll see~"


    With that said, while waiting for JP to get changed I jogged a fewps inside the hangar because it was pretty cold outside before I stretched right as he got to warming up as well.


    Funnily enough, Kaley and the others were thinking of something else entirely while the two of us were talking but I couldn''t believe how they looked a certain way once JP and I were face to face and about to start fighting.


    JPmented, "Concrete floor."


    "Vale tudo but I''ll avoid throws if you want. I''m more of a striker though."


    "Time limit?"


    "Until one falls down."


    "Fine¡ª"


    And without even touching our open-finger gloves, JP just turned his game face on before opening up with a crisp jab and following with a quick one-two, a step-in upper, and two left-rightpact hooks. To his annoyance, I dodged everything within a hair''s breadth but he got even more pissed when I stepped on his right leg right when he was just about to throw a high kick.


    I looked at him with a sinister smile, "Grit your fucking teeth."

 Chapter 1099: Trials and Tribulations

    Out of all my "students", I felt that JP had the most aggression held within himself that needed to be let out, and this was one of the healthy ways to do so.


    And right as I gave him a warning, I saw how he abruptly clenched his jaw to brace for theing attack so instead of faking him out¡ªand also to build a little more trust between us¡ªI delivered on his face my own version of a crisp one-two.


    It probably looked like a double punch from his perspective¡ªdue to how I sprang and retracted my attacks¡ªbut he had never been so confused by two quick attacks that felt this heavy.


    But yeah, excluding his initial attack and his finisher, I followed up my one-two with the samebo he tried to hit me with but he never managed to dodge a single one.


    At this moment, his arms were shaking due to the damage they sustained from trying to block each of them because if he tried to do it with his face, it would''ve been night-night for him with the step-in upper.


    It''s just that when he was about to get his bearings, I showed him the kick I used when I weed Tatiana to my fold, and 99.99% of the time, the first time I would use my shifted frontal kick to someone who hadn''t been hit by it before would not only guarantee a hit but also a knockdown.


    "What the fu¡­"


    ''Oh?''


    To my surprise, JP saw iting but he was still a littlete to do something about it and just like Tatiana, he tried to take a step forward but he just slowly copsed on himself beforepletely falling unconscious.


    Then I said loud enough for everyone in their cubicles to hear:


    "I know you''re still awake, Seb. Come on out."


    "..."


    "It''ll be way worse when I start pounding you on that bed¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I''M COMING OUT!"


    Kaley quipped from the side, "He''s got to be doing that on purpose¡­"


    But yeah, as Seb slowly emerged from the cloth partitions, Kaley was already taking care of JP so it didn''t take long before Seb took over JP''s ck. But this time, he never ran so fast when he saw me unsheathe my wakizashi from Kaley''s hips.


    "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!"


    "I THOUGHT WE WERE SPARRING! THIS IS FIRST-DEGREE MURDER, SIR!"


    "WHY CAN''T IT BE BOTH!"


    "I''M UNARMED!"


    "YOU HAVE TWO ON EACH SIDE!"


    "I MEAN I DON''T HAVE ANYTHING TO DEFEND MYSELF WITH!"


    "WE WERE JUST IN BUILDING 34, WHY DIDN''T YOU PICK ANYTHING UP?!"


    "I PICKED UP THIS CHANGE OF CLOTHES!"


    "YOU SHOULD''VE PICKED UP ONE OF THOSE SHIELDS HANGING ON THE WALLS!"


    "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, SIR, I BELIEVE THOSE AREN''T ENOUGH!"


    "True."


    "THEN WHAT''S THE POINT?! IS THIS EVEN TRAINING?!"


    "YEAH! WE''RE TONING JP DOWN AND YOU GOTTA RISE UP TO THE ADVERSITY! I''M THE ADVERSITY! RISE UP AGAINST ME!"


    "I VERY MUCH KNOW THAT PART, SIR! I''D RATHER FACE A HUNDRED BITERS OUTSIDE THAN YOU WITH YOUR KATANA!"


    "FIRST OF ALL, IT''S A WAKIZASHI AND DID YOU JUST SAY A HUNDRED?! I''M THAT LOW?! NOW I''MMA REALLY KILL YOU!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    In any case, after making sure that everyone that was trying to sleep was disturbed, I easily cornered the son of a bitch thatpared me to a hundred or so deadheads. From all his all-out sprinting, it was admirable that he wasn''t as out of breath as I expected him to be because I was pretty sure that James#1 was unmatched in that certain category.


    But to be fair, when one''s life was perceived to be in danger, people would be able to pull out shit from their ass and emerge victorious.


    It''s just that he was against me and I was holding something that I could easily lop his head off.


    Before anyone thinks otherwise, I wasn''t really gonna chop his body into pieces from a small provocation but color me surprised when he showed me the same expression when I brought him with me to that lesser family from the Rivas territory because he ripped off his t-shirt and wrapped them on his hands.


    There was only one particr way he thought out of this situation and it was to somehow catch my de and avoid getting cut down.


    ''Good enough.''


    But yeah, I still knocked him out with the back of my de before throwing him in with JP who was still figuring out how he got knocked the fuck out.


    If surviving was the goal of this exercise, I would''ve given him a failing grade but this training exercise was for him to choose a way out instead of giving in. Granted what he chose was still suicide¡ªespecially against me¡ªbut that''s a step in the right direction regarding his decisions in life.


    I know that his situation with JP was called off ages ago and even if he was somehow consenting to the supposed assault, what if there ever came a time when he was in the same situation and it was life or death?


    This may sound stupiding from me because I would always advocate life above everything else¡ªeven if someone got ruined mentally and/or physically¡ªbut in this case, he would''ve died either way so the best course of action was to try and gamble it all in the 1 in a million chance that he''d seed.


    But yeah, despite my two students getting knocked out senselessly, there was still one other with a brand-new tachi who still wanted to do this old-age tradition of swinging it on a random passerby just to test its sharpness.


    "I''m really~ feelin'' good, bro! I feel like I have a chance while you''re using that wakizashi!"


    "The reach advantage?"


    "Yeah! For some reason, this thing feels lighter too! It feels like a part of me already!"


    "Trust me, you need more than a day¡ª"


    "Trust me, bro! I can handle it!"


    "You really sure?"


    "Yeah!"


    And long story short, the motherfucker couldn''t handle it.

 Chapter 1100: Sneakin Around

    In some twisted way, resting was also a part of training so I just helped my dear students to fall asleep much quicker. But yeah, Jared and Bogdan were still tinkering with their new gun or their new set of explosives while Kuzma and Ruben were still patrolling outside.


    Oscar, on the other hand, wouldn''t just sit still while waiting for his daughter while everyone else who came with him was doing whatever.


    I could already feel the looks everyone else in our circle was giving me but I can''t just choke out the ones that were down on their noses while working on their shit or just hanging around, but I quickly found a suitable solution to our current problem.


    There was one other more obvious solution but I kinda wanna see the carriere into view when the timees.


    "Follow me¡­ Bring our nkets and pillows¡ª and your kit."


    "W-Where are we going?" Kaley replied.


    "To the roof. Those are the stairs leading the catwalk by the entrance and that''s our way to get even further up."


    "I was thinking we could do it in the truck¡ª"


    "It''ll shake. Also, we wouldn''t need to be as quiet because of the breeze. It''ll be really~ cold though so we really~ have to keep warm¡­"


    "W-Won''t the people outside see us?"


    "Moving around in nkets? Unless they''re using drones to spy on everyone, no. Just have to keep ourselves covered."


    "O-Okay¡­ Pfft¡­ Sold."


    With that said, for us not to be that obvious¡ªthough some in our group already knew what was up¡ªKaley and I went up first before the others would follow right after. But once Kaley and I had started kissing, there was no chance in fucking hell I''d let her go.


    We already found a perfect spot where weid our first nket and covered ourselves with the other, but we were still fully clothed while our tongues were invading each other''s mouths.


    And the moment Tatiana and Quinn made their way to where we were, Kaley''s body just tensed as she let out this muffled moan between our kiss, and it just made her hold on me even tighter.


    "MmMH! Wai¡ª Mmn¡­ I just¡ª Wai¡­ Mnnn¡­"


    "Did you¡ª"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "I see no reason to stop, no?"


    "D-Doofus¡­ Ah!"


    With that said, I began to grope her huge tits over her clothes while she was trying to feel me up with her thighs all the while ignoring the other two that followed Quinn and Tatiana. For some reason, the four just watched us as they gotfortable by themselves so I just took advantage of the chance that I could just be with Kaley.


    But yeah, the breeze and the coldness up here was no fucking joke but the warmth I was feeling from Kaley''s body¡ªeven if we were still clothed¡ªwas just that cozy and enough as long as we were right next to each other.


    "Mmmh¡­ MmH! I-It unhooks¡ª T-The front¡ª Yeah¡­ Yes¡­ MmMH! G-Gentler¡­ B-Bite them gentler¡ª MmmH! That''s¡ª Ahn! Yes! S-Suck them too¡ª AH!


    AmnHhn~ Yes¡­ Y-Yesss¡­ K-Kiss me¡­"


    At this moment, I was still on top of Kaley but most of her upper body was exposed¡ªbut still covered by our nket¡ªand I was already fondling her huge udders and rubbing her hard nipples while she told me to go back up and taste her lips. She already came three times from the short moment we were up here, so I took it upon myself to fully zip down her pants so they wouldn''t get even more soaked.


    Kaley was wearing one of those pants that could be zipped right through the back so she''d have an easier time peeing or something else outdoors, but the two of us were definitely making use of its other function.


    And as much as I would''ve loved to make her cum just by kissing and ying with her breasts, I moved on to her lower lips which were not only soaked with her cream and juices but also aching for some action.


    So yeah, I just dove in head first and took a big fucking sniff before I swiped my tongue and tasted her pink meaty folds and sucked on her erect clit then lightly biting them before I dove in some more.


    Kaley never mped her thighs on my head so fucking fast as she had another orgasm from the get-go but that never stopped me from eating her fucking cunt.


    "Y-Yes! YES! C-C-CUMmMMiing~ OhHhh fuck! FUCK! YES! E-Eat mMmY PusSSyyy!!


    Ah! AH! That''s¡ª Ugh! Ye¡ª Ah! A¡ª Mmm! MMH!


    C-Cumming! CUm¡ª Anh!!!"


    From the way Kaley was moving her hips, I would''ve thought that she was also trying to snap my neck but I dug deep and grabbed hold of her full breasts and squeezed them around as I was licking her wet hole and sucking all that wasing out.


    All she could do at this point was grab on my wrists as she was having orgasm after orgasm, and her attempts to drown me with her squirt wouldn''t work because I was drinking them all.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley lost the strength to mp her legs shut but I took it upon myself to move up and let her taste herself with my mouth before my dick almost break out of my pants.


    I didn''t even notice that everyone else was just using Kaley''s moans and facial expressions while they were touching themselves, but I already pulled my huge hard dick out of my pants and shoved it inside Kaley''s tiny pussy that would be a few sizesrger.


    "H-HNGHHH!!!"


    And right from the fucking get-go, Kaley had another violent orgasm the moment I hit her womb and her insides just gripped on me as if to pull me even deeper. However, Kaley was already fighting for her life the moment I entered her tight vag so all she could do now was take the pounding while I was squeezing her breasts and kissing her.

 Chapter 1101: Kaleys a Camel?

    With each forceful thrust, Kaley''s insides would just tighten as she''d let out a muffled moan through our kiss, and god fucking dammit her lips were still as sweet as the first time I kissed them.


    At the same time, the firmness and softness of her huge breasts between my armsbined with the warmth it provided felt like fucking heaven even though both of us were starting to sweat from under the covers.


    I was still on top of her, moving my hip back and forth while my body was pressed against her, and only our heads were the ones not covered by our nket.


    I''d lean on one side so I could fondle the other side of her perfect natural set but I began to lick the sweat off her body¡ªespecially the ones on her tits and on her armpits.


    "H-Ha¡ª Ha! AnnmmMm~ Tickles¡ª Ah! YesSss¡ª MmmnNnn! K-Kiss! Kiss m-Me!"


    But yeah, Kaley was still a little afraid of us being too loud so she''d pull me back to her lips to basically gag her with my tongue but it didn''t take long before I came inside her. And yeah, it wasn''t that long but even with my high sperm count and volume, she barely got filled up by my first load and I just filled her to the brim plus extra.


    "A-a-AH¡ª S-So much! MmnH!"


    At this point, my whole body just buckled as I felt the wave and the violent throbbing of my cock as I was releasing my hot stuff inside Kaley''s pink hole, but I only took a few seconds to recover before I used my cum and Kaley''s juices as lube to fuck her back hole.


    "AmNnHH! A-Already?!"


    With Kaley cumming for god knows how many, even if her little asshole was a tad tighter, it was just as sensitive to my huge fucking cock. And to her surprise and dread, I moved her thighs to one side¡ªthen lying right behind her¡ªso I could pound her butt a little harder while fingering her pussy at the same time.


    At this point, both of us could see how the four had their zed eyes nted on us as they watched us fuck our brains out, but Quinn and Tatiana couldn''t just watch forever as they dragged Megan and Alexa to their nkets. It was so that they could either have their pussy eaten or have the other party finger-fucked to multiple orgasms.


    It just turned to Megan on all fours, getting fingered by Quinn while Quinn was touching herself and Tatiana 69''ing with Alexa, but like us, their bodies were partly covered by the nket as they were stealing looks from the main couple.


    But yeah, as I was fucking Kaley in the ass, fingering her pussy, fondling her tits, and kissing her neck from behind, Kaley''s euphoric moans were just overpowering everyone else''s and it was safe to say that we''d need new nkets or else it would be better to just sleep in the truck.


    "C-C-c-CummInnhGGg!!! Y-Yes! Yes! F-Fuck that t-tiny little asshole! MnH! HA¡ª Ah!


    S-Squeeze these t-tits hard¡ª C¡ª MmnHHH!!! YES! YES! OH GOD¡ª FUCK! M-My clit¡ª C-CummMmINNN!!!"


    At one point, instead of Kaley having multiple orgasms, she just had this very long, drawn-out one thatsted for several minutes. Her whole body didn''t stop shaking as her insides were also as tight, and it sounded like she was choking from the ongoing onught of the waves going through her whole body without stopping.


    And when I came inside her ass while she was having this moment, I just stopped thrusting altogether and just hugged her tight as she melted with the pleasure.


    Buf after she recovered, she was just looking at me this certain cutesy way before she nted her lips on mine, going on top of me even though it was technically the others'' turn.


    Like she said before on the pier, she was discovering more about herself while we were together and she was just in this state of pure bliss and horniness, she couldn''t stop moving her hips, kissing me, and hugging me tight even if she came many times over.


    Obviously, the feeling was mutual because as a man, who wouldn''t like their woman getting this insatiable due to our own doing?


    I did cum inside her tight cunt for the second time as I was pushing one of my fingers in her asshole, but when Kaley showed no signs of stopping any time soon, I just held her tight and enjoyed the ride.


    But when it was over, funnily enough, we can''t just cuddle and enjoy some pillow talk before drifting off to sleep because both our nkets were fucking soaked and I was beginning to wonder how the fuck Kaley wasn''t dehydrated yet.


    I joked while we were wiping ourselves, "You''re like a camel, you know?"


    "W-WHAT?! CAMEL?!" Kaley never looked so confused and offended as she puffed her cheeks up and cutely red at me.


    But Quinn just cackled loudly, interrupting her time with the other three:


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! She does have one fat camelpared to the rest of us!"


    "NOOOOOOOO!"


    I piled on, "It''s not a bad thing, alright? It''s just all this water¡ª"


    "I CAN TAKE GETTING CALLED A COW BUT NOT A CAMEL!"


    Alexa cut in, "What''s wrong with a camel?"


    Tatiana huffed, "Hey! This ass still needs to get eaten¡ª"


    Megan interjected, "Umm¡­ Sorry, Tatiana, I can''t think of anything else now, hearing that¡­"


    Then Tatiana red at me, "You owe me an orgasm¡ª no, several orgasms!"


    "What¡ª Why?!"


    "You ruined one for me! I''m that close!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she put on some clothes, "Can we go back to calling Kaley a camel?"


    "GUYS! Stop! Please!"


    Quinn chuckled, "I''m the cow now since I have the costume, you''re the camel because you hold all that water¡ª PFFT! HAHAHAHAHA! WHY DIDN''T I THINK OF THAT?!"


    Kaley cutely red at me again, "Now, I''m getting bullied!"


    "We''re not¡ª"


    "T-Then y-you''re a rabbit!"


    "Why?"


    "B-Because you have sex a lot a-and¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders to tick her off even more, "I''ll take it. Rabbits are cute though¡ª"


    "THAT''S THE THING! COWS AND RABBITS ARE A LITTLE CUTE BUT CAMELS?!"


    I hugged her and tried to calm her down, "Alright, alright~ I''m sorry for calling you a camel. Their milk''s really great for baking though. A little salty like your squirt sometimes¡ª"


    "DON''T EVEN SAY IT OUT LOUD! MINE''S NOT EVEN THAT SALTY! IT TASTES LIKE NOTHING BECAUSE I DRINK A LOT OF WATER BEFORE¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "Like a camel does¡­"


    I just had to do it, "They do drink a lot of water *snaps fingers* just like that and¡­ you know, those humps¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I''M DYING! I''M DYING! STOP!"


    With that said, once we were all fairly decent, we went down to discover that almost everyone was asleep though they were ying some music for some reason. Jared just threw me a look that he fucking knows what we did on the roof and him ying some tunes was the reason for that. But yeah, the girls didn''t need to know that particr detail but we drove somece else to have a decent shower.

 Chapter 1102: Arrival - Fucking Brat.

    As time went by, we found ourselves on the same spot on the roof but instead of partaking in an amorous activity, we were either sipping on some coffee or just starting to fall asleep on the person they were leaning on. I did have to spend 15 minutes with Tatiana because interrupting her earlier was my fault for some reason, but honestly enough, we both enjoyed our time.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Kaley, Quinn, and Alexa used me as a human pillow as Kaley was leaning on me while the two were doing the same thing on each side.


    Tatiana and Megan could onlyugh at my predicament but as everyone else started to drift to sleep, I began to feel the weight on my eyes before I was suddenly jolted awake by a loud foghorn-like sound. Obviously, it also woke everyone else up but it seemed like a lot of hours had passed in the blink of an eye.


    To our surprise, it was already 6:14 AM and the sun was already shining down on us from above.


    And from the distance, we could clearly see the carrier where the US Navy and a thousand or so civilians were, followed by a couple of Chinooks flying overhead. The carrier would probably take a few more minutes to reach this ce but those two aircrafts would reach us much faster.


    Then my radio buzzed:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where are ya, kid? That horn probably woke you up. Time to cook!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Meth?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Oh¡ª HAHAHAHAHA! Dammit, that got me. Amaryllis and everyone else here are waiting for ya! They took out the ingredients and everything! C''mon!


    I''m cooking too! Gonna impress my daughter one way or another.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m gonna stop you right there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''ll impress her by not giving her food poisoning. I know you mean well but stay on yourne, old man. You brought some liquor you made, right? Won''t that be better?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH, SHIT! YOU''RE RIGHT, KID! HOLD ON! SEEYOULATERBYE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, everyone else was still doing their morning stretches but it didn''t take long before we made our way to the kitchen and prepared food for at least a thousand people. This was something I wouldn''t be able to do solo but preparing the ingredients beforehand already made us a little more confident.


    But yeah, in addition to the pae and the soup we madest night, it didn''t hurt to make seafood and vegetable tempura by covering everything bite-sized with batter and then frying it in oil. Additionally, I guess some kids would appreciate some waffles or pancakes while almost all of the adults would appreciate some hot coffee.


    Obviously, the people in the Chinooks arrived much earlier and they were perfect taste testers on what the rest of the people in the carrier would bite on.


    But yeah, I discovered that aside from two captains and two pilots, they came in with a first and a second lieutenant, a journalist, a cameraman, a doctor, and an engineer while the rest were family and friends of either these officers or politicians.


    I briefly introduced myself and gave each of them a te and bowl of food¡ªbecause they seem to not be thinking straight because of the smell¡ªbut it wasn''t even a fucking second when a Charlotte-like incident started.


    Because as the rest of the group started to wharf or inhale the food I served to them, a fucking brat with pigtails who was named "E" quickly pushed her food away¡ªspilling the soup in the process. Additionally, she never looked so disgusted from the crispy tempura, the cup of pae, and the vegetable medley I put on her te with the bowl of soup to the side which she spilled.


    It quickly put a damper on the otherwise jolly atmosphere but as one of her attendants, "Myra"¡ªwho suddenly stopped eating because of her¡ªwas nervously looking at me, I started to quietly clean the table they were on before everyone almost had the shock of their lives.


    Kaley was already about to jump in when she noticed my deathly aura slowly forming but I kept everything in with a deep breath.


    But yeah, I don''t fucking care if you''re if your parents were the fucking president, the general, the king/queen, or the fucking pope but if you dare to fucking waste food I graciously prepared for ya, you gotta deal with some assholery from yours truly.


    It''s just that there might be some reason for her to act like that.


    At the same time, there was also a reason for why I would be acting in the next line:


    I stared right at her as I pushed her te even further away from her, "You allergic to seafood?"


    "..." She just gave me a quick nce before turning away annoyed.


    "Vegetables?"


    "..."


    "Gluten?"


    "..."


    "You fasting?"


    "..."


    Myra cut in apologetically, "I''m sorry but thedy is just not feeling too well. She doesn''t have any allergies or any of that sort, fortunately¡ª"


    "Huh. I get in now," I said as I turned back to E, "So, you''re just a fucking brat¡ª"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME¡ª"


    Right as she snapped her head to me and shrieked with her high tone, I had already locked and loaded my middle finger with my thumb and sent a deathly flick on her forehead¡ªwhich like the rest of their group¡ªshe didn''t fucking expect.


    And again, to everyone''s shock, especially her attendant, her head almost experienced a whish due to how it blew back because the brat never had any support on her neck and I didn''t think a flick could cause first-degree murder.


    It was one thing if she had any allergies but that doesn''t mean she could fucking waste food if she wasn''t feeling up to it. Additionally, it''s the fucking end of the world and everyone else would kill for just a cup of rice and she had the fucking nerve to act like a fucking spoiled bitch.


    So yeah, before anyone could react for the third time, I grabbed on the top of her head and dragged her to the group that was still cooking the rest of their meals.


    "W-WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!"


    "WE JUST ARRIVED YOU DUMB BRAT! APOLOGIZE TO THESE FOLKS!"


    "W-WHAT AM I APOLOGIZING FOR¡ª OW! W-WHY''D YOU¡ª STOP FLICKING MY FOREHEAD! YOU CAN''T JUST DO THAT!" E was already in tears while her forehead had this big red mark on it.


    "I CAN AND I WILL! AFTER THIS, YOU''RE DOING THE DISHES AND TAKING THE WASTE TO THE COMPOST BINS!"


    "WHAT EVEN ARE THOSE?!"


    "OH, YOU''LL FUCKING KNOW, YOU BRAT!"


    "I''M NOT A BRAT! I''M A LADY¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! YOU''RE A BITCH! WHO FUCKING DOES THAT?!"


    "DOES WHAT?! I DIDN''T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"


    "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING LONG THAT SOUP WAS BOILING FOR?!"


    "I DON''T CARE¡ª"


    "HOURS! FUCKING HOURS! NOW GO APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE HERE BEFORE I THROW YOU IN THE WATER!"


    "HELL NO! I WON''T¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    And again, for the fourth time, before anyone could fathom whatever the fuck I was doing, the brat was already flying in the air as I chucked her into the Subic Bay.

 Chapter 1103: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)

    At this point in time, the Subic Bay should''ve been clear of trash or bratty bitches but I just had to fucking throw her in there, or else she''d go into the pot. But yeah, the carrier they came with had just crossed the small ind by the entrance to this bay so the ones who were simply watching in shock eventually snapped out of it and started to take off their gear so they could save her.


    One of the Captains named Moore eximed, "DOES SHE KNOW HOW TO SWIM?!"


    Myra was in total panic mode, "I-I¡ª I''m¡ª SOMEBODY HELP HER!"


    But as a great attendant would, Myra had already managed to get hold of a life buoy but as she threw it at herdy, this dumbass hit her square in the head which made E sink just as she managed to waddle upwards.


    "NOOOOOOOOO! I''M SO SORRY, MY LADY!"


    "CAN''T YOU GUYS MOVE ANY FASTER?!"


    "IT''S A 30-FOOT DROP¡ª"


    "JUST JUMP IN!"


    "WHERE DID SHE DROP ANYWAY?!"


    "IN THE WATER, DUMBASS! WHY''RE YOU ALL IN FULL GEAR ANYWAY¡ª"


    Major Harper pushed me with fear in his eyes, "THAT''S THE SENATOR''S DAUGHTER, YOU DUMBSHIT! SHE''S¡ª WHY ARE YOU TAKING YOUR CLOTHES OFF NOW?!"


    I rolled my eyes as I walked by the edge of the dock, "You guys are too fucking slow. Besides, I may have gone a bit overboard, pun intended¡ª"


    "JUST SAVE HER, YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!"


    As the Major was screaming my ear off, I dove straight for the water and found her gradually sinking¡ªbut still struggling nheless¡ªbut her frilly gown and the random shit she had on her body as essories were weighing her down and making it hard for her to breathe.


    ''That weird choker, for one¡­''


    But yeah, the moment I reached her and we met eyes, she didn''t know whether to rejoice, get angry,sh out, or whatever action in the stupid brain of hers could think of.


    It''s just that she couldn''t believe the one who chucked her in the bay would also be the one to save her but it didn''t take long before she started to lose air.


    It was at the same moment I wrapped my arms around her, and as much as I would''ve wanted to see her drown and pass out for a few seconds, I gave her some air in the only way I thought possible given the situation.


    I was shuffling our way up as I leaned close to her face and pushed the air in my mouth into hers, but this fucking brat was so determined to fucking die she pushed it back in my mouth as she screamed for dear life underwater.


    ''Fucking dumbass!''


    However, I could also do the same fucking thing but she definitely wasted at least half of the air I gave her.


    This time, she finally understood the reason for my actions but she definitely still looked pissed at me for some reason, but I''d rather see her mad than fucking dead. But yeah, the fucking brat never held me so tight but the moment we surfaced, she screamed for dear life as she burst into tears:


    "HELP! HEEEELP! SOMEONE HELP ME¡ª OWWWW! WHY''D YOU HIT ME¡ª"


    "I''M ALREADY HERE, YOU FUCKING BRAT! YOU''RE SCREAMING MY EAR OFF!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO THREW ME IN HERE!"


    "IN THE HOPES YOUR UGLY ATTITUDE GETS WASHED OFF!"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "I GUESS YOU NEED ANOTHER CLEANSE!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    "DUMBASS! DON''T STRUGGLE¡ª THE CARRIER''S COMING, JUST BEAR WITH IT FOR A SECOND!"


    "D-DON''T DROP ME, ALRIGHT?! I D-DUNNO HOW TO SWIM!"


    I rolled my eyes as I waddled over to thedder attached to the wall, "Pssh, figures. Your pops didn''t teach you?"


    "YOU¡ª Y-You won''t understand¡­" she trailed as she suddenly calmed down.


    "Yeah. I probably won''t if you keep acting like that."


    "You people are all the same¡­"


    "Eh. I did try to understand you first before chucking you into the water¡ª"


    "IT WASN''T MY FAULT, ALRIGHT?!"


    "It never is, huh?"


    "YOU¡ª I was just¡ª"


    I finally grabbed hold of thedder, "Look, I won''t make you take the waste to thepost bin or wash the dishes but you gotta apologize to the cooks at least. I don''t know what you went through beforeing here but acting out like that would just make me hate you even more. But yeah, we can forget all of that now and start fresh if you''re okay with that."


    "..."


    "Answer me or I''ll fucking drop you¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! YES! I''LL APOLOGIZE! DON''T D-DROP ME, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Can you even climb thisdder?"


    "..." she never looked so embarrassed as she just red at me while looking sideways.


    "I''m gonna need an answer, not this bullshit silent treatment. You have a lot of fucking issues, brat, geez¡­"


    "I''M NOT A BRAT!"


    "You''re acting like one though¡­ You can just climb over me if you could do it yourself¡ª"


    "F-Fine! I-I dunno if I could¡­ H-Help me, please¡­"


    "Fine. Hold tight. Move over to my back."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, I easily carried her on my back as she was tightly holding onto my neck. Once we made our way to the top, Myra ran in with a huge towel to cover E''s body and dry her up somehow.


    But for some reason, not only these two in a master-servant rtionship were eyeing my body, but almost everyone else that came running¡ªespecially the fighters or the ones in the opposite gender, like this journalist for example¡ªwas scanning me up and down.


    But yeah, Kaley threw me a towel to dry myself before handing me over the clothes I took off. I did strip down to my boxers when I saved E and the only thing missing from my disy was oil and the right lighting for a shoot.


    ''I somehow bulked nicely¡­''


    In any case, ignoring the looks of the Major and the one other Captain named Marcel plus a few others who didn''t appreciate what I did beforehand¡ªexcept for the curious nce E gave me before Myra excused themselves, the carrier was already in a much closer view and needed some assistance as it was about to dock.


    They seemed to have a lot to say at that moment but it kind of canceled out because I was the only one who acted while everyone else was still in shock or was still trying to take off their gear. But honestly, it was a different thing to save someone drowning, especially if it was a brat that would il around like a fucking tuna.


    But yeah, the carrier still looked like an ant when we woke up this morning but I didn''t even realize that the carrier that would being was one of the five supercarriers the US Navy hadmand of that was nuclear-powered.


    Don''t even get me started on the number and variety of nes helicopters, and jets it had on its flight deck, but its whole length of a thousand fucking feet and height of two hundred feet or so was not as imposing or as nice as its name and its hull number:


    [USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)]

 Chapter 1104: Admiral Jason C. Burke - Sudden 180

    Obviously, they wouldn''t need me at this portion because we still had a ton of food to finish up so I quickly dried myself and put on some clothes as Major Harper andpany weed their Admiral, ADM Jason C. Burke.


    From my brief talk with the Majorst night, he mentioned that a lot of promotions were thrown around and even the rank of a Fleet Admiral¡ªwhich wasn''t given to anyone even way, way~ back¡ªwas handed to five individuals who were previously holding the previous rank.


    And yeah, Admiral Jason Burke was a Vice Admiral just a year ago but right now, not only was he promoted from a 3-starmissioned officer to a 4-starmission officer, but he was also granted the Eisenhower not only due to his achievements but also necessity.


    Sure, the US Navy looked super imposing even now, but everyone else in the world took a huge hit when the world ended, and a lot of positions needed to be filled.


    However, even if I did mention the word "necessity", it didn''t mean that they''d just take the riff-raff but I was told that the Admiral took the first step¡ªor should I say, the fucking leap when he smelled that something was fucking off when they were about to go home from their mission.


    That was a story for another day because right at this fucking moment, it was safe to say that a portion of the group that I was trying to feed didn''t take too kindly of what I did with E, who was a senator''s daughter, because the old man and Major Harper were the only ones between them and me getting into a brawl.


    ''Had to wait for the whole team, huh?''


    But yeah, everyone else in my crew eventually got my fucking back as well¡ªincluding Royo, of course¡ªbut for some reason, the Admiral was just looking from the back with a curious nce.


    Funnily enough, he couldn''t give a rat''s ass about the people causing trouble because he took a seat with the other civilians and started eating while enjoying the show.


    ''This guy¡­''


    And to make everything more fucking awkward, Oscar''s daughter, Jennifer Goodman, who was supposed to have a touchy reunion with her father, was stuck between a rock and a hard ce because it seemed like she was also part of the group that was supposed to be with the fucking brat.


    It''s just that I waved everyone off with a dismissive tone:


    "Look, we had some food prepared for all of ya. If you eat them now, you''ll be able to eat whole foods before you puke them all after I''m done with you or if you decide to eat themter, you can start with the soup while I put everything solid in the food processor¡ª"


    Oscar cut me off, "Kid, now''s not the time for jokes. Of all the stupid shit you do¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "She had iting. Besides, I''ll do it as many times as I fucking want if she continues to be like that¡ª"


    Major Harper cut in as well, "Listen to your uncle, kid. This shit''s serious."


    "I already made up with the brat, we''re chill. What are they so fucking mad about¡ª"


    A dude who didn''t look to be over 30 shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOU THREW THE SENATOR''S DAUGHTER IN THE WATER! WHY WON''T WE BE MAD?!"


    "She needed a swim."


    Another "guard" shouted at me while pointing angrily, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD''VE HAPPENED IF SHE DROWNED?!"


    "She didn''t. And I kinda taught her how to swim."


    "IMPOSSIBLE! THE LADY''S UNABLE TO¡ª"


    "Unable to what? Take a hint? Learn new things? Again, if you could talk to Eter, she''ll tell you we''re good."


    "DON''T FUCKING ADDRESS THE LADY THAT FUCKING WAY! WHAT YOU DID IS SOMETHING SERIOUS! IT''S A FEDERAL CRIME¡ª"


    My brow just twitched from that statement, "Listen here, you fuck. On whose fucking soil are ya and whose fuckingws should we be following here?! Besides that, the spat we had was just formon decency and she already failed at that. And you dare talk to me like you''re a fucking saint?! Wannapare atrocitiesmitted, huh?! COULD YOU?!


    YOU FUCKS SHOULD BE STANDING IN FRONT OF A FIRING SQUAD RIGHT NOW BUT I''M FUCKING FEEDING YOU BREAKFAST! WHO ACTUALLY COMMITTED A FUCKING CRIME HERE?!"


    Another attendant bellowed with a deathly re, "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"


    "I''M THAT FUCK THAT WOULD BABYSIT ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CAN''T FUCKING TAKE CARE OF BECAUSE YOU FUCKS WENT NUCLEAR! IF YOU DON''T WANT TO FUCKING EAT, DON''T! FIND YOUR OWN FOOD ON YOUR OWN FUCKING SOIL!"


    "...!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "HOW CAN YOU FUCKING SAY THAT?!"


    Obviously, bringing up that topic that I obviously wouldn''t let them live down was still a very sore subject for everyone. Even the ones who had started eating had to stop while a few others still continued¡ªbut wearing a difficult expression¡ªbecause even if they really needed to do it, in the grand scheme of things, no one wanted to do it.


    But yeah, the tension could still be cut with a knife but it took a different turn when E got in the middle of everyone¡ªwearing a different frilly gown that looked like it used several geese as a sacrifice¡ªbefore bowing towards my group.


    "I-I''m¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Why do you look like a duster¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª I WAS JUST ABOUT TO APOLOGIZE!"


    "You have no sense of just about anything, no? You do know I was about to beat your group to a pulp."


    Her posse reacted almost immediately:


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE APOLOGIZING! WALK OVER HERE AND WE''LL SEE WHO GETS BEAT TO A PULP!"


    I ignored them as I turned to E, "Wanna eat?"


    She readily nodded, much to the shock of everyone, "Y-Yes! I promise I won''t spill the soup this time!" then she leaned to the side to look at the cooks, "Also! I''m sorry for wasting the food earlier!"


    Hearing E say that and act that way towards me, the group who was supposed to watch over her, including Jennifer Goodman, were shaken to the core and they just watched me give theirdy another serving of food as she jauntily made her way towards one of the tables.


    Additionally, E who was supposed to be the pickiest of eaters hungrily wharfed down and inhaled the food I prepared for her¡ªwhich was the reaction I was hoping for from the start¡ªand it was just a shock to everyone.


    "HEY!" she then turned to me with a grain of rice by her lips.


    "What now, you fuckin'' brat?"


    "YOU¡ª G-Give me more! I''m still hungry!"


    I rolled my eyes as I chuckled, "What do you want?"


    "EVERYTHING! I wanna have some coffee, too! What blend do you have¡ª"


    "We only have instant¡ª"


    "WHAT?! Why''s it so good?!"


    "Because of chocte, sugar, and milk. That''s my own "blend", all instant powdered shit."


    "A-Alright! Another cup of those! STAT!"


    "Don''t fucking ''stat!'', me! Wanna have another swim?!"


    "If y-you''re the one to s-save me¡­"


    "Ew."


    "DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT I HEARD YOU SAY?! YOU''RE AWFUL!"


    While this interaction was happening, I saw Jennifer inching closer to the old man before she mouthed:


    "What the fuck is going on?!"


    Oscar just chuckled as he nudged his daughter with his elbow, "I don''t even know¡ª no, it''s the kid''s magic, I tell ya."


    But yeah, as E happily ate her food like everyone else did, there was just some way that would make everyone watching drool or suddenly have the itch to binge some food, and it quickly de-escted the situation I had with her followers.


    Granted there was still some tension when I was the one handing their tes with a smile, but their grumbling stomachs couldn''t hide the fact that they were all just fucking hungry.


    But I just had to do it:


    "IF ANYONE WANTS SECONDS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COME BACK HERE AND ADMIT THAT I''M FUCKING RIGHT! IF YOU KOWTOW A FEW TIMES AND HIT YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND HARD, I''LL EVEN THROW IN A BEER FROM MY OWN STASH!"


    Saying that, I definitely received different reactions¡ªespecially from E''s followers¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the Admiral finished his meal and walked up to me with his tray:


    "What if I''m in the neutral party, kid? What does a man have to do to get a free beer ''round here?"

 Chapter 1105: A Beer for a Drive-By?

    Looking at Admiral Burke face to face for the first time, he looked to be the same age as Oscar but from a quick look and using my own judgemental-ness for a bit, he looked like one of those dads that would wear white New Bnces, Khaki shorts, shades as a headband, and some random-ass shirt with a cor¡ªand would mow hiswn at 6:30 in the morning and would always overcook our burgers at family cookouts despite asking us multiple times on how would we want them.


    Additionally, he looked to be someone who would get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every day but would perform a fucking dead drop on his father-daughter dance.


    Looks-wise, he was rocking a full head of grey hair, a full beard trimmed nicely, light blue eyes, sun-tanned patches on his face plus a few wrinkles, and a very dignified and proper look befitting of an Admiral.


    But yeah, as I pulled out a cold one from my cooler by my feet, I noticed that his ring finger had this particr mark that would''ve said he was married before. It was one of those things where someone who would always jog or run in the morning while wearing their watch takes it off after some time.


    ''Not the time to ask that or my business¡­''


    "What''s this?" the Admiral asked as he was looking at the cold bottle in front of him.


    "Oh, this? I''m not charging you for it now so you''ll owe me big timeter."


    "Hah! Is that so?" He chuckled as he twisted the cap open.


    "That''s how interest works, right?"


    He took a big gulp much to everyone''s envy, "Ah~ That hits the spot. Shouldn''t be doing this in the morning but damn, I wouldn''t mind getting hustled every now and again for this¡­ It''s been a while¡­ It''s been a while¡­"


    At this point, it seemed like everyone was just watching what the Admiral was doing¡ªthough E was still deep in her nose with the food I gave her¡ªbut no one expected the words that came out of the Admiral''s mouth next:


    "You know what? For this beer you gave me, I''ll give you the chance topletely obliterate one of your enemies with a¡­ What do young folk call them? Ah¡­ Drive-bys? Is that it? We''ll just visit them with a few of my F-18s and problem gone. What do you think?"


    Hearing him say that, I kept a straight face that slowly turned to amusement when the people behind him either spit out their food or almost had a heart attack. However, seeing him look at me with the same expression as earlier told me he was half-joking or was just simply waiting for my response.


    But I just chuckled as I nced down before looking back at him.


    "Something funny, kid?" he said as he took another sip of his beer.


    I shook my head, "We''re starting with this, huh?"


    "Eh. We''re only here a few days and we are letting you babysit the people we couldn''t take care of. Seems fair, no?"


    "By erasing a part of the map?"


    "You know the drill."


    "Sorry, but no. I only work small-time."


    "Shame¡ª"


    "You don''t understand, Admiral. It''s for a reason."


    "Do tell."


    "Alright. I don''t know if you know already and you''re just fucking with me but we don''t have those mutations you have in your cities you had to send nuclear weapons over and even if you''re just gonna drop a few missiles or borerge fucking holes in my enemies'' territory, I''m sorry but that''s just a¡ªpun intended¡ªa nuclear option."


    "It solves the problem, no?"


    "I guess that''s how you folks really operate, huh? Doing it that way is just gonna create more problems to fix afterward."


    "What do you suggest though?"


    "Hmm. I just want you to let me handle my own shit because I don''t know if you''re that rich to not care about resources to go around but it''s a problem for us if we just keep destroying everything to achieve our goals. We can make our shit as well but turning some perfectly good facilities into rubble don''t help us as well.


    For example, wouldn''t it be better to get the maximum spoils in a ship you were just in a dogfight with including the ship you just took out yourself? What good does that do if you just sink all that metal in the ocean?"


    Admiral Burke was a little confused, "Why would I want another ship if I have the best one?"


    "See? That''s where we are different. You only want the best one, I want fucking everything."


    "Won''t it be hard to manage everything at once?"


    "It is. But that''s what I''m good at. It grinds my gears and slowly makes me insane but it''s also doing the opposite at the same time too. Kinda weird but it works for some reason. I already have a fucking lot on my te but I''m taking on this huge project too."


    He shook his head, "Doing that will burn you out, kid. Just saying. Take it from me¡ª"


    "A-ha! That''s why you need multiple ships. The best one could do all the work but not all of them. You need some small vessels or fishing boats to do simple work and specialized ones like a speedboat or a submarine to min-max everything at the same time. I dunno if you could get that but that''s how it goes."


    He nodded pensively as he chuckled, "Ah~ I kinda get it, sure. That analogy¡ª did you think of it just now?"


    "Yeah? Don''t ask for too much though. That''s all I got at the moment."


    "Hah! Shame," then he ced the empty bottle in front of me, "Can I have a refill?"


    "If I gave you another one, does that mean you''ll destroy two enemies for me? And does it change with the beverage?"


    The Admiral suddenly looked intrigued, "What else do you have though? And why aren''t you drinking with me?"

 Chapter 1106: Morning Drink Sesh - Not this again.

    As soon as the Admiral said that, the kitchen counter we were in suddenly turned to a bar of sorts where I became the bartender and the Admiral one of those lonely customers that just wanted a stiff drink and someone to talk to about their problems.


    However, since we already talked about alcohol, it didn''t take long before Oscar, Major Harper, Royo, the two Captains: Moore and Marcel, Quinn, andstly Jennifer Goodman to join in and drink with the Admiral.


    The old man already plopped down the barrel of his brew in front of me with a Tupperware of jerky and peanuts, "Serve this kid."


    Quinn followed with a bottle of Absinthe she pulled out of her ass, "Serve this too¡ª"


    Royo cut in, "Isn''t that illegal in¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    Captain Marcel turned to Jennifer, "First Lieutenant, why are you here and not with the Senator''s daughter?"


    Jennifer replied, "Fuck off."


    "What did you just say to me?!"


    "I''m off-duty now¡ª I''m basically on vacation the moment we docked here! So again, fuck off!"


    "FIRST LIEUTENANT¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "HEY! THIS IS MY BREW WE''RE DRINKIN'' AND THAT''S MY DAUGHTER YOU''RE YAPPIN'' AT, PUNK! WATCH YOUR MOUTH, HUH?!"


    "Colonel¡ª"


    Captain Moore rolled his eyes, "We haven''t had a drink yet and you''re all¡ª" then he turned to me, "Can I have a beer, first?"


    The Admiral cut in as well, "Whoa! WHOA! What are you all doin'' I''m having my time with the kid here and you all interrupt?!"


    Major Harper replied, "C''mon, Admiral~ Alcohol should be shared with friends! And we''re celebrating now!"


    I muttered from the other side of the bar, "At 8:00 in the morning¡­"


    Quinn mmed her palm on the bar, "Hey! Are you serving us liquor or not?!"


    Jennifer followed, "YEAH! I just got back from deployment and it''s all gotten fucked up! POUR ME ONE ALREADY! COME ON! YOU''RE BASICALLY MY YOUNGER STEP-BROTHER, RIGHT?! GIVE ME THE GOOD STUFF!"


    I should''ve expected something else for meeting the old man''s daughter for the first time but funnily enough, she got right in there and acted like we had known each other long ago¡ªwhich I greatly appreciated¡ªso I gave her the first shot of the day before handing Captain Moore a cold bottle.


    Looking at her closely, she did have some of the features of the old man but I''d say that body-wise, she was more on the bulkier side with her athletic build. For a littleparison, she looked like what a powerlifter would look like though she traded some of her assets for actual muscle.


    Not to take anything away from her physique but her body was what Quinn would look like if hers didn''t defy thews of equivalent exchange. She was almost as tall as me but a normal gym goer could look at her and say that she might be taking something.


    ''Voice is not as deep though so she probably didn''t take anything but we''ll never know fully without bloodwork¡­ Probably a smidge of Anavar but we''ll see¡­ She''s a mix of Quinn and Tatiana¡ªno, Quinn and Katya¡­ Sounds about right¡­''


    However, I could only see her thick neck and forearms at the moment, but facial-wise, all things were ''Merican-made or coded but she had this pointy-ish nose and square-ish jaw that would make guys who only wanted the Barbie types or thepletely feminine types swipe the other way.


    ''Not me, though¡ª Hold up, this is a dangerous thought¡ª Not now, not now, not now¡­''


    But yeah, she still waited for everyone else to have a drink on their hands before they all had a toast in front of everybody who was still having breakfast.


    ''This is one of the weirdest shit I''ve seen¡ª Nevermind¡­ This ce would need an actual bar in the future¡­''


    Obviously, more and more people came for a cold one¡ªeven those from E''s side¡ªbut my focus was just on this fucking lineup of people because they just might slip up and say more government secrets while they were having fun.


    I know that I''m already partially in on it and have some sort of authority but it just wasn''t the samepared to them who served the same g and the same country, except for Quinn, of course, who was just there for the alcohol.


    However, it didn''t take long before these fucks realized the potency of the old man''s brew and the old man, Quinn, and his daughter were the only ones that were enjoying it.


    The two captains easily downed five shots but little did they know it also snucks up at ''em too after the brutal first hit and that was one of the reason the Admiral was holding onto his third shot while the Major and Royo was contemting on taking their second one.


    Jennifer turned to her dad who was at the opposite side of the bar, "Hey! What''s this made of?!"


    Oscar quipped after asking for his fifth one without issues, "Don''t ''Hey!'' me, you brat! Can''t call me dad, at least?!"


    "We still have a lot of fucking things to talk about, Colonel! I''ll call you that if I want to! And can''t you answer that at least¡ª"


    "Watermelon! Shit''s made with watermelon!"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "I aged them in a whiskey barrel though, that''s why you get that aftertaste¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Isn''t the aftertaste from the watermelon instead?"


    Oscar pped his forehead, "Yeah, yeah, I got it backwards. It''s faint but you can smell the whiskey and taste a bit of it when it goes down, right? It''s still a work in progress but it''s kinda smooth in a way¡­"


    Quinn and Jennifer nodded and said at the same time, "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    The Admiral chimed in, "I dunno about smooth but this is too hard first thing in the morning after breakfast¡­"


    Oscar chuckled, "You can stick to the bud light if you can''t take it."


    "I didn''t say that, I just said it''s too hard! Can I have a taste of that green one?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "Eck! Jesus! WHY''S¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she drank straight from the bottle, "Pussies. Pussies, I tell ya," then she turned to Jennifer, "Want a taste?"


    "Sure," Jennifer nodded before drinking from the battle as well.


    "What do you think?"


    "Ooh! Jesus, that is wild but I''d like it with some coke or something," then she turned to me, "You have a can over there?"


    "Uh-huh. Here," then I turned to Major Harper, "So, we''re drinking the day away, now?"


    Major Harper shook his head, "Nah. I''m fine with this one. We have a lot to go over now that they''re all here," then he turned to the Admiral, "Admiral Burke, after you''re done here, I suggest we meet at the Main Hangar in fifteen. Is that okay?"


    The Admiral nodded, "Sure, sure," then he turned to me, "I must''ve forgotten to do this but thanks for this."


    "It''s all on your tab though, heh. It''s gaining interest at the moment, watch out."


    He chuckled, "That''s true, can I shake your hand though? I need to see something for myself."


    I turned to the rest of his troops before I turned back to him, "Really? Not this again."


    "Just humor me, alright?"

 Chapter 1107: Gentlemen, I would like you all to meet my ex-wife.

    For some reason, almost everyone who was a ranking officer¡ªincluding the Admiral, of course, as he was way~ up there¡ªwanted to share a handshake with me. I wasn''t sure if this was just amon urrence to test a person''s worth or someone''s grip strength in the most literal sense, but it never hurt anybody so I did what the Admiral asked and humored him like everybody else.


    But yeah, at the back of my mind, I was picturing that he''d just grimace for some bullshit reason and I''d just be taken to the brig for assaulting a high-ranking officer¡ªbut I already threw a senator''s daughter overboard, why fucking stop there?


    And the moment we "shook" hands, I already felt his firm callused hands¡ªdespite hismanding position¡ªbefore it turned to a deathly grip that would''ve crushed a small watermelon.


    ''All these motherfuckers'' bullshit test of strength for some reason¡ª''


    But despite the Admiral''s attempt to make me make out a face, I kept a straight look as I gradually built pressure until both our arms were shaking, but our little excursion was interrupted by the goose, E:


    "DAD! Stop messing around! Have you tried the soup, yet? It''s really good¡ª Hey! I''m talking to you! Dad!"


    And as soon as E''s voice entered the Admiral''s(?) ears, his grip crashed down before I matched it until we were actually having a normal handshake, but I sure as hell wouldn''t pass up what the brat fucking called him.


    "Wait, a sec¡ª I thought you¡ª She''s the daughter of a senator, right? Not an Admiral¡ª Wait¡­ So, your wife''s the senator?"


    Admiral Burke was looking at E with a gentle smile as he said, "I''ve tried it all, dear. It is good. d you enjoyed it too! Let me just finish my conversation with this young man, alright?"


    "O-Okay! Be nice to him, alright?! He''s my friend!"


    I wanted to cut in, "I¡ª"


    But the Admiral turned back to me again, "To answer your question, yes and no."


    "Then¡ª"


    "Let me finish. Michae is my daughter too but she''s also my ex-wife''s. I hope that clears any misunderstanding. Don''t worry as much about throwing her in the water though, I haven''t had the chance to teach her how to swim and I guess I''ll leave that to ya. My ex-wife should''ve been taking her to sses but she''s pretty busy as well¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    From that brief moment of silence, it was then that I realized the reason why the old man and Major Harper were that worried for my well-being, because from the list of high-profile individuals that had just arrived, "E" was at least at the top 3 out of all of them.


    However, I''d still throw her in the water the second time but I also realized that the senator in question or their mother/ex-wife¡ªdepending on who was asked¡ªwasn''t present.


    ''Still, would''ve been clearer if the Major started calling her the Admiral''s daughter instead of the senator''s which wasn''t here at all¡­ There might''ve been a .001% chance I could''ve changed my mind because I am trying to score brownie points off them¡­''


    I poured myself a shot before I looked at him with a solemn expression, "Right. To avoid any more misunderstandings, is she¡­ your ex-wife¡ª"


    "Alive?"


    "Yep."


    "I would''ve saidte ex-wife, no?"


    "Eh. Depends on the person. It could mean a lot of things."


    "Huh. That is true¡­"


    "So, your daughter¡­"


    "Yeah? What do you wanna know?"


    "Is she¡­ Is she staying here too?"


    "..." he just gave me a look before beckoning me to take another shot.


    "She''s staying, huh? Fuck¡­ The next time you''re here though, depending on her behavior, she just might beat Michael Phelps or develop a more¡­ normal fashion sense¡ªnot that it''s bad or anything but people just might throw her some bread if they thought she''s a goose¡ª"


    "HAH!" the Admiral cackled as he finally downed his drink, "Don''t say that as loud! She took fashion, footwear, essories, and jewelry design all at the same time so¡­ you know¡­ she''s the authority in¡­ in that department¡­ whatever the hell that is¡­"


    "Huh."


    "Pour me another one¡ª"


    "She took¡ª You mean she was in college?"


    "Pretty obvious, no?"


    "She elerated or moved up or something?"


    "Huh? Why? She''d probably be a doctor or in one of those sciences if she was."


    "Ah¡­"


    "You¡ª Ohhh, that''s right¡­ She doesn''t look one, huh?"


    "Doesn''t act like one too¡ª"


    "Like you''re any mature¡ª"


    "Fuck you. Can you swear on your life you wouldn''t throw her in the water if you had the chance?"


    "..."


    "Hmm?!"


    "You fucking¡ª Asshole! That''s my kid! Why would I¡ª"


    "Just answer the damn question, you fuck!"


    "..."


    "Ooh~ Silent treatment. You learned that from your wife¡ª I mean, ex-wife?"


    He just stared at me for a bit before he tapped his fingers on the table, "Just pour me a damn drink, you kid."


    "That''s a yes, huh?"


    In any case, I didn''t even realize that the two of us were the only ones in the bar as everyone else decided to move on and do their own thing. It IS still morning and we still had a lot of fucking shit to do before they leave again, but after we downed his sixth shot and my fourth, the Admiral beckoned me to close up shop and meet everyone else in the Eisenhower instead of the Hangar.


    "I think everyone''s already in the Main Hangar¡ª"


    "Then call them over. I have something to show all of you."


    "Okay?"


    "I''ll meet you there in five¡­" he trailed as he let out a long sigh.


    With that said, it wasn''t that difficult to convince all the high-ranking officers in the makeshift HQ toe to the supercarrier because the Admiral himself said so, but instead of meeting up in their "war room" to discuss specifics of our current situation, we were led by one of his officers towards one of theirrger storage areas.


    It''s just that the Admiral was standing in front of this huge-ass translucent aquarium where a figure was supposedly "sleeping" inside.


    "Gentlemen, I would like you all to meet my ex-wife."

 Chapter 1108: One of One

    As the Admiral bumped the ss¡ªwhich I assumed was military-grade reinforced ss¡ªwith the bottom of his closed fist, it just made a dull sound before the "ex-wife" inside rose up unnaturally by flinging its whole discolored body to the sound it heard.


    Additionally, it also barely made any sound when it collided on the spot the Admiral bumped but it did leave nasty mark of its bodily fluids which slowly got washed down by the steaming from the inside.


    ''What the fuck¡­''


    From a quick nce, it was just a simple-looking aquarium with nothing on the inside to sustain a human being.


    All it had was a light source, the mist spray, and some random ass bullshit to monitor everything that was happening inside.


    But yeah, the figure inside couldn''t even be called "human" anymore because it looked like what would happen if you crumpled a piece of paper and tried to straighten it back out.


    Sure, it did have some external identifiers like its face had a showdown with Mike Tyson or its limbs that looked like it was more than double-jointed due to its injuries, but in all honesty, it looked like a person tried to volunteer as a crash test dummy and somehow survived.


    Despite all that, I was more confused as to how it could move unnaturally¡ªor even move at all¡ªbecause this "senator" needed more than a wheelchair or a shoulder to lean on.


    I was just staring at it the whole time like everyone else who saw this scene for the first time, but the Admiral was looking straight at me.


    "Take a closer look. My ex-wife''s one of one if any of that matters¡­"


    "Does your daughter know?" I asked as I moved a few steps forward.


    "No."


    Oscar chimed in, "Can I also tap the ss?"


    "Sure."


    And as Oscar did, instead of a "ragdoll" flinging itself to any known sound source, we all just heard a dull click after we saw it motion to throw something.


    "The hell?"


    "What''re those¡ª"


    "That''s also her. Part of her, at least."


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise, the senator was making use of its bones as throwables because we saw pieces of its skeletal system on the flooring, but that just made us even more confused. Our bones should be the structure that keeps our bodies upright but even with the unnatural movement, it shouldn''t be able to fling itself, throw an item, or much less, move.


    But yeah, we saw it "search" its right arm for more "artillery" though we discovered that it was a Southpaw from that action.


    It seemed like its right arm was just a very long appendage but its whole muscle configuration was jumbled all over. I was pretty sure it had five bicep heads and three long heads for its forearms¡ªaside from its fingers just being nubs¡ªand it made me think of one of our own.


    ''Maybe?''


    I would''ve thought that this was a doing of a stitcher/slurper but I''m pretty sure there wasn''t any mention of a special like that from overseas. Even so, what if it was just a matter of time until each continent or country have the same type of shit¡ªbut it seemed like my prediction was a little off.


    The Admiral pressed some sort of button to conceal his "ex-wife" by turning off the lights from the inside. But before the lightspletely dimmed down, we saw the spraying out of the small nozzles give out a lot more but the color of it was still the same.


    I wasn''t sure if it was some way to make it "sleep" but we still have a lot more questions than answers¡ªwhich I''m gonna assume he doesn''t have the right answer for it either.


    "I''m sorry, gents, she has to ''recollect'' herself after that. We can''t just stress her body out even more¡ªbecause we can''t just feed her outsider meat¡­"


    Oscar cut in before I managed to, "Holdup¡ª That''s a lot more questions than answers. We gotta need more context than that!"


    The Admiral let out another long sigh, "Let''s talk upstairs, I just wanted you all to see that before I surrender her. I know she''s not my wife anymore and she really doesn''t look like her anymore but¡ª"


    I just had to do it, "Admiral. I don''t know if this would work with you or if this is appropriate but does this aquarium have a catching tray of sorts where we could get a sample of her blood or any of her bodily fluids? Maybe even a bone or two? We don''t need a lot but we do have Japanese scientists in a different ind group and they would greatly appreciate the help."


    "..."


    "Admiral?"


    As I asked him that question, the Admiral just looked straight at me for what felt like a whole minute before he let out another sigh and looked down. After what seemed to be another minute, he looked back at me and nodded a few times before he answered:


    "We already have some samples to pass on. It is kind of diluted with the mist and all but you just gotta collect a lot of it, you know? Don''t worry though, this is just the alcohol talking, I already made up my mind about this."


    "T-Thank you, Admiral¡ª no, Mr. Burke. For the record¡­ I won''t charge you interest with the alcohol¡ª"


    "HAH! Is that so?"


    "Mine''s not watered down¡ª"


    He suddenly jabbed my gut before he kind of stared me down as he lightly shook his head, "Asshole. Easy on the jokes, alright?"


    "Right¡­ Apologies."


    But yeah, I took onest look at the aquarium before we followed the Admiral up the staircase but it was very obvious that the weight on his shoulders was as heavy as the steps he was taking.


    It didn''t take long before we reached their "war room" of sorts but the first thing I noticed was the simrity of the markings of their world map with Major Harper''s except for a few select ones.

 Chapter 1109: The Senators Origin

    In any case, the "select" markings I discovered weren''t onnd but actually on a body of water, and with the number of supercarriers and carriers the USA possessed¡ªincluding the ones not run by nuclear power but still fall under a Nimitz-ss carrier¡ªI''m just gonna assume that these markings were theirst known or current location.


    But yeah, before I had the chance to look around and assume shit that was hopefully spot on, the Admiral beckoned me to sit down before he projected a family picture on the table we were sitting at.


    It was a picture that not only showed that people who served had probably a dozen or so of either theirbat or service uniforms¡ªbecause that was what they would always opt for clothing even in the fucking holidays¡ªbut joking aside, it was one where a wacky shot which was taken by their daughter forughs was treasured by both parents because it was a time where their work hadn''t interfered that much with their marriage.


    I could be fucking talking out of my own ass right now but I''ve never seen people working for the government smile that genuinely except for a few exceptions.


    ''So that''s what she actually looks like¡­''


    I turned to the Admiral, "When was this, if I may ask?"


    "Probably a decade ago or so ago. A few months before our divorce."


    "I see."


    "Hmm."


    "Ah¡ª W-What was her name again? I can''t remember you¡ª"


    "Jolene."


    "Oh. She''s¡ª She looks really different here¡ª"


    The Admiral let out a bitter chuckle, "I didn''t do half-bad, huh?"


    I nodded a few times, "Yeah. E''s so fucking lucky she didn''t take after you¡ª WOAH! Don''t start throwing shit around! That''s a good brand of stapler! Jesus!"


    "I''ll throw this paperweight next if you can''t just give me a singlepliment, you dick!"


    "I''m sorry! You aged really great! And your wife''s gorgeous! I wish I could grow a full beard like yours! Happy?!"


    "Hmph."


    "A-Anyway, why are you showing¡ª"


    As I was still mid-sentence, I was cut off by another picture that only showed Jolene alone wearing a hospital gown and she looked like half her foot was on death''s door.


    The pale skin almost imprinting her very skinny body, loss of at least 90% of her hairline, sunken eyes, etc., and all of the telltale signs that someone was on a ton of medication and clinical trials just to keep her alive¡ªnot even turning once to hospice care.


    "What the¡ª How¡ª When?"


    "That was taken a couple of years after our divorce. And before you ask, I''m not the fucking devil and I had no idea¡ªour daughter too¡ªthat she was going through all of this at the time, but yeah, our divorce was for some other reason that''s not relevant to this scenario."


    "But¡ª"


    And for the second time while I was still in the middle of my sentence, he showed another picture of his wife, probably in the same hospital and wearing the same outfit, but this time, she looked more like the first photo he showed us.


    It''s just that I wasn''t sure if it was a before or after photo.


    However, knowing that everyone else in this group still referred to her as the "senator" and E not knowing of her mother''s current situation, I''m gonna assume that her meds and whatever clinical trial she was in worked but still failed at surviving the end of the world.


    But yeah, the Admiral continued posting more photos of her life after the treatment and how she funded several foundations in cancer research¡ªright until we were shown a CCTV footage the moment she turned over to the other side.


    To my surprise, it was dated only a few months before D-Day, and with the familiar markings on the walls and the same equipment in the background, I assumed it was at the same ce she got treated though this time, it was now for the other hopefuls that were granted the privilege to be like a normal person.


    It''s just that I was waiting for a maintenance worker or any fucking personnel toe in and take a bite out of her neck, but Jolene just happily talked with one of the patients before she got out of the room, sat on one corner for a good fifteen minutes before a nurse checked in on her and discovered she was no longer breathing.


    Almost immediately, CPR was given to somehow revive or resuscitate the victim, but the moment the nurse pressed on Jolene''s chest for the firstpression, Jolene''s chest cavity caved in like it was made of twigs and her brittle bones made a pincushion of her insides before it broke out of her skin, making blood seep out of her clothes and giving the nurse the fright of her life.


    Despite that, the nurse tried her best to keep herposure before calling every fucking doctor on the floor, and it gave her a slight glimmer of hope that she could still keep her job when she saw movementing from the Admiral''s wife.


    It seemed that Jolene had started to choke on her own blood despite the broken chest cavity and her body not expelling air a few fucking minutes ago.


    But as the blood on the nurse''s hands who touched anything and everything¡ªfrom the panic of calling everything to her exact location¡ªgot onto and into her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, it didn''t turn her into a flesh-eating abomination we refer to as the undead but it just¡­ it just killed her.


    Within a few minutes of having Jolene''s blood in their bodies caused a fatality, but the biggest and most confusing surprise came next.


    Once the doctors and any other emergency personnel arrived, all they saw was the dead nurse on the floor lying next to the senator, who supposedly had the freakiest CPR ident recorded in history, had the fastest recovery.


    Not only did Jolene''s skeletal system ''recollect'' itself as the Admiral mentioned earlier, she would''ve lived to this day if she hadn''t been given CPR that caused the bone fragments to pierce through all her organs.

 Chapter 1110: Its a yes or no question, Mr. Burke.

    Obviously enough, the hospital tried to dy announcing the deaths that urred and gather as much data as possible, but it didn''t take long before they discovered that "Jolene" still had brain activity despite being dered dead due to her internal organs getting punctured from the inside and out.


    The brain was supposed to have activity for around four to six minutes as a person died and something thought impossible became possible¡­ in a sense.


    At that point, the term "zombification" wasn''t even in their heads yet because the words brain and skeletal auto-regeneration were being thrown around¡ªin their words, the brain''s ability to stay alive and "jump" the rest of its body like a car would so it would be able to function as normal again.


    It''s just that Jolene''s bones moving on their own seemed to be not as focused as its own thing because let''s be real here, 99.9% of the people that would witness this would focus on the brain and assume that everything was just the brain''s doing.


    And yeah, it''s also true¡­ in a sense.


    ''What if her bone regenerating that way is just another separate thing caused by the treatment she received? Not just the root or actual cause in tandem with the actual thing that made these monsters?''


    But right now, we were being shown several X-rays that showed a timeline of how fast Jolene''s skeletal system tried to repair itself but as it moved through its organs to reset itself to its right ce, it solved its current issue but still caused problems everywhere else.


    But yeah, getting these scans was a feat in itself because not even including when another personnel died from getting Jolene''s blood in an open wound, Jolene''s spine and calves literally snapped when they moved her to a stretcher. Her bones were still as brittle but they "recover" just as fast, rtively speaking,pared to bones'' usual healing rate.


    She was like a character with a negative constitution modifier but her recovery was way~ off the fucking charts, but with several dependencies and conditions to be fulfilled so that she could survive the day.


    It''s just that these doctors opened her up after her bones "healed" in record time and tried to stitch her organs back up as they thought it would''ve been a great help IF the rest of her organs started to heal themselves as well.


    And to their dismay, it didn''t.


    This fucking hospital tried everything to dy announcing her death¡ªdespite already covering up the nurse and the EMTs death¡ªbecause she technically wasn''t but she technically wasn''t alive either. However, everything just abruptly jumped to when the "senator" was looking like a few car crashes from what she looked like earlier.


    "What¡ª That''s it?"


    The Admiral replied solemnly, "From that instance, yes. Just watch the rest."


    "Okay¡­"


    With that said, the videos we were seeing right now was from a differentb and we could clearly see the Admiral and a few other officers from the other side of the window.


    This time, Jolene was held tight by multiple ratchet straps and her bones were much, much strongerpared to the time it''d break with the simplest touch. However, something was definitely off from the videos I was seeing¡ªthough the Admiral and everyone else seemed serious in showing me this¡ªbut I had to hit pause and look everybody in the eye.


    "You''re not punking me, right?"


    "No."


    Oscar asked, "What''s wrong, kid?"


    "Nothing. Just making sure."


    If it was any other day, I would''ve assumed it was an altered video made by a very early-on AI program but remembering the extra amount of muscles Jolene shouldn''t be having, I just kept to myself and continued watching the video.


    At that point, the Admiral from the video never looked so pained when seeing his ex-wife get experimented on, but I was more focused on the number of bones they were taking out of her body and the location they were taking it out from.


    But yeah, I just watched them pull out a skull, a hipbone, a femur¡ªbasically a random assortment of bones from anything, everywhere, and all at once from the senator''s whole body¡ªnot just its stomach¡ªand it looked to me like a telltale sign of a Stitcher.


    However, it looked to me like Jolene "absorbed" them into an on her body wherein a Stitcher would use its tongue to physically attach a new appendage to itself.


    It was like one of those times when we saw a few deadheads congealed on each other but they were just functioning like regr deadheads, not like ammo or extra padding for the ragdoll¡ªand in another case, "Jolene" ragdoll-ing still wasn''t discussed yet.


    The Admiral then turned to me, "Thoughts about this?"


    I thought for a bit before I answered, "Do you know how anglerfish mate?"


    He nodded approvingly, "My thoughts exactly."


    Major Harper cut in, "What?"


    "When a male anglerfish finds a mate, it basically attaches itself to the female, sharing DNA, blood, skin¡ªfucking everything. Before long, the two literally be one and the same and it''s just¡­ Some type of way it could sustain itself given its way of using its bones as throwables."


    "Are we still talking about the fish or¡ª"


    I answered the same time with the Admiral, "Both."


    "Ah¡­"


    "But in the case of the senator, whether she absorbs one into her body or a deadhead starts a parasitic rtionship with her, it wasn''t for a reproductive purpose. It''s just their way to survive¡ªthat reminds me," I said as I turned to the Admiral, "You said to not feed her outside meat. What does that mean?"


    The Admiral turned to the Major, "You told him about the key factor in mutations urring, right?"


    "I did."


    He turned back to me, "Now, think¡ª"


    I finally had the realization as I cut him off, "Ah, fuck. I get it now. But hold on, why would you feed her anyway? She''s dead, right?"


    "..."


    "Right?"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "It''s¡­ It''s a yes or no question, Mr. Burke."


    "Haa¡­ Yes and no."

 Chapter 1111: How It Works - Spoilers

    Ever since this shit started, we''ve been trying to figure out how this fucking workspared to the media we consumed, but the progress we had at this point was like clearing a hoarder''s den and discovering it was just a fucking room within the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kongbined with the Underground Catbs in Paris.


    There existed a universal truth that their brains were their critical weakness but with the emergence of Stitchers that could basically turn left-alone deadheads as puppets for a time, the way it should''ve been working was blurring more and more as we discover more shit that they could do.


    But yeah, 99% of the deadheads we encounter would still sumb with a strong enough blow to the head but then again, this was only to the extent of our knowledge and the information shared with us.


    ''What if there were certain mutations that didn''t need the Main CPU or what if there were mutations that were stand-alone puppets who didn''t need a master?''


    That was one of the reasons I sent out clearing groups¡ªto try and nip everything in the bud to avoid such mutations from happening¡ªbut that might also be one of the reasons that the world decided to send nuclear weapons all around the globe, topletely obliterate certain mutations that a small group or even an army couldn''t handle with a sharp de or an anti-tank round.


    In any case, bringing it back to our current situation, I should''ve asked a better question so that the Admiral could''ve articted more from the get-go.


    Answering me coyly with "Yes and no," was still technically an answer because zombies were both alive and dead, but I dryly chuckled and looked a little fed up before he took it upon himself to give me his real answer:


    "Look, I didn''t mean feed in the literal sense but I''m sure you noticed that she wouldn''t even be able to chew her food unless she put her jaw¡ªat least what''s left of it¡ªto where it belongs and do her magic¡ª Wait. No, her original jaw and the rest of her teeth were long gone the moment she discovered how to use them as weapons¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Hold up, what do you mean by original? Does she have fake ones we don''t know about? Can she make a new skeleton from scratch¡ª"


    I cleared things up with Oscar before ADM Burke could, "I think he''s referring to the bodies it absorbed. Once they''re one and the same, her only problem is finding the right size¡ª Hold up, what happens to the brains of the ones she absorbed?"


    Oscar waved me down, "Hold up, hold up¡ª Let me catch up, kid. So when they fuse together¡ª Oh! Ohhh~ I get it, I get it¡ª Right! What happens to the brain of the other one and the rest of its organs?"


    "It''s¡ª"


    The Admiral was about to give an answer but I followed up with a third question:


    "Before you answer that, a bicep is called a "bi"-cep because of the two muscles it wasposed of but the one we just saw over there has five. Are they even bicep heads or just extra lumps from the¡­ you know?"


    The Admiral let out a brief sigh, "You''ve kinda answered your own question. But to rify, this is just from our observations, but the way she ''feeds'' is through absorbing the others like her as we established earlier but as they meld into her skin, they just shrink more and more until they''re the size of a¡ªforgive theparison¡ªa chilidog or something simr but the bones remain the same.


    It''s just that they stick out and that''s what makes them essible to her as throwing weapons¡­"


    "Even the brain?"


    "Yes."


    Oscar muttered, "She''d probably look even weirder if she still had several appendages sticking out from her body. No offense, Admiral."


    "None taken. Quite a silver lining in a way."


    I asked, "How long does it take to absorb a deadhead? And before they turn into a chilidog, can she move them or does the mate move on its own?"


    "I think it''ll be better if I show you the video."


    "There''s more?"


    "Among other things, yes."


    "Then show us¡ª"


    "Move your feet off the goddamn table, then!"


    "Ah¡ª Apologies."


    "Haa¡­"


    With that said, as the Admiral loaded the video on the coolest "gaming table" ever, it showed Jolene in pretty much the same state she was in right now¡ªeven in the same aquarium¡ªbut this time, she looked to be a tad lethargic despite the couple of "friends" she had over.


    But yeah, we''ve seen her flung herself earlier but seeing her "walk" right now doesn''t look like she was walking. It could be from the missing bones or just her muscles doing all the work but it didn''t take long before the ones before her knew of her presence and made their way to meet her halfway.


    The two seemed to be regr deadheads, but even though I''ve seen dregs eat themselves or eat one of their own, I''ve never seen them chomp through her flesh halfway before giving her a tight hug.


    It was the weirdest fucking three-way I''ve seen in a while but the video started to speed up.


    "Woah, woah¡ª Wait¡ª"


    "It''s much better this way, trust me. You wouldn''t wait the full week, would you?"


    Oscar asked, "It takes a full week?"


    "Give or take."


    "Man~ you just gotta spoil it, huh?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd¡­"


    But yeah, I''ve seen lotion get absorbed through the skin but I''ve never seen a full body¡ªmuch less a rotting one and two of them, I might add¡ªget absorbed for another''s "sustenance".


    It was like this ssic animation where this antagonist absorbs certain androids through its tail to further perfect its evolution but this one looked like it was evolving backwards or just barely clinging to life.


    Jolene did look a little more "energetic" as it finally finished its meal.

 Chapter 1112: The Hall Pass

    Looking at Jolene''s body at that specific moment, it wasn''t aplete absorption as I thought because there were ky bits of skin that fell off along with some bones that were either too big or a little loosepared to the rest of the ones making her look like the most fucked-up hedgehog known to man.


    However, even if I''ve seen a lot of shit before¡ªeven the onesmitted by people¡ªseeing how the whole process works was still unnerving, to say the least.


    But yeah, our whole conversation took more than a few hours to finish but at the end of the day, it was just more ways in how these things could function, not how to bring about a solution.


    ''Hmm¡­ outsider meat just refers to the deadheads that might have a different strand of the virus¡­ Also, our nerves could still order the body around without the proper support, hence the ragdoll-ing¡­''


    In any case, to fully solve this thing or any other viruses or whatever the fuck we were facing right now, the way to go was to fully understand it as well¡ªand somehow even recreate it¡ªbecause that was how it was done even before this zombie bullshit started.


    It''s just that the mutations urring over and over was making everything extra hard because a cure for one strand might not be the cure for another. We''ve discussed this type of thing before and we did end up with the "solution" of making something that could also evolve with the virus to render it null and void.


    However, it''s still just fantasynd at this point because all we''ve done was send samples while the ones we sent them to just analyze them.


    It''s like going an incline that keeps getting steeper and steeper and there''s no downhill or end point in sight. It would''ve been nice if there were checkpoints or water breaks along the road we were trekking but we''re still stuck with the same cure we''ve had since day one: violence.


    And before we left the Admiral alone for a while, I did ask for copies of the footage and images we''d seen and he reluctantly agreed.


    "You can say no, you know?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s alright. The more eyes to see this, the better. Saves us the trip to Mindanao too."


    "I see¡­"


    "Well¡­ If you don''t mind, I really need to be alone right now. If you''re gonna ask for anything, just look for~ anyone really, just tell them I gave you the go-ahead."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, as I was leaving after copying everything I could by plugging my phone into hisptop, I did hear him call for someone to be alone with. However, that wasn''t my business at this point, though I have another use of my phone now that we''re still in the Eisenhower.


    Selfies!


    To be honest, I wasn''t that active in social media before and almost all of my pictures were just backed up in a drive, but I wouldn''t dare pass up the chance to have a look around and possible have the most badass profile once the world was back to normal.


    But yeah, I looked like a fucking lunatic¡ªlike a certain character in a brown suit with a brown teddy bear and an iconic green car in one of his movies¡ªbut I did have the Admiral''s "go-ahead" so I fucking went ahead for as much as I could with the given hall pass.


    And to make things even better, I saw this chick painting what seemed to be an original anime character based on herself which was heavily inspired by the JoJo series.


    "DIO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    The chick turned around confused for a bit before realization struck:


    "Oh? You''re approaching me?" she said as she struck the same inspired pose.


    Then I changed the script for copyright reasons, "YEAH! Instead of running away, I''ming straight for ya!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA! I thought you''re a fucking lunatic taking all those selfies but you''re just you! The name''s Rachel!"


    "Sky!"


    "Oh, shit! For real?"


    "Not a little too on the nose?"


    "Fuck no, it''s awesome! What brings you here, anyway?"


    "Yeah, I have a huge favor to ask."


    "Huh? What is it?"


    "Well¡­"


    Of course, my rep of being a lunatic was starting to get high but since I mentioned the "go-ahead" from the Admiral himself and adding our little moment earlier plus her discovering I was the kid who cooked their breakfast, it didn''t take long before we fucking took to the skies with her F-18F, a two-seater variant of an F-18, and I was on the backseat acting as the Weapon Systems Officer(WSO) while she was obviously on the pilot''s seat and making me go through several G''s of force after a brief warmup.


    [YOU STILL ALIVE OVER THERE?!]


    "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFE! MORE! MORE!"


    [WE''RE ALREADY ON 6GS, YOU FUCK! YOU SURE YOU WANT A TASTE OF WHAT I CAN DO?!]


    "I''LL LET YOU FUCK ME IF I PASS OUT! BRING IT ON!"


    [HAH! I''M FUCKING YOU AFTER THIS ANYWAY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS SHIT GETS ME SO FUCKED UP!]


    With that said, Rachel cackled briefly before she let me have a taste of 7.5Gs of force for a few seconds. Let me be fucking honest, I almost passed out when I felt everything hit me but let''s just say that my will to only serve my ass to Kaley was stronger so I fucking survived.


    Still, both of us were still having the best time even when we got back to the flight deck, and the look on everyone else''s face, especially the Admiral, was fucking priceless.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! AND YOU! WHY DID YOU LET HIM FLY THE¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I can fly it?! CAN I?! CAN I PLEASE?!"


    "SHADDAP!"


    Rachel had my back, "With all due respect, Admiral, you did give him the hall pass, right?"


    "I DID¡ª BUT¡ª I DIDN''T THINK YOU TWO WOULD DO THIS!"


    Then Oscar ced his arm over the ADM''s shoulder:


    "First time?"

 Chapter 1113: Chris Kenneth - Walk the plank!

    On that note, the Admiral and everyone else in the Marine Base knew of my business side and my fun side¡ªbecause it''s just that inevitable and I wasn''t hiding it in any way shape, or form¡ªbut as my new friend, Rachel, was about to drag me somewhere to have a bit of fun, Kaley tugged on my arm while wearing a concerned look.


    "Something wrong?"


    "Who''s she?" Kaley and Rachel asked at the same time:


    "Ah."


    "It''s okay."


    Kaley instantly knew what was up but something seemed to be in her mind though Rachel thought that I was a cheating piece of shit. The vibes just as we got out of her fighter jet and while we were getting scolded by the ADM were great but now, she looked like she''d rather die of asphyxiation than to share the same air with me.


    "No, I get it. You seem kind of cool but I don''t deal with this shit, I''mma bounce¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "No, it''s not about that¡ª"


    But Rachel cut her off as well, "No, no. We haven''t done anything yet¡ªwe were supposed to¡ªbut he''s all yours¡ª"


    Kaley was persistent, "No, no. It''s totally cool and you can even join uster but¡ª"


    "Hold up, hold up! I don''t¡ª Oh. Ohhh~ Huh," then her face lightened up a little as she looked at me, "This was an borate way to have a threesome with me, you know? Heh. With your woman looking like that, all you have to do is ask, no?"


    "Umm¡­ Thanks?"


    Rachel then turned to Kaley, "Right. My bad for assuming shit. But weren''t you about to say something else?"


    Kaley nodded with a smile that slowly turned to somberness, "Ah¡­ Right¡­" then she turned to me again, "Chris is here."


    "Chris or Kris? Which one?"


    "Huh?"


    "It''s amon name, Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No! Chris Keh Ry! From high school! He came with them!"


    Then realization struck, "Oh! A little taller than me back then, curly hair straightened, thick eyebrows, darker skin tone, a little on the skinny side¡ª"


    "Why are you giving me all these descriptions?! You''re as close to him like with Raphael, Earnest, Darelle, and Kris¡ª It''s your friend group back then, doofus!"


    "I-I know! My bad. B-But where¡ª"


    "He''s down below! I can''t believe we didn''t recognize¡ª" then her expression turned somber again, "But¡­ Look¡­ He came alone, alright? You know what that means¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Yeah¡­"


    At that point, even Rachel knew what was up despite our earlier misunderstanding, but she even decided toe with us just because. But yeah, it was obvious that our little arrangement earlier was canceled altogether but that didn''t matter as much because she was open for our "threesome"ter when everybody was present.


    It was nice to have a pilot that shared the same interests as me but for the second time, the mood just dropped a whole lot when we met with one of my old friends.


    I really thought it''d be one of those touchy reunions but I thought wrong.


    It was because when I waved at CK, as we''ve called him back then, the dude just looked at me briefly before continuing his assigned job.


    He still kind of looked the same despite the obvious changes when someone got older but the only thing that was different from before was that his hair was now longer¡ªup to his shoulders¡ªbut it was now as curlier because he hadn''t been straightening itpared to back then.


    At the moment, he was hauling their luggage with several other people and Kaley just looked down when even I, one of his supposed closer friends, was also dismissed like that.


    ''Didn''t see him earlier¡­ So, he didn''t eat breakfast?''


    Kaley then nudged me, "I-It''s him, right?"


    I almost smacked the dumbass, "You weren''t sure?!"


    "Wha¡ª I-I''m just making sure for the third time! Obviously, it''s him but¡ª He should''ve nodded at least, right? That''s why I called you over to see if he was just mad at me or something."


    "Why would he be mad at you?"


    "I don''t know, I was just specting. He¡­ He looks really off, no?"


    "Hmm. For one, he wasn''t smiling with that one tooth of his at the front¡ª"


    Then Rachel seemed to have a realization, "Ahh¡­ I think I remember that one. He really is a bundle of smiles and he has these cool music choices but he lost someone pretty recently."


    Kaley and I asked, "Who?"


    "His girl, Edna or Ezra or something. He had to collect bits of her ashes from the incinerator when she was chucked in there."


    "What happened?" Kaley asked.


    "Eh~ Not my business, no? I know that you have to know but he''s your friend, right? You should talk to him yourselves, I''mma find some other people to hang around for the meantime. I thought I could hang with you guys for a bit but this is more important."


    I nodded a few times, "Thanks, Rachel. See you soon, alright?"


    "Of course. We''ll be ''seeing'' you twoter, right? Don''t forget about me."


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Cool."


    At that point, CK had juste back from one of the storage areas so I cut off his path instead of just calling out to him.


    "You can''t just ignore me, you fuck. You know I¡ª even Kaley called you over earlier, right?"


    "..." CK just gave me a dismissive nce as he tried to sidestep away.


    However, I cut him off once again, but this time, I grabbed his arm, causing him to throw me a re.


    "Now we''re getting somewhere, huh?"


    "Fuck off, I''m trying to work¡ª"


    "No, you don''t."


    He gave me a side nce as he looked so fed up just from talking to me for a few seconds, "Get off me, man. I''m going through something."


    "Oh. I know. You''re mourning right now and we aren''t expecting anything from you but you look like you needed a hug, at the very least."


    "..."


    "So?"


    "I¡­ I really am just trying to work, man."


    "I just said you didn''t need to."


    "That''s¡­ That''s not how it works¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ You really don''t know, huh?"


    "Know what?"


    "That''s how it works, really."


    "What?"


    "I''m 49% owner of this shit, dude. I can basically give you a month off and they wouldn''t care. I can even take you back with me and you get to see our whole squad¡ª Well, Roi''s still in hiding but you know how he is, right?"


    "..."


    "Dude? Earth to CK, Earth to CK. Did you just get hit with a 5-second stun with that big-ass arrow? You know what I''m talking about, right?"


    "..."


    "You don''t remember? Cool chick riding on this white tiger and throws this big-ass arrow, leaps forward, turns invisible, and have stars falling from the sky? Hello?"


    "..."


    "Is the stun still in effect? Yo?"


    "I know you''re trying to make meugh, man, but please¡ª Enough with the jokes."


    "Huh?"


    "I said stop messing with me! No chance in hell that¡ª"


    "Oh~ You think I''m lying, huh? I''mma make you walk the nk, right now¡ª"


    "What? Hey¡ª HEY! HEY STOP! STOOOOOP! BRO! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

 Chapter 1114: Catching Up - Imma need that hug, bro.

    I just managed to have CK start talking but when we were right in the thick of it, some dude just came hauling a surfboard and in my head, I thought that was just fucking enough. It didn''t take long before I had the same dude step on the other end of the surfboard¡ªusing it as a nk as pirates would¡ªas I dragged CK over to the other side and threatened him with my katana.


    All I was missing was an eyepatch, a peg leg, a hook hand, and a parrot toplete the look.


    But yeah, I know that CK needed his time alone but he also needed time with the people he knows or close friends with at the same time. I''ve been too familiar with being alone and it was quite addicting, but as I said earlier, I just wanted to give my friend a hug.


    "Arr~! You bein'' a fuckin'' bitch, matey! You either walk the nk or face with me and my de!"


    "This is all sorts of crazy, dude! Are you fucking insane!"


    "You''ve been friends with me for a long fucking time, you should''ve known!"


    "T-Then¡ª W-What do you want, man?!"


    "A hug? But before that, you didn''t even eat breakfast, huh?"


    "I wasn''t hungry!"


    "You haven''t even smiled! I miss your lone buck tooth, bro!"


    "I GOT IT FIXED, ASSHOLE!"


    "WHAT?!" then I turned to the guy who seemed to be enjoying me torturing my friend for some reason, "Drop him¡ª"


    "BRO, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª"


    "For real?!" the guy never looked so excited.


    "No! I was just trying to spook his ass¡ª"


    "HEY! DON''T SWITCH LIKE THAT! ARE YOU REALLY WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE?!"


    "You''ve read my emails, no? You fucking know this shit ising, right?! I have a whole n and everything!"


    "I¡ª JUST GET ME OFF THIS THING, MAN!"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the two of us were sitting in one random spot with Kaley, and he had a bottle of beer in his hands with a pill for headaches or muscle soreness.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    CK hadn''t taken a sip or the pill I gave him yet but it had never been this quietpared to earlier.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    So I had to break the ice, again.


    "So¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "How''s the weather?"


    "..." CK never looked so disappointed in me.


    "Pfft¡­" But Kaley thought otherwise.


    "Kaley gets it."


    CK shook his head, "You really were telling the truth, huh?"


    "Yeah."


    "And everyone from our friend group is in¡ª"


    "Besides Roi."


    "What does your ce look like?"


    "Better than this dump."


    "Can you really say that? I''m living here, you know¡ª"


    "I already told you that we''d take you with us. See the boys, at least. They''ll smack your lonely ass too, if they see you like this."


    "It''s really better than this ce, huh?"


    "Well~ It''s still a work in progress, this ce, butparing it to mypound that''s been at it for a few years, it''s just night and day."


    "Now you''re just bragging, man."


    "It does have a power grid, to be fair, but we got everything else, so¡­"


    Kaley then asked, "Are you okay, though?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    CK waved her off, "N-No, no. I''m sorry, Kaley. I shouldn''t have ignored you earlier too¡ª"


    "But you have a lot on your mind, i-it''s okay¡ª"


    He waved her off with a smile, "Nah~ You''re my friends, that''s on me. Besides, I should be on cloud nine right now seeing you two finally together. Am I right in seeing this shit or is the rest of the world still hoping for a miracle?"


    "Well~" Kaley and I trailed at the same time.


    "Heh, that''s already the answer I was looking for. But yeah¡­ I''m¡­ I''m holding on¡­"


    "Almira, right?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?!"


    "We''re friends on Facebook, bucky! And it''s only been a year!"


    "That fuckin'' memory of yours, huh? And don''t call me that, I got it fixed already! Don''t people mistake you for a stalker, sometimes?"


    "When I looked like a tub ofrd, yes. Now that I look a little presentable, I''m suddenly the observant one¡ª"


    "Presentable my ass! You look fuckin'' great! You got the whole thing going on and everything! Kaley too! Any chance I could wear something like that?"


    "Depends. Skills you have in airsoft could transfer over but recoil''s the one to make or break ya. You just really have to get used to it first or we start you off with a .22¡ª"


    "C''mon! A .22?! Really?!"


    "Heh. At least you''reughing now."


    Kaley chuckled as well, "That''s a good sign, no?"


    "Hmm¡­ That is true¡­ So¡­ So what now?"


    "Riiiight¡­ About that, we''ll be here for a few more days¡ªuntil the Admiral sets off again¡ªbut if you really want some time for yourself and see everyone else, I can ask for a heli to pick you up."


    "..."


    "Dude?"


    "You''re not really lying¡ª"


    "I''m not lying! How suspicious are ya, you fuck?!"


    "Look¡­ I''ve been through a lot and I''m not sure if I deserve to be sad at this point, because everyone else is experiencing the same thing, maybe even worse than me, but¡­ Well¡ª No, I''ll finish whatever work I have here first and I''ll drive with ya back to your ce. I see you bagged yourself a Raptor¡ª"


    "That reminds me, remember your old ''colorful'' house?"


    "Yeah? We sold it off¡ª"


    "Ahh¡­ Shame."


    "Is it still there though?"


    "We can check?"


    "I''ll take you up on that."


    "You still haven''t touched that beer¡ª"


    "Haven''t had breakfast yet¡­ or even dinner¡­ or anything, really¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "You two¡ª Don''t get quiet on me now what I''ve started talking! I''ll rely on ya two from now on! What sorta type of job can I have at your ce anyway?"


    "You still have a new music reco for me?"


    "Dude¡­" the motherfucker almost teared up, "You''re fucking too much¡­"


    "W-What did I do now?"


    "I''m¡­ I''m really gonna need that hug right about now¡ª HOLDUP¡ª HNGH! NOT TOO TIGHT! MY BONES! YOU FUCK! AHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1115: Work, work, work...

    On that note, we resumed our day with actual work by gathering everyone''s info¡ªconsolidating them if necessary¡ªthen asking the doctor in this ce to check all of our neers for anything, even if they would still sail back with the admiral and the other marines in a few days as they''ve stated.


    But yeah, I only did the initial work before passing it off to y and Marge¡ªwho were the ones doing the same jobs as Janice and Maine over at the Main Harbor¡ªthough from this point on, they''ll be using the temte I made for them.


    It was pretty straightforward and intuitive so it wouldn''t take a lot of time for the adjustments and whatnot to reflect after it was all made into different files.


    And after some time, my radio buzzed and I discovered that it was Mitch calling me:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Any news on anything? Need any help?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ve processed around a hundred people or so, we''ll send them over to you guys shortly. What about you guys? Need any help? We literally have all the manpower here."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [How many people are you gonna send over here?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm~ At least 60-70% Both ces still need a lot of work but lodging-wise, the Main Harbor can amodate more people. We''d keep at least 80% of them in the few days or so but we''ll gradually send more depending on the circumstances."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good thing I made some of the people here clear dust-up this 3-star hotel.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The one by this admin building next to the vi?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes, that one. It could amodate 200 or so people but if any of them wanted to stay elsewhere, they gotta clean it up. In regards to food, fishing had never been this easy but we need everyone to have a bnced diet with fruits, veggies, and other types of animal products and meat.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll get to that. I can send over a bunch of fruiting bags and our tater boxes as I''ve saidst time but you gotta start with seedlings for the other ones. It''ll take some time but it''ll pay offter."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I really appreciate the help.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "D''you want me to send your wife and kids over too? The same as with your people there?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If we do that, we could send more than a hundred people and you could easily fill up that hotel. They already have their checkup and info recorded too so it''s just a minor adjustment on their part. You guys haven''t been here for long. What do you think?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''ll be great. I''ll tell the others.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we eventually ended the call to continue managing this ce, and right now, we had a group of people that went past Building 34 to either get us some lumber, forage the mountains behind it for resources, or venture in to see what''s on the other side.


    These people were already cleared for work¡ªand let me tell ya, Royo''s warehouse of goodies was fucking overflowing with resources because the people we just weed to our fold had a lot of shit to trade.


    In any case, Building 35 and 36 would be the extension of Building 34''s storage space though Building 30-33 would be the storage area for lumber and other resources found in the wild. It would be mostly logs, branches, and twigs but dirt, y, soil, and stone would be present as well.


    But yeah,paring this ce to the Main Harbor, anyone else would prefer thetter to this one because it was like a pre-built PC that only needed a bit more work or none at all while the former with all its hangar-like buildings was a nk te.


    They''d need a lot of work and imagination to be able to pull it off but one otherparison to take into ount was that this ce was fairly isted while the Main Harbor was smack dab in the center of everything.


    Granted they already cleared a spot that they could use to slowly increase their hold on the Main Harbor, but it needed a lot of work externally while this ce needed a lot of work internally.


    As of this moment, we were also repurposing some buildings into indoor vertical farms, a training center, an entertainment center, a proper workshop, and a much bettermunications area. Additionally, the roofs were free game at the moment so I already had a group make use of the extra space as additional farms.


    ''Because who would decline some extra food?''


    But yeah, as more people were cleared to work, I had more people to order around so I then had several groups raid the areas we just drove byst time and clear those areas of the dead.


    Major Harper and most importantly, Admiral Burke, had nothing bad to say when they gave me the reigns with their people but honestly, as good as I am doing this type of work and as much of a homebody as I was, I still had to go out with my group to venture to the area we skipped when we had to rush to this ce.


    Unfortunately, it was just a drag because it was just trees after trees or farms after farms, with a few smaller houses in between, and there was barely any action to go around.


    But yeah, we stumbled upon a medium-sized gym with decent equipment right next to a ce that had several trucks of construction materials, so we called it at that and went back with a good-ish haul.


    However, while we were on the way back, I spotted this coconut tree that wouldn''t get any swipes from a dating app due to its height.


    It looked like it was about half-rotten but seeing this type of coconut tree brought a smile to my face.


    "Hold up, I gotta check something real quick."

 Chapter 1116: Mutated Coconuts - Make me stay—

    With a screeching halt by the trucks filled with gravel, sand, or cement, I casually skipped my way to this particr coconut tree that had a .15% chance of spawning in the wild. Funnily enough, our resident glutton and former stalker, Tatiana, quickly followed behind me as she curiously nced at the coconut tree I was easily picking the fruits from.


    "So¡­ Coconuts, huh? You just had an itch for them or something?"


    I chuckled, "Have you had Macapuno, yet?"


    "Maca-what?"


    I handed her over one I suspected was a Macapuno coconut, "Try to break this open. You''ll see what I mean."


    "How about the juice?"


    "There isn''t any. With that one, at least."


    It didn''t take long before curiosity got the best of Tatiana but as she cracked open the first one in fear of wasting the coconut juice, she was surprised at the amount of coconut flesh inside. Furthermore, it looked creamy and jelly-like or straight-up sugary¡ªbecause it is¡ªand I beckoned her to take a huge serving and put it in her mouth.


    "Mmmh! What the¡ª It''s so sweet! What is this?!"


    "Macapuno? Mutated Coconuts, in a way..."


    "I know but¡ª why?! Coconuts are sweet in a way but never like this! I''ve had a few of them but this is so good!"


    "I''m more surprised you had coconuts before, heh."


    "A-Are they all like that?"


    "No, it''s a chance-by-chance basis even if you find them like this¡­ unless you breed them for the sole purpose of making straight Macapuno. My grandpa used to have a rotten-looking one like this on his farm that he was toozy to chop down but he had never been that surprised that it actually bore Macapuno coconuts. Additionally, this is my mom''s favorite dessert. It''s really~ high in sugar though."


    Tatiana had already finished half the coconut, "B-But how¡­ You''re not eating the other half, right?"


    I chuckled at her hamster-like expression, "Nah, you can have it."


    "Thanks! Really!"


    With that said, we came back with a few bundles of coconuts but while we were back on the road again, Tatiana opened up one which I thought was a Macapuno coconut and she just got drenched with coconut juice along with Quinn and Kaley.


    "Wha¡ª You said this was one!"


    "No, I didn''t! I said it has a chance to be one!"


    "How can you not know which is which?!"


    "That''s why it''s called a chance-by-chance basis, okay?! I could be wrong or I could be right!"


    "Ooh~ This one''s flesh is soft! Hey! That''s mine!"


    "Nuh-uh! You got me wet so this is mine, now! Kaley grab the other one! That''s yours too!"


    "I-It''s okay, you two can have it¡­"


    "C''mon! Want me to break open another one and see if it''s a Macarena?"


    The three of us had to double-take, "A what now?"


    "Macapuno?"


    "Riiiight~/ I swear you said something different¡­/ Pfft¡­"


    In any case, we just shared augh and the three just cleaned up while I went on to continue managerial work to do these Marine''s work for them. But yeah, it was getting closer to sundown, and since I didn''t cook lunch for them, they hurrah''d for thest bit because they wanted my cooking rather than their resident housewives.


    However, the lunch we had was actually delicious so I didn''t know what was wrong so I just gave them the illusion of cooking by being extra loud while just standing in one corner of our big kitchen.


    I just let the housewives and the househusbands do their own thing and the look on everyone''s faces when I revealed that I didn''t do a thing after theyplimented my cooking was fucking priceless. And yeah, Royo''s sales for apology items skyrocketed because these fucks had to apologize to their significant others.


    But with the number of people I wasmand in at the same time in the first day, everyone was surprised that I know each of their names while jumping from job to job, but we still went at it until it was a couple of hours until midnight.


    Obviously, I exercised my right to sleep in one of the rooms inside the Eisenhower though it was a little cramped than we expected.


    Rachel looked a little apologetic because we crashed her room without saying our actual numbers. She was expecting just Kaley and me but she didn''t think that Tatiana, Quinn, Megan, and Alexa would also be present.


    "Umm¡­ Make yourselvesfortable¡­ S-Sit anywhere you could¡­ I''m sorry, it''s a mess¡ª"


    Kaley waved her off, "N-No, we''re actually the ones that are sorry, we didn''t check with you if we could alle."


    "Ah¡ª It''s fine¡ª"


    But Quinn opened up with something we''d never expect from her:


    "Hmm. Right. I''ll leave you all for tonight. I''mma be with someone else instead."


    Tatiana asked, "Who?"


    "New drinking buddy, Jennifer," then she turned to me, "Sorry, got to her first. I asked her if she wanted to join us but she basically brother-zoned you so you''ll have to work a bit before you tap that ass. Bye~"


    "Can Ie?" Tatiana asked after looking around but she turned to Megan and Alexa as well, "Come with us too. We did crash their threesome, so¡­ We have many other times to join in."


    Megan wanted to say something but Alexa already pulled her off their seat, "C''mon! We can just explore this ship too and take some pictures!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    In a matter of seconds, Rachel''s room waspletely vacated, leaving only us three, but it also didn''t take long before it started to get hot by the minute. The three of us were just staring at each other while giving light touches, but it didn''t take long before Rachel made the first move on me.


    She started by pulling my shirt off and exposing my torso before she devoured me with her eyes but Kaley did the same thing to her from behind as she whispered in her ear:


    "Nice rack¡­ Your nipples are really pink¡­"


    "Not as nice as yours¡­ I''ve been eyeing them for a while¡­"


    "Are you really leaving with them after a few days?"


    "Depends¡­"


    "On what?"


    "Make me stay¡ª"

 Chapter 1117: DVP?

    At this point, Kaley was the only one fully clothed while Rachel and I had already had our tops taken off. With the smallmpshade on her nightstand, I could see Rachel''s athletic body but I can''t deny that she had very round and ample-sized boobs with very pink and erect nipples.


    But yeah, as she lunged at me to force her tongue in my mouth, Kaley took it upon herself to pull off her pants to reveal that Rachel wasn''t only braless from the start, but she was also goingmando.


    It could be that she was already expecting something to happen and she was just avoiding more clothing items to get soiled, so she just put on whatever for the moment before we arrived.


    "Mmh¡­ Nn¡­ Mm! You two are so¡ª Oh god! Your muscles are so hard and¡ª Mmh! She''s¡ª She''s eating my ass and¡ª Ah! Mnnh! Yes!


    Yes! Yes¡ª Ahh! H-Hug me tight! Please!"


    Not to demean Rachel or anything, but the way she was hungrily tasting my lips, pushing her breasts on me, and touching my biceps while her ass was getting eaten and her pussy getting fingered by Kaley, it felt like she was a little touch-deprived as she hugged me like she had no rtives.


    It was a weird metaphor, sure, but it was like it had been a while since she had some action.


    But yeah, as she started kissing my neck and my ears for her own pleasure, I caught a brief nce of Kaley taking off her clothes and signaling me to do the same as well. It was because the moment she stopped fingering and eating her out, she began to hump my huge bulge and wet my pants with her juices, so I did what I was told to.


    And obviously enough, it just made Rachel go over the edge.


    "F-Fuck¡­ I thought you were big b-but not this big¡­ C-Can I suck you off?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Wanna do it at the same time?"


    "Ah¡ª I almost forgot that, sorry¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ No apologies needed. Shall we?"


    At this point, the two made me sat by the edge of the bed as they both got on their knees and side to side¡ªKaley on the right and Rachel on the left¡ªalmost getting cross-eyed from staring at my huge cock.


    And yeah, they started as Rachel went for the tip and the shaft while Kaley went for the base and my balls.


    Kaley''s tongue was obviously doing wonders but Rachel was sucking me off like she wanted to taste my cum now. Her warm mouth felt so fucking tight despite her tongue coiling over and around the tip and its opening, and she used one of her arms to wrap around my back to brace herself because she was about to take me whole.


    Rachel was barely halfway when I reached the entrance of her throat but she pushed on and on until her lips reached the base of my cock before she pulled out and tried doing the same thing over and over.


    "F-Fuck¡­ It''s so fucking thick and hard a-and warm¡ª Schlrp¡ª Schl¡ª Gck! GkCCK! GAK! GAWK!"


    Kaley looked so pleased to see Rachel doing her best to take me whole but she then grabbed on my balls as a cover for ying with my asshole.


    With the smallmpshade as a light source and the way Rachel had her eyes closed while deepthroating my cock, she''d barely see Kaley prodding my forbidden zone, but as I threw her a nce, she just looked like she was this fucking close to cumming just by watching us because her other hand was already deep in her Rachel''s holes at the moment.


    I would''ve stopped her any other day but this time, I just grabbed on Rachel''s head and started to push her head down even more as I partly opened my legs for Kaley''s ess.


    At that point, Kaley looked like she was having an orgasm as she slid a finger in me while watching, but it didn''t take long before Rachel and I followed as she drenched the flooring while I filled her throat.


    Kaley''s finger was still inside me for a few moments before she pulled it out and continued to massage my balls, but Rachel didn''t expect the amount of cum I let out so Kaley decided to help her when they started to drip off her mouth.


    After that, Kaley gave Rachel a kiss as they shared their spit and my cum but Kaley was using the same white substance as a lubricant to stroke my dick for round 2.


    And again, surprise shed on Rachel''s zed expression but she couldn''t be more happier at the thought of my huge cock filling her holes Kaley was exploring earlier. However, she did be more excited when Kaley pulled out her strapless dildo from her pack and wore it in front of her.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley chuckled with a seductive grin, "Wanna take it in your ass too?"


    "H-How about you? You still haven''t¡ª"


    "Oh, I have. Trust me," Kaley said before briefly ncing at me, "I''m way~ more sensitive when I''m with him and I just came from watching both of you."


    "No way, really?"


    "Yeah, so do you want it on your ass as well or do you want it in your mouth again? Or~ We could fill you real~ good by doing it in one hole. Either way, we''ll do everything you ask us so¡­"


    "Well~ T-The two-in-one deal got me c-curious so¡­"


    With that said, I simplyid on the bed as Rachel mounted me but I just gotta say how my ego was getting stroked more than my dick when they struggle to get me in the first time and show this euphoric expression the moment they take me in fully.


    But after that, Kaley pushed Rachel down to press her fit body against me before she aimed her rubber cock at the same ce my dick was resizing.


    "HNGH¡ª"

 Chapter 1118: DAP. - Its complicated.

    My whole length was already inside Rachel''s tight pussy and the moment Kaley pushed the tip of her rubber cock in as well, Rachel''s whole body just tensed as she squeezed me even more. But yeah, Kaley was still letting Rachel get used to the additional phallic object pushing inside herher regions but Kaley sent a loud and crisp p on her tight ass that made Rachel let out a sharp gasp.


    I could clearly feel how her insides tightened but Kaley started to y with her little ass while smothering a cheek with her free hand.


    "Mmm¡­ Your girl''s so bad, you know?"


    Kaley chuckled, "In a good way, right?"


    "Pfft¡­ Of course¡ª Mmnh! Ah! Yes¡ª D-Don''t m-move yet, alright?"


    Rachel was just squirming from the different sensations happening at once but as I joined in by simply caressing her back and kissing her neck, it didn''t take long before Kaley tried her 2nd attempt.


    "HnGH! W-Wait¡ª N-Not yet¡­ N¨CNot¡ª Mmm¡­ A-A bit more gentle¡ª"


    "Want me to pull out and feel Kaley for a bit?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    "I''m not as big but¡ª Here I go¡ª"


    "Mnn¡­ Nn¡­ Kaley¡­ Oh, wow¡­ P-y with my ass¡­"


    "We are," Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-I mean¡­ M-More¡­"


    "Do you want us to just DP you instead?"


    "W-Well¡­ C-Can we try i-it on that one? Y-You know¡­ P-Putting it in at the same time¡­"


    "Sure!"


    As Kaley reached in her pack for lube, Rachel just used her spit and her juices to get me inside her ass to prep her for two cocks, and the moment Kaley and I tried putting it in at the same time, it went it much easier and Rachel came from a few thrusts.


    "F-Fuck¡ª FUCK! H-HOW IS THIS S-SO GOOD?! OF FUCK¡ª I''M SQUIRTING AND¡ª MMH! YOUR COCK IS ALREADY DEEP IN MY CUNT AND A-ANOTHER ONE''S TRYING TO¡ª MMMMH!!! I-I THINK I''M CUMMING AGAIN! I-I''M CUMMING AGAIN!


    SHIT! SHIT! MmmMMhHHhH!!!"


    Rachel was already a fucking mess as she was clutching her bed sheets but Kaley and I were still thrusting and thrusting in her tight fucking ass, making her cum over and over. At one point, Kaley pulled on her hair and held both her arms behind her back to make Rachel''s round tits bounce right in my face.


    In doing so, I ced my hands on each one and either squeezed the whole thing or pinched a nipple, watching her tortured expression of bliss while drool came out of her mouth.


    Just from the sight of these two beauties drowning in pleasure, it didn''t take long before I filled Rachel''s little hole with cum but Kaley kept on thrusting inside as she was close as well. Within a few violent thrusts from her side, she started to shake before copsing on Rachel who had long copsed on my torso.


    The three of us were breathing quite heavily from the sudden roughness but we only took a few minutes of rest before Kaley and Rachel switched sides as we went back at it again.


    At this point, I noticed that Rachel was better at taking cock than giving it to Kaley but as long as everyone was having fun, who fucking cares about technique? In any case, we finished in about an hour and it just dawned on Rachel the amount ofundry she had to do tomorrow and the number of sheets and pillowcases she''d need recements for.


    "Fuck it¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ This was the besty I had in a while¡­ F-Fuck¡­ I really can''t f-feel my legs¡­ I-I thought that was just an expression¡­ A-And cumming over and over¡­ Fuck me¡­ I think I might need a midnight snack¡ª"


    "I actually brought some over¡ª"


    "Goddamit, you two! There''s a limit to how you guys could be this perfect!"


    Kaley chuckled, "Does that mean that you''re gonna stay?"


    Rachel''s face then went sullen, "Ah¡­ I did say to convince me but that''s just to motivate you both to do a little extra¡ª T-Trust me, you went way and above expectations but y-you know, duty calls. I do promise toe back here every time we get more people to safety¡­ I-Is that okay? I-I''m sorry for lying¡­"


    I waved her off, "That''s totally fine, don''t worry¡­"


    Kaley added, "You''re really good too! And for your first time? That''s insane¡­ I should''ve brought a smaller one if I knew that¡ª Y-You know¡ª"


    Rachel chuckled as she nudged my cock with her knee, "I''m gonna say¡­ You hit the gic lottery, huh?"


    I replied after I gave her tits a huge squeeze, "You did too¡ª"


    "Not as much as your girl!"


    Kaley gasped from the sudden nipple teasing, "S-Stop! T-They just got soft¡ª"


    "Pfft! You two are the definition of a perfect couple, for real."


    "Aww~ Thank you, Rachel! For the record, you''re really nice too! Anyone would be lucky to have you¡ª"


    Then Rachel got suddenly quiet.


    I nudged her, "Rachel?"


    Kaley followed, "You okay? Is it something that I said¡ª"


    She let out a sigh before she got up and looked at us, "Alright¡­ I-It''s not what you said, Kaley, you''re cool. But¡­ There''s another reason I can''t stay over here¡­ I-It''s umm¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Hmm, is it Jennifer?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?!"


    I interjected, "We gotta tell you something too, she''s psychic¡ª"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "NO, I''m not! Not this again! I-I just saw your expression change a little earlier when Quinn¡ª you know¡ª"


    "The big and muscley one, right?"


    "Y-Yeah, your expression changed when she mentioned her name. And h-he did tell me that Jennifer''s orientation is you know¡­ A littleplicated."


    Rachel let out a soft sigh, "It''s notplicated at all¡­ We just love people, is all¡­ It''s just that¡­ We''re in a sort of a break right now¡ª but we did agree to sleep around so¡­ No harm, no foul on what we just did, and it''s different from our little misunderstand earlier but¡­ But¡ª"


    Kaley followed, "But you don''t think it''s helping?"


    "Really! How did you know?!"


    I added, "C-Can¡­ Can you tell us the reason why? We might be able to help you two if you''re both okay with it¡­"


    "R-Really?"

 Chapter 1119: Domestic Abuse?

    Obviously, opening a rtionship was a can of worms in itself but it seemed like Rachel and Jennifer had a lot of stuff to talk about yet refused to do so. Communication was always key in these kinds of situations and the two chose a band-aid "fix" to their rtionship, not an actual solution.


    Allowing one''s partner to sleep around in an open rtionship or a semi-open one had a lot of reasons from couple to couple or anything in excess and in between.


    One could be that one or both of them needed to explore because they missed out on a lot of things, wanted to try something they couldn''t with their partner, had straight-up curiosity, had this want to involved more people in their rtionship sexually or emotionally, etc.


    My rtionship with Kaley was unique in itself and although the arrangement of additional partners was skewed towards me¡ªeven if she was bisexual¡ªwe had started to break into a different power dynamic when we were alone and it was definitely geared towards her wants.


    Almost always, both parties should be okay with each other''s needs and wants and tend to avoidpromises or deals that would make it seem transactional, but in our case, Kaley and I were half and half on both of those things and we were making it work.


    But yeah, as soon as Rachel was about to open up, we heard a sudden knock on the door:


    "Rache''! Open up! It''s me! W-We need to talk¡­"


    Rachel had never been so shocked, "I-It''s Jenn! It''s Jenn! What do I do?!"


    Kaley instantly tried to calm her down, "Well, what do you wanna do?"


    "W-Well¡ª"


    "Rache''! I know you''re in there with my little brother and his wife! It''s totally cool, okay?! I slept with their posse too so we''re kinda even¡­ Besides, we both agreed on it, right? T-They''re here too s-so¡­ A little weird but we got to talking after and ''we'' were brought up¡ª"


    Rachel then shouted at the right volume, "W-What do you want?!"


    "I really just wanted to talk¡­ And to say sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "Rache''?"


    Rachel turned to us for advice but Kaley and I pointed at the mess we made inside her room. Additionally, Jennifer also had broad shoulders so adding her on top of everyone elseing inside to have a talk, it''d be a little ufortable.


    Though Jennifer was a little persistent with her knocking:


    "Rache''! Please! I just¡ª"


    "W-Wait a bit! We''re just getting decent¡ª"


    "You know I''ve seen you naked, alright?!"


    "Wanna see your ''little'' bro naked, too?! Newssh, he''s not as little as you think he is! He''s fucking bigger than our toys!"


    "For real? Oh shi¡ª W-Wait, open the door¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh! Wait over there! W-We''re changing locations!"


    "B-But why?!"


    "BECAUSE! AT LEAST LET ME HAVE A SAY IN THIS! OR AT LEAST ANYTHING! HOW ABOUT THAT?!"


    "..."


    "THEN YOU GO QUIET?! TYPICAL!"


    "A-Alright¡­ We''ll wait for you¡­ I''m sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    With that said, we eventually made our way back to the roof of the hangar assigned to us though the hangar itself now had more residents trying to sleep. We even parked our vehicles in the right parking spots to have more space for civilians though some of them still chose to sleep in the free rooms avable via our myriad ships.


    But yeah, Rachel and Jennifer were sitting cross-legged in front of each other and it didn''t take long before Jennifer went straight to the topic:


    "Alright, I''m gonna start by saying sorry for asking to have a break with you for the stupidest reasons b-but you gotta understand where I''m¡ª where we wereing from, alright?"


    Rachel shook her head, "Jenn, what we agreed on is we pretend we''re just friends when we introduce each other to our parents, or in your case, your dad or the freakin'' colonel but you broke up with me! What the hell is wrong with you?!"


    "A-Again, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "WHAT ARE YOU SORRY FOR?! YOU KEPT SAYING THE DAMN WORD AND NOT THE REASON FOR IT!"


    "It''s¡­ I panicked, alright?!"


    "Panicked?! You try to calm down when you panic, not break up with your girl¡ª"


    "Hold up, hold up, don''t mix my words here, I didn''t say we break up, alright? I said to take a break¡ª"


    "It''s pretty much the same thing when you told me we could sleep around! How could that help us?!"


    "Y-You slept with someone else the night I told you we''re cooling off, how''d you think that made me feel?!"


    "JENN, I WAS HURT! I DON''T KNOW WHAT TO FUCKING DO! Why bother telling me we could sleep with other people if you''re gonnae up here and get mad at me?! That''s not fair! YOU were the one that suggested it I just followed! Like every single fucking time!


    And the moment I do ONE thing for myself, I''m the fucking bad bitch¡ª"


    "If you''re so hung up on that, you should''ve said something¡ª"


    "How could I?!"


    "You''re saying a lot of shit now! Why can''t you do it before¡ª"


    Right at that moment, Rachel suddenly sent a p across Jennifer''s face so I had to jump in between the two. This was just a hot mess of a situation but as my back was turned to Jennifer, Rachel was already cowering in fear by covering her face with her arms, even if she was the one who escted the situation.


    However, it didn''t take long before realization struck because as I turned to my older sister, it was taking everything from her to just keep herself from hitting back.


    Not only were veins popping out of her face to contain her anger, but she had lightly ripped the nket she had on her from clenching her fists.


    ''Jesus fucking christ¡­''


    It was one thing for a rtionship to get opened up and fail and it was a whole other thing if you add what looked like some form of domestic abuse within the same sex.

 Chapter 1120: Talking Like Adults, Kinda

    But yeah, Jennifer took a huge breath before expelling it all and doing the same thing over and over until the color on her face returned to normal while Rachel never looked so sorry for what she had done. The group was just at a loss from what they witnessed but Rachel inched closer to Jennifer before she opened her mouth:


    "I-I''m sorry for hitting you¡­"


    "..."


    "I-It doesn''t excuse what¡ª Nevermind that, I''m sorry for hitting you, that''s not okay."


    Jennifer replied with a dismissive tone, "Nah, just tell everyone here that I used to hit you. It''s fair. Bare it all. Bare everything. I''mma be honest, I really wanted to hit you that moment but I didn''t. Holding myself now doesn''t excuse what I did to you before but it''s a step."


    "..."


    Then Jennifer turned to me, "Look, I dunno how you managed to get between us in record time but your big sister''s a piece of shit. I deserve the looks you''re giving me¡ª"


    I had to poke a little bit, "Tell me, how long have you two been together?"


    Rachel and Jennifer answered at the same time, "Five Years¡ª/ Four¡ª Five¡­ Fuck¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Jennifer fucking up made things a lot more tense and awkward but I moved on and just gave her a small slip:


    "Since when did you open up the rtionship?"


    Jennifer answered, "A month¡ª No, a month and a week ago¡­" then she turned to Rachel, "Right?"


    Rachel was looking away as she answered, "Hmm."


    I continued, "Okay, can you tell us the reason why?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "No judgment here¡ª Well, there''s a little bit since we''re human but I''m gonna try my best not to show it. You also mentioned it was a stupid thing to do, why is that?"


    Rachel quipped, "Yeah, can you ''please'' tell us the reason. I''m still thinking about it to this day and I only came up with shit¡­"


    "F-Fine¡­" Jennifer looked down as she scratched her head and loosened her tight ponytail, "I¡­ I thought the colonel¡ª my dad, would be the same piece of fucking shit he was before but surprisingly enough, he wasn''t," then she turned to me, "I guess I have to thank you for that?"


    "Me? Why¡ª Oh¡­"


    Not to make a generalization of amon stereotype, an old military vet from Texas had certain values they were brought upon from generation to generation¡ªand it could be different for a small percentage of them¡ªbut Oscar used to be one of those people.


    What we were tackling right now was almost the same thing as the situation between JP and Seb before but this time, Oscar was already epting of the fact¡ªalbeit slightly¡ªof his daughter''s orientation but he was adamant for her to have an offspring one way or another.


    ''That''s a conversation for another day¡­''


    But yeah, Jennifer who assumed shit on their way to this country jumped the fucking gun and made the stupidest mistake possible by putting her father''s wants over her own happiness.


    In some cases, it wasn''t bad to put your parents first but in this case, especially in one''s personal rtionship with another person, the parents or anyone else''s opinion shouldn''t fucking matter in the first ce.


    With that said, we eventuallynded at the root of the issue but we were still left with a couple(?) who seemed to still want to be together but doing every single fucking mistake they could in record time.


    It''s just that Kaley and I¡ªand the rest of the people in our circle got involved with them so let''s just say that this was our way to resolve the situation.


    But then again, how many times where things could''ve been solved if the persons involved in the rtionship just talked like normal fucking adults and didn''t act like fucking children? We wouldn''t be having this conversation right now in the middle of the fucking night, on top of a fucking roof, and with this freezing temperature!


    Rachel bellowed, "WHY. ARE YOU. SO STUPID?!"


    "I''M SORRY, ALRIGHT?! IT WAS ALL ON ME! I SHOULD''VE HAVE¡ª FUCK! I MESSED UP FUCKING BIG TIME! I''LL DO EVERYTHING TO¡ª"


    Rachel cut her off, "No. We''re not getting back."


    "What¡ª WHY?!"


    "At least not for now¡­"


    "WAS THE DICK THAT GOOD?! WHY¡ª I CAN BUY BIGGER TOYS¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT ABOUT THAT, JENN! This is so ironic but we need an actual break with each other¡­ I think that''s the best way to move forward¡ª"


    "How?! How can we fix it if we''re gonna be apart¡ª"


    "I-I don''t know. I need some time, a lot of it¡ª"


    "But you''re gonna stay here, right?! You can have all the time you have but I need you to be here¡­ Please, that''s all I ask¡­"


    "That''s¡­" Rachel looked at each of us before turning to Jennifer, "I-I''ll¡­ We''re a mess, you know that¡­ right?"


    "Yeah¡ª I mean¡­ I''m the mess, you''re perfect."


    "No, I''ve done my fair share of fucking up too, but¡­"


    "But what? Look, I swear if I hit you again I''ll chop my arms off¡ª"


    Rachel shook her head, "That''s a bit much¡­ I just need a bit of time, alright? I don''t need long actually¡­ Just a bit before the Admiral decides to anchor up."


    "W-Wait, you''re cutting it that close?"


    "D''you want me to tell you what I want now? You won''t like it, I promise you¡ª"


    "N-No, t-take your time¡­"


    "But yeah¡­ the notion of staying as friends for now is cool with me. Are you okay with that?"


    "Just before they leave?"


    "Yep. Or before I leave with them, whichever¡­"


    "..."


    "So?"


    Jennifer took a huge breath once again before she answered, "Alright¡­ Whatever works¡ª N-No, I''ll wait for your decision and I''m okay with being friends¡­ for now¡­ Wait¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "What about him?"


    ''Huh?''


    "What about him what?"


    "You still fuckin'' my little brother while we''re¡ª"


    "Jenn! That''s none of your business! And who you do while we''re friends doesn''t matter too! Just know that it''ll affect my decision! It could end in a lot of ways but do know that it''s not the end of everything¡ª"


    "FINE! You can fuck him if you want!"


    "JENN!"


    I had to cut in, "Hold up¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in as shepletely ignored me, "I''LL LET HIM FUCK ME TOO IF IT IMPROVES THE CHANCES OF¡ª"


    "JENN!" Kaley and Rachel eximed as Quinn was already dyingughing from the back with Tatiana.


    "WHAT?!"


    "LISTEN¡ª Listen to me, it''s not about who''s f-fuckin'' who but it''s what both of us think at that time about our rtionship. We may or may not like the oue but that''s just how it is."


    "Doesn''t sound too promising¡­"


    "So, you''re giving up already?"


    "Fuck, no! I''m not giving up! I¡ª We''ve been through a lot, we can get through this, alright? A-And we''ll do it the right way this time¡­ I promise."


    "..."


    "Rache''?"


    "That''s what I like to hear, thank you," Rachel smiled as she gave Jennifer a peck on the cheek.


    At that point, everything seemed to be going well but seeing Jennifer''s guns a.k.a her biceps since she was just wearing a tank top made me curious:


    "Yo, big sis."


    "W-What?" she got a little taken aback from the casual-ness.


    "I had to ask¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You on the juice?"

 Chapter 1121: Pretend you didnt hear anything.

    It was already way~ past midnight but no one seemed to be feeling drowsy so while everyone else was being open with each other with casual conversation, why not pry a bit more?


    Though Jennifer replied with a question, "How about you?"


    "Just naturally bulking at the moment. A small caloric surplus here and there¡ª"


    "Ah. Sure, sure¡­"


    "Then¡ª"


    "I''m on and off Anavar and Winstrol but I''m just using what I have left or until I find more. Why do you ask?"


    "I mean, it doesn''t necessarily cause it but aggressiones with it, no?"


    Quinn added from the side, "I was 50-50 when I saw your clit but your nose doesn''t look as big and your voice doesn''t sound too deep either¡­ A very low dose, then?"


    Jennifer looked ufortable from the questions she received:


    "W-Well, to answer both questions, yes. It might''ve stemmed from that but I got my temper from the colonel. Even before I discovered I like women as well, I had to put myself in a position where I could stand on equal footing with men because if you don''t know, some things are just bound to happen when you look like a Barbie doll."


    I scratched the side of my face, "Well, we''ve recently been involved¡ªnot directly¡ªbut I took in *pointing at Megan and Alexa* those two and their partners were a little confused, to say the least¡ª"


    "Oh shit. Really? And you bagged them instead, huh? I wanna hear everything from the top! It''s only fair, right?"


    I turned to Megan and Alexa, "If you two are fine with it¡ª"


    "Sure, sure¡­/ No problem over here¡ª"


    In any case, we shared a different case from our side while the other two intently listened. Their stories had simrities, sure, but it didn''t take long before we shared our more personal ones or the ones that involved everyone else. However, Jennifer was already looking at me and Kaley suspiciously as we finished a quick re-telling.


    "Something wrong?"


    Jennifer shook her head, "Seemed to me that everyone you two get involved with joins this ''circle'' of yours. Transference is a bitch, huh? You know, the thing that happens between a therapist and their client¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "In a way, sure¡­ but everyone''s still free to do their own thing. We have our own sets of rules and boundaries and everyone else has their own. It sometimes work like a perfect hand and if it doesn''t, it doesn''t. Not everyone stays and sometimes it''s just a one-time thing for them but if they wanted to join in, it''ll be on our terms, vice-versa."


    Jennifer chuckled, "The cock must be that good if 99% of what I see here is cunts."


    I waved her off, "Eh. Sometimes toys would give me a hand¡ª"


    She shook her head, "Doesn''t matter. You''re one lucky fucking guy, literally. Must be hard when someone catches feelings but your ego must be¡ª"


    "It''s not all me, alright? It''s true that I''m the only guy, and that''s by my request, but everyone else also grows and develops mutual feelings for each other. And that''s the weird thing, we don''t know what kind of feeling it is exactly. It''s not the same¡ªat least what I think¡ªfor what I have for Kaley, but I could say that it''s above simple friendship.


    It''s like it''s in between friendship and love probably because sex is involved but yeah, we''re still figuring everything out¡­ and talking, talking before AND after is key. Everyone needs to be on the same page or at least in the same realm of understanding."


    She nodded pensively, "Hmm~ Looks to me that you got it figured out already. I''m expecting a dumb-guy response but I didn''t think you''d be this articte about it."


    "But yeah, I''d be lying if I said that my ego''s not through the roof while being with everyone because it''s every guy''s dream¡ªwhatever they may say when asked directly¡ªbut Kaley''s the one who holds everything together. You heard our story earlier so you know what my feelings are for her and how all this shit works but yeah¡ª"


    Kaley cut in as she turned to Jennifer, "So much for being egotistical, no?"


    Jennifer chuckled as she nodded, "Never seen an egoist be this humble and give the glory to someone else¡­ Pfft¡­ I actually wouldn''t mind as much¡ªafter talking to you¡ªto have my kids¡ª"


    As soon as Jennifer said that, everyone, I mean fucking EVERYONE couldn''t believe their ears as they either went hysterical or homicidal because, in essence, she hadn''t even been officially weed to the circle or had the thought of doing it with Kaley and me, why''d she get to jump in front of everyone else¡ªespecially Kaley¡ªto have my child?


    "JENN?!/ WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!/ Oh, you''re dead¡­/ Yeah¡­ So dead/ HAHAHAHAHA! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!/ HOLD UP, HOLD UP! DID I HEAR IT JUST RIGHT?!"


    In any case, it was funny and very endearing to see Kaleytching on me like a face-hugger to protect me from "predators", but aside from Jennifer dropping the bomb on us, Quinn also fucking slipped and revealed something we should be talking to Kaley in private.


    Kaley was hugging me as tight as she could:


    "Hold on, h-hold on, wait¡ª Quinn?! You too?!"


    "What did I say? Oh¡ª Ah, fuck¡ª Pretend you didn''t hear anything."


    "How could I?!"


    "That is true¡­ I have a PowerPoint prepared and everything but it just slipped¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "I also wasn''t that serious. The colonel¡ª my dad just dropped that on me on our way here and that was one of the reasons I panicked. If anything, Rachel would carry our baby though I''d help with the conception, you know?"


    "W-Why me?! W-Well¡­ Wouldn''t mind that either, to be honest¡ª"


    Alexa followed, "I wouldn''t mind as well but not now¡­"


    And Megan just had to, "I''m all for solidarity but no kids for me, thank you¡ª"


    Kaley waved everyone off, "Everyone be quiet! I need to process this for a bit¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Tatiana just had to do it, "For the record, I would''ve wanted to as well but I physically can''t so¡­"


    Kaley then snapped her head towards her, "Hold up, we both got IUDs, how¡ª"


    "It''s double the protection, correct?"


    "IT''S NOT¡ª HOW¡ª AHHHHHH!!!"


    For the first time in a while, Kaley looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown but I slightly eased her turmoil by hugging her tightly as well. This other topic should''ve been discussed some other time but let''s just say that Jennifer also had Oscar''s way of dropping important shit out of the blue.

 Chapter 1122: Pregnancy Talks - YOU HAD IT IN YOU! LITERALLY!

    At this point, everyone else was waiting for Kaley to calm down, and let me tell you, it did take more than a few minutes, but the moment she let out this long~ and drawn-out sigh, she looked at me with a serious expression before kissing me. After that, she hugged me again which was just as tight as earlier before she turned around to face everybody:


    "A-Alright¡­ Are we having a serious conversation now or are just messing around?"


    Jennifer started, "I was partly serious because I did think of it¡ªbut yeah, I''m in myte 30s, have to pass it on to someone at least."


    Rachel replied, "Wait, and you''re making ME carry it?"


    "Yes?"


    "Nuh-uh. I don''t mind having kids but you''re not passing on anything if it didn''te from you. You know how passing it on works, right?"


    "Of course, I do. A doctor gets the eggs from me then he jerks off in a cup then bada-bing, bada-boom, after a short bit, they put it in you¡ª"


    "NUH-UH! Not a chance in hell! And I thought you said you''d help with the conception?! DO IT YOURSELF!"


    "You¡ª Fine. That''s fair. We BOTH get pregnant¡ª Does that mean you''re staying?!"


    "Ah¡ª I could also stay here and not be with you, you know?!"


    "Nah~ You wouldn''t. Is the dick that really good or are you just ying with me?!"


    "I dunno, you''ll see in a few days."


    "OH, COME ON!"


    Kaley waved these two off, "Alright, I see how you stand on this."


    Quinn''s ears perked up, "Is it my turn to¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Tatiana, why¡ª How¡ª"


    Tatiana just shrugged her shoulders, "I said I can''t. That''s it, you know what I went through. I could probably surrogate, sure, but that''s not me getting pregnant. If anything, I wanted to see YOU get knocked up first¡­ Since you know, you''re the first one and everything¡­"


    "That''s¡ª alright, thanks for your input¡­" Kaley trailed as she turned to Alexa, "And you?"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "I know how it is¡­ I''ll wait."


    Alexa chuckled, "Well, don''t take this the wrong way¡­ I still have my situation with Seb and all but I''m still very young. I''ll think about it again in a few years but maybe I''ll end up with both their kids."


    Jennifer cut in, "You talking about the sub?"


    Megan interjected, "Yeah, she is¡­ Pfft¡­ Quite the five-year n, I must say."


    Kaley turned to her, "I know you already said no kids, but why?"


    "I just don''t. My mind might change in the future but as of right now, I''ll enjoy whatever it is that we''re doing."


    "Alright¡­" then Kaley finally turned to Quinn, "Quinn¡­ I''m sorry for picking youst¡ª"


    "It''s cool. I have a lot to say, anyway."


    "I-I see¡­ Then¡­ You really want to have kids with him?"


    Quinn was grinning from ear to ear earlier but her expression turned to a solemn one before she gave Kaley her answer:


    "I do, yes."


    "..."


    "Look, I brought it up with him before and I was slowly hinting at it to you¡ªI don''t know if you''ve noticed¡ªbut I''mpletely serious about having one. Like Jennifer, I''m also not as young as I would''ve liked but yeah¡­ I know we''re friends and all but that doesn''t have to change when he knocks me up. Totally up to you if you want to be the first one."


    "..."


    "I have other people to help me though I''d appreciate some visits or at least a call, and if it''s a bitch¡ª I-I mean a cunt¡ª I¡ª Fuck¡­ I mean a girl, I''ll give you the rights to name her. If not, he''ll be named after me. He''ll grow with a wrench in one hand and a barbell in the other but if you''re open to have ydates with my kid, I would love that.


    They''d be half-siblings, so it should also be their rights, right?"


    "..."


    "Unless¡­ Hmm¡­ I haven''t asked but¡­ Kaley¡­ Do you have any intention of having kids?"


    I cut in, "I mentioned something¡ª"


    Quinn cut me off, "Not you, stud. I''m asking her."


    "..."


    "Kaley. We can''t be having this conversation if we''re the only ones talking. I thought you already took the time to steel or resolve yourself or something¡ª"


    I cut in once again with a slight glint in my eye as I looked at Quinn:


    "Look, I did say I''m open with it and all but if Kaley''s not cool with it, and she clearly isn''t¡ª"


    "No," Kaley finally spoke up.


    I held her gently, "You don''t have to say anything, Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley waved me off and looked at me with a smile, "Haaa¡­ To be fair with all of you, we did have a talk about having kids but the time we decided to do that is when everything here had kind of settled.


    And of course, I''m totally fine¡ªno, excited for bearing his children and I would''ve preferred to have his firstborn but¡­ As you can all see, our situation is crazy as it is, and as a woman, I wouldn''t want to deny another one of the privileges of having one¡­ Especially now that you''re kind of racing for time.


    Getting them frozen is also a decision and is actually avable but we all know we wanted to do it the traditional way, right? Hahaha¡­"


    "Kaley..."


    "Also, I''m also gonna be honest and say that I was kind of shocked at first as I felt a pinch in my chest, but thinking about it albeit briefly, it wouldn''t be as bad as I thought initially. Besides, why do it with some random guy when there''s already one in front of you that you''repatible with?"


    Tatiana just had to do it:


    "Kaley, look. You really don''t have to decide now. Like Rachel and Jennifer here, you can take your time with your response and if you wait enough, Quinn might just have menopause and it''s a win-win¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU BITCH?! WIN-WIN?! WANT ME TO FIST YOUR FUCKING ASS?!"


    "First of all, I fisted YOUR ass earlier and that just means your my bitch for the day¡ª"


    "WHEN DID WE FUCKING AGREE ON THAT?!"


    "When I fisted your ass¡ª Are you even listening?!"


    "FUCK YOU! I FISTED JENNIFER''S ASS SO DOES THAT MEAN SHE''S MY BITCH?!"


    Jennifer never looked so panicked, "HOLD UP¡ª"


    But Rachel was already dyingughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU GOT FISTED?! FOR REAL?! DIDN''T THINK YOU HAD IT IN YOU! AND IT IS! HER FIST!


    LITERALLY! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "S-SHUT UP! I WAS JUST CURIOUS!"

 Chapter 1123: Pregnancy Talks II - My Requests, for now...

    It took a while before the chaos subsided but Kaley did take Quinn to the side to talk privately, and for what seemed like 15 minutes or so, the two hugged tightly for a good minute before they came back.


    The two were wearing a smile as they walked back to us but I definitely saw signs of tears being shed between the two.


    I wasn''t sure of what exactly they talked about¡ªneeding to do it privately¡ªbut it definitely had something to do with Quinn''s personal request.


    But yeah, despite all their talk about who''s getting knocked up or not, they seemed to have forgotten about one fucking important person that should have a say in this as well.


    Me!


    "Hmmrghh¡­" I trailed off as I looked at them with squinty eyes, "Must be nice¡­"


    Kaley obviously noticed what I was hinting at, "Hmm¡ª Oh. Something wrong¡ª"


    "It must be real~ nice to, you know, to be included and discussed specifics and shit¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª I''m sorry, forughing a-and excluding you but we''ll definitely talk too! However~ If you really wanna go that route¡­ How should I put this¡­ Hmm~ Are there people here you wouldn''t want to get pregnant? Is that it?"


    ''Ah, crap¡ª''


    As soon as Kaley said that, everyone just gave me this look of "The audacity!" and it had this mix of cheekiness and a bit of smugness as they stared me down. But yeah, if we get down to brass tacks, the egg cells were the ones who choose the sperm to fertilize with, not the other way around.


    It''s just that with our progressive rtionship and all, I just thought that even though they have the final say as to how, who, when, and where they want to get pregnant, I''d have a say at least.


    Quinn chuckled as she broke the silence, "C''mon now, shoot your shit. Got anything to say about that?"


    I took the dangling bait and just went with it:


    "Alright, you''re giving me the floor so I''ll take it¡­ First of all, I''m deeply honored for all you fucks to choose me as your donor¡ª"


    Quinn cackled as she continued, "Fuck you, hah! Alright, alright~ You got our attention~"


    "Anyway~ As we''re on the topic, if it weren''t for Jennifer, we would''ve done this in a more~ umm¡­ ideal setting but it is what it is. What''s important is we got to talking and we''re trying to figure out what works for us. But yeah, I do have some requests¡ª"


    "Some?"


    "Yeah, some requestssss, plural. With an ''s'' and all that because even if I''m like this, I also wanted to be a father though I really have no fucking idea aside from the things I would''ve wished my dad did for me when I was a kid or things I wish some fathers should''ve done for their kids also."


    Jennifer leaned over to Kaley, "He''s¡­ He''s really serious about this, huh?"


    "Pfft¡­ You tell me¡­"


    I waved them over with my New York ent, "I''m still talkin'' ere~"


    Jennifer''s eyes grew wide, "HAH! Spot on!"


    "Thank you, thank you¡ª Anyway~ As I was saying, my requests could increase as I think of more in the future but even though I''m not forcing them on you, do know that¡ª"


    Quinn waved me off, "Enough of that flowery shit, tell me what hoops I should jump through before you put that huge cock of yours in me and do its other intended purpose! Heh."


    "Okay, okay~ First of all, if we''re gonna do it, I want us to be alone. It''s different from our usual nights so I want it to be a little more intimate and a little special."


    "Even better. Works for me, what else?"


    "Timing."


    "What do you mean?"


    "We do it at the right time based on your cycle and I''ll make sure to at least hold off on any intercourse for at least three days. It kinda takes the magic out of it but if you really want it, we gotta do it the most effective way."


    "Seriously?" Quinn rolled her eyes, "Why bother doing cum retention if you already cum that much? Besides didn''t you already say that even though you have that thing where you cum a lot, it''s still packed with the good stuff?"


    Alexa interjected, "But why three days? Didn''t you advise¡ªwhat''s his name again¡ªMauro, to wait for at least seven?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Yeah¡­ If I go on for more than four days without a release, trust me, my balls look like it''s about to burst the same with my dick imprinting out of my pants."


    "Oh¡­ G-Good to know¡­ C-Continue¡­"


    Quinn turned to me, "Okay, I can deal with that. Anything else? Anything while I''m carrying my baby and after he''s born? I did say I can handle myself but what are your thoughts on that?"


    "Hmm¡­ Like I said, I haven''t thought much about it but I''ll make sure all the doctors provide you with everything you need whether it be checkups or prenatal vitamins and whatnot, and I''ll keep all the alcohol off your shelves."


    "Hey! I''m not gonna drink a sip, asshole! What do you think of me?!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I''m just saying¡­ I do trust you but there''s a lot of things to consider. But yeah, I don''t wanna scare you about the dark shit in regards to pregnancy but do know that we''ll do everything in our power to make sure that everything''s taken care of. I''m not just gonna pump you full of my seed and bolt. I''m not that kinda guy.


    We''re not in that type of rtionship but I still wanna be there, mostly."


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "Heh¡­ For a moment there I thought we''d be discussing what car he''d get and what type of loudout he''d use when he grows up but that works too. For the record, we''ll start him off with exotics but muscle before tuners, alright? And the way the world is, he should be fucking strong too and be able to lift at least twice his bodyweight!"


    "Oh, fuck¡ª That''s another can of worms right there¡ª We might have another talk with cars and some other shit but I''d agree with that if you''d let me teach him the way. Anyway, I''ll think about it but the gist is that we guide him in either of our paths but he gets to choose when he''s older, cool?"


    "Cool."


    Megan cut in, "Hold up, so are you two fucking now or what? I didn''t think getting someone pregnant needed all this talk!"

 Chapter 1124: More Things To Consider - Getting Ready for the Airport

    Obviously, 90% of the poption would''ve agreed with what Megan said but 90% of the poption was fucking dead, and this was just the way we do things. Of course I fucking know that a pregnancy could ur once two people of the opposite sex have unprotected sex¡ªas did the 90% of the poption¡ªbut then again, the same percentage seemed to have just "winged" what happened after.


    And even though more than half of them were decently doing their jobs, the total sess rate should be 99.9%.


    ''I''m pretty confident about managing and leading thousands of people to survive the apocalypse but I can confidently say that I still know jack shit about being a father.''


    I did say that I have a fewints as to how my father or my parents raised me, but that wasn''t even half the argument since what makes a person shouldn''t only be from how they were raised, but how he lived his life till its end, even if how a parental figure greatly influence what happens after they left the nest.


    One more thing, it seemed like Quinn wanted to do it with just herself with some help from her crew in her domain¡ªallowing some visits and plenty of calls from us¡ªso in essence, if everything goes right, I''d technically be a father but realistically part-time.


    Truthfully, this whole thing had a lot of shit we need to iron out before plunging into the deep end because if something went wrong in the beginning, part-way in, or at the end, it''ll be on all of us and the one who''d suffer most was the child.


    That was something I''d avoid at all costs, and even if slight mistakes could be forgiven or resolved, I''d rather have my child have the perfect childhood before he/she moves on to being an adult or being their own person.


    I''d still check in on him/her from time to time or I''d let ''em pay me visits for advice or anything else like sharing a drink or two¡ªprobably even let them stay until they were full grown adults¡ªbut that was too far into the picture at the moment.


    ''Another te on the tray¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we eventually felt that wave of drowsiness, and the moment I let out an exaggerated yawn, everyone else followed with their own.


    "That''s really weird, huh?"


    "Yawning after seeing someone yawn?"


    "Yawn-ception¡­"


    "Witchcraft¡­"


    "Pfft¡ª Hahahaha! We''re really gonna sleep here?"


    "We didst night and Rachel''s room is umm¡­ soaked, to say the least¡­"


    "Because of you."


    "Wha¡ª That''s not all me, alright?! It''s 70% me but who were the people that kept fucking me on both ends, huh?!"


    "Oh,e on! Don''t make me jealous, now! I''m already sleepy and you''re making me horny¡­"


    "Unless¡­"


    "Oh no¡­"


    "Please? Just one round? For each of us?"


    "I really should''ve put up more rules than being the only guy¡­"


    "Please? I''ll let you lick my armpits?"


    "Dammit! Just one, alright?!"


    "So, you like armpits, huh? Interesting¡­"


    "You can do him if you want, Jenn¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m tempted from hearing all the recos but not now¡­ very soon though¡­"


    "Trust me, you''ll like it."


    "Oh, I''ll know that I like it, I''m just preparing myself for when it happens. It''s been a while since I had good dick¡­ or any, if that matters¡­"


    "Hey guys, I know y''all are fucking horny but I''M TRYING TO SLEEP! DO IT QUIETLY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, since Quinn and Megan requested somete,te-night "snack", I obliged with the premise of their underarms though we did it as quickly and as quietly as we could. However, Jennifer was definitely eyeing me within thefort of her own nket and lonesome because Rachel decided to share her nket with Kaley instead of her.


    But even when morning came, Tatiana and Alexa had their turn with me but Jennifer still wouldn''t budge and was refusing to even partake with just her mouth or even her hands.


    It wasn''t like I''m pissed that she wasn''t joining in or anything but I definitely know the look of someone that horny and curious but still refuses to follow what they want. It was a little weird between us because she still referred to me as her little bro but I decided to just see what happens in their own time.


    ''She also had this thing with Rachel still but whatever¡­''


    In any case, right as we had our breakfast, at least 60% of our fighting force was getting ready to storm the Subic Bay International Airport because it was one of our deals with the ADM before they set off to take back theirnd.


    Granted we could do it on our own given enough time, but I''d take all the help I could get from these people because even if we were expanding at a pace extremely faster than what we were doing back home, we have the people to man these key locations, and just the dead we''d take off the streets plus the untouched loot at the other wharf right next to the airport was fucking huge.


    Furthermore, the airport itself had a lot of facilities and a ton of space everyone could stretch their feet on, but the most promising yet most dangerous one to add to our lists of services offered was the safending of air vehicles.


    We could always close everything off even if they weren''t locked off by a body of water but we can''t just make an airlock of sorts with nes and the like because they''d use thending strip we''d provide for them.


    That was something we''d need to be really careful for or should prepare for because if one of those passengers was carrying something that could affect the well-being of everyone in the airport, everyone would just be fucked with the simplest of mistakes. However, on the flip side, if this ce was maintained perfectly and without issue, it''d just open the world for us.


    Then Oscar tapped me with a shit-eating grin on his face:


    "Wanna drop in the middle of the runway with me, kid?"

 Chapter 1125: The Subic Bay International Airport

    If I was just gonna try and reim the Subic Bay Airport with my crew, the n would be to slowly whittle the dregs using .22s, leading the bulk into a trap, or a hit-and-run tactic. But yeah, reiming such a huge area needed careful nning but since we were in a bit of a time crunch and we have several hundred Marines on our side, I guess that a bit of brute-forcing was feasible.


    To be honest, I had no involvement in how these people nned to take over the airport I asked them to because one, I was busy with admin stuff yesterday, and two, I wasn''t the only one capable of moving forces to a spot just to clear it with the dead.


    Most likely, I''d be in charge of the aftermath but as of right now, Oscar was already pushing me into one of the Chinooks their troops used to get here while lugging around an M240 with hundreds of rounds stapped on his torso.


    It''s just that it was a fucking fiasco because Major Harper was also present in the same aircraft and lugging around the same loadout, but since we still had plenty of room, I brought over my core group which wasposed of Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, Ibarra¡ªand since Mikhail was out of the picture, Quinn took his ce but I also brought over Bogdan and let Kuzma lead the trainees/cadets.


    And to give a brief outline of our attack, the n was to attack, nothing more.


    But yeah, our group would being from above while three ships would split two-and-one where the two woulde from the airport''s side which was closest to the Marine Base while the other one would be going to the other end of the airport where they''d meet up with the bulk of soldiers on Mitch''smand.


    Additionally, there''d be five fishing vessels and six other boats that would dock either on the wharf sticking out of the airport¡ªto clear out smaller dregs that mighte in¡ªor a bit further in to where this "Majestic" resort was located to manage the traffic and other deadheads that might visit us when we started to make some noise.


    It''s just that the airport had a lot of entrances left open due to the panic when it started and some of the chain-linked gates had already fallen down and it could only plugged by vehicles at the moment.


    And one other thing: there were survivors inside.


    It shouldn''te as a surprise that a decently-sized group managed to lock themselves in and find sce in an area teeming with the undead but with no way of making more food or getting out without sacrifice orpletely annihtion, it was only a matter of time before they go through the whole storehouse of food and other stuff.


    This was a piece of information that just surfaced yesterday because with the use of one of the US Drones, I so fucking highly covet, they were able to get valuable information and discover said survivors by using its thermal and night-vision capabilities.


    "Any idea of how many are inside?"


    "Sioson!" Oscar called out to this other guy wearing a high-visibility vest, "You saw the readings, right? Do you have an estimate?"


    "Hmm~ I''d say around fifty or so but there is another group on the other side of the airport that''s way smaller. Maybe around a dozen people¡ª but they seemed to have kids with them."


    "Is the airport the only ce you checked?"


    He just stared at me for a bit before he answered, "Well~ There are also heat signatures South of the airport where this other resort and this maritime academy were present, numbering a couple hundred at least, but there''s a lot more in this medical center further East."


    "Like how many?"


    "Like way~ more. They even have checkpoints on the road leading up to that point and some patrols roaming around. It''s hard to see shit in the dark but those heat signatures wouldn''t lie."


    "I see, I see. Thank you," then I turned to Oscar again, "We''re just waiting for Mitch and the other ships to get close, right?"


    "Yeah. They''ll draw as much as they can on each end first before we drop in then we''ll mount these bad boys *tapping at their machine guns* on each edge of the main building before you fucks go down and clean the mess downstairs. Be vignt, alright? I know they''re people but even if they surrender easily, detain them and take all their weapons."


    I nodded, "Yeah."


    "Tie up the unruly ones and don''t be afraid to break a bone or two."


    "I''ll make sure to get my point across quickly, don''t worry about it."


    "You sure about that, kid?"


    "I''ll hit a kid if I have to¡ª"


    "HAH! Enough said, you don''t mind me borrowing Jared for a bit since you have Kaley with ya, right?"


    "You can take them both if you want to save ammo."


    "Nah, one of you will be¡ª"


    As Oscar was still in mid-sentence, the Sioson fe cut him off to look at this reinforcedptop with what looked like the controller for the drone they were using and it showed footage of a peculiar sight of the runway teeming with the undead.


    It was very easy to lure the undead once the ships came in using something less noisy than their foghorns¡ªbecause no one wanted the undead from the whole bay to drop in¡ªbut the live footage said otherwise.


    Granted there were already a good number of them moving on either end of the confines of the airport, but there was also a good number of the dead looking into the sky like they were waiting for rain. However, with the bulk of the dead going their own way without a care to which meat bag they''d bump into, some of them got tossed or pushed around which prompted a reaction.


    Almost all of the ones standing on the central area of the runway were unscathed as they remained on their spot but the ones that got pushed off their weird stance changed teams for a moment before they finally got to their original position.


    However, not all of them managed to get back¡ªat least to what we were seeing¡ªbut as of right now, it seemed like the ones fighting the wave decided to just go with the flow as each of them tried to follow the sound they were hearing at intervals.


    It''s just that the walls on each side were simply chain-linked fences alternating with walls made from hollow blocks, and the chain-linked fences could only take so much weight.

 Chapter 1126: DID YOU JUST MAKE NAPALM?!

    On that note, the ones with the clear shot open fired and reduced their numbers from a distance while the rest of us who woulde in via a helicopter strapped up. It''ll only take a few minutes before we reach our destination and the ships we were waiting on were close enough.


    But yeah, the Admiral was barking his orders from the Eisenhower which was still docked on the Marine Base¡ªas he had a perfect view of everything¡ªand Mitch''s team arrived shortly and took care of the dead outside the airport and blocked off the other entrances with the spare vehicles they brought.


    We did have the numbers but we wouldn''t be idiots about it but it didn''t take long before wended on the roof of the Main Building of this airport.


    Our groupnded first than the other Chinook we flew in with, but instead of rushing down ording to our n, I pulled out the case for the gift I received from Matthew which was a Delta 5 from Daniel Defense.


    I barely used this gun because I was almost always at the front while Kaley and Jared were doing their designated long-shooting job, but this time, with these new unknowns on the prowl, Iid down on my stomach and went with using a bolt-action.


    Without its suppressor¡ªor should I say, just the barrel was already a whopping 24-inch, four inches longer than the barrel of the SCAR Jared got from Royo. Additionally, if we''re talking about precision and taking the shooter out of the picture, a bolt-action would always prevail against a semi-auto.


    And yeah, this gun of mine was actually a pair because at the time Matthew gave it to me, I revealed that I already had one, so I just gifted my gift to Kaley instead and used what I was used to.


    No words were needed to be discussed as we bothid our rifles down and then went prone to pick off the ones at the middle of the runway, which was the ce we were supposed to drop in as Oscar mentioned earlier.


    Be it a hundred or a thousand deadheads, our group would be able to clear it but fifty or so unknowns could spell if we weren''t careful with them.


    And as we exhaled and squeezed the trigger at the same time, me taking the one on the furthest right while she on the furthest left, it only took a moment before we saw a puff of ck and red before our targets were put to rest.


    ''That''s the universal truth for you.''


    Our goal for taking them down was to figure out if they''d die with a blow to the head and to observe what happens next, but I just felt a weird twist in my gut, as Kaley and I saw each of them look at their fallenrades.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    As all of this was happening, and even before we took down two of them, the groups outside of the airport were already piling bodies one after the other, but this awful feeling in our gut just made the two of us empty our mags to whichever we could and reload one more time and empty it as well before what was left of them turned in our direction and unhinged their jaw.


    We were already bracing for a deafening scream of some sort but their "scream" didn''t even reach our ears even though we could see from our scope that their wailing ripped off their cheeks as they forcefully erged their mouths to be a better speaker.


    And with our second reload of our 10-round mag carrying 6.5 Creedmoor rounds, we managed to put all of them down¡ªat least what was on the central runway¡ªbefore ourms specifically told us to get back in the Chinook and fly away.


    Because not only did we invade their territory, but we also killed their guild members, so each and every one of them¡ªwhich were on either side of the airport¡ªstopped being fish in a barrel as they turned around and headed for the Main Building with speed.


    I actually thought the mand" to hunt us down would cease once we take care of these ones we just put down, but no, these fucks were running back with a grudge.


    My only regret was to not fire as fast as I could''ve plus forgetting that we had survivors to liberate in this building, but it was only a matter of time before we got swarmed with hundreds upon hundreds of the undead.


    "Alright, time to go¡ª"


    "AH, NO WE DON''T!"


    "YEAH, WE JUST FUCKING GOT HERE, KID!"


    It''s just that we had several people here who were known to stand their ground, especially the ones carrying machine guns, but our pilots still booted up our only means of escape as these two fucks¡ªOscar and Harper¡ªhad already mounted their M240''s with hundreds upon hundreds of ammo linked together.


    Additionally, Bogdan seemed to have just finished lining up¡ªforgive theparison¡ªwhat seemed to look like white, sticky, gel-like semen, from ten small-ish wine barrels to be chucked to where the bulk of the dead would being from.


    But yeah, Oscar and Major Harper had already opened fire along with the other soldiers that came with us¡ªmy group included¡ªtowards the angry horde that wasing for the intruders on top of the Main Building, but Bogdan just let out this arson-y smile as he lit up the same small-ish wine barrels and threw it a great distance away.


    A few people still weren''t sure what Bogdan was nning but I just had a realization from the ingredients he was working on yesterday.


    ''If those machineguns only needed a little~ bit of uracy, this firebomb fuel gel mixture needed a lot less¡­''


    And yeah, seeing a great me envelop each and everyone one of those undead fucks and spreading on each of them with the slightest touch confirmed my suspicion.


    "DID YOU JUST MAKE NAPALM?!"


    "YEAH! AND THROW THIS ONE OVER TO THAT SIDE!"


    "I''LL THROW ONE TOO!"


    "ME TOO! YOU SHOULD''VE TOLD ME YOU WERE MAKING NAPALM! GIMME!" Oscar eximed.


    "COLONEL! MAN THE FUCKING MACHINE GUN!"


    Quinn took his ce, "I''LL HANDLE IT! GIMME¡ª HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Ignoring Quinn''s murderousugh while mowing down the undead burning or not, this type of incendiary weapon was banned for use against civilians but let''s just say that all is fair in love and war.


    And like a man''s inherent impulse to dig holes when handed a shovel, we were also predisposed to dly experience what it was like to watch things burn when the victims should be what they were called, victims.

 Chapter 1127: When one door closes, you make another one...

    To give a short description of what the airport looked like, the whole length of just the runway was around 9000ft(2743.2m). It didn''t even include the dimensions of the building we were in¡ªwhich was designed to hold at least 100,000 passengers, the aviation schools, the multiple hangars, and the huge-ass parking space for nes and othernd vehicles alike.


    But yeah, the first batch of the dead we decimated with several barrels of napalm came from the right side¡ªwhere a single ship had docked and where Mitch and his group would being from¡ªbut a few hundred were stilling from the other end.


    It was because this building was closer to this end than the other, but the sprinters and the ferals in that cluster had already advanced way past the halfway point though our bullets were still faster.


    Returning to our main loadout, Kaley and I joined the group that was picking off anything that wasn''t hit by Bogdan''s nasty surprise, though this huge boon had a little disadvantage and it was called reduced visibility.


    Not only was the smoke and fire making it hard to see whether the undead we were aiming at were truly dead, but the strong winds that blew past us just made identifying which rotting dome we should aim for.


    Napalm was the better choicepared to Molotov cocktails, obviously, but with a guy like me who preferred everything to be fucking precise, my best-case scenario was to just fly away with our Chinooks and drop them down when they were all in one big spot.


    "MAJOR! THE CHINOOKS ARE STILL ON STAND-BY¡ª"


    "FUCK THAT SHIT, CAN''T YOU SEE THE SMOKE COMING FROM THAT SIDE?! THEY''RE COMING! WE JUST NEED TO HOLD OUT A BIT MORE!"


    "IS THAT ALL THE NAPALM YOU HAD?!"


    "YEAH! THAT''S ALL I COULD MAKE LAST NIGHT! SHIT''S EXPENSIVE!"


    "I''LL HOOK YOU UP LATER! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE¡ª"


    "I MADE SOME PIPE BOMBS TOO¡ª"


    "FUCK YEAH! GIMME A BUNCH! THERE''S EVEN DYNAMITE! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"


    As chaos was ensuing, it seemed like everyone had forgotten that the building we were in had also deadheads waiting for their hostages to try to make a break for it, but since there was new meat on the table¡ªin our case, the roof¡ªit didn''t take long before we had visitors came in from both ends of the fire exits and from the roof ess door.


    I only needed to give my group a simple nce before they figured out what I was about to order them to do¡ªexcept for Quinn, of course, who was now back to using her borrowed AK¡ªso I just dragged her with me to one end of the fire exit while the rest tried to plug the other.


    Obviously, we had other soldiers who had the same idea, but I just made them plug the roof ess instead of joining us in our melee.


    However, there''s no chance in hell several deadheads could get past me with my de in hand if they were to try and do it one at a time.


    The tight space provided by the fire exit''s staircase made it all possible, so Quinn just got more familiar with the AK tform as she magdumped the cluster at the very bottom to somehow make my life easier. At the same time, Kaley was right by the edge of the roof and picking off anything that exhibited unusual behavior.


    "DON''T JUST HOLD ONTO THE TRIGGER! DO IT IN BURSTS¡ª SINGLES EVEN!"


    "HAAH?!"


    "YOU''RE USING BULLETS LIKE THEY FALL FROM THE SKY! DON''T JUST AIM AT AN AREA, YOU''RE HITTING THEM BUT YOU''RE NOT KILLING THEM! FLIP THE SELECT-FIRE SWITCH TO SEMI-AUTO¡ª"


    "GOT IT! THEY''RE STILL MOVING AROUND THOUGH!"


    "IT''D BE TOO DAMN EASY IF THEY WEREN''T! THAT''S LIFE!"


    "FUCK YOU! I''M HELPING!"


    "NOT AS MUCH AS YOU THINK!"


    "THEN SWITCH PLACES WITH ME!"


    "THEN DON YOUR FUCKING GLOVES!"


    "BET!"


    Even if Quinn was still armed with our extra AKs, she''d rather bash skulls with her halberd/polearm hybrid as she took her whole getup with us. She only needed to put on her mechanical gloves without the fucking exo-suit, but I wouldn''t just feed the bearer of my firstborn, potentially, to the wolves.


    With my rifle in hand, a 5.56 cartridge easily bored through a deadhead''s skull with each trigger pull, and I even had plenty of time to aim at the onesing from the other side of the runway before reloading and making a mess of the ones clogging the fire exit.


    But yeah, I was making sure that Quinn had a face to smash in by letting them in a couple of steps at a time¡ªwhich was just the right timing for each of her murderous swings that could probably fell a tree with one swipe.


    And with two magazines empty, I swiftly put on a fresh mag, but this time, I pulled on my rifle''s strap to fasten it on my body before pulling out my TX22 which was something I should''ve used from the moment we switched sides.


    In essence, taking on a few hundred deadheads was dangerous as fuck but it was a fucking cakewalk when they were lining up to face you.


    And to add insult to injury, it didn''t take long before the bulk of our forcesing from our ships got into the airport with theirnd vehicles, and our little excursion ended faster than we thought.


    ''That''s the Marines for ya¡­''


    The only ces we could hear gunshots were from the wharf and the highway Mitch''s group was guarding, but everyone here was already piling corpses onto mountains and setting them on fire.


    We did most of the work when wended on the roof, so we let everyone else do their own share by clearing the whole area from the undead.


    It was a weird feeling for things to go this easy and without much nning, but that was what a group trained to do just this, or at least a version of it, were capable of doing.


    Funnily enough, it''d be a different story if we made them switch jobs with our cooks while we arm our cooks with high-powered rifles because it''ll be like Michael Jackson auditioning for the UFC and Mike Tyson auditioning to be a figure skater.


    People had different set of skills or a specialization, like one might say, and being a jack of all trades was just making it a little weird for me.


    I was used to doing everything by myself and conditioning everyone to do the same or simply function on their own but what I witnessed right now was a group of people that were actually right for the job.


    Granted they might have other skills unrted to violence but they knew the assignment and delivered on it many times over.


    But yeah, I was making sure that everyone was also picking up the cases they used themselves but it was now my turn to talk to the people stranded in the main building of this airport because all they heard from the storeroom they locked themselves in was a ton of gunshots and several explosions.


    "The other group has locked themselves in the suites, right?"


    "Yeah, but the biggest group is here."


    "You tried talking to them, yet?"


    "We did but¡­ They really do want someone local with a leadership position¡­ and they''re still very paranoid."


    "Alright¡­ Thanks, Sioson."


    "Anytime."


    So yeah, I made my way to the door of the supposed storeroom and knocked with one knuckle so as to not startle them:


    "YOOOO~ IT''S YA BOI~~~"


    "We cleared the whole ce and everything! It''s safe toe out! Hello?"


    "This is the representative of the Philippine Government and the US Navy and we''re informing you that we have just cleared the airport of the dead and it''s now free to head out! We have several outposts surrounding Subic and we''re turning this airport into one very shortly. We need all the cooperation we can get. Please, open up¡­"


    "We have foooood~"


    "Klondike Bar?"


    "I might say other things adults would definitely go for but you might''ve kids over there so I''m being extra careful. And with that in mind, we have doctors in the Marine Base and if any of you have any injuries or any condition that needs treatment, especially the young ones o the older folks, our doctors could take a look at them."


    Nothing. I tried everything that worked before but even my membership card for Costco didn''t work.


    But yeah, I can''t believe this fucks were ignoring me after shooing Sioson away, but they''d be the dumbest creatures in the world if they think they could win against me with the cold shoulder method.


    However, it''s just that this storeroom of sorts didn''t only have food in ce, but also everything else that the airport could offer, and I was hearing quite a few suspicious noises like they were building something or hauling more shit to block the only door.


    Sioson tapped me from behind, "No luck?"


    "Is this the only entrance?"


    "Unfortunately, yes."


    "Then we make one."


    "Sure¡ª Huh?! Wut?"

 Chapter 1128: George - Paranoia

    Some of the easier ways to make a new entrance that came to mind were to sacrifice a truck by ramming it at the external wall connecting to this particr area, get through sussily by using the vent system, blowing up a portion of the wall that''s non-load bearing, or in the same realm with using explosives, just blow the existing door altogether.


    In any case, a sledgehammer to the wall also came to mind but before we could enact upon our barbaric methods, we finally heard a reply.


    "P-Please prove that you''re real!" A gentle, womanly voice resounded.


    ''Real?''


    "Huh¡ª"


    "GET BACK HERE, REGINE! WE DON''T EVEN KNOW IF THE EXPLOSIONS WE HEARD WERE REAL!"


    "The ground was shaking, George! How can they imitate that!?"


    ''What are they talking about¡ª Oh¡­ That''s¡ª Huh.''


    I replied in calm tone, "We''re pretty much real, alright? If you''re talking about the ones that could copy voices¡­ I personally haven''t encountered a lot of them but their voice lines are pretty limited, no?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "WE''RE IN A BUSY AIRPORT FILLED WITH TOURISTS! WE COULD HEAR PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING¡ª"


    "Then what do you want me to say¡ª or hear?! Something you can''t hear in an airport?!"


    "THAT WOULD BE NICE¡ª"


    "You¡ª FINE! BOMB! BOMBS! FIRE IN THE HOLE! 9/11! MISSILE!


    NUKES! GUNS! BRATATTA! C4! NAPALM! HIJACK!


    KABOOM! WE NEVER OVERBOOK ANY FLIGHT, PROMISE! FREE FOOD! CHEAP ITEMS! OF COURSE, WE CAN ASK THE PLANE TO LAND BECAUSE YOU''RE LATE FOR FIFTEEN FUCKING MINUTES!"


    "..."


    "HOW''S THAT, GEORGE?!"


    "I¡­ I think he checks out¡­ But¡­"


    "Want me to send something in written format?!"


    "W-Would be nice¡ª"


    "You¡ª I''m so gonna fucking smack your head once you open this door for me¡­"


    "P-Please¡­ It''s just¡­ It''s just for our safety¡­ You can''t believe¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ Give me the sob storyter¡­"


    With that said, I easily found a pen and fucking piece of paper to write on, but I drew the most graphic furry fanart I could with the space avable while writing, "FUCK YOU, GEORGE!" at the bottom.


    Ignoring the looks of the Marines present and my group, I slid the paper on the gap between the door and flooring, and it didn''t take long before we heard them moving away all the barricades they ced on the sole entrance.


    "W-WE''RE OPENING THE DOOR!"


    "I HEARD YA! BUT NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Huh?!"


    "WHAT IF YOU FUCKS WE''RE THE ONES IMITATING VOICES?!"


    "WHA¡ª YOU JUST TALKED TO US!"


    "THAT''S NO PROOF!"


    "BUT THE PAPER!"


    "STILL NO PROOF! I JUST SENT YOU ONE, NOT RECEIVE IT!"


    "W-WHAT IF I SLID IT BACK?!"


    "WHAT IF YOU FUCKS JUST LEARNED TO DO THAT?!"


    "THEN WHAT DO WE DO THEN, YOU PSYCHO?!"


    "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING, GEORGE?! I JUST SAID NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS!"


    "..."


    "Did you learn to be fucking quiet too or¡ª"


    "J-JUST DON''T HURT US, ALRIGHT?! I''M COMING OUT FIRST!"


    "C''mon, George, I won''t judge whatever orientation you are¡ª"


    "I MEAN COMING OUT LITERALLY! WE''RE TALKING ABOUT OPENING THE DOORS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Ah. My bad¡ª Hold up, before that."


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "I''m telling you now that once youe out, we''ll detain you and check you for injuries or god forbid, bites, before moving on to the next person. I hope that not only you understand that because it''s for the safety of not just us but your own people so do bear with a bit of frisk before we offer you all a warm meal.


    Because if not, we''ll be forced to use the same violent means we used to clear this whole airport if we so much see a little bit of aggression from any of you. Is that okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ That''spletely fine."


    "You don''t need to answer that fast. Discuss it among your group first. Do know that we have women who can also do the same checks if they''re worried about guys going too far¡ªwhich we won''t, I promise you¡ªbut take it as a measure of trust and respect between us."


    "That''s¡ª A-Alright¡­"


    Our "talks" with this other group seemed to be going well, especially from the approving look Major Harper and everyone else who wasn''t familiar with how I was were giving me, but after some time, we eventually heard a knock from the other side:


    "We''ve talked."


    "And?"


    "They all agreed. I''ming out first, is that okay?"


    "Yeah. We''ll do it one at a time."


    "H-Here I go¡­"


    With that said, we heard the final barrier of the door between us which was its locks, obviously, but we soon saw it open inward, ever so slightly. After that, a man in his 40s who looked like fucking shit and had been through the wringer slowly came out and almost jumped back from the number of guns pointed at him.


    "W-Woah¡ª I-I''m oh God¡­ Oh God¡ª We''re saved! R-Regine! T-Tell the kids toe out next¡ª A-After all these¡­ *sniffles* W-What do I do now?" He asked as he looked at me with tears in his eyes.


    "George, right?"


    "Y-Yes¡ª Y-You were the one I was talking to e-earlier?"


    "Yeah. Name''s Sky."


    "Y-You''re a kid¡ª I mean, you look so young¡ª"


    "I get that a lot, unfortunately. But yeah¡­ George, what I''m gonna need you to do now is to get on your knees and put your hands behind your back so we can detain you and check your body for anything as I''ve said earlier."


    "Y-Yes¡­ Yes¡­ A-Anything¡­"


    Easily enough, this George feplied with our demands and one of our soldiers put some zip-ties on his wrists before he started to check him of anything.


    And since George was our first participant, we made sure to show the whole process to his group¡ªbecause we did all this in front of the slightly ajar door¡ªwho looked like they were stuck in the same ce for quite a while were still suspiciously eyeing everyone else from a safe distance.


    Of course, there was a horrid stenching from George and especially the storeroom they came from, but that just meant that their water was used for drinking, nothing less.

 Chapter 1129: Above And Beyond For Refugees

    On that note, they didn''t seem to be too famished, probably because they rationed well but a lot of questions were popping in my head the more I looked at them. However, the best course of action was to get through checking George first, before anything else, and herees the frisk we were talking about.


    Doing this type of shit before the world ended couldnd us in a lot of fuckingwsuits but at this point, it should be the minimum requirement for strangers to be eligible to pass.


    "Alright, I''m giving you another choice, George."


    "What is it?"


    "It''s gonna sound extreme if you choose the first one but I''m gonna need you to either strip and take a bath in front of everyone here or you do it semi-privately with some of our soldiers watching you¡ª"


    "I-I thought this was the check we''re talking about?!"


    "The only thing we''ve checked you is for obvious ces where you could hide bites or weapons. Besides, wouldn''t you want a nice warm bath and a fresh set of clothes after a¡ª Question, how long have you been here, exactly?"


    George looked a little difficult before he answered, "I¡­ I honestly don''t know, you tell me."


    "Well~ It''s been a year and a change of a few months since it started so¡ª"


    "Then a year and a few months is our answer."


    "What? No shot."


    George looked defeated as he turned to his family, "We''re all here and everything, at least what''s left of us. We even got our documentation with us, if that matters¡­"


    "Huh."


    "Look, I dunno how hard your ce was hit but this ce got hit hard. It''s¡­ We did try and make this a ce where everyone could be safe with the help of the soldiers who came to rescue us but they still couldn''t make it like those camps they said were fortified. We weren''t even sure if those camps are still standing¡­ You gotta believe me, man¡­ I¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Alright, George. I''m gonna hear the whole story from you and everyone else present but we got to move things along first. What do you say? Wanna do it here or in one of the restrooms?"


    "There''s no more watering from the pipes¡ª"


    "Ah, right. It wouldn''t be warm and nice but we do have water outside, enough for a wipedown with a cloth or a rag."


    "W-Why do all this?"


    "I dunno, you tell me. Your group has been here for god knows how long so I was just giving you the choice to do whatever if they aren''t too keen with ya going somece else. Let''s just say I''ll ept some degree of paranoia, alright? If you don''t trust us to be away from your family for a short bit, it''s cool. It''s on you to assure them and sacrifice a bit of dignity for them."


    "Hah¡­ What else can we do?"


    "Honestly? Not much. We could''ve just blown up this door and done something that could''ve saved us a lot of fucking time but we didn''t. Trust me, there aren''t a lot of people who''d do something like this outside. Also, we''d even give you the option to go your merry ways after we hear your story and feed you but we''re slowly building up this ce and we need more people."


    "So¡­ Same shit as before¡ª"


    "Well, if you want a change of pace, we have other ces we could send you along¡­ totally your choice but we rmend this ce, the Freeport Zone, or the Marine Base. We have something a bit further¡ªunfortunately, it''s another airport, but that ce has seen more action with raiders than deadheads. They''re not actually under me but we''re working together, if that matters."


    "..."


    "George¡­"


    "H-Huh?"


    "C''mon, man¡­ You''re just gonna take a bath, how hard could it be?"


    "Well¡­ Umm¡­ I''m sorry but I might need to do it here. I don''t want my kids to be worried¡­ It''ll reassure everyone else too."


    "Alright, we''ll bring you everything you need. Just wait a sec."


    "A-And the restraints?"


    "We''d cut it off too. No worries. We don''t get off in this type of shit, it''s totally just for security¡ªand to give you some peace of mind, I''m part Japanese and I''ve been through my fair share of public baths. I usually bathe with them but this is just a special case, alright?"


    "A-Alright, thank you."


    Obviously, not all the hundreds of troops were watching George and I talk¡ªjust a few dozen or so¡ªbut as weird as this might look, George got down into his bare muddy ass as he cleaned himself with a bucket of water, a bar of soap, and a clean cloth that soon turned murky.


    But yeah, It didn''t take long before George looked decent and human and from my astute observation, he was clean from any bites and just needed a bit more food in his system.


    He couldn''t hide the delight of wearing a fresh set of clothes but he didn''t even care when they got a little dirty when he beckoned Regine, who seemed to be his wife, and his two girls: Allie and Reba, toe out and give him a hug.


    "I-It''s totally fine, alright? I''m okay! See? New clothes too!"


    "Dad! Stop hugging us! We''re s-slimy! It''s getting on your clothes!"


    "Yeah, dad! Stop!"


    Regine turned to me, "A-Are we¡ª"


    "It''s your choice, actually. My wife, Kaley, and a few others had already prepared the proper area for you three. All we''d need is a little bit of trust from both sides."


    "A-Alright¡­" she turned to George, "W-We''ll be back soon, okay?"


    "Of course, I love you."


    "I love you too."


    Their two daughters cut in, "We love you too, DAD!"


    "Ah¡ª R-Right, right¡ª I love you two, too!"


    Obviously, it''d be a different type of ball game to have these three women strip and bathe in front of me so I asked Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and five other soldiers who were women to apany them in a more private area to have them checked and run through the same process George did.

 Chapter 1130: They kept us in!

    If it was any other day and these people came at us with disrespect, I would''ve just made them line up and hose them all together, but yeah, respect goes both ways and we should honor it.


    But yeah, the tiny bit of tediousness of bringing a couple of buckets filled with clean water¡ªeach time a person was done¡ªwas necessary to build more trust though it didn''t take long before we had to process them in batches.


    Obviously, we had more people watching them with guns at the ready but the group understood the situation and the necessity of doing so.


    They were just happy to breathe some fucking fresh air for once because even if they had small windows they could swing open, the storeroom they were in was fucking rancid, to say the least.


    On that note, it didn''t take long before a bunch of the guys huddled up in one spot to bathe together while the women did the same thing but in a private space, but there were still a few that requested a more private area so they could clean themselves and have fewer people looking at them naked.


    The world may have gone to shit and all but some of us still appreciate a little bit of privacy here and there.


    However, we still had a smaller group of people we had to convince toe out, and they were in this airport''s hotel suites but George didn''t look too happy when he discovered who I assumed to be people among their ranks were still alive.


    Since we built him up as this group''s representative of sorts, he was present with us when we were talking about how we''d go about the suites those dozen or so people were in, and the mention of their survival made his expression turn dark.


    "Something happened, huh? Spill."


    "That''s¡ª Those people¡ª Those damned¡ª"


    "It''s okay, breathe~ alright?"


    George tried to lighten his darkened expression but even taking a deep breath diminished it only by a little. Even his fists were clenched up and his whole body was shaking as his head was going through what he experienced with those people that he still hadn''t told us.


    After a minute, he managed to collect himself but he still shook his head angrily as he spilled as instructed:


    "They¡­ I-I''m not even sure if they''re the ones I''m angry at b-but we have this manager and security officer who imed the empty suites for themselves and favored the soldiers who were supposed to protect all of us greatly."


    "Uh-huh. A little scummy, sure, but¡ª"


    "No. That''s not all! They¡ª" he stopped himself for a minute before he called one of his daughters, Reba, who was hungrily chomping down on a rice ball over, "Reba! Can youe here for a sec?"


    "O-Okay? Just a sec, Dad¡ª Coming!" Reba replied as she folded the rice ball over with its wrapping.


    As she made her way towards us, she seemed to be the same age as Olivia¡ªmaybe even younger¡ªand she seemed to be particrly wary of everyone else that had guns on them, so I fastened my rifle to my back to somehow appear friendly to her.


    "''Sup?" I greeted her with a faint smile.


    "H-Hello¡­"


    George turned to her, "Reba, can you still remember what you saw that time? When you were assigned to clean the deluxe and executive rooms and identally went to the suites?"


    Reba clutched her fresh set of clothes for a moment, "The¡ª Umm¡­ Mrs. Agnes and Robert''s room?"


    "Yes, the one where you saw a lot of food¡ª"


    "Oh! The one right next to Dax''s and Sheepy''s?"


    I interjected, "Who?"


    Reba turned to me, "They''re our f-friends over here, sir *nces at George for a moment* i-it''s¡ª They''re pretty rich so they get to stay in the suites while we''re in the normal rooms but D-Dad told us to note over their room anymore when they asked us to hang out too many t-times¡­ in Dax and Sheepy''s room, I mean¡­"


    "What happened there¡ª"


    George cut in, "They''re a bunch of rich boys who don''t know any better. W-Well, they acted well by securing a lot of food for themselves before it started, probably because they didn''t do many jobs a few months in, but that''s a story for another day," then she turned to Reba again, "Aside from the food, tell them what you saw."


    "I-It''s¡­" Reba trailed as she wore a difficult expression.


    I looked at her gently, "If you''re that ufortable, your dad could just tell it to me instead, and we''ll take your word for it¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s okay¡ª Well¡­ I-I''m not that good at recalling things b-but I-I saw a lot of used needles and some s-stuff on little clear pouches just sitting on their nightstand. S-Some of them are powdered while some a-are whole? I don''t know the exact term but I do see a lot of s-soldiers carry the same stuff and use them on their shifts."


    "Did they see you when you saw the drugs?"


    "That''s¡­ They did¡ª I mean, S-Sir Robert saw but he uhh¡­ He asked me if I wanted to have a good time? Start small, even, but that was when Mrs. Agnes came in and yelled at him. I believe they fought because Sir Robert h-had bruises the day after that and I was assigned to other areas¡­"


    "I see¡­"


    George held Reba tight before he asked her to go back to her mother, "I''ll talk to youter, alright?" then he turned back to me, "That''s what happened¡­ I''ve seen people abuse power and whatnot but that''s just uneptable! You can talk to the others about what that fucking security did when he was given authority but it just went downhill from there!"


    "What else did he do?"


    George spat on the ground, "What else THEY didn''t do? It''s not all of the soldiers that came here but those substances just pulled a good number of them to the dark side! Aside from the creepy shit they try to pull on everybody, the way they tried to keep all of us here caused this whole ordeal!"


    "Again, what did they do¡ª"


    "We uhh¡­ I had some talks going with the other families present with us to move on to another ce but bringing such arge group made it really difficult. We were way~ more when you found us but the way they kept us from escaping into the night or even having the means to prepare is that they st those damned sirens to attract everything around us!"

 Chapter 1131: Burglary - The Day I Had To Hit A Kid

    As we were hearing George''s story and everyone else in his group confirming everything¡ªand even adding on bits from their own perspective¡ªeveryone else just wanted to take the less than pleasant approach we would''ve done if George and his group came to be fucking assholes.


    But still, everything we heard to this point were just fucking words and until we met with the other group and heard their side, it was only then I''d make the decision on what to do with either of them.


    However, I''ll admit that a bit of bias was already forming inside my head because the simple mention of drugs and the way those fucks try to slither in with young adults didn''t sit well with me, so I won''t promise the same treatment as I gave George and everyone else''s.


    I usually give people two to three strikes before they''re out but right now, I''m only inclined to only give them one chance.


    So yeah, after taking everything into ount with the suite floor being the only one isted from everything else, I came up with the same setup as we did with George''s people.


    ''They probably just slept in the same room or were in the same room as the drone passed by¡­''


    The suite floor had six suites in total, with a cool-ass entertainment area, a bar, a ton of space, and a gym, but only two of the suites, which belonged to the two kids and the airport employees¡ªincluding ess to the bar and the gym¡ªwerepletely closed off to us.


    Andpletely inverse to what George and his people did, a ton of furniture in the hallway deterred us from getting any closer. But despite the noise we made and these people''s clear view from the outside¡ªif they''d just step out onto the balcony or peek out the window to see that soldiers were outside instead of the undead¡ªthere were no representatives to meet with us.


    I turned to one of the soldiers present named Gavin, "Yo, why hasn''t this barricade been moved? Is it trapped?"


    "That''s¡­ That''s what we''re trying to figure out while everything''s happening. We''ve been taking them piece by piece but with all the trash mixed in with the furniture, we''ll never know. We even tried calling for the supposed people inside and even sent a normal drone to peek through the windows but there the curtains were obstructing the view from the inside."


    "Huh. Did you guys try using the one with thermals again?"


    "Not yet. It''s still circling around the wharf and the surrounding areas because we already confirmed heat signatures in this spot, so it''ll take a bit more time."


    "How long?"


    "Maybe half an hour?"


    "Can you just ask the one using them to re-route one to this side? Where is Sioson anyway, he has control of one of them, right?"


    "I believe so, yes. I''ll check in with him if he''s close to circling the drone around."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    We weren''t in a particr rush or anything but as all of this was happening, we also gained ess to the maintenance room and discovered that a fucker specifically shut off the water from everywhere else besides the suite floor, and I was just itching to meet these people and give them a nice talking to.


    However, different barricades were slowing us down but everyone''s safety was still the top priority.


    It was pretty ironic since we rushed here and all and a mess of furniture was the one to slow us down.


    But yeah, we could try to wake them up by probably turning off the water and electricitying to their floor but I had a better idea.


    It ain''t much but it wasn''t honest work, if I may say so myself.


    Burry!


    Going all through that trash and trouble didn''t sit well with me so I just made my way back to the roof with climbing gear I easily produced¡ªdon''t ask where¡ªbefore I slowly descended upon these fuckers'' balcony.


    Of course, I didn''t go alone as I took Tatiana with me but right as I was about to check if the sliding door was locked, a groggy kid who looked to be in his early 20s did all the work for us as he slid the door himself, yawned, nkly gazed at each of us before I put him in a chokehold.


    I did say that I''d hit a fucking kid but I didn''t think we''d go Assasin''s Creed on this motherfucker because as I put him to sleep, Tatiana tied him and have our crew pull him up to the roof.


    At this point, it was either this fucks were heavy sleepers or had a great partyst night because the moment we stepped foot inside what seemed to be Dax''s and Sheepy''s suite, another dude the same age¡ªwho could be either of the two¡ªwith a few other naked women around the same age, maybe even younger, was sleeping soundly while everything else urred outside.


    And with Reba''s statement earlier, all sorts of drugs were being consumed because several drug paraphernalia were present, and these fucks would''ve been dead if our intention was to kill.


    It''d only take a swipe of our knives to end all of them right here and trust me, I was already inclined to chuck them out of the window because I wasn''t sure if they would have any use to me as all they did in this ce was waste away and get high.


    One of the reasons I didn''t do just that is because as I talked with the 50-ish people earlier, they had some family, friends, or something along those lines missing or presumed dead.


    It was all chaos when the dead they attracted overwhelmed this ce and those months of hunkering down on one spot¡ªnever seeing the ones who tried to get out¡ªmade them think a lot of things.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I had to hit a kid again, this time, in a more literal sense.


    "H-Huh? Who¡ª The fuck? Where''s Dax? Am I seeing¡ª Whoa~ You look cool as fuck, bro¡ª Woah! A chick! Wanna have some fun¡ª"


    And so I did, Asian Parent style.

 Chapter 1132: Diesel and Fuel Save/Unleaded

    Before sending this motherfucker to Jesus, a tool much like a slipper would''ve been appropriate but from my own experience, it was usually anything that could be held on tightly and the nearest one my parents¡ªusually my Mom¡ªcould find. So yeah, with a flick of the wrist, my scabbardnded on his right temple and gave him a mild concussion before Ipletely knocked him out by nicking his chin.


    One strike would''ve been enough to knock him out¡ªwith enough force¡ªbut I wouldn''t want to fracture his skull and I would''ve wanted him to feel a bit of pain before Tatiana ships him to the roof with his bro.


    But yeah, this ce was just a fancy drug den or the aftermath of a frat party because when I peeked at the living room connected to the kitchen, there were more young adults who were knocked out of their minds and didn''t even bother to put on clothes or clean up a little bit.


    A lot of trash from packaged food items was on the floor along with empty or partially empty bottles of liquor, but funnily enough, their drug paraphernalia were stacked nicely on one side or in one corner of the table.


    It was the same thing as what''s in the bedroom we just infiltrated from but Tatiana continued to send these other girls first to the roof, as if we were expecting the extra exp points for liberating an outpost stealthily. But yeah, we did cover their important bits as much as we could, of course, because at the end of the day, we''re still decent humans to a degree.


    And as we cleared the bedroom, Ibarra and Kuzma joined us before Quinn decided to join the party as well, because in her words, "I didn''t think kidnapping these fucking kids could be this fun!"


    Obviously, the difficulty level was very low because almost all of them were hammered, high, or both, but Quinn suddenly caused a ruckus¡ªhalfway into us clearing the living room with young adults¡ªbecause she rushed to pick up this pale girl with a petite frame because she either looked dead from an OD or very close to.


    She stomped her foot as she carried her over to our extraction point and she shouted at the top of her lungs to make them call over a doctor:


    "SHE''S STILL BREATHING! SHE TOOK SOME H AND A LOT OF ALCOHOL! BRING HER TO A DOCTOR ASAP!"


    From themotion we caused outside, I didn''t worry as much that Quinn might wake up these fucking kids, but for some fucking reason, she fucking did.


    "W-What¡­"


    "The hell¡­ It''s not even noon¡­ Who¡ª"


    "Where''s Casey?"


    "Morgan?"


    "Jeffrey¡ª Where¡ª WOAH! W-We''re legal! W-We can drink! WE CAN DRINK!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª WHERE''S DAX AND¡ª HOLD ON! HOLD ON! HOW CAN¡ª"


    "THEY''RE INTRUDERS! HOW DID THEY GET HERE¡ª"


    Without further ado, I really did have to hit a kid with my fists, everyone else included, but it didn''t bring the satisfaction I was expecting because to bepletely fair, they haven''t beenplete assholes to us.


    I can''t just hate fucking kids because I was cool with a good number of them back home, but riled up and drugged up kids who were starting to get gassed up because of a few visitors was trouble.


    So yeah, the four us, beat the shit out of this malnourished fucks without issue because yeah, it wasn''t even a fucking contest because they''ve been wasting away here ever since they pulled too much aggro while the rest of us were doing the work and training our bodies in our spare time.


    Their broken bottles and semi-hard dildos wouldn''t do shit with our scabbard, blunt edge of our de, or just straight up our fists, and this other bitch trying to give me an aneurysm by screaming at the top of her lungs as she tried to w my face with her broken nails also took a crisp jab from yours truly.


    "AHH! D-Did you just hit me?!"


    "Equality, bitch! Also, self-defense! I did hold back a little though¡­"


    "What?! You¡ª"


    "Here''s ten percent of my strength then¡ª"


    "WAIT¡ª"


    Knockout.


    And as soon as these fucking kids saw that I didn''t give a fuck some of them actually surrendered but we still gave them a proper beating.


    There''s no chance in hell they''d act this reasonable while all sorts of substances were running through their veins and even if there was a small chance of it being true, I still wouldn''t risk it even if they were just the same victims who got trapped in this floor because of poor horde management.


    But yeah, as wepletely cleared this suite and have most of them sent to the roof¡ªexcept for two other fucks who looked to be not as high¡ªwe separeted them by having one in the living room and one in the bedroom before starting our interrogation.


    "Alright, bro¡­ Who do you work for? Before that, what''s your name?"


    "Diesel!"


    "Seriously?"


    "W-What? I¡ª GACKK!"


    "Alright, Diesel. The next one will break a rib. Who do you work for?"


    "W-What''s this, I¡ª D-Dax and Sheepy! W-We work for Dax and Sheepy! GACKH!!! I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, YOU FUCK!"


    "Didn''t break a rib, did I? I doubt you''re even feeling anything."


    "ASSHOLE!"


    "That''s my nickname, apparently. Where''s Agnes and Robert?"


    He looked at me like I''m an idiot, "Who are you, huh?! Reinforcements?! HAH! You''rete, bitches! How did y''all even get here?! EVERYONE''S DEAD!


    INCLUDING YOUR MIDDLEMAN DRUGGIE BITCH AND YOUR CREEPY OFFICER! WE HAVE EVERYTHING NOW! AND DAX AND SHEEPY KILLED THEM! AND THOSE SOLDIERS?! WE MADE THEM THINK THEY''RE HOT SHIT BEFORE WE GOT THEM HIGH AND DID AWAY WITH ''EM! HOW''S THAT, HUH?!


    PRETTY NEAT FOR A BUNCH OF FUCKING KIDS, RIGHT?!"


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s actually awesome cool."


    "ASSHOLE¡ª Huh?"


    As soon as my words registered to this "Diesel" fe, even my group was confused as I suddenly changed teams.


    "D-Did you say we were cool?"


    "What you did was, not all this junkie shit."


    "Ah¡­ Gotta ration bro, one way to stave off hunger is to get high for days¡­"


    "Is that right?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "You did all this shit just for that reason and not the feelings thates with it or the free pussy offered to ya?"


    "Ah¡ª I swing both ways, dude. I''d suck yo dick for a Klondike Bar¡ª"


    "Hah! Thank you but I''m good. But tell me, what are we expecting in the other suite?"


    "That bitch¡ª I mean, Agnes and Robert''s suite?"


    "Yeah."


    "Almost all the food''s in there."


    "Why?"


    "We''re saving, right? We just moved all the drugs and liquor here and go there every few days or every few weeks."


    "You''re awfully stocked with weed though¡ª Ah, avoiding the munchies, huh?"


    He let out a knowing smile, "Ya get it, ya get it¡­"


    Kuzma interjected, "Hey, are the furniture in the hallway trapped or not?"


    "Holy shit, whitey, your voice is scary as fuck! Nah, that shit''s not trapped, just looked like it is because we forgot we could just chuck all our trash out the windows."


    I cut in, "You mean the floor?"


    "Trust me, bro, this pad is the cleanest it has been in a month!"


    "Alright, Diesel, can I have you take the lead on the other suite and the lead on removing the furniture?"


    "Ya got some food?"


    "I have some protein bars here but if you built up that trust by doing what I told you, I''d even cook you whatever you want."


    "Shiii, that''s cool. But I want a rematch a little bitter though, that cool? Where is everybody?"


    "The roof."


    "Wha¡ª How?!"


    "It''s how we got in."


    "HAH! Dax and Sheepy''s probably so pissed right now. They fucking hate those soldiers so much, they''ve been meaning to kill them the moment they confiscated some of our shit because it''s contraband."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah, so¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    As we were about to end this conversation with Diesel, we heard a deathly scream from the other side and it was obvious that it was Quinn''s doing. And once we checked whatever the fuck Quinn was trying to do to get information about Unleaded or Fuel Save, Diesel just straight up cackled at his bro because Quinn was holding the dude by the balcony with two fingers and about to let go.


    "I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING¡ª AHHH! I DUNNO IF YOU''RE FUCKING SHOWING OFF BUT IF YOU FUCKING LET GO, I''M DEAD! WHY WOULD I FUCKING LIE TO YOU?! AHHHH! STOP!


    STOP! WHY''D YOU SWITCH TO A FINGER?! THIS ISN''T HOW I EXPECTED TO DIE! SOMEBODY PLEASE¡ª WHAT?! WHY''S EVERYONE ON THE ROOF¡ª AHHHHHHHH!"


    "FOCUS ON ME, YOU BITCH! IF YOU PEE YOURSELF ANOTHER TIME, I''MMA DROP YA! UNDERSTAND?!"


    "THIS ISN''T HELPING MY CASE, MOMMY! AHHHHH! I''M JOKING! I''M JOKING! GET ME UP! PLEASE!


    I''LL GIVE YOU MY STASH! PLEASE! I''LL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING!"


    "THEN¡ª"


    I cut in as I tapped Quinn, "Pull him up. We''ll see if their testimony''s true."


    ''If not, then¡­ We''ll see¡­''

 Chapter 1133: Heres the gist and choice youll be making...

    If it was any other day, I would''ve let Kaley use her psychic powers for a bit to filter these kids out but yeah, let''s just say that the vibes felt alright, and even if I''ve seen all types of stupid by working in retail, these kids wouldn''t be that stupid if given the chance to do so.


    Did they seem unreliable? Sure. Would I let people their age interact with them as of this moment? Absolutely not!


    But despite all that, what they gave off was this irresponsibly responsible air that means even if 99% of the "responsible" and "outstanding" parents would be disappointed in whatever the fuck they were doing, they''d do fine on their own as long as they weren''t getting fucked with.


    In the off chance that they were, that was where the AK gets pulled out of the locker¡ªand the only reason you''d get spared was if you treated them like humans even for a little bit.


    I''m not particrly glorifying this type of behavior or this type of person but let''s be fair here, if we didn''t have assholes at schools who thought what they were doing was just a bit of fun, teachers who at least gave a fuck, parents who actually cared, bitches who think bringing down people was cool, or everything else in that spectrum, we wouldn''t have kids who thought that whates before the number 47 was "AK" instead of 46.


    So yeah, I''m giving them a little bit of freedom or the leeway to be a little unhinged or chaotic¡ªor simply themselves¡ªdespite the admittance to drug use and murder, but once they cross the line, I would treat them as what I would treat anyone else for that matter.


    "I''m just gonna open the door and give you a tour? Is that it?"


    "Why don''t you clear the barricades with your friend¡ª What''s his name?"


    "Te."


    I turned to "Te", "For real?"


    Te replied, "What about it? The world has gone to shit and we can''t even get ourselves new names?"


    Quinn cut in as she looked at me confused, "Don''t you have a lot of them?"


    "Me?"


    "Yeah! Like the Kid, the 9-inch destroyer, the Asshole, the Excali-Dick¡ª"


    "BWAHAHAHAHA/ HOLY SHIT! HAH! IS THAT REAL?!" Diesel and Te lost their shitughing.


    I shook my head, "Those were given to me, I didn''t make them up myself."


    Diesel replied, "So get yourself one. It''s not that hard and we''re the same age, right?"


    "Eh~ I''ll think about it."


    With that said, Diesel and Te did clear the furniture blocking the hallway without issue, and I threw each of them a protein bar and an Ibuprofen for a job well done and for telling the truth. After that, I made them open the door to the other suite where they supposedly stored what was left of their food but god fucking dammit "what was left" wasn''t the right term.


    Not only could the amount of food inside couldst them at least a year with their numbers, but with the way they were going and rationing them, they''dst a bit more if they continued as is.


    "H-How many times do you eat in a week again?"


    "A few?"


    "Define a few."


    "Sometimes once sometimes twice?"


    "And how the fuck did y''all stock up this much?"


    "We didn''t."


    "Huh?"


    "Agnes did most of the work. We hate her and Robert, sure, but if it weren''t for those greedy fucks taking this much from the storeroom and not touching it at all, we wouldn''t be alive."


    Kuzma cut in, "No offense, but you all had to eat a bit more."


    "You have no idea. We could, sure. But we need all the chance we could get, maybe."


    "Maybe?"


    "You''ve seen this ce before you cleared it, right? We had ns to get away but their numbers tend to increase every single day. We kill a few, a bunch reces them. It''d cost a lot of time and energy so we tried to hold out for as long as possible."


    "Hold out?"


    "You guys¡­ You know they get hungry, right?"


    Kuzma answered, "No, they do not."


    I nodded, "A few special ones do but¡ª"


    Diesel waved us off, "Bro, they get lethargic, right? I swear they¡ª"


    "Where''d you see one? Or was it a group or the whole thing?"


    "Well¡­ As we''re in the early stages of nning to get outta here, there were a bunch of them like us who barely moved and they look emaciated as fuck so, we think thought that there''s a type that goes hungry after a time¡­ We thought of waiting until everyone in the airport became like that but they just increased in number as we, uhh¡­ kept as is."


    Tatiana shook her head, "At least you''re aware of what you did."


    "Hey! Where else could we go?! We don''t even know if there''s anyone else out there! Besides, it''s not like we''re running out of food!"


    Te interjected, "Well, Dax made contact with this other soldier group from one of the soldiers we took out but once they discovered that we were from the airport, theypletely ignored us."


    Diesel nodded a few times, "That is true¡­" then he turned to me, "You guys really should talk to either Dax or Sheepy, they know more than us¡ª But yeah¡­ what''s gonna happen now?"


    Te took a step back, "Yeah, what''s gonna happen now? Are we¡ª Are we still¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Here''s the gist of the situation. You still had people living right under you in worse conditions but their hate is mostly towards Agnes and Robert.


    We got to them first and told me a bit of the context but I''ll tell you what I told them: This ce is now under the joint protection of the US Navy and a Special Unit under me, which is kind of a floaterpared to the Philippine Army, but yeah, we''ll give you a choice."


    "What choice?"


    "Let''s get you all cleaned up and fed first. Then we''ll talk with everybody else who survived besides you guys."


    "There were others who survived?!"

 Chapter 1134: Whats it gonna be?

    In essence, the barricades weren''t trapped in any way and the other suite really was just a stockroom full of food. Any other psycho would''ve wanted to spring a trap at thest minute but it seemed like the notion of giving respect to get it rang true at this moment. But yeah, when this group met with George''s group whom we saved first, it wasn''t as pleasantpared to how I interacted with them.


    It seemed like the girl who OD''d that Quinn hurriedly got brought up was a younger sister to one of the people in George''s group among others.


    Even Diesel who was actually named "Daniel" was cousins with the girl I punched, "Morgan", and they used to be acquainted with one of George''s daughters, Allie, by going to the same school.


    George''s group had all this pent-up rage and aggression to let out but as they looked at Dax and Sheepy''s constitutionpared to theirs, they didn''t look that different. However, the moment they saw the amount of food they stocked up and the little bit of "entertainment" they had, it was back to the way it was as they were atplete odds with each other.


    "YOU''VE BEEN STOCKING UP ON ALL OF THAT FOOD AND YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO SHARE WITH US?!"


    "WE DIDN''T STOCK IT OURSELVES! AGNES AND ROBERT DID!"


    "BUT YOU GOT TO USE IT!"


    "ARE YOU SEEING THINGS? DO WE LOOK LIKE WE LIVED A LAVISH LIFE!"


    "DON''T GIVE ME THAT! IT''S WITH THE HELP OF WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU''VE BEEN INJECTING IN YOUR ARMS!"


    "WELL HOW CAN WE SEND FOOD OVER TO YOU FUCKS, HUH?! YOU''RE TRAPPED IN THAT FUCKING STOREROOM ALL PARANOID AND WE DIDN''T EVEN KNOW YOU FUCKS ARE STILL ALIVE!"


    "IF YOU LOOKED A BIT MORE, YOU COULD''VE FOUND US! WE HEARD YOU USING THOSE SOLDIERS'' GUNS!"


    "YOU HAVE FUCKING GEAR TOO! AND LOOK AT YOUR NUMBERS! YOU COULD''VE MADE MORE DAMAGE IF YOU CAME OUT AT THE SAME TIME AS US!"


    "HAVE YOU SEEN THE DEAD OUTSIDE! WE''D BE SWARMED THE MOMENT WE STEP FOOT FROM A SINGLE NOISE!"


    "BUT THAT''S HOW IT IS! YOU GOTTA GAMBLE!"


    "LIKE YOU FUCKING KIDS DID!"


    "WE DID YOU ADULT FUCKS! WE LOST MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU THINK! WE THOUGHT WE WERE ALL ALONE!"


    "..."


    "..."


    As the sudden silence hushed them all over, I took it upon myself to step forward because it was the job assigned to me. Some soldiers were just looking at the drama unfold while taking a short break from their duties, but I still had a bit more knots to untangle before everything was over.


    "Look, this is how it''s gonna go. Your groups could fight all you want but can we say that this debacle with the airport is all over?"


    Dax turned to me with a re, "What happens now? Diesel said you have something for us?"


    Jason, a man in histe 30s from George''s group cut in, "For you?! How about us!?"


    I waved them all off, "Stop. Trust me, we''ve all done our fair share of dark shit as the end of the world was happening but we aren''t even asking you to work at the same ce. One of you could continue living in this airport¡ªbut with better living conditions and security, of course¡ªwhile the other could either be in the Marine Base or the Freeport Zone."


    Sheepy stepped forward, "You''re the asshole who choked me out, right?"


    "Well, I choked out and knocked out most of you, why do you ask?"


    He let out a grin, "Hah! I like you, same as Dies'' and Tes'' mentioned. But yeah, we''re staying here with all our belongings and you could find those fucks other ces to live because we own this shit."


    I chuckled, "Not so fast."


    "Ya got something to say?"


    "You got ownership a little muddled there."


    "And why''s that?"


    "Your group only owned those two suites¡ªI''ll even give you the whole floor¡ªwhile George and his group own the storeroom¡ª"


    "HAH! Are you saying you own everything else besides that?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! WE''VE BEEN HERE ALL THIS TIME!"


    "Again, not so fast. The dead owned everything else besides those ces you''ve been living in. And we took it from them, end of story. The reason we''re having this talk is because we''re decent human beings and we''re giving you the choice to stay with us and work starting tomorrow or you go your merry ways."


    "YOU¡ª"


    Dax cut Sheepy off, "How would that work?"


    "Everything from your pad belongs to you and since you''re giving us a bit of space toplete the whole thing, we''d send you off with working vehicles and a few items to survive the road. It''d work for a couple of weeks or so but the current meta is to find a group to live with. It''s been a year plus change and probably 60-80% of the known stores are cleared out.


    You could probably find a few stuff lying around but I rmend the former choice."


    Dax pointed at George and his group, "And what did they decide on?"


    "They''ll stay."


    He shook his head, "I don''t get it. There''s no chance in hell you fucks managed to get into this ce, the Marine Base, and Freeport Zone this fast."


    "We just did. What are you talking about¡ª"


    "Nah, I''m talking about that there''s no shot these three ces are the only ones that are avable. I understand you could clear arge area with this much firepower but you gotta have other ces we could live."


    I nodded approvingly, "We do, actually¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "It''s not on the table at the moment."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because it''s not."


    "Just tell me. Is it because we junkies are too good for you?"


    "Trust me, I have worse people living in my ce but I already know them. I barely know you fucks yet so what we''re doing is a trial run. We''d see if that option is viable in the future but I do insist you stay here and be part of the workforce. So, what''s it gonna be?"

 Chapter 1135: Oil & Water

    To my surprise, Dax didn''t give an immediate answer as he referred to Sheepy first then to their other members who stayed¡ªmeaning, they didn''t just flock off to their friends or family members to the other side¡ªas they all discussed among themselves on what to do about their current situation.


    On the other hand, George and a few other parents weren''t too happy about my decision to give this younger group a choice on the matter due to how difficult their life was the moment this ce copsed.


    But at the end of the day, due to how I was seeing it, both groups did scummy shit anyone would be pissed about and admirable things anyone could be proud of.


    Even the approach they used to tackle every decision was different¡ªbut that''s the thing, they were onplete ends of the spectrum and they would have a better chance of reiming this ce for themselves if they just worked together.


    ''Funny how the thing I''m always going for wasn''t the obvious thing to do¡­''


    Take how they fought the dead for example, both had means to fight the dead but one of them was too brave while the other was too timid. Some help from the other side could''ve been a huge boon, but when it didn''t arrive, instead of regrouping, this other group decided to push on and lost some members.


    And with the case of food consumption, it was admirable that George and the other parents prioritized the food for their young ones but if all the adults were left with no more strength¡ªand god forbid, died and rose as the undead while inside the storeroom¡ªwhat then?


    On the other hand, it was out-of-the-box thinking¡ªthough a little extreme¡ªon Dax and Sheepy to extend their food consumption by use of drugs but then again, they were using drugs, and what if a less than nicer group came in with worse intentions?


    I''m not even gonna touch on what was going behind on closed doors¡ªeven though it looked like they were all pretty open about it¡ªbut as it stood, the girl who OD''d was actually carrying more than harmful substances inside her system.


    She survived and all but the doctor who checked her didn''t even need that much to discover that she was actually pregnant for more than three months.


    "WHAT?!"


    Obviously, another fight started between the two groups because even though these kids were forced to be responsible on their own, they didn''t know who got "Casey" knocked up.


    However, as much as I would hate to say it, this was a stain on their record¡ªand if somehow, in some way, Casey was also forced into it, it''ll change a lot of things in how this group gets treated if they somehow decided to stay.


    There''s also the notion that we''d need to figure out who did what first before we even let them take a foot out of this ce.


    Then again, as much as I would hate to say it, if Casey was also in on it as it happened¡ªbecause she''s already of age and she should also be responsible with her own body¡ªshe, the father, and the baby should receive all the help they could get, especially from Casey''s family, because it was already a miracle that her older sister, "Camille", found her to be alive so they shouldn''t form more rifts between each other.


    But for the third time, one of thest two options, if Casey, the father, and everyone else wouldn''t take it or care for it, there was one other solution that in some special cases, might be more humane, because a child riddled with drugs on their system would already have a lot ofplications and whatnot in the old world, imagine how it would live in the new forsaken one?


    I''d hate to bring up this topic because some people would favor lifepared to early termination¡ªor what it''s technically called: abortion, because from my own observation, a good number of these pro-lifers only cared about making the person "give" life, not have the actual life have one.


    It''s a slippery slope if we start having talks about the different ways it''s wrong or other ways to have the child taken care of by another, but then again, we don''t even know if the baby or the mother could live life because right now, they were just surviving.


    "SEE WHAT YOU FUCKING DID TO CASEY?! IT''S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Camille shouted at the top of her lungs.


    Sheepy got right up in her face, "ME?! WHAT ARE YOU POINTING AT ME FOR?! WE''RE NOT EVEN SURE WHO THE FATHER IS AND NEWSFLASH! IT COULD BE ANY ONE OF US RIGHT HERE! IN SHORT, YOUR LIL SIS A HOE¡ª"


    Camille sent a solid p across Sheepy''s face as she pped back, "YOU GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH!"


    "HAH! IS THIS WHAT YOU''RE GONNA DO TO YOUR BROTHER-IN-LAW? QUESTION MARK?!"


    Dax interjected, "Don''t rile her up, Sheeps. It''s ugly enough as it is, don''t make us look bad even more."


    "US?! US LOOK BAD?! WE''RE ALREADY LOOKED DOWN ON! EVEN BEFORE THIS SHIT STARTED¡ª" then he nced at me briefly, "IF IT WEREN''T FOR HIM, WE WOULD''VE BEEN LINED UP IN A WALL AND SHOT AT!"


    "I do understand that, what I''m saying is don''t do anymore. What happened to Casey is on us, we should be more responsible with our group¡ª"


    Camille spat on the ground, "YOUR GROUP?! SHE DOESN''T BELONG IN ANY GROUP! AND AT THIS POINT, SHE SHOULD NEVER SEE, HEAR, OR BE IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH ALL OF YOU! SHE SHOULD BE WITH FAMILY¡ª"


    Dax cut in with a re, "Because her older sister was not there when she needed it the most. Go ahead, make up for lost time¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    Dax shook his head, "I don''t get why you''re so worked up,dy. If anything, she should be taken away from you."


    "WHAT¡ª"


    "Casey told us¡ª Nah. Everyone told us everything while we were in that nice suite. In essence, we''re more family than you are, at least that''s what I thought for some of us." he said as he nced at the few who already switched teams, "But Casey? She''s one of the good ones. And you''re the exact opposite. Calling yourself the older sister?


    What a joke!"


    "YOU¡ª Don''t you dare¡ª"


    "Dare what? I''m sure that we don''t know the whole story and you still get to exin your side but don''t you dare paint us in a darker light even if we''re already in it just so that you could move some shade off yours. That''s all."

 Chapter 1136: How about that?

    With a calm reply from Dax, he easily anchored the direction of the conversation into something entirely different¡ªand it''s impressive, don''t get me wrong¡ªthough he was doing the same thing he was using Camille of doing, which was painting someone in a bad light to look great in another.


    He had this eloquent and confident way of speaking but being someone''s shoulder to cry on wasn''t at the top of what makes someone a good person. But yeah, I let him cook and finagle his way to everyone else''s mind to see how far he''d take it before I decide whether to waste his efforts or not.


    However, Kaley was already giving me this look of, "Why aren''t you doing anything?" but it took her a second to understand my intentions.


    I did say I''d give them a bit of freedom and treat them fairly, but if they go a certain threshold¡ªlike everyone else, for that matter¡ªI might do something that their group might consider oppression or something along those lines because they do think that type of way sometimes.


    But yeah, Camille isn''t a pushover either.


    "SO WHAT DID SHE TELL YOU, HUH?!"


    "I dunno, you tell us. Can you?"


    "FINE! IF THAT''S WHAT IT TAKES! I¡ª I''m the bad sister that introduced her to all her vices: be it alcohol, tobo, weed, etc. In my head, I thought if I gave her a taste of it, she''d understand how bad it is for you if you abuse it, but unfortunately, I can''t be there every single time."


    "Like when this ce copsed, right? Typical¡ª"


    Camille just red at Dax, "Ass! I''ll admit I''m responsible for all of that but I''m the one who pulled her out of the trash heap she was living in and sent her to rehab after our parents disowned her¡ª US! THEY DISOWNED US! WE''RE THE STAIN IN THE FAMILY! WANNA HEAR MORE?!"


    Dax still looked indifferent, "Sure."


    She spat on the ground, "Let me tell you: you''re the same type of trash that got in her head while I was away and did all of that shit¡ª and you know what''s disgusting? She''s pregnant at that time too¡­ We tried to keep the baby alive but he died in her arms¡­ That''s what happened. And now, you fucks are doing the same shit that happened to her and you''re putting it all on me¡ª"


    "Are we wrong though¡ª"


    "AT LEAST I''M ADMITTING I''M WRONG, YOU PIECE OF TRASH! ALL YOU DO YOUR FUCKING LIFE IS WASTE AWAY AND BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR YOUR PROBLEMS! I WASN''T THERE WHEN IT COUNTS BUT YOU SHOULDN''T HAVE PUT HER IN THAT STATE EITHER! IF YOU''RE HER REAL FRIENDS, OR GOD FORBID, HER FAMILY, YOU SHOULD BE TAKING CARE OF HER LIKE YOUR OWN!


    NOT LETTING HER BATHE IN A PILE OF HER OWN VOMIT AND HAVING STRANGERS TAKE CARE OF HER INSTEAD! SHE COULD''VE BEEN DEAD IF IT WEREN''T FOR THEM!"


    "..."


    "YOU TALK ABOUT FIGHTING WHILE FEELING ALL ALONE BUT YOU ALSO GAVE UP LIKE THE REST OF US! YOU BARELY DID SHIT AND YOU GOT SOMEONE YOUR AGE TO HANDLE SHIT BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED! IF YOU''RE THAT GREAT, WHY''D YOU STOP HALFWAY?!


    YOU THINK YOU''RE SO FUCKING GREAT AND YOU THINK YOU SHOULD''VE BEEN TREATED BETTER BECAUSE DADDY NEVER LOVED YOU AND JUST THREW YOU ALL THAT MONEY BUT MORE PEOPLE HAD MORE PROBLEMS THAN YOU!"


    Sheepy pped back, "WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU BITCH?! AGAIN, WHY DIDN''T YOU COME YOURSELF?!"


    Camille shook her head, "You still don''t get it? I''ll admit I''m scared to death at what could''ve happened to me and my sister but I was more scared that if I go out, I might never see her or see her like one of those abominations that could mimic our speech. I''d rather die.


    You see, I''m not afraid to admit that I barely got my shit together but all you kids are just toughing it out and faking it¡ª I''m sorry, but did you really lose people or just chucked them off so you could garner some sympathy?"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT¡ª"


    "Who''s to say you fucks are just out of your minds¡ª Running around with the guns you took from the soldiers YOU killed just to y around with them?! Who''s to say you really tried to get out?! You paint yourselves as heroes as you''ve lost people but you barely did shit. The ones who died for your whims should at least be honored, not you fucks who¡ª"


    "NOW YOU''RE CALLING US LIARS?! BITCH¡ª"


    At this point, Dax had already taken a passive stancepletely unmoving to somehow get unnoticed by everyone¡ªwhen Sheepy stepped in so I took it upon myself to save everyone''s time and to get to the bottom of what really happened.


    And since this ce still had electricity and running water, it was pretty obvious that there would be CCTV footage all around the area because this is a fucking airport, and with a sick fuck of a security detail running the show, he''d probably enjoy his free time just peeping on everyone he could.


    I waved them all off, "Alright. That''s enough, let''s all go to the security area."


    Dax asked, "Why?"


    "So we could see what really went down. A good number of the cameras are in working order. Even the ones we destroyed earlier. You see, a good six months of footage could be saved, maybe even more with the backups restored."


    "..."


    Camille turned to Dax, "Why so quiet? Afraid your shit might get exposed?"


    Dax shook his head, "Nah. I''m already enjoying the quietness once you shut your trap because we did try to get out, we just needed the help."


    "Hmph! We''ll see about that."


    For some reason, both parties were that eager to see the other side wrong but this wasn''t what I was expecting. It could be thest hurrah for the real perpetrator but once we took several hours of our time to check each moment from specific points in time, over and over, and at different angles, everyone wasn''t happy from what we found.


    ''How about that?''

 Chapter 1137: Scummy & Shitty

    We started from the very beginning.


    Let me tell you, watching CCTV footage to uncover the truth isn''t that fun and very time-consuming due to the fact that we''d have to watch POVs from different angles¡ªsometimes even connecting a person''s actions to a different camera¡ªover and over, just to find out and make sense of everything that had happened.


    So yeah, this airport''s Patient Zero of sorts was anky gentleman who had just finished his vacation time and was about to go back to the States, but he looked a little sickly and he was coughing all over.


    Furthermore, he seemed to have been scratching this itch on his right leg multiple times¡ªas seen on camera¡ªand thest time we saw him was when he entered the restroom.


    At that point, it took maybe nine other guys toe in and out before the tenth one didn''t, but instead, they grew a little nest egg and had more victims who turned to allies before they took the airport by storm.


    After that came absolute chaos about "people" eating people and ripping each others'' flesh by bites or their ws, but fast-forward maybe a few hours or half a day, the ce was raided by the Philippine Army, and the airport was closed to the public as it was slowly getting turned to a proper DDR Camp.


    Obviously, a lot of strict checks were made before the refugees inside were kept in without the chance of getting out¡ªbut again, obviously¡ªthe people with enough cash or other valuables to throw around met with either Agnes or Robert and they had a one-way ticket out of the supposed hellhole.


    But yeah, this ce''s biggest problem was keeping in 30,000 people, abination of staff, soldiers, and passengers, but the soldiers and staff werepletely outnumbered by the people just trying to get out, get in, or something in between.


    It took maybe three days of mind-numbing headaches just to manage this ce and keep it together for the most part, but in the end, they just couldn''t with this number.


    However, this airport wasn''t the only ce that was turned into a DDR Camp, and it became a sort of relief to send other people to those areas like the Marine Base, the Maritime Academy south of the airport, the Hospital further east, and many more.


    Aside from the people Agnes and Robert sneaked out or just straight-up people, the "uncorrupted" soldiers looked the other way around so that there''d be fewer problems for them, it greatly reduced the the airport''s poption by half just in a couple of weeks. However, their poption greatly reduced in theing months due to unforeseen idents, escapes, outbreaks, failed runs, and the like.


    They weren''t even doing the siren thing George and his people had reported doing to keep them in, but when their poption hit the bottom four digits, that was when shady and creepy shit started happening.


    Take note, what I''ve mentioned earlier was just the general gist of what happened, not the way we could uncover the whole truth as to what really happened between these two groups.


    ''Lemme forward it a bit¡­''


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Agnes and Robert were given the power to order around everyone else in this airport due to the substances they possess, which they were getting from one of their connections outside.


    Unfortunately, all we know was that they used to have an open line between the other DDR Camps to send and receive resources and they used it to their advantage to get the leg up among themon people.


    Then along came Dax and Sheepy, or should I say, Dexter and Shepard.


    It didn''te as a surprise to discover that the two were half-brothers who had the same Dad but as Camille said earlier, it was the type of Dad that would just give them a phone and then send them away or in their case, tons of money to do whatever the fuck they want with it.


    So yeah, it was obvious that cold hard cash didn''t mean shit now but it was a totally different thing when the two were frequent flyers, huge tippers, and the King and Queen of this airport owed them a ton of cash¡ªor in other terms, their capital to start their drug business.


    That made them have the suite they were staying in exclusive to their name and if they wanted to live in there for a year or maybe more, Agnes and Robert would pull some strings to do just that.


    But yeah, all these two boys wanted to do was party and meet girls, eventually inviting them over to their pad and having adult fun, nothing more.


    Obviously, their n to waste away their life like that took a drastic change when the apocalypse happened, but for the most part, Agnes and Robert were giving them some courtesy because they do owe them a ton of favors.


    That was the reason these two were exempted from chores or any civic duty to maintain the upkeep, and almost all of the adults hated their guts without knowing the actual reason while the kids their age envied their status.


    And that was when Allie and Reba came into the picture, yes, Allie and Reba, much to the dismay of George and Regine.


    Unlike Reba, Allie didn''t identally stumble upon the suite floor because she heard some cool stories from the grapevine, and who would decline a bit of fun¡ªespecially when you get to skip your workload for the day?


    However, to be fair to Allie, it wasn''t like Reba stopped "stumbling" across the suite floor when she got creeped out by Robert but I guess she''d take the risk to be able to knock on the other side of the door.


    Additionally, most kids their age did the same thing but let''s just say that sometimes, there were unfortunate circumstances where the other door opened up instead of the one they were knocking on.


    ''Robert did have ess to the CCTVs¡­''

 Chapter 1138: Unfortunate - How about your life?

    But then again, not to treat these kids as actual kids¡ªand to be fair to them, it wasn''t like they were the only ones paying a visit to the suite floor because yeah, some people from George''s group also paid either Robert or Agnes in the middle of the night or even the day.


    In short, all sorts of people had a certain limit or threshold where they could resist temptation or where they needed a break from the mundane or hard work they were putting up with every single day.


    It''s just that some people take advantage of that and sometimes, they don''t have to do anything, some people would juste unannounced without a prompt.


    This type of thing happened more than people thought, and in this ce''s case, not only were Agnes and Robert ruling over everyone, but a good number of the soldiers did too.


    From what I''ve experienced, themon currency when the dead started rising was sex, bullets, food, water, medicine, entertainment, security, and gas. There were a few niches, sure, but that''s themon denominator.


    It''s shitty, of course, but a few days in without food or clean clothes would make someone''s dignity cost far less. And sometimes, people don''t even hold out that much¡ªand that''s when Casey and Camillee in.


    We''ve already heard a bit from these two people but the reason I added Camille with Casey''s name was that she had to shake hands with the devil just to make her sister''s life a little morefortable or to atone for what she did before¡ªor that''s what she thought.


    Even when this ce hadn''t copsed, as much as it would hurt to say, Sheepy''s words rang true and it dug deep into Camille''s chest.


    "See what I mean?" Sheepy chuckled.


    "..." Camille was just not saying a word.


    Quinn grabbed him by the neck, "Shut up or I''ll break your neck for real."


    "..."


    "..."


    Let''s just say that forck of a better term, Casey was doing it with everybody in power not just for favors or small advantages, but just to feel something.


    It''s hard to see the supposed victim being the perpetrator herself, and then again, it''d be hard to pinpoint who exactly the father was because she had been with almost everybody.


    And even if we take into ount the way all those people had been around her, how could they have known that Casey had that past? And let''s be real here, would those people trading favors for sex even care?


    How could a random bartender know that the person they were serving was trying to be sober?


    How could a hardware store employee figure out the rope was meant for that customer''s neck?


    Andstly, how could a gun owner ascertain that the tool to protect oneself be used to harm arge group of innocent people?


    Of course, there was a saying that we shouldn''t always me the victim, or in this case, Casey, but really, is that really the way to go or should we take each and every case a separate one to be able to figure out what was right and what was wrong?


    In most cases I''ve seen, the victim and the perpetrator were always different people but how about this one?


    It would''ve been an open-and-shut case if we saw her getting dragged into some corner but no, almost every single time we see her, she was the one in front leading the way.


    This was just one of those days when the person we hate was actually right in what he said, but then again, now that they know¡ªno, I doubt that knowing would even change a thing, at least I hope it does but this time, it''d be a little different.


    Though one more thing, let''s take into ount that the people from Dax and Sheepy''s group knew, what''s there to say that Casey still gave them consent despite everything that happened to her? In short, we still didn''t have the full context until Casey woke up.


    So I addressed everyone:


    "This thing here''s really unfortunate but what we should focus on is Casey and her child''s well-being. Honestly, we could even forgo looking for the father right now because I think that it''d be better for the kid to not know until he/she is old enough."


    "T-That''s fair¡­" Camille let out from the back.


    I continued, "But yeah, now that you fucks know her past ''now'', and I''m also made aware of it, do know that we''ll ssify Casey as someone who couldn''t give a sound decision by herself at the moment even if she''s technically an adult. Part of the reason for that is her involvement with drugs, even if she took it willingly or unwillingly.


    And since her situation is special, we''ll move her over to my ce and have my doctors check her."


    "That''s¡­ Thank you."


    I replied, "You''re alsoing with her since you''re her sister and her legal guardian but do know that after we get her therapy and everything she needs, the training wheels wille off and whatever else she does will also be on her. We''d try to keep an open mind but everything should be within reason, alright?"


    "Of course¡­ I''ll try my best to keep her out of it¡­"


    "Camille."


    "Yes?"


    "It''s gonna be hard for you to hear this but as you''ve said earlier, you can''t be there for her at all times. Of course, she''ll need some help from all of us but if this type of thing happens again, you have to¡ª"


    "With all due respect¡­ sir. I can''t do what you''re trying to tell me. She''s family."


    "Then how about your life?"


    She shook her head after a long pause, "I''ve ruined hers, sir¡­ I''ll try everything to fix it."


    I nodded solemnly, "Alright, I understand. I was just telling you what could go wrong after this isn''t on you, remember that."


    "...y-yes, sir."

 Chapter 1139: Opposite Ends

    With this part of the viewing or enlightening process over, we then went over the part where both groups tried to fight against the undead.


    Obviously, the first week plus change was the time when everyone was doing all they could, going out as much as possible and using whatever means to even out the poption between the dead and the living, but even though both groups'' paths were crooked, they can''t seem to have a single moment where they fought side by side.


    Take note, it wasn''t like they were avoiding each other, for some reason, in the months that came after this ce''s copse, they were like junior partners in a firm who worked in separate cubicles who only discovered they worked in the same ce in the year-end party.


    It was off the absurdity chart but even so, there were a handful of chances where they could''ve done so, but it was at those times when the other side had lost people, facing something hard other than the undead, or their feelings for the other group was that bad, they refused to offer help due to resentment.


    But as mentioned earlier, this group upstairs had more firepower to go around while this group of mostly adults had the manpower.


    I did mention that both groups had gear but the quality and the quantity greatly differed.


    Agnes and Robert''s group¡ªbefore Dax and Sheepy merc''d them¡ªhad four assault rifles, three shotguns, a dozen pistols, and a few hundred rounds to go around with assorted melee weapons while George''s group only had a Remington 870, a couple of 1911s, a handful of fire axes, and the rest were makeshift weapons taken from the shelves.


    I still mentioned Agnes and Robert''s names but they onlysted a few days because almost everyone was pissed at them, even the leftover soldiers¡ªbut Dax and Shepard handled them too because their influence over them wasn''t as goodpared to their pawns.


    Still, it was important to note that they took it upon themselves to just lead a group around their age despite the challenges life would throw at them.


    There wasn''t anything wrong with leading a group where their lives were dependent on the choices you''re making¡ªbecause I could say I was in the same boat¡ªbut the thing is, taking up a leadership position, especially in the apocalypse, was a lifetime job and the two shouldn''t have gonecent or given up halfway¡ªno, a tenth of the way.


    But yeah, they could absolutely say that if they fought as they did, they could''ve been included in the horde we cleaned up this morning because to be fair, their actions led to them getting discovered by our group and getting saved in the process.


    It''s just that with the involvement of drugs and everything else in between, their "sess" of surviving till help came couldn''t be considered as one but then again, they were breathing and talking to us now.


    Like some people, Casey for example, a bit of ire from the entire group meant nothing if they could live to see the other day.


    But in regards to George''s group, they were extremely careful each time they opened the doors of their storeroom, but then again, none of them knew how to fight because ever since day 1, the soldiers were handling most of the fighting.


    Even so, they had good days where a lone deadhead would wander their hallways and they would jump it with five people, but as soon as more than a handful came out, they''d retreat back to their nest and wait for another "opportune" moment.


    Seeing their actions from the screen, even I had to make a bit of a face because Dax was shaking his head in disbelief while Sheepy was straight-up ridiculing their actions. Because as much as I''d hate to say it, if this group channeled all their anger and resentment of these kids to how they take care of the dead, they could''ve cleared the main floor in record time.


    Because yeah, I believed that anyone, I mean ANYONE would''ve grown a spine a week or even a month into the apocalypse¡ªand yeah, I do have people that wouldn''t survive a day out there¡ªbut god fucking dammit, there should''ve been at least one of them that could act as a leader or a murdering bastard to save themselves.


    But then again, as much as I would hate to say it, their methods also worked and they survived but imagine¡­ imagine what they could''ve done if they put on a little bit more effort while the kids toned it down a little bit more.


    I was always the advocate of bnce but yeah, these two groups were just at the opposite ends of the spectrum.


    So yeah, how about that?


    In short, I have my own way to handle things and they have their own way to handle their shit as well. Granted they were suboptimal in my eyes, but maybe, it could be all that they could''ve done at the moment, or they couldn''t see the proper way or even act upon it.


    I wasn''t telling them how to live their lives because to each their own, as they''ve said, but if it''s life or death, the way they do things was all sorts of wrong in my book.


    Even now, I have thought of different ways to ovee each path and the challenges each of them faced throughout the day if I were in their shoes, but yeah, now wasn''t the time to gloat or show off my skills in front of these new people.


    What I wanted to do now was to let them rest and recover and figure out a way to make them learn the optimal way to do shit¡ªor y to their strengths¡ªand how to increase their chances of living with an actual safe haven watching over them.


    But yeah, these people might still be at odds despite the sad revtion but one quick way¡ªand kind of a cheat¡ªto bridge the gap between them was always through food.

 Chapter 1140: Bonding Over Food and Fistfights

    As of this moment, it was a bit past 4:00 PM¡ªa little early for dinner but we definitely skipped lunch due to somehow finding the important ones through months of footage. So yeah, we''d still need to prepare for a few hundred people too so a couple of hours to do it was more than enough time.


    Then I heard a familiar voice:


    "Hi! Mitch brought us over with a bunch of cooking ingredients. He said you''re gonna need some help¡ªor do you want me to just lead the group?" Amaryllis, Mitch''s wife, said with a smile.


    Camille cut in, "Can I help too?"


    I waved her off, "Nah. You should get checked with our doctors first. You can be a taste-tester while it''s not your turn or after you''re done but we did have an agreement that you have a few days off¡ª"


    "Please. I insist. It won''t be trouble at all¡ª I-I''ll do anything¡ª"


    "Camille."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "You''re doing too much again. I''ll literally cuff you somewhere if that means you take it easy. You all should be resting¡ª"


    Then Daniel a.k.a. Diesel came in, "Bro! Why she gotta be the taste tester?! I could do it too!"


    "Who''s turn is it anyway?"


    "It''s her¡ª It''s Casey''s turn first, of course, it''s taking a bit of time with thecking equipment but really, all I need is some food and I''ll be good! I don''t even need a check-up."


    ''You say that now¡­ Withdrawal''s a bitch, I''ll tell you that much¡­''


    I just shrugged my shoulders, "Fine. The two of you sit over there and we''ll call you when we need food getting tasted. To be fair, we can do it ourselves but you need the participation trophy."


    "Ahaha¡­ That''s a little¡ª He''s nuts, right?" Daniel chuckled as he turned to Camille.


    "..."


    "Aw man, why the hostility? We''re all shitty people, just embrace it¡ª"


    Camille snapped back, "I NEEDED to do it, you just went with it. There''s a difference."


    "Jesus¡­ Okay? Ufortable silence it is¡­"


    On that weird note, even Amaryllis was worried for the two''s well-being because it did get a bit hotter when we approached their area of influence. Not enough to give us a burn but just enough to melt butter. However, I was surprised by what Amaryllis told me while we were making dinner:


    "You know, Bartow''s been talking nonstop about your food."


    "Uh-huh. That motherfucker''s honest, at least."


    "Ufufu¡­ You two will be good friends soon, that much I can tell."


    "Yeah¡­ That does happen sometimes¡­"


    "Oh? You don''t deny it?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''re just two people that were that honest about our feelings. Weird for men to say it but yeah, if we go over this phase, I think we''ll be really good friends."


    "Then you''ll be d to hear that he''s staying."


    "What?! Why?"


    "Aside from the food?"


    "Yeah, sure."


    "His grandpa''s one of the people who came in with the Admiral¡­"


    "Oh. Ohhh~ I see, I see. He needs to take care of him, huh?"


    "Yeah, he''s a vet too like your Uncle Oscar so he might''ve another friend in the works too."


    "Does he drink? What''s his name anyway¡ª FUCK!"


    "Wha¡ª What''s wrong?"


    "I just remembered¡­ Bartow''s given name is George¡­"


    "And?"


    "Well¡ª I mean¡ª We have a few Georges in the mix but fuck it¡ª What''s his grandpa''s name?"


    "Pfft¡­ Take a guess."


    "No shot¡ª"


    "Hahahaha! It''s not the actual same but it''s with a J!"


    "Jorje?! He''s Mexican?!"


    "HAH! No! You still say it as George but Jeorge! Funny, right?!"


    "Maaaaan, it''ll be real difficult if someone writes our autobiography or something."


    "Ahahah! True, true¡­"


    With that said, as we were chatting, we didn''t forget about our two taste testers who tried to keep quiet the whole time but it was pretty obvious they were listening in due to the faces they were making throughout our conversation.


    But yeah, they weren''t too happy at first when I was making them taste the raw ingredients but as everything came together, the rub for our baked fish, the stock for our soup, and the vegetables for sd blew their lids because not only they were delicious as fuck, it had been a while since they had cooked food.


    "THE FUCK, BRO! THIS IS SO FUCKIN'' GOOD! HOW?!"


    "T-This is really delicious! Is everything cooked? Can we all eat now?!"


    I waved her off, "Nah. Our doctors here just got done with her preliminary tests and my pilot over on our side is ready to bring you both in my ce. I already packed you two some food and she''d be here very shortly.


    Casey''s a little groggy but she''s already awake¡­ Unfortunately¡­ Hmm~ It''s not my ce to talk about it here but you two should have a long talk once you settle in one of our rooms in the hospital¡­"


    "That''s¡ª T-Thank you, sir."


    "Just remember what I told you, alright¡ª Whaddaya know? She''s already in view."


    As we were preparing the dining area, it didn''t take long before Ms. M a.k.a. Micah came in with her security detail, and everyone who knows her just fucking lost it. All sorts of things were going through their head, especially when she gave me a tight and very unfiltered hug with her massive jugs, but I exined to her the whole situation with the two sisters.


    "I get it, I get it¡ª But seriously? We have an airport now? I thought we were aiming for NAIA instead?"


    "Iskoh''s already making ns for it but technically we have two. Maybe three, if we count the flight school."


    "Ah, right. That Jessica a bit of ways from here, right? Hold up¡ª I thought we''re also bringing someone else?"


    "Royo?"


    "Yeah."


    "He''lle with us in a few. Don''t worry we''ll take a few more days in here before we go back."


    "Damn, I really wanna stay for a bit more but I also have duties back home. We''re going now, alright? Take care! Mwah!"


    As she gave me a peck on the cheek, I saw not only Diesel and Te, but also Sheepy dying from Envy¡ªand this "aplishment" might be one of my ins to get into their circle of friends, but aside from food, the talk I had with Mrs. Amaryllis gave me another idea on how to bridge gaps between two groups or two people.


    Obviously, bonding over food wouldn''t work if they were sitting on opposite ends of the tables but yeah, instead of trying to keep them away from fighting and forcing interactions for them to get friendly at the same time, why don''t we embrace the chaos for a short bit and have them let out their aggression?

 Chapter 1141: Mud Fight - Tatianas Signature Move

    This type of thing was something I''ve arranged and advocated a few times in the past to bridge the gap between two aggrieved parties and it was akin to putting a bit of violence in our old CRT TVs in order for them to work.


    However, Ipletely forgot about these people eating almost nothing or straight-up garbage for the past few months but at the end of the day, we wouldn''t worry that much about injuries or something along those lines.


    It was because 90% of the guys and some of the girls wanted to let out a ton of aggression and hate¡ªand even if they were doing it for the opposite reason I intended them toe upon naturally, they''d juste to the realization sooner orter like I did with Bartow.


    And yeah, this shit would also provide some good entertainment and perhaps they could be an opening act for some of the fights that may or may note out of the blue.


    Without further ado, Sheepy and Jason came up on our ring¡ªwhich was just a circle we drew on with chalk¡ªand they both had protective gear on and a medical team on standby. Funnily enough, the Admiral caught wind of what was about to go down and the motherfucker had to be picked up with one of his Chinooks with a few people like his daughter E, Jennifer, Royo, etc.


    Obviously, I was the acting ref with Tatiana, and once some other dude rang the bell for us, the two malnourished fucks who just had a big meal started to slug it out for everyone''s entertainment.


    "HIT¡ª YOU CALL THAT A PUNCH?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "WHA¡ª HOLD UP?! ADMIRAL?!"


    "GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT!"


    "ADMIRAL! YOUR DAUGHTER''S WITH YOU WATCHING¡ª"


    "YE OL'' DICK TWIST!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Then everyone started the chant, including E:


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "OH MY FUCKING GOD, I''M SO HAPPY I CAME!"


    With that said, what happened between the two was even less than what I expected but for some reason, it was more entertaining than professionals fighting because technique was out the fucking window and the two were aiming for a knockout.


    At that point, it was safe to say that it was worse than a mud fight but as Sheepy dove in for a headbutt and mmed on Jason''s nose, Jason gritted his fucking teeth as he reeled back to send something between a hook and upper straight to Sheepy''s fragile jaw.


    "OHHHHHH SHIT!"


    To everyone''s surprise, Sheepy fell down like a ragdoll as Jason fell to his knees¡ªbut to be fucking fair to Sheepy¡ªJason had a good 20 pounds on him while Sheepy was just running on pure aggression. But yeah, a win''s a fucking win, and weight ss don''t matter in a street fight.


    However, as Dax was about to challenge one of his boys, "Jeffrey", who defected from his camp, Morgan, Diesel''s cousin and the bitch I punched walked up and challenged me of all people to a street fight. And to make a small description of what she looked like, it was the epitome of "White Women Rage", but no one was fucking stopping her.


    "COME HERE, YOU PUSSY! FIGHT ME FAIR IN A ONE ON ONE!"


    I shook my head,ughing, "There could be fucking ten of you and you won''tst a fucking second¡ª"


    "THEN COME UP HERE AND I''LL SHOW YOU WHAT I COULD REALLY DO!"


    Tatiana cut in with a smile, "I''ll fight you, if you want¡ª"


    "BITCH, WHO ASKED YOU?! I''M TALKING TO HIM, NOT YOU!"


    Tatiana chuckled once more, "Hey, Screech, he''s doing you a favor. And ten of you against him is still a disadvantage for ya, just spitting facts."


    "HOW MANY TIMES I''MMA TELL YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP¡ª"


    "OHHHHHH SHIT! THE BITCH JUST GOT CLAPPED!"


    A few seconds before disaster, Morgan tried to square with Tatiana of all people, wounding this telegraphed punch from ten feet away, but I already called over the medical team when I saw Tatiana lift off the floor.


    ''Rest in Peace¡ª''


    It has been a while since she used her signature move¡ªbut even though it had less power, probably less than a tenth of what she usually let out, Morgan flew in the fucking air along with a rotten tooth out her mouth before she hit the hard floor.


    "Bitch," Tatiana scoffed as she fixed her uniform.


    Obviously, this crowd of Marines just went wild while a few started dyingughing from a bitch getting what wasing for her. But yeah, a lot of them now wanted to have a few rounds with Tatiana, me, or people from their own group,pletely overshadowing Dax''s request to fight with Jeffrey.


    However, I waved them off to make some way for this depressing and maniptive son of a bitch because Jeffrey looked like he had things to straighten out with Dax as well.


    "It didn''t have to be this way, bro," Jeffreymented as they looked each other in the eyes as if they were posing for a poster fight.


    "You''re not my bro. Bros don''t leave each other when it''s easy¡ª"


    "I didn''t leave! Are you telling me I can''te see my family?!"


    "We''re your family!"


    "They''re my family too!"


    "Psh! Just pick a side¡ª"


    "They''re fucking blood, asshole!"


    "I see how it is, suit yourself¡ª"


    "You could''ve been a great bro if you weren''t running us like a cult!"


    "I HAVE TO KEEP THINGS TOGETHER!"


    "NOT LIKE THIS!"


    "IT''S THE ONLY WAY!"


    "NO, IT''S NOT!"


    "THEN PROVE IT!"


    "BRING IT ON!"


    As the two came to blows, as much as I hate to say it, the excitement fucking died down when these two "brought" it like 15-year-olds in the back of a Whole Foods fighting for the first time in their lives.


    I was so fucking confused because from the footage we saw earlier, they moved like they know a thing or two about fighting but it didn''t long before I realized that the people in their group were having withdrawals faster than I thought.

 Chapter 1142: YOUR MAGICS NOT WORKING ON ME!

    The thing I forgot to take into ount was thest time they took drugs because withdrawal symptoms usually ur within 48 hours of not taking them. And yeah, we''ve only met these people this morning and they could''ve taken something at this time yesterday or something in between.


    But what''s important right now was to bring all of them to a ce where they could safely detox but let me tell you that the next few days or even weeks for these kids will gonna be fucking hell.


    So yeah, Oscar took it upon himself to have one of their pilots use the Chinook to bring all these kids to our hospital, including Matthew, Lois, and Olivia.


    Of course, Quinn took my ce as the referee as she ran the game with Tatiana but it seemed like she was getting requests to fight as well from the crowd we gathered. However, as I got back to join them, it seemed like Kuzma was about to have a fight with Bartow, and someone else¡ªRoyo, obviously¡ªput up a table to cast bets and almost everyone was betting on Bartow to take the gold.


    The odds were definitely against my chicken but I showed support for my guy by nudging the Admiral:


    "Yo, wanna have a personal bet with me?"


    He chuckled, "Shoot."


    "If Bartow wins, I promise that unless shees to me, I won''t go out of my way to seduce her. But if Kuzma wins, you give me one of those drones you have."


    "The fuck you talking about? Who''re you gonna seduce¡ª OH, YOU FUCKING¡ª" The Admiral''s neck suddenly snapped towards E, "HE''S THE ONE YOU''RE TALKING ABOUT?!"


    E had never been so all over the ce, "W-WHAT?! I''M NOT¡ª HE¡ª IT''S BECAUSE HE KISSED ME!"


    "THAT''S ALL IT TOOK?! A KISS?!"


    "IT WAS MY FIRST, DAD! MY FIRST! AND HE TOOK IT! A-AND HE DOESN''T EVEN LIKE ME¡ª"


    Admiral Burke snapped at me instead, "WHAT''S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT HER?!"


    "His dad?"


    "HIS¡ª THE FUCK YOU MEAN?! I''M AWESOME!"


    "Then would you give me the drone and the Chinook for free?"


    "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"


    "Just the drone then?"


    "YOU¡ª I''M NOT FALLING FOR THIS SHIT! I''VE ALREADY BEEN WARNED BY YOUR UNCLE!"


    "Oh~ You just listen to what a colonel says, huh?"


    "I''M TELLING YOU, IT''S NOT WORKING!"


    "FINE! If my guy wins, I get the drones and the Chinook but if your guy wins, I only get a drone and I''ll give your daughter the boyfriend treatment¡ª"


    "I SAID¡ª DID YOU JUST SAY DRONES?! WHY ARE YOU GETTING TWO NOW?!"


    "Tch."


    "I''m not a pushover, kid! Your magic won''t work on me!"


    "Alright, alright¡­ you win, Admiral. But you know¡­"


    "What is it now?"


    "I''d be able to keep a better eye on her if she had a personal drone following her every step of the way and a Chinook with a personal pilot¡ªmaybe even a whole squad¡ªready to move in at a moment''s notice.


    I''m a very busy guy, especially with the workload you''re giving me¡ªand yes, I''ll absolutely have people watching over her other than Jenniffer who seems to be her personal bodyguard but two or three is better than one, no?"


    "..."


    "Admiral?"


    "How''d you know that the Colonel''s daughter is¡ª"


    "I just do. Besides, the apple doesn''t fall far from the tree and if Jennifer isn''t tied up somewhere much more important, she would''ve joined us and manned a third SAW on the roof."


    "...damn you."


    "Is it working now? The magic?"


    "...fine¡ª"


    E then cut in, "Hey! I don''t appreciate getting tossed around in a bet! I''m ady!"


    I rolled my eyes as I looked at her outfit, "I''m sorry but why do you look like a bottle of Ranch¡ª"


    "I-It''s fashion! Besides! W-Who doesn''t like Ranch?!"


    I turned to Jennifer who was being awfully quiet but trying her hardest not tough, "Yo. Ranch or Texas barbecue sauce?"


    E cut in, "Hey! That''s not fair¡ª"


    Jennifer shook her head, chuckling, "Depends. But you can eat almost anything with Ranch¡ª"


    E was overjoyed, "See?! Ranch is ten times more better!"


    I rolled my eyes, "She just said it depends. She just added thest bit because she doesn''t want to make you mad."


    "I hate you! I hate you both!"


    I flicked her forehead, "Dumbass¡ª I didn''t say I hate Ranch! I just made ament on why your color scheme looks like one, nothing more."


    "Hmph! Fine, I don''t hate you as much¡­ But Jennifer!"


    "Yes?" Jennifer answered while still looking tense.


    "Can you¡­ Can you be more than just my bodyguard?"


    "That''s¡­ I''mmitted¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª Not like that! I mean as a friend! Like him! Can you?! Please?!"


    Admiral Burke cut in, "Honey, you do know some professionalism is required for her to be able to do her job properly."


    I scoffed, "That''s bullshit. If anything, she''d be able to more if she treats her like family. A step above friends but we can also argue that some friends are better than family."


    "..." the Admiral.


    "...!" Jennifer.


    "Hah! You do say some good things, sometimes! Approve!" E gave me a nudge as she gave me a thumbs up.


    The Admiral let out a long sigh, "Can''t you just give me anything to win on?"


    I nced back at the ongoing fight, "Bartow won, so¡­"


    "Wha¡ª We missed it all from this talking¡­ But why do I feel I lost all the same?"


    "Hey, at least you wouldn''t give me an F18¡ª"


    "WHOA! WHEN DID THE F18S COME INTO PLACE?!"


    "Ah. Major Harper promised me a few things but realistically, I''d have more uses for the drones and the Chinooks so¡ª"


    "CHINOOK! C-H-I-N-O-O-K! CHINOOK! SINGULAR!"


    "You have a good ear, dontcha?"


    "ASSHOLE! YOU''RE BLEEDING ME DRY! THIS IS DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!"


    "Hah! I''m not robbing you, you''re just giving it all to me for some reason."


    Jennifer muttered, "Yeah, for some reason you''re seeding¡­ Unbelievable¡­"


    I chuckled, "I do make some great arguments. So yeah," I turned back to the Admiral, "So that Eisenhower, how long do you think it''llst? Can you give me it''sst year¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! STOP! STOP! I DON''T EVEN OWN IT! CUT IT OUT!"

 Chapter 1143: I forfeit.

    As we four shared augh, I didn''t even notice that almost everyone else was looking at us because Bartow was still raring to go. Even with his win¡ªa decision after three five-minute rounds¡ªhe wanted to do it with a knockout which he absolutely failed at because even if Kuzma''s one of the attack types, he was also under Artem who was the most annoying defensive type I''ve fought.


    "COME ON OVER HERE SO I COULD OFFICIALLY WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOU!"


    "You want to lose with your whole group watching?"


    "THAT''S JUST TALK, WAL THE FUCKING WALK¡ª"


    But Kuzma''s voice entered everyone''s ears just loud enough to cut into our conversation:


    "You''d lose to him, especially that you''re tired."


    And as soon as he said that, everyone else was just waiting for Bartow to blow up and obviously enough, he did.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT?! LOSERS DON''T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY SHIT¡ª"


    "If we had two more rounds, I would''ve dropped you¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!"


    Kuzma just chuckled as he shook his head, "Nah, I''ve said enough. You won under the rules so have your win, I''ll ept my loss as it is."


    "YEAH! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Bartow bellowed before he turned back to me, "SO WHAT NOW?! ARE YOU GONNA KISS THE ADMIRAL''S ASS OR DO YOU WANNA FINISH WHAT WE STARTED?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Why are you even here, you fuck? Shouldn''t you be taking care of your granpa?"


    "YOU¡ª HE''S RIGHT OVER THERE ASSHOLE?! THAT''S WHY I''M FUCKING HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"


    "Wut?"


    Then a voice from a few feet away emerged and it belonged to an older gentleman around Oscar''s age. However, he looked nothing like his grandson because he looked like the chillest dude you''d see fishing alone in the same spot for years.


    ''That''s Jeorge Bartow, huh?''


    "Ohoho~ You''re as interesting as I thought, kiddo~ Would you humor an old man and teach my grandkid a lesson¡ª"


    "POPS! THE FUCK?!"


    I chuckled, "What''s in it for me?"


    "Hmm~ I can tell you some embarrassing shit he did when he was a kid?"


    "Deal!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª I''MMA PUSH YOU OFF THE WATER, OLD MAN!"


    Then Jeorge shook his head as he looked at me again, "See what I deal with? Carry on then, if you lose, my ears might fall off by this dumb kid bragging about it like the time he beat his girl-bully for the first time¡ª"


    "POPS! FUCKING STOP!" Then Bartow was already waving me over, "ARE YOU JUST GONNA STAY THERE OR WHAT?!"


    With that said, I took my gear off and handed them over to Kaley who was only a few seats away with Quinn and everyone else. And again, Royo was riling up the crowd because a few who already knew who I was were also betting on me, evening the odds for the bets¡ªgiving everyone else a moment to think about whether they just bet for their home team or not.


    However, all these fucks were expecting a show while Bartow was expecting a brawl but fuck no, Kuzma already set the stage for me, so I''ll just avenge him by finishing what he started.


    "FIGHT!" Quinn and Tatiana shouted at the top of their lungs.


    Almost immediately, Bartow rushed at me like a bull with an overhead swing but I slipped by and ignored the wind he brought with him which was like being on the opposite side of a muzzle break attached to a high-powered rifle.


    But yeah, his right torso was open from his overhead swing so I sent apact hook/uppercut mix straight to where his liver was located before I backed away.


    I definitely felt good resistance¡ªalso due to how big he was¡ªbut as he quickly turned around to counter with apact left hook, I was already a foot away and was about to send a middle kick straight to the opposite side of his torso.


    Obviously, the oaf looked like he didn''t take much damage but as I slipped in a low kick to his inner thigh when I moved to his left side, I saw him brace his torso for an attempt to take one of my attacks.


    ''Heh.''


    Seeing that, it made me realize that this motherfucker was already more hurt than I¡ªor than even he thought¡ªbut the only difference between me and Kuzma was that Kuzma was taking hits for his setup while I waspletely dodging everything like a lubed eel in a pond covered with oil.


    One of the reasons for this feat was that right now, I was mostly calm and collected,pared to the time in the Main Harbor where I was pissed as fuck, causing me to take a few hits just to hit harder. But this time, just with our weight difference, he''d have a hard time due to how agile I was and it was definitely showing.


    ''He''s as pissed he wasst time too so it all works in my favor¡­''


    And with a few more exchanges, Bartow''s torso and legs were fucking pumped and red¡ªmaybe even purple on some parts¡ªand it definitely slowed down his movements. If it was any other day, I would''ve just aimed for his head and shook it to the point he goes down on one knee but this time, I want him to despair about ignoring his body''s damage.


    At this point, even his people were trash-talking the fuck out of him because his match with Kuzmapared to mine was night and day.


    Additionally, I could''ve ended our exhibition match right now but I fucking dragged it all the way to the third and final round where he took all of the hits and remained standing despite him dragging his feet and visibly looking hurt. However, what''s admirable was that the light in his eyes didn''t dim a single bit right until I went for the death blow.


    To everyone''s surprise, especially Bartow, I walked out of the ring and said:


    "I forfeit. Refs, do a better job."

 Chapter 1144: Oops. - W-What are you a-about to do then?

    As soon as I said that, everyone¡ªI mean EVERYONE blew up, because they were all waiting for me to knock his loud-ass out, but I took the ''high ground'' because of the damage he sustained. Even Quinn and Tatiana¡ªour "refs"¡ªcouldn''t believe what I just did because if it was any other day, I would''ve just knocked his ass out and took the winnings and the glory.


    But no, I already proved that I could beat him in a fight and I sure as hell wouldn''t lose to him any time soon, but the only way to make him lose was to make him win.


    It''s fucking confusing, I know, and breaking a man''s psyche and confidence in an exhibition match was uncalled for¡ªusually, but doing all this shit for him would be a lesson he''d thank meter.


    Bartow''s a man as a man could get but as my new "friend", now''s the time to learn some hard shit a man like him should also be capable of. A few from the top of my head were control, temperance, knowing when to stop, acknowledging one''s limits, and so on.


    Bull-headed people like him were destined to die early on and even if he was already aware of such things, it was still fucking dumb to ignore it and keep moving on.


    But to bepletely honest, as much as I would''ve hated to lose¡ªeven by forfeit¡ªI''m sure that it definitely fucking sucks inside his head right now because even I would find this extremely unsatisfying and stupid as fuck. Then again, I still had some bones to pick with this motherfucker, and doing this type of shit would be a huge blow, especially for guys like him.


    He''s one of those types to rather die than go back with his tail between his legs and he couldn''t even voice out his anger ore up to me and demand to get knocked out because his torso and legs were that swollen and it was a fucking pain to just walk.


    And yeah, I did technically lose but everyone still knew that I fucking won.


    That''s the hard fucking pill to swallow for Bartow.


    But yeah, there was one other thing that I forgot:


    A lot of my people fucking bet on me.


    Isaac started, "BROOOO! WHY''D YOU QUIT?! I BET MY GUN, MY KNIFE, AND MY ASS TO ROYO! I''M NOT SAYING ANYTHING BUT I WON''T BE ABLE TO WALK FOR A WEEK!"


    "M-My pics¡­ I just bet my nudes¡­"


    "DUDE! I''M GONNA GET SLAPPED WITH A WHOLE FUCKING TUNA! THE FUCK?!"


    "My hot pockets¡­ I lost all my hot pockets¡­"


    "That''s not even that bad, Artem¡ª"


    "How dare you?! WHO BET AGAINST ME?! DOUBLE OR NOTHING!"


    Luckily, Kaley predicted that something was up and the ones sitting next to her were spared from losing shit from the betting pool. But yeah, even Unc Zardon was looking like he''d drive our truck to the water because he lost something important. In any case, what''s done is done but to mitigate our losses, Artem, Kuzma, Tatiana, and a few more of our fighters stepped up and bet with the Marines.


    Granted not all of them were professional fights, since even Seb and JP joined in to test the waters with the other privates, it was all in good fun and it increased morale and a bit of rtionship points toward this camp.


    But yeah, I was given a stern talking to by Bartow''s grandpa and the Admiral because I should''ve really knocked him out when I had the chance instead of embarrassing him thoroughly, and also, Bartow wouldn''t be avable to go on runs tomorrow because of his injuries and a quick knockout would''ve been preferred.


    ''Brain damage is still worse but okay¡­''


    In any case, our event went for a bit more than an hour before everyone soon did their own thing, but we found ourselves on the suite floorughing at Quinn''s annoyance from theck of 45-pound tes in the supposed gym.


    "CAN YOU SEE THIS SHIT?! THERE''S ONLY TWO PAIRS! TWO! WHAT KINDA FUCKING GYM IS THIS?!"


    I piled on, "Have you seen the dumbbells¡ª"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, DON''T REMIND ME OF THE DUMBBELLS! WHO FUCKING GYMOWNER WOULD DECIDE TO HAVE IT GO UNTIL 35 POUNDS?! THEY ONLY HAVE ONE POWER RACK THAT''S MISSING ONE OF THE SAFETY BARS, TWO FUCKING USELESS CHEST MACHINES BUT A TON OF FUCKING TREADMILLS AND STATIONARY BIKES?! THEY DON''T EVEN HAVE AN ELLIPTICAL OR A STAIRMASTER!"


    "It''s weird they have a Kabuki bar though¡ª"


    "WHAT¡ª Oh shit, you''re right. The fuck¡ª I''m more surprised you know what a Kabuki bar is."


    "Heh. I don''t deadlift as muchpared to you but I do know some stuff, alright?"


    "HAH! STILL FOR PUSSIES THOUGH! IF YOU WANNA PULL SOME HEAVY SHIT, PULL IT ALL THE WAY! NOT AN INCH OFF THE GROUND!"


    "Don''t you sumo deadlift? It''s almost the same¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT THE SAME THING!"


    E nudged me as she finally took the plugs out of her ears, "Is she really this loud?"


    Everyone else nodded, including Jennifer, "Unfortunately, yes¡ª"


    Rachel who flew in with more supplies earlier cut in, "What''s a Kabuki bar?"


    I replied, "In short, it''s a deadlift bar where it bends a lot, allowing you to pull a lot of ck and be in lockout position while the tes were only a few inches off the ground. It does have a lot of merits to it and it feels like cheating because you''d be able to pull more weight with thatpared to the stiff bar but yeah, no one gives them too much shitpared to sumo lifters.


    That''s a whole other subject toin about¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That''s not a short exnation at all¡ª"


    "Want the long one then?"


    "No¡ª"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "I''d like the long and thick one, please."


    Quinn chuckled, "Me too but we have a kid over here¡ª"


    E sprang up, "Hey! I''m not a kid!"


    "Uh-huh. I bet you don''t know what we''re about to do after this, huh?"


    "W-What are you a-about to do then?"

 Chapter 1145: Seckus?

    Hearing and Seeing E say that just made everyone else let out a mix of reactions, mostlyughter, but as soon as she realized that it wouldn''t take long before each of us would take our clothes off and do the naked dance, she got so red she now looked like a bottle of Sriracha.


    "Y-YOU MEAN¡ª WITH ALL OF YOU¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "Not me¡ª I mean, at least not yet."


    "A-AND WHY IS THAT?!"


    "THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING ME FOR?!"


    "YOU''RE MY BODYGUARD! I CAN ASK YOU ABOUT ANYTHING!"


    "THE FUCK YOU CAN?! AND YEAH, I JUST SWITCHED WITH MILLS YESTERDAY AND YOU''RE ACTING LIKE WE''RE ONE AND THE SAME! DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOU HAVE FOUR BODYGUARDS WHO ROTATE EVERY WEEK?!"


    "WHA¡ª I''M NOT AN IDIOT! I-I JUST THOUGHT WE''RE ALL FRIENDS! AREN''T WE!"


    "SOME FRIENDS DON''T ASK IF THEY''RE GONNA BONE A PARTICULAR GUY EVERYONE''S PINING FOR!"


    "Oh. Noted. That''s my bad¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Hah~ Fuck it, c''mon, we should leave while they''re still decent¡ª"


    E turned to me, "Are you gonna use the whole floor?"


    Jennifer almost choked her E to death, "AGAIN! STOP WITH THOSE TYPES OF QUESTIONS!"


    "B-But he kissed me! I-I should be able to ask a-at least that!"


    I chuckled, "First of all, it''s technically a kiss but it''s just to breathe air in ya and what do you mean by at least? Do you have more questions to¡ª"


    "YES! I do actually!"


    Jennifer turned to me like an idiot step-brother, "Need I remind you E''s the Admiral''s daughter?"


    Tatiana cut in, "You saw Micah, right? That was the president''s mistress¡ª ex-mistress because of this guy¡ª"


    E cut in as well, "Hey! I''m literally right here! Why would my dad care about who I¡ª I-I mean¡ª I was just curious and wanted to ask some questions! C-Can''t I do that at least?"


    Quinn chuckled, "You know, some things are just meant to be experienced¡ª"


    Jennifer''s eyes had never gone so wide, "ABSOLUTELY NOT! D''YOU WANT TO DIE?!"


    "I don''t but I wanna fuck. And to achieve that, we gotta go past this questionnaire bullshit in front of us¡ª"


    E harrumphed as she tried to head out the door, "Fine! Keep your secrets then!"


    Kaley waved her off, "That''s one way to get in."


    E suddenly stopped mid-way into opening the door, "Hmm?"


    Kaley chuckled, "You''ll learn that other part soon if you hang more with us but yeah, there''s nothing wrong with asking questions though there''s nothing wrong with experiencing them too."


    "I-I mean¡­ I-I''m not¡ª I-I do know some stuff but¡ª"


    Jennifer tried to cut in but Kaley continued:


    "Look, if you''re cool, we''re cool. You''re wee to ask anything of us and we''ll answer them to the best of your abilities¡ª and IF you do want to try something, we can always do other stuff other than the main thing if you still have to prepare yourself for it. It''s totally your choice."


    "..."


    Jennifer shook her head as she turned to me, "I actually thought I''d be worried about you. Turns out, your wife''s more trouble." Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Kaley chuckled, "I can hear you, you know?"


    "I wasn''t trying to hide shit. I''m actually looking out for¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "And the offer extends to you as well. We''re all adults here, you know? I''ve said it before, it can be a one-time thing, a sometimes kind of thing, or you can be a¡ªforck of a better word¡ªa fully-fledged member. There''s no membership fee and vice versa, even cancetions, and all you need to do is to show up and we''ll work something out¡­"


    "..."


    "So?"


    Jennifer shook her head,ughing, "You know, if a guy told me that shit, I would''ve smacked his head or be ass up and be on the receiving end but it just hits different when ites from you."


    Kaley chuckled, "I wasn''t even trying, just telling you the facts."


    "That''s the problem, I''m already enticed and you fucks aren''t even putting your game face on."


    Rachel cut in from the back, chuckling, "It worked to me, it''ll definitely work on you."


    Jennifer turned to her not-girlfriend, "You''re okay with this?"


    "Depends."


    "What do you mean?"


    "If you do join us and we¡­ you know¡­ I wanna be in control this time. Like, for the rest of the night."


    Jennifer let out a smirk, "Sure."


    Rachel caught the smirk and made a face, "What''s with the smirk?"


    "Nothing, it''s just a little surprising you wanna switch ces this time."


    "S-Shut up!"


    "Okay~ Whatever you say~"


    Kaley chuckled at the two before she turned to E who was still by the door, listening to what everyone was trying to say:


    "How about you? I promise you this: we won''t do anything you don''t want and if you have actual questions and concerns, you go to me or him, and we''ll take care of you. If you call it a night, I''ll personally take you to your quarters and stay with you for as long as you want. You can also go to Tatiana but Quinn and the rest? Stay away¡­ for now."


    "I¡ª"


    Quinn, Megan, and Alexa got up in arms, "HEY! THE FUCK?!/ I''m trustworthy!/ ME TOO!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Right now? Sure. Quinn knows it herself but in the heat of the moment, you two also go crazy. Am I wrong?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Then E''s voice entered our ears after the brief silence:


    "A-Alright¡­ Yes! I do have s-some questions a-about s-seckus¡ª I meant sex¡ª AHHHH! I''m already fumbling! It''s embarrassing!"


    "SECKUS?! HAH!"


    "Quinn! Stop¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA! C''MON! THAT''S REALLY FUNNY!"


    "Quinn, I really wanna hear about your first time, seriously."


    "My first? Sure. I got drunk and I fucked the first guy I saw, end of story. I came so¡­ It''s all good."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Once again, the brief moment of silence enveloped the whole room but what soon came after was the unbelievable tension where everyone else was just ncing at each other. But yeah, since we have fresh blood into the mix, Kaley took E''s hand and brought her to one of the private rooms and beckoned me over.

 Chapter 1146: Thats why...

    I could already imagine how the night was going but as everyone else was supportive of what Kaley was trying to do, they just let me walk over to the partially ajar door when Kaley and E had just walked in. And as I did, Kaley made me lock the door behind me from a nce but as I turned around to look at E, her breathing was already hurried and she couldn''t even look at us in the eye.


    "E¡­" Kaley leaned over slightly to meet her eyes, "Breathe¡­"


    E nodded a few times, "A-Alright... Ha.. Haa¡­ P-Pretty n-nervous Haha¡­ Ha¡­"


    I said gently as well, "Imagine I''m not here unless you want to. This is a free space, you can ask us about anything."


    "T-Thank you¡­" E took another deep breath as she turned to Kaley, "S-So¡­ D-Do I t-take off m-my clothes¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head with a smile, "No. At least not yet, breathe again."


    "O-Okay¡­ Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Huuu~"


    "..."


    "..."


    At this point, what''s more important was to make E take off some more of her nervousness. If this night goes as intended, it should at least be a little special for her so that she wouldn''t be averse or scared to do it in the future with us or anyone else for that matter.


    So yeah, we sat in silence for a little bit, ncing at each other while wearing faint smiles, but as soon as E could look each of us in the eye without looking away all red and bothered, Kaley proceeded to ask a few questions of her own:


    "E?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Umm¡­ I forgot to ask but¡­ I know you''re kinda into him but are you also into me? I mean, women in general?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "If you''re not, it''s totally okay¡ªand I''ll still answer some questions, but if you want to be alone with him, it''s fine too and he could also answer your questions. I''m totally okay with that."


    E shook her head, "I¡­ I don''t actually k-know but¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I-I do think you''re really p-pretty¡­"


    "Oh! Why, thank you! You look pretty as well¡ª I heard you design clothes, would you care to make me one in the future? I''m looking for a sundress that''s reallyfy but shows a little skin but you''re totally in charge of what it could look like¡ª"


    "R-Really?! You don''t find my designs weird?"


    Kaley chuckled as she pointed at me for a moment, "You see that guy? He''d be on the moon if he saw me in cosy but on normal days, he''d just love it when I wear oversized shirts and thigh-high socks¡ª no bra and just panties."


    "Oh. Oh! N-Noted! B-But my designs, do you like them?"


    "I do, really, I LOVE Ranch but have you made something like a strawberry shortcake?"


    "OH! I would love to make you something like that! I-I already have an idea in mind! I¡­ W-Wait!"


    "Hmm?"


    "A-Aren''t we supposed to t-talk about¡ª"


    "Seckus?"


    "You¡ª D-Don''t make fun of me, please! I''m already¡ª"


    Kaley gave her a nudge, "Oh, c''mon! That''s adorable, besides, we''re already doing part of it. You see, one of the most important parts of doing ''that'' is to be really~fortable with your partner or partners first. Don''t get me wrong, I would really love a new sundress but it took a lot of the nervousness off, right?"


    "I-It did¡­ I¡ª B-But when can I ask¡ª"


    "You can ask one right now. You''refortable now, right?"


    E nodded a few times, "O-Okay¡­ U-Umm¡­ Would¡­ W-Would it r-really hurt? I heard that if it''s your f-first time, it really does, b-but some people said it d-didn''t. And I¡­ I-I did try p-putting a f-finger in o-one time a-and i-it pinched a bit so I s-stopped¡­ It''s just¡­ I-I''m really afraid and i-is there a way so that i-it just n-not hurt?"


    Kaley looked at her gently, "E¡­"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "What? Don''t be sorry! Well~ About your question, here''s the thing: it would really hurt but it depends on the person and their pain tolerance. However, the more you''re aroused, the less it would¡ªat least in my experience¡ªbut to bepletely honest with you, it would pinch a bit more and even hurt a few more times when you do it again, realistically speaking."


    "Really?"


    "To be fair though, it''s a mix? With feeling good and feeling that pinch but do know that if it gets too much or unbearable¡ªif you decide to do it tonight¡ªwe''llpletely stop and not pursue anything more."


    "B-But h-how would he f-feel good?"


    I cut in with a smile, "That''s not how it works."


    Kaley nodded, "That''s true. You said it yourself, you tried to put it in when you were masturbating, right?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Then¡­ You should''ve at least made yourself orgasm every once in a while and¡ª"


    "Huh? S-Shouldn''t s-something be i-inside first¡ª"


    "Wait a second¡­ E¡­ Have you¡­ Have you made yourself c-cum yet?"


    "..."


    "Oh no¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-Is there something wrong with me?!"


    Kaley waved her off, "N-No, no, no! You''re perfect! It''s just that¡­ You went to school, right?"


    "Yes? I majored in fashion design¡ª"


    "We do know that but there should be minor subjects and biology or even sex ed should be¡ª"


    I cut in, "Did you do it online?"


    Read new adventures at m_v-l''e-NovelBin


    "Huh?"


    "I mean, your degree?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "That''s why¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time again.


    "H-Hey! I-IT''S COMPLETELY LEGIT! IT''S A REAL SCHOOL!"


    I waved her off, "I know, I know! It''s not about that but it seemed like you have a lot to catch up on regarding that particr subject¡ª And I''m gonna say it now: you don''t have to put it in you to cum like I don''t have to put it in you or Kaley''s or anyone''s to cum."


    E was inplete disbelief, "No¡­ No way¡ª I thought¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Have you¡­ Have you at least rubbed¡­ yed with your nipples or your clit¡ª clitoris¡ª"


    "I-Isn''t that bad? Aren''t we supposed to not do that?"


    Kaley and I never looked so confused as we asked at the same time, "And why do you think that?"


    "It''s¡­ S-Sister Dorothy said that w-we shouldn''t because you know¡­ I-It''s bad¡ª A sin!"


    "That''s why¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time after figuring it out.


    "S-She really did a-and¡ª I-I do identally touch it a little more sometimes when I s-shower but when my b-body f-feels really weird I stop¡­ That''s why I know it''s really bad because I''m really moody after but¡ª Why are you two looking at me like that?!"

 Chapter 1147: From A Kiss

    At that point, Kaley and I couldn''t believe how E got to this point without discovering anything or going out of her way to fulfill a human''s basic need, but we took it upon ourselves to give her a full fucking course, literally, while everyone else out the door was already going at it.


    And after what seemed like an eternity, E somehow understood a bit of it though she looked like her perception of the two "realities" was still tethering on both edges.


    "That''s¡­ Huh. R-Really?"


    I nodded, "Yep."


    Kaley followed, "Really."


    "But Sister Dorothy said¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Fuck what she said¡ª Where the fuck is she anyway?"


    "I-I dunno, sorry. She used to homeschool me before I went to design school¡ª"


    "You mean online design school¡ª"


    "IT''S THE SAME THING!"


    "Sure, sure~ But what now?"


    "What now what?"


    Kaley replied, "I mean, we answered a lot of questions for you and some more that a girl your age should know so¡­ do you want to leave it at that or¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Oh. Y-Yeah¡­ T-That¡ª I¡ª"


    I waved her off, "It''s cool, don''t worry. It''s just that we might have to wait a couple more hours or so while everyone outside finishes. We can talk about other stuff if you want¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "No? Wanna scale the fucking wall?"


    She harrumphed and cutely red at me, "No! I¡ª I mean¡­ C-Can we d-do a bit of it?"


    "Seckus?"


    "YOU¡ª Don''t say it like that!"


    Kaley chuckled before she waved me off, "Stop teasing her! But yeah, what do you wanna do anyway?"


    "Umm¡­ W-What do you two u-usually start with?"


    "Oh. With us, it could be anything at this point but it''d be nice if we start with kissing and simple touching first."


    "O-Okay¡­" E trailed as she nodded a few times.


    "Do you wanna do that?"


    "Do I n-need to take my c-clothes off now?"


    "Depends on you, but who do you wanna kiss first?"


    "Ah. I-I don''t know how¡ª"


    "This¡­ This is something that''s better if we just show you¡­ Wanna watch us first or do you wanna experience it first-hand?"


    "Umm¡­ I-I wanna watch first¡­"


    "Okay," then Kaley turned to me, "Come on, now¡ª I¡ª"


    As Kaley gave me the go sign, I moved over to their side and held her hips before I gave her a peck on the lips. But yeah, Kaley pulled me even closer as she began to use her tongue, letting out little moans while I began to touch her breasts above her clothes. However, as I was about to make her touch my bulge over mine, she held E''s hand instead and pulled her close:


    "C''mon, that''s enough of a showing, right? Why don''t you try? You can kiss either of us¡­"


    "That''s¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ O-Okay¡­ I¡ª"


    To my surprise, E picked me and she tried to reach me by standing on top of the bed so I put my hand on her waist to support her as she met her lips with mine. At first, E was still shaking all over but when she pulled back and looked at me a certain way with her cute eyes, she just went back in for more as she tried to use a little bit of tongue.


    And yeah, E''s lips were as soft and as sweet as I thought but her eyes looked like they were in a daze the more times she pressed her lips to mine.


    "Okay, now try me," Kaley said after E pulled back for the nth time.


    "Ha¡­ Kaley¡­ I''m feeling s-something already¡­ Haa¡­"


    "That''s good, here I go¡­"


    This time, E was now receiving the kiss instead of giving it, and I definitely felt her whole body tense the moment Kaley pushed her tongue inside her little mouth. At the same time, I was squeezing Kaley''s ass above her clothes but Kaley gave E back to me, looking like she just ran a marathon.


    But yeah, E still pushed her lips with mine, using what she learned from Kaley, but this time, I also participated actively by invading her mouth as she tried to invade mine.


    "MmH!"


    E was now letting out little moans¡ªlike Kaley did earlier¡ªas she was now trying to touch my arm holding her, but before I could even move my hand higher above her waist to touch her breasts, E''s knees buckled before her whole body shook to the core.


    "H-HnnNNHGG! NnmNHG! W-What''s¡ª AHhNhHH! S-SomethiNG¡ª NnHNGGH!"


    To our surprise, E came just from kissing and once she copsed on the bed, it went on for a full minute before it slowly subsided. However, E looked like a fucking mess as both her hands were still clutching onto each of our clothes while she was struggling with the waves of her first-ever orgasm.


    At the same time, I was still holding a raging hard-on while Kaley was also this close to having an orgasm from watching but E looked like she needed a break right now.


    Seeing her in an out-of-breath and flushed state, Kaley and Iid next to her as she got even more embarrassed but Kaley and I reassured her and said that it was the hottest thing we''ve seen in a while.


    "R-Really?"


    Kaley gave her a peck on the cheek, "Trust me, not a lot of girls can do it just by kissing. We''re only very few out there."


    "Ah¡ª H-How about you two?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Did you two¡ª"


    "That could wait, don''t worry."


    "Really?"


    "Of course, it begs the question though¡­"


    "W-What question?"


    "Do you umm¡­ Wanna call it a day, go on like this, or go further?"


    "I¡­"


    "Again, it''s totally cool if¡ª"


    "I-I¡­ I-I do h-have one more q-question¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I¡­ I-I¡ª Don''tugh, okay?!"


    "Of course, we won''t¡ª What is it?"


    "I-I think I-I p-peed myself¡­"


    "Like for real or¡ª"


    "H-Huh? Is there any other¡ª Oh¡ª You mentioned that¡ª O-OH! C-Can I go to the b-bathroom for a b-bit?"


    "Of course, of course! Take your time, alright? Call on us if you ever need a-anything."


    "O-Okay, thank you!" E got up but she suddenly stopped mid-way into opening the bathroom door, "Y-You two c-could k-kiss if you want, w-while I''m here¡ª D-DON''T WORRY ABOUT ME!"


    Then she ran straight to the bathroom door and mmed it shut.


    "..."


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    "..."


    At that point, it took everything from Kaley and me from bursting intoughter¡ªdue to how cute and adorable E was¡ªbut it only took a moment of silence before Kaley and I invaded each other''s mouths.


    E did say that she''d "allow" more kissing so this time, just for a bit of solidarity, we did just that but with a little~ bit of dry-humping, mostly.

 Chapter 1148: So, what now?

    On that note, Kaley was on top of me, invading my mouth with her tongue as she was rubbing her crotch over my bulge while both my hands were on her plump ass, squeezing them tightly while her breasts were pressing against my torso.


    If this was any other day, both of us would''ve been buck naked and fucking each other''s brains out but we wouldn''t want to spook E who despite her eagerness to explore, she needed to be dropped down the cold water very~ slowly.


    And bringing my focus back to Kaley, I was so fucking d we changed to our workout clothes¡ªyoga and jogger pants¡ªbecause we''d feel close to nothing if we wore our protective equipment.


    But yeah, I could feel Kaley''s fat pussy, grinding on top of my cock, despite the clothes, and my precum was already leaking out of my joggers while Kaley''s juices had already soaked her yoga pants.


    "MmnnN¡­ Nn¡­ NNh! HNG! NNH! MMMHHN!!!"


    Suddenly, Kaley moved her hips with even more enthusiasm but when she abruptly stopped and shook all over, it was safe to say we needed a change of clothes. However, we were so preupied with ourselves that we didn''t even notice that E was watching us wide-eyed and out of breath, and I almost took Kaley then and there if she hadn''t stopped me sooner.


    Kaley beckoned her over as she got up and ced her hands over my chest, "E-E¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I d-didn''t notice y-you were¡ª"


    E cut her off while her hand was pressed on her chest and the other by her legs, slightly pressing on her crotch area, "U-Umm¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ S-Should I h-havee back at a-a¡­ d-different time?"


    "N-No, it''s okay¡ª Umm¡­ This is a little jump b-but d-do you wanna see it?"


    "S-See what?"


    "Us? You know, without clothes?"


    "Oh. Ohh¡­ A-Are we getting naked n-now?"


    "Yes, but that doesn''t mean that we''re gonna do¡ª"


    "I-I already took m-my panties o-off, t-they''re wet b-but i-it''s not p-pee¡­ S-So¡­ I-I''m already a step a-above¡­ Haha¡­ Ha¡­"


    "Okay, haha¡­ We''ll take off our clothes, you''re wee to just watch and take off as much as you''refortable¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-I''m okay, I-I''m fine if i-it''s you two¡­ J-Just don''t lugh¡ª"


    "Why would weugh?"


    "M-My¡­ M-My pussy''s a l-little¡­ big?"


    I cut in with a smile, "Even better, right Kaley?"


    "Yep!" she then shook her head, "Doofus¡­ Just because I also have a fat one¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Wanna see?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    On that note, Kaley took off her loose shirt first but when she took off her sports bra, it just shook E to her core. E severely underestimated how squished Kaley''s humongous breasts were under sports clothing and once they were free, she did look a little insecure.


    However, Kaley was just that supportive of a woman so as she encouraged E to set all those feelings aside, to be perfectly honest, Kaley and I were surprised at what she was hiding underneath that dress.


    It''s because when Kaley took off her pants¡ªshe wentmando, of course¡ªE followed suit and just took off everything with a simple pull of a string.


    For some reason, E was wearing a corset tightly woven on her torso, and even if she was a littlecking in height¡ªonly a couple of inches above Mimi or Nancy¡ªshe had meat and fat in all the right ces plus extra. It''s a good bnce between an athletic build and a shortstack, I might say, but yeah, she does have a fat fucking pussy¡ªand an innie to boot.


    "D-Don''t stare as much! It''s to fit my clothes!"


    "You¡­ You look really great though!"


    "Yeah, we didn''t expect that!"


    "R-Really? Thanks¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Wanna see him now?"


    "O-Oh¡­ A-Alright, I-I''m ready¡­"


    And at this point, I was the only one who hadn''t had an orgasm so when I revealed my throbbing cock in front of this innocent little girl, the look of terror and absolute shock on her face almost made me go over the edge.


    "W-WHAT?! HOW?! THAT''S¡ª THAT''S AS BIG AS MY ARM!"


    "Pfft¡­ Don''t be afraid of it, alright? Come on, we''ll do him first because he still hasn''t you know¡­"


    "D-Do him h-how?"


    "Just ce your hands over there¡­"


    E wrapped both her hands by the tip and gripped gently, "H-Here? W-Wow¡­ I-It''s so warm a-and h-hard¡­"


    "Kinda nice, no? Now move your hands up and down¡­"


    "Like this?"


    ''Fuuuuuck¡­''


    Kaley chuckled at my expression, "Yes, just like that¡­"


    With everything that was going on and had happened earlier, I was this close to busting a nut but Kaley piled on by grabbing me by the base with one hand and my balls with the other, matching E''s clumsy movements.


    And with a few more strokes in front of these beauties, I let out a loud grunt before I exploded right on their faces¡ªbut as Kaley continued to move her hands up and down, E didn''t know what to do.


    "Wha¡ª I-Is this¡ª IT''S COMING OUT! IT''S S-STILL COMING OUT!"


    "Don''t stop, just keep going like that¡ª"


    "O-Okay!"


    "K-KALEY!"


    I just lost my fucking mind looking at Kaley who definitely knew what she was doing and at E, who knows jack shit about what was going on but just went with the flow, but E''s eyes grew wide when Kaley took over and sucked me off in front of her as she was still jerking me off.


    "FUCK!" I eximed as I threw my head back.


    "W-Wow, wow¡ª Y-You''re doing it! Y-You''re taking it all¡ª This way? Oh, W-Wow¡­"


    Kaley did it by moving E''s hands to the base of my cock as she swallowed me whole, coiling her tongue by the tip and moving all the way down even if it went past her throat. I could barely open my eyes as I was still fighting with the sensitivity but Kaley was determined to break my fucking mind with just a single orgasm.


    In addition, E started to use her other hand to massage my balls and her touch was as soft as the way she was gently gripping me. However, she still couldn''t look away from the scene happening in front of her even if one of her eyes was partially closed due to my cum flowing down her eyebrow.


    And yeah, I was definitely losing my mind as I watched two beauties covered in cum suck me off and jerk me at the same time, and as much as I would''ve wanted to take Kaley then and there or have a taste of E''s pussy, when it finally subsided, I chose to let it go and take it slow¡ªeven though we did jump a few processes for E''s sake.


    However, it was definitely hard to reign it in seeing E getting lightheaded by the sight of my huge cock and the cum still covering most of her face and body, but as Kaley cleaned her up with her tongue and kisses, she took the initiative to clean the cum off Kaley''s face as well.


    "Oh? You just did that yourself, huh? What do you think?"


    "A-Ah¡­It''s a l-little salty!"


    Kaley chuckled, "It is, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª"


    "So, E¡­ What do you wanna do now?

 Chapter 1149: Can we share?

    At this moment, E still looked eager to explore things she was deprived of for years and years of her life, but since she already had a close look at what I could offer, she was now keen on seeing things from her side of the table¡ªbesides using a mirror. It was a little weird we''d have to stop and go from time to time but we were still having a lot of fun nheless.


    Kaley let out a smile, "You just wanna see mine?"


    E could barely look her in the eye, "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Okay then¡­"


    With that said, as I was still sitting by the edge of the bed, Kaley made me scoot back a bit so she could sit in front of me and lean back, giving E the best view she could ask for.


    And yeah, even if I had already ingrained what Kaley looked like down there¡ªher whole body even¡ªin my head, and could probably make a perfect 3D model of her, I was still jealous at E''s front-row seat for a full view of Kaley''s pussy.


    However, it was still quite a sight to see a girl like E look so absorbed in looking straight at Kaley''s fat cunt¡ªwith this dazed look in her eyes, and Kaley just had to make her snap out of it for a bit:


    "You can touch it too if you want¡­"


    "R-Really?!"


    "Of course, anything you want¡ª Ah!"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did I hurt you?"


    "Mmh¡­ N-No, it''s¡­ That''s part''s extra sensitive but go on¡­"


    From my point of view, I could see down Kaley''s deep cleavage, her toned abs, right through the meaty/fleshy part of her fat mound, and her thunder thighs where E was kneeling and spreading Kaley''s lower lips apart¡ªtrying to expose her hidden clit from her meat folds or see even deeper through her pink hole.


    But yeah, I was giving Kaley kisses on her ear and her neck while slightly massaging her breasts¡ªBut Kaley and I almost chuckled when we saw E take a huge fucking whiff of her vag while spreading it as much as she could.


    I just had to say it:


    "You got a good whiff?"


    E got even redder, "A-Ah¡ª Sorry! It''s just¡ª"


    Kaley pinched my arm, "Don''t mind him, it''s cool¡ª A little embarrassing for me but d-do I smell bad or anything?"


    "N-Not at all! I-It smells like nothing but s-somehow i-it¡­ d-draws me in?"


    "Pfft¡­ Why, thank you! That''s a lesson for another day but yeah, you can push your fingers deeper¡­ I already lost my V-Card so, it just feels really good for me¡­ Excuse the wetness though¡­"


    "I-I don''t mind b-but can I really push deeper?"


    "Just be careful with your nails, alright?"


    I added, "Move inside her with the tip of your fingers, the fleshy tip¡ªand avoid scraping the inside with your nails, that''s what Kaley''s trying to say¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Yes, exactly."


    "A-Alright, I''ll be careful!"


    On that note, I hooked Kaley''s legs with my feet and spread her apart so E could only focus on one thing¡ªand so she''d have easier ess¡ªbut of course, even if Kaley was already thisfortable with her body, she''d get a little shy and horny when she feels exposed.


    However, since she was being explored by aplete beginner, guiding E to the right "spots" was slightly taking her mind off it.


    "Mmm¡­ Nnh¡­ M-Move to w-where¡ª A little upwards, i-it''s the spot right behind my clit a-and you''d just feel a different texture, a little spongy and¡ª MmMh! E! T-That''s it! That''s it! T-That''s my¡ª Y-Yes! You f-found it!


    You found it¡ª Ah!"


    "W-What do I do now¡ª"


    "J-Just keep rubbing it! M-More! More! A-A little harder! Yes! T-That''s it!


    D-Don''t change a thing and¡ª MmH!" Then Kaley clutched on my arm, "R-Rub my tits harder¡ª Kiss my¡ª Y-Yes! YES! YESS!!! HNNNGH!!! C-CUMMING!"


    As I was doing Kaley from above and E from below, within a few seconds of E locating Kaley''s G-Spot, Kaley squirted right on E''s face as she had a violent orgasm from stimtion at different ces.


    But yeah, E forgot one crucial thing they did to me earlier¡ªthat she should be doing to Kaley right now¡ªand it was to keep going and have her drown in pleasure but E was just that surprised from the warm liquid that came out.


    "WHA¡ª I-Is this what you call the s-squirt?! It''s¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    "Y-Yesss¡­ Yea¡­ G-Good job¡­ H-Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ T-That was¡­ Mmm¡­ W-Want me to return the f-favor?" Kaley suddenly had a weird glint in her eye.


    "Umm¡­"


    "D-Don''t worry, as I''ve said¡­ I don''t need to put anything in you but¡­" Kaley trailed as she looked at me, "Something''s definitely going in me¡­"


    "P-Pardon?"


    Kaley chuckled, "Why don''t you justyfortably and I''ll take care of you¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, as much as I would''ve loved to eat E''s untouched young pussy first, Kaley asked first and E already agreed on it. But yeah, even if Kaley and I wanted to go slow with E, both of us couldn''t hold on as much as we thought with each other.


    Or so I thought.


    So yeah, once E wasfortably lying on her back by the edge of the bed and looking up, Kaley knelt in front of her, slowly spread her legs, and beckoned me to go right behind her. And as I was just lightly pressing my cock in between Kaley''s cheeks, I saw her lean into E''s tiny hole.


    "MmH! Kaley¡ª"


    From my point of view, I could see how pink E''s insides were despite the juices and cream leaking out, but I''m gonna be honest and say that I really wanted to taste her as well.


    Because not only was E spotless and hairless down there, but just the sight of her fat outer lips covering most of her pink slit glistening with her juices¡ªand her tiny pink butthole winking straight at me¡ªwas making me drool just from watching from afar.


    But yeah, Kaley started by giving it a gentle kiss right as her tongue slid from the bottom and right up the clit, making E let out an audible gasp as her butt pushed upward. After that, Kaley spread E''s pussy even more to reveal more of the pink flesh before she wet it with her tongue and gently sucked the juicesing out, shifting to the opposite side and doing the same thing and more.


    "Nnh¡­ K-Kaley¡­ What¡ª A-Ah¡­ I feel¡ª NngH! I think I''m¡ª NnnGH! AH¡ª"


    "E, your pussy tastes so sweet, it''s so good¡­" Kaley said as she pulled on E''s legs and propped them up so E''s more exposed.


    "Umm¡ª Mmh! MMnnHHNHG! K-Kaley~ I¡ª HNGH! NnNhNN! I¡ª I-It feels¡ª Ahg! Kuh¡ª Ngh¡­ Hngh!


    Y-YES! A-AhnNmGh!"


    With E''s moanspletely distracting me from my job, it didn''t take long before Kaley noticed I was barely doing anything from behind her. So once she paused for a bit to nce at me, she let out this knowing smile before she beckoned me over which E definitely had something to say:


    "W-Why did you s-stop, Kaley¡ª Oh¡­"


    "He kinda wanted to have a taste as well? Can we share?"


    "O-Okay? Then¡ª"

 Chapter 1150: Why dont we leave it at that for today? - Sister Dorothys Candle

    Like a hungry beast, I just dove in there as soon as I was given the go-ahead much to Kaley''s amusement. Because if anything, I''d rather eat pussy than receive head, and technically, Kaley and I haven''t "shared" pussy like this before.


    But yeah, I made fucking sure I tasted the whole fucking surface of E''s cunt by widening my tongue with each lick, but I felt Kaley''s hand on my junk as I was engorging on this young pink hole.


    "My turn, you doofus¡­"


    I came up covered in E''s juices, "Ah¡ª"


    But yeah, Kaley never let go of me¡ªand even started to jerk me off¡ªas she pushed her tongue on E''s tight hole, but I reached around from behind to push my thumb in her ass and prod the surface of her pussy with my fingers.


    Almost immediately, Kaley''s body jolted as I felt up her fuckholes but she continued to eat E''s cunt while jerking me off.


    It''s just that the scene of us doing this was breaking E''s mind:


    "You two¡ª Ah! Y-YES! You''re licking me while¡ª MMmH! Y-Yes! I feel¡ª AH¡ª C-CUMMING! C-CUMMING!


    W-WHA¡ª WHY AREN''T YOU STOP¡ª HNGHHH! WHAT¡ª I¡ª F-FUCK! MNGHGHH! W-WHA¡ª KALEY¡ª"


    At this point, E was trying to mp her legs shut but there was no chance in hell she could do it while Kaley and I were in between them, so Kaley and I just used our free hands to prop her legs up the same way before Kaley passed the baton, making E had multiple mind-breaking orgasms over and over.


    "H-HAH! HAH! HA¡ª SKY! S-SKY! AHnNN! H-HOW¡ª HNGH!


    C-CUMMINnnNnng~ C-CumminggHh! AH¡ª I¡ª I''m losing mMy¡ª AHNNN! AhG! KuKh! AHhHhhH! Y-YeS!


    K-KALEY?! I¡ª MMmPHH! nHmmMP!"


    All of a sudden, Kaley just gave me full reign of eating E''s fat innie as she moved up the bed and pushed her tongue down E''s throat while pinching her erect nipples that were left untouched the moment we jumped to carpet munching.


    Doing that just made E squirm even more as she had more and more violent orgasms¡ªbut with the four or fifth wave that came after we switched, E looked like she was about to pass out for a moment before she drenched my face as she squirted for the first time in her life.


    "AHHHHH! I-IT''S COMING OUT! IT''S¡ª I-I''M S-SORRY! HNGHNnnHn! aHhahhh! I¡ª I''M SO¡ª A-AHHH!


    I-IT WON''T STOP! I-IT WON''T STOP C-COMING OUT, I¡ª G-GUH! C-CUMMING WHILE¡ª AHHHHHH! aAH! AH! AH!


    WHY¡ª YOU''RE STILL¡ª AHHHH!"


    To E''s horror, I kept on and slurped, drank, and licked everything that came out of her¡ªthen continued to suck and lick either her pink folds, her tiny hole, or her throbbing clit to get more as the torture continued. However, I then felt a tap on my shoulder and discovered that Kaley was telling me to stop.


    "Huh? Why¡ª Ah¡­ She passed out¡­"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    But only for a few seconds.


    "HNGH! C-CUMMING! I-I''M STILL C-CUMMING I¡ª AH! W-WAIT¡ª Ha¡­ Ha¡ª W-Wait¡­ What? I¡­ Huh?"


    As E was looking at us confused, it was true that she was still experiencing the waves of several orgasms stacked upon each other, but Kaley and I were trying our best to notugh our fucking asses off because it was like one of those videos of roller coaster rides when someone passes out and wake up the next few seconds after.


    Kaley sat next to her and stroked her hair, "Are you okay?"


    "I¡­ Hngh¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ My legs¡­ S-Shaking¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "That''s my bad¡ª"


    E tried her best to wave me off, "N-No, it''s¡ª Mmh! How¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "We uhh¡­ Did a bit too much, really. Why don''t we leave it at that for today? Let you have some rest?"


    "R-Really? Is it okay? H-How about you two?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other and chuckled before she answered, "We''ll be fine, don''t worry. We''ll find some time aler but we should really take care of you right now."


    "Huh? D-Didn''t you already?"


    I waved her off, "It''s not just sex, you know? It''s something most people don''t even put emphasis on."


    "W-What''s that?"


    "Aftercare. We did put you through a lot¡ªeven if we didn''t go all the way¡ªbut honestly, you did pretty well considering¡­"


    "R-Really?! I did?!"


    "Yeah, of course!" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    Then E let out a bright smile, "I-I''m sorry we didn''t go all the way b-but I''m keen on d-doing something I saw S-Sister Dorothy did once¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "W-Well, s-she had this candle in her dresser¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "What were you doing with her dresser¡ª"


    I cut her off as well, "Kaley, let our sister speak! Don''t ask such irrelevant questions!"


    "Ah¨C Pfft! Doofus¡­ Go on, E, I''m sorry for cutting you off¡­"


    "N-No worries¡­ W-Well umm¡­ Sister Dorothy had a room in our old vacation house and she did fancy scented candles and whatnot to spruce up her own ce¡ª but she always had this big white one that wasn''t scented at all! But¡­"


    "But?"


    "It did umm¡­ I-It did s-smell a little weird¡­ So¡­ O-One day, I umm¡­ I¡­ I was just about to call her up for dinner but she uhh¡­ jumped right up her bed and was standing weirdly¡­"


    "A-And?"


    "She umm¡­ She looked so distraught that time¡ª and I really thought she was going through something but I only realized what happened now."


    "Huh?"


    "I-I didn''t think that was happening at that time, alright?! The candle I was talking about just fell from under her dress and it was soaked! I thought s-she was doing something else with it so I just passed it off as whatever!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At that point, I really couldn''t control myself but lemme be honest and say that I was both amused and aroused. Partaking in something forbidden or taboo was always a different topic but if it was just exploring one''s own needs despite their current stance on the subject, it just does something in my head.


    But yeah, this story made me think that E wanted to y with toys but I couldn''t be more wrong.


    Even Kaley was so fucking sure that she was already discussing the use of vibrators or something along those lines that wouldn''t go inside one''s body, but once again, E was looking at us confused while tilting her head sideways.


    "I¡­ I wasn''t talking about a v-vibrator¡­"


    "B-But the candle¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ W-We''re talking about the candle Sister Dorothy was using, right?"


    E nodded a few times, "Yes?"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Oh. The candle was u-up s-somewhere else¡­ T-That''s what I-I was g-going f-for¡­"

 Chapter 1151: Pick one for the day.

    As soon as realization struck, my dumbass popped a boner right as we decided to call the night to a close, and obviously enough, my 9-inch destroyer with an undisclosed girth to the public scared the fuck out of E¡ªbecause of her suggestion to try anal the next time¡ªbut Kaley justughed her ass off as she dragged us all to the shower.


    This was a prettymon thing for the two of us but with E, she was still getting used to other people seeing her naked, and even if we had done a few things that weren''t prative sex, her face was still red when Kaley tried to wash her back.


    "K-Kaley¡ª"


    "It''s totally okay, you should get used to this at least!"


    "N-Not that, S-Sky''s still¡ª"


    "Oh¡­" Kaley nced at ''me'' momentarily before she realized my ''little'' problem, "Just don''t mind it, I''ll take care of it after we''re done, okay?"


    "Ah¡ª B-But can I¡­ You know? S-Su¡ª Socket?"


    "Hah?/ Wut?" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-I MEAN¡ª"


    "FIRST IT WAS SECKUS, NOW IT WAS SOCKET?! HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "D-Don''tugh at h-her¡­ Pfft¡­ S-Sure you can but¡ª"


    "NOOOOO! Why''d you get soft?!"


    "DON''T MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH THEN! But if you really wanna¡ª"


    "What the fu¡ª HOW?! Did you just get hard onmand?!"


    "Yep."


    "T-Then¡­"


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    Kaley chuckled, "By all means¡­ Didn''t think you''d like to do one more thing before we sleep, huh?"


    "Ahaha¡­ H-Here I go then?"


    With that said, E tried her damn best to please me with her mouth but yeah, her inexperience was showing but then again, her enthusiasm and Kaley''s little show from behind more than made up for it.


    It didn''t take long before we left the room with a fresh set of clothes, but everyone else in the main room was eyeing E suspiciously.


    "W-What¡ª Why are you all staring at me?!"


    Then all of a sudden, Quinn rushed to the room we came in, followed by Tatiana and Jennifer, but it didn''t take long before I realized what they were so confused about.


    But before I could even exin what happened to them, Quinn had already formed assumptions of her own:


    "You three did it in the bathroom?"


    "No¡ª"


    "There''s no blood in the sheets, so¡ª"


    "We didn''t¡ª"


    Jennifer nodded, "Smart. Unless the Admiral ordered our doctors to check her¡ª"


    "WE DIDN''T GO ALL THE WAY!"


    "Huh?/ No shot./ Don''t t-talk about my h-hymen like that! It''s precious!"


    Quinn still couldn''t believe her ears, "So, anal?"


    "NOOOOOOO! T-That''s f-for¡ª S-SHADDAP!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As Quinn cackled out loud, almost everyone followed as E just jumped into Kaley''s embrace for sheer embarrassment. Still, funnily enough, Jennifer breathed out a sigh of relief because I didn''t take E''s purity.


    ''At least, for now¡­''


    In any case, before we all hit the hay, Kaley and I took it upon ourselves to perform maintenance checks on our equipment¡ªincluding the other''s¡ªbut Alexa and Rachel did help us while the rest were either lounging around or went straight to sleep because we still had a lot of shit to do tomorrow.


    But yeah, when early morning came, I woke up from a series of gentle knocks on the door and I discovered that it was Myra who was E''s previous attendant/bodyguard when they first arrived before Jennifer switched with her.


    I opened the door for her and greeted her with a smile:


    "Miss(?) Mills, right? Good morning!"


    "Oh¡ª Hi, good morning as well¡ª How''d you know myst name? Ah¡ª N-Not important, I guess, but is thedy and First Lieutenant Goodman here? I was informed that they spent the night?"


    "They did. Want me to call them?"


    She shook her head, "That''s fine, the Admiral just wanted to know where they are but they''re actually calling for you."


    "They want me to cook again?"


    "Ahaha¡­ Fortunately, you solved that previous conundrum, no?"


    "Then may I ask why they''re summoning me at 4 AM?"


    "I''m¡­ I''m not entirely sure, I apologize. They just sent me here to deliver that message."


    "Okay, I''ll be ready in a couple of minutes. Want toe in?"


    "I''ll wait by the door, sir."


    "Sure."


    After a short bit, I was led to this airport''s new HQ which was its ATC room, and a bunch of officers were present alongside the Admiral, the Major, and a few Captains. But surprisingly enough, Oscar was already present with a cup of coffee in hand, looking like he hadn''t slept a wink even since he brought Dax and Sheepy''s group to our ce.


    I greeted everyone:


    "Morning¡­"


    And as they replied with their own greetings, the first one to snap in my direction was obviously the Admiral and the look he gave me told me everything that was going on his head right now. So yeah, what other way to break everyone else''s sleepiness with a huge icebreaker?


    "I didn''t fuck your daughter, don''t look at me like that¡ª"


    But Oscar just nced at me at the right moment and thought I was referring to his dumbass:


    "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY?! I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU I WANT GRANDKIDS, KID!"


    The Admiral exploded, "HOLD UP! WHY WOULD YOU HAVE GRANDKIDS IF HE GETS WITH MINE?!"


    "HUH?!"


    "HAH?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    ''Jesus fucking christ on a cracker¡­''


    And as the two were looking at each other shocked and confused, it didn''t take long before everyone else had the realization as they burstughing. This was one of the fucking reasons I rmend eight hours of uninterrupted sleep because shit like this would happen if they just bandaid everything with coffee.


    It took a bit of time before things died down but it definitely woke everyone up as we quickly went back to business.


    As we all know, the Admiral and his armada would leave in a couple of days and even if we''d do fine without their help, the goal was to maximize their stay here not only for the sake of everyone but especially his daughter. So now, aside from sending more people to clear the streets with their numbers, I already knew from their map what I would be doing next.


    "Pick one for the day. It''s either the Dewey Medical Center or the Idress Maritime Academy. All we know is that there are survivors numbering at least a hundred in each camp though there''s more on the medical center. Additionally, the medical center is at the uhh¡­ center¡­ of a woond area atop a hill while the academy is right by the coast."


    "You''ve done surveince on themst night?"


    "Even now, yes. They seem too wary of our arrival and our actions at the current moment, making them have everyone turtle up, but we need you to calm them the fuck down. Can you do that?"


    "Have you tried their radios or some other type of way tomunicate with them?"


    "We did."


    "What happened?"


    "Both camps replied rather enthusiastically but those are just words. We need actual eyes on their ce to see how everything''s working for them. Don''t worry though, if anything goes wrong, we have a team at the ready¡ª"


    "Wait up, why are we already in this phase? Something going wrong? Why¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "It''s just how it is, kid. Just a precaution. I''ming with you too if that helps."


    I shook my head, "Can he just stay?"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1152: Off to do some honest work. - GDMWC

    Joking aside, from my brief understanding as to what these two ces were, the George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center was a hospital for the most part but it also acts as a rehab center for Marines and the Coast Guards alike.


    Most importantly, they house several veterans or people who retired and were being well taken care of due to the funding of thete George Dewey who used to be a military brat ages ago.


    He built this hospital as he retired himself andter passed at the same ce, and it was still going strong with the help of several foundations, sponsors, and his kin, continuing his dream to take care of the people who led the same life as him or was close to it.


    I''d hate to say it but from my experience, a lot of folks in the US tend to worship veterans and give them apuse, recognitions, and even the "Thank you for your service!" catchphrase but only a small fraction of them actually cared for them, especially the ones struggling to readjust to the current society.


    But yeah, that was a story for another time but in regards to the Idress Maritime Academy, take it as the Military Academy where Megan and Alexa came from but was built on the coast, obviously, and right next to a cool-ass resort.


    Furthermore, it had a diving spot from a wreck that happened years ago, more resorts, and a fucking safari zoo among other things further south, but honestly speaking, I was inclined to visit the medical center first.


    ''Always the fun forst, at least for now¡­''


    It was true that we''d only need one hit from a deadhead to be out of the game but it''s not like it was the only thing that could take us down.


    One recent example was Bartow''s injuries due to toughing it out or even the kids'' detox phase where they''d be extremely vulnerable as they were trying to get it all out of their system, so yeah, we still require as much medical equipment, resources, or all the hospitals we could get even though we already secured one from the Freeport Zone.


    "Anything I need to know before we drop by? How did the conversation go anyway? And who contacted them? Wasn''t I supposed to do that?"


    The Admiral shook his head, "One at a time. First, they''re quite happy about our most recent aplishment as they were so happy to finally have more legroom¡ªespecially so that US troops were the ones who came to the rescue. Sound very contradictory to what Mitch and the others experienced first-hand, no?"


    Mitched from the side stepped in as he scratched the side of his cheek, "That''s¡­ The owners of the ce ARE American, so¡­"


    Major Harper shook his head, "The owners, sure, but the bulk of the people inside¡ªI mean the able people, people who could do work are mostly, forck of a better term, not under our g, so¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Don''t worry, you''re just speaking the truth, you have more shit to worry about thanbeling something appropriate. Besides, I''m halfsies but both Asian counterparts, so do what you do with that¡­"


    Oscar nodded, "I''m just gonna say that we do a bit of a show of force while extending a hand. We already did the first part after clearing the most infected areas around ''ere, so we just make it like we''reworking. Besides, they''ll be fucking stupid if they kill the messengers. Not only will all of you bring the heat upon them but *points at me* the messenger is pretty much an army of himself too.


    And I haven''t even included myself or the rest of his crew in the equation."


    Surprisingly enough, the old man''s words still carried a lot of weight even if he was already retired and speaking among the admiral and his people.


    But yeah, I still had more questions in mind so what better time to ask but now?


    "Who else ising with me?"


    ADM Burke answered, "You decide. It''s your run¡ª though we''ll take care of the backups. You''ll at least have a Chinook and quite possibly an F18 at the ready in case anything goes wrong but I''m pretty sure you''d love to preserve everything so you''d just get to use it instead."


    I nodded approvingly, "That makes everything better, thanks. Alright¡­ here''s what I''ll do¡­"


    In an hour or so before breakfast, I gave them my approach to the current "recruitment" n while I gave a few ideas about how we could maximize all the people we were in control of and further stabilize the situation in this airport.


    We did reim it as of yesterday but a lot of fixes needed to be done¡ªespecially the entrances and exits. It was like being handed a 10-year case file with all the foundations built up, and we had to figure out our way to finagle it before making it our own.


    To bepletely honest, it was a tad overwhelming with another big ce to manage and protect¡ªadd to that my current focus was bridging gaps between people and their groups¡ªbut with these people willing to help and cooperate, even do shit good on their own, the usual headaches when something wasn''t up to my standard rarely pops up.


    With that said, with our vehicles brought over by one of the ships used to get to this airport, we drove to the GDMC with a six-vehicle convoy, including a truck with several essential supplies a hospital wouldn''t have direct ess to just to smooth over our impending "conversation" with this other group.


    But yeah, the road we drove in was just wide enough for two vehicles to pass through but we did pass by arge condo unit and fancy apartment buildings which weren''t smack dab built by the coast¡ªbecause that was usually the go-to in this area¡ªbut yeah, we had another group following behind us to clear it and take care of the unwanted attention from the dead.

 Chapter 1153: Checkpoint - What does he look like?

    With the noise we made yesterday, it was safe to say that we attracted a good 90% of the dead from the immediate vicinity and then some because we barely encountered a cluster worth stopping for. Granted any deadhead we encountered should be put down, but I meant it in a way that we wouldn''t need to spend a lot of time as usual.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we approached a fork in the road¡ªwhere one leads to the GDMWC or to this telmunications port with ground satellites that used to provide inte connectivity around these parts.


    But yeah, it seemed like the people from the medical center used the ce as its first checkpoint because it did have a few dozen people guarding it with a mix of weapons¡ªand at the same time, the road to the medical center had several barricades to keep humans, deadheads, and vehicles away.


    So, I picked up my radio to inform the crew:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Slow down for a bit but keep a close eye on our surroundings. Visibility''s bad around here with all these trees¡­" Stay connected with m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    *bzzt*


    -


    Just a side note, we were leading the convoy with a military jeep with a mounted SAW, followed by Tatiana''s Humvee, our Raptor, a closed van, my old six-wheeler, and JP''s Raycolt.


    However, I was already made aware that the Admiral was using one of his drones¡ªwhich would eventually be mine¡ªto give us eyes from the sky but so far, it seemed like these people didn''t have goons hiding by the woods.


    ''That''s good¡­''


    So yeah, once I got down my truck with Oscar, we were still being eyed by the group a few dozen feet away without putting down the couple of guns pointed at us.


    ''This is stupid, they should already be expecting us¡ª''


    But while I was in mid-thought, I spotted one of them holding his ear¡ªwhich seemed to have an earpiece¡ªlistening intently before he tapped the two other guards to lower their weapons. In doing that, the silent tension between the two groups lessened¡ªsignificantly more when they beckoned the two of us toe close.


    I muttered while I was walking with the old man, "Imagine if we got shot down at this moment?"


    "Hah?! Is this what you think about in a regr basis¡ª Hold up, of course, you do¡­ Hah¡­ At least I met with my daughter. Only regret is that I haven''t seen my future grandkids yet¡ª"


    "Grandkids?! Seriously?"


    "Pah! She''s hanging around with that other chick so rtively speaking, what you make in her is probably my grandchild too!"


    "..."


    "Hah! Got you there, huh? Hehe! It''s been a while~"


    "Pfft¡­ You did, you did¡­"


    With that said, once we made their way to this other group, the moment they saw Oscar''s ''Murican features¡ªadditionally when they saw him walking in front of me¡ªthey thought he was the fucking head honchomanding everyone in our armed convoy. But yeah, both of us decided to go along with us as we greeted them with a smile:


    "Morning!/ Morning, ya hardworkin'' folks!"


    The guy in the middle with the earpiece and an M-16, who seemed to be their actingmander, responded after the two guys with the same getup nodded in kind:


    "Pleasant morning to you two. It seems like your group is just about to pay the med center a visit? Is that right?"


    Oscar nodded, "You weren''t briefed?"


    He forced a smile, "Apologies but yes, I was just told a few minutes ago¡ªhence the gun pointing¡­"


    "Ah¡­ What''s your name, young man?"


    He chuckled, "I''m not young¡ª"


    "Wellpared to me, you are!"


    "Ahaha¡­ That is true¡­ I''m Cisco Batianci, nice to meet you, sir~?"


    Oscar nodded with a smile, "Colonel Goodman. Oscar Goodman," then he turned to me, "This here''s my nephew¡ª Introduce yourself, kid."


    I chuckled inwardly, "Sky Ishiyama, great to meet you, Mr. Cisco."


    He turned to me with a faint smile, "Likewise. These two here''s Cory and Manuel¡­ So¡­ I could introduce you to everyone but Lisa upstairs had already given me the go-ahead to let you gentlemen through. We''ll just have to move the barricades here and you can go back to your vehicles¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "You kids okay here? Need anything?"


    "Umm¡­ What do you mean, Colonel?"


    "Just being a good neighbor, as you can see, we recently moved, so¡­"


    "Ahaha¡­ T-That''s right¡­ I''ll extend the first thanks, we were able to send a group or two by the freeport zone this morning. It''s the first time in a while, we just hope to get some despite the groups you''ve sent to sweep the streets."


    ''There we go¡­''


    Oscar waved them off with a smile, "Actually, the kid here convinced the Admiral to bring you some stuff WE cleared ourselves just for you guys¡ªbecause you were here first and everything¡ªbut we''re just keen on talking with your CO so we could work on an arrangement. You see, we like what your ce stands for and we''d be d to work with you all in theing days."


    "Ah. That''s great to hear, Colonel. That''s great to hear¡ª" then he snapped his head towards me, "Many thanks to you too, any help is great help."


    I nodded with a smile, "Don''t worry about it, you seem great folks."


    Oscar then cut in once again, "So yeah, before we drove uphill again, do you need anything? A smoke? Some coffee? A protein bar? Anything?"


    "W-We''re good, Colonel, thank you."


    "Alright~ Suit yourself¡ª"


    Then the Manuel dude interjected, "Actually¡­"


    Oscar huffed with a smile, "There we go, what do you want?"


    Manuel removed his cap and revealed somewhat of a Hispanic persuasion, "Umm¡­ Do you perhaps know of a John Robert Caguia? He''s uhh¡­ he''s one of the uhh¡ª He''s one of our contacts in the airport you just cleared. I''m just wondering if there are survivors that go by that name."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Doesn''t ring a bell¡ª Hey, kid! Does the name ''Robert'', I mean¡ª John Robert mean anything to ya?"


    I kept a straight face as I turned to Manuel, "I''m not exactly sure. What does he look like?"

 Chapter 1154: Cisco - Main Stash?

    Obviously, the name "Robert"ing up randomly gave Oscar and me a small wrench on our ns but both of us kept a pretty solid poker face as we were thrown the question out of the blue. Furthermore, it''s not like there was only a single "Robert" in the thousand or so people who used the airport as a ce of refuge but coincidences like this do tend to raise a g.


    Manuel thought for a bit as he answered, "Umm~ Probably my height? 5''6''''? Fair skin, keeps to himself, mostly, ck eyes, ck hair, fairly fit? 30-ish years old, works as a security detail¡ªI''m not sure of his exact position¡ªbut he''s in a management position of some sort too?"


    ''It''s the guy, at least I think it''s him¡­''


    I replied with a small exhale, "Hmm¡­ I''m not entirely sure but the survivors we rescued were all drugged out of their minds¡ªI could maybe ask them after they detoxed but it''s gonna take a while. What''s your rtionship with him, anyway?"


    "I-It''s nothing¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Nothing? You specifically asked for the guy, you should be at least friends with ''im or something¡­"


    Cisco squinted at Oscar''s response before he turned to Manuel, "That''s enough. Did you really think they''d fall for that? Just be straight with them, there''s no shame¡ª"


    "It''s just¡ª"


    Oscar made a face, "Fall for what?"


    Cisco shook his head lightly, "I''m sorry, Colonel, but we''re already aware of the drugs and other stuff that got circted around these parts. I''m not sure about your particr alignment on them, but even if they''re regarded as harmful substances, there ARE great uses for them if applied responsibly."


    I replied, "That is true but why are you looking for Robert specifically?"


    Manuel replied, "We''re actually looking for his stash, the main one or whatever''s lying around. We have a few patients here¡ªone of which is my Dad, he has Parkinson''s and weed, I mean medical Marijuana tends to have a good effect on him. At least the kind Robert used to send over here. It''s been a couple of months since we ran out so¡­"


    Oscar interjected, "Huh. So this ''main'' stash is in the Freeport Zone? Is that why you''re so happy you sent a few groups in there?"


    Cisco shook his head, "Among other things. But yeah, we''re mostly hoping to have the stash to where he used to live but¡ª"


    I cut in, "Robert''s dead. At least the one we think you''re thinking of."


    As soon as I said that, surprise shed on Manuel''s face but not on Cisco''s. It brought the conversation to a halt for the moment but Manuel took the initiative to ask us of something again:


    "I''d hate to ask this but have you found a stash or something of the sort in his room? Or anywhere else in the airport?"


    I took a good look at him before I answered, "I''m gonna answer you honestly but I''m gonna need one thing in return."


    Manuel took a good look at me as well before he nodded, "A-Anything, sir!"


    Oscar chuckled, "Sir? You''re the same age!"


    Manuel shook his head, "D-Doesn''t matter, Colonel. I''ll call him anything he wants¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Okay~ Let''s not get overly weird here but what I''m gonna ask you to do is be straight with me every step of the way. I''m good at reading people to an extent but I hate the fucking game thates along with it. Do just that¡ªeven with just me¡ªand I''ll tell you what you need to hear. It''s just¡­ It''s not gonna be all good news."


    "Y-You found his stash?!"


    "Not quite. We found ''A'' stash, with tons of weed¡ªnot literally, of course¡ªseveral pounds worth of them but upon closer inspection, a good number of them already had mold. It''ll still get anyone high but not the good kind."


    Cisco mentioned from the side, "You''re awfully aware of its effects."


    I simply chuckled, "I''m awfully aware of almost everything, unfortunately."


    Cory, who has been listening the whole time finally spoke up:


    "Wait a second, how would¡ª Why is there a ton left? Is it just weed or¡ª"


    I replied, "Just weed. The kids I mentioned used almost everything else just to stave off hunger. I''m gonna assume you at least know of the effects of weed, no? It''s bad to have them if you''re trying to conserve food."


    "H-Huh. Smart."


    "A little extreme, but yeah. It''s one way to extend your food consumption."


    Cisco added, "It''s gonna wreck your body though."


    "Also true."


    But yeah, as we continued our conversation, we then discovered a group wearing sports clothing making their way down the hill¡ªwith a smaller group trailing from behind¡ªbut as they drew closer, it seemed like they were also carrying a bunch of stuff made to make things harder for them.


    Obviously, the younger and the fitter ones were at the forefront, racing for their lives, but they took a brief pause once they noticed our presence before moving on and running to Cisco for something:


    "CISCO! STAMP! STAMP!"


    "STAMP ME FIRST!"


    "NO, ME!"


    "FALL IN LINE, YOU FUCKS!"


    "CISCO, STAMP!"


    "STAMP PLEASE! POPS!"


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    With that said, Cisco took out this stamp of sorts and this inkwell with the stamp pad from under the table before he smushed it at each of their foreheads. And as each forehead was stamped, the runners just quickly turned around and made their way back to where they came from because it was just a straight path to the GDMWC.


    Oscar let out an approving look, "Training the younger ones, eh?"


    Cisco nodded, "Yeah, my kid''s the one with the parted haircut."


    "Ohh~ The one who called you Pops?"


    "That''s right. He''s Zack. They''re plenty young but it''s just inevitable at this point. He was supposed to be a doctor."


    Osca and I looked at each other before I replied, "Umm¡­ Isn''t he in the right ce then?"


    "Ehh¡­ Not quite."


    "Hmm?"


    "He fucking quit the moment he heard zombies. He''s been training ever since¡­ Haa¡­"

 Chapter 1155: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center I

    Cisco just let out the longest sigh of disappointment which I felt that wasn''t directly aimed at his kid but for the whole situation. To be fair, all parents had dreams and aspirations for their children but those things¡ªincluding the kids themselves¡ªwere abruptly rearranged to suit the current setting.


    Granted all of them could still pursue their dreams of the old world, let''s just say that they''d have a few more extracurricr activities that needed to be met and some mandatory stuff to be added to their major subjects.


    Take note, a doctor was something of very high value but if we had someone just like that who could also fight, they''d be ranked a little more higher.


    But yeah, in Zack''s case, it seemed like he threw everything out the window to start anew and it seemed like Cisco wasn''t entirely against his son''s decision. It''s just that sometimes, something drastic or life-altering happening could change someone''s perspective in life and it was one of those things happening to Zack.


    In any case, this was something I think I shouldn''t meddle with so we briefly ended our conversation as the group catching up to the main one had just arrived.


    "S-Stamp! H-Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Stamp, please!"


    "C-Cisco¡ª Hack¡­ Ha¡­ S-Stamp!"


    "Stamp¡­ Ugh¡­"


    With that said, we eventually made our way up the hill¡ªeven catching up and moving past Zack''s group¡ªbut to my surprise, the two at the forefront tried to catch up to us. It was a moderately hard thing to do because we weren''t even that fast but James#1 and Seb, which was another surprise, jumped out of their Raycolt to race against them.


    "WHAT THE¡ª OH, IT''S ON!" A kid with an aloof expression said out loud.


    "HEY! THAT''S NOT FAIR! THEY''RE JUST RUNNING NOW!" A girl around the same age shouted looking like she''d beat the shit out of anybody who goes against her.


    "WE''RE ALREADY WARM SO KEEP THE BITCHING TO YOURSELF!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME¡ª"


    "SUP! I''M JAMES, HE''S SEB! WE''RE¡ª"


    "OUTTA THE WAY! NO ONE''S GETTING PAST ME!"


    "HAH! There she goes again~"


    As the two in front raced with James#1 and Seb to the top with even more fervor, the group where Zack was included just kept on with their usual routine though they were shaking their heads in amusement. It seemed like it wasn''tmon for them to have any visitors and anything new waspletely wee though they hit the jackpot by having visitors the same age as them.


    In any case, I just gave them a simple wave but Oscar just had to do it as he peeked through the window:


    "LISTEN YOU LITTLE FUCKS! FIRST ONE ON TOP GETS THIS SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 19 WITH A BOX OF .357S! DON''T MIND THOSE FOUR OVERACHIEVERS! YOU''RE THE ONLY ONES RACING!"


    And as soon as he said that, it just lit a fire on everyone''s asses but even the younger ones in my group joined in and caused more chaos. The four in front just couldn''t fathom how everyone else had a sudden burst of energy but just the thought of the trailing group running past them lit a fire under their asses as well.


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    What Oscar did was force an interaction but even though something like that could be said to be a bad thing, if it was done responsibly as he did, it just produced some good fun, broke some records, and a bit of friendship among the younger folks.


    But the funny thing was, JP, who so wanted to win the revolver had no choice but to stay behind because he was the one driving the Raycolt. And when Lucas actually won the uphill race and gave his winnings to his master, he was so fucking heartbroken when JP didn''t ept it and got angry instead.


    I chuckled inwardly, ''What did you think would happen?''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before this ce''s trainees invited my trainees/cadets to their training program which included a few rewards as they gained more and more stamps by hitting checkpoints and finishing thempletely.


    I would''ve loved to take a crack at it if it was any other day but Oscar and I were already approached by one scary-looking mofo and a docile-looking assistant who told us to follow them to somece further in.


    And to give a brief description of what the GDMWC looked like from the outside, it was a rustic-looking hospital that could almost be mistaken as a huge-ass vi, but for some reason, they didn''t have external walls or even a fencing structure to keep the dead from getting in.


    ''Curious¡­ I''ll just ask themter¡­''


    Kaley caught up to me, "Can Ie with you two?"


    "Of course, why do you ask?"


    "Nothing, just wanted to see the inside. I already asked Tatiana to look after everybody."


    "That''s great, thanks."


    Then Grace, the assistant leading the way, pointed to the stairwell leading several floors up:


    "Please. Sir Jacobs will follow you up to the fourth floor and please keep to the right, right until you see Mrs. Dewey''s office. I have to tend to more stuff now that the area has opened up¡­"


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    "Alright, thank you¡ª Oh! We did have some gifts on the back of the six-wheeler, where should we hand them over?"


    Her calm expression turned to one of confusion, "H-Huh? What? Why?"


    "Just because?"


    "Uhh¡­ O-Okay? I mean, thank you! We''re¡ª I''d hate to say this b-but do you have anything for seniors?"


    Oscar cut in, "You mean weed?"


    "What?! No¡ª I-I mean¡ª"


    Oscar snorted, "I''m sorry, youngss¡ª one of your guys at the checkpoint had this old man with Parkinson''s, so¡­"


    "Ohhh~ You''re talking about Manuel and his dad~ I see, I see¡ª The doctors we have might hit you up on that but I''m just looking if there are things like for¡­ entertainment? I''d say."


    Oscar cut in again, "You mean porn?"


    "WHAT?! What are you¡ª"


    "HEY! As much as I''d hate to say it, I''m a senior too and I watch it! I flog the log every single day¡ª Hey¡ª Kid?! The fuck you shushing me for?!"


    I facepalmed and instantly apologized to Grace before turning to the old man, "OSCAR! AIN''T THAT A LITTLE TOO MUCH?!"


    Then Jacobs cut in, "What''s wrong with watching porn? I watch them¡ª At least I used to but shit''s getting repetitive and I always nut when I see the guy''s face, so¡­"


    Oscar tapped my shoulder, "Give it to the kid, he''ll edit it all out for you¡ª"


    "FOR REAL?!"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, OLD MAN! IT WAS A ONE-TIME THING!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1156: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center II - Challenge Accepted.

    Ignoring the fact that I did a special favor for the old man to edit out the parts where the guy shows his face, Grace never looked so ufortable while the old man and this scary-looking mofo looked like they had just be friends. Meanwhile, Kaley wasughing her ass out about my predicament, but I just straight marched up the stairs while everyone else was still reeling.


    ''Never again¡­''


    It didn''t take long before we reached the fourth floor but once we reached this "Mrs. Deweys''s Office" which looked like a principal''s office instead, Mr. Jacobs walked ahead of us and knocked at the door.


    "Mrs. Dewey? Our guests are here."


    Then we heard a voice from behind the door:


    "Come in,e in¡ª Open the door for them, Jacobs¡ª Ah!"


    And as Mr. Jacobs did, he walked in front of us before we saw an olderdy wearing very casual clothes and was just in the process of dusting her own office, looking like she wasn''t this ce''s owner at all.


    "Wee! I wish we could''ve prepared more for what you did but¡ª Honestly? We''re all pretty scared when we heard the assault! Sit down! Sit down! M-Make yourselvesfortable!"


    Oscar walked in towards her, "Howdy, name''s Oscar Goodman, this here''s my nephew Sky and his wife, Kaley¡ª"


    "W-Wife?! You two young ones?! When did you two get married?!"


    I waved her off, "We''re not technically husband and wife but we are wearing our rings and living in the same roof."


    "Oh~ It''s that type of situation, I see. Would you like anything? Tea? Coffee? Some orange juice?"


    Oscar waved her off, "Unfortunately, we just had breakfast beforeing in. How about you? Would you need a bit of time to get your gears rolling? I, for one, wouldn''t function with my cup of Joe and a shot of whiskey, heh."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Oh, goodness, no. I''m not one for alcohol and even coffee''s too much for me. One sip and my sleep schedule''s all broken, unfortunately¡­"


    "Ah¡­ So, can we get right on business then?"


    Mrs. Dewey''s expression changed suddenly as she turned to Mr. Jacobs, "Mr. Jacobs¡ª Or should I say, Captain? Could you please guard the door for us? We''ll be uhh~ Discussing important topics and we wouldn''t want any of our patients listening in for a little bit and interpreting it all twisted."


    "Very well."


    ''Hmmm¡­''


    With that said, Mr. Jacobs just gave each of us a nod before he did as he was told and Mrs. Dewey just sat on herfy chair before looking us straight in the eye.


    "So, to what do I owe the visit?"


    "As you can see¡­"


    Oscar started by giving her the brief run-through of the US Marinesing to this country and the uing arrangements we''d have with them, and as we discussed before, we specifically told her about working together as allies.


    Mrs. Dewey nodded pensively, "I wouldn''t say no to that, I''m delighted, even¡ª"


    I cut in, "I''m sorry, but could you also give us a brief about what happened around this area? Also, it seemed like you don''t have any protective barriers around the building or buildings¡ª"


    She let out a smile, "One at a time, young man. What do you wanna hear first?"


    "Some lore would be nice?"


    "Lore? Hah! Do you perhaps y this old tabletop game back then?"


    "Which one? There''s a lot of them with lore."


    "Ah¡ª Right, it''s this roleying one my husband loves to y with his mates, they do it every Thursday¡ªjust sitting around in a circle with their sheets of paper, pen, and some dice. They even take hours just to finish a game and that''s all they talk about even in the mornings when they go off to work."


    "Ah~ You''re talking about D&D, I do y them, even now."


    "Oh? Then my husband would love to have a chat with you¡ª Oh! But with our current subject, it''s umm¡­ It''s quite long? Would you care to hear everything or just a few important snippets?"


    I faintly smiled, "I''d like to piece the whole puzzle actually, we''ve only heard what happened around the airport and we could only specte from the damages done all around, but yeah, this ce is¡­ this ce looks like it had never seen a zombie attack¡ªat least for the most part."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­ I''ve seen the checkpoint, heard of your people going on runs, and seen the next generation training for the undead. It''s still pretty standard stuff but there are no gates, no boarded-up windows, no walls¡ª it feels like this ce got isted."


    "Oh, I dunno about that¡­"


    "Can I ask why?"


    "Dear, this is a hospital that mostly caters to retired veterans and to anyone the other hospitals rejected. We see death on a daily basis and seeing them rise up for the first time caused chaos in unbelievable proportions.


    If my husband isn''t what he is and raised our kids a certain way, this ce would''ve been one of those abandoned buildings with all its resources taken by raiders and survivors alike."


    Kaley interjected, "Excuse me, Mrs. Dewey but where is Mr. Dewey?"


    "Jack? Hmm~ Probably with Eden, our second eldest daughter, checking the forest."


    "The forest?"


    "Well¡­ there''s a reason we don''t have checkpoints on the forest and have concrete walls, it''s because the forest itself isdden or filled with obnoxious amounts of traps my husband set up since day one. It used to be just for small to medium animals but he quickly moved on torger targets¡­"


    Oscar nodded approvingly, "Hell yeah~"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "You''d get along with him, I''m assuming. It''s great and all but even I don''t know how to properly traverse it. Only him and our kids coulde of it unscathed because even Captain Jacobs came back with a scratch when he tried to do the rounds without any of them apanying him."


    But I took it as a challenge:


    "Is that so?"

 Chapter 1158: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center IV - Just Help Each Other.

    Not to shit on the US or anything, but they tend to get surprised when they fly over here and discover how friendly and weing we Filipinos are but that''s just part of our culture. And yeah, just from my observation, folks from the other side tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business¡ªand even though it''s not actually a bad thing, it just seemed kind of cold.


    On the other hand, there could be areas in this ce where people could beplete assholes or areas in the US where people were just as weing and treat everyone like family.


    The point I''m trying to make was like Grace, Mrs. Dewey found it hard to believe that we''d just give away stuff for free¡ªwell, not technically free¡ªfor people she never knew or heard of until recently.


    However, I did call her out on this ce''s business model because they''ve also been helping people without asking for money first, and I found it contradictory to what she was currently saying about us giving her stuff.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley then cut in, "Mrs. Dewey¡­ Don''t take this the wrong way and I might be wrong in assuming this but people who tend to help everyone else like it''s second nature find it hard if they''re the ones receiving help¡­ or sometimes maybe asking for help, even¡­"


    I added, "Also, it''s not like you needed help because look at this ce, despite the mishap on the airport, you''re all still going strongpared to the other ces that already went down, so let''s just say we''re just trying to give you all a little boost."


    "Umm¡­" Mrs. Dewey looked a little ufortable as she forced out a smile, "I¡­ I do understand that point as well and I might be guilty of that¡ªbecause that''s just the way we do things but we should at least do something in exchange¡­ You know, we already joked about healthcare so let''s just say I don''t wanna incur more debt¡ª"


    Oscar cackled so fucking loud he sounded like Chewba choked on a whole cabbage:


    "HAH! That''s brutal, Jesus fucking Christ!"


    I waved them off, "It''s not like we aren''t gonna ask for anything but as the old man said earlier, we''re here to form alliances. You see, we also have some troops who needed help because some vets also came with us so¡­ this ce and that thing¡­ you know where I''m going with this, right?"


    She chuckled, "Of course, dear."


    "Other than that, we''d like to take a crack on that telmunications port you''re using as a checkpoint and see if we could hook it up with the ATC room in the airport and thems center in the Marine Base and the Main Harbor.


    I''m guessing you have something simr here too for broadcasting anything on the monitors you have outside so I think it''d be best to have us have an open line ofmunication to you and this ce."


    "Huh. That sounds ratherplicated¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that well-versed in¡ª You know¡­"


    Oscar cut in, "Sometimes I just watch his mouth move up and down and just nod. It usually works because he''d just do his own thing but your kids might know whatever the fuck he''s talking about."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Hah! I guess I''ll ask my youngest, she''d be great in that."


    Kaley interjected, "We haven''t asked but how many kids do you have Mrs. Dewey?"


    "Oh! We have seven beautiful children¡ª"


    "Seven?!" Kaley and I eximed.


    "Is that really surprising? Seven kids¡ª I guess most of them are adults now but since we adopted and all¡ª"


    "Ahh~ I see, I see¡­" Oscar nodded from the side.


    "Well, Austin''s our eldest, followed by Eden, then Jeremy and Cindy¡ªthe two we adopted¡ªthen~ Oh! They''re followed by Maddison, Chris, and June. I guess you''ll need to look for Jer, she''s usually in theputer room but if she''s not there, you''d find her feeding the chicks at the back or hanging out with Mrs. Rose on the third floor."


    "I guess we''ll do that, thank you."


    "No problem at all. She''ll need a friend or two ever since the inte went down. It''s just weird though, she''s still down on her nose ying her games."


    "Well~ You don''t need the inte for some games but I guess she''d appreciate my collection."


    "Oh? That''s good to hear then, thank you so much! But anyway, what we could offer right now really is just what our hospital and rehab center could offer ever since time immemorial. Still, I doubt you''d need food since you''re giving a lot of it away but we do grow some medicinal herbs and whatnot in our greenhouse."


    "That''s¡­ That''s way~ more helpful than what we''re offering you, Mrs. Dewey."


    "Oh, shut it, haha¡­ It''s a different case if no one gets hurt, no? At the end of the day, everyone still needs food. It''s a weird thing to say but it''s like our maintenance meds. You''d need to take enough of it every single day or our bodies just get weaker and weaker."


    "That is true¡­"


    With that said, we continued with our pleasant conversation paired with a respectful discussion about our budding alliance.


    Additionally, it also involved sending some training instructors from our side to have an additional ss for the ones who wanted a more active role against the undead, and in turn, we''d also have some people from this side sent over to the areas around Subic Bay for their expertise.


    It was a simple give-and-take rtionship without a care as to which force was bigger and had to be in a significant advantage¡ªand even if we could actually force it like that, there was no merit in doing so and all the talk we had with this person would''ve been just for naught.


    Granted some other people would have it like that, but realistically speaking, in the long term, everyone simply needs to work together despite their differences and it''ll be totally different to the "bad ending" I had in my head earlier. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin

 Chapter 1158: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center IV - Just Help Each Other.

    Not to shit on the US or anything, but they tend to get surprised when they fly over here and discover how friendly and weing we Filipinos are but that''s just part of our culture. And yeah, just from my observation, folks from the other side tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business¡ªand even though it''s not actually a bad thing, it just seemed kind of cold.


    On the other hand, there could be areas in this ce where people could beplete assholes or areas in the US where people were just as weing and treat everyone like family.


    The point I''m trying to make was like Grace, Mrs. Dewey found it hard to believe that we''d just give away stuff for free¡ªwell, not technically free¡ªfor people she never knew or heard of until recently.


    However, I did call her out on this ce''s business model because they''ve also been helping people without asking for money first, and I found it contradictory to what she was currently saying about us giving her stuff.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley then cut in, "Mrs. Dewey¡­ Don''t take this the wrong way and I might be wrong in assuming this but people who tend to help everyone else like it''s second nature find it hard if they''re the ones receiving help¡­ or sometimes maybe asking for help, even¡­"


    I added, "Also, it''s not like you needed help because look at this ce, despite the mishap on the airport, you''re all still going strongpared to the other ces that already went down, so let''s just say we''re just trying to give you all a little boost."


    "Umm¡­" Mrs. Dewey looked a little ufortable as she forced out a smile, "I¡­ I do understand that point as well and I might be guilty of that¡ªbecause that''s just the way we do things but we should at least do something in exchange¡­ You know, we already joked about healthcare so let''s just say I don''t wanna incur more debt¡ª"


    Oscar cackled so fucking loud he sounded like Chewba choked on a whole cabbage:


    "HAH! That''s brutal, Jesus fucking Christ!"


    I waved them off, "It''s not like we aren''t gonna ask for anything but as the old man said earlier, we''re here to form alliances. You see, we also have some troops who needed help because some vets also came with us so¡­ this ce and that thing¡­ you know where I''m going with this, right?"


    She chuckled, "Of course, dear."


    "Other than that, we''d like to take a crack on that telmunications port you''re using as a checkpoint and see if we could hook it up with the ATC room in the airport and thems center in the Marine Base and the Main Harbor.


    I''m guessing you have something simr here too for broadcasting anything on the monitors you have outside so I think it''d be best to have us have an open line ofmunication to you and this ce."


    "Huh. That sounds ratherplicated¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that well-versed in¡ª You know¡­"


    Oscar cut in, "Sometimes I just watch his mouth move up and down and just nod. It usually works because he''d just do his own thing but your kids might know whatever the fuck he''s talking about."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Hah! I guess I''ll ask my youngest, she''d be great in that."


    Kaley interjected, "We haven''t asked but how many kids do you have Mrs. Dewey?"


    "Oh! We have seven beautiful children¡ª"


    "Seven?!" Kaley and I eximed.


    "Is that really surprising? Seven kids¡ª I guess most of them are adults now but since we adopted and all¡ª"


    "Ahh~ I see, I see¡­" Oscar nodded from the side.


    "Well, Austin''s our eldest, followed by Eden, then Jeremy and Cindy¡ªthe two we adopted¡ªthen~ Oh! They''re followed by Maddison, Chris, and June. I guess you''ll need to look for Jer, she''s usually in theputer room but if she''s not there, you''d find her feeding the chicks at the back or hanging out with Mrs. Rose on the third floor."


    "I guess we''ll do that, thank you."


    "No problem at all. She''ll need a friend or two ever since the inte went down. It''s just weird though, she''s still down on her nose ying her games."


    "Well~ You don''t need the inte for some games but I guess she''d appreciate my collection."


    "Oh? That''s good to hear then, thank you so much! But anyway, what we could offer right now really is just what our hospital and rehab center could offer ever since time immemorial. Still, I doubt you''d need food since you''re giving a lot of it away but we do grow some medicinal herbs and whatnot in our greenhouse."


    "That''s¡­ That''s way~ more helpful than what we''re offering you, Mrs. Dewey."


    "Oh, shut it, haha¡­ It''s a different case if no one gets hurt, no? At the end of the day, everyone still needs food. It''s a weird thing to say but it''s like our maintenance meds. You''d need to take enough of it every single day or our bodies just get weaker and weaker."


    "That is true¡­"


    With that said, we continued with our pleasant conversation paired with a respectful discussion about our budding alliance.


    Additionally, it also involved sending some training instructors from our side to have an additional ss for the ones who wanted a more active role against the undead, and in turn, we''d also have some people from this side sent over to the areas around Subic Bay for their expertise.


    It was a simple give-and-take rtionship without a care as to which force was bigger and had to be in a significant advantage¡ªand even if we could actually force it like that, there was no merit in doing so and all the talk we had with this person would''ve been just for naught.


    Granted some other people would have it like that, but realistically speaking, in the long term, everyone simply needs to work together despite their differences and it''ll be totally different to the "bad ending" I had in my head earlier. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin

 Chapter 1159: Jack Dewey - Combat Hardness With Softness

    A couple of hours into our discussion, Mrs. Dewey felt like she needed to give us a tour of their space just to see if we could rmend some improvements. Of course, what''s passable in our eyes was totally subjective but that was one of the reasons developers, for example, do alpha and beta tests before releasing their product.


    Besides, we''ve pretty much done around 70% of what I wanted to talk about but before we could even head for the door, we heard a knock from the other side.


    Everyone thought that it''d be Sir Jacobs but the voice that entered our ears waspletely different:


    "Dear? Can Ie in?"


    I turned to Mrs. Dewey and mouthed, "Mr. Dewey?"


    She nodded at me with a smile before she responded to her husband:


    "It''s your ce, you can barge in any time you like!"


    Yet the doorknob didn''t even move:


    "I know but¡­ Wouldn''t that be disrespectful? You have guests, right?"


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "They''re OUR guests. They came over here to talk to us."


    "Really?"


    ''Pfft¡­ This guy¡­''


    "Oh my goodness, yes! Juste in! We''re all waiting for you!"


    "But I''m not decent! I''m covered in dirt and everything!"


    Mrs. Dewey facepalmed as she tried to notugh, "Alright, dear. Once you get cleaned up, we''ll meet with you right here¡ª"


    But the door suddenly burst open and a woman covered in dirt, who I assumed to be Eden came in, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the table and poured herself a ss of water:


    "I''m so sorry but I''m really parched! I don''t have time to wait for Dad''s silliness!"


    Eden had short brown hair, a slender figure, and more Asian features than American despite the color of her skin. From the surface, she''d look like a pure Filipina but the moment she drank the ss of water with both hands, her midriff exposed pasty white skin that inparison to the rest of her exposed tanned ones, meant that she tended to go out a lot, especially in the mornings.


    At the same time, when I nced at the doorway, all I could see was Sir Jacobs wearing a smile, looking behind the wall where Mr. Dewey was hiding because he didn''t want to lose face from some dirt on his boots.


    But his voice echoed with a bit of anger:


    "Eden! How indecent! This is why you don''t have anyone courting you!"


    Eden snorted as she rolled her eyes, "I''m more surprised you managed to get Mom! Oh, wait~ She came to you, right?"


    "Eden!"


    Mrs. Dewey cut them off, "Alright, you two¡­ All the work I put in to make us look intimidating and you just ruined it¡ª"


    Mr Dewey eximed from behind the wall but this time, his hand appeared, pointing angrily at his wife''s words:


    ''That''s a big hand¡­''


    "Are you crazy?! Intimidation¡ª Why?! Didn''t you see what they came in with?! That was the Eisenhower! Oh my God, Edna! They could blow this ce up if they wanted to!"


    Eden piled on after ncing at her mother, "We can just take them hostage, right?"


    Mr. Dewey eximed once again and this time, showing even his forearm, "PREPOSTEROUS! ABSOLUTELY¡ª Dear guests¡­ I deeply apologize for my wife and my daughter, everything that has happened the past year had rendered their mental capabilities akin to a 12-year-old, it''s totally uneptable and I''ll dly take the punishment for them¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Oh,e on, Dad! We''re just ying around! Now you just ruined it! They''re pretty much on it too!"


    "Excuse me, what?" Mr. Dewey replied as he retracted his forearm from view.


    "Dear¡­ Why don''t youe in here and introduce yourself properly? Isn''t it more rude to just be a disembodied voice and pointing around like a madman? Trust me, they''re pretty nice and you''d be d to meet them."


    "Ah¡­ A-Alright, if you put it that way I was pretty rude¡­ Give me a minute¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise, the motherfucker actually took an exact minute topose himself beforeing in, looking even more terrifying than Sir Jacobs. Because if we hadn''t seen his funny disy earlier, I''d assume he was sent here to collect from his mob boss because an urate description of this "Mr. Dewey" was as if a human was about to transform into a bear and stopped halfway.


    I did see his big fucking hands and forearms earlier but I assumed he''d just be a carbon copy of Bartow''s physical features, not that it was proportional to the rest of his body.


    Mr. Jack Dewey was close to seven feet in height, had wide and broad shoulders, a huge torso, log-like legs, an awesome full beard, Prince Vegeta-like hairline, "dirty" boots, but most surprisingly, a gentle expression.


    It was like he swapped bodies at some point in his life because his mannerism was totally contradictory to what he fucking looks like, but I guess this ce had a lot of contradictory things in and of itself. And yeah, he was sporting a huge-ass splitting axe, a huge-ass bowie machete, and a double-barreled break-open shotgun which seemed to have pleased the old man sitting to my left.


    "G-Greetings, J-Jack Dewey¡­ Wee to my humble abode¡­ I-I believe you''ve already met my darling wife and my second-eldest, Eden¡ª A-And let me just say that we don''t have anything against you and we''ll be d to work out in any sort of agreement and change anything my wife had told you that''s to our advantage¡­ W-We don''t want any trouble and¡ª"


    I just had to stop him:


    "Mr. Dewey and Ms. Eden, I''m Sky, this is my wife, Kaley, and this is my uncle, Oscar. I think you might have mistaken our purpose foring here¡ª"


    "W-Well once again, I apologize¡ª"


    "What for? You haven''t done anything¡ª"


    "I apologize, we should''ve done something."


    "Wut?"


    Eden facepalmed, "Dad! Breathe!"


    "Ah¡ª Did I do something wrong again? I apologize¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey nced at her husband lovingly before she said, "Dear¡­ We''ve done nothing wrong, alright? And they''re actually here and brought some gifts and proposed wonderful arrangements for all of us! You''d be really d to hear them!"


    Mr. Dewey bowed deeply, "We aren''t worthy but we ept them all with great thanks!"


    Oscar chuckled, "That''s a little¡­"


    "I APOLOGIZE, SIR!"


    "We''re the same age, brother. Why don''t you take a seat so we could refresh ya?"


    "O-OF COURSE, SIR! EDEN! SIT DOWN AS WELL! Edna! Did you offer them a refreshing beverage!"


    "Of course, dear¡­ We''re all set and been talking for a couple of hours¡ª"


    "I''M SORRY I WASN''T PRESENT!"


    I waved him off with a smile, "Don''t worry about it Mr. Dewey, you had a lot of work to be done¡ª That reminds me, Mrs. Dewey mentioned you y D&D¡ª Mr. Dewey?"


    As soon as I mentioned the magic keyword, his downtrodden expression suddenly turned to shock, then to confusion, disbelief, and finally to suspicion as he put his huge hands under his chin and eyed me for a good minute:


    "Curious¡­ What edition?"


    "Fifth Edition. You?"


    "Look at me, punk. 1st Edition."


    ''Did he just call me punk?''


    "That''s hardcore¡ª"


    "Psh. You kids have it easy, you don''t have any idea¡ª"


    "I run a homebrewed campaign though and depending on the yers, it could be easygoing or hardcore¡ª"


    "Psh! You don''t have any idea about hardcore!"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Then prove it!"


    "Five extra characters minimum."


    "Hmm."


    "I checkponents for spells."


    "Eh."


    "Realistic Weight System."


    "So-so."


    "Dismemberment System."


    "Hmm. That''s¡ª"


    "When you create a character, I employ curses especially if they''re working with a deity, giving them the curse of the opposing god or gods."


    "That''s a given."


    "Have you done it?"


    "..."


    "Also, this is something unbeknownst to ya, if you really wanna make it an experience, have them stick close to their phones and they could only hear the results of their own checks and it''s up to them to decide whether to tell the party the truth or lies. It''s the Paranoia system. Sounds very simple but it gets worse if you have more than six yers and you have a traitor or traitors in the mix."


    He rolled his eyes, "That''s tooplex to run in a pen-and-paper system."


    "We''re already using phones, right?"


    "Then is that even D&D?" Enjoy more content from m-v l''e|-NovelBin


    "I can hand them a note or whisper."


    "Mmm. Better but not great."


    "You''re a fucking hard-ass, you know that?"


    "Only when ites to D&D, nothing else."


    "It''s really hard for you, huh?"


    "Of course, you don''t have a fucking idea¡ª"


    "One time I scheduled a game and no one came so I used four of my self-made characters to y with myself."


    "You think that''s hard? Scheduling problems¡ª"


    "For a year."


    "..."


    "I may have developed multiple personalities from that because two of me aren''t on talking terms and one of me got reced by another me because one of them just went out for milk and didn''te back."


    "W-Wanna y sometime, Sonny?"

 Chapter 1160: Can I come?! Please?!

    At this moment, I looked like the cat wearing boots voiced by the person who yed the fencer guy wearing a ck mask as I was melting hearts left and right. But yeah, as sad as it may sound, I actually enjoyed and even if D&D wasn''t in the picture, I spent most of my childhood life ying alone, and never did I think I was sad or should deserve pity.


    Being alone and lonely had differences and I was perfectly fine and happy being alone at that time.


    Even now, even with Kaley and the few others in the mix in my life, I still treasure the few minutes or hours I could just be with myself¡ªand it''s got nothing to do with them, but sometimes, the peace and quiet were like an old friend that was always there for me.


    Though Mr. Dewey and I shared a moment right then and there as he offered to y:


    "You''ll DM?"


    "Anything for you, Sonny."


    "Don''t call me Sonny."


    "Ah¡ª What do you want me to call you?"


    "I''m used to getting called the ''Kid.'' but yeah, I''d want you to experience 5th edition and my homebrew world so I''d love for you to sit down in one of my games. It could be even one-on-one and I''d voice your potential party members and NPCs."


    "Holy¡ª For real?"


    "For real. I''ll take your Dwarven Cleric every single day¡ª"


    "The heck¡ª How''d you know?!"


    "Seriously?"


    "I mean¡ª Yeah¡­ That''s the only thing I y¡­"


    "Great! We''ll schedule it in the near future! But before that, here''s what we talked about earlier¡­"


    Since our original conversation swerved, drifted, and went into different tangents, we exined to him everything we talked about earlier. But funnily enough, he never changed his expression as he intently listened while his daughter Eden couldn''t contain her excitement.


    "D-Dad! I-I wanna go visit the Marine Base a-and their other outposts! Wouldn''t it be cool?!"


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Easy now, dear, you wouldn''t want to let them know you''re that excited."


    "B-But Mom! We''ve all been cooped up here for ages! At least with their group, we''d be sure that they''re packing heat! We''ll be safe anywhere!"


    I shook my head, "I wouldn''t say that as an absolute¡ª"


    Mr. Dewey nodded at my words, "Precisely. You need to take better reins of your emotions, youngdy."


    Eden protested, "Oh,e on! I did everything you told me! I understand theyout of our traps in the forest, I check on everyone before doing my own thing, I hydrate, I exercise on top of my duties¡ªalone to boot! A-And I attend Austin''s boring~ sses!"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Your brother''s sses are not boring, dear. He''s a great doctor and you don''t know when you might need to apply the skills you learned from his sses."


    Mr. Dewey nodded, "Precisely." Stay connected through m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    "That''s true but he doesn''t know how to teach w-with enthusiasm! It''s like he''s just reading from a book!"


    "Isn''t that¡ª"


    "Dad! You know what I meant! You fell asleep in his ss and I have proof!"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Dear¡­ You know Austin probably saw you and he won''t say anything about it but he''ll be hurt nheless¡­ You know how he is."


    "Hahh¡­ I''ll bring it upter but Eden, don''t you think Jeremy and Cindy would be better candidates?"


    "Why can''t the three of us go?"


    "Well, for one, we need you here. You have responsibilities now."


    "That''s not fair. I needed a break at least."


    Mrs. Dewey nodded, "That''s true, dear. She''s been great. She needs some time to be people her age too."


    "T-Thanks, Mom!"


    Mr. Dewey sighed as he turned to me, "How¡­ How long would this exchange program be?"


    "Depends. If she''d just stay around these parts, she could spend a couple of days on each of our three bases ande back here whenever. But if she wants to go farther, for example, Jessica''s main HQ or mine, at least a couple of weeks or even a month if you really want her to have a change of scenery."


    "A month?!"


    "Dad! Please, please, please! I''ll even take the couple of weeks and stagger the days as I get back here and spend some time to the nearer bases!"


    Mr. Dewey sighed again as he pinched his be, "What¡­ What courses do you offer?"


    "What does she excel and suck at? Including Jeremy and Cindy¡ª Just a question are they the kid who''s like Ranch dressing while the other is like Sriracha?"


    ''Didn''t think I''d use condiments to describe people again¡­''


    Mrs. Dewey snorted, "Hah! Couldn''t describe them better! Have you met them?"


    "We saw them running up and down the hill earlier."


    Eden cut in, "That''s them, for sure. I wish I could join them in the mornings¡­"


    Mr. Dewey shook his head, "But you''re doing great work, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Dear, it''s like our stock in the basement, alright? We should rotate them once in a while or this type of thing happens. You''re the one who taught us that, remember?"


    "Ah¡ª It''s just that she''s the best one for the job¡­"


    "Dad, I do appreciate thepliment, I do but¡­ You know how it is, right? You even change up the entry points and exit points we walk through every couple of days!"


    "You noticed?"


    "Of course, I noticed! You just said I was the best one for the job! We have¡ª The maze you built looks extremelyplex up close and even if you traverse through it every single day, there''s a chance you get lost but it isn''t as random as you think it is! You still have your own quirks and patterns and I could somewhat pick up on it!"


    Mr. Dewey looked a little proud for a moment before he let out an exhaustive sigh to mask it:


    "Fine. I''ll let you have a vacation for two weeks. You learn everything you could at the moment and you teach everyone once you get back. Is that a deal?"


    "Y-Yes, Dad! THANK YOU! I''M GONNA GO PACK¡ª"


    "Not so fast¡ª"


    "W-What is it now?"


    "Your mom and I are gonna talk for a bit with Mr. Goodman. You give the young couple a tour."


    "Okay! Easy enough! Come,e! We''ll start from the roof and make our way down! It''s mostly sr panels anyway but we gotta made ourselves known just in c-case¡­"


    With that said, the three of us made our way to the roof and it was just as Eden stated.


    There was a portion of the roof space where most of the sr panels looked uniform and identical and there was another side where it looked like a beginner''s attempt at ying Tetris. But yeah, the roof also had several rain catchers and big-ass water tanks that could supply the whole hospital.


    And looking from below, we''d see a clear path for the route we took but it was the only road that provided great visibility because everything else that concerned the forested area was covered with leaves, tree branches, and foliage from below.


    It would''ve been easy if we could just use the drone to figure out the exactyout of the Forest of Death, but it was the type of thing that we''d need to experience first-hand.


    Then I noticed that Eden was eyeing the des on our hips:


    "..."


    "Interested in learning kenjutsu? I''ll teach you the basics."


    "Woah, for real? Honestly, it could be anything¡ªeven guns, because to be honest¡ª Shit, I say honest way too much¡­ B-But yeah, I don''t wanna say bad things against what Dad aplished because it''s way~ too effective but I kinda want to actually face one and defeat it on my own. Not set up traps and let it do all the work or even most of it before we take care of it easily¡­ You get what I mean?"


    I nodded, "Of course. There''s nothing wrong with doing both but as per your argument earlier, doing one simple thing every single day could get tiring. It''s not like I''m telling you to stop doing your responsibilities because it IS important¡ªbecause we just had an incident back home¡ªbut I do understand your point regarding this."


    "You do?"


    "Yeah. Traps are useful in a lot of ways but there are limits to them¡ªor to everything. It''s not like I could swing my katana endlessly while you and your dad could reset all the traps you''ve set indefinitely and have them work every single time. And we aren''t even talking about the special ones. I don''t wanna jinx it but I could think of a couple that could bypass the traps we''ve been told about."


    "For real?"


    "You''re preserving the forest, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Do you have anything that could total a car or even a truck when its triggered?"


    "N-No?"


    "Seriously? I''m just asking for concern. We''re not trying to case you out. You''re even going to my ce for Pete''s sake."


    "I-I was not¡ª I just haven''t seen anything that could survive after going through all that¡­"


    "At least for now. I''m not telling you guys got lucky but you did, a little bit. There are mega hordes and Hulkers¡ªthough extremely rare¡ªcould pass through a minefield and survive."


    "For real?"


    "Not quite but it can take quite a beating."


    "Oh¡­ That''s a relief, I guess? But yeah¡­ A-All of them are a mix of mechanical and primitive ones. There are no traps rigged with explosives or anything that could set a fire."


    "Hmm¡­"

 Chapter 1161: Dilemma - Because we can?

    Hearing that statement just made me extremely concerned for this ce because a preserved forest wouldn''t mean shit if the people preserving it wouldn''t be there to witness it¡ªbut looking at it from a dark perspective, nature could simply survive on its own and the reason they needed to be preserved in the first ce was because of us humans.


    It could range from the need for space to build resorts or condo units to just simply needing firewood but yeah, I''ve said it many times before that if we just vanished or died right here, right now, the world would just thank us for it.


    In any case, one might say that we could just simply encase part of the forest but that''s practically impossible because it just extends for miles and as big or perhaps even bigger than Man and it''d just defeat the purpose of it being a natural forest. However, that just might be one of my proposed solutions if these people wanted to keep the legacy of their ancestors alive.


    There were more ways avable than to be a stubborn fool to risk everyone in their family just to appease someone that was already dead. Saying this might sound harsh but if I was their ancestor, I''d try to reincarnate then and there to bonk their heads of this stupid decision.


    I then turned to Eden once more:


    "What are your thoughts on erecting a log wall a certain radius around your home?"


    Eden''s ears perked up, "That''d be great, actually! It''ll mess up some of the traps but some of us will feel safer¡ª"


    "Only some of you?"


    "Well, Mom and Dad are against doing that because they simply love the forest and the view it gives each morning¡ªeven most of our residents who don''t have any idea about what''s going on outside¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Really? There are some who don''t know?"


    Eden nodded, "Y-Yeah though it''s not forck of trying¡­ Some of them are too old to be put on more stress while some would just forget the day after. For the ones who came to the realization, some epted it and even volunteered to work but not all of them can move like they used to before.


    Our staff, friends, and family are amazing even the soldiers who came from the DDR Camps and the other evacuees who found or sought this ce for refuge¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­" I trailed as I looked over the sea of trees, "Still, you should still convince your parents to listen to you guys and I have to ask, with those traps lying around, do you have early warning devices put up or nah?"


    Eden looked confused, "Warning devices? What for?"


    "..." I just looked at her silently while Kaley already figured out what I was going for. Read new adventures at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    "W-What for?"


    I let out a sigh, "Do you¡­ Do you alwayse with your Dad or do you have days where you switch with your siblings?"


    "Well¡ª At first it was mostly just Austin but Dad would put us in a rotation so that we''d all get familiar with his design."


    "Did he let you guyse alone or do you sometimese in groups?"


    "We used toe in groups but as of recently, he''d just take me four or five days out of the week and take one of the soldiers or one of my brothers or sisters when I''m on break."


    "And you''ve never encountered anything else aside from the dead?"


    "Yeah¡ª W-Why are you asking these questions?"


    "Look¡­ I''m not saying or implying anything but have you¡­ Have you thought about other people trying to sought refuge in your home?"


    "Huh? Of course¡ª I just told you earlier!"


    "I mean¡­ Without using the main road¡­"


    "What? Why¡ª Huh? I mean¡­ No¡­ No. No! What?! NO!


    WHY WOULD¡ª THEY¡ª NO!"


    "..."


    Kaley tried to calm her down, "Eden¡­ Calm down¡ª"


    "CALM DOWN?! WHY WOULD I¡ª WE MIGHT''VE JUST KILLED PEOPLE! THEY¡ª WHAT¡ª"


    I waved her down, "We''re not 100% sure about that. I''m just specting that¡ª"


    "You spected just fine!" Eden eximed as she touched her stomach, "I think I''m gonna be sick¡ª I¡ª Why didn''t I think of this earlier?! I-I need to talk to D-Dad right now! Excuse me¡ª"


    I grabbed her hand just as she turned around, "And what would you say?"


    "I''d get to the bottom of this, of course!"


    I shook my head, "You need to calm down first. You think your dad would¡ª"


    "WHY DO YOU CARE?! AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?! HE''S NOT YOUR DAD! ASK YOUR DAD IN YOUR OWN TIME!"


    "My dad''s dead."


    "...! I-I''m sorry, I¡ª"


    "Don''t worry about it. It''s been a long time¡ª"


    "A-At least he didn''t die a gruesome way¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ About that¡­ A drug addict broke into our home and killed them both¡­ I''m still counting the days that passed in my head¡­"


    "WHA¡ª I-I''M SO SORRY! I SHOULDN''T HAVE SAID ANYTHING! I WAS JUST¡ª I''M SO SORRY!"


    I lightly chuckled as I forced a smile, "Look, you''re not one for great timing but I think you should really sit down first and take a few deep breaths."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    At that point, Eden followed my suggestion after her blunder but after a couple of minutes, I opened the conversation once again as I turned to her:


    "Look, it might havee as a surprise to you but your Dad''s doing it for all of you. We don''t know, it might be to increase the trap''s effectiveness since it''s the only ''wall'' between you and them and if you think about it, why would those people not use the direct route if they wanted to seek refuge?"


    Eden still shook her head with a frown, "Still¡­ That''s still a lot of what-ifs¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "It''s not like we weren''t doing the same thing but we lean more on early warning devices or something along those lines because we could afford it."


    "Afford it? How?"


    "Umm¡­ Because we can?"

 Chapter 1162: June & Mrs. Rose

    Joking aside¡ªwell, mostly¡ªwith the number of people we have on our fold, we could actually use our numbers to our advantage, and adding traps, snipers, roaming groups, and our main force into the mix would just be overkill.


    In addition, despite the group we took care ofst time, who had evil intentions toward us, we were geared toward recruitment and poaching others to join us instead of outrightmitting murder.


    To be fair, this approach was a little idealistic but realistically speaking, the reason randos popping out of nowhere to do bad stuff was just that they had to.


    Of course, there were outright devils in this world who''dmit atrocities at the drop of the hat, but it was easy enough to fish them out of the pile because my groups would always keep keen observation before proposing recruitment.


    And if they didn''t pass the standard of being a normal human being, we''d take care of it as humanely as possible¡ªdepending on what they did¡ªif they got too close or forced an interaction.


    There were times when we had to take the lead because yeah, we can''t just have people who kill and abuse for sport roam around the streets even if they were reducing the undead poption by a bit.


    And yeah, being the judge, jury, and executioner was a tough spot to be in but like Mr. Dewey making his traps be as effective as they could, in these times, we just had to.


    We just have to be really responsible with it but the same couldn''t be said for traps that could be sprung and kill just about anyone or anything.


    It''s a weird thing to say out loud but I think that I''m pretty much neutral good in my stance or in my alignment, which I think is an ideal way of setting a standard, but yeah, I had also surrounded myself with people who''d check me if I was going overboard and vice versa.


    In any case, back to our conversation with Eden, I exined to her things that she shouldn''t blow her lid over because there were just things they couldn''t afford of doing and that was to be openly wee to their home from all angles.


    I let out a smile, "In a sense, I''m kind of relieved you feel this way because honestly? If I were in your shoes, I think¡­ I think I wouldn''t care as much given the situation."


    Eden shook her head, "That''s¡­ Still¡­"


    Kaley caressed her hair, "Look, that means you''re still good people. Don''t take this the wrong way but I¡ª we were actually surprised at this ce?"


    "Because we''re idiots and murdering bastards¡ª Ow! Why''d you chop my head?!"


    I chopped her head as well for solidarity, "Because you''re an idiot but not a murdering bastard. You''re honest to god too, and that''s rare now. One of you guys was looking for medicine for his dad and he had to go a roundabout way just to ask me for some weed." Stay connected via m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    "Weed¡ª Oh, Medical Marijuana? And what''s wrong with being honest?"


    "Nothing at all! It''s just¡­ Sometimes, being too honest just attracts the wrong people and it''s gotten pretty hard to be vulnerable around people you don''t know. You''d take a leap of faith just to meet with people and even we were ready for a fight when we got here. We heard some bad things from the people we rescued but we wanted to hear your side so that''s why we''re here."


    "That''s¡­ I don''t know if I should thank you or not¡­"


    "Hah¡­ It''s a weird feeling, I know. And to quote your mother, a little bit of survivorship bias is going on but it''s a nice feeling now that we got to talk like this, no?"


    "Ah¡ª T-That''s true too¡­"


    With that said, we ended the conversation after a few more minutes before we went down a different set of stairs to get to a different part of the GDMWC.


    And yeah, the first thing we noticed was that this ce of a few hundred people had more evacuees than the actual patients. Of course, they stressed enough that they took care of the elderly but we''ve only met a handful on the upper floors and the majority of the patients were retired vets that were around the same age as the old man.


    But with actual old people who couldn''t live on their own? They had their own special room¡ªfor obvious reasons¡ªbut as we reached the third floor, we came upon who I assumed as "June", a girl with blue hair and gothic-like clothes, reading a book to this older woman with auburn hair, who I assumed to be "Mrs. Rose", sitting on a wheelchair with her back facing us.


    However, it didn''t take long before we realized that it was taking everything from June to hold her tears as she was about to reach the end of the book she was reading as we came at the most unfortunate time.


    "Oh no¡­ Mrs. Rose¡­" Eden muttered as she held her mouth, tears about toe out of her eyes as well.


    At this point, Kaley and I already gave each other a nce because a lot of people were in this open area of sorts and we couldn''t just shoot or stab the back of Mrs. Rose''s head while they were all present¡ªnot for technical purposes but formon decency.


    But yeah, I already spotted a familiar handle on the "bookmark" June was holding with her other hand though everything could go all sorts of wrong if we waited that long. However, June kept reading the book to Mrs. Rose, determined to get to the final pages, and she definitely threw us a deathly re when she noticed use close.


    But to my surprise, Eden began to use signnguage with June tomunicate indirectly so I did the same while she was looking straight at us.


    [Keep going, we''ll just stand by at the ready just in case¡­]

 Chapter 1163: Thank you, Mrs. Rose.

    On this particr floor, we were in the area where most of the elderly gathered for some social time or entertainment like ying some bingo or chess, watching a vintage film, reading or getting read a book by one of the staff, or in Mrs. Rose''s case, getting read a book by June herself.


    It''s just that the timing couldn''t be more unfortunate as one of the older residents had to pass on but to look at the silver lining, she passed on surrounded by her friends she considered family.


    But yeah, an older gentleman slowly walked over to June and Mrs. Rose''s side while carrying a fruit tter and his expression just turned sour when he made the realization.


    "A-Angie? Angie? Oh God, no¡­ Angie, I¡ª"


    Eden quickly made her way to the older gentleman''s side then forced a smile, "Where are you looking at, Harold? I''m right here!"


    The "Harold" fellow looked confused for a moment before he let out the brightest smile, "Ah¡ª Angie! There you are! I''ve been looking for you! Did you know that our daughter''s turning seven tomorrow? Can you believe it?!"


    Eden just nodded as she walked him by the TV, "Time sure does fly fast, huh?"


    Harold simply nodded with a smile, "You know, Jessica, your mother and I love you very much¡­ It''s really sad that she went on ahead of us but she''s watching from above, alright? I might do it someday too but you gotta be really~ strong and¡ª Oh, right, Angie, I have a meeting at six¡­"


    Hearing their conversation, it didn''t take long before Kaley and I made the realization, but June on the other side, had already broken down crying in front of Mrs. Rose''s body. They were in one spot by the window where not a lot of people could bother them, but it also didn''t take as long before a woman who I assumed to be staff walked over and had the same realization.


    "June¡­"


    "I-I''m okay, Maddy¡ª I''m t-totally okay, I¡ª"


    "Wanna bring her down with me?"


    "C-Can we w-wait a bit more?"


    "I''m sorry, June, we can''t¡­ You know what happened those times, right?"


    "... *sniff* a-alright¡­ I-I''ll¡ª"


    Eden then came back at the right time:


    "June, I''m so sorry, I¡ª"


    At that moment, June just jumped into her sister''s arms for an embrace as she tried her best to cry without making a lot of sound. All Eden could do was hug her back as this Maddy gal pulled on the locks to Mrs. Rose''s wheelchair.


    But yeah, she gave them a bit of time as she waited if June woulde down with her¡ªand long story short, we used the elevator to get down with them and made our way to their backyard.


    I would''ve greatly appreciated how bountiful their vegetable garden looked but the ce we were going for was the incinerator further out, away from the resident''s eyes.


    Since Eden was still holding June in her arms, I took it upon myself to help Maddy with the incinerator, but once I pulled out a knife just to be 100% sure Mrs. Rose wouldn''t rise up while we were preparing her pyre of sorts, June just grabbed on my arm with a difficult expression.


    "NO! WHY WOULD YOU¡ª WE''RE ALREADY PUTTING HER IN THE¡ª WHY?!"


    "JUNE!" Eden eximed as she tried to pull her off me, "Stop! You know what happened to Mr. Hendricks and Sister Mae?! This is why!"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "NOT BUTS¡ª"


    I waved them off as I put back my knife, "I''m sorry we had to meet like this, June, and to Ms. Maddy too but umm¡­ This is something necessary to avoid further idents¡­ I don''t know Mrs. Rose but I think anyone wouldn''t want their loved ones get hurt by them, right?"


    June started to tear up even more, "B-BUT¡ª"


    "Also, this is gonna sound morbid but if she means that much to you, I think you should do it."


    "H-Huh? D-Do what exactly?"


    I shook my head with a bitter smile, "You were also holding a knife, right? That bookmark on your pocket, I saw you holding that earlier¡­"


    "...!" June never looked so surprised as she was still struggling with everything that was going in her head, "I-I¡ª Mrs. Rose is¡ª *sniff* I¡ª S-She really loves books! I¡ª"


    I nodded respectfully, "Is that right?"


    "A-And she''s really kind to me!"


    "I''m sure she is."


    "She said she really loves my hair e-even if it''s the total opposite of her hair color!"


    "It does look great¡­"


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ I don''t wanna rush you or anything but¡­ You know¡­"


    "..."


    "June?"


    Your next read is at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    "...do it¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I-I''ll do it¡­"


    "We''ll just be right here, alright? Your safety''s still the priority here¡­"


    "I-I understand¡­"


    At that point, June slowly made her way to Mrs. Rose''s body and she kept a tight grip on this very thin de that looked like a bookmark due to the ribbon hanging down by the small handle, but as June said more things to thank Mrs. Rose for what she had done for her, I noticed that Mr. & Mrs. Dewey received the news of her passing and came down with the old man.


    And as they noticed our presence and June standing in front of Mrs. Rose, they made sure to not make any noise until it was all over.


    "T-Thank you for everything Mrs. Rose¡­ I''ll never forget you¡­"


    In a very gentle motion, June raised the tip of her de, pointed it at the back of Mrs. Rose''s head, and pushed slowly.


    June was clearly shaking from the first inch and she took several deep breaths as she pushed it deeper and deeper. She was definitely bawling her eyes out the moment she pushed it all the way in and she wrapped her arms around her and cried out the pain.


    "June¡­" Eden muttered as she wiped her tears with her sleeve.


    With that said, we gave June all the time she needed since Mrs. Rose''s body was cleared but after ten minutes or so, she eventually let go and helped me put the lifeless body into the incinerator.

 Chapter 1164: Have you tried though?

    From then we took a bit of time just watching smokeing out of the incinerator and even if Mr. Dewey, Mrs. Dewey, and Oscar joined us, June still stood straight in front of the incinerator with tears in her eyes. By this time, it wasn''t as bad as earlier but that''s just how emotions work and different people had different ways of expressing them.


    And yeah, even if everyone else except Eden decided to excuse themselves after some time, Kaley and I still stayed with June.


    I thought we''d have a couple of hours of peace and serenity but my phone buzzed right at the same time June''s did. Experience tales at m v|l e''-NovelBin


    Eden turned to us, "Are those your phones?"


    I answered first, "rm¡ª"


    June nodded, "Y-Yeah, me too."


    At that point, Eden put more logs to fuel the me but June and I shared a nce and we both knew what was up. Kaley already had an inkling of the reason our phones buzzed, of course, so she took it upon herself to let June and me have some private time to talk with our resident hacker, na.


    "Hey, Eden¡­ I kind of wanna check on the other areas, see if we could help for a bit¡ª"


    "Oh. Lunch is awfully close but June¡ª"


    "He''ll stay with her, right?" Kaley said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "Of course, I don''t wanna say this now but it''s umm¡­ pretty close."


    Junemented, "You''ve burned people¡ª"


    "Cremated."


    "I know the term but I can''t just keep mementos like this, I just can''t¡­ don''t ask."


    "Then I won''t."


    "..."


    Eden looked at us weirdly, "Okay? Then¡­" she trailed as she turned to Kaley, "Come on then, we''ll help in the kitchen!"


    Kaley chuckled, "He''s a better pick but I''m still learning the ropes, take it easy on me."


    "Nah, I think you''re much better than me. I''m only in charge of washing the dishes!"


    "Oh! Ahaha! I''ll ask him to include cooking as part of your curriculum then!"


    "What?! No way!"


    As the two walked back to the main building, June and I shared a brief look at each other before we looked at our phones. And surprisingly, na just dropped us the same message and dipped out:


    [He''s one of us, y nice :)/They¡ª She''s one of us, y nice :)]


    "..."


    "..."


    I shook my head as I decided to break the ice:


    "So¡­ should I call you June or do you have an IGN I should refer to¡ª"


    She rolled her eyes, "Doesn''t matter now, does it? Look¡­ don''t tell my parents or my siblings, alright? Does your girlfriend know?"


    I nodded, "She knows, my wife knows¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "No worries. We aren''t technically married and I don''t know what you know about me at this point. It''s been a while since I met na and¡ª"


    "What?! You''ve met Ana71 in person?! Dude! What does she look like?!"


    I was taken aback by the sudden 180, "I did meet her when she came to my ce with an escort. She looks like a typical Asian woman who acts sheepish with a crowd and like a spy in intimate settings and she had a certain adoration of knives¡­ a lot of knives¡­ and she likes hiding random shit in her body¡ª"


    June grabbed on her forehead and sat down on a log, "H-Hold up, that''s too much information at once¡­ Wait¡ª Oh! I get it now! You''re the guy!"


    "The what?"


    "The guy! T-The¡ª The videos in the umm¡ª What was it called? At South! Even in the whatchamacallit~ T-The cartel one¡ª Cuervo Heights! I''ve seen all of them! Y-You''re the guy¡ª FUCK!


    I need to take a picture with you! L-Like right now¡ª Please?!"


    "Okay?"


    "T-Thank you! Dude! I owe you a lot for this! I-I''m a huge fan!"


    "T-Thank you?"


    With that said, June quickly inched towards me and snapped several photos of me while I was posing awkwardly. But yeah, thinking that this was one way to take her mind off Mrs. Rose, we did a photoset doing anime poses in between the incinerator and the garden, and she couldn''t stop smiling as she looked at each of them.


    "Thank you so much for this! You''re the best!" Eden eximed as she gave me another hug.


    "Anything, I¡ª June?"


    Even if it was for a short moment, June did forget for a while and it all just came back at her the moment she saw the incinerator running on fumes. But at that point, she just solemnly looked at the incinerator¡ªmore like the person we put in there¡ªbefore bowing deeply and mouthing "Thank you, Mrs. Rose" for the final time.


    We shared another moment of silence for the departed but June brought up something she heard her sister say before they left:


    "Hold up, what did Kaley mean by curriculum?"


    "Oh. Your dad granted her and your two other siblings, Jeremy and Cindy, was it?"


    "A what?"


    "A two-week vacation at my ce¡ª"


    "Oh! Can Ie too?! Will na be there?!"


    "Ah¡ª I don''t know if I should tell you this but yeah¡­ She''s not living with us but she just told me that she''lle visit¡ª I don''t know if it''s within those two weeks they''ll be staying¡ª"


    "I gotta tell Dad! And Mom! W-Will you help me ask them?! Is it scummy if I use Mrs. Rose as an excuse?"


    "Hold up¡ª It is VERY scummy and a little disrespectful¡ª"


    "But Mrs. Rose would be in on it! She''ll dly cover for me!"


    "Let me ask you this¡­"


    "Go on¡­"


    "Is there a reason they wouldn''t allow you toe if you ask the regr way?"


    "Umm¡­ Do you have eyes?"


    "What?"


    "Look at me hotshot, I''m tr¡ª I''m the definition of a kid in her rebellious phase. Blue hair, piercings all over, spiky clothing, ck nails, thick eyeliners, you name it. They wouldn''t even consider it¡­"


    "Have you tried though?"


    "Were you even listening?!"


    "I am. But have you tried asking or is that what you think they''re gonna say?"

 Chapter 1165: I told ya.

    As soon as I said that, June just looked at me incredulously before she had a moment of realization. It was one thing to have a very low chance of sess and it was another if she just went for it. Besides, it''s not like she''d get stabbed in the leg just for asking permission, and the worst they could say was no.


    "I¡­ Huh. I-I can just ask, right?"


    "Yep."


    "Huh."


    "So¡­"


    "Kinda hungry though¡­ Wannae to the cafeteria?"


    "Sure, a few of my guys would probably be there anyway."


    "Few of your guys?"


    "It''s not like Kaley and I were the only ones who got here. You''ve seen the old man with your parents, right? He''s with me too."


    "Uh¡­ Makes sense, I guess. C''mon, I wanna get some extra breadsticks!"


    "Alright, alright¡ª Don''t pull!"


    With that said, the two of us made our way to the cafeteria which was located on the first floor at the right wing, and obviously enough, everyone else was present except for Oscar. It seemed like their separate meeting wasn''t over but in regards to people gelling together, my trainees/cadets were bonding well with the kids their age over on their separate table.


    But funnily enough, both tables called for us and as I was inclined to sit with Tatiana and the rest, June wanted to sit with her younger brother and sister.


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Umm¡ª"


    I''d definitely ruffle some feathers¡ªthough not as serious as I put it¡ªbut since the tables they were on was just close to each other and we have plenty of fucking space, I hold onto June''s shoulder for the moment as I addressed everyone:


    "C''mon, you fucks. Is this young VS old? I''m in between! Merge those tables for fuck''s sake!"


    Saying that, all they''d need to do is stand up for a bit and do a little push so they did just that and looked back at me. However, much to their shock, I just gave them an approving smile before I took June with me to the kitchen.


    "W-Where are we going?!"


    "If you''re that hungry, you should help the cooks¡ª Is this the right way?"


    "Y-Yeah, but I don''t know how to cook!"


    "Then you''ll learn fucking now! Oh! They are making some breadsticks¡ª Anyone need any help?!"


    At that point, Kaley and Eden who were now wearing frilly aprons turned around and dragged us into the depths of hell¡ªjust kidding, it was just pretty hot inside while wearing protective gear¡ªand made me take over the frying station.


    To my delight, we were frying different kinds of vegetables dipped in some light batter so I just put several at once and made June take care of flipping them over because the leafy vegetables would always float.


    "What?! Why¡ª"


    "Just flip them over if they change color! It''s like a rhythm game, no?"


    "W-Which color?!"


    "Very light golden brown!"


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    "Oh! I got it!"


    Kaley and Eden were shocked to fuck, "HOW?!"


    I chuckled, "Trade secret! It''s level two now, June! Some vegetables fry faster than others! Watch out for them!"


    "Wha¡ª There is! There''s¡ª Oh god, there''s another one too!"


    "Great job! Great job! Focus! Here''s another batch!"


    "AHHH~! I can''t watch over them all at once!"


    "Hah! It''s time for a switch-up! I''ll take care of the frying but make some more of the batter! The recipe''s taped on the wall!"


    "Wha¡ª This is too much information at once! What the fuck?! You''re literally doing everything yourself! You don''t even need me!"


    "Yeah, I do! Chop some more vegetables! I can do more batches!"


    "W-W-What am I even doing¡ª I-I''m overloading! I''m literally running out of RAM!"


    "This is a test, June! Do fucking well and I''ll give you a rmendation!"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "Of course!"


    "THEN IT''S FUCKING ON!"


    As soon as she rolled her sleeves and put her game face on, Eden simply stopped talking and just moved to wherever I told her to move. She''d respond with simple nods or would just get right on it and her way of removing speech freed up some space in her RAM, and she was able to keep up with me for a good 30 minutes before she felt the strain.


    I was pleasantly surprised that she was able tost that long but since we may have made more fried vegetables than necessary, I took it as a necessary stopping point so she could cool down while I could help with the nice sauce Kaley and Eden were making for fresh eggrolls that were saved as is.


    We usually call it "Lumpian Sariwa" in ournguage and it was basically eggrolls with vegetable filling topped by a sweet/savory sauce with crushed peanuts.


    And yeah, after a short bit, we began serving the ones in the cafeteria while the rest of the staff packed lunches for the ones in the checkpoints, in their separate rooms, or for eatingter.


    However, the funny thing was Quinn never looked so defeated seeing only vegetables for lunch but she cried tears of joy when Tatiana pulled out her reserve of beef jerky and bacon. They just ate it with the meal we prepared for them but on the other hand, my new apprentice, June, never looked so out of ce because she was smack dab in the middle of my main group.


    I did introduce her, albeit briefly, but my group could be a little intense, especially when ites to lunchtime.


    "You okay, June?" Eden who already blended in nudged her younger sister.


    "I-I''m alright, thanks for asking¡­"


    Quinn leaned back and turned to me, "Fresh meat?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Our exchange students and no, pace yourself."


    "Eh, we''ll see about that~"


    Eden asked, "See about what?"


    Kaley cut in, "That''s¡­ That''s something umm¡­ We shouldn''t talk about while eating¡­ And with other people¡­ Right, Quinn?"


    Quinn lightly chuckled, "Sure~ Is it just me or does this thingamajig taste like meat?! Like what the fuck?!"


    Eden smiled brightly, "Right?! It depends on the seasonings but it''s jackfruit that hadn''t ripened yet!"


    "Oh? Looks like meat too with all these fibers and shit¡­"


    "Mm-hmm! They''re what we have closest to chickens¡ª We do have them but we need eggs more."


    I chimed in, "Well, as we''ve talked about earlier, we''ll solve that little problem of yours with a small top-up. You''ll taste different things when you get to my ce so there''s that."


    June then turned to Eden, "Right¡­ Umm¡­ Can I alsoe?"


    "Hmm? You want to? Of course! I mean, you should still ask Mom and Dad but I''m sure they''ll say yes."


    "Really?"


    I chuckled from the side, "I told ya."

 Chapter 1166: Deets - Then nothing.

    As we finished our meal, I also got acquainted with Jeremy and Cindy and they were as I thought they would be. Jeremy was the older one between the two, cool and aloof, while Cindy was like the word spontaneousbustion. She acted like Quinn in a way, but she definitely mmed up when she was face-to-face with the real thing.


    It was one thing to act like an Alpha-Bitch but it was a different thing to actually be one.


    But yeah, these two were picked up by Mr. & Mrs. Dewey from another couple who eventually had to say goodbye to this world and they might just be our in into the Idress Maritime Academy.


    "You two were both enrolled?"


    Jeremy answered, "Yes, sir. We were actually there when it hit but we got here as fast as we could. We used to have an openmunication with them but since all we could do was just talk with them when the airport got too infested, we''ve just been dropping in weekly just to check in."


    "I see. Can you tell me more about that ce?"


    Cindy cut in, "Hmph! Sound to me like you''re up to no good!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Your parents already signed you up to me for a couple of weeks. Haven''t you heard?"


    "WHAT?!"


    Jeremy chuckled, "You should really~ be listening to when people are talking, sis."


    "Shut up! When was this?!"


    I shook my head, "If you don''t want toe, then don''t. Eden and June were the only ones who wanted to actuallye and your parents just rmended you, so again, if you don''t want toe¡ª"


    Jeremy cut in, "W-Whoa there, hold up. I wannae! I wanna square with with James and Seb over there!"


    Cindy got right up in my face, "I-It wasn''t like I said I didn''t wannae! I just wanna have a say in it!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "So tell me a little bit about the maritime academy. Seb, James came from an academy as well, way~ up in the mountains, so I just wanna get a gleam on what to expect. As you can see, we''re trying to cover our bases and have proper connection with everybody else."


    Cindy huffed, "Why bother talking? You can juste in and tell them what''s what!"


    "Spoken like a true American, eh?"


    "Wha¡ª I was just¡ª"


    "Mm-hmm~ Sure, we can do just that but if we do that to this ce, what do you think is gonna happen?"


    "...! I¡ª I didn''t think about it that much, I just¡ª"


    "Freudian Slip much? Don''t worry, you''re still plenty young, your head hadn''t matured that much, so I understand¡ª"


    "You! I said I''m sorry!"


    "I said I understand, so are we gonna waste more time or are you gonna help Jeremy give me a good intro about that ce?"


    Jeremy leaned in, "Well¡­ It should be better if you just talked to them but here''s what we know¡ª or at least what they told us¡­"


    The two started by saying that the maritime academy had more peoplepared to this ce but from the most recent info we got from our drones, we found only around fifty or so people. But yeah, there were a ton of ways to hide one''s heat signature or simply mask it, and there was also the chance that they could''ve been somewhere else when the drone passed by.


    In addition, Jeremy mentioned a former artillery bunker that the people from the maritime academy repurposed as a third outposts beside the two buildings that already belonged to them and the resort right next to their training center.


    "Where''s the bunker located?"


    "Oh, it''s straight down from here but we gotta navigate through the Forest of Death. It''s much easier and safer to drive over there but we really should have a talk with them first and even try if we could vouch for all of you."


    "Your name carries some weight with them?"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Well, not me but Cindy used to be boning our Staff Sergeant¡ª"


    "JEREMY, SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT WAS JUST A FLING!"


    "You still boned."


    "I-I SAID, SHUT UP!"


    "Hey, they needed an in, he got in you, that''s an in. Wouldn''t you think? Besides, he still asks for youst time I checked in with them so they might wee them with open arms if you''d just talk to the guy."


    "Absolutely not! I''m not whoring myself¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Whoa, whoa, I''m not gonna whore you to anyone. Chill. If you''re notfortable doing shit, it''s okay, we''ll do our own thing. However, I just want you to give them a bit of peace of mind since even your parents were scared to shit when we first came in."


    Cindy rolled her eyes, "Who wouldn''t?!"


    "That''s why we need your help."


    "B-But¡ª"


    "Then don''t."


    "HAAH?! DO YOU NEED MY HELP OR WHAT?! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"


    "Nah. It''s up to you. Do you wanna help me or not? I thought you wanted to have a say in anything?"


    "That''s¡ª Huh," Cindy was taken aback before her lips formed a smile, "I''ll do it on one condition though."


    "Shoot."


    Her smile grew wider, "I want my own room with all the necessities when wee with you!"


    "Sure."


    "Just like that?"


    "Just like that."


    ''I would''ve made them bunk but that''s easily doable.''


    "Doesn''t that mean you can do more?"


    "Depends. Want to add more to the condition?"


    "Can I?"


    "You''re gonna be there for a couple of weeks. Trust me, with the training you''re doing here, you''re gonna need all thefort you can get."


    She mmed her palm on the table, "Now that''s some bullshit! We train just as hard! We even have a specialized program for each of us!"


    "Then how about this?" I said as I pointed at Alexa, "Beat her in a fight and you can have everything you fucking want."


    "And if I lose?"


    "You''re already thinking of losing?"


    "I''m hot-blooded but I''m not an idiot! I should know the stakes."


    I chuckled, "Then nothing."


    "Nothing?! What does that mean?!"


    "It''s as I said, no punishments, nothing."


    "How is that fair?!"


    "I don''t wanna assume shit but Alexa¡ª no, everyone in my group probably gets around 80-90% of what they want from me, so she''ll do me this favor just because. For you, I don''t wanna add more pressure because as I said, we''re fine without you but it''d be nice if we could get some help."


    Cindy just stared me down before she nced at Alexa, "Fine. Let''s go to the PT Room."

 Chapter 1167: Cindy VS Alexa

    Funnily enough, as Cindy stormed off to where the PT Room was, Alexa was just staring at me shocked because I just put her in a match without asking. It was true that she''d do me a favor here and there butpared to everyone in my group, she wasn''t the one I''d pick first if we were being totally honest.


    Alexa was still holding her spoonful of food, "W-Wha¡ª Me? You''re putting me in a fight?! With that girl?!"


    I chuckled, "So what? Your odds are so-so, besides, even if Tatiana''s been training you guys for a week plus extra¡ª Nah, you''ll just see for yourself."


    "O-Okay?"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "Oh yeah, I''ll double¡ª no triple your training if you lose, soo¡­ No pressure!"


    "H-How is that no pressure?! I''m way~ pressured now!"


    Jeremy cut in, "Nah, she''s too fired up now getting put aside or what''s the word I''m looking for? It''s¡­ It''s not actually a word but her ego takes a hit if she thinks she''s not that important¡ª plus her movements get sloppy when she''s mad. You''d only need to be really~ careful when she ms up."


    I turned to him, "Really? Interesting."


    He chuckled, "It''s just weird if you ask me."


    "Heh."


    ''I''m super chill but I do get fired up and gives me some bonuses but¡­ I do some things when I m up for real¡­''


    With that said, Megan took it upon herself to hype up Alexa¡ªthough she also received an assuring nod from Seb¡ªbut it didn''t take long before Tatiana and I were wearing referee uniforms and was about to officiate the two''s exhibition match. Honestly, I''m more curious to see how Cindy moves because I know more than Alexa than what she knows she is capable of.


    I started, "Alright, no eye-gouging, hits the to the back of the head, the whole she-bang¡ª and if we say stop you stop. We''ll be forced to use force when you don''tply to these basic rules of safety and we''re looking for a clean fight!"


    Tatiana added, "That''s right! No hair-pulling, crotch-grabbing, nipple-twisting, throat-fingering¡ª"


    "The fuck are you¡ª"


    "Heh, I said too much¡ª FIGHT!"


    Ignoring Tatiana''s silly face and everyone''s chuckles, the two started by touching gloves and giving each other a nod. Additionally, they were wearing proper sparring equipment: thick open-finger gloves, headgear, and a mouthpiece, and they were on this thick mat that would provide a lot of cushion.


    But yeah, Cindy was the one who rushed in after a short exhale while Alexa had already put up her guard.


    With eachpact attack, Alexa was getting pushed back more and more to the edge of the mat, but she was guarding everything optimally. I would''ve preferred if she employed head slips, because she could clearly see the attacksing, but she would just turn her body and her guard at the most optimal position to block Cindy''s attacks.


    "IS THIS ALL YOU CAN DO?! FIGHT BACK!"


    "..."


    "FIGHT BACK, I SAID!"


    All of a sudden, Cindy wound up her right arm for a millisecond longer¡ªgiving up a small opening and a prompt that she''d throw a bigger punch¡ªand Alexa stepped to Cindy''s left side instead of seizing the opening she gave her.


    It was a valid move nheless but she would''ve finished the fight then and there.


    But yeah, this was just me thinking of what I would''ve done but everyone had different fighting styles and to bepletely honest, I think it was working to a degree.


    Cindy seemed to be the type to overpower her opponents but since it was someone she wasn''t familiar with, she opted forpact attacks¡ªbut withpact attacks mean more attacks thrown which could also mean more breaths taken in session.


    I might be reading too much into this because big attacks could do the same thing¡ªbut it would leave more and wider openings¡ªbut Cindy looked a little out of breath because of all the punching and shouting.


    At this moment, we were back to square one with Cindy attacking and Alexa defending, but all of a sudden, we heard a very crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh as Cindy threw a low kick right onto Alexa''s inner thigh. It wouldn''t have been too much trouble now but she followed up with another one to even the other side before sending another one back to the same fucking spot.


    "LIKE THAT, HUH?!"


    "...!"


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    All of sudden, Alexa''s demeanor changed as she opted for the same attack Cindy did to her but it just brought a smile to Cindy''s face as she took it head-on.


    "THAT''S RIGHT! ONE MORE! AND DO IT FASTER!"


    "HAH!"


    "BARELY FELT IT! I''LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE!"


    "HAHH!"


    "LAST ONE¡ª"


    Cindy was just grinning from ear to ear as she saw Alexa''s face turn even more serious but her face suddenly turned to what "This fucking bitch!" would look like if we put it into words.


    What happened was instead of sending another low kick to her inner thighs¡ªwhich she was definitely prepared for since she was flexing her quads¡ªAlexa sent it right on her left torso without her notice.


    And to add insult to injury¡ªthough not as much, Alexa performed movements as she threw a left kick straight for Cindy''s right temple. If that kick was as "fast" as "normal" high kick would''ve traveled, with the amount of power Alexa put in it, it would''ve been a knockout if Cindy hadn''t put up a guard at the moment it would''ve connected.


    However, right as she threw more punches which Alexa guarded against, she ate two more low kicks which caught her off-guard for some reason because they were a tad "faster" than what she took willingly.


    But yeah, this situation suddenly made her take a deep breath and take a lower stance as she put all her focus on Alexa''s weird movements.


    She was patiently waiting for Alexa to attack but we gotta cut them off because it had been a good three minutes. We would''ve let them fight for five minutes each for three rounds but that was what we decided on just because.


    ''To lessen chances of injuries too¡­''


    "DING! DING! DING! Sorry, we don''t have a bell¡ª"


    "FUCK! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GET INTO IT!" she eximed as she turned to Alexa, "THE FUCK WAS THAT?! WHY ARE YOU KICKING SO WEIRD!"


    Alexa couldn''t believe her ears, "W-Why would I tell you?!"


    "ARGH! YOU''RE DOING SOME WEIRD SHIT AND I''M GONNA FIGURE IT OUT!"


    I chuckled from the side, "Oh, your special program doesn''t cover that? Huh."


    "S-SHADDAP! YOU''RE THE REF! BE PARTIAL AT LEAST!"


    "Hey, we got a bet riding on this! At least let me trash-talk!"


    "FINE, SHRIMP-DICK¡ª"


    Then reactions from my "circle" emerged one after the other. I wouldn''t even put all of their names here but you know the deal. It''s just that Cindy seeing their reactions, among other people who saw as well, caught her as off-guard as the weird kicks she''s been receiving and she just went red on the face as she shouted at them.


    "W-WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING AT ME?! LAUGH AT HIM!"

 Chapter 1168: Conclusion - Weird Kick

    As the fighters went into their corners for a minute of rest, just to be fair to Cindy, Tatiana and I didn''t go to Alexa''s side but Tatiana threw her a thumbs up for her nice execution. The particr "trick" Alexa''s been performing was simple and yet its simpleness was the thing that was making it so effective.


    Granted it was a bit slower than a normal kick, but if she started to mix it up with normal ones¡ªwhich she already did¡ªit''d just be a toss-up between their reflexes and reaction time.


    Then we heard Jeremy''s voice:


    "It''s all in the knees, alright? That''s the trick but it''s up to your noggin'' and a little bit of luck to go against it."


    "You saying I''m dumb?!"


    "Psh. You''re smarter than me but you never use it, that''s the problem. I dunno why you''re asking for advice right now but the best way to go about it is just to experience it. Either that or just keep her locked out by making her guard."


    I nodded approvingly, ''That''s right¡­ and learning Alexa''s patterns gives you a higher chance of predicting what''s toe¡­''


    With that said, the minute was up and Cindy was definitely rarin'' to go while Alexa looked like she''d still stick with cautiously observing the situation before acting upon it. However, right as they met at the center, Alexa threw a swift straight before following it with a sudden low kick.


    Cindy easily saw through the simple switch-up and guarded against them but she got ticked off when Alexa was already a step away and aiming to guard against her counterattack.


    "YOU¡ª ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT OR WHAT?"


    "I am though?"


    "NOT LIKE THAT!"


    "Hmph."


    "ARGH! IT WAS JUST SO GOOD LAST TIME!"


    "Nope."


    Funnily enough, Alexa began replying to Cindy''s taunts(?) and it was making the taunter taunted instead. It was forcing Cindy to expend more energy to close in on Alexa but right as she thought Alexa would nt her feet down so she could figure out whatever the fuck her "weird" kick was, she''d just run away again and talk shit until the bell rang.


    What Alexa was doing was straight-up edging Cindy for a release andpletely denying her the satisfaction of a good fight and it was super fucking effective.


    On the third and final round, Cindy went all-out to force Alexa into a brawl but it was as unsatisfying as the conclusion of the match I had with Bartow.


    Sure, it would''ve been nice to end the fight with a knockout but just seeing how slightly difficult Cindy was walkingpared to Alexa, even Jeremy thought that his sister lost. And with that, we obviously gave the win to Alexa but Cindy was keen on getting some answers.


    "Hey!"


    Alexa turned to her, "Hmm?"


    "Alright! I''ll ept the loss but you have to tell me how you did that!"


    "Umm¡­ Why?"


    "Because!"


    Alexa smiled, "Our instructor and friend, Tatiana would teach you once we get home¡ª"


    "B-But I wanna know how it works now! Please!" then she turned to me, "I-I''ll call our Staff Sergeant if you teach me now!"


    Jeremy cut in, "I told you, it''s all in the knees¡ª"


    "I''m not asking you, I''m asking him!"


    I interjected, "He''s right though."


    "Ugh¡ª I mean¡ª Yes, it''s all in the knees but how?! I-I need to see it!"


    "Didn''t you eat enough of them already?"


    "N-Not on me, you ass! I want it done on someone else!"


    "You want me to hit someone else for a demonstration?"


    "You¡ª Not for real, of course!"


    I looked at everyone and discovered that a few from their group wanted to learn as well so I cleared my throat as I addressed everyone:


    "Alright, since we''re all here, why don''t we have a small ss in regards to this weird kick? I''m gonna need a partner though¡ª"


    Cindy cut in excitedly, "Jeremy will do it!"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Sure¡­ Anything for you¡­"


    I chuckled, "Don''t worry, I''ll give you some painkillerster¡ª"


    "Wut?"


    "Alrighty then, everyone look closely and see how I perform a normal low, mid, and high kick to Jeremy¡­"


    "Oh boy¡­"


    As Jeremy was already preparing himself for a beating, I just let out the tiniest bit of my domineering aura to make him and everyone else think I''m fucking serious before I performed the movements as slowly as possible and without any destructive force. This made him sigh in relief but Cindy was definitely annoyed that her brother wasn''t hurt even by a bit.


    But yeah, I did perform the weird kicks in the same manner and turned to everyone for a simple exnation.


    "You see, with each of those three normal kicks, the starting point and the path it takes is apparent and obvious but if we''re talking about this weird¡ª fuck it, it''s a Brazillian Kick, or any other term you can make for it, it has a starting point, the setup point, and the destination, unlike the normal kicks which simply goes from Point A to Point B."


    Cindy raised her hands with a notebook she pulled from nowhere:


    "U-Umm, so it starts with a fake-out?"


    I nodded, "You can call it something like that since it copies the movements of a high kick¡ªby bringing your knees up¡ªbut once you reach the setup point, the midpoint, or the beginning of the tri-path, that''s where it could go the three ways: low, mid, and high, and confuse the opponent by twisting your knee or just suddenly extending it, hence it''s all on the knees.


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    Sure, it''s a tad slower than a normal kick but it still got the job done¡ªespecially with what Alexa did by mixing it up. It''s pretty simple really but that''s what makes it so annoying."


    "That''s it?"


    "That''s it. You still gotta practice by a lot though to incorporate them in a real fight. And there''s also guarding against them and the unlimitedbinations anyone could throw at you. It''s not like they''d just keep sending you those weird kicks, right?"


    "Huh."


    "Any more questions?"


    Her eyes lit up, "Do you have more tricks like that you can teach me?!"


    I chuckled, "Of course, in the two weeks that¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! I''M STAYING THERE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN! I''M LEARNING EVERYTHING! STAND UP, JEREMY! I''M PRACTICING WHAT I LEARN NOW!"


    "Haah?! Find your own punching bag!"


    "BUT¡ª"


    Tatiana then cut in with a gleam in her eye, "Hey, why don''t you learn from me? He just knows how to do it but the weird kick you lost to was from me. How about it?"


    "YES, MA''AM!"

 Chapter 1169: Defensive Techniques - Just a fling, huh?

    Long story short, Cindy and the rest of the Dewey residents who wanted to get trained,pletely used the energy they rued from lunch and maybe even breakfast.


    Because not only did Tatiana put on her teacher''s mantle and made them go through a taste of what we do for training back home, but I did the same thing as well¡ªand surprisingly enough, Artem picked a handful of willing participants from the back and taught them some defensive techniques.


    ''Well, that''s rare¡­''


    It was because Artem taught through spars, meaning, he usually taught people with their bodies and what they could glean on from the short match he''d put them through but this time, he gave brief pointers which were umm¡­ very brief and very unique.


    And this was one example when Jeremy had to get away from Cindy and joined his ss:


    "Umm¡­ E-Excuse me, sir~?"


    "Artem."


    "S-Sir Artem, how''d you take a hit to the head without wobbling or feeling it all over? That''s my main problem and¡ª"


    "You get tough."


    "Ah¡­"


    "I mean tougher."


    "Ah, yes¡­"


    "Look, you can learn different techniques and mix it up with evasion skills that Nyebo''s¡ª Sky''s really good at but¡ª hmm¡­"


    "S-Something wrong, sir?"


    "In regards to the undead, evasion or parrying skills are the way but still, the core of defensive techniques improves those two skills as well.


    It requires¡­ careful and precise observation of your opponent''s attack and reacting upon it and if you think about it, it''s just a matter of taking it on, going around it, or directing it elsewhere¡ª Oh, there''s also counterattacking which means attacking before the attack hits you."


    "That''s what a counterattack means, sir."


    "..."


    "Ah! N-No offense, English is very tricky¡ª I apologize for¡ª"


    "Hmm¡­ None taken, teaching is very new to me."


    "Ah¡­ I see."


    "I will apologize in advance because what I know, I taught myself, so, it''ll be difficult for me to put it into words. I also found it difficult to teach so that''s why I only do it just now. But in essence, my core technique revolves around taking an attack squarely and directing it at the same spot."


    "Umm¡­ Isn''t that just a counterattack?"


    "No, no¡­ It''s¡­ Why don''t you try punching me?"


    "Are you sure?"


    "You can''t hurt me."


    "Ah, yes¡­"


    "Do one normally, one very fast, and one very strong. You can hit anywhere but face and body are preferred.."


    "Yes, sir."


    With that said, Jeremy took a normal orthodox stance as Artem stood normally but as Jeremy sent three of those punches, Artem never moved from his spot and showed signs of pain. And like what happened to me the first time I encountered Artem''s weird technique, Jeremy never looked so confused as he stared at his after thest attack, which was supposed to be the strong one.


    Artem looked at him nonchntly, "You see?"


    "I don''t¡­"


    "Good."


    "Huh?"


    "That''s the technique. You shouldn''t see how¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "But you think why. Good?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Now I''ll try on you¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! WAIT¡ª"


    Just with Artem''s "normal" punch, against a kid in his early 20s, Jeremy was so fucking lucky Artem didn''t break his nose since he managed to lean back and reduce the force of the blow¡ªalbeit a very small percentage¡ªbut it still knocked him in his ass because Artem followed through.


    But yeah, little did I know that June was also watching that unique interaction with me and she made a perfect reference from it:


    "Kinda weird to say this but isn''t this like the time when the Avatar''s getting taught to bend the Earth?"


    I nudged June''s arm with my elbow as I cackled, "Hah! That''s so~ true. They aren''t doing the same thing but the whole vibe is just like that. Artem just might be an Earthbender if we''re in that particr universe."


    "I see that too! Then you''re of the Air Temple because Sky''s your name?"


    "Pfft¡­ A little on the nose, isn''t it? Probably true."


    "Oh? I thought you''d be master of the four elements?"


    "Me? Maybe, sure, I can change the way I fight depending on the circumstances but I''d rather be my own thing while using techniques from each side. Like how Scarface''s uncle learned to redirect lightning through Waterbenders¡ª"


    "Psh, so you mean to say you''re the coolest one? Riiight~"


    "Heh, I didn''t say that. I said that I just use techniques from different people and make it my own. Being cool''s a totally different thing¡ª"


    "But it''s the coolest out of everything! It''s¡ª"


    "Okay, okay, you''re fucking stalling now. One morep around the course, you''ve rested long enough."


    "Why am I even here?!"


    "You came here, you fuck! Do what the Romans do!"


    "Argh~ I''m so not good at running! It''s so fucking hot!"


    "Then take off your jacket! You''re the only one not in proper training uniform!"


    "H-HELL NO! I JUST CAME HERE TO WATCH AND YOU DID THIS!"


    "Suit yourself~"


    ''She could just stop too if she wanted, heh. This would definitely take her mind off things though¡­''


    "I HATE YOU, YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    "YOU''RE TRAILING BEHIND EVERYONE, RUN FASTER! YOU''LL HIT THE MITTS AFTER THIS!"


    "WHAT?! EVEN MORE TRAINING?!"


    "THIS IS NOT EVEN TRAINING! THIS IS JUST AN ASSESSMENT! AN ASSESSMENT! I''LL FIGURE SHIT OUT NOW BEFORE YOUR PARENTS SHIP YOU OVER TO US!"


    "AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "THERE WE GO! LEARN TO CONSERVE YOUR ENERGY THOUGH!"


    "I DON''T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!"


    From then on, I was making astute observations of the four people we''d take with us and all I could say that aside from June, Jeremy, Cindy, and Eden just needed more fighting experience. This ce wasn''t a rehab center for nothing and the Physical Trainers who gave them their specialized programs made sure that their bodies were in very good condition.


    But yeah, that was totally different to a trainer who uses boxing to actually hit peoplepared to one that uses the same thing but for cardio.


    ''All I could say right now is that they just needed to get beat up more¡­ nothing less¡­''


    After a couple of hours or so, we were just about to end our training session when the old man, Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, came in with three people: two gentlemen and a middle-aged woman, looking around carefully. However, Cindy who looked like she''d pass out any moment jumped up in fright and his behind Quinn''s back.


    "What gives¡ª"


    "SHHH!"


    "Wha¨C Don''t shush me, you bish! I shush you!"


    "J-Just don''t move! I''m sorry!"


    "Hmm? Oh~ Is that how it is?"


    To my surprise, it seemed like some people from the Idress Maritime Academy came to visit us and one of them was this "Staff Sergeant" Cindy had a fling before. But yeah, it seemed more than just a fling because of the way Cindy was acting. In addition, this guy seemed to be looking for her but she was well hidden behind Quinn''srge frame.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before they made their way towards us but Mr. & Mrs. Dewey couldn''t believe that June participated in some physical activity.


    "June?!" they eximed at the same time.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-Water¡­ I''m¡­ Ha¡ª I''M DYING! Water please¡ª Ow! Why''d you toss it to me!"


    I facepalmed, "I thought you''d catch it! My bad¡ª"


    "I can barely lift my arms¡ª someone, please¡­ help."


    Easily enough, Kaley sat by her side and helped her take sips from the bottle slowly while the husband and wife were beaming as they looked at me.


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Is there something I did?"


    Mrs. Dewey nodded with a smile, "You did a whole lot! Thank you!"


    Mr. Dewey added, "It''s true¡­ I''d hate to say it but¡ª Umm¡ª"


    June cut in, "SHADDAP! I JUST GOT DRAGGED IN! THAT''S ALL!"


    Kaley tried to sit her up, "You''re drenched, you should really take off your¡ª"


    "N-No!"


    Kaley harrumphed, "Fine then! Let''s go to your room! I''ll make sure you get cleaned up!"


    "W-Wha¡ª I-I can do it myself!"


    "Nope! You''reing with me but you''re leading the way! Come on now!"


    "AHHH~ LET GO OFF ME! HOW ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"


    "You''re just too weak now but yeah, I also work out."


    "Help!" June eximed as she turned to me.


    "Not today, bucko¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    As June was dragged against her will, the older gentleman beside the Staff Sergeant found the right timing to step in and introduce himself to me with a handshake.


    "Greetings, young man, Mr. Ishiyama, was it? I''m rk Guzman, that''s our Staff Sergeant Mikee nco and this here''s our Technical Sergeant, Ms. Criselda Ng."


    I returned his handshake which was surprisingly not as tight as the previous ones I came across:


    "Nice to meet you three, I''m Sky Ishiyama, here''s my crew besides my wife¡­"


    As I introduced everybody, Quinn''s slight movement revealed Cindy''s whereabouts and the two just shared an intense staredown before Mr. nco got down on one knee and made his way to Cindy with a small velvet box.


    "Cindy Dewey, I¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1170: A bit off... - Carrot & the Stick

    Little did we know that our Staff Sergeant would propose then and there but let''s just say that Cindy put her training to actualization. From the brief second she screamed for dear life, she had already brought her right leg to the setup zone before it suddenly descended abruptly to point B, the "Middle Kick" destination¡ªor should I say Mr. nco''s head.


    "CINDY¡ª/ DEAR¡ª"


    Mr. & Mrs. Dewey were also shocked by the sudden proposal and they were only able to utter a word when Mikee''s head hit the floorpletely knocking him out¡ªwhile the small velvet boxically flew up in the air.


    In addition, Cindy had already made her way to the exit and no one was able to follow her¡ªexcept Jeremy, of course¡ªfrom the abrupt chaos and sudden quietness.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    But after a short bit, Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, along with Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng slowly turned their heads to me¡ªand I just thought of the worst reply.


    "I dunno about you guys but that''s a good kick."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Woah! I didn''t teach her that¡ª but that''s not important right now! Won''t anyone check on Mr. nco?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "That''s right¡ª Hon¡ª"


    "I¡ª On it!"


    Funnily enough, Mr. nco just sprang up as soon as Mrs. Dewey was about to check on him but as soon as his well-being was ounted for, Mr. Dewey looked like he grew a few more inches as he put his huge-ass hand on his shoulder and let out the most imposing aura without holding back.


    Then he spoke in a gruff tone, "So, you didn''te here to negotiate but to take my daughter''s hand, huh?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "Aren''t you supposed to go through me first?! WANT ME TO BREAK YOU IN HALF?!"


    "Ah¡ª I''m sorry! It was just¡ª"


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    "JUST WHAT?! YOU JUST WANTED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION?!"


    "I-I-I love your daughter, sir!"


    "BUT SHE CLEARLY ISN''T INTERESTED!"


    "S-She was just shocked¡ª"


    "WE ALL ARE, YOU IMBECILE! WHO PROPOSES OUT OF NOWHERE?!"


    "I-Isn''t that how it''s supposed to work?!"


    "YOU FUCKING TALK BACK?!"


    "Ack¡ª My shoulder, sir! It''s¡ª"


    "WHAT ABOUT IT?!"


    "N-Nothing¡ª gGhk!"


    Mrs. Dewey had to interfere, "Dear, that''s enough."


    "Hmm."


    "Aren''t we supposed to do something else?"


    Mr. Dewey finally let go of Mr. nco, "Fine," but he still stared him down with a deathly expression, "I''m watching you, you punk. Watch your fucking step or else I''ll squeeze¡­ harder."


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­" Mr. nco quickly made his way to Mr. Guzman''s side as he massaged his shoulder.


    With that said, instead of Kaley, Tatiana came with me to the same office where we discussed things earlier but never did I think that Quinn would alsoe in for a "conversation" among group leaders. However, just her being there was making the people from the Idress Academy sweat bullets while it had a lesser effect on Mr. & Mrs. Dewey for obvious reasons.


    ''Quinn''s still bigger but he''s¡­ wider? Let''s just say he needs to go on a cut¡­''


    Then Mrs. Dewey let out a smile as she turned to the two, "I''m sorry but we haven''t been properly introduced, you two are his officers or something?"


    And again, like their supreme leader, these two couldn''t think of a much better reply:


    Tatiana started, "I''m his mistress/bodyguard."


    "Ah¡ª"


    Quinn followed with a straight face as she pointed at her tattoo, "Can''t you see? I''m wife #4."


    "AH¡ª"


    I facepalmed and turned to Mrs. Dewey as Oscar struggled to control hisughter, "I''ll apologize on behalf of these two, we do joke around to relieve some tension, ahaha¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey waved me off, "N-No, no¡­ I''m well aware of rtionships like that and I apologize for my reaction."


    Quinn''s ears perked up as she smiled, "Oh? You''re a progressive mom. I like that. It''s cool."


    "T-Thank you¡­ So¡­ Is it true though?"


    Quinn chuckled, "Nah, we''re just messing around¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Ahaha¡­ That''s¡ª"


    "I''m technically not Wife#4 but I think I''m that number regards to our unofficial ranking¡ª"


    I had to cut in, "QUINN!"


    "What? The nicedy asked so¡ª"


    Mr. Dewey cleared his throat as he stared at us before turning to his wife, "Dear, isn''t it inappropriate to discuss such things in a semi-private setting? Besides, we have guests unrted to this matter and the young man''s clearly ufortable with it. Me as well!"


    Mrs. Dewey let out an apologetic smile, "I¡­ Well, I apologize. I do get carried away so if we could continue our discussion and bottle the embarrassment for a few minutes, that''ll be great¡­ Who''ll start?"


    Mr. Guzman cleared his throat, "Can I?"


    "Of course."


    "Haaa¡­ I mean, this day''s the weirdest it''s been and I thought hundreds of people storming THAT airport was the craziest thing we''d see in a while but¡­ I digress, I''m¡ª We''re here to meet with you all for the eptance of this alliance and we just hope that our Staff Sergeant''s actions didn''t do anything that bad to sully our rtionship¡­ We do apologize for his actions as well¡­"


    Mr. nco nodded, "T-That''s correct¡­ I do apologize for my actions and if there are any sanctions, please direct them all to me and not the group I''m with¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I chuckled, "It made meugh, so¡­ A little weird, sure but you should probably talk more with Mr. Dewey privately."


    "Of course," he nodded as he turned to Mr. Dewey, "If you''d allow me, I already made arrangements to show you how serious I am and I''ll stay here for as long as it takes¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey cut him off, "About that¡­"


    "Pardon?"


    "Our daughter would being with Mr. Ishiyama for two weeks¡ª"


    I had to cut in as well, "Umm¡­ Mrs. Dewey, it seemed like Cindy wanted an extension on that. I''m not sure about the other three but she''s keen on learning from Tatiana. She''s the best instructor in our fold."


    Tatiana rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Before you, you mean¡ª"


    Mr. nco further bowed to Mr. Dewey, "That''s¡ª I''m here to seek your approval, sir¡­ And Mrs. Dewey''s as well¡­ I see no problem staying here while she''s away and gathering her thoughts."


    Mrs. Dewey smiled, "Again, this should be done in private¡ª"


    "Ah. Again, apologies¡­"


    I waved them off with a smile, "Alright, with that out of the way, can I ask how you three got here despite that weirdms?"


    Ms. Ng''s brows furrowed, "Weirdms?"


    "I mean, we aren''t sure if you''re really serious about talking with us so¡­"


    Mr. Guzman answered, "You should understand our position. We don''t want any confrontation with your group¡ªespecially with that size and firepower¡ªbut as we were called very recently by Mrs. Dewey to vouch for your¡­ genuine-ness and umm¡­ generous-ness, we came as fast as we could to pursue this alliance."


    Oscar shook his head, "Sounds to me that you''re just looking for a handout."


    "That''s¡­ While it''s true on all ounts, it doesn''t deny the fact that we could offer our services for any excess goods you mighte upon or¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Sounds to me that you''re just offering merc'' work."


    Oscar nodded, "That''s right. The way you''re putting it doesn''t sound like you want an alliance."


    "P-Pardon?"


    At that moment, I didn''t think that conversation would lead to that but I kind of understand the part Oscar and Quinn were ying. To bepletely honest, I''d rather we go the straight path but it was kind of weird how Mr. Guzman put emphasis on how generous we were in giving away scarce resources to a group such as Mr. & Mrs. Dewey''s.


    Then again, Oscar might''ve already discussed something with Mr. & Mrs. Dewey beforehand because they know full well how we had an honest talk with them, and this time, it looked like we were pressing Mr. Guzman out of nowhere.


    ''Let''s just see how it goes¡­''


    Oscar continued, "Look, I don''t mean this in a bad way but this couple and what this ce stands for meant a lot for our group and we made sure to be just as generous when we met with them for the first time."


    "That''s¡­"


    "With you guys, WE did call you to have a talk face-to-face but you don''t start with how generous we are right out the bat then offer services when we called you out. That''s just bad business. And it''s disingenuous,pletely opposite to where you ced us."


    I decided to cut a bit of the tension, "That''s what that word literally means in the opposite¡ª"


    Oscar "looked" angry at me, "I know how words work. I''m just making a point, kid."


    I shrugged my shoulders as I yed my part as the carrot, "Look, old man¡­ It''s been very stressful for these people and how it came out just might''ve been in the wrong order. What if they meant to offer services for stuff and they just wanted a bit of a top-up for a job well done?"


    Oscar shook his head again, "But it didn''te out that way. It''s just awful¡ª"


    I then turned to Mr. Guzman who looked like he was more than willing to talk to me instead, "Why don''t we start over?"


    Mr. Guzman nodded a few times, "That''s¡ª I''ll be grateful but then again, if my words came a bit off, I do apologize for that¡­"


    I nodded, "Old man?"


    Oscar was just eyeing him as he muttered, "Colonel."


    I rolled my eyes, "Colonel? Shall we?"


    "Go ahead."


    Then I smiled as I turned to the three, "Alright, I think you already know the ces we''ve upied but we only know about the academy itself and the bunker¡ªand you know this ce already belonged to Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, care to share more information?"

 Chapter 1171: Get Everything Straight - Care to explain?

    As the three turned to each other, Ms. Ng was the one who first looked at me and gave a reply:


    "Very well, it''s only proper for us to give you a general idea of the territories we upy but do understand that even if we''re in a would-be alliance, we can''t just divulge everything. However, do know that we''ll give our word that what we''re telling you after this will be the absolute truth. Is that eptable?"


    On that note, not to copy what they did¡ª no, we totally fucking did, the four of us looked at each other for a moment before I replied:


    "Very eptable."


    "Then¡ª"


    "But do know our ''generous-ness'' would greatly vary from the solid information we''d get."


    Mr. Guzman asked, "What does that mean?"


    "I''ll tell you straight. We were generous enough to give this ce a solid top-up and a mutually beneficial partnership that hopefullysts a lifetime, but do know that as much as we love a harmonious rtionship with our neighbors, it should be a give-and-take rtionship, no?"


    "We do understand that¡ª"


    "Then again, we''ll give you some stuff we have in excess but we''re wondering how we could mutually benefit each other. With this ce, it''s plenty obvious that having people in the medical field is indispensable¡ªand don''t get me wrong, a pair of hands is a pair of hands but what I''m asking is if you''d have anything else that might sweeten the deal for ya?"


    "We¡­" Mr. Guzman paused for a moment before he turned to Ms. Ng, "Should we?"


    Ms. Ng nced at me before she took a few seconds to ponder while looking straight at the coffee table, "I¡­ Hmm¡­" And after a few more seconds, she turned to me with a regretful smile as she opened her mouth:


    "Unfortunately, don''t take this as an offense and us a little mistrusting of your desire to obtain more valuable information from us¡ª but as you''ve established yourselves as people, decent people, who had no ill intentions towards us or any other group who''d be willing to sit down and talk like civilized men and women, please do understand our intent to withhold such information to ourselves¡­ as of this moment currently."


    I let out a smile: Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    "So you''re saying what you''re keeping between yourselves is that important we need to show our hands first? Is that it?"


    "That''s..."


    "That''s what it sounded to me, no offense."


    "I¡ª N-None taken¡­"


    "None taken as well. And it should be a given, honestly. We''re the new kids on the block, you should be that careful in revealing sensitive information about yourselves. Besides all you know about us is that we''re generous people and had control of three major spots in this area."


    "..."


    "Look, one of the reasons you might be wary of us is that there are other people who braved the waters just to get to this little archipgo of ours. And for some reason, whatever bullshit they spouted nted something in anyone who heard them speak so now, people like you guys are deathly afraid of us.


    Then again, we ARE dangerous and we HAVE the means to deal with a few hundred or even a thousand people in less than an hour¡ªfuck it, a minute, if we so wanted but we didn''t. Aren''t we here to hash things out and talk like civilized folk?"


    "..."


    "But yeah, you''re very wee to keep your secrets because we all have them but do be careful when you hear random shit about people you never met. It can be true and it can be false but what''s important is getting it right by getting all the facts straight. And by some chance youe across those people, do give us a call and we''ll take care of them.


    We don''t need people who sow discord just for a night''s rest, a hot meal, or whatever the fuck they requested for a ''friendly'' warning¡­"


    Mr. nco nced at the two before he exhaled with a smile:


    "I dunno about you two but we should tell them. We''ve been in close contact with this ce for years and if they vouch for them, that''s good enough for me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tell us what?"


    From then on, Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng looked at each other for a moment before they both let out a sigh. After that, Ms. Ng turned to me once again with a difficult expression:


    "There''s this¡­ There''s this group we have in contact with further south, in the municipality of Morong. A few days in between the arrival of the ships in the Marine Base, we''ve received word that they just took in a group of mixed foreigners speaking about the horrors they faced and the warning we should all heed."


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "So you fucks just believed them just like that?"


    Ms. Ng shook her head, "It''s not like we believe everything we hear but that group''s just as tight-knit as ours and they have no reason to lie to us. In addition, not everyone from that fishing vessel survived and only a few were lucky enough to live past the malnourishment, injuries, and whatnot but who just pops out of nowhere to say those things in their dying breaths?"


    I nodded, "There''s merit in that logic, sure, but that''s why we''re also trying to clear from our side. It''s not like the US Navy were the only ones who took to the waters because the dead can''t fucking swim, no?


    In addition, what I wanted to aplish is to have a recorded statement from all these people trying to smear dirt in our name¡ª because I''m not sure if you know but there are other groups who made it into our soil but chose to dock somewhere else. They could be talking about another group entirely and we just took the me because we''re the most eye-catching."


    "We''re¡­ We''re not aware of that¡­"


    I continued, "In any case, we''d like to ask for that same favor because if you have contact with more people further south or further north¡ªanywhere along the coast, honestly¡ªwe''d like to know what were the exact descriptions of the people or the ship or vessels that did those things to them.


    Because in a few days, the Admiral will go back to the US with a portion of their group and they could easily take care of them with their weapons. We just needed to know where should we direct their cannons, metaphorically speaking."


    Oscar added, "Because honestly speaking, if WE were the ones who did it, there''d be no survivors. They''d all be sunk into the bottom of the ocean and there''d be no chance in hell they''d be able to safely dock somewhere else. It''s a conspiracy against us if anything. Why''d they have to spread around? So we can''t track them with our fighter jets? Please."


    "That''s¡­ Alright, we''ll get into contact with our allies and we''ll inform you of what we uncover. Is there anything else?"


    At that point, it looked like a huge rock was taken off their boots as they were able to converse more freely but yeah, their living situation was the same as everyone else that was surviving currently.


    And with how we dealt with the most popted area of this region, we basically saved them a ton of bullets and solved a lot of their problems because their focus would fall on rebuilding and making connections with more people or further solidifying them.


    And to my fucking surprise, they had some unconventional protein source that they''ve been taking advantage of¡ªwhich was totally not human meat, by the way¡ªand let''s just say that it came from the zoo only a few miles south of their main base location.


    Quinn eximed, "Crocodiles?!"


    I chuckled, "You haven''t had them yet?"


    "Only alligators."


    I chuckled, "Tastes the same, honestly. Leaner meat too, I might add¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Mr. nco with a sparkle in her eye, "W-What else do you have in stock?!"


    Mr. nco scratched the back of his head as he looked down then back at us, "Of course¡­ We also had alligators, ostriches, frogs, possums, kangaroos, the list goes on¡­ The caretakers of the zoo did try to keep them alive as much as possible but we''re now only left with ostriches, crocs, and frogs because those were the only ones that caretaker could confidently, you know, take care of."


    Mr. Guzman chuckled,pletely surprised about our reactions, "We did capture a few pheasants and some quail for their eggs but crocodile eggs are too weird for me, texture-wise."


    As this was happening, I failed to notice the eerie smile Mrs. Dewey was wearing and we realized toote when Mr. Dewey cleared his throat to bring attention to it. But yeah, it seemed like they were trading way back then and they didn''t know the kind of meat they were receiving in exchange.


    I chuckled, "Oh, you guys are fucked."


    Mrs. Dewey turned to her daughter''s prospective husband, "Care to exin more?"

 Chapter 1172: We need to talk about June...

    Long story short, Mr. nco, our "Staff Sergeant" was in the negatives in terms of his approval rating to have a chance of requesting Cindy''s hand in marriage¡ªbut joking aside, I wasn''t even sure if they were actually dating.


    He definitely skipped some steps or thought they were already on that level and if actions could speak louder than words, that kick in the head told me that it was pretty one-sided.


    But yeah, we talked for more specifics regarding our recently established alliance, and since they have to pass by the airport to get back to their ce, they''ll receive their goodie bag once they drive back with us a littleter.


    And in regards to Mr. & Mrs. Dewey and their children, since four of them would being with us¡ªI already asked them about June, and they agreed¡ªthey requested to cook us dinner and have a meal together with everyone.


    It was decided we''d all gather at the cafeteriater at around 6 PM, but as I was about to check in on Kaley and June with Quinn and Tatiana, Mrs. Dewey took me aside while Mr. Dewey just gave us a nce before he left the room. In addition, Mrs. Dewey looked like she wanted to talk to me privately so despite the look on Quinn''s face, I asked them to let us have the room.


    I waited for them to close the door behind them before I turned to Mrs. Dewey, "Something wrong?"


    "Not exactly but is the umm¡­ rtionship you have with your ''wife'' and these two otherdies¡ª Tatiana and Quinn real or not?"


    I was slightly confused, "It is but¡­ why do you ask?"


    Mrs. Dewey looked like she had a ton of things on her mind but she exhaled before she spoke, "Look¡­ Umm¡­ I have some concerns regarding June. And before you say anything and I say more, I want to preface this by I appreciate what you did for her¡­ June''s never been that open to talking to other people she just met and with Mrs.


    Rose''s passing, we thought she''d just hole up in her room again to y on her devices¡­"


    I softly exhaled, "That''s something any normal person should do, no?"


    She let out a smile, "That''s true and should be the standard, I guess, but June''s a little special¡­"


    I nodded, "She is."


    ''She''s in the same hacker group as na¡­''


    Mrs. Dewey''s eyebrows rose in surprise, "You already know?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Oh."


    "Why? What''s wrong? Hold up¡ª" I put my hand in front of her as I tried to see if we were on the same subject, "Looking at your face, we might be referring to two different things."


    Mrs. Dewey grew curious as she looked at my facial expressions, "What do YOU know that I don''t?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Young man¡­"


    "Look¡­ There are just some secrets that even their parents shouldn''t know about, right? I don''t wanna assume but with Mrs. Rose, she probably had secrets with June too."


    She let out a long sigh, "I''m afraid you''re right¡­ There''s no denying that and as much as I would''ve hated to say this, they were closer than I''m with her¡ªeven with her dad or her siblings. Do you know that Mrs. Rose is blind?"


    "...! That''s¡­ That''s why she reads to her almost everyday¡­"


    "Not almost¡­ Every. Single. Day. To be honest, June doesn''t even like reading that much. She just did it for Mrs. Rose because in rtion to what you said, she just needed a person to talk to who is not one of her rtives."


    "..."


    "And after she reads or her for a couple of hours, it''s time for June to just talk about anything she wanted with Mrs. Rose, and in turn, Mrs. Rose would give her insights or stories from her life as well. They just talk like that for half a day without pause and it''s just the sweetest form of friendship ever despite the differences they have with each other¡­"


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    "I see¡­ That''s really nice."


    Then Mrs. Dewey''s face looked solemn, "And the¡­ And the reason I''m telling you all this is because you seem to be her new friend right now. Don''t worry, you''re not meant to rece Mrs. Rose in any way but¡­ but do know that¡­ that umm¡ª"


    "She''s trans?"


    "...! Then you already know¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "I don''t, actually¡­ well not 100% but with the way this conversation is going and how my eyes usually operate¡ªeven my untrustworthy gut instincts, including her small slip-up, I had my suspicions¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey was just staring at me in silence for a few moments before sheposed herself, "Umm¡­ Well¡ª That''s uh¡­ Technically speaking umm¡ª Huh. Wait, how do your eyes operate?"


    "Umm¡­ Not to sound like a creep or a pervert, but I see things notmonly seen unless normal people squint and observe for a long time normally¡ªand even with fully clothed people, I could somehow predict where each¡­ part¡­ is located with 90% certainty, give or take.


    And with how my brain works, I''ll see one thing and I could remember it for a lifetime, making me able to ce it in apartment of sorts in my mind pce for further examination or for running diagnostics among other things¡­ including other stuff I scanned with these eyes of mine¡­"


    "Huh¡­"


    "I don''t know if you''ll believe me but¡ª"


    "I¡­ I don''t see a reason why you''d lie¡­ I believe you."


    "Thanks?"


    "..."


    "...also¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I¡­ Is she on HRT or something? She¡ª again, I don''t wanna sound like a creep but¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey let out a soft chuckle, "She doesn''t ''look'' the type?"


    "I mean¡­ the voice, her physique, everything. Unless she''s been on it for a while and has the best people looking after her, she might also be you know¡­ Intersex or¡ª I''m not sure about the right terms but there are differences and¡ª"


    "You''re really scaring me right now, you know that?"


    "Huh?"


    She chuckled with a gentle smile, "You''re saying things I was just about to say out loud. Are you psychic?"


    "Hah! That''s funny, Kaley''s the one usually¡ª OH SHIT! KALEY!" I never stood up so fast.


    "W-What? What''s wrong?!"


    "SHE¡ª" I shook my head as I slowly sat back down, "No¡­ She''s probably fine¡­ She just took a shower with her¡ª She probably knew by now, is that okay?"


    Mrs. Dewey sighed softly, "They''re both women and I don''t think your wife would be that surprised. She doesn''t seem the type, you know?"


    I nodded, "She''s the coolest person I know about these things and I don''t think you should worry about it. If she hadn''t discovered June''s secret already, she''s probably apologizing to her profusely because she did drag her against her will. Kaley has a¡­ let''s just say a higher ''drive'' in that sort of thing but she respects boundaries of people, especially if it''s people she just met¡­"


    ''Not counting that other time¡­ It''s cool for me though¡­''


    "Your wife, Kaley, I mean¡­ Is she¡­ Is she okay with this arrangement of yours?"


    "Ah¡­ I don''t wanna call it the word ''me'' but she started it¡­ it''s been pretty great, actually¡ªnot to sound like I''m bragging or anything¡ªbut openmunication''s been our bread and butter. Actually, uhh¡­ we just had a major discussion just yesterday and it went pretty well if I say so myself¡­"


    With that said, I gave Mrs. Dewey a gist of what we talked about yesterday and the few things I could share with a random person regarding our special arrangement with other people. At first, Mrs. Dewey looked a little concerned for her daughters, especially Eden who she admitted was some sort of a caged bird wanting to spread her wings and fly, but let''s just say that Quinn calling Mrs.


    Dewey a progressive mom couldn''t be more true.


    Because with the extra time we had left, we discussed about safe practices, things specific to our circle, and most importantly, the chance that her daughters might get tangled with us in the time that they''d spent with us.


    "You¡­ You''re really cool speaking like this?"


    "Of course, are you?"


    "A little weird, sure, but do understand we aren''t gunning for everyone, okay? It''s just if we vibe or something and it clicks, we try and go from there. It could be a one-time thing or something more but our line is that Kaley and I are like this, *squeezes fists together* you know?"


    She snorted, "Apes together strong? Really?"


    "I¡­ I can''t think of a better example but yeah¡­ something like that."


    "Okay, I think I do understand but onest question before we leave this room¡­"


    "Okay, I''m all ears."


    "June¡­ How about her?"


    "Umm¡­ I¡ª"


    "I already know that you''re the only guy in your special arrangement¡ªwhich says a lot of things about your¡­ physical prowess¡­ but then again, June''s a special case, right? Since lines were getting blurred and all if she gets involved¡­ You said it yourself, she doesn''t ''look'' like one and technically isn''t one either but¡­ you get what I mean?"

 Chapter 1173: WHAT IF SHES BIGGER THAN ME?!

    Dropping this question right in my face¡ªespeciallying from June''s mother, just made me go back to the time Kaley and I first talked about this sort of topic. Unfortunately, I put it to the side because the honest truth was¡ªlike the things only Kaley and I were slowly experimenting on¡ªwere things I still wasn''t sure of myself.


    I fucking know those things were simply subject-adjacent with each other but my brain seemed to be running on all cylinders even though I wasn''t even sure what I should use it for.


    But yeah, I don''t want to get into the specifics of it but that was just where my brain was heading to.


    ''Do I find June attractive? S-Sure. Do we vibe? Of course! And¡ª A-And¡­ Umm¡­ Would I befortable doing sexual things with her? Depends on the acts¡ª and most importantly, will I befortable with her doing sexual things with Kaley?


    Again, depends on the act itself but¡ª AHHHHHHHHH!!!''


    As I was having an inner turmoil with my thoughts, I forgot I looked like I was just staring into dead space from Mrs. Dewey''s perspective. However, she was giving me enough time to process my thoughts which was for some reason, making her let out an involuntary smile but then again, I quickly found my solution to this problem and it was very simple at the moment:


    This was the type of thing I can''t decide on my own.


    Granted there were aspects I could decide on myself but as a whole, it should at least be decided by the parties involved and would-be involved, depending on the circumstances.


    ''I''m not even sure if June would be up for it but¡ª Ah¡­ She did get excited meeting me¡ª n-not that type of excited but¡ª Hmm¡­ I felt those soft pair for sure but the lower¡ª Argh! I can''t even think straight¡ª Fuck?! Really, Sky?! Can''t even think ''STRAIGHT''?! REALLY?!


    Haa¡­ If anything¡­ Kaley''d be crying tears of joy if¡ª Haaa¡­ I really should talk to them first about this¡­ Just in case but I don''t wanna assume¡ª Haaa¡­'' Readtest stories on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    And as I was talking to myself for the second time and looking into the abyss, I just thought of something even more dreadful but instead of just voicing it in my head, it was suddenly put into abrupt words:


    "WHAT IF SHE''S BIGGER THAN ME?!" I said fucking out loud.


    Mrs. Dewey never looked so shocked, "Umm¡ª What?!"


    "Did I just say that out loud?"


    "Yes."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "I¡ª I''m sorry, I shouldn''t think like that of¡ª"


    She waved me off, "No worries, hun¡­ It''s a moremon thing than you think."


    "For real?"


    "It''s just that it''s the first time I heard someone say it to my face first. June''s reserved as she is but she does have many inte friends. I''m not sure about the specifics but sometimes, June would also talk to me about stuff and it''s one of those things that woulde up¡­"


    "Seriously? Come up? Are you¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey was caught off-guard as she chuckled, "Oh¡ª I didn''t mean to say it like that but it''s a happy ident¡ª I¡ª I''m gonna stop¡­"


    "Yeah, there''s one other question I want to ask but¡ª"


    "Then ask away, isn''t this the right time to ask those questions?"


    I shook my head, "No, sorry. As much as I would''ve loved to know everything from the get-go, I think I should just talk to them¡ª no offense to you, of course, Mrs. Dewey. You''ve been a great help and very understanding of my inadequacies. I''m plenty sure you could''ve answered any of my questions but I think it would be better if I ask them myself, no?"


    "That''s true, but offending me? Gosh, that''s nonsense! You''ve been really great, actually¡­ So¡­"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I''ll think I''ll look for them now."


    "Alright, see youter young man. Take care!"


    On that note, Mrs. Dewey told me exactly where June''s room was, and from a quick check-in with Kaley through our radio channel, she told me toe quickly for some reason. There was this unbelievable excitement in her voice but I still walked at a normal pace as I made my way towards the two.


    It''s because I still needed to figure out the things running through my head but I still found the time too short even if time flows differently inside my mind pce.


    However, as soon as I knocked on the door and Kaley told me toe in right after, time felt like it slowed down again as I saw Kaley smiling from ear to ear:


    "What do you think?! Ah¡ª What do you think, boy?" Kaley suddenly lowered her voice to a slightly deeper register as she gave me this serious domineering look.


    To my surprise, Kaley was rocking some sort of wedding-adjacent dress turned into a gothic outfit: a tight¡ªvery tight¡ªcorset-like top¡ªwith leather straps and shiny buckles¡ªthat was pushing her tits up, exposing almost half of them out, and showing the contrast between the ck dress and her white skin.


    In addition, the bottom part had this cascading stylebined with the style of her top¡ªlike a pagoda had with itsyers but it had this high slit to the right side which exposed one side of her smooth legs and supple skin.


    And aside from the spiky tform shoes, Kaley was wearing these spiked bangles on her wrists and this jet-ck choker around her neck while her hair was in this simple ponytail where one side was braided tightly while the other had bangs to the side.


    Obviously, her makeup was on fucking point as well with the ck lipstick and the eyeliner but what almost pushed me off the edge was this fake tattoo sleeve of a tribal dragon coiling on her right arm. Even if it wasn''t an eastern dragon like mine, it still looked fucking sick and cool, it merged different styles into this Asian Gothic-Punk look.


    ''W-What am I here for, again? Ah, fuck! Right! Right! Here I go¡­ Dammit! Why''d she have to look like this?!''


    Seeing all that, it was safe to say that I was stunned in fucking ce, and if June¡ªwho was wearing basically the same type of clothes as earlier¡ªwasn''t here, I would''ve taken Kaley right then and there.


    But yeah, seeing me in such a state, Kaley quickly broke character as she puffed air in one of her cheeks as she cutely red at me:


    "I said what do you think, you doofus!"


    "I¡ª Uh¡ª U-Umm¡ª It''s¡ª Ah¡ª"


    "Pfft! Good enough. Right, June?!"


    June chuckled from the bed, "Yup! You do look really great tho! I can''t believe you got into my clothes¡ª Well not all of YOU but you managed to get in there! Can you even breathe normally?!"


    Kaley shook her head as she chuckled, "Barely! But yeah! Who would''ve thought you were hiding all that under your clothes?! You should show some skin from time to time!"


    June instinctively crossed her arms as she kept her legs shut, "You! S-Shut up! Despite all this, I''m still mad at you! You¡ª U-Umm¡­ you, uhm¡­ I¡ª W-We s-should tell him, right?"


    Kaley''s smile turned solemn as she nodded a few times. And after that, she slowly turned to me and looked apologetic as she opened her mouth:


    "Look, ummm¡­ we had a uhh¡­ an a-ident¡ª But we didn''t do anything! I swear! O-Once I umm¡ª knew that umm¡­ that, she¡ª uhh¡ª Look¡­" Kaley then turned to June once again, "Do you really want me to be the one to tell him?"


    As I turned to June as well, she also looked like a nervous wreck but as she nodded one final time for confirmation, Kaley leaned in to me with a face full of concern. However, right as she was about to drop the bomb on me, I pulled her close to my side and smiled at both of them solemnly:


    "I¡­ I already know."


    "Oh¡­ Then¡ª I swear I¡ª"


    I cut her off, "You don''t have to say anything, alright? I do trust you... But then again¡­ I¡­" I trailed as I looked straight at June as well, "I want us three to talk. I had an honest talk with Mrs. Dewey and it brought me to the time when *looking at Kaley* we first talked about this topic before¡­"


    June and Kaley nodded as they nced at each other, "Sure¡­/ Of course¡­"


    "Alright¡­ But before that¡­ I do have one very, VERY important question though¡­"


    June subconsciously cleared her throat as she kept eye contact, "I-I''ll answer anything¡­"


    Then I dropped my own bomb in front of them:


    "Real talk. Are you bigger than me?"


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as I fucking said that, I could hear the wall clock ticking but it just turned toplete chaos right as I tried to ask the same thing:


    "June, I asked you a very simple¡ª Ow! ACK! ArcK! Kaley! What the fu¡ª"


    "YOU DOOFUS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE BEING FUCKING SENSITIVE AND SERIOUS AND YOU COME UP WITH THAT?!"


    "IT''S AN HONEST QUESTION! AND STOP HITTING ME! YOU''LL RUIN YOUR DRESS!"


    "I-I DON''T¡ª IT''S NOT ABOUT THE DRESS, YOU DOOFUS!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU GUYS ARE TOO MUCH! OH MY GOD, I''M CRYING!"


    To our surprise, June just started dyingughing as she tried to cover her mouth with her hands but just theplete randomness of my fucking statement sent her over the edge as she cried actual tears fromughing too much. However, as we eventually shared a good honestugh with each other, June just looked at me with a smile before she opened her mouth.


    "About that¡­"

 Chapter 1174: Labels - I-I’ll… I-I’ll show you mine if you s-show me yours…

    At this point, June and Kaley shared a nce again but June turned back to me with a¡ªsurprisingly enough, a very chill expression. It seemed like the two came to some sort of understanding but it didn''t take long before she told me that they had almost the same conversation I had with Mrs. Dewey.


    "Kaley and I have a good talk after uhh¡­ she saw ''me'', so¡­ as we stated, we didn''t do anything and we showered separately¡ª"


    "Then?"


    "Then what?" June asked as she slightly tilted her head.


    "Y-You know¡­" I trailed as I looked a few degrees lower.


    "Ah¡ª Pfft! Do you really want to know?!" June chuckled as she looked at me with sparkling eyes.


    I nodded sheepishly, "It''s¡­ It''s that important¡­ to me, at least¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Why though?"


    June nodded, "Yeah, why? It''s not like¡ª"


    Kaley''s eyes suddenly went wide, "U-Unless¡­"


    June was confused for a slight bit before realization struck as well, "Unless¡ª Oh¡­ Oh! I¡ª Umm¡ª I, uhh¡­ Hmm¡ª A-ARE YOU IMPLYING WHAT I THINK YOU''RE IMPLYING?!"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Umm¡­ Why don''t we three sit down and have an honest talk?"


    June just looked straight into my eyes for a moment before she smiled and nodded, "Sure, I already told Kaley so¡­ I can''t believe I''m doing this but¡ª It''s a scary-good kind of thing, you know? But kind of liberating at the same time, so yeah¡­ I''m¡ª"


    At that point, June gave us¡ª or should I say, just me at this point, a very detailed exnation of¡­ of her.


    From what I understood, she was born with both genitalia, ssifying her as being Intersex, but since she was born into this hospital that the Deweys owned, instead of assigning her a legal sex by means of surgery¡ªwhich was the "normal" but controversial thing to do in these types of cases¡ªMrs. Dewey decided to hold it off until June could decide for herself.


    "H-Honestly, I really thought I was just a very weird boy at first but puberty came and I started growing t-tits¡­"


    I asked, "Why are you a weird boy if you just¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "You¡­ You better listen first¡­"


    "Right, sorry¡­ continue, please¡­" I said as I turned back to June.


    June just shook her head as she chuckled, "Well~ To answer your question, I found myself ''weird'' when I discovered that I don''t have any¡­ umm¡­ you, know those two things that should be hanging below my¡­ you know¡­"


    "Oh¡­ then¡ª"


    "Instead¡­ I¡­ I have umm¡­ ''lips''¡­ under there where the inside gets¡­ you know, w-when I get aroused¡ª e-excited, I mean, and umm¡­ but I don''t have that l-little bean that''s very s-sensitive to touch like every normal woman does¡­ But yeah, I dunno why but my¡­ boy part is extra, extra sensitive¡ªprobablypensating for something missing, you know?"


    "You know your body pretty well then?"


    "Yes¡­ Mom told me about my condition very early on and exined things even if I couldn''t understand most of them at the time¡­ She kept on though and I explored myself because there are very few books¡ªor none at all that could best describe what I am down there because my condition''s unique as is¡­"


    "I see¡­ It''s not a condition if you''re referring to it as a disease or something¡­ It''s just biology, no?"


    June let out a warm smile as she chuckled, "I dunno about that¡­ History suggested otherwise, but thank you, I may not be the exact same as the people who are like me¡­ But still, I''m very happy and thankful that Mom decided to hold off on the affirmation surgery at the time.


    I still have a, umm¡­ a slightly smaller p-penis¡ªto answer your question, and it does ''work''¡ªbut you know, inside my head, I still see myself as a woman¡­ not to sound too woke-ish or anything¡­"


    "No at all¡­ You''re just exining yourself, no?"


    June shrugged her shoulders, "A lot of people use a lot of buzzwords to identify and such and they get too mad when people new to the billion terms get it wrong but what they don''t get is that everyone makes mistakes. But at the same time, people don''t have the same views as each other. It''s just sad when I think about it more but isn''t it simpler if they just refer to everyone by their names?"


    I nodded, "That''s one way, of course, but people do get hung up onbels. The world offers a ton of information that could make any normal person insane if they take it all in¡ªaside from me, heh, because I''m already insane¡ª hol'' up, yeah, that''s probably why I''m slightly psycho so¡­ Where was I going again?"


    "The ton of information thingy, pfft¡­" June said as she slowly ced her arms by herp, sitting cross-legged.


    "Yeah, that one¡­ In my opinion,bels are used to create some semnce of order since we could call something, someone, or a collection that particr term easily but with how each individual in your particr spectrum is¡­ it just makesbeling much, much harder and confusing."


    "T-That''s true¡­"


    "It breeds a lot of chaos because some people couldn''t keep up or just straight-up deny your existence¡ªand at the same time, more and more specific terms keep getting added on because of different nuances, totally different to what people were used to for several years, but then again, it''s getting more personal and more unique to each person, more so to the fact that it was getting more difficult to just call them by their names¡­"


    "It''s just a way we could voice out that we''re also here but it just gets too personal for just that one part of one''s existence. There should be more than what we''re ''supposed'' to be called, right?


    That shouldn''t be the only thing to define us¡­ I know I''m different but I stick to a term that''s simpler because there''s more to me than being called my sex, gender, gender identity, you know the whole convoluted thing people fight about¡­"


    "I agree with that but yeah, existing¡ª don''t you fucking exist already? Seeing you right here is already proof, not tiptoeing around things I should and shouldn''t refer to you as. In addition, since you mentioned that you don''t fall into any of thoseplexbels while identifying as a woman¡­"


    "Go on¡­"


    "It might make it sound easier¡ªand don''t get mad at me on this but¡­ isn''t it anotheryer to take into ount due to how unique everyone is? How unique you are, me, Kaley, and everyone in this world. So in a sense,bels could onlybel so much if you think about it but it loses its meaning¡ªto make things simple and identifiable¡ªif we focus on it too much¡­"


    "...! That''s¡­ It''s kinda sweet though¡­ hearing these things from you¡­"


    I lightly smiled, "If we''re talking about me, I''d easily fall into very simple categories but if we dig a little deeper, I have a ton ofyers too¡­ It''s just that¡­ Hmm¡­ In the grand scheme of things, I think if we don''t get too extreme about it,bels do make everyone''s life easier but I also think we should not get too hung up on it from both sides, of course.


    People are people and you''re right, we could always stick to people''s names but it also wouldn''t hurt to be a little understanding, again, from both sides. We have a lot more problems than that¡­"


    "..." June and Kaley nodded slowly.


    I continued, "It''s definitely gonna be a ton of work to incorporate that but whaddayouknow, we just had a restart of sorts a year ago, so¡­ we could just leave it as is or add a few rows of information but not get too extreme or hung up about it¡­ I can''t believe how much I''m saying that phrase¡­ And again, some people don''t need to prove their existence because they already do and don''t get me wrong, everyone is special, of course, but there should be a bnce between things¡­ But yeah¡­ While we''re still on the topic¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Are you bigger than me or what¡ª OW! WHAT GIVES?! I AM CURIOUS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KALEY, STOP HITTING HIM!"


    "BUT¡ª RIGHT AS WE THOUGHT¡ª"


    "IT''S FINE! IT''S FINE¡ª OH GOD, MY STOMACH''S HURTING FROM LAUGHING TOO MUCH!"


    From then on, I tried to get back on Kaley by slightly choking her from the back but it just made her a little more visibly¡­ aroused. I definitely noticed the ragged-ness in her breath as I eventually let go but we just noticed that June''s face was also a little red while she was looking at us.


    An unbelievable amount of tension was surrounding us right now and it''ll only take one moment before we escted things abruptly.


    However, I believed that we were still far from heading in that direction because as of right now, mypletely honest question still wasn''t answeredpletely. In addition, these were very new waters I didn''t want to just plunge into and I wanted to learn as much as I could given we''re all being open books about it.


    I also wanna get my thoughts and feelings sorted and at the same time, I wanted Kaley and June to do the same thing too.


    But yeah, June took it upon herself as she slowly stood up to amodate me by offering the chance of some visual learning:


    "If¡­ If you''re that curious¡­ I-I''ll¡­ I-I''ll show you mine if you s-show me yours¡­"

 Chapter 1175: Junes Body I

    At this moment, all sorts of things were going through my head, but Kaley was keeping a close look on us¡ªespecially me¡ªand judging our reactions to see ourfort levels from the current situation. But yeah, since June offered, I nced at Kaley first before I nodded at her, prompting her to slowly unzip her hoodie instead of her pants.


    I actually thought she''d show me ''that'' right from the get-go, but there was order in these types of things, no?


    But yeah, Underneath her oversized jacket was actually a petite-ish figure with bits of fat in the right ces¡ªand slightly visible abdominal muscles¡ªpartly covered by her gray band shirt with a wide neckline and underneath that was her ck sports bra, and for her bottoms, she was wearing dark-faded jeans with all sorts of chains and buckles as her grey panties were slightly visible, partnering them with her custom Chuck Taylors.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    Aside from her face flushed from embarrassment, her whiteplexion stood out because of her wearing very dark-neutral colors, but she started to remove her shirt right until her thumbs were under her sports bra, showing a bit of her ample underboob and her very smooth pits.


    "I-Is this okay? I-I can''t just show you t-that first, right?"


    I swallowed a bit of saliva, "Umm¡­ You can d-do what''sfortable for you¡­ Want me to take off my top too?"


    "I-If you w-want to¡­"


    Putting aside how heavy Kaley was breathing right now, I was almost the same because I was nervous as fuck¡ªwe three were, honestly. But yeah, June''s eyes were glued to my torso¡ªespecially my abdominals¡ªbut her eyes would also wander around my pecs and my arms before continuing eye contact.


    "W-Wow¡­"


    "S-Sorry, I went ahead a l-little¡ª I mean, umm¡ª I usually don''t wear a¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ W-Wanna see m-my¡ª me?" June said as she slightly pushed up with her thumbs, showing more underboob and a but of her bottom cleavage.


    I nodded, "Yeah¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­"


    As June took the courage topletely take off her sports bra, the moment her round perky tits gave in to gravity and bounced¨Cjiggled as they were set free, anyone, I mean ANYONE could mistake June as a very beautiful woman. Not only were they shaped very nicely, but her pink puffy nipples protruding on each side coupled with her modestly-sized ares made me gulp seeing them for the first time.


    "W-Wow¡­"


    June crossed her arms and pressed them against her chest as she looked away, "Y-You''re lying¡­"


    "N-No, I''m not! T-They look really great, June¡­"


    She slightly turned her head towards me while red through her neck, "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, so¡­ D-Don''t cover them¡­"


    "...o-okay¡­"


    With her sheepish reply, she turned her head back to us as she let them free once more but to my surprise, she was looking straight at Kaley with a slight unwillingness.


    "T-That''s not fair¡­"


    "Hmm?" Kaley replied, a little confused.


    "S-Show me y-yours too¡­"


    I never agreed so fast, "Yeah, this is totally unfair¡ª"


    "Doofus¡­" Kaley chuckled as she smiled at us, reaching for the string to loosen the top part of her dress and revealing her huge breasts, "Happy?"


    June couldn''t help but bite her lip, "Y-You''re so pretty, Kaley¡­ I''m¡ª"


    "You''re very pretty too, June but do you wanna stay like this first or¡­ move further?" Kaley said before she turned to me, "That goes for you too, are youfortable with this?"


    I nodded before June answered:


    "W-What do you have in mind?"


    Kaley chuckled, "If you two aren''t up to it yet, we could still do plenty of things from the waist up¡­ For example¡­"


    At this moment, Kaley turned my head and gave me a peck on the lips as she made me grab her right boob. Squeezing them ever so softly made Kaley let out a few moans as I began tracing my fingers around her nipples but she beckoned June to step forward and join us as she made me pause while looking at me for permission:


    "Can I¡­ Can I, you know¡­ kiss June if she''d let me?"


    "Y¡ª Y-Yeah¡­" I replied as I turned to June, "Can she?"


    June took a few seconds of breathing deeply before she replied, "O-Of course, y-you can touch me t-too, if you want? K-Kaley said you r-really love b-boobs so¡­ B-Be gentle though¡­ N-No one''s touched them b-before¡­ o-or any part of me r-really¡­ N-Not even Kaley¡­"


    I gulped, "Can I kiss you too?"


    "R-Really? You want to?"


    "If you''d let me, s-sure¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ I-I want you to¡­"


    At that point, we started with Kaley giving June her first kiss while my left hand was on June''s tit as the other was on Kaley''s ass. They started with simple pecks before Kaley started to incorporate her tongue which June took in very willingly and there was a moment when June started to tear up.


    "A-Are you okay, June? Did I do something wrong?"


    Kaley stopped kissing her as she looked at her with concern. However, June shook her head with a smile as she wiped the tears from her eyes as she responded:


    "N-No¡­ I-I can''t exin it b-but I''m just so happy right now¡­ I''m overwhelmed by something in my chest and I¡ª" June stopped herself as she looked at me, "C-Can I kiss you, too?"


    I nodded as I moved closer, "Of course¡­"


    With that said, I thought I''d feel a little ufortable or something along those lines because of June being June but I kissed her like any normal person would, and I''d just have to say that it didn''t feel any different.


    Not in a bad way of course, but with the way my head works, I thought it''d be a little different but soft lips were still soft lips, and let''s just say that June''s were one of the most kissable ones I had the privilege to meet with mine.


    So yeah, I grabbed her back and pushed her towards me, pressing her body against mine, and she just uttered a whimper.


    "Mmh¡­ N-Nnn¡­"


    June''s voice was a little strained when she was talking normally but when she was letting out these little moans, it was very girly and really sweet. After that, Kaley joined in as we began invading each other''s mouths, but the way June was pressing her chest against me told me she wanted to go a little bit further.


    So yeah, with a simple nce for permission, I moved my kiss down to her neck before I went for one of her aching nipples as her body reacted to my touch.


    At the same time, Kaley began kissing her as my hand slowly traced lower to June''s back, but once I made my way to her butt, I can''t fucking believe how soft they were to the touch even if I''m touching it over her jeans.


    I couldn''t help but knead on them more and more while I was sucking on her pink puffy nipples but as Kaley was invading her mouth at the same time, June''s whole body just jolted, breaking off her kiss with Kaley and drawing her hips back.


    In addition, her eyes just rolled to the back of her head before her tight grip on us suddenly lessened.


    "I¡ª Ha¡ª WAIT¡ª MHMmmhH! Ah¡ª K-Kaley¡ª S-Sky¡ª AHHH!!! S-Shiii¡ª"


    June immediately lost strength in her body as she fell back on the bed, and her face was just as red as it was earlier, looking at us helplessly while covering her crotch with her pants. At the same time, she was just trembling all over while getting bigger tremors in intervals, and she was just squeezing her crotch area to somehow alleviate everything she was feeling right now.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡ª I-I¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡ª I just c-came¡­ I¡ª Oh g-god, i-it''s cing again a-and¡ª How¡ª I¡ª MMmHH! S-Shi¡ª A-Ahnn~ I¡ª AH! C-CUmMminGggG!"

 Chapter 1176: Junes Body II

    At this point, it was safe to say that Kaley and I didn''t know what to actually do because it was our first time being with someone like June, but what we DO know was that if it felt good, we saw no reason for stopping.


    It was just the initial shock of seeing June having an orgasm from Kaley''s kiss and my touch, but what we were surprised even more was that June was capable of having multiple orgasms.


    But yeah, like with E, we wanted June to set the pace herself but once again, she was crying tears of joy as the feeling inside her eventually subsided.


    Kaley asked, "You okay, June?"


    June nodded with a smile, "I-I feel a-amazing¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I¡­ I d-didn''t even know w-what has h-happening¡­ I-I''m¡ª I''m s-soaked¡­"


    Kaley let out a smile, "Why don''t you take off your pants? I''ll¡­ I''ll clean you up? If you want?" then she turned to me, "C-Can I?"


    I nodded, "Of course¡ª"


    June cut in, "Clean u-up? How?"


    Kaley chuckled, "You''ll see¡­"


    At this point, it was safe to say that WE''LL also see¡ªeven if Kaley already caught a glimpse of it¡ªbut I''m gonna be honest and say that I was curious as well. Forgive the term, but from the descriptions June gave us, she made me thought of a hermaphrodite or a futanari-esque type of situation down there, and let''s just say that even Kaley was surprised to see June while part of her was aroused.


    But at the same time, I wasn''t sure why, but I was happy and relieved to see that aside from the not-so-puffy innie she had under there that was drenched with her juices, her girl-cock oozing with her cum wasn''t even half of me.


    ''Thank the fucking gods it was actually as she said¡­''


    But yeah, Kaley and I didn''t even notice that June was barely holding on to the embarrassment of us two beingpletely silent and just staring at her parts, so she addressed it while covering her face:


    "D-Don''t s-stare at it too much¡­"


    "Ah¡ª" Kaley was the first one to snap out of it, "I¡­ C-Can I touch it?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª Mmh! Ah! I-It''s still so s-sensitive, I¡ª N-Not that o-one too¡ª MmH! K-Kaley! I¡ª CUMMING!"


    "A-Again?!"


    "HnGHhNHg!!! I¡ª A-Ah¡ª I-I told you I-I was r-really sensit¡ª AH!"


    To our surprise, as Kaley held June''s 3-inch girl-cock and slightly jerked her off while tracing her fingers down her pussy, June had another release¡ªand take note, from both her parts¡ªand she was struggling just from the lightest touch.


    It could be due to how sensitive she really was or with Kaley and I in the picture, but looking closer, her penis was a little pink-colored even though it wasn''t merged with her woman parts.


    However, Kaley continued to figure out June''s body as she asked June to spread her legs even more¡ªin which she submissively did¡ªand let''s just say that not only her inner lips were that pink, but also her little asshole.


    In addition, we also discovered that not only June didn''t have a clitoris, but her hymen was non-existent as well.


    But despite all that, when June gave Kaley the go-ahead to push in a finger inside her tiny pussy opening, we discovered that she still had her tiny, little G-Spot hiding right behind her girl-dick was located, and June wasn''t even aware of that.


    "HnGH¡ª WHAT¡ª W-What was that?! I¡ª S-STopppP¡ª C-Cumming a-again I-I¡ª AahhHHN!"


    At that point, even I had to stop Kaley for a little bit because she was getting too carried away in figuring out how June works.


    "I-I''m sorry, June, I¡ª Y-You didn''t know where your G-Spot is?"


    June shook her head while still trembling all over, "I-I¡­ I usually just t-touch my p-penis and I-I''m already a f-few orgasms in before I c-could explore m-my pussy¡­"


    Kaley gave her a peck on the cheek, "I''m kinda jealous, not gonna lie¡­ I thought I was the most sensitive one here but turns out¡ª Wait, we have to check something else too!"


    "W-What?"


    Kaley nced at me for a moment before she looked at June dead serious in the eye, "U-Umm¡­ H-Have you yed with your ass yet?"


    June got even redded, "M-My ass?!"


    "You haven''t?!"


    "I-I did¡­"


    "Then¡ª"


    "S-Same with my pussy, I-I haven''t gone¡­ d-deep yet¡­"


    "W-Would you like to see if you have ''that'' in there too?"


    "Y-You mean? Oh¡­ that?"


    "C-Can I?! Please?!"


    "O-Of course¡­ W-We''re already doing¡ª G-Go s-slow though¡­"


    At this point, I wasn''t even mad that I was just watching but it didn''t take long before we discovered that June had a prostate¡ªthough smaller as well¡ªdeep in her tiny pink asshole. And to reward her for being such a good sport, Kaley began sucking her off and June obviously came in seconds.


    And yeah, it was another thing that we discovered about June that she''d stay mostly erect even after cumming, but she waspletely helpless to do anything else.


    I actually thought I''d feel something bad when Kaley began sucking another person''s dick¡ªwho was Intersex, technically speaking¡ªbut I guess if it wasn''t a person that looks like an actual guy, I wouldn''t have the urge to lop their heads off. In addition, seeing June''s size doesn''t scare me either way and I soon felt that she should see what she''s dealing with.


    So yeah, once Kaley cleaned her up nicely, her eyes were already saying that it wasn''t fair that Kaley and I were still partly clothed, but once she caught some shade from being under "my" shadow, she finally knew one of the reasons why that if she was with me, she''d be mostly on the receiving end.


    June was almost cross-eyed when she was face to face with my 9-inch cock which was also double the girthpared to hers, and her girl-cock was just twitching nonstop and oozing precum while I was standing on top of her.


    "H-Holy fucking s-shit¡­ Mnh¡­"


    She looked like she just came from seeing my cock and let''s just say she also took a big gulp when she saw Kaley''s flower.


    However, even Kaley could say that June was more interested in having my cock punch her throat but she was aplete beginner and she needs some proper guidance. Kaley did the same thing with E just yesterday, and I couldn''tin that it was bing amon urrence.


    Kaley grabbed June''s hand and ced it over my cock, "You can touch it like that first¡­ Don''t worry, he won''t cum as fast unless you want to¡­"


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "N-No no, that''s pretty hot in it''s own way but what do you think?"


    "I-It''s so big¡­ hard¡­ w-warm, a-and v-veiny¡­"


    "Yes, it is¡­ Why don''t you do it with both hands?"


    June simply followed, "L-Like this?"


    "Yeah, just like that¡­ See him enjoying your soft hands?"


    "I-I guess he is¡ª MmH! Kaley, you''re touching my b-boobs¡­"


    "They''re pretty soft¡­ I love them¡­"


    "T-That''s¡ª"


    "Don''t stop jerking him¡­ See that on the tip? Lick it."


    "Y-Yes, K-Kaley¡­ MmNnh¡­ Mm¡­ Ahmn¡­"


    "That''s it¡­ Why don''t you just put your lips around the tip while jerking him?"


    "Mnh¡­ O-Okay¡­ I-I''m getting d-dizzy though¡­"


    "That''s pretty normal, it''s your first time after all¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ AHm¡­ Hmn¡­ Ah¡­"


    As June was giving me the sloppiest but fairly enthusiastic blowjob ever, Kaley kept touching her in all the right ces except for her most sensitive part which was also leaking a lot of precum. And with all that we witnessed and what was happening, let''s just say that I was very close to blowing my first load and Kaley definitely knew that as well.


    So right as June was giving me head like she was in a daze, she pressed even more on June''s body as she whispered in her ear:


    "Now don''t back up, he''s gonna cum¡ª" Then she turned to me, "Now!"

 Chapter 1177: A little bit at a time...

    As Kaley just gave me that look that sent me over the edge, I just let out a short grunt before my thick warm load filled June''s warm and wet mouth.


    "Wha¡ª HmnGHgH! KacK! Hackh¡ª UmnGh¡­ MmN¡­ Hn¡ª Nnnh¡­"


    Kaley smiled as she hugged June even tighter, "That''s it¡­ That''s it¡­ you already know what to do, huh?"


    "HnnmGh¡­ Nhg¡ª Mn¡­"


    From my point of view, June''s eyes just widened in shock from the amount that filled her mouth but as she felt some of it dribble down to her chin, she began slurping anything that she could¡ªthough her hands had already stopped moving¡ªlicking off the tip of my cock and sucking off anything that was stilling out right after.


    June''s face was a fucking mess after drinking several mouthfuls of my cum but Kaley never looked happier as she turned her around to have a taste of what was left.


    But yeah, from what we did yesterday night with E and what we were doing with June right now, Kaley had been holding back a lot. She didn''t even notice her juices dripping down her thighs as she was touching June now and earlier, so I took it upon myself to fully satisfy my wife:


    "I''m sorry, June, as much as I would love to split you in half, I want Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No, I''m¡ª H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ still fine¡ª"


    June cut her off while still catching her breath, "N-No¡­ I¡ª Ha¡­ I need to take a l-little rest¡­ I-I was cumming nonstop for a while n-now¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Nothing''s justing out a-anymore¡­"


    Kaley sheepishly turned to June before she slowly stood up, "Well¡­ I-If you put it like that¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Kaley rode me while I was sitting on the side of June''s bed, and she actually came from the first insertion. However, I began to thrust my hips from below while my hands were supporting her back, and Kaley just lost her mind while June was haphazardly watching us with her girl-cock in hand.


    Kaley could only moan my name as she was stuffing my head between herrge breasts and she let out a yelp right as I pped her juicy peach from below.


    But yeah, I began kneading them while my dick was going in and out of her meaty cunt but it didn''t take long before I began pushing a finger inside her tiny asshole. The moment my middle finger got as deep as it could, Kaley''s walls just contracted as she had another violent orgasm right as I was viting each of her fucking holes.


    "H-HNGH! Y-YessSS! YES¡ª AH! Y-You''re doing it again¡ª YOU''RE DOING IT A-AGAIN¡ª AH! SLAP THAT ASS! S-SLAP¡ª HNGH!


    aH! AH! a-aAH! Y-YOU''RE BITING MY NIP¡ª MMMH!"


    With Kaley''s breasts as big¡ªor even bigger than my head, I could barely see anything aside from her smooth skin between her soft and firm cleavage, but I managed to have one hand in her ass, one in her breasts, my lips on her nipple, and my dick in her cunt all at the same time.


    We did change positions a few times but I never had the chance to taste her lips from those moments. Don''t get me wrong, I would''ve loved to be invading Kaley''s mouth as well but hearing her moans was just something else, but the surprising thing was that June had a faster-than-normal recovery period, mostly.


    "G-God¡­ You two are so h-hot¡­ I-I already came five times w-watching and¡ª Hngh¡­ Ah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    Right when Kaley and I had a brief pause, we got a good look at June who was still as red and as out of breath, one hand in her cock and her pussy with the other, pleasuring herself in her lonesome butpletely satisfied from just watching the show. She didn''t even move from thest ce we saw her but Kaley and I had already switched to different positions, as she continued to watch from afar.


    Kaley and I knew that June had never been with anyone besides us butpared to E who passed out at the beginning stages, even if June was watching Kaley and I go at each other, she was pleasuring herself and cumming all at the same time. However, we could clearly see how clear the liquiding out of her she-cock, and it wasn''t as 80% erectpared to earlier.


    Kaley got off me and looked at June apologetically, "W-We''re sorry, we should''ve let you join, right?" Kaley then turned to me, "Right?"


    I nodded without question, "Of course, I''ll let you do anything Kaley would let you do to her but you do know what happens to someone with the smaller cock?"


    June never looked so confused, "W-What happens?"


    Kaley chuckled as she lightly elbowed me, "Doofus, you''re fine with it? June going inside me?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "As long as it''s not in me, sure!" then I leaned in to whisper, "You get my first, right?"


    "...! You! Stop it, alright?! I¡ª" Kaley got so red but she was nevertheless happy, "B-But yeah, what if I wanted to fuck June instead?"


    June cut in as she slowly made her way towards the bed, "I-I''m confused, how¡ª Oh¡­ You mean using toys?"


    Kaley nodded, "Would you want me to?"


    June didn''t take long to think, "Sure, of course! I-I dunno if it''s just me but I-I cum too fast w-with my p-penis¡­ I''m not sure if I tried with my other ones if¡ª"


    My eyebrow raised, "Other ones? Are you willing to take it anywhere else too?"


    June chuckled, "I mean¡­ I do y with them too but after seeing you two do ''that''... If I''m not this tired, I would''ve let you two have your w-way with me¡ª Ah¡ª D-Did I just say that?! Ha¡ª I''M NOT S-SEX CRAZED, ALRIGHT?! IT''S JUST¡ª"


    Kaley and I chuckled before I said, "It''s like the dam''s been breached, huh?"


    Kaley added, "Also, I''m a little sex-crazed too, so don''t worry too much about it. It''s about finding the right people to do it with¡­"


    June turned sheepishly to Kaley, "Really? Did I find the right people?"


    "It''s up to you, really¡­ Would you want to do more with us in the future? You had fun, right?"


    "O-Of course! I¡ª I-It''s not like I''m touch-deprived o-or anything which is also true but¡­ F-For some reason, I-I feel reallyfortable with you t-two¡­ I-I did try talking to o-other people but I-I bail each and every time¡­ But now¡­ I-I *sniffs* I-I''m really just h-happy¡ª"


    "OH, JUST COME HERE AND GIVE US A HUG¡ª There we go~"

 Chapter 1178: Pillow Talk - THEY BROKE THE TREATY!

    From then on, June had a good cry¡ªprobably a mix of both emotions this time¡ªbut as we got cleaned up in her shower, Kaley''s back to her usual getup while June decided to show a little bit of skin by wearing her other jacket that exposed her mid-riff.


    In addition, its hood had a cat ear-like design¡ªwhich looked really cute¡ªespecially since the furing out of them was also the same as June''s hair color.


    But yeah, we still had a lot of time before dinner so we just stayed at the same ce while talking about random shit:


    "For real?!"


    June nodded while chuckling, "Yep! I can pee in either p-part but not at the same time."


    "But you can cum from both¡ª Huh. That''s really cool."


    "R-Really?"


    Kaley asked, "H-How about our monthly cycle? Do you¡­ you know?"


    June nodded again, "I do have them and Eden said it''s unfair I only have them for a day or two¡ªand before you ask, it onlyes out in the u-usual spot¡­"


    "Interesting¡­"


    "The cramps I get is a little more intense though¡­ I won''t leave the bed unless I have to but for some w-weird reason, t-touching my penis¡­ you know¡­ while moving my hands up and down kind of helps¡­" Continue reading stories on mvl


    Kaley shook her head with a little bit of animosity, "That IS unfair. Masturbating really helps but in my case, it''s messy unless I do it in the shower¡ª and I can''t be in that mindset when my flow''s really heavy¡­"


    June tilted her head, "What do you mean by heavy¡ª"


    Kaley huffed with a smile, "You really are special, June¡ª"


    "W-What''s with the suddenpliment?!"


    "But you are!"


    I added, "You are, June¡­ But yeah, have you got your blood work done?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Your Mom mentioned that you''re on HRT so I''m just wondering what''s it like."


    "Hmm~ It''s been a while since we''ve done it but it''s pretty much all over the ce. It''s like a see-saw each time we get my results and my doses for them change depending on those results as well. Sometimes I get more for men¡ª what do you call it? Testosterone? You know, if it gets too low and I get less if I look like I''m growing more muscle than normal."


    I nodded, "You''d look great if you¡ª No, you choose what you want to look like, I don''t¡ª"


    June got right up in my face, "W-What''s your ideal body type then?!"


    I quickly answered as I pointed at Kaley, "Her."


    June snorted, "Of course¡­ Why did I even ask~"


    Kaley chuckled as she looked at me, "Smooth~"


    I put my hands up, "Real talk though, I''m all for loving one''s body but there''s still a limit, no? If someone gets too fat from eating junk or bulks up too much from using gear, how can you say that you love your body if you''re putting yourself in those extreme states? Some people also have unfortunate conditions but that''s not a reason to just let themselves go, right?


    Love your body to not feed your delusion but to be your best version of yourself¡­"


    June was taken aback, "Holy~ I didn''t expect that out of the blue, pfft¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I''m just saying, I used to be really~ fat and I got to where I am¡ªand I could''ve achieved more if I took gear but I decided against it. It''s about finding the right bnce, not to sound too preachy¡­"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "A little, but it''s okay."


    June smiled, "Yeah~ I did have a lot of problems, mostly mental, when growing up and changing¡ªsome of which caused me to stay home¡ªnot because of what other people have done to me but what I thought they might do. Don''t get me wrong, I did get called a few unsavory things pretty early on at school but I was lucky to have my family, Mrs. Rose, and now¡­ you guys¡­ so, thank you."


    I overemphasized getting taken aback, "HOLYYY~~~ I didn''t expect that out of the blue¡ª"


    June got red in the face again, "You¡ª S-SHUT UP!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Kaley! Not you too!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "You guys are being mean to me!"


    "We''re not! A little but¡ª Hold up, it''s been a while since you stopped getting bloodwork, right?"


    "Yeah, why?"


    "Then¡­ You WERE on HRT not on it? How could they decide on your doses without the results?"


    "Ah¡ª T-That''s right, I suppose¡­"


    "What do you feel though?"


    "I¡­ I dunno¡­ I didn''t even realize that¡ª Huh. If anything, I feel so pretty right now, not gonna lie. Being with you two? I didn''t even think you''d be interested in me."


    Kaley asked, "Can I ask why?"


    "I mean¡­ It''s just my¡ª It''s my assumptions about myself and you guys¡ª I mean, everyone else besides me, you know? I still have some issues to get over but the floodgates did open and I just went along with it¡­ But yeah¡­ What now?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well¡­ I did say we can do things in the future but I''m not blind, I''ve heard everyone react when my sister, Cindy, called Dick Maul over here shrimp dick¡ª"


    Kaley snorted, "Dick Maul?! PFFT!"


    "What? You two call it something else?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Me and my dick''s known by many names¡­ You just added another one¡­"


    Kaley went back to subject, "If we''re talking about everyone else in our circle, it''s up to you, really. You can join in with us or have something like this again but I''ll assure you that they''ll be cool with it. But yeah, there are a couple of people you should be a little worried because they¡­ they''re a little intense."


    "Q-Quinn and Tatiana?" June asked.


    Kaley and I nodded, "Yep," Kaley added, "We do get intense sometimes but we match it with our current partners. Except for the time we got carried away earlier¡­"


    "T-That''s pretty hot actually¡ª"


    And as June was in mid-sentence, we suddenly heard loud thumps from the door and it seemed like we summoned the Alpha-Bitches as we were talking about them:


    "HEY! WE KNOW YOU''RE IN THERE! I''LL COUNT TO THREE OR I''LL BREAK THE DOOR¡ª"


    "Quinn! Just turn the knob."


    "AH¡ª Huh. WELL I''LL STILL BREAK THE DOOR BECAUSE I CAN SMELL YOU FUCKS HAD SEX WHILE WE''RE BUSY¡ª IT HAS HAPPENED TWICE ALREADY AND I''M NOT THAT HAPPY BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BE KNOCKING ME UP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!"


    Tatiana added, "And yeah, dinner''s ready¡ª"


    "WHY''D YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM THAT?! WE''RE JUST TRYING TO¡ª FUCK! DINNER''S READY, YOU FUCKS! OPEN THIS¡ª"


    "Just turn the fucking knob!" Tatiana eximed with an amused tone.


    "YOU''RE NOT HELPING ME, YOU KNOW?!"


    Then the three of us shouted at the same time, "IT''S OPEN! TURN THE KNOB!"


    "GODDAMMIT¡ª" Quinn did turn the knob but she still kicked the door open for effect, but as sheid her eyes on us with an unamused expression, Tatiana cut in after taking in a good whiff of the room:


    "You," Tatiana confusedly pointed at June, "You''re¡­ S-Something smells¡­ different¡­"


    June never looked so nervous, "W-What do you mean¡ª"


    "I smell cum," Tatiana said before taking in the air again, "Different kind of cum¡­"


    "W-What are you talking about¡ª"


    Tatiana cut June off again as she pointed at me, "I know how his cum smells but this¡­ there''s a mix¡­ too different though¡­ Kind of sweet and fragrant and it''s something I never encountered before but I''m sure it''s cum. Girly cum?"


    Then realization struck as Quinn and Tatiana''s eyes widened.


    "OH SHIT!/ NO WAY!"


    "I-IT''S FROM ME, ALRIGHT?! HOW''D YOU KNOW?!"


    "IT''S A TRAP!/ THEY BROKE THE TREATY!"


    "Woah, woah, woah¡ª STOP! STOP!"


    "CAN WE SEE IT?!/ ARE YOU BIGGER THAN HIM?!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Long story short, Kaley and I had to beat up the Alpha-Bitches but they quickly recovered once we ate dinner.

 Chapter 1179: Back to the Airport - Renegotiation with Captain Ignacio?

    The Deweys graced us with a very scrumptious meal which focused more on their homegrown vegetables and only using the meat products we sent them as very small sides like bacon sprinkles for the sd or a few chunks mixed in with the pasta made with zhini, basil, mushrooms, and tomatoes.


    But yeah, Kaley and I were sitting between June, for obvious reasons, and different people who noticed our behavior¡ªincluding Quinn and Tatiana¡ªwere having different revtions for different reasons.


    Eden seemed like she knew something was going on but wasn''t 100% sure of the specifics while Megan and Alexa were 100% sure of what happened between us and June but weren''t exactly sure why Quinn and Tatiana were acting like they discovered a hoard of treasure waiting to be explored.


    On that note, Mrs. Dewey definitely knew what went down but she couldn''t believe how fast our progress was with June because we were only here for a little more than 12 hours.


    Because aside from June wearing clothes that had a little less fabric than earlier, she was now showing more of her cute face by tying her hair in a ponytail instead of letting most of them cover her face. In addition, she was also wearing a bit of makeup which Kaley did for her and it was just the right amount that wouldn''t cause a smokebomb in case she got pped.


    On another side note, a couple dozen soldiers from the US Navy''s side joined us for dinner including another three dozen for different fields, and they were all assigned here semi-permanently¡ªsince we''ll rotate most of them around¡ªbecause it was one of our agreed terms for taking four of their children and what this ce needed more than just top-ups.


    It only took a little more than an hour before we bid the Deweys, our troops, and everyone else goodbye, and we quickly made our way back to the airport with the people from the Idress Maritime Academy.


    But funnily enough, they had more people who came for a "visit", and the Admiral wanted all of them to go through me.


    ''Slimy as fuck¡­ I guess they''ll soon learn like Mr. Guzman¡­''


    Granted Mitch would be 51% owner the moment they depart, but these people shouldn''t skip their negotiations with me by going straight for the highest-ranked officer avable. Also, since we aplished a two-day work in half the time, the Admiral moved up their departure for tomorrow morning and he requested some well-deserved dinner and some final alone time with his daughter, E.


    And of course, our certain promise with E would be dyed, but I figured we''d stay in this ce for one more day or maybe two, before we go back to my ce.


    It was because I needed to figure out with Mitch as to who would be left and how we''d proceed because almost everything I did today was to fix up their inventories and personnel profiles, but none of those included which ones would being our going¡ªbut to be fair, the final list wasn''t even finalized.


    Admiral Burke was making abrupt decisions on the fly and it was making our schedule like an improv skit.


    But yeah, as soon as my group settled in our spruced-up suite, Mr. nco came knocking with an apologetic expression:


    "Uhh, excuse me, Mr. Ishiyama¡­"


    I chuckled almost immediately seeing him, "I thought you''d prove yourself to the Deweys? Why are you here?"


    "Yeah¡­ About that¡­ With the people from this ceing over there, it seemed like they didn''t need the help¡­ I tried insisting but they told me I should win Cindy''s heart first before trying to ask her hand for marriage¡­"


    "That sucks¡­ but why are you here?"


    "Ah¡­ Captain Ignacio would like to formally apologize to you and request an audience¡­ We did have an arrangement already but the Captain wanted to negotiate a little more. Would that be possible?"


    I simply replied, "You know, we could''ve saved a lot of time if you came in with him or any other people who wanted to talk. I don''t wanna be that gut too, but I''m not seeking him out myself because in a couple of hours, I''m due for another meeting with the Admiral''s officers and I want to sneak in a few lightpounds before that¡­"


    Mr. nco nodded, "Then can we work out with you? Two birds in one stone?"


    "Sure. Just don''t steal the tes from Quinn, I barely had the 35s to myself¡­"


    He let out a smile for some reason, "A-Alright, I''lle back with them in a short bit."


    On that note, everyone in my group¡ªlike everyone, including the guys¡ªwere lounging in our suite, so sex was off the table, at least after the meeting or after midnight, but Quinn never looked so happy when Mr. nco''s group came in with several 45-pound tes among various gym equipment.


    ''That''s why~''


    "NOW GIVE THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT! I CAN FINALLY HAVE A NORMAL WARM-UP!"


    "T-That''s your warmup?!" June eximed while a few others like Eden and Cindy were also shocked to fuck.


    "ARE YOU FUCKS INSULTING ME?! MY WARMUP''S ALWAYS THREE PLATES EACH!"


    "Jesus¡­"


    With that said, a middle-aged man with a built body, a captain''s insignia on his service uniform, and partly graying hair came up and introduced himself and his group:


    "You must be Mr. Ishiyama¡ª Special Officer or something¡ª"


    I shook my head, "I don''t even know my exact rank but I go by ''Kid'' these days¡­ C''mon, let''s talk by the bar. What''s your poison?"


    He put his hands up, "I don''t think alcohol''s a great way to meet someone¡ª" Read exclusive content at mvl


    "It''s an honest way to meet someone. We aren''t even getting hammered. Just a ss?"


    "Haa¡­ Alright, what do you have?"


    "I don''t actually know, we''ll see¡­"


    "Ah¡ª Bourbon or Whiskey then¡­ But I''ll drink whatever."


    "Got it."


    On that note, aside from Captain Ignacio, Mr. Guzman, and Ms. Ng, a Sergeant and a Staff Sergeant also sat in with us, namely: Mr. Cruz and Ms. Chua who looked to be in their mid-30s, keen on learning who the fuck I was.


    And as I poured each of them a drink and mest, I downed my ss almost immediately before looking at all of them:


    "So yeah, to what do I owe the pleasure?"


    Mr. Ignacio went straight to the point, "I''ll start by apologizing because as we sent Mr Guzman and Ms. Ng over to the Deweys, we thought we could also negotiate here but the Admiral firmly told us no. So I''d¡ª We''d like to formally apologize for it if we caused any offense."


    I nodded, "Okay, apology epted. He could''ve sent you to meet with Mitch but I guess he has his reasons."


    "Ah, I was told Mr. Davis was back in the Main Harbor and wasn''t able to meet with us and we were explicitly told to wait for you instead."


    "I see¡­ Then, I''m here now. Mr. nco said you''re here to renegotiate?"


    "About that, we''re looking to obtain a fishing boat or two and some fuel you obtained for yourselves from all around the freeport zone in exchange for a good percentage of our catches and a shipment of lumber. Also¡­"

 Chapter 1180: Just be nice. - Dad wanted to talk.

    Hearing Captain Ignacio''s proposal, I didn''t think I was really needed but let''s just say that there was an order in things that Admiral wanted us to do business. But at the same time, there were just things that could be delegated to other people instead of looking for me every single time.


    But yeah, it seemed like with the overabundance of aquatic resources everyone else forgot that we could farm them instead of heading out and catching them every single time.


    Both options were easily doable though one yed an active role while the other was a more passive and time-consuming one. In addition, building natural fish ponds flew over everyone''s head because Subic Bay was supposed to be a tourist spot, so most of the fish ponds built on the water were somece else.


    Captain Ignacio just had the realization, "I¡­ I¡ª Huh. I suppose that''s one option. Still, we''d need people watching over them and feeding them."


    I nodded, "That''s very true but as you''ve said, you need boats and fuel for the easier thing and you do know how valuable fuel is. It''s much cheaper to make fish food than to trade in fuel every single time you go out, right?"


    "I¡ª"


    "Here''s another suggestion, we can still hand you some for a few trips but wouldn''t it be better if we handle the bulk of fishing while we have your group take care of some of them?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "The people over at the Main Harbor have fishing vessels that could go further out and catch more fish at a time so we could hand over maybe¡ª a portion of our catches to you as a start. You''re free to do whatever you want with them but farming them by constructing fish ponds is the way to go. You''ll have your own supply in due time and we''ll save on fuel costs."


    "That could work but¡­"


    "Problem?"


    "Not exactly but taking handouts¡ª"


    "Those aren''t handouts. Investments mostly¡­ We aren''t even making you do much since we''ll be constructing fish ponds of our own and preparing each fish by smoking, curing, etc., and I was thinking, since you have ess to a zoo, would you be willing to take on farm animals?"


    Mr. Guzman answered enthusiastically, "O-Of course! Ah¡ª Apologies."


    I shook my head, "None taken," then I turned back to Captain Ignacio, "What do you think? Alligator meat is good and all but nothing beats chicken or any regr ol'' meat we''re used to, no? Again, we''ll take care of our own animals here but since we''re already sending some to the Deweys, I think it''s fair to send you what we could also spare."


    Captain Ignacio sighed, "I''m not really sure why you''re doing this¡ªand I''m very happy, don''t get me wrong but¡ªisn''t this a little too much? What would you even have us do in exchange?"


    I looked at him solemnly, "Do you want the honest truth?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "The truth is, we don''t need any of you."


    "...! That''s¡­ U-Umm¡ª"


    "And I''m not joking about that. With the things we umted and the territories we upied, reimed, rebuilt, etc. We''re pretty much set¡ªrtively speaking andpared to others¡ªand we could focus more on the dead and how each person is living together."


    "..."


    "I don''t mind going on runs myself and it''s actually pretty exciting for me but now, the bulk of what I did these past few days was manage people and our resources. A little boring, sure, but I get the job done. And other than that, the most important thing to do next was to talk to you guys and other people like the Deweys and bridge a connection, why?


    Because not only is it the right thing to do but also the next step once we secure ourselves. I did say we''re set but we shouldn''t deny Murphy''s Law, no?"


    "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong¡­"


    "Exactly. And with that said, having to work with more and more people is all sorts of trouble as well but if you do it right and be fair on all ounts, the percentage of anything going wrong will get less and less. We can obviously strongarm all of you to a losing deal but we didn''t. It almost got to that because of how Mr. Guzman spoke to us earlier but it''s water under the bridge, right?"


    Mr. Guzman almost choked on his drink, "A-Ah, if you say so but I do apologize for my a-actions earlier¡­"


    "Taking that for example, it''s true that some people might be inclined to take advantage of the situation but in essence, we do have the power to fuck shit up and straighten that crookedness maybe hopefully due to being on yourst straw.


    It''s true that the Admiral will leave with the Eisenhower tomorrow as well but you don''t wanna fuck with us even if we lost that trump card¡ªbecause we can afford it, the same with the valuable resources we''re giving away¡­"


    "...that''s¡­ we would never¡ª"


    "In short, why don''t we all just get along where I''ll be nice and you''ll be nice to me back? Is that even difficult?"


    "I-It''s not¡­ Pretty easy, actually¡­"


    "So why is everything so fucking difficult?"


    "..."


    "I''m still taking Mr. Guzman as an example but do know we''re over it, okay? I''m just prattling on just because. But yeah, I might''ve forgotten about the world ending and turning everyone to pieces of shit but if you''re talking with me and needed a favor, just be fucking nice about it and tell me straight up so we can figure out what to do, alright?


    Also, thanks for the 45-pound tes, Quinn''s very happy with those¡­"


    At this point, everyone was stunned but a few of them started to look down in shame, especially Mr. Guzman. I actually wouldn''t put it against him for acting that way, because I''d probably do it as well, given the chance¡ªand shamelessness should be part of a negotiator''s repertoire but yeah, it was just a case of wrong ce and wrong time.


    In any case, our silence was broken by the sound of Quinn repping out 585 pounds for reps in her ass-to-grass squats, and it was making the submissive folks feel a certain way.


    But yeah, everyone in the bar shared a couple more drinks as I poured them, and it was the beginning of a new partnership between people. Captain Ignacio and I finalized more shit and specifics on both ends¡ªlistening to Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng''s inputs¡ªand it was decided that they bring more people in here for training in exchange for the same number of people to bolster their forces.


    It was pretty much the same arrangement we had with the Deweys except they''d all stay here unlike June and the rest.


    I wished I could''ve talked to some of their cadets or other people in training in person, but we''ll just see what tomorrow will have in store for us. But yeah, it didn''t take long before E came in with Jennifer, but she looked like she wasn''t in the mood for talking. However, her face quickly lightened up when we met eye-to-eye, but it quickly went sullen again as Jennifer approached from behind:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Yo, something wrong?"


    "Hmmp¡­ Nothing, Dad''s just calling for you, he said they''re leaving early tomorrow, they wanted to talk."

 Chapter 1181: Plans for tomorrow - Kadena Air Base?

    Hearing that, I looked for Kaley and told her I''d be away for a while and she gave me a quick peck on my cheek as Jennifer and I made my way to where the Admiral and the others were. They obviously made the ATC room our strategic room of sorts, but I discovered that not only Mitch was present with the few other higher-ranked officers but also Bartow.


    To my surprise, it was because the two were being promoted, Mitch to Captain and Bartow to First Lieutenant¡ªalongside others who had gone a rank or two as well for staying behind and holding the fort.


    ''He looks like he recovered fast¡­''


    The hardass actually gave me a mocking nce when walking back to his seat while holding his new rank given to him, but it kinda lost meaning when everyone was getting promoted left and right.


    In any case, I do respect the ranks people were in but since I was in a special unit, my name and unofficial title carried the weight instead¡ªand it applies to all the different groups I''ve interacted with.


    But yeah, when my turn came, I received more than a handshake and a new patch to sew onto my uniform, and it involved a Chinook, a US drone, and a five-man unit that should only answer to me and me alone.


    However, those rewards were contingent on keeping E safe and other fatherly things that E wasn''t amused about and requiring me to give a weekly report on everything that was going on concerning this ce and his people.


    In essence, it still felt like I was given a babysitting job instead of those incentives¡ªwith E being the actual recipient of those rewards¡ªbut with my current rtionship with E, I''m pretty sure she doesn''t give a fucking damn about those rewards and simply wanted to be her own self and do her own thing.


    ''It''s not like a fashion designer had a use for those things so yeah¡­''


    But then the Admiral spoke up and addressed everybody:


    "Look, these promotions may have been more special or significant if you received them before the world was taken over by the dead¡ªand if you did something that warranted it¡ªand it might look like we were handing them away like it''s nothing but do know it is THAT special and significant to receive them.


    I may sound a little contradictory right now because I became Admiral after a lot of us were lost¡ªand since I had to fill bigger shoes¡ªbut it was for the same reason that it holds that much weight¡­"


    "..."


    "The sacrifice our brothers made for us to get to this point should not be wasted on useless thought that this was simply for a morale boost or something along those lines but back to the very reason we filled up that sign-up sheet to wear these very colors. And I''m gonna be perfectly honest, the benefits are quite good if I say so myself¡ªbut aren''t we supposed to get that much or even more?!


    Of course, we are! We''re serving our country goddammit and those fucks out there are preventing us from doing and receiving what we''re supposed to!"


    ''This speech took a turn¡­''


    "And again, I''m just being perfectly honest to all of you¡­ I could be that rousing or patriotic to lit a fire in all of your asses but there''s a limit to what it could do. Believe me, I''ve done that plenty of times initially¡ªit does work but not at this time¡­ And I specifically chose not to do it.


    But what I''m trying to say is¡­ we can say fuck it to everything that''s going on around us and move on with the world but that shouldn''t stop us from doing what''s right and fighting for what our family, friends, and especially, what we, ourselves, deserve."


    "..."


    "I may have a few TV Dinners rotting in my trash can at my probably looted home but I chose it to get like that¡ªnot those things that forced us away from it! If something''s going to rot at my house, it''ll be to my own choosing, not to whoever that fuck''s responsible for this shit! Am I right?! It should be on OUR terms, not theirs! Pfft¡­ Dammit, I''m not really good at this public speaking, huh?"


    At this point, a few chuckles and snickers were happening as the Admiral beganughing himself, but yeah, his actual thoughts seemed to have gotten across to everyone else and I preferred it more to baseless gusto and shouting empty promises.


    Words were just words in the end but being genuine while delivering it could carry something intangible that could benefit the person hearing it.


    With that said, they resumed our talks by reconfirming their ns of departure at 4 AM and their route to the state of Washington. To be honest, I didn''t think that half of us were needed in this meeting but I, for one, wanted to hear their ns before hitting the hay.


    It was then that I discovered that an evenrger number of their evacuees were residing in Hawaii¡ªbut yeah, it was pretty obvious to choose an even closer archipgo than ours before going somece else to unload their people.


    However, my eyes and ears definitely perked up when I heard about Kadena Air Base, which was a US Air Force Base located in the City of Okinawa, in the Okinawan Prefecture, and even though it was miles away from where my other family resides, it was good to know that they were doing their own part in tandem with the JSDF.


    It''s just that the Admiral had no ns of sending a detachment over there or even dropping by to see what''s up like they did with us any time soon, but let''s just say that the first chance I get while everyone and everything here in my ce could be left alone, I''d take the first ship, ne, or whatever method it was to finally reunite with them.

 Chapter 1182: Give that shit to someone else.

    I can''t believe how much I wanted to go there but knowing them, they''d probably beat me to death by leaving all my responsibilities here just to see them. In addition, even if the world got fast-forwarded a few more years where the world wasn''t like it is today, they''d probably stick to their roots and carry on¡ªalbeit slightly adapting¡ªso let''s just say they have their own world to worry about.


    ''It''s not like they need me but it''s not like I''m not worrying about them¡­ It''s been a year plus change¡­ Haa¡ª''


    But yeah, while I was in mid-sigh while I was in mid-thought, Jennifer definitely noticed my reaction earlier and she brought it up by nudging me:


    "What''s with that Japanese Air Base?"


    "Which one?"


    "The one you reacted to¡ª In Okinawa, was it? Kadena or something?"


    "Ah¡­ I have family kind of near there."


    "Oh¡­ Then¡­"


    "We haven''t had any contact since it started but I''m pretty sure they''re still alive."


    "That¡­ That doesn''t make any sense. Sorry, but¡ª"


    "Yeah, but I just know. One of the few things I have blind faith in¡ª"


    "Don''t they have radios you left them or¡ª"


    "I did leave them the premium pack of sorts¡­ But let''s just say the mountain''s a little special¡­"


    "Special? Mountain? What do you mean?"


    "It¡­ It just is¡­ I don''t even understand itpletely¡­"


    "Then what do you understand about it? Can you tell me at least that?"


    "Hmm¡­ Sure. But not here."


    "Why?"


    "It''s rude to the Admiral¡ª"


    "Pfft, nice save. But will you really?"


    "Really what?"


    "What are we even talking about? I''m asking if you''ll tell me!"


    "Shh¡­ Quiet down, they''ve nced at us thrice already¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª I don''t even think we''re needed here."


    "Why? Because your babysitting ass didn''t get promoted?"


    "You¡ª"


    "And I got all sorts of shit?"


    "You''re making it less and less likely for me to fuck you, you know that?"


    "I can transfer all those rights and authority over to you, if you want?"


    "Fuck that, I''d love a promotion but I hate doing more work than intended. I''ve just had enough of it."


    "A little rebel, huh? Don''t let the old man hear though¡ª"


    "Why''d he care?"


    "He just does. He talks about you a lot, you know?"


    "Really?"


    "No¡ª"


    "Then¡ª A-Asshole!"


    "He talks about a lot of things but he gets really vulnerable when you''re the topic so he doesn''t do it much. Despite that, I could see that he really cares about you and he''s really sorry¡ªespecially selling the house."


    "It''s not about that house¡ªBut yeah, it kinda is because it holds a lot of memories¡­ But it''s not just the house I''m mad about¡­ It''s a few more things that are more important¡­ The house is just¡­ y-you know¡­ It''s where I grew up in and everything¡­ He owns it and all and I would''ve like a heads-up so I could''ve bought it from him instead.


    It just pissed me offing ''home'' with a different family living in it¡­"


    "I understand that, I do¡­ I''m still holding onto the house my parents worked so hard for¡­ I''m not living in it currently but some of my treasured items from them are still there."


    "You lucky fuck."


    "Eh. I would''ve preferred if they were still alive¡­"


    "Now, that''s not fair. You don''t just spring that up on me. I know the Colonel''s still alive and all but those are two different things, alright?"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "No. Don''t. But I''m sorry too¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "We good?"


    "Yeah, lil bro."


    "Pfft¡­ Alright, aneki¡­"


    "Don''t go using informal speech on me, you fuck, I know some Japanese because of Rachel."


    "Now you''re just turning me on¡ª"


    "Shh¡­ Not here¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "And using my words against me? Heh¡­"


    "Idiot¡­"


    At one point, our pleasant conversation abruptly stopped when we saw Oscar giving us a double thumbs-up from across the room, so we went back to listening in to a much more important conversation.


    To be honest, it was more like a review of what we had already discussed about¡ªin regards to our ns here in Subic Bay¡ªand anything besides that considering this country was left to me and First¡ª I mean, Captain Davis.


    But yeah, we ended the meeting after three or so hours, but as everyone else was leaving the room, the Admiral specifically asked me, Bartow, and Jennifer to stay behind.


    At the same time, a pair of middle-aged doctors came in rolling what seemed to be this fancy freezer of sorts, and it seemed like this night was far from over. To my surprise, it seemed like Bartow already knew what the fuck was going on but looking at Jennifer, it seemed like she knew what was up as well.


    I was the only one who doesn''t know what the fuck was going on but before I could even ask a question, the Admiral beat me to it:


    "Mr. Ishiyama, I believe you still remember my wife?"


    I paused for a moment before I answered, "I do, why?"


    "Let me start by saying that I may not have lied to you but I didn''t tell you the whole truth¡­"


    I shook my head as I sighed deeply, "You''re owing me more and more punches to the face, you know that¡ª"


    Bartow cut me off, "Watch how you talk to the Admiral¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut him off, "It''s fine, I expected as much."


    I nodded, "What''s with the fancy-ass freezer? You don''t have the psyche of a terrorist/lead singer in a rock band there, do you?"


    "What?"


    "Not important¡ª What''s with the freezer? This is not your pitch for an MLM, right¡ª"


    "Stop," Jennifer said as she nudged me.


    "It''s how I cope, you seem to forgot talking a few minutes earlier too."


    "..."


    Bartow huffed, "Can you take it seriously? We''re about to show you government secrets¡ª"


    "Nice of you to point that out, Sherlock! Seemed apparent earlier too but I didn''t say anything about it¡ª"


    ADM Burke cut us off, "Alright, enough! All that build-up for nothing¡ª Anyway! Do you know how peptides work?"


    My eyebrows rose from themon term, "I do, yes¡ª Well, some of them¡­ Be it for building muscle, fat loss, recovery, or anti-aging¡ª Heck, even Insulin is one¡­ The first one, I might add."


    He nodded, "That''s great¡­ These aren''t technically peptides but one of the things we have here is something that kind of replicates how my wife''s skeletal system works. Though still very, VERY experimental¡ª"


    I cut him off, "No. Hard pass."


    ADM Burke was taken aback, "You didn''t even let me finish¡ª"


    "I don''t need you to. Give that shit to someone else."

 Chapter 1183: Min-Maxing with Drugs

    Ignoring one of the pseudo-"peptide" or whatever the fuck kind of medication they were probably offering me, actual peptides do have various useful applications¡ªthough they weren''tmonly referred to like that, take Insulin or even Creatine as an example.


    For a brief description, Peptides are strings of molecules called amino acids and they are essentially the building blocks of protein.


    I don''t want to go deep in the rabbit hole with it butpared to other drugs, it had fewer side effects and since their byproducts of amino acids could be recycled by our bodies, it was much, much safer to take than the former.


    But yeah, I''ve heard of different Peptides aiding in the recovery and strengthening of bones but not to the extent that allowed Jolene, a.k.a. The Senator or the Admiral''s wife, to have the ability to reconstruct her skeletal system that fast, and slowly had them get stronger and stronger despite the rest of its body continuously dposing.


    ''She needs energy from other corpses though so there''s that as well¡­''


    But back to our current situation, Ipletely shut down the Admiral''s offer before it was given to me, and right as I was about to turn around, Admiral Burke mmed his fists onto the table as he shouted at the top of HIS lungs:


    "I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH DISRESPECT! LET ME FINISH WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AND YOU CAN DECIDE FROM THEN WHETHER YOU WANT TO DECLINE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THE POWER TO PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES!"


    I slowly turned back to the Admiral as I bowed, "I''m sorry but I won''t be able to protect my loved ones if I''m dead."


    One of the doctors stepped up, "T-That''s¡ª T-This won''t kill you at all! I-It just improves your body''s ability¡ªyour bone''s ability to recover a-and with enough doses, it gets stronger over time! Look at First Lieutenant Bartow¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Again, I won''t be able to protect my loved ones if I became an annoying piece of shit¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª" Bartow was about to get right up in my face but the Admiral''s voice thundered once again to diffuse a fight I wouldn''t back down from.


    "ENOUGH! Isn''t his recovery from the beating you and that other~ Kuzma, was it? Isn''t the recovery from the beating you gave him enticing enough for you?"


    I shook my head, "Isn''t someone like me who isn''t in any of the shit you guys are peddling enough to tell you to stop messing with our bodies this way? Your ''roided-up fuck lost to me, what does that say¡ª"


    Bartow exploded, "WE CAN HAVE A REAL FIGHT, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW IF YOU WANT TO¡ª"


    Admiral Burke shut him down, "I SAID ENOUGH! You two¡­ Alright¡­ I''ll admit you''re a very special case but what about the rest of us? If I had a thousand of you and sent them to reim ournd, the chances would be higher but unfortunately, you''re one in a million¡­ That''s one of the reasons we have to resort to¡­ to enhancements such as these¡­"


    Enjoy new stories from mvl


    I had to agree a bit, "That''s a fair point but since you already know I''m special, why are you offering it to me? You could''ve just given them to someone else¡ª"


    The Admiral huffed, "Isn''t that all the more reason to take it? If a¡­ If a regr person takes one of these, it gives them the chance to slightly level the ying field but if someone already on the top of the food chain takes it, what then? Can''t you imagine that?"


    I shook my head, "I''m sorry but these things you''re offering me wouldn''t be able to do that. Momentarily, sure, but these things take something from you and once you have to pay the toll, it''s already toote. I''m all for being above average in certain aspects but you gotta understand that there are certain downsides to it."


    "..."


    "Tell me," I said as I turned to the couple of doctors shaking their heads, "What are the cons of taking them? Is it taken orally? Transdermally? Injected? What?"


    The same doctor spoke up, shaking his head, "That''s¡­ We did tell you it''s very experimental but so far¡­ mood swings, increased weight, increased appetite, insomnia¡ª"


    I cut him off, "What''s your name, doctor?"


    "S-Stevens¡ª"


    "Doctor Stevens, no offense, but¡­ aside from this ce I''d have a part in leading with Captain Davis and Popeye over there, I have other ces and a billion other people to interact with and take care of and do you think someone like me would be able to do my job¡ªwhich is hard enough as it is¡ªif I''m highly irritable andcks sleep?


    For a soldier you sent to the battlefield, sure, but isn''t my case a little different? And even if I could handle it, why suffer all that if I won''t be able to move like I used to?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Not to brag or anything, but if I''m at my 100%,pletely focused, it''s a one-on-one, and life-or-death with my des on hand, no one could fucking touch me and the match will be over in a split second. Why the fuck would I need increased recovery if I wouldn''t get hit and why would I need stronger bones if it would slow me down? Won''t it just change everything I do things?"


    "That''s¡­ That''s something we haven''t considered¡­"


    "Look¡­ I do believe our human shell is limited on its own and it''s up to you all to advance us but I won''t be able to plunge into it if there are already negatives that could affect how I do things and uncertainties waiting to blow up in our faces. Sure, Bartow''s¡ª First Lieutenant Bartow''s recovery is amazing and all, but that''s not for me. I''d rather take the freezer."


    "What?" Everyone said at the same time.


    "It''s a cool-looking freezer, meshes well with¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut me off, "That''s why I want you to let me fucking finish!"


    "Pardon?"


    "I''m giving you the whole lot, you punk! And it''s up to you if you use it or not!"


    "Oh."


    He shook his head, slightly defeated, "We haven''t told you about the other ones here but it''s enough doses for a handful of people. Let me tell you, I am on a cycle of what Bartow¡ªand what my wife had as well¡ªto further its research because yeah, I''m all for taking something safely but we wouldn''t get there without any sacrifices. Can''t you agree to that, at least?"


    I nced down before I looked back at him, "That''s definitely true."


    He lightly chuckled, "In the future, if this all goes well, you''d probably be one of the people benefiting from this¡ªand you''d have to thank me and Bartow for that. It IS experimental and it DOES carry risks, but we''ve gotten far enough that the negatives are manageable, and with more time and more data, we''d be able to tweak it to the point it had a stronger effect but less of the drawbacks.


    If not, less effect but less drawbacks as well, do you get me?"


    "Min-Maxing, yeah. But what does the other shit do?"

 Chapter 1184: Then we wont be saying goodbye, yet.

    At this point, I''m not even sure if that freezer contained doses for a handful of people each or as a collective, but yeah, it could also be for safekeeping in case something goes wrong on their end. And since they won''t be able to collect data on me¡ªbecause I''m sure as hell wouldn''t use it¡ªI have the freezer that I wanted plus government secrets only a few people know about.


    But Admiral Burke then answered my question:


    "To satisfy your curiosity, we have advanced orbined those amino acid strings¡ªand a few others¡ªthat could slightly increase one''s lifespan¡ª"


    "Holdup, Mr. Snake Oil Salesman, seriously?"


    Admiral Burke was starting to get more and more irritated at me, "Why don''t you let me finish listing everything and you save the reaction forter?"


    ''I guess he''s pretty chill before if he gets irritated this way¡­''


    I scratched my head as I apologized, "I''m sorry."


    "Haaa¡­ Again, aside from the increased longevity of at least two-to-three years, we have something for more severe cases of chronic pain, anti-aging¡ªbefore you ask, it''s different from adding lifespan because this is more external, improving one''s skin, hair, and nails¡ª"


    "Like the cogen peptide?"


    "It IS the cogen peptide but twice as effective."


    "You should be on that as well¡ª"


    "CAN YOU JUST LET ME FUCKING FINISH?!"


    "Do you have something for mood swings as well¡ª Wait, that''s just weed and we do have them in storage¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª Goddamit! You got me there, you ass¡­ Anyway, we have something for cognitive problems like dizziness, brain fog, and the like¡ªAlso, we have something that increases digestion and absorption of food nutrients as well as something that could inherently increase muscle building and reduce weight by burning fat." Discover hidden content at mvl


    "Isn''t that what PEDs already are?"


    "Somewhat but the side effects are much more manageable and it stays on your system for longer with lesser doses. A bottle of that couldst you a year if properly stored¡­"


    "Is that all?"


    Dr. Stevens answered, "We have the base peptides on the lower shelf as well, but you''d be able to find them in hospitals if they aren''t lootedpletely. The ones on the top shelf are more specialized to us and are more experimental in nature but since you said you won''t be using it yourself, we should ask you to have them stored in a ce for safekeeping¡­"


    ''As I thought¡­''


    "Why don''t you just store them here? It''d be safer if your folks¡ª"


    Admiral Burke shook his head, "That wouldn''t be possible. I did tell you, everyone here will do everything to serve their country and it involved injecting themselves with anything to have the advantage. This is not the only freezer we have on hand, mind you.


    And to bepletely honest, I''m slightly relieved that I''ll be able to entrust this to you but I wouldn''t put it against you if you yourself use it or have it taken by someone else you deem who needed it."


    "That''s¡­"


    "Some of them aren''t even that bad, to say the least, since most of them are already medicine that circted the pharmaceuticalpanies and was already approved by the FDA, but yeah, we just gave it a little oomph and that''s all there is to it."


    "I dunno, even the cogen peptide that''s twice effective still scares me."


    "How?"


    "What if someone gets too young and they don''t look legal anymore¡ª OW! JEN¡ª"


    "THAT''S WHERE YOUR MIND WENT?! SERIOUSLY?!"


    I nodded unapologetically, "Yep."


    "YOU¡ª KUK¡ª DAMMIT! KAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Obviously enough, I was one to cope by throwing curveballs at the most important moments, but let''s just say this was just a lot of information to take in and I needed a little break. However, some of the "Peptides" they were peddling did entice me morepared to the increased bone density and recovery that would be helpful in a fight and what goes on afterward.


    And it was the increased lifespan.


    So I had to ask:


    "The lifespan thingy¡­ How can you be sure that it increased¡ª"


    Dr. O''Hara, the other doctor who was keeping quiet the whole time finally spoke, "We tested it on rats first and it actually doubled their lifespan. They usually live for 2-4 years but we have eight among the fifty rats we used them on live twice their age.


    It''s a far cry from doubling a human''s age because we only managed to seed in ramping it up by a couple of years or so but that''s the going rate as of now."


    "Can it work on other animals?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "My dog, Zeus, for example."


    She was definitely taken aback, "Umm¡ª That''s¡­ We''re talking about millions of research here and you''re using it on your dog?"


    "Why not? A Florida man kidnapped a scientist for almost the same reason."


    She let out a faint smile, "Fair."


    "Then again, I wouldn''t want to live an extra two to three years if I''m gonna be a decrepit fuck annoying my caretakers. I''d rather have the option to die if I start to make others'' lives miserable because of me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Admiral Burke was taken aback, "That took a turn¡­ You''re young, your views might change but aside from entrusting you safekeeping of this freezer you so love and its contents, if you or anyone ever got to use them, please¡­ please do provide us their bloodwork each week and we''ll have a look at them every time we or any other of my personnel gets back."


    "Or I could include it in my reports."


    "That works as well but yeah, I really thought your reaction from this would be different but let me just say that I still respect your choice. Take good care of my daughter, alright?"


    I nodded, "Of course, she''ll be living with us¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Does she have other friends here?"


    "N-No¡­"


    "There you go, then¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut me off as he turned to Jennifer, "How about you? Have you made your decision yet? The Colonel said you''re free to do as you wish though I might say I''m more inclined to have you lead the 5-man group I''m assigning to protect my daughter to free up more space from this kid''s~ whatever is it he''s doing."


    Jennifer answered with a solemn expression, "I do thank you for the opportunity and I''m fine with doing anything as long as it''s within this country, close to my father, *points at me* my lil bro, and my partner¡ªincluding E, of course, but hearing his side regarding these drugs, I''d be happy to relinquish that opportunity to someone else.


    It''s also thanks for letting Rachel stay here though she''d be thoroughly disappointed without her F18f¡­"


    I nudged her from the side, "I''ll hook her up, we''ll talk to Jessica. It''s not F18s but they have something she could fly whenever¡­"


    Jennifer chuckled, "Thank you¡­"


    Admiral Burke cleared his throat, "Very well, you two are free to go and do whatever you wish while Bartow and I will have more discussion with our doctors. Thanks for your time."


    "And the freezer?"


    He chuckled, "We''ll keep it hooked up in here with tight security¡ªeven though it has several hours of battery life¡ªand we''ll give you itsplete manual a little bitter. Send us off tomorrow, yeah?"


    "Of course."


    "Then we won''t be saying goodbye yet. See youter, kid."

 Chapter 1185: What now, lil bro? Don’t you want to spend some time with your big sis?

    Out of everything that has happened, I didn''t think the US Government would still keep on producing something that might''ve been subject-adjacent to what turned the world upside down. Sure, peptides, anabolics, etc. were already avable before this virus wrecked the system of everyone who got it, but yeah, it seemed to be a "fight fire with fire" type of situation.


    ''It''s one of the paths avable too but that option wasn''t avable to me¡­ Even so¡­ I don''t have enough research to mess with my body as is and it might incur more problems than solutions because I don''t have those problems to begin with¡­''


    But yeah, as Jennifer and I went out of the ATC room, we saw a couple of dozen peopleing in¡ªeither from the going out or staying in squad¡ªprobably called in to have the same talk with the Admiral and Bartow''s doctors.


    The majority of them didn''t look like Bartow in the sense that they just looked like regr fit soldiers, but to be fair, I was very familiar with people on the juice who didn''t look like they were, no offense.


    And as they saw us, they gave us a brief greeting before they shut the door behind them, and Jennifer and I were alone, walking down the hallway to reach the stairs instead of the elevator.


    "..."


    "..."


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    I wasn''t sure about Jennifer but I waspletelyfortable with the silence, but instead of us going to the left, Jennifer turned to the right.


    "What¡ª"


    "Restroom."


    "Ah¡­ I''ll just wait out¡ª"


    "No, the fuck you''re not, juste in with me! I ain''t pissing alone!"


    "But the women''s¡ª"


    "Say something?" Jennifer turned around to give me a look as she went straight for the separate room for people with disabilities.


    "Ah¡ª You¡­"


    "What now, lil bro? Don''t you want to spend some time with your big sis?" Jennifer said as she unbuttoned two of the buttons on her uniform, exposing a bit of her cleavage.


    "Umm¡­" I was stunned for a moment before I looked to the left and the right, pushing her further in once I was sure no one was watching, "Fuck it."


    "There we go¡ª Shit! L-Lock the door, at least!"


    All of a sudden, Jennifer and I were invading each other''s mouths as we were violently pulling on each of our clothes, and let''s just say that clothes, especially tight orpression ones could hide a lot of stuff, and Jennifer''s jugs were bigger than I fucking thought.


    "Pfft¡­ I have to rein them in, you know? Let''s see you¡ª Holy fucking shit¡ª They weren''t kidding¡­"


    Jennifer was wearing a smirk as she saw me get stunlocked for seeing her huge udders, but her jaw fucking dropped when she saw my huge cock. However, it just made her smile grow wider and wider¡ªand a little maniacal¡ªas she recovered, but she suddenly lifted me up with her huge arms and sat me down the bathroom counter.


    She chuckled as shepletely pulled my pants off, "I ain''t kneeling down for you, lil bro, but I''m definitely sucking this cock¡ª Don''t hold back, alright?! I wanna taste that cum of yours quick!"


    Without even waiting for my reply, Jennifer grabbed both my arms and nted them down the counter, showing me her boulder shoulders, before giving me the same smile and taking me whole with no hands.


    "F-Fuck!"


    With how rough, Jennifer was sucking me off, her teeth would sometimes scrape against my skin, but the way she was taking me past her throat every single time more than made up for it.


    And since Jennifer already asked me to cum fast, from the view and how everything went so fast, I made her choke not only on my fat cock but with the mouthfuls I released in her mouth, and she had to pull out in shock¡ªwith her mouth still full with my load¡ªseeing my throbbing cock still pouring out with my hot seed.


    "F-Fuck¡ª I¡ª Mnn¡­"


    Jennifer eventually swallowed everything in her mouth and as she was just looking straight at me, she held me tight before jerking me off with my cum thered all over my shaft.


    The way she was looking at me had this sense of excitement and wonder, but as she realized I wasn''t getting soft any time soon, she pulled her pants down to her knees and she pulled me off the counter so we could switch ces.


    "Now I know why¡­ You okay with taking your big sis from the b-back?"


    "You should take off your pants and your shoes, just saying¡­"


    "Sure, as long as I can see you fuck me in the mirror¡­"


    "You''re so fucking wet¡ª"


    "S-Shut up and just p-put it inNn¡ª F-Fuck! FUCK¡ª FUCK! Y-YOU''RE SO FUCKING BIG! AH! A-AH! AH!


    SHIT¡ª Y-YOU''RE STRETCHING¡ª MMNH! F-FUCK ME! F-FUCK ME HARD¡ª AH! AHH! J-JUST LIKE THAT! YES!


    YES! Y-YES¡ª"


    The moment Jennifer nted her fucking feet on the cold flooring as she took off the rest of her clothes, I grabbed her hips and pushed my fat cock inside her tight fucking cunt over and over, and as hard and as fast as I could.


    Her whole body would just jolt and tighten as I hit her deepest parts, and she was getting more and more turned on seeing me resize her front hole while in front of the mirror.


    She was melting from pleasure and screaming each time her cheeks would p, and I just saw how her eyes rolled to the back of her head as warm fluid squirted from her and trickled down our thighs.


    "A-AHH¡ª K-KEEP¡ª K-KEEP GOING! D-DON''T FUCKING STOP!"


    At that point, Jennifer was just looking straight at me with a maniacal smile as she was losing it while her tits were bouncing all around, but the moment she began losing feeling in her legs, I turned her around and pinned her to the wall.


    She was in no way on the lighter side, but the look on her face when she saw me carrying her on her legs like it was nothing¡ªwhile still fucking her wet hole¡ªmade her clumsily caress my shoulders as she pulled me in between her huge jugs.


    "H-Hngh¨Ch HNGH! Ugh¡­ AHnn¡­ I-I¡­ I-I h-haven''t s-stopped c-cumming but¡ª Hnghh¡ª NnnnnMH! MmnH! Fuck! F-FUCK! Y-You''re so¡ª MmnGH!


    G-Gh¡ª"


    And while my muscles were bulging from carrying her as my hips were moving in the exact same motion, I just realized I hadn''t tasted her puffy pink nipples along with her milk jugs, so I began sucking on her tits while fucking her brains out.


    Doing that just made her tighter and quiver with each yful bite, and all she could do was try and suffocate me by pushing me on one of them to make me hard of breathing.


    But yeah, I wanted to spend more of my energy fucking her than carrying her so once Iid her on the cold floor, she was just submissively waiting to be fucked silly, but her eyes just widened when I aimed a little lower.


    However, I propped her legs up without issue orint, so once I pushed it slightly and slowly pushed it all the way, even Jennifer knew our brother-sister dynamic would change very, very soon¡ªor it already did.

 Chapter 1186: The Special Mountain

    In a span of an hour and a half, Jennifer wasn''t able to perform a reversal and the only time she had the upper hand against me was when she picked me up and sat me on the bathroom counter earlier. And now, let''s just say I filled all her holes with cum and I was just letting her catch her breath for a short bit, but I had already begun cleaning her up, much to her surprise and embarrassment.


    "I-I can do this on m-my own!"


    "Pfft¡­ You can''t, you''ve tried twice already¡ª"


    "S-Shut up!"


    "I''m your lil bro, remember? I should do this much and besides, if you don''t want anyone to know what happened here, we can just tell them anything you want¡ª"


    "I-I''m not lying to Rache'', if that''s what you''re saying¡­ I-I just really got caught off-guard there¡­ J-Just don''t tell them the details u-unless they asked specifically¡­"


    "Isn''t that lying by omission?"


    "Just go along with it but¡­ Y-You know¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    Jennifer looked away for a moment before she lightly nudged me with a smile, "I gotta say, you''re a good fuck, lil bro¡­ I can''t even remember I got thisid¡ª Heck, I''ve been with those two¡ªTatiana and Quinn¡ªand I could still fucking walk after. With you, it''s just different."


    "I''m still lil bro, huh?"


    "You still are! Age-wise, I mean¡­ Fuck, I still can''t believe you had a cock like that and can use it that well¡­ Ha¡­ I''m still a little out of breath and I-I''m still feeling some tremors¡­" Readtest stories on mvl


    "Thank you, I guess?"


    "Pfft¡­ I''m just being honest, I''ll stroke your ego and especially your dick if I could be fucked like that again¡­ It''s been a while since I''ve been totally on the receiving side¡­ With a guy too, most of the guys I fucked¡ª You know what? We shouldn''t even be talking about them¡­ Do you have anything else fun to talk about while we wait for the feeling in my legs toe back?"


    "Well¡­"


    At that point, I began telling her stories about the time I first met with the old man but she quickly shut that down because she''d rather watch paint dry instead of hearing about that subject post-intercourse. But yeah, she couldn''t believe the story I shared about Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and everyone else in our circle that she''d been with, and the time we had with the cartel stood out.


    "For real?! They have these game nights every weekend and you''re the reigning champion and partly in with them?! HOW?! I WANNA ATTEND! WHEN''S THE NEXT SPECIAL ONE?!"


    "I dunno about the next ''special'' one but¡ª"


    "You know what we''ve done the past year? Evacuate and move people! We''ve been at sea more than we were atnd¡ªand it''s a little on the nose since we''re in the Navy bute on! We do mess around and have fights here and there on the ship but not like that! The highlight of the month was the attack on this ce and the fights after! I thought it wouldn''t get better than that!


    HOLD UP¡ª You still haven''t told me about that special mountain of yours!"


    "Ah¡ª Right¡­ What do you wanna know¡ª"


    "Everything, of course!"


    "I can''t tell you that."


    "Then tell me what you could! It''s not an interrogation, we''re just here to pass the time."


    "Hmm~ Well, I dunno if you''ve heard that it belonged to my ''grandpa'' akin to you being my ''big sis'', but he did own it for a while¡­" I started as I gave her some details of what Kaley and everyone else already knew, "But yeah, the mountain''s rich with resources and I''m not talking about just things you could forage on it or the wildlife and the aquatic resources which were also present¡­ We do farm and raise some of them but not like we do in here¡­"


    "Then what? He''s a cksmith of sorts, right? Does the mountain help with that?"


    "Not quite but yeah."


    "Okay? Then tell me."


    "It''s umm¡­ It''s¡ª Hmm~ How do I put this¡­ It''s umm¡­ It''s special."


    Jennifer never looked so fed up, "You said that a billion times already, what''s so special about it?!"


    "Well, for starters, remember why I can''t seem to make contact with them?"


    "Yeah?"


    "It might be ''cos they moved all of the important things they have on the peak¡ªincluding the radios and the sat phone I bought for them¡ªand for some reason, even if I tried to hook up a satellite dish even in our main area of sorts, we can''t seem to have a lick of even the tiniest signal. But if we''re at a good distance away from the mountain, everything''s fine."


    "Oh~ Like it has some maic field that interferes with the waves?"


    "Something like that and it has something to do with the mineral deposits in the cave. Sometimes, even normal electronics don''t work right¡­ On top of the mountain actually being an inactive volcano¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!" Jennifer suddenly managed to sit up as she almost butted heads with me.


    I waved her off and threw in a towel to partly cover herself, "Before you say anything, I''m not entirely sure but wouldn''t you hitva if you go deep enough?"


    "Bro¡ª You do know that Rachel would fucking CREAM if she hears what you''re telling me right now?!"


    "Pfft, I bet she would¡­"


    "Please tell me his forge is in the deepest part of the mountain!"


    I shook my head, "You want my old man Kaiseki to die? Do you think about venttion or not? It''s above ground, of course¡ª but we do get the materials for our des for as deep as we can. I''m not explicitly saying the material''s 100x stronger but for some reason, it IS special. Add to that the forging techniques used and the cksmith¡ª I mean, grandmaster cksmith himself¡­"


    Jennifer finally managed to stand up, "Now that got me going, phew¡­ Imagine¡­ Can you go for one more?"


    "One more what?"


    "We''re fucking again, of course! Don''t get me excited for nothing¡ª How about you justy down so I can show you I''m not a fucking starfish?!"


    I chuckled as I did what my big sis asked of me, "Fine by me¡­"


    On that note, we spent 30 more minutes before we actually took a shower to clean up and get dressed, and once we joined everybody, I could see why Jennifer decided to do it with me away from everyone else because everyone in our group, including the one from the maritime academy was still present and waiting for the Eisenhower''s departure.

 Chapter 1187: Whats your total?

    Even if it was still a few more hours before the Admiral and everyone that would be going with him leaves, the whole ce was still buzzing with activity due to all the preparation.


    It was a miracle in itself that Jennifer and I managed to sneak out and have some quality time for a couple of hours, for some reason, and everyone in our circle knew what we did and they were kind of giving us looks for it.


    But yeah, I just offered Jennifer a drink but she opted for a soda because she already had a stiff one.


    "Haa~ That hits the spot¡­"


    Rachel rolled her eyes, "Really? A Diet Coke hit the spot?"


    Jennifer scoffed, "Trust me, even water tasted like whiskey after we were done¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I barely recovered when I was with Kaley, you''re too brave taking it solo¡ªI couldn''t imagine Kaley''s stamina for that too¡­" then she turned to me, "How do you two do it? I''m usually good once I get off once but you two always keep going ESPECIALLY when I thought we were done!"


    I shook my head, "I dunno¡ª It more than makes up for theck of cardio in my exercises¡­ I used to do them a lot because it clears my head so¡­"


    Jennifer took a sip from her drink, "Cardio sucks¡­ And with how much I weigh, ugh¡­"


    "That reminds me, since you declined the Admiral''s offer for that certain enhancement, you nning to stay that buff or do you wanna scale down a little bit?"


    Rachel looked surprised, "You declined it?! W-Why? Only a handful of people¡ªespecially the ones staying here¡ªgets to have them!"


    Jennifer ced her arm over Rachel''s shoulder as she looked at me, "Because someone convinced me indirectly and I wanna know if I''m special without them¡ª Also, I don''t wanna owe the Admiral too many favors¡­"


    Rachel looked sullen for a moment, "D-Did you do it for me? Since I''m only one of the few instructors¡ª"


    "Eh. Briggs could handle it and who''d have the time to learn all that shit if they''re preparing to take back thend they already took from someone else?"


    I had to make a face, "Oof, you went there, huh?"


    "I''m just sayin'' this shit could be voodoo for all we know¡ª and nuking every goddamn ce that got overrun might''ve taken off the chance to find that one herb to cure us all. Even so, would we even have enough for everybody?"


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    "Hmm."


    "At least that''s my theory."


    "You really think so?"


    "Not quite but it wouldn''t hurt to have another perspective on things. Gotta see all the options, you know?"


    "Hmm, I guess that''s true."


    "But yeah, why are you asking if I wanna scale down again?"


    "Well, you know, a bit of size grants more strength but it takes off some speed¡ª One of the reasons I declined the enhancements as well. So, what I''m saying is¡­ if you cut down to maybe¡ª How much do you weigh again?"


    "Around 220?"


    "Kilos?"


    "Pounds! Do I look like I use kilos?!"


    "Americans¡­ Anything but the metric system¡­"


    "Can''t you just get back on topic?!"


    "Sure, sure¡­ If you''re 220 now and slowlyying off on gear¡­ Hmm~ It''s gonna be brutal if you suddenly cut to 180¡ª"


    "180?! Do you want me to look like a fucking twig?!"


    "You¡ª I''m 180¡ª no, I''m actually 185 right now but that''s besides the point! You''re maybe 30 pounds less than Quinn and your heights are a foot apart!"


    "Your point? Just means I maybe have more muscle! She looks like she''s using gear as well so I''m winning¡ª"


    "She''spletely off it months ago¡ª"


    "What?!"


    Then Quinn suddenly walked over to us, asking for a drink as well, "I heard my name, what are you talking about?"


    Rachel chuckled, "The step-siblings are discussing fitness stuff, by the way, I''m 150 pounds and I don''t look like a twig¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "Because you''re natural, that''s why. No offense saying that but you still look great¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "You''re 250 and off gear?! How?! You look amazing!"


    ''She used to be heavier before too¡­''


    "Well~ I used to be close to 300 and¡ª huh. I actually am lighter now, feels good, not gonna lie. But yeah, with my height and hobbies, it''s prettymon to be 250 and I do eat a lot¡ªhigh-quality protein, especially¡ªbut yeah, it''s still a bitch I can''t throw around the weight I used to throw around when I''m casually powerlifting.


    Gics ys a part in it as well¡ªI don''t wanna say I''m that blessed but I kind of am."


    Jennifer sighed as she looked at her arms, "Maaan~ I don''t wanna lose these though¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Then don''t."


    "Then why are you telling me to cut to 180 then?!"


    "I was just¡ª I''m offering advice, alright?! You probably had some goal to achieve getting that big but since you denied getting that particr enhancement¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "What particr enhancement?"


    I turned to Jennifer, "Can I tell her?"


    Quinn asked again, "Tell me what?"


    Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, "I don''t care, really¡ª if you trust her, tell her. But not with all these people around, at least don''t tell her about the specifics."


    I then turned to Quinn, "You wanna have a kid with me, right?"


    "Of course¡ª And before you say anything dumb, I''m just asking because I''m curious, I''m not thinking of taking anything right now and it''d be dumb to fuck up my body while I''m trying to conceive. But what is it?"


    At that point, I made her lean in so I could whisper in her ear bits of what this "Peptide" was capable of and Quinn wasn''t able to hide the initial shock.


    "That''s¡­ That doesn''t sound like a peptide at all¡ª at least with those effects! Huh.


    I''d be tempted to take it if I was stillpeting but with those side effects, it''s like taking SARMS or MK-677 or some shit," then she turned to Jennifer, "Look, if you just wanna look big, don''t change anything but if you''re just after strength, how big you are helps with it¡ªpeople whopete in strongmen are prime examples¡ªbut look at him, he looks around 180-190 right now but he could pull weight like a motherfucker¡­ Fast as fuck too."


    Jennifer sighed again, "Can''t we just do something in between first? See how it goes?"


    I smiled, "That''s why we''re here talking. You''d probably kill me if you dropped down 40 pounds *snaps fingers* like that but we could go halfway there as a start. Trust me, it''s gonna be a bitch slowly losing the strength to do your top sets but if we tweak it a little bit¡ªand include some cardio as well¡ªyou''d see the things your body could do in a state you''d think would be impossible."


    Jennifer looked down for a moment before she eventually asked for a shot of whiskey, "Fuck it, being this big has its own set of problems but this sort of adviceing from someone bigger than me¡­ I guess I''ll try it. How much weight do you bench anyway?"


    I casually replied, "135."


    "Kilos?"


    "Pounds¡ª"


    "ARE YOU FUCKING MESSING WITH ME RIGHT NOW OR WHAT?! I CAN BENCH 225 FOR REPS AND YOU''RE THE ONE GIVING ME ADVICE?!"


    Quinn just had a realization, "FUCK! ME! I HAVEN''T THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SHIT YET!"


    Jennifer waved her off, "WHAT ARE YOU ON NOW?! YOU MESSIN'' WITH ME TOO?!"


    Quinn shook her head as she pointed at me, "This bitch mostly does calisthenics so we don''t actually know his Big 3 besides his deadlift! HAH! Can you imagine?"


    Rachel chimed in, "W-What''s his deadlift anyway?"


    Quinn turned to me, "Are you gonna tell them or what?"


    "Just tell us!" Jennifer eximed.


    "775¡­" I casually said as I downed a shot of bourbon.


    "..."


    "...wut?"


    At that point, even Rachel who looked like she casually lifts couldn''t believe the difference between my bench and deadlift, and even though they were totally different lifts that use different muscle groups, the difference was just too fuckingrge.


    But yeah, Ignoring Quinn''s predatory look on me as it reminded her of our lifting session back in the Rivas Estate, Jennifer gave me this unwilling look because it seemed like I broke her total¡ªmeaning her total tonnage between her benchpress, squat, and deadlift.


    Currently, it seemed like my total had already exceeded a thousand pounds since both my bench and squat were 135 while my deadlift was 775, a total of 1045 pounds(475 kilos). However, with how I bulked up a few pounds plus the techniques Sebastian parted with me, I was pretty sure I could bump those numbers up to unbelievable amounts if I so wanted.


    It''s just that I was pretty spent already and had a few drinks, making it extremely dangerous to lift heavy weights, much more, try and break a personal record just because.

 Chapter 1188: Quiet night to kill time

    With that said, I came to discover that Jennifer''s Big 3 were 315 pounds(143.18 kilos) for squats, 225 pounds(102.27 kilos) for bench, and 405 pounds(184.09 kilos) for deadlifts, totaling 945 pounds(429.5 kilos).


    That meant she hadn''t been weed to the thousand-pound club for totals yet¡ªnot for each lift¡ªand if she started to cut right now, it''d take more time to regain her strength while being smaller in size.


    However, it''d be more impressive if she gets weed to the club while being 180 pounds instead of 220 if we go about it pound for pound, considering her lifts with her body weight.


    ''I wasn''t even sure if she''s powerlifting like Quinn¡­ Her max bench¡ªheck, all of her lifts could be higher if she doesn''t do it for reps as she stated¡­''


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    But yeah, she was only 55 pounds away from getting weed to the club, and Quinn only having a couple of shots would make her that inebriated¡ªand it was totally at Jennifer''s discretion¡ªso she easily let herself in the club with a 370-pound ass-to-grass paused squat while Quinn and I were spotting her from side to side.


    "FUCK YEAH! YOU GUYS SAW THAT?!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You could''ve done more, actually¡ª"


    "WE COULD¡ª"


    I shut that shit down fast, "Nope. We''re not doing shit and you''re not doing shit either."


    "THE FUCK YOU MEAN?!"


    "You''re tired and had alcohol¡ªthough in very small quantity¡ªit''s already affecting the way you''re thinking. You could be bull-headed as far as we know but I don''t want you to get injured. It''d be more impressive to break these records if you''re in a much lower body weight."


    "BUT¡ª"


    Rachel cut in, "That''s already great, Jen! Meet us halfway here, you really shouldn''t be lifting like that or in this hour, some of us here were already sleeping."


    "But¡ª Haa¡­ You''re right, sorry¡­ Just got too excited."


    On that note, a groggy Kaley and Tatiana came out of our room to check out the suddenmotion, and if it was any other person making a ruckus, we would''ve received a beating on top of a harsh talking to. In addition, the people from the maritime academy were taking naps on the sofa in the lounge area and they just didn''t say a word because of who we were and what they owed us.


    Nevertheless, we did apologize because it''s justmon fucking decency, and I apologized to Kaleyst, who I found slumped down on this table-cab thingy with a mirror in front of it by the living room of sorts. On the other hand, Tatiana just threw herself on the sofa and started sleeping again with barely any clothes on.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hey."


    "We''re sorry for the noise¡­ I did try to stop because they already had a drink but we did have a drink so¡­ sorry."


    Kaley turned to me before she beckoned me over, "It''s alright, it''s like the cops were circling the area anyway, have you seen these lightsing and going through the curtains? It''s distracting as is so you didn''t disturb us as much¡­"


    "I take it everyone''s still trying to sleep?" I asked as I gave her a peck on the cheek.


    "I''m not sure about everyone but we all moved from that sudden bang! I trieding back but they just upied the avable space, I might just slump on the sofa like Tatiana."


    "You had some fun with everyone, at least?"


    "Not a lot without you, but did you?"


    "What do you think?"


    "Pfft¡­ Of course, you did¡­ Jennifer this time?"


    "Yeah, she lived."


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh~ Suuure, brag about it while you just disturbed my beauty rest, that''ll get me going~"


    I chuckled, "I''m sorry, alright? Besides, you''d still look beautiful if you had eyebags like mine¡ª"


    Kaley pinched my sides, "Oh, shut it! I didn''t say I''m ugly, I said I''m sleepy! I know I''m pretty¡ª Just don''t wanna say it out loud, you know? So what now?"


    "What now what?"


    "You still have to make me fall asleep, you know?"


    I joked, "You can startying down and close your eyes?"


    "Or¡­" Kaley said as she traced her fingers on my torso.


    "I don''t wanna put you in a choke-hold, Kaley¡ª"


    "Ugh! You know what I want! Please?"


    "Alright, how do you want it?"


    "Here. Eat me on this table."


    "How about me?"


    "Well you can jerk off, no negotiations."


    "I can just fuck you or Tatiana while you''re sleeping, you know?"


    Kaley gave this look with a raised eyebrow, "Don''t care. I want you to eat me now."


    "Very well¡­"


    Long story short, it didn''t take long before Kaley was sound asleep on her sofa after I munched on her carpet and tongue-fucked her pink ring below, and of course, Tatiana wanted to get it while she was lying prone.


    I easily agreed since I won''t get to do it by myself but let''s just say I did my duties as the man in this circle when Quinn, Jennifer, and Rachel walked in though we did it in a ce where they wouldn''t hear us because we only get one strike when waking up the people who were asleep.


    But yeah, it was a fun way to kill time and we were killing two¡ª no, three birds with one stone because it was also cardio on top of our attempts to have Quinn pregnant.


    While it was true, we had an agreement to have it on a very special day while we were alone, it didn''t take long before we decided that it wouldn''t hurt to try it as much as we could because it would definitely hurt if any of us didn''t get some for three days.


    We could me it on how high our sex drives were and the position we always put ourselves in, be it idental or on purpose, because we''d almost always end up tangled with each other the moment we were in close proximity.

 Chapter 1189: Goodbye, Dad. - Back to Business.

    But yeah, the airport had never been so busy an hour before the departure because aside from the Eisenhower leaving the Marine Base to get much closer to us, the people that''d leave with the Admiral¡ªplus the ones that would be assigned to this airport¡ªhad all gather in this spot.


    The noise produced by everyone triple-triple-checking everything and making sure that no stone would be left unturned was just like this buzz or adrenaline the first time you''d walk into a gym.


    It was exciting, intimidating, and a little sad in a way, because even if we only met for a few days, it felt like we already formed this small bond with these people.


    In addition, we don''t even know if all of them would be able toe back next month or if a different ship wille to deliver more evacuees, but with the way the Eisenhower was powered by a nuclear reactor, I guess it''d be one of the few ships that could travel for as long as that reactor would let them.


    It''s just this mncholic feeling got quickly overshadowed by seeing E wearing this gothic lolita outfit, who probably got the idea from seeing June''s vibe.


    To my surprise, I just learned that June was among the people inside the room Kaley was inst night before we woke them up but I''d just ask Kaley for the detailster because her siblings just joined them after waking up due to the noise as well.


    Kaley was already with me outside and helping with whatever was needed but the two among others just came out after some time.


    Explore more stories with §Þ??


    E immediately ran up to me, "How''d I look?"


    I instantly shattered her confidence, "You look like Annabelle¡ª No, Anab-E, get it?"


    Or so I thought.


    "R-Really?! That''s what I was going for! I could''ve done the makeup too but it''d take too long! Thanks! And where were you yesterday?! W-We should''ve¡ª"


    I widened my eyes as I looked at her, "We should''ve what exactly? Wasn''t I called over to see your dad?"


    "Y-You took that long¡ª D-Dumb question, you did, right?"


    "That reminds me, why do you look so sad yesterday?"


    E looked away for a bit before turning back to me, "You know¡­ Goodbyes are just hard, I''ll get over it¡­"


    "Morning¡­" June and the others finally reached us as they greeted Kaley and me.


    Kaley smiled at them, "Good morning, want some coffee¡ª"


    Cindy quickly ran for the thermos, "Oh God, yes¡­ You have cinnamon powder?"


    "Ah¡ª" Kaley was taken aback by the sudden request, "Sorry, no¡ª"


    Jeremy cut in, "Just be thankful for the coffee! We''re sorry¡ª"


    "It''s okay, I''ll be prepared next time¡ª"


    I cut in as I handed her a stick of cinnamon, "Will this work?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "You don''t want it?"


    "DO YOU JUST HAVE A CINNAMON STICK ON YOUR PACK AT ALL TIMES?!"


    "I''m getting judged for helping, forget you saw anything¡ª"


    Cindy suddenly snatched the cinnamon stick from my hands as she gave me a sideways hug, "THIS IS AMAZING! YOU''RE AMAZING! THANKS!"


    ''Good thing I still have that pack from Jericho¡­''


    On that note, as we kept giving everyone who''d stop by their cuppa Joe, Admiral Burke actually went down from the Eisenhower to have onest coffee with us before they go. Obviously enough, he asked to be served by E¡ªin which she happily obliged¡ªbut I just had to do it when Bartow came in with this grumpy look on his face.


    "This¡­ This is just the bag of instant coffee¡­"


    "I ain''t making you shit if you look like that¡ª"


    "YOU''RE LOOKING FOR A FIGHT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING?!"


    "d this shit isn''t my responsibility anymore¡­" Admiral Burke said from the side, peacefully sipping his coffee.


    Captain Davis shook his head, "I barely survived theirst altercation¡­"


    "Hah! You''re the Captain now, deal with it."


    "Oh,e on! Can''t you just order both or either of them to take it easy or get along?!"


    "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN ASK THE IMPOSSIBLE?!"


    I nodded, "Nope. I don''t belong in any unit¡ª I''m special, remember?"


    Admiral Burke added, "Out of my jurisdiction now, and I did just order YOU to sort this out yourself."


    But yeah, we had a short moment of peace before E took five good minutes to hug her father before he finally said goodbye and boarded the Eisenhower, and we did wait with E for a while until the ship waspletely out of view.


    There was a moment of silence where E was just staring at the dark horizon, but she eventually wiped her tears and came up to me for a hug.


    She wasn''t even speaking a word but she was just hugging me for as tight as she could, but as Kaley joined in, it just evolved intoplete chaos when everyone else from our circle joined in.


    I could definitely feel the daggers on my back from the jealous fucks though it didn''t take long before we went back to business.


    The first thing on the list was obviously breakfast but even though it was still a few hours away, we had a bigger group to prepare it and we called everybody over just as the sun was barely on the horizon.


    At this point, I figured that we would stay for one more day before we go back to our own HQ, and I wouldn''t leave this ce¡ªand I''d probably stay longer¡ªif we didn''t solve the mystery of the cemetery by the expressway.


    So yeah, after making sure that the people from GDMWC and the Idress Maritime Academy were sorted out, our hit squad drove to thest ce, in general, that was still teeming with the dead because Bartow and his hit squad already took care of the area around the Freeport Zone.


    We were obviously weed warmly by Jessica''s crew watching over the entryway to the expressway, but their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw use in with several excavators.

 Chapter 1190: Homicide with Extra Steps

    And without further ado, with the help of Bartow ordering an outer perimeter formed outside the perimeter we made with our own squad, we just all took to position as loud bass thumped from each of our vehicles.


    Though I heard Bartow''s voice from the main channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Just kill them all, huh? That''s the n?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s Phase 1. Phase 2 is turning this cemetery into an open area, literally."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I know. I just didn''t you''d go with it.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You cleared the houses all around, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Then if this doesn''t stop them from gathering here, I don''t know what will. And don''t get me started on the morality of desecrating graves, my family would very much prefer if they don''t cause me more trouble when they''re dead."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I said nothing.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just sayin''..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, just give me a call if you can''t clear this ce with your squad.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You wish."


    *bzzt*


    -


    On that note, I already had my katana and wakizashi on both hands, waiting for the dead to get closer and closer, but from the other points of entry, my crew had already begun their assault. However, with the Dewey siblings and Jennifer joining me on our assault my main group, I just wanted to make asting impression.


    And right as June spun the drone to check if I was sleeping or not, I quickly disappeared from her view and then reappeared several feet away with seven heads rolling down their brethren''s feet like coconuts.


    I set the pace on hard mode as I left more than headless bodies in my wake, and I was just moving forward without stop, making every fucking deadhead who came to our mating call surround me.


    But yeah, it''s more like they were moths to a me as they fell each time they got closer, but they were getting cut down by the two pieces of metal in my hands instead of that fire they were so attracted to.


    At the current moment, my arms were moving like they were from different people because my right hand was flowing like water while the other was just descending like thunder.


    I was lopping heads left and right with my katana while stabbing and thrusting eyesockets and earlobes with my wakizashi, but if I so felt like it¡ªlike right now¡ªI could just switch techniques from each side or use one technique every so often. Certain techniquesplement the de I was using but I just had to change the movement a bit to achieve the same result.


    And with both hands upied, I don''t have a lot of ways to wipe the grime off my des but it wasn''t like the dead werepletely naked.


    At one point, just so I wouldn''t stain the inside of my scabbards, I jammed my wakizashi onto a deadhead''s skull, used its apron topletely wipe my katana in one swift motion, bisect three other fucks who dared toe close by holding my katana with both hands, then rinsing it and repeating the same thing for my shorter de.


    Obviously, I would run out of space if I just stayed at one spot while culling all of them with one strike so I used the unevenness of the terrain because in this ce, not all of the coffins were buried six feet underground.


    In most cases, they''d just build this enclosure of sorts above ground to save on costs¡ªwhich usually happens on lower-end cemeteries¡ªand they''d just push them in and close it with hollow blocks, adding on the tombstone right after.


    So yeah, it almost became a tformer as I jumped from each enclosure to the other, almost doing the same thing the first time Mikhail and I had to fend off the bulk of the De Leon Family baldies.


    Though this time, I wasn''t stepping on hands, tripping their feet, or pushing them off to the deep end with a Spartan Kick, but I was making them fulfill the purpose of the ce they were in.


    Because with each head I lopped off or sliced open, a cemetery would be happier if its inhabitants were dead instead of the undead. Granted us being here was a little contradictory, it was safe to say we were this ce''s friend right until we began digging up their buried corpses.


    I''ve said it before, not only were the dead we have buried in this cemetery not embalmed, but there was also the chance of crime syndicates using this ce as a burial ground¡ªhiding a tree in a forest type of situation.


    The only way we''d stop this ce from calling flesh-eaters to lounge around was to make sure each and every coffin was unboxed, cleared, and burned to cinders along with its contents.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before a headless corpse¡ªwhich I already cut down¡ªstood up with its arms forward, revealing its crooked hands with chewed-off fingers, indicating that it wasn''t the owner of its body for the second time, so I just had to cut my way out of this zombie enclosure as I called over our demolitions expert:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Is it finally time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not yet. I''m just telling you to get them ready."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright. We already spotted a few and we''re chopping them to pieces.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I just spotted a few here, just have to tell you that particr detail."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha, Boss. Just say the word.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright." Find adventures at §Þ??


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, my main group was just about to catch up to me but I could clearly see how Tatiana dragged back the Deweys: Eden, Cindy, and Jeremy with her topletely dismember the corpses Jennifer and Quinn had put down with them.


    It was a relief to see themply and follow orders to the dot so I went back to killing my targets with extra steps.

 Chapter 1191: HEAVY!

    But yeah, aside from giving Bogdan the heads-up for the use of some explosive rubber cement, I did quickly tell Tatiana to leave a hollowed one mostly intact. Because even if the rest of its brethren plopped down when we put down the puppetmaster, it''d be more apparent to us if we seeded or if there was more than one of them in the area.


    In any case, my next target was a chewed-up bodybuilder wearing a muscle tee and I greatly appreciated how it offered easy ess to its shoulder¡ªeven if I could cut through them just as easily¡ªbut with only two flowing shes with my katana, I managed to put it down.


    I did it by lopping off its left arm from above before flourishing my de hand and entering its right armpit, cutting straight to its left trapezoid muscle by forcing the stretchy fabric to stretch as far as it could before itpletely ripped off along with its wearer''s right arm and head.


    If it was any other day, I would''ve done it with three shes, but I had to horizontally bisect my next target¡ªwhich was a gym thot¡ªwith an exposed midriff, intestines and whatever the fuck its breakfast was dangling from it.


    And again, this chop was an unusual choice but with the presence of the hollowed ones and the puppetmasters in the mix, it''d be easier to fend off a torso with its arms and head still attached with the rest of its legs having no idea where to move.


    Cutting them in half vertically was also a safe choice, because the regr fucks wouldn''t even know how to hop with one leg, but don''t worry, Quinn was doing that type of god''s work along with Jennifer.


    Because aside from Quinn iling around her huge-ass polearm/halberd hybrid, Jennifer was using some sort of mix between a straight razor and a cleaver that could easily cleave a person in half as long as they have the muscles for it.


    From the looks of it, it was obviously a custom job from Royo himself and the only thing I''d improve on it was the bandage-like handle¡ªand maybe shaving off that pointy-ass pommel whose only purpose was topletely the look. Granted it could punch holes in sheet metal, but we all have our K-Bar knives for that.


    It would be a little hard to wield around and it''d be a pain in her palms if it kept sliding in and out of ce¡ªand even though some people would say that she could take it¡ªdo it a thousand times a day and you''d definitely say otherwise.


    It was akin to driving a manualpared to an automatic because even if I was a little purist at heart, it IS more fuckingfortable to drive an automatic vehicle.


    So yeah, with how rough Jennifer was moving and with the weight of her de, each of her attacks was a kill despite the angles it was entering and it''d one of the things I''d give her pointers about aside from strength training and cutting weight.


    But to my surprise, one thing to take note of was that Jennifer¡ªdespite her rough movements¡ªwas a "hold the fort" kind of person or should I say the defensive type despite their advance because she was making sure that Quinn and her had ample space to retreat while taking into ount everyone else''s position.


    One example was that she''d always scan her head around each time she had ample space for herself, and she''d let Quinn take eat the space for them while she''d put down anything that invaded theirs.


    It was totally different to Quinn who was like a spinning Beyde but we can''t fault her for that because she was doing the job she was supposed to do as well.


    Even I was letting lose because more heads on the ground equals more safety and less work for everybody else, and let''s just say Jennifer''s movements came as a surprise. It could also be that she was just matching Quinn''s movements because she was new to the team, and it''d be also great if she could wreak havoc if she pleased.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Tatiana felt confident to leave the Deweys the grunt work of pulling bodies to one side after chopping them off, so once she joined the fray, it opened a lot of space for us while Kaley and Jared took care of the special ones. Experience more on §Þ??


    This time, Ibarra was on protecting the Raptor and the ones close to it duty, so yeah, it just added to Tatiana''s confidence to leave the three behind.


    However, as the big duo started to jump from one elevated enclosure to another, this particr tform with algae suddenly copsed on them¡ªdue to theirbined weight¡ªand let''s just say the deadheads, yes, plural, the deadheads inside who were trying to get out were both happy and unhappy to see them.


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª"


    "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT¡ª"


    From my point of view, Quinn easily pushed Jennifer off the copsed tform and the broken coffin, but it was by letting go of her self-built weapon.


    Tatiana and I were already flying and cutting in half anyone that was in front of us while our shooters designated a new killzone around Jennifer and Quinn''s exact proximity, and we did see Quinn pull out her Deagle and her backup knife and look below.


    We did see her stomp down while a portion of the dead around them either lost their legs or got shot in the head by Jennifer sweeping them from below or by our shooters shooting from afar.


    But yeah, as I got there in record time, Kaley and Jared shifted their shooting away from us to create a path back while Tatiana pulled more deadheads out the way.


    Jennifer had also got up with a few smudges from getting pushed down on the dirt but my focus was getting Quinn out of that death trap.


    "I''M FINE! I''M FINE¡ª WHA¡ª PUT ME DOWN, YOU FUCK! I SAID I''M¡ª"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP! DID YOU GET BIT OR WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1192: Luck

    To Quinn''s surprise, I easily pulled her out of that 3-foot hole and brought her to where Jennifer and I were standing, and right as I gave us more space by emptying my Maxim 9 on every forehead I saw, I quickly checked not just to the future mother of my child but also my friend andrade.


    "I SAID I''M FINE! CHECK JENNIFER! SHE''S THE ONE WHO LANDED ON THEIR HEADS! THAT''S WHY I PUSHED HER OFF!"


    Jennifer shouted back, "YOU SHOULDN''T HAVE PUSHED ME!"


    "SAY WHAT?! I JUST SAVED YOU!"


    "I COULD''VE JUST STOMPED ON THEIR HEADS! WE''RE HEAVY ENOUGH TO COLLAPSE CONCRETE! IT WOULD''VE TAKEN THREE STOMPS! I ALMOST GOT BIT WHEN YOU PUSHED ME TO FIVE MORE OF THEM!"


    "I-I¡ª I DIDN''T THINK STRAIGHT! SORRY!"


    "YOU¡ª F-FINE, fine¡­ you owe me a fucking beer¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Tatiana shouted from the side, "A little more help?!"


    I shouted loud enough for her to hear, "We''re retreating for the moment¡ª"


    Quinn and Jennifer couldn''t believe what I said, "WHAT?! WHY?/ YEAH, WHY?!"


    "You two said you''re fine, we aren''t sure¡ª"


    "BUT¡ª"


    "IT''S EITHER YOU WALK BACK WITH US OR I''LL FUCKING DRAG YA! THIS IS SERIOUS! I DON''T CARE IF YOU FUCKING GET MAD AT ME BUT I''M CHECKING YOU WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! I CAN EASILY CARRY BOTH OF YOU ON MY BACK!"


    "F-Fine¡­ What if I''m bit?"


    "NO STUPID QUESTIONS, CAN YOU WALK OR NOT?!"


    "I CAN WALK JUST FINE! STOP YELLING!"


    At that point, Quinn never looked so pissed as she stomped her way back with us but Jennifer was a little more understanding of the situation. Obviously, Ibarra quickly met with us as he brought the rear while Tatiana was to the side, and I was walking with Quinn''s main weapon while she was emptying her Deagle to whoever came close.


    Kaley had alreadyid her emergency pack on the Raptor''s truckbed, "What happened? You two okay?!"


    Quinn huffed, "WE''RE TOTALLY FINE AND YOUR HUSBAND''S DELAYING US FOR SOME BULLSHIT REASON!"


    I shouted back, "IT''S NOT BULLSHIT! TAKE THOSE PANTS AND BOOTS OFF SO WE COULD CHECK YOU!"


    Quinn suddenly chuckled, "If that''s what we''re doing, you should''ve said¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Enough jokes!"


    I added, "That goes for you too, Jennifer. I''m sorry but you have to take off your clothes here, not including underwear, of course¡ª"


    "I understand," Jennifer said as she was already partway in taking off her vest, "It''s actually pretty serious, it''s just adrenaline back there¡­ Sorry¡­ I should really go on a cut, huh?"


    I let out a short exhale, "I like that you two are joking, alright? It''s just¡­ be quiet for the moment¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    If we were in the old world, it would''ve been criminal to ask these beautiful women to strip down to their underwear to see if they get bit, but now, it was not time to get self-conscious because it was a life or death situation.


    And to give us a lot of time, Tatiana and Ibarra began using their rifles in tandem with Jared while the Deweys tried their best to help around by handing Kaley and me what we needed, refilling mags, flying the drones, or pulling the bodies in a safe spot.


    And right as the two were in their underwear, Kaley and I began wiping them down with a clean and damp cloth, starting with their feet and making our way up, and even though it was really as Quinn and Jennifer stated, I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I gave the two a tight hug and an apology.


    I was being aplete asshole within reason but it didn''t mean I could go back and recant what statements I said after it was all over.


    Quinn just rolled her eyes with a huff, "Told ya. I guess it''s better me saying it than you if you discover a bite."


    I nodded gently as I gave her back her clothes, "Yeah¡­"


    Then she lightly jabbed my torso, "Also¡­ Thanks for caring and sorry for shouting at ya¡­ I know you mean well¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in while already wearing all her clothes, "The fuck¡ª You gonna talk or are you gonna move?! We''re missing the action here!"


    "WE''RE HAVING A MOMENT, ALRIGHT?!"


    "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH~ YOU''RE DISTRACTING THE DEWEYS TOO!"


    "HAAAH?!"


    "THAT JEREMY KID''S GOOD AT HIDING IT BUT CINDY''S STARING AT OUR TITS EVER SINCE WE TOOK THEM OUT!"


    Cindy''s jaw dropped, "NO, I WASN''T!"


    "THEN WHY''S THIS MAG HAD THE BULLETS ON BACKWARDS, HUH?!"


    "I¡ª ALRIGHT, I''M STARING! IT''S BECAUSE JEREMY LOOKED FIRST!"


    Jeremy pped back, "WHA¡ª WHO WOULDN''T?! AT LEAST I DIDN''T FUCK UP!"


    "THE FUCK YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "I SAID WHAT I SAID!"


    Eden waved them off, "GUYS SHUT UP! SIR IBARRA''S NO JOKE EITHER! I''M GLAD HE''S ON OUR SIDE¡ª"


    "HOLD¡ª I THINK I KILLED IT, BRO!" Jared eximed from the roof of our Raptor.


    All of a sudden, the body Tatiana saved as an indicator for killing the Stitcher controlling it suddenly "turned off" as its outstretched arms fell limp to the ground along with a few others in our cluster. In addition, we received several calls that reported deadheads dropping down from their own clusters as well but I still ordered them to chop the bodies up for good measure.


    It''d be a little tedious, sure, but everyone knew it was for their own safety.


    So yeah, with my des wiped clean, pistol mags full, and my eyes delighted from the earlier disy¡ªwhich I won''t admit to the two despite my noble intentions¡ªwe began marching forward with a focus on staying within 6-10 feet among each other, and for obvious reasons, Quinn and Jennifer were barred from stepping onto an elevated tform at the same time.


    This time, they got fucking lucky the ones who surprised them hadn''t had enough food or sunlight, and if it was a more active member of the undead society, we would''ve bet on the chance to chop their infected leg off for their survival.

 Chapter 1193: The Drug Stash

    The moment we joined Ibarra and Tatiana, it didn''t take long before wepletely took care of our cluster and branched out to help with the others. Of course, I ordered Jennifer and Ibarra to hold the fort and to double-tap and dismember the fallen bodies with Kaley, Jared, and the Deweys¡ªthough we didn''t spend that much time in each cluster, especially from Artem''s side.


    With that said, the cluster where the trainees and the cadets were surprised me instead because they were more organized than expected.


    But yeah, their own group split to where they were mostfortable with working side by side, and in a sense, it was much better than forcing them to work together as if they were a single unit.


    JP obviously took back his title over his peers while Marvin continued to be their silent leader, but this time, Seb felt a little more attuned to working with the other side while Bryan with the other, making him Lucas'' new nemesis for JP''s favor.


    ''I dunno why they suddenly made up but it''s a good sign, no? Better than me and Bartow being like oil and water¡­''


    In any case, once we gathered all the dead bodies in clusters and set them alight, we began to make use of the excavators we brought over to dig up the graves and add them inter as kindling. Some people definitely questioned this action but Quinn and Jennifer almost saying goodbye to that particr surprise was enough reason to make sure that those in their coffins were also cleared off.


    I dunno, if spirits were real, my karma points would be in the negatives but I''d dly take them just so the living would be able to breathe freely.


    However, it didn''t take long before we found more than rotting corpses in the elevated enclosures/tombs on the ground, and whaddayaknow? We actually found one of Robert''s hidden cache of cash, firearms, and drug paraphernalia among other things.


    Bogdan and Ruben actually came upon it identally when they cracked open this tomb which seemed to be refurbished many times, especially at one end, meaning it was covered and patched up many times by cement not because it was such a good spot for dead bodies but a perfect ce to store shit without gathering too much attention.


    And aside from the $100,00 worth of cash in different currencies and numeration, a crate of handguns, two cases of automatic rifles, five bricks of cocaine, ten pounds of Marijuana, a pound of heroin, four pounds of shady-ass meth, etc., we also found this notebook with handwritten passages of numbers and letters that looked like gibberish, for now.


    I would''ve been excited to take a crack at this ck book of sorts when we got home, but with the amount of workid out for me, I just put it in the back of my head right now while I took everything this tomb has to offer.


    Obviously, part of the drugs we uncovered will be shared with the GDMWC, but since Royo would being with us back home, I''d decided on the detailster if we''d start dealing very small incrementster.


    If it was the me before, I would''ve just burned them all with the pile of corpses we just took care of, but my stance on this type of thing had already changed probably due to my involvement with Mr. Cuervo and epting the world wasn''tpletely ck and white.


    There was this gray area of sorts that everyone should be careful of traversing and drugs such as these have their uses like for trading, recreation, or even actual medication.


    Then Bartow''s voice echoed from our radios:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey. It''s already done, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not 100% but we''ll see if theye back."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We tied a couple of biters here trying to get past us and they''re just standing around just now.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah. They didn''t stop trying to get to that ce when your cousin yelled that he killed the one. I''m thinking there are multiples of them present and you just burned thest one.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Must be the case, yeah."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, now that''s done, I''ll be leaving two of my groups here to take care of any stragglers and my main group will drive south to clear the streets even more. Nice work.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, yeah. You too."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Ever since Bartow''s promotion, he had more people to order around and he''s making use of all of them to maximize anything that they''d do in a day, so that everyone in our outposts would be safe. In turn, the ones in their protection would maintain the upkeep and greet them with warm meals and a clean ce toy their heads on, forming the most basic rtionship since time immemorial.


    But yeah, our group was mostly done in this area so while everyone else was cleaning up and putting the excavators back to the trucks we brought in with us, I walked back to check on Paul, who was the leader of sorts in charge in this part of the expressway.


    "Yo. Hope we didn''t attract much on this side."


    He rolled his eyes,ughing, "Attract much on this side, my ass¡ª You even had a group waiting on this end! We just had our drone watching you from above! Your group''s insane, I tell you¡ª not as much as you but you''re all crazy. d we''re on the same side."


    I chuckled, "Thanks. Oh, hey, I dunno if you''re keeping up with the radio chatter but has your group heard anything or anyone about warning everyone here of us?"


    "Huh? Warning?"


    "Yeah, some folks who followed after the Navy docked somewhere else and started talking shit about them. I assumed you heard¡ª"


    He let out an exasperated sigh, "Even here we have those fucks stirring shit?"


    "Well, that''s America for ya¡ª Depends on where they came from but I was sure they''d die the first day."


    "Jesus¡­ I''m sorry I''ming up with nks but I''ll ask my group to tell me or give you a report if we ever hear of them on our side, cool?"


    "Cool. Right, it''d be ourst day here for the moment¡ª"


    "Ah, shit. You''re leaving then?"


    "Not today, no. But we''ll spend the night and leave early morning. We''d stop by Jessica''s ce again to drop off some troops and maybe some of them might get stationed here or in your other outposts."


    "Shi¡ª For real?"


    "Yeah."


    "Alright, I''ll be happy to keep my job as is but we gotta make this ce a little morefortable."


    "That''s true. Since you''re close to this residential area once you break off this road, it''d be better to split your group in half to have some sort of semi-permanent residence in one of the houses."


    "And just have our shifts in intervals, huh?"


    "Yeah."


    "That¡­ That''ll work, for sure¡­ You gonna tell Jessica for us?"


    "Of course, it''s still up to her but that''s not a bad arrangement."


    "Heh. Just being able to shower on a regr basis is good enough. Thanks, man."

 Chapter 1194: Work Hard, Play Hard

    After that exchange, we drove back to the Freeport Zone instead of the airport to have lunch with Captain Mitch Davis. And with his current promotion, instead of enjoying his time in the vi where everyone else proposed their family live, he was cooped up in the same spot where they dropped the bomb of sending nukes to every corner of the world, buried in paperwork with Janice and Maine.


    Busy wasn''t even the right word to describe the three, and they didn''t even notice mee in with their share of the food.


    If I let my intrusive thoughts win, I would''ve opened them up with a shbang, but it didn''t take long before their nose did the work for them.


    "Wha¡ª When did you get here?!"


    "Five minutes ago," I said as I cleared them a table, "Enough of that shit, for now. Eat."


    Janice cut in, "But we still gotta¡ª"


    "I can beat you three in a pulp and send you to a hospital so you could eat three squared meals¡ª I mean, we can feed you three in a tube? Do you want that?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "A-Ah¡ª You heard the man, l-let''s eat!" Maine set the rest of her work aside to walk over to me, "What are we having for lunch?"


    "Salmon and veggies with some soup. I already ate though, thanks."


    "What?! You should''ve waited!"


    I showed her my watch, "It''s already past 2, I can''t believe you fucks didn''t notice."


    Captain Davis dryly chuckled, "Well once we get going, we get going. It may seem boring from the outside perspective, but once you get a rhythm going, stopping''s harder."


    Maine nodded a few times, "So true¡­ And we haven''t even caught up to the day since you got here. I''d hate to say it but we kinda need more people doing boring jobs like these¡­"


    Janice nodded, "And with the ton of things Bartow''s group keeps bringing back, it''s hard to keep up."


    "What happened with y and Marge? Can''t they help?"


    Captain Davis answered, "Oh, y''s been doing it alone in the Marine Base while Marge was one of the people we sent over to help with the Deweys. Remember Mrs. Adams?"


    "Ah, right, right~"


    "But you shouldn''t worry about this, we did ask for help from their side and they''d be sending some bookies to help temporarily. It''s just a lot of work now but if we caught up, it''d be easier and we''d be more familiar with this system of yours."


    Maine added, "It''s a mess right now but as soon as we''re done here and y''s done over there, we''ll get started on the airport as well. A little at a time, right?"


    I nodded pensively, "Well, I can see you''re keeping your records close but you can have our civilians do inventory of the simpler things like our food storage and whatnot and check themter just to be safe. But yeah, I''d keep a tight lid onto our firearms and ammunitions, medicine, and fuel¡ªthere''s a lot more to consider but delegating less important stuff''s the way to go."


    Captain Davis let out a smile, "Yeah, I''m already letting my wife take care of that and they''re already thinking of ways to food prep for at least a week and have a separate thing for long-term storage. After that, they''ll focus more on food production and whatnot."


    "About that¡­"


    With that said, I shared with him the things I talked about the people from the Idress Maritime Academy and he was more than excited to implement those changes even if they were still knee-deep in work. However, I did mention that the GDMWC was preserving the forested area around their territory and they''d appreciate it if they don''t cut trees from that side.


    "Oh, really? It''s booby-trapped?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. Don''t want a repeat of Vietnam, right?"


    Maine choked on her food, "Oof, bro! Even I got it! Don''t cut so deep, alright?!"


    Captain Davis shook his head afterposing himself, "Jesus Christ¡­ That''s¡­ Alright, I''ll tell the troops to do just that, what else do you need from me?"


    "Right¡­ I haven''t talked to Iskoh yet about their supplementation of troops but since we''d be setting off early morning and Jessica''s HQ is our first stop, do you have a list of people willing to go already? I''m assuming most of them are here."


    "About that¡­"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "We do trust you greatly but this Jessica person is someone we haven''t met. We''re totally fine sending our people while they send over theirs but can we agree on sending a portion of it now beforepletely shipping them off?"


    "How many people are we talking?"


    Captain Davis turned to Janice, "How many volunteered again?"


    Janice leaned back to fish out a list, "Twelve? Five soldiers and the rest are civilians."


    Captain Davis added, "In addition, we haven''t actually settled in with new management and all these people so¡ª"


    "Could we at least get it to fifty? Or at least double that amount? We''re not in a hurry per se but it''s harder to send people elsewhere once theypletely settled in. Besides, that ce is only a few-hour drive and we''d rotate them in a month. The people you can send over to my side can wait, the same as with the Mayor of Man."


    "Hmm¡­ That''s¡­ You got a point there¡­ Alright, I''ll see what I can do but I''ll use my authority if no one else volunteers by sundown."


    Maine cut in, "I can go to his ce if he''d take me¡ª"


    Janice eximed, "MAINE!"


    "What?! I''m just volunteering¡­"


    I chuckled, "Avoiding work, I see¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I-It''s not that, I just¡ª Man~ I thought it wouldn''t be hard to seduce ya¡ª I''m in a bit of a dry spell, you see?"


    "MAINE!"


    "Stop shouting my name! I can hear you just fine¡ª I just wanted to shoot my shot, alright?"


    I chuckled, "I''m ttered, I really am but¡ª"


    Maine cut me off, "There we go~ Fine, let me down nicely¡­ You''re probably drowning in pussy so you can''t facilitate someone like me¡ª"


    "It''s not that, alright? I''d be more convinced if you finish your work in¡ª"


    "I was actually fucking around for an hour now, I''m done with my share."


    "WHAT?!" Janice and Captain Davis eximed.


    "Again, I can hear you two just fine! Jesus¡­"


    "Are you really done though?"


    "Yes, you can check my work. It''s over there."


    Captain Davis couldn''t believe what Maine said so he checked her work and found out that she was already done and was actually fucking around by doing their share they haven''t touched yet.


    Even I was surprised at the rate shepleted her tasks and at the same time, the uracy shepleted them with footnotes regarding special cases like certain bullets that came from a box or loose ammo collected elsewhere.


    So yeah, I gave credit where credit was due, so let''s just say Maine couldn''t stop giggling to herself as she went back to work all disheveled and shit, after we excused ourselves for 30 minutes in the bathroom.


    Then Janice had to say it, "I-I''m done too¡­ C-Can I have some of that¡ª"


    "JANICE!"

 Chapter 1195: Getting Some Shit Done - No System Is Safe

    After we all shared augh and as Janice and I shared a room for almost the same time as Maine, I helped them finish a portion of their work while my group was doing their own thing. Part of them were offering help as to who needed it though I asked Artem''s group to apany Jared, Ibarra, and my uncle to retrieve the rest of the items we left in the airport.


    However, since we did have a Chinook gifted to us, the more important items would be ced in there¡ªespecially the freezer that contained these "Peptides", the drug stash we uncovered from the cemetery, and E apanied by the five-man group to protect her¡ªand it would be flown by Rachel herself, and anyone who wanted to ride it was free to do so.


    In doing so, Royo and Chris Keh would definitely fly with them though they''d reach my ce sooner, but I already asked the people I left there to take care of it because we were known for our hospitality and if they''d need anything more, I was just one call away.


    But yeah, hours easily passed and funnily enough, the three''s words rang true when Kaley, E, and June almost gave me a shock when they popped out of nowhere like Jude¡ªbringing us some dinner¡ªbecause it was already 8:00 PM, and we were that absorbed in our work.


    I didn''t think I even went into my automated state¡ªsince I was making sure everything was typed in correctly¡ªbut we really do have to take a short rest.


    E eximed as she pointed at me, "You''ve been here all along?!"


    "What? No one told you?"


    "I didn''t ask but¡ª I''m hungry!"


    Captain Davis chuckled, "Then I''ll leave you guys here to eat. I''d love to join you but my wife''s probably looking for me as well."


    Kaley interjected, "They can eat with us here too, right?"


    "No, no, they could but I did promise to eat with just us. They''re probably waiting at the vi¡­"


    "I-I see, take care then!"


    "I will, I will¡­" Captain Davis trailed off as he walked out the door.


    At that point, since we discovered that Kaley and the rest also hadn''t eaten yet, we cleared the biggest table and had dinner right then and there. Some of our crew also discovered our location and decided to eat with us, though it definitely got rowdy when Oscar, Jennifer, Quinn, and Bartow joined in.


    They were the loudest of the bunch and I wish we could''ve eaten quietly, but it is what it is.


    Though E soon learned of her trip tomorrow via a Chinook:


    "W-What?! I don''t even get to drive with you?!"


    "The Raptor''s already at capacity and you''d be there in less than an hour, what else do you want?"


    "I-I want to drive with you! See the road and everything!"


    "Trust me, the road''s not nice and you probably think every ce here looks like the Subic Bay, unfortunately, it''s not."


    "B-But¡ª"


    "No buts, it''s also safer for you and it''d give me peace of mind¡ª" then I turned to everyone, "Also, anyone aside from my main group is also wee to join them and we''ll see if we could fit in one of our vehicles in there."


    Oscar nodded, "If anyone wouldn''t board the Chinook, I''ll put my H1 there and enjoy the flight. I can''t waste time driving all the way back¡ª" then he turned to Jennifer, "How about you? Your girl''s driving the Chinook, right?"


    Jennifer answered, "I''lle with, I suppose," then she turned to me after, "Is that okay?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure."


    At that point, Jeremy and Cindy also decided to board the Chinook while June and Eden decided that they wanted to drive with us. A few more people wanted to experience flying from the CH-47, and since we had enough people to drive our vehicles without diminishing our fighting power that much, I allowed everyone who could fit inside that helicopter.


    But yeah, as soon as we finished eating, I went back to finishing up this ce''s records with Janice and Maine¡ªwherein Captain Davis also returned shortly¡ªbut this time, we received help from Alexa and June, who were more attuned to this type of stuffpared to my usual fighting crew.


    At the rate we were going, we''d actually finish the whole she-bang if we stayed up till midnight, and we did just that despite the almost telepathic messages I was feeling every time one of the women in our circle dropped in to check in on us or make us some coffee.


    If only they knew we could''ve gotten on it faster if they all chipped in but nevertheless, this type of work needed someone proficient inputers or slightly adept in some form of organizing shit, and the people that joined us fit the bill.


    Because aside from June who could type like a motherfucker, Alexa made subtle changes to the files already done by color-coding certain entries to make them easier to identify by a nce, because most people do see colors first than text.


    June cut in, "Do we have a centralized server yet? I can make one if you''d let me?"


    I turned to Captain Davis, "We could make use of the rys we installed all around¡ª"


    Captain Davis shook his head, "How about security?"


    Maine added, "Like the food inventory and the thingamajig for our building materials, we can only have those in there and have only physical copies for the important bits."


    June nodded, "It''d be up to you to keep it safe because no system is safe, everything''s hackable if the person doing it knows their thing."


    Maine nced at June, "You a ckhat or something? You know your shit."


    June snorted convincingly, "For someone to know their shit, it''s pretty basic shit, no? There''s a lot of shit to learn online, if you''re into that shit¡ª"


    Janice had to cut in, "Can''t we use other words other than that?!"

 Chapter 1196: Prodding Around

    In any case, we soon discovered that June''s suggestion could also be made by Maine so we left it at that. It wasn''t like everyone here was just fighters and this ce would just turn into a raider''s outpost if they only had people who could shoot guns, wring necks, or stab their enemies in the head.


    Moving on, we finished everything a few minutes before midnight and Captain Davis took all of the important files with him.


    Maine and Janice looked like they''d fall asleep any second but Alexa was already out. It was because she didn''t take coffee¡ªor even a sip of it¡ªwhile we were working, and once she curled into a ball with her fuzzy nket, she was knocked out on one end of the sofa, and the other two were about to fall asleep in the same ce as well.


    "Night guys¡­ Good work¡ª"


    Maine tried to wave me over, "You''re leaving?"


    I chuckled, "Get some sleep, alright?"


    "Fine¡­ By the way, thanks for taking care of me earlier¡­ I really needed that¡­ We really needed that¡­ Right, Jan¡ª"


    "Zzzz¡­"


    "She''s already asleep, nevermind¡ª See you tomorrow?"


    "At breakfast, sure."


    With that said, June and I started making our way to our spotst time, and I took it upon myself to dig a little bit about what happened with herst night. She just had her arm around mine, slightly pressing her soft body against me, definitely regretting wearing clothes that exposed her mid-riff at this hour.


    "I only have my vest, sorry¡­"


    "Hmm? You said something?"


    "You''re cold, right? Sorry, I don''t have a jacket¡ª"


    "Huh? I''m wearing one¡ª"


    "N-No, I mean¡ª You sticking close to me and with your jacket that short, I thought you were cold¡­"


    "Oh. Ohhh~ Your arm''s pretty warm, so it''s okay¡­"


    "Alright, then¡­ Can I ask you something though?"


    "Hmm? Okay."


    "Umm¡­ Last night¡­ I''m just wondering if¡­ you know¡­"


    June chuckled as she looked at me with this mischievous smile, "Wouldn''t you like to know, huh?"


    "I really do, yeah¡­"


    "What do you wanna know then? Hmm?"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did you umm¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ I can''t keep this facade for long! Fine, I''ll tell you! We DID have some fun but how do I put this¡­ Hmm~ Let''s just say like E, aside from our mouths, we''re pretty much virgins. How about that?"


    "Okay? But¡ª You know¡­"


    She chuckled again, "You''re that worried, huh?"


    "A little¡ª"


    "Fine, FINE! It''s mostly an oral type of night, alright? Kaley decreed it for some reason, that''s why Tatiana and Quinn did it somece with Alexa and Megan, so we''re just left with me, Kaley, and E¡­ Happy?"


    "When you say oral¡­"


    "Oh god, do I really have to spell everything out for you?!"


    "Pretty much, yeah."


    "PFFT! Dammit! Remember when Kaley umm¡­ cleaned me up?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Let''s just say that that was as far as we went¡ª E might''ve said some things but it''s all water under the bridge."


    "What did she say?"


    June rolled her eyes, "You really want to know? Can''t you even guess? Clue: it''s something that would definitely boost your ego!"


    "Oh. OHHH!"


    "PFFT¡ª AHAHAHA! Can''t you believe it?! She said it straight to my face as to when it''ll get bigger! I was like¡ª Not everything''s ginormous like him! Can''t you tell I''m hard as is! She kept shaking it and y-you know, with how sensitive I am¡ª Right?!


    Forget how naive she was, even if I''m in the same boat, I''m not that oblivious!"


    "That''s just E¡ª Did Kaley say anything?"


    "Of course! She exined it for me after this whole other conversation of how I am down there but yeah, I can clearly tell, she''s also eagerly waiting for you¡­ to you know¡­ that¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, "Uh-huh¡­ I actually thought you''d lose your first to Kaley yesterday¡­ It''s not like I don''t mind but I kind of wanna be there, you know?"


    "D''you know that she said the exact same thing?! You two are¡ª Ugh, but she''s right, you know? Both of you are¡­ I''m not in a hurry per se, but¡­ you know¡­ I kinda wanna lose my virginity to you first¡­"


    I suddenly stopped in my tracks, "AH¡ª Umm¡ª Which side, exactly¡ª AH¡ª"


    Juneughed out loud as she jabbed me on my sides, "OF COURSE MY¡ª" then she leaned in, "Of course me at the receiving end¡­ While it''s true I don''t have the thing to prove I''m still a virgin but¡ª"


    "June. No offense but I don''t really care either way."


    "W-What do you mean? Aren''t most guys hung up on that sort of thing?"


    "You could say that it''s true and makes things a little special but do you know Kaley and I weren''t each others'' firsts? I understand that it''s kind of special to you to prove it but you don''t have to bleed and get hurt just to convince me, you know? Just say that you are and I''ll believe you *snaps fingers* just like that."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah¡ª but you know¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Anal''s a little tricky, you know? Not to brag or anything but with my girth, if we don''t do it right, you might bleed a little bit but that''s not a determinant if it was someone''s first time or not¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "What?"


    "Ugh¡ª You were so cool before that tirade, you know?! B-But yeah¡­ thanks for saying that other thing¡­ B-But will you really do it with me?"


    I slightly tilted my head, "Why are you asking? Of course¡ª"


    "Y-You know¡­ Because you know¡­ lst time we¡ª"


    "June."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "I''m gonna be real straight with you, alright? Pun slightly intended¡­"


    Her slight frown quickly turned to a smile, "Pfft¡­ sure¡­ what is it?"


    "There are three¡ª no, two things I probably wouldn''t do with you. You''re free to give me your own sets of boundaries but do you wanna hear mine first?"


    "O-Okay?"


    As I leaned in to tell June what those two things were, she couldn''t help but let out an amused smile as we eventually joined the others who were either lounging around or were already asleep.

 Chapter 1197: Finally crossing the line with June-- Eden?!

    Obviously, we had more tents set uppared tost time but it appears that not everyone participated in our nightly activities¡ªor they''ve been doing it on the down low¡ªbecause not only were the rest of the Deweys present, but our trainees/cadets had set up their tents as well, enjoying the breeze and the view from our spot away from the bulk of the people.


    Megan greeted us first, "Ah¡ª Where''s Alexa?"


    "Already asleep. Wouldn''t want to wake her but don''t worry, she''s sleeping with Maine and Janice at the same office, cool girls."


    Then she leaned in to whisper, "Sorry about everyone else here¡­ They discovered our little spot and we can''t just shoo them away¡­"


    I chuckled, "So that means I could finally get some sleep?"


    She rolled her eyes, "Not quite. See those two tents by the corner with your truck partly covering them? That''s our spot¡ª"


    "Oh. I''ll sleep in the Raptor then¡ª"


    "Oh,e on!"


    As Megan adorably stomped her foot, Eden approached us¡ªncing briefly at June¡ªthen turning back to me:


    "Hey."


    "Hey. How''s your first day away from your responsibilities?"


    She let out a smile, "It''s a mix of things, really¡ª But yeah! Mom and Dad wanted to say thanks for the¡­ you know¡­ the medication you sent us. It''s a bit unconventional but it does get the job done. We promise we won''t abuse or squander¡ª"


    I waved her off, "I trust you guys, don''t worry."


    "W-Well thanks again¡­ We really mean it. C-Can I get a hug?"


    I was slightly surprised, "A hug?"


    June rolled her eyes, "Oh please~ She wants more than a hug¡­"


    "JUNE¡ª"


    "Where''d your free-spiritedness go, sis? Ask for more and ye shall receive more~"


    "I already asked for a hug, that''s all I''ll need!"


    "For now, right?"


    "S-Shut up!"


    I chuckled as I invited Eden toe up to me, "I could go for a hug?"


    "Really?! Here I go¡ª"


    To my surprise, I thought Eden would wrap her arms around my torso but she suddenly went for my neck. She was standing on her tippy-toes while her face was smudged right on my face but I didn''t mind it as much as I rubbed and patted her back gently. But for some reason, her back was a little ticklish so she quickly pulled away before it got more awkward for her.


    "Ahaha¡­ Haa¡­ T-Thanks! I-I''ll get back to our t-tent! Y-You guys do your t-thing¡ª Bye!"


    Seeing Eden almost trip herself as she scrambled back to where her two other siblings were¡ªwho totally witnessed that disy and wereughing at her awkward ass¡ªMegan and June also had a kick from Eden but I found it very, very cute instead.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long Cindy and June decided to throw Eden to the wolves(me) as they dragged her out of the tent she was hiding in to the backseat of my Raptor where Megan reluctantly got off me and joined the other two after an intense but short makeout session with yours truly.


    ''These girls¡ª''


    And to everyone''s fucking surprise, as much as Eden struggled to get from point A to point B, the moment she discovered I was more than wee to give her something more than just a hug, we only stared at each other in silence for a few moments before she quickly took Megan''s ce¡ªwhich was on myp¡ªand sealed her lips with mine.


    Eden definitely knew what she was doing, and it actually felt nice, but the moment she took off her shirt and revealed her perky set, her farmer''s tan just highlighted how light her skin tone was, even making her ares and nipples barely visible because it was almost the same color as her pasty white skin.


    "W-What do you think?"


    Ignoring her question, I quicklypped up her breasts before sucking and licking each of her nipples¡ªwhich instantly elicited a moan¡ªand she was already grinding her plump crotch against my huge bulge, even if she was leaning back from the pleasure.


    Even with her slender frame, it was a surprise and a delight to see some ab definition aside from her perky set, but as much as I would''ve wanted to just take in the sights a little more and lick every part of her body, it seemed like June wasn''t the only one touch-deprived, as Eden made metch off her tits then looked me in the eyes.


    "Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ Do¡­ D-Do you wanna put it in?"


    I suddenly caught a glimpse from the rear-view mirror, "I do but¡ª"


    "I-I''m already s-super wet¡­ Hngh¡­ Hnn¡­ C-Can''t you feel it? D-Don''t you want to put it in?"


    "It''s just your sisters are watching from the back with Megan, are you okay with that?"


    "Hngh¡­ T-They''re so s-stupid! F-Fuck¡­ F-Fuck it¡ª I-I don''t even care anymore! They can all watch i-if that''s what it takes!"


    At that point, Eden hurriedly tried to take off her pants¡ªbut was failing miserably, and once she managed to pull it halfway through her thighs, she turned around and showed me her plump ass, pleading for me to just make do with her while her panties were just soaking all of her wetness.


    And yeah, making her lean back and pushing her panties to the side, I easily found her tight opening made even tighter by her legs closed shut. But once I pushed the tip in, Eden moaned and groaned from pleasure before she straight up squirted when we barely reached the halfway mark:


    "F-FUCK! Y-You''re so big¡ª I¡ª W-Wait¡ª Y-You''re still carrying me¡ª H-How¡ª Hngh¡­ H-How far?!"


    "Almost h-half¡­ Fuck, you''re so fucking tight¡ª"


    "S-Slide it¡ª Push¡ª Whatever the fuck¡ª G-Go all the way in¡ª F-FUCK ME! FUCK!"


    As I stopped supporting her with my arms, her weight eventually pushed her all the way down¡ª down to the base of my cock, making her reach around and almost w through the back of my neck as I basically impaled her, making her cum for the second time just from insertion.


    "F-F-F-Fuckk¡­ I''m¡ª Ah¡­ Ahn¡­ H-Hngn¡­"


    At this point, I would''ve just moved my hips while making her scream out my name, but I took the time topletely pull off her pants to get herfortable. However, the doors to my truck opened and the three watching from outside joined us, June sitting on the front seat passenger side while Megan and Cindy were to our left and right.


    Eden protested, covering her face, "W-What¡ª June! Cindy! What are you¡ª"


    "I-I''m just watching! I should be there first, you know?!/Who gives a fuck? I''m here for him, not you!" June quickly answered as Cindy chuckled while caressing my right arm.


    Megan added, "Sorry, we can''t just watch you enjoy that dick so we''re taking his arms¡­" then she turned to me, "You don''t mind, do you?"


    "If Eden''s okay with it¡ª"


    "F-Fine! I¡ª Hngh¡­ Ha¡­ J-Just don''t make it weird as it already is, okay?!"


    With that said, while everyone was taking off their clothes, Eden began to move her hips and grind on top of me while my dick was still deep inside her womb.


    Even with her legs notpletely shut tight, her pussy was still gripping me tightly making continuous pration a little harder from my position because, at the current moment, Megan and Cindy were now leaning on me and guiding my fingers around their bodies.


    At the same time, June was vigorously pleasuring herself while one of her arms was tightly hugging the headrest¡ªonly looking at my body and facial expressions.


    In Eden''s case, she could only avoid June''s gaze by looking down because her short hair couldn''t cover her face, but the pleasure she was feeling couldn''t stop her from moving her hips in the same motion over and over. Granted it was a little clumsy at first, but she began losing herself from the simple trick of just closing her eyes and enjoying what was happening with her.


    But yeah, her moans definitely toned down to more silent ones or just straight-up sharp exhales, but right as her next orgasm was about toe up, she began moving her hips faster and faster while her insides were contracting more and more.


    "HnghH! nnhGHh! Y-YEAH! Yeah! Y-YESSsss! MmNH!


    NnH! NNH! F-Fu¡ª Fu¡ª NnnngHH! C-Cu¡ª C-CUMMING! I-I''M CUMMINnnnNNNG!"


    Hearing that, Ipletely let go of Cindy and Megan as I held Eden''s hips, matching her movements with my own as I began pumping her pussy with my cum. And the moment she felt my warm seed filling her womb, she wasn''t able to restrict herself from cumming hard and squirting for the third, fourth, fifth time, and so on even if she was still embarrassed by her sisters watching her melt in ce.


    But yeah, the moment the feeling of embarrassment and weirdness left her body, she just turned around and mounted me the same way we were making out earlier, making the two by our side get up and protest because she wanted my hands exploring the rest of her body as well.

 Chapter 1198: Do what? - Happy to oblige.

    Focusing on one girl at a time, right as I ced my hands over Eden''s back, she let out the sweetest moan we could hear as she moved her hips the same way¡ªand even if her insides were just as wet and as slippery with her juices and my cum, I could still feel her gripping me tight with her walls while she was grinding on top of me.


    I was hitting her most sensitive spot from this position so she didn''t want to push and pull in, but I didn''t care as much as I was back to lightly nibbling and sucking on her perky tits while Cindy and Megan decided to take the matter to their own hands.


    "W-Wai¡ª Wait! M-Mnngh¡­ Mmnh!"


    What happened was before I even attempted to prod Eden''s ass with my finger, Megan went ahead and did it ahead of me while putting her hand on Eden''s neck and kissing her, all the while Cindy pried me off her sister''s bosom so she could taste my lips and take in my tongue.


    Though Eden quickly tried to make Megantch off not from the slight choking but from the finger on her ring:


    "N-Not there¡ª MmnH! Ah¡­ P-Please¡­"


    And Megan respected Eden''s request but as she was about to go for her boobs instead, Cindy broke off from our kiss as she turned to Megan:


    "You can do me, if I do you first?"


    Megan giggled, "Then go over here, my new friend!"


    At that point, crisis was averted as Cindy moved over to Megan''s side but June couldn''t make do with just watching us with her she-cock in hand so she moved over to where Cindy was sitting previously and gave us this pleading look.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can I? Please? I-I can''t take it a-anymore, sis!"


    "W-What? June? W-Wait, wait¡­ O-One more, please¡ª O-One more and I''ll¡ª I-I''m really close¡ª F-FUCK!"


    "H-Hurry!"


    Ignoring how cramped the backseats of this truck we were in for the moment, Eden was just wearing this deranged expression as she began to ride me harder and harder while June continued to milk her 3-inch cock while squeezing her boobs.


    To my surprise, the two actually had the same size breasts¡ªthe only difference was the color of their ares and nipples¡ªbut I don''t know how many times June had orgasmed just from watching us.


    And to address the elephant in the room, as weird as it was, these sisters haven''t touched each other¡ªto my knowledge, at least¡ªbut they were fine doing things with me at the same time but just not with each other.


    ''Let''s just see where it goes¡­''


    But at one point, when Eden was about to reach her nth orgasm with me, I held her back just as tight as I held her hips earlier, before I once again matched her movement, and this time,pletely overpowering her by pushing my hips upward, hitting her deepest parts all at the same time while my head was between her breasts.


    It caused her to have the biggest and hardest orgasm she ever had as she squirted over and over¡ªeven when I pulled out¡ªand she just copsed on my body shaking and gasping for air.


    She looked like she wanted to give me a kiss but lost all the strength to do so, but after I gave her a sweet one andid her to the side, June was just patiently waiting for me to beckon her over while her little cock was twitching and leaking cum.


    However, we suddenly heard a knock on the driver''s side window and it was actually Kaley wearing a smile with an eyebrow raised up.


    And right as I lowered the window for her and she saw everyone doing our thing, she just shook her head as she leaned over to me, asking for a peck on the lips:


    "You do know I saved a tent for us? They''re all cramped and passed out the other one while E and I were waiting for you two¡ª I guess five now, there?"


    "I didn''t know, sorry. I thought we might''ve disturbed you sleeping¡ª Right, June wanted to say something."


    "Hmm?"


    June was still hard of breathing as she looked at Kaley, "I-I wanted to do it n-now¡­"


    Kaley was both excited and surprised, "You sure?! OH! You wanna do that?!"


    I was then confused, "Do what?"


    With that said, leaving the other three in my Raptor¡ªfor the moment¡ªbesides June to head to our tent where E looking like a garden gnome with her PJs was about to fall asleep but suddenly sat up in attention when she saw us, we threw off our clothes to one side after putting on what''s decent as we vacated my truck.


    At this moment, the four of us: me, Kaley, June, and E were the only ones in this medium-sized tent withforters and Kaley didn''t waste time to get us all in the mood.


    And even if June and I were a little past the point of exchanging spit, it was definitely a sight to see Kaley''s body¡ªand E''s too, of course¡ªbut it didn''t take long before I discovered what Kaley was referring to earlier as she spread her legs in front of June:


    "You wanna lose your virginity to me, right?"


    June nodded vehemently as she gulped while her dick''s standing erect, "Y-Yes, please¡­"


    "And you wanna lose that other virginity to him?"


    June nced at me before she answered, "Y-Yes¡­"


    Then Kaley nced at me as well before turning back to June, "Then why don''t we do it at the same time?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Your girl-dick in my cunt, his huge monster in yours¡ªunless you want it in your ass¡ªand I''m sorry E, but you gotta wait your turn for this¡­"


    Hearing that, precum just started to flow out the tip of my dick¡ªand also June''s¡ªbut once again, E waspletely oblivious when we were talking about "seckus". However, I know full well that Kaley''s the one enjoying the most out of this situation but let''s just say I''m happy to oblige.

 Chapter 1199: Moment of Truth - I love you guys...

    Doing this type of thing with June was a new stage in my rtionship with Kaley, but instead of thinking of things to justify in my straight-ass head what I would be diving into, the greatest and most powerful indication if I was sure of this or not was my huge dick throbbing in anticipation.


    It would''ve been a different case if another masculine guy would be participating but¡ª you know what? I think I''ve already exined enough and I think we should just go back to fucking.


    So yeah, with E''s round and curious eyes waiting patiently for us three to do whatever Kaley suggested, June shakily made her way to Kaley''s spot¡ªncing at me for permission¡ªand as I gave her the go-ahead, Kaley pulled her close for a kiss.


    June''s little dick was still rubbing the outside of Kaley''s pussy¡ªthough still leaking precum¡ªbut so as to not overwhelm Jude all at the same time, Kaley asked me to hold off for a bit before I join in.


    Then the moment of truth:


    As Kaley broke off her kiss with June, she gently held June''s she-cock before she pointed it at her wet opening, and as she asked June to push it in, she let out the tiniest of moans while June was already struggling to keep it together.


    "K-Kaley! Kaley¡ª I-It''s so¡ª Umm¡ª H-Ha¡ª Ha! H-Haa¡ª"


    Kaley held her hands, "You haven''t even moved yet,e on¡ª"


    "I-I think I-I''m about to c-cum already¡ª"


    Kaley pulled her close even more, "Don''t worry about that, I know you can keep going, June¡­ How does my pussy feel?"


    "H-Ha¡­ S-So warm, w-wet, and t-tight¡ª Hngh! C-Cumm¡ª Hngh¡­ A-Ah¡­ H-How¡ª A-Ahn~ I-I''m sorry¡ª H-H-Ha¡ª I''m¡ª MmMnh! S-So good~ C-Can''t stop¡ª I-I-I¡ª MmnnhNn!"


    As June moved her hips for the first thrust, she just began cumming hard while Kaley was being supportive and encouraging her to do her best. And as June continued to clumsily thrust her girl-dick inside Kaley''s pussy, I didn''t even notice I was jerking myself off while watching June fuck my wife.


    In addition, E was kind of doing the same thing, but she''d mostly switch her gaze to my huge cock¡ªbut it didn''t take long before Kaley beckoned me over to get behind June to lose her other virginity to me.


    "Here hees¡­" Kaley whispered to June.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ I''m sorry, Kaley, I¡ª"


    "Shh¡­ It''s quite nice, don''t worry¡­ You''ll get better and you''re still going, no? Ready for it though?"


    "Y-Yes, please¡­"


    And as June briefly nced behind her, seeing me with my throbbing cock, Kaley spread June''s cute butt apart, showing me June''s pink little asshole and her pink little slit partly covered by her juices and her plump innie.


    I''m feeling all sorts of things while seeing June use her cock to somewhat pleasure my wife, but I almost fucking lost it when I slowly pushed the tip of my cock inside June''s cunt hole.


    "H-Ha¡ª HnGH! W-Wha¡ª C-Cumming¡ª Wh¡ª H-Hngh!!!"


    At that moment, June started to cum inside Kaley''s pussy for the nth time, but even with the tip of my cock just inside her, I could feel her insides twitch and contract¡ª so to feel the full experience, I began pushing it in inch by inch, and June can''t seem to stop cumming and squirting at the same time even if I still haven''t pushed it all the way in.


    In addition, Kaley seeing me take June''s virginity as she was inside her finally got her a release, but June just straight up lost her mind having multiple double-orgasms¡ªwith her pussy and cock¡ªwhile feeling my cock inside her pussy and Kaley''s pussy contracting on her cock.


    But yeah, as June was still being tortured by her orgasms, I began to thrust and push it all the way in her tight fuck hole, pushing her head down between Kaley''s huge breasts, and it was literally me fucking Kaley while June was between us. All we could hear aside from her cheeks pping was her muffled moans as she was losing her mind from the overloading of her senses.


    From my point of view, aside from June''s pink asshole waiting to be vited, her whole body had just copsed on Kaley''s embrace¡ªand it seemed like she hadn''t stopped filling Kaley''s pussy.


    At the same time, E looked very lightheaded just from watching us because if I remembered correctly, she still hadn''t seen Kaley and I fuck and this time, June was a good example of what she''d be like if she went between us instead.


    I could very fill Kaley''s womb with half or even a quarter of my load but June had been cumming nonstop ever since she pushed her tiny dick inside Kaley''s tight hole.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley asked me to cum inside June so June could have a break¡ªand she could have her turn¡ªso I pulled June off Kaley''s body andid her down to Kaley''s side.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can''t¡ª S-Stop¡ª C-Cumming¡­"


    At this point, aside from Kaley''s pussy leaking June''s cum, June''s 3-inch cock was now semi-erect but still leaking her juices, but we still need to finish what we started.


    So yeah, once I pointed my huge cock at her creamy hole and pushed it all the way in, June''s body jolted once more as she wrapped her arms around me for an embrace. I was fully expecting her to dig her nails on my back but she was just gently holding me while trying her best to keep eye contact.


    And this time, my whole focus was just her, so I wrapped my arms around her as well before I began moving my hips, and as her eyes rolled to the back of her head with joyful tears in her eyes, I rewarded her with forceful but gentle thrusts before I imed her with my load.


    It was a totally different thing seeing me overflow Kaley''s womb and feel it inside her instead, and I just felt her little dick release a small dribble of cum while her insides were still violently contracting.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I love you guys¡­ Ha¡­"

 Chapter 1200: Back On The Road Again

    After iming June''s body and soul, metaphorically speakin, I gave her a sweet kiss before I fully satisfied my wife. On another note, E did join for some light touching and kissing¡ªbut let''s just say her senses were already overloaded from the sight of me bringing two women into submission by my huge member. Chapter Find:


    And even if she volunteered to clean me up after we were done, she had this concerned expression while looking straight at it but I did make sure she had a few releases without my lower half prating her little untouched area.


    But yeah, she did pass out again and she was lying next to June¡ªwho had fallen asleep due to exhaustion¡ªas Kaley and I were wiping them down with a clean cloth, sharing faint smiles and light kisses.


    Then as we spoonedfortably since the three in my truck probably wouldn''t join us tonight, Kaley held my arm and gave it a kiss before turning to me:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    I was a little confused, "What for?"


    "For this, everything, I was a little concerned but¡­ you know¡­ you did really great¡­ I love you¡­"


    I gave her a kiss as I hugged her even tighter, "I love you too¡­ If anything, you did most of the work¡­ If it was me before, I wouldn''t even think of doing this but¡­ you know¡­ You put me in this level offort that made me want to try new things and I wouldn''t have been able to experience them without you¡­"


    She chuckled as she kissed me back, "What if I used mind control or something, hmm?"


    "You¡ª Don''t even¡­ What if I let myself get mind-controlled, hmm? Did you think about that?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ I''m joking, of course¡ª but yeah, we''re a team, right?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    At that point, it didn''t take long before we slowly closed our eyes while in each other''s arms then suddenly jolted awake by our rm ring this early morning. Kaley and I instantly got up and made sure everyone else was awake¡ªasking the cadets to fix our tents and prepare our vehicles by the Main Harbor''s entrance¡ªbefore we made breakfast for this ce for thest time in a while.


    Then after close to two hours, we were just about ready to head out with everybody else who wouldn''t fly on the Chinook when we saw Jennifer walking up to us.


    "You''re not flying with Rachel?"


    She snorted, "Where''s the fun in that? Besides, she asked me to drive with you fucks."


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Alrighty~ then, you can drive with the cadets¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª HOLD ON NOW! WHY THERE?!"


    "Weight issues."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "You see, I''m driving, Kaley''s riding shotgun¡ª then Eden, June, and Quinn will be in the backseat while Tatiana, Jared, and Ibarra will be in the back¡ª"


    "WE CAN SQUEEZE ME IN THERE! JUNE CAN SIT ON MY LAP IF SHE HAS TO!"


    June instantly reacted, "W-What?!"


    Eden chuckled, "I''d love to see that, actually¡ª"


    "SIS!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine¡­ I''m always left with driving duty anyway *points at me* you sit in the back with ''em so you''d have more space¡ª You know what? Kaley can sit in with you fucks too and Jennifer will ride shotgun. It''s not our fault you aren''t as wide as us."


    Jennifer cackled, "I love the sound of that, it''s not our fault you fucks aren''t spammingteral raises¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Yeah, yeah~ If my truck breaks down in the middle of the road, it''ll be on you two, alright?!"


    "OH, SHUT UP!/ IT''S A RAPTOR NOT A TACOMA!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, after we said our goodbyes to Captain Davis, Bartow, and the rest, Artem led the way with their Humvee, making us form another convoy without Oscar''s H1 and my old six-wheeler.


    Instead, we had four other vehicles trailing behind us¡ªtwo military trucks, a closed van, and a military jeep¡ªwhich had sixty people whom Captain Davis managed to convince to reside in Jessica''s ce before we went away.


    Eleven of them were Marines while the rest were civilian families or individuals who wanted a fresh-er startpared to seeing the same people every day from a different setting.


    Obviously, the Chinook had already flown way ahead of us with Oscar, Royo, Chris Keh, E, Cindy, Jeremy, and a few others, and they had probably settled in the moment we touched down.


    But yeah, using this expressway was a very convenient way to cut into several towns probably teeming with the undead and the only bad thing I could take from this was the possible loot we could''ve taken for ourselves if we put down the abominations inhabiting them.


    On the other hand, it was a job for the residents or the remaining survivors of this area, and with the way Bartow was leading his force to put down as many of them as they could, they''d probably start branching away from the Subic Bay to keep their families¡ªespecially his grandfather¡ªsafer.


    "Maaan~ this ce''s beautiful, no?" Jennifermented as her eyes were glued to the window.


    "As long as you don''t breathe in the rot, sure," Quinn chuckled as she urged the vehicles in front to drive a little faster.


    I added, "And no risk of radiation anywhere else¡ª"


    "HEY! THAT WASN''T UP TO ME, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Chill, chill~ I was making light of the situation¡ª that''s how I cope!"


    "Unbelievable¡­"


    Obviously, everyone else eventually knew what the US and the other countries with nuclear weapons did with the countries who were in dire need of help because of "overpoption" that would lead to more unknown problems along the line, and let''s just say doing that sort of things was probably the less evil¡ª no, probably something that carried less risk because they could predict and take the next steps of what would happen after that type of explosion rather than the chain of evolution that would ur once those mega hordes decided to eat their own.


    ''At least to our knowledge¡­''

 Chapter 1201: Exit 125 - We know the cause but why?

    Past the halfway mark of this expressway, near Exit 125, our convoy slightly slowed down before we heard Artem''s voice in the radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nyebo¡ª Deadheads ahead, three in total, proceeding to slow down. We''ll take care of them in just a minute or so.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Where did ite from?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [My bet''s the exit but we''ll check, no need for you guys to get down.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Jared joined in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, I think they climbed the wall.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "How?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then a few more voices joined in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, how?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Exin.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I can see from my scope that the exit''s still tightly blocked but I could see a rope dangling from the walls. A grappling hook type of situation and they seemed to have camped here for a bit.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Now you''re losing me¡ª Wait, I think I get it, they''re probably infected on the way here or sumb to their injuries. We might have to go down."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [If you''d like to investigate, sure.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, we can check their camping gear over there, might be some clues to their identities and some shit, ya know?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s exactly what we''re doing."


    *bzzt*


    -


    So yeah, as quickly Artem and Katya took down those three walking corpses, I still checked their bodies and stripped them of their clothing for further clues about the small timeframe they had before turning into the undead. A few curious folks from our "exchange-student" n walked over as well but they just wanted to look and not provide any input.


    "What did you find?" Katya asked.


    "This dude here had a fanny pack/war belt with random knick knacks on it aside from the usual stuff but the ring he''s wearing and the ring *pointing at the chick* she''s wearing didn''t match¡­"


    "Who''s the kid then?"


    "You asking who''s the parent?"


    "Not whose, who''s, with the apostrophe."


    "Ah~ I''m betting the guy, biologically speaking¡­ They dress almost the same but aside from this kid still having his phone in his pockets like me, it seemed to be¡ª" then I turned to June, "Found anything on the phone?"


    June was looking away from the corpses as she scrolled through the contents of the kid''s phone, "Umm¡­ Sorry, everything here''s new to me¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, just tell me what you found. Where they were staying and shit¡ª"


    "You''re not gonna believe this."


    "Hmm?"


    Then she faced the phone towards me, "Look, isn''t this the vige of Aetas? They came from the mountainside?"


    "For real¡ª That does look¡ª"


    Katya and Artem tilted their heads at the same time, "Aetas?"


    I exined, "Yeah, umm¡­ it''s one of the indigenous tribes here, a tribe of hunter-gatherers and shit but they do have people joining society and living amongst everyone else. I was just surprised to see these people with them."


    "Are they a dangerous bunch?"


    "They''re pretty cool if you brought them gifts but *scrolls through the images even more* Hmm¡­ Something probably happened in the ce they were in that made them hike down."


    Eden joined in, "C-Can we help them, at least?"


    I shook my head, "Unfortunately, no. It''ll take at least a couple of days to hike up to the nearest mountain and we can''t just change ns from the get-go."


    "I see¡­ That''s too bad¡­"


    "Not quite," I said as I pointed at the three naked corpses lined together.


    "Hmm?"


    Currently, these people were zombies maybe a day or two ago and their bodies hadn''t dposed to the point that they''d give off a smell or any visual indication.


    However, I didn''t think I''d see these again but almost all of their blood vessels werepletely ck and some were even protruding from their skin, but the most puzzling piece of the puzzle was aside from the knife marks Artem and Katya made on them, there wasn''t any sort of injuries to them whatsoever.


    How I wish Oscar just drove with us so he could examine the bodies further but as I was just about to take some blood samples¡ªor maybe even a body for an autopsy¡ªJune pointed out something thatpletely went over my head.


    "Why are their tattoos like that?"


    "Hmm?"


    Looking closely, the tattoos these bodies had on them seemed fairly new and for some reason, it was a family tattoo because all three had the same one and at the same spot¡ªwhich were on their left wrists¡ªand it had all the signs of being a recent project that involved old-school methods of inking.


    In addition, due to how the tattoos were tribal-like in nature and how their blood vessels werepletely ck, it hid the fact that it looked like the majority of the protruding blood vessels were centered around those areas.


    If anything, it looked like a dumb fuck wasn''t practicing safety and hygienic standards in the case of marking a client with their instruments, and it caused the deaths of these three people who didn''t know any better.


    I concluded, "Nice catch, June. I think that''s the cause of death¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, but why?"


    Quinn said in a dismissive tone, "Right now? It could be anything, really¡­"


    "That''s true, sadly, but let''s check their luggage just to be sure."


    At that point, we found three hiking bags which were the same hiking bags I found in the pictures they took, but aside from the general stuff I''d put in a bug-out bag plus extra, there was nothing to prove as to why these people were done like this.


    I could''ve understood if they stole a relic or done something to these people, but why did they go through all this trouble to off them if they could''ve easily lopped their heads off with their primitive weapons?


    Chapter Stay:


    But yeah, we can''t do much since we were in the middle of something already so before we drove off, we took proper documentation and put the lightest body in a bodybag before we burned the rest.

 Chapter 1202: Occams Razor

    The drive to the other end of this expressway was pretty eventful but we did have our own discussion with what happened with those three people. Everyone either shared the same theories or had somethingpletely contrarian to one''s statement but as we kept digging a deeper rabbit hole, I figured out a very simple solution:


    "am''s Razor."


    "Hah?/Wut?/Say what now?" Almost everyone else¡ªincluding in our radio channel¡ªmuttered.


    Isaac replied, [The best answer to any situation is almost always the simplest one.]


    I chuckled, "Something like that. Look, the tribespeople weed them pretty well and the dates on the images were from only a few days ago, so yeah, someone fucked up and caused those deaths. We don''t know who yet but we should spread word of this thing to avoid more stuff happening like this."


    Meganmented, [It could still be intentional, no?]


    "Either way, whether it was intentional or not, they should avoid getting tats from people who don''t know how to do their jobs properly. No offense to anyone''s culture but they fucked up. Who mixes tainted fluid in their ink solution?"


    Jennifer nodded, "True¡­"


    With that said, after a simple exchange with Jessica''s people from the other side and handing them another peso bill for shits and giggles, we easily made our way to rk International Airport which was Jessica''s Main HQ. Before driving in here, I already informed Jessica of our arrival, and the people we brought were weed quite warmly which came as another surprise for them.


    On that note, I gave Jessica a copy of their files¡ªand told her about those three deadheads we encountered in the expressway¡ªand introduced each one of them by heart.


    "I¡ª I thought there''d be more of them since we prepared arger ce but nevermind, we''ll send some of mine over to their ce very, very soon."


    I nodded, "Sure. I''ll get you connected with Captain Davis and probably Maine or Janice¡ªI''m guessing one of them should be working in the airport''s ATC Room as well¡ªso if anythinges up you can inform them of anything."


    "That''s okay but we can handle it. I''ll give them light jobs for now but you don''t mind me sending the stronger ones further out, right?"


    "Totally up to you and don''t ask me, ask them. Their lives are in your hands but you gotta prove ''em you have what it takes. I learned that by every single one of them trying to break my hand."


    She was slightly taken aback, "W-What? They¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Not important, they just shook hands with me roughly so I broke their noses, not a biggie. It could be different for you but if you take care of them, they''ll take care of you, that''s the way it goes."


    "I''ll¡ª I''ll keep that in mind. Will you stay for a while?"


    "I''m sorry, we should really be on our way¡ª"


    "Not even 15 minutes?"


    I gave her a look as I replied, "Well~ We could go for 30 if there''s no audience outside?"


    "Fine, I''ll let Tim take care of them for a bit¡ª"


    "Then I''ll let Tatiana take care of mine for a bit as well¡ª"


    "Your wife''s not taking care of them?"


    "Nope."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "She''s joining us, if you wouldn''t mind¡­"


    "Oh. OH! Yes, please!"


    On that note, the three of us went to her actual room to "sleep" and as fun as it was¡ªespecially with Kaley included¡ªwe had to say our goodbyes and make contact a littleter. In that regard, we could''ve also gone to the flight school where Eric and Jane were to check up on them, but we were aiming to reach our home before sunset.


    So with a smaller convoy of vehicles, we used the same roads we usedst time not only to make our trip somehow safer and faster, but to also check if there were changes that urred.


    It had only been a few days since west traversed these roads and minor changes are expected, sure, but seeing changes like more ces broken into or vehicles not in the same spot we left them or just straight-up missing would give us a general idea of other survivors'' activities.


    Doing this wasn''t to bar them from you know, surviving, but it was a good exercise to partly expect the unexpected in case things go wrong.


    However, with the size of our convoy and how each of us was armed to the fucking teeth, we were still waiting for the day a group would be dumb enough to go against us¡ªbut since we were still traveling on mostly friendly territory, it''d be very difficult to get jumped in our own neighborhood.


    So yeah, after driving continuously and stopping to clear a few clusters along the way, we soon arrived at the Intercity where Mauricio was patiently waiting for our arrival.


    Chapter Stay:


    Of course, I also promised Mauricio a top-up of Marines but like us, he''d have to wait a bit longer, but in all fairness, this ce was more guardedpared to mine because of the farms they also upy.


    ''My group also has to drive further to clear the streets because of how safe it has gotten¡­''


    Jennifermented, "What is this ce?"


    "Rice City, essentially."


    Quinn cut in, "Rice Vegas sounds better."


    "Pfft! You do love your rice, huh? Don''t get me wrong, I do use them when bulking up but I''ve never seen them in this quantities! Each sack is 50KGs, right?! I don''t even know how much is that in pounds! Around a hundred?!"


    I nodded, "Yeah, 110, to be exact¡­ C''mon we''ll do our set of introductions again¡ª"


    Jennifer suddenly stopped in her tracks after passing by a certain store, "HOLD UP, IS THAT V8 FOR SALE?! IS THAT A HEMI?! HOLY SHIT WHY''S THERE A RAT ROD IN HERE?! THIS PLACE IS FUCKING AMAZING! I''MMA CHECK THEM ALL OUT!"


    I never facepalmed so hard in my fucking life, "NOT AGAIN! OSCAR ALREADY PURCHASED SEVERAL, JENNIFER! STOP! YOU DON''T EVEN HAVE THE CURRENCY HERE!"

 Chapter 1203: We have some... problems...

    Like father, like daughter, the first thing Jennifer sniffed out in this ce was Oscar''s most favorite spot¡ªwhich was the ce that seemed to have good taste in American motors and imports. I could say Quinn should be losing her head as well but her DB9 said otherwise. In any case, let''s just say I was strong-armed into buying this off-road Buggy that looked like a roll cage with wheels.


    It didn''t even have anything special on it aside from the huge-ass engine with the blower, but it seemed like Jennifer wanted a nk canvas instead.


    "THANKS A LOT, LIL BRO! I''LL MAKE IT UP TO YA!"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "Yeah, yeah~"


    "OH, COME ON! DON''T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! THIS IS MY WELCOMING PRESENT!"


    Quinn cackled from the side, "You sure are excited, huh?"


    "WHAT''S THERE¡ª What''s not to be excited about?! Can''t you see it?! It''s a work in progress, sure, but¡ª"


    "I''m more into exotics, actually."


    "Ah~ I see, I see¡­ and him?"


    I answered, "I''m between Tuners and Muscle."


    "Mh-Hmm~"


    I chuckled, "I can''t wait for you to see Oscar''s monster truck¡ª"


    "THE WHAT?!"


    "I knew it¡­ You two are pretty much alike¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    On that note, Jennifer and the few others looked around while Kaley and I had another pleasant talk with Mauricio and his wife¡ªand I gave him the gist of what was actually going on past the waters. Obviously, he never looked so pissed from the thought of information getting hidden like that but it didn''t take long for him to understand their decision from their perspective.


    We almost had the same conversation I had with the Admiral and everyone else from the Navy, but we did talk about more local things where we could actually take part and make a difference.


    "You already talked to Mr. Garciano?"


    "Yeah, I would''ve loved you to squeeze him even more when we had the meeting, but I think I did pretty well myself. We do need some fresh construction materials aside from using what''s avable but they''ve been pretty generous because they''re kind of saving on rice which we have an abundance of.


    He''s also been asking me if I have those skin care products you spoke of but I don''t even know what they are."


    I chuckled, "That''s a secret of mine, heh. He likes the stuff and uses it religiously while we''re totally good even with dish soap, so¡­"


    "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    "It''s just some fancy natural creams. It''s just the brand he follows."


    "Yeah, I don''t even care at all¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Anyway, are there any other things that popped up from this side?"


    He waved me off, "Not anything we can handle ourselves."


    "Like Jessica then, thanks. I guess we''ll have to pay a visit to Iskoh real soon as well now that it''s pretty peaceful here, rtively speaking."


    "He having some troubles?"


    "Not exactly but out of everyone here, his ce needs the most soldiers. It''s the capital after all."


    "Then you can forgo sending soldiers here. I don''t wanna jinx it but sending more over here would make them morecent. I even made some of them do farm work as well because they''re just sitting on their ass most of the time¡­ You know, unless deadheads wander off past our checkpoints."


    "Is that even a thing?"


    "Well¡­ Sometimes they get carried by the river though we already solved it by using strongting to pick up the garbage as well. Our soldiers have to travel further out to clear the dead and it''s somewhat of a bad thing but more of a good thing still."


    I nodded, "I get that, I do. That''s just the way it is though. Just find the right bnce of sending a few teams out and waiting for them to wander in. Just close out the ces where they could nest in and you''ll be fine. You can''t just waste precious gas by seeking a dozen deadheads thening back."


    "Yeah, I''ve started luring them in the sports arena with a siren every week, just to see our current threat levels but if we need to get an exact reading in regards to the special ones, we need to venture out and seek them orpletely clear out towns or even cities where there''s no one defending them.


    I''d hate to say this but the dregs are the ones who mostly run around while the special ones have been sneaking away unless we get to their territory."


    "That''s right¡­ We can''t have that. Then again, we should stick with the system of having a few scouts venture out to get they of thend and figure out the right time to send in several teams equipped to tackle the problem. Either that or checkpoints located set further out but not so much to thin us out here. We can work with our allies with that."


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Yeah. So anyway, thanks for thete lunch and we''ll talk soon, alright?"


    "Yeah. What you told me''s a lot to unpack but I''ll keep busy."


    "Yeah, yeah."


    On that note, I couldn''t believe we reached our home in record time¡ªprobably because we didn''t loot a single ce on the way backting us a few extra hours to spare, but yeah, it was fun while itsted, including the times we had some car fun.


    However, it was all sorts of chaos when we got back because right from the get-go, Zeus had already jumped for my embrace beating E who somehow found a service uniform her size while the old man was having withdrawal symptoms from seeing Jennifere in with a Buggy with a V8 engine.


    Chapter Explore:


    The ones that came in our brand-new Chinook still weren''t properly introduced to everyone else¡ªthough everyone in mypound and inner sanctum already knew of them¡ªbut it''d be a brand new set of introductionster once we have our meeting after dinner.


    Though once Rin was made aware of arrival, she quickly ran in and briefly hugged Tatiana before turning to me:


    "We have some¡­ problems¡­"

 Chapter 1204: "Death Squad"

    Before Rin even began to say anything, I suddenly noticed four presences by the catwalk, on each end of our houses inside thepound, and a dozen or so feet behind E. I didn''t know whether this was one of the problems Rin was talking about but this was a problem to me.


    In addition, these fucks could''ve at least tried to blend in with my crowd of people¡ªeven though I''d still notice them¡ªbut no, all four of them were sticking out like sore fucking thumbs and I quickly went for my metaphorical hammer.


    ''Where''s the fifth one? Fuck it, he''ll show up if I do this¡ª''


    After quickly putting down Zeus on the ground, I suddenly grabbed on E''s cute little head by the ears¡ªlike I would hold a basketball¡ªas I lifted her up much to everyone''s shock.


    "Wha¡ª WHA¡ª WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" E screamed as she grabbed on my arms and squiggled in ce.


    I stared her dead in the eyes, "Make them stand down and chill."


    "W-What?! What are you talking about¡ª CARRY ME LIKE A PRINCESS OR PUT ME DOWN!"


    I went back to calling her the first nickname I gave her and then some, "You horny fucking brat¡ª"


    "LET GO OF THE ADMIRAL''S DAUGHTER¡ª"


    And right as I was about to spin her around, the closest one to E bridged the gap between us in seconds.


    I chuckled, "Chill, chill~"


    "I SAID¡ª"


    But right as he put his hand on my shoulder, I slowly put E down with a smile before I grabbed this dude''s arm and threw him overhead.


    This dumbass didn''t know what wasing to him¡ªmuch like everybody else from the sudden judo throw, but no one fucking postures up in my neck of the woods without my say-so, or even if they were just doing their job.


    Even the Admiral would look down if the barber said so and it''s my ce, my rules¡ªand their actions were definitely making everyone else in mypound uneasy and ufortable.


    Moreso, if their actions continued as is and if someone other than me even got close to E, it''d just iste her from everyone else and it was one of the reasons she didn''t have any friends in the Eisenhower aside from her attendants, Jennifer included.


    Then the dudette from the catwalk eventually reached us:


    "Whoa! Hold on, now! We just received strict orders to keep the Admiral''s¡ª"


    I cut her off, "You also received strict orders to do what I said so! I told him to chill and he gave me lip¡ª and I''m just messing around with E, who''s my friend, what do you say to that?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Looking at these two, they were still wearing fullbat gear even if they''d arrived here way~ before noon, and honestly, I was thinking this five-man group to protect E wasn''t the best and brightest. They do look capable of killing dregs, sure¡ªlike the two others who had juste down from the roofs of our houses¡ªbut I guess we''ll see after this one.


    I gave the dude who touched me a hand up but he just stood on his own while ring at me. And as he patted himself off the dirt and dust that dirtied his clothes, he let out a huge huff as he shouted at me but from a safe distance.


    "THE ADMIRAL''S DAUGHTER''S SAFETY PRECEDES¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "h, h, h~ Hold up, your name''s Brownie?!"


    "WHA¡ª WHAT ABOUT IT?! YOU CLEARLY ASSAULTED THE ADMIRAL''S¡ª"


    I cut him off again, "E. If you can''t do that, Michae. AT least know the name of the person you''re supposed to take care of¡ª"


    He looked so bbergasted, "WHAT ARE YOU¡ª"


    I turned to the dudette surnamed Lee who tried to diffuse the situation earlier, "Can I still return this fuck to the Marine Base? You know, exchange him with a person, even a civ with at least a normal modifier for their intelligence stat?"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY¡ª ACK!"


    All of a sudden, Jennifer went ahead and ran over this dude with her Doom Buggy¡ªwithout killing him, of course¡ªand yeah, she looked as pissed as everyone else from this group doing this to me but they all knew I could handle myself just fine. They were just waiting for the face-pping to urter.


    But Oscar''s voice resounded right as Jennifer tried to anchor the conversation around her:


    "I told ya, let the kid handle it, alright?"


    "Ugh¡­ It''s just so annoying¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Break a leg, at least!"


    Jennifer cackled, "You want me to?! I will, lil bro, I will!"


    Lee tried to get between us as she tried to help Brownie up, "I¡ª I do apologize for our actions and we may have gone overboard but we are actually under strict orders for the Admiral''s¡ª I mean for E to note to any harm. We''re just doing our jobs."


    I shook my head, "Aren''t you harming her indirectly by isting her from everybody else?"


    "I-Isting?"


    "You fucking idiots, she may look like a child but she''s not."


    E tried to cut in, "W-What was that for?!"


    "Let me finish, I was expecting her to be in a circle of friends by now but everyone around her age is afraid to approach her because you fucks are hovering worse than a drone with several rm clocks taped on it. Aren''t you supposed to be covert in doing this type of shit? She''s been here for half a day and the only one she came up to meet with us is my dog, Zeus!"


    "Woof!"


    "Hear that? He also knows what you''re doing is fucking bullshit."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Anyway, where''s your fifth guy? I only sensed you, you, you, and you, " I said as I pointed at Lee, Brownie, Hooper, and Tennyson from the crowd around us.


    Lee answered, "He''s guarding the Chinook¡­ sir."


    I''ve never been so confused, "What for?"


    Brownie rolled his eyes, "For a quick escape, of course!"


    "From what?! If anything, shouldn''t you bemandeering the chopper on my house instead?! It''s closer¡ª"


    The dumbass agreed just like that, "That''s actually a good idea¡ª"


    I already lost my shit, "NO, THE FUCK IT''S NOT! IT''S DUMB!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED IT!"


    "IT WAS SARCASM, BROWNIE! CAN''T YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT?!"


    "YOU FOUR COME TO MY GYM ON THE THIRD FLOOR AND BRING YOUR FIFTH GUY WITH YOU!"


    "W-What are you gonna do?" Lee asked.


    I rolled my eyes, "You fucks answer to me, you either follow it or I''ll ship you back to Bartow and Davis, do you understand that?"

 Chapter 1205: The Five Stooges - Hell Week.

    At that point, it didn''t take long before I gathered a small crowd in my home gym, and the five stooges¡ªtemporary title, of course¡ªcame in looking concerned about what I called them out here for.


    It didn''te as much of a surprise but their fifth man¡ªI mean, their fifth woman was surnamed Williams, but she surprised me with the puffy curly afro she was hiding under her helmet when she took it off.


    ''Looking closely, we''re all around the same age too, except for Brownie and Hooper, they''re probably older than me¡­ Maybe not, we''ll see.''


    She had the same African-American persuasion as Royo from the surface but her gray eyes¡ªalmost the same color as Artem''s¡ªtold me she was mixed blood just like me and a few others.


    In any case, I shooed the crowd away because this group had enough of getting reprimanded with an audience. They seemed to have appreciated the thought but I then introduced myself like I would with any other group¡ªespecially around the same age as I am.


    "''Sup?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I pretended to call Captain Davis on my radio, "Yo, Captain Davis, these five-man group protecting E''s not flying well with me, can I send them back¡ª"


    Lee instantly cut in, "W-What''s up, sir?"


    I put down my radio and smiled, "Alright, Lee, you''re in charge of this group now¡ª"


    Tennyson, the most regr looking one cut in, "S-Sir, with all due respect, I''m leading¡ª"


    "Doesn''t look like it, no?"


    "That''s¡­ I was just being respectful of authority¡ª"


    "You say that but you let Brownie do his shit to me and Lee to speak for all of you? Where''s the leadership in that?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Lee cut in, "Sir, with all due respect, Tennyson''s the best one to lead but please understand that¡ª as much as we''d hate to admit, we''re all pretty¡­ pretty surprised about¡­ you know, how this ce is a-and all we could do is be on high alert. It''s overwhelming, to say the least, and we apologize for our actions¡­"


    I turned to Tennyson, "See that?"


    "Sir?"


    "Can you do better than that? Better yet¡ª I''m sorry, you and your group say you lead this team but tell me how because I can''t seem to see the reason why. You could''ve been the same as me before because I hate being the spokesperson, even now¡ªsometimes, but it''s just something that I have to do.


    But yeah, prove to me why you''re voted the leader of this group or else I''ll strip it off and give it to someone I can talk to."


    Tennyson looked down for a moment, making a slight gesture with his lips before turning back to me, "Sir, I''ve just been recently promoted to Sergeant¡ª"


    I waved him off, "I don''t care about ranks, even I don''t have an official one. So what? You''re Sergeant, they''re Corporals, Lance Corporals, or Private First ss¡ª god forbid, a Private¡ª"


    Brownie cut in again, "What''s wrong with being a Private?! I''m promoted to Private First ss too, but¡ª"


    "Hold up Brownie, hold old are ya?"


    "Haah? I''m twenty-two¡ª"


    "No fucking shot, you look like you''re pushing thirty!"


    "HAAAAH?!"


    I immediately facepalmed, "I get it now¡­ the Admiral duped me again¡­"


    Tennyson said, "Duped you?"


    "Haaa¡­ I''m expecting a Death Squad, you know? I guess it''s fine¡­ No one would be able to touch E here anyways¡­ especially when I''m here¡ª"


    Brownie cut in, "What makes you say that?!"


    "Bitch¡ª Judo''s the worst of my skillset and I threw you like a fucking bag of marshmallows. You can''t even do your job, much less, look like you''re doing it properly."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Look, wearing fullbat gear looks intimidating and it''ll scare off the dregs, sure, but you''re going at it the wrong way. Pop Quiz: Where''s the Chinook?"


    Brownie answered, "Above the indoor gun range¡ª"


    "How far''s that from mypound?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "How many houses in between and how many people, soldiers, checkpoints, steps, drones, cameras, and guns you''d have to go through before you can "escape"? Hmm? Can you even get past the catwalk and my huge-ass gate with E struggling from your grasp? Can you even outgun my people? Can you shoot kids? Trust me, they''ll shoot you.


    I trained them, they just don''t look like it."


    Everyone didn''t know how to react to that not-so-obvious lie.


    ''Or is it?''


    "That''s¡­"


    I chuckled, "That''s not even the most important thing you missed. All that posturing is just gonna get you all hated by my people, or if you''re in another ce, get you killed. So first off, I''d like it if you wear casual clothes and conceal carry then apologize to my people and E right after.


    I''m sorry I''m this rough on you because I thought you were the real deal but I guess I''d lump you in with my trainees/cadets¡ª Hmm¡­ What if we do that, huh?"


    Lee replied, "Do what?"


    I smiled from ear to ear, "Hell Week."


    ''Maybe even Hell Month¡­ Eheheh¡­''


    "W-What''s that?"


    "Something I just made up from saying I''d lump you in with JP and Marvin''s group so yeah¡­ Basically, we''d lump you in the same group without any official rank and the top-scoring bitch-ass is gonna be the Baron."


    "Baron?"


    "It''s something the military does here for the cadets and you''ll participate in it. And trust me, you''re gonna hate me, Tatiana, Oscar, Johnny, and everyone else that''d be putting you through hell. I guess I''ll make the Deweys join in as well but I''m expecting a lot from you five. We''ll start¡ª no, I won''t tell you when we''ll start but when we do, you''ll definitely know it.


    Comints we''ll receive will just grant you more punishments, ya dig?"


    With that said, I eventually dismissed the five¡ªsurprised I didn''t give them a beating¡ªand they dide back wearing casual clothes and slightly concealing their sidearms, apologizing to everyone and hovering around E less and less.


    But yeah, Rin came back looking for me:


    "I''m sorry, but we still have more we''d need to take of¡­"

 Chapter 1206: You can tell me.

    With an hour or so before sunset, Rin led me to our nearest DDR Camp, which also where our nearest hospital was also located, and it was because of the junkies¡ª err, the adolescents¡ªDax and Sheepy''s group¡ªwe sent here a few days earlier.


    To my understanding, they should be going through hell right now because they were detoxing and currently undergoing withdrawal symptoms but it seemed like the people in charge with them weren''t having it so easy either.


    And whaddayouknow? Dr. Nichols was the doctor in charge of them and Mimi was one of the nurses who volunteered to take care of their needs¡ªbut yeah, aside from Chloe who was learning the ropes from her mom, Camille, Casey''s older sister, was also lending a hand, especially to help with Casey''s well-being.


    Before they even got here, I was already informed that Casey''s child didn''t survive but with their detoxing phase currently ongoing, I was told that she wasn''t even told the news. However, I believe it was the right call because putting too much on someone''s te just might make them snap.


    But yeah, as soon as we met eyes, the three gave me a hug and a few pleasantries, but the first thing I noticed was the scratch on Mimi''s arm.


    "Hold up¡ª What''s with¡ª Is the one who did it barely clinging to life because that''s the right call because his next few day''s gonna be fucking miserable¡ª"


    The four had to take a step back from the slight killing intent but Mimi quickly waved me down as she recovered:


    "Y-You¡ª It''s not like that! It kinda is¡ª but ites with the job, alright?!"


    "Still¡ª What happened?"


    "It''s a literal scratch, it was when we were trying to tie¡ª what''s HER name? Morgan?"


    Chloe nodded while sneaking nces at me with a smile, "Y-Yeah¡ª to be fair, they''re all pretty scratchy but Sir Oscar gave us the executive right to knock them out! Those scratches quickly stopped after a few bonks!"


    "Scratch¡ª Like with her nails¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved me off again while looking amused with my concern, "Before you say more, aside from all of them being underweight, have a liver fighting for their dear life,ck of sleep, and having a lot of various drugs in their system, they don''t have anything that you''re worried about. They''re all clean in a sense."


    "Still¡ª"


    Mimi chuckled, "I appreciate the concern, I do, but it really doese with the job and I''m much better than they all are. Having withdrawals like that is pretty ugly¡ª I hope they''re fine in a few days¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    Chloe nudged me, "What are you thinking about now?"


    "I''m thinking about putting the cadets, trainees, and E''s bodyguards¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols rolled her eyes, "The ones hovering around that little kid like a helicopter?"


    Mimi quickly joined E''s side, "S-She''s not a kid! She''s just s-small¡­ l-like me¡­"


    I chuckled, "Yeah¡­ I''m thinking of putting them through a Hell Week of sorts¡ª you know, intense training and all that¡ªthough I''ll ept anyone else who''s willing to join¡ªbut I''m thinking of having these kids go through it as well. What do you think of that?"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "I''d advise against that. They''re pretty young, sure, but they have to go through some sort of rehab first¡ª mild exercise, eating healthy, the works, and not intense training or whatever you''re thinking of."


    Chloe cut in, "C-Can I join?"


    I turned to her, "You sure?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You''re gonna hate me for sure, it''s called hell for a reason."


    Chloe rolled her eyes, "It''s already hell for me¡ª me and Cynthia, these past few days of our bet! Do you even remember?! How bad could it get?!"


    "Oh~ You two still keeping it on?"


    "W-Wouldn''t you like to know? Of course, we are¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head as she cut her daughter off, "They already lost¡ª"


    "MOM! No, we didn''t! It was an ident!"


    Mimi backed Dr. Nichols, "ident or not, you two still did¡­ you know¡­"


    I looked at her weirdly, "You identally came? How?"


    Chloe was about to lose her shit, "I-It really was an ident! I-I¡ª W-We were doing it in our sleep! W-We woke up feeling good all of a sudden but R-Riri and Ruru taped us h-humping our p-pillows and y-you know¡­ that¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "B¨CBUT WE STILL DID IT UNKNOWINGLY! BELIEVE ME! WE''RE STILL NOT DOING ANYTHING TO Y-YOU KNOW! THAT!"


    I put my hands up, "I dunno, Kaley will be the judge of that¡­ But yeah, what''s the problem Rin''s been talking about? Aside from the scratch? Or is that it?"


    Dr. Nicols answered, "Mimi''s scratch is as she said, part of the job but¡ª I dunno how to say this but some people here are taking advantage of the free services this hospital of yours has to offer."


    "What do you mean?"


    She took some files from her desk, "I noticed¡ª Well, Mimi and I noticed it in our first day while we were feeling things out¡ª you know, seeing how this ce works and all, but, a much as I''d hate to say this, after gathering some evidence¡ª"


    "Dr. Nichols¡­ You can tell me."


    "Alright¡­ This ce has 24 patients admitted who are prolonging their stay for as much as possible because of the free amenities this hospital provides¡ª and six of them who should''ve been discharged a week ago are still benefitting from the free food, free room, freeundry, and everything else. I know you don''t charge anyone a dime but it''s just ridiculous."


    Mimi added, "One of them got admitted here with a bag of theirundry and asked me to do it for him since he doesn''t have anyone else to do it for him while he''s here.


    I did it for him once because he was nice at first¡ªand we do have machines for them and it''s just a push of a button¡ªbut a few of his friends started doing the same thing and got mad when I said no¡­ It''s not like they couldn''t do it themselves¡­ It''s just a little¡­ you know¡­"


    "They should already be earning their keep in some way¡ªand I''m not telling you how to do your job but¡­ even if they''re not taking prescribed medicine you have strict regtions on like painkillers, they shouldn''t be abusing everyone else who are very much willing to do simple tasks for them. It''s downright shameful for these people toze around like that.


    The staff are enabling such behavior and I''m all for kindness, I am, but it still should be within reason."

 Chapter 1207: Public Humiliation

    Hearing theseints, I started to get a little pinch in the back of my head¡ªnot because of themining per se but adding that on top of the incidentst time with our guards, it seemed like¡ª no, it was apparent that more and more people were gettingfortable with their current living situation while caring less and less about the people who were still nose down on work for giving back to themunity as a whole.


    I wouldn''t mind or would''ve been a little understanding if they were still kids, had actual disabilities, old, or some other valid reason, but thesezy fucks who were grown able-bodied adults were taking advantage of this ce''s generosity and needed to be put in their ce one way or the other.


    ''They could bezy on their own but they shouldn''t have other people pick up their shit for them¡­''


    So yeah, after gathering more evidence like their charts, some CCTV footage, and reliable witnesses, I decided to blindside all of them and have our nightly meeting held in this ce''s multipurpose hall, making sure that this type of thing that could happen due to human nature and their environment wouldn''t fly with me and everyone should be held ountable.


    Almost everyone thought it was to bury the hatchet and ept the apology from the people who weren''t doing their guarding duty properly, but let''s just say it was a little bit of both. And yeah, some people wouldn''t admit it as much but a bit of drama here and there would just us more attendance, making public humiliation a more dangerous tool to call out people.


    Don''t get me wrong, I also talk to people privately when they make mistakes but this was also something to send out a warning because it seemed like my punishmentst time wasn''t enough.


    So yeah, we started our meeting normally like we would by having everyone involved give their reports.


    Obviously, things were going fine, and officially introducing everyone else went off without a hitch, but when it came to addressing the first elephant in the room, the ce couldn''t be more quiet as I took to the stage:


    "Alright, I''ve said it before and I said it again: do your fucking jobs because your life and your loved ones'' lives literally depend upon it, and there should be no excuses whatsoever.


    I''m aware none of you could remember a few thousand names at a time but I''m also aware that the wake-up call I put you through opened your eyes and I have witnesses that told me you all were doing your best so that''s that."


    "..."


    "Trust me, I''ll fucking send all of you to where Morales and his group are just to prove a point because if guarding the empty road while your family''s outside fucking scared ya, you''d be shitting your pants at what they''re facing on a daily basis. You''ve all been toofortable and have gottencent about everything that''s been going on but we''re still far from getting to that stage.


    Getting scared as shit for having your family outside our walls is proof of that."


    As I said that, everyone was quiet and the people I was referring to were either looking down in shame or were nodding in agreement as a response to my words. They knew they made a mistake, they knew they fucked up. They received their punishments and paid their dues so now they were all starting fresh¡ªeven if some of them were demoted or were put in a different job entirely.


    In the end, what mattered was that they were held ountable and they recognized that.


    As I said earlier, it''s not like I threw them and their loved ones to the wolves but correcting a mistake that could''ve gone a lot worse if left unchecked. I wasn''t saying I''m perfect in every regard and wasn''t prone tomitting mistakes but if one bore witness to it, they should be aware and brave enough to call it out and make the other person or persons involved see it as they saw it.


    Then again, time to address the second elephant in the room:


    "But yeah, while we''re on this topic¡­ This one other thing I''d like to shed light on but not as severe as the first one should still be addressed before people get used to it.


    You''ve been pretty shameless doing this type of thing to our hospital staff so I''m gonna be pretty shameless as well to call all of you out¡ª No, no, no one fucking leaves this ce until I''m done, that''s why there are guards posted on the doors.


    Yes, yeah¡ª I''m talking about you, Danielle Francisco, 32 years old, admitted on the fourth floor on the right wing who scraped her knee and has been living in the same fucking room for two weeks now with full benefits. SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"


    She quickly backpedaled and went for a hail mary, "I-I was just¡ª I was just going to the bathroom¡ª"


    I just gave her a fake smile as everyone started to whisper among themselves:


    "You can wait¡ª Even better, from the time we were holding this meeting, like your sleazy-ass husband, Uriel Francisco, 34 years old, who had the audacity to have our nurses do his smelly fucking, yellowy-ass, bag ofundry for him even though he just checked in for a cough and asked to get admitted, we''ve since cleared up your rooms and prepared you for discharge.


    And with the two weeks you used toze around doing nothing, we''ve been in your house¡ªwhere your other friends who decided to admit themselves here for some bullshit reason as well were living in¡ªand took away some luxury items you''ve been keeping to give to our nurses who¡ª"


    "Y-YOU CAN''T DO THAT! YOU CAN''T JUST¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Bitch, I just did. And if I remember correctly, you can''t just do what you did either. You can visit the hospital if you have anything worth checking and they''ll treat you and have you admitted for free¡ªthe whole shebang¡ªbut they''re not responsible for babysitting yourzy asses just because you felt like it.


    So yeah, aside from you two, the following names I''d say out loud would incur penalties appropriate for the shit they did and a repeat of this offense would incur more penalties right until we send you to the fucking Gg¡ª not abor camp per se, but you''d wish you''ve been earning your keep the same way as those people you tried to get ahead of by dirty means."

 Chapter 1208: Basic Human Decency - Give & Take

    From thest time I''ve been away for a few weeks, I''ve had guards letting random-ass people case our ce out, and from the few days I''ve been to Subic with my group, Dr. Nichols and Mimi uncovered stupid shit people have been doing for quite a while.


    Corrting this bullshit behavior every time I went away wasn''t exactly the cause, but I felt like I was a fucking scarecrow preventing these dumbass birds from taking advantage of our crops.


    And just for a bit of context, every able-bodied person in this ce was expected to work¡ªdepending on their skillset, if not, anything that wouldn''t need specialization¡ªto earn their keep, and for some reason, if they weren''t able to do their duties, be it an injury, sickness, or something along those lines, they''d be given the time off without docking their pay¡ªwhich was their allocation of food, water, basic necessities, etc.


    In addition, like with this hospital, they''d treat them to the best of their abilities and take care of their needs while they''re indisposed but somehow, these people found the gall to abuse our generosity and live avish life thinking none of us would notice or speak up.


    I shook my head as I addressed everyone once more:


    "Jesus fucking christ, we just had an incident with our guardsst time and you fucks didn''t even think to clean up your act?! You''re only required to work six to eight hours a day and you''re even allowed a day off each week¡ªdoubling the resources we''d pay you if you decided to work on your day off and if you decided to work overtime.


    We''re not paying you with bullshit pizza parties people, we''re paying you for your time and contributions because that''s what you deserve and worked hard for!"


    "And yeah, I''m sorry your bank ounts and the bills you''ve made before the world had gone to shit has you know, gone to shit but¡ª aren''t we all on the same boat?! While it''s true some of us got a leg up on thepetition but so what? Are you gonnain about that too?!


    We worked extra hard to afford us these edges but if you''d like to hear it again be my guest: the world''s fucking unfair, dig deep if you wanna keep up and dig deeper if you want to have the chance toe up on top."


    "Look¡­ it''s great and all that we can affordfort like this but there''s a bnce between that¡­ I don''t give a fuck if you''re azy bum but do it in a way that wouldn''t inconvenience other people who should be spending their precious time to meet their quotas, improve upon themselves, or take care of their families.


    You could be wasting away on your free time but finish your fucking quotas first and don''t involve anyone else in your bullshit. Is that hard?"


    Then I brought up another subject:


    "The families with children here have more days off in case of emergencies and each of their children is given their share of necessities without question but we do expect them to attend sses while the parents take care of them and such on top of their jobs¡ªand before you question it, taking care of your kids is a job in and of itself but for people with unfortunate circumstances or for those who wanted to have some sort of rainy-day fund, we have babysitters where you can drop your kids off or you can be one yourself, there''s always slots avable.


    You can talk to your neighbors who have kids or want their kids taken care of but it''d be better if you go straight to us, less mess that way because the rates are flexible and I''d like to receive fewerints about people not holding up their end of the deal."


    At that point, I began to discuss more things people here should''ve been aware of but since these fiascos popping up left and right, I felt everyone needed a refresher. But yeah, the people whose names I recited earlier couldn''t look everyone in the eyes still¡ªand as one of them asked for a transfer, I quickly shut that shit down:


    "Emille Roxas, you''re one of our tailors, right?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "Alright¡­ so tell me, why do you wanna transfer?"


    "I-It''s umm¡­ y-you know¡ª"


    "Embarrassing?"


    "..."


    "Shameful?"


    "..."


    "Can''t look at your colleagues in the eye?"


    "..."


    "Look, if you''re not gonna answer¡ª"


    "A-All of those things, sir¡ª"


    "The answer''s still no though. You had skin thick enough to ask our nurses to wipe your ass and bathe you when you had a fever, you should have skin thick enough to soldier through getting weird looks from your friends, families, and coworkers.


    You should''ve thought long and hard before you decide to do scummy shit and instead of running away, you should be¡ª no, all of you, including our guards or ex-guards involved in that incident, work hard to earn back your reputation. You fucked around and found out, deal with the repercussions."


    "...I''m sorry, sir."


    I rolled my eyes, "Don''t apologize to me, apologize to the people you took advantage of. Not here, of course¡ª do it on your own time. And let this be a lesson, alright? We can afford to be generous around here but it''s not fucking right to take the whole pie for yourselves.


    And look, calling you out like this in public''s pretty lenient, if you can''t imagine, so the next time this happens, we''ll just ship you off to where Morales, Iskoh, Mauricio, or Jessica is¡ª better yet, send you off to Subic Bay, see how it goes for you. Trust me, you have it fucking easy here¡ª too easy if I might add, considering how you decide to do that type of thing¡­"


    "So on that note, we''ll end it here. Making mistakes is a normal thing but consciously doing it is a whole other fucked up thing, remember that."

 Chapter 1209: Mikhail & Alexei - Planning Hell Week

    As I finally adjourned our meeting, I was actually surprised that no one spoke up in a way to justify their behavior and that was just a huge plus in my book.


    If somehow they thought of getting slick with me or ming us for their actions, I would''ve taken more than their privileged items and made them literally start from scratch because I''d rather spend more time doing anything else, ANYTHING else than solving domestic issues.


    While it''s true that I had other people to do this job for me¡ªwhich should''ve been done in the first ce¡ªthese people we took in fear and respected me at the same time, more than anyone else in this ce, so me doing this in front of everyone was more effective than dealing with it within closed doors and/or handled either by Marisha or Oscar.


    So yeah, the ones involved decided to stay back with the ones aggrieved to say their piece and apologize but they should know pretty well that words were just words and their actions starting tomorrow would make the biggest impact.


    Other than that, Mikhail and Alexei, who were shot by Alexanderst time were already able to attend the meeting, except for Alexander, of course, so while they were chatting amongst theirrades, I decided to drop in for a quick chat:


    "Yo."


    Mikhail was the first one to acknowledge me:


    "''Sup, weeb."


    "''Sup, normie."


    "Heh, I''m sad. I thought you''d visit us the moment you get here."


    I joked, "What? You''re not that important, the fuck would I visit you?"


    Alexei cackled but grimaced once he felt his gunshot wound ache, "F-Fuck, that caught me off-guard¡ª" then he turned to Mikhail, "I really gotta have what you''re eating, you''re barely feeling it, you should''ve been discharged a few days ago!" then he turned to me again, "Shouldn''t this guy be on the list of thezy bums you¡ª"


    Mikhail cut him off, "Eat some shit, bro! I''m just doing a good job of enduring it."


    Alexei rolled his eyes, "A good job of hiding it from his other girl!"


    "Shut up, dude! Mimi''s just nice, we''re friends and I don''t want her to take the trouble visiting me again and again. Besides, I wouldn''t want to step on some toes." then he turned to Alexei, "At least you and Vera are back again. I thought she''d leave you for him, only a few people could resist his charms."


    I waved him off as I turned to Alexie, "About that¡ª"


    Alexei shook his head, "No harm, no foul. We''re still working things out but my girl in Cuervo Heights is fucking pissed. She thought I''d marry her, she forgot I was just you know¡­ looking for a fling."


    I chuckled, "Alrighty, then¡­" then I turned to Mikhail, "Jesa''s been asking about you though. You guys talked?"


    Mikhail was pleasantly surprised, "She did? Fuck, I got her contact info but never bothered¡ª But before that, have you¡ª you know? I don''t care either way because my dick''s bigger than yours but¡­ I have to fucking know, alright?"


    I put my hands up as I chuckled at that other remark, "Fair, we did have some interaction but it''s not serious. She was just looking for something to feel."


    Mikhail sighed, "Fair, fair."


    Alexei rolled his eyes, "You still bummed about that giantess? Quinn was it? She''s the De Leon Family''s vice president, right?"


    Mikhail let out a bigger sigh, "That ship sailed the moment I fumbled when we met. *points at me* He did try to help me but she chose him instead. Would''ve been perfect but I guess I''ll try with Jessica again, if not, I''m just going back to Gina once we sail back to Batangas."


    I nodded, "Alright, I hate to ask but don''t take it as me in a hurry but what''s the ETA on you recovering? *looks at Alexei* You as well?"


    "Me? I didn''t get hit in the torso like Alexei so I''m good in a few days¡ª Will be fucking d to be in training as well."


    Alexei followed, "Doctor said maybe a week or two for me, why''d you ask?"


    "Well, we''re a solid group together but you notice me bringing the younger ones with us, right? All of them are following the training regimen we gave them every step of the way but I think there should be a time when we make them leave theirfort zones and push them to their limit¡ªmaybe even close¡­ no, past their breaking points.


    They''re doing great as is but¡­ I don''t wannapare my experiences to all of you but we have something that they don''t¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Don''t kid yourself, you''ve been through shit too and you''re¡ª no, that''s prolly why you''re kinda psycho."


    Alexei nodded so fucking hard, "True. Remember when I got you that time and you fucking moaned? You must''ve been through hell and back to think of that shit¡ª"


    Mikhail facepalmed, "Don''t remind me of that shit, dude¡­ Hepletely wiped the floor with us¡­"


    I waved them off, "I appreciate the vote of confidence, I do, but there''s still a difference, alright? And no, you haven''t got me, you almost got me, there''s a difference there too."


    "Fine, fine¡­"


    "So, what are you saying again?"


    "Hell Week. I''ve already teased it with them but I haven''t thought it through or have the exact date. I''ll need all your help if you could, even your inputs are okay."


    Mikhail nodded, "If you want them to have an experience against a bigger guy, I''m in."


    Alexei was a little unsure, "To be honest, sniping''s more math but sometimes instinctes into y. It also involves mental fortitude if we decide to put them out there for several days without moving but it should be a different thing from Hell Week altogether."


    "Hmm~ I guess that''s true. It''s maybe specialization training too."


    "Yeah, that. And do understand not everyone could do what you''re doing."


    "But that doesn''t mean they can''t improve on their weaknesses, right?"


    "Uh, sure, yeah."


    "Alright then, everyone''s waiting for me. Get well soon, alright?"


    On that note, everyone else living with me made our way back to thepound and then to my house to check off our daily workout and perform needed checks and maintenance for our gear.


    Hell Week was a thing to consider more thoroughly and I needed to n it with Oscar, Tatiana, Johnny, and a few others I thought from the top of my head.


    ''Maybe Artem, Kuzma, and Katya too¡ª maybe even Mikhail and Bogdan if we want to have a broader system¡­ If Alexei can''t do it, Jared or Lawrence are viable options¡­''

 Chapter 1210: Chilling - Nicknames

    At this hour, everyone in our circle was just wearingfortable clothes and lounging around, getting to know each of us much better than a simple introduction and a brief handshake.


    Like Jennifer and Rachel, the Deweys were living in a separate space¡ªone of Oscar''s vacant rooms in his home¡ªbut this time, the Dewey sisters would be having a sleepover with us while their only brother present would be bunking with the cadets.


    All the doors to my house were locked while the curtains were closed to prevent anyone from peering in, but with the number of women in my ce of residence, even if I had the ability to stand on top, our n for tonight was to approach it like we were just hanging out¡ªand it''s not like they couldn''t do anything with each other.


    It was a semi-free-use type of situation and while I had the perfect excuse of cleaning my des without anyone bothering me, I was still aware of the situation happening inside my room.


    And one of the funnier interactions was with E meeting Nancy and Edith for the first time:


    "H-Hi! I believe we haven''t met yet! I-I''m E, short for Michae but I-I have to ask, is that maid uniform for cosy or¡ª"


    Nancy answered gleefully, "Gosh, no. I''m an actual maid¡ª a personal attendant of Ms. Edith here but we''re also close friends much like with everyone!"


    Edith let out this eerie chuckle, "So, E¡­ since you''re here¡­ have you been close with him too?"


    ''There she goes again¡­''


    E gulped from Edith''s auro enveloping her, "U-Umm¡­ W-We have but¡­ N-Not as close as what you might t-think¡­"


    "Hmm? Care to borate?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I haven''t¡­ Y-You know¡­ that¡­"


    "Oh, really? Huh."


    "I-It''s not f-forck of t-trying but h-he''s really busy a-and umm¡­ I-I could only t-take so m-much before passing out¡­ J-Just the sight of it¡ª sometimes, even thinking of it makes me so lightheaded¡­"


    "Mmm¡­ You got that right¡­ Hurry up though¡­"


    "H-Hmm?"


    "I kinda wanna eat you up but I don''t wanna step on some toes¡­ Looking at you just makes me feel a certain type of way¡ª"


    Then Quinn cut in while looking bbergasted at Edith''s alter ego, "You¡ª Can you stop that? You''re freaking me out¡ª"


    Edith let out this eerie chuckle once more, "In a good way, right?"


    "Uhh~ I dunno, I don''t wanna kink shame but I''ve known you all these years, never seen you like that for real¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Not your fault though¡­ I''m very demure but I''m very deprived too¡­ With the right people¡­ I''m still exploring this side of me, you know? If you''d like, I can take you¡ª"


    Then Quinnpletely dismissed her, "Eh. Not tonight. At least not like that. I told you, you''re freaking me out."


    "W-What? Why?!"


    "You got this dom thing going on but it''s not working on me, sorry."


    Then Edith suddenly went back to her other self, "W-What can I improve on then?"


    "Uhhh~ It''s not like you''d need improvement on anything because really, it works on certain people but¡ª you''re kind of barking the wrong tree with that approach. Unless you can physically put me in my ce, the only way you get to top me is if I''m feeling like it. You''d have a better chance if you do it the other way around."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "I dunno, sex is sex, but it takes a certain kind of man to let them have their way with me. It''s just the way I work, but sometimes, the innocent-looking ones eager to please me gets me going too. Look at Dickscalibur over there, he''s the only one here that could overpower me so the rest of you could only go the other route¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in, "So, you say¡­"


    Quinn gave Tatiana a face, "Saying something there?"


    "I dunno, I think I did just fine when I put my fist up your ass¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª That''s just one of the exceptions, alright?! But fine, you''re part of the 1% too, including Kaley."


    Kaley never looked so surprised hearing her name, "What?! Me?! Really?!"


    "Of course, you''re one of the bestys I''ve¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "Hey! Why am I not hearing my name over there?! I''ve been patiently waiting!"


    Quinn snorted, "Hah! You?! Oh, please~ You''re a try-hard dom but a sub at heart! Once someone, or should I say, once I got the upper hand with ya, you never fought back and took it all in! At least with those three *points at me, Kaley, and Tatiana* they take it, bide their time, and bite back!


    Kaley and Tatiana sometimes let me just have their way with them too but our main guy here alwayses up on top, at least that''s what happens to me. I dunno what happens when he''s with other girls or when he''s just alone with Kaley."


    Then Jennifer tried to get my attention:


    "Hey! I know you''re hearing us, care for some input¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Shh, we''re noisy as is but don''t disturb him when he''s cleaning his swords."


    Jennifer scoffed, "Or what? He fucks me to death? Isn''t that the best thing?"


    Rachel nudged her, "Jen! You¡ª"


    Ms. Sandy cut in, "Trust me, I''m a doctor and I tested it, it''s the exact opposite. He hasn''t done it to me yet¡ªbecause he had no reason to¡ªbut he has full control of his erections, better yet, his full body, he could do away with any of us and getpletely soft when ites to you. You''ve been warned."


    Quinn never nodded so fast with a shudder, "Y-Yeah¡­ Don''t poke the bear, big sis, pfft¡­"


    Jennifer got up, "Ah¡ª Don''t call me that! He only gets to call me that! That''s our thing! Besides, you''re bigger than me! I should be calling you¡ª"


    "Aside from my name, you fucks only get to call me Mommy, understood?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "A little on the nose, huh?"


    Quinn quipped, "The fuck you on about, you''re Mother Superior!"


    "WHAT?! WHEN DID THAT COME FROM?!"


    "JUST NOW, DEAL WITH IT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Everyone else cackled.


    "I-I don''t like that nickname!"


    "Sure~ You got plenty more!"


    "W-What?! When?!"


    ''Now this got interesting¡­''


    "I dunno, Her Majesty, The Reaper, The Camel¡ª Not as much as him but you have some good ones!"


    "WHAT?! I DIDN''T EVEN KNOW YOU REFER TO ME LIKE THAT! WHEN DID REAPER COME FROM¡ª Oh, the gun? That doesn''t even¡ª Ugh! For the record, Her Majesty should belong to you, you know! But think something better for me!"


    ''Ms. Hypersexual, Mrs. Ishiyama¡­ Heh¡­''

 Chapter 1211: Gentle Top

    As I was having a kick from the thoughts inside my head, everyone continued to have a pleasant time with each other even without sex involved. While it was true that it was one of the reasons we gathered in my house every night, which was still the main reason for today, sitting around with snacks and a random movie with friends wasn''t too bad either.


    And yeah, more subjects came to light, like Quinn''s goal to get pregnant, June''s situation, everyone else''s kinks they''d love to explore, but most importantly¡ªthough only for this night¡ªCynthia and Chloe''s punishment.


    While it was true that they did it unknowingly by humping their pillows in their sleep, an orgasm was still an orgasm, and the twins did have damning evidence to support that they lost the bet.


    However, if this was Cynthia we were talking about, her kinks were of the extreme end¡ªand I don''t know about Chloe but since they started hanging around together, they might share the same interests or Cynthia might start rubbing off onto Chloe, figuratively and literally speaking.


    And to my surprise and to everyone else who didn''t know as well, Cynthia and Chloe were wearing chastity belts to prevent them from partaking in sexual intercourse or even just straight-up masturbation. It seemed like Micah still had some toys reserved for special asions and once she knew of the bet, she made them wear those belts and kept Cynthia''s padlock key for me while Dr.


    Nichols had the one for her daughter.


    Quinn couldn''t hide the smile on her face, "Now this got suuuper~ interesting."


    Micah giggled as she threw me over Cynthia''s key on a ne, "Catch!"


    I caught it easily as I nced at the two who could barely look me in the eye. And for some reason, Dr. Nichols threw over the key to her daughter''s padlock as well and the tension inside the room just started to get stronger and stronger.


    At this point, I was already done with my des but this simple hangout quickly turned into something different.


    And as much of a fan as I am of everyone having fun, I guess this was some sort of fun as well because everyone else who stayed in my room and didn''t go elsewhere was just waiting for what I would do to these two with bated breath. I wasn''t sure if they''d all participate but I''d be happy if this got their juices going.


    I twirled the keys around my hand as I made the two kneel in front of me, "So¡­ Unless I give you two your punishments¡­ you get to stay like that for as long as I want you to?"


    "Y-Yes¡­/H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Y-Yes¡­" Chloe answered while gradually getting redder while Cynthia was already out of breath from the things going through her head.


    Micah shook her head, "Or you could dole out their punishment and still make them keep wearing ''em."


    Quinn interjected as she nced at Micah and Dr. Nichols, "Why''d you have to give him both keys? I''d be happy with either one of them."


    Dr. Nichols immediately answered, "I know he''d be gentle, I dunno about you¡­"


    "What?!"


    "Am I wrong?"


    "I could be gentle if I want¡­"


    "But not with my daughter, right?"


    "Fiiiine¡ª"


    Micah cut in, "I''ll let you have me for the night, Mommy. If you want?"


    "Hah! It''s Mistress to you¡­"


    "I''m afraid that''s what I go for."


    "Not tonight, you''re not. Fuck it, I''ll get knocked up another day. Come with me, bitch."


    Micah giggled as she followed Quinn out, "Yes, Mistress¡­"


    Funnily enough, one whisper from Rachel made Jennifer stand up and join the other two with her, and as more and more people chose to do their own thing, it didn''t take long before these two young beauties were slobbering on my huge cock.


    While it was true some more of us left the room like Rin and Tatiana, the rest either picked a corner to have some fun on their own or continued to watch us like Megan and Alexa.


    It was because Kaley was showing E the ropes of wearing the strap-on on girl-on-girl rtionships with Mimi while Dr. Nichols had already gone ahead and was giving June a thorough examination.


    And on the other side of the room, the twins were giving the step-sisters, Eden and Cindy, a show¡ªurging them to do the same because why not¡ªwhile this time, Edith made Nancy wear the rubber dick but still being the active one in their dynamic.


    It didn''t take long before the room smelled of sex, but right as I was about to blow my first load, I made Chloe and Cynthia stop before I beckoned Megan and Alexa over. In turn, they quickly knew what I was going for and it didn''t take them much work to suck my cock as they easily earned the reward the other two worked so hard for.


    And to add insult to injury, I made the two lick Megan and Alexa''s cunts and tongue their buttholes before I fucked the two right in front of them. They could only squeeze their legs together for the tiniest bit of unrewarding pleasure but their juices leaking past the side of their chastity belts and trickling down their thighs said otherwise.


    As painful as it was for them to get denied an orgasm, it was a kink in and of itself, and the two were enjoying every second of it. If they were already orgasmic from the slightest bit of pressure from clenching their groins with their legs, how much more could it be if they had an actual orgasm?


    But yeah, I still gave them a bit of a reward as I made them eat my cum from Megan and Alexa''s holes though they still weren''t convinced of it as they transferred them over to Megan and Alexa''s mouths. And since the two wouldn''t deny a free meal either, I added another factor to our little y as I simply put on some blindfolds on them.

 Chapter 1212: Punishment Served

    With their vision taken away, the rest of their senses wouldpensate for it and it''d feel like they had gotten stronger¡ªbut I went a step further and bound their hands slightly higher above a rope hanging above their heads, making them stand almost on the tip of their toes and leaning on each other''s back.


    Their young and luscious bodies were onplete disy, highlighting their bodies'' natural curves from their ample breasts, smooth pits, tiny waists, their inner thighs, and what lies beyond it, but I obviously shifted my focus onto their perky mounds and the special dessert on the side.


    "MmMh! Ah¡ª A-Ahn! Ugh¡­"


    "Nnngh¡­ MmmH¡ª Y-Yes! Hngh¡­"


    My mind and my dick was just telling me to take off their chastity belts and have my way with them like I did with Megan and Alexa, but it wouldn''t be much of a punishment for them if they had a release thirty minutes in?


    On that note, I kept teasing their breasts, nipples, and armpits by licking, sniffing, sucking, caressing, and squeezing them alternately¡ªand as their bodies were about to have a release from that, I''d switch to the other person, making the experience and the search for an orgasm that much more unbearable but extremely rewarding once we got into that.


    But yeah, Chloe and Cynthia were trying to best to blindly pleasure me or bait me into fucking them senseless because while I circled around while ying with their bodies, they''d do whatever they could when part of their bodies make contact with my huge cock.


    To be fair, teasing them all this time hadn''t gotten me a release and was just leaking so much precum, and once we reached another 30-minute mark, they were just so out of breath and was that aching for a release, and they damned near lost their minds when they heard the sound of Kaley swallowing my pent-up load from the time I was teasing them.


    "Hngh¡­"


    "Hnn¡­ S-So unfair¡ª"


    I let out the tiniest bit of killing intent and let it envelop only the two of them, "What did you just say?"


    "HnnKGhH!"


    "A-Ack¡ª HnGGH!"


    Even if Chloe was the one who spoke up, Cynthia being in the same state as her caught some strays as they found it extremely hard to breathe, but the oppressive pressure bearing down on their minds suddenly had a physical aspect¡ªat least for Chloe¡ªwhen I held her neck and started to squeeze.


    At that point, she started to lose air as I hadplete control of her airways¡ªand even if she began to struggle and let out difficult noises, I only let go after a few more seconds and she gasped and fought hard to take in all the air she could from the couple minutes or so when she was holding and losing almost all of it.


    On another note, Ms. Sandy wasn''t even that worried because not only hadplete trust in me with her daughter but she was also engrossed in the various functions of June''s body¡ªand even June herself was finding this medical examination touching on her alley of kinks.


    But yeah, right as Chloe managed to stabilize herself, Cynthia was about to act up to receive the same treatment but theypletely froze in ce when they heard the keys to their belts jingle from my hands.


    It suddenly turned them into the most obedient sluts but as I took the blindfold off Chloe''s face, I could clearly see how her whole body shuddered¡ªas her eyes rolled to the back of her head¡ªthe moment I broke that fucking lock with my bare hands, threw it on the floor, ripped the chastity belt off her, and started to push my huge fucking dick inside her aching, wet, and tiny hole.


    "HAhH! H-HNGH! AGH¡ª A-AhnH! A-AhGh! G-GhHGH! H-Ha¡ª H-HAA¡ª A-AAHHH!


    y-YYaAA¡ª A-AHHH! I¡ª NnhHGHH! CUM¡ª HnNGHHnh!!!"


    Chloe couldn''t even moan properly as the sight of me bending that lock like it was nothing before taking her then and there just made her gush like a fucking fountain, almost squirting from each violent thrust, shouting my name and losing it while Cynthia could only hear what was going on.


    At this point, I was holding her legs up while her hands were still bound above her head¡ªgiving me the best view of her swimmer''s body¡ªbut the intense eye contact she was giving while struggling with the ongoing orgasms was fueling me even more.


    However, as Cynthia was hearing everything around her while way~ past her breaking point, she started to squirt through her chastity belt and her juices started tricking down her th thighs, down to her calves, and to her feet.


    Her body was shaking all over as she looked like she just peed herself, and she wasn''t even able to support herself being on the tip of her toes as she just hung by her hands almost unmoving.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I filled Chloe''s womb and then some with my thick and creamy load and cut them loose,ying Chloe next to her mom while making my way to Cynthia who was lying prone on the floor, hands still bound, and shaking each time she felt the tremors post-orgasm.


    She wasn''t even able to react as much when I broke the lock in her belt the same way because it was all just panic from there when I aimed my dick at her ass with only my cum and Chloe''s juices as lubrication.


    As much as I didn''t want to say this, there was just something about Latina''s asses, how shapely and full they were¡ªeven with a young and athletic frame¡ªand seeing them jiggle from the feedback of me pounding that ass hard, was both doing and not doing Cynthia any favors.


    I was fucking her now, which was a plus, but it has been a while since she had anything up there and I wasn''t that keen on letting her get used to me because let''s just say it, even if her ass was burning right now, she''d get used to it soon enough and with the freak she was, she was probably liking it¡ªlike the violent orgasms she was having now.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before I filled her tiny butthole with my seed but it also didn''t take long before it was gaping wide enough for her to just feel pleasure from getting her pink asshole vited.


    Pulling on her hair and pushing her head down was just making her look like the freak she was but this was the time and the ce to be one because she was always this bright and sweet girl when she was interacting with anyone else outside this "safe zone".


    I believe she was the one who coined the term as well and let''s just say almost everyone was adhering to it, and even though we''d sometimes get freaky outside, this was just the ce where we let out our innermost desires.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ U-Ugh¡­ Haa¡­ T-That was¡ª HnGH! S-Still cumm¡ª Hngh! NnHH! H-Ha¡­ Ha! A-Ahh¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ Y-You''re too much¡­ H-Haah¡­ Ha¡­"


    "Whew, alright 15-second break''s done. Lemme turn you over¡ª"


    "W-WAIT!!!"

 Chapter 1213: Taboo? - The Real Story

    As the night went on for a few more hours, let''s just say it was nice to have more people in charge of aftercare¡ªMimi, Nancy, and Dr. Nichols¡ªbecause before, it was almost always just me or with Kaley if I didn''t go overboard with her.


    It wasn''t a requirement or anything because it was sort of a double-edged sword: it''s great I have some help dealing with the mess after but it was making me think I haven''t done enough because they could still walk.


    But yeah, after taking care of everyone and putting them to sleep, the five of us enjoyed a hot soak in the bathtub. It was pretty crowded but two of us being small made it possible.


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Doofus¡­ Pfft¡ª You''re thinking about that?! Weren''t you the one who told me male rabbits need more female partners because they do it a lot and if there''s only one female partner he could copte with, the female might get overworked?"


    Mimi chuckled, "I-I dunno about you guys but I''m fine with just one orgasm¡­ multiples are good too but I do get very exhausted if it''s one after the other¡­ That''s why I don''t join these gatherings as much even though I''ve only been in a few because, you know¡­ I get my daily steps but my staminapared to all of you is just that bad¡­"


    Nancy couldn''t agree more, "Y-Yea¡­ Me too¡­ Being with thedy¡ª I-I mean Miss Edith''s already tough but I dunno, I think I''m getting good at it even with my asthma¡­"


    Dr. Nichols caressed her hair, "Just don''t overdo it, Nancy¡­ But yeah, in my case, I''m feeling like a million bucks! Didn''t think I still had it in me with my age¡ª"


    Kaley rolled her eyes again, "You''re not that old! Besides, when are you gonna do it openly with Chloe? I know you''re hiding something¡ª"


    Mimi nudged Kaley, "Kaley! That''s¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved them off, "It''s okay, Mimi¡­ Haah¡­ I technically birthed Chloe but¡­ Hmm¡­ How do I put this? I did give birth to her but I''m also not her real mother¡­"


    ''Hold up¡ª Ah¡ª Ohhhh¡­''


    Nancy had to double-take, "Wai¡ª How?!"


    Kaley answered for her, "Surrogacy, right?"


    Dr. Nichols and Mimi nodded solemnly though it was a little funny that Dr. Nichols was the oneforting Mimi instead. However, telling Nancy just the word of it didn''t exin much so Dr. Nichols had to borate. I didn''t think we''d have an impromptu ss post-intercourse but the gist was, that a fertilized egg was put into Dr.


    Nichols body and nine monthster, she birthed Chloe instead of her real mother.


    This was something prevalent even in this country before¡ªbecause of the money involved¡ªbut there should be some reason why Chloe was living with her surrogate mother instead of her real mother.


    Kaley stood firm, "Look¡­ I''m sorry for pushing it but you two have been holding out this long for a reason that doesn''t even apply to you both¡­ Even Riri and Ruru¡ª I know it''s not the exact thing and it''s taboo for most people to say the least but what I mean by openly doing it is you know¡­ when we have these nights for us¡­ It''s there for a reason¡­ And honestly, I wouldn''t care either way¡­"


    Mimi then turned to Kaley with a solemn expression, "Will you do it with Marisha or Olivia? Or even Mr. Matthew? Would you even allow them to get pregnant by him if they ask?"


    Dr. Nichols tried to cut in but Kaley answered almost immediately:


    "Alright, I think that''s a fair question and you could judge me for all I care but¡­ just for the sake of argument, if two consenting adults or a party decide to do it without hurting anyone else or without any cheating or infidelity involved¡ªunless they''re conceiving, because that''s a different story altogether¡­ Where''s the harm in that?"


    Mimi shyly answered, "M-Morality?"


    Kaley slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Where do we draw the line though? This nightly activity of ours¡­ Wasn''t morality out of the picture already? *Points at me* We''re not technically husband and wife and we''re having sex out of wedlock but aren''t you all doing the same? Why are we fine with murder and such¡ªwhere actual people get hurt¡ªand why are we so bent on this topic?"


    I joined in, "I think it''s apples to oranges¡­ Those are two different things already¡ª but yeah, I guess there''s some corrtion when ites to morality. Then again, every day the line''s getting blurry and blurry. Heck, the twins are already doing it and we don''t even bat an eye¡­ Not sure the twins or just twins, in general, get a pass while everything else is bad¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Obviously, the bathroom had gone quiet for a moment but Dr. Nichols spoke up:


    "Look, since the cat''s out of the bag¡ªthough I had the feeling you knew already, but¡­ I mentioned that ''mistake'' we: Chloe and I, didst time but¡ª Hmm¡­ I dunno¡­ I cared for her all this time like a real mother should but I guess¡ª Maybe?


    We''re even in the same room while we''re doing all those things yet we don''t do anything to each other even if we did do something before¡ªwhich is weird, I know¡­ but¡­ Haa¡­ There''s just this wall between us still, preventing us from plunging to it but yeah¡­ Time will tell¡­ Maybe when it''s just the two of us or maybe with a smaller group who wouldn''t¡­ you know¡­ make it such a big deal¡ªeven though it really is¡ª"


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª/ Sorry¡ª" Kaley and Mimi apologized at the same time.


    "AH¡ª/Ah¡ª"


    "I¡ª/You¡ª"


    "Go ahead¡ª/Pfft¡ª What are we doing?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Being cute? Side note, it''s working."


    Nancy interjected, "I still have to ask¡­ sorry¡­ Why do you two look so alike though? I really thought you were mother and daughter¡­"


    I added, "And while we''re at it, I''m gonna be shameless and ask who her real parents are¡ªaside from you, of course. You might technically not be her mother but you''re kinda are, just saying¡­"


    Mimi added as well, "Does Chloe know though?"


    Kaley chuckled as she turned to Mimi, "Now you ask questions¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I''m curious too¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    Dr. Nichols smiled before she chuckled, "You guys¡­ One at a time, phew¡­ alright¡­ Why do we look like each other?


    Luck of the draw, I guess, her real mom almost had the same features as I did but he-who-shall-not-be-name is still her real dad¡­ I really was supposed to carry their child and pay me a huge sum of money so I could continue my studies but lo and behold, he divorced her in record time and went to me instead."


    Everyone eximed, "WHAT?!"


    "I know, I know¡­ a lot more questions popped up but can''t we just chalk it up to me being young and stupid? That''s one of the reasons but add to that that I''m also broke and wanted to pursue being a doctor¡­ Everything just added up and to be fair to the ''guy'' he was really sweet and honest with me before¡­ I just didn''t think he''d look elsewhere once I got too old for him¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Despite everything, you''re still beautiful, Ms. Sandara¡­"


    "Thank you, you''re drop-dead gorgeous as well, Kaley¡­ And I wish I could think like you soon, it''ll take me¡ª I mean, us, some time but it depends¡­ at least she''s getting there while I''m still figuring things out on my own¡­"


    "I really am sorry for pushing but¡ª"


    "It''s okay, it''s okay¡­ I think that''s what I really need, thank you¡ª"


    I asked, "Do you have a name, at least?"


    "A name?"


    "Chloe''s biological mom, if you want, I might have a way to find out if she''s still out there or you know¡­"


    "R-Really?"

 Chapter 1214: Start of Hell Week - What do you think of this place?

    Obviously, if the name I was given wasn''t on our existing records, I could simply give na¡ªor even June¡ªa call or a small nudge for a favor. Still, with how the son of a bitch picked Dr. Nichols over his other wife and her taking up his offer, I didn''t think she''d be up for it. I wasn''t sure if I''d go through with it if I was wearing her shoes but I guess she had her reasons.


    "It''s not a 100% guarantee and you might not like the results we''d get, is that okay?"


    Dr. Nichols let out a sigh, "Go ahead, even I''m not sure why I''m doing this but I just wanted to know how she''s doing¡­ At least Chloe has the right to know¡­"


    Kaley asked again for Mimi, "So she''s aware that you''re not her real¡ª"


    "Not 100%... You see, there are ways to check it herself since it was pretty easy to get samples from our house but then again, looking at us both, anyone just might trust their eyes instead of what''s written on paper.


    Medical records of me birthing her was a thing as well¡ªincluding the pictures my¡­ my ex-husband took of us when she was born, all the way until she grew up and¡ª I guess there''s an inkling of sorts but I''ve been her mom every step of the way, maybe even more than some biological mothers do."


    Once again, the ce became quiet for a few moments before Dr. Nichols asked for a hug. Talking about all this and letting it all out for people she trusts was a huge weight off her shoulders. So yeah, after we got a good soak and moved on to the shower for a quick rinse, we all just went to our beds¡ªthe vacant ones at least¡ªand had our few hours of uninterrupted sleep.


    "Zzz¡­"


    With that said, I found myself to be the first to rise among these beauties so I quickly kidnapped Kaley from her sleep, so we could go ahead and take care of things before everyone else woke up.


    "Hngh¡­ Whyyyy¡­."


    "Wanna fight who gets to use the sink while we brush our teeth? And wanna do it while someone poops?"


    "Hngh¡­ S-Stop using logic on me¡­ You didn''t even let me wake you up with a BJ¡­"


    "You can do it while I brush my teeth first?"


    "T-Then how about me?"


    "Fine¡­ We shower first and brush our teethter, is that okay?"


    "D-Doof¡ª Dammit, why are you so right this early? Kaley then managed topose herself as she smiled brightly, "C''mon, I''ll do you first!"


    Funnily enough, almost everyone else had the sameints once Kaley and I started to wake everyone up but we had to drag Quinn back from the first floor because she was just about to walk outside topless and with a horse-dildo still strapped on her crotch.


    "Fuck¡ª That would''ve been too awkward¡­"


    "YOU THINK?!" Kaley and I eximed at the same time.


    "Jesus¡­ Chill¡­ I thought I was still on the rooftop, I guess I found my way here, huh?"


    "What kind of sex where you having¡ª Wait¡ª Don''t tell¡ª"


    "Hah! Toote! It''s like pin the donkey but with this! *points at her blunt weapon* It was supposed to be different yesterday but whatever, alcohol''s the main culprit!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "You''re soooo~ gonna hate it once you get pregnant, imagine no alcohol for nine months!"


    "Hey! I''m not an alcoholic!"


    "Suuure~ Can''t you get changed already?! Breakfast is almost ready! Good thing the doors were still locked or the kids would''ve been traumatized to see you like that!"


    "Fuck, fuck, you''re right! It''s refreshing to see them call for us every single time! I won''t take long¡ª If I do, just go! Jen'' and Rache'' are still showering! I think I''ll go with them!"


    "If you three could fit¡ª"


    "HEY! I HEARD THAT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    On that note, we soon gathered at the pool area and had an awesome breakfast but the cadets/trainees seemed to have heard the news of Hell Week from E''s five-man "Death Squad". For some reason, they were all excited to participatepletely oblivious to the looks Oscar and Johnny were giving them.


    Marvin and his group had already experienced some form of it from our vets in bursts but they had the faintest clue of what I''d put them through and I could only hope that at least three or five¡ª fuck it, one makes it to the end.


    So yeah, after I gave Artem free rein to run his squad, I unceremoniously started Hell Week by gathering all the willing participants in one spot, and it was on our biggest gym located across from our indoor shooting range.


    Obviously, I made all of them wear appropriate gear but as some of them were stretching, warming up, or nervous as hell because of the smile I was letting out, all their expectation shattered when I pulled out a whiteboard, my marker, and my eraser. While it''s true the younger generation were the only ones invited, it wasn''t like everyone else wasn''t allowed to watch.


    Oscar was already raring to go with his whip for some reason but let''s just say he almost fell from his chair when the first challenge of Hell Week was a fucking orientation.


    I simply chuckled as I started, "Alright, it''s been a while since I did something like this but what do you think about this ce? And your experience with it? Hmm? Anyone?"


    Cindy raised her hand, "I haven''t been here long but I love it, even better than my folk''s ce¡ª don''t tell them I said that, please¡­"


    I chuckled, "Anyone from the ck sheeps? I''m talking about the old nickname of Marvin''s group. Do you think I''d forget? Among all the participants here, you''ve been here the longest and some of you even lived on our other outposts for a while. What do you think about this ce?"

 Chapter 1215: Start of Hell Week II - Rank Yourselves

    Marvin raised his hand, "I''m not the group''s leader anymore since we all branched out but yeah, being able to experience all the other outposts and this one, I''d say this is the best."


    "Can I ask why?"


    "I mean, just thefort alone¡ª"


    Brian cut in, "It''s the food for me."


    Carlo added, "The things to do. There''s a lot to do, honestly¡­"


    Ashley followed, "Everyone''s nice and it''s really safe."


    JP then followed, "It''s not as strict but it''s not easy-going either¡­ A little more on the easy-going side but it''s¡­ you know, a perfect bnce."


    I let out a smile, "Ding! Ding! Ding! Points to Slytherin¡ª"


    "I-I''m a Ravenw, actually¡ª"


    "I don''t give a fuck, it''s just a metaphor but it''s a pretty easy question, no? Sure, it still has its set of problems¡ªwe just had two of them very recently¡ªbut mi casa is the best, no?"


    Seb nodded, "I''m not a 100% sure but among the high-ranking officers, none of them are using their power to abuse the lower-ranking ones. At least not to my knowledge."


    Megan interjected, "With how surveince is and how each of us are wearing bodycams? I highly doubt it."


    Ruben nodded, "Most of them are stern but very respectful. They give a lot despite the authority they hold."


    Isaac joined in, "Eh. I''m just happy with how I''m proceeding with my training. I can''t find this guidance anywhere else. I''m even enjoying using guns even without sense teaching us personally. Everyone''s verypetent in their field and they are most wee to teach you just about anything. It''s nice."


    Then I turned to the "Death Squad", "How about you guys? Care to join in? Brownie, I''d like you to answer¡ª"


    Brownie shook his head, "The leader''s an asshole but he has a good shoulder throw. Would love to learn that¡ª Jesus Christ! Why''s everyone looking at me like that?! It was just a joke¡ª a little true¡ª Tell me if what I said isn''t true, huh?! I''ll fight all of ya!"


    Iughed out loud as I waved everyone off, "Chill, chill¡­ He''s speaking the truth, let him cook. Anything else? Tennyson? Lee? Williams? Hooper?"


    Lee answered softly, "Umm¡­ I really can''t say much but it''s way better than any of our territories in Subic Bay. I don''t wanna offend anybody but it''s very homely and nice¡­ but I feel safe and it''s not suffocating¡­"


    "Why would anyone take offense to that?"


    "I mean¡ª Won''t it sound like it''s an easy target?"


    Oscar was about to cut in but I already knew what he was about to say:


    "There''s this saying and some people might say it''s false but with every de of grass¡ª You know how it goes, right?"


    Lee and everyone else nodded.


    "With every de of grass, there''s a rifle right behind it¡­ That''s why the US Maind can''t be invaded. It''s not just the government and its massive arsenal is the threat but each citizen upholding their rights to bear arms and do what''s right. Going on a tangent like this might sound political but that quote¡ªtrue or not¡ªis what we''re aiming for.


    While it''s true that a good number of my people here are able to use guns and whatnot, there''s still a small percentage that couldn''t, wouldn''t, or was still in the middle of their training. And that''s the reason for Hell Week."


    Ruben trailed, "Now I''m confused¡­"


    I nodded, "A little, yeah¡­ And that''s my fault but the reason I asked all of you to name some things about this ce is for all of you to know one of the reasons it is what it is and why the things I''ll be putting all of you through will be important.


    It''ll also corrte with the metaphor we just talked about and let me put it in the easiest way I could think of at the moment: All the things you listed keeps most of us at a 100% and since I said mostly, the rest of us at a 100% should ovepensate for the 80%-ers, 60%-ers, and even the 90%-ers to keep this ce doing what it''s been doing for us."


    "Please don''t add percentages¡­ That''s one of the reasons I joined the Army¡­"


    "Fine, how do you grow a tree? You give it everything it needs, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And isn''t that what this ce does for ya?"


    "Most of them, yes."


    "Ah¡ª That''s fair, can''t please everybody fully but yeah¡­ I don''t wanna keep saying this but I''ll guarantee that all of you participating will hate our fucking guts but all I''m saying is to try and hold out as much as possible because I''m not even sure all of you will pass.


    I''m not underestimating you in anyway or making you lose confidence but this shit''s designed to make you fail unless you break through your limits. Even I''m¡ª a little voice in my head''s telling me to just make all of you keep doing what you''re doing because some of you might not even thank us at the end¡ª"


    Brownie cut me off again, "Will this shit make me one step closer to beating your ass?"


    "Honestly?"


    "Just shoot straight with me, sir. I can take it."


    "You need more than a week of training to touch me if we got at it for real."


    He looked unfazed, "But do I get closer?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "So, there''s a chance. I''m in."


    I scoffed, "You fucks are already in the moment you step into this ce. But yeah, at this point forward, I don''t care what fucking rank you''re CO fucking gave you but what matters now is what everyone else thinks of you¡ªthe next step of Hell Week: Rank yourselves in different aspects."


    "What?"


    "Huh?"


    "How?"


    I let out an evil smile, "I dunno. I''m a proponent of specificity but I want you all to form a straight line as to who you''d think would finish first to finishst. You got 10 minutes."

 Chapter 1216: Questions - Rule #1: Cardio!

    As soon as I said that, each of them looked confused for a short bit but it didn''t take long before JP, Brian, Cindy, and Brownie almost fought to get to be the first in line but Megan, Lucas, Isaac, and Tennyson followed right after.


    The rest in the middle zone were clumping because no one wanted to best¡ªor even close to it¡ªbut that was pretty much an urate representation of their confidence levels and how they were viewing each other and themselves.


    Their personalities also had something to do with it whether they didn''t want to lose to anybody or if they had some other type of goal to achieve besides the "training" I''d put them through.


    In any case, it didn''t even take them that long to form a "line" but I purposefully started being all over the ce as I made them form another ranking right off that bat¡ªbut not to what corrtes to this setting¡­ at least not at first.


    "Alright, that''s cool. Rank yourselves as to who you''d think can eat the most meals."


    "Hahh?!"


    "What?"


    "Are you serious?"


    "This is all important, alright? Form up, form up!"


    "There! Now what?!" Brownie eximed.


    "Great! Hooper is the biggest one here so¡ª Now form ranks as to who keeps the tidiest room?"


    "WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TRAINING¡ª Hey, I''m not deadst! I''m not a slob!"


    I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I watched almost every dude inst ce while almost all of the girls in front, "So, it''s Eden, huh? Great! Now who sleeps the most!"


    "Who drinks water the most!"


    "Who can tolerate more alcohol!"


    "Who watches the most porn¡ª HEY! YOU FUCKS BETTER NOT LIE¡ª KALEY''S HERE! SHE''LL FUCKING KNOW IF YOU''RE LYING! SHE''S PSYCHIC!"


    "I''M NOT PSYCHIC!"


    I waved her off as I rolled my eyes, "That''s what you always say¡ª"


    "That''s what YOU always say!"


    "Anyway~ Ignore our psychic for the moment to focus on who''d easily¡ªwithout question¡ªhelp an elderly cross the road!"


    "Carlo? Really? Sheesh, now who''d pocket money¡ªor anything else valuable on the ground without reporting it to the police or trying to find its rightful owner?"


    "Who''s more likely to have sex with a random stranger without protection?"


    "Who''s the most dominant?"


    "Submissive?"


    "Who prefers chunky over creamy peanut butter?"


    "Who has the most regr bowel movement?"


    "Who could hold their breath the longest¡ª No, no, no, you don''t do that shit now, just guess and fall in line, that''s the deal!"


    "Who''d use melee weapons over guns?"


    "Who''d run rather than hide?"


    "Who''d solo a cluster of walkers rather easily?"


    "Who''d call for backup first?"


    "Who has something to say about our current leaders?"


    "Who has something to say about their group''s current leaders?"


    "Who has something to say about their group members?"


    "About themselves?"


    "Who among you think you still had a lot more to prove?"


    "To improve?"


    "Who among you thinks you could do much betterpared to the people already locked in their jobs?"


    "Who could be in the more supporting role?"


    "Who would love to try leading a pack?"


    "Who''s currently happy with their current situation?"


    "Who among you needs some support¡ªwhatever it is?"


    As I asked them more and more questions, it was totally random and as I said, all over the ce¡ªbut it was giving me a better view of everyone else''s situation and an idea of how to properly break in each one of them. Because yeah, it was very easy to break each of them physically but even if a tinge outside that factor came into y, it''d be something close to what I went through from the past.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before my question went through the boundaries of forming a straight line and it more or less created a divide or a group of people with differing beliefs, ideas, etc.


    Some things could be answered by a yes or a no and sometimes it could be by percentages or by staying neutral with the matter in question.


    Funnily enough, to me at least, it became a way for each of them to know each other on a much deeper level because my questions started to pry into much darker shit like if they ever thought about offing themselves or taking something from someone through murder.


    It quickly made this whole thing ufortable¡ªeven for the onlookers¡ªbut for the people who''d need this data like me, Rin, June, and Marisha, it was as valuable as gold.


    In my head, a character sheet formed for each of them with all of their stats and whatnot while kind of the same thing appeared for the other three: Rin and June would work together with all of us to gather shit for the following challenges while Marisha would do her thing for after everything''s over.


    Tatiana, Oscar, and Johnny already figured out the things they wanted to do on their own day allocation but I once again faced everyone with a question:


    "What''s rule number 1?"


    Isaac chuckled while James #1 smiled from ear to ear: "Cardio?"


    I nodded vehemently, "Yeah~ Cardio."


    Cindy rolled her eyes, "Is that it? We''re just going for a run?"


    I chuckled, "Something like that but here''s how it goes: we all have these manual treadmills for us and we''ll start pretty light¡ª we''ll just walk for a bit before we run as much as we could in 30 minutes. After that, we''ll take the median score of distance traveled of everyone, and round it up a bit for a challenge, before we run the same way for an hour until there''s only one of us standing.


    No ckers though or this whole thing would''ve been pointless."


    James #1 raised his hand, "What if we finish faster than an hour?"


    "Then you could use that time to rest, eat, piss, whatever. But the moment the hour is up, we''ll run again, and again, and again, and again~"


    Ruben asked, "What happens to the ones that would drop out?"


    "Good question, whatever the winner''s distance traveled will be double your fucking assignment¡ª and since we only have one winner, the losers will be fucked. Get me?"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª"


    "By force or by will, you''d have to finish the assignment by midnight or whatever''s left of it will add on to the set of exercises you''d have to aplish in the future. But yeah, the ones whoe out on top¡ªor even finish the course¡ªwill be in for great, great rewards and I just hope it''ll more than make up for the shit I''ll put you guys through.


    So, wanna ask more questions or do you wanna start this shit?"


    Ruben just looked at me like the few others who weren''t that confident from the first physical challenge before he chuckled:


    "Fuck it, there should be some rule somewhere to my advantage along the line¡­"


    James #1 chuckled, "I''m not sure if there are cumtive points but I''m gonna try to smoke all of you and try to hold off on my advantage as much as possible."


    Cindy cut, "You wish."


    Seb and Jeremy added, "We''re here, too¡­/ Yeah, just sayin''..."


    I rolled my eyes as I took off my shirt, "I''m here too, don''t forget about me."


    Lucasined, "You''re really joining?!"


    "I said we multiple times, no? Who said I''m just watching? I have to show you fucks I can do the things I''m putting you through, no?"


    Tatiana chuckled as she took the treadmill close to mine, "Fuck it, I guess I''m joining too, huh?"


    I turned to Oscar and Johnny, "You old-timers joining or what?"


    WANNA GET PELTED WITH A BEANBAG, YOU FUCK?!/ I HAVE BEAN LOADS FOR MY GRENADE LAUNCHER, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"


    I rolled my eyes as I moved over to my machine but it seemed I have forgotten about one crucial thing, "Fuck, I forgot my vest¡ª You guys start, I''ll follow."


    Everyone on their treadmills asked, "Your vest?"


    "Such a show-off¡­" Kaley rolled her eyes as she threw me over my weighted vest.


    "They''ll wear theirs soon, too¡ª"


    "Ours?/ What are you talking about?!/ We didn''t see any vests here!/ What¡ª"


    "Then what''s this over here?"


    Much to their fucking shock, I put on my 10-pound vest as a start but what made them lose their heads was the rest of the vests waiting for them¡ªand the 1-pound, 2-pound, and 5-pound increments¡ªthat they get to put on after the first hour.


    In addition, even if some of them had already started their warm-ups and somehow expected this twist, I could clearly see how they¡ªespecially James #1¡ªadjusted his pace because even a 5-pound increment would make things significantly harder.


    It was because he was already jogging while everyone else was still walking, getting himself used to the machine he''d be using for several hours.


    And to add a bit after each hour? Let''s just say that things would get more and more brutal and they didn''t even know how far everyone was willing to go.

 Chapter 1217: Rule #1: Cardio! Part II

    On that note, Tatiana obviously wore her 5-pound vest to prove a point to our female trainees but even she threw me a slight re before we started running.


    The first few minutes were just all of us enjoying the music sting through the speakers, but almost half of the participants almost tripped on their feet when the music abruptly changed from hip-hop to metal at the 5-minute mark.


    First of all, there wasn''t anything wrong with the two genres but music yed a very important role in one''s training regimen.


    All sorts of people had different tastes in this regard because I knew people who''d listen to ssical music while lifting heavy weights¡ªand even now, a select few were definitely enjoying the switch-up while the ones that were doing well definitely staggered.


    But yeah, this was a small sub-level of difficulty in this challenge, but Tatiana and I were racing as to who gets the farthest distance traveled in this 30-minute run.


    Our scores would bebined with the others to dictate how intense this training would be and both of us wearing these vests was actually mercy for these trainees.


    Because even if some of them were holding out on their own, Tatiana and I traveled far greater distances¡ªand that''s on top of the vests we were wearing. If we went at it without wearing them, whatever was left of their confidence would be gone the second they saw the distance between us because even now, the top scorers were barely on our tail.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RUNNING?!"


    "HAHHH! I SUCK AT CARDIO SO MUCH¡ª RAAAAHHHHH!"


    "IF YOU FUCKS HAVE TIME TO SCREAM, USE IT TO RUN! CONTROL YOUR BREATHING!"


    "YOU GUYS FUCKING SUCK! WE DO THIS IN AN INCLINE EVERY SINGLE DAY!"


    "WHO ASKED?!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "WE''RE JUST AT THE HALFWAY MARK, YOU FUCKS AREN''T EVEN TRYING! GET THOSE FUCKING KNEES UP!"


    "HAH! H-HAAH! HAAAAAH! THIS FUCKING SUCK SO MUCH! HAH! HAH!


    HAHHHHH!"


    "DON''T BREATHE OVER HERE, ASSHOLE! FORGOT TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH?!"


    "FUCK YOU! FORGOT TO WEAR DEODORANT?! YOU FUCKING REEK!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY ASS-MOUTH?!"


    "THE FUCK YOU GONNA DO, REEK-PIT?!"


    "EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP, I''M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS IS GREAT! SO FUCKING GREAT!!! RAAHHHHHH!!!"


    From then on, the pace continued as is from their banter with each other but they all slowed down when we reached the 20-minute mark. However, aside from Tatiana and me, James #1 still kept at it with a serious expression while Cindy, Seb, and Tennyson were doing great for themselves.


    These four didn''t slow down at all and kept at it either with technique or pure fucking grit because Cindy wanted to score higher than the boys while Tennyson was a tad heavierpared to the forerunners.


    That was a disadvantage in and of itself because even I bulked up pretty recently¡ªand I felt a slight impingement on my normal movements despite the increase in strength¡ªbut yeah, I''m so d I didn''t eat much this morning, or else I''d be slower.


    In any case, I was still happy with everyone''s cardiovascr endurance because if any of them dropped off at this point, I''d be disappointed. But yeah, I still went up in gear for thest five minutes¡ªwhich made Tatiana and James #1 do the same¡ªand the sound of stomping almost overpowered the country music sting from the speakers.


    Then we heard June blowing on the whistle: "THAT''S TIME! TIME! EVERYBODY STOP!"


    I quickly got off as I addressed everyone who either copsed on the floor or was hard of breathing, either guzzling water or trying to control their breaths:


    "Alright, I''m actually surprised. You earned a 15-minute break before we hop on it again and with that time, do everything you can to rest and recover¡ªmaybe even figure out your n to tackle the following hours we''d be running."


    James #1 raised his hand, "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-What''s the¡ª Ha¡­ What''s the¡ª you know¡­ the thing?"


    I turned to June and Rin, "What''s the thing? You finished tallying them?"


    Rin answered, "Ah¡ª Just a sec¡ª You came in first ce for running 13.37 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Tatiana running 12.93 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Uno running 11.07 kilometers in 30 minutes¡ª"


    "Who''s Uno? Is that me?" James #1 asked.


    "Y-Yeah, is that okay?"


    "FUCK YEAH! I CAME FIRST!"


    "Third actually but yeah¡ª technically speaking, you came first. Next is Warren Tennyson, running 11.05 kilometers in 30 minutes, then Seb doing 10.89 kilometers and Cindy doing 9.98 kilometers¡­ then¡­"


    Rin continued to list the following names from best to worst and obviously, the biggest one, Hooper, came deadst with Ruben, clocking around 7-8 kilometers¡ªwhich was a feat on their weight sses themselves.


    However, they couldn''t care too much to talk while they were still hanging on for dear life from catching their breaths but when it came to the moment of truth, they weren''t too happy¡ªlike everyone else¡ªwhen they discovered they had to run 10 kilometers in an hour.


    It''s not like the distance itself was difficult if someone was regrly training but doing it for god knows how long with weighted vests on¡ªadding me egging them on¡ªwith all the shenanigans I''m ying for them was fucking brutal.


    Then I handed Uno a 5-pound increment to his vest:


    "Wha¡ª Why?! I came first!"


    "Yeah. You technically did. So here''s your reward," I said as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Choose from the guys who''d get to use that. Choose wisely."


    "Oh. Ohhh~ Fuck yeah, you guys are fucked!" Uno smiled from ear to ear, "Wear this Tennyson! You''re noting near me even with the 3-pound difference!"


    Tennyson graciously picked up his punishment as he turned to me, "Do I get a reward too? I''m technically second."


    I nodded as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Of course, choose wisely. Seb also gets to give a 1-pound increment to any dude while Tatiana can do the same thing with her group, clear?"


    Tennyson cut me off, "Can I give this to you¡­ sir?"


    I nodded as I took it graciously, "Of course, that''s part of the game."


    Unoined again, "Dammit! I''m second and I got the worst one?!"


    I chuckled, "I''ll give the next 5-pound one to Tennyson, don''t worry."


    "Ah¡ª" Tennyson could only look in shock at the mistake hemitted.


    Uno came up to my face, "What if I won and gave it to you?!"


    "Sure, you can¡ª"


    "FUCK YEAH!"


    "Sure, you can dream on for as much as you like."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1218: Rule #1: Cardio! Part III

    At this point, we still had a few minutes to rest and as a blessing and a curse, Rin brought in refreshments for everyone and actual food if they were aching for a bite. Not only was Tatiana ring at me because it was also a test for her gluttony, but like me, she opted for a sip of water unlike everyone else.


    It''s because all of them either reached for the pot of coffee or an energy drink¡ªsome even started opening up the packs of candies or having a bite of some riceballs¡ªbut it''d be all sorts of trouble when they go at it too much because they''d feel bloated and heavy.


    However, we just chose not to say anything¡ªand even if some of them were telling their friends to stop doing what they were doing, they still kept on and drank one or two bottles of energy drinks to over-replenish themselves.


    And when our time was up, these kids just discovered that they sort of fucked up¡ªand to add insult to injury, I made June to not y anything and have everyone be stuck with the sound of our treadmills going on and on and on.


    Let me be fucking honest, even I was affected because hearing everyone breathe so heavily was fucking jarring, but James #2 or Dos found a fucking loophole in which everyone apuded him for:


    "AS I¡ª HA¡­ HAA¡­ WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF¡ª HAHH¡­ DEATH¡ª"


    "IS THAT FUCKING¡ª HAHAH! YOU KNOW FUCKING COOLIO?!"


    "S-SHADDAP! I''M SINGING! HA¡­ HAA¡­ L-LOOK AT MY LIFE¡ª REALIZE¡­ HA¡­ LEFT¡­"


    Even if Dos was the resident bard for some reason, all that singing would take a toll on his lungs even if he''d earn some favor from everyone. But yeah, it gave everyone a slight boost as they actually did well way~ past the 10-minute mark but the torture continued when I gave June the signal:


    "I''M SO SORRY GUYS¡ª"


    [IN THE JUNGLE~ THE MIGHTY JUNGLE~ THE LION SLEEPS~ TONIIIIIGHT~]


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    "BRO, WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "AH FUCK, I''M LOSING MY MIND! MAKE IT STOOOP!"


    [A WHIM AWAY~ A WHIM AWAY~ A WHIM AWAY~]


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KILL ME!"


    "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"


    "IT''S ACTUALLY GOOD, RIGHT?!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    At that point, everyone significantly slowed down but I gave them some euro beats when we reached the 20-minute mark. It gave them a second wind of sorts as a few started to bump their heads and enjoy it but they were shocked to fuck to discover I already finished my 10 kilometers in the span of 26 minutes.


    There should be no fucking way I''d be faster after running 3.37 kilometers less, a difference of 4 fucking minutes, a 2-pound increment on my body, and the cumtive fatigue I incurred from the first run unless I was still holding myself back.


    "HOWWW?!" Uno shouted at the top of his lungs.


    I just chuckled as I went back to Rin''s spot to take my sip of water.


    ''Sweating all these removes some water weight too¡­ It''s the same for them but two pounds is very manageable¡­''


    And to everyone''s surprise, Tatiana finished her set a minuteter but she was also surprised that like her, I also held back.


    "You fucking¡­ I thought I''d surprise you¡­"


    I chuckled, "I got all of you to thank for¡­ All that ''cardio'' bore some fruit, huh?"


    "Shut up, hah!/ Doofus¡­/ Pfft¡­ / Cardio¡ª Ohhhh~ I see! Haha!"


    Tatiana shook her head as she chuckled, "Maybe me wearing my own reward is the difference, correct?"


    "You wore the 5-pound increment? You''re crazy~"


    Kaley cut in, "Shut up, you''re already wearing two 5-pound increments on top of the 2-pound increment Tennyson gave you¡ª"


    "SHH! That was supposed to be a secret, Kaley! You¡ª Fuck it, you got me¡­"


    "HWAT?!/ WHAT?!/ NO SHOT!/ AGAIN! KILL ME!/ AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Obviously, our current participants heard what the fuck we were talking about but the 22 pounds of added weight on me was nothing because almost every single day we''re out there, the gear on our bodies was way~ over 50 pounds. Just my te carrier with protective tes on the front and on the back is 30-ish pounds add to that the misceneous shit on me plus my swords and my guns.


    The 22 pounds on me right now is just a fucking joke at this point, but surprisingly enough, even if some of the kids were disheartened, some of them knowing this secret lit a fire in their asses as they pushed on with more fervor.


    And to everyone''s surprise, Seb took the first spot before Uno¡ªand JP took over Tennyson''s spot as well as a few others above him.


    "FUCK!" Uno and Tennyson eximed as their original spot were overtaken¡ªtwice for Tennyson because he was overtaken by Seb and JP.


    "Good job, Seb, you know the drill¡ª"


    He let out a smile, "I''ll give it to you, sir."


    Iughed out loud, "Fuck it, I''ll take it! You''ll have the 5-pound increment next. I''m just waiting for Tennyson to finish," then I turned to JP, "What''s up, Jameson? Getting close to taking your title again, huh? How about you?"


    JP turned to Seb, "I''ll give it to you, sorry."


    Seb chuckled, "None taken, it''s all fair."


    "That''s true."


    With that said, Uno finished next and he decided to give his 1-pound increment to JP instead while Tennyson and the rest put on their 1-pound increments as a global punishment. Obviously, everyone else took longer than 30 minutes to finish our goal and they weren''t even talking that much, just focused on replenishing their energy with food and drink and resting up to recover as much as possible.


    Then I came bearing bad news once more: "Time''s up, you fucking crabs! Time to get on it again and do it all for nothing!"


    "I THOUGHT THERE WAS A REWARD!"


    "Yeah, of course¡ª"


    "THEN¡ª"


    "Did I lie or not? Let''s find out¡­"


    "FUCK!"


    "We can do it! One more!"


    "SHIT!"


    "H-Hahh¡­ HAH¡­ Ha¡­"


    "One more, baby! One more!"


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

 Chapter 1219: Rule #1: Cardio Part IV - No food?

    As we hopped on our treadmills for the third time¡ªnot including the first time we had to take everyone''s distance traveled into ount¡ªJune yed some good music with a nice beat and tempo matching almost everyone''s pace. It went on and on for a good 15 minutes but everyone didn''t look like they were enjoying one bit.


    "The fuck y''all looking at me like that?"


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! IT''LL CHANGE ANY SECOND!"


    "YEAH!"


    "WE SUFFERED LONG ENOUGH¡ª"


    "The one time I do nothing¡­"


    "NOOOO! I''M NOT BELIEVING ANY OF THAT CRAP!"


    "WE''VE BEEN TRICKED TOO MANY TIMES!"


    "GUYS! STOP YELLING! STOP¡ª"


    "Fine¡­ It''ll change in the 20-minute mark¡­"


    "I KNEW IT!"


    "I KNEW AS WELL!"


    "I''M NOT RELAXING ONE BIT!"


    Then 20 minutes passed without anything changing.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled as I looked at each of them, "Something wrong?"


    "...fuck you. Respectfully."


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I hate you, sir."


    "I can do this a few more times regrly but this mental torture¡ª"


    I never smiled so wide, "Right?!"


    "OH, WHY DON''T YOU SHUT IT?!"


    "DON''T FUCKING SMILE LIKE THAT!"


    "HE''S THE DEVIL! THE TIME THE MUSIC WAS GOOD, I WASN''T ABLE TO ENJOY IT! HAA! HAH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    From then on, I finished maybe a minute or two past my current record while everyone had arger space between their own, but aside from the challenges posed while we were on the treadmill, there were also challenges that appeared while everyone was recovering.


    It started right after our sixth run: the perfect time we''d had our lunch¡ªwhere everyone went all out because they were expecting some grub¡ªbut as they all turned around to where the food was supposed to be, Kaley, Rin, June, and everyone else who stayed to watch was just looking at them apologetically.


    "What¡­?"


    "N-No food?"


    "But there was a lot when¡ª No¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ This is insane!"


    "We can only have water?!"


    I waved them all off, "If you wanna have lunch, you can have lunch¡­ It''s just that you''d have to walk out the door and forfeit. Some good homemade food is waiting for all of you at thepound but do know while you cane back and run a partial amount of your total punishments to save some time, you can''te back to thepetition.


    And remember that whatever we finish here will be doubled and be your punishment."


    "Fuck¡­"


    "This is brutal¡­"


    "Not having lunch¡­ Shit!"


    "I can go for a few more! Fuck it!"


    "No one quits! We''ll all get through this¡ª"


    I cut them off as I turned to Seb, "By the way, here''s your 5-pound increment¡­ JP and Tennyson get to choose who gets the 2-pound increments while you get to choose the 1-pound increment¡­ The same goes for Tatiana''s group."


    Seb nodded a few times as he slid the 5-pound increment in his vest, "Alright, sir¡­ Tennyson¡ª"


    Tennyson took it from his hands, "Yeah, yeah~ We already ran 60 kilometers like this.. How long¡ª"


    I cut in with a smile, "You can quit, if you like¡ª"


    He shook his head, "Nah, I''m still good¡­" then he turned to Uno with his 2-pound increment, "Hey, sorry for this¡ª"


    Uno just let out a huff, "Fuck¡­ I''m out the forefront and I''m still getting this on top of the 1-pound increment."


    I chuckled again, "You can quit¡ª"


    "Oh, shut up! It''s just fucking lunch! We¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, sir. But this much is already great a strain on my body¡­" Hooper suddenly said as he approached me.


    Tennyson and the rest of his team shook their heads as he said, "Fuck¡­"


    I took his vest and put it aside, "You sure?"


    Hooper bitterly chuckled, "Not asking me to quit, sir?"


    "Well, with your height and weight, I''m surprised you made this long¡ª It''s a feat in itself¡­ Want to scale down in the future? I can make you a program?"


    He just stared at me for a moment before he answered, "That''s¡­ We''ll see the next challenges, sir. I really have to eat and take a nap¡­ I''ll be back."


    I gave him a bump on his chest, "You did good¡­ Don''t eat too much at once, alright? Zeus will walk you back."


    "Who¡ª"


    "Woof!" Zeus cut in while wagging his tail.


    "Oh."


    "That''s Zeus, if you haven''t met him. He''ll run back here if you copse on the road, don''t worry¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Right¡­ Thank you, sir. C-Come on, Zeus?"


    "Woof!" Zeus barked again as he went out the door.


    At that point, I saw how everyone looked at Hooper''s back as he was the first person to forfeit but some of them looked like they wouldn''tst that long either.


    Honestly, I was already surprised that they stuck that long¡ªdespite the challenges and the distractions¡ªand it just told me that they were taking their training seriously since stamina should always be one of our main focuses on top of having great mental fortitude.


    Unfortunately, Lee''s or Tennyson''s group¡ªwhichever¡ªhadn''t been with us for long but let''s just say that aside from Brownie who talked of big game earlier, the three weren''tgging behind the groups their fighting against.


    On the contrary, Williams was the one leading the pack on the female group¡ªbesides Tatiana, of course¡ªand she was followed alternately by Megan, Cindy, Lee, and Eden who were just swapping around each time.


    Of course, the Dewey sisters except for June were up there as well¡ªwhich was also a surprise¡ªbut if wepared their time with each other, Williams was onlygging behind Tatiana, who was wearing all of the supposed punishments herself, for a minute give or take while the rest weregging behind a full two or three minutes.


    But out of everyone on the boys'' team, there was one guy keeping to himself and hiding beneath the shadows¡ªwith only a 6-pound increment total on his 10-pound vest¡ªand it was Marvin.


    He was the supposed leader of the ck sheeps from the time we came recruiting people and he was definitely ying the long game by keeping out of the spotlight and biding his time.


    ''Let''s see if his strategy works out¡­''

 Chapter 1220: Rule #1: Cardio Part V - Conclusion

    Marvin and I didn''t interact as much the moment we rotated among our outposts but he''d always appear when we called them for anything while doing all of their quotas on the dot. Much like Ibarra, his weapon of choice was a spear along with the usual M16 and a Glock¡ªand if I had to describe him in a few words, it''d probably be reserved and reliable.


    And unlike Brian or Carlo, I would''ve grouped him around Seb and Jeremy¡ªor maybe even JP because of how he performs his duty as it is, no more no less, but yeah, it can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation.


    Because now, I wasn''t sure if he was actually biding his time to overtake everyone else in this challenge or if he was just trying to coast around the middle group just to survive or to just have an experience. It was because I relieved all of them from their duties while they were in Hell Week and they should all be making the most of this situation for themselves.


    But yeah, we ran for 20 more kilometers and there wasn''t a single change in his vest loadout besides the global increments of a pound.


    He now has a total of 18 pounds in his vest while every forerunner or anyone who came close to me and gave me an increment received a 5-pound increment instead. Actually, I was nning to wrap this game a little bit after dinner time but I was still monitoring everyone''s status while they were recovering.


    In any case, it was obvious everyone was taking longer to finish the 10-kilometer run and it was leaving us less and less time to catch our breaths. And without any lunch for two hours, I almost didn''t want to do this but I did promise them they''d hate my fucking guts while they were in Hell Week.


    So yeah, once their superte lunch was brought over to them, they looked just as happy but their faces showed a different emotion when they discovered the glorious food they''d been having since time immemorial was fucking nd¡ªit looked fucking delicious on the surface but there was nary a seasoning in them.


    I wasn''t one to waste food but if we ate all of them, what''s the problem?


    "Bro¡­"


    "I''m literally gonna cry!"


    "I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!"


    "Then give me your share¡ª"


    "DON''T TOUCH MY FOOD, YOU FUCKING HEATHEN!"


    "Shit¡­ Still a bnced meal though¡­ If we only had salt¡­"


    I chuckled, "You guys have it so~ fucking easy, huh? This is one of the things you were taking for granted. One of the reasons we should protect this ce with all we got."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    To my surprise, no one actually talked back because it hit them deep in the feels and I was just satisfied they were realizing the little things they thought was a normal thing.


    It was one of the questions I asked them before starting this challenge and it made them appreciate the things this ce was doing for them¡ªeven having the privilege to train in this safe space to push past their limits without the risk of a deadhead wing their eyeballs out.


    But what came as another surprise was Tatiana bawling her eyes out because her rtionship with food is that great but she had great appreciation of food''s natural vors.


    I was a proponent of delicious stuff as well but sometimes, we just have to appreciate what we have and be thankful we have a full te or two that could keep us full. However, it didn''t take long before Hooper came back and we went on for just an hour before some people decided to call it quits.


    Obviously, it was the people on the heavier side like Ruben, Brian, Martin, and Tennyson¡ªbut Tennyson was the only one keeping up with the people with the leaner physiques while still packing decent muscle. He was probably a good 10 or so pounds above me unlike Hooper who probably had 30 or more over me and he was keeping with everyone else who weighed 150 or 170 pounds.


    But yeah, as more rounds passed, it didn''t take long before more and more people weren''t able to climb back to their treadmill or recover as fast as me or Tatiana.


    On the boys'' group, only me, Seb, JP, Tennyson, Uno, Marvin, and Jeremy were left while in the girls'' group, only Tatiana, Williams, and Cindy were the only ones left in thepetition.


    Everyone else would still shave off a few kilometers from their punishment as they ran with us but as Cindy finally dropped out, Williams was crowned the winner of the girls'' team¡ªbecause Tatiana was just there to keep them going on like me¡ªwhile on the boys'' team, Seb, Tennyson, Uno, and Jeremy had dropped out.


    ''I fucking knew it that Marvin''s holding out¡­''


    At the current moment, we have run a total of 110 kilometers¡ªwhich was already on the ultramarathon level¡ªbut JP and Marvin had no intention of stopping any time soon.


    Honestly, I actually pegged Uno to win this one but there was so much technique and talent could do without grit and mental fortitude.


    These two dudes were the leaders of their squads for a reason and if Tennyson was a tad lighter and had fewer increments on his vest, he would still be in thepetition. But yeah, while I had 40-ish pounds on my vest, JP 30-ish pounds on his vest, and Marvin 20-ish pounds on his vest, Marvin was at a huge advantage.


    I''d hate to take out the magic but he only needed to hold out longer than JP¡ªbecause I was just there to have some fun. If anything, this should''ve been thest and final round but this is fucking Hell Week and it ended with me running a total of 133.7 kilometers total while the two dropped almost at the same time.

 Chapter 1221: Good Game - Well see about that...

    Finally feeling the blisters on my feet and the fatigue in my legs, I still helped both of them up while raising one hand slightly higher. The funny thing was, I was expecting a roar of triumph or something from the winner but all these two could do was stay down on the floor and catch their breaths.


    So I joined them by standing in between them.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ What you doing¡ª Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Sir?" Marvin asked, holding his forehead with both hands while still breathing heavily.


    I chuckled, "I dunno¡ª I still beat your asses so shouldn''t I be in the middle? Sorry, I didn''t prepare a podium¡ª"


    "Oh, fuck you¡ª H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You''re fucking insane¡­" JP cursed as he couldn''t even open his eyes.


    I turned to Marvin, "What a sore loser, huh? And you, you sneaky~ sneaky~ rat. You nned to stay out of the radar before we started?"


    Marvin tried to chuckle but he still couldn''t regte his breathing properly, "H-Hah¡ª Ha¡­ H-Haah¡­ Ha¡­ N-Not quite¡­ Ha¡­ H-Ha¡­ I just thought the uh¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I can''t even talk¡ª H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    I chuckled once more, "It paid off, good job¡ª and whatever anyone else says, keep your chin up, at least after you could breathe easy. You performed well within the rules and took the top spot¡ª"


    He lightly shook his head, "I''m still technically second, sir¡­ H-Ha¡­ I-I¡­ H-Ha¡­ I would''ve¡ª At least everyone here w-would''ve done better i-if we m-made prior preparations¡­ T-This was all I could do¡­"


    "Bit of a humble brag, eh? But that''s just it, as much as we talked about being 100%, in the real world, surprises like this justes out of the blue and you just have to dig deep and roll with the punches. And yeah, it''s a different mindset but you still technically won, I was just there to prove that there''s always something better than all of you."


    The two shook their heads, "Bit of a humble brag, sir?/ That''s just fucking arrogant¡­"


    "HAH!" I chuckled as I lightly hammered down on their abdominals, "I''m getting dizzyying down with you two, don''ty down for long."


    "Ugh¡­ It hurts¡­/ Fuck me¡­ Why''d you do that for?!"


    I rolled my eyes,ughing, "''Cause I won for nothing?" then I turned to the group who were either running still to shave off some of their punishment or were just waiting around for the result, "Alright, I did say it''s Hell Week but I think it''s about time we all stop and focus on recovery. I want you fucks to push past your limits but I hope it''s not to the point it does permanent damage."


    Ruben raised his hand, "How about our punishment? We do double what you guys did right?"


    "You really think you could finish it tonight?"


    "Then how¡ª"


    "Tatiana ran with us too so her training will be moved to the 4th day and since the old man will be handling you guys tomorrow¡ª Wait, fuck it, as long as you finish it in your own time¡ªwe''ll do the honor system¡ªI''ll be happy. But for now, stop doing what you''re doing."


    "That''s a relief at least¡­"


    Uno shook his head, "For now¡­ I could go for a bit more but the pacing whacked me good. You guys are monsters."


    I chuckled, "It''s just a way for them tobat your stamina, you got the technique down, they don''t. They can''t just fight a losing battle, no?"


    "Ha¡­ I guess you''re right, sir. Good game¡­"


    "Yeah, good game¡­ Anyway~ You can walk your wayter to shave some distance off but no more running. It''s almost the perfect time for dinner too, with some proper seasonings now, of course. Congratte Marvin though, he whooped all your asses¡ª And Williams too, of course, she won the women''s division."


    Williams just gave me a nod, "Thank you, sir."


    I faintly smiled, "Heh, don''t rx just yet¡ª I mean, it''s time to rx now, now that the day''s mostly over but again, do focus on recovering. I asked my aunt to prepare some extra food too because we burned a ton of calories but since we don''t want all of you to burst your stomachs, it''s more calory-dense to bridge the distance.


    Have a nice hot shower or soakter andy off the electronics and have an early sleep. That''s all I have to say for now, good work, everyone¡ª yes, Hooper?"


    Hooper hobbled over slowly to us, "Is there a ce where we could take care of our blisters? I got a lot and I just bandaged them tightly before going back¡­ It looks bad then, it probably looks worse now¡­"


    "Alright, we''ll have our doctorse in to your bunks or after dinner. Listen to what they have to say and follow all their advice¡ª that sounds like the same thing but¡­ Is there anyone else who has concerns?"


    Brian spoke up, "What''s the theme for tomorrow?"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I pointed at Tatiana, "Don''t ask me, ask her."


    Tatiana chuckled as she turned to me, "Are you gonna be busy tomorrow?"


    "I''ll take care of some things, yes, but I''ll drop by when I finish early¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ That''s alright, Kuzma will do¡ª I''ll ask Artem. A nice big meal will replenish me but I can''t fight and teach at the same time with these numbers. Not unless you want me to send all of them to the hospital, I can''t hold back as good as you."


    Brian let out a smile, "So it''s hand-to-handbat training tomorrow?"


    Tatiana nodded, "Something like that but don''t get too excited¡ª Have you fought Kuzma yet?"


    "No? He''s the new guy, right?"


    "Yeah, your dirty style wouldn''tst against his¡ªmore so now."


    "Dirty¡ª Just what¡ª"


    "Let''s just say he''s not the best fighter in our group but we avoid sparring with him as much as possible. It''s dirty and annoying."


    Brian rolled his eyes, "We''ll see about that."

 Chapter 1222: Time for recovery... - Boys Night?!

    On that note, Tatiana just rolled her eyes and chuckled before we all made our way to thepound, but the funny thing was that everyone who participated was walking funny due to our cramping legs and blistered feet. However, when Kaley offered a piggyback ride, I jumped straight at her back for instant relief but we were met with all sorts of roasts and cheeky insults.


    "Now, that''s not fair!"


    "Walk with us like real men!"


    "PUSSY!"


    "I thought you''re better than that, sir!"


    "Ugh¡­ Cringe¡­"


    So, I pped back at the lonely single dudes who tried to tick me off:


    "Oooh~ I''m so sorry~ Because my loving and beautiful wife wanted to carry me, I can''t really decline. I guess if you lonely fucks have someone in your life, you''d understand¡ª but you can''t carry yourselves with the hand you jack off with, right?"


    Though I was met with more insults but I wasughing my ass off:


    "YOU¡ª WAY TO RUB IT IN, HUH?!"


    "WE''RE JUST WORRIED FOR KALEY! YOU''RE NOT LIGHT!"


    "MAN UP AND CARRY HER INSTEAD!"


    "I¡ª PUSSY!"


    "FUCK YOU, BRO! THAT''S JUST MEAN!"


    And the other single dudes who didn''t say anything also caught strays:


    "IT''S NOT LIKE I CHOSE TO BE SINGLE, ALRIGHT?!"


    "KILL ME! HAHAHA¡­ THIS WAS SOMETHING I DIDN''T NEED TO HEAR AT THIS MOMENT!"


    "IT''S ALL YOU FUCKS'' FAULT!"


    "SOMEONE! ANYONE! BE MY GIRLFRIEND AND CARRY ME! PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD!"


    "YEAH! AND YOU KEPT TAKING THEM ALL!"


    Then the girls pped back as well:


    "HEY! I-I''M NOT PART OF T-THEIR¡ª y-you know¡­ AND I''VE NEVER BEEN ASKED OUT! IS THAT MY FAULT TOO?!"


    "AND YOU FUCKS KEEP GHOSTING ME!"


    "YEAH! AND YOU''RE SENDING MESSAGES TO ALL OF US!"


    "KALEY''S GREAT¡ª HE IS TOO! IT''S NOT THEIR FAULT YOU''RE ALL MISERABLE!"


    "THEY''RE ACTUALLY COUPLE GOALS! FUCK ALL OF YOU!"


    And I heard the "Death Squad" ask around some shit our groups already know:


    "I-Is he¡­ Really? Oh. Ohhh¡­ I''m so fucking jealous¡­"


    "Really? A-All of them? Huh."


    "Interesting¡­"


    "I''m¡ª I¡ª I''m¡ª I''m speechless¡­ How can Ipete with that¡­"


    "I bet he has enough in the tank for them tooter¡­"


    So, I shouted back:


    "No discussing of our rtionship! Mind your own or at least be in one to be eligible for a discussion¡ª Wha¡ª IT''S NOT MY FAULT YOU FUCKS ARE THAT INSECURE! THEN WORK ON YOUR FUCKING SELF UNTIL YOU FEEL THE ONE YOU''RE PURSUING DESERVES THAT VERSION OF YOU OR YOU FEEL GOOD ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE! DON''T MORE AROUND WITH SELF-PITY¡ª WHERE WOULD THAT GET YA?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...r-really? Will that work?"


    I bluntly replied, "Nope."


    "THEN WHY BOTHER¡ª"


    "LET ME FINISH YOU BALD MOTHERFUCKER! IT''S NOT A 100% GUARANTEE BUT THE WAY YOU FUCKS ARE GOING AT IT ISN''T WORKING EITHER! SOME OF YOU ARE EVEN AFRAID TO WALK UP TO SOMEONE TO START A CONVERSATION¡ª And even if that worked for me, and it COULD happen, EXPLORE YOUR FUCKING OPTIONS, ALRIGHT?! DON''T JUST USE A SINGLE TYPE OF BAIT, EXPECT TO FUCKING FAIL AND LATCH ON TO THE ONE THAT WORKS!


    Be careful of some other things along the way though¡ª because you''re also worthy of respect but¡ª HAAAAaaaAAaa~ If you fucks wanna talk after dinner, we''ll talk. It won''t guarantee you a rtionship but there''s a chance¡ª"


    "REALLY, BRO?! SIGN ME UP!"


    "I''LL CARRY YOU, BRO, IF I COULD BUT I''M SO FUCKING HAPPY!"


    "HAIL!"


    "THAT''S THE BEST THING I HEARD ALL DAY!"


    "I FUCKING HATE YOU BUT I FUCKING LOVE YOU AT THE SAME TIME, BRO! NO HOMO!"


    "MAAAN! I WOULD''VE CALLED YOU A HOMO BY NOW IF YOU DIDN''T SAY THAT!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HOW ABOUT US GIRLS?!"


    "TALK TO KALEY¡ª WAIT¡­ IT''S BOYS NIGHT TONIGHT! HAVE YOUR OWN PARTY!"


    Kaley chuckled as she turned around and dropped me, "FINE! GIRLS NIGHT TONIGHT TOO! DIBS ON THE POOL AREA!"


    "HEY¡ª FUCK! WE ALL RECONVENE ON THE ROOF!"


    "W-What about H-Hell Week¡­"


    "This is all part of recovery, look at them go¡­ At least give them this night."


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, we all shared arge meal¡ª a pound of steak cooked to perfection, a side of mashed potatoes with gravy, a bowl of fresh vegetables, coffee, and some bone broth. Desserts were present too like ice cream, cake, and apple pies but almost everything was just gone in the blink of an eye.


    "SOME MORE RICE, PLEASE!"


    "WATER¡ª AGK¡ª WATER!"


    "CHEW YOUR FUCKING FOOD, MATE!"


    "WHY''S EVERYTHING SO FUCKING GOOD! I LOVE THIS PLACE!"


    "I COULD BE HUNGRY BUT THIS SHIT IS THE BOMB! YOU FUCKS EAT LIKE THIS EVERY DAY?!"


    Obviously, everyone in mypound were already used to Tatiana¡ªand Quinn¡ªeatingrge servings every single day but to see a group looking like they were having a foodpetition was mind-blowing.


    In any case, Dr. Nichols offered the girls a quick check-up while Oscar did the same for us¡ªand once we invited him to boys night with all the old-timers, we decided to just have it in his house instead to have a taste of his own concoctions.


    If it was any other day, I would''ve been several feet away already but seeing that the old man just took out some homebrew mead he made from Sally''s Honey from the Rivas Estate. He obviously put his own spin on it and it was the first time it''d get served to everybody, but I still waited for everyone else to have a sip before I downed mine.


    Ruben was the first to react, "GACk! THE HECK!? IT''S SWEET BUT¡ª HOW MUCH ALCOHOL IS IN THIS?!"


    Brownie smacked his lips, "Around 20% or more¡­ this shit''s strong¡­"


    Oscar raised his eyebrows, "You know your shit?"


    "My brother and I were supposed to¡ª let''s just say I made IPAs with him before I signed in the military."


    "Ohh~ Curious¡­ I''m d you''ll be here a lot since you and I will be working quite close. I have ton of fucking ideas and you''d be my golden goose!"


    Brownie chuckled, "Will you make it easy for me tomorrow?"


    Oscar''s expression didn''t even change as he said, "Au contraire~ You''ll be puking blood by the end of it!"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1223: I’m sorry, but I’m with the kid on this one.

    If it was any other day, a decent number of our soldiers could tolerate hellish training for a day but doing it in session¡ªand in our case, a full fucking week¡ªit''d spell all sorts of trouble for everyone. However, at least half of the boys presentughed it off because a good number of them couldn''t tolerate the alcohol content in Oscar''s Homebrewn Mead.


    Better yet, it could just be the fatigue setting in and the alcohol just adding bits to it because it wasn''t even an hour before all of them fell asleep to wherever they were sitting on.


    Oscar cackled, "Buncha fucking lightweights, I tell ya!"


    Matthew took another sip of mead before chuckling, "We should line them up, at least. Sleeping like that gave me back problems."


    Johnny shook his head, "They''re young, they could do it a bunch of times morepared to us."


    "No, no, that''s the problem¡­ like alcohol, it just adds up bit by bit and you get all sorts of problems when you''re fucking over 30. Imagine¡ª no, I believe you know what I mean since we''re all at this age."


    I cut in, "True~"


    "BAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "DUMBASS!"


    "YOU IDIOT, JUST COME HELP ME LINE ''EM UP, AT LEAST!"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    To my surprise, everyone didn''t even wake up once while we were moving them onto these bunch offorters weid out in Oscar''s living room, and they didn''t even roll around or anything as they werepletely knocked out. And after I took a few pictures for ckmail, I sat back down with the old-timers and Oscar offered me one of his cigars.


    "Nah, I''m good but thanks¡­"


    "Suit yourself¡­"


    "Anyway, what do you have in store for them tomorrow?"


    "I don''t actually know since the schedule''s messed up. Why''d you two fucks have to join in? I understand your need to show off but Tatiana should''ve been the one teaching them tomorrow!


    I don''t want any of them to suffer severe injuries because Jesus, running five kilometers is already difficult for some people and you made them run a fucking ultramarathon¡ªand that''s on top of the psychological shit you put them through! How about I give them the best day of their lives so they''d switch alliances from you to me?"


    "Haah?"


    Johnny chuckled, "As if that''ll work¡­"


    Matthew interjected, "What are you gonna do? Make them fire a bunch of guns on a random herd?"


    Oscar shrugged his shoulders, "Wouldn''t that be fun?"


    "It''s fun but a huge waste of bullets."


    I nodded, "Don''t forget you donated a third of your armory to them¡ªI''ve seen you fight tooth and nail for a .22 short missing and you handout shit like that even though we''ve uncovered more in the Marine Base''s armory."


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "It''s my guns, I do whatever the hell I want with them. Besides, those guns are doing their work over on that side. It''s much better than them sitting here and collecting dust, no?"


    I''ve never been so confused, "You already drunk, old man? All these years I''ve known you¡ª you''re the stingiest motherfucker I know! And that''s besides me!"


    "BAHAHAHA! That is true¡­ I dunno, really. It''s like giving back despite giving everything to them and then some. The little Admiral even gave me a full cycle of shots which I hear you¡ªand even my fucking daughter turned down¡­ I can''t say I''m surprised but I''m kind of d¡ª"


    I cut in, "Hold up, which shots did he give you?! Did you already take them?! WHY?!"


    At that moment, Matthew and Johnny¡ªwho I assume were already informed of them by Oscar¡ªkept quiet while Oscar just shook his head as he took one more puff from his cigar and a swig of alcohol.


    "Haaa¡­ I''mma need some stronger stuff for this¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "Settle down, alright?! I''m not like you! You''re fucking young and full of life¡ª fuck it, overflowing with it and I probably had a decade or so left to live before I became a decrepit fuck so I''m sorry for taking shit that''d give me a slight edge and make me enjoy life a little better! It''s my body kid, alright?!


    Only I know what I''m going through and YOU very well know that I''d rather go out with a bang than live the quiet life¡ª It''s Project Valha for fuck''s sake!"


    It took me a few seconds to control my breathing before I replied:


    "It''s¡ª Haaa¡­ FUCK! The fuck did you take anyway?! Lemme guess, something for your bones like Bartow and the Admiral?! You''re fucking old, it''s supposed to do that¡ª"


    "HEY! You cuttin'' a little deep but my bones are good as it is! I took something else¡ª"


    "Then what is it?! If it''s for erectile dysfunction, I swear to fucking¡ª"


    Oscar looked like he didn''t know whether to strangle me or m my head on the table as he shouted:


    "It took the one for my noggin'' and the one for my lifespan! If I''mma live those extra couple of years, my head should be able to keep up with it! It''s not much to you but it''s a fucking lot to me! It''s also something you have no fucking idea about! You can probably remember yourself swimming in your mother''s womb before you were even born!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Hey! You took shots at me, I can take shots at you! That''s how it goes!"


    "...fine. But¡ª"


    "But what, kid? It''s already done. The one for my lifespan''s a single shot and the one for my head''s every two months¡ª I already took them before you arrived and was just waiting for the Admiral to tell you before we have this conversation."


    I shook my head, "I still hate being surprised like this¡­ These bunch of secrets popping up one after the other is insane."


    "It IS ssified government secrets. They''re supposed to be hidden¡ª"


    "I know, but¡ª"


    "You have secrets of your own, kid. And I respect you not telling me each one of them so yeah, don''t be mad if I have secrets of my own. It''s not a one-way street, alright?"


    I let out a long sigh, "And all I got from it was a cool freezer¡­"


    "Psh! That''s a fucking lie and you know it. The Chinook, the drone, and most importantly, the authority to¡ª"


    "I know, I know, just making ame joke¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Anyway, I just got my bloodwork done when we arrived and we''ll see in a few days if there''s anything wrong with me."


    "We already know you''re an annoying piece of shit, why''d you even get tested¡ª"


    "YOU! WANT ME TO STICK THIS BOTTLE UP YOUR ASS?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!/ JESUS FUCKING CHRIST¡­/ Those boys are still not waking up, Jesus¡­"


    Oscar took another swig, "You fuckin'' assholes, I''m just the perfect candidate alright? I''m this old and don''t have much to live. If it doesn''t work, I''ll give you all the rights to study my body and if it does, you fucks will regret not taking it. Just my two cents."


    Johnny rolled his eyes, "Oh, gee~ As if I was given an offer, huh?"


    Matthew looked surprised, "You''d take that shit?"


    "You won''t?"


    "I''m sorry, but I''m with the kid on this one."

 Chapter 1224: I’m sorry but I’mma head out…

    To my surprise, Matthew agreed with me for once but in all honesty, the only reason I turned down the offer of taking them was all the negative side-effects that ites with. I haven''t even read through all the shit it would do to my body because I was only informed of the one the Admiral and Bartow were taking but from the surface, the old man still felt like the old man so that''s that.


    Oscar shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, it''s your choice too, and doing this is mine. Honestly though, I''ve been getting random erections and I don''t know what to do with it¡ª"


    "PFFTT!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "It''s not funny¡ª well, it kinda is but¡ª STOP MAKING THAT FACE!"


    "Well, are you hard now?"


    "YOU¡ª DON''T FUCKING ASK ME THAT! You know how stupid it is to start wearing tighter underwear to keep them all in! As if my balls dropping down to my knees aren''t hard enough¡ª"


    "AHHHHH! FUCKING STOP! I CAN''T GET THE IMAGE OUT OF MY HEAD!"


    "HAH! WELL, IT''S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT FOR ALL THAT LIP!"


    "Maaan~ I thought we''d talk deep shit like every other night but this is craaazy~"


    I waved them off, "Any other side-effects you felt though?"


    Oscar thought for a bit, "Actually? Hmm~ My head''s pretty clear ever since I took it¡ª no brain fog, no forgetfulness, no nothing. My appetite''s grown bigger though but it gives me more energy in return because of all the food¡ªso I just take care of it by eating more shit with fiber. Kind of a side-effect but in a good way, you know? A side-side-effect, if you will."


    Johnny nodded a few times, "Interesting."


    Matthew shook his head, "You really want to hop on the juice, huh?"


    Oscar cut in, "I''d advise against it."


    Johnny couldn''t believe his ears, "What now?! YOU advise against it?!"


    Oscar shook his head, "Aside from you being the fail-safe if I die earlier than expected, you still have your wife and grandkids¡ª"


    I cut in, "How about me, Jennifer, and everyone else here?"


    Oscar looked down before turning to me, "Don''t take it the wrong way, kid, you''re family. I''d even refer to you as my son¡ª"


    I never shook all over, "Cringe."


    Oscar shook all over as well, "Yeah, let''s not do that. Nephew?"


    "Uh-huh. Continue."


    "Yeah, yeah, despite all that shit¡ªsomeone has to do it and not do it."


    Matthew cut in, "I could be the one not doing it, I''m here aren''t I?"


    "While that is true¡ª Hmm, why don''t we wait for my bloodwork toe back first before you decide on it or not? It''s only a few days, you can wait that long, right? I treat this shit like I have some sort of transmitted sickness until it''s not. The Admiral''s doctors already told me about its effects but there''s a chance I might be different, no?


    Besides, you''d have to ask the kid if he''ll give you some."


    Johnny turned to me with a serious expression, "I really don''t wanna pull rank and my aplishments here but with the time I served the Marines, I think I deserve a shot¡ªbe it for research purposes or anything, I''d take even half a dose if it gives me a percent chance to protect my family more¡ªincluding everyone here, of course."


    I sighed, "Johnny, you have to understand¡ª"


    "No, YOU have to understand. This shit''s the worst thing that could''ve happened at my age. We''ve been living good¡ª fuck it, maybe even better the moment you pressed that button on our inte but I gotta be here for as long as possible. Or at least long enough until it''s over."


    "..."


    "If I''d have to kneel down and beg, I will¡ª"


    "No¡­ Listen¡ª and don''t cut me off even once. The old man''s decision to do it is between him and the Admiral alone, if I''m the one to give it to you and if something goes wrong, it''ll be on me¡ª"


    He put his hands up, "Then I waive you of all the responsibility thates along with it. I''ll even make a written or a recorded statement that absolves you of anything¡ª"


    "You think your family would ept that? And don''t even start about lying to them¡ª"


    "N-No, no, thest thing I''d do to them is lie. I tell them every bit of bad news as much as I tell them the good ones. They''ll know what I''ll be getting into and I''ll make sure to tell them¡ªespecially them¡ªthat my decision to do this is on me and me alone and I''ll make them aware of your stance on it."


    "That''s still¡ª"


    "Heck¡ªI''d take you anywhere you fucking want! You wanna go to Japan, right?! Set a fucking date¡ªthough we need a better ship¡ªbut I''ll take you there and back! What do you say?! Come on! It''s a win-win for you, kid!


    You don''t have anything to lose!"


    I tried to joke, "If you two fucks croak, I''d be left with this guy *points at Matthew* how miserable would that be?"


    Matthew actually agreed as he added, "Listen to the kid, John¡­ He''s right¡ª"


    Johnny shook his head, "Wanna make jokes, huh?" then the motherfucker actually pulled out his prosthetic leg and waved it in front of me, almost dropping the Mare''s Leg hidden in it, "I''m literally on myst leg, you fuck! What now?! Can''t spare me a fucking shot?! How much is left anyway¡ª it''s not like those mint figures you have to kept on the shelves collecting dust!"


    I smiled bitterly, "Alright, that''s enough¡ª"


    "I ain''t leaving here until you say yes! PLEASE! I''M FUCKING BEGGING HERE¡ª"


    I stood up, looking him straight in the eye, "Look, you''ve had a drink¡ª We all have¡ª"


    "BUT¡ª"


    "I know you''re fucking heavy drinkers but we gotta do this in a more neutral setting, without any alcohol involved. So let''s do this after Oscar gets his fucking bloodwork and while you''re the uptight son of a bitch who wouldn''t bend the knee for anything, understand? That''s when we''ll resume this talk. I''m sorry but I''mma head out¡­"

 Chapter 1225: Wanna talk about it?

    Right as I said that with a straight look on my face, I thought Johnny would blow up at me but he let out a huge sigh before taking a swig of his ss. After that, he let out another huff as he shook his head, not even bothering to say anything back as I slowly stepped away from the conversation.


    From then on, I just gave Oscar and Matthew a nod before I closed the door behind me¡ªbut as I made my way to the pool area, I almost had the shock of my life as I saw almost everyone lined up side by side, still wearing their bikinis, andpletely passed out.


    "What the fu¡ª Here, too?"


    Kaley was the first one who saw me, "Ugh¡­ They fell asleep one after the other¡ª We wanted to call for help but Quinn could just stand on the pool so¡­ She just picked all of them up and threw them to the side¡­ Completely knocked out¡­ I want tough but¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "I still am, hah! Look at Tatiana on that pool table, she''s fucking asleep but she kept her elbow tight so the food doesn''t get wasted¡ª The fuck, how are you still up?!"


    "Me?"


    "Yeah! How much stamina you got?! There should be a limit!"


    "At least I could help you with moving them¡ª you guys take care of the ones not in our¡­ y-you know¡­ they might wake up and see me carrying them and it might lead to other conclusions¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Or we could just wait a bit and see if they wake up¡ª if not, then we wake them up. They''ll cramp up sooner orter¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "We should cover them, at least. The cold will¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved her off, "I already asked Rin for nkets. June and E are helping her bring enough down. The best we could do right now is dry them off andy them down somewherefortable¡­"


    Kaley then noticed something with my face, "You look mad, something happen?"


    I looked around first before I replied, "Where''s Jennifer?"


    "They called the night early¡ª Did you just avoid my¡ª"


    "Not exactly, no. It has something to do with her, albeit slightly."


    "Wanna talk about it?"


    I looked at everyone first before I sighed, "Sure. But not here."


    After some time, after we safely sent off everyone to the vacant rooms in the houses avable¡ªor just straight to their own personal rooms¡ªmost of us gathered back in our room for some decaf and luckily, Jennifer and Rachel were just watching a movie together.


    And since my cool-looking, futuristic-ass freezer was my room''s new center of attention, I just discovered that almost all of them were itching to ask what it was about because not all of them knew the fact of the "Peptides" the Admiral was peddling over to us.


    With how secure it was and how I came back with it¡ªor should I say the Chinook¡ªright after we made contact with the US Government, all sorts of eyebrows were raised but they were just respectful enough to not pry until it was talked about in the open.


    Dr. Nichols threw the freezer a curious look, "That¡­ Unfortunately, I''m not that well-versed in that department but would it hurt for me to test some of them?"


    "I could give you a copy of the file they sent me over but even if they told me I had free rein of those injectables, I kind of wanna hold onto them longer for safekeeping.


    Not that I don''t trust you or anything but those doses don''te by aplenty, they had to send me a freezer just for that because their soldiers were fighting for a dose¡ªleading us back to why I looked how I looked by the pool area."


    Jennifer let out a sigh, "Dad prolly on a cycle, huh?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, and Johnny was prepared to suck dick for a fucking dose¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "H-How about D-Dad? Did he¡ª"


    I lightly bumped her shoulder with mine, "Nah, your Dad''s with me, actually¡ªeven Oscar, it''s kind of hypocritical of him to tell Johnny to stay away but he has his reasons."


    Jennifer looked like she was a little conflicted about the situation, "I mean, it''s his choice¡ª"


    I shook my head, "That''s the problem, it is HIS choice whether to take it or not but that shit''s just very, VERY experimental. They said it themselves. If something were to go wrong or if something were to happen to him¡ª I''d hate to even think about what would happen to him but what would happen to everyone here?


    The old man''s already dangerous with a shot of whiskey and an hour less of sleep, what the fuck would happen if he became a super mutant or something? I am joking right now but I''m also kind of not¡­ It''s just¡­ we''re a whole group, y''know? We should at least have a discussion like I tried with Johnny¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols asked, "What kind of injectable did he take anyway?"


    "I mean¡ª I trust you all and I hope this conversation don''t reach anywhere else but¡­ He took something for increasing his lifespan for a couple or so years and another thing to improve his brain''s cognitive functions. He said he''s been eating a lot but his head has never been clearer and he seemed to remember things now and his brain fog''s disappeared.


    It''s mostly positive shit since the negatives are very manageable ording to him but I have to be the pessimistic one in this¡­ I''m afraid he might start asking for more because everything feels great for him."


    Quinn shook her head, "That''s how Mike was when he started taking PEDs¡­ It''s all good and the negatives are manageable until he becamepletely blind to it¡­ I know they''repletely different things but¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Nah, it might be different but that''s just the thing I''m afraid of happening. At least now, I''m the only one that could open that freezer."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah, it''s programmed to my voice, my prints, and a special code that changes every day¡ªwhich isn''t a problem to me¡ªand once someone else tries to break it open, it notifies me, and I have the option to make the freezer destroy everything inside."


    "Shi¡ª How great is that?!"


    "Of course, I''m lying¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª I ACTUALLY BELIEVED YOU!"


    I lightly chuckled, "But which one did I lie about? Hmm? I won''t tell anyone¡ª that''s the thing. Everything inside that shit could be our first step toward the future but we should be very careful about it because it could be the one I''m dreaming of or the hell I''m dreading about."


    Kaley nodded pensively, "I can understand that but you gotta take it from their perspective as well¡­ I dunno, being at that age is probably very tough for them, and from their backgrounds, they wanted to be as useful as possible¡ªand even if they already are, they just wanted to do more.


    I''m not saying they''re blind about the negatives but what I''m saying is that they''re willing to put themselves to that much risk for all of us¡­ and yeah, also for them. That''s something to think about, at least."

 Chapter 1226: Early Morning Jackassery

    As Kaley said that, everyone couldn''t help but agree, especially Jennifer¡ªmaybe even Rachel. Honestly, the promise of improving one''s body from a simple injection was very enticing for everyone else and it''s just the negatives that was holding them back from pursuing them.


    But yeah, Jennifer could see the nces everyone else was giving to the freezer but she waved them off as she tried to exin her side:


    "That''s¡­ That''s the mindset I had when I applied to be one of the soldiers to have the privilege of taking those things¡ªand I''m gonna be a little bit hypocritical like my father because I also did PEDs to gain muscle and mass. Was it great? Fuck yeah! For everybody else though, not so much."


    Rachel let out a sigh as Jennifer said that but she still nudged her with a smile as she rubbed her shoulders, "It''s okay, I''m okay¡­"


    Jennifer touched Rachel''s hand, "I focused on the positives too much I didn''t even notice I was hurting the one person that''s important to me *looks at Rachel* and even if I know I did those bad things, I''m still having a hard time saying that I wish I didn''t take them¡ªbecause in all honesty, and as I said earlier¡ªit felt fucking great.


    It felt that good to be improving that much from a simple pill or an injection¡­"


    Quinn nodded a few times, "Been there¡­"


    Jennifer shook her head, "Of course, you still need hard work, great nutrition, sleep, everything in order for you to maximize your gains but let''s just say that what I took are fucking cheat codes. I enjoyed my time using them but at the same time, I''d say not to use them but¡ª Ugh¡­ All the insights I received from him *looks at me* is great and all but I''m still having a hard time letting go.


    I''m still having a hard time thinking of these things *looks at her arms* to disappear."


    I cut in, "I''m telling you, you''re just downsizing but we''re gonna try and let you keep all of that strength¡ª how did we get to this conversation again?"


    Dr. Nichols chuckled, "It''s all the talk about injectables¡ª That''s something I am familiar with though hadn''t had much experience because the only ce I used to work in didn''t do any PEDs or anything of the sort¡ªbut my private visits to other friends away from the university made me aware of its effects, especially the bad ones.


    It''s very illegal here and since you can''t get a reliable source, some of the patients I treated were given fakes and it led to more problems. Besides steroids are not just for bodybuilders or other athletes like you guys, it has other uses."


    Edith cut in, "You know¡­ There''s this one thing Sebastian used to inject on Rogue¡ª"


    Everyone else asked, "Who?"


    I chuckled, "Ah, Rogue! Our bull! Tren, right?"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "Trenbolone Acetate? Yeah¡­ I''ve heard of that, It''s originally used for cattle but we found other uses for that¡­ Insulin is one other example but out of the bunch, Peptides, the real ones are much safer and it''s along the lines of injectable testosterone."


    June nodded a few times, "I have taken that a few times depending on my blood work¡­ Stoppedpletely now though¡­"


    "Oh¡­ What else have you been on? If you wouldn''t mind sharing?"


    "Well¡­"


    "I¡­"


    "In my case¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "I was¡­"


    From then on, the conversation continued on and on until I finally hit my limit and woke up in the middle of the night sleeping between Kaley and Quinn. I was still feeling the soreness in my legs and I was also itching for a trip to the kitchen for a small bite, so as I walked down the stairs to fix myself a snack, I almost jumped off my skin when I saw E eating a bowl of cereal alone.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    "You¡ª You scared me!"


    "You scared me too! The fuck are you¡ª"


    "Hmm? It''s 5 AM, it''s essentially morning, you know?"


    I looked at my watch and discovered it was as she said, "Huh. You''re right."


    "Want some? I can''t believe you still have some Peanut Butter Cap''n Crunch¡­ I love these¡­"


    "Thanks but I''ll go with some Corn kes with a dab of honey¡­"


    "Corn kes?! Ugh¡­ Ew¡­ You''re like my dad¡­ He just eats them as is with milk though, no honey whatsoever¡­"


    I chuckled as I sat next to her, "You woke really early though, what''s up? We could''ve had breakfast a little bitter."


    "I''m okay, really, no worries. Dad just checked up on me but he got the timeline mixed up so he called in at 3 AM. We just finished talking and he hung up¡ª Can''t sleep after that though."


    "I see¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "You doing okay though?"


    "Hmm?"


    "I mean, you doing okay here? Is there anything you¡ª"


    "I-I''m fine¡ª I''m great, actually¡­ It''s just¡­ you know¡­ nevermind¡­"


    "You can tell me, you know? We can see what I could do or I can just listen to you vent, you have me until everyone wakes up. I''m gonna be pretty busy once morninges¡­"


    "Then¡­"


    "Ask me anything, really¡ª"


    "Then can you stop treating me like I''m an idiot and tell me the truth?"


    "E¡ª"


    "I thought you hate secrets¡ª guess what? I hate them too, and I know you''ve been keeping a huge secret from me! I just don''t know what! O-Once Dad invited you i-into that b-basement, you just l-looked at me the same way everyone who went down there looks at me! I-I act like a child¡ª like a brat sometimes but I''m already an adult! I fucking hate when I don''t get treated like one and you know what?!


    I was mad¡ª FUMING! When you threw me in the water but that''s the first time someone treated me like I wouldn''t break from the slightest touch! I¡ª I''m sorry for t-telling you all this w-when you just w-woke up but I j-just have a lot of things to say t-true off my chest¡­ A-And since you offered and all¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "..."


    "Don''t just look at me l-like that! S-Say something!"


    I looked her straight in the eye, "You really wanna know? I can tell you, right here, right now. What I''m saying is just¡ª if you''re not 100% sure, tell me now or else you''d wish you haven''t heard it. I''ll respect your wishes but I''m not responsible for what you''d feel after, is that okay?"


    E took a moment to ready herself before she looked back at me, "A-Alright. I''m ready¡ª"


    I let out a sigh, "Alright. Hold my wrists and listen well. It''s about your Mom¡­"


    As soon as I mentioned her Mom, Jolene, E''s grip on me tightened considerably as her eyes just scanned every inch of my face, especially my eyes. Tears fell down from hers as I gave her the bad news and I saw every bit of emotion in her eyes as I spared her no details of her mother''s condition.


    It seemed she already had an inkling and the talk we hadst night of the injectables¡ªespecially the one that could reinforce bones¡ªadded to her suspicions and being kept in the dark was just eating away at her¡ªand opening the doors for her like this made her realize and understand.


    While it was true that it was bit much for her to know everything her father was keeping from her, it was all she needed at the same time.


    On that note, her tight grip on my wrists turned to a full-on hug as shepletely cried herself out, and even Zeus joined in to give her some emotional support despite almost hitting his head on the table counter when he jumped up:


    "Aww, Zeus¡­ D-Did we wake you up? I''m sorry¡­"


    "Woof¡­"


    I chuckled, "He said it''s okay¡­ and that''s his cereal¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Of course, not! I can''t speak woof, E, the fuck you think¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Stop joking around!"


    "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "AHHH! Stupid! Y-You''re so stupid! PFFT!!! Dammit!"


    In any case, I''m not gonna lie and say I didn''t notice her giving me "that" look after sheughed her ass off with me, giving us a few seconds to stare at each other in silence¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the kids came knocking, prompting Zeus to open the door for them as they excitedly ran in and told us that the food was ready.

 Chapter 1227: Downtime - I HAVE GOOD HANDS!

    At that moment, E quickly withdrew her hand ced over my arm as she greeted the kids with an energetic, "Good Morning!", and helped them wake everybody else upstairs. Funnily enough, the kids'' job was somehow delegated to her because they all started to y with Zeus¡ªbut one look I gave him while he was belly-up made him follow E so that the kids could continue their jobs properly.


    "GOOD MOOOOORNING!"


    "Wakey~ Wakey~!"


    "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! THE FOOD''S READY!"


    "WOOF! WOOF!"


    "Keep knocking! They''ll wake soon¡ª Oh, hi! Good Morning! Mom said the food''s ready!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we all gathered at the same spot and was having breakfast¡ªbut our trainees/cadets/"Death Squad" in question were dreading the eerie smile Oscar was wearing while he was getting himself some coffee.


    Other than that, Johnny looked like he wanted to revisit the conversation we had yesterday though Rin and Vera looked like they wanted to have a brief talk with me as well.


    "Shoot. I don''t mind while we''re eating¡ª"


    Vera cut in, "I''ll start then, the people from the dam called and they said they''ll be visiting in a few days. They said it''s an independent check-up on the independent line we got here and¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled as he looked at me, "Some troubleying pipes? Pfft¡­"


    Vera shook her head, chuckling, "Uh-huh, riiight¡­ Anyway, they''re also requesting a small bump of food from the usual and some more bullets if we could. They said they''ve prepared appropriate trading items and information but the reason for those requests is they''ve just liberated a town and they had an influx of a few hundred people left and right."


    I thought for a bit, "We can agree to that but ask them if they want to send some of them over here. We can shoulder a bit of burden¡ªforck of a better term but, we could always use an extra pair of hands."


    Vera nodded, "Alright, I''ll tell them that once I''m back in the Broadcast Station."


    Rin then took her turn, "About bullets, while you''re away, I''ve uhh¡­ I''ve done the usual sorting, tumbling, and everything¡ªincluding loading only pistol rounds and shotgun shells to Sir Oscar''s liking but looking at him now, we might need to uhh¡ª get busy in the workshop for at least a day.


    I''m also reading on the press to make our own casings since I''ve set aside the ones that are wearing down but aside from that, when are we umm¡­ opening up those other stored rounds? It would help with the materials rotating around if¡ª"


    "Nah. We''ll stick to what we can still use and find in the wild still¡ª and since we''re making our own casings now, we should avoid using the ones we had stored for the same reason. Those are for emergencies."


    "I see¡­ In regards to other materials used to make them though¡­ We''ve been receiving materials here and there but is there a way we could make them independently?"


    "Not a chance¡ª at least not right now."


    "Ah¡ª Why?"


    "Well, aside from the tons we still have in stock, we''re still relying on traders and scavengers who don''t know anything to do with them¡ªbut you''re right, I''m still figuring out a way to gather raw materials to start making them by ourselves.


    However, an easier method is a step above those traders and scavengers is to have them gather the specific materials we are looking for and we''ve just made contact with the ce that has an overabundance of them."


    "So, we''re just gonna wait for them toe back with everything?"


    "Nah, we''re doing both."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "I mean, why choose one or two methods if you can do all of them? But yeah, I''ll help you make them in bulk today but I''m looking for another workshop-worthy area that''s away from everything else at the moment. Do you have anything in mind? Something with an open field to test explosives would be good."


    "U-Umm, are we gonna start making explosives t-too?"


    "We did a few times but it IS irresponsible to make them this close to everyone else even if we''re that careful. idents can still happen, you know? But yeah, I''m assigning another expert on that and he''d be in charge of that workshop instead of me."


    "Who¡ª Oh! Bogdan?"


    "Yeah~ The motherfucker didn''t even tell me he could make napalm. So aside from explosives, he''ll also be in charge of developing incendiary shit for our use. I''d hate to say it but sometimes, clearing them out one by one could be tedious and we''d sometimes need to resort to fire and explosion."


    "I see. We''ll set up a meeting once theye back."


    "That reminds me, where did they go, anyway?"


    "Right, umm~ if I remember correctly, they set off to shave off dregs from LRT Line 1 until they reached Iskoh''s¡ª I mean Mayor Iskoh''s spot but they''re keen on taking care of the ones in the backroads while Iskoh''s clearing group takes care of the squatter areas. The President might''ve cleared arge group before but there''s still a lot of them to take care of¡­"


    "Do they have someone local with them?"


    "Yes, they''ve brought Mark''s group with a few other soldiers from Sir Ferdinand''s camp they''re familiar with so it''s all good."


    "Alright, if there''s nothing else, once we finish this food¡­ We''ll let Oscar do his thing while we do our own. I would''ve wanted Alexa to work with us but she''s part of Hell Week and we don''t have anyone else that has good hands¡ª"


    Then the one whopletely went over my head due to her size cut in, "HOLD UP! WHAT ABOUT ME?! I HAVE GOOD HANDS!"


    I never facepalmed so hard in my fucking life, "Right, Ipletely forgot about you. We aren''t loading cannon rounds right now but I''ll call you¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING PRICK! JUST BRING ME WITH YOU! I''M TAKING A BREAK FROM ENGINES TODAY!"

 Chapter 1228: Downtime II - Offer?

    A person who''s meticulous and precise with their work is the best person for the job in regards to making bullets, and Quinn looking like Quinn made me forgot about how delicate her work was in building her custom engines. We haven''t even started on fitting the engines she made that we brought back that could use 100% Ethanol, and I''d take her up on that once we have enough time.


    "How much are we making anyway?"


    Rin answered, "A hundred?"


    "That few?!"


    "Ah¡ª I mean a hundred thousand¡ª"


    "WHAT?! A HUNDRED THOUSAND BULLETS?!"


    I gave her the deathblow, "Each caliber."


    "THE FUCK?! HOW LONG WOULD THAT TAKE?!"


    I finally knew why I didn''t think of her, "Not really though. It''s like doingundry sometimes, okay? Sometimes, it''s much better doing it in bulk."


    Rin added, "Well, I''ve focused on pistol rounds while you were all away so the only ones we''d make a lot of are 5.56s and 7.62s. The rest would only hover around a thousand or so rounds. W-We can just do it ourselves if you don''t want¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, I''ll help! I''ll help! Show me how it works then, I might figure out a way to make it automated¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Nah, everything should be to my standards. Automating it would make it open to inconsistencies."


    "You saying the shit I''ll make for you would be shoddy as fuck?! D''you know who you''re talking to?!"


    "Don''t get offended, it''s just my way of doing things¡ªand yeah, you''re the best on your field but you gotta do the hard shit first before making it easy for everyone else. It''s not like you do everything automatically in your field, right?


    The custom ride you built needs a human touch and while those special engines you built are made in that industrial park, don''t tell me you don''t check them after the fact?"


    "Point. I''ll just bottom while we''re taking a break¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª What?!"


    Rin almost choked on her coffee, "W-We''re not h-having sex on the workshop!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Because it''s your thing, huh? Fiiine~ Your ce, your rules¡ª"


    "I-It''s not like that!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! Suuure~ If you say so~"


    In any case, as Rin showed Quinn the ropes, I inspected Rin''s work while we were away and it''s definitely up to my standards. I see no problem letting her load rifle rounds as well besides the sniper rounds that have loadspletely different from the book of measurements she was referring to.


    It didn''t take long before we easily sunk a couple hours into making bullets but we suddenly had a visitor who was away for some reason and had juste back, Chris.


    "B-Bro¡ª Y-You''re back! Wha¡ª HOLY¡ª H-HELL WEEK! W-WHAT¡ª HOW¡ª I-I-I WANT TO JOIN!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You''ve missed your chance, kid. Oscar had already brought everyone outside. Where were you, anyway?"


    "H-Hello, Ma''am Quinn¡­ I¡ª C-Charlotte and I were in M-Mr. Borris'' ce by the South Checkpoint and¡ª"


    "Bahh~ Don''t bore me with the details¡ª talk to him, I''m busy here."


    "Ah¡ª R-Right."


    I rolled my eyes, "Why''d you talk to him, anyway? Nevermind, what''s up, Chris? Rin''s report mentioned Charlotte nting more trees, right?"


    "Y-Yes, bro¡ª B-BUT HELL WEEK! C-Can I still c-catch up?! T-THEY SAID¡ª T-They said you all ran a 100 kilometers¡ª A HUNDRED! I-I CAN DO THAT TOO! I-I''M RUNNING AGAIN!"


    I tried to joke, "If you can run a 100 now¡ª"


    "ALRIGHTBROTHANKYOUI''LLSTARTRUNNINGNOWBYE!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"


    At that point, Quinn just lost her shit fromughing but I already pegged Chris as one of the people more suited to hold the fort rather than go outside to take care of problems.


    One of the reasons for that was Charlotte and his good and honest nature¡ªbut if he was willing to break his body just to see how far it could reach, I''d let him do a version of Hell Week or just straight-up let him join as a wild card forter.


    ''He''ll definitely give everyone a hard time tomorrow or maybe on Tatiana''s day¡­ I guess we''ll see.''


    But yeah, as soon as Charlotte came in and caught up to us, I asked her to take care of Chris while he was fucking running his ass off and after that, we sunk more hours into making bullets for our everyday use.


    Quinnmented, "This IS a fuck ton of bullets though¡­ Can y''all monitor all of ''em? What if someone or a group starts skimming off these shit?"


    Rin and I chuckled eerily as we said at the same time, "Oh, we''ll know. We''ll definitely know. We have a system¡­ We really wanna see everyone try but none of them are that brave, ufufufu¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª I know you already make that fucking face but *looks at Rin* you too?! Don''t scare me like that! Still, if you were any other people, I would''ve recruited you in my fucking garage. We need all the help we can get¡ª And I''m still working Alexa to join me, alright?!


    I''ll take that cuck Seb or whatever just to bring her in¡ª maybe even Megan too so I''ll probably need a mold of your cock to do it! Gimme a hand, alright?!"


    "I thought you need my cock¡ª why my hand¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!"


    Rin had the greatest idea, "Can''t you just have the same garage here? You mentioned you already have branches, why not build one here? You''d be closer to us and if you really get knocked up, sorry to say, but you need those checkups and you''d have the best support here if you want a healthy child¡­ Just saying¡­ And I''ll be a really~ good aunt!"


    "...umm¡­" Quinn was at a loss for words.


    I added, "It''ll save you the trip back too. Have Zyra or anyone else take over," then I added, "If you''re working Alexa, I''m working you too. I said I''ll visit every now and again when you get pregnant but isn''t this arrangement better?"


    "I-I''ll think about it¡­"


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1229 Downtime III - Hes here now, by the way--

    Looking at Quinn''s reaction to our words, she looked like she was really thinking about the possibility of actually living with us, because let''s face it, if she were to have a child with me, it was the best ce to be in. It''s not like we were throwing shade at her workshop/garage but I''m gonna be honest and say that her ce is not the best for having or taking care of a baby.


    But funnily enough, Quinn was just mulling over herself¡ªtalking, chuckling, and blushing randomly with just her thoughts, and Rin and I just let her be for the moment because she''d blow our eardrums if we teased her.


    My rtionship with everyone else was pretty good so far¡ªespecially with Kaley, of course¡ªbut I wouldn''t lie and say that I wasn''t excited to be a father. I joked around with Kaley before about having a family but I just had a feeling she wasn''t ready¡ªand Quinn presenting herself was probably the best thing that could''ve happened to either of us.


    It hit two birds¡ª no, three birds with one stone but if I was still being honest, I''d still want to have a kid with Kaley too.


    With that thought aside, we sunk more and more hours in and Quinn had to stop me from moving my hands because I fell into my trance-like state once again and it was 15 minutes past lunch.


    "Seriously? You couldn''t wait past fifteen¡ª"


    "OH, SHADDAP! I WANNA EAT!"


    "Pfft¡ª"


    "YOU SHADDAP TOO, RIN! I CAN FLING YOU AS FAR AS I COULD¡ª Ugh¡­ So hungry doing things over and over again¡­"


    I rolled my eyes, "I don''t even feel hungry, this shit is very therapeutic to me."


    "Me too! That''s why I made a lot the past few weeks!"


    "You two are so¡ª Can''t we just eat! C''mon! I''m hungry!"


    "Yeah, yeah~ Let''s¡­"


    And as we had lunch, I discovered that Kaley took June and E to the indoor range to practice with Lois and Olivia but like Quinn, Charlotte had to drag Chris off the treadmill so he could have a bite to eat. It was good that he hadn''t heard about the psychological shit I did to my group or else he''d just do it to himself which he would definitely do.


    ''He still goes out from time to time but Charlotte''s his rock in a way¡­ They''re young, they could spend as much time with each other and it''s also beneficial aside from going through Hell Week¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t take long before the three of us were back to our workshop and the only time my attention was taken elsewhere was when the old man appeared and dumped a few sacks of spent casings from different calibers and told me that they took care of several hordes in a day with the help of Artem and his team.


    "So¡­ you just shot guns?"


    "Wha¡ª Different kind of guns! You remember the shit you made me y before?"


    "Which one?"


    "T-The one where you get a different gun after each kill?"


    "Yeah! That one! Also, the challenge was to have all the ammo in one big-ass bowl and they''d have to fish out the right one for the random-ass gun I prepared for them! Fun, right?!"


    I chuckled, "I gotta admit, that''d be pretty fucking hell for me¡­ Was anyone hurt?"


    "Not at all¡ª some of them did experience cramps in the middle of it but the focus was fucking shooting shit you aren''tfortable or familiar with. We have the usual loadout for everybody but there''s just those times when you can only use what''s avable, right?"


    "That''s a good lesson, I agree¡ª But did Artem and his groupe back with you all or did they stay in Morales'' outpost again?"


    "They stayed, they stayed. Said they''ll be back until you need them but they''re doing work, I tell ya. In the future, we might just build outposts in each train station if we have enough people and after we clear each one. The problem is making the trains work and making sure they''re clear of those tentacle fucks.


    Seeing them from afar is eerie, especially if they''re hanging from it instead of just hanging their tongues down. Makes it look like they offed themselves."


    "That''s the n we had for a while but that''s a very big project. We have to consider the other LRT lines and the MRT lines too so we have the full benefit of transportation."


    Oscar nodded, "Well, Morales is the one doing some work on that. He already made contact with another group in Quezon City and it''s part of the same one in that Memorial Veteran Center. They have a group stationed near Balintawak, by that mall¡ª what''s it name again?"


    "Ay Mall?"


    Your next chapter is on empire


    "I dunno, that must be it¡ª but starting from Monumento then driving straight ahead over to Quezon City is where the MRT Line is, right?"


    "Yeah, it''s somewhat connected to the LRT Line and it''d be a huge boon to have full control of that."


    Quinn cut in, "And why is that?"


    Oscar answered, "Well~ we can just punch in to each station if we need something specific from a certain city instead of clearing the whole way down the road. The stations themselves¡ªespecially the big ones in the bigger cities¡ªare mazes themselves but they''re good outpost locations if we manage to secure them¡­ or if they let us, all of ''em."


    I added, "I kind of want that too but it''d be impossible with our numbers still. We''re based a bit far off from that area and the one who could benefit from that the most is Morales'' group and Iskoh''s. Add to that how we deviated our focus by going for Subic Bay and the other ces by the coast."


    "You got a point there, kid, but it wouldn''t hurt to try, right? We can still clear it for Iskoh and have him manage it himself. Better yet, once we have our donation of troops, maybe a dozen in each station could do the trick plus fifty or so civs, no?"


    I thought for a bit, "We''ll talk it with Iskoh first¡ª and Morales too. We might not be able to handle the whole thing but for the ones we could take over, it should be rock solid as any other outpost. And since we can easily close off the entrance and exits, we can min-max how many people we''d have on each station when the timees."


    "Hmm~ Sounds good, we''ll set up the meeting. He''s here now, by the way¡ª"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1230 You probably heard of me... - Small World

    Seeing one of Oscar''s antics when someone important visits our ce for the nth time, my first go-to was to run back to my room and retrieve a dose for someone''s cognitive functions because this dumb shit was fucking killing me.


    But yeah, I just assumed it had nothing to do with his head¡ªand just wanted to see my reactions¡ªbut still, he should''ve at least given me one or two hours to prepare to receive guests of Mayor Iskoh''s caliber. Experience more on empire


    Quinn cut in as Oscar cackled loudly:


    "Who¡ª Wait, the mayor who''s always on social media? That Iskoh?"


    Rin replied, "He''s the only one who does that, no?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, he''s the one. It''s for a purpose though and he walks the walk to. Ever see other politicians as big as him continue to serve his people?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Quinn quipped, "The President?"


    "Pfft¡ª Well, if you put it like that¡­" then I turned to Rin, "Can you finish the remaining batch for me?"


    Rin waved us off, "Sure! It won''t even be that long¡ª"


    Quinn stood up, "Can I clock out too? I gotta meet the guy face to face."


    "Yeah, yeah! No problem, you did good by the way!"


    "Thanks, bish¡ª Anyway, shiii~ don''t tell me he''s the one on the 911?"


    Oscar finally stoppedughing, "He is, he is¡­ Come on, he''s already inspecting your DB9, you might hit it off¡­"


    "As long as he doesn''t arrest me, sure."


    "Hah! Imagine."


    I shook my head, "If it was any other day, he probably will¡­"


    "He can always try but I''ll break his fingers first."


    "No, you won''t."


    "Try me."


    "Bahahah! I would love to see that, honestly."


    In any case, Quinn and I did have a recement¡ªand it was Alexa, of courseing to greet us but shoved by Oscar to the workshop instead to help with sorting spent casings while we headed for the Mayor''s general direction.


    And of course, as soon as he saw me in view, he gave me an upwards nod while I took off my gloves to receive his handshake, but more and more people were crowding around him as more people recognized his face.


    "You left your pregnant wife in Man, you fuck¡ª Are you crazy?"


    He then jabbed me in my stomach, "Jude''s with her, of course¡ª still gives me jumpscares whenever he pops out of nowhere but they''re cool like that. They always know where each other is," then he nced at Quinn''s DB9 once again, "I see you''ve started taking in luxury cars¡ª I mean more muscle and a rally car is present but¡ª"


    Quinn cut in as she towered both of us, "That DB9''s mine. You ain''t too bad yourself¡ª"


    "Holy¡ª I thought¡ª My eyesight''s already that bad, huh? I actually didn''t see you there, the name''s Francisco but people call me¡ª"


    "I know who you are, Mr. Mayor."


    "And you are¡­?"


    Quinn let out a smile, "You''ve probably heard of me but not in the way you think."


    Iskoh was taken aback for a moment, "I¡­ I still believe we haven''t met¡ª"


    "Nah, you''re a busy man, I doubt you''ll even remember us fully but I''ll take a chance. Your task force probably busted some of my boys for street racing, modifying vehicles that are not street-worthy, speeding, reckless driving, and since I don''t care that much anymore, transporting illegal contraband. Nice to finally meet the person behind those arrests."


    "...umm. I¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, you''re not the only one who put my boys in the pen but those things you caught us for are only for distractions. You made a dent but it''s that manageable."


    Iskoh lightly shook his head as he stared Quinn straight in the eye, "I haven''t got your name¡ª"


    Quinn then showed the number ''4'' tattoo on her neck, "Ring a bell? Hmm?"


    Iskoh''s eyed never grew so fucking wide, "No fucking w-way¡ª How are affiliated with¡ª I¡ª What¡ª Kid¡ª Single digit¡ª"


    Quinn never smiled so wide, "Then you''ve heard of me, Quinn De Leon, at your service. And before you ask, we''re business partners. I''m the one who gave him that Impreza and I''m betting on my bottom dor that 911 came from busting us as well. We have a warehouse near this harbor¡ª"


    I had to fucking cut in, "W-Wait, wait¡ª Hold up, that warehouse is yours?!"


    Quinn almost broke her neck as she snapped at me, "HOLD UP, YOU''VE BEEN TO THAT WAREHOUSE?! EVERYTHING''S THERE IS MINE¡ª I MEAN, NOT TECHNICALLY TO OUR NAME BUT YOU KNOW HOW ILLEGAL SHIT WORKS! WHERE ARE THEY¡ª SHIT! SOME OF THEM ARE HERE! THE FUCK?!"


    Iskoh was still fucking gobsmacked but I replied in the best way possible:


    "I mean, thanks?"


    "THANKS?! THE TRUCK YOU GIFTED MAURO FOR HIS WEDDING IS MINE! THAT''S¡ª AHHHH!!! WE GOTTA HAVE A FUCKING TALK! STAT! I THOUGHT I FUCKING LOST ALL OF THEM!


    AND YOU¡ª AHHHHH!!!"


    Jared cut in at the perfect time, "Thanks for the RX-7, Quinn!"


    "OH, FUCK YOU TOO!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    ''It''s really a fucking small world, huh?''


    In any case, as much as we all wanted to have a private conversation with each other, Iskoh had to do his rounds talking to everybody who wanted to meet him or just shake his hands. He was famous in his own way but I could see he had a lot more on his mind after meeting Quinn, but even after a couple of hours of doing PR work, our meeting was cut off by dinner time.


    Obviously, it was always a custom in this country to have avish meal when someone important visits, so it was safe to say everyone was fucking stuffed and the people who participated in Hell Week were starting to feel like they were on a vacation instead.


    In addition, with Iskoh present, I might move Tatiana''s training by a day since I might be swapping with her, but it didn''t take long before we were in Oscar''s house¡ªafter the general meeting¡ªwith Quinn, Iskoh, Royo, and surprisingly enough, Morales.

 Chapter 1231 I have some ideas.

    Obviously, Johnny looked like he couldn''t wait to bring up the subject we talked about yesterday and he was deliberately pushing off his ss of liquor while staring me dead in the eyes. But yeah, he was still polite enough to entertain Royo, who was in the same department as him, and his stories would always make Johnny let out this nostalgic smile.


    In any case, we still had a lot to talk about and Iskoh started by taking a sip of alcohol:


    "Mmmh~ This is good¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "Nothing but the best."


    "Heh, that''s right. It''s my first drink in a while¡­ Anyway, the people from Subic Bay have made contact with me and even though there''d be dys, the people they sent over were already a huge help with the dead¡ªand I''ve been made aware of our other project that keeps getting dyed. It has something to do with the train stations, right?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I know it''s a bitch to clear them alone but it''d be a huge boon if we reim it for ourselves."


    Morales joined in, "It''s been a while since I''ve seen you all but in regards to clearing LRT Line 1, my groups are going in a different direction but it''s still with a purpose. We didn''t have too many problems but QC(Quezon City) and Man¡ªespecially the ce you meet in the middle¡ªwere too fucking congested.


    It''s a fucking infestation after infestation and we need to take care of that problem too. It''s a miracle there are still people surviving out there. It seems neverending, for some reason, and mix it in with those weird ones and it''s a can of worms."


    Oscar added, "Well, our Russian friends are doing some of the work and we did a little in the day and you''re right, we need to redirect some of our people over to that side¡ªthe best way is to have them camp in your outpost like Artem''s group did."


    Morales nodded, "They''ve been a great help, really. We could focus on one thing at a time since they''re helping over between the areas we can''t cover with my main group."


    I chuckled, "You guys buried the hatchet?"


    "Somewhat, but I got beef with you now."


    "Me?"


    "Yeah."


    "How¡ª"


    "Why''d you make Jose stay over on that ce?! I need him in the Harbor!"


    I rolled my eyes, "He doesn''t want it here and he''s the perfect liaison for the Academy and the people I''ve been working with."


    Morales shook his head with a frown as he nced at Quinn, "You mean with her type of people¡ª"


    Quinn never backed down, "HEY! IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY, GIMME BACK ALL MY VEHICLES FIRST! YOU''VE BEEN HAPPILY DRIVING THEM, RIGHT?!"


    "Haah?! ALL OF THEM ARE STOLEN ANYWAYS!"


    "WHICH YOU FUCKS ALSO STOLE! I GUESS WE''RE IN THE SAME BOAT, HUH?!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    Iskoh cut them off, "HEY! We''re not here to argue! We do, kind of, but not in this type of way. I didn''t want to put this out there but as much headaches this group had given me in my term, looking at it now, they indirectly helped me in some way. The gangs of Man are no joke and the police can''t take care of all of them, they need policing of their own."


    Quinn scoffed, "We didn''t do shit to help ya, those fucks were just in the way. If you''d pay me for our indirect help, you can return my vehicles, especially the ones in your impound¡ª Take the 911 as my tip to ya, ya seem to like it."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I had to break the silence, "Alright, Quinn¡­ you know we can''t return those vehicles now because they''re obviously in use¡ª"


    Iskoh cut in, "If you know the model and the serial numbers, we can¡ª"


    Quinn cackled, "HAH! You think we do serial numbers?! I''ll know one of our own once I see them. But fuck it, keep it as us but you fucks owe me."


    Morales shook his head, "Why would we owe you?!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Quinn looked at him like he was an idiot, "Dumbass,pare how my cars handle to stock shit¡ªand if you had a semnce of sensitivity in ya, you''d notice how they drive that fucking well. And it''s all because of me. They weren''t there to be sent to me, it''s already for export or direct selling here¡ªwell, not all of them are but the ones who drove my shit should''ve at least noticed a difference."


    Oscar nodded a few times, "You took care of that Power Wagon?"


    "Yeah, a bitch to import parts. Had to make some of them on my own."


    "Haa¡­ You have no idea¡ª I owe you just from restoring that beaut, thanks."


    Quinn let out a smile, "At least some of you know how it is."


    Iskoh sighed once more, "Alright, if you have the time to visit my ce, we''ll¡ª"


    She cut him off, "I already said you can keep ''em, it''s finders keepers once the world turned to shit anyways. Just remember me when I cash in the favor."


    "Sure¡­"


    Quinn chuckled, "And I''m cashing it right now¡ª It''s very easy so listen up: we''re all the same right now so don''t get high and mighty on me just because you''re the fucking ''good'' guys. If you get stuck up on that bullshit that fucking guy *points at Morales* has been on ever since he found out I''m a criminal, trust me, we won''tst that long.


    You have it hard but we have it hard too, I''m putting my neck out for this shit to work between groups *points at me* and he is too, so give me a fucking break and just let me do what I''m good at. I can even help you fucks make the trains fully functional once you cleared it from the dead."


    Iskoh replied, "I¡ª I respect that, I do¡­ but we should really think about how we should start this first. She can''t work her magic on this if we don''t clean that ce up."


    I cut in, "I have some ideas."

 Chapter 1232 Easy Solution - Wrinkly-Ass Bitch--

    For a brief description, LRT Line 1 has 18 stations in total¡ªMonumento to Baran¡ªand it cuts through three cities which were Caloocan, Man, and Pasay. The distance between each station is a kilometer give and take¡ªbut even if our aim was to take over this LRT Line fully, we should be more selective in which ces to start.


    It''s not like we could easily build up 18 outposts just a kilometer from each other that easily, so aside from making sure we have total control of each end, three¡ªno, two stations came to mind:


    "Aside from Monumento and Baran, we should take care of D. Jose and EDSA. It''s the biggest among the bunch since they connect to LRT Line 2 and MRT Line 3 respectively and they''d be the biggest pain to clear out because of the walkways and shit¡ª"


    Iskoh cut in, "How about Blumentritt Station? It also connects to the PNR Metro Commuter Line, right?"


    I tilted my head sideways, "Yeah, but¡­ That thing''s down on the ground by the highway, it doesn''t necessarily offer the same elevation as the other ones I''ve mentioned."


    "Hmm. You''re right."


    I continued, "But despite that, we need a proper setup first and that''s closing off all the entrances/exits to each station. It''s just a couple of stairways on each end¡ªmaybe even an elevator and a fire exit depending on location¡ªthen again, it''s a different story for the connecting stations."


    Oscar cut in, "Aren''t Artem and his group¡ªwe included earlier¡ªdoing that type of thing? You can tell them to focus more on the stations rather than the backroads. It''s a straight shot too right before they reach the bridge."


    Iskoh gave a nod, "It''d be a little easier on my part since EDSA Station and Baran Station are just right next to each other but my problem from that is the dead below. I need more soldiers on my side and the Marines will be a huge help. Aside from that, the shopping district right next to it is just a fucking maze and anything could pop out from that."


    Oscar chuckled, "Then we''ll lend you the Killdozer. Just sift through the trash right after but I doubt there''d be anything important in that dump. It''s mostly sub-standard shit and fakes sold over there, right? The ones in the stalls, I mean."


    "I mean, yeah¡ª but I''d prefer the smaller bobcats you armored up. Easier to transport as well."


    Morales cut in, "Still, we can close off each station as we want but those fucks underneath the railings and hanging from above is the problem. We can''t use the same thing against them, we gotta clear the area fully."


    Almost all of us sighed at the same time:


    "That''s true¡­"


    "They''re a problem¡­"


    "Rather have roaches."


    I had to say it, "I mean¡­ It''s not like they''ve tied themselves on there. They''re just sticky enough to stick to the bottom. We already have the solution for them, right?"


    Iskoh looked at me, "What?"


    "Umm¡­ Firetrucks? Just the pressure alone could make them fall down and it''d be so much easier than picking them off one by one. I haven''t thought of it before but we''ve been using the same damn thing to wash the gunk off the roads, right? It worked on protesters before, it could fucking work on those Stitchers. We should just have a few teams or a perimeter ready before we start sting.


    We shouldn''t do it all at the same time. Worstes to worst, we''d use dirty water, it''s not like we needed those Alkaline bullshit to arm them."


    Iskoh cut in again, "What? I thought Alkaline water is great?"


    "Eh. Dr. Nichols told me they''re bullshit."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Who?"


    "Doesn''t matter, Alkaline water has a different pH level than our stomachs and once it reaches there it loses whatever magic it has. Just drink clean water."


    "Huh."


    I waved them all off, "So about my idea?"


    Morales chuckled, "Hosing them down?"


    "Something wrong with it?"


    "Nah, that shit''s perfect. It''s always the simple solutions, huh?"


    "It''d take a few trips but that''s the way to go, the easiest way, I think. Much better than using napalm¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "I would have disagreed with you any other day but yeah, we''ll do that¡ª"


    Iskoh waved us off, "I think umm¡­ I''ll head the operation on my side while Sir Morales heads the operation on his side. It seemed like you already have plenty on your te. My group solely benefits from this arrangement anyway¡ª since fifteen or so of the existing stations in LRT Line 1 are in my city. There''s zero in yours unless you count Caloocan with ya."


    Morales shook his head, "If anything, we''re all over the ce. It''s just¡­"


    "Wanna say something else?"


    "I mean, it''s great we''re clearing the streets of the dead but most of them are buildings from the old world¡­ I''d hate to say it but I prefer the route they''re *nces at me* taking right now because it''s near the coast and other than that it''s just hectares and hectares of farms where we could actually use to our benefit.


    What use are office spaces aside from their hard drives and whatever else is in them? What use are those call center cubicles we reced farms for?"


    Royo chuckled, "Are we going deep now? I''m all for it before I have surgery¡­ It''s in a few days but I''m open to this talk."


    I threw Morales a nce, "It''s not much, sure¡ªand I don''t wanna go the deep end because it''s up to us to make use of what we found, but electronics appliances and other stuff ripe for the taking are shit we can''t grow ourselves. It''s great to look at it that way but clearing the dead''s still the main purpose of you guys holding up out there."


    "Haa¡­ That''s true¡­ I''m up for some harder stuff if you have some?" Morales said as he downed his ss.


    I tried to warn him, "That''s not¡ª"


    Oscar quickly shut me down, "The guy asks for the hard stuff, we give him the hard stuff! Coming right up!"


    As soon as Oscar said that not only me, but Iskoh was already one step out the door but I had to carry Quinn out of that ce because it wouldn''t take long before those fucks destroy their fucking livers. However, Johnny still caught up with me as he offered Iskoh a ce to stay instead of Oscar''s but if he was really adamant about what he wanted, I thought I should just give him what he wanted.


    "You sure about this?"


    "I am."


    "After Oscar''s blood workes in. AFTER. Can you wait at least that much?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "And we''ll BOTH talk to your family¡ªespecially your wife."


    "Already did but you''ll just hear the same thing. If I fucking lied to you forget everything I said."


    "You want the same thing as the old man, right? Or do you want something else?"


    He smirked, "Look at me, kid, what do you think I want the most?"


    "Smooth skin? You look wrinkly as fuck, you wrinkly-ass bitch¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "I''m joking! I''M JOKING! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT! LET''S WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME AND I''LL HAVE THE OLD MAN ADMINISTER IT!"

 Chapter 1233 Quick Refill

    Short story even shorter, the moment Johnny discovered that I agreed to let him have a dose, the motherfucker suddenly moonwalked back to Oscar''s house¡ªeven with his prosthetic leg¡ªbefore shouting for joy.


    Obviously, him asking for the increased lifespan PLUS the reinforced bones/recovery was still very doable because he''s the first person I''d allow to plunge into the deep end with my "stash", but at the end of the day, I''d want to save some for myself or a few others if I don''t see debilitating side effects.


    ''Jennifer might want someter along the line too¡­ We''ll just see how far my hard work could take me PLUS how far these mutations could get before I dip into it¡­ or not¡­''


    But yeah, Quinn instantly jumped me right as I closed the door to my house and we weren''t even able to reach the stairs because she was already on top of me while I was sitting on the couch.


    She broke our kiss for a moment as she aimed my huge cock in her and sat down, easily taking me right up to the base, "Haa¡­ Haha¡­ Caught you off-guard, didn''t I?"


    "A little, but I''ve been a bit much yesterday¡ª"


    "I heard. Shit was hot, not gonna lie~ But it makes it even hotter that you''re giving up everything tonight though¡­"


    "Well, not everything, per se¡ª"


    "PFFT! HAH! I know, I know¡­ But trust me once Kaley breaks open your ass, I''m next."


    "You¡ª We''ll do it once you sail back¡ª"


    "HEY! That''s not fair! FINE! I''M STAYING HERE FOR AS LONG AS I COULD!"


    I pulled her back for a kiss, "I wouldn''t you moving in, honestly¡­"


    Quinn''s insides twitched as she started to slowly move her hips, "Y-You¡ª B-Be careful what you wish for¡­ E-Enough talk, you''ll be a good boy and sit down like that, and don''t you get fucking soft while I ride you or else you''ll be riding my horse cock, understood?"


    I ced my hands on her hips as I leaned back, "Enough of those silly threats, you wanna get knocked up, you gotta work hard for it too, Ma."


    Quinn''s face flushed for a moment before she leaned even closer and smushed her humongous tits against my face, "You¡ª I''ll fucking break this couch if I have to¡ª"


    Right as she held the cushions of the couch by my head, Quinn started to move her hips violently but only for a few seconds before she nted her feet on the couch and started to squat-ride me¡ªsqueezing me so fucking hard while pulling out just before reaching the tip of my cock and mming down with the full weight of her body.


    She still had her head, arms, and torso at the same spot while her lower body''s doing all the fucking work, but god fucking dammit, anyone would''ve happily died in this fucking scenario.


    "H-HAH! HAH! HAH! FUCK! YES! YOU LIKE THAT?!


    YOU LIKE ME PINNING YOU DOWN AND FUCKING YOU?! YOU LIKE ME FUCKING YOU HARD?! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I WOULDN''T STOP EVEN IF BOTH OF US CUM OR THIS COUCH FUCKING BREAKS! YOU''LL FILL MY WOMB AS MANY TIMES AS I WANT AND YOU''LL EVEN THANK ME FOR IT!"


    While Quinn was in full control, she was enjoying every bit of it as her eyes turned maniacal as she was watching my every reaction¡ªand each time I let out a whimper instead of a grunt turns her on even more.


    She wasn''t holding back at all when she told me she''d break this fucking couch we were in and even I was a little worried because I''ve never heard this couch creak so fucking hard while a woman was riding me.


    Even so, even if I could hold back cumming for as long as I wanted, I wanted to give her the satisfaction of winning over me by cumming in less than a minute¡ªbecause let''s be fucking real here, I would''ve probably if I didn''t have full control¡ªbut it was a little too effective when she saw my face contort and feel her womb get pumped full with my warm cum.


    Once she had the realization, her expression turned to panic for a short bit before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she suddenly gripped me even more as her insides contracted almost at the same time I was pumping away in her.


    "S-SHIT! C-CUMMING! FUCK!"


    And once we felt the warm stream from below, Quinn looked a little off her game as she was red through her neck, but her momentumpletely stopped as she was having the tremors. However, I just found it so adorable as I pulled her face for a kiss while sinking my hands onto herrge udders, slightly pushing my hips up, and requesting for another round.


    And if she didn''t move at all, I''d obviously take the reins but she tried to save some face as she went back to her original position and rode/grind on me the same way.


    "Y-You¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­"


    "What did I do?"


    "Y-You can''t k-keep getting away with it¡­"


    "Get away with what?"


    "Ugh¡­ H-How are you so¡ª MmH! F-Fuck¡­ P-y with my ass all you want but y-you''re only going in my p-pussy¡­"


    "I dunno¡­ Seems pretty full to me¡ª"


    She suddenly smothered me with her breasts, "S-Shut up! I-I''m fucking you, right now¡­ Y-You don''t get to decide¡ª You¡ª I didn''t tell you to stop p-ying with it¡­ Y-You love doing it with Kaley, right? Do it to me too¡­ As much as you want¡ª AH! YOU¡ª D-Do it again¡­"


    Then all of a sudden, I gave her left asscheek the strongest p I could give from my position before I squeezed the other one. It would''ve been painful in a normal setting but with Quinn being Quinn, she loves all sorts of things, and getting roughed up was one of those things.


    However, it didn''t take long before I was the one doing most of the work as I was thrusting my hips up while my fingers were exploring her ass¡ªbut it was probably on my third orgasm when someone else walked in on us and wanted more than ate-night cereal bowl.


    "H-Hey! I-I was waiting and i-interrupted this morning! I-I want my turn!"


    Quinn and I were slightly taken by it as she was the first one to look around:


    "Who¡ª E? Haha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Are you sure you really want to start with this cock? Even I could barely handle it, you sure?"


    "Ah¡ª I-I-I¡ª I-I DO! N-NOW!"


    Quinn let out this devilish smile, "Fuck it, I''m full as is¡ªbut you prolly won''tst long. I''ll wait right here."


    "But¡ª"


    "All yours~"


    And as Quinn got off me, full or overflowing wasn''t even the right word to describe what was happening below her but I still have lots to give. But with our sudden interruption, my huge cock was still throbbing and ready for its next victim but how I handle E, who was now panicking about what she said, should be more differentpared to Quinn where rough sex was amon urrence.


    In addition, with E''s frame, I should be as gentle as the time I took Mimi and Nancy''s firsts even if she had more meat and fat in her bones.


    ''How do I do this¡ª''


    And while I was thinking of the right thing to do, Quinn was already acting all nonchnt about the situation while E looked like she wanted to do it somece else. With her personality, she wanted it to be sort of special and she did just that¡ªslightly meeting me in the middle¡ªas she put her put down:


    Continue your adventure at empire


    "I-I want him alone, you big-titty perv! At least give me that!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Where can you be alone here? Every room''s upied! And the bathrooms aren''t that special¡ª"


    "That''ll do just fine! I-I don''t w-want it to be m-messy¡ª I-I cleaned and all as Kaley taught me but y-you know¡­"


    Quinn''s eyes rounded from surprise, "Oh~ Like the twins, huh? Fine, I already had my fill anyway~"


    E nodded several times, "T-That''s great! S-Some of them are still in the g-gym and they might j-join us when they s-see us so¡ª" then she turned to me, "C-Come on! C-Carry me then!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You for real?"


    "OH SHADDAP! I HAVE MY FANTASIES TOO!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In any case, as we left Quinnughing her ass off, E couldn''t be more red as I obliged carrying her in my arms to the bathroom¡ªthough it was still a little weird she was still fully dressed while I was already on my birthday suit with my half-erect cock swinging left and right.


    However, once we closed the door behind us as Iid her down, she couldn''t stop shaking all over and she couldn''t even look me in the eye.


    "E?"


    "Y-Yes?!"


    "We can do this some other time if¡ª"


    "N-NO! I-I¡ª S-SHOWER! QUICK!"

 Chapter 1234 Anal Seckus?

    Right as she stomped her foot and pointed at the shower while barely able to look in my general direction, it took everything from me to notugh my ass out because it was both funnily ridiculous and absolutely adorable. But yeah, the shower was a great ce to start because my body had my and Quinn''s juices and smells mixed together.


    It''s just that E looked like she just nned to watch me clean myself but I dragged her with me and pulled her clothes off myself.


    And yeah, I can''t believe I still haven''t tend to E''s needs fully even if she''d been with us multiple times. She even had the option to use a strapon on Mimi¡ªto which I heard, she enjoyed¡ªbut that was a story for another day as I tried to turn on the shower.


    "Y-YOU¡ª I-I just did my pigtails! It''ll get wet! A-And¡ª"


    "We can aim the shower head to me and¡ª Oh? Look at what we have here¡­"


    "D-Don''t stare at it too long! K-Kaley said i-it''ll help¡­"


    I lightly tugged on her cute little buttplug, "How long have you been wearing this, huh?"


    "N-Not long¡­ I-I took it off a few times but¡ª HNGH! D-Don''t p-pull on it j-just yet!"


    I kissed her on the cheek, "Alright, what do you wanna do? Aside from anal seckus?"


    "You¡ª You''re making fun of me a-again!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I''m just making you less nervous¡­ You''re still shaking, you know?"


    "W-Well¡­ Y-You''re p-poking me w-with that¡­ I-I don''t even know h-how it''ll f-fit¡­"


    "You don''t need to take it all, I''ll be real gentle¡­ Don''t worry¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ I-I¡­ I trust you¡­"


    "So again¡­ What do you wanna do first? I washed off everything now¡ª"


    At that moment, E reached for my face so she could give me a kiss but with our height difference, she was standing on her tippy toes. So I then easily lifted her up and sat her down on the bathroom counter before we explored each other''s mouths with our tongues while at the same time touching each other''s bodies.


    "I-It''s¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ S-Still so h-hard¡­"


    "Y-You''re so wet too¡ª"


    "T-That''s not the¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ Just saying¡­ Want me to lick you there again?"


    "Y-You will?"


    "I want to, yes."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "But you wouldn''t mind me licking other ces too, right?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Obviously, I tasted her lips, mouth, cheeks, ears, neck, breasts, nipples, armpits¡ªfucking everything else before I tasted her pink puffy pussy that''s never been touched and it was fucking drenched the moment I got there. E was hard of breathing from the anticipation and she couldn''t control herself the moment my wet tongue made contact with her most precious parts.


    "H-HnghH! Y-Yes¡­ MmnNgh! I¡ª HmnHh! A-Ahh¡ª H-Huh?"


    But to her surprise and disappointment, I stopped before she even had a release because I wouldn''t want to fuck her little ass when she was passed out. I would fucking eat her every single day if I want to but her first orgasm should be targeted ordingly.


    And on that note, I slowly pulled on the plug that was inside her tiny asshole¡ªand it revealed a very small gape, which I thought wouldn''t help much¡ªand let''s just say Kaley taught her fucking well as my tongue instantly chose its next destination.


    "YOU¡ª A-AH! THAT''S¡ª MMhhHh! W-WHY¡ª S-SO¡ª HNNNnNNHGh!"


    And to my surprise, E''s enjoying getting her ass eaten more than her pussy and it was checking a lot of boxes. She was squirming harder and moaning louder but it didn''t take long before she asked me to put it in herself.


    "You sure now?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª b-but can I see m-myself in the m-mirror?"


    "Anything you want¡­"


    "T-The lube''s in¡ª"


    "Already ready¡­"


    "O-Oh¡­"


    "Then¡­"


    "B-Be gentle¡­"


    Even with all our preparation, there was still a difference between our heights and it was a slight logistic issue. But yeah, I want to make this veryfortable for her so I just needed to bend my knees a little bit and aim my huge cock in that very tiny hole.


    E was already bending down with her juicy ass spread for me, and even with the mirror in front of her, she was still looking back and staring at the person that would take one of her firsts:


    "Here I go¡ª"


    "A-AH! H-H-Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I¡ª C-COLD¡ª MmHmH! MMnH¡­ Nnn¡­ Ahn¡­"


    With the tip of my cock slowly entering her small asshole, E''s whole body tensed so I went even slower as I pushed it centimeter by centimeter. At the current moment, E had her eyes closed but she was biting her lip, moaning, and still spreading her asscheeks apart as I was stretching her with my tool.


    "O-Oh god¡­ Oh f-fuu¡­ K-Keep g-going¡­ K-Keep going¡­ NmNmm¡­"


    Hearing that, I drew it back a little bit before pushing it a little more which made her grimace and buckle, but I felt her body backing up to me when I decided to slow down. We were still barely at the halfway mark because I kept pulling a little bit when we were met with some resistance but every single time, she''d fucking lean her ass back so I could be deeper and deeper.


    However, right as we hit half our goal, E just straight up orgasmed as warm liquid came out of her tiny pussy, and I watched her eyes open for a bit before it rolled to the back of her head as she had to support herself by leaning on the counter.


    In turn, I had to hold her hips so I could also support her body from falling down but she sent me to the fucking edge when she turned around and looked at me with puppy eyes:


    "I-I don''t care a-anymore, D-Daddy, it doesn''t hurt¡­ P-Put it a-all the way in¡ªHNGH! Y-YEsSsS! Y-YES, DADDY! YES! I¡ª HMMNH! Y-YES!


    F-FUCK ME!"


    To her surprise, I fully extended my legs and lifted her lower body off the ground¡ªas she was still leaning onto the counter with her hands¡ªas I pushed my dick in her all the way which made her have a much more violent orgasm.


    Right at this moment, her feet were hanging and swaying from the ground as I was pushing her body to the limit by taking in something so big and getting fucked with it over and over. For some reason, even getting called "Daddy" which wasn''t my cup of tea, fueled me to give this dirty girl what she wanted.


    "AH! A-AH! Y-YES! F-FUCKKKK! H-HOW¡ª DADDY, IT''S SO GOOD! Y-YOU''RE FUCKING MY ASS AND¡ª A-AH!


    I-I WANNA SEE! I-I WANNA SEE, DADDY! PLEASE!"


    Hearing that, I lifted her up so she could lean her body on mine¡ªand so she could wrap her hands around my neck from reaching behind her¡ªwhile I was holding onto her meaty thighs as I moved her up and down like a fuckdoll.


    Before doing this, I was actually worried she''d pass out from the pain or get scared from the potential blood but all of that was for naught by discovering she was an anal slut. Part of the reason could be the things Kaley taught her, to make everything we''re doing enjoyable, but seeing a virgin like her cumming so hard from getting fucked in the ass¡ªand taking my full size¡ªwas something else.


    She had this dazed look in her eyes as she was melting from the pleasure but seeing her full body on disy didn''t make mest long even though it was my fourth shot of the night.


    "D-DADDY¡ª HnNHGh! W-What¡ª IS THAT?! IT''S SO¡ª MmNhGH! AH¡ª I-It''s p-pouring in, Da¡ª HmnnNhGH! Y-YES! YES!


    I-I can see it f-flowing down¡ª AH! HnghhHH! C-Cummingggg!!!"


    Find your next read at empire


    At that moment, E just sprayed the bathroom mirror as she never came so violently but it took me a few more thrusts to discover that she had passed out. And as much as I want to feel her tight ass, I decided to put a plug on it¡ªnot literally¡ªand cleaned her up right after.


    But yeah, even if we did things alone, she couldn''t find enough pillows to bury herself in embarrassment when she woke up and everyone in our circle gave her a standing ovation in my room. All she could do was scream through the pillow but it didn''t take long before Kaley told her it was just for a bit of fun and asked her if she was okay.


    Though Quinn quipped almost immediately, "Why wouldn''t she be? I''d be good to sleep if I get fucked in the ass every single night¡ª"


    "QUINN!"


    "What? She cut us off earlier, I had to say something."


    "But¡ª"


    E waved Kaley off as she finally faced us, "I-It''s okay¡­ W-Was just surprised f-from everyone but I-I really enjoyed it¡­ K-Kind of wanna do it again¡­ V-Very, very soon¡ª"


    "That''s where you''re wrong!"


    "H-Huh?!"


    "THERE''S A LINE, BITCH! D''YOU KNOW HOW LONG I WAITED FOR ALONE TIME! SHIT''S CRAZY!"


    "YEAH! IT''S YOUR FIRST SO WE LET YOU CUT IN LINE!"


    "I-I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1235 First Station - As long as it works...

    In any case, after resuming whatever nightly activities we had for a few more hours, let''s just say that since Tatiana couldn''t¡ª I mean, shouldn''t beat up all the participants of Hell Week for a full day, we brought a ratherrge group to start up the operation we talked aboutst night.


    And with Oscar''s training not so physically demanding, everyone seemed to be fully rested even if some fatigue was left over for them running over a 100 kilometers.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ve talked over breakfast about this n and it''s as simple as simple goes. Everyone ready?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    As I spoke through our channel, I heard several replies from my group, Artem''s, and Morales'' and we always start a clearing operation by sending a couple of drones in the air and sting some music.


    Of course, our music choice right now was the sirens from the fire trucks we brought but it was pretty obvious that Artem did their fucking work as only a handful of clusters showed up from our end of the station.


    Still, my group took the right side of the road while Artem''s group took the other so we could advance up the steps.


    Morales was in charge of everything below, including the trainee''s participation¡ªespecially with the use of the fire trucks¡ªbut since only gunk was present on the Monumento Station, we didn''t have to wait for the Stitchers to drop down after getting hit with a Hydro Pump.


    With that said, the steps to the Monumento station should be around four people side by side while extending their arms, but it splits in half, coils around, and joins again after a few dozen steps, revealing the tform with the ticket booths, splitting it by the railway from the other tform from the other side.


    And from ourst visit, the train derailed and blocked the highway below but since clearing it with arge group, we just had to clear this station from the dead and close it up before making our way to D. Jose Station which was around seven or so kilometers away, with six more stations in between.


    -n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    *bzzt*


    [Station''s clear with gunk, moving on a little forward to spray a few meters.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Gotcha!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Careful about dropping bodies from the tforms! It''s a ssh zone over here!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sorry! We''ll just let them slide the steps then!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Designated spot for the bodies is by the elevator! Chop them up first!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Backside''s still clear! No sign of the undead!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What about that old mall?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m watching it, none still!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Careful, they''re all bunched up the railing. Only a few could climb up the tforms but there are still a few in there!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, thanks!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    On that note, our side had a little more deadheads on the stepspared to Artem''s but theirs seemed to have more on the separate fire exit and the tforms themselves. But yeah, once we cut our way to the top, Ibarra had a st punching holes in the deadhead''s heads on the railways because his weapon had the reach advantage.


    Tatiana and I could do the same thing but it''s just easier with his spear because it''s like he''s ying billiards.


    But yeah, I had Ruben and Brownie carry those watering cans with a pump so they could also spray the steps with water because we''d rather slip in that liquidpared to coagted blood. It was after Brian and Carlo took care of the bodies we put down, making a ry of sorts from the bend.


    Stay connected through empire


    Never did they think they''d do janitor work while clearing the dead but sometimes, that''s just the way to go because it must''ve been a bloodbath in this area when it started.


    However, it didn''t take long before the dead on the railway got more and more agitated from the stimulus of us creating a lot of noise, so they pushed and pushed with their rotting bodies and we finally knew one way how they''d manage to climb up.


    In addition, the more obvious reason some of them could climb was if they were fucking specials¡ªor in our case, ferals¡ªthat needed to be put down immediately.


    Brownie shouted at the top of his lungs, "INCOMING!!!"


    Brian eximed as he chuckled, "It''s like one of those coin games! Hah!"


    Brownie cut him off, "Take off those thick gloves now and pull out your gun! They''reing!"


    "Nah, they got it¡ª"


    "HAHH?!"


    "Yeah, we fucking got it."


    Confused at Brownie''s reaction, I forgot that he had never seen my group in action because as Ibarra continued to punch holes down the dead, he almost lost his shit when Kaley shot between our bodies, made it whizz past the dregs, and aimed for the special ones lunging¡ª or should I say, about to lunge on all fours.


    With Jared watching the group below, we only had Kaley with us but we didn''t need two shooters up top, and like Ibarra''s spear, how Kaley acquires targets with her rifle and shoots them down quickly was more needed than Jared''s long-shooting expertise.


    But of course, Brownie''s worry was warranted and Brian''s nonchnce should questioned but I don''t wanna sound cocky or anything because we really did have it.


    These several hundred deadheads stuck on the railway were like fish in a barrel because the tform was up to their shoulders and they had a very small chance of getting out. And if they ever did, they''d either face cold steel or a hot lead bullet, and they''d be back on the railway as a small stepping stone.


    But funnily enough, out of all the people on this tform, I almost lost my shit when I saw Ruben bring out a fucking pitchfork to do almost the same thing as Ibarra but with an added caveat since he could pull the bodies up and have Brian and Carlo slide them down the steps.


    ''I mean¡ª As long as it works, right? Hope he brought two¡­''

 Chapter 1236 Pitchfork Clutch

    Seeing Ruben pull out a corpse¡ªor a partial one at that¡ªeach time he''d sink in the four prongs of his pitchfork to the smorgasbord of expired pounds of flesh made me realize he had some bit of strength in him since the way these corpses were stuck to each other was even more than conjoined twins squished by a hydraulic press.


    Weird metaphor aside, it''d definitely take a while for a single pitchfork to do all that work but I soon became desensitized to the surprises when Quinn came in bearing thest one.


    I had to say it, "Dude. It''s hours before lunch, the fuck you brought your fork for¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª SHADDAP! IT''S EMBARRASSING AS IS!"


    While everyone was trying to avoid Quinn''s ire, it didn''t take long before the part of the railway we were in was very much at capacity and it allowed the deadheads below to step onto their fallenrades.


    And since they were just getting squished and squeezed by the ones trying to get to us¡ªand as more of them fell, it allowed for a slightly higher elevation, making them the most fucked up slope made of flesh and bone.


    But despite all that, as much as Brownie and Brian were itching to do some actual work, I held them off like an owner pulling on their dogs'' leash to allow more deadheads to climb up just for less work from Quinn and Rubenter.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    We just made them hobble towards us right before the steps but right as I was about to let go of my dogs'' leash and join in myself, Kuzma fucking flew from the other side of the tform just to join us in our assault. He easily bridged the distance with a single jump¡ªafter dropping most of his gear, of course¡ªand he just went on a rampage wielding his two handaxes.


    In turn, the rest of us just let loose the same way but shit was over in less than a few minutes.


    I nced at Kuzma''s weapon of choice and chuckled, "Two axes, huh?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I thought you''d pick a¡ª"


    He cut me off, "A sickle and a hammer? I left it back home."


    "HAH! We''re gonna be good friends chicken-man."


    "Naw, nahhh~ Don''t call me that!"


    And as the others tried to dig more deets from his nickname, more and more deadheads managed to climb or get pushed up the tforms just to get put down by ourselves. Kuzma wouldn''t have jumped over here if there were climbers from the other side but with how fast Artem and Katya work side by side, there was barely enough for them to go through but I just had a thought:


    "What about the side entrance to the mall?"


    Kuzma stepped back and looked at me, "What side entrance?"


    "There are two side entrances! One for this shopping mall and one for this love hotel¡ª they''re located at the bend right when you get up the first set of stairs¡ª"


    "Ah! Nah, nah, it''s closed-off shut with the roll-ups though I''m sure it has its inhabitants."


    "We''ll clear it after we close off this station first."


    "Alright."


    On that note, our system of sorts was still moving slowly for all of us but it still produced results. Because from our side, looking to the right was where most of the deadheads wereing from¡ªand it was where the other stations should be¡ªbut to the right was one of the ces where the trains would be parked, and we could see the numbers from that side dwindle.


    And even if a portion of the protective barrier was broken¡ªfrom the time one of the trains derailed and hit the highway¡ªit was easy enough to patch it up but seeing less and less of them from that side didn''t mean it was clear of the dead.


    In addition, our sub-goal was to close off the path to the right so we could safely clear the path to the other side and see if the other trains were still functional. There was the issue of the shopping mall and the love hotel too but it was a sub sub-goalpared to this one.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before our factory line of clearing the undead leveled up from one radio call and a couple of dudes riding a motorcycle to deliver fresh tools for the trade:


    "Hellooo~ A shipment of pitchforks for Sir Ishiyama?"


    "Here! Here!"


    Then Kayta shouted from the other side, "Hey! Where''s ours?!"


    "C-Coming! I mean¡ª one of us is¡ª There he is!"


    "Why''d you need a picture of me for this pitchfork?!"


    "P-PROOF OF DELIVERY MA''AM!"


    "I''LL RETURN IT SO BUZZ OFF! WE''RE WORKING HERE!"


    "Y-YES! APOLOGIES!"


    ''Good thing Morales'' outpost is very close¡­ Pretty obvious a university like that has some lying around¡­ who knew we''d use these though¡­ heh.''


    As weird enough to use tools to transfer hay to transfer walking meat, it really did make the job easier. We didn''t even need to wait for the dregs to climb up since we could just punch a hole in their heads and lift them up in one go though the trick was to pick a side where there was enough space to go around.


    Because even if I could lift a deadhead up among the crowd, it would still need more strength and I can''t be caught off-guard by doing this type of work. It''s pretty honest, sure, but I was still looking our for possible threats like Kaley was scanning around with rifle in hand.


    And yeah, I''d hate to say this again but who fucking knew a pitchfork woulde in clutch because it saved us a lot of time since we took three fucking hours just to have a gap on the railway so we could have our people brought in the barriers for closing up this station. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    It was nothing pretty but it was solid enough to bar anything froming in or climbing up¡ªsince it was higher than the barriers of the station itself and it was on a reverse decline¡ªbut we had to hose down the station for the nth time because of the gunk and whatever fucking mixture of dirt, blood, and whatever was on the flooring and the railway itself.


    Brownie nced at our barrier momentarily, "The fuck? Who took the time to make that? Shit''s awesome! Solid as fuck!"


    Alright, it''s pretty.


    In any case, I had a group watch the barrier still¡ªwhile picking off some that they could¡ªwhile I came in with de and pistol drawn to the ce where they dock their trains with Kuzma and Tatiana.

 Chapter 1237 Non-Human - Im game.

    Using my TX22 nestled gently on my other arm, I''d use it over my katana because I can''t just invade space while I wasn''t sure about the shit that might jump us, and a few mags of .22 LRs wouldn''t hurt in exchange of that. In addition, Kuzma with his AK, Tatiana with her Benelli M4, and Kaley with her Reaper was enough backup¡ªeven if one was ways~ away in the back.


    And as I suspected, there were at least a few dozen stuck in several ces in this lengthy parking spot but I was delighted to see that none of them got inside the rest of the avable trains.


    I was aware of some of them making nests like this other station we cleared out in Man with C4 attached to drones, but this time, the nests they picked were the underside of the train station. But yeah, I was still very careful about checking each one¡ªmaking use of the RC cars Ken modified to run on almost every rugged surface, so I could also check the underside of the trains themselves.


    Kuzma tapped me, "Hey, I thought this station was the end of Line 1, why does the railway curve over to that side and go on? I thought MRT Line was over there?"


    I replied, "This ce IS technically the end of Line 1 but it was extended to three more stations to connect to the MRT¡ªbut as you can see, not only was it blocked by what''s left of the train that derailedst time, if I remember correctly, it was also under construction and if you look further~ over there, it''s cut off on one end and you''d see the dead way~ over on that side and falling."


    "Oh. Didn''t notice that small cut over there."


    Tatiana waved us off, "Let''s check the train that derailed. There should be more inside even if it''s a single car. We''ve checked everything besides that, correct?"


    "Yeah," I nodded before I tried to contact June.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo. Can you fly over that toppled train car on our side? Just check for surprises, don''t worry about the drone."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Okay! Will do, will do.]


    *bzzt*


    - Find exclusive stories on empire


    From the time I wiped my de and switched to my rifle, June got back to me and told me that there weren''t any good spots to check the train car on its side because all the windows were either¡ª no, cracked in all ces and had smudges of dried blood keeping her from peering inside.


    Even the receiver couldn''t pick up anything when she tried to make some noise through the drone''s speaker¡ªon top of its des whirring nonstop¡ªbut despite all that, Kuzma still gave the train car a solid kick while Tatiana stomped on it from above to see if anything would respond.


    And after a few more attempts, we then fully broke all the windows and make June fly the drone in to see once again.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Anything? There should be, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah~ Should be¡ª Oh! Look over on that end with those¡ª ugh¡­ d-dead rats¡ª those are rat skeletons, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I jumped down and checked the spot.


    -n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, prolly tried to keep eating this one¡ªwho seemingly ate everyone else in this train car too¡ªrats couldn''t learn that it is instant death once they consume tainted flesh so they just kept going and going until this one ran out of its meat to give. Well¡ª it still tried to fight back though, some bones in its stomach looked non-human too."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [N-Non human?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡ª rat bones."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You¡ª Don''t say it like that!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "My bad, my bad¡­ We''re done here, kindly check on the others. Thanks again."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay! Want me to check the shopping mall? I could see several entry points?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure. It''s an old one, anyway. Not as big as the usual ones."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, putting the idea of chopping up this wreck in the back burner, the three of us returned to the station tform. I checked the barrier we set up again and this time, Ruben, Brownie, and Brian were already chucking the bodies they''d pick off from the bunch over to the side¡ªstraight down the road below where a new spot for collecting them was designated.


    Artem then approached me, "I heard your techie''s checking the mall. The guys below said the floor below''s pretty clear¡ªsame thing with the love hotel''s first floor. Wanna bust down the roll-ups here and be done with it?"


    "Let''s wait for June first for the mall but you see that ledge by the love hotel? If you can jump on that and climb up that roof over there, if you turn to the right and hug the wall, you can probably reach the fire exit and reach the roof of the love hotel."


    He smiled, "Walk our way down while you guys work your way up?"


    Katya cringed, "That sounded way~ dirtier than usual."


    Artem turned to Kuzma, "Who''re you going with? I see you flying all over."


    Kuzma chuckled, "You know me, I''m with the exciting shit¡ª" then he turned to me, "No offense, dude, but you know¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Yeah, yeah, knock yourself out. Be wary of the tight hallways and the airlocks to some rooms. You can kick them down but there might be a party¡ª"


    Quinn cut us off, "Hey! The fuck you guys clearing those two buildings for if we still had this railway to clear off?! I''m not leaving here till it''s squeaky clean!"


    I nodded a few times, "Exactly."


    "Haah?!"


    "You think we''d all fit in that space? Stay here with Kaley and the rest while I go down to this love hotel with Tatiana."


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, chuckling, "Pretty early but I''m game. Plenty of condoms there, I''m sure."


    "Hah! ANYWAY~ Yeah, we''ll clear this love hotel first before we clear the shopping mall."

 Chapter 1238 Dont out yourself!

    As Tatiana and I made our way down, I brought Marvin and Isaac with me before we went to the main entrance of this love hotel. Obviously, since Oscar brought them here yesterday, there wasn''t much¡ª or anything, really, on the first few floors aside from the ones stuck or locked in one of the rooms tightly shut.


    Isaacmented, "Really weird how they kept the same theme for every branch, huh?"


    I chuckled, "Don''t out yourself like that¡ª"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª I''m a lonely guy, alright?! Forget I said¡ª"


    Marvin cut us off, "Something''s in the kitchen, sir¡ª"


    Tatiana took the lead, "Breaching¡ª"


    *BOOOM*


    Easily blowing out the locks with a 1 oz shell load, Tatiana pulled the thick door for Marvin toe in with his spear¡ªand even though it had the disadvantage in tight spaces, as long as he used it to just thrust, he''d be okay.


    But in addition, he had long upgraded his spear to a detachable one like Ibarra''s¡ªand in a secondary addition, he was clearing the corners in a textbook manner which was something Tatianamented on them long before that they should improve upon.


    As that was happening, Isaac already vaulted over the counter to manually unlock an even thicker door¡ªthat acts as a pseudo-airlock before reaching the steps to the rooms above¡ªwhile I was watching all of them within an arm''s length just in case.


    On that note, I heard the sound of des entering flesh and it seemed like Marvin took care of an indentured cook while Isaac took care of a receptionist that locked herself in one of the rooms and died of starvation.


    "Kitchen''s clear, sir."


    "Over here as well¡ª The door''s open for ya, it''s made sure to be soo~ clean, so good. Heh."


    I rolled my eyes, chuckling, from hearing this hotel''s tagline, "Stop messing around, aim that 88 up since you still aren''t used to that tachi. You still can''t aim for shit either but that 00 buckshot''s the way to go in situations like this."


    "Hai, hai~ Wan''t me to break this ss divider for another escape route?"


    I nodded as I turned to Tatiana, "Yeah, and¡ª Tatiana, pry open the elevator door. Marvin, back her up."


    "A''ight/Roger."


    In tight spaces like these, we had to have more entrance/exit points¡ªbut the trick was to make sure that those passages wouldn''t surprise us when it came to use them. In addition, another sub-goal while clearing this love hotel was to make sure the elevator''s location was confirmed and the inside was free of surprises.


    It was still a very sore spot for Tatiana''s group but it was just one of those ways to keep everyone else safe.


    But yeah, we soon discovered that Artem and his group had just finished clearing a floor and the rooms avable but I still ordered mine to keep the same pace while reminding Artem of the elevator sub-goal.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Roger.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Isaac cut in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Remember folks¡ª not to out myself or anything, regr and deluxe rooms only have one door to the room itself while the premium and the executive rooms have two.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    And as soon as Isaac gave out that valuable piece of info, a string of messages, roasting, mocking, and chastising him flooded in but it was all in good fun. The guy outed himself for the sake of everybody clearing these rooms who definitely weren''t in the know and Artem''s thanks to him made everyone settle down.


    But yeah, as we made our way to the second floor, the smell of rot and decay just became stronger because of the poor venttion¡ªthough I had Isaac guard the stairs¡ªTatiana prying open the elevator door again¡ªas I made my way to the corner that would lead us to the secondary entrance which was closed off by the steps to the train station.


    ''Ah, fuck¡­''


    The first thing I saw was a congealed b(?) of deadheads that melded together after being stuck together for god knows how long but the thing that left the most impression was that they looked like someone ate a bunch of fish and didn''t bother turning them over.


    It was because their whole posterior chain was chewed up to the point that their organs were dangling down but the rest of them in front got stuck in the barricades that were supposed to protect them.


    Looking at what was left of their clothes, it didn''t look like it was this ce''s uniform so I assumed these were people who tried to make this ce their own but all sorts of shit happened that turned them into that. Stay tuned to empire


    So yeah. I easily dispatched them with my de but I heard several wet footsteps before my group started sting.


    "YOU ALRIGHT?!"


    "YEAH! JUST UNLOADED ON THESE FUCKS! STAIRS ARE STILL CLEAR!"


    "Elevator''s clear¡ª and here too. No passenger, luckily, so are we gonna start clearing the rooms?"


    I waved Tatiana off for the moment, "Nah. Not yet¡ª Lemme call the boys over on the other side first. Let''s just let Artem do their thing above."


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Ruben forced open the entrance to the other side¡ªso we could ce the barricades and the bodies I took care of somewhere more essible¡ªbefore I had my current group break into each room and see if we''d get lucky.


    It was getting rarer and rarer to have supplies out in the open so let''s just say we''re taking chances on these rooms made for quick relief.


    And we actually did find a stash in one of the closest executive rooms next to the fire exit. In addition, another set of barricades was ced between this room and two others¡ªbefore the hallway splits¡ªand I''m very sure the six or so people I cleared were the owners of those rooms kept away from everything else.


    "BRO! JACKPOT! I FOUND IT! ME!" Isaac eximed, waving us to run over to him.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "What did you find¡ª"


    "THIS 20-INCH DILDO¡ª HOLY FUCK, IT''S HUGE! AHHHH! WHY''D YOU CUT IT OFF, CINDY?!"


    "STOP FOOLING AROUND!"

 Chapter 1239 Someones Happy. - BROOOOO!!!

    Out of all the things this dumbass would pull out, it was the fucking dildo¡ªand if he didn''t wave it around someone like Cindy, I would''ve loved a repeat of the time from this other love hotel where we found a bunch and used them as fucking lightsabers and a percussive instrument for one of Phil Collin''s songs.


    ''He''s having too much fun¡­''


    In any case, once I entered the room he was just in, the ce was definitely packed with myriad shit ranging from essential stuff to luxury items.


    I wasn''t even sure how they found the time to collect several mini-fridges¡ªand it was unfortunate some of the items had already expired inside¡ªbut two of seven had melted chocte, ice cream, etc. and it''d be at least a year before we reach the expiration date.


    But yeah, I asked Tatiana to lead the group up with a few others while I checked everything here with Isaac because we were only in one of three rooms and we didn''t even know what else we could find in this ce.


    I would''ve helped her clear the following floors but Kuzma just kicked it up a notch and started clearing floors at record speed. In any case, the most Tatiana could do with the rest of the squad was see if they had more things they could work on in regards to clearing rooms and taking care of the dead.


    So, I''m here with Isaac in this executive room looking around:


    "You checked for weapons?"


    "Pretty basic shit, dude. Machetes, knives, baseball bats¡ª We''ll see in the other rooms if they have guns."


    I nodded, "Yeah, remember to pick ten items from this bunch. You earned it."


    "Psh. Unless I find a treasured de here, I''m pretty good."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You sure? You can still trade the shit you keep for items you might findter." Continue reading stories on empire


    "Ah¡ª If you put it like that then I''ll take the most expensive shit."


    "Except for the guns and ammo, alright? You can only have one of those and if you don''t want any of them, we can trade it in for a better one¡ª"


    "How about crossbows, dude? You have a few, right?"


    "If you''re going at it alone, sure, but its caveat is pretty useless if everyone else has guns, right?"


    "I mean¡ª can I have one?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "If you put it that way, sure. It''s one more thing to learn but make sure to not forget everything else. You''re trying to learn too much shit at once."


    "Yeah, yeah¡ª Oh, what''s this thing? Needles?"


    "That''s¡ª Oh. Those are needles for acupuncture. Want me to open all of your meridians to unlock your qi paths?"


    Isaac stopped in his tracks, "Bro¡ª You¡ª Don''t joke with me like that, alright?! I''m¡ª"


    "Fine, fine~ If you don''t want to, be my guest¡ª"


    "BROOOO~ STOP!"


    "HAHAHAHA!!! It''d be nice if it''s that easy, huh?"


    "Heh¡ª"


    I mumbled, "You gotta experience death for that¡­"


    "You said something, bro? Death?"


    I chuckled, "I''m still fucking around, d to see your ears are doing fine¡ª"


    "Asshole! Whoa~ Shiiit~ These are Pocket Monster cards¡ª Ah, fuck¡­ Their family photos are here too¡­ Shit¡­"


    "You okay?"


    "Yeah¡ª Just caught off-guard. I''m good."


    "Alright. Breach the other doors for me and I''ll take the lead."


    "Sure, bro."


    At that point, we found pretty much the same thing in the other rooms but what surprised me was the amount of canned goods they managed to hold on to plus the variety of guns they managed to hoard themselves.


    To be fair, they were right next to a shopping mall but if they managed to hole up here while the dead outside was that many, they had fucking balls of steel to choose this ce as their hideout.


    But yeah, the special variety we found was a fucking Colt Python chambered in .357 Magnum, a Kimber 1911 chambered in .45 ACP, andst but not the least, an MP5 chambered in 9mm¡ªbut the weird thing was, it had a muzzle brake instead of a suppressor.


    Isaac tilted his head, "It helps with recoil, right? If I remember correctly¡ª"


    "Sure, but¡­ with an MP5? With a sh hider, maybe~ or if someone had a different style of aesthetics but it''s running a 9mm, you don''t need a muzzle brake for that. Unless you really have bad control but¡ª ugh¡­ If anything, it''s like with lifting weights, focus on how you do it properly first before adding on essories. Remember the time I lifted with Sebastian?"


    "Yeah?"


    "That''s one of the few times I actually used a lifting belt and shit. It does help but if someone is a beginner, you shouldn''t stick to external stuff that''d help(?) you right off the bat. If someone learns the proper techniques first, like with shooting guns, they''d learn a muzzle brake on an MP5 isn''t that¡­ useful."


    "Because they''re pretty much used to a niner''s recoil?"


    "Exactly."


    "I see¡­ Must be why Oscar told me to take off the muzzle brake on this 88 even if it would help me with it."


    I nodded, "Well, it''s already pretty umon to use muzzle brakes on shotty''s¡ªexcept for those inpetition¡ªbut it pays to not rely on them too much. So, what are you taking home?"


    A smile then formed on Isaac''s face, "I guess I''ll probably take the MP5, one of the mini-fridges, that gamingptop, the defibritor, those Jordans, that diamond ring in the 2nd room, this silver chain, that Switch, that bottle of edible lube, and whatever the fuck this key is used for."


    I chuckled from his choices before looking closely at the key he found:


    "Ah¡­ This is for a motorcycle. An NMAX, I think?"


    "For real?! Shiii~ I really hit the jackpot, didn''t I?"


    I rolled my eyes, "You didn''t. I know it''s your birthday, asshole¡ª I checked your file."


    "Bro!" Isaac didn''t know what to do.


    "What? It''smon decency, no?"


    "BRO!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "BROOOO!!!"


    "If you hug me with that bottle of lube in your hand, I swear to fucking god¡ª"


    "BROOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1240 Genius Way To Die

    To avoid any misunderstandings just in case someone else shows up, we settled it with a fist, elbow, and shoulder bump before having a group secure these rooms by calling over a closed van to gather these items. Of course, a portion of it would be given to Morales'' group¡ªmostly the food and maybe all the ammo¡ªbut we''d divvy everything up once everything was over.


    In any case, we didn''t even take more than 30 minutes checking these three rooms out so when we joined Tatiana and her clearing group, they were just about done with the 3rd floor.


    And of course, she had two groups clearing rooms at the same timeposed of three people¡ªand another group tasked with chucking the bodies through the window. The Deweys¡ªexcept for June¡ªwere the ones in charge of thetter objective though Cindy looked like she wanted to do something more violent or homicidal.


    "Dammit! All these gear and I haul whores'' bodies! Ugh¡ª Is that a bloody thong?!"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Everything they''re wearing is bloody¡ª"


    "I don''t care! I want to do what they''re doing now!"


    But yeah, I didn''t even need to do anything as Tatiana shut her down:


    "You don''t get to do what you always want around here, alright?! I''m aiming to rotate your assignments on the fourth floor but with the way you''re acting, you gotta calm your tits first before you put your siblings in danger."


    "BUT¡ª"


    "Oh, I''m gonna have a field day with you, once it''s all over~"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I was just¡ª"


    Right as Cinddy was in midint, we heard three shotse from the left side followed by several more,ing from different guns.


    It was a tell-tale sign that Marvin''s group opened a door where an orgy or a gangbang was probably conducted before the big surprise because as the shots died down and as we came to check on them, it seemed like bite-y had gone too far in addition to how much stuff could a body get prated with something more than a penis.


    I''d just spare most of the details and leave it to one''s imagination because some shit shouldn''t even fit or go in those ces.


    ''These fucks are reinventing the Kamasutra, that''s for sure¡­''


    But yeah, one other thing I wouldn''t spare any details about was this other room where an upant tried to fend himself from a masseuse just with an ashtray and the avable sheets.


    Granted he was sessful in defending himself, but he couldn''t do the same thing with all the roaming upants and hotel staff, so he ended himself by tying his neck using the TV''s power cord and miserably trying to hang himself while his feet were still on the ground.


    Lemme be honest, getting hanged was one thing because it''d be over once someone''s neck snapped¡ªbecause of gravity doing most of the work¡ªbut the way this dude did it was more horrible since you basically had to choke yourself slowly, and he probably tried multiple times and seeded using what was avable to him.


    Isaac couldn''t hide his disgust, "You mean¡ª"


    Eden was grimacing as well as she cut in, "He used that bottle of lube so he wouldn''t be able to stand up?! H-How?"


    "I mean, it''s genius in a morbid way but unless you really wanna die, our body''s knee-jerk reaction to survive just kicks in, prompting us to stand up if we''re in the situation. This guy just had no choice on the matter."


    Cindy shook her head, "I¡­ I don''t even know how you concluded it with that¡­ I thought this was just a crime scene and I thought only people who tried offing themselves could think of this¡­"


    I dryly chuckled, "I mean¡­ Nevermind¡­"


    "WHA¡ª You¡ª D-DON''T DROP THAT ON ME LIKE THAT!"


    I put my hands up, "It was a long time ago and things are very different now¡ª and it''s a very~ long story I''d rather not tell now¡­ but yeah, it''s just a slip¡ª I mean, pun unintended considering our circumstances but¡ª"


    "DICK! D-Don''t do that!" Cindy suddenly jabbed me on my shoulder.


    Tatiana piled on, "To be fair, I''m kind of in the same boat as him with my childhood but I''d just go out with a bang at that point. See how much I''d take down with that fucking ashtray."


    Cindy couldn''t believe her ears, "G-GUYS! Please! I¡ª I-Is this part of Hell Week? Putting me through mental torture?!"


    I was confused, "No, why?"


    "It was just¡ª Ugh¡­ I mean, it might be a way for you guys to cope but¡ª"


    "Somewhat, right?" I said as I turned to Tatiana, in which she nodded a few times as well, "Correct."


    Jeremy nudged his sister, "That''s why you don''t ask questions you don''t want the answer to, alright?"


    "YOU¡ª It was just something I learned from¡ª" then she turned to us, "I-I''m sorry, shouldn''t have asked that question¡­"


    I waved her off, smiling, "Nah, you did nothing wrong¡ªaside from being a homicidal maniac, you''re good."


    "YOU!"


    "What? If you wanna keep killing shit for sport, you should''ve just stayed on the railway with Ruben and Brownie! Kaley and Quinn are there too!"


    "UGH! We gotta have a real talk after this! You guys are so mean!"


    "It''s our fault now?! Huh!"


    "S-SHADDAP!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Short banter aside, it didn''t take long¡ª I mean, it took us an hour after noon topletely close off the love hotel¡ªand the shopping mall right next to it¡ªincluding Monumento Station, before retreating back to Morales'' base of operations to have lunch.


    As I said before, it was in this university we passed by and did a few jobs before, and it was looking much betterpared to the time we were herest. Because not only did it look intimidating and secure from the inside and outside, but upon closer look, Morales had a nice system going on even if this ce''s main purpose before was a short stopping point before clearing off dregs in the area. Explore stories on empire

 Chapter 1241 Anything to add?

    Upon a broader look, its main entrance/exit along with its two other sub-entrances/exits were manned with enough people, an rm system, crisscrossing barricades, a vehicle or two with a mounted gun, and if you''d look through the adjacent buildings, he had other people watching from above with high-powered rifles.


    In addition, the other ces that might gain entry to the area were closed off from the outside with metal tes¡ªand before going in, an intensive check was needed, including a full body inspection and a washdown.


    But yeah, aside from therge open space in the center where college students used to lounge around¡ªwhich was now being used by his residents for whatever purpose¡ªevery other ce was just as secure as their entrances.


    ''Two helis up on that building, military vehicles all over, and the essential shit to the side¡ª It''s stricter here for a purpose but it''s better than beingx andzy¡­ Even the younger folks here look intimidated despite their time spent in this ce¡­ And there are those guys¡­ Seem reformed but not even sparing a word to Artem and his group, huh? Luckily, Mikhail''s not here¡­''


    Just for a bit of a refresher course, before Artem and his group were under mymand, they were in a separate ind group handled poorly by the soldiers under Morales''mand, causing them to lose some people before they were sent over to my side.


    However, it didn''t take long before the same soldiers were sent over here for deserting their posts andmitting other crimes¡ªand if it weren''t for Morales, their heads would''ve rolled on the same day.


    Still, those guys still gave me a respectful nod before moving along to their current post while Artem just nced over them without making a fuss¡ªunlike the rest of his team, opting him to make them settle down¡ªbut yeah, everything''s pretty calm as we were waiting for our food to get done.


    And with that said, Morales took me aside for some feedback since he saw me looking around:


    "Anything to add?"


    "Paint? Bright colors."


    "You serious?"


    "I love the security but this is a university, not a fucking jail. It''s just depressing to look at, honestly. I can paint an anime character with huge tits on one wall if you''d let me¡ª"


    "You keep fucking around¡ª"


    "I am but I''m also serious."


    "..."


    "You already have shit in ce and there''s nothing else to change it besides the atmosphere. You can''t enjoy delicious food if it''s one fucking color or smells nothing, right?"


    "If you put it like that¡ª"


    "What do you do here for entertainment?"


    He thought for a bit, "We have spars at nights and betting and some light gambling. We have the gym, movie nights, but yeah, some guys have ying cards, their TV shows, DVD yers, and whatnot¡­ Also, I''d hate to say this but we have a few people here known to relieve stress for a Klondike Bar."


    "I guess you have that pretty set too¡ª"


    "Still doesn''t sit well with me."


    "Think of it as a necessary evil. It''s one of the oldest professions for fuck''s sake. And not everyone''s built to have rtionships."


    "Coming from you who cucked the president and have girls line up left, right, and center¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Coming from you who''s only had one in his life¡ª"


    "It''s by choice! I won''t cheat on my wife!"


    "I''m not saying you are and I''m not saying I''m great either. What I''m saying is that people do different shit and you shouldn''t judge them just because you''re okay with what you have.


    While it''s true some people would kill for what either of us have, as I said earlier, not everyone''s built for rtionships and some of them just wanted a quick relief or a different face or¡ª I mean, something casual."


    He scoffed, "Those girls already talked to you, huh?"


    "I gave them business advice, actually."


    "YOU WHAT?!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I mean¡ª It''s rough out here, you know? They have to protect themselves and have others consider their jobs as real jobs. Sex work is still work and it''s keeping your soldiers frommitting something that warrants an execution. So again, necessary evil from your perspective. You either pay and treat them well for their services or you''d wake up with some of your soldiers with a gash on their neck."


    "What do you mean protect themselves?"


    I shook my head, "You have no fucking idea the trouble sex workers face from day to day, huh? Your soldiers might be in more danger since they''re facing the dead but who gets the brunt of their leftover aggression after the fact when some of them just went through a life-or-death situation? And again, context clue: not everyone here has an avenue to drop all their shit to. Get me?


    You have your wife to talk to but the others just can''t talk to their hands forever, no?"


    "...shit. I do, I do¡­"


    "So yeah, after this, they''d ask for permission to go back¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª"


    "Let me finish, they''d ask for permission once a month to go back to my ce for a proper check-up and a bit of a rest day, not that there''s anything wrong with your clinic here, and take it some time to talk to Micah to have some girls sub-in for them for the time being. She''s in charge of that department and trust me, it''s more than happy wife, happy life in dealing with a group like yours.


    And I''m pretty sure you just need to look in the right direction. It''s not a bad thing if you do it the right way."


    "Alright, alright¡­ I think the food''s ready. Let me feed you guys at least before you go back, we can handle this from this point on."


    "Hah?"


    "Artem and his group will still stay, right? I can sub the ones you''re training with mine and it''ll be good. You have better shit to do and we''ll do right by ya. Agreed?"


    "If you put it like that¡ª Agreed. Let''s eat?"

 Chapter 1242 Adult Problems - Tamiya?

    With everything said and done, not to nitpick or anything, and no offense¡ªI mean a little¡ªto the cooks but this ce''s whole maximum security shtick seemed to have bled onto their food as well. I could''ve understood the strict portions but it''s like eating in oatmeal despite the nice bnce between carbs, protein, and fats.


    But yeah, it wasn''t a problem too much to handle with salt and pepper shakers.


    In addition, Tatiana''s secret bacon stash and Artem''s ability to spawn hot pockets from anywhere he''d wish came into y¡ªand even if everyone else who ate saw what we were doing, they just didn''t say much but Morales let out a huge sigh.


    "I do apologize for the food, I''ve just had the best dinner at your ce yesterday and here I am serving you something with very little seasoning¡­"


    "It''s okay, if it''s by choice¡ª"


    "It''s my wife''s choice, not ours, not everyone''s. We just had a fight and she''s been doing this ever since. We''re gonna have another talk after this and she should understand she shouldn''t mess with everyone''s food just because we had a little spat. She could do it with mine if she''s that angry but this is just embarrassing and ridiculous."


    Oscar cut in, "Just apologize. It''d be easier that way¡ª"


    Morales shook his head, "I will certainly not. It''s not even my fault. Besides, with all due respect, it''s not any of your business¡ª"


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "She made it everyone''s business if she pull shit like this, you said it yourself, it''s embarrassing. You either take her off the kitchen or you apologize even if she''s in the wrong. It''s one thing to let her keep doing it but it''s another thing to let your fight affect everyone else.


    I know it''s just food but you''re husband and wife, resolve the fucking issue like adults¡ªor partners would, or have her cool off somece else and pay visits whenever you have the fucking time. You''re acting like fucking children."


    "..."


    "..."


    Morales then stood up after cing his meal to the side, "I guess I will do that, again, I apologize."


    Oscar scoffed, "At least you apologize when you know you''re wrong."


    "Excuse me, then¡­ Do inform my officers if you have to leave while I''m still talking with my wife¡ª"


    I cut in, "We offer¡ª I mean, my wife''s mother, Marisha, offers couple''s therapy. Don''t be shy to pay a visit once and again if you can''t resolve shit yourselves. We''re already meddling in a sense but I just want to put it out there. Food still has a bit of vor though, it''s not bad per se but¡­ N-Nevermind that, have a nice talk."


    "...alright. Thanks for the advice, kid."


    As soon as Morales left for the kitchen, it was obvious from the reaction of his people that they knew shit was going on but couldn''t say anything, but they couldn''t be that mad at either party for the things they were going through.


    Though Oscar piled on, "Haaa~ That guy needs some friends. I thought we already got him loose from the alcohol but it''s problem after problem once he got more and more drunkst night."


    "Old man¡ª You know what''s going on, then?"


    "Yeah. We''ve talked about it in length yesterday, they just needed topromise, not do this chicken bullshit and see who gives out first."


    Kaley joined in, "What happened, anyway?"


    "You know, family stuff. The wife wants a safer ce for their kids while the husband wants them all together. That''s one of the reasons this ce looks like a fucking prison but that''s not what his wife wanted at all. It''s safe in a sense but it doesn''t look like a good ce to raise kids, yeah?"


    I nodded pensively, "I see now. He just asked me beforeing here about anything else to add and the first thing I told him was paint. Brightly colored paint."


    Alexa never interjected so fast, "That''s brilliant! I was just about to say that too! I can even paint a wall here¡ª"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Hah! That''s what I mentioned too aside from the other stuff but yeah, they shoulde to an agreement. It''s either they make a portion of this ce a little homely or have the wife and kids back home with all the other wives and kids who are staying with us. He can always pay them a visit and we can always give them a separate house but it should be a little closer with their kids'' ages¡­"


    Oscar pushed his te aside after finishing more than half of it, "He''s just being a stubborn son of a bitch, I get it, I do¡ª He kept saying it''s not his fault but in this case, it shouldn''t be about them, it should be about their kids. I''d hate to say it but I''m with his wife but her doing this type of shit doesn''t sit well with me either.


    It could be all she could do but they have to have a proper talk with Marisha to properly hear both sides. I doubt they could sort this shit on their own."


    With that said, it was pretty obvious that Morales was taking a lot of time¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªso in that case, I asked Artem to lead the same group without us, clearing 5th Avenue Station and the kilometer-long railway span between Monumento Station.


    The n used was to clear them surgically but with how my head works, it just works better this way and we''d just have topletely close off the preceding stations before we get to the connecting stations we nned to take over before. And in addition, it''d be a lot safer if we had a path we could safely turn our backs to or have a little less security on that spot.


    Still, even if they just managed to hose down the gunk under the railway, it''d be a job well done given the time left before sunset.


    ''Wait a second¡­ Oh! That could work¡­ right? Definitely!''


    And this was where I had a nifty idea for the blockades we left back home. It''d be a pain to have our engineers cut ''em up again and fit something for a special purpose but it''d be much better that way moving forward. In addition, just the flexibility it could provide would prove useful if there ever came a time the LRT Line 1 gets breached.


    However, on our drive back, I didn''t even notice I was looking at Quinn with a weird smile.


    She never looked so weirded out as she palmed my face away, "You¡ª Don''t¡­ I''m down to fuck every step of the way but don''t fucking look at me with that smile¡ª It''s a fucking ick, honestly."


    I chuckled as I rebooted to my normal smile, "I''m sorry, remember the blockades we started makingst minute where we only managed to make one that we used earlier?"


    "Those¡­ Those are words, sure¡­ But yeah, I remember why do you ask?"


    "I''m thinking of adding some wheels on ''em."


    Quinn shot me down, "That''d be easy but why? It''s not like the protective barriers on the side are the same width! It''s lucky enough the ce we dropped it in was a perfect fit."


    "You silly, silly goose¡­ You''ve never had a Tamiya before, huh?"


    "The fuck is a Tamiya¡ª HOLD UP! OH, SHIT! THAT''S PERFECT!"


    "If anything, we''d only need one, right?"


    Kaley cut in, "What are you talking about again? Tamiyas? Isn''t that the old cartoon way back when?"


    "That''s the one! I even have a few in storage too! I can''t disy all my shit back home! So yeah, we''ll drop by Jude''s ce first and I''ll show everyone the thing so you have a better idea!"

 Chapter 1243 Tamiya/Mine Cart Hybrid - Youre gonna die.

    Funnily enough, even June couldn''t rte to us even if she was kind of a nerd through and through, but yeah, I was surprised for a gear head like Quinn to know something about toy cars from an anime I used to watch when I was a kid.


    For some context, when Kaley and I were in highschool, the show came back on one of out local channels and it just boomed for a year or two which meant some hobbies formed and I may have purchased a few from saving up on my allowance.


    In addition, they used to be raced in this track just above the store itself and seeing the railway gave me an idea to make shit easier for us.


    With that said, once we got back home, I quickly fished my own keys to let myself in Jude''s House¡ªwhich technical was still mine¡ªbefore taking out this old dusty box from one of the safes. And yeah, the fucking wave of nostalgia once a few dudes and dudettes my age saw it put a smile on my face.


    Chris Keh straight up lost his shit, "BROOOO! Is that a fucking Tamiya?!"


    "Yeah, custom-built."


    "That''s with the silver mas and everything, right?! We used to race ours back then!"


    "I rewound it myself too and¡ª"


    "Holy¡ª What''s with the front and rear bumpers?! Those are some fancy-ass bearings! You fucking still yed after it died off, huh? This is pro shit, dude! Jeez!"


    "A man can''t have a hobby? That''s the n for this afternoon, anyway."


    "What n? And don''t give me that crap, you have ALL the fucking hobbies!"


    "Heh¡ª You''ll see, you''ll see¡­ Can you please call over Raphael for me? He''d love to see this, for sure."


    "Alright, bro, I will¡ª Maaan~ So cool to see stuff like that! We can make it ourselves, right?! Create a league of some sort¡ª"


    "Easy now, heh. One at a time. We gotta restart making the barriers first."


    "Huh? What? Why?"


    Quinn cut him off, "You''re not even in the same group¡ª"


    "Hey! I mixed the cement, alright! I helped!"


    "Sure~ Sure~ Carry on~" Explore more stories with empire


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we huddled up and thought of a way to cut into our existing barriers to put train wheels at the bottom¡ªwith solid brakes, of course¡ªand the most crucial part, the side profile, which would have thick springs from shock absorbers and arge ball bearing or any type of wheel¡ªalmost stacked on top of one another¡ªthat would push onto the protective barriers to the side of the railway system so that it would tightly fit in within a certain width.


    "This is cool but if we cut it straight on each side, we''d have to put something to hold them up since the weight of the concrete would push them down¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, just cut in the same holes we''d have with the wheels at the bottom and cut in more narrower inside for the shock absorbers."


    "Wouldn''t the space between them be too thin? They''d break if we do it like that. I say we scrap everything we made before and make something new by pouring the cement into the mold with some metal bars to act as bones."


    "Hold up, hold up, just make the fucking indentsrger so we could slip in metal tes in between."


    "Oh, an exoskeleton instead of bones? That''d save us more time and resources."


    "We gotta have a pair though."


    "A pair? AH¡ª It''s supposed to move right? Why not make it a mining cart of sorts from the get-go? It''d be better if it could carry a bunch of people and have it run with a motor."


    "Hmm~ If that''s the case, wouldn''t it still be better if we make it from scratch? It can''t be too heavy and they''d still have to assemble it on the train tforms so¡­ you know, I''m all for saving us some time and resources but we could always reuse the other stuff for other projects."


    "Hmm¡­ I would''ve argued against it because it needs to be heavy so that the dead couldn''t push us back but since we''re putting on breaks on ''em, it''ll work just fine. A few wedges here and there works wonders too."


    "Hmmrghh~ A wedge behind the wheels is good. Can we also make the front in a shape thay gets them thrown overboard if they push too much?"


    "Ooh! You''re right, you''re right¡­ We do it from the top. No need for a blueprint, right?"


    "Eh~ Just make one for documentation. There are other train lines too so let''s have the other ces do their shit for them."


    "True, true¡­"


    "Heh, all this from the race track of Tamiya''s, huh? A bit niche but it works very well in this case."


    "Just had a brain st moment. It''d be useless once we make the trains themselves running."


    "Still. Nothing wrong with going manual from time to time. Shit needs to be pushed gradually or that lever thingy those mine carts have, right?"


    With that said, once I was done drawing the blueprint, the motherfuckers threw me out of the warehouse and politely asked Quinn to leave in fear of getting bludgeoned to death. For some reason, everyone else was adamant that I had more important shit to do besides bringing some ideas to the table and resolving some issues.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But yeah, I didn''t care much if I was doing something I could easily delegate to other people because one, it''s fun, and two, before all this started, I''m used to doing things myself. Still, it was a nice thing to have people to rely on but I just spotted Rin with Nancy, using a pushcart to deliver a couple ofrge Colemans filled with ice to our big gym.


    ''I guess it started, huh?''


    So I quickly offered help:


    "We got it, we got it, you have¡ª"


    "Better shit to do?"


    "Don''t you?"


    "I mean¡ª I''ve been all over the ce recently¡ª"


    Rin chuckled, "That means you should focus on one thing at a time."


    "But the important shits are all pending! That''s why I''m juggling different tasks at the same time! Have you seen Kaley though?"


    Nancy answered, "Ah, she''s with thedy¡ª I mean, she''s with Edith, June, and E. They''re on the range again just across the gym. Are you going to join them or¡­?"


    "We''ll see. Kaley''s already good at teaching them, especially the women, so I think I''d rather see Tatiana figure out how to make everyone else use all this ice you brought."


    Rin shook her head, "She already is¡­"


    Nancy couldn''t agree more, "It''s actually our second trip¡­"


    "Haah?"


    "Well, this is both for pain relief and punishment. She''s been doing something weird too."


    "Weird how?"


    "You''ll see."


    "Alright."


    On that note, the weird thing Tatiana was actually doing was not knocking everyone out from one blow but akin to wearing them down from¡ªguess what¡ªmore cardio, a three-minute educational spar with her, weight training, a match with a participant, and a quick five-minute break before doing the same shit over and over.


    It was like CrossFit with MMA involved but the smile Tatiana gave me when I arrived told me I''d have to do the same thing for my "beloved" students.


    So yeah, she can''t just give them the educational spars all at the same time but with me present, she''d have an easier time as I take on all the boys¡ªbut let''s just say that even if we''re a proponent with equality, outside our gates, we can''t just choose our opponents at any given time.


    "H-Ha! HA! HAA! H-Haa! H-Hold up, YOU''RE STARTING WITH ME?!" Alexa couldn''t believe her eyes as I stepped onto the mat with her.


    "Yeah. You''re gonna die¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1244 Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms...

    Before I could even release an ounce of killing intent, Alexa''s first instinct was to turn fucking tail and run for her life¡ªand if it was any other day, it would''ve been the best decision of her life.


    However, as our goal for this training was to have a spar educationally¡ªmeaning: the instructors weren''t allowed to knock them out in one blow but instead, receive blows while giving instructions or improvements¡ªI can''t just let my prey¡ª err¡­ my current student off.


    So yeah, I started to give chase but once she was almost out of the sparring area, the fucking bitch abruptly slowed down and used the force in her legs to jump back and surprise me out of the blue by sending a horizontal slice through my torso.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But to her fucking surprise, I took the hit dead-on as I grabbed onto her leg and easily swept her other feet, fully mounting her in a matter of a few seconds.


    "Now grit your fucking teeth¡ª"


    "W-WAIT¡ª"


    *BOOOOM*


    For added effect, I release a tiny~ bit of killing intent before I punched down but my fistnded on the mat instead of her pretty face. However, Alexa''s head was still in the thought of her receiving a deathblow and she still had her crossguard put up while her whole body was shaking and covered in sweat.


    I had to flick her forehead to get her out of that loop and the look on her face as she was so relieved she wasn''t missing half her face was fucking priceless.


    "W-Wha¡ª Huh?"


    "Nice trick but you should''ve aimed for the head. Let''s go again," I said as I stood up and offered her a hand.


    "You¡ª Hah¡­ Ha¡­ Alright¡ª"


    "Motherfucker!"


    And right as she locked hands with me so I could pull her up, the bitch had once again coiled like a fucking snake on my right arm to perform an arm bar, but to her dismay, I''ve dealt with this type of shit many times before.


    In addition, she should''ve known that I could easily fling her weight around just from seeing me lift Quinn without issue in our "sessions", and again, if she had the ability to wrap on my arm like that, she should''ve just sprung up and kicked my chin¡ªor as I''ve said earlier, aimed for the head.


    "HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG?!"


    At this moment, she was just hanging on me like a fucking sloth¡ªwhich was just embarrassing¡ªas she tried to move around to somehow pull me down with her weight, but I already braced my core and hinged my legs slightly to carry her much more easily.


    So, after I told her her mistakes and things she could''ve changed, she slowly let go of me as we finally was about to do a proper match.


    Read exclusive chapters at empire


    "Alright. One more before I switch to Bri¡ª"


    Chris then cut in, "I''m about done, bro! I told you! I''ll catch up!"


    I shot him down, "Eh. You''re pretty much sitting in at this point, I''ll deal with youst¡ª"


    "WHAT?! BRO, PLEASE! I WANNA JOIN!"


    "LATER! LATER! I''M BUSY!"


    Ignoring his pleas, I waited for Alexa to fullypose herself as I stood at the spot all cool and rxed.


    "H-HERE I GO¡ª"


    I met her jab with mine as I easily moved away, "Don''t fucking announce that you''re going, dumbass! Your shoulder''s already giving away your first attack!"


    "I-I''M¡ª AHHH!"


    "You''re fighting a guy! We''d almost always overwhelm you with strength so everything you throw at me should fucking count or aimed at my weak spots!"


    "Y-YOU DON''T HAVE ANY WEAKSPOTS!!!"


    "Wha¡ª H-How about my kind heart?"


    "Y-YOU¡ª STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"


    "Everyone''s head is a prime weakness but our fucking dick and balls are our Kryptonite! We''d rather lose an arm or a leg!"


    "What?! R-REALLY?!"


    "I dunno? Oscar said so! He said it''s the first thing everyone in his toon always ask when they woke up after a bombing. There was also one time¡ª"


    "Y-You! Stop telling me stories while we''re sparring!"


    "Then do fucking better so I could focus on you¡ª THERE WE GO! CLEAN, PRECISE, AND FUCKING COMPACT! IT''S NOT THE BIG MOVES, IT''S THE SMALL ONES! I SAID EVERY SHOT HAD TO COUNT BUT IT DOESN''T MEAN YOU''RE NOT ALLOWED TO USE FEINTS AND SETUPS! THEY''RE CRUCIAL TOO!"


    "W-WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"


    Then I suddenly got up in her face and looked her straight in the eye, pulling the shit I did with the twins, "I love you, Alexa¡­"


    Alexa had never been this fucking red, "W-W-WHAT?! I¡ª"


    Then I knocked the bitch down with the simplest leg sweep:


    "Dumbass! Don''t fall for cheap tricks! If you can aim at my balls I can also aim for your heart! That''s what you call a setup!"


    "B-BUT THAT''S NOT FAIR! I-I-I¡ª"


    "Worked too well, right?"


    "S-SHUT UP! I-I wanna go again! I-I-I know the best setup for you!"


    I waved her off, "Eh~ You can try when it''s your turn again, Brian, you''re up!"


    "UGH! I SWEAR, I''LL CATCH YOU OFF-GUARD¡ª"


    Funnily enough, Brian was already watching the whole time I was teaching Alexa some basics but he just had this smug look on his face like he already had this in the bag.


    For one, I already know that he fights outside ofpetition rules¡ªwhich was totally understandable, but still a little scummy¡ªbut since I''ve kind of inferred that everything is fair in this educational spar of ours, the motherfucking dumbass had the best idea but the worst fucking execution.


    Everyone already knows about some of my weaknesses but not too sound too cheesy, it''s¡ª I mean, she''s also one of my strengths. And with how I messed with Alexa''s psyche by telling her I love her, Brian tried to do the same thing but he should''ve chosen something oundish by saying he snuck into my room and vandalized one of myic books or something.


    Instead, he said one of the most taboo or suicidal things to say to me:


    "I got nudes of your bitch in my phone, sir! Wanna see¡ª"


    Once I fucking heard that, in all honesty, he would''ve received full marks for riling me up, but there was a stark difference between throwing someone off their game and pissing them the fuck off.


    But yeah, just for the sake of it, I wouldn''t knock him out in a single blow because I want him to fucking feel EVERYTHING.


    And without further ado, the whole ce just turned colder by several degrees as I appeared right in front of the dumbass''s face:


    "Eight Trigram Sixty-Four Palms¡­"


    "Uh-oh."

 Chapter 1245 Whaddayouknow?

    Before Brian could even put up his guard, I enveloped his whole body with my killing intent as I condensed the release into the area around us. For some reason, it tends to hamper anyone''s movements by a few seconds¡ªmore or even incapacitation when they weren''t used to it¡ªbut yeah, this guy''s fucked.


    And of course, I wouldn''t be able to use that move since I need to have that set of eyes and be in that n in order for that technique to be passed down so I turned it into my own version which was the eight seconds of a sixty-four-hitbo.


    "HYUP!"


    Right as I took in some air, I sent a nasty hook to where his liver was located before keeping him up with a kick to his left torso. His body hadn''t even recoiled yet as I aimed for specific joints in his body to make him dance in ce¡ªand the only saving grace from this was the hits were more quantitative than qualitative.


    If anything, I was a proponent for ending things with a single blow, but this time, I would''ve juggled this motherfucker in the air withbos if I could but I''ll make do with something shorter than a 30-second massacre if someone was to join a fraternity in a shoddy neighborhood.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But yeah, each "educational" spar should''vested at least three to five minutes but I ended it in eight seconds.


    In any case, Brian was still conscious but he getting enveloped with all my negative thoughts racing was akin to taking on several G''s of force¡ªjust a metaphor¡ªand he definitely threw up his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dumbass wasn''t even able to fight dirty but he couldn''t believe his ears when these words came out of my mouth:


    "We still have four minutes and some change, get up."


    "H-HAAAH?! IT''S ONLY BEEN¡ª IT FELT LIKE AN HOUR! I THOUGHT I DIED A MILLION TIMES! IT''S THE INFINITE TSUP-TSUP¡ª WHATEVER OR SOMETHING! I''M NOT GETTING UP!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, I''m not that good at it but we can do ground work¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    With that said, after four minutes or so, I stood up and smiled at my next victim who was JP.


    "Ah, fuck."


    I chuckled, "Come on! Insult my wife too! Say something better!"


    "Fuck, no¡ª I''ll wait for Marvin to finish with Tatiana¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ you''re fucked¡­"


    "W-What did I say?!"


    I snorted as I pointed at Tatiana who was now smiling at her while putting Marvin on a nasty lock, "You didn''t say shit to me, you said fucking shit to her¡­"


    Tatiana released her own brand of killing intent, "That bitch-boy''s mine, alright?! He''s next after this¡­"


    Marvin could only forfeit early to save himself, "H-Help¡­ Help¡­ I give¡ª I yield! Fuck you, JP!"


    I turned to JP, "See that? Marvin never curses and see where it got you¡ª" I turned to the rest of the people on death row, "Who''s next?! I''ll take on anyone!"


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    "Don''t look him in the eye! He''ll pick you!"


    "DON''T EVEN MOVE! HE WON''T NOTICE US IF WE DON''T MOVE!"


    "You''re practically moving your mouth when you talk, jackass!"


    "NOOOOOO! HE SAW ME! TAKE ISAAC INSTEAD!"


    "I''LL GO! I''LL GO IF ANYONE DOESN''T!"


    "YEAH! TAKE CHRIS! HE''S BEEN PESTERING US NONSTOP IF HE COULD JOIN! JUST BE A DECOY GO! GO!"


    "WHAT A BUNCH OF PUSSIES!"


    Admirably enough, Chris still tried to wiggle in even if he wasn''t actually in Hell Week, and let''s just say he improved as much as everyone else¡ªmaybe even a bit more. He''d do as he''s told and dig deep into the tasks anyone would give him¡ªand as long as he trusted the process and continued improving, he''d be someone I could trust my back to.


    There was nothing wrong with being an honest kid like him, and even if there was a thing that''s called being too honest, he didn''t need to cross to the dark side because a dip and some glimpses were enough so he''d be aware of the possibilities or things to watch out for.


    But yeah, as much as I would''ve wanted to reward him by letting his crisper jabs in, it''d just be an insult to his hard work for reaching this far. So yeah, I definitely sent him off with a bloody nose just likest time, but this time, he didn''t get knocked out silly¡ªthough I definitely held back.


    Getting punch drunk was still a thing so a little less power on headshots would prove useful in the future if they really had to take them.


    ''That''s much better and more believable, at least¡­ I think it''s still a good boost for his confidence too¡­''


    With that said, training looped three more times before we called it a night because again, there was a thing called overtraining, and breaking their bodies down just the right amount was the fucking sweet spot.


    Sure, everyone had varying degrees of recovery but aside from the Death Squad that recently joined us, Tatiana and I were fairly familiar with everyone else''s since we''ve been with everyone else even before Hell Week started.


    But yeah, as we left the gym open for the rest of the people still trying to sneak in a little workout, I found out that the lights to the indoor gym were still on.


    ''They''re still there?''


    So yeah, excusing myself from the main group, I made my way across the street. And of course, we had a small area where there were spare eyes and ear protection, but since I always bring my gear with me in the form of my backpack where my war belt was draped on, I put on my own set as I entered the premises.


    And surely enough, Kaley and her group had run through several hundred rounds of ammo by putting them through the randomizer a special someone¡ªme, of course¡ªdeveloped for more dynamic targets but never did I think that someone with a unique fashion choice who supposedly had no knowledge of using firearms be this fucking good.


    ''Whaddayouknow?''

 Chapter 1246 Recoil or something else?

    With how E uniquely dresses herself and acts like a brat or a young deer who was bred in captivity all her life and was suddenly released into the wild¡ªweird metaphor, I know¡ªbut there was no fucking shot she could hold her own against Kaley who was only next to yours truly.


    This was a pure fucking battle of reaction time coupled with one''s mechanics in handling firearms and I was fucking impressed.


    And even if Kaley was using a sporting rifle chambered in .22 LR which was something she wasn''t used to or rarely uses, they were both using the same thing at the same time and they were fucking neck and neck.


    In addition, there was a reason I was this astonished because this randomizing mechanism I made for the steel targets to move around well, randomly, was fucking random in its own right¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªbecause if you''d ask any person familiar with numbers, a person might think they were being random or trying to be, but everyone follows a pattern or a certain style.


    ''I say within reason because it has at least a few thousandbinations of where each te might go¡­ It''s somewhat random but to a normal person¡­ You know how it is¡­ I can predict where some of them might go but not all at the same time¡­ It''s more fun that way though I still have a slight edge hence why I''m at the top of the leaderboard¡ª which means Kaley is actually at the top¡ª which also exins my astonishment because E is technically at the top too¡­''


    June, Edith, and Nancy¡ªwho actually followed me behind¡ªcould only sit at the back and watch how the two duel it out and it didn''t take long before the match ended.


    E eximed as she lost feeling in her legs, "Haaaah! I''m exhausted! I can''t beat you, you''re too good! H-Ho~!"


    Kaley just smiled while clearing her gun before offering E a hand, "You do know you''ve hidden yourself pretty well¡ª If he knows that you¡ª Ah¡­" she stopped herself as she finally discovered I was just standing by the door, "Umm¡­ Ahaha¡­ Whaddayouknow? E can actually shoot guns!"


    E never looked so panicked, "H-HI! Ahaha¡­ Ha¡­ Haha¡­ Kaley''s a really~ great teacher¡ª"


    I chuckled eerily as I suddenly bridged the distance and smushed her cheeks, "You''re an awfully good liar, huh? Who told you to hide yourself like this? Huh?"


    She tried to break away but all it did was to stretch her cheeks even more, "I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY!"


    Kaley tried to get me off E, "H-Hey! It''s not like she hurt anybody! Let off a bit!"


    I finally let go as I put on puppy eyes and clutched my chest, "She hurt my kind and loving heart, you know?!"


    Nothing got past Kaley as she rolled her eyes, "Doofus. She has her reasons, alright? Besides, she can''t handle recoil pretty well, that''s why¡ª"


    I just nodded, "That''s why she sticks to the .22. Oh, I know," I picked up my rifle and handed it to E, "Try this. Still a .22, no? A .223/5.56 but just more powder¡ª"


    Kaley tried to cut in, "But she¡ª"


    "I just want her to try, see if I can offer some help."


    "Okay¡­" then she turned to E, "You okay with that? I know you''re scared to shootrger calibers but¡ª"


    E just nodded while slightly ring at me, ignoring my rifle, "Cheeks still hurt¡­"


    I flicked her forehead, "You¡ª It kicks a little more since not only it has more powder but as you can see, the barrel''s shorter than that sporting rifle. However, you just need to dig this fucking stock between your chest and front shoulder while using your other hand to pull back and stabilize the whole thing by gripping this foregrip as tight as you can.


    Don''t forget to control your breathing too and keep your body tight so you won''t get bothered with the recoil."


    E red at me, "Y-You¡ª I-I know what to do! It just s-scares me, you know?!"


    "Then don''t get scared. Easy¡ª"


    "I wish it were that easy! You don''t get it!"


    I waved her off, "No. YOU don''t get it."


    ''Even you don''t even know what you''re actually scared of.''


    "H-HOW CAN YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ME?! IT''S ME WE''RE TALKING ABOUT! I''M ME! I KNOW ME A WHOLE LOT!"


    I flicked her forehead again, "If every person in the world knew what''s wrong with them, doctors wouldn''t have any jobs¡ª"


    "T-THAT''S DIFFERENT!"


    "I know."


    "Y-YOU¡ª"


    "But trust me on this. Shoot it once and you''ll see, trust me."


    "..."


    "Please?"


    "F-Fine¡­"


    At this point, I didn''t think I''d have another lesson that would corrte with the things we uncovered earlier but it do be like that sometimes. So yeah, while E was psyching herself up just for a single shot, I gave Rin a quick call to retrieve a couple of things for me, and I even asked her to use one of our electric bikes so she could get here faster.


    But yeah, as soon as E took a deep breath, followed all my directions to the letter, and finally squeezed the trigger, her small but stacked body jolted from the ''recoil'' or something else altogether.


    And obviously, she quickly cleared my rifle before turning around and ring at me:


    "WHAT NOW?! I SAW SHIT!"


    I nodded in agreement, "Obviously, you fucking deer."


    "Wha¡ª When did I get a new nickname now?! A deer?!"


    I ignored her following outburst as I turned to Kaley, "You saw, right?"


    Kaley looked confused, "H-Huh?"


    "I said you saw, right?"


    "T-The recoil?"


    I shook my head, "Her body jolted back a bit, right?"


    She nodded a few times, slightly unsure, "Yeah¡­ From the recoil, right?"


    "Nope."


    "Then¡ª"


    Rin arrived at the right fucking time:


    "I-I''m here! B-Brought the things you asked for¡ª"


    "Thank you, Rin," then I threw one of them to E, "Wear that."


    She looked confused as well, "But I''m already wearing eye pro¡ª"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Want me to flick your forehead again? And gimme my gun back for a bit, I''m showing you what''s wrong with¡ª I mean, what''s special about you. You''ll see."

 Chapter 1247 Easy. Youre afraid of circles--

    As I cleared my gun once again for safety, I then took out a simr item to the MP5 I gave to Isaac on his birthday, and I switched the suppressor I had on my BCM Rifle with it. It was easy enough to swap ''em out and as I discovered that everyone was looking at me confusedly, I turned to E, who had now put on the eye protection with a darker shade, as I asked some questions:


    "You taking any medications?"


    "W-Wha¡ª Why are you asking?"


    "Just answer, please."


    "I mean¡ª no?"


    "You like having bangs cover your eyes, right?"


    "What''s with these¡ª Sure. But depending on my outfit!"


    "Uh-huh, uh-huh. Then what about contacts?"


    "What about them?"


    "You wear them depending on the outfit too?"


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t I?!"


    "How about now?"


    "I didn''t wear one."


    "Because?"


    "Because! It depends on my mood too, you know?!"


    "Hmm~ That slightly~plicates things¡­ I''m not even sure what to treat you for¡­"


    "Complicate what things?! What are you even trea¡ª"


    "I''m asking the questions here¡ª butst one, have you had LASIK before?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?! YOU READ MY MEDICAL HISTORY?! THAT''S¡ª"


    "I didn''t, chill. I just saw a picture of you when you were small¡ª I mean, younger."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Woww~~ Way to rub it in, huh? But¡ª"


    I waved her off as I pushed my gun onto her, "Eh~ Enough talking, just shoot my gun and we''ll go from there. It might not just be one thing that''s your problem but we''ll try to fix or work around them from here on, okay?"


    "O-Okay¡­" Stay updated with empire


    In any case, the thing I put on my rifle was a muzzle break which could minimize at least 90%~ give or take of the recoil¡ªwhich I already ruled out that''s not her problem¡ªbut at this point, we''ll just do some trial and error and see what works for her.


    And once again, as soon as she fired a shot, she then gasped and quickly turned around to hug me after clearing my gun.


    ''So, it''s really not the recoil¡ª''


    "IT WORKED¡ª"


    I quickly shot her down, "No the fuck it did not!"


    "Wha¡ª HUH?! I''m pretty sure¡ª"


    "What happened was we eliminated more recoil BUT your body still moved the same! Hmmrgh¡­"


    Kaley had to join in, "Umm~ Isn''t her problem her eyes? I thought that was why you asked those questions and brought those things¡ª I mean, the sses, sure, but isn''t the muzzle brake for recoil?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, yeah, you''re right. I just want to make sure it really wasn''t the recoil by bringing in something that would eliminate almost all of it. It would''ve been easier if we used a normal-sized AR but the one I have had a little shorter barrel¡ªhence the muzzle brake for E."


    "But what now?"


    E cut in, "I have something wrong with my eyes? I thought the LASIK fixed it?"


    I turned to E, "I mean¡­ Sure, theser surgery fixed one thing but I think you''re a little sensitive to bright lights."


    Kaley cut in again, "But¡ª Wouldn''t the suppressor hide most of the muzzle sh too?"


    "That is also true but while we have a physical problem, there might be a psychological one too. She said she''s plenty scared of shooting it, right? If we rule out the noise for now¡ªbecause she''s he loud¡ª"


    E never looked so mad-cute, "HEY!"


    I waved her off as I continued, "Ruling the sound out, it could be the muzzle sh, the gas blowback from using the suppressor, or again, recoil."


    Kaley looked confused, "I thought we already ruled out recoil? Are you talking about the physical one or the psychological one? Anticipating the recoil could be a problem too, right?"


    "Sure, but we dunno yet. But we''re mixing and matching everything here to figure out what''s what."


    E cut in, "Then¡­ W-What now?"


    I smiled at her, "We keep shooting until we figure out. It might be scary but we might find the root cause or causes, no? Wanna give it a few more tries?"


    "O-Okay!"


    "Then change sses and do it again."


    "Alright!"


    So yeah, once E switched eye protection and lined up another shot, she looked happy once more because she didn''t feel any recoil but her body was still recoiling for some reason, heck, I would''ve expected that her shoulder or at most, half her back would move but she looked like she was taking a punch from someone.


    ''Hmm¡­ What if¡ª I mean¡­ There''s also the issue that she needs to get used to the gun first¡­''


    In any case, we tried morebinations where there weren''t any attachments, just the sh hider, or just the suppressor with either sses, and her reaction was almost the same for everything except with the muzzle brake on.


    However, once Kaley had the idea to turn off the fucking lights and shoot some rounds while testing out all the otherbinations, E''s answer changed¡ªeven more when we turned on the lights and let her shoot with her eyes closed.


    Andstly, the coup de grace was when we obstructed her vision of the gun while telling her a different setup before she started firing.


    Kaley and I couldn''t hide our surprise, "Huh./Whaddayouknow?"


    "What? WHAT?! Can I open my eyes now?! This feels the best to me! Just let me use the muzzle brake and I''ll be good to go! I won''t go out but I''ll be good atop a wall!"


    I chuckled, "You sure about that?"


    "Wha¡ª Why are you¡ª"


    "Have you checked what you''re running? Hmm?"


    "You told me I''m using¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Remove the covers."


    "You¡ª Huh? I''m using the same setup as before! HOW?! *removed sses to check if it''s tinted* I''m using the clear eye protection too! I thought there was something wrong with me¡ª Wait¡ª Is there? I''m really confused now, someone tell me what''s wrong!"


    I answered her question for her my way, "Easy. You''re afraid of circles."


    "HAAH?! THAT DOESN''T EVEN MAKE SENSE! WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1248 Root Issue - Strike while the irons hot!

    The diagnosis for E''s problem would''ve been easy if everything was ck and white but in the end, we discovered that it came from multiple facets.


    While it was true that she couldn''t handle recoil, from the time it was actually real to our current time, there may have been a point where she was able to ovee it and her body just remembered the knee-jerk reaction the first time she felt it and continued as is.


    Because as far as I remember, continued practice eliminates certain things you want to get rid of but E feeling scared the first time probably dug deep in her psyche¡ªand one of her triggers was the muzzle sh from a gun she probably shot that time.


    "Before I answer, what was the gun you shot that made you scared of shootingrge-caliber rounds?"


    E didn''t take long to answer, "U-Umm¡ª I-It''s one of those o-old guns that PINGS! A-After thest bullet on the clip! I-It''s after my usual firearm training too and e-everyoneughed at me! C-Can you imagine?! I-I wasn''t even in high school at that time!"


    "When you''re still in elementary¡ª"


    "J-JACKASS, I WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! I was in the first year but¡ª WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME, HUH?!"


    I patted her head which instantly calmed her down, "Ah, shit¡ª My bad, my bad, we didn''t have middle school in this country that time, we start from prep, kinder, elementary then straight to four years of high school before college. Still, that''s a little dumb¡ª"


    "I-I''m not dumb!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I wasn''t talking about you, alright? I mean the person who made you shoot an M1 Garand¡ª"


    "That''s the one! ARGHHH!!! I hate it so much! They kept saying it was the coolest gun ever but it just scared the living crap outta me! Dad and his old friends are the worst!"


    I facepalmed, "Yeah, yeah, that''s pretty bad. Oscar and I used to mess¡ª I mean, we still mess with people by letting them shoot hand cannons but before we do, we''re that sure that they could take it. I don''t wanna say anything bad about young girls or anything but even with proper training, they should be really careful about handing them those kinds. A .30-06 is fucking loud, you know?"


    "IT IS! IT REALLY IS! T-The noise scared me the least b-but the f-fire and the k-kick knocked me off my feet! IT''S EMBARRASSING!"


    Kaley then gave her a pat on the head as well but she turned to me to pat her head again, "I-I''m dealing with trauma here! It''s the least you can do!"


    "Pfft¡ª Alright, alright¡­ Here you go¡­"


    E nodded a few times while giggling before she went back on the subject, "Mmhmm~ W-Well but¡ª Why did you tell me I''m afraid of circles?"


    I chuckled, "Not circles per se, but the muzzle sh itself. The time you got your surgery probably coincided with your firearms training and even if you''re used to it to some degree, photosensitivity kicked in and gave you the fright¡ªand the recoil from the M1 piled on.


    The st must''ve been amplified a few times in your perspective that''s why it''s rooted deep in your head and body¡ªeven making smaller calibers with sh hiders and suppressors do jack shit for you even if the sh was already small or several times minimized."


    "Ohhhh~ I-Is that really, really what happened? M-Makes sense with the surgery too¡ª It''s around that time when I''m recovering and tried to go for firearms training just to see!"


    "I mean¡ª I could still be wrong but when we switched in the muzzle brake, it just sted to the side and altered the circr shape of the sh¡ªgave you less recoil¡ªand it''s the best thing as you''ve said. But once you got the confidence back, we made you shoot my normal setup and it went on just fine¡ªafter a few times of getting used to it, of course.


    The tinted sses might''ve helped to some degree too but the way you are now, it''d just help with the shade, heh."


    "..." E was fucking speechless as she was just looking straight at me.


    "E¡ª" Experience more on empire


    And all of a sudden, tears just slowly fell from her face as she wrapped her arms around me. I was a little taken aback at first but this small fix for her problem might''ve been a very huge deal for her.


    Of course, she already said she was traumatized from her past experience¡ªwhich was why she had the need to hide her expertise about using guns¡ªbut yeah, I guess we have another shooter on our crew and I''d be more confident if she''d be relied on to hold the fort each time we were away.


    Then again, it was one thing to help someone with their problems by simply saying "get good", "get over it", "it''s just the way it is, suck it up", or something along those lines¡ªand yeah, usually it''d work for us guys but half the world aren''t us and sometimes that type of machismo shit doesn''t work on all of us as well.


    One way to help was to actually find the root of the issue and try ways that could help the person with the problem their own way¡ªand yeah, this type of thing was a luxury at this point and I''m not saying we should be vulnerable at all times, but if we could afford and befortable with it, why not?


    As I said, it was one of the ways, not a broad-spectrum antibiotic that could help with several issues at once.


    Though there may be times to simply collect our winnings and not push the issue even more but yeah, I''ll fucking strike the iron while it''s fucking hot.


    "So, E¡­"


    "Hmm? Yes, Da¡ª I mean, yes?"


    "You''ve probably improved by leaps and bounds by now¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "Wanna shoot a Garand now to spit on this trauma of yours?"


    "Wha¡ª I just ovee my¡ª You know what? Why the fuck not?! Let''s do it!"

 Chapter 1249 M1 Garand & M1A SOCOM 16 - All the way?

    Without much dy, it didn''t take long before we had another special delivery of an OG M1 Garand chambered in .30-06 and a modern one, an M1A SOCOM 16 rifle, chambered in .308 Winchester.


    I didn''t need to exin much about the ssic M1 because it could stand alone in its own notoriety but the new had obviously a few things that had quality-of-life features while having a modern "tacticool" look than the usual wood stock and iron sights. Experience more tales on empire


    Of course, my new-age M1 came in all ck with a 16-inch barrel, an adjustable stock, match trigger, ghost-ring rear sights, tritium front sights, a Picatinny rail that only had a shlight for now, and a proprietary muzzle brake with an option to easily screw in a suppressor.


    ''It''s lighter too¡­ the same with its shorter bullet casing¡­''


    Sure, it might look half-done at the moment but it still had the spirit of the OG Garand just from looking at the side profile¡­ mostly.


    "A-Are those the same thing?" E asked.


    "Yes and no. Kind of the same gun but they also use different calibers."


    "C-Can I shoot one, now?!"


    "Pretty excited, huh? Alright. Knock yourself¡ª I mean¡ª You know the saying, heh."


    At that point, even if E still had some PTSD from her bad experience with this gun, she still knew the ins and outs of it and it didn''t take long before she was lining up a shot with the OG Garand. And yeah, right as she exhaled, she sent out a .30-06 projectile straight to one of our targets, and obviously enough, her body felt the brunt of the recoil.


    However, once she turned around to face us, she couldn''t be more happier as she was itching to fire another shot or even unload the whole thing until she heard the glorious ping she was so pissed about before.


    "Go ahead, fire at will¡ª"


    "H-HELL YEAH!"


    And yeah, with each shot, E''s body was getting more and more used to the gun itself but she still got spooked when she heard the loud ping she was dreading. Despite that, she asked for another clip which I easily gave to her, and she went on for two more clips before she asked to fire the other one.


    "Can I?! Please? I-I dunno why b-but I-I''m itching like crazy, right now!"


    "Ew. You need a cream for that or something?"


    "YOU¡ª I-I-I WAS TALKING ABOUT¡ª UGH! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"


    "Hah! Just messin'' with ya¡ª but go ahead. You''d use mags this time though since the ghost ring''s covering the area where you push in the clip. Just smack it in the underside, front first, and have fun with it."


    "I know, I know! Thanks!"


    With that said, once E fired the first shot, she couldn''t believe the difference between the two guns because let''s face it: The OG M1 Garand was notorious in its own way but if we''re talking about a girl in E''s size picking between the two¡ªfuck it, include me in theparison, just thefort the new-age M1 could give us was just that more enticing.


    Of course, there were a lot of things to consider¡ªcaliber-wise¡ªwhere the .30-06 might be better than a .308 but at the end of the day, it''s just up to who would use it¡ªand then again, it wasn''t like technology hasn''t advanced to the point that even the M1 Garand running a .30-06 was reced by our M14s running .308s.


    And yeah, this new-age M1 Garand of mine running a .308 was just to bridge that gap between eras though I''d still opt for my AR to run a 5.56.


    Though E gave me that look a kid would when they find a new toy that they''d like:


    "H-Hey¡­ C-Can I¡ª Please, please, please?! C-Can I have this one?! I-I''ll be good!"


    "Here we go¡­"


    "I-I dunno why but¡ª I don''t know but it''s like i-it''s fate! I-It just¡­ just¡­ k-kicks me j-just right a-and d-does ite with a bigger mag?!"


    I chuckled, "It''d be a little heavy but I do¡ª"


    "YES! Thank you! T-That old one''s cool and all but I LOVE this one! I-It doesn''t feel heavy at all and the recoil''s m-much better! I-I can take this one more and s-shoot it for longer!"


    "I take it you''re trauma''spletely gone now?"


    "I¡ª I guess so? All thanks to you! Ah¡ª I-I promise to train with Kaley or with Olivia and Lois every time theye here and I-I''ll even clean it myself! I-I¡ª I''ll even clean the house e-every¡ª"


    I waved her off, "You don''t have to do anything. I just want you to keep at it so yeah, I would love for you to have it. I still have my own setup, no?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "Yeah."


    "YOU''RE THE BEST! I¡ª HMMMRGH! I''M SO HAPPY!"


    Once again, E dove in for a hug but this time, Kaley and I smothered her together. At this time in the night, we were the only ones present but we spent a bit more time with E figuring out what she wanted to do with this Garand and some things to consider for her sidearm and some other essories.


    Of course, it wasn''t like we''d throw her out to the wolves but it''s just much better to let her have the whole thing rather than to just have one thing she''d be good for.


    "What? I''m gonna have to start exercising too?! I mean¡ª I-I am trying but I-I don''t want to run 100 kilometers a day!"


    "I mean¡ª not like that but more regrly, of course. It''s not as heavy now since you''re just standing with it but there might be times you gotta move around carrying that gun with all the other shit you have with you. So yeah, it pays to have more muscle in your body and the stamina tost for as long as you can. You already said you''d train with Olivia and Lois, right?"


    "B-But how about you two? Can''t I train with you still?"


    "I mean¡ª Of course, you can train with us but we''d be out the walls sometimes like this morning, or be out for days or even weeks."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ T-Then I-I think we should j-just make the best of it, y-you know?" E stuttered as she looked at her feet before turning to us with a slight blush.


    Kaley and I nced at each other before I replied with a knowing smile, "What do you have in mind?"


    "W-Well¡­ E-Everyone''s back home a-and¡­ I-I¡­ I¡­ I-I wanna go all the way n-now?"

 Chapter 1250 Ellas First I

    Hearing and seeing E speak those words, I would''ve been jumping for joy and doing a silly dance but I decided to be a little coy as I danced around the subject:


    "It''s a littlete though¡­"


    The light in E''s eyes slowly dimmed, "Ah¡­ O-Oh¡­ I-I mean¡ª I-I could w-wait till¡ª"


    I cut her off, "I mean, it''s not like we can''t do it now¡ª"


    Then the light quickly came back, "R-Really?! A-Are you¡ª"


    "But y''know, that M1A just needs a sling, a suppressor, a better scope¡ª E?"


    At this point, E never looked so confused while it was taking everything for Kaley to hold back herughter, but when realization struck, E just got so fucking red before she cutely reprimanded yours truly.


    "I-I¡ª Meanie! I-I was about to g-give you m-my¡ª AGH! You¡ª STUPID! STUPID! STUPID¡ª"


    However, while she was in mid-sentence, I leaned down and gave her a kiss which instantly pacified her loud bratty ass. But yeah, she already lost her other virginity in my bathroom, even Kaley agreed we should do it on our bed.


    "B-But everyone¡ª"


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    Kaley waved her off, "Don''t worry about that, they''ll give us some space and time¡ª a-and do you want me to be there or anyone else? It''s totally fine if you want to be alone with him?"


    "W-Well, you two were there the first I¡ª And you really helped me with prepping m-my you-know-what a-and¡ª"


    I cut her off, "E. Breathe."


    She nced at me for a moment before she turned back to Kaley, "I-I mean, I''d love for you to be t-there! I-I wanna experience t-that other thing t-too¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You''ll see! I-I''m not even sure I w-wanna do it yet but i-if it feels g-good too I¡ª C-C''mon! W-We''re wasting time! W-We have to shower t-too, right?!"


    In any case, before Kaley and I could answer her, E started running out our indoor range with her brand-new gun. Of course, I quickly closed up and followed after them but it didn''t take long before just the three of us were in my room after a hot and steamy shower.


    But with the cold airing from the AC, the three of us were already under the nkets¡ªwith me between the two¡ªand exchanging each other''s spit while our hands were blindly exploring whichever throbbing part it touched.


    Obviously, the two had their soft bodies pressed against mine while they were jerking me off their own way¡ªand at the same time, my hands were in each of their peachy butts, either squeezing a plump cheek or prodding one of their little holes.


    "Mnn¡­"


    "Ahh¡­"


    And as Kaley went on to kiss me for a longer time, E took it upon herself to move down and slobber on my huge knob using her wet tongue and her little mouth and Kaley was using her hand to gently push down E''s head on my cock so she could reach deeper.


    "G-GackH! KkH! H-Hahg¡­ MnGhh¡­. Mnn¡­"


    At this point, Kaley and I were just watching E''s progression with my thick shaft and she made a point to swallow me whole even if she was partly choking and had tears in her eyes. However, Kaley wanted E to make sure of the size that was going inside her virgin pussy as she made E reach the base over and over and over.


    "That''s it, E¡­ Feel everything from that big cock¡ªthe taste, the skin, the veins, how hard it was, everything! It''s going in your tiny pussyter and you have to earn it first before it goes inside you!"


    E went up or air for a second, "W-What should I d-do?"


    "Use that sweet little mouth of yours and make him cum in your mouth¡ª you should take it all and swallow everything too¡­"


    "O-Okay, okay, I''ll¡ª"


    "Less talking, more¡ª Yeah, just like that¡­" then Kaley turned to me with a smile, "How''s she doing?"


    "G-Great, actually¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "Really? Then I guess we should hurry it up for the main event¡­ I mean¡ª at least one of them¡­"


    "W-What do you¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Kaley scooted up and made me suck on her hard pink nipples while E was trying her best to suck my cock. But to get a little handle on the situation, I used my left hand to order E''s pace while I used the other to have a firmer grasp on Kaley''s buttocks.


    With their moans¡ªmuffled or not¡ªentering my ears, it didn''t take long before I filled E''s mouth and her throat with my cum, making her choke on it while Kaley was that close to cumming with me sucking and licking her nipples while barely touching the surface of her asshole.


    But to my surprise, Kaley held off as she turned around, giving me a full view of her round ass and her cunt dripping with her slick juices, as she made E eat everything that was still cumming out of my cock.


    "That''s it¡­ That''s it¡­ What a good girl~ Now let me taste those lips of yours¡­"


    "Yes, Mommy¡ª"


    Kaley stopped in her tracks, "W-What did you just call me?!"


    E stopped in her tracks too, "Ah¡ª I¡ª I-It just came out¡ª Shouldn''t I? I-I called him D-Daddyst time and¡ª"


    Kaley turned to me with widened eyes, "What¡ª You okay with this? I don''t mind either way but¡ª"


    E cut in, "I''m sorry, I¡ª I should''ve asked first¡ª"


    Kaley gave her a kiss on the forehead, "No, no, it''s fine¡ª It''s your night, it''s just¡ª" then she turned to me again, "Again, I don''t mind either way but¡ª"


    I finally answered, "I mean~ Still kind of weird but if E gets off on that and it stays between us three, for now, sure?"


    As I said that, Kaley just stared at me for a few seconds before she let out a sigh of relief, then turning to E and touching her chin to move her closer, "Sorry for the interruption, baby, now let Mommy taste that cute little mouth of yours¡­"

 Chapter 1251 Ellas First II

    From then on, Kaley started to french E''s tiny mouth filled with my cum and all I could do was watch them while glossing my fingers over Kaley''s exposed butt. I couldn''t believe how wet she was at this point but before I could even push a finger in, she grabbed my hand and looked at me with a knowing smile:


    Explore more stories with empire


    "Be patient¡­ You''ll get your turn on this too¡­ We gonna get her off first¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But yeah, as soon as she turned around, E was patiently waiting for her but all of a sudden, she lifted E and put her between us, pushing my head down to E''s untouched slit that was also dripping with her juices.


    And at that point, Kaley began to torridly invade E''s mouth while urging me to get down and dirty too, but I barely touched E''s tiny pussy with my lips when she started to cum.


    "HmmPHGHghh!! G-GaHhH! K-ChCK¡ª C-CummingGGg!"


    E''s whole body jolted as she let out this stream of warm liquid that drenched our sheets but I barely had a taste so I still went in to taste her pink bits with my tongue.


    "H-HNnHNHHHGG!!! A-AHhH! M-MomMmY! D-D-DAdddY~ Y-Yes! Y-YoUu''re both~ Aa-AahNNAN! Y-You''re L-LlIicking MmY pitsS M-MommY I¡ª AhnghaG!


    A-AhNg! T-TickLes! A-AhnGG! M-My¡ª C-CummMmM¡ª Y-You''re¡ª Dad¡ª Clit¨C A-AhNNH!"


    At this point, E was just fighting for dear life as Kaley and I licked her all over¡ªbut even though she had orgasm after orgasm, this time, she didn''t pass out and held on. However, she was still squirming in ce as both of us were holding her down and having our way with her, but as soon as she had her seventh orgasm, Kaley and I finally let off and made her catch a break.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡ª H-HaaHH¡­ You two¡­ Y-You two a-are so¡ª HHNggH¡­ F-Fuuck¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "We''ll give you a minute¡­"


    "A-A minute? For?"


    Kaley nced at my junk before turning back to E, "That."


    "W-Wha¡ª Why''s i-it look bigger now?!"


    "I mean¡ª seeing you cum over and over like that¡­ Even I''m this close to cumming from seeing you melt with our touch¡­"


    "B-But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "W-Won''t it be o-over fast?"


    "Pfft¡­ Trust me¡­ Unless you forgot everything that goes in here¡­ It''s only over until we''re done or if you say so¡­ That reminds me, time''s up."


    "A-Already?!"


    "Come on¡­ We''ll let you do the honors¡­"


    "D-Do what?"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re so cute, E¡­ Hurry up, can''t wait till my turn¡­"


    "Y-Your turn? F-For?"


    "Jeez, E! You know how it works already! J-Just get on top of him and see what you wanna do¡­"


    In any case, with taking someone''s first, it''s a given to let the receiver do it herself to gauge how much she could take in one go or even set the pace herself as she began getting used to it, and it was as E did as she nervously went on top of me.


    But yeah, she just began to grind on top of my dick using her puffy mound and I just couldn''t imagine how fucking tight she''d be the moment I went inside her.


    And without further ado, while Kaley was sitting by my side, E began to point the tip of my cock inside her pink hole, and for a moment there, she couldn''t even figure out whether to sit down on it or rub it on the opening a little more.


    However, once she took a deep breath, she just looked straight at me before she gradually lowered herself, tearing her precious hymen with my cock, going lower and lower and lower until she reached the base in one go.


    ''FUCK!''


    At that moment, even Kaley was fucking surprised but the look on E''s face almost made me go over the edge.


    It was because not only had her eyes on the back of her head, but her mouth was also agape¡ªtongue sticking out and letting out this sweetest moan as my 9-inch cock went fully inside her and took her virginity.


    In addition, I could feel how her walls were gripping me so tight¡ªcontracting ever so often¡ªtotally shattering my expectations of being inside her which I thought would take more difficulty.


    I was already prepared for taking it slow¡ªeven if we went too fucking fast in her ass, but still, it wasn''t like we were enjoying ourselves despite the speed at where everything went¡ªand if we''re both feeling good, why not?


    "H-Ha¡ª Ha¡­ D-Daddy¡ª I-It''s all t-the way i-in, Daddy¡­ D-Did I d-do good?"


    I pulled her close and gave her a kiss, "You did great but don''t move for now¡­ g-get used to it first before¡ª"


    "B-But¡ª MmNGHhH¡­ I-It f-feels so good, Daddy¡­ I¡ª I¡­ I-It''s like¡ª N-No¡­ I-It''s e-even better when you f-fucked m-my ass¡­ a-and¡­ u-umm¡­ I-I don''t w-wanna hurry or a-anything but¡­ c-can Mommy fuck my a-ass too?"


    ''Fuck me¡­''


    And before we could even answer, E had another orgasm just from my cock being inside her tiny little hole and my dick was just getting fucking choked as her insides were contracting over and over. However, she began to move her small frame despite the sensitivity and Kaley just couldn''t take it anymore when E looked at her with those puppy eyes.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley came behind her with a strapless dildo¡ªwhich I still think was a bad idea¡ªbut with someone like E who was just deprived of everything because of her parents'' status, all it would take was just one crack before the floodgatespletely open.


    So yeah, while Kaley was still lubing up her toy, I began thrusting from below¡ªand even though E would still grimace, she''d just look at me with this smile as she''d move her hips on her own. The pain she was feeling waspletely overpowered by pleasure and she was making full use of it in her own way.


    "Y-Yes, Daddy, I-I feel so full¡ª A-Ahhn! HnghNnG¡­ Mmn¡­"


    And what fucking blew my mind was that with each following thrust, it still felt like the first insertion¡ªand it had been a fucking while until I could almost cum the second time this fucking fast.


    However, it didn''t take long before I realized that Kaley was a fucking angel because she just stood behind E, taking her sweet time to "prepare" for E''s DP, but in actuality, she was making me take my sweet time with this lovely young girl.


    Because in all honesty, E was really trying to bite more than she could chew because, at this point, I was the only one moving as she was just taking everything fromying on top of me.


    Even without the pain, she shouldn''t just jump steps with us because again, it wasn''t a race, and some things should be taken in moderation¡ªand most importantly, it wasn''t about what we were doing but enjoying these special moments with each other.


    And obviously enough, E had already fallen unconscious the moment I pumped my second load in her¡ªoverflowing from the space my huge cock had already invaded¡ªand after that, I justid her to the side while Kaley and I simply chuckled at E''s expression because she now was just sleeping soundly with a smile.

 Chapter 1252 Finally Doing "It"

    At this point, Kaley was still kneeling by my feet, the shorter end of the toy inside her, and looking at me a certain way. If anything, I already knew what was on her mind but with the possibility of E waking up after a short bit, I couldn''t just risk it and I wasn''t even sure if this was the right time.


    In addition, we can''t just leave E sleeping soundly while my seed and bits of blood still flowing out of her¡ªbecause aftercare was still a thing¡ªthough I definitely felt Kaley''s sigh after a few seconds of staring at each other and doing nothing.


    ''Shit¡­''


    I sat up and tried to kiss her, "Kaley¡­"


    She waved me off as she took off her strapless toy, "I know, I know¡­ I understand¡­ It''s just¡ª Nevermind, i-it''s fine¡ª"


    I faced her towards me, "No, it''s not."


    "..." Kaley didn''t respond as she just looked at the ground while I was talking to her.


    "I mean¡ª L-Look¡­ I¡­ I''m¡­ I''m really being unfair to you and you''ve been a saint¡ª fuck it, a fucking angel, and I may still have some reservations about it but umm¡­ I¡ª What if we~ umm¡­ Make sure that umm¡­ E''s t-taken care of first before we y-you know¡­ d-do it¡­"


    "..."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Kaley?"


    She shook her head, "I¡­ A-As much as I would love f-for you to y-you know¡­ do it with me I¡ª I don''t want you to force y-yourself into doing it j-just because I¡ª"


    "The sigh?"


    "It''s more than just the sigh¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ It''s more than that but¡­ Hey¡­ Look at me¡­"


    Kaley then shifted her gaze towards me and we were this close for a kiss. We could definitely feel each other''s breath from our close proximity with each other but as she was waiting for what I was about to say, I briefly looked down and gently chuckled before I stared right into her eyes:


    "Look¡­ You''re the best person that''s ever happened to me and I sure do hope that I''m also the best person that''s happened to you¡­ We might''ve been in this¡­ totally unconventional rtionship with these other people but in the end, I''d still choose to be with you, spend my time with you, make you happy, and such¡ª and if anything, I would love to explore this t-thing to bepletely honest, I''m still very much scared of doing but if I''m gonna do it with anyone, I would do it with you¡ªand if you so wanted, only you¡ªfuck it, of course, it''s only you those freaks would''ve torn my ass if they ever had the chance¡ª OW!


    Kaley! A headbutt?! Really?!"


    "D-Doofus¡­ It''s like your proposal over again but you should''ve omitted thatst part!"


    "I was just being honest, you know?! Quinn''s already gunning for me the moment you''re done with me! You told her, didn''t you?!"


    Discover hidden stories at empire


    "Wha¡ª I-I didn''t!"


    "Semantics, you probably slipped in girls'' night but¡­ w-what now?"


    "W-Whaddayoumean, what now?"


    "I-I''m presenting¡­ O-Offer expires in f-five seconds¡ª"


    "W-Wha¡ª A-Alright, let''s d-do it! I-I¡ª You don''t know how happy I am now, you doofus, I love you! W-We should¡ª Fuck! E¡ª"


    "Right, I love you too¡ª"


    "S-Save that forter! W-We gotta clean her up¡ª"


    In any case, after a frantic scramble to the bathroom and a thorough clean-up, Kaley and I were once again alone in our room where I waspletely lying on my back as Kaley was on top, kissing me.


    At this point, she was just trying to get me to rx¡ªthough she was already wearing the strapless dildo she took off earlier¡ªand even if she asked if I wanted her to wear something smaller, I ain''t no fucking bitch though I was probably gonna regret that decisionter.


    But yeah, Kaley began to kiss me lower and lower until she reached my shaft, but this time, she was spreading my legs apart while her head was bobbing up and down. And obviously enough, she gave me a quick nce before her fingers entered my ass¡ªand Kaley kept blowing me with a tight grip on the base of my shaft while her fingers inside me began to move in and out.


    "NNgh¡­ F-Fuck¡­ K-Kaley¡­"


    "Are you okay? W-Want me to slow down?"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s¡ª"


    "It''s okay, you don''t have to t-talk¡­ y-you can even close your eyes and just feel everything¡­ Don''t worry, it''s just us here and I''ll be real good¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ I-I love you¡­"


    "I love you too, Always¡­"


    At this point, Kaley found the same spot in my ass that made me squirm and groan¡ªand she kept hitting and hitting it while sucking and jerking me off, and it didn''t take long before I orgasmed.


    But yeah, Kaley kept going and going while swallowing everything that wasing out of me¡ªand I didn''t think I could cum this hard and stay fucking hard for what was about toe.


    Still, Kaley opted to give me a rimjob as she propped my legs up¡ªjerking me off with a two-handed reverse grip¡ªand going for as long as she could while looking me straight in the eye.


    I already relinquished all control to her, at this point, letting my cum drip on my chest as she had her way with me¡ªbut I already knew what was about to happen when she started to lube me and her friend, and assumed the position I''d always find myself in.


    "Y-You ready?"


    At this point, all Kaley had to do was push her hips in as she was already leaning over me and pressing her huge tits on my chest¡ªand once I gave her the go-ahead, she moved and pushed ever so slowly as my whole body tightened up.


    "F-F-F-F-Fuck¡ª"


    Just from looking at my face, Kaley looked like she had the hardest orgasm of her life as she got closer and closer¡ªbut now I could safely say how each of them felt now that she was inside yours truly. Honestly, it still felt weird and it definitely fucking hurts¡ªdespite all the fucking lube¡ªbut I once again felt this heavenly sensation when Kaley reached my prostate.


    "F-Fuck¡ª I-I think I-I''m cumming, Kaley¡ª"


    "W-What? A-Already?! S-Shit, you are¡ª HnnHGh¡­ D-Don''t look at me l-like that¡ª S-Shhhiit¡­ I''m¡ª I-I''m c-cuMmIng t-tooo¡ª F-FuCCKkk!!!"


    Within a few thrusts from Kaley, I didn''t think I''d cum this fucking fast but it was all these new fucking sensations and my body couldn''t fucking lie. With my dick just nestled between our abdominals, I just began spurting out ropes and ropes of cum¡ªwhile she was squirting at the same time¡ªand let''s just say that this night was like two virgin newlyweds'' first time with each other.

 Chapter 1253 Shackles Off - Ilana?!

    As Kaley and Iid on our sides facing each other, we just took a few seconds to catch our breaths before we exchanged a sweet kiss. After that, we were back to just looking into each others'' eyes and sharing a chuckle or a giggle without a single word.


    And yeah, once again, I could''ve said all sorts of things to justify what we did¡ªor even bring up Deadpool again¡ªbut fuck it, pun very much intended, I just know that it felt good and Kaley loved it, so there''s no shame that I felt after doing that or probably other things like this I''d do with her in the future.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    However, tears just started forming from Kaley''s eyes which got me instantly worried but she quickly waved me off telling me that she had just never been so happy.


    "R-Really? I-I''m sorry I''m that f-fast¡ª B-Been a while since that happened¡ª"


    "It''s not that, you doofus! I-I can''t believe that you¡ª we¡ª you know?! We didn''t even t-take long but WOW! W-We¡ª T-The connection and t-t-the¡­ it was just¡ª Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ I-I can''t exin but t-tears just¡ª Fuck! I really love you, you know that right?! I-It''s like¡ª AGH!


    I can''t really exin! I-I-I wish I could put i-into words w-what I''m feeling right now I¡ª"


    As she was still in mid-exnation(?), I just leaned in and gave her a kiss once more and this time, itsted far longer¡ªand was definitely more intense, since it was orgasm-inducing for her¡ªand as I gave up my body for her, she gave up her body for me.


    While it was true that I imed her many, many times, the simple fact of us crossing off one activity in her bucket list of sorts brought our rtionship to the next level¡ªand sex just got even more amazing while the shackles from both parties werepletely off.


    It was totally different from taking E''s or anyone else''s first and as Kaley said, what we were both feeling was unexinable.


    At this point and for the rest of the night, I was the one pushing my dick inside her wet and tight pussy or her soon-to-be or already gaping ass, and I even thought that I''d rather starve than fucking pull out.


    It was just something above the physicality and the emotions¡ªmaybe just bothbined¡ªand it was the first time we fucking lost count of how many times we made each other orgasm akin to getting ck-out drunk but due to the most mind and body-shattering fuck.


    Then again, there was still one other time when I was at the receiving end of things but we''d justugh our asses off due to how quick we''d be done with it. I would''ve been embarrassing if it was with other people but Kaley and I would just resume whatever feels good and go from there.


    But yeah, we really didn''t feel the time passing because while we were doing our usual position with her on top and me inside her with my fingers in her other free spot, we felt a knock on the door followed by a gentle voice:


    "Morning~ The kids said that breakfast''s ready! Guys?"


    Kaley replied, "H-Ha¡­ O-Okay, Rin¡ª We''re c-cummMInNnG! F-Fuck! H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ W-Why''d you have to do that?!"


    I just gave her a face as I continued thrusting from below. But obviously enough, Rin realized what we were up to and she just replied softly as I heard more footsteps on the same floor.


    "U-Umm¡­ guys? Wait¡­ Ohh¡­ I-I''ll leave you two to it t-then¡­"


    But yeah, Kaley and I were just about to pick up where we left of when knocks poured in one after the other, and the obvious ones'' voices disturbed our overnight sesh.


    "HEY! I THOUGHT YOU HAVE HELL WEEK TO TAKE CARE OF, HUH?!"


    "At it this early morning?! Save some for us, will you?!"


    "We''re here too, y''know?"


    I pped back, "WE HAVEN''T SLEPT YET, SHADDAP!"


    "WHAT?!/ NO WAY!/ OPEN THE DOOR!"


    At this point, it was just pointless to continue but the look on everyone''s faces when they saw us covered in sweat¡ªand with just the smell of sex in the room¡ªwas fucking priceless. But yeah, it was then too that Kaley and I felt that we needed some fucking food or at least some water as the fatigue set in for fucking and making love for hours on end.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she looked down on my still erect hog, "God fucking dammit, you''ll knock up Kaley first before me, you know?!"


    Kaley chuckled, "We''re very~ careful. If anything, I had my fill for a week¡ª I''d still join in butst night and today was fucking unbelievable¡­ I-I''m still surprised I can still feel my legs," then she turned to me, "You tired?"


    I thought for a bit before I shook my head, "Kinda but not as much as I expected, you?"


    She nodded a few times, "Really weird but I felt like I slept for days! I''m sure it''d hit uster on but maybe I''m that hungry to feel drowsy?"


    "Maybe¡ª"


    Quinn cut in again, "Yeah, yeah~ Parade that lovey-dovey-ness of yours in front of everyone. If you could still maintain that, I''d love a shot before breakfast?"


    Kaley answered before I could reply, "I had my fill¡ª you guys have fun¡ª"


    "Kaley¡ª"


    "Hah! Toote to back down now! We''re showering together! JUST YOU AND ME!"


    Then all hell broke loose as each of them fought over me:


    "HEY! We''re here too!"


    "I-I am too!"


    "Me too!"


    "We haven''t been with him for a while too!"


    "Let us in!"


    Find exclusive stories on empire


    "We''re getting in one way or the other!"


    "SHADDAP! I DON''T CARE WHO COMES IN BUT I GO FIRST, GOT IT?!"


    "Sure./ Yeah./ I can live with that¡ª/ Hurry then!/ I call dibs on second!"


    "Noooooo~" I looked like I was dragged into the abyss as Quinn put me over her shoulder.


    In any case, yours truly persisted before we went down to have some breakfast though I definitely matched the amount of food Tatiana had on her tes because I needed to replenish all those burnt calories.


    However, little did I know the person in line behind me was actually fucking na and no one bothered to tell me that she already arrived with the same group asst time. I only discovered it was her when I handed her the serving spoon from my third te and she just gave me this cheeky smile after saying thanks.


    "What the fu¡ª na?! You''re here?"


    "Yeah? ''Sup?"

 Chapter 1254 The Good & The Bad - Digital Archeologist

    At this point, it felt like I didn''t have a firm grip on life as I kept being surprised one after the other but I guess I''m still lucky because June who was fucking right behind na got fucking stunlocked for a few seconds¡ªworst then when Mikhail firstid his eyes on Quinn.


    So yeah, I had to drag her alternative ass to our table¡ªwith the three other tes I have on one arm while na was just smiling as she followed us the whole time.


    And she greeted everyone before introducing herself to those who didn''t know her yet:


    "Umm¡­ Hi, I guess? I''m na, you could say I''m his remote ''tech support'' and since some of our objectives aligned properly, we decided to pay him and this ce a visit. It has been a while and this ce¡ª I mean the inside of thispound didn''t change at all but in a good and honest way¡­"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well¡­"


    And from then on, everyone else in our circle introduced themselves and had a pleasant talk with na, whose demeanor was totally different thest time she was here. It was because she was like this demure gal who likes sweets and needed to be protected for some reason, but now, she''s chill as chill goes and she wasn''t even wearing a speck of body armor.


    ''Won''t let my guard down yet, she probably had a few knives here and there¡­ somewhere¡­''


    Then I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts as na was literally snapping her fingers in front of me:


    "Yo, the fuck? If you stare too long, I might charge ya¡­"


    I quicklyposed myself as I finally took my first bite of food and swallowed it whole to assert dominance, "Eh. I pray with my eyes open now, sorry¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª What the fu¡ª I did not expect that, have you been listening to me though?"


    "I was prayin'', sorry¡ª"


    "Riiight¡­ Anyway¡ª I got the files for the people you might be interested in taking in and I''m expecting a little thanks for giving you the full list. Our CO over there''s a little scummy with the way he wanted to hand out people but I managed to convince him from picking out the good ones and leaving you with the awful ones."


    "Oh! That''s really¡ª thanks! I owe you."


    Jennifer cut in, "What kind of awful people are we talking?"


    na replied, "You know, people with records before AND/OR after the world ended. But if we wanna dial it down a bit, there''s a few in there I specially marked for fucking around while at work or have been caught stealing food from other peoples'' stash. Caught a few of them while I''m working the cameras."


    Tatiana cut in, "And the good ones?"


    "I mean¡ª you can put them pretty much anywhere and they''ll be thankful for a simple house and a simple meal but there are specialists like dentists, tutors, and even a circus performer."


    E''s eyes had never shone so bright, "C-Circus performer?! Like in Cirque du Soleil?!"


    na chortled, "Maybe? If they get discovered? There''s one who can handle snakes, there''s one with hypermobility, and there''s even one that could eat anything and regurgitate it back though that motherfucker''s in the naughty list. You can''t imagine the number of times he stole something and the owner doesn''t want it back because it''s been inside that fool."


    "Ugh¡­ Ew¡­"


    "I mean¡ª at the end of the day, it''s up to you to decide whether to find good even in the bad ones since they just need a ce to thrive, right?" Your journey continues with empire


    I nodded as I skimmed through the list in her tablet, "Of course¡­ Any soldiers though?"


    She looked apologetic, "Unfortunately, that''s something I can''t take away from our Captain. He took them all and what do you need them for?! You have¡ª *turns momentarily in Jennifer and Rachel''s location before pointing at them* You have them, right?! We should be the ones asking for¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah, you pesky snoop."


    "Snoop?!"


    "I said what I said. Anyway, wouldn''t it be better if you bought some of them here? It''s much better than seeing their records, no?"


    "Well¡ª We actually came with them though that guy in the DDR Camp¡ª What''s his name again? Ferdinand?"


    "Ah. He''s that ce''s CO."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Who''s under your thumb."


    "Suuuure~"


    "Uh-huh. We brought around twenty handymen and handywomen with us who could help with anything though they do have an appetite. The Ferdi-guy already put them to work loading a few things in their trucks but I did make him promise to meet youter so you''d see them face to face. They''re the ones marked yellow in the list."


    "Just handymen, then?"


    "For now, yes."


    "Alright¡­ That''s a start¡­"


    "So, what now?"


    "What do you mean, ''What now?'' I still have to eat!"


    "Ah¡ª Right, right¡ª"


    Then June finally got the courage to introduce herself to na, "Umm¡ª H-Hi! I''m¡ª"


    Though na cut her off, "''Sup, June? I see you''ve been doing extra well here, huh? I''m sorry¡ª It''s nice to finally meet you offline, I like the vibe you''re carrying. I''m like you when I was your age."


    "R-Really?!"


    Quinn had to cut in, "Hold up, hold up, are you a celebrity or something?"


    na never shook her head so fast, "Gods, I hope not. We try to be anonymous but I guess it''s safe to say among our peers, just meeting any of us is a huge deal."


    Tatiana cut in, "Celebrity my ass, unlike me, she''s the real spy here if anything."


    Then everyone else eximed, "WHAT?!"


    na threw her hotdog at Tatiana but the glutton easily caught it with her mouth and even thanked her, "YOU¡ª I''m not a spy, alright?!"


    Tatiana never looked so happy, "God, I wanna say this phrase so much¡ª na, that''s something a spy would say. You even know who the fuck my benefactor is, stop spouting shit."


    "I just have a way of uncovering things unconventionally, alright?! I call it a digital archeologist!"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Riiight¡­ Riiight¡­"


    But yeah, at this point, my head''s already itching about what to do or prioritize because one, Hell Week is still in effect and two, I''m waiting on our engineers to finish up our Tamiya/Mine Cart to be able to use it on the train stations.


    And with na popping out from nowhere, I was fucking sure we''d have to discuss about the files she stole from the Eisenhower and the only reason she''s here aside from you-know-what was that she either found something or hit a brick wall.

 Chapter 1255 Not Again...

    In any case, we finished breakfast without issue though Raphael and Anthony were already itching to show me the finished product of the thing they kicked me out of after deliberating over and over with it. At the same time, our trainees/cadets/DS¡ªfuck it we''ll just call them trainees for now¡ªwere waiting for what I''d do with them since I had them for the day.


    But yeah, I made my way to our engineer''s main workshop¡ªwhich was Anthony''s house among a few other dwellings inside a smallerpound¡ªand saw the finished product.


    For a brief description, it''s what would look like if a minecart was stretched in a photo editing app and had a rebellious phase. It weighed over a thousand pounds¡ªmaybe even past double that number¡ªand the side bumpers and the stoppers can fucking do their jobs as intended.


    JP took a closer look, "So, we''re going back to Monumento?"


    Tatiana replied, "Kind of but everyone''s already made it to Abad Santos station."


    "That fast?"


    "We''re not babysitting you cadets so yeah, *points at me* he''s not there too to 100% each area so they definitely are faster."


    June added, "So by the time we get there they''re probably a station or two away?"


    "Probably."


    I turned to na, "You good postponing our meeting tillter?"


    She replied, "Got plenty of time, I''d just look around in here more¡ª We''ll leave tomorrow though so pleasee back tonight."


    "Okay, we''ll be back by sunset¡ª"


    "Wait, can I juste? I can fly another drone with June?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "You can say no, it''s just an idea."


    "If Harold allows it¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª Harold?! He and Mylene can''t say shit to me now, I''m free as a bird! I''ll be in that Raptor of yours so don''t worry about me sneaking out."


    "Uh-huh. Do remember if you do something stupid and disappear on us I''ll have June shoot you in the leg before doing so¡ª"


    June couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What?! I-I can''t shoot her!"


    "Just the leg with a .22¡ª"


    "Hey! I''m not stupid! I have other reasons I came here, alright?! I won''t wander alone with those walking corpses."


    "Alright, alright¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long¡ª I mean, it took a couple of hours before we reached Abad Santos Station which was already locked up as suspected and one radio call told us that Artem and the rest were already clearing the way to get to Blumentritt Station.


    However, it was already apparent from the number of burn piles that the groups ahead were facing more and more of the dead so our smaller convoy decided to cut into a parallel road a block away from them to lessen the burden on at least one side of the road.


    It was very easy to spot where they were currently picking off dregs and from our side, we had a portion of the dead where their heads were turned back to us so we quickly took advantage as Tatiana took another group to face the other half head on.


    Using my TX22, I ran and gunned down a cluster at a time while lopping off heads with my katana¡ªand I only paused to either wipe my de with a torn cloth or reload. I would''ve assumed we''d face fewer dregs in this joint but we still underestimated the number of informal settlers around the area plus the way each of them migrate just by walking around aimlessly.


    In a sense, there were times they were like spreading butter on in bread that came from the fridge or the way the water in a pail reacts if you took a small cup from it.


    This time, it was thetter because the ones everyone else took care ofst time were replenished by the ones on standby. It might seem neverending just from the way they keeping but let''s just say we were trying to empty a bowl of water using a fork.


    A cluster of two dozen or so deadheads was just a drop from the entire poption around these parts and we just have to keep digging deep to make an obvious dent or impression.


    However, what we didn''t take into ount around this area was an elevated expressway that''s even higher than the Blumentritt Station and the noise we were making were making some of them drop down for the most fucked version of calling in reinforcements. And even if we could dig deep and see who''d run out of bullets or meatbags first, it wouldn''t hurt to get some information.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "June! Can you¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [T-There''s a lot! At least a few hundred concentrated on our point and almost the same number from the¡ª HOLY SHIT! THE ONE NEAR THE STATION SUDDENLY CAUGHT ON FIRE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah fuck¡ª That''s probably napalm! Nevermind! Just keep a closer look on our blindspots!"


    *bzzt*


    - Readtest stories on empire


    *bzzt*


    [WILL DO! WILL DO! THERE''S MORE ON JP AND SEB''S SIDE THAN YOURS ALREADY! RUBEN COULD HOLD IT WITH BRIAN OR BROWNIE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jesus, it seems you guys don''t even need me here¡ª Oh! There''s a fast oneing from the high school! Give them backup!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NAH! JUST STAY THERE! WE CAN HANDLE THE DEAD HERE! WE''RE JUST A LITTLE SLOW BUT WE GOT IT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THEN SEND SOME HANDS OUR SIDE! SPACE IS GETTING STEEP!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WOAH! DON''T SHOOT OVER OUR HEAD, KALEY! WE KNOW YOU''RE GOOD BUT FUCK! IT''S SCARY AS HELL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [DON''T MIND HIM! THANK YOU, KALEY! YOU SAVED ME!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [I''M SORRY! HAD TO ACT QUICK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AH¡ª T-THANKS THEN! JUST GOT SPOOKED!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Obviously, I just didn''t bring the trainees with me since I had two other vehicles with us full of people including a truck wide enough to carry the mine cart¡ªand yeah, like na, Harold and Mylene came as back up including Matthew having another field trip with Lois and Olivia.


    And while we were taking care of the more important ones below, Lois had already started aiming for the ones in the expressway above because Kaley and his brother Jared already had a lock on the intersection.


    In any case, I had already advanced past the chunk of dead bodies on our side so I just ran to the area where arger group couldn''t fit in one street, and being on one side behind a few buildings was enough cover to not get clipped by the ones shooting from our main spot.


    But yeah, I noticed that the drone na was flying was sticking close to me, but my attention was caught by a literal waterfall made up of corpses from the farther side of the expressway.


    ''Not again¡­''

 Chapter 1256 Dive Bomb - Check again!

    Every time we drove around Man, almost all of them had the tendency to skydive just from anywhere. Thest time we noticed a simr urrence was when we visited one of the hospitals where we lost Kristoff and I was just happy at this point that they were justing from one spot.


    However, nothing seemed to be going on that spot so I really needed to have eyes over there to see what was going on.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "na, can you fly there?! Check what''s up, please! I''m set here, no need for visuals on myself!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just flip the happy button there if you think you need an area to disappear! That''s to arm them! Press the happy button again for confirmation! Its range is as far as its normal connection!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What happy button?!]


    *bzzt*


    - Read exclusive content at empire


    *bzzt*


    "The drones have happy putty on ''em, what else?!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Happy¡ª You mean C4?! We''ve been driving around with C4?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The fuck are you so surprised about?! I''m more dangerous than C4!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Enough with the jokes¡ª HOLY FUCK THAT''S A BIG MAMA!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What Big Mama¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    All of a sudden, I just had an inkling that na had already pressed the happy button once to arm the C4 on her drone¡ªand it didn''t take long before we heard an explosion with bits and pieces of rotting flesh as confetti. I would''ve been a little sad about our run-of-the-mill drones exploding into pieces but if a "Big Mama" were to explode with it, I guess I wouldn''t have any qualms.


    And right on fucking cue, June''s drone flew overhead the expressway and it didn''t even take a fucking second before I heard several curses of disgust as June used her drone to divebomb the same spot na did with our drone.


    Two explosions at once definitely turned several heads around this area and the one I was about to perform a lobotomy worthy of a malpractice suit turned around to where the explosion was. But yeah, with the sudden explosions came the halt of the dregs on the expressway from jumping to their third deaths but my fucking curiosity was killing me.


    June and na were still pairing up our backup drones to their controllers but it took everything from me to make sure that everything was okay on our side first.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s the Big Mama anyway?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Come back here and we''ll tell you! Don''te over there! Eugh! It gives me the heeby-jeebys!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I didn''t go! I''m still in the same corner aiming for backshots!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ew. That sounded dirtier than¡ª Nevermind¡­ Just imagine the most morbidly obese zombie that was getting feasted on by the dead¡ª Worse than a resident from McAllen¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [No, no, its babies were getting eaten¡ª but it''s also eating its c-children too¡­ Fuck, that''s disgusting! Why''s it so big?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, I could only rely on their testimonies and the footage our departed drones collected, but yeah, if I can''t see what was over there the deadheads walking away from me shouldn''t either.


    Since my TX22 had already ran out of bullets, I just opted to use my katana still with one hand while using a regr K-Bar knife with the other. I would''ve wished I brought my tanto with me toplete the weeb look but a knife''s a knife and as long as it could puncture heads and not break, I''d use it as many times as it takes.


    But yeah, I easily cleaved through a few dozen bodies on the street before anyone else from our group caught up to me.


    While killing zombies with one sh, I''d sometimes use my knife to dig it deep into a deadhead''s chest cavity before dragging it to somece else where a group needed to huddle up and tumble down. And with their low motor skills, it was already hard for them to get up and I''d easily take care of them with a boot stomp.


    And of course, the faster ones had already made their way to the scene of the explosions but I did make sure to snipe some of them with my rifle as their backs were turned against me. Because for some reason, the "Big Mama" was just a feeding zone for the dead even though it was one of their own.


    I''m not entirely sure if it was a new thing because we have seen bloated once before but they were almost always in secluded areas where the sun couldn''t shine.


    Also, we''d always see them getting brought over food¡ªnot being the food themselves¡ªand in the most fucked up sense, it was eating part of itself or part of its creation but it seemed like I forgot something crucial:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "na, how big was it again?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Easily over 800 pounds. It''s bloated as shit and it had a ton of babies still stuck in it. Like seven or so still with the umbilical cords attached were crawling around but there could be more inside. It''s in this open space where there are signs of buildings demolished. I''m not entirely sure but that''s what I saw before I sent the drone in.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nevermind. As long as its gone."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [With two C4s? Not a chance.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Still check."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [These ones have happy putty on them too?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not the backups, no. Still check."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I heard you the first time.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, I was just feeling uneasy for some reason and this was almost always the tell-tale sign of trouble. But yeah, na and June flew severalps around the area and didn''t see shit¡ªbut I still kept arger radius of detection around me. It''ll only take a second of carelessness for any of us to warrant a bullet to the head and no one''s clocking out unless I fucking said so.

 Chapter 1257 Napalm Shots & Lost Babies

    In any case, I wasn''t sure if it was paranoia setting in but as time passed¡ªeven if we already reconvened with Artem and his team in the Blumentritt Station¡ªI''d still get the urge to look over the other side where na and June sent their drones to take care of a special and few dozen base jumpers without wearing any parachutes.


    Jared nudged me, "We can drive over there now, bro, if you want? These guys are gonna install the mine cart and it''ll be smooth sailing until D. Jose Station."


    "I¡ª"


    Bogdan cut in, "What''s wrong over in that side? Those C4s are not enough?"


    I replied, "You still got a barrel of napalm?"


    "Heh. Have three more in stock."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Can I take one?"


    "Sure¡ª Want a handful of pipebombs in your order, sir?"


    Kuzma cut in as well, "Want a group to climb on the expressway? We should at least shovel off the corpses this fuck set aze, right? I''ll kill whichever''s left too¡ª"


    I shook my head, "Not so fast. I feel something off¡ª"


    "Hah?!"


    "I''m serious. It''s the same thing when Kristoff¡ª"


    Discover exclusive tales on empire


    Instead of getting mad, Kuzma''s eyes lit up, "We have a Hulker in the midst?!"


    And yeah, as soon as the forbidden keyword was said, everyone else from their crew turned to us and I''m even gonna assume the three still in the hospital and the one in our radio station fucking did the same. Then again, I could still be mistaken and just wanted closure by seeing what remained from the explosion but it''s always better safe than sorry.


    So yeah, by leaving Morales to close up the station and make partial use of the mine cart, our main squad plus extra drove over to the site just under the expressway¡ªand on another note¡ªthe underside of the expressway had no dangling Stitchers waiting for a victim to consume or take control of.


    In addition, it just looked worn out despite the smidge or splotches of blood due to the explosion but reaching the actual st site didn''t answer or cate my suspicions either.


    Kuzma looked around disappointed, "Aside from the horde we cleared, there''s nothing dangerous here¡ªeven remotely."


    Bogdan scratched his head, "What if the C4 did it?"


    I started to scratch my head as well, "I could be wrong?"


    Bogdan snorted, "You? Get something wrong?"


    "I mean¡ª If I remember the shit I''ve seen from Iskoh''s office, there shouldn''t even be a sewer system hererge enough to contain a big one like the Hulker. And there''s no reason for it to attract the dead up top aside from the other big one na and June saw and blew up with the drones. Something still doesn''t feel right for some reason¡­"


    Katya chimed from the back, "It could be because it''s too easy."


    "Too easy?"


    "Remember when we faced that fuck face? It took everyone here to take it down and it''s a fucking struggle. We even lost Kristoff. And now, Hulker or not, it''s over with a couple of C4s. I''m not saying stic explosives are nothing but those are fucking C4s. I guess it would''ve been meaningful if we took it down with our bare hands but still feels iplete, no?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I guess so¡­ It would''ve been poetic to say the least. But I''d rather us all feel uneasy than to have something pop up out of the blue."


    Tatiana nodded as she made her injector axe hiss a few times, "Hmm. I still wanted to cut it down with this axe and see what happens. You fucks encountered a partial one and it worked wonders. I wanna see how this holds up with the same thing that killed Kristoff."


    Artem then joined in, "Listen to him, I''d rather we alle back in one piece. I''m all for revenge but I''d rather keep all of us than take down one of those things and lose one or more of us. Who knows how many of them are out there despite their low numbers? If anything *turns to Bogdan* Hey! Can''t we have a napalm shot?"


    Bogdan never looked so confused, "Napalm shot? What¡ª"


    My face never smiled so wide as I cut in, "Like a pipe bomb but with napalm inside. How much is in that barrel, at least a liter? Can we have something in a few ounces¡ª It doesn''t have to be like a pipe bomb, maybe even as big as a normal grenade just made for those fucks."


    Artem nodded, "It''s not C4 but it''ll be enough to burn through their skin and maybe, just enough time and distraction for us to finish them off ourselves. It''d be safer than fighting one head-on."


    JP cut in, "I thought Sir Bartow used acid as well?"


    Bogdan rolled his eyes, "Acid over napalm? Please¡ª"


    "I guess it''ll be more difficult to carry ss vials around than napalm that needed to be lit up first. It''s not like anything would stay still if we pour acid on their heads."


    "It''s just a matter of what we have avable and making sure it doesn''t get on us. Both are equally destructive for us. If we''re gonna whittle it down anyway, shouldn''t we just aim for its knees first? That worked the first time, right?"


    "I guess that''s true..."


    Then again, we still looked around for a bit to see if something like a Hulker was lurking around but yeah, Katya might be right and it''s not the uneasiness of something out there but just the feeling of not being able to deal with it with how much we''ve been preparing for it.


    Forgive the term but we''re getting fucking blue-balled by theck of something that could wipe us all out with one mistake but we really should count our blessings with their absence.


    Still, another way to look at it was if they weren''t here, they should be somewhere else but then again, their destructiveness would''ve been apparent and they would''ve been easily spotted so their actual chances of spawning or a regr deadhead turning to such things was very, very low.


    But on another note, they could all just be like the bloaters, hiding somewhere until they received enough stimulus¡ªeventually waking like a sleeping giant.


    With all the what-ifs inside my head, I just decided to put all that energy from thinking to actual use by ordering everyone to continue the clearing process of the LRT Line 1 Station and the area below it.


    And yeah, on the other side of where the Blumentritt Station was located was a public market of sorts where all sorts of stalls or random types of bullshit were put up¡ªright on the road itself¡ªdefinitely barring anything from driving through without hitting any pedestrian.


    However, with the dead and light materials upying those streets, we just made use of our truck to do a fewps and just crunching of bones along with scrap wood resounded as Unc just ran everything over with a huge smile on his face.


    If it was any other day, it would''ve been several counts of hit and run but even I had intrusive thoughts of running all those people blocking the road over and over so that we could''ve just reached our destination much sooner.


    That road actually wasn''t meant to be blocked by vendors but the city itself grew tired of shooing them off every single day. While it was true that smaller vehicles could still pass through, it had just be an unwritten rule to not drive over there or else they''d get the ire of the illegal vendors peddling random bullshit just to get by.


    But yeah, right on thest fucking street to clear out, several dozen babies with umbilical cords ripped out of their stomachs just came from the alleys looking like it was the first time they tasted light.


    However, we couldn''t quite exin the situation when each of them started crying like they just came out of their mother''s wombs but the gunk on their bodies was their own skin rotting due to the curse of undeath.


    Moreso, I felt fucking goosebumps when they all stopped crying at the same fucking time before turning their heads to us and walking clumsily like toddlers would.


    I wasn''t sure if this was their means of attack but we can''t just let them get closer.


    Then again, if this was any other day, it would''ve been several cases of killing fucking babies but how I wish I could''ve painted a better picture when one of them tripped on its feet and bumped the one next to it, causing a crash.


    Because with the way their skulls weren''t fully closed shut and how their stumpy legs couldn''t provide useful mobility, what was left of the ones we didn''t shoot fell on their faces and whatever the fuck''s inside their tiny little heads spilled out from the top of their dome without issue.


    If this was a game, we would''ve gained several killbos due to making use of the environment but let''s just say not all of them had enough damaged brains since a few had to twitch in ce so yeah, we had to use our fucking boots to clear them out.


    It was just one of those times we wish we could''ve just faced regr dregs because let me tell you, their deformed skulls didn''t take much weight before they cracked from the pressure and these babies'' brain matter on my boots doesn''t feel that good either. And it''s not that even a great feeling poking it with a stick.

 Chapter 1258 DONT TOUCH THE PULP!

    While I''d agree thisst stretch was a little anticlimactic, there was something we forgot to take into ount. If what we witnessed an hour or so ago was true, these babies'' corpses were like fire from a moth''s perspective or the marbles from Hungry, Hungry, Hippos.


    And even though we weren''t 100% sure that we got the facts straight, it only took a few moments of reprieve before na and June shouted through our radio channel followed by Harold''s angry voice.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [T-THEY''RE COMING! S-SAME NUMBER AS THE¡ª NO! THERE''S MORE THAN THE ONES WHO JUMPED FROM THE EXPRESSWAY ABOVE! W-WE GOTTA RUN!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HOW?! W-WATCH OUT! A HERD FROM SULU AND ISAGANI¡ª FUCK! THERE''S RUNNERS FROM HUERTAS ROAD TOO! WHERE THE FUCK DID THEY COME FROM! WHAT DO WE DO?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WE''RE BOLTING OUT OF HERE! IT''S TOO DANGEROUS! YOU SHOULD''VE BEEN MORE CAREFUL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCKING PUSSY! THIS IS NOTHING! FIRE AWAY!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I ALREADY AM DIPSHIT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [SHUT THE FUCK UP! WAIT FOR THEM TO BE IN RANGE BEFORE THROWING OUR GRENADES!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THAT''S WHY I''M SHOOTING FIRST, DUMBASS!]N?v(el)B\\jnn


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, everyone else from our channel started shouting at each other but as Artem''s group had just stated that they''ll try to cut off the furthest oneing from Huertas Road, I made sure to calm everybody the fuck down as I gave instructions:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FUCKING LISTEN UP! HAROLD! BRING MY RAPTOR BY HIZON ST. TO KEEP JUNE AND ILANA AWAY FROM THE HORDE WHILE EVERYONE ELSE DIGS DOWN! EVERYONE HERE WITH ME RUNS TO CATIBANG ST. TO MEET THE ONES BY SULU ST TO HAVE A KILL POINT!


    YOU FUCKS PUT AS MUCH DENT AS YOU COULD BY THE ONES COMING FROM SULU ST AND WE''LL FACE EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME AS WE ARRIVE! UNC! JUST CIRCLE AROUND LEONOR RIVERA ST. AND LOOP BACK TO MEET WITH HAROLD! AND PREPARE US A BUCKET OF WATER! DON''T ASK JUST DO IT!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And at that point, everyone else quickly shut the fuck up as we heard the group at the back reverse or run towards the specific spots while some of them had already flicked on the happy switch and fired at will at the onesing from Sulu St.


    On the other hand, my group just quickly turned tail and ran to not get swept up by the horde but I''m pretty sure with the bits of babies on our boots, they were our main targets right until we washed them off.


    But yeah, it''s not like our only problem was the horde because a handful of quadruped deadheads dropped down from the roofs or crashed outside the ss windows of some stores we passed by¡ªbut with me leading at the front, they could just kiss their fucking heads goodbye.


    "W-WATCH OUT!"


    With my first victim, it had onlynded from the roof but it lost its bnce as I shot off one of its kneecaps sticking out from the side and a quick swipe from my de nicked the side of its head, and ck goo just oozed out from the open wound.


    And right after that, the next one who came at me from the side fucking missed its lunge because instead of going from 0 to 60, I suddenly went from 60 to fucking zero.


    Stay connected via empire


    The only damage I received was the waft of rot and decay mixed with BO, trash, and some Hennessy. However, it justnded in two pieces as my de came in abruptly, going through its flesh and bones like a hot knife through butter.


    Its enviable waistline didn''t do it much good since it offered little resistance whatsoever¡ªand even if I could still cut straight through its thick thighs¡ªit wasn''t worth the effort and it wasn''t the fucking time to show off.


    Then again, everyone else did their own part though Kaley couldn''t offer her expertise of thinning down dregs with her rifle since she had to be in a static position to shoot deathly urate with it because right now, we were still mobile though a few quick stops to do a Run-Pause-Gun instead of a Run&Gun was her work around.


    In any case, Tatiana was still bringing the rear¡ªan equally dangerous position at the moment¡ªbut it seemed like the front would be a little more dangerous since the Ferals'' little interruption caused us a few seconds, making the hordeing from Isagani street show up.


    It would''ve been perfect if we funneled both hordes at one spot¡ªas the third one was being held by Artem''s group¡ªbut since I already knew their target was either us or the remnants of the babies we stomped on, I took out the only item in my misceneous back and threw it over the street corner where they wereing from.


    "KALEY¡ª"


    "I SAW! I SAW!"


    Then I picked up my radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "DON''T WORRY ABOUT US! TAKE CARE ON THAT SIDE! RETREAT IF YOU WILL!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And right as I finished the transmission, the barrel of napalm just exploded on top of the heads of the deadheadsing from the street corner¡ªand since most of them had to slow down because of the curvature of the road¡ªa good number of them clumped up at the spot where I threw the barrel and they instantly caught fire, spreading the intense heat and mes to anything it touched.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHOA! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FOCUS ON YOUR END! THEY''RE ATTRACTED TO OUR SPOT BUT BE CAREFUL OF IRREGULARITIES!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-WE GOT IT, NO WORRIES!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, it would''ve been badass to cleave down burning walking corpses but I''m not a fucking dumbass so I sheathed my de and holstered my .22 LR pistol before proceeding to pull up my rifle. Then again, we were now trying to hold our position while hundreds of dregs were trying to eat us alive, but this was the most optimal position for Kaley as she took down dregs one after the other.

 Chapter 1259 What. In the actual. Fuck…

    While it was true that I still had other decent shooters with me like Ibarra, Tatiana, and even JP and Seb¡ªwho were with us at the moment like Brownie and Brian¡ªeven I went back to my pistol and katana to join Tatiana in the rear and just ordered Ibarra and JP to provide backup with their M16/AR-15 while Kaley was trying to reload.


    Even so, Kaley''s mechanics allowed her to do a full reload in a fraction of a second if she didn''t have to rece the mag and put it back in her chest rig¡ªmeaning, just letting it fall down¡ªbut as of this moment, there were a few clusters appearing from the far end or the other side of the street we were in.


    "Can I shoot at them? Haven''t had much practice with this one," Seb asked with his AR-15.


    At this point, most of us were voluntary sitting ducks as Kaley was making a wall of corpses with JP and Ibarra at the front. It would''ve been a better idea to head to the other end of the road right about now but it would have been a waste for the opportunity the barrel of napalm provided as those burnt corpses wouldn''t even need so much as a lead projectile to the head. Discover stories at empire


    Because most of the deadheads Kaley was putting down were either Sprinters or Runners because the ones who were a tad slower would just crumble down afteryers of their skin got toasted as its insides got cooked from the fire.


    But yeah, once Seb started to pick off the ones further back, it was pretty obvious I''d been making them do melee work too much or he''d just need a little more confidence. While it was true he''d hit his targets dead-on 70-80% of the time from 100 meters away, he''d have some trouble with realigning each shot for a smoother transition.


    Then I heard June''s voice on the radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [H-HEY! THE ONE ON YOUR SIDE''S ALMOST DONE FOR! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING FROM ABOVE! WE''RE JUST CLEANING UP HERE TOO! THERE''S STILL MORE COMING BUT I-IT''S NOT AS COMPARABLE TO THE ONES WHO PICKED UP THE SCENT OF WHATEVER ATTRACTED THEM HERE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, alright, and on Artem''s side?"


    *bzzt*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We got two barrels of napalm here, brother-man, what do you think? They''re all just running to their deaths!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Forget I asked¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    But yeah, this must''ve been the most stupid shit to do at this point but I started pickup up casings off the ground and putting them in the pouch where I had Bogdan''s barrel of goodness. Even if I was given weird looks by my current team, especially Brownie, I quickly shut him down by picking the casings instead.


    "REALLY?! NOW?!"


    "It''s an order, shut up."


    "BUT¡ª AGH! I DIDN''T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!"


    "Uh-huh. Still, it''s an order. Pick everything up."


    "F-Fine¡­"


    "Here''s the pouch¡­"


    "Alright¡­ Dammit¡­"


    Slightly bullying the new trainee aside, I still kept a watchful eye of the surroundings despite our drones flying overhead¡ªbut looking back at the stomped at corpses and the bodies of the horde we somehow attacted, it seemed like this "bait" or "lure" of sorts only had a set time where it could be in effect.


    But yeah, we''d still need to be sure about our assumptions so after everything settled down, rtively speaking, I thought of two ideas where the first one was already fucking stupid while the second was more stupid and probably more dangerous than the first.


    "Umm¡­ W-Why are you emptying our cooler? Don''t you¡ª" Lee asked.


    I turned to Ruben, "Empty your cooler too, put everything in ours."


    "W-What for¡ª Nevermind, sir¡ª Just a sec."


    JP cut in, "Samples, right?"


    I chuckled, "Points to Slytherin! Yeah, we''ll fill one with those babies'' remains¡ªsince we didn''t have the chancest time but the second will be umm¡­ let''s just say a scavenger hunt of sorts. It''s a low chance but if we go in the buildings they were in we might get luck and find some live ones¡ª"


    Tennyson had to argue, "While they''re still clearing the station?"


    I waved him off, "We had too many people at the same spot. Why do you think we''re here? The mine cart was too effective on the rails once the dregs from the station tforms cleared off. Add to that the pitchfork buff. But yeah¡ª Wait, you''re right¡­ But¡­ It''s not like we can just leave them there¡ª Hold up, I got a better idea¡­"


    As surprised as Tennyson was for being right, I pulled up my radio once more to contact Iskoh.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sup, Daddy, you there?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I know you''re there you fucking asshole, answer me!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª I can see Jude right fucking behind you¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What the fuck¡ª No, he''s not¡ª OH SHIT! JUDE THE FUCK ARE YOU¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, after Mayor Iskoh took a few to calm himself down, we got a special delivery from their side and it was in the form of a punk-ass ice cream truck. The fucking ice cream truck looked like it came from Twisted Metal or just straight up from Quinn''s Family because it had all sorts of spike attached to it and a DIY metal de from a bulldozer.


    But while it was still in transit, we had our group spread out while I came inside one of the buildings with Tatiana, Brownie, and Lee¡ªstarting our search for an alive dead baby.


    From the top of my head, it could''ve been the noises they made when they saw us¡ªand even though we didn''t hear a cry the first time this sort of attracting phenomenon happened¡ªit was a matter of the term, "If a tree fell in the forest and anyone wasn''t there to hear it, did it make a sound?"


    However, we might''ve just found the reason of the abundance of babies in this joint and something in between them.


    "What. In the actual. Fuck¡­"

 Chapter 1260 The floor is a meat carpet-- mattress-- patty--

    Out of all the things we''d see from this ce¡ªthough I''ve heard of this thing before hidden around these parts¡ªwe stumbled upon an illegal abortion clinic AND a prostitution den like a two-for-one deal hidden behind a ce that makes processed foods like hotdogs, bologna, etc.


    I would''ve understood the dried blood all around but why the fuck was there more in the smallest sector in this whole fucking warehouse?!


    It was like these fucks decided to hole up from the time it hit since the amount of food here could''vested them years but something definitely went wrong somewhere aside from the hundred or so pounds of rotten food that thawed the moment the power went out.


    ''But the door to this food section should''ve been secure too aside from that area if they holed up in here¡­''


    Brownie couldn''t believe the shit we were seeing as he said, "You guys seeing this shit, right?! What the fuck?! Eughh¡ª The smell! Worse than pits and ass!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I dunno what kind of ass and pit you''re smelling but it''s been¡ª Ugh¡­ Fuck it, I can''t even joke about this shit¡­ The venttion''s fucked up¡ªwe need to have someone to bring a porta-genny here¡­ Make sure the fucking masks stay on even if it barely helps."


    "Fuck it, I''ll put five in my mouth if I could¡ª"


    "That just sounds wrong¡ª"


    "What¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"


    Then June''s voice echoed from our earpieces:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You guys okay there?! J-Just give us a signal, alright?! Don''t turn off your radios!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Of course, of course¡ª We''ll bolt the moment we feel something wrong. We already used the RC cars to scan around, something should''ve reacted to it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Do you want us to send more people? Kuzma wants toe with you¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If you send more people, we''d have to fight anything that pops out in here, space is too cramped and I doubt there''s a hidden maze here unless there is. That''s why it''s called hidden, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You¡ª don''t even joke about that stuff! I''m¡ª We''re worried!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''ll be fine don''t worry, I''ll drag his ass out if he does something stupid.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If anything, we should be luring it out and then fighting it in the open. Whatever the fuck spawned all those babies."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Lee cut in, "Speaking of that, where''s the mother or mothers? It''s just a carpet of meat paste here¡­ Should we go in? We checked this freezer room long enough¡­"


    I turned to her and gave her a proud look, "Nice analogy but the dead don''t produce milk anymore, right?"


    "And?"


    "I mean, their decay had slowed dramatically but sooner orter, some of them would turn to goop, right? Then¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yep. If the mothers could eat their babies why not the other way around¡ª It''s not like they can''t suck the goop from the bones¡ª"


    "Ugh¡­ Fuck, I''m gonna be sick¡­"


    Brownie added, "Wait¡ª How could they have fit in all those m-meat in such small bodies?"


    Tatiana answered for me, "Have you seen their stomachs ripped open? While some of them still had the umbilical cords on ''em, it was just an endless supply of human sludge if they couldn''t digest it. We''ve seen this type of thing before but not in babies¡­ an endless loop you''d hate to see¡­"


    "Well, there goes my lunch¡­"


    But yeah, as we took a closer look at the meat carpet, it didn''t take long before we discovered that it was more like a meat mattress. It was because once I tried to flip a piece over by pushing my knife in, I didn''t even get to the bottom of the floor as my knife kept sinking right up to my fingers, making me pull back in disgust.


    "Whelp¡ª I guess that''s my fucking lunch too¡ª No pudding for a while¡­"


    "What in the actual¡ª How deep is that floor?!" Brownie eximed.


    I shook my head as I pulled out my katana, "Good thing we haven''t entered it yet¡­"


    In any case, as I pushed my katana down the meat mattress, it soon became apparent that it was more like three mattresses on top of each other as I hit the floor and felt some odd bones here and there.


    The feeling was fucking worse than touching rice that had gone bad in the pot or touching the gunk that was stuck on the drain of the sink after washing the dishes.


    But yeah, my OCD brain was already making me itch all over and this was the first of many buildings where the dead babiese from. However, I suddenly felt a tug on the tip of my de still dipped in this triple-mattressbo and I had to put my foot by the door and grip tight with my hand so I wouldn''t get pulled in.


    Lee eximed, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"


    Your next chapter is on empire


    "JUST SHOOT!"


    "JUST LET GO!"


    "I TOLD YOU TO SHOOT! FUCK¡ª TATIANA! IT''S PULLING TO THE LEFT! AIM THERE!"


    "YOUR ARM¡ª"


    "JUST SHOOT!"


    Just to act upon my orders, Tatiana unloaded the full magazine tube of her Benelli M4 to the spot I pointed at because yeah, there''s no fucking chance I''d let go of my de even if it fucking kills me and yeah¡ª I''ve never let go of it a single time in my life unless it was for a trick or I was willingly handing it over.


    It''s just that if Tatiana had taken a second more, I would''ve been pulled into the gunk as I felt the strain on my forearms and my legs. I would''ve been able to rip that shit up if I wasn''t caught off-guard because right now, I only had a quarter of a brace and a single arm to pull against it.


    But yeah, Tatiana probably hit the target since I was able to free my de as I almost stumbled on my ass, and as soon as I regained my footing, a couple of pipe bombs were already being lit between my fingers because of the audacity of the bitch that tried to pry my de off me.


    "GRAB THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH¡ª"


    And right as I threw it inside the meat pit, I definitely saw the floor move but I wasn''t able to see it emerge because everyone else had already taken cover¡ªsince the door to that ce open from the inside¡ªand Tatiana pulled me to the side right as the bombs exploded.


    "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT¡ª"


    *BOOOOOOM*


    And right on cue, everyone in our channel wanted to know what was going on but all four of us inside weren''t responding as we already had our guns aimed at the entrance¡ªwaiting for anything to move. But yeah, there''s no chance in hell I''d stir the pot with my de again but we did call for another person to provide us a particr ingredient for the most fucked Mole I''ve ever seen.


    It dide close to certain color schemes of the Mexican food but I doubt it''d taste good unless someone like Hannibal tasted it.


    Bogdan ran in with a huge smile in his face, "Arson?"


    I just nodded as I took the can of gas from his hands, "Arson."


    Because yeah like in The Office, Season 7, Episode 19, Minute 14:45, I should''ve burned this ce down then I had the fucking chance.


    It was because as we were searching this building, Artem led his own team with Katya, Hooper, and Marina¡ªand they had already found a dead baby "drowning" in an aquarium filled with dead lobsters. I would''ve loved to see things from their perspective but we''ll get to that after taking the footage from their bodycams.


    All we knew was that they found one and it was already in one of our coolers. I just didn''t want toe back empty-handed though a son of a bitch did try to take something off my hands.


    But Bogdan almost lost his shit when he saw Brownie and Lee holding fire extinguishers we found in the building, "W-What''s that for?! I thought¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Hold your horses, they''re just good fire extinguishers, we had to put the fire out once it got bigger and bigger, right? Even one of the fire trucks is headed here."


    "I thought the firewall was good? Can''t it contain the fire just here?"


    "I mean¡ª We don''t want to burn down the whole block. The fire truck is just for insurance, we just burn that particr room and block it off with these plywood and sheet metal from the side and let it you know¡­ cook for a minute or so."


    "Fuck it, I guess we still need the scraps from the other buildings."


    "You call them scrap, I call them treasures."


    "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    With that said, after I let Bogdan create a controlled fire, we cooked whatever was inside it for a bit before we carefully removed the DIY door. And yeah, we already had the vents working by using a portable generator to give power to this building¡ª and things went on as they should as we were left with a burnt patty the size of a small room.


    ''Now that thing''s well done¡­''N?v(el)B\\jnn


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Iid my eyes on the baby Artem had on their cooler, and as some sort of insurance, Artem ripped off its jaw and pulled out its tongue before putting it in. We don''t know the actual reason why but even if it was still in the open, it didn''t attract the dead likest time.


    "So, it''s really sound?"

 Chapter 1261 Fastback - Chicken Legs

    As soon as I asked that, Katya threw over a separate trash bag that contained bits and pieces of a dead toddler in which they''d already crushed its skull. It would''ve caused panic among everyone else but it seemed like even if these babies had the ability to attract the dead to their location, every other deadhead in their radius was already taken care of or wasn''t tantamount to anything.


    Isaac scratched his head from the side, "We did encounter a handful heading in this direction even if we didn''t make much noise¡ª"


    Tennyson disagreed, "We still made noise earlier, that doesn''t count. Or at least I think it doesn''t. It could''ve been the slower ones that didn''t make it as fast or the ones further away."


    Isaac rolled his eyes, "You really wanna disagree with what everyone says, huh?"


    "Just giving out possible options, no harm intended."


    "Haaa¡­ You''re pretty stiff¡­ Loosen up¡ª"


    "How about no?"


    "Sure¡­ Suit yourself, buddy¡­"


    In any case, we still put the coolers inside the ice cream truck''s working freezer and we had it delivered to Iskoh''s Main HQ. And it was then that we took the time to clear the streets of our mess and loot the surrounding buildings for anything worth a second look.


    And yeah, aside from the few surprises we encountered, nothing much followed after aside from picking where everyone else left off from keeping the streets clean.


    While it was true that it felt like we were trying to mop the floor while it was flooding, we just had to keep going and going and going until there was nothing left.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    And yeah, not everyone who ventured outside and tried to do the same thing as us had enough resources or even manpower to have several burn piles from handling the dead so it was up to us to clean up for them because decaying bodies'' random-ass particles in the air was already a no-no before the world ended, how much more diseases could we contract now?


    ''I mean¡ª it''s not really airborne or anything or else we''d already have everyone turn from a whiff¡­''


    Then I turned to my group, "What have we uncovered from the shops?"


    Marvin answered, "Almost every corner here is a hardware store though we scored some really nice tires. We loaded most of them on the truck where we put the mine cart though Ashley found boxes and boxes of clothes from this thrift shop. Should we haul it too?"


    "Go ahead," I said before turning to JP, "How about you?"


    "Well aside from the couple of shotguns we got from the guards on that bank, we found seven pistols, three shotguns, and a rifle from that barangay hall over there along with their drives and some important records from their archives. Oh¡ª We found three boxes of instant noodles and a cart of canned goods in that PC store too."


    "Tennyson?"


    "We got a bit of everything else but we took all the car batteries from all the auto shops we broke into plus some random knick-knacks for our vehicles."


    "Eden?"


    "Same-same, honestly. We followed after Tatiana so we mostly picked up casings and other stuff we had to dig through the corpses¡ª I mean their belongings. Some phones, makeup, IDs to identify them¡ª Oh! Some clean sheets too and some thick boots for hiking! We got them from that drive-in hotel by the corner near that bank."


    I nodded a few times, "Alright, alright, I wish we could take everything from here so let''s continue helping Morales with the next station. It''s much closer so we just do our thing and skim from the shops or any other ces we can loot shit from, good job, everyone. We''ll divvy up the pileter but don''t get your vehicles too heavy or encumbered, alright?"


    With that said, once we arrived by the Tayuman Station, aside frompeting banks at every corner, we came across a block where several buildings of DOH(Department of Health) were along with a few public or private hospitals only a building or two away from each other.


    Explore more at empire


    In addition, several pharmacies or shops that sell OTC medicine or other medical supplies were present¡ªthough partially looted, but still, a scavenger''s wet dream.


    However, out of all the ces to break into while clearing the streets of the dead, Quinn had to park us right in front of this powerlifting gym she spotted from god knows how away and decided for it to be our spot where we''d put in our perimeter.


    "Seriously? A gym?"


    "Why not?! And excuse me, that''s a powerlifting gym, StudMaster 6000, not one of thosemercial gyms with casual lifters! We''d find all sorts of good shit in that¡ª HOLY FUCK!"


    "What now?!"


    "You''re kidding me, right?! Check the fucking driveway! That''s a fucking¡ª THAT''S A FASTBACK, DUMBSHIT! WE HIT THE FUCKING JACKPOT!"


    June had to cut in, "W-What''s that? You talking about that old car?"


    Quinn couldn''t believe her ears as she stared at June like a fucking idiot, "You''re lucky I fucking like you, or I''d be putting all the Olympic bars we find in that gym AND UP YOUR ASS!"


    "I-I''m sorry! I-I don''t know much about cars!"


    "START NOW! THAT''S A FORD MUSTANG FASTBACK! AND WE DON''T CALL THEM OLD! WE CALL THEM CLASSICS, RIGHT?!" Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs as she turned to me.


    I chortled as I gave my support to June instead, "It''s a ''67 model so¡­ you know¡­"


    "h, h, h~ You''d still stick your dick in it given the chance¡ª"


    "Hah?! I''d fuck YOU in that car, not the car itself!"


    "THEN LET''S FUCKING CLEAR THAT GYM SO YOU CAN FUCKING DO IT, PUSSY!"


    "If that''s just transmogrified, I''ll¡ª"


    "What? English, buddy?"


    "You know, what if it''s just a body kit to make it look like one? It somehow looks off¡ª"


    "You¡ª AH, FUCK! IT IS! THE DIMENSION ARE ALL FUCKED! LET''S JUST¡ª FUCK OUTTA HERE ROTFACE! WE''RE BUSY!"


    Quinn never hit a deadhead so fucking hard that she ripped its head out of its socket and sent it a block away as the rest of its body was still upright. However, as impressive as it was, the ones that came out of the powerlifting gym didn''t take too kindly to the noise we were creating.


    One by one,rger-than-normal deadheads came walking out awkwardly but as soon as each of us looked a few inches down, the disappointed look we gave at their leg gains was fucking miserable.


    Everyone thought we''d be in for some trouble but Kaley and Jared instantly busted up one of these gym rat¡ª no, gym mingo''s knee caps and their top-heavy body copsed on themselves.


    "That''s just fucking sad."


    "Their legs?"


    "What do you think?"


    "I mean¡ª they probably hadn''t worked out in a while¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª PFFT! HAH! FUCK YOU, GET BUSY SO I CAN SEE WHAT WE COULD DO WITH THIS FUCKING FAKE!"


    "Leave that car for a minute¡ª Fuck it, I can take care of these fucks alone anyway."


    In any case, while my main group spread on each side of the road to create a perimeter, I dove in as Tatiana followed behind as my spotter.


    My first victim was another chicken-legged schmuck who instantly lost a foot of height¡ªas I took care of its legs¡ªbefore it toppled to the back for easy pickings. After that, my second victim ate my cold de beginning from its chest to its throat before I twisted my de to the side and cleaved half of its pectoral muscles as I pulled my de out another way.


    It was already a surprise that these fucks retained some muscle but unless they were as rigid as Hulkers, it was just a few inches or centimeters of dead flesh that I could easily cut through.


    But yeah, we thought it''d be a difficult encounter but it seemed like using their twig legs to get out of their safe zone took everything from it and they couldn''t even lunge or so much move past 2nd gear. One sudden juke I performed caused one wearing a muscle tee that stuck to its body like a wet burger wrapper literally broke its knees and tumbled down for an easy downward stab.


    Furthermore, their turning radius was fucking worse than a five-ton truck because as Tatiana dove into three deadheads and aimed for the one in the center a bit further back, the other two took approximately ten seconds toplete a turn¡ªand each of us took them out before taking care of the other ones.


    "That''s what happens if they don''t do leg day¡ª"


    "Enough jokes, there are serious lifters inside. Can you see them?"


    "Ah¡ª Fuck."


    Because as we peered inside the broken stained ss of this gym we saw a handful of deadheads that definitely looked like they took gear before they sumbed to something that would grant them the curse of eternal death.


    "Are they¡ª"


    Tatiana shook her head, "Not a chance."

 Chapter 1262 Missing People - Ammonia

    Right from the fucking get-go, each of the ones inside waiting for us to get rid of their gym bros whomitted crimes started to perform a running stance. They put one of their legs back as their bodies lowered, keeping tension in their legs before suddenly bursting through the tinted ss windows.


    However, two lead projectiles from Kaley and Jared took out the first couple who got out while Tatiana and I almost did the same from a much closer range.


    And with a red puff of bloodbined with an entry and exit wound, as their bodies sprawled on the floor, we didn''t even think twice toe in and go toe-to-toe with the remaining buff monsters wearing clothes that entuated their arms and legs.


    Using my katana with both hands, I took in a bit of air to brace my core to deliver a fatal strike which included a sudden entry from the top of its head then an exit from its right pectoral muscle. I could''ve aimed it in a way for an easier diagonal sh but those were just the ces this buff deadhead needed to work on.


    In any case, it seemed like body-shaming them this way made me the center of attention so as one gym thot tried to dive in for my calves¡ªwhich was totally not my weakest part¡ªit ate the tip of my de before having my boot make it lose some of its teeth as I pushed it back for some space.


    However, another bitch wearing spandex went in for Tatiana''s blindspot but before I¡ªor even Kaley or Jared¡ªmanaged to step in, a fucking tire came out of nowhere and the bitch suffered some head injury as its face hit the ground hard.


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, THE INSIDE IS FUCKED TWO! THIS SHIT IS EVEN USING STOCK BRAKES! ALL THIS CAR WITH LESS SUPPORT! I BET ITS OWNER''S ONE OF THOSE CHICKEN LEGS! AGH!"


    Tatiana took a step back to thank her with a nod but Quinn didn''t even realize she saved her.


    But yeah, I guess we weren''t taking this "Fastback" home but Quinn had already joined the fray and made meat paste with her huge-ass weapon. With one swing, she''d end the fight and probably do more damage to that body''s soul for its next life.


    Because yeah, my katana doesn''t even go above two kilograms(4.4~pounds) yet depending on what Quinn had on her polearm/halberd hybrid, it was ten kilograms(22~pounds) minimum.


    Even if some people say that big things came in small packages, I still wouldn''t get hit with a full swing of that huge-ass weapon.


    "HAH! HOW REFRESHING IT IS TO HIT SOMETHING THAT''S MY HEIGHT!"


    "YOU''RE STILL TALLER THAN THEM!"


    "YOU WOULDN''T UNDERSTAND, SHORT STOP!"


    "HEY! EASY WITH THE NICKNAMES, JEEZ!"


    "JEEZ ON DIZ NUTS!"


    "THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO YOU¡ª FUCK IT! YOU CAN''T EVEN SQUAT 405 ASS TO GRASS ANYWAY¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HEY, YOU! FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK! I SQUAT 585 FOR REPS!"


    "NOT HIGH BAR!"


    "YOU FUCKING PRICK! COME BACK¡ª WHOA!"


    All of a sudden, these fucks who seemed to have more mobility than regr dregs¡ªbut still with the same fatal weakness¡ªstarted to get more and more eager to take us down.


    It was in the literal sense of tackling us to the ground like the gym thots who tried aiming for our ankles and calved but this time, one of the bigger dead dudes performed a Spear by lunging in and trying to tackle us to the ground.


    However, despite all their mobility, each of us who were still living had this definite advantagepared to their increased strength.


    And with their added weight, we''d have to be caught off guard for them to sessfully perform a takedown¡ªand in addition, they''d have to be that mobile to dodge a bullet from an almost point-nk range.


    It was because when they started doing human strats, each of us pulled a pistol and used tech that was impossible for them to use at the moment¡ªand everything just went downhill for them. They already were given the chance to fight us close up even though we still had shooters from the back but yeah, everything''s fucking fair in love and war.


    It took us maybe three more minutes toplete the perimeter though putting these fucks in one pile took more time because of their weight.


    ''I mean¡ª I bisected some of them so¡­ I guess that helps?''


    Then I heard Iskoh''s voice through our channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, kid, I heard you''re by the DOH buildings?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, why do you ask?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m gonna send some people over¡ª do you mind keeping an eye out for a few people?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What are you on about?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We lost some people there and haven''t been able to retrieve their bodies. They came in a red moving truck for a supply run and we haven''t heard from them for a few. We''ve been meaning to retrieve their bodies to be burnedter but we just got caught up in doing several things¡ªwhich includes my sudden visit to your ce.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ll wait for your men and I''ll call you when we spot the truck you''re talking about. Do you have any identifying marks or uniforms for them? Anything peculiar about their clothes or appearance?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You have a tech with you? I can have someone send over a picture through your rys?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, go ahead."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [They''re sending now, five people in total,st transmission we received was that they stopped by the DOH''s gymnasium, where are you guys at?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re by this gym across the DOH Center¡ª I think the gymnasium''s on the other side of the street. Just a bit past the Tayuman station and right under it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s the ce. Have you received it yet?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I turned to June and na and they just gave me the thumbs up.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah. No guarantees we''ll find them, okay? We have other groups clearing and we can''t just sift through a horde of bodies. But if we find the truck, we''ll just hand them over to ya."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, that''s fair. But yeah, even a small keepsake to take back. That''s all I ask.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll try, we''ll try¡­ But again, no promises."


    *bzzt*


    -


    But yeah, I let our two techs give a detailed description of what these five people looked like as best as they could before I followed Quinn inside this gym she was so excited to have a look at.


    To our surprise those gym bros and gym thots we finished off actually holed up in this ce for maybe at least a few months before they sumbed to this ce''s cancer. I could see how they put up a few barricades in ce for the way to the 2nd floor¡ªbut doing that type of shit just wouldn''t be up to my standards.


    It could''ve been their only method of survival but even if it worked for a few months for them, the end result just proved my point.


    ''I mean¡ª The tinted windows might''ve helped but the moment it breaks¡­ Should''ve picked a better location¡­''


    Still, from the short time they were here, they managed to hoard a lot of essentials or items to live day-to-day or to protect themselves. But yeah, we still took care of a few remnants stuck inside but Quinn was just like a kid in an amusement park from the things she uncovered from their storage room.


    "WHA¡ª OH SHIT! THIS ARE THE PREMIUM STUFF! THESE PROTEIN BARS ARE¡ª BROOOO! I LOVE WHAT CLYDE MAKES BUT SBD SHIT ARE LEGIT¡ª Eh, fuck this shit, nothing''s ever my size with those fucks¡­ Really had to make Clyde custom-made all my gear!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at a few things that could still work with her, "How about those straps and wrist wraps?"


    "Eh. Clyde''s better."


    "I''ll take all of them then~"


    "PSH! Suit yourself, I''ll be taking all these protein bars with me! They''re CICO for fuck''s sake! The guy who made it just icks me but he''s still legit! Need to tone down the drama a bit but¡ª OoooH~ Holy shit, that''s a nice piece of equipment right there~"


    "Hmm? The leg press machine?"


    "Heh. I mean¡ª Back squats are my jam but I wanna feed my ego from time to time y''know? Besides, see the cut in the middle?"


    "Oh~ You can do it on one leg each too! They separate and join at will, huh?"


    "Yep! Yeap! I made one at home but this looks pristine! Let''s haul it back! Everything hanging on that wall too! And that bench!


    That scale¡ª Ooh! Everything on those disy cases, the chalk, holy fuck¡ª they really do have everything here! They have ammonia packs too, hah! HEY BROWNIE!"


    "Hmm?"


    "SMELL THIS, YOU FUCK!"


    "What¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1263 DOH Gymnasium - Donors

    Messing around aside, we also freed the road from vehicles blocking the way either from poor parking skills or from vehicr crashes all around. It was a good thing we brought over arger truck because aside from enabling us to haul more loot, we could easily fit a vehicle or two if we so wanted¡ªor have them ced somewhere else to act as a barricade.


    But yeah, since it''d be a pain to ask the people working on the railway to stop for a bit so we could inspect the DOH Gymnasium, I just decided to have my group work inside the DOH block where we could ess the same ce from a different entrance.


    The area had a driveway and parking area of its own but the road was like a bent hourss that was also somewhat twisted. Though luckily enough, we wouldn''t have to squeeze through a tight space because the driveway itself was pretty wide and the gymnasium we were talking about had two parking areas on each side.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ll have Tennyson''s group take the rear, JP''s group take the corner of Faben Ave. and Gatmaitan Ave, while Seb''s group handles handle that small walkway towards the ounting building and the churches. You know what to do and what to not fucking do but don''t be afraid to ask for support if you fucked up! C''mon!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    So yeah, with the same tools in hand, I cleaved through the space that wasid out for me because in addition, one visit from our drones confirmed that the vehicle they werest seen on was also parked at the target area.


    These expired fucks had no chance to stand their ground as my main group breezed through them but we had to pull on the reins when we reached the gymnasium.


    "Are those¡­ people hung likeundry?"


    "Ingredients now."


    "Eugh¡­ Fuck it."


    Because as we caught a glimpse through the windows, the fucking ceiling of the gymnasium not only had slurpers hanging from above but also their victims who they, for some reason, were bleeding out or hanging to dry.


    It was akin to spiders and their meals wrapped up in their webs but this time, they were tied up by their organs¡ªmainly their intestines¡ªand was the most fucked up pinata we''ve ever seen.


    It''s just that Kaley began shooting through the gaps provided by the windows to rattle or put down anything within her sights as the rest of us took care of whatever fucking abomination walked through the double doors.


    It felt like fighting a cursed spirit that had the power to transfigure human souls or if an incarnate of Frankenstein wanted to continue his legacy.


    Because right from the get-go, two big burly amalgamations of human flesh burst out withyers andyers of fat covering their heads. And right after that, the most fucked up sea urchin-looking motherfucker that had legs and arms for its supposed spines rolled out like a fucking tumbleweed followed by several dregs where the parts were taken from.


    Obviously, Kaley tried to care of the dregs while Jared tried to take care of the tankers but the moment Jared wasn''t able to take them down with a precise headshot, he aimed for their legs instead.


    "WATCH OUT BRO! I TRIPPED THEM DOWN BUT THEY AREN''T DEAD YET!"


    Seeing them tumble down, I aimed my rifle at the fucking urchin/tumbleweed and it took maybe four shots topletely put it down. I wasn''t exactly sure if it exactly did the trick but Kaley had the same problem of not confirming the kill with a headshot.


    "THEY''RE MIXED WITH THE HOLLOWED ONES! CAREFUL NOW!"


    "ALRIGHT! IMMOBILIZE FIRST! I''M GOING FULL MELEE!"


    "COMING RIGHT AT YA!"


    "I''LL STICK TO THE M4 WITH BUCKSHOTS!"


    "HAVE YOUR AXE AT THE READY STILL!"


    On that note, June and na ryed our findings to the group watching the choke pots because we hadn''t encountered this mix yet since we came into this area, but then again, it was just extra steps for homicide, and lopping off extra body parts was part of my itinerary anyway.


    Only Ibarra''s weapon of choice didn''t shine in this area though he could easily confirm whether a deadhead was a puppet or not from a distance.


    In our case, puppet or not, we''d just go straight for their legs before going for their head to avoid any surprises but it didn''t take long before I noticed how they''d be a gaping hole in each of the hollowed ones'' orifices.


    It''d still take a split second to recognize them¡ªand there''s also a chance that the orifice the slurper made use of was also chewed off¡ªso yeah, I''d use that type of information depending on the situation as we cleared off around 50 or so "donors" of bodyparts.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Then again, out of those fifty or so donors, we came to discover that a couple fit the description of the people Iskoh was searching for.


    It was the type of clothes they were wearing and the type of equipment they were carrying on their warbelt¡ªwhich was still on ''em¡ªand aside from their primary weapon, we uncovered spare mags, knives, kits, etc. on each of them.


    ''I guess this rules out the notion that some other group took care of them¡­ to a degree¡­''


    But yeah, I only took a quick nce at their dismembered corpses but it didn''t take long before the backup Iskoh promised arrived. They came in from the other side of the hourss and did some work for us and their group leader of sorts recognized me and held out his hand.


    "Mr. Ishiyama, right? I''m Richard, we''re here to¡ª Sorry, we''rete, we didn''t use the railway because of the operation and¡ª"


    I cut him off as I returned his handshake, "That''s alright, I think we found two of them. Jace and KC, was it? We haven''t found the others yet but they''re either on the road still or inside the gymnasium? What''s in there, anyway?"

 Chapter 1264 Hydro Cannon - Slop

    From the short break we got from the dead ceasing toe out of the gymnasium, this Richard fe talked about how this ce was found to have various supplies but was still yet to be cleared outpletely.


    It was for the reason that there were still a lot of ces to loot items from but as more and more time passed the same ces tended to either get more and more dangerous and have fewer and fewer items to be taken for it to be worth a trip.


    "So why take the chance here?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Look around, just the instruments inside the gymnasium are worth a lot but there''s just pallets and pallets of food and water stored in these ces. We haven''t even begun clearing the main buildings, who knows what we might get there?"


    "With such a small group, I think it''s pretty evident¡ª"


    "That''s why we should strike while the iron''s hot, sir! We''ll split the difference! W-We just need to¡ª"


    I put my hand in front of him as I cut him off, "First off, our reason for going out here is to clear the railway, not this DOH Block. It''d be a good mission with our numbers¡ªadd to that the promises of a good score but we only take care of the gymnasium because of Iskoh''s request."


    "Then¡­"


    "For another time, sure, but not now."


    "I¡­ I understand but¡ª W-Wouldn''t we be able to find some shit from one of these buildings?!"


    "What shit?"


    "I-Isn''t this the buildings for the Department of Health?! There could be¡ª"


    "Highly doubt it, no."


    "Huh? Why?!"


    "First off, each and every specialist in regards to what''s happening¡ª fuck it every doctor or scientist who has a chance of figuring this out is already in Davao City working with the same people prioritized from Japan. And if this ce holds real value, it should''ve been turned into a five-star DDR Camp, not a simple evacuation center.


    While it''s true we could fine some valuable shit we could use back home, I doubt it''d contain the secrets to unlocking the universe."


    "I¡­" he looked down for a moment before he nodded a few times and turned back to me, "I understand, sir. C-Can we check the vehicle they came in at least? Or have you already?"


    "Yeah, pretty vacant aside from the supplies they brought and things they picked up on the way but it''s still pretty drivable. You can ce their bodies there if you want or some keepsake which I rmend doing. We''re burning everything else after and it''d save you a bit of fuel doing that."


    "I see¡­ Is there anything else we could help with?"


    "You can have your group park over there and help us with moving bodies to one side though you could also hold the other end of that choke point further out and pretty much do the same thing."


    In any case, Richard and his group followed thetter suggestion while I led my group inside through several points of entry to this gymnasium.


    The ss windows I mentioned before were at least five feet above what looked like red bricks stacked all around this ce''s base but a car cement just before it¡ªand after shooting those ss windows off¡ªhad made this ce with a double door and one single door to the back a ce full of openings.


    But yeah, this gymnasium was as big as at least two basketball courts side by side and we''d have to be really careful of our footing while at the same time bepletely wary of the ceiling.


    Because as we had a better view from atop the cars, the inside just looked like the inside of a blender after crushing some beets and it was just a slip-and-slide disaster waiting to happen.


    Still, there were still a few clusters of the dead inside not wanting to get out so aside from sniping them from thefort of the outside, we had one of the firetrucks avable to give this ce a good hose-down even if it''d be unfair to the other side.


    There''s no chance in hell I''d risk my group to such stupidity and again, it was just way, way~ easier to smoke them¡ª I mean to Hydro Cannon them out their nest. Furthermore, the water pressure was enough to scrape off the ones hanging from the ceiling, and let''s just say we found two more on the missing persons'' list except for one.


    "Who''s thest one, again? Missy?" Tatiana asked.


    I nodded, "Yeah. She could still be out there but she could also be in¡­ you know¡­ there."


    "That¡­ slop?"


    "I don''t have better-sounding words to call it¡­"


    So yeah, with the degree of decay on the deadheads we''d face, it was already difficult to have a perfect ID¡ªbut to use the same metaphor¡ªthis slop that washed up after a serious hose-down of the gymnasium could be from a hundred different people was like the most fucked up version of a beet smoothie.


    However, it was like the blender lost power for some reason and they weren''t blended all the way through, leaving just chunks and pieces for us to sift through just to find an identifying mark.


    But yeah, even the identifying clothes were hard to look through because it became apparent that when they feed, they''d chew through the clothes as well just for a little pulp like those fancy juices sold in stores.


    "Hold up¡ª Isn''t this the umm¡­ nose ring?" Ibarra said as he picked up a shining object from the slop.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "And what''s left of the nose, yeah. What do you¡ª"


    I cut in, "Ah, that might be Missy''s. Have someone call Richard or anyone who knows Missy from their group over, have them confirm for us."


    On that note, their group couldn''t have given us the worst person to see what remained of this Missy gal because the dude went ape shit as he tried to pull out a gun on all of us. Read new chapters at empire

 Chapter 1265 Carry as is. - Something Important

    More importantly, the dude who pulled the gun on us was pointing it at Ibarra who was still holding Missy''s nose ring and what was left of her nose, but the shit was quickly shot down when I came up behind him without him noticing. Funnily enough, the guy still had the safety on his pistol but despite all that, the motherfucker still deserved a short beating just for pointing a gun at each of us.


    So yeah, let''s just say that this guy named "Mistah"¡ªironic/moronic, I know¡ª was now tied up and looking like a roon or an almost ripe banana from his bruises.


    In addition, the rest of his group with Richard could only shake their heads and look down in shame at what just happened because that shit doesn''t fly anywhere else. If they wereplete strangers¡ªwhich they kind of were¡ªthey''d be part of the pile we were burning already.


    Richard tried to approach me, "I''m really sorry, sir¡ª He''s¡ª"


    "A dumbass? Yeah, he is."


    "It''s just¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking exin anything right now. We''ll hold him here for our safety while we finish up until Bambang Station. It''s D. Jose Station right after that so it''s just a natural stopping point."


    "B-But what are you gonna do to him?"


    "Rx. If we wanted him dead your group wouldn''t be able to do anything about it."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "It''s plenty fucking dangerous here, Richard. You fuck around, you find out. Just think of it as a one-time professional courtesy. One more slip even inside our walls and I''d definitely hit harder and do something permanent, get me?"


    "Yes, sir¡ª"


    "Now hold the same spot and await further orders. You listen to me even if you''re under Iskoh."


    "That''s a given¡ª"


    "Go."


    "R-Right! Right!"


    On that note, Richard sprinted back to his group while we finally felt confident to step inside this gymnasium we power-washed. And obviously enough, there were still some food packs as they''ve mentioned but even a beggar or someone dying of hunger wouldn''t touch these pallets because they were already tainted by the dead''s remains.


    The only thing salvageable at this point was the gymnasium itself but it''d be a while before we branch out into this area.


    So yeah, with our remaining daylight, I helped for a bit on the railway¡ªbut ever since finding it so monotonous with our mine cart system and pitchfork buff¡ªwe continued following the road below.


    Even reaching Bambang Station, the area below still had a ton of pharmacies and other ces that sold medical equipment though we were only a few blocks away from where we lost Kristoff and discovered our first Hulker.


    But yeah, the only thing different from Bambang Stationpared to the other stations we breezed through was that this one had a 7-car train on it on one side¡ªmeaning: we''d only be able to use our mine cart just before reaching the station itself.


    We''d be doing something simr to what we did in Monumento Station before we could proceed further to the other ones further in¡ªespecially the connecting railway for the MRT.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Now we see what you mean, sir.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Seriously? You guys are up there and you didn''t see those train cars?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah. We''re too focused on flipping the dead like hay bales¡­ So, what are we gonna do now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Same shit you''ve been doingst time only you stop before reaching the tforms in Bambang Station. Where''s the barriers we usedst time?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Brian? Ruben? Don''t make me pull out that reference from Drake & Josh¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­ We kinda felt sorry for everyone else pushing¡ªus too¡ªso we left it a ways~~~ back¡­ sir.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ahaha¡­ That''s totally our bad, sir¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡ª It''s nice for you fucks to take ountability but there''s a reason we fucks still follow the chain ofmand, right? I''m open to hearing suggestions too but why the fuck did you think of doing something so stupid when I ordered something that''d help us save a lot of timeter, huh?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A-Ah¡ª W-We just didn''t think that¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hold up, hold up, hold up, I''ll refrain from saying something demeaning but what now? If you just fucking asked for the reason why you''re carrying all that extra weight I would''ve answered but what now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [U-Umm¡­ W-We go back?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "And?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We retrieve the blocks and shit? A-And apologize? To everyone and S-Sir Morales? A-And especially you, sir¡­ w-we really fucked up¡­]


    *bzzt*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s fine, it''s fine¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [R-Really, sir?! T-Thank you!]


    *bzzt* Read new chapters at empire


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''ll just have you two serve our guests in Micah''s ce for a week after this¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NO! PLEASE, SIR! ANYTHING BUT THAT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Haah?! You fucks won''t take responsibility for WASTING EVERYONE''S FUCKING TIME?! HAH?! IS THAT IT?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [B-BUT¡ª BUT¡ª BUT, SIR¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "AT LEAST YOU GET IT! YOUR BUTTS ARE GONNA BE THIS YAY~~~ BIG AFTER THEY''RE DONE WITH YOU! THOSE GIRLS HAVE PENT-UP STRESS TOO, YOU KNOW?! AND BIG BOYS LIKE YOU TWO ARE THEIR FAVORITES! HAVE FUN! BRING LUBE AND RELAX!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Joking aside, I still made them apologize to everyone else because of leaving the concrete barriers behind¡ªbut it actually wouldn''t matter as much, just a little¡ªsince aside from bringing another mine cart tomorrow, I was also nning to plug the pre-reimed stations with the static barriers just in case a straggler somehow ended up breaching the area.


    It was to ensure that we wouldn''t have to clean up the whole ce just because of one mistake and instead, it''d be contained to a station or just the railway in between.


    But yeah, as we made use of our remaining time, there wasn''t anything that stood out or needed any warranted attention as we continued to do what we were supposed to do.


    And as we were getting ready to leave, it was easy enough to hand the "Mistah" dude back to his group and just leave Iskoh a call, so with our vehicles full of items and whatnot¡ªinstead of driving back to Monumento with Morales'' group, we cut into the stretch of road we cleared between Morales and Iskoh''s Harbor so we''d have an easier trip back home.


    While it was true that we''d be leaving Morales and Artem''s group alone, they could handle their shit and we could hold our own.


    However, once we got home and had our well-deserved meal, the people participating in Hell Week couldn''t believe their ears when I left them with this instruction:


    "For tonight, I''d want you all to think hard, like really~ hard about something that''s very important to you. It could be anything, anyone, any ce, and any-whatever the fuck it is. It could be as simple as a love for food or be genuine andplex as one''s feeling for a person or a group of people, but what''s important is that you make fucking sure that it''s important to you.


    I''m not gonna tell you the full reason why but let''s just say you''re gonna need it for tomorrow."


    And as soon as I said that, I made my way to my home gym upstairs and continued as usual.


    All sorts of things were running through my head as I jogged on the treadmill¡ªthe limitations, my own experiences, and my interpretations for what I''d let them experience tomorrow¡ªbut even if I made Kaley and the rest experience the kind of the same thing before, it''d still be different, especially with the guys and the people I don''t have a lot of rtionship points with.


    That "something" I could easily bring out took me a lot of fucking work and luck¡ªand while it was true everyone else had the ability to do the same thing¡ªit''d be more subconscious or when that particr person was on the brink of life or death. However, it''s not like I''d break them because that wasn''t the point of the exercise but to get to that sweet spot akin to training for muscle growth.


    It''s just that it''d be a little different from the usual because this thing had more to do with the mind but it wasn''t like it didn''t have any direct on the body because it almost always did.


    If anything, it was like what a Venn diagram would look like when an eclipse was about to happen or had just passed over¡ªand to circle around, what I would like to aplish from the exercise tomorrow was when the eclipse was about to happen, I would like everyone else to hold onto it for as long as possible, cross over, and then hold it again right at that fucking sweet spot again but in reverse order.


    Any sane person would consider what I''m saying as delusional orplete hokum but it''d work for me and I could just hope that it''d work for them.

 Chapter 1266 Dipping Toes

    Before, all I knew about this particr ability was like dipping my foot into this ck pool of raw emotion made from hate, anger, and every negative emotion I''ve experienced ever since that time. I''ve been very careful not to fully plunge myself into that pool because I''d definitely lose myself but it was also true that I hade close to that a few times.


    Though ever since the revtion or breakthrough after that session with Marisha, I found more ways to tap into that particr pool¡ªand surprisingly enough, it allowed me to mold or develop the intense desire I had before into something almost intangible plus all the other things I used to have ess to before.


    One particr example was my strong intent to kill a certain individual¡ªand don''t fully quote me on this¡ªcould now be turned into a strong intent to violently beat someone up or just straight up lop their head off, but still, it was on the realm of extreme violence.


    The intense desire to want something could sometimes manifest into fruition but more often than not, it was backed by action to achieve the desired result or just straight-up delusion.


    In my case, if I so wish to kill someone, this particr ability of mine just removes some of the limitations my body''s shackled with to be able to perform much better.


    However, pretty recently, I was able to have my targets feel my strong desire¡ªhave them "see" what I would''ve wanted to do to them without even submerging half my body into the pool, sometimes even just having the tip of my toes wet.


    But how does this tie into tomorrow?


    In short, let''s just say I want the trainees to be able to dip the tip of their toes in their own ck pool but a little more conscious than usual. However, they''d have to be on the brink of it¡ªand let''s be honest here, they''d actually die if I''m not careful. So my solution?


    Exhaust myself as much as possible until tomorrowes and have Vera take care of our recements tomorrow and possibly the next.


    Also, when night came, I talked to Kaley and arranged a special night with everyone¡ª I mean EVERYONE in our circle except for the ones in Hell Week like Eden, Cindy, Megan, and Alexa. I made them fully aware of my intentions and since they''d still get something out of it, they didn''t take it to heart and just went with the flow.


    Andstly, I had Rin rearrange a special ce tomorrow¡ªthat wasn''t as far¡ªand it''d probably be close to noon before D-Day starts. Just one note, it involved a lot of obstacles and now, a few senses would be deprived or messed with in that area but it was all for the sake of this group''s development and survival.


    So, without further ado, when the time finally came, I decided to have my preye in two at a time, but funnily enough, three came in¡ªno, four right at this fucking moment and it was JP, Brian, Cindy, and Tennyson.


    I would''ve beat their asses right then and there because they should''ve followed precise instructions but with the light obstructed in this parkour ce by ckout curtains, loud music ring from the speakers, and different smells emanating all over, they''d need all the help they could get.


    ''Depends if they could have teamwork though¡­''


    Of course, they were in full gear but had wooden melee weapons and rubber bullets for their guns, but nothing could prepare them when I suddenly turned the speakers off.


    And right at that exact moment, I enveloped the area with pure killing intent as I jumped between all four of them from above and aimed for Brian and Tennyson.


    With my eyes already adjusted to the darkness, the two had no fucking chance of defending themselves especially since I had in my hands perfectly sized bokkens and I almost broke one from hitting Brian''s throat and almost bent one from thrusting hard onto Tennyson''s sr plexus.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    But yeah, JP was fast enough to reach and turn around but I kicked him hard on his chest before I dragged Cindy to a corner and was slowly choking her out.


    In Cindy''s defense, she really tried to put up a fight but our frames and strength were just too different, she was knocked out in a few seconds, and I left a nice present for her when she eventually woke up.


    At this point, I could still hear the curses the three were shouting out¡ªthough Brian''s was a little hoarse because of the wooden sword to the throat.


    But yeah, little did they know I had already traversed the area and circled around them without their notice, I had pressed the switch for the speakers once more¡ªthen turned it off abruptly, confusing and disorienting them even more¡ªbefore I lobbed arge firecracker by their feet.


    *BOOOOM*


    In just a split second, the three split up in different directions where Brian was firing all over, JP crouched down and hugging the wall by his side, and Tennyson almost hitting this horizontal bar because of his height.


    But yeah, I took advantage of Brian''s firing as I aimed for the fucks still adjusting to the darkness but I easily made my way to Brian and pushed him over the area where there was a puddle of oil.


    It didn''t take long for him to realize he fucked up but he ran straight into a solid wall and knocked himself out when he heard the clinking sound of a lighter.


    But yeah, I muscled up to this long bar to surprise JP who was trying to find where Cindy was but he suddenly came into blows with Tennyson identally before Cindy let out a blood-curdling shriek.


    It was because of the ballistic torso I left for her to cuddle with but it was covered in spaghetti sauce and fake innards. Just the scene imprinted on her mind was enough to make her theoretically shit in her pants but my next target was Tennyson who was running right behind JP in an attempt to locate where the scream came from.


    I was surprised they were moving faster than before because they had already realized that I hadid traps all around, but there was something they should be warier of aside from the things just waiting for them to step onto.


    Me.


    Because as soon as JP vaulted over this short wall, I intercepted Tennyson and gave him the fright of his life when he felt the cold edge of a knife by his throat as I exuded deathly killing intent.


    I made Rin bring them here on the premise of a semi-dangerous trial and the choice of things to defend themselves with didn''t include anything that could easily take a life. While that was still true because I was just holding a dull prop knife on his neck, Tennyson had no way of knowing that at the current moment so the fear in his head was fucking real.


    And with this prop knife able to release fake blood, I didn''t even take long before I put enough pressure as I "shed" his throat, letting him feel the liquid on his skin before I slowly kept the air from going in his head¡ªbasically knocking him unconscious as he thought he actually died.


    But to my delight, I felt a presence behind me but the dumbass was too fucking pumped to control his breathing as he tried to sneak from behind me.


    It could either be JP or Brian but it was all the same as they ate the front of my boot before having almost the same experience of getting stabbed over and over with a deranged maniac wearing a huge smile on his face.


    And of course, it was still an act so I''d still knock them out before they realized sooner though what I realized now was that JP also realized that Tennyson wasn''t running behind him and decided to circle back.


    So yeah, my next victim right now could either be Brian or Cindy so I just went in the direction where I heard wet footsteps, and lo and behold the sound was because of spaghetti sauce, not oil. Explore more at empire


    ''Cindy then¡­''


    But from the way she was moving around and huffing with her wooden sword in hand, I know for sure that she was 100% fucking pissed off and she couldn''t wait to have a shot at me.


    So I spooked her for the third time:


    "Psst¡­"


    "THERE YOU FUCKING ARE¡ª"


    Right as she turned around, she unloaded the whole magazine in my direction but with her unfamiliarity with the terrain, she hit this 10-foot wall with her rubber bullets as I just had enough space for a certain elf archer to shoot an orc below. However, I easily lobbed a water balloon in her direction before I watched Brian tackle her from the side.


    ''Whoops¡­''

 Chapter 1267 Brutal - Skip to Phase 3???

    Funnily enough, I saw exactly how Cindy managed to use the butt of her sword to smack it right on Brian''s temple before she got tackle-speared into oblivion, making both of them tumble badly on the floor. However, with how Cindy''s face was still drenched in water and bits of spaghetti sauce, she kept hitting Brian with the butt of her sword as she was trying to wipe her face with her sleeves.


    It''s just that she had already scored a critical hit on Brian''s temple and he''d sooner run out of saving throws to survive the day.


    However, she soon realized she was hitting the wrong guy but another water balloon plopped at her forehead before drenching her again.


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIIIIIIS?! COME OUT HERE SO I COULD STICK THIS S-STICK UP YOUR ASS! YOU¡ª STOP THROWING FUCKING WATER BALLOONS AT ME!!!"


    Ignoring her screams, I was already circling around after I lobbed the third water balloon over her head, and I had just received word that JP and Tennyson were already packed and ready for shipment.


    It was for the Phase 2 of this particr activity but that other shit woulde a littleter.


    Stay connected through empire


    But yeah, even if I circled around to get to Cindy''s back, I made myself known by emitting killing intent and letting her know I was standing right behind her¡ªand I made my "bloody" knife sheen from the small amounts of light seeping through the curtain slits.


    "W-What¡ª"


    And before she could utter another word, I emotionlessly took a step forward before I suddenly bridged the distance between us, and kicked her a few feet off Brian''s body.


    Judging from the looks on her face, she was still confused but more afraid of what was going on but her eyes never grew so wide when she saw me stab Brian over and over and over.


    With this visibility, it easily masked the whole racket but as I saw her take off and leave her items on the floor, I instantly gave chase and easily grabbed hold of her ponytail.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    From the way she was trying to kick me off and struggling with tears in her eyes, I knew that the fear was real and she was at her breaking point so once again, I knocked her out with a sleeper hold by you know, holding her tightly until she falls asleep¡ªaround her neck, of course.


    At that point, I began to carry her back to the same spot where Brian was and there I saw Tatiana putting Brian''s body in a wooden coffin.


    In addition, Tatiana and I just shared hand signals but I was still very careful so as to not conjure a Raikiri or a Rasengan. But yeah, as soon as I had them package thest two items, I called Rin to send the second batch of victims¡ª err, Hell Week participants.


    On another note, to preserve this ce''s surprises, they were all in the gym just a few steps across the street and they had no idea what the fuck their brethren just went through.


    One of the reasons I used genuine fear as a stopping point was the time I was almost hacked to death by Aoi and that dark time when I lost my parents. It was just conjuring that particr emotion before cutting it off right before deep roots set in so as to notpletely leave my precious students with trauma they''d need several therapy sessions to ovee.


    But yeah, it wasn''t like they haven''t feared anything yet but the reason I''m doing this hazing process of sorts was like the time I reced Tatiana''s fear of the Hulker to myself¡ªlike I was forcefully suggesting to my students that they could be afraid of the dark, heights, or a frickin'' cockroach but there existed a guy that they should fear above everyone else.


    Me.


    Then again, we still have a lot of processes¡ªand participants¡ªto go through but I just couldn''t hide the smile on my fucking face when Seb and Marvin walked in.


    Not to y favorites or anything but the people who somehow keep their emotions in check or wore their hearts on their sleeve¡ªlike me¡ªhad the highest chance for this "ritual" of sorts to work out. There could be a different way to handle different personality types in this type of situation but let''s just say the more they were simr to me, the higher the chance my bullshit method works.


    But yeah, as soon as the gate was closed behind them, they were like wet puppies caught between a hailstorm and a hurricane but let''s just say that apes together strong because these two leaned on each other''s backs as they didn''t move from their spot.


    They were trying to get used to the dark as much as possible but June foiled their ns as she yed the recording of Cindy''s screams as I dragged her to one corner of this obstacle course.


    It definitely made the two hesitate but in their heads, they still knew that it was just a scare tactic to throw off their game, and Cindy wasn''t a Scream Queen that she''d be able to envelop the whole area with her high-pitched shriek. While it was probably possible, June ramped up the volume too much¡ªand without my go-ahead¡ªso I went with a rather barbaric or awful way to separate them.


    As they were trying to get used to the dark, I had all the lights turned on at the same fucking time¡ªand it was fucking enough to burn a vampire''s retina and a frozen burrito.


    All the two could do was close both their eyes and fire aimlessly but I had already dropped down¡ªmission: impossible-style¡ªand kidnapped Marvin as I grabbed on his body and put a clothced with chloroform on his mouth as I began to tie him up in this small tform from above.


    Right after that, Seb was still reeling from the sudden sh but he was shocked to fuck when I slung a rope on his leg¡ªwhich almost pulled him up¡ªand thenter realized that Marvin was on the other end.


    "W-What the¡ª Is that¡ª WHAT?! MAR¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Don''t bother, he''s fast asleep."


    Before he could even have the chance to reply, I just started to beat him senselessly¡ªhitting every part that would fucking hurt¡ªbut he stood his fucking ground so as to not drop Marvin who was hanging at least a couple tens of feet. It''s just that it wasn''t actually Marvin on the other end of the rope but the same fucking ballistic torso I surprised Cindy with.


    And yeah, I admire his dedication to protecting Marvin from fucking danger but there''s a stark difference between their weight¡ªand even if he was caught in the heat of the moment, he should''ve at least tried to fight back or sacrificed Marvin so at least one of them could''ve lived.


    While I was a proponent of getting everyone to safety, this was just one of those times where indecisiveness was just suicide or in this case, a double-suicide with extra steps because if I were in "Marvin''s" shoes I wouldn''t want to be the cause of my friend''s death because I got caught.


    Still, I couldn''t hide the smile in my fucking eyes when I felt Seb let out actual killing intent as he thought I was ying with Marvin''s life just to teach a fucking ss.


    He was staring at me with cold, dead eyes¡ªand he looked like he''d snap any second¡ªbut I took it a step further as I pulled out an actual knife and cut off the rope "Marvin" was tied to.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    At the current moment, I was fucking ready to receive his lunge but I couldn''t be more happy when he rushed to Marvin''s "corpse", it''s just that he almost lost his shit when he discovered his blunder and smelled spaghetti sauce, but I made my way towards him with a smile as I put my hand over his shoulder:


    "Maaaan, I would''ve loved you to skip Phase 2 and let you go to Phase 3 but rules are rules. I''m gonna knock you out now."


    "W-What?! Y-YOU¡ª WHERE¡ª Hnngh¡­"


    In that instance, I still had the piece of cloth with chloroform on it so next thing we know, Tatiana was rolling another coffin while I had the actual Marvin tied on the rope but hanging more than fucking 20 feet above the ground. At this point, he''d actually die if I identally dropped him or cut off his rope but I had different ns for this guy as much as a different approach for Seb.


    These two people had almost the same personality like me but the difference was that Seb was one to let go and forgive while Marvin tended to bide his time and wait for the opportune moment.


    So how do we tie this into Marvin''s current situation?


    Nothing. I just cut the rope again and let him freefall before he fucking discovered there was a bungee cord also tied to his body.

 Chapter 1268 Switch - Raw

    Marvin became a death metal vocalist as he thought he''d fall straight to his death but he took on Quinn or Oscar''s persona of saying every curse word known to man when he eventually realized what was going on. And as soon as he did, I released him from hanging by that bungee cord but he did hit the ground from five feet in the air tho it was much, much better than falling from a 4-story building.


    But yeah, his hands and feet were still bound by rope and it didn''t take long before I emerged from the shadows and channeled my inner Sagitarrius.


    "W-WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    I mean, I came out wearing a horse head mask and one of Quinn''s horse cock dildos for added effect¡ªand I''ve never seen someone roll away so fast just to get away from me. But since I already achieved the amount of shock I wanted him to feel, I stepped on the rope that was gradually disappearing from view to intercept his retreat.


    Right after that, I began pulling him back to me as I was making this pervy old man smile each time he looked into my direction.


    It''s just that when we were finally face to face, I bit onto the blood bag inside my mask and blood just came pouring out of this mask''s orifices and onto his face. I didn''t even fucking need to release killing intent as he was terrified enough of the visuals provided, but then again, I used my trusty prop knife to make him feel the coldness of metal as it made contact with his torso.


    "HELP¡ª"


    And before he could utter another word, I grabbed hold of his neck as I started to impede his airways but I made sure to nt a seed in his head that every time I stabbed down, I''d just go through his armor and the presence of fake blood added into this illusion that his body was now ridden with holes and he was losing tons of blood¡ªbut in actuality, he was just losing air.


    It only took a few seconds before his struggling stopped but to Tatiana''s surprise, I ripped open an ammonia pack and woke up Marvin after cutting him loose.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Enjoy new stories from empire


    At this point, Marvin didn''t even recognize where he was as he almost tripped himself over a small tform, but he received a flying knee to the chest before I grabbed hold of his clothes. In one abrupt motion, I threw him over my shoulder but his next words surprised even me:


    "S-Sir?! I-IT''S ME! ME! S-SOMEONE''S HERE! H-HE''S¡ª F-FUCK, I-I GOT STABBED I¡ª I DON''T HAVE MUCH¡ª SEB! W-WHERE''S SEB?!


    W-WE GOTTA FIND HIM!"


    I almost felt sorry for him as I scratched the side of my cheek, "Ah¡­ He''s in a coffin right now¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "But you don''t have to worry about it because you''re next¡ª not yet legible for Phase 3 but it is what it is. I shouldn''t even be telling you this right now, heh."


    "W-Wut?"


    "Night-night!"


    From then on, I knocked him out with a single punch to the head and Tatiana was just shaking her head as she came in with Marvin''s coffin.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "What?"


    "..."


    "Don''t worry, even the tranq you shot them with is cleared by our doctors. They even gave us the right amount of dosage and it''ll just knock them out for a few good hours."


    "This is just¡­ too crazy, even for me¡­ Is it even working?"


    "Seb."


    "Really? Chances are pretty low, huh? I''m not even sure if I could really do it as you''ve said."


    "You can. But not like this¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "And like this¡ª"


    "STOP TURNING IT ON AND OFF OVER AND OVER!"


    "See? You just did it in a split second. I just have to piss you off real~~~ good."


    "Fuck, I didn''t even realize it."


    "Heh. At least you know how to dip your toes. It''s just a matter of finding the right depth for ya."


    "Can''t you just exin it in simpler terms?"


    "That''s the simplest I could do it. If anything I''d just be doing hand signs and random noises trying to exin this shit I don''t even understand fully."


    "But are you okay though? You''ve been doing it for a while."


    "Not exactly."


    "Hmm?"


    "As you said earlier. I''ve been turning it on and off over and over. It''s less exhausting moreso now that I''m already this exhausted. I''m basically running on fumes."


    "Then why''d you have to¡ª"


    "I might kill them, Tatiana. This is the best I could do for them. I can stop myself if I saw Kaley right before but with everyone else, it''s a different thing. I might not even recognize their faces¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "Yeah."


    "T-Then how about me?"


    "How about you what¡ª Oh¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "I mean¡ª Wanna try now?"


    "Haah?! We could try it out that easily?!"


    "I''ll give you my real knife and I''d just hold this wooden sword. I might break this thing on your neck though, are you sure?"


    "Ah¡ª Fuck it, I guess¡ª"


    So before Tatiana could ready herself, I already threw over the real knife I had in my pocket before I tightly gripped each wooden de in my hand.


    "Huuu~"


    After a short exhale, time seemed to have stopped momentarily as it got unbelievably colder while the almost pitch-ck scene seemed to have suddenly turned ck and white¡ªlike what would someone see through NVGs with barely any lighting.


    But yeah, I had just assumed my stance when Tatiana had already felt her body getting cut in quarters¡ªand she wasn''t even able to move a single muscle as she stood in ce with her eyes riddled with shock, fear, and awe.


    Though this time, with more control over my psyche, I was able to hold myself down as my attack just became two taps on each side of her torso¡ªand the same taps just woke her up from the illusion that her body got cut into pieces.


    "Huh?" Tatiana muttered as she looked at her body.


    From then on, I let out a smile before giving her a hug as she let out a sigh of relief. Still, Tatiana took a few moments topose herself while I was the one who put Marvin in his coffin after tranq''ing him.


    She did give me a jab on my shoulder as she excused herself with Marvin in tow but it didn''t take long before the next set of victims walked in¡ªand still had the faintest idea of what happened with everyone else who came before them.


    It was because they''d usually hang around after but Phase 2 was about the same but still a little different.


    But yeah, once Isaac came in with Chris, it must''ve been some sort of fated meeting because these two so fucking wanted to be training under me but the things they wanted to learn were from different disciplines.


    And even when I was making Isaac experience my version of an Infinite Tsukuyomi, Chris made sure to stay back and let us have a one-on-one¡ªno, it wasn''t even a match-up at all¡ªbut it still had the same effect I wanted each of them to go through.


    Isaac felt the actual gap between us while Chris figured out about almost the same thing but he discovered that I was still going easy on him from all our spars.


    Even if it was called a spar, it must''ve felt different for him because he put me as his goal but it was like we weren''t even in the same ce to begin with.


    Because with our usual spars, I tend to overwhelm them with speed, power, and technique, but this time, I added some mental shit to overwhelm his psyche. It was like getting his ankle broken in basketball terms but with my new-found feints, his brain was trying toprehend something tooplex for it too understand logically.


    I''ve done this sort of thing when I sparred with Isaac, JP, and Seb before in the Academy but never in front of Chris whom I sparred with many times before.


    While it was true that feints was amon thing in boxing to overload their opponent''s brain with information, what I was doing with my intent was a step above and just downright confusing.


    Because yeah, it wasn''t just a straight-up mental attack since I''d still perform at least 30% of the actions required for this "feint" to work¡ªand abruptly stopping it while at the same time, at around 30% of the actual movement as well.


    It was a huge strain on the mind as is the body but an exchange between each of them wouldst a few seconds¡ªand I could at least go through all of them with bits of rest in between and going in small bursts at a time.


    Then again, there was one other person that I didn''t expect to be hiding this much raw emotion in herself and it was Eden.

 Chapter 1269 Top of the Class

    I was with thest pair¡ªJeremy and Eden¡ªand was making them go through almost the same shit everyone else experienced, but the moment I knew Eden was hiding some raw shit inside was when she thought Jeremy fall from several stories as he tried to chase after me. But in actuality, he DID fall from several stories but hended on several foams where Tatiana was already lying in wait.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In addition, the thud that followed after his fall was all thanks to Jude so let''s just say I wasn''t the only one that brought this up from her sister.


    "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"


    Right as Eden cursed out loud and screamed in anger, he rushed straight to my direction, and let me tell you, a couple ofps of experience in this maze was already enough for her to memorize at least 70-80% of the terrain.


    ''Oh?''


    But yeah, despite that great disy, my body was reacting to the raw emotion she was letting out and it was akin to a caged bird finally having the chance to fly¡ªbut in the context that the bird we were talking about decided to break her own cage and fly.


    It made me stop ying mind games with them and faced her with my own, employing a "full release" to sh with hers.


    Obviously, I''ve refined mine over the years and I had more control over it which was totally different from Eden''s which felt like the first time it happened to me, but yeah, losing rationality was one of the downsides to this "ability".


    And since this was her first time, she ran straight at me, eager to w my eyes out and break her wooden sword on me many times over before stabbing my abdominals with its jagged edges.


    ''I definitely looked like this the first fucking time it happened¡­''


    The moment we were in striking distance, Eden leapt through the air and tried to smack me down while holding her wooden sword with two hands but I easily redirected it to the side with a simple flick of the wrist before striking her exposed torso and leg with my free hand. Discover stories with empire


    But yeah, she didn''t even wince from the precise taps to where it would hurt the most but instead, she used the momentum her body had gone through to dive in with her face to spin around with one foot on the floor to deliver a full body heel kick.


    The air the came with it could definitely knock anybody out but it was contingent that it hits but it just unfortunately gave me a breeze as I took a half step to avoid in.


    Contrary to how Chris suffered his defeat by overloading his brain with feints and whatnot by using multiple attacks¡ªit might be different in the future for Eden¡ªbut currently at the moment, all her attacks were straight to the point, almost being downright obvious, because raw and unfiltered emotion doesn''t deal with feints or trickery.


    Sure, Eden''s attacks¡ªeven the ones that followed after it¡ªwere much more precise and had more power over them but it still didn''t bridge the gap of ability between me and her. It was that certain quote where it said mentioned that the person they were talking to had just begun their journey while the other was already on their way back.


    Despite that, Eden still continued her rush without pause while I continued to receive her attacks one way or another.


    Surprisingly enough, she had a lot in her tank as each strike that I either blocked or let pass through had enough force to break someone''s head but with my experience, it''d only be a matter of time before she gassed out. Still, thest few seconds in her tank became explosive as she suddenly went up a notch while she was running on fumes.


    She suddenly went a few inches lower before exploding from her legs and giving me three-four kicks in session before sinking down again and aiming for my legs with a double-leg sweep.


    However, the way she clutched her wooden sword so hard made me think she was just waiting for me to jump¡ªbut since she was the most promising of the bunch¡ªI took the fucking bait and waited for what she would do next.


    And obviously enough, I felt her killing intent surge as she aimed for the opening I gave her but it was at this moment I condensed my killing intent to just a few centimeters around my body before directing everything at her.


    "HnGHhHKK!"


    If my regr "spread" couldn''t affect her, the condensed and directed one definitely will.


    It only took a moment before she felt something in her throat and vomited on the spot, falling to her knees, and shaking all over. After that, Eden started to sob and wail in ce as she was head down while on all fours, the memory of Jeremy resurfacing on her head after her ckout.


    And yeah, as I tried to put my hands on her shoulder, she pped it away before she tried to get some distance on me and it take me some major convincing that Jeremy''s totally okay.


    "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU¡ª"


    "I didn''t! It was all an act! He fell onto a bunch of foam¡ª"


    "I-I HEARD HIS BODY HIT THE FLOOR! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"


    "That was June!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "I-I mean¡ª June yed the sound on the speakers!"


    "WHAT?! SHE''S IN ON THIS TOO?! Y-YOU''RE NOT LYING, RIGHT?!"


    "I''m not! I''m not! I''m telling you the truth!"


    "S-So where''s Jeremy?!"


    "In a coffin¡ª"


    "WHAT?! YOU SAID YOU WEREN''T LYING!"


    "EDEN! It''s for Phase 2, don''t worry! And besides, you passed with flying colors, you didn''t even need Phase 2 or 3, you skip to thest Phase¡ª I mean Phase 4¡­"


    "W-Wut? I¡­ I-I''m so¡­ I¡­ Tired¡­"


    "Oh fuck¡­"


    The moment Eden knew that everything was okay, I saw her get lightheaded before falling unconscious and I was able to catch her before her head hit the floor. Wiping the tears off her eyes and the sweat off her body, Tatiana eventually came in looking like she wanted to ask what we''d do.


    "You heard what I said, right?"


    Tatiana nodded, "We did. So it''s just the rest, now?"


    "Yeah."


    "..."


    "Hmm? Is there something else?"


    "You''re really sure about Phase 2?"


    "Of course, we''ll monitor everyone. It''s just like this thing, it has two sides to it but what''s important is to make the experience feel real and genuine. They''d have to experience the actual feeling of death and every other raw emotion known to man and release it at once. Then¡­"


    "Then?"


    I looked back at Eden''s sleeping face, "We''ll have something like this."


    Tatiana chuckled, "So she''s a better pick than Seb?"


    "Currently? Yeah. But we''ll see up until the end. Still, Eden crossed the threshold, she''s miles ahead of everyone else."


    "Heh. Is that so? Even me?"


    "Pfft¡­ Want to take her ce in the coffin? Gack!"


    "HAH! SERVES YOU RIGHT!"


    All of a sudden, Eden sprang up from lying in my arms and hit my chin with his head¡ªand everything would''ve been over if I bit my tongue and bled out. But yeah, I lightly headbutted her in revenge before properly exining to her what was going on and she actually couldn''t believe she was the forerunner of this ss.


    "R-Really?! I-I was barely in the middle of the pack in the other challenges! I-I didn''t even know what I did here exactly!"


    "Let''s just say you finally dipped your toes in your ck pool of consciousness¡ª"


    "Wut? Is that even a thing?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "I mean¡ª That''s how I imagine it. You really have no idea what happened before?"


    "Umm¡­ After I¡ª Jeremy¡­ He¡ª After I saw him fall from that height I¡­ I just¡­ I just b-cked out and I-I kept seeing glimpses of you for some r-reason? A-Am I c-catching feelings weirdly or something?"


    "Pfft! I didn''t expect that at all!" Tatiana cackled as she sat down on Eden''s supposed coffin.


    I waved her off, "It''s because you fought me for a good five minutes."


    "FIVE MINUTES?! AGAINST YOU?! I CAN''T EVEN LAST A MINUTE AGAINST HER! YOU¡ª HOW?!"


    "Let''s just say you unlocked something hidden deep within you and¡ª"


    Eden had to cut me off looking like she was holding herughter, "Pfft¡­ I-I''m sorry, I''m sorry! I didn''t mean tough! I-I¡ª What you''re saying feels like one of those emo songs I used to listen with June! N-Not that there''s anything wrong with them or anything it''s just¡­"


    "..."


    "S-Sky?"


    ''I''m still a fucking edgelord, huh? Dammit¡­ It is what it is¡­''


    I shook my head before I replied, "It might sound kind of cringe but it is what it is.


    I don''t really have a correct or normal-sounding term for what you unlocked in your head but while the rest of them will try to do what you just did, you''re gonna start to learn¡ª no, you''re gonna start having more experiences with it, get you really~ familiar with the sensations, before you try to learn what works for you so could control it.


    Keeping conscious while it''s happening is your first goal."


    "Oh."


    "Any questions about it, at least?"


    "Umm¡­ H-How do I¡ª Y-You know¡­ How do I experience it again? A-And how do I keep conscious? I barely even remember anything."


    "Ah¡­. I mean¡ª It''s just us three here so what are the important things you thought about when I asked you to think of them?"

 Chapter 1270 Buried Alive

    As soon as I asked Eden that question, she pursed her lips to the side before looking up, thinking momentarily before her lips turned to a smile. After that, she just looked at us with the same expression before telling us her answer:


    "My family, of course! What else?! Wha¡ª Don''t ruffle my hair! It''s short but it gets¡ª Hmm?"


    At this point, Eden was a little confused by our reaction because if I remember correctly, I already mentioned to her my parents'' passing but I wasn''t sure if she could remember at the moment and/or if she also knew of Tatiana''s situation as well.


    But still, she was the only person to get out of this room on her feet, and not everyone else who was still asleep in their coffins.


    "WAIT A SEC, YOU SAID COFFINS, RIGHT?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "No buts, just grab a shovel. We''re starting Phase 2 right now. They''ll wake up in a few."


    "D-Don''t tell me we''re gonna bury them!"


    "Sure."


    "HAAAH?! SURE WHAT?!"


    "I won''t tell you¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Jeez, rx~ It''s totally~ okay. We didn''t actually kill Jeremy, right? That applies to everyone else too. We¡ª You know what? You''ll just see, and again, grab a shovel."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    From the time we started Phase 1 to our current time, just almost a couple of hours had passed and we started to line up each coffin in our indoor shooting range before piling up a mound of dirt, rocks, and gravel right beside them among other things.


    In addition, these wooden coffins were sealed shut with 4-inch screws¡ªand the only way they''d get out was if we''d let them or if they could somehow break out of it with sheer strength.


    ''It''d be a tad difficult whileying t on their back though¡­ Unless they Kill Bill the shit out of it¡­''


    With that said, we were just waiting for each of them to wake up but I did bar anyone else froming close to the indoor range for the day or having any vehicles pass through it. It might be soundproofed for all we know but we gotta preserve the illusion for any of my bullshit theories to work.


    On that note, four hours passed in the blink of an eye and none of them had woken up.


    Eden approached me, concerned, "Umm¡­ W-What exactly did you inject them with? I forgot to ask?"


    "Etorphine. If they don''t wake up in a couple of hours or so, we have naloxone at the ready."


    "I see, I see¡­ That''ll work¡­"


    "You know your shit, huh?"


    "N-Not a lot but I''ve administered some of them to unruly patients before. They''re mostly old people and veterans but sometimes, we''d be surprised in the middle of the night with someone running amok.


    It''d be safer for everyone if we knock them out that way instead of trying to calm them down the normal way¡­ I''ve been punched in the face more than enough times to know that sometimes, talking wouldn''t work out as much as everyone thought. It''s within reason, of course, but you get the gist¡­"


    "I do, I do¡­"


    "S-So this ability of mine¡­ H-How does it work?"


    "Like this¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª"


    "See? Or like this¡ª"


    "HEY!"


    "Or even like this¡ª OW! KALEY!"


    "WE''RE ALL HERE, YOU KNOW?! STOP TURNING IT ON AND OFF! EVEN I''M NOT USED TO IT! Eden''s¡ª Pfft¡ª EDEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As I turned around, Eden looked like she was trying to take a huge dump or just had just eaten the most sour fruit or gummy candy known to man because not only were her eyebrows scrunched but her lips were pouting forward while her eyes were getting cross-eyed by the second.


    I had to wave her down even if that might be the way she could call upon it but from experience, it was to draw out something within you not expel something out like what she looked like she was doing.


    "D-Did I do something wrong?"


    "Remember the first time you dipped your toes¡ª I mean, had it activated? What happened then?"


    "Umm¡­ I thought¡­ Jeremy¡­ I thought he died. I-I thought you k-killed him¡­"


    "And?"


    "I-I¡­ I felt so angry I¡ª"


    "Try to recall the memories, the sensations, what you were feeling, was your body tensing up? Was your heart beating so fast it''d almost explode? Or was it theplete opposite? Did it slow down to the point you think you were fucking dead or was it your senses heightening so much everything felt like it was slowing down?"


    "I¡­ I dunno¡­ I-I''m really not sure, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Oh, don''t apologize¡­ I don''t even remember what I did the first time it happened to me like you. I only know what I did when I saw the footage¡­"


    "The footage¡­ You have your bodycam with you still! Can we see it?!"


    "Later, heh."


    "Ahhhn~ Whyter?!"


    "We still have a job to do, right?"


    "Ah¡ª Right, sorry¡­ Then, someone was training you like this, huh? AH¡ª WAIT A SECOND! I-I''M SO SORRY! I TOTALLY FORGOT! JUNE SAID SOMETHING AND I¡ª I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHEN I HEARD IT! I¡ª JUNE!"


    June was trying her best to hold herughter, "What?"


    "WERE YOU THE ONE WHO TOLD ME¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Keep your voice down, alright?! I''m bored outta my ass here!"


    "AH¡ª Shit, shit, shit! Stupid! I really forgot, I''m so sorry¡ª"


    I waved her off again, "It''s okay, it''s okay¡­ It''s a little hard for me to try and emte what happened to transfer it over to you guys but without Kaley and Marisha''s help with my noggin'' al this wouldn''t be possible."


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Psh, I did absolutely nothing. It was all to Mom''s credit¡ª That reminds me, you should talk to her too, now that you could do what he did."


    Eden nodded a few times, "I-I gotta ask, do you all¡­?"


    As soon as Eden popped the question, everyone else¡ªKaley, Tatiana, and Quinn¡ªshook their heads because even if I saw them do it like Eden did, they couldn''t just easily turn it on and off like I could.


    In extreme cases, they might''ve the ability to do so but let''s just say Eden was part of this other circle now¡ªthough I''m pretty sure there was still a handful of people out there in the world that had the same ability as mine.


    ''Benjie''s one of them, for sure, even if I hate to admit it¡­ Also Old Man Kaiseki¡­ Aoi¡­ Mashiro-san¡­ Fuck it, maybe they all learned it by now¡­ It''s only fair¡­ I did steal some of their original techniques by watching¡­ That''s why they hate sparring with me¡­ Well¡ª except for Aoi, of course¡­''


    With that said, as our voices echoed through this gun range, it didn''t take long before we heard the first taping from one of the coffins.


    At this point, I reminded everyone present to keep silent and use either hand signals or notes to ry messages so that we could make them go through Phase 2 without issue.


    But yeah, the first tap was followed by more and more until they weren''t even taps but punches, elbows, and pushed¡ªwhich was eventually apanied by a scream which more or less woke up everybody.


    Right now, we were just hearing a cacophony of people screaming for dear life and it was safe to say that everyone else who was hearing the same thing as me looked very~ ufortable.


    It''s just that this was when I asked June to y the audio recording she prepared for us and it started with shuffling of feet, either brushing up to their coffins followed by a truck speeding away.


    "H-HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEEEEEY! WHO WAS THAT?!"


    "A-ANSWER US, PLEASE!"


    "W-WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!"


    "MEGAN, IS THAT YOU?!"


    "ALEXA?!"


    "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! IS EVERYONE HERE?! THIS IS JP! ANSWER ME!"


    "W-WE''RE HERE!"


    "DON''T JUST SAY FUCKING WE, SAY YOUR FUCKING NAMES! ROLL CALL FOR EVERYONE IN THE ACADEMY FIRST!"


    "WHY THE FUCK DO YOU GUYS GET TO GO FIRST?!"


    "DOES IT FUCKING MATTER?!"


    "BROWNIE, SHUT UP! THEY THOUGHT OF IT FIRST, WE SHOULD LET THEM!"


    "GODDAMMIT, LEE! YOU''RE JUST SUCKING EVERYONE''S DICK!"


    "IT''S CALLED COOPERATING, YOU DIPSHIT!"


    "HEEEY! YOU''RE RUINING OUR ROLL CALL! SHUT THE FUCK UP! LUCAS HERE!"


    "FUCK YOU, LUCAS!"


    "FUCK YOU, BROWN ASS! YOU''RE JUST LIKE BRIAN BUT AMERICAN! MAKES YOU SUPER FUCKING ANNOYING!"


    "HEEEEY! WHY DID I GET DRAGGED OVER THERE!"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP TOO!"


    "HEY EVERYONE QUIET THE FUCK UP! DON''T YOU KNOW WE''RE MAKING SO MUCH NOISE?! JUST LET US DO OUR THING AND WE''LL LET YOU DO YOURS! THIS IS SEB!"


    "SEB?! FUCK YOU''RE REALLY SAFE¡ª I THOUGHT¡ª"


    "NOT NOW, MARV!"


    "FUCKING MEN ON MEN SHIT OVER HERE, I''M OUT!"


    "FUCK YOU BROWNIE, YOU WATCH TRANNY PORN ON REPEAT¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT THE FUCKING SAME!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª CAN''T YOU JUST ALL SHUT UP AND TAKE INTO ACCOUNT EVERYONE ELSE''S SAFETY FIRST?! THAT MOTHERFUCKER''S PROBABLY AROUND BUT WE KNOW JACK SHIT OF WHERE WE ARE! HE''LL PROLLY KILL ME IF I SAY THIS BUT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL RETURN WHATEVER HE DID TO ME TEN-FOLD!"


    "YOU CAN''T EVEN BEAT ANY OF US IN A FISTFIGHT, ISAAC! SHUT YOUR FUCKING TEACHER''S PET ASS OVER THERE!"


    "CINDY! CINDY! IT''S JEREMY! WHERE ARE YOU!"


    "I-I''M HERE! HERE! EDEEEN! EDEN! IS JUNE¡ª NO, EDEEEEN! ANSWER US!


    WHERE ARE YOU?!"


    At that point, Eden didn''t know what to do but if she makes so much as a peep, I''ll just knock her out then and there to not impede everyone''s growth.

 Chapter 1271 Buried Alive II

    ncing at Eden, she looked distraught from hearing her siblings in great distress but she kept it in before turning, asking what to do in that situation. In any case, I just motioned for her to keep it down while we let everyone else freak out and lose their shit¡ªwait until it dies down¡ªbefore giving them stimuli to make their heads spiral down again.


    It was just straight-up mental torture at this point and I could only feel sorry for the people who were afraid of very, very tight spaces.


    Still, what they didn''t know was that we strapped them with heart monitors among other monitoring devices not only on their bodies so we could properly judge if they could carry on with Phase 2 or not.


    Each person has a different locking mechanism and if we go too far, we just might break thempletely, unable to unlock their full potential. But yeah, it also takes a different kind of person to fall into the category of the people who have crossed the threshold and I''m gonna be honest and say that my method might not work on them.


    Despite that, it''d be an invaluable learning AND harrowing experience so they''d still get a little something out of this whether they achieve what I wanted them to achieve or not.


    I could also say that this was also some sort of mental torture for us as it is for them because we''ve been with them for a good while and we''re just as friends as we wererades. And not even replying to them when they were breaking down crying or screaming for dear life?


    ''It more than fucking sucks!''


    However, the few minutes that would pass would feel like an eternity for them but it didn''t take long before I picked up one of the shovels and started to pour dirt over their coffins. At the same time, June had already yed a randomized loop copying almost the same sound and running it at different intervals.


    Doing that would make them think that a group was burying them alive and even if someone wasn''t hearing dirt or gravel fall on their new home, they''d think someone else was pouring dirt on theirrades.


    It was safe to say that a few people had already tapped out¡ªor at least we deemed them incapable of such a challenge¡ªpulled their coffins out of the line up and had them delivered straight to the hospital.


    It''s just that I had the people with the truckse in with a wood chipper and I decided to help them to, you know¡­ chip wood.


    Then again, I threw inrge wood scraps over in that wood chipped and had the sound of flesh getting ripped apart yed by June through the speakers¡ªbut instead of more people screaming for dear life, we were met with deathly silence.


    But looking through their heart monitors, everyone''s heart rate was fucking through the roof and I could only assume that they were all shocked to fuck at what they''ve seen or heard.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before my expected shouting and crying for help came but there were a few that were starting to get suspicious.


    "N-NO¡­ NO SHOT THIS IS REAL!!!"


    "I DON''T WANNA DIE, PLEASE HELP!"


    "HEEEEEEEEELP! ANYONE!"


    "H-HE¡ª HE''S JUST PLAYING WITH US! I-I''M SURE OF IT!"


    "EVERYONE THINK! THIS IS ALL A GAME!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW?!"


    "PLEASE, LISTEN!"


    "STOP SCREAMING YOU FUCKS AND FOCUS!"


    "FOCUS?! THEY''RE THROWING US IN THE WOOD CHIPPER! CAN YOU FUCKING THINK?!"


    "IT''S ALL A GAME!"


    "HOW CAN YOU BE SURE?!"


    "TRUST ME!"


    "THE FUCK WOULD I TRUST YOU, HUH?!"


    "G-GUYS¡ª I-I CAN''T HEAR JAMES AND RUBEN!"


    "FUCK! RUBEEEEN!"


    "E-EDEEEN! PLEASE! A-ANSWER US¡ª CINDY?! W-WHERE ARE YOU?! TALK TO ME!"


    "FUUUUUUUCK!"


    "GUYS! EVERYONE CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"


    "LEE! WHERE ARE YOU LEE! TALK TO ME!"


    "WILLIAMS!!!"


    "ASH! ASH! ANSWER ME, ASH!"


    "I-I''M HERE! I-I''M HERE! W-WHERE''S MARTIN A-AND¡ª S-SOME OF US ARE R-REALLY MISSING!"


    "I-IT''S STILL A G-GAME TO F-FUCK WITH US! T-THEY COULD BE IN THE SAME ROOM!"


    "SAME ROOM?! WE''RE IN A PIT, YOU FUCKING PRICK! IT''S BASICALLY AN OPEN GRAVE!"


    "DUMBASS NO ONE BURIES PEOPLE ANYMORE! IT''S ALWAYS THE FIRE AND FLAMES!"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP DRAGONFORCE!"


    "CINDDDYYYY!!!"


    "R-ROLL CALL AGAIN! EVERYONE! WE NEED TO FUCKING DO THIS! FOLLOW AFTER ME! I''M JP!"


    "S-SEB!"


    "ALEXA!"


    "MEGAN! IT''S YOUR TURN!"


    "MEGAN!"


    "FUCK! S-SHE''S NOT ANSWERING! MEGAAAN!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "W-WE''LL DEAL WITH HER LATER, WHO''S FUCKING NEXT?!"


    "J-JAMES!"


    "W-WHICH ONE?!"


    "NUMBER ONE, ASSHOLE!"


    "I HAD TO ASK, FUCK FACE! WHO TOLD YOU TO CONFUSE EVERYONE?!"


    "FUCK YOU! HEEEEEEY! ANYONE OUT THERE! I-I GIVE¡ª NO, FUCK THAT TOO! WHOEVER''S DOING THIS, I''LL FUCKING BEAT YOU TO A PULP AND MIX YOUR REMAINS FOR PIG SLOP! YOU HEAR ME?!


    H-HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEY! W-WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?! HEEEEEEY!"


    "JAMES!!! W-WHERE ARE THEY TAKING YOU?!"


    "OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD! IT''S THE WOOD¡ª IT''S R-RUNNING AGAIN! HEEEEELP!"


    "JAMES! SHOUT EVERYTHING THAT''S HAPPENING! I-IT''S VITAL INFORMATION!"


    "MY LIFE''S VITAL TOO, YOU FUCKING BAROOON! T-THEY''RE C-CARRYING ME! SOMEBODY HELP!"


    "WHERE?!"


    "THE FUCK WOULD I KNOW, GENIUS?!" T-THEY''RE BRINGING ME UP¡ª I-I''M BEING LIFTED¡ª"


    "FUCK! SO WE''RE REALLY IN A PIT?!"


    "STILL COULD BE A TRICK, SAY MORE JAMES!"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"


    "TENNYSON! JUST SHOUT EVERYTHING THAT''S HAPPENING!"


    "JAMES?! JAMES! JAAAAAMES!"


    "HE''S NOT ANSWERING! FUCK! THEY''RE REALLY KILLING US! HEEEEELP! HELP! SKY, PLEASE!


    C-COME HERE! W-WE DON''T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BUT PLEASE! SAVE US!"


    "STOP CRYING ISAAC, HE''S THE ONE THAT''S DOING THIS! IT''S ALL PLANNED FROM THE START!"


    "WHAT IF WE GOT BREACHED WHEN WE''RE TRAINING?! YOU NEVER KNOW YOU DUMBASS!"


    "LISTEN TO YOURSELF! YOU THINK WITH HIM AROUND THIS PLACE COULD FALL DOWN?! NOT A CHANCE! SO AGAIN, DUMBASS!"


    "H-HE''S INVINCIBLE! ADD TO THAT EVERYONE IN HIS MAIN CREW! HE''S AN ASSHOLE BUT¡ª HE''S A FUCKING ASSHOLE BUT THIS IS STILL TOO FUCKING MUCH! AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "GET US OUT YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! WE ALREADY KNOW YOU''RE THERE!"


    "EDEEEEN! IF YOU CAN HEAR US, FUCK! J-JUST GET US OUT! WE GET IT! PLEASE!"


    "I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL SMACK YOUR FUCKING FACE WHEN I GET OUT!"


    "FUCK YOU, SKY! FUCK YOU!"


    "FUCK YOU SKY!"


    "YOU SUCK!"


    "YOU FUCKING SUCK!"


    ''JP and Tennyson as always, huh? Some of them might not voice them out but they''re always the 10th man, the person that should always disagree¡­ at least Tennyson''s more that guy¡­ JP''s just being logical¡­''


    Find your next read on empire


    In any case, it didn''t take long before our smokes and mirrors stopped affecting them so we eventually put a stop to Phase 2 as we had them all sent to the hospital for a proper check like everyone else who quit before them.


    Funnily enough, all of them were fucking staring daggers right at my face and it was almost the literal example of the term: if looks could kill. Despite that, the animosity they were all directing towards me while I was just looking at them with all smiles was a fraction of what Eden achieved thest time.


    But yeah, Seb was the runner-up among all others followed by Marvin, JP, Brian, and Alexa.


    Everyone else calmed the fuck down when they felt they were safe but it was still a question mark at this point because they just experienced a fraction of hell and started topartmentalize.


    The only way we''d know at this point was to enact Phase 3 though it would take a long fucking day and at this point, it was already a little past dinner.


    And again, funnily enough, they were all huddled up in one spot, refusing to eat with me though they were all still okay with eating with everyone else who still took part in their trials and tribtions. It''s just that they were still recovering from everything that they experience from Phase 1 and Phase 2 and they haven''t had the chance to talk about it until after dinner.


    "WHAT?! EDEN PASSED?!" Almost everyone else eximed.


    I rolled my eyes, "Now you fucks want to talk? Forget it!" then I turned to Eden, "Hey!"


    "Y-Yes?!"


    "Not one more word to them, alright?! That''s supposed to be a secret!"


    Cindy lost her shit, "W-Wai¡ª How?! How did you pass?! And you were just staring at us all this time?!"


    Jeremy nodded, "Yeah! W-We were so worried about you!"


    Eden scratched the side of her cheek, "I''m sorry, everything''s still blurry after Phase 1 s-so¡­ A-And I really shouldn''t say more¡­"


    "AGHHH DAMMIT, EDEN!"


    "Sorry~"


    "Hngh¡­ FUCK! And we''re gonna do the same shit tomorrow?!"


    "Haah?!"


    "Who told you that?!"


    "I mean¡ª"


    I waved everyone off, "You''ll just see tomorrow but you''re noting as a group. I''m happy that all of you here are gelling together because of onemon enemy: me! Heh, but yeah, Phase 3''s a one-on-one session and I''ll just call each of you up my gym on the 3rd floor. You don''t have to bring anything but yourself and I''d still require the ones who tapped out toe.


    It didn''t mean you''re out of the game, it still goes on like that."

 Chapter 1272 Needed Rest

    At that point, everyone else wanted to ask more questions¡ªsay a few curses directed at me as well¡ªbut I waved them off, and even if they tried to get some info for tomorrow from the others like Kaley or Tatiana, they didn''t know shit so they wouldn''t be much help either.


    So yeah, we just lounged around for a while before I skipped the gym and went straight for the shower, and I was more than happy to get my back washed by Kaley.


    "Ah¡ª Go on, don''t stop¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ Did I surprise you? You''re very tense, you''re that tired, huh?"


    "Weren''t you there? Didn''t you see what I did?"


    "Hahaha! I didn''t see who you DIDN''T do, for sure! Everyone wanted to do it again but I''m sure you''re really tired so I told them some other time¡­"


    I turned around to kiss her, "Thanks, so it''s just us then?"


    "Well~~~ mostly?"


    I lightly huffed as I smiled, "Fiiine~ but no promises, I''ll beying down most of the time¡­ I need some energy for tomorrow too, okay?"


    Kaley chuckled again as she kissed me, "It''ll be chill, don''t worry¡­ We''ll just be watching a movie or two while snacking or having some ice cream."


    "Oh? What movie?"


    "Well~ I thought we should watch some of those B-Rated scary movies to keep Quinnughing her ass off while the snacks will keep Tatiana busy. Riri and Ruru were the only ones itching a little bit tonight though¡ªbut we can handle them, right?"


    "Again, no promises¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Alright, alright~ Wanna wash me too?"


    "I thought you''d never ask!"


    "Ah¡ª Hey! T-That''s¡ª MmMmH! N-Not now! I-I thought you were tired!"


    "I am!"


    "Then¡ª"


    "You''d be pinned to the wall by now, I''m just washing your ass very~ thoroughly~"


    "D-Doofus¡­ T-That''s not my ass¡­"


    "Didn''t you know you''re supposed to wash front to back not the opposite? Common sense, Kaley¡ª O-Ow! Kaley! Hahahaha!!!"


    "D-Dammit! PpfaAhahah!!! Doofus! Doofus! Doofus! Mmn¡­ NNh!"


    With that said, Kaley and I did something quick with each other before we reconvened with the usual suspects in my room. Well, some of them were also waiting to get to the shower, getting in their workouts, or just finishing up some chores¡ªthough some of them were busy elsewhere still doing their jobs or something simr.


    But yeah, Kaley picked a couple of goofy "scary" movies from my collection and the first few minutes of it was as she predicted.


    The twins became our cuddle buddies while Quinn and Tatiana were kept busy by the film and the food. But yeah, E was using June as a shield from the ghosts while na couldn''t quite figure out what was going on.


    While it was true she could glean on some details of our private lives in and out of the bedroom, it was totally different from the things she had read and heard about from actually seeing it. Continue your adventure at empire


    So she threw me a quick text.


    [Are we pre-gaming or what?]


    [What do you mean?]


    [I thought we were fucking?]


    [You weren''t here yesterday?]


    [Asshole! I thought Kaley was kidding! I slept early because of what we did in the train stations!]


    [You''re that tired from flying a drone, huh?]


    [Again! Asshole!]


    [Is that you''re lovenguage or something or are you hinting to get fucked in the ass? I respond well to straight shooters, alright? Just say what you want me to do to you but yeah, no promises tonight because I AM tired¡­]


    [Ugh¡­]


    [What?]


    [I-I¡­ I wanna do it now¡­]


    [The nket''s big¡­ There''s room¡­ Just slither in¡­ Riri will get it and you''ll see where it goes¡­]


    [L-Like right now? You two are¡­?]


    [Not at the moment, no¡­ as you said, pre-gaming¡­]


    [W-What about everyone else? And June?]


    [Stop asking questions and see for yourself¡­ I don''t have much in the tank but I can still get it up but you''ll do the rest of the work if you wait too long¡­]


    [Fuck it!]


    [That''s the spirit~]


    [Asshole!]


    [Again, just tell it to me straight!]


    [Ugh! F-Fine! H-Here I go! Don''t make such a big deal about it!]


    [Okay~ Okay~ You look quite cute, actually~ Now that I''m staring at you¡­]


    [Stop! I''m¡ª Ugh¡­ J-Just¡­ L-Let me do my thing¡­]


    At this point, na did join Riri and me in our nket but even though I thought Riri might react to it negatively, she actually smiled at na and guided her hand to where my crotch was. However, na''s hand immediately pulled back¡ªwhich surprised Riri and me¡ªbut while we were quite amused by na''s flushed face, she slowly ced it on my abdominals before moving it up my chest.


    Then she whispered sulkily:


    "You two are so¡­ Ugh¡­ B-But not gonna lie¡­ Your body''s¡­ Mnn¡­ So nice a-and hard¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Hard? Really?"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I-It''s my first time d-doing this¡­ I-In a while¡­"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Riri chuckled, "Why? No hunks over there at your ce?"


    na rolled her eyes, "No one I fancy¡­"


    "Hmm~ So you fancy him then? I see, I see¡­ Fufufu¡­"


    "S-Shut up¡­ J-Just let me e-enjoy at my own pace¡­ W-We''re not in a hurry, right?"


    I softly nodded as I pulled her a little closer, "Yeah¡­ I mean¡ª A little but I''m good if I''d justy down like here¡­"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­"


    As I trailed myst sentence, I ordered my lower half to stand in attention as I watched na''s face turn toplete disbelief when she saw me pitch a 9-inch tent from below the covers. Seeing everyone stare in shock was a stroke to my ego but then again, I''d prefer the more physical version of stroking, if anyone would catch my drift.


    So yeah, na definitely caught it as she had this urge to finally wrap her soft hands around my knob, gently squeezing it while imagining what it''d look like behind our covers.


    With our lighting situation, one of the few light sources was the TV itself as the darkest part of my room was on our side, so let''s just say that my pitched tent was casting arge shadow over us. However, it didn''t stop na frompletely exploring my whole length with her hands¡ªeven so far as going to feel my balls to have an image of it like a 3D scanner.


    Still, I was beginning to notice how her breath was getting heavier and heavier as she holds me tighter and tighter and it didn''t take long before she looked into my eyes, seemingly asking for permission.


    "What?"


    "U-Umm¡­ C-Can I¡­?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You know¡­ *gulps* t-taste it?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "D-Don''t push my head down, alright? Or else I''ll bite you!"


    I lightly chuckled, "You already said you''d go your own pace, right? You get my lower half, Riri gets my upper half, deal?"


    "D-Deal¡­"


    From then on, Riri didn''t want to pass up the chance to see my reaction as na finally went under our covers and went face to face with my Shai-Hulud.


    We definitely heard the small gasp followed by another gulp but instead of sucking the tip like everyone else would, na started by gliding her tongue all over my length, wetting itpletely before even trying to taste the tip leaking with my precum.


    And when I finally felt her warm mouth enclose the head, I let out a short exhale as Riri giggled right next to me, but from the other side of the bed, Kaley was already getting eaten out by Ruru while her hands were going inside her.


    Adorably enough, na didn''t feel too experiencedpared to the others but she sure was giving it her all by trying to swallow me whole¡ªbut failing miserably. To me, it was just a bonus if they could take my entire length because again, enthusiasm gets me off more times than I could imaginepared to wless technique.


    And if someone could do both? That was just heaven on Earth right then and there¡ªwhich I definitely experienced from a few people in our circle.


    In any case, as I was enjoying most of na''s tongue, she began to bob her head up and down¡ªonly reaching about half my length before moving back to the tip again, but it didn''t take long before Riri couldn''t get enough of just watching and started to push her tongue down my throat.


    And when that happened both the girls on me grabbed on each of my hands at the same time and guided them to their special spots.


    All I could say that one wasn''t wetter than the other but both were definitely needing something more than just my fingers. However, na seemed like she hadn''t tasted a skin-vored lollipop in so long, she wanted to savor the moment so in their case, theypromised with more fingers inside them while their tongues were busy sucking on either my tongue or my cock.


    Everything happening all at once just made my whole body tense up as I exploded and filled na''s mouth.

 Chapter 1273 Mouths To Feed

    How I would''ve wished the cover wasn''t there when na''s grip on my cock tightened as her mouth was still wrapped around me¡ªbecause like everyone else, the amount I let out was more than a shockpared to seeing my size, and they''d always try to take it all in with one gulp even though it''d take more than three.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I broke my kiss with Riri as na gasped for air when she choked on my mouthfuls of cum, and she just became the center of attention as everyone nced at her.


    Quinn was the first one who said something:


    "Hah! First time? Fucking surprised me too! If you wouldn''t clean that up, I will?"


    Riri protested, "Hey! I''m here! Hello?"


    "So?"


    "I-If anything, I should be next in line!"


    "Psh! Fine, fine~ you fucks are lucky this movie''s so fucking awesome¡ª so funny¡ª"


    E had to speak up, "Funny?! IT''S SCARY!"


    na ignored the rest of their remarks as she red at me, "What the fuck?! H-HOW¡ª You could''ve warned me!"


    I scratched the side of my head, "If you weren''t aware, my mouth''s actually busy and I thought¡ª Nevermind, I should''ve¡­ My bad."


    "Argh¡­ Y-You''re lucky, I hadn''t had my fill yet¡­ I-I guess I''ll go again¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Riri eximed.


    "S-Shut up! Y-You had your fill yesterday¡­ J-Just give me one more and we''ll share¡­ Fuck¡­ I didn''t even notice but you''re still fucking hard¡ª"


    "C-Can''t I have my turn though?"


    "Please? I promise, just one more¡­ I-I''ll even help you next¡­ I-I just gotta¡­ H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Fine¡­ B-But I-I''ll do something else now¡­" Riri trailed as she turned to me, "Is that okay?"


    I replied as I gave her a smile, "S-Sure¡­"


    With that said, Riri couldn''t have looked happier as she stood up and then squatted down, slowly lowering her wet slit on my face while na started to slobber on my knob sloppily. For some reason, she was using my dick like a toothbrush while Riri was using my face as a backscratcher for her snatch.


    Despite the weird metaphors, it actually felt fucking good giving and receiving oral at the same time while hearing Kaley moaning as Ruru continued to munch on her carpet as everyone else was either giving us nces or continuing watching the movie.


    However, it didn''t take long before Riri started to push down on my face even more as she moved her hips faster and faster¡ªand the moment she grabbed my hands and put them on their breasts and squeezed, she let out this ear-piercing moan as her body tensed and locked all over.


    "AaAHHnnNHGHGHH!!! C-CU¡ª CU¡ª C-CUmmMingnNGHG!!!"


    As she grabbed on my head, warm liquid squirted out from her tiny hole and almost drowned me but I drank what I could while parting and pressing on her sensitive lips with my tongue. She was struggling with the sensitivity and wanted to get off but I switched my hold to her legs, pinning her in ce as she continued to cum over and over.


    At the same time, I could feel how na wanted me to give her a second serving, but at the same time be served as well, because she was already presenting her cute butt over to me by waving it around, exposing her pink holes which werepletely spotless.


    The only reason I could see them was I had to give Riri a break or else she''d rip my hair off, so once she was set free, she got off me and na quickly took her ce.


    And boy~ if I could fucking tell you, which I could, definitely, the moment na''s scent wafted over to me just made me wrap my arms around her hips and pull her crotch against my face.


    I started slobbering on her cunt like she was slobbering on my cock earlier, but as she had saidst time, she was that touched deprived so the moment the tip of my tongue made contact with her pink walls, she wasn''t able to perform just as good though she still kept a tight grip on me.


    "S-Sshit! F-FucK, mE! A-A-AananahGHh! Y-YessSS! YES! A-AH!


    F-Fugg¡ª MnNghhH!"


    At this point, my cock was just twitching right by the side of na''s face but I couldn''t care less of getting sucked on if I could taste this new touched-deprived cunt creaming with the slightest brush with my tongue. While her butt was exposed for me to vite, her head was still under the covers before Riri tried to join in on the fun.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    I was still sucking on na''s clit while gliding my tongue on her lips as Riri decided to taste na''s asshole from the top as she spread her cheeks wider.


    "H-HnNHGH! W-WHAt?! You¡ª S-ShiiiIIIT! I¡ª I''m¡ª AHnNHHHGHHHH!!!"


    All of a sudden, na started to convulse before a slow trickle of liquid came out of her pussy but as everyone knows, it was tradition around here to continue making one enjoy the pleasure beyond cumming as Riri and I continued to use our tongues to make her melt in ce.


    And while I still had a good hold on her hips? There was no fucking chance she wasn''t cumming multiple times while we were all over her.


    It took about maybe ten minutes before na stopped struggling and the moment she was just lying on top of me, Iid her to the side with my throbbing cock ced gently on top of her aching cunt.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Wait¡­ Wai¡­ Hngh¡­ S-Shit¡­ Y-You guys are too much¡­ Nnn¡­"


    "Wanna take a break or¡ª"


    She let out the most devilish smile, "Fuck no, fuck me right¡ª HNGHHhGGHH! FUCK!"


    The moment I heard na''s go-ahead, I slowly pushed my whole length inside her tight fucking pussy and she just straight-up started to cum violently when I reached her womb. Her insides were just unbelievably tight and warm and I would''ve cummed right then and there too if she was sucking me the whole time I was eating her out.

 Chapter 1274 Holes To Fill

    It''s just that we barely even started so I pulled right by the tip before I jammed it in the same spot, making na''s eyes roll over to the back of her head¡ªbut I had to sweeten the deal a little more because I still haven''t seen what''s inside her loose band shirt.


    It was easy enough to pull it up by her neck, but let''s just say her skin was as smooth and as pale as Eden''s if Eden didn''t have a farmer''s tan.


    In addition, she seemed to be eating properly and her tits were perky and full¡ªjust the right size for my palms¡ªbut her brown-pinkish nipples could already cut ss from how hard they were.


    But yeah, na was just losing her head as I began thrusting over and over, rougher and rougher, and then faster and faster until I came inside her tight fucking cunt, but then again, it was tradition around here to vite her other hole or just continue to churn the butter inside even if I had already filled her way~ past the brim.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So I had to ask her if she''d opt for wastage or get her other hole broken into:


    "What now?"


    "W-What now¡ª H-Ha¡­ W-WHat not w-what?"


    "I have one more for you, pussy or ass? Or your mouth? Your body?"


    "S-Shit¡­ Fuck¡­ I-I can''t even think s-straight¡­ Hngh¡­ H-Nnhnn¡­ A-Ass¡­"


    "You sure?"


    "Y-Yeah, but¡ª I-I''m on t-top so¡ª Y-You know¡­"


    "Anything for you, works for me."


    "S-Shit, okay¡­ g-get off m-me¡­ Hnn! D-Don''t pull out l-like that!"


    "Shi¡ª My bad¡­ I''ll justy down again, right?"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I''m sorry¡ª I¡­ L-Let me take a b-breath¡­"


    In any case, once Iid on my back with my 9-incher still pointing up to the sky, I discovered that Ruru and Kaley had switched ces while the others did almost the same. E was now hiding behind the biggest back she could find which was Quinn''s and June was already keen on joining me, Riri, and na.


    Easily enough, na would be lying if she said she wasn''t intrigued of what June was hiding behind her punk rebel-ish clothes so Riri had me again for a short bit as the two also had a short time with each other.


    I was honestly more surprised that June was more open to opening up to new people but then again, I wasn''t exactly sure of how long the two have been online friends.


    Heck, they both belong to the same organization or small group, but let''s just say after na''s curiosity about June was satiated, she might be biting off more than she could chew when she asked not only June to join in with us at the same time but also Riri to wear one of our toys to be used on her.


    At least that was what I thought initially.


    Because when na lowered herself onto me, she was already losing her head when I was resizing her tiny butthole¡ªand the only saving grace when June entered her pussy was of her smaller size.


    But right then and there, Riri went behind June after June gave her the go-ahead¡ªand I wasn''t exactly sure if Riri put it inside June''s pussy or asshole¡ªbut what I do know was that everyone''s fucking enjoying it.


    From my point of view, June couldn''t figure out where to look between me and na while she was stuck fucking her idol with me and at the same time getting fucked by Riri from behind. And in Riri''s case, she wasn''t even doing much as June''s hip movement would do all the work for them but her hands were busy with cupping June''s perky tits while pushing her own to June''s back.


    But yeah, my hands were also free to explore as I pinched and squeezed every part of na that I could hold onto, but I knew she was into some kinky shit when she guided my hand to hold onto her neck.


    I was applying just enough pressure on her jugr while I was pinching and pulling her left nipple¡ªbut with how sensitive June was, she started to cum inside na''s pussy, mixing their juices together with mine while I still was being a pain in the ass for na quite literally.


    Because yeah, despite the amount of lube plus our juices on my cock, na''s ass felt like a fucking vice the moment she took in my whole length and I could barely move in and out of her with our current position.


    However, with June tapping out this early due to overstimtion not just from her lower region but also her mind from being with na, Riri and I DP''ed the fuck out of na''s holes when she got inside her before we flipped us over.


    We did agree on her being on top and me being tired as fuck but she was on top of someone else while I don''t leave any fucking hole unless it''s filled to the brim.


    "FUCK! fUckk! fUCK! f-fUKC! hNGH! hnHAG!


    Ha¡ª nanGG! aNHVG! y-yeE¡ª A¨ChANG! ANGHG!GHH!!! CUMMING! CUMMING!


    CUMMING!"


    With each fucking thrust, na would bite onto the pillow Riri wasying her pretty little head on but to my fucking delight, she was also moving her hips to match with our movements, and I''d just m it right inside her each time we pulled back.


    And the moment I pulled her hair as Riri choked her instead?


    It wasn''t up to Kaley''s level yet but she drenched the fucking bed when she was about to run out of fucking air, and we didn''t even see her struggle but instead, a huge smile was stered on her face as her eyes were rolling to the back of her head.


    So yeah, the coup de grace was when I pulled out of her ass after filling it up and shoving it back in to where Riri''s toy was, fucking her with two fucking dicks in one hole, making her pass out from the pain and the pleasure.

 Chapter 1275 Passing Out - Cereal Again?

    At this point, June and na were lying on their sides¡ªhugging each other¡ªas I was deep inside Riri''s tight cunt, feeling my whole length with each thrust as I move my hips. While I did tell them many times I was tired, I suppose I''d just do myst hurrah and pass out¡ªand for once, let them take care of me right after.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    But yeah, each of Riri''s hands was either clutching the hair on the back of my head or straight-up wing my back, but let''s just say my 9-inch rod was fucking deep inside her so it was only fair.


    "H-HannchhGH! A-ANghG! MmngG! NnNg! Agh! AChK!


    MnGH! Mngh! NnHnGH!"


    Riri couldn''t even form proper words anymore but there were times she''d tighten and orgasm not because of me but of the inherent ability she shares with Ruru. At the same time, the same thing might be happening to her twin sister so in a way, Kaley and I were pleasuring ourselves indirectly since Kaley was using her strapless dildo to rearrange Ruru''s insides.


    In a way, I was a little jealous because it was almost like this certain Hokage''s multiplication ability but the twins could feel everything at the same fucking time, not after the technique''s released.


    But yeah, it only took one look from me and Kaley then Riri and Ruru for us to switch ces¡ªand have Ruru borrow Kaley''s toy for her sister¡ªbefore Kaley pushed me down and went on top of me. Her whole body was pressed against mine and even though I wasn''t inside her yet, my shaft was brushing against her plump ass and both of us were just prolonging the inevitable.


    "I''m tired, okay?"


    "Pfft¡­ Tired my ass, shouldn''t you beying down like this?"


    "Heh, I have my street cred to protect. It''s a different story with you though¡ª"


    "Doofus, don''t you dare get fucking soft or you know what''sing to you."


    "Uh-huh, we''ll see about that¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    At this point, Kaley leaned in for a kiss as I moved a bit to finally push my whole length inside her but slowly gave it inch by inch until she let out a short whimper. As that happened, she broke our kiss for a moment but she already had this insatiable look in her eyes as she leaned in to kiss me once again.


    "MmNh¡­ Nnh¡­ Ah¡­ Nnghn¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Y-Yess¡­ nNgn¡­ Ahn¡­"


    Feeling her soft body against mine, I slowly moved my hips from below while she did the same from above as her hands were all over my head and my face while mine was all over her back and her firm buttocks.


    I was feeling Kaley''s soft lifts with mine and tasting her sweet saliva with my own, mixing it together over and over as our bodies'' heat continued to rise up.


    We weren''t even going at it as violentlypared to everyone else because it was more sensual and light¡ªhowever, I never felt so close to bursting out and it was taking everything to have the feeling of just about to explode though I still ultimately failed.


    Because with one more thrust inside her gripping wet slit, I never hugged her so tightly as I filled her insides with my hot seed, spilling over ourher regions, and making her follow right after.


    "F-FuCK! Fuck! Ahn! S-Shit¡ª S-Shiii¡ª MmNnnn!!!"


    But yeah, Kaley and I obviously didn''t stop there as we both moved our hips and continued on while the wet slopping sounds of our skin pping against each other reverberated¡ªall at the same time I pushed a finger inside her neglected asshole.


    And as soon as that happened, Kaley straight-up lost her mind as she hugged me tightly while pressing her huge tits between us, and I was almost sure she came over and over and over with each thrust.


    We didn''t even bother changing positions or locations as we were just in the fucking sweet spot¡ªand the only ever difference that urred in that 30 minutes of pure bliss was when Quinn and Tatiana took turns on Kaley''s ass.


    I made fucking sure they wouldn''t be able to slither in her pussy because I imed it for the night but they were very wee to slurp the sloppy seconds oozing from her tight hole.


    And at the current moment, Quinn was using her horse dildo against Kaley''s ass and she was directly staring into my eyes while she was ramming my wife¡ªwell, we both were¡ªover and over and over.


    However, there came a point when we had to flip Kaley like a burger patty because I wanted to have a turn in her ass, and their huge jugs just squishing together with all their sweat¡ªwhile Tatiana would also be ramming Quinn''s behind¡ªwouldnd me in the best view of the night.


    Better yet, I had a role in this position and one of the best ones as well because aside from resizing Kaley''s ass to my length, I get to put both my hands in between their tits as Quinn was pounding Kaley''s pussy with her horse cock.


    Though surprisingly enough, Quinn was forced to bend and lean even more as Tatiana took charge with my rubber incarnation, plowing Quinn''s pussy with a fist in her ass while using me and Kaley as a pillow.


    Still, with my hand on Kaley''s throat and Quinn''s lips on hers, everyone''s having fun and having multiple violent orgasms one after the other.


    But as time passed, I started to feel the fatigue from yesterday and today¡ªthough I still managed to make each one of them have at least one orgasm without filling them up. However, they still squeezed more out of me while I was justying on my back and the view of these beautiful women in different shapes and sizes having their faces deformed from sucking my cock was fucking incredible.


    They couldn''t exin it quite well but they love having my cum for some reason not only for the protein benefits but they somehow loved the taste and it was more than an achievement if ever.


    But at this point in time, Kaley was hugging me from my right while E snuck in between me and Quinn and nestled in the small space she could fit into, but yeah, she loved getting squished between my muscles and Quinn''s for some reason.


    We had already cleaned up, changed the sheets, and wearingfortable clothing though na was actually out cold from joining our nightly ritual for the first time.


    She did try her best and performed well but let''s just say she was more adept on the receiving side of thingspared to giving them.


    But yeah, now wasn''t the time for her performance review because June looked like she ticked off one of her wishes from her bucket list and she was just spooning her while wearing a sweet smile. However, there was still the matter of the files she stole from the Admiral we hadn''t talked about but at this point, my eyelids were really falling down.


    It took maybe a few moments before time passed like someone used a forwarding tool, but as I got up and got a good look at everyone else, E seemed to have gone down for some cereal again, including na and June.


    I wasn''t exactly sure the two would be up for an early morning cereal but it seemed like I answered my own question when I saw them quietly enjoying a bowl with E. Surprisingly enough, E still opted for Peanut Butter Cap''n Crunch while June opted for some Frosted Mini Wheats.


    However, na''s choice came as a surprise because as boring as Cornkes were, she dabbed them with tons of honey akin to a guy eating a hotdog with either a bottle of ketchup/sriracha on the side, pouring some of it with each bite.


    Then they all said in unison, "Want some?"


    I shook my head as I pulled out a box of Coco Crunch and Milo and poured them into my bowl at the same time:


    "I''m good¡ª"


    E couldn''t believe what I''d done, "Whaaa~ You can do that?!"


    "Pfft! It''s my cereal, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it," then I suddenly pulled out a pack of mini marshmallows and put two spoonfuls on top it followed by a scoop of protein powder AFTER adding in the milk.


    "W-W-Wha¡ª I-I DON''T EVEN KNOW IF THAT''S EDIBLE ANYMORE!"


    June couldn''t believe her eyes as well, "Right as I thought na''s could give me a toothache¡­"


    na chuckled, "At least it''s honey! But yeah, where the fuck did you get this?! It''s too good!"


    I joined them on the kitchen counter, "It''s from Edith''s ce. The Rivas¡ª"


    na''s eyes went wide, "Fuck¡ª Really?! The¡ª Shiiii~ You really wouldn''t know, huh? With Quinn, you know for a fact she''s rolling with some gangbangers but Edith and Nancy? I wouldn''t peg them for doing that type of business."


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "Like you''re one to talk¡ª Me too, I guess."

 Chapter 1276 Jen & Raches Escapade - Phase 3?

    Obviously, looks could be deceiving and we really shouldn''t judge a book by its cover but there wasn''t anything wrong about using our eyes and being a little judgemental.


    It wasn''t like we should be calm and collected when we saw a knife-wielding addict roaming around with a deranged look on his face then suddenly heading straight for us because I''d either put him down if I was armed or run for my fucking life.


    Either way, both our statements didn''t mean any harm though I dide back to check my cupboard if I had any bee pollen for my cereal.


    "What''s that?" The three asked almost at the same time again.


    "Just a little something-something for a little something-something. It wouldn''t hurt to take it since it does have some health benefits."


    June asked, "Can I have some?"


    "Sure, a teaspoon will do or just shake the bottle a little and let a few bits drop."


    na turned to me, "Really, what benefits does it¡ª"


    "Helps with menopause¡ª"


    "PFFFFT!!!/AHHHHHHHHHH!/PUUUUAHAHAHAHAH!!! DAMMIT!"


    I chortled, "I mean it''s one of them? Hahaha¡­ But yeah, it''s an antioxidant, helps with stress, helps a little with weight loss, et cetera, et cetera~"


    "You got this from Edith, too?"


    "I have a few bottles in stock but they sent me some of those too. I guess my supply with them wouldn''t run out¡ªaside from the skin care products everyone else had already divvied up. Shit''s insane."


    na looked at me the same way as Mr. Garciano did, "W-What skincare products?"


    Funnily enough, Nancy came down in her PJs, rubbing her eyes before ncing at us¡ªbut it took her a few seconds of loading time before she realized we were real people and we were staring right at her.


    It was chaos for a few seconds right after that though she was more than amodating to ask the Rivas Family for another shipment of skincare products if I could pick it up myself again with my helicopter.


    From then on, she went back wearing her usual maid uniform¡ªwhich we weren''t even requiring her to wear but she was insisting on¡ªand joined us for a bit before heading straight to my aunt''s ce to help with breakfast.


    But yeah, it looked like na wanted to bring up ''that'' subject with us and the only reason she wasn''t was because the Admiral''s daughter was sitting right with us. So yeah, we just have to find the right time to open such a topic but I''m pretty sure we''d be able to talk about what she uncovered today or maybeter this night.


    However, another person¡ªI mean, another couple came in at the same time and it was Jennifer and Rachel who had been doing their own thing for a good minute.


    "''Sup you fucking stud? You still alive after what we did to you?"


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "I remember that night very~~~ differently."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Rachel nodded at me, "I believe everyone passed out at least once and none of us were able to walk properly for hours. He basically stacked us side by side so we could sleep¡ª"


    "Hey! C''mon! Was just trying to sound cool, back me up a bit! No¡ª wait, straight-up lie for me!"


    "Pfft¡ª Nope!"


    I waved them off, "What were you guys up to the times you didn''t join us in the train stations?"


    Rachel answered, "Oh! We''ve been to a few ces to perform maintenance checks with all your aircraft with Micah¡ª We even dropped by Man too to see this Mayor though they have more boats than nes. Had to procure a few for them which he greatly appreciated."


    "Procure?"


    Jennifer chuckled, "Basically Grand Theft Auto but with a helicopter¡ª It was the dumbest but the coolest idea we''ve thought of in a while and Micah was all for it."


    "Why haven''t I heard of this¡­"


    Rachel started to scratch the back of her head, "Don''t get mad, alright? You see almost all helis are atop buildings, right? So¡­ We had a group clear a roof while Micah''s piloting a heli and I get the one on the roof running¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Don''t get mad¡ª"


    Jennifer rolled her eyes, "What could he do?"


    I flicked a cereal in each of their foreheads, "WHY DIDN''T YOU TELL ME?! I COULD''VE JOINED! THAT''S SO AWESOME!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "The fuck you guys so silent for?!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! WE''RE SO FUCKING SORRY, WE HAD ALREADY TAKEN EVERY HELICOPTER WE COULD IN MANILA!"


    "WHAT?! DAMMIT!"


    Rachel tried to soften the blow, "T-There are a few in the following cities we can go to next time?"


    I slumped down and drank my cereal soup, "Mm-hmm¡­"


    Jennifer suddenly got behind me and put me in a headlock, "You sulky motherfucker, you were so busy on your trains, right?! How could you have found the time?!"


    "S-S-STILL!"


    "Oh? Lil'' bro could still talk, huh? Are you really that pissed or do you just want me to take care of you? You''ve rested well enough, right?"


    Rachel just joined the other three as she sighed, "Here we go¡­"


    Long story short, Jennifer tried to solo me in the first-floor bathroom but with me just having half a breakfast and some good fucking sleep, ten of her wasn''t even enough to make my spider senses tingle. However, we still had sacrificialmbs in the kitchen and it was still the early morning so I basically had turns with everyone while on their stools and they very much weed the extra milk.


    But yeah, everyone else woke up in due time and we had proper breakfast but after a couple of hours, I called over the first of the few of these young soldiers I was training to be proper warriors.


    ''Did I just fucking say that? Cringe¡­ Ugh¡­''


    In any case, the first one toe up was Williams, who belongs to the ''Death Squad'' led by Tennyson. She was wearing a soldier''s uniform without her gear and she had her puffy hairstyle tightly wound to a curly ponytail.

 Chapter 1277 Williams Partial Release?

    The moment we met eyes, I still admired the way her eyes stood out like Artem''s¡ªthough hers had a little more depth and contrastpared to Artem''s who almost blends in with the color of his skin and his grey-ish facial hair but yeah, she looked a tad nervous by being alone with me just wearing gym clothing though I wave her over to sit down in front of me in the center of our gym mat.


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    "So¡­ How are you?"


    "Umm¡­ Fine?"


    "You sure?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Pfft¡­ That doesn''t sound too sure?"


    "I mean¡ª"


    "On a scale of 1-10, how much do you want to smack my face right now?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Be honest, alright? I''m not like my wife, some things could still pass through my detection skill¡­"


    "Umm¡­ Y-You see¡­ I¡ª T-There must be a reason for putting us through that but for a moment there, I really thought you were gonna kill us. But¡­"


    "But?"


    "W-When¡­ You know¡­ When the curtains fell and the tricks are revealed¡­ I¡­ I felt relieved and safe obviously but there''s this¡­ There''s this something inside me that''s been lingering but doing nothing e-ever since."


    "You mean trauma?"


    "Ah¡ª N-Not exactly that but I-I dunno¡­ I¡­ F-For some reason I''ve been¡­ Umm¡­ Noticing things more? I don''t really know how to put it, I''m sorry¡ª"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "No, don''t apologize. This is good stuff¡­ Aside from noticing things, what else is new?"


    Williams looked away for a moment, thinking deeply before looking back to me, "I-I don''t really wanna say the other one b-but¡­ I''ve never slept this good in a while¡­ M-My body''s a wreck after that run and I was having cramps at that time but this¡­ but this time¡­ with all the mental stress and all¡­ I didn''t think I''d slept that good¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ So why don''t you wanna say the other one? You can tell me anything¡ª"


    "I-It''s just¡ª"


    "Look, whatever you''re experiencing right now, I''ve been through it. So¡­ here''s a shot in the dark¡­ Libido''s gone way~~~ up, right?"


    "...! H-How¡ª That''s not even a shot in the dark! I-It''s a fucking bullseye!"


    I chuckled, "I told you already, I''ve been there. This might sound inappropriate but have you had a release yet?"


    "Ah¡ª That''s unbelievably inappropriate! I¡ª Have YOU had a release yet?! See how it feels!"


    "I did, actually. Multiple times. I''m surprised you haven''t heard of¡ª n-no, please don''t ask about me¡­ it''s better that way¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I may have heard of your¡­ exploits¡­ Hmm¡­ A-Anyway, is this what we''re doing here? J-Just talking¡ª"


    As Williams was still in mid-sentence, I let out a faint smile before the area got unbelievably cold and she felt the edge of my de pressing on her neck before seeing the rest of her body¡ªas her head fell off the floor.


    Of course, it was all an illusion from the need I wanted to materialize at the moment but I could clearly see how Williams'' eyes dted as she clutched her neck and screamed.


    It took her a minute or so to realize that her head was still attached to the rest of her body and I had no chance in hell to do what she saw because I didn''t even bring my des with me or even the fake knife I kept stabbing them with.


    Yesterday was just a mix of reality and illusion but this time, I won''t need to use props to make them see the actual difference.


    ''Or if they were that sensitive to perceiving it¡­''


    "W-What¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ What just happened?!"


    I smiled, "Nothing."


    "What do you mean¡ª"


    "It''s the limit of what I can do, but this one''s my goal for all of you¡ª"


    Once again, the room got unbelievably cold but this time, Williams'' body froze for a moment before she gritted her teeth until blood came out, making her able to jump back and get away from my circle of influence.


    Seeing that, I assumed she bit part of her lip to transfer the fear over into pain and I was actually surprised she found the quick solution from seeing the watered-down version of my first ability.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    I waved her over with a smile, "Easy, easy¡ª"


    All of a sudden, the fear that turned to pain slowly turned to anger as more blood flowed from her mouth¡ªand the moment I saw an inkling of its partial activation, I overpowered her release with my own.


    It was already a surprise in itself she could do it¡ªeven subconsciously¡ªbut this type of thing should be reined in the moment you see it happen like I did with Eden, though I''d let her loose for a bit to see what she could do on her own.


    So despite the overwhelming differences of our release, she lunged at me like Eden did though she opened up with an overhead punch.


    I easily dodged to the side which she followed by sneaking in her elbow but I caught it with my palm, redirected it to the side, before giving her face a nice good p.


    Anyone else would''ve grimaced if they heard the noise it made but Williams was so eager to hit me with her attacks as she tried to aim for ate simultaneous hit from the small opening I gave from pping her. It''s just that that type of attack would only work on fucking idiots since it was another Hail Mary punch, so I caught her left arm heading for me and threw her to the mat.


    Then again, she didn''t want to let me go as she wrapped her legs around my body and then quickly performed an armbar that was just a setup to send a kick to my jaw. I wasn''t exactly sure how she used a setup¡ªthough I could argue her release wasn''tparable to Eden¡ªbut it just allowed me to get a proper grip on her ankle as I pried her off my body like a fucking leech.


    She couldn''t believe the strength I was exhibiting with my grip but out of all the things she''d do next, I didn''t expect her to suddenly kiss me.

 Chapter 1278 Nia - Ruben

    In all fairness, not to be sexist or racist, Ipletely denied her kiss like Neo dodged the fucking bullets because one, I wasn''t expecting it at all and two, I didn''t know her that well to reciprocate her advances, and three, we were in the middle of a fucking fight, unless she was already in our fucking circle, I''d assume that everything was an attack or a setup to hit me clean on the face.


    But yeah, the look of regret, hate, and disappointment across her face looked so fucking genuine, it turned toplete rage once more when she realized I declined her advances.


    And this time, her release bumped up as I felt more pressureing from her, and even though it was only a fraction of an increase, I always knew that it was almost always the negative emotions that would add fuel to the fire.


    "I JUST WANTED TO KISS YOU!"


    "You did!"


    "AND YOU DENIED ME!"


    "I did!"


    "W-WHY?!"


    "I have a choice in the matter too, don''t I?"


    "STILL! DON''T YOU FIND ME ATTRACTIVE?!"


    "Sure!"


    "THEN WHY?!"


    "There''s a time and a ce Williams! There''s a time and a¡ª"


    "NIA!"


    "Huh?"


    "THE NAME''S NIA!"


    "Sure, there''s a time and a ce, Nia! Read the fucking room!"


    "I-I CAN''T HELP IT ALRIGHT?! I THOUGHT I''M HAVING HORMONE IMBALANCES BUT IT''S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU?! I HAD TO DO IT!"


    "Again! There''s a time and a ce!"


    "WHEN?!"


    "NOT NOW!"


    All of a sudden, I assumed my draw stance when we were an arm''s length apart¡ªand this time, she wasn''t able to shake off the pressure I was exuding as she really thought my de magically appeared in my hands and was about to cut her down.


    However, even if she increased our distance from jumping back, the moment I drew my de and shed her, she still fell t on her face as she thought I cut her body in half and this time, she took more time to recover while I simply waited in the same position we were in.


    It took maybe 15 minutes before she woke up, and once again, the first thing she touched was her midriff which she thought she was disemboweled thrice over. She then looked around the gym and saw me casually waiting for her to wake up¡ªand it was only when I proved I wasn''t a threat anymore by waving at her did she slowly made her way towards me.


    "How¡­ I¡­ I''m sure¡ª"


    "C minus. Schedule an appointment with Marisha Payan, Kaley''s mom. Don''t think about the score too much, you''ll improve over time."


    "W-What am I¡ª we¡­ improving on exactly?"


    "That''s a good question."


    "What?"


    "My goal is to make all of you stronger¡ªphysically and mentally, though what you caught a glimpse of in our little session was thetter. From my experience, the best way to go about it is actually how we also improve physically and it was to have more experience with it in a very safe space.


    That''s about how much I could tell you right now but one tip I could give you is for you to be very, very, very~~~ honest with your feelings and intentions."


    "T-Then what?"


    "Be like that every second of your life and you might discover something in yourself you didn''t know existed. I really shouldn''t say more, thanks for your time, Nia."


    "A-Alright¡­ do I just¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Yeah, you can just leave by the door. I''ll call the next one after you and you could schedule an appointment now orter. You have the rest of the day off."


    "Oh! T-Thank you, then! I-I''ll be going¡­"


    "See ya¡­ A favor, don''t tell anyone about what we did here, alright?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "O-Of course, sir¡­ Can I ask a small favor too?"


    "Shoot."


    At that point, Nia opted for a hug that definitelysted more than it should¡ªand even if she was being real honest about what she wanted to do right now, I couldn''t just reciprocate at the moment because again, there''s a time and a ce for that and I had more students to get through.


    So yeah, after a few more minutes, Ruben''s head peeked in my gym door and he quickly came in with his whole body once I waved him over. He was almost in the same getup as Nia though he had a id shirt on instead of the full set.


    "G-Good morning, sir."


    "''Sup?"


    "I''m good, sir. You?"


    "Same, same¡­"


    "That''s good¡­"


    "You''re really okay from what I did to you all yesterday?"


    "I mean¡ª It''s training, sir. Isn''t it? Thest one''s he scary but it''s all for a purpose, right?"


    "Heh, you can say that."


    "I-It is, right?"


    "Sure. It''s more of a test than anything but it could also be considered training. You don''t just run 100 kilometers for training, right?"


    "I guess that''s true, sir. Umm¡­ I-Is this what we''re doing today?"


    "Talking? A bit of it, yeah."


    "I see¡­"


    "Tell me, is there anything else you''d like to improve on? You see everyone''s different, thest bit of Hell Week might not be for all of you but if we don''t do what I did, we''ll never know so¡­ I already have a n for each of you but what do YOU think you should work on more?"


    Ruben started to scratch the back of his head, "Hmm¡­ if you put it that way, sir¡­ I think I have a lot to work on everything but¡­ I think I''m not as agile as everyone else? I don''t wanna assume but I think I''m a tad stronger than my group but speed''s been something that I think is holding me back.


    I could maybe lose a bit of weight but with the delicious and almost unlimited food served every day I¡­ I think I might have put on a few more pounds¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    I chuckled, "That''s kind of spot-on, I''m gonna be honest, but you know what I think?"

 Chapter 1279 Dark Passenger

    I''m a weird dude, I know, and I''ve said many times before that I was a jack of most trades since I am a master of a few things. I would almost always find myself in the middle of things and if I ever made a g, it''d be mostly neutral gray with a few bits of what I actually stand for.


    So yeah, my advice to everyone would sound boring but it waspletely genuine and what I do myself to improve my strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between.


    Still, I''m afraid Ruben didn''t have or to be more specific, hadn''t brought out the darkness in him yet¡ªedgelord talk, I know¡ªbut that was just the way it was though he still took my advice to heart.


    "Umm¡­ Just keep working on it?"


    "Sounds simple, I know, but that''s just how it goes. You work on everything¡ªnot just your weakness¡ªand that also means things you know jack shit about. Learning new things once in a while wouldn''t hurt."


    "I-I see¡­ but can I ask something?"


    "Yeah, shoot."


    "It''s about the umm¡­ about the ''thing'' you do¡­ when you get all serial killer-y?"


    "Oh. This¡ª"


    "AGH¡ª T-That, that¡­ Thanks for turning it off¡­"


    "Heh. Anytime, but yeah, what about it?"


    "I mean¡ª you''re trying to teach us that, right?"


    "Yeah. Trying. It''s pretty hard for me to do that because I''m just making you all have an experience of what I went through. Not that I was buried alive or anything, hahaha¡­"


    "Or get chased around with a knife-wielding maniac, right?"


    "..."


    "R-Right?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Uh-oh¡­"


    "Heh¡­ That was a dark time for me but somehow, in some fucked up way, I have something to call upon or something that takes over depending on the circumstances. I have way~ better control of it now, since you all could see me turn it on and off at times just for funsies but let''s just say I was making light of a very, very dark situation."


    "Oh¡­ I¡ª I hate to ask this but is that¡­ n-normal people could do?"


    "Pfft¡ª What do you mean by that?"


    "I mean¡ª I''m a pretty normal guy¡­ I don''t get mad a lot though I do get fired up but I tend to let things go. Is there a problem with that or will I be able to do what you can if I''m like this?"


    "Want the honest truth?"


    "Yes, sir. Please."


    "This thing¡­ It stems from negative emotions and it does¡­ does things to me and lets me do some things a tad above what normal people could do but it drains me a lot. It''s totally different from being on autopilot or being in the zone as most athletes experience so let''s just say that it''s more of a double-edged sword or ast resort of some kind.


    It''s just that as I said earlier, I had more control of it pretty recently so I had the option to y around with it. Maybe, just maybe, it might not need as much negative emotions though it was strictly required the first time I came upon it."


    "I see, sir. I see¡­ but¡­ s-shouldn''t this be not discussed with people like me?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "I-Isn''t this like some special secret or something you''d only share with Isaac when he reaches a certain level?"


    "Hah! I mean¡ª you have a point there but I trust all of you. And it''s not like you can read the manual¡ªthat''s actually non-existent¡ªand do what I could do in the blink of an eye. I''m not even sure if this thing could be learned traditionally. It''s not like you''d let me murder your parents in front of you so you''d have the chance to learn what I did, right?"


    "WHA¡ª SIR! Y-You''re parents¡ª T-That''s what happened to them?!"


    "Ah¡ª Right. I haven''t told you all, huh?"


    "A-Are you okay, sir?!"


    "So-so. How about you?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Your family."


    "Ah¡­ I''ve tried checking in, sir. It''s either they found a cave to hole in or you know¡­ We have contact with all the Camps avable and they do have records for each resident so chances are¡­ I mean¡ª There''s also a good chance that they''vee back as heads and I didn''t even notice¡­"


    "How does that make you feel though?"


    "Sad?"


    "You''re not sure?"


    "Umm¡­ I just wanted to think that they''re still out there even though the chances are pretty close to none. I mean¡ª as long as I don''t see their bodies, I think I could still fool myself into thinking that they''re still alive."


    "Huh."


    "Sir?"


    "I actually thought you''re pretty dumb but you''re pretty articte and wise."


    "U-Umm¡­ thank you?"


    "Ah¡ª Sorry, dude. It''s just¡­ there''s a certain spectrum against people who exhibits superhuman strength, right?"


    "That''s a way to soften the blow, sir¡­ Ahaha¡­ I mean¡ª We never actually talked like this before, so you never know. I never talked to anyone like this too, it''s almost always mucking around with the boys and awkward silence with the girls."


    "I see that."


    "Now we''re talking and all and I would hate to pass the chance¡­ H-How do I talk to them?"


    "Talk to who?"


    "Girls in particr?"


    "Like this?"


    "Huh?"


    "You talk to them like you talk to me. They''re humans too, don''t be afraid to speak your mind. If you don''t vibe that''s just the way it is but if you click, try to remember the topics you talked about and go from there. If you don''t understand anything, ask genuinely and don''t fake it. Lying might work if you just wanna hook-up and it usually does but depends on who you''re going for, you know?"


    "C-Can you say it one more time so I could w-write it down or record it?"


    "HAH! That''s one way to go too. I know you mean well but being funny is a good thing. Some chicks might like the nonchnt ones or the Sasuke-types but you''re not like that, right? Just be you. If they don''t like you, it is what it is, find someone who does.


    Don''t force yourself into other people just to fit in."


    "A-Again, sir¡ª I missed that other part. Can you start from the top?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "S-STOP LAUGHING, SIR! I''M SERIOUS!"


    "Alright, alright¡­ I''m sorry¡ª But tell me: who is it?"


    "A-Anyone that likes me, really¡­"


    "Hmm."


    "Is there a problem with that, sir?"


    "Not really but tell me more, do you have anyone in your group you fancy?"


    "N-Not in my group per se¡­"


    "Ohhh~ From Marvin''s group or Tennyson''s?!"


    In any case, Ruben and I spent a good 30 minutes just talking about each other and even though he might have a lower chance of unlocking or even finding his dark passenger, it might be just the best thing for him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Some people carry more burdens than others while some carry none at all.


    In the same sense, some people might be able to carry more weight on their backs while some would straight-up copse with the slightest bump in the road. Then again, it''d just be a long rabbit hole if we speak in metaphors but yeah, it''s just fun to talk about it sometimes.

 Chapter 1280 Picking Marvins Brain

    In any case, it didn''t take long before I shook hands with Ruben and gave him a slightly lower score than I gave Nia¡ªthough my next three students went by quite quickly. They didn''t fit the bill like Ruben¡ªslightly less than him, even¡ªbut even though they failed in that regard, they were still invaluable as soldiers and the extracurricrs they tend to spend their free time on.


    Finding Eden amongst these people was already a bonus in itself but I still have a handful of people I was definitely hopeful for and one of them came in at the right time.


    "''Sup, Marvin?"


    "What''s up, sir? Can Ie in?"


    "That''s the n. Sit down here with me."


    "Alright¡­"


    "..."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "..."


    "Marvin¡ª"


    "Y-Yes, sir?"


    "Are you gay?"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Not in a derogatory way, of course, but are ya? You and Ashley, I though¡ª"


    Marvin couldn''t hide the shock in his eyes, "W-We''re still a thing, sir¡ª S-Seb and I just found we had a lot inmon."


    "Such as?"


    "I mean, we''re both pretty chill, same music tastes, same poison, minus the bisexual part¡ª I get along with him more than the rest of the guys in my group. We''re the ck sheep and all. To be honest, sir, I''m surprised you paid attention to us again, I thought we''d just be send all over to see where we fit."


    "Ah¡ª You do understand that your group''s a little out there, right? Especially Brian and Carlo?"


    "Ahaha¡­ That''s true. Brian''s more out there though Carlo just follows him around whenever. I just know Brian has some beef with JP too, he''s an interesting guy as well."


    "In what way exactly? From your perspective, of course."


    "Seems pretty tight-knit? Goal-oriented, bit of elitism, the works, you know?"


    "I see that, actually. But you, let''s focus on you for now."


    "A-Alright, sir. What do you wanna know?"


    "Yesterday. What do you think?"


    "Umm¡­ It was intense, to say the least¡­ I really thought I died¡ªeveryone¡­ I thought everyone died¡­"


    "You know I just talked to Ashley, right?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "Do you know that she''s mad at you?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "Do you know WHY she''s mad at you?"


    "It''s¡­ I called for Seb first before¡ª no, I just called for him. I didn''t call for anybody else¡­"


    "Right¡ª"


    "It''s not a gay thing, really¡ª It''s just¡ª I was with him when it all happened and I was still in the heat of the moment¡­ I should''ve realized that Ash is with us too¡ªin the group, I mean¡ªbut Seb''s just the first one that came to mind. I just felt really responsible that that happened because of me."


    "Really?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Why did you say you feel responsible? It''s not like you threw him to the wolves. I attacked both of you."


    Marvin let out a long sigh, "I mean¡ª Sir, with all due respect, you''re a fucking psychopath¡ª"


    "Why, thank you!"


    "Ah¡ª You''re wee, I guess¡­ but yeah¡­ Everything felt real and when JP and Tennyson are shouting at us to keep calm, I still thought we''re all about to die. I wasn''t able to actively participate like when I was supposed to be fighting side by side with JP¡ª I just¡­ I froze. It''s totally different from when we''re outside but what if I froze when it actually counts?"


    "You mean you''re afraid of taking the step or making some sort of mistake? Like¡ª Like adding on to the chaos that''s happening mistakenly?"


    "WHA¡ª T-That''s exactly it, sir! I¡ª I-It''s a bad habit of mine¡ªsomething I hate to admit¡ªbut yeah, that''s something I''m really ashamed of. I can handle things well but when everything gets so messed up, I start to freak out mentally and break down, staring at everything as it copses on its own. I try to stay on top of things but one mistake would just make me spiral¡­"


    I smiled, "Then you''re a lot more like me than I thought. I''m the same way, actually."


    Marving shook his head, "You, sir? Don''t kid me¡ª"


    "I mean¡ª I worked on myself, obviously, but I was really like you when I was just starting out. Don''t worry, I might be able to help you¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "One at a time. What''s the special thing you thought about before we started Phase 1?"


    "Umm¡­ my friends?"


    I chuckled, "You don''t sound too sure."


    "Ashley''s there, for sure¡ª Seb too, but¡­ I dunno¡­ I don''t have a lot of friends so I really treasure the ones I have¡­ Small as they''ve been in number¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ Now think about this¡­ You, Ashley, and Seb are stuck on a deserted ind and you only have enough food tost two of you for one day¡ª"


    "We''ll share the two servings between the three of us."


    "Smart. But then the next day¡ª"


    "We''ll still try to share the remaining portion between us¡ª"


    "Hmph. And after that?"


    "Same answer."


    "Okay. A few more days passed and the three of you were losing strength because of theck of food. And in order for all three of you to have a fighting chance, one of you has to eat whatever''s left of your food so that he/she can have enough strength to find food for all of you. Who do you choose to take on the burden?"


    "I¡ª Umm¡­ I-I''ll take on the burden but I''ll make sure to¡ª"


    "Not so fast. Let''s say you ate what''s remaining of your food so you could venture out to forage, hunt, whatever¡­ But fucking jackpot! You came across a tribe that doesn''t only speak yournguage but also wees you with open arms! You''re fucking saved! They have food and everything!"


    "Huh? Wut? I don''t follow¡ª"


    "It''s because I''m not done yet. However, since you love taking on the hard stuff and sharing the burden among your friends when it''s easy enough, this tribe just had a particr thing they do before they wee guests¡­"


    "W-What is it?"


    "It''s either you give one of your friends¡ªeven you as tribute¡ªor you cut off a limb for you three plus another one for good measure. What do you do?"

 Chapter 1281 Pick a side - Sup?

    As soon as I popped Marvin that question, he just looked at me with aplex expression¡ªand I was a little d because he was actually thinking about what to answer.


    If I asked this to any other person, they''d just brush it off or answer jokingly, but with the few percentage of people that''d actually answer, I''d like to hear from someone who really values the friendships and rtionships he formed with people.


    "I¡­ If it was just a limb each I¡ª that would''ve been the obvious answer but¡ª Hmm¡­ I¡ª Asking me that now, I¡­ I probably had two limbs chopped off but I don''t actually know when ites to that. I''m¡­ If it reallyes down to it I¡­ Shit¡­ My answer could change depending on the circumstances but I-I have to know more, sir."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Like what, exactly?"


    "I thought it was a deserted ind¡ª"


    "I guess we thought wrong. Not deserted after all."


    "Huh. Also, could I pick which limb to chop off?"


    "You mean¡­ Whether it''s left or right or an arm or a leg?"


    "What''d you choose, sir¡­ If ever?"


    "I wanna copy a certain dude but I''d lose my left arm and right leg."


    "R-Really? You''d take the harder route?"


    "If I have to¡ª Hey! I''m asking the questions here!"


    "B-But you answered, sir¡ª"


    "Because I wanted to! I''ll answer everything I asked you after you''re done! So go! Think about it long and¡ª"


    "Not to copy you or anything sir, but I''ll probably do the same thing¡­ Based on our information now. It''d be hard to lose both hands or both legs but with each one missing, I''ll learn to walk with a peg leg and still have room for grabbing things and shit. And if anything, my friends would be more than happy to assist me until I get used to it."


    "My thoughts exactly¡ª now let''s make it harder. What if they needed two extra limbs instead of one?"


    "Fuck. I mean¡ª I''d hate to go this route but Seb and I should probably take it since we''re the two guys."


    "Nice. But what if the vige requires you to put in the work on top of finding your own food?"


    "I thought they weed us?"


    "Let''s just say they lied. It''s to hook you in."


    "I mean¡­ The answer''s pretty obvious at this point but if I had the chance to scout the vige first and see how they do things and decide from there, I might be able to make a more informed decision as to why they''d need sacrifices¡­"


    "I like that answer, actually."


    "R-Really, sir?"


    "Yeah, because think about it¡­ It might be their way to have outsiders have their fighting force cut to a fraction and they could be cannibals for fuck''s sake. In addition, is it really worth it? I know that living is living but is it really? It''s a tribe you know fuck all about and you''re gonna cut up your bodies to survive? Is that really the best decision?"


    "..."


    "Well, your friends might disagree with you so isn''t it better to just sacrifice yourself?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "A lot to think about, I know. You see, I''m a proponent of living to see another day but there are limits to it, no? Learning to survive with an arm and a leg is technically possible but that has its own limits in an ind such as that. Bleeding out is a possibility too. But yeah, it''s not like I''m telling you to give up."


    "Then what should I think about?"


    "That''s an answer you need to decide for yourself. Weigh in all your experience, your knowledge, everything, and decide for yourself and your group as to what you''d do in the situation.


    You are the face of the ck Sheeps so the responsibility might fall on you one day¡ªand it helps to discuss something like this with them too¡ªbut at the end of the day, it should be important for you to know that you have a ton of options in your hands but which one to pick among them should be crucial and you have to get it right."


    "I dunno about that, sir¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You see¡­ It''s not like we''re all in the same group nowadays or in the same clique¡­ I don''t even know if I hold the leadership position among our group or want to continue being the one in charge."


    "Ah. Like you''re the one pointed out by the whole ss because no one else is there?"


    "Something like that but even though I think I could still reprise the role, I''m morefortable to see JP or even Tennyson¡ªor Lee, to take charge of the whole group. I''m more like Seb, we could probably do the job but there are people who are much better. But yeah, we can step in if the need arises but then again¡­ you know¡­"


    "Pfft¡ª Hah! AHAHAHAHA!"


    "S-Sir?"


    "I''m sorry, you are¡ªand Seb, are really a lot like me. If I''m gonna be transparent with you, I''d prefer not to lead this whole thing¡ªthank the fucking gods I could delegate work¡ªbut yeah, I still needed to step up because I needed to. If I don''t, some schmuck will and I really just wanna do things my way if the world had alreadye to this."


    "Ah¡ª I-I see¡­ If you put it that way, sir, Ipletely agree."


    "B minus."


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t tell anyone about this convo and don''t mind the score I gave ya."


    "Then why bother¡ª"


    "Eh. Just do what I told you. Or don''t. I''ll remember it anyway."


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    On that note, it was safe to say that I had different interactions with everyone else that came up in my gym be it a straight-up brawl, a heart-to-heart, a deep tonic conversation, or even a mix in between, or all over. However, thest person I called over before lunch was Alexa and she looked nervous as fuck when she came over.


    "''Sup?"

 Chapter 1282 Choices

    Like all the others that came before her, Alexa and I had a light-hearted conversation before it went into a few tangents. It was actually pretty nice talking to her like this but it didn''t take long before I started to push the envelope and started to dig deeper into her psyche.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "You know, Quinn still wanted to take you in. What are your thoughts about that?"


    "I-I thought she''d¡ª"


    "I mean, she had the propensity to change her mind in the blink of an eye. Don''t worry though Seb did say¡ª right, Megan said that too that they''de with you, if ever. You three have to get a tattoo with the number ''4'' in it though, if you''de under her wing."


    "Y-You mean in her gang?"


    "It''s not technically hers, it''s Mauro''s currently¡ªthough she has enough influence to have a sub-set of that organization follow her instead of Number 3."


    "B-But¡­ Don''t you want me here?"


    "Sure, if that''s what you want?"


    "Y-You¡ª You don''t care either way?"


    "It''s not like that. And what say do I have in the matter? A little, maybe, but the decision''s up to you. Hmmrgh¡­ If Seb''sing with you, there''s also a chance that Marvin and Ashley would follow if you be closer with them. You''ve talked to those two before, right¡ª"


    "I-I did¡­ It''s¡­ They''re pretty, chill, I guess? Thoughtely, Seb seems to want to spend time with them morepared to me."


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "I mean¡ª Isn''t that how it goes if you''re not in it fully?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I think you know what I meant. Your thing with us and him, he doesn''t say it or realize it like you do but if he''s really okay with it, he''d just stay put and not look elsewhere. I gave you and Megan the order to stay with your group for the moment but you two are spending a lot of time with us as well, right? Compared to your Academy buddies, I mean."


    "..."


    "Alexa?"


    "I¡­ I actually don''t know what to do¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "It''s¡­ Umm¡­ It''s a¡ª It''s a very hard thing for me to say this but¡­ But what I want for me and S-Seb is something you and Kaley have¡­ You two are¡­ You two are like this *sps both hands together* and even if it''s just women you let in, it''s¡­ I dunno¡­ I''m really grateful and my mind has been opened to such things but I do fill a tinge of jealousy that you two can make it work out while¡ªlet''s be a little honest here¡ªeven if Seb says he''s okay with it, I''m not really sure if he is¡­ It''s¡­ It''splicated¡­ Moreplicated than the other time you sat us four down and had a good talk."


    "I mean¡­ That talk that time in my uni is a lucky break because things like these takes time. A LOT of time. Kaley and I are what, maybe 5 or 6 years older than you two¡ªand it''s not a lot, but you two are still very, very young. You have a lot of time to figure yourselves out and again, you don''t have to maintain the upkeep if it isn''t worth maintaining it.


    Are you doing it for the sake of having in a rtionship or are you just afraid that it''s another miss? Look, there''s still a lot of fish in the sea, even in our current circumstance, but then again, as time passes, a lot of things could happen."


    "W-What kind of things?"


    "Anything. You two might work it out, you two might find other people, you might still be with us, you might be in another situationship, who knows? It''s just the worst thing you could do is waste each other''s time just to have your social media statusbeled a certain way or to put up appearances.


    Look, I''m not saying you''re faking it with Seb or something AND I''m not saying to break it up again but do figure out what you two really want and try a few things before moving on or trying to stay afloat again. You do get me, right?"


    "I-I do¡­ It''s just¡­ I dunno¡­ I''m¡­ I''m afraid of being alone, you know? While I could kind of understand how you and Kaley work, I really am a tad jealous and wanted to have the same thing.


    I know for the fact that I can''t get between you two no matter how I try it and it''s hard enough to maintain what I have for myself even though it''s kind of crumbling but yeah¡­ It''s¡­ It''s hard¡­ Maaaan~ I really was expecting another fight but¡ª"


    "We can fight if you want?"


    "Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHAHA! Can I decline?"


    "You can do that too, heh."


    "Shit¡ª I was nervous for nothing¡­ I thought you beat us up for answering wrong or something and none of them tell us shit when they go down. Everyone''s left is just scared as fuck I¡ª"


    "C plus."


    "Huh? Like my grade or my y-you know?"


    "Pfft¡ª I''m not talking about your tits. They are great but you have another ASSet, am I right?"


    Alexa rolled her eyes, "Of course¡ª Pfft¡­ How much time do we have left¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Sorry, not now. I want to but there''s a time and a ce like I told Nia. Won''t be long now though, I missed you both. It''s actually hard hitting you two and putting you through that¡ª"


    "Nia, huh? The chick with the awesome curly hair?"


    "Uh-huh¡­ And why are you looking at me like that?"


    "Pfft¡ª You''re just drowning in pussy, aren''t you?"


    "And your word choice is getting more and more out there, heh."


    "I mean¡ª I''ve been with you guys a lot. Only a matter of time before I start talking like most of you."


    "Well, that is true in a sense."


    "So really¡­ C plus? Any way I can¡ª"


    "Nope. Thanks for ur time¡ª Ah. We''re about to have lunch now. C''mon, I''m hungry with all this talking."


    "Ugh¡­ Just one round, please?!"


    "Nope!"


    "Hnggh! Just you wait!"


    "Exactly!"


    "AHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1283 Partials

    Funnily enough, all Alexa could get from me right now was to climb on my back right until we reached the pool area for lunch, though she still insisted on riding me this way until I sat her down. I didn''t mind the looks everyone was giving us though from the group that I''ve talked to versus the group I haven''t, it was practically night and day.


    It was because, for some reason, it seemed like the people I''ve talked to looked to have somewhat achieved enlightenment as a ray of sunshine was shining on their faces while the ones pending had this dark cloud over their heads.


    Telling everyone I''ve talked to keep what urred upstairs a secret was working wonders for me¡ªnot for them, obviously¡ªbut once the day''s over, I just hope they get something out of this just as much as they had from the days that had passed.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    After some time, I was once again back to my office and the next person I called over was Isaac.


    He came in wearing pretty casual clothespared to everyone else wearing their tactical uniforms. Obviously, he was always carrying his katana everywhere¡ªonly bringing his tachi outside¡ªthough this time, he seemed like he was aiming for a fight. However, once he saw that I waspletely unarmed, his tense expression softened before he made his way towards me.


    "''Sup?"


    "''S-Sup, bro?"


    "Good."


    "Great¡­"


    "If you wanna have a match with me, I still have wooden swords lying around here¡ª"


    "N-Nah, bro¡­ I-I''ll avoid fighting you if possible¡­ I''ve seen my limits¡ª You could probably take me barehanded."


    "Did I break your spirit too? I have a cure for that¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, not like that bro. What''s that quote again? Frog in a well?"


    "You mean you just realized that now?"


    "Wha¡ª Fuck you! I-Imagine once I got out of the well, it''s a series of wells! How about that?!"


    "Oh? That''s a nice way of thinking about it."


    "Don''t patronize me¡­ Tell me, have you ever gone 100% against anyone?"


    "Hmm? Why do you ask?"


    "I mean¡ª I''ve seen you fight Benjie, Mauro, fuck it¡ª even the old dude from the Alvarez Family! And as you know, I''ve been meaning to peruse Ms. M''s girls that night and I was just devastated to hear that they''re all booked and had just gone to your house the day before Phase 1 or whatever. You see where I''m going with this?"


    "Heh, you want to die or something? I do have control of my body but this *knocking on my head* this is the most troublesome shit I''ve been facing my entire life. It''s my biggest asset but also the worst one."


    Isaac shook his head, "At this point, bro, I don''t even know if you''re still joking or not. Would be d to see it at least once in my life too. I''m very proud of my thrusts but it''s like practice swingspared to yours and I don''t even think I''ve seen you practice that much. Shit''s insane. I don''t even know how you came to master the de, dude¡­ and you''re not even an old fuck¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m not a total master per se but once you be one at a certain aspect, you''ll know."


    "Huh?"


    "You''ll just know, trust me."


    "O-Okay?"


    "You don''t trust me, huh?"


    "I do t-trust you but¡ª FUCK! DID I JUST SEE MY HEAD GET LOPPED OFF?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST DUDE! TAKE IT EASY!"


    "I am, I didn''t do it for real¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You okay?"


    "YOU¡ª Y-Yeah, I guess¡­ shit¡­ haven''t felt that in a while¡­"


    "Heh. I''ve said it many times before, mastery isn''t something you climb up to, it''s something you fall into. Kind of like riding a bike but obviously moreplex than that. Have I mastered the de? Some of it, yes. But as a whole?


    Not even close. Let''s just say I sp''d to the shit I use a lot."


    "I fear not the person who practiced 10,000 kicks but the person who practiced a kick 10,000 times¡­"


    "Something like that, yeah."


    "Hmm, I guess I''m kind of like that with my thrusts¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª Not even close!"


    "DUDE! C''MON!"


    "Hey! D''you want me to lie to you?! I could lie to you if you want but do you really want that?! It''s life or death out there, you know?!"


    "Ugh¡­ I just¡ª"


    "But you''re getting there¡­ Hmm~ My only tip for that is part of how the thing I''m trying to teach all of you is rooted in. What are you really trying to aplish by doing those sets of movements?"


    "I mean¡ª It''s a thrust, right?"


    "Well, yeah. Why did you even favor that kind of attack in the first ce?"


    "Umm¡­ Because I''m good at it than anything else?"


    "Hmm~ That could be a reason but if I tell you my entire thought process on it, it might not work for you and do more damage. It''s just something you have to figure out yourself. I mean, it''s not like you have to master that particr thrust to survive out there. Then again, it''s just so fucking sweet to have mastered a few simple motions."


    "Argh! Now you''re just bragging, bro! I don''t even¡ª Maaan~ I still have a fucking lot to work on, huh?"


    "It''s just how it goes¡­ You just gotta keep going until you reach the peak¡ª"


    "Hah?"


    "What now?"


    "I thought I would fall onto mastery, not reach an apex of some sort?"


    I chortled, "Psh! You haven''t even reached the apex of your art yet and you''re trying for mastery already! Gimme a break!"


    "WHAT?! I STILL DON''T COME CLOSE?!"


    "OBVIOUSLY!"


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN OBVIOUSLY!"


    "IT MEANS WHAT IT MEANS!"


    "NOW I REALLY WANNA BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    "NOW BRING IT ON, YOU FUCKER! I''LL SHOW YOU MY FORMLESS ART!"


    "WHAT?! THERE''S A THING LIKE THAT?!"


    "OF COURSE, NOT! EIGHT TRIGRAMS, SIXTY-FOUR PALMS¡ª"


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! AHHHHHH!"


    "TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF PAINNNN!!!"


    "NOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1284 Closing Out Phase 3

    Alexaing out of my gym like a panda while Isaacing out of my gym like he had a colonoscopy¡ªboth saying not a word of what happened¡ªjust confused the people that were left for Phase 3. However, it didn''t take long before one of the eager ones decided to knock before I even had the chance to call another participant.


    "Ah¡ª Come in?"


    Then Chris'' head popped out:


    "Bro! I¡ª Am I really in Hell Week or not?! I¡ª I did everything you asked! I¡ª"


    "Come in,e in. Let''s have a nice talk, Chris."


    "Uh¡ª O-Okay?"


    "Sit down in front of me¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    In any case, Chris did as he was told and made his way towards me¡ªand as he sat down, he was looking all over, and seemed to be looking for something in particr before our eyes met. And as soon as that happened, he was just staring right at my face, waiting for me to open my mouth.


    I chuckled as I opened with my opener, "''Sup?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m okay, I guess?"


    "You mad you weren''t included in Phase 1 and 2?"


    "Kind of¡­ Yeah, not mad per se but¡ª"


    "You and Charlotte are turning 18 next year, right?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Huh¡ª Y-Yeah, we are¡­ Why do you ask?"


    I let out a smile, "Not to invalidate everything you two had gone through ever since it started and not to use your age as a reason for excluding you from most of our activities during Hell Weel but yeah, I kind of am."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Like Lois and Olivia, we''re not forcing you to be adults but you could work your way towards it¡ªlike what you and Charlotte are doing right now¡ªbut yeah, enjoying the little things in life is important too. It''s one of the rules, you know?"


    He chuckled, "Zombind, again? I mean, it is a nice movie and I follow some of them but I don''t feel forced to participate you know?"


    "Because you aren''t."


    "I understand that, bro, but it''s a matter of wanting to actually do it. Everyone here mostly treats me like a kid while the actual kids treat me like an adult. I''m caught in between these weird age ranges and I''m losing track of how to interact with people¡­"


    "Same."


    "Same¡ª Hah? Same? You?!"


    "That''s just part of life. It happens to everyone though there might be differences depending on their social circles and friend groups. Just ride the wave however you want and don''t rush it. It''ll surprise you how fast it would go by you even though you feel like it''s so fucking slow."


    "Oh¡­ I guess¡ª I guess I''ll take your word for it¡­ It does feel really slow though¡­ A-Anyway, I''m not one toin but training feels like a drag right now¡­ I just wanna experience something new to keep it a little more fresh, you know?"


    "Really? I thought you incorporated other disciplines in your style besides boxing?"


    "I am, I am¡­ What I''m having a harder time with is fighting with people like Brian. I do get it''s different outsidepetition rules but when I try to perform illegal moves, I still have this thing inside my head preventing me from doing so. And if I see other people use it on me? I get more and more pissed and it messes with my rhythm."


    "Just means you''re one of thosewful good pdins that could never do wrong."


    "Are we talking about D&D?"


    "Yep. And you better listen. People say it''s a boring archetype since they''re just in annoying and have no ws but upholding thew or what they think is good is a w in itself. I''m not telling you to act like Brian¡ªand I could already give props to you because you''re trying to go out of yourfort zone, but yeah, what makes or breaks it sometimes are your own beliefs."


    "I-I don''t get what that means exactly¡­"


    "I mean, you could free yourself with the restraints you put on yourself to reach greater heights or keep them in to achieve the same thing. Different people work in different ways. It''s what moves you in the end. You could try different positions to cum or just stay in fucking missionary for two hours if that''s your jam."


    "Ah¡ª That''s¡ª"


    "Oops. My bad, I was just giving more examples so you could get it¡­"


    "I think I got it at thest part¡­"


    "You fucking perv, that''s what gets you going, huh?"


    "N-No! It''s¡ª C-Can we talk about something else?"


    "Like what?"


    "Like¡­ W-What''s the purpose of P-Phase 1 and Phase 2?"


    "Ah~ Something along the lines of making them experience something near-death so their body triggers their flight-or-fight response to certain situations. I wanted to reach this certain sweet spot with everyone else so they would have the ability to call upon it wheneve they want."


    "Ohh~ Like the off and on thing you always do?"


    "Exactly."


    "I guess that''s one of the reasons why you excluded me, huh?"


    I nodded, "Kind of. You''re a pretty chill guy and I rarely saw you get mad¡ªonly when your beliefs or the things you stand for are challenged, though that''s a good thing in itself. You have the urge to put them in their ce but not to actually kill them to achieve your goal.


    It''s more akin to letting them know the consequences of their actions while still having the possibility to learn from it and change."


    "Huh¡­ I¡ª I don''t even know that part but I kind of agree with that¡­"


    "In any case, the thing that I could do also stems from my beliefs and what I really wanted to do with it but unfortunately, it was always driven by negative shit¡ªmostly the intent to kill. Boxers had a toned-down version of it that coulde as a crutch for feints but it''s paired with physical actions to further give this image of throwing out a phantom punch a certain way."


    "Ohh¡­ Like with slightly moving my shoulder or even slightly bobbing my head to overload?"


    "Something like that but I just do my thing while staring at you sometimes, right?"


    "R-Right¡­ Shit''s still frightening¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    "Still, this is just my way of doing things and it might not work for you so this might sound really cringe but you''re always wee to forge your own path. You know, like everyone does.


    I''m only doing this to have people simr to me get a slight leg-up and have the people unlike me just have something a little less out of it but yeah, they''re wee to find their own way too even if they''repatible with my methods."


    In any case, Chris asked more questions about this ability of mine while I answered to the best of my¡­ you know, ability. Still, even if I doubt Chris would be one of the people to pull it off, he still tried to take in the knowledge I rued and it''d be up to him as to what he''d do with it.


    However, it didn''t take long before I went through everyone else except for Tennyson and JP.


    My conversation with Seb and Jeremy pretty much went like what I had with Marvin while my conversation with Megan and Cindy was a mix of Nia and Alexa''s.


    In the grand scheme of things, the Deweys weren''t exactly part of the people under mymand like the ck Sheeps, the Death Squad, or the people from the Academy¡ªand the other reason I''m prefacing this sentence this way was because the other reason for Phase 3 aside from getting to know all of them a little more was to consolidate the group into one and have them be led by a leader and a vice leader.


    Despite me dismissing Tennyson the first time we met to shed light to Lee, he stepped up and took control of his position while Lee simply let things happen before her eyes¡ªand mainly kept invisible¡ªso I pegged him to a leadership post along with JP who had been the same ever since it all fucking started.


    While it was true that Marvin¡ªor even Seb¡ªshould be in the sub-leader post, I have another task for these two while I have to figure out who to give the more active role between JP and Tennyson.


    So yeah, instead of calling them one after the other, I called them both at the same time and JP was the first one to walk in my domicile. Surely enough, Tennyson walked in right after¡ªbut really, that didn''t mean much in my book though for some people, they take it as JP leading this group already.


    ''While it''s true JP ticks more boxes and I may have already chosen him to lead this group, I wanted to see if Tennyson could also be the leader or if my thoughts were right, the perfect vice leader to lead such a group after much consideration¡­''

 Chapter 1285 Guild Leader & Vice Guild Leader

    At this moment, I had a bottle of alcohol in front of me and three shot sses and I waved the two over to sit down when they slowed their stride seeing me like this. Despite their hesitation, I still poured each of us a shot and the moment they sat down, I had us down our ss in one breath.


    "Ugh¡ª/ Gck!/ Eugh¡­"


    I chuckled, "Sorry, it gets better with more shots¡­"


    JP shook his head, "No the fuck it doesn''t¡­"


    Tennyson nodded, "That''s like straight-up kerosene¡­"


    I quickly anchored the conversation back to usual programming, "So, what''s up with you two?"


    "Hmm?/What?"


    "I said, ''sup?"


    JP answered first after pushing his shot ss close to where the bottle was, "I recovered okay-ish but I''m still wary if you put something in our drinks. Even if everyone came out mostly unscathed, we never know with you."


    Tennyson''s eyes grew wide, "Ah, fuck! Then why''d you¡ª we, drink it?!"


    I chuckled, "Rx, I just wanted to talk or if you can''t handle your shit, you''re wee for a one-on-one without any tricks."


    "Pass./I''ll pass, sir."


    "Good. Tennyson, you still haven''t answered my¡ª"


    "Ah, right¡­ Same-same, I guess."


    I rolled my eyes, "Not much of an answer but yeah, the reason I brought you two together is that I want you both to lead this particr group as a whole. No ck Sheeps, Death Squads, Academias, nothing. While it''s true you''d be in clusters when you go out, you should be blending in as a single unit, not scattered groups that somehow banded closely."


    JP answered instantly, "I can do that."


    "Good," then I turned to Tennyson, "How about you? I''m thinking of letting JP take the Guild Leader position while you''re the Vice Guild Leader, think you can do that?"


    Tennyson looked confused as he answered, "I''m¡­ I''m not so sure about that arrangement."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "How so?"


    "Look, sir¡­ I appreciate the vote of confidence but I barely knew everyone aside from my group and if anything, I''ve contradicted everyone''s choices or found things that people overlooked¡ª"


    "Exactly."


    "Huh?"


    "While JP''s busy doing his thing, you''ll also be met with hard shit to deal with. It''d be almost like a thankless job because while you''re free to agree with everyone else, you''re main goal is to find fault or gaps in everyone else''s actions or decisions and find steps to prevent those faults or gaps from happening."


    JP followed, "Kind of like a person whoins a lot but finds the solution at the same time?"


    I nodded, "Just like that," then I turned back to Tennyson, "You''re not afraid to voice out your thoughts and that''s a good thing and while Brian kind of does the same thing, that''s all he does for the most part. While it''s also true I haven''t seen you work out a solution to our problems, I''d rather have you than that meathead as vice leader."


    Tennyson let out a sigh, "I see¡­ Still¡ª Again, I appreciate the vote of confidence but why not Marvin, Seb, or even Lee?"


    "You''re kind of weird, you know that?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "You so wanted to get back your post when I appointed Lee as the leader of your group but when I''m appointing you to something bigger, you question everything in front of you. I mean¡ª that''s kind of the job I wanted you to do as vice leader but right now, I''m just wondering why you''re a little opposed to the job."


    Tennyson thought for a bit before he answered, "It''s not like I''m opposed but¡­ There has to be a catch."


    "A catch?"


    "Everything has to, sir. Respectfully."


    "I mean you''re right, for one, it saves me the trouble of babysitting all you fucks every single day and I hate fucking yes men so I appointed you as the no man. You''d receive a lot of hate going against the current but it''s also for everyone''s sake."


    JP chuckled, "So he''s here to point out all the mistakes I''ll make? Good luck."


    Tennyson squinted his eyes, "What do you mean good luck?"


    JP turned to his vice leader, "It means what it means. I only fuck up on a thing once¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Mmm-hmm~ If you say so~"


    "Haah?!"


    "If you count everyone else going above your head as one thing, sure."


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And you weren''t even granted the right to correct it¡ª"


    "B-But now, I''ll make sure that¡ª"


    "With Tennyson''s help, you''d have no excuses left. Get me?"


    "Heh¡­ Of course, sir. No excuses now."


    I turned to Tennyson once more, "You okay with your job now? JP seems okay with his."


    Tennyson slowly nodded after mulling it over, "I¡­ I''ll take the job, sir. But do know I won''t be disagreeing for disagreement''s sake and I''ll give credit where credit is due. However, I''ll still try to think of ways of how things might go wrong, maybe handing some of that stuff to Brian, just so we could see away from our vision cones."


    I chuckled, "I think you two are perfect for the job."


    The two answered at the same time, "What job?"


    I instantly rolled my eyes, "What have we been talking about the past few minutes?! It''s the Guild Leader and Vice Guild Leader job! I mean¡ª I do have a task for you two but I want to talk to you both a little more before we get to that."


    JP shook his head, "You''ve known me for quite a bit and you''ve seen my ugly side already, what more do you want to know?"


    Tennyson followed, "If you pour me another drink, I''ll answer a few questions."


    I never smiled so wide as I poured us a shot to toast to, "Just a word of warning though, thest shot we''ll have is a little different. While we still have a lot to go before we finish this bottle, see to it that I warn you of that. It''s that important, so keep your head clear once wee of that. I won''t hear any excuses about getting drunk from this shit."


    Tennyson rolled his eyes, "Why? Is it some Yakuza shit¡ª"


    I instantly facepalmed, "Way to ruin the surprise, you fuckin'' weeb!"


    "YOU''RE YAKUZA?!"


    "No!"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Just sounds cool, ya know?! It''s supposed to be this bonding moment where I take you two fucks under my wing officially and you have no fucking chance to get out of it unless you do a very dangerous mission you have a high fucking chance of dying in¡­"


    "Umm¡­/ Hold up¡­"


    "Hah! The look on your fucking faces! It''s kinda like that, actually¡ª but yeah, aren''t we doing the same thing already? But look, the number of people I''m taking care of more than doubled ever since my trip to Subic and I want more people I could lean my back on when I need to take a break.


    Fuck it, I want people to take charge and take care of their own while I''m indisposed or somewhere else so I wouldn''t worry about the people I''m leaving behind where we go on trips, get me?"


    JP asked, "Aren''t we always with you when¡ª"


    "There will be times when I''ll send you somewhere else to do shit or times you''d be on your own missions you curated yourselves like Artem. I don''t just want people to obey my everymand, I want people who could think on their own and do something adjacent to what I''d do given the situation.


    You are your own people but you''re still under me so do at least 70% of what I''d do given the situation where I''m not present. Do that for me and I''ll let you fucks do whatever you want within reason."


    Tennyson couldn''t believe what he was hearing, "For real?"


    "Yeah, I''m sorry Ms. Jackson, I am for fucking real. However, do fuck up incredibly and I''ll hold everyone ountable even if one of you did something wrong. You''re gonna be a single unit once you walk out those doors, not just a bunch of groups or random individuals. Get me?"


    "Yes, sir./ Of course, sir."


    In any case, our conversation was going for the most part until we reached half the bottle. We were talking for close to an hour when these two fucks started wobbling at the same time, and it was aking to Quinn seeing me get tipsy after she downed a barrel of ale. I already considered myself a lightweight but these two fucks couldn''t hold a shot ss to save their lives.


    It was then that the two had the brightest idea to take me up on the 1v1 offer¡ªturning it into a 2v1¡ªand let''s just say even if they didn''t feel a thing because of how intoxicated they were, they''d definitely feel it tomorrow.


    But while we were still subject-adjacent, I had toe over to another group we had taken in from the Subic Bay and it was the junkies we were taking care of in the hospital.

 Chapter 1286 These Two & These Two...

    Per ourst meeting, all I''ve heard from them was they were still in the process of recovery though most of them were already past the hardest part of withdrawal. I could only imagine the shit they were going through because even though I have partaken or was given psychedelics identally or deliberately, it was only in very~ small amounts and I didn''t need to be confined in the hospital for it.


    In any case, aside from Mimi and Dr. Nichols, the first person I saw waiting for me was Camille¡ªCasey''s sister¡ªwho lived in the hospital halls and bedding areas instead of the lodging we provided for her.


    For the whole time they were here, she was watching over her sister''s recovery aside from the other family members who were also present and doing almost the same thing. I said that because she was the only one Casey got while the others were switching people or had times where they were letting the nurses and doctors do their jobs as they settled into this ce.


    While it was true that like George from Subic, they opted to choose the same ce as their permanent address, these people still wanted to help however they could because we were taking care of their own. Of course, Camille was being either Mimi''s or Dr. Nichols'' assistant¡ªeven Chloe''s helper at times¡ªand the three chose to hire her help instead of her doing odd jobs here and there.


    I apud her actions to somehow "repay" Casey''s medical bills and even though it was perfectly fine for me to have her work in Micah''s ce, it''d just look bad at the moment and she was desperate.


    Again, there was a time and a ce for such things and let''s just say the work Mimi and Dr. Nichols were making her do was just things to have her keep her mind off Casey even for a little bit.


    But yeah, I was a little startled when she came in for a tight hug before bursting into tears and thanking me over and over.


    "Umm¡­ I¡ª What did I do?"


    Camille couldn''t say proper words so Mimi answered for her with a smile:


    "It''s Casey, she''s cleared by Dr. Nichols today and they''re about to move into Woonds. Sir Damian offered his free rooms in exchange for cleaning services and some assistance when he goes on morning walks. His cane could only do so much now¡­"


    "Casey''s fine and all then?"


    Dr. Nichols answered, "Well, it''d be best if Camille watches over her for a few days, observe her for a bit and see¡­ But with all the tests we conducted, she''s totally fine. Aside from the you-know-what, of course¡­"


    ''Ah¡­ The baby¡­''


    Camille finally let go of me but she took my hands and shook them many, many times as tears were still streaming down her face, "T-Thank you again¡ª T-The past days were¡ª Oh god, it was terrible¡ª Terrible! I thought she wasn''t gonna make¡ª"


    I lightly chuckled, "I did jack shit¡ª Thank Mimi and Dr. Nichols instead¡ª"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The two chortled at the same time, "She did, she definitely did¡­"


    "Ah~ I see¡­ Well, I''m still d to hear it. I''d hate to bring this up now but doe to my ce and find Rin for other work and see where you could fit in much better. Don''t worry about Casey''s contribution as much since she needs more time to rest and recover."


    Camille shook his head, "D-Don''t *sniffs* w-worry about that, s-sir¡­ I''ll¡ª I''ll take care of her s-share of the burden too¡­ Ack!"


    I chuckled after flicking her forehead, "No the fuck you''re not. Overworking''s a thing too, you wouldn''t want to be on the other side of things and have Casey take care of you, right? So yeah, just do what you can and leave at least an hour or two for yourself and your sister. That''s a fucking order."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, I guess¡­"


    "And fucking shower, not that you reek or anything but Americans would fucking invade your hair and face for how oily they are¡ª OW! MIMI! WHA¡ª DR. NICH¡ª STOP!"


    "YOU¡ª DON''T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!/ SHE''S WORKING HARD, ALRIGHT?! THAT''S SO UNNECESSARY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    To the two''s surprise, Camille startedughing her ass out while clutching her stomach and it was at the exact moment Casey was wheeled out by another nurse. Obviously, herughter was cut short and the first thing she did was hug her sister, and the nurse who wheeled Casey in just gave us a short greeting before we sent her on her way.


    Though obviously enough, Casey still didn''t know how to react and she still looked ashamed¡ªwhich was also understandable¡ªbut as any responsible adult would, I offered them a ride to get to Damian''s ce though they promptly declined.


    "The fuck?"


    "We can''t impose on you anymore a-and the others w¨Cwanted to see you¡ª"


    "Nonsense, they could wait for all I care! It''s barely seven! I wanna speak to Damian for a bit too, catch up with that old coot."


    "I-If you say so, I guess we could¡ª"


    Casey rolled her eyes, "Ohmygod, sis! Eugh! You''re even blushing! I''m hungry! Can''t we eat first before you flirt with the boss man?!"


    "CASEY! I''M NOT¡ª AGH! S-SHUT UP! I''M NOT FLIRTING!"


    In any case, after one awkward drive to Damian''s ce in Woonds, I saw the old coot wearing sses and reading this old book with several creased pages. He didn''t even see using in¡ªas he thought we were just his other tenants¡ªbut I was happy to see he still got his reflexes when I released a bit of killing intent directed towards him.


    It was because he quickly reached for his cane-sword and drew it halfway before turning around and facing us:


    "Wha¡ª You don''t do shit like that, kid! What the fu¡ª Wh¡ª You''re gonna give an old man a heart attack!"


    I chuckled, "I knew you still kept that sword sharp¡­ your senses too."


    "Hmph."


    "Anyway, I''m supposed to drop these two for ya."


    Damian''s eyes scanned over the two before his dimming lightbulb lit up, "Ah! I remember now, hmm¡­ you can take the 2nd room upstairs to the right¡ª You''ll find everything you need over there¡­ I''m a little tired now, I apologize but this ce isn''t that big and I''m not that messy of a person so¡­ I just need someone to help me in my morning walks¡­"


    Camille nodded with a smile, "I''ll be sure to help you, Mister Damian¡­ Is there any particr time you''d like to be woken up?"


    "Gods, no¡­ I wake up in the middle of the night and just walk around¡­ Just let me sleep when I can and if I croak, you can have the house though that kid will definitely take my sword."


    Camille and Casey couldn''t believe their eyes, "Wha¡ª Don''t say it like that!/ Y-Yeah! W-We''re just here for¡ª"


    I cut Casey off, "I''ll definitely take that cane sword."


    Damian chortled, "SEE! He took some of my collection with him and had that hot blondie wave one of them around but fuck it, it''s better than collecting dust, I guess¡­"


    In any case, aside from these two taking care of Damian''s needs, they were also here to make him take his medicine. Even if he was the same age as the old man, his body wasn''t that forgiving and he couldn''t move as well as them.


    He''d need the exercise, proper nutrition, and his meds to be taken on the regr though I''ve heard that he was in talks with Marisha to take care of his "problem", being old, to extreme measures.


    While it was his decision to make, he still needs proper counseling and this old fogey didn''t look like he wanted to take that route and was only open to talking about it to get an idea.


    Assisting someone down that road was never easy¡ªand since it was done here a few times and I''ve done it personally with Earnest and Earl''s grandmother¡ªI had a few things to say about it but if you''re still alive and kicking well, still eager to learn new things or read new books, and the like, going down that road should never be an option.


    Then again, it was still the person''s choice and all we could do was give them counseling and decide from there.


    So yeah, after 15 minutes or so of fucking around with Damian, I went back to the hospital with my car and I''ve personally talked to the families watching over our junkies like Diesel and some other skinny kid.


    Like Camille, they were all very thankful to me and very eager to give back with some form of help or service though again, like Camille, I asked them to not overdo it and focus on taking care of their family.


    But yeah, it was another story for Dax and Sheepy.


    ''I almost forgot about these two¡­''

 Chapter 1287 Left or Right?

    While it was true that there were also a few like them without families watching over them as they recovered, these two¡ªDax & Sheepy¡ªwere still half-brothers and they got each other.


    However, it was safe to say that they were getting discriminated against because of their actions that their followers followed to the dot¡ªand from Marisha''s observations, it seemed like they were getting more reclused and feeling like they didn''t belong anywhere else.


    Still, in between their recovery periods where they could be talked to was when Marisha would pop up and give them talks like everyone else¡ªand surprise, surprise, they were the only two people who needed more time before Marisha managed to break into their stubborn heads.


    Of course, they were still assholes even to some of the staff but it seemed like that now, they put Marisha in high regard though with me, it was a different story.


    "BROOOOOO!/ WASSUP'' DUDE, MAN!"


    "Wut?"


    ''What in the actual fuck?''


    "THERE''S OUR BUDDY, BUD-BUD!/ YEAH~ HE IS! OUR CHUM-CHUM BUDDY, BUDDY!"


    At this moment, not even Mimi, Sandara, or Marisha was present but I''m 99.99% sure these motherfuckers were high as a kite. At the same time, it didn''t take long before I noticed that Dax seemed to have a cracked rib while Sheepy had a fractured arm¡ªconfirmed by looking at their charts and the not-so-obvious restraints they had on their beds.


    So I just opened up with my usual greeting after trying to get into contact with at least Mimi, telling her that I just got back.


    Sheepy cackled, "Sup? That''s all you can do?! I can do schlurp-schlurp, gluck-glock-ck in my fucking sleep, bro!"


    Dax recoiled, "Eugh, bro¡­ Enough about that¡­ I love you but I gotta bnce out seeing dicks with pussies. And right now, I''ve seen your dick more than I see anyone''s snatch and the fucking nurses here aren''t even wee to negotiations¡­" then he turned to me, "I offered my jello, bro¡­ MY FUCKING JELLO AND¡ª AH, FUCK¡­ If that fucking guard wasn''t so much as a wise-ass¡­"


    ''I found the in¡­''


    I cut in "What guard? Is that why you two are injured?"


    Sheepy cackled, "Heh¡­ It could be anyone, really¡­ Everyone fucking hates us, you know? Even our crew we took care of¡ª Fucking loyalists, my ass! They turned fucking coats the moment they were with their families!"


    Dax nodded several times, "Who took care of them?! US! ME! YOU! WE! A-And they pull that shit¡­"


    "What shit?"


    "I-I¡­ I dunno, man¡­ bro¡­ dude¡­ whatever the fuck¡­ Our rooms are so close to each other, we always get visits from their families every time something bad was happening to ''em¡­ It''s not like the same shit''s not happening to us!"


    "We''ve heard all sorts of shit that it''s all our fault and shit for putting them through that so I guess we should''ve just let everyone die, huh? I mean¡ª we could''ve done that but we didn''t coz we''re brooooos~"


    "BROOOOOS! FOR LYFE! WITH A Y!"


    I chuckled, "Then you''re not exactly sure they said those shit you heard, right?"


    "AH¡ª"


    "OH SHIT!"


    "BRO!"


    "BROOOOO!"


    "WE DUCKED!"


    "FUCKED UP, BRO! FUCKED! WITH AN F! BUT YOU''RE FUCKING RIGHT!"


    "STOP YELLING, BRO¡ª YOU''RE HURTING MY¡ª"


    "YOU''RE YELLING TOO! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "Oh shit¡­ Oh shi¡ª Y-You''re right, my bad~ my bad, bro~ A-Anyway¡­ What the fuck are we talking about again?"


    "Those bitches, bro! Those bitches be talkin'' shit!"


    I waved them off, "Yeah, yeah, I get that but why did you two get injured like that? Is that deliberate to get some drug in your system or have you two fucked up real bad?"


    As soon as I asked the question for the nth time, these two nced at each other before looking at me with a knowing smile, as if I read their minds and figured out their intentions.


    "He knooooows, bro~ He knowsssss~"


    "Yah, bro¡­ Detox is cool and all but gettin'' high has been our bread n butter to survive¡ª And getting high''s pretty cool too¡ª"


    "Okay, shut up."


    Right at that fucking moment, I filled the room with copious amounts of killing intent and whether they were high on painkillers or were faking it to mess with me, the two gulped down and had difficulty breathing within my presence.


    It was then that I reminded them that I only provided them with a very short leash and whatever secrets they were hiding doesn''t mean shit to me if all we''d find are more drug stashes or names of people who used to peddle them.


    In the grand scheme of things, without a production line and with our current poption, they''d eventually run out of products and customers.


    "Look, you two¡­ This ce is yourst fucking chance to turn your lives around and let me tell you, everyone here doesn''t fuck around¡­ There''s a saying that I''d always like to mention to people who always love to fuck around but you two won''t even be aware to findin'' out if you keep messing around with everyone.


    So again, were those injuries just for a shot of something like morphine, or are those people outside or my guards responsible?"


    ".../¡­"


    "Quiet time, huh? Either way, I''ll find out¡ª We have cameras here too, and yeah, snitchin'' is good once in a while. It''s nice to do things your way but you gotta ept the hand that offers help too once in a while¡­ especially if it''s thest hand that''ll offer help."


    ".../¡­"


    "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    The two then answered at the same time, "It''s to get high¡ª/It''s Te''s cousin¡ª"


    "Dude! Shut up!/Dude! Shut up!"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "There''s no proof!/Who fuckin'' cares! He broke my good arm! I can''t jerk off like this!"


    I stared them down before I opened my mouth, "It''s either he did you in the storeroom or the restrooms. Give me the full story¡ª and no lies, there are no cameras in the restrooms but there are cameras in the hallways. It''s not much but if you aren''t pussies as you are now, there should at least be something that''s left behind.


    I have other means to uncover the truth and again, I''m your only shot, trust me for once and I''ll pull you fucks through."


    Sheepy turned to Dax, "What now, bro? Told you, he''s legit."


    Dax looked straight into my eyes, "I''m still kinda high but your death re woke me up. What do you need from us aside from the info we''re keeping to stay alive? And why go to such lengths for two assholes like us? We ruined a lot of lives, you know?"


    I chuckled, "I said I''d give you another chance, here it is. Don''t waste it. I can save hospital resources if I just kill you two right now¡ªand it''d be easy as fuck¡ªso, what now? I''m all for revenge but if what you said is really true, that shouldn''t be the way to go.


    Besides, your group collectively did what you did to survive, even if you two were the ringleaders, what he did to you two is worse than a sucker punch."


    Dax scoffed, "What are you gonna do to him if he''s found guilty, anyway?"


    "Well~ Aside from a severe talking to, I''ll take away some of their luxuries, have his ''deeds'' well-known to everyone, and yeah¡ª I''ll arrange a time and a ce for you two fucks to get back at him in a ring. Separate times, of course¡­ You know, to be fair to the poor sod¡ª"


    "Hah!" Sheepy cackled, "I''m in, bro! The fuck? That''s the best deal we''vended! What do you say, Dax?"


    Dax chuckled, "And if we''re lying through the skin of our teeth and just wanted to get high onest time?"


    I stared right at him, "Haven''t been listening? I''ll let you two look at the flowers before slitting your throats. Don''t even test me."


    "Shit, then fuck it¡ª it happened a couple of days ago. Same wing we''re in currently, and he was wearing a id shirt and off-white sneakers. If he didn''t clean his shoes, my blood''s on them for sure."


    Sheepy and I spoke at the same time, "The fuck, bro?!/I thought there was no proof?"


    Dax shrugged his shoulders, "There may or may not be proof. I tend to remember things like that if it''s life or death, you know?"


    I chuckled, "Then what would you remember if I point my gun at you now?"


    "Heh. I can remember more shit too if you give me shit that could get me high."


    "I''ll even give you more shit if you stopped getting high¡ª"


    "Don''t kid me, I''ll never stop getting high. Not the hard stuff, of course, a little blunt here and there would do me good. I miss good food, ya know? And this hospital''s not serving hospital food at all. It''s like being back at grandma''s¡ª"


    "Alright, so the shoe. Left or right?"

 Chapter 1288 Pods

    At this point, the two began recalling more details from the incident and told me about what happened though I still felt that there was something they weren''t beingpletely honest about. However, at the end of their statement, the two looked at each other solemnly before Sheepy nodded¡ªmaking Dax let out a sigh before turning to me:


    "Alright¡­ We''ve told you all sorts of details but we did exchange some rather¡­ unsavory words with that fucker, TJ. While it''s true we sustained injuries like this, we managed to throw one or two punches but we''re just too weak to do anything about it. I''m not sure what you''d do about that information but you trusted us, and now we''re trusting you to do you''re thing¡­"


    Sheepy nodded, "Whatever the fuck it is you''re gonna do¡­"


    I chuckled, "That puts a damper on things but do know I''m also hearing his side of the story and I''m gonna gather as much footage I could with the help of a few people. Just do know that this will take a bit of time¡ª"


    "How much time?"


    "A few days, a week at most. If all else fails, I''ll make sure you''re far away from them or vice versa."


    "Fuck it, that''s the most help we received from anyone."


    "I mean¡ª you fucks are still recovering here and Te along with his family members would be sent to work in this ce. That means that if he wanders around here more, that TJ, he''d just be digging his own grave. Get me?"


    "Yeah¡­/ Mm-hmm¡­"


    "So sit back a bit and recover for the meantime and I''ll do my thing."


    In any case, I am getting tired of being like Dr. Phil for everyone else in Phase 3 and the ones who followed after though I had one more bout of talking after since Artem and his group managed to lock down all the standalone stations with Morales and his crew.


    The only ones left were the two other stations connecting to the other train lines though there were a few problems that we needed to work out before tackling them.


    So yeah, once we got back and had dinner, we gathered everyone involved and decided to hear from them first with Artem walking up to the front.


    "Dobryy vecher¡ª Good evening, everyone. I rarely speak in front of people like this but we have both good news and bad. First the good news: as you''ve heard, we''ve cleared this LRT Line 1¡ªI meant the stations that aren''t connected to the other train linespletely.


    It would need a human''s touch to get into those stations or a rather agile undead but not the normal ones we try to clear off every single day."


    Matthew cut in, "So, what''s the bad news?"


    "We''ve received strict orders from Nyebo to not enter those connecting stations without a proper n but he didn''t say anything about sending a drone in. It''s what he''d do if he''s there so we did just that. There''s this other thing that we also did but it could wait¡ª"


    I, "Nyebo", also cut in, "Can we hear that other thing first before the bad news?"


    Artem nodded, "Sure, it has to do with the Legarda, Recto, and Tutuban Station from LRT Line 2 and Maganes and Taft Avenue Station from MRT Line 3.


    Since we''re in the area and have enough time to spare¡ªand with the help of the people from the Mayor''s side¡ªwe decided to clear the seeding standalone stations and the outer surface of the connecting stations from those two other lines namely the Recto Station and Taft Avenue Station."


    Matthew turned to me, "What''s he talkin'' about?"


    I chuckled as I gave Artem a nod of approval, "He basically used a tourniquet on those other stations so we could focus on it when it matters."


    Oscar cut in while scratching the back of his head, "I do know what a tourniquet is but I''m gonna need a little more than that, Kid? Was it a good thing?"


    I nodded, "Of course, it''s a good thing. As you can see D. Jose Station is connected to Recto Station while EDSA Station is connected to Taft Avenue Station hence the names. So, what they did is they went after the stations after those two so we could focus more on these connecting stations tomorrow. I thought you fucks spoke English? It''s both our secondnguage and¡ª"


    "Ah, shaddap! You two put the word station in every sentence and it confused me! I think I get it?" Oscar nodded as he sat down.


    Matthew asked his previous unanswered question, "That''s the other piece of news, right? What''s the bad news?"


    Artem then pulled out the drone footage they got as he took a few steps away from the screen, "This is the bad news. I''d like to call them pods."


    Everyone else asked, "Pods?"


    As the video yed from three different drones, Artem made us focus on Drone #1 but the footage on Drones #2 and #3 were just as important. It gave everyone the generalyout of what it looked like currently even if some of us knew it by heart due tomuting to and from work before the world ended.


    It was because aside from those pods we hadn''t seen yet, flesh barricades were all over the ce, altering the area''s known pathways. We''d have to prepare more than just firetrucks and pitchforks for this run though coordination with everyone else was paramount.


    However, once we saw a glimpse of what Artem was talking about, one of the things I fucking feared about came true when these fucks had developed the ability to create more of themselves.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''Hold up¡­''


    Everyone else was already thinking of nicknames to call this new type we haven''t even seen yet because so far, all we''ve seen are these non-uniform pods where new deadheads spawn¡ªbut a person with my eyes or someone else with a physiology degree or a gym rat¡ªwould notice some muscle inserts were off and the length of each limb was fucking off as well.


    In addition, there were some creations that had extra limbs or missing one or two¡ªand yeah, some of them weren''t even in the right ces most of the time.


    It brought me to the time when we were in Man and had to procure oxygen tanks but we came across a station¡ªwhere we sent a couple of drones armed with C4¡ªthat was a nest for a much bigger, singr, pod¡­ unlike this one that had several smaller pods spread together.


    And one other thing that I remember from that time was that we found severed limbs, torsos, and heads and that could''ve been the start of what we were seeing right now.


    Still, whether they were puppets or not¡ªor another version of them¡ªmeant these fucking meat bags were still continuing to evolve as we continue to find more ways to take care of their kind.


    However, the footage wasn''t even halfway done when Artem forwarded it a bit and we began to question whether they were breeding pods, sleeping pods, collection pods, or a mix of those things in between.


    It''s because we saw these collection pods either swallow a wandering deadhead and/or a deadhead choose to take a nap in it with its dismembered friends.


    We haven''t had enough footage to go by but we did see a few pods dete/inte after rewinding the footage Artem caught many, many times. And yeah, they hadn''t even had footage of where the thickest parts of this fucking flesh wall were and a good number of us just wanted to blow the ce up.


    If I didn''t want to take home at least a few samples to study I would''ve agreed to just went Samurai on it and burn that motherfucking ce to the ground but yeah, bullets were the easiest solution but we gotta know what the fuck''s going on topletely wipe them out.


    So yeah, it was almost midnight when we all decided to call it a night¡ªand only the elite yers were present plus our new squad¡ªand we were all up in the gym for some good lighting and using therge mirrors as an impromptu whiteboard.


    What we first did was figure out mostly the new pathways created for us and ways we could make it more advantageous for us¡ªand what followed was everyone''s loudout for the iing siege of just the connection station between D. Jose Station and Recto Station.


    We decided it would be best to handle them one at a time, focus all our forces in one spot, and have several backups at the ready in case things went south.


    And of course, I''m feeling a little more confident because aside from the young junkies getting cleared by our doctors, Mikhail and Alexei were also cleared for their gunshot wounds, mostly.


    Their doctors said to wait a few more days but they were already itching to stretch their bones and fight with everyone in full gear.

 Chapter 1289 Prep - Surprise, Surprise

    In any case, once we retreated back to my room, we figured that we still had a lot of prep work to do but it wasn''t like we''d take the whole day just to clear two connecting stations. Still, with Jennifer''s help, she hooked up Quinn with a belt-fed Saiga-12 from Oscar''s stash with a bag full of rolled-up buckshots Quinn could easily lug around.


    In addition, she offered Alexa to temporarily switch to a semi-automatic shotty like her Remmington 870 because it wasn''t like we''d need a lot of long-shooters which for one, she wasn''t that proficient yet, and two, Kaley, Jared, Lawrence, and Alexei would be present so her loadout should be changed to suit our needs.


    "I-I don''t know how to quad-load¡­ much more, hexa-load¡ª"


    Jennifer waved her off, "Just a suggestion, no worries," then she turned to me, "Hey! You have a Shockwave always hanging on the side of your bag, right?"


    I nodded as I pointed at my pack, "You mean that 590¡ª right, the Shockwave, yeah¡­ It''s almost always there though, don''t use it as much."


    "Why?"


    "If anything gets too close, I just use my katana. It''s just my backup gun in case I somehow forgot to aim."


    "Right¡­ Riiight¡­ Kaley has the same one too, right?"


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah¡ªhe got me one too so we could match. Why do you ask?"


    Then Jennifer turned to her pack again and took out two pairs of 20-round mags, handing a pair to each of us, "Here. Dad asked¡ª umm¡­ me, to uhh¡­ to give ''em to ya."


    Kaley chuckled, "He asked or was forced to?"


    Jennifer rolled her eyes as Rachel chuckled, "I mean¡­ He did say to take whatever the fuck I want after I took that Saiga from his disy wall so yeah¡­ I might have used different words than he did. He didn''t stop me so¡­ I think you two should have that for backup."


    I lightly scratched my cheek as I just stared at them, "Uhh¡­ Cool, thanks."


    "What? Something wrong with it?"


    "N-No¡­ The extra weight¡ª"


    "Oh, please! We''re not fucking camping tomorrow! We''re burning the ce to the ground! Not literally¡ªbut you get what I mean, right?! Lose the unnecessary shit in your pack or better yet, just have another pack¡ª"


    Then everyone else except me screamed for dear life, "NOOOO!"


    But I was smiling from ear to ear, "Really?! You''d want me to?! Aw, shucks~ Jen! I''ve been meaning to do that, thanks!"


    So yeah, in the middle of the fucking night when we should''ve all been tangling in and around each other, I was just like a little kid preparing my assault loadout instead of my all-purpose bag for our important run tomorrow. Still, it was just more shit that my war belt and chest rig couldn''t hold, and it was either more throwables or ammo for the guns I''d bring with me.


    Funnily enough, as everyone else was giving Jennifer the stink eye, Kaley decided to do the same thing as me¡ªprompting others to follow after her¡ªjust so we could shave off some time prepping for tomorrow and getting into our nightly activities quicker.


    However, while it was important to have backups upon backups of loaded magazines, it was also important to stay mobile and not get bogged down by the weight of our packs. So even if we kept loading magazines and preparing ammo cans of different kinds of rounds, it was for having a reloading station where we could quickly retreat to in case we needed a quick refill or a break.


    There was still a ton of shit we needed to get done for tomorrow but we wouldn''t be able to aplish it tonight because not only were our service crew already asleep, but everyone was also itching to get their needs itched.


    While it wasn''t like we would be running to our deaths tomorrow morning¡ªbecause we could just literally blow up the ce if it was that dangerous¡ªit was a custom around here to have some extra, extra fun even if we weren''t doing anything big for tomorrow.


    So yeah, after we put our load-outs in the appropriate areas, each of us just started to take off our clothes while some quickly went to the bathroom to shower. Your next chapter awaits on empire


    It''s just when I looked over to my older step-sister, she still looked a little miffed from doing what she thought was a good thing¡ªwhich it actually was¡ªand Rachel was doing her best tofort her. But yeah, it seems like what Rachel was doing wasn''t working so Kaley set it up for me by taking Rachel over to her side so I couldfort my beloved "family" member.


    "Still down, step-sis?"


    "Oh, shut up! Fuckingy down so I could ride ya! I gotta fucking cum!"


    "Well, that was easy¡ª"


    "Shut up and get that big fucking dick hard!"


    "Already is¡ª"


    "SHUT UP!"


    So yeah, Jennifer didn''t even bother taking off all her clothes as she went on top of me and pushed her panties to the side. She quickly spat on her hands and rubbed it on my bulging dick before sitting down on it and the look on her fucking face as it went all the way in was fucking priceless.


    After that, she began moving her hips as she leaned over and held my hands over my head, pressing her body against mine while keeping direct eye contact.


    "S-Shit¡ª F-Fuck you! Why does your dick have to be this f-fucking good?! FUCK! It''s always reaching my¡ª MmnGHH! S-Shiiit! Fu¡ª F-Fuck me!


    F-Fuck your big sister! F-Fuck my tight pussy and¡ª MmnmnG! A-Ah! T-That''s right! S-Suck on my tits¡ª MnnnNGH!!! A-AH!


    AH! AHN! AH! F-FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    YES! YESSSSS!"


    From my point of view, Jennifer looked like a bitch in heat as her eyes were rolling to the back of her head but as she kept riding me while her tits were getting smushed between our bodies, everyone else who went for a shower came back and had one more visitor to join us¡ªno, two.

 Chapter 1290 Nia & Hannah

    To be perfectly honest, it didn''te as a surprise when I saw Nia walk in but what dide as a surprise was that Lee came in, not Camille. Alright, I''m a simple guy with some ego sometimes but before I could even process what was going on, Jennifer almost headbutted me as she came close to my face, forcing me to look straight at her.


    "You fucking look at someone else while I''m on top of you?! You owe me two fucking loads before I get off of you!" Find your next read on empire


    And right as she said that, she wrapped her arms around my neck as she fully pressed her weight on me before moving her hips like there was no fucking tomorrow. But with my hands finally free, I wrapped my arms around her back and stuck my fingers in her ass before I moved my hips at the same time as hers, taking control from below her.


    Jennifer never came so fast when control was being taken away from her and she didn''t even mind me just filling her once because one load from me was equal to several "regr" loads already.


    But yeah, now with the two elephants¡ª I mean, the two new beauties in the room, my ego was definitely stroked when they gulped as they saw me pull out of Jennifer.


    With everyone else in our circle present, they couldn''t quite find a ce to sit on so they just watched me hammer Jennifer from below as they were standing at the same spot I saw themst. However, when they finally snapped out of it, they had some words to say.


    Lee started, "U-Umm¡­ H-Hi¡­ I-I didn''t expect t-that o-or this at all but¡­ C-Can I say something f-first?"


    "Shoot."


    "M-My¡ª U-Umm¡­ M-My ass i-is out of the equation a-and please b-be really gentle with me¡­ I-I''ve had b-big ones but not that¡­ t-thick¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    "A-And call me H-Hannah¡­"


    "Alright, Hannah¡­" then I turned to Nia, "And you?"


    "Hmm? What about me?"


    "Anything you''re not up for?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Nia scoffed, "Hah! I have a say in this?"


    "That''s how it goes, usually~"


    Nia stared at my throbbing cock for a moment before looking back at me, "Well~ If you wanna fuck it, you eat it first¡ªbut looking at that cock of yours, I''m tempted to take it for a spin without the prerequisites¡­ What do you think about this though?"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª"


    At that point, Nia turned around and revealed her juicy assets as she pulled her custom jean shorts down. She might not be that gifted in the chest department but god fucking dammit it seemed like all she ate went into her fucking ass.


    I could clearly see how pink her little slit and tiny asshole when she bent over and made her ass shake for a bit, but my attention was also grabbed by Hannah when she took off her clothes.


    Obviously, I''ve read their records and Hannah was American-Chinese, and despite her face screaming her Asian counterpart, she had muscle inserts in the right ces and was decently gifted from the front and the back. In addition, her perfectly-shaped and symmetrical abdominals could make anyone look in envy but the way her pretty face was beet-red was just so fucking cute.


    Nia chuckled as she saw my honest reaction from seeing them, "So¡­ Who goes first?"


    I looked at each of them before I chuckled, "Both. I''ll do you both."


    "Wai¡ª How?"


    Hannah added, "Yeah, how?"


    I shook my head, "I love that philosophy of yours, Nia, but I have my own now. If you wanna fuck it, suck it first. Both of you, down on your knees."


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­/A-Alright¡­"


    From then on, I saw that look in each of their eyes as Hannah was the first one to go down on her knees because her hair was already in a ponytail. My dick was still covered in Jennifer''s juices and my cum but she held it gently before licking the tip though it didn''t take long before Nia went lower and sucked on my balls.


    As these two were slobbering on my cock, everyone was either doing their own thing already or watching us for the moment, but since Nia had her own set of rules, Iid on my back and made her sit on my face so I could taste her pink slit.


    We were basically 69''ing as she was now deepthroating my cock while Hannah was now the one sucking on my balls, but each time Nia woulde up for air, Hannah would hungrily take her ce even if she could only take half of my length in her tiny mouth.


    But yeah, I just couldn''t get enough of sticking my tongue inside one of Nia''s holes but I found out her little asshole was her weakness the moment I pushed a finger inside it.


    "H-HnghGH! W-Wait! F-Fuck¡­ Shit¡­ D-Do it again¡­"


    As much as she would''ve loved to choke on my cock, she let Hannah have free reign on my lower head as she began to grind her huge ass on my face. I was struggling for air as my tongue began to lick the surface of her asshole but Nia started to finger her pussy while I was eating her ass.


    Everything was still fine when I felt my dick entering Hannah''s tight fucking cunt¡ªand I was fucking sure it was her because she suddenly came when she reached me up to the base. Still, even if Hannah was gripping me tight, she began moving her hips while Nia was doing the same.


    I couldn''t say it was the best of both worlds because these two were obviously mixed race like I was but in terms of having sex with two girls, it was the best when someone was riding my face and my cock.


    It''s just that when I finally filled Hannah''s cunt, Nia pushed her down and started eating her but I instantly made my way to her back to fuck her from behind.

 Chapter 1291 Post-Intercourse Invitation

    To my surprise and delight, these two didn''t mind getting down and dirty from the get-go¡ªand just judging from their actions, they were very familiar with each others'' bodies.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But yeah, as much as I wanted to admire the view of Nia''s bubble butt and her chiseled back, I wanted to feel what it was like inside her so I just aimed at the hole she primed for entry with her fingers first before pushing in.


    "F-FuckK! T-Thass big! S-Shit!"


    Hannah moaned, "N-Nia! nNHHH! Why''d you¡ª I''m close again¡ª S-Shit! T-There! There! R-Right there!


    NnNGH!"


    At this point, I didn''t care if I was just a dick to fuck for these two because I was enjoying it as well. Seeing Hannah lose her mind as Nia was tongue-deep inside her pussy just fueled me even more but I didn''t think Nia would have a fucking orgasm once I sent a p across her soft yet firm asscheeks.


    "H-HNNHGHG!!! FUCK!!!"


    Obviously enough, I felt her insides contract but as I pulled back to drive it in with force, Nia pulled back as well, and let''s just say we entered the wrong hole though there came the fucking waterworks.


    If her pussy was already gripping me that fucking tight, imagine how tight her unlubed ass was.


    However, she straight-up squirted hard as she buried her face in Hannah''s mound¡ªand I could definitely see the envy in Hannah''s eyes as Nia started cumming over and over. It was because she''d fucking squirt each time I reached the deepest part of her ass and it was just swallowing me up like it wanted more.


    Still, I had to fucking stop when Hannah waved me and told me that Nia had passed out from cumming too much but I was a little confused as to why she was spreading her legs in front of me¡ªmore so, spreading her supposed to be off limits ass, for some reason.


    Hannah huffed while still red in the face, "W-What''d you think?! F-Fuck me in the a-ass too!"


    Ignoring the cackle from one of our alpha-bitches, let''s just say that Hannah should''ve kept her ass off-limits because once I learned that her fingers had only gone there before, something came over me to make her as addicted to anal as Nia was. Though as much as I would''ve loved to make her scream for dear life, I slow-cooked that motherfucker to perfection.


    And once I figured out she was finally feeling it for real, I began to move my hips like I did with Nia and she began spraying everyone like a water fountain.


    "FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! Y-YOU''RE FUCKING M-ME IN MY ASS¡ª IT''S¡ª CUM¡ª C-CUM¡ª CUMMING! SH¡ª AHN! MNNN!


    SHIT! SHIT! FUCK! I¡ª CUMMING! F-FUCK! FUCK!


    W-WHY''S IT SO G-GOOD?! D-DON''T FUCKING P-PULL OUT! C-CUM IN MY¡ª MMMMMNNNNNGHH!!!"


    Hannah was just screaming for dear life as she was wing through my back, but despite the tinge of pain she was feeling, the pleasure was fucking overwhelming everything as I resized her little ass that was just used to her fingers to my girth with little to no help with dtors or pumps.


    Still, her tight ass was taking it like a champ and her moans and screams were just making everyone else still waiting for their turn a little more impatient.


    But yeah, as I finally pumped her ass full of cum, she and Nia still wanted to clean me up but I was pulled into this pit of beauties waiting to get railed by a real cock and not a rubber one.


    Megan and Alexa definitely vented their anger out on me during their turn though they easily turned to putty once they had several orgasms. Their aggression at first quickly faded and they just fell asleep right after.


    However, if we were speaking about aggression, Quinn was definitely doing the rounds of asserting dominance through her horse cock dildo but let''s just say a few wanted a more gentle touch.


    Either by doing it with me or with June, they wanted something a little more organic rather than stic. But not to shit on June or anything, she was more of a receiver than a giver, and even though she had the tool for it, let''s just say that if everyone else here was given a choice, they''d always choose me 99.9% of the time.


    While it was true that they could get off on their own, they were yearning for this feeling of a real huge cock throbbing inside them and filling them up when they did a good job or if their holes were just that fucking good¡ªand I was in the middle of all of it.


    Well not to sound like aplete asshole or a fucking fuckboy, I did make sure everyone''s needs were taken care of before, during, and after¡ªwith Kaley''s help, of course¡ªand that was maybe why everyone kept cumming anding back. And even if there were times when I wasn''t able to go around everyone, I''d pay them more attention the next time or do something nice for them outside our "safe zone". Read thetest on empire


    It wasn''t always the physical side of things that needed to be taken care of¡ªthough sometimes, it was what started it the first time¡ªbut yeah, it wouldn''t hurt to be a good friend outside of sex, and I''m pretty sure everyone else in our special circle was doing the same thing to each other, not just me.


    In any case, to top the night off, Kaley and I were in for a surprise when we received an invite from Mimi to head over to the room where she was rooming with Chloe and Dr. Nichols.


    Funnily enough, as Mimi was giving us this invite, she was just red through her neck though unfortunately, she gave this "excuse" that she still needed to go back to the hospital and the two just wanted to see us.


    And as she sprinted away, Kaley and I just gave each other a knowing nce before we entered this dimly lit room where two partially clothed beauties were eagerly waiting for us¡­ or at least an audience to see what they were about to do to each other.

 Chapter 1292 Mother & Daughter

    And as soon as we closed the door behind us, these two beauties who looked like the opposite ends of a beautiful blonde character model''s age slider turned to each other and started to make out. Almost immediately, Kaley and I knew what was up and we slowly made our way toward the two who were obviously Chloe and Dr.


    Nichols who had finally crossed the line and given in to the pleasures of the flesh.


    However, it didn''t look like they needed us for this particr interaction as they never stopped invading each other''s mouths even if we had sat down on the same bed as them.


    Still, Kaley and I couldn''t fucking look away as the two got more and more into it.


    "Mmnn¡­ Nn¡­ Baby¡­ S-Should we r-really be doing t-this?"


    "I-I told you¡­ I¡­ I wanted this¡­ W-We''re not doing a-anything wrong, r-right?"


    "S-Still¡­ I-I''m¡ª Mnnh! Ah¡­ Ha¡­ I-I''m your¡ª"


    "Y-You started it b-back home¡ª"


    "T-That''s not¡ª"


    "Y-You were telling me s-stories when you''re t-that cool a-and I just asked you if y-you ever k-kissed a girl¡­ Nnn¡­ Y-Yes¡­ T-That''s¡ª"


    "Y-You kept g-give me wine a-and y-you kept asking me to s-show you h-how it''s done¡ª"


    "I-I just¡ª I-I was just c-curious s-since I just h-had my f-first experience t-the night before a-and I-I just wanted a frame of r-reference¡ª"


    "N-No, you didn''t¡­ Don''t give me e-excuses, Baby¡­"


    "M-Mom! D-Don''t call me Baby when¡ª"


    "B-But you a-are my Baby¡­ I-I don''t mind you c-calling me M-Mom even¡ª Nnn! N-Not there¡ª A-At least, n-not yet¡­"


    "W-Why?! I-I so wanted to r-return the f-favor¡­"


    Dr. Nichols broke off the kiss hard of breathing as she turned to us, "T-They¡­ W-We should i-include them¡­ n-no? I-It was o-our deal¡­ T-To make it l-less awkward¡­"


    Chloe rolled her eyes, "T-To you¡­ I-I just wished w-we joined them e-earlier¡­ E-Everyone else w-wouldn''t mind¡­"


    "Y-You don''t know that¡ª"


    Kaley finally got the word in while looking like she just wanted to jump in between them then and there, "I mean¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ It''s the s-safe zone for a reason¡­ The twins there were doing each other every single day so why aren''t you two allowed to do the same?"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "S-Still¡­"


    Chloe cut in, "No excuses, Mom! W-We¡­ I¡­ I-I know it s-still feels weird and w-wrong but we invited them here so w-we could t-test the w-waters, right?" then she turned to us, "You two don''t r-really mind, r-right? Me doing it with m-my Mom?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other before we answered at the same time, "Nope!/I mean¡ª I''m fucking hard after several rounds, so¡­"


    In any case, before we actually dove on the deep end with these technically not mother and daughter paid, the incident that happened with themst time was finally revealed to us. It started with them lightly drinking and talking about life but when Chloe''s horny ass kept egging Dr. Nichols about her experiences with another girl, they started making out and it ended with Dr.


    Nichols making Chloe cum over and over with cunnilingus.


    And long story short, things becamepletely awkward for them because Chloe wanted to pursue whatever happened that day despite all the societal barriers¡ªwhich technically didn''t exist between them¡ªwhile Dr. Nichols felt like she did something wrong yet again, she technically did nothing of the sort.


    But now, with some help from Kaley, the twins, and possibly Marisha, they wanted to test things out but with us two present.


    However, seeing them passionately kiss earlier felt like they really didn''t need us to be present but my dick and Kaley''s clit were telling us to stop thinking such useless things and have sex with them if that was what it would fucking take to see these two pursue something close to taboo.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Though it didn''t take long before I realized what Kaley and I had to do so that these two could finally do it for real.


    As we allpletely took off our clothes, Kaley made me sit on the bed like a fucking king before Dr. Nichols crawled over and gave me the sloppiest blowjob I received from a fucking MILF. And while she was using everything her mouth could offer, she was staring directly into my eyes before Kaley made it known that she would begin eating Dr. Nichols'' pussy.


    ''Why announce it¡ª Oh¡­ FUCK!''


    However, I kid you not, I almost bust a fucking nut when it was actually Chloe who got behind Dr. Nichols'' huge fucking ass and started gliding her tongue up and down her mother''s slit.


    All Kaley did was spread Dr. Nichols'' ass apart so Chloe could have better ess and let''s just say I didn''t know whether I''d be jealous of the view Kaley had or if Kaley should be jealous of the view I had. With Dr.


    Nichols'' ass up so "Kaley" could eat her out while face down on my huge fucking cock, it didn''t take long before I filled her mouth with mouthfuls upon mouthfuls of cum but she used what she wasn''t able to swallow as lube when she transitioned to a titty-fuck.


    And even though I''d choose Kaley as the best titty-fucker on the fucking, this whole situation just scrambled my brain in ways I didn''t think possible.


    With Dr. Nichols on my cock and with Chloe on her mother''s cunt, Kaley also couldn''t help herself as she leaned over and started to eat Dr. Nichols'' ass, making Dr. Nichols confused as to whose tongue was actually in each of her holes. But yeah, I was pretty sure that she was focusing her mind on my junk to keep her mind off her daughter eating her out, but her muffled moans always said otherwise.


    It wasn''t like she was moaning because of how good my dick tasted¡ªthough it could be one of the reasons¡ªbut she was already feeling it when it was just Chloe eating her out, not when Kaley decided to join in.

 Chapter 1293 Fun Night - Listen up, you poor sods!

    At that point, Dr. Nichols only needed to cum once before the water from the floodgates rushed in and sprayed all over the two. She was trying too hard to resist having an orgasm but what it did just made her have the hardest orgasm she ever had and she had lost all proper decorum as she shook all over.


    But yeah, it didn''t stop Dr. Nichols from anything as she took the reigns from everyone and went on top of Chloe.


    "Mom¡ª"


    "Shh~ You started it, I''ll finish it¡­ I love you, Baby¡­"


    "M-Mommy¡­"


    She mounted her with their legs crisscrossed before leaning over, pushing their meaty pussies together before giving her daughter a kiss. From then on, Dr. Nichols started to move her hips a certain way so they''d rub their special ces¡ªand yeah, at this point, it seemed like Kaley and I weren''t really needed.


    Still, Kaley straddled me as we watched the two have an orgasm at the same fucking time though we figured it would be best if we just leave these two alone for the night.


    However, we still stayed because it''d be better and less cramped if we stayed in this room for the night, and let''s just say we spent a little more than an hour with them and ended it with Chloe riding me as Kaley and Dr. Nichols were making do with my fingers.


    We even fell asleep in almost the same position¡ªChloe on top of me while the two were on my left and right¡ªthough I did wake up with the three of them sharing my cock. And with Kaley''s pussy right in front of me, I just went with the flow and we had more funpared to having cereal in the kitchen with E and a few others.


    But yeah, when we all gathered in the pool area to have some actual breakfast, there was this tension surrounding everyone that would be involved in our little tripter though it waspletely invisible to the ones that would stay behind.


    Even na who was still keeping to herself the things she uncovered from the Eisenhower was still re-reviewing the footage we have from the drones Artem used with June. I helped them a little bitst night but they were in charge of making a physical map of the new makeover those stations received though we may have another n to mitigate that change of scenery when pushes to shove.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Still, it wasn''t because of the challenge the two stations connected together posed against us, but it was the unknown beings we were about to encounter once we disturbed their resting ce.


    And if they really have the capability to reproduce, we have to have more groups going out and making sure those reproductive pods or such infestations wouldn''t get to that point. But yeah, we still should do things one at a time because, at the end of the day, I was still more worried about what other living people could do to us than this fucks in between evolution cycles.


    Then again, I said it multiple times so it would hurt saying it again: we could always blow the fucking ce up or burn it to the ground so either way, we''repleting the whole train set and their whole evolving bestiary one way or the other.


    So it didn''t take long before it was a couple of hours before noon and I was about to address everyone:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, we''ll go over it again you poor sods. We clear as much of the dregs from both sides and we''ll only try to get into where those fucking pods were AFTER the team below manages to get the armored bobcats and the metal ramps in ce. We''ll do it like a kid on Adderall the first half and we''d go nice and slow when the bobcats are in ce. ALSO!


    One of the priorities is to have the electricity running so we''d have pressure washers ready to clear the ceilings. Everyone had their roles given to them before we drove over here and it isn''t asplicated. If you see something, say something. If it doesn''t go down with a headshot, dismantle it so it doesn''t matter.


    Keep calm and react ordingly to surprises and the only will you''ll need for this operation is the will to fucking take another shot after we''re done with these fucks! CAPEESH?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that point, I quickly turned off my receiver for the moment as everyone roared in cheers but we had already left a trail of bodies in our wake just from making a solid perimeter. It was at least a couple of blocks away from each end of the station and we have people both from Morales'' group and the Mayor''s.


    And yeah, I havepletemand over them even if I would also be going in front¡ªthough Mayor Iskoh was in our surveince van with na and June while Morales would be going in front from the other end.


    It didn''t take long before the solid bass line echoed from our speakers and it started to attract the ones further in the station to out in the open. While it was true that the station tforms didn''t pose much threat, the path between the connection stations was the problem.


    Not only was it almost as long a walkway as a path between two regr stations, but it also had several winding areas and stalls to increase revenue and some other type of shit.


    But yeah, as soon as I started lopping off heads with my crew, the group below started to try and have the armored bobcats lifted up the station while several drones flew in ahead of us to get an update on what was in store for us.


    It wasn''t like a procedurally created dungeon but with the way these walls of flesh weretching onto the walls like the most fucked up mold I''ve ever seen, it was starting to be one.

 Chapter 1294 All-Star - Here we fucking go.

    And right from the fucking get-go, the moment we started cutting down dregs, a cluster of 50 or so nonhumans started to pour out from ces we didn''t think deadheads woulde from because they came from the vents hanging from the ceiling.


    I didn''t even question it that much because we had a simr experience from Quinn''s¡ª or should I say Mauro''s generator room but half our crew freaked out when the ones in front with me didn''t even bother pulling out their guns.


    Because it was me, Tatiana, Quinn, Ibarra, Kuzma, Artem, Katya, and Mikhail at the forefront with our handhelds, just giving each other space for each others'' swing radius.


    But yeah, I was only half a stepte before Kuzma dove in headfirst with his twin hand-axes but I scored four cleanly chopped heads while he just broke open two with his leaping attack. However, it was still a challenge to go toe-to-toe with a horde tightly knit together but Quinn and Mikhail took the fucking stage with one swing of their heavy two-handed weapons.


    [JESUS FUCKING CHRIST¡ª]


    With one swing of their bs of steel, aside from having deadheads fly out of bounds, their initial charge was halted by their weapons'' knockback effect¡ªand we were able to have more space to finagle into before requiring more assistance.


    It was good that they took the outermost edges in our advance while hugging the bridge where they could easily throw deadheads overboard like hot potatoes because we''re a fucking huge group and the ones below should also see some action.


    And as we four were taking the sides, everyone else wailed into the center with Artem in front while our younger generation was unfortunately assigned with corpse retrieval.


    They were so eager to prove themselves and rack up achievements but will all the star yers in the court, they''d have to wait a little more for their opportunity to contribute.


    However, the same cannot be said to Kaley, Jared, Lawrence, and Alexei because they started to pick off the weird ones from the small tform we made for them because even if they could shoot the wings off a fly, we''d feel a little safer if it was from a higher angle.


    But yeah, I almost lost my fucking shit when I discovered that Quinn was flinging more deadheads overboard was that she fabricated a new attachment for her modded weapon and it was in a shape of a fucking pitchfork.


    "GODDAMMIT!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "I WAS WONDERING HOW YOU''RE FLINGING THEM THAT EASY AND YOU HAVE TO MAKE A PITCHFORK ATTACHMENT FOR THAT! CAN''T YOU JUST USE A REGULAR OLD PITCHFORK?!"


    "YOU BLIND MOTHERFUCKER! IT''S A TRIDENT, FUCK YOU! A PITCHFORK HAS FOUR PRONGS, THIS HAS THREE!"


    "OH, I''M SO SORRY MRS. AQUABITCH! I CAN''T SEE THAT WELL IF YOU HAVE FIVE FUCKING DEADHEADS READY TO ROAST WITH THAT SHIT!"


    "SHADDAFACKAP!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "FOCUS YOU ASSHOLES! STOP MESSING AROUND!"


    Hearing Katya''s annoyed tone, Quinn and I decided to not mess around so she used her pitchfork to drag a handful of deadheads to my side so I couldmit some murder and have the cadets to assist. She could just easily fling them over again but we heard a couple ofints that Quinn mistakenly dropped them atop one of our vehicles.


    But yeah, it just meant more CS''s for me because my tank kept sending over minions tost hit.


    But as Quinn twisted her body to deliver another batch of deadheads for me to take care of, I saw a small toddler from the corner of my eye, and that made me pull out my pistol and shoot between her gifts and her thick thighs.


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª FUCKING KID!"


    For some reason, Quinn still punted that kid''s corpse back with her boots before finally aiming her pitchfork¡ª I mean, trident up and using it to get kills of her own because I can handle myself well and she literally has a spear like Ibarra but with more points.


    I didn''t wanna say it but we could''ve moved faster if we just kept piling on kills at the same time instead of this assistive bullshit just to have some semnce of roles in a MOBA game.


    But yeah, Quinn felt cramped around the space provided for us, and as more deadheads came pouring in, she just made use of a deadhead that got stuck in her trident to push its brethren around to give us more space.


    It worked for a short bit but again what was more effective was actually killing them and handing them off to our clean-up crew¡ª but I just got word that one of the armored bobcats was sessfully lifted up the train tforms.


    If all four of them made it up, we''d use them to basically terraform this ce to our liking because those flesh pads would just get torn up by those bobcats'' ws.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    And once we secure one or two of the outer pods, we could just tear down the rest and see if there was anything differentpared to the ones further inside or if there was anything at all beyond those flesh walls. Also, our bobcats could easily run these fucks over though we really should have all of them up for the moment.


    In addition, the ramps were just as important because these bobcats couldn''t climb up the stairs and even though there were ces that were wheelchair essible, some of them weren''t as wide or it''d take a longer route to get to the ces we wanted them to get into.


    However, the next batch of the dead we needed to put down looked a little off not just physically because even the way they walked didn''t seem natural. But yeah, it was all due to their physical features being all over the ce because they looked as the videos we''ve seen: either amalgamated body parts or just looking like a defected baby who managed to grow up and have a life after death.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1295 Nuh-uh.

    From the beginning, it was very easy to predict the movements of these dregs since they''d hobble to the left or right even if they were walking on all fours. Unless part of their limbs were injured, there was this set pattern everyone else almost sticks to, but the ones in front of us were irregrs of irregrs.


    To be perfectly honest, it wasn''t like some of them were still in the same spectrum but a good number of them¡ªthe ones that would make you look over twice¡ªwould move in a way that¡­ would make you look over twice.


    Examples would be one would be like an over-excited penguin/metronome shifting from side to side with each step¡ªbecause of it having short legs and no fucking knees¡ªwhile another example was like this lead in a boyband that would suddenly slide away from the main group to reveal himself.


    Also, there was a smaller cluster that would shake and twitch with each step as if they were toddlers learning to talk for the first time.


    I could list more examples, but there were also more like them with more subtle movements so let''s just say my head started itching when not only Kaley but all our other long-shooters confirmed that at least half of them couldn''t die from a headshot.


    [Look at the dude with the reflective vest then¡ª]


    As I voiced my concern after hearing their reports, Lawrence bored a hole through the head of the target he''d say he''d try to put down but after making its eye sockets see through and through, it only slowed down for a bit before it continued its youthful stride.


    At this point, the go-to was just to cripple them before dismantling them into pieces but some other type of shit was going on.


    From our group, Artem''s weapon of choice was two knives but the moment he decided to sheathe them on a deadhead''s body for pickupter by throwing it hard and fast¡ªsinking them at least a couple of inches in¡ªas he''d switch to one of our injector axes right after, the "sheathe" who was also pegged to never die from a headshot straight-up fell on its head like its strings were cut.


    "What the fuck?"


    Though when Kuzma tried to do the same thing¡ªas he''d switch to a two-hander¡ªhis hand axes just stuck to his target''s body and acted as their sheathes as intended.


    "Alright, what the fuck''s going on?"


    Seeing this in person confused everyone but at the end of the day, even if they had additional critical points they go down with, it''d be fucking dumb to figure it all out so it''d be better for all of us to just cut them all down to pieces after taking their mobility away from them.


    So as a few of us retreated to change weapons or switch to an axe head instead of a pitchfork¡ª I mean, trident head, I went in ahead with Tatiana.


    The first fucker I took down was the "lead singer" I mentioned earlier and I easily cleaved him in two ces as he slid to the right and met with my de.


    However, a quick stab to its head confirmed it didn''t belong to the category of half of this batch''s poption though I just moved on and took down a ticket vendor by lopping its head off, and then each of its chewed-off arms as it still twitched when its head hit the floor.


    On the other hand, Tatiana was currently using her bastard sword and as she swung from below, she made contact with thisdy in an apron and hit a little bit below its armpit¡ªtearing through flesh and bone then exiting from the opposite vicle and shoulder joint.


    This time, since its brain wasn''t damaged, I still saw the arm attached to its head twitch while the rest of its body fell down¡ªso I stole her kill by quickly pulling out my pistol and shooting it in the head since she was still in mid-swing.


    But yeah, confirmed kills didn''t matter between us whether it was stolen or not since Tatiana just moved on and eviscerated three more bloody sods the ones who retreated were just about to return.


    But yeah, we probably put down a few hundred deadheads just a bit outside the entrance of the connecting path between these two stations¡ªand if it was as full or packed as it was like all the other stations, we could be looking around a few thousand deadheads to put down plus extra.


    That was one of the reasons we went at it with our handheld weapons¡ªonly letting Kaley and a few others take shots¡ªbecause if we could take care of the dregs now, we''d literally have more ammo to use once we start taking a bite off the main course or if there ever was.


    Still, I didn''t know if this was still the hard and fast assault or the slow burn because as much of the dead we were taking care of, we still hadn''t moved a single step inside¡ªand it was pretty much the same from Morales'' side.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Although it was for a great reason, only a few number of us were seeing actual action at the moment while everyone else was trying to think up of shit to do.


    Because yeah, aside from the younger generation giving us space to move around by collecting the bodies we put down, there were trucks hauling them off elsewhere to be burned to cinders¡ªand there was another group with mops and powerwashers, the ones in charge of the perimeters, and the people waiting their turn to drive the four bobcats that were sessfully brought over.


    However, all of a sudden, June and na''s panicked voices sounded from the main channel because the drones they were trying to get into the same spot Artem hadst time were hit by something fast and hard¡ªall at the same time¡ªbefore the cameras could only pick up weird sounds.

 Chapter 1296 Moving In - Too Quiet

    [B-BE CAREFUL! S-SOMETHING A-ATE THEM!]


    [M-MINE''S STILL ON THE GROUND BUT THE CAMERA IS¡ª]


    [W-WANT US TO DETONATE¡ª]


    "GO AHEAD!"


    At this point, I didn''t even want to bring up vore but with some of the descriptions I was hearing, it was already simr to that. And yeah, it''d be a waste and a risk to have an armed explosive charge just sitting on a deadhead''s stomach so before it sumbed to its juices, it should have onest hurrah and deal the most damage as possible.


    It wasn''t even a few seconds when the two did as they were told and we heard explosions almosting off at almost the same time¡ªbut I was already approving the Mayor''s decision to have a group check the wreckage and have a backup team to see if they could have another set of drone on there while clearing out anything that was attracted by the explosions.


    But yeah, June and na were already in the process of pairing new drones to their custom devices when a handful of deadheads from the horde we were facing plopped down on the ground unmoving.


    With Stitchers obviously present, it was safe to say we took care of a few of them but there were still amalgamated fucks still walking and hobbling. It may not be their minions per se but there could be more Stitchers who survived the explosion and were just nesting somewhere.


    Still, we should focus on what was in front of us though everyone else in front felt that the movements of the defects we were facing had gone a little more unnatural and a little more frenzied.


    It was akin to a ragdoll flinging itself due to a user having fun but seeing 150-180 pounds of rotting fleshing at you like that was fucking unreal.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    And yeah, it was fucking easy for me to cleave it in half and let its two halves pass by me but a couple dozen more started doing the same shit and I wasn''t properly equipped for that.


    While it was true I could dodge and weave the oing fucks who moved like they weren''t hugged by their family, Quinn just got back with a fucking meat tenderizer while Mikhail¡ªma boi¡ªwas hitting them with the t edge of his huge-ass axe like the most apocalyptic form of baseball ever.


    I couldn''t believe hearing the sounds of flesh akin to a bus hitting a jaywalker would be music to my fucking ears because the sounds these two were producing were very, very simr to that.


    But yeah, the rest of us¡ªeven our snipers¡ªhad a small window of opportunity as the rest that were just about to leap towards us would lower their bodies just enough for a bullet to the head or a melee weapon cracking their head open.


    It was because even if Quinn could sink a deadhead''s head down to its chest cavity with her meat tenderizer, there were times when she''d just knock them back and reset their positioning¡ªbut with significant damage, of course¡ªso yeah, with some of the targets off my back, I dove in once more and took shots amongst the ones still recovering from getting flung back.


    The first one I chopped and pulled was a dude that had three pectoral muscles like in that old movie but each one was leaking pus from each of its nipples and that motherfucker really had to go.


    It did die from one strike to the top of its head but it had been toppling over due to how top-heavy it was. Still, the one that followed after it had a¡­ let''s just say a spring in its step but jumping over like that would just make it an easy target since I just sliced off one of its legs as it was about to fall down.


    Surprisingly, its flesh down below felt a little more rigid but I didn''t even need to put much pressure on its skull because it just gave in like a brittle peanut candy.


    At this point, I was halfway to the first mag of my Maxim 9 but my de was stained with all sorts of juices from different people. I can''t even wipe it off with the clothes of these motherfuckers because they were either ripped off or had adhered to their skin.


    But yeah, I still have spares in one of my extra pockets because blood and grime had the tendency to dull my de and slow it down, so wiping it in intervals was the way to go.


    Flicking them off could only do so much because of how viscous or dry their blood had gotten¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the dregs used to wee us ran out of bodies to send over.


    It was then that we hosed down this section of the train station while throwing our mess below¡ªand we began sending in the bobcats after cing the appropriate ramps on more essible areas.


    But yeah, walking past the entrance opened up several routes and the bobcats opened a lot more when they started to tear down those flesh walls blocking certain passages. However, it was pretty obvious that there''d be hidden surprises then and there so after they tore off a small piece, we''d just send a pipe bomb or two in the hole provided and see the remains after.


    Sometimes, it''d just be this 3-inch thick b of meat covering the passages but more often than not, it''d be just bodies piled on top of one another, making us guess if they''d suddenly spring up or just be things we needed to have one of our brain cells to watch out for.


    It was more work to stab their exposed heads and w off their bodies using the bobcats but even if our progress had gone considerably slow, the chance we''d get caught off-guard significantly lessened.


    In any case, we didn''t forget about the deadhead Artem took down with his knife as we bagged it for storage and transportter.


    ''It''s too fucking quiet though¡­ hmm¡­''

 Chapter 1298 Spiders & Golems

    These things we were facing¡ªif it was just the size of a hand, I''d have the patience to catch it in a bowl and release it somece else, but right now, I was just more inclined to bore through its head using a lead projectile or chop up its body and make it look like a regr human.


    But yeah, once Kaley shot a seeding bullet at the spider that flipped over, it did sumb to its head injuries but the body parts inside their stomachs dropped down and were picked up by the crawling heads, shoulders, knees, and toes to form a bigger collection.


    Obviously, everyone else started firing before looking at what other rabbit they''d pull from their magician''s hat¡ªand let''s just say with the ones that didn''t have an actual head, I guess the bullets that bored through their meaty flesh bounced around enough to cause significant damage to their "battery" or smaller core.


    I said enough damage because not all of them went down with one shot¡ªbecause where else would fucking people aim¡ªbut the people who brought shotguns and used anything other than a 1-ounce slug was having a field day killing those unnamed fucks with one shot.


    This urrence definitely changed our current formation though the people who were driving our bobcats had a more active role than just tearing down what was left of the flesh walls.


    With one call from yours truly, they began driving around, squishing the crawlies with the weight of their bobcats¡ªthe ones too far at the moment¡ªwhile everyone else took care of what they could with what their equipment could easily handle.


    And yeah, Oscar would shed actual tears if he saw me using my Shockwave at the moment though it was still hanging by my pack that still had more than a dozen mags of 5.56 rounds.


    But yeah, I had to hand over my Shockwave to Quinn because once she started firing the belt-fed Saiga-12 Jennifer lent her, the motherfucker used it like a fucking hose and sprayed everything like she was watering nts.


    I admire the destruction she was fucking causing but it was just too much of a waste of bullets!


    "UGH! THIS SMALL SHOTGUN''S TOO BORING! IF I''M GONNA PUMP IT EVERY SHOT, I''D RATHER JERK YOU OFF! LET ME GET BACK TO THE SAIGA! I''LL USE IT IN BURSTS, I PROMISE!"


    I never heard such bullshit in my life, "You¡ª What the fuck¡ª Who are you?!"


    "HAAH?! THE FUCK YOU ON ABOUT?!"


    "Since when did you ever ask for permission?!"


    "WHA¡ª I ASK FOR PERMISSION ALL THE TIME!"


    "NO THE FUCK YOU DO NOT!"


    "YES, I DO!"


    "THIS IS A FEVER DREAM, I''M SURE OF IT¡ª"


    "SHADDAPAKAP!"


    "Y-You''re weirding me out¡­ S-Shoot the Saiga¡­ D-Don''t do that again¡ª I mean, I''m d you ask for permission now b-but give me a warning, okay?"


    "I SAID TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!"


    In any case, we had about enough of the weirdness of this encounter so instead of waiting for them to get to us, everyone else who had a shotgun¡ªincluding me who had just gotten back my Shockwave from Quinn¡ªbegan to advance.


    Still, I felt a little small because Quinn was using an automatic belt-fed shotgun while Tatiana was using a semi-auto¡ªsmoothly quad-loading, while I was using a pump-action shotgun that needed bullets every so often.


    I was just happy for the pair of 20-round mags Jennifer gave to me but I couldn''t thank her now because she was on the other side of the station with Morales'' party.


    Furthermore, the old man was also there to provide the other team support because let''s face it, calling our current party the All-Stars was for a reason. Not to shit on the other team but any other person would only remember Morales from the other side¡ªand Jose who was supposed to be on the other team was on a whole other region with Mr. Cuervo.


    Joking aside, we made sure to pad them up with our lesser-known members though if we were about the same in power levels, they should''ve reached this ce at the same time though there were a lot more factors to consider.


    Back to our current swarm of enemies, even though they assumed the look of arachnids, the only way they could climb walls was still through the use of their tongues.


    I was worried for a second that their arms and legs¡ªeven their human paddings on their fingertips¡ªwould allow them to sheer walls like that other superhero but I guess we were still lucky that they needed a radioactive spider for that.


    But yeah, more and more spiders¡ªtwo people back-to-back¡ªcame crawling down from the staircase above though they weren''t much issue¡ªas long as they ate a bullet in each of their faces. Even if the meta for our current firearms changed, it seemed like the bigger dudes couldn''t function with a smaller core as they currently needed two nervous systems to be able to move like that.


    Then again, I''m just speaking out of my ass and I could easily be disapproved as we face more of them.


    It''s just that as of this moment, we haven''t faced puppeteered spiders yet so time will tell their inherent functions.


    And just a side note, these supposed spiders couldn''t even jump for shit because they only copied that look and the rotting limbs keeping them upright couldn''t bring them up in the air and only allowed them to crawl on all eights.


    ''Another thing that might change in the future¡­''


    Still, with all their drawbacks and weird shit they do, I was putting down their minions and observing each one at the same time because seeing them with my own eyes was much, much better than viewing them from a recording.


    It was akin to seeing fireworks in person rather than on a screen and that was one of the reasons I don''t really record fireworks shows if I was seeing them live¡ªunless I had someone important who wasn''t able to see them with me.


    But speaking of pyrotechnics, Bogdan began throwing dynamites, pipebombs, the works, but I instantly put a stop to it when one of the spiderlings swatted it with its 10-foot tongue.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "STOP THAT SHIT NOW!"


    "ROGER¡ª YOU DON''T HAVE TO TELL ME AFTER THAT!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Luckily enough, it wasn''t able to catch it as it just exploded elsewhere¡ªstill giving Bogdan a handful of confirmed kills¡ªbut right now, I focused more on having one of the bobcats plow the dead remnants over to our side so that we could throw them out and have our current enemies fewer shells or bodies to take over.


    At this point, our whole focus should be the neers but we brought a lot of fucking yers so there was still a smaller group taking charge of smaller things¡ªbut they weren''t allowed to tear down walls and see what''s behind door number five.


    It was a little stupid, I know, but we were taking care of this new leak that sprouted, we shouldn''t just mindlessly try and see if there were more leaks in the mix, or else we''d sink down to the bottom of the fucking ocean.


    "JAM!" Tatiana shouted as she began to take a step back.


    "I GOT YOU!"


    "I ALSO HAVE TO TAKE THE SHELL HOLDERS FROM MY PACK! I JUST RAN OUT!"


    "JUST DO IT! WE CAN MANAGE!"


    Weirdly enough, Tatiana didn''t even take half a minute to take care of the jam in her Benelli M4 and swap out the shell holders from her packs¡ªthough she did just drop the empty ones on the floor¡ªbut still, she was still fast as fuck and went back to sting heads in no time.


    Megan who was about to pinch-hit for her didn''t have a lot of screentime or any at all, but she didn''t mind as she picked up after Tatiana and made way for the group pulling the confirmed corpses or body parts to the side.


    I can''t even fucking believe that everyone here was working like a line that worked several years with each other but I''m all fucking for it.


    Everyone knew their roles and what they should do in case something went wrong¡ªand egos were left out the entrance as we all had amon goal to achieve.


    Then again, everyone''s needs aligned when two fucking flesh golems rolled down from the stairs looking like a mix of several franchises of buff dudes that were all about smashing things and flipping them over.


    For some reason, they didn''t give off the same vibes as the Hulkers we faced before but one of them had amalgamated limbs the size of my torso while the other one¡ªthough not as big¡ªdidn''t have a single blindspot as it literally had nine lives because of the nine heads sitting atop its broad fucking shoulders.


    It shouldn''te as a surprise that our snipers began taking shots at them but these motherfuckers covered their heads with their huge forearms and fucking rushed the closest bobcat.

 Chapter 1299 Nad, hed win.

    Before I forget to mention, #1, #2, Mark, and Dong were driving the bobcats and the one who got targeted by those burly fucks was the bobcat #2 was driving. If it weren''t for the added weight we put onto it so the person inside would be protected, not only ss shards would be embedded in #2''s body but parts of the bobcat itself.


    It was because as he saw the two golems rushing at him, he tried to avoid a full-on hit by just twisting the bobcat a tiny~ bit¡ªbut with the bobcat''s turning radius shot to fuck with its added weight, more protection meant less maneuverability.


    But yeah, I could definitely say that everyone present breathed a sigh of relief as #2''s bobcat didn''t even lift off the ground as it just tilted by slightly tipping over¡ªbefore it got spun a few times and pushed several feet.


    [W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE?! KILL IT YOU FUCKS!]


    [CALM THE FUCK DOWN!]


    [HOW, MOTHERFUCKER?! I ALMOST DIED!]


    [THAT''S THE THING, ALMOST!]


    [FUCK YOU, SIR!]


    [YOU TALK TO THE MAYOR LIKE THAT?!]


    [I DO BECAUSE FUCK YOU TOO, WHOEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE! GET ME OUTTA HERE!]


    [WE''RE ON IT!]


    First of all, I was surprised at the speed at which those golems were moving in because they were at least 300 pounds or heavier, just imagine Mikhail taking gear but bulking insanely at the same time. It''s just that its chosen sport was both Strongman and the 100-meter dash.


    However, Quinn was still a few inches taller than them but that was as muchparison I could give right now.


    Because as I watched how the two moved after ramming #2''s bobcat, it seemed like the thicker one was like that DVD screensaver while the nine-headed juggernaut got dizzy nine times over.


    "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!"


    "CLEANERS, POWERWASHERS, SWEEPERS¡ª BASICALLY NON-FIGHTERS GET THE FUCK OUT!"


    "THE BIG ONE''S HEADING FOR THE LAST SECTOR!"


    "OH FUCK, MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    "BOGDAN, DON''T¡ª"


    "I FUCKING GOT IT!"


    "YOU THREE IN THE OTHER BOBCATS, HUDDLE AROUND #2! THEY CAN''T FLING ALL OF YOU!!!"


    It was just abrupt chaos in a matter of seconds but I''ll try to narrate what happened y-by-y as best as I could.


    I was in the middle of switching to my primary when the big one bounced to thest section of this open space while the other one followed a path like how a doctor''s signature would look like.


    Everyone in their path obviously moved away¡ªas some tried to fire off some shots¡ªbut these motherfuckers seemed to be following an earthquake drill when they had to cover their heads at all times and as much as possible.


    It obviously revealed that they''d go down with a shot to the head or heads but we had more problems than these two adding jet fuel to the bonfire.


    I just had a mutual understanding with Quinn and Tatiana to take care of the dregs while I head for the nine-headed disaster but the big one just ripped off thest meat curtain, revealing another 100 or so consumables, before bouncing off again to a random-ass but straight route.


    It waspletely different to the one I was going for because it was worse than a drunk hobbling to get home because one clumsy body m from this motherfucker was the end of us.


    But yeah, Bogdan did throw a grenade as the curtain ripped open but this motherfucker seemed to be in a softball team because that underhand throw flew like a motherfucker. It went past the Stitchers and it just went in between the Bouncer''s feet and exploded at the dregs inside.


    In addition, one more thing we had to worry about was the fucking crossfire¡ªand there was a lot more stray bullets whizzing past us due to panic from certain members, so I had to say something:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "YOU FUCKERS WHO CAN''T EVEN HIT A 20-METER TARGET GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE YOU SHOOT SOMEBODY! DON''T EVEN APOLOGIZE! HEAD BACK AND TAKE CARE OF THE FUCKING MINIONS OR I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL KILL YA!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    With my pointpletely sent across, I breathed a sigh of relief as the amount of random-ass gunshots significantly lessened before more controlled shots followed after.


    But yeah, I located Artem across this huge open space, and seeing him chasing after the Bouncer gave me more confidence to chase after the Drankanine¡ªtitle pending.


    Because rather than simply moving out of the way of its path like the Bouncer, everyone else approached by my target was giving it more space than they could amodate¡ªand it was making me focus on the minions instead, as they had more close calls than I could imagine the moment our formation was destroyed.


    What we were doing right now was simply improv¡ªand one way to survive this encounter was to either back out or keep scanning your head around because the threat was literally all around us. I mean, the big ones were the only fuckers who invaded our space while some of us had to advance to enemy territory so yeah, it was just a jumbled mess all over.


    And while I was in the middle of a fucking reload, the motherfucker¡ªor should I say motherfuckers suddenly u-turned as if it was following a path given by its quarterback¡ªand I had to drop my mag before slicing off a chunk from its left hamstring.


    While it wasn''t an actual tree and while my de just easily cut through its flesh like butter, I was testing the waters just in case my treasured de would get stuck in its body.


    ''It isn''t as rigid as that Hulker but its still tougher than usual¡­ Still haven''t tried cutting through bone though¡­''


    But yeah, the way to go about these huge fuckers¡ªor anything deadhead rted really¡ªif their head was out of the picture, we should take out their mobility so they''d be sitting ducks. Kaley seeing me take a chunk off its leg made her refocus her sights on its open wound rather than its nine heads that needed a bullet each.


    I''m sure with enough time she''d be able to just do it but the goal wasn''t to show off her skills but to make the threat level zero in the quickest way possible.


    She did manage to sink a bullet in its left leg but with this motherfucker still iling around, it was a few inches above where I cut though I''m sure it hit bone and significantly lowered its bone structure''s total integrity.


    It was pretty obvious it was favoring its other leg and hobbling around more unnaturally¡ªbut the motherfucker tore off its head one of our snipers managed to sink a bullet in before throwing it in their general direction.


    "KALEY!"


    [FOCUS ON YOUR SHIT, DOOFUS!]


    With a good number of people who retreated back by the entrance, a head flying over them¡ªeven at such speed¡ªwasn''t an issue, and the motherfucker''s aim fucking sucks as it hit the ceiling first, significantly losing its speed, then bouncing down and rolling over anticlimaticly.


    Still, this motherfucker aimed for my wife so let''s just say that before it gets what''sing for ''em, people would say that thest thing I did was drop all my pack and my primary before picking it back up.


    Yes, I picked them up.


    ''DAMMIT!!!''


    It was because this eight-header didn''t know how to follow through with an invitation to a 1-on-1 and I had to literally use two full magazines on its legs just so that it could stop running around.


    I was more embarrassed by picking up my bag and rifle again than missing several shots because this motherfucker was shuffling incessantly, I had to aim for its ass¡ªI mean, where its hip bone generally was because they move less than its thick legs that this more than slide to the left and right.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    However, its final hurrah was to split up what remained of its heads¡ªto find a new shell¡ªonce I started hacking off its enviable forearms, but I couldn''t find the heart to tell it that Kaley and Jared were picking off its heads from a distance before I finally sunk my de in its head.


    At this point, the only major problem in this joint was the Bouncer who seemed to be slightly more resilient against bullets but it was still staying true to its programming because it still hadn''t hit a corner.


    I wasn''t sure if Artem was just waiting for that to happen before he put it down with Katya but all that chasing became fruitless when its path converged with Mikhail.


    Like Alexei, Mikhail just came from a fucking gunshot wound¡ªso they were still feeling things out¡ªbut the moment I saw him grip his axe so hard his forearms bulged and his face had gone red¡ªI just turned around and aimed for the remainder of the dregs as I caught a glimpse of the Bouncer''s shadow get cut in half.


    ''Nah, he''d win.''

 Chapter 1301 Charred Octopus - Judes Issue?

    Obviously, a regr ol'' RC Car had no fucking chance of climbing up unless the vents themselves go up in a slope¡ªin which this ce didn''t¡ªbut Ken had long wanted me to test out his modded RC Car made to climb up vertical vents almost like a dumbass kid trying to imitate a certain Marvel character with spider powers.


    It was possible due to its frame allowing the modded wheels to stretch/shrink so that it would stick closely to the walls¡ªwith limited length, of course¡ªand then let its also modded motor do its thing.


    I may have some reservations about its grip but it''s much, much better than having a baby crawl through it and check the "Broodmother''s" remains.


    Then again, all sorts of things could''ve gotten into this vent system but it was a little better for the masses to see something that they could''ve assumed its remains. Of course, I, myself would still assume the worst and think that the little bastard was out there but yeah, it would be a little sad for a non-believer like me to appease everyone else from a delusion.


    However, I''d still tell them my thoughts and they were free to interpret that in any way they could.


    ''I could only have everyone else think the same way as me by a small amount¡ªand forcing them to think like me was just bad as people forcing their beliefs into others¡­''


    It didn''t take long before our RC Car was put inside the vents and had it recording while having LED lights on so we could see some shit, but it also didn''t take long¡ªand didn''t have to test Ken''s modifications to the car¡ªwhen we discovered an octopus looking motherfucker that had tongues for its tentacles and a human brain for its¡­ you know¡­ head.


    From the disy, it looked like an octopus was charred to bits but still kept most of its original shape the same way¡ªand as luck would have it, we would be able to easily collect it from the vents by cutting off one portion of it, taking the specimen out, and then finally welding it back in.


    Look, I wasn''t a vent expert because I''m not an impostor¡ªold reference, I know¡ªbut we should take our Ws then and again and save the worrying and overthinkingter.


    So yeah, we easily had some people take out the Broodmother and divvied up the remaining shit to be done to our group, like closing off these connecting stations, cleaning them up, making sure #2''s okay, picking up casings, documentation, etc.


    Then Mayor Iskoh walked up to me:


    "Hey¡­ I heard that you''re nning to have a group settle down here?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, Artem''s with a few supplements since this area needs serious cleanup. This is probably the reason that they''re never-ending, they just keep churning out more and more soldiers¡ª I mean, if they have parts to work with, that is."


    He tilted his head slightly as he thought for a bit, "Hah¡­ would it be a bad thing if I have my own group do the same thing for the other connecting station?"


    "Why would it be bad? That''s great. Makes for a good stop for your other groups, more reach all around, we''d have neighboring groups that close to each other, etc¡­"


    "Yeah, yeah¡ª you''d still help with clearing the other station though, right?"


    "Of course, why''d you ask?"


    "Well~ Since your group''s here and all, I''m inviting you all to stay the night at my ce so you don''t have to drive the same way likest time. I mean¡ª you could continue to refurbish this ce and setup camp but it would be better for everyone if they sleep in a soft bed, right?"


    I nodded a few times before I called Artem over.


    As he made his way with Katya, I informed him of my n to have his group turn this ce into their little safe haven¡ªand Katya was as excited as he was to be out here where the thick of the fight was.


    It''d be lessfortable and they''d have to be in their toes most of the time¡ªbut this arrangement was just perfect for their needs and then some.


    But yeah, the arrangement was that we''d still send them a constant delivery of supplies and anything that they might not be able to procure around these parts but in the future, I would love this ce to stand on its own.


    It''d be possible if I supplement them with a support team that could farm, take care of animals, fix vehicles, build shit on whatever materials were avable, etc.


    "But this wouldn''t be your permanent address, alright? But yeah, you''re free to make this ce of what you will though do remember that we''re supplementing your group with the younger generation rotating over time plus a few others to take care of some of your needs.


    You''d have to take care of them as well and not just be permanently outside¡ªand of course, you''d have to always have your radios on in case we need you for a longer trip."


    Artem nodded with a faint smile, "Can I pick which friends to have over? I have some friends who would''ve loved to join us here."


    "Sure. Just give me their names and I''ll have Rin talk to them."


    "Great."


    Then Mikhail cut in from the back, "Hey."


    I gave him a fist bump, "Hey, yourself. What''s up?"


    "I heard what you guys just talked about¡ª C-Can I drive and stay with Jessica for a week or so?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Katya rolled her eyes, "You don''t wanna move here with us?"


    Artem lightly chuckled, "We''re not moving here, this is just for convenience, Katya."


    I replied to Mikhail, "Who are you going with? Just you?"


    "I know the way."


    "Bring at least a handful of people with you but like Artem and Katya here, if I call for you, youe, is that clear?"


    Mikhail chuckled as he gave me a pat on the back, "Heh, I didn''t even think that you''d agree. I just tried to ask you to see how you''d react!"


    I shook my head, "Then I changed my mind¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª You¡ª"


    "I''m not even sure who you''re going for, there''s Gina in Cuervo Heights¡ª"


    "AH, FUCK! I FORGOT ABOUT HER! SHIT! I NEED TO FUCKING THINK!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, we eventually found ourselves in Mayor Iskoh''s fold¡ªthough even if he was insisted on, Morales wanted to spend the night with his wife instead. Still, some of his officers came in as proxies and we had a nice meal with everyone else.


    Well, it wasn''t like everyone in my team came with us as they still had families and other responsibilities at home so yeah, we wouldn''t put a dent in the mayor''s food stock¡ªbut I can''t be too sure of that statement either because Tatiana and Quinn were with us.


    So for dinner, we had a good mix of vegetable and seafood dishes¡ªwith an obvious wallop of rice in each serving.


    It wasplimented with a nice fruit punch and some ice-cold beer for the adults¡ªand yeah, a cup of joe was also avable for the caffeine enjoyers.


    And not to put a damper on the good vibes and nice atmosphere, we were eating at the same ce I did some very, very ugly things to people who did unspeakable things to innocent kids.


    ''Just proves people are still the worst of the lot¡­ Including me¡­''


    Kaley and maybe even Tatiana recognized the ce from the footage but they mostly kept a straight face as Kaley nudged in a little closer tofort me while Tatiana just continued as is and wharfed down everything in front of her.


    Then I heard a familiar voice from behind:


    "Asshole."


    "Wha¡ª" I turned around and discovered it was Jude, "Hey¡ª Jude, what''s up?"


    "Asshole!"


    I was confused, "Huh?"


    "You left me!"


    "What?"


    "You fucking left me!"


    "The fuck are you talking about?!"


    "In Subic! You fucking left me¡ª"


    "YOU WERE IN SUBIC?!"


    "ASSHOLE!"


    "OH MY FUCKING GOD¡ª THEN YOU SHOULD''VE SAID FUCKING SOMETHING! NO ONE FUCKING NOTICED, DUDE!"


    "Wut?"


    "SERIOUSLY?!"


    "Ah, shit¡ª FUCK! Then fuck it, my bad¡ª Have you had the cup noodles in the cafeteria yet? They''re good if you mix in some chili powder¡ª"


    "..."


    "What¡ª Why are you all silent on me? I said it''s my bad, right?"


    "Sure¡­ And no¡­ Haven''t tried the cup noodles¡ª Have you had any real food yet? You''re still skinny as fuck, you know? It wouldn''t hurt to have some muscle!"


    "I''ve heard that sermon before¡­ Look, I do cardio whenever I could, I just can''t build that much muscle if I have to force myself to eat 2000 calories! I can barely do 1500!"


    Then Quinn cut in, "Holy fuck, you are a miserable shit, ain''t ya? Word of advice, get your bloodwork done and shit. You are maybe one of the few people that actually needs a Testosterone shot¡­"


    ''Wai¡ª That''s might just be the case¡­''

 Chapter 1302 Dont Eat Garbage - Ill check it, still.

    While there were some people like me who could probably eat 4000 calories if I so wanted, there were also people like Jude who could barely do 1500. And also, some of them could be gic but before we chalk it all up to our life''s draw, we should at least dig a little deeper and see what else we could do to better ourselves.


    And again, I was a proponent for being natural but Jude''s case might be on the opposite end of the spectrum where it would actually be advisable for him to take a very, very~ small dose of Testosteronepared to the other end of the spectrum who were destroying themselves just for a bit more muscle.


    Though Jude still had other ns:


    "Nah, I''m good, bro. But thanks for worrying, I mean it."


    Quinn and I almost said at the same time, "For real?/ You sure?"


    He nodded a few times, "If I get even a pound of muscle, I might lose my only running joke or special ability, no? And I don''t even y basketball, heh."


    I chuckled, "I guess¡ª but at least increase your protein intake bit by bit."


    "With cup noodles? How?"


    Quinn cut in, "Add a few fucking eggs in it or p on some pork chop. If that''s too fatty have a side of chicken tenders or just straight-up steak chunks if you have ''em. What you''re having, my dude, is just straight-up garbage, no offense. Have some real ramen¡ª" then she suddenly turned to me, "You''re part Japanese, right?"


    I was a little taken aback from the question, "Sure. Why do you ask?"


    "Can''t you just make him a batch or two he could reheat then and again?"


    "I could¡ª"


    Jude waved us off, "Please, no. I could barely figure out how to work the electric stove¡ª thank the divines for microwaves, so yeah, I''mma stick to¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly picked him up with one hand before gentlyid him down, "Nuh-uh. I''m strong as fuck but you''re severely underweight. How much do you weigh¡ª Wait, don''t tell me¡­ 39 kilos?"


    Jude was still confused by getting lifted up with one hand, "I don''t even know¡ª The fuck, you could throw me across the street like it''s nothing!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "With your weight? That''s barely an achievement. But yeah, if you''re that bad at making food¡ª no, working the stove. Learn to fucking meal prep. That shouldn''t be an excuse for your garbage diet. I know my words are harsh but you really should listen to us."


    Jude had never been so much of a hypocrite, "Meal prep? Cooking meals in advance? Isn''t it better to have freshly made food?"


    Quinn and I rolled our eyes at the same time as I said, "The only thing you prep beforehand is hot water and maybe even some boiled eggs. And if you want to move from a .22 LR to a 5.56, a little bit of muscle on your body will allow you to do just that. You know it pays to not be azy fuck once in a while, no?"


    "Hey! I''m notzy! I-I just have selective needs!"


    "Uh-huh~ Still, all those time you spent sneaking around everyone''s bases, you should put some of that to improving yourself. Cardio''s good and all¡ªthe best, even since it''s one of the sacred rules but you gotta have more options with you, alright? Again, don''t worry¡­ we''ll start with something small like adding chicken balls to your ramen¡ª"


    "CHICKEN BALLS?! THE FUCK?!"


    I facepalmed, "I meant not actual chicken balls¡ª You know, ground up chicken turned to balls! It''d be cooked beforehand so while they''re frozen or dried, you just have to drop them in the soup while you''re making your cup noodles! Better yet, learn to fucking make your own broth as well!"


    "Sure¡­ H-How do I start? I might ask Jade for help though¡ª"


    "I don''t mind! Make it a family activity!"


    Easily enough, I gave Jude and Jade a very quick and easy recipe for actual ramen that''d be much, much better than the cup noodles he''d always have every single fucking day.


    It would always start with the broth made from chicken bones he''d set aside from making the chicken balls¡ªand it was as easy as putting them in a pot of boiling water, adding soy sauce as the base with different kinds of seasoning.


    And as he was an expert on boiling water, it wouldn''t take much work but the waiting time for the broth to cook would definitely be longer than three minutes.


    However, Jude actually looked intrigued about the amount of shit he could change up to modify the broth to his tastes because the motherfucker was actually mixing and matching the vor packets.


    "How long does it need to boil exactly?"


    "Depends? It''s usually a few hours but that''s something you''d have to sacrifice to have something much, much better. How are you on making your own noodles?"


    Jude looked at me like I was an idiot, "Want me to just dunk my head in this pot and end it all?"


    Jade stifled augh, "You''re just making the best version of your favorite food! And he''s helping you¡ª"


    "I thought we''d start small?! How can making chicken balls turn to making my own broth and noodles?!"


    "You just have to go all-in in some of these things, alright?! If you''re making it in batches, you can always do it twice a month and go from there! It wouldn''t hurt you to spend a few hours of your life doing this!"


    "But that''s the beauty of cup noodles, three minutes and you''re done! I just add whatever the hell I want to it and go from there!"


    "We''ll see¡­"


    "We''ll see what?!"


    "We''ll see."


    Funnily enough, even if Kaley wanted me to "tuck her in" for the night, I spend maybe four hours with Jude¡ªthough Jade had to sleep for her kid''s well-being¡ªand let''s just say I easily converted, mostly, a cup noodle enjoyer to a real authentic ramen connoisseur.


    It was because once I gave Jude a very simple bowl I made with very simple ingredients, all it took was one sip of the broth and one mouthful of noodles for this disappearing motherfucker to cry tears of joy and bow down to me, and proim his love for real noodles.


    But yeah, we still had topromise because he was still a flight risk and he''d have to still eat garbage from time to time.


    However, with easily made chicken balls avable to him, he''d at least have a higher protein intakepared to just straight-up carbs and random-ass seasonings.


    "What if I don''t have a food processor though?"


    "You grab a cleaver and get some exercise."


    "Can''t I just use the chicken as is?"


    "If you can mold it into a ball, sure."


    "Then why make it a ball in the first ce?"


    "Cause you don''t eat fucking chicken in the first ce too!"


    "Ah¡ª My bad¡­ Right, right¡­ Turning them into balls like these just makes it easier for consumption and traveling, huh?"


    "That''s the point."


    "Hmm¡­ and I just have to either fry them or¡ª wait, they''re already cooked, right? So I just dump them in while reheating the soup?"


    "Yeah. But you can still fry them if you want them a little crispy. Just put them in a small te forter so they don''t get soggy."


    "Right, right¡­ Thanks, dude. You know, for finding the time to teach me this stuff¡­"


    I cringed a little, "C-Can¡­ Can we not do that shit?"


    Jude nodded a ton of time, "Yep¡ª M-My sister just made me do that¡­ Eugh¡ª Never again."


    So yeah, after we parted ways, I made my way to where my group was and they were all in the roof with a fewmps lighting the surroundings. While it''d be morefortable for each of us to sleep in a soft bed, everyone just unanimously decided to set up our tents in a circle and just haveforters inside.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    With the cold breeze blowing from time to time, they greatly appreciated the bone broth¡ªor should I say the ramen broth I brought up with me and it was gone in less than 60 seconds.


    However, it was maybe 20¡ª no, around the 30-minute mark when we noticed a fire going off from a distance and it was at the location of this tall condominium way, way~ further out. It seemed to be a gas leak of some sort¡ªbut it could be anything, really¡ªbut the first thing I did was contact Iskoh and see if they had setup an outpost in that area and if they needed reinforcements.


    Though I was met with a few assurances:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [No, it''s okay. It''s too dangerous to send people over there now but weid several traps in that unit since it''s infested with the undead.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh. I''ll have something check it out still."


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 1304 With My Wife, Mother Of My Future Child, and Stepsister - Mornin Meetin

    Right from the fucking get-go, Quinn was on all fours and right below, licking the base of my cock and sucking my balls while Kaley and Jennifer were taking turns sucking my cock while their plump asses were pointed at me. It didn''t take long before Quinn joined the two''s general position as she sat in my face, making our position an angled 6999.


    But yeah, Quinn didn''t even need to remind me to suck her juices and her clit while my fingers were going in and out of Kaley and Jennifer''s pussy¡ªbut this part of our session got cut short when Quinn already got up and pointed my throbbing dick at her drenched hole.


    "I-I''m so s-sorry, I can''t take it anymore¡ª FUCK! T-That''s so fucking big¡ª I-I think I''m cumming¡ª"


    "A-Already?" Kaley''s eyes widened as she moved away and sat next to my head.


    "Where''s the strap-on?" Jennifer said as she looked through our clothes.


    Quinn cut in, "W-Why would you need a f-fucking strap-on if you have this dick?!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "It''s because you''re using it!"


    "Guys, stop! We''ll all have our turns¡­ That reminds me¡­" Kaley trailed as she looked at me and caressed my face, "Is this seat taken?"


    I smiled at her as I said, "By all means¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I hope you''re thirsty~"


    "Found it! Quinn! I''ll fuck you too if you do me when it''s my turn¡ª"


    "JUST FUCKING STICK IT IN ME AND GO!"


    Ignoring how the two were fighting/negotiating about the terms regarding the usage of my dick, my whole focus was on Kaley''s perfect body as her meaty cunt was pressed and rubbing against my face.


    From my point of view, Kaley was looking right down at me¡ªbiting her lips¡ªand clutching my hair as she was moving her hips and as her huge tits would jiggle.


    "G-Grab them¡­"


    And with the order from her highness, I grabbed each handful and started to knead and smush them with just the right amount of force while her pink nipples were in between my fingers.


    "MnmmnH! MnH! Y-Yes! T-That''s¡­ MmNN! NNnnn¡­ NNhHG! Anh!


    NANNhghHHN!"


    Aside from the view and her moans her taste and her smell were the two things that were driving me off the edge and I was pretty sure that I had already unloaded inside Quinn''s fat cunt¡ªand she came as well¡ªthough it was already established that we''d keep going until we were satisfied.


    But yeah, it also didn''t take long before Kaley filled my mouth with her sudden release and I tried my best to drink everything while she kept rubbing her pink insides against my face.


    And even if I was losing fucking air and drowning at the same time, this was one of the best ces to go, but I had to bail out by lifting her legs and pointing her squirting pussy upwards and redirect my tongue in her ass.


    "Wha¡ª S-SHIT! C-CumMmminnNggGG!"


    At that point, Kaley seemed to sensitive because I barely grazed her ass with my tongue and she already erupted like a fucking fountain. Still, I tried to get as deep inside her ass as I did with her pussy but she started to finger herself while I was tongue fucking her asshole.


    "Y-You like s-seeing this, right?! M-Me spread w-wide, f-fingering myself while you¡ª NnHG! HAn! AhahaN! S-Shit~ Ugh¡ª NmmNNG! CUmmM¡ª HnHG¡ª C-CUmmNMINMHGH!!!"


    As Kaley released another torrent down my face, I suddenly felt Quinn''s walls tighten around me before I felt the toy Jennifer was wearing join us. I was pretty sure Jennifer was fucking Quinn''s ass but I just decided to enjoy the view since Kaley rolled over to the side, still shaking uncontrobly as she was still having mini-orgasms.


    So yeah, my current situation was a drop-dead gorgeous giantess was riding the fuck out of my huge 9-inch dick while another blonde muscle goddess, who was also my stepsister, was dicking her down at the same hole at the same fucking time.


    Both of them were staring right at my eyes before Jennifer pushed Quinn down and over so she could finger her gaping asshole¡ªand it allowed me to suck on the tits of the future mother of my child as we were both fucking her.


    As with Kaley''s full weight on top of me, just Quinn''s humungousaurus tits pressing on my face was enough to make me suffocate but then again, it was a hill¡ªtwo hills¡ªI was willing to die on.


    For the life of me, I still couldn''t quite figure out how like Kaley''s tits, Quinn''s udders¡ªwhich were also bigger¡ªcould still retain their fucking shape and had this unbelievable softness and firmness. I mean¡ªJennifer''s was perfect too, but Kaley''s and Quinn''s were just a little too special.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S JUST TOO TIGHT! JEN! JEN!


    PULL OUT AND JUST FUCK MY ASS! I ONLY WANT REAL DICKS IN MY CUNT TONIGHT!"


    "YOU BETTER FUCK ME AS I FUCK YOU LATER, TOO! SHIT! I THINK I''M¡ª STRAPLESS DILDOS FOR THE WIN¡ª HNNGH! F-FUCK! C-CUMMING!"


    "M-ME TOO!"


    At that point, the three of us came at the same fucking time besides Kaley and they justid on the floor while Quinn''s meaty cunt was leaking two loads worth of my cum. However, this fucking dick still wasn''t satisfied, and once I saw that Jennifer was still recovering from her orgasm, I turned to Kaley and she just gave me a smile before spreading her legs.


    ''Fuck. Me.''


    At the same time, she had both hands spreading each hole as much as she could, but contrary to tradition, I aimed it at her pink one first before I moved my hips like there was no tomorrow.


    And yeah, I didn''t even let Kaley let out her orgasmic moans as I pressed our lips together while she wrapped her legs around my back. This was the telltale sign of not letting go until she fucking had her fill, and yeah, I''ll never fucking stop until she was filled to the brim plus extra.


    Each time I''d reach her deepest parts, Kaley''s back would arch as she''d tense all over but there came a point where she lost all her strength and it was just like fucking someone unconscious. Take note, this wasn''t one of those times I was feeling fatigued and I barely did shit this morning because I was more inmand and the rest of my peeps stepped up.


    Then I heard Jennifer''s voice:


    "Give her a break, will you? This ass is all yours, you know?"


    Looking in her direction, Jennifer was already on face down, ass up position, and the only thing missing toplete the look was my dick.


    So yeah, we didn''t even need to do our little roley together as I knelt behind her and pushed my dick inside her cunt before I stuck my thumb in her ass.


    "F-FucKK! How would y-you¡ª Shi¡ª HjnnHGH! F-FfuckkKH!"


    Before my stepsis could react, I pushed her down on the cold tiles, making her lie prone so I could have an easier time boning her. While it was true I would have loved to have my thumb in her ass a little longer, pressing my whole weight on their supple skin was preferable too.


    But yeah, I don''t really want to address it because it was said many times in passing but as much as Jennifer was acting like an Alpha Bitch on the outside, in closed doors, she was the total fucking opposite. While it was true she''d take the initiative and be on top as much as she could, she''d just melt away once you established that you really wanted to make her submit.


    Still, she''d be back the same way after the night was done but seeing her take my dick in both her holes withoutint was fucking something else.


    I actually thought we four would join in like those old-school shows where we''d join in and transform into a bigger robot, but it was only in the beginning since I did most of the work by the end.


    But yeah, they returned the favor by putting me in booby heaven once we showered though we still got a few visitors in our tents looking for a quick one. I mean, if all I had to do wasy down then why the fuck not?


    In any case, after waking up with someone''s mouth on my cock and the love of my life''s bare chest pushed against me¡ªthen topping it off with an awesome breakfast, it was now time to listen to Iskoh''s n of taking over the other connecting station.


    Because while it was true that I forbade them from reiming it without proper recon, they did the same thing as Artem and scouted it for info and slowly shaved the outside so we''d have an easier time getting in.


    I know thatst part sounded a little sus, but sometimes, it just fucking happens though it seemed like Iskoh seemed to have forgotten about the fire yesterday.

 Chapter 1305 You can always say no.

    I could maybe chalk it up to the Mayor''s age or just the mountain of things he had to juggle every single day, but this fire just happened yesterday, he wouldn''t be able to forget it just like that.


    Still, it took a few keywords like the copy of the footage and that it''d be no problem for him to actually remember what urred that night, but he was still more focused on having us dissect his n of storming the other connecting stations.


    And he pointed at the projector screen while holding his marker:


    "Fortunately, while the area to clear out isrger, it seemed that it has no flesh walls or those bouncy huge masses running around¡ªor any of those miniature abominations running around."


    "Seemed?"


    "I mean¡ª We''ll never actually know once we''re in there, right? We tried to thin down the herd below and never tried to get up¡ªbut yeah¡­ despite the noise we made, none of the ones up top tried to get down on our level."


    "Hmm~ Some of them tend to stay in one ce even without anyone telling them to do so."


    "Yeah. We''ve encountered a few of those as well¡ªsticking to a perimeter of sorts¡ªbut they do tend to get riled up when they see uninvited visitors."


    "And that''s when the Hokey Pokey starts."


    "Exactly."


    "But yeah, if this is as easy as we thought, it''d be a pretty cut-and-dry run, right? Why would we need this meeting then? Is there something you''re saving up forst?"


    "..."


    "Iskoh?"


    Mayor Iskoh nced at me silently for about seven seconds before he had this small brigade of young-ish adults stand in attention to the side. They were around 70% dudes and all of them were equipped with the usual meta, but it didn''t take long before I figured out what Iskoh wanted to convey to me.


    He cleared his throat and nced at my own young-ish brigade before opening his mouth, "As you can see, I''ve been training the next generation of our future front liners as well and I think that this would be the best chance to have them imitate what your group and Morales'' group did yesterday."


    My face quickly showed displeasure, "How so?"


    "In simpler terms, I''d like us to throw them off the nest so they''d learn how to fly but if you want a little bit of specificity, I''d like to switch the role of front liners and the back line for this run."


    "You know this is an important run, right?"


    "I do, but even with the risks, we can''t coddle them forever. I''ve heard of your Hell Week but let''s be honest, it was still done in a very safe space. We all know that you''re very dangerous but you wouldn''t actually kill them. Hurt them, sure¡­ Then again, the risk of death''s not really there."


    "Uh-huh¡­ I mean¡­"


    "See? You agree with me. It''s hard for me too but even if they''ve been going on multiple runs by themselves before, they should still be doing risky things for everyone. You have an all-star team and I have my own, but the thing is, I need more¡ªand to do that, we have to do this."


    I wanted to disagree but I couldn''t so I let out a huge sigh before I opened my mouth, "What''s the limit then? Till one of them dies?"


    Iskoh shook his head, "No."


    "No what?"


    "I mean¡ª that should be a criteria but it''s until they ask for help."


    I was slightly relieved, "Gotcha¡ª"


    "But if they actually asked for it, they''ll be off the squad and be stuck guarding the gates forever. Or you know, until they grow a set and finish the mission no matter what."


    "I thought this was just supposed to be training for them?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "We need good soldiers."


    "You''re having your first shipment soon¡ª"


    "It''d be nice to have my own. They already agreed to it."


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah. And I''m just giving your squad the opportunity, kid."


    "Oh, I''m the ''kid'', again huh?"


    "If you continue coddling your peers¡ª I''m sorry, your subordinates. My bad."


    "..."


    "Kid?"


    "..."


    "If you don''t wanna have a talk¡ª"


    I let out a chuckle, "I don''t get the sudden hostility but if you want to pit my ''peers'' against your ''subordinates'' for the sake of healthypetition, you should''ve said so from the beginning¡ªor better yet, you should''ve asked me to let them clear the stations yesterday for fuck''s sake.


    You''re just fucking blindsiding me now with this sudden proposal and making use of this important operation to¡ª"


    Iskoh let out a dry chuckle, "You can always say no¡ª"


    I shook my head, "How could I say no now?! You dumb or what?"


    At this point, my ''peers'' were trying too hard to signal me nonverbally but I fucking got myself and I am very aware of what they were capable of. And yeah, it was true I was concerned about their safety and I should be putting their heads out of a moving train car from time to time, but dammit, I really fucking hate sudden changes to our supposed ns.


    Iskoh scratched the side of his cheek, "If this is too much for you¡ª"


    "Mayor. You can fucking stop now," I said as I briefly nced at my students, "I know their limits to an extent but I don''t know the limits of yours. If we''re talking about their safety¡ª"


    "We''re not talking about safety, kid, we''re talking about tempering them to be¡ª Where are you going now?!"


    "I''ll show them temper¡­" I trailed as I made my way to his subordinates.


    So right from the fucking get-go, I stood in front of them and looked them in the eye before I held my de and made them think they were looking at their headless bodies from the floor. It only took a fraction of a second before 90% of them buckled and fell t on their asses while thest 10% were frozen in shock.

 Chapter 1306 Coddling? - Aaron

    In all honesty, there was a lot of truth from the words that came out of Iskoh''s mouth but if he wasn''t an active participant in Hell Week, he had no fucking idea how each of my group thought they were gonna die or actually did die.


    Brushing against life or death tempers a person''s mind and body to a degree and as I''ve said many times before, you just gotta break them just the right amount or else they won''t be able to recover from it, or in another case, they wouldn''t be able to learn or feel its effects.


    Still, I was fairly impressed that none of his chosen sacrificialmbs peed themselves¡ªor they were just wearing diapers¡ªbut yeah, these kids needed to participate in Hell Week or even Hell Month, or face the consequences.


    I wasn''t saying their training meant jack shit but the whispers they''ve heard from the way I treat my students shouldn''t be identified as coddling or something simr. Most of it was done in the safety of my confines, sure¡ªbut all this fucking time, I didn''t force in Iskoh''s throat how to go about "making" his soldiers so I should be given the same courtesy so he''d stay away from mine.


    ''Then again, going out and experiencing the world for themselves could do wonders in their development¡ªbut if they really wanted to face an insurmountable wall¡ªwait, no¡­ I could be blowing a ton of smoke in my ass right about now but¡­ Haaa¡­ Let''s just meet in the middle and see¡­ There just might be some other purpose Iskoh is going for and I might''ve jumped the gun a little too early¡­''


    In any case, Iskoh looked like he really wanted me to show these kids what I could do face-to-face, because yesterday, they were in the group with Morales and they weren''t even in the backline for support.


    Still, the game was fucking on because not only did I light a fire in these kids'' asses, I also lit a fire in my kids'' asses because, with this show of dominance, Iskoh''s words were ringing true because I was fighting their battles for them.


    I could''ve just let them do their shit on their own but I''m fucking pissed off and I was only older than them by a few years so it is what it fucking is.


    Iskoh''s voice rang out:


    "You done, kid?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Sure. But I think your group''s done too."


    "Heh. It''s their first time, take it easy. They''ll be good to go in a few. So¡­"


    "So what?"


    "Are we doing it or not?"


    I turned in JP and Tennyson''s direction, "You fucks decide, I''m taking the leash off."


    Iskoh cackled, "Hah! That''s worse than peers, no? You''re basically calling them your dogs."


    I waved him off as I took my seat, "I just wanna sound cool, fuck off. And you can put on a leash on almost anything, just know there''s a reason I''m ''coddling'' them."


    "Huh. Is this you trying to sound cool again?"


    "Yes. Absolutely."


    "Hah! Alrighty~ then. Almost the same formation as yesterday but the formation of the ones going up the tforms will be reversed."


    "Yep."


    "We leave in an hour."


    In any case, my group and my "dogs" were already prepped and ready since yesterday so I just reviewed all the information they collected beforehand and got acquainted with Iskoh''s trainees in a more friendly manner.


    Obviously enough, the 90% were wary of my presence while half of the 10% was showing me slight hostility¡ªbut then again, it was a fair number because I always have to deal with Brian, Brownie, and even Lucas on a daily basis.


    And yeah, Seb and Marvin took the friendlier approachpared to JP and Tennyson while our happy-go-lucky boys like #2 and Ruben had already gelled well with the other group.


    However, there were obvious individuals that wouldn''t just vibe with each other like Megan and this other chick, Brian and this other meathead, Carlo and this other tall andnky dude, but yeah, it was expected though a life-or-death situation could change that.


    ''So they just have a leader, no vice-captain¡­ Aaron, huh?''


    So I approached him for the second time but with a firm handshake, "How do you pronounce it? Ei-ron, A-A-ron, or Uhh-ron?"


    "First one, sir."


    "Great. I just received your files from Iskoh''s assistant but there''s more to it than just what''s written on paper, no?"


    He nodded, "I did try my best to fill it out but it''s not like it''s final, no?"


    "Yep, everyone continues to improve. So, are you more of a charge-in-front kind of guy or do you stay in the back and watch and adjust?"


    "Depending on the situation, sir, and the directive¡ª"


    "You''re leading your team today, you''re the directive. What''s your n of attack?"


    "Umm¡ª It''s pretty straightforward, nothing fancy."


    "Simple''s good. It doesn''t have to beplicated if it doesn''t need to be."


    "Yes, sir."


    "Then fucking tell me!"


    "Ah¡ª That''s what you''re implying, I get it now¡ª So, we ascend the stairs with the group carrying shotguns, and on each bend, we''d drop in emergency ropes and make sure the area below is clear. Also, we''d have emergencydders at the ready for a quick escape¡ª"


    "Hold up, hold up¡­ What''s wrong with the stairs you''re on? Why so many emergency escapes?"


    "I mean¡ª Safety is¡ª"


    I looked at him weird, "I thought safety''s not your priority? You know, judging by the Mayor''s words earlier¡­"


    "Ah¡ª He''s like that most of the time but he does care. And he did say we''re free to do whatever we wanted. We''ve learned from the others'' mistakes before."


    "Oh¡­ So there were more before you, huh? They still alive?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Well¡ª S-Some of them, yes."


    "Hmm. Okay, tell me more about your ns."


    "Alright, sir¡­"


    In any case, after five more emergency escape routes, we eventually found ourselves in front of the connecting station, and I specifically put myself in Iskoh''s younger generation instead of my own.

 Chapter 1308 Anticlimactic - Bizarre

    The moment those pipe bombs exploded, I could still hear it from the distance and through my earpiece but the group of kids I was looking after were already shouting at each other. Because with their formation broken by several deadheads swan-diving the fuck out of those stairs, they had to regroup and retake their perfect spot for funneling them.


    They now had to take care of the area where the staircase split into two¡ªwhich also split their group unevenly¡ªthough Aaran stepped out of his overlooking position to bridge the uneven numbers, even calling over their clean-up crew below to momentarily change roles.


    But yeah, I could''ve easily jumped into action from my spot because I was atop this extending tform in this firetruck, letting me just jump the distance and wreak havoc while Kaley could start putting holes in their heads with a lead projectile since she was also with me and silently keeping watch but we still didn''t.


    It was because this group was handling the discourse quite well and the blood-curdling shouts were their form ofmunication.


    [FUCK¡ª BACK OFF AND STAY WITH CHASE!]


    [AARON! THE LINE! HOLD THE FUCKING LINE!]


    [I KNOW! I KNOW! JOSH HAD TO¡ª BRIT! DUCK¡ª SHIT! FUCK! AIM UP!


    AIM UP, PEOPLE!]


    [I FUCKING CAN''T!]


    [WHY THE HELL NOT?!]


    [I SHOOT FOR SHIT AND I COULD EASILY WEDGE MY AXE IN THEIR KNEECAPS THIS WAY!]


    [THEN KEEP DOING THAT, JOE!]


    [WE''RE PILING BODIES HERE!]


    [WE FUCKING ARE¡ª]


    [I MEAN SOMEONE HAVE TO MOVE THEM¡ª FUCK IT, I''LL DO IT THEN!]


    [THANKS, MADS!]


    [OH, FUCK YOU! THIS IS YOUR FUCKING JOB, JULIUS!]


    After seeing them take back control of their original spot, I was waiting for what they''d do next after this weird congregation of the undead sent their next challengers¡ªbut to my surprise, they stopped sending meat bags from Aaron''s side. However, the dead kepting from JP''s side¡ªand even though they were thinning their numbers splendidly, this denial of service was too fucking weird.


    ''Hold up¡­''


    I somehow had a slight inkling as to this ce''s rules but what I was seeing currentlypared to what I was thinking of were slightly different.


    It was because when Aaron gave themand for the vanguard to put their foot in again to request a small serving, it took maybe three tries for the other team to send in their new yers.


    That instance looked like there was a slight dy but it was only by chance that I discovered that there might be another reason for this weird behavior when I nced at the feed from the cleanup crew momentarily.


    Because right as this Mads fe stomped on the head of this crawler missing a leg, it was at the same exact moment when the dead upstairs reacted to the Hokey Pokey dance.


    While it was true that we already observed this behavior earlier, I didn''t think that each corpse they''d sent out needed to be cleared¡ªand for some reason, they''d know¡ªand this shit opened up a lot of possibilities for a quick exploit.


    However, one example couldn''t 100% prove what I was thinking of was factually correct, so I had to find a way to somehow make them confirm this little theory of mine without seeming like I was coddling them.


    ''It''s technically not coddling but this is their spotlight at the moment¡­''


    -


    *bzzt*


    "JP, that deadhead wearing a red dress and round earrings, I''ll need her head. Alive."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WE''RE KIND OF BUSY HERE! WHY?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just do it, it''s an order."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YES, SIR!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Joe."


    *bzzt*N?v(el)B\\jnn


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A LITTLE BUSY HERE, WHOEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE¡ª OH SHIT! WHAT IS IT, SIR?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Good catch. I''ll need that dude''s head too. The one on that you''re stepping on."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [ALIVE?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alive."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOTED! MADS! CARVE THAT HEAD UP AND GIVE IT TO SPECIAL FORCES!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m not Special Forces¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [APOLOGIES! I DON''T KNOW WHAT TO CALL YOU, SIR!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not Special Forces."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOTED, SIR! ANYTHING ELSE, SIR?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''ll tell you if somethinges up, just keep on doing what you''re doing."


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, it didn''t take long before two heads got delivered by the fire truck I was on, and the two people who were waiting for further instructions were just staring at me, looking to see what I''d do with these two heads. Even Kaley who was keeping a close watch on these kids had to give me a confused look, but it didn''t take long before my suspicions were proven right.


    ''I knew it¡­ It''s like a raid exploit but from an opposite team. Whaddayouknow?''


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir, this is Aaron. Reporting: It''s like¡­ It''s like they¡­ stopped? They''re all just standingpletely still.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Good."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir, this is JP. It''s¡ª The same thing''s happening here. Permission to proceed?]


    *bzzt* Explore hidden tales at empire


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Denied."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Then how¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s the JP and Aaron show today, do what you will about everything that happened just now and think real~ hard about what to do next. You don''t need to ask for permission for the steps you''d take next¡­ just¡­ you know, think about it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that point, the two leaders gathered their group to a safe spot and had an impromptu discussion about what to do next. Obviously, Tennyson was trying to find holes in JP''s ideas while everyone else from Aaron''s group was just listening to his every word. They''d build up on Aaron''s ideas as they added their own but there was never any pushback from any of his crew.


    Still, they all came to the most obvious answer and it was to advance though the difference lies in how.


    And again, Aaron''s group started by making more exit points as they safely reached the top of the steps by making traps the dead could either snag their heads or legs into, allowing the retreating team enough seconds to turn around and regroup.


    However, with JP''s group, they got the fucking hook up¡ªand even with one less bobcat to wreak havoc inside arge room full of deadheads, the volunteers to drive them came in droves even if James #2 came close to breathing hisst.


    Heck, even James #2 wanted to have another crack at it because where else could you drive a construction vehicle through thousands upon thousand of people¡ªtechnically dead¡ªand be thanked for their service?


    But it''s just¡­ it just wasn''t the same when they finally picked their drivers.


    As anticlimactic as the following scenes were, Ruben, Brownie, and Brian driving the bobcats had the highest kill count among the crew.


    It was because from the time the bobcats were brought up and started to tear through the thousand or so meat bags everyone else was expecting to jumpscare anyone that would get close, nothing, I mean NOTHING fucking moved as if these motherfuckers had already epted their deaths.


    ''What in the actual fuck? I mean¡ª We''ll take it or¡­ Nah¡­ They should move¡­ Surely¡­''


    I even thought of pushing my knife into the eye sockets of the heads with me but this shit is just too bizarre for me¡ªand I still had this hope these rotheads would at least try to defend themselves instead of following their stupid rule if there ever was.


    And with JP''smand, he sent everyone in to help with bringing down the dismembered corpses though he still had a group watching everyone else''s back because again, for the nth time, this shit''s too weird.


    We''ve seen fucking deadheads eating themselves, we''ve seen spiders yesterday, we''ve seen golems, we''ve seen abominations, etc., but this¡­ these fucks weren''t even the Sentries we haven''t seen in a good while.


    [Is¡­ Is this it?]


    [Yay¡­]


    [I''ll count it¡­ yeah¡­]


    It''s just that this shit became so fucking easy¡ªand even though everyone survived and no one was hurt right after, I was expecting a little surprise at the end or when we were just about topletely crush them to bits but nah, giving thest two heads for ''new'' specimen to look under the microscope didn''t feel like a win.


    ''We''re not even sure if they''re new¡­ I know they''re evolving but they''re evolving backwards! I should''ve kept my damn mouth shut to have the kids some sort of exercise! And if these fucks were actual Sentries evolved backwards, I''d just put my feet in the air and wait for this fucks to eventually end themselves.


    Because if this is the way they were gonna go, humanity would survive without lifting a hand¡­''


    Even the crew below felt empty after clearing out a huge ce with a few thousand deadheads¡ªwhich should''ve been a celebration¡ªbut yeah, as morbid as it may sound, someone should''ve died to make this encounter a little memorable because everyone was half-expecting that horde to act up the moment the kids had gone in too far.


    ''Still¡­ But why?''

 Chapter 1310 Treasure Hunts End? - Gregory Adams

    Looking closely and seeing it from a different perspective, Quinn might''ve been right though we still had to find the smaller treasure chests around this area before heading to that ce¡ªor even possibly contacting the old dude and see if we could be allies or not.


    Of course, we weren''t doing ourselves any favors by taking his stuff but we did clear out the ces where they couldn''t be essed and the rule for finder''s keepers in the apocalypse was still in effect so the you snooze, you lose was also.


    If anything, I could try and curry favors from "Jim", "Bradley", "Dous", "Mitchell", or "Gregory" if I gave him his stuff back plus extra.


    It wouldn''t hurt to have another friend outside our walls and if all that would take was a few fetch quests and clearing spaces around the location of his supposed bunker, I''d dly go to this treasure hunt. But yeah, we still have to figure out who this guy really was and our two hackers weren''t having that much luck due to the connection speed provided by our rys.


    ''We really got to power up one of the major cell towers one of these days¡­''


    "FOUND IT!" Jared eximed.


    "WHERE?!"


    "THERE''S A FALSE THINGAMAJIG UNDER THIS COUNTER!"


    "Let me see¡ª"


    "HANDS OFF, BRO! THIS IS ALL MINE¡ª"


    "I just need the documents!"


    "I SAID HANDS OFF¡ª GchkK! CHKC! AckKG! I give¡ª I GIVE! BROOO!!!"


    After easily putting Jared in a headlock and making him pass out for a few seconds, I started pulling out items from the same rucksack I uncovered from the EDSA Station¡ªand maybe due to the nature of this rucksack''s location, being in a more secure ce where civilians couldn''t just enter¡ªI found more valuable items.


    Aside from the revolver/pistolbo chambered in .357 and .45 ACP, there was also this Shockwave-like shotgun with two boxes of Double-aught Buckshot.


    In addition, it had more food and water stored with the rucksack¡ªwith what the rest of the space could allow¡ªand there was even a camping kit and a mess kit tucked underneath them all.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''It''s valuable and all but where could he possibly camp in this whole city? Even out of it is just more cities¡­''


    Still, I took all of them and found almost the same documents and the same markings on the map provided. The only thing I didn''t find among his fake IDs was the one for "Bradley" though there was still a wad of cash wrapped tightly with a key for possibly one of his bug-out vehicles close by.


    So yeah, instead of driving towards the next station which was three stations away, we drove over to the back of this tattoo parlor of sorts right next to a department store¡ªand there we found this ssic jeep without aputer box.


    It was covered and parked inside this enclosure of chain-linked fences mixed with a lot of trash and cardboard to make it blend in in sight¡ªand it actually looked like a dumpster covered by a tattered piece of tarp.


    Quinn gave an approving look, "Sweet. Mr. Ng would love this."


    Jared looked confused, "That jeep? Looks like a jeepney cut in half or a jeepney jr."


    "Heh. It does look like that but there''s a reason they''re still drive-worth these days. They''re made tost years IF you actually take care of it¡ªand look at the back."


    "Woah¡ª HOLY¡ª Ow! Bro?! What the fuck?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "We just cleared this street for 15 minutes just to get to this Jeep¡ª I even forgot to check it for traps but I guess the dude who hid this here was confident it wouldn''t get found out. Still, we should be careful of taking his shit from him."


    "And why is that?"


    "The first two¡ª I mean, three, including this one, didn''t have any booby traps but we can never be sure. I''d want to call him right at this moment but we don''t know the guy yet¡ª na, June¡ª"


    na and June spoke at the same time, "Still looking! June''s looking through the database for the names while I''m trying for an image search!/ Yeah! This will take a while! It''s not like in those TV shows or movies, you know?!"


    I chortled, "You think I don''t? How about something more concrete? Try this license te: DRT 882. It might be a fake but it''s still worth a shot, right?"


    "I''m still running my¡ª/I''ll do it."


    "Great¡ª So, what''s in the back?"


    Jared never smiled so wide, "You''ll never believe this shit, bro."


    "I might¡ª Anything''s possible with that guy."


    "Then check it out," Jared said as hepletely pulled on the covers.


    To my delight, this old-school Jeep definitely had what it takes for a single person to survive the wilderness for a month. Again, I wasn''t sure why these items were ced in a rural setting but honestly, I could still make do with these items and survive in this ce for a while.


    But yeah, without the limiting factor of his rucksack, I found a fully automatic AK, a bolt-action M70, a Remmington 870, and a good ol'' 10/22 for hunting small game. Each of these guns had very simple and practical attachments and they all had full ammo cans for each of their respective calibers.


    In addition, this Jeep had a few boxes of MREs, gallons of water, water-purifying tablets, a water filter, another camping kit, more tarps, a sleeping bag, binocrs, shlights, waterproof matches, apass, a radio, a few packs of batteries, more unmarked maps, a change of clothes, prescription drugs, a shovel, a machete, a pickaxe, a wood saw, and a fire axe.


    Enjoy more content from empire


    If this guy would bring people with him, I bet it''d only be a single person or if anything, I bet my lunch that he preferred to be alone.


    ''I mean¡­ Some of those pictures¡ª I guess I''ll make proper judgment when I see all his stuff and him when the timees.''


    In any case, once I put the keys into the ignition, the engine sputtered for a bit before it ran just fine¡ªand my group just made our way to the next checkpoint which was one of the stations further up.


    However, no matter how many times we turned over each panel, vent, table, counter¡ªheck, even checking the ceiling, we found no trace of another rucksack that could benefit a person or two for a quick escape.


    Ibarra chimed in, "Isn''t this the closest spot to the Harbor the Mayor have one of his outposts setup?"


    "You saying he or his people might''ve found it?"


    "Yeah. Have you told him about our guy?"


    "Not yet. I just want this fun to ourselves, the rewards we find our secondary though I kind of want to meet this guy and get to where this supposed bunker is."


    "Where is it anyway?"


    "Just a bit off Iskoh''s territory¡ªIt''s in the borders of Quezon City, pointed at either this Sports Center, College Campus, Theater, Church, or Burger Joint. Any of those five."


    Quinn chuckled from the side, "I would''ve taken the Sports Center as a ce to hunker down but the Burger Joint is the close second."


    I thought for a bit, "College Campus is the way to go if you have a group since it almost has all of those things but if I''m by myself, I''ll take the Theater."


    "Really? Why?"


    "I mean, not as crowded as all the other ces and I doubt a lot of people would try to break into one. Unless the need for costumes had gone up significantly."


    Jared cut in, "Haa¡­ I give up, bro. Can you ask the mayor if they found traces of the same guy?"


    I waved him off, "Not now, we''ll see the other ces first before we contact him. Come on, we''ll try the other stations first and those three ces before we tell him. But yeah, we''ve spent maybe an hour at this ce already, we might not be able to go to those other safe zones."


    "Sure, can we check at least one? The one by 5th Avenue is close, right?"


    "Hmm~ Sure."


    "Great! That would be ourst stop if we spent the same time on each ce."


    With that said, we easily breezed the streets and the other stations for possible rucksacks¡ªand excluding the United Nations Station, we found four out of five bags that were supposed to be in LRT Line 1.


    However, the search for this guy''s identity was still ongoing right until we reached this safe house Jared insisted on going.


    I''d spare some of the details because this treasure hunt of ours got us really excited so let''s just say that not everyone who prepared for this type of situation¡ªor any type of situation really¡ªwas guaranteed that they''dst or thrive like we were.


    Still, with all the things we gathered for this old gentleman, we had to give him a proper send-off by getting his remains burned on top of the hundred or so bodies he managed to take down before he sumbed to them.


    ''Farewell, Gregory Adams. I would''ve loved for you to meet the old man...''

 Chapter 1311 Downtime & Passive Income

    There were only a few times I felt sorry for a stranger I''d never met but with the things we were passionate about, I would''ve wished to have shared an ice-cold beer with the guy.


    But yeah, this "safe house" we found him in¡ªdespite the state we umm¡­ found him in¡ªwould be a good spot to hunker down for a few months if it was stocked or a few days just so the upants wouldn''t have to sleep in the streets.


    Jared turned to me, "Bro, we have a nice pad in all but this ce isn''t too bad."


    I chuckled, "You can move in here if you want?"


    "Wha¡ª I didn''t mean it like that, you know, it''s just¡­ we have those loner nests all around too, just add a few cameras here and there this could be one of those ces, right?"


    nna added, "And the other ones we haven''t visited too. If it''s the same vibe as this cozy little ce is, it''d be great to have aside from the train stations we have in the open."


    I chuckled once again, "Did you just say we?"


    "You¡ª We ARE in a team, right?"


    "Well, yeah¡ª"


    "And we already had sex, so¡ª"


    Jared and Ibarra''s eyes just went wide, "BRO! HOW MANY¡ª Fuck it, nevermind¡­/I''m still wondering to this day as to how Natasha got with me¡­"


    Kaley slightly stared na down, "You¡ª You do know we don''t say that type of thing here?"


    na looked apologetic, "Ah¡ª My b, my b. Won''t happen again."


    "Haa¡­ It''s fun and all in the safe zone but not everyone''s¡ª Forget it, we''ll just talk about thister."


    "Alright, alright¡­ I AM new, so¡ª Ah¡ª I''m doing it again¡­ My b, my b."


    Jared just had to say it to me in a whisper, "I just wonder what it would be like if you can duplicate yourself, huh? You''d be drowning in so much pussy, bro¡ª AHH! I get it¡ª STOP!"


    "Uh-huh. I could beat your ass twice as fast too," then I turned to everyone, "Anyway, let''s just clean this ce up before we lock it down. We could check the other spots tomorrow but can we keep this ce and all the other things rted to Gregory Adams a secret for now? I''m a proponent of 100% transparency but I just want a few more trump cards in my¡ª no, in OUR sleeves.


    Once we get his ce cleaned up, you can use this ce as you wish, deal?"


    With that question asked, I didn''t receive any push back though na seemed to be interested in a ce where she could be in her lonesome.


    While it was true that she socializes well with the right people¡ªignoring the hacker stereotypes and whatnot¡ªI could understand having a ce of my own without anyone bothering me. It was just that the world wasn''t the same as before and the supposed person that should''ve been safe in this safe house wasn''t safe at all.


    It could be him being at the wrong ce at the wrong time but there was always safety AND security in numbers, high walls, drone patrols, good food, tons of guns, me being around, etc.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we drove back to Iskoh''s territory, and the first thing that everyone noticed was the Jeep we brought with us. However, almost all of the firearms and documents we uncovered were already in the bottom seats of my Raptor¡ªand I was more than wee to share the non-perishables and some of the misceneous items in it.


    ''I''m d we left some shit in the safehouse after cleaning it up a bit¡­''


    It''s just that the reason my trainees were so eager to fucking take stuff out the Jeep was they had to bet some stuff for Joe¡ªand it seemed like our guy had deep pockets or valuables that were well¡­ valuable.


    "I''m taking some of the MREs and the batteries¡ª Is this Jeep avable for an advance?" Brownie came up to me while looking a little antsy.


    "I''ll give you all a share but the Jeep''s not¡ª Why are you asking again?"


    "The bet, sir! The bet! Joe''s got some good stuff!"


    "What stuff? And don''t go betting everything else on you, alright?! It''s¡ª You can bet your own guns but not the scopes! Those are more expensive!"


    In any case, our group made our way to this dirt circle where Joe supposedly had an aboveground amateur prizefighting ring held¡ªand lemme tell all of you, it was like familiar territory like in Cuervo Heights or in the Cockpit Arena.


    But yeah, aside from this dirt circle, Joe had his own RV parked close with a sign that said, "My Stuff!", and he was having an impromptu garage sale with all sorts of items as he was hosting a game and sometimes even participating in it.


    ''When did this shit start?''


    And just at the right time, Mayor Iskoh graced us with his presence and he more or less told me that this had been happening on the down low for quite some time and since it wasn''t going away any time soon, he just decided to sanction it and have Joe continue his racket and have a very small cut in exchange.


    "Some passive ie, eh?"


    "Like you don''t do something simr in your ce."


    "It''s held once a month but it''s been mostly private fights and private bets with rivals. It''s been dying down, actually. The Gambling Hall and the Pink House are doing better than the Octagon."


    "That''s what happens when you never lose."


    "Then it''s cheating if I lose."


    "Then where''s the fun in that? Don''t participate, at least!"


    "And where''s the fun in that? I''d host it sometimes but they always end up challenging me! It''s not my fault I''m invincible! It''s not the same when I''m in Japan, you know?"


    "I fucking don''t, actually. You say you actually lose?"


    "I do lose, just not a lot. Pretty high win rate if I say so myself."


    "Huh. I''m not surprised."


    "I lost to Tatiana once."


    "I''m not surprised, too. The usual spar?"


    "Why would we fight for real?"


    "I doubt you''d lose if you fight for real too."


    "I mean¡ª if it''s to the death there''s no winning or losing, if you think about it. Why are we getting philosophical? Can''t we just have some fun?"


    "Eh. I lost a ship to ya when we had some fun."


    "You still remember that, huh? That vessel''s pretty nice, actually. Thanks for that."


    "Now I''m getting pissed, at least lose a few rounds of betting with me?"


    "I''m pretty lucky too¡ª"


    Explore more at empire


    "Just let me bet first on a few bouts and you bet on the other guy, is that too hard to ask?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "It''s not that hard but what would my kids say¡ª"


    "Eugh, kid, stop calling them your kids. You''re only a few years apart."


    "You fucks kept calling me that, what''s the difference¡ª"


    "Because we''re years apart! Didn''t you call them dogs, already?"


    "Sounds a little racist, I dunno¡­"


    "You care about that now?"


    "A little, but still sounds dull. I want something cool¡­ er."


    "Hounds?"


    "Ohh~ Sounds nice, actually."


    "I guess I''ll call my kids, Hounds¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Dibs! Got fucking dibs on it! Besides, calling them my subordinates doesn''t sound too right. They''re pretty low on thedder too so my actual soldiers might not like it. How about wolves or wolfpack?"


    "Eh. Used too much now even if I like the sound of it¡­ Oh! How about Jackals? Not used as much, no?"


    "I''ll give you Hounds if you give me Jackals¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh. I''m keeping it¡ª and I''m calling them Jekyll if they go too crazy."


    "Like Jekyll and Hyde? Oh~ Nice. We''re prettyme, aren''t we?"


    "I''m embracing it, fuck you."


    "Heh. Well said, kid."


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we gathered enough people so that Joe could start his event¡ªbecause he was simply buying and selling as everyone else was slowly gathering¡ªand as soon as the first bout started, it was actually between Brian and Tennyson.


    ''What the fuck?''


    Hearing this matchup absolutely confused me but like Mayor Iskoh, JP came in at the right time and exined things for me.


    "Yeah, about that¡­ Brian wasn''t too happy about Tennyson getting the vice leader position so he asked him if he could fight him for it."


    "And Tennyson agreed?"


    "Yep."


    "He''s confident, then."


    "He could back up that confidence when it counts. I''m next after he announced he''d beat Brian too."


    "You bet your position?"


    "I''m confident too. And it''s only for a day while I get to order him around for three days while we''re off-duty."


    "Wanna fight me too? I''m confident as well¡ª"


    "I''d rather shoot myself in the foot, sir. Respectfully."


    "Oh,e on! I''ll only use my left hand!"


    "Now that''s too much, sir. I''ll be going¡ª"


    "Well, I can''t hop on one foot! Come back here!"

 Chapter 1313 Best Stuff

    At this moment, Isaac and Joe were about to go for round two but this time, he had another re-quip of weapons as he now switched his spear and shieldbo for a club and shield/vambracebo. I wasn''t exactly sure how these adjustments would better suit fighting Isaac but he was already eyeing either Tatiana or me to start the fight.


    "Fine. Fighters ready?"


    "Yup!/Yeah!"


    "Fight!"


    And right from the get-go, Joe moved in with his left arm held up while dragging this club as if it weighed tens of kilograms.


    ''Wait¡­''


    But to Joe''s surprise, Isaac swung from left to right and aimed for his knuckles that were sticking out from his shield/vambrace¡ªand it made him put out a face looking like he was going through the aftermath of eating from a Mexican ce.


    However, he just gritted his teeth and lifted his club from behind then swung down with force before stopping three-fourths of the way in and using it to try and poke Isaac out of the ying field.


    "DIRTY MOTHERFUCK¡ª"


    Funnily enough, Isaac called out his inner Neo and tried to dodge it by making his back bend¡ªbut with the actual weight of Joe''s club only a few pounds, Joe changed trajectory once again to make Isaac fall on his ass, but my motherfucker avoided hitting the outer boundary by forming a ''V'' with his body and using his butt as the fucking anchor.


    "PFFT! AHAHAHAH! THE FUCK?!"


    "IF IT LOOKS STUPID AND IT WORKS, IT AIN''T STUPID!"


    "STOP MAKING ME LAUGH, DAMMIT!!!"


    At that point, each of Joe''s crew had also startedughing because before this match started¡ªI didn''t put it much emphasis on it at first¡ªbut they looked like they were hiding a fart and it was actually this surprise that they also probably fell for the first time they encountered it.


    But yeah, watching Joe move and act this way was totally different from the time he was facing the dead.


    He was doing something special in his rxed state from before but these movements he was performing was¡­ was a performance. While it was true that it was for a certain goal but if he moved the way he did the first time I saw him, he had a solid chance fighting against Isaac seriously.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''They are having fun so¡­ he looked differentst time too¡­''


    In any case, after Isaac rolled five times to save his fucking life, he suddenly opened with another one of his deadly thrusts¡ªand with Joe''s smaller shield¡ªhe was a littlete to defend against it as the tip of Isaac''s de made contact with his chest.


    It easily stopped Joe in his tracks as he tried to endure the pain for the second time, but a second thrust had already made its way to his throat and it ended the match then and there.


    ''Well this is¡­ disappointing¡­''


    Actually, I would''ve been happy for Isaac''s progress but I really wanted to see more of what Joe could actually do. It was just a far cry from his earlier performance, but let''s just say it didn''t take long before I discovered as to why Joe wasn''t taking this shit seriously.


    "FUUUUUUUUUCK! I THOUGHT I HAD IT!"


    "My pack of smokes, please¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "No?!"


    "ONE MORE TIME! I''LL SHOW YOU MY BEST STUFF! IT''S LEAGUES BETTER THAN MY STUFF AND MY GOOD STUFF!"


    "I know. I saw your best shit, bro."


    "BUT THOSE PACKS OF SMOKES WOULDN''T CUT IT! IT''D BE UNFAIR! BET SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT!"


    "Like what?"


    Joe pointed at Isaac''s wooden tachi while hiding a smirk, "You have the real one, right?"


    "You mean this tachi? Yeah, why¡ª Oh~ So you''re hustling me, huh?"


    "What?! I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    "This shit is expensive, bro. You gotta give me something equal to it¡ª"


    "HAH! Expensive?! How about $2000?"


    "$2000?! Ain''t no way you have something on that price tag!"


    "Because I only gave you fucks a glimpse! A GLIMPSE! Wait here. I''mma find it real quick¡­"


    Weirdly enough, this event of sorts was put on hold the second time because our host just straight up ran to his RV and looked for something that had a $2000 price tag¡ªbut after another ten minutes or so, he did have something on that ballpark.


    ''No fucking shot.''


    To my fucking shock, just seeing that box with the logo of the letter ''a'' wearing a crown and three diamonds on each side and the bottom made me wonder what was Joe''s actual background and where the fuck did he came upon such an item.


    And yeah, my reaction made everyone else from my crew use it as its certificate of authenticity¡ªbut Tatiana, who was more versed in this type of thing easily pushed Isaac aside to check what was inside the box.


    From a general view, it was a very simple-looking sword around 38 inches in length with a cord/leather grip and a nice pommel¡ªbut the way its profile and its de were tapered makes it a good weapon for a shield and swordbo. I don''t know much about the sword''s history but if that was made from thatpany, it definitely has a pricetag of above $1500 at the least.


    "Hey! I was¡ª"


    But Tatiana quickly lost interest:


    "Eh. It''s cool and all but you can have it. I''m not interested anymore¡­"


    Joe cut in, "Hey! What gives?! This is the real thing! There''s only a thousand of these¡ª"


    "I know, I know. It''s just not my style. I do axes and hand-and-a-half swords, not one-handers."


    Experience more tales on empire


    Joe rolled his eyes, "Your loss. This thing cuts through the dead like butter¡ª perfect for me."


    Then I cut in, "Then why are you betting it?"


    Joe chuckled, "Because I''m sure I''ll win?"


    Isaac rolled his eyes, "Even if I now know that that sword is cool and all, I''m out. I''m a weeb, if you can''t already notice. Katanas for the win and in my case, tachis."


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1314 Sollingen - HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!

    At this point, Joe never looked so pissed and Isaac had to repeat himself.


    "I said I''m out. I''m not interested in winning that, and I''m sure as hell not betting my tachi sensei bought for me. It''s that important. Now, can I please have my four packs of cigs?"


    Joe never looked so disappointed, "Dammit! FUCK! This shit should''ve worked 100% of the time! You loved crystals for fuck''s sake!"


    Isaac waved him off, "No, no, there''s this chick back home that likes it¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMMIT!"


    I waved him off, "Alright, Mr. Hustler, now what?"


    "What do you mean, now what?"


    "I don''t wanna tell you how to run your events but you''ve been doing your own thing for a while now. And you did propose to fight me. However, if you can''t even get past Isaac here¡ªor any of my students, I''d hate to sound like an asshole but you''ll just lose to me. Even if you''re messing around while fighting with Isaac."


    Isaac never looked so pissed, "YOU''RE WHAT¡ª"


    Joe shrugged his shoulders, "So, you noticed. What now? I can''t take shit seriously unless my life''s on the line. Four packs of cigs wouldn''t even make me sweat but don''t get me wrong, it''s fun to mess around. I just can''t get into it for real unless I''m feeling like my head''s about to get chopped off."


    I chuckled, "Then I''m your guy."


    "Exactly. Sir, I really want to feel it again¡ªthat''s why I issued you the challenge. Betting my life''s savings is one thing but the feeling of death is really the thing that gets me going. And while we''re on the topic, I''d love to use this Solingen and my riot shield while you use your katana."


    Isaac cut in, "You''ll fucking die, I tell you."


    Joe shook his head, "I don''t wanna remove the magic but with your sensei, he might just stop right before chopping my head off. The problem is me."


    "What?"


    He looked at me seriously, "I don''t know to hold back, sir. I''ll swing for real. Can you handle¡ª"


    "Of course."


    "Then¡ª"


    Continue your adventure with empire


    "What do I get from it though?"


    "Wut?"


    "Dude. You''re getting off from the thrill of it but what do I get from that? You''re not even under me and you want an official match where my life''s on the line?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "B-But you did it earlier¡ª"


    "That''s a taste. Like what drug dealers do. Gotcha, huh?"


    "You¡ª"


    "I¡ª Fine. I¡­ I may have something that might interest you¡­"


    "And that is?"


    "I can''t tell you what it is now, sir, but I promise you that it''ll be worth it. I¡­ I may have to put another condition, sir."


    "And that is?"


    "Ten moves."


    "Ten moves?"


    "Yes, sir. I know that you can beat me in one but if you''ll allow me ten moves before you put me in my ce, I''ll be forever grateful."


    "Alright, deal."


    "FUCK YEAH!"


    "Alright, calm down, adrenaline junkie¡ª"


    "I will, I will! Just a sec¡ª"


    At that point, it didn''t take long before the two of us were face to face¡ªand as soon as Joe was holding his one-handed sword and his riot shield, his tion earlier quickly dampened as his breathing started to get more and more rxed like the rest of his body.


    ''Hmm¡­ I see, now. But where did he learn this shit?''


    And for a few seconds, I was expecting him to attack¡ªbut with the nature of our arrangement though absolutely contrary¡ªI think I might have to be the one to open it up so as I held my de, I emitted the tiniest bit of killing intent before suddenly enveloping this dirt circle we were tumbling on.


    This definitely brought a smile to his face¡ªand now that he was expecting it, his facial expression was switching between excitement and nonchnce over and over. It was as if he was having an episode but the moment I stepped closer, his face just wore the faintest smile as he suddenly stepped in with his sword pointed at my neck.


    However, little did he expect that what he was doing had an advanced version though what I was about to do next was an even advanced version of this technique he picked up somewhere.


    Everyone in my crew had experienced it a few times but the look on Joe''s face when he though his fingers from the hand holding his sword fell was fucking priceless.


    It was because coupled with the slight movements from my muscles and my killing intent, I made Joe think I sliced off his knuckles with one swing¡ªbut in actuality, it was a repeat of what Isaac did to his other hand.


    In addition, he thought I swung from left to right but I came from below and hit his knuckles with the back of my de¡ªand even though he was grimacing from pain, the look of confusion was more fucking apparent.


    I did promise him his ten moves but never in that verbal contract that I could do nonlethal moves of my own as long as I put him in his ce after he was done with his thing.


    "GhKH¡ª WHAT¡ª"


    "Fucking sucks if your eyes fail you, huh?"


    "H-HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"


    "You don''t take senseis, right? Good luck on picking this up¡ª"


    "WAIT¡ª"


    But despite his request to ''wait'', he actually used his first move by pretending to back away and then suddenly blocking off my right side¡ªsince I was holding my katana with my right hand¡ªand it was then that he tried to aim for my feet like he would do to the dead.


    However, blocking me off could only do so much because I fucking Sparta kicked his shield off his hands before I moved in and hit his chest with my katana''s kashira or its pommel cap, making him unable to breathe for a few seconds.


    Despite that, he was still wearing this damned nonchnt smile and he lunged at me again as soon as he got his breathing.

 Chapter 1316 The Principe?

    From my experience doing this thing with everyone else, it''d look like they''d momentarily ground to a halt¡ªand it was enough time for me to finish things, but from what I was seeing from Joe, as long as he was expecting it and was aware of it, he could move just fine.


    However, as backwards as this may sound, the moment I took killing intent out of the picture and went with just speed, he didn''t even notice the back of my de mere millimeters from his neck.


    ''Whoops¡­''


    To avoid killing one of Iskoh''s rising stars, I was limiting the output to the minimum¡ªbut the moment I ran with none at all, I didn''t think I''d end this exhibition match this way.


    It was because even if I didn''t lop Joe''s head off, Ipleted my swing and went all the way through¡ªleaving an indent to the side of his neck and knocking him out with that one blow.


    I wasn''t sure of thisparison but it would''ve been simr to riding a motorbike and getting clotheslines with a steel wire from the side. I guess that could also cause beheadings so let''s just tone it down to a him pedaling hard with a mommy bike with the good ''ol basket at the front before getting clotheslined with a hanging wire.


    Still, everyone thought I killed him but waving my katana around just to make them see that there was no blood on it was giving the wrong impression.


    "NO BLOOD! NO BLOOD!"


    "YOU STILL COULD''VE BROKEN HIS NECK, DOOFUS! WHY DIDN''T YOU STOP AT THE LAST SECOND?!"


    "I¡ª I thought he''d s-see it¡­"


    "WELL CLEARLY HE DIDN''T! YOU¡ª HEY! DON''T MOVE HIM! I KNOW HE''S YOUR FRIEND BUT DON''T FUCKING MOVE HIM!"


    "Y-YES, MA''AM!"


    In any case, Kaley sprung to action while Iskoh called for medical staff¡ªand Oscar could''ve helped us but he was too busyughing his ass off and getting stomach cramps just from watching from afar.


    This wasn''t the way I thought things would''ve ended but everyone was surprised by Joe suddenly getting up and then looking confused at everybody.


    "W-What happened¡­"


    But yeah, it was only for a few seconds before he passed out and ate dirt once again¡ªand Oscar could''ve helped us again if he hadn''t burst outughing the second time.


    "STOP LAUGHING, OLD MAN!"


    "HAAAAA! HE FLIPPED IN THE AIR, KID! HE FLIPPED! WHO WOULDN''T LAUGH AT THAT?! BAHAHAHAHAHA! MORALES, DID YOU SEE THAT?!"


    "IS HE OKAY OR NOT?!"


    "I DON''T FUCKING KNOW FROM THAT! BUT IT LOOKS LIKE HIS NECK ISN''T BROKEN! HE GOT THAT GOING ON, AT LEAST! BUT YEAH, AN X-RAY WOULD BE GOOD!" Explore more adventures at empire


    In any case, Joe''s event was definitely canceled¡ªand even if I''d hate to bring this up now, I guess I breached our little contract and I wouldn''t be able to receive whatever it was that he promised me.


    Still, Joe woke up and kept his consciousness before the EMS arrived and with the use of a portable X-Ray and Oscar finally getting hisughs in order, it was confirmed that Joe didn''t have any serious injuries.


    However, he''d still have to take care of his knuckles and ice his bruised neck¡ªeven wearing a neck brace¡ªnot because it was broken or anything but because he shouldn''t move it around for the moment.


    But the moment everything was ounted for, Joe rushed up to me and jumbled and fumbled his way to the hundreds of questions he wanted to ask me.


    I waved him off, "Easy now, I thought you don''t take teachers?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I ain''t! I''m just curious¡ª I can''t for the life of me figure out how you did those things!"


    "What things? You have to be specific."


    "Y-You know, the fakes! I-I did¡ª Ugh¡­ fucking neck still hurts but howe yours work and mine doesn''t?!"


    "Because you''re weird as fuck!"


    "Haah?!"


    "Pfft¡ª Sorry about that but that''s just half the exnation. But yeah, your ''fakes'' do work it''s just that I can react much faster. I''ve been through more life-or-death matches than you and I''ve seen different tricks performed different ways."


    "Then it''s just a matter of experience?"


    "Kinda?"


    "You don''t sound too sure, sir¡­"


    "Well~ I do have a proper answer for them but you ain''t learning shit if you aren''t under me. That''s some privileged shit right there and you need the umm¡­ subscription."


    Then Joe looked at me like I''m an idiot, "Even with the Principe?"


    I never looked more confused, "Huh? Principe?"


    "Umm¡­ We had a deal, remember? You try to almost kill me and I give you some shit that I think you''d like? The Sollingen''s not actually for sale¡ªeven the Principe, but I don''t use two swords at the same time¡­ so~ I guess I''ll give that to you as payment. Anything else from my stuff, you could find elsewhere. But the Solingen and the Principe? You can''t find anywhere else.


    Here, I mean. There''s only a thousand of them in the whole world."


    I shook my head, "But the ten moves¡ª"


    "Eh. We can continue that some other time."


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "I''m gonna be honest with you, I''m not really familiar with longswords¡ª"


    Then Tatiana cut in with this devilish smile, "I am, kinda."


    I chuckled, "You know whatever the fuck''s the Principe?"


    Tatiana never nodded so fast, "Wide type XVIIIc de, longer grip¡ªmaking it a two-hander, Oakeshott Pommel Type V2, Style 11 Guard, Italian Origin¡ª"


    I had to cut in, "Ah~ Same as your Benelli M4, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Fuck, I don''t even know what those words meant but Katarina¡ª You know, she kept reciting that thing''s specs every time she showed me a picture of it."


    I then turned to Joe, "Looks like Tatiana wants it, if it''s the real thing, I''m gonna exchange it with something of equal value¡ª"


    "N-No, a spar with you every time you''re here would be enough¡ª"


    "No, no, I insist. What''s the price tag on that?"

 Chapter 1318 IS THAT A FUCKING NICK?!

    Ignoring Joe''s confused expression at the moment, it wouldn''t be too far off to have him be under Quinn''s mantle because like me, her own garage was an offshoot from the De Leon Family and she had as much freedom to do as she pleased¡ªand wasn''t held down by Mauro''s providence.


    And while most of my group had pretty much epted Quinn''s presence and her actual background, it might be a different case for everyone else in this area.


    "I don''t mind them, really¡ªI''d like a simple one though?"


    "How about numbers?"


    "Can I pick the number?"


    "Umm~ No."


    "Ah¡ª Why?"


    "That''s one of the only ways you can join her ga¡ª I mean, camp. And you''d have to shave your head."


    "That''s a problem, I''m not sure if¡ª Aren''t there any other way?"


    "To make your custom designs? Have another engineer look at ''em. The brand is a prerequisite to join Quinn''s troupe so that''s already a door closed if you''re not into that. But yeah, anything works for you as long as you have a shield on one hand and a one-handed melee weapon on the other?"


    "Uh, yeah. Again, is there a problem with that?"


    I shook my head again, "No problem at all but your masteries in each of them would be pretty spread out."


    "That''s by design. Unless I''m bound to fight another samurai like you or a HEMA practitioner like her, I''m set with the dead."


    "I guess that''s true in a sense. Basics, consistency, and building a foundation are the most important shit and the way to go but do know that it gets harder and harder the bigger the foundation is."


    "I thought the bigger the better?"


    "That''s the usual case but having it too big could cost ya. Just imagine how much time you''d have to spend to finish the building or to get really, really good at each discipline?"


    "Hmm~ The way I look at it, sir, is not a big foundation. I look at it like multiple ones. I tend to make bigger ones to the ones I like and reserve a small spot for the others I don''t really like but had to learn on the way."


    "Hah! Then you''re a little like me, I like that. It''s more of a city than a big building, right?"


    "YES! That''s so right, sir! T-There''s some stupid shit that you don''t want to do but it''s gotta be there in order for things to work, right?!"


    "Absolutely. What''s the thing you don''t like?"


    "Guns. I do just fine without them but it''s part of the training process. Thank god for 00 buckshots."


    "Wait a sec, I''ve seen you flinch a few times earlier, is that¡ª"


    "Hyperacusis. I can do well outside since we''re wearing ear protection¡ªI double them with ear plugs¡ªbut while we''re in here, our des nging could get painful. I would''ve worn them when we fought but I forgot about it and only remembered it whilst in transit. It sucks but I dunno, the added disadvantage made it a little more sweet for me."


    "Is that why you live in that RV too?"


    "Yes, sir. Everyone bunks in the barracks and I love theirpany but it gets really ufortable when we get all too rowdy. I need sleep too."


    "So what''s your treatment n, now? And can I ask where and when you got it?"


    "Nasty fall from skateboarding a few years ago. Saw an EENT when I felt the first thing and all I could do was avoid loud noises and wear ear pro as much as possible."


    "Ah~ Have you tried hearing aids?"


    Joe never looked so confused, "Hearing aids¡ª Sir, respectfully, have you listened to a word I said?"


    I waved him off, "Nah, nah, they''re special hearing aids. Basically, you wear this ''noise generating'' plugs that ys white noise that''s barely audible, and over time, you''d get ustomed to it and you''d eventually naturally ignore it."


    "Huh. Does that really work?"


    "It''s worth a shot, no?"


    "But¡­ Where can we get these special hearing aids?"


    "Umm¡­ we make them?"


    "You have a specialty clinic?!" Stay connected via empire


    "N-No, no¡­ I mean, we make them as in DIY. Aren''t they basically earplugs that y white noise? We can just ask our EENT Doctors how loud they y and go from there¡ªget you another check-up while we''re at it."


    "Fuck. Me."


    "Hmm? If you want that type of service too, we have ''em. You just gotta be tested first and¡ª"


    "Dammit, man! I mean, sir! Dammit! Ain''t I just super lucky today?! Maaan~ I''d give you all of my stuff but I have a business to run! Fuck it!


    I''ll have whatever number tattooed on me and shave my head just for this thing to go away!"


    "Hah! Trust me, you''re better off here¡ª she didn''t even have the facilities to cater to ya, I do."


    With that said, I easily got Joe an appointment over to my hospital and he''d drive back with us tomorrow.


    However, I didn''t even realize how restless Tatiana was to have a spar with me using her new sword, and she was just being respectful to both of us because the new sword she was building technically came from us both.


    I was more inclined to see how good it could cut bamboo or tatami mats but I guess seeing how deadly it was could work as well.


    Because yeah,pared to her nameless bastard sword, the de length was about the same but its overall length was longer by a few inches due to the handle made for two hands instead of one and a half.


    In addition, the way the grip was wrapped by this cord and leather felt nicer as well¡ªwhen I held it before¡ªand its center of bnce was just right as Tatiana mentioned after the short bout.


    "It''s closer to the handlepared to your other sword, right?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Yeah, thoughpared to yours¡ª we really should stop using real swords in spars¡­"


    Joe never looked so distraught:


    "IS THAT A FUCKING NICK?!"

 Chapter 1320 My Mistakes

    When I looked at my watch, it said it was already 8:47 PM¡ªand don''t get me wrong, I''m all for team building and shit¡ªbut this felt like one of those times when parents would have their kids do something time-consuming so that they''d have a bit of time for themselves.


    However, with his authority as the Mayor, Iskoh could''ve just told them to stay away from their main ce of residence so this just might be the time for our groups to bust out their NVGs.


    JP raised his hand, "Question, sir¡ª"


    "Go ahead."


    "Right¡­ Umm, you said scavenger hunt, are we to look for something or someone in this ce at this time of the night?"


    "Yes and no. You are to look for something I''ve hidden somewhere but that somewhere is not in the green zones."


    I chimed in, "Green zones?"


    Aaron answered for me, "Green zones are the areas the Mayor had reimed¡ªincluding allied areas like yours. In that example, yellow zones are scouted ces that a few clearing groups had gone through, red zones are scouted ces that have only been visited once or twice, and the ck zones are areas that haven''t been scouted at all."


    Mayor Iskoh nodded, "Thanks for the exnation, Aaron¡ªbut yeah, this type of thing is something we do weekly and since your group''s here, I strongly suggest they join in as well."


    My head started to itch, "This shit is fucking stupid and dangerous."


    He chuckled, "It''s supposed to be. The item they''re supposed to retrieve is in the red zones. Not to give any obvious clues but it''s a bust of one of our previous mayors who ran this ce and one of the hints to get you started is in this ce''s library¡ª"


    I shook my head, "You think this is a joke?"


    He then looked at me solemnly, "Kid, with all due respect¡ªthere wille a time that they''d have to go out in the dark, and simting it in a safe space like your gym wouldn''t cut it. No matter how dangerous you can be and how terrifying you are to them, it''s still apples to oranges to the dangers outside. You gotta let them experience these types of things on their own."


    Seb then nudged me, "We had to go on a few missions like this way back, sir. We can handle it."


    Joe added from the back, "Sir, shouldn''t this type of exercise be normal?"


    I scratched the back of my head, "I mean¡ª my go-to was to always hunker down in the night and bring the fight to the dead in the daytime. All types of shit could go wrong if we venture out when the sun had already set but¡­ but yeah¡ªI do understand your points."


    Iskoh gave me an approving look, "d to see we''re on the same page on this. I was expecting some push back but¡ª"


    "Here''s the pushback."


    Iskoh then gave me a disproving look, "What is it now?"


    "We''ll have a group monitor each¡ª"


    "No."


    "How about an open line ofmunication so I could¡ª"


    "No."


    "So we''re just sending them out there with no support?"


    "That''s how I usually do it."


    I shook my head, "Then how many of them don''te back? You know, usually?"


    Iskoh scoffed, "I really thought we were on the same page earlier¡­ Kid¡­ I¡ª The president or even your old man won''t say this to you but I''m also teaching you how to manage your people."


    "By sending them off on their own?"


    "They need experience¡ªwhich they sorelyck."


    "Oh? So why don''t I just kill one of them right now if that''s the point of your scavenger hunt?"


    "We''re not seeing eye to eye here, kid¡ª"


    "Clearly, we''re not. There''s a reason we have these systems in ce¡ªa backup group,munication lines, aerial support, etc. because if we take all of those away, the threat level increases, and the chances of one of them noting back goes all the fucking~ way up!"


    "Oh. So you mean to say that if we don''t have all those things we do nothing?"


    "No¡ª"


    "Then what are we supposed to do then?! We can''t have everything¡ª t-those systems in ce you have every single time! These kids¡ª no, my people¡ª OUR PEOPLE! Our people should be able to function, think, and act on their own when the need arises, and as much as I would hate to say this, they all have to experience certain¡­ certain difficult things in order for them to grow.


    I''m not saying they have to have casualties every single time but it''s part of it all!"


    "This shit you''re saying doesn''t even make sense¡ª"


    "KID! You''re one goddamn golden egg who helped me see that shit I''m blind to so I''m fucking helping you right now so you can see your own inadequacies. I''ve told you before and I''m telling you again, these kids don''t need to be coddled and the more you do that shit, the more you deny their opportunities to grow like you!"


    "But¡ª"


    "You''ve been in it! You''ve experienced the darkest shit I can''t even fathom how I''d deal with but no matter how many times you tell and share your story, they''d have to see and experience something close to it through their own lenses to know what it''s like!


    I''d thank the fucking Gods if nothing happened to them but if we don''t let them off on their own, something will definitely happen to them and they''d have no fucking idea how to go through it! Do you understand?!"


    "Fine!"


    "Fine what?!"


    I turned to JP and Tennyson as I stood up, "Join the fucking scavenger hunt¡ª"


    "Sir¡­/Sir¡ª"


    "And I''m sorry for coddling all of you. Huge mistake on my part but yeah, you''re in charge of yourselves now. Come back with one person missing and you''d wish you all died with them, got it?"


    "YES SIR!"


    At that point, I just gave Iskoh one nce before I went up the stairs¡ªand obviously enough, Kaley was already following behind me.


    "..."


    "..."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    We didn''t talk as we ascended the stairs and it was only when we leaned on the railings in silence for ten more minutes I opened my mouth:


    "He''s fucking right, huh?"


    Kaley nudged me with her shoulder, "Well~ While I do agree with you most of the time, he''s kind of right this time."


    "What do you mean, kind of? He''s absolutely right and I threw a fucking tantrum when I didn''t get my fucking way." Explore hidden tales at empire


    "Pfft¡ª Not really~ It just means you really care about everyone and it really shows. But ya see¡­ Another way of caring for them is you know, letting them grow to be their own persons. We can guide them to a certain point but it''s still their own paths, right?"


    "Hmm¡­ Sure¡­"


    "And yeah, you grew in a way too! Letting them join that dangerous game, knowing your mistake, apologizing, etc¡­ I''m really proud of you for that!"


    "..."


    "Hey¡­ Don''t be so down on yourself, it''s a great thing!"


    "Haaa~ Alright, alright! Thank you, Kaley. I love you¡ª"


    "Heh, I didn''t do anything but I''ll take it! I love you too, you doofus!"


    "Pfft¡ª I hate to quote the Mayor on this but you''re helping me see things I''m blind to and you''re doing it in a way that makes me not feel so shitty about myself. I am limiting their growth by cod¡ª doing what I''m doing to them and yeah¡­ Did you know that when I was still a kid in training, the old man left us on an inhabited ind naked without so much as a knife to defend ourselves?"


    Kaley never looked so confused, "Wait¡ª What? Old man¡ª You mean Oscar?! And who''s we?!"


    I smacked my forehead, "N-No, no, me, Aoi, and Arashi-san. Fun times. We almost died a few times too but¡ª Oh. Now I see what I did wrong. Huh. Funny how that turned out."


    "H-Hold up! You gotta tell me more than that! Naked?! In an ind?! What?!"


    "You know, like a lion pushing its cub off a cliff shit. I''m too worried about our numbers decreasing by a single digit I forgot how they''d turn out if I indulge them too much. There''s a limit to everything and I should care how they live not just how they''d survive."


    "Heeey! I said what happened on that ind?!"


    "If I tell you, I have to kill you¡ª GrChKK! Ow! Kaley!"


    "Don''t be stupid! Come on~! Tell me in our tent! It''s too cold in here!"


    "Oof! That''s what we kept saying the first night too¡­ Arashi-san was the eldest of us three and he already knows how to build a fire and if he didn''t feel sorry for us, we''d have died twice over!"


    "What?!"


    "Good thing he let us borrow the quartz rock and flint so we could build our own fire¡­"


    "That''s¡­ I''m really~ gonna give your adoptive family a huge~~~ talking to¡­"

 Chapter 1321 Making Me Forget The Moment

    At this point, I was still kind of down in the dumps but let''s just say Kaley knew of several ways to raise me, my mood, and the other ''me'' up¡ªand it didn''t even take long before we were out of our clothes and basically devouring each other.


    And as much as I''d hate to admit it, doing this was killing two birds with one stone because aside from the first reason mentioned above, this would keep my mind off things and focus on only one person, mostly.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Your mind''s still somece else¡ª Hngh¡ª That''s¡ª MmnGh! A-Ah!"


    "You were s-saying?"


    "C-Cheap trick, d-doofus¡­ I''ll be on top."


    "S-Sure¡ª W-Wait! We still haven''t closed the ps¡ª"


    "You think I care? We''re the only ones here since the ''kids'' are away¡­ We can have all~ the fun that we want¡­"


    "F-Fuck¡­"


    With that said, with the moon barely illuminating our surroundings, Kaley went on top of me and pressed her lips, her breasts¡ªher whole body against mine while my throbbing cock was still leaking precum in her thigh gap, but she was drenched and creaming at the same time as I''d p and squeeze her ass so it''d squeeze more against my huge member.


    "W-Wanna put it in?"


    "MmN¡­ Nnn¡­ N-Not yet¡­ I-I''ll do it w-when it''s¡ª MnhH! W-When it''s¡ª MnnH! L-Let''s do it l-like this f-first¡­"


    "A-Alright, I-I''m quite close though¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª H-Ha¡­ W-When did that stop you?"


    At that point, Kaley continued to squeeze her thighs together as she thrust her hips back and forth¡ªall the while staring at my face and giving me quick pecks on my lips¡ªand the moment I exploded and poured my hot load all over her ass was when she decided to slip it in her starving cunt and rode me like there was no fucking tomorrow.


    "K-Kaley¡ª"


    "I-I''m cummingG t-too¡ª HnGH! A-AH! y-YesSs!"


    Despite the overwhelming sensitivity going through my whole body, I matched her movements as I wrapped my arms around her back and thrust from below, making us both lose our minds as we kept going on and on while having violent orgasms.


    I could feel each time Kaley''s insides would contact and that was beside how tight she squeezing my cock which was hitting her deepest parts over and over. Read exclusive content at empire


    And when I finally pushed a finger in her ass, Kaley tried to push herself away from me¡ªdue to overstimtion¡ªbut all that happened since I still had a hand holding her down was her giving me the perfect view of her huge fucking tits bouncing and jiggling around as her body was shaking all over.


    All she could do was just look at me with pleading in her teary eyes but those actions betrayed what she was doing with her lower half.


    Because at this moment, she was still grinding her hips and squeezing me tight¡ªeven my fingers inside her ass¡ªand our juices had already mixed inside her body and were leaking all over our lower extremities.


    But yeah, it didn''t stop us from wanting more because when I let her lean back and gave me another perfect showing, she pulled off and then slid it inside her ass before showing me everything that I put inside her.


    With two whole loads in her cunt plus her own orgasms, we had enough lubrication to easily gape her ass but I didn''t think I''d have another ejaction once I saw her push three fingers in her cunt while she was riding my dick.


    "N-NnGHG! F-Fuck! FUCK! T-There''s s-still so m-much inside¡ª NnHGH! A-Are you c-cumming again?! F-FuCKk!


    NgNH! I-I¡ª I-I can f-feel it¡ª NhGHHA!!!"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    I felt like I cked out for a brief second as my toes curled for the sudden release¡ªbut it seemed like my alone time with Kaley hade to an end.


    Because yeah, I thought it''d be sooner but everyone else who wasn''t in my mentorship program was still present¡ªand we had the roof to ourselves.


    So when Kaley tagged out to catch her breath, sheid next to before June went down on her and started to eat our cum¡ªbut the look of horror in her face the moment she noticed that Quinn was standing right behind her was fucking priceless.


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "I was supposed to eat that. You basically stole from me¡ªand I''m taking it out on you, ya here?!"


    "B-But no one told me that¡ª"


    "Shut it! Get on top of Kaley and prepare your ass for some rough fucking!"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "Hah! You actually like this, don''t ya?!"


    "N-No¡­"


    "Well, fuck you, you fucking liar! Cum lots in Kaley so I could taste all you threeter."


    At that point, I was still enjoying the show but na and Tatiana were already giving me head while Jennifer and Rachel took their own spot inside our tent. But the moment Tatiana got on top of me while na sat on my face, that was when I saw June push her tiny dick in Kaley''s pussy before Quinn straight up pushed her horse cock in June''s little ass.


    "H-HNGGGH!!! I-IT''S STILL TOO BIG! CUM¡ª AHN! KALEY¡ª YOU''RE¡ª MMNHH!!!"


    While hearing June''s cries of pain and pleasure, Kaley was just wearing a smile despite still being out of breath because Quinn was basically fucking her while using June as a secondary strap-on.


    "Hey. You got a chick sitting on your face and you''re looking at them¡ª While I do understand why, it''s hot, I''ll admit¡ªbut a bit of eye contact would do me wonders, okay?"


    "Ah¡ª Sorry¡ª"


    "Shh~ Don''t talk. Just stick out your tongue and pray that I''ll give you air¡ª Fuck it, lick my ass too because I''m kind of feeling anal today¡­"


    With that said, I made sure to do what I was told while still keeping hard for Tatiana¡ªwho told me that she''d return the favor¡ªand return the favor she did when she pulled na off me when I found it too hard to breathe, and we ended up resizing na''s fucking ass because she also brought her toy so we fucked her in the same hole at the same time.

 Chapter 1323 You suck.

    Admirably and funnily enough, June who wanted some extra "desserts" was the one who quickly pulled out herptop and checked everyone else''s GPS location¡ªwhich was on their chest rigs. I had a thought that they might''ve taken them off to further add to my worries but it seemed like they didn''t and everyone else was still wearing them.


    "You¡­" Kaley trailed as she looked at me helplessly.


    "Ah¡ª"


    Seeing her expression, I slowly pushed down the lid of June''sptop though it was somewhat enough for me to see their general location¡ªwhich was a bit away from the City of Man and borders between the Cities of Pasay and Makati.


    Unfortunately, I haven''t heard much about these two cities in general but if I were in charge, I''d have everyone else upy Pasay City first before Makati City because it was also by the coast. But in regards to old news, Pasig City¡ªwhich was the city after Mandaluyong City, which was the city between Iskoh''s and Makati City¡ªhad one other reliable person trying to keep amunity together.


    ''Mayor Vitto¡­''


    However, that was a story for another time and I''d rather focus on something¡ª no, I wasn''t even allowed to focus on my newly created team, and it''s just making my head itch and my stress levels a tad higher than usual.


    Quinn cut in, "If you''re that worried about ''em, we can just shadow from behind and see what''s up. What the fuck can the Mayor do?"


    I shook my head, "Nah, it''s okay¡ª I just rpsed from knowing I could check their locations through their tags."


    "Eh. Sure. If you fucks aren''t doing anything, I''mma go sleep. Don''t disturb me even if you''re trying to knock me up. I''ll do it to ya tomorrow¡ªI just fucking need some sleep right about now."


    "True, I don''t care of you guys do it again, I''m too tired¡­"


    "Me too¡­"


    As Rachel and Jennifer followed after Quinn, the rest of us were still lounging by our folding chairs and tables¡ªwith this rechargeablemp¡ªand even though no one was saying anything for the most part, we were still sitting infortable silence.


    And even without any fans or AC running, the breeze was enough to keep us cool¡ªthough it didn''t take long before na brought up a topic.


    At first, the look on her face made me think that she was about to finally spill the stuff we stole from the Eisenhower, but it was actually from my short bout with Joe. To this day, I haven''t seen her make use of her knives and it was just making me think that she was more of a collector than an actual fighter.


    "What do you wanna know?"


    "That Joe kid kept shouting how? Why?"


    June added, "Y-Yeah! He looked so upset but in awe at the same time! Why?"


    I chuckled, "Hmm~ I could tell you right now but why don''t I let Kaley and Tatiana exin? See if they could put our special training to use."


    "Us?/What special training?" Kaley and Tatiana said at the same time.


    "This¡ª" I said as I quickly turned my killing intent on and off, "This special training."


    At that exact moment, I couldn''t help but smile seeing Kaley and Tatiana unfazed though na and June definitely needed a lot of work. However, I forgot that Quinn, Jennifer, and Rachel were still in the vicinity and it was obvious who peeked out the ps and shouted her head off:


    "HEY! I SAID¡ª NO KILLING INTENT PAST MIDNIGHT! I GOTTA FUCKING SLEEP, YOU FUCK!" Stay updated via empire


    I lied through my teeth, "That wasn''t me, it was Kaley."


    "HAH?! YOU¡ª EVEN KALEY''S SHOCKED! ONE MORE OF THAT AND I''LL RIDE YOU TILL YOU DROP! GOT IT?!"


    "Don''t tempt me with a good time¡ª"


    "FUCK YOU! I-If I wasn''t so sleepy¡­"


    "Fine, fine~ I apologize, go back to sleep~"


    "Ugh¡­ Theseforters do shit¡­ We should sleep on a real mattress soon¡­"


    With that said, since the ones who were still awake decided to wait for everyone else toe back, we moved to the farther end of our tent so I could have an impromptu teaching ss with June and na.


    "Where did we left off¡ª Right, Kaley, Tatiana: just tell them what you know."


    Tatiana started first since Kaley was still trying to figure out what she wanted to say:


    "Hmm~ It''s like an advanced form of doing feints and misdirection tond a hit."


    I nodded, "Care to borate?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Uhh~ No? You''d do itter, anyway~"


    "Pfft¡ª I guess I always do, huh? Kaley? You don''t need to borate too, I just wanna know what you saw from earlier."


    Kaley took a short breath, "O-Okay, if we''re talking about the thing you kept doing to throw everyone else off, I''d say the same thing Tatiana did but you incorporated that intent thing to go another step above the usual tricks to overload your opponent''s brain. I-Is that okay?"


    "Yeah, thanks," then I looked at the two, "Fuck¡ª I should''ve asked you two first but how do their answers differ from yours?"


    na and June looked at each other before na answered:


    "I do understand that you''re good¡ªno, crazy at doing fakes, but I couldn''t see much if I''m just watching from the sidelines," then she turned to June, "How about you?"


    June shook her head, "A-Ah¡ª I''m really just curious¡­ I-I don''t even know the first thing about fighting close-up¡­ Sorry¡­"


    I waved her off, "We''re slowly building you up, no need to apologize, but yeah¡­ what you all said sounds about 50-60% of what I actually did¡ªthough honestly, there are so many different ways you can do it and I''m not even sure how to put all of them into tiers or levels. However, we can talk about it as much as we''d like or I can just show it to you straight-up."


    na immediately answered, "That''s what I''m actually going for."


    At that point, I made her stand in front of me¡ªand just to get the ball rolling, I raised my right palm before staring right at her eyes:


    "So, what do you think I''m going with this¡ª and before you answer, what''s the most obvious one?"


    "A right p?"


    I nodded, "That''s right but I could easily kick your shins, use my other hand, a headbutt¡ª"


    "Wait, wait, wait¡ª you''re still talking?"


    "I¡­ I am. Why do you ask?"


    She rolled her eyes, "Show me."


    "Do¡ª Like, right now¡ª"


    "Yes¡ª OW! WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU SLAPPED ME?!" na eximed while holding her right cheek.


    "You said¡ª"


    "CAN''T YOU GO SLOW?!"


    "Shhh~ Keep it down¡ª Hah! You think you''d actually hit me¡ª HAH! Nope! Still not hitting me, not a chance."


    "F-Fuck you! It hurts, you know?! My cheek¡­ My¡­ M-My right¡­ c-cheek¡­ What the fuck¡ª How?!"


    I chuckled, "Now you''re talking like Joe. Good!"


    "Do it again!"


    "I''m not falling for that shit¡ª"


    "I mean¡ª Do it again, but slower, you fuck! And why can''t I fucking hit you?! I''m¡ª Trying¡ª So¡ª Fucking¡ª Hard!"


    "Now you''re trying to learn two things at once. Well, those two things kind of ovep¡ªfuck it¡ª Watch closely, okay? I''m going as slow as I can~"


    "Okay!"


    At that moment, I repeated the same motion by lifting my right hand up, winding it back, and making it travel a path towards her left cheek¡ªand I can''t fucking make this up¡ªand right as I used a different angle for my left hand to make contact with her right cheek that was red from the earlier p, her eyes were still fucking glued to my right hand which was halfway there.


    *p*


    "What¡ª"


    And right as my left hand made contact with her right cheek, it looked like na started BSOD''ing several times like I was a street magician performing a close-up trick, which was kind of the same thing.


    "Want me to do it again?"


    "Hold up, I''m thinking¡­ Can you do it without using your right hand?"


    "What do you mean? It''s part of the trick and it''s another technique altogether¡ª"


    "Just do it, okay?"


    So yeah, this time around, na kept a close watch on my left hand as it made its way to her right cheek, and as it made contact, she looked down on the ground again to process everything that had happened. However, she asked me to show the same thing again and again¡ªuntil she had a rough understanding of it¡ªand funnily enough, she politely asked me if she could do it to me instead.


    "Umm¡­ If you can, sure?"


    "Can I go fast?"


    "Pfft¡ª Sure."


    "Don''tugh at me! I''m trying here!"


    "Go on, go on¡ª"


    All of a sudden, na performed a rough copy of my movements earlier but right as her left shoulder moved a smidge, I caught her speeding hand about to p my face.


    "Wha¡ª HOW?!"


    "You''re doing something wrong, want me to show you again?"


    "I''ve seen it enough times, just tell me now!"


    "In short: you suck."


    "HAH?!"

 Chapter 1324 Slapping Intent? - Usage Variety

    Vague and totally nonhelpful answer aside, there was one other thing to take into ount besides feints and misdirections and it was speed.


    Don''t quote me on this but as speed trumped everything else in the martial world, people who were not as fast as their opponents had to resort to some tricks to justnd a simple hit¡ªand it could be the first actions mentioned above or something along the lines of entrapment, entanglement, and maybe even debilitations through means of poisons or toxins of varying effects.


    But before we could go into this deep rabbit hole, the action I did first was more of a misdirectionpared to a feint because I made na look at my right hand and focus on it before sneaking in my left hand to p her right cheek.


    I thoroughly exined the mechanics from what happened in that few seconds and let''s just say that she asked to see it a few more times¡ªand also¡ªget hit for real in the process.


    "Again!"


    "You sure¡ª"


    "Yes!"


    "Your face¡ª"


    "It''s part of it! Again!"


    And as we skipped over a few scenes to get to the next demonstration that would focus more on feints, I was once again standing in front of her and had just raised my right hand, motioning for another p:


    "You know what''sing, right?"


    "Yes¡ª"


    At that point, na waspletely looking at my whole body instead of what I wanted her to look at¡ªwhich was a form of misdirection¡ªbut as soon as my right hand twitched and her body motioned to block her left cheek, I easily tapped her left cheek with my right palm.


    "Gotcha, again."


    "Wait¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Why I didn''t use my left hand?"


    "Well¡ª Yeah!"


    "It''s starting to get really hard to exin because it has differentyers to it, but the moment you know it''sing for your right cheek, the trick was already overused. So~ I just made use of that knowledge to aim for something you wouldn''t be guarding against. Remember, the goal of using feints and misdirection was to score a hit, not deal the most damaging attack possible."


    "It really isplex¡ª"


    "Yep. Because yeah, just looking at your framepared to mine, I could easily break through your defenses with a solid punch¡ªeven without a bit of wind-up¡ªthough I could easily block it if it came from you. That''s why you''d have to resort to such tricks¡ªas do I if I''m faced with a tougher opponent."


    "You saying I''m weak?"


    I rolled my eyes, "You want the honest truth, or are you too dumb to figure out simple biology? You pretty much know the answer to that, right? I mean, if you justpare yourself to me¡­ you''d need more than ten of you, no offense¡­"


    She then broke the small facade, "Pfft¡ª I''m just trying to get a rise out of you by doing some woke bullshittery. But yeah, what should I work on first?"


    "If we''re talking about in the general sense, an overall improvement on your body either by cardiovascr endurance or straight-up strength would do you wonders but in regards to our current subject, one of the reasons I easily saw through your first attempt¡ªtond a hit on me¡ªwas that you show too much."


    "What do you mean?"


    "We''re back to talking, huh?"


    "Just tell me the reason, I ate more ps tonight than I expected¡­"


    "Alright, alright¡­ Again, it involves a lot of factors but you really gotta pay attention to what your opponent can see AND cannot see as well as what you''re showing him AND what you aren''t showing him."


    "Aren''t those the same things?"


    "Kind of, but it really isplicated."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "We have time, you can talk my ear off all you want¡ª"


    "There''s also a thing that''s called Analysis Paralysis. It means that if we go too much into detail about one exchange¡ªit could be good on a review, but it''s very time-consuming because again, there are a lot of different exchanges happening in a one-minute match, we can''t just go into detail about every little¡ª"


    "I do understand that but¡ªwhat else are we supposed to do now?"


    "I mean¡­ Sure, remember when I discussed something about overloading an opponent?"


    "You mean the thing with their brains when you perform too many feints?"


    "Not too many, just a lot of it. It''s kind of the same but not at all if you think about it."


    "Okay, okay, go on¡­"


    "Adding that otheryer on top of all the things we had already discussed is that there are a ton of different ways to do such things and the take all should be is that you gotta keep it fresh.


    If we wanna sound vulgar about it your patterns should just be this unraveble ball of pubes that doesn''t only contain feints and some other type of tricks but actual strong, fast, orpact attacks as well. However¡­ we should also have a handful of attacks that could end the fight as fast as possible and we should also have a workaround tond that particr blow when it counts."


    "You mean a finisher?"


    "Something like that. If you really~ think about it the best way to go is to really end the fight before it happens, or if it was currently ongoing, finish it as fast as it could¡ªbut if it was still dragging on, that''s where you might think of doing tricks like feints and whatnot or some other moves to tire them out or render them incapable of fighting back.


    I''m telling you, this shit is a fucking rabbit hole and we need more time to discuss each and every way we could get in someone''s head and in their actual defenses and weak areas."


    "Hmm¡­"


    "Or if you get too tired of thinking of this shit, just use a fucking gun because that''s just the equalizer. Unless we evolve to the point we could take gunshots as if they were mosquito bites, firearms are just the way to go if you want to end things on a snap of a finger."


    "Eh~ I think we got too broad when you start talking about guns."


    "Heh. I mean¡ª you can be the master of five fucking disciplines but against a barrel of a loaded gun, it''d be really~ hard¡ªfuck it, close to impossible toe out on top. The way we''re talking right now is really to have a gun and win but if not, we pull out anything we have on our person before resorting to hand-to-handbat."


    In any case, we spent a good hour or so just talking about the basic stuff, and we obviously hadn''t even touched upon killing intent. The term could be interpreted in any number of ways but in regards to our current subject, it was the culmination of one''s extreme desire to end someone''s life where something intangible could be felt by more than just the five senses.


    The majority of the poption could only do it subconsciously¡ªbut if put into a high-stress situation or something simr, one might learn to manifest or control it in a way that could make or break the individual.


    "Ah, fuck¡ª You have that thing you do, right?!"


    "This thing¡ª"


    "Okay! Stop! Stop! I can only take so much!" then na looked at everyone else, "Can''t you guys feel it?!"


    I waved her off, "I learned how to direct it to a single person or a smaller area pretty recently."


    "Jesus¡­ So, how do I do that?"


    "I''d want to say you''d wish you wouldn''t have easy ess to this but it helped me a lot of times so I couldn''t reallyin¡­ But yeah, there''s a small chance to be able to do this if you''ve undergone Hell Week or have something really traumatic or near-death happen to ya.


    At least that''s how I got mine but it''s not always a 100% drop¡ªin addition, there''s also dealing with it on a regr basis like managing your triggers and anger levels."


    "Haah~ That''s too much¡­ And how does that help exactly? I need specifics."


    "If I were to put it into simpler terms, it''s something you feel."


    Find more to read at empire


    "Something I feel?"


    "Yes. It''s the prickling of the hairs on the back of your neck, the sudden drop in temperature, your knees shaking and buckling, or the most obvious one, the straight-up mind-numbing feeling of death staring you right in the eyes rendering you immobile¡ªor just the feeling of time crawling to a staggering halt."


    "I¡­ I haven''t felt that when you did it to me."


    "It''s because I can regte it, remember? Kaley had grown some tolerance to it with our private sessions but it still hits her like a sack of bricks when I just let it all out."


    "You can train it while having sex?"


    I chortled, "No, silly. I meant ''private'' sessions when we train one-on-one¡ª though we DID use it a few times while having sex."


    Kaley chuckled, "We did do that, really, 10/10 but you gotta put a towel down because it IS still damn scary¡­"


    I turned to Kaley with a knowing smile, "But scary-good, right?"


    "Doofus¡­ Of course, it was. Chloe and Cynthia definitely liked it."


    Then I turned back to na, "See?"


    na just looked at me in disbelief, "I swear half the shit you''re saying sounds like science fiction or one of those wuxia novels but yeah¡­ feeling it¡ª experiencing it firsthand makes a whole lot of difference so I just try to understand it word by word."

 Chapter 1325 JPs Thoughts

    In any case, we directed the conversation to something more light and casual¡ªthough I''d still see June look at herptop to see if there was any movement from the group that went outside.


    While it was true I was tempted to look and see as well, I couldn''t fault her for worrying about her siblings: Cindy, Jeremy, and the person who I pegged to have the highest chance of controlling her killing intent, Eden.


    These three weren''t actual "actual" members of the Jackals¡ªthe cringe name of this group I was trying to establish¡ªthough they were still interim members and they should just do what the Romans do.


    And as much as I''d hate to say this¡ªwith my overflowing tes of things to juggle, those three adding June were more people I''d have to look after.


    It''s just¡­ It''s just that the way I did things now was a little less focused like Joe''s way of trying to master any or all number of one-handed weapons and various shields. If anything, for getting the most bang for my buck, or their bucks, I should be focusing more on fewer people like my own mastery of just my treasured des, not any number of other ded weapons I could get my hands on.


    They alle in all shapes and sizes and mastering one could already take a lifetime, it was literally impossible to master everything to the point they''d be untouchable.


    Still, I couldn''t help but try to juggle a ton of things at once because again, with the world''s current poption, I couldn''t be that picky with my students¡ªeven though I''m not an actual instructor¡ªand then again, I could''ve been teaching everyone in my fold but I actually wasn''t.


    In addition, I''ve always put them on a path to building up a stronger foundation and sticking to basics because no one needed to learn to move their des from all points, lines, and angles¡ªand even connect each attack seamlessly or abruptly like flowing water or crashing thunder.


    Putting this other rabbit hole aside, it took the pups all night to finish their scavenger hunt and it was already 6:07 AM when we saw them park on the driveway.


    At this point, only June and I stayed up all night and "busied" ourselves while Kaley, Tatiana, and na apologetically excused themselves because they also needed to rest. But weirdly enough, it seemed like Kaley knew the exact time they''d arrive because she came out of the tent only a few seconds when June and I were just about to meet everybody below.


    "That''s¡­ That''s too scary."


    "Psychic¡­ She''s psychic, I tell ya¡­"


    "True that¡­ Pfft¡­"


    Kaley then ran up to us while squinting her eyes, "You two are talking about me, aren''t you?"


    As soon as Kaley asked us that question, the two of us just startedughing and we got chased down a few steps before we made our way down normally.


    "Did they seem fine?"


    "I think so¡ª they''re just tired because they probably need sleep."


    "Or coffee, or food, or both¡ª no, all of the above."


    "Did the Mayor call for breakfast yet?"


    "Not yet, but I assumed that it''ll be ready pretty soon."


    "Did you two really stay up all night?"


    "Yep."


    "Better get some sleep once we get home, alright? Getting enough rest is important too, alright?!"


    "Yes, Ma''am!/Yup!"


    Kaley shook her head, "You two¡ª Fine, let''s go meet them down¡­"


    In a few minutes, we reached the bottom floor and saw almost everyone slumped down on a random chair while JP and Tennyson were trying to keep things together. While Aaron''s group didn''t look as good as well, they were more used to the Mayor''s shenanigans and that might be one of the reasons my group looked worse for some reason¡ªor they were just tired and sleep-deprived.


    With a quick look around, all their clothes¡ªat least the ones who fight close and personal¡ªhad smudges of blood and random bits while the ones who were shooters had missing mags from their chest rigs. However, it didn''t take long before Eden came in with this huge sack of the missing mags and spent casings¡ªand it just made everyone else sigh loudly the moment she ced it down and settled.


    And as they all saw me with Kaley and June, they didn''t even have the strength to stand up but that was before Joe rolled in with the marble bust with a huge smile on his face:


    "Aww~ Why the long faces?"


    "..."


    "No one fucking died and we all had a bonding moment, shouldn''t we be celebrating? I even carried this motherfucker all the way¡ª"


    But at this point, Mayor Iskoh finally came in looking like he had enough sleep and he gave Joe a nod once he saw him with the scavenger item they made them look for.


    "Good morning, it seemed like Joe''s in a bit of a streak, huh? Counting this, it''s already three times in a row?"


    Joe chuckled, "That''s right, sir! Can I fill another pushcart for my afternoon events?"


    "Go ahead, but bring that same bust to Sgt. Michaels," then he turned to Aaron, "Aaron, report?"


    Aaron wiped his face with a damp cloth before standing up:


    "Private Aaron Tagle for the report, with the help of¡ª umm¡­ an expertly curated group led by the umm¡­ Baron¡ª"


    JP cut in, "Ex-Baron."


    "Then what¡ª"


    "Just the Ishiyama Special Unit Recruit''s Squad Leader."


    "Sure¡­ With the Ex-Baron leading his own team, the attempt to retrieve the bust from the 3rd floor was incredibly easier despite setting off the rms due to taking too much time exploring each floor and checking each individual room methodically."


    "So how''d you alle out unscathed?"


    "Before we came into the apartmentplex, we secured two exit points manned by a couple of privates and we also had people still in their vehicles still running. We''ve made ample preparations before outside as it was going in though it did cost us some valuable time¡ª Hence the rms setting off and attracting a horde outside and rattling and riling up every undead on the inside."


    "So what could you have done differently?"


    "None, sir."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "None at all?"


    "Those procedures were all required for everyone''s safety and while the rms going off were very unfortunate, we''d be in more trouble and the factors to take into ount would be more disadvantageous for us."


    Mayor Iskoh turned to JP, "You. What would you have done differently?"


    "I''d say none but we could''ve moved faster and be more decisive. While I''m not entirely sure that it''d make a difference, there''s also the factor of our groups working for the second time together so mistakes like this were negligible. But what we do know was that everyone knows how to fight so we dug deep and faced the horde as best as we could and made the bust wait until we''re all done.


    I just wasn''t aware the one to carry it back would get a prize." Stay updated via empire


    "Hmm, they didn''t tell you or your group?"


    "It would seem so, sir. I''m guessing they''re all trying to scramble for it as well because they slowly disappeared once we started the cleanup process. I just knew of the fact when Joe wouldn''t let go of the bust as he helped us pick up the spent casings."


    "Did you try to take it away from Joe knowing that?"


    "No, sir. Again, I wasn''tpletely aware but seeing that everyone else in their group wasn''t trying to take it away from him, they must''ve alle to an agreement or something of the sort."


    "I see, I see~ Then what would you have done with the knowledge beforehand?"


    "With all due respect, sir, traversing unknown areas to us at night was already dangerous, joining these games would put us in more danger. I understand the concept but I don''t agree with the bottom line."


    "Exin, you can talk freely. I''m not your dad."


    JP just stared at Iskoh for a moment before he replied, "Very well, while sending us all to do a difficult task could make our bonds or sense ofradery stronger, the final dash to who gets the bust just throws it all out the window. The rewards should be distributed to everyone, not just who gets to the bust the fastest."


    Mayor Iskoh chuckled, "Oh, don''t get me wrong, everyone gets rewards forpleting the tasks, it''s just that there''s extra for the one to get it."


    JP sighed, "I guess it''s good knowing that but games should be yed in a safe space."


    "Then what''s the point of having you y a scavenger ''game'' outside without an extra thing to look forward to when you get back?"


    "I can''t think of a proper response right now but as the leader of my own squad, I''m responsible for all of them and I can''t participate in some race or the actual ''mission'' objective while knowing deep in my head that this was still a simtion. Putting down the dead and keeping my group safe''s enough for me at this moment, sir."


    Mayor Iskoh nodded a few times, "Hmph. I appreciate the candor, young man. Alright, I guess I need to make a few adjustments to make it feel less like a simtion when your group''s involved. Do you have anything in mind for that?"


    JP shook his head, "I''m sorry to say but I''ve been involved and even directed real missions when I was still in the Academy and I''d say that instead of doing these missions in the middle of the night while everyone''s performance wasn''t at their peak, I''d say assign them actual fetch missions in the morning and have these simtions at night in a safe space.


    We could argue that everyone should be ready at any moment''s notice but I''d also argue that it''d be a tad meaningless if everyone else couldn''t be in peak performance."


    "But this is just what this exercise is all about, how can we meet in the middle here?"


    "Again, I''ve directed missions and only a handful of them have to be done in the dead of night. I know emergencies are emergencies but we shouldn''t have a simted emergency every week."